{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tencent gains approval to sell mutual funds to WeChat users \n Traditional finance houses now being seriously challenged in the wealth management market by emerging internet financial companies", "output": "Tencent has been granted a licence from the China Securities Regulatory Commission to sell third-party mutual funds directly. The development will allow the company to make better use of its popular messaging app WeChat to sell investment products, analysts have noted. WeChat has close to one billion users. The firm will now have more control over wealth management services offered via WeChat, rather than relying on third-party partners, analysts added. It's also predicted Tencent could seek to turn its payment service, Tenpay, into a full financial service platform. The company previously obtained licences for mobile payments, insurance and micro-financing.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "India testing blockchains in education, health, corruption fight \n Niti Aayog explores blockchain usage in education, health and agriculture\n\nThe Indian government's policy think tank, Niti Aayog, is testing waters to employ blockchain technology in education, health and agriculture, several media reports stated.\n\nThe top government think tank is developing a proof of concept to take advantage of the new technology in key sectors, a senior government official told The Economic Times on condition of anonymity.\n\nThe think tank along with blockchain startup Proffer, which was founded by MIT and Harvard graduates, held a blockchain hackathon from 10 November to 13 November 2017 at IIT Delhi, a report in YourStory said in November last year.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAbout 1,900 students from the IITs, MIT, Harvard University, UC Berkeley College of Engineering, and top engineering institutions around the world participated in the event. AgroChain, a blockchain-based marketplace that helps farmers and consumers through co-operative farming, bagged the first prize at the competition, the report added. The marketplace was developed by students from the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management-Kerala (IIITM-K).\n\nNiti Aayog has also been working on developing a country-wide blockchain network called IndiaChain which looks to reduce corruption and frauds, maximise transparency of transactions, report in November 2017 in technology news website Factor Daily had stated. The think tank is also expected to connect the blockchain infra to IndiaStack\u2014the country's digital identification database, the report added.\n\nBlockchain technology uses cryptographic tools to create an open and decentralised body of data, which can include banks transactions and the like. The data record can be verified by anyone involved in the transaction and information can be tracked via a secure network.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nShare article on Leave Your Comments", "output": "India is testing blockchain applications in education, health and\u00a0agriculture, among other sectors of the economy, and is working on a proof-of-concept platform, according to an anonymous senior government official. Government think tank Niti Aayog co-hosted a blockchain hackathon alongside start-up Proffer in November. Reports the same month revealed the think tank was also developing a fraud-resistant transaction platform called IndiaChain, which is expected\u00a0to be linked to national digital identification database IndiaStack.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Higher living wage risks\u00a0robot takeover of low-paid jobs: report \n Increases in minimum wage levels risk raising the pace of mechanisation in the workplace, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).\n\nA report for the economic think tank urges \"extremely careful\" monitoring of wage rates over the coming years as statutory pay goes up and employers look to cut costs.\n\nThe National Living Wage, which applies to workers aged 25 and over, is set to rise to \u00a37.83 per hour from April from a current rate of \u00a37.50.\n\nCurrent ambitions will see it hit 60% of median wages in 2020 - around \u00a38.56 if forecasts prove accurate.\n\nPlease use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 2:14 Could robots replace human workers?\n\nThe IFS said those set to be brought within the minimum wage net in 2020 are more than twice as likely to be in the 10% most \"routine\" occupations as those who were directly affected by the minimum wage in 2015.\n\nIt said that leaves roles such as retail cashiers and receptionists at the mercy of potential automation. However, the report admitted the future was \"uncertain\" and that the loss of some jobs to automation could open other opportunities.\n\nThe report was released after a separate study in the summer warned that 15 million UK jobs \"could disappear due to technological disruption\".\n\nIFS research economist Agnes Norris Keiller, who wrote the study, said: \"The fact that there seemed to be a negligible employment impact of a minimum at \u00a36.70 per hour - the 2015 rate - does not mean that the same will be true of the rate of over \u00a38.50 per hour that is set to apply in 2020.\n\n\"Beyond some point, a higher minimum must start affecting employment, and we do not know where that point is.\"\n\nAdvertisement\n\nShe added: \"Meanwhile even higher rates, as proposed for example by the Labour Party, would bring even more employees in more automatable jobs into the minimum wage net.\"\n\nShadow business secretary Rebecca Long Bailey said: \"Technological change, if harnessed effectively, could bring about immense benefits - transforming jobs and workplaces and driving up productivity and living standards.\n\n\"All workers should be paid a full and fair wage, which is why Labour has pledged to introduce a Real Living Wage of at least \u00a310 an hour by 2020, as well as support for smaller businesses to pay it.\n\n\"Labour will invest in our country's future, new technologies, our businesses, our infrastructure and people. Higher wages, good jobs, greater investment in skills and technology to boost productivity and high employment all goes\n\ntogether. They are complements, not trade-offs.\"\n\nA Government spokesman responded: \"The National Living Wage is creating a stronger economy and a fairer society, having delivered the fastest pay rise for the lowest earners in 20 years.\n\n\"But we also want to create highly-skilled, well-paid jobs for the future, backing innovation and supporting the development of new skills through our Industrial Strategy.\n\n\"That's why the Government is working with industry to ensure the benefits of new technologies are felt across different sectors and regions.\"", "output": "The UK Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned that a higher National Living Wage brings with it the possibility of more jobs being automated, as employers look to keep costs down. The current \u00a37.50 ($10.18) hourly rate is set to rise to \u00a37.83 in April and could rise to \u00a38.56 by 2020. IFS research economist Agnes Norris Keiller said there was a \"negligible impact on employment with the 2015 hourly rate of \u00a36.70 and added: \"beyond some point, a higher minimum must start affecting employment, and we do not know where that point is\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus WeWork may seek stock-market flotation this year \n Depending on whom you ask, WeWork is either a brilliant company that is re-imagining office space and the modern workplace, or a glorified, overvalued real estate play with no sustainable competitive advantage.\n\nOne thing is clear: The start-up is making waves in the business world and real estate market as it now commands a valuation of $21 billion, up from $18 billion earlier last year, just eight years after its founding in 2010. It's received investments from the likes of Softbank, Fidelity Investments, and JPMorgan Chase along the way.\n\nLast year was a big one for the co-working specialist as the company made a number of acquisitions, taking over Meetup, The Flatiron School, and Spacemob, among others, and making a splashy real estate play with its $850 million purchase of the Lord & Taylor flagship building on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, which will become the company's new headquarters.\n\nWith WeWork's valuation north of $20 billion, revenue on track for over $1 billion last year, and a pedigree as a disruptor, it's not a surprise that investors would be anticipating the company's IPO (initial product offering). Co-founder Adam Neumann reiterated last summer that the company plans to go public.\n\nBefore we explore whether WeWork will debut on the market this year, let's take a look at how far the company has come.\n\nWhat is WeWork?\n\nLike Airbnb or Uber, WeWork is a company distinctly of the mobile and digital era. The internet has rewritten the norms of white-collar work, allowing those in industries like media, design, and tech to work from anywhere with an internet connection.\n\nWeWork capitalized on this shift by creating workspaces that cater to freelancers, entrepreneurs, and small businesses looking for customizable office space and the community that a WeWork hub fosters. The company leases office space and redesigns it to attract millennials in the knowledge economy as well as others looking for office space.\n\nFounders Neumann and Miguel McKelvey started a similar business in 2008 in Brooklyn called Green Desk, as an eco-friendly co-working space, which paved the way for WeWork after they sold Green Desk to their landlord in 2010. Making community the central focus, the pair opened the first WeWork in New York in April 2011. Today, WeWork is growing quickly, with its locations nearly tripling over the last year, and the company now has 275 locations across 59 cities around the world. WeWork is even experimenting with living spaces with WeLive, which has two locations, one in New York and one in Washington, D.C., and offers short- or long-term housing in community-focused microapartments based on the WeWork model.\n\nWill 2018 be the year?\n\nWhile the company has given no indication of when it would issue an IPO, there's good reason to think that WeWork could go public this year. The company said last year it would reach the key milestone of $1 billion in annual revenue, nearly doubling sales from a year ago. The stock market -- especially tech stocks -- is strong, as the Nasdaq jumped 28% last year and the valuation of the S&P 500 is as high as it's been since the tech bubble. Not all IPOs have been winners lately, as Snap Inc and Blue Apron were duds, but WeWork looks like the type of company -- the clear leader in a new industry and demonstrably profitable on a unit business -- that would generate excitement among investors. When it opens a new location, WeWork says it takes a loss for the first few months, but locations are generally profitable nine months after opening.\n\nHaving just scored a $4.4 billion investment from Softbank in August, WeWork may not necessarily need the cash that would come with an IPO, but the company has been expanding fast and spending money to boot with its $850 million purchase of the Lord & Taylor building and its $200 million acquisition of Meetup in November 2017. If the company seeks more such acquisitions, tapping the public markets may be its best option for a cash influx.\n\nWeWork may also want to be mindful of the lesson in Uber's travails as a private company; the ride-hailing specialist may have waited too long to go public as it's now saddled with a slew of image problems after a number of scandals, not to mention regulatory challenges. WeWork's reputation in that area remains spotless for now, but it needs to avoid mistakes that would potentially damage that reputation.\n\nWith the market roaring, investors hungry for new tech IPOs, and a strong economy pushing WeWork's growth, 2018 could be a great year for WeWork stock to go public.", "output": "Co-working start-up WeWork may go public this year after\u00a0its valuation rose to $21bn\u00a0from $18bn in 2017. WeWork acquired a number of smaller companies in the past year, including Meetup and Spacemob, and also bought the former Lord & Taylor building on New York's Fifth Avenue for $850m to serve as its headquarters. Co-founder Adam Neumann confirmed last year that the company intends to go public, and with the stock market performing well for tech companies, 2018 appears a good time.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AMD poised to gain market share as Intel pounded by chip flaws \n AMD is big winner from chip flaw fiasco as more than $11 billion in Intel stock value is wiped out 11:43 AM ET Fri, 5 Jan 2018 | 00:43\n\nInvestors are piling into AMD shares and selling Intel stock after major chip security vulnerabilities were revealed earlier this week, and it totally makes sense.\n\nEnterprises will likely diversify their chip security architecture risk for mission-critical applications by buying more AMD server chips. The company's \"architecture differences\" have proven immune to the more problematic one of the two disclosed vulnerabilities.\n\nBritish tech website The Register reported Tuesday that some Intel processors have a \"fundamental design flaw\" and security issue, which spurred the company to confirm the problem later in the day.\n\nAMD shares are up 10.4 percent in the two days through Thursday following the report, while Intel's stock declined 5.2 percent in the period, wiping out $11.3 billion of shareholder value.\n\nOne of the two vulnerabilities, called Meltdown, affects Intel processors. The other, named Spectre, could affect chips from Intel, AMD and Arm.\n\nIntel said Wednesday that performance degradation after security updates for Meltdown \"should not be significant\" for the average user. But on a call with investors, the company admitted a decrease in performance of up to 30 percent was possible after fixes under some \"synthetic workloads.\"\n\nBank of America Merrill Lynch told clients the big Intel performance hits were \"likely for enterprise and server workloads.\"\n\nOn the flip side, AMD said any performance hits will be \"negligible\" after Spectre-related security software updates and there is \"near zero risk of exploitation.\" The company also confirmed it is not affected by Meltdown due to processor \"architecture differences.\"\n\nResearchers and Apple said Spectre is more difficult to exploit.\n\nMultiple Wall Street analysts predicted AMD will take advantage of the Intel's security issues.\n\nAMD could use it as \"a marketing edge given differing architectures and no vulnerability yet,\" Mizuho Securities analyst Vijay Rakesh wrote in a note to clients Wednesday.\n\nIntel's high-profit data-center business, which sells server chips to cloud computing providers and enterprises, is the chipmaker's crown jewel.\n\nRakesh noted that Intel had 99 percent market share of the data-center market, representing a huge opportunity for AMD.\n\nAnalysts estimate that Intel's data-center group will generate $18.5 billion in sales and $7.4 billion in operating profit in 2017, according to FactSet.\n\n\"Longer-term customers could be more motivated to find alternatives at AMD and possibly ARM (CAVM benefits) to diversify the architectural risks,\" Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Vivek Arya wrote Thursday. \"AMD appears poised to be the most direct beneficiary.\"\n\nAn AMD gain of significant market share in the server market is not unprecedented. The company hit 25 percent share in 2006. If AMD is able to reach 10 percent or 15 percent market share of the data-center business, it could add billions in revenue to the company's financial results.\n\nAny increase will be a boon for AMD because the Wall Street consensus for the company's 2017 estimated sales is just $5.25 billion.\n\nOne leading tech industry analyst says the chipmaker will do just that.\n\n\"The news of Intel's processor security issue and the potential performance degradation to correct it comes at an inopportune time as Intel currently faces heavy competitive pressure from its long-time nemesis, AMD,\" Fred Hickey, editor of High Tech Strategist, wrote in an email Thursday. \"AMD's new line of chips is a significant challenger for the first time in many years (since AMD's Opteron chip days).\"\n\nAMD launched new line Epyc data-center processors to much fanfare last June with design wins at cloud computing providers Microsoft Azure and Baidu.\n\n\n\n\"For Intel, it likely means loss of market share (lower revenues) as well as loss of pricing power (lower gross margins) as the advantage shifts to the buyers and away from Intel, which has totally dominated the PC/computer server processor market in recent years,\" Hickey said. \"AMD's new processor chips already had momentum and that momentum will likely be propelled further by the recent security issue disclosures.\"", "output": "Intel has seen more than $11bn wiped off its market value following a report by The Register of two vulnerabilities in its microprocessors that could lead malware to stored password data. In contrast, shares in rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) rose 10% after the company said there was a \"near zero risk of exploitation\" despite its\u00a0chips being affected by one of the vulnerabilities. Computers using Intel chips from the past 10 years could be affected, including those running Microsoft Windows and Apple OS X. AMD now has a chance to eat into Intel's 99% share of the data-centre market.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Demand for cyber coverage rises 50% in India \n MUMBAI: About 250 companies, including some of the top staterun banks , have bought cyber insurance cover, which is 50% more than what was sold in the past year. With rising attacks, insurers expect robust future demand for cyber risk insurance in India.Today, cyber risk is the most discussed risk topic-area in board rooms. Marsh India, a Mumbai-based insurance broking firm with a large share in the cyber segment, saw a 50% increase in companies buying cyber security cover in 2017 compared with 2016.Cyber liability insurance has been around in the international markets for more than a decade. However, Indian insurers have started writing this business for only three years now. It covers losses arising from a cyber attack or incident of data breach. Mostly banks and ecommerce companies have been buying large covers.The size of cyber insurance premium is Rs 200 crore. It is expected to grow to Rs 400 crore in the next couple of years. There is huge demand for cyber insurance policies after the telecom revolution and various initiatives have pushed increasing digitisation of the economy. \u201cCyber insurance is going through a similar phase of active dialogue which we saw for Directors\u2019 and Officers\u2019 liability insurance in India 15 years ago,\u201d said Sanjay Kedia, country head, Marsh India.\u201cOne major difference though is that the cyber risk incident is on the rise at a much faster pace, and the nature of risk is far more dynamic and possibly explosive in many situations.\u201d In 2017, public sector lender Union Bank of India was hacked and a whopping $171 million was debited from the bank\u2019s account through Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication or SWIFT payments without the bank\u2019s authorisation.The money was retrieved after the bank acted with the help of government agencies. In 2016, card data of 3.2 million customers was stolen from a network of Yes Bank ATMs managed by Hitachi Payment Services. Banks in India had to reissue cards and faced a combined loss of more than $2 million after hackers allegedly penetrated the system that carried out the processing of ATM transactions. There have been cases of mobile phone applications of banks being hacked by cyber-criminals. The pilferage of personal information and money in digital wallets has cost banks crores of rupees.", "output": "Demand for cyber insurance among Indian companies has spiked by roughly 50%, with around 250 top companies opting for coverage. Indian underwriters reportedly began offering such policies only three years ago. Increased popularity of this type of insurance comes following a 2017 hack on public-sector lender Union Bank of India. The attack resulted in $171m being debited from the bank's account without authorisation.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Terror insurance spending up four-fold in UK public sector \n None", "output": "The UK's public sector has increased its spending on insurance against terrorist attacks four-fold over the past 12 months. Roughly \u00a356m ($76m) of contracts included terrorism coverage were underwritten in 2017, up from \u00a314m in 2016. Recent attacks are said to have caused less physical damage than previous incidents. Business interruption from these attacks, however, has been notable, with insurers criticised for failing to get payouts to businesses impacted by last year's attack at Borough Market, losses from which are estimated to have been \u00a31.4m. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Land values for logistics and data centre hubs doubled in 2017 \n A worker pulls carts full of customer orders along the floor inside the million-square foot Amazon distribution warehouse that opened last fall in Fall River, MA.\n\nLand fit for future fulfillment centers for the likes of Amazon and Walmart saw huge spikes in prices last year, according to real estate services firm CBRE.\n\nIn a trend largely stemming from the growth of e-commerce players across the U.S., some plots of land now cost twice the amount they did a year ago, the group found. This is especially true in major markets, including Atlanta and Houston.\n\nIn surveying 10 U.S. markets, CBRE found the average price for \"large industrial parcels\" (50 to 100 acres) now sits at more than $100,000 per acre, up from about $50,000 a year ago.\n\nIndustrial land plots of five to 10 acres, which typically house infill distribution centers for completing \"last-mile\" deliveries, watched their prices soar to more than $250,000 per acre by the end of 2017, up from roughly $200,000 a year ago, according to CBRE. Located in more bustling metropolitan settings, these warehouses must help retailers serve consumers closer to their homes.\n\nTo be sure, industry experts say that despite an uptick in construction of late, there's still a long way to go before supply aligns with demand.", "output": "The average price for large industrial plots of land of between 50 and 100 acres doubled last year\u00a0from $50,000 to $100,000 per acre, thanks to increased demand for data hubs and distribution centres, according to a survey by CBRE. In an examination of 10 US markets, plots of between five and 10 acres, suitable for \"last-mile\"\u00a0depots, cost $250,000 per acre by the end of last year, an increase of $50,000 on 2016. David Egan, the global head of CBRE's Industrial & Logistics Research division, said that demand is not likely to drop in the near future."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Birmingham breaks 1 million sq ft office take-up for first time \n Office take up in quarter four, 2017 in the central Birmingham office market totalled 354,530 sq ft in 49 deals as scheduled in the table below, compiled by the Birmingham Office Market Forum.\n\nWhen added to the 81 deals totalling 650,542 sq ft recorded in the first three quarters of the year, the 2017 year-end total take up amounts to 1,005,072 sq ft in 130 deals.\n\nThis compares with:\n\n692,729 sq ft in 139 deals for 2016\n\n970,458 sq ft in 132 deals for 2015\n\n713,460 sq ft in 148 deals for 2014\n\n664,147 sq ft in 128 deals for 2013\n\nThe 2017 outcome is a record take up year, beating the previous high seen in 2015.\n\nOffice take up was boosted by the emergence of HS2 related demand together with the Government committing to the largest prelet seen in the city for a decade. In addition, key larger transactions were concluded in the Professional Services and the Serviced Office sectors.\n\nBreaking 1 million sq ft office take up for the first time is extremely positive for Birmingham during the current period of unprecedented development activity and further regeneration, visible across the BOMF area. It is also particularly encouraging bearing in mind the slow first half of the year following on from the dip seen in the previous year\u2019s total.\n\nFor further information please contact the author of the report Jonathan Carmalt, Director, Office Agency, JLL on 0121 214 9935 or email [email protected]\n\nBirmingham Office Market Forum was established in 2007 to present a co-ordinated voice to investors, developers and occupiers about Birmingham\u2019s city centre office market.\n\nThe Forum brings together the city\u2019s leading office agents and Business Birmingham.\n\nFor a list of member firms or further information visit their website", "output": "Office take-up in Birmingham during 2017 broke the one million sq ft barrier for the first time, in spite of a slow first half to the year, according to data from the city's Office Market Forum. The year saw a total of 130 deals and beating the previous record of 970,458 sq ft in 2015. The figures were given a fillip by demand linked to the planned HS2 high-speed rail link, and the UK government committing to the city's biggest pre-let in 10 years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK insurers may cover health claims based on chatbot diagnosis \n Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More\n\nPeople use chatbots to find homes, interact with their favorite brands, and schedule appointments. Many consumers are onboard with using chatbots to gather instant, personalized information.\n\nIn many cases, chatbots are the first point of contact for individuals who feel unwell and need to decide whether to head to the doctor. As this technology becomes more prominent, people understandably begin to wonder if insurance companies will cover sessions with chatbot doctors. Given their innovative use of chatbots in the health care sector, it\u2019s looking like insurers and health organizations in the U.K. could be the first to establish insurance coverage for health consultations with chatbots.\n\nHow do chatbot doctors work?\n\nPeople who have yet to interact with a chatbot doctor might wonder how they work. Could a bot know as much as physicians who have completed years of medical school and relevant work experience?\n\nSometimes, the chatbot makes a preliminary assessment about a person\u2019s health depending on the responses the individual gives to targeted questions. One such chatbot called Ada is available to residents in the United Kingdom. The assessment is free, and the bot avoids providing a set-in-stone diagnosis. Ada uses artificial intelligence to get continually smarter with ongoing use.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\nThe developers know Ada won\u2019t replace doctors but hope the bot will help more patients understand what their symptoms might mean. However, a person can also supplement the assessment portion by talking to an actual doctor. That option is offered for a fee and includes receiving a prescription if needed.\n\nIndividuals frequently head to sites such as WebMD and end up with a questionable self-diagnosis. This is why it makes sense that insurers would be open to the idea of paying for patient interactions that begin with chatbots. A bot\u2019s ability to personalize its conversations with patients could theoretically yield a smaller margin of error and be less likely to provide misleading information.\n\nReducing emergency room visits\n\nThe U.K.\u2019s National Health Service (NHS) is also trying out a chatbot that asks people a series of questions when they dial the nationwide emergency number to indicate whether or not they need an ambulance. Representatives hope the service will reduce the number of people dispatchers send to emergency rooms.\n\nWhen too many callers are sent to the emergency room, patients wait in hospitals for several hours or even longer before receiving treatment. Those in favor of chatbots say the technology could keep emergency room visits at more manageable levels. In contrast, critics assert that the NHS previously used a symptom checker app that made highly publicized and dangerous blunders when advising some patients, and they think the same problems could occur with the chatbot.\n\nThe NHS provides free health care to legal residents of the United Kingdom that covers most needs, including emergency care and visits with general practitioners. However, the NHS assists over 1 million patients in England every 36 hours. People who rely on the NHS for health care often deal with long waits. To compensate, those who can afford them often subscribe to private insurance plans.\n\nIt will be interesting to gauge the outcome of this NHS program, especially considering how many people rely on the NHS. If things go well, the positive result could prompt insurance companies to accept claims from customers who receive advice from chatbots regarding their well-being.\n\nHow much are chatbots worth?\n\nIt remains to be seen if insurance companies in the United Kingdom and elsewhere will cover chatbot doctors. The evidence to suggest their willingness \u2014 or lack thereof \u2014 to do so is not available yet because the technology is too new.\n\nOne reason insurers might balk at the idea of paying for this kind of coverage is the need to determine the fair market value of compensation for such services. In some areas, health facilities use telehealth providers to reduce the need for on-call personnel. However, the relevant valuators in those locations must remain aware of federal and state laws surrounding telemedicine. If they fail to do so, over- or undercompensation could occur during the billing and collection processes.\n\nSome telemedicine laws have not been in place for very long. Not surprisingly, many locations have not even considered chatbots in the equation.\n\nHelping people understand their coverage\n\nAlthough insurance companies haven\u2019t made it clear whether they\u2019re completely onboard with covering chatbots, it seems promising that some are already using chatbots to help customers achieve a higher level of understanding about their coverage packages.\n\nFor example, Now Health International is a company that provides health insurance for expatriates. The headquarters is in Hong Kong, and the establishment has other branches in Asia and the United Kingdom.\n\nThis summer, the insurance provider launched a chatbot through Facebook Messenger. Regardless of whether users are existing customers or are only thinking about purchasing coverage packages, they can use the chatbot to find physicians in the Now Health International network or get questions answered about filing claims and receiving quotes.\n\nThe chatbot can also recognize keywords entered by a user into the chat window. When it picks up on those words, the technology automatically directs the person to the proper area of the website for further information.\n\nThe increasingly widespread use of chatbots for health \u2014 including those provided by insurance companies \u2014 indicates that some insurers are laying the necessary foundation for covering chatbots in the future. However, it\u2019s likely that before that happens, we must pass legislation clarifying the valuation-related questions that could arise during claims, billing, and other aspects.\n\nAs consumers become more comfortable with using chatbots to ask questions about their health or insurance, the increased prevalence of the technology in the marketplace could push officials to iron out the details. That would pave the way for insurance companies to clearly mention they accept claims related to treatment that involves chatbot doctors on their websites or insurance documents. Insurers may also stipulate that they will not offer coverage to patients who did not speak to actual doctors during their chatbot-driven conversations and only used the chatbots for preliminary advice.\n\nChatbots could drastically change how people manage their health care needs. Similarly, they could alter how doctors treat patients and how insurers handle the claims. Since the technology is in its infancy, however, it\u2019s only possible to perform research and make educated speculations.\n\nKayla Matthews is senior writer for MakeUseOf. Her work has also appeared on Vice, The Next Web, The Week, and TechnoBuffalo.", "output": "Machine learning chatbots \u2013 such as Ada, which helps UK residents make preliminary assessments about their health \u2013 could lead to insurance companies offering coverage for virtual consultations. Industry insiders have suggested that a chatbot's ability to personalise consultations makes them less likely to make mistakes, leading to less risk for insurers. The country's National Health Service is\u00a0using a chatbot assessment service in an attempt\u00a0to reduce A&E patient numbers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ETF shop Reality Shares adds blockchain experts to advisory board \n California-based asset management firm Reality Share Advisors announced on Wednesday its advisory board now includes six blockchain and cryptocurrency executives. The members are the following:\n\nErik Voorhees: The founder of Coinapult and CEO of ShapeShift.\n\nThe founder of Coinapult and CEO of ShapeShift. Dr. Garrick Hileman: A research fellow at the University of Cambridge and researcher at the London School of Economics.\n\nA research fellow at the University of Cambridge and researcher at the London School of Economics. Jeff Garzik: The co-founder and CEO of Bloq, a blockchain enterprise software company.\n\nThe co-founder and CEO of Bloq, a blockchain enterprise software company. Matthew Roszak: The founding partner of Tally Capital, a private investment firm focused on blockchain-enabled technology.\n\nThe founding partner of Tally Capital, a private investment firm focused on blockchain-enabled technology. Steve Beauregard: The founder and former CEO of leading blockchain payment processor GoCoin.\n\nThe founder and former CEO of leading blockchain payment processor GoCoin. Derin Cag: The founder of Richtopia and co-founder of Blockchain Age, a research center and digital data consultancy for blockchain technology.\n\nWhile sharing more details about the board, Eric Ervin, CEO of Reality Shares, stated:\n\n\u201cIn recognizing the tremendous growth potential for blockchain technology while still in its infancy, this advisory board seeks to infuse our investment products and decisions with the knowledge and research of credible thought leaders in the space.\u201d\n\nErvin then added:\n\n\u201cOur newly-formed advisory board is comprised of well-regarded influencers at the forefront of blockchain innovation who are deeply entrenched in the disruptive technologies and ideas propelling the distributed ledger and cryptocurrency revolution.\u201d\n\nFounded in 2011, Reality Shares is described as an innovative asset management firm, ETF issuer, and index provider. The firm noted that its goal is democratize the world\u2019s best investing ideas, using systematic quantitative methods to deliver products and solutions that support a range of investing objectives, such as diversification, lower correlation, risk mitigation, or unique market exposures.", "output": "Asset management company Reality Shares Advisors has appointed six blockchain and cryptocurrency executives to its advisory board to \"infuse its investment products and decisions with the knowledge and research of credible thought leaders\", according to CEO Eric Ervin. The appointees include Jeff Garzik, the CEO of blockchain enterprise software company Bloq, Derin Cag, co-founder of research centre Blockchain Age, and Steve Beauregard, former CEO of payment processor GoCoin.\u00a0Reality Shares Advisors focuses on ETF and index investments.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "General Motors sales surge in China as US registers declines \n General Motors sells 70% more cars in China than in the US.\n\nChina's auto market growth has outpaced the US in the last decade, but is slowing.\n\n\n\nIn China, General Motors is hot. In November, its 10 joint ventures and two wholly-owned foreign enterprises sold 418,225 new vehicles in China, up 13% from a year ago. It was the best November ever, GM said. SUV sales soared 73%.\n\nBy comparison, in the US, GM sold 245,387 new vehicles in November, it reported a few days ago, down nearly 3% from a year ago. In other words, in November, GM sold 70% more vehicles in China than in the US.\n\nChina became the world\u2019s largest new vehicle market for the first time in 2009, when sales in the US plunged. For years, growth rates in the Chinese market blew the doors off the US market. But the hectic pace has recently subsided. For 2017, deliveries are expected to rise only 2%, and competition from local automakers is getting tougher.\n\nBuick is still hot in China \u2013 though it\u2019s just about moribund in the US, where deliveries fell 3.5% year-over-year in November to just 16,833 vehicles, accounting for only 7% of GM\u2019s total sales in the US. Of them, 2,228 were the China-made compact SUVs, the Buick Envision.\n\nIn China, Buick is still the fourth largest auto brand with a market share of just under 5% so far this year, behind Volkswagen, Honda, and Toyota. In November, GM sold 112,738 Buicks, or 27% of its total sales. But for the month, Buick was already outsold by GM\u2019s Baojun.\n\nBaojun is the hottest brand GM has in China. Sales of the bargain-priced vehicles soared 52% in November to 113,711 units, accounting for over a quarter of GM\u2019s total sales in China.\n\nGM launched Baojun in 2010, after the \u201cNew GM\u201d had emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US in July 2009, with Debtor in Possession (DIP) financing and equity investments from the US taxpayer. This support helped GM go on an investment spree in China, and, along with its joint-venture partner SAIC, plow $2.4 billion in the Baojun factory in Liuzhou, even as many former GM plants in the US had been shuttered and were disposed of in bankruptcy.\n\nBut GM owns only 44% of Baojun. With technology transfer to SAIC being a big part of the deal, this is a risky proposition. The Wall Street Journal:\n\nOther foreign auto makers \u201care consistently taken aback by GM\u2019s apparently generous technology sharing\u201d when it comes to Baojun, said Michael Dunne, a former GM executive and now president of Dunne Automotive, a consultancy. \u201cThe open approach has engendered considerable goodwill but it also leaves GM vulnerable to the whims of its powerful Chinese partner.\u201d\n\nGM was less proud of its brand Wuling. It sold 113,919 units. GM does not brag about the year-over-year change in deliveries, as it does with Baojun. In fact, in the press release, there is no mention of this year-over-year change. Turns out, a year ago, GM had reported 121,566 sales in November. In other words, Wuling sales dropped 6.3% year-over-year.\n\nNevertheless GM gushed, while purposefully leaving out Wuling: \u201cGM\u2019s performance was strong across its brands. Baojun deliveries reached an all-time monthly high, while Buick, Cadillac and Chevrolet set November sales records.\u201d\n\nChina-sold Buicks, Cadillacs, and Chevrolets are built by a 50-50 GM-SAIC joint venture. These vehicles tend to be more upscale than GM\u2019s Chinese brands.\n\nFor the first 11 months this year, GM sold 32% more vehicles in China than in the US, with 3,549,087 units in China, up 3.3% year-over-year, versus 2,691,493 units in the US, down 1.2%, according to Autodata. 2017 will be the sixth year in a row when GM\u2019s vehicle sales in China exceeded those in the US.\n\nBut it\u2019s complicated. These are joint ventures, margins in China are thin, and in terms of profits, GM\u2019s China operations don\u2019t contribute all that much. For the year 2016, GM booked global profits of $9.4 billion, of which GM attributed only $2 billion to \u201cequity income\u201d at its joint ventures in China despite all the massive in vestments in China. Most of the remainder of its global profits came from its sales in the US, and mostly from the fat profit margins on pickups and SUVs.\n\nThen there\u2019s Tesla, with a market capitalization not much behind GM\u2019s despite minuscule vehicle sales. This is where hype goes to die.", "output": "Surging sales of General Motors cars in China meant the company sold 70% more vehicles there than in the US in November. China sales rose 13.1% last month, YoY, to 491,702 vehicles, having jumped 13% in November. US\u00a0sales fell 3.3% to 245,387 last month after a 3% decline in November. The most popular GM brand in China is the Baojun, sales of which rocketed\u00a052% in November to 113,711. However, GM only owns 44% of Baojun, with China's SAIC holding a large part of the deal. The Wall Street Journal warns that this\u00a0\"leaves GM vulnerable to the whims of its powerful Chinese partner\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ocean dead zones have quadrupled in size since 1950 \n Ocean dead zones with zero oxygen have quadrupled in size since 1950, scientists have warned, while the number of very low oxygen sites near coasts have multiplied tenfold. Most sea creatures cannot survive in these zones and current trends would lead to mass extinction in the long run, risking dire consequences for the hundreds of millions of people who depend on the sea.\n\nClimate change caused by fossil fuel burning is the cause of the large-scale deoxygenation, as warmer waters hold less oxygen. The coastal dead zones result from fertiliser and sewage running off the land and into the seas.\n\nThe analysis, published in the journal Science, is the first comprehensive analysis of the areas and states: \u201cMajor extinction events in Earth\u2019s history have been associated with warm climates and oxygen-deficient oceans.\u201d Denise Breitburg, at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in the US and who led the analysis, said: \u201cUnder the current trajectory that is where we would be headed. But the consequences to humans of staying on that trajectory are so dire that it is hard to imagine we would go quite that far down that path.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis is a problem we can solve,\u201d Breitburg said. \u201cHalting climate change requires a global effort, but even local actions can help with nutrient-driven oxygen decline.\u201d She pointed to recoveries in Chesapeake Bay in the US and the Thames river in the UK, where better farm and sewage practices led to dead zones disappearing.\n\nHowever, Prof Robert Diaz at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, who reviewed the new study, said: \u201cRight now, the increasing expansion of coastal dead zones and decline in open ocean oxygen are not priority problems for governments around the world. Unfortunately, it will take severe and persistent mortality of fisheries for the seriousness of low oxygen to be realised.\u201d\n\nThe oceans feed more than 500 million people, especially in poorer nations, and provide jobs for 350 million people. But at least 500 dead zones have now been reported near coasts, up from fewer than 50 in 1950. Lack of monitoring in many regions means the true number may be much higher.\n\nThe open ocean has natural low oxygen areas, usually off the west coast of continents due to the way the rotation of the Earth affects ocean currents. But these dead zones have expanded dramatically, increasing by millions of square kilometres since 1950, roughly equivalent to the area of the European Union.\n\nFurthermore, the level of oxygen in all ocean waters is falling, with 2% \u2013 77bn tonnes \u2013 being lost since 1950. This can reduce growth, impair reproduction and increase disease, the scientists warn. One irony is that warmer waters not only hold less oxygen but also mean marine organisms have to breathe faster, using up oxygen more quickly.\n\nThere are also dangerous feedback mechanisms. Microbes that proliferate at very low oxygen levels produce lots of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide.\n\nIn coastal regions, fertiliser, manure and sewage pollution cause algal blooms and when the algae decompose oxygen is sucked out of the water. However, in some places, the algae can lead to more food for fish and increase catches around the dead zones. This may not be sustainable though, said Breitburg: \u201cThere is a lot of concern that we are really changing the way these systems function and that the overall resilience of these systems may be reduced.\u201d\n\nThe new analysis was produced by an international working group created in 2016 by Unesco\u2019s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. The commission\u2019s Kirsten Isensee said: \u201cOcean deoxygenation is taking place all over the world as a result of the human footprint, therefore we also need to address it globally.\u201d\n\nLucia von Reusner, campaign director of the campaign group, Mighty Earth, which recently exposed a link between the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico and large scale meat production, said: \u201cThese dead zones will continue to expand unless the major meat companies that dominate our global agricultural system start cleaning up their supply chains to keep pollution out of our waters.\u201d\n\nDiaz said the speed of ocean suffocation already seen was breathtaking: \u201cNo other variable of such ecological importance to coastal ecosystems has changed so drastically in such a short period of time from human activities as dissolved oxygen.\u201d\n\nHe said the need for urgent action is best summarised by the motto of the American Lung Association: \u201cIf you can\u2019t breathe, nothing else matters.\u201d", "output": "Ocean dead zones, which contain no oxygen, have become four times larger since 1950, while the number of areas with very low oxygen close to coasts has increased tenfold, according to the first comprehensive analysis of these areas. Most marine species cannot exist in such conditions, and the continuation of such trends would result in mass extinction, endangering the livelihood of millions of people. Large-scale deoxygenation is the result of climate change caused by burning fossil fuels; as waters warm, they contain less oxygen.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US public divided on online abuse: Pew \n Pew Research Center surveys have found that online harassment is a common phenomenon in the digital lives of many Americans, and that a majority of Americans feel harassment online is a major problem. Even so, there is considerable debate over what online harassment actually means in practice.\n\nIn an effort to examine more deeply where people \u201cdraw the line\u201d when it comes to online harassment, the Center conducted a survey in which respondents were presented with fictional scenarios depicting different types of escalating online interactions. The survey then asked them to indicate which specific elements of the story they considered to be harassment.\n\nTheir answers indicate that Americans broadly agree that certain behaviors are beyond the pale. For instance, in various contexts most agree that online harassment occurs when people make direct personal threats against others. At the same time, the public is much more divided over whether or not other behaviors \u2013 such as sending unkind messages or publicly sharing a private conversation \u2013 constitute online harassment.\n\nIn two vignettes, respondents were asked if and when the social media platforms where the incidents were occurring should have stepped in and addressed the unfolding events. Again, majorities agree that the platforms should step in to address behaviors such as threatening messages. But public views are more split when it comes to the responsibilities of the platforms at other points in these incidents.\n\nScenario 1: A private disagreement between friends that becomes public and escalates in severity\n\nPeople\u2019s perceptions of online harassment incidents can often depend on who is involved in the conflict, as well as whether that conflict plays out publicly or in private. The first scenario in the survey presented respondents with an example of a private disagreement between a fictional character named \u201cDavid\u201d and his friend over a sensitive political issue. The conversation begins in a private messaging thread but then becomes public and escalates in severity:\n\n\u201cDavid and his friend are messaging privately about a sensitive political issue on which they disagree. David says something that offends his friend, who forwards the conversation to some people they know. One of those people shares the conversation publicly on a social media account, and David receives unkind messages from strangers. The original conversation is then reposted on an account with thousands of followers, and David receives messages that are vulgar. Eventually someone posts David\u2019s phone number and home address online, and David starts to receive threatening messages.\u201d\n\nThe vast majority of Americans (89%) agree that David does experience online harassment at some point in this conflict. Just 4% feel that he does not experience online harassment at least somewhere during the episode, and 7% say they are not sure if he was harassed or not. Although there are some modest demographic differences on this question, sizable majorities of Americans across a wide range of groups agree that this scenario as a whole does in fact involve online harassment.\n\nWhen asked to identify which specific elements of the scenario they consider online harassment, only a small share of Americans (5%) think the initial disagreement when David offends his friend qualifies. The public is more evenly divided on the next two elements of the scenario: 48% think it constitutes online harassment when David\u2019s friend forwards their private conversation to other people, while 52% do not deem it harassment. Similarly, 54% say it counts as harassment when someone then shares the conversation publicly on social media, while 46% think it does not.\n\nThere is relatively broad consensus on the remaining elements of the scenario. Substantial shares of Americans think David experiences online harassment when he begins to receive unkind messages from strangers (72%), when those messages become vulgar (82%), when his personal information is posted online (85%), and when he starts to receive threatening messages (85%).\n\nViews of this scenario differ little based on the gender of the main character\n\nThe gender of the scenario\u2019s lead character has little impact on Americans\u2019 perceptions of whether online harassment did or did not occur in this situation. A separate group of respondents was given an identical scenario to consider but with a woman as the lead character instead of a man. Some 91% of Americans feel that the scenario involving a female protagonist qualifies as online harassment, compared with 89% in the scenario involving a man. And their responses to the specific elements of the story are also nearly identical in each version.\n\nScenario 2: Harassment involving sexism\n\nThe second scenario in the survey used a story involving a character named Julie to explore how Americans view online harassment issues involving sexism and sexual harassment:\n\n\u201cJulie posts on her social media account, defending one side of a controversial political issue. A few people reply to her, with some supporting and some opposing her. As more people see her post, Julie receives unkind messages. Eventually her post is shared by a popular blogger with thousands of followers, and Julie receives vulgar messages that insult her looks and sexual behavior. She also notices people posting pictures of her that have been edited to include sexual images. Eventually, she receives threatening messages.\u201d\n\nAs was true in the preceding scenario, the vast majority of Americans (89%) agree that Julie does indeed experience online harassment at some point in this scenario. Another 6% feel that Julie was not harassed at any point in the encounter, while 5% say they are unsure if this scenario involves harassment or not.\n\nAnd as was the case in the preceding scenario, the public has differing views on which aspects of this story represent online harassment. A very small share of Americans (3%) think Julie\u2019s initial disagreement with her friends counts as online harassment. Some 43% consider it harassment when she begins to receive unkind messages, while around one-in-five (17%) consider it harassment when her post is shared by the popular blogger with thousands of followers. Meanwhile, substantial majorities of Americans think Julie is being harassed when she receives vulgar messages about her looks and sexual behavior (85%), when her picture is edited to include sexual images (84%), and when she receives threatening messages (85%).\n\nAlong with asking respondents to identify which specific elements of this scenario count as online harassment, this scenario included a second set of questions about when \u2013 if it all \u2013 people think the social media service where this incident was occurring should have stepped in to address the behaviors in question. These findings indicate that the public has a somewhat different standard for behaviors that constitute online harassment, as opposed to behaviors that necessitate a response from online platforms.\n\nFor example, some 43% of Americans consider it to be online harassment when Julie receives unkind messages from the people reading her post \u2013 but just 20% think that the platform should have stepped in to address that behavior when it occurred. The public\u2019s attitudes diverge in similar ways on some of the more severe behaviors in the scenario. Most prominently, 85% of Americans think that Julie experiences online harassment when she begins to receive vulgar messages about her looks and sexual behavior. But substantially fewer (although still a majority at 66%) think that the social media platform has an obligation to step in and address that behavior.\n\nWomen are more likely than men to view certain behaviors in this scenario as harassing\n\nThe vast majority of both men and women feel that Julie does in fact experience online harassment in this scenario. But at the same time, men and women respond somewhat differently to some of the specific elements of the scenario. Most notably, women are roughly three times as likely as men to consider it online harassment when Julie\u2019s post is shared on social media by the blogger (24% vs. 9%), and they are also substantially more likely to consider it harassment when Julie first begins to receive unkind messages (50% vs. 35%). And although roughly eight-in-ten men consider it harassment when Julie receives vulgar messages, when she sees people editing her picture to include sexual imagery, and when she receives threatening messages, in each case that point of view is shared by roughly nine-in-ten women.\n\nScenario 3: Harassment involving racism\n\nThe final scenario in the survey used a story involving a character named John to explore how Americans view online harassment issues in the context of racially motivated content. This scenario is nearly identical to the preceding one involving \u201cJulie\u201d and sexual harassment but with racial rather than sexual overtones:\n\n\u201cJohn posts on his social media account, defending one side of a controversial political issue. A few people reply to him, with some supporting and some opposing him. As more people see his post, John receives unkind messages. Eventually his post is shared by a popular blogger with thousands of followers, and John receives vulgar messages that make racial insults and use a common racial slur. He also notices people posting pictures of him that have been edited to include racially insensitive images. Eventually, he receives threatening messages.\u201d\n\nIn many ways, Americans\u2019 views on this scenario mirror those in the previous scenario involving sexual harassment. Fully 85% of adults believe John experiences online harassment in this scenario, while 6% feel he does not face harassment, and 10% are unsure if this scenario involves online harassment or not.\n\nThey also respond in largely similar ways when asked which specific elements of the story constitute harassment. Very few Americans think that John\u2019s initial social media argument constitutes online harassment, but sizable majorities agree that John experiences harassment when he receives vulgar messages with racially insulting language (82%), when his picture is edited to include racially insensitive images (80%), and when he receives personal threats (82%).\n\nAnd as with the case of the scenario involving sexual content, Americans have a somewhat different threshold for behavior that constitutes online harassment as opposed to behavior that deserves a response by the social media platform hosting that behavior. For instance, 80% of Americans think it constitutes online harassment when people begin posting pictures of John that include racially insensitive imagery, but 57% think that the social media service should have stepped in to address that behavior.\n\nSlightly larger share of the public thinks social media platforms should step in for behaviors involving sexual harassment than for behaviors involving racial harassment\n\nThe scenarios involving \u201cJohn\u201d and \u201cJulie\u201d are generally identical in content, with the former involving explicitly racial content and the latter involving sexual content. Overall, similar shares of Americans view these scenarios as involving online harassment at some point. But slightly larger shares of the public \u2013 although a majority of Americans in each instance \u2013 think the social media platform should have stepped in at various times during the scenario involving Julie, as opposed to the scenario involving John:", "output": "The US public is divided over whether certain behaviours can be categorised as online harassment, according to a new survey by Pew. Although most respondents agreed that direct personal threats constituted harassment, opinion differed as to whether unkind messages, or the public sharing of a private conversation, met the requirements. The survey posed a\u00a0series of fictional scenarios, asking those surveyed which actions depicted constituted harassment. The majority\u00a0felt that social media platforms should intervene in the case of\u00a0threats, though respondents were divided over the platforms\u2019 responsibilities in other areas.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Kremlin may investigate failings in Russia's space programme \n \n\nImage by Kremlin.ru\n\nA spat of recent failures in Russia\u2019s space industry has caused the Kremlin to consider an official probe of problems in the sector. Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said this week that authorities warrant a thorough analysis of the situation in the space industry, reported Associated Press.\n\n4GB \u2013 A Georgian Electronic Music Festival In Soviet Style: Watch\n\n\u201cA Russian weather satellite and nearly 20 micro-satellites from other nations were lost following a failed launch from Russia\u2019s new cosmodrome in the Far East on Nov. 28. And in another blow to the Russian space industry, communications with a Russian-built communications satellite for Angola, the African nation\u2019s first space vehicle, were lost following its launch on Tuesday,\u201d wrote AP.\n\nRussian Deputy Prime Minister Rogozin, who\u2019s portfolio includes space operations, was critical of Russian space corporation, Roscosmos, declaring Roscosmos was \u201ctrying to prove that failures occur not because of mistakes in management but just due to some \u2018circumstances.'\u201d\n\nSpaceX Says It Will Take 65% Of Global Commercial Launch Market\n\nTsarizm has previously reported that Russia has lost a large percentage of the commercial launch market in recent years due to the rise of SpaceX and other commercial operators in the West, and failures such as the Kremlin has seen recently which has damaged Russia\u2019s once strong reputation in space.\n\nThe new Russian launch pad at Vostochny has been marred with delays and accusations of corruption. Russian President Vladimir Putin himself publicly called for those in charge of the project to be punished. The work horse for Moscow\u2019s space efforts previously has been the Russia-leased Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan, where heavier launches still take place until Vostochny can be finished in 2021.\n\nRussian Space Program Close To Collapse\n\nThe loss of market share in the commercial launch space has put a critical source of revenue and foreign currency in crisis.", "output": "The Kremlin is considering an official inquiry into problems in Russia's space programme. A failed launch from the country's new facility in the Far East in November led to the loss of a Russian weather satellite and nearly 20 micro-satellites from other countries, while communication links with a Russian-built communications satellite launched on behalf of Angola have also been lost. Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who has responsibility for the space industry, has been publicly critical of the country's space corporation, Roscosmos, and a Kremlin spokesman said the situation warrants a thorough analysis.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Frail Patients Losing Access To Dental House Calls \n RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. \u2014 Devon Rising shakes his head and tries to cover his face with his hands. It\u2019s time to get his few remaining teeth cleaned, and he fusses for a bit.\n\nGita Aminloo, his dental hygienist, tries to calm him by singing \u201cItsy Bitsy Spider,\u201d the classic children\u2019s song.\n\nRising, 42, is mentally disabled and blind. He has cerebral palsy and suffers from seizures. It\u2019s hard for him to get to a dentist\u2019s office, so Aminloo brought her dental picks, brushes and other tools to him at the residential care facility he shares with several other people who have developmental disabilities.\n\nRising is among a vulnerable class of patients who are poor and so frail they can\u2019t leave the nursing home or, in his case, the board-and-care home to visit dentists. Instead, they rely on specially trained dental hygienists like Aminloo, who come to them.\n\nBut this may be the last time Aminloo cleans Rising\u2019s teeth. And it\u2019s not because of his resistance.\n\nHygienists say some of their patients are no longer getting the critical dental care they need because of recent policy changes: The state dramatically slashed payment to providers and created a preauthorization process they call cumbersome.\n\nIn 2016, Denti-Cal, the publicly funded dental program for the poor, cut the rate for a common cleaning procedure for these fragile patients from $130 to $55. Hygienists say they can\u2019t afford to continue treating many of them for that kind of money. They also claim that half of their requests to perform the cleanings are rejected \u2014 an assertion not supported by state data.\n\nThe Department of Health Care Services, which runs Denti-Cal, said it made the changes to bring the program\u2019s reimbursement policy in line with other states and to reduce \u201cunnecessary dental treatment.\u201d\n\nBut Aminloo insists the new state regulations victimize the most vulnerable people, who she said are losing their access to routine dental care.\n\n\u201cIf these patients don\u2019t get preventive oral care, their overall health is going to suffer,\u201d she warned.\n\nDental hygienists are generally allowed to practice without the direct supervision of a dentist in 40 states, including Nevada, Texas, Colorado, Michigan and Florida. But the type of patients they can see varies by state. So do reimbursement and preauthorization rules.\n\nWashington state\u2019s Medicaid program pays providers $46 for a similar cleaning procedure, said Anita Rodriguez, a member of the Washington State Dental Hygienists\u2019 Association. Hygienists there don\u2019t have to obtain preauthorization to perform cleanings, but they are required to explain why the cleaning was necessary when they bill Medicaid.\n\n\u201cOur state makes access for our independent hygienists relatively uncomplicated though, like other Medicaid providers, we make pennies on the dollar for our care,\u201d she said.\n\nSince California reduced payments for \u201cmaintenance\u201d cleanings for these patients \u2014 usually performed every three months to treat gum disease \u2014 many hygienists have stopped seeing them. Eight hygienists, including Aminloo, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court in 2016, arguing that the health care services department cut the reimbursement rate without first obtaining necessary federal approval.\n\nAt one point, it appeared as if the department had agreed to settle and cancel its rate change but then backed out, court documents show. The department said it will not comment on pending litigation.\n\nAt the time of the rate reduction, the state also started requiring dental hygienists to obtain prior authorization to treat gum disease in patients who live in special care facilities. Hygienists must submit X-rays along with their authorization requests. But they say it\u2019s almost impossible to take decent X-rays of elderly or disabled patients who have a hard time controlling their head movements, or who refuse to open their mouths widely.\n\nWhen hygienists do manage to get X-rays, their requests are often denied anyway, hygienists from across the state told California Healthline.\n\nIn a letter to the state legislature last year, the California Dental Hygienists\u2019 Association wrote that more than half of their authorization requests had been denied since the change. \u201cDenti-Cal\u2019s sweeping new rules are destroying the lives of fragile patients and the women who own small businesses providing care at the bedside,\u201d the letter said.\n\nBut state statistics show a much lower denial rate.\n\nFrom the time the change took effect in July 2016 through June 2017, the health care services department approved 10,000 of nearly 13,000 deep cleanings requested by these dental hygienists to treat gum infections, according to the data. It also approved 31,300 of the nearly 33,000 requests for routine cleanings that follow a deep cleaning. The state said it paid more than $2.5 million to dental hygienists for these procedures.\n\nDarla Dale, a hygienist in Eureka and a vice president of the hygienists association, said the department\u2019s denial numbers don\u2019t reflect what her organization is seeing.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no way that\u2019s true,\u201d Dale said. \u201cWe\u2019re in contact with these hygienists. \u2026 Many have stopped working because we can\u2019t spend our lives trying to get authorization.\u201d\n\nDarci Trill, a hygienist working in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, is among those who stopped seeing patients in nursing homes after denial letters piled up. \u201cI lost about 70 percent of my Denti-Cal clients,\u201d she said.\n\nState health officials pointed to the American Academy of Periodontology, which considers the new authorization guidelines standard, including X-rays to diagnose gum disease.\n\nAn April 2016 report by the Little Hoover Commission, an independent state watchdog agency, said the state health services department found it \u201cunusual\u201d that nearly 88,000 out of 100,000 Denti-Cal-eligible patients in nursing homes had received deep cleanings during the 2013-14 fiscal year. This figure and other factors raised \u201cquestions about their necessity \u00ad\u2014 and hence the new policy requiring X-ray documentation,\u201d the report said.\n\nIn frail patients, advanced gum disease can cause not only tooth loss, but pneumonia and other respiratory issues, Trill said.\n\nMaureen Titus, a hygienist in the San Luis Obispo area, said her clients rely entirely on caregivers for their dental hygiene, and that brushing and flossing is neither easy nor effective. \u201cMost have bleeding gums, inflamed gums and tartar buildup,\u201d she said.\n\nAmong patients who are attached to feeding tubes, tartar builds up quickly because they don\u2019t chew their food, Aminloo said. \u201cAfter two or three months, you can\u2019t even see their teeth.\u201d\n\nThe independent practice of dental hygienists in California dates to 1997, when the state legislature allowed them, with additional training and certification, to work without the direct supervision of dentists. Some started their own mobile businesses. This is the first time in the intervening 20 years that they\u2019ve had to obtain preauthorization to perform dental cleanings, Trill said.\n\nThe California Dental Association, which represents dentists, said dentists have long been required to get prior approval for cleanings for patients in special care facilities.\n\n\u201cWe supported the department\u2019s decision to equalize requirements for periodontal services, regardless of whether a dentist or hygienist provides the service,\u201d said Alicia Malaby, the association\u2019s spokeswoman.\n\nDr. Leon Assael, the director of community-based education and practice at the University of California-San Francisco\u2019s School of Dentistry, said preauthorization requirements in other states, including Minnesota and Kentucky, where he used to work, have also delayed or limited care for homebound patients.\n\nThe requirements have driven providers out of the system, he said, leaving patients behind.\n\n\u201cIf this were toes being lost, this would be a scandal,\u201d Assael said, \u201cbut with teeth, it\u2019s been accepted.\u201d", "output": "Recent policy changes in California has endangered the dental care of a rising number of patients who are unable to receive dental care as they are too frail to leave their nursing homes. The state has slashed payments to dental care providers and hygienists and created a cumbersome preauthorization process which is hindering the delivery of dental care as part of Denti-Cal. Denti-Cal, the publicly funded program for the poor, reduced the rate for a simple cleaning procedure from $130 to $55 which has seen hygienists unable to continue treating their patients. The Department of Health Care Services maintains it made the changes to reduce unnecessary treatment, but the hygienists maintain that the new regulations victimize the most vulnerable patients. Whilst dental hygienists are allowed to practice without direct supervision in 40 states, rules governing patient choice, reimbursement and preauthorization rates vary. Since reducing payments for maintenance cleaning, many hygienists have stopped seeing their patients, and a lawsuit was filed, arguing that the decision was made without obtaining federal approval. At the same time as the reductions, requirements were also imposed for x-rays but this is an especially difficult process when working with disabled and elderly patients, should the requests even be granted. State data indicates a disparity between hygienists\u2019 observations and state approval, which suggests that between July 2016 to July 2017, 10,000 of almost 13,000 requests were granted for deep cleaning, paying $2.5 million in the process. These figures are disputed by hygienists, one of whom claims that she lost 70 percent of her Denti-Cal patients because of the changes. This is the first time in 20 years, since dental hygienists were permitted to act independently that preauthorization has been required.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "One change to dental care that could save lives, money \n Tens of millions of Americans have decaying teeth, frequent toothaches and chronic dental pain. The result can be lost work productivity, missed school days and outright suffering. Many of those people \u2014 adults and children \u2014 lack access to the dental care that could help them.\n\nFortunately, states are beginning to embrace what The New York Times has called \u201ca big idea\u201d for social change: a new category of dental care providers that can mitigate many of these problems without burdening taxpayers or state budgets with bigger government or regulations.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAmerica lacks sufficient dental care providers. Some 63 million people live in places that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services designates as dental shortage areas. People on Medicaid face even higher hurdles, since only 1 in 3 dentists accepts Medicaid patients. The American Dental Association acknowledges that high costs pose a significant barrier to dental care for many.\n\nThat\u2019s why the two of us \u2014 on opposite sides of many issues, including the national health care law \u2014 have come together in support of a common sense policy that should spread to all states: allowing dentists to hire professionals known as dental therapists. Analogous to nurse practitioners and physicians\u2019 assistants, dental therapists work as mid-level providers within a larger dental team, supplying preventive care and performing routine procedures, such as filling cavities.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nVoters across the political spectrum support the use of these new mid-level dental practitioners. In a national poll conducted in 2016 by Americans for Tax Reform 79 percent of all voters were in favor the idea. That included support from 77 percent of Republicans, 79 percent of independents and 80 percent of Democrats.\n\nAllowing dental therapists to practice would remove an unnecessary government barrier to dental services and enable dentists, many of them small business owners, to treat more patients and expand their businesses if they so choose. It would utilize the free market at little cost to states.\n\nIn 2007, the tragic case of 12-year-old Deamonte Driver gained national attention when the Maryland boy died from an untreated tooth infection because his family couldn\u2019t find a dentist who would treat him. Instead of an $80 procedure that could have prevented Deamonte\u2019s death, his saga turned into a series of hospital visits that came too late, ending with the needless loss of his life, but also costing taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars through Medicaid. And yet, little has changed across the U.S. since then when it comes to dental care access. There has been a serious market failure, harming lives and raising costs. Fortunately, a market solution now exists, if only states will adopt it: dental therapists.\n\nThe lower salaries of dental therapists, compared with dentists\u2019, reduce the cost of delivering care, making it more feasible for both nonprofit and private dental clinics to accept Medicaid payment rates for patients who depend on public programs, like Deamonte Driver did. This would allow states to do more with scarce Medicaid dollars \u2014 a win for both taxpayers and patients. Dental therapists also give entrepreneurial dentists more flexibility to expand practice hours, treat more patients, reduce costs and focus their own time on more complex procedures. That can produce more income for dentists\u2019 practices and better health outcomes for patients.\n\nDental therapists give high-quality care. They are well-educated, thoroughly trained and carefully tested. The programs that prepare them must meet rigorous standards approved by the same body that oversees the training of dentists, the Commission on Dental Accreditation, which includes the American Dental Association as a member.\n\nDental therapists have practiced for nearly 100 years in more than 50 countries. In fact, America was late to the game. Alaska first introduced this type of practitioner to the United States in 2004. Since then, Minnesota, Maine and Vermont have passed legislation authorizing dental therapists, and Arizona, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Dakota and several other states are considering it.\n\nDental therapists would make a big difference in the lives of the many Americans who are struggling to find dental care. As the health care debate continues at the national level, allowing dental therapists to practice is a bipartisan solution that state legislators can adopt right now that benefits small businesses, helps patients and eases the burden of rising health care costs, including Medicaid. We are proud to stand together in support of this proven program.\n\nGrover Norquist is president of Americans for Tax Reform. Don Berwick is former administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and currently senior fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and lecturer at the Harvard Medical School.", "output": "Poor dental health affects tens of millions of Americans with 63 million live in places described as dental shortage areas; suffering from decaying teeth, toothaches and chronic dental pains. Not only does this lead to general suffering, from an economic stance work productivity is damaged across all age ranges. Moreover, high medical costs mean only 1 in 3 dentists actually accept Medicaid patients. However, states are now attempting to overcome the issues that stop both adults and children receiving proper dental care at little cost to the taxpayer. Political advocates Grover Norquist and Don Berwick see a simple solution, one that received over a 75 percent backing from Democrats and Republicans alike. They want to allow dentists to hire a variety of professionals from dental therapists to nurse practitioners who can supply preventive care and perform routine procedures that do not require dentists. This would utilize the free market at little cost, allowing dental therapists to operate without unnecessary government barriers while being able to treat more patients, offering the potential opportunity for SME\u2019s expansion. Tragic cases like Deamonte Driver, who lost his life after receiving poor dental treatment would be prevented if dental therapists were able to operate. Subsequently, dental therapists are far cheaper than dentists, they provide high-quality care, are well educated and readily available, having existed in more than 50 countries for over a century. Should states turn to dental therapists, it would provide a simple solution to help patients, businesses and combat rising health care costs.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "States Look To Create Own Individual Mandates In Wake Of GOP Tax Bill \n Updated Story Several Democratic-led states are looking to implement state-level individual mandates for insurance coverage in an effort to reduce the prominence of bare counties and failing risk pools due to the end of the Affordable Care Act\u2019s individual mandate in 2019 and other instabilities surround the law. California, New York, Maryland, Connecticut, and Washington state are all considering pursuing state individual mandates for insurance coverage when their state legislatures come into session in early 2018 ,...", "output": "Following on from the Republican tax bill, several Democratic-led states are looking to implement state-level individual mandates to overcome bare counties and the prospect of failing risk pools. California, Connecticut, New York, Maryland and Washington State, are all considering the move when their state legislatures come into session in early 2018. It is likely that the states will attempt to implement a model similar to that of RomneyCare, introduced in Massachusetts in 2006, and the ACA\u2019s individual mandate. These states do not require federal approval for the move as the mandate penalty is a tax, and as a result, have the ability to implement their own version of the Obamacare mandate. It is unlikely that the move will extend beyond these states as there is far more likely to be partisan pushback as state legislatures often skew to the right. California, in particular, is looking at the possibility of a state individual mandate to overcome the uncertainty at federal level surrounding Obamacare. Maryland too would likely introduce an individual mandate, Massachusetts could fall back on its original proposition, with Washington State proving the most complicated.  \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scripps Health reorganization to include layoffs \n Scripps Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest is among the facilities affected by a reorganization plan underway at parent company Scripps Health.\n\nThough it has billions in the bank, Scripps Health will pursue layoffs in 2018 as part of a reorganization strategy that emphasizes lower costs and greater reliance on caring for patients outside of its five hospitals.\n\nIn a recent memo to all of the health system\u2019s 15,000 employees and 3,000 affiliated doctors, Chris Van Gorder, Scripps\u2019 chief executive officer, says that cuts are necessary to remain competitive in a health care world where health insurance companies increasingly consider low prices as a main factor in contracting and patients are more often shopping around for services as deductibles increase.\n\nScripps missed its annual budget by $20 million last year for the first time in 15 years, Van Gorder said in an interview this week. It was a wake-up call, he said, that added urgency to the need to both cut costs and also re-think how the private not-for-profit health network does business.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve got to shift our organizational structures around to be able to deal with the new world of health care delivery, find ways of lowering our costs significantly,\u201d Van Gorder said. \u201cIf we don\u2019t, we will not be able to compete.\u201d\n\nScripps is far from the only large health care system to announce cost-cutting measures in recent months.\n\nAdvocate Health, Illinois\u2019 largest health care provider with 12 hospitals and 35,000 employees, announced in May that it would try to cut more than $200 million in costs due to flat revenue projections. Tenet Health, the nation\u2019s third-largest medical chain with 77 hospitals, announced in October that it will eliminate a middle layer of management after posting a $56 million loss after a 1.4 percent single-quarter revenue decline, according to industry news source Modern Healthcare.\n\nThings haven\u2019t gotten quite so bad yet at Scripps.\n\nA look at Scripps\u2019 bond industry financial filings make it clear that this is not a company teetering on the edge of insolvency. Far from it. Scripps, the audited financial statements for the 2017 budget year show, has banked about $2.6 billion in unrestricted cash and other investments.\n\nHowever, Scripps has recently seen its operating margin, the percentage of revenue left over after all the bills are paid, shrink significantly from about 9 percent in 2012 to 2.3 percent in 2017. Financial statements show that Scripps\u2019 bottom line was significantly bolstered this year by investment income. A roaring stock market helped significantly increase the value of its holdings, pushing total profitability up to $350 million for the year, a number that is 25 percent greater than last year.\n\nHow can an organization be making money, have a significant financial cushion and yet still be planning for layoffs in the coming year?\n\nVan Gorder said the basic fact is that operation of the organization must continue to bring in more revenue than it spends and declining operating margins must be addressed even if revenue from the stock market is currently masking those declines.\n\n\u201cAs strong as we are on the bottom, bottom line, the trends at the top end are changing, and we have to adjust to them,\u201d Van Gorder said.\n\nStill, with more than two billion in the bank, couldn\u2019t Scripps afford to burn some savings and stave off layoffs?\n\nVan Gorder said that it\u2019s not responsible management to fix a recurring problem with savings. And, having a hefty balance sheet, he added, is necessary to get favorable interest rates from lenders as Scripps moves to execute a recently announced $2.6 billion building plan that will replace Scripps Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest, add a new patient tower at Scripps Memorial Hospital, La Jolla and upgrade facilities in Encinitas, Chula Vista and Torrey Pines.\n\nThese upgrades and replacements, the executive added, are made more urgent than they would otherwise be due to a state law that requires all hospitals to meet certain seismic requirements by 2030 or cease operation.\n\nIn addition to borrowing and revenue from philanthropy, Scripps plans to tap its savings to fund its building plan. That plan, Van Gorder said, will continue but will be undertaken with knowledge that insurance companies want to avoid paying the higher prices charged by hospitals whenever possible.\n\nThat means pulling back on the previous tendency to include plenty of space inside hospital complexes to patients whose medical needs don\u2019t require them to be admitted for a overnight stay. Scripps has already started on this path with the purchase of Imaging Healthcare Specialists in 2015. The company operates stand-alone imaging centers that offer cheaper scans than are available in the outpatient centers attached to the region\u2019s major hospitals.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re seeing a huge shift in the ambulatory side,\u201d Van Gorder said. \u201cWe\u2019re now, for example, doing total joint replacement in ambulatory surgery centers. A year ago, that didn\u2019t take place. The experts are telling me and others that you\u2019re going to see a huge jump in that as technology continues to improve \u2026 that\u2019s going to pull a whole lot of utilization away from hospitals and hospitals that haven\u2019t prepared for that shift are going to be in deep trouble in the not-to-distant future. That\u2019s why we\u2019re trying to make this shift proactively.\u201d\n\nScripps\u2019 bond filings do show that it has seen a significant shift in its business over the last five years.\n\nFrom 2011 to 2016, the most recent year for which aggregated patient data is available, Scripps reported that inpatient discharges, the total number of days that patients spent in its hospitals, and surgeries performed in hospitals all decreased slightly. Meanwhile, the number of surgeries performed at its outpatient surgery centers increased 69 percent. Visits to Scripps Clinic and Scripps Coastal Medical Group increased 14 percent and 19 percent respectively and emergency visits were up 21 percent.\n\nScripps\u2019 first step in its reorganization plan to better address the shift from inpatient to outpatient is to collapse its ranks of hospital management. Instead of having a chief executive officer to manage operations at each of its five hospitals, the plan is to have two executives handle those duties, one for hospitals in La Jolla and Encinitas and another to oversee operations in San Diego and Chula Vista. A third executive will be in charge of all ancillary services, including operation of the medical offices, outpatient surgery centers and other facilities that Scripps owns or leases throughout the region.\n\nThis consolidation will not require any layoffs. Gary Fybel, currently the chief executive officer at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, and Robin Brown, chief executive officer at Scripps Green Hospital, will retire. The northern chief executive officer position has been awarded to Carl Etter, current chief executive officer of Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas. The south position will be handled by Tom Gammiere, who currently runs Scripps Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest. Lisa Thakur, currently corporate vice president of operating rooms, pharmacy and supply chain, will fill the ancillary services post, and her previous job will not be filled.\n\nVan Gorder said further personnel cuts are coming and are intended to save $30 million during the current budget year ending Sept. 30, 2018. Cuts should save $40 million in subsequent years, he added. Most will be focused on administrative job classifications.\n\n\u201cThere will be layoffs,\u201d Van Gorder said. \u201cI don\u2019t like it, but it has to be done for me to protect the organization and our ability to take care of our community into the future.\u201d\n\nSo far, he said, there are no specifics to share on which particular jobs are most at risk.\n\nHe added that, as the current reorganization effort takes shape, hiring is also anticipated. More workers will be needed to provide quicker service to patients.\n\n\u201cWhat I want to do at the point of service is support our nursing staff with more paid professional staff,\u201d Van Gorder said.\n\nGerard Anderson, a professor of health policy and management at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, said the current trend of cost-cutting at large health care systems does indeed appear to be driven by decreases in reimbursement by Medicare and private health insurance companies.\n\n\u201cIn almost every single hospital they\u2019re losing some amount of money in operating margin but making it up in spades when you add in their investment income,\u201d Anderson said.\n\nThe researcher said he was a bit disturbed to see organizations flush with stock market earnings discuss cuts, especially if those cuts are to employees who directly care for patients.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019re seeing layoffs but I don\u2019t necessarily understand why you need to lay someone off when your margin is something like 11 percent after non-operating income is added into the mix,\u201d Anderson said.\n\nBut what about the need to shift business strategy and reduce administrative expenses as reimbursement falls? Anderson said he can see that point as long as it\u2019s true.\n\n\u201cIf they really are doing this in the non-patient-care area, I think that makes sense,\u201d he said. \u201cIn general, we\u2019ve seen more across-the-baord cuts than targeted specifically to areas of management and administration. The salaries in management have grown faster than they have for clinicians.\u201d\n\nHealth Playlist \u00d7 On Now Video: Leaders urge public to help extinguish hepatitis outbreak On Now San Diego starts cleansing sidewalks, streets to combat hepatitis A On Now Video: Scripps to shutter its hospice service On Now Video: Scripps La Jolla hospitals nab top local spot in annual hospital rankings On Now Video: Does a parent's Alzheimer's doom their children? On Now EpiPen recall expands On Now Kids can add years to your life\n\npaul.sisson@sduniontribune.com\n\n(619) 293-1850\n\nTwitter: @paulsisson", "output": "The San Diego-based non-profit health care system Scripps Health is set to pursue layoffs in a restructuring process in 2018. Scripps missed its annual budget by $20 million and intends to target lower costs and a greater dependence on caring for patients outside of its hospitals. The company\u2019s CEO, Chris Van Gorder, revealed in a memo that the cuts are necessary with insurers and patients increasingly targeting lower prices as health costs rise. The announcement by Scripps follows in a cost-cutting trend amongst large health care organizations; both Advocate Health of Illinois and Tenet Health announced similar measures following disappointing results. Although Scripps maintains a $2.6 billion balance in cash and investments, with an increased profitability of $350 million, its operating margin has slimmed from 9 percent in 2012 to 2.3 percent in 2017. The firm believes that it would not be responsible management to turn the savings towards a recurring problem especially as it requires favorable interest rates from lenders on its $2.6 billion building project. Alongside the personnel cuts intended to save $30 million in the current budget year, there will be a consolidation of management positions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Millennials aspire to own homes despite pessimism over chances \n The return to work after Christmas is never easy. Unless you\u2019re an estate agent: they love January. Following the pre-Christmas lull, families rush back into wanting to buy and sell their houses (helped in part by the traditional post-festivity spike in family breakdown). But for an increasing number of us, house hunting is becoming little more than an exercise in window shopping (or \u2018property porn\u2019 if you\u2019d rather).\n\nThe share of the population owning a home has been falling since 2003, with particularly profound consequences for younger families. As the chart below shows, today\u2019s 30 year olds (that is, the oldest members of the millennial generation born between 1981 and 2000) are only half as likely to own their house as their parents were at the same age.\n\nLike so much of the Christmas TV schedule, this is a story that\u2019s been on repeat for some time. Britons get that their country is no longer a nation of home owners. As research carried out by Ipsos MORI back in the summer for the Intergenerational Commission showed, 71 per cent of people (across all generations) think millennials face worse prospects than their parents in this regard. Just 7 per cent think young adults are better off. Indeed, of all of the questions asked in the survey, it was the one on which respondents were most pessimistic.\n\nYet, despite being pessimistic about the overall picture for millennials, new data shows that a significant share of the generation think they personally will manage to beat the gloom. The next chart takes data from the Bank of England\u2019s latest NMG survey to show that more than half (52 per cent) of non-owning households headed by someone aged under-35 (roughly speaking, the millennial generation) expect to buy at some point in the future. And that proportion holds up even among lower income millennials.\n\nIf such expectations were borne out, around 75 per cent of millennial households would eventually own a home. That would put the generation on a par with the home ownership rates recorded among baby boomers. It would also be roughly 10 percentage points higher than the \u2018optimistic\u2019 scenario we set out in September (our \u2018pessimistic\u2019 scenario put the figure under 50 per cent). Short of a significant turnaround in housing trends, the implication is that many members of the younger generation will find their aspirations go unmet.\n\nAnd, while the one-in-four (24 per cent) non-owning millennials who think they\u2019ll never buy a home might have a more realistic outlook of the future, they\u2019re just as likely to be unhappy with their lot. The next chart sets out the factors which this group identify as being among the three most important reasons for not owning. What stands out is that just one-in-ten of them cite positive-sounding reasons: 10 per cent say they like their current home and just 8 per cent prefer the flexibility of renting. The upshot is that as few as 1 per cent of millennials appear to be happy with the idea of never owning a home.\n\nIt\u2019s this finding that goes a long way to explaining why politicians are so keen to be seen to be offering hope on home ownership.\n\nAnd, with \u2018purchase costs\u2019 (such as the deposit, stamp duty and estate agents fees) being cited by millennials as the main barrier to owning, it\u2019s easy to understand the temptation to focus on subsidising buyers. Measures such as the removal of stamp duty for first time buyers of property worth up to \u00a3300,000 \u2013 which Philip Hammond announced in the Autumn Budget \u2013 give the impression of extending home ownership to a wider group. But they largely miss the mark. The OBR\u2019s assessment of the stamp duty policy was that it would benefit just 3,500 first time buyers who would not otherwise have been able to buy a home, costing roughly \u00a3160,000 per additional owner.\n\nSupply-based approaches represent a preferable and more sustainable option, but they take time to take effect. That\u2019s not to say government should give up, and the Autumn Budget plans for returning housing capital spending back to the levels of the 2000s (outside of the fiscal stimulus peak of 2008-10) is a very welcome one.\n\nBut it\u2019s hard to escape the conclusion that, even if we get to grips with the longer-term problem, home ownership will remain off-limits for significant numbers of millennials. Some might expect to benefit from the bank of mum and dad in the near-term and from inheritances as they age. But such support may come too late to cover expensive family-rearing years for many households, and will never arrive for many \u2013 mainly lower income \u2013 others.\n\nThat reality raises a number of challenges for today\u2019s young people. Over the longer-term, home ownership plays an important role in building wealth (via semi-enforced saving), providing leverage and hedging against costs and location in retirement. In its absence, alternatives are needed.\n\nMore immediately, the generally higher housing costs associated with renting leave young people with less disposable income and less opportunity to save than earlier cohorts faced. The chart below sets out the share of income allocated to rent among younger respondents to the NMG survey. It shows that 30 per cent of renters in this group spend more than one-third of their pre-tax income \u2013 a threshold that is often taken as a sign of housing unaffordability. And that figure jumps to a massive 71 per cent among the poorest fifth of millennials.\n\nWe\u2019ll turn to the question of how the country might rise to these challenges in a forthcoming policy options paper for the Intergenerational Commission. But our politicians \u2013 unlike our estate agents \u2013 need to be more honest about the housing aspiration gap. It\u2019s good to offer hope, but a healthy dose of realism would sharpen the focus on the broader living standards challenge posed by our housing crisis.", "output": "A majority of millennials anticipate they will own a home in the future despite being pessimistic about their overall prospects. A recent survey commissioned by the\u00a0Bank of England found that 52% of under-35s expect to buy a home at some point in the future, 24% expect\u00a0never to buy and 25% are unsure. Purchase costs,\u00a0such as deposits, estate agency fees and stamp duty, were cited as the biggest barriers to home ownership. An earlier Ipsos MORI poll found 71% of respondents thought millennials faced worse prospects than their parents of owning a home.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Louisiana named best place to mine bitcoin in the US \n Electrical supply company Crescent Electric (CESCO) study reveals that the state of Louisiana is the cheapest state in the US to mine Bitcoin.\n\nDigital currency mining requires a lot of electric power and the power rates differ in every state.\n\nBased on CESCO\u2019s latest study of the cost of cryptocurrency mining across the US, it is currently cheapest to mine Bitcoin in Louisiana -- electricity costs at 9.87 cents per watt puts the average cost of mining one Bitcoin at $3,224.\n\nThis is significantly cheaper than the current price of Bitcoin, which is currently trading at around $12,000 per coin, as of press time.\n\nWhere else in the US is it cheap to mine?\n\nIn their study, CESCO also estimated the cost of Bitcoin mining based on the wattage consumption of the three most popular mining rigs, namely, the AntMiner S9, the AntMiner S7, and the Avalon 6, as well as the average days each rig takes to mine a token. These figures were then multiplied by the average electricity rate in each state.\n\nAside from Louisiana, the other top five states with the lowest cost to mine Bitcoin are Idaho ($3,289 per token), Washington ($3,309), Tennessee ($3,443) and Arkansas ($3,505).\n\nThe study also names the most expensive states for digital currency mining. The list of costliest states is led by Hawaii, which takes an average mining cost of $9,483 per coin.\n\nRounding up the top five states with the highest Bitcoin mining rates are Alaska ($7,059), Connecticut ($6,951), Massachusetts ($6,674) and New Hampshire ($6,425).\n\nThe growing interest in cryptocurrency has been accompanied by growing concern over the energy required to mine crypto, namely Bitcoin. Such claims have been recently countered, as a report came out claiming that put cryptocurrency mining in the larger context of energy consumption.", "output": "A new study has named Louisiana as the cheapest state in the US in which to mine bitcoin. Electrical supply company Crescent Electric based its calculation on the cost of electricity in each state, the power requirements of the equipment needed, and the average length of time taken to mine a token. This produced a figure of $3,224 per bitcoin for Louisiana, with the most expensive places being Hawaii, at $9,483, and Alaska at $7,059. All of these figures are notably less than the current trading price of bitcoin.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Transparency and data are key to commercial property:\u00a0tech leader \n First of all, my role is the Global Head of Product at Datscha (I was one of the founding employees.) working with everything from strategy and business development down to what bugs [we should focus on] in the upcoming sprint. Datscha has been around for 20-plus years, but we still keep a very outspoken startup mentality and an effective organization, enabling us to be in three markets: Sweden, Finland and the UK with only 45 employees. In addition to my role at Datscha, I\u2019m also a Partner in Stronghold Invest (the sole owner of Datscha), where we own, among others, the largest property consulting firm in the Nordics (Newsec with 2000 employees and 31 million sqm under management) and the most successful private equity real estate firm in Northern Europe with real estate assets under management of approximately \u20ac3.5 billion. Furthermore, Stronghold is an active #PropTech investor.", "output": "The commercial property market will become more reliant on\u00a0data and more transparent, according to the global head of product at Swedish company Datscha,\u00a0Magnus Svanteg\u00e5rd, who was one of the founding employees of the commercial property\u00a0company over 20 years ago. He\u00a0said the current handling of properties as investments was based too much on gut\u00a0feeling\u00a0and small networks of people. Datscha has 45 employees in Sweden, Finland and the UK, but retains a \"start-up mentality\", with a focus on property technology, according to Svanteg\u00e5rd.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Agents offered AI-backed app to identify, predict property trends  \n Post navigation\n\nAgents are being offered a new property valuation tool that claims to be different to others by using artificial intelligence to pick up trends and make predictions for the future.\n\nHouseprice.ai has been testing an app called Horizon since August for agents, property developers and mortgage lenders that launched just before Christmas.\n\nThe software is programmed to use pricing data going back 20 years and to learn local trends using official house price, bank lending and rental figures as well as other factors such as crime, energy performance and planning data to provide valuation reports and forecasts within minutes.\n\nIn comparison, the Land Registry works out average values based on sale prices, while Zoopla\u2019s online valuation tool uses factors such as property size and what neighbouring local properties have sold for. Rightmove provides market trend reports that show how much neighbouring property has sold for.\n\nFor subscriptions starting at an average of \u00a3100 per month depending on usage, subscribers can either work with the Horizon app and use the reports it generates or they can incorporate all the data into their own valuation and customised reports.\n\nEYE queried whether these were all things an agent could already provide for free, but Houseprice.ai chief executive Eldred Buck said: \u201cThe main difference is that it is faster, has no subjective biases and takes in over 50 individual factors to arrive at the capital valuation and rental values.\u201d\n\nTwo of the directors of the company, Buck and co-founder Giovanni Miano, come from a banking and financial technology background, while chief creative officer Vivienne Brooks has had a career in graphic design and marketing. The company has also appointed general practice chartered surveyor Philip Challinor as non-executive chairman.", "output": "An app that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to identify property-market trends and predict future changes is being offered to agents by Houseprice.ai. The Horizon\u00a0app\u00a0uses pricing data from the past\u00a020 years to teach itself local property trends and quickly provide valuation reports and forecasts. Houseprice.ai CEO\u00a0Eldred Buck said the service's primary benefits for agents was that \"it has no subjective biases and takes in over 50 individual factors to arrive at the capital valuation and rental values\". The app is available to agents for\u00a0a \u00a3100 ($136) monthly subscription."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fluenta's new gauges measure gas at extreme temperatures \n Fluenta has announced the launch of its new range of ultrasonic flow transducers. The two new transducers enable ultrasonic measurement of gas flow in highly challenging environments. Accurate measurement of gas flow at all temperatures.\n\nA new high-temperature transducer to measure gas flow processes at up to +250\u00b0C, and a cryogenic transducer functional down to -200\u00b0C with significant applications in the liquified natural gas (LNG) sector.\n\nThe ability to measure gas flow in processes from 6 to 72 in. diameter and up to 100% methane or 100% carbon dioxide, depending on pipe diameter.\n\nThe high-temperature range transducer can accurately measure gas flow at up to +250\u00b0C, allowing Fluenta\u2019s ultrasonic technology to be deployed in a wider range of flare applications, as well as in the chemical processing industry. The cryogenic transducer is designed to work in processes as cold as -200\u00b0C, typically found in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry and other gas liquification and chemical processes.\n\nNew software and signal processing allows these transducers to function in processes containing up to 100% methane or 100% carbon dioxide, gas mixes which historically have presented challenges to standard ultrasonic flow meters.\n\nFluenta\u2019s non-intrusive transducers do not interrupt gas flow and can be used across a wide range of pipe diameters from 6 in. to 72 in. The new range of transducers and software are compatible with Fluenta\u2019s FGM160, and can be fitted to existing installations.\n\nWith government regulation increasingly strict for monitoring flare gas emissions, companies are under pressure to accurately measure and record gas flow.\n\n\u201cThese new transducers greatly increase the capacity of Fluenta to meet the needs of our existing customers, and to move into new markets such as chemical processing and liquified natural gas.\u201d, comments Sigurd Aase, CEO of Fluenta.\n\n\u201cWe are investing significantly in ultrasonic gas flow monitoring, and this product launch provides customers with an unrivalled combination flexibility, reliability and accuracy in gas flow monitoring.\u201d", "output": "Fluenta has launched two ultrasonic flow transducers that enable measurement of gas flow in extremely high and low temperatures. The high-temperature transducer measures gas up to 250C, while the cryogenic transducer functions\u00a0down to minus 200C, targeting the liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector. The sensors can work in\u00a0environments of up to 100% methane or 100% carbon dioxide, gas mixes that historically have presented challenges to standard ultrasonic flow meters."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesla Model 3 sets electric vehicle Cannonball Run record \n Approximately one hundred years ago, Erwin \"Cannonball\" Baker began driving cross-country, as quickly as possible, in anything he could get his hands on. His point: to demonstrate the reliability, range, and ease of refueling internal combustion cars.\n\nOn Thursday, December 28th, 2017, Alex Roy joined Daniel Zorrilla, a Tesla Model 3 owner, to test the range and reliability of that vehicle\u2014which happens to be one of the first delivered Model 3 customer cars. The pair departed the Portofino Inn in Redondo Beach, California; their final destination was the Red Ball garage in New York City. The two completed the cross-country drive in 50 hours and 16 minutes, setting a new electric Cannonball Run record.", "output": "One of the first Tesla Model 3 customer cars has set a new record for the Cannonball Run in an electric vehicle. The car made the trip from Redondo Beach, California to New York City, a total journey mileage of 2,860 miles, in 50 hours and 16 minutes. The total charging cost for the duration of the Cannonball Run came in at $100.95.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "McDonalds UK introduces highest pay rise in decade after strikes \n Exclusive: McDonald's is to hand its employees their biggest pay rise in ten years, following last year's historic strikes that saw a small number of workers demand better working conditions and higher pay\n\nExclusive: McDonald's staff cry victory as it finally reacts to strikes and gives workers the biggest raise in 10 years\n\nMcDonald's UK has pledged to give its employees their biggest pay rise in ten years, Mirror Online can reveal.\n\nThe move comes into force on January 22 this year and is banded by position, region, and age. Only company-owned McDonald's restaurants (about a quarter of branches in Britain) are affected.\n\nA staff member at a McDonald's branch in London shared with Mirror Online a company notice put up by management on Tuesday night.\n\nPay will increase up in all company-owned McDonald's restaurants\n\nImage: Daily Mirror) Daily Mirror)\n\nThe employee, who falls into the 21-24 category and has asked to remain anonymous, said in a private Facebook post: \"WE WON THIS. Biggest pay rise for 10 years! If 0.001% going on strike can win this imagine what more can do!\"\n\nThey told Mirror Online: \"[We've been told] pay will be raised, with some crew over 25 even getting \u00a310 an hour!\n\n\"Everyone's pay has gone up. It's not loads, but it's a win! My pay was around \u00a37.45 and now it will be \u00a37.95. It's the biggest raise in ten years.\"\n\nMcDonald's recommends starting rates to managers. For perspective, under 18s currently get around \u00a35.10 per hour, while those over 25 usually start on \u00a37.60.\n\nMcDonald's has confirmed to us that the wages on the pamphlet are correct.\n\nNow, 16-17 year-olds will join on a minimum wage of \u00a35.75, while crew over the age of 25 will initially receive \u00a38 per hour.\n\nThe decision comes after last year's strikes \u2013 a British first for McDonald's \u2013 that saw staff from two branches stage a 24-hour protest.\n\nMcDonald's workers took their protest to Parliament\n\nImage: AFP) AFP)\n\nVideo Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will auto-play soon 8 Cancel Play now\n\nWorkers at a branch in Cambridge, and another in Crayford, south east London, made history on Monday September 4 after repeated claims of poor working conditions, zero-hour contracts, and low pay. Some staff talked about \"extreme stress\" and even \"bullying\".\n\nCambridge restaurant crew member Steve Day, who took part in the strikes, told Mirror Online: \"Obviously we welcome this. It's brilliant and a step in the right direction. And it's good McDonald's are finally listening to us.\n\n\"But there's much more to be done. It's still not really enough money to live on. Wages have been stagnant for so long, and this is McDonald's just buckling under a bit of pressure.\n\n\"When the CEO gets \u00a38,000 per hour [according to Steve] we think we should maybe get a little more. The burgers and fries don't cook themselves \u2013 we keep him in a job.\"\n\nThe 25-year-old, whose wage will rise from \u00a37.65 to \u00a38 per hour, suggested more could be achieved were a greater proportion of the workforce organised.\n\n\"It shows what an impact a small number of us can have. A tiny number did this \u2013 tiny, but not insignificant. I think we can do more.\"\n\nSteve, who's originally from Yorkshire and has worked for the company for nearly six months, also told us that he works around 35-40 hours a week on a zero-hour contract, and would like to be given better job security.\n\nMore can be done\n\nWhile today is a small victory, the 30 strikers initially wanted to see their [crew member] wages rise to \u00a310 per hour from around \u00a37.50.\n\nMcDonald's management had earlier in the year promised to give permanent positions to workers on zero-hour contracts. It's not clear whether this has been implemented.\n\nThe fast food workers who took action were at the time represented by The Baker\u2019s, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU). A representative for the union called the strike a \"historic step\", that it would give employees its full support, and had previously seen a ballot of 95.7 per cent in favour of striking.\n\nAt the time, Lewis Baker, who then worked at the Crayford McDonald's, one of the restaurants at which workers took action, wrote a blog post explaining the strike.\n\nHe said: \"We have been left with no choice but to strike. It\u2019s our only real option. We need to raise awareness over our working conditions and the way we are treated in McDonald\u2019s.\n\n\"I \u2013 like many others \u2013 have had [my] grievances ignored by the company, time and time again.\"\n\nLabour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: \"Congratulations to McDonald's workers and @BFAWU1 for winning pay rises but the fight for \u00a310 an hour is not over.\n\n\"We achieve more together than we can alone, which is why we should all join a trade union.\"\n\nMcDonald\u2019s employs around 85,000 people in the UK.\n\nA spokesman told Mirror Online: \"Reward and recognition for our people and their contribution is a key priority, and to ensure we can attract and retain the best people, we regularly review pay and benefits.\n\n\"While our franchisees set their own pay rates, we have recommended an increase across all age bands for our hourly employees to be implemented from 22 January.\"", "output": "McDonald's UK will introduce its largest pay rise in a decade following the first-ever strikes in the country\u2019s branches in September last year. The increases, which will be implemented from 22 January, mean that 16-17 year-olds will start working for the fast food company on a minimum wage of \u00a35.75 ($7.77), up from \u00a35.10. Those aged over 25 will receive an initial wage of \u00a38 per hour, up from \u00a37.60. The strikes, which took place in two branches in Cambridge and London, were called in protest at poor working conditions, low pay and the use of zero-hour contracts.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Crystal Group clothing makers favour human labour over robots \n Hong Kong\u2019s Crystal Group makes clothes for many of the world\u2019s clothing giants, including H&M, Gap, Fast Retailing (owner of Uniqlo), and L Brands (owner of Victoria\u2019s Secret). It\u2019s the world\u2019s largest apparel maker by production volume, according to research firm Euromonitor, and attracted attention in October for having the biggest IPO on the Hong Kong stock exchange since 2015.\n\nIt\u2019s the sort of company you might expect to be pouring R&D money into automation, as labor costs rise in China and the world prepares for a future of robots taking over more repetitive, manual tasks, such as stitching clothes. But that\u2019s not the case, says Andrew Lo, CEO of the Crystal Group.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIn an interview with the Financial Times (paywall), Lo says high-tech sewing robots are \u201cinteresting\u201d and could change how some companies make clothes, but in the near-term they still can\u2019t beat cheap human labor on cost. Crystal Group plans to increase its human staff in Bangladesh and Vietnam\u2014garment hubs with some of the lowest wages in Asia\u2014by 10% annually in the years ahead. Currently about two-thirds of its sales are made from clothes produced in Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka, which have all become more attractive to garment manufacturers as producing in China, still the global leader in clothing production, gets more expensive.\n\nExperts are cautiously watching how automation might affect the garment industry, which is a lifeline to millions of less-skilled workers in Asia and elsewhere, even as many of the jobs can be exploitative and dangerous. The International Labor Organization warned in 2016 that robots could replace the majority of textile, clothing, and footwear workers in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Cambodia in the coming decades. These workers could move into better jobs, but only if governments and employers start training them for those more skilled roles sooner than later.\n\nFor now, at least, Crystal Group will not be replacing humans with machines. One reason is that while robots in use in other industries can work easily with stiff materials, such as sheets of metal or plastic, they can\u2019t yet work with soft, flexible fabrics that stretch and distort during sewing. \u201cThe handling of soft materials is really hard for robots,\u201d Lo said.\n\nA few companies believe they\u2019ve solved the issue. Sewbo treats fabrics so that they become stiff and rigid for stitching, but return to normal when rinsed in hot water. SoftWear Automation, meanwhile, created a robotic table that uses machine vision to adjust on the spot to stretching and distortion in the fabric as it sews. SoftWear says one of these sewbots can make as many t-shirts per hour as about 17 humans working in a conventional set-up.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBut Palaniswamy Rajan, SoftWear\u2019s chief executive, admitted to the Financial Times that, when it comes to price, his sewbots can\u2019t beat workers in Bangladesh. The original aim of SoftWear\u2019s technology was to make clothes more cheaply in the US, where human wages are much higher. Rajan says robots could still be the best option for producing locally in the US when you factor in shipping costs, import duties, and the advantage of short lead times.\n\nFor now, though, most brands will likely keep their production in Asia, where it will be done by human hands.", "output": "The CEO of Hong Kong-based clothing manufacturer Crystal Group has said cheap human labour is preferable to using robots. Andrew Lo told the Financial Times the company plans to increase its workforce in Bangladesh and Vietnam by 10% in the coming years. The two countries, along with Cambodia and Sri Lanka, account for two-thirds of the output from Crystal, which makes clothes for brands including H&M and Gap. Low wages mean there is currently no cost advantage to increased automation, according to Lo, particularly given the technical challenges of using robots to work on soft materials.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Land sales in China's first-tier cities surge by 46% year on year \n Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-03 15:31:55|Editor: Xiang Bo\n\nVideo Player Close\n\nBEIJING, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Land sales increased in Chinese cities last year as the government moved to cool the market with higher supply, according to the China Index Academy, a property research organization.\n\nLand sales in 300 Chinese cities totaled 950.36 million square meters in 2017, up 8 percent from 2016, while sales of land for residential projects reached 354.33 million square meters, an increase of 24 percent year on year.\n\nLand sales in major cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou were particularly robust, as local governments increased land supply to cool down runaway house prices fueled by huge demand and limited supply.\n\nIn China's first-tier cities, land sales jumped 46 percent year on year to 29.79 million square meters last year, according to China Index Academy.\n\nBoosted by surging sales, revenue from land transactions rose 36 percent to 4.01 trillion yuan (about 620 billion U.S. dollars) in a total of 300 Chinese cities.\n\nChina's property market, once deemed a major risk for the broader economy, cooled in 2017 amid tough curbs such as purchase restrictions and increased downpayment requirements as the government sought to rein in speculation.\n\nDue to these efforts, both investment and sales in China's property sector slowed. Real estate investment rose 7.5 percent year on year during January-November, down from 7.8 percent in the first 10 months.\n\nProperty sales in terms of floor area climbed 7.9 percent in the first 11 months, retreating from 8.2 percent in January-October.\n\nWith the market holding steady, Chinese authorities are aiming for a \"long-term mechanism\" for real estate regulation, and a housing system that ensures supply through multiple sources and encourages both housing purchases and rentals.\n\nA report from the National Academy of Economic Strategy predicted that the country's property market would remain stable in 2018 if there were no major policy shocks.", "output": "Land sales in China's first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou surged by 46% year on year to 30 million sq metres in 2017, according to the China Index Academy. The academy\u00a0also revealed that land sales in 300 Chinese cities rose by 8%\u00a0to 950 million sq\u00a0metres and sales of land for residential purposes rose 24%\u00a0to 354 million sq metres. The\u00a0government\u00a0has been increasing land supply in order to put a brake on rising house prices. New purchase restrictions and requirements for\u00a0higher deposits have also had an effect in slowing price rises."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China turns to big data analysis for social insurance coverage \n China aims to build a database that includes all the eligible people for social insurance to implement targeted beneficiary measures, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.\n\nOfficials will use the latest technology, including big data, to reach those without social insurance and to ensure universal coverage by 2020, according to the ministry's Social Insurance Management Center.\n\nChina's social insurance system is the largest in the world. About 900 million people are included in the endowment insurance system, and more than 1.3 billion are covered by medical insurance, according to a statement from the center provided exclusively to China Daily.", "output": "China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security will use big data analytics to ensure 100 million people access the country's social endowment insurance system, and aims to achieve universal coverage by 2020. The ministry's Social Insurance Management Centre plans to reach out to 10% of the population who are not part of the system, including immigrant workers or those in new forms of industry such as e-commerce, using internet platforms and mobile terminals. In 2014, the government launched a four-year campaign to register all eligible people for social insurance into a national database.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AliPay continues to grow for transit payments \n Xi'an is the latest Chinese city to accept Alipay on its subway system, according to local reports. The system started to accept Alipay as of Jan. 1.\n\nAs part of the initiative, riders can participate in a program meant to encourage more \"green\" ways of travel such as public transit.\n\nOnce an Alipay user accumulates a certain amount of green \"energy\" from using the mobile wallet to pay for subway fares, Alipay's partners, such as the Alxa SEE foundation, will plant a real tree in areas suffering from desertification upon the user's request.\n\nAlipay is now accepted on public transport in more than 30 Chinese cities, including Hangzhou, Wuhan, Tianjin, Qingdao and Guangzhou. Zhengzhou became the first Chinese city to adopt mobile payments in its subway system in September, followed by Beijing and Shanghai.", "output": "Chinese payment system Alipay is now accepted on on public transport across 30 cities, after Xi'an's subway became the latest addition this month. The scheme also includes an initiative to plant trees in regions suffering desertification, with Alipay users accumulating 'green' points every time they pay for subway travel using the wallet. Zhengzhou, Beijing and Shanghai were the first cities to allow mobile subway system payments last year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scientists turn to CRISPR to save cacao crops \n Cacao plants are under threat of devastation thanks to warmer temperatures and dryer weather conditions.\n\nScientists at the University of California are teaming up with Mars company to try to save the crop before it's too late.\n\nThey're exploring the possibility of using the gene-editing technology CRISPR to make crops that can survive the new challenges.\n\nBeyond the glittery glass-and-sandstone walls of the University of California\u2019s new biosciences building, rows of tiny green cacao seedlings in refrigerated greenhouses await judgment day.\n\nUnder the watchful eye of Myeong-Je Cho, the director of plant genomics at an institute that's working with food and candy company Mars, the plants will be transformed. If all goes well, these tiny seedlings will soon be capable of surviving \u2014 and thriving \u2014 in the dryer, warmer climate that is sending chills through the spines of farmers across the globe.\n\nIt's all thanks to a new technology called CRISPR, which allows for tiny, precise tweaks to DNA that were never possible before. These tweaks are already being used to make crops cheaper and more reliable. But their most important use may be in the developing world, where many of the plants that people rely on to avoid starvation are threatened by the impacts of climate change, including more pests and a lack of water.\n\nCacao plants occupy a precarious position on the globe. They can only grow within a narrow strip of rainforested land roughly 20 degrees north and south of the equator, where temperature, rain, and humidity all stay relatively constant throughout the year. Over half of the world's chocolate now comes from just two countries in West Africa \u2014 C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire and Ghana.\n\nBut those areas won't be suitable for chocolate in the next few decades. By 2050, rising temperatures will push today's chocolate-growing regions more than 1,000 feet uphill into mountainous terrain \u2014 much of which is currently preserved for wildlife, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.\n\nMars, the $35 billion corporation best known for Snickers, is aware of these problems and others presented by climate change.\n\nIn September, the company pledged $1 billion as part of an effort called \"Sustainability in a Generation,\" which aims to reduce the carbon footprint of its business and supply chain by more than 60% by 2050.\n\n\"We're trying to go all in here,\" Barry Parkin, Mars' chief sustainability officer, told Business Insider. \"There are obviously commitments the world is leaning into but, frankly, we don't think we're getting there fast enough collectively.\"\n\nIts initiative with Cho at UC Berkeley is another arm of that efforts. If all goes as planned, they could develop cacao plants that don\u2019t wilt or rot at their current elevations, doing away with the need to relocate farms or find another approach.\n\nJennifer Doudna, the UC Berkeley geneticist who invented CRISPR, is overseeing the collaboration with Mars. Although her tool has received more attention for its potential to eradicate human diseases and make so-called \u201cdesigner babies,\u201d Doudna thinks its most profound applications won\u2019t be on humans but rather on the food they eat.\n\nCourtney Verrill\n\nAn avid tomato gardener, Doudna thinks her tool can benefit everyone from large food companies like Mars to individual hobbyists like herself.\n\n\u201dPersonally, I\u2019d love a tomato plant with fruit that stayed on the vine longer,\u201d Doudna told Business Insider.\n\nThe research lab she oversees at UC Berkeley is called the Innovative Genomics Institute. Many of the efforts by graduate students there focus on using CRISPR to benefit small-holder farmers in the developing world. One such project aims to protect cassava \u2014 a key crop that prevents millions of people from starving each year \u2014 from climate change by tweaking its DNA to produce less of a dangerous toxin that it makes in hotter temperatures.\n\nDoudna founded a company called Caribou Biosciences to put CRISPR into practice, and has also licensed the technology to agricultural company DuPont Pioneer for use in crops like corn and mushrooms.\n\nRegardless of which crop the public sees CRISPR successfully used in first, the technology will be a key tool in a growing arsenal of techniques we'll need if we plan to continue eating things like chocolate as the planet warms.", "output": "Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley are using the DNA manipulation technology CRISPR to ensure the survival of the cacao plant as the planet experiences warmer temperatures. The research is being carried out with confectionery giant Mars, which has pledged $1bn towards reducing its carbon footprint 60% by 2050. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, by 2050 rising temperatures will have forced chocolate growers to altitudes 1000ft higher than today, while also increasing pest numbers and reducing water supplies. It's hoped that seedlings created at Berkeley will be equipped to thrive in these tougher conditions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Publisher Purch profits from licensing its ad tech products \n With publishers realizing that they can no longer be wholly dependent on ads for their revenue, Purch is getting more serious about selling proprietary technology to other publishers.\n\nPurch \u2014 a commerce-focused publisher that owns tech and product review sites such as Tom\u2019s Guide, Top Ten Reviews and Live Science \u2014 is profitable. It makes about $120 million a year in revenue, with about 20 percent coming from ad tech products that it licenses to 25 publisher clients, said Purch CRO Mike Kisseberth. Over the next year, the company plans to grow its number of publisher clients to roughly 40, and have its tech licensing operation account for about 25 percent of its overall revenue, he said.\n\nPurch began developing its own ad platform nearly four years ago. What\u2019s changed is that the company has gotten more serious about licensing it to other publishers. In December, Purch broke out its tech licensing business into a separate unit, called Purch Publisher Services. About 60 of Purch\u2019s 400 employees work on Purch\u2019s tech platform at least part of the time, and 10 work on it full-time, Kisseberth said. These employees are made up of salespeople, engineers, data scientists and support specialists.\n\nBy licensing software, Purch is aiming to build a revenue stream in an area that most publishers have avoided. This is because most publishers don\u2019t have the resources or patience to build their own ad tech, let alone build tech that can be licensed to other media companies.\n\nOne exception is The Washington Post, which calls itself a tech company and sells ad products to other publishers. But the Post is an outlier due to the fact that its owner, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, is a tech enthusiast who happens to be the richest person in the world.\n\nWhat has driven the growth of Purch\u2019s tech licensing business is that it was an early adopter of server-side bidding. Unlike on-page header bidding \u2014 where publishers simultaneously offer inventory to multiple exchanges before making calls to their ad servers \u2014 going server-to-server speeds up page-load times since the ad calls are hosted on publishers\u2019 servers and not on users\u2019 browsers. For over a year, Purch has sold all of its programmatic inventory through server-to-server connections.\n\nThe benefits of server-to-server might sound enticing, but as publisher tech teams are typically stretched thin, few publishers have shifted over to selling the bulk of their programmatic inventory this way. This is where Purch pitches itself as a vendor.\n\nPurch\u2019s server-side solution operates on a revenue share, but Kisseberth wouldn\u2019t disclose monetary terms. It is a managed-service product where Purch takes control of the setup and maintenance, ad ops and relationships with the 30 supply-side platforms that are plugged into the product.\n\nPurch last summer tested a self-service bidding product with some of its clients but found that it required more tech and service support than was worth it. As self-service gains steam within the ad tech industry, Purch is open to shifting its products to be self-service in the future, but that likely won\u2019t happen in 2018, Kisseberth said.\n\nOther tech products that Purch sells publishers include commerce management and CRM platforms. But these products are more geared toward B2B publishers. Purch\u2019s programmatic bidding product is the main driver of its licensing business.\n\nPurch doesn\u2019t limit itself to selling its tech to non-competitors; its publisher clients include tech sites like VentureBeat, Mobile Nations and How-To-Geek. Purch figures that selling products to other tech sites, as long as they\u2019re brand-safe, can bolster the reputation of Purch\u2019s ad tech with buyers and in turn help Purch\u2019s case when it comes to setting up private marketplace deals, where the ad rates tend to be much higher than on the open exchange.\n\nKisseberth emphasized that Purch isn\u2019t looking to simply grow an audience extension. If a publisher already builds its own ad tech or runs its auctions server-to-server, then it\u2019s likely not a fit as a client. Unlike the Washington Post, which licenses self-service products to a wide swath of publishers, Purch is focusing on selling its products to niche sites that want another publisher to control and scale their programmatic selling.\n\n\u201cThis is not a huge land grab where we are signing thousands of publishers,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is signing publishers who we think are good additions to our portfolio.\u201d", "output": "Profitable Utah-based publisher Purch is building up a healthy business from selling licences for its ad tech products to its peers. CRO Mike Kisseberth said the company's managed-service product, which relies on server-side connections, is responsible for 20% of the company's $120m annual revenue. The now separate unit, Purch Publisher Services, plans to increase that to a quarter. Kisseberth said Purch may look to self-serve products in the future.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New York City to investigate renewable fuel for ferries \n In New York state, the City of New York is set to spend the next two years analyzing the use of alternative fuels to power the city\u2019s ferries following a successful City Council vote in mid-December. The study will look at biodiesel and hybrid electric, battery electric and fuel-cell electric technologies but also look at new ferries to evaluate their compatibility with these cleaner fuels. The study should be submitted to the city council by December 31, 2019.", "output": "New York City Council has commissioned a two-year study to determine the feasibility of using renewable fuels and technology to power the city\u2019s ferries. Alternative fuels such as biodiesel and hybrid electric, battery electric and fuel-cell electric technologies will all be studied to assess which options are most compatible with the various types and classes of ferries the city uses."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Glycolic acid electrolysis promises huge energy storage capacity \n A Kyushu University research team realized continuous electrochemical synthesis of an alcoholic compound from a carboxylic acid using a polymer electrolyte alcohol electrosynthesis cell, which enables direct power charge into alcoholic compound. Credit: Masaaki Sadakiyo / International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research, Kyushu University\n\nInterest in renewable energy continues to grow. Many renewables, though, can be frustratingly intermittent. When the sun stis obscured by clouds, or the wind stops blowing, the power fluctuates. The fluctuating supply can be partly smoothed out by energy storage during peak production times. However, storing electricity is not without its challenges.\n\nRecently, a team at Kyushu University created a device to store energy in chemical form through continuous electrolysis. The researchers noted that glycolic acid (GC) has a much greater energy capacity than hydrogen, one of the more popular energy storage chemicals. GC can be produced by four-electron reduction of oxalic acid (OX), a widely available carboxylic acid. As described in their publication in Scientific Reports, the team devised an electrolytic cell based on a novel membrane-electrode assembly. Sandwiched between two electrodes are an iridium oxide-based anode and a titanium dioxide (TiO2)-coated titanium (Ti) cathode, linked by a polymer membrane.\n\n\"Flow-type systems are very important for energy storage with liquid-phase reaction,\" says lead author Masaaki Sadakiyo. \"Most electrolyzers producing alcohols operate a batch process, which is not suitable for this purpose. In our device, by using a solid polymer electrolyte in direct contact with the electrodes, we can run the reaction as a continuous flow without addition of impurities (e.g. electrolytes). The OX solution can effectively be thought of as a flowable electron pool.\"\n\nAnother key consideration is the cathode design. The cathodic reaction is catalyzed by anatase TiO2. To ensure a solid connection between catalyst and cathode, the team \"grew\" TiO2 directly on Ti in the form of a mesh or felt. Electron microscope images show the TiO2 as a wispy fuzz, clinging to the outside of the Ti rods like a coating of fresh snow. In fact, its job is to catalyze the electro-reduction of OX to GC. Meanwhile, at the anode, water is oxidized to oxygen.\n\nThe team found that the reaction accelerated at higher temperatures. However, turning the heat up too high encouraged an unwanted by-process\u2014the conversion of water to hydrogen. The ideal balance between these two effects was at 60\u00b0C. At this temperature, the device could be further optimized by slowing the flow of reactants, while increasing the amount of surface area available for the reaction.\n\nInterestingly, even the texture of the fuzzy TiO2 catalyst made a major difference. When TiO2 was prepared as a \"felt,\" by growing it on thinner and more densely packed Ti rods, the reaction occurred faster than on the mesh\u2014probably because of the greater surface area. The felt also discouraged hydrogen production, by blanketing the Ti surface more snugly than the mesh, preventing the exposure of bare Ti.\n\n\"In the right conditions, our cell converts nearly 100 percent of OX, which we find very encouraging,\" co-author Miho Yamauchi says. \"We calculate that the maximum volumetric energy capacity of the GC solution is around 50 times that of hydrogen gas. To be clear, the energy efficiency, as opposed to capacity, still lags behind other technologies. However, this is a promising first step to a new method for storing excess current.\"\n\nMore information: Masaaki Sadakiyo et al, Electrochemical Production of Glycolic Acid from Oxalic Acid Using a Polymer Electrolyte Alcohol Electrosynthesis Cell Containing a Porous TiO2 Catalyst, Scientific Reports (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-17036-3 Journal information: Scientific Reports\n\nProvided by Kyushu University, I2CNER", "output": "Researchers at Kyushu University have created a device to store chemical energy through continuous electrolysis using glycolic acid, which they say has around 50 times the energy storage capacity of hydrogen. The team made an electrolytic cell using a new membrane-electrode assembly using an iridium oxide-based anode and a titanium dioxide-coated titanium cathode. The ideal operating temperature for the reaction is 60C, they said. \"The energy efficiency, as opposed to capacity, still lags behind other technologies\", said study co-author, Miho Yamauchi. \"However, this is a promising first step.\""}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Publishers invest in data protection officers for incoming GDPR \n To prepare for the coming General Data Protection Regulation, publishers have a new important role: data protection officers.\n\nThe Information Commissioner\u2019s Office advised companies to hire DPOs last year, but unlike in Germany, where DPOs are now common at publishers, the U.K. has been far slower to embrace the role. News UK, which owns The Times and The Sun newspapers, was among the first to appoint a data protection officer. Haymarket has appointed one, and magazine publisher Future is planning to appoint one. Others have working groups comprised of staff across different parts of the business working on compliance. Ad tech companies and agencies are also bringing on data protection czars.\n\nThe DPO role comes with challenges. The ICO insists the DPO isn\u2019t to be held accountable if decisions they make aren\u2019t good for business.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s the new important role at publishers, but it\u2019s a strange role that\u2019s virtually un-sackable,\u201d said Paul Lomax, an independent publishing consultant and recently the chief technology officer at magazine group Dennis. \u201cYou can\u2019t give them guidance on or take issue with how they approach it [GDPR compliance]. Basically you can\u2019t fire them.\u201d\n\nSome publishers are simply choosing to expand current roles, such as privacy officers and heads of data. But with GDPR, the DPO cannot have any conflict of interest with other responsibilities across the business. So if it wasn\u2019t a dedicated role before, it will have to be now, according to Lomax. In some cases, that may lead to some hasty job title changes, rather than investing in an unknown new hire.\n\nGiven GDPR is uncharted territory, real expertise and experience is thin on the ground. And with any role shortage, particularly in an area that requires senior, specialist skill sets, salaries are high. Industry sources have said DPO roles tend to be in the six-figure range.\n\nIn short, hiring a DPO is fraught with challenges. Whether or not a company must appoint one comes down to size and the extent to which they use data. Companies that have to renegotiate thousands of contracts with tech suppliers in order to ensure they\u2019re compliant will likely already have a DPO or have plans to hire one. But for smaller businesses, outsourcing to external DPOs will be a more popular option.\n\nCompanies like Skimlinks, which provides affiliate link services to publishers, will likely outsource to a DPO in the spring, after the company has done the heavy lifting on its data mapping and other internal processes. The DPO will then just be tasked with auditing and validating all that\u2019s happened, meaning the business can control and retain the expertise on how to comply with the law and then approaches an external DPO to rubber stamp its compliance as an unbiased partner. \u201cThat way it\u2019s [GDPR knowledge] not all locked up in the mind of a DPO,\u201d said Skimlinks co-founder Joe Stepniewski.", "output": "Data protection officers (DPOs) are becoming crucial hires for publishers, ad tech companies and agencies affected by the impending General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).\u00a0DPOs reportedly command\u00a0six-figure salaries due to the thin pool of GDPR expertise, and are virtually un-sackable. As publishing consultant Peter Lomax explains, the Information Commissioner\u2019s Office has insisted that DPOs are not to be held accountable if their GDPR-related decisions hurt the business: \"You can\u2019t take issue with how they approach [GDPR compliance]\". UK publishers News UK and Haymarket have filled DPO positions, though smaller publishers are likely to outsource in future.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Croton nuts could be the future of biofuels \n Home > Big Impact > Renewables Kenya's Croton Nuts Could Be The Future Of Biofuels The prevalent shrub, known as the croton tree, that grows across Kenya could be the key to a sustainable source of biofuel, set to replace diesel. By Tessa Love May 28 2019, Updated 5:04 p.m. ET Source: Eco Fuels Kenya\n\nA prevalent shrub that grows almost everywhere across Kenya could be the key to a sustainable source of biofuel, set to replace diesel and potentially feed Africa\u2019s growing demand for cheap, low-carbon energy.\n\nArticle continues below advertisement\n\nCalled the croton tree, this plant is widely used for firewood and shade, but its less used component\u2014its oilseed nuts\u2014are a powerful source for biofuels. And while the croton industry is still fledgling, this macadamia-sized nut could help Africa meet its sustainable development goals of clean energy, climate action and poverty reduction.\n\nAs of now, Kenya imports all of its oil. In rural communities, diesel use is widespread for everything from trucks to water pumps, but is barely affordable for the poverty-stricken farmers that rely on it. Meanwhile, in urban areas, car exhaust is causing dangerous levels of air pollution. Croton oil, on the other hand, generates 78 percent less carbon dioxide emissions than diesel.\n\nArticle continues below advertisement\n\nWhile a biofuel replacement sounds good, this isn't the first time Kenya has promised such a massive overhaul of the fossil fuel system. In 2000, a plant native to Central America, jatropha, was introduced to the Kenyan landscape and billed as the saving biofuel crop. The government then took land away from farmers to grow thousands of acres of monoculture jatropha. In the end, yields of the plant were \u201cdismal\u201d and because 90% of the jatropha crops were established on former agricultural land, companies kept their land titles, leaving hundreds of farmers with no jobs and no land.\n\nArticle continues below advertisement\n\nThis time around, however, the government and companies pushing the croton tree are doing it differently, building sustainable business practices into the movement.\n\nFor one, the industry could also improve rural livelihoods; through the production of oil for energy and other products (such as animal feed and fertilizer), croton harvesting is an opportunity for many poor farmers to rise out of poverty. The trees don\u2019t require an investment in water or fertilizer, and the harvest can last up to six months, which means it's a steady source of income. Additionally, sellers get paid upon delivery, unlike coffee famers in the region who have to wait months for a payout.\n\nArticle continues below advertisement\n\nAdditionally, the croton industry could help with food security: While many biofuel crops take edible ingredients out of the market, the croton nut is inedible, meaning it does not displace food for consumption. Additionally, because croton trees already grow all over the region, there's no need to create massive monocultures like the jatropha days, which potentially displace other food crops.\n\n\u201cInstead of going the way of monoculture, we have decided to collaborate with small-scale holders and minimise the risk for everyone involved,\u201d said Myles Katz, the managing director of Eco Fuels Kenya, a startup pioneering the use of croton nuts for biofuel.\n\n\n\nArticle continues below advertisement\n\nEco Fuels Kenya currently buys nuts from 5,000 farmers across Kenya, and more are expressing interest. Michael Jacobson, professor of forest resources in the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences, recently conducted a survey with Kenyan farmers to gauge interest in joining the movement. Most were ready to jump in.\n\n\u201cMany small farmers, although land constrained, have access to land to plant groves of croton trees if they become sold on the idea,\u201d he said. \u201cIf they knew that there was going to be a dedicated market for croton, they would certainly add trees to their farm household lands.\u201d", "output": "The oilseed nuts of the croton tree, a prevalent shrub in Kenya, could hold the key to cheap development of biofuels in the country. Croton oil was found to generate 78% less CO2 emissions than diesel, which is in widespread use in rural areas of the country. At present, Eco Fuels Kenya buys the nuts from 5,000 farmers across the African nation, and is looking to garner support for the alternative fuel."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Genomic Expression aims to simplify bladder cancer diagnosis \n OneRNA(TM) Making RNA Sequencing Actionable in Oncology \"This is an amazing project that delivers on our mission to save lives and increase the quality of life for the patients while reducing the cost of care\u201cGitte Pedersen, CEO of Genomic Expression\n\nThe OneRNA4Bladder project aims to save lives and halve the cost of care for bladder-cancer treatment. Bladder cancer is the most expensive cancer to treat due to expensive diagnostic procedures and ineffective drugs resulting in a recurrence rate of 70%.\n\nThe OneRNA4Bladder project, which validates a urine-based diagnostic and liquid-biopsy platform, has already been shown, in a smaller 500-patient study, to outperform cystoscopy in terms of sensitivity and specificity. For this reason, it may substitute the invasive, expensive cystoscopy procedure in the diagnostic workup for bladder cancer and for the identification of recurrence. To our knowledge, no other technology has successfully met this endpoint. Most other non-invasive tests add cost to the management of the disease instead of reducing cost simply because, instead of replacing cystoscopy, the test can only provide a supplement to it.\n\nThe new immune checkpoint inhibitors have recently been approved for bladder cancer. However, with a low overall response rate of 15%, this will soon become a very expensive option, driving up cost. Genomic Expression has developed a way to sequence RNA quickly and inexpensively and then link the statistically changes in tumor RNA to drugs that could provide more durable responses. This technology is called OneRNA\u2122, and, applied as a liquid-biopsy platform, it can quickly and effectively diagnose cancer, select treatment, and measure response and recurrence.\n\nOverall, this solution will guide patients toward more effective treatments, reduce the number of cystoscopies and biopsies, identify patients with a higher likelihood of responding to new, expensive immunotherapy treatments, and, finally, reduce the cost of bladder-cancer treatment.\n\nBladder cancer is the sixth most common cancer globally, with an estimated 357,000 new cases worldwide every year. Its high incidence coupled with its relapsing nature result in the highest lifetime treatment costs per patient of all cancers, accounting for almost $3.7 billion/year in direct costs. A significant part of this cost burden stems from routine use of highly invasive, expensive procedures such as cystoscopy in diagnosis and recurrence monitoring. Replacing routine cystoscopy with the OneRNA4Bladder system could cut the cost of diagnosing and managing bladder cancer in half. Perhaps even more striking, the costs associated with an untimely death due to bladder cancer (i.e., the \u2018\u2018value\u2019\u2019 of life lost) approach $7 billion annually. OneRNA4Bladder is expected to significantly minimize the bladder-cancer burden on health care.\n\nThe market opportunity for OneRNA4Bladder is $4.5 Billion.\n\nGenomic Expression can start commercializing various components of the technologies as tools for clinical development of drugs e.g. OneRNA\u2122 is already commercially available as a tool to stratify patients into clinical trials. However once the OneRNA4Bladder clinical study is completed, the market for the solution as a diagnostic platform is estimated to $4.5 billion.\n\nAbout Genomic Expression\n\nGenomic Expression is finding the best drug for the patient and the best patient for the drug by sequencing RNA and linking changes due to cancer to drugs through its proprietary algorithms and databases. Analyzing RNA allows us to tell if a tumor will respond to the new immune therapies, which are the only kind of therapies that are potential cures. Right now, only one out of four cancer treatments prolongs life. We spend $100 billion on drugs every year, and eight million patients die. Genomic Expression was started as the diagnostic partner in the $32M Danish \u201cGenome Denmark.\u201d The company now has four in-house clinical programs established in selected cancers with clear unmet needs. The OneRNA\u2122 test can be used on any type of cancer.", "output": "Massachusetts-based biotech Genomic Expression has developed the OneRNA4Bladder project, a low-cost method of diagnosing bladder cancer which also halves the cost of care. The OneRNA test, which can be used to diagnose several types of cancer, offers a urine-based diagnostic and liquid biopsy, instead of a traditionally invasive and high-cost cystoscopy. Upon diagnosis, the platform also enables treatment selection, as well as monitoring response and recurrence. Treating bladder cancer in the US costs around $3.7bn per year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Life Sciences Partners announces $280m medical tech fund \n Venture capital firm Life Sciences Partners LSP has secured \u20ac280m in funding for new medical technologies, labelling it the largest fund in Europe dedicated exclusively to healthcare innovation.\n\nThe money will be invested in private companies developing forward-thinking medical devices, diagnostics and digital health products. Specifically, it will target technologies with the potential to improve the quality of patient care while simultaneously keeping healthcare costs under control.\n\nAccording to the investment group, the LSP Health Economics Fund 2 was oversubscribed and exceeded both its target size and its original \u2018hard\u2019 cap.\n\nSpeaking to Digital Health News, Rudy Dekeyser, LSP partner, said: \u201cIn the digital health space we have a keen interest in proprietary and scalable products with both a clear potential to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of major diseases and a straightforward impact on cost reduction for the healthcare system.\u201d\n\nFocused on Europe and the US, the fund will look to invest in around 15 private companies. The products of these companies will need to be \u201con the market or very close to market introduction\u201d.\n\nDekeyser cited drug compliance, remote monitoring, big data analytics and clinical software as areas of particular interest.\n\nHe added that companies hoping for a share of the fund would have to \u201cconvince us that there is a clear path towards the integration of their innovative product in the complicated healthcare ecosystem, has to know who will pay for their product or services and should have access to the necessary partners for broad implementation of their product in the market.\u201d\n\nInvestors in the fund include the European Investment Fund and a variety of health insurance companies and institutional investors.\n\nDr Ren\u00e9 Kuijten, managing partner of LSP, added: \u201cWith this new and sizable fund, we have now firmly established our health economics and medical technology strategy.\u201d\n\nEarly in December, the UK government formed a partnership with the life sciences industry as part of a pledge to boost advancements in medical technology in Britain.\n\nEarlier in December, Wayra UK and Merck Sharp & Dohme announced a \u00a368,000 healthcare accelerator programme aimed at machine learning start-ups.", "output": "European investment firm Life Sciences Partners has raised \u20ac280m ($337m) for the LSP Health Economics Fund 2, which aims to support firms developing medical devices which also help reduce healthcare costs. The fund, which the company said was oversubscribed, will invest in around 15 private firms that have products relating to remote monitoring, drug compliance and big data analytics \"on the market or very close to market introduction\", according to LSP partner Rudy Dekeyser.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WeChat claims it doesn't store users\u2019 chat history \n WeChat, China\u2019s most popular messaging application, has denied \u201cstoring\u201d users\u2019 messages, following accusations by one of the country\u2019s top businessmen that the Tencent Holdings-owned firm was spying on its users.\n\n\u201cWeChat does not store any users\u2019 chat history. That is only stored in users\u2019 mobiles, computers and other terminals,\u201d WeChat said in a post on the platform.\n\nThe statement comes after Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holdings, which owns the worldwide Volvo and Lotus car brands, was quoted by local media on Monday as saying Tencent chairman Ma Huateng \u201cmust be watching all our WeChats every day\u201d.\n\nGeely Holdings is one of China\u2019s largest car manufacturers, and one of the few major companies without ties to the country\u2019s government. It has owned Volvo since 2010, British taxi maker The London Electric Vehicle Company since 2013 and took a majority stake in British sports car maker Lotus Cars last year.\n\n\u2018Misunderstanding\u2019\n\nIn its carefully worded response, WeChat said Li\u2019s remarks were the result of a \u201cmisunderstanding\u201d.\n\n\u201cWeChat will not use any content from user chats for big data analysis,\u201d the firm said in its post. \u201cBecause of WeChat\u2019s technical model that does not store or analyse user chats, the rumour that \u2018we are watching your WeChat everyday\u2019 is pure misunderstanding.\u201d\n\nWeChat, like all social media firms operating in China, is legally required to censor public posts the country\u2019s Communist Party designates as illegal, and its privacy policy says it may need to retain and disclose users\u2019 information in response to government or law enforcement requests.\n\nIn a 2016 report, Amnesty International ranked Tencent zero out of 100 on various privacy criteria, noting it was the only company on the list that \u201chas not stated publicly that it will not grant government requests to access encrypted messages by building a \u2018backdoor'\u201d.\n\nCyber laws\n\nTencent is the only Chinese company on Amnesty\u2019s list, which also includes Japan\u2019s Viber and Line and South Korea\u2019s Kakao, as well as services such US-based companies such as Facebook, Apple, Telegram and Google.\n\nLast September China\u2019s internet regulator announced a new rule making chat group administrators and companies accountable for breaches of content laws.\n\nThe regulator also fined firms including Tencent, Baidu and Weibo for censorship lapses and demanded they improve content auditing measures.\n\nLast June China brought into force the restrictive Cyber Security Law (CSL), which mandates certain companies to hold data within the country and to undergo on-site security reviews.\n\nWhat do you know about the history of mobile messaging? Find out with our quiz!", "output": "WeChat has said a claim that the company was storing users' chat history was a \"misunderstanding\". In a blog post, WeChat said it \"will not use any content from user chats for big data analysis\". The comments followed media quotes from Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holdings, who said Tencent chairman Ma Huateng \"must be watching all our WeChats every day\". Tencent scored 0 out of 100 for various privacy issues in a 2016 report by Amnesty International.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sugarcane engineered to produce more oil for biojet fuel \n In Illinois, researchers from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are engineering sugarcane plants, called lipidcane, to produce more oil as well as sugar. Growing lipidcane containing 20 percent oil would be five times more profitable per acre than soybeans, the main feedstock currently used to make biodiesel in the United States, and twice as profitable per acre as corn, according to their research. They estimate that compared to soybeans, lipidcane containing 5 percent oil could produce four times more jet fuel per acre of land. Lipidcane with 20 percent oil could produce more than 15 times more jet fuel per acre.\n\nResearchers estimate that if 23 million acres in the southeastern United States was devoted to lipidcane with 20 percent oil, the crop could produce 65 percent of the U.S. jet fuel supply at a cost to airlines of US$5.31 per gallon, which is less than bio-jet fuel produced from algae or other oil crops.", "output": "Researchers at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are tinkering with sugarcane plants to create a more cost-effective feedstock for biofuels for aircraft than corn or soybeans. According to the team, lipidcane containing 20% oil is twice as profitable per acre than corn and five times more than soybeans, and could yield over 15 times more jet fuel per acre. The researchers also estimated that 23 million acres of lipidcane could produce 65% of the jet fuel used to supply US airlines, at a cost of $5.31 per gallon, cheaper than other biofuels."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon tests voice-triggered audio search advertisements \n by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, January 2, 2018\n\nVirtual assistants have marketers scrambling to figure out how to optimize content as companies like Amazon begin testing voice-triggered audio search advertisements.\n\nReports surfaced Tuesday that Amazon has been speaking to consumer products goods companies such as Clorox and Procter & Gamble to develop advertisements. The CPG companies would promote their products on Echo devices powered by the Alexa voice assistant.\n\nEarly discussions have centered on whether companies would pay for higher placement if a user searches for a product on the device, similar to how paid-search works on Google, according to CNBC, which cited \"people.\"\n\nThis should not come as a surprise to marketers preparing to optimize content for voice searches. The ads are being described as what the industry refers to as sponsored content.\n\nFor example, if someone asks Alexa how to clean up a spill, Amazon's voice assistant would respond to the query by naming a specific brand that paid for the sponsorship or bid a higher price to serve the voice advertisement.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nAdvertisers are focused on search placement on Alexa and on other hubs because voice assistants typically only provide one answer per consumer query.\n\nAmazon has hinted at launching a voice-operated advertisement platform for sponsored products. And last week, reports surfaced that Amazon is testing several new advertising units and types.\n\nAnother offering would allow brands to target users based on past shopping behavior or perhaps shopping behavior at the Whole Foods market.\n\nIn May 2017, eMarketer estimated that the number of people in the U.S. using voice-enabled speakers would more than double to 36 million, with Amazon capturing nearly 71% of the market.", "output": "Amazon is testing audio advertisements for its voice-activated virtual assistant, Alexa. It is reported to have approached a number of companies to develop adverts that would be promoted on its Echo devices, with advertisers able to pay to optimise the placement of their products. The development would mean customers who ask for help with domestic problems could have branded products suggested to them or be played adverts for such products. The use of voice-activated virtual assistants in the US is predicted to grow significantly, making them attractive to advertisers as they often only offer one answer to a query.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Third of US firms said they suffered hacker data breaches in 2017 \n Twenty-nine percent of U.S. businesses suffered a data breach in the past year, according to a recent HSB survey of 403 senior executives in the U.S., conducted by Zogby Analytics.\n\nTwo thirds of respondents whose businesses were breached said their company\u2019s reputation was negatively affected by the incident. Twenty-seven percent of respondents spent between $5,000 and $50,000 to respond to a breach, and 30 percent spent between $50,000 and $100,000.\n\nForty-seven percent of the breaches were caused by a third-party vendor or contractor, followed by employee negligence (21 percent) and lost or stolen mobile devices or storage media (20 percent). Just 11 percent were caused by hacking.\n\nWhen asked to identify the biggest hurdle their organization faces in responding to a breach, 51 percent cited a lack of knowledge, while 41 percent said it comes down to a lack of resources.\n\n\u201cThe results highlight how closely our economy and society are interconnected digitally,\u201d HSB vice president Timothy Zellman said in a statement. \u201cAlmost all of our personal and business data can be accessible on the Internet through online business connections, websites and social media. And that exposes our private information to attacks from hackers and cyber thieves.\u201d\n\nMonitoring Privileged Users\n\nA separate Balabit survey of 222 IT executives and IT security professionals found that 35 percent of respondents see themselves as the biggest internal security risk to networks within their organizations. While HR and finance staff may be easier targets for social engineering, IT staff have higher access rights than other users, including access to business-critical data.\n\nWhen asked to identify the most important user data for spotting malicious activity, 47 percent of respondents listed the time and location of login, followed by private activities using corporate devices (41 percent), and biometrics identification characteristics such as keystroke analytics (31 percent).\n\nWithin the realm of privileged users, respondents said sysadmins present the biggest threat (42 percent), followed by C-level executives (16 percent).\n\nWhen asked what data is most valuable to hackers, 56 percent of respondents cited personal employee data, followed by customer data (50 percent) and investor and financial information (46 percent).\n\n\u201cAs attacks become more sophisticated, targeted attacks and APTs more commonly involve privileged users inside organizations \u2014 often via hacks involving stolen credentials,\u201d Balabit security evangelist Csaba Krasznay said in a statement. \u201cToday, IT security professionals\u2019 tough job has become even tougher. It is not enough to keep the bad guys out; security teams must continuously monitor what their own users are doing with their access rights.\u201d", "output": "Hackers penetrated the data of 29% of US firms last year, with two-thirds of them suffering damage to their reputations as a result, according to a study by Zogby Analytics. It surveyed more than 400 senior US executives, 47% of whom said incidents were caused by external vendors or contractors. More than half said a lack of knowledge was the biggest obstacle to responding to a breach. A separate survey of IT executives\u00a0by Balabit revealed 56% of 222 respondents believed employee personal data was most valuable to cyber criminals.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Record \u00a3400m invested in\u00a0Cardiff commercial property last year \n We have more newsletters\n\nSomething went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nSign up here to get the CardiffOnline newsletter sent straight to your inbox\n\nInvestment into Cardiff's commercial property sector reached record levels in 2017 at more than \u00a3400m, according to international real estate advisory firm Savills.\n\nIn 2016 investment into the city totalled \u00a3298m.\n\nThe research by Savills shows that volumes were heavily skewed this year by the activity at the Central Square regeneration scheme, which amounted to a combined \u00a3224.7m.\n\nIn total, investment into the Cardiff office sector surpassed \u00a3350m, which represents a record high.\n\nPrime yields for Cardiff office investments fall 75 basis points from the beginning of the year to 5.50% as strong investor interest has resulted in downward pressure.\n\nThe second largest sector in terms of investment levels in 2017 was the leisure sector with investment reaching \u00a343m.\n\nThe sector was dominated by the \u00a320.5m acquisition of Stadium Plaza by Naissance Capital Real Estate and the \u00a322.1m purchase of the Clayton hotel by M&G Real Estate.\n\nRoss Griffin, director of investment at Savills Cardiff, said: \u201cCardiff remains a popular investment destination, particularly for those looking to place their money into the regional office market.\n\nThe development at Central Square has significantly boosted the volumes for this year, providing an attractive opportunity.\n\n\"Looking ahead to 2018 we expect to see continued activity from institutions on both the buy and sell side as they look for long term income. Overseas capital will also be active, particularly for prime assets at attractive yields.\"", "output": "Investment in Cardiff's commercial property sector reached record levels in 2017, at more than \u00a3400m ($542m), compared with \u00a3298m in 2016, according to Savills. Ross Griffin, director of investment at Savills Cardiff, said the figure was\u00a0boosted by the \u00a3224.7m invested in the Central Square regeneration scheme. The data also revealed total investment in the office sector reached \u00a3350m, while prime yields for office investments dropped 75 basis points to 5.50%.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sale of Brooklyn's $905m Starrett City cleared by judge \n Although the name of the complex was changed to Spring Creek Towers several years ago, it is still widely known as Starrett City. A massive development, it has its own power plant, schools, recreation center and ZIP code. The sale has garnered some notoriety not just because of its size but also because President Trump has a small stake in the complex.\n\nCarol G. Deane, the managing partner of Starrett City Associates, who was behind the sale, had argued in court that she balanced the need to satisfy shareholders with a deal that could win government approval and preserve Starrett City as a home for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers.\n\nMore than 70 percent of the limited partners and beneficial owners approved the deal in September.\n\n\u201cWe are pleased with the decision denying plaintiffs\u2019 efforts to derail the sale of Spring Creek Towers,\u201d Ms. Deane said in a statement Tuesday, \u201cbut not surprised because of the care we put into the process and choosing a buyer who is committed to maintaining the development as affordable and a quality place to live for the 15,000 residents who call it home.\u201d\n\nJoshua D.N. Hess, a lawyer for the dissidents, said Tuesday that they were reviewing the judge\u2019s order and their options, which could include suing for damages.\n\nMr. Deane died in 2010. Ms. Deane was his third wife.\n\nHe tried to sell the complex to the highest bidder during a debt-fueled real estate boom in 2007, but the deal fell apart amid sharp criticism from city, state and federal officials, as well as tenants.", "output": "The sale of a huge apartment complex in New York has been cleared by a judge after it was challenged in court. Starrett City in Brooklyn is the largest federally subsidised housing development in the United States, with 5,581 apartments in a 145-acre site. It is being sold for $905m by the widow of its original developer, but the transaction has been opposed by a rival bidder, backed by a partner in the complex. The Supreme Court of the state of New York has now dismissed its objection, but the transaction still requires approval by state and federal officials.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI to be used in Canada to monitor social media for suicide risks \n The Canadian government is partnering with AI firm Advanced Symbolics to try to predict rises in regional suicide risk by monitoring social media posts. Advanced Symbolics will analyze posts from 160,000 social media accounts and will look for suicide trends. The company aims to be able to predict which areas of Canada might see an increase in suicidal behavior, which according to the contract document includes \"ideation (i.e., thoughts), behaviors (i.e., suicide attempts, self-harm, suicide) and communications (i.e., suicidal threats, plans).\" With that knowledge, the Canadian government could make sure more mental health resources are in the right places when needed.\n\nCanada isn't the only one turning to technology in order to provide better support for those considering suicide or to prevent suicides from happening. In November, Facebook began a global rollout of its AI suicide prevention tools that reach out to users who post content that could be a sign of suicidal thought and allow other users to report content that they think might show signs of suicidal risk. Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, also released tools last year that allowed users to report live videos that showed signs of suicidal thought, which would prompt an offer of mental health resources to the person posting the content.\n\nThe project is scheduled to begin later this month and would initially end in June. During that time, Advanced Symbolics would monitor social media accounts for a period of three months as a pilot of the program. Afterwards, the Canadian government will determine if the program should be extended. It's authorized for up to five one-year extensions. The initial program period will cost the government just under $25,000 and if extended fully, would cost up to $400,000.\n\n\"To help prevent suicide, develop effective prevention programs and recognize ways to intervene earlier, we must first understand the various patterns and characteristics of suicide-related behaviours,\" a Public Health Agency of Canada spokesperson said to CBC in a statement. \"PHAC is exploring ways to pilot a new approach to assist in identifying patterns, based on online data, associated with users who discuss suicide-related behaviours.\"\n\nCanada residents suffering from suicidal thoughts can reach out to the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention for help. US residents can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.", "output": "The Public Health Agency of Canada is partnering with artificial intelligence (AI) firm Advanced Symbolics on a three-month pilot programme to monitor social media posts for indicators of suicidal behaviour. The scheme, set to cost up to $400,000 if extended to five years, seeks to better deploy Canada's mental health resources. In November, Facebook launched its AI suicide prevention tools globally, following Instagram's release of tools enabling users to report videos that demonstrated signs of suicidal thoughts."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Plans for first build-to-rent scheme in Belfast submitted \n Build-to-rent has been gaining traction in Dublin for some time now, with numerous developments either under way or in the process of being planned by major real estate companies. Stock photo: Deposit\n\nBelfast is set to see its first build-to-rent (BTR) residential scheme following the submission of a planning application for a 19-storey apartment building in the city's Cathedral Quarter.\n\nShould it get the go-ahead, the proposed \u00a315m development by joint venture partners Lacuna and Watkin Jones would see the delivery of 105 one- and two-bed apartments on a site now occupied by a derelict building and surface car park.\n\nBuild-to-rent has been gaining traction in Dublin for some time now, with numerous developments either under way or in the process of being planned by major real estate companies such as Ires Reit, Kennedy Wilson, Hines Ireland, Marlet Property Group and the Cosgrave Property Group.\n\nThe increasing appetite for long-term rental over home ownership is being driven by a range of economic and societal factors. Quite apart from the shortage of housing supply and the relative dearth of mortgage finance, a recent report by real estate agents CBRE pointed to the changing nature of Ireland's demographics and living preferences.\n\nCBRE noted that the proportion of renters here grew by 4.7pc in the five-year period between 2011 and 2016, to 497,111 households - or nearly 30pc of the population.\n\nLooking at occupancy by age group, the report found younger people have a higher propensity to rent, with 65pc of the Dublin population aged 25-39 renting from a landlord. In the same age segment, 26pc of people own their home with the remainder renting from a local authority.", "output": "A 19-storey apartment building in Belfast's Cathedral Quarter could become the city's first build-to-rent (BTR) scheme\u00a0if submitted plans are given approval. The \u00a315m ($20m)\u00a0development by Lacuna and Watkin Jones is for\u00a0105 flats, and would meet an increasing appetite for renting\u00a0in Northern Ireland. In\u00a0Dublin, 65% of 25 to\u00a039\u00a0year-olds are in rented\u00a0accommodation, while several companies, including Ires Reit and Marlet Property Group, are planning BTR developments.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hong Kong property set for another year of steep price rises \n Most of the new supply to come up in Tseung Kwan O, Tai Po and Tuen Mun", "output": "About 35,000 new flats\u00a0are going on the market in Hong Kong this year, with\u00a0flats costing less than HKD6m ($768,000) expected to be the most popular with first-time buyers. However, prices are forecast to remain stubbornly high this year, with\u00a0predictions of\u00a0further rises of 10% to\u00a020%. Last year,\u00a0flats near stations on the city's\u00a0mass transit railway\u00a0experienced the biggest increases, of between 15% and 20%. Apartment sales volumes are expected to be 5% higher than in 2017.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Blockchains could edge banks out of property financing: Deloitte \n Real estate deals on a blockchain are becoming real.\n\nThe startup Propy recently sold an apartment in the Ukraine through its blockchain, and in the last week of December it began letting Californians buy and sell properties on its blockchain using bitcoin. They will be able to use U.S. dollars next year. It\u2019s also offering other homes including a \u201cPacker House\u201d\u2014 a house located next to the Green Bay Packers\u2019 stadium and training field that is draped in team paraphernalia and is available for $1 million.\n\nOther startups, including ShelterZoom and RealBlocks, are offering other takes on the idea of buying and selling real estate on a distributed ledger. ShelterZoom has built an Ethereum-based platform that went live Dec. 14. RealBlocks lets people invest in housing on its blockchain with fiat or digital currency (and starting in February 2018, its own tokens). It has completed seven deals so far.\n\nDistributed-ledger technology \u2014 a database that can live in many places at once, where transactions and smart contracts can be executed, theoretically without any need for middlemen \u2014 could simplify real estate investment, turning a complicated process into a series of clicks.\n\nAt some point in the near future, not only real estate transactions but mortgages themselves may be handled on a blockchain.\n\nBanks will have to adapt.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know if this is removing banks from the process \u2014 I think it will make them more efficient,\u201d said Eric Piscini, principal, banking and technology consulting at Deloitte. \u201cMaybe they\u2019ll be leaner because they won\u2019t need to have as many people as they used to, to manage those processes.\u201d\n\nWhat blockchains can do\n\nTheoretically, almost every element of a real estate transaction could be handled on a blockchain.\n\n\u201cWhen you want to buy a piece of real estate, whether it\u2019s commercial or retail, wherever the current process is very inefficient, which is most places, a blockchain platform can make it better, faster and cheaper,\u201d Piscini said.\n\nPropy, which is based in Menlo Park, Calif., calls itself the Amazon of real estate. Its site lets users search for properties and brokers the way Realtor.com and Trulia do.\n\nIt records deals on its blockchain registry, which it hopes will be adopted by many jurisdictions as an official ledger and as a way to issue title deeds online.\n\nHerein is a big promise of blockchain: that it could replace today\u2019s clunky title deed and registry processes, which involve going to a local town hall and getting a clerk to find the right documents.\n\nYet it will be a challenge to get thousands of local governments, as well as homeowners and real estate investors, to accept a number on a blockchain as the official deed to a property.\n\nRealBlocks lets people invest in rental properties like Section 8 housing over a blockchain.\n\n\u201cRather than having to set up LLCs and deal with the tax, legal and accounting complexities associated with purchasing real estate, we\u2019re making the process seamless by doing it on the blockchain using tokens,\u201d said Perrin Quarshie, RealBlocks' CEO.\n\nThe company can help users find a mortgage through its mortgage brokerage partner First National Financing. It has also partnered with SALT Lending so that after February, participants will be able to take out a loan or line of credit using the tokens they buy from RealBlocks as collateral.\n\nA blockchain combined with smart devices could let real estate investors track the condition of their investments and know, for instance, that equipment is being repaired and replaced on a schedule.\n\n\u201cAlmost in real time, you can know if that piece of real estate you invested in is in good condition or not,\u201d Piscini said. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to trust a third party for that; you can trust the blockchain.\u201d\n\nA blockchain can also let people who are nonresidents buy real estate in the U.S., which today is difficult.\n\nAnd it could let more people participate.\n\n\u201cIf someone who is managing a property can also be an investor in the property with that mechanism, then they would manage the property better,\u201d Piscini said. \u201cThe renter or leaser might be more incentivized to do a good job maintaining the property if they\u2019re also an investor.\u201d\n\nLegal, regulatory, public-sentiment hurdles\n\nFor real estate blockchains to work, several things need to happen: Governments, homeowners and investors would have to recognize and accept a blockchain registry. Small town halls would need to become blockchain-ready. Courts would have to accept smart contracts the way they accept paper-based contracts today.\n\n\u201cBlockchain is a very natural database technology to keep records like titles and to make them widely accessible,\u201d said Dror Futter, partner at Rimon Law and a member of its blockchain practice. \u201cThe issue is, you need to have the real estate blockchain recognized as a title registry. You can\u2019t have a situation where you have multiple registries.\u201d\n\nConsumers would have to be willing to accept a smart contract as their only way to engage with real estate participants.\n\n\u201cIf something goes wrong, who\u2019s picking up the phone?\u201d Piscini said. \u201cIf there is a major event, an earthquake, how do you manage the smart contract? At the end of the day, are we willing to trust this? That\u2019s going to be the biggest challenge.\u201d\n\nThe tokens many blockchain startups plan to issue to represent real estate assets raise regulatory questions.\n\n\u201cWill those tokens be considered another risk or another type of equity or will they be considered just an investment in real estate?\u201d Piscini said. \u201cI think the jury is out on that.\u201d\n\nIn Piscini\u2019s view, the only way to get the entire real estate finance system to accept transactions on a blockchain would be for regulators to mandate its use.\n\nRegulators might do this for three reasons: to make the real estate market more open; to exert control over the real estate market (for instance, to limit a North Korean investor\u2019s U.S. purchases); and to obtain a macroeconomic, real-time view of the real estate market, so they can react immediately.\n\nAll of this will take time.\n\n\u201cBlockchain is the internet circa 1993,\u201d Futter said. \u201cThe technology is still immature, it\u2019s not user-friendly, there are still issues being identified, and hacks are occurring. It\u2019s a little overhyped in terms of what it can deliver today. But it can do most of these things on a limited basis today.\u201d\n\nMortgages on a blockchain\n\nEventually, it is likely that mortgages will be handled as self-executable smart contracts on a blockchain, rather than as paper documents.\n\n\u201cCould you do a mortgage completely by way of smart contract? Yes,\u201d Futter said. \u201cThe technology is there today to form a mortgage between two parties. The question will be, from a legal perspective, will it be deemed an enforceable agreement? That\u2019s more a question of evidence than anything else.\u201d\n\nStates like California are starting to accept smart contracts as legal evidence, so long term this will not be an obstacle.\n\nFutter believes smart contracts themselves won\u2019t contain every term of a mortgage agreement. They might contain key terms like interest rate, loan amount and duration. But an underlying master agreement would cover all the terms and conditions typical of a mortgage.\n\nA blockchain could also facilitate crowdsourced mortgages. Instead of taking out a $200,000 loan from one lender, a borrower could get $2,000 each from 100 investors.\n\nWhat banks should do now\n\nBlockchain technology will take over the recording and transaction activities banks do today, Piscini said. Therefore, they need to focus on value-added services.\n\n\u201cNow it\u2019s not just lending money, it\u2019s managing property and helping people do a lot of things outside of just getting money to buy real estate,\u201d Piscini said. \u201cSo the banks have to reinvent themselves and find new services and solutions.\u201d\n\nFutter suggests that at a minimum, banks should have people following these developments. They could be experimenting with creating records, tracking documentation and verifying transactions on a blockchain.\n\n\u201cThe financial crisis showed this recordkeeping aspect is not the biggest strength of a lot of banks,\u201d Futter said. \u201cThe blockchain creates a reliable storage mechanism that\u2019s accessible depending on whether you do a public chain or private chain. You can store all the documentation around the mortgage transaction, including the financing, on a blockchain. You could do the mortgage processing automatically going forward, payments could be made and foreclosure would occur automatically \u2014those kinds of things are all doable on the blockchain.\u201d\n\nThis is all true for auto lending as well, he noted. It is also true for other types of loans, debt collection and many other related services.\n\nEditor at Large Penny Crosman welcomes feedback at penny.crosman@sourcemedia.com.", "output": "Blockchain technology could help US real estate firms offer customers near-instant financing and mortgage deals, all but edging banks out of the process. Deloitte's Eric Piscini said blockchains have the potential to revolutionise land registry and make the mortgage-buying process almost seamless. Banks could retain a role by offering\u00a0value-added products and services.\u00a0However, Piscini said the technology was still in its infancy and getting local governments, the courts and homeowners to accept it would take time."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Purplebricks posts profit but business model questions remain \n This omission was noted by popular share investing website The Motley Fool with British analyst GA Chester writing that previously, various figures Purplebricks gave made it possible to at least estimate the number.\n\n\"My calculations of the average sale price suggested that either the company was cornering the market in trailer park homes sales or that a rather large proportion of instructions weren't being converted to completions,\" Mr Chester wrote.\n\n\"Obviously, if you're charging a fixed fee but fail to complete the sale in too many cases, you're not going to have a sustainable business in the longer term,\" he added.\n\nPurplebricks' Australian website shows its agents have sold 2247 homes since September 2016 out of total listings of 3495. This suggests a clearance rate of 70-75 per cent, if recent listings are excluded.\n\nAlso a concern is that while Purplebricks has continued to ramp up its British advertising spending, UK revenue growth has halved in the past two years from 154 per cent in the first of 2016-17 to 77 per cent in the second half of 2017-18.\n\n\"For me, this trend appears ominous for the market's future top and bottom-line growth expectations,\" Mr Chester said.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nInvestors nervous\n\nDespite these issues, Neil Woodford, Britain's most high-profile fund manager, remains a strong backer of Purplebricks, with his Woodford Investment Management Ltd retaining a 27 per cent stake having bought into the float.\n\nHowever, investors are clearly nervous \u2013 the Purplebricks share price dropped 6 per cent in September when it was briefly, incorrectly reported that Woodford had reduced its stake to just 2.99 per cent.\n\nOld Mutual is another backing Purplebricks \u2013 the insurance and banking group recently increased its stake in the company to 12.6 per cent from 11.1 per cent.\n\nIn its latest interim results released in mid-December, Purplebricks reported that total group revenue more than doubled to \u00a346.8 million with its British business posting a healthy \u00a33.2 million operating profit.\n\nHowever, losses at its Australian business more than doubled to \u00a35.1 million after it spent \u00a35.7 million on marketing the brand locally.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nPurplebricks upgraded its UK revenue guidance 5 per cent to \u00a384 million as part of its interim results. The company said it was on course to achieve full-year revenue guidance of \u00a312 million ($20.8 million) in Australia.\n\nChief executive and co-founder Michael Bruce said the company's Australian business was \"on track\" and performing ahead of expectations.\n\n\"Our progress in Australia has been exciting and encouraging. Our market share in Australia is greater than our market share was in the UK at the same time in its evolution,\" Mr Bruce said.\n\nThe Australian Financial Review has reported on a few notable successes by Purplebricks estate agents, including veteran property executive Bryce Mitchelson, the managing director of $500 million childcare trust Arena REIT selling a three-bedroom Edwardian home in Elsternwick for more than $1.7 million after just two weeks with Purplebricks and saving an estimated $38,000 in commission fees.\n\nIn another high-profile result, Purplebricks saved property developer David Fam more than $61,000 on the $3.1 million sale of his Sutherland Shire mansion.\n\nHowever, the Financial Review has also highlighted what happens when Purplebricks does not achieve a result, leaving a customer with a big bill and a house that is still for sale.\n\nThis was the case for Sydney woman Kerryn Lehmann who ended up owing Purplebricks $12,000 when her four-bedroom riverfront home in Como in the Sutherland Shire failed to sell.", "output": "UK hybrid estate agency Purplebricks revealed a \u00a33.2m ($4.3m) operating profit in its mid-December interim results, and has revised up its revenue guidance by 5% to \u00a384m. However, the results did not include data on how many properties had been sold in the six months to October, prompting some to query the company's \u00a34.16 share price and question if its up-front agent fee business model was sustainable. The firm's Australian arm was on target to achieve its full-year revenue guidance of \u00a312m, despite incurring losses of \u00a35.1m, the results showed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Probuild looks to car plants for tips on construction efficiency \n The tale illustrates the productivity lessons \u2013 and skills \u2013 Australian construction can take from the local car manufacturing industry.\n\nTraditional ways\n\nIt wasn't always like that, however. Probuild, like many of its competitors in the industry, was suffering under the traditional ways of working and needed to change. It hired engineers with experience of the automotive production chain, who pointed out vast inefficiencies.\n\n\"We had huge issues with that supply chain,\" says Luke Stambolis, Probuild's managing director for Victoria. \"There wasn't enough time during the day to get materials up.\"\n\nChange required overturning established ways of operating. The first part involved working more closely with suppliers and understanding their processes. For a company used to working with a supplier on a lump-sum payment basis \u2013 which put all the financial risk on to the supplier \u2013 the head contractor sought to take on some of that risk itself.\n\nProbuild's 62-storey Empire Melbourne residential tower under construction for client Mammoth Empire. Andy Henderson\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\"It became less of a dictatorship and more of a collaborative approach,\" Grant says.\n\nOn Empire Melbourne, the company had worked with the same plumber for 10 years, but had never set foot in his factory, asked about his processes or consulted with him on how to improve things.\n\n\"We didn't even know where they were getting their materials from,\" Grant says.\n\nTook on board\n\nBut when they asked the plumber's opinion for a better way to deliver supplies \u2013 instead of having products delivered in bulk, cut to size on site and installed \u2013 the plumber came up with a stillage, a frame that fitted into the hoists used to lift materials. The plumber delivered materials precut, in the stillage, which he would take back empty and refill.\n\nThe completed 62-storey Empire Melbourne tower.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\"It was something we took on board and spread through the entire site. All subcontractors ended up adopting that model for delivery,\" Grant says.\n\nThe process cut the volume of waste material needing to be removed from the site by 3000 cubic metres \u2013 saving $150,000 in shipping costs alone. For the contractor it resulted in a saving of between 2 per cent and 5 per cent on its bills to subcontractors.\n\nAnother bottleneck was moving people and materials around. The site had three lifts for people and materials and at peak times, such as the start and end of a shift, it could take an hour to move the 300 people clocking on or off at the same time. But by putting the three lifts on a timetable \u2013 with some express to certain floors while others were milk runs to every floor \u2013 and showing the waiting workers on screens which lifts were going where, they sped things up.\n\nMeasure performance\n\n\"We knew we could load our whole building at peak time in 22 minutes,\" he says.\n\n\"If we have control over materials through the warehouse and we're able to get workers to the floor as quickly as we can and know when materials are being dropped off, we know we can build as efficiently and productively as possible.\"\n\nThe two-year-old process will keep evolving and the contractor is now trying to make better use of data to measure performance.\n\n\"I'd like to think by this time next year I'd be able to show in real time how a project's tracking, even how a particular level on a project is tracking,\" Grant says. \"That's where we could be improving, for sure.\"", "output": "Australian building company Probuild has learned\u00a0from the assembly line process of\u00a0car manufacturing to significantly speed up\u00a0the construction of a residential tower in Melbourne, enabling its completion ahead of schedule.\u00a0Probuild\u00a0focused on having more control over its supply chain to reduce delays and also on moving workers around the site more efficiently to reduce downtime. It also worked more closely with suppliers so that materials could be delivered pre-cut, which reduced\u00a0assembly time. The firm relied on data analysis to create further efficiencies and intends to apply what it has learned to future projects.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Diageo pulls ads from Snapchat over fears about under-18s\u00a0viewing \n Diageo is starting the new year with a resolution not to advertise on Snapchat \u2014 at least not until it can be sure of the social network\u2019s ability to keep its ads away from users under the legal drinking age.\n\nThe alcohol advertiser has stopped all advertising on Snapchat while it tries to understand how its ads may have inadvertently reached the social network\u2019s youngest users. Diageo has not taken \u201csufficient\u201d care to prevent its ads from reaching kids and teenagers, the Advertising Standards Authority concluded after an investigation, the results of which were announced on Jan. 3. The ASA banned Diageo from running a sponsored lens for its Captain Morgan rum brand ever again.\n\nWhile the lens debuted last summer without sparking any complaints from the public, the ASA decided it needed to be investigated due to concerns it appealed to people under the legal drinking age. The regulator wanted to set a \u201cprecedence\u201d in this space, revealed an ASA spokesman, who added Captain Morgan is the first branded Snapchat lens to be banned in the U.K.\n\nThe rationale behind the decision was simple enough. By adding a beard and a pirate hat to a user\u2019s face, the lens broke strict alcohol advertising rules on targeting kids, specifically on how ads must not use real or fictitious characters who are likely to encourage kids and teenagers to drink.\n\nThe ruling relies on the assumption that a significant portion of Snapchatters claim to be over 18 when they are not.\n\nDiageo, however, stressed it bought the lens, which typically cost between $500,000 (\u00a3368,000) and $1 million (\u00a3736 million) per day, last year based on assurances Snapchat had given it. At the time Diageo ran the campaign, Snapchat had not launched the interest-based targeting it has since claimed allow brands to supplement age with behavioral data to infer the ages of potential audiences. Those updates are currently being discussed between the platform and the alcohol advertiser.\n\nCaptain Morgan took \u201call reasonable steps to ensure the content we put on Snapchat was not directed at under 18s,\u201d said a spokeswoman for the brand. Diageo has now stopped all advertising on Snapchat globally, the spokeswoman added.\n\nAny future investigations could stunt Snapchat\u2019s plans to win over more alcohol advertisers. The social network has been trying to convince alcohol brands they have nothing to fear about marketing on the teen-friendly app but announcements like the ASA\u2019s ruling threaten to undermine those efforts. Snapchat may have age-gating restrictions not to dissimilar to rivals Facebook and Instagram, and yet its status as a kid-friendly app potentially leave it open to greater scrutiny.\n\nFor example, Instagram does not ask for age. Instead, the social network pulls the age from a person\u2019s Facebook profile if they have connected accounts. If not, Instagram prompts users for their age but does not use additional signals to determine whether the figure given is true, making it potentially less secure than Snapchat.\n\nThe issue with age verification on social media platforms is that if people want to circumnavigate it, they can and will, said Norm Johnston, chief digital officer at Mindshare Worldwide. \u201cBrands that operate with age restrictions around advertising, whether that is alcohol, gambling or something else, always have the potential to run into this kind of trouble,\u201d added Johnston.", "output": "Drinks company Diageo has withdrawn all its advertising from Snapchat, following a ruling by the UK Advertising Standards Authority that it did not do enough to ensure a campaign for Captain Morgan's rum, using a pirate lens, did not reach users below the legal drinking age. The Captain Morgan lens has become the first Snapchat lens to be banned in the UK. Diageo and Snapchat are said to be discussing updates to interest-based targeting that allow brands to infer user age, which were only applied by the social media site after the campaign.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hong Kong property site GoHome.com.hk gets user interface remake \n HONG KONG, Jan. 3, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- For an even better property searching experience, GoHome.com.hk, part of REA Group, has recently launched a new website with refined functionalities and layout improving the user experience.\n\nPeople can now can search for their dream property and find out the latest property insights about the area, property prices and information about the property through one simple click. The new website has a new search result page and property details page which offers:\n\nA new property and serviced apartment section\n\nComprehensive secondary property listings\n\nResponding to Hong Kong consumer demand, GoHome.com.hk's has introduced a new mobile responsive function which allow layouts to be automatically fitted for multiscreen devices such as desktops, tablets and mobile devices, meaning the search for an ideal home is now even easier when you're on the go.\n\nMs. Kerry Wong, Chief Executive Officer, Greater China Region, REA Group, said \"GoHome.com.hk is the place that people use to find their perfect home. We've focused on improving the experience so people can now effortlessly explore and search for their ideal properties using specific criteria anywhere and anytime they want to.\"\n\n\"By providing comprehensive and timely property information, we're changing the way our customers and consumers better understand property insights and trends by giving them access to the latest information in addition to searching for the perfect property through the one portal,\" said Ms Wong.\n\nAcross its global network, REA Group's purpose is to change the way people experiences property through delivering the best property insights and information on their websites and creating the most engaging consumer experience to help people find their perfect place more quickly and easily.\n\nFor media queries, please contact:\n\n\n\n\n\nREA Group (Hong Kong) Vis Communications Consultancy Limited Ms. Hermia Chan Mr. Felix Poon Tel.: +852 3965 4326 / + 852 9386 0166 Tel.: +852 2804 2388 / +852 9202 2885 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]\n\nAbout GoHome.com.hk\n\nGoHome.com.hk is Hong Kong's leading online property platform. Since 1999, GoHome.com.hk has been focused on providing value-added search experiences for the property-related industry and market in Hong Kong, Greater China and ASEAN.\n\nGoHome.com.hk was named \"Property Portal of the Year\" by Marketing Magazine in 2011, 2012 and 2013, \"Best Property Developer Partner \u2013 Most Comprehensive Property Website\" by Capital Magazine in 2013, 2014 and 2015, as well as \"Outstanding Online Property Information Platform\" at the Hong Kong Digital Brand Awards by Metro Broadcast Corporation Limited and CHKCI in 2017.\n\nAbout REA Group Limited\n\nREA Group Limited ACN 068 349 066 (ASX:REA) (\"REA Group\") is a multinational digital advertising business specialising in property. REA Group operates Australia's leading residential and commercial property websites, realestate.com.au and realcommercial.com.au, Chinese property site myfun.com and a number of property portals in Asia via its ownership of iProperty Group. REA Group also has a significant shareholding in US based Move, Inc and PropTiger in India.\n\nWithin Hong Kong, REA Group Asia operates GoHome.com.hk, squarefoot.com.hk and SMART Expo. The brands aim to provide consumers with extensive local and overseas property news, listings and investment opportunities while offering property and home-related advertisers with a one-stop, multi-platform solution.\n\nSOURCE GoHome.com.hk, part of REA Group", "output": "Hong Kong online property platform GoHome.com.hk, part of REA Group, has overhauled its website to improve its customer experience. As well as featuring a new search result and property details page, the site now includes a property and serviced-apartment listings section, and automatically adapts to whatever device is being used to access it.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Engineers convert fossil fuels to power without emitting CO2 \n L.S. Fan, Distinguished University Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at The Ohio State University, holds samples of materials developed in his laboratory that enable clean energy technologies. Credit: Jo McCulty, The Ohio State University.\n\nEngineers at The Ohio State University are developing technologies that have the potential to economically convert fossil fuels and biomass into useful products including electricity without emitting carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.\n\nIn the first of two papers published in the journal Energy & Environmental Science, the engineers report that they've devised a process that transforms shale gas into products such as methanol and gasoline\u2014all while consuming carbon dioxide. This process can also be applied to coal and biomass to produce useful products.\n\nUnder certain conditions, the technology consumes all the carbon dioxide it produces plus additional carbon dioxide from an outside source.\n\nIn the second paper, they report that they've found a way to greatly extend the lifetime of the particles that enable the chemical reaction to transform coal or other fuels to electricity and useful products over a length of time that is useful for commercial operation.\n\nFinally, the same team has discovered and patented a way with the potential to lower the capital costs in producing a fuel gas called synthesis gas, or \"syngas,\" by about 50 percent over the traditional technology.\n\nThe technology, known as chemical looping, uses metal oxide particles in high-pressure reactors to \"burn\" fossil fuels and biomass without the presence of oxygen in the air. The metal oxide provides the oxygen for the reaction.\n\nChemical looping is capable of acting as a stopgap technology that can provide clean electricity until renewable energies such as solar and wind become both widely available and affordable, the engineers said.\n\n\"Renewables are the future,\" said Liang-Shih Fan, Distinguished University Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, who leads the effort. \"We need a bridge that allows us to create clean energy until we get there\u2014something affordable we can use for the next 30 years or more, while wind and solar power become the prevailing technologies.\"\n\nFive years ago, Fan and his research team demonstrated a technology called coal-direct chemical looping (CDCL) combustion, in which they were able to release energy from coal while capturing more than 99 percent of the resulting carbon dioxide, preventing its emission to the environment. The key advance of CDCL came in the form of iron oxide particles which supply the oxygen for chemical combustion in a moving bed reactor. After combustion, the particles take back the oxygen from air, and the cycle begins again.\n\nThe challenge then, as now, was how to keep the particles from wearing out, said Andrew Tong, research assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Ohio State.\n\nWhile five years ago the particles for CDCL lasted through 100 cycles for more than eight days of continuous operation, the engineers have since developed a new formulation that lasts for more than 3,000 cycles, or more than eight months of continuous use in laboratory tests. A similar formulation has also been tested at sub-pilot and pilot plants.\n\n\"The particle itself is a vessel, and it's carrying the oxygen back and forth in this process, and it eventually falls apart. Like a truck transporting goods on a highway, eventually it's going to undergo some wear and tear. And we're saying we devised a particle that can make the trip 3,000 times in the lab and still maintain its integrity,\" Tong said.\n\nThis is the longest lifetime ever reported for the oxygen carrier, he added. The next step is to test the carrier in an integrated coal-fired chemical looping process.\n\nAnother advancement involves the engineers' development of chemical looping for production of syngas, which in turn provides the building blocks for a host of other useful products including ammonia, plastics or even carbon fibers.\n\nThis is where the technology really gets interesting: It provides a potential industrial use for carbon dioxide as a raw material for producing useful, everyday products.\n\nToday, when carbon dioxide is scrubbed from power plant exhaust, it is intended to be buried to keep it from entering the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas. In this new scenario, some of the scrubbed carbon dioxide wouldn't need to be buried; it could be converted into useful products.\n\nTaken together, Fan said, these advancements bring Ohio State's chemical looping technology many steps closer to commercialization.\n\nHe calls the most recent advances \"significant and exciting,\" and they've been a long time coming. True innovations in science are uncommon, and when they do happen, they're not sudden. They're usually the result of decades of concerted effort\u2014or, in Fan's case, the result of 40 years of research at Ohio State. Throughout some of that time, his work has been supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Ohio Development Services Agency.\n\n\"This is my life's work,\" Fan said.\n\nHis co-authors on the first paper include postdoctoral researcher Mandar Kathe; undergraduate researchers Abbey Empfield, Peter Sandvik, Charles Fryer, and Elena Blair; and doctoral student Yitao Zhang. Co-authors on the second paper include doctoral student Cheng Chung, postdoctoral researcher Lang Qin, and master's student Vedant Shah. Collaborators on the pressure adjustment assembly work include Tong, Kathe and senior research associate Dawei Wang.\n\nThe university would like to partner with industry to further develop the technology.\n\nThe Linde Group, a provider of hydrogen and synthesis gas supply and plants, has already begun collaborating with the team. Andreas Rupieper, the head of Linde Group R&D at Technology & Innovation said that the ability to capture carbon dioxide in hydrogen production plants and use it downstream to make products at a competitive cost \"could bridge the transition towards a decarbonized hydrogen production future.\" He added that \"Linde considers Ohio State's chemical looping platform technology for hydrogen production to be a potential alternative technology for its new-built plants\".\n\nThe Babcock & Wilcox Company (B&W), which produces clean energy technologies for power markets, has been collaborating with Ohio State for the past 10 years on the development of the CDCL technology - an advanced oxy-combustion technology for electricity production from coal with nearly zero carbon emissions. David Kraft, Technical Fellow at B&W, stated \"The CDCL process is the most advanced and cost-effective approach to carbon capture we have reviewed to date and are committed to supporting its commercial viability through large-scale pilot plant design and feasibility studies. With the continued success of collaborative development program with Ohio State, B&W believes CDCL has potential to transform the power and petrochemical industries.\"\n\nMore information: Mandar Kathe et al. Utilization of CO2 as a partial substitute for methane feedstock in chemical looping methane\u2013steam redox processes for syngas production, Energy & Environmental Science (2017). DOI: 10.1039/C6EE03701A Cheng Chung et al. Chemically and physically robust, commercially-viable iron-based composite oxygen carriers sustainable over 3000 redox cycles at high temperatures for chemical looping applications, Energy & Environmental Science (2017). DOI: 10.1039/C7EE02657A Journal information: Energy & Environmental Science", "output": "Scientists at Ohio State University are creating new technologies that will convert fossil fuels into products, such as electricity, without emitting CO2. The engineers have developed a process through which shale gas is turned into methanol and gasoline, all while consuming carbon dioxide. Under the right conditions, the technology is capable of consuming all the CO2 in the process, and the researchers have found a way to make the process commercially viable."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Two new business centres opened in Liverpool \n North West Property Richard Frost\n\nA typical Regus workspace\n\nWorkspace provider Regus has opened two new business centres in Liverpool, meaning that it now has three locations in the city.\n\nThe centres are located on Merchants Court on Derby Square and 1 Mann Island.\n\nRegus also has a site in Exchange Flags.\n\nRichard Morris, UK chief executive of Regus, said: \"Demand for flexible workspace in Liverpool is booming so the city was a natural choice for our expansion plans.\n\n\"The city is well-connected and offers excellent value and it's increasingly attracting investment and visitors from across the world.\n\n\"We expect our new centres to be popular with a wide range of users including local small businesses, start-ups and remote workers as well as national firms opening satellite offices and global businesses establishing a footprint in the area.\"", "output": "Shared office provider Regus has added two new business centres to its portfolio in Liverpool. The new sites are located at Merchants Court, on Derby Square, and at 1 Mann Island, alongside the docks \u2013 both\u00a0close to its\u00a0Exchange Flags city-centre offices. Regus\u00a0UK Chief Executive\u00a0Richard Morris\u00a0said the expansion is in response to growing demand for flexible office space in Liverpool, which is attracting investors from around the world.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Policy setback hits legal cannabis market in US \n Credit: CC0 Public Domain\n\nThe legal cannabis sector is expected to generate $40 billion and more than 400,000 jobs by 2021 in the United States, according to a study released Tuesday.\n\nThe estimate by consulting firm Arcview includes direct purchases by consumers of $20.8 billion and indirect revenue for growers and various subcontractors as well as money spent with businesses not affiliated with the sector, such as supermarkets.\n\nThe projection would represent a rise of 150 percent on the $16 billion revenue recorded in 2017, according to the study, released the day after recreational use of marijuana became legal in California.\n\nArcview and its partner in the research, BDS Analytics, expect $4 billion in taxes to be generated within three years.\n\nThe new regime will lead to the creation of nearly 100,000 cannabis industry jobs in California by 2021, about a third of the nationwide figure and 146,000 jobs overall when indirect effects are considered.\n\nCustomers and operators in California have complained however about the punitive sales taxes to be applied to cannabis and its derivative products, which can hit 35 percent when state, county and municipal levies are taken into account.\n\nCalifornia, the most populous US state, became the largest legal market for marijuana in the world on Monday, and public reaction to the law change has been enthusiastic, with long lines and stock shortages reported at clinics already licensed and open.\n\nBerkeley mayor Jesse Arreguin hailed the reforms at a ceremony on Monday at Berkeley Patients Group, one of the oldest dispensaries in the United States.\n\n\"I'm stoked about this historic moment, not just for Berkeley, but for the state of California,\" Arreguin said, praising the state for \"embracing this new economy.\"\n\nCannabis possession remains illegal under federal law, and Arcview's Tom Adams said fewer than 100 out of the 3,000 outlets and delivery services operating in California were ready to go with the required local and state permits.\n\n\"Those that were generally report doing multiples of their typical day's business with a far more diverse and less experienced customer base that need a lot of hand-holding and educating from their bud-tenders,\" he added.\n\n\"We were very cautious in projecting revenue growth from $3 billion to $3.7 billion in this first year of adult-use legality in California, but we'll have to revise that upwards if, as now appears likely, San Francisco and Los Angeles are going to get permits issued more quickly than we expected.\"\n\n\u00a9 2018 AFP", "output": "US Attorney General Jeff Sessions has announced he is dismantling recent policies that help states\u00a0legalise recreational cannabis, causing pot stocks to plunge, just as California began cannabis sales on 1 January.\u00a0The legal cannabis market in the US had been\u00a0predicted to be worth $40bn and to create\u00a0over 400,000 jobs\u00a0by 2021. That\u00a0figure was made up of $20bn in direct sales and the same amount in indirect revenues for growers and others. Last year the market\u00a0was worth $16bn."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Second phase of Sandbach development to go before planning committee \n The second phase of a development by Anwyl and Redrow Homes, providing 151 homes off Middlewich Road in Sandbach, is set to be discussed by Cheshire East\u2019s Southern planning committee next week.\n\nAnwyl and Redrow have made two applications on the site: a reserved matters application for 126 homes, and a full planning application for 25 houses at the site\u2019s southern end.\n\nThe wider 39-acre site was granted outline planning permission for up to 280 homes, alongside public open space and highways improvements, in 2012, and a reserved matters planning application for the first phase of 154 houses was approved in 2015.\n\nThe latest reserved matters application includes a mix of 74 four-bedroom homes; 26 three-beds; 21 two-beds; four one-beds; and one five-bed house. The four-bed units are expected to vary in price between \u00a3264,000 and \u00a3475,000.\n\nRecommending the application for approval, Cheshire East planning officers said the proposals would \u201cmuch needed affordable housing provision\u201d and \u201cwould help in the Council\u2019s delivery of five-year housing land supply\u201d.\n\nCheshire East planning officers have stipulated that 30% of the homes \u2013 around 38 units \u2013 should be provided as affordable homes under the application\u2019s Section 106 agreement.\n\nA contribution of \u00a3514,000 towards education services was already secured as part of the outline planning permission, secured in 2012.\n\nThe recommendation to approve has been put forward despite objections from Sandbach Town Council, which argued the housing was \u201cfar too dense\u201d in the second phase, and that it offered \u201cno green space of any significance\u201d.\n\nThe Town Council also criticised the application for not providing any bungalows \u201cfor older residents who wish to downsize\u201d.\n\nHowever, planning officers said the development\u2019s open space was already covered under the outline application, which provides a six-acre park on the site.\n\nCheshire East planners also recommended the full planning application, covering 25 homes, for approval.\n\nThe homes on designated open countryside land are in addition to the 280 houses approved as part of 2012\u2019s outline planning application.\n\nThese will provide a mix of 17 four-bed homes; four three-beds; three two-beds; and a single five-bedroom house, with prices for a four-bed house expected to be in a similar range as for the wider development.\n\nPlanning officers said the additional homes would \u201cnot have a detrimental impact upon residential amenity\u201d in the area, and recommended the scheme for approval, subject to agreeing affordable homes on the site, as well as a \u00a3120,000 provision towards local education provision.\n\nThe professional team for the development includes Astle Planning & Design.", "output": "The second phase of a development by UK housebuilder Redrow Homes and Anwyl in Sandbach, Cheshire\u00a0is set to be examined by Cheshire East\u2019s Southern planning committee. The latest reserved matters application, covering 126 homes, has been recommended for approval by Cheshire East planning officers, but Sandbach town council has complained about the lack of green space and inadequate\u00a0provision for downsizers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Regus opens doors to second Redhill business centre \n Regus\u2019 second Redhill centre opens for business.\n\nGlobal workspace provider Regus has opened the doors to its second Redhill business centre in response to the increased demand for workspace on flexible terms from local professionals.\n\nThe centre occupies the fifth, sixth and seventh floors of Kingsgate House, located at the southern end of Redhill High Street. It houses over 180 workstations and offers a range of flexible working options including co-working space, offices of varying sizes and layouts, Virtual Office services, meeting rooms and hot desks.\n\nRegus Redhill\u2019s central location places it close to various local amenities and transport links. It is situated just five minutes\u2019 walk from Redhill Station, which has direct rail links to London, Croydon, Guildford and Reading. The centre can also be accessed internationally via Gatwick Airport which is just a 20 minute drive away.\n\nRichard Morris, UK CEO, Regus, said: \u201cRedhill is already a popular location with insurers, banks, oil companies and publishers. Combined with its excellent transport links, this makes the town a great location for Regus. We expect the new centre to be popular with a wide range of users including those based in Redhill and those visiting for business\u201d\n\nPlease enable JavaScript to view the comments.", "output": "Flexible office space provider Regus has opened its second centre in Redhill, Surrey. The company has leased the fifth, sixth and seventh floors of Kingsgate House, offering co-working space, meeting rooms, virtual office services and more than 180 workstations and hot desks. UK CEO Richard Morris said Rehill was a popular location for insurers, banks, oil companies and publishers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Renewables dominates Britain's 2017 electricity production \n British wind farms generated more electricity than coal plants on more than 75% of days this year, an analysis of energy figures has shown.\n\nSolar also outperformed coal more than half the time, the data provided by website MyGridGB revealed.\n\nOverall, renewables provided more power than coal plants on 315 days in 2017, figures up to 12 December showed. Wind beat coal on 263 days, and solar outperformed the fossil fuel on 180 days.\n\nBetween April and August inclusive, coal generation exceeded solar on only 10 days.\n\nIn total, renewables generated more than three times the amount of electricity as coal over the year to 12 December.\n\nThe figures \u2013 provided by BM Reports and Sheffield University \u2013 reflect a year in which a number of green records have been set for the power sector, including the first full day without any coal power in the system, record solar generation and tumbling prices for new offshore wind farms.\n\nThe government has committed to phasing out coal power that does not have technology to capture and permanently store its carbon emissions by 2025, as part of efforts to meet targets on greenhouse gases.\n\nThe focus now turns to gas, with daily output from wind outstripping gas on only two days of the year, and renewables overall \u2013 including wind, solar, biomass and hydropower \u2013 beating the fossil fuel on just 23 days.\n\nDr Andrew Crossland from MyGridGB and the Durham Energy Institute said: \u201cThe government has focused on reducing coal use which now supplies less than 7% of our electricity. However, if we continue to use gas at the rate that we do, then Britain will miss carbon targets and be dangerously exposed to supply and price risks in the international gas markets.\n\n\u201cClearly, refreshed government support for low-carbon alternatives is now needed to avoid price and supply shocks for our heat and electricity supplies.\u201d\n\nEmma Pinchbeck, executive director at industry body RenewableUK, said the decision to phase out coal was being made possible by a homegrown renewables industry \u201ccoming into its own\u201d.\n\nShe added: \u201cWe want to see more boldness from the Conservative government. In 2018, the government should move to allow onshore wind, now the cheapest form of power for consumers, to be developed in parts of the UK where it is wanted, and agree an ambitious sector deal with the offshore wind industry.\n\n\u201cThe new year could be the first in a golden age for UK renewables.\u201d", "output": "The UK had its greenest ever year in electricity production in 2017, breaking 13 different renewable energy records. Figures from BM Reports and Sheffield University showed that renewables produced more electricity than coal power stations on 315 days last year, and April saw the first day with no coal-fired power used in the UK. Coal now supplies less than 7% of the UK's electricity, and the government has a target to phase it out by 2025. The UK has halved carbon emissions in electricity production since 2012, and the increase in renewable power is expected to continue in 2018."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FarmWise raises $5.7m to commercialise AI-driven weeding robot \n FarmWise, an agricultural robotics and IoT startup has raised a $5.7 million seed round to commercialize the company\u2019s automated weeding robot.\n\nFarmWise has developed a weeding robot that uses computer vision to identify weeds and robotics to remove them from vegetable farms without herbicides. While removing weeds with a mechanical motion similar to a garden hoe, the robot also gathers data about the plants.\n\n\u201cThe machine can drive itself through the field and use cameras and computer vision to understand the field. It can analyze each plant, gathering info such as size, health status, and growth stage,\u201d FarmWise founder and CEO Sebastien Boyer told AgFunderNews.\n\nThe round was led by hardware-focused VC Playground Global with Felicis Ventures, Basis Set Ventures, and food, agriculture and health investor Valley Oak Investments also participating.\n\n\u201cFarmwise is using the latest advances in computer vision and deep learning to build an autonomous platform that not only gathers crop-level data but also carries out actual tasks such as precision weeding and thinning, which are crucial to sustainable organic farming. The confluence of data-sensing, machine intelligence, and robotic actuation being smartly applied to an agricultural setting by a fantastic pair of entrepreneurs is what got us excited about partnering with them,\u201d said Mario Malave of Playground Ventures.\n\nBoyer said that he and his cofounder and CTO Thomas Palomares became interested in weeding because it is at the intersection of the farm labor crisis and moving away from chemical applications in agriculture.\n\nPalomares has a family history of farming in France and he and Boyer have been working with growers in California for a year to hone their user interface.\n\n\u2018We want to have a user interface as simple as a washing machine. On the inside, we want the machine to be as smart as possible. On the outside, it should be as simple as possible,\u201d said Boyer.\n\nThe only element that needs to be entered by the user is a GPS \u201cgeofence\u201d so that the machine does not go beyond the field it is supposed to be weeding. The rest of the robot\u2019s activities are self-directed.\n\n\u201cOne of the things that got us excited was that this is something that farms need to do throughout the year multiple times. so there\u2019s always a use case as opposed to a picking robot,\u201d Niki Pezeshki, vice president at Felicis Ventures.\n\nPezeshki said that finding a pesticide-free and cheaper method of weeding could be a game-changer for organic growers and consumers.\n\n\u201cTaking out herbicides really resonated with us too. If you can crack that nut in a scalable way that won\u2019t make organic food more expensive, even better,\u201d said Pezeshki.\n\nBoyer is confident that the economics will work in growers\u2019 favor sooner rather than later in part due to targetting vegetable farmers, who generally benefit from higher profit margins and suffer from higher labor costs \u2014 setting FarmWise further apart from well-known automated \u201csee and spray\u201d weeding robotics startup Blue River Technologies, which was acquired by John Deere earlier this year.\n\n\u201cThe cost of weeding for vegetables on a per acre basis is between two and five times higher than for commodities. That makes our solution more economical at the beginning,\u201d said Boyer, who anticipates selling the robots as a service, at least initially.\n\nFarmWise investor Valley Oak Investments is also invested in Farmers Business Network, biological crop input company Marrone Bio Innovations, food delivery startup Caviar, dairy management software platform Farmeron, ag biotech company Hazel Technologies, and food waste reduction software Spoiler Alert.\n\nBruce Leak, inventor of QuickTime and cofounder of WebTV has joined FarmWises\u2019s board of directors.\n\nFarmwise is currently signing pilot contracts with some of the largest vegetable growers in CA beginning in summer 2018, according to Boyer.\n\nPhoto: FarmWise", "output": "California-based agriculture technology start-up FarmWise has raised $5.7m to bring its weeding robot to the market. The technology uses computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI) to identify and remove weeds from vegetable farms and gather data about crops. Users simply set the boundaries for the machine, and it gets on with its work. The funding comes from venture capital companies Playground Global, Felicis Ventures, Basis\u00a0Set Ventures and Valley Oak Investments. The robot can be used throughout the year\u00a0and can make organic food more affordable by reducing the use of pesticides, the company said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China estimates space lab Tiangong-1 will crash to Earth in March \n China\u2019s first space lab will crash down to earth in the coming months, but don\u2019t worry: The odds of any debris hitting a person are astronomically small.\n\nThe Aerospace Corporation, a California nonprofit, estimates the Tiangong-1 will enter the atmosphere in mid-March. Sent up in 2011, the \u201cHeavenly Palace,\u201d as it\u2019s also known, has witnessed a number of milestones as China races to become a space superpower. For example in 2012 the country sent its first female astronaut, Liu Yang, as part of the team behind the first successful manual docking with the lab.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe station was designed with a two-year lifespan, but authorities extended its service life by two and a half years to conduct more experiments.\n\nIn September 2016, China\u2019s Manned Space Engineering Office announced that the Tiangong-1 would re-enter the atmosphere around the latter half of 2017, which many interpreted to mean the lab had fallen into an uncontrolled orbit. (Satellite trackers suggest the lab has been that way since at least June 2016, notes the Aerospace Corporation.)\n\nThe agency said most of the lab would burn up in the fall, adding that it would release its updated forecasts of the descent, internationally if necessary.\n\nAlthough it\u2019s hard to predict where surviving pieces might land, based on Tiangong-1\u2019s inclination, the Aerospace Corporation estimates the station will re-enter somewhere between the latitudes of 43\u00b0 N and 43\u00b0 S, an area largely covered by ocean, but also traversing countries including the US, Brazil, and China itself. According to the latest available trajectory data (link in Chinese), the Tiangong-1 is orbiting at an average height of 287 km (178 miles), about 100 km lower than it was in September 2016.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThough it\u2019s not uncommon for spacecraft and satellites to re-enter the atmosphere, rarely does it lead to injury or destruction of property. The largest manmade object to re-enter was Russia\u2019s Mir space station, with surviving fragments falling into the Pacific east of New Zealand in 2001. Whereas the Tiangong-1 weighs 8,500 kg (18,739 lbs), the Mir weighed 120,000 kg.\n\nThe Mir, though, was still under control when it entered the atmosphere. Letting objects enter uncontrolled is not considered a best practice.\n\nOne (still remote) danger from the Tiangong-1, according to the Aerospace Corporation, is that someone will find and pick up a piece of its debris that\u2019s covered in a corrosive substance.\n\nWhile the odds of getting hit by space debris are absurdly remote, it happened to at least one woman. In 1997 Lottie Williams was strolling through a park in Tulsa, Oklahoma when a piece of light metal measuring about 6 inches (15.2 cm) glanced off her shoulder. NASA later confirmed the timing and location were consistent with the re-entry and breakup of a second-stage Delta rocket, the main wreckage of which was found a few hundred miles away in Texas. Williams wasn\u2019t injured, but she\u2019s thought to be the only person ever hit by space debris.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nYou won\u2019t likely become the second.\n\nCorrection: An earlier version of this story stated the Mir space station re-entered the atmosphere in 2013 instead of 2001.", "output": "China's space lab Tiangong-1 is estimated to crash to Earth in March, with the Aerospace Corporation predicting\u00a0it\u00a0will re-enter between the latitudes of 43\u00b0N and 43\u00b0S.\u00a0Although\u00a0the area is largely\u00a0covered by ocean, the US, Brazil and China also traverse it. China said\u00a0it will release updated forecasts of the craft's descent; the expectation\u00a0is that\u00a0some debris will hit Earth, while the rest will burn up on re-entry. As we previously noted, many believe\u00a0China's space authority lost control of the 8.5-tonne lab and are\u00a0allowing it to enter Earth's atmosphere \"naturally\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK group that backs diversity in VC firms to launch in US \n A British campaign group set up by young venture capitalists to boost diverse representation in VC is expanding to the US.\n\nDiversity VC will be backed in the US by partners and associates at Female Founders Fund, Entrepreneur First, and financially by law firm Cooley.\n\n2017 was a shocking year for US venture capital, with high-profile figures such as Uber investor Shervin Pishevar, 500startups founder Dave McClure, Binary Capital cofounder Justin Caldbeck and many others accused of sexual harassment.\n\nA British initiative set up to tackle venture capital's monoculture will launch in the US, where the industry is currently reeling from multiple sexual harassment scandals.\n\nDiversity VC was set up by five young venture capitalists in March to highlight the fact that most British venture capital investors are middle-class white men, with a knock-on effect on which startups get funding. It released a landmark report in May showing that almost half of British VC firms had no women on their investment teams.\n\nDiversity VC founder and investor Check Warner told Business Insider that the group had decided to expand to the US after multiple requests from venture capital associates.\n\n\"What's been lacking in conversations in the US is that basis in fact, [research into] why we have such a big problem,\" Warner said. \"There wasn't anything comparable to what we had done.\n\n\"People got in touch to say 'It would be great to have something like this, a system and process to start uncovering this.'\"\n\nWarner and her cofounders set up Diversity VC only a few months before a wave of harassment scandals hit US venture firms. Six women accused Binary Capital cofounder Justin Caldbeck of inappropriate behaviour, resulting in his leave of absence from the firm. Subsequent scandals engulfed Uber investor Shervin Pishevar, 500 Startups founder Dave McClure, and Tesla investor Steve Jurvetson.\n\n\"It's been interesting to see these things come out,\" said Warner. \"It's reflective of the culture not including people, and having this sense of entitlement. You don't have checks and balances on behaviour.\n\n\"The lack of female diversity around the table is a contributing factor to people getting away with what they got away with.\"\n\nLike its UK counterpart, the US chapter of Diversity VC will promote greater diversity in venture capital through four initiatives, including helping underrepresented groups build a VC network, getting minority interns into VC firms, and publishing data about diverse representation.\n\nThe group has backing from Female Founders Fund partner Sutian Dong, Insight Venture Partners associate Juliet Bailin, and Entrepreneur First's US head of funding Matt Wichrowski. Law firm Cooley is giving financial backing.", "output": "Diversity VC, a UK initiative established last year by five young venture capitalists to tackle the lack of diversity within their industry, is set to launch in the US. The group released a report in May that revealed almost 50% of UK venture capital firms had no women working on their investment teams. Diversity VC in the US will get\u00a0financial backing from law firm Cooley and support from Insight Venture Partners, Entrepreneur First and Female Founders Fund. Diversity VC said the US launch was in response to requests from workers in the US industry.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon reportedly close to investment in Indian insurtech Acko \n Online retail and e-commerce giant Amazon is reportedly on the verge of making its first investment in an insurtech start-up, with the company said close to finalising an investment in online-only insurance start-up Acko.\n\nAcko wants to disrupt India\u2019s insurance industry through a digital-only platform, having raised $30 million and recently received in-principal approval from the financial market regulators in India.\n\nAmazon and Indian rival Flipkart had both been pursuing investing in Acko, it has been reported widely, but at this stage it is now thought that Amazon is close to signing a term-sheet for the investment and a partnership deal with Acko.\n\nIt\u2019s said that the arrangement will see Amazon acting as an online distributor for Acko\u2019s insurance products, selling a range of financial products.\n\nThe potential for Amazon to enter the insurance space has been much-discussed in recent months, including in our article from November, Incumbents could be relegated, if tech giants come for re/insurance.\n\nNow it appears Amazon is close to taking a sensible step of investing in and partnering with an insurtech start-up, in order to gain the ability to add insurance products to its retail offering, seeing the firm stepping into the sale of financial products for the first time.\n\nTargeting India first is also a smart move, as the burgeoning financial services market there has a strong focus on technology and take-up rates of insurance products are rising all the time.\n\nIf Amazon can crack selling insurance online to the Indian market, it will stand it in good stead to break into more established markets such as the United States and Europe.\n\nOf course, if Amazon does move into insurance meaningfully it will likely only be a matter of time before other tech giants such as Google follow suit with their own integrated e-commerce offerings.\n\nIt\u2019s also been reported that Flipkart is readying its own entry into insurance sales online, with the establishment of a new entity to focus on financial services and venture investing.\n\nAlso read: Incumbents could be relegated, if tech giants come for re/insurance.", "output": "Amazon is reportedly finalising an investment in Indian insurtech firm Acko. The arrangement would see Amazon acting as a distribution platform for the online-only insurer. Amazon's biggest rival in India, Flipkart, was also reportedly considering an investment in Acko. The start-up has raised $30m to date and has provisional approval to operate from India's financial markets regulator.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nuritas raises $16m for its AI-powered solutions to diabetes \n The latest round of funding, led by Chicago-based Cultivian Sandbox Ventures, takes the total invested in Nuritas to date to around \u20ac25 million since the firms\u2019 launch in 2014.\n\nEmmet Browne, CEO of Nuritas told NutraIngredients the new funding will allow it scale the business and \u2018grasp the huge opportunity\u2019 that its unique platform has created.\n\n\u201cPredominantly we will use the funds to triple our workforce, progress our research and development and improve our rate of prediction,\u201d said Browne \u2013 adding that it will allow the company to create the capacity \u201cto deal with the huge levels of customer demand that is building up for what we do.\u201d\u200b\n\nNuritas, founder and chief scientific officer Dr Nora Khaldi added that the investment will not only help it accelerate routes to market, explore new disease areas and grow its team, \u201cbut it will also push us even further in extracting the great potential of what our technology is capable of creating.\u201d\u200b\n\nNick Rosa, managing director of Cultivian Sandbox and Co-founder of Sandbox Industries, which led the latest round of investment, said the company\u2019s unique platform delivers \u2018truly life-changing health benefits\u2019\n\n\u201cWe are very pleased to be involved in its growth \u2013 it\u2019s a brilliant team and such an exciting technology,\u201d\u200b he said. \u201cWe expect Nuritas to quickly emerge as one of the most innovative companies in the world, effecting real change.\u201d\u200b\n\n\u2018Huge opportunity\u2019\u200b\n\nNuritas\u2019 platform combines DNA analysis and artificial intelligence (AI) to predict, unlock, and validate peptides from natural sources. The Irish firm have grown rapidly and gained much attention in recent years, with a list of awards and big-name backers \u2013 with initial seed investments from Singapore-based New Protein Capital (NPC) and Silicon Valley investor Ali Partovi\u200b and further funding coming from Irish rock legends Bono and The Edge in December 2016\u200b.\n\nHeaded-up by ex-Nestl\u00e9 regional president Emmet Browne\u200b, Nuritas was recently given a \u20ac3 million EU grant\u200b to continue working on an unnamed peptide said to be 'a major breakthrough' for diabetes prevention, and has entered into collaboration with international ingredients giant BASF\u200b for the discovery and commercialisation of functional peptides.\n\n\u201cIn an effort to expand our health solutions, we searched the globe trying to find such an innovative discovery technology and we eventually found it with Nuritas,\u201d\u200b commented Michael De Marco, Global Head, Research & Development Human Nutrition and Pharma Solutions, BASF SE.\n\nLooking to 2018 \u2026 and beyond\u200b\n\nThe partnership between Nuritas and BASF will see its first commercial launch in 2018 as a new anti-inflammatory ingredient is launched into the US market. Nuritas CEO Browne said the launch of the anti-inflammatory ingredient will be \u2018pivotal\u2019 for the firm in the next year.\n\n\u201cWhat is so exciting is that the inflammation ingredient launching in the U.S. next year is actually the first healthcare ingredient that has been fully discovered through the use of Artificial intelligence,\u201d \u200badded Khaldi.\n\nMeanwhile, BASF\u2019s De Marco said the launch of the ingredient into the US market \u2018is only the beginning\u2019.\n\n\u201cOur collaboration is progressing and on track to yield more groundbreaking products in the future.\u201d \u200b\n\nAnother key area of focus for Nuritas is diabetes. According to the International Diabetes Federation, an estimated 352 million individuals globally are living with pre-diabetes which is considered an early warning sign for the condition.\n\n\u201cBioactive peptides are known to play a role in managing diabetes and many other areas, but the current methods of identifying those that may work is time-consuming, inefficient and expensive,\u201d \u200bsaid Browne \u2013 noting that when compared to traditional discovery methods, the Nuritas platform has been shown to identify peptides ten times faster and 500 times more accurately while significantly reducing costs.\n\n\u201cOur artificial intelligence platform has already disrupted this antiquated process by targeting, predicting and unlocking peptides that can positively impact in conditions like pre-diabetes while reducing the cost and time needed to find them,\u201d\u200b he said.\n\nCommenting on the possibility of further investment and financing rounds, the CEO told NutraIngredients that Nuritas will continue to grow and expand, but that the \u2018huge\u2019 round of investment that has just closed will provide a good runway to operate from.\n\n\u201cWe are now focussed firmly on using it to maximise the many opportunities before us,\u201d\u200b he said.\n\nHowever, Browne added that the company is also \u201cfortunate that we already have a number of different options identified when it comes to bringing in new funding if and when the need may arise.\u201d\u200b", "output": "A Dublin-based biotech firm has raised \u20ac16m ($19.2m) in a series A funding round to support its work in discovering and making\u00a0use of bioactive peptides to assist in the treatment of diseases. Nuritas, whose CEO is former Nestl\u00e9 executive Emmet Browne, has now received a total of \u20ac25m since its launch in 2014, including $3m\u00a0from the European Union for a project that explores\u00a0using\u00a0artificial intelligence (AI) to\u00a0help\u00a0to\u00a0prevent\u00a0diabetes. Bioactive peptides play a role in managing the condition, and the AI technology used by Nuritas speeds up the process of identifying those which may help.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Japanese hospital to deploy night-shift delivery robots \n A hospital in Japan will use robots to help out the night shift Four bots will ferry medicine and supplies between floors.\n\nIn Nagoya, Japan, a city that once held an entire museum dedicated to robotics, a hospital will soon add robots developed by Toyota to its medical staff. No, they won't be scrubbing in for surgery: In February, the Nagoya University Hospital will deploy four bots to ferry medicine and test samples between floors for a year.\n\nNagoya hospital to use robots for deliveries of drugs, materials\uff1aThe Asahi Shimbun\uff1aThe Asahi Shimbun https://t.co/bhlkzM0Rnp \u2014 Asahi Shimbun AJW (@AJWasahi) January 1, 2018\n\nThe robots are essentially mobile refrigerators with a 90-liter capacity that rely on radar and cameras to zoom through the hospital. Should they run into humans, they're programmed to dodge them or politely voice 'Excuse me, please let me pass,' according to The Asahi Shimbun. Staff can summon the robots and assign a destination for their medical payload using a tablet.\n\nNagoya built the robot system in partnership with Toyota Industries, a subsidiary of the automaker that produces auto parts and electronics. The trial run will run the robots between 5pm and 8am during the night shift when fewer people are walking the floors. Should the trial go well, the facility may choose to deploy more units.", "output": "A hospital in Japan is deploying robots to deliver supplies around the building. The Nagoya University Hospital is to use four of the devices to run during the night shift from 5pm to 8am, when there are fewer people using the corridors. The robots have been developed in partnership with Toyota industries, and use radar and cameras to guide themselves around the hospital. They contain mobile refrigerators to carry medical supplies and staff can use a tablet device to summon them and set their destination."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NASA considers\u00a0allowing staff on commercial suborbital flights \n NASA's Flight Opportunities program is already flying experiments on Blue Origin's New Shepard vehicle, but researchers and companies alike want NASA to also fund experiments with people on board.\n\nBROOMFIELD, Colo. \u2014 As commercial suborbital vehicles capable of carrying both payloads and people prepare to enter service, NASA officials say they're willing to consider allowing agency-funded researchers to fly on those vehicles.\n\nIn an interview after a speech at the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference here Dec. 19, Steve Jurczyk, NASA associate administrator for space technology, said the agency would be open to allowing researchers funded by NASA's Flight Opportunities program to fly on suborbital spacecraft to carry out their experiments.\n\n\"As principal investigators propose, both internal to NASA and external, we'll do the same kind of process that we do with Zero G,\" he said, referring to the company that performs parabolic aircraft flights. Zero G flies investigations as part of the Flight Opportunities program, with researchers flying on the aircraft with their experiments. [Watch Blue Origin's New Shepard 2.0 Spacecraft Soar in 1st Test Flight]\n\nZero G's aircraft, a Boeing 727, is regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration. Jurczyk said that, in addition to the FAA oversight, NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center performs an evaluation of the aircraft for investigations selected by the Flight Opportunities program for flights on it. \"It just ensures that our grantees and contractors are safe to fly, and then we allow them to go fly,\" he said in a speech at the conference.\n\nA similar procedure is not yet in place for suborbital vehicles, but Jurczyk said the agency would be open to finding some process analogous to that used for Zero G. \"Moving forward, as these capabilities start coming online, we\u2019ll figure it out,\" he said in the interview.\n\nHis comments come four and a half years after another agency official opened the door to flying people on commercial suborbital vehicles through the Flight Opportunities program. Speaking at the same conference in June 2013, Lori Garver, NASA deputy administrator at the time, said that past prohibitions about flying people would be lifted.\n\n\"We absolutely do not want to rule out paying for research that could be done by an individual spaceflight participant \u2014 a researcher or payload specialist \u2014 on these vehicles in the future,\" Garver said then. \"That could open up a lot more opportunities.\"\n\nThat announcement took the program by surprise, with the program's managers saying at the time they had yet to craft a policy for allowing people to fly with their experiments. Development of such a policy suffered years of delays, in part because of Garver's departure from NASA just a few months after her announcement as well as extended delays in the development of commercial suborbital vehicles capable of carrying people.\n\n\"It mostly resulted in a bunch of ostriches sticking heads in the sand for a few years,\" said Erika Wagner, business development manager at Blue Origin, during a panel discussion at the conference Dec. 18.\n\nBlue Origin's New Shepard vehicle is already carrying research payloads, including for Flight Opportunities, but without people on board. However, the vehicle will be able to support missions carrying payloads and people in the future. Virgin Galactic\u2019s SpaceShipTwo vehicle will also fly research payloads accompanied by a payload specialist.\n\nWagner said she has seen some progress as both companies' vehicles advance through flight testing. \"The heads are back out. They're looking around trying to understand what really are the barriers, what is the liability regime.\"\n\nThose liability issues today, she said, prevent NASA civil servants from flying on the Zero G aircraft, even though outside researchers whose experiments are funded by NASA are able to do so. Jurczyk, in his speech at the conference, said that\u2019s because they would have to sign a liability waiver to do so. \"Right now, that\u2019s just NASA policy. We don't have a strong mission need to do that,\" he said. \"That's current policy. I\u2019m not saying it's going to be policy forever and ever.\" [In Photos: Blue Origin's New Shepard 2.0 Aces Maiden Test Flight]\n\nScientists who would like to fly experiments on suborbital vehicles argue that such missions are analogous to fieldwork \u2014 oftentimes hazardous \u2014 performed in other fields. \"Marine biologists and marine geologists get to put themselves in that very same operationally risky environment by going to the bottom of the ocean, to a deep sea vent,\" said Dan Durda, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute, during the Dec. 18 panel. \"These vehicles offer us, as space scientists, that opportunity to get into the field the way that biologists and geologists do.\"\n\nAdvocates of commercial suborbital research, such as the Commercial Spaceflight Federation\u2019s Suborbital Applications Research Group, have been pushing to allow NASA to fund human-tended experiments.\n\n\"They're working quietly to get the word out that there are very definite needs for human-tended payloads,\" said Steven Collicott, a Purdue University professor, in a conference speech Dec. 19. \"We've heard some encouraging words and we\u2019re working quietly to try and move that ahead.\"\n\nOthers at the conference noted a decades-old precedent that suggests existing barriers to flying NASA-funded researchers on commercial suborbital vehicles can be overcome. In the 1980s, several payload specialists flew on the space shuttle, including Charles Walker, a McDonnell Douglas engineer who was part of three shuttle missions.\n\nWalker, in the Dec. 18 panel discussion, noted that on those shuttle missions he and his family signed liability waivers. He supported similar approaches to allow researchers to fly on commercial suborbital vehicles.\n\n\"The environments opened up by suborbital flight and, at a greater scale, orbital flight, are laboratory environments,\" he said. \"You should be there to maximize the answers that are coming out of the conduct in that environment.\"\n\nThis story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.", "output": "NASA is looking at allowing researchers from the agency\u00a0on board commercial suborbital flights, according to\u00a0Steve Jurczyk, NASA associate administrator for space technology. Blue Origin's New Shepard craft\u00a0and Virgin Galactic\u2019s SpaceShipTwo are among the vehicles that could carry researchers\u00a0on suborbital flights. Liability issues on the relatively dangerous missions have so far deterred NASA from allowing staff aboard them.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US and China set to launch Mars mission for sample retrieval \n The best way to study martian rocks and soil would be to do it on Earth. While spacecraft-mounted instruments\u2014such as the Curiosity rover's ChemCam that vaporizes surface material with a laser and then uses a spectrometer to determine the chemical composition\u2014are invaluable to planetary scientists, they are no replacement for a sample in the lab. The amount of compositional and absolute age data that scientists can obtain with a laboratory full of state-of-the-art equipment and chemicals to test sample materials is unparalleled, as evidenced by research conducted on meteorites (including from Mars) and Apollo moon samples.\n\n\n\nTo continue this work, scientists need a pristine sample of martian rock and soil, which would help build a Rosetta Stone to unlock the history of the solar system. The potential knowledge to be obtained from such a sample ranges from the formation of Mars to the nature of the planet's ancient surface waters to possible habitability in the red planet's past, and in turn, perhaps the secret to the origin of life on Earth.\n\nWith so much to gain, both NASA and the Chinese national space agency are designing missions to retrieve a sample from Mars before the end of the 2020s. The missions are ambitious, incomplete, and reliant on yet-to-be developed technologies. They both start, however, with flights to Mars in 2020.\n\nMore From Popular Mechanics play icon The triangle icon that indicates to play\n\nScouting the Red Planet\n\nSelf-portrait of NASA\u2019s Curiosity rover, taken at Namib Dune on January 19, 2016. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS\n\nBoth American and Chinese Mars sample-return ambitions require preliminary missions to scout the planet and locate the best place to drill into the rock and core out a sample. NASA plans to do this with the Mars 2020 rover, slated to launch on an Atlas V rocket in July of that year and land on Mars in February 2021. The Chinese National Space Science Center (NSSC), meanwhile, is planning an orbiter, as well as a lander that will deploy a small rover, known as the Mars Global Remote Sensing Orbiter and Small Rover, to launch on a Long March 5 rocket in July or August of 2020.\n\n\n\nBoth start with flights to Mars in 2020.\n\nNASA's Mars 2020, a car-sized twin to the Curiosity rover with an upgraded instrument suite, will not only locate the best places to collect a sample, but will also core the sample into a receptacle tube and deposit it on the surface to be picked up by a later mission. The Mars 2020 team is still considering three possible landing sites: Columbia Hills in Gusev Crater, a mineral-rich region near the Spirit rover's old exploration site; Jezero Crater, where surface water is thought to have flooded and receded at least twice in the past; and NE Syrtis, an area once characterized by volcanic activity and hot spring flows.\n\nThe Mars 2020 team will continue to analyze surface composition data from orbiters such as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) to ultimately select one of these sites based on mineralogy and the potential for habitability. Once Mars 2020 arrives, however, where to sample will be determined on the fly.\n\n\"We'll be exploration driven once we get on the surface, so we'll have to make decisions,\" Katie Stack Morgan, deputy project scientist for Mars 2020, told Popular Mechanics during a visit to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in August. \"Okay, here's a rock outcrop, where would be the best place to sample? Or should we pass on this one and go to the next one?\"\n\n\n\n\"That will be something we'll figure out on the surface.\"\n\nOnce the rover has collected multiple samples in storage tubes, it will deposit the samples in a \"depot cache\" to be picked up by a yet-to-be-determined future mission. \"We will have a couple different, probably at least two, drop-off spots,\" says Morgan. As to what exactly Mars 2020 will sample, \"that will be something we'll figure out on the surface.\"\n\nGeological layers examined by NASA\u2019s Curiosity rover on Mount Sharp, taken January 24, 2017. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS\n\nThe NSSC's mission, on the other hand, will do most of the planet-scouting with China's first spacecraft to orbit Mars, or Huoxing in Chinese, meaning \"fire star.\" Using data gathered from orbit, Chinese scientists plan to select a location for a follow-up sample return mission that could return to Earth before 2030.\n\n\n\nAccording to Andrew Jones of the Planetary Society, who specializes in Chinese space program coverage, the current plan is to launch a large spacecraft that can carry out all phases of the mission, including atmospheric entry, descent and landing (EDL), sample collection, ascent from Mars, rendezvous in Mars orbit, and a flight back to Earth. Such a mission would require the super-heavy-lift Long March 9 rocket, which is to enter development in the near future, targeting a first flight in 2025.\n\nChinese Mars lander and rover concept. The country\u2019s National Space Science Center hopes to launch the two spacecraft, as well as an accompanying orbiter, to Mars in 2020. Xinhua\n\nThe Chinese sample return mission has yet to receive formal approval, but national space officials and the NSSC's primary contractor, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), which is building the 2020 Mars spacecraft, have been discussing the mission publicly, according to Jones. In addition, China published a white paper in 2016 that discusses \"key technological research on the bringing back of samples from Mars.\"\n\n\n\nWhile the 2020 missions to Mars are approaching final preparations, aiming to launch in just over two years, the sample return missions to follow are still in early planning stages, and a number of questions about the missions have yet to be addressed. As 2020 looms, however, we could see the space agencies of the two global powers start to drill down exactly how they plan to bring home the most valuable scientific sample ever collected.\n\n\n\nFourth Rock from the Sun\n\nESA/MPS/Rosetta OSIRIS Team\n\nThe sample caches deposited by the Mars 2020 rover will be one of the most significant aspects of that mission, but NASA has yet to figure out how to pick them up. \"All options are on the table,\" says Morgan. \"One concept is a fetch rover.\"\n\n\"The question we're going to have to ask is, how important is that sample return?\"\n\nThomas Zurbuchen, head of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, discussed possibilities for fast tracking the sample return mission at a National Academies space studies board meeting in August. In the meeting, Zurbuchen proposed a mission to launch as soon as 2026 to send a multi-phase mission to collect the samples. A lander would touch down on Mars and deploy a fetch rover to collect the samples and return to deposit them in the lander. Alternatively, the Mars 2020 rover could deliver samples directly to the lander.\n\nNASA concept of a Mars sample return mission. NASA/JPL\n\nOnce secured in the lander, a small rocket called the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) would launch to carry the samples to a rendezvous with another spacecraft in Mars orbit. That orbiting craft would then return to Earth with the rocks from Mars, or possibly fly to an orbit in cislunar space between Earth and the moon to be picked up by a future lunar mission.\n\n\n\nTo expedite the Mars sample return mission, however, NASA would likely need to postpone a new Mars telecommunications and reconnaissance orbiter, already funded by Congress and currently planned for a 2022 launch. Postponing the launch of a new Mars communications relay satellite would require NASA to figure out how to use existing orbiters to continue support for surface missions, possibly by changing the orbit of the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN) and repurposing that atmospheric science spacecraft to serve as a telecommunications link.\n\n\"At the end, the question we're going to have to ask is, how important is that sample return?\" Zurbuchen said. \"Do we want to tunnel-vision focus on that piece, because of the fact that we think it's so critical?\"\n\nWhile NASA's challenges establishing a sample return mission are largely logistical\u2014deciding which method is best and figuring out how to fund the mission among a multitude of high-priority interplanetary missions\u2014the NSSC's challenges are mostly technical. The global success rate for missions to Mars is only about 50 percent, and to date, just one institution has successfully landed on the red planet: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.\n\nOverview of NASA\u2019s proposed Mars sample return mission. NASA\n\nChina's first attempt to launch an orbiter to Mars, Yinghuo-1, was lost after the Russian spacecraft it was hitching a ride with failed to conduct two engine burns to fly to Mars. The two craft were stranded in Earth orbit in late 2011 and burned up in the atmosphere a couple months later.\n\nWhile NASA's challenges are mostly logistical, China's are mostly technical.\n\nHowever, China's series of successful lunar missions provides reason to believe the country could pull off its ambitious Mars mission in 2020. Chinese missions Chang'e 1 and Chang'e 2 successfully orbited the moon in 2007 and 2010, respectively. Chang'e 3 successfully landed on the moon and deployed a small rover called Yutu (Jade Rabbit) in 2013, similar to the lander/rover design China plans to send to Mars.\n\nThe Chang\u2019e 3 lander photographed by the small Yutu rover that it deployed. A blurred reflection of the rover is visible in the reflective surface of the lander. Chinese Academy of Sciences\n\nThe Chinese space program's next big test will come in 2018, when the People's Republic plans to launch Chang'e 4 to land and deploy a rover on the far side of the moon, a feat that has yet to be accomplished by humanity. Putting a lander and rover on the far side of the moon will require a telecommunications relay satellite to launch to an orbit beyond the moon about six months prior. The Chang'e missions will culminate with 5 in late 2018 or early 2019, the first lunar sample return mission since the Soviet's Luna 24 in 1976.\n\nRacing to Mars and Back\n\nA Long March 5 rocket at Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Center in June 2017. \u7bc1\u7af9\u6c34\u58f0/Wikimedia\n\nThe completion of the Chang'e program will be a vital test for crucial technologies required for both the Chinese 2020 Mars mission and a Mars sample return mission to follow. However, the biggest question mark on the Chinese schedule to Mars sample return is certainly the Long March 9 rocket. A Chinese Long March 5 heavy-lift rocket failed after launch earlier this year, postponing the Chang'e 5 mission. The even larger, more powerful Long March 9, which is still in early planning phases, will undoubtedly present a significant challenge to the Chinese space program. Rockets of this size and power, such as NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), are notorious for running up against schedule delays and high cost overruns.\n\nIf China pushes ahead with plans for a Mars sample return mission to launch on one rocket, it will need the Long March 9. However, it seems possible that the country could pivot to a multi-phase mission using the Long March 5, similar to NASA's current sample return mission outline.\n\nThe technical, logistical and budgetary challenges for either country to pull off a Mars sample return mission before 2030 are significant and manifold. The first step for both is successfully launching a flagship mission to Mars in 2020.\n\nDiagram of science instruments on NASA\u2019s Mars 2020 rover. NASA\n\nHowever, at the breakneck pace that China's space program has been advancing, with multiple space stations and lunar missions launched in the past decade, the wealthy and powerful nation is clearly committed to aggressively advancing space sciences. As for NASA, you have to wonder how long the agency's scientists will be able to bear having martian samples carefully drilled out and stored in a receptacle on the surface of the planet, just waiting to be picked up.\n\n\n\nIf the two nations are starting to feel pressure to beat one another in the race to return home with a tantalizing sample of red planet rock, good. Getting a sample of Mars material into the hands of laboratory scientists on Earth could lead to some of the most profound scientific discoveries in the history of humankind. It's time to kick Mars sample return into high gear and bring that red dirt home.", "output": "NASA and China's national space agency are both aiming to retrieve samples from Mars for study on Earth by 2030. NASA's preliminary mission starts with the launch of its Mars 2020 rover, set to land in February 2021. The rover will core a sample, place it in a tube and leave it on the surface for collection by a later mission. Meanwhile, China's National Space Science Centre will scout the planet with its first spacecraft to orbit Mars. It will then use the data gathered from orbit to select a site for a follow-up sample return mission.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tiny Cubesat exploration\u00a0satellites\u00a0could 'swarm' across space \n CubeSats, low-cost, bite-sized satellites inspired by the tubes used to hold Beanie Babies, were invented in 1999 as educational tools. Their creators \u2014 engineering professors Bob Twiggs and Jordi Puig-Suari \u2014 hoped building satellites the size and shape of Rubik\u2019s Cubes would help students of all ages how to design and engineer efficiently.\n\nNow, aerospace suppliers and governments across the globe see the tools as the future of space commercialization and deep space exploration. They want to turn CubeSats into tools for low Earth orbit activities like telecommunications and reconnaissance. Companies like SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, Boeing and Airbus, for instance, want to create a space internet \u2014 a network of thousands of CubeSats that provide high speed broadband to remote parts of the world.\n\nAnd people like Paulo Lozano, director of the Space Propulsion Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, say sending the tiny satellites to asteroids could help improve space research (or even save the planet from an asteroid attack, he said).\n\n\u201cInstead of going to an asteroid every five, 10 years the traditional way, release a fleet of these tiny little CubeSats and visit 100 asteroids because it\u2019s so cheap,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause some of these asteroids, especially the very small ones, have the potential to collide with the Earth. Detecting them in time is important [for stopping them], but also knowing their composition.\u201d\n\nOver the first decade of the CubeSat era, universities dominated the landscape, sending two of every three devices into space. Today, commercial companies and militaries have taken over, launching 70 percent of CubeSats in the last five years.\n\nBut there\u2019s still one big problem: CubeSats can\u2019t move once they\u2019re in space \u2014 which limits their survival to months or years and makes them dangerous.\n\n\u201cOne of the big limitations in CubeSats is that they are launched as secondary payload. Once they are in space, they cannot move,\u201d Lozano said.\n\nOf the 750 or so CubeSats sent into space so far, almost all have lacked their own propulsion systems. The tiny satellites are transported alongside regular cargo, and then flung into space.\n\nBut without their own rockets, the CubeSats cannot maneuver on their own. Most fall slowly back to Earth, but some remain in orbit for years, where they join the other 100 million pieces of space debris that are at risk of colliding with other satellites and space stations.\n\nThe U.S. Air Force, whose Joint Space Operation Center monitors more than 23,000 orbiting objects larger than four inches in diameter, issues about 700,000 of these collision warnings to satellite owners per year. Imagine what would happen if thousands of CubeSats were added to the fray.\n\nWhat CubeSats need to stay in space are mini boosters, and scientists like Lozano are racing to build them.\n\nMoving with static\n\nLozano\u2019s early work focused on big chemical rockets \u2014 the kind that you see strapped to space shuttles or on SpaceX missions. He knew these conventional rockets require huge fuel tanks \u2014 too big to be carried by CubeSats. Meanwhile, government standards limit how much chemical propellant can be carried by secondary cargo like CubeSats in order to prevent accidental explosions.\n\n\u201cYou don\u2019t have a lot of leeway in what you\u2019re allowed to bring up because if your satellite blows up and you\u2019re the secondary payload, the primary people are going to be really angry,\u201d said Kristina Lemmer, a mechanical and aerospace engineer at Western Michigan University, who isn\u2019t involved with Lozano\u2019s research.\n\nSo, Lozano needed an alternative. His inspiration: static electricity and tiny drops of salt water.\n\nStatic electricity is caused by an imbalance between positive and negative charges in an object. Rub a balloon on your sweater, and its rubber surface becomes covered in negative charge (electrons). Place the balloon near your positively charged hair, and it tugs on the strands until you have a misshapen mohawk.\n\nLozano\u2019s team designed a set of mini thrusters that rely on the same principle. The devices create an electric field that tugs on the charged particles in salt water until they peel off. The result is a spray made of charged molecules called ions.\n\nThis ion spray doesn\u2019t create a lot force. It\u2019s always less than a millinewton, which is akin to the force produced when a mosquito lands on your arm. But the spray moves very fast, and even a small action creates a reaction in the frictionless vacuum of outer space. Use this to move ions in one direction, and a CubeSat will move uber fast in the other.\n\nBy launching a fleet of CubeSats, scientists could learn the chemical compositions of asteroids, which could be the key to destroying or redirecting them.\n\nLozano said the best chemical rockets produce a fiery exhaust that moves at about 9,000 miles per hour. His electrospray thrusters can go more than 111,000 miles per hour, he said.\n\nThe thrusters, which look like computer microchips, are the size of quarters. The chips contain a grid of 500 needles \u2014 each a custom-built nozzle for spewing ions. His team tests them inside a large vacuum chamber at their lab in Boston.\n\n\u201cIn an ideal situation, all of the ions would have the same energy, but the physics of these ion beams makes it so that some ions have less energy than others,\u201d said Catherine Miller, an MIT doctoral and NASA Space Technology Research Fellow. By studying how energy is distributed among the ion beams, she can calculate and standardize how each thruster will perform.\n\nLeading the space charge\n\nOnly three propulsion boosters for CubeSats have had successfully demoed in space, Lemmer said. Lozano\u2019s system was one of them, through a partnership with the Aerospace Corporation in 2015. But Lemmer, who published a comprehensive review of CubeSat propulsion systems last year, said Lozano\u2019s ion engines stand out because each one can produce so much thrust.\n\n\u201cDr. Lozano\u2019s system is probably the frontrunner for the possibility for deep space missions,\u201d Lemmer said. \u201cIn order to go interplanetary, you\u2019re going to have to have an electric propulsion system because they are so much more efficient.\u201d\n\nFolks like NASA have counted on the high efficiency of ion engines in the past, such as with the Dawn mission to the asteroids Vesta and Ceres. That journey would have been impossible without the Dawn\u2019s high velocity ion engine. But the Dawn mission cost half a billion dollars. Commercial CubeSats can cost as little as $100,000 \u2014 and this price is dropping. Even children are building CubeSats at their elementary schools.\n\nWhile Lozano\u2019s electrospray thrusters don\u2019t work exactly like the Dawn\u2019s ion engines, Lemmer said the advantages are the same. You can carry less propellant \u2014 Lozano\u2019s fuel tanks are the size of sugar cubes \u2014 but move more efficiently.\n\nWhat\u2019s next?\n\nWith another demonstration scheduled in early 2018, Lozano is dreaming big. He hopes his tiny thrusters can help CubeSats reach Mars or send them on asteroid scouting voyages. \u201cSince they are so small, you can actually land on the asteroid with these rockets and take off again,\u201d Lozano said.\n\nThough nobody over the last 1,000 years has died because of an asteroid strike, as far as anyone knows, the chances are still disturbing. Your odds of being killed by an asteroid in your lifetime \u2014 one in 700,000 \u2014 rival death by flood or earthquake in the U.S.\n\nBy launching a fleet of CubeSats, scientists could learn the chemical compositions of asteroids, which could be the key to destroying or redirecting them. An asteroid made of silicon, for instance, would be much tougher to stop than one made of iron. Lemmer said CubeSats with propulsion could also provide a cheaper way to test new space technologies.\n\n\u201cRight now, if you want to put a new technology on a NASA satellite, it\u2019s years in the making to run sufficient tests,\u201d Lemmer said. Instead, \u201cif you launch a new technology on a CubeSat and show that it works in space without bad things happening, then you can more easily translate into a NASA mission down the road.\u201d", "output": "Engineers are racing to create a propulsion method to allow Cubesats, 10 cm-sided satellite cubes, to move independently and in large numbers through space,\u00a0enabling\u00a0cheaper exploration of asteroids and planets. Among the projects is\u00a0Paulo Lozano's\u00a0chemical propulsion system, which uses\u00a0electricity and tiny drops of salt water\u00a0to create\u00a0speeds of 111,000 mph. The device from\u00a0Lozano, who is the director of the Space Propulsion Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will undergo another demonstration in the coming months and is\u00a0one of three to have been tested in space.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Genes in Space-3 team identifies microbes on space station \n Sarah Wallace (L), NASA microbiologist and Genes in Space-3 principal investigator, and Sarah Stahl (R), microbiologist, are seen in their Johnson Space Center lab with the in-flight sample from the Genes in Space-3 investigation. Credit: Rachel Barry\n\nBeing able to identify microbes in real time aboard the International Space Station, without having to send them back to Earth for identification first, would be revolutionary for the world of microbiology and space exploration. The Genes in Space-3 team turned that possibility into a reality this year, when it completed the first-ever sample-to-sequence process entirely aboard the space station. Results from their investigation were published in Scientific Reports.\n\nThe ability to identify microbes in space could aid in the ability to diagnose and treat astronaut ailments in real time, as well as assisting in the identification of DNA-based life on other planets. It could also benefit other experiments aboard the orbiting laboratory. Identifying microbes involves isolating the DNA of samples, and then amplifying - or making many copies - of that DNA that can then be sequenced, or identified.\n\nThe investigation was broken into two parts: the collection of the microbial samples and amplification by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), then sequencing and identification of the microbes. NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson conducted the experiment aboard the orbiting laboratory, with NASA microbiologist and the project's Principal Investigator Sarah Wallace and her team watching and guiding her from Houston.\n\nAs part of regular microbial monitoring, petri plates were touched to various surfaces of the space station. Working within the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) about a week later, Whitson transferred cells from growing bacterial colonies on those plates into miniature test tubes, something that had never been done before in space.\n\nOnce the cells were successfully collected, it was time to isolate the DNA and prepare it for sequencing, enabling the identification of the unknown organisms - another first for space microbiology. An historic weather event, though, threatened the ground team's ability to guide the progress of the experiment.\n\n\"We started hearing the reports of Hurricane Harvey the week in between Peggy performing the first part of collecting the sample and gearing up for the actual sequencing,\" said Wallace.\n\nWhen JSC became inaccessible due to dangerous road conditions and rising flood waters, the team at Marshall Space Flight Center's Payload Operations Integration Center in Huntsville, Alabama, who serve as \"Mission Control\" for all station research, worked to connect Wallace to Whitson using Wallace's personal cell phone.\n\nWith a hurricane wreaking havoc outside, Wallace and Whitson set out to make history. Wallace offered support to Whitson, a biochemist, as she used the MinION device to sequence the amplified DNA. The data were downlinked to the team in Houston for analysis and identification.\n\nNASA astronaut Peggy Whitson performed the Genes in Space-3 investigation aboard the space station using the miniPCR and MinION, developed for previously flown investigations. Credit: NASA\n\n\"Once we actually got the data on the ground we were able to turn it around and start analyzing it,\" said Aaron Burton, NASA biochemist and the project's co-investigator. \"You get all these squiggle plots and you have to turn that into As, Gs, Cs and Ts.\"\n\nThose As, Gs, Cs and Ts are Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine and Thymine - the four bases that make up each strand of DNA and can tell you what organism the strand of DNA came from.\n\n\"Right away, we saw one microorganism pop up, and then a second one, and they were things that we find all the time on the space station,\" said Wallace. \"The validation of these results would be when we got the sample back to test on Earth.\"\n\nSoon after, the samples returned to Earth, along with Whitson, aboard the Soyuz spacecraft. Biochemical and sequencing tests were completed in ground labs to confirm the findings from the space station. They ran tests multiple times to confirm accuracy. Each time, the results were exactly the same on the ground as in orbit.\n\nThe Genes in Space-3 team worked throughout Hurricane Harvey to ensure operations continued on the space station. Pictured are Aaron Burton, Kristen John, Sarah Stahl and Sarah Wallace as they watch NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson work within the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) during part one of the investigation. Credit: Sarah Wallace\n\n\"We did it. Everything worked perfectly,\" said Sarah Stahl, microbiologist.\n\nDeveloped in partnership by NASA's Johnson Space Center and Boeing, this National Lab sponsored investigation is managed by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space.\n\nGenes in Space-1 marked the first time the PCR was used in space to amplify DNA with the miniPCR thermal cycler, followed shortly after by Biomolecule Sequencer, which used the MinION device to sequence DNA. Genes in Space-3 married these two investigations to create a full microbial identification process in microgravity.\n\n\"It was a natural collaboration to put these two pieces of technology together because individually, they're both great, but together they enable extremely powerful molecular biology applications,\" said Wallace.\n\nMore information: Sarah L. Castro-Wallace et al. Nanopore DNA Sequencing and Genome Assembly on the International Space Station, Scientific Reports (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-18364-0 Journal information: Scientific Reports\n\nProvided by NASA", "output": "Scientists on the International Space Station (ISS) have successfully identified microbes in the first-ever sample-to-sequence process on board the ship. NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson worked with the Houston-based Genes in Space-3 team to collect microbial samples from around the ISS, before a MinION device was used to sequence the samples' DNA, enabling it to be identified. Back on Earth, the results were retested and proved to exactly match the ISS outcomes. Being able to identify microbes on the ISS would assist in diagnosing illnesses and infections among astronauts."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chocolate may disappear due to effect of climate change on cacao \n Maybe start hoarding now. Photo: Diana Miller/Getty Images/Cultura Exclusive\n\nHere\u2019s some climate-change news that President Trump will have trouble ignoring: Earth\u2019s junk food is in danger of losing a crucial ingredient. Scientists now predict that chocolate \u2014 which POTUS will sometimes eat to celebrate making important military decisions \u2014 could become impossible to grow in the coming decades because of hotter temperatures and less rain in regions where cacao plants are cultivated. The year 2050 is when they predict that people will be forced to satisfy a sweet tooth with toffee or caramels seasoned with tears.\n\nLike coffee plants and wine grapvines, cacao is a finicky tree. It only grows well in rain-forest land that\u2019s within 20 degrees of the equator. Half of the world\u2019s chocolate is produced in C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire and Ghana, where the plants thrive at around 300 to 850 feet above sea level and under dependably humid weather conditions. But by 2050, researchers say that rising temperatures could push the optimal cultivation zone \u201cuphill,\u201d to as high as 1,500 feet.\n\nThankfully, a team from UC Berkeley is working on a possible fix. It\u2019s actually part of a new partnership that Mars announced last year. The M&M\u2019s and Snickers maker is investing $1 billion into a variety of efforts to fight climate change, and the scientists in a plant-genomics program at Berkeley hope to develop hardier cacao plants that won\u2019t wilt or rot at their current altitude.\n\nBerkeley\u2019s gene-editing technology, called CRISPR, has been in the works for a while, though when it gets attention, it\u2019s almost always for the potential to eliminate genetic diseases or (sort of on the extreme end of this) build \u201cdesigner babies.\u201d But creator Jennifer Doudna tells Business Insider that the \u201cmost profound\u201d application will likely be saving food.", "output": "Chocolate could disappear by 2050 because of\u00a0higher temperatures\u00a0and less rainfall in regions where cacao trees are grown, according to the US's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Cacao plants only grow well in rainforest regions that\u00a0are near the equator, with\u00a0half of the world's chocolate being produced in C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire and Ghana at up to 850 ft above sea level. Rising temperatures are pushing growing regions to about 1,000 ft\u00a0above sea level and\u00a0into mountainous terrain. UC Berkeley is working with Mars\u00a0to generate new strains of cacao plants\u00a0using CRISPR gene-editing technology.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Netherlands introduces tradeable phosphate rights for dairy cattle \n The system came into effect January 1, 2018.\n\nThe measure has been introduced to improve water quality in the country by limiting phosphate production from dairy cattle manure and promote a shift to land-based farming.\n\nThe EC said that given the high density of dairy cattle in the Netherlands, the phosphate contained in dairy cattle manure represents a significant environmental concern.\n\nIn addition to the main environmental objectives, the system also provides support for young farmers and is intended to have a positive effect on grazing and grassland.\n\nTrading rights\n\nDairy farms will be awarded phosphate rights for free and will only be allowed to produce phosphate from dairy cattle manure corresponding to the phosphate production rights they hold. At the end of each calendar year, farms will be required to demonstrate that they have sufficient phosphate rights to justify the amount of phosphate produced by their dairy cattle manure.\n\nDairy farms, including new entrants, can acquire phosphate rights on the market, as phosphate rights will be traded.\n\nWhen a transaction occurs, 10% of the traded rights will be withheld and kept in a \u2018phosphate bank.\u2019\n\nThis is intended to encourage the development of more land-based dairy farming by providing temporary, non-tradable rights to \"land-based farms,\" which can fully absorb on their land all the phosphate from their own manure production.\n\nBased on the environmental objectives the system aims to achieve, the European Commission concluded that the system is in line with the EU rules for environmental State aid.", "output": "The European Commission has given the go-ahead to a trading system for phosphate rights for dairy cattle in the Netherlands, aimed at improving the country's water quality by limiting phosphate production from dairy cattle manure and encouraging a move to land-based farming. Dairy farmers will receive phosphate rights for free and will be obligated each year to prove they have sufficient rights to justify the quantity of phosphate produced by their manure. Phosphate rights can be obtained on the market, with 10% of the traded rights held back to promote the development of more land-based dairy farming."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "3,000-metre high Chinese salt lake holds vast lithium deposit \n GOLMUD, China -- The world is on the brink of an electric vehicle revolution. The widespread use of electric cars will depend on the availability of lithium, which is crucial for electric vehicle batteries. China is the world's second-richest country in lithium reserves, after Chile.\n\nCountries are now scrambling to secure supplies of the valuable metal, but where is it found? I visited a remote area of China, about 3,000 meters above sea level, that is one of the world's largest lithium-producing areas and which the Chinese government considers a strategic region. \"Huge amounts of capital are rapidly flowing into the town,\" a local resident said.", "output": "A remote salt lake in the Chinese inland province of Qinghai is home to 83% of the country's lithium deposit. The metal is crucial for the development of electric vehicle (EV) batteries and China is the second richest country in terms of reserves, after Chile. The majority of its lithium can be found within salt sediment on the floor of Chaerhan Salt Lake. Companies such as major Chinese EV maker BYD have begun setting up factories in the area after securing a concession for recovering lithium."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Publishers prepare for Facebook feeds without news \n Publishers have a lot to gripe about when it comes to Facebook, from the platform choking off their referral traffic, dominating digital advertising and giving them whiplash with its constantly changing video strategy. But what if it got even worse?\n\nIn 2018, Facebook could take a step further and separate news from the news feed. It\u2019s not a crazy idea. The platform tested a newsless news feed, called the Explore Feed, in six countries outside the U.S., causing a major publisher freakout. (Facebook said it didn\u2019t expect to roll out the test further.) In the past year, Facebook also launched Watch, a TV-like video tab; and prioritized Facebook Groups, communities for people who share interests or characteristics \u2014 also underscoring the idea of separating user interaction from other media content.\n\nOther platforms have made moves to separate users\u2019 messages from media and brands\u2019 content. Snapchat redesigned its app to separate users\u2019 feeds from brands\u2019 content. Instagram is testing a private messaging app, which would take peer-to-peer chat out of the main app. Twitter has its Moments tab, a dedicated home for news and entertainment stories.\n\nFundamental to the success of platforms like Twitter and Facebook is keeping users happy, and as such, they\u2019re always running experiments to see if changes will get people to return more often and stay longer. Given a lot of news is negative or controversial, a feed with no news (unless it\u2019s shared by a user) could be less contentious and more enjoyable for users. And another group that likes less controversy, of course, is another important Facebook constituency: advertisers.\n\n\u201cSometimes people get really annoyed and confused when they\u2019re reading about their cousin\u2019s bar mitzvah or whatever and they see a very serious story afterward,\u201d said Andrew Montalenti, CTO and co-founder of web analytics firm Parsely. \u201cAll of the platforms, what they\u2019re really concerned about with fake news is that I think you kind of draw on a bank account of trust with the user. If you come across that stuff too much, you declare it to be a problem, and you stop using it. So they have to play this delicate balance \u2014 \u2018We can\u2019t show you too many ads or show you too much spammy content.\u2019\u201d\n\nAnother factor is the fake-news imbroglio that blew up in Facebook\u2019s face in the past year, leading lawmakers to threaten regulation. Facebook responded by trying to police fake news, which has proved to be a challenge. Further de-emphasizing news or taking it out of the feed altogether is one way to deal with the problem.\n\nAs to the Explore test, Facebook said: \u201cThere is no current plan to roll this out beyond these test countries or to charge pages on Facebook to pay for all their distribution in News Feed or Explore.\u201d That was cold comfort to those publishers who depend on the news feed to reach audiences, though. As much as Facebook has declined in reach, it\u2019s still a significant source of traffic for many publishers, which have already seen their direct traffic from Facebook decline in recent months, if not years, as Facebook has prioritized users\u2019 posts and video content in the news feed.\n\nSome publishers whose audience strategy is closely tied to Facebook and follow the company closely are starting to consider the possibility of a newsless news feed. An executive at a traditional publishing company said this is \u201cdefinitely on our minds\u201d given the company gets a \u201cton of traffic from Facebook,\u201d and it\u2019s a risk the company has to think about in the next few years. \u201cIt would be seismic shift,\u201d said another publishing exec.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s good reason to be concerned if publishers\u2019 content becomes separated out of the main news feed,\u201d said Vivian Schiller, a former Twitter news executive. \u201cTheir criteria [for the Explore test] was about user experience. That\u2019s their business. But it\u2019s hard to imagine this not having a deleterious effect on publishers.\u201d\n\nThere are other reasons for Facebook to go in this direction. Facebook could make an exception for publishers and other commercial content providers that pay to be in the news feed, which could mean more revenue for Facebook. Separating news from the feed also could give Facebook a way to test a potential new product, similar to how it took Messenger out of the site and made it its own app, Schiller said.\n\nOf course, none of this is a fait accompli. There\u2019s good reason to think Facebook will keep news in the feed. Scrolling through the news feed is the core daily habit for most Facebook users. It\u2019s what Facebook uses to promote its many other products, like the Watch video tab and Marketplace. It\u2019s hard to get people to toggle from the news feed to other places on Facebook.\n\nThat said, even if a newsless news feed doesn\u2019t materialize, publishers have to adapt. Facebook, and Google, are here to stay, and Facebook has proven time and time again that it\u2019s not always going to act in publishers\u2019 interests. Publishers have to take matters into their own hands, and take advantage of other audience and revenue opportunities.", "output": "Online publishers are considering strategies for a future in which Facebook removes news stories from its main pages, called newsfeeds. The social network last year experimented with a separate newsfeed called Explore in six countries outside the US, but said it didn't plan to roll this out further. However, a number of other online platforms including Twitter and Snapchat have separated news stories from user-generated content to some degree, leading to speculation Facebook will follow suit. Publishers have already seen their direct traffic from Facebook decline in recent months as user content and videos have taken precedence.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers create graphene battery that charges in seconds \n Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-23 21:15:29|Editor: Zhou Xin\n\nVideo Player Close\n\nHANGZHOU, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- A team of researchers from Zhejiang University have developed a new type of aluminum-graphene battery that can be charged in seconds, instead of hours.\n\nThe team, led by professor Gao Chao, from Department of Polymer Science and Engineering of Zhejiang University, designed a battery using graphene films as anode and metallic aluminum as cathode.\n\nThe battery could work well after quarter-million cycles and can be fully charged in seconds.\n\nExperiments show that the battery retains 91 percent of its original capacity after 250,000 recharges, surpassing all the previous batteries in terms of cycle life.\n\nIn quick charge mode, the battery can be fully charged in 1.1 seconds, according to Gao. The finding was detailed in a paper recently published in Science Advances.\n\nThe assembled battery also works well in temperatures range of minus 40 to 120 degrees Celsius. It can be folded, and does not explode when exposed to fire.\n\nHowever, the aluminum-ion battery cannot compete with commonly-used Li-ion batteries in terms of energy density, or the amount of power you can store in a battery in relation to the size, according to Gao.\n\n\"It is still costly to make such battery. Commercial production of the battery can only be possible until we can find cheaper electrolyte,\" Gao said.", "output": "Scientists from Zhejiang University have developed an aluminium-graphene battery that can be charged in seconds, rather than hours. The battery is able to maintain 91% of its original capacity after 250,000 charges and could be fully charged in 1.1 seconds. The researchers also claimed the battery can work in temperatures ranging from minus 40C to 120C. However, they added that the battery does not have the energy density of lithium-ion batteries and is at present too expensive for commercial production."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurtech Urban Jungle raises \u20ac1.1m in funding round \n Urban Jungle, a London-based FinTech startup revamping insurance for young people, has secured \u20ac1.1 million seed funding from a group of top angel investors, in order to build a better home insurance experience for the growing population of renters. The financing round was led by Rob Devey, ex CEO of Prudential UK and HBOS insurance. This capital injection will support the startup\u2019s plans to launch several new products, including one targeted at the growing number of house and flat shares.\n\nUrban Jungle was founded in 2016. The founders Jimmy Williams and Greg Smyth looked at the insurance industry, and noted both that poor tech was making it difficult to buy and use, and that young people were being excluded from insurance because it was failing to keep pace with their changing lifestyles. They believe they can transform the insurance experience by completely rebuilding the tech stack, using modern technologies, for example through smartphone-first design, and using machine learning to improve risk scoring.\n\nJimmy Williams commented: \u201cThis investment marks a big step towards our mission to build an insurance provider that customers love. Through 2017, we focused on building a business that our customers can rely on 100% when something goes wrong. In 2018 we\u2019ll vastly increase the choice of products for our customers, and make all of our products even easier to use.\u201d\n\nRob Devey, who led both this, and the business\u2019 previous round of funding commented: \u201cI\u2019m very excited about the huge opportunity to transform the insurance industry using technology, and think this team is superbly well placed to capitalise on that. They have proven their ability to execute to a very highly quality over the past year, and I\u2019m confident that they will only accelerate from here.\u201d", "output": "UK fintech Urban Jungle has raised \u20ac1.1m ($1.3m) in seed funding towards its tech-driven insurance service for young renters. The investment, led by Rob Devey, former CEO of Prudential UK and HBOS insurance, will help the London-based start-up increase the choice of products available to its customers, such as one targeted at house and flat shares. Urban Jungle was founded in 2016 by Jimmy Williams and Greg Smyth, who felt young people were excluded from the insurance market as it failed to keep up with their changing lifestyles.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers train robots to respect human personal space \n Scientists teach robots how to respect personal space\n\n\n\nby Staff Writers\n\n\n\nBeijing, China (SPX) Jan 02, 2018\n\n\n\nRobots have a lot to learn about humans, including how to respect their personal space. Scientists at the Institute of Automatics of the National University of San Juan in Argentina are giving mobile robots a crash course in avoiding collisions with humans.\n\nThe researchers published their methods in IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica (JAS), a joint publication of the IEEE and Chinese Association of Automation.\n\n\"Humans respect social zones during different kind[s] of interactions,\" wrote Daniel Herrera, a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Automatics of the National University of San Juan and an author on the study. He notes how the specifics of a task and situation, as well as cultural expectations and personal preferences, influence the distance of social zones.\n\n\"When a robot follows a human as part of a formation, it is supposed that it must also respect these social zones to improve its social acceptance.\"\n\nUsing impedance control, the researchers aimed to regulate the social dynamics between the robot's movements and the interactions of the robot's environment. They did this by first analyzing how a human leader and a human follower interact on a set track with well-defined borders.\n\nThe feedback humans use to adjust their behaviors - letting someone know they're following too closely, for example - was marked as social forces and treated as defined physical fields.\n\nThe human interactions (leading and following), including the estimated social forces, were fed to a mobile robot. The programmed robot then followed the human within the same defined borders, but without impeding on the social forces defined by the human interactions.\n\n\"Under the hypothesis that moving like human will be acceptable by humans, it is believed that the proposed control improves the social acceptance of the robot for this kind of interaction,\" wrote Herrera.\n\nThe researchers posit that robots are more likely to be accepted if they can be programmed to respect and respond like humans in social interactions. In this experiment, the robot mimicked the following human, and avoided the leader's personal space.\n\n\"The results show that the robot is capable of emulating the previously identified impedance and, consequently, it is believed that the proposed control can improve the social acceptance by being able to imitate this human-human dynamic behavior.\"\n\nResearch paper\n\nTokyo, Japan (SPX) Dec 15, 2017\n\n\n\n\n\nLockheed Martin and NEC Corp have announced that Lockheed Martin will use NEC's System Invariant Analysis Technology (SIAT) in the space domain. SIAT's advanced analytics engine uses data collected from sensors to learn the behavior of systems, including computer systems, power plants, factories and buildings, enabling the system itself to automatically detect inconsistencies and prescribe resol ... read more\n\nRelated Links\n\n", "output": "Researchers in Argentina have developed systems to teach robots to respect humans' personal space. The team at the National University of San Juan devised techniques to replicate the social signals given by humans when they feel their personal space is being invaded. These were then set as defined physical fields for the robot as it followed a human's movements. The experiments showed the robot was able to successfully emulate the behaviour and movement of a human. Scientists claim this will help increase future social acceptance of robots."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK campaign urges parents to reduce children\u2019s sugar intake \n Children\u2019s snacking habits are setting them up for obesity and poor health, Public Health England has warned, calling on parents to take a tougher line on sweets and cakes and fizzy drinks between meals.\n\nChildren in England are eating on average at least three unhealthy high-calorie sugary snacks and drinks every day, says PHE, and about a third of children eat four or more. It is urging parents to draw the line at two and make sure they are not more than 100 calories each.\n\nThe diet of the average child can contain three times more sugar than recommended, says PHE. Half the equivalent of seven sugar cubes a day they consume comes from unhealthy snacks and drinks. Each year that includes almost 400 biscuits, more than 120 cakes, 100 sweets, 70 chocolate bars and 70 ice creams, washed down with more than 150 juice drink pouches and cans of fizzy drink.\n\nThe slogan of a new campaign under the Change4Life banner is: \u201cLook for 100 calorie snacks, two a day max\u201d.\n\nThat could lead to a significant change in diet. An ice-cream contains about 175 calories, a pack of crisps contains about 190 calories, a chocolate bar contains about 200 calories and a pastry contains about 270 calories, says PHE.\n\nThere will be a drive to encourage healthier snacking, with signposting at supermarkets and special offers on fruit and vegetables. Parents can sign up on the Change4Life website to get vouchers for money off snacks PHE identifies as healthier, such as malt loaf, lower sugar fromage frais, and drinks with no added sugar.\n\nOther snack foods PHE says are healthier include fresh or tinned fruit salad, chopped vegetables and lower fat hummus, plain rice cakes, crackers, lower fat cheese, small low-fat, lower sugar yoghurt, sugar free jelly, crumpets and Scotch pancakes.\n\nDr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at Public Health England, said: \u201cThe true extent of children\u2019s snacking habits is greater than the odd biscuit or chocolate bar. Children are having unhealthy snacks throughout the day and parents have told us they\u2019re concerned.\n\n\u201cTo make it easier for busy families, we\u2019ve developed a simple rule of thumb to help them move towards healthier snacking \u2013 look for 100 calorie snacks, two a day max.\u201d\n\nThe campaign will include a new TV advert from Aardman Animations as well as leaflets in schools.\n\nJustine Roberts, CEO and founder of Mumsnet, said: \u201cThe volume of sugar kids are getting from snacks and sugary drinks alone is pretty mindblowing, and it can often be difficult to distinguish which snacks are healthy and which aren\u2019t.\n\nA third of children are leaving primary school obese or overweight. Recent figures from the National Child Measurement Programme in schools show the number of obese children in reception year has risen for the second consecutive year (to 9.6%) and has shown no improvement in year 6 (20%).\n\nA quarter of children (24.7%) suffer from tooth decay by the time they turn five. Tooth extraction is the most common cause of hospital admissions in children aged 5 to 9 years.", "output": "Public Health England (PHE) has called for parents to limit their children to two sugary snacks\u00a0of no more than 100 calories each\u00a0per day, as part of a new Change4Life campaign. At present, children in England are consuming a daily average of at least three high-calorie\u00a0sweet snacks and drinks, with a third of children eating four or more. PHE said\u00a0that children\u2019s food intake can contain\u00a0three times the recommended amount of sugar on average. The campaign will include money-off vouchers for healthier snacks, a TV advert by Aardman Animations and leaflets in schools.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "'Big food' is acting like big tobacco, says\u00a0campaigner \n A former advertising executive who spent two decades working with \u201cbig food\u201d corporations has revealed how they are still working to persuade us to eat more sugar and junk food in spite of the obesity epidemic.\n\nDan Parker, who was a successful advertising executive earning his living promoting Coca Cola and McDonalds, told the Guardian in his first interview that the food industry is behaving like Big Tobacco. \u201cI think what the food industry does now will define where it lands. If it behaves like tobacco it will end up being treated like tobacco. And I think it is behaving like tobacco,\u201d said the former industry insider.\n\nParker\u2019s life changed when he was diagnosed with obesity-related type 2 diabetes, the disease that killed his father. In a \u201clightbulb moment\u201d, he realised he could help save people\u2019s lives by using his skills to try to help curb the junk food we eat.\n\nParker founded a charity called Living Loud, bringing on board others from marketing and advertising. In their first year of existence, they have helped anti-obesity campaigners like the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation understand the industry and communicate their messages.\n\n\n\nQ&A Share your tips on managing snacks for children Show We\u2019d like to hear how you are trying to limit the amount of snacks and sugary foods your children eat.\n\nYou can share your story using our encrypted form here. We will feature some of your contributions in our reporting. Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.\n\nAsking the industry, supermarkets and advertising agencies to voluntarily dial down what they do will not work, he says. They need limits imposed by government so that everyone is on a level playing field. Parker cites the shrinking size of chocolate bars to illustrate how voluntarism is not working. Manufacturers have produced smaller portion sizes, but they have not cut the prices.\n\n\u201cThis has made people angry. People are howling with rage about the fact that their single chocolate bar is smaller but the same price,\u201d he told the Guardian. And their response is to buy the bigger bar which looks like better value for money \u2013 while the industry is now advertising the family size as something one person can eat by themselves.\n\n\u201cWhat you\u2019re seeing is a lot of advertising for the bigger bar. You are seeing a lot of promotion of the bigger bar at point of purchase,\u201d he said. \u201cIn WH Smiths you get thrust a \u00a31 chocolate bar if you go in there for anything.\u201d\n\nFigures published in The Grocer magazine showed that single chocolate bar sales were down year on year in 2016 by about 5% to around \u00a3130m whereas sales of the tablet bars of around 100g were up 7.6% to \u00a3420m and the share bags were up 2.7% to about \u00a3300m. \u201cWhat\u2019s happening is this massive migration from the single bar to the bigger bar,\u201d said Parker.\n\nThe chocolate companies are promoting this choice with adverts like the Audrey Hepburn Galaxy video, showing a digitally recreated Hepburn figure deciding to sit in the back seat of the car of a handsome admirer so she can eat a large bar of chocolate by herself, says Parker.\n\nSales of single chocolate bar are down \u2013 but that has been countered by a rise in sales for larger bars. Photograph: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP\n\n\u201cWhat that\u2019s doing is normalising the idea that 100g bar is an individual portion of chocolate \u2013 although it will say on it you shouldn\u2019t eat more than 30g in tiny little writing on the bottom, the advert says that for Audrey it\u2019s a single portion,\u201d he said. The same is true of an advert showing Gary Lineker in hospital with a large bag of crisps, which he refuses to share with his children.\n\n\u201cBoth those adverts are formalising a larger portion size. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s very healthy,\u201d he said.\n\nParker was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes four years ago, a result of obesity and long working hours spent at a desk. \u201cI closed down my business and I decided that I would try and do something about it. I felt a need to redeem myself in some ways but also I guess I felt an immense sadness that the suffering that\u2019s happened in my own family probably should have been avoided,\u201d he said.\n\nHe reversed his diabetes through a strict diet with the help of Dr David Cavan, with whom he now has a commercial venture, offering a programme called \u201cDiabetes Turnaround\u201d.\n\nHe was on Brighton beach when he realised he could be part of the solution. \u201c If you want to boil obesity down, the single most important issue is what we put in our mouth. And nobody knows more about why people put in their mouth what they put in their mouth than the people who sit around the table at Coca Cola and McDonalds and Asda and these companies. I sat round that table. I got paid a lot of money because I was pretty good at this. So I suddenly realised that not only did I have this huge great desire to do something but I kind of went \u2013 you know what \u2013 I think I might be part of the answer here.\u201d\n\nThe food industry, Parker says, is at a crossroads. \u201cIf [the food industry] continues to sit there saying we\u2019re great, there\u2019s no problem, it\u2019s all to do with everything else, eventually suddenly there will be a switch in public will and then there will be an awful lot of bad regulation happening,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s clearly happening at the moment is the food industry\u2019s working hard to drag its heels,\u201d he said. It funds research showing obesity is about lack of exercise or other factors. \u201cIt\u2019s all about deflecting it away from being about what we eat.\n\n\u201cThe very inconvenient truth that nobody wants to talk about is that to resolve the obesity crisis, we need to eat less food. And we need to particularly eat less unhealthy food which generally comes in a packet and has a logo on it and is generally owned by a very large multinational corporation.\u201d\n\nAs a nation, we probably need to reduce the total amount of food we consume by 10-20% and we need to reduce the amount of unhealthy food we eat by 20-30%, he believes.\n\n\u201cThere are an awful lot of people not very interested in seeing the size of the packaged food industry drop by those kind of figures. The amount of money involved is billions of pounds.\u201d That includes the food industry, the supermarkets, the exchequer and also the media. \u201cParts are almost entirely propped up by advertising for those unhealthy products. Early Saturday night TV, for example, would struggle without pizzas and fishfingers.\u201d\n\nHe thinks his charity can help bridge the gap between the academics and institutions who know about obesity but argue over nutrients and technicalities on the one hand, and the large numbers of people suffering poor health on the other, who are told by the NHS they are in trouble and are in despair \u2013 which is the space, he says, between fear and knowledge.\n\nThey are not communicating, Parker says, and the messages are uninspiring. He thinks he and his colleagues can change that. \u201cWe\u2019ve taken pension plans and credit cards and cars and all sorts of complicated and dull and boring things and we turn them into simple and persuasive messages. That\u2019s what we do.\u201d", "output": "A former advertising executive who promoted Coca-Cola and McDonald's has claimed that \"big food\" is copying the tactics of large tobacco companies.\u00a0In an interview with the Guardian, Dan Parker, the founder of the Living Loud charity, which supports anti-obesity campaigns including those by the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation, said that voluntary codes would not succeed and that government regulation is required. Parker cited\u00a0the example of companies reducing the size of chocolate bars without lowering the price. Such moves led to a 7.6% increase in sales of larger\u00a0100g bars and a 5% decrease in single bars in 2016.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "JPMorgan tool ensures its ads avoid unsavoury\u00a0YouTube content \n JPMorgan Chase has created an internal tool to make sure its ads don't end up next to unsavory content on YouTube.\n\nThe company's proprietary algorithm plugs into YouTube's API to select \"safe\" channels for it to advertise on.\n\nFrom more than 5 million channels the brand has winnowed the list down to 3,000 YouTube channels that its ads appear on.\n\n\"The model that Google has built to monetize YouTube may work for it, but it doesn't work for us,\" said Aaron Smolick, executive director of paid-media analytics and optimization at JPMorgan Chase.\n\n\n\nWhen some brands' ads ended up next to troubling videos on YouTube last March, JPMorgan Chase responded by pulling its ads from the platform.\n\nDissatisfied with YouTube's slow response, the bank decided to take matters into its own hands and create an internal tool to make sure that its ads don't end up next to unsavory content on YouTube, only going back to YouTube after testing the tool.\n\nThe company developed its own proprietary algorithm in-house, and it plugs into YouTube's application programming interface (API) to select \"safe\" channels for its ads to appear on at scale. The algorithm was built by its internal programmatic and media-buying teams.\n\n\"When news broke about ads finding their way next to horrific pieces of content, we paused our efforts and pulled our ads from YouTube,\" Jake Davidow, the executive director of media and channel strategy at JPMorgan Chase, told Business Insider. \"We wanted to figure out a scalable solution and make sure we got it right.\"\n\nThe technology consists of 17 layers or filters, which allow the bank to separate what it deems as good or safe YouTube channels from the bad or unsafe ones. One of the filters, for example, looks at the total video count on a channel, which automatically sifts out channels with one-off viral videos. The bank also looks at channels' subscriber counts, the general topics channels focus on, language, and even the comments on different channels' videos.\n\n\"The model that Google has built to monetize YouTube may work for it, but it doesn't work for us,\" said Aaron Smolick, executive director of paid-media analytics and optimization at JPMorgan Chase. \"The attention of protecting a brand has to fall on the actual people within the brand itself.\"\n\nThe move reflects an increasing skepticism among major marketers regarding digital advertising, with issues of ad fraud, transparency and brand safety coming to a head in 2017. With their ads ending up next to dicey videos or being viewed by bots instead of humans, many advertisers have begun taking charge themselves by bringing advertising in-house and slashing the number of sites and channels they advertise on.\n\nYouTube in particular has been a conundrum for advertisers. The platform came under fire in 2017 for a spate of incidents where ads ended up next to questionable videos, and brands were not exactly happy with its tackling of the problem. But YouTube is too big for most global advertisers to turn away from, even if they don\u2019t have full confidence in it. Users watch an average of 40 minutes a day on YouTube globally.\n\nThe bank started white-listing \u2014 or pre-approving sites that its ads run on \u2014 in March, culling the number from 400,000 down to 5,000, and about 10,000 at present.\n\nIt began working on the YouTube algorithm in August and rolled it out in October. From over 5 million channels, it says that it has winnowed the list down to 3,000 channels on YouTube that its ads appear on. The bank says the algorithm has a success rate of 99.9%. The brand also continues to conduct regular manual checks on its channels as well as develop the tool further to make sure that it is foolproof.\n\n\"The biggest lesson for us was that we realized that it wasn't a black-and-white conversation with good guys or bad guys, but a gradient,\" Smolick said. \"It isn't necessarily about brand safety, but rather brand appropriateness. That's the next evolution of the debate, with each brand deciding what's appropriate for them and what's not.\"", "output": "US bank JPMorgan Chase has developed a solution that prevents\u00a0its ads being placed near unsuitable content on YouTube. A proprietary algorithm with 17 layers of filters that plugs into YouTube's programming system\u00a0enables\u00a0JPMorgan to whitelist or pre-approve the channels on which its ads are placed. Launched in October amid dissatisfaction with YouTube's own filters, the in-house software has reduced the number of pre-approved sites from five million to 3,000, with a 99.9% success rate. Aaron Smolick, executive director of paid-media analytics and optimisation, said the problem facing companies wasn't brand safety, but brand appropriateness.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sweden welcomes automation while the US fears it \n Two-thirds of Americans believe robots will soon take over the majority of tasks currently done by humans. Swedes, on the other hand, are not concerned about new technology. \u201cNo, I\u2019m afraid of old technology,\u201d the Swedish minister for employment and integration, Ylva Johansson, told the New York Times. \u201cThe jobs disappear, and then we train people for new jobs. We won\u2019t protect jobs. But we will protect workers.\u201d\n\nA recent survey by the European Commision found that 80 percent of Swedes have a positive view of robots and AI. Why such enthusiasm? Swedish citizens tend to trust that their government and the companies they work for will take care of them, and they see automation as a way to improve business efficiency. Since Swedish employees actually do benefit from increased profits by getting higher wages, a win for companies is a win for workers.\n\nAs the Times points out, the American tendency to worry about robots\u2019 replacing human workers is driven by the severe consequences of losing a job in the U.S. The risk of losing health insurance and a steady income makes people reluctant to leave jobs in favor of new career options or training.\n\nSweden\u2019s free health care, education, and job transition programs dampen the risk of such undertakings\u2014which may be why people in the country are mostly happy to pay income tax rates of up to nearly 60 percent. The U.S., by contrast, provides almost none of these services. The difference is especially stark in the area of employment assistance: the U.S. spends only about 0.1 percent of GDP on programs designed to help people deal with changes in the workplace (see \u201cThe Relentless Pace of Automation\u201d).", "output": "A majority of Swedish people have a positive view of the rise of robots and artificial intelligence, while the majority of Americans are concerned about it. The European Commission published a survey which found that 80% of respondents from Sweden had a positive view of such technology, higher than the European average of 61%, and lower only than Denmark (82%) and the Netherlands (81%). A separate survey from the Pew Research Centre in the United States found that 72% of adults there were worried about the technology.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Huawei, Baidu sign AI mobile agreement \n Huawei has announced signing a strategic agreement to build an open mobile artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem with Chinese search engine giant Baidu.\n\nThe strategic cooperation agreement covers AI platforms, technology, internet services, and content ecosystems, Huawei said.\n\nThe open ecosystem will be built using Huawei's HiAI platform and neural network processing unit (NPU); and Baidu's PaddlePaddle deep-learning framework and Baidu Brain, which contains Baidu's AI services and assets. It will allow AI developers to make use of the technology.\n\nUnder the partnership, Baidu and Huawei will also work on improved voice and image recognition on smart devices, and will built a consumer augmented reality (AR) software and hardware ecosystem.\n\nContent and internet services being explored by the two companies will \"strengthen cooperation in areas such as search and feed to bring consumers a wealth of quality content with a more intuitive and convenient service experience\", Huawei added.\n\n\"The future is all about smart devices that will actively serve us, not just respond to what we tell them to do,\" said Huawei Consumer Business Group CEO Richard Yu.\n\n\"With a strong background in R&D, Huawei will work with Baidu to accelerate innovation in the industry, develop the next generation of smartphones, and provide global consumers with AI that knows you better.\"\n\nBaidu CEO Robin Li said the search giant is \"dedicated\" to exploring AI, having last week announced the availability of its AMD EPYC-powered AI, big data, and cloud computing (ABC) services.\n\nAlso working on developing autonomous driving and autonomous vehicles, Baidu is hoping to utilise Huawei's large customer base for the mobile AI project.\n\n\"Interactive technologies including voice, machine vision, and AI will drive the [mobile phone] industry forward. Originally developed to be personal tools, mobile phones will become a natural extension of the human body and AI-powered assistants for consumers,\" Huawei added.\n\n\"Huawei and Baidu will continue to prioritise consumer needs and leverage each other's strengths to form a partnership that benefits everyone.\"\n\nHuawei head of Consumer Software Engineering and director of Intelligence Engineering Felix Zhang had last month said the addition of AI capabilities to smartphones will bring the next shift in technology, comparing AI to the advent of steam engines in terms of its capacity to fundamentally change people's lives.\n\nMobile AI will change two key aspects of the smartphone, he said: User-machine interaction, and \"context-personalised openness\".\n\nThe first aspect will improve efficiencies between the user and their phone across text, voice, image, video, and sensors, while the second will actively provide services and aggregated information across apps, content, third-party features, and native features, he explained.\n\n\"If you look at the whole ecosystem, the AI will fundamentally change the phone from the smartphone to the intelligent phone,\" Zhang said.\n\nHuawei had unveiled its Kirin 970 chipset with built-in AI in September, at the time calling it the \"future of smartphones\". Its new mobile AI is made up of a combination of on-device AI and cloud AI.\n\n\"Huawei is committed to developing smart devices into intelligent devices by building end-to-end capabilities that support coordinated development of chips, devices, and the cloud,\" Yu said at the time.\n\n\"The ultimate goal is to provide a significantly better user experience. The Kirin 970 is the first in a series of new advances that will bring powerful AI features to our devices and take them beyond the competition.\"\n\nLimitations in cloud AI necessitated improvements across latency, stability, and privacy, Huawei said, with on-device AI providing this as well as adding sensor data to the offering.\n\nIts new flagship smartphones, the Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro, come kitted out with the AI-focused Kirin processor, which has the dedicated NPU that is able to process 2,000 images per minute via image-recognition technology.\n\nHuawei additionally provided the Kirin 970 as an open platform for mobile AI developers and partners in order to drive further developments.\n\nThis followed Huawei saying in August that AI would play a critical role in driving its smartphone innovation, with the tech giant predicting the advent of the \"superphone\" two years ago, saying it would be developed by 2020 and take advantage of advancements in AI, big data, and cloud computing.\n\nRelated Coverage\n\nNokia, Huawei strike multi-year patent licensing deal\n\nSpecifics of the deal aren't being disclosed, but Huawei will now have access to a slew of mobile patents.\n\n5G standards approved as tech industry signals accelerated deployment\n\nNetworking, technology, and mobile giants worldwide have signalled their intent to accelerate 5G trials, development, and deployment as 3GPP has set NSA 5G New Radio specs.\n\nAndroid lockdown: Google urges phone makers to support Oreo's rollback protection\n\nGoogle sheds light on a new Oreo security feature that prevents attackers from downgrading a device to insecure versions of Android.\n\n73 percent of developers who don't use AI plan to learn how in 2018 (TechRepublic)\n\nOnly 17 percent of developers worked with artificial intelligence or machine learning in 2017, according to a DigitalOcean report.\n\nHow AI will transform the future of work (TechRepublic)\n\nMikhail Naumov of DigitalGenius explains how machine learning is used by enterprise companies like KLM and BMW to improve customer service.\n\nMobile device computing policy (Tech Pro Research)\n\nMobile devices offer convenience and flexibility for the modern workforce-but they also bring associated risks and support issues. This policy establishes guidelines to help ensure safe and productive mobility.", "output": "Technology firm Huawei has agreed to construct an open mobile artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem in partnership with Chinese search engine company Baidu. The strategic cooperation will encompass\u00a0AI technology, internet services, including search, and content ecosystems. The product will be made using the Huawei HiAI platform and corresponding neural network processing unit, as well as Baidu's deep-learning framework Baidu Brain. The partnership will also include the creation of better image and voice recognition for smart devices, as well as the generation of software for augmented reality.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Rise in bitcoin's value could boost Japan's GDP by 0.3% \n Investors should be wary of the stock market's ongoing rally because it's reminiscent of the time that led up to the 2008 financial crisis, Bob Michele said.", "output": "Japan's one million bitcoin holders could pour up to JPY96bn ($851m) into the country's economy, adding 0.3% to GDP, according to Nomura analysts Yoshiyuki Suimon and Kazuki Miyamoto. The duo forecasted that the sharp rise in bitcoin prices last year will spur an increase in economic activity as holders of the cryptocurrency feel richer and spend more. About 40% of all bitcoin trades are in yen, suggesting the huge increase in the asset's value will particularly affect Japan. To date, many economists and analysts have believed bitcoin's rise in value will have little effect on the overall economy."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Theresa May preparing for cabinet reshuffle with possible new Brexit role for Johnson \n Theresa May is preparing a new year reshuffle that could see a number of cabinet figures losing their positions in an attempt to refresh the Conservative front bench.\n\nThe prime minister is said to be considering offering the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson a move to a Brexit delivery role based in another department, but he is likely to resist such a move.\n\nMay\u2019s decision to shake up her team comes after fierce disagreements within Downing Street about how sensible such a move would be.\n\nSome of those around the prime minister, including her former chief whip, Gavin Williamson, have urged caution because of the ramifications of placing sacked ministers on the backbenches. Others could also feel aggrieved at being overlooked.\n\nBut May\u2019s chief of staff, Gavin Barwell, has received the backing of Williamson\u2019s successor, Julian Smith, about the benefits of promoting younger MPs.\n\nRumours circulating in Westminster include the idea of Justine Greening being moved out of education, with one source suggesting that she had sided too strongly with the trade unions instead of embracing Tory reforms.\n\nThe Sunday Times suggested that Andrea Leadsom could be sacked as leader of the House of Commons, and it also named Chris Grayling, the transport secretary, who ran May\u2019s leadership bid.\n\nGreg Clark is liked by Downing Street but has not always impressed as business secretary and could also be in line for a move to another department.\n\nPatrick McLoughlin is expected to be removed as party chair, with the immigration minister, Brandon Lewis, likely to be named as his successor.\n\nMay will also have to replace her ally Damian Green at the Cabinet Office after he was forced to resign for failing to be honest about pornography found on his work computer. The health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has been suggested as a replacement, although perhaps without the title of first secretary of state.\n\nThose who could gain promotions into the cabinet include Dominic Raab and Damian Hinds, and May could also be looking to promote Amber Rudd \u2013 as foreign secretary if Johnson does step aside \u2013 and Karen Bradley.\n\nOther female ministers who may be in line for promotion include Anne Milton, Claire Perry, Sarah Newton, Margot James and Harriett Baldwin.\n\nReports suggested the chancellor, Philip Hammond, was safe, although there could be rumblings of discontent among Brexiters if May tries to move Johnson without a change at the Treasury.\n\nPrevious moves have been overshadowed by the desire to maintain a balance among remainer and pro-leave MPs, but some have called on May to stop worrying about the issue.\n\nChris Wilkins, who was May\u2019s director of strategy until the summer, said a reshuffle was important to show her current \u201cposition of strength\u201d.\n\n\u201cIt has two purposes: to show the country the depth of talent there is in the Conservative party and to show the party is united and is a broad church that welcomes all views and opinions,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cWe need to stop asking ourselves where people voted on Brexit and just look for the best person for the job.\u201d\n\n", "output": "UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson is rumoured to be among the front-bench MPs relocated to other positions amid a cabinet reshuffle by prime minister Theresa May. Downing Street insiders have warned against moving Johnson to another Brexit-related department, while the leader of the House of Commons, Andrea Leadsom, and transport secretary Chris Grayling have also been named among those who could be sacked; both campaigned for Leave in EU referendum. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bulgaria takes up rotating EU presidency on January 1st \n Sofia (AFP) \u2013\n\nAdvertising Read more\n\nWhen Bulgaria takes up the rotating EU presidency on January 1, it will face the tough task of trying to reconcile the quarreling 28 member states and forge compromises on hot issues including migration and Brexit.\n\nThe European Union faces unprecedented challenges as it grapples with a record influx of migrants and Britain's divorce from the bloc in 2019.\n\nBulgaria has pledged to act as a mediator to heal rifts between eastern and western members, as well as smooth relations with Turkey, a key ally in tackling the ongoing migration crisis.\n\n\"The slogan of the Bulgarian presidency is 'United we stand strong': we must address the thorny issues together,\" Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva told AFP in an interview.\n\nShe urged EU countries \"to prove their solidarity by protecting the EU's external borders instead of building fences inside the bloc\".\n\nBulgaria also counts on its first European Council presidency to improve its image as the bloc's poorest and most corrupt country.\n\nIt wants to convince peers that after ten years in the EU, it is finally ready to join the visa-free Schengen travel area and move towards entering the eurozone.\n\nThe country with a population of 7.1 million went through turbulent political times after the fall of communism.\n\nBut it has enjoyed relative stability under the current conservative government of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.\n\nThe ex-bouncer with a black belt in karate won a third term last April and returned to power thanks to a coalition with the ultra-nationalist United Patriots.\n\nSince entering government, the junior party has toned down its aggressive anti-migrant rhetoric and instead adopted a more pro-EU and pro-NATO stance.\n\nObservers say Bulgaria has forged a reputation as a conciliatory EU member.\n\nUnlike the so-called Visegrad Four -- the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia -- Bulgaria did not oppose a controversial EU plan created in 2015 to share migrants around the bloc members.\n\n\"Bulgaria is one of the few ex-communist EU member states, which is thankful for the EU aid funds that have ensured 66 percent of its growth since its accession in 2007,\" a European diplomat in Sofia said.\n\n\"It does not create problems, including on the policies about migration,\" the diplomat said on condition of anonymity.\n\n- 'Busy agenda' -\n\nBulgaria's diplomatic skills will be put to the test when tortuous Brexit negotiations resume in March.\n\nBritain's departure, along with the expected reduction of the EU budget in 2020, is a key concern for eastern countries -- the biggest recipients of EU funds.\n\nThe latest round of Brexit talks will focus on trade, after progress was achieved in December on key issues including EU citizens' rights in Britain.\n\n\"We'll have a busy agenda as 2018 is the last full year of the mandate of this European Commission,\" the European Commission's representative in Bulgaria, Ognian Zlatev, told AFP.\n\nDuring its six-month stint at the EU helm, Sofia is expected to use Brexit as an opportunity to push for closer EU ties with Western Balkan countries.\n\nBulgaria hopes to reignite accession talks with Montenegro and Serbia, while helping Albania and Macedonia move closer to starting EU membership negotiations.\n\nZlatev said the presidency also aims to send \"encouragement signals\" to Bosnia and Kosovo in order \"to include the whole region in the European perspective\".\n\nThe campaign will not be easy as enthusiasm for more EU enlargement has waned among existing members.\n\n- 'Normalise' Turkey ties -\n\nIn migration matters, EU leaders have set a June deadline to agree an overhaul of the so-called Dublin Regulation, which currently puts too much pressure on frontline states Greece and Italy.\n\nTo solve the refugee crisis, Sofia also insists that the EU needs to \"normalise\" its ties with Turkey, with which Bulgaria shares a 260-kilometre (160-mile) border\n\nRelations have soured dramatically between the bloc and Turkey since a failed coup there in 2016.\n\nBut Ankara is an essential partner in helping the continent stem the migrant flow from the Middle East, and Borisov insists this needs to be maintained \"with all possible means\".\n\n\u00a9 2017 AFP", "output": "Bulgaria has taken up its European Council presidency, which began on 1 January, with Prime Minister Boyko Borisov keen to use the six-month tenure to forge closer ties between the European Union and western Balkan nations. However, Bulgaria's presidency will also have to deal with the UK's Brexit trade negotiations and the issue of the refugee crisis, which Sofia has said requires the EU to \"normalise\" relations with Turkey."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK wants transitional deal in event that no trade deal with EU is reached \n UK government wants the EU to give it a transition period even if talks on the future relationship break down.\n\nThis would prevent Britain from crashing out in March 2019 with no arrangements in place.\n\nTalks on trade and transition will get underway this year.\n\nLONDON \u2014 The UK government is reportedly seeking to negotiate a Brexit transitional arrangement that will take place even if negotiations fail to produce a deal on a future relationship.\n\nWhitehall sources have told The Times that they believe the European Union will be willing to grant Britain a transition period following Brexit even if talks on future trade and cooperation break down.\n\nThis is because the European side is wary of the potential economic impact of a no-deal Brexit without transition, and also does not want a large hole to appear in its budget in 2019 and 2020, the report adds.\n\nIn guidelines published last month, the EU said that any transition will last up to 18 months and require Britain to comply with the bloc's trade and customs rules, as well as accept the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.\n\nThis sort of deal has been described as \"status quo\" and \"standstill\" transition.\n\nBritish negotiators are hopeful that their EU counterparts will allow transition to take place no matter what happens in future relationship negotiations, which will get underway later this year.\n\nThis would give the UK government and civil servants nearly two-years to prepare for a hard Brexit, should talks fail to produce an agreement on future trade and cooperation.\n\nBritain and the EU will have to overcome some key sticking points regarding transition before they can move onto the question of the future relationship.\n\nFor example, the UK government wants to be able to negotiate new free trade deals with other countries during transition, and is reluctant to accept any new EU laws implemented during this time-limited period.\n\nThe EU side wants any final deal to be sent off to the EU Parliament for ratification at around October of this year.\n\nThis leaves both sides with 10 months to negotiate both transition and the principles of a future relationship.", "output": "The UK government is said to be negotiating for a Brexit transitional arrangement, even if talks with the European Union (EU) result in no agreement, according to Whitehall insiders. The government reportedly believe that the EU, to mitigate any negative economic impacts of a 'no deal' scenario, would grant a \"status quo\" transition period, during which the UK would comply with existing trade rules and the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. Talks on trade and future relationships begin later this year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK manufacturing stays strong through end of 2017 \n IHS Markit's manufacturing PMI survey for December: 56.3.\n\nReading is significantly down from November's figure, suggesting the sector may be starting to stutter.\n\nManufacturing has been a rare economic success story in the UK since the vote to leave the EU in June 2016, thanks to the weakness of the pound.\n\n\n\nLONDON \u2014 Britain's manufacturing sector slowed down at the end of 2017 but remained solid, according to the latest PMI survey released by IHS Markit on Tuesday.\n\nDecember's reading for the sector came in at 56.3. That was down from 58.2 in November, which was the highest figure in more than four years, but still a solid performance.\n\nThe purchasing managers index (PMI) figures from IHS Markit are given as a number between 0 and 100. Anything above 50 signals growth, while anything below means a contraction in activity. So the higher the number is, the better things look for the UK.\n\n\"The UK manufacturing sector ended 2017 on a positive note,\" IHS Markit said in a statement. \"Although December saw rates of expansion in output, new orders and employment slow from November\u2019s highs, growth in all three remained solid and well above long-run trends.\"\n\nIHS Markit\n\nHere's the chart:\n\nSamuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said in an email: \"British manufacturers ... are failing to make the most of the rebound in global trade; note that the UK\u2019s PMI now is four points below the Eurozone\u2019s, the biggest under performance since June 2008.\n\n\"UK manufacturers have cut investment since the Brexit vote and are struggling to find skilled workers. As result, work backlogs are increasing quickly and supply chain delays are worsening.\"\n\nWhile a slowdown is evident, IHS Markit's survey was largely positive, with Rob Dobson, a director at the firm noting that the sector \"ended 2017 on a positive footing.\"\n\n\"Although growth of output and new orders moderated during December, rates of expansion remained comfortably above long-term trend rates. The sector has therefore broadly maintained its solid boost to broader economic expansion in the fourth quarter. The outlook is also reasonably bright, with over 50% of companies expecting production to be higher one year from now.\"\n\nManufacturing has been a rare economic success story in the UK since the vote to leave the EU in June 2016, thanks to the weakness of the pound since the vote.\n\nThe slump in the pound since the vote has made most British goods cheaper for overseas buyers, boosting manufacturing businesses as a result.\n\nIHS Markit published manufacturing growth figures for other European countries on Tuesday. The Eurozone-wide figure came in at its highest level since the PMI survey began in its current form in 1997.\n\n\"The eurozone manufacturing sector ended 2017 on a high note. Strong rates of expansion in output, new orders and employment pushed the final IHS Markit Eurozone Manufacturing PMI to 60.6 in December, its best level since the survey began in mid-1997,\" IHS Markit said.", "output": "The UK manufacturing sector capitalised on the weak pound following the Brexit result and gained a purchasing managers index (PMI) rating of 56.3 for December, according to figures from IHS Markit. The rating was lower than November's 58.2, a result which marked a four-year high. IHS Markit also revealed the Eurozone-wide manufacturing December PMI was 60.6, the highest since the survey began 20 years ago."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK domestic M&A activity doubles as companies seek to bulk up for Brexit \n By Ben Martin\n\nLONDON, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Companies seeking to \"bulk up\" to offset the uncertainty caused by Britain's looming EU exit helped to spur a near doubling of domestic mergers and acquisition activity this year, according to Thomson Reuters data.\n\nThe volume of UK domestic deals surged to $68 billion from $34.3 billion in 2016 as the number of deals between British groups jumped from 1,480 to 1,681, the highest level since 2008, the data show.\n\nThey included online gambling company GVC's purchase of bookmaker Ladbrokes Coral for as much as 3.9 billion pounds ($5.24 billion) and Hammerson's 3.4 billion pound acquisition of rival shopping centre operator Intu Properties.\n\nIt comes against a backdrop of often fractious Brexit negotiations between London and Brussels this year, talks that are yet to provide businesses with clarity about Britain's future relationship with Europe.\n\nBosses at British companies have also been eyeing new U.S. President Donald Trump, whose decisions have repercussions for businesses around the world.\n\n\"At the beginning of 2017 there were a lot of questions about what was going to happen to the M&A market, given the global uncertainty caused by Brexit and the new U.S. president,\" said Nick Cline, a London-based M&A partner at law firm Latham & Watkins, who said the uncertain environment had acted as a driver for some deals rather than stifling activity.\n\n\"There are a lot of corporates out there in the UK and Europe who are seeing the changing landscape and as a result are even more focused on what they're going to do to be tomorrow's leaders.\"\n\nThe jump in domestic deal-making contrasted with falls in both inbound and outbound UK M&A volumes, the data show, with the former slipping 12.9 percent to $115.1 billion and the latter down 9.4 percent to $112.5 billion.\n\nThat meant overall M&A volumes with any UK involvement dipped 0.7 percent to $375 billon, a softer decline than the 1.4 percent slide in global deal volumes to $3.5 trillion, according to the data.\n\nDEARTH OF BLOCKBUSTER DEALS\n\nPhilip Noblet, HSBC's co-head of global banking in the UK, said that \"a lot of the obvious sector consolidation deals that people expected to happen\" were struck this year and were \"driven by the Brexit climate which is prompting companies to bulk up\".\n\nHowever, a dearth of blockbuster deals meant that overall M&A volumes involving any British companies remained much lower than in 2015, when they totalled $605.5 billion, swelled by Anheuser-Busch Inbev's $110 billion acquisition of FTSE 100 brewer SABMiller and Royal Dutch Shell's $53 billion tie-up with BG Group.\n\n\"It's hard to see how any more of the really big deals are going to happen going forward without there being quite significant competition issues,\" said Noblet.\n\nKraft Heinz's $143 billion attempt to buy consumer goods giant Unilever in February, which would have been one such megadeal, failed within days when the U.S. food company walked away after the FTSE 100 business rejected its offer.\n\nPotential British government scrutiny of the deal was a concern raised during talks between the two companies, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters at the time.\n\nSince Theresa May became prime minister in July 2016, Britain has taken a more cautious approach towards foreign acquisitions of British assets.\n\nIn October, the government proposed new rules to give it more say over deals in the defence and technology sectors, although Cline said the government's change of tack had not represented \"a step-change this year in the way the UK looks at deals\".\n\nHe said: \"Occasionally a transaction comes up where there's a question about UK government intervention.\"\n\nCline forecasts that British M&A activity will remain strong in 2018, while Jan Skarbek, managing director of UK banking and broking at Citigroup, also thinks there will be an increase.\n\n\"Organic growth is very difficult in this environment and staying still is not an option for many companies,\" he said. \"So I think there will be more deals next year, despite the geopolitical uncertainty.\" ($1 = 0.7446 pounds) (Reporting by Ben Martin; Editing by Adrian Croft)", "output": "Uncertainty surrounding Brexit and US President Donald Trump ended up driving UK M&A activity during 2017, rather than hampering it, with UK domestic deals doubling from $34.3bn in 2016 to $68bn, according to data from Thomson Reuters. It revealed the number of deals between UK groups hit 1,681, the highest level since 2008, although inbound and outbound UK M&A volumes fell 12.9% to $115.1bn and 9.4% to $112.5bn, respectively. Despite the absence of megadeals, insiders predict a robust 2018 for the UK M&A sector."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Flexible graphene sheets become\u00a0harder than diamond on impact \n Researchers from The City University of New York (CUNY) describe a process for creating diamene: flexible, layered sheets of graphene that temporarily become harder than diamond and impenetrable upon impact. The material is fascinating as it is as flexible and lightweight as foil but becomes stiff and hard enough to stop a bullet on impact. Such a material may be beneficial for applications like wear-resistant protective coatings and ultra-light bullet-proof films.\n\nThe team worked to theorize and test how two layers of graphene could be made to turn into a diamond-like material upon impact at room temperature. The team also found the moment of conversion resulted in a sudden reduction of electric current, suggesting diamene could have interesting electronic and spintronic properties.\n\n\"Previously, when we tested graphite or a single atomic layer of graphene, we would apply pressure and feel a very soft film. But when the graphite film was exactly two-layers thick, all of a sudden we realized that the material under pressure was becoming extremely hard and as stiff, or stiffer, than bulk diamond\" the team said.\n\nThe researchers used atomistic computer simulations to model potential outcomes when pressurizing two layers of graphene aligned in different configurations. They then used an atomic force microscope to apply localized pressure to two-layer graphene on silicon carbide substrates and found perfect agreement with the calculations. Experiments and theory both show that this transition does not occur for more than two layers or for a single graphene layer.", "output": "Researchers at the City University of New York have shown that two flexible graphene sheets become as harder than diamond when under pressure. The material, diamene, could be used to create ultra-light bullet proofing or wear-resistant coatings. The team also discovered diamene experienced a sudden reduction of electric current at the moment of conversion, revealing potentially interesting electronic and spintronic properties."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EU \u201ccannot cherry pick\u201d terms of the post-Brexit trade deal: David Davis \n LONDON, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Britain wants to include financial services in a trade deal with the European Union which covers a full sweep of economic areas, Brexit minister David Davis said on Tuesday.\n\nDavis said that any deal that left finance out would be \"cherry picking\", after the EU's Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier cast doubt on the inclusion of financial services in a free-trade deal.\n\n\"We are looking at the full sweep of economic cooperation that currently exists and determining how that can be maintained with the minimum additional barriers or friction,\" Davis wrote in the Daily Telegraph, adding that the principles of a trade deal in goods could be applied to services too.\n\n\"I do not believe the strength of this cooperation needs change because we leaving the European Union, so long as it is understood that this involves working together, not simply rule taking. These principles can be applied to services trade too.\"\n\nLast month, Barnier said he was not aware of any free-trade deal the EU had concluded which included unfettered access for financial services. (Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)", "output": "UK Brexit minister David Davis has warned the European Union against omitting financial services from a trade deal, saying that to do so would be \"cherry picking\". Writing in The Telegraph, Davis said: \"we are looking at the full sweep of economic cooperation that currently exists and determining how that can be maintained with the minimum additional barriers or friction\". In December, EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said he was unaware of any potential EU trade deal which included \"unfettered access for financial services\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook apologises after mistakes by hate speech moderators \n Facebook has taken plenty of criticism on the platform\u2019s algorithms designed to keep content within the community guidelines, but a new round of investigative reporting suggests the company\u2019s team of human review staff could see some improvements too. In a study of 900 posts, ProPublica reports that Facebook\u2019s review staff was inconsistent about the posts containing hate speech, removing some but not others with similar content.\n\nFacebook apologized for some of those posts, saying that in the 49 posts highlighted by the non-profit investigative organization, reviewers made the wrong choice on 22 of those posts. The social media platform defended 19 other instances, while eight were excluded because of incorrect flags, user deletions or a lack of information. The study was crowd-sourced, with Facebook users sharing the posts with the organization.\n\nRecommended Videos\n\nJustin Osofsky, Facebook\u2019s vice president of Global Operations and Media Partnerships, said that the social media platform will be expanding review staff to 20,000 people next year. \u201cWe\u2019re sorry for the mistakes we have made \u2014 they do not reflect the community we want to help build,\u201d he said in response to the ProPublica investigation. \u201cWe must do better.\u201d\n\nProPublica said Facebook is inconsistent on the treatment of hate speech, citing examples of two different statements that both essentially wished death on an entire group of people, with only one of them removed after being flagged. The second post was later removed after the ProPublica investigation.\n\n\u201cBased on this small fraction of Facebook posts, its content reviewers often make different calls on items with similar content, and don\u2019t always abide by the company\u2019s complex guidelines,\u201d ProPublica said. \u201cEven when they do follow the rules, racist or sexist language may survive scrutiny because it is not sufficiently derogatory or violent to meet Facebook\u2019s definition of hate speech.\u201d\n\nOn the flip side, the report also found posts that were redacted that shouldn\u2019t have been. In one example, the image contained a swastika, but the caption was asking viewers to stand up against a hate group.\n\nThe study is far from the first time ProPublica, a non-profit investigative organization, has called out Facebook\u2019s practices this year. This fall, Facebook changed its ad targeting after a study showed that when enough users typed in their own answers into the bio fields, racial slurs could become a category for a targeted ad. Just a week ago, ProPublica demonstrated that employers could discriminate by age using those ad tools. In the first, Facebook apologized and immediately paused the ad tool until the slip up could be fully corrected, while in the second, Facebook defended its practices.\n\nMonitoring content from the largest social media network with more than 2 billion monthly active users isn\u2019t an easy task and one that Facebook approaches with both artificial intelligence algorithms and human reviewers. Social media networks generally attempt to find a balance between banning hateful content and prohibiting free speech. Osofsky says the platform deletes 66,000 instances of hate speech every week.\n\nThe move to a review staff of 20,000 is fairly significant \u2014 when Facebook reported in May that it would be adding 3,000 more review staff members that brought the team to 7,500 people.\n\nProPublica says the investigation is important \u201cbecause hate groups use the world\u2019s largest social network to attract followers and organize demonstrations.\u201d\n\nEditors' Recommendations", "output": "Facebook has apologised for inconsistency among its human review staff in dealing with posts containing hate speech, and has pledged to increase its moderator team from around 7,500 people to 20,000. The move followed a study by non-profit organisation Propublica, which found the wrong decisions concerning hate speech had been made on 22 posts out of a highlighted 49. The study followed another ProPublica investigation, which revealed employers using Facebook's ad tools could use them to practise age discrimination.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NYC passes 'algorithmic bias' bill to combat prejudices \n New York City has passed the algorithmic accountability bill, which will assign a task force to examine the way that city government agencies use algorithms.\n\nAlgorithmic bias is a critical issue in the justice system, which often relies on algorithmic risk assessments to inform criminal sentencing in federal court.\n\nThe bill is the first of its kind to be passed in the nation, and will attempt to provide transparency in the way that the government uses algorithms.\n\nNew York City has unanimously passed a bill that will attempt to provide transparency to the way that city government agencies use algorithms.\n\nIt's the first bill examining algorithmic bias to be passed in the country, and could spell out increased scrutiny in the government's use of algorithms nationwide.\n\nThe bill, which was signed by Mayor Bill de Blasio last week, will assign a task force to examine the way that New York City government agencies use algorithms to aid the judicial process.\n\nAccording to ProPublica, council member James Vacca sponsored the bill as a response to ProPublica's 2016 account of racially-biased algorithms in the American criminal justice system. The investigative story revealed systemic digital bias within judicial risk assessment programs that favored the release of white inmates on the grounds of future good behavior over the release of black defendants.\n\nAlgorithmic source code is typically private, but issues of bias have called for increased transparency. The ACLU has spoken out on behalf of the bill passing, and it described access to institutionalized algorithmic source code as a fundamental step in ensuring fairness within the criminal justice system.\n\nNew York Civil Liberties Union legislative counsel Rashida Richardson describes the bill as a watershed moment.\n\n\u201cThis bill is the first in the nation to take such a broad view of the problem and recognize that for algorithms to benefit society, they must be subject to public scrutiny...to remedy flaws and biases,\" Richardson said in a statement to Business Insider. \"A flawed algorithm can lead to someone being trapped in jail for no good reason or not receiving a public benefit.\"\n\nAlgorithmic bias is a far-reaching issue in the criminal justice system. Bernard Harcourt, a law professor at Columbia University who has studied risk assessment programs extensively, told Business Insider that \"algorithmic bias in government agencies is widespread and growing, especially in areas like policing and criminal adjudication that are getting cannibalized by the facile solution of predictive tools.\"\n\nHarcourt says the New York City bill is a step forward for the American justice system, but recommends and even greater increase in algorithmic transparency.\n\n\"The source codes of all algorithms that directly affect New Yorkers have to be open to the public for us to evaluate their racial and other biases,\" Harcourt said. \"This bill is a critical first step, but it is only a first step and needs to be supplemented with far greater transparency.\"", "output": "New York City mayor Bill de Blasio has signed into law the first-ever US bill examining algorithmic bias. The bill allows for a task force to be appointed looking into how the city's\u00a0justice system uses algorithms. The legislation was sparked by a 2016 investigation by ProPublica revealing systemic digital bias among judicial risk assessment programmes, favouring the release of white inmates over black counterparts. Bernard Harcourt, a law professor at Columbia University said the bill was a \"critical first step\" toward transparency and greater fairness within the criminal justice system, but more needs to be done."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Paytm reaches 100 million downloads \n Indian Mobile Payments App Paytm Hits 100 Million Download Threshold\n\nDecember 29, 2017 By: Steven Anderson\n\nJust recently, Paytm\u2014pretty much the biggest mobile payments tool in India\u2014managed to land quite an achievement. It became the first mobile payments app in India to reach the 100 million downloads mark on the Google Play Store. It\u2019s an industry first, actually, as no single app had ever reached that point in downloads to date.\n\nThe crucial ninth figure had been reached sometime in the second week of December, reports from the company noted, and came as Paytm had been actively working on plans to branch out from mobile payments. The company has been looking to become a more complete mobile-first financial services operation, offering not only payments functions, but also banking, insurance and lending options as well. Users can even buy movie tickets or book travel passes, among other opportunities.\n\nDeepak Abbot, Paytm\u2019s senior vice president, commented \u201cWe are overwhelmed with the 100 million downloads mark, reaching this milestone is a testimony to the efforts of the incredible team at Paytm. This achievement will offer us a strong boost as we work towards our goal of making India a digital-first economy.\u201d\n\nPaytm\u2019s success owes to several factors; easily one of the largest is its sheer variety of services offered. That kind of variety likely makes it very appealing to potential users, and thus, a welcome addition to most Indians\u2019 mobile operations. Its ease of acquisition and use is also another likely factor, though Paytm in general likely owes much of its success to the Indian government\u2019s move to ban large quantities of currency from the country itself. The demonetization of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes may well have been the making of Paytm, at least on some level.\n\nNo matter what factor you chalk it up to, in the end, Paytm is a very big deal in India, which makes it a pretty big deal worldwide thanks to the sheer size of its user base. Where it goes from here, meanwhile, should be well worth watching.", "output": "The Indian mobile payment app Paytm has become the first in the country to reach 100 million downloads. It reached the landmark on the Google Play Store in December, and the company's senior vice president welcomed the news as a boost to its efforts to make India a \"digital-first economy\". To this end, Paytm has been working on plans to diversify from mobile payments into wider financial services including banking, insurance and loans.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Iceland becomes first country to outlaw gender pay gap \n Companies and government agencies employing at least 25 people will have to obtain certification of equal-pay policies.\n\nA new law making it illegal to pay men more than women has taken effect in Iceland.\n\nThe legislation came into force on Monday, the first day of 2018.\n\nUnder the new rules, companies and government agencies employing at least 25 people will have to obtain government certification of their equal-pay policies.\n\nThose that fail to prove pay parity will face fines.\n\n\u201cThe legislation is basically a mechanism that companies and organisations \u2026 evaluate every job that\u2019s being done, and then they get a certification after they confirm the process if they are paying men and women equally,\u201d said Dagny Osk Aradottir Pind, a board member of the Icelandic Women\u2019s Rights Association.\n\n\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a mechanism to ensure women and men are being paid equally,\u201d she told Al Jazeera.\n\n\u201cWe have had legislation saying that pay should be equal for men and women for decades now but we still have a pay gap.\u201d\n\n{articleGUID}\n\nIceland, an island country in the North Atlantic Ocean that is home to approximately 323,000 people, has a strong economy, based on tourism and fisheries.\n\nFor the past nine years, it has been ranked by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as the world\u2019s most gender-equal country.\n\nThe Global Gender Gap Report uses markers such as economic opportunity, political empowerment, and health and survival to gauge the state of gender equality in a country.\n\nSince the reports began in 2006, Iceland has closed around 10 percent of its total gender gap, making it one of the fastest-improving countries in the world.\n\nThe new legislation was supported by Iceland\u2019s centre-right government, as well as the opposition, in a parliament where nearly 50 percent of all members are women.\n\n\u201cI think that now people are starting to realise that this is a systematic problem that we have to tackle with new methods,\u201d said Aradottir Pind.\n\n\u201cWomen have been talking about this for decades and I really feel that we have managed to raise awareness, and we have managed to get to the point that people realise that the legislation we have had in place is not working, and we need to do something more,\u201d she added.\n\nThe Icelandic government plans to completely eradicate the wage gap by 2020.\n\nGender inequality worldwide\n\nAccording to the latest WEF report, the top five best performers in the global gender gap are Iceland, Norway, Finland, Rwanda and Sweden.\n\nYemen, on the other hand, is currently the lowest-ranked of the 144 countries measured in the report.\n\nThe war-torn country has been low-performing in terms of economic participation and opportunity for several years.\n\nFifty-two countries fell below the global average in 2017, including China, Liberia and the United Arab Emirates, while 60 saw their overall gender gap decrease.\n\nHungary was the only European country to be ranked lower than the global average, having scored poorly on political empowerment.", "output": "Iceland has become the first country to legislate equal pay between men and women. A law, which came into effect on 1st January 2018, means that companies and government agencies employing a minimum of 25 people must obtain official certification of equal pay policies. Those employers that cannot demonstrate pay parity could be fined. Although Iceland has had legislation calling for gender pay equality for decades, it still has a gender pay gap. However, the country, home to 323,000 inhabitants, has been ranked the world\u2019s most gender-equal nation by the World Economic Forum for the past nine years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google patents AI 'babysitter' using existing Google Home tech \n W eb-connected \u201csmart\u201d homes can already turn up your heating, dim your lights and see who\u2019s at the front door \u2014 but would you trust a computer to look after your children?\n\nBabysitters may be next for technological disruption, with Google now suggesting it can use its vast networks to help parents keep a digital eye on their offspring.\n\nThe search giant is working on a system for \u201cprotecting unattended children\u201d inside homes that use smart gadgets. It says the invention could disable electrical sockets and digital door locks, and even text parents a warning if their child is in peril.\n\nFeatures would include flashing lights and audio warnings such as: \u201cToddler unattended\u201d in a certain room, \u201cYour child is approaching an electrical outlet,\u201d and \u201cYour child is alone for 10 minutes.\u201d\n\nGoogle Pixel with Google Lens advert\n\nData about the number of youngsters in a room would be beamed to a parent\u2019s phone via motion, audio and touch sensors. These could be controlled by Google\u2019s Home and Home Mini voice-activated artificial intelligence assistants. The system would \u201clearn\u201d who is a family member and could be linked to a webcam.\n\nGoogle said its new \u201ccomputing system\u201d has been designed to take account of \u201ca need for improved devices and methods for protecting unattended children in a home\u201d.\n\nThe designers think it could be useful if a parent or guardian needs to dash out unexpectedly. But they also suggest it \u201cmay complement or replace conventional methods for protecting unattended children in the home\u201d.\n\nThe design, revealed in a European patent, sparked a mixed response from parents and child protection campaigners. A spokeswoman for the NSPCC said: \u201cHaving a digital system like this in the home may offer peace of mind but there\u2019s a danger it could lull some parents into a false sense of security about their children\u2019s safety if they are being left unattended.\n\n\u201cOur advice is that parents think carefully before deciding if a child is ready to be left unattended, even for short periods. Babies and toddlers should never be left unattended. Older children shouldn\u2019t be left if they are not happy with being left, or if they don\u2019t know what to do in an emergency.\u201d\n\nGoogle's New \u00a31 Billion King's Cross HQ - In pictures 1 / 14 Google's New \u00a31 Billion King's Cross HQ - In pictures CGI images reveal the plans for Google's impressive new London HQ Hayes Davidson The plans include a rooftop running trail, garden and cafe Around 4,500 \u201cGooglers\u201d will work at the 870,000 sq ft building Hayes Davidson An interior view of desks inside huge Google office Hayes Davidson The building features a \u201cwellness and fitness centre\u201d which also includes a gym, exercise studio and a 32 metre long indoor \u201cmulti-use games area\" Hayes Davidson The HQ will be in easy striking distance of London's King's Cross, making it easy for commuters to reach Hayes Davidson A close-up of the rooftop running trail and gardens The huge building will have floor to ceiling windows under the newly lodged plans Hayes Davidson\n\nSarah Hesz, founder of mothers\u2019 meet-up app Mush, said: \u201cIf technology can help our kids be safe when they are out of sight then that\u2019s fantastic.\n\n\u201cBut until Google can calm a tantruming two-year-old, referee an argument between siblings or explain to a pre-schooler why they are only allowed to open one advent calendar window a day, there is no chance this is any sort of replacement to proper childcare.\u201d Google designers suggest the system could also be used when a parent is in another room and wants an extra eye on their child. A child\u2019s \u201cstatus\u201d could even be emailed to \u201ctrusted contacts\u201d in a parent\u2019s social network, and a webpage would provide \u201canalysis or statistics\u201d about what happened while a guardian was away.\n\nThe system could be linked to carbon monoxide sensors and household smart items that are hazardous to children, such as fireplaces or balcony doors.\n\nIt could even include \u201cchallenges/rules/compliance/rewards\u201d for the child to help them \u201clive safely\u201d, according to the patent publication.\n\nGoogle declined to comment.", "output": "Google is developing a digital babysitter using artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The company has filed a European patent for the system, which would use connected devices and sensors to provide greater protection for unattended children at home. It could monitor them and provide parents with warnings of potential dangers, using flashing lights and audio devices. It would be linked to Google's existing home AI systems\u00a0and could be linked to a webcam, allowing parents to monitor their children remotely. The company has not released any details of when or if the technology will be released.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon plans digital advertising push in 2018 \n As internet advertising revenues increase in US, Amazon is reportedly all set to introduce new advertising products in its portfolio in 2018 as it grows as a force to take on Facebook and Google.\n\nAmazon set to introduce its advertising products to combat Facebook and Google in 2018\n\nCNBC reported that Amazon is planning to sell advertising beyond Amazon sites and products. Amazon is also working with third-party mobile advertising companies such as Kargo to pair advertising on television and on mobile screens.", "output": "Online retailer Amazon is set to take on rivals Google and Facebook in 2018 with the launch of new digital advertising products, according to CNBC. It said Amazon will target television and mobile to sell ads outside of its site. As well as partnering with firms including Kargo, Amazon is rumoured to have bolstered its in-house advertising team, based in New York. US internet ad revenues hit $20.8bn in Q2 2017, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "LendLease to allocate 40-50% of capital to international growth \n Australian-born Hickey, 52, a potential candidate to eventually replace Lendlease group chief executive Steve McCann, says the US residential and commercial construction market has rebounded strongly in the last few years and the outlook is positive.\n\n\"Asset prices are full, debt is cheap but the underlying economics of those assets are sound.\"\n\nAnd as for President Donald Trump's tax cut and deregulation agenda, Hickey sees it as a positive for the US economy.\n\n\"Our strategy is consistent and doesn't alter on macro decisions like that,\" he says.\n\nDenis Hickey joined Lendlease in 2012 after a stint as chief executive of ING Real Estate, and shifted to the US nearly four years ago with his wife and four children. DAVID JOSHUA FORD\n\n\"On a personal front I think that tax reform will be good for the economy. \"We are competing on a global landscape and it will make the US more attractive in terms of foreign capital coming into this market.\"\n\nAdvertisement\n\nLendlease pays a US corporate tax rate of about 42 per cent including state and local business taxes, so slashing the 35 per cent federal corporate rate to 21 per cent may also help the company's bottom line.\n\nLendlease's Steve McCann has spoken to investors about capitalising on the trend of urbanisation in international \"gateway\" cities including London, Milan and Kuala Lumpur.\n\nYet the company's international expansion is not without risk.\n\nMark Waugh is hit by ball from Denis Hickey back in February1988. Photographer Unknown\n\nUnder previous senior management, the Australian construction and property multinational blew up nearly $1 billion 15 years ago on an aggressive US foray that ended in a partial retreat from the world's largest economy.\n\nSeparately, it was later reprimanded for a fire on a demolition site that killed two firefighters in New York in 2007 and fined in 2012 for overcharging clients for inflated-labour bills.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAfter the 2008 financial crisis hit the global economy hard, Lendlease largely turned its focus inward on the safer local market by allocating about 80 per cent of its capital to Australia.\n\nThe company's more recent goal is to allocate 40-50 per cent of its capital offshore as the global economy picks up and Lendlease seeks to export its successful Australian integrated business model to the world.\n\nHickey, who has long been fascinated by the evolution of New York City since the 1990s, when he had a map of Manhattan pinned to his office wall, was the logical fit for the US job.\n\nHe joined Lendlease in 2012 after a stint as chief executive of ING Real Estate and shifted to the US nearly four years ago with his wife and four children.\n\nHickey understands the direction Lendlease needs to take and he says the company has learnt from its earlier expansion in the US.\n\n\"It is making sure we take our growth slow and measured and we make sure we embed local knowledge,\" he says.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\"As we've grown our development business we've been very conscious to build our capabilities with local people in the marketplace.\"\n\nIn the US the company is focusing on development and construction in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington DC.\n\nAbout 95 per cent of Lendlease's 1800 US staff are American. There a just a few Australians such as Hickey who are embedded to \"bridge\" the culture and business links between the two countries.\n\nOne of the US executives, Melissa Burch, is overseeing the development of the $US470 million project at 277 Fifth Avenue in the NoMad (North of Madison Square Park) neighbourhood.\n\nThe under-construction 55 floor condominium building was designed by the famous Uruguayan architect Rafael Vi\u00f1oly, including retail space at the base and a planned 130 luxury residences on the upper floors.\n\nThe project is on track to have lower-floor buyers move in during late 2018.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nA typical two-bedroom condo is selling for about $US3.7 million. Hickey says the condo [apartment] market has started to slow down a bit in terms of new construction because of tighter lending criteria.\n\n\"Melissa knows the market well and we can bring to her our armoury of what Lendlease does with global access to capital, product thinking and innovation,\" Hickey says.\n\nBurch, who has worked in New York residential and commercial development for 15 years after beginning her banking career at Merrill Lynch, says she joined Lendlease in 2015 due to its global network in development, construction and funds management.\n\nShe was attracted to Lendlease's effort to build and grow a meaningful development business in New York City.\n\n\"For decades Lendlease has been known as a top-flight builder in New York, and we will look to leverage this local expertise along with a strong balance sheet and international experience to secure and develop our own projects in this market,\" she says.\n\nLendlease has operated under various brands in the US since the 1970s and worked on iconic projects at Grand Central Terminal station, the Statue of Liberty, the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, Time Warner Center and Citi Field, home of the home field of the New York Mets.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nSince Hickey arrived in the US in 2014, Lendlease has been trying to transform its business beyond a \"capital light\" firm that was largely focused on construction of buildings for other developers and providing Defence Department accommodation to more than 100,000 military personnel in the US.\n\nAcross 50 military bases, Lendlease co-owns and manages about $US10 billion in assets comprising nearly 60,000 hotels rooms and houses, making it the largest joint venture accommodation partner with the US military.\n\nThe construction business, which turns over about $4 billion, will remain a steady, low-margin and high-turnover part of the Lendlease empire.\n\nThe recent expansion into originating US projects at the initial development stage offers potentially larger financial rewards, such as the company's Barangaroo development on Sydney Harbour.\n\nLendlease has active developments in Boston, Chicago and New York.\n\n\"We're moving from being a delivery-focused business to much more of an origination business,\" Hickey says.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\"The board in sending me here wanted to round out Lendlease's activities and bring a much more integrated approach with all the other things Lendlease does around development and investment management.\"\n\nLendlease's Manhattan development joint venture partner is local developer Victor Group.\n\nA Chinese business partner, Shokai, has a preferred equity investment of $US100 million. Three banks from Singapore are providing debt financing.\n\nThe US accounted for $162 million, or 12 per cent, of Lendlease's total operating EBITDA of $1.4 billion in the 2017 financial year, compared with 79 per cent for Australia, 8 per cent for Europe and 2 per cent for Asia.\n\nThe US currently has about 8 per cent of the company's capital allocation, at the lower end of a target range of 5 to 20 per cent.\n\n\"The shift to international regions is significant, but I don't want to overstate its importance,\" McCann said the company's profit result in August.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\"Australia is expected to remain the dominant region for the foreseeable future.\"\n\nElsewhere in the US, Lendlease and longstanding business partner, Japan's Softbank, have both injected $US200 million in equity to develop and own telecom infrastructure assets across the US.\n\nThe telco joint venture, Lendlease Towers, will seek to develop a portfolio of geographically diverse rooftop and tower assets to capitalise on the explosion in digital data use.\n\n\"When you look at what's going to happen with data use across the world and in the US, the rollout of 5G, the internet of everything, driverless cars, the quantum of data that is going to be used is exponential,\" Hickey says.\n\n\"The infrastructure to transport that data needs to be vastly upgraded.\"", "output": "Lendlease is allocating 40-50% of its capital offshore as the Australian property and construction multinational seeks to export its integrated business model abroad. After an aggressive foray into the US that ended in a partial retreat from the market, and the 2008 financial crisis, Lendlease earmarked about 80% of its capital to Australia. Now it's again seeking to expand in the US, focusing on major cities including Boston, Chicago and New York. Lendlease's CEO in the Americas, Denis Hickey, said the company will make sure growth is \"slow and measured\" and built up with \"local people in the marketplace\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese micro-learning industry set for boom \n Every day Huang Wei does a 10-minute economic study course, as she wants to increase her business savvy to engage more farmers in protecting ancient kiln sites.\n\nThe ceramic expert has set up an eco-agriculture cooperative called \"The Porcelain Farmer\" in Jinkeng, a village 8 km east of Jingdezhen, China's porcelain capital, in Jiangxi Province.\n\nAs sustainable farming is eco-friendly and good for the protection of porcelain kiln sites dating back to the Song Dynasty more than 1,000 years ago, Huang wants to encourage local farmers to grow organic farm produce.\n\n\"Using small gaps in my day to learn more about economics, I feel like someone practicing a martial art. Day by day, you become more capable,\" Huang said.\n\nSelf-empowering through online study by making use of small time slots is becoming a trend among young Chinese, as a large number of educational entrepreneurs venture into e-learning.\n\nPurchasers of e-learning programs are expected to more than double from 98 million in 2016 to 188 million by the end of 2017. In 2018, the figure is expected to reach 292 million in China, according to a report from iiMedia Research.\n\nXue Zhaofeng, a professor from Peking University, has uploaded a 10-minute audio course on economics to his column on iGet, a mobile learning app with 10 million users.\n\nCharging 199 yuan (about 30.5 U.S. dollars) for one year, Xue's column has attracted over 170,000 subscribers within half a year.\n\nXue said some of the audience listened to this program when they went out to buy breakfast.\n\nAnother report released by Alibaba forecasted that the online study market would reach 50 billion yuan by the end of 2017.\n\nChen Liteng, an analyst from China E-Commerce Research Center, said that the ever-accelerating pace of work and life had made the time for learning more fragmented.\n\nTo compete for the audience's time, content providers need to help users learn in a more effective way, by selecting high quality content, according to Chen.\n\nThe programs cover a broad sphere of topics from public accountant certificate exams to driving license tests, and have been well received.\n\nJiakaobaodian, for example, an app aiming to help users pass the driving license test, had been downloaded over 66 million times, according to data from Vivo, a smartphone producer.\n\n\"Nowadays, people favor personalized learning more and tend to learn in a flexible way,\" said Chen Li, vice president of Beijing Normal University.\n\nAnalysts attribute the rapid growth of paid online study programs to the country's increasing number of Internet users, convenient mobile payments and government efforts in protecting the copyright of Internet works.\n\nTo cater to the needs of online study, China will build a digitalized educational system to provide more personalized education programs, according to Du Zhanyuan, vice minister of China's Ministry of Education.\n\n\"Innovations based on artificial intelligence and big data technology as well as smart-teaching methods also boosted the immersive self-learning market,\" said Xiang Bibo, a technician with an online English learning platform.", "output": "Growing numbers of Chinese entrepreneurs are turning to personalised, online micro-courses to fill their knowledge gaps, building an industry said to be worth an estimated CNY50bn ($7.7bn) at the end of 2017, according to a report by Alibaba. The boom has been attributed to convenient mobile payments and the growth of web users, as well as government efforts to protect internet copyright. Chen Liteng, from China E-Commerce Research Center, said content providers needed to tailor high-quality material to users with very limited time or fractured schedules.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "VR, AR could benefit from full-spectrum metalens breakthrough \n This flat metalens is the first single lens that can focus the entire visible spectrum of light -- including white light -- in the same spot and in high resolution. It uses arrays of titanium dioxide nanofins to equally focus wavelengths of light and eliminate chromatic aberration. Credit: Jared Sisler/Harvard SEAS\n\nMetalenses\u2014flat surfaces that use nanostructures to focus light\u2014promise to revolutionize optics by replacing the bulky, curved lenses currently used in optical devices with a simple, flat surface. But, these metalenses have remained limited in the spectrum of light they can focus well. Now a team of researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) has developed the first single lens that can focus the entire visible spectrum of light\u2014including white light\u2014in the same spot and in high resolution. This has only ever been achieved in conventional lenses by stacking multiple lenses.\n\nThe research is published in Nature Nanotechnology.\n\nFocusing the entire visible spectrum and white light - combination of all the colors of the spectrum\u2014is so challenging because each wavelength moves through materials at different speeds. Red wavelengths, for example, will move through glass faster than the blue, so the two colors will reach the same location at different times resulting in different foci. This creates image distortions known as chromatic aberrations.\n\nCameras and optical instruments use multiple curved lenses of different thicknesses and materials to correct these aberrations, which, of course, adds to the bulk of the device.\n\n\"Metalenses have advantages over traditional lenses,\" says Federico Capasso, the Robert L. Wallace Professor of Applied Physics and Vinton Hayes Senior Research Fellow in Electrical Engineering at SEAS and senior author of the research. \"Metalenses are thin, easy to fabricate and cost effective. This breakthrough extends those advantages across the whole visible range of light. This is the next big step.\"\n\nThe Harvard Office of Technology Development (OTD) has protected the intellectual property relating to this project and is exploring commercialization opportunities.\n\nThe metalenses developed by Capasso and his team use arrays of titanium dioxide nanofins to equally focus wavelengths of light and eliminate chromatic aberration. Previous research demonstrated that different wavelengths of light could be focused but at different distances by optimizing the shape, width, distance, and height of the nanofins. In this latest design, the researchers created units of paired nanofins that control the speed of different wavelengths of light simultaneously. The paired nanofins control the refractive index on the metasurface and are tuned to result in different time delays for the light passing through different fins, ensuring that all wavelengths reach the focal spot at the same time.\n\n\"One of the biggest challenges in designing an achromatic broadband lens is making sure that the outgoing wavelengths from all the different points of the metalens arrive at the focal point at the same time,\" said Wei Ting Chen, a postdoctoral fellow at SEAS and first author of the paper. \"By combining two nanofins into one element, we can tune the speed of light in the nanostructured material, to ensure that all wavelengths in the visible are focused in the same spot, using a single metalens. This dramatically reduces thickness and design complexity compared to composite standard achromatic lenses.\"\n\n\"Using our achromatic lens, we are able to perform high quality, white light imaging. This brings us one step closer to the goal of incorporating them into common optical devices such as cameras,\" said Alexander Zhu, co-author of the study.\n\nNext, the researchers aim to scale up the lens, to about 1 cm in diameter. This would open a whole host of new possibilities, such as applications in virtual and augmented reality.\n\nMore information: A broadband achromatic metalens for focusing and imaging in the visible, Nature Nanotechnology (2018). nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/s41565-017-0034-6 Journal information: Nature Nanotechnology", "output": "Virtual- and augmented-reality (VR and AR) applications could benefit from research that managed for the first time to focus the whole visible spectrum of light onto one spot in high resolution using a single flat metalens. Harvard researchers\u00a0revealed in Nature Nanotechnology\u00a0how they used nanofins to overcome the different wavelengths of each colour\u00a0of light to ensure they hit the same focal point at the same time. Metalenses, which are cheap and\u00a0easy to make, could be used in cameras and other optical devices."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "KUKA arm robot DJ performs in Prague nightclub \n A club in Prague named Karlovy Lazne has recently introduced a robot DJ that alternates with a human to program music for the dance floor throughout the night, as reported by Reuters. Now in rotation for a few weeks, the robot has software that allows it to choose songs, select CDs from a rack, insert them into CDJs, and then play the songs. It also has some pretty sweet dance moves.\n\nThe club employed a robotics firm to have the robot specifically made for DJing. It\u2019s an adaptation of a KUKA arm primarily used in the automotive industry. Rigged with software that helps it choose songs, the robot\u2019s pincers grab CDs, and then show off some moves before placing them in one of the two CDJs in front of it. It\u2019s unclear from the article if the software helps the robot consider songs based on things like key, BPM, genre, or other factors that would determine how well two tracks might sound together. It\u2019s also unclear if the robot does more complex skills, like adjusting the speed of a song, EQing, or conducting the actual transition between songs. It is shown in the video hovering above knobs on the mixer and appearing to tap buttons on the CDJs, suggesting it does conduct some of these finer movements. We have reached out to Karlovy Lazne for details.\n\nKUKA arms have a history of being adapted for musical purposes. A 2009 school project shows one attempting DJ movements with vinyl, and another 2009 video shows one selecting and rotating records on turntables to create ghostly scratching sounds. There was also this Nigel Standford music video from 2017, but it turned out to be sort of a party trick \u2014 the robots were doing the movements, but didn\u2019t produce any of the music.", "output": "Clubbers at Prague nightclub Karlovy Lazne have been dancing the night away to music chosen by a robot DJ, according to Reuters. The club's owners asked a robotics firm to repurpose a KUKA arm, previously used in car manufacturing, fitting it with software that allowed it to choose and change CDs, as well as dance. The robot, which alternates with a human DJ every hour, has been in service for several weeks.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HVDC transmission lines could cut US greenhouse emissions by 80% \n The Denver-based company behind the project hopes to erect a series of steel transmission towers that would stretch a high-voltage direct-current transmission line 730 miles across the American West. It could carry as much as 3,000 megawatts of Wyoming wind power to the electricity markets of California, Nevada, and Arizona. With the right deals in place, the transmission line could deliver solar-generated electricity back as well, balancing Wyoming\u2019s powerful late-afternoon winds with California\u2019s bright daytime sun.\n\nHow Wyoming wind (in green) could balance out California solar (in red) throughout the day in June. Source: Wind Diversity Enhancement of Wyoming and California Wind Energy Projects, 2015. Jonathan Naughton, Wind Energy Research Center.\n\nThe $3 billion TransWest Express Transmission Project is among a handful of proposed direct-current transmission lines in the United States, and one of the furthest along in the planning process. It underscores the huge promise of these high-capacity lines to unlock the full potential of renewable energy.\n\nTransmission isn\u2019t sexy (see our story art above). It\u2019s basic infrastructure. Long wires and tall towers (see \u201cHow Blockchain Could Give Us a Smarter Energy Grid\u201d).\n\nBut a growing body of studies conclude that building out a nationwide network of DC transmission lines could help enable renewable sources to supplant the majority of U.S. energy generation, offering perhaps the fastest, cheapest, and most efficient way of slashing greenhouse-gas emissions.\n\nDeveloping these transmission lines, however, is incredibly time-consuming and expensive. The TransWest project was first proposed in 2005, but the developers will be lucky to secure their final permits and begin moving dirt at the end of next year.\n\nThere\u2019s no single agency in charge of overseeing or ushering along such projects, leaving companies to navigate a thicket of overlapping federal, state, county, and city jurisdictions\u2014every one of which must sign off for a project to begin. As a result, few such transmission lines ever get built.\n\nA macro grid\n\nDirect current, in which electric charges constantly flow in a single direction, is an old technology. It and alternating current were the subject of one of the world\u2019s first technology standards battles, pitting Thomas Edison against his former prot\u00e9g\u00e9 Nikola Tesla in the \u201cWar of the Currents\u201d starting in the 1880s (see \u201cEdison\u2019s Revenge: The Rise of DC Power\u201d).", "output": "A network of high-voltage direct current transmission lines carrying power from renewable resources could eliminate the need for energy storage and help to\u00a0reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below 1990 levels inside 15 years, according to a study in Nature Climate Change. However, overlapping federal, state, county, and city jurisdictions, as well as a lack of incentive from utilities to pay for transmission lines has hampered their deployment and maintained a reliance on fossil fuels."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Start-up Healthureum launches\u00a0crypto-based healthcare platform\u00a0 \n Healthcare is a political and social landmine. According to TechCrunch the average American spends close to $10,000 for healthcare, with the entire industry being worth $3 trln. The World Health Organisation and World Bank report that nearly 100 million people around the world are forced to choose between food and healthcare. This frightful dilemma affects those living in developed and developing countries alike.\n\nIt is becoming imperative to develop better systems that can deliver healthcare in a more affordable, transparent and secure way. To ensure better accessibility to adequate health services, we need to focus on efficiency and technology enabled solutions.\n\nHealthureum, an Estonia-based company, is in the process of creating a \u2018dynamic and multi-functional ecosystem\u2019 based on the Ethereum Blockchain that will change the way we look at healthcare and usher in an era of standardization, scalability and social responsibility. Ethereum is a Blockchain that not only delivers transparency and security, but also has smart contracts baked into it.\n\nWhy does healthcare need Blockchain?\n\nHealthcare is riddled with problems such as fraud and lax data protection. As recently as December, 2017 it was reported that private health records of one in 10 Australians was leaked due to errors on the part of Department of Health. News-Mail reported:\n\n\u201cWe found that patients can be re-identified, without decryption, through a process of linking the unencrypted parts of the record with known information about the individual such as medical procedures and year of birth.\u201d\n\nIt is precisely these situations that Healthureum can prevent by introducing a robust framework that emphasizes transparency, security and accountability.\n\nAn all encompassing approach\n\nUsing Blockchain to deliver better quality healthcare is not straightforward. It needs to take care of several factors such as confidentiality, scalability of the system and its ability to meet the needs of healthcare providers. However, using Blockchain it is possible to manage a plethora of health related use cases. These range from clinical trials, health records, claims assessments to data protection and more. Patients stand to gain as they get access to cheaper and higher quality health care, enjoy a more trusting relationship with medical staff, access to genuine drugs and a reduction in fraudulent practices. Healthureum is taking steps to make this Blockchain-based solution a reality by following a systematic and innovative approach.\n\nToken of health\n\nUsing an Ethereum-based token, Healtherum will touch every aspect of healthcare. Data systemization will ensure that medical records, personal data, test results, and billing can be consolidated. Since Blockchain is not necessarily the most suitable way of handling large files such as medical records, this type of data will be managed by Healthureum off-chain though the use of encrypted links.\n\nIn order to use the ecosystem Healthureum tokens will be required. The token will act as a bridge between patient, hospital and labs. The ecosystem will also provide access to doctor consultations through video calls, referrals for second opinions, specialist consultations and diagnostic tests in a local lab. Patients will even be able to get medical and pathology tests results added to their Healthureum patient record in an instant, secured on the Blockchain. Doctors and other associated medical personnel can be paid using the token, which will facilitate fast and secure payments for health services rendered globally.\n\nThe benefits of the Healthureum ecosystem and token are not limited to patient data management. On a large scale, Healthureum will facilitate interoperability between internal processes of a hospital or clinic, as well as inter-hospital data sharing. The Healthureum system will also use the Blockchain to capture procurement and supply chain data, ensuring authenticity and efficiency.\n\nHealthureum tokens will be used in purchase, service and renting of medical infrastructure and the resulting data will be saved for analysis and make the process of procurement more transparent. The use of the token in research programs will facilitate proper recording of data and better monitoring. It will also mean that the system can be scaled to meet the needs of researchers while providing the subjects with data security.\n\nMilestone-driven fundraising\n\nThe Healthureum Token (HHEM), which is Ethereum ERC20 compliant, will be the driving force of the ecosystem as a utility token. A Token Generation Event (TGE) will be held starting January 10, 2018 to fund the various stages of the project as milestones are achieved. The TGE will end on February 13, 2018.\n\nA successful fully subscribed pre-TGE has already been completed. During the TGE, Healthureum tokens can be purchased using BTC, ETH and ECH. A bonus program is also in place with participants getting a 22% bonus on Day 1, 17% in the first week, 12% in the second, 7% in the third and 2% in the fourth week. There are no bonus tokens in the fifth week of the TGE.\n\nThe total supply of HTH tokens has been capped at 150 million. Healthureum hasput together a participation guide for interested participants.\n\nYour data, your doctor, your way\n\nThose who participate in the TGE are helping build a better and more affordable healthcare system. The large scale of the project necessitates participation in the TGE and enables participants to be able to enter the project at a favourable price point, while early funding would ensure that the project gets underway.\n\nA white paper outlines the development plans of the project which is expected to continue well into 2019. However, various alpha versions of the project are expected in 2018. A successful Healthureum would usher in an era with better systems for greater efficiency, transparency and data security.", "output": "Healthureum is developing a blockchain-based platform aimed at bringing \"transparency, security and accountability\" to every aspect of health care. The Estonia-based start-up said the platform can be accessed using its Ethereum-based Healthureum Token digital currency, with a token generation event running from 10 January until 13 February. Healthureum's platform will manage patient data, enable interoperability between different hospitals, monitor the purchase, renting and servicing of medical equipment, and capture supply-chain data.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Magic Leap unveils its\u00a0augmented reality headset \n Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based Magic Leap unveiled today what $2 billion dollars of Silicon Valley investment will get you: an augmented reality/mixed reality (ar/mr) product called \u201cMagic Leap One: Creator Edition.\u201d\n\nThere are three components to the Magic Leap hardware:\n\nThe goggles, called Lightwear, which combine \u201cdigital Lightfield technology with environment mapping, precision tracking, and soundfield audio\u201d\n\nA puck-like mini-computer called a Lightpack that attaches to the goggle and can be clipped to your belt or pants\n\nA hand-held controller with force control, haptic feedback, and six degrees of freedom\n\nThe Magic Leap website offers some additional vague details about the technology, in addition to examples of how the goggles can be used, ranging from the practical (spatial web browsing) to entertainment (gaming), as well as the nonsensical (painting with turtles instead of paintbrushes?). In this interview, Magic Leap founder Rony Abovitz explains that they call it the \u201ccreator\u2019s edition\u201d because the device encourages \u201cactively creating with the computer\u201d instead of the passive consumption of content.\n\nIf you\u2019re curious to understand what makes Magic Leap\u2019s tech unique, Rolling Stone has among the most in-depth reports, including details from a reporter who has used the product. The problem with experiential tech is that written descriptions don\u2019t do it much justice, and it\u2019s still difficult, at least for me, to gauge exactly how Magic Leap differs from existing ar/mr hardware.\n\nSomething we do know though is that Magic Leap employs a team of animators, even if it\u2019s not exactly clear what they\u2019ve been working on for the last couple years. Some of the company\u2019s animation team is ex-Moonbot employees, who were picked up last year following the collapse of the Shreveport, Louisiana studio.\n\nSkepticism remains around Magic Leap because of the astronomical sums that the company has raised to develop its technology, and the seeming gap between what the company has promised and what they are delivering. Business Insider, for example, suggests that the Magic Leap has the same fundamental limitations as the Microsoft Hololens, which is a limited field of view that doesn\u2019t match a human\u2019s field of view.\n\nThe venture capital world itself has a sketchy track record when it comes to backing companies that have never launched a product \u2013 Juicero and Theranos anyone? \u2013 and with Magic Leap having raised nearly $2 billion to date, expectations for the company to deliver something amazing are sky-high.\n\nMagic Leap hasn\u2019t released any firm details on pricing or availability, but has stated that a software development kit (SDK) is expected to be made available in early-2018, followed by the launch of the hardware later in the year.", "output": "Florida-based firm Magic Leap has released details of its augmented reality/mixed reality headset, the Magic Leap One: Creator Edition. Comprising goggles that include digital Lightfield technology, a mini-computer called a Lightpack and a hand-held controller, the device enables users to \"actively create with the computer\", according to Magic Leap founder Rony Abovitz, with uses including web browsing and gaming. While no price or availability details have been released, the company said a software development kit is set to go on sale early this year, with a product\u00a0launch scheduled for later in 2018.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus IWG holds takeover talks with Onex Corporation, Brookfield Asset Management \n British tycoon Mark Dixon is in line for a \u00a3600million payday after Canadian funds made an approach to buy his global office empire.\n\nThe 58-year-old built IWG, formerly called Regus, from nothing into a \u00a31.8billion business but is on the verge of selling it.\n\nIWG says joint takeover talks are under way with Onex Corporation and Brookfield Asset Management, the biggest real estate manager in the world.\n\nCashing in: British tycoon Mark Dixon is selling his his global office empire IWG to Canadian funds for \u00a3600m\n\nThey have yet to make a formal offer but the prospect of a deal sent shares soaring by more than 27 per cent yesterday.\n\nIt was the first time markets had been open since bosses revealed they were considering a deal on Saturday. Analysts said rival bidders could also emerge.\n\nDixon, IWG\u2019s biggest shareholder, holds a 25 per cent stake in the firm.\n\nHe is estimated to be worth about \u00a3900million by Forbes but could trouser another \u00a3600million if IWG is taken over for a reported \u00a32.5billion.\n\nThe father-of-five, who sold hot dogs after leaving school in Essex, founded Regus in 1989.\n\nHe is said to have had the idea for the firm after sitting in a cafe in Brussels and noticing the lack of office space for travelling business people, as they were holding meetings at tables around him.\n\nWHEELBARROW BOY DONE GOOD IWG founder Mark Dixon was an entrepreneur from the moment he left school. The Essex lad\u2019s first venture was selling peat from a wheelbarrow to a local housing estate. He then began a sandwich making business called Dial-a-Snack. When this failed he travelled the world and was a barman, a miner in Australia and also sold encyclopedias. Back in the UK he bought a burger van for \u00a3600, but having struggled to find good baps, set up a firm called the Good Bread Roll company which he eventually sold for \u00a3800,000. <!- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/ru/money/moneymarkets/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 - ->\n\nIWG now runs Regus, Open Office and Signature offices across 3,000 locations in 1,000 cities, with annual sales of \u00a32.2billion.\n\nBut its shares have fallen over the past year in the face of tough competition from rivals such as US-based WeWork.\n\nDespite having far fewer locations, WeWork\u2019s valuation is more than eight times higher \u2013 at almost \u00a315billion.\n\nIt has attracted trendy technology start-ups with perks such as free beer and prosecco, helping to rapidly expand its presence in London.\n\nIWG took another hit when it issued a profit warning in October, sending its shares plunging by more than 32 per cent in a day.\n\nAndrew Shepherd-Barron, an equity analyst at Peel Hunt, said the company offered a ready-made global brand.\n\nHe said: \u2018Much depends on founder Dixon\u2019s attitude, but the approach could lead to IWG finally being taken over after a long and frequently volatile relationship with the equity market.\n\n'The approach is from private equity at the moment, but we see potential bidders from a range of parties.\u2019\n\nIWG said it had \u2018received an indicative proposal\u2019 from Brookfield Asset Management and Onex Corporation for a possible cash offer to buy out the company.\n\nIn a statement, it added: \u2018There can be no certainty that any offer will be made, nor as to the terms on which any offer might be made.\u2019\n\nBrookfield and Onex now have until January 20 to put forward a firm proposal.", "output": "Flexible office space provider Regus \u2013 now part of\u00a0IWG \u2013\u00a0has\u00a0said it is\u00a0in talks with Canadian companies Brookfield Asset Management and Onex Corporation over a potential \u00a32.5bn ($3.4bn)\u00a0cash buyout of the company. IWG shares rose by more than 27% after the news broke. IWG had\u00a0a turbulent 2017 in the\u00a0face of competition from WeWork\u00a0and\u00a0issued\u00a0a profit warning in October.\u00a0IWG founder\u00a0Mark Dixon, who owns 25% of the business, could make as much as\u00a0\u00a3600m from the sale.\u00a0The Canadian companies have until 20 January to offer their proposal.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Top-tier insurers could attempt to partner with Amazon \n The insurance industry was ready for Amazon to make an insurance distribution channel available to its customers: Liberty Mutual, Safeco, Farmers, Allstate, Nationwide and Grange Insurance are among the insurers leveraging the retail giant's Alexa voice assistant. Few believe this move will obviate the need for independent agents, and it remains to be seen whether the popular virtual assistant will be able to process FNOLs or policy changes, but Alexa\u2019s ability to intuit responses can\u2019t be ignored.\n\nThe clear leader in e-commerce, Amazon ventured into selling direct in a limited fashion in the United States, the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain last year with its \u201cAmazon Protect\u201d product, which provides extensions to manufacturers\u2019 warranties, insuring against accidental damage, breakdown and theft for items such as electronics (mobile phones, washing machines, etc.) bought on Amazon\u2019s website. This move didn\u2019t cause much of a stir because the bulk of manufacturers and distributors already underwrite shipments.\n\nBut a recent Reuters report in the UK notes that Amazon placed job advertisements on LinkedIn and \u201cWhere Women Work\u201d for its EU product insurance division, which describe \u201claunching a new business\u201d and \u201ccreating a new palette of services,\u201d causing industry watchers to speculate whether Amazon has a broader strategy in mind.\n\nThe silhouette of Jeff Bezos, chief executive officer of Amazon.com Inc., is seen as he unveils the Fire Phone during an event at Fremont Studios in Seattle, Washington, U.S., on Wednesday, June 18, 2014 Amazon.com Inc. jumped into the crowded smartphone market with its own handset called Fire Phone, ramping up competition with Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Photographer: Mike Kane/Bloomberg *** Local Caption *** Jeff Bezos Mike Kane/Bloomberg\n\nWhat\u2019s interesting is how larger insurers may end up responding; namely by adopting the \u201cif you can\u2019t beat \u2018em, join \u2018em\u201d philosophy and offering to partner with the retail giant to be the underwriter of choice. By treating Amazon like any other insurtech firm (ready to leverage opportunity from an industry rip for innovation and disruption), larger insurers will be betting on a solid return. The reality, however, is that, although most insurers have a running start at digital transformation--a must for today\u2019s growing competitive market--most insurers do not have the capacity to partner with the likes of an Amazon. But all insurers (from direct to aggregators) can learn from Amazon\u2019s success.\n\nThe most obvious learning is tied to what the customer wants\u2014and with the right technology, insurers can learn a lot. Thanks to its hyper-analytics platform, Amazon continues to blaze a trail with an inherent understanding and fulfillment of customer preferences (on-demand simplicity in both purchase and services, personalization, product details and comparisons including suggestions for similar products and add-on products--insurance fits nicely here--clearly stated benefits/advantages and even peer reviews).\n\nThis leads to another consideration: Rethinking how an insurer presents its company and its products. According to Steve Yi, co-founder and CEO of MediaAlpha, which connects buyers and sellers of online advertising, online conversion rates for the insurance industry generally fall in the 5% to 15% range, which means that most visitors to an insurer\u2019s website end up buying insurance elsewhere. Amazon built its success on creating an open market, enabling customers to compare shop and even allowing its competitors to advertise on its site, which creates revenue for the giant in either case. Unless you are an insurance aggregator, that strategy may sound a bit wild, but what if your prospect/customer found everything it needed to make an informed decision on your site, reinforcing brand recognition, trust and loyalty?\n\nThe fact that Google tried a similar approach and ultimately pulled out of the personal lines auto market this past year won\u2019t impact Amazon\u2019s decision. And whether Amazon decides to offer traditional insurance products remains to be seen (Reuters reports that an Amazon UK spokesman declined to comment, and the Warranty Group, which underwrites Amazon Protect policies, did not respond). If they do enter the market, they will be courted by more Tier 1 insurance partners than they can imagine, and may fall into the ranks of one of the largest insurtechs in history.\n\n", "output": "With Amazon set on entering the insurance market, top-tier companies may seek to enter partnerships with the online marketplace. Amazon has recently been recruiting staff for an insurance division, declaring\u00a0it's launching a new business line. The company already\u00a0offers\u00a0extended warranty services for goods under its\u00a0Amazon Protect\u00a0brand.\u00a0Rather than put up resistance, leading insurers are likely to seek partnership arrangements with Amazon, according to industry consultant Pat Speer.\u00a0Such arrangements would see Amazon treated in a similar vein to how smaller insurtech firms have been courted by incumbent insurers.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Water salinity test could boost production from older wells \n A look at recent first\u2011quarter results reminds us that there is no such thing as a constant trend in our industry. Continual recalibration of companies\u2019 activities aim to obtain positive financial results in the traditional oil and gas business while devoting efforts in a practical way to both mitigate climate change issues and to develop new forms of energy.", "output": "A new analytical model for brownfield oil reservoirs uses the salinity of injected water to improve the understanding of fluid movements in the operation, said researchers from the Society of Petroleum Engineers. Charting the salinity of production water could help optimise water injection, promoting the most efficient methods and increasing oil recovery, they said. The model was applied to a large oil field in Egypt, where it helped improve understanding of critical issues across about 500 wells, including fluid contacts, well integrity, aquifer support, effect of faults, well zonation, and contribution of commingled wells."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Flexible space rivals jostle to dominate South Florida \n South Florida increasingly pays for office space as a one-stop service business, with companies forsaking a traditional lease in favor of a modern mix of open-seating areas and private offices with perks, including free coffee, that aim to promote collaboration and innovation among tenants. But as co-working behemoth WeWork \u2014 with its $20 billion valuation \u2014 increases its presence in the area, will the locally founded stalwarts get drowned out?\n\nThe nation\u2019s largest co-working office operator, New York-based WeWork, started opening locations in the Miami area in 2012, two years after Miami-based B\u00fcro Group said it introduced the co-working concept in South Florida. WeWork\u2019s arrival in Miami coincided with the startup of another formidable Miami-based competitor, Pipeline Workspaces.\n\n\u201cWhen we started in 2012, WeWork really was not a known entity,\u201d says Philippe Houdard, co-founder of Pipeline.\n\nWeWork is increasingly making its presence in the Miami market known. As the end of 2017 approached, the company was preparing to double its Miami-area space by opening new locations in Coral Gables, where the company leased 60,000 square feet during the second quarter, and downtown Miami, where it leased 97,000 square feet in a 15-story historic building.\n\nThe WeWork space in Coral Gable\u2019s Giralda Place mixed-use development is planned to open by the end of 2017. There, WeWork is leasing six floors. In November, the firm lined up five companies to occupy one whole floor each at the 15-story Security Building, a historic landmark in downtown Miami, according to Adam Wacenske, South Florida general manager of WeWork.\n\nIn a mid-November phone interview, Wacenske declined to identify the big-membership buyers at the Security Building, but he said the terms of such whole-floor commitments \u201ccan be from one to five years.\u201d Asked if WeWork lowers its price in exchange for large-scale, long-term commitments, Wacenske said, \u201cI don\u2019t think so, necessarily.\u201d\n\nUnlike some smaller local co-working operators, WeWork is driven by big business, said Mark Pateman, managing principal for Palm Beach County at Cushman & Wakefield. \u201cThe enterprise business is where they\u2019re focusing, providing space for IBM and Boeing, global companies that really need scalability,\u201d he said.\n\nPateman also said some smaller South Florida operators might not have staying power in a slower economy. \u201cThe big guys, the WeWorks and Reguses, are going to be more resilient in a downturn,\u201d and smaller sellers of office space as a service and an experience will be subject to \u201ca large cleaning out.\u201d\n\nAnd Regus, with about 3,000 locations around the world, including about three dozen in South Florida, has been making some local moves lately. Since late 2016, Regus has opened five South Florida locations, in Aventura, Fort Lauderdale, Jupiter, Miami Beach and Sunny Isles Beach. It is also preparing to open a co-working office location under its Spaces brand in downtown Miami in 2018.\n\nThe first Spaces in South Florida will open in a multilevel, 19,000-square-foot space at MiamiCentral Two, a 190,000-square-foot office building in downtown Miami that is under construction and expected to open in early 2018.\n\nSign Up for the undefined Newsletter SIGN UP By signing up, you agree to TheRealDeal Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.\n\nAfter introducing Spaces to South Florida in Miami, Jeff Doughman, executive vice president of North America sales and operations, said Regus plans to open more Spaces locations in South Florida targeting large companies, not just small fry.\n\n\u201cWe provide a lot of larger space for corporates,\u201d he said, calling commitments of two and a half years or less for 15,000 square feet or more \u201cour sweet spot.\u201d\n\nThe supply-side growth of the co-working segment in South Florida\u2019s office market, now seven years old as estimated by stakeholders, may have years to go until it recedes.\n\nLimited office construction in the last decade has helped to hold down office vacancy rates in the tri-county market. A Cushman & Wakefield survey shows that third-quarter office vacancy rates fell year over year in all three counties. Third-quarter vacancy rates fell from 13.5 percent to 12.2 percent in Miami-Dade County, from 14 percent to 12.3 percent in Broward County and from 16.9 percent to 12.7 percent in Palm Beach.\n\nBut the economy still moves in cycles, and at the first whiff of a downturn, South Florida\u2019s cluster of co-working offices could look like a crowd.\n\n\u201cRight now, the demand still outpaces the supply, at least in the neighborhoods where we operate, and we haven\u2019t had to drop prices in any of our locations,\u201d said Michael Feinstein, founder and CEO of B\u00fcro, which has five Miami-area locations.\n\nB\u00fcro plans to build on its Miami-area base in southeast Broward County. In January, the co-working operator expects to start building out the interior of a 15,000-square-foot location in downtown Hollywood at 2031 Harrison Street. B\u00fcro and an Ecuador-based partner bought the building there in August from a municipal agency for $1.15 million. The new Hollywood location is expected to open by the fall of 2018.\n\nPipeline Workspaces also expanded north to Broward, where it opened a location in Fort Lauderdale in October 2016. The company opened its first co-working location in the Brickell area in 2012 and now has Miami-area locations in Coral Gables and Doral, too. In September, Pipeline opened its fifth Florida location, in Orlando.\n\nThe Pipeline client roster presents some evidence that not every corporate giant will opt for WeWork over smaller co-working companies. In its Coral Gables location, Pipeline houses corporate tenants Kayak, Postmates and Priceline.com.\n\nBut not every co-working operator in South Florida is looking to land big businesses. The Lab Miami is a five-year-old operator that has been content with its sole location at 400 Northwest 26th Street in Wynwood.\n\n\u201cWe started about five years ago with a grant from the Knight Foundation. They\u2019ve been our biggest supporter,\u201d said Rachel Bickford, managing director of The Lab Miami. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a business plan like WeWork where we want to be in every city in the world. We\u2019re just focused on growing the entrepreneurial ecosystem here in Miami.\u201d", "output": "Flexible office space providers WeWork and Regus are battling each other and smaller rivals for control of the still-growing South Florida marketplace. WeWork was\u00a0set to open\u00a0locations in Coral Gables and Miami by the end of 2017, focusing on attracting enterprise business clients. Regus already oversees five locations in South Florida, and plans to open its first Spaces-branded site in Miami early this year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US advisers back active funds to outperform in 2018 \n As the stock market closes in on a solid 22% gain for the year, marking a near-300% gain from the 2009 low point, a growing chorus of financial advisers are citing actively managed strategies as a reasonable hedge at this point in the market cycle.\n\nAn InvestmentNews survey of more than 300 registered investment advisers found that nearly 71% believe active management will outperform passive strategies in 2018.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s almost intoxicating as the market climbs higher and higher every day, but what non-professionals don\u2019t know may well be their Achilles heel,\u201d said Rose Swanger, president of Advise Finance.\n\n\u201cAs more people withdrew their investments (during the extended bull market) from active fund management for passive index funds for lower fees and other attributes, they forgot the fundamental weakness of the index fund; that it passively follows the market,\u201d she added.\n\nWhile passively following the market for much of the past nine years would have been a great strategy, some financial advisers are playing the odds that the good times can\u2019t last forever, and down markets generally favor actively managed strategies.\n\n\u201cI would like to bet [The Vanguard Group founder and retired chief executive] John Bogle $1 million that over the next five years active management handily beats passive, and with less risk,\u201d said Paul Schatz, president of Heritage Capital.\n\n\u201cI think the cycle for passive is in its final stage and those who flooded into passive strategies will be sorely disappointed,\u201d he added.\n\nMr. Bogle could not be reached for comment.\n\nThis year through Wednesday, the S&P 500 Index trails the actively managed large-cap growth fund category by six percentage points, according to Morningstar.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve always been a believer in active management, and I tell people that have drunk the Kool-Aid of passive management that they don\u2019t need a financial planner,\u201d said Kashif Ahmed, president of American Private Wealth.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t ever believe in plain-vanilla indexing,\u201d he added. \u201cBut right now, we\u2019re at a point in the market where there needs to be a human being allocating to things that are not so stretched.\u201d\n\nSuch attitudes of caution are showing up despite a relative absence of calls of doom and gloom from market forecasters.\n\nJohn Lynch, chief investment strategist at LPL Financial, said the S&P 500 is \u201cwell positioned to generate strong earnings\u201d in 2018, which he attributes to stronger global growth and lower corporate tax rates.\n\nMr. Lynch predicts that the benchmark S&P 500 will gain between 8% and 10% in 2018.\n\nTim Holsworth, president of AHP Financial Services, is among those advisers still not convinced active management is where to be at this point.\n\n\u201cWe are taking the attitude of \u2018show me active is better\u2019 before changing much of what we\u2019re doing,\u201d he said. \u201cThe changes we will make going forward will be focusing on allocation, which means staying within the respective risk tolerance of each portfolio.\u201d", "output": "Roughly 71% of 300 surveyed\u00a0registered investment advisers in the US believe active strategies, rather than passive, will be the top performers in 2018, according to a study\u00a0by InvestmentNews. Despite passive funds having outperformed their active counterparts on successive market gains, many advisers believe the current bull market can't last forever, and that active management has a tendency to perform better in down markets. The US stock market ended last year with roughly a 22% gain and has been up close to 300% since its low-point in 2009.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lack of EV charging network damages UK growth of autonomous&nbsp;cars\n \n A shortage of charging points and strain on energy supplies are now the main stumbling blocks to the rise of driverless electric cars, according to the UK boss of insurer Axa.\n\nAmanda Blanc said a lack of rapid charging bays and pressure on the National Grid have overtaken questions about accident liability as the biggest barriers to autonomous vehicles entering the transport mainstream.\n\nBlanc, a Tesla driver, said personal experience pointed to problems lying ahead for driverless electric vehicles. There are about 125,000 plug-in electric cars in the UK and 14,000 chargers \u2013 2,620 of them being rapid chargers that can give a car an 80% charge in 30 minutes. Shell has recently opened its first charging points for electric vehicles at 10 filling stations, mostly in London and the south-east.\n\nBlanc said a recent long-distance family trip showed the potential limitations of a future dominated by autonomous transport. When Blanc recently drove to Edinburgh in the Tesla with her family, they stopped twice to use a supercharger but went for coffee while the car charged. \u201cIn three to four years\u2019 time when more people are buying electric, you do not want to have to queue for your supercharger,\u201d she said. \u201cThe infrastructure has to be fixed.\u201d\n\nThe other issue for Blanc is the strain on Britain\u2019s electricity supply. According to the National Grid, growth in electric vehicles on Britain\u2019s roads could see peak electricity demand jump by more than the capacity of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station by 2030.\n\nShe explained: \u201cIf suddenly everyone\u2019s got one [an electric car] I\u2019m not sure how the National Grid is going to cope with that. If in the Coronation Street break everyone goes to put the kettle on and that causes problems, just imagine what will happen if everybody comes home from work at 6 o\u2019clock and switches their cars on to charge \u2013 we have to be smarter about renewables and regenerating electricity. That\u2019s a real challenge.\u201d\n\nBlanc, whose Axa unit has 10 million customers, is one of the strongest backers of self-driving and electric cars in the insurance industry. She believes that children born today will not need to learn to drive and as grown-ups will be cruising around Britain\u2019s cities in electric \u201crobo-cars\u201d. Advocates say they will reduce pollution, be cheaper to run and provide mobility to those unable to drive, including the elderly.\n\nUntil recently, the question of who is liable in an accident involving a self-driving car was seen as a major hurdle in the development of autonomous vehicles \u2013 but Blanc said a government draft bill had brought clarity.\n\nIf it becomes law, insurers will automatically pay out if motorists crash a car in self-driving mode. The question of whether man or machine are to blame will then be debated by the insurance company and the carmaker. If the motorist is found to have been negligent by failing to download safety-critical software updates, for instance, the insurance payout can be reduced.\n\nWith 85-90% of road accidents caused by human error, the adoption of self-driving cars is expected to slash the number of small claims made by motorists \u2013 and insurance premiums will come down as a result. The industry would be left with more severe claims: when an accident does happen, the cost is likely to be higher because car parts are now bristling with technology and are more expensive to replace.\n\nSome of the world\u2019s biggest carmakers and technology companies including Volvo, Ford, Nissan and Google are vying to develop the first fully automated vehicles. Tesla Autopilot software already allows drivers to take their hands off the wheel in certain circumstances. Blanc said about her Tesla: \u201cTwo weekends ago we were driving too close to the kerb and it corrected on my husband\u2019s behalf. It\u2019s starting to think for you.\u201d\n\nThe chancellor recently reaffirmed a budget pledge to ensure \u201cgenuine driverless vehicles\u201d on Britain\u2019s roads by 2021. Phillip Hammond admitted that it would be a \u201cvery challenging\u201d achievement: a million drivers of commercial vehicles would have to retrain.\n\nBut others point to progress being made. Waymo, a company that started as part of Google, launched tests of fully driverless taxis on the streets of Phoenix, Arizona, last month. Jaguar Land Rover is testing self-driving vehicles on public roads in Coventry, albeit with a driver in the front seat.\n\nAxa is involved in several self-driving car trials funded by the government, including Venturer in Bristol and UK Autodrive in Milton Keynes.", "output": "Insufficient charging infrastructure for electric vehicles (EVs) is hampering the UK's move to autonomous cars, AXA UK & Ireland Group CEO Amanda Blanc has warned. The nation has 14,000 chargers for about 125,000 plug-in EVs.\u00a0Blanc called for more rapid charging bays outside London and the south-east. She also said the government needed to be smarter with renewables to avoid putting a strain on the National Grid. \"Imagine what will happen if everybody comes home from work at six\u00a0o\u2019clock and switches their cars on to charge,\" she said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk Openreach ultrafast broadband rollout behind schedule \n Thursday, Dec 28th, 2017 (2:22 pm) - Score 27,867\n\nOpenreach (BT) has announced that their new 330Mbps capable hybrid fibre G.fast broadband network is \u201cnow available\u201d to thousands of people in Bath, Glasgow and Edinburgh, although none of the major ISPs have launched public packages and the final EMD phase still hasn\u2019t begun.\n\nBack in August 2017 the operator announced that their G.fast pilot would be expanded to include 26 additional locations across the United Kingdom (total of 46 locations) and this rollout was then \u201cexpected to reach a million premises by the end of the year\u201d (here), although more recent updates have clarified that they actually meant \u201cthe end of the fiscal year\u201d (BT\u2019s financial year ends on 31st March 2018).\n\nOpenreach and BT Wholesale had originally said that G.fast\u2019s Early Market Deployment (EMD) phase, which is the final phase after the pilot and before full commercial service availability, would begin in September 2017 (here) but it appears to be lagging a little behind that plan (ideally they should have completed a bit more than 390,000 premises by now).\n\nA number of ISPs had also been planning to put their own public pilot packages live alongside, or slightly ahead of, the EMD phase during the October to November 2017 window but they now appear to have pushed those plans back into early 2018 (this doesn\u2019t include Sky Broadband or TalkTalk, which have remained fashionably coy about their launch plans).\n\nIndustry sources have indicated to ISPreview.co.uk that the decision about whether or not to enter the next EMD phase will be taken soon (possibly during February) and if that\u2019s accurate the earliest date for EMD would be around March / April 2018, which means that a full commercial launch seems unlikely to start before June 2018 at the earliest.\n\nAs it stands only a tiny number of ISPs actually have G.fast based packages and nearly all of those are still testing it as part of closed trials (see TalkTalk\u2019s G.fast service), although we hope to see the first public pilot packages going live during Q1 2018 from a few smaller ISPs (assuming EMD isn\u2019t further delayed).\n\nWe have asked Openreach to clarify their expectations for the commercial launch, although getting a reply during the Christmas week is perhaps an exercise in wishful thinking. In the meantime we anticipate that Openreach will throw out some similar \u201cnow available\u201d style press releases for the other 26 pilot additions, which were first announced in August 2017 and are now slowly reaching completion.\n\nHowever a lot of those with the desire to be early adopters may be disappointed when they realise that in a fair few areas the old FTTC (VDSL2) service can sometimes deliver a faster speed than G.fast tech, which prefers much shorter copper lines (ideally sub 350 metres). There\u2019s a cross over point where we\u2019ve been seeing VDSL2 speeds beat G.fast by a significant margin, although G.fast\u2019s Fault Threshold of 100Mbps should help to keep some separation at the retail ISP level.", "output": "UK telecoms company Openreach is behind schedule in bringing its G.fast broadband network to a million homes by the end of March, according to ispreview.co.uk. Openreach said it had covered 390,000 UK premises, but the slow progress could see further delays to the final Early Market Deployment phase. TalkTalk is currently running closed trials of the G.fast service and has remained tight-lipped about its launch plans.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Final push to sell Yorkshire estate homes \n \u2018Last chance\u2019 to buy at Devonshire Gardens, Harrogate\n\nHome buyers wishing to take root in Redrow\u2019s Devonshire Gardens, Harrogate, can still have their pick from a choice of homes.\n\nThere are only six houses and six apartments available to purchase before Redrow Homes takes a short break at the popular Claro Road development.\n\nPatsy Aicken, sales director for Redrow Homes (Yorkshire), says: \u201cWe do have a future phase planned but that won\u2019t be starting for some time so, for now, this is the last chance for people to make Devonshire Gardens their home.\u201d\n\nAlthough there are only 12 homes left to purchase, the selection is varied with one and two-bedroom apartments and four and five-bedroom houses to choose from.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s good news because it means we can meet the needs of a range of potential buyers, all with very different needs,\u201d Patsy explains. \u201cBut, of course, it also means competition to own one of the final properties could be fierce, so those wanting to enjoy the quality of our homes and the lovely location should make a move as soon as they can.\u201d\n\nThe homes themselves certainly make it a tempting prospect. The four-bedroom Cleveland townhouse and it\u2019s \u2018big sister\u2019, the five-bedroom Cleveland Grand, are classical looking townhouses with a modern twist. Priced at \u00a3334,950 and \u00a3364,950 respectively they are ideal properties for today\u2019s modern family, with fully fitted kitchen, contemporary appliances, en-suite to master bedroom and ground floor cloakroom among their many attributes.\n\nRedrow is even prepared to pay the stamp duty for the customers who purchase one of these last six houses; and on the Cleveland Grand that could be a massive saving of over \u00a38,000.\n\nThe Faversham apartments are priced from only \u00a3162,950 for a one-bedroom property and from \u00a3224,950 for the larger two-bedroom version. Since launching, they\u2019ve proved perfect for first time buyers and downsizers who want the luxury and manageability of something smaller, as well as investors.\n\nWith properties up to \u00a3300,000 now exempt from stamp duty for first time buyers there\u2019ll be no tax to pay for them; but Redrow may be able to help those who would still incur the tax \u2013 especially downsizers who are moving to free up capital and don\u2019t want to immediately relinquish some of it to the treasury!\n\nJust as the homes suit all, so too does the location.\n\nDevonshire Gardens is close to the grassy parkland of The Stray and within walking distance of the town with its mix of shops, restaurants, museums and galleries. It\u2019s also convenient for road and rail links to Skipton, Leeds and York.\n\n\u201cThat makes our homes a wise choice for the financially savvy as well as commuters or those looking for a bolthole in a pretty and popular part of the world,\u201d Patsy adds.\n\nTo find out more about the final homes in the current phase, visit Devonshire Gardens\u2019 sales centre. Check the website for opening times - redrow.co.uk/devonshire.", "output": "\u00a0UK housebuilder Redrow is offering to pay up to \u00a38,000 ($10,846) towards the cost of homes on its Devonshire Gardens development in Harrogate. The company said it will pay the sales taxes to sell the last dozen one- to five-bedroom properties on the Yorkshire estate. Patsy Aicken, sales director for Redrow Homes in Yorkshire, said more properties were planned for the site but construction would not begin for some time.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Seven IM warns against 'fashionable' ETFs \n Many of the niche smart beta ETFs that have come to market risk \"sinking without a trace\" according to an investment manager at Seven Investment Management.\n\nPeter Sleep said equity ETFs are becoming increasingly specialised \u2013 to the extent you can now buy ETFs playing themes such as robotics, ageing and millennials.\n\nMr Sleep said: \"This is nothing new, as during the commodity boom we had shipbuilding ETFs, which sank without trace, and coal mining ETFs, that caved in.\n\n\"It will be interesting to see whether all these ETFs survive in a Darwinian world and what new ETFs we will see in 2018.\u201d\n\nMr Sleep said the passive fixed income products currently on the market are often wrongly labelled smart beta because they buy bonds in relation to how long those assets have until maturity, but he thinks the gap in the market is for fixed income products focused on value or momentum styles of investing.\n\nHe said equity passive funds that invest in a shares based on market capitalisation traditionally expose the investor only to the risk that the share falls in value, while such passive strategies in the ETF market mean an investor risks owning a bond that defaults, causing the investor to lose all of their money.\n\nMr Sleep said another innovation for the ETF market could be the advent of products that allow investors to short-sell a particular bond market, something he would regard as a positive for investors.\n\ndavid.thorpe@ft.com", "output": "Increasingly specialised smart-beta exchange-traded funds (ETF) focusing on specific sectors\u00a0could sink \"without a trace\", warned Peter Sleep of Seven Investment Management, noting the same happened to shipbuilding and coal-mining focused products, reported David Thorpe in FT Adviser.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CBOE files with SEC for six bitcoin ETFs \n A computer screen at the Cboe Global Markets exchange (previously referred to as CBOE Holdings, Inc.) shows Bitcoin cash and futures prices on December 19, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois.\n\nCboe Global Markets has applied with the SEC to list six bitcoin-related exchange-traded funds as the company bets further on the emerging new asset class.\n\nEarlier this month, Cboe jumped ahead of rival exchange CME Group to launch bitcoin futures first.\n\nHere are the six funds:\n\nFirst Trust Bitcoin Strategy ETF\n\nFirst Trust Inverse Bitcoin Strategy ETF\n\nREX Bitcoin Strategy ETF\n\nREX Short Bitcoin Strategy ETF\n\nGraniteShares Bitcoin ETF\n\nGraniteShares Short Bitcoin ETF\n\nThe exchange-traded funds would allow traders to bet on how the volatile cryptocurrency futures contracts will perform. Cboe filed to list all six funds with the SEC within the past week.\n\nBitcoin itself has had a rough end to the week. The digital currency briefly sank below $11,000 Friday, down 44 percent from a record high at the start of the week.\n\n\"Given the success of the launch of our bitcoin futures, several partners are very interested in moving forward with the development of an exchange-traded product,\" a Cboe spokesperson told CNBC.\n\nAccording to the First Trust filing, the fund \"intends to invest primarily in Bitcoin Futures Contracts, [though] it may also invest in other Listed Bitcoin Derivatives, OTC Bitcoin Derivatives, U.S. exchange-listed ETPs, and Non-U.S. Component Stocks (collectively, 'Bitcoin Instruments').\"\n\nREX ETFs will place a majority of its assets in bitcoin derivatives and cash, but may also invest in U.S. exchange-listed ETPs. The GraniteShares ETFs would follow suit.\n\nThe filings by Cboe Global Markets come on the heels of a filing by the NYSE to list two bitcoin ETFs as exchanges compete to get ahead in the cryptocurrency space.\n\n\u2014 CNBC's Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report.", "output": "CBOE Global Markets has applied to list six bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with the\u00a0Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The move comes following the exchange's launch of futures contracts focused on the cryptocurrency. The ETFs are managed by\u00a0First Trust Advisors, REX ETFs and GraniteShares. Bitcoin dropped below $11,000 for a short time on Friday, marking a 44% drop from its high at the start of last week.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Blockchain-derived platform cuts back-office costs for banks \n Citi and CME Clearing have teamed up with Baton Systems to implement a blockchain-inspired platform as the firms look to reduce costs of back-office functions.\n\nThe platform allows banks to view their collateral in their ledgers in real-time and send cash or securities to clearing houses with one-click.\n\nCiti and CME Clearing explained the software could significantly reduce costs of back-office operations and speed up margin funding times.\n\nTraditionally banks have had to set aside capital as they wait for collateral to be settled, but the platform could see billions of dollars of capital freed up at major institutions.\n\nStephen Marx, head of futures, clearing, and collateral operations at Citi, explained the new system also automates certain processes to free up time for market participants.\n\n\u201cThe technology allows financial institutions to eliminate manual touch points, reduce email traffic an avoid logging into multiple portals. The capabilities in the funding and collateral space create efficiency and improve productivity for our clients,\u201d Marx said.\n\nArjun Jayaram, CEO of Baton Systems, added the system can be implemented and is immediately scalable across any financial institution, exchange or clearing house.\n\n\u201cIts beauty is its simplicity, leveraging the most useful elements of blockchain, while introducing interoperability and extensibility to easily fit with existing technology 'rails' and business processes,\u201d he commented.\n\nBlockchain technology has now been widely implemented across financial institutions for various processes and functions.\n\nEarlier this month, the Australian Stock Exchange confirmed plans to replace its entire post-trade system, including the clearing and settlement of all equity transactions, with blockchain technology.\n\nDominic Stevens, CEO at ASX, explained at the time the decision to use blockchain would reduce costs for its customers and put Australia at the forefront of innovation in financial markets.", "output": "Banks may no longer need to set aside billions of dollars in capital as they wait for collateral to be settled, thanks to a blockchain-inspired back-office platform\u00a0introduced\u00a0by Citi and CME Clearing. The companies partnered with Baton Systems to develop the system, which offers real-time updates on ledger collateral and eliminates the requirement for capital to be set aside to cover settlements, as well as speeding up margin funding times. The software also allows real-time transfer of cash and securities to clearing houses. Other efficiencies include\u00a0reducing the need for manual intervention and reducing email traffic.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Root approved to offer policies in Arkansas, Mississippi \n Columbus, Ohio-based insurtech company, Root Insurance, has received authorization to sell property/casualty (excluding workers\u2019 compensation) products in Arkansas.\n\nRoot is a private passenger auto insurance company that began operations in June 2016. Root is wholly owned by IBOD Inc. and is currently licensed in 18 states. The company\u2019s policies are reinsured by Munich Re [A.M. Best rated A+ (superior)], Maiden Re [A.M. Best rated A (excellent)], and Odyssey Re [A.M. Best rated A (excellent)].\n\nWith the addition of Root, Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Allen Kerr has approved 30 new insurers in the state in 2017.\n\nRoot utilizes telematics data, provided by consumers through its smartphone application to more accurately price insurance coverage. Customers will use the application to scan their driver\u2019s license which Root uses to gather data, including their driving history and other demographic information. The application will turn the customer\u2019s phone into a telematics device, gathering additional data about the customer\u2019s driving habits by measuring driving speeds, acceleration and breaking patterns, changing lanes and other activities related to automobile accidents.\n\nSource: Arkansas Insurance Department\n\nTopics Auto Arkansas", "output": "Ohio-based firm Root Insurance has been granted a licence to sell insurance products in the US state of Arkansas. The insurtech, which uses telematics data gathered from a smartphone app to offer personalised car insurance, recently also secured a licence to sell car insurance in Mississippi, and has a presence in nine US states. Root also plans to expand to Louisiana, Maryland, North Dakota, Montana and North Carolina.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Root approved to offer policies in Arkansas, Mississippi \n This week, insurance company Root Insurance announced it is now able to offer its services to drivers in Mississippi. The company stated:\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right Mississippi, we\u2019ve arrived, and we\u2019re here to save you from paying too much for car insurance. Because if you\u2019re a good driver in the Magnolia State, chances are pretty high that you\u2019re paying pretty high rates. And we don\u2019t think that\u2019s fair.\u201d\n\nRoot then revealed:\n\n\u201cAt Root, we rate you based primarily on how you drive. So if you\u2019re a good driver, you can get a great rate on car insurance. That\u2019s all it takes. Or as we like to call it\u2014car insurance the way it should be.\u201d\n\nThe company also noted the steps that drivers need to do in order to use its platform:\n\nDownload the app and burn through the 47-second signup. (Forget everything you know about insurance forms.) Take the test drive. It\u2019s usually about three weeks. Get a rate based primarily on how you drive\u2014up to 52% off your current rate. Purchase a policy with a few taps\n\nRoot added that drivers may manage their policy, file a claim, and find their insurance cards all easily right in the app. The platform will also cancel the driver\u2019s old insurance for them.\n\nRoot Insurance is now available in Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Arizona, and Utah. It is currently making plans to launch in Louisiana, Arkansas, North Carolina, Maryland, North Dakota, and Montana", "output": "Ohio-based firm Root Insurance has been granted a licence to sell insurance products in the US state of Arkansas. The insurtech, which uses telematics data gathered from a smartphone app to offer personalised car insurance, recently also secured a licence to sell car insurance in Mississippi, and has a presence in nine US states. Root also plans to expand to Louisiana, Maryland, North Dakota, Montana and North Carolina.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Increased number of Indian insurers expected to IPO in 2018 \n December 30, 2017 08:37 pm | Updated 09:00 pm IST - New Delhi\n\nMore insurance companies are expected to hit the capital markets next year after successful IPOs of five insurers, including two state-owned companies, which collectively raked in about \u20b945,000 crore.\n\nBesides the spate of IPOs, 2018 will also witness some consolidation in the insurance space although the merger of Max Life and Max Financial Services with HDFC Standard Life Insurance could not go through.\n\nHowever, there are other deals that are in the works which may fructify next year.\n\nIn the recent past, the insurance sector has seen some consolidation and the action is expected to continue going forward, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company CEO Tapan Singhel told PTI.\n\nThe insurance industry is witnessing growth and is projected to have great times in the years to come. This offers immense scope for consolidation as some promoters may look at exiting non-core businesses and existing large insurers desire to achieve scale and bring in better synergies to pass on the cost efficiencies to customers and shareholders, he said.\n\nWith regard to fund raising, ICICI Lombard was the first to hit the capital market this year and raised \u20b95,700 crore from the primary market. Incidentally, the IPO chart in this fiscal was topped by insurance firm GIC Re that garnered over \u20b911,176 crore.\n\nGoing forward, other state-owned general insurance companies \u2014 National Insurance Company, Oriental Insurance Co and United India Insurance Co \u2014 are gearing up for listing.\n\nThe year also witnessed the entry of new players like Acko General Insurance Company, DHFL General Insurance, Edelweiss General Insurance Company Limited and Go Digit General Insurance.\n\nWith this, there are now 9 re-insurance companies, 24 life insurers and 33 general insurers, including 6 standalone health insurance companies, in India.\n\nThe insurance sector is growing at a rapid pace, particularly the health insurance segment, said Apollo Munich Health Insurance CEO Antony Jacob.\n\n\u201cTechnology-led disruptive ideas are changing the face of business and the category per se is booming with new products being launched and the distribution network being expanded. This trend will continue and insurers will focus on tech-driven ideas,\u201d according to Mr. Jacob.\n\nThough demonetisation and GST have disrupted the business and economic growth in the short run, the growth momentum will return after the economy stabilises, he said.\n\n\u2018Telematics norms\u2019\n\n\u201cAs the sector grows, new entrants would come in with new products. This will further make the market competitive,\u201d he added.\n\nTwo major developments that are expected are norms for the usage of telematics in the industry in determining the premium pricing; and amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act.\n\n\u2018MV Act amendment\u2019\n\n\u201cWe expect the Motor Vehicles Act to be passed in the coming year, which will have crucial implications on the insurance industry.\n\n\u201cWe would also expect the government to consider providing tax incentives on schemes such as home insurance to attract more Indians to avail this financial protection,\u201d Mr. Singhel said.\n\nIRDAI had issued new guidelines on outsourcing activities by insurers by clearly defining areas of work that should be done in-house and those which can be handed out to third parties.\n\nThe regulator said the norms were aimed at ensuring insurers followed prudent practises on management of risks arising out of outsourcing so as to prevent negative systemic impact on the one hand and protect the interests of policyholders on the other.\n\nIt also proposed changes in the 16-year old regulations regarding Appointed Actuaries by modifying the framework for their appointment and functions.", "output": "Increasing numbers of Indian insurers are predicted to go public in 2018. Last year saw five insurance companies hold successful initial public offerings, including two state-run firms, which collectively raised INR450bn ($7bn). This year, however, is also expected to see some consolidation in the insurance sector, despite the merger of Max Life and Max Financial Services with HDFC Standard Life Insurance falling through.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Emerson launches surface-sensor oil pipe temperature reader \n Emerson Automation Solutions has introduced a new platform for its RosemountTM X-wellTM Technology surface sensing temperature measurement solution. The technology with a Rosemount 3144P transmitter extends the company\u2019s non-intrusive temperature sensing technology range for users in conventional wired I/O environments.\n\nThis product expands potential application possibilities for X-well in plants and facilities where wired networks are already installed, or where WirelessHART has not yet been deployed. Other users have found this new platform solution to be a useful replacement for difficult thermowell installations, which often have a wired connection already available and can be reused.\n\nX-well works by measuring pipe surface temperature and ambient temperature, and combining this information with an understanding of the thermal conductivity properties of the installation and process piping to produce an accurate process temperature measurement.\n\nAn advantage of this technology is accurate process temperature measurement without requiring any intrusions or penetrations into the process, allowing for quicker and easier installation along with simplified long-term maintenance. Users do not have to design, size or maintain thermowells. Wake frequency calculations are eliminated, as well as time spent determining material compatibility, the right insertion length and the necessary profile.\n\nApplications for this technology include pipelines, small line sizes, high velocity flows, slurries, heavy particulate fluids, wellheads, clean-in-place processes, high viscosity fluids and harsh processes in the oil and gas, chemical, refining, metals and mining industries.\n\nWith X-well, users can also add temperature measurement points without having to shut down a process. The measurement instruments can be installed with a standard pipe clamp procedure and ordinary hand tools, without the need for a skilled contractor.", "output": "US electrical company Emerson has extended the potential applications of its temperature-sensor system. The Rosemount X-well technology measures the surface temperature of pipes and uses an algorithm based on the conductive properties of the materials from which the pipe is made to work out the temperature inside. This allows users to obtain an accurate reading without having to intrude into the process or install thermowells to protect sensors. Emerson has now made it available on a new platform for users with wired networks."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fluenta unveils extreme-temperature gas-flow gauges \n Fluenta has launched a new range of ultrasonic flow transducers. Its two new transducers enable ultrasonic measurement of gas flow in highly challenging environments.\n\nThe high-temperature range transducer can accurately measure gas flow at up to 250\u00b0C, allowing the ultrasonic technology to be deployed in a range of flare applications, as well as in the chemical processing industry. The cryogenic transducer is designed to work in processes as cold as -200\u00b0C, typically found in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry and other gas liquification and chemical processes.\n\nNew software and signal processing allows these transducers to function in processes containing up to 100% methane or 100% carbon dioxide, gas mixes which historically have presented challenges to standard ultrasonic flow meters.\n\nFluenta\u2019s non-intrusive transducers do not interrupt gas flow and can be used across pipe diameters of 6 \u2013 72 in. The new range of transducers and software are compatible with Fluenta\u2019s FGM160, and can be fitted to existing installations.\n\nWith government regulation increasingly strict for monitoring flare gas emissions, companies are under pressure to accurately measure and record gas flow.\n\n\u201cThese new transducers greatly increase the capacity of Fluenta to meet the needs of our existing customers, and to move into new markets such as chemical processing and liquified natural gas,\u201d comments Sigurd Aase, CEO of Fluenta. \u201cWe are investing significantly in ultrasonic gas flow monitoring, and this product launch provides customers with an unrivalled combination flexibility, reliability and accuracy in gas flow monitoring.\u201d", "output": "Norwegian company Fluenta has launched two devices that can measure the flow of gas through a pipeline in extreme temperatures. The ultrasonic flow transducers can work on gas mixes of 100% methane or 100% carbon dioxide, something many other gauges are unable to do. The high-temperature transducer aimed at the chemical-processing industry is able to measure gas flow at temperatures up to 250\u00b0C, while Fluenta's cryogenic transducer has been designed to function in temperatures as low as -200\u00b0C, making it ideal for the liquefied natural gas industry.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Global warming of 2C could render 25% of globe arid \n Aridity\u2014the ratio of atmospheric water supply (precipitation; P) to demand (potential evapotranspiration; PET)\u2014is projected to decrease (that is, areas will become drier) as a consequence of anthropogenic climate change, exacerbating land degradation and desertification1,2,3,4,5,6. However, the timing of significant aridification relative to natural variability\u2014defined here as the time of emergence for aridification (ToEA)\u2014is unknown, despite its importance in designing and implementing mitigation policies7,8,9,10. Here we estimate ToEA from projections of 27 global climate models (GCMs) under representative concentration pathways (RCPs) RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, and in doing so, identify where emergence occurs before global mean warming reaches 1.5 \u00b0C and 2 \u00b0C above the pre-industrial level. On the basis of the ensemble median ToEA for each grid cell, aridification emerges over 32% (RCP4.5) and 24% (RCP8.5) of the total land surface before the ensemble median of global mean temperature change reaches 2 \u00b0C in each scenario. Moreover, ToEA is avoided in about two-thirds of the above regions if the maximum global warming level is limited to 1.5 \u00b0C. Early action for accomplishing the 1.5 \u00b0C temperature goal can therefore markedly reduce the likelihood that large regions will face substantial aridification and related impacts.", "output": "Global temperature rises of 2C above pre-industrial levels could result in over 25% of the earth\u2019s surface becoming considerably drier, increasing the risk of drought and wildfires and threatening agriculture and biodiversity, according to new research. Restricting global warming to less than 1.5C would save two-thirds of such areas from such severe change. The study analysed projections from 27 global climate models in order to identify the regions that were most at risk, including Central America, southeast Asia, southern Africa, southern Australia and southern Europe. These regions are home to 20% of the world\u2019s current population. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Global warming of 2C could render 25% of globe arid \n More than a quarter of the planet\u2019s surface could become significantly drier if global temperatures rise 2C above pre-industrial levels, scientists predict.\n\nThe study, which is one of the most detailed assessments to date of future aridity, suggests that many regions could face an increased threat of drought and wildfires.\n\nLimiting global warming to under 1.5C would avoid extreme changes for two-thirds of these areas, the study suggested.\n\nChang-Eui Park, the first author from the Southern University of Science and Technology (Sustech) in Shenzhen China, said: \u201cAridification is a serious threat because it can critically impact areas such as agriculture, water quality, and biodiversity. It can also lead to more droughts and wildfires similar to those seen raging across California.\u201d\n\nAridity is a measure of the dryness of the land surface, which can be calculated by combining predictions of precipitation and evaporation.\n\nThe scientists studied projections from 27 different global climate models to pinpoint regions where the land is expected to become significantly drier, as global warming reaches 1.5C and 2C above pre-industrial levels.\n\nManoj Joshi, a co-author of the study from the University of East Anglia (UEA), said: \u201cOur research predicts that aridification would emerge over about 20 to 30% of the world\u2019s land surface by the time the global mean temperature change reaches 2C. But two-thirds of the affected regions could avoid significant aridification if warming is limited to 1.5C.\u201d\n\nDrought severity has already increased across the Mediterranean, southern Africa, and the eastern coast of Australia during the 20th century, while semi-arid areas of Mexico, Brazil, southern Africa and Australia have started turning into desert as the world warms. The study suggested that equatorial regions and countries at high latitudes could get wetter.\n\nProf Tim Osborn, also one of the study\u2019s co-authors from UEA, said: \u201cThe areas of the world which would most benefit from keeping warming below 1.5C are parts of south-east Asia, southern Europe, southern Africa, Central America and southern Australia where more than 20% of the world\u2019s population live today.\u201d\n\nThe findings are published in the journal Nature Climate Change.", "output": "Global temperature rises of 2C above pre-industrial levels could result in over 25% of the earth\u2019s surface becoming considerably drier, increasing the risk of drought and wildfires and threatening agriculture and biodiversity, according to new research. Restricting global warming to less than 1.5C would save two-thirds of such areas from such severe change. The study analysed projections from 27 global climate models in order to identify the regions that were most at risk, including Central America, southeast Asia, southern Africa, southern Australia and southern Europe. These regions are home to 20% of the world\u2019s current population. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK recycling plants see rubbish pile up due to Chinese ban \n A ban on imports of millions of tonnes of plastic waste by the Chinese government is already causing a build up of rubbish at recycling plants around the UK and will bring chaos for councils in the weeks ahead, according to industry experts.\n\nSimon Ellin, chief executive of the UK Recycling Association, said his members had already seen some lower grade plastics piling up at their yards and warned urgent action was needed.\n\n\u201cYou can already see the impact if you walk round some of our members\u2019 yards. Plastic is building up and if you were to go around those yards in a couple of months\u2019 time the situation would be even worse.\u201d\n\nThe Chinese plastic ban came in on 1 January but Ellin said many UK recycling businesses stopped shipping plastic to China in the autumn because of fears it might not arrive before the deadline.\n\n\u201cWe have relied on exporting plastic recycling to China for 20 years and now people do not know what is going to happen. A lot of [our members] are now sitting back and seeing what comes out of the woodwork, but people are very worried.\u201d\n\nChina\u2019s dominance in manufacturing means that for years it has been the world\u2019s largest importer of recyclable materials. In 2016, it imported 7.3m tonnes of waste plastics from developed countries including the UK, the US and Japan.\n\n\n\nBritish companies alone have shipped more than 2.7m tonnes of plastic waste to China and Hong Kong since 2012 \u2013 two-thirds of the UK\u2019s total waste plastic exports, according to data from Greenpeace released last month.\n\nBut last summer the Chinese government announced it intended to stop the importation of 24 kinds of solid waste by the end of the year, including polyethylene terephthalate (Pet) drinks bottles, other plastic bottles and containers, and all mixed paper, in a campaign against yang laji or \u201cforeign garbage\u201d.\n\n\n\nEllin warned that the ban could have severe consequences for council recycling in the UK \u2013 at least in the short term.\n\n\n\n\u201cIf it no longer pays for our members to take this waste and sort it once it has been collected by councils then that might stop.\n\n\u201cThat might mean that councils no longer collect recycling in the same way. It could be chaos, it really could.\u201d\n\n\n\nMichael Gove, the environment secretary, announced a \u201cfour-point plan for tackling plastic waste\u201d last month including cutting the total amount of plastic in circulation, reducing the number of different plastics in use and making recycling easier.\n\nBut when asked recently about the impact of the China waste ban he said: \u201cI don\u2019t know what impact it will have. It is ... something to which \u2013 I will be completely honest \u2013 I have not given it sufficient thought.\u201d\n\nMary Creagh MP, chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, has warned the ban could mean \u201ca double whammy for council tax payers\u201d if the price of exported waste falls and the cost of UK disposal rises. And she has called on the government to invest in more reprocessing facilities at home \u201cto reuse these valuable materials, create green jobs and prevent plastic and paper pollution.\u201d\n\nA Defra spokesperson insisted the government was taking \u201csignificant steps\u201d to tackle plastic waste, from the ban on plastic microbeads to the introduction of the carrier bag charge.\n\n\u201cWe recognise more needs to be done to protect our environment from the scourge of plastics, and have launched a call for evidence around deposit reward and return schemes for plastic bottles and other drinks containers.\u201d\n\n\n\nSome experts believe that in the long term the decision by China could be an opportunity for the UK to develop its recycling infrastructure.\n\nEllin agreed that if there was the political will this could be an opportunity in the medium term.\n\n\u201cWe need to look at the entire system from producing less, to better, simpler design, to standardised recycling. In the medium term this should be seen as a great opportunity for us to drastically improve how we do these things.\u201d", "output": "UK recycling plants are already experiencing a build up of rubbish as a result of a Chinese ban on imports of plastic waste. As we reported last month, the ban, which applies to 24 kinds of solid waste, came into effect on 1 January 2018. Two-thirds of the UK\u2019s total plastic waste exports, or over 2.7 million tonnes, have been shipped to China and Hong Kong since 2012. UK Recycling Association CEO, Simon Ellin, warned of possible chaos if councils stopped collecting recycling.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Drones provide \u2018Uber for blood\u2019 in Rwanda \n An ingenious drone delivery service known as \u201cUber for blood\u201d has slashed the delivery time of life-saving medicine to remote regions of Rwanda from four hours to an average of half an hour.\n\nA partnership between Zipline, a Silicon Valley robotics company, and the country\u2019s health ministry has delivered more than 5,500 units of blood over the past year, often in life-saving situations. Never before have patients in the country received blood so quickly and efficiently.\n\n\n\nWhile commercial drone delivery in wealthier countries is still at the testing stage, hampered by busy skies and strict regulations on airspace, Zipline is delivering blood to 12 regional hospitals from a base in the east of Rwanda. Each hospital serves about half a million people.\n\nThe use of drones is helping to reduce maternal deaths \u2013 a quarter of which are the result of blood loss during childbirth \u2013 and high incidences of malaria-induced anaemia, which is common in children.\n\n\n\nDrone delivery also means hospitals can store less blood, which means less waste as blood spoils quickly.\n\nA technician from Zipline installs a cardboard box with a paper parachute in a drone in Muhanga, 50km west of Kigali. Photograph: Stephanie Aglietti/AFP/Getty Images\n\nNow Zipline plans to work with the government of Tanzania, a country of 56 million people, to launch what it claims is the world\u2019s largest drone delivery network.\n\nKeller Rinaudo, Zipline\u2019s co-founder and chief executive officer, said the move will make east Africa a world leader in drone logistics.\n\n\u201cSome of the biggest, most powerful technology companies in the world are still trying to figure out how to do this. But east Africa is showing them all the way,\u201d he said. \u201cThe work in Rwanda has shown the world what\u2019s possible when you make a national commitment to expand healthcare access with drones and help save lives.\u201d\n\nThe idea for the drones came during a visit Rinaudo made to the Ifakara health institute in Tanzania, in 2014. He met a graduate student who had built a mobile alert system for health workers to text emergency requests for medicine and vaccines. A network of community health workers used the mobile alert system to make thousands of requests.\n\nBut there was a problem \u2013 there was no way for the government to fulfil these requests. \u201cIt became clear that this was a database of death filled with thousands of names, addresses, ages and phone numbers,\u201d said Rinaudo.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve designed Zipline to solve the second half of this problem. We know who needs medicine, when and where. And now, we can get them that medicine as quickly as possible.\u201d\n\nThis year, the firm aims to deliver a range of medical products \u2013 including blood transfusion supplies, HIV medication, antimalarials, sutures and UV tubes \u2013 to four bases in Tanzania, supporting more than 1,000 clinics.\n\nIn Rwanda, when a doctor or medical staffer at one of the 12 clinics needs blood, they send a WhatsApp message or log on to Zipline\u2019s order site. They are then sent a confirmation message saying a Zip drone is on its way.\n\nA Zipline worker technician launches a drone in Muhanga. Photograph: Stephanie Aglietti/AFP/Getty Images\n\nThe drone flies to the clinic at up to 60mph. When it is within a minute of the destination, the doctor receives a text. The drone then drops the package, attached to a parachute, into a special zone near the clinic before returning to base.\n\nCritics of the scheme in Rwanda have questioned why the authorities have invested in hi-tech schemes when demand for basic infrastructure, roads and health centres still exceeds supply. Zipline and the government have not revealed the cost of the project.\n\nBut a spokesman for the Rwandan health ministry said: \u201cThe ministry of health and Rwanda Biomedical Center are happy to use such innovative technology to reduce the average delivery time from four hours to less than 45 minutes, with quick and reliable delivery [of] blood products.\u201d", "output": "A drone delivery service, partnering Silicon Valley robotics firm Zipline with Rwanda\u2019s health ministry, has delivered over 5,500 units of blood in the past year, reducing delivery times to remote regions from four hours to an average of 30 minutes. Zipline supplies blood to 12 regional hospitals, each of which serves half a million people. The service has reduced maternal deaths and malaria-induced anaemia, as well as limiting waste by reducing the amount of blood that hospitals need to store. The company now plans to launch the largest drone delivery network in the world in Tanzania."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pret a Manger introduces 50p discount for reusable cups \n Customers who bring reusable cups to Pret a Manger will be given a 50p discount on hot drinks after the company introduced the measure and said it was hoping to change people\u2019s habits and reduce waste.\n\nThe sandwich chain has been offering 25p discounts to customers using reusable cups since 2017, alongside Costa and Starbucks. CEO Clive Schlee said he hoped that doubling the discount would make a difference, following other initiatives to reduce waste such as not using plastic cup stoppers in inner city Pret shops.\n\nOn Tuesday, Schlee tweeted: \u201cI\u2019m delighted you can now get 50p off a hot drink when you bring your reusable cup to Pret. I hope this will make a difference.\u201d\n\nLast month he said the company was considering the move \u201cto help change habits. It\u2019s well known that \u2018reduce\u2019 is better than \u2018recycle\u2019.\u201d\n\nCustomers in one Pret shop in Kings Cross said they liked the idea and would consider bringing in their own reusable cups, while a barista said many people opt for reusable cups already with the current 25p discount. \u201cIn the mornings, most people coming in use their own reusable cups,\u201d he said.\n\nEach year, the UK throws away an estimated 2.5bn coffee cups, almost 5,000 a minute. While these cups are recyclable fewer than one in 400 of them are because of difficulties in separating their plastic and paper parts.\n\n\n\nA government report has also found that red tape in the waste industry often gets in the way of effective recycling. Researchers suggested charging customers for using paper cups to reduce waste but Schlee says Pret decided against it as \u201cit goes against our instincts as we would prefer to be generous to our customers than to tax them\u201d.\n\nChancellor Philip Hammond signalled that taxes or charges could be levied on single-use plastics to help the UK lead the way on tackling \u201cthe scourge\u201d littering the environment in his November budget statement.\n\n\n\nIt comes amid rising concern about the problem of plastic waste in the oceans, harming and killing wildlife and entering the food chain, highlighted most recently in the BBC\u2019s Blue Planet II documentary series.\n\n\n\nIt follows the introduction of a 5p charge on single-use plastic carrier bags, which is credited with driving down how many are used by 85%, and calls to bring in charges on items ranging from plastic drinks bottles to disposable coffee cups.", "output": "Pret a Manger has doubled the discount it offers on hot drinks to customers with reusable cups to 50p. The sandwich chain, along with Costa and Starbucks, has been offering a discount of 25p to such customers since 2017. The move follows other waste reduction initiatives by the company, including abandoning the use of plastic cup stoppers in inner city Pret branches. The UK discards 2.5 billion coffee cups each year, with fewer than one in 400 being recycled.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Iran sees biggest protests since 2009 as economic hardships bite \n Tens of thousands of people have protested across the country since 28 December against the Islamic Republic's government and clerical elite.\n\nPolice in the centre of Tehran fired water cannons to try to disperse demonstrators, according to pictures on social media. Two protesters were reportedly killed in firing by Iranian security forces on 30 December\n\nDemonstrations turned violent in Shahin Shahr in central Iran. Videos showed protesters attacking the police, turning over a car and setting it on fire. Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the footage.\n\nThere were also reports of demonstrations in the western cities of Sanandaj and Kermanshah as well as Chabahar in the southeast and Ilam and Izeh in the southwest.", "output": "Iran is seeing its largest protests since 2009. They began\u00a0over economic grievances\u00a0but have taken on a political dimension,\u00a0resulting in more than a dozen deaths\u00a0and hundreds of arrests. Police stations have been attacked and \u00a0security forces are struggling to contain the uprisings.\u00a0Iran is a major OPEC member and regional power but there is increasing frustration\u00a0over its involvement in Syria and Iraq as it battles for regional influence to rival Saudi Arabia. Iranians\u00a0want\u00a0the government\u00a0to create jobs -- youth unemployment reached 28.8% in 2017 -- rather than get\u00a0involved in\u00a0costly proxy wars.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mushroom enzymes could reduce environmental impact of laundry \n COPENHAGEN \u2014 A Danish biotechnology company is trying to fight climate change \u2014 one laundry load at a time. Its secret weapon: mushrooms like those in a dormant forest outside Copenhagen.\n\nIn the quest for a more environmentally friendly detergent, two scientists at the company, Novozymes, regularly trudge through the mud, hunting for oyster mushrooms that protrude from a fallen beech or bracken fungi that feast on tough plant fibers. They are studying the enzymes in mushrooms that speed up chemical reactions or natural processes like decay.\n\n\u201cThere is a lot going on here, if you know what to look for,\u201d said Mikako Sasa, one of the Novozymes scientists.\n\nTheir work is helping the company develop enzymes for laundry and dishwasher detergents that would require less water, or that would work just as effectively at lower temperatures. The energy savings could be significant. Washing machines, for instance, account for over 6 percent of household electricity use in the European Union.", "output": "Environmentally friendly detergents using enzymes from items including mushrooms are being developed by Danish biotechnology firm, Novozymes. Enzyme detergents, for use in washing machines and dishwashers, work at lower temperatures, require less water and use less soap from palm oil and petrochemicals than traditional alternatives. Washing machines are currently responsible for over 6% of European Union household electricity use. Novozymes has also developed a enzyme being used in China that it hopes will prevent people in that country starting to wash clothes at higher temperatures as they become wealthier, claiming this would constitute \u201ca phenomenal sustainability story\u201d.\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesco criticised for food waste after CEO\u2019s pledge \n The cages of in-date produce which were allegedly binned by a Tesco store in Devon (Picture: SWNS)\n\nA Tesco worker was told to throw away six cages of in-date vegetables that could have been given to homeless charities or food banks.\n\nThe employee at the Exeter Vale Tesco Extra in Devon said they \u2018could not believe their eyes\u2019 as hundreds of bags of carrots and potatoes well within their sell-by date were binned.\n\nArmy corporal who raped female soldier said condom made it 'fine'\n\nThey spotted the cages stuffed with food on Christmas Eve.\n\nSome of the stock was dated December 30, meaning it would have been fresh for an entire week.\n\n\u2018It was really getting to me all over Christmas,\u2019 the employee \u2013 who wished to remain anonymous \u2013 told Devon Live.\n\n\u2018While I tucked into my dinner, all I could think of is how that food could have helped people who cook meals for the homeless.\n\nThe cages were photographed on Christmas Eve and held potatoes and carrots (Picture: SWNS)\n\n\u2018Why couldn\u2019t they just reduce it to 10p or less over the next few days, so it had chance to sell?\u2019\n\nTesco defended the incident, claiming the stock was unsuitable for a charity donation and said the potatoes were \u2018unfit for sale\u2019 but did not comment on the carrots.\n\nA spokesman for Tesco said: \u2018All food in our stores that is fit for consumption is either sold or offered to charities and community groups through our Community Food Connection scheme, with our Exeter Vale Extra store so far providing more than 9,000 meals through the scheme to help people in need.\n\n\u2018All unsold food that was fit for consumption was offered by the store to local groups, however shortly before Christmas, the Exeter Vale store received a delivery of potatoes that store colleagues found were unfit to sell or offer to local groups.\n\n\u2018Where products cannot be donated or are unfit for sale these products are put aside until they can be sent for anaerobic digestion.\u2019\n\nThe worker was horrified to be told to throw away masses of the in-date vegetables (Picture: SWNS)\n\nTesco chief executive Dave Lewis recently said no food fit for human consumption will be wasted by their UK stores by the end of February.\n\nHe said edible food should be used for people, and not go to waste.\n\nArmy corporal who raped female soldier said condom made it 'fine'\n\nTesco, alongside all major UK supermarkets including Sainsbury\u2019s and Morrisons, has signed a commitment to cut food waste by one-fifth within a decade as part of the Courtauld Commitment 2025.\n\nThe supermarket chain has come under fire in the past week by customers who complained about \u2018rancid\u2019 and \u2018rotten\u2019 turkeys bought for their Christmas dinners.\n\nThe company is refunding and compensating customers after being bombarded with complaints on social media.\n\nMORE : Why you should just tell your partner if they\u2019ve gotten chubby over Christmas\n\nMORE : Girl, 9, spends birthday money on helping the homeless at Christmas", "output": "Tesco has faced criticism in relation to edible food waste over the Christmas period. An employee at a branch of the supermarket in Devon claimed to have been told to throw away six cages of vegetables that were still in-date on Christmas Eve. Just two days earlier, Tesco CEO, Dave Lewis, had announced a commitment that no food fit for human consumption should go to waste in UK branches by the end of February. All leading UK supermarkets, including Tesco, have pledged to reduce food waste by 20% within a decade under the government-backed initiative, the Courtauld Commitment 2025.\n \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Climate change could triple migration to Europe by 2100 \n T he devastating effects of climate change may drive up the number of migrants seeking asylum in Europe if current trends continue, a new study has shown.\n\nBy the end of the century the number of migrants attempting to settle in Europe annually will triple, based on current climate trends alone, according to the research.\n\nWolfram Schlenker, author of the report, which was published in the journal Science on Thursday, said that we will see \u201cincreasing numbers of desperate people fleeing their home countries\u201d.\n\nHe predicts that, even if international efforts to curb global warming are successful, the number of asylum applications may rise by as much as a quarter before 2100.\n\nMr Schlenker said his predictions are based only on climate changes\u2019 impact on migration, and is independent of other economic and political factors.\n\nAsylum applications could increase on average by 28 per cent, which is an additional 660,000, according to the study.\n\nThe effects of climate change is predicted to bring more extreme weather including floods, droughts and heatwaves as well as more intense storms and rising sea levels.\n\nThe new study, led by scientists at Columbia University in New York, was predominantly funded by the EU\u2019s Joint Research Centre. The US Department of Energy also contributed.\n\nThe authors examined asylum applications in the EU from 103 countries between 2000 and 2014, during this time, applications averaged at more than 350,000 a year.\n\nThey compared the applications with information on environmental factors, adjusting the data for factors such as conflict and political turmoil.\n\nScientists spotted a trend correlating weather and changes in the number of asylum applications.\n\nCountries with average temperatures around 20C showed a higher number of applications, while there were fewer asylum seekers from places with cooler temperatures.\n\nThe data showed that the more temperatures in a country\u2019s key agricultural regions rose above 20C in the growing season, the more people left for another country.\n\nThey founded increases in the number of migrants from hot places such as Iraq and Pakistan when temperatures increased.\n\nBob Ward, policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics (LSE) said the study should be taken seriously by policymakers.\n\nSpeaking to the Guardian, he added that forecasting models often fail to take climate factors into account.\n\nHe told the newspaper: \u201cThis study shows how Europe will be impacted by one of the most serious impacts of climate change. Hundreds of millions, perhaps billions, of people will be exposed to coastal sea level rise and shifts in extreme weather that will cause mass migrations away from the most vulnerable locations.\n\n\u201cWe know from human history that such migrations often lead to conflict and war, with devastating consequences. The huge potential costs of migration-related conflict are usually omitted from economic models of climate change impacts in the future.\u201d\n\n", "output": "Annual migration to Europe could triple by the end of the century due to climate change, according to a study from New York\u2019s Columbia University. The study\u2019s author, Wolfram Schlenker, stated that even if efforts to curtail global warming succeeded, asylum applications could still rise by 25% by 2100. The research, which focused only on the impact of climate change on migration, excluding other economic and political factors, analysed asylum applications to European Union states from 103 countries between 2000 and 2014. Countries with average temperatures of 20C produced higher number of applications. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Iberdrola awarded 295 MW of wind in Brazilian auction \n Through its subsidiary Neoenergia, Spanish utility Iberdrola (BME:IBE) has secured 295 MW of wind power capacity in the Brazilian auction this week.\n\nNeoenergia will construct nine wind farms in the Santa Luzia area of the northeastern state of Paraiba and bring then online by January 2022. These projects will increase Neoenergia's wind capacity in operation or under construction to over 800 MW.\n\nIberdrola said this is its first major step in Brazil after completing the merger of Neoenergia with its Brazilian unit Elektro earlier this year. Neoenergia recently cancelled plans for an initial public offering (IPO).\n\nBrazil awarded more than 3,841.6 MW of clean power supply contracts in the tender. Wind power was the biggest seller with over 1,386.6 MW across 49 projects, led by Enel SpA (BIT:ENEL) with some 618 MW.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Spanish utility Iberdrola has secured 295 MW of wind power capacity in a Brazilian auction, which saw more than 3,841 MW of clean power supply contracts awarded. The deal will see Iberdrola's subsidiary, Neoenergia, develop and bring online nine wind farms in the state of Paraiba by January 2022, increasing Neoenergia's wind capacity to over 800 MW. The project represents Iberdrola's first major step in Brazil after merging Neoenergia with its Brazilian unit Elektro earlier this year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shell acquires UK's First Utility in retail power push \n First Utility's energy monitoring software has helped it become a firm favorite among British households.\n\nFirst Utility, which is the largest independent energy company in the U.K., has today been sold to Shell Petroleum Company for an undisclosed sum.\n\nThe acquisition of First Utility by Shell means that the Dutch-British oil giant now has a firm footing in the British home energy market following First Utility\u2019s recent growth to become a main challenger to the \u2018Big Six\u2019 energy providers that currently dominate the U.K. landscape.\n\nFirst Utility will continue to operate as a standalone entity in Shell\u2019s New Energies division \u2013 a move that company co-founder and CFO Darren Braham believes can help the firm continue its disruption of the old energy guard.\n\n\u201cThis move will help us to capitalize on all the opportunities provided by digitalization, decarbonization and the move to battery technology and electric vehicles,\u201d Braham said.\n\nPopular content\n\nFirst Utility\u2019s growth in recent years was underpinned by its embrace of connected home technology, which allows homeowners to easily switch their energy provider and gain a firmer grip on their consumption patterns via its smart home platform, which supports technologies such as Google\u2019s Nest and British Gas\u2019s Hive smart home monitor.\n\nThe company is also a leading broadband provider, and its synchronization of internet service and smart home energy management has caught Shell\u2019s eye as the oil conglomerate continues to ramp up its clean energy footprint.\n\nThe deal follows less than a week after BP bought British solar power developer Lightsource for a reported $200 million.", "output": "Shell has acquired the UK's largest independent energy provider, First Utility, for an undisclosed sum. The energy provider, which also supplies broadband services and smart home energy management, will continue to operate as an independent entity under Shell's \"New Energies\" division. First Utility CFO Darren Braham said the move will help the provider to \"capitalise on all the opportunities provided by digitalisation, decarbonisation and the move to battery technology and electric vehicles\", whilst continuing to disrupt the Big Six-dominated UK retail-energy market."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurers adopt satellite technology for data insights \n \"We have anecdotal examples where you are tracing port activity to better understand that risk. But we can now have [conversations] with the insured party that without this data we couldn't have. Honestly, it would be very hard to aggregate the data in any other way, other than to watch it from space.\"\n\nSensors everywhere\n\nStuckey says it's taken him and the industry \"a while\" to grasp the centrality of data and data analytics, but he now imagines a world where there are Internet of Things sensors everywhere \u2013 in your car, home and on the street.\n\n\"A sort of utopian view, that everything is going to be tracked and that you can take that back to a risk.\"\n\nBut it's not just pricing risks. Technology is helping insurers reduce them too.\n\nIAG's executive general manager for innovation, James Orchard, says it is using sensors in flood-prone parts of the country to mitigate damage.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\"It's a simple technology where a dipstick literally has a sensor on a solar panel that communicates directly with the State Emergency Service. They are placed in flood zones and tell the SES when roads are likely to incur flooding,\" he says.\n\n\"This is an example of how sensor technology can be used in the community to make it safer and how we can play a much more active role in that mitigation.\"\n\nAustralian insurers have also been testing in-car technology to try to stem the epidemic of crashes caused by distracted drivers, with IAG testing a smartphone app that rewards customers who don't use their phone while they are in the car.\n\nWhere other insurers use telematics (in-car technology that monitors a customer's driving) to reward or penalise drivers, IAG is taking a \"carrot\" rather than \"stick\" approach, incentivising drivers with non-insurance rewards \u2013 think grocery and fuel vouchers or even charitable donations \u2013 that will motivate good driving behaviour.\n\nDiscounted premiums\n\nLife insurers such as AIA Group have been using sensor data gathered from Fitbits and smart watches to offer members discounted premiums; this may mean they are abe to tap into lower-income or younger markets who have traditionally shied away from insurance due to cost.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nHealth insurer Medibank Private is in talks with Amazon and Google about how to use data to predict customer's health outcomes.\n\nBut IAG, like its competitor QBE, is also taking a deeper dive into data and moving beyond telematics.\n\nIn its Singapore insurtech lab Firemark Labs, which opened its doors in 2017, the ASX-listed insurer is researching the data points needed for underwriting autonomous vehicles.\"It's an emerging trend and technology that could have ramifications on the insurance industry. There is plenty of opportunity that we believe will spawn from the introduction of autonomous vehicles,\" says Orchard.\n\n\"Everyone has a different view of the impact they will have. We're [exploring] introducing different services that could complement the autonomous vehicle manufacturers themselves to be able to add value.\"\n\nBut it's one thing to collect huge amounts of data. Stuckey says it's how that data is ultimately used that will be the biggest differentiator between insurers.\n\n\"How do you exploit the most value out of it? How do you draw correlations? How do you bring in additional data to complement the data you have today to make the best decision possible?\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\"Gone are the days when you have an actuary or a data scientist that is really good at Excel. You do need these artificial intelligence platforms that can help you in that journey because otherwise you can't make any sense of the data.\n\n\"Aviation, for example, this is a really rich specialty line in a wide variety of our markets' appetite. A single new jet engine on a Boeing 777 is generating around 16 terabytes of data each year. The volume of that data is something all insurers need to be able to respond to \u2013 it's crushing.\"\n\nFunding remains low\n\nBut a 2016 PwC report found only 43 per cent of industry players say they have tech at the heart of their corporate strategies and funding for partnering or trialling new technology in Australia remains low. According to CB Insights, insurtech start-ups attracted around $US1.69 billion in 2016, with only 1 per cent of this coming to Australia.\n\nLobby group Insurtech Australia is pushing the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to open its regulatory sandbox to more insurtech start-ups wanting to test their products with customers.\n\nBrenton Charnley, co-founder of IA, says insurance-related start-ups differ from fintechs in that they often partner up with larger incumbents, with insurers viewing insurtech as helping their businesses rather than disrupting them.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIt is start-ups that specialise in AI or analytics, such as Sydney-based Hyper Anna, which created virtual data scientists to answer questions about information in corporate systems, that insurers such as IAG will likely invest in to complement their underwriting business.\n\nSuncorp this year introduced the IBM Watson AI technology to provide rapid liability decisions in our online motor claims system.\n\n\"The AI technology automates the claims process to create 'zero-touch' claims, meaning customers' claims can be lodged, excess payments determined and repairs booked in as little as five minutes,\" says Suncorp chief executive for insurance data Gary Dransfield.\n\nPolicy wording data\n\nFor it's part QBE has a $US50 million ($65.9 million) VC fund that has so far invested in two start-ups \u2013 Cytora, an artificial intelligence platform that uses open source data to help commercial insurers lower loss ratios and improve expense ratios, and US-based Risk Genius, a machine-learning platform for analysing policy wording.\n\n\"Risk Genius is an example of us trying to exploit policy wording data that we have across all the countries and markets that we operate [and] use that as a competitive advantage,\" says Stuckey.\n\nHe adds that before investing and using Cytora, QBE was avoiding certain risks because of \"anecdotal\" bad experiences.\"But the data will tell you today they are actually great risks for us and we can cover them at a very competitive rate and give customers the cover they need to grow their business or buy their home, and we've just ignored them,\" says Stuckey.\n\n\"We are really looking at differentiating our ability to underwrite, price and settle claims in the market, but in reality it's the core of an insurance company's business and that hasn't changed for hundreds of years, we're just trying to do it better.\"", "output": "Insurers are utilising satellite and sensor technology to levy data analytics for determining risk. Information mining could be the largest disruptor in the insurance industry, changing pricing, claims and payments. Among companies making use of the technology, QBE Insurance Group is using satellite readings to track activity such as shipping movements. Elsewhere, Australia's IAG has been testing an app offering drivers rewards when they don't use their smartphone while driving. AIA Group is also using data from tech wearables to determine life-insurance pricing.\u00a0\n\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Goldwind raises AUD700m for 530 MW Australian wind project \n Goldwind Australia said today it has secured nearly AUD 700 million (USD 536m/EUR 451m) in financing its 530-MW Stockyard Hill wind project in Victoria, touted as the largest in the southern hemisphere.\n\nThe Australian unit of Chinese wind turbine maker Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Tech Co Ltd (HKG:2208) has obtained funds from a consortium of lenders led by the National Australia Bank (NAB). The group of banks included three Australian, three Japanese, two European and one Chinese lenders. Namely, those were Dutch ABN AMRO (AMS:ABN), France-based Societe Generale (EPA:GLE), The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ ltd, Japan\u2019s Mizuho Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, Australian Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC), the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).\n\nThe wind project, to be located in Western Victoria, will be powered by Goldwind\u2019s GW3 turbines. Balance of plant services for the project will be provided by a joint venture between Canadian engineering and construction group SNC-Lavalin Group Inc (TSE:SNC) and Australia\u2019s WBHO Infrastructure.\n\nGoldwind expects preliminary works to begin soon, with full construction activities to be underway in the first quarter of 2018. Once completed, the plant will sell its output to Australian utility Origin Energy Ltd (ASX:ORG) under a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA).\n\nThe Chinese developer agreed to buy the Stockyard Hill wind project from Origin Energy in May for AUD 110 million. The partners then negotiated a PPA price for the output of the plant at below AUD 60 per MWh.\n\n(AUD 1.0 = USD 0.766/EUR 0.645)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Goldwind Australia has secured nearly AUD700m ($548m) in financing for its 530 MW Stockyard Hill wind project in Victoria,\u00a0led by the National Australia Bank and a consortium of international investment\u00a0banks. Goldwind bought the Stockyard Hill project from Origin Energy for AUD110m\u00a0and secured a power purchase agreement\u00a0to sell the plant's output to Origin at below AUD60/MWh. Construction activities will begin in Q1 2018 and the project's plant services will be delivered via a joint venture between Canadian engineering group SNC-Lavalin and Australia\u2019s WBHO Infrastructure."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New Mexico solar park to sell cheapest PV energy in US \n Chicago-based SoCore Energy LLC is building a 3-MW, community-scale solar power plant in New Mexico that will be selling its output at a price below USD 45.00 (EUR 38.0) per MWh.\n\nThe Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) believes that this is the lowest reported contract for distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) energy in the country, it said in a statement. RMI has provided project analysis for the project.\n\nSoCore Energy, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE:EIX), has started work on the Carrizozo solar project in Lincoln County. Upon completion in March 2018, the solar plant will be selling its output at the above-mentioned price to non-profit rural electric cooperative Otero County Electric Cooperative Inc (OCEC). The contract has a term of 25 years and calls for OCEC to receive the renewable energy credits (RECs) from the project.\n\nThe Carrizozo scheme is expected to generate about USD 550,000 in property tax revenue over its lifetime. More than 25 contractors and other professionals will take part in construction activities at the site, RMI said.\n\n(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.844)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "A 3 MW solar power plant being built in New Mexico is to sell its power at less than $45/MWh, in what The Rocky Mountain Institute believes to be the lowest reported contract for distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) energy in the US. The plant, which is owned by SoCore Energy, will sell power to non-profit rural electric cooperative Otero County Electric Cooperative\u00a0(OCEC) under a 25 year contract. OCEC will receive the renewable energy credits\u00a0from the project."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Subsidy-free Dutch offshore wind project tender receives bids \n The Dutch government's subsidy-free offshore wind tender for sites I and II of the Hollandse Kust Zuid zone has shown developers are ready to build the wind farm with a capacity of about 700 MW without government support.\n\nThe Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy made the announcement on Thursday, the deadline for submitting bids in the tender. The applications will now be assessed over the next several months.\n\nThe winner must bring the wind farm online by 2022.\n\n\"If these applications do indeed result in an offshore wind farm being constructed without any subsidy, it will be a huge breakthrough,\" said economic affairs minister Eric Wiebes. The number of applications was not specified. Swedish state-owned utility Vattenfall AB has said it is taking part in the tender. Norwegian oil and gas group Statoil (STO:STLO) has also confirmed its participation.\n\nAccording to the ministry, the main criteria for selecting a winner are timely construction, the quantity of energy generation and sound risk management.\n\nThe Dutch government announced plans for the subsidy-free offshore wind tender in June, in the wake of a German auction where three of the four winning projects would be built without subsidies. The German wind farm, however, will have more time before starting operations.\n\nThe next offshore wind tender in the Netherlands will be for a 20-MW innovation project, Borssele wind farm site V. It will open on January 2 and close on January 18, 2018.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "The Dutch government has received an undisclosed number of bids for its unsubsidised offshore wind tender, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy has announced. Applicants are currently being reviewed on the merits of timely construction, the quantity of energy generation and sound risk management. The eventual winner will be required to bring the wind farm online by 2022. \"If these applications do indeed result in an offshore wind farm being constructed without any subsidy, it will be a huge breakthrough,\" said economic affairs minister Eric Wiebes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China to monitor PV efficiency to help guide regional investment \n The system will look at curtailment risk and provide guidance to prospective developers based on criteria such as site conditions, regional subsidy levels and local government support.\n\nThe information will help to shape the establishment of the government\u2019s yearly PV installation quotas, according to an online statement. The authorities may reduce quotas for areas in which large amounts of solar capacity have gone to waste.\n\nBloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) has estimated that roughly 3.28 terawatt-hours of solar capacity was curtailed from the Chinese grid in 2016.\n\nThe curtailment of other clean-energy projects, including wind farms, has also been a significant problem for years. However, the NEA unveiled plans at the beginning of this year to facilitate CNY 2.5 trillion ($378.6 billion) of new investment in solar, wind, hydroelectric and nuclear power projects through the end of this decade.\n\nPopular content\n\nPV developers completed roughly 24.4 GW of solar projects in the first half of this year, according to NEA data. New capacity additions rose 9% year on year in the January-June period. The country\u2019s cumulative PV installations reached about 77.8 GW at the end of 2016, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).\n\nLast month, the NEA and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced plans to set up a new wholesale market for distributed-generation (DG) electricity on a pilot basis in the first quarter of 2018. The NEA said that the government will assess the trading system, under which project owners will directly sell electricity to consumers, from the end of next June.", "output": "China's National Energy Administration is to set up a new photovoltaic (PV) monitoring system to help channel funding into regions that harness solar power most efficiently. Curtailment -- production of energy that can't be used --\u00a0has been a significant roadblock for the development of PV in China, with Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimating that approximately 3.28 TWh\u00a0of solar capacity was wasted in 2016. The new system will advise prospective developers using data regarding site conditions, regional subsidy levels and local government support and will help shape the establishment of the government's yearly PV installation quotas.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Israel mulls solar rooftop scheme to reach 2020 renewables target \n The government of Israel is planning to launch a new scheme for rooftop PV installations soon, which is expected bring around 1.6 GW of new solar capacity online over the next three years.\n\nAccording to information provided to pv magazine by Eitan Parnass, founder and director of Israel\u2019s Green Energy Association, the new scheme is aimed at helping the country achieve its 2020 renewable energy target, which is a 10% share in total energy consumption, based on a solar energy contribution of 3.5 GW.\n\nUnder the new scheme, which is currently under a public hearing, PV installations up to 15 kW will be eligible to access the net metering scheme, or to apply for a 25-year FIT contract at a tariff of 0.39 ILS ($0.111)/kWh. This FIT will not be indexed to inflation.\n\nFurthermore, the scheme will support PV systems ranging in size from 15 to 50 kW, with a 25-year FIT of 0.33 ILS ($0.094)/kWh.\n\nAs for net metering, Eitan said that there are still around 285 MW of projects that can be realized before the original 400 MW cap set by the government will be reached.\n\nPopular content\n\nProjects up to 5 MW will be still entitled to be developed under this mechanism; ground-mounted installations will not be entitled, however, as per the prior regulation.\n\nA new grid fee covering storage costs will also be introduced, which is expected to total 0.03 ILS ($0.008)/kWh.\n\nIsrael currently has an installed PV capacity of 1 GW. Another 1 GW is expected to come from a series of six tenders totaling 1 GW, which was launched this year and will run through 2018.\n\nOf the current installed capacity, around 200 MW comes from PV projects exceeding 12 MW, while the remaining power is represented by residential installations up to 15 kW (50 MW), commercial installations ranging in size from 15 kW to 50 kW (240 MW), and distributed generation PV plants up to 12 MW (315 MW).", "output": "A new scheme to promote\u00a0rooftop solar-panel\u00a0installations in Israel is hoped to bring online\u00a0about 1.6 GW of new solar capacity and help the country reach its 10% renewable energy goal by 2020. The scheme would allow photovoltaic (PV) installations up to 15 KW to be eligible to access the net metering scheme or to apply for a 25-year feed-in tariff\u00a0(FIT) of 0.39 ILS/KWH\u00a0($0.111/KWH). Meanwhile, PV installations ranging from 15 KW to 50 KW will be supported with a 25-year FIT of 0.33 ILS/KWH.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vattenfall to deliver 1.5 TWh of power to AkzoNobel \n Swedish state-owned utility Vattenfall AB has signed a power supply deal with Akzo Nobel NV (AMS:AKZA) that will help the Dutch paints and speciality chemicals company meet its 2050 goal for carbon neutrality.\n\nThe contract calls for Vattenfall to supply 1.5 TWh of electricity for AkzoNobel\u2019s chemical production facilities in Delfzijl, Hengelo and Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Vattenfall said on Friday. In addition, the Swedish utility will manage fluctuations in energy use that will lead to improved cost control and increased use of renewables for its Dutch client and provide the latter with access to the energy market through its trading operations.\n\n\u201cThis agreement is testimony to the expertise of Vattenfall as a partner in the energy transition and is consistent with our own Planet Possible sustainability strategy for efficient resource and energy use across the entire value chain,\u201d said Knut Schwalenberg, chairman of AkzoNobel Netherlands.\n\nVattenfall noted that the deal can be expanded to Germany, Denmark and Sweden. Since the start of 2017, the utility has been supplying power to seven of the Dutch company\u2019s factories in Sweden and Finland. The annual power volume under the deal is 1.25 TWh.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Sweden's Vattenfall will supply 1.5 TWh of electricity to Dutch paint and speciality chemicals firm, AkzoNobel, to help it meet its 2050 carbon target. The Swedish state-owned utility will supply power for AkzoNobel's chemical production sites in Delfzijl, Hengelo and Rotterdam. It will also manage energy use fluctuations for better cost control and provide AkzoNobel with access to the power market through its trading operations. Vattenfall has provided power to the Dutch company's facilities in Sweden and Finland since the start of 2017."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AMP Capital invests \u20ac245m in French power developer Neoen \n Australia-based global investment manager, AMP Capital has provided French independent power producer Neoen with \u20ac245 million in mezzanine financing.\n\nAMP Capital stressed that the financing was validated as a green bond, following due diligence by Vigeo Eiris, a global provider of environmental, social and governance (ESG) research to investors and public and private corporates.\n\nNeoen will use these funds for a 1.6 GW portfolio of onshore wind and solar photovoltaic assets, located mainly in France and Australia, AMP Capital said.\n\nThe investment is being made through AMP Capital Infrastructure Debt Fund III (IDF III), which closed to new investors in August 2017, after raising around $2.5 billion.\n\nPopular content\n\n\u201cNeoen\u2019s international ambition and track record of success allows us to secure significant long-term financings, achieve economies of scale and join forces with leading investors such as AMP Capital,\u201d said the company\u2019s CEO Xavier Barbaro.\n\nNeoen, which is active in several solar markets across the globe, has recently secured a PPA for 100 MW of solar in Australia and is teaming up with Tesla to install a 129 MWh lithium-ion battery in the country.\n\nThe company is also active in Argentina, where it is planning to building a 200 MW solar plant, and in El Salvador, where it recently completed a 101 MW solar facility. Furthermore, in April it announced it was the main winner of the tender organized by the French government with 10 projects (86 MW) awarded in the CRE 4 programme.", "output": "Global investment manager AMP Capital has invested in the independent French power developer Neoen with mezzanine funding of \u20ac245m ($295m). Neoen, which is active in global solar markets including Australia and Argentina, will use the funding for a 1.6 GW portfolio of onshore wind and solar PV assets in France and Australia, according to AMP Capital. Neoen other projects include a Tesla partnership to install a 129 MWh lithium-ion battery in Australia and a 200 MW solar plant in Argentina."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China opens 2 km solar highway \n The idea of solar roads has been dismissed by many as being impractical. But that didn\u2019t stop China from opening one for testing today, joining the ranks of France, Holland, and other countries giving it a shot.\n\nIn Jinan, the capital of the northeastern Shandong province, traffic is now rolling over a stretch of expressway that\u2019s also generating electricity from the sun, according to state-run CCTV (link in Chinese). Extending for 1 km (0.6 miles), the stretch is made of three layers: transparent concrete on the top, photovoltaic panels in the middle, and insulation on the bottom. The area covered comes out to 5,875 square meters (63,200 sq ft).\n\nAdvertisement\n\nChina is billing the project as the world\u2019s first photovoltaic highway. In late 2016, a village in France opened what it claimed was the world\u2019s first solar-panel road, running for about the same length as China\u2019s new stretch though covering about half the area. In 2014, the Netherlands built a bike path embedded with solar panels.\n\nThe Jinan stretch includes two lanes and an emergency lane and is designed for both electricity generation and public transport, according to Zhang Hongchao, a project designer and transportation engineering expert at China\u2019s Tongji University interviewed by CCTV. He said the expressway could handle 10 times more pressure than the normal asphalt variety and in a year generate 1 million kWH of electricity, which will be used to power street lights and a snow-melting system on the road. It\u2019s also designed to supply power to charging stations for electric vehicles, should those be added in the future.\n\nBut it might be a while before the project can expand, he noted, as the road cost around 3,000 yuan ($458) per sq m, significantly higher than regular streets.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nStill, the project signals China\u2019s solar-power ambitions. Last year the country became the world\u2019s top solar-energy producer, boosting its photovoltaic capacity to around 78 gigawatts, and it\u2019s aiming for 105 by 2020. China\u2019s eastern city of Huainan, meanwhile, operates the world\u2019s biggest floating solar project, which could eventually power 94,000 homes.", "output": "China has opened a 2 km solar expressway, joining France and the Netherlands in testing the technology. The road is made up of an insulating layer on the bottom, photovoltaic panels in the middle\u00a0and transparent concrete on top.\u00a0The solar panels cover 5,875 sq metres and can generate 1 million kWh of power a year, enough to meet the energy demands of about 800 homes, the developer said.\u00a0The cost of the solar road was about $458 per sq metre, compared with about $260 per sq metre for rooftop solar and about $200 per sq metre for asphalt road."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "World's biggest solar panel maker posts $355m Q3 loss \n Yingli Chairman and CEO Liansheng Miao attributed the fall in quarterly shipments to lower demand from the end of the first half, as the company tried to strike a balance between maintaining shipment volumes and ensuring that its operating cash flows remained sufficient. It expects to ship 700 MW to 800 MW of solar panels in the fourth quarter, and it has raised its full-year guidance for PV module shipments to between 2.8 GW and 2.9 GW.\n\n\u201cDistributed generation (DG) projects maintained strong development momentum,\u201d Miao said. \u201cTherefore, the company adjusted its market strategy and developed more small and medium scale customers to penetrate the DG market.\u201d\n\nRevenue hit RMB 1,678.7 million in the July-September period, from RMB 3,173.6 million in the second quarter of this year. The company recorded an operating loss of RMB 2,266.7 million, while its gross profit fell by roughly half from the preceding quarter to RMB 26.5 million, with a gross margin of 1.6%. Earnings before interest, tax expenses, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) stood at negative RMB 2,116.3 million on a non-GAAP basis, according to an online statement.\n\nPopular content\n\nThroughout the quarter, Yingli continued to restructure its overseas sales network, which is based in Madrid. It completed this process in November, with all operations now centralized out of Europe.", "output": "China's Yingli Green Energy saw its net loss widen to CNY2.3bn ($352m) in Q3 2017, up from CNY335.4m in the same period in 2016. It also reported a 48% drop in quarterly photovoltaic (PV) module shipments to 597.7 MW. CEO Liansheng Miao said the decrease in shipments on the previous quarter was due to lower demand as Yingli tried to balance shipment volumes with operating cash flows. It expects to ship 700 MW to 800 MW of PV panels in 4Q, and raised its full-year guidance for shipments to between 2.8 GW and 2.9 GW."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US DOE approves $12m funding for solar technologies \n The US Department of Energy (DOE) will extend USD 12 million (EUR 10.1m) to finance eight projects developing technologies that forecast solar generation levels, it announced on Tuesday.\n\nThe funds will be provided by the Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) that supports early-stage research and development (R&D) in the solar sector. They will be split between eight projects seeking to advance solar forecasting technologies, improve variability management and thus enhance grid reliability and resilience.\n\n\u201cThese projects will address a critical gap in our research, which is knowing precisely how much solar electricity to expect at any given hour on any given day,\u201d said energy secretary Rick Perry.\n\nMore specifically, four of the selected projects will seek to make \u201csignificant advances\u201d in solar forecasting, while another project will develop an open-source framework for evaluation of solar irradiation, plant generation and net-load forecasts. The other three schemes will explore the integration of advanced forecasting technologies with grid planning and operations systems.\n\nThe largest portion of the financing, of USD 1.8 million, will go for the Electric Power Research Institute in Tennessee for a project that will develop improved probabilistic solar and net load forecasts for three separate utility case studies. The other winners are the University of Arizona, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, University of California San Diego, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which will work on two projects, the Brookhaven National Laboratory and Johns Hopkins University.\n\n(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.844)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "The US Department of Energy (DOE) has authorised $12m in further funding for solar forecasting technologies. The money will be split between eight projects which aim to enhance forecasting technologies, advance variability management and improve grid reliability and resilience. Some $1.8m of the funding will go to the Electric Power Research Institute in Tennessee, towards a scheme developing better probabilistic solar and net load predictions. Other winners include the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the University of Arizona and John Hopkins University."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Singapore achieves 21.5% efficiency from printed solar cell \n SERIS has reached 21.5% average efficiency using its monoPoly silicon solar cell technology. The institute used a pilot scale production line, and commercially available Si wafers.\n\nThe technology developed by SERIS, named MonoPoly, is bifacial and can be applied to both n-type and p-type wafers. It aims to provide similar efficiency levels to modern PERC concepts, at a lower cost.\n\n\u201cMonoPoly cells use the same tools and fewer process steps compares standard p-type PERC technology,\u201d says Shubham Duttagupta, head of SERIS monocrystalline silicon solar cell group.\n\n\u201c[It delivers] a very attractive cost of ownership for solar cell manufacturers seeking to boost cell efficiencies in their current production lines, or planning for new production lines.\u201d\n\nPopular content\n\nThe team will now work on pushing efficiencies even higher, and expects to break the 23% mark through material improvements and fine tuning of production processes.\n\n\u201cThis result is a testament to SERIS\u2019 long-standing commitment to work closely with the solar industry to reduce the $/watt, improve the cell efficiencies and increase the margins of our industry partners through technology innovation,\u201d added SERIS CEO Armin Aberle.\n\nEarlier in 2017, SERIS announced the beginning of a three-year research partnership with JinkoSolar, which is focused on bifacial cell technology.", "output": "The Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS) has achieved a 21.5% average efficiency for its printed silicon solar cell technology. The bifacial MonoPoly technology can be used on both n-type and p-type wafers, and aims to offer similar efficiency levels to modern passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) concepts, at lower cost. SERIS will now seek to improve the cells' efficiency and expects to reach the 23% mark though improvements to materials and the production process."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EIB awards Oxford PV \u20ac15m to build perovskite solar plant \n Oxford PV has picked up financing in several rounds of investment over the past two years.\n\n\u20ac15 million in funding has been awarded to Oxford PV Germany GmbH, a subsidiary of the U.K.-based perovskite solar cell developer. Funding is provided by EU nonprofit lender, EIB to support bringing perovskite on silicon tandem cell technology into commercial production.\n\nThis will be the first financing in Germany issued under the \u2018Innovfin \u2013 EU Finance for innovators Energy Demonstrator Projects, which aims at supporting both European innovation and action on climate change.\n\n\u201cI am delighted to sign the contract with Oxford PV today,\u201d said Ambroise Fayolle, Vice President of the EIB responsible for Germany and InnovFin.\n\n\u201cThe company has demonstrated the necessary parameters in efficiency and stability on its perovskite photvoltaic technology, to engage commercially with major industry players and play a key role in enhancing solar energy supply in the future.\u201d\n\nPopular content\n\nOxford PV has picked up financing in several rounds of investment over the past two years. In late 2016, the company announced it had acquired a former thin-film production facility owned by Bosch Solar in Brandenburg, approximately 100 km from the German capital, which it will continue to invest this latest round of financing in.\n\n\u201cThe EIB financing recognizes our considerable progress to date and the opportunity our technology has to dramatically transform silicon solar cell economics,\u201d said Oxford PV CEO Frank Averdung.\n\n\u201cThe funding will allow Oxford PV to continue to invest in its demonstration line infrastructure, enabling the rapid transfer of its perovskite on silicon tandem solar cell technology from the lab to an industrial scale process in collaboration with our joint development partner \u2013 a large scale manufacturer of solar cells and modules.\u201d", "output": "Oxford PV has secured \u20ac15m ($18m) from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to help take its perovskite solar cell technology into commercial production. Oxford PV Germany, a subsidiary of the UK-based developer, received the funding from InnovFin Energy Demonstration Projects, which supports European action on climate change. It will help the company build its perovskite on silicon tandem solar cell technology into an industrial-scale process in collaboration with its joint development partner, a large-scale solar cell and module manufacturer."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California can meet power needs without solar on farmland \n Researchers from the University of California have looked at alternatives to installing solar on land that could otherwise be used for crops, and developed a model using California\u2019s central valley as a case study.\n\nThe model evaluates four different alternative land types for PV deployments \u2013 urban rooftops, walls and building facades, land which is too salty for crops, contaminated land such as brownfield and superfund sites, and water reservoirs suitable for floating PV installations.\n\nThe researchers delineated a 58,815 km\u00b2 region of California\u2019s Central Valley to make their calculations, and using satellite radiation models developed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, theorized that these four land types have the potential to host PV installations generating at least 17,348 TWh/year \u2013 around 13 times California\u2019s projected annual electricity demand up to 2025.\n\nIn regions where space for solar is limited, particularly in Japan and Taiwan, alternatives such as floating PV installations have already begun to make a splash, although Governments here are still likely to face some difficult decisions regarding the trade off between energy and food security.\n\nPopular content\n\nWhile space is at somewhat less of a premium in California, it is still a vital agricultural region, and efficient land use is an important concern for the future.\n\nThe study, \u2018Land Sparing Opportunities for Solar Energy Development in Agricultural Landscapes: A Case Study of the Great Central Valley, CA United States,\u2019 is published in the American Chemical Society\u2019s Environment Science and Technology Journal.", "output": "California could meet all its energy needs without building photovoltaic (PV) panels on productive farmland, according to University of California researchers. The scientists examined four alternatives for deploying solar: built environments such as urban rooftops, building facades and walls; land too salty for crops; contaminated land, and water reservoirs for floating solar facilities. Looking at the state's Central Valley for calculations, the researchers forecast that the four land types could contain PV installations producing 17,348 TWh/year or more, which is approximately 13 times the state's expected yearly power demand up to 2025."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hanergy partners with Chinese EV group for solar-run cars, homes \n Thin film solar cells in panoramic glass roofs of Audi models: Audi and Alta Devices, a subsidiary of the Chinese solar-cell specialist, Hanergy, are working together on this development project. With this cooperation, the partners aim to generate solar energy to increase the range of electric vehicles.\n\nAt a conference held at Hanergy\u2019s headquarters in Beijing, the company announced a partnership with BAIC BJEV, the electric vehicle unit of Beijing Automotive Group.\n\nThe two companies will work together on applications including building and vehicle integrated solar panels and charging stations, and other projects utilizing thin film solar technology.\n\nThe companies will partner on developing rooftop solar for vehicles, which Hanergy says could provide auxiliary power, and even function as the main power source for a vehicle, as well as charging. The partnership will also cover adding rooftop solar to BAIC BJEV\u2019s automobile factories.\n\nOn top of this, the two will also cooperate on building model villages incorporating all of these technologies, and other unspecified projects exploring the application of thin-film solar for agriculture and poverty alleviation.\n\nPopular content\n\n\u201cHanergy\u2019s partnership with BAIC BJEV stands as a model for cooperation between the thin film solar and the new energy vehicle industries,\u201d said Hanergy CEO Si Haijian. \u201creflecting the push within Chinese industry to transform energy production and consumption.\u201d\n\nSince announcing a return to profitability for full year 2016, Hanergy has announced several partnerships focused on integrating its thin film technology with vehicles, including a partnership with German car maker Audi, and with several major bikesharing companies.", "output": "Hanergy is teaming up with a Chinese electric vehicle (EV) group to develop thin-film solar technology for cars and homes. Among other projects, Hanergy and BAIC BJEV -- the EV unit of Beijing Automotive Group --\u00a0will work together on home-\u00a0and vehicle-integrated solar panels and charging units. Rooftop solar could provide auxiliary, and possibly even main, power for a vehicle, in addition to charging, Hanergy claims. The pair will also add rooftop solar to BAIC BJEV's car factories. In addition, the partnership will explore the use of thin-film solar for agriculture and poverty alleviation."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EIB and Yes Bank pledge $400m for Indian renewables \n The European Investment Bank (EIB) and India-based private sector financier Yes Bank are supporting Indian solar and wind projects with a new US$400 million co-financing initiative.\n\nEIB will provide a 15-year US$200 million loan, with the remainder of the financing coming from Yes Bank, project promoters and other financial institutions.\n\nDetails of the new initiative are expected to be finalised in the coming weeks, although the aim is to streamline project financing and an EIB release said that eligible solar projects have already been identified in the states of Rajasthan, Telangana, Maharashtra and Karnataka, with other solar and wind projects under examination.\n\n\u201cThis new financing programme will make a significant contribution to harnessing wind power and solar energy to produce green energy, create thousands of jobs during construction and strengthen technical and financial skills for the renewable energy sector to expand,\u201d said Andrew McDowell, EIB vice president.\n\n\u201cWith this transaction we remain well on track to achieve our commitment to finance 5,000MW of RE made at the first Re-Invest summit in Feb 2015 and is also synchronous with our COP 21 commitment of mobilizing US$5 billion for climate finance by 2020,\u201d said Rana Kapoor, managing director and chief executive of Yes Bank.\n\nBack in June, three major development banks joined Yes Bank by signing a charter to mobilize green investments in India.", "output": "The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Yes Bank have teamed up to provide $400m in funding for Indian renewables. The EIB will provide a 15-year $200m loan as part of the co-financing initiative, with the remainder coming from Indian private sector financier Yes Bank, project promoters and other financial institutions. Eligible solar schemes have already been identified in the states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Telangana, and other solar and wind projects are under consideration."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CaliBurger to use facial recognition to take food orders \n CaliBurger\u2019s new kiosk uses facial recognition to take orders Finally, no more shaming when you ask for a diet Coke with your six burgers.\n\nCashier-less ordering kiosks are becoming more and more commonplace at fast food restaurants like Wendy's and McDonald's. But Golden State burger chain CaliBurger is taking that one step further: its new self-ordering kiosks use AI and facial-recognition technology to order, pay and log into the chain's loyalty/rewards program. It'll even remember your crazy custom order to boot.\n\n\"Our goal is to replace credit card swipes with face-based payments,\" parent company CEO John Miller said in a press release (PDF). Security and the underlying recognition tech are being handled by NEC Corporation. While this sounds incredibly convenient, it's basically just a high-tech way of pulling up a favorite order the way you would via a mobile-ordering app.\n\nFor now, the pilot program is only available at the chain's Pasadena test store, and CaliBurger says that if it proves a success there will be a global rollout next year. If you'll remember, that's the same location where CaliBurger tried out robotic burger-flipping. Unlike that test, though, this one seems expressly designed to eliminate human employees.", "output": "US fast food restaurant CaliBurger is trialling a new self-serve kiosk which uses AI and facial-recognition technology to allow customers to place orders, pay and log in to a rewards account. The facial recognition software will also enable customers to store their orders so that when they next visit, they can order their food just by looking in to the camera. The technology and security is developed and overseen by NEC Corporation. The sole test kiosk currently in operation can be found in the Pasadena CaliBurger store, with global rollouts pending a successful trial.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NYSE, ProShares seek\u00a0SEC approval to list bitcoin futures ETFs \n As custodian for the funds, Brown Brothers Harriman would oversee investment assets and cash equivalents as well as prepare and make regulatory filings. Marc Chandler and Win Thin, two of the bank's foreign exchange strategists, are widely followed among currency brokers.\n\nThe funds would track either the Cboe or CME bitcoin futures and would invest their assets in benchmark futures contracts with the option of investing in contracts outside the benchmark.\n\nThe NYSE wants to list the ProShares Bitcoin ETF and the ProShares Short Bitcoin ETF, two exchange-traded funds that would allow traders to bet on how the volatile cryptocurrency futures contracts will perform. ProShares, which has more than $29 billion in assets under management, filed its own documents with the SEC for the two bitcoin ETFs in September.\n\nA bitcoin ETF took another step closer to reality after the NYSE filed with the SEC to list two funds tracking bitcoin futures.\n\nRecent developments have been boosting the profile of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which are unregulated and highly volatile. Futures began trading this month, believed to be a way to draw professional investors and oversight. An ETF product would add further legitimacy.\n\n\"It's very hard for us, as currency analysts, to follow this,\" said Thin, who is Brown Brothers' global head of emerging markets strategy. \"It represents further mainstreaming. Hopefully that what comes out of this: some more regulatory oversight.\"\n\n\"Beyond that, we don't have any calls on where it will go from here.\"\n\nDespite bitcoin's notorious volatility, the cryptocurrency has soared nearly 2,000 percent in the past year, according to Coinbase. Cboe futures were down 3.6 percent Wednesday.\n\nLike other ETFs, investors in the ProShares Bitcoin ETF would reap benefits when the value of futures contracts climbs.\n\n\"By being long Bitcoin Futures Contracts, the Fund seeks to benefit from daily increases in the price of the Bitcoin Futures Contracts,\" according to the SEC filing. \"The Fund will not be benchmarked to the current price of bitcoin and will not invest directly in bitcoin. When the price of Bitcoin Futures Contracts held by the Fund declines, the Fund will lose value.\"\n\nOn the other hand, investors in the ProShares Short Bitcoin ETF would benefit when the daily value of the futures falls and, like the first fund, would not be directly invested in bitcoin.\n\nBitcoin fans have long wanted an ETF for the digital currency without much success. But turning that dream into reality appeared to become much more likely after two of the world's largest options exchanges \u2014 Cboe and CME \u2014 launched bitcoin futures contracts within the past month.\n\n\"I think it is going to enable finally the approval of bitcoin ETFs, and other digital currency ETFs, which is game changing,\" Barry Silbert, founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group, said on CNBC's \"Squawk Box\" earlier this month.\n\n\u2014 CNBC's Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report.", "output": "The New York Stock Exchange has sought Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approval to list two bitcoin-linked exchange-traded funds managed by ProShares. The ETF provider has also filed a request with the SEC to launch the products, which\u00a0give\u00a0investors exposure to the cryptocurrency via futures contracts. The funds -- one of which allows investors to bet against the cryptocurrency -- would invest in benchmark futures contracts, though\u00a0with the option to invest outside of the benchmark.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Robo-adviser for women Ellevest introduces tiered pricing system \n Sallie Krawcheck is using a recent infusion of venture capital to expand the offering of Ellevest, a digital-advice platform for women, to three service levels.\n\nInvestors can access the robo-adviser by itself for 25 basis points (formerly 50 basis points), which includes algorithmic portfolio construction, tax minimization strategies, and now support from human advisers via email and text.\n\nFor 50 basis points and an account minimum of $50,000, investors can access Ellevest Premium, which includes the technology platform as well as personalized goals-based planning from an adviser with certified financial planner credentials. Ellevest Premium also advises on preparing for a big job interview, negotiating salary or asking for a raise through a partnership with Forshay, a career coaching and executive recruiting firm.\n\nThe current national conversation surrounding discrimination women face in the workforce plays into Ellevest\u2019s mission, its chief executive said.\n\n\u201cThis year\u2019s seemingly endless flow of headlines on sexual harassment has underscored the obstacles women continue to face to achieving financial success,\u201d Ms. Krawcheck said in a statement. \u201cIt\u2019s core to the Ellevest mission to be an advocate for women\u2019s contributions to the economy, to call foul on what impedes their success and to help women succeed regardless. Money is power, confidence, control \u2014 and can be the freedom to take this job and shove it, if needed.\u201d\n\n(More: Sallie Krawcheck wants Ellevest to change the way women save for retirement)\n\n\n\nA third financial-advice offering Ms. Krawcheck is introducing is Ellevest Private Wealth Management, a service that more closely resembles a traditional RIA relationship for women with at least $1 million in investable assets. Ellevest PWM includes a dedicated adviser and an increased menu of investment options focused on \u201cdriving social impact and advancing women.\u201d\n\nA spokesperson for Ellevest said the demand for this high-touch service came from existing Ellevest clients who wanted greater service for assets not invested on the Ellevest robo.\n\nPreviously, Ellevest provided only one service offering: the purely digital option. The company said it\u2019s algorithm factors in the unique financial circumstances women face related to pay, career breaks and lifespan.\n\nEllevest raised $34 million in funding in September, led by Rethink Impact. Some have pointed out the high client-acquisition costs robo-advisers face, and have questioned whether charging low fees on relatively small accounts will allow robos to grow enough to provide an adequate return on investment for venture capital backers.\n\nAn Ellevest spokesperson declined to comment on how the company is tackling this challenge, but the tiered model Ellevest is introducing has been used by other robos to attract larger accounts. For example, Betterment added a premium service earlier this year that includes access to human advisers with its technology product. Ellevest PWM could help even further offset costs.\n\n(More: Betterment funding jumps $100 million, boosting valuation to $700 million)\n\n\n\nSince Ms. Krawcheck launched Ellevest in May 2016, the company has attracted $67.6 million in assets under management among 9,700 accounts, according to its most recent Form ADV.", "output": "Following a recent funding round, female-centric robo-adviser Ellevest has introduced a new pricing structure. The platform will now be split into three levels of service. The first, costing 25 bps, gives clients access to algorithmic portfolio creation\u00a0and advice from human advisers via digital communications. For 50 bps and a minimum investment of $50,000, clients can gain access to personalised goal-planning advice from a certified adviser, as well as information such as career advice. Lastly, the firm is offering a private wealth management service for clients with more than $1m in investing assets.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "JPMorgan to introduce low-cost robo-adviser in 2018 \n JPMorgan Chase has announced it will be releasing a lower-cost digital wealth management tool this week, with plans to offer it to some clients in March with a wide release in mid-2018.\n\nThe goal is to offer \u201cguidance and advice for a broad range of clients, whether you have a few thousand dollars, or more,\u201d said Kelli Keough, head of digital wealth management.\n\nCurrently named JPMorgan Digital Investing, the robo advisory service will ask customers questions regarding their age, risk appetite and behaviours, thereafter modelling an ETF portfolio according to preset rules.\n\nThis latest robo advice offering follows the release of several digital wealth services by major banks in the sector, all seeking to attract customers with lower amounts to invest in the hopes of turning them into future high wealth clients.\n\nIn the US, both Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo released its millennial-targeted robo advisors earlier this year.\n\nThe bank has yet to announce its plan for fees, however Keough has stated they will be available by the March release. The minimum investment is expected to be below $5,000.", "output": "JPMorgan Chase is planning to introduce a low-cost wealth management tool in 2018. The firm will allow a sub-section of clients to access the tool in March, with a full launch planned for the middle of the year. The platform, dubbed JPMorgan Digital Investing, will ask clients questions to determine their investment goals and risk appetite. Clients will then be able to access a model portfolio constructed using exchange-traded funds.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aviva, Tencent partner in big-data lab for Chinese AI push \n Aviva-Cofco Life Insurance announced Thursday a strategic partnership with Tencent Holdings in developing a big data lab. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]\n\nAviva-Cofco Life Insurance announced Thursday a strategic partnership with Tencent Holdings in developing a big data lab, as the latest commitment to leverage tech power in developing business.\n\nThe big data lab co-developed by Tencent is an important step in Aviva\u2019s insurance digitalization. \u201cWorking with Tencent can help us better understand our customers and enhance our precision marketing with data sets,\u201d said Yu Ning\uff0cpresident of Aviva-Cofco Life Insurance.\n\nTencent is working on a big data analysis model that can better cover Aviva-Cofco\u2019s preferences and needs. Going forward, Tencent will focus on pinning down Aviva-Cofco\u2019s target customers and improving their user experience by implementing artificial intelligence.\n\n\u201cThe implementation of big data in insurance can also help with risk management and further reduce management costs,\u201d said Yu. \u201cOur customers can enjoy a better product with a lower price.\u201d\n\nAviva Plc, the British shareholder of Aviva-Cofco, has been reshaping the industry with its implementation of digital technologies. Starting from 2014, the company has cultivated a specialized group aimed at big data analysis and online sales.\n\nTo date, Aviva has been investing more than 100 million pounds ($133.7 million) in insurance digitalization and related research on a yearly basis.\n\nLiu Yukun contributed to this story", "output": "Aviva's Chinese affiliate is to harness the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to focus marketing and improve customer experiences in a\u00a0big-data project with\u00a0technology giant Tencent. The two will open a lab to\u00a0analyse\u00a0the insurer's business data. It's all part of UK-based Aviva's investment programme\u00a0in its global digital operations, which has seen it spend\u00a0about $134m\u00a0a year\u00a0since 2014.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WeChat mobile payments arrive in United Kingdom \n Consumers use WeChat Pay at an exhibition in Fuzhou, Fujian province. [Photo/for China Daily]\n\nIn the middle of London's Camden Market, a trader from China hands red-bean cakes to a group of tourists from Sweden, as tattooed locals dressed in black leather weave their way between food stalls cooking up dishes, including barbecued meat and fish and chips.\n\nThe market, which has been at the heart of London's punk scene since the 1970s, has evolved into one of the capital's busiest tourist attractions. It draws hundreds of thousands of people every week to its maze of clothing shops, tattoo and piercing parlors and food stands.\n\nAnd starting this month, Chinese visitors will be able to buy goods with the mobile payment platform WeChat Pay.\n\nCamden Market is a sharp contrast to luxury shopping hot spots such as Bicester Village and Oxford Street, where Chinese tourists spend millions of pounds each year. It might not seem to be the obvious choice for the United Kingdom launch of WeChat's hugely popular digital wallet, which accounts for 40 percent of the Chinese mobile payment market.\n\nHowever, the number of Chinese visitors to Camden is climbing. In September 2016, 5 percent of its visitors were Chinese. The proportion doubled to 10 percent in March.\n\n\"In terms of demographics, the number of Chinese tourists in Camden is certainly growing, and in terms of a brand, Camden was an obvious choice. It's iconic in London,\" said Craig Jacoby, head of retail payments at Safe-Charge.\n\nWeChat has worked with SafeCharge, a British payment technology company, to make WeChat Pay available at point-of-sale locations in the UK for the first time.\n\nDuring the next four months, SafeCharge will provide more than 1,000 Camden Market vendors with a software update that enables in-store payment terminals to generate QR codes and perform WeChat Pay transactions.\n\nChinese tourists spent 513 million pounds ($681 million) in the UK last year, according to tourism authority VisitBritain. Camden Market's management wants to better accommodate those big-spending visitors.\n\nJacoby said WeChat Pay will soon be available at other shopping destinations in London, and the service is also launching at six large retailers in Paris as WeChat moves forward with its international expansion.\n\nWeChat Pay rival Alipay has also made recent moves in Europe. In October, Alipay expanded its partnership with Dutch payment company Adyen to facilitate in-store mobile payments at retail partners in the UK.\n\nIn Camden, merchants and customers were upbeat about the development. Yi-yin Wei, a shopkeeper from Taiwan province, who sells red-bean cakes at a stall called Wheel Cake Island, thought the update would be useful.\n\n\"Chinese mainland people are used to paying for things with their phones, so it will be like home for them,\" Wei said.\n\nAngel Chow, a tourist from Hong Kong visiting the market, said mainland shoppers will likely spend more money when they have WeChat Pay as an option.\n\n\"They will find it convenient if they can use their phones and will buy more. I think they will be excited to be able to use it in England,\" Chow said.\n\nOther Camden merchants were not sure there would be enough demand. Vari McGeachy, manager of Books Iconica, said fewer than 5 percent of her customers are from Asia.\n\n\"We don't have many Chinese people coming through the doors, and when they do, they don't have a problem paying with cash or card,\" McGeachy said. \"It wouldn't be worth having to train my staff about a new system.\"\n\nSafeCharge Chief Executive David Avgi said in general, there is great motivation to accommodate Chinese consumers in Europe, where 50 percent of luxury purchases are made by Asian tourists.\n\nAnd he said it is a matter of time before the mobile payment systems that are ubiquitous in China catch on in the West.", "output": "Chinese visitors to the UK can now use WeChat, China's \"app for everything\", to buy their souvenirs. WeChat Pay was made available for point-of-sale locations in the UK through a partnership with British fintech firm SafeCharge, beginning in November 2017. According to VisitBritain, Chinese tourists spent \u00a3513 million in Britain last year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Toffee slices, dices insurance to crack Indian millennial market \n EXCLUSIVE\u2014 Less is more is not often a philosophy that\u2019s applied to insurance, at least not in the United States.\n\nWhen it comes to India things might be different. That\u2019s why insurtech startup Toffee is offering consumers in the country more tailored, \u201cbite-sized\u201d products, rather than less flexible, more traditional insurance plans.\n\n\u201cSix to seven percent of people in India have formal health insurance, so there\u2019s a huge population that\u2019s not covered,\u201d Nishant Jain, co-founder and chief product officer for Toffee told Bank Innovation. \u201cThe problem we were trying to solve was, how do we get Indians to buy health insurance online?\u201d\n\nAs so much of the population remains uninsured, the insurance market in India represents a vast opportunity for companies, Jain said, especially when it comes to millennial customers\u2014specifically, those between 20 to 29 years of age. Toffee is not focusing solely on the health insurance market, but is launching products for a variety of use cases.\n\nThat\u2019s the segment Toffee is focusing on, offering \u201cmicro\u201d insurance products engineered to cover particular instances where insurance might be useful to those millennial consumers: rent, backpacking, or commuting insurance, for example.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a huge market there which no one is trying to grab today,\u201d Jain said, of the millennial insurance industry in India, partially because they don\u2019t \u201cneed\u201d overly complicated, jargon-heavy, or more comprehensive policies, Jain said.\n\nThe company, which officially launched three weeks ago according to Jain, is currently live with three of its micro products, including a policy for Dengue fever treatment, a daily commuting policy for travelers who might be \u201cexposed\u201d to accidents,\u201d and a \u201cGlobetrotter\u201d policy for international travel.\n\nOther products, including policies for rent, a \u201cStay Fit\u201d policy and a backpacking policy (for accidents or other events that may occur during a backpacking trip), will follow over the next few months, the company said. It is currently partnering with other firms in order to bring its products to customers, rather than going direct to consumer, Jain said.\n\n\u201cWe are doing B2C marketing, better to go from B2B2C,\u201d Jain said of Toffee\u2019s approach, adding that the company has signed with several distribution partners including 1mg, which is \u201cIndia\u2019s largest online pharmacy,\u201d Jain said.\n\nToffee\u2019s main benefit to its distribution partners is the fact that it is a fully digital, mobile-enabled platform, Jain said, which enables tasks such as filing a claim to be completed with a much higher speed than they would be traditionally.\n\n\u201cClaiming in India is very difficult, it takes [customers] 2 to 3 weeks just to get the money in their accounts,\u201d Jain said. \u201c80% of claims, we can approve, money in your account, in 2 days.\u201d\n\nWhether \u201cbite-sized\u201d insurance is the way to the millennial market in India remains to be seen\u2014it\u2019s only been three weeks after all\u2014but it is certainly something to keep watching.\n\nTo learn more about the latest developments in insurtech and global fintech, join us on March 5-6, 2018 at the Parc 55 in San Francisco for Bank Innovation 2018. Click here to register.", "output": "India-based insurtech start-up Toffee is looking to crack the millennial market by selling micro-insurance, offering policies only when a customer requires them. For example, with only 6%-7% of Indians taking out comprehensive health insurance, Toffee offers coverage for specific diseases, such as\u00a0Dengue fever,\u00a0co-founder Nishant Jain said. Toffee is also aiming to speed up the claims process in India, reducing it from the\u00a0typical\u00a0two-to-three weeks to\u00a0as little as two days, he said.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Reinsurance M&A to pick up after catastrophe losses: Clyde & Co \n 2017\u2019s record-level losses from natural catastrophes and other growing market pressures could act as a catalyst for M&A activity in the U.S. insurance industry next year, according to Clyde & Co.\n\nAnalysts said M&As had taken something of a back seat in the insurance industry over the last 18 months, but changing factors in the market environment, such as increased rates in loss-affected lines, cuts to corporate tax rates, and development of InsurTech start-ups have made it likely that insurers place a renewed focus on acquisitions.\n\nClyde & Co said that after a year of heavy losses \u201cwe expect a number of insurance businesses will see their balance sheets come under increasing strain.\n\n\u201cThis could serve as a trigger for a wave of M&A in 2018 as re/insurers look for partners to help absorb these losses or consider putting their businesses up for sale.\u201d\n\nOn the other hand, if pricing pressure decreases due to rate hikes in loss-affected lines, it could give firms the capacity to focus on strategic M&A activity.\n\nThe InsurTech revolution is expected to be another driver of acquisitions, as re/insurers hunt for start-ups with a proven track record of success to fill the need for strategic innovation.\n\nIn addition, Clyde & Co noted that abundant liquidity in the market means \u201cthere\u2019s little room for insurers to differentiate on price. And the rise of broker facilities and an increasing number of managing general agents entering the market is putting additional pressure on insurers.\u201d\n\nIn Europe, the uncertainty created by Brexit had placed a significant brake on M&A activity \u2013 with firms choosing to focus on Brexit contingency plans.\n\nHowever, Clyde & Co expects that in 2018 a difficult trading environment where investment returns remain under pressure will mean that growth remains a priority.\n\nRe/insurers could come under additional pressure from alternative capital gaining a larger proportion of market share through expanding beyond current lines of business and into new areas, analysts believe this could result in additional pressure on pricing in which some businesses are put up for sale.\n\nHowever, Clyde & Co analysts cautioned that with growing geopolitical instability, a recession, a fall in the stock markets, global political conflicts or other negative global events could potentially override the factors above and put a chill on insurance M&A in 2018.", "output": "Having all but evaporated in the past 18 months, mergers and acquisitions could make a comeback within the reinsurance space during 2018, according to Clyde & Co. After record catastrophe losses in 2017, several company balance sheets could be under pressure, potentially opening the door to more M&A. Equally, Clyde & Co argues pricing pressure could decrease due to rate hikes in loss-impacted lines of business. This could free up firms to focus on M&A. The rise of insurtech also may create buying opportunities for incumbent reinsurers, the company said.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Leading UK retailers selling real fur as fake \n Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nMorning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nA number of major retailers have been criticised after it emerged they were selling products containing animal fur, despite advertising them as synthetic.\n\nAmazon, TK Maxx, Boohoo and Groupon were among companies found to be selling real fur that was not advertised as such.\n\nTests undertaken as part of an investigation by the charity Humane Society International and Sky News revealed that customers have unwittingly been buying animal products.\n\nAmong the items wrongly described as faux fur were a \u00a35 pair of earrings from online retailer Boohoo that actually contained real mink fur. Other Boohoo products were found to be made from rabbit fur.\n\nRecommended Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo to stop using fur from 2018\n\nBoohoo has an Animal Welfare Policy that it says was approved by animal rights charity PETA. The company has committed to not selling real animal fur.\n\nOther retailers were also found to have mislabelled products. TK Maxx was selling a coat made from real fox fur, despite the product description claiming the material was manmade. The company claims it has \u201cnot sold real animal fur of any type\u201d since 2003.\n\nCustomers had even raised concerns that some TK Maxx products appeared to be made of real fur, but were assured by the chain\u2019s customer services department that they were not. Testing revealed that the product in question was indeed made of rabbit fur.\n\nThe revelation prompted calls for the Government to ban the importation of fur from abroad. Fur farming was outlawed in the UK in 2003 but it remains legal to purchase fur from elsewhere.\n\nA special permit is needed to import animal skins and it is illegal to bring into the country the fur of animals caught in leg-hold traps.\n\nHowever, the fact that real fur is unknowingly being bought by UK shoppers is likely to prompt concern about the origins of the skins and the treatment of the animals from which they come.\n\nAngela Smith MP, who co-chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare, told The Independent: \u201cIn this day and age, when the cruelty of the fur trade is so well known, I would have thought that manufacturers and stockists would have more sense than to try and smuggle such vile products into the hands of well-meaning customers.\n\n\u201cI will be calling on the Government to tighten up the regulations to ensure this kind of flagrant deception does not happen again and to help bring an end to this barbaric trade.\u201d\n\nCaroline Lucas, co-leader of the Green Party, backed calls for a wholesale ban on the importation of fur.\n\nShe told The Independent: \u201cImagine finding out that the socks or hat you\u2019ve been wearing for months, thinking it was fur free, had in fact been made from rabbit or another animal. It\u2019s a deplorable practice and these shops need to end this deception.\n\n\u201cAt the very least, we need a decent fur labelling law. But that will only fix the problem in the short term. The simplest, most effective thing to do would be not just to maintain the bans on cat, dog and seal fur post-Brexit, but to extend the ban to all species.\n\n\u201cGiven the UK banned fur farming back in 2000, it\u2019s completely perverse to be importing tens of millions of pounds of that same cruelty \u2013 or worse \u2013 from overseas. Debates over the last few months, inspired by the BBC\u2019s Blue Planet and the vote on animal sentience, have proven once again that we are a nation of animal-lovers. I urge our government to protect the wellbeing of animals, and take fur out of our shops.\u201d\n\nUK news in pictures Show all 50 1 / 50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 5 June 2023 Prime Minister Rishi Sunak onboard Border Agency cutter HMC Seeker during a visit to Dover PA UK news in pictures 4 June 2023 A hot air balloon rises into the sky above Ragley Hall, Alcester, south of Birmingham in central England AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 2 June 2023 Skaters use the mini ramp at the Wavelength Spring Classic festival in Woolacombe Bay in Devon PA UK news in pictures 1 June 2023 The And Beyond installation, during a photo call for the London Design Biennale at Somerset House in London PA UK news in pictures 31 May 2023 Emergency services attending to a blaze at a derelict listed building in Samuel Street, Belfast PA UK news in pictures 30 May 2023 A robot named Stella interacts with visitors during the International Conference on Robotics and Automation ICRA in London AP UK news in pictures 29 May 2023 Dave Hackett and his daughter Daisy, five, explore the laburnum arch in the grounds of Preston Tower, East Lothian, in the warm Spring Bank Holiday weather PA UK news in pictures 28 May 2023 Great Britain\u2019s Nick Bandurak scores their side\u2019s third goal of the game during the FIH Hockey Pro League men\u2019s match at Lee Valley, London PA UK news in pictures 27 May 2023 People enjoy the sunny weather at a park in London AP UK news in pictures 26 May 2023 People drink coffee inside Daleks during MCM Comic Con at the ExCel London in east London PA UK news in pictures 25 May 2023 King Charles III and Queen Camilla during a visit to Enniskillen Castle, Co Fermanagh as part of a two day visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 24 May 2023 Horses enjoy the sunny weather on Middleham Gallops in North Yorkshire PA UK news in pictures 23 May 2023 An aerial view of a yellow rapeseed field in Hemel Hempstead, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 22 May 2023 Manoj Malde and Clive Gillmor kiss after getting married, the first wedding ever at the Chelsea Flower Show AP UK news in pictures 21 May 2023 People enjoy the warm weather as they take punt tours along the River Cam in Cambridge PA UK news in pictures 20 May 2023 Protesters emerge from the sea as Surfers Against Sewage hold a UK-wide paddle-out protest at Brighton West Pier in East Sussex PA UK news in pictures 19 May 2023 Good Karma ridden by Daniel Muscutt (right) wins the Earl & The Pharaoh Novice Stakes at Newbury Racecourse, Berkshire PA UK news in pictures 18 May 2023 Choristers from the Choir of St John\u2019s College at the University of Cambridge look out from the top of the Chapel Tower before performing the Ascension Day carol - a custom dating back to 1902. PA UK news in pictures 17 May 2023 Oxfam activists wearing 'big heads' of G7 leaders during a demonstration in Trafalgar Square, London, highlighting their lack of action to tackle the East Africa hunger crisis ahead of the start of the G7 summit in Japan PA UK news in pictures 16 May 2023 Part of a child\u2019s jacket during a photo call for the China\u2019s hidden century exhibition, which opens at the British Museum PA UK news in pictures 15 May 2023 Viewing assistant and History of Art student Emma Scarr Hall takes a closer look at @Pink Roses\u2019 (1923) by Scottish Colourist artist Leslie Hunter which is estimated at \u00a360,000-80,000 in the forthcoming Bonhams Scottish Art Sale in Edinburgh PA UK news in pictures 14 May 2023 Eva Birthistle, Sarah Greene, Sharon Horgan and Anne-Marie Duff, with the award for Drama Series, for Bad Sisters at the 2023 BAFTA TV Awards in London EPA UK news in pictures 13 May 2023 Singer Loreen performing on behalf of Sweden celebrates with the trophy after winning the final of the Eurovision Song contest 2023 AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 12 May 2023 Leader of the Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer views a cancer tumour under a microscope during a visit to the Francis Crick Institute in north London where he met scientists working on research into lung cancer PA UK news in pictures 11 May 2023 Judging takes during the artisan cheese awards at St Mary\u2019s Church, Melton Mowbray PA UK news in pictures 10 May 2023 A dog joins members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) on the picket line outside HMRC in East Kilbride during a strike in the long-running civil service dispute over pay, jobs and conditions PA UK news in pictures 9 May 2023 Two trains carrying 170 Eurovision song contest superfans arrive into Liverpool Lime Street train station PA UK news in pictures 8 May 2023 Britain\u2019s Prince Louis eats toasted marshmallows as they take part in the Big Help Out, during a visit to the 3rd Upton Scouts Hut in Slough, England, AP UK news in pictures 6 May 2023 King Charles III and Queen Camilla can be seen on the Buckingham Palace balcony ahead of the flypast during the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla Getty UK news in pictures 5 May 2023 Britain's King Charles III leaves after speaking to well-wishers on The Mall near to Buckingham Palace in central London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 May 2023 A night time rehearsal in central London for the coronation of King Charles III PA UK news in pictures 2 May 2023 Teacher members of the National Education Union (NEU) at a rally in Westminster, London, as they stage walkouts across England in an ongoing dispute over pay PA UK news in pictures 1 May 2023 Former US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media on the tarmac after disembarking \"Trump Force One\" at Aberdeen airport on the north-east coast of Scotland AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 April 2023 Handout photo issued by the Big Partnership of walkers at the start of The Kiltwalk 2023 from Glasgow Green. PA UK news in pictures 29 April 2023 England\u2019s flanker Marlie Packer celebrates with the trophy and teammates after winning the Women\u2019s Six Nations Grand Slam at the end of the Six Nations international women\u2019s rugby union match between England and France at Twickenham in south-west London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 28 April 2023 Lucy Williams, from Aberfan, holds her son Daniel Williams, one, as he takes the handbag of the Princess of Wales, during her visit with her husband the Prince of Wales, to the Aberfan memorial garden, to pay their respects to those who lost their lives during the Aberfan disaster on October 21st 1966 PA UK news in pictures 27 April 2023 Teachers on the picket line outside Bristol Cathedral School, College Square, Bristol, as they take strike action in a dispute over pay PA UK news in pictures 26 April 2023 Protesters wait for the arrival of King Charles III and the Queen Consort for their visit to Liverpool Central Library PA UK news in pictures 25 April 2023 Wreaths are laid at the Cenotaph in central London, in commemoration for Anzac Day PA UK news in pictures 24 April 2023 Waves crash over Tynemouth pier on the North East coast of England PA UK news in pictures 23 April 2023 People cross the finish line at the 2023 London Marathon Getty UK news in pictures 22 April 2023 A Wrexham fan in a Deadpool costume ahead of the Vanarama National League match at The Racecourse Ground, Wrexham PA UK news in pictures 21 April 2023 A demonstrator wears a costume as people protest during the Extinction Rebellion's 'The Big One' event, in London, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 20 April 2023 The funeral cortege of Paul O\u2019Grady travels through the village of Aldington, Kent ahead of his funeral at St Rumwold\u2019s Church PA UK news in pictures 19 April 2023 Georgia Harrison, who was a victim of revenge porn, at a demonstration organised by Refuge outside the Houses of Parliament, calling for a violence against women and girls code of practice to be added to the \u2018Online safety bill\u2019 PA UK news in pictures 18 April 2023 People walk at the Taihaku Cherry Tree Orchard at Alnwick Gardens in Alnwick, Northumberland Reuters UK news in pictures 17 April 2023 A pelican sits in St James\u2019s Park, London PA UK news in pictures 16 April 2023 People take part in the Nagar Kirtan procession through the city centre in Southampton, during Vaisakhi celebrations to mark the birth of the Khalsa and to celebrate the spring harvest and the solar new year PA UK news in pictures 15 April 2023 Former Chelsea players and fans show the Samaritans' 24-hour helpline number 116 123 on the back of their shirts during the launch of the TalkMoreThanFootball campaign from Three, during halftime of Chelsea v Brighton at Stamford Bridge, London PA UK news in pictures 14 April 2023 Protesters outside York Magistrates\u2019 Court, where Patrick Thelwell is charged with threatening behaviour after eggs were thrown at King Charles III during his visit to York in November PA\n\nClaire Bass, executive director of Humane Society International UK, said: \u201cThe amount of fake faux fur online is truly shocking, with even trusted retailers mis-selling real animal fur as synthetic.\n\n\u201cIt is appalling that British shoppers, who are actively choosing not to buy real fur because of the terrible animal suffering, are being misled into buying the very same fur products they\u2019re trying to avoid.\u201d\n\nTK Maxx said customers who had bought the real fur products would be offered a refund, while Groupon said it was reviewing its suppliers and internal processes \u201cto ensure this doesn\u2019t happen again\u201d.\n\nBoohoo said: \u201cWe are very disappointed that on this occasion our high standards have been breached by the suppliers from who these items have been sourced.\n\n\u201cThe items in question were immediately removed from sale and the breach of the policy and its standards is being investigated as a matter of urgency.\u201d\n\nAmazon said marketplace sellers who don\u2019t meet its guidelines faced the prospect of having their account deleted.", "output": "Major companies, including Amazon, Boohoo, Groupon and TK Maxx, sold products in the UK containing real animal fur that they advertised as synthetic, according to tests conducted by charity Humane Society International and Sky News. The investigation led campaigners to call for a ban on fur imports. Although fur farming was prohibited in the UK in 2003, such imports remain legal. TK Maxx is offering refunds to affected customers, while Groupon and Boohoo are reviewing their procedures. Amazon said that it could delete the accounts of sellers failing to meet the company\u2019s guidelines.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Leading UK retailers selling real fur as fake \n London\u2014British consumers are being misled into buying real fur from fox, rabbit, chinchilla and mink, falsely advertised as fake fur, an investigation by Humane Society International UK and Sky News has revealed.\n\nThe investigation found trusted online retailers such as Boohoo, Amazon and Not On The High Street all selling items such as bobble hats, keychains, scarves, shoes and coats advertised as faux fur when laboratory tests revealed them to be real animal fur.\n\nMany of these items have deceptively low price points; life is cheap on fur farms, with animals enduring appalling deprivation, and this means that real fur trim often costs the same or even less than faux fur.\n\nClaire Bass, executive director of Humane Society International UK, said: \u201cThe amount of fake faux fur online is truly shocking, with even trusted retailers mis-selling real animal fur as synthetic. It is appalling that British shoppers, who are actively choosing not to buy real fur because of the terrible animal suffering, are being misled into buying the very same fur products they\u2019re trying to avoid. The combination of trusted brands, cheap prices, and items described as \u201cfaux\u201d or \u201c100% acrylic\u201d, means many people will be justifiably horrified to discover they\u2019ve inadvertently bought animal fur. Consumers rightly expect brands to sell what they say they\u2019re selling, so urgent action is needed to stop this insidious creep of fur through the back door.\u201d\n\nAnimal lover Jayne Webster got in touch with HSI to report concerns about the key chain that she bought from T.K. Maxx after being assured it was faux fur by T K Maxx staff. HSI sent the keychain off for testing and found it to be made of rabbit fur. Jayne said: \u201cAs a company who proudly boasts that they have not sold fur or angora products since 2003, I would assume that TK Maxx takes a strong ethical stance on this issue. So when I found out that the fur pom-pom I bought was actually made of rabbit fur I was extremely disappointed and concerned. I am aware of the horrific suffering that animals on fur farms go through and would never want to buy real fur, I don\u2019t know how companies can get away with this.\u201d\n\nFake faux fur items include:\n\nT.K. Maxx, fox fur coat\n\nBoohoo, mink fur earrings\n\nBoohoo, rabbit fur shoes\n\nMiss Bardo, fox fur hat\n\nAmazon, rabbit fur children\u2019s shoes\n\nNot On The High Street, rabbit fur keychain\n\nGroupon, rabbit fur keychain\n\nEtsy, mink fur earrings\n\nAround the world in countries such as the U.S., France, Poland and China, animals on fur farms are subjected to terrible conditions. Beautiful wild animals are kept their entire lives in small, barren cages, physically and mentally deprived, before being killed and skinned for their fur. Wild animals such as coyotes fair no better, caught in agonising traps for hours or even days before being shot.\n\nThe vast majority of the British public are against wearing fur. A 2016 YouGov poll shows 9 out of 10 Brits believe that it is unacceptable to buy and sell real fur, averaged across nine species. Although fur farming was outlawed in the UK on moral grounds in 2000, and EU regulations ban fur from domestic cats, dogs or commercial seal hunts, the UK still imports and sells fur from a range of other species such as fox, rabbit, mink, coyote, raccoon dog, and chinchilla.\n\nHSI is campaigning for the British Government to make the United Kingdom a fur-free zone by extending the cat, dog and seal fur bans to include all fur-bearing species. As a member of the EU single market, under rules relating to free movement of goods the UK is not currently at liberty to ban the import of animal fur, which is farmed in several European countries. But Brexit could give the government the freedom to reflect the public\u2019s distaste for all fur and close our borders fully to this cruel and outdated trade.\n\nBass continued: \u201cThe government banned fur farming as unethical in the UK more than ten years ago, but perversely we have since been importing that same cruelty from fur farms overseas. The vast majority of British people believe that animal fur has no place in our high streets and wardrobes, and would support a UK ban. Mandatory, clear labelling of all fur is urgently needed to stop consumers being misled, but ultimately to properly protect both animals and consumers, the government must use the opportunity presented by Brexit to ban all UK fur imports.\u201d\n\nFrequently Asked Questions:\n\nThere is no legal requirement to use the specific word \u201cfur\u201d on items containing real fur. EU regulations do require items defined as \u201ctextile products\u201d to carry the confusing wording \u201ccontains non-textile parts of animal origin\u201d but as well as not clearly telling consumers it means \u201creal animal fur\u201d, in practice this wording requirement is rarely adhered to at all.\n\nProducts sold online are exempt even from the above confusing wording requirement, and footwear or non-garment accessories such as handbags and keychains are also excluded.\n\nUnder consumer protection legislation, it\u2019s technically illegal to mislead. However, the regulation \u2013 with respect to the sale of animal fur \u2013 is very poorly enforced, and \u2018an honest mistake\u2019 is considered a legitimate defence and so retailers are rarely prosecuted.\n\nHSI believes that all products containing real animal fur (including clothing, footwear, accessories etc) should be clearly labelled in plain English. Such labelling is already in place in the US and Switzerland, and should include the animal species (both common and scientific name); country of origin (where the animal was bred/trapped and killed); how the animal was reared and killed (trap caught or reared in a wire cage, for example).\n\nMedia contact: Harriet Barclay, HBarclay@hsi.org, +44 (0)7794354596\n\nNotes:", "output": "Major companies, including Amazon, Boohoo, Groupon and TK Maxx, sold products in the UK containing real animal fur that they advertised as synthetic, according to tests conducted by charity Humane Society International and Sky News. The investigation led campaigners to call for a ban on fur imports. Although fur farming was prohibited in the UK in 2003, such imports remain legal. TK Maxx is offering refunds to affected customers, while Groupon and Boohoo are reviewing their procedures. Amazon said that it could delete the accounts of sellers failing to meet the company\u2019s guidelines.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK agency workers paid \u00a3400m less than peers \n Agency workers are collectively underpaid by \u00a3400m a year compared to their full-time counterparts, with the pay gap costing temporary admin staff \u00a3990 a year on average, according to new research.\n\nThe Resolution Foundation said the loss of pay across all sectors took the average loss for each of the UK\u2019s 800,000 agency workers to \u00a3500 a year, up from \u00a3430 last year.\n\nThe charity said it was shocked to find that around 85% of temporary staff suffered a pay deficit while working in the same job for more than three months. It said agency workers that stayed with one employer for more than three months were expected to have the same pay as full-time employees.\n\nLindsay Judge, a policy analyst at the foundation, said many employers were using loopholes in the law that allow agency workers to sign away their right to equal pay.\n\n\n\n\u201cAgency workers deserve to be paid the same as employees if they\u2019re doing the same job, so the government should look to close the loophole that allows agency workers to sign away their right to equal pay.\n\n\u201cWith the government-commissioned Taylor Review noting this abuse, we\u2019re hopeful that 2018 will be the year of action on fair pay for agency workers.\u201d\n\nLast year, labour market economist John Philpott found that more than one in five workers, around 7.1 million people, were in precarious employment, up from 5.3 million in 2006.\n\nA report by the GMB union this summer warned that the number of workers who could be dismissed at short notice was nearer 10 million.\n\nThe foundation said some agency workers earned a bonus to compensate in part for the loss of pension contributions, with interim managers and senior social care staff topping the list of those workers who command high wages.\n\n\n\nWorkers in the category for caring, leisure and other service occupations earn \u00a3218 more on average than equivalent full-time members of staff, while temporary managers and directors enjoy a \u00a32,477 pay boost compared to full-timers.\n\nBut administrators lost \u00a3990 a year compared to full-time employees and the average sales or customer service worker lost \u00a3800 a year.\n\nThe report said: \u201cThese pay penalties exist despite the Agency Worker Regulations 2010 which gives those with 12 weeks-plus of continuous service in the workplace pay parity with comparable employees.\u201d\n\nIt said the regulations allow agency staff to forgo their right to equal pay with directly employed staff in return for a contract that offers pay between assignments, known as a \u201cSwedish derogation\u201d contract. It said these were \u201cwidely abused, as noted by the government commissioned Taylor Review of Modern Working Practises\u201d.\n\nFrances O\u2019Grady, the TUC general secretary, said: \u201cTwo people working next to each other, doing the same job, should get the same pay rates. But too often agency workers are treated like second-class citizens.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s time to end this undercutters\u2019 charter and for the government to scrap this loophole. It\u2019s recent review into modern employment practices called for precisely that.\u201d", "output": "UK agency workers are collectively paid \u00a3400m ($534m) less than their permanent peers, according to research by charity the Resolution Foundation. Temporary admin staff experience an average pay gap of \u00a3990 annually. The average individual loss for the country\u2019s 800,000 agency workers is \u00a3500 per year, up from \u00a3430 in 2016. After three months with the same employer, agency workers are legally expected to have the same pay as full-time colleagues. However, 85% were found to have a pay deficit. \u201cSwedish derogation\u201d contracts, which offer pay between assignments, are used to allow workers to sign away equal pay rights.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK agency workers paid \u00a3400m less than peers \n Christmas is coming \u2013 and many of the presents we\u2019re all busy buying are being picked and packed in warehouses, delivered by drivers, or sold to us in shops by staff who are not directly employed, but who work through an agency instead. So how has this part of the workforce fared over the course of 2017?\n\nPerhaps unsurprisingly in a year when low levels of unemployment and a falling numbers of migrants have led to a tighter labour market, the number of agency workers plateaued in 2017 (Figure 1). When we launched our agency worker project last year we suggested that if this contingent way of working grew at a similar rate to that we had observed in the previous five years, we could expect to see as many as one million agency workers in the UK by the end of the decade. The latest data now suggests we are no longer on trend to reach that threshold.\n\nFigure 1: Agency workers over time: UK Source: RF analysis of ONS, Labour Force Survey\n\nBut is this more propitious labour market also feeding through to improvements in agency workers\u2019 pay? At first glance this would appear to be the case: average hourly pay for those working through an agency grew by 2 per cent in real terms over the first three quarters of 2017, in contrast with a 2 per cent fall for other types of staff. While some of this uplift was provided by the National Living Wage \u2013 with over a quarter of agency workers paid at or very close to the wage floor, above inflation increases in the NLW have a significant effect \u2013 on balance, all agency workers look to be doing better in the pay stakes than their directly employed counterparts.\n\nOr are they? Before directly employed staff decide to jump jobs they should think about how the pay levels of agency workers compare with their salaries. When we compare the hourly wage of agency workers and employees with same personal characteristics (age, gender, migrant status, ethnicity, experience and the like) who do the same type of work (when it comes to industry, occupation or whether the job is full or part-time for instance), we can see that agency workers remain at considerable disadvantage. On average, over the period 2011-2017 we estimate that like for like, agency workers have been paid 23p less an hour than employees who work directly for a firm.\n\nHowever, this \u2018agency pay penalty\u2019 is not distributed equally through the workforce. As Figure 2 shows, in some occupations working via an agency comes with a pay premium rather than a pay penalty. But interestingly we don\u2019t observe the simple occupational gradient as we might expect, with those in higher paid jobs able to extract more from the workplace while those lower down the occupational scale subject to heavier penalties.\n\nFigure 2: Difference in hourly pay between agency workers and employees controlling for personal and job characteristics, by occupation: UK\n\nSource: RF analysis of ONS, Labour Force Survey\n\nSo what explains this picture? We think (at least) four things could be going on. First, managers and senior staff who work through agencies often take on unpopular, trouble-shooting roles for which they may be able to command a premium. Second, many workplaces in caring and leisure have legally required staff ratios \u2013 as we have noted for social care, this can oblige firms to pay a premium for staff needed at short notice. Third, other research has shown that in professions such as teaching, staff are prepared to accept a lower pay rate in order to avoid what they see as high levels of bureaucracy. And fourth, the smaller penalties we observe in elementary and other low paid jobs may simply be because so many in those occupations are at the wage floor that the difference between the pay of agency workers and other staff is naturally slight.\n\nWhatever the reasons, the fact that an agency worker sitting (or standing or lifting) next to an identical employee is not being paid an equivalent rate should give us pause for thought. We estimate that across all occupations, agency workers lost \u00a3400 million of earnings in 2017 as a result of the agency pay penalty. That\u2019s a lot of Christmas presents they could have bought for their families, but also a loss to the public purse. With over one in ten agency workers claiming tax credits or Universal Credit the state is substituting at least some of these lost wages, as well as forgoing the additional tax it could levy if agency workers were paid in full.\n\nThis state of affairs is all the more concerning given that the government introduced the Agency Worker Regulations 2010 explicitly to give those with 12 weeks-plus of continuous service in the workplace pay parity with comparable employees. While we have some concerns about how agency workers interpret survey questions about length of service (do they report the length of single assignments, for example, or instead the length of time they have worked with a specific agency?), it is possible to look at the subset of agency workers who say they have been working in their existing role for 3 months-plus (Figure 3). As this shows, in some (but not all) occupations the agency pay penalty is attenuated. Nonetheless, we still estimate the lost earnings of these longer term workers totals around \u00a3300 million for 2017.\n\nFigure 3: Difference in hourly pay between agency workers and employees controlling for personal and job characteristics, by occupation and length of employment: UK\n\nSource: RF analysis of ONS, Labour Force Survey\n\nIt\u2019s fair to say that there could be a number of reasons why these lower rates of pay exist which we aren\u2019t picking up in our analysis here. Perhaps agency workers are less motivated, for example, or lack a very specific set of skills needed for the job? But another potential explanation lies with the very law designed to end unequal pay between agency workers and employees. The 2010 Regulations allows agency staff to forgo their right to pay parity with direct employees in return for a contract that offers pay between assignments (a so-called \u2018Swedish derogation\u2019 contract). But as both the Taylor Review and the joint BEIS-Work and Pensions Committee report have acknowledged this year \u2013 and three focus groups we have run recently with agency workers also confirm \u2013 such contracts are widely abused.\n\nIn this festive season maybe it\u2019s time for the government to give agency workers a present too. Closing this loophole in the law and enforcing the right of agency workers to equal pay with comparable employees would be a gift to the tune of \u00a3990 a year for the average administrator who works through an agency, \u00a3800 a year for the average sales or customer service staff and \u00a3285 a year for the typical worker in an elementary occupation. Now that really would make for a merry Christmas, one and all.", "output": "UK agency workers are collectively paid \u00a3400m ($534m) less than their permanent peers, according to research by charity the Resolution Foundation. Temporary admin staff experience an average pay gap of \u00a3990 annually. The average individual loss for the country\u2019s 800,000 agency workers is \u00a3500 per year, up from \u00a3430 in 2016. After three months with the same employer, agency workers are legally expected to have the same pay as full-time colleagues. However, 85% were found to have a pay deficit. \u201cSwedish derogation\u201d contracts, which offer pay between assignments, are used to allow workers to sign away equal pay rights.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Moet breaks trend for alcohol companies with Snapchat game \n Alcohol brands like Heineken and William Grant & Sons have concerns about using Snapchat as a marketing platform because they don\u2019t think the app\u2019s age-filtering feature is effective. But that\u2019s not a hurdle for Mo\u00ebt.\n\nThe luxury champagne company, which is more than 250 years old, is launching a Snapchat game this week called \u201cMo\u00ebt & Chandon Tower Toss\u201d as part of its holiday campaign \u201cThe Greatest Entertainer.\u201d To play the game, two people take turns swiping up to shoot a champagne cork at a four-layer Mo\u00ebt champagne tower on a table. Each player has 10 seconds to toss as many corks as they want, receiving points based on precision and which tier they target. Mo\u00ebt placed paid ads on Snapchat Discover to direct users to play the game.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t want to just buy people\u2019s attention through media \u2014 we want to get their attention naturally in a customized way,\u201d said Christine Ngo Isaac, marketing director and head of U.S. consumer engagement for Mo\u00ebt & Chandon. \u201cSnapchat is an open ecosystem and has done a good job in building a customer experience outside of traditional advertising.\u201d\n\nAgency Attention helped Mo\u00ebt develop the game, which the brand claimed is Snapchat\u2019s first two-player game. While the game was designed for Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook users can also play a web version through special links.\n\nBut one big question for alcohol brands marketing on Snapchat is how to ensure they accurately target people of legal drinking age, which is 21 in the U.S. After all, marketers from Heineken and William Grant & Sons have said it was hard to verify the ages of recipients of ads on Snapchat. But Ngo Isaac disagrees.\n\n\u201cThe statement that Snapchat has an age-gating problem is not completely true. I think the problem is many alcohol brands just take a piece of content from other platforms and amplify it through Snapchat,\u201d she said. \u201cFor this specific game, our paid ads on Discover target people over 25, even older than the legal drinking age.\u201d\n\nIn addition to Snapchat\u2019s own ad-targeting capacities, Mo\u00ebt also asks players to enter their birthdates before playing the game. \u201cWe use double verification to ensure that we are not presenting alcohol content to minors,\u201d said Tom Buontempo, president of Attention. \u201cTargeting in general has become more sophisticated on Snapchat. It is working with many third-party vendors to make sure that their ads reach the right audience.\u201d\n\nBut that\u2019s not saying alcohol brands face no limitations in marketing on Snapchat. Mo\u00ebt and Attention originally designed the game differently: Winners would have a chance to unlock an exclusive geofilter and then share it with their Snapchat friends after completing the game. But Mo\u00ebt ended up dropping the geofilter idea because it was extremely difficult to prevent Snapchat users from sharing the geofilter with people under 21 on the platform, according to Ngo Isaac.\n\n\u201cWe thought of all the possible scenarios that could damage the Mo\u00ebt brand,\u201d she said. \u201cWe take the age issue very seriously, which is why we don\u2019t have a company account on Snapchat. We are still experimenting with the platform.\u201d\n\nA Snapchat blog post said 44 percent of Snapchat users in the U.S. look to friends and family for recommendations on alcohol purchases, compared to 19 percent of non-Snapchatters. Bud Light, Shock Top, Smirnoff and Jameson have all used Snapchat\u2019s ad products like Snap Ads, holiday filters and lenses, according to the company blog.\n\n\u201cWe use the same type of age registration as similar ad platforms. All new Snapchat [users] enter their date of birth when they sign up for the app, and we then age-gate,\u201d said a Snapchat spokesperson. \u201cWe also don\u2019t serve alcohol ads to users with improbable ages that fall at the upper end of the age ranges on our platform.\u201d\n\nThe spokesperson said around 80 percent of Snapchat users are above 18 but declined to specify how many are over 21. But Ngo Isaac said Mo\u00ebt has found \u201cthe next generation of drinkers\u201d on Snapchat, older millennials around 30-34, whom Mo\u00ebt wants to target.\n\n\u201cSnapchat is no longer just a teenager app,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is becoming a more general advertising platform.\u201d\n\nImage courtesy of Attention", "output": "Champagne company Mo\u00ebt has launched a game on social media platform Snapchat, aimed at over 25s, despite wider industry concerns regarding Snapchat's age-filtering capabilities. Both Heineken and William Grant & Sons have previously cited difficulties in verifying recipient ages on Snapchat. Mo\u00ebt's marketing director, Ngo Isaac, believes that the issue other firms experience is with their targeting, arguing that they \"just take a piece of content from other platforms and amplify it through Snapchat\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "PageFair and AppNexus help to make partners GDPR compliant \n As the deadline for compliance with the EU\u2019s General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) draws ever closer, publishers and adtech players are urged to ensure their supply chain partners meet requirements, with both PageFair and AppNexus recently launching offerings that look to enable this.\n\nEarlier this week PageFair announced the launch of Perimeter, a self-styled \u201cregulatory firewall\u201d that will enable publishers to monetise their websites without the use of personal data by blocking all non-compliant third parties from entering the adtech chain, circumventing the need for individual adtech players to gain consent.\n\nFor instance, when publishers install PageFair Perimeter on their properties it will block adtech that uses unique identifiers without the consent of the consumer. Meanwhile, adtech vendors that use \u201cethical data\u201d \u2013 non-personal data \u2013 will be whitelisted.\n\nThis GDPR-friendly tool enables: frequency capping; attribution; impression counting, click counting; view-through counting; conversion counting; and fraud mitigation, all without personal data.\n\nPerimeter has been in development for two years and also works to fix the challenges associated with third party data leakage which will become illegal under GDPR, according to Pagefair.\n\nTo do this, it blocks all third parties from accessing personal data unless both publisher and consumer have given their consent, in theory protecting both the publisher and advertiser from legal risk.\n\nAdditionally, the tool provides publishers with a \u2018consent system\u2019 which will allow them to collect consent on behalf of their adtech partners, and interoperate that consent with other compliant consent management platforms.\n\nBlanchfield said: \u201cWe built Perimeter to enable all media owners to operate within a clean and ethical data/media industry that prevents brands from being exposed to risk under the GDPR, and enables relevant advertising to sustain the online media industry\u201d.\n\nThe initiative comes just weeks after AppNexus, an adtech outfit that has offerings catered to the buy- and sell-side of the market, introduced a new role dedicated to helping its partners shift their business models around upcoming regulatory requirements.\n\nThe role, as vice-president of strategic and regulatory affairs, was filled by Uli Hegge, formerly vice-president of strategic market development for AppNexus in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.\n\nIt will see Hegge both support the company\u2019s efforts to be compliant in new regulations \u2013 chiefly the European Union\u2019s GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive \u2013 while also helping its partners create compliant business models, in recognition of the \u201clack of clarity\u201d from regulators over how the rules affect individual players, Hegge told The Drum.\n\nWhile legal and technical teams within businesses are already \"advanced\" on GDPR compliance, how the new rule book will affect their sales and business process is as yet unclear, Hegge said. As such, his role will be focused on helping develop business models for AppNexus\u2019 partners that are compliant with new regulation.\n\nHowever, regulators and legislators across Europe have failed to provide the industry with a full set of requirements on how GDPR will be interpreted, according to Hegge.\n\n\"You can read quite a few interpretations into the law as it is out there today, we don't have many common notes on it coming from regulators and legislators,\" Hegge bemoaned \u2013 a common theme among the industry.\n\nThere are two key areas of GDPR, consent and \"legitimate interest\", that directly affect adtech players, but guidance on these topics remains \"unclear\", Hegge said.\n\nThe UK's regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), has delayed the publication of its final guidance \u2013 originally pledged to be published in June \u2013 until 'early 2018' as it waits for the Article 29 Working Party of European Data Protection Authorities (WP29) to agree on its Europe-wide consent guidelines. The regulator published further guidance on legitimate interest this month, however final guidance has also been pushed back to 2018.\n\nThis means an adtech company with an existing consent solution \u2013 or one that is currently in progress \u2013 has to work in an \u201cenvironment of uncertainty\u201d, since whatever it implements now may be contradicted by the final guidance, IAB UK's head of policy and regulatory affairs, Yves Schwarzbart told The Drum.\n\nThis air of uncertainty is a \"pan-European question mark\", Hegge asserted.\n\nAppNexus' approach is to err on the side of caution. Hegge believes there is an argument to be made by publishers that they have 'legitimate interest' to support their business with advertising, therefore the adtech shop is taking a \"conservative approach\" to its GDPR preparations in the possibility that broad consent is required.\n\n\"Whatever kind of consent is needed, if you are prepared for the most extensive one, that's fine, then you can scale back. On the other hand, if you would be caught out without any proper learning and the tech isn\u2019t in place \u2013 this shouldn\u2019t happen,\" he said.\n\nTo support its partners and the wider industry with GDPR, the company will provide an open source tool to help players achieve compliance, conceptualise what the user experience will look like, plus how the rules will influence the way advertising is traded.\n\n\"We want to put that into the hands of our partners to learn and be prepared for any scenario that comes up,\" Hegge said.", "output": "Digital advertising firms PageFair and AppNexus are addressing publishers and adtech firms' needs as implementation of the EU's General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) approaches. PageFair's Perimeter, a \"regulatory firewall\", will allow publishers to monetise websites without using users' personal data by blocking non-GDPR-compliant firms from being included in the adtech chain. AppNexus has created the role of vice-president of strategic and regulatory affairs to help its partners change their business plans to accommodate the new regulations. It is also offering an open-source tool to help firms with compliance.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ad buyers find Amazon client services hard to work with \n For the past year and a half, Theresa Moore, vp of platform partnerships at Pixability, has been trying to buy video ads on Amazon to no avail. A few months ago, Moore \u2014 who said trying to build a relationship with the e-commerce giant has been an \u201cinteresting journey\u201d \u2014 thought she finally had an in.\n\nAmazon\u2019s user-experience team responded to an email she sent, but instead of giving her the direction she needed to buy, it offered her a $100 Amazon card to learn about her experience trying to contact the company. Moore was flabbergasted: \u201cI told them, keep your $100 and give me the contact information of someone at the company who can help me make progress.\u201d She said she didn\u2019t get a contact, but she kept the $100.\n\nMoore is one of many ad buyers trying to work with Amazon but finding it difficult to secure an Amazon rep and then start the process of advertising through Amazon\u2019s suite of ad offerings, including its in-house team Amazon Media Group, self-serve marketing suite Amazon Marketing Services and programmatic solution Amazon Advertising Platform.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s at a level where you can only develop a relationship with Amazon if you know someone,\u201d said one ad buyer at a large agency who asked for anonymity.\n\nAnother ad buyer, who wishes to remain anonymous, said their large agency has begun forming a relationship with Amazon after a year of \u201cstalking,\u201d but only because of a major client\u2019s spend.\n\nDigital agency PMG had a similar experience. PMG started reaching out to Amazon about two years ago and didn\u2019t gain traction with the company until a year in, when its client, retailer Cole Haan, expressed interest in spending with Amazon, according to Price Glomski, evp of digital strategy at PMG. That led the agency to acquire eight contacts at Amazon and start building its own internal Amazon practice. In the past year, the agency has spent well into seven figures on the platform, working on campaigns for large clients like Beats By Dre, Glomski said.\n\nBut even when ad buyers have an Amazon rep and footing within Amazon, they don\u2019t necessarily get the answers they need quickly.\n\nThe makeup of Amazon\u2019s internal client services teams is murky. None of the five ad buyers Digiday spoke with for this story know how Amazon\u2019s client services teams are structured or how many people each has. There is a general understanding that AMG, AMS and AAP all have their own teams, and one ad buyer, who prefers anonymity, believes Amazon has teams structured around specific brands rather than agencies. Still, this person said, \u201cYou never have a holistic idea of what\u2019s going on.\u201d An Amazon spokesperson said the company does not reveal how many people work in each division or how many teams fall under client services.\n\nMoore said after months of pestering Amazon, she finally secured her own rep who directs her to other groups within the company that might be able to assist her. But that\u2019s where the help stops.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s such a black box,\u201d said Moore. \u201cThey\u2019ve been really nice, but the groups at Amazon don\u2019t know who does exactly what I want, which is to run video ads.\u201d\n\nEven PMG, with its eight contacts and several Amazon campaigns under its belt, has trouble navigating Amazon\u2019s internal client services teams.\n\n\u201cThe teams have really focused expertise, so when you ask a question about another ad product or product road map, it tends to get lost in translation, and you have to be directed to another product team,\u201d Glomski said. \u201cFortunately, the Amazon team we work with is really good, but even they come back to us and say, \u2018Sorry, it\u2019s a development in progress.\u2019\u201d\n\nAd buyers said Amazon is following the playbooks of other ad platforms like Google, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, which were slow to make their client services teams available to agencies and ad tech providers while developing ad offerings. Rather, they initially focused on building relationships with large brands.\n\n\u201cAmazon definitely gives more interest and more resources to the larger brands,\u201d said one ad buyer. For instance, one brand this person works with has its own assigned Amazon contact.\n\nMoore is not surprised that Amazon would take this approach. \u201cAt the end of the day, brands are the ones that have the creative and the customers,\u201d she said. \u201cAmazon can get the information they desire straight from the brands without having too many chefs in the kitchen.\u201d\n\n\u201cEverything Amazon does is to benefit Amazon,\u201d said another ad buyer. \u201cEverything they\u2019ve built, from their tech stacks to their ad units to their content pages is all to benefit them, so why wouldn\u2019t they go to brands with the big budgets first?\u201d\n\nBut this might not be the best tactic for Amazon, as ad buyers at agencies and brands with smaller budgets get antsy about spending on the platform. PMG\u2019s smaller clients, for instance, are eager to spend more on Amazon. Glomski said PMG estimates another $20 million to $25 million is on the table for Amazon from the agency\u2019s midsize brands.\n\n\u201cYou can tell [Amazon] is continuing to grow, so for some of our smaller clients, which are still good brands, they just don\u2019t have as much mind share for them,\u201d said Glomski. \u201cWhat needs to happen quickly in order for advertisers to not get frustrated with Amazon is for Amazon to start building out their strategic group to help grow and train advertisers that will be in the system.\u201d\n\nAmazon has made strides in the past year, like bringing training teams to select agencies and making client service hires. The fact that Amazon\u2019s user-experience team is reaching out to ad buyers like Moore also shows the company is considering ad buyers\u2019 efforts to advertise with the behemoth.\n\n\u201cAgency relationships are very important to us,\u201d said Seth Dallaire, vp of worldwide sales and marketing for Amazon Media Group. \u201cWe\u2019ve made investments in both agency development and services as our advertising business grows, and this will continue to be the case.\u201d\n\nSome agencies are seeing the effects of these investments. \u201cThey\u2019ve gotten much better in terms of having contacts you can work through, and they\u2019ve made themselves more available to agencies,\u201d said Kevin Packler, vp and director of Amazon services at independent agency The Tombras Group.\n\nBut Glomski warned that until the majority of ad agencies and smaller brands feel they are getting the attention they need from Amazon, other platforms with robust client services teams like Google and Facebook will continue to retain more market share. This is especially true, he said, when it comes to transparency and data, another area in which Amazon is known for being a black box.\n\n\u201cWith Google and Facebook, any CMO can go in and pick apart different aspects of their marketing strategy,\u201d said Glomski. \u201cIf Amazon can provide optics to performance on a daily and hourly level, which is what most marketers today need, that will create a sense of trust and willingness to spend $10,000 dollars a day on Amazon.\u201d", "output": "Ad buyers looking to advertise on Amazon report their frustrations with Amazon's client services teams in increasing numbers. Agency sources have spoken of their experiences \"stalking\" Amazon for a year before making headway, and even then, one anonymous source has said that Amazon's service is so murkily structured that \"you never have a holistic idea of what\u2019s going on\u201d. PMG's digital strategy EVP Price Glomski argues that to retain agency buy-in, Amazon needs to \"provide optics to performance on a daily and hourly level\", as competitors Google and Facebook continue providing more transparent client services.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Antibiotic use concentrated in small number of UK dairy farms \n A small number of the UK\u2019s dairy farms account for an outsized proportion of antibiotic use, according to new research, suggesting that closer scrutiny of antibiotic prescribing practices could help bring down their use.\n\nA study published in the BMJ publication Vet Record found some farms were using \u201cextremely high levels\u201d of antibiotics in their cattle. While most of the dairy farms surveyed showed lower than average use compared with the averages for all livestock reared in the UK, some outlying farms with high levels of use stood out.\n\n\n\nThe researchers were unable to pinpoint why this small number of farms should exhibit such high use, but said that identifying these hotspots and the reasons their administration of the drugs is so high could prove a big help in reducing antibiotic use.\n\n\n\nThe use of antibiotics in farming is of increasing concern. On Wednesday, M&S and Waitrose for the first time published data on the use of the medicines in their farming supply chain, showing that both were below the industry average in their usage.\n\nAntibiotics are more widely used in farming than in human health, in the UK and around the world, and experts are worried that the over-use of such medicines could be imperilling human health, by encouraging the growth of resistant bacteria.\n\nThe chief medical officer for England, Dame Sally Davies, has repeatedly said that the rapidly increasing resistance to antibiotics and the rise of resistant \u201csuperbugs\u201d is one of the greatest threats to human health, which could make even routine operations life-threatening in future. The World Health Organisation called earlier this year for the strongest antibiotics to be banned from use on farms, owing to the likelihood that their use in agriculture would result in them becoming ineffective in human medicine.\n\nData on antibiotic use in farming is hard to find, as the government collates only national level statistics on the tonnage of the medicines used, rather than breaking it down into finer detail that might reveal prescribing practices across sectors and geographically.\n\nThe new study examined 358 dairy farms over a 12-month period, including more than 81,500 cows in its sample \u2013 about 7% of all the dairy cows in England. Most of the drugs used were administered by injection.\n\nIn the study, the top 25% of farms used just over half \u2013 about 52% \u2013 of the total antibiotics used across the sample. It is not known why this small number of farms accounted for such high usage.\n\nThe researchers said their work should provide a benchmark for future studies of antibiotic use. The called for \u201ctargeting the reduction of antibiotics among the minority of high users, while maintaining high standards of health, welfare and production [as a] fast and effective first step to reduce [antibiotic use] at farm, practice and national levels.\u201d\n\nLucy Coyne, a veterinarian at the University of Liverpool, said the work was timely and welcome and provided insight into how antibiotic use could be reduced. \u201cThrough improved antimicrobial use data and a continuation of a united and proactive approach, there should be confidence in the UK dairy sector achieving the reduction target by 2020.\u201d\n\nThe government said last month that sales of antibiotics to treat animals in the UK had fallen by 27% in the two years from 2014 to 2016. There was also a drop of 83% in sales of colistin, an antibiotic of last resort that is critical for human health,", "output": "High antibiotic use is concentrated in a small percentage of UK dairy farms, according to new research. The study, which investigated 358 farms, housing 7% of England\u2019s dairy cows, found that although most farms surveyed used lower levels of antibiotics than UK livestock averages, 25% of farms were using 52% of the drugs. The researchers could not identify the reasons for such concentrated high use, but said that studying such farms could reduce the use of antibiotics in the sector. Use of antibiotics in farming is causing growing concern about antibiotic resistance and resultant threats to human health.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "LG ventures into AI market with ThinQ \n [ETNEWS] LG Electronics announced on Dec. 21 the launch of its global artificial intelligence brand ThinQ.\n\n\n\nThe Korean tech firm will use the ThinQ brand for all its future AI products and services. In addition a ThinQ Zone will be set up at the CES 2018, which will be held in January in Las Vegas to promote the brand.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThinQ communicates through Wi-Fi, utilizes an open platform to acquire knowledge and accumulates intelligence through a deep learning technology. The primary goal of the brand is to provide an optimized AI experience for customers\u2019 daily life in consumer electronics products and services.\n\n\n\nLG plans to build a differentiated AI image centering on consumer electronics. The company will use the ThinQ logo on all its products with AI technology, even on separate product brands such as Dios, Tromm and Whisen.\n\n\n\nThe ThinQ products can be equipped with external AI technology such as Naver\u2019s Clova or Amazon\u2019s Alexa as well as LG\u2019s proprietary AI technology DeepThinQ. For this, the firm initiated three strategies -- open platform, open partnership and open connectivity.\n\n\n\nLG has made 2017 the first year of \u201cAI home appliance\u201d and has laid the foundation for AI-leading companies. In January, the company released the first AI learning for space learning, and introduced AI appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines and robot cleaners.\n\n\n\nIn addition, the company has been focusing on building AI home appliances and service infrastructure by installing wireless internet in all household appliances. In June, the company\u2019s AI Laboratory was established under the CTO division to develop the technology that can recognize, infer and learn from voices, images and sensors.\n\n\n\n\u201cGlobal companies have been fiercely boosting their marketing efforts to take the lead in the AI industry. We plan to continue leading the AI market by spreading the concept of human centered AI with our ThinQ brand,\u201d said Han Chang-hee, director of global marketing at LG Electronics.\n\n\n\nBy Alex Lee (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)\n\nPowered by The Investor and ET News.", "output": "LG Electronics has launched a new brand for its work on artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The South Korean company will market all its future AI products and services under the ThinQ name, incorporating the new logo on products including those which use its other product brands Dios, Tromm and Whisen. LG established an AI laboratory earlier this year, and has been working on building AI home appliances and wireless infrastructure. As well as being compatible with Amazon's Alexa, the technology also makes use of LG's own proprietary system, DeepThinQ."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Saatchi & Saatchi, DNA and Mindshare make notable appointments \n This week has seen another wave of appointments and departures at brands, media owners and agencies. The Drum has rounded up the key moves from the EMEA, APAC and North America regions below.\n\nDebenhams\n\nDebenhams has created three new managing director roles as part of an internal restructure that has seen the business pivot around three units: Beauty and Beauty Services, Fashion and Home, and Food and Events.\n\nTwo of the new managing director roles will be filled internally. The retailer's marketing director Richard Cristofoli will take up the new role of managing director of beauty, beauty services and marketing, while retail director Ross Clemmow will broaden his role to become managing director for retail, digital, food and events.\n\nThe last role will be filled by Steven Cook, former chief merchant of Canada\u2019s luxury retailer, Holt Renfrew, who will join Debenhams in January 2018 as managing director of fashion and home.\n\nThe Guardian\n\nThe Guardian has appointed John Mulholland, editor of the Observer, as editor of the newspaper's US division.\n\nMulholland has been editor of the Sunday paper since 2008, having joined as deputy editor in 1998. He will take on the top US job for the Guardian in spring 2018 when his replacement at the Observer will also be named.\n\nHe had been serving in the role on an interim basis since April to cover Lee Glendinning, who was on maternity leave. However, he returned to the UK to reprise his Observer duties during the Autumn.\n\nBut with this latest shake-up and Mulholland's return to the helm for the Guardian US, Glendinning has become executive editor for membership. Natalie Hanman, who currently holds the role, has become assistant editor for the global publication as a result.\n\nMerkle\n\n\u200bMerkle has appointed Julia Crawley-Boevey as head of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) for EMEA to help drive its growth strategy for the region.\n\nIn the role Crawley-Boevey will be responsible for both sourcing the companies best aligned with Merkle\u2019s aims, leading all deal activity and overseeing post-acquisition integration.\n\nPrior to joining Merkle, Crawley-Boevey was head of global business strategy and M&A at digital marketing agency iCrossing, where she oversaw the launch of new agency services and identified key investment priorities. She also led a team dedicated to the marketing services sector at Results International, the leading advisor on M&A and fundraising, where she advised Periscopix on its acquisition by Merkle.\n\nBench\n\nBench has appointed Dan Johns, the former chief operating officer of IPG Mediabrands Australia, as a member of the marketing platform\u2019s advisory board to accelerate growth with APAC enterprise clients.\n\nJohns will act as a key advisor to Bench, supporting the company\u2019s growth across the APAC region and spearhead the company\u2019s new enterprise division.\n\nKantar\n\nKantar has appointed Katie McClintock as chief executive of its insights division (Kantar TNS and Kantar Millward Brown) in Singapore. Katie will take up the position in January.\n\nKatie joins from MasterCard, where she led marketing planning, insight and strategy development in APAC. Prior to this, Katie was regional CEO at Kantar Added Value, part of the consulting arm of the Kantar business. She also held the position of insights director, APAC for PepsiCo.\n\nMindshare\n\nMindshare, a part of GroupM, has announced the appointment of M K Machaiah (Mac), as chief innovation officer of South Asia.\n\nIn this role, Mac will lead the integrated approach to consumer engagement and strengthen brand propositions across all consumer touchpoints including traditional, social and experiential.\n\nFCB Ulka\n\n\u200bFCB Ulka brought on board Shalini Rao to lead strategic planning for the Horlicks portfolio.\n\nShalini comes with close to two and a half decades of marketing experience across FMCG brands, such as (Marico, Gillette, Mars), B2B (Tetra Pak) & Service (Taj Hotels).\n\nPartners + Napier\n\nJulie DeRoller has been promoted to senior vice president, group director at Rochester-based Partners + Napier. DeRoller has led and built the newly rebranded Vine Creative Studios group over the course of her 13-year career at the agency, most recently as vice president/creative and account director. DeRoller started at Partners + Napier in 2005 as a senior art director working on Constellation Brands.\n\nDNA\n\nDNA has promoted long-time agency executive Chris Witherspoon to president and chief growth officer, a new position at the agency. The agency also announced that award-winning creative director Scott Fero is being promoted to executive creative director. The moves put in place an extended leadership and management team designed to accelerate the agency\u2019s already fast-paced growth.\n\nOdysseus Arms\n\nOdysseus Arms has added to its account team, bringing on Gillian McBrayer as an account supervisor on Carlo Rossi, Andre Champagne and Barefoot wines; and Caroline Sinclair as a junior strategist. McBrayer joins from San Francisco shop Venables Bell & Partners, while Sinclair, a native of Sweden, has held various strategic and creative positions at San Francisco firms Blue Truck Inc. and Cross Marketing PR.\n\nSaatchi & Saatchi New York\n\nSaatchi & Saatchi NY appointed Michelle Kunken as an executive creative director. She will report directly to chief creative officer Javier Campopiano and will work across a variety of clients. Most recently Michelle was an ECD at KBS and oversaw creative development and production on AdCouncil, Boar\u2019s Head, Monster and Vanguard.\n\nWant to get your career on the move? Check out The Drum Job page and follow @TheDrumJobs for updates.", "output": "Michelle Kunken has been appointed executive creative director (ECD) at Saatchi & Saatchi New York, reporting to chief creative officer Javier Campopiano. Fast-growing agency DNA has promoted Chris Witherspoon to president and the newly created position of chief growth officer, while at GroupM's Mindshare, M K Machaiah has been named as chief innovation officer of South Asia.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Blue Origin steps up rocket tests for space tourism \n We might witness several new space vehicles blast off with a human crew onboard for the first time next year. One of them could be Blue Origin's New Shepard launch system. According to Jeff Ashby, the private space corporation's director of safety and mission assurance, Blue Origin is \"about roughly a year out from human flights, depending on how the test program goes.\" Ashby spoke at the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference just a few days after his company successfully sent Crew Capsule 2.0 to suborbital space with \"Mannequin Skywalker\" on board.\n\nThe recent test fight carried 12 experiments from paying customers to space and is the first flight for the New Shepard launch system in a year. Blue Origin always intended to use its technology for space tourism, but like its peers it still has to conduct test flights before its spacecraft can start blasting off with paying civilians. Based on Ashby's statetment, though, the company still isn't 100 percent sure of its timeframe, so its manned mission could be delayed. Ashby said:\n\n\"We're probably a year and a half, two years out from when we're actually able to fly tended payload. We're about roughly a year out from human flights, depending on how the test program goes. We have a bunch more tests to do, and we'e going to fly some human test flights before we put paying people in the rocket.\"\n\nBlue Origin is but one of the private space corporations planning to launch manned flights next year. Boeing and SpaceX, both recipients of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, also intend to conduct their first crewed test flights in 2018. Blue Origin, however, is aiming to conquer suborbital space, while the other two are preparing to ferry NASA astronauts to the ISS.", "output": "Privately funded aerospace manufacturer and spaceflight services firm Blue Origins New Shepard launch system is approximately one year from launching a programme of manned spaceflights. The system has been used for a test flight with the company's Crew Capsule 2.0 to suborbital space. The company will be competing against Boeing and SpaceX, which both plan to launch manned test flights next year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI to add $957bn to India's GDP by 2035: Accenture \n Home\n\nNews\n\nAgencies\n\nAccenture sees AI adding a whopping $957 bn to GDP by 2035\n\nAccenture sees AI adding a whopping $957 bn to GDP by 2035\n\nMumbai, Dec 21 (PTI) American tech major Accenture has said artificial intelligence (AI) alone will contribute a whopping USD 957 billion to the gross domestic product by 2035 when the domestic econom\n\nMumbai, Dec 21 (PTI) American tech major Accenture has said artificial intelligence (AI) alone will contribute a whopping USD 957 billion to the gross domestic product by 2035 when the domestic economy is slated to touch the USD 10 trillion-mark by many estimates.\n\n\u201cArtificial intelligence could add USD 957 billion to the economy by changing the nature of work to create better outcomes for businesses and the society,\u201d Accenture said in a report today.\n\nYou may like to read\n\nThe report said the emerging technological area will add 1.3 per cent to the economy per annum, which will lift up the national income by 15 per cent by 2035.\n\nAccording to Accenture\u2019s baseline projection, India will a USD 6.4 trillion economy by 2035, and AI will add another USD 957 billion to, taking the overall size of the economy to USD 7.355 trillion.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s strong early evidence that AI can play a key role in unlocking socioeconomic value here,\u201d its senior managing director and chairman for India Rekha Menon said.\n\nThe estimate from the global tech major comes even as analysts and business leaders continue to come up with their estimates on the size of the Indian economy in future, to illustrate the important role it will be playing the world.\n\nPrime Minister\u2019s Economic Advisory Council chairman Bibek Debroy today pegged the economy to grow to USD 6.5-7 trillion by 2030, and further grow to up to USD 10 trillion by 2040, from the present USD 2.4 trillion.\n\nEarlier, Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani had said the country could be a USD 10 trillion economy by 2030.\n\nFor its estimate of AI adding USD 957 billion by 2035, Accenture said it has studied the country\u2019s strengths in AI across the pillars of universities, startups,large businesses, policymakers and multi-stakeholder partnerships.\n\nHowever, a comparison with other countries in the G20 grouping suggests \u201cIndia lags on key indicators of AI development\u201d, it said.\n\nIt said even though major technical universities in the country have been doing fundamental research in AI, they are not doing enough to strengthen the AI ecosystem around them like their global counterparts like the Cambridge.\n\nOn startups, it said the size of funding received is substantially smaller than by those in the US and China, reflecting the limited success of the country\u2019s AI startups.\n\nAccenture said there is a need for the country to build an AI blueprint, bolster research and development, prepare the next generation, democratise data and embrace \u201csmart regulation\u201d.\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s needed is a clear, long-term vision, and a multi-stakeholder action plan that balances growth with the ethical questions posed by AI,\u201d Menon said.\n\nThis is published unedited from the PTI feed.\n\nFor breaking news and live news updates, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Read more on Latest News on India.com.", "output": "India's economy is predicted to reach $10tn by 2035, with artificial intelligence expected to make up $975bn of the gross domestic product, according to a report by Accenture. The US company said it had based its results on a study of India's universities and businesses from start-ups to large companies, as well as policymakers and multi-stakeholder partnerships, and said India needed to come up with a \"multi-stakeholder action plan\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "JPMorgan Chase encouraging mobile wallet use \n BI Intelligence\n\nThis story was delivered to BI Intelligence \"Payments Briefing\" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.\n\nChase Freedom cardholders will be able to earn additional rewards by paying with Apple Pay, Android Pay, Chase Pay, and Samsung Pay in Q1 2018.\n\nEach quarter, Chase announces rotating categories in which customers can earn up to 5% cashback \u2014 the card\u2019s standard is 1% \u2014 on up to $1,500 in purchases. Customers can enroll in the benefit through mid-March, though it will apply retroactively to purchases made from January 1.\n\nAt its surface, the move is a somewhat confusing one for Chase, which is attempting to promote its own struggling mobile wallet. US mobile wallet adoption is paltry across products, stagnating around 25% at best. But Chase Pay, Chase\u2019s proprietary, QR-code based wallet that launched last fall, is doing particularly poorly.\n\nDespite a nearly $100 million investment in the wallet, just 6% of shoppers had used the platform in the past year, and the retailer\u2019s network of merchants still remains limited, which is stifling adoption. It seems like it would make sense for Chase to promote Chase Pay at the forefront, which is why the inclusion of other services seems counterintuitive at first glance.\n\nBut any uptick in wallet usage would likely benefit Chase in the long run.\n\nSpecific incentives are the key to adoption and engagement. The force of habit is hard to break, and so it\u2019s tough to get customers to give up card payments, which they\u2019re both very accustomed to and satisfied with, without a strong incentive. Specific incentives, which layer rewards directly tied to paying via mobile on top of existing card or retailer programs, could be a game changer \u2014 Samsung\u2019s specific rewards program, for example, has led to vast increases in adoption and engagement. Chase\u2019s program, which encourages customers to continue to pay via mobile over the course of three months, could aid in habit formation and build up repeat usage.\n\nThe force of habit is hard to break, and so it\u2019s tough to get customers to give up card payments, which they\u2019re both very accustomed to and satisfied with, without a strong incentive. Specific incentives, which layer rewards directly tied to paying via mobile on top of existing card or retailer programs, could be a game changer \u2014 Samsung\u2019s specific rewards program, for example, has led to vast increases in adoption and engagement. Chase\u2019s program, which encourages customers to continue to pay via mobile over the course of three months, could aid in habit formation and build up repeat usage. And Chase could be the benefactor of those gains. If Chase\u2019s plan works, and mobile wallet usage ticks up among Freedom cardholders, the mobile wallet habits that are formed will be around Chase\u2019s Freedom card, ultimately increasing top-of-wallet status for the card and growing the percentage of spending that consumers do on Freedom versus competitors, according to NerdWallet. That ultimately grows loyalty, as well as volume and revenue.\n\nJaime Toplin, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has written a detailed report on mobile payments that:\n\nSizes the US in-store mobile payments market and examines growth drivers.\n\nAnalyzes headwinds that have suppressed adoption.\n\nIdentifies three strategic changes providers can make to improve their results.\n\nEvaluates pockets of success in the market.\n\nProvides actionable insights that providers can implement to improve results.\n\nInterested in getting the full report? Here are two ways to access it:", "output": "From Q1 next year, users of JPMorgan's Chase Freedom wallet will be able to earn rewards when using Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay, in a move aimed at increasing adoption of its mobile wallet. The US mobile wallet market underperformed in 2017, and Chase Freedom struggled in particular, with just 6% of shoppers adopting it, despite a $100m investment. However, by taking a leaf out of Samsung's book, whose specific rewards programme led to a huge increase in engagement, JPMorgan hopes to encourage use of the wallet."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Glencore faces criminal complaint after Paradise Papers claims \n A watchdog group has filed a criminal complaint against the Anglo-Swiss commodities giant Glencore following revelations from the Paradise Papers.\n\nHuman rights campaigners in Switzerland have formally asked the country\u2019s attorney general to investigate how the multinational obtained a copper mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).\n\n\n\nUnder Swiss law, the office of the attorney general will be required to assess and formally respond to the criminal complaint lodged by Public Eye.\n\n\u201cWith the Paradise Papers, there are now even more elements pointing at embezzlement surrounding the acquisition of mines for the legal authorities to launch an investigation,\u201d the watchdog group said in a statement.\n\n\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s overdue for [Swiss authorities] to rule on the legality of operations, whose dubious nature has been brought to the fore by the press and NGOs for more than five years.\u201d\n\nThe Paradise Papers, files leaked from the offshore law firm Appleby, revealed how Glencore loaned $45m in pledged shares to an offshore firm of the diamond businessman Dan Gertler after enlisting him to help secure a joint venture agreement with the state-controlled mining entity G\u00e9camines in the DRC.\n\n\u201cGlencore shall use its vote at the board of Katanga [Mining Ltd] to have Dan Gertler exclusively mandated to assist Katanga in finalising the terms of the joint venture agreement,\u201d a document in the files stated.\n\nHowever, Glencore made the loan with the caveat that it would be \u201cimmediately repayable on demand\u201d within three months if Gertler failed to secure the contract. Glencore has previously said the loan \u201cwas made on commercial terms negotiated at arm\u2019s length\u201d.\n\nThe files also reveal Glencore used Gertler to negotiate with the DRC government. It has since distanced itself from Gertler, who was named in a 2001 UN investigation as having given $20m to the DRC president, Joseph Kabila, to buy weapons in exchange for a monopoly on the country\u2019s diamonds.\n\nHe is also reported to be the unnamed \u201cDRC partner\u201d identified by the Department of Justice last year in a deferred prosecution agreement with a hedge fund accused of paying bribes to secure access to Congo\u2019s mining interests.\n\nGertler\u2019s lawyers have said that he denies the UN report\u2019s allegations and that he was not a party to the DoJ agreement, which \u201cdoes not constitute evidence of anything against Mr Gertler\u201d.\n\nExplaining its decision to file a complaint, Public Eye said: \u201cThe recent revelations in the Paradise Papers have added yet more damning elements to this momentous saga.\n\n\u201cIn lodging its complaint, Public Eye is asking the office of the attorney general to open legal proceedings, in particular to ascertain whether Glencore has failed, as a company, to prevent illegal practices in upholding its legal duty of care.\u201d\n\nGlencore declined to comment.The development comes one month after Glencore\u2019s head of copper was forced to resign from the board of Katanga Mining amid an investigation into accounting practices by the Ontario Securities Commission in Canada.\n\nAristotelis Mistakidis and two other executives stepped down after the review raised questions about the \u201cappropriateness\u201d of some of Katanga\u2019s accounting, according to Bloomberg. It also found that management staff and executives were responsible for \u201coverriding the company\u2019s control processes\u201d.\n\nSeparately, charities and campaigners have expressed support for the Guardian and the BBC after Appleby commenced legal action against them.\n\n\n\n\u201cIn Transparency International\u2019s experience, investigative journalism of this type is critical in detecting and deterring corruption,\u201d said Robert Barrington, the executive director of Transparency International UK.\n\n\u201cThe extent of wrongdoing and unethical behaviours exposed by the Guardian, the BBC and the other global media partners of the ICIJ [International Consortium of Investigative Journalists] demonstrate the clear public interest in publishing material from the Paradise Papers.\u201d\n\nRebecca Gowland, Oxfam GB\u2019s head of inequality, said: \u201cInvestigations like the Paradise and Panama Papers help lift the lid on the hidden world of tax dodging which costs the poorest countries an estimated $170bn a year in lost revenue.\n\n\u201cProtecting those who expose these tax scandals is vital \u2013 public scrutiny is helping drive action to fix the broken global tax system and ensure there is more money to fight poverty worldwide.\u201d\n\nChristian Aid noted that the Panama Papers had prompted the EU to pass a directive requiring greater corporate transparency.\n\n\u201cLeaks such as the Panama and Paradise Papers play a crucial role in \u2026 increasing the pressure on politicians and global leaders for further action around the world.\u201d\n\nAppleby has claimed it is \u201cobliged\u201d to sue and that there was no public interest in publication. It has only brought action against journalists in the UK.", "output": "Glencore faces investigation by the Swiss attorney general over whether its acquisition of a copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) involved a failure to prevent illegal practices. Human rights group Public Eye lodged a criminal complaint following information revealed in the Paradise Papers, leaked earlier this year from offshore law firm Appleby. The papers revealed Glencore lent $45m to a company belonging to diamond merchant Dan Gertler after using him to help arrange a joint venture with DRC state-controlled mining group G\u00e9camines, on the proviso the loan was immediately repayable if the contract was not granted. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Leaseholds to be banned on most new build homes in England \n Communities Secretary Sajid Javid has announced new measures to cut out unfair and abusive practices within the leasehold system, including a ban on leaseholds for almost all new build houses.\n\nThis comes as part of government action to deliver a fairer, more transparent system for homeowners to help fix the broken housing market and build a Britain fit for the future.\n\nChanges will also be made so that ground rents on new long leases \u2013 for both houses and flats \u2013 are set to zero.\n\nThe government will also make it cheaper and easier for existing leaseholders to buy-out their freehold and there will be better information available about redress for those consumers who face the most onerous terms.\n\nThese measures follow a recent consultation where there was an overwhelming response in favour of government plans to tackle the unfair practices in the leasehold sector.\n\nWith 1.4 million leasehold houses across England and the number of leasehold sales rapidly growing, the government is taking crucial action to make the leasehold market fairer.\n\nLeasehold generally applies to flats with shared spaces, making multiple ownership more straightforward, but developers have been increasingly selling houses on these terms \u2013 adding further costs to over-stretched house buyers.\n\nCommunities Secretary, Sajid Javid said:\n\nIt\u2019s unacceptable for home buyers to be exploited through unnecessary leaseholds, unjustifiable charges and onerous ground rent terms. It\u2019s clear from the overwhelming response from the public that real action is needed to end these feudal practices. That\u2019s why the measures this government is now putting in place will help create a system that actually works for consumers.\n\nMeasures to be introduced include:\n\nlegislating to prevent the sale of new build leasehold houses except where necessary such as shared ownership\n\nmaking certain that ground rents on new long leases \u2013 for both houses and flats \u2013 are set at zero\n\nworking with the Law Commission to support existing leaseholders and make the process of purchasing a freehold or extending a lease much easier, faster and cheaper\n\nproviding leaseholders with clear support on the various routes to redress available to them\n\na wider internal review of the support and advice to leaseholders to make sure it is fit for purpose in this new legislative and regulatory environment\n\nmaking sure freeholders have equivalent rights to leaseholders to challenge unfair service charges\n\nThese latest measures follow the government setting out plans in the housing white paper to fix the broken housing market, including making sure councils release more land for housing, building the right homes in the right places and improving affordability and protections for renters and home purchasers.\n\nFurther information\n\nThese measures relate to England only.\n\nOver 6,000 responses were submitted to the recent government consultation on leasehold practices. The vast majority of responses expressed their concerns about the buying experience and living in a leasehold property. This highlights how the current system is clearly not working in the best interest of those living in or purchasing a leasehold home.\n\nThe proposed prohibiting of future houses being sold as leasehold will apply to all houses apart from a few exceptional circumstances where leasehold is still needed \u2013 such as houses that have shared services or built on land with specific restrictions.\n\nWe will also be continuing to discuss the case for limited exemptions with industry.\n\nThe Communities Secretary will be writing to all developers to strongly discourage the use of Help to Buy Equity loans for the purchase of leasehold houses in advance of legislation and to ask those who have customers with onerous ground rent terms to provide necessary redress.\n\nDepartment for Communities and Local Government statistics estimate there were 4.2 million residential leasehold dwellings in England in the private sector in 2015 to 2016 and of these 1.4 million were leasehold houses. This was a rise on the previous year when in 2014 to 2015, there were 1.2 million leasehold houses.", "output": "UK Communities Secretary Sajid Javid has unveiled a series of measures to tackle unfair practices in the leasehold sector, following an overwhelmingly positive public response to a recent government consultation. Javid said the new rules, covering England only, will include preventing the sale of new build leasehold houses, except in instances of shared ownership. Ground rents on new long leases will be set at zero, and freeholders will have the same rights as leaseholders to challenge service charges they deem unfair."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Direct lending managers plan on lowering hurdle rates \n Many asset managers selling direct lending investment vehicles have made moves to lower hurdle rates in the latest round of fundraising, which would effectively increase their overall fees, according to consultancy bfinance.\n\nNiels Bodenheim, London-based senior director of private markets at bfinance, and Dharmy Rai, associate within bfinance\u2019s private markets department, said: \u201cSome are sounding out the idea; some have already tried to market their latest offerings; most have not (yet) succeeded in taking a step that, for [limited partners (LPs)], would be hard to stomach.\u201d\n\nHurdle rates are the point at which lucrative \u201ccatch-ups\u201d and performance fees kick in, the firm explained.\n\nIn a market commenary, Bodenheim and Rai said that, often, the height of a hurdle and the structure that kicks in when it is reached receive less attention than management fee and carry percentages.\n\nThis may be because the latter are often open to negotiation while the former are set in fund terms and conditions, they said.\n\n\u201cYet the hurdle is, arguably, the most important part of the fee leakage puzzle,\u201d they said.\n\n\u201cIndeed, we see examples where managers with lower management fees end up taking home more money purely because they reached the same \u2014 net-of-management-fee \u2014 hurdles sooner than they otherwise would have done,\u201d said Bodenheim and Rai.\n\nThe pair said they did not believe direct lending managers\u2019 hurdle rates had been too high in recent years and that in some cases, the threshold had already been a bit too low.\n\n\u201cThere is still, on average, too much leakage in the net performance figures,\u201d they said, adding that in general the hurdle should be no lower than 2% beneath the fund\u2019s expected return.\n\nAlthough it might be understandable that firms were cutting hurdle rates if expected returns were lower for new funds \u2014 in order to keep their business profitable \u2014 bfinance said that this did not seem to be the case \u2013\u2013 expected returns on funds being raised in 2017 were broadly the same as before, except where strategies were very different.\n\nOne explanation could stem from the fact that many private debt funds were run by private equity firms, said Bodenheim and Rai. Staff at these companies expected the same compensation that they received for private equity work.\n\nBut this was hard to justify, bfinance said, since private equity managers could generate significant upside but private debt managers could not.\n\nFollowing noticeable improvement for LPs in management and performance fees for direct lending funds over the last few years, a reduction in hurdle rates could represent a backwards step, Bodenheim and Rai said.\n\n\u201cHopefully the negative reaction among investors, together with rising competition among fund managers, will dissuade firms from following through on such changes,\u201d they said.", "output": "Some managers of direct lending funds have been lowering hurdle rates for their products in recent fundraising rounds. The move effectively boosts overall fees, according to consultancy Bfinance. The consultancy added, however, many managers are yet to take the step, which would be unpopular with limited partners in the funds. The consultancy said hurdle rates within the direct lending market have not been too high in recent years, if anything slight too low in some cases. Hurdle rates are the point at which performance and other fees start being applied to funds.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GM car owners can order and pay for items while driving \n GM Lets Customers Order Their Morning Coffee With Their Car A simple tap on the dash can make the daily drive more productive for millions of customers\n\nBack\n\nDETROIT \u2014 Starting today, General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) is rolling out the automotive industry\u2019s first commerce platform for on-demand reservations and purchases of goods and services. With Marketplace, drivers can now order and pay for their favorite coffee \u2014 and much more \u2014 on the way to work with a simple tap on the dash.\n\nMarketplace allows customers to order food, find the closest gas station to save on fuel, and make dinner reservations on the go. This means Marketplace gives drivers of eligible Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles the opportunity to more safely interact with a growing number of their favorite brands in retail, fuel, hospitality, food, hotel and transportation through the in-vehicle touchscreen.\n\n\n\nMarketplace also features a \u201cShop\u201d section dedicated to offers specific to GM vehicles, for instance purchasing Wi-Fi data, discounts for an oil change or deals on GM accessories. Simple on-screen notifications can identify relevant offers.\n\n\u201cThe average American spends 46 minutes per day on the road driving[1]. Leveraging connectivity and our unique data capabilities, we have an opportunity to make every trip more productive and give our customers time back,\u201d said Santiago Chamorro, vice president for Global Connected Customer Experience, GM. \u201cMarketplace is the first of a suite of new personalization features that we will roll out over the next 12 to 18 months to nearly four million U.S. drivers.\u201d\n\nLeveraging the embedded 4G LTE connectivity, GM is adding Marketplace to millions of existing 2017 and 2018 model-year cars, trucks and crossovers that have compatible infotainment systems, with continued rollout to compatible new vehicles. A separate data plan is not required to use Marketplace.\n\n\u201cFor most retailers and consumer brands the daily commute is the only time not accessible in a consumers\u2019 day,\u201d said Chamorro. \u201cMarketplace gives merchants the ability to more safely engage with drivers and passengers in a meaningful way that provides true value for our customers.\u201d\n\nMarketplace is designed to be used while driving. It leverages machine learning from real-time interaction data, such as location, time of day and a driver\u2019s established digital relationship with third-party merchants, to offer highly personalized experiences.\n\nAdhering to industry distracted driving guidelines, as well as GM\u2019s strict in-house safety guiding principles, GM designs its in-vehicle systems to minimize manual interactions, helping drivers keep their eyes on the road and their hands on the wheel.\n\nThe first brands accessible through Marketplace include:\n\nGM lets customers buy 4G LTE Data packages, extend their OnStar subscription or receive offers for certified service, parts and accessories for their specific vehicle.\n\nlets customers buy 4G LTE Data packages, extend their OnStar subscription or receive offers for certified service, parts and accessories for their specific vehicle. Starbucks offers another convenient way for customers to order ahead and enjoy their favorite handcrafted beverage or food item. And as part of the Starbucks Rewards\u2122 program, members enjoy more value by earning Rewards towards free food and drink. (Early 2018)\n\noffers another convenient way for customers to order ahead and enjoy their favorite handcrafted beverage or food item. And as part of the Starbucks Rewards\u2122 program, members enjoy more value by earning Rewards towards free food and drink. (Early 2018) Dunkin\u2019 Donuts will help customers start their day off right through an experience that allows DD Perks members to preorder and pay onscreen for their favorite coffee and donut, at their preferred pickup location.\n\nwill help customers start their day off right through an experience that allows DD Perks members to preorder and pay onscreen for their favorite coffee and donut, at their preferred pickup location. Wingstop will allow you to skip the wait by re-ordering your favorites and paying ahead, so you can get home in time for the big game\n\nwill allow you to skip the wait by re-ordering your favorites and paying ahead, so you can get home in time for the big game TGI Fridays will let customers schedule a table reservation for them and their closest friends and family when they need a break from the week.\n\nwill let customers schedule a table reservation for them and their closest friends and family when they need a break from the week. Shell will enable the exceptional driver experience, providing ease of payment and savings with INSTANT GOLD STATUS in the Fuel Rewards\u00ae program. Customers\u2019 closest Shell station will be identified and station amenities showcased among the largest fuel station network in the U.S., with the ability to pay in-dash coming soon.\n\nwill enable the exceptional driver experience, providing ease of payment and savings with INSTANT GOLD STATUS in the Fuel Rewards\u00ae program. Customers\u2019 closest Shell station will be identified and station amenities showcased among the largest fuel station network in the U.S., with the ability to pay in-dash coming soon. ExxonMobil will quickly locate Exxon and Mobil fuel stations with details of what they offer, route you there and get you back on the road faster.\n\nwill quickly locate Exxon and Mobil fuel stations with details of what they offer, route you there and get you back on the road faster. Priceline.com gives drivers access to hundreds of thousands of hotels and exclusive hotel savings on the go.\n\ngives drivers access to hundreds of thousands of hotels and exclusive hotel savings on the go. Parkopedia allows drivers to find, reserve and pay for parking, all at the click of a button.\n\nallows drivers to find, reserve and pay for parking, all at the click of a button. Applebee\u2019s ensures customers are never too far from Eatin\u2019 Good in the Neighborhood whether close to home or miles away with the ability to locate their nearest restaurant, order featured menu items and reorder recent favorites through the convenience of their vehicle\u2019s touchscreen.\n\nensures customers are never too far from Eatin\u2019 Good in the Neighborhood whether close to home or miles away with the ability to locate their nearest restaurant, order featured menu items and reorder recent favorites through the convenience of their vehicle\u2019s touchscreen. IHOP makes it easy for guests to enjoy hot, fresh all-day breakfast favorites like fluffy buttermilk pancakes on the go, thanks to safe and secure on-dash ordering and location service capabilities that help search and find the nearest restaurant for pickup.\n\nmakes it easy for guests to enjoy hot, fresh all-day breakfast favorites like fluffy buttermilk pancakes on the go, thanks to safe and secure on-dash ordering and location service capabilities that help search and find the nearest restaurant for pickup. delivery.com empowers the neighborhood economy by enabling customers to order online from their favorite local restaurants, wine and spirits shops, grocery stores and laundry and dry-cleaning providers.\n\nTo allow merchants to efficiently and quickly integrate their content as part of the in-vehicle Marketplace ecosystem, General Motors is working with three main platform partners: Xevo (www.xevo.com) in Seattle, Washington; Conversable (www.conversable.com) in Austin, Texas; and Sionic Mobile (www.sionicmobile.com) in Atlanta, Georgia. Merchants interested in Marketplace can contact the above platform partners or email GM at Marketplace@onstar.com.\n\nGeneral Motors Co. (NYSE:GM) has leadership positions in the world's largest and fastest-growing automotive markets. GM, its subsidiaries and joint venture entities sell vehicles under the Chevrolet, Cadillac, Baojun, Buick, GMC, Holden, Jiefang, and Wuling brands. More information on the company and its subsidiaries, including OnStar, a global leader in vehicle safety, security and information services, can be found at http://www.gm.com\n\n# # #\n\n[1] Source: AAA, 2016", "output": "General Motors has launched Marketplace, the first automotive commerce platform that allows customers to make on-demand orders and reservations using their vehicle's dashboard. Drivers will be able to reserve tables for dinner, search for the nearest filling station and order food with Buick, GMC, Cadillac and Chevrolet cars. Drivers will also be able to shop for oil change discounts, GM accessory deals and Wi-Fi data. The feature will be offered\u00a0over 12 to 18 months to about four million car owners in the US, and is intended to be used while driving. Brand partners include Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Digital 3D printing company Carbon raises $200m in first round \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nCarbon, a digital 3D printing company for manufacturing industries, has announced the first closing in a $200 million series D round of funding from Baillie Gifford, Sequoia Capital, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Adidas VC arm Hydra Ventures, and GE Ventures, among other investors.\n\nFounded out of Redwood City, California in 2013, Carbon describes itself as working at the \u201cintersection of hardware, software, and molecular science\u201d to bring digital 3D printing to manufacturing.\n\nThe company hit the headlines in April this year when Adidas announced its Futurecraft 4D shoe, which sports a 3D-printed sole courtesy of Carbon\u2019s technology, and which Adidas plans to mass produce next year.\n\nCarbon said its 3D printing alternative meshes light and oxygen to quickly produce products from a pool of resin. The speed 3D printing technique enables manufacturers to offer mass customization and on-demand inventory that has been difficult to deliver with existing manufacturing methods.\n\nPrior to now, Carbon had raised around $220 million in funding from such companies as BMW, Nikon, and GV (Google Ventures), and with its latest cash injection the company plans to scale its technology across manufacturing.\n\n\u201cThe age of digital 3D manufacturing is here, and this funding validates our vision to fundamentally change how the world designs, engineers, makes, and delivers products,\u201d said Carbon CEO and cofounder Dr. Joseph DeSimone. \u201cSince Carbon first introduced digital light synthesis, we have continuously pushed the boundaries and transformed industries, and [we] are uniquely positioned to take digital manufacturing to an entirely new level. This funding will help us realize new classes of workers and business models, where product design and engineering is facilitated by cloud-based computing and a wide range of scanning, sensor, and simulation technologies that enable the creation of perfectly tuned \u2014 even personalized \u2014 products that have been previously impossible to produce.\u201d\n\nThough 3D printing has held promise for many years, it has yet to take hold in the manufacturing sphere at scale. But it still remains a hot industry for investment. Last month, Markforged raised $30 million to simplify the manufacturing process for 3D printing, while Desktop Metal nabbed $115 million earlier this year to make metal 3D printing more accessible. Elsewhere, HP and Deloitte recently partnered to bring more 3D printing services to manufacturers.\n\nWith another $200 million incoming, Carbon should play a big role in advancing the 3D manufacturing movement.\n\n\u201cThrough a combination of faster production times, lower costs, and a wider range of materials, Carbon is delivering on the long-standing but elusive promise of 3D manufacturing at scale,\u201d added Peter Singlehurst, investment manager at Baillie Gifford.", "output": "3D digital printing company Carbon has closed a $200m series D funding round, led by Baillie Gifford, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Sequoia Capital, Hydra Ventures and GE Ventures. Carbon offers the manufacturing industry hardware, software and \"molecular science\" support. The company is most famous for its 3D-printed show sole for Adidas' Futurecraft 4D shoes; Adidas has invested in the company through its venture capital arm, Hydra Ventures. Carbon had previously raised approximately $220m in funding, with the new capital due to be used for scaling its tech for manufacturing.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NASA sets 2069 date to reach neighbouring solar system \n N ASA has announced plans for an interstellar mission to search for life outside our solar system.\n\nThe US space agency hopes to send a spacecraft to neighbouring star system Alpha Centauri by 2069, which is the 100th anniversary of the first moon landing.\n\nThe star system is 24.9 trillion miles away from Earth. It consists of three stars: Centauri A, Centauri B, and Proxima Centauri.\n\nIt has been the subject of great scientific interest since an Earth-like planet was discovered orbiting Proxima Centauri in 2016.\n\nThe planet, known as Proxima, resides in a \"habitable zone\" where temperatures are mild enough for liquid surface water.\n\nAstronomers believe there are \"almost certainly\" other small Earth-like planets capable of harbouring alien life in the star system.\n\nTo visit Alpha Centauri a spacecraft would need to travel at a minimum of 10 per cent of the speed of light - nearly 30 million metres per second.\n\nEven if this could be achieved, the journey would take 44 years. This would mean the spacecraft would not reach the star system until the year 2113.\n\nNASA is said to be exploring different options in its approach to the mission, including sending tiny probes powered by lasers.\n\nScientists believe they may be able to reach a quarter of the speed of light.\n\nOther techniques under consideration include harnessing nuclear reactions, or collisions between matter and antimatter, New Scientist magazine reported.", "output": "NASA has aims to send a space shuttle to adjacent star system Alpha Centauri by the year 2069, on the 100th anniversary of the moon landing. The star system, 24.9 trillion miles away from Earth, will be searched for signs of life, inspired by the discovery of an Earth-type planet orbiting the star Proxima Centauri last year. \"Proxima\" has mild enough temperatures to sustain liquid surface water, which could indicate the ability to sustain life. Any travel would have to be completed at a minimum speed of 30 million metres per second, or 10% of the speed of light."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bing should not be overlooked by advertisers: opinion \n With Christmas bells ringing, there are compelling reasons why digital marketers should turn their heads to search engines outside of Google, writes Paul Korber (pictured below), regional vice president of customer success for the Asia Pacific at Marin Software.\n\nWe know that once a brand becomes a verb, it\u2019s well and truly in the lead of its competitors. So, it\u2019s no surprise that Google\u2019s dominance in the search marketplace has been firmly held and that advertisers often neglect other search engines in their digital advertising efforts. While Google\u2019s influence still remains comfortably unchallenged, there are compelling reasons that digital marketers should be advertising on other search engines as well.\n\nAs an advertising channel, search can be one of the best ways to reach consumers when they\u2019re in the process of actively researching a product. Whether it\u2019s quickly searching for the location of a restaurant, or beginning the research process for a high-consideration purchase like a new car, search is the channel that most businesses need to invest in if they want to be top of mind during the online customer journey.\n\nPaired with retargeting, search advertising technologies have become more advanced and complex over the last decade, and many organisations are still learning how to make full use of the capabilities of paid search advertising. This, combined with a limited search advertising budget, can be a major constraint for advertisers despite clear evidence that the investment is worth it.\n\nIt\u2019s unsurprising that Google is still king in paid search investment, with the search engine giant accounting for 81 per cent of desktop searches and 96 per cent of mobile searches. However, Bing is emerging as a player worth considering.\n\nOrganisations investing in Google are allocating an average of 83 per cent of their spend to the search company, while those investing in Bing are allocating 20 per cent of their total paid search spend. On average, 72 per cent of organisations are planning to increase their investment in Google over the next 12 months, while 36 per cent plan to do the same on Bing.\n\nBing is the second largest search engine after Google. According to comScore, Bing receives 6.2 billion searches a month. What\u2019s more, people searching on Bing and Yahoo sites see advertisements that are powered by Bing Ads. According to those stats, that means you can reach one in three people who are searching for information, products and services. By no means am I suggesting you should stop search advertising on Google, just that Bing is hardly deserving of being overlooked by advertisers.\n\nIn the words of Old El Paso, \u201cWhy don\u2019t we have both?\u201d Advertisers are more likely to get the best return on investment by implementing search advertising across multiple search engines, with statistics showing Google and Bing reach the most consumers. A study by Marin Software found that replicating ad campaigns across search providers is advertisers\u2019 biggest challenge around delivering ROI from paid search. This confirms a major opportunity for advertisers wanting to dominate as much advertising space as possible.\n\nMost good things don\u2019t come without their challenges. In the same report, a \u2018lack of funding\u2019 and \u2018lack of support for investing in paid search\u2019 was cited as organisations\u2019 greatest challenge when wanting to duplicate search ad campaigns across search providers. This is a challenge that could imminently lead to their fall from the top in the paid search market, literally.\n\nTo address this hurdle, one of the most important features Bing Ads has implemented in recent years is the ability to import existing campaigns directly from Google AdWords. This makes the platform\u2019s adoption by new and returning advertisers a painless process. To make cross-publisher management even easier, Bing Ads now offers automated imports to enable advertisers to synchronise their Google campaigns with their Bing counterparts on a recurring basis.\n\nIf you\u2019re not already advertising on Bing, chances are your competitors aren\u2019t, either. The relatively low competition on Bing offers the opportunity for advertisers to accrue incremental traffic with the same level of search intent as your Google campaigns. And, the ability to cross-publish ad campaigns via emerging software means that you don\u2019t have to sacrifice your search-ads on Google \u2013 or your budget\u2013 to do so.\n\nAnother benefit of replicating paid search campaigns across both Bing and Google is that Bing doesn\u2019t force close variants on you. Whilst Google effectively killed off exact and phrase match keywords as we used to know them by forcing a \u201cclose variant\u201d matching target onto all AdWords accounts, Bing\u2019s option to include close variant queries as matches, remains just that\u2013 an option.\n\nReplicating search ad campaigns across both Google and Bing offers advertisers the best of both worlds. You would be crazy to believe that investing in paid search advertising on Google isn\u2019t worthwhile \u2013 just take one look at its monopoly. You could also be making a big mistake by overlooking the benefits of replicating these search campaigns across Bing. Bing increasingly accounts for a huge amount of search traffic, as well as offering a far less cluttered market and open variant queries. Most importantly, replicating search ad campaigns across both Google and Bing will give you an unfair share of search advertising real estate, and who doesn\u2019t want a slice of that?", "output": "Digital marketers should consider Bing as an alternative to Google, given it is the second largest search engine and reaches one in three people undertaking searches, according to Paul Korber, Marin Software's head of customer success in the Asia-Pacific region. Bing Ads can be synchronised with Google AdWords and can import campaigns directly from it. Bing receives 6.2 billion searches a month, offering advertisers the chance to target a wider audience by combining their advertising with Google. Around 72% of businesses plan to increase their investments with Google next year and 36% plan to do the same with Bing.\n\n \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mars' porous rocks may be where its missing water is hiding \n Paris (AFP) \u2013\n\nAdvertising Read more\n\nWhat happened to all the water that once sloshed in lakes and oceans on Mars? Much of it, researchers proposed Wednesday, may be locked up in stone.\n\nPrevious studies had concluded that the water was swept into space by powerful solar winds when the planet's magnetic field collapsed, while some was captured in sub-surface ice.\n\nBut this did not account for all the missing water.\n\nTo try to track down the rest, an international team of researchers put scientific modelling to the test.\n\n\"The results revealed that the basalt rocks on Mars can hold approximately 25 percent more water than those on Earth, and as a result drew the water from the Martian surface into its interior,\" said a statement from Oxford University, where scientists took part in the study.\n\nAs on Earth, chemical weathering and hydrothermal reactions can change minerals in rock from dry to water-bearing, study co-author Jon Wade of Oxford told AFP.\n\nBut Martian rock, because of a different composition, is much better at doing so.\n\nSuch rocks would have reacted with the surface water on Mars, locking some of it up in their mineral structure, Wade said in an email.\n\n\"It is not liquid anymore but physically bound in the mineral,\" he said -- which means the only way to release the water would be to melt the rock.\n\nOn an infant Earth, water-bearing rocks formed in a similar way would have floated on the planet's super-hot surface until they melted, releasing water back to the surface as they did.\n\nBut on Mars, not all the rock would have melted and some of the water would have remained trapped in rock that sank straight to the mantle.\n\n\"In essence, Mars was doomed by its geochemistry!\" Wade said.\n\nLiquid water is a prerequisite for life as we know it. And although it is dry and dusty today, the Earth's neighbour is thought to have been a wet planet once.\n\nIn 2015, NASA said almost half of Mars's northern hemisphere had once been an ocean, reaching depths greater than 1.6 kilometres (one mile).\n\nLater that year, a study announced the discovery of \"water\" remaining on the fourth rock from the Sun, in the form of super-salty brine streaks running down steep slopes.\n\nThe latest findings were published in the journal Nature.\n\n\u00a9 2017 AFP", "output": "Results from scientific modelling carried out by Oxford University have shown that a significant proportion of Mars' water resources could be locked within rock structures. \"The results revealed that the basalt rocks on Mars can hold approximately 25% more water than those on Earth, and as a result drew the water from the Martian surface into its interior\", said the scientists. Releasing the water now would require melting the rock, as \"It is not liquid anymore but physically bound in the mineral\", according to the study's co-author John Wade.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "3.5 billion-year-old fossil indicates alien lifeforms on earth \n The surface of planet Earth 3.5 billion years ago was probably quite unpleasant, to put it mildly. There were frequent volcanic eruptions, almost no oxygen and higher chances than today of getting bombarded by large asteroids. Yet somehow a diverse group of life forms was already alive and kicking here, despite such seemingly inhospitable conditions, leading some scientists to presume that the same thing almost surely has happened on other planets as well.\n\nEnlarge Image An example of one of the microfossils discovered in an ancient rock. J. William Schopf\n\nNew research published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports microscopic fossils in a 3.5-billion-year-old piece of rock from Western Australia are the oldest such fossils found -- and also the earliest direct evidence of life on our planet.\n\nThat makes for an intriguing enough headline, but the new research digs deeper into the nature of the tiny organisms and finds that they weren't all identical: some were primitive photosynthesizers, while others were producers and users of methane.\n\n\"This tells us life had to have begun substantially earlier and it confirms that it was not difficult for primitive life to form,\" said lead author and UCLA paleobiology professor J. William Schopf, in a statement about the research, adding that scientists can't yet be sure how much earlier life may have actually begun on Earth. \"But, if the conditions are right, it looks like life in the universe should be widespread.\"\n\nThe organisms in the fossils would likely be poisoned by Earth's oxygen-rich atmosphere today, but they show life might tend to find a way to emerge in environments that would seem to us to be unlivable.\n\nPrimitive photosynthesizers like those found in the ancient fossils are thought to live where there is light but no oxygen, which describes the surface of Mars, among other places. The discovery that the earliest life forms here also included methane users is intriguing in light of the fact that Saturn's moon Titan may be covered with large seas of liquid methane.\n\nThe time period at which the microorganisms lived, some 3.5 billion years ago, is also interesting because it comes only a few hundred million years after the period known as the late heavy bombardment, when Earth is thought to have been pelted with large asteroids and other pieces of space debris hanging around the inner solar system.\n\nIn other words, the living conditions here were not great at the time and yet a diverse roster of organisms still popped up in a relatively short period of time, geologically speaking.\n\nThe next obvious question is that, if simple life forms can emerge this easily, shouldn't it also increase the odds that intelligent life forms have also evolved elsewhere? Schopf says the answer to that question is less certain but still promising.\n\n\"[This study] confirms it is not difficult for primitive life to form and to evolve into more advanced microorganisms,\" he explains.\n\nYou heard it here first, kids: The career of the future might just be in Martian paleontology, digging up ancient fossils on the red planet -- perhaps on the outskirts of Elon Musk's colony.\n\nSolving for XX: The tech industry seeks to overcome outdated ideas about \"women in tech.\"\n\nLife, Disrupted: In Europe, millions of refugees are still searching for a safe place to settle. Tech should be part of the solution. But is it?", "output": "Evidence that life existed on Earth much earlier than previously thought could indicate a greater likelihood of life on other planets. Scientists from the Universities of California and Wisconsin have published research claiming that microscopic fossils found in Western Australia show evidence of life 3.5 billion years ago. These include organisms which use methane to exist, and others which can live in environments with light but no oxygen. The ability for life to develop in such inhospitable conditions makes it more likely life could be found on Mars or other planets, they say.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Canadian Uber drivers to pay less for insurance than taxi drivers \n Uber drivers will pay a quarter of what taxi drivers do for insurance, according to rates proposed by Manitoba Public Insurance.\n\nMPI has set proposed rates for ride sharing drivers, who work for companies like Uber and Lyft, at about $2,500 annually for drivers operating at all times of the day, every day of the week.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re insured just like a normal driver, except if they want to do ride-sharing services, then they pay a premium over top of what they normally pay,\u201d said Ward Keith, vice-president of business development and communications for MPI, adding that the additional premium is 20 per cent.\n\nKeith said taxicab drivers pay around $10,000 per year.\n\nUnder the new rate scheme, taxi drivers who choose to only work in select time categories will be eligible to pay less than the full cost, as will ride-sharing drivers.\n\nKeith says rates for ride-sharing drivers could change in the future, because MPI will track the claims experience of those drivers in a separate pool from other drivers.\n\n\u201cThe objective here is to make sure that regular drivers are not subsidizing the insurance rates for ride-share operators, just like they\u2019re not subsidizing the rates for taxi operators today,\u201d said Keith.\n\nThe proposed rates are subject to approval by the Public Utilities Board. If approved, they will come into effect March 1, 2018.", "output": "Uber drivers in Manitoba are set to pay significantly less for their insurance coverage than\u00a0taxi drivers in the central Canadian province. According to proposals from\u00a0Manitoba Public Insurance, Uber contractors can expect rates that are\u00a0roughly a quarter of those paid by taxi drivers, who pay about CAD10,000 a year ($7,795) for insurance coverage. Taxi drivers who opt to work within an allocated time window will also pay lower rates under the proposal.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurtech Lemonade approved to operate\u00a0in Arkansas \n Insurtech company, Lemonade, has received a Certificate of Authority to do business in Arkansas.\n\nLemonade Insurance Co. has been approved to sell property, casualty and marine products in Arkansas with an initial limit to renters insurance. A New York-domiciled property/casualty insurance company offering renters and home insurance policies, Lemonade was created in 2016 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lemonade Inc., a Delaware corporation.\n\nLemonade offers renters insurance through a mobile application.\n\nIn a statement Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Allen Kerr said \u201cLemonade is a company focused on using technology, artificial intelligence, and bots to innovate the insurance industry while promoting nonprofit giving through its annual \u2018Giveback\u2019 program of underwriting profits. I am proud to welcome Lemonade to the renters\u2019 market in Arkansas.\u201d\n\nLemonade is also a Certified B-Corp, where underwriting profits are contributed to nonprofits. The company receives a flat 20 percent fee, treating premiums as belonging to the policyholders. Lemonade returns \u201cunclaimed money\u201d during its annual Giveback. Giveback is a feature of Lemonade in which undistributed profits each year are donated to causes that customers elect. Lemonade is currently writing business in five other states and seeking to expand operations.\n\nKerr has granted authority to 28 new companies so far in 2017. Since becoming commissioner in 2015, Kerr has welcomed 63 new companies to Arkansas.\n\nSource: Arkansas Insurance Department\n\nTopics Oklahoma Arkansas", "output": "New York-based insurtech Lemonade has been granted permission to operate in Arkansas. The firm has been green-lighted to sell property, casualty and marine coverage in the state. Lemonade will initially be\u00a0restricted to offering renters insurance in this market.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indigo Ag, Maihoulang top\u00a02017\u00a0agriculture tech finding deals \n It was an exciting year in farm technology involving a few high profile venture capital exits and some of the largest deals on record.\n\nIn fact, funding records for this category and the subcategories within were broken more than once during the course of the year.\n\nRead about how we define Farm Technology here and then check out the largest funding rounds of 2017.\n\n1. Indigo Agriculture \u2013 $203 million \u2013 Series D\n\nJust this month Indigo Agriculture, the Boston-based microbial crop technology startup, closed its Series D funding round on $203 million, the largest fundraising effort by a farm tech company on record. Indigo\u2019s product portfolio includes microbial seed coatings for corn, soy, wheat, and cotton. These coatings help crops to withstand environmental stressors such as drought, high temperatures, salty soils or low nitrogen and bolster resistance to disease and pests. The company also claims its products produce higher quality crops, such as increasing the protein content of wheat. Indigo does not sell its microbial coated seed product to farmers like most ag input suppliers; instead, the company enters into contracts with farmers, providing them with the seed at the start of the season and then purchasing their harvest for a guaranteed, premium price.\n\nInvestors: Investment Corporation of Dubai, Flagship Pioneering, Alaska Permanent Fund, Baillie Gifford, Activant Capital.\n\nRead more about Indigo\u2019s record-breaking round and innovative business model here.\n\n2. Plenty \u2013 $200 million \u2013 Series A\n\nIndoor vertical farming company Plenty raised $200 million in a Series B round of funding announced in July (at the time the largest farm tech investment though the record did not last the year.) Plenty uses a vertical growing plane to grow leafy greens in a 52,000 square foot South San Francisco facility. The Series B \u2014 which brought total funding for the startup to $226 million \u2014 is being out to use on new farms and new hires. In November, the company announced its next farm will be in Kent, WA. The 100,000 sq. ft. indoor vertical farm will open in mid-2018 and will represent Plenty\u2019s first \u201cfull-scale\u201d farm. The company is also looking to employ roughly 50 new employees. Fellow vertical farming entrepreneur AeroFarms CEO David Rosenberg said at the time: \u201cThis is a monster raise, and ultimately competition can be good for the industry to drive further advancement.\u201d\n\nInvestors: SoftBank Vision Fund, Affiliates of Louis M. Bacon, the founder of Moore Capital Management, Innovation Endeavors, Bezos Expeditions, DCM, Data Collective, and Finistere Ventures.\n\nRead more about Plenty\u2019s Series A round here. And listen to our recent in-depth interview with Plenty CEO Matt Barnard here.\n\n3. Maihuolang \u2013 $150 million \u2013 Series A\n\nIn what seemed like an outlier for agribusiness marketplaces at the time, China\u2019s Maihoulang raised a $150 million Series A in March of 2017. In light of Farmers Business Network\u2019s most recent round (up next on this list), it is slightly less remarkable now that the year is coming to a close. Maihoulang launched 51mhl.com in 2014, as a marketplace for farm supplies, specialty foods, electric motorbikes, and household appliances covering 23 provinces in China with 218 county offices and 28,500 village services stations, according to Deal Street Asia. Competition is coming from a partnership between Alibaba Group Holding and China\u2019s National Development and Reform Commission, which are starting hundreds of pilot programmes in rural villages and towns in three years.\n\nInvestors: Shenzhen New Industry Venture Capital, Weiji Investment, and Qianhai Great Wall Fund.\n\nFarmers Business Network (FBN), a farmer-to-farmer digital network offering data insights, input procurement, and crop marketing services, raised $110 million in Series D funding in November. \u201cWe\u2019ve built a phenomenally high-growth business with membership doubling year-on-year to nearly 5,000 farms around the US across 16 million acres, taking on another million acres each month,\u201d Charles Baron, cofounder and VP of product, told AgFunderNews. The company has grown in other ways too: its input procurement business has expanded from selling 170 products initially to over 1,200, it launched a crop marketing business earlier this year, it is expanding into Canada, and its team is now 200-strong, with plans to increase by another 100 in the next 12-18 months.\n\nInvestors: T. Rowe Price, Temasek, Acre Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, GV (Google Ventures) and DBL Partners.\n\nRead more about Farmers Business Network\u2019s Series D round, IPO plans, and the reactions from ag strategics here.\n\n5. Uptake \u2013 $117 million \u2013 Series D\n\nUptake, a data analytics startup that uses sensor data to optimize machinery including farming equipment, raised a $117 million Series D round announced this month. This brings Uptake\u2019s total fundraising to $264 million, $130 million of which was raised in two rounds earlier this year, and it is now valued at $2.3 billion. Uptake is cash flow positive, according to TechCrunch, but said in a statement that the new funds will allow it to speed up its growth.\n\nThe company was founded by two cofounders of flash deal site Groupon on the idea that most commercial equipment comes outfitted with some sensors, but little use has been made of the data they produce. Using these sensors, plus additional sensors from outside partners in some cases, Uptake tracks the performance and usage of combines, carts, trucks, and semis, to name a few, in order to gauge optimal use and also machine performance. The software is able to make recommendations to optimize machinery expenses by minimizing downtime among other things.\n\nInvestors: Baillie Gifford, GreatPoint Ventures, and Revolution Growth.\n\nRead more about Uptake\u2019s Series D round here.\n\n6. Unnamed Bayer + Ginkgo Bioworks Ag Biotech Company \u2013 $100 million\n\nGerman agribusiness Bayer CropScience and Ginkgo Bioworks, a startup genetically engineering microbes for the flavor, fragrance, and food industries, have partnered with hedge fund Viking Global Investors to invest $100 million in a new, as yet unnamed agtech startup, announced in September.\n\nThe new company will focus on manufacturing microbial products to help with nitrogen fixation and minimizing agriculture\u2019s environmental impact by decreasing the amount of chemical fertilizers farmers apply to crops. The new company will be co-located at Bayer\u2019s biologicals R&D facility in West Sacramento, which was created through the 2012 acquisition of AgraQuest, and at Ginkgo\u2019s Boston facility.\n\nAgFunderNews sources say that this mysterious venture will be getting a name and a CEO early in the year.\n\nRead more about the joint venture here.\n\n7. Produce Pay \u2013 $70 million \u2013 Series A + Debt\n\nProduce Pay, an online platform that connects farmers directly with distributors and pays them for their produce the day after it\u2019s shipped through a lending platform. CoVenture, a software-focused VC from New York City, arranged a $70 million debt facility for the startup alongside leading its $7 million Series A. Farmers are often left waiting for produce to sell before they\u2019re paid, leaving them in a risky financial position post-harvest. Produce Pay is also launching a trading platform to connect vetted growers and distributors all over the world. Produce pay is part of a growing group of agtech startups branching out into fintech to mitigate some of the financial challenges on farms today.\n\nInvestors: CoVenture, Menlo Ventures, Arena Ventures, Red Bear Angels and Social Leverage.\n\nRead more about agtech startups venturing into the world of fintech here.\n\n8. 3D Robotics \u2013 $53 million \u2013 Series D\n\nBack in April, drone startup 3D Robotics (3DR) raised a $53 million Series D round, which included the conversion of some existing debt to equity, though it did not release details. According to Tech Crunch, 3DR has faced a cavalcade of competition in recent years from the likes of dominant Chinese drone manufacturer DJI, management software platform Drone Deploy, and more. 3DR stopped selling consumer drones in 2015 and transitioned to selling software product Site Scan as a service. Site Scan helps users manage flight plans, drone cameras and data transfer to the cloud. Though the company has historically included agriculture as an industry of focus, the company\u2019s website does not currently list it as such. We have reached out to 3DR to find out more.\n\nInvestors: Atlantic Bridge, Autodesk Forge Fund, True Ventures, Foundry Group, Mayfield and other undisclosed investors.\n\nRead more about current trends in drones for agriculture here.\n\n9. Protix Biosystems \u2013 $50 million\n\nProtix, a Netherlands-based company, raised \u20ac45 million ($50.5 million) in equity and debt funding to expand its insect farming business in June. This is the largest investment in the nascent insect farming industry to-date, according to Protix and its investors. Protix farms insects predominantly for animal and aquaculture feed, with feed products in over 12 countries, ranging from pig and poultry to pet food specialties.\n\nInsects are increasingly seen as a viable and low-impact protein alternative, because they can be reared on waste and are much more resource efficient versus other sources of protein and feed such as soy, corn, forage fish and meat. The company acquired Fair Insects, a consortium of breeders growing mealworm, crickets, and locusts. According to Protix, the acquisition will allow the company to serve a wider spectrum of customers from B2B to food markets with protein-rich foods, meal replacements, and health beverages in September.\n\nInvestors: Rabobank, Aqua-Spark, Brabant Development Agency (BOM) and other private investors.\n\nRead more about Protix\u2019s record-breaking insect farming round here.\n\n10. Orbital Insight \u2013 $50 million \u2013 Series C\n\nOrbital Insight, a geospatial analytics startup, that generates macro-level analytics for businesses using satellite imagery and other data raised a $50 million Series C round in March. The company addresses multiple industries, including financial services (i.e. hedge funds), commodities, and agriculture. One of the offerings is tracking of macro-level production flows. AgFunderNews has reason to believe that a new suite of products for agriculture is on the way in 2018.\n\nInvestors: Sequoia, Envision Ventures, Balyasny Asset Management, Geodesic Capital, ITOCHU Corporation and Intellectus Partners.\n\nRead more about the entire remote sensing landscape for agriculture here.\n\nTweet at @AgFunder to tell us how many you guessed!", "output": "Last year saw some of the biggest funding deals in agtech, with Indigo Agriculture's record-breaking $203m Series D topping a list compiled by agfundernews.com. In second place was a $200m investment for vertical farmer Plenty, followed by Chinese outfit Maihoulang's Series A injection of $150m and Uptake's $117m Series D. Farmers Business Network received\u00a0$110m in a Series D round, followed by\u00a0the $100m collaboration between Bayer and Ginkgo Bioworks. Produce Pay secured $70m in Series A funds and debt, 3D Robotics raised $53m,\u00a0and Protix Biosystems and Orbital Insight both garnered $50m.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Social Security cost-of-living increase is a cruel fraud \n In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the great Social Security program. It was designed to give workers an income after retirement.\n\nToday, it\u2019s not so great. The tiny Social Security increase that will be bestowed on retirees and the elderly in January is a cruel fraud perpetrated by the government. That\u2019s because increases in Medicare Part B and Part D insurance premiums will negate all of the Social Security 2% cost of living increase for many recipients. Instead of staying even, we\u2019ll fall behind.\n\nI just got my annual benefits letter from Social Security. It says I will get $24 a month more next year. However, after the Medicare premium increases, my new Social Security check will be $3.40 a month less than the one I currently get. (The government deducts Medicare premiums from Social Security checks.)\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIn my case, the Medicare Part B insurance premium, for doctor visits, will go from $109 a month to $133 a month, eating the entire $24 cost of living increase. And my Part D prescription drug Medicare premium will increase to $20.40 a month from $17. For retirees on a fixed, low income, every dollar counts. We can\u2019t afford to have less money \u2014 even $3.40 a month \u2014 coming in from a government program we paid into for 45 years or so.\n\nAll politicians have at least one foot in hell already, but Republicans are in with both feet.\n\nCongress needs to reset the 2018 Medicare premiums and Social Security payments so people don\u2019t net less in 2018. Along the way, the politicians should also make up for all the negligible increases we\u2019ve gotten over the last decade or so that didn\u2019t come close to matching real cost of living increases. But instead of doing the right thing, the denizens of Washington are talking about taking an ax to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid next year.\n\nI paid into the system for decades from my wages, and I don\u2019t want these programs cut.\n\nMy dwindling Social Security income is only half the problem, of course. My rent will go up on Jan. 1 by $27 a month. Food prices are rising. Campbell\u2019s soup, for example, just went up at my Wal-Mart. (I suspect they do this every year to offset the sales they have at Christmas on toys.) Grocery stores are raising prices too. The other day, I bought a box of frozen fish fillets at Stater Bros. for $5.49. Last month the same store had them for $4.99.\n\nBeyond Medicare premiums, the costs in other parts of that safety net keep rising as well. The Medicare Part B annual deductible \u2014 what I have to pay before Medicare ponies up \u2014 isn\u2019t going up in 2018, but it rose last January to $183, from $166 in 2016, and $147 in 2015. And pray to God I don\u2019t get hospitalized. That\u2019s Medicare Part A, and the deductible will be $1,340 next year, up from $1,316. Most regular folks can\u2019t afford either amount.\n\nOn top of all this, last week the Federal Reserve increased interest rates. That will mean higher costs for car loans, mortgages, bank loans and the like, and it will trickle down, or is it up, to the price of consumer goods.\n\nNo one in Congress from either party seems to give a damn. The House and the Senate are about to cut taxes mostly for the rich and big business, which will increase the national debt, and the word is, the government will try to pay for it with cuts to what House Speaker Paul Ryan calls \u201centitlements,\u201d to make them sound bad. Here\u2019s Sen. Marco Rubio: \u201cThe driver of our debt is \u2026 Social Security and Medicare for future beneficiaries.\u201d And, according to the Washington Post, Sen. Orrin Hatch, \u201cwhile whipping votes for the tax bill\u2026 attacked \u2018liberal programs\u2019 for the poor.\u201d\n\nDo I hear a hue and a cry from Congress on the other side? Not much. I think all politicians have at least one foot in hell already, but Republicans are in with both feet. As for Sen. Bernie Sanders supporters, who think of him as a saint, I will remind you that if he hadn\u2019t run (and run and run) against Hillary Clinton last year in the Democratic primary, Clinton would probably be president, not the evil Donald Trump.\n\nClinton is flawed too, of course, and she is a tool of Wall Street, but at least she doesn\u2019t have a foot in hell. Maybe a toe or two, like Sanders. Purgatory is for people like them. I had hopes for Sen. John McCain, with his vote to save Obamacare, but then he didn\u2019t have the guts to oppose the GOP tax plan. Where are the politicians who consistently, loudly stick up for people who need help?\n\nGive us our Social Security increase or throw us into the poor house. Well, I guess I wouldn\u2019t go that far for $24 a month, but you get the idea.\n\nLes Gapay is a freelance writer and retired journalist.\n\nFollow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook", "output": "Social Security was initiated in 1935, being signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to offer Americans an income after their retirement. However, this program has been greatly reduced. Despite a minor increase in Social Security payment due to launch in January 2018, the subsequent increases in Medicare Part B and Part D insurance premiums will offset this rise, leading to a 2 percent cost of living increase for many Social Security recipients.  Medicare premiums are deducted from Social Security payments, meaning that an increase for both services negates any positive effect. The increase may cause difficulties for retirees, and cause resentment following around 45 years of payments into the service. The proposed tax reform, however, may only exacerbate the situation, as Congress considers making cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid in 2018. With rising rents and food prices, these cuts may significantly worsen living situations. Medicare Part A deductibles are already due to increase in 2018, and Medicare Part B deductibles have already risen steadily year on year. The \u00a0Federal Reserve has also just increased interest rates, leading to higher costs on car loans, mortgages and bank loans. The tax cut proposal will likely only benefit the rich or corporations, and will increase the national debt, with the plan being to finance the move with cuts to \u201centitlements\u201d, or those programs that aid the poor.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SpaceX recovery vessel could reduce cost of each rocket by $5m  \n By\n\nA mysterious and massive piece of equipment was spotted by Redditor vshie early this morning aboard one of SpaceX\u2019s fleet of leased ocean recovery vessels.\n\nCaptured aboard the recovery vessel Mr. Steven, the massive claw-like appendages are almost certainly linked to SpaceX\u2019s payload fairing recovery efforts that have been ongoing throughout 2017. Despite SpaceX\u2019s highly successful first stage recovery program, as much as 30% or more of the cost of every Falcon 9 launch can be found in the second stage and its many components that are discarded after every mission. Being able to recover the payload fairing, a major component of the Falcon 9 that costs approximately $5 million on its own or roughly 10% of the cost of a $62 million expendable launch, would lead to further cost reductions in commercial spaceflight.\n\nFairing is ~$5M, but that should be reusable this year. Am fairly confident we can reuse upper stage too by late next year to get to 100%. \u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 7, 2017\n\nWhile CEO Elon Musk has previously hinted at a sort of inflatable cushion (\u201cbouncy castle\u201d in his words) as the solution for keeping the fairings out of the ocean after landing, the mechanism spotted aboard would appear to be a small departure, likely instead making use of a net to catch the fairing.\n\nMr. Steven is located on the West Coast and is almost certainly preparing for the imminent launch of the fourth group of Iridium-NEXT satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base, presently scheduled for liftoff at 5:27pm, December 22. Of note, Iridium-4 will fly atop a flight-proven Falcon 9 booster, last active during the launch of Iridium-2 in June 2017, an elegant symmetry for the satellite communications company.\n\nGiven that only one such modified vessel has been spotted at this point, it can be assumed that this recovery effort is an experimental test meant to only attempt the capture of one half of the payload fairing. There is also a remote possibility that SpaceX intends to stagger the recovery of each half such that technicians aboard Mr. Steven are able to quickly move the first fairing out of the way before snagging the second. SpaceX certainly is known to move quickly with hardware development and testing, but the recovery of two fairings on the same vessel seems more likely to be a future improvement that will follow mastery of a single recovery at a time.\n\nMr. Steven\u2019s fairing grabber adds to SpaceX\u2019s collection of intriguing, unorthodox robotic and mechanical solutions to brand new problems on the cutting edge of reusable rocketry, following in the footsteps of Of Course I Still Love You\u2018s robotic stage securer, Roomba/Octagrabber. Undoubtedly, the fan mills are already churning out potential nicknames for the newfound fairing grabber as we speak, and it will be thrilling to see or at least hear official confirmation of it in action, hopefully following the successful recovery of half of the Iridium-4 mission\u2019s payload fairing this Friday.\n\nSpaceX recovery boat spotted with huge claw-like \u201cfairing grabber\u201d", "output": "The cost of rocket missions by US company SpaceX could be reduced by around $5m if it is successful in plans to make more of the launch vehicle reusable and the firm has been developing technology that would enable it to recover the discarded payload fairing, a major part of the its rocket. An elaborate mechanism with claw-like appendages has recently been seen on a ship chartered by SpaceX off the west coast of the US, and is thought to be being prepared\u00a0for a fairing recovery attempt after a planned Falcon 9 rocket launch.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Media transparency fallout helps smaller agencies win accounts \n When Capital One hired independent agency The7stars earlier this month, the advertiser\u2019s brand director Katy Lomax hailed the agency\u2019s \u201ctransparent approach\u201d to media buying. Less than a week later, food-delivery company Deliveroo echoed that sentiment, calling the agency \u201ccompelling.\u201d Both advertisers\u2019 decisions to opt for The7stars rather than big holding groups illustrate that a network agency\u2019s loss is now an independent shop\u2019s gain.\n\nThe last 12 months have seen a steady flow of media budgets into independent agencies on both sides of the Atlantic. Of the \u00a311 billion ($14.7 billion) of media billings tracked by research firm Comvergence across 21 markets including the U.S., Germany and India over the first nine months of the year, around \u00a32.1 billion ($2.8 billion) was assigned to independent media agencies. One-third (16) of the 42 accounts analyzed in the first six months moved to an independent shop, including Honda\u2019s \u00a3449 million ($600 million) to Horizon Media and Sprint\u2019s \u00a3516 million ($690 million) to RPA. Comvergence estimated independent agencies mainly concentrated in the U.S. would win a further \u00a3224 million to \u00a3300 million ($300 million to $400 million) in the last three months of the year.\n\nIndependent agencies are benefiting from the transparency crisis, said Paul Wright, CEO at media-buying platform Iotec.\n\nThat benefit is being felt in the U.K., where the likes of The7stars that have offered independent alternatives for over 10 years now have the scale to take on large clients from the big agency groups. While full disclosure, audit rights and media at net costs may provide reassurances, the web of self-interest can run incredibly deep, meaning advertisers receive no guarantee of neutrality when it comes to strategic recommendations. \u201cCompanies like The7stars are winning larger accounts, thanks to having always had open, transparent models and therefore not being part of the problem,\u201d Wright said.\n\nTransparency has been pushed to the top of the agenda in 2017, and there is no doubt the talk is turning into action, said Jenny Biggam, CEO and co-founder of The7stars. She added that independent agencies are profiting from enlightened advertisers increasingly looking beyond the larger networks. \u201cBillings in the independent sector were already up 10 percent in the year before some further big wins more recently, which indicates the trend is set to continue into 2018,\u201d she said.\n\nBut independent agencies will continue to benefit only if marketers are prepared to pay for transparency. For all the threats and demands made by some of the world\u2019s biggest advertisers, few have openly said they\u2019re willing to pay more for quality. It might seem counterproductive to put a premium on honesty. Mark Butterfield, marketing consultant and former consulting firm executive, has debated whether that means there\u2019s a separate price for dishonesty. Yet rightly or wrongly, it seems like transparency comes at a premium. If agencies, many of which are struggling to offset shrinking budgets, are to be incentivized to stop making money from undisclosed fees, then advertisers must pay them more to close those options down. You only get what you pay for, said Darren Woolley, founder and global CEO at marketing consultant TrinityP3. In some cases, this is a flat commission or markup, he added, while in others it\u2019s a flat fee or retainer. Both of these remuneration models are supported by some type of performance bonus, added Woolley.\n\nOne advertiser wise to the transparent approach is Barclays. Earlier this year, the bank reviewed its \u00a360 million ($80 million) global media account. Unlike other media reviews, Barclays told the participating agencies it would pay more to see how its money is being used to buy media, according to two sources. OMD eventually won the account from GroupM. OMD will have to be extremely careful with what it does with the bank\u2019s money. Both Barclays and OMD declined to comment.\n\nIf more brands follow in Barclays footsteps, then the independent shops could start to look more attractive to the big-spending brands. Momentum, both in pitch rooms and in the press, seems to be with the independent shops going into the new year as their larger counterparts struggle to adapt business models under attack on all fronts. Both Capital One and Deliveroo, two of The7stars\u2019 biggest wins since it launched in 2005, came in the wake of the agency\u2019s much publicized support of a strict contract template from advertiser trade body ISBA in the U.K., which is designed to ensure greater transparency in a more fragmented ad market. While the big network agencies made no secret of their frustration toward what they deemed another squeeze on their margins, The7stars did the opposite, subsequently benefiting from the PR even if the restrictive contract hurt its bottom line in the short term.\n\nFundamentally, it\u2019s about making investments that are right for the client and building trust, said Biggam. In transparent media-buying situations, agencies may be paid more for their services and expertise, but \u201cultimately, the net cost of media is lower to the advertiser because media owners aren\u2019t paying the agency a big slice of the cost of space,\u201d she added.\n\nWinning larger media accounts won\u2019t be easy for independent agencies. The recent closure of the U.K. office for Blackwood Seven, a Danish startup that tried to replace media agencies with an artificial intelligence platform that could plan and buy media, is a testament to that. Any agency coming into the market fresh like Blackwood Seven will find it \u201cdifficult\u201d due to lack of infrastructure, said Dan Pimm, co-founder and director at December 19, and the lack of its own client case studies, which offer potential clients piece of mind about working with an agency. The difficulty for independents is building from bottom up rapidly, Pimm added.\n\nAlthough independent agencies are on the rise, established businesses will take advantage of the current climate, while newer shops will have to work hard and be patient for success.", "output": "Smaller agencies approach the new year with increased momentum as the media transparency crisis envelops larger agencies and advertiser spend on independents increases. Research firm Comvergence tracked media billings from 21 markets over the first nine\u00a0months of 2017 and found that $2.8bn had been assigned to independent agencies. In addition, 16\u00a0of the 42 accounts analysed in the year to June moved to an independent agency.\u00a0This year\u00a0smaller agencies won large advertiser contracts, with The7stars taking on Capital One and Deliveroo and OMD working with Barclays, with their\u00a0\"open, transparent models\u201d credited as the reason for their success.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Musk tweets photos of Falcon Heavy rocket before its first launch \n See more\n\nSpaceX founder Elon Musk unveiled a tantalizing first glimpse at his company's new megarocket \u2014 the Falcon Heavy \u2014 which is expected to launch on its maiden flight next month.\n\nIn an early morning Twitter post, Musk revealed several views of the new rocket under assembly inside SpaceX's hangar at Pad 39A of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The images show stunning views of the Falcon Heavy from above and one imposing shot of the rocket's 27 first-stage engines, nine on each of its three main boosters. [SpaceX's Falcon Heavy Rocket in Images]\n\n\"Falcon Heavy at the Cape,\" Musk wrote in the Twitter post.\n\nSpaceX's first Falcon Heavy rocket, a massive heavy-lift launch vehicle, is seen during assembly ahead of its first test flight from Pad 39A of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The rocket's first flight is expected in January 2018. (Image credit: SpaceX/Elon Musk)\n\nSpaceX's Falcon Heavy is a heavy-lift launch vehicle powered by two first-stage boosters from the company's Falcon 9 rockets and a central core booster that itself is a modified Falcon 9. The rocket will stand 230 feet (70 meters) tall when complete and is designed to launch payloads of up to 119,000 lbs. (57 metric tons) into space.\n\nThe 27 engines of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket are front and center during assembly in this photo tweeted by Elon Musk on Dec. 20, 2017. (Image credit: SpaceX/Elon Musk)\n\nThe Falcon Heavy is the most powerful U.S. rocket since NASA's Saturn V moon rocket and is capable of launching twice as much payload as the current record-holder, the Delta IV Heavy built by United Launch Alliance. SpaceX's rocket is also designed to be reusable, with the three core boosters built to fly back to Earth and land like SpaceX's current Falcon 9 rockets. The company test-fired the Falcon Heavy's core stage for the first time earlier this year, in May.\n\nMusk has said that Falcon Heavy's first payload will be his own midnight-cherry-red Tesla Roadster, launched on a trajectory aimed for Mars orbit. However, Musk has said that there's a fair chance the rocket could fail on its debut test flight. The Falcon Heavy is expected to perform its first static-fire test on Pad 39A by the end of 2017, SpaceX representatives have said.\n\nSpaceX also plans to use a Falcon Heavy and Dragon space capsule to launch two passengers around the moon by the end of 2018.\n\nEmail Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.", "output": "Pictures of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy\u00a0rocket being prepared for launch have been released by the company's founder, Elon Musk. The entrepreneur posted the photos on Twitter from the company's hangar at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The private space exploration company is planning to launch the reusable rocket next month on its maiden flight and said it is the most powerful US rocket since the Saturn V moon rocket. It has 27 engines and can carry a 57-tonne payload.\u00a0Musk acknowledged there was a significant risk the launch might not go according to plan.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New chip could make quantum computing as ubiquitous as mobiles \n One of the biggest stumbling blocks to the adoption of quantum computing on a grand scale may have just been overcome.\n\nThe onset of quantum computing on a scale of what we see today with smartphones could potentially usher in a new technological and scientific age, but getting there has proven extremely difficult.\n\nWhile tech giants such as IBM and Google have their own quantum computers capable of performing millions of tasks a second compared with standard computers, they had yet to put this technology into a silicon chip.\n\nThat was until a team of researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) published a paper in Nature Communications, revealing a new chip design that can be manufactured using mostly standard industry processes and components.\n\n\u201cWe often think of landing on the moon as humanity\u2019s greatest technological marvel,\u201d said Andrew Dzurak, who led the research.\n\n\u201cBut creating a microprocessor chip with a billion operating devices integrated together to work like a symphony \u2013 that you can carry in your pocket \u2013 is an astounding technical achievement, and one that\u2019s revolutionised modern life.\u201d\n\nThe design is capable of handling millions of quantum bits (qubits), but using the same turning on and off operations of bits in standard microprocessors.\n\nUnlike a standard bit, a qubit can be either a one, zero or an arbitrary combination of the two at the same time, allowing for substantially more processing power at once.\n\nTo solve complex problems, a useful universal quantum computer will need a large number of qubits, possibly millions, because all types of qubits we know are fragile, and even tiny errors can be quickly amplified into wrong answers.\n\nCorporations now tapping in\n\nSo, to overcome this, Dzurak and the team created error-correcting codes that employ multiple qubits to store a single piece of data.\n\n\u201cOur chip blueprint incorporates a new type of error-correcting code designed specifically for spin qubits, and involves a sophisticated protocol of operations across the millions of qubits,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s the first attempt to integrate into a single chip all of the conventional silicon circuitry needed to control and read the millions of qubits needed for quantum computing.\u201d\n\nWhile there are more modifications to the design expected to come, the UNSW team\u2019s breakthrough is still substantial to bring the power of a quantum computer into one chip, which can be scaled up without needing to create a massive unit to house it.\n\nIn the meantime, IBM has announced that 12 major corporations, research labs and industry giants have signed up to its early-access commercial quantum computing systems to explore practical applications to business and science.\n\n\u201cWorking closely with our clients, together we can begin to explore the ways big and small quantum computing can address previously unsolvable problems applicable to industries such as financial services, automotive or chemistry,\u201d said Dario Gil, vice-president of AI and IBM Q at IBM Research.", "output": "University of South Wales (UNSW) researchers may have found a solution to making quantum computing as widespread as mobile phones. They've devised a silicon microprocessor chip that can be made using many standard industry parts but still carry out the vast amount of tasks of quantum computers that currently fill entire rooms. It can process millions of quantum bits (qubits) of data, but only requires the on/off facilities of standard microprocessors.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Space is not a 'global commons', says Trump official \n The US is now dedicated to \u201clong-term exploration and utilization\u201d of the moon, but in practice that goal will be shaped more by a scramble of private companies than any mission executed by NASA alone.\n\nLast week, Donald Trump refocused the US space agency on returning astronauts to the moon. But without significant increases in public spending on NASA\u2019s deep-space hardware, the US government is unlikely to reach the surface of the moon or establish a permanent base there during Trump\u2019s term in office.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nInstead, the White House is embracing companies that are racing to develop low-cost methods to find and exploit resources on the moon and other astronomical bodies, whose activities and interests will shape future rules about space activity. International law, mostly in the form of the 1967 Outer Space treaty, doesn\u2019t have hard and fast guidelines for what private organizations can do outside the atmosphere, and nations are simply charged with managing missions that launch from their territory.\n\nCountries like the United States that want to encourage private activity in space are changing their own laws to create a regulatory framework for making money in orbit and beyond. Trump\u2019s space advisers say they will clear the path for space business.\n\nWhat\u2019s allowed in space?\n\n\u201cIt bears repeating: Outer space is not a \u2018global commons,\u2019 not the \u2018common heritage of mankind,\u2019 not \u2018res communis,\u2019 nor is it a public good,\u201d Scott Pace, the executive director of the US National Space Council, said in a speech last week (pdf). \u201cThese concepts are not part of the Outer Space Treaty, and the United States has consistently taken the position that these ideas do not describe the legal status of outer space.\u201d\n\nPace says the Trump administration will work with other governments and international organizations to develop fair rules for space, but that the goal is for the US to become \u201cthe most attractive jurisdiction in the world for private-sector investment and innovation in outer space\u2026the task for the United States, if it wishes to influence how space is developed and utilized, is to create attractive projects and frameworks in which other nations choose to align themselves and their space activities with us, as opposed to others.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nOne apparently attractive project: robots that can land on the lunar surface and then return samples to Earth. Startups working on such tech have sprung up around the globe, many motivated by the Google Lunar X-Prize, which will award $20 million to a team that can put a robot on the moon. Though the prize was supposed to expire at the end of this year, its participants have received another extension, through March 2018.\n\nLast week, Japanese startup iSpace collected $90 million from its backers to support two robotic missions to the moon. In the US, Moon Express has three lunar missions planned for the years ahead, and Astrobotic says it will put a robot on the moon in 2019. An Israeli lunar team, SpaceIL, is trying to raise $7.5 million in a Hanukkah-themed fundraiser, while TeamIndus in India is resorting to crowdfunding to come up with $35 million.\n\nSpace capitalism\n\nWhile not all of these efforts are expected to succeed on time, they are part of a broader ecosystem of space startups catalyzed by major players like Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX, which recently updated its next-generation rocket to include lunar transit capabilities; and Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin, which says it will invest significant capital into a moon lander as part of a NASA partnership.\n\nNASA is already partnering with three companies\u2014Masten Space Systems, Astrobotic and Moon Express\u2014to develop lander technology.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe space agency is \u201cencouraging a natural economic ecosystem to exist that doesn\u2019t have to be a solely government-supported activity,\u201d Jason Crusan, who leads the program to develop advanced exploration technology for NASA, told Quartz in October. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a date to supply cargo to the moon, we don\u2019t know what the economic market is going to grow to be\u2026hopefully, we can be a customer among many.\u201d\n\nThe groundwork for such an ecosystem was laid by previous US presidents, who embraced public-private partnerships to carry cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station with companies like SpaceX, Boeing, Orbital ATK, and Sierra Nevada. SpaceX launched its 17th orbital mission last week.\n\nIn 2015, thanks in part to lobbying from space mining startups like Planetary Resources, Congress passed a law that allows US companies to own anything they bring back from space, while skirting legal controversy about owning anything\u2014like a plot on the moon or an asteroid\u2014in space. Last year, US regulators greenlit Moon Express\u2019 plans to land on the lunar surface.\n\n\u201cOnly three superpowers have ever landed on any planet\u2014we will become the fourth superpower,\u201d Moon Express co-founder and chairman Naveen Jain said at the time.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe US is not the only country encouraging space capitalism: Luxembourg wrote a new law to favor space mining and invested $28 million in Planetary Resources. \u201cPeople tend to over-predict what will happen in the next year or two, but we under-predict what\u2019s possible in the next five or 10 years,\u201d Planetary Resources CEO Chris Lewicki told Quartz last year.\n\nSpace race, again\n\nThese new laws are not without controversy. Some nations argue for a stricter interpretation of international law that would prevent any conception of private property in space. More practically, experts are concerned that national laws pushing the current system too far could spark a backlash or a pernicious race to claim space assets. Russian officials recently said they will bring their own framework on space resources to a 2018 UN meeting to push back against the US and Luxembourg.\n\nThe most ambitious plan to return to the moon currently belongs to China, which plans to put people on the moon by 2036, after a robust robotic exploration effort. That goal, however peaceful it is portrayed, has US military officials nervously re-thinking their approach to space as a war-fighting domain. Space entrepreneurs certainly aren\u2019t afraid to use the specter of a Red Moon to urge more backing for their work.\n\nEven as the US aims to match the Chinese space program\u2014a recasting of past, geopolitically motivated space contests\u2014its space program is going through an evolution of its own. While tensions over limited funding sometimes threaten to cast NASA and space startups as competitors, the reality is that most of these companies depend on NASA for funding and expertise. And NASA, now more than ever, is dependent on private innovation to accomplish fundamental tasks in space.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe flood of money into private space projects, combined with a president eager to facilitate them, could mean the next US spacecraft to land gently on the lunar surface will be owned by a corporation, not the commonweal.", "output": "The Trump administration has reaffirmed the United States's view that outer space does not have the legal status of \"global commons\" or of being a public good. The head of the US National Space Council, Scott Pace, made the comment as he outlined the Trump administration's plans to incentivise private investment in space exploration. Trump has recently refocused NASA on returning to the moon, while a range of private companies and other countries also seek to land robots there. China is planning a manned mission by 2036, raising the prospect of\u00a0a new \"space race\"\u00a0with the US.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Solution Seeker's bespoke AI optimises oil and gas production \n Edit page New page Hide edit links\n\nSolution Seeker has developed a hierarchical neural network model that significantly improves the predictive power for real time production optimisation (illustration: Solution Seeker)\n\nSolution Seeker, a Norwegian tech start-up, has had a breakthrough in the technical development of its artificial intelligence for real time oil and gas production optimisation. After several years of research on machine learning algorithms running on oil and gas production data, Solution Seeker has developed a hierarchical neural network model that significantly improves the predictive power for real time production optimisation. The model leverages the power of neural network learning algorithms combined with domain knowledge in the form of first principle physics and production system logic.\n\n\u201cTraditional, out-of-the-box machine learning algorithms are not sufficient for the oil production optimisation problem; the dynamics of producing oilfields are changing both with time and control settings, making it a highly challenging problem to predict optimal operational decisions. Furthermore, data may be both sparse and highly uncertain. We concluded early on that we had to develop our own purpose made models, and we are very pleased to announce that we have successfully developed models with the predictive capabilities required for real time production optimisation,\u201d says Bjarne Grimstad, CTO at Solution Seeker.\n\nThe neural network takes further advantage of Solution Seeker\u2019s proprietary algorithms for data analysis, which automatically extract and prepare suitable training data from the production data history. New training data is generated in real time as the system is operated, and the neural network model learns to adapt to the changing operational conditions with minimal human intervention.\n\n\u201cThis is a significant breakthrough and completes our integrated artificial intelligence for real time production optimisation. We are looking forward to bringing the power of AI to our clients \u2013 it\u2019s an AI for the production engineer to leverage!\u201d adds Vidar Gunnerud, the company\u2019s Founder and CEO.\n\nThe learning algorithms will first be deployed at ENGIE E&P\u2019s Gj\u00f8a field and Wintershall\u2019s Vega field early next year.\n\nThe full stack AI deploys a three-step Solution Seeker proprietary technology pipeline, from data analytics to machine learning to optimisation. The data analytics algorithms perform automatic pattern recognition, classification, statistical analysis and compression of thousands of live data streams. The learning algorithm then identifies field behaviour and relations, and enables estimation of parameters, correlations and quantification of uncertainty before automatically generating predictive models while continuously learning from new production data. Finally, Solution Seeker\u2019s proprietary optimisation algorithm provides a framework for scalable optimisation on the predictive, stochastic models.\n\nThe AI makes use of the very best available technologies, such as Google\u2019s TensorFlow for machine learning, and is powered by cloud computing technologies to achieve reliability and performance.", "output": "A Norwegian technology start-up has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system capable of helping to optimise oil and gas production in real time. Solution Seeker created the bespoke system after it found existing machine-learning algorithms were unable to cope with the constantly changing dynamics of oil production. The new model uses the company's own algorithms for data analysis and adapts to changing operational conditions with limited need for human intervention. It has been described by the company as a \"significant breakthrough\"\u00a0and will be applied in a number of oilfields early next year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Moody's uses CompStak data to assess property deals risk \n Every decision in life can be boiled down to two criteria, risk and reward. They go hand in hand in determining the midpoint between expected gains and possible losses, an intersection that we all know as value. Due to an intrinsic value that comes from being a suitable location for humans to live and produce, real estate has been one of the most important global asset classes. The limited risk that comes with a desirable property is a major factor in its price and allows debt to be borrowed against it.\n\nFor commercial real estate, knowing the reward is often easy. Many properties are bought while leases are already in place. It is almost like buying a set of cash flows, the rates of return are fairly certain. The risk side of the equation can be harder to understand. To know how risky a property is, especially one with debt against it, calculations have to be made using the probability of default and the amount that would be able to be recovered if a default occurred. That last part, the amount that someone stands to lose, is called the loss given default and it is not as easy to determine as you might think. Commercial properties are considered rather illiquid since they take time to sell. Because of this the loss given default also has to take into account how much of a discount a building must be sold for in order to recover money in a timely fashion.\n\nAssessing risk is such an important thing that the companies whose business it is to do so have tremendous power. One of those companies is Moody\u2019s. They have been around since the turn of the century when the founder John Moody produced the first list of statistics related to stocks and bonds. Now they rate everything from countries to individual portfolios and a downgrade by them can have incredible effects on the value of even the largest assets.\n\nTo do this they compile massive amounts of data from all corners of the economy. They have one of the most comprehensive sets of economic insights that can be accessed by their analytics site economy.com.\n\nBut even rating giants like Moody\u2019s don\u2019t have all the data. One of those important yet opaque data sets is commercial real estate lease info. There is no public record for the lease agreements and industry professionals have long protected their internal information as if it was their secret recipe. For a long time, it was.\n\nThat is until recently when a few startups took on the audacious goal of trying to get brokers and owners to share their info. One of the most successful companies to do this is New York-based CompStak. Rather than buying or selling data, the idea behind CompStak was to give brokers, appraisers and researchers in CRE brokerage firms access to lease comps,, as long as they provided some comps of their own. Everyone always knew that the best data would have to be comprehensive, CompStak was the company that figured out how to facilitate the exchange.\n\nNot to be left in the dark, Moody\u2019s has now invested in and partnered with CompStak to start using its data to help better assess commercial real estate risk. This is especially important for Moody\u2019s because they are one of the leading agencies in charge of calculating risk and assigning ratings to commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS). Their Loss Given Default model, Commercial Mortgage Metrics (CMM) is used by lenders across the board, whose portfolios include both securitized and non securitized assets.\n\nThe world of commercial mortgage backed securities is large and rapidly changing. CBRE estimates that the CMBS market reached $38 billion at the end of the second quarter of this year. It is also one of the segments of the financial sector targeted by the Dodd-Frank act, which was written as a reaction to the mortgage backed security crises that shook the world\u2019s economy to its core.\n\nI had a chance to talk to Michael Mandel, CEO and founder of CompStak, about this recent partnership. He told me that he had been talking about the idea with the Moody\u2019s Analytics team for a while but it wasn\u2019t until recently that they decided to formalize an agreement. \u201cMoody\u2019s recently created their Emerging Business Unit with a focus on working with new technologies to make investments into areas that could be applied to financial services,\u201d he told me, adding, \u201cthey decided to do something in commercial real estate because they saw that it was a place ripe for innovation and the timing just seemed right.\u201d\n\nMoody\u2019s Analytics will be better able to understand what a building\u2019s earning potential is by using CompStak\u2019s aggregated comparable data. The partnership, which consists of a data licensing agreement and investment in Compstak, will help both companies expand the reach of their offerings. As Michael told me, \u201cThey have a lot of the same customers as we do, just different departments. They sell to risk groups at banks, which is a market that we have not gotten to previously.\u201d It will no doubt help Moody\u2019s Analytics that many commercial real estate brokers, appraisers and owners are now looking a little more closely at the analytics that they put out.\n\nWhile he was tight lipped, Michael did also tell me that they were working on a number of products that would use data from both CompStak and Moody\u2019s. \u201cWe are working on things that help you better understand markets by leveraging wide data sets.\u201d\n\nBesides the clout associated with a partner like Moody\u2019s Michael did notice an unexpected benefit. \u201cWe got a lot of attention from a Moody\u2019s press release alone. They have so many people watching their every move that they can reach a large audience with no more than a simple announcement,\u201d he said.\n\nAssessing risk is hard. So hard that the world leaves the heavy lifting to a handful of companies like Moody\u2019s. Determining the probability of future events based off of historical data is easier now than ever. Advances in computing and analytical modeling have enabled many to peer a little further into the proverbial crystal ball. The only way to improve on this effort is to have the most diverse and comprehensive data set. Only when new inputs are brought in, can further correlation be found. Now, thanks to CompStak, Moody\u2019s is a little closer to seeing what risk the future holds for the world\u2019s commercial real estate.", "output": "Rating giant Moody's has signed a data licensing agreement with, and invested in, New York-based firm CompStak. The deal enables Moody's to use CompStak's aggregated lease comparable data to help it assess commercial property risk and provide more accurate ratings for commercial mortgage-backed securities. The two companies are also working on products that use broad datasets to enable customers to gain a greater understanding of markets, according to Michael Mandel, CompStak's CEO.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI firm One Concern predicts natural disasters, secures $20m \n Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More\n\nOne Concern today announced that it has closed a $20 million funding round to \u201cfuture proof the world,\u201d according to a company spokesperson. The funding will be used for research and development as One Concern expands its use of machine learning to predict and mitigate the impact of natural disasters like fires, floods, and hurricanes after they happen.\n\nPredictive AI from One Concern, called Seismic Concern, currently focuses on earthquake preparedness and response. For example, AI models trained with information about building structural integrity and seismic activity are deployed to help cities know where to dispatch emergency workers after an earthquake. Demographics of people impacted, such as age and economic status, are also provided.\n\nOne Concern currently partners with cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco, the company said.\n\n\u201cOur AI-based technology will assign a unique, verified \u2018digital fingerprint\u2019 to every natural or manmade element, from the smallest rock to complete structures to mega cities and eventually, the entire planet,\u201d cofounder Ahmad Wani said in a Medium post today. \u201cOne Concern will provide insights across the entire time horizon \u2014 whether it\u2019s days before a flood, minutes after an earthquake, or forward-looking policy and planning.\u201d\n\nImage Credit: One Concern\n\nThe $20 million round was led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), with participation from Geodesic Capital and individuals like former CIA director David Petraeus and SV Angel founder Ron Conway.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\nAdvisors contributing to One Concern\u2019s human intelligence to complement AI include Petraeus, OpenGov cofounder Nate Levine, and former Rockefeller Foundation director Judith Rodin. Former FEMA administrator Craig Fugate joined the One Concern team earlier this year.\n\nOne Concern was established in 2015. The company has 35 employees and is based in Palo Alto, California.\n\nClarification: The original version of this story called former FEMA administrator Craig Fugate an advisor to One Concern, however Fugate is a One Concern employee.", "output": "Predictive AI firm One Concern has just closed a $20m funding round, backed by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Geodesic Capital and individuals including former CIA director David Petraeus. Following the announcement, a spokesperson for the company stated this will help \"future proof the world\". The company uses AI and machine learning to predict a variety of natural disaster impacts. For example, its Seismic Concern team examines earthquake preparedness and response, helping with the efficient dispatch of emergency workers. For now, the company looks at the United States with a focus on LA and San Francisco.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Publishers disappointed with financial return on viewable ads \n Publishers are bending to the will of advertisers to make their ads more viewable, but some publishers are finding the payoff isn\u2019t as great as they anticipated.\n\nOver the past year and a half, advertisers have continually pounded their fists, demanding that they\u2019ll only buy ads that are guaranteed to be seen by a user. The push for viewability gave the impression that advertisers would spend branding campaign dollars with publishers that had highly viewable ads, said Erik Requidan, vp of programmatic strategy at Intermarkets, which helps publishers including Drudge Report and The Political Insider market their ad inventory to buyers.\n\nInstead, the sites Requidan works with continue to be relegated to getting performance-based ads, he said. Those sites might see a few dollars increase in their CPMs if they boost their viewability, but big-brand dollars haven\u2019t materialized.\n\n\u201cIf something is 90 percent viewable, shouldn\u2019t that unlock a whole lot more money or a bigger price point?\u201d he asked.\n\nWhen listicle publisher Ranker tweaked its site layout last year, page-load time went down 60 percent and average viewability rates doubled from 35 percent to 70 percent. Those factors helped Ranker increase its average CPMs by about 75 percent, but the prices of its least and most viewable ads don\u2019t differ much.\n\nRanker\u2019s ad viewability ranges from 62 to 82 percent. But there\u2019s only a 13 percent difference in the CPMs for these ad units, said Ranker CEO Clark Benson. Given how much advertisers and their tech vendors emphasize that campaigns perform better when ads are 80 percent viewable, Benson expected Ranker\u2019s most viewable ad units to command a higher price.\n\n\u201cSo far, the promise of viewability quickly filtering out bad actors and improving yields for the good ones seems to be only a half-kept one,\u201d he said.\n\nIt\u2019s a similar story elsewhere. Stephanie Layser, vp of ad tech and operations at News Corp, said there\u2019s no significant difference in price between the publisher\u2019s least and most viewable ads. Remedy Health Media, the publisher of health sites like HealthCentral and TheBody.com, has seen little lift in its ad rates since increasing its viewability, said Aryeh Lebeau, evp of client operations there.\n\nSome publishers said they\u2019re satisfied with the pricing lift they\u2019re getting for highly viewable ads, which is a function of their expectations of their advertisers.\n\nLebeau wasn\u2019t bothered by the lack of lift in ad rates because advertisers never promised Remedy higher rates in exchange for higher viewability.\n\nA programmatic specialist at a comScore 200 entertainment publisher, requesting anonymity because he wasn\u2019t authorized to share financial details, said a 30 percentage-point lift in viewability at his company\u2019s websites tends to increase CPMs by about 20 percent. This person emphasized that it\u2019s difficult to isolate viewability\u2019s impact on ad rates, so these figures are rough estimates. The source still felt his company was being compensated fairly for its highly viewable ad placements.\n\nAnother source, Danny Khatib, CEO of 100 percent programmatic publisher Granite Media, said high viewability rates can boost Granite\u2019s CPMs by a few dollars, which he saw as significant.\n\n\u201cWe never expected new branding budgets to come online solely because of viewability improvements,\u201d he said. \u201cThat seems like wishful thinking.\u201d\n\nIn an Integral Ad Science survey of more than 1,000 advertisers, 68 percent of respondents said they transact on viewability and another 25 percent said they wanted to do so. Although buyers are regularly transacting on viewable metrics, viewability is less likely to influence ad rates if it isn\u2019t a primary KPI.\n\nThe reason rates haven\u2019t risen right along with viewability has to do with how programmatic buying works. David Lee, programmatic lead at media-buying agency The Richards Group, said that even in a private marketplace setup, most buyers don\u2019t place bids on individual publishers but place bids across hundreds, if not thousands, of sites at a time.\n\nSo if viewability is being used as a secondary KPI, then buyers\u2019 bids will be restricted to the publishers that meet a certain viewability threshold. But since buyers aren\u2019t bidding on individual publishers, they\u2019re not intentionally setting out to pay specific publishers more based on their viewability gains. And since viewability rates are rising across the industry, publisher improvements in viewability are less likely to increase publishers\u2019 CPMs than they were a year ago.\n\nAnother issue with rising viewability is that in an effort to appease advertisers, many publishers are doing whatever they can to make sure their ads are viewed just long enough to be counted as viewable. Most viewable ads are in view for just one second, according to IAS data. That amount of time happens to be the standard the Media Rating Council uses to define viewability.\n\nAs publishers increased their volume of viewable ads by refreshing pages, sticking ads in photo galleries and using interstitials, users got turned off and buyers caught on. IAS found that the average time that a desktop display impression was in view declined from 9.8 seconds in May 2016 to 7.7 seconds in May 2017.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve seen some publishers game the system in using ad placements that provide a less than optimal consumer experience but have higher rates of viewability,\u201d said Stephani Estes, svp of media strategy at ad agency Cramer-Krasselt. \u201cIn those instances, we\u2019re not willing to pay more for higher viewability.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s understandable that publishers get miffed by low returns on highly viewable ads. But in programmatic environments, the highest CPMs come from programmatic direct deals, not the open exchange. And to entice ad buyers to set these deals up, publishers need to have viewability rates above 65 percent, according to three publisher sources.\n\nViewability isn\u2019t necessarily a way to lift rates, said Mort Greenberg, svp of ad sales at Sightline Media Group, which owns government-focused sites like Federal Times and Military Times. \u201cHowever,\u201d he added, \u201chigh viewability will keep you on a plan.\u201d", "output": "Despite making accommodations to make ads more viewable, publishers are finding that the financial results may not be worth the appeal for advertisers. With advertisers demanding guaranteed viewings in exchange for large purchases, publishers expected higher value campaigns for better viewability. Instead, publishers are being restricted to performance-based ads, rather than seeing big brand interest. The price difference between highly viewable and not as viewable ads is minimal, despite an emphasis on the former for business.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NASA to choose between final two for\u00a02025 New Frontier mission \n Would you like NASA to fly a drone across Saturn\u2019s largest moon, or to send a probe to collect samples from a duck-shaped comet?\n\nFrom a dozen proposals to the agency\u2019s New Frontiers competition \u2014 not unlike an interplanetary \u201cShark Tank\u201d for a forthcoming robotic mission \u2014 NASA announced these two finalists on Wednesday.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s one of the most difficult programs to be selected for,\u201d said James L. Green, director of the planetary science division at NASA. \u201cWe fly only about two of these types of missions per decade.\u201d\n\nIn the first proposed mission, Comet Astrobiology Exploration Sample Return, or Caesar, a spacecraft would go to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, previously explored by the European Space Agency\u2019s Rosetta mission, and bring back a small chunk to Earth for closer study.", "output": "Nasa has revealed the two finalists for its New Frontiers competition. Comet Astrobiology Exploration\u00a0Sample Return aims to explore a comet previously studied by the Rosetta mission and return a sample to Earth by 2038.\u00a0Dragonfly is\u00a0a project to use a drone to explore the varied terrains of\u00a0Saturn's biggest moon, Titan. Both teams will be funded to the tune of $4m to develop their schemes, while Nasa will reveal the outright winner in 2019, with the\u00a0mission launch planned for\u00a02025.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook introduces facial recognition to stop online impersonation \n That same facial-recognition software that simplifies the process of tagging Facebook photos will soon help make sure your photo isn\u2019t being used as a stranger\u2019s profile picture. On Tuesday, December 19, the company announced new (but optional) Facebook facial recognition tools, along with a handful of new options designed to help curb harassment.\n\nThe first tool uses the same software that automatically tags you in photos to look for you in someone else\u2019s profile picture. The tool is designed to combat social media impersonation. If you have the facial-recognition tool turned on, you will get a notification if Facebook spots your face in someone else\u2019s profile picture.\n\nRecommended Videos\n\nFacebook will also begin to send users notifications if they detect your mug in a photo that wasn\u2019t tagged. The option, Facebook says, allows users to choose whether or not to tag themselves or to reach out to the posting user with concerns. The catch? You will only get a notification if the image was shared either publicly or in a group you are included in, so the privacy settings of the photo aren\u2019t violated.\n\nWhile users could turn facial recognition on and off before, Facebook is also simplifying the setting with a single control based on user feedback. Now, users can choose whether to use the facial recognition with one setting rather than setting all of the subcategories. The tools are also launching with expanded systems for visually impaired users that will now include names in the alt-text tool that describes what\u2019s in a photo.\n\nFacebook\u2019s facial-recognition tools have been around since 2010. Earlier this year, Facebook launched other profile photo tools with a similar goal to protect users. The newest tools are rolling out soon, excluding Canada and the European Union, where facial recognition isn\u2019t currently available.\n\nAlong with the facial-recognition tools, Facebook today also introduced new options designed for combatting harassment by preventing second accounts from a blocked user from contact and launching options for ignoring (but not blocking) messages.\n\nFor users that block a harasser, Facebook is working to help make sure the same person doesn\u2019t create a second account to attempt to contact them after being blocked. The tool works by looking at different signals, such as the IP address, that suggests the new friend request or message is coming from someone the user has already blocked.\n\nA new ignore feature for messages now allows users to stop receiving notifications for new messages without blocking the user entirely. Ignored messages also disable the tool that shows the sender when the messages have been read. The messages are moved to a filtered folder, where they can still be accessed.\n\nThe new tools for preventing harassment are a result of working with organizations and safety experts, including groups for domestic violence survivors, as well as discussing the tools with journalists, Facebook said.\n\nEditors' Recommendations", "output": "Facebook is using the facial recognition technology that enables users to tag people in photos to prevent their images being used by someone else. The optional feature is a bid to curb impersonation on the social media site, and when activated, will see Facebook send notifications to users whose images have appeared on someone else's profile. However, the features only works for images that are shared publicly or among a group a user is a part of.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pathway for challenger banks could be improved: FinTech Australia \n FinTech Australia has provided a comment on the consultation paper published in August regarding authorising new entrants into the banking industry. The creation of digital challenger banks in Australia is a welcomed move but, according to FinTech Australia, needs some improvement.\n\nThe discussion paper proposes that new banking entrants, known as \u201cAuthorised Deposit-taking Institutions\u201d (ADIs) can apply for a \u201crestricted ADI licence\u201d. Under this restricted ADI licence, new banking entrants may take up to $2 million in deposits with an individual limit of $250,000 per depositor over a maximum period of two years, while maintaining a minimum of $3 million plus wind-down costs in reserve capital (or 20% of total assets, whichever is greater). It is expected the restricted ADI licence-holder would remain within these limits while developing the full range of capabilities necessary to graduate toward a full bank licence.\n\nThe FinTech Australia submission with the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) welcomes the pathway, stating \u201cit is our belief that many innovative new challengers will benefit from this new pathway, and from being able to successfully test their new services with consumers.\u201d\n\nHowever, the group believes the proposals fall short. In fact, the APRA suggestions could be improved by including the following:\n\nBoosting the deposit limit to $5 million, given that new challenger banks should easily breach the proposed $2 million limit particularly if they are targeting business customers\n\nAllowing challenger banks to operate with a restricted licence for three rather than two years, given they are unlikely to be able to raise the required $5-7 million in capital to operate if the two-year limit remains in place\n\nSetting up an innovation hub within APRA to solicit and facilitate applications\n\nProviding an improved definition of what is considered an eligible \u201clow risk\u201d activity during the restricted licensing period\n\nConsider creating two pathways for challenger banks \u2013 one for new startup companies and another for existing and mature \u201clow risk\u201d financial services\n\nConsidering splitting the proposed $80,000 entrant fee across the three-year testing period\n\nFinTech Australia CEO Danielle Szetho said a few improvements and the pathway could create a path for some much needed competition.\n\n\u201cAustralia has one of the most concentrated banking industries in the world, and a large number of struggling small traditional banks. So a regime to encourage increased competition from new digital-first challengers is badly needed. New entrants to the banking industry will bring a fresh, innovative mindset to this industry and in doing this will provide consumers and businesses with increased choice and improved services,\u201d said Szetho. \u201cWe think our suggestions will smooth the way for new digital challenger bank entrants to our banking industry, while at the same time ensure ongoing strong customer protections \u2013 including the ability for APRA to safely transition out underperforming ADIs.\u201d\n\nFinTech Australia says the Australian Government\u2019s proposed new entrant pathway sits alongside other proposals to encourage increased banking competition, including:\n\nRelaxing the current restriction on any one bank shareholder owning more than 15 per cent of the bank, which will make it easier for startups to become banks\n\nRemoving the prohibition on use of the term \u2018bank\u2019 in the names of authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs) with less than $50 million in capital, so new challenger banks may also benefit from the reputational advantages of the term.\n\nBanks around the world are struggling to adapt to their Fintech future. Legacy technology, far too many brick and mortar locations, combined with a risk averse culture means traditional banks are loathe to change. Allowing agile, Fintech startups to provide modern banking services in a mobile first platform should improve services while reducing cost for consumers and business. Isn\u2019t that what APRA, and the Aussie government, wants?", "output": "FinTech Australia has said that the regulatory pathway for \"challenger banks\" could be made easier with improvements, in response to proposed legislation from The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). Under the legislation, ADIs would apply for a restricted license that allows them to take deposits up to $2m over a period of two years, maintaining a minimum of $3m plus wind-down costs in their reserve capital. APRA has said the pathway will make the way easier for businesses, but FinTech Australia\u00a0believes the deposit limit should be $5m over a three year period.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sony chip unit eyes robotics, self-driving cars for image sensors \n The breakthrough, which involved reconfiguring the sensor layout and known as backside illumination, allowed Sony to grab nearly half of the market for image sensors. (Image Source: Reuters) The breakthrough, which involved reconfiguring the sensor layout and known as backside illumination, allowed Sony to grab nearly half of the market for image sensors. (Image Source: Reuters)\n\nSony Corp is poised to report its highest-ever profit this year on strong sales of image sensors after years of losing ground in consumer electronics and hopes to develop the technology for use in robotics and self-driving cars as competition heats up. The results will mark a significant turnaround for the conglomerate, once famed for leading the world in consumer gadgets such as its Walkman music player, but now finding a new focus on image sensors and gaming.\n\nSony forecasts that operating profit in the year through March will more than double to 630 billion yen ($5.6 billion) compared with the year earlier and expects the chips division, most of which is made up of the image sensors business, to be the conglomerate\u2019s biggest growth driver. Executives say a technological breakthrough in image sensors and seachange in the company\u2019s thinking are behind the success. The breakthrough, creating a sensor that captures more light to produce sharper images, coincided with soaring consumer demand for better smartphone cameras for sharing photos on social media.\n\nThe breakthrough, which involved reconfiguring the sensor layout and known as backside illumination, allowed Sony to grab nearly half of the market for image sensors.\n\n\u201cWe knew we wouldn\u2019t be able to win if we did what our rivals were doing,\u201d said Teruo Hirayama, technology chief of Sony\u2019s chip business, recalling initial scepticism around the technology that is now used widely. Japanese names such as Hitachi Ltd, NEC Corp and Fujitsu Ltd, which dominated mainstream chips through the late 1980s, have lost business to Asian rivals such as Samsung Electronics.", "output": "Sony's chip division, buoyed by surging sales of its image sensors, is looking to incorporate the technology\u00a0in self-driving cars and robotic applications. The division claims almost half the image sensor market and was the main driver behind parent Sony's estimated JPY630bn ($5.6bn) operating profit in the year to March -- more than double the previous year's figure. Divisional\u00a0chief\u00a0Terushi Shimizu said the unit\u00a0had flourished because it had been\u00a0able to operate independently of the parent company. However, the unit faces stiff competition from rivals Samsung and OmniVision Technologies.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ISS receives barley shipment with a view to brewing beer in space \n Every few months, the International Space Station gets a rocket full of supplies from the surface containing everything from food to replacement parts to complex scientific experiments. Last week, a rocket sent one of these payloads to the ISS as usual, although it contained something a little different: a bunch of barley seeds, which the astronauts will grow in space as a precursor to brewing truly out-of-this-world beer.\n\nBack in March, Budweiser made a pledge to become the first beer on Mars, and as the first step to achieving that goal the company is sending barley seeds into space. Once there, the ISS astronauts will attempt to grow them and study how the plants react to the zero-gravity environment.\n\nThis is part of a collaboration between Budweiser and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), which manages the U.S. National Laboratory aboard the ISS. As part of this collaboration, the ISS astronauts will perform two experiments with the barley seeds: The first will be a general study to see how well barley grows in space, while the second focuses on seed germination to determine if barley grows as quickly in space as it does on Earth.\n\nMore From Popular Mechanics play icon The triangle icon that indicates to play\n\nOnce these experiments are completed, the barley plants will be shipped back down to Earth, where they will be analyzed by scientists on the ground. With any luck, those scientists will learn not only how to grow plants like barley in space, but also how to grow it better here on Earth.\n\nWe hope NASA\u2019s next rocket has some hops.\n\nSource: Food & Wine and Budweiser", "output": "Astronauts on board the International Space Station will be growing barley seeds in the first step towards brewing beer in space. The project is a collaboration between beer manufacturer Budweiser and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, which aims to find out if barley will grow in a zero-gravity environment. Any germinated plants will be sent back to Earth for analysis.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WeWork settles trademark dispute with Chinese equivalent URWork \n The trademark dispute between US co-working behemoth WeWork and its Chinese counterpart URWork in the US has been settled to the satisfaction of both parties. A similar case between the two parties in London has also been withdrawn.\n\nIt seems that English name of the Chinese co-working giant\u2014\u201dURwork\u201d\u2014will only appear in China in the future. Outside China, the company will be branded with only its Chinese name, \u201cYou Ke Gong Chang\u201d (\u4f18\u5ba2\u5de5\u5382), a move the company has always planned as it claimed in court files.\n\nThe boom of co-working industry comes along with the rise of several regional dominators. As they are taking a global focus, competitions is heated. WeWork filed a suit in September after UrWork announced plans for several global hubs in New York, Los Angles, and London. The similarity in name and branding, and thus user confusion, were at the heart of its concerns.\n\nThrough a partnership with local partner Serendipity Labs, URwork managed to open a co-branded location in New York earlier this year. They also opened a 300-desk space at 16839 Gale Avenue, Los Angeles.\n\nUrWork has withdrawn both trademark applications that were at issue in the case, for a logo with the letters \u201cUR\u201d on a circular background, as of December 15, according to The Real Deal.\n\nIn a statement from WeWork, the co-working company said that the parties had reached \u201can amicable resolution to the global dispute regarding the use of certain trademarks.\u201d the report pointed out.\n\nIn fact, there have been early signs for a peaceful settlement at the beginning of this month. A picture taken at World Internet Conference in Wuzhen depicted perfect harmony between WeWork execs\u2014co-founder Adam Neumann and vice chairman Michael Gross\u2014and URwork founder Mao Daqing was widely circulated on Chinese social networks. A following tour of WeWork execs to URwork\u2019s China locations drew the two firms to more friendly terms.\n\nLikewise, the two co-working giants are facing similar competition in China. Luckily, top players in the industry are focusing diversified segments in the industry as the market evolves.", "output": "Co-working companies WeWork and URWork have settled their trademark dispute, and withdrawn their London-based case. Chinese company URWork will only use that title in China, going under the name \u201cYou Ke Gong Chang\u201d (\u4f18\u5ba2\u5de5\u5382) in other locations to avoid confusion with WeWork. WeWork had filed the suit in the US in September 2017 after URWork announced its expansion into New York, London and Los Angeles."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Panda excrement recycled into tissues in China \n Pandas are undeniably adorable, but would you wipe your mouth with tissues made from their feces? A paper manufacturer in China is betting on it, and thinks you\u2019ll pay extra for the privilege.\n\nJianwei Fengsheng, based in the southwestern province of Sichuan\u2014a panda hotspot\u2014is collecting panda waste from a nearby conservation center and turning it into tissues and toilet paper, according to the Chengdu Business Daily (link in Chinese). Its panda-poop tissue sells for 10 to 20 times the price of the standard variety.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe higher price is necessary to offset the cost of the many sterilization procedures, of which there about 60, manager Zhou Chuanping told the daily, including cleaning and steaming. They\u2019re meant to ensure the products meet hygiene standards around the world. Zhou expects the tissues will gain a following among consumers with an environmental-protection mindset.\n\nTurning the feces into paper helps reduce environmental pollution because the center\u2014called the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda\u2014would otherwise throw the feces away or use it as fertilizer, according to Huang Yan, director of animal research and management at the center. Huang told the newspaper that on average an adult panda consumes 12-15 kg (26-33 lbs) of bamboo a day, which turns into 10 kg of feces\u2014known as \u201cqingtuan\u201d for its green color and round shape (\u201cqing\u201d means green, \u201ctuan\u201d a round pile).\n\nThe company collects the droppings from three basements at the center, which as of October had 273 pandas, accounting for over 60% of the world\u2019s captive population, according to Xinhua.\n\nThe key to the tissues is bamboo fiber, which without the assistance of the pandas would be more difficult to process. The company would have to collect fresh bamboo and wait for the sugar to degrade. Instead, it can let the animal\u2019s digestive system do the hard part. After absorbing the sugar, it takes about four hours for pandas to excrete the fiber, according to chairman Yang Chaolin.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nOf course, putting animal poop to good use isn\u2019t new. Tibetans and other have long used dried cattle feces (link in Chinese) for cooking fires. And in Indonesia the world\u2019s most expensive coffee, kopi luwak, is made from the poop of civets\u2014a single cup can sell for $80 in the US.", "output": "Chinese paper company Jianwei Fengsheng is using\u00a0panda droppings collected from a local conservation centre to make tissues and toilet paper. One box of tissues costs CNY43\u00a0($6.50), more than 10\u00a0times the cost of regular tissue, the company claims the higher cost is due to\u00a060 necessary sterilisation procedures - including cleaning and steaming. Creating paper from the faeces helps reduce environmental pollution. Other products recycled from faecal matter\u00a0for cooking fires and artisan\u00a0coffee have sold well in Tibet and Indonesia, respectively.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HIVE announces first tranche of investment \n Not for distribution to U.S. news wire services or dissemination in the United States\n\nZug, Switzerland and Vancouver, Canada \u2013 HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd. (TSX.V:HIVE) (the \u201cCompany\u201d or \u201cHIVE\u201d), the leading publicly listed blockchain infrastructure company, is pleased to announce that it has closed the first tranche (\u201cFirst Tranche\u201d) of its previously announced private placement of up to C$115 million (the \u201cOffering\u201d) co-led by GMP Securities L.P. and Eventus Capital Corp. and including Haywood Securities Inc. and PI Financial Corp. (collectively, the \u201cAgents\u201d). The First Tranche consisted of a total of 15,873,100 units (the \u201cUnits\u201d) sold at a price of C$3.15 per Unit for gross proceeds raised of C$50,000,265. Each Unit consists of one common share (a \u201cShare\u201d) and one Share purchase warrant (a \u201cWarrant\u201d), with each Warrant entitling the holder to purchase one Share at a price of $3.90 until November 14, 2019. The Shares and the Warrants issued under the First Tranche are subject to a hold period expiring April 19, 2018. The Company anticipates that the Warrants will be listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (the \u201cExchange\u201d) shortly after the hold period expires, subject to meeting the conditions in Exchange approval. In connection with the First Tranche, the Agents received a cash commission equal to 6% of the gross proceeds raised in the First Tranche.\n\nThe final closing of the Offering of up to an additional of $65 million (the \u201cFinal Tranche\u201d) is expected to be December 29, 2017. Closing of the Final Tranche is subject to certain conditions typical for a transaction of this nature and the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including the approval of the Exchange.\n\nThe net proceeds of the Offering are expected to be used to fund the completion of the Sweden Bitcoin Data Centre and the Phase 3 Expansion at the Sweden GPU Data Centre (as described in the Company\u2019s December 13, 2017 news release), and for general working capital purposes.\n\n\n\nAbout HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd.\n\nHIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd. is a growth oriented, TSX.V-listed company building a bridge from the blockchain sector to traditional capital markets. HIVE is strategically partnered with Genesis Mining Ltd. to build the next generation of blockchain infrastructure. HIVE owns state-of-the-art GPU-based digital currency mining facilities in Iceland, which produce newly minted virgin digital currency like Ethereum around the clock, and is in the midst of a major expansion of operations into Sweden.\n\nFor more information and to register to HIVE\u2019s mailing list, please visit www.HIVEblockchain.com. Follow @HIVEblockchain on Twitter and subscribe to HIVE\u2019s YouTube channel.\n\n\n\nOn Behalf Of HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd.\n\n\"Harry Pokrandt\"\n\nPresident, CEO and Director\n\n\n\nFor further information please contact:\n\nHarry Pokrandt\n\nTel: (604) 609-6110\n\nNeither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. Forward-Looking Information Except for the statements of historical fact, this news release contains \u201cforward-looking information\u201d within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation that is based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. \u201cForward-looking information\u201d in this news release includes information about the expansion of the Company\u2019s digital currency mining operations in Sweden (including into Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash mining); the quantum and closing of the second tranche of the Offering; the business goals and objectives of the Company, and other forward-looking information includes but is not limited to information concerning the intentions, plans and future actions of the parties to the transactions described herein and the terms thereon. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, the expansion of digital currency mining operations in Sweden (including construction of planned facilities) may not occur as currently planned, or at all; the second tranche of the Offering may not close on the terms and timing anticipated, or at all; the Exchange may not approve the transactions the Company has applied for; the quantum of computational power and electrical consumption expected by the Company in Sweden may not materialize as currently anticipated, or at all; the digital currency market; the Company\u2019s ability to successfully mine digital currency; a decline in digital currency prices may have a significant negative impact on the Company\u2019s operations; the volatility of digital currency prices; and other related risks as more fully set out in the Filing Statement of the Company dated September 13, 2017. The forward-looking information in this news release reflects the current expectations, assumptions and/or beliefs of the Company based on information currently available to the Company. In connection with the forward-looking information contained in this news release, the Company has made assumptions about the Company\u2019s ability to complete of its expansion of digital currency operations in Sweden; the Company\u2019s ability to close the second tranche of the Offering, including obtaining Exchange approval; Genesis\u2019 participation in the Offering; the Company\u2019s ongoing partnership with Genesis; historical prices of digital currencies and the ability of the Company to mine digital currencies will be consistent with historical prices; and there will be no regulation or law that will prevent the Company from operating its business. The Company has also assumed that no significant events occur outside of the Company's normal course of business. Although the Company believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking information are reasonable, forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such information due to the inherent uncertainty therein. Any forward-looking information speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise.", "output": "HIVE Blockchain Technologies has closed its first tranche of up to CAD115m ($90m), in a round led by GMP Securities and Eventus Capital. The round of private placement also included Haywood Securities and PI Financial. The tranche involved the sale of over 15 million units, each comprising one common share and one share purchase warrant, valid up until 14 November 2019. Each unit was sold at a price of CAD3.15. Gross proceeds were CAD50m, with a final closing for up to CAD65m expected to take place on 29 December 2017.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook launches new tools to prevent abuse and bullying \n Facebook says it's trying to make sure you're safer when you use its services.\n\nThe social network on Tuesday unveiled new tools aimed at curbing abuse and bullying on its platform.\n\nOne tool is designed to make sure that when you block someone who's been harassing you, the person can't simply create a new account and continue to harass. The tool does that by looking at various signals, like the person's IP address.\n\nAnother new tool involves the Facebook Messenger chat app and will let you automatically ignore messages from a contact without actually blocking that person. That's because blocking an abuser can sometimes make the abuse worse. When you choose the ignore option, the messages go straight to your filtered messages folder and not your inbox. That way, you or someone else can review the messages to see if there's any risk. Right now the feature is available only for one-on-one conversations, but Facebook said it will soon be available for group conversations too.\n\nThe new features come as social networks clamor to stop regular abuse on their platforms. For example, Twitter has updated its community guidelines to reduce hateful content, and on Monday it banned at least 20 notable accounts violating the rules.\n\nFacebook, meanwhile, has been grappling with the negative effect it can have on people's well-being. The social network said last week that Facebook can play a negative role if people tend to scroll through the feed passively and in isolation, without interacting with other users or sharing messages. The company also introduced a \"snooze\" feature last week, which lets you mute annoying friends for up to 30 days.\n\niHate: CNET looks at how intolerance is taking over the internet.\n\nThe Smartest Stuff: Innovators are thinking up new ways to make you, and the things around you, smarter.", "output": "Facebook has created two new tools\u00a0aimed at reducing bullying and abusive behaviour on the site. One feature monitors\u00a0information such as IP addresses to\u00a0prevent\u00a0blocked users from\u00a0simply creating new accounts. The second works in concert with Facebook Messenger and enables users to automatically ignore communications, which are then put into a filtered messages folder. The move follows the recent launch of a snooze feature, allowing friends to be \"muted\"\u00a0for up to 30 days.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aker BP buys stake in oil recovery technology firm \n Aker BP has invested in and acquired a 17% stake in the company Fishbones AS. Fishbones is an unconventional stimulation technology applied to increase the production rates in tight reservoirs.\n\nThe Fishbone concept was initially developed for a field trial at Valhall from 2008 to 2012, but was not put to use. The technology sends 12 m long needles from the wellbore into the reservoir formation, increasing the effective wellbore drainage radius, the connectivity with any natural fractures, and the penetration through natural formation fluid flow barriers.\n\nAker BP sees a potential for substantial cost savings and potential for increased recovery by using this method. The technology will initially be applied at the Valhall field.\n\n\u201cInvesting in Fishbones enables us to influence, adapt and fully develop the technology to increase recovery on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and beyond while also developing solutions that are fit for the Aker BP fields. We have already started developing a specialized solution to handle this soft and fine-grained reservoir In the Valhall chalk field,\u201d comments Ole Johan Molvig, SVP Reservoir in Aker BP.\n\nSubsequent to Aker BP investing in Fishbones, Statoil Technology Invest AS holds a 25% stake in the company and Freyer Holding AS holds 51%. Aker BP will have one seat in the Board of Directors of the company.", "output": "Norwegian oil company Aker BP has bought a 17% stake in Fishbones, a company that has been developing unconventional stimulation technology that enhances production from tight oil reservoirs. Fishbones' method, which involves inserting 12 metre-long needles into the reservoir formation, was tested between 2008 and 2012 in the Valhall oilfield, but was not commercially adopted at the time."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "YouTube improves vertical video playback for iOS devices \n Platforms like Snapchat and Instagram have made recording and watching vertical videos commonplace. But if you've ever played a vertical video on YouTube, two giant black bars filled most of your screen. YouTube's latest update for the iPhone changes that.\n\nOn Tuesday, in a Twitter post, the venerable site for internet videos announced that the YouTube player for iOS will now automatically adapt to the shape of the video you're watching.\n\nIf the video is vertical, the player will become vertical. If the video is square, the player will become square, which means goodbye, black bars.", "output": "YouTube's latest iPhone update enables vertical videos to be viewed on iOS without black bars, the Google-owned company said on Twitter. The tweak applies to all formats of video, which will be automatically adjusted to fit iOS smartphones, bringing YouTube in line with Snapchat and Instagram.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ryanair investigated over pay by MPs \n Ryanair will be investigated by two parliamentary committees after allegations about employee working conditions, including that the airline has been \u201ctrying to wriggle out\u201d of paying its staff the national minimum wage.\n\nFrank Field, who chairs the work and pensions committee, and Rachel Reeves, who chairs the business select committee, on Wednesday wrote to the airline\u2019s boss, Michael O\u2019Leary, to demand answers to a string of allegations raised by Ryanair\u2019s staff.\n\nThe damaging claims come after Ryanair finally agreed to recognise pilot and cabin crew unions in order to avert a pre-Christmas strike.\n\n\u201cSadly, it will not surprise me if the sorry picture painted here is true: a company that turned in \u00a31.15bn profit last year squeezing its workers,\u201d Field said. \u201cPeople who work long, hard hours and have an important role in passenger safety, and yet apparently cannot count on receiving the national minimum wage \u2013 or even close to it.\n\n\u201cRyanair once tried to make its passengers pay to use the loo \u2013 now they even make their workers pay to quit. As well as foisting a host of other miserly \u2013 and potentially unlawful \u2013 requirements on them.\u201d\n\nThe letter to O\u2019Leary sets out detailed allegations, including staff having to pay \u00a325 a month for their uniform in the first year of employment and having a \u00a3175 \u201cadministration cost\u201d taken from their salaries if they leave the company in the first 15 months of employment.\n\nReeves said: \u201cThese allegations of hours of unpaid work, of charges for uniforms, of fees being incurred to leave, suggest a company falling well short of its duty to the staff who help their planes get off the ground and who spend the flight attending to and serving its paying customers.\n\n\u201cRyanair now need to provide answers on the fees and charges faced by cabin staff and set out how they ensure these staff are receiving the national minimum wage.\u201d\n\nRyanair, which made a record \u00a31.1bn of profit in the year to the end of March, said: \u201cWe will respond to the subcommittee in early January as requested, however the claims about cabin crew pay and working conditions are false.\n\n\u201cRyanair cabin crew earn between \u20ac24,000 [\u00a321,300] to \u20ac40,000, which is more than double the UK national minimum wage.\u201d\n\nThe allegations come soon after crews were warned of disciplinary proceedings for missing sales targets on scratchcards, and staff at Italian bases were threatened with collective sanctions if any member joined a strike called last week.\n\nEarlier this week the airline said it would recognise cabin crew and pilots unions for this first time in its 32-year history in an attempt to prevent damaging strikes across Europe over the next few days.\n\nNot recognising unions was at the heart of O\u2019Leary\u2019s low-cost business model that helped transform a small Irish regional airline into Europe\u2019s largest carrier by passenger numbers.\n\nO\u2019Leary has frequently dismissed pilots\u2019 complaints and insisted on pay negotiations being conducted through company-controlled representative committees at individual bases. He was once quoted as saying he would rather cut off his own hand than recognise unions. However, a shortage of pilots led the airline to cancel thousands of flights earlier this year, shifting more power to staff.\n\n\u201cRecognising unions will be a significant change for Ryanair, but we have delivered radical change before,\u201d O\u2019Leary said in a statement. \u201cWe hope and expect that these structures can and will be agreed with our pilots early in the new year.\u201d\n\nThe first meeting between company executives and a pilots union took place in Dublin on Tuesday.\n\nRyanair announced on Tuesday that it would also recognise cabin crew unions and meet them for the first time in the new year.", "output": "Ryanair, the low-cost Irish airline, is to be investigated by two UK parliamentary committees following allegations that staff have been underpaid and forced to pay for their own uniforms. The company\u2019s boss, Michael O\u2019Leary, has been contacted by the chairs of the work and pensions and business select committees, Frank Field and Rachel Reeves. The company is accused of\u00a0avoiding paying the national minimum wage and of imposing a \u00a3175 ($234) \u201cadministration cost\u201d on staff leaving within the first 15 months of their employment. Ryanair\u00a0agreed earlier this week to recognise cabin crew unions for the first time.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lyft to use AR glasses to help the visually impaired hail taxis \n Lyft is making it easier for the visually impaired to take a ride AR glasses will deliver information from the dashboard to the rider.\n\nLyft is working with assistive community Aira to make catching a ride easier for the visually impaired. That means wearable smart glasses and an augmented reality implement for their driver's dashboard that will deliver \"essential ride information,\" according to a press release.\n\nA Medium post from Aira explains things a bit further. \"Upon request, Aira agents can now initiate information about the ride, including the location of designated pick-up spots, estimated time of pick-up and the estimated fare,\" Aira's Brittany Carambio writes. Further information includes the driver's name, vehicle information and walking directions for the last 50 feet to their destination, among other things.\n\nThis piggybacks onto the work Lyft has done with the National Association for the Deaf, which uses visual cues to alert drivers of new rides, rather than an audible notification. Other details like how these glasses will be distributed, or at what cost, weren't available as of press time.\n\nIt's also another way that Lyft is using its image of moral responsibility to subtly throw digs at its perpetually beleaguered competitor, Uber. Most recently, it was revealed that the company intentionally withheld evidence for its upcoming trial with Waymo. A lawyer's letter from a former employee detailed ways that Uber allegedly tried hacking its competitors and bugged meetings between transport regulators.", "output": "Lyft is partnering with San Diego start-up Aira to make it easier for visually impaired people to use the ride-hailing service, with the help of smart glasses and an augmented reality app on the driver's dashboard. Aira users can get information on the location of designated pick-up spots, estimated time of pick-up and fare, said Aira's Brittany Carambio, though no details about how the glasses would be distributed or their cost was released. Lyft has previously partnered with the National Association for the Deaf to offer visual information about rides.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "M&S becomes first UK supermarket to adopt antibiotic transparency \n Marks & Spencer has become the first supermarket chain in the UK to publish details of the use of antibiotics in its farm supply chain, in a step towards reducing the use of vital human medicines in livestock-rearing.\n\nOn Wednesday, the company disclosed on its web site information on the quantities of antibiotics used on livestock by the farmers that supply its meat, eggs and dairy products. This will be updated regularly to show progress towards cutting the use of the drugs, which are also prescribed to treat human diseases.\n\nThe data show that the supermarket chain is ahead of industry-wide targets, particularly on chicken farms, on which antibiotic use for the last year has been about 90% below the target for 2020 set by the Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture Alliance.\n\nThe move by M&S follows a report in the Guardian revealing that none of the UK\u2019s main supermarket chains allowed the public access to information on the use of antibiotics in their supply chains. An investigation by the Guardian found that the superbug MRSA is now present in close to a tenth of pork products found on UK supermarket shelves.\n\nAntibiotic use in farming is of high concern, because it can lead to the development of bacteria that are resistant to vitally important medicines. This resistance can be passed to humans. Antibiotic resistance has been targeted by England\u2019s chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, as a key threat to our future wellbeing, amid fears that even routine operations such as hip replacements may become dangerous as the medicines to combat possible infections become ineffective through over-use.\n\nM&S is the first supermarket to publish such data. On Wednesday, shortly after the announcement by M&S, Waitrose became the second large supermarket chain to publish data on antibiotic use among its suppliers.\n\nAcross the world, the routine administration of antibiotics is used to promote the growth of livestock reared for meat. In Europe, such use is banned, but the regulations allow for the treatment of large herds or flocks at a time, which campaigners say is a cause for concern. More antibiotics are used in farming than for human health.\n\nThe World Health Organisation has called for the use of the most powerful antibiotics to be banned in farm animals, in order to keep them safe for human use. However, this advice does not have legal force and countries, including the UK, are free to keep using them on animals. A ban would be unpopular among farmers as it could mean they have to cull their herds in cases of infection rather than treat them.\n\nSteve McLean, head of agriculture at M&S, told the Guardian: \u201cOur farmers use antibiotics responsibly. They never use them routinely, never use antibiotics that are critical to human health, and are committed to reducing use every year. However, we do not envisage never using them. Animal welfare is at the heart of our business, and using them responsibly includes ensuring animals receive the appropriate treatment, under veterinary supervision, when they need it.\u201d\n\nCoilin Nunan, scientific advisor to the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics, said: \u201cWe very much welcome M&S\u2019s decision to publish data on its suppliers\u2019 antibiotic use. We want to see all supermarkets increase transparency for consumers by publishing similar data, but so far Waitrose is the only other supermarket that has agreed to do so.\u201d\n\nHe said the data published by M&S showed its suppliers were using far fewer antibiotics than most other producers, particularly in pig and chicken production. In these areas, M&S suppliers use less than a quarter of the industry average.\n\nNunan also called for the supermarket chain to publish more detailed data, showing how free-range and organic farms fared against indoor farming and intensive rearing. Nunan said the Waitrose data included more details than that from M&S, including details on turkeys and farmed fish, and said both retailers were below the industry average in their antibiotic use.\n\nHe added: \u201cIt would also be important to get data on antibiotic use in turkeys, because such use is often much higher than in chickens, but this tends to get overlooked.\u201d", "output": "Marks & Spencer has become the first UK supermarket to disclose information about antibiotic use in its supply chain. The company published the information, which relates to farmers supplying its dairy, eggs and meat, on its website on Wednesday. The use of antibiotics in livestock farming can result in the development of drug-resistant bacteria. The disclosure reveals that Marks & Spencer is outperforming industry targets, particularly in relation to chicken farms, where antibiotic use has been 90% below 2020 goals. Waitrose is expected to publish similar data next year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "France to ban gas and oil extraction by 2040 \n France\u2019s parliament has passed into law a ban on producing oil and gas by 2040, a largely symbolic gesture as the country is 99% dependent on hydrocarbon imports.\n\nIn Tuesday\u2019s vote by show of hands, only the rightwing Republicans party opposed, while leftwing lawmakers abstained.\n\nNo new permits will be granted to extract fossil fuels and no existing licences will be renewed beyond 2040, when all production in mainland France and its overseas territories will stop.\n\nSocialist lawmaker Delphine Batho said she hoped the ban would be \u201ccontagious\u201d, inspiring bigger producers to follow suit.\n\nFrance extracts the equivalent of about 815,000 tonnes of oil per year \u2013 an amount produced in a few hours by Saudi Arabia.\n\nBut centrist president Emmanuel Macron has said he wants France to take the lead as a major world economy switching away from fossil fuels \u2013 and the nuclear industry \u2013 into renewable sources.\n\nHis government plans to stop the sale of diesel and petrol engine cars by 2040 as well.\n\nAbove all the ban will affect companies prospecting for oil in the French territory of Guyana in South America, while also banning the extraction of shale gas by any means \u2013 its extraction by fracking was banned in 2011.", "output": "France has enacted a law banning the production of oil and gas by 2040. The new law, which applies to mainland France and its overseas territories, is largely symbolic, as the country is now 99% dependent on hydrocarbon imports and extracts just 815,000 tonnes of oil each year. Existing licences will not be renewed after 2040, and no new permits will be granted. President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s government has previously announced plans to stop the sale of diesel and petrol engine cars by the same date.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk Anger as TeamViewer blocked a second time this year \n TalkTalk customers who need to use a remote desktop tool are on the warpath after the UK ISP blocked TeamViewer for the second time this year, ostensibly in an attempt to protect users from potential scammers.\n\nA screenshot seen by The Register showed that teamviewer.com had been blocked as part of TalkTalk's Scam Protect blocker, saying the site was used by scammers.\n\nTeamViewer is sometimes used by ne'er-do-wells to gain remote access to a victim's computer, but it is also used by techies for legitimate purposes.\n\nUsers who complained to TalkTalk on Twitter were told the ISP was \"filtering a small number of websites that are being used by scammers\".\n\nThe responses also stated that users would have the ability to change the default settings for the protector in the new year, but for now could speak to their customer service team to manually enable access.\n\nOn the other side of the scam blocker, TeamViewer has yet to respond publicly to any complaints on the matter directed at it by users.\n\nThe last time TalkTalk blocked TeamViewer was in March of this year. The block lasted less than a day after customer complaints (and perhaps our own report) convinced TT to change its mind.\n\nTalkTalk is an ISP that is necessarily mindful of security issues. It suffered a large data breach in October 2015, which leaked 157,000 users' personal details, and its users were the target of an unrelated \"Indian call centre\" scam earlier this year.\n\nA search of Twitter reveals a series of complaints between March and December, concerning apparent scammers pretending to be TalkTalk representatives and trying to fool users into downloading TeamViewer.\n\nThe Scam Protection page that pops up when a TalkTalk customer tries to visit teamviewer.com specifically states that TT never asks users to access the site, which one can deduce is a reaction to these reports. \u00ae\n\nUpdated on 20 December to add: A TalkTalk spokesperson told The Reg: \u201cProtecting customers is our top priority. We are filtering a small number of sites that are being used by scammers to take control of customers\u2019 computers and steal from them.\n\n\"To minimize the impact on customers we know use these sites regularly, we have excluded them from the automatic filtering. It\u2019s possible that some customers who want to access these sites legitimately for the first time will need to contact us.\"", "output": "Telecoms firm and ISP provider TalkTalk sparked complaints when it\u00a0banned\u00a0popular remote desktop software TeamViewer for the second time this year. The ISP said it was protecting customers by \"filtering a small number of websites that are being used by scammers\", but the move angered legitimate users. Customers will be able to change the default settings for the Scam Protect blocker, which is locking them\u00a0out of the service, next year. Access can be resumed in the meantime\u00a0via customer services. The ISP blocked TeamViewer for less than 24 hours in March but reinstated it following complaints.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Limerick deal to boost Irish spaces to 150 amid tech demand \n Kenneth Dwyer, Area Manager, Regus and Ruth Lyndon, Azon Recruitment Group at Regus Bedford Row, Limerick\n\nBedford Row in Limerick city welcomes the global workspace provider Regus as a new resident. The premises will open for business on the 22 December with 60 office spaces available straight away.\n\nRegus Ireland will house 150 workspaces in total by early 2018, consisting of office and event spaces to meeting rooms. Rental space here is the perfect destination in the central business district of Limerick.\n\nThe premises is a striking one \u2013 a contemporary building takes up the front of the Methodist Church which was originally built in the 1800s. Demand for the new Regus workspace is high with companies in the tech and finance industries already attempting to avail of Regus\u2019 services. The first tenant to the site will be Azon Recruitment Group in January 2018.\n\nRegus\u2019 reputation of state-of-the-art facilities with national and international connections should prove popular among clients ranging from start-ups, remote workers and established businesses.\n\nRegus Country Manager Gearoid Collins said: \u201cWe\u2019re delighted to see Regus expand its offering to Limerick city. Flexible working is becoming increasingly popular, and we\u2019re thrilled to be able to offer such a wide variety of workspace options enabling our clients to work when, where and how it best suits them and their business.\u201d", "output": "Flexible office space provider Regus has responded to high demand from tech and finance companies in Ireland to set up shop in central Limerick's Bedford Row building. The deal has made 60 office spaces\u00a0available and\u00a0another 90 will come online in\u00a0January. Azon Recruitment Group is among the first tenants.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Samsung to release wearable that enables calls at touch of an ear \n We've seen Innomdle Lab's Sgnl wearable at CES a few times before, but it's worth revisiting because a) it's an absolutely crazy idea that works; and b) it's very nearly ready for the masses. In case you missed it the first time around, the Sgnl is a sleek, understated wearable that lets you have full-blown private phone conversations by simply touching your finger to your ear.\n\nThe wearable, which was originally developed as a concept for Samsung's delightfully nutty C-Lab, transmits sound through your hand as vibrations that eventually come out of your finger as sound. In theory, this seems like an absurd concept. In practice, though, it appears to work as advertised. Even though Innomdle Lab's body conduction technology isn't specifically meant for music playback, a demo track streamed from a tablet via Bluetooth was piped into my wrist, up through my hand and came out surprisingly audible on through my finger.\n\nGallery: Hands-on with the SGNL | 7 Photos\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n/7 Gallery: Hands-on with the SGNL | 7 Photos\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n/7\n\nThere's no way you'd want to listen to an album this way even if it were possible, but the system is theoretically clear enough to keep conversations intelligible. We're told the Sgnl can store up to five contacts, which you can sift through using a set of slightly-too-gummy navigation buttons.\n\nThe Sgnl also doubles as a fitness tracker because, well, why not? Good thing it's relatively comfortable to wear. The prototype units I've tried in the past were considerably more bulbous and hack-y, but the final product is actually remarkable restrained in its design. The actual body conduction bits are housed in a soft-touch plastic body, while a dark stainless steel strap runs around the rest of the wrist. My biggest concern so far, though, is how clumsy the clasp seems; you have to stick the tiny metal tab on one end into the slot on the other, and it can be difficult to do with just one hand.\n\nEven now, with Sgnl production in full swing, the wearable leaves some unanswered questions. Thankfully, we won't have to wait too long for clarification: The first units will be delivered to Kickstarter backers in March, with wider availability to follow soon after.\n\nClick here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.", "output": "A wearable developed by Samsung spin-off Innomdle Lab that allows users to conduct phone conversations by touching their ear is set to go on sale this year. The Sgnl is a slim wristband with conductive sensors that transmit sound, including speech and music, through the flesh in a user's hand. Originally a concept dreamed up by Samsung's C-Lab, the first Sgnls will be sent to Kickstarter supporters in March, before going on general sale.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow York set to consider 970 new homes for city's outskirts \n Developers have revealed plans to build 970 new houses and a primary school on the edge of York.\n\nNational housebuilder Redrow has drawn up proposals for the north east of the city, near Huntington, on a site bounded by Monks Cross Link Road to the east and North Lane to the north.\n\nThe development would cost \u00a3100 million to build and take ten years to complete, at a rate of around 100 homes a year.\n\nAs well as the houses and school, there would be sports pitches, a play area and public open areas.\n\n\u2018Vibrant village centre\u2019\n\nRedrow says the school and commercial, transport and sports facilities would be at the heart of the development, to form a vibrant village centre.\n\nThe site is within the Outer Ring Road has been deemed suitable for housing in various draft versions of York\u2019s proposed Local Plan, so will likely prove less controversial in principle than a separate, larger plan north of the bypass, reported earlier this month in the York Press.\n\nRedrow revealed its ideas for the site at two local consultation events earlier this month, and intends to submit a formal planning application to City of York Council early in the New Year.\n\nRedrow said it was keen to \u201ccreate a community that is not just another new development\u201d. They say they will include affordable housing.\n\nIt says:\n\nThe extended village will have new community facilities to meet the needs of the future and existing residents, including a small local shop, primary school and public open space and playing fields. It is expected that the primary school will be designed to a standard that facilitates wider public uses, to act as a community hub.\n\n\u2018Respecting the landscape\u2019\n\nElsewhere in the information they sent to YorkMix, Redrow says: \u201cMonks Cross North will be a leading example of a high-quality sustainable community, through the creation of a place that is economically, socially and environmentally sustainable.\n\n\u201cThe development will draw on the features of the site while respecting the landscape setting of the surrounding green belt.\u201d\n\nHuntington and New Earswick councillor Keith Orrell said: \u201cLocal councillors know this has long been in the Local Plan.\n\n\u201cWhen the Local Plan process finishes, we look forward to local people being consulted about the details.\u201d\n\nCity of York Council has struggled for many years to complete an acceptable Local Plan, a landmark document meant to help determine the future development of the city.\n\nThe plan identifies which parts of the city are suitable for what sorts of development, and aims to project how many houses will be needed to accommodate the city\u2019s growth.\n\nDisputes between parties have seen repeated disagreements and rewrites, but the current administration now hopes to submit a plan to the Government by May 2018.", "output": "UK housebuilder Redrow has outlined a \u00a3100m ($134m)\u00a0970-homes plan for the outskirts of York. The development, which would take 10 years to complete, would also feature\u00a0a school and public open spaces. It's proposed as part of the city's Local Plan, which aims to identify sites for future development in and around York. Redrow is set to submit a formal planning application to the City of York Council early in 2018, while York council aims to submit its Local Plan to government by May.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Allianz X invests $96.6m in microinsurer BIMA \n Allianz\u2019s digital investment unit Allianz X has invested $96.6m in digital microinsurer BIMA. BIMA will now look to hit its goal of obtaining 1 billion customers.\n\nThe move sees Allianz become BIMA\u2019s largest strategic shareholder, and only insurance shareholder, in the tech platform.\n\n\u201cThe strategic investment in BIMA contributes to the digital transformation of the Allianz Group and our commitment to emerging markets,\u201d said Allianz X chief executive Nazim Cetin. \u201cI am thrilled to work with colleagues who have such entrepreneurial spirit and look forward to our collaboration.\u201d\n\nBIMA offers low-income families access to microinsurance products in 14 emerging markets. BIMA has 24 million registered customers to date.\n\nIt will aim to use the raised funds for growth through continued mobile penetration. BIMA already has partnerships with mobile operators, as it uses mobile technology to make its products accessible to people who might not have another way of buying insurance.\n\nBIMA founder and chief executive Gustaf Agartson said, \u201cWe are very excited to have Allianz as a shareholder. Allianz is the perfect insurance partner and investor for BIMA because of their strong commitment to emerging markets and overlapping footprint. This investment will allow us to continue our journey to innovate, scale existing as well as new markets, and retain our place as the emerging market insurtech leader. Allianz\u2019s significant expertise and knowledge in the insurance space will enable BIMA to further improve our product portfolio and provide valuable products to the emerging market consumers.\u201d", "output": "Microinsurance platform BIMA can now count Allianz as its largest strategic shareholder after the firm made a $96.6m investment via its Allianz X digital investment division. BIMA aims to provide low-income customers with insurance policies and is already operating in 14 emerging markets. The platform has 24 million users, but hopes to grow that number to one billion. BIMA is hoping to use the investment to further its mobile capabilities. The company uses its mobile platform to make\u00a0policies available\u00a0to customers who otherwise would have no other way of purchasing insurance.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Virgin Hyperloop One tube train breaks speed record in US tests \n For those of you holding out hope for one more high-speed test of the hyperloop before the end of the year, you\u2019re in luck. On December 15th, Virgin Hyperloop One conducted the third demonstration of its not-to-scale system in the desert outside of Las Vegas, sending its magnetically levitating pod through a nearly airless tube at 240 mph (387 km/h).\n\nIt was a significant increase over the team\u2019s previous record of 192 mph, but far less than the hyperloop\u2019s theoretical maximum speed of 700 mph. The company believes it would need an additional 2,000 meters (1.2 miles) of track to hit that velocity. As it stands, the XP-1 pod\u2019s maximum achievable speed in the current 1,620-foot DevLoop test track is 250 mph.\n\nless than the theoretical maximum speed of 700 mph\n\nIt was a bit of good news for the company, which has just experienced a major rebranding and leadership shake-up. Yesterday, it was reported that co-founder and chairman Shervin Pishevar is out, thanks to allegations of sexual assault and misconduct (which Pishevar denies), and Virgin Group co-founder Richard Branson is in. Branson also helped secure a new $50 million investment from two existing investors, which sources say will help the cash-strapped company help meet its payroll obligations.\n\nPerhaps more important than the speed of the XP-1 pod was the demonstration of the team\u2019s new airlock technology. In order to obtain the high speeds first theorized in Elon Musk\u2019s 2013 white paper, the hyperloop pod needs to travel through a near-vacuum state. This frictionless environment allows the magnetically levitating pod to travel at airliner-speeds through the length of the tube. The airlock will be a key factor in transferring pods with passengers or cargo between atmospheric states.\n\nAccording to Virgin Hyperloop One:\n\nAll components of the system were successfully tested including the airlock, highly efficient electric motor, advanced controls and power electronics, custom magnetic levitation and guidance, pod suspension, and the vacuum. The tests were conducted in a tube depressurized down to the equivalent air pressure experienced at 200,000 feet above sea level. A Virgin Hyperloop One pod quickly lifts above the track using magnetic levitation and glides at airline speeds for long distances due to ultra-low aerodynamic drag.\n\nThe ability to maintain a vacuum in the tube, especially one hundreds of miles long, is one of the steepest challenges facing the hyperloop. Every time a pod arrives at a station, it has to decelerate and stop. Then the airlock will have to close, pressurize, and open again. Then the pod has to clear the airlock before the next pod arrives. The speed in which this occurs will determine the distance between pods.\n\none of the steepest challenges facing the hyperloop\n\nThe longer the headway, the less capacity these pods will have, which may determine how useful a mass transit system the hyperloop can be. Operators can try to compensate by building larger pods, but then they\u2019ll need stronger steel for their tubes to accommodate the added weight, and that spells higher costs.\n\nVirgin Hyperloop One\u2019s speed record may not stand for long. It is only slightly more than the 220 mph notched by Musk\u2019s own Tesla-branded pod back in August at the conclusion of the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition in Hawthorne, California. The student team from Germany\u2019s WARR Hyperloop, took home the top prize in the competition for its pod which traveled 201 mph.", "output": "Virgin's Hyperloop One -- a magnetic levitation train that glides through airless tubes --\u00a0achieved a record-breaking speed of 240 mph during a test of its XP-1 model, according to reports. The landmark puts it ahead of rival Tesla, whose own \"pod\" hit 220 mph in August, while Germany\u2019s WARR Hyperloop notched up 201 mph. Virgin's test also showed off the XP-1's airlock technology, a crucial component to the company's hyperloop. Richard Branson recently stepped in as chairman and secured a $50m investment for the beleaguered firm\u00a0after co-founder Shervin Pishevar was ousted amid allegations of sexual assault.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Volvo's Drive Me autonomous vehicle project reduces in scale \n GOTHENBURG, Sweden -- Volvo\u2019s Drive Me autonomous driving project is taking some detours compared with promises the automaker made when it announced the program four years ago, but Volvo says the changes will make its first Level 4 vehicle even better when it arrives in 2021.\n\nIn early announcements about Drive Me, Volvo promised to have 100 self-driving vehicles on the road but that has been downgraded. Volvo now says it will have 100 people involved in the Drive Me program within the next four years. Initially, the people taking part in Drive Me will test the cars with the same Level 2 semiautonomous assistance systems that are commercially available to anyone who purchases the vehicle in markets such as Europe and the U.S.\n\nDrive Me is a public autonomous driving experiment that now includes families in Sweden and will be extended to London and China later. The goal is to provide Volvo with customer feedback for its first model with Level 4 autonomy, which means the car can drive itself but still has a steering wheel and pedals so that the driver can take control when needed.\n\n\u201cOn the journey, some of the questions that we thought were really difficult to answer have been answered much faster than we expected. And in some areas, we are finding that there were more issues to dig into and solve than we expected,\u201d Marcus Rothoff, Volvo\u2019s autonomous driving program director, told Automotive News Europe.\n\nOne of those issues is the automaker\u2019s reluctance to pick a so-called \u201csensor set\u201d too early.\n\n\u201cThe development in sensor performance and processor capabilities is going so much faster than we expected in 2013,\u201d Rothoff said Monday. \u201cBecause advancements are being made at such a rapid pace, we want to make this decision as late as possible.\u201d\n\nVolvo also wants to make sure its customers are completely confident with the new technology because if they don\u2019t trust it they won\u2019t use it. Failure here would result in the launch of \u201ca high-cost product with limited customer value,\" Rothoff said.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s about keeping stable controls so the car behaves like it knows what it is doing,\u201d he added.\n\nIt\u2019s also about finding a way to provide something that customers around the world will be willing to pay a premium to own.\n\n\u201cThe autonomous car must be the safest car on the road,\u201d Rothoff said. \u201cBut you don\u2019t just pay for it being the safest. You need to know it has a value. The research is helping us extract what this value is.\u201d\n\nVolvo already has an idea what future customers will value most: time, especially during their daily drive to and from the office.\n\n\u201cI think offering time during the commute will be one of those values that people will want for a premium car,\u201d he said.\n\nHis boss, Volvo CEO Hakan Samuelsson, has said equipping a car with Level 4 functionality could cost add \"close to $10,000\u201d to the price.\n\nThere is another hurdle that Volvo has encountered that it didn\u2019t foresee when the Drive Me project started in 2013. \u201cThe electrical architecture is a really huge challenge that has been more than we expected when we started the project,\u201d Rothoff said.", "output": "The swift evolution of sensor technology and the unforeseen challenges of electrical architecture are among the reasons car-maker Volvo has scaled back its Drive Me autonomous driving project. The initiative, launched in 2013, will now involve\u00a0100 people, rather than 100 vehicles as Volvo had previously stated,\u00a0over the next\u00a0four years. Families in China and London will be joining existing participants already road-testing the Level 2 technology in Sweden. Feedback will then be used to improve the manufacturer's Level 4 cars, set to launch in 2021.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook faces litigation over ads excluding older workers \n This story was co-published with The New York Times.\n\nA few weeks ago, Verizon placed an ad on Facebook to recruit applicants for a unit focused on financial planning and analysis. The ad showed a smiling, millennial-aged woman seated at a computer and promised that new hires could look forward to a rewarding career in which they would be \u201cmore than just a number.\u201d\n\nSome relevant numbers were not immediately evident. The promotion was set to run on the Facebook feeds of users 25 to 36 years old who lived in the nation\u2019s capital, or had recently visited there, and had demonstrated an interest in finance. For a vast majority of the hundreds of millions of people who check Facebook every day, the ad did not exist.\n\nAd From Verizon This Verizon recruiting ad appeared on Facebook last month, seeking financial analysts aged 25 to 36. Verizon didn\u2019t respond to repeated requests for comment about this ad.\n\nVerizon is among dozens of the nation's leading employers \u2014 including Amazon, Goldman Sachs, Target and Facebook itself \u2014 that placed recruitment ads limited to particular age groups, an investigation by ProPublica and The New York Times has found.\n\nGet Our Top Investigations Subscribe to the Big Story newsletter.\n\nThe ability of advertisers to deliver their message to the precise audience most likely to respond is the cornerstone of Facebook\u2019s business model. But using the system to expose job opportunities only to certain age groups has raised concerns about fairness to older workers.\n\nSeveral experts questioned whether the practice is in keeping with the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, which prohibits bias against people 40 or older in hiring or employment. Many jurisdictions make it a crime to \u201caid\u201d or \u201cabet\u201d age discrimination, a provision that could apply to companies like Facebook that distribute job ads.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s blatantly unlawful,\u201d said Debra Katz, a Washington employment lawyer who represents victims of discrimination.\n\nFacebook defended the practice. \u201cUsed responsibly, age-based targeting for employment purposes is an accepted industry practice and for good reason: it helps employers recruit and people of all ages find work,\u201d said Rob Goldman, a Facebook vice president.\n\nThe revelations come at a time when the unregulated power of the tech companies is under increased scrutiny, and Congress is weighing whether to limit the immunity that it granted to tech companies in 1996 for third-party content on their platforms.\n\nFacebook has argued in court filings that the law, the Communications Decency Act, makes it immune from liability for discriminatory ads.\n\nBrowse the Ads These Are the Job Ads You Can\u2019t See on Facebook If You\u2019re Older It is against the law to discriminate against workers older than 40 in hiring and recruitment. We found dozens of companies who bought Facebook ads aimed at recruiting workers within limited age ranges.\n\nAlthough Facebook is a relatively new entrant into the recruiting arena, it is rapidly gaining popularity with employers. Earlier this year, the social network launched a section of its site devoted to job ads. Facebook allows advertisers to select their audience, and then Facebook finds the chosen users with the extensive data it collects about its members.\n\nThe use of age targets emerged in a review of data originally compiled by ProPublica readers for a project about political ad placement on Facebook. Many of the ads include a disclosure by Facebook about why the user is seeing the ad, which can be anything from their age to their affinity for folk music.\n\nThe precision of Facebook\u2019s ad delivery has helped it dominate an industry once in the hands of print and broadcast outlets. The system, called microtargeting, allows advertisers to reach essentially whomever they prefer, including the people their analysis suggests are the most plausible hires or consumers, lowering the costs and vastly increasing efficiency.\n\nTargeted Facebook ads were an important tool in Russia\u2019s efforts to influence the 2016 election. The social media giant has acknowledged that 126 million people saw Russia-linked content, some of which was aimed at particular demographic groups and regions. Facebook has also come under criticism for the disclosure that it accepted ads aimed at \u201cJew-haters\u201d as well as housing ads that discriminated by race, gender, disability and other factors.\n\nOther tech companies also offer employers opportunities to discriminate by age. ProPublica bought job ads on Google and LinkedIn that excluded audiences older than 40 \u2014 and the ads were instantly approved. Google said it does not prevent advertisers from displaying ads based on the user\u2019s age. After being contacted by ProPublica, LinkedIn changed its system to prevent such targeting in employment ads.\n\nHelp Us Investigate Help Us Monitor Political Ads Online ProPublica launches a \u201cPAC\u201d to scrutinize campaign ads on Facebook.\n\nThe practice has begun to attract legal challenges. On Wednesday, a class-action complaint alleging age discrimination was filed in federal court in San Francisco on behalf of the Communications Workers of America and its members \u2014 as well as all Facebook users 40 or older who may have been denied the chance to learn about job openings. The plaintiffs\u2019 lawyers said the complaint was based on ads for dozens of companies that they had discovered on Facebook.\n\nThe database of Facebook ads collected by ProPublica shows how often and precisely employers recruit by age. In a search for \u201cpart-time package handlers,\u201d United Parcel Service ran an ad aimed at people 18 to 24. State Farm pitched its hiring promotion to those 19 to 35.\n\nSome companies, including Target, State Farm and UPS, defended their targeting as a part of a broader recruitment strategy that reached candidates of all ages. The group of companies making this case included Facebook itself, which ran career ads on its own platform, many aimed at people 25 to 60. \u201cWe completely reject the allegation that these advertisements are discriminatory,\u201d said Goldman of Facebook.\n\nAfter being contacted by ProPublica and the Times, other employers, including Amazon, Northwestern Mutual and the New York City Department of Education, said they had changed or were changing their recruiting strategies.\n\nDownload the Extension You can download the Facebook Political Ad Collector from the Chrome Web Store or the Mozilla Add-ons Store.\n\n\u201cWe recently audited our recruiting ads on Facebook and discovered some had targeting that was inconsistent with our approach of searching for any candidate over the age of 18,\u201d said Nina Lindsey, a spokeswoman for Amazon, which targeted some ads for workers at its distribution centers between the ages of 18 and 50. \u201cWe have corrected those ads.\u201d\n\nVerizon did not respond to requests for comment.\n\nSeveral companies argued that targeted recruiting on Facebook was comparable to advertising opportunities in publications like the AARP magazine or Teen Vogue, which are aimed at particular age groups. But this obscures an important distinction. Anyone can buy Teen Vogue and see an ad. Online, however, people outside the targeted age groups can be excluded in ways they will never learn about.\n\n\u201cWhat happens with Facebook is you don\u2019t know what you don\u2019t know,\u201d said David Lopez, a former general counsel for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission who is one of the lawyers at the firm Outten & Golden bringing the age-discrimination case on behalf of the communication workers union.\n\n\u2018They Know I\u2019m Dead\u2019\n\nAge discrimination on digital platforms is something that many workers suspect is happening to them, but that is often difficult to prove.\n\nMark Edelstein at his home in St. Louis, Missouri (Whitney Curtis for The New York Times)\n\nMark Edelstein, a fitfully employed social-media marketing strategist who is 58 and legally blind, doesn\u2019t pretend to know what he doesn\u2019t know, but he has his suspicions.\n\nEdelstein, who lives in St. Louis, says he never had serious trouble finding a job until he turned 50. \u201cOnce you reach your 50s, you may as well be dead,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve gone into interviews, with my head of gray hair and my receding hairline, and they know I\u2019m dead.\u201d\n\nAd From HubSpot This HubSpot ad aimed at people aged 27 to 40 appeared on Facebook in November. The company said that this ad was a mistake and that the company would not use the age-targeting feature again.\n\nEdelstein spends most of his days scouring sites like LinkedIn and Indeed and pitching hiring managers with personalized appeals. When he scrolled through his Facebook ads on a Wednesday in December, he saw a variety of ads reflecting his interest in social media marketing: ads for the marketing software HubSpot (\u201c15 free infographic templates!\u201d) and TripIt, which he used to book a trip to visit his mother in Florida.\n\nWhat he didn\u2019t see was a single ad for a job in his profession, including one identified by ProPublica that was being shown to younger users: a posting for a social media director job at HubSpot. The company asked that the ad be shown to people aged 27 to 40 who live or were recently living in the United States.\n\n\u201cHypothetically, had I seen a job for a social media director at HubSpot, even if it involved relocation, I ABSOLUTELY would have applied for it,\u201d Edelstein said by email when told about the ad.\n\nA HubSpot spokeswoman, Ellie Botelho, said that the job was posted on many sites, including LinkedIn, The Ladders and Built in Boston, and was open to anyone meeting the qualifications regardless of age or any other demographic characteristic.\n\nShe added that \u201cthe use of the targeted age-range selection on the Facebook ad was frankly a mistake on our part given our lack of experience using that platform for job postings and not a feature we will use again.\u201d\n\nFor his part, Edelstein says he understands why marketers wouldn\u2019t want to target ads at him: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t surprise me a bit. Why would they want a 58-year-old white guy who\u2019s disabled?\u201d\n\nLooking for \u2019Younger Blood\u2019\n\nAlthough LinkedIn is the leading online recruitment platform, according to an annual survey by SourceCon, an industry website. Facebook is rapidly increasing in popularity for employers.\n\nOne reason is that Facebook\u2019s sheer size \u2014 two billion monthly active users, versus LinkedIn\u2019s 530 million total members \u2014 gives recruiters access to types of workers they can\u2019t find elsewhere.\n\nConsider nurses, whom hospitals are desperate to hire. \u201cThey\u2019re less likely to use LinkedIn,\u201d said Josh Rock, a recruiter at a large hospital system in Minnesota who has expertise in digital media. \u201cNurses are predominantly female, there\u2019s a larger volume of Facebook users. That\u2019s what they use.\u201d\n\nThere are also millions of hourly workers who have never visited LinkedIn, and may not even have a r\u00e9sum\u00e9, but who check Facebook obsessively.\n\nAd From Facebook This Facebook recruiting ad appeared on the social network in October, targeting people aged 25 to 60. The company defends its use of age-targeting as part of a broader recruitment strategy.\n\nDeb Andrychuk, chief executive of the Arland Group, which helps employers place recruitment ads, said clients sometimes asked her firm to target ads by age, saying they needed \u201cto start bringing younger blood\u201d into their organizations. \u201cIt\u2019s not necessarily that we wouldn\u2019t take someone older,\u201d these clients say, according to Andrychuk, \u201cbut if you could bring in a younger set of applicants, it would definitely work out better.\u201d\n\nAndrychuk said that \u201cwe coach clients to be open and not discriminate\u201d and that after being contacted by The Times, her team updated all their ads to ensure they didn\u2019t exclude any age groups.\n\nBut some companies contend that there are permissible reasons to filter audiences by age, as with an ad for entry-level analyst positions at Goldman Sachs that was distributed to people 18 to 64. A Goldman Sachs spokesman, Andrew Williams, said showing it to people above that age range would have wasted money: roughly 25 percent of those who typically click on the firm\u2019s untargeted ads are 65 or older, but people that age almost never apply for the analyst job.\n\n\u201cWe welcome and actively recruit applicants of all ages,\u201d Williams said. \u201cFor some of our social-media ads, we look to get the content to the people most likely to be interested, but do not exclude anyone from our recruiting activity.\u201d\n\nPauline Kim, a professor of employment law at Washington University in St. Louis, said the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, unlike the federal anti-discrimination statute that covers race and gender, allows an employer to take into account \u201creasonable factors\u201d that may be highly correlated with the protected characteristic, such as cost, as long as they don\u2019t rely on the characteristic explicitly.\n\nThe Question of Liability\n\nIn various ways, Facebook and LinkedIn have acknowledged at least a modest obligation to police their ad platforms against abuse.\n\nEarlier this year, Facebook said it would require advertisers to \u201cself-certify\u201d that their housing, employment and credit ads were compliant with anti-discrimination laws, but that it would not block marketers from purchasing age-restricted ads.\n\nStill, Facebook didn\u2019t promise to monitor those certifications for accuracy. And Facebook said the self-certification system, announced in February, was still being rolled out to all advertisers.\n\nAd From Amazon This Amazon recruiting ad appeared on Facebook in November, aimed at people aged 18 to 50. The company said it has corrected the ads and is changing its recruiting strategy.\n\nLinkedIn, in response to inquiries by ProPublica, added a self-certification step that prevents employers from using age ranges when placing an employment ad, unless they affirm the ad is not discriminatory.\n\nWith these efforts evolving, legal experts say it is unclear how much liability the tech platforms could have. Some civil rights laws, like the Fair Housing Act, explicitly require publishers to assume liability for discriminatory ads.\n\nBut the Age Discrimination in Employment Act assigns liability only to employers or employment agencies, like recruiters and advertising firms.\n\nThe lawsuit filed against Facebook on behalf of the communications workers argues that the company essentially plays the role of an employment agency \u2014 collecting and providing data that helps employers locate candidates, effectively coordinating with the employer to develop the advertising strategies, informing employers about the performance of the ads, and so forth.\n\nRegardless of whether courts accept that argument, the tech companies could also face liability under certain state or local anti-discrimination statutes. For example, California\u2019s Fair Employment and Housing Act makes it unlawful to \u201caid, abet, incite, compel or coerce the doing\u201d of discriminatory acts proscribed by the statute.\n\n\u201cThey may have an obligation there not to aid and abet an ad that enables discrimination,\u201d said Cliff Palefsky, an employment lawyer based in San Francisco.\n\nThe question may hinge on Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act, which protects internet companies from liability for third-party content.\n\nTech companies have successfully invoked this law to avoid liability for offensive or criminal content \u2014 including sex trafficking, revenge porn and calls for violence against Jews. Facebook is currently arguing in federal court that Section 230 immunizes it against liability for ad placement that blocks members of certain racial and ethnic groups from seeing the ads.\n\n\u201cAdvertisers, not Facebook, are responsible for both the content of their ads and what targeting criteria to use, if any,\u201d Facebook argued in its motion to dismiss allegations that its ads violated a host of civil rights laws. The case does not allege age discrimination.\n\nShare Your Story Got a Story About Age Discrimination in the Workplace? We Want to Hear From You. We know American employers don\u2019t always treat older workers fairly. We need your help figuring out what that looks like.\n\nEric Goldman, professor and co-director of the High Tech Law Institute at the Santa Clara University School of Law, who has written extensively about Section 230, says it is hard to predict how courts would treat Facebook\u2019s age-targeting of employment ads.\n\nGoldman said the law covered the content of ads, and that courts have made clear that Facebook would not be liable for an advertisement in which an employer wrote, say, \u201cno one over 55 need apply.\u201d But it is not clear how the courts would treat Facebook\u2019s offering of age-targeted customization.\n\nAccording to a federal appellate court decision in a fair-housing case, a platform can be considered to have helped \u201cdevelop unlawful content\u201d that users play a role in generating, which would negate the immunity.\n\n\u201cDepending on how the targeting is happening, you can make potentially different sorts of arguments about whether or not Google or Facebook or LinkedIn is contributing to the development\u201d of the ad, said Deirdre K. Mulligan, a faculty director of the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology.", "output": "Dozens of leading US employers, including Amazon, Goldman Sachs, Target and Verizon, placed recruitment advertisements on Facebook that were restricted to specific age groups, according to an investigation by non-profit newsroom ProPublica and the New York Times. Facebook itself has also employed the practice, which some analysts argue might infringe the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967. A class-action age discrimination complaint was filed in San Francisco on Wednesday on behalf of Facebook users aged 40 or older by the Communications Workers of America trade union.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Statoil adds to Brazil oil assets with $2.9bn Petrobras deal \n Statoil has bought a stake in one of Brazil's largest oilfields from national oil company Petrobras for up to $2.85 billion.\n\nThis will nearly triple its production off the South American country, the Norwegian firm said today.\n\nStatoil bought a 25% stake in the Roncador oilfield, Petrobras' third-largest producing field, situated in the Campos basin offshore Brazil.\n\nThe deal consists of an initial payment of $2.35 billion plus \"additional contingent payments\" of up to $550m, Statoil said.\n\nAfter the transaction, Statoil's output off Brazil will increase to 110,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day from around 40,000 boe per day, it said.\n\nPetrobras will continue to operate the field and will hold a 75% stake.\n\nRoncador holds expected remaining recoverable volumes of more than 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent, Statoil said.\n\n\"The ambition is to increase the recovery factor by at least 5 percentage points, bringing the total remaining recoverable volumes to more than 1,500 million boe,\" it said.\n\nThe transaction over Roncador will take effect from January 1. The deal is subject to approval from Brazilian authorities.", "output": "Statoil will buy a 25% stake in the Roncador oil field off Brazil from Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras) for as much as $2.9bn, tripling its presence in its biggest growth market outside Norway. The Campos Basin field still holds recoverable resources of more than 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent after producing since the 1990s, Statoil said. Statoil has taken advantage of lower asset prices during crude\u2019s slump and a Petrobras divestment program to build its position in Brazil."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fir Tree backs Icahn bid to end SandRidge deal \n NEW YORK, Dec. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Fir Tree Partners (\"Fir Tree\"), manager of certain funds that together beneficially own, through common stock and warrants, approximately 8.2% of the common stock of SandRidge Energy, Inc. (\"SandRidge\"), today issued an open letter to the Board of Directors of SandRidge reiterating its strong opposition to SandRidge's proposed acquisition of Bonanza Creek Energy, Inc. (\"Bonanza\") and voicing its support for the position of Icahn Capital LP laid out in its Proxy Statement that the Company should NOT issue more shares of common stock in connection with such a transaction. The full text of the letter follows:\n\nDear Members of the Board of Directors:\n\nAs one of SandRidge's largest shareholders, we are writing to reiterate our strong disapproval over the decision of the Company's Board of Directors (the \"Board\") to acquire Bonanza Creek Energy, Inc. by issuing a considerable amount of undervalued Company common stock (the \"Stock Issuance\").\n\nAs you are no doubt aware, a fund managed by Icahn Capital LP (\"Icahn Capital\") has filed a preliminary proxy statement urging shareholders to vote \"AGAINST\" the Stock Issuance (the \"Proxy\").\n\nFir Tree has Independently Reached the Same Conclusion as Icahn Capital and Strongly Supports the Position Laid Out in Icahn Capital's Proxy: The Proposed Share Issuance to Finance the Bonanza Acquisition is Dilutive, Non-Strategic and Significantly Over-values Bonanza.\n\nAs we have noted previously, the Bonanza acquisition represents a complete about face by management of its disciplined post bankruptcy strategy and would be extremely destructive to shareholder value:\n\nThe acquisition's proposed purchase price implies an unjustified premium to SandRidge's current valuation;\n\nThe acquisition presents no obvious synergies between SandRidge and Bonanza's assets;\n\nThe proposed purchase price constitutes more than a 75% premium to the $421 million valuation established when Bonanza creditors invested new capital just six months ago; and\n\nvaluation established when Bonanza creditors invested new capital just six months ago; and The acquisition represents nonsensical empire building that echoes back to SandRidge's descent into bankruptcy when this same management team acquired disparate assets and added leverage and costs with reckless abandon.\n\nStrategically, one of the Board's basic obligations to shareholders is to make decisions that optimize long-term shareholder value. With zero net debt and approximately 200,000 acres and decades of remaining inventory to exploit, we believe SandRidge would better position itself by returning capital to its shareholders and growing production in a disciplined manner, not through pursuing this reckless transaction.\n\nFir Tree Intends to Vote AGAINST the Stock Issuance\n\nAccordingly, we intend to vote AGAINST the Stock Issuance in order to stop what we believe is a nonsensical and overpriced acquisition being pursued by a reckless, grossly over-compensated management team and what is unfortunately proving to be a rubber stamp Board.\n\nSincerely,\n\n(sig)\n\nEvan Lederman & David Proman\n\nFir Tree Partners\n\nAbout Fir Tree Partners\n\nFir Tree Partners, founded in 1994 and located in New York City (HQ) and Miami, is a value-oriented investment manager that manages private investment funds for endowments, charitable and philanthropic foundations, pension funds and other institutional and private investors.\n\nFor More Information Contact:\n\nScott Tagliarino or Taylor Ingraham\n\nASC Advisors LLC\n\n(203) 992-1230\n\nSOURCE Fir Tree Partners", "output": "Fir Tree Partners said it\u2019s joining Carl Icahn in opposing SandRidge Energy\u2019s plan to issue shares to fund a $750m\u00a0takeover of a rival oil explorer\u00a0Bonanza Creek Energy. Fir Tree said that\u00a0the stock issuance would be \u201cextremely destructive\u201d and dismissed the proposed purchase as \"nonsensical empire-building.\"\u00a0The New York-based hedge fund said it owns about 8.2% of SandRidge shares, while\u00a0Icahn owns 13.5%. Holders of more than 25% of the company have\u00a0come out against the deal.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Are You Missing Opportunities to Improve Care for Older Adults? \n It should be great news. The US knows what kind of care to provide for older adults. We have PACE (Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) programs in hospitals and communities, ACE (Acute Care of the Elderly) units in hospitals, and GRACE (Geriatric Resources for Assessment and Care of Elders) in hospitals, for example.\n\nThe problem is that even though we know what care to provide for older adults, we meet less than 10 percent of the total need in our country with the best evidence-based models of care available. This means that the majority of older adults in the US could be getting care that is unnecessary, ineffective, or harmful. And we know how to prevent this. But too often we don\u2019t.\n\nAt IHI we see this as a classic failure of implementation. We understand what it will take to improve the lives of 46 million adults over age 65 in the US today, but we don\u2019t reliably use the best evidence and implement the best practices for every older adult, every time.\n\nLearn more about the\n\nConsequently, the John A. Hartford Foundation and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) invited leading researchers, physicians, and health systems to develop a model to reliably provide the best care possible for older adults every day and everywhere they encounter the health care system. We reviewed hundreds of articles and care models to find the most effective ways to create what we call an \u201cage-friendly\u201d health system \u2014 one that will measurably improve the quality of care for older adults and optimize value for health systems.\n\nWe\u2019ve determined that four key interventions are essential to create an age-friendly system of care. If care providers consistently do these four things for every older adult, every time, across care settings, we believe we will save lives and avoid harm. We call them the 4Ms:", "output": "Less than 10 percent of the total health requirements for older adults is being met in the United States, despite evidence-based models of care, such as PACE (Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly), ACE (Acute Care of the Elderly) units, and GRACE (Geriatric Resources for Assessment and Care of Elders) being available. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) believes that better use should be made of the evidence and best practices that could be established for older adults\u2019 care. Working alongside the John A. Hartford Foundation, the organization has invited health systems, researchers and physicians to create a model of care that can encompass all needs of older adults. Four key interventions have been determined as essential for older adult care: What Matters \u2013 each patient\u2019s health goals and care preferences being taken into account; Medication \u2013 Optimized medication use; Mobility \u2013 maintaining function and movement and preventing mobility complications; and Mentation \u2013 managing depressions, delirium and dementia to reduce safety risks. The IHI has created a self-assessment tool for organizations to determine whether they are doing the maximum to meet these key interventions, and is working on the Creating Age-Friendly Health Systems (CAFHS) initiative prototype.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "These Annual Checkups Help Seniors Not Only Survive But Thrive \n This story can be republished for free ( details ). This story also ran on The Boston Globe\n\nBea Lipsky shuffled into her wellness coach\u2019s office one morning this fall and parked her walker by the wall. Lipsky, 89, had had a trying year, enduring a hernia operation and two emergency room visits for heart problems. She\u2019s losing her hearing, and recently gave up her dream of riding in a hot air balloon for her 90th birthday.\n\nThat day, though, she was filled with pride: She told her coach she\u2019d achieved her goals for the year, including attending her grandson\u2019s wedding in China.\n\nLipsky spent two months training, doing leg curls and riding a stationary bicycle, to build up the strength to make it through a 10-day trip to China, accompanied by an aide. \u201cIt was absolutely divine,\u201d she told coach Susan Flashner-Fineman, who works at the Orchard Cove retirement community in Canton, Mass., where Lipsky has lived for the past four years.\n\nLipsky\u2019s check-ins with Flashner-Fineman are part of a well\u00adness coaching program, Vitalize 360, that Orchard Cove start\u00aded eight years ago in collaboration with the Kendal nonprofit senior living organization in Pennsylvania.\n\nWhen seniors arrive at Orchard Cove, a coach measures their health and wellness in an hourlong, one-on-one session, assessing common problems for seniors, like loneliness, pain and distress. The coach also asks about se\u00adniors\u2019 families, friendships, and spiritual life. Then the se\u00adniors meet with their coach every year before their physical checkup with a doctor, to talk about what matters most to them. The coaches, who come from a variety of backgrounds, including fitness, social work and chaplaincy, help seniors set goals for the year \u2014 which could be physical, social, in\u00adtellectual or spiritual. These goals become the focus for the senior\u2019s medical team, and the seniors follow up with their coaches every three months to stay on track.\n\nEmail Sign-Up Subscribe to KHN's free Morning Briefing. Your Email Address Sign Up\n\nWellness coaching aims to rethink how we treat aging, said Aline Russotto, Orchard Cove\u2019s executive director. \u201cWe used to be at our very best when somebody was in crisis,\u201d she said.\n\nBut Orchard Cove staff think they can help residents live healthier and happier lives by shifting the focus away from \u201cfixing what\u2019s broken,\u201d said Russotto, to \u201cliving your best day every single day until the end.\u201d\n\nDr. Atul Gawande, author of \u201cBeing Mortal\u201d and an expert on end-of-life care, calls the Vitalize 360 approach \u201ctransfor\u00admative.\u201d It recognizes that \u201ceven as you may have health is\u00adsues and frailty and the difficulties that can come with aging \u2026 people have lives worth living. And in fact have a lot more life worth living,\u201d he said.\n\nWhen young people become dis\u00adabled, others often help them find ways to contribute to the world, he noted, but that is much less true for older people.\n\n\u201cI see it as the kind of thing that you\u2019d like to see go population\u00adwide,\u201d Gawande said. \u201cYou\u2019d like to make it routine.\u201d\n\nSince the program started at Orchard Cove, fitness par\u00adticipation \u2014 the proportion of residents who exercise at least three times a week \u2014 has more than doubled, from 30 to 77 percent, and one study found participants felt significant\u00adly less depressed than a control group, with a notable jump in the number who said they felt \u201cdelighted with life.\u201d\n\nThe program itself has spread to 35 communities in 12 states, reaching more than 2,600 older adults in independent or as\u00adsisted living. Since existing staff can be retrained to serve as coaches, the program isn\u2019t costly, though there is an annual fee for training and data-tracking software.\n\nFlashner-Fineman, who spent a decade as Orchard Cove\u2019s fitness director, trav\u00adels to new sites several times a year to run a three-day train\u00ading to teach new coaches the skills they\u2019ll need to work with patients and run standardized assessments. She and her col\u00adleagues also train health professionals, leadership and other staff on how to orient their care around seniors\u2019 goals.\n\nAt Orchard Cove, where the average age is almost 90, Flashner-Fineman coaches a wide range of seniors, includ\u00ading younger, healthy residents, like 74-year-old Janet Don\u00adnoe, a retired consultant.\n\nIn a recent visit, an energetic Don\u00adnoe announced \u201cgreat progress\u201d on her fitness goals. She now gets up at 5 a.m. on Tuesdays to drive off-campus for nearly two hours of aqua \u201cboot camp\u201d and weight training. Flash\u00adner-Fineman asked if Donnoe, who moved there recently, is making time to meet her neighbors, too.\n\nPrograms like this have emerged because seniors are living longer and defying predictions of cognitive and functional decline, said John Morris, a researcher at the Institute for Ag\u00ading Research at Hebrew SeniorLife, which operates Orchard Cove. Morris designed the assessment tool that Vitalize 360 uses and is helping retirement communities track partici\u00adpants\u2019 wellness.\n\nEsther Adler, a 93-year-old poet, writer and former He\u00adbrew school teacher, moved to Orchard Cove in 2012, a few years after her husband died. She set a goal to \u201cbe a pro\u00adductive person\u201d but didn\u2019t know exactly how.\n\nAfter learn\u00ading about her background in an extensive intake interview, staff invited her to start teaching Hebrew to patients on the skilled nursing floor. Adler discovered their memories were too short for language lessons, and started teaching Bible les\u00adsons and prayers instead \u2014 a practice she has continued for three years.\n\nAdler, who also finds purpose in writing poetry and help\u00ading neighbors through hospice, has proved resilient amid physical setbacks: She broke her pelvis last year when she tripped in the lobby of a hotel room in Poland, the night be\u00adfore the premiere of a documentary about her life.\n\n\u201cThey thought I would never walk,\u201d Adler said. \u201cHere I am, I\u2019m walking.\u201d\n\nLipsky, despite her successful trip to China, confessed she feels \u201chesitant\u201d about the year ahead. \u201cI\u2019m not as active as I\u2019d like to be,\u201d she said. As she spoke, her right hand started shaking \u2014 a new symptom she hadn\u2019t yet told her doctor about.\n\nBut Lipsky lit up talking about achieving another goal, finding a new way to cope with loss. She sat with her granddaughter two weeks before and di\u00adaled up a medium on Skype to try to communicate with her husband, Sidney, who died three years earlier.\n\n\u201cShe breathed in our en\u00adergy \u2014 on the computer!\u201d Lipsky said. \u201cIt was eerie. We felt like he was there.\u201d\n\nShe said it helped the family grieve and brought her happiness. Since the experience, she said, \u201cour lives haven\u2019t been the same.\u201d\n\nIn the year ahead, she plans to attend another wedding, this time in Canada, and continue \u201cfinding unexpected things that bring me joy.\u201d\n\nKFF Health News' coverage of these topics is supported by Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and The SCAN Foundation", "output": "Wellness coaching can provide regular check-ins for senior citizens to ensure that they not only survive, but thrive in their daily lives. Offering one-on-one sessions for an hour, these sessions take place alongside physical check-ups with physicians and cover what patients care about the most, such as physical, intellectual, spiritual and social goals. These are then relayed to the medical teams taking care of these patients and incorporated into their care program, with three-month catch-up sessions to ensure progress is met. Rather than focusing on times of crisis, the teams establish healthier ways of living and achieving goals for senior citizens in an ongoing fashion. Wellness coaching program Vitalize 360 has seen fitness participation double from 30 percent to 77 percent since being initiated at the Orchard Cove retirement community, and has noted that depression has reduced when compared to a control group. The program is currently run in 35 communities across 12 states, caring for over 2,600 adults in assisted or independent living. Staff already present can be retrained as coaches, and the costs are low, requiring an annual training fee and data tracking software payment. Programs such as these are necessary as older adults are living lengthier lives and defying cognitive and functional decline predictions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Saudi Aramco considers stake in Indonesian toll road company \n JAKARTA: PT Waskita Karya, an Indonesian state-owned construction company, is in talks with a group of investors including Islamic Development Bank and Saudi Arabian Oil Co. to sell a stake in a unit that builds and operates toll roads.\n\n\n\nThe consortium also includes Malaysia\u2019s Khazanah Nasional Bhd and Waskita is aiming to conclude a deal early next year, President Director Muhammad Choliq said.\n\n\n\nPT Waskita Toll Road owns 18 toll roads, mostly in Java, and counts state pension fund PT Taspen and financing company PT Sarana Multi Infrastruktur as shareholders, he said.\n\n\n\nWaskita is seeking to raise funds by selling toll roads to finance future projects as Indonesia\u2019s President Joko Widodo pursues an aggressive infrastructure agenda to improve road, rail and port connectivity in the archipelago. The government will cease budgetary support to state companies from next year and is pushing them to fund infrastructure projects either through debt or equity.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe are still negotiating the price and hopefully we can reach an agreement early next year,\u201d Choliq said in an interview on Thursday.\n\n\n\n\u201cAramco wants to diversify its business because of weak oil prices and they are keen to invest in Indonesia\u2019s infrastructure projects.\u201d\n\n\n\nAramco didn\u2019t respond to an email requesting comment, while Khazanah declined to comment.\n\n\n\nNabil El Alami, head of marketing and communications for IDB\u2019s Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector in Jeddah, didn\u2019t respond to calls and an email requesting comment.\n\n\n\nLack of toll-road bidders casts doubt on Widodo spending funds\n\n\n\nIndonesia won pledges of US$1bil in development finance from Saudi Arabia and signed agreements to cut trade barriers between the two countries during King Salman bin Abdulaziz\u2019s visit earlier this year. That\u2019s on top of a US$6bil oil refinery deal between Saudi Aramco and Indonesia\u2019s PT Pertamina signed in December last year.\n\n\n\nSaudi Arabia is also planning an initial public offering for Aramco as it seeks to set up the world\u2019s biggest sovereign wealth fund and reduce the economy\u2019s reliance on hydrocarbons.\n\n\n\nThe World Bank estimates Indonesia needs about US$500bil over the next five years to bridge its infrastructure gap. The government has identified 245 projects worth about US$325bil as a priority.\n\n\n\nWaskita is also talking to PT Astra Infra for selling a stake in the toll road projects, Choliq said. The company will pursue an initial public offering of shares in the second half of next year if it fails to find a strategic buyer by the end of the first quarter of 2018, he said. Waskita failed to get \u201cacceptable offers\u201d for 10 toll road projects it put up for auction in September.\n\n\n\nWaskita is targeting 60 trillion rupiah (US$4bil) of new contracts in 2018, the same as this year, and sees net income rising to 7 trillion rupiah if it completes divestment of the toll roads, Choliq said. Net income may be lower at 5 trillion rupiah without the divestment, which would still be up from 4 trillion rupiah seen this year, he said.\n\n\n\nWaskita shares rallied as much as 5.8% to 2,180 rupiah in Jakarta on Monday, paring losses to 15% this year, while the benchmark Jakarta Composite Index retreated 0.4% to trim gains to 15% this year. - Bloomberg", "output": "Saudi Aramco, Malaysia's Khazanah Nasional and Islamic Development Bank are among investors mulling taking a stake in a unit of Indonesian state-owned construction company Waskita Karya that builds and operates toll roads, said President Director Muhammad Choliq. Waskita Toll Road owns 18 toll roads, mostly in Java. \u201cAramco wants to diversify its business because of weak oil prices and they are keen to invest in Indonesia\u2019s infrastructure projects\", he said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Internet to lose \u2018basic utility\u2019 classification after FCC vote \n The FCC has repealed its own 2015 net-neutrality rules in a 3-2 vote.\n\nThe repeal is likely to be met with lawsuits and a push to bring back the regulations through legislation in Congress.\n\nThe FCC's meeting was interrupted by a security threat, forcing everyone to evacuate the room while police searched the area with sniffing dogs.\n\n\n\nFederal regulators voted Thursday to eliminate a two-year-old rule that classified internet access as a basic utility, a controversial move that will give broadband providers more leeway to sell different tiers of internet service but which critics say will leave consumers and web startups at the mercy of the big telecommunications companies.\n\nIn a partisan vote repealing net-neutrality protections, the FCC has lifted restrictions that prevented internet service providers (ISPs) from blocking certain websites or from charging companies and customers more for internet \"fast lanes.\"\n\nThose so-called fast lanes could mean the difference between a smooth, TV-like experience watching online videos or a frustrating frozen screen \u2014 a vital distinction as services like entertainment, news, and education shift to online platforms.\n\nAs expected, the vote passed the commission in a 3-2 party-line vote, with Republicans voting for the repeal and Democrats voting against it.\n\nNow that the repeal is official, it\u2019s likely headed to court.\n\nSeveral groups have already said they plan to file lawsuits against the decision on the grounds that the FCC didn\u2019t seriously consider the millions of pro-net-neutrality comments submitted to the commission. There will also be a push to get Congress to bring back net-neutrality regulations through legislation.\n\nThe 2015 net-neutrality rule, passed under the administration of President Obama, classified broadband internet service under Title II of the Communications Act, essentially defining it as a basic utility such as telephone service.\n\nA 'great day' on the 'wrong side of history'\n\nCritics of Thrusday's vote to repeal net neutrality say it will result in higher prices and fewer choices for consumers, and that it will be a boon to ISPs that will enter into a new environment where they'll be free to commoditize the internet and figure out new ways make money off their customers' internet access.\n\nThe vote brought out passionate comments from Republicans and Democrats on the commission. Democratic commissioner Mignon Clyburn gave the most impassioned plea for protecting net neutrality.\n\n\u201cI dissent from this fiercely spun, legally lightweight, consumer-harming, corporate-enabling Destroying Internet Freedom Order,\u201d Clyburn said in her opening remarks.\n\nThe Republican members of the commission brought back their previous arguments from when the first proposed net neutrality repeal. They said it would bring back the lighter regulations the internet flourished under for most of its existence and would allow ISPs to invest more in broadband technologies.\n\nThe meeting was briefly interrupted in the middle of Chairman Ajit Pai\u2019s remarks due to what the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Protective Service later said was a bomb threat. Guards and police dogs could be seen on The Washington Post\u2019s live feed searching the room after it had been evacuated.\n\nHere are some notes we took during the discussion of the net-neutrality repeal:", "output": "The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US has voted to repeal net-neutrality protections, which classified internet access as a basic utility. The move will mean internet service providers (ISPs), particularly big telecoms firms, will be able to charge varied amounts for internet service levels and block websites. Advocates of the repeal suggest ISPs were hampered by the regulation, which was passed in 2015, and argued its repeal would boost innovation and broadband investment. Critics believe it will be a significant hit to consumers and small enterprises.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Japan's iSpace raises $90m to advertise on the moon \n Dec 18, 2017 | By Tess\n\nJapanese space startup iSpace Technologies Inc. has successfully raised $90 million in investments through a Series A financing round. The company says the funding will enable it to launch a spacecraft into lunar orbit by 2019, and eventually to offer a \u201cprojection mapping service\u201d to advertise on the moon\u2019s surface.\n\niSpace, founded in 2013 by Takeshi Hakamada, is an ambitious space exploration company that has its sights set on the resources available on the moon and in space. Specifically, the company is using 3D printing technologies to develop micro-robots capable of finding resources on the moon that could allow humans to stay and perhaps even settle on the moon.\n\nAs the Tokyo-based company says, \u201cOur main focus is to locate, extract, and deliver lunar ice to customers in cis-lunar space.\u201d Cis-lunar space, for those unfamiliar, refers to the area between the moon and the earth.\n\nThe recent investment round, which saw $90 million raised, was led by Japan Airlines Co. and Tokyo Broadcasting System Holdings Inc., and included the Development Bank of Japan, Konica Minolta, Shimizy, Real Tech Fund, KDDI, Suzuki Motor, SPARX, Dentsu, and Toppan Printing.\n\nAs mentioned, the new funding will enable iSpace to launch two space missions. The first will be to send a spacecraft into lunar orbit by 2019, and the second will see that same ship land on the moon in 2020. The company\u2019s investors will also provide support and technologies for the missions, including a projection mapping service, which will be a sort of billboard projection on the moon\u2019s surface.\n\nPresently, iSpace is using a range of innovative processes, such as 3D printing, to create low-cost micro-robots designed to explore the moon\u2019s surface, gather data on resources, and even extract resources, such as lunar ice. These small robots, prototyped using 3D printing and off-the-shelf components, have the potential to explore the moon faster and in a more cost-effective manner than large rovers.\n\nIn iSpace\u2019s \u201c2040 Vision Movie,\u201d the small moon rovers are deployed on the moon to find ice, which is then transported to processing machines which separate the hydrogen and oxygen in the water to create energy. This energy, in turn, could allow for a fuel station to be established in the moon which, down the line, would make it possible to have scheduled flights to the moon and, ultimately, moon settlers.\n\nComing back to the present, however, iSpace is preparing for its first missions. \u201cWe wanted to make sure that our financing for the next two missions was in place,\u201d said Takeshi Hakamada, iSpace founder. \u201cThrough these two missions, we\u2019re going to validate our technology to land on the moon safely. After we validate the technology, we\u2019re going to enter the lunar transportation business.\u201d\n\niSpace, as part of Team HAKUTO, is also a finalist in the $30 million Google Lunar XPrize competition, which is seeking to bolster privately-funded moon landing missions. The innovative company expects that by 2040, the moon could already have a population of about 1,000 as well as a significant tourism industry bringing in 10,000 visitors every year.\n\nPosted in 3D Printing Application\n\nMaybe you also like:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIgnacio wrote at 12/22/2017 2:28:46 AM:Pretty sure that's illegal.frank lipsky wrote at 12/19/2017 5:49:24 AM:billboards on the moon? .Of what possible value can this be to a civilized society? The Japanese or any other nation that attempts this should be ashamed and re-evaluate their moral codesMike wrote at 12/19/2017 2:43:57 AM:No. No. No. No. And, no.4WheelDrifter wrote at 12/19/2017 2:33:40 AM:Marvelous. What, are we running out of room on the highways???\n\n\n\n", "output": "Japanese company iSpace Technologies has raised $90m in a series A funding round led by Japan Airlines and Tokyo Broadcasting System Holdings. The start-up will use the cash to fund two missions, one in 2019 to put a craft in lunar orbit and a second in 2020 to land the same ship on the moon. iSpace is developing 3D printed robots which will collect samples from the satellite ahead of eventual human colonisation, and will also offer a \"projection mapping service\" enabling advertising on the lunar surface.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MetaProp to take proptech start-up promotion programme global   \n MetaProp has been an excellent investor as they understood our vision and lent us a great deal of credibility, which helped accelerate our progress significantly. They have invested three times in back to back rounds in less than 15 months, and continue to be both supportive and active, and we are grateful to have them as an investor in the company.\n\nAlok Chanani CEO, BuildOps", "output": "MetaProp founder Aaron Block has announced plans to expand across the globe in order to search out proptech start-ups. He claims that start-ups in the EMEA region \"crave\" guidance, programmes, networks and proven teams to assist with entry into markets. MetaProp has partnered with Columbia University to host a 20-week accelerator program\u00a0aimed at start-ups wanting to enter\u00a0international markets. The programme\u00a0offers support and a potential investment of up to\u00a0$250,000 by\u00a0MetaProp.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pentagon confirms the existence of UFO hunting department \n When military intelligence officer Luis Elizondo stepped down from his post heading the Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program (AATIP)\u2014the program created to investigate unidentified flying objects\u2014in October, he cited lack of government support. \u201cWe tried to work within the system. We were trying to take the voodoo out of voodoo science,\u201d Elizondo told Politico in a recent interview.\n\nUntil his departure the program, though unclassified, had nevertheless been a Pentagon secret in that its existence had never been publicly acknowledged. That is, until Saturday (Dec. 16), when Politico and the New York Times published reports tracing AATIP\u2019s history from 2007 to today. The Pentagon confirmed AATIP\u2019s existence, though it\u2019s yet to comment on whether the program is still running despite lacking government funding.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nFormer senate majority leader and retired Nevada lawmaker Harry Reid was AATIP\u2019s catalyst, earmarking over $20 million of the defense department\u2019s budget to fund it. Billionaire Robert Bigelow\u2019s aerospace company secured many of the program\u2019s early contracts. Bigelow, who now works at NASA, was the one who convinced Reid to move forward with establishing a UFO investigation program, according to the New York Times. He approached Reid earlier in 2007 about a Defense Intelligence Agency official\u2019s interest in visiting his Skinwalker Ranch property in Utah\u2014considered a point of interest for believers in paranormal and UFO activities.\n\nShortly after his meeting with Bigelow, Reid met with officials, who were also interested in establishing a UFO investigation program. AATIP had funds earmarked until 2012, though sources told the New York Times it has continued to operate and investigate potential sightings. Pentagon spokesperson Thomas Crosson told the Times the reason AATIP\u2019s funding ran out was because \u201cthere were other, higher priority issues that merited funding.\u201d\n\nIn an interview with the New York Times, Reid said he doesn\u2019t regret a thing about helping to start AATIP. \u201cI\u2019m not embarrassed or ashamed or sorry I got this thing going. I think it\u2019s one of the good things I did in my congressional service. I\u2019ve done something that no one has done before,\u201d Reid said.\n\nElizondo was clearly a fan of AATIP too, and hasn\u2019t given up on UFO research. Following his resignation, he joined the for-profit To The Stars Academy of Arts and Sciences. Created by Blink-182 guitarist and singer Tom DeLong, the company is dedicated to studying unexplained aerial phenomena. Elizondo has begun speaking publicly about its mission in a bid for funding.", "output": "The Pentagon has released data on its investigation of \"anomalous aerial vehicles\", or UFOs, following the departure of intelligence officer Luis Elizondo from the Defense Department. The data includes raw footage of fighter jets encountering hovering UFOs, and was released for public viewing following a request by Elizondo to publicly acknowledge\u00a0the Defense Department's UFO analysis operation, the Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program. The programme ran from 2007 and cost at least $22m and\u00a0analysed\u00a0\"anomalous aerospace threats\" from planes and drones to alien encounters.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GM rolls out first in-dash com platform in auto industry \n GM wants to make life more efficient for its drivers and keep them on the road, so it's making sure you'll never have to leave the comfort of your car to order a coffee or pay for gas.\n\nThe automaker is rolling out a new commerce platform for its dashboard infotainment consoles with parter Xevo Inc. The new feature, dubbed the GM Marketplace, will allow drivers to order food and drink, find gas stations and pay for fuel, make restaurant reservations, and more using a personalized smart system honed by IBM Watson's machine learning techniques and user data.\n\nGM says Marketplace will be the first in-dash commerce platform of its kind for the auto industry, but it's probably far from the last. The potential purchasing power of connected cars shouldn't be taken lightly, and capitalizing on the opportunity to make it easier to sell drivers even more stuff is a no-brainer.\n\nSEE ALSO: You can now ask Waze for directions using your voice\n\nMarketplace launches with a special GM section to allow drivers to purchase in-car data packages and parts, but the real centerpiece is the wide range of corporate partners. You can grab coffee and along your route at Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts, order meals from restaurants on delivery.com, Wingstop, Applebee's, or IHOP, or even reserve a table at TGI Fridays.\n\nExxonMobil and Shell will also be included in the Marketplace, with Shell offering on-dashboard payments through its Fuel Rewards program. More partners are expected to join the ecosystem going forward.\n\nMarketplace will be included in eligible 2017 and 2018 model year vehicles from Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac that have 4G LTE-connections. GM says about four million US drivers will gain access to the in-car commerce options starting immediately, with more coming online over the next 12 to 18 months.", "output": "General Motors (GM) and partner Xevo are launching Marketplace, a first-in-kind dashboard commerce platform that lets drivers find, order and pay for fuel, food, drinks and other products and services from their car. Personalised using machine learning techniques and user data from IBM Watson, the platform offers in-car data packages from GM and corporate partners include Starbucks, delivery.com, Exxon and Shell, which links to its Fuel Rewards programme. Marketplace will roll out immediately to around four million US drivers with 4G LTE-equipped 2017/2018 vehicles from GMC, Cadillac, Buick and Chevrolet, and plans to add more models and partners.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EC declares EU trademarks will cease in UK after Brexit \n The European Commission has sent an announcement stating that the effective date for Brexit with regard to IP rights will be 30 March 2019.\n\nAs of this date, the United Kingdom will become a \u201cthird state\u201d and the registered and non-registered Community designs and EU trademarks will no longer be in effect in that country, but they will remain in effect of the other 27 Member States. The same will occur for pending applications.\n\nThis will likewise affect relations between the United Kingdom and the EU, as it will enforce the same requirements as those of the remaining non-member States.\n\nSee the announcement here.", "output": "The European Commission has said that from the first day of Brexit, any registered and non-registered Community designs and European Union trademarks will no longer be in effect in the UK, as a \"third state\".\u00a0They will remain in the other 27 member states.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NextView buys 20% of lithium producer Bacanora Minerals \n Chinese institutional fund management group NextView Capital has reached an agreement to acquire a 19.89% equity interest in Bacanora Minerals, a lithium producer listed in London, UK, and Canada.\n\nUnder the agreement, the acquisition of the interest will take place through the placement of 32,976,635 common shares in Bacanora.\n\nProceeds from the placement are expected to be around \u00a331.17m and will be used for the development of the company\u2019s Sonora lithium project.\n\nThe agreement also includes an offtake component wherein Bacanora is required to supply NextView with 5,000tpa of lithium carbonate produced at its Sonora project in Mexico from its Stage 1 of production.\n\nBacanora Minerals CEO Peter Secker said: \u201cNextView\u2019s investment and offtake agreement underlines both the quality of our asset and the progress we have made to date.\n\n\u201cThrough this investment, NextView Capital intends to build a long-term strategic partnership with Bacanorato capitalise on the expanding lithium battery raw materials market.\u201d\n\n\u201cTogether with highly favourable demand/supply dynamics for lithium carbonate driven by fast-growing end-markets such as electric vehicles and energy storage, the investment case for Bacanora is clear.\u201d\n\nThe development comes after the company recently completed a feasibility study, which determined that the Sonora project has pre-tax net present value (NPV) of $1.253bn, an internal rate of return (IRR) of 26.2%, and life of mine (LoM) operating costs of $3,910/t of lithium carbonate.\n\nNextView managing partner and president Yaping He said: \u201cThrough this investment, NextView Capital intends to build a long-term strategic partnership with Bacanorato capitalise on the expanding lithium battery raw materials market, which has significant potential given the electric vehicle industry in China, the largest new energy vehicles market in the world.\u201d\n\nThe offtake agreement also includes a commitment to supply 8,000tpa of lithium carbonate during Stage 2 of the project and potential supply of a further 7,000tpa.\n\nBacanora expects to begin construction of mining and large-scale processing facilities at Sonora in the first half of next year.", "output": "Chinese fund manager NextView Capital has agreed to acquire a 19.89% stake in Bacanora Minerals, a lithium producer listed in London\u00a0and Canada. Proceeds from the placement are expected to be around \u00a331.2m ($41.8m) and will be used to develop\u00a0the company\u2019s Sonora lithium project in Mexico. Under the deal,\u00a0Bacanora has agreed to supply NextView with 5,000 tons per annum\u00a0of lithium carbonate produced at\u00a0Sonora."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ponce loosens grip on SQM to assuage Chilean regulator \n Esta jornada representantes de Pampa Calichera acudieron a la Corporaci\u00f3n buscando nuevas posibilidades de acuerdo. Corfo ha exigido en varias ocasiones cambios relevantes en el gobierno corporativo de la minera, pidiendo la salida de Ponce como principal accionista, y ahora habr\u00eda una nueva propuesta para ello. En un hecho esencial por separado, Calichera anunci\u00f3 que pon\u00eda fin al pacto de accionista con Kowa, acuerdo que le permit\u00eda a Ponce mantener control indirecto de SQM.\n\nEl conflicto entre Corfo y SQM dio un giro importante esta jornada. Tras el fracaso de la conciliaci\u00f3n entre ambas partes, Julio Ponce estar\u00eda disponible a perder el control de la minera, abri\u00e9ndose a cumplir uno de los mayores requisitos de la estatal, la cual exigi\u00f3 un cambio definitivo en el gobierno corporativo de SQM.\n\nEste lunes el vicepresidente ejecutivo de CORFO, Eduardo Bitran, recibi\u00f3 en la Corporaci\u00f3n -junto a otros directivos de la instituci\u00f3n- a representantes de las sociedades SQM, Potash y Pampa Calichera, quienes solicitaron una audiencia por transparencia.\n\nEn esta reuni\u00f3n, seg\u00fan comunic\u00f3 la Corfo, los representantes de Pampa Calichera dieron a conocer a la estatal una propuesta de cambio en la estructura de gobierno corporativo de SQM, consistente con los objetivos buscados por la Corporaci\u00f3n.\n\nCorfo, con tal de llegar a un acuerdo con la minera \u2013a la cual acusa de incumplir una serie de cuestiones en los contratos de arriendo de pertenencias del Salar de Atacama- hab\u00eda exigido que la estructura de gobierno corporativo de SQM otorgue garant\u00edas permanentes de pleno cumplimiento de lo acordado y desarrollo de pr\u00e1cticas alineadas con los est\u00e1ndares de empresas globales y de la OCDE; que se aumente el nivel de rentas de arrendamiento para igualarlas con lo establecido en el contrato de Albemarle; establecer los derechos y protecciones de Corfo como propietario del Salar de Atacama; establecer el m\u00e1s alto est\u00e1ndar de vigilancia de cumplimiento de contratos y normas ambientales; aportar recursos a la Regi\u00f3n de Antofagasta y a las comunidades locales; aportes significativos a investigaci\u00f3n y desarrollo; opci\u00f3n de reserva de 25% de producci\u00f3n de litio para vender en Chile destinados a agregar valor al litio y mantenci\u00f3n de contrato vigente hasta su fecha establecida, es decir, a\u00f1o 2030.\n\nEl primero de estos puntos era el m\u00e1s dif\u00edcil de cumplir por la minera, considerando que Bitr\u00e1n dijo en reiteradas ocasiones que para ello Julio Ponce deber\u00eda perder su condici\u00f3n de controlador de SQM.\n\nTras ello, Corfo y SQM solicitaron esta jornada al \u00e1rbitro H\u00e9ctor Humes abrir un nuevo proceso de conciliaci\u00f3n, d\u00e1ndose un plazo de 30 d\u00edas (corridos) de suspensi\u00f3n del arbitraje. SQM expres\u00f3 su disposici\u00f3n a considerar las condiciones propuestas por Corfo en el nuevo proceso de conciliaci\u00f3n.\n\n\u201cSi bien no es posible anticipar el resultado de este nuevo proceso de conciliaci\u00f3n -que se realizar\u00e1 en el marco del arbitraje-, de ser exitoso, adem\u00e1s de obtener las condiciones exigidas por CORFO, la ampliaci\u00f3n futura de las cuotas de Litio, permitir\u00e1 a Chile expandir significativamente la oferta de Litio, durante el periodo del contrato, facilitando el desarrollo mundial de la electromovilidad, con el consiguiente efecto positivo en la industria del cobre baja en emisiones de CO2. La Corporaci\u00f3n reitera su compromiso con establecer las condiciones que cautelen el inter\u00e9s p\u00fablico, ayudando as\u00ed a restablecer la confianza de la ciudadan\u00eda en las instituciones de la Rep\u00fablica\u201d, dijo la Corfo.\n\nEn un hecho esencial separado, Calichera anunci\u00f3 que pon\u00eda fin al pacto de accionista con Kowa, la japonesa que controla el 2% de SQM y que le permit\u00eda a Ponce mantener control indirecto de la minera no met\u00e1lica.\n\nLas dos sociedades pondr\u00e1n fin al pacto de acuerdo de actuaci\u00f3n conjunta en un plazo de 30 d\u00edas.", "output": "Julio Ponce has agreed that neither he nor any family member will hold a board or executive position in lithium miner SQM as he seeks to end a dispute with the Chilean government, forcing his brother Eugenio to step down as chairman. The holding companies through which Ponce controls SQM, Latin America's largest lithium and fertiliser producer, said they would adhere to the conditions imposed by government agency Corfo, allowing it to\u00a0enter negotations over an extension of mining rights at one of the world\u2019s richest sources of lithium."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hammond, Carney visit China in search of new trade deals \n Around \u00a31.4 billion worth of commercial deals, an agreement to accelerate the final preparations for the London-Shanghai Stock Connect initiative and new commitments to develop work on the Mutual Recognition of Funds and a bond connect, have been announced as part of the 9th UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue ( EFD ) held in Beijing this weekend. And in a boost to UK businesses operating along the Belt and Road in Asia, up to \u00a325 billion in financial support \u2013 such as loan guarantees \u2013 has also been announced.\n\nThe wide-ranging dialogue further strengthened the Golden Era in UK-China relations, successfully boosting cooperation across the two countries\u2019 strategic partnership.\n\nThe Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond said:\n\nThese successful talks are an example of Global Britain at its best, demonstrating that we can work with our friends and partners across the world to support jobs, businesses and prosperity. This is testament to our strong and dynamic economy, and the world class talent and expertise we have to offer. These talks show the UK is truly open for business and we look forward to continuing the Golden Era of UK-China relations.\n\nThe Economic and Financial Dialogue involved a series of events over a two-day period, where agreements were reached on areas of trade and investment, deepening the financial services relationship, new partnerships on industrial strategy, and further ways in which the UK can partner on infrastructure initiatives.\n\nThese included:\n\nFinancial services\n\nFinal preparations for the London-Shanghai Stock Connect initiative, which will mean investors in each country will be able to trade shares listed on the other\u2019s stock exchange, are to be accelerated. Building on this, the first steps were also taken in establishing a bond connect, with a view to opening up the bond market to mutual trading. There was also an agreement to progress Mutual Recognition of Funds work with the launch of a feasibility study, opening up China to the UK\u2019s unrivaled asset management sector. The UK and China also engaged in deeper regulatory cooperation, including on financial stability, through the first meeting of the PBOC-Bank of England Symposium.\n\nBelt and Road Initiative ( BRI )\n\nThe EFD set out further ways in which the UK, and specifically London as a global financial centre, can partner on the Belt and Road Initiative. To showcase the expertise the UK has to offer, Douglas Flint, former Chairman of HSBC Group, was announced as the Chancellor\u2019s City Envoy to the BRI , and a City Expert Board will be established to bring together infrastructure financing, professional and emerging market expertise. Together these initiatives will facilitate further cooperation with China and create commercial opportunities for UK firms. In support of this Standard Chartered Bank also announced its support for the BRI by committing to facilitate financing to the value of at least $20 billion by 2020.\n\nUK Export Finance affirmed up to \u00a325 billion capacity to support new business in BRI countries in Asia, in a boost to UK businesses selling their goods and services. The UK and China also agreed to identify specific BRI projects to act as pathfinders for UK and Chinese collaboration, and to conduct research on mechanisms to support private sector financing of infrastructure development across the BRI . China recognises the UK\u2019s world leading reputation in this area and greater partnership will increase global investment in UK infrastructure firms and enable them to export this expertise globally.\n\nTrade and investment\n\nShowing that the UK is open for business, the EFD saw a range of commercial announcements, worth around \u00a31.4 billion. These include an agreement between Smiths Interconnect and Huafeng to establish a new joint venture working on products for High Speed Rail and commercial aviation; the establishment of UK fintech firm World First\u2019s office and wholly foreign owned enterprise in Shanghai; and a partnership agreement between Tsinghua X-lab and Future Planet Capital to invest in innovative companies. The EFD also made substantial progress on issues which could unlock billions of pounds worth of agreements in the future. And in order to boost trade and investment and lay the foundations for a deeper future trading relationship ahead of the UK leaving the EU, the inaugural meeting of the new UK-China Trade Working Group took place. Progress was also made on implementing a reduction in tariffs on a range of food, retail and pharmaceutical goods, and the talks also built on previous EFDs in taking steps towards China lifting its ban on UK beef exports, put in place following the BSE crisis of the 90s.\n\nIndustrial Strategy\n\nThe UK and China discussed opportunities to collaborate on the UK\u2019s new Industrial Strategy and welcomed the launch of a new UK China Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy. The UK are world leaders in innovative technologies like electric vehicles, so to build on the next generation electric vehicle package set out by the Chancellor at Budget and ensure Britain remains at the front of the pack in this market, a new collaboration was launched on zero carbon transport and Ultra Low Emission Vehicles ( ULEVs ). This includes cooperation on the \u00a3400 million Charging Infrastructure Investment Fund announced at the recent Autumn Budget. Discussions were also held with China\u2019s most influential electric vehicles think tank, EV100, about collaborating more closely with Chinese automotive leaders to make it easier for UK and Chinese businesses to work together, boosting investment and creating more jobs.\n\nEnergy\n\nThe accompanying Energy Dialogue with China\u2019s National Energy Administration saw the signing of an Action Plan to further cooperation between the UK and China on clean energy. Agreements were made between UK and Chinese businesses and research organisations to further develop renewable energy cooperation. The UK\u2019s offshore Renewable Catapult will be linking up with TusPark Newcastle and TusWind to further offshore wind technology development between the UK and China, and UK-based engineering consultancy Mott Macdonald and the China Energy Engineering Corporation to work together in third countries on renewable energy projects.\n\nThe Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Andrew Jones said:\n\nBritain is an innovative hub, home to skills and services that are in high demand around the world. We are world leaders in electric vehicle technology and working with China will enable us to export this expertise globally. Deepening our trade and investment links will help create an UK economy fit for the future by generating new jobs and modern skills across the country.\n\nThe Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Stephen Barclay said:\n\nThe relationship between the UK and China has brought real benefits, not just for our financial districts in the City, the Bund and Financial Street, but for our businesses and people across both nations. I\u2019m incredibly proud of what our two countries have achieved together so far, and I\u2019m excited to build on our growing partnership to build economies of the future.\n\nMinister for Investment, Mark Garnier said:", "output": "The chancellor, Philip Hammond, and the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, as well as senior executives from UK banks visited Beijing to discuss a reported \u00a31.4bn ($1.9bn) of potential trade over the weekend 16-17 December. The trip is part of the ninth in a series of economic talks that\u00a0began in 2008. However, this year's trip\u00a0is more significant than previous visits because of\u00a0the need for the\u00a0UK to build up trading relationships outside the EU. An initiative allowing\u00a0investors in each country to trade shares listed on the other's exchange was also announced.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hammond, Carney visit China in search of new trade deals \n Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, will be in the delegation visiting China. He is pictured last month leaving Downing Street on his way to deliver his budget statement to parliament. Photo: Reuters", "output": "The chancellor, Philip Hammond, and the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, as well as senior executives from UK banks visited Beijing to discuss a reported \u00a31.4bn ($1.9bn) of potential trade over the weekend 16-17 December. The trip is part of the ninth in a series of economic talks that\u00a0began in 2008. However, this year's trip\u00a0is more significant than previous visits because of\u00a0the need for the\u00a0UK to build up trading relationships outside the EU. An initiative allowing\u00a0investors in each country to trade shares listed on the other's exchange was also announced.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Economist Films Youtube subscriber count rises 140% \n The Economist Films division gets most of its views on Facebook, but like other publishers, it\u2019s turning its attention to YouTube, where audiences tend to be more loyal and engaged than on Facebook.\n\nThe 20-plus person division began in mid-2015 with a focus on long-form series, like entrepreneur-focused \u201cThe Hub,\u201d backed by Santander, and \u201cThe World in 2018,\u201d supported by Thomson Reuters. This year, The Economist also started releasing three editorial videos a week, lasting under five minutes, like this on the gender pay gap or this on foreign aid distribution.\n\nRecently, the publisher hired two staffers to focus solely on driving more engagement on Facebook and YouTube. They\u2019re adapting short videos to both platforms, with attention-grabbing questions on the opening scene, such as, \u201cIs this the world\u2019s most powerful man?\u201d for this video about China president Xi Jinping. The Economist has also started using YouTube\u2019s end cards, which link to an additional piece of Economist content at the end of the video.\n\nThe effort is starting to pay off on YouTube. Since June, the subscriber count has grown nearly 140 percent, to about 400,000. In November, the average viewer watched 75 percent of each film posted, up 44 percent from June. Discovery has also grown: Since June, there\u2019s been a 190 percent increase in views from YouTube\u2019s homepage, according to the publisher. (It hasn\u2019t supplied a total number of views.)\n\nFacebook accounted for 83 percent of The Economist\u2019s 20 million video views in November, according to Tubular Labs, and while it\u2019s useful in introducing new audiences to the publisher, Facebook has been under scrutiny for its measurement mishaps and seemingly short three-second views. As more advertisers demand to know the true value of a view, YouTube will be more of a focus in the new year. The publisher is also in conversation with platform distributors like Amazon, Facebook, Samsung and Netflix.\n\n\u201c[YouTube] is where the engaged opportunity is,\u201d said Jamie Credland, svp of strategy and marketing at The Economist Group. \u201cWe historically haven\u2019t invested much on YouTube because the path to subscription isn\u2019t as clear there as on other platforms. As the film ecosystem evolves, audiences on YouTube are really engaged.\u201d\n\nHugo Ward, executive producer at The Economist Films, said videos on YouTube also tend to get more valuable comments, as did this analysis on the Balfour Declaration, which got nearly 700 comments, and this one on the fall of Zimbabwe\u2019s former Prime Minister Robert Mugabe, which got more than 1,000 comments. Since June, the number of comments across all The Economist\u2019s YouTube videos has increased by 228 percent, according to the publisher, which didn\u2019t give a total raw number.\n\nThe past year has also been an evolution for The Economist Films\u2019 business operation. It started as a separate division with its own commercial team, but in the past year it\u2019s moved to the same floor as the rest of the company as part of the publisher\u2019s office move, and become integrated into the rest of the company\u2019s ad sales offerings. Now, advertisers have one point of contact for campaign reporting and ad operations, and The Economist Films has access to existing advertisers on The Economist\u2019s roster, like Santander and Credit Suisse, enabling it to run longer and deeper partnerships with brands.\n\nThe Economist Films ran five brand-sponsored series this year. Four are part of large, seven-figure campaigns across the group, which typically run between \u00a3300,000 ($400,000) and \u00a3500,000 ($670,000) for the work the films division creates.\n\nThis year, luxury watchmaker Blancpain and EY renewed contracts with The Economist Films. The Economist guarantees 1 million views across platforms for each series paid for by a brand, a benchmark it has always delivered on, Credland said.\n\nImage via The Economist Films", "output": "The Economist's video production division, Economist Films, has substantially increased its viewing figures on YouTube, with the number of subscribers to its channel rising by nearly 140% to around 400,000. Despite the increase, the overwhelming majority of the publisher's video views come from Facebook, which accounted for 83% of the 20 million views it achieved in November. Economist Films was created in 2015, and now has over 20 staff producing long-form series and weekly editorial videos under five minutes in length.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scientists in Pakistan overcome issues of walnut shell waste\n \n A team of scientists from IISER processed walnut shells to obtain high-quality carbon that can be used in batteries.\n\nIf you think that walnuts only help in improving brain functioning, think again!\n\nA team of scientists from the Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISER) , led by Satishchandra Ogale, may soon have a solution for Kashmir\u2019s greatest organic waste problem \u2014 the nutshells of walnuts.\n\nOne of the researchers, Wahid Malik, came up with a unique idea of using walnut covering, during one of his visits to his hometown in Kashmir, about nine months ago.\n\nThese researchers processed the nutshell, an abundantly grown dryfruit found in Kashmir, to obtain high-quality carbon, meant to be used in the anode part of the sodium-ion battery. These batteries are basically similar to the commonly used Li-ion batteries, but are expected to be much cheaper due to the few thousand-fold higher abundance of sodium over lithium in nature. Battery systems are central to all renewable energy resource management and usage, including grid-based set ups, electric vehicles, and biomedical or handheld devices.\n\nWhen asked about this novel idea, Malik stated, \u201cIt is one of the greatest issues for farmers back home, to deal with the hard and nutty shell of dry fruits, especially that of walnut. That is when, while thinking of his proposal for CSIR-800 mission as a doctoral student, it was ideated and worked upon.\u201d\n\nAccording to the study team, 63,000 hectares of land is under cultivation of walnuts in Kashmir. Of the total 36,000 tonnes of organic waste generated from the farm produce, 15,000 tonnes is contributed by walnut shells alone.\n\nThe crushed shells are first cleansed using acids and then subjected to pyrolysis process, where it is heated at temperatures as high as 1,000 degrees Celsius for about 4 to 5 hours. Later, the carbon chunks are extracted within the specially created inert atmosphere, before it is powered or converted into a paste form, the researchers explained. One of advantages of using this nutshell, according to Ogale, is its natural composition. He said, \u201cThe foliage of the shell perfectly suits the requirements once it is treated chemically, giving an edge over other natural resource substances.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cThese Na-ion batteries are expected to be at least five-times cheaper than the lithium batteries and can make the overall setups affordable,\u201d Malik claimed.\n\nIf this is technique becomes commercially viable, farmers in the valley can have an additional source of income, added Malik. Currently, the leftover organic waste is used in making packaging products. \u201cBut, that too is limited to just 5 \u2013 10 per cent of the waste, while the rest lay unattended causing serious concerns to the cultivators, who otherwise burn it further resulting to air pollution,\u201d he added.\n\nAt the lab testing stage, the scientists were able to extract about 300 \u2013 400 mg of battery grade carbon from one gram of power obtained from the shell.", "output": "Scientists at Pakistan's Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research have discovered that chemically treated and burned walnut shells can provide high-quality carbon for use in the anode of sodium-ion batteries. If the method can be scaled and commercialised, it could not only provide a source of carbon for Na-ion batteries, which are cheaper than their lithium-ion equivalents, but also provide an income for local farmers. Kashmir currently cultivates 63,000 hectares of walnuts, producing 15,000 tonnes of shell waste.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK study finds India, US more important than EU for tech labour\u00a0 \n Flickr/Andrew Eland https://www.flickr.com/photos/andreweland/1393811350/in/photolist-38aDyb-38aD2Y-qxcwT-eeShQ1-eeLLD4-g4Wrwk-g4X6Gg-g4Wywm-g4WrEg-g4WzQ3-g4WEv5-eeLnLM-eeSv85-g4WuRs-g4XaAP-ea798n-g4WwMv-g4WwA9-eeSj8J-ea79Li-g4WB7o-ea79AK-eacNLf-g4X5KB-g4WBks-eeSoLU-g4Wwwv-g4WtZ6-g4WsDa-ea79FX-g4XcnV-g4WycJ-g4WAnY-g4WB4A-3863Be-eeLBJB-eeSnWJ-g4WBt5-g4WxMh-eeSst1-eeS9p9-bsDnNA-3oVL78-ea7996-ea792Z-eeSbFW-eeLkcX-g4X9C6-ea79LM-g4WA5S\n\nMore skilled tech workers came to the UK from India, the USA, and Australia in 2016 than from the top five EU countries, according to LinkedIn data.\n\nThe data \u2014 touted in a Tech City UK study on Friday \u2014 shows that India provided 12% of all the skilled tech workers migrating to the UK in 2016, while the US provided 10%. European neighbours Spain and France provided 6% each, while Italy provided 5%, Ireland 5%, and Germany 3%.\n\nTechnology founders and investors in the UK have raised concerns that their businesses could suffer if Brexit makes it harder for them to hire engineers and software developers from across the EU. A report from policy group Coalition for a Digital Economy (Coadec) in February suggested Brexit will leave the UK short of 800,000 digital workers by 2020. But the LinkedIn data suggests that the UK technology sector may not be as reliant on skilled EU workers as it thinks it is.\n\nTech City UK is a publicly-funded organisation responsible for growing the UK tech sector. Its leaders were in favour of remaining in the EU but now the UK has voted to leave, the organisation is trying to focus on the positives.\n\nGerard Grech, Tech City UK CEO, said in a statement: \"There is a skills crisis looming in the digital tech sector and competition for talent is fierce and global. By understanding exactly where skilled tech workers come from we can plan for the future and invest where it is necessary. The insights that LinkedIn have shared with us also allow us to build up a bigger picture than ever before of the skills each UK region has.\"", "output": "The UK isn't as reliant on the European Union for skilled technology labour as the sector thinks it is, according to data from LinkedIn published by Tech City UK. Digitally\u00a0focused workers from India and\u00a0the US\u00a0outweigh\u00a0those from Spain, France, Italy, Ireland and Germany combined, it found.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "\u2018Digital skills gap\u2019 emerging in UK SMEs in run up to Brexit: FSB \n The Federation of Small Businesses has warned that UK productivity growth will continue to stall unless action is taken to tackle the digital skills deficit in small businesses.\n\nFSB research has found that over a quarter of business owners in England lack confidence in their basic digital skills and more than a fifth believe a lack of basic digital skills among their staff is holding them back from increasing their digital and online presence.\n\nThe business group says small firms will be left behind unless the National Retraining Scheme, announced in the Budget to boost digital capability, is designed with them in mind. However, 25 per cent of small firms do not consider digital skills to be important to the growth of their business. The FSB says that demonstrating the benefits of digital to these firms will be critical.\n\nMike Cherry, FSB national chairman, said: \u201cFirms risk being left behind unless they have the skills to take advantage of technology to remain competitive and responsive to their customers. We need to highlight the benefits of going digital and then make sure that small businesses and their staff can access basic digital skills training that meet their needs. If we can harness the digital potential of small firms, we stand a real chance of creating more world-beating businesses and boosting growth.\u201d\n\nThe digital skills gap is part of a wider skills challenge hitting small firms. The research finds that 30% of small businesses in England have struggled to find workers to fill roles because of acute skills shortages in the past year.\n\n\u201cProductivity is being hampered by nagging skills shortages which are making recruitment a nightmare for small firms,\u201d said Mike Cherry. \u201cAs the UK moves towards Brexit, a technical skills black hole threatens the economy. Small firms tell us that technical skills are crucial to the future growth of their businesses. The clock is ticking to tackle the ever-widening skills gap.\u201d\n\nThe findings of the research also show that nearly half of all SMEs don\u2019t have a formal training plan or budget. Small firms say the main barriers to training are the fact that their employees are too busy, training is too expensive or the type of training needed is not available locally.\n\nCherry added: \u201cSmall firms clearly recognise the value of providing training for themselves and their staff, but it can be a struggle to find the time and money, and in some cases even to find the right training locally. All Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) should ensure that there is relevant, accessible training available to meet the needs of small businesses and the self-employed.\u201d", "output": "A \"black hole\" in technical skills is threatening the economy as the UK heads for Brexit, the chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has warned. Mike Cherry, FSB national chairman, was commenting on FSB research which claims more than one in four business owners in England are not confident in basic digital skills. The research also finds that over one in five small firms believes it is being held back online by staff with weak digital literacy.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Help for mortgage payers in financial difficulties to be reduced \n Post navigation\n\nA new report has revealed the extent to which help for home owners facing financial difficulty has been scaled back over the past decade.\n\nFollowing the 2008 financial crisis the Government strengthened the safety net for mortgage borrowers, but most of this support has now been withdrawn.\n\nKey findings of the report, Challenges for our Home Ownership Safety Net, UK and International Perspectives, commissioned by trade body UK Finance, include:\n\nSupport will be further reduced next April when the Government is due to stop paying Support for Mortgage Interest as a grant and replace it with a new and less generous form of support \u2013 Loans for Mortgage Interest. This will be repayable when the house is sold.\n\nBy 2022 help for home owners in financial difficulty will be limited mainly to loans to those who do not work. For people with a job, even in part-time or low-paid employment, the system will rely largely on what individual home owners can do for themselves, supported by lenders operating within the legal and regulatory safeguards.\n\nThe report is the work of three of the UK\u2019s leading housing academics. Their analysis explores how the safety net for borrowers in financial difficulty has been eroded in the UK and compares it with other countries.\n\nIt reveals that, while many nations do not provide support specifically for mortgage borrowers, in some cases this is because they already have more generous income support measures in place.\n\nIn countries where mortgage markets have suffered badly because of the financial crisis and subsequent recession, governments have often responded with emergency policies to reduce evictions, modify mortgage terms, transfer homes into the rental sector and provide other support.\n\nThere has also been regulation to reinforce economic stability and limit risks posed by financial institutions.\n\nCommenting on the research, UK Finance\u2019s head of mortgage policy June Deasy said: \u201cAs this research highlights, there have been significant changes in the benefit system affecting home owners.\n\n\u201cIt is important that they are aware of these changes and how they may be affected.\u201d", "output": "Assistance to UK mortgage borrowers who encounter financial difficulties is being stripped back by the government, according to a report. Three academics who specialise in housing policy were commissioned to look at the issue by finance trade body UK Finance and found support has been reduced since the financial crash of 2008. They also highlighted how such reductions will continue,\u00a0until by 2022 assistance will be limited to measures for people out of work, with those on low incomes having to rely on existing statutory safeguards imposed on their lenders.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NCR, CoinHub to introduce bitcoin-enabled ATMs in\u00a0UAE \n NCR has teamed up with UAE cryptocurrency exchange CoinHub to enable users to make cash withdrawals from their bitcoin accounts at the ATM.\n\nNCR says the execution of the cryptocurrency transaction is as simple as any other at the cashpoint - a withdrawal begins with authenticating the user either by scanning a standard ATM card or via cardless access with a mobile device.\n\n\n\nSimilar to the selection of current or savings accounts, the user can opt to withdraw funds from their linked CoinHub cryptocurrency account.\n\n\n\nPanicos Demetriades, vice president, professional services, NCR Financial Services, says: \u201cWhen we first showcased this solution to mark the 50th anniversary of the ATM last year, the positive feedback from our leading financial institution customers in the UAE helped guide our decision to bring this to market.\u201d\n\n", "output": "US cash machine company NCR is partnering with cryptocurrency exchange CoinHub to allow customers in the UAE to make cash withdrawals from their bitcoin accounts. The technology was demonstrated by NCR last year to mark the 50th anniversary of the ATM, and the positive reaction persuaded them to introduce it commercially. Customers will make the transactions in the usual way, authenticating themselves either using their card or mobile device and opting to withdraw from their linked CoinHub cryptocurrency account.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nuggets building ID verification blockchain in FCA sandbox \n Podcast\n\nHoly Trinity Baptist Church Federal Credit Union has about $24,000 in assets, making it one of the smallest credit unions in the U.S. But it has survived and thrived over the past 50-plus years with low overhead and a small but loyal membership.", "output": "London-based firm Nuggets is developing a blockchain and biometric identity system within the Financial Conduct Authority's FCA Innovate sandbox. Nuggets co-founder Alastair Johnson said the decentralised system, which uses facial recognition technology and stores no personal data, would be available to banks and businesses via an API, while consumers would use an app. The planned launch is for Q1 2018. Nuggets was invited to participate in the sandbox by the regulator, which aims to encourage innovation in fintech.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Uber rival Ola acquires food delivery firm Foodpanda India \n The country\u2019s largest home-grown ride-hailing firm, Ola, has acquired food delivery company Foodpanda\u2019s India business from its German parent, Delivery Hero. It announced the all-stock deal today (Dec. 19) in a press release, though it did not disclose the cost of the acquisition.\n\nOla will invest $200 million (Rs1,282 crore) into Foodpanda India.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nSaurabh Kochhar, the current CEO of Foodpanda India, has decided to move on, the release said. The company will now be headed by Ola\u2019s founding partner Pranay Jivrajka, it added.\n\n\u201cFoodpanda India will benefit from Ola\u2019s scale and efficiencies as a platform, also having leveraged learnings from Delivery Hero\u2019s global best practices,\u201d a press release from Ola said. \u201cOla and Delivery Hero will continue to collaborate on building the online food delivery ecosystem in India.\u201d\n\nThis will be Ola\u2019s second outing in the food delivery space. In 2015, the company entered the market organically with a service called Ola Cafe in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. However, it discontinued the service after a year as it reportedly failed to meet targets.\n\nMeanwhile, rival Uber has been running its meal order and delivery platform UberEATS in India since May this year. The service is available in six cities, according to a company press release issued last week.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWith this acquisition, Ola will now have access to Foodpanda\u2019s delivery network across over 100 cities, which includes menus from over 15,000 restaurants.\n\nWhile Uber and Ola have established themselves as leaders in the online ride-hailing space in India, this will be a different game altogether. The food delivery segment in India is currently crowded with several strong players such as Swiggy and Zomato, who themselves have been struggling to make money.", "output": "Indian ride-hailing firm Ola has made a second bid to enter the country's competitive food delivery space, with the all-stock acquisition of Foodpanda India from German parent firm Delivery Hero. Ola is set to invest $200m in the business, as it takes on rival company Uber and its subsidiary UberEATS India, as well as Swiggy and Zomato. The acquisition gives Ola access to menus from more than 15,000 restaurants across over 100 cities. In 2015, Ola launched Ola Cafe in Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Mumbai, but the initiative folded after a year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ordnance Survey explores roof detector software \n Britain's map maker is demonstrating that machine learning isn't all hot air \u2013 but has discovered just how much donkey work is involved.\n\nThe Ordnance Survey set up an ML experiment to identify roofs from its remote sensing data (satellite and aerial imagery), and found the trial reached 87 per cent accuracy within a week, from a standing start. That's still less accurate than humans (at 95 per cent), but that's not the point \u2013 it could process thousands in the time it takes a human to do one.\n\n\"Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to classify this roof...\" [Source: Ordnance Survey]\n\n\"It does have the potential to revolutionise our operations,\" an OS spokesman enthused. The week-long prototype isn't ready for deployment because it isn't yet accurate enough, but it promises to accelerate visual data analysis.\n\nRoofs fall into three main categories \u2013 gabled, hipped, or flat \u2013 although there are some that are fantastically rare, such as the saddle roof. You may wonder why anyone would care. Insurance people do: they use OS data to determine insurance levels. The laborious process of labelling 20,000 roofs was crowdsourced to OS employees. In all, five separate data sources were used and thrown into the mix.\n\nThe challenge was one of classification rather than identification, OS research scientist Charis Doidge told us.\n\n\"We already have the polygons from our data,\" she said. That meant the model wasn't struggling to identify roofs all over the map. \"Segmentation is an issue,\" Doidge agrees. One discovery she found was that removing the extraneous pixels around the polygon sharply improved recognition.\n\nIt isn't the first time OS has used ML to augment its pattern recognition. The agency adopted a similar, practical approach when giving ML a spin before.\n\nSuck it and see\n\nOne OS dataset is used by the Rural Payments Agency to determine subsidies. One particular subsidy rewards farmers for planting and maintaining hedgerows \u2013 and this data is mapped by the OS. Analysts look for changes in the hedgerows, as this can likely mean changes in payments. So automating and flagging up changes can be a boon.\n\nPotentially, at least. The OS and RPA ran three experiments with mixed results: some promising, some not.\n\nSource: Ordnance Survey\n\n\"The results prove that automatically identifying changes to certain types of Land Parcel Boundaries \u2013 especially, drains/ditches/dykes, walls, or fences (which are smaller than the spatial resolution of the input imagery data) \u2013 is very difficult even using specialist edge detection tools such as those employed within this work,\" the RPA's postmortem concluded.\n\n\"These types of features have the lowest change detection accuracy and have a detrimental impact on the overall change detection accuracy.\"\n\nThe analysis found that a lot of pre-processing was required to make the data suitable for the ML algorithms. The algorithms were then confused by lighting (the angle of the Sun) and the time of year the source data was taken. But this illustrates a dilemma for anyone deploying state-of-the-art AI today, when the paint isn't dry on the art: you don't know whether it's going to work until you've tried it.\n\nTo illustrate how early days it is, the \"Father of Deep Learning\", Geoffrey Hinton, recently revealed a radical approach to pattern recognition using neural networks. In the 1980s, Hinton had pioneered the theoretical application of backpropagation techniques to neural nets. This is an approach which, when allied to large data sets, has finally borne some practical fruit in recent years.\n\nHinton declared that backpropagation was no longer sufficient to take AI forward, and revealed what he says is a superior technique \u2013 capsules. The approach has been welcomed as taking AI researchers \"out of a rut\". Hinton's new approach assumes the pattern being sought is already in the image, \"[using] neural activities that vary as viewpoint varies rather than trying to eliminate viewpoint variation from activities\". (Human-readable PDFs here and here.)\n\nRight now Hinton's focus is on 3D objects, so it isn't directly useful to the OS.\n\nIt's early days in pattern recognition, and what's emerging is the need for cleanly labelled data. But for mappers, whose raw data is visual, the prospect of speeding up the work seems promising. \u00ae", "output": "The UK's publicly-owned mapping company Ordnance Survey is experimenting with machine learning (ML) software that can detect the type of roof on a building from satellite and aerial images. The classifications are used by insurance companies, amongst others, and have previously been completed manually by OS employees. Within a week of being introduced, the new software achieved an accuracy rate of 87%, and was able to process the data thousands of times faster than human analysts. The technology could have other applications, such as for detecting changes in farm hedgerows to work out entitlements for agricultural subsidies."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK Land Registry may record sales made in bitcoin \n Post navigation\n\nThe Land Registry which lists homes sold and bought across England and Wales has said it \u201cmay\u201d record payments for homes that are not made in the UK\u2019s sterling currency.\n\nHowever, in a woolly statement, it says that this is \u2018not a recognition\u2019 of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.\n\nEYE has asked for further clarification.\n\nThe Land Registry last night said that its own payments, made to it by the likes of property owners and conveyancers registering title, must not be in currency such as bitcoin. However, it has not seemed to deny that it will register house sales in bitcoin.\n\nThe \u2018clarification\u2019 came after EYE asked for further information on our story yesterday that a small property firm \u2013 whose activities include an estate agency as well as a new homes developer \u2013 claimed a first in selling a property whose price would be recorded by the Land Registry in bitcoins.\n\nAfter queries that this was \u2018fake news\u2019, EYE asked the Land Registry a straightforward question: does it record sales in bitcoin?\n\nLast night, in a statement the Land Registry told us: \u201cIn land and property transactions, we record when the price paid, or value, is declared. If the price paid is not in pounds sterling then we may record it.\n\n\u2018This is not a recognition of the validity of the payment made but rather a record of the transaction.\n\n\u201cOur registration fee is payable on the pound sterling equivalent of the value of the property and this is declared to us by the conveyancer.\n\n\u201cWe do not accept cryptocurrency for any forms of payment for our products or services.\n\n\u201cWe register the ownership, interests and mortgages against land and property in England and Wales, regardless of the method of payment.\u201d\n\nYesterday, the property firm involved in what it said were the first two homes to be sold in bitcoin, stuck firmly to its guns in saying that the Land Registry has agreed to record one of those sales in bitcoin.\n\nEstate agent Edward Casson, of Go Holdings, told us: \u201cEssentially the Land Registry have said that whatever the contract completes on \u2013 xx bitcoin, that\u2019s what they will record.\u201d\n\nHe said of the fake news claims: \u201cYou will always get doubters on areas like this because it is new and most can\u2019t understand its concept \u2026 yet.\u201d\n\nLast night, after the Land Registry issued its statement, Casson said: \u201cEssentially they can record it in any format but our conveyancing contracts are in BTC (bitcoin) for these sales, and the legal teams will advise the Registry so.\n\n\u201cInterestingly there have been lots of other buyers who have come forward today [yesterday] also wishing to purchase some of our property with BTC. Good to see so many potential buyers in a tough market.\u201d\n\nEYE understands that the Government is considering the impact of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin across all its departments, and that news media \u2013 including The Times, Telegraph and EYE \u2013 may be seen to have \u2018jumped the gun\u2019.", "output": "The UK Land Registry has hinted that it will record payments made in bitcoin and other non-sterling transaction methods, though it made it clear that this was not an endorsement of cryptocurrencies. It clarified that payments made to the land registry for its services must still be made in pounds. Moreover, a spokesperson for the land registry merely records the transaction, ownership, interests and mortgages on the land, and if the price paid was made in an alternate currency then they may record it."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ad company Prism granted membership status by IAB \n The IAB UK has granted membership status to Prism, the ad company that emerged from ad blocking software firm Shine Technologies. Launched in 2015 as a controversial network-level ad blocker, the company has since shed senior management, re-engineered its solution and rebranded to Prism Platform. The company was also briefly known as Rainbow while the new management workedd on repositioning the company.\n\nPrism makes use of first-party data gathered by consumer opt-in for targeting solutions and behavioural insights, and works with advertisers and publishers to ensure that served ads meet ad industry standards, including the IAB\u2019s LEAN principles which were established to fight back against the rise of ad blocking by ensuring non-invasive, light-weight ads.\n\nAdvertisers and publishers are able to get ads verified before they are served to the end consumer, a service the firm offers free of charge, and publishers are provided with an early warning system for non-compliants ads, enabling them to be replaced before they are served.\n\n\u201cRelaunching the company as Prism Platform is a firm and final departure from the legacy of Shine, a company known for its negative and irresponsible rhetoric more than for its action,\u201d said James Collier, chief revenue officer and co-founder of Prism. \u201cRainbow was an intermediate step for us on our journey to reposition the company.\n\n\u201cWe have now redeveloped the ad compliance technology into a trusted and brand-safe platform that is designed to work with all the key stakeholders of the digital content and advertising industry to provide targeting solutions for brands and publishers, open revenue streams for carriers, give insights into human behaviour and ensure a relevant, engaging ad experience for consumers.\u201d\n\nAddressing Prism\u2019s entry into the IAB, Tim Elkington, chief digital officer at the IAB UK said: \u201cPrism has changed and because of that, we can accept them as members. Like any member, we hope they\u2019ll take part in the Gold Standard (the IAB\u2019s recently-unveiled pledge for higher ad quality) to help build a sustainable future for digital advertising.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe are delighted to become members of the IAB UK, who are an important fixture in the fight for better brand and consumer ad experiences,\u201d said Collier. \u201cWe fully support the IAB in their efforts to reverse and stop the continued growth of ad-blocking; as a technology company focused on keeping the internet free, we work to enable all stakeholders gain a better experience from digital advertising.\n\n\u201cOur mission is to enhance the experience of every stakeholder involved in digital advertising, with consumers, brands, advertisings and publishers able to reach the best audiences in a transparent way, without supplementing the end consumer experience. Our membership with the IAB speaks to this \u2013 we have firmly placed increased trust and transparency at the centre of our activity, and hope to encourage all stakeholders to adhere to IAB guidelines and best practices.\u201d", "output": "The IAB UK has added ad company Prism Platform to its members. Prism Platform, which launched from ad blocking software company Shine Technologies in 2015, uses first-party data to offer targeted solutions and behavioural insights to advertisers and publishers. The company uses data gathered through consumer opt-in facilities to create non-invasive ads that meet IAB standards. Ads are verified free of charge, with early warnings given to non-compliant ads before they are served.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Walmart invests in online systems for drive-through service \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\n(Reuters) \u2014 As Amazon.com looks to upend the U.S. grocery market with home delivery, some veteran supermarket operators are betting on a different strategy: curbside pickup. Americans have long loved the convenience of drive-through service for burgers and coffee. Kroger Co and Walmart Inc are tweaking that formula for groceries.\n\nThe companies have invested heavily in online systems that allow customers to order ahead from their neighborhood store. Workers pick and pack the products, then run them out to shoppers in the parking lot, the grocery version of carry out pizza. For the retailers, the service is cheaper than delivery, because customers do the driving. For shoppers, it means skipping crowds and queues at their local market, and no worries about missing packages or melted ice cream if they are not at home to meet the delivery guy.\n\nTony Sacco, who lives in the Los Angeles beach community of Playa Del Rey, is a regular user of the service at a nearby Ralphs supermarket, owned by Cincinnati-based Kroger. Each pickup costs $6.95, but the time-crunched married father of three says it is worth it.\n\n\u201cThis is easy. Time is money,\u201d said Sacco, 47, as a worker loaded bags into his SUV on a recent morning.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\nRetaining customers like Sacco is critical for traditional grocery retailers as they battle an array of upstarts bent on turning groceries into the next home-delivery juggernaut.\n\nNew entrants such as meal-kit company Blue Apron and organic food seller Thrive Market are peeling off coveted slices of their business. Amazon, the nation\u2019s largest online retailer, has amassed an 18 percent share of the $12.6 billion U.S. online grocery market mainly through the sale of packaged goods such as pasta and diapers. It is the largest player in a sector that is expected to grow to $41.7 billion by 2022, according to market research firm Packaged Facts.\n\nBut even mighty Amazon has struggled with the trickiest part of the trade: delivering fresh produce, meat, dairy and other perishables. Its AmazonFresh service started more than a decade ago, but has yet to make a major mark.\n\nAmazon is making another run at it with its $13.7 billion purchase of upscale grocery chain Whole Foods earlier this year. Amazon has said little about its plans. But analysts expect it will use Whole Foods\u2019 450 locations as distribution hubs for home delivery, opening a new front in its campaign to disrupt the $700-billion U.S. grocery industry.\n\nOld-line players are responding with some new moves of their own. Kroger and Walmart are experimenting with delivery. But they are wagering that pickup is the true sweet spot in the industry\u2019s online evolution. Both are rolling out the service in thousands of their stores.\n\n\u201cThe way people are going to shop for groceries is going to be curbside, not delivery,\u201d said Jason Goldberg, a senior vice president at digital marketing firm SapientRazorfish.\n\nAmazon, too, is eyeing that channel. AmazonFresh has already tested pickup in Seattle and analysts expect Whole Foods to do the same.\n\nNevertheless, researcher Packaged Facts says traditional retailers can win with real estate: \u201cCompanies such as Walmart and Kroger have the advantage, because they already have stores all over the country in both urban and rural settings,\u201d it said in a recent report.\n\nClick and Collect\n\nKroger bought its way into pickup with its 2014 purchase of southeast grocer Harris Teeter, which had an established program.\n\nThat same year, Kroger debuted its own offering, known as ClickList, adding features such as coupons and promotions based on detailed customer data.\n\nPickup is now available at 1,000 of the chain\u2019s 2,800 stores and the company is adding the service at 400 to 500 locations a year, according to Matt Thompson, the vice president of ClickList.\n\nHe said curbside customers spend 40 percent to 60 percent more than traditional shoppers, because they tend to stock up on bulky items such as bottled water. Users pay $4.95 to $6.95 for each order depending on their location. Kroger would not disclose how many shoppers use ClickList. It promotes the service in stores and online, while customers spread the word through social media.\n\nUsers log into ClickList online. They put items into digital carts, pay and reserve a pickup time at least four hours in advance.\n\nThe order is sent to a terminal in a store\u2019s dedicated ClickList room, where \u201cpickers\u201d are dispatched with handheld devices that tell them exactly where to find each item. These workers bag the products and put them into labeled bins; perishables are kept in a nearby freezer or fridge. When customers pull into designated pickup parking spaces, they are directed to call a number to alert a ClickList staffer, who wheels the bags to their cars.\n\nKroger gave Reuters a tour of its ClickList operation at a Ralphs supermarket in Los Angeles\u2019 Westchester neighborhood in late November.\n\nMiguel Lopez, who leads the ClickList team there, said it takes about 30 minutes to pick a $100 order; a $400 order takes an hour. The team tracks progress on a white board that showed weekly progress since the service debuted in January. The number of daily orders ranged from 13 to 36. Sales for the week Reuters visited, which included Thanksgiving Day, were on pace to hit a record of more than $12,000.\n\nAnalysts say typical Kroger stores have annual sales of around $30 million, excluding gasoline. Deutsche Bank analyst Shane Higgins said pickup already accounts for over 5 percent of sales in some locations.\n\nKroger declined to comment on the overall performance of ClickList but acknowledged costs are initially higher for pickup orders because of the additional labor involved. Company executives said increasing sales and efficiency can virtually eliminate that gap in as little as three years.\n\nAnother challenge to profitability is that pickup customers are not tempted by in-store impulse items. But the biggest risk, analysts say, is to do nothing and let customers drift to competitors that offer the service.\n\nShopper Kimberlee Isaacs says ClickList has kept her loyal to the Westchester Ralphs, where she drops $800 a month on groceries for her family of three.\n\n\u201cWe use it every single week. I don\u2019t go into the store unless I forgot something,\u201d Isaacs, 50, said.\n\nComing on Strong\n\nMeanwhile, Walmart, the nation\u2019s top grocery seller, aims to add free curbside pickup at 1,000 stores next year, bringing the total to 2,100 of its 4,700 U.S. locations. It declined to discuss profitability of the service. But spokeswoman Molly Blakeman said the company decided to expand it quickly based on encouraging results. Pickup is winning converts such as Hudson, Florida shopper Steve Mondock, who had previously shunned Walmart.\n\n\u201cI hated the crowds, I hated the parking,\u201d said Mondock, 55, who now buys most of his basics there.\n\nVirtually every food retailer is now testing or adding pickup, including Publix, HEB, Meijer and Safeway. Target Corp, which just bought delivery company Shipt, is testing drive up for non-perishable groceries and other items.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s why you want to be early so you can capture someone else\u2019s customers,\u201d said Loop Capital analyst Andrew Wolf.", "output": "Walmart is looking to challenge rival Amazon by using a drive-through style service for kerbside pickups, enabling customers to order products ahead of time for pickup outside the store. The service will reduce delivery costs delivery for retailers, while also providing convenience for customers. Walmart is rolling out the service across 1,000 shops next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Volkswagen to construct 2,800 EV charging points across US \n Volkswagen has committed to building an EV charging network in the US. By 2019, VW's Electrify America division plans to install 2,800 charging stations in 17 of the country's biggest cities, according to Reuters. It'll cost the automaker some $2 billion, with California getting almost half of the investment. That might sound like a lot of money, but for context, Volkswagen had paid out over $20 billion for its diesel emissions scandal as of this February.\n\nFor comparison, in April Tesla said by year's end it would have 10,000 Supercharger stations in place by year's end. It took the company almost five years to install 5,400 of those. The company also promised to boost the number of normal-speed charging stations (Destination Charging) from 9,000 locations to 15,000 this year. Tesla's first Supercharger rest stops started going online in November.\n\nTesla has its own woes as well: the company can't produce its $35,000 Model 3 sedans fast enough to keep up with pre-orders.", "output": "German automaker Volkswagen has announced plans to install 2,800 electric vehicle charging points across the United States, in 17 of the country's largest cities. VW aims to complete the project by June 2019, with 75% of these charging points installed at workplaces. The remainder will be multifamily residential buildings. The plan is part of VW's $2bn nationwide agreement to enhance clean car infrastructure\u00a0following revelations of its\u00a0diesel emissions cheating.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Global poultry market forecast to continue growing in 2018 \n Consumer demand for poultry will continue to grow in all regions except for China for the first six months of the year and possibly longer.\n\nThe Rabobank Outlook report says global prices for chicken have remained strong, particularly for whole chicken and breast meat, but dark meat prices have declined.\n\nHowever, the report cautions against over-optimism, arguing that a disciplined supply growth strategy will be needed, particularly as uncertainties are rising, such as the possible return of avian influenza in the northern hemisphere this winter and the rising supply of competitive meat proteins, like pork and beef.\n\nGlobal poultry trade is likely once again to be hit by volatility, due not only to AI but also exchange rate fluctuations and changes in traders\u2019 procurement strategies in response to earlier trade scandals. New suppliers will continue to enter the market so supply discipline will be important, the report adds.\n\nGlobal Highlights\n\nNan-Dirk Mulder, Rabobank senior analyst animal protein, said the fastest growing global regions would be South East Asia and Eastern Europe.\n\n\u201cSouth East Asia will remain very bullish in the next year, within ongoing growth of more than 5% in most countries like Indonesia, India, the Philippines and Thailand being driven by strong local demand and Thailand\u2019s clear leadership when it comes to global trade.\n\n\u201cHowever, recent expansion of the industry, at 7%, has probably occurred a bit too fast, when taking the current margin pressure into account.\u201d\n\nEurope\n\nThe EU poultry industry will continue to perform relatively well, based on a favourable supply/demand balance due to AI restricting production growth and animal welfare/environmental regulations preventing substantial expansion.\n\nEastern Europe, particularly Poland, will keep growing fast and will become a major trade hub.\n\nUS\n\nThe US poultry industry is also likely to perform well, driven by ongoing local market conditions and improved exports, combined with a predicted record-high US corn and soybean harvest, which is set to push feed prices lower.\n\nSouth America\n\nThe report says that the Brazilian industry is recovering from the \u201cweak flesh\u201d scandal, and exports have returned to 2016 levels after substantial drops in quarters two and three. However, the risk of Brazilian imports being substituted by new suppliers remains.\n\nLoser\n\nThe report argues that the largest loser in the next few months will be China. Mr Mulder said: \u201cChina\u2019s industry is struggling, with winter rapidly approaching and many wet markets yet to be closed.\n\n\u201cThis situation could negatively affect prices and global trade. The industry needs to further reduce supply in order to rebalance supply and demand.\u201d", "output": "Worldwide demand for poultry will continue to grow next year, with the price of chicken remaining strong. Analysts from the Dutch-based Rabobank predict the market will grow in North and South America, Europe and southeast Asia, with only China facing problems as its poultry industry struggles with oversupply. Despite the generally positive outlook, Rabobank warned\u00a0that there are increasing uncertainties in the market, with the threat of avian influenza returning\u00a0and currency fluctuations contributing to volatility in prices.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Self-healing polymer could end cracked screens \n Japanese researchers say they have developed a new type of glass that can heal itself from cracks and breaks.\n\nGlass made from a low weight polymer called \u201cpolyether-thioureas\u201d can heal breaks when pressed together by hand without the need for high heat to melt the material.\n\nThe research, published in Science, by researchers led by Professor Takuzo Aida from the University of Tokyo, promises healable glass that could potentially be used in phone screens and other fragile devices, which they say are an important challenge for sustainable societies.\n\nWhile self-healing rubber and plastics have already been developed, the researchers said that the new material was the first hard substance of its kind that can be healed at room temperature.\n\n\u201cHigh mechanical robustness and healing ability tend to be mutually exclusive,\u201d wrote the researchers, saying that while some hard but healable materials have been developed, \u201cin most cases, heating to high temperatures, on the order of 120\u00b0C or more, to reorganise their cross-linked networks, is necessary for the fractured portions to repair.\u201d\n\nThe new polymer glass is \u201chighly robust mechanically yet can readily be repaired by compression at fractured surfaces\u201d.\n\nThe properties of the polyether-thioureas glass were discovered by accident by graduate school student Yu Yanagisawa, who was preparing the material as a glue. Yanagisawa found that when the surface of the polymer was cut the edges would adhere to each other, healing to form a strong sheet after being manually compressed for 30 seconds at 21\u00b0C.\n\nFurther experimentation found that the healed material regained its original strength after a couple of hours.\n\nYanagisawa told NHK that he didn\u2019t believe the results at first and repeated his experiments multiple times to confirm the finding. He said: \u201cI hope the repairable glass becomes a new environment-friendly material that avoids the need to be thrown away if broken.\u201d\n\nThis is not the first time a polymer has been suggested as a healable screen for devices such as smartphones. Researchers at the University of California proposed the use of polymer that could stretch to 50 times its original size and heal breaks within 24 hours.\n\nSmartphone manufacturers have already used self-healing materials in devices. LG\u2019s G Flex 2 shipped in 2015 with a coating on its back that was capable of healing minor scratches over time, although failed to completely repair heavier damage.\n\nAccording to research commissioned by repair firm iMend in 2015, over 21% of UK smartphone users were living with a broken screen, with smashed displays being one of the biggest issues alongside poor battery life.", "output": "Purely by accident, a student at the University of Tokyo stumbled across a new type of glass that can 'heal' itself. Researchers say the technology could be easily replicated and mass produced for phone screens. The material is made from a polymer called 'polyether-thioureas' and can be \"repaired by compression at fractured surfaces\" without the need for high temperatures to reshape the material. Recent research shows that billions of dollars are wasted on phone repairs, and the technology could save consumers from having to pay for phone repairs in the future."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dell spearheads NextWave coalition to tackle ocean-bound plastic \n Today, Dell announced that it will work with several of the world\u2019s leading brands to develop what it describes as the world\u2019s first commercial-scale, ocean-bound plastics supply chain. Companies like Adidas might quibble with that claim, but we see it as good news all around.\n\nBeyond simply collecting plastic, this program includes an education program that seeks to heighten awareness about the dangers plastic impose on oceans and marine life. In addition, each company participating in this initiative, named NextWave, has pledged to reduce its plastic footprint while reducing or eliminating consumption of single-use and non-recyclable plastics.\n\nBrands participating in NextWave include General Motors, Herman Miller, Interface and Trek Bikes. UN Environment and the NGO Lonely Whale are also participating in this initiative.\n\nFor Dell, this program builds upon the several years of work it has invested in creating more sustainable and recyclable packaging, as well as striving to achieve a more closed-loop system within its supply chain.\n\nOn its own web site, Dell has projected statistics that suggest over 86 million tons, or 5 trillion pieces of plastic, are currently in the world\u2019s oceans. Estimates suggest about 8 million tons of plastic waste wash up in oceans \u2013 an amount that could increase to 150 million tons by 2025. By mid-century, there could be more plastics in the world\u2019s oceans than fish.\n\nThe organizations coalescing around the NextWave initiative suggest that if their plan succeeds, they could prevent 3 million pounds of plastics from entering the oceans by 2023 \u2013 the equivalent of eliminating 66 million water bottles from ending up at sea. That is a relatively small drop in the morass of ocean plastic that is ruining oceans, but if similar efforts can continue to launch worldwide, marine ecosystems may actually stand a chance in the long run.\n\nDell says the origin of this program lies into the relationship it developed with Lonely Whale back in 2015. That partnership eventually led to an ocean plastics recycling program the company started in February. For that pilot project, salvaged ocean plastic has been blended with other recycled plastic resins to mold trays used for shipping. The company concluded that during 2017, this program will prevent 16,000 pounds of plastic from entering oceans.\n\nThese programs are additional steps Dell says is it taking with a goal to only use 100 percent sustainable packaging by 2020. According to the company, Dell is the only computer hardware manufacturer to offer computers and monitors made out of both recycled e-waste plastics and carbon fiber.\n\nThe organizations participating in NextWave insist their cooperation can help move industry closer to a circular economy.\n\n\u201cI am so proud to see our partnership with Dell continue to grow and inspire companies across industries to use their capabilities to address ocean health,\u201d said Adrian Grenier, founder of Lonely Whale. \u201cThis is no individual company\u2019s problem; this impacts every human being and company, and it is incredible to see these industry leaders coming together.\u201d\n\nImage credit: Dell/Flickr", "output": "Dell is bringing together a group of major brands to tackle the problem of plastic polluting the marine environment. The program titled NextWave has been developed in partnership with incubator Lonely Whale and involves brands including General Motors and Herman Miller. NextWave seeks to develop a supply chain that reduces ocean-bound plastics at scale. It will also run an education programme. Dell estimates that there are 86 million tonnes of plastic in the ocean and the initiative hopes to prevent 3 million pounds of plastic from entering the ocean by 2023, the equivalent of 66 million plastic water bottles, but still a relative drop in the ocean.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US military to test 3D-printing drones in the field \n US Military tests system for on-demand 3D-printed drones Pick out parts or a whole UAV customized for the mission from a tablet-based catalog.\n\nThe US military has used drones in combat zones for over a decade to scout and support infantry. Now they're testing a way to give ground troops another edge: The capability to build UAVs themselves. What's more, the US Army is partnering with the Marine Corps on a test project that lets troops 3D-print particular drone parts from a tablet-based catalog, which could eventually lead to manufacturing UAVs customized to the mission.\n\nThe concept is promising, and so is the flexibility: The software catalog setup lets military units print out an unmanned aircraft system for specific missions. The Army Research Laboratory expects the turnaround time to create UAV parts to be anywhere from minutes to hours, rather than days or weeks.\n\nThis won't be the Marine Corps first experiment with 3D-printed drones. Last year, the Corps held an internal program called the Logistics Innovation Challenge that sought ideas from within its ranks. Among the winning submissions was a fixed-wing drone called the Scout, designed by a 26-year-old Corporal that costs $600 and fits in a standard Marine backpack.", "output": "The US military is experimenting with a system to allow troops in the field to create bespoke drones using 3D printers. The US Army and the Marine Corps are collaborating on the project, which would enable military units to choose from a catalogue of options for different unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). As well as the ability to customise the drone to the type of mission required, 3D printing would also reduce supply times from days or week to hours or minutes."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BMW partners with Solid Power on solid-state batteries \n BMW is jumping into the solid-state battery game and it's doing so by teaming up with battery-developer Solid Power. The company is a spin-out from the University of Colorado Boulder and has been developing solid-state rechargeable batteries since 2012. BMW is partnering with Solid Power to bring its battery technology to electric vehicles. \"Since the company's inception, the Solid Power team has worked to develop and scale a competitive solid-state battery paying special attention to safety, performance and cost,\" Doug Campbell, founder and CEO of Solid Power, said in a statement. \"Collaborating with BMW is further validation that solid-state battery innovations will continue to improve electric vehicles.\"\n\nSolid-state batteries offer a few advantages over the lithium-ion batteries largely in use today including greater energy density and, therefore, increased driving range when used in EVs, less chance of fire or explosion and rapid recharging. The benefits of solid-state batteries are why so many companies, including Fisker, Toyota and Google, are looking to develop the technology and ultimately incorporate them into their products.\n\nBatteries that limit EVs' driving ranges will certainly keep these types of vehicles from becoming mainstream. So technology that can stretch those driving distances and make EVs as convenient as traditional gas-powered cars will be a must when it comes to expanding their use and, therefore, the environmental benefits they afford.", "output": "BMW is partnering with US battery developer Solid Power to utilise its knowledge of solid-state cells as the German automaker develops its electric vehicles. Solid-state batteries offer greater energy density in comparison with lithium-ion batteries, meaning increased driving range, accelerated charging rates and increased safety."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Net neutrality shutdown may hit US universities \n In an age of Donald Trump, research funding cuts and debates about free speech on campus, \u201cnet neutrality\u201d has struggled to reach the top of the US higher education debate.\n\nHowever, universities have warned that the decision by the Federal Communications Commission to repeal the Open Internet Order \u2013 allowing private internet providers to control the speed of data delivery \u2013 will infringe on free speech and create barriers to higher education.\n\nThe shift, proposed by FCC chairman Aji Pai last month, will roll back a 2015 decision by the Obama administration that classified internet services as a \u201cTitle II\u201d public utility, similar to landline telephones and electricity.\n\nUnder the proposal, which was passed in a vote by the commission on 14 December, an internet service provider will be allowed to prioritise content by controlling access speeds. Higher education stakeholders have criticised the policy, saying that it will result in an internet controlled by corporate interests and one that is no longer an open public space.\n\n\u201cNet neutrality is critical to preserve an open internet and the modern form of the town square where everyone has an equal voice,\u201d said Krista Cox, director of public policy initiatives at the Association of Research Libraries (ARL).\n\nA repeal gives ISPs the ability to discriminate against some content while favouring corporate affiliated content, she argues. \u201cThose who can pay for prioritisation will be heightened and others diminished,\u201d she said.\n\nThe ARL is part of a group of higher education organisations including the American Council on Education (ACE) and the American Association of Universities (AAU) that have called on the FCC to ban blocking, degradation and paid prioritisation of internet content by service providers or broadband mobile providers.\n\nAt risk is free speech, the group argued. \u201cThe current proposal would allow corporations to allow that there are types of content that are too controversial,\u201d said Jon Fansmith, director of government relations at ACE. \u201cThere\u2019s a very real possibility of suppression of free speech and limitations on what kind of speech is acceptable.\u201d\n\nThe private networks that universities use to access the internet will be unaffected by the decision, however, with just five companies serving 80 per cent of internet customers, many students may struggle to switch to an alternative service provider off-campus.\n\nComplicating the ability to access fast internet is the patchy broadband infrastructure in the US in general. According to the FCC\u2019s 2016 broadband report, one in 10 Americans nationwide lacks access to acceptable internet speeds.\n\nIt also found that more than 39 per cent of Americans living in rural areas lack access to advanced telecommunications capability, compared with 4 per cent of Americans living in urban areas.\n\nAny disruption to speeds could deeply affect the quality of education that students receive off campus, stakeholders argue.\n\nMegan Kocher, a science librarian at the University of Minnesota, said that the repeal \u201ccould be devastating\u201d to the quality of distance-education that the institution\u2019s rural-based students receive.\n\n\u201cWaiting for pages to download isn\u2019t a luxury that everyone has,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s discriminatory to accept that only people on campus will get it; it\u2019s objectively a worse education for people in rural areas.\u201d\n\nOther critics have said that the repeal threatens to disrupt online exams and creates barriers to students forming online communities.\n\nWith the growing use of flipped classrooms, the day-to-day operations of higher education pedagogy will be also affected by the repeal, said Jessica Sebeok, associate vice-president and counsel for policy at the AAU.\n\n\u201cThe demographic of undergraduates has changed \u2013 50 per cent of students are non-traditional and live off campus. Distance learning is a big part of their ability to obtain their goals,\u201d she said.\n\nCommunity outreach, an important mission that universities use to engage with local and state-wide communities and disseminate their research, could also be at risk.\n\nMs Kocher said that the University of Minnesota\u2019s community extension programmes are vital to its land grant mission to \u201cprovide education throughout the state\u201d. The initiatives connect Minnesotans to the institution\u2019s research and experts in fields such as tourism, and health and wellness.\n\n\u201cEspecially in agriculture, we have to have a strong partnership to get research to farmers. It is important that people think of the University of Minnesota as a partner and as their resource,\u201d she explained.\n\n\u201cWithout net neutrality, it puts us in danger of not being able to reach users across the state.\u201d\n\nThe biggest impact of the repeal, however, will be cost, and educators believe that the move will ultimately push up already soaring tuition fees.\n\nChris Millet, director of learning design operations at Pennsylvania State University\u2019s World Campus, said that the proposal creates a major barrier to students accessing videos that are central to online course material.\n\nThe majority of the online school\u2019s 16,000 students would be impacted if the university\u2019s online content is defaulted to an internet slow lane, he said.\n\n\u201cWe want to offer educational opportunities to all students but the repeal would potentially introduce new costs [for] that model to contend with,\u201d he said.\n\nIn addition to using online services to facilitate classroom instruction or to provide distance learning, universities use cloud-based services such as Microsoft Office 365 and Google apps, explained Mr Fansmith at ACE.\n\n\u201cWe have massive research networks for collaborating and sharing information; we have libraries that store and share huge amounts of data off-site or on cloud-based servers,\u201d he said. \u201cIf all of those services that we employ are required to shift their pricing model based on prioritisation, or throttling, those costs get transferred to us and we can\u2019t simply swallow them.\n\n\u201cWhen you do something that adds significant costs to institutions, you\u2019re effectively pricing out low-income students.\u201d\n\nSupporters of the repeal, however, argue that net neutrality is a form of government regulation that could signal the beginning of tighter internet restrictions overall.\n\n\u201cYou can\u2019t believe what\u2019s on the [net neutrality] tin,\u201d said William Dutton, director of Michigan State University\u2019s Quello Center, which researches communication technologies, industries and consumer choices. \u201cThis opens the internet up to the threat of greater policy constraint.\n\n\"It invites additional content regulations and legitimises content regulation by the government, which could undermine an open internet.\"\n\nThe best thing for the internet is to focus on competition and fostering more search and video platforms, he argued.\n\nThe campaign to maintain the Open Internet Order won\u2019t end with the 14 December vote. \u201cImmediate litigation is expected to follow,\u201d said Mr Fansmith.\n\n\u201cI think there would be a variety of parties that would be pursuing that,\u201d he said, but added that ACE would likely avoid the court process to focus its efforts on influencing potential congressional action.\n\nSimilarly, Ms Cox of the ARL said that the organisation will continue to advocate for net neutrality. \u201cAs we have in the past, we will continue our advocacy through all channels, including through amicus briefs in the courts and in Congress, which may be searching for a legislative solution,\u201d she said.\n\nsara.custer@timeshighereducation.com\n\nLocal rules on the worldwide web\n\nDespite the intentions of the internet\u2019s creators to provide an open platform to share and access information across geographical boundaries, global net neutrality principles do not exist.\n\nThe European Union introduced strict net neutrality measures to its Telecoms Single Market regulations in 2016. India also recently introduced binding net neutrality rules.\n\nMeanwhile, Australia presents a potential model of where the US may be headed. It has no net neutrality regulations and any anticompetitive behaviour is addressed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.\n\nDiscussion of the topic of net neutrality is heating up, however, as the country tries to implement a national broadband network \u2013 an idea introduced by the government in 2009.\n\nLike the US, Australia faces significant challenges to provide high-speed broadband internet across large swathes of land.\n\n\u201cThe digital divide is a profound problem,\u201d said Matthew Rimmer, professor of intellectual property and innovation law at Queensland University of Technology. \u201cThe difference is between the cities and regional and rural areas but also in terms of a question of wealth [and] in terms of who has access to what internet speeds.\u201d\n\nOne of the great hopes of the national broadband network is that it would enable distance education, Professor Rimmer explained. \u201cIt would be one of the ways to overcome the tyranny of distance,\u201d he said.\n\nHowever, plans to roll out the broadband network have been delayed by shifting national political agendas.\n\n\u201cIn many ways, Australia is in a weaker position than the US,\u201d said Professor Rimmer. \u201cWe don\u2019t have network neutrality protections. We don\u2019t necessarily have proper protection in relation to freedom of speech; we only have an implied freedom of political communication.\u201d", "output": "The ending of net neutrality in the US\u00a0could disadvantage university students seeking to access study materials remotely, campaigners have warned. The Federal Communications Commission voted this month to repeal the Open Internet Order implemented by the Obama administration in 2015, which required internet service providers to provide the same level of service for all traffic. Allowing them to discriminate against certain types of content and prioritise others is a threat to free speech, according to a group of higher-education organisations who\u00a0oppose\u00a0the change.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cyber attack shuts down industrial plant \n Update: In a statement on the extent of the data breach disclosed last month, Western Digital said it has control of its digital certificate infrastructure and is \"equipped to revoke certificates as ...", "output": "Internet security consultants believe hackers shut down an industrial plant by mistake after targeting it with malware. Researchers at FireEye reported that the cyber attack used a virus called Triton, which is designed to affect industrial control systems.They believe it was an attempt to gather intelligence on how to cause physical damage to the plant, which accidentally shut down its operations. Neither the location of the plant nor the suspected perpetrators have been confirmed, but other industry figures believe it is likely to have been in Saudi Arabia, making Iranian state hackers the prime suspects.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Over 60% of brands to bring media buying in-house by 2022: survey \n The majority (62%) of brands will bring their media buying in-house by 2022 according to an Adobe poll, which has also dubbed 2018 as a \u201cwatershed year\u201d for automated media buying, as such technologies are increasingly used to advance TV advertising.\n\nMore than half of brands believe that programmatic media buying is more important to their advertising strategy than broadcast\n\nAdobe published the findings today (December 19) stating that 86% of brands and 89% of agencies plan to spend more on programmatic ad-buying in 2018, with all marketers vowing to take greater control of their online media buying.\n\nIn fact, of those marketers participating in the study, 62% said they would take all of their programmatic media buying in-house by 2022, while the remaining 38% said they will \u201ctake some\u201d in-house within the next five years.\n\nAdditionally, 78% of agency participants agreed that some elements of programmatic ad-buying will move in-house; the consensus among participants was that they need to collaborate more effectively to understand their roles in this new paradigm.\n\nThe survey also identified programmatic TV as a clear priority among participants, with 38% of marketers and 56% of agency professionals citing it as a priority in 2018, with better cross-screen measurement of media performance also cited as a key priority.\n\nAdditionally for brand respondents, 2018 will also see access to data for personalization becoming their focus (33%); whereas for agencies effective measurement will be their more pressing goal (33%).\n\nMeanwhile, 52% of brand respondents and 56% of agency respondents believe programmatic advertising will overtake TV as the most important part of their advertising strategy in three-to-five years. In fact, 14% of marketers participating in the study claimed that it already was, suggesting that online audiences are more important to such brands\u2019 KPIs that broadcast media.\n\nPhilip Duffield, managing director of Adobe Advertising Cloud, EMEA, said the findings demonstrate that one-size-fits-all advertising campaigns are becoming obsolete in the opinion of all tiers of the market.\n\nHe added: \u201cCustomers are increasingly moving from platform to platform; channel-to-channel. This creates countless opportunities to interact with your brand. To maximize these opportunities however \u2013 whether you are a brand or an agency \u2013 automated optimization of campaign performance is vital.\n\nThe findings are based on an Adobe poll of 60 brand and agency clients in the UK, France, Germany, Benelux and the Nordics conducted earlier in December 2017, with the findings closely echoing those expressed in a similar study from the US trade body for marketers published earlier this week.\n\nThe findings from Association of National Advertisers (ANA) asserted that more than 35% of brands have expanded their in-house programmatic media buying capabilities as marketers demand greater transparency.\n\nEarlier this year Adobe unveiled its Experience Cloud a full-suite of marketing tools, including enhanced programmatic media buying capabilities enabled by its 2016 purchase of video specialist demand-side platform (DSP) TubeMogul.", "output": "Increasing numbers of brands in the UK and northern Europe are taking\u00a0their media buying in-house, according to a survey by Adobe. An estimated\u00a062% are to do so by 2022, while 78% of agency participants would move \"some elements\" in-house.\u00a0In addition, the study marked 2018 as a standout year as marketers are set to increase their control of online media spend, with 86% of brands and 89% of agencies planning to spend more on programmatic, regarded by more than half of both groups as more important than TV. However, programmatic TV also emerged as a priority.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Stake sale raises funds to expand Indian weather watcher Skymet   \n The company, however, did not disclose the deal size. Ernst & Young LLP acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Skymet for this transaction.\n\nInsuResilience Investment Fund, formerly known as Climate Insurance Fund, is backed by KfW, a German government-owned development bank based in Frankfurt and is managed by Swiss-based impact investment manager BlueOrchard Finance.\n\nThe transaction saw two of Skymet\u2019s existing investors Omnivore Capital and UK-based DMGT group partially sell their stakes. Omnivore is an impact venture fund and invests in startups from India developing breakthrough technologies for food, agriculture and the rural economy. DMGT manages a multinational portfolio of companies, with total revenues of almost \u00a31.5 billion and has invested close to Rs25 crore in Skymet in 2014. Omnivore Partners, which invested Rs4.5 crore in the Series A round of funding for a 33% stake in the company in August 2011, also participated in the funding round of 2014.\n\nSkymet has one of India\u2019s largest network of automatic weather stations (currently 6,000 AWS units) and provides lightning detection network, which allows users to track thunderstorms in real time. The company said the latest round of funding will help it to expand its AWS network and secure new business in weather data, crop measurement, climate analytics and disaster management, thereby extending its outreach. Skymet is one of India\u2019s largest weather monitoring and agri-risk solutions company, with expertise in measuring, predicting and limiting climate risk to agriculture. Skymet provides climate, weather and crop analytics to insurance companies, banks, agribusinesses and public sector institutions in India.\n\nSkymet was started by its founder and CEO Jatin Singh in 2003 as a weather data service provider to television news channels and newspapers, which remained the company\u2019s only business till 2006. The company has since then forayed into providing data to power companies and crop insurance claim settlement service. Crop insurance data has grown to be one of the biggest revenue earners for the company that is used for both claim settlement and other services. In a 2015 interview to Mint, Jatin Singh had shared plans to raise at least $20 million (about Rs127 crore) to go global with the company\u2019s operations.", "output": "The German government\u2019s InsuResilience Investment Fund has bought a 26.8% stake in Indian weather monitoring provider Skymet Weather Services. Skymet investors Omnivore Capital and DMGT sold partial stakes in the agri-risk solution provider for an undisclosed sum and will plough the proceeds back into the firm. The company\u00a0manages one of India's biggest networks of automatic weather stations, presently numbering 6,000 AWS units, and can detect thunderstorm patterns in real time. Proceeds will be used to expand the network and to find new business in the climate analytics, weather data, crop measurement and disaster management sectors.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ireland to remove height curbs, parking rules for new city homes \n Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy is to announce a number of changes to planning guidelines largely in relation to apartment buildings. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins\n\nHeight restrictions on residential buildings are to be altered to allow for easier construction of high-rise developments in cities across the State.\n\nMinister for Housing Eoghan Murphy is to announce a number of changes to planning guidelines largely in relation to apartment buildings including the removal of a requirement to have car-parking spaces.\n\nHe also intends to increase the cap on the number of units that can be on a floor for every lift or staircase from eight to 12. The necessity for apartments to be dual-aspect, meaning they must have windows on two different walls, will also be changed.\n\nMr Murphy said the measures would address a number of challenges including making it more cost-effective to build apartments.\n\nREAD MORE\n\nThe most significant change is the removal of the height restrictions. Currently residential developments in low-rise areas of inner-city Dublin can be only six storeys (about 24m high), with lower limits in the suburbs.\n\nThe Minister intends to remove that cap and instead use the suitability of the site as a guiding principle.\n\n\u201cIt was clear to me upon taking office that we had a particular problem in this area. While there might be plenty of cranes across the skyline of Dublin for example, the vast majority are building offices, not homes. We need to turn this around,\u201d he said.\n\nParking spaces\n\nThe restrictions have been widely criticised by business leaders and developers who believe they hindered apartment supply. The requirement to have a car-parking space per apartment was also widely condemned and it has been claimed by the Construction Industry Federation that this can add up to \u20ac100,000 to the cost of building a unit. Under the revised guidelines, developers would have to justify the need for car-parking in central city areas.\n\nThe Department of Housing has insisted there will be no change to principal quality safeguards, including internal space standards for one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments; floor-to-ceiling heights; or the storage and amenity space requirements. The updated provisions will offer greater flexibility in relation to apartment type mix, to allow more studios and different types of one-bedroom accommodation.\n\nThe shared accommodation initiative will see the construction of high-rise developments catering for hundreds of people, with shared services offered to tenants. In the individual apartments, residents would have their own bedroom and ensuite, but would have communal kitchen and livingroom facilities.\n\n\"They'll allow for 'shared living' options which I believe will be very attractive to our multinational sector with its young and mobile workforce,\" Mr Murphy told The Irish Times. \"We'll see the right types of homes being built, with more studios and one- and two-bed apartments.\"", "output": "The Irish government is to relax planning regulations\u00a0to make it easier for developers to construct high-rise buildings. The changes to be\u00a0unveiled by housing minister Eoghan Murphy will scrap\u00a0limits that prevent the construction\u00a0of buildings higher than six storeys in some parts of central Dublin. Other measures include raising the cap on the number of permitted units per floor from eight to 12\u00a0and removing the obligation for them to have windows on two different walls and provide a parking space for every flat.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK\u2019s modern slavery strategy a failure: National Audit Office \n MPs and rights groups have criticised Theresa May\u2019s flagship strategy to tackle modern slavery, after a damning report by the public spending watchdog found it had failed victims.\n\nA National Audit Office report said the Home Office had limited means of tracking the strategy\u2019s progress, an \u201cincomplete picture\u201d of the crime, victims and perpetrators, and that prosecution rates last year remained \u201cvery low\u201d.\n\nThe report warned: \u201cUntil the government is able to establish effective oversight of the modern slavery system as a whole, it will not be able to significantly reduce the prevalence of modern slavery or show that it is achieving value for money\u201d.\n\nAmyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, said that while the strategy had helped to establish the scale and international nature of the issue, a stronger grasp of the problem was required. \u201cTo combat modern slavery successfully,\u201d said Morse, \u201cgovernment will need to build much stronger information and understanding of perpetrators and victims than it has now.\u201d\n\nIn 2016, there were 80 prosecutions under the Modern Slavery Act for 155 offences, the report found.\n\nThe government announced the modern slavery strategy three years ago, and the prime minister introduced the Modern Slavery Act in 2015 to combat slavery, servitude, forced labour and human trafficking, and to protect victims.\n\nThere are an estimated 10-13,000 potential victims in the UK, most frequently subjected to labour or sexual exploitation, or domestic servitude.\n\nDiane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, described the Home Office as dysfunctional and said the NAO report painted a damning picture of the government\u2019s strategy to end modern slavery.\n\n\n\nShe said: \u201cIt is clear that the government doesn\u2019t have a true picture of the scale of the problem, or the perpetrators or the victims.\n\n\u201cThe NAO also takes the Home Office to task for failing to get a grip on the effectiveness of its spending, or even how much money is spent overall. Overstretched police forces also have highly uneven responses to cases of modern slavery.\n\n\u201cTheresa May\u2019s warm words about modern slavery are not enough. The government needs to take strong, coordinated action based on firm evidence.\u201d\n\nThe NAO report said the Home Office does not know how much money is being spent, or whether services meet care quality standards. It called into question measures taken to support victims. Safe houses for potential victims are not subject to care quality inspections or standards, and there remains \u201cmuch more to do\u201d to ensure they are protected, said the authors.\n\nRights groups said the government\u2019s lack of coherence meant victims were too afraid to come forward, as they could not be guaranteed support.\n\nKate Roberts, of the Human Trafficking Foundation, said: \u201cIt\u2019s frustrating that the higher-level rhetoric is not filtering down to an adequate service that victims can trust. If you are trying to gain the confidence of a victim you need to tell them what they can expect from the system, not that they might get support and might not. It\u2019s very difficult for advocates to get the victims\u2019 trust.\u201d\n\nThe NAO report highlighted shortcomings in the national referral mechanism (NRM), the framework for identifying victims of human trafficking or modern slavery and facilitating appropriate support. The authors found that delays in determining individual cases caused \u201cdistress and anxiety\u201d to vulnerable people.\n\nProfessor Kevin Bales of the University of Nottingham, co-founder of Free the Slaves, said: \u201cI don\u2019t see this as a failing report card, I see it as a check-up.\u201d\n\n\n\n\u201cCompared to virtually everyone else, the UK is ahead of the game. The difficulty for the government is not estimating the numbers but determining how you measure progress. It need a joined-up methodology, with built in evaluation and monitoring.\u201d\n\nIn a separate development on Monday, MPs called on the government \u201cto be brave enough\u201d to stand up for modern slavery victims. A report by the work and pensions committee found \u201cinexcusable failures\u201d by the UK left victims destitute while their abusers go free.\n\nCommenting on the government\u2019s response to the report, Frank Field, the committee\u2019s chairman, said it failed to measure up to the prime minister\u2019s leadership on the issue.\n\n\u201cThe government should be brave enough to stand up for the victims of modern slavery, people made so vulnerable by such evil behaviour,\u201d he said.\n\n\n\nThe independent anti-slavery commissioner, Kevin Hyland, welcomed the report. He said significant progress had established the UK as a \u201cworld leader\u201d in the fight against modern slavery, but that more needed to be done.\n\n\u201cThe Home Office has begun to address a number of the issues raised, including plans to significantly improve support for victims by reforming the NRM,\u201d said Hyland. \u201cI look forward to the government intensifying action following the findings and recommendations of this report.\u201d\n\nAdditional reporting by Rod Austin", "output": "The UK\u2019s modern slavery strategy, launched three years ago, has been labelled a failure by a report from the country\u2019s National Audit Office (NAO). The study found that the Home Office had an \u201cincomplete picture\u201d of how the crime operated and warned that progress was unlikely \u201cuntil the government is able to establish effective oversight of the modern slavery system as a whole\u201d. In 2016, there were just 80 prosecutions for 155 offences under the 2015 Modern Slavery Act. There are estimated to be as many as 13,000 potential victims of slavery in the UK.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK\u2019s modern slavery strategy a failure: National Audit Office \n Until the government is able to establish effective oversight of the modern slavery system as a whole, it will not be able to significantly reduce the prevalence of modern slavery or show that it is achieving value for money.\n\nUntil the government is able to establish effective oversight of the modern slavery system as a whole, it will not be able to significantly reduce the prevalence of modern slavery or show that it is achieving value for money, according to today\u2019s report from the National Audit Office.\n\nThe Home Office has an incomplete picture of the crime, the victims and the perpetrators. Accountability within the modern slavery strategy is unclear, oversight of victim support is inadequate and few cases have led to prosecution. The NAO also finds that the Home Office has limited means of tracking its progress and there remains much more to do to ensure victims of modern slavery are identified, protected and supported effectively.\n\nThe Modern Slavery Strategy was introduced by the Home Office in 2014 and aimed to significantly reduce the prevalence of modern slavery. The 2015 Modern Slavery Act made provisions for slavery, servitude, forced labour and for human trafficking, including for the protection of victims and for an Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner.\n\nThe Home Office has laid some important foundations for achieving its goal to significantly reduce modern slavery. Annual adult referrals of potential victims to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) have increased substantially between 2014, when the Modern Slavery Strategy was introduced, and 2016, showing that more potential victims are being identified. It has introduced new legislation requiring businesses to report what they are doing to prevent human trafficking in their supply chains and published a typology of modern slavery offences and offenders in the UK in October 2017.\n\nThe Strategy does not include measures of success for its objectives nor a definition of what success looks like and accountability for delivering the modern slavery strategy is unclear. There are a wide variety of public sector organisations delivering the modern slavery strategy, alongside NGOs, and a number of governance boards with different oversight responsibilities. The Home Office does not know how much is spent on tackling modern slavery across government, or how effectively this money is spent. The Home Office is not able to instruct how other departments use their resources but has a role in helping them prioritise.\n\nThe Home Office found in its 2014 review that the NRM support system needed to be redesigned, but it has not yet made any changes. However, it did set up pilots of changes to the NRM in August 2015 and published its evaluation and announced reforms in October 2017.The NAO analysis of NRM data revealed multiple errors, making it difficult to use it to understand modern slavery crime. The Home Office is aware of these problems and is currently digitising the system in order to improve accuracy.\n\nIt is taking the National Crime Agency and Home Office longer than they expect to decide whether people referred to the NRM are victims of modern slavery, causing further distress and anxiety to vulnerable people. The Home Office has not put in place a robust, independent inspection regime to check the quality of care and support provided in safe houses to potential victims and has no way of evaluating the quality of care provided. There are currently no minimum care standards for safe houses that support potential victims.\n\nPolice forces\u2019 approach to tackling modern slavery and the number of NRM referrals made varies significantly by region. There has been increasing use of the Modern Slavery Act to prosecute defendants, but there have been few prosecutions and convictions for modern slavery offences. However, as modern slavery cases take a long time to build and it is likely to be at least one year until the increased focus of law enforcement organisations is reflected in a higher number of prosecutions.\n\n\u201cThe campaign to drive out modern slavery is in the early stages. So far it is helping to establish the scale and international nature of this issue. To combat modern slavery successfully, however, government will need to build much stronger information and understanding of perpetrators and victims than it has now.\u201d Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office\n\nDownloads\n\nPublication details\n\nISBN: 9781786041654 [Buy a hard copy of this report]\n\nHC: 630, 2017-19\n\nPress release\n\nView press release (15 Dec 2017)", "output": "The UK\u2019s modern slavery strategy, launched three years ago, has been labelled a failure by a report from the country\u2019s National Audit Office (NAO). The study found that the Home Office had an \u201cincomplete picture\u201d of how the crime operated and warned that progress was unlikely \u201cuntil the government is able to establish effective oversight of the modern slavery system as a whole\u201d. In 2016, there were just 80 prosecutions for 155 offences under the 2015 Modern Slavery Act. There are estimated to be as many as 13,000 potential victims of slavery in the UK.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ad spend on programmatic in the UK jumped 23.5% during 2017 \n Colm is the editor of MarketingTech, with a mission to bring the most important developments in technology to both businesses and consumers.\n\nAccording to the latest forecast by eMarketer, spending on programmatic ads have showed strong growth in the UK, despite a stream of negative press.\n\nAccording to the date, by the end of the year advertisers will have spent an estimated \u00a33.39 billion on programmatic trading. This is a 23.5% rise from the year before. Programmatic spend now equates to 79% of all UK digital ad spend.\n\neMarketer predicts that this proportion will continue rising to 84% by 2019.\n\nMobile is still the main force driving the growth of programmatic in the UK, currently making up 78% of the total 2017 programmatic display ad spending. This growth, however, is balanced by the continuing decline for desktop. 22% of programmatic spend went to desktop in 2017 (around \u00a3743 million), with a predicted fall to 13.5%, or \u00a3609 million, in 2019.\n\n\u201cThe programmatic ecosystem is growing because it\u2019s maturing,\u201d eMarketer senior analyst Bill Fisher said.\n\n\u201cThis maturation is leading to better practices, better behaviour and better transparency. Making everybody in the chain accountable is the next step in cleaning up programmatic\u2019s image further. For example, the recent Ads.txt initiative from IAB Tech Lab is one such step. This tool essentially allows publishers to publicly declare the companies they authorize to sell their digital inventory.\u201d\n\nTrust issues\n\nThe continued growth in programmatic spend comes amidst a range of issues surrounding trust and the potential for fraud. Marketers have to balance these risks against the siginifcant benefits that the medium can bring them, namely more targeted and effective ads that seek out the right audience, at the right time, right across the web.\n\nQueryClick interviewed 150 heads of marketing at major UK brands and found that 70% were planning to match or increase their programmatic spend over the next year. This was despite the fact that 41% said that they had lost trust in the format due to the risk of becoming victims of advertising fraud.\n\n\u201cRecent studies have put the cost of digital advertising fraud as high as $31 billion in the US alone. That makes digital ad fraud not just more costly than any form of cybercrime, but more costly than offline crimes such as counterfeit goods and payment card fraud,\u201d QueryClick managing director, Chris Liversidge, said.\n\n\u201cTechnology may also be a driver of fraud. The large agencies that buy up the digital ad space also own most of the ad buying platforms (DSPs) whose weaknesses and lack of transparency enable fraud to continue. Many in fact offer minimal to no reporting on individual ad buys, only offering rolled-up reporting which obscures where any particular ad was shown. It would seem advertisers are waking up to this however. Nine out of ten brands to us that they believe the lack of transparency in their programmatic ad campaigns is because the ad buying platform is owned by their advertising agency.\u201d\n\nOther figures that emerged from the QueryClick survey show that 40% of the major advertisers reported being confident that more than half of their online ads were being seen by people. However, only 7% thought that the proportion viewed by humans rather than bots was 80% or more.\n\n\u201cMany brands operate in sectors where they are under pressure to perform in volatile market conditions and competition is rife such as eCommerce, travel and finance,\u201d continued Liversidge.\n\n\u201cIf they can solve their programmatic problems, there is an opportunity for these brands to out-compete much larger incumbent brands with lower marketing spends.\n\n\u201cThey can also take steps to protect themselves. First, where possible, they should separate their programmatic campaigns so they are given the consideration \u2013 and performance measures \u2013 their growing size warrants. Secondly, they should unbundle their agency relationship from the programmatic platform, to enable them to seek out independent providers that offer true transparency and protection from the risks of current programmatic campaigns.\u201d\n\n85% of respondents thought that that trade bodies such as the IAB should have greater powers to monitor and penalize those that knowingly commit ad fraud.\n\n\u201cThere will be more initiatives to come, and as they come online, greater levels of trust will be placed in trading digital display inventory via programmatic pipes,\u201d said Fisher.", "output": "UK advertisers will have spent\u00a0an estimated \u00a33.39bn ($4.53bn) on programmatic ads\u00a0by the end of the year, with 78% of it going on mobile ads, according to forecasts from eMarketer. It revealed 79% of all UK digital ad spend is on programmatic, a 23.5% rise on 2016, and the figure is predicted to rise to 84% by 2019, thanks to \"better practices, better behaviour and better transparency\", said eMarketer analyst Bill Fisher. A recent survey by QueryClick found 70% of UK brands would match or increase their programmatic ad spend during 2018, despite 41% having reservations about fraud.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "World's first fully solar-powered train unveiled in Australia \n A World's First\n\nOn December 16, a fully solar-powered train took a short but groundbreaking journey in New South Wales, Australia. The company behind the train, the Byron Bay Railroad Company, brought the vintage passenger vehicle back to life to prove that solar power can actually work for transportation.\n\nThe train runs solely on clean energy \u2014 solar panels on its roof and at pit stops provide all of the power needed for its 3 kilometer (1.9 miles) route.\n\nThe train originally had two diesel engines, of which one has been replaced by batteries and an electric motor. The other will serve as a backup in case of emergency, although the train will keep going under a cloudy sky, too, thanks to a 77kWh battery.\n\nThe fully solar-powered train holds 100 seated passengers, with room for others to stand, and completes one round-trip journey every hour.\n\nShort Distance, Big Implications\n\nPowering cars with solar energy is a challenge that engineers have yet to nail. Cars require a lot of energy, zig-zag between sunlight and shadow, and start and stop all the time. Small vehicles are heavy, and the surface suitable for installing solar panels is too small to produce sufficient power.\n\nTrains, on the other hand, travel on a fixed route and can be quickly recharged at each stop using electricity generated by static solar panels. For that reason, they have been the target of several renewable energy projects.\n\nSince January 2017, a fleet of wind turbines have provided all the electricity needed to power the Dutch national railway. In July, Indian Railways debuted trains with solar panels on their roofs to power on-board services such as lights and fans.\n\nThe United Kingdom is also looking into using solar to power its rail transport. A report by Imperial College London and 10:10 Climate Action estimates that solar energy could power 10 percent of the country's routes currently running on direct current.\n\nThe Byron Bay train's short route makes it more of a proof of concept than a fully realized transportation revolution, but on a local level, it can deliver real benefits by decreasing traffic and getting the public interested in clean energy. One small step for this humble new train means a big step forward for the sector by proving that transport systems can be fully powered by the Sun.", "output": "Australia's Byron Bay Railroad Company has retrofitted a disused passenger train with solar panels that are capable of powering the vehicle over its 1.9-mile route. The train is fitted with an electric motor and a 77 KWH battery to assist the vehicle on cloudy days.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gene editing brings GMO crops to shops \n The 4,000 bushels McHenry and I were sitting in, however, represent a new type of plant that\u2019s been modified using gene editing. A startup had employed the technology to introduce changes in two genes involved in fatty-acid synthesis, so that oil pressed from the beans is more like olive oil than typical soy oil.\n\nMcHenry first heard the pitch for the beans last December, at a hotel near the cooperative of South Dakota soybean processors. \u201cWe have something new and exciting,\u201d a salesman told the farmers. \u201cYou\u2019ve heard about the ban on trans fats?\u201d Soybean oil has been losing market share since the U.S. government banned unhealthy fats created when soy oil is partially hydrogenated and turns to a solid (think Crisco). Those fats have been killing people. They\u2019re bad food.\n\nOil from the gene-edited beans could solve that problem, because it doesn\u2019t need to be processed in the same way. Any farmer who agreed to plant the beans, McHenry heard, would be part of the wave of innovation filling store shelves with Greek yogurts, green packaging, and healthy ingredients. What\u2019s more, it would mean a few quarters more per bushel. \u201cYou make a little more money, you have a great experience, and you are part of a revolution,\u201d said the pitchman, Thomas Stoddard, a lanky biologist turned seed seller who visited McHenry\u2019s farm with me.\n\nTo McHenry, a farmer just starting out with his own acres, his own debts, and his own decisions, the pitch made sense. The Roundup-resisting beans his father still plants are expensive. What\u2019s more, the tumbleweeds have evolved to survive spraying and grow as high as your waist. \u201cLooking at the market as a whole, Europe and China are questioning GMOs,\u201d McHenry says. \u201cYou have to keep your finger on what the consumer wants, and as a farmer, you have to differentiate yourself. If you are looking at a market that could be gone, you have to think about alternatives.\u201d\n\nJason McHenry on the South Dakota land where he grows soybeans created with gene editing.\n\nThe new beans are the creation of a startup called Calyxt, located 300 miles away, near Minneapolis, where Stoddard works, and nearly a straight shot east on Highway 90 from McHenry\u2019s farm. At the company\u2019s greenhouses, thousands of plants are being altered with gene editing every week. The virtue of the technology is that it lets scientists create designer plants that don\u2019t have foreign DNA in them. The technique, which adds or deletes snippets of genetic information, is similar to what could be achieved through conventional breeding, only much faster. In essence, if there\u2019s some quality about a soybean that you like, and if you know the genetic instructions responsible, gene editing can move them to another bean in a single molecular step.\n\nTo many scientists, the potential of gene editing seems nearly limitless, offering a new way to rapidly create plants that are drought-resistant, immune to disease, or improved in flavor. A supermarket tomato that tastes good? That could happen if scientists restore the flavor-making genes that make heirloom varieties delicious. What about a corn plant with twice as many kernels? If nature allows it, scientists believe, gene editing could let them build it.\n\nUntil now, every successful GMO on the market has had as its objective increasing the yield from each acre of farmland. Marketing \u201chealthier\u201d food made from GMOs has been a taller order. But if gene-edited plants can avoid the stigma of GMOs, that could change.\n\nThere is another reason gene editing is causing excitement in industry. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has concluded that the new plants are not \u201cregulated articles.\u201d The reason is a legal loophole: its regulations apply only to GMOs constructed using plant pathogens like bacteria, or their DNA. That means Calyxt can commercialize its beans without going through the process of permits, inspections, and safety tests required for other genetically modified crops. It\u2019s counting on that to cut at least half the 13 years and $130 million that companies have, on average, invested in order to create a new GMO and get it into farmers\u2019 hands.\n\nTo GMO opponents, the new, unregulated plants are a source of alarm. For years, they have argued that GMOs should be opposed because they might be unsafe. What if they cause allergies or poison butterflies? Now the battle lines are shifting because companies like Calyxt can create plants without DNA from a different species in them. They can argue that gene editing is merely \u201caccelerated breeding technology.\u201d", "output": "Minneapolis-based start-up Calyxt is set to make history by selling oil made from soybeans that were genetically edited using its proprietary TALEN system. The company has already received confirmation from the US Food and Drug Administration that six of the 19 plants it has engineered will not be classed as genetically modified organisms, and therefore not subject to regulation. While some farmers are ready to embrace foods offering improved yield and profit margins, critics have warned that not enough has been done to study the effects of gene-edited crops on the wider environment."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bloomberg launches ad-supported news network TicToc on Twitter \n by Sara Guaglione , December 18, 2017\n\nBloomberg Media has launched what it is calling the first 24/7 news network built for a social-media platform.\n\nCalled TicToc, the network lives exclusively on Twitter and targets \u201con-the-go, mobile-first news consumers\u201d with global, general-interest news.\n\nThe network is ad-supported, with a focus on branded native segments and other video ad formats. TicToc currently has seven founding sponsors, including AT&T Business, CA Technologies, CME Group, Goldman Sachs, INFINITI, SAS and TD Ameritrade.\n\nThe social-video network aims to combine the reporting of Bloomberg\u2019s 2,700 journalists and analysts around the world with the digital reach and speed of Twitter.\n\nOther publishers trying to reach a younger audience have launched daily shows on Snapchat, but this appears to be the first round-the-clock online video network on Twitter.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\n\u201cThe news experience is designed to be interactive, rich with Twitter content and consumable on any device,\u201d according to a statement from Bloomberg Media Group.\n\nTicToc features two types of content: breaking news and global news updates. Breaking news is curated and verified by Bloomberg editors in real-time conversations on Twitter and covers major events happening worldwide.\n\nThe global news updates are hourly, short-form clips. Longer clips will also be posted to give context and deeper analysis to top news stories. Currently, updates occur from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. EST. In early 2018, they will expand to 24/7. Bloomberg is building a dedicated team of editors, producers, social-media analysts, product developers, engineers, designers and marketers to support TicToc.\n\n\u201cWe're seeing a shift in the media landscape today. More content companies are partnering with platforms to create hybrid businesses that better serve consumers and society,\u201d stated Bloomberg Media CEO Justin B. Smith.\n\nBloomberg editor-in-chief John Micklethwait added this iteration of TicToc is still in its \u201cearly days.\" It seems to be a rolling feed of different video programs on a variety of breaking news topics, as well as segments from reporters on the ground.\n\nBloomberg live streams three of its daily Bloomberg TV programs on Twitter.\n\nTicToc was first teased by Bloomberg in May, at its Digital Content NewFronts.\n\n", "output": "Bloomberg has launched Tic Toc, the first 24-hour video news network on Twitter. The ad-supported site will cover breaking news and global updates, while ads will include branded native segments. Bloomberg editor-in-chief John Micklethwait said the channel was in its \"early days\". Tic Toc is currently updated between 6.00 am and 10.00 am Eastern Standard Time, but will expand to be 24/7 in 2018."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Flurosat raises seed funds for drone, satellite crop surveillance  \n FluroSat, an Australian crop health software startup, has raised an A$1 million ($770k) seed round for its decision support platform for cotton and grain growers.\n\nFluroSat uses various remote sensing methods, including satellites, drones, and some aerial imagery, to capture and analyze hyperspectral images of cotton and grain fields to predict disease and help growers make decisions related to crop health.\n\nInvestors in the round include Main Sequence Ventures, manager of the Australian government\u2019s $100 million CSIRO Innovation Fund, Airtree Ventures and Australia\u2019s Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC).\n\nMultispectral cameras can measure generic characteristics such as if a plant is healthy or not, but hyperspectral images can go one step further, and diagnose the exact reason for that state, according to FluroSat. That\u2019s because the extra bands of light they can detect can be associated with specific physiological traits within the plant. Constant imaging available from a variety of platforms allows FluroSat clients to track the health of their fields over time.\n\n\u201cYou can pick any point on the paddock and the analytics will show you the trend so you can find which areas of the farm are underperforming and make financial decisions,\u201d said founder and CEO Anastasia Volkova.\n\nFluroSat customers pay a fee per hectare, which includes drone and satellite imagery. If aerial imagery is necessary, there may be an additional charge. Growers using the platform, called FluroViewer, can also become more efficient in their fertilizer applications, reducing fertilizer use by 30%.\n\nThe platform shows nitrogen maps and suggests exact locations for agronomists to take tissue samples. They then enter the results into the platform to further calibrate fertilizer recommendations. The fertilizer prescription maps that result can be integrated with other farm management software platforms in order to incorporate historical data.\n\nVolkova told AgFunderNews her platform can also predict disease five to seven days before the human eye can see it.\n\n\u201cWe really want to be tapping into the cutting edge of remote sensing and hyperspectral sensing and looking into the signatures that can hint where the early stress is happening. That\u2019s the key,\u201d said Volkova. \u201cUltimately, FluroViewer will be the only tool of its kind to proactively suggest management strategies and allow the users to evaluate the effect and the return of the on-farm experiments at a sub-paddock level.\u201d\n\nIn its first year, FluroSat has generated A$200k ($153k) in revenue monitoring 80 farms. Clients include Landmark, an Australian ag retailer owned by Canada-based major ag retailer Agrium.\n\nFluroSat will use the new funds to expand its customer base on in Australia and expand commercial operations to the US. After one successful trial in California this year, more trials will begin with US cotton growers in May.\n\nAlso using hyperspectral images from multiple remote sensing sources is Switzerland\u2019s Gamaya, which focuses on corn, soybean, and sugarcane.", "output": "New South Wales start-up FluroSat aims to help cotton and grain farmers spot plant stress and signs of disease up to a week before the human eye can detect them using hyperspectral imagery. The company, which recently raised AUD1m ($770,000) from backers including Main Sequence Ventures, uses satellites and drones to take images of crops. The firm's FluroViewer platform also enables farmers to monitor and use fertilisers more efficiently, potentially reducing their use by 30%. FluroSat aims to expand its domestic customer base and its presence in the US\u00a0following a successful trial in California.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK public register lists fat cat-pay companies \n Several of Britain\u2019s best-known companies, including Burberry, Sky and Sports Direct, are included on a list ordered by the prime minister of firms rewarding bosses with \u201cfat cat pay\u201d and representing the \u201cunacceptable face of capitalism\u201d.\n\n\n\nMore than a fifth of Britain\u2019s FTSE listed-firms are included on the \u201cname and shame\u201d register of companies that Theresa May said risk damaging \u201cthe social fabric of our country\u201d by paying bosses too much money.\n\nMay ordered the creation of the world\u2019s first public register of companies that ignored shareholder concerns and awarded \u201cpay rises to bosses that far outstrip the company\u2019s performance\u201d in August. She said calling out the firms would help tackle the \u201cabuses and excess in the boardroom\u201d and restore public confidence in big business.\n\nThe public register was published on Tuesday by the Investment Association, a trade body of investment firms that manage the pensions of million of Britons.\n\nThe register lists every company in the FTSE All-Share Index which has suffered at least a 20% shareholder rebellion against proposals for executives pay, re-election of directors or other resolution at their shareholder meetings.\n\nCompanies on the register include fashion label Burberry, broadcaster Sky, retailer Sports Direct and Sir Martin Sorrell\u2019s advertising company WPP.\n\nOthers on the list include banking giant HSBC, supermarket Morrisons, BT, estate agent Foxtons, the AA and Mothercare.\n\nChris Cummings, chief executive of the Investment Association, said the register \u201creveals the true scale of investor concern\u201d and shows how many shareholders are \u201cflexing their muscles by exercising their votes\u201d.\n\nCummings said the fact that 22% of companies in the FTSE All-Share are included on the list shows that \u201ca significant number of companies need to seriously start listening to shareholders views and acting on them\u201d.\n\nGreg Clark, the business secretary, said he hoped the public register would increase pressure on the \u201cminority of firms that threaten the world-leading reputation of our business community\u201d.\n\n\u201cIt is right that we review and refresh our standards to ensure we continue to have the highest reputation,\u201d he said. \u201cThis world-first public register, does exactly that, shining a spotlight on how companies respond to shareholders\u2019 concerns over important decisions, including executive pay packages.\n\n\u201cThis will help to strengthen transparency and corporate accountability and build on our reputation as a world-leading business environment \u2013 a key foundation of our industrial strategy.\u201d\n\nThe public register, which will be continuously updated, also includes companies that withdrew or amended pay packages in the wake of shareholder discontent in the run up to votes. It also includes companies\u2019 statements on how they intend to address investors concerns.\n\n\n\nWhen she announced plans for the register, May said: \u201cToo often in recent years, we have also seen another, unacceptable, face of capitalism. A minority of firms are falling short of the high standards we expect of them. Some have deliberately broken rules that are designed to protect their workers.\n\n\u201cOthers have ignored the concerns of their shareholders by awarding pay rises to bosses that far outstrip the company\u2019s performance.\n\n\u201cWhen big businesses are brought into disrepute, public trust in an open, free-enterprise economy is weakened. It is bad for individual workers and companies, but also damages the social fabric of our country. It emboldens those on the far left who hate to see business succeed.\u201d\n\nMay originally raised the prospect of a crackdown on executive pay in her Conservative party leadership bid in July 2016 in a speech that included proposals to allow employee and consumer representatives to sit on company boards, and make shareholder votes on executive pay legally binding.\n\nHowever, when a green paper was published in November last year the prime minister faced criticism from unions for backtracking on installing workers\u2019 representatives on boards, while opposition MPs questioned whether enough safeguards were being put in place to avoid a rerun of the debacle at the collapsed department store chain BHS.\n\nCompanies on the register include:\n\nMorrisons\n\nA 48% vote against plans \u2013 rising to 51% with abstentions \u2013 to increase the maximum long-term bonus for chief executive, David Potts, from 240% of his basic salary of \u00a3850,000 to up to 300%.\n\nBurberry\n\nA 32% vote against payouts to Christopher Bailey, who was giving up his role as chief executive to focus on creative work, over a rise in pay from \u00a31.9m to \u00a33.5m and receipt of \u00a310.5m shares. Julie Brown, new chief operating offer, tried to head off a row by handing back \u00a3800,000 of shares and a further \u00a31.6m of additional share awards.\n\nWPP\n\nA 21% vote against \u00a348m for chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell even though the total package was more than 30% lower than the \u00a370.4m he received in 2015.\n\nSports Direct\n\nMore than 70% of independent shareholders voted against a proposed \u00a311m payout to founder Mike Ashley\u2019s brother, John. The payment was blocked and the company said it now \u201cconsiders all these matters to be closed\u201d.\n\nSky\n\nA 29% vote against \u00a316m pay deal for chief executive Jeremy Darroch, largely because of a payout of nearly \u00a312m under a long-term incentive plan. Only 51.6% of shareholders backed James Murdoch as chairman.", "output": "The world\u2019s first public register of companies that have ignored shareholder objections in relation to executive pay was published by the UK's Investment Association on 19 December.  Of the firms listed on the country\u2019s FTSE All-Share Index, 22% feature on the register, which was launched by the prime minister, Theresa May, in August. The register lists all firms on the Index that saw a minimum 20% shareholder rebellion against resolutions including those relating to remuneration packages and the re-election of directors. Companies named include the AA, BT, Burberry, Foxtons, HSBC, Morrisons, Mothercare, Sky, Sports Direct and WPP.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Self-driving cars to be tested on public roads in China \n China will allow self-driving car tests on public roads Companies can apply to test their technology on an approved set of roads.\n\nChina is opening up its roads to self-driving cars. The Beijing Municipal Transport Commission released a statement today saying that on certain roads and under certain conditions, companies registered in China will be able to test their autonomous vehicles.\n\nLast year, Chinese authorities banned self-driving vehicles from the country's highways until new regulations could be created and approved. But those have been slow to arrive, which is why Chinese company Baidu and its CEO Robin Li came under fire this summer for conducting an apparently illegal demonstration of its driverless technology.\n\nThe new regulations will allow companies to apply for temporary permission to test their autonomous vehicles on a yet-to-be-determined group of approved roads. The cars will have to have traffic accident liability insurance and a human behind the wheel to take over if anything goes wrong.\n\nWith this development, China now joins a number of other countries allowing self-driving technology developers to test their products in real-life scenarios.", "output": "Transport authorities in China are to allow the testing of autonomous vehicles on public roads, it has been announced. The Beijing Municipal Transport Commission will license companies based in China to conduct tests of self-driving cars on some roads under certain conditions, set out in new regulations. These include a requirement for traffic accident insurance and for a human back-up driver to be behind the wheel to take over if necessary."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Comedy video network Laugh Out Loud aims for paid subscriptions \n Laugh Out Loud, a comedy video network from comedian Kevin Hart and Lionsgate, plans to make paid subscriptions a key part of its business in 2018.\n\nThe comedy video network offers original web series, short-form social videos, TV shows, movies and stand-up comedy specials on its platform and social distribution partners such as YouTube and Facebook. It\u2019s been building out a $2.99-a-month ad-free subscription offering since it launched in August. Since the company was primarily focused on building awareness as a new network, it didn\u2019t heavily market subscriptions, said Thai Randolph, svp of marketing and monetization for Laugh Out Loud Network.\n\n\u201cAt launch, we deliberately tried to foster a community focused on great content and creators,\u201d Randolph said. \u201cThat said, we want to make sure that we can provide a premium experience for those who want to opt in further.\u201d\n\nWhile Randolph wouldn\u2019t say how many subscribers are already paying for the ad-free version of LOL, the company said its app was downloaded 500,000 times within the first 30 days of its August launch. Randolph said since then, additional LOL downloads have been in the \u201csix figures.\u201d\n\nThe next move for LOL is to give users a reason to pay, which will likely include a variety of exclusive programming as well as early access to other shows, movies and stand-up specials on LOL. The company\u2019s membership model will also include live events and other experiential events products, which other streaming services such as Crunchyroll, DramaFever and Rooster Teeth have used to build subscriber bases.\n\nWhile it\u2019s primarily a comedy video network, LOL is also building up a studio business within the company that can make and sell TV shows and stand-up specials to digital and linear TV distributors, as well as create daily social videos and original digital series for both on- and off-network distribution.\n\nLOL\u2019s content takes the form of daily, short social videos for Facebook and other platforms; mid-form video series (with episodes in what Randolph calls the eight- to 10-minute \u201csweet spot\u201d) for LOL\u2019s site and apps; and TV-sized shows for external distribution partners.\n\nRandolph said LOL is setting up a digital content studio operation to boost the amount of content it produces. This includes creating roughly one to two digital mid-form series per month and four to six bigger projects for external partners.\n\nSo far, LOL has released eight original digital series, including sketch show \u201cMo Funny Mo Laughs,\u201d college comedy \u201cCampus Law\u201d and the branded series \u201cKevin Hart: Lyft Legend.\u201d LOL has also sold \u201cWhat the Fit?\u201d an unscripted TV show starring Kevin Hart, to YouTube, which will premiere it as an ad-supported original TV show in early 2018. In addition to revenue from brand and product integrations, LOL owns the rights to these programs, which means it can find additional revenue streams in other markets or in later viewing windows on other platforms.\n\nBeyond video, LOL is working with Sirius XM to launch a new comedy radio channel next year, which will include original shows \u2014 including a weekly interview series hosted by Hart \u2014 as well as syndicated programming such as stand-up specials that LOL already has in its library.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re trying to remain open and fluid [to new business models] because we know the ecosystem can change,\u201d Randolph said. \u201cAs long as we have a relevant brand and interesting stable of creators, there are a lot of ways that we can provide value to members and ultimately monetize our audience and IP.\u201d\n\nLOL sits within Lionsgate\u2019s digital ventures group, which is focused on investments in over-the-top and streaming video businesses. That said, Hart, the face of the company, is also involved in the company, meeting with department heads on programming, discussing the subscription strategy and choosing talent, Randolph said.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s not just asking for an update,\u201d Randolph said. \u201cHe\u2019s involved in the vision for the platform, not just from a comedy perspective, but also a business perspective.\u201d", "output": "US entertainment company Lionsgate is aiming to increase the number of paid subscribers to its comedy video network, Laugh Out Loud. The service was launched with the backing of comedian Kevin Hart in August, and its app was downloaded 500,000 times within its first 30 days, according to its marketing vice-president Thai Randolph. It currently produces short social videos for platforms such as Facebook, as well as long-form programming for external partners. The $2.99-per-month subscription service offers members an ad-free version, and the company aims to offer further premium services in future.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Half the world&#39;s EVs will be in China by 2020\n \n The future of electric cars depends on China, and the situation will be impressive before the end of this decade - half of the world's electric vehicles are expected to move on the China road network by 2020.\n\nThis is the result of a study conducted by the American consulting company AlixPartners, quoted by Automedia.bg.\n\nIt is also expected, around 2020, that almost half of the plug-in hybrids planned for production will be produced by Chinese companies. There is some conditionality here as it is about companies that are already producing hybrids or at least have a meaningful business plan or have secured investments. In particular, 49 out of 103 verified hybrid manufacturers are or will be Chinese companies.\n\nAnd third, China will dominate the production of lithium-ion batteries by 2021, accounting for two-thirds of this production, which is extremely important for the development of electric vehicles. At present, 96% of plug-in hybrids that are sold in China are produced there, which is no surprise given that foreign environmental vehicles simply do not receive state subsidies and discounts.\n\nAccording to the results of the AlixPartners study, it is to be expected that in 2025 on the world market there will be parity between electric cars and those with internal combustion engines.\n\nSerious consolidation of Chinese hybrid and electric vehicle manufacturers is also expected, as it is hard to expect that over 50 such companies will survive in a single market. And the state power in China has already begun to suggest that just consolidating the market will be the next step, but before that certain quota of electric vehicles and hybrids to be present on the local market must be achieved.", "output": "Half the world's electric vehicles will be in China by 2020, according to a study by American consulting company AlixPartners. The research forecast that China will account for 60% of lithium-ion battery production by 2021. The report also predicted\u00a0consolidation among China's hybrid and electric vehicle manufacturers, which currently number about 50.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Online retail leasing platforms gain traction in Australia \n Digital disruption is gaining traction in retail leasing with two online marketplaces aiming to connect retailers with vacant space in malls and shopping strips.\n\nThe new start-ups \u2013 storematch.com.au and Lease Me \u2013 have already signed up large retail landlords including ISPT, AMP Capital, Scentre Group and GPT and their services could prove increasingly popular in years to come as Amazon and food delivery businesses like Uber Eats reduce retail foot traffic.\n\nStorematch was co-founded by four Melburnians including former Stockland leasing general manager Vaughn\u200b McGuinness and Jon Sully, co-owner of the Michel's Patisserie franchise before it was sold to the Retail Food Group. The pair are also directors at retail leasing consultants BDC.\n\nJustin Levy founded Lease Me to help fashion brands find retail space.\n\nMarketing itself as the \"Tinder of retail leasing\", Storematch claims to have matched 12,000 bricks and mortar retailers with \"dream retail space\" in less than a year. Landlords pay to list their vacant spaces on Storematch.\n\nRetailers confidentially enter their shop requirements \u2013 location, size of store and usage \u2013 while landlords enter their vacant sites. If there's a match the two parties are put into contact to negotiate a deal.", "output": "Australian retailers looking for spaces to hire are getting a helping hand from online start-ups storematch.com and Lease Me. Both companies connect commercial property landlords with businesses in need of bricks and mortar. Storematch claims to have made 12,000 such matches via its platform in the past year, while Lease Me focuses on helping fashion brands, and numbers Westfield and GPT Group among its landlords."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Rigetti uses quantum computing to improve AI \n A California-based startup, Rigetti, is trying to take quantum computing to the next level. The company wants to quantum computers can be game changer and be used to perform a common form of machine learning and artificial intelligence. Rigetti Computing is a full-stack quantum computing company. The company builds hardware and software with fundamentally new integrated circuits that store and process quantum information.\n\nThe company has successfully used one of its prototype quantum chips\u2014a superconducting device housed within an elaborate super-chilled setup\u2014to run what\u2019s known as a clustering algorithm. Clustering is a machine-learning technique used to organize data into similar groups. Rigetti is also making the new quantum computer\u2014which can handle 19 quantum bits, or qubits\u2014available through its cloud computing platform, called Forest, today. According to MIT, \u201cthe demonstration does not, however, mean quantum computers are poised to revolutionize AI. Quantum computers are so exotic that no one quite knows what the killer apps might be. Rigetti\u2019s algorithm, for instance, isn\u2019t of any practical use, and it isn\u2019t entirely clear how useful it would be to perform clustering tasks on a quantum machine.\u201d\n\nA lot of people may not be familiar with the concept of quantum computing. There is a popular saying that, if it doesn\u2019t break, then don\u2019t fix it. So, if the classic silicon-based computer has served us so well, then why do we need why do we need quantum computers? The answer may surprise you. The problem is, as powerful as conventional computers get, they can\u2019t solve all the problems we need to solve. This may not be as apparent to you and me. Today researchers face problem with a growing complexity of calculations that their computers can\u2019t keep up with. In order to make conventional silicon-based computers more powerful, there must be a constant increase in their memory to store more information and of the number of transistors to boost their processing power. The current miniaturization road is about to reach its limit and cannot continue forever. Otherwise, we may not be to achieve the Moore\u2019s Law.\n\nThis is the problem quantum computing is trying to solve. In today\u2019s computers, all the information that your computer processes is coded in a binary system made up of 0s and 1s, or what we call bits. They work like a Turing machine, work by manipulating bits that exist in one of two states: a 0 or a 1. Even this webpage you are reading now is stored in bits converted by your computer\u2019s processor into text and images. Quantum computers aren\u2019t limited to two states; they encode information as quantum bits, or qubits, which can exist in superposition. Qubits represent atoms, ions, photons or electrons and their respective control devices that are working together to act as computer memory and a processor. Because a quantum computer can contain these multiple states simultaneously, it has the potential to be millions of times more powerful than today\u2019s most powerful supercomputers.\n\nRigetti was founded in 2013 by Chad Rigetti. The startup is currently in early stage funding. Besides hardware, the company also develops new algorithms for quantum computing, with a focus on near-term applications in computational chemistry and machine learning. Their product, Forest, is the world\u2019s first full-stack programming and execution environment for quantum/classical computing. The company has offices in Berkeley, California. and Fremont, California.", "output": "Californian start-up Rigetti is attempting to prove quantum computers can be used to improve machine learning and artificial intelligence, after successfully using one of its prototype quantum chips to run a clustering algorithm. However, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said Rigetti's algorithm \"wasn\u2019t of any practical use, and wasn't entirely clear how useful it would be to perform clustering tasks on a quantum machine\". Rigetti, currently in early-stage funding, has also used its cloud computing platform Forest to develop a 19-qubit quantum computer."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Financial advisers open to performance-based fee structures \n Despite the increasing popularity of passive funds, 77 percent of advisors say they would be open to putting their clients in an actively managed mutual fund that charges passive-like fees, with higher fees when the fund outperforms its benchmark index, according to a new survey by AllianceBernstein. Nearly 80 percent of advisors believe the market is headed for a correction, and 62 percent expect passive strategies to underperform active counterparts in a down market. AB surveyed about 210 advisors at Schwab\u2019s IMPACT Conference in November.\n\nWealth Managers Have Nothing to Fear from AI\n\nThere\u2019s been plenty of hand-wringing about artificial intelligence and the future of wealth management, but the head of research at Clearview Financial Media finds those fears overblown. In a recent report, the firm finds wealth managers fearing artificial intelligence as a potential threat to their jobs, perhaps exacerbated by the fact that most of their firms have taken an interest in the technology. But at the end of the day, the researchers say artificial intelligence will be great at gathering and regurgitating data, but never in replacing the element of trust that comes with financial relationships. \u201cThe old adage that \u2018people buy from people\u2019 seems to remain true, and not just due to trust issues. Rather, it is that the human element of wealth management is where much of its value resides,\u201d the report finds.\n\nBloomberg Adds Cryptos to the Terminal\n\nCome one, come all -- @TheTerminal has officially added ether, litecoin and ripple pricing pic.twitter.com/RDGchH5QEP \u2014 Lily Katz (@LilyKatz) December 14, 2017\n\nBloomberg has added more digital currency prices to its terminal service. In addition to bitcoin, the firm has added the prices for Ripple, Ethereum and Litecoin, serving as a validation of sorts for digital currencies, according to Fortune. These \u201calt-currencies\u201d have been gaining popularity with the price jump in bitcoin. Ethereum saw its price soar from under $10 to $200 in a few months, and is now trading near $700. Litecoin and Ripple have also experienced recent price surges. The prices for the cryptocurrencies on the terminal are drawn from Bitstamp, a Luxemboug-based digital currency exchange.", "output": "A significant percentage of US financial advisers would consider placing their clients in actively managed funds, adjusting their fee structure depending on how they perform, according to a survey conducted by AllianceBernstein. The survey found that 77% of advisers would consider such a fee structure. Additionally, 80% of advisers believe a market correction is on the horizon, with almost two-thirds of respondents believing passive fund products will be outperformed by their active counterparts in such an environment. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Beijing begins opening up roads for autonomous vehicles \n Drivers in Beijing, beware: soon, you\u2019ll be driving alongside autonomous vehicles.\n\nOn Monday, Beijing\u2019s Municipal Commission of Transport announced (Chinese) provisional regulations for testing self-driving cars on city roads. Companies that are registered in China and have tested self-driving cars in enclosed spaces can now apply for permission to test their vehicles on Beijing\u2019s bustling roads.\n\nIt certainly won't be the first city in Asia\u2014or the rest of the world\u2014to embrace autonomous vehicles: self-driving startup nuTonomy already operates in Singapore, and several U.S. cities are home to the cars of Uber, Waymo, and others. But the news is the latest sign of China\u2019s commitment to making autonomous vehicles a reality, in hopes of alleviating congestion on city streets and becoming a leading technology power.\n\nIn addition to purchasing insurance for every vehicle, the regulation requires that firms place a human safety driver behind the wheel who can take control in unexpected situations. A committee made up of experts in transportation, telecommunications, automobiles, computer science, and law will evaluate the road-testing work.\n\nChina\u2019s tech companies and carmakers have been waiting for this to happen. During an annual conference held by Baidu in November, the company\u2019s CEO Robin Li said mass production of autonomous vehicles built using its Apollo platform will begin in 2018 (see \"The Self-Driving Project That Could Help China Leapfrog the West.\") Now it can test them where it matters.", "output": "Manufacturers of self-driving cars will be able to test their vehicles on Beijing's streets following an announcement by the city's Municipal Commission of Transport. It said China-registered companies that had already tested their vehicles could apply for permission to take them out on Beijing's roads. The regulator stipulated a human driver must be in the vehicle at all times. Every car requires insurance, and a committee of experts will oversee the testing. Baidu CEO Robin Li recently said mass-production of autonomous cars using its Apollo platform will begin next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK house swappers seen as possible future of property deals\u00a0 \n PA The West's and the Davies swapped homes in what is believed a UK property first\n\nDavid West and his wife Margaret, who were thinking of downsizing, ended up switching homes with a couple looking for a bigger house. Now it is claimed the \u201cswap principle\u201d could become increasingly popular as owners advertise for another home \u2013 and possibly save a small fortune on legal fees. Mr West, a duty manager at a student residence, listed his three-bedroom, detached family home in Kinross, near Perth in Scotland, on estate agents HouseSimple\u2019s website in May. It was spotted by John Davie who immediately put in a request to visit the property.\n\nPA David and Margaret West wanted to downsize, but swapped instead\n\nThe house swap made perfect sense as both our properties had what the other wanted John Davie\n\nHe was looking for a larger house for his wife Kelly and their two-year-old daughter Lucy. Mr Davie went to see the Wests for a viewing. While he was looking round the house, Mr West mentioned he and his wife were thinking of downsizing because his two grown up daughters were \u201cleaving the nest\u201d. When data analyst Mr Davie then mentioned he had a two-bedroomed, semi-detached house he had yet to put on the market, Mr West suggested the idea of a home swap. He and his wife then viewed Mr Davie\u2019s house \u2013 also in Kinross \u2013 and each couple put in offers on each other\u2019s properties.\n\nPA John Davie Spotted the West's home up for sale and immediately requested to visit\n\nSUBSCRIBE Invalid email We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info\n\nThe move is said to be a British property first. Mr Davie said: \u201cThe house swap made perfect sense as both our properties had what the other wanted. \u201cThe process of finding David\u2019s house online made it really convenient to find the property we wanted.\u201d Mr West added: \u201cThe house swap allowed us flexibility on the move date.\n\nPA The West's new home, formerly owned by the Davies", "output": "Two UK families have swapped houses in what estate agent HouseSimple has suggested could be\u00a0\"the future of home-buying\". John Davie saw David and Margaret West's home in Kinross, Scotland, on HouseSimple's website, and during a viewing, discovered the Wests were looking to downsize. The couple\u00a0arranged to visit Davie's home, before agreeing to the unique swap. HouseSimple co-founder Sophie Gosling said the deal made UK property\u00a0history.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ikea ventures into VR to create games for new store openings \n Having already entered augmented reality, Ikea is now exploring a way for shoppers to learn more about its products in virtual reality.\n\nWorking with the recently merged MEC-Maxus agency Wavemaker, Ikea worked with incorporated a virtual reality experience for one of its store openings in a Dallas suburb, immersing visitors in an Ikea world where they could play a \u201cpillow toss\u201d game with a coffee table or hang out with a panda inside a bamboo lamp. Nearly 300 people tried out the popular Swedish brand\u2019s VR for the first time, spending between three and five minutes playing games, examining furniture or learning about sustainability and design.\n\nThe marketing play is Ikea\u2019s latest move into the world of digitally showcasing products as it seeks to help shoppers learn more about its furniture in a more experiential way.", "output": "Furniture retailer Ikea has partnered with software firm Wavemaker to develop a virtual reality game allowing shoppers to learn more about the store's products, as well as sustainability and design. The system, which uses a HTC Vive headset, allows customers to play a pillow toss game or spend time with a panda. Although neither firm released details of how much the VR game cost, Noah Mallin, Wavemaker\u2019s head of experience, content and sponsorship said the technology could enable the creation of personalised catalogues or include product placement.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GoCompare acquires MyVoucherCodes in \u00a336.5m deal \n Price comparison website group GoCompare.com is buying the parent company of discount site MyVoucherCodes in a \u00a336.5million deal.\n\nGoCompare said that the tie-up with The Global Voucher Group would boost its mission to 'help people everywhere save time and money', while upping its cross-selling opportunities.\n\nMyVoucherCodes is one of the country's biggest online voucher code websites with eight million email subscribers and around 45 million visits a year.\n\nDeal: Price comparison website group GoCompare.com is buying the parent company of discount site MyVoucherCodes\n\nGoCompare, which has seen its share price rise over 5 per cent to 104.63p this morning, will also acquire the company's subsidiaries, which include food discovery app Happiour and email marketing firm Revivve.\n\nMatthew Crummack, chief executive of GoCompare, said: 'We are making strong progress towards our ambition to become the 'go-to' place for savvy savers to find great deals, and for service providers to reach and acquire customers.'\n\nExisting management at MyVoucherCodes are set to remain in their posts after the acquisition. The deal is expected to boost GoCompare's 2018 earnings.\n\nLast month, Newport-based GoCompare, which is well known for its advertisements, fought off a takeover move from ZPG, which is the company behind uSwitch and Zoopla.\n\nRejecting an offer of 110p per share, GoCompare said ZPG had undervalued its business. In November, ZPG confirmed it was thwarting its attempt to buy CoCompare for good.\n\nGoCompare, which was spun out from esure and listed on the London Stock Exchange in November last year, said today's acquisition will allow it to offer deals and incentives to people who use both comparison and voucher websites.\n\nIn a trading update alongside the deal announcement, GoCompare said it expects its underlying earnings for this year to be above expectations, with revenues around 5 per cent higher near the \u00a3149million mark.\n\nFor this year, MyVoucherCodes is expected to generate a pre-tax profit of \u00a34million, with revenues of around \u00a311.8million.\n\nThe majority of its revenues are derived from the UK, but it also operates in Australia, Ireland, Germany and France.\n\nIn its final report following an investigation into price comparison websites, the UK's competition watchdog said all such sites need to make it clearer how they make their money and to take steps to protect people's personal data.\n\nAs part of a further investigation, the Competition and Markets Authority said it is 'opening a competition law investigation into how one site has set up its contracts with insurers, because it suspects this may result in higher home insurance prices.' The site in question has not been named.", "output": "Insurance comparison website GoCompare has acquired voucher code website MyVoucherCode in a deal worth \u00a336.5m ($48.8m). The firm said the acquisition is part of a strategy of appealing to consumers looking to save on a variety of products. MyVoucherCode has 45 million visitors to its website each year. MyVoucherCode's existing management is understood to be remaining in place.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WhatsApp ordered to cease data sharing with Facebook in France \n France\u2019s ultra-strict privacy watchdog CNIL has ordered WhatsApp to stop sharing user data with parent company Facebook. The app has a month to comply with the order, according to a public notice posted to the French website.\n\nThe query began after WhatsApp added to its terms of service last year that it shares data with Facebook to develop targeted advertising, security measures, and to gather business intelligence.\n\nUpon investigating these claims, the CNIL ruled that while WhatsApp\u2019s intention of improving security measures was valid, the app\u2019s business intelligence reason wasn\u2019t as acceptable. After all, WhatsApp never told its users it was collecting data for business intelligence and there\u2019s no way to opt out without uninstalling the app. That violates \u201cthe fundamental freedoms of users,\u201d said the CNIL.\n\nEuropean regulators have attempted to police Facebook in the past, especially when it comes to data-sharing. Germany ordered Facebook to stop collecting data from WhatsApp users in September of last year, and in the UK, Facebook agreed to stop collecting WhatsApp user data in November of last year.", "output": "France has become the latest country to demand WhatsApp stops sharing user data with Facebook, according to a notice posted on the CNIL website. The French regulator deemed WhatsApp's collection of business intelligence a violation of \"the fundamental freedoms of users\", as they couldn't opt out without uninstalling the app. In 2016, Germany and the UK made the same request. WhatsApp parent company Facebook was fined $122m earlier this year by the European Union over \"misleading information\" regarding the social media giant's acquisition of WhatsApp."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurtech InsurePal launches ICO alongside product plans \n Peer-to-peer insurer aims to raise \u00a315m in funding through an Initial Coin Offering.\n\nStart-up InsurePal has launched an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) with the aim of raising $18m (\u00a315m) to fund its UK motor launch in 2018.\n\nThe peer-to-peer insurer, which uses the Ethereum blockchain platform as a technology base for transactions, stated that it will offer lower premiums for those able to gain \u2018social proof\u2019 guarantees from friends and family.\n\nKey advisers to the company include former Direct Line chief operating officer Damian Arnold and Lloyds of London veteran Tom Manson.\n\nAn", "output": "UK-based insurtech InsurePal is seeking to raise \u00a315m ($18m) via an initial coin offering. The fundraising comes ahead of the company's planned launch of a motor insurance offering in 2018. InsurePal will reportedly make use of the\u00a0ethereum\u00a0blockchain platform, allowing customers to establish \"social proof\" of their character via testimonies from friends and family, and receive premium discounts for doing so. The firm will only take on risk which has been \"endorsed\" by a third-party testimony. Endorsers are rewarded by being given tokens, which can be used towards their own discounts, traded or invested.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk A+E Networks UK and TalkTalk renew deal for pay channel brands \n A+E Networks\u00ae UK and TalkTalk have renewed their partnership in a long-term carriage deal, securing the continued distribution of A+E's UK pay channel brands on TalkTalk's TV platform.\n\nAs part of the deal, HISTORY\u00ae and Crime + Investigation\u00ae are available in the Entertainment Boost, alongside H2 \u00ae and Lifetime\u00ae.\n\nTalkTalk TV subscribers can choose from a wide range of UK premieres of quality factual and scripted entertainment across A+E's brands this winter. Highlights on HISTORY include: brand new episodes of critically-acclaimed drama Vikings; the return of global hit reality quest Curse of Oak Island; and a new series of Hunting Hitler, in which a team of experts attempts to solve the greatest cold case in history.\n\nOn Crime + Investigation, a one-off special documentary Britain's Forgotten Serial Killer: Trevor Hardy, looks at the case of the 'Beast of Manchester', who committed three horrific murders in the 1970s. The RTS award-winning Robbie Coltrane's Critical Evidence also returns for a second series.\n\nDean Possenniskie, Managing Director, EMEA, A+E Networks, said: 'We're very pleased to build on our relationship with TalkTalk, with our key channel brands moving into new, higher profile packages. TalkTalk's UK subscribers can continue to enjoy A+E's fascinating and entertaining line up of quality content across our pay channel brands.'\n\nWill Ennett, Acting Managing Director, TalkTalk TV, said: 'We're delighted to have extended our relationship with A+E Networks UK. With access to more even more great content, the new agreement is another step in our firm ambition to grow our TV offering. We're committed to making TalkTalk TV better than ever with a new suite of improvements that will continue to deliver what really matters to our customers - affordable entertainment the way they want it.'\n\nTalkTalk recently announced plans to transform its TV platform and revolutionise its multi-screen TV offering. Launching in early 2018, the new update to TalkTalkTV will see the integration of set top box viewing, the TalkTalk TV Store and TalkTalk TV's suite of mobile apps into a new unified platform - TalkTalk TV. The improvements to the TalkTalk TV viewing experience will make it even easier for customers to watch the entertainment they love whether at home or on the go.\n\nHISTORY is available on TalkTalk 327; Crime + Investigation on TalkTalk 328; Lifetime on TalkTalk 329; and H2 on TalkTalk 491.\n\nENDS\n\nFor further information:\n\nMaxine Sackey\n\nConsumer PR Manager\n\nMaxine.sackey@talktalkplc.com\n\nTel: 02038029081", "output": "TalkTalk has renewed a deal with A+E Networks for continued distribution of pay channels such as History and Crime + Investigation on its TV platform. A+E brands including H2 and Lifetime will continue to be part of TalkTalk's Entertainment Boost package, thanks to the long-term carriage deal. Will Ennett, acting managing director at TalkTalk TV, said the partnership meant\u00a0customers would have access to\u00a0more\u00a0content.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Approval granted for 99-home Formby development \n \n\n\n\nControversial amended plans to build nearly 100 homes in Formby has now been approved with conditions. Sefton Council decided on the proposal on 5th December - which will see 99 homes built on the land to the rear of Andrews Lane.\n\n\n\n\n\nApproval has been granted for the development, which is the size of eight football pitches, providing it is carried out in accordance with the application and plans submitted. The approval is subject to the conditions. Construction of 99 dwellings comprising a mix of houses and apartments together with the construction of access road and the laying out of open space (to include the installation of an attenuation pond).\n\n\n\n\n\nDuring the site preparation and construction activities there shall be no machinery, plant or power tools used outside of the hours of 08:00 to 18:00 Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 13:00 on Saturdays and there shall be no construction activities to be carried out on Sundays or Bank Holidays.\n\n\n\n\n\nFormby Parish Council criticised the decision in August saying that from Formby residents point of view, it is an unpopular and controversial decision. Following submissions made by the residents\u2019 action group and Formby Parish Council, a number of concessions were made.\n\n\n\n\n\nResidents in their submissions demonstrated that the standards of access to the development site fell well below Sefton Council's own guidance for adoptable highway standards and defied safety standards set out in the Department for Transport Manual for Streets, even though the new access point is on a busy school bus, walking and cycling route. It also contradicted supplementary planning guidance on residential amenity.\n\n\n\n\n\nYou can view the conditions HERE\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOriginal story:\n\n\n\n\n\nAn original application for 95 homes was rejected in December 2016 for reasons including inappropriate use of green land, concerns over flooding and the detrimental impact on the existing properties. Redrow, the company behind the proposal, has appealed that ruling as well as submitting the new plans, which originally involved 97 homes but has since been revised to 99.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe development will feature a block of 12 apartments and a mixture of terraced, semi-detached and detached houses featuring either two, three or four bedrooms each. Thirty-one of the properties would be classed as affordable housing, despite the use of green land being given as a reason for refusal, the site has since been allocated for development in Sefton\u2019s Local Plan, which outlines where 11,000 homes will be built in the borough.\n\n\n\n\n\nTwo petitions had been given to the council against the proposal, but the plans were set to be given the go ahead anyway.\n\n\n\n\n\nRedrow states that it has factored the reasons for the refusal into the new proposal and this has been backed up in the planning officer\u2019s report. The report states: \u201cThe principle of development is now established given that the site has been allocated for housing in the recently adopted Local Plan. The proposal will provide 99 homes in Formby, where there is a shortfall of development and include 31 affordable homes. \u201cThis in turn will assist in reducing the deficit in the Council\u2019s housing land supply.\"\n\n\n\n\n\n\u201cThe other reasons for refusal of the outline application in December 2016 have been addressed. The access is considered to be acceptable and the off-site highways works will ensure that the proposal is also acceptable in highways terms. The introduction of an acoustic barrier for existing and proposed residents, along with the Construction Management Plan and working hours\u2019 restrictions will provide some protection in relation to the living conditions of neighbours.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\nResidents, for whom there has been no public consultation , were left speechless at the Sefton Borough Planning meeting as the committee conditionally approved the go ahead for the development of the estate of 99 houses by Redrow. Despite standards of access to the development site falling well below Sefton Council's own guidance for adoptable highway standards and defying safety standards set out in the Department for Transport Manual for Streets, and even though the new access point is on a busy school bus, walking and cycling routes residents representations appeared to be ignored. Access is on a busy junction used by children from Range High School and St Luke's, St Jerome's and Woodlands Primary Schools to cycle and walk to school. In a 6 month period from Sefton's own figures the access foot/cycle path was used by circa 28,000 cyclists alone - yet Sefton did not classify this as being high usage!\n\n\n\n\n\nSefton also ignored the fact that the proposals contradicted supplementary planning guidance on residential amenity. Sefton Highways attended the site to measure the width of the access path just 3 hours before the planning meeting started! The residents commissioned a drainage report. This area has a very high water table and regularly floods yet there were no proper plans concerning drainage and sewerage submitted. The residents cannot see how Sefton are acting to safeguard them. To quote one resident \" We are just going to end up wading in foul sewage constantly - this already happens and it will be worse. It will happen on the Range estate now too as they plan to put more sewage into the pipe coming from there to the sewage works - but not pump it so it will just back up\"\n\n\n\n\n\nResidents also queried why Redrow were measuring Andrews Lane with a GPS theodolite BEFORE the application was passed - with a view to doing work specified in the Officer's Report that had not yet been passed by Councillors. A local resident was told aggressively that they \"did not like \" the contractors because they \"worked for Redrow\"\n\n\n\n\n\nSefton Planning Department ignored Local Plan Policy IN2 and dropped requirements for Redrow to conduct an expensive and comprehensive Transport Assessment on Hoggs Hill Lane Level Crossing. Residents are amazed that Sefton can agree a local plan and ignore it\n\n\n\n\n\nWhen Redrow suddenly put up to \u00a3500,000 on the table hours before the meeting there were cries of \"bribe\" and \"bung\" - another resident stated that the system lacked transparency and appeared to be biased towards the developer. The fact that many of the planning committee appeared not to have read the documents and not a single one of them addressed a question to Redrow left residents with no faith whatsoever in Sefton Council.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe money promised by the developer is to contribute to installing a light controlled crossing at Hoggs Hill, residents had pointed out that the Network Rail Risk Assessment on which these plans for safety rely on come from out of date figures from a census taken in January 2015 - on a dark unlit path, before the Bellway estate was built and use of the path was significantly less. The residents also pointed out to Sefton that Network Rail actually recommend a footbridge!!\n\n\n\n\n\nAnother resident, who did not wish to be named stated \"Sefton are only interested in money from council tax - they do not care about the safety of our children, this will be another Fisherman's Path\"\n\n\n\n\n\nCllr Maria Bennett from Ravenmeols Ward said: \"The ink is barely dry on Sefton\u2019s local plan and Officer\u2019s and Planning Committee Members are already ignoring its content. Residents made excellent submissions and worked hard to develop a solid planning case against this development. Their arguments were not based on sentiment but solid safety reasons why this development should not go ahead. The proposed junction at Andrews Lane contravenes the Council\u2019s own guidelines, is well below recommended adoptable standards and relies completely on cars sticking to 20mph! Sefton Council has failed to enforce its own policy of making developers provide a transport assessment for a level crossing if a development is likely to have a significant effect on upon it.\"\n\n\n\n\n\n\"The proposed mitigation for Hoggs Hill Lane level crossing is the absolute bare minimum according the Network Rail\u2019s Safety body the Office for Rail and Road (ORR) who say \u201ca simple renewal and retention of existing crossings should be seen as a last resort\u201d. This itself was based on a report from Network Rail which drew upon outdated information, and then extrapolated upon it to provide a new risk assessment for the crossing. This is just the kind of practice that has been called into question since the tragic events at Grenfell Tower earlier this month.\"\n\n\n\n\n\n\"What is the point of having a local plan, with polices that have been agreed by an inspector via a 6 week public inquiry to then ignore them, this could possible give rise to a high court hearing or judicial review of this decision which, in my opinion, is flawed. We should be making safety our number one priority and ensure that all developers carry out the relevant risk assessments needed in order for their development to get passed. We have already had several tragedies at Fishermans Path Crossing are we now going to wait until there is an incident at Hoggs Hill before anyone will accept responsibility for what they are doing. This should not be about money it should be about doing the right thing and the safety of our residents, especially children who use this crossing.\"\n\n\n\n\n\nCllr Bennett went on to say: \"It is no wonder residents have no faith in the Planning System, when the Council don\u2019t follow their own rules, and the people who are meant to hold them to account do nothing! This is why, more than ever, ordinary members of the public should consider standing at local council elections. This is the only affordable way to challenge the decisions of planning section.\"\n\nThe site has also got flooding issues as part of the site is in Flood Zone 3 having a 1 in 100 or greater annual probability of river flooding, however as we have seen, after the winter floods of 2015 it was widely acknowledged the concepts of probability of annual flood will have to be revisited.\n\nRedrow have, according to their planning application, added an attenuation pond to the area just outside the housing area. An attenuation pond is a pond which is designed to slow the passage of water from surface run-off to the ground/drainage system e.g. stormwater sewers. It does this by storing the run-off during times of peak flow i.e. heavy rainfall, and slowly releasing it at a controlled rate after the peak flow has passed. Although, according to Fragoff, the proposed attenuation pond is unlikely to provide sufficient storage to cope with additional runoff as it is situated in an area of the site that is saturated with high ground water levels throughout the winter.\n\nThere is also issues regarding the traffic congestion towards the level crossing. Traffic at the railway crossing is already really bad, especially during peak times so the addition of a further 99 homes will undoubtedly add to this congestion considerably.\n\nWe spoke to @FrapFormby and they gave us this statement: \"Amidst the numerous smaller issues involved in this new application, there are three major concerns -\n\n1) Drainage and Sewage: houses on Andrews Close only have soak-away drains. The new houses are raised to ensure that water run-off adds to the flooding risk for these and other local properties. Sewage already backs up in heavy weather raising manhole covers and making toilets unusable. Does anyone really believe that adding a culvert and pond to the plan will solve these problems?\n\n2) Residents cannot afford to employ London firms to tell planners that it's OK to build a nice expensive estate on what is officially Green Belt land. This application started as 87 houses: the new application mentions 'up to 90' and 'up to 100' new houses, impacting on the environment, wildlife and quality of life for everyone.\n\n3) The transport section of the application emphasises traffic on Elson Road and by the railway crossing. It ignores the creation of a blind junction on the corner of Barton Heys Road and Andrews Lane used by hundreds of children and their parents every weekday. This constitutes a genuine risk to children's' safety for all those who cycle to and from Range High School and those using the very popular cycle track. How long will it be before we are calling ambulances to this new junction?", "output": "UK housebuilder Redrow has been granted conditional planning permission to build 99 homes and construct an access road at the Andrews Lane site in Formby, Merseyside. The decision by Sefton Council has proven\u00a0unpopular with local residents, who had lobbied for changes to the original plans, and called into question the standards of access to the development site.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Luna DNA looks to monetise genomic data through blockchain \n This site is part of the Informa Connect Division of Informa PLC\n\nThis site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 3099067.", "output": "San Diego blockchain start-up Luna DNA has raised $2m in seed funding from backers including Bob Kain, the former chief engineering officer of Illumina and the current Luna DNA CEO. The company aims to encourage people to share their genomic information on its open-source blockchain database for use in scientific research by offering tokens called luna coins, which have a real-world value."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Luna DNA looks to monetise genomic data through blockchain \n Strands of human DNA. Image via Wikimedia Commons\n\nVeterans of San Diego-based Illumina are backing an open-source genomics database that uses the same technology employed by Bitcoin.\n\nLuna DNA, a genomics and medical research database using blockchain technology, announced receiving $2 million in seed funding Monday from individual investors and former Illumina executives.\n\nThe San Diego-based startup is a public benefit corporation empowering people to own and share their genomic information for medical research. Individuals will be given \u201cLuna Coins\u201d for contributing data. The coins are part of a blockchain and will have real monetary value while preserving privacy.\n\n\u201cWhile personal DNA testing continues to rise in popularity, currently these data are siloed, hindering genomic discovery,\u201d said Dr. David Barker, former chief scientific officer at Illumina and an advisor to the new company. \u201cWhat makes Luna DNA unique is its consumer empowerment through offering reward and ownership for providing genomic data, which will be used to back scientific research.\u201d\n\nThe Illumina veterans involved also include Bob Kain, former chief engineering officer, and Scott Kahn, former chief information officer. Kain serves as CEO of the new company.\n\nA blockchain is a continuously increasing list of data records, called blocks, which are linked and secured using cryptography to ensure accuracy. Bitcoin uses blockchain technology to record transactions.", "output": "San Diego blockchain start-up Luna DNA has raised $2m in seed funding from backers including Bob Kain, the former chief engineering officer of Illumina and the current Luna DNA CEO. The company aims to encourage people to share their genomic information on its open-source blockchain database for use in scientific research by offering tokens called luna coins, which have a real-world value.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "B3i blockchain initiative said to improve insurer efficiency 12% \n As B3i, the Blockchain Insurance Industry Initiative, prepares to launch as a legal entity in early 2018, independent research shows a strong business model with adoption potential for re/insurers across all lines of business with an estimated average 12% efficiency improvement of cost in scope across the value chain.\n\nMarket analysis commissioned by B3i and conducted by Stern Stewart & Co throughout November 2017 with 15 B3i members and 23 Market Testers estimate a $210 million p.a. administrative cost savings from efficiency improvements.\n\n78% of insurers & brokers and 91% of reinsurers surveyed rated the platform as having a specific relevance to being highly relevant to their business.\n\nBased on stated volumes and market size, premiums that will be ceded to the B3i platform are estimated to be in the range of $80 billion \u2013 $140 billion.\n\nB3i is following a two-fold strategy of developing the first blockchain prototype into a market-ready product while building on the current membership size to fully penetrate the market.\n\nThe report said that the consortium\u2019s fund and activity within the insurance market will likely accelerate as prototypes mature into more compelling minimum viable products and as platforms continue to develop.\n\nWith a current membership of 38 insurers, brokers and reinsurers, B3i forms the largest unaffiliated insurance market consortium so far in terms of global market share \u2013 measured by gross written premiums.\n\n23 new entrants joined B3is Market Testing program,following the launch of a working market testing prototype at the meeting of the reinsurance industry in Monte-Carlo.\n\nThe testing phase began in October, 2017, and included the creation and management of property catastrophe insurance and reinsurance contracts in order to assess post-placement processes.\n\nThe consortium\u2019s latest members include: AIA, AIG, Aon, Chubb, Cov\u00e9a, Everest Re, Gen Re, Guy Carpenter & Marsh, JLT Re, Leadway Assurance, LocalTapiola, Mapfre Re, Navigators, PartnerRe, QBE Re, SAHAM Assurance, Sava Re, Takaful Emarat, TigerRisk, Trust Re, UnipolSai and Willis Re.\n\nIBM\u2019s Insurance Industry Global Managing Director, Sandip Patel, previously told reinsurance news that the InsurTech wave will take off very quickly as \u201cblockchain is going to do for transactions what the internet did for information and I do believe that in the insurance and reinsurance industry.\u201d", "output": "Blockchain initiative B3i is expected to improve efficiency for insurers and reinsurers using the platform by an estimated average of 12%, according to analysis commissioned by the consortium. The survey, carried out in November, revealed estimated administration cost savings of $210m, while more than three-quarters of insurers and brokers, and 91% of reinsurers said the Blockchain Insurance Industry Initiative, set to launch next year, was relevant to their business. B3i, which is developing its blockchain prototype\u00a0into a market-ready\u00a0product,\u00a0currently has 38 insurer, reinsurer and broker members, drawn from around the world.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AIA pushes for establishment of US regulatory sandbox \n In December, the American Insurance Association presented a model law to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners that would allow for the creation of a regulatory \u201csandbox\u201d in which insurers could test digital innovations without fear of running afoul of regulations. Michael O\u2019Malley, SVP for public policy at the AIA, discussed why both insurers and policyholders would benefit from such a law in a Digital Insurance Q&A:\n\nDigital Insurance: What were you hearing from the industry that led you to develop this model law?\n\nMichael O\u2019Malley: There\u2019s a lot of interaction between innovation and regulation. Folks are coming up with innovative ways to approach insurance, but they\u2019re coming up against a rules-based regulatory system. New solutions may meet consumer demands in some ways, but it\u2019s a gray area against some of those rules. The NAIC seeks uniformity throughout the country, and its innovation and technology task force had on its list of ideas to review the regulatory sandbox concept.\n\nDI: How does the sandbox work?\n\nO\u2019Malley: We presented a legislative proposal that would create authority that would needed for an effective sandbox, which has been used in Europe. It would allow an insurance commissioner to receive an application from an insurer or other licensee that says, \u2018We can meet the consumer protection need of that law in another way,\u2019 but still in a supervised environment.\n\nDI: What are some of the ideas that don\u2019t fit nicely into existing regulations?\n\nO\u2019Malley: Take an example of on-demand insurance. Say you have an expensive camera that you want to only insure when you go on an adventure. You have, on your smartphone, an app from an insurance company and you want to buy insurance for a few days. But there\u2019s a lot of laws in the US that anticipate that a policy is a 12 month policy, and if you\u2019re going to stop the coverage for something, you need to give 60 days\u2019 notice. How does that work when the insured is stopping and starting coverage? You have consumers who are willing to insure things that way. So here you can test it and find a way to make it so that consumers are protected.\n\nDI: What\u2019s the timeline for something like this going live? Do you think regulators are more receptive now?\n\nO\u2019Malley: We\u2019re engaging in conversations with various regulators now to insure them to have more urgency, otherwise they\u2019re going to fall behind other countries that are encouraging innovation. It doesn\u2019t move fast, but I am encouraged that it has moved with tech in the past. Uber\u2019s a great example of a technology that moved very fast. It left their drivers with a gap under the assumption that a personal auto policy would apply, and it took a model law to fix it. Uber worked hard with the industry to figure that out. But think about how much more effective that would\u2019ve been if you were able to first pilot test when Uber was coming out. Wouldn\u2019t it have been better if you had a product before that first accident? That\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to say.\n\n", "output": "The American Insurance Association (AIA) has called for the creation of a US regulatory sandbox, where insurers can test digital innovation. Michael O'Malley, SVP for public policy at the AIA, said many companies are coming up with innovative ideas on approaching insurance, but can be hindered by the regulatory system. The AIA has put forward a legislative proposal to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners that would allow for the creation of an effective sandbox for insurers to test concepts in a supervised environment and without the risk of flouting regulations.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK applications for Irish passports rise 75% since Brexit \n Overall 752,296 new Irish passports have been issued up to December this year. Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien / The Irish Times\n\nNearly twice as many people in the United Kingdom are applying for Irish passports this year, than before the British voted to leave the European Union.\n\nTo date this year 81,287 passport applications have been made from Britain, and another 80,964 from Northern Ireland alone. In total 162,251 individuals have applied for Irish passports from the UK, nearly double the 91,924 applications made in 2014.\n\nOverall 752,296 new Irish passports have been issued up to the start of December this year, more than the 733,060 issued in 2016, and the 672,760 in 2015. Another 29,600 passports are currently being processed by the Department of Foreign Affairs.\n\nIn June 2016 the UK voted to leave the European Union, and since then the number of passport applications from people in Britain and Northern Ireland has dramatically increased. Following the triggering of \u201cArticle 50\u201d this March, the UK is set to officially leave the EU by March 2019.\n\nREAD MORE\n\nIn Northern Ireland, 53,715 people applied for Irish passports the year prior to the Brexit vote, increasing to 67,582 in 2016, and 80,964 so far this year. In 2013 the department received 42,441 applications for Irish passports from Britain, which increased to 81,287 this year.\n\nThe data on passport applications was obtained following a parliamentary question from Fianna F\u00e1il TD Darragh O'Brien.\n\nDiplomatic Costs\n\nThe department has spent \u20ac10,945 transporting postal passport applications from the London embassy to Dublin between January and August this year.\n\nIn April alone the department spent \u20ac1,872 sending passport applications from London to Dublin via diplomatic courier. The cost of transporting passport applications to Dublin was released under the Freedom of Information Act.\n\nA spokeswoman for the department said the London embassy and the Passport Service are currently reviewing internal procedures to try and reduce the costs of transferring passport applications to Dublin, in light of the increase in applications following the Brexit vote.\n\nAny person born in Northern Ireland can apply for an Irish passport, and anyone born in England, Scotland or Wales who has an Irish parent can also apply for citizenship and a passport. The Irish passport will give someone living in Britain free movement between Europe after Britain leaves the EU.\n\nAn online passport application service was launched in March this year, cutting down on processing times. The department spokeswoman said 11,000 online applications have been made from Britain between March and the end of August this year. The department\u2019s current estimated processing time for normal first time passport applicants from Britain is a minimum of seven weeks.", "output": "Ireland has experienced a 75% increase in demand for passports from UK citizens since it was announced that the UK would hold a referendum on EU\u00a0membership. In total 162,251 individuals\u00a0from\u00a0Britain and Northern Ireland\u00a0have applied, compared with the\u00a091,924 applications made in 2014. A Freedom of Information\u00a0request\u00a0revealed that \u20ac10,945 ($12,937) had been spent transporting postal applications from the London Embassy to Dublin between January and August 2017, leading to a review of internal processes to reduce cost.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Austria swears in far-right Freedom Party in coalition government \n BERLIN \u2014 A new coalition government was sworn in on Monday in Austria, and for the first time in more than 10 years it includes the far-right Freedom Party, a watershed for the populist movements that unsettled European politics this year.\n\nThe return to power of the Freedom Party, which was founded by neo-Nazis after World War II, was concerning enough that Austria\u2019s president, Alexander Van der Bellen, took the exceptional step of eliciting several promises from the new government before he would administer the oath of office.\n\nThose included acknowledging Austria\u2019s commitment to European Union and its responsibility to a Nazi past that tore apart the Continent last century.\n\nMr. Van de Bellen also reminded the new government leaders that they represent everyone in Austria, a rejoinder to a campaign characterized in large part by an antipathy toward immigrants.", "output": "Austria has sworn in a new coalition government that includes the far-right Freedom Party (FP\u00d6) for the first time in over a decade. Sebastian Kurz, 31 and now Europe's youngest leader, was sworn in as chancellor after his centre-right People's Party won October's snap election. His party formed a coalition with the FP\u00d6, whose leader Heinz-Christian Strache became vice chancellor. Swearing in the new government, Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen took the unusual steps of making the leaders acknowledge the country's commitment to the European Union and reminding them they represent everyone.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK will treat trade in goods and services as inseparable: Davis \n Brexit secretary David Davis will warn the European commission that it cannot \u201ccherrypick some sectors\u201d when negotiating a trade deal, according to a senior government official, who said the UK planned to treat goods and services as inseparable.\n\nResponding to EU figures setting out their stall, the Whitehall source insisted that while trade talks would be complex, \u201cthey either want to have a broad economic relationship with the UK, or they don\u2019t\u201d.\n\nThe source dismissed the idea that Britain would have to choose between a simple free trade agreement, which would focus largely on goods but not on the services that make up almost 80% of the UK economy, or a more comprehensive arrangement inside the single market and customs union.\n\nThey also suggested that ministers across government had held meetings with a \u201cfull sweep of EU member states\u201d and were confident some would be pressing internally for the commission to secure a bespoke and strong deal with the UK.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe are regularly approached by foreign governments and businesses who tell us that they want a fully functioning economic relationship with Britain which goes beyond the more rigid and unambitious suggestions from the commission,\u201d they said.\n\nMinisters including Davis are thought to believe that countries such as Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands see trade with the UK as particularly important to their economies. As such, they would be nervous of any moves that resulted in Britain crashing out of the EU on to World Trade Organisation rules.\n\nThe suggestion comes after Theresa May chaired a critical discussion of her \u201cBrexit inner cabinet\u201d, in which she and nine leading ministers discussed \u2013 for the first time \u2013 what \u201cend state\u201d Britain should be pushing for in the negotiations.\n\nThe prime minister told colleagues that the government must aim high in the next phase of EU negotiations. But she is likely to face some division within her top team, which includes former remainers such as Philip Hammond and Amber Rudd and the key Brexiters, Michael Gove and Boris Johnson.\n\nAlthough the cabinet is united in swinging behind Davis\u2019s suggestion that the UK will seek a \u201cCanada plus plus plus\u201d deal \u2013 adding services to the free trade agreement that exists \u2013 there are disagreements on how achievable that is.\n\nSources said Hammond and Rudd argued for close alignment with European-style regulation at the meeting, with Rudd, the home secretary, suggesting that jobs in Britain could be better protected by a close economic relationship with the EU.\n\nHowever, Gove and Johnson were backed by the international trade secretary, Liam Fox, and the defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, over their desire to ensure the UK can diverge in the future.\n\nMay\u2019s position is less well known, although she told the group \u2013 in a boost for the Brexiters \u2013 that the UK ought to be thinking less about conforming to European standards and more about conforming to international ones.\n\nA key sticking point is likely to be whether the EU will allow Britain to have a deal unlike any other, which would include services to a high degree outside of the single market.\n\nSenior British negotiators are likely to draw on statistics that highlight countries that trade services with the UK in order to press their case.\n\nInternal government figures show that 10% of Polish exports in the professional and business services sector went to the UK in 2015, while in Italy, bilateral trade with Britain accounts for 15% of total trade in the accountancy and audit services sector. Meanwhile, 18% of Germany\u2019s telecommunications exports were to the UK.\n\nThe challenge for the prime minister is the pressure she is facing from MPs across parliament with differing views on what Britain\u2019s future relationship should look like.\n\nDuring a Commons statement on the latest Brexit negotiations, May faced a string of interventions from Brexiters on her own backbenches who warned her against any move that could delay the date of Britain\u2019s EU departure.\n\nJacob Rees-Mogg hit out at the EU, claiming its negotiating guidelines undermined the \u201cprinciple of nothing being agreed until everything is agreed\u201d and would leave Britain as a \u201cno more than a vassal state, a colony, a serf of the European Union\u201d during transition.\n\n\u201cI urge [the prime minister] to model herself on her predecessor, the late noble Baroness Thatcher, and show real mettle and steel in rejecting these hostile negotiating terms from the European Union,\u201d he said.\n\nOthers asked about plans to maintain the status quo during an implementation period, leading May to confirm that she would back a position taken by Gove to leave the common fisheries policy and common agricultural policy in March 2019.\n\nHowever, it is unclear how the UK would then honour its promise to abide by EU laws and regulations during transition.\n\nOn the other side, May was hit by question after question from Labour MPs who fear that the Conservatives will row back on workers\u2019 rights after Brexit \u2013 in particular in relation to the working time directive. The prime minister said rights would be protected, but would not make a specific promise on that regulation in the future.\n\nLabour leader Jeremy Corbyn hit back, saying: \u201cThese rights help prevent workers from being used and abused by their bosses. The Tories cannot be trusted to keep them. As we leave the EU, only Labour will protect jobs and our economy.\u201d\n\n\n\nMay also responded to the EU warnings by saying that a member of EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier\u2019s team \u2013 Stefaan De Rynk \u2013 had said the UK\u2019s deal would be a \u201cbespoke agreement in terms of trade\u201d.\n\nThe key commission adviser told an event in London that every trade deal was bespoke, but also made clear that the advantages of the single market could only be secured by accepting the obligations.\n\nDe Rynk argued that the UK would have to accept the rules during transition, while losing a place at the table, and claimed that Brexit could not be a success because it was a \u201cmutual weakening\u201d in economic terms.\n\nAn academic, Dr Peter Holmes of the UK Trade Policy Observatory at Sussex University, said that ultimately the UK would have to accept what the EU offered, but added that Canada was not the only template.\n\n\u201cEU-Korea looks a bit more attractive than EU-Canada. It includes some services provisions and mutual recognition but offers less good market access than the European Economic Area,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cBut none of these models would allow an open Irish border as most people seem to understand last week\u2019s agreement to require.\u201d\n\n", "output": "UK Brexit Secretary David Davis will warn the EU that it cannot cherrypick a trade deal. Speaking after EU figures outlined their stance for post-Brexit trade talks, a top Whitehall official said the UK plans to treat goods and services as inseparable. The official also dismissed the idea that Britain will have to pick between a simple trade agreement, focused on goods, or a more extensive agreement within the single market and customs union. Instead, many foreign governments want a \"fully functioning\" economic relationship with Britain, beyond the more rigid suggestions put forward by the European Commission, the official added.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Iraq to rely on drones to defend oil pipelines from sabotage \n Iraq plans to use drones to monitor and protect its oil export and production pipelines from the first quarter of 2018, an oil ministry spokesman said on Dec. 18.\n\nOil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi has asked the ministry to seek out professional security companies that can supply Iraq with drones and sophisticated camera systems to protect its pipelines, spokesman Asim Jihad said.\n\nLuaibi last week announced plans to build a network of pipelines which will carry crude oil and refined products across all its territory, as an alternative to expensive and hazardous transport by tanker trucks.\n\nThe use of drones to monitor pipelines is common in advanced energy producing countries but a new step for Iraq which has seen attacks from insurgents on pipelines since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion which toppled Saddam Hussein.\n\n\"We will use drones and advanced surveillance systems to protect oil pipelines from any attacks or deliberate sabotage acts. The minister ordered the use of the drone system as of the first quarter of the coming year,\" Jihad told reporters.\n\nThe only international crude pipeline now in operation in Iraq links the northern, semi-autonomous Kurdish region to Turkey's Mediterranean coast.\n\nThe country had more pipelines in the past\u2014to Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia\u2014but they were shut down or destroyed as a result of wars and conflicts.\n\nOPEC's second-largest oil producer, after Saudi Arabia, Iraq depends on oil sales for about 95 percent of its government income. The country exported about 3.5 million barrels per day on average in November.\n\nLuaibi will be visiting Algeria in mid-January and meeting with his counterpart and state-run Algerian energy company Sonatrach, which has expressed interest in investing in Iraq, Jihad also said.", "output": "Iraqi oil minister Jabar al-Luaibi has requested that his department find companies able to supply the country with drones to monitor and protect the country's pipelines from early next year, according to spokesman Asim Jihad. He said: \"We will use drones and advanced surveillance systems to protect oil pipelines from any attacks or deliberate sabotage acts.\"\u00a0Iraq recently revealed plans to construct a network of oil pipelines across the country, having already lost\u00a0networks leading to Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia as a result of wars and conflicts. About 95% of Iraqi\u00a0government income derives from oil.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US stores adopt\u00a0Alipay, WePay apps to attract Chinese tourists \n NEW YORK -- In China, Zhang Youtian does not carry cash or credit cards. Instead, he pays for everything using the Alipay and WeChat Pay apps on his smartphone. When he heard that merchants in New York, where he has lived for seven years, were adopting those forms of payment, the recent college graduate was excited.\n\n\"If I saw that they had it in a store, I'd definitely try it,\" Zhang said. \"It's convenient. You don't have to sign. Just scan and finish the transaction.\"", "output": "US retailers are cashing in on the opportunity to offer Chinese tourists the ability to pay using Alipay and WeChat Pay apps, which were rolled out across North America earlier this year. Stores such as New York's VR World and food outlet Mr Bing\u00a0have reported an increase in footfall since adopting the Chinese payment apps, which control more than 92% of their domestic market.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Thales Alenia to share expertise with Boeing for NASA\u00a0programme \n WASHINGTON \u2014 Thales Alenia Space is partnering with three U.S. companies that are working on NASA studies of concepts for the proposed Deep Space Gateway, leveraging its expertise in space station and cargo module development.\n\nThales announced Dec. 14 that Boeing was the latest company it was working with as part of NASA\u2019s Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) 2 effort. Thales has previously also been working with Lockheed Martin and Orbital ATK. Thales did not disclose the value of the individual contracts with the three companies.\n\nFor all three companies, Thales is providing expertise in areas such as structures, environmental controls and thermal controls, said Walter Cugno, vice president of Thales Alenia Space\u2019s exploration and sciences domain, in a call with reporters. The company\u2019s contributions are currently limited to studies, he said, and does not include hardware at this time.\n\nBoeing, Lockheed Martin and Orbital ATK are three of the six companies that received NextSTEP-2 awards from NASA in 2016. The other awardees are Bigelow Aerospace, NanoRacks and Sierra Nevada Corporation. The awards are structured as public private partnerships, with companies contributing their own funds in addition to NASA funding, which has a combined value of $65 million.\n\nMost of the companies with NextSTEP-2 awards are working on concepts for habitation modules that could be used on missions beyond Earth orbit, such as the agency\u2019s proposed Deep Space Gateway in cislunar space. The awards cover technology development as well as construction of groundbased prototypes.\n\nThe NanoRacks award, part of a consortium that includes Space Systems Loral and United Launch Alliance, was focused on a short-term study examining the feasibility of converting an Atlas 5 upper stage into a habitation module that could be attached to the International Space Station or commercial station. The company said that study, recently completed, confirmed that approach was viable.\n\nThales Alenia Space is taking different approaches with the three NextSTEP-2 companies it is working with. The work with Orbital ATK, Cugno said, is focused on adapting the Cygnus spacecraft for deep space applications. Thales Alenia provides the pressurized cargo module for Cygnus cargo missions to the space station.\n\nThe work with Boeing and Lockheed Martin, he said, is based on those companies\u2019 own, separate concepts for habitation modules. \u201cWe use our knowledge on thermal, mechanical and environmental designs and system architecture, but implementing that in slightly different applications,\u201d he said.\n\nThat work, he added, is informed by the experience Thales has from developing modules for the ISS. \u201cWe try to fit that into a very different environment,\u201d he said. The work is expected to take place through 2018 and into 2019.", "output": "Thales Alenia Space has added Boeing to the companies it is working with as NASA partners on the space agency's\u00a0Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) 2 effort. Thales is providing expertise in areas such as environmental controls, thermal controls and structures for Boeing, as well as Lockheed Martin and Orbital ATK. Its contribution is limited to research and currently does not include hardware. The three companies are among\u00a0six that received NextSTEP-2 awards from NASA last year, most of which are working on concepts for habitation modules for missions beyond Earth orbit.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ariane Group plans to launch 3D-printed rockets for ESA by 2030 \n The Ariane Group has signed a new contract with the European Space Agency for a next generation rocket engine.\n\nThe contract, signed on December 14th, will see the development of the Prometheus engine, described as \u201ca very low cost engine\u201d and intended for launches from 2030.\n\nThe economics of space are changing with enterprises such as Rocket Labs, Space X and Aerojet Rocketdyne aiming to produce launch vehicles that lower the cost of missions. Other companies such as Relativity Space are also using additive manufacturing as part of a vision of \u201cscaling and sustaining an interplanetary society\u201d.\n\nThe Prometheus engine will run on liquid oxygen and methane, and is expected to cost approximately 1 million euros. This is 10 times less than current rocket engines such as the Vulcain\u00ae2.\n\nTo achieve such a cost-saving Ariane Group will use, \u201can entirely new approach [including] the use of innovative design and production methods and tools.\u201d Specific details of the production techniques are still under wraps, however the company has confirmed that 3D printing will be used \u2013 with the gas generator named as one of the 3D printed components.\n\nTesting scheduled for 2020 at DLR\n\nThe contract was signed by Daniel Neuenschwander, Director of Space Transportation at the European Space Agency (ESA), and Alain Charmeau, CEO of ArianeGroup. It covers the design, manufacturing and testing of the first two examples of the Prometheus demonstrator.\n\nOnce construction is complete the Prometheus is scheduled for testing in 2020, using the P5 test bed of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Lampoldshausen, Germany.\n\nThe Prometheus engine marks a switch from previous propellants used by Ariane. The current liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen combination will be replaced by a mix of liquid oxygen and methane. Other changes will include the \u201cdigitalization of engine control and diagnostics, and manufacturing using 3D printing in a connected factory environment.\u201d\n\nNominate the best additive innovations in the the second annual 3D Printing Industry Awards now.\n\nTo be the first with all the latest 3D printer releases, subscribe to the free 3D Printing Industry newsletter, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook.", "output": "Ariane Group is to work with the European Space Agency (ESA) on a partly 3D-printed rocket. The low-cost Prometheus engine will run on liquid oxygen and methane, and is intended for launches from 2030. It is predicted to cost about \u20ac1m ($1.2m), a tenth of the cost of vehicles such as the Vulcain 2. While Ariane has not disclosed its full range of design and production methods, it will 3D-print some components, including the gas generator."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "National Australia Bank ceases lending to new coal projects \n National Australia Bank says it will halt all lending for new thermal coal mining projects, becoming the first major Australian bank to phase out support of thermal coal mining.\n\nWhile the bank will continue providing finance for coal projects already on its books, NAB said an orderly transition to a low-carbon Australia was critical for the economy and for continued access to secure and affordable energy.\n\n\n\n\u201cWhile we will continue to support our existing customers across the mining and energy sectors, including those with existing coal assets, NAB will no longer finance new thermal coal mining projects,\u201d the bank said in a statement on Thursday.\n\nThe news was welcomed by environmental groups.\n\n\u201cThis is a market-leading position for an Australian bank and is even stronger than the position taken by Commonwealth Bank last month because it is formal policy,\u201d Greenpeace campaigner Jonathan Moylan said.\n\nThe Commonwealth Bank indicated to shareholders in November that it would not fund new, large coal projects, saying its support for coal would continue to decline as it helps finance the transition to a low-carbon economy.\n\n\n\nING has promised to phase out coal within a decade and has committed to stop funding any utility company which relies on coal for more than 5% of its energy.\n\nANZ and Westpac both have policies that limit lending to new coal projects under certain conditions.\n\n\u201cNAB has lifted the bar above its competitors by becoming the first major bank to end lending to all new thermal coal mining,\u201d said Julien Vincent, executive director of environmental finance advocates Market Forces.\n\n\u201cThis policy means NAB joins the ranks of dozens of banks and insurance companies globally that are withdrawing from this most climate-polluting of industries.\u201d\n\nThe World Bank has also announced it will \u201cno longer finance upstream oil and gas, after 2019\u201d in an effort to be consistent with the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to 1.5C.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s time for ANZ and Westpac to do the same and rule out investing in new coal projects,\u201d Moylan said.\n\nLast month, Australia\u2019s financial regulator warned banks, lenders and insurers that they had to do more to reduce risk relating to climate change, and flagged the possibility of \u201cregulatory action\u201d if they didn\u2019t act.", "output": "National Australia Bank has announced plans to end all lending to\u00a0new thermal coal mining projects. In a statement, the bank said that a transition to a low-carbon Australia was required for the good of the economy. The bank is the first in Australia to begin phasing out funding for thermal coal mining, though it will continue to find existing projects.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK companies, fearing ransomware attacks, hoard bitcoin \n Dive Brief:\n\nCybercrime is expected to incur annual global costs above $6 trillion by 2021, rising in conjunction with cybersecurity costs, according to a Cybersecurity Ventures report. Cumulative cybersecurity spending is expected to top $1 trillion over the next five years. By next year, spending is expected to rise from 2017's $86.4 billion to $93 billion.\n\nCybercrimes are the fastest-growing crime as size, sophistication and cost rise, reports CNBC. Data breaches increased in size 1.8% in 2017, which amounts to an average of more than 24,000 records per breach.\n\nAs ransomware attacks are expected to hit an organization every 14 seconds by 2019, a severe shortage in cybersecurity labor \u2014 expected to reach 3.5 million unfilled positions by 2021, compared to 2014's $1 million \u2014 may be the greatest threat to cybersecurity, according to Cybersecurity Ventures. But 2018 may be the \"Year of Security Awareness Training\" as cybersecurity programs for employees rises to $10 billion over the next decade.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nBetween learning just how bad years-old data breaches were and combing through endless reports on new ones, 2017 was not the most optimistic year for cybersecurity. And reports like this paint a bleak picture of the future.\n\nMillennials and women, two underrepresented groups in the cybersecurity workforce, will be key in combating the shortage of security professionals. But adequate, let alone great, cybersecurity requires equal measures of quantity and quality.\n\nHuman error, from an overlooked patch to clicking on a seemingly innocuous email, can cause devastating effects for a company, economy and nation. Improving baseline cybersecurity practices through routine employee training and retraining is critical for companies moving forward.\n\nCosts in the trillions of dollars and record losses in the tens of thousands are hard foes to stand up against alone. CIOs, CSOs and other decision makers should also focus on a comprehensive protocol and a comprehensive plan of action to assess the situation, fortify exploited weaknesses and disclose to the appropriate authorities.\n\nAfter all, a botched handling of a breach can hit the recovery and company reputation just as hard.", "output": "UK firms are opening bitcoin wallets and purchasing bitcoin in the expectation of a ransomware attack. The currency would be used to pay off the hackers, who usually demand bitcoin as a means of payment. According to Paul Taylor, former Ministry of Defence cyber chief, the trend is a response to the expense and difficulty of reporting attacks to the authorities, combined with the global rise in cyber attacks and the inflating value of bitcoin.\u00a0The annual cost of cybersecurity is expected to reach $6tn globally by 2021."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indonesia seeking to capitalise on Chinese tourism surge \n Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-16 00:17:50|Editor: Mu Xuequan\n\nVideo Player Close\n\nJAKARTA, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- As influx of Chinese tourists to Indonesia continued to grow in recent years, Indonesia is keen to expand cooperation in tourism with China to facilitate Chinese tourists and create attractive tour packages for them, an Indonesia minister said on Friday.\n\nTourism Minister Arief Yahya told Xinhua in an exclusive interview that Indonesia had received 1.8 million Chinese tourists as of October and the figure was expected to reach more than 2 million ones in 2017.\n\n\"The growth was 45 percent, compared to their arrival figure in the corresponding period last year,\" the minister said, citing the influx of Chinese tourists to Indonesia during the period.\n\nHe added that Chinese tourists contributed the most to Indonesia's foreign tourist figure at present, surpassing Singapore, Malaysia and Australia which used to dominate the figure previously.\n\nHe added that his ministry has set target to receive 5 million Chinese tourists, or 25 percent from the 20 million foreign tourists target by 2019.\n\nIndonesia expects to receive 3.5 million Chinese tourists from 17 million foreign tourists targeted for next year, he said.\n\nConveying Indonesia's efforts to attract more tourists from China, the minister said that his ministry has been actively made promotions to attract more Chinese to spend the Spring Festival holiday in Indonesia.\n\n\"We did the promotion related to Chinese's Spring Festival since November,\" he said.\n\nTo achieve the tourism targets and provide more accommodation for Chinese tourists, the minister said Indonesia would provide more Mandarin-speaking guides, to support more direct flights from China to more of Indonesian cities.\n\n\"We already asked for assistance from Chinese consulate general office in Denpasar to teach Mandarin language to our guides and sent students to China to learn the language and how to serve Chinese tourists,\" he added.\n\nThe minister also expected Chinese investors to take part in Indonesia's plan to develop more destinations, called 10 New Bali, and integrated sea transportation system which he believed will integrate with China's Belt and Road Initiative.\n\nThe initiative \"fits with our development of marine tourism. As we are in this field, we give full support for the initiative,\" the minister said.\n\nThe minister planned to build a tour package in observing China's ancient navy commander Zheng He and his voyage throughout Indonesia centuries ago.\n\n\"Zheng He is also very famous in Indonesia. We can start by developing tourism package of Zheng He,\" he said.\n\nAccording to the minister, Zheng visited 10 cities in Indonesia that spanned from Batam to Bali. Conveying his plan, the tour packages can be accommodated through flights as well as cruise ships that starts from Batam and ends in Bali.", "output": "Indonesia is looking to capitalise on a surge in Chinese overseas tourism with plans to tailor new\u00a0packages for its biggest travel market. Tourism minister Arief Yahya said\u00a0he expected five\u00a0million Chinese visitors\u00a0by 2019 from an estimated two million this year. The minister also said he hoped to attract Chinese travellers\u00a0to more\u00a0locations within the\u00a0archipelago.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "German carmakers targeting Chinese luxury market \n BMW's sales in China rose 12 percent in November to 55,293 vehicles -- a result that positions the automaker to be China's top-selling luxury brand this year.\n\nIn the same period, Audi sales rose 6.5 percent to 56,208 units while Mercedes-Benz's brand registrations increased 22 percent to 50,813.\n\nAlthough Audi outsold its rivals in November, it is still trying to recoup the sales it lost earlier this year when dealers were boycotting the brand.\n\nAudi planned to launch a second distribution channel in China, angering some dealers, who dropped a boycott in May after Audi canceled the controversial plan. Audi sales have been rising since then, but it has yet to catch up to BMW or Mercedes for the year to date.\n\nFor the first 11 months, BMW sales are up 15 percent to 542,362 units, while Audi volume is down 2.1 percent to 528,706. Mercedes, formerly China's No. 3 luxury brand, increased its sales 27 percent to 539,728 units.\n\nBMW is taking a number of steps to boost sales. The company is holding talks with Great Wall Motor to form a joint venture to produce cars in China for the Mini brand.\n\nThis month, BMW also is launching a car-sharing program that employs a small fleet of electric i3 models in Chengdu. If successful, BMW could expand its car-sharing program to help meet China's tough EV mandates in 2019.", "output": "German carmakers are targeting the growing luxury car market in China, with BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz experiencing significant growth. BMW sales rose 12% to 55,293 cars, making it the top-selling luxury brand this year. Audi saw 6.5% percent growth to 56,208 cars and Mercedes-Benz posted a 22% surge to 50,813 sales. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI startup achieves 95% accuracy when spotting asphyxia in babies \n A Nigerian startup has developed a machine learning system to detect child birth asphyxia earlier and hopes to save thousands of babies\u2019 lives every year when its technology is deployed.\n\nThe founders say the AI solution has achieved over 95% prediction accuracy in trials with nearly 1,400 pre-recorded baby cries. The startup is now raising funds to acquire more data to improve accuracy and obtain clinical approval from health institutions.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe young startup is already garnering international attention and is in the second round for the global IBM Watson AI XPRIZE competition, which has a $5 million prize.\n\nBirth asphyxia is the third highest cause of under-five child deaths and is responsible for almost one million neonatal deaths annually, according to WHO. It has also been linked to 1.1 million intrapartum stillbirths, long-term neurological disability and impairment.\n\nDr. Victoria Feyikemi a physician at Babcock University Teaching Hospital in Ogun state, southwest Nigeria said the condition could be a manifestation of the immaturity of a baby\u2019s respiratory system. \u201cThey often present with slow irregular respiration, reduced activity and reduced heart rate,\u201d she said.\n\nDetecting the condition is a challenge in Nigeria and other parts of Africa where the focus usually shifts to preparation for religious and cultural rites right after a child is born. Feyikemi said medical expertise is needed to positively establish diagnosis using blood gas analysis, administer oxygen support and to treat the underlying cause.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nCurrently deployed as an embedded model on an Android app, Ubenwa, which means baby\u2019s cry, helps parents and caregivers detect asphyxia earlier, without having to wait on doctors.\n\nCharles Onu, Ubenwa\u2019s founder and principal innovator, explained that the startup\u2019s machine learning system takes an infant\u2019s cry as input, analyses the amplitude and frequency patterns of the cry and provides instant diagnosis of birth asphyxia.\n\nAlthough the condition is detectable, Onu said few public hospital in the country had the equipment due to its high cost, poor electricity service and an unrealistic routine application for every child.\n\nUbenwa\u2019s co-founder and engineering lead, Udeogu Innocent, said after being able to achieve a level of success with the model, the startup then deployed its technology to a mobile app for easier mobile diagnosis of birth asphyxia. It builds on techniques that have been developed for speech recognition.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe Ubenwa team is conducting clinical validation exercises in Nigeria at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital and in Canada at the McGill University Health Centre.\n\n\u201cWe want to do the tests in the hospital, interact directly with the babies, and compare how Ubenwa performs given all the new environmental challenges that would come up. The reason we are able to pursue this real-time validation in the clinical setting is as a result of the success of our earlier work,\u201d Onu said.\n\nThe company is yet to figure out a definitive monetization business strategy.\n\n\u201cWe are still finalizing a hybrid model. But in the meantime, we are planning to make it free for individuals and paid for organizations such as hospitals, clinics, governments, and others),\u201d Onu said.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n*Correction: A previous version of this story said Ubenwa is in the final round of the XPRIZE competition. It has been corrected to show it is in the second round.", "output": "Nigerian start-up Ubenwa claims to detect child birth asphyxia with 95% accuracy. Birth asphyxia is behind nearly a million neonatal deaths each year, according to the World Health Organisation. But detecting the condition is a challenge in parts of Africa, where the focus usually shifts to cultural or religious rites after the birth of a child. Ubenwa's Android app uses machine learning and techniques developed for speech recognition to analyse the sound of an infant's cry and provides instant diagnosis. It is currently undergoing clinical validation tests in Nigeria and Canada."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Telegraph aims for 10 million registered users \n The Telegraph wants to grow its registered readers to 10 million. The goal is to shift away from valuing mass-reach audience numbers in favor of building a more loyal readership of logged-in users.\n\nThe benefits of doing so are clear. Advertisers will always want more detailed first-party audience data to improve campaign targeting, and registered users tend to be more ripe for converting into paying subscribers than flyby readers. That\u2019s why there has been a flurry of registered-user drives at publishers such as The Times of London over the last year.\n\nTo get itself to 10 million, the publisher will invest in its newsroom, hiring 39 additional editorial staff. The publisher has identified six areas that it believes will help cultivate registrations and in which it wants to thrive: politics, sports, luxury and lifestyle, business of technology, money and travel.\n\n\u201cA registered reader \u2014 as opposed to an anonymous one \u2014 is far more valuable to the business than the vast majority of our audience as it stands now,\u201d wrote The Telegraph\u2019s CEO, Nick Hugh, in a letter to staff.\n\nThe publisher will also restructure teams internally to place its journalists closer to developers, data scientists, analysts and engineers in the office, though it\u2019s not ready to give specific details. New editorial products like newsletters, events and messaging products will follow next year, though details are scant.\n\nThe changes described in Hugh\u2019s message to staff are The Telegraph\u2019s biggest since it dropped its metered paywall model in 2016 in favor of a hybrid model, in which 20 percent of content is behind a paywall and the rest is open-access.\n\nThe Telegraph wouldn\u2019t confirm latest subscriber or registered-user numbers, saying only that they\u2019d grown by some 300 percent four months after dropping the metered paywall. Naturally, both will be much lower than the bulk of its audience that consumes content for free, which was 23 million monthly visitors in October, according to comScore.\n\nMonetizing digital ads is tough, particularly display, which Google and Facebook heavily dominate. That continued pressure on publishers\u2019 digital ad revenues is causing many to embrace more reader-revenue models. The New York Times has undergone a total pivot to reader revenue, and the Guardian also generates more money from its paying members and donors than it does from advertising. Now, The Telegraph wants a piece of the action.\n\n\u201cThe Telegraph has clearly looked at the success of The Washington Post and New York Times and is trying to follow their example: invest in journalism to attract paying members,\u201d said Joe Evans, media analyst at Enders Analysis. \u201cThe [six] verticals they\u2019re concentrating on will form the core proposition to get subscribers through the door; then, they can cross-subsidize by serving those readers profitable sponsored content or affiliate links in the high-value categories the editor name-checks: luxury and lifestyle, technology, money and travel.\u201d\n\nThe shift to a product-first quality consumer proposition that motivates logins seems sensible on paper. To entice people to register, and potentially ultimately subscribe, the newspaper will need to do more than ever to stand out against local competitors with equally ambitious propositions.\n\n\u201cThe question is whether the paper can really commit to the strategy. Is 39 new editorial roles much compared to the rounds of layoffs the business has undertaken when it was in cost-minimization mode?\u201d said Evans. \u201cWill they be able to stop worrying about day-to-day traffic numbers? The concern for traffic has led many news outlets to concentrate on entertainment, celebrity and overblown opinion pieces, things which get readers onto the site but don\u2019t convert them to loyal, registered or paying readers, and it will remain very tempting to chase those numbers on a piece-by-piece basis.\u201d\n\nThere has never been more pressure for publishers to prove their own audience data is unique. Likewise, it\u2019s just as competitive for publishers pitching branded content briefs. Therefore, any major difference in approach to areas like platform partnerships and new device innovation attract agency attention.\n\n\u201cThe Telegraph has taken a very different road to the likes of the Guardian, for instance, on its relationship with platforms, and in particular, Apple News, and that helps it stand out,\u201d said Julian Purnell, partnerships and emerging media director at digital media agency Essence. \u201cThe fact it\u2019s now gone in early to experiment with the Amazon Echo show is interesting because brands are still unsure of how to tap the smart-speaker space and how to monetize or capture an audience there. The Telegraph could have first-mover advantage there.\u201d", "output": "UK newspaper The Telegraph is emulating the New York Times and The Guardian by focusing on driving registered users, setting a target of 10 million, according to a letter from CEO Nick Hugh. He said the paper would hire 39 more editorial staff and focus on six key content areas, including sport, culture and politics. The paper, which switched to a hybrid model for its website in 2016, said registered user numbers grew 300% in the four months after the pivot away from a full paywall, while comscore said The Telegraph drew 23 million monthly visitors in October.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scientists create floating solar rig to turn water into energy \n Two mesh electrodes are held at a narrow separation distance (L), and generate H2 and O2 gases concurrently. The key innovation is the asymmetric placement of the catalyst on the outward facing surfaces of the mesh, such that the generation of bubbles is constrained to this region. When the gas bubbles detach, their buoyancy causes them to float upward into separate collection chambers.Image credit: Credit: Daniel Esposito/Columbia Engineering\n\nIn a single hour, more energy from the sun hits the Earth than all the energy used by humankind in an entire year. Imagine if the sun's energy could be harnessed to power energy needs on Earth, and done in a way that is economical, scalable, and environmentally responsible. Researchers have long seen this as one of the grand challenges of the 21st century.\n\nDaniel Esposito, assistant professor of chemical engineering at Columbia Engineering, has been studying water electrolysis?the splitting of water into oxygen (O2) and hydrogen (H2) fuel?as a way to convert electricity from solar photovoltaics (PVs) into storable hydrogen fuel. Hydrogen is a clean fuel that is currently used to propel rockets in NASA's space program and is widely expected to play an important role in a sustainable energy future. The vast majority of today's hydrogen is produced from natural gas through a process called steam methane reforming that simultaneously releases CO2, but water electrolysis using electricity from solar PV offers a promising route to produce H2 without any associated CO2 emissions.\n\nEsposito's team has now developed a novel photovoltaic-powered electrolysis device that can operate as a stand-alone platform that floats on open water. His floating PV-electrolyzer can be thought of as a \"solar fuels rig\" that bears some resemblance to deep-sea oil rigs, except that it would produce hydrogen fuel from sunlight and water instead of extracting petroleum from beneath the sea floor. The study, \"Floating Membraneless PV-Electrolyzer Based on Buoyancy-Driven Product Separation,\" was published today by International Journal of Hydrogen Energy.\n\nThe researchers' key innovation is the method by which they separate the H2 and O2 gasses produced by water electrolysis. State-of-the-art electrolyzers use expensive membranes to maintain separation of these two gases. The Columbia Engineering device relies instead on a novel electrode configuration that allows the gases to be separated and collected using the buoyancy of bubbles in water. The design enables efficient operation with high product purity and without actively pumping the electrolyte. Based on the concept of buoyancy-induced separation, the simple electrolyzer architecture produces H2 with purity as high as 99 percent.\n\n\"The simplicity of our PV-electrolyzer architecture?without a membrane or pumps?makes our design particularly attractive for its application to seawater electrolysis, thanks to its potential for low cost and higher durability compared to current devices that contain membranes,\" says Esposito, whose Solar Fuels Engineering Laboratory develops solar and electrochemical technologies that convert renewable and abundant solar energy into storable chemical fuels. \"We believe that our prototype is the first demonstration of a practical membraneless floating PV-electrolyzer system, and could inspire large-scale 'solar fuels rigs' that could generate large quantities of H2 fuel from abundant sunlight and seawater without taking up any space on land or competing with fresh water for agricultural uses.\"\n\nCommercial electrolyzer devices rely on a membrane, or divider, to separate the electrodes within the device from which H2 and O2 gas are produced. Most of the research for electrolysis devices has been focused on devices that incorporate a membrane. These membranes and dividers are prone to degradation and failure and require a high purity water source. Seawater contains impurities and microorganisms that can easily destroy these membranes.\n\n\"Being able to safely demonstrate a device that can perform electrolysis without a membrane brings us another step closer to making seawater electrolysis possible,\" says Jack Davis, the paper's first author and a PhD student working with Esposito. \"These solar fuels generators are essentially artificial photosynthesis systems, doing the same thing that plants do with photosynthesis, so our device may open up all kinds of opportunities to generate clean, renewable energy.\"\n\nCrucial to the operation of Esposito's PV-electrolyzer is a novel electrode configuration comprising mesh flow-through electrodes that are coated with a catalyst only on one side. These asymmetric electrodes promote the evolution of gaseous H2 and O2 products on only the outer surfaces of the electrodes where the catalysts have been deposited. When the growing H2 and O2 bubbles become large enough, their buoyancy causes them to detach from the electrode surfaces and float upwards into separate overhead collection chambers.\n\nThe team used the Columbia Clean Room to deposit platinum electrocatalyst onto the mesh electrodes and the 3D-printers in the Columbia Makerspace to make many of the reactor components. They also used a high-speed video camera to monitor transport of H2 and O2 bubbles between electrodes, a process known as \"crossover.\" Crossover between electrodes is undesirable because it decreases product purity, leading to safety concerns and the need for downstream separation units that make the process more expensive.\n\nIn order to monitor H2 and O2 crossover events, the researchers incorporated windows in all of their electrolysis devices so that they could take high-speed videos of gas bubble evolution from the electrodes while the device was operating. These videos were typically taken at a rate of 500 frames per second (a typical iPhone captures video at a rate of 30 frames per second).\n\nThe team is refining their design for more efficient operation in real seawater, which poses additional challenges compared to the more ideal aqueous electrolytes used in their laboratory studies. They also plan to develop modular designs that they can use to build larger, scaled-up systems.\n\nEsposito adds: \"There are many possible technological solutions to achieve a sustainable energy future, but nobody knows exactly what specific technology or combination of technologies will be the best to pursue. We are especially excited about the potential of solar fuels technologies because of the tremendous amount of solar energy that is available. Our challenge is to find scalable and economical technologies that convert sunlight into a useful form of energy that can also be stored for times when the sun is not shining.\"\n\nThe study is titled \"Floating Membraneless PV-Electrolyzer Based on Buoyancy-Driven Product Separation.\"", "output": "US researchers have developed a \"solar rig\" - a sea-borne platform that uses sunlight to convert water into hydrogen energy. Experiments at Columbia Engineering achieved the \"first demonstration of a practical, membraneless floating photovoltaic-electrolyser system\", according to an article in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. The system uses technology that slashes\u00a0the cost of the process and reduces the amount of CO2 waste. The team believes its system brings the possibility of scalable seawater electrolysis a step closer."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google aims to mute autoplay videos in new version of Chrome \n Back in September, Google said Chrome 64 would address several user concerns around content that autoplays, most notably, the ability to have autoplay videos go silent by default. Now, if you\u2019re really keen on testing it out, you do so today by downloading the Chrome 64 beta, as spotted by Engadget. The company said the full autoplay video blocking feature, which is part of a broader ad blocking effort in Chrome that\u2019s been in the works for quite some time, would arrive in the consumer version of the browser come January.\n\nThe setting to have autoplay content automatically muted is in Chrome 64\u2019s permissions bar. Unfortunately, this isn\u2019t a one-and-done setting \u2014 it has to be done for every website you want it applied to \u2014 but it will mute sound for any content that is navigated to under the parent domain.", "output": "Google has added the ability to automatically mute autoplay videos to its Chrome 64 beta, set to hit consumer browsers next month. The tool, however, has to be activated for every website visited by a user. The mute feature is one of a suite of extras added to the updated operating system, including a better pop-up blocker and a measure to prevent malicious auto-redirects, while Chrome OS users can also access a split-screen option."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CRISPR Therapeutics to launch first gene-editing clinical trial \n ISTOCK, BUBAONELast Thursday (December 7), CRISPR Therapeutics submitted an application to European regulatory authorities seeking permission to begin clinical trials for CTX001, an investigational CRISPR treatment for patients with sickle cell disease and \u03b2 thalassemia.\n\nCRISPR Therapeutics, the company cofounded by Emmanuel Charpentier\u2014one of the developers of CRISPR gene editing technology\u2014plans to start a Europe-based Phase 1/2 trial for patients with \u03b2 thalassemia in 2018. \u201cI think it\u2019s a momentous occasion for us, but also for the field in general,\u201d Samarth Kulkarni, CEO of the company, tells Wired. \u201cJust three years ago we were talking about CRISPR-based treatments as sci-fi fantasy, but here we are.\u201d\n\nThe firm also plans to apply for US Food and Drug Administration approval to use the treatment for sickle cell disease early next year.\n\nPatients with sickle cell disease and \u03b2 thalassemia possess mutations in a gene that produces a subunit of hemoglobin,...", "output": "Swiss genetic engineering firm CRISPR Therapeutics has sought permission from European regulators to begin its first-ever clinical trials early next year on CTX001, a gene therapy treatment for beta thalassemia. The company is also set to apply to the US Food and Drug Administration for approval to use it against sickle cell disease. CTX001 stimulates production of foetal haemoglobin, which the body usually cuts off at the age of around six months, and has resulted in an editing efficiency of 80%, with no reported off-target effects.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CRISPR Therapeutics to launch first gene-editing clinical trial \n In late 2012, French microbiologist Emmanuelle Charpentier approached a handful of American scientists about starting a company, a Crispr company. They included UC Berkeley\u2019s Jennifer Doudna, George Church at Harvard University, and his former postdoc Feng Zhang of the Broad Institute\u2014the brightest stars in the then-tiny field of Crispr research. Back then barely 100 papers had been published on the little-known guided DNA-cutting system. It certainly hadn\u2019t attracted any money. But Charpentier thought that was about to change, and to simplify the process of intellectual property, she suggested the scientists team up.\n\nIt was a noble idea. But it wasn\u2019t to be. Over the next year, as the science got stronger and VCs came sniffing, any hope of unity withered up and washed away, carried on a billion-dollar tide of investment. In the end, Crispr\u2019s leading luminaries formed three companies\u2014Caribou Biosciences, Editas Medicine, and Crispr Therapeutics\u2014to take what they had done in their labs and use it to cure human disease. For nearly five years the \u201cbig three\u2019 Crispr biotechs have been promising precise gene therapy solutions to inherited genetic conditions. And now, one of them says it\u2019s ready to test the idea on people.\n\nLast week, Charpentier\u2019s company, Crispr Therapeutics, announced it has asked regulators in Europe for permission to trial a cure for the disease beta thalassemia. The study, testing a genetic tweak to the stem cells that make red blood cells, could begin as soon as next year. The company also plans to file an investigational new drug application with the Food and Drug Administration to treat sickle cell disease in the US within the first few months of 2018. The company, which is co-located in Zug, Switzerland and Cambridge, Massachusetts, said the timing is just a matter of bandwidth, as they file the same data with regulators on two different continents.\n\nBoth diseases stem from mutations in a single gene (HBB) that provides instructions for making a protein called beta-globin, a subunit of hemoglobin that binds oxygen and delivers it to tissues throughout the body via red blood cells. One kind of mutation leads to poor production of hemoglobin; another creates abnormal beta-globin structures, causing red blood cells to distort into a crescent or \u201csickle\u201d shape. Both can cause anemia, repeated infections, and waves of pain. Crispr Therapeutics has developed a way to hit them both with a single treatment.\n\nIt works not by targeting HBB, but by boosting expression of a different gene\u2014one that makes fetal hemoglobin. Everyone is born with fetal hemoglobin; it\u2019s how cells transport oxygen between mother and child in the womb. But by six months your body puts the brakes on making fetal hemoglobin and switches over to the adult form. All Crispr Therapeutics\u2019 treatment does is take the brakes off.\n\nFrom a blood draw, scientists separate out a patient\u2019s hematopoietic stem cells\u2014the ones that make red blood cells. Then, in a petri dish, they zap \u2018em with a bit of electricity, allowing the Crispr components to go into the cells and turn on the fetal hemoglobin gene. To make room for the new, edited stem cells, doctors destroy the patient's existing bone marrow cells with radiation or high doses of chemo drugs. Within a week after infusion, the new cells find their way to their home in the bone marrow and start making red blood cells carrying fetal hemoglobin.", "output": "Swiss genetic engineering firm CRISPR Therapeutics has sought permission from European regulators to begin its first-ever clinical trials early next year on CTX001, a gene therapy treatment for beta thalassemia. The company is also set to apply to the US Food and Drug Administration for approval to use it against sickle cell disease. CTX001 stimulates production of foetal haemoglobin, which the body usually cuts off at the age of around six months, and has resulted in an editing efficiency of 80%, with no reported off-target effects.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Rule change will ease fossil fuel divestment by UK pension funds \n The government is to allow Britain\u2019s \u00a32tn workplace pension schemes to dump their shares in oil, gas and coal companies more easily, empowering them to take investment decisions to fight climate change.\n\nUntil now, pension schemes have been hamstrung by \u201cfiduciary duties\u201d that effectively require schemes to seek the best returns irrespective of the threat of climate change. Many have rebuffed calls by members for fossil fuel divestment, citing legal obligations.\n\n\n\nBut in what has been hailed as a major victory for campaigners against fossil fuels, the government is to introduce new investment regulations that will allow pension schemes to \u201cmirror members\u2019 ethical concerns\u201d and \u201caddress environmental problems\u201d.\n\nThe rules are expected to come into force next year after a consultation period and will bring into effect recommendations made in 2014 and earlier this year by the Law Commission.\n\nGuy Opperman, the minister for pensions and financial inclusion, said: \u201cPutting social value at the heart of our pensions system is something that is deeply important to Theresa May\u2019s government. Thanks to these new regulations, savers will finally have the clear opportunity to have their say on where their money is invested and can reflect what is personally important to them, whilst delivering mutual benefits.\u201d\n\nAbout \u00a387bn a year pours into Britain\u2019s pension schemes, with a significant proportion of it automatically invested into gas and oil companies such as BP and Shell. But a growing body of academic and investment research suggests that reserves of fossil fuels could become \u201cstranded assets\u201d and virtually worthless as countries battle climate change.\n\n\u201cWe are committed to making it easier for people to invest in ways that reflect their values and have a positive impact on the issues they care about,\u201d said Tracey Crouch, the minister for sport and civil society.\n\nOnce mocked by the conventional asset management industry, divestment from fossil fuels has moved beyond charity and religious groups into the investment mainstream. In November, the managers of the world\u2019s biggest wealth fund, Norway\u2019s sovereign $1tn fund, recommended divesting from existing oil and gas shares \u2013 it holds $5.4bn of Shell shares and $3bn in Exxon \u2013 as well as ruling out future investments.\n\nMeanwhile, at last week\u2019s One Planet Summit in Paris, the French financial giant Axa said it would speed up its withdrawal from coal businesses and end insurance for controversial US oil pipelines.\n\nShareAction, which campaigns for responsible investment, said the new UK rules would empower pension savers to use their investments to fight climate change.\n\n\n\nPipes stored for use in the Keystone XL oil pipeline planned for North Dakota. Axa says it will no longer insure controversial US pipelines. Photograph: Terray Sylvester/Reuters\n\nThe charity\u2019s chief executive, Catherine Howarth, said: \u201cShareAction has been campaigning for change in this area for years. The [Department for Work and Pensions\u2019] decision to propose these reforms is a welcome breakthrough.\n\n\u201cWe urge pension savers in the UK who care about how their money is invested to let the DWP know they fully support this much-needed change in the law. As powerful investors, it is essential our pension funds focus on long-term risks and opportunities such as those connected with climate change and social inequality.\u201d\n\nBut Howarth called on the Financial Conduct Authority to speed up its response to the Law Commission\u2019s proposals, claiming the city regulator \u201cis still sitting on its hands\u201d.\n\nAcross the world more than 800 institutions, with total investments valued at $6tn, have committed to divest from fossil fuels.\n\nLocal authority pension schemes, which hold \u00a316bn worth of oil and gas company shares in their investment portfolios on behalf of 5.3 million workers in England and Wales, are likely to be the earliest to implement the rules in the UK.\n\nThe Environment Agency and Southwark council in London have been among the first major schemes to divest, and as once independently run council schemes begin a pooling process, divestment is likely to spread to more authorities.\n\nAon, one of the biggest advisers to pension schemes around the world, said the divestment campaign was \u201creal and much higher up the agenda\u201d but said many schemes would want to engage with energy companies to encourage renewable alternatives rather than selling their holdings.\n\n\n\nJohn Belgrove, a senior partner at Aon, said: \u201cIn the past, aspects around fiduciary duty and best returns have got in the way of pension trustees [wanting to divest] ... and the subject has been easily kicked into the long grass. These new regulations from the DWP are another step in a series of steps we have seen in this area. But exclusion is still pretty rare. If one looks at the big picture on fossil fuels, the biggest renewable energy developments are coming from the very same firms that extract fossil fuels.\u201d", "output": "UK workplace pension schemes worth \u00a32tn ($2.7tn) will be able to divest from coal, oil and gas more easily under new government investment regulations. At present, \u201cfiduciary duties\u201d that require schemes to aim for the best returns have led pension funds to reject calls for climate change to be prioritised in investment decisions. The new regulations, expected to come into force in 2018, will permit funds to \u201cmirror members\u2019 ethical concerns\u201d and \u201caddress environmental problems\u201d. Of the \u00a387bn a year that enters the UK\u2019s pension funds, a significant proportion is invested in fossil fuel companies.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Blockchain brought to Chinese food chain by US giants \n Walmart, JD.com, IBM and Tsinghua Univ. to apply technology for food traceability.\n\nBEIJING \u2013 Walmart is among four companies collaborating on a standards-based method of collecting data about the origin, authenticity and safety of food in China.\n\nThe retailer, along with IBM, JD.com and Tsinghua Univ. National Engineering Laboratory for E-Commerce Technology recently formed the Blockchain Food Safety Alliance. The companies say they will work with food supply chain providers and regulators to develop standards and partnerships necessary to enable a \u201c\u2026broad-based food safety ecosystem.\u201d\n\nFrank Yiannas, vice president, food safety and health, Walmart\n\n\u201cAs a global advocate for enhanced food safety, Walmart looks forward to deepening our work with IBM, Tsinghua University, JD and others throughout the food supply chain,\u201d Frank Yiannas, vice president, food safety and health at Walmart, said in a statement. \u201cThrough collaboration, standardization, and adoption of new and innovative technologies, we can effectively improve traceability and transparency and help ensure the global food system remains safe for all.\u201d\n\nWalmart implemented two blockchain projects \u2014 one in China to track pork, and another in the United States to track mangoes. Recent testing by Walmart showed that blockchain technology reduced the time it took to trace a package of mangoes from the farm to the store from days or weeks to two seconds. Blockchain technology successfully traced food products from suppliers to retail and ultimately to consumers. Farm origination details, batch numbers, factory and processing data, expiration dates and shipping details were digitally connected to food items and entered in the blockchain network at each step of the farm-to-fork process.\n\nComputers in the blockchain, called nodes, contain a copy of a ledger of transactions. At least two nodes must approve a transaction before it is added to the ledger. Blockchain provides users a secure database that is auditable and immutable \u2014 transactions can\u2019t be altered.\n\nThe initiative will ensure brand owners\u2019 data privacy while helping them integrate online and offline traceability channels for food safety and quality management. Companies that join the alliance will be able to share information using blockchain technology, and plans include them being able to choose the standards-based traceability solution that best suits their needs and legacy systems.\n\nThe Blockchain Food Safety Alliance plans to use insights from the collaboration to shed light on how blockchain technology can help improve recalls, verifications and other processes while enhancing consumer confidence in China and around the world.\n\n\u201cBlockchain holds incredible promise in delivering the transparency that is needed to help promote food safety across the whole supply chain. This is a fundamental reason why IBM believes so strongly in the impact this technology will have on business models,\u201d Bridget van Kralingen, senior vice president, IBM Industry Platforms, said in a statement. \u201cBy expanding our food safety work with Walmart and Tsinghua Univ. in China and adding new collaborators like JD.com, the technology brings traceability and transparency to a broader network of food supply chain participants.\u201d", "output": "US grocery chain Walmart has joined forces with IBM and JD.com and Tsinghua University to create the Blockchain Food Safety Alliance, a consortium using blockchain technology to improve the Chinese food chain. The collaboration aims to collect information about the origin, authenticity and safety of Chinese products to increase standardisation and transparency, and help open up new partnerships. In a recent test in the US, it took Walmart\u00a0two seconds to\u00a0trace\u00a0the journey from farm to shop of a packet of mangoes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Workforce shortages to hike salaries for cybersecurity talent \n Cyber security wages are set to soar amid a skills shortage\n\nDemand for cyber security roles is set to boom over the next year following several high-profile cyber attacks, prompting a rise in wages, new research from the recruitment sector\u2019s trade body suggests.\n\nEvery specialist IT recruitment agency surveyed by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) said they thought demand for cyber security staff would rise over the next year, with 81 per cent predicting a \u201csignificant\u201d increase.\n\nHowever, Kevin Green, the chief executive of the REC, said there are very few people with the skills needed, meaning employers will be competing with each other for the limited talent.\n\nFor eight of the past nine months, cyber security roles were reported as hard to fill due to candidate shortages, according to the REC's monthly report. A whopping 81 per cent said the UK workforce was unlikely to meet demand in cyber security over the next 12 months.\n\nThis is set to fuel a rise in wages for cyber security staff \u2013 94 per cent of recruiters surveyed predicted rocketing wages over the next year. Just six per cent thought wages would stay the same.\n\nGreen said: \u200b\u201cRecruiters tell us that employers are making life more difficult for themselves by creating job roles demanding unreasonable amounts of experience, qualifications and skills \u2013 so they\u2019re looking for someone that doesn\u2019t even exist.\n\n\"Instead, they should think about how to make the most of transferrable skills and create training opportunities which would benefit employees and new applicants.\"\n\nGreen also called on the government to ensure businesses can still access the people they need after Brexit.\n\n\"Long term, we need to see better careers guidance in schools about cyber security roles so that we can build a skilled workforce for the future. And right now, we need to maintain access to the best people from around the world to create a secure environment where British businesses can flourish.\u201d\n\nSeveral high-profile cyber attacks occurred this year, including at Uber, Equifax, the NHS and Westminster.", "output": "Research has shown 81% of UK specialist IT recruitment agencies believe\u00a0there will be a significant increase in demand for skilled cybersecurity personnel \u2013\u00a0but the same percentage said demand would outstrip supply. The results were part of a survey by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), which also found 94% of respondents expect cybersecurity wages to skyrocket. Kevin Green, the CEO of REC, urged companies not to make unreasonable demands when seeking qualified staff\u00a0and to consider people with transferable skills as well. He also called for better careers guidance in schools.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US to omit climate change from new National Security Strategy \n The Trump administration has dropped climate change from a list of global threats in a new national security strategy the president unveiled on Monday.\n\n\n\nInstead, Trump\u2019s NSS paper emphasised the need for the US to regain its economic competitiveness in the world.\n\nThat stance represents a sharp change from the Obama administration\u2019s NSS, which placed climate change as one of the main dangers facing the nation and made building international consensus on containing global warming a national security priority.\n\nWhite House officials said on Sunday that the Trump NSS was the culmination of 11 months of collaboration between all the leading security, foreign policy and economic agencies of government. The exclusion of climate change as a national security threat appears, however, to conflict with views previously expressed by the defense secretary, James Mattis.\n\n\u201cClimate change is not identified as a national security threat but climate and the importance of the environment and environmental stewardship are discussed,\u201d a senior administration official said.\n\nAnother official said Trump\u2019s remarks when he announced he was taking the US out of the Paris climate accord \u201cwould be the guidepost for the language in the NSS on climate\u201d.\n\nIn that speech in June, Trump declared \u201cI was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris\u201d and alleged the agreement \u201chamstrings the United States while empowering some of the world\u2019s top polluting countries\u201d.\n\nThe Federalist website, which first reported that Trump would drop climate change from the NSS, quoted the draft document as suggesting the Trump administration would actively oppose efforts to reduce the burning of oil, gas and coal for energy.\n\n\u201cUS leadership is indispensable to countering an anti-growth energy agenda that is detrimental to US economic and energy security interests,\u201d the website quoted the document as saying.\n\n\u201cGiven future global energy demand, much of the developing world will require fossil fuels, as well as other forms of energy, to power their economies and lift their people out of poverty.\u201d\n\nA senior official said on Sunday the main difference between the Trump NSS and its predecessors was a new emphasis on border security and economic issues.\n\n\u201cThe economic piece \u2026 gets much more attention,\u201d the official said. \u201cThe insistence that economic security is national security.\u201d\n\nIn unpublished testimony provided to Congress after his confirmation hearings in January, Mattis said the US military had to consider how the thawing Arctic and drought in global flashpoints would pose present and future challenges.\n\n\u201cClimate change is impacting stability in areas of the world where our troops are operating today,\u201d Mattis said in written answers to questions posed after the public hearing by Democratic members of the committee.\n\nMattis and the secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, are reported to have argued against leaving the Paris climate agreement.\n\nOfficials said the new NSS was based on Trump\u2019s previous speeches on national security and foreign policy. The president was said to have decided to break with normal practice and launch it with a speech.\n\n\u201cAs far as we have been able to determine, no president has ever rolled this out with a speech before,\u201d a senior administration official said.\n\n\u201cThe president was briefed on the document all the way along but when it was near completion and when it was shown to him what it looked like, he was very excited and he personally said he wanted to introduce it to the American people and to the world.\u201d", "output": "Climate change is to be removed from the list of potential global threats by Donald Trump when he discloses the new US National Security Strategy (NSS) on Monday. The revised strategy will stress the importance of the US regaining global economic competitiveness, marking a departure from the Obama administration\u2019s emphasis on international efforts to combat global warming as a security priority. The new NSS is the result of 11 months of collaborative work between the economic, foreign policy and security government agencies, according to White House officials."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Conveyancing Association calls for estate agents to be licensed \n Post navigation\n\nConveyancers are calling for the licensing of estate agents, together with a requirement to pass a fit and proper test before they can trade.\n\nHowever, the housing lawyers have rejected any ban on referral fees.\n\nThey are also asking for offers to be made legally binding, with financial penalties should either side withdraw from the transaction.\n\nTrade body the Conveyancing Association has made the proposals in its response to the Government\u2019s \u2018call for evidence\u2019 to improve the house buying and selling process.\n\nIt is also calling for greater digitalisation, including electronic signatures recognised by the Land Registry.\n\nAdditionally, it wants to see search data made available online.\n\nOther suggestions include the establishment of a property log for each individual property in the UK; purchasers to have mortgages approved in principle before they can make an offer; and for sellers to provide much more information up-front.\n\nThe CA does not want to see referral fees banned, saying \u201cthey often provide transparency and deliver enhanced service levels due to the agreements in place\u201d.\n\nThe call for evidence was due to close yesterday.", "output": "UK trade body the Conveyancing Association (CA) has called for estate agents to be licensed. It made the proposal in response to the government's call for evidence on improving the process of buying and selling houses, saying agents should have to pass a fit-and-proper test before they can trade. CA also called for greater digitisation and for search data to be made available online. But it rejected the idea of banning\u00a0referral fees, saying the payments often led to\u00a0greater transparency and enhanced levels of service.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "First cases of homes bought with bitcoin seen in the UK \n Post navigation\n\nTwo homes have been sold using bitcoin currency by a small property firm.\n\nGo Holdings includes an estate agency, Go Move, covering Hertfordshire and a new homes development company, Go Homes.\n\nDirector and estate agent Ed Casson believes he is the first in the world to actually sell a home through bitcoin, although some landlords are accepting rent in the currency.\n\nThe first bitcoin home to have sold is a four-bed detached home developed by Go Homes in Colchester worth \u00a3350,000. The buyer is an investor who made early profits on the cryptocurrency and is now converting the funds into property.\n\nHe plans to let out the house to tenants who will pay in bitcoin.\n\nThe other property to have sold is also new, a \u00a3595,000 four-bed townhouse in Hertfordshire.\n\nCasson said the buyer made profits by bitcoin mining and trading in online games.\n\nHe said: \u201cThis rewrites the rule book and shows there is another way to sell property. Selling homes for bitcoin will become common in the next five years.\u201d\n\nHe said that the Land Registry has, for the first time, agreed to let the buyer have the sale price recorded in bitcoin.\n\nHe told EYE: \u201cWe have had lots of buyers in bitcoin approach us to spend their \u2018currency\u2019 as they still see property as the ultimate investment.\u201d\n\nCasson said that the success of Go Homes in selling bitcoin property will be copied by the estate agency business shortly.\n\nHe said: \u201cWe are due to roll out a cryptocurrency service in the agency next year as the demand to buy in and sell in bitcoin/ether etc has been so high.\n\n\u201cWe trialled this on our own homes that we are currently building which made sense, to get it right. We are investing money next year into smart contracts on blockchain technology to speed the home buying and selling process up. Watch this space.\u201d Meanwhile, yesterday on Twitter Andrew Montlake of mortgage broker Coreco tweeted: \u201cJust had our first bitcoin enquiry!\u201d", "output": "The estate agent arm of UK property services company Go Holdings has sold two houses to buyers paying in bitcoin. A \u00a3350,000 ($468,000), four-bed property in Colchester and a four-bed townhouse in Hertfordshire worth \u00a3595,000 became the first homes to be sold using the digital currency, according to Go Homes. Director Ed Casson said next year the company would launch\u00a0a cryptocurrency service in its agency due to rising demand\u00a0and would also be investing in smart contracts on blockchain technology."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US researchers develop technique for carbon capture \n The electrolysis setup that could allow efficient production of syngas from captured carbon. Credit: Idaho National Laboratory\n\nCarbon capture could help the nation's coal plants reduce greenhouse gas emissions, yet economic challenges are part of the reason the technology isn't widely used today. That could change if power plants could turn captured carbon into a useable product.\n\nScientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory have developed an efficient process for turning captured carbon dioxide into syngas, a mixture of H2 and CO that can be used to make fuels and chemicals. The team has published its results in Green Chemistry, a publication of the Royal Society of Chemistry .\n\nTraditional approaches for reusing the carbon from CO2 involve a reduction step that requires high temperatures and pressures. At lower temperatures, the CO2 doesn't stay dissolved in water long enough to be useful. The process developed at INL addresses this challenge by using specialized liquid materials that make the CO2 more soluble and allow the carbon capture medium to be directly introduced into a cell for electrochemical conversion to syngas.\n\n\"For the first time it was demonstrated that syngas can be directly produced from captured CO2 - eliminating the requirement of downstream separations,\" the researchers wrote in the Green Chemistry paper.\n\nThe newly described process uses switchable polarity solvents (SPS), liquid materials that can shift polarity upon being exposed to a chemical agent. This property makes it possible to control what molecules will dissolve in the solvent.\n\nIn an electrochemical cell, water oxidation occurs on the anode side, releasing O2 gas and hydrogen ions that then migrate through a membrane to the cathode side. There, the hydrogen ions react with bicarbonate (HCO3-, the form in which CO2 is captured in the SPS), allowing the release of CO2 for electrochemical reduction and formation of syngas. Upon the release of CO2, the SPS switches polarity back to a water-insoluble form, allowing for the recovery and reutilization of the carbon capture media.\n\nLuis Diaz Aldana, principal investigator on the experiment, and Tedd Lister, one of the researchers, conduct electrochemical research at INL. In 2015, while having lunch with colleagues Eric Dufek and Aaron Wilson, they hit on the idea of using switchable polarity solvents to turn CO2 into syngas.\n\nThe team received Laboratory Directed Research and Development funds in 2017. As promising as the idea was, in the first experiments, too much hydrogen and not enough syngas was being produced. The results improved when the team introduced a supporting electrolyte to increase the ionic conductivity. Adding potassium sulfate increased electrolyte conductivity by 47 percent, which allowed the efficient production of syngas.\n\nWhen syngas can be produced from captured CO2 at significant current densities, it boosts the process chances for industrial application. Unlike other processes that require high temperatures and high pressures, the SPS-based process showed best results at 25 degrees C and 40 psi.\n\nINL's team has filed a provisional patent and is discussing the approach with a Boston area company involved in electrochemical technology research and development, Lister said.\n\n\"It integrates two areas that have been on parallel tracks: carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) and CO2 utilization,\" said Diaz Aldana. \"The problem with CCS has been its economic feasibility. If you can get some extra value out of the CO2 you are capturing, it's a different story.\"\n\nMore information: Luis A. Diaz et al, Electrochemical production of syngas from CO2 captured in switchable polarity solvents, Green Chemistry (2017). DOI: 10.1039/C7GC03069J Journal information: Green Chemistry", "output": "Researchers at the US\u00a0Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory have developed a process that could significantly improve the efficiency of carbon capture techniques. The scientists' new method converts the CO2 into syngas, a combination of\u00a0H2 and CO that can be used in the manufacture of fuels and chemicals.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China sets out AI vision in three-year plan \n The national artificial-intelligence ambitions of China have just evolved into a detailed three-year action plan, building on a sweeping scheme announced in July.\n\nOn Thursday, the country\u2019s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology published a document on how to foster the development of artificial intelligence from 2018 to 2020. But it\u2019s far from simply a summary of technological goals: it\u2019s essentially the top leadership\u2019s vision for a new Chinese economy in the age of AI.\n\nIn this new economy, China will be able to mass-produce neural-network processing chips, robots will make accomplishing daily tasks easier for disabled people, and machine learning will help radiologists read x-ray scans. In addition, China hopes AI will make manufacturing more eco-friendly: the goal laid out in the document is to increase the energy efficiency of the manufacturing sector 10 percent by 2020.\n\nTo find out more about the nation\u2019s huge machine-learning ambitions, read our recent feature, \u201cChina\u2019s AI Awakening.\u201d", "output": "China has outlined its three-year plan to foster the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in a bid to build a new economy. The ministry of industry and information technology last week published a document outlining its technological goals up to 2020. In this, China's leadership outlines its hopes for a new AI-driven economy that will be able to boost the energy efficiency of its manufacturing sector by 10%. It also details aims for the future such as mass production of neural-network processing chips and robot support for the disabled.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Koran app aims to reduce Islamophobia with\u00a0crypto\u00a0reward\u00a0scheme \n Imagine an digital platform that could end terrorism.\n\nThat\u2019s what 26-year-old Londoner Zeena Qureshi hopes to do with Ananas, a new platform which helps users navigate belief systems using a \u201cliving Koran\u201d.\n\nKoran apps with different translations is not a new idea, but Ms Qureshi\u2019s upcoming platform provides additional information on each verse. Users will be able to read what different denominations believe, what research on the text is available and the religious text will be searchable by theme or word.\n\n\u201cIt will expand and collapse \u2014 you\u2019ll be able to dive in with as much depth as you want and see it from different schools of thought and in different translations,\u201d explains Ananas\u2019s chief executive and co-founder Ms Qureshi, in an interview with the London Evening Standard. \u201cYou can even see it from a Sufi or non-Muslim perspective. We\u2019re trying to build a platform that provides context to subjective information.\u201d\n\nAnanas, which is also a charitable foundation, hopes the project will work to reduce Islamophobia and to tackle terrorism in the hopes that the living Koran will reflect the true nature of Islam by providing context.\n\n\u201cInformation without context isn\u2019t knowledge,\u201d says Ms Qureshi.\n\n\u201cExtremists have so many people marketing for them online. They target vulnerable, isolated individuals. If these people are looking for answers, they need to come to a place where this information is outlined. Things like Charlottesville are happening because people don\u2019t have the information or understanding. Information feeds empathy\u201d, she added.\n\nThe website explains: \u201cOur Living Quran project allows people to dig into the core text of Islam. With the help from knowledgeable individuals, religious communities are empowered to reclaim ownership of their holy text, and society is liberated from a dependence on biased sources and emotional volatility.\n\n\u201cWe believe this will lead people to make better informed decisions about their own beliefs, by providing contextualized and authoritative information, that prevents distortion and exploitation of ignorance.\u201d\n\nAnanas uses artificial intelligence (AI) to organise the user data and graphs to explore the relationships between different groups\u2019 beliefs. Users are also able to collect the \u201cAnacoin\u201d, a cryptocurrency that works as a reward when users sponsor a verse, moderate or add information. The Anacoin can be traded and if the value of the currency has increased then half the proceeds go to the charity and half to the user.\n\n\u201cPeople should be rewarded for the good things they do,\u201d believes Ms Qureshi.\n\nThe partially Google-funded platform was the idea of Emad Mostaque, co-chief investment officer at a hedge fund and Ms Qureshi\u2019s brother-in-law. The ambitious project has three full-time staff and a number of advisers and volunteers, all of whom come from diverse religious, cultural and professional backgrounds\n\nThe Ananas project is looking to expand to include more belief systems, including political ideologies, in the future.", "output": "\"Living Koran\" app Ananas is seeking to combat terrorism and reduce Islamophobia through its cryptocurrency-enabled rewards platform. Ananas provides readers with additional information on each verse of the Islamic holy book, allowing them to see what different denominations believe. It will also make the religious text searchable by theme or word, and highlight relevant research. Users can also sponsor, moderate or add information to earn anacoins, which can then be traded. CEO Zeena Qureshi said her aim was to provide \"context to subjective information\", allowing users to explore text with as much depth as they want.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple Pay close to Brazil launch \n If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Read our ethics policy\n\nArticle Hero Image\n\nDocumentation seen by Itau Unibanco customers on Monday suggest Apple is on the verge of launching Apple Pay in Brazil, which was first rumored to gain access to the mobile payments service nearly two years ago.\n\nAccording to local blog MacMagazine, iOS device users attempting to add Ita\u00c3\u00ba's Visa Platinum Personnalit\u00c3\u00a9 card to the Wallet app are met with a terms of service agreement.\n\nPreviously, users attempting to register their Ita\u00c3\u00ba were met with a message saying the card was not yet supported, a notification that still pops up for cards from other banks. Attempting to add Ita\u00c3\u00ba's other card options, including those from MasterCard, triggers similar alerts.\n\nApple Pay itself is not mentioned in \"Conditions of Use of Ita\u00c3\u00bacard in the Apple Wallet application,\" but the document's existence in relation to Wallet, which manages Apple Pay provisioning, can be taken as circumstantial evidence of an imminent release.\n\nRumors of an Apple Pay rollout in Brazil first appeared in early 2016 when reports claimed the service would go live through a partnership with MasterCard, a company Apple sometimes works with on smaller regional Apple Pay launches.\n\nCiting sources familiar with the matter, a separate report from iHelp BR claims Apple Pay support will roll out soon. The blog, however, fails to pin a specific timeline on the supposed announcement.\n\nThe appearance of Ita\u00c3\u00bacard's documentation in Wallet could be related to Apple's scheduled transition of iTunes pricing from U.S. dollars to the Brazilian real in early 2018.\n\nCurrently, customers in Brazil must use an international credit card to purchase items on iTunes, transactions that are subject to the country's IOF tax. It is assumed that iTunes users will be able to add cards from Brazilian banks once the online store switches to reais.", "output": "Two years after rumours first circulated that ApplePay would launch in Brazil, it appears the platform will be available imminently, according to blog MacMagazine. It said Ita\u00fa Unibanco customers and iOS device users who tried to add their Visa Platinum Personnalit\u00e9 card to the ApplePay app encountered a terms of service agreement, rather than a message saying the app was not supported. ApplePay was recently rolled out in Denmark, Finland, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ethereum smart contracts to make banks MiFID II compliant \n As MiFID II looms into view, Swiss bank UBS is leading a pilot that will use Ethereum smart contracts to improve the quality of counterparty reference data through anonymous reconciliation.\n\nBarclays, Credit Suisse, KBC, SIX and Thomson Reuters are all onboard for the project, which was kickstarted by UBS in the innovation lab at London's Level39 in a bid to improve data quality as part of the impending implementation of the MiFID II/MiFIR regulation in January.\n\n\n\nUnder MiFID II, institutions are expected to have an individual Legal Entity Identifier (LEI). The UBS project is aiming to streamline the process of reconciling the reference data which pertains to the LEI for each entity - such as industry classification, identifiers and European Securities and Markets Authority data.\n\n\n\nUnder the plan, the specific reference data for each Legal Entity is cryptographically concealed at each institution using hashing, with the source data held and remaining within the participating institution.\n\n\n\nOnly the hashed data is submitted, anonymously, to an Ethereum private blockchain powered by Microsoft Azure. The Ethereum smart contracts then reconcile the data against the consensus and provide each participant, via a user interface, the ability to search and view their own specific data in real-time. Users can then quickly see where the anomalies lie in the data.\n\n\n\nCurrently, the project is in the pilot phase, with a mock-live environment using 22,000 non-sensitive LEI reference attributes for cash equity issuers. The pilot is set to finish by the end of January, with a further staged rollout \"dependent on the findings\".\n\n\n\nChristophe Tummers, head, data, UBS, says: \"Traditionally, a firm such as ours quality checks data against multiple sources but we do not have a quality baseline against peers. Through using blockchain-inspired smart contracts, the reconciliation of data can happen in almost real-time for all participants, anonymously.\"", "output": "UBS is leading a pilot programme that uses Ethereum smart contracts to improve data quality ahead of MiFID II regulation. From January, MiFID II will require all institutions to have their own legal entity identifier (LEI). The UBS project \u2013 which is also supported by Credit Suisse, Barclays, Thomson Reuters, SIX and KBC \u2013 streamlines the process of reconciling LEI data for an individual bank. This data is then cryptographically held at each participating institution using hashing. It can then be submitted anonymously to an Ethereum private blockchain, where participants can search and view their own data in real-time.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SalonPay encourages mobile payments at barber shops \n SalonPay Brings Mobile Payments to the Barber\u2019s Chair\n\nDecember 15, 2017 By: Steven Anderson\n\nIt may come as a surprise afterthought to some\u2014it definitely did to me\u2014but salons and similar applications are kind of behind the curve in terms of mobile payments. Still often cash-heavy\u2014sometimes cash-only\u2014operations, beauty salons, barber shops and spas haven\u2019t often made advances in mobile payments and similar systems. That may be about to change with a recently-announced partnership between iSalon Software and Cardstream, news of which was sent our way.\n\nWith the new partnership came SalonPay, a complete mobile payments solution geared toward those various service businesses. Considered an industry first, SalonPay actually represents a rebranding of a white-label payment solution\u2014which is in part what white-label solutions were meant for\u2014and offers its users access to not only mobile payments, but also online payments and payments for the in-store point of sale.\n\nPerhaps better yet for the retailer, it also gathers transaction information and allows that data to be used later to make determinations about what services are popular enough to keep and which should be dropped. There\u2019s even secure tokenization in place allowing the transactions to be carried out with comparative safety.\n\nManaging director of iSalon Darren Pick noted \u201cWe spent considerable time with our customers to gain a clear view of the payment solution that would best suit their needs. SalonPay is our response. A simple, quick and reliable omnichannel service for collecting credit and debit card payments in-salon, online and via mobile phones.\u201d Pick also noted how valuable customer data is, and how SalonPay would help gather customer data for later analysis, a point that should be especially valuable later.\n\nIt\u2019s no secret by now that analytics has a real potential to help businesses succeed. Incorporating analytics capabilities into a mobile payments system is a smart idea in general; mobile payments are convenient for customers, and convert all that data into useful form for later. Want to tell which haircuts are the most popular? Want to prove that no one\u2019s really going for the waxing options? Do you really need a new massage therapist? All of these can be found out readily just by studying the records, and a system like SalonPay makes the records easier to find later.\n\nMobile payments are great by themselves, but mobile payments combined with analytics is even better.", "output": "Lincolnshire-based software firm iSalon has partnered with UK secure card payment services company Cardstream to launch SalonPay, a first-of-its-kind mobile payments solution aimed solely at the largely cash-based beauty and hair industry. As well as facilitating mobile payments, SalonPay also supports in-store and online transactions, while customer data is stored for later analysis to help retailers better target their services.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scientists convert Greek yoghurt waste into biofuel, animal feed \n Photograph of bio-oil, made of caproic acid and caprylic acid, phase separates out at mildly acidic conditions. Credit: Lars Angenent, University of T\u00fcbingen\n\nConsumers across the world enjoy Greek yogurt for its taste, texture, and protein-packed punch. Reaching that perfect formula, however, generates large volumes of food waste in the form of liquid whey. Now researchers in the United States and Germany have found a way to use bacteria to turn the leftover sugars and acids from Greek yogurt into molecules that could be used in biofuels or safe feedstock additives. Their work appears December 13 in the journal Joule.\n\n\"To be sustainable, you want to convert waste streams where they are made, and upstate New York is where the cows are, where the dairy farmers are, and where the Greek yogurt craze began in the United States with Chobani and FAGE,\" says senior author Lars Angenent, an environmental engineer and microbiologist at Cornell University (United States) and the University of T\u00fcbingen (Germany). \"That's a lot of acid whey that right now has to be driven to faraway locations for land application, but we want to produce valuable chemicals from it instead.\"\n\nWaste whey from Greek yogurt production is made up mostly of the familiar milk sugar lactose, the fruit sugar building block fructose, and the fermentation product lactic acid. The researchers use bacteria to turn this mixture into an extract containing two more useful compounds: caproic acid (n-hexanoic acid) and caprylic acid (n-octanoic acid). Both of these compounds are \"green antimicrobials\" that can be fed to livestock in lieu of antibiotics. Or, with energy needs in mind, further processing could stitch the six-, seven-, and eight-carbon backbones of the obtained molecules into the chains of up to 14 needed to qualify as \"drop-in\" biofuels for jet fuel.\n\nBoth options have economic and social allure. \"The agricultural market might seem smaller, but it has a very large carbon footprint, and turning acid whey into a feedstock that animals can eat is an important example of the closed cycles that we need in a sustainable society,\" Angenent says. \"The fuel market, of course, operates at a lower price, but its demand is virtually unlimited.\"\n\nTraditionally, suppressing oxygen while feeding biodegradable waste to microbes results in the production of methane-rich gas through anaerobic digestion. Instead, the researchers strung together two \"open-culture\" reactors\u2014the first tuned for heat-loving microbes fond of temperatures of 50\u00b0C, the second set at a more welcoming 30\u00b0C mark. After seeding each reactor with a previously studied microbiome, and opening the setup to the acid whey and its own rich assortment of bacteria (such as common gut microbiota from the Lactobacillus family), caproic acid, caprylic acid, and other minor products could be continually extracted over a period of several months.\n\nThe next challenge will be to see what happens when the twin bioreactor system is boosted to pilot plant capacity. \"There is much more that can be done to optimize the extraction process and to scale up in an economical way,\" says Angenent. \"We can also learn more about the nature of the microbiomes and the biology involved and start investigating whether this technology can be translated to other waste streams.\"\n\nMore information: Joule, Xu et al.: \"Temperature-phased bioconversion of Greek-yogurt waste into medium-chain carboxylic acid oil via lactic acid without external electron donor addition\" www.cell.com/joule/fulltext/S2542-4351(17)30179-4 , DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2017.11.008 Journal information: Joule", "output": "Leftover sugars and acids from Greek yoghurt production can be converted into feedstock additives and biofuel, according to scientists. Cornell University and University of T\u00fcbingen researchers used bacteria to turn waste whey into \"green antimicrobials\" caproic acid and caprylic acid. These can be given to livestock instead of antibiotics or, with further processing, can become \"drop-in\" biofuels for jet fuel, a study in Joule showed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Robot prints $64,000 house in eight hours \n Building a house by hand can be both time-consuming and expensive. Some homebuilders have chosen to automate part of the construction instead.\n\nA new Ukrainian homebuilding startup called PassivDom uses a 3D printing robot that can print parts for tiny houses. The machine can print the walls, roof, and floor of PassivDom's 410-square-foot model in about eight hours. The windows, doors, plumbing, and electrical systems are then added by a human worker.\n\nWhen complete, the homes are autonomous and mobile, meaning they don't need to connect to external electrical and plumbing systems. Solar energy is stored in a battery connected to the houses, and water is collected and filtered from humidity in the air (or you can pour water into the system yourself). The houses also feature independent sewage systems.\n\nSince the startup launched in spring 2017, it has received more than 8,000 preorders in the United States for its homes, which start at $64,000. The first 100 ones will be delivered in January 2018.\n\nCheck out the homes below.\n\nPassivDom's smallest model measures 410 square feet and ranges from $64,000 to $97,000, designer Maria Sorokina told Business Insider.\n\nPassivdom\n\nThe 775-square-foot model ranges from $97,000 to $147,000.\n\nPassivdom\n\nHere's what the house looks like when you walk in the front door. It's a large open space with a small kitchen and floor-to-ceiling windows.\n\nPassivdom\n\nThis model doesn't include a separate bedroom, which means residents need a sleeper sofa. A small bathroom is located near the kitchen.\n\nPassivdom\n\nPassivDom can make custom models as well. The premium models come with furniture, a kitchen, a bathroom, engineering systems, an energy supply, a water tank, and a sewage system.\n\nPassivdom\n\nThe homes also offer the possibility of living off the grid.\n\nPassivdom\n\n\"We should have opportunities to live in nature away from civilization, but have comfortable conditions of a traditional house,\" Sorokina said. \"This technology can allow us to live in the woods, on mountains, or on the shore \u2014 far away from people and infrastructure.\"\n\nPassivdom\n\nTo make a PassivDom home, the team maps out the plan for the 3D printer in its factories in Ukraine and California. Layer by layer, the seven-axel robot prints the roof, floor, and 20-centimeter-thick walls, which are made of carbon fibers, polyurethane, resins, basalt fibers, and fiberglass.\n\nPassivdom\n\nDoors, windows, appliances, an alarm system, solar panels, and the septic, electrical, healing, cooling systems are then added.\n\nDepending on the model, the whole process can take under 24 hours. The design and production of larger houses with more specifications and finishes, like the one below, can take up to a month. If a house is pre-made, it can be shipped the next day.\n\nPassivdom\n\nPassivDom is not the only company using 3D printing to build homes. The San Francisco-based housing startup Apis Cor, Dus Architects in Amsterdam, as well as Branch Technology from Chattanooga, Tennessee, say they can construct homes in mere days or weeks.\n\nThe startup believes 3D printing is a cheaper, more efficient way to build homes that it can sell at a (relatively) affordable price. \"Over 100 million people do not have a roof over their heads,\" Sorokina said. \"It is necessary to build more affordable houses.\"", "output": "Ukraine and California-based start-up PassivDom is speeding up the home construction business with its 3D robot, which can print out the walls, roof and floor of a 410 sq ft building, its smallest model, in eight hours. The company, whose homes range in price from $64,000 to $97,000, said the design and production of its larger models can take up to a month, a fraction of the time a traditional home takes to build, while only windows, doors, plumbing and electrical systems are fitted by a human.\u00a0PassivDom's first 100 US\u00a0homes will be delivered in January."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gene-editing breakthrough could release algae's biofuel\u00a0potential \n An innovative gene editing technique could allow algae to produce \u2018vast\u2019 quantities of renewable fuels, new research claims.\n\nThe method, developed by scientists at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, could lead to cheap ways of producing fuels, medicine, and products to be used in the cosmetics, food and plastics industries.\n\nUsing CRISPR molecules, which can \u2018cut\u2019 DNA, the scientists have been able to add new genes to algae or modify existing ones. Previously, it had proven a challenge to apply CRISPR molecules to algae, but the University of Edinburgh researchers overcame this obstacle by adding \u2018CRISPR molecular scissors\u2019 and short pieces of DNA directly to algae cells. This allowed precise modifications to the genetic code to be made.\n\nAccording to a statement from the University, the new method is more specific and increases efficiency 500-fold compared to previous techniques.\n\nDr Attila Molnar, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Biological Sciences, who led the study, said: \"Our findings mark a key advance in large-scale algal genome engineering. Our technique is applicable to a wide range of species, and could pave the way for the development of designer algae, which has many biotechnology applications.\"\n\nThe technique has been developed to work in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a widely used species of algae. It could be used to increase crop yields, improve disease resistance or enable plants to survive in harsher climates.\n\nThe team\u2019s findings have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences", "output": "Scientists at the University of Edinburgh have developed a gene-editing technique for algae that could pave the way for the production of cheap biofuels, medicines and foods. The team used Crispr molecular scissors to make specific and precise changes to algae DNA samples. Dr Attila Molnar, who led the study, said the breakthrough was a \"key advance in large-scale algal genome engineering\", and could lead to the production of multi-application\u00a0designer algae. The team said the new method is 500 times more efficient than previous techniques."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Project looks to ensure subsea pipes don't go for a 'walk' \n Long subsea pipelines, never laid in a perfectly straight line to begin with, tend to move over time. It\u2019s a problem exacerbated by the high-temperature, high-pressure conditions in which pipelines are increasingly required to operate.\n\nLateral pipeline buckling occurs at locations where effective axial force created by thermal loading, pressure loading and what engineers call the pipeline\u2019s \u201cout-of-straightness\u201d are sufficient to overcome the restraining forces provided by the soil it rests on and the weight and stiffness of the pipe.\n\nIf uncontrolled, lateral buckling can create strains and high cyclic loads that may cause serious damage to the flowline. Unplanned \u201crogue\u201d buckles can also damage structures such as in-line tees.\n\nEach time a line is shut down and restarted, the flowline moves a bit. David Bruton, Crondall Energy\n\nPipeline walking is a ratcheting in a pipeline\u2019s axial direction due to variations in the operating conditions \u2014 periodic shutdowns and restarts, for example.\n\nArticle continues below the advert\n\nOver time, the expansion and contraction creates what David Bruton describes as \u201cworm action\u201d, in which the pipeline moves in one direction \u2014 most often downhill, if a line is installed on a slope.\n\nWalking may be gradual, says Bruton, director, subsea for offshore consultancy Crondall Energy. But even a few metres of forward movement is enough to cause significant damage to subsea structures such as spools, pipeline end terminations, jumpers and risers.\n\n\u201cEach time a line is shut down and restarted, the flowline moves a bit,\u201d he says. \u201cOver many cycles, you will see quite a lot of movement at each end.\u201d\n\nThe issue is most pronounced in deep-water pipelines that generally are not trenched, he adds.\n\nMitigation\n\nPipeline designers have several methods at hand to mitigate buckling. The effective force in the system may be reduced, for example, with in-line expansion spools or cooling spools.\n\nBut these technologies run up considerable costs. More common are methods to control the effects of buckling by encouraging it at strategic spots along the route.\n\nPipeline buckling was the focus of a joint industry project, Safebuck, which was launched by Atkins Boreas Consultants and ran from 2002 until 2015.\n\nThe JIP, which Bruton and fellow Crondall Energy subsea director Malcolm Carr, both Atkins engineers at the time, headed for 10 years, developed design guidelines for controlling lateral buckling and walking.\n\nThe JIP included an array of international operators, service companies and representatives from the US Bureau of Safety & Environmental Enforcement.\n\nDesigning for lateral buckling involves a good understanding of pipe-soil interaction (PSI) and the properties of the sand or clay where the pipe is laid. The information helps determine the type of \u201ctriggers\u201d engineers may use to control buckling.\n\n\u201cThe aim of lateral buckling is to relieve that force in the pipe,\u201d Bruton says. Global buckling \u2014 in contrast to local buckling, a deformation of the pipe cross section \u2014 may be controlled using triggers such as sleepers, snake lay and buoyancy.\n\nTriggers: Pipeline engineers use three main methods to instigate lateral buckling - snake lay, sleepers and local weight reduction. Photo: Crondall Energy\n\nSleepers, typically a few joints of large-diameter pipe, may be placed perpendicular to the flowline every few kilometres to create vertical buckles (gravel dump berms are also used to similar effect).\n\nSnake lay describes a method in which the pipeline is laid in a series of gentle curves. The bend radius of the \u201csnake\u201d helps control the propensity for buckling.\n\nA third method involves local weight reduction, either by removing concrete coating at certain intervals or by distributed buoyancy placed over a 60 metre to 200 metre section of the flowline to trigger buckling.\n\nRecent advances in software have helped engineers choose the appropriate type and spacing of triggers, Bruton says.\n\n\u201cWe use a probabilistic analysis,\u201d he says. \u201cThat way we know approximately how many buckles are going to form, and make sure there are enough to share the load and keep the load in each below design limits. You have to do that to a high level of reliability.\u201d\n\nUnder study\n\nPipeline walking has become an area of intense study in recent years, Bruton says. Last November, the UK\u2019s Industry Technology Facilitator and Crondall Energy teamed up on a new JIP to develop pipeline anchoring and monitoring systems to mitigate pipeline walking risk and cut the cost of pipeline anchoring by half.\n\n\u201cOne of the bigger challenges we have now is walking,\u201d he says. \u201cWe addressed it to some extent with Safebuck. With the APT (Anchoring Pipeline Technology) JIP, our aim is to try and understand better ways of anchoring pipelines.\u201d\n\nDesigning pipelines to allow for walking is notoriously challenging. \u201cThe biggest problem we have is the uncertainty in predicting (walking rates),\u201d Bruton says. \u201cThe main aim of the JIP is finding ways to work with that uncertainty.\u201d\n\nFULL STOP: Very large suction anchors are often installed at pipeline ends to control walking. Photo: Bladt Industries\n\nProject schedules typically do not allow the luxury of evaluating numerous anchoring systems. Engineers therefore often take a pre-emptive approach, opting for very large pipeline suction anchors to be installed at pipeline ends to control walking \u2014 100-tonne capacity anchors are typical, although Bruton says at least one project installed 350-tonne capacity anchors.\n\nThe APT JIP aims to provide operators with \u201cless costly, more elegant design solutions,\u201d he says.\n\nAn optimised distributed-anchoring system could cost half as much as a traditional pre-installed pipeline anchoring system, for a savings of $5 million or more on a project that requires several anchors over the length of a pipeline.\n\nBruton and others involved in the JIP envision a two-pronged approach that involves better monitoring and more strategic anchor placement.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a slow process in which you can watch it walking and then mitigate only if walking rates are excessive,\u201d he says.\n\n\u201cThe aim would be to have a more effective way to monitor pipeline walking and to have an anchor design that can be retrofitted and is quite easy to install.\n\n\"Then we could install a number of anchors along the pipeline rather than one big anchor at the end. That is a more efficient way to control walking.\u201d\n\nBruton notes that there are \u201cseveral current international projects dealing with the design issues associated with lateral buckling and walking of pipelines\".\n\n\u201cThese phenomena do interact and that can make the design overly complex,\u201d he says. \u201cSimplifying the design process is a major aim of the APT JIP.\"", "output": "The UK\u2019s Industry Technology Facilitator and offshore consultancy Crondall Energy are partnering on Anchoring Pipeline Technology (APT), a joint industry project aimed at delivering a \"less costly, more elegant design solution\" to the problem of lateral buckling of undersea pipes, known as \"pipe walking\". One of several schemes addressing the walking issue, which causes damage to flowlines, APT is an optimised, distributed-anchoring system that could save $5m or more, compared with pre-installed methods, said David Bruton, subsea director for Crondall Energy."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Iconomi adds five digital assets to crypto-fund platform \n ICONOMI, the digital asset management application that makes it easy to invest in or get managed crypto portfolios announced 5 new digital assets which Digital Asset Array (DAA) managers can immediately take advantage of.\n\nThe platform launched live to the public in August of this year and has in past months signed up some well-known investments managers to lead some of the DAA portfolios.\n\nThe 5 new assets just made available can be seen below:\n\n#1 EOS\n\nThe EOS (EOS) token is a temporary token issued to complete the EOS ICO and is not required for use of the EOS platform. EOS is a smart-contract-enabled hosting platform built for open-source projects and is designed to enable vertical and horizontal scaling of decentralized applications.\n\n#2 Everex\n\nEverex (EVX) offers blockchain-based microlending, remittances, and merchant payments to underserved individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises in Asia and internationally. EVX tokens are required for utilizing the Everex platform.\n\n#3 Raiden\n\nThe Raiden Network (RDN) is an off-chain scaling solution that enables near-instant, low-fee, scalable payments and works with any ERC20-compatible token. The RDN token is used to pay fees for using the Raiden Network.\n\n#4 Request\n\nThe Request Network (REQ) token is required for the operation of Request contracts, especially the extension layers for advanced features. Request is a layer built on Ethereum that disintermediates payment requests.\n\n#5 Tierion\n\nTierion (TNT) provides a platform for using the Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains to verify any data, file, or business process. The TNT token provides an economic incentive to secure the network and serves as a method of settlement between parties to access network resources.\n\nThe ICONOMI team says, \u201cwe are constantly expanding the selection of digital assets available for DAAs and will continue to publish announcements over the coming weeks.\u201d\n\nThe full list of digital assets available on ICONOMI is also available.", "output": "Iconomi has added five digital assets to its digital asset array (DAA) portfolio. Iconomi is a digital asset management platform that aims to make it easy for investors to invest in cryptocurrency portfolios. Since its public launch in August, Iconomi has signed up a number of top fund managers to run its portfolios and has now added EOS, Everex, Raiden, Request and Tierion to the list of assets available to DAAs.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Flowrox enters IIoT market with flow control solution \n Flowrox has entered the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) era by bringing to market a new generation of Smart Solutions\u2122 that offer a new way to control, operate and visualise equipment and entire facilities by means of a 3D user interface. The newest innovation is Flowrox Smart Expulse\u2122, a pulsation dampener with a Smart option.\n\nPulsations can cause distractions, a common issue with several types of positive displacement pumps. Pulsations can result in annoying noise and vibrations in the process pipeline, which can potentially lead to breakages over time. Flowrox offers the ideal solution to this problem: Flowrox Smart Expulse\u2122. This innovation will help you to achieve the dream of any plant operator \u2013 fluent processes without any distractions.\n\nSimple and intensive\n\nFlowrox Expulse\u2122 is the simplest and most robust inline pulsation dampener on the market. This solution quiets the banging noise by settling up to 90% of pressure peaks that can eventually lead to pipeline breakage. Moreover, it saves up to 10% in pumping energy by temporarily storing it to the flexible inner hose and filler gas. The flexible construction eases system maintenance, leading to reduced downtime costs.\n\nAdditional smart features\n\nThe new Smart option enables accurate pressure control regardless of process changes. This prolongs system lifetime also in the most challenging conditions. Flowrox SmartCube can simultaneously control up to five Expulses, and their performance can be monitored using the Flowrox Malibu\u2122platform.\n\nIt is also possible to connect other process parameters and indicate values in Malibu\u2122, which is accessible on any device with an Internet browser.\n\nThe Flowrox Smart Expulse\u2122 pulsation dampener can be installed on any pulsating pump from any manufacturer on the market. Its flexible construction makes pump maintenance extremely simple, and it does not collect any sediment or particles. The Smart feature additionally contributes to saving extra energy, making it an excellent solution for a wide range of heavy industries.", "output": "Finnish flow control solutions provider Flowrox has launched industrial internet of things (IIoT) tool Flowrox Smart Expulse, a robust inline pulsation dampener that can reduce downtime by settling up to 90% of pressure peaks. The system uses a smart 3D interface, allowing operators to see, operate and control equipment, while up to 10% of pumping energy can be saved by using the flexible inner hose and filler gas as temporary storage. In addition, the company's Flowrox SmartCube can continually monitor up to five Expulses, using the Flowrox Malibu platform."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Daimler produces first EV trucks for German delivery firms \n Advertisement\n\nAmong the first customers for Daimler's Fuso eCanter light-weight truck was express delivery service DHL, which said it would use its six vehicles to navigate Berlin's innercity traffic.\n\nThe keys to eight other eCanter trucks were handed over to German logistics and transport firms DB Schenker, Rhenus and Dachser.\n\n\"With the Fuso eCanter our customers now operate not only quietly and without locally emitted CO2, they also save money on operating costs,\" said Marc Llistosella, head of Daimler Trucks Asia.\n\n\"This is the future of urban distribution transport.\"\n\nWith a load-bearing capacity of 4.5 tons, the eCanter is equipped with six batteries and has a range of 100 kilometres, the Mercedes Benz parent company said.\n\nPackage-shipping giant UPS has put eCanter trucks on the road in the United States, while in Japan convenience-store chain Seven-Eleven and Yamato Transport will each operate 25 of the trucks, according to Daimler.\n\nLarge-scale production of the fully electric, zero-emissions truck is set to begin in 2019.\n\nDaimler's announcement comes as carmakers and tech firms around the world jostle for dominance in the rush to meet a growing demand for clean, quiet delivery trucks as cities grapple with smog and noise pollution.\n\nTesla last month unveiled an all electric semi-truck that it billed as quicker and more economical than today's diesel-powered trucks.\n\nIt can travel 800 kilometres between charges. Production however is not set to start until 2019, with the first deliveries slated for 2020.\n\nVolkswagen, Nikola and Einride are also among the pioneers in developing electric truck prototypes, some equipped with autonomous driving functions and futuristic designs.\n\nDaimler did not disclose the price of its eCanter, but said the vehicle offered \"savings up to \u20ac1,000 per 10,000 kilometres on operating costs\" in comparison with conventional trucks.\n\nModels destined for European and US clients will be produced in Tramagal, Portugal.", "output": "German vehicle manufacturer Daimler has begun the European roll-out of its lightweight Fuso eCanter all-electric truck, with delivery firm DHL adding six to its Berlin inner-city fleet. In addition, German logistics and transport firms DB Schenker, Rhenus and Dachser took delivery of eight vehicles between them. Daimler's Fuso eCanter, which has a range of 100 km and can carry 4.5 tonnes, has already been adopted in the US by logistics firm UPS, while Japanese convenience-store chain Seven-Eleven and Yamato Transport will each take 25 trucks."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Switzerland unveils world's steepest funicular railway line \n Swiss engineering and technology have reached new heights with the opening of the world\u2019s steepest funicular rail line.\n\nThe \u20ac44.6m Schwyz-Stoos funicular (Standseilbahn Schwyz-Stoos in German), which goes into public service on Sunday, has been hailed as a triumph of modern design engineering.\n\n\n\nA level-adjusting function will allow the space-age-looking carriages, accessible to all users, to remain horizontal while speeding up the mountain at up to 10 metres a second.\n\nIt is due to be opened on Friday by the president of the Swiss federal council, Doris Leuthard, in the Alpine resort of Stoos, 1,300 metres (4,300ft) above sea level in central Switzerland.\n\n\n\nThe train, two lines of cylindrical carriages, resembling beer barrels, will allow passengers to remain upright at all times, even as they ascend \u2013 or descend \u2013 the 1,720-metre track, climbing or descending 743 metres along gradients as steep as 110% (47.7\u00ba).\n\nIt will run from the valley station near Schwyz into the mountain village of Stoos, population 100, about 30 miles (50km) south of Zurich.\n\nIvan Steiner, a spokesman for the railway, said the funicular replaced an older one that had operated since 1933. \u201cAfter 14 years of planning and building, everyone is very proud of this train,\u201d he said.\n\nThe funicular. Photograph: Urs Flueeler/EPA\n\nThe Gondola Project, a website dedicated to cable-propelled transport systems, said the scheme had faced a number of challenges even before work had begun. Then when construction started in July 2013, it faced hold-ups.\n\n\u201cDesigners analysed 15 different options before selecting the existing route alignment and technology,\u201d it wrote.\n\nA traditional aerial gondola funicular was ruled out because it would have had to pass through an active shooting range.\n\n\u201cThe Stoos funicular is designed with an inclination adjustment system. This means that the four 34-passenger rotating cabins on each train remain horizontally level throughout the journey.\u201d\n\nThe Gelmerbahn funicular at Bern was previously the world\u2019s steepest, with a maximum gradient of 106%.\n\nThe East Cliff Lift funicular railway in Hastings, built in 1902, is the steepest in England, with a gradient of 78%.", "output": "More than four years after construction began, the world's steepest funicular rail line has opened to the public in Switzerland. Dubbed a triumph of modern design engineering, the \u20ac44.6m ($52.6m) Standseilbahn Schwyz-Stoos features an inclination adjustment system, enabling the four rotating cabins to remain horizontal even when the train is climbing or descending gradients as steep as 110% (47.7\u00ba).\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bitwise brings passive investing to the cryptocurrency market \n An application for Bitcoin in front of a window of the offices of the bank 'La Maison du Bitcoin' in Paris, France.\n\nFor people looking to get in on cryptocurrencies without having to bet on a single one, a new money management firm is trying to make crypto-investing as easy as buying the S&P 500.\n\nBitwise Asset Management has just started accepting investors into Hold 10, the world's first crypto-index fund, which lets people put money in the 10 largest cryptocurrencies as weighted by the total value of coins outstanding.\n\nThe fund was announced in October and is now open to accredited investors. On Tuesday, Bitwise also said it has raised $4 million from some of the best-known investors in financial technology, including Keith Rabois (through Khosla Ventures), David Sacks and Naval Ravikant.\n\n\"We and our investors believe that a vehicle like this, or passive index investing as an approach, is a great way for many people to participate in cryptocurrency,\" Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley told CNBC.\n\nThe Hold 10 index is the latest investment vehicle to launch in the cryptocurrency space. Just this week, bitcoin started trading in the futures market, while dozens of actively managed hedge funds have opened this year. Initial coin offerings, which let investors buy and trade cryptocurrencies created by individual companies, have raised over $3.7 billion in 2017, according to CoinDesk.", "output": "Bitwise Asset Management has begun accepting investors into an index fund it has developed offering exposure to cryptocurrencies. The firm claims the fund, called Hold 10, is the first index product giving investors access to digital currencies. The fund tracks the top 10 cryptocurrencies and is open to accredited investors. Roughly 60% of its index is tilted towards bitcoin. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US biodiesel production increases despite tax credits cut \n EIA: US biodiesel production still increasing despite expiration of tax credit\n\nThrough the first nine months of 2017, US biodiesel production levels were slightly higher than 2016 levels, despite the expiration of a federal biodiesel blender's tax credit at the end of 2016. Domestic biodiesel production may continue to increase because of changes to import policies such as those recently announced by the US Department of Commerce on biodiesel imports from Argentina and Indonesia.\n\nBiodiesel production increased over time largely because of state and federal incentives. The federal biodiesel blender's tax credit, valued at $1/gal, expired several times prior to 2016, most recently at the end of 2014. In those earlier years, Congress ultimately voted to reinstate the tax credit retroactively.\n\nBiodiesel qualifies as an advanced biofuel as part of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), a program implemented by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to promote the incorporation of biofuels into the nation\u2019s fuel supply. To demonstrate compliance with the RFS, refiners and importers of petroleum products must either blend advanced biofuels such as biodiesel or buy credits called renewable identification numbers (RINs).\n\nBiodiesel is often combined with petroleum diesel in blends ranging from 5% to 20% biodiesel. On average, biodiesel accounted for about 4% of total diesel consumption in 2016. Similar to corn ethanol, biodiesel production is concentrated in the Midwest and delivered by rail and truck across the country.\n\nSince 2014, foreign biodiesel imports\u2014primarily from Argentina and Indonesia\u2014have increased in the East Coast and Gulf Coast regions. In 2016, biodiesel imports from Argentina reached 449 MMgal and accounted for nearly 20% of US biodiesel consumption.\n\nHowever, in April 2017, the US Department of Commerce (DOC) initiated two investigations into whether biodiesel imports from Argentina and Indonesia put US biodiesel producers at a disadvantage. The two investigations have focused on countervailing duties\u2014when a foreign government provides subsidies for the production of a product\u2014and antidumping\u2014when a foreign government sells a product at less than its fair value.\n\nIn November, the DOC issued an affirmative final determination on countervailing duties for Argentina and Indonesia, assigning rates ranging from 34% to 72%, based on the producer or importer of biodiesel. The US International Trade Commission reached a similar finding in December, allowing for DOC to issue final countervailing duty orders.\n\nDepending on the outcome of the antidumping investigation, the combined effect of the final orders may more than double the price of biodiesel from these two countries.\n\nIn response to the investigations, new US contracts for cargos of biodiesel from Argentina and Indonesia have slowed. Imports from Argentina remained relatively high through August 2017 because of contracts that were already in place prior to the investigations, but these imports ended as of September 2017. Biodiesel imports from Indonesia last occurred in December 2016. Imports from these countries are likely to remain low unless a settlement is reached or US biodiesel prices rise to offset the final duties.\n\nUS biodiesel consumption in 2016 totaled 2,189 MMgal, of which 1,569 MMgal (72%) were produced domestically. US biodiesel facilities ran at 69% of nameplate capacity during 2016. Annual production capacity at the beginning of 2016 totaled 2,270 MMgal.\n\nUS biodiesel production capacity has since increased slightly to 2,348 MMgal as of September 2017, but the pace at which biodiesel facilities might increase production to address possible supply shortfalls from reduced imports is unclear.\n\nBiodiesel is typically more expensive than petroleum-based diesel, so the loss of lower-cost imports from Argentina and Indonesia might further decrease its price competitiveness. During 2016, the average spot price of Gulf Coast biodiesel was $3.17/gal, which was $1.85/gal higher than its petroleum counterpart.\n\nRelated News\n\nFrom the Archive", "output": "Biodiesel production levels in the US rose in the first three-quarters of this year, despite the end of tax incentives. Production capacity from January to September was 2,348 million gallons, compared with 2,270 million gallons at the start of 2016. State and federal incentives such as the now-expired biodiesel blender's tax credit of $1 a gallon sent biodiesel production climbing. It could continue to rise thanks to US Department of Commerce policy changes on biodiesel imports from Argentina and Indonesia. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US biodiesel production increases despite tax credits cut \n By: AJOT | Dec 15 2017 at 09:35 AM | Intermodal\n\nSource: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Monthly Biodiesel Production Report\n\nSource: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Monthly Biodiesel Production Report, Petroleum Supply Monthly\n\nSource: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Monthly Biodiesel Production Report, Petroleum Supply Monthly\n\nThrough the first nine months of 2017, U.S. biodiesel production levels were slightly higher than 2016 levels, despite the expiration of a federal biodiesel blender\u2019s tax credit at the end of 2016. Domestic biodiesel production may continue to increase because of changes to import policies such as those recently announced by the U.S. Department of Commerce on biodiesel imports from Argentina and Indonesia. Biodiesel production increased over time largely because of state and federal incentives. The federal biodiesel blender\u2019s tax credit, valued at $1 per gallon (gal), expired several times prior to 2016, most recently at the end of 2014. In those earlier years, Congress ultimately voted to reinstate the tax credit retroactively. Biodiesel qualifies as an advanced biofuel as part of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), a program implemented by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to promote the incorporation of biofuels into the nation\u2019s fuel supply. To demonstrate compliance with the RFS, refiners and importers of petroleum products must either blend advanced biofuels such as biodiesel or buy credits called renewable identification numbers (RINs). Biodiesel is often combined with petroleum diesel in blends ranging from 5% to 20% biodiesel. On average, biodiesel accounted for about 4% of total diesel consumption in 2016. Similar to corn ethanol, biodiesel production is concentrated in the Midwest and delivered by rail and truck across the country. Since 2014, foreign biodiesel imports\u2014primarily from Argentina and Indonesia\u2014have increased in the East Coast and Gulf Coast regions. In 2016, biodiesel imports from Argentina reached 449 million gallons and accounted for nearly 20% of U.S. biodiesel consumption. However, in April 2017, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) initiated two investigations into whether biodiesel imports from Argentina and Indonesia put U.S. biodiesel producers at a disadvantage. The two investigations have focused on countervailing duties\u2014when a foreign government provides subsidies for the production of a product\u2014and antidumping\u2014when a foreign government sells a product at less than its fair value. In November, the DOC issued an affirmative final determination on countervailing duties for Argentina and Indonesia, assigning rates ranging from 34% to 72%, based on the producer or importer of biodiesel. The U.S. International Trade Commission reached a similar finding in December, allowing for DOC to issue final countervailing duty orders. Depending on the outcome of the antidumping investigation, the combined effect of the final orders may more than double the price of biodiesel from these two countries.In response to the investigations, new U.S. contracts for cargos of biodiesel from Argentina and Indonesia have slowed. Imports from Argentina remained relatively high through August 2017 because of contracts that were already in place prior to the investigations, but these imports ended as of September 2017. Biodiesel imports from Indonesia last occurred in December 2016. Imports from these countries are likely to remain low unless a settlement is reached or U.S. biodiesel prices rise to offset the final duties.U.S. biodiesel consumption in 2016 totaled 2,189 million gallons, of which 1,569 million gallons (72%) were produced domestically. U.S. biodiesel facilities ran at 69% of nameplate capacity during 2016. Annual production capacity at the beginning of 2016 totaled 2,270 million gallons. U.S. biodiesel production capacity has since increased slightly to 2,348 million gallons as of September 2017, but the pace at which biodiesel facilities might increase production to address possible supply shortfalls from reduced imports is unclear. Biodiesel is typically more expensive than petroleum-based diesel, so the loss of lower-cost imports from Argentina and Indonesia might further decrease its price competitiveness. During 2016, the average spot price of Gulf Coast biodiesel was $3.17/gal, which was $1.85/gal higher than its petroleum counterpart.", "output": "Biodiesel production levels in the US rose in the first three-quarters of this year, despite the end of tax incentives. Production capacity from January to September was 2,348 million gallons, compared with 2,270 million gallons at the start of 2016. State and federal incentives such as the now-expired biodiesel blender's tax credit of $1 a gallon sent biodiesel production climbing. It could continue to rise thanks to US Department of Commerce policy changes on biodiesel imports from Argentina and Indonesia. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HSBC, AXA launch online insurance platform in Hong Kong \n [ET Net News Agency, 18 December 2017] HSBC and AXA Hong Kong today jointly announced\n\nthe launch of an online packaged general insurance platform for business customers in Hong\n\nKong.\n\nThrough this platform, customers from a wide range of local companies are able to apply\n\nfor commercial packaged insurance with instant quotes, covering startups, office assets\n\nand retailer protection.\n\nThis platform features an automated process to identify risks that concern business\n\ncustomers and for which AXA Hong Kong can provide immediate cover. (KL)\n\n", "output": "HSBC and AXA Hong Kong have partnered to launch an online platform offering packaged insurance for a range of local businesses, from start-ups to established offices and retailers. As well as including instant quotes, the platform includes automated risk identification.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "American Family widens data analytics, AI with Networked purchase \n American Family Insurance said it intends to accelerate its use of data, advanced analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) with its purchase of Chicago-based data and analytics software company Networked Insights.\n\nAmerican Family is a Networked Insights client and has been a minority investor in the company since 2013, increasing its investment over time. With the acquisition, American Family became its sole owner. The purchase price is not being disclosed.\n\nThe insurer has been investing in technology and data platforms for the past three years including through its own data science and analytics lab, a strategic data analytics division, an innovation team and collaborative data-science projects with the University of Wisconsin.\n\nAmerican Family said it has also acquired HomeGauge, a home inspection software company with 21 employees, based in Asheville, North Carolina.\n\nAmerican Family Chairman and CEO Jack Salzwedel said the Networked Insights acquisition allows it to strengthen its agency distribution and build on its current advanced analytics capabilities to improve how it serves customers.\n\n\u201cThese investments are part of our commitment to innovation through the use of data analytics and artificial intelligence for our customers and in ways that complement and improve the personal service we deliver to them,\u201d said Peter Gunder, American Family Insurance chief business development officer, in prepared remarks.\n\nNetworked Insights uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to understand what is relevant to people, allowing companies target their audiences with their preferred content and media. A 2015 Networked Insights study of social media posts of millennials found that when millennials share financial concerns online their anxiety decreases significantly even when a purchase or transaction is a completely new experience.\n\n\u201cThe insurance company of the future will be all about using data analytics to enhance the customer experience and be a trusted brand,\u201d said Networked Insights founder and Chief Executive Officer Dan Neely, who praised American Family for doing a \u201cremarkable job at building a trusted brand.\u201d\n\nIn addition to its Chicago headquarters, Networked Insights also has operations in New York City and Madison, Wisconsin, where American Family is headquartered.\n\nThe companies said that Networked Insights will operate as a stand-alone subsidiary of American Family Insurance. In addition to serving its customers, Networked Insights employees will collaborate with American Family data scientists on projects using advanced analytic capabilities to improve customer interactions and business value.\n\nAccording to the firms, all 74 Networked Insights employees including Neely and Gerry Komlofske (president and chief operating officer) will continue in their positions with the company. Neely will also join the American Family senior executive team.\n\nAmerican Family\u2019s venture capital arm, American Family Ventures, has been active in supporting technology-focused insurance and risk management startups including Ring\u2019s home security system; CoverHound\u2019s auto insurance quoting system; Hover, which creates 3D models of properties; One, a cloud-based insurance payments platform; Leaselock, a rent payment insurance platform; and Katasi, a tool to prevent texting while driving.\n\nAmerican Family is among a number of carriers that have developed service packages for automated home monitoring. Concerning its acquisition of home inspection software firm HomeGauge, the insurer said the aggregate information HomeGauge provides will enable it to enhance its role in this area.\n\nAmerican Family is also an investor in Bunker, a startup digital insurance broker focused on independent contractors.\n\nA year ago, policyholders approved the conversion of 90-year old American Family from a mutual to a mutual holding company, providing the company with the additional flexibility to invest or acquire non-insurance companies or other mutual insurance companies.\n\nThe company sells American Family-brand products, including auto, homeowners, life, business and farm/ranch insurance, primarily through exclusive agents in 19 states. Two affiliates, The General and Homesite, also sell directly to consumers over the internet or by phone.\n\nTopics Mergers & Acquisitions InsurTech Tech Data Driven Artifical Intelligence", "output": "American Family Insurance has acquired Networked Insights as it seeks to expand its use of data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI). The insurer has been a minority investor since 2013 in the\u00a0Chicago-based data analytics firm, which uses AI and machine learning to help customers target audiences with content. American Family\u00a0has been investing in technology for the past three years and its latest acquisition will help bolster its agency distribution and build on existing analytics capabilities, said CEO Jack Salzwedel.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Major brands fail to pay workers when factories shut \n 16 December 2017\n\nDespite massive profits, big fashion brands refuse to pay workers after factory closures\n\nGarment workers and activists unite in global actions against wage theft\n\nUnpaid garment workers demand justice: messages to shoppers found in clothes in Marks and Spencer, Next and Zara\n\nOver the weekend, while festive shoppers across the UK browse clothing stores, they are also discovering messages from garment workers seeking help.\n\nThe messages being found by shoppers in clothes in Marks and Spencer, Next and Zara stores say: \u201cI made the item you are about to buy, but I didn\u2019t get paid for making it\u201d.\n\nElsewhere in the world, notes are also appearing in stores of Mango, Uniqlo, Adidas, Mizuno and Nygard. The messages are from workers in Cambodia, Turkey and Indonesia who are all owed money for making clothes for these fashion industry giants. In four discrete instances between 2012 and 2016, workers saw their factories suddenly close, even overnight, leaving them jobless and owed months of back wages and severance payments.\n\nThese factory closures (Chung Fai factory in Cambodia; Bravo factory in Turkey; PT PDK and Jaba Garmindo factories in Indonesia) were often preceded by major buyers cutting off orders, without warning or explanation to the workforce, most of them women. The consequences for the workers and their families have been dire.\n\nHikmet, who used to work at the Bravo Tekstil factory in Turkey \u2013 which produced clothing for Next, Zara and Mango \u2013 until it closed, says: \u201cI haven\u2019t been able to pay my rent for four months. I cannot pay my debts. I am in a desperate situation.\u201d\n\nEach of the brands involved, despite collectively earning billions in annual profit, are refusing to pay the workers from these factories their back wages and severance \u2013 money they earned over many years of working hard and long hours to produce clothes for these brands. Labour Behind the Label and the Clean Clothes Campaign believe that to deny these workers their payment is tantamount to wage theft, and call on all the brands involved to ensure these workers receive what they are owed.\n\nKokom Kolomawati, a former worker of the PT PDK factory in Indonesia, says: \u00a8International standards, like the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, are crystal clear \u2013 brands retain full responsibility for their supply chains and must ensure that we are paid what we rightfully earned and are now owed.\u00a8\n\nIn the week between 14 and 20 December 2017 activists and workers are joining together in actions around the world calling for these brands to end wage theft and urging consumers to support these campaigns for justice. Message drops and protest actions are happening in over nine countries including Indonesia, Japan, Turkey, Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada, and Hong Kong.\n\nTeddy Senadi Putra, of Labour Union PUK SPAI FSPMI, formerly at PT Jaba Garmindo says: \u00a8The Uniqlo fortune is built from workers\u2019 sweat, like ours, all over the world. For the 2017 fiscal year, Uniqlo had an operating profit of 176.4 billion Yen (2.05 billion EUR). They can easily afford to pay us what little amount we earned and now need. Brands need to realise that with power comes responsibility: they are more than just buyers. Brands are employers and garment workers are more than just disposable assets.\u00a8\n\nIn a letter sent in September 2017 to brands Marks and Spencer, Nygard and Bonmarche, major buyers of the now closed Chung Fai factory in Cambodia, workers wrote: \u201cWe are your workers, and we are human beings! Some of us have worked at the factory since 1998. Instead of receiving legal severance and indemnity for our years of service, now we are broke and in debt. We shouldn\u2019t have to keep living like this. Our cheap labour has helped you to profit. We are simply asking you to make sure we get what is legally ours.\u201d\n\nOver the 2017 fiscal year, Marks and Spencer generated an operating profit of 690.6 million GDP (784.7 million EUR).\n\nEnds\n\nBackground\n\nSudden and unexpected factory closures seems to be a growing trend in the global garment industry. A particular challenge for workers is when factories go bankrupt following the withdrawal of orders from major brands since few countries have legal processes that prioritise debts to workers over other creditors, or legal systems that recently unemployed workers are able to readily access.\n\nThere are important precedents of brands taking responsibility for workers in their supply chain after a factory closure. In late 2012, nearly 200 garment workers at the Kingsland factory in Cambodia were deprived of their severance pay after the factory abruptly closed its doors. The workers started a month-long vigil and protest camp in front of the factory to prevent the factory\u2019s assets from being stripped. This resulted in a historic settlement with Walmart and H&M in March 2013.\n\nSimilarly, after two years of international solidarity, adidas reluctantly agreed in 2014 to compensate 2,800 Indonesian garment workers who were owed US $1.8 million in severance pay following the closure of sportswear factory PT Kizone in Indonesia. Adidas is now involved in the PT PDK factory closure case.\n\nNotes for editors\n\nFor more information on the Chung Fai factory closure in Cambodia involving Marks & Spencer, Bonmarche and Nygard, see: latest press release: M&S, Bonmarch\u00e9 and Nyg\u00e5rd should compensate Cambodian workers after factory closure and campaign page\n\nFor more information on the Bravo factory closure in Turkey, involving Inditex (Zara), Mango and Next, see: latest press release: Zara, Next, Mango Slammed for Leaving Workers Without Wages in Turkish Factory and Bravo workers\u00b4 campaign petition\n\nFor more information on the PT PDK factory closure in Indonesia, involving adidas and Mizuno, see: latest press release: Top global sports brands adidas and Mizuno shamefully defy international standards on workers\u2019 rights in Indonesia\n\nFor more information on the Jaba Garmindo factory closure in Indonesia, involving Uniqlo and other brands, see: latest press release: Pressure grows on Uniqlo CEO to fulfill debt owed to workers; and campaign page\n\nLabour Behind the Label campaigns for garment workers\u2019 rights worldwide. We support garment workers\u2019 efforts to improve their working conditions and change the fashion industry for the better. We raise awareness, provide information and promote international solidarity between workers and consumers.\n\nLabour Behind the Label is the UK platform of the Clean Clothes Campaign. The Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) works to improve conditions and support the empowerment of workers in the global garment industry. The CCC has national campaigns in 15 European countries with a network of 250 organisations worldwide.\n\nPlease see www.labourbehindthelabel.org and www.cleanclothes.org for further information.", "output": "Fashion brands including Marks and Spencer, Next and Zara have refused to pay workers following factory closures, according to not-for-profit group Labour Behind the Label (LBL). The organisation said that customers in the UK and other countries have found notes inside garments reading, \u201cI made the item you are about to buy, but I didn\u2019t get paid for it\u201d. The messages are from workers in Cambodia, Indonesia and Turkey who claim that they are owed money after the factories in which they worked closed between 2012 and 2016, allegedly after major buyers stopped orders.\u00a0\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Major brands fail to pay workers when factories shut \n BRISTOL \u2013 Labour Behind the Label (LBL) has claimed that fashion brands Marks and Spencer, Next and Zara are refusing to pay their workers after factory closures. LBL has reported consumers finding messages in garments in the stores across the UK and other countries.\n\nThe messages reportedly read \u201cI made the item you are about to buy, but I didn\u2019t get paid for it\u201d. Similar notes have been found in Mango, Uniqlo, Adidas, Mizuno, and Nygard.", "output": "Fashion brands including Marks and Spencer, Next and Zara have refused to pay workers following factory closures, according to not-for-profit group Labour Behind the Label (LBL). The organisation said that customers in the UK and other countries have found notes inside garments reading, \u201cI made the item you are about to buy, but I didn\u2019t get paid for it\u201d. The messages are from workers in Cambodia, Indonesia and Turkey who claim that they are owed money after the factories in which they worked closed between 2012 and 2016, allegedly after major buyers stopped orders.\u00a0\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "10 GW of natural gas peakers at risk from solar-plus-storage \n Natural-gas peaker plants may soon be under threat in a very real way.\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t see a reason why we should ever build a gas peaker again in the U.S. after, say, 2025,\u201d said Shayle Kann, a senior adviser to GTM Research and Wood Mackenzie, speaking at Greentech Media\u2019s Energy Storage Summit. \u201cIf you think about how energy storage starts to take over the world, peaking is kind of your first big market.\u201d\n\nThe data shows a very clear trend.\n\nToday, lithium-ion batteries are competitive with natural-gas peaker plants in select cases. In a few years, competition will intensify across the country. And with costs only headed downward, Kann called overtaking peakers \u201ca sweet spot\u201d for battery dominance across the U.S.\n\nSource: GTM Research/Wood Mackenzie\n\nIn four years, new natural-gas peakers will become increasingly rare. In 10 years, it's possible they'll stop getting built altogether.\n\n\u201cPeakers are expensive. Energy storage should be really good at displacing a peaker, and also you can use multiple values,\u201d said Kann. \u201cBut not even incorporating the multiple values, energy storage is starting to get very close to the point where it can just beat a gas peaker, head-to-head, purely on an economic basis. A decade from now, energy storage always wins.\u201d\n\nOver the next 10 years, the U.S. needs to add 20 gigawatts of peaking capacity to its grid. Over half of that capacity will come on-line in the latter part of the decade: 7,440 megawatts between 2018 to 2020 compared to 12,645 megawatts between 2023 and 2027. That gives energy storage more time to build an economic advantage.\n\nIf technology changes faster than expected, the economic argument for storage becomes more compelling.\n\nGTM Research/Wood Mackenzie\n\nWhile the U.S. market includes less than a gigawatt of storage today, it will replace a third of peakers under a base-case scenario in the next decade. If the market grows faster, storage may replace nearly half of those 20 gigawatts of peaking capacity.\n\n\u201cTime and time again in adjacent sectors like solar, and even in energy storage, technology costs have the capacity to fall faster than almost anybody expects,\u201d said Kann. \u201cIncluding us.\u201d\n\nThese changes are catching regulators off guard. The most recent example: the California Energy Commission's decision to reconsider a gas peaking plant planned for Oxnard.\n\nThe California Independent System Operator found the peaker plant would be more expensive than storage -- in an analysis that used prices from 2014. After GTM pointed out the discrepancies between those costs and current industry pricing, NRG Energy, the plant\u2019s developer, suspended its construction application.\n\nThat project isn\u2019t completely dead, but the suspension leaves an opening for clean alternatives to meet the capacity need instead.\n\nIn South Australia, the need for grid stability and renewables integration prompted the installation of a 100-megawatt Tesla battery in record time. Tesla brought that battery on-line last month.\n\nGas peakers will still get developed in South Australia. But Tesla's battery could be a sign of things to come.\n\nA report on the two projects from Wood Mackenzie and GTM Research found that batteries -- both alone or paired with renewables -- are not yet competitive with gas peaking plants in that region. But they\u2019re on their way. In 2025, analysts project that standalone and renewable-hybrid batteries will beat out open-cycle gas turbine plants for meeting peak load.\n\nEvery year, said Kann, storage is closing in on that economic \u201csweet spot\u201d that will allow it to beat out peakers.\n\nWant to watch the rest of GTM's Storage Summit this week? Watch the livestream here.", "output": "Solar power plus energy storage is cheap enough to compete with natural gas peaker plants in some markets and about half of the 20 GW of peaking capacity that the US needs to build over the next decade may be replaced by batteries, said Shayle Kann, a senior adviser to GTM Research and Wood Mackenzie. In four years' time, gas peakers will be increasingly rare, and there may be no case for them at all within a decade, he said. There is currently about 1 GW of energy storage in the US."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Enel granted $2.1m for Massachusetts energy storage projects \n Enel has won grants totalling $2.1m for two distributed energy storage projects in Massachusetts.\n\n\n\nThe money has been awarded as part of the Advancing Commonwealth Energy Storage initiative, which is administered by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center.\n\nThe first project is a partnership between Enel Green Power North America and the University of Massachusetts Boston for a behind-the-meter micro-grid comprising a 0.5MW lithium-ion energy storage system integrated with a 0.5MW solar project.It will be deployed at the University\u2019s campus in Boston and has been awarded $850,000.The second project is Enel subsidiary EnerNoc\u2019s plan to deploy a 2MW storage system at the Acton Boxborough Regional School District. It has been awarded $1.2m.Both projects will be managed through the Den.Ostm software, developed by Enel\u2019s US subsidiary Demand Energy Networks.Enel X head Francesco Venturini said: \u201cWe are very glad to work with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and our project partners to explore how storage can best deliver long-term value to utilities and local communities.\u201dEnel X is brand name for Enel\u2019s global e-business solutions unit.", "output": "Enel has been awarded $2.1m of grants for two distributed energy storage projects in Massachusetts\u00a0as part of the Advancing Commonwealth Energy Storage initiative. The first project is a partnership between Enel Green Power North America and the University of Massachusetts Boston for a behind-the-meter micro-grid comprising a 0.5 MW lithium-ion energy storage system integrated with a 0.5 MW solar project. The second project is Enel subsidiary EnerNoc\u2019s plan to deploy a 2 MW storage system at the Acton Boxborough Regional School District."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Total Eren to build 70 MW Indonesian wind farm \n Renewables developer Total Eren today said it has signed a letter of intent (LoI) with Indonesian government-owned power utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) for a 70-MW wind project.\n\nThe LoI calls for PLN to purchase electricity from the Tanah Laut project, which will be financed, built and operated by Total Eren. The wind farm will be located in Tanah Laut, on Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo island.\n\nTotal Eren got is name just days ago when French oil and gas group Total SA (EPA:FP) concluded the purchase of a 23% interest in EREN Renewable Energy (EREN RE).\n\nAccording to the announcement, this is the first wind project to be signed under new Ministry of Energy regulation in Indonesia, issued in August 2017 and designed to reduce electricity generation cost.\n\nGeneral Electric Co (NYSE:GE) is the preferred technology supplier for the project. The US group has assisted in the project design and carried out the grid connection study. The wind resource at site has been confirmed by 20-month wind data gathered by Total Eren's Jakarta-based subsidiary PACE Energy.\n\nTotal Eren said it is developing several other greenfield wind projects in Indonesia.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Total Eren, the renewable-energy company in which French energy major Total recently took a stake, said it has signed a letter of intent with Indonesian government-owned power utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara\u00a0for a 70 MW wind farm. The project will be located in Tanah Laut, on Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo island."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Innogy raises capex as decision nears on 860 MW UK offshore project \n Innogy SE (ETR:IGY) will step up capital spending in 2018, the German energy company said today as it warned that 2017 adjusted EBITDA and EBIT will be lower than previously expected.\n\nThe company plans a capex budget of more than EUR 3 billion (USD 3.5bn) for 2018, an increase of over 25% from this year's expected level, as it intends to invest more in future-oriented business areas like e-mobility, renewable energy and broadband. The 860-MW Triton Knoll offshore wind project in the UK, final investment decision on which is expected in mid-2018, will be a major capex target, Innogy said.\n\nThe company lowered its guidance for adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in 2017 to about EUR 4.3 billion from around EUR 4.4 billion. The adjusted EBIT estimate was also reduced to about EUR 2.8 billion from EUR 2.9 billion. Innogy said the main reason is difficult market environment in the UK retail business. There have also been higher costs for future-oriented projects such as digitisation and expenses for growth initiatives like e-mobility.\n\nAdjusted net profit is still expected to exceed EUR 1.2 billion, but not much.\n\nIn 2018, the company expects adjusted EBIT of about EUR 2.7 billion. It said the renewables division will post earnings in line with 2017, thus an adjusted EBIT of about EUR 350 million.\n\n\"High growth ambitions initially come at a price, but pay off in the long run,\" chief executive Peter Terium said, adding that the company is at the same time making all its divisions fit for the digital future. \"Even if this will weigh on our earnings short-term, I am convinced that this is the right strategy for setting up innogy optimally for the future \u2013 entirely in the interests of our shareholders, customers and employees,\" the CEO said.\n\n(EUR 1 = USD 1.175)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Innogy, the renewable-energy business spun off by RWE, will increase\u00a0capital spending in 2018 by more than a quarter to \u20ac3bn ($3.5bn) after warning\u00a0that 2017 adjusted EBITDA and EBIT will be lower than previously expected. The 860 MW Triton Knoll offshore wind project in the UK, for which the final investment decision\u00a0is expected in mid-2018, will be a major capex target, Innogy said. It plans to increase spending on e-mobility, renewable energy and broadband, it said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ReNew Power Ventures buys 103 MW of Indian wind projects \n Indian independent power producer ReNew Power Ventures Pvt Ltd has acquired KCT Renewable Energy Pvt Ltd, the owner of 103 MW of operational wind parks in Andhra Pradesh.\n\nThe acquisition from Karm Chand Thapar (KCT) Group has been confirmed by a ReNew Power executive, consultancy Mercom Capital said on Wednesday. The value of the deal, which is part of the power producer\u2019s growth plan, exceeds INR 10 billion (USD 155m/EUR 131.6m).\n\nThe transaction included three wind parks that are selling their output at a tariff of INR 4.80 per kWh under 25-year power purchase agreements (PPAs). The unnamed executive was cited as saying that ReNew Power now has wind power assets of over 1,300 MW, some 200 MW of which are located in Andhra Pradesh.\n\nReNew Power is majority owned by Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS). Among its other investors are the Asian Development Bank, Japanese power company JERA Co Inc and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. Last month, the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Investment Board also joined the list.\n\n(INR 10 = USD 0.156/EUR 0.132)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "India's largest independent power producer ReNew Power Ventures has acquired KCT Renewable Energy, owner of 103 MW of operational wind parks in Andhra Pradesh, from Karm Chand Thapar Group for INR10bn ($155m). The deal includes three wind parks that are selling their output at a tariff of INR4.80 per kWh under 25-year power purchase agreements. ReNew Power now has wind power assets of over 1,300 MW, about 200 MW of which are in Andhra Pradesh."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US Geothermal buys out Goldman Sachs stake in Idaho plant \n US Geothermal Inc (NYSEAMERICAN:HTM) on Wednesday said it will own 100% of the Raft River geothermal power plant in southern Idaho after agreeing to acquire Goldman Sachs' (NYSE:GS) remaining ownership interest.\n\nThe facility, in operation since 2008, is a single, 18-MW (gross) module with a design output of 13 MW (net) annual average. US Geothermal acquired from its project partner Goldman Sachs the majority of the latter's cash flow interest in and ownership of the project in December 2015.\n\nThe company will purchase Goldman Sachs' remaining interest for USD 350,000 (EUR 295,000), with the deal to close on January 2, 2018.\n\n\"The acquisition of this remaining interest in Raft River will be immediately accretive to the Company, and further enables us to implement capital upgrades to increase output from the facility,\" said interim chief executive Douglas Glaspey.\n\nThe project has a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA), signed in 2007, with the Idaho Power Company for the sale of up to 13 MW on an annual average basis.\n\nIn 2017 the average generation from the facility was increased by about 1.6 MW net via the addition of production well RRG-5, as well as upgrades to the injection system. The company is looking at increasing the capacity of production pump RRG-4 in 2018, which is expected to lead to generation increase of 0.6 MW to 0.7 MW net.\n\n(USD 1 = EUR 0.843)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "US Geothermal said it will buy the remaining interest in the Raft River geothermal power plant in southern Idaho from Goldman Sachs for $350,000. The facility, in operation since 2008, is a single, 18 MW\u00a0module with a design output of 13 MW\u00a0annual average.\u00a0The project has a 25-year power purchase agreement, signed in 2007, with the Idaho Power Company for the sale of up to 13 MW on an annual average basis."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US solar module sales company ET Solar files for bankruptcy \n It\u2019s a strange time for a PV module sales company to be filing for bankruptcy, given that the price of solar panels has surged in recent months while developers buy up available supply in advance of a ruling by the Trump Administration on the Section 201 case.\n\nNevertheless, on December 4 ET Solar Inc., based in Pleasanton, California, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal courts. The company claims less than $50,000 in assets but $10-50 million in debts. Over $10 million is owed to three other ET Solar entities in China and Hong Kong, however three other companies are owed at least $2 million each.\n\nNo reason has yet been provided and little is known. ET Solar Inc. has been notified by the court that it has failed to file many of the required documents, including a summary of assets and liabilities, a statement of financial affairs, and a statement of the company\u2019s property. ET Solar Inc. has until December 18 to file these.\n\nThere is no evidence that the bankruptcy will necessarily have any effect on ET Solar\u2019s gigawatt-scale Chinese manufacturing, or its network of sales and development & construction subsidiaries operating in Europe, South America, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. Additionally, project development, construction and sales efforts continue unabated in the United States through another subsidiary, ET Capital Inc.\n\nPopular content\n\nAs of the writing of this article ET Solar Inc. still had 10 employees listed on LinkedIn, with most in the San Francisco Bay Area. We will be either updating this article or following up with additional coverage as more information becomes available.\n\nUpdate/correction: This article was modified at 1:40 PM EST (U.S.) on December 13 to note that ET Capital remains active in project development and construction, as well as to remove the indication that ET Solar Inc.\u2019s website is down. It is not clear at this time that there was a separate website for ET Solar Inc.", "output": "The US module sales subsidiary of Chinese PV module maker and developer ET Solar has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, claiming\u00a0less than $50,000 in assets and $10-50m in debt.\u00a0The parent company\u2019s US\u00a0project development and construction subsidiary ET Capital has\u00a0not been affected."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Phoenix Solar files for insolvency \n The German solar PV project developer, Phoenix Solar AG has officially filed for insolvency today, December 13.\n\nIn a one sentence statement on its website, the company said, \u201cThe Executive Board of Phoenix Solar AG has submitted an insolvency filing to the relevant insolvency court in Munich, today.\u201d\n\nLast Friday, it announced it would start insolvency proceedings this week after its U.S. subsidiary, Phoenix Solar Inc. received a payment request from an unidentified customer to the tune of US$8 million.\n\n\u201cThis exceeds the financial capabilities of Phoenix Solar AG, therefore leads to insolvency and forces the Board to start the insolvency proceedings,\u201d it said on Friday.\n\nAccording to its latest financial data, the Phoenix Solar Group has 128 employees. It is unclear how many of them, or the subsidiaries, will be affected. The phone number for the company does not connect, and an automatic email response stated, \u201cBecause of the insolvency filing of Phoenix Solar AG the investor relations office is currently unavailable.\u201d\n\nPopular content\n\nIn its Q3 2017 financial results, the company noted that several EPC contracts for large-scale projects in the U.S. and Asia/Pacific region had been signed, including its first large ground-mounted PV power plant in Australia.\n\n\u201cThese projects, as well as the issuing of the respective notices to proceed had originally been expected to come in earlier in the financial year,\u201d wrote Phoenix Solar.\n\n\u201cOn October 24, 2017, the Executive Board of Phoenix Solar AG, therefore, lowered its 2017 forecast and now expects revenues in the range of \u20ac 90 to \u20ac110 million (2016: \u20ac139.2 million) and an EBIT in a range between \u20ac-10.0 to \u20ac-8.0 million for the full year 2017.\u201d\n\nDespite losses this year, the company said that due to its significantly increased weighted global project pipeline, renewed revenue and earnings growth was expected in 2018. It also renewed the tenure of Group CEO, Tim Ryan by another year on the back of \u201cimproving prospects\u201d.", "output": "German solar PV project developer Phoenix Solar filed for insolvency in Munich on 13 December. The previous week, it said it would start insolvency proceedings after its US\u00a0subsidiary, Phoenix Solar Inc., received a payment request from an unidentified customer for $8m, exceeding available funds.\u00a0In its Q3 2017 financial results, Phoenix Solar said that several EPC contracts for large-scale projects in the US\u00a0and Asia/Pacific region had been signed, including its first large ground-mounted PV power plant in Australia.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Solar module cleaning robot raises $13m \n Ecoppia's cleaning robot, which is cloud-connected and uses no water, has been recognized by Deloitte as one of 2017's leading tech innovations.\n\nEcoppia, the Israeli-headquartered producer of water-free, robotic cleaning solutions for solar panels, has this week completed a $13 million funding round that will help steer its expansion efforts.\n\nExisting investors in Ecoppia led the funding round, including GlenRock, Gandyr and Swarth Group, and now joined by Harel Group Insurance and Finance \u2013 the largest insurer in Israel.\n\nThe completion will help Ecoppia expand on an already noteworthy year in which it was ranked in the top ten of Deloitte\u2019s 2017 Technology Fast 50.\n\nAccording to Ecoppia, over the past four years the company has posted growth of more than 1,600% as its cloud-based cleaning solutions have found a large target audience in the utility-scale markets of India, MENA, Latin America and Europe.\n\nNext year, Ecoppia says that its pipeline is expected to top 2 GW, having already seen its solution clean its 200 millionth solar panel in 2017.\n\nLeading ECPs and developers that have adopted Ecoppia\u2019s solution include Adani Power, Terraform, EDF and India\u2019s NTPC.\n\nPopular content\n\nAccording to Harel Group, which is now a backer of the firm, Ecoppia\u2019s cleaning solution \u2013 which the company claims can remove 99% of dust on a panel daily without any water required \u2013 has been a game-changer for the industry.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019ve successfully identified a critical need in the solar industry and created a reliable and cost-effective solution that contributes to lowering LCOE worldwide,\u201d said a Harel Group spokesperson.\n\nThe Ecoppia solution\u2019 cloud connection links it instantly to advanced data analysis, meaning the machine learns on the job, and can therefore offer an optimized level of performance for each plant, the company states.\n\nThe extra cash raised in this latest funding round will, said Ecoppia CEO and co-founder Eran Meller, enable the company to \u201ccontinue serving the largest energy players in the world, meeting the requirement of the top financial institutions involved in cleantech, and the growing demand of our pipeline\u201d.", "output": "Ecoppia, the Israeli-headquartered producer of water-free, robotic cleaning solutions for solar panels, has raised $13m to help fund expansion. Existing investors, including GlenRock, Gandyr and Swarth Group, led the round, and were joined by Harel Group Insurance and Finance, the largest insurer in Israel."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aquila Capital buys 170 MW of in-progress solar PV in Portugal \n German investment company Aquila Capital has acquired four PV projects in central and southern Portugal that will boast a combined generation capacity of 170MW.\n\nConstruction on the four installations is expected to be completed by the end of 2018. Aquila Capital was intrigued by the four projects due to the low costs of the systems and good conditions at the four project sites.\n\nAs part of the transaction, Aquila Capital entered into a power purchase agreement with a third party for the energy produced by the four installations.\n\nSusanne Wermter, head of investment management energy & infrastructure EMEA at Aquila Capital, said: \u201cEven without state funding support, these projects are a highly attractive investment. With the help of a long-term power purchase agreement, we have been able to secure stable attractive income for our investors.\u201d\n\nIn total, Aquila Capital manages a renewable energy portfolio with a transaction volume of over \u20ac3 billion across 10 countries.", "output": "German investor Aquila Capital has acquired four solar PV projects in central and southern Portugal with a combined generation capacity of 170 MW. Construction\u00a0is expected to be completed by the end of 2018. As part of the transaction, Aquila Capital has entered into a power purchase agreement with a third party for the energy produced by the four installations.\u00a0Aquila Capital manages a \u20ac3bn ($3.5bn) renewable energy portfolio across 10 countries."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Economic 'fundamentals' underpin BP's Lightsource solar acquisition \n BP has said the promising \u201cfundamentals\u201d behind the current global solar market triggered it to re-enter and the petrol giant now has ambitious plans for worldwide growth.\n\nEarlier today BP announced that it is to pay US$200 million for a 43% stake in prolific UK solar developer Lightsource to establish a new partnership.\n\nIt forms the first investment BP has made into photovoltaics since it unceremoniously shuttered its BP Solar in 2011 following years of sales and factory closures.\n\nHowever BP has an appetite for solar once more and, speaking to PV-Tech, BP Alternative Energy chief executive Dev Sanyal said the fundamental factors behind solar were key.\n\nLightsource and BP had been locked in discussions for several months before today but Sanyal said BP had been keeping a watching brief on solar PV for much longer.\n\n\u201cFrom our vantage point we'd been looking at the developments in the solar energy industry for some years now, and effectively what we are seeing are fundamentals that are really important.\n\n\u201cGrowth around 10-15% per annum, we've seen trebling of solar installed capacity over the last four years. And you see business models that are actually now being developed and are in place that are very attractive,\u201d he said.\n\nThe task is now to identify which markets the partnership \u2013 Lightsource is to be rebranded as Lightsource BP \u2013 will target. Lightsource has most recently entered into the Australian and Dutch PV markets to complement its existing interests in the US and India, but Lightsource chief executive Nick Boyle says this could soon grow further.\n\nThere is, however, a more cautious approach with Lightsource keen to avoid the mistakes of one formerly prolific solar developers in particular.\n\n\u201cOne of the big plusses for us is BP are pushing toward 100 markets worldwide. it would be easy for us to get all excited and think 'let's open up in all those markets', but SunEdison did that before and from our perspective it's about being able to sit back and have the maturity of knowing which are the next best markets to add to our list,\u201d Boyle said.", "output": "BP bought solar developer Lightsource because of the strong \u201cfundamentals\u201d in the market. BP paid $200m for 43% of the UK solar developer \u2013 rebranded Lightsource BP \u2013 the energy major's first PV investment since it closed BP Solar in 2011. \u201cEffectively what we are seeing are fundamentals that are really important\", said BP Alternative Energy chief executive Dev Sanyal. \u201cGrowth around 10-15% per annum, we've seen trebling of solar installed capacity over the last four years. And you see business models that are actually now being developed and are in place that are very attractive.\""}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wirsol buys 16 MW of subsidy-free solar projects in the UK \n Wirsol Energy Ltd on Wednesday said it has acquired the project rights for two subsidy-free solar parks in the UK, the 7-MWp Outwood project in Essex and the 9-MWp Trowse-Newton in Norfolk.\n\nConstruction will start in January and the plants will be connected to the grid during the first half of 2018. The company, which is part of Germany's Wircon, with responsibility for the UK and Australian markets, said it is in the final stages of securing a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) and debt.\n\nThe projects mark the start of a portfolio of six projects totalling about 150 MWp that will be constructed over the next 12-18 months.\n\nWirsol managing director Mark Hogan said that the plants will be designed in way to be able to add battery storage at a later stage.\n\nWirsol and UK solar developer Hive Energy recently announced a joint venture to develop a 350-MW-plus, subsidy-free solar photovoltaic (PV) project on the north Kent coast in South East England. Planning submission for this project is planned for mid-2018, Wirsol said.\n\nIn Australia, the company has 400 MWp under construction and another 470 MWp in development for rollout before 2020, Hogan said.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Wirsol Energy has acquired the project rights for two subsidy-free solar parks in the UK, the 7-MW Outwood project in Essex and the 9-MW Trowse-Newton scheme in Norfolk. Construction will begin in January and the plants will be connected to the grid during the first half of 2018. The company, a unit of Germany's Wircon, said it was in the final stages of securing a long-term power purchase agreement and debt. Wirsol plans to build a portfolio of six projects totalling about 150 MW over the next 12-18 months. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Latin America's largest power transmission line begins operation \n The largest direct current (DC) transmission line in Latin America, of 2,092 km, became operational on Tuesday in Brazil, the Ministry of Mines and Energy announced.\n\nThe transmission line uses new technology for the country with an ultra-high voltage of 800 kV, allowing the transportation of energy with smaller losses. Before the 1st Bipolo de Belo Monte project, as it is named, Brazil used 600 kV voltage in its DC transmission systems.\n\nThis power distribution network crosses four states and allows the flow of energy produced from the Belo Monte hydropower plant (HPP) to load centres in the sub-markets of the Southeast and Midwest regions.\n\nBelo Monte Transmitter of Energy (BMTE) is the special purpose company (SPE) that developed the project. It is led by State Grid Brazil Holding SA with a stake of 51%, Furnas Centrais Eletricas SA with 24.5% and Eletronorte Centrais Eletricas do Norte do Brasil SA.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "The largest DC transmission line in Latin America, a 2,092 km connector in Brazil, has started operations. It's the first time that ultra-high voltage 800 kV technology has been used in Brazil, allowing the transportation of energy with smaller losses. The 1st Bipolo de Belo Monte line crosses four states and takes energy produced from the Belo Monte hydropower plant to load centres in the southeast and midwest regions."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vattenfall to bid in Netherlands subsidy-free wind auction \n Swedish state-owned utility Vattenfall AB will bid in the Netherlands\u2019 subsidy-free offshore wind tender for phases I and II of the Hollandse Kust Zuid zone.\n\nThe company said the site has good wind conditions and it sees significant synergies to its nearby wind farm Egmond aan Zee. The Ducth tender also \"fits well with Vattenfall\u2019s North Sea wind farm pipeline and can therefore easily be incorporated in the current procurement and execution strategy\" said the company.\n\nThe tender for Hollandse Kust Zuid is for an area of 356 sq km to accommodate two offshore wind farms of 342 MW to 380 MW each. The Dutch government is accepting applications between December 15 and December 21.\n\nVattenfall won in 2016 the Kriegers Flak offshore wind tender in Denmark with a record low bid of EUR 49.9 (USD 59) per MWh, and the tender for the Vesterhav coastal wind farms at DKK 475 (USD 76/EUR 64) per MWh. In November 2017 it selected Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA\u2019s (BME:SGRE) new 8-MW offshore wind turbine for the projects.\n\n\"We combine a strong track record in building and operating windfarms at the lowest cost with an ability to handle market risk and sell electricity on the Dutch market,\" said Vattenfall\u2019s Wind head Gunnar Groebler. He said the Netherlands\u2019 strong commitment to renewables and the stable regulatory framework were key in Vattenfall\u2019s decision to bid in tenders, as well as the promised availability of substation and grid connection for the Hollandse Kust Zuid.\n\n(EUR 1 = USD 1.18)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Swedish state-owned utility Vattenfall will bid in the Netherlands\u2019 subsidy-free offshore wind tender for phases I and II of the Hollandse Kust Zuid zone\u00a0between 15 December and 21 December. The site has good wind conditions and provides\u00a0significant synergies to Vattenfall's\u00a0nearby wind farm Egmond aan Zee, the company said.\u00a0Hollandse Kust Zuid is a 356 sq km site that will contain two wind farms of 342 MW to 380 MW each. In 2016, Vattenfall won the Kriegers Flak offshore wind tender in Denmark with a record low bid of EUR49.9 ($59) per MWh."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Projects face cancellation as solar panel prices rise: IHS \n IHS Markit is predicting another recording breaking year for solar in 2018, forecasting installations to hit 108 GW by the end of the year.\n\nThe analysts state that continued demand from China will be the key driver behind this growth, as the country has successfully diversified its market and achieved strong momentum in the distributed generation segment.\n\nThe latest edition of IHS Markit\u2019s PV Demand Market Tracker highlights how China has now become the priority market for domestic manufacturers, something likely to shape the market in 2018.\n\n\u201cShort supply and higher than anticipated module prices in the first half of 2018 will impede many market outside China, due to worsening project economics,\u201d says Edurne Zoco, Research and Analysis Director at IHS Markit.\n\n\u201cProjects in some regions might be delayed or even cancelled, because market prices are higher than were estimated during the planning phase.\u201d\n\nWhile demand from China is expected to remain strong, question marks remain over other leading PV markets, as the U.S. industry awaits the President\u2019s final decision in the section 201 case, and India mulls the introduction of anti-dumping duties.\n\nPopular content\n\nWhile it still expects these two to remain the second and third largest PV markets, respectively, IHS Markit warns that in the U.S., the section 201 case has already begun to distort the supply/demand relationship, as developers have been stockpiling modules ahead of the decision, and that planned tax reforms could also weaken investor interest in the sector.\n\nMeanwhile in India, IHS warns that that raising anti-dumping duties could limit the number of modules on the market, unless domestic manufacturers are able to ramp up very quickly.\n\nThis forecast will leave little room for unexpected demand increases \u2013 as occurred in 2017, unless polysilicon is also able to quickly grow.\n\n\u201cExceeding 108 gigawatts of PV installations is close to the top-end of what can be achieved, based on the global polysilicon manufacturing capacity,\u201d said Zoco. \u201cSupply will therefore be tight throughout the first half of the year at least, resulting in stable to higher prices across the supply chain.\u201d\n\nRecently, in its 4Q Global PV Market Outlook, Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicted similar installation numbers. With stabilization of the polysilicon market expected, improved cost-efficiencies on the upstream side and increased efforts to meet 2020 energy targets in Europe, demand in 2018 should be between 94 and 111 GW; and 107 and 121 GW in 2019, it said.", "output": "\u201cShort supply and higher than anticipated module prices in the first half of 2018 will impede many markets outside China, due to worsening project economics,\u201d said Edurne Zoco, research and analysis director at IHS Markit. \u201cProjects in some regions might be delayed or even cancelled, because market prices are higher than were estimated during the planning phase.\u201d However, global solar installation will reach a record 108 GW in 2018, driven by demand from China, he said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sunseap and Linyang to build 500 MW of rooftop and floating solar \n Chinese clean energy firm Linyang Energy has signed an MoU with Singapore-based solar developer Sunseap to work on distributed solar, floating solar, module supply and energy efficiency projects locally in Singapore.\n\nTogether the firms aim to install 100MW of distributed solar PV by the end of next year and 500MW by 2021. They will also collaborate on efficiency management using LEDs and green energy trading projects in Singapore as well as providing decentralised energy in industrial parks, according to a Linyang release.\n\nThe MoU covers six areas requiring US$500 million investment by 2020.\n\nEnergy efficiency in buildings rooftop and floating solar plants, particularly in industrial parks Supply of 300MW of n-type double-glass modules LED and energy-saving services partnering on Singaporean power trading working on virtual power stations, energy management hosting and micro-grids\n\nLinyang energy\u2019s wholly-owned Singaporean subsidiary signed the with Sunseap Group in Singapore last week.\n\nRenewable energy power purchase agreements (PPA) driven by corporate solar are set to take a significant chunk of the market in Southeast Asia over the next few years, according to panellists at the Solar and Off-Grid Renewables Southeast Asia (SORSEA) conference in Bangkok last month.", "output": "Chinese clean energy firm Linyang Energy and Singapore-based solar developer Sunseap plan to jointly deliver 100 MW of distributed solar PV in Singapore by the end of next year and 500 MW by 2021. The companies plan to spend $500m by 2020 on\u00a0energy efficiency in buildings;\u00a0rooftop and floating solar plants, particularly in industrial parks;\u00a0supply of 300 MW of n-type double-glass modules;\u00a0LED and energy-saving services;\u00a0Singaporean power trading;\u00a0virtual power stations;\u00a0energy management hosting and micro-grids.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pakistan plans first solar energy auction \n The government of Sindh in Pakistan plans to launch an auction for the development of 50MW of solar PV in the Province, with support from the World Bank.\n\nA formal procurement process is set for Q2 2018 and this will be followed by many subsequent renewable energy auctions in Sindh.\n\nThe National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) first enabled such tariff-based solar auctions back in March this year as a replacement for the feed-in tariff (FiT) programme, despite opposition from some developers. The Sindh auction will be the first of its kind in Pakistan.\n\nThe 50MW project is set for a site on state-owned land north-west of Hyderabad.\n\nThe Energy Department of the Sindh government noted that competitive auctions have seen PV prices drop dramatically across the globe to become the lowest cost source of generation in many geographies. It also said the new auction will \u201cfollow international standards and procedures to ensure full transparency and ensure least-cost bids are obtained.\u201d\n\nThis pilot auction is part of a larger programme for solar and other renewables being developed by the Energy Department, which will include development of large-scale renewables, rooftop PV on public buildings and support for off-grid renewables in rural areas. The government is particularly keen to attract foreign direct investment.\n\nThe Energy Department has now released a Request for Information (RfI) to solar developers and investors prior to the formal procurement process. A consultation with interested developers will take place early next year.\n\nAgha Wasif Abbas, energy secretary, government of Sindh, said: \u201cWe are excited that Sindh is leading the way by introducing price discovery for solar power tariffs in Pakistan. This 50MW project is about demonstrating that solar power can be a least-cost generation option, and we look forward to welcoming qualified international and domestic solar power developers to bid on this project, and on subsequent renewable energy auctions.\u201d\n\nRiccardo Puliti, director of energy and extractives at the World Bank, said: \u201cThe World Bank is pleased to be working with the government of Sindh in helping to scale up renewable energy in the province. We believe that introducing auctions for renewable energy will be important for Pakistan in replicating the cost reductions see in other countries.\u201d", "output": "An auction for the development of 50 MW of solar PV in Sindh Province in Pakistan is being planned by the local government, with a formal procurement process set for 2018. The pilot auction, which is supported by the World Bank, is part of a larger nationwide public initiative aimed at increasing renewables activity and boosting foreign investment. The project is likely to be on state-owned land north-west of Hyderabad."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nepal's largest solar-wind hybrid project begins operations \n Nepal\u2019s largest wind-solar hybrid power system has officially been switched on in the Hariharpurgadi village of Sindhuli district, having been financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).\n\nMukhtor Khamudkhanov, ADB\u2019s country director for Nepal, said: \u201cAccess to clean, reliable, and affordable energy will help the village to connect to the world through Internet and mobile phones, and will create opportunities to boost local income. The electricity from the mini-grid will also open the door for commercial activities in the village and help small businesses get off the ground.\u201d\n\nThe project, which is now providing electricity services to 83 rural households, features both 20kW wind turbines and a 15kW peak of PV panels. The system generates 110kWh of energy per day \u2014 easily meeting the village\u2019s electricity demand of 87kWh per day.\n\nThe subproject, implemented by the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC), stands as an example of Nepal\u2019s commitment and ADB\u2019s efforts towards boosting the country\u2019s off-grid energy sources.\n\nRam Prasad Dhital, executive director, AEPC, said: \u201cSix years ago, the Government of Nepal, with support from ADB, launched its first mini-grid wind-solar system in Dhaubadi in western Nepal. The success of these two projects has demonstrated that clean energy is indeed a viable option to provide reliable energy access to rural Nepal through wind-solar hybrid systems.\u201d\n\nThe hybrid installation was installed under ADB\u2019s South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation Power System Expansion Project.\n\nDeveloped with a total cost of $16.2 million, the project was also partly financed by the Government of Nepal, the Scaling up Of Renewable Energy Program under the Climate Investment Fund, along with the local community.", "output": "Nepal\u2019s largest wind-solar hybrid power system, financed by the Asian Development Bank, has been switched on in the Hariharpurgadi village of Sindhuli district.\u00a0The project\u00a0features 20 kW of wind turbines and\u00a015 kW\u00a0of solar PV panels. The system generates 110 kWh of energy per day, exceeding the\u00a0\u00a083-household\u00a0village\u2019s demand of 87 kWh per day."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Record low Canadian prices set at Alberta wind-power auction \n Three companies have been chosen in the opening round of Alberta\u2019s Renewable Electricity Program (REP), which will result in about C$1 billion of private-sector investment in wind generation in Alberta. Notably, the successful bids set a record for the lowest-ever renewable energy pricing in Canada, the Alberta government has announced.\n\nThe Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) is applauding the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) and the government of Alberta for the successful implementation of the first phase of the program.\n\nSpecifically, the AESO will secure power from three new wind energy projects representing approximately 600 MW of capacity at an average price of C$37/MWh. The Alberta government notes that in comparison, a 2016 Ontario procurement had a weighted average price of C$85/MWh.\n\nThe following companies were successful bidders in round one of the REP:\n\nCapital Power, which will build the 201 MW Whitla Wind project 60 kilometers southwest of Medicine Hat;\n\nEDP Renewables Canada Ltd., which will build a 248 MW wind farm at their Sharp Hills project east of Hanna, roughly 50 kilometers north of Oyen; and\n\nEnel Green Power North America Inc., which will build two projects \u2013 the 115 MW Riverview Wind Farm and the 31 MW Phase 2 of Castle Rock Ridge Wind Power Plant just outside of Pincher Creek.\n\nAccording to CanWEA, the companies behind these projects have each signed a 20-year indexed renewable energy credit (IREC) agreement with the AESO, providing predictable revenues and protecting Albertans against increases in the price of power. Under the IREC, when the market price is lower than the contracted price, the generator will be paid the difference, and when the market price is higher, generators will be required to pay back the difference to the government, explains CanWEA.\n\n\u201cThis Canadian award is a major milestone for our company, as it is the first regulated renewables tender we have ever won in the country,\u201d says Antonio Cammisecra, CEO of Enel Green Power. \u201cWe are thrilled to be investing once again in the Canadian energy economy and to continue our growth here in Alberta.\u201d\n\nThe government says this first round attracted investment from both international and Alberta-based companies and is expected to create approximately 740 jobs. By 2030, the program is expected to attract at least C$10 billion of investment into the Alberta economy and create more than 7,000 jobs for Albertans.\n\n\u201cAs an Alberta-based company, we\u2019re proud to be selected amongst global competition to be one of the first projects under this program to drive Alberta\u2019s transition to a clean energy future,\u201d comments Brian Vaasjo, president and CEO of Capital Power.\n\nRyan Brown, vice president of EDP Renewables\u2019 eastern region and Canada, adds, \u201cWe\u2019re thrilled to be investing in Alberta and look forward to the Sharp Hills Wind Farm opening in the Hanna area, which has a strong track record in energy production. As a global company, we look forward to creating jobs and tax revenue for this region while generating low-cost, clean electricity for Albertans to enjoy.\u201d\n\nCanWEA notes that the competitive nature of this procurement process was critical to achieving a low-cost result. In total, 29 projects representing over 4 GW of renewable energy were qualified to participate in this initial process; this great interest shown by renewable energy producers means that Alberta is well-positioned to succeed in its goal of procuring 5 GW of new renewable energy by 2030, says CanWEA. Furthermore, the announcement represents the first step toward implementation of the Alberta Climate Leadership Plan, which calls for 30% renewable energy by 2030.\n\nThe Alberta government adds that support for the REP is made possible by the Climate Leadership Plan and is not funded by consumer electricity charges. Development of the next rounds of the program is under way, with more details expected in early 2018.\n\n\u201cCanWEA was pleased to see such a large response to this initial phase of the Renewable Electricity Program,\u201d comments Robert Hornung, president of CanWEA. \u201cThe results demonstrate that wind energy is cost-competitive with all other generation sources and provides excellent value for Albertas as the province moves to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions throughout the economy.\u201d\n\nAccording to CanWEA, Alberta has 1,479 MW of wind energy, the third-largest installed capacity among Canadian provinces. Wind currently supplies about 6% of the province\u2019s electricity demand.\n\nMargaret McCuaig-Boyd, minister of energy, says, \u201cThese prices are beyond expectations, highlighting the strong potential of renewable power in Alberta, the quality of the competitive process and the positive view that investors have of our province. This is a win for power generators, a win for the environment and a win for Albertans.\u201d", "output": "The successful bids at an Alberta wind-power auction have set a record for Canada's lowest wind energy prices. Three projects have been chosen to build 600 MW of capacity at an average cost of CAD37 per MWh, down from\u00a0CAD85 per MWh in 2016. The winning bids came from\u00a0Capital Power, EDP Renewables Canada and Enel Green Power North America. The programme should generate approximately CAD1bn in private sector funding for wind generation in the Alberta region."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Crystalline silicon has 70% market share in utility-scale solar PV \n In the US 70% of the utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) power plants installed by end-2016 used crystalline silicon (c-Si) modules, while the share of thin films was 28%.\n\nAccording to a report by the US Energy Information Administration, over the five years between 2012 and 2016 thin-film solar capacity installations have remained relatively stable, with just a modest increase. In contrast, c-Si module installations have been on a steady rise thanks to falling costs. EIA said that c-Si PV capacity additions were up by 3.8 GW, or 61%, between 2015 and 2016.\n\nCalifornia is the US leader in terms of utility-scale solar capacity with 5 GW of c-Si PV and 3.5 GW of thin films in 2016. North Carolina, ranking second, had 2.1 GW of c-Si and 0.3 GW of thin-film solar capacity. Nevada, meanwhile, is the only state in the top 10 with more utility-scale solar parks using thin-film solar than c-Si modules.\n\nThe falling prices of c-Si solar over the last several years, especially of imports from Asia, provoked a Section 201 petition in the spring of 2017, in which Suniva Inc called for relief against solar imports from all geographic sources. The US International Trade Commission (ITC) after several months of investigation and hearings proposed measures to protect domestic c-Si PV manufacturers. A decision by President Donald Trump is expected by mid-January.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Crystalline silicon (c-Si) modules were used in 70% of utility-scale solar PV projects in the US, while thin films has a 28% market share, according to the US Energy Information Administration. California has the most utility-scale solar PV in the SU with 5 GW of c-Si and 3.5 GW of thin films in 2016. In second place, North Carolina had 2.1 GW of c-Si and 0.3 GW of thin-film, while\u00a0Nevada\u00a0is the only state in the top 10 with more utility-scale solar parks using thin-film solar than c-Si modules."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "River turbine to be tested in France from April 2018 \n Irish company DesignPro Ltd has started building a 25-kW hydrokinetic river turbine that will be tested for a year in France and sales head Roisin Mc Cormack tells Renewables Now that the market potential for such devices is significant and untapped.\n\nThe custom machine builder recently announced that it has selected the Seeneoh test site on the Garonne river in Bordeaux, France to trial the device. The turbine is expected to be completed in March 2018 and to be deployed at the French test facility in April 2018.\n\nWest Limerick, Ireland-based DesignPro is working to bring to market small-scale turbines of up to 100 kW for use in rivers and estuaries. Earlier in 2017 it secured EU funding for a EUR-2.7-million (USD 3.2m) project whose objective is the commercialisation of two devices, of 25 kW and 60 kW. The larger machine is scheduled to start testing in July 2018 at a yet-to-be-selected site.\n\nThe turbines are based on technology developed by another Irish firm, GKinetic Energy Ltd. The two companies started their relationship in 2014 when GKinetic was looking for a machine builder to construct a prototype. They signed a licence agreement in 2016 that gave DesignPro the rights to commercialise turbines of up to 100 kW. GKinetic kept rights for larger devices and for tidal/ocean applications. DesignPro, which is solely focused on the river devices, tells Renewables Now that GKinetic is currently exploring partners, sites and opportunities for the deployment of a 250-kW tidal device.\n\nThe GKinetic technology consists of two vertical axis turbines attached to a buoyant vessel, which is shaped so as to accelerate the water flow into the turbines. The device is deployed by means of anchoring in the flow.\n\nThe turbines that DesignPro is to commercialise are aimed at the niche market of hydrokinetic generation for rivers, canals and estuaries.\n\n\"Within the booming renewable sector, the niche area of hydrokinetic generation specifically for rivers, canals and estuaries is still relatively new and the resource itself is for the most part untapped,\" said Sales and Marketing Manager Roisin Mc Cormack.\n\nThe world's technically feasible river hydro potential for hydrokinetic devices is estimated at 200 GW. According to the company, only 5% of this potential has been exploited to date.\n\n\"Our key target customers are those living in remote areas and communities who currently have a poor electricity supply but do have a great river or estuary resource nearby. Our solution could provide energy security and independence to these end users by supplying reliable and predictable energy,\" Roisin Mc Cormack added.\n\n(EUR 1 = USD 1.183)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Irish company DesignPro has started building a 25 kW hydrokinetic river turbine that will be tested for a year at the Seeneoh test site on the Garonne river in Bordeaux, France, from April 2018. A 60 kW\u00a0machine is scheduled to start testing in July 2018 at a yet-to-be-selected site. The turbine is based on technology licensed from\u00a0another Irish firm, GKinetic Energy.\u00a0The systems consist\u00a0of two vertical axis turbines attached to a buoyant vessel, which is shaped so as to accelerate the water flow into the turbines. To date, only 5% of the potential 200 GW of\u00a0potential energy from hydrokinetic systems in rivers has been exploited,\u00a0said DesignPro.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Quantum process extracts current from solar cells more efficiently \n A group of scientists at Japan\u2019s RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science is developing a new quantum-mechanical process to extract current from solar cells in a more efficient way.\n\nThe researchers have used ferroelectric organic molecules to solve the problem of the lack of \u2018inversion\u2019 symmetry of several semiconductor materials, as these spontaneously separate their positive and negative charges; a task that oxide ferroelectrics cannot achieve, because their atoms are flipped about the center of the repeating unit.\n\nFor the latter, light-induced transitions of charges to excited states become unbalanced and, as a result, a \u2018shift current\u2019 along a specific crystal direction is created. \u201cThis shift current propagates rapidly and with less energy loss than a current generated by applying an electric field. But shift currents usually generate insufficient photovoltaic power for practical uses,\u201d the research team said.\n\nThe scientists have developed an organic ferroelectric with strong quantum polarization to explore its shift-current capabilities. According to them, this is made of alternately stacked tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) and p-chloranil (CA) aromatic rings. It undergoes instantaneous charge separation when cooled to around \u2212200 degrees Celsius, and is particularly sensitive to sunlight.\n\nPopular content\n\n\u201cMost ferroelectric materials need light with energy in the ultraviolet region to excite carriers over a large band gap,\u201d said the project coordinator Masao Nakamura. \u201cWith TTF\u2013CA, the band gap is narrow and responds to visible and infrared light, which is really important for applications like solar cells,\u201d he went on to say.\n\nThe research group believes that the shift-current effects in TTF\u2013CA are so sizeable, that they can be used as a technology platform to transfer this photoelectric conversion in next-generation PV devices.", "output": "A quantum-mechanical process developed by scientists at Japan\u2019s RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science has been shown to extract current from solar cells more efficiently. Ferroelectric organic molecules have been used to solve the problem of the lack of \"inversion\" symmetry displayed by\u00a0many semiconductor materials\u00a0by spontaneously separating\u00a0their positive and negative charges.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Distributed solar could power 10% of UK rail network: Imperial \n In the U.K., Imperial College and 10:10 have released a report detailing how British rail could be powered by solar PV by 2020, thus saving roughly \u00a34.5 million (around US$6 million) annually. Community-owned models are an attractive option, they say.\n\nWith specially designed power electronics, the two explain how PV can be directly connected to electrified railways to supply one tenth of the energy needed to power trains, without connecting to the grid.\n\nUsing technology developed by 10:10 earlier this year, the Renewable Traction Power project will plug track-side solar panels into trackside substations, where trains can directly use the generated electricity.\n\nBy using direct current rail systems, the electricity generated through the traction power would not have to be converted to AC, thus saving around \u00a34.5 million a year.\n\nImperial and 10:10 further outline how solar traction power is both technically feasible and commercially attractive under today\u2019s market conditions, with the scheme being potentially operational by 2020.\n\nDemand for traction power from railways is said to be increasing. Railway operators could be supplied with track-connected solar that is both lower cost and much cleaner than grid-supplied electricity. This could result in reduced fares for customers, says the report.\n\nAnalyses by Imperial and 10:10 indicate that a first wave of six to 10 solar traction farms could be community-owned and built, with backing from secure, 27 year PPA\u2019s that would supply Network Rail with electricity at a price per kWh equal to the price they currently pay today under their supply contracts.\n\nSolar traction is set to be initially deployed on the London Underground, with 6% of the energy demand covered by solar-power. Following this, 15% of the train networks across Kent, East Sussex and West Sussex could be powered by track-connected solar PV arrays and, in the north of England, 20% of the Merseyrail network in Liverpool.\n\nPopular content\n\nHowever, as the report outlines, there is potential for solar traction power in other countries, like India, which is aggressively deploying solar PV throughout the country and has 25,000 km of rail, which could benefit from it; and Spain, which already has a large solar PV installation base, and 7,000 km of rail, could also expand its PV portfolio by employing solar for its railways.\n\nSwitzerland considers solar powered trains\n\nIn related solar train news, the Swiss South Eastern Railway AG (SOB) has commissioned a feasibility study from Swiss CMT AG, with the aim of reducing its energy requirements and operating costs.\n\nIt found that solar PV is \u201cwell-suited\u201d for installation on the roofs train stations, hall roofs, and the soundproofed walls along railway lines.\n\nInitial focus was placed upon PV on the roofs\u2019 of the trains themselves. However, results concluded that the net energy production by the modules remained below the expectations of the engineers, while pollution and space constrictions also had a negative impact. As such, they were not deemed economically feasible.\n\n\u201cEven though it is hardly possible to cover the electricity demand of a whole train with its own solar roof, we wanted to know more about it,\u201d said CMT CEO Marcel Schubinger.", "output": "Solar PV could start directly powering the UK rail network from 2020, according to research from Imperial College and climate charity 10:10. The Renewable Traction Power project would plug solar panels into trackside substations, where trains can directly use the generated electricity. By using direct current rail systems, the electricity generated would not have to be converted to AC, saving around \u00a34.5m ($6m) a year. A first wave of six to 10 solar traction farms could be community-owned and built, supported by 27-year power purchase agreements at a similar price to current contracts, the study showed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "'Nano grass' increases transmission of light to solar cells \n Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh\u2019s Swanson School Engineering have been working on new types of glass to improve solar module\u2019s light capturing ability. They developed a nanostructure, which is described as looking \u2018much like grass\u2019, which has the effect of scattering light as it falls on to a solar cell placed beneath, whilst making the glass appear hazy.\n\nIn research published in the journal Optica, the glass was etched with \u2018nanograss\u2019 structures of between 0.8 and 8.5 microns in height, with the \u2018blades\u2019 each measuring a few hundred nanometers in diameter. The team found that a height of 4.5 micron\u2019s gave the best balance of 96% transmittance and 96.2% haze, based on testing with yellow light (550nm wavelength).\n\nAnother important feature of the glass, which could have broad commercial applications in PV and other areas, is that it can be switched from hazy to clear, simply by applying water to the surface. This was a serendipitous discover made by the team, as it worked on nanostructures for solar glass.\n\n\u201cI was cleaning the new nanograss glass when I discovered that cleaning it with water made the glass become clear,\u201d said project lead Sajad Haghanifar. \u201cThe water goes between the extremely hydrophilic nanostructures, making the nanograss glass act like a flat substrate. Because water has a very similar index of refraction to the glass, the light goes straight through it. When the water is removed, light hits the scattering nanostructures, making the glass appear hazy.\u201d\n\nPopular content\n\nEffects of the switchable opacity on the glass\u2019s usefulness in solar applications are not discussed in the current research, however it could also be used in LEDs, as well as for \u2018smart windows\u2019 that switch from hazy to clear. While manufacturing costs are yet to be investigated, the team expects that the glass will be cheaper to produce than current smart window solutions, which use the application of voltage to switch from hazy to clear.\n\nThe team will now conduct durability tests on the glass, and is also investigating its potential self-cleaning properties \u2013 evidence that application in solar panels is still the main focus. \u201cSelf-cleaning glass is very useful,\u201d explains Haghanifar, \u201cbecause it prevents the need for robotic or manual removal of dust and debris that would reduce the efficiency of solar panels.\u201d", "output": "Scientists from the University of Pittsburgh have created a glass surface with an etched nano structure that scatters the light entering the glass, allowing for up to 95% light transmittance to the solar cell beneath. The\u00a0nanostructure, which is described as looking \"much like grass\", scatters light, making the glass appear hazy. The glass\u00a0can be switched from hazy to clear\u00a0by applying water to the surface.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "World's largest floating solar farm begins operations in China \n China-based firm Three Gorges New Energy, a subsidiary of Three Gorges Corporation, has partially connected a 150MW floating PV project to the grid in eastern China, with the remaining capacity to be connected in May 2018.\n\nThe CNY1 billion (US$151 million) project, located in Panji District, Huainan City, joins a host of other world-beating solar projects being developed in Anhui Province. PV Tech reported over the summer that Chinese inverter specialist Sungrow was also set to build its own 150MW floating plant in this region.\n\nThe Three Gorges project, on which construction started in July, uses the water surface from a coal mining subsidence area. It also involves the employment of many locals in both O&M and construction services.\n\nA Three Gorges release said the project requires tax payments of CNY25 million per year to the local government to help it transform the wealth-making ability of the area from underground in mines to overground with solar \u2013 naming this transformation \u201cblack to green\u201d.\n\nFloating solar benefits from not requiring land acquisition and it can see improved yield through the cooling effect of the water body on the panels and cables, particularly in hot climates. It also reduces water evaporation and the growth of algae.\n\nThe previous largest floating project of 40MW was built by Sungrow also in Anhui Province. Chinese firm CECEC is also constructing a 70MW projects in the same region of China.\n\nLast month, Indonesian power company PT Pembangkitan Jawa-Bali (PT PJB), a subsidiary of state utility PLN, and the UAE's Masdar signed an agreement to develop the world\u2019s largest floating solar project with a capacity of 200MW in Indonesia.\n\nKorean firm Hanwha Group also announced it had won a bid to construst a 100MW floating solar plant in South Korea to supply enough energy for 140,000 people.", "output": "A 150 MW floating solar PV project in eastern China has been partially connected to the grid with the the reminder to be hooked up in May 2018, according to developer Three Gorges New Energy, a unit of Three Gorges Corporation, which owns the world's largest hydropower system. Construction of the CNY1bn ($151m) project, located in Panji District, Huainan City, started in July and sits on\u00a0water from a coal mining subsidence area."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Solar and wind have lowest lifecycle CO2 emissions \n A comprehensive new study conducted by an international team of scientists and published in the journal Nature Energy sheds light on the various low-carbon technologies and how they differ when it comes to indirect greenhouse gas emissions in their life cycle.\n\nDespite what some critics have noted, the study revealed that both PV and wind energy are much more favorable when it comes to low life-cycle emissions. The study also notes that ramping up both solar and wind energy would generate only modest indirect greenhouse gas emissions \u2013 which would not not delay the transformation towards a climate-friendly power system.\n\nThe study\u2019s lead author Michaja Pehl noted: \u201cBoth fossil and non-fossil power technologies still come with a certain amount of greenhouse gas emissions within their life cycle \u2013 on the one hand because it needs energy to construct and operate them, on the other hand because of methane emissions, e.g. from coal and gas production.\n\n\u201cHowever, we found there are substantial differences across technologies regarding their greenhouse gas balance. Electricity production from biomass, coal, gas and hydropower for instance induces much higher indirect greenhouse gas emissions than nuclear electricity, or wind and solar-based power supply.\u201d\n\nThe study was conducted by combining simulations based on integrated energy-economy-climate models that evaluate cost-optimal long-term strategies to meet climate targets with life-cycle assessment approaches.\n\nUpon further analysis, the study found that fossil power plants equipped with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) will be responsible for for life-cycle emissions of around 100 grams of CO 2 -equivalents per kWh of electricity produced. That is 10 times more than the around 10 grams of CO 2 -equivalents for wind and solar power.\n\nEdgar Hertwich, an industrial ecologist from Yale University who co-authored the study, added: \u201cWhen it comes to life cycle greenhouse gas emissions, wind and solar energy provide a much better greenhouse gas balance than fossil-based low carbon technologies, because they do not require additional energy for the production and transport of fuels, and the technologies themselves can be produced to a large extend with decarbonized electricity.\u201d", "output": "Solar and wind energy produce about 10 grams of CO2 equivalent per kWh over the life of their operation, comapred with 100 grams for electricity produced using fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage, according to a study published in Nature Energy. The study was conducted by combining simulations based on integrated energy-economy-climate models that evaluate cost-optimal long-term strategies to meet climate targets with lifecycle assessment approaches."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "International ETFs more popular in US than domestic counterparts \n Exchange-traded funds saw record-breaking growth in 2017, but despite the dozens of records set by the U.S. stock market\u2014along with a near-total absence of volatility or pullbacks\u2014investors showed more interest in opportunities offered abroad.\n\nAccording to OppenheimerFunds, which cited data from Morningstar, international equity ETFs were the most popular fund category of the year, in terms of inflows.\n\nAbout $136.78 billion has flowed into such products in the year through November, eclipsing the $120.7 billion that went into U.S. funds over the same period.\n\nChart courtesy OppenheimerFunds\n\nThe preference comes at a time when overseas stocks are seen as offering both higher levels of growth and cheaper valuations than the U.S., which is the world\u2019s most-expensive market by one calculation.\n\nRelated:Why strong earnings aren\u2019t just a U.S. story\n\nOf course, U.S. stock-based ETFs were still in high demand, even if they were the runner up to international funds. About $120.7 billion went into the category over the year, followed by the $105.6 billion that went into taxable bond ETFs.\n\nAlso: Why investors are shrugging off high valuations in stocks\n\nThe most popular fund of the year was the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF IVV, +0.18% , which had $31.7 billion in 2017 inflows. That was followed by the iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF IEFA, +0.22% , which had $20 billion in inflows. EAFE covers developed markets outside the U.S. and Canada; it stands for Europe, Australasia and Far East.\n\nThat fund was followed by the Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF VEA, +0.15% ($16.4 billion) and the iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF IEMG, +0.15% ($15.7 billion). Of the top 10 most popular U.S.-listed equity funds, according to an analysis of FactSet data, six of them tracked non-U. S. indexes.\n\nOverall, ETF inflows have topped $400 billion thus far this year, \u201can annual inflow record for the category and representing a 16.3% lift from the January 1 market cap of $2.5 trillion,\u201d wrote David Mazza, head of ETF investment strategy at OppenheimerFunds.\n\nThe fourth-most popular fund category in 2017 was sector-based equity funds, which saw a total of $35.3 billion in inflows.\n\nWhile the technology sector saw the biggest gain over the year\u2014the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF XLK, +1.05% is up 33.6% in 2017\u2014it came in second behind financials in terms of inflows. The financial sector, as measured by the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF XLF, -0.35% , is up 20.1% year-to-date; financial-sector ETFs had about $10 billion in inflows. Both the health-care and the consumer discretionary sectors also outperformed financials, though they lagged behind when it came to ETF flows.\n\nChart courtesy OppenheimerFunds\n\nFlows in and out of the financial sector will likely be more volatile than that of other sectors, when measured on absolute-dollar terms, as the sector is the largest in terms of ETF assets. The financial SPDR fund, the largest to track the sector, has $33.1 billion in assets, according to FactSet. The tech SPDR, the second largest, only has $19 billion in assets.", "output": "US investors have shown a preference for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) focused on international equities, despite the absence of any significant volatility or pullbacks in the US stock market. International equity ETFs have been the\u00a0most popular product category this year, according to OppenheimerFunds, attracting $136.8bn\u00a0compared with $120.7bn for\u00a0US-oriented funds.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Robo-adviser plans 'invest after reading' service \n A robo-adviser has partnered with a media group to provide an online investment tool based on algorithms to readers of business media.\n\nSwanest, which was started in Belgium in late 2014, is designed to help investors make better decisions when investing.\n\nAimed at readers of business and financial news, it has entered into a partnership with Mediafin, the publisher of Belgium's leading business newspapers De Tijd and L'Echo.\n\nIt allows individuals to build a portfolio investing in companies they have read articles about by linking through to the robo-adviser in the news pieces.\n\nSilvan Schumacher, chief executive of Swanest, said: \"Traditional robo-advisers sell pre-made model portfolios, which is very similar to what financial advisers or banks do.\n\n\"However, investors often want to build their very own investment strategies. This ability to build, analyze and manage portfolios, consisting of any stocks, ETFs or funds, is what makes us unique.\"\n\nSwanest decided to focus on partnering with business media rather than banks or asset managers because it wanted to avoid conflicts of interest.\n\nMr Schumacher said: \"We\u2019ve been approached by several banks, asset managers and brokers for partnerships. However, our mission has always been to empower investors and remain independent in the guidance we provide.\n\n\"Quality publishers share the same values.\"\n\nThe company has said its product is still in development and will unveil its pricing closer to when this is released but has pledged it will be \"transparent, fair and without any conflict of interest\".\n\nBut the service would allow readers of a story about a company to find out how its stock is performing and how risky it is. They would also be able to build a portfolio and monitor it.\n\ndamian.fantato@ft.com", "output": "Belgium-based robo-adviser Swanest has entered into a partnership with media company Mediafin to enable customers to invest in firms they read about in some of Belgium's largest business publications, reported Damian Fantato in FT Adviser.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Florida gas utility to help customers turn waste into renewables \n Florida natural gas utility TECO Peoples Gas expects to launch a new service next year that will allow certain customers, such as landfills, to create renewable natural gas from waste.\n\nThe company, a subsidiary of Canada-based Emera Inc (TSE:EMA), on Tuesday secured unanimous approval for the new service from the Florida Public Service Commission.\n\nRenewable natural gas is produced from organic waste, such as gases generated by landfills or water treatment plants. After cleaning or conditioning it is ready for injection into Peoples Gas' pipeline. With the new service the utility will be able to clean or condition a customer's biogas, while customers will be allowed to transport their renewable natural gas using Peoples Gas' pipeline in some circumstances.\n\n\"We are excited to be the first utility in Florida \u2013 and among the first in the country \u2013 to offer this innovative new service,\" said Peoples Gas president TJ Szelistowski. \"This is a win for the environment, a win for our customers, and a win for the communities we serve,\" Szelistowski added.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Natural gas utility TECO Peoples Gas, based in Florida, aims to enable industrial customers to capture and sell waste biogas. The Emera subsidiary has won the full backing of Florida's Public Service Commission to\u00a0clean or condition byproduct gases\u00a0from customers, such as landfills. TECO\u00a0will also allow that gas to be transported\u00a0via its pipelines.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GE Aviation begins testing alcohol-to-jet fuel from Gevo \n Jet engines provider GE Aviation, part of General Electric Co (NYSE:GE), has started jet engine combustor component testing with Gevo's renewable alcohol-to-jet fuel (ATJ), the US biofuels firm said today.\n\nThe jet fuel being tested is comprised 100% of Gevo's ATJ. The trial is part of a programme of the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), the Continuous Lower Energy, Emissions and Noise (CLEEN) programme, and is aimed at enabling greater displacement of petroleum-based jet fuel by bio-based alternative products.\n\n\"Efforts such as this one are expected to help accelerate the transition from petroleum-based fuels to more environmentally friendly ones,\" said Gurhan Andac, engineering leader, aviation fuels and additives at GE Aviation.\n\nAccording to Gevo's chief executive Patrick Gruber the future is to replace the whole barrel of oil with bio-based hydrocarbons.\n\nThe biofuels firm says its ATJ has the potential to improve performance by providing greater energy density which translates into better mileage.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Jet engines vendor GE Aviation, a subsidiary of General Electric, has initiated trials of a jet engine combustor component with US biofuels business Gevo's renewable alcohol-to-jet fuel (ATJ). The trial is being carried out as part of the Continuous Lower Energy, Emissions and Noise (CLEEN) programme from the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), and is aimed at facilitating the replacement of petroleum-based jet fuel with environmentally friendly options."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook plans to promote videos more prominently in News Feed \n Facebook has announced plans to promote videos more prominently inside its News Feed, using the central feature of its main app to build more interest in the original video content it has created and compete more directly with YouTube. As part of the plans, it will also change the kind of advertisements that run in videos on its network.\n\nAmong the ad changes that the social network has announced is the introduction of pre-roll advertising, which is being tested in environments where users \u201cintentionally go to watch videos\u201d, such as its recently-added Watch tab. The introduction of pre-roll is part of the company\u2019s plans to make its platforms more appealing to video creators, who have so far overwhelmingly used channels like Google\u2019s YouTube and Twitter\u2019s now-defunct Vine.\n\nThe changes to the News Feed will mean that users are more likely to see videos that Facebook thinks they want to watch, based on pages they have liked and behavioural data from the site, for example presenting new episodes of shows if users have watched earlier episodes.\n\n\u201cToday, the majority of video discovery and watch time happens in News Feed,\u201d said Maria Angelidou-Smith, product management director at Facebook in a blog post announcing the changes. \u201cNews Feed provides a great opportunity for publishers and creators to reach their audience, drive discovery, and start to build deeper connections for their content.\n\n\u201cWhile News Feed will remain a powerful place for publishers and creators to grow and connect with their audience, over time we expect more repeat viewing and engagement to happen in places like Watch. The Discover tab in Watch will also prioritise shows that people come back to. As new shows build audiences, places like Watch are well suited for people to predictably catch up on the latest episodes and content from their favourite publishers and creators, and engage in a richer social viewing experience.\u201d\n\nAmong the other changes announced in the post were that Facebook will no longer allow ads in the middle of videos unless they are at least three minutes long, which the company hopes will encourage companies and creators to produce longer content, and that only pages with more than 50,000 followers will be able to insert ads into Live Videos, to ensure that advertisers can be guaranteed a substantial audience and the videos meet Facebook\u2019s Content Guidelines for Monetisation.", "output": "Facebook will emphasise video content and optimise video ads within its News Feed feature as the social media giant looks to compete directly with YouTube. Users will see more video content tailored according to what other content they've engaged with.\u00a0Other changes will see pre-roll advertising tested within Facebook's new Watch\u00a0tab;\u00a0the banning of ads in videos shorter than three minutes;\u00a0and,\u00a0the insertion of ads into the post popular Live Videos.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Business Insider to launch Spanish-language site before new year \n While some publishers are slowing their global expansion pace, Business Insider remains bullish about its growth overseas. The publisher has moved aggressively into Europe in the last three years, launching seven local-language sites. Next up: Spain.\n\nBusiness Insider will launch a Spanish-language site before the end of this month. The publisher has been able to extend its global footprint quickly by partnering with local publishers that understand BI\u2019s specific style and tone. In Spain, BI\u2019s partner will be its own parent company\u2019s Axel Springer Espa\u00f1a.\n\nBI Spain will have 13 editorial staffers, including Axel Springer Espa\u00f1a staffers and freelancers, and 14 sales employees \u2014 three of whom will be devoted to BI and the rest from Axel Springer Espa\u00f1a, which publishes magazines in the motor, technology and entertainment sectors, including Auto Bild, Top Gear and Computer Hoy. Upday, Axel Springer\u2019s news aggregator app that comes installed on Samsung phones, is also included in the portfolio.\n\nThe editorial staff won\u2019t be starting from scratch. BI attracts an average of 200,000 to 300,000 monthly visitors from Spain to the English-language version of the site, according to Roddy Salazar, BI\u2019s vp of international. The publisher has learned from experience that once it adds locally sourced, original content in the local language into the mix, that traffic figure multiplies by 10, Salazar said. He hopes the launch of the Spanish site will open the door to a Latin American audience, which would make it likely that the publisher invests there. As it stands, South Africa is next in line for a site launch.\n\nThe plan is for a minimum of a third of all content to be original for the Spanish site, and then translate other stories created by its U.S. and U.K. sites that are relevant to the market. Axel Springer Espa\u00f1a has a well-established video production team, so that will also be a big focus for BI\u2019s Spanish edition, according to Salazar.\n\nTranslating articles remains an arduously slow, manual task for many publishers, including BI. The publisher is exploring new ways to speed up translation efforts across its international titles.\n\nBI has partnered with local publishers in each European market it expands to: Bonnier Media in the Nordics, Prisma Media in France, GEDI Gruppo Editoriale in Italy, Grupa Onet in Poland and Finanzen (also part of Axel Springer) in Germany. Salazar is meticulous about how he picks partners, choosing those who not only understand what BI is about as a brand but can prove agility in their own operations. \u201cThere is no cookie-cutter approach; each one is very different,\u201d said Salazar.\n\nBusiness Insider\u2019s international audience is larger than its domestic one, meaning the publisher is still pursuing overseas growth. As many digital media publishers have learned the hard way, building an large audience isn\u2019t always matched with big revenue. Added to that, for U.S. publishers in particular, launching in European markets is tougher than it may appear. Budgets are far smaller than in the U.S. and fragmented across different markets, which can be a barrier for publishers hoping to tap pan-Europe budgets. Salazar admitted that international revenue is not yet reflective of the size of its audience, but he believes it will be in time.\n\nBI has addressed the thorny issue of tackling market-fragmented budgets by creating a European sales network, run by BI\u2019s 12-person London sales team. This network allows clients to run the same campaign in the markets BI operates in, in local languages. Adding Spanish-language inventory to the mix helps complete the offering, according to Salazar. \u201cThis consolidates our European footprint into a really attractive package,\u201d he said. \u201cSpain was the last key market in Europe for us to be a part of this pan-regional product.\u201d", "output": "Business Insider looks set to continue its overseas expansion with the opening of a new Spanish-language site. The site will hold 13 editorial staffers and 14 sales employees. Business Insider plans for one-third\u00a0of the site's\u00a0features to be original\u00a0Spanish-language content, while\u00a0the remainder will be translated from the US and UK sites. VP of international at Business Insider, Roddy Salazar,\u00a0said he hopes the move will open the door to a new Latin American audience.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Microsoft enhances Bing search engine with AI \n The new features aim to add more nuance to answers given on search queries\n\nMANILA, Philippines \u2013 Microsoft announced Wednesday, December 13 (December 14, Manila time) it was adding some new features to its Bing search engine. These include incorporation of its artificial intelligence (AI) research to provide smarter answers to search queries, as well as a partnership with Reddit.\n\nThe AI research aims to provide better nuance to search query answers. The features rolling out today, Microsoft said, include intelligent search, conversational search and intelligent image search.\n\nIn terms of adding nuance, one of the advancements they\u2019re touting is a new capability to find multiple viewpoints on a search query.\n\nFor instance, asking Bing, \u201cIs cholesterol bad?\u201d brings up different perspectives \u2013 so you can apply the searched information depending on your particular situation \u2013 rather than a black and white answer.\n\n\u201cWe want to be able to find the answers and the results that are the most comprehensive, the most relevant and the most trustworthy,\u201d Microsoft corporate vice president for AI products Jordi Ribas said.\n\n\u201cOften people are seeking answers that go beyond something that is a mathematical equation. We want to be able to frame those opinions and articulate them in a way that\u2019s also balanced and objective,\u201d Ribas added.\n\nAlong with AI improvements comes a partnership with Reddit to integrate content from crowdsourced Ask Me Anything sessions (AMAs) and other posts from Reddit communities within Bing search results.\n\nWhile Reddit can help Bing provide detailed answers to specialized questions, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian meanwhile said Microsoft complements Reddit with its ability to quantify and analyze the Reddit dataset to deliver useful information through search results on Bing.\n\nSpeaking of the power of Bing and Reddit, he said, \u201cWe can actually handle complicated, nuanced questions.\u201d \u2013 Rappler.com", "output": "Microsoft has made a number of enhancements to its search engine, Bing, by incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) technology to provide more nuanced answers to search queries. The new features include displaying multiple viewpoints on issues, rather than giving them simple answers. The company has also announced a new partnership with social media platform Reddit to make use of content generated by its Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions. The development is aimed at helping Bing handle more complicated questions from users.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Curisium wins funding to develop blockchain for medical payments \n Curisium announced that it has raised $3.5 million in seed financing to advance its blockchain platform for healthcare.\n\nWith nearly one-third of the payments in the $2.7 trillion U.S. healthcare market already tied to some form of alternative payment model, the company said it will use the investment to advance its technology.\n\nThe Curisium platform deploys blockchain and secure computation technologies to allow payers, providers and life science companies to engage in patient-centric value-based contracts.\n\n[Also: Blockchain beyond EHRs: Transforming value-based payment, precision medicine, patient-centric care]\n\nHealthcare organizations and innovative upstarts initially saw big promise in blockchain\u2019s interoperability, privacy and security, even the the possibility of transforming electronic health record software because the digital ledger technology can, in theory, grant patients more control over their own medical data. And more recently proponents have been saying it could also be used in the pharmacy supply chain to establish a chain-of-custody log that would make it harder for substandard and fraudulent drugs to make their way to market.\n\nThose same characteristics enable similar opportunities for value-based care.\n\n\"Payers, providers, and life science companies are increasingly entering into various forms of innovative contracts,\" said Peter Kim, co-founder and CEO of Curisium. \"However, effective implementation today is hampered by costly logistics, lack of trust, and difficulty verifying patient-level outcomes.\"\n\n[Also: The next big thing in pharmacy supply chain: Blockchain]\n\nCurisium investors in this round include Flare Capital Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Shuttle Fund, Sanofi Ventures and Green Bay Ventures.\n\nFlare Capital co-founder Bill Geary said that by enabling outcome verification at the individual level, the technology could be a foundation for more innovative contracting in the future.\n\nGreg Papadopoulos, venture partner at NEA and former CTO of Sun Microsystems, said it breaks down silos in healthcare with \u201cunique cryptographic guarantees\u201d around its data access.\n\nPapadopoulos and Sanofi chief data officer Milind Kamkolkar joined Curisium's inaugural Industry Advisory Board while Geary and Mohamad Makhzoumi of NEA joined the Curisium board of directors.\n\nTwitter: @JELagasse\n\nEmail the writer: jeff.lagasse@himssmedia.com", "output": "Following a $3.5m seed fund investment, blockchain start-up Curisium has announced plans to develop its blockchain platform for healthcare payments. Curisium's platform uses blockchain technology to enable payers, providers and life science companies to engage in value-based contracts for patients. The investors from this round included Flare Capital Partners, New Enterprise Associates and Green Bay Ventures. Curisium CEO Peter Kim said he hopes to further encourage healthcare stakeholders toward alternative payment methods by using blockchain to get around implementation obstacles caused by\u00a0\"costly logistics, lack of trust\u00a0and difficulty verifying patient-level outcomes\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Minimum price would raise cost of 70% of alcoholic drinks: IFS \n Following a recent judgment, the UK Supreme Court confirmed that Scottish Government legislation for a minimum unit price for alcohol is lawful. The Scottish Government plans to introduce the measure on 1 May 2018. Meanwhile, the Welsh National Assembly is considering introducing a minimum unit price for alcohol. In this briefing note, we provide evidence on the likely impact of this type of reform.\n\nThe aim of adopting a minimum unit price is to reduce the prevalence of harmful and hazardous drinking. Estimates of the precise magnitude of the social costs of drinking vary, but are invariably high. The Scottish Government cites a study by researchers at the University of York that suggests that the total annual costs of alcohol misuse in Scotland are equivalent to around \u00a3900 per adult and the Welsh National Assembly cites research by the University of Sheffield that estimates that the overall cost to society of alcohol misuse in Wales is \u00a315.3 billion over 20 years.\n\nA minimum unit price would make it unlawful to sell alcohol below a price that is based on the alcoholic content of the product. The Scottish Government\u2019s favoured rate is 50 pence per unit of alcohol (a unit is 10ml of pure alcohol). In this briefing note, we show that this would have a substantial impact on off-trade alcohol prices. During the period October 2015 to September 2016, 68% of off-trade alcohol units sold in Britain were priced below the proposed floor, with the average price of these products over 20% below the floor, at around 39 pence per unit. These numbers are similar across Scotland, Wales and England.\n\nThe effectiveness of the policy will depend on whether it successfully targets heavy drinkers and how they change their behaviour in response. We provide evidence that heavy drinkers do tend to buy cheap alcohol. This suggests a minimum unit price may well be reasonably well targeted at this group. However, the impact of the policy will depend crucially on the price sensitivity of different types of drinkers, i.e. how much less alcohol they consume in response to a rise in price. We also show that heavier drinkers tend to buy stronger alcohol, suggesting that redesign of the current system of alcohol excise duties could also help target problem drinkers. Tax reform is likely to avoid the main drawback of minimum unit pricing, which is that it boosts the profits of the alcohol industry.", "output": "Minimum pricing per unit of alcohol would raise costs of most alcoholic drinks, according to research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). A cost of 50p per unit, which is currently being considered by the Scottish government ahead of its introduction of a minimum price in May, would increase the price of 70% of alcohol purchased in shops. Average price increases would be 35%, but the cost of cheap lagers\u00a0ciders could rise by 44% and 90% respectively. The IFS stated that there was a \u201cstrong case\u201d for revising alcohol duties rather than introducing a minimum price.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Persimmon chairman resigns over \u00a3800m bonus scheme \n The chair of housebuilding firm Persimmon has resigned over his role in orchestrating a \u00a3100m-plus bonus for the company\u2019s chief executive, as critics accused the firm of benefiting from the taxpayer-backed help-to-buy scheme.\n\nThe huge share award worth around \u00a3110m was attacked by politicians, charities and corporate governance experts, who described it as \u201cobscene\u201d, \u201ccorporate looting\u201d and a reward based on \u201ctaxpayer subsidies\u201d. Persimmon is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the government\u2019s help-to-buy programme, which has lifted sales and boosted house prices across the UK.\n\nNicholas Wrigley, the company\u2019s chair and a former banker, said he regretted not capping the company\u2019s bonus scheme and was leaving \u201cin recognition of this omission\u201d. The scheme, believed to be Britain\u2019s most generous ever bonus payout, will give more than \u00a3500m to 150 senior staff, including the award to the chief executive, Jeff Fairburn.\n\nThe Guardian understands Wrigley had put pressure on Fairburn to donate some of his bonus to charity, although Persimmon declined to comment.\n\nThe payouts, in company shares that can then be cashed in, are linked to the FTSE 100 company\u2019s dividend payments and stock market performance, which has been significantly boosted by the help-to-buy scheme. Under help to buy, the Treasury provides a loan worth 20% of the value of a property, although the buyer must also provide a 5% deposit from their own funds. The programme has provided a significant boost to property developers\u2019 sales since George Osborne introduced it in 2013.\n\nPersimmon\u2019s share price has more than doubled since help to buy launched in April 2013. About half of Persimmon homes sold last year were to help-to-buy recipients, meaning government money helped finance the sales.\n\nVince Cable, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, told the Guardian that the \u201cscale of this bonus is obscene\u201d and built on a \u201cgovernment subsidy\u201d.\n\n\u201cIt is reminiscent of the worst excesses of corporate greed that helped to create the financial crisis, when short-termism was heavily incentivised and long-term planning ignored,\u201d he said.\n\nNicholas Wrigley. Photograph: Persimmon/PA\n\n\u201cThis is also a perverse situation where a corporate fortune has been built on what is essentially a government subsidy in help to buy. This situation shows just why help to buy is so flawed: it fuels demand rather than supply, putting house prices even further out of reach of young people, while adding zeros to the bank balances of housebuilding executives.\u201d\n\nFairburn is due to collect the first \u00a350m worth of bonus shares on 31 December. The scheme, which is based on the level of dividend returned to shareholders, was meant to take 10 years to pay out, but the company has accelerated dividend payments.\n\nThis means Fairburn, other executives and more than 100 middle managers are likely to collect all of the bonus shares by July 2018, far ahead of the 2021 schedule. Fairburn\u2019s tranche of shares was worth \u00a3128m based on Friday night\u2019s closing share price, but he is likely to take home about \u00a3110m once he has paid the option prices on the shares.\n\nJohn Hunter, the chair of the UK Shareholder Association, which represents small investors, said the bonus scheme was \u201ccompletely ridiculous\u201d and was based solely on the dividend payments.\n\n\u201cAny bloody fool can pay dividends \u2013 it\u2019s just paying them their own money. The scheme is doing the opposite of what it is meant to do \u2013 incentivise performance and retention,\u201d Hunter said.\n\n\u201cHow does this incentivise people when they\u2019re all sitting on fortunes? If you\u2019re a manager and you\u2019re getting millions you would retire on the spot.\u201d\n\nHunter said Persimmon had defended the scheme, which was approved by 85% of investors in 2012, as a reflection of the company\u2019s strong performance and the billions of pounds it had returned to investors through dividends.\n\n\u201cIt has done brilliantly well \u2013 with our money,\u201d he said. \u201cHelp to buy has been almost a licence to print money \u2013 our money. These bonuses are being subsided by us.\u201d\n\nHe added: \u201cI don\u2019t blame directors for putting their hands in an open cookie jar \u2013 they are only human. The question here is how this scheme ever got approved.\u201d\n\nJonathan Davie, Persimmon\u2019s senior independent director and chair of the remuneration committee, which sets company pay, also resigned on Thursday.\n\n\u201cNicholas and Jonathan recognise that the 2012 LTIP [long-term incentive plan] could have included a cap,\u201d the company said in a statement. \u201cIn recognition of this omission, they have therefore tendered their resignations.\u201d\n\nDavie resigned with immediate effect. Wrigley will stay on until his successor has been appointed.\n\n\u201cSince 2012, when the capital return plan strategy was launched and the 2012 LTIP was approved by shareholders, the company has made substantial cash returns to shareholders at the same time as increasing the size of the business and delivering significant shareholder value,\u201d Persimmon said in a statement to the stock market.\n\n\u201cPersimmon has delivered an increase in the number of new homes supplied of over 65%, invested \u00a32.9bn in new land, returned 485p per share (\u00a31.5bn) in cash and increased the proposed capital return by 49% to 925p per share, about \u00a32.85bn.\u201d\n\nRoyal London Asset Management (RLAM), one of the company\u2019s shareholders, said Fairburn should volunteer to forego some of the bonus or make a sizeable donation to charity.\n\n\u201cWhilst we hold the remaining senior management team in high regard, we would ask that the CEO and the remaining members of the pay committee acknowledge their errors and correct them,\u201d Ashley Hamilton Claxton, RLAM\u2019s head of responsible investment, said. \u201cOne of the options the CEO could consider would be taking a voluntary reduction, or donating some of the money.\u201d\n\nGarry White, the chief investment commentator at the stockbroker Charles Stanley, said: \u201cThe size of these bonuses means management could easily be accused of corporate looting, so shareholders have every right to be unimpressed.\u201d", "output": "The chairman of UK housebuilder Persimmon, Nicholas Wrigley,\u00a0has resigned over his role in a bonus scheme believed to be the largest\u00a0ever awarded in the UK. The scheme will begin paying over \u00a3800m ($1.1bn) to 150 senior staff on New Year\u2019s Eve and will include a \u00a3128m bonus for company CEO\u00a0Jeff Fairburn.\u00a0Wrigley has expressed regret that he did not cap the widely criticised scheme. Persimmon\u2019s share price more than doubled after the introduction of the government\u2019s help to buy programme in 2013. Jonathan Davie, chairman\u00a0of the company\u2019s remuneration committee, has also resigned.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mutual funds will become 'legacy products', predicts\u00a0ETF provider \n Factor Investing Strategy Briefing - Thursday 29th June 2023 - The Connaught, Mayfair. Please join us for our annual smart beta and factor investing event, featuring Goldman Sachs Asset Management, FlexShares, First Trust, MSCI and WisdomTree. Please register now if you would like to attend.\n\nMutual funds will become legacy products within 15 years, with ETF assets in Europe set to treble within the next decade, according to Hector McNeil, chief executive of new white-label ETF provider HANetf.\n\nWhile market share for passive assets in Europe has reached approximately 15%, the trend towards passive management continues with ETFs leading the charge. According to latest data from London-based ETF industry consultant ETFGI, Europe-listed ETFs have gathered $107 billion in net inflows this year (as of the end of November). Assets invested in Europe-listed ETFs now amount to $789bn, representing an increase of 37.9% from the end of 2016.\n\n\u201cWhile total assets in passive funds may be relatively low at the moment, we think that, with fees falling and a regulatory backdrop that is conducive to growth, ETFs\u2019 market share could be north of 35% within 5-10 years,\u201d said McNeil. \u201cCrucially, if you look at the numbers now, in the US the majority of new money already goes into ETFs, and Europe is following suit. If this continues \u2013 and we think it will \u2013 mutual funds could well find themselves consigned to the \u2018legacy\u2019 bucket within 15 years.\u201d\n\nMcNeil says that while mutual funds will continue to exist in the future, ETFs represent the \u201cdigitisation\u201d of the mutual fund industry, with a new generation of investors embracing them as part of a wider technological shift.\n\n\u201cETFs, far more than traditional mutual funds, are attractive to the next generation of savers and investors who will do everything via their mobile phone and are used to transacting immediately for every product,\u201d he said. \u201cMany new solutions such as robo-advice are also taking a \u2018passives-only\u2019 approach when building propositions and we believe active managers will either move to launch new ETFs, or they will merge mutual funds into ETFs, or at least have more characteristics of them.\u201d\n\nMcNeil launched HANetf earlier this year alongside partner Nik Bienkowski. The firm provides a turnkey solution for the growing number of US and Asian ETF issuers and traditional asset managers seeking to enter the ETF market in Europe, through a platform which offers services including product development, compliance, operations, capital markets, sales, marketing and distribution.", "output": "White-label exchange-traded fund provider\u00a0HANetf has argued mutual funds are likely to be considered \"legacy products\" within 15 years, as ETFs rise in popularity. HANetf CEO Hector McNeil describes ETFs as representing the \"digitisation\" of the mutual fund industry and, in the near future, \"active managers will either move to launch new ETFs, or they will merge mutual funds into ETFs, or at least have more characteristics of them\".\u00a0According to ETF industry consultancy ETFGI, assets invested in Europe-listed ETFs amounted to $789bn, an increase of 37.9% from the end of 2016.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TIAA-owned robo-adviser launches middle-office automation tool \n MyVest, the business-to-business robo-adviser owned by TIAA, has a new technology suite to digitize common middle-office tasks.\n\nThe update brings automated daily reconciliation to MyVest\u2019s enterprise wealth management platform, Strategic Portfolio System (SPS). This is integrated with the same database that powers SPS\u2019s core functions like trading, performance measurement, reporting and billing.\n\n\u201cIn an environment where margins are under constant strain, improving operational efficiency is imperative,\u201d MyVest CEO Anton Honikman said in a statement. \u201cOur goal is to help firms dramatically scale their middle-office operations, and the best way to do that is by enabling efficiency and risk reduction through digital tools.\u201d\n\nHe added that automating daily trade reconciliation, corporate actions processing and cash management \u201callow us to accurately calculate daily performance, which in turn makes the production of reporting and billing easier compared to those who rely on a monthly or quarterly fire drill.\u201d\n\nGROWING TREND\n\nThe launch is part of a growing trend in wealth management to automate adviser workflows.\n\nKyle Tuskey, the chief operating officer of Deep Systems, a firm that provides operational and IT services, said there\u2019s increasing demand from firms of all sizes for automation of middle-office tasks. Mr. Tuskey said advisers react to news headlines like regulatory changes and robo-advisers by bolting on technology vendors, creating a \u201chodgepodge solution that are not really fit for the problem they are solving\u201d rather than something integrated.\n\n\u201cCustodians are going to solve their portion of the problem \u2026 in the back-office side, sure,\u201d Mr. Tuskey said. \u201cOn a full operational level, I don\u2019t think they\u2019re there.\u201d\n\nSam McIngvale, head of innovation at Apex Clearing, said MyVest\u2019s offering continues an industry trend that firms like Apex already support by providing outsourcing services to advisers. However, Mr. McIngvale said, Apex does not offer middle-office outsourcing.\n\nBUDDING PARTNERSHIP\n\nTIAA partnered with MyVest in 2009 on investment and tax management services before acquiring the technology in 2016 to develop digital advice and financial planning products across TIAA\u2019s products, including banking and retirement plans. In June, TIAA introduced a robo-adviser powered by MyVest to offer clients automated access to active, passive and socially responsible mutual funds and exchange-traded funds.\n\nThe New York attorney general subpoenaed TIAA in November following a whistleblower complaint alleging the 100-year-old firm pressured employees to sell unsuitable products. A spokesperson for MyVest said the technology provider operates as an individual entity and is not involved in the case.\n\nMyVest also works with large RIAs like Personal Capital, which uses MyVest technology to power a hybrid robo-adviser with $4.3 billion of assets under management as of May 2017. Personal Capital did not respond to questions asking if it would use the new automated middle-office features.\n\n(More: 5 robo-advisers with the most client assets.)", "output": "US business-to-business robo-adviser MyVest has introduced a service allowing clients to outsource middle-office functions, such as daily trade reconciliation, corporate actions processing and cash management. MyVest, which is owned by retirement-focused financial services provider TIAA, said\u00a0the system will make reporting and billing easier for advisory clients and facilitate expansion of middle-office functions. The introduction of the service comes at a time when the investment management industry is focusing on ways of automating\u00a0advisers' workflow.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Oscar Health offers customers personalised concierge service \n Oscar Health, the $2.7 billion health insurance startup, wants to have all of its members using concierge medical care in 2018.\n\nThe plan to create 'Concierge for All' relies on teams of nurses and other healthcare professionals who work with Oscar to help you navigate everything from insurance benefits to questions about your health.\n\nIt's something people often spend tens of thousands of dollars on every year in addition to their traditional insurance.\n\n\n\nOscar Health, the health insurance startup, is giving all of its members access to a team of healthcare professionals they can turn to for help navigating their healthcare.\n\nThe service is what's known as concierge care, and it might seem like a foreign concept to most Americans who struggle navigating the often complex and frustrating healthcare market. But such personalized care often comes at a high cost. Some 'boutique' or high-end concierge services can cost as much as $40,000 a year per family, on top of the insurance premiums that family pays.\n\nOscar is trying to change that. The $2.7 billion health-insurance startup is making a big push to make concierge care the centerpiece of their members' healthcare experience, with all its members using it.\n\nHere's how it works\n\nOscar members are assigned a personalized concierge team of one nurse and three clinicians with specialized knowledge of the patient's local healthcare networks. The idea is that teams with localized knowledge will be better informed when making recommendations and referrals.\n\nThose healthcare professionals can answer any questions you have about your insurance benefits, or about that strange bump on your neck, help the member get a prescription or a referral to a specialist.\n\nWhile Oscar members don't physically meet with their teams, they can contact them over the phone or through secure messaging on the company's mobile app.\n\nConcierge nurses will also be able to initiate contact with their patients with the help of clinical dashboards , which collect claims records and other data about the patients' medical history to give nurses more context on a person's health than what they might otherwise learn from electronic health records.\n\nWhat the inbox in the Oscar app looks like when members interact with their concierge teams. Oscar Health\n\n\"One of the things that we are able to do because we have a lot of data is to flag to care teams the suspected conditions that members may have in our clinical dashboard and say 'hey, you really should go in and see a doctor. We think you might have something and you should get some medication for it,'\" Chelsea Cooper, Oscar's Senior Vice President of Member & Strategy Operations, told Business Insider. \"And that\u2019s something we\u2019re able to do because we\u2019re a tech company.\"\n\nSince launching its concierge services in full earlier this year, Oscar says 70% of its roughly 90,000 members have interacted with a concierge team, although those who engaged had an average of only three interactions. The company says concierge care has even helped its members save money on out-of-network costs.\n\nNow Oscar is trying to universalize the service with a \"Concierge for All\" campaign to encourage 100% of its members to start using it next year.\n\n\"We think healthcare is very personal and that these changes really matter,\" Cooper said. \"You want to know the [concierge team] so that you can trust them and take their recommendations about which doctor to go to and whether you should go to the ER or an urgent care facility. We try to build that connection.\"\n\nSurviving as the market shifts\n\nDr. Winslow Murdoch of West Chester, PA, examines a patient, Joseph Balinski, at his concierge practice in 2005. Bradley C. Bower/AP\n\nThe future of American healthcare has taken on new dimensions over the last year as President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress attempt to repeal Obamacare. But Oscar keeps pushing forward.\n\nEarlier this year, Oscar announced it would start offering health insurance plans alongside the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio for the first time. In 2018, it plans to expand coverage from three states to six.\n\nDespite its optimism, Oscar is not immune to the financial challenges of the turbulent healthcare market.\n\nLast month, Oscar reported a $96 million third quarter loss across the three states where it currently sells coverage, according to Forbes. Although it was an improvement from the same quarter in 2016, it was in line with a continuing losses the company has experienced since its founding in 2012.\n\nBut Oscar's chief technology officer Alan Warren told Business Insider in June that such challenges, including the political debate over healthcare in Washington, will ultimately do little to deter the company from carrying out its mission. When the Trump administration slashed Obamacare advertising funding by 90% earlier this year, for example, Oscar ratcheted up its own advertising campaign in New York just in time for the most recent open enrollment period, which ends on Friday.", "output": "Health insurance start-up Oscar plans to give\u00a0all its customers access to a \"concierge\" service advising them on their healthcare choices. Customers will be able to contact a team of one nurse and three clinicians that will have detailed knowledge of\u00a0local healthcare networks, enabling them to offer advice\u00a0and make referrals. Oscar says 70% of its customer base has interacted with a concierge team, adding the service can help save money in out-of-network costs.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Canadian drivers are 'not fans' of telematics \n Opportunities for \u201cbroker-driven\u201d usage-based auto insurance are likely to be down the road, but brokers are telling a large Canadian mutual that their insurance customers don\u2019t want their insurers monitoring how they use their vehicles.\n\n\u201cOur brokers are advising us that our customers are not fans of telematics,\u201d Wawanesa chief strategy officer Carol Jardine told Canadian Underwriter this week.\n\nInsurers using telematics to determine auto rates include The Co-operators Group Ltd., Canadian Automobile Association (CAA)\u2019s club in south central Ontario, Intact Financial Corp. and Desjardins General Insurance Group.\n\nSome insurers monitor the times their customers drive, along with total distance driven and behaviour such as sudden acceleration and hard braking. Ontario\u2019s regulator allows carriers to offer discounts for low-risk behaviours, but does not let carriers raise rates for risky behaviours.\n\n\u201cOur customers that buy from our brokers do not wish to have a telematics device installed in their car,\u201d Jardine said. \u201cWhether they are concerned about privacy, or monitoring of their driving behaviour, lots of people don\u2019t like telematics and our brokers are telling us that the customers who like telematics are not the customers of our brokers.\u201d\n\nIBAO announced in 2013 that it was teaming up with Ingenie Canada to roll out telematics in Ontario, underwritten by Aviva. But in 2016, IBAO president Traci Boland said the association was no longer offering it.\n\n\u201cI just don\u2019t think the marketplace was at the right position for that product at the time,\u201d IBAO CEO Colin Simpson told Canadian Underwriter in a recent interview. \u201cI think it was the right thing to do at the time because it brought a lot of attention to the use of data, the role of the broker, but as technology advances, then you really need to be a specialist in that field to be able to be effective at it.\u201d\n\nIt is unlikely IBAO will launch a similar program, Simpson added.\n\n\u201cThe IBAO is not skilled to implement something like that,\u201d he said of telematics. \u201cI am sure there are going to be opportunities for broker-driven solutions to be put in the marketplace. Whether IBAO drives that, I don\u2019t know.\u201d\n\nUsing telematics \u201ccould conceivably\u201d reduce claims costs, A.M. Best Company Inc. associate director Raymond Thomson told Canadian Underwriter recently.\n\nBut the Financial Services Commission says there are \u201cno studies or reviews that provide actuarial evidence to quantify\u201d the effectiveness of telematics in Ontario.\n\nDesjardins lets vehicle owners save up to 25% on their premium. CAA also offers discounts, advising drivers to they can get a higher discount if they avoid speeding, avoid driving between 12:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. and driver fewer than 12,000 km a year.", "output": "Motor insurance brokers in Canada are telling underwriters that their customers don't like being monitored by telematics devices while driving, according to Carol Jardine, the chief strategy officer at Wawanesa Insurance, who said \"our customers are not fans of telematics\". She added that drivers were also concerned about data privacy. Telematics data can be used to offer safer drivers discounts on their insurance rates, with insurers like\u00a0Desjardins General Insurance offering less\u00a0risky customers reductions of up to 25% on their premiums. However, Ontario regulators do not allow\u00a0more risky driving behaviour to\u00a0attract higher premiums.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's CITIC to take\u00a0over\u00a0New Zealand\u00a0skincare firm Trilogy \n Angela Buglass, chief executive of Trilogy International. Photo / Supplied\n\nChina's biggest conglomerate, CITIC, said it planned to buy all the shares in NZX-listed skincare company Trilogy, at $2.90 a share, valuing the company at $250 million.\n\nCITIC Capital China Partners, a buyout fund managed by the private equity arm of CITIC Capital Holdings, said it had entered into a scheme implementation agreement with Trilogy.\n\nThe offer price represents a 27.8 per cent premium to Trilogy's last closing share price and a 28.1 per cent premium to the three-month volume weighted average share price.\n\nTrilogy's directors intend to unanimously recommend to all shareholders that they vote in favour of the scheme, including its largest shareholder, The Business Bakery, which holds 31.2 per cent, CITIC said.\n\nHanxi Zhao, senior managing director of CITIC Capital, said CITIC Capital wanted to boost Trilogy's global growth.\n\n\"Trilogy owns very strong brands in its respective beauty and lifestyle sectors, including Trilogy, Goodness, Lanocreme and ECOYA,\" she said.\n\n\"Its flagship brand, Trilogy, is a leading premium brand in the natural skincare space and has been highly recognised by skincare experts, celebrities and consumers all over the world,\" Zhao said.\n\nAngela Buglass, Trilogy's chief executive said:\n\n\"CITIC Capital will bring added capability necessary to build our brands on a truly global scale, better serve our customers and consumers, and provide new career opportunities for our people,\" said in a statement.\n\n\"To have inbound private investment from a private equity firm to take us to the next level is super exciting. We've told the team today, and effectively from a day-to-day operations point of view there is no change apart from our investors going from one large group of shareholders to one major shareholder.\"\n\nTrilogy's chairman Grant Baker said:\n\n\"The board strongly encourages shareholders to exercise their right to vote either in person or by proxy, and to seek independent advice as necessary.\"\n\n\"As the owners of TIL, by voting, shareholders can have their say in determining the future of their investment in TIL. The vote of every single shareholder counts in order to reach the required thresholds,\" Baker said in a note posted to the NZX.\n\nA shareholder meeting over the deal will be held in March.\n\nTrilogy shares have been on a rollercoaster ride over the last two years, topping out at $4.92 in August last year. The stock jumped 21 per cent to $2.75 in trading this afternoon.", "output": "Chinese conglomerate CITIC is to buy all shares in New Zealand\u00a0skincare company Trilogy\u00a0at NZD2.90 a share, valuing Trilogy at NZD250m ($175m).\u00a0\"CITIC Capital will bring added capability necessary to build our brands on a truly global scale, better serve our customers and consumers, and provide new career opportunities for our people,\" said Trilogy's CEO, Angela Buglass. Trinity's directors have said they will\u00a0vote unanimously to recommend shareholders accept the deal.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China subtly wooing next generation of African elites from home \n Juba, South Sudan\n\nAnthony Kpandu took a delegation from his party, the Sudan People\u2019s Liberation Movement (SPLM), to China last year to train with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Kpandu is in charge of special working groups at the general secretariat for the SPLM, the liberation movement turned government party that helped South Sudan gain independence from Sudan in 2011. Wearing a button that says, \u201cI love SPLM,\u201d a paisley tie, and a loose tan jacket, he reminisces about his trip to China in detail, down to every day\u2019s itinerary.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThey visited the Central Party school in Beijing, toured industrial zones, drank various types of green tea, and walked part of the Great Wall. Kpandu\u2019s favorite part was Shanghai, with its glittery commercial district, Pudong, high-speed Maglev train, and sprawling airport. \u201cIt was magnificent. You can\u2019t believe it, but it\u2019s there. I\u2019ve never seen anything like it,\u201d he says from his office in Juba.\n\nIn the 1970s, China actively tried to export its communist revolution to Africa, one of Beijing\u2019s few diplomatic engagements at the time. Now, Beijing is promoting a more subtle movement: support for China and and its model of development. Instead of relying on Chinese emissaries in African countries, Beijing is bringing thousands of African leaders, bureaucrats, students, and business people to China.\n\nIt\u2019s a campaign that achieves several goals at once. The trips help solidify political and business ties between China and its partners on the continent. Like other development partners, China gets to help build capacity in African countries. Most importantly these exchanges cultivate partners on the continent who are more likely to be sympathetic to China and its way of doing things.\n\nChina has been hosting these trainings and exchanges in Africa since as far back as the 1950s when it first established diplomatic ties with Egypt. Over the past decade, the trainings have grown in both volume and profile. Kenya\u2019s Jubilee party, created before the country\u2019s contentious election this year, received trainings from the Chinese Communist Party in China. The Ethiopian People\u2019s Revolutionary Democratic Front also takes inspiration from the the CCP while South Africa\u2019s African National Congress regularly attends workshops in China and has modeled some of its party trainings on the CCP.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nChina is particularly interested in the next generation of African elites. Last year, Beijing announced it would invite 1,000 young African politicians for trainings in China, after hosting more than 200 between 2011 and 2015. Thousands of African students are pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees in China on scholarship programs funded by Beijing. As of this year, more Anglophone African students study in China than the United States or the United Kingdom, their traditional destinations of choice.\n\nChinese officials are quick to say these scholarships and trainings are not an attempt to remake Africa in its own image. In theme with China\u2019s self-avowed policy of noninterference, Beijing likes to stress that it does not tell its partners what to do.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re not saying the Chinese model should be copied but to share lessons. It\u2019s to give them the concepts so that they can adapt and find their own solutions,\u201d says Zhang Yi, China\u2019s economic attache in Juba.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cWhen you go to China they will not be talking about democracy.\u201d\n\nBut South Sudan, the world\u2019s youngest country, may be particularly impressionable. It is still developing its government institutions and political system, amid a four-year civil war that has split the former liberation party into several factions. China, which has major oil interests in the country, was one of the first countries to recognize South Sudan and remains engaged with the country, with 2,600 peacekeepers and more than 100 Chinese businesses and investors.\n\n\u201cThe SPLM seems to believe that given shared experience in historical struggle against imperialism and colonialism, there are much similarity and common ground between SPLM and the [Chinese Communist Party\u2019s] origins,\u201d says Yun Sun, a fellow at Brookings Institution who has written about party to party exchanges between China and African countries.\n\n\u201cIt does raise the question what kind of political future South Sudan faces as a result. If we do believe in the universality and desirability of the democratic system, the model represented by the Chinese experience and its popularity may not be the most encouraging,\u201d she says.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nHundreds of South Sudanese government officials, business people, and students, attend training or schooling in China, every year. Delegations from the SPLM in Juba travel to China several times a year to study with the communist party. Bureaucrats from the government\u2019s ministries of culture, transport, health and more go every month for trainings. Even before South Sudan became an official state, officials were hosted in China to attend workshops on poverty alleviation, managing public opinion, and building a party.\n\nChina has given at least 4,100 scholarships and training programs to South Sudanese students and officials since 2011, when the young country was established. In August, China pledged to offer at least 240 more scholarships. The China-South Sudan Friendship Association, headed by a former foreign minister and partly sponsored by the Chinese embassy, embeds South Sudanese business people with Chinese companies.\n\nSouth Sudanese and Chinese officials like to say they are learning from each other, sharing experiences from one former liberation movement to another. Both the Chinese Communist Party and the SPLA grew out of armed guerrilla movements. The SPLM fought for decades for independence from the north. The party also has its roots in socialism, identifying first with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the SPLM turned to the United States as an ally but even today, SPLM officials still use the title \u201ccomrade.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBut that\u2019s where the similarities end. The Chinese communist party transformed itself into a government that maintains one-party rule over a country that is mostly one ethnicity, Han Chinese. In contrast, the SPLM in Juba is locked in a civil war with splinter parties, divided by region and ethnicity in a country home to more than 60 ethnic groups.\n\nZhang, China\u2019s economic attach\u00e9 to Juba, believes some aspects of China\u2019s model of government could help South Sudan, for instance, a stronger central government. \u201cThere\u2019s no history of a centralized government in the past, which means there\u2019s no process of nationalism. So the people, they still stay grouped by tribe.\u201d\n\nBut not all lessons from China should be learned. Under Xi Jinping, China has tightened its stranglehold over civil society. South Sudan is already familiar with some of these tactics. Local journalists are intimidated into silence or killed.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cWhen you go to China they will not be talking about democracy,\u201d says Samson Wasara, vice chancellor at the University of Bahr el Ghazel in Wau state, where he says as many as 300 graduate students are pursuing degrees in China. \u201cIn 10 years time, one of [these students] will be the leader of South Sudan.\u201d\n\nWasara fears the SPLM already sees the Chinese communist party as its role model, a trend that he sees replicated across the continent. \u201dMost Africans are switching from the West to China,\u201d he says. He worries that China will become South Sudan\u2019s main role model. The United States and other Western powers supported South Sudan\u2019s bid for independence and are still involved in aid and mediation efforts in the country today. \u201cIt will be a disaster for us, especially for those who know the value of human rights, democracy, free speech,\u201d Wasara says.\n\nThat may already be happening. The SPLM is at least taking inspiration from the CCP. Kpandu says he reads from his copy of Concise History of the Chinese Communist Party every day. He wants to establish a youth arm of the SPLM, modeled after the Communist Youth League of China. After reading about Mao Zedong\u2019s famous declaration that women \u201chold up half the sky,\u201d he has pledged to recruit more women into the party.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cChina has been an example to us. We will always look up to them,\u201d he says from his office at the General Secretariat for the SPLM. The secretariat manages the day to day operations of the party, and he is preparing an SPLM training on code of conduct and party structure.\n\nKpandu says South Sudan won\u2019t copy everything from China, claiming that South Sudan won\u2019t be a one-party state. President Silva Kir, head of the SPLM in Juba, is pushing for an election in 2018 despite warnings from the United Nations that a legitimate election is near impossible and risks causing more violence. Others say that African elites and students select what lessons they choose to take from China\u2019s example.\n\n\u201cThe young Africans are not robots and tabula rasa such that the Chinese will just stuff them with whatever they want. The students will take the best of China and leave the bad there in China and go back to Africa,\u201d says Adams Bodomo, director of the Global African Diaspora Studies Research Platform and professor of African studies at the University of Vienna.\n\nThe exchanges and scholarships may be more about inspiring admiration and sympathy than emulation. Others who have attended diplomatic trainings say the teaching is basic \u2014 how to shake hands or how to sit with a senior dignitary. (If you\u2019re the host, the dignitary should be to your right.)\n\nAdvertisement\n\nA South Sudanese diplomat who spent a month in China for a training of diplomats said his trip was mostly focused on showing off China\u2019s achievements. He was taken to visit villages built from scratch, well-run rural hospitals.\n\n\u201cWhen we went they told us a lot of stuff about China itself and China\u2019s industrialization. It\u2019s more about public relations,\u201d he says, asking not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to media.\n\nThis public relations campaign is at least partly working. The so-called China model is gaining traction across the African continent. According to an Afrobarometer survey last year of 56,000 people in 36 African countries, 30% of respondents said the United States was a better model for development, compared 24% who ranked China first. In Southern Africa, North Africa, and Central Africa, China was on par or ahead of the US.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nOn his trip to China, Kpandu was also impressed with the surveillance. He visited a police control room in Nanjing and when his group was taken to a special economic zone outside the southern Chinese city, a drone filmed them the entire 72 mile journey.\n\nBack in Juba, he wrote a report recommending his government buy some of these drones to deal with \u201cunknown gunmen,\u201d a moniker that often includes government soldiers themselves known for robbing and attacking civilians in the capital. \u201cWe have learned quite a lot from the CCP,\u201d he says.", "output": "In the past China sent emissaries to promote its brand of communism to Africa. In a change of tactics, it now\u00a0invites\u00a0thousands of political leaders, bureaucrats, students and businesspeople to China for training and exchanges. Beijing has hosted\u00a0such events for decades but over the past 10 years has intensified the programme. It's seen as useful in cementing political and business ties, helps develop local African economies and\u00a0fosters sympathetic sentiment towards China among the continent's\u00a0next generation of elites.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BP's upgraded supercomputer is world's fastest commercial machine \n BP has announced that it has more than doubled the total computing power of its Center for High-Performance Computing (CHPC) in Houston, making it the most powerful supercomputer in the world for commercial research.\n\nIncreased computing power, speed and storage reduce the time needed to analyse large amounts of seismic data to support exploration, appraisal and development plans as well as other research and technology developments throughout BP.\n\n\u201cOur investment in supercomputing is another example of BP leading the way in digital technologies that deliver improved safety, reliability and efficiency across our operations and give us a clear competitive advantage,\u201d said Ahmed Hashmi, BP\u2019s head of upstream technology.\n\nThe Center for High-Performance Computing provides critical support to BP's upstream business segment, where it serves as the worldwide hub for research computing. BP\u2019s computer scientists and mathematicians at the CHPC have enabled industry breakthroughs in advanced seismic imaging and rock physics research to help with reservoir modelling.\n\nBP\u2019s downstream business also is using the supercomputer for fluid dynamic research to study hydrocarbon flows at refineries and pipelines to improve operational safety.\n\nWorking with Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Intel using HPE\u2019s Apollo System and Intel\u2019s Knights Landing processors, the recent upgrade has boosted the processing speed of BP\u2019s supercomputer from 4 petaflops to 9 petaflops. A petaflop of processing speed is one thousand trillion floating point operations, or 'flops,' per second.\n\nThe supercomputer has a total memory of 1140 terabytes (1.14 petabytes) and 30 petabytes of storage, the equivalent of over 500 000 iPhones.\n\n\u201cWith the expansion and new systems in place, BP will be able to further bolster its capabilities to accurately process and manage vast amounts of seismic data to identify new business opportunities and improve operational efficiency,\u201d said Alain Andreoli, senior vice president and general manager, Data Center Infrastructure Group, Hewlett Packard Enterprise.\n\nSince the CHPC opened in 2013, BP has quadrupled its computing power and doubled its storage capacity and plans to continue expanding its computing capability in 2018.", "output": "BP has more than doubled the total computing power of its Center for High-Performance Computing (CHPC) in Houston, creating the most powerful supercomputer in the world for commercial research. The extra muscle will reduce the time needed to analyse large amounts of seismic data to support exploration, appraisal and development plans as well as other research and technology developments throughout the company. BP has used the machine to achieve breakthroughs in advanced seismic imaging and rock physics research that help with reservoir modelling. Its downstream business also uses the supercomputer for fluid dynamic research."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK cardboard recycling could see serious impact from China ban \n Imminent restrictions by the Chinese on importing cardboard from the rest of the world are likely to cause chaos in the UK in the coming weeks, according to a leading recycling expert.\n\nFrom 1 January, China will impose much stricter quality restrictions on imported cardboard as well as banning the importation of all plastic waste and mixed paper rubbish from all over the world. The move is part of president Xi Jinping\u2019s drive to create a \u201cbeautiful China\u201d with a clean environment.\n\nThe new quality standards mean cardboard will only be accepted by the Chinese if the material is uncontaminated with other waste products. From January, contamination rates must be below 0.5%, rather than the 1.5% previously applied.\n\n\n\nThis means cardboard which still contains staples or is contaminated with grit from the warehouse, or contains stray waste products such as tin cans or traces of plastic, could be rejected and sent back on container ships to the UK and other countries of origin.\n\nThe UK exports around 3m tonnes of cardboard waste to China each year but some or all of this could be rejected under the new restrictions.\n\nSimon Ellin, of the Recycling Association, says the tighter controls on contamination could mean some or all of the millions of tonnes of cardboard waste exported from the UK to China each year could be rejected and sent back. He appealed for the Chinese to delay implementation of the new standards until other countries were ready.\n\nHe spoke as the World Trade Organization ended talks with China over the impending ban with no change to the Chinese position. Ellin said, after discussion with recycling representatives in the US and Europe, it was clear no one was prepared for the new standards. Chinese officials were also unclear about what the new quality standards mean and what waste they could accept, he said.\n\n\u201cThe ban and greater restrictions on imports is being implemented too quickly,\u201d said Ellin.\n\n\u201cAs much as we in the UK, US and elsewhere do not have enough time to adapt, this is also the case with the Chinese agencies at the other end. This suggests there could be chaos.\u201d\n\nThe concern comes on top of huge worries over what will happen to the tens of thousands of tonnes of plastic and paper waste which will be banned from import.\n\nFor years China has been the world\u2019s largest importer of recyclable materials, which it uses in its manufacturing industry. In 2016, China imported 7.3m tonnes of waste plastics from developed countries including the UK, the US and Japan.\n\nBut Xi\u2019s drive for sustainable development and a cleaner China mean from January, in a campaign against yang laji or \u201cforeign garbage\u201d, plastic waste and mixed paper waste will no longer be accepted.\n\nEllin said the recycling industry would have to take urgent steps to keep the cardboard as clean as possible, take several pictures of the waste before sending it and be prepared for it all to be sent back.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe support President Xi\u2019s aim to create a beautiful China by 2035, we welcome it, but we we need more time. We will meet the new standards but we need more time.\n\n\u201cUntil we get to the bottom of some of the areas of uncertainty, we are reminding \u2026 the recycling sector of the need to keep material exceptionally clean, take more photos than were required previously and be prepared that even this material can be rejected.\u201d\n\nAnalysis of customs data by Greenpeace reveals British companies have shipped more than 2.7m tonnes of plastic waste alone to China and Hong Kong since 2012 \u2013 two-thirds of the UK\u2019s total waste plastic exports.\n\nSome experts predict the plastic ban will mean British recyclers have to find storage next year for 350,000 tonnes of plastic which needs to be recycled.", "output": "Cardboard recycling in the UK could be severely affected by new restrictions on waste imports shortly due to take effect in China. China will ban the importation of plastic and mixed paper waste\u00a0and\u00a0introduce stricter controls on imported cardboard waste\u00a0from 1 January 2018. The new controls mean that contamination levels for cardboard with other waste products must be below 0.5%, rather than the current 1.5%. According to the Recycling Association, much of the 3 million tonnes of cardboard exported by the UK to China annually could be rejected under the new regulations.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Energy drinks should be banned for under-16s: Action on Sugar \n Energy drinks should be banned from sale to young people under the age of 16, health experts have warned in light of a study showing they have unacceptably high levels of sugar and caffeine.\n\nThe study in the journal BMJ Open analyses the sugar, caffeine and carbohydrate content of energy drinks, which include brands such as Monster and Rockstar as well as supermarket own-brands. In both 2015 and 2017, the average sugar content of the energy drinks was more than the entire recommended daily maximum for an adult in the UK.\n\nThe campaigning group Action on Sugar, whose researchers carried out the study, is calling for a ban on sales to under-16s.\n\n\u201cThis study illustrates the huge contribution of energy drinks to sugar intake, which is linked to the development of obesity and various types of cancer, as well as type 2 diabetes and rotting our children\u2019s teeth. They are completely inappropriate for children to consume, form no part of a healthy balanced diet, and should be banned for under-16s,\u201d said its chairman, Graham MacGregor, professor of cardiovascular medicine at Queen Mary University of London.\n\n\n\nTV chef and food campaigner Jamie Oliver has also called for a ban on sales of energy drinks to children, as have teacher groups.\n\nEnergy drinks are marketed for general consumption, rather than for athletes, who are targeted with so-called \u201csports\u201d drinks. Children and teenagers drink them more than older adults, even though energy drinks with high caffeine levels over 150mg per litre have to carry a warning that they are not recommended for children or pregnant women. The study found that the 43 products carrying such warnings contained the caffeine equivalent of nearly two cups of coffee.\n\n\u201cSince children and teenagers are the main consumers of energy drinks, manufacturers should consider reducing levels of caffeine,\u201d says the study.\n\nThat would also help reduce the sugar levels. \u201cThe removal of caffeine also allows for the removal of 10.3% of sugar without affecting taste, which has the potential to reduce body weight of adults by 0.6 kg, without any change in sugar-sweetened drinks consumption,\u201d says the paper.\n\nSoft drinks are responsible for 30% of the sugar intake of children aged 4 to 10 and 40% of those aged 11 to 18. Energy drinks were typically sold in 500ml cans and bottles, which is larger than a standard soft drink. In 2015, 86% of products in 2015 exceeded the maximum daily recommendation for sugar intake for a child aged 7\u201310 years (24 g/day \u2013 equivalent to six teaspoons of sugar) and 78% in 2017.\n\nThe threat of the sugary soft drinks tax, which the government plans to introduce in April, has led to some reformulation of some of energy drinks to reduce their sugar levels \u2013 but only by 10% on drinks that are still very high in sugar. Almost all \u2013 95% \u2013 would receive a red label for sugar content under nutritional traffic light warnings.", "output": "Energy drinks should not be sold to young people under the age of 16, according to the UK campaign group Action on Sugar. The group conducted a study which found that the average sugar content of such drinks\u00a0exceeded the entire recommended daily maximum for a UK adult. Chef and campaigner Jamie Oliver\u00a0also called for a ban, along with various teacher organisations. The group also called for the level of caffeine in such products to be reduced, after the study found that 43 different energy drinks each contained as much caffeine as two cups of coffee in one serving.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook launches new tools as it admits harming mental health \n Facebook has acknowledged that social media use can be bad for users\u2019 mental health, a sign the company is feeling pressure from a growing chorus of critics raising alarms about the platform\u2019s effect on society.\n\nResearchers for the social network admitted in a blogpost Friday that studies have found that spending time on Facebook \u201cpassively consuming information\u201d can leave people \u201cfeeling worse\u201d, but also argued that part of the solution is to engage and interact more with people on the platform.\n\nThe company\u2019s public recognition of some of its platform\u2019s detrimental effects came days after a former Facebook executive made headlines with a speech slamming the corporation, saying: \u201cThe short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works. No civil discourse, no cooperation, misinformation, mistruth.\u201d\n\nThe blogpost, which also announced new tools meant to mitigate some of the negative experiences on Facebook, came at the end of a year of intense scrutiny and bad press for the company. Facebook has repeatedly been accused of spreading Russian propaganda and fake news, providing a platform and network for white supremacists, enabling hate speech and offensive ads and censoring critics of oppressive governments.\n\nThe company\u2019s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has asked for forgiveness and claimed his new mission was to \u201cbring the world closer together\u201d.\n\nStudies have repeatedly found that Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites can damage the emotional wellbeing of heavy users, particularly younger people. The new post from Facebook\u2019s director of research, David Ginsberg, and the research scientist Moira Burke painted the literature on the subject as mixed and inconclusive, arguing that Facebook use can also have positive mental health impacts.\n\nGinsberg and Burke claimed that \u201cactively interacting with people \u2013 especially sharing messages, posts and comments with close friends and reminiscing about past interactions \u2013 is linked to improvements in well-being\u201d. They cited one study suggesting that students who scrolled through their own Facebook profiles experienced \u201cboosts in self-affirmation\u201d compared with others who looked at strangers\u2019 pages.\n\nThe authors, however, also pointed to a study finding that people who clicked on four times as many links as the average person on Facebook reported worse mental health. The blog further acknowledged that reading about others online might lead to \u201cnegative social comparison\u201d and that some theorize that the internet takes people away from in-person social engagement.\n\nThe post also referenced a psychologist\u2019s claims that mobile phones have redefined modern relationships, making people \u201calone together\u201d, and another expert\u2019s arguments that an increase in teen depression is linked to technology use.\n\nOn Friday, Facebook launched a new feature called Snooze, which allows users to hide a person, page or group for 30 days without having to unfollow or unfriend them: \u201cThis will give people more control over their feed and hopefully make their experience more positive.\u201d\n\nThe company also unveiled a tool called Take a Break, meant to help users going through break-ups, recognizing that seeing an ex-partner\u2019s social media activities can be emotionally painful. The new feature gives people control over what they can see of their exes on Facebook and what their exes can see on their pages.\n\n\u201cIn sum, our research and other academic literature suggests that it\u2019s about how you use social media that matters when it comes to your well-being,\u201d the blog authors wrote, adding a quote from Zuckerberg, saying: \u201cWe want the time people spend on Facebook to encourage meaningful social interactions.\u201d\n\nZuckerberg also claimed last month that he believed \u201cprotecting our community is more important than maximizing our profits\u201d.\n\nFacebook, however, has continually prioritized features designed to make the platform addictive and has allowed users to instantaneously purchase harmful ads without scrutiny. The company has also struggled to stop the spread of offensive live videos on the platform, some featuring graphic abuse and violence.\n\nOn Thursday, Chamath Palihapitiya, the former executive who criticized the company, walked back his comments, saying: \u201cI genuinely believe that Facebook is a force for good in the world.\u201d", "output": "Facebook has admitted in a blog post that its social media platform can damage users\u2019 mental health.\u00a0Research for the social network suggested that \u201cpassively consuming information\u201d can result in people \u201cfeeling worse\u201d, but Facebook also suggested that more interaction on the platform could address this problem. The comments came days after former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya claimed that the company was \u201cdestroying how society works\u201d. The blog also announced new tools to counter negative effects, including the \"Snooze\" and \"Take A Break\" features, supposedly giving users greater control over the\u00a0material to which they are exposed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ING's bond desk to adopt AI tool for faster pricing \n ING is rolling out a new artificial intelligence (AI) powered bond trading tool which has already been used on the firm\u2019s emerging markets desk.\n\nKnown as Katana, the tool aims to reduce decision-making time and provide traders with analytics to choose what price to quote when clients buy or sell bonds.\n\nThe first results of testing Katana with the emerging markets desk in London saw faster pricing for 90% of trades and a 25% reduction in trading cost.\n\nSantiago Braje, global head of credit trading at ING Wholesale Bank, explained in most AI use cases, there is a narrow focus on automation which restricts the technology to liquid asset classes where the trader is often replaced by the machine.\n\n\u201cWith Katana, AI is applied to enhance the traders\u2019 decision-making abilities, allowing them to deploy their natural intuition and expertise in the most effective way. This is a powerful combination,\u201d Braje said.\n\nING explained Katana will better equip traders for MiFID II by allowing them to manage high volumes of trading and as flow shifts from voice to electronic platforms.\n\n\u201cOur traders stay fully in control, but are now better equipped to give the best quote to our clients every time,\u201d Braje added.\n\nKatana was developed by ING\u2019s financial markets global credit trading team in London alongside the wholesale banking advanced analytics team who will continue to update the tool.", "output": "ING's bond desk will deploy Katana, a proprietary artificial intelligence tool that provides\u00a0traders with market analytics, thereby enabling faster pricing when quoting to clients. First testing results of Katana on the emerging markets desk recorded faster pricing for 90% of trades and a 25% reduction in trading costs. The Dutch bank\u00a0stressed Katana will not replace traders, instead said\u00a0it will enhance traders\u2019 decision-making abilities. ING said the use of Katana will better equip traders to deal with incoming Mifid II regulations, helping them to manage high trading volumes as the firm shifts to using electronic platforms.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "PayPal sees cash as greatest competition in India \n Digital transactions have seen a dramatic increase in India in the past year due to push from both government and the private sectors. This has encouraged PayPal to intensify its operations in India.\n\nAccording to Google-Boston Consulting Group (BCG) study, Indian digital payments industry will grow to $500 billion by 2020, contributing to 15% of GDP.\n\nThe Drum spoke with PayPal's spokesperson to find out about its marketing strategy in India. Given that it's not the only one to take advantage of this opportunity, the business will need to stand out from the crowd.\n\nThe spokesperson says: \"PayPal, with its presence across 200 markets, has a deep understanding of what the end consumer needs. In India, we have observed that both marketing and customer acquisition is driven through a holistic product offering.\"\n\n\"Our focus across the globe is that of becoming a customer champion. In India we are bringing to the consumer a single PayPal account for their domestic and international transactions and enabling digital transactions in a safe and secure manner. We have localized the product for India and will focus on educating consumers, understanding their needs and in the process, empowering them with our world class digital payment solutions. We are focused on building a sustainable model and offering value to our customers via innovative solutions beyond payments with a strong focus on risk and security.\"\n\nPayPal recently entered into competition with Paytm, Google, Hike and WhatsApp as it added digital payments to its portfolio in India to leverage the government's 'Digital India' initiative.\n\nAccording to the spokesperson, PayPal entered India with a strong domestic value proposition, and a clear road map to enable the Indian customer to benefit from its global experience and products.\n\nPayPal adds: \"We believe the opportunity here is still untapped, with almost 85% of transactions still being in cash. India is in its first phase of digitizing payments. We have been in India for close to a decade, facilitating cross-border transactions. Launching domestic operations in a market where the digital payments opportunity is on a growth trajectory seemed the logical next step.\"\n\nAs to how PayPal keeps up with the competition, the spokesperson replies: \"For us, the real competition in India is cash. There has been significant policy impetus and a shift in consumer mind-set towards digital payments but the run way is long.\"\n\n\"Our global technological expertise and experience of managing more than about 218 million active users in over 200 markets is one of our key differentiator. Our strength lies in our platform- scalable two-sided platform and network with customer focused product experiences which is our unmatched USP. We are focussed on enabling digital payments in a safe and secure manner and offer unique value propositions like Buyer and Seller Protection.\"\n\nPayPal also introduced two technology Innovation Labs in India to promote innovation and nurture fintech startups. The spokesperson says that PayPal considers India to be a hotbed for innovation given its enormous talent pool, evolving startup ecosystem and a diverse spectrum of merchant profiles. PayPal's Innovation Labs were set up as one of the ways to cater to their needs.\n\n\"From our Incubator program to Recharge, we are constantly looking for new ways to serve the ecosystem we operate in and we will continue to do this at every step of our journey in India.PayPal is in a unique position such that it is not just an agnostic payments platform. It is also a gateway, a merchant account, a payment method, a digital wallet and a payment processor to both consumers and merchants.\"\n\n\"It is every single one of these things, integrated end-to-end in a platform that delivers more seamless commerce in a hyper-connected world. Given this wide spectrum, we believe we have a lot of opportunities to positively impact the lives of our consumers and stakeholders at different facets of their lives.\"\n\nPayPal has also partnered with Bookmyshow, Yatra, MakeMyTrip, PVR Cinemas, Firstcry, Vistarooms and Thomas Cook to strengthen its presence within the travel and tourism sector. Creating partnerships is another way the business can gain the attention fo consumers in a market where both cash and competitors are taking up customer mindshare.", "output": "Paypal still views cash as its main rival in India, despite the influx of new digital payment companies, according to a spokesperson. With nearly 85% of transactions still being completed with cash, the company is increasing its efforts in the region to remain a strong contender in a digital payments industry that is predicted to grow to $500bn by 2020. Paypal, along with rivals Paytm, Google, Whatsapp and Hike, is leveraging the Indian government's \"Digital India\" programme to remain competitive. The firm recently launched two technology Innovation Labs in the country to support fintech startups and promote innovative solutions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ABB creates microgrid for offshore platform \n ABB Ability\u2122 enabled microgrid to support Woodside\u2019s efforts to reduce carbon emissions and help optimise costs.\n\nABB will provide Woodside, Australia\u2019s largest independent oil and gas company, with a PowerStore\u2122 Battery storage system that is capable of remote management of operations and service. The system will be installed on the Goodwyn A platform. This innovative ABB solution will contribute to Woodside\u2019s 2020 goal of reducing carbon emissions and will help lower cost of operations and maintenance.\n\nThe Goodwyn A offshore production platform is located about 135 km northwest of Karratha in Western Australia and has been operating since 1995. The 55 000 t production facility is more than 290 meters tall and stands in a water depth of 131 meters. The platform combines production, re-injection, utilities and accommodation facilities. Dry gas and condensate from surrounding reservoirs is transported via a network of pipelines to Goodwyn A and then sent on-shore to the Karratha Gas Plant for processing. Goodwyn A is designed for up to 30 production wells, including five re-injection wells, and has a daily production capacity of up to 36 000 t of gas and 11 000 t of condensate.\n\nABB\u2019s containerized, plug-and-play ABB Ability PowerStore battery storage system will support Goodwyn A\u2019s existing gas turbine generators. The battery will replace one of the six existing gas turbine generators and will also reduce the need for using the emergency diesel generator. Short term backup will be provided via the new battery energy storage system incorporated within the microgrid, to provide a \u2018spinning reserve\u2019. A dedicated ABB Ability Microgrid Plus control system will act as the brain of the solution and it will also be possible to remotely operate the microgrid if the need arises or the platform has to be de-manned for any reason.\n\n\u201cWe are pleased to partner with Woodside on pioneering a PowerStore Battery energy solution for offshore oil and gas, which will reduce environmental impact and optimize costs\u201d said Massimo Danieli, head of ABB\u2019s Grid Automation business within the company\u2019s Power Grids division. \u201cMicrogrids and energy storage are key focus areas of our Next Level strategy and this innovative solution reinforces ABB\u2019s position as a partner of choice in enabling a stronger, smarter and greener grid.\u201d", "output": "ABB will install a battery storage system capable of remote management of operations and service on Woodside Petroleum's Goodwyn A platform located about 135 km northwest of Karratha in Western Australia. The 55,000 ton production facility sits in 131 metres of water and combines production, re-injection, utilities and accommodation facilities. ABB\u2019s battery storage system will support Goodwyn A\u2019s existing gas turbine generators, replacing\u00a0one of the six existing gas turbine generators and will also reduce the need for using the emergency diesel generator."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trusted Freshness launches Canadian vertical farming franchise \n Dec. 13, 2017, Leduc, Alta. \u2013 Western Canada\u2019s grocery and food service industries are eagerly waiting for the final commissioning of Trusted Freshness\u2122 Ltd. Canada\u2019s newest vertical farming enterprise. The 37,000 sq. ft. growing facility in Leduc is going through the final steps before launching its commercial operation.\n\nThe Trusted Freshness facility provides a controlled indoor urban environment capable of growing a wide assortment of produce including micro greens, leafy greens and vine crops. Many of the crops can be grown and harvested within a seven to 30-day cycle, providing fresh produce year round.\n\nThe local availability of produce ensures that the nutritional benefits of the produce are not reduced by long transportation hauls, which is the case with the produce imported from southwestern U.S. and Mexico.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cOur franchise approach to vertical farming provides our franchisees with tremendous flexibility in how they can operate their business,\u201d says Jim Schroeder, Trusted Freshness CEO and chief marketing officer. \u201cThe franchisee may wish to simply invest in a Trusted Freshness vertical farming module and have the management of the unit out-sourced or operate their franchise themselves.\u201d\n\nThe Trusted Freshness franchise business model enables investors to operate their individual growing enterprises in a co-located facility, while at the same time taking advantage of shared core services such as hands-on training, germination, packaging, distribution and marketing of their produce.\n\n\u201cThe demand for Trusted Freshness produce is significant,\u201d says Schroeder. \u201cSince word got out about our vertical farming facility, we have been approached by numerous groups interested in purchasing our freshly-grown produce. Grocery retailers, the food service industry and even individual chefs are looking for that specific herb or micro-green that will give them an extra advantage in their culinary offering.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe are delighted with the continued interest our Trusted Freshness operation is receiving from the local business community, the rest of Canada and other parts of the world,\u201d says Schroeder. \u201cWe are already investigating additional locations that would be a great fit for a Trusted Freshness operation.\u201d\n\n\u201cWith the world-wide market for vertical farming operations projected to be worth a minimum of $3.88 billion U.S. by 2020, this is certainly the time for entrepreneurs and investors to take a look at a Trusted Freshness franchise,\u201d says Schroeder.\n\nFor more information on Trusted Freshness\u2122 Ltd. visit www.trustedfreshness.com or contact Trusted Freshness CEO Jim Schroeder at 780.690.8985, email: jim@trustedfreshness.com", "output": "A vertical farming facility is opening in Canada as part of the Trusted Freshness franchise. The 37,000 sq\u00a0ft\u00a0site in Leduc,\u00a0western Canada will provide a controlled environment for growing a variety of crops all year round. Local food companies are expected to benefit from the increased availability of produce rather than\u00a0having to rely on imports from\u00a0further away. Trusted Freshness provides shared services to its franchisees, including training, distribution and marketing.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brokers warned after Bluefin fined \u00a34m over conflict of interest \n Brokers should check their conflicts of interest risks approach in the wake of the Bluefin fine, a top law firm said today.\n\nPinsent Masons regulatory expert Jonathan Cavill said the Bluefin fine shows conflicts of interest remains a \u2018priority area for the FCA\u2019.\n\nHe said it is not just brokers owned by a parent who should assess their conflicts.\n\nThe full details of the shocking culture that gripped Bluefin have emerged from the FCA\u2019s final notice - and some brokers feel it is a gamechanger which should lead to fees being used instead of commissions.\n\nSubscribers read more Briefing: Bluefin scandal is the tip of the iceberg - Brokers should be worried\n\n\u201cBrokers are often faced with a potentially risky conflict of interest situation; some of these involve the parent who owns it, and some do not,\u201d Cavill said, contentious regulatory expert at international law firm Pinsent Masons.\n\n\u201dThe relevance of this fine is not isolated simply to where brokers are owned by an insurer or provide misleading information.\n\n\u201dCoupled with the upcoming rules in the Insurance Distribution Directive on disclosure of broker shareholdings to clients, the fine reinforces the need for brokers to properly assess their conflict of interest risks and ensure that they are on the right side of the line with the regulator.\u201d\n\nAccording to the FCA final notice reported on by Insurance Times, the regulator highlighted issues Bluefin brokers had placing business with AXA and, importantly, other preferred insurers offering higher commissions.\n\nThe FCA found that one broker placed business with a preferred insurer (one that was not AXA) and \u2019did not consider the transfer was ideal but carried an opportunity for significantly higher commission\u2019.\n\nThe Bluefin compliance officer noted that the staff felt \u2018under pressure\u2019 and \u2018not comfortable\u2019 with the placement.\n\nIn the wake of these issues found by the FCA and the Bluefin fine, Cavill pointed to the regulatory documenation brokers must examine in assessing their conflicts.\n\n\u201cThe FCA\u2019s rules in SYSC10 and the PRIN Handbook make it clear how firms should be handling conflict of interests,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201dWe have seen some fairly substantial conflict of interest fines from the regulator in the last few years - one almost as high as \u00a320,000,000 - but this fine is unique in that the FCA not only found that Bluefin did not manage its conflicts of interest properly, but also, crucially, that it misled customers in the documentation provided to them; Bluefin held itself out as being \u2018truly independent\u2019, despite, as the FCA found, knowing the conflict of interest risk.\u201d\n\nThe FCA is ramping up pressure on brokers over conflicts issues as it aims to root out rogue brokers such as Bluefin and uncover what is happening in the London market.", "output": "Insurance brokers have been warned to check how they are managing potential conflicts of interest, following the \u00a34m ($5.34m) fine issued to Bluefin. The Financial Conduct Authority issued the fine after it found Bluefin had misled customers by recommending policies from its parent company, AXA, without disclosing a\u00a0financial interest. Brokers at the company were also found to have placed business with preferred companies offering them higher commission. Regulatory expert Jonathan Cavill from law firm Pinsent Masons has warned the case shows other brokers should review how they guard against similar risks and check their procedures are compliant.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Halliburton introduces drillbit optimised for shale formations \n Halliburton has announced the release of Geometrix\u2122 4D Shaped Cutters, a line of four distinct geometric profiles to help improve cutting efficiency and increase control to reduce drilling costs.\n\nGeoMetrix cutters expand the capabilities of traditional polycrystalline diamond materials (PDC) by shaping the cutting structure to optimsze drilling performance for specific applications. Traditional flat cutters generate heat and wear, which slows drilling progress as operators must frequently check or replace damaged bits.\n\nThe new line includes Chisel\u2122 Plowed Scribe Cutter for brittle formations such as carbonates; Chopper\u2122 Plowed Cylinder Cutter for increased heat dissipation in high energy drilling operations such as shale formations; Dagger\u2122 Multi-Plowed Cutter with fluid channels to improve cleaning and prevent plugging around the cutter face; and Machete\u2122 Optimised Tip Geometry Cutter for use in formations that require high point loading.\n\n\"The launch of Geometrix cutters demonstrates our ability to collaborate with customers and translate knowledge into solutions that can help lower drilling costs,\" said Scott Regimbald, vice president of the Halliburton Drill Bits and Services business. \"Each cutter is tailored for specific applications so operators now have the most complete portfolio to meet their drilling challenges.\"\n\nIn a recent offshore job in Mexico where an operator was drilling a limestone-shale formation, the Geometrix bit doubled the rate of penetration over a 700 m section saving the operator three days of drilling time compared to offset wells.", "output": "Halliburton released four new drillbits to improve cutting efficiency, including one designed for shale formations. The Geometrix 4D Shaped Cutters include the Chisel\u00a0Plowed Scribe Cutter for brittle formations such as carbonates; the Chopper\u00a0Plowed Cylinder Cutter for increased heat dissipation in high energy drilling operations such as shale formations; the Dagger\u00a0Multi-Plowed Cutter with fluid channels to improve cleaning and prevent plugging around the cutter face; and the Machete\u00a0Optimised Tip Geometry Cutter for use in formations that require high point loading."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Conversational AI company Kasisto secures $17m for expansion \n Source: Kasisto\n\nKasisto, creators of KAI, the leading conversational AI platform for finance, today announced a $17 million Series B funding round led by Oak HC/FT with participation from existing investors Propel Venture Partners, Two Sigma Ventures, Commerce Ventures, Mastercard and Partnership Fund for New York City.\n\nKAI enables financial institutions to acquire new customers as well as engage, support, and generate additional revenue from existing customers via human-like, intelligent conversations with smart-bots and virtual assistants, anytime, anywhere.\n\nThe new capital will be used to scale the business to meet the increasing demand for Kasisto\u2019s products in existing and new markets as well as deepen partnerships with existing customers. This new funding will also be invested in expanding the KAI platform to include new AI-powered features and incorporate innovations that continue to deliver both business results and customer engagement and delight.\n\n\u201cThis past year has been one of explosive growth across the board \u2013 the number of signed deals and deployed customers, our team\u2019s strength and size, and KAI\u2019s feature robustness and readiness for large-scale enterprise deployments,\u201d says Zor Gorelov, CEO and Co-Founder of Kasisto. \u201cThere is great momentum going into this investment, especially following the recent signing of major customers including TD Bank and Standard Chartered Bank. We are very excited to partner with Oak HC/FT on this next phase and consider their track record and expertise in the finance sector a significant asset.\u201d\n\n\u201cAI\u2019s adoption in financial services has continued at a rapid pace. This technology serves as a catalyst of change to enhance the sector\u2019s technology and operations entirely,\u201d adds Patricia Kemp, Co-founder & General Partner at Oak HC/FT. \u201cKasisto has an amazing track record of not only having one of the most proven and comprehensive AI platforms in the industry, but also with their customers \u2013 some of the world\u2019s most innovative financial institutions -- that sets them apart. We are excited to partner with Kasisto to continue to drive scale and growth.\u201d\n\nKAI is an enterprise-ready platform that powers bots and virtual assistant with financial expertise, steeped with domain knowledge, so financial institutions can:\n\nOffer entirely new and differentiated experiences to their consumers, designed with the most intuitive user interface: natural human language\n\nDecrease customer care costs by deflecting call center calls and triaging inquiries\n\nIncrease lifetime value of customers with contextual and relevant offers for financial products and services\n\nEngage customers and promote brand loyalty with proactive financial well-being features\n\nMeet customers in their preferred channel \u2013 mobile, web, messaging or home devices\n\nOak HC/FT is the premier venture growth-equity fund investing in Healthcare Information & Services (\u201cHC\u201d) and Financial Services Technology (\u201cFT\u201d). Kasisto is the 18th investment by Oak HC/FT since launching in June 2014. The fund and its investors contain deep domain experience and are uniquely positioned to provide entrepreneurs and companies with strategic counsel, board-level participation, and access to an extensive network of industry leaders. Ms. Kemp will join the board of Kasisto and Michael Heller will join as a Board Observer.", "output": "Conversational artificial intelligence (AI) provider Kasisto has raised $17m and entered into a partnership with venture growth-equity fund Oak HC/FT. Kasisto's AI, called KAI, powers bots with financial expertise that allow banks to engage with customers across multiple platforms and promote\u00a0offers. The company plans to\u00a0expand the platform and incorporate new features with the proceeds."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google looks to improve community health with Cityblock start-up \n If you think startups are just for young entrepreneurs, then think again. Google\u2019s Sidewalk, a subsidiary of Alphabet, is also getting a piece of the action in startups for urban health. Sidewalk is getting into community health with the launch of Cityblock, a startup focused on reinventing urban health. Cityblock wants to address the health disparity in lower socio-economic urban communities by providing preventive medicine and access to resources. CityBlock is one of Google\u2019s Sidewalk experimental \u201cprojects.\u201d Back in October, in its announcement on Medium, the company is also looking into new technologies in \u201creal-world conditions,\u201d that will potentially reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to two-thirds, shorten commutes by an hour, and slash the cost of living for local residents by as much as 14 percent.\n\nCityBlock believes the current healthcare system is failing many of families in urban communities. Their aim is to build a scalable solution to address the root causes of health for underserved urban populations. In article post on Medium, Iyah Romm, Co-Founder and CEO, Cityblock Health, \u201cThere\u2019s a problem in our cities: whole neighborhoods are sick. Zip codes are better predictors of health outcomes than biology. And despite the efforts of many, we have failed to build sustainable, scalable systems that provide high-quality, cost-effective care for populations with complex health needs.\u201d CityBlock wants to improve the health of the underserved populations living in our biggest cities who have continued to have disproportionately poor health outcomes.\n\nAccording to their website, three trends motivated the idea behind CityBlock:\n\nFirst, underserved populations living in our biggest cities have continued to have disproportionately poor health outcomes, with interventions coming much later and at a significantly higher cost than for other populations. Second, nearly all innovation efforts have been focused on people with means, despite urgent need in underserved lower-income communities. And finally, the business of healthcare has become increasingly transactional, leaving little room for meaningful relationships between patients and clinicians, driving increased dissatisfaction among both. We set out to challenge this status quo.\n\nYou can read more about CityBlock on their website", "output": "Urban design venture Sidewalk Labs, an Alphabet subsidiary, has launched Cityblock, an urban community health start-up. Cityblock aims to improve health outcomes in poorer urban communities. Co-founder and CEO of\u00a0Cityblock Health,\u00a0Iyah Romm, said:\u00a0\"There\u2019s a problem in our cities: whole neighbourhoods are sick. Zip codes are better predictors of health outcomes than biology.\" Cityblock will focus on providing preventative medicine and keeping healthcare\u00a0costs down.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian space agency develops small\u00a0rockets for satellite launches \n With the size of earth observation satellites reducing and the future trend moving towards a constellation of small satellites rather than a large one, India\u2019s space agency is developing a smaller rocket that can carry satellites weighing up to 500 kg, a senior official said. The preliminary design for the proposed four-stage rocket that would weigh around 100 tonnes is ready and its feasibility study has also been conducted.(PTI file for representation)\n\nIndia currently gets contracts to launch small satellites largely weighing less than 500 kg and a smaller rocket would be sufficient, he added. He also said 2018 will be an eventful year for the Indian space agency with several notable launches being lined up.\n\n\u201cOwing to advancement in technology, the mass of satellites is coming down -- including that of communication satellites. A lot of start-ups are building small satellites and they would like to put one in orbit at a lower cost,\u201d K. Sivan, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), a part of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), told IANS.\n\nAccording to Sivan, the preliminary design for the proposed four-stage rocket that would weigh around 100 tonnes is ready and its feasibility study has also been conducted. Sivan said the first rocket would be ready in two years once the project gets the necessary approvals.\n\nAt present, ISRO gets contracts from foreign organisations to carry small satellites. These are largely carried piggy-back whenever India launches a bigger satellite for its own use with the rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).\n\nThe PSLV rocket has three variants weighing between 230 tonnes and 320 tonnes, with a carrying capacity ranging between 1,100 kg and 1,900 kg.\n\nSivan said a smaller rocket will be sufficient to tap the small satellite segment.\n\nLooking forward to 2018, Sivan said it is going to be an eventful year with several launches, including the country\u2019s second Chandrayaan moon mission.\n\nSivan said ISRO will be launching a Cartosat satellite and several foreign satellites as piggy-back with the PSLV rocket some time in January 2018.\n\nHe said the country\u2019s heaviest communication satellite -- the GSAT 11, weighing over five tonnes -- would be launched next year by Arianespace\u2019s Ariane rocket.", "output": "India is planning to launch small rockets to shuttle satellites of up to 500kg into space. India\u2019s space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation, aims to take advantage of the smaller communication satellites being developed by start-ups that can be launched at a lower cost. The prototype design is for a four-stage rocket weighing approximately 100 tonnes, which has already undergone a feasibility study. The first rocket is likely to be ready within two years, following necessary approvals.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Neste Singapore refinery to boost biofuels production by 1m tons \n Neste picks Singapore for new biofuel refinery\n\nNeste's Board of Directors has decided that Neste's additional production capacity for renewable diesel, renewable aviation fuel and raw materials for various biochemical uses will be located in Singapore. The decision initiates technical design of the new production line, with the aim of a final investment decision by the end of 2018. If the project proceeds as planned, production at the new production line will begin by 2022.\n\nThe new production line will extend Neste's current capacity in the Singapore refinery by one million tons. The growth project includes an enhanced pre-treatment unit in preparation for the use of increasingly poor-quality waste materials.\n\nNeste currently has a renewable diesel production capacity of 2.6 MMt. Of this total, more than 1 MMt is produced in Singapore, the same amount in Rotterdam and the rest in Porvoo, Finland. By eliminating bottlenecks, this total capacity will be increased to 3 MMt by 2020. In addition to producing renewable diesel, the refineries are able to produce renewable aviation fuel and raw materials for various biochemical uses.\n\nRelated News\n\nFrom the Archive", "output": "Neste will increase its\u00a0production capacity for renewable diesel, renewable aviation fuel and raw materials for various biochemical uses at a refinery in Singapore with the aim of\u00a0getting the\u00a0new production line up and running by 2022. The facility will increase\u00a0capacity by one million tons and will\u00a0include\u00a0an enhanced pre-treatment unit in preparation for the use of increasingly poor-quality waste materials.\u00a0Neste currently has biodiesel production capacity of 2.6 million tons.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Daimler, JP Morgan,\u00a0Samsung\u00a0get access to\u00a0IBM's 20-qubit\u00a0computer \n IBM is ready to open the doors to the first customers for its commercial quantum-computing services.\n\nJPMorgan Chase, Daimler, and Samsung will be among the first group of businesses to gain access to IBM's new 20 quantum bit (qubit) IBM Q quantum system to help uncover commercial, industrial and scientific quantum computing applications.\n\nWhile IBM is playing catchup with artificial-intelligence breakthroughs made by Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, it has taken a lead in the race to build a practical quantum computer thanks to its recently demonstrated prototype 50-qubit processor.\n\nThe companies joining the IBM Q Network gain access to the 20-qubit system, which is capable of producing qubits with a record 90 microsecond 'coherence', the time a single qubit -- representing both 1 and 0 simultaneously -- survives in this state before dissolving into a conventional bit's single state of either 1 or 0. That means 50 qubits can represent more than one thousand trillion values.\n\nIBM wants to make quantum computing practical for business by offering members of the network access to the 20-qubit system from the cloud. Previously it's offered online access to its five- and 16-qubit systems.\n\nIBM also hopes the collaboration will lead to more quantum software and developer tools, the other key to making the technology useful.\n\nOther new members of IBM's Q Network include JSR Corporation, Barclays, Hitachi Metals, Honda, Nagase, Keio University, Oak Ridge National Lab, Oxford University, and University of Melbourne.\n\nIBM hopes the collaboration will lead to more quantum software and developer tools. Image: IBM\n\nJP Morgan Chase will be looking to exploit quantum computing for the financial services, while Samsung will explore it for semiconductor and electronics. Daimler's research will explore new automotive materials and optimization problems such as manufacturing processes and vehicle routing for fleet logistics or self-driving cars.\n\nThese organizations will also have access to the 50-qubit system once it's up and running. IBM isn't being specific about when its next-generation IBM Q system will be available. It will be looking to improve hardware and coherence times in the next generation.\n\n\"The prototype 50 qubit processor will be available in the near future, and the IBM Q Network will have access to it in the next-gen system,\" an IBM spokesman told ZDNet.\n\nIBM's 50-qubit breakthrough involved simulating 49- and 56-qubit circuits on Lawrence Livermore Laboratory's IBM BlueGene/Q Vulcan, currently the 25th fastest supercomputer in the world with total memory of 400TB.\n\nAs IBM researcher Edwin Pednault recently explained, 49-qubit circuits were previously thought impossible to simulate as they needed eight petabytes of memory, which is beyond today's supercomputers.\n\nUsing clever mathematics, he and other researchers devised a method that enabled simulation of this circuit with about 4.5TB of memory.\n\nPrevious and related coverage\n\nIBM outlines 50 qubit quantum computing prototype\n\nIBM continues to make strides in its effort to commercialize quantum computing.\n\nMicrosoft releases free preview of its Quantum Development Kit\n\nMicrosoft is rolling out a preview of its promised Q# language, compiler, and simulator to help developers get an early look at how quantum computing works.\n\nIntel, QuTech work on 17-qubit quantum computing chip, packaging\n\nIntel, along with IBM, Google, Microsoft, and a host of others, are working to develop quantum computing breakthroughs and ultimately lead to a commercial system.\n\nRead more on IBM", "output": "IBM has opened up its new 20 quantum bit (qubit) IBM Q quantum system to JPMorgan Chase, Samsung and Daimler as part of its IBM Q Network. The system will be used for industrial, commercial and scientific quantum computing initiatives. IBM\u00a0has overtaken its tech giant\u00a0rivals in quantum development\u00a0thanks to its prototype 50-qubit processor, although at present only its 20-qubit system is on offer for commercial use.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Microsoft's Seeing AI app now reads handwriting for the blind \n Artificial intelligence took center stage at Microsoft's AI Summit in San Francisco on Wednesday. Aside from announcing AI smarts for a range of software -- from Bing to Office 365 -- the tech titan is also ramping up its Seeing AI app for iOS, which uses computer vision to audibly help blind and visually impaired people to see the world around them. According to Microsoft, it's nabbed 100,000 downloads since its launch in the US earlier this year, which convinced the tech titan to bring it to 35 countries in total, including the EU.\n\nIt's also getting a bunch of new features. The app now boasts more currency recognition, adding British pounds, US dollars, Canadian dollars, and Euros to its tally. Going beyond the color in a scene, it can also spot the color of specific objects, like clothes. Plus, it's no longer restricted to just short printed text, with handwriting recognition now part of its skill set. You can also customize the voice that it uses to speak its observations out loud, and set how fast it talks.\n\nPlaying with the new toy - I know it's technically not new but #SeeingAI feels new with all the cool sassy features today :) And before you ask, yes, it gets the new British notes as well as the old ones (and US, Euro & Canadian). Download and enjoy! #accessibility pic.twitter.com/XYr8VBO7Io \u2014 Jenny Lay-Flurrie (@jennylayfluffy) December 14, 2017\n\nFinally, a musical light detector alerts you to the light in an environment with an audible tone -- Microsoft claims the tool will save users from having to touch a hot bulb or LED battery to check if it's on. Despite the big update, there's still no word on an Android launch.", "output": "Microsoft has expanded the features on its Seeing AI app, aimed at helping the blind make sense of the world around them. Handwriting recognition is part of the app's updated skill set, alongside other features such as wider currency detection and voice customisation. The app has been downloaded about 100,000 times since its US launch earlier this year, which convinced Microsoft to expand its market to 35 countries in total.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Toyota, Panasonic explore 'prismatic' batteries for EVs \n Toyota and Panasonic are teaming up on batteries that Toyota itself and other automakers could use in future electric cars. Rather than building cylindrical batteries like the type that Tesla and other EV makers use, the two companies are exploring the development of \"prismatic\" cells. Those are square, flat batteries with aluminum housings and are typically used in cell phones. They can be made smaller and lighter than battery packs that use cylindrical cells, but tend to cost more and are vulnerable to overheating and swelling.\n\nThe agreement is just a first step, but shows the increasing need for automakers and battery companies to work together. Toyota recently unveiled plans, working with Mazda and Suzuki, to launch a new lineup of EVs starting in around 2020. Until recently, the company had been focused on building hybrid, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen cars exclusively.\n\nPanasonic is the leading EV battery manufacturer, most famously supplying batteries for Tesla's Model S, 3 and X. It also makes the batteries for Toyota's current plug-in hybrid Prius cars and has a 29 percent total share of the market, Reuters notes. Other leaders are LG Chem, which builds the batteries for two best-selling EVs, the Renault Zoe and Chevy Bolt, Samsung, and China's BYD Co.\n\nToyota and Panasonic won't have to deal with thorny issues like battery chemistry to make better prismatic cells, which are already used on the Bolt and other vehicles. Rather, they'll just have to use their engineering and research chops to refine them so that they're cheaper, safer and more reliable. The payoff could be longer-range, faster-charging and lighter or smaller EVs.\n\nRight now, Toyota and Panasonic are just studying the feasibility of developing these types of batteries together, but there's a decent chance this will turn into a concrete plan. Batteries are the big sticking point for EV development, so the more development, the better.", "output": "Toyota and Panasonic are testing \"prismatic\" cells for use in electric cars rather than the standard cylindrical batteries. The cells are square, flat batteries that are usually found in mobile phones, but could be used in cars once issues of overheating and swelling are resolved. Toyota plans to release hybrid, hydrogen-based and plug-in hybrid cars by 2020\u00a0in a partnership with Mazda and Suzuki, and is exploring alternative battery options that would enable it to compete with companies such as Tesla by creating longer-range, lighter EVs."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon self-service ad platform is a hit with\u00a0brands \n Consumers aren\u2019t the only ones getting caught up in the Christmas rush on Amazon. Brands are also spending more on the site during the holidays.\n\nAgencies Possible and Crealytics alongside technology platform Kenshoo have all seen a rise in media spend going to Amazon Marketing Services, the self-serve pay-per-click performance marketing arm of the retailer, in December. As St\u00e9phane B\u00e9rub\u00e9, L\u2019Or\u00e9al\u2019s CMO for Western Europe, explained: \u201cAmazon was a retailer but is now also a platform.\u201d\n\nAmazon has stoked that interest over the last 12 months by making it as easy to buy ads on the site as a book. The online behemoth has encouraged brands to buy its sponsored product, headline search and product display ads without going through a salesperson, according to Tod Harrick, vp of product at Marketplace Ignition, the Amazon-focused division at Possible.\n\nBrands have been able to buy self-serve ads on Amazon since 2014, but it was never a core part of its pitch until this year, when the retailer expanded the scope of what brands could do themselves. Features such as live support for Amazon\u2019s Lightning Deals and Deal of the Day ads \u2014 both staples of many successful Cyber Week campaigns in 2016, according to Harrick \u2014 were moved to self-serve ahead of this year\u2019s holiday season. \u201cThis year, Amazon has really pushed advertising to self-service platforms as much as possible, and control of Black Friday advertising really aligned with that,\u201d said Harrick.\n\nCompared to Google, there is less competition for paid ads on Amazon. Still, advertisers such as sports nutrition business The Winning Combination already see the cost per click on Amazon rising as competition gets fiercer and, therefore, cost of traffic is cheaper. Around Christmas, when millions of shoppers are rushing to buy products on a site that already dominates product searches online, Amazon is increasingly where advertisers want to see how much incremental uplift they can generate.\n\nConsequently, bidding on keywords during the holidays has become \u201cfar more competitive,\u201d said Drew Eidsvig, key account manager at The Winning Combination. During peak holiday seasons like Christmas, it is not uncommon for advertisers to raise budget caps by 150 to 350 percent, according to Amazon\u2019s newsletter that is sent regularly to sellers, Eidsvig said. Increased spending on self-serve has been the \u201cmost noticeable difference\u201d for The Winning Combination on Amazon during 2017\u2019s holiday season compared to last year\u2019s, added Eidsvig.\n\nIn September, Kenshoo let advertisers use its own platform to manage their campaigns on Amazon. Since the move, the search marketing specialist has seen an upturn in spend on the site, spurred by advertisers trying to drive awareness during the holidays as well as exploit the spike in sales on Amazon, said Oren Stern, gm at Kenshoo. The return on ad spend on Amazon\u2019s ads has been \u201cvery good,\u201d said Stern. \u201cWe are seeing a growing interest across the board to advertise significantly on Amazon Marketing Services. Drivers for that include the need for improved brand visibility, competitive positioning and, last but not least, solid return on ad-spend results in the channel,\u201d he added.\n\nThe biggest change to advertising on Amazon this holiday period compared to last year\u2019s stems from the design of the site rather than its services, according to performance marketing specialist Crealytics. Amazon discontinued product ads on its right rail in October and started weaving sponsored product ads more seamlessly into its organic product listings. This way, Amazon has almost unlimited space to further extend the exposure of sponsored product ads, said Andreas Reiffen, CEO at Crealytics. \u201cWe expect the new ad format to get much more volume over the course of 2018,\u201d he added.\n\nIncreased interest in sponsored products is just the start for Amazon\u2019s ad business next year. WPP, Omnicom and Publicis \u2014 three of the world\u2019s largest ad firms \u2014 will collectively spend around $800 million on Amazon in 2018, according to agency executives, per The Wall Street Journal. Big brands are also planning to do more on the platform, as B\u00e9rub\u00e9 can attest: \u201cWe could decide to advertise on Amazon without necessarily having an objective of sales conversions because the eyeballs are there, and if I can get the right ad at the right price to my consumer, then why would I not invest in Amazon?\u201d\n\nYet Amazon must address problems before it can grow faster. Compared to Google AdWords, Amazon\u2019s ad platform is still \u201cquite immature\u201d and \u201ccumbersome to handle,\u201d according to one executive who spoke to Digiday on condition of anonymity. \u201cOptimization work still requires a fair amount of manual effort,\u201d said this executive.\n\nFor more on Amazon, subscribe to Digiday\u2019s new monthly Amazon e-mail newsletter.", "output": "Spend has been rising on Amazon's self-serve, pay-per-click division, Amazon Marketing Services, as the retailer expands what brands can do on the platform, with live support for\u00a0Deal of the Day\u00a0ads and\u00a0Lightning Deals\u00a0going\u00a0self-serve earlier\u00a0this year. Amazon Marketing Services also began integrating sponsored product ads more closely with\u00a0organic product listings. According to the CEO of\u00a0Cealytics,\u00a0Andreas Reiffen, the move has\u00a0afforded Amazon much greater opportunities\u00a0to extend sponsored content exposure.\u00a0\u201cWe expect the new ad format to get much more volume over the course of 2018,\u201d he said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Living close to fracking sites 'leads to underweight babies' \n Children born near fracking sites are 25 percent more likely to weigh less than what is healthy at birth, according to a new study. Why this is happening isn\u2019t clear, but the researchers believe that it might have to do with environmental pollution, which may have negative health effects on mothers \u2014 and their babies.\n\nResearchers analyzed data from more than 1 million births in Pennsylvania from 2004 to 2013, before and after fracking began. Babies born to mothers living up to 1.8 miles from a fracking site were found to have poorer health, and babies born within 0.6 miles saw the largest impacts, according to a study published today in Science Advances. The findings could have implications for where fracking is authorized, and how close to towns drilling takes place.\n\nthe shale gas boom comes with some serious side effects\n\nPrevious studies have shown that fracking causes air pollution that can harm babies, and that living nearby fracking sites is linked to premature births. Today\u2019s study adds to the evidence that the shale gas boom comes with some serious side effects. \u201cThere\u2019s growing evidence that living close to unconventional natural gas development might have implications for population health,\u201d says Joan Casey, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, who was not involved in the research. \u201cThis is one of the largest studies to date showing that.\u201d\n\nFracking, short for hydraulic fracturing, uses a high-pressure mixture of water, sand, and chemicals to crack sediment layers so that oil and natural gas can be tapped. The technique has revolutionized the energy landscape in the US, lowering energy prices and reducing dependance on coal. But it\u2019s also alarmed scientists and activists alike for its potential to pollute groundwater, affect air quality, and cause earthquakes.\n\nAs several states like New York and Maryland have banned fracking, scientists are trying to figure out what impacts the controversial extraction technique has on health \u2014 especially when it comes to newborns. A 2014 study, for example, found that children born to mothers living nearby fracking sites may have a higher risk of heart defects. \u201cLooking at the impacts of these chemicals on the most vulnerable population, which is unborn children, and finding these effects is really concerning,\u201d says Carol Kwiatkowski, the executive director of the nonprofit research institute The Endocrine Disruption Exchange.\n\nThe challenge with these types of studies is that mothers who live near fracking areas, or other polluted sites, are usually poorer than mothers living in say, Philadelphia, says Casey. Poverty is known to affect pregnancy and birth, so trying to figure out whether fracking \u2014 or something else \u2014 affects newborns is tricky. To get around this problem, the authors of today\u2019s study looked at a massive amount of data: nine years of records from 1.1 million births in Pennsylvania, which has seen a huge increase in fracking over the last decade. They also compared babies born to mothers living near drilling sites with mothers living farther away, both before and after fracking began. To be even more sure, they compared siblings born to the same mother before and after fracking wells were active.\n\nLocations of births and fracking sites in Pennsylvania. Map: Currie, Greenstone, Meckel, Sci. Adv. 2017;3: e1603021\n\nThe findings: mothers living within 0.6 miles of a fracking site have a 25 percent higher risk of delivering a baby that has a low birth weight. The risk is lower but persists for kids born to mothers living up to 1.8 miles from a site, but it basically disappears moving farther away. A low birth weight is linked to serious health effects, like premature death, asthma, ADHD, and learning disabilities. Those long-lasting health impacts should be taken into account when considering the pros and cons of fracking, says study co-author Janet Currie, the director of the Center for Health and Wellbeing at Princeton University. \u201cWhat I\u2019m hoping is that combined with other studies showing that there are health effects of fracking, that we can move on to the next stage of the discussion,\u201d Currie says. \u201cHow can we keep the benefits and reduce the costs?\u201d\n\n\u201cHow can we keep the benefits and reduce the costs?\u201d\n\nThe study has some limitations: notably, it doesn\u2019t say what exactly may be affecting the babies during pregnancy. Currie says it\u2019s likely the air pollution tied to the fracking activity, but the researchers didn\u2019t actually take biological samples from the mothers to check whether they were exposed to pollutants. Those kinds of studies take time and resources, and don\u2019t allow for very large sample sizes, Currie says. So, it could be environmental pollution, but it could also be that social and economic conditions change in rural areas after fracking is introduced, and those are what are impacting pregnancy, says David Savitz, a professor of epidemiology in the Brown University School of Public Health. \u201cI don\u2019t think it adds a lot to the evidence that environmental exposures related to fracking are causing problems with pregnancy,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s really the ultimate interest.\u201d\n\nThe oil and gas industry criticized the study, saying it paints an inaccurate picture that ignores factors like lifestyle habits and family history that are known to affect a baby\u2019s health. \u201cGiven these deep methodological flaws, it's dangerously misleading and inflammatory to suggest that natural gas development has done anything but improve public health,\u201d Erica Clayton Wright, spokeswoman for the Marcellus Shale Coalition, wrote in an email to The Verge.\n\nStill, the researcher suggests that the new shale gas boom isn\u2019t harmless. And the long-lasting health effects linked to fracking should raise some eyebrows. Every year, about 29,000 babies in the US are born within 0.6 miles of an active fracking site, and over 95,000 within 1.8 miles, according to the study. \u201cThis is one big human experiment,\u201d Kwiatkowski says. \u201cWhat\u2019s going to happen in 20 years when these babies are growing up?\u201d", "output": "Babies born close to fracking sites are 25% more likely to weigh under a healthy amount, according to researchers analysing data from one million Pennsylvanian births between 2004 to 2013. The exact cause is still unknown, though environmental pollution may be to blame. Children living up to 1.8 miles from fracking sites are said to be in poorer health, with babies born within 0.6 miles the most affected. The results could affect the shale fracking boom. Additional research into fracking effects has already been published illustrating babies' likelihood of developing heart defects, the increased pollution of groundwater and lowered air quality."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Publishers losing $1.27bn per year to video fraudsters:\u00a0Google \n Publishers are losing up to $1.27bn a year due to fraudsters impersonating their inventory on ad exchanges, with such bad actors conducting up to 700m false ad requests per day, according to a study published today (December 12) by Google.\n\nPublishers are losing up to $1.27bn a year in lost ad revenue due to the activity of 'domain spoofers'\n\nThe study found that publishers were losing up to $3.5m a day based on a valuation of $5 video CPMs, due to fraudsters \u2018spoofing\u2019 their web domains on ad exchanges, with the total loss to premium publishers equating to over $1.27bn a year.\n\nLooking at the total available inventory across all exchanges for the 26 web domains, the study found video callouts were overstated by 57 times the available inventory; representing about 700m counterfeit callouts per day. The study also found that display inventory callouts were overstated by four times the available amount, representing billions of counterfeit callouts per day.\n\nGoogle conducted the study with a host of premium publishers such as Business Insider, Turner and the Washington Post along with adtech outfits Amobee plus Quantcast, concluding that high value video CPMs now the preferred hunting ground for fraudsters.\n\nCounterfeit impressions is created when a bad seller replaces the URL of a low quality site with a premium publisher URL, or a fraudster creates fake impressions and labels them with a high quality publisher\u2019s URL.\n\nThe counterfeiters then send their fake inventory to auction at multiple exchanges and supply-side platforms (SSP), without the knowledge of the publishers they\u2019re impersonating, to trick advertisers into thinking they are buying premium publisher inventory.\n\nThe IAB Tech Lab has begun combating such activity with the rollout of its ads.txt initiative, which means participating publishers publicly list the authorized resellers of their inventory which demand-side platforms (DSPs) can then use to discern between legitimate and bad actors.\n\nThe study concluded that marketers looking to execute efficient, brand safe programmatic campaigns should start demanding that their campaigns run only on authorized inventory, as defined by publishers\u2019 ads.txt files, and encourages advertisers to work more directly with their preferred publisher brands.\n\nDennis Buchheim, senior vice president and general manager, IAB Tech Lab, said the results of the study confirm that ads.txt needs to be adopted as rapidly as possible to cut off the flow of counterfeit website inventory.\n\nHe added: \"It is critical that the industry comes together to put a stop to criminal activity and secure the health of the supply chain.\"\n\nJana Meron, vice president of programmatic and data strategy at Business Insider, added: \u201cIf the industry is going to seriously take on counterfeit inventory, publishers need to immediately get behind ads.txt otherwise this problem will linger and continue to hurt both brands and publishers.\u201d\n\nJason Baron, SVP of direct marketing and programmatic for Turner Ad Sales, added: \u201cAds.txt is a strong answer to the digital marketplace\u2019s clarion call for greater transparency, ensuring marketers have verified access to high-quality video and display inventory. We\u2019re hopeful on its wider adoption, as well as continued industry support of upstanding publishers and delivering greater results for advertisers.\u201d\n\nPublishers in the study reported using, 12 exchanges with 28 accounts to sell display, and two exchanges with six accounts to sell video on average, but the DSPs found their inventory available across 22 exchange and 129 accounts for display and 26 exchanges across over 1,000 accounts for video on average.", "output": "Fraudsters are costing premium publishers $1.27bn each year, Google warned. Publishers faced daily losses of up to $3.5bn, based on a valuation of $5 video cost per thousand (CPM) impressions, from fraudsters\u00a0spoofing their inventory on ad exchanges. A\u00a0study by the tech giant found some\u00a0fraudsters were found to carry out up to 700m false ad requests each day, it added. The report advised marketers looking to run brand-safe programmatic ads that they should demand their campaigns only run on authorised inventory, and work more directly with their preferred brands.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Robots used to scare homeless people off streets \n A Dystopian Present\n\nIn a controversial move, the San Francisco SPCA, an animal advocacy and pet adoption group, is using an autonomous security robot outside of their facilities in an explicit attempt to keep homeless people off of the sidewalk.\n\nThe security robot, which the SF SPCA calls K9, is part of a fleet of security robots operated by Silicon Valley-based robotics company Knightscope. These bots are armed with cameras, lasers, thermal sensors, and GPS, and they are designed to serve as an extra set of eyes and ears for security guards and law enforcement.\n\nHere it is in action pic.twitter.com/nSBQUmKwk1 \u2014 Sam Dodge (@samueldodge) December 9, 2017\n\nBill Santana Li, CEO of Knightscope, claims the sheer presence of the security robot can discourage crime. \"If I put a marked law enforcement vehicle in front of your home or your office, criminal behavior changes,\" he told Business Insider.\n\nKrista Maloney, media relations manager for the SF SPCA, told Business Insider that staff members weren't able to safely access the sidewalk outside of the facility because of existing homeless encampments. Since K9's launch a month ago, encampments have lessened, as have car break-ins.\n\nControversy Abounds\n\nWhile K9 is having the impact the SF SPCA hoped for, the security robot, which resembles a Whovian Dalek, has come under fire from the local government and residents.\n\nAccording to the San Francisco Business Times, the City of San Fransisco has ordered the group to keep the robot off of the public sidewalk, where it has been operating without a permit. If the SF SPCA doesn't comply, they'll have to pay a $1,000 per day fine.\n\nMeanwhile, some citizens have described the introduction of the robot as lacking compassion.\n\nCapitalism: instead of providing homes for homeless people, spend exorbitant sums of money creating robots that will prevent homeless people from making homes for themselveshttps://t.co/FowyreaUTV \u2014 Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) December 13, 2017\n\nAs San Fransisco has evolved into a major technology hub, homelessness and poverty rates have skyrocketed. Many who work within the city can't even afford to live near it, and more and more are being priced out onto the streets.\n\nThe SPCA is not the one to blame for this situation. While the organization has chosen a less-than-ideal way to address the problem of homelessness around their campus, the underlying issues that make basic shelter and resources inaccessible for so many are problems that fall on all of society to fix.\n\nWealth disparity and a lack of public support and health resources continue to be major contributing factors to homelessness. If we want a future where the sidewalks are free from patrolling, observing robots, these root problems need to be addressed.\n\nHopefully, the public outcry about the cold and dystopian nature of K9 will spark action about the growing homelessness issue in San Fransisco and other cities. While one sidewalk became temporarily less congested thanks to this high-tech robot, the homeless problem is extends far beyond the SF SPCA's campus.", "output": "Animal welfare group, San Francisco SPCA, is using an autonomous security robot to scare off homeless people outside its facilities. The K9 robot is built by Knightscope and features cameras, thermal sensors, lasers and GPS. The SF SPCA said its staff were unable to safely use the pavement outside its facility due to homeless encampments, adding the robot had reduced the number of rough sleepers and car break-ins. But the move came under fire from local authorities and residents, with the City of San Francisco reportedly telling the group to keep K9 off the footpath or face a $1,000 fine.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Richest 0.1% increase wealth by as much as poorest 50% \n The richest 0.1% of the world\u2019s population have increased their combined wealth by as much as the poorest 50% \u2013 or 3.8 billion people \u2013 since 1980, according to a report detailing the widening gap between the very rich and poor.\n\nThe World Inequality Report, published on Thursday by French economist Thomas Piketty, warned that inequality had ballooned to \u201cextreme levels\u201d in some countries and said the problem would only get worse unless governments took coordinated action to increase taxes and prevent tax avoidance.\n\nThe report, which drew on the work of more than 100 researchers around the world, found that the richest 1% of the global population \u201ccaptured\u201d 27% of the world\u2019s wealth growth between 1980 and 2016. And the richest of the rich increased their wealth by even more. The top 0.1% gained 13% of the world\u2019s wealth, and the top 0.001% \u2013 about 76,000 people \u2013 collected 4% of all the new wealth created since 1980.\n\n\u201cThe top 0.1% income group (about 7 million people) captured as much of the world\u2019s growth since 1980 as the bottom half of the adult population,\u201d the report said. \u201cConversely, income growth has been sluggish or even nil for the population between the global bottom 50% and top 1%.\u201d\n\nThe economists said wealth inequality had become \u201cextreme\u201d in Russia and the US. The US\u2019s richest 1% accounted for 39% of the nation\u2019s wealth in 2014 [the latest year available], up from 22% in 1980. The researchers noted that \u201cmost of that increase in inequality was due to the rise of the top 0.1% wealth owners\u201d.\n\nThe world\u2019s richest person is Amazon\u2019s founder and chief executive, Jeff Bezos, who has a $98.8bn (\u00a373.9bn) fortune, according to the Bloomberg billionaires index. Bezos, the biggest shareholder in Amazon, has seen his wealth increase by $33bn over the past year alone. Collectively, the world\u2019s five richest people \u2013 Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Amancio Ortega, the owner of Zara, and Facebook\u2019s Mark Zuckerberg \u2013 hold $425bn of assets. That is equivalent to one-sixth of the UK\u2019s GDP.\n\nIn the UK, the richest 1% control 22% of the country\u2019s wealth, up from 15% in 1984. The very richest in the UK have seen a huge increase in their wealth. The top 0.1% \u2013 around 50,000 people \u2013 have seen their share of the nation\u2019s wealth double from 4.5% in 1984 to 9% in 2013.\n\n\u201cThe increase in the concentration of wealth in the last four decades is very much a phenomenon confined to the hands of the top 0.5% (the richest 250,000 Britons), and in particular the top 0.1% (the richest 50,000),\u201d the report said.\n\nThe richest people in the UK are the Hinduja family, who control a conglomerate of businesses including cars and banks, and are worth $15.4bn.\n\nThe economists, led by Piketty who shot to global fame after the publication of his book Capital in the Twenty-First Century, said there was a \u201chuge gap\u201d in wealth between the richest people in the UK and everyone else in the country. They said the bottom 90% of people in the UK had an average wealth of \u00a368,000, compared with \u00a3321,000 among the richest 10% and the top 0.5%, who were worth \u00a33.7m on average.\n\nWhile inequality was high in north America and Europe, the researchers warned that the problem was even more acute in Africa, Brazil and the Middle East, where they said \u201cinequality has remained relatively stable at extremely high levels in recent decades\u201d.\n\n\u201cThe top 10% receives about 55% of total income in Brazil and sub-Saharan Africa, and in the Middle East, the top 10% income share is typically over 60%,\u201d the report said. \u201cThese three regions never went through the postwar egalitarian regime and have always been at the world\u2019s high-inequality frontier.\u201d\n\nThe report warns that unless there is globally coordinated political action, the wealth gap will continue to grow. \u201cThe global top 1% income share could increase from nearly 20% today to more than 24% by 2050,\u201d the report said. \u201cIn which case the global bottom 50% share could fall from 10% to less than 9%.\u201d\n\nHowever, the economists said increasing inequality was \u201cnot inevitable\u201d if countries acted to bring in progressive income tax. \u201cIt not only reduces post-tax inequality, it shrinks pre-tax inequality by discouraging top earners from capturing higher shares of growth via aggressive bargaining for higher pay.\u201d\n\nThe authors said taxation alone was not enough to tackle the problem as the wealthy were best placed to avoid and evade tax, as shown by the recent Paradise Papers investigation. The report said a tenth of the world\u2019s wealth was held in tax havens.", "output": "The world\u2019s wealthiest 0.1%, or 7 million people, have seen their combined wealth rise by as much as the poorest 50% of the global population since 1980, according to the World Inequality Report by economist Thomas Piketty. The study, published on Thursday, said that inequality had now reached \u201cextreme levels\u201d in some countries, including Russia and the US, and would rise further unless governments increased taxes and limited tax avoidance. The problem was even more pronounced in Africa, Brazil and the Middle East. Income growth for those between the top 1% and bottom 50% has remained slow or non-existent.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Outdoor living touted for new Sussex development \n A collection of three and four bedroom homes are now available through leading housebuilder Redrow at its Penlands Green development in Haywards Heath.\n\nThe collection of homes in Haywards Heath are now available\n\nStarting from \u00a3499,995, the homes are spacious, light and airy, with generous room sizes and contemporary finishes.\n\nHelp to Buy is also available on selected properties under \u00a3600,000 \u2013 meaning just a five per cent deposit is needed.\n\nAdvertisement Hide Ad\n\nAdvertisement Hide Ad\n\nRachael Baillie, sales director for Redrow\u2019s South East region, said: \u201cPenlands Green is a brilliant location for family life, with everything Haywards Heath has to offer in terms of leisure and amenities in easy reach and in close proximity to excellent transportation links.\n\n\u201cWith the Weald, the South Downs and the Ouse Valley on residents\u2019 doorsteps, an outdoors lifestyle is easy to pursue.\n\n\u201cWe are proud to be delivering not only the highest quality new homes, but also making a multi-million pound complementary contribution to the already established community in the thriving town of Haywards Heath.\n\n\u201cAt Redrow we know that delivering bricks and mortar is just one aspect of helping to foster thriving communities.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement Hide Ad\n\nAdvertisement Hide Ad\n\nRedrow is not only bringing new houses, but an array of community contributions to the town, equating to \u00a32.7 million.\n\nThis includes a combined \u00a31.5 million towards primary and secondary education and \u00a3326,000 towards leisure and community facilities.", "output": "A new collection of three- and four-bedroom homes starting at \u00a3499,995 ($666,100) has gone on sale\u00a0in Haywards Heath. Developer Redrow's Penlands Green development is positioned by Redrow as ideal for families\u00a0and some\u00a0selected homes are eligible for government financial assistance. \"With the Weald, the South Downs and the Ouse Valley on residents'\u00a0doorsteps, an outdoors lifestyle is easy to pursue,\" said sales director Rachael Baillie.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Regus announces opening of first centre in Angola \n Regus looks to Angola as country seeks to diversify economy\n\nGlobal workspace provider Regus has just announced the opening of its first centre in Angola\n\nRegus will open its first centre in Angola. (Photo: Wikipedia)\n\nThe new centre to be built in Luanda means that Angola becomes the latest country worldwide to have a Regus workspace.\n\nAngola is undergoing economic transformation as worldwide low oil prices are speeding up the Angolan government\u2019s efforts to diversify the economy. Despite continued challenges, a number of opportunities have also risen.\n\nAccording to the African Development Bank, Angola's economy will have grown by 2.3 per cent by the end of 2017, and will grow by a further 3.2 per cent in 2018.\n\nRegus\u2019 new centre is expected to benefit companies of all sizes and industries as well as facilitate increased economic activity in the country.\n\n\u201cWe are delighted that Angola has become part of the Regus global network,\u201d says Rui Duque, the Regus country manager for Angola. \u201cFlexible workspaces are rapidly gaining popularity around the world, and becoming an essential part of a modern country\u2019s business infrastructure.\n\n\"We\u2019ve been experiencing high interest from local and international businesses willing to establish a footprint in Angola, and also from companies that need to rationalise and downsize unused resources, namely office space. As a result, we are looking forward to opening additional centres not only in Luanda, but across the whole country to support Angola\u2019s growing economy.\u201d\n\nThe first Regus centre in Angola is a modern office space set over the whole of the sixth floor of the Cuanza Sul Tower, an attractive, brand-new building in Talatona, a business district and a prime location 20 minutes from the airport and 30 minutes from downtown Luanda.\n\nThe facillity also features virtual offices, which provide businesses with a prestigious address in the capital. Regus notes that its network also gives businesses access to a community of more than 1.5mn like-minded professionals worldwide.", "output": "Office-sharing company Regus is to open its first centre in Angola, in southern Africa. The facility will take over the entire sixth floor of a new office building in the business district of the capital city, Luanda. As well as flexible workspaces, it will include the option of virtual offices, allowing companies to register with a prestigious office address. Angola's economy is predicted to grow by over 3% in 2018, and the government is keen to diversify its economy with new businesses.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Tax-cut lures first-time buyers to Yorkshire homes \n Post-budget boost for Yorkshire first time buyers\n\nYorkshire first time buyers have opportunities aplenty to benefit from a double helping of good news in the autumn budget if they choose a new home from Redrow.\n\nWith a good selection of Redrow homes below \u00a3300,000 \u2013 now exempt from stamp duty for first time home owners \u2013 there\u2019s potential to save up to \u00a35,000 in numerous locations.\n\nThe Government has also confirmed a \u00a310 million cash injection for Help to Buy, which means 135,000 more people will be able to buy a new home between now and 2021, many of them in Yorkshire.\n\nUnder the Help to Buy scheme buyers take out an equity loan for up to 20% of the property price, leaving them needing a deposit as little as 5% and a 75% mortgage from a lender of choice. The Government backed loan is interest free for the first five years and repayments thereafter are competitively priced and index linked. The home owner can pay back the equity loan at any time, without penalty, or when they come to re-sell.\n\nPatsy Aicken, Redrow sales director in Yorkshire, said: \u201cWe\u2019re already seeing renewed interest in our properties from first time buyers, especially on those developments where we have properties below \u00a3300,000. They can potentially benefit from Help to Buy and the stamp duty exemption \u2013 and maybe use the stamp duty saving to boost their deposit. It\u2019s a win-win situation.\u201d\n\nSomeone who bought a \u00a3299,950 home pre-budget would have paid \u00a34,998 in stamp duty; post-budget, if they\u2019ve never owned a property before, they will pay no tax at all.\n\n\u201cSavings apply for anyone paying more than \u00a3125,000 for their first home. For example, someone paying \u00a3180,000 for a new home would save \u00a31,100 in stamp duty, which is money they could put towards their deposit. When you\u2019re buying your first home every penny counts,\u201d Patsy added.\n\n\u201cOur on-site sales consultants are already up to speed with the changes and we have a network of mortgage specialists who can explain all the options to customers and help them decide the best route for their circumstances. Buying a first home can be daunting but when you choose a brand new home from Redrow there\u2019s expert help available every step of the way.\u201d\n\nRedrow developments with properties currently under \u00a3300,000 include:\n\nHarrogate: One and two-bedroom apartments starting from \u00a3162,950 at Devonshire Gardens, off Claro Road.\n\nHighburton, near Huddersfield: Three and four-bedroom detached homes with current prices starting from \u00a3279,950 at Springfields, in Burton Acres Lane.\n\nMorley: Three and four-bedroom detached homes from \u00a3289,950 at Weavers\u2019 Chase, Albert Road.\n\nNewton Kyme, near Boston Spa: One of the last remaining four-bedroom Wellington townhouses from Redrow\u2019s Georgian inspired Regent Collection, available at \u00a3299,950 at St Andrew\u2019s Place at Southbank.\n\nSherburn-in-Elmet: Four-bedroom detached houses from \u00a3274,950 at Saxon Gardens, off Low Street.\n\nSteeton: Last remaining two-bedroom apartments from only \u00a3129,950 at Manor Fields, off Thornhill Road.\n\nYork: Five-bedroom Wellington Grand townhouses from \u00a3299,950 at Lancaster Mews, off Water lane.\n\nFirst time buyers choosing homes between \u00a3300,000 and \u00a3500,000 will incur stamp duty at 5% on that portion of the purchase price over \u00a3300,000, although Redrow may be able to help with payments on selected properties.\n\n\n\nTo find out where Redrow is building visit redrow.co.uk/yorkshire.", "output": "Developer Redrow said government changes to home-purchase taxes have led to renewed interest from first-time buyers in a number of their lower-price developments in Yorkshire towns including\u00a0Harrogate, Morley and York.\u00a0The autumn budget abolished stamp duty on homes under \u00a3300,000 for those who have not owned a property before, equating to a potential saving of\u00a0\u00a35,000 ($6,660).\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "App-based car rental insurance introduced by SURE \n Courtesy of SURE\n\nSURE, a personal insurance distribution platform, has launched an app-based car rental insurance product for U.S. customers. The new car insurance option has connections to all car rental companies and costs $10 or less, and can be purchased in less than a minute, according to the company.\n\nSURE\u2019s services will cover up to serious physical damage to rentals, additional drivers, flat tires and property theft. The new option is being underwritten by global casualty insurance company, Chubb.", "output": "Personal insurance platform SURE has introduced a car-rental offering through its app, allowing customers to purchase policies in a matter of minutes. The app connects directly to car rental providers, and offers coverage\u00a0for less than $10. Global insurer Chubb will underwrite the new initiative.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Metromile introduces automated insurance claim system \n Courtesy of Metromile\n\nMetromile, a car insurance startup, has added three new services to its portfolio to automate the insurance claims process involving rental cars.\n\nPowered by AVA, the Direct Repair, Car Rental and Claim Payments Programs use an artificial intelligence (AI) claims system to allow qualifying customers to opt-in to automate the identification, management and payment of auto repair and car rental providers.\n\nEligible policyholders with rental coverage will have the ability to rent a car directly from the Metromile mobile app or online dashboard. For example, customers can rent a car directly from Enterprise Rent-A-Car through AVA and choose an Enterprise location to schedule their rental car. Payment will also be automatically processed through AVA up to $30 per day.\n\n\"We strive to provide the fastest and simplest claims experience for our customers, and we are successfully doing that by leveraging automation and artificial intelligence,\" said Dan Preston, CEO of Metromile. \"The addition of Direct Repair Program, Rental Cars, and Claim Payments to AVA's capabilities allows us to further expedite the claims process by taking those repair, rental and reimbursement claims experiences mobile; ultimately getting our customers back on the road faster.\"", "output": "Car insurance start-up Metromile has introduced features to its app that allow customers to digitally process claims while\u00a0arranging repairs. In addition, policyholders can\u00a0rent a car through the\u00a0app, which will also process payment for the service. By allowing customers to arrange these services through one app, claims and reimbursement process will be expedited, according to the company.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Advisers fear regulation more than robo-advice \n Two-thirds of advisers are concerned about increased regulation, and rank it of greater concern than the rise of robo-advice, according to data from Canada Life Investments.\n\nThe company spoke to 328 advisers. 67 per cent of whom said regulatory concerns are \u201ckeeping them up at night.\u201d\n\nIn contrast, 4 per cent of advisers thought robo-advice was a threat to their business, while 62 per cent think the impact on their business will be negligible.\n\nThe continued uncertainty around the process of the UK\u2019s exit from the EU has led to 36 per cent of advisers\n\nThe third annual survey of IFAs from Canada Life revealed that when asked about Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products (PRIIPs) legislation and Key Information Documents, 44 per cent said they are aware of them but do not yet fully understand them, and 29 per cent claim to have not heard of them before.\n\nA full 68 per cent said they think the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) should be reviewed and updated.\n\nRichard Priestley, executive director at Canada Life, said: \u201cAdvisers are on the front line of change and so it is no surprise regulation is keeping them awake at night.\n\n\"The challenge remains for advisers to navigate this complex ever changing landscape when providing advice. We feel it is therefore crucial providers are on hand to support advisers with the technical guidance they need to ease them through this process and offer clarity and reassurance to their clients.\u201d\n\nDavid.Thorpe@ft.com", "output": "Two-thirds of financial advisers surveyed by Canada Life Investments are more concerned with regulation than robo-advice, with only 4% describing the latter as a threat to their business, reported David Thorpe in the Financial Times. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "World Bank offers $4.5bn to protect cities from climate change \n With a greater concentration of people and assets in urban areas, cities need to address an increasingly complex range of shocks and stresses to safeguard development gains and accelerate poverty reduction.\n\nManaging disaster risk and the impacts of climate change have long been an important focus of urban resilience. But recent examples show how economic crises, health epidemics, and uncontrolled urbanization can also affect the ability of a city to sustain growth and provide services for its citizens \u2013 underscoring the need for a new approach to resilient urban development.\n\nThe World Bank\u2019s growing investment in disaster risk management reflects this conceptual shift. The Bank\u2019s work on urban resilience aims to help cities adapt to a greater variety of changing conditions and withstand shocks while maintaining essential functions.\n\nOngoing activities under in this area, which is supported by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), include:\n\nCity Resilience Program\n\nFor many major cities in the world, strengthening urban resilience is a multibillion dollar agenda that requires strong partnerships and new sources of capital. Cities are sometimes held back from pursuing the necessary investments because they lack the technical expertise and/or the access to capital to finance them.\n\nEstablished in June 2017, the World Bank Group\u2019s City Resilience Program (CRP) empowers cities to pursue investments that build greater resilience to climate and disaster risks, and to access the financing necessary to ensure those investments come to fruition.\n\nThe approach used by the CRP represents a fundamental shift in how cities can be supported to tackle their most pressing development challenges \u2013 from one focused on sectoral priorities to one focused on integrated and spatially informed priorities, which capture the interplay between the natural and built environment. To date, this program has engaged more than 90 cities around the world on developing investment programs that could be financed with a range of financial instruments.\n\nCityStrength Diagnostic\n\nA rapid diagnostic methodology to help cities improve their understanding of risk and the performance of urban systems, as well as to identify priority actions and investments that will enhance the city\u2019s resilience.\n\nThe first diagnostics under the new methodology were conducted in Can Tho, Vietnam in June 2014 and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in July 2015. Additional diagnostics are planned, including Lahore, Pakistan in late 2015.The CityStrength Diagnostic has been implemented in 28 local governments. It was first piloted in two cities \u2013 Can Tho, Vietnam and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia \u2013 which provided two very different contexts for assessing the benefits of the process. The CityStrength Diagnostic was then implemented at the metropolitan level in 16 municipalities that make up the Greater Accra Region in Ghana, as well as in nine regional capitals and a charter city in Ethiopia.\n\nFinancing Resilience\n\nInnovative financing mechanisms to support investment in resilient infrastructure are being developed working with the private sector and other development partners.\n\nA methodology to mainstream Low-Carbon & Resilient Capital Investment Planning in cities is being developed, and training is being provided for cities participating in City Creditworthiness Academies .\n\nMedellin Collaboration on Urban Resilience\n\nNine institutions, including the World Bank, announced a global collaboration at the World Urban Forum in Medellin, Colombia, in April 2014 expressing their collective commitment to help cities improve resilience.\n\nThe collaboration aims to facilitate the flow of knowledge and financial resources necessary to help cities become more resilient to disruptions related to climate change, disasters caused by natural hazards, and other systemic shocks and stresses, including the socio-economic challenges associated with rapid urbanization.\n\nPrimary objectives include:\n\n\n\nFostering harmonization of the approaches and tools available to help cities assess their strengths, vulnerabilities, and exposure to a multitude of natural and manmade threats in order to build their resilience;\n\nCatalyzing access to existing and innovative finance mechanisms, including risk-based instruments, to reduce exposure and vulnerability to shocks and increase cities\u2019 adaptive capacity; and\n\nSupporting capacity development of cities to achieve their goals by facilitating direct sharing of best practice and knowledge enhancement.\n\nLast Updated: Oct 07,2019", "output": "The World Bank has launched a $4.5bn City Resilience Programme to offer loans and technical support to urban centres seeking to protect themselves from the impact of climate change. The scheme aims to help 150 cities in the developing world to obtain private sector funding for infrastructure projects over the next three years. Cities are expected to house two-thirds of the global population by 2050, but many suffer from poor housing and inequality and also lack the funds to protect residents from the growing threat of floods, heatwaves and storms.\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Denmark publishes new governance code \n Nearly two years ago, the Danish Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs announced that it had tasked the Committee on Corporate Governance (\u201cCommittee\u201d) with a review of the recommendations of the Danish Corporate Governance Code (\u201cCode\u201d). A draft was published in July 2017 and, following a consultation period, the Committee has now published the final version of their revision of the Code.\n\nThe following are some of the key changes made to the Code:\n\nGovernance\n\nThe board of directors should consist of only non-executive directors and retiring CEO\u2019s should not become chair or deputy chair immediately upon joining the board.\n\nThe board should establish a yearly internal performance evaluation process. Every third year the performance of the board should be evaluated by an independent external party.\n\nCompanies will no longer be required to set concrete gender diversity targets; however, they should develop and implement a diversity policy.\n\nRemuneration\n\nCompanies should make changes to their remuneration policy at least every four years and must get shareholder approval for any material change.\n\nCompanies should disclose information on executive remuneration as part of a remuneration report.\n\nThe remuneration policy should include recovery provisions in case of miscalculation or misconduct.\n\nCompanies should set a cap on overall remuneration for executives.\n\nFormer Minister of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs Troels Lund Poulsen stated in 2016 that the goal of the code review is to encourage more active stewardship by Danish pension funds and institutional investors. He referenced the 2010 UK Corporate Governance Code as an example of a new code that encouraged more active stewardship.\n\nWhile most Danish companies do not have any executive directors, the new amendments will have implications for the likes of A.P. M\u00f8ller-M\u00e6rsk and Rockwool International, where executives do serve on the board.\n\nWe also believe the increased disclosure requirements surrounding executive remuneration is a positive change, in preparation for the introduction of the EU Shareholder Rights Directive. In particular, we appreciate the introduction of recovery provisions, which is an important safeguard against the receipt of unwarranted awards.\n\nThe revised code will apply from the financial year starting on January 1, 2018 and thereafter.\n\nPaul and Jakob are analysts covering the Danish market. Jakob Nordmark also contributed to this report.", "output": "A new Danish Governance code will apply from 1 January 2018. The code calls for boards to contain only non-executive directors, and for retiring CEOs to be prevented from becoming chair or deputy chair as soon as they become board members. Yearly, internal performance evaluations must be conducted, with independent external evaluation in every third year. Although companies will no longer be compelled to have specific gender diversity targets, they must develop diversity policies. Caps must be applied to executive remuneration, recovery provisions should be adopted, remuneration reports must be disclosed and remuneration policies should be updated every four years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK retail loses 65,000 jobs on Brexit, wage squeeze, online sales \n Britain has lost 65,000 retail jobs since it voted to leave the European Union, a decline fueled by increased online competition and a Brexit-induced wage squeeze.\n\nEmployment data published Wednesday show the number of jobs in the sector dipped below 5 million in September. Weak consumer spending suggests more pain to come over the holiday season.\n\n\"It reflects the pressure on the [retail] sector,\" said Howard Archer, an economic adviser to EY. \"Consumer spending has been softer for most of this year and retail sales have been lower.\"\n\nData compiled by IHS for Visa (V) show that spending in U.K. brick-and-mortar stores dropped 3.5% over the previous year in November. It was the seventh consecutive monthly decline, and one of the biggest drops since 2012.\n\nMeanwhile, online spending was 2.4% higher in November.\n\nVisa said it expects total consumer spending to decline this holiday season for the first time since 2012.\n\nExperts say the trend is one consequence of Brexit. The value of the pound dropped sharply after the vote in June 2016, causing the price of imported goods to shoot up.\n\nAt the same time, wage increases haven't kept pace with inflation, which stood at 3.1% in November.\n\nMany borrowers have also been squeezed by the Bank of England, which hiked interest rates in October.\n\nAndrew Wishart, U.K. economist at Capital Economics, said retailers are still trying to hire workers, but weak pay growth has made the jobs less attractive.\n\nRelated: 17 years without a raise? Welcome to Brexit Britain\n\nOverall, British unemployment is still at just 4.3%, its lowest level in decades. There have been big gains for jobs in construction and hospitality.\n\nBut weakness in the retail industry underscores worries that there may be harder times ahead.\n\nWednesday's data show the number of people in work dropped by 56,000 in the three months ended October.\n\n\"The fact there [are] fewer people in work is bad news ... it shows we are not making full use of our resources,\" said Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG in the U.K.", "output": "The UK retail sector has lost 65,000 jobs since the Brexit referendum in June 2016, according to recent\u00a0employment data. Food-price\u00a0rises\u00a0on the back of a Brexit-weakened pound,\u00a0slow wage growth\u00a0and increasing online sales have hit the industry hard, experts say. IHS data also revealed spending in \"brick-and-mortar\" shops in November\u00a0was down 3.5% YoY, the seventh-consecutive\u00a0monthly contraction.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Active funds find few takers despite performance uptick \n Passive investing won 2016. Not only did the vanilla style of investing broadly outperform its active counterparts last year, but it extended its domination as the strategy of choice, amassing billions of dollars in inflows while money flooded out of active funds.\n\nThis year, in contrast, the two are ending in something of a draw.\n\nPassive funds were heavily favored over active, as investors continued to trend towards low-fee, broad-market products to take advantage of the ongoing global bull market, showing a particular preference for exchange-traded funds, which sit at the center of all these trends. However, the returns side of the equation was more nuanced, as active managers staged their best aggregate performance in years, helped by a long-awaited rise in stock dispersions.\n\nAccording to data from Morningstar Direct, actively managed U.S. equity funds (including both ETFs and mutual funds) have seen $181 billion in outflows thus far this year. Passive stock funds have seen inflows of $199.6 billion over the same period. U.S. stock ETFs alone have seen year-to-date inflows of $308.6 billion (the smaller number for passive overall reflects an investor move from mutual funds into ETFs).\n\nFor all fund categories, passive products have seen $634.7 billion in inflows, compared with the $25.5 billion in net active inflows. Flows were positive for active funds due to the $171 billion that went into active taxable bond funds, a category of product where active is seen as offering more value. However, passive taxable bond funds had $193.7 billion in year-to-date inflows.\n\nRelated:Passive investments are hot, but remain a small slice of the stock market\n\nIn an actively managed fund, the components of a portfolio are chosen by an individual or team, whose aim is to outperform the broader market through individual security selection. This is in contrast to passive funds, which are designed to mimic the performance of an index like the S&P 500 SPX, +0.24% or the Russell 2000 RUT, +0.56% by holding the same components it does, and in the same proportion. Data have repeatedly shown that passive funds show better long-term performance than their active counterparts.\n\nOver the shorter term, however, active funds can enjoy periods of broad outperformance, as occurred in 2017, despite the move out of even outperforming funds.\n\nAccording to the latest \u201cActive/Passive Barometer\u201d from Morningstar, 10 of the 12 asset-class categories the firm tracks had more active managers outperform their underlying index this year compared with last year, while a majority outperformed in eight of the 12. The data is for the first half of the year; Morningstar said it would update for all of 2017 in the first quarter of 2018.\n\nIn a more recent read on one investment category, Goldman Sachs wrote that 49% of large-cap mutual fund managers were outperforming their benchmark, the highest number since 2009, and well above the 10-year average of 38%. In 2016, only 19% of managers outperformed.\n\nThe following tables from Morningstar show how active managers in the 12 different categories performed in the first half of 2017 compared with 2016. For some of these categories, the first half of 2017 represented the highest degree of outperformance in years.\n\nThis chart compares their performance in the first half of this year compared with other recent six-month periods.\n\nThe improved performance by active managers was partially credited to a drop in correlations, or the degree to which two different securities move in tandem. Over the past 10 years, correlations have been stubbornly high as the recovery from the financial crisis was seen as a rising tide that lifted all boats. This created a difficult environment for active managers to outperform in, as it was difficult to find undervalued names with stocks moving on macroeconomic trends rather than on their own fundamentals.\n\nPer an analysis by DataTrek, average sector correlations were 81% between 2012 and October 2016. Last month, however, they came in at 37%, the lowest level since the crisis.\n\nAccording to data from S&P Dow Jones Indices, correlation for the S&P 500 was at 0.06 in October. A reading of zero would indicate no correlation whatsoever, while a reading of 1.0 would represent perfect correlation between the index and its underlying securities.\n\nRead more:Beneath a calm surface, the stock market is undergoing a major change\n\n\u201cWe should see a big resurgence in active management in 2018,\u201d said Adam Taback, deputy chief investment officer at Wells Fargo Private Bank. \u201cWe already started to see it in 2017, and we expect to see even more of it in 2018.\u201d\n\nCiting the fall in correlation, Taback said that \u201cactive management is in its best position of the last 10 years.\u201d\n\nOf course, to take advantage of that environment, investors would still need to be invested in the right active fund. Finding one that will outperform in the future can be difficult, and earlier this year, Jeffrey Ptak, global director of manager research for Morningstar, wrote that \u201cactive-fund selection belongs in what Warren Buffett has called the \u2018too hard pile.\u2019 \u201d\n\nRead:It\u2019s too hard to find a good active fund manager, so don\u2019t bother trying, Morningstar says", "output": "US active managers have posted their best performance for years in 2017, according to Morningstar, though this hasn't stopped an increasing number of investors turning to passive alternatives. A drop in correlations between asset classes accounted for an upturn in active performance. Despite outflows from active equity funds, flows into bond offerings meant active products took in a net $25.5bn in 2017 to-date, where passive funds have seen almost $635bn in inflows. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snapchat advertises for international strategy manager in China \n U.S. tech companies and ad agencies are increasingly interested in the Chinese market, and Snapchat is no exception.\n\nThe camera company is looking for an international strategy manager based in Shenzhen, China, where Snapchat opened a research and development office last December, according to a job opening posted on LinkedIn on Dec. 8. This new role seems to go beyond the main purpose of Snapchat\u2019s Shenzhen office, which is to further develop Snapchat\u2019s Spectacles hardware.\n\nThe role of the international strategy manager is to \u201cbecome an evangelist for Snapchat ad products in the China media community, including through direct meetings with advertisers, marketing events and trainings, etc.,\u201d according to the job description. People in mainland China are unable to access Snapchat, though.\n\nA Snapchat spokesperson said this role doesn\u2019t mean that Snapchat is shifting its focus on Spectacles development to growing its advertising in China. Instead, it is about working with companies and advertisers there, many of which use tech platforms to advertise outside of China.\n\n\u201c[This role] will be unrelated to our much larger hardware team and would be intended to benefit Chinese companies who sell products outside of China,\u201d said the spokesperson. \u201cThis is something that many companies blocked in China still pursue.\u201d\n\nSnapchat\u2019s move seems reminiscent of Facebook Audience Network, through which Facebook \u2014 which also is banned in mainland China \u2014 is able to let Chinese companies advertise to Chinese people as well as let Chinese advertisers reach markets outside of China. It wouldn\u2019t be surprising if Snapchat is taking a page from Facebook\u2019s playbook in China. After all, Snapchat has aggressively grown its programmatic advertising business in the U.S.. From July to September, Snapchat\u2019s advertising revenue reached $204 million, 59 percent up from the same period a year prior, according to Imran Khan, chief strategy officer for Snap.\n\nThe company spokesperson said Snapchat\u2019s model is different from Facebook\u2019s in China, and that \u201cit has nothing to do with an ad network.\u201d", "output": "Social media firm Snapchat is looking for an international strategy manager for its Shenzhen research and development office in China, which opened a year ago. While the Shenzhen office is mainly concerned with developing the Spectacles hardware product range, the international strategy manager will be expected to \"become an evangelist for Snapchat ad products in the China media community, including through direct meetings with advertisers, marketing events and training\". The new recruit\u00a0will be expected to\u00a0work with companies and advertisers that sell and advertise outside China.\u00a0At present, mainland China residents cannot access Snapchat.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GiveMeSport sees revenue after slashing underperforming ads \n Sports publisher GiveMeSport has spent the last year culling underperforming ads from its site.\n\nThe digital native sports publisher has cut all six ads from its homepage, four ads from each article page, and all ads from its vertical pages, which include football, boxing, cricket and tennis. Its NBA vertical still features ads from the league. Nick Thain, CEO of GiveMeSport parent Breaking Data, said the removed ads accounted for millions of monthly ad impressions and failed to meet the minimum viewability standards, which require 50 percent of the ad to be in view for a minimum of one second, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau.\n\nThe publisher has also replaced content-recommendation widgets with links to its own content. Publishers have struggled to wean themselves off of third-party content-recommendation widgets at the bottom of article pages, which boost revenues but hamper user experience. GiveMeSport believes it will boost the visibility of its own content and encourage people to return more regularly to the site by removing ad clutter and the widgets.\n\nSince making this change, users now return seven times a month on average, up from four times a month, according to Thain, and it\u2019s seeing up to a 13 percent increase in pageviews per visit. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to show there\u2019s a way to make higher yields with fewer impressions available,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a slightly more medium- to long-term view, rather than the shorter-term view of maximizing revenue for this quarter.\u201d\n\nSix weeks ago, GiveMeSport also ditched full-page, high-impact ads, which the Coalition for Better Ads is trying to root out. These ads were making the publisher a \u201csignificant\u201d amount of revenue, Thain said. Since these overlay formats don\u2019t cover the standard display ads underneath them, display-ad viewability is now 85 percent, and the video pre-roll view-through rate is 70 percent. Shedding full-page, high-impact ads has also sped up page-load times, but the publisher wouldn\u2019t share by how much.\n\nThain said culling ineffective ads, removing widgets and adopting header and server-side bidding has led GiveMeSport\u2019s digital ad revenue growth to jump from 50 percent in March to 72 percent in September.\n\nThat\u2019s critical, given the majority of GiveMeSport\u2019s revenue comes from programmatic advertising, with the rest coming from direct deals and branded content. Since the publisher integrated Google\u2019s Exchange Bidder in July, it has increased page yields by 30 percent, without incurring page latency. GiveMeSport has a pilot site that allows it to test changes to its ad tech stack on 10 percent of its live traffic. If something doesn\u2019t work as planned, it can revert back to the original version in 15 minutes.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re more like a tech company trying to solve the challenges of the publishing world than a newspaper publisher gone digital,\u201d Thain said.", "output": "Sports publisher GiveMeSport has seen revenue grow after it began culling underperforming ads. The publisher has removed\u00a0all ads from its homepage and vertical pages\u00a0and cut\u00a0four ads from its article pages, while retaining those on\u00a0its NBA site.\u00a0\"We\u2019re trying to show there\u2019s a way to make higher yields with fewer impressions available,\u201d said CEO Nick Thain, who revealed that the mass cull led to an increase in digital ad revenue growth to 72% from 50% between March and\u00a0September.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GQ and Universal test new podcast formats for easier sharing \n Universal Music and Cond\u00e9 Nast men\u2019s magazine British GQ are testing podcast formats that can be broken down into chunks for sharing and include images and graphics to accompany each chapter, rather than full 30-minute or hourlong shows. The idea is for people to be able to listen to bite-size chapters of audio if they don\u2019t have time to listen to a full podcast, and share them with friends.\n\nGQ\u2019s first podcast, launched in October, offers sports commentary, a departure from its usual editorial fare. Called \u201cStrike,\u201d the weekly podcast is hosted by Elgar Johnson, GQ Style deputy editor and football aficionado. To encourage people to share the podcast more, GQ worked with podcast platform Entale, which helps edit and publish \u201cStrike.\u201d The podcast is divided into chapters named after each conversation topic, so users can skip to the parts they\u2019re most interested in.\n\nThe aim is to widen GQ\u2019s audience to include sports enthusiasts, particularly Premier League football fans, and tackle serious issues within sports, like how athletes deal with homophobia or address mental health issues. For example, Johnson said, one episode featured Jermaine Jenas, BT Sport pundit and former footballer, discussing homophobic chanting he experienced during his Premier League career. \u201cOur aim is to reach a new audience for GQ, as well as open new doors into sport,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping to talk to people who have experienced or seen these topics of conversation firsthand.\u201d\n\nDuring each 30-minute episode, which are released each Wednesday, Johnson interviews a range of guests, including current and former footballers, sports journalists and celebrity fans, about topics like the biggest football matches in the Premier League that week or expectations for England in the 2018 World Cup.\n\nLiverpool FC\u2019s and Wales\u2019 record scorer Ian Rush, East London rapper Yxng Bane and ESPN\u2019s Arsenal correspondent Mattias Kar\u00e9n have all come on the podcast, which has had seven episodes to date.\n\nPodcasts don\u2019t tend to get shared much. GQ hopes that users\u2019 ability to choose segments will make it more likely for them to share those sections on social platforms with friends, who will likewise be more open to listening to a conversation snippet of personal interest. GQ wouldn\u2019t reveal specific download figures.\n\nUniversal Music is also using a chapter-based design to test appetite for a podcast hosted by British pop rock band The Vamps. The record label is trying to build engagement through the podcast, called \u201cHow Little We Know,\u201d with the band\u2019s fans during its current tour. Universal Music hasn\u2019t committed to a specific number of podcasts, but it has published two to date, both just under an hour in length. As of writing, the podcast is No. 3 on iTunes U.K. top podcast chart this week.\n\nWhen the podcasts are published as web and mobile apps on the publisher\u2019s site, there is more scope for in-depth analytics. Entale\u2019s platform integrates with Google Analytics, so publishers can track how long people are listening, where they skip, which chapters are most popular and shared most often, as well as how much listeners interact with accompanying images and graphics.\n\nNeither Universal Music nor GQ\u2019s podcasts feature ads, but GQ wants to add them in the future. Ad options include a standard 30-second spot that can be inserted in chapter breaks and a two- to three-minute chapter that advertisers can book to be read by the podcast host \u2014 a standard option across all podcasts. The twist is that the chapters can be swapped, so a brand could have different native ads for different geographic regions or update old podcasts with new ads, for example.\n\nEntale is developing new partnership opportunities with a dynamic audio advertising platform within its parent company, Founders Factory.", "output": "Universal Music and British GQ magazine are experimenting with breaking down podcasts into smaller chapters, to encourage greater sharing\u00a0on social media. Universal has reached number 3 on the iTunes chart with a podcast aimed at fans of the band The Vamps, and believes the chapter-based structure will make it more likely these will be shared among\u00a0friends. GQ has been targeting sports fans, with discussions covering subjects including the ways in which footballers handle homophobic chanting. Breaking down the podcasts also offers more opportunities to include sponsored content and advertisements.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MedyMatch to integrate AI trauma tool into GE's CT imaging system \n This article was first published by The Times of Israel and is re-posted with permission.\n\nMedyMatch Technology, an Israeli startup that has developed an artificial intelligence based software to help clinicians assess head trauma or stroke, has entered a partnership with GE Healthcare to integrate its products with the US giant\u2019s imaging solutions.\n\nThis is the third industry partnership for MedyMatch, which has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) software that aims to be more accurate than the human eye and help physicians more quickly assess patients suspected of head trauma or stroke, ruling out the presence of a bleed in the brain. In March this year, the company said IBM Watson Health and the healthcare unit of Samsung Electronics would integrate its platforms into their medical imaging products.\n\nSEE ALSO: Israel\u2019s Zebra Medical Vision Teams Up With Google To Revolutionize Medical Scans\n\nWorking with GE, MedyMatch will integrate the intracranial hemorrhage detection platform into GE\u2019s CT imaging solutions. The US multinational conglomerate is making a push to integrate artificial intelligence software into its products: the firm this week said that it will update some 500,000 of its medical devices around the world with technologies from NVIDIA and Intel.\n\nThe goal of the initial application is to help clinicians in their assessment of patients suspected of acute head trauma or stroke, where intracranial hemorrhage is suspected.\n\n\u201cNon-contrast CT remains the primary imaging modality for the initial evaluation of patients with suspected stroke for traumatic brain injury.\u201d said Gene Saragnese, Chairman &CEO of MedyMatch in a statement. \u201cMedyMatch is bringing to market a new category of medical solutions that leverages deep learning, machine vision, and the full richness of 3-D imaging and other relevant patient data.\u201d\n\nSEE ALSO: This Company Invented A Machine Algorithm That Diagnoses Breast Cancer Earlier\n\n\u201cMedyMatch is pushing the boundaries with the use of real-time data in the emergency room,\u201d said Mike Barber, CEO of GE Healthcare MICT. \u201cMedyMatch\u2019s acute care clinical decision support products are aligned with the needs of the marketplace, supplying clinical decision support tools, with the goal of improving patient outcomes, and processed at the point of image creation.\u201d\n\nTo read the full article, click here.", "output": "MedyMatch Technology has teamed up with GE Healthcare to integrate its artificial intelligence (AI) trauma assessment tool with the US giant's CT imaging products. The Israeli start-up's AI software helps doctors quickly assess patients suspected of having head trauma or a stroke, where bleeding on the brain is suspected. The deal is part of GE's push to integrate AI software into its products, having recently announced it will update 500,000 of its global medical devices with technology from NVIDIA and Intel.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Washington Post to open branded content studio in London \n The Washington Post has taken more of a slow and steady approach to international expansion compared to some pure-play digital publishers, whose global growth ambitions seem to be tempered. For the next year, the publisher will focus on growing its branded-content capabilities internationally after hiring its first head of marketing for Europe and Asia, Aaron Robinson.\n\nThe Post has an international sales team of roughly six people in Europe and Asia mostly focused on selling programmatic and direct deal ads, while branded-content campaigns have been created in the U.S. for international clients. By the end of next year, the Post will have a branded-content studio in London and hopes to have roughly a dozen employees across Europe, according to the publisher. The Post\u2019s global digital advertising revenue has grown 35 percent from last year, according to Paul Tsigrikes, vp of marketing at the Post. In the next year, he expects a 50 percent growth in revenue from digital advertising in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.\n\n\u201cThe EMEA territory is an engine of growth for us,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re investing for a reason. We\u2019re ready to focus and grow. We have the audience; the name recognition will come. Other folks you\u2019ll see scale back, but we\u2019ll be scaling up.\u201d\n\nHealth care brand Sanofi\u2019s rebranding campaign is the Post\u2019s largest European campaign in terms of cost to run in Europe to date. The campaign, which consists of mainly text articles and images about how healthcare is evolving, launched two weeks ago and is also running in the U.S., according to Tsigrikes.\n\nAlong with other metrics for branded-content campaigns like scroll depth, pageviews and time spent, the Post scores each branded-content campaign on a scale from 1 to 10 on how well it compares to all the publisher\u2019s other branded-content campaigns and its editorial coverage on the same topic. The publisher has also increased the number of campaigns on which it runs pre- and post-campaign analysis, with its four-person in-house research team based in the States running 20 post-campaign research analysis studies in the last 12 months, up from roughly four the year before, said Tsigrikes.\n\nBranded content is competitive, with the Post competing for budgets against local players that have more resources. The Post said it can differentiate partly through its technology, with its native ad distribution platform Own and a number of native ad formats. Another differentiator is its connection to Washington, D.C., which appeals to certain brands. Richard Stokes, head of content at Wavemaker Global, said the publisher can differentiate by demonstrating how it can create branded content for its 1 million digital subscribers. \u201cWith the huge amount of data and understanding on subscribers they could do groundbreaking branded content work with less frequency,\u201d he said. \u201cThey would be better placed to understand attribution too.\u201d\n\nAcross the industry, publishers are working on bigger-ticket deals with fewer clients. The Post has seen the average cost of branded-content deals increase by 50 percent in the last year. \u201cWe\u2019ll chip away at the established players to get the three-monthlong campaigns the way we did in the U.S.,\u201d said Tsigrikes. \u201cWe weren\u2019t established with branded content there three years ago.\u201d\n\nThe Post previously told Digiday that it generates over $100 million from digital advertising globally and claims it has 90 million monthly unique users in the U.S. and 30 million in Europe, which it doesn\u2019t break out by region. In October, the Post had 3.6 million monthly uniques in the U.K., according to comScore. For comparison, comScore indicates The New York Times had 6 million monthly uniques and The Atlantic had 2.8 million monthly uniques in October.\n\nThe Post has invested in international expansion editorially, according to Tsigrikes. At the end of January, the publisher launched a dedicated daily newsletter for global audiences, WorldViews, which Tsigrikes said has grown to 250,000 subscribers. The Post will also launch its first London editorial conference, PostLive, in February. Of course, being privately owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos means the Post can invest strategically over a longer term without expecting a return on investment within the quarter.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re learning from our content amplification and applying it to Europe,\u201d said Tsigrikes. \u201cBeing 12 months behind competitors is not a problem. We\u2019re learning from their mistakes: Don\u2019t hire 15 people in London if you don\u2019t have clients there.\u201d", "output": "The Washington Post will open a branded content studio in London by the end of 2018, aiming to have around 12 employees across Europe. The company's digital advertising revenue has increased 35% from 2016 and anticipates revenue from its digital advertising efforts in Europe, Africa and the Middle East will grow 50% next year. It recently hired its first head of marketing for Europe and Asia, Aaron Robinson, and has a team of around six people in the region selling programmatic and direct deal advertising.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California targets smarter almond production with $4.8m fund \n Dive Brief:\n\nThe Almond Board of California (ABC) announced it is investing $4.8 million in 64 independent, third-party research projects experimenting with innovative farming techniques, according to Food Ingredients First. Three key areas of interest for almond farmers include water sustainability, protection of honey bees that pollinate the almond crop, and new uses for almond hulls, shells and woody materials.\n\nIn the past 40 years, ABC has invested close to $70 million in research on how to improve the way almonds are grown, processed and consumed in order to make an \"an economically, environmentally and socially responsible crop for California.\"\n\nAccording to ABC's recently released sustainability publication, Growing Good, the industry has already made progress in terms of environmental initiatives. Half of almond processors use solar energy at their facilities, 78% of almond orchards use efficient micro-irrigation, and 94% of almond farms notify beekeepers about pesticides that may need to be used.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nThe humble, heart-healthy almond has gained something of a bad reputation in California. The Golden State's drought may have come to an end \u2014 Governor Jerry Brown declared that the emergency period was over in April \u2014 but the water-leeching seed was at the forefront of the environmental controversy, and has yet to escape scrutiny.\n\nOne almond requires a gallon of water to grow properly, making it the second-most thirsty crop in California, behind alfalfa sprouts. If there were one main sustainability obstacle facing the popular nut, it would be water use.\n\nDespite it\u2019s year-round dependence on water, the almond business has boomed. California is the only state to grow America\u2019s most consumed-nut commercially, thanks to its ideal cool winters and warm spring temperatures. Now, thanks to increased demand, 44% more land there is being used to farm almonds compared to a decade ago. But increased production means even more water use, which has impacted other California industries. Because water is diverted for almond farms, the Klamath River has experienced low-water levels \u2014 threatening thousands of endangered king salmon.\n\nThe $4.8 billion industry also has affected other crops. Farmers hoping to cash in on the almond craze are pulling up lower-profit plants, like tomatoes and melons, to switch to almond trees.\n\nIf ABC\u2019s research is able to reduce the amount of water needed to grow almonds, the price per nut at the supermarket may drop, and more farmers could shift toward producing it. That said, there is no guarantee farmers will pass the savings on to consumers when there is still growing demand for their harvest, though sustainability claims could lure more shoppers to the expensive nut.\n\nThe two other areas ABC is pouring its research dollars into \u2014 the protection of honey bees that pollinate the almond crop and upcycling almond waste \u2014 could also prove to be enticing value-adds. Environmental stewardship and zero-waste production are top of mind for many conscious consumers, and these initiatives could help bring a sustainability halo to the almond industry.", "output": "Almond-growers in California are funding research to find innovative new farming methods. The Almond Board of California is investing $4.8m in up to 64 different research projects targeting three main areas of interest: protection of honey bees, new uses for almond shells, and water sustainability. The production of almonds requires a lot of water, and the expansion of the industry is putting a strain on water resources in the state. Increasing water efficiency could help to reduce costs in the $4.8bn industry.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "L'Or\u00e9al moves to private marketplaces to avoid wasted impressions \n Reducing the money wasted on unprofitable media will be at the heart of L\u2019Or\u00e9al\u2019s advertising plans in 2018.\n\nThere is still \u201ca lot of waste\u201d in the media the advertiser buys, admitted St\u00e9phane B\u00e9rub\u00e9, L\u2019Or\u00e9al\u2019s CMO for Western Europe. But unlike Procter & Gamble, Unilever and other big advertisers, L\u2019Or\u00e9al has no intention of slashing its spend online to weed out ineffective ads. Instead, the cosmetics giant will spend more online next year, as it has over the last 12 months. It\u2019s where the company\u2019s ads appear that will impact ad waste, not how much it spends, explained B\u00e9rub\u00e9, who is warming to the idea that greater relevance comes at a premium. \u201cI prefer to pay more sometimes to get the quality audiences rather than a cheap CPM,\u201d he said.\n\nTo avoid cheap impressions, L\u2019Or\u00e9al\u2019s budgets are moving from open exchanges into private marketplaces, B\u00e9rub\u00e9 said. In some markets, the advertiser is going directly to publishers to curate its own private marketplaces, a shift reliant on first-party data from areas such as L\u2019Or\u00e9al\u2019s limited e-commerce sales alongside data from publishers. Consequently, third-party data is becoming less important to the company\u2019s campaigns, B\u00e9rub\u00e9 said.\n\nL\u2019Or\u00e9al\u2019s pullback from CPMs dates back to 2014, when it decided to buy display ads that are 70 percent in view on publisher sites. It would be too costly and restrictive on reach if those ads were 100 percent in view, the advertiser previously said. For video ads, the advertiser has been buying those that run through to completion, rather than paying for all impressions.\n\nBuying viewable impressions was the main way the advertiser tried to curb wastage three years ago, whereas now it\u2019s part of a wider shift to more addressable media buys, said B\u00e9rub\u00e9. In other words, L\u2019Or\u00e9al is catching on to the value of people-based advertising, turning its first-party data into more effective campaigns. \u201cWe\u2019re reviewing all our audience profiles,\u201d B\u00e9rub\u00e9 said. \u201cWe need to collect as much data as possible to be relevant to consumers.\u201d\n\nUnderstanding that wealth of data is easier said than done. In addition to examining return on investment and attribution modeling, L\u2019Or\u00e9al\u2019s marketers are also trying to understand some of the more opaque costs of its advertising such as cost per acquisition, consumer lifetime value and the value of cookies. L\u2019Or\u00e9al is also hiring data experts to help make sense of the company\u2019s customer data and question existing media practices. In some cases, data privacy experts are vetting technology and service providers. L\u2019Or\u00e9al must bring more experts \u2014 not just in data \u2014 in-house, said B\u00e9rub\u00e9, not to replace agencies but to challenge them to be less \u201ccomplacent\u201d and to nurture their own specializations.\n\nThe topic of in-house talent versus agency expertise sparked frank comments from B\u00e9rub\u00e9 at the Ad:tech London conference last month. L\u2019Or\u00e9al isn\u2019t trying to \u201ckill the agency\u201d by shaping its own media strategy, B\u00e9rub\u00e9 assured delegates at the event. As dedicated to nurturing its own media expertise as L\u2019Or\u00e9al is, B\u00e9rub\u00e9 concedes it will never be able to plan and buy media at the scale an agency could. \u201cEven if I have my have own [trading] desk internally, we\u2019re never going to buy 100 million impressions,\u201d he said. \u201cThe reason we\u2019re doing this [in-housing talent] is to understand [our media investments]. If I have no clue about media, then how can I challenge my agency to do a good job?\u201d\n\nB\u00e9rub\u00e9 believes another potential benefit of L\u2019Or\u00e9al\u2019s agencies leading media strategy is better remuneration. He said the advertiser plans to overhaul the way it remunerates agencies in many markets, moving away from models that view media as a commodity. \u201cWe need to go from treating it [media] as a commodity to be much more of a quality buy because agencies were just being incentivized to buy cheap media, whether that was on TV or online,\u201d B\u00e9rub\u00e9 said.\n\nL\u2019Or\u00e9al\u2019s crackdown on wastage helps explain its focus on the so-called long tail of advertising. In the last quarter, the advertiser not only increased its online spend in the U.S. versus the same period a year ago (as the chart above shows), but also the number of publisher sites its ads appeared on. According to a study by ad-tracking firm MediaRadar, L\u2019Or\u00e9al, like P&G over a similar period, has become more confident in a supply chain that has forced some advertisers to reluctantly reduce their spend. The data doesn\u2019t reveal how many of those ads are on cheap sites versus premium ones, however, meaning L\u2019Or\u00e9al could still be prioritizing reach over content and context.\n\nB\u00e9rub\u00e9 claimed otherwise: \u201cWe have better visibility now on who is and who isn\u2019t a real person [online]. I can tell you that we\u2019re comfortable continuing to invest [in digital].\u201d\n\nImage courtesy of L\u2019Or\u00e9al.", "output": "In an attempt to avoid wasteful ad spend online, L'Or\u00e9al will be focusing heavily on private marketplaces rather than open exchanges in 2018. Explaining L'Or\u00e9al's shift in thinking, Western Europe CMO St\u00e9phane B\u00e9rub\u00e9 said: \u201cI prefer to pay more sometimes to get the quality audiences rather than a cheap CPM.\u201d\u00a0L'Or\u00e9al will also go directly to publishers to oversee its own private marketplaces and avoid low-quality impressions. The company will also hire more in-house experts to improve understanding of the data it holds and to put its own media practices under the spotlight.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Creators struggling to understand AI decision processes: Quartz \n Artificial intelligence is seeping into every nook and cranny of modern life. AI might tag your friends in photos on Facebook or choose what you see on Instagram, but materials scientists and NASA researchers are also beginning to use the technology for scientific discovery and space exploration.\n\nBut there\u2019s a core problem with this technology, whether it\u2019s being used in social media or for the Mars rover: The programmers that built it don\u2019t know why AI makes one decision over another.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nModern artificial intelligence is still new. Big tech companies have only ramped up investment and research in the last five years, after a decades-old theory was shown to finally work in 2012. Inspired by the human brain, an artificial neural network relied on layers of thousands to millions of tiny connections between \u201cneurons\u201d or little clusters of mathematic computation, like the connections of neurons in the brain. But that software architecture came with a trade-off: Since the changes throughout those millions of connections were so complex and minute, researchers aren\u2019t able to exactly determine what is happening. They just get an output that works.\n\nAt the Neural Information Processing Systems conference in Long Beach, California, the most influential and highest-attended annual AI conference, hundreds of researchers from academia and tech industry will meet today (Dec. 7) at a workshop to talk about the issue. While the problem exists today, researchers who spoke to Quartz say the time is now to act on making the decisions of machines understandable, before the technology is even more pervasive.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t want to accept arbitrary decisions by entities, people or AIs, that we don\u2019t understand,\u201d said Uber AI researcher Jason Yosinkski, co-organizer of the Interpretable AI workshop. \u201cIn order for machine learning models to be accepted by society, we\u2019re going to need to know why they\u2019re making the decisions they\u2019re making.\u201d\n\nAs these artificial neural networks are starting to be used in law enforcement, health care, scientific research, and determining which news you see on Facebook, researchers are saying there\u2019s a problem with what some have called AI\u2019s \u201cblack box.\u201d Previous research has shown that algorithms amplify biases in the data from which they learn, and make inadvertent connections between ideas.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nFor example, when Google made an AI generate the idea of \u201cdumbbells\u201d from images it had seen, the dumbbells all had small, disembodied arms sticking out from the handles. That bias is relatively harmless; when race, gender, or sexual orientation is involved, it becomes less benign.\n\n\u201cAs machine learning becomes more prevalent in society\u2014and the stakes keep getting higher and higher\u2014people are beginning to realize that we can\u2019t treat these systems as infallible and impartial black boxes,\u201d Hanna Wallach, a senior researcher at Microsoft and speaker at the conference, tells Quartz in an email. \u201cWe need to understand what\u2019s going on inside them and how they are being used.\u201d\n\nMission-critical AI\n\nIn NASA\u2019s Jet Propolusion Lab, artificial intelligence allows the Mars rover to operate semi-autonomously when exploring the surface of an unexplored planet. AI is also used to comb through the thousands of pictures taken by the rover when they\u2019re transmitted back to Earth.\n\nWhy would they trust [AI] to control their Mars rover or orbiter if they don\u2019t know why it\u2019s making the choices it\u2019s making?\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBut Kiri Wagstaff, a JPL AI researcher and speaker at the workshop, says AI needs to be understood before it\u2019s used, due to the high risks every decision brings in space.\n\n\u201cIf you have a spacecraft in orbit around Mars, it\u2019s 200 million miles away, it costs hundreds of millions of dollars, potentially even a billion dollars, to send there. If anything goes wrong, you\u2019re done. There\u2019s no way to repair, visit, replace that thing without spending an immense amount of money,\u201d Wagstaff says. \u201cSo if we want to put machine learning in play, then the people running these missions need to understand what it\u2019s doing and why, because why would they trust it to control their Mars rover or orbiter if they don\u2019t know why it\u2019s making the choices it\u2019s making?\u201d\n\nWagstaff works on building the AI that sorts through images captured in space by NASA\u2019s various spacecraft. Since those images can number in the millions, having an AI pick out the interesting photos could be a big timesaver\u2014but only if the AI knows what an \u201cinteresting\u201d image looks like.\n\nTo Wagstaff, being able to understand what the AI is looking for is crucial to implementing the algorithm. If there was a mistake in how it learned to go through images, that could mean passing over data worth the millions of dollars the mission cost.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cJust being presented with an image that a computer said \u2018Oh this is interesting, take a look\u2019 leaves you in this sort of limbo, because you haven\u2019t looked at all million images yourself, you don\u2019t know why that\u2019s interesting, what ticked,\u201d Wagstaff says. \u201cIs it because of its color, because of its shape, because of the spacial arrangement of objects in the scene?\u201d\n\nHidden knowledge\n\nIn 2007, Andrew Gordon Wilson, an AI professor at Cornell University and co-organizer of the Interpretable AI workshop, was working with a team to build a new kind of PET scanning machine. Since certain particles didn\u2019t behave in the machine as they did in the rest of the physical world, he was tasked with tracking how a certain particle moved through a tank of xenon.\n\nHis adviser suggested trying to use neural networks, which were still relatively obscure at the time. Using the technology, Wilson was able to use the light emitted by the particle to locate it in the xenon chamber.\n\nWhile he got the answer he was looking for, Wilson says that understanding the internal rules the algorithm had built to understand how light indicated the position of the particle could have opened a new avenue of research.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cIn a way, a model is a theory for our observation, and we can use the model not just to make predictions but also to better understand why the predictions are good and how these natural processes are working,\u201d Wilson said.\n\nUp for interpretation\n\nBut to make new ground on interpretability, one of the biggest challenges is simply defining it, says Wallach, the Microsoft researcher.\n\nDoes interpretability mean that AI experts know why Facebook\u2019s algorithm is showing you a specific post, or that you understand yourself? Does a doctor using an AI-powered treatment recommendation system need to know why a specific regimen was suggested, or is that another role\u2014 like an AI overseer\u2014 that needs to be created in a hospital?\n\n\u201cIf your system doesn\u2019t work and you don\u2019t know why it\u2019s quite hard to improve it.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWallach calls interpretability a latent construct: Something unobservable, but instead augured by testing how real people use and misunderstand AI systems. It\u2019s not just a matter of lifting the hood of an algorithm and watching how the engine runs.\n\nUnderstanding an algorithm isn\u2019t just to fend against bias or make sure your rover won\u2019t fall off a Martian cliff; knowing how a system fails can help AI researchers build more accurate systems.\n\n\u201cIf your system doesn\u2019t work and you don\u2019t know why, it\u2019s quite hard to improve it,\u201d Uber\u2019s Yosinski say. \u201cIf you do know why it\u2019s failing, oftentimes the solution is a foregone conclusion.\u201d\n\nTo figure out how one of its algorithms thinks, Google is trying to sift through the millions of computations made every time the algorithm processes an image. In a paper presented at the NIPS conference, Google researcher Maithra Raghu showed that she was able to fix the unwanted association between dumbbells and arms, only this time with tree bark and birds.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBy looking at which neurons in the network were activated when the AI looked at images of birds, Raghu was able to determine which were focusing on the bird and which were focusing on the bark, and then turn the bark neurons off. The success is a sign that, for all its complexity, translating a neural network\u2019s work into something a human understands isn\u2019t impossible.\n\n\u201cIn school we ask students to put it in their own words to prove that they\u2019ve understood something, to show their work, justify their conclusion,\u201d Wagstaff says. \u201cAnd now we\u2019re expecting that machines will be able to do the same thing.\u201d", "output": "The creators of artificial intelligence (AI) are struggling to understand the choices it makes. Because AI relies on a complex neural network that makes millions of mathematic computations, researchers can only fully comprehend the output, rather than each minute calculation. However, in order to assimilate machine learning models into society, researchers will have to understand why AI makes the decisions it does, to avoid the amplification of bias and other issues."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Deliveroo chooses the7stars agency for planning and buying \n Deliveroo has appointed independent media agency the7stars to handle media planning and buying on its behalf within the UK and Ireland.\n\nDeliveroo delivers UK & Ireland media account to the7stars\n\nThe appointment caps a period of rapacious growth for the British company which specializes in delivering restaurant food direct to customers doors via its network of cyclists.", "output": "Restaurant delivery service Deliveroo has handed the contract for its media planning and buying in the UK and Ireland to the7stars. The independent media agency counts Gumtree, Wagamama and Squarespace among its clients. The deal follows a period of swift growth for Deliveroo, which also recently partnered with Tripadvisor to offer city listings.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Simility wins $17.5m backing for AI-powered anti-fraud system \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nSimility, which develops a fraud detection platform that uses machine learning, has announced a $17.5 million round of funding led by Accel, with participation from new strategic investor PayPal. Existing investors The Valley Fund and Trinity Ventures also contributed.\n\nFounded in 2014, Palo Alto-based Simility is one of a number of companies using machine learning to help those working in the fraud detection realm collect and analyze data. Simility\u2019s software is aimed at companies of all sizes, from enterprises to SMBs, and is designed to prevent various kinds of fraud. This includes account takeover (ATO) fraud, whereby someone tries to gain access to another person\u2019s online account. Here, Simility looks at various session, device, and behavioral biometrics and builds a profile for what constitutes \u201cnormal\u201d user login behavior.\n\nSimility can also help prevent account origination fraud, where a bad actor tries to set up a new account using stolen or fake identities. For example, the company\u2019s software analyzes various session-related indicators, including time spent across pages, keyboard patterns, and so on, while it may also use data garnered form third-party sources to establish the credibility of information provided during setup.\n\nSimility had raised around $7.5 million prior to now, and with its latest cash influx the company said it plans to \u201caccelerate global expansion\u201d of its partner network, as well as growing its sales, customer service, and data science teams. More specifically, Simility is looking to push its sales operations in the U.S., Brazil, and Europe and to grow its data science teams in Europe.\n\nPayPal is a notable addition to the company\u2019s roster of investors and is indicative of Simility\u2019s target markets: Finance and online retail industries are rife with fraud.\n\n\u201cDigital disruption in the financial and commerce sectors has resulted in the need for a fraud and risk management solution that goes beyond legacy, static rule-based offerings to offer protection in a digital first, big data analytics-focused environment,\u201d said Simility cofounder and CEO Rahul Pangam. \u201cThis latest funding round will enable us to enter our next phase of growth by bolstering our world-class team of industry veterans in sales, customer success, and data science to meet market demand.\u201d\n\nAutomated fraud detection has emerged as a key focal point for tech firms and investors. Paris-based Shift Technology, which offers a platform that uses AI to help companies combat insurance fraud, recently closed a $28 million funding round. Pindrop has nabbed some big-name backers, such as Google Capital, for its AI-based phone fraud detection service, and Israel-based Forter has grabbed big bucks to help retailers battle online fraud using machine learning.\n\nSimility claims \u201cmultiple global Fortune 500 financial services organizations\u201d as clients, including major U.S. banks.", "output": "A company that uses artificial intelligence (AI) in its fraud detection system has received a $17.5m funding injection from investors including online payment platform PayPal. Simility, which was founded in 2014, uses machine learning software to assist with analysing user data and help spot suspicious activity that might indicate identity fraud. Increasing numbers of companies are using AI in fraud detection, with major investors backing the development of commercial systems that can reduce risks through effective data analysis.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California looks to launch entirely online community college \n By Louis Freedberg, EdSource\n\nWith time running out on his governorship, Gov. Jerry Brown is pushing California\u2019s 114-campus community college system to create one more college: a new fully online college that would have been unimaginable during his first term as governor.\n\nTo that end, he met recently with California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley and Vice Chancellor of Workforce and Digital Futures Van Ton-Quinlivan to consider several options for establishing the college. Last May, Brown sent Oakley a letter asking him \u201cto take whatever steps are necessary to establish a new community college that \u2014 exclusively \u2014 offers a fully online degree program,\u201d and to come up with plan for how to do so by last month.\n\nOakley, who formerly ran Long Beach City College, created a task force to study the concept. On Nov. 30 , the team completed its report, which included four options, and Oakley presented them to the governor.\n\nOne option is to create a separate online college to be housed at an existing college. Another is to set up a consortium of colleges to create the statewide online college. A third is to create a new online community college district within the chancellor\u2019s office in Sacramento. In response to faculty concerns, Brown was presented with a newly added option \u2014 to just expand the community colleges\u2019 existing online offerings.\n\nNeither the chancellor\u2019s nor the governor\u2019s office were willing to comment on which of the four options appealed to Brown. The proposal is likely to be included in Brown\u2019s proposed FY2019 budget \u2014 his last as governor \u2014 that he will present to the Legislature in January.\n\nThe proposed college is designed to serve the needs of a large population of Californians that the massive community college system \u2014 the largest higher education system in the world \u2014 currently doesn\u2019t serve.\n\nIn an interview with EdSource, Oakley said that the online college will reach California residents who have received some college education, but never completed a credential, or have been in the workforce and have never been to college at all. Especially at risk are those whose jobs are threatened by automation and technological innovation generally. Oakley said these workers number between 2.5 million and 4 million and that they have become \u201cvery vulnerable\u201d in the post-Recession period.\n\nHe cited the example of 50-year-old-plus workers who have some or no college education, have been working for 20 or 30 years, but have no way of advancing in the job market because they lack the skills to do so. \u201cWe call these individuals stranded workers,\u201d he said. \u201cThey become targets of predatory or for-profit institutions that take advantage of their struggles and their desperation, offer them courses promising high wages at the other end, but all they do is saddle them with high debt.\u201d\n\nAlready about one-third of the over 2.1 million students currently enrolled in the California Community Colleges are taking at least one online course. This fall the community college system established its Online Education Initiative to further promote online instruction. Jory Hadsell, its executive director, said contrary to stereotypes, for some students online instruction encourages greater, rather than less, participation than a regular classroom. \u201cIn the structured format of online courses, students are prompted to engage right from the beginning,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is hard to hide in the back of the classroom, and let other students answer questions.\u201d\n\nHe also said that students have a good deal of contact with an online course\u2019s instructor. \u201cStudents don\u2019t sign up for an online course, and never hear from anyone for a long time,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is quite the opposite. Our online courses are really rigorous, and the result is students getting to know each other better than they would than if they were sitting in desks in a classroom.\u201d\n\nSince being elected governor for a second term in 2010, Brown has persistently pushed to increase online instruction at the state\u2019s public universities, in part in response to their limited seat capacity at a time of increasing enrollment pressures. But the path has not been without obstacles or controversy. For example, a joint program at San Jose State University with the online firm Udacity, called SJSU Plus, floundered several years ago, in part because of faculty opposition.\n\nBrown\u2019s online community college proposal also generated considerable opposition from the faculty. The system\u2019s Academic Senate said that the deadline set by Brown to get the college off the ground was rushed, and that the community colleges\u2019 existing online programs could be expanded to meet the need, in lieu of creating a separate college.\n\n\u201cThese are legitimate questions and concerns,\u201d Oakley said. \u201cWe feel there are answers to those, and we feel there is experience and research throughout the country to address those concerns.\u201d\n\nDespite faculty opposition, Brown\u2019s push for online instruction has arguably gotten the best response at the community colleges. The nature of the community college population \u2014 older, part-time students, many of whom are working \u2014 has put more pressure on community colleges than on the University of California and California State University to offer courses that give students greater flexibility. As a result, over the past dozen years, online enrollment at the community colleges have more than doubled, from 13 percent of students in 2005 to about one-third today.\n\nThe new online college, however, will serve a largely new population, presenting the sprawling system with new challenges. \u201cThis is a population that has a hard time getting to our brick and mortar colleges, or fitting into our traditional academic schedule,\u201d Oakley said. \u201cWe will have a lot of work to do to reach these working age adults, and give them access to higher education and the support services they need to succeed.\u201d\n\nThis story originally appeared on EdSource.org. EdSource is an independent journalism organization that works to engage Californians on key education challenges with the goal of enhancing learning success.", "output": "California Governor Jerry Brown is looking to launch an all-online community college aimed at \"stranded workers\". According to California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley, the college will target\u00a0residents who have received an incomplete college education, have never been to college, or\u00a0whose jobs are generally at risk from automation and technology. A proposal is currently being worked upon by the Governor's office in collaboration with Oakley's office, and a final proposal is likely to be included in the Governor's 2019 budget, which will be presented to the legislature in January.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ZoomDoc looks to expand its UK doctors-on-demand service \n A GP on demand service has launched a crowd-funding campaign to try and raise \u00a3500,000 so it can expand.\n\nZoomDoc, which was founded by Dr Kenny Livingstone, is a paid-for service which allows users to book an NHS-registered GP to come to their home.\n\nThe app, which promises a GP will see you within one hour, was soft-launched in the UK in May and has been downloaded 5,000 times since then.\n\nLivingstone told Digital Health News that increasing demand for the app prompted the crowd-funding campaign and as a result it needed to recruit more GPs to enable further technological developments.\n\nThe cash-pot will also allow ZoomDoc GPs to cover other major towns across the UK as it is currently only being used in London, this includes investment in marketing to help raise awareness about the service.\n\nHis \u2018frustration\u2019 working as a GP and not being able to deliver care to enough patients was the driving force behind ZoomDoc.\n\n\u201cI wanted to create an app so a GP could work on demand and can work on their terms,\u201d Livingstone said.\n\n\u201cI can log into the app wherever I am in the UK and choose how far I am willing to travel.\u201d\n\nZoomDoc works by patients logging on to the app and then choosing a local doctor who is on call before requesting a home visit or telephone advice.\n\nHome visits start at \u00a399 while telephone advice starts at \u00a325.\n\nHowever the website states that these prices can increase during evening, weekends and bank holidays.\n\nYou can see how the app works in the video below.\n\nLivingstone said ZoomDoc is aimed at those who are prepared to pay to see a doctor, adding that the app does not \u2018cherry-pick\u2019 patients which is what video consultation app, GP at Hand, was accused of.\n\nHe also said a recent call out was an example of how ZoomDoc can ease the pressures on A&E departments.\n\n\u201cI received a call from parents of a 14-week-old baby who could not get access to their GP and was told by NHS 111 to go to A&E.\n\n\u201cHowever I managed to see the child within 30 minutes because of ZoomDoc and the parents avoided a trip to A&E\u2019.\u201d\n\nLooking to the future, Livingstone said he is hoping to eventually work with the NHS.\n\n\u201cWe want to work with the NHS and support it,\u201d he said.", "output": "UK start-up ZoomDoc has launched a \u00a3500,000 ($672,000) crowdsourcing campaign as it seeks to expand its GP-on-demand service. The app is a paid service which lets users in London book a National Health Service-registered GP to come to their home. It has been downloaded 5,000 times since soft-launching in May. ZoomDoc Founder Dr Kenny Livingstone said increasing demand meant the company needed to raise money for recruiting more GPs and expanding across the UK. Advice over the phone starts at \u00a325, while costs for home visits start at \u00a399.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI healthcare start-up Prognos secures $20.5m \n Detection can be the difference between getting cured or succumbing to disease in many cases. As health records and diagnostics all go digital, a wealth of data is being created and recorded that can be used to prevent disease. Prognos sits at the center of this growing market and application. Leveraging AI and a number of sophisticated algorithms, the Prognos platform analyzes clinical lab results to drive decisions early. While we often read about AI being used to some trivial application, this startup has the potential to literally change the world with its ground breaking technology.\n\nAlleyWatch sat down with CEO and cofounder, Sundeep Bhan to learn more about the startup, its origin, future plans, and most recent round of funding.\n\nWho were your investors and how much did you raise?\n\nThis was a Series C round, which raised $20.5 million. Our existing investors are Merck Global Health Innovation Fund (GHI), and Safeguard Scientifics who also invested in Prognos during this round. The new investors are Cigna, GIS Strategic Ventures (the venture capital arm of the Guardian Life Insurance Company), Hermed, Hikma Ventures and Maywic.\n\nTell us about your Prognos.\n\nPrognos has built the largest lab connectivity network in the U.S., processed and analyzed over 13 billion lab records for more than 180 million patients, and developed 1,000+ proprietary machine learning-enabled algorithms across 50 conditions, such as diabetes, asthma, and non-small cell lung cancer, for the lab data management and analysis.\n\nWhat inspired you to start Prognos?\n\nThe understanding that anyone is vulnerable to the disease and, in many cases, if a disease is diagnosed and treated earlier, that may impact outcomes, particularly in oncology patients. Prognos concentrates on clinical lab results, which drive about 70% of medical decisions and are available in real time. Clinical lab data indicates \u2013 as soon as the lab test results are ready \u2013 how a patient is doing, if he or she needs a specific therapy or is ready for a change in therapy. Prognos originated as a concept of eradicating disease, and we started with answering the questions about improving health by tracking and predicting disease at the earliest using AI and lab data.\n\nHow is it different?\n\nWhile other analytics vendors claim they use lab data, they typically use data from chart pulls, which is also limited in that EHRs only contain on average 40% lab data. Prognos is the only company in the U.S. that has built the direct lab connectivity network on such a scale.\n\nWhat market you are targeting and how big is it?\n\nAccording to Frost & Sullivan recent market analysis on Healthcare Artificial Intelligence Solutions Market, the addressable healthcare analytics market size for Prognos\u2019s products has the potential to reach $6.7 billion by 2021 (growing at a staggering 40% CAGR).\n\nWhat\u2019s your business model?\n\nWe license our products to Life Science companies and payers.\n\nCan you tell us more about how AI is changing healthcare?\n\nWe are moving towards accurate forward-looking and real-time insights. The way Prognos uses AI with lab data, often integrated with prescription and claims data, is to predict the diagnosis before it is made and identify therapy that will address the condition best based on the patient\u2019s clinical profile. We are capable of saying, this patient has, for example, a 40% probability to develop a certain condition within the next 90 days.\n\nWhat factors about Prognos led your investors to write the check?\n\nThe most significant factors are the total addressable healthcare market that we serve and the proven business model.\n\nWhat are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?\n\nPrognos will continue to focus on enabling earlier identification of patients who can benefit from enhanced treatment decision-making to drive better outcomes. These new investments will enhance Prognos product offerings to help Life Science companies across the entire commercial lifecycle and our payer clients.\n\nWhat advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?\n\nEnter a large market and be able to articulate your business model.\n\nWhere do you see the company going now over the near term?\n\nIn the near-term, we are focused on expanding our Life Science portfolio to include healthcare media-focused, market access/RWE (e.g., value-based contracting), and R&D-centric offerings, all of which involve expanding to new audiences with some combination of existing and new products. We are also enhancing our existing commercially focused offerings\u2013increasing speed of delivery, expanding delivery channels and creating end-to-end marketing programs\u2013as we work with innovative clients on NextGen marketing initiatives. To better serve our diagnostic laboratory partners and clients, we are investing in market measurement services and also evaluating clinical trial services. Our payer portfolio is expanding beyond risk/care management products as we invest in underwriting capabilities.\n\nWhere is your favorite bar in the city for an after work drink?\n\nOur offices are at WeWork, where we can chat over a beer at the end of the day.", "output": "New York City start-up Prognos has raised $20.5m towards using artificial intelligence (AI) to help predict and prevent disease. The company has built a lab connectivity network in the US that\u00a0processes\u00a0more than 13 billion lab records for over 180 million patients. It has also developed more than a 1,000 machine-learning algorithms across 50 conditions including asthma and diabetes. The series C funding round included support from existing investors Merck Global Health Innovation Fund and Safeguard Scientifics, as well as new funders including Cigna and GIS Strategic Ventures.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CBA to make 'tap-on-phone' contactless payments a reality \n Commonwealth Bank of Australia business customers will soon be able to accept a payment by simply tapping their phone with a contactless card or mobile wallet.\n\nCommonwealth Bank will use a white label version of Mobeewave's SoftPOS technology and Digital Enablement from Idemia to deliver the service, which will me made available for Mastercard transactions on Samsung flagship devices from the second half of 2018.\n\n\n\nThe technology is a real threat to the dongle-dependent mPOS technology of firms like Square as it requires no additional hardware plug ins to accept payments. When Square launched in Australia last year, CBA initially moved to block payments over the card reader citing security concerns.\n\n\n\nSam Itzcovitz, Commonwealth Bank managing director commerce and platforms, says: \u201cThis solution gives Australian small businesses the ability to accept in person payments quickly and simply using just their phone so they can get on with running their business.\u201d\n\n\n\nMastercard research has shown that more than four in five Australian consumers are using contactless payment at least once a week, but fewer are making use of mobile contactless payment services.\n\n\n\nMatt Barr, SVP, core, digital and new payment flows of Mastercard Australasia, says: \u201cThis pilot brings us one step closer to our vision of 'enabling every device to become an acceptance device'. We all use our phones to make payments, why not use them to accept payments as well. With its high use of contactless technology, Australia is an ideal environment to roll out this type of \u201ctap-on-phone\u201d solution.\u201d", "output": "Small retailers in Australia will soon be able to accept card payments from customers using just a mobile phone. Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has signed a deal to allow its customers use the \"tap-on-phone\" SoftPOS system developed by Canadian tech firm Mobeewave, which enables customers to pay by simply tapping their card to the retailer's phone screen. Mastercard payments of up to AUD100 ($76.64) will be possible through the system.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Driverless cars given human-like view of the world \n Eyes on the Road\n\nWe're closer to making self-driving cars a reality than ever before, but at the moment the best options available to the public are along the lines of Tesla's Autopilot system, which are assistive, rather than all-out, autonomy. To get to the next stage, many would agree that we need better sensors.\n\nAEye, a company founded by Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and NASA veteran Luis Dussan, is aiming to produce just that. Dussan started out with a plan to create artificial intelligence that could underpin a self-driving car, but soon found that sensors were the weak link.\n\nThe majority of autonomous vehicles use lidar sensors, which use laser beams to take a reading of their surroundings. They're limited in two key areas: they're expensive, and they can only emit beams at preset angles.\n\nAEye wants to use solid-state lidar sensors, which cast a laser beam back and forth across a scene. Most current applications of this technology utilize a regular scanning method, but Dussan wants to use two distinct types of scan instead: low resolution scans of a wide area, and high resolution scans of a smaller section, where the priority can be reprogrammed on the fly.\n\n\"You can trade resolution, scene revisit rate, and range at any point in time,\" Dussan says. \"The same sensor can adapt.\" Much like the human eye, the hardware would be able to focus in on what's most important depending on the driving conditions present at any given time.\n\nAEye isn't the only company looking to push the state of sensors forward. Apple has been working on a self-driving project in relative secrecy, but its AI chief Ruslan Salakhutdinov recently offered some details about what to expect.\n\nApple is said to be developing sensors that are capable of identifying objects even when the lens is affected or obscured by conditions, like rainfall. Localization and mapping techniques will be used alongside the sensors to create detailed 3D maps that help with decision-making.\n\nDrive Safe\n\nOf course, all these attempts to create better sensors have one goal in mind: safer roads. While the masses may take a while to warm up to the idea of self-driving cars, there's plenty of evidence that autonomy will make traveling by car much safer.\n\nThe wrinkle is that we'll only see the best results when most \u2014 if not all \u2014 cars are piloted by computers. Self-driving vehicles will be able to communicate among themselves with perfect clarity, but anticipating the actions of a human driver could cause complications.\n\nStill, advanced sensors will help make this a reality, sooner. Whether we're talking human drivers or just pedestrians, self-driving cars will always have to deal with unpredictable human behavior. Receiving as much information as possible in an efficient manner via cutting edge sensors is one way to improve our the safety of our roads.", "output": "AEye, a company founded by Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and NASA veteran Luis Dussan, is aiming to produce solid-state LIDAR sensors, which it says work more like a human eye, by focusing on what is most important, depending on the driving conditions present at any given time."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's Xiaomi may still enter India's car market \n Company says regulatory filing was not an application to sell cars and related components in India, though it considers the country its top market", "output": "Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi says it may build and sell cars in India at some point, but has no immediate plans to do so. The company has prioritised the world's second most populous market and plans to invest $1bn in 100 Indian start-ups over the next five years to create an ecosystem of apps for Xiaomi phones, founder and CEO Lei Jun said in November. The company is also considering selling other products ranging from laptops to financial services but it is one of the few Chinese technology giants not to have invested in autonomous vehicles."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesco could face law suit over \u2018fake farm\u2019 branding \n Major UK supermarkets including Tesco, Aldi, Asda and Lidl are being urged to stop using controversial \u201cfake farm\u201d branding on own-brand meat products, with a food charity claiming they are misleading shoppers.\n\nThe Feedback charity is backing the owner of a genuine farm called Woodside Farm \u2013 a name Tesco has also used on its value pork range since 2016 \u2013 and is threatening legal proceedings if the retail giant does not drop the name Woodside Farms.\n\n\n\nIts \u201cTotal Bull\u201d campaign says it believes shoppers are being misled with \u201cdisingenuous\u201d branding that gives the impression it comes from real farms.\n\n\u201cLet\u2019s be clear \u2013 supermarkets are selling meat under fake farm names, deliberately encouraging consumers to believe that the meat is sourced from small-scale producers,\u201d said Feedback\u2019s campaign director, Jessica Sinclair Taylor. \u201cWe believe this is peddling a load of bull.\u201d\n\n\n\nIn March 2016 Tesco, the UK\u2019s largest retailer, sparked controversy after launching a budget range of seven own-label \u201cfarm\u201d brands \u2013 including Woodside Farms and Boswell Farms for fruit and veg as well as meat \u2013 based on British-sounding but fictitious names. Some foods were imported from overseas and given British names to make them sound local.\n\nIn April, Asda reignited the row by relaunching its value Smart Price food range as Farm Stores while German discounter Aldi replaced its Wood Farm brand with Nature\u2019s Pick earlier this year and Lidl has a \u201cBirchwood Farm\u201d meat range. Marks & Spencer sells \u201cScottish Lochmuir\u201d smoked salmon and \u201cOakham\u201d chicken \u2013 neither are real farms.\n\nAdvert for \u2018Birchwood Farm\u2019 meat from Lidl. Photograph: Ian Francis/Alamy Stock Photo\n\nRichard Baugh of Woodside Farm in Nottinghamshire, raises free-range pigs for his own pork products sold under his farm name through his farm shop and website. But since Tesco replaced its Tesco Value brand with \u201cWoodside Farms\u201d, he says he has faced confusion from customers.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been raising pigs at Woodside Farm for 20 years \u2013 this is our livelihood,\u201d Baugh said. \u201cWhen it first came out customers were asking all the time whether we were supplying Tesco. We don\u2019t, our pork is free-range and we think it\u2019s higher welfare and quality than the pork they\u2019re selling, and we\u2019re proud of that.\n\nFeedback wrote to Tesco on behalf of Baugh, complaining that its labelling risks confusion with his farm name and reputation, while misleading consumers about the origins of their meat.\n\nThe non-governmental organisation, which is seeking to reform Britain\u2019s \u201cbroken\u201d food system, has also awarded Tesco its \u201cTotal Bull\u201d award for the number of fake farm labels it uses, and is urging shoppers to write to Tesco to shame it into dropping the branding.\n\nTesco said it was aware of the threat of legal action and declined to comment, but directed the Guardian to the publication of its interim results for 2017/18 when it said: \u201cOur exclusive fresh food brands continue to be popular with customers \u2013 featuring in over 70% of baskets.\u201d\n\nThe National Farmers\u2019 Union (NFU) and the Soil Association have also condemned fake farm brands as misleading for consumers and insulting to farmers. Last July, the NFU filed an official complaint about Tesco\u2019s brands with Trading Standards, but the non-existent farm staple remains on supermarket shelves.", "output": "UK supermarkets including Aldi, Asda, Lidl and Tesco, have been accused of misleading the public through their controversial use of \u201cfake farm\u201d branding on meat products, by food waste charity Feedback. The charity is supporting the owner of the real Woodside Farm, a name which Tesco has used on pork products since 2016, and is threatening to take the supermarket to court if it continues to use the name. The \u201cTotal Bull\u201d campaign argues that consumers are being deceived by branding that falsely suggests that products come from small-scale UK suppliers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "English rivers experiencing chronic insecticide contamination \n Rivers in England are contaminated with powerful insecticides, new testing has revealed, increasing concerns over the impact of the toxic chemicals on fish and birds.\n\nNeonicotinoids were banned from use on flowering crops in the European Union in 2013 due to the harm they cause to bees and other vital pollinators. Following even more evidence of harm, an EU vote to extend the ban to all outdoor uses is expected soon.\n\nHowever, evidence is also growing that neonicotinoids \u2013 the world\u2019s most widely used insecticide \u2013 harm other species, such as songbirds. Neonicotinoids have been in use since the early 1990s and now contaminate landscapes around the world. But very little monitoring of their concentration in soils or water is done, a failing recently condemned by a UK government chief scientific adviser.\n\nThe first systematic testing of neonicotinoids in rivers in Britain was mandated by EU water regulations and conducted in 2016. The results, obtained by the conservation charity Buglife, show that half of the 16 rivers tested in England had either chronic or acute levels of contamination. Of the 23 rivers tested across Britain, neonicotinoids were not detected in six.\n\nNo official limits exist in the EU for neonicotinoid pollution in freshwater. But a peer-reviewed scientific analysis published in 2015 recommended chronic and acute levels that should not be exceeded \u201cto avoid lasting effects on aquatic invertebrate communities\u201d, and these were used by Buglife to asses the new river data.\n\nLike flying insects, aquatic insects are vulnerable to neonicotinoids and provide the main source of food for many fish and birds. Recent research in the Netherlands has shown chronic neonicotinoid pollution in water led to sharp drops in insect numbers and was linked to heavy falls in bird numbers.\n\n\u201cWe are devastated to discover that many British rivers have been heavily damaged by neonicotinoid insecticides,\u201d said Matt Shardlow, CEO of Buglife.\n\nMark Lloyd, CEO of the Angling Trust, said: \u201cThese results are highly alarming in the context of widespread declines in aquatic insect life and fish populations. We urge the government to act urgently to ban continued use of these chemicals to protect wildlife, fisheries and drinking water.\u201d\n\nThe most polluted river tested was the river Waveney on the Norfolk/Suffolk Border, where the acute harm level was exceeded for a whole month in the summer of 2016. Sugar beet fields are the most likely source of pollution, said Shardlow.\n\nThe nearby river Wensum, in a Special Area of Conservation for its river life, was also chronically polluted. Both rivers supply the Norfolk Broads, an internationally important wetland site and home to many endangered aquatic animals.\n\nThe proposed EU ban would still allow neonicotinoids to be used in greenhouses and as a flea treatment for pets. A new Greenpeace study suggests neonicotinoids are frequently found in waterways close to greenhouses where they have been used. The new tests found contamination in a stream in the Cairngorms, which Shardlow said is most likely the result of a treated dog entering the stream.\n\n\u201cIt is vital that action is taken to completely ban these toxins, including in greenhouses and on pets, before another year of disgraceful pollution occurs,\u201d he said.\n\nArlin Rickard, CEO of the Rivers Trust, said: \u201cWe work closely with farmers and growers to reduce and better target chemical and fertiliser usage, however some chemicals are just too damaging and persistent to be tolerated.\u201d\n\nA spokesman for the National Farmers Union said: \u201cBritish farmers take their environmental responsibilities seriously and have high levels of pesticide stewardship through schemes like the Voluntary Initiative, which offer advice and actions designed to keep pesticides out of water. The Environment Agency closely monitors pesticides in rivers and we are not aware of it raising any specific concerns about high levels of neonicotinoids.\u201d", "output": "English rivers are contaminated with neonicotinoids, the world\u2019s most widely used insecticides, according to 2016 tests carried out under European Union (EU) regulations and obtained by the Buglife charity. The tests show that of the 23 UK rivers tested, just six were free of neonicotinoids, with around half of the 16 tested in England indicating chronic or acute contamination. The EU has banned the use of neonicotinoids on flowering crops since 2013 due to their impact on pollinators. A ban on all outdoor use is expected soon. Evidence is growing that neonicotinoids harm other species, including birds and fish.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Application granted for 158 houses and flats in Warrington \n Redrow Homes is to build 158 houses and flats on Omega South, Warrington following the granting of reserved matters consent. The application was submitted by Redrow and Omega Warrington Ltd.\n\nPlans for a further 86 Redrow homes on neighbouring land are still under consideration.\n\nWith construction of 200 homes already underway by Miller Homes, the Redrow scheme will become phase two of the build-out of residential at Omega South. Through multiple housebuilders, up to 1,100 homes will be delivered over the next decade.\n\nColin Graham, development director at Omega Warrington Ltd, said: \u201cOur selection of Redrow follows significant interest earlier this year from a variety of major national housebuilders when the opportunity to build phase two was put out to market.\n\n\u201cWe believe Redrow\u2019s credentials make them the right housebuilder to deliver the quality of new homes we have committed to at Omega.\u201d\n\nRedrow\u2019s Omega operation will be in two phases \u2013 the initial 158 homes, on a 14.5-acre site off Sophia Drive, will be a mixture of 30 two-bedroom apartments, along with terraced and semi-detached housing. It will include 48 starter homes. The following 86 houses, off Omega Boulevard, will be larger three, four and five-bedroom homes.\n\nWork will commence imminently to prepare the site for development. Redrow expects the project in full to take three years.\n\nWarrington Borough Council granted outline consent in June 2016 for 1,100 homes on Omega South. Landowner the Homes & Communities Agency is a partner on the project. Omega Warrington Ltd is a partnership between Miller Developments and KUC Properties, part of Royal Bank of Scotland Real Estate Asset Management.", "output": "Redrow has been granted planning permission for 158 hours and flats at the Omega South development in Warrington. The scheme will be the second phase of development on the land, where Miller Homes have already begun construction of 200 homes. Up to 1,100 properties are set to be built by multiple developers at the site over the next 10 years. Proposals for another 86 Redrow homes on neighbouring land are still under consideration.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US healthcare industry on the brink of major tech disruption \n Photo: Patrick Hertzog/AFP/Getty Images\n\nHealth care, like many other industries, has undergone a massive transformation over the past decade, with huge changes in social norms and consumer behaviors. Ten years ago, it was unheard of to rent a stranger\u2019s apartment instead of booking a hotel room, to publicly post your kids\u2019 baby pictures for the world to see, or to get out of a taxi without opening your wallet. And yet here we are. Technological advancements, inefficiencies in supply, and shifts in consumer behaviors have wrought fundamental changes in industry after industry\u2014retail, travel, entertainment, and yes, health care.\n\nThe incumbents in those industries seldom saw the change coming. They recognized the threat these changes posed to their core business but were unable to break out of their mental paradigms about how they traditionally win in the marketplace to alter their course. Walmart recognized the threat Amazon posed, but it tried to solve the problem like a large retailer rather than as a digitally native company.\n\nPattern Recognition: Seeing the Tipping Point\n\nIdentifying the next big tipping point comes down to pattern recognition. An industry is ripe for disruptive innovation when a number of conditions collide. First, you\u2019ll see unhappy consumers, facing many hassles or frustrations, and you\u2019ll also see waste or inefficiencies in the supply side of the system.\n\nThen, you need a catalyst. It could be a regulatory push, a new technological advancement, or a shift in social norms to tip the industry and create conditions ripe for disruption.\n\nWe are seeing this dangerous mix of conditions right now in health care. Regulatory changes are enabling new reimbursement models; new data and insights promise to revolutionize diagnostic capabilities and to personalize care; and consumers are beginning to expect their doctors and health plans to offer the same convenience and personalization that online shopping or ordering an Uber does.\n\nAre We Ready for the Tipping Point?\n\nThere hasn\u2019t actually been much movement in health care. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that by 2018, 50 percent of all payments must be tied to value. We are not yet seeing wholesale movement in that direction, particularly by incumbents, but we are seeing startups recognize the opportunity and enter.\n\nTake Cityblock, a startup launched by Alphabet\u2014Google\u2019s parent company\u2014that offers innovative, team-based primary care, behavioral health, and social services to Medicare and Medicaid patients. Imagine the implications of Alphabet/Google providing value-based care to low-income patients with severe chronic diseases, harnessing the power of the data graph they already own, and matching that to these new data streams. That could be a significant disruptor.\n\nThe changes coming to health care are immutable. The industry will be disrupted from outside if not from within.\n\nAnother metric to watch\u2014that also suggests there hasn\u2019t been enough movement in health care\u2014is Net Promoter Score measures, which is a management tool used to gauge customer loyalty and serves as an alternative to traditional customer satisfaction surveys. Health care companies\u2014health plans and primary care physicians\u2014 typically score in the high single digits/low double digits. And they are increasingly competing against retail and technology companies with scores in the high 60s or low 70s. Take Amazon, with a Net Promoter Score of 69. It\u2019s playing an increasing role in health care with two notable developments, its partnership with Merck to do care management via Alexa and 1492\u2019s foray into health care technology. That isn\u2019t even a fair fight.\n\nThe Health Care Industry Will Need To Adapt\n\nThe changes we see coming to health care are immutable forces; the industry will be disrupted from the outside if not from within. Players in the industry will need to make purposeful business decisions\u2014identifying where the sources of economic value and strategic control will be and ensuring they have the right assets and capabilities to secure them.\n\nClick here to watch the full main stage session, \u201cIndustry Interrupted: Why Healthcare is Ripe for Disruption,\u201d from this year\u2019s Oliver Wyman Health Innovation Summit.", "output": "The US healthcare industry is likely to be the next sector to face major disruption, argues management consultant Helen Leis. Regulatory changes, new ways of using data and improved diagnostic capabilities all enable more individualised care, just as the public is growing to expect the standard of service and personalisation offered by companies such as Amazon and Uber. For example, Cityblock, an Alphabet-backed start-up, aims to take advantage of the new requirement for 50% of medical payments to be tied to value by offering innovative data-based primary care and other services to Medicare and Medicaid patients."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AIG introduces cyber risk score for clients \n NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG) today announced a new cyber benchmarking model that quantifies and scores client cyber risk.\n\nThe AIG model evaluates a client\u2019s cyber security maturity against 10 common attack patterns across 11 commonly used technology devices. The model incorporates critical security data, such as current threat intelligence from multiple sources, effectiveness of an organization\u2019s cyber controls, potential impact of a cyber breach on an organization, and insights gained from the thousands of cyber claims handled by AIG.\n\nAIG cyber clients, who provide the required information, can receive a report detailing security scores, peer benchmarking, and key risk mitigation controls to help quantify cyber risk.\n\n\u201cWe developed the model based on historical insights and patterns of how companies experience cyber breaches \u2013 the points of entry and the types of attacks and vulnerabilities seen in the vast majority of cyber breach scenarios,\u201d says Tracie Grella, Head of Cyber Risk Insurance, AIG. \u201cCompanies have been demanding a way to benchmark their cyber maturity against these known cyber risks to quantify what they are up against and where they stand.\u201d\n\nTo further support its model, AIG is launching CyberMatics, a patent pending security approach with leading AI cyber security companies CrowdStrike and Darktrace. CyberMatics verifies inputs into AIG\u2019s model from clients\u2019 cyber security tools. This provides greater confidence in underwriting information, and ultimately allows for better tailored terms and conditions in cyber insurance policies.\n\n\u201cAs an insurer, we gain a better understanding of the level of risk we are taking on with each client so we can react accordingly,\u201d said Ms. Grella. \u201cOur new model combined with CyberMatics can help our clients make informed and quantifiable decisions about their preparedness for cyber security risk events and insurance cover.\u201d\n\nAIG\u2019s Cyber Risk Consultants, part of AIG Client Risk Solutions, can help clients act on risk scoring and evaluate data for system vulnerabilities and negative risk trends.\n\nAbout CrowdStrike\u00ae\n\nCrowdStrike is the leader in cloud-delivered endpoint protection. Leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), the CrowdStrike Falcon\u00ae platform offers instant visibility and protection across the enterprise and prevents attacks on endpoints on or off the network. CrowdStrike Falcon deploys in minutes to deliver actionable intelligence and real-time protection from Day One. It seamlessly unifies next-generation AV with best-in-class endpoint detection and response, backed by 24/7 managed hunting. Its cloud infrastructure and single-agent architecture take away complexity and add scalability, manageability, and speed.\n\nAbout Darktrace\n\nDarktrace is the world\u2019s leading machine learning company for cyber security. Created by mathematicians from the University of Cambridge, the Enterprise Immune System uses AI algorithms to automatically detect and take action against cyber-threats within all types of networks, including physical, cloud and virtualized networks, as well as IoT and industrial control systems. A self-configuring platform, Darktrace requires no prior set-up, identifying advanced threats in real time, including zero-days, insiders and stealthy, silent attackers. Headquartered in San Francisco and Cambridge, UK, Darktrace has 30 offices worldwide.\n\nAmerican International Group, Inc. (AIG) is a leading global insurance organization. Founded in 1919, today AIG member companies provide a wide range of property casualty insurance, life insurance, retirement products, and other financial services to customers in more than 80 countries and jurisdictions. These diverse offerings include products and services that help businesses and individuals protect their assets, manage risks and provide for retirement security. AIG common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Tokyo Stock Exchange.\n\nAdditional information about AIG can be found at www.aig.com | YouTube: www.youtube.com/aig | Twitter: @AIGinsurance www.twitter.com/AIGinsurance | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/aig. These references with additional information about AIG have been provided as a convenience, and the information contained on such websites is not incorporated by reference into this press release.\n\nAIG is the marketing name for the worldwide property-casualty, life and retirement, and general insurance operations of American International Group, Inc. For additional information, please visit our website at www.aig.com. All products and services are written or provided by subsidiaries or affiliates of American International Group, Inc. Products or services may not be available in all countries, and coverage is subject to actual policy language. Non-insurance products and services may be provided by independent third parties. Certain property-casualty coverages may be provided by a surplus lines insurer. Surplus lines insurers do not generally participate in state guaranty funds, and insureds are therefore not protected by such funds.", "output": "US insurer AIG is introducing a cyber score for its clients, allowing them to assess their readiness to face cyber threats while offering comparisons with peers. The score is calculated by assessing a client's response to 10 typical cyber attack patterns across 11 types of device. The firm is also launching a new cybersecurity initiative in collaboration with security firms\u00a0CrowdStrike and Darktrace. The initiative, dubbed CyberMatics, will seek to verify information input into AIG's cybersecurity model by clients, aiming to increase the accuracy of underwriting.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "London insurtech Quantemplate raises $3.3m in funding \n Quantemplate, an InsurTech firm specializing in machine learning data transformation and analytics, raised $3.3 million in new funding to fuel its expansion plans in the UK, US. and European markets.\n\nThe London, UK-based startup has also appointed David Lundgren as CEO and board director.\n\nColumbia Lake Partners participated in the new financing, which also included contributions from Quantemplate\u2019s original investors: Route 66 Ventures and Anthemis (both specialists in InsurTech venture capital). TransAmerica Ventures and Allianz also participated.\n\nLundgren brings to Quantemplate deep insurance industry and operational expertise from firms such as Allianz, CUNA Mutual, General Electric, and AgPro Exchange, the company said. He currently serves on the boards of Jewelers Mutual and Bunker.\n\nQuantemplate has raised $13.4 million overall since its founding five years ago.\n\nDesigned for insurers and reinsurers, Quantemplate automatically unifies the disparate types of data these companies have to process, solving issues of data integrity or compatibility through machine learning, the company said, explaining that traditional technologies and outsourcing have fallen short when faced with these problems.\n\nBy contrast, Quantemplate relies on analytics to provide business insights around market opportunity, underwriting profitability, claims and fraud, and MGA (managing general agent) integration, the company added.\n\nSource: Quantemplate", "output": "Insurtech Quantemplate has raised $3.3m in funding to help it\u00a0expand in the UK, US and Europe. Targeted at insurers and reinsurers, the London-based fintech uses machine learning to unify and analyse the disparate types of data processed by\u00a0these\u00a0companies. Quantemplate\u00a0has raised $13.4m\u00a0since being founded\u00a0five years ago. The new financing came from Columbia Lake Partners, with participation from Route 66 Ventures and Allianz, among others.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China adds DNA database to scrutiny of restive minority region \n Chinese authorities are collecting DNA samples, fingerprints and other biometric data from every resident in a far western region, Human Rights Watch has said.\n\n\n\nOfficials are also building a database of iris scans and blood types of everyone aged between 12 and 65 in Xinjiang, adding to controls in a place some experts have called an \u201copen-air prison\u201d.\n\nThe region is home to over 11 million Uighurs, a Muslim Turkic minority, and is occasionally hit by bouts of violence.\n\nThe data can be used for \u201csurveillance of persons because of ethnicity, religion, opinion or other protected exercise of rights like free speech\u201d, according to Human Rights Watch.\n\n\n\nPart of the collection is being done through government-provided medical checkups, and it is unclear if patients are aware the exam is also designed to transmit biometric data to the police.\n\nAlthough the checks are officially voluntary, one Uighur said local cadres \u201chad demanded that they must participate in the physicals\u201d. A story in a local newspaper encouraged officials to \u201cwork hard to convince them to participate\u201d.\n\nNearly 19 million people have participated in the medical exams, dubbed Physicals for All, in 2017, according to state news agency Xinhua. For people determined to be \u201cfocus personnel\u201d \u2013 a euphemism for those the government views as dangerous \u2013 their data will be collected regardless of age.\n\n\u201cThe mandatory databanking of a whole population\u2019s biodata, including DNA, is a gross violation of international human rights norms,\u201d said Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch. \u201cIt\u2019s even more disturbing if it is done surreptitiously, under the guise of a free healthcare program.\n\n\u201cXinjiang authorities should rename their physical exams project \u2018Privacy Violations for All\u2019, as informed consent and real choice does not seem to be part of these programs,\u201d she added.\n\nOfficials in the region claim the scheme is meant to improve policies aimed at poverty alleviation. They also say it is targeted at \u201csocial stability\u201d, a phrase commonly used to describe crackdowns on government critics.\n\nIn the massive effort to collect biometric data from millions of residents, police in Xinjiang bought DNA sequencers from the US company Thermo Fisher Scientific, according to Human Rights Watch. The company refused to directly address its products being used in Xinjiang, saying only: \u201cWe do expect all of our customers to act in accordance with appropriate regulations and industry-standard best practices.\u201d\n\nBiometric data collection also applies to people originally from Xinjiang who have moved to other parts of China, where they will be required to submit their information locally.\n\nXinjiang is one of the most tightly controlled parts of China, with the Uighur minority facing increased scrutiny in recent years. Heavily armed troops on city streets are a common sight and the authorities frequently hold mass rallies to bolster their support in the fight against the Islamic extremists Beijing blames for a series of attacks on government officials and civilians.\n\nBut rights groups say most of the violence stems from restrictions on religion, culture, language and expression, as well as a lack of economic opportunities in the impoverished region. Uighurs often complain high-paying jobs are given only to Han Chinese.", "output": "Chinese officials are collecting DNA samples and building a database of iris scans and blood types from everyone aged between 12 and 65 in Xinjiang, a restive region that is home to more than 11 million minority muslim Uighurs. Human Rights Watch said the additional scrutiny in\u00a0the far-western\u00a0region amounts to building an \"open-air prison\". \"The mandatory databanking of a whole population\"s biodata, including DNA, is a gross violation of international human rights norms. It's\u00a0even more disturbing if it is done surreptitiously, under the guise of a free healthcare programme,\" said China director Sophie Richardson.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI's inexperience may worsen the next stock-market crash \n Artificial intelligence is increasingly used to make decisions in financial markets. Fund managers empower AI to make trading decisions, frequently by identifying patterns in financial data. The more data that AI has, the more it learns. And with the financial world producing data at an ever-increasing rate, AI should be getting better. But what happens if the data the AI encounters isn\u2019t normal or represents an anomaly?\n\nGlobally, around 10 times more data (pdf) was generated in 2017 than in 2010. This means that the best quality data is also highly concentrated in the recent past\u2014a world that has been running on cheap money, supplied by central banks through purchases of safe securities, which is not a \u201cnormal\u201d state for the market. This has had a number of effects, from causing a rise in \u201czombie\u201d firms to creating generational lows in volatility to encouraging unusually large corporate buybacks (pdf).\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWith so much data residing in this era, AI might not know what a \u201cnormal\u201d market actually looks like. Robert Kaplan, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, recently pointed out some of the market extremes that exist today. The essay included a caution that growing imbalances in the economy could increase the risk of a rapid adjustment.\n\nUS stock market capitalization is now around 135% of GDP, the highest since 2000;\n\nCorporate debt is at record highs;\n\nTrading volume for 2017 on the New York Stock Exchange is down 51% from 2007, while the NYSE market capitalization is up 28%;\n\nRecord low volatility where the US market has gone 12 months without a 3% correction.\n\nToday\u2019s volatility is \u201cextraordinarily unusual,\u201d Kaplan noted. Cheap credit makes markets less volatile. When credit is easy, a company can rely on the promise of cheap debt to support itself so the value of equity becomes less volatile. Markets have experienced periods of low volatility before\u2014and each time they have ended with a shock. If this current period ends violently, AI trained on predictable central-bank money flows will be unable to reconcile what it sees in new data from what it\u2019s been trained on.\n\nThe Financial Stability Board, an international body based in Basel, Switzerland set up by the G20 in the aftermath of the last financial crisis, recently studied (pdf) the potential impacts of AI and machine learning on financial stability. One of the risks highlighted was the increased use of AI by hedge funds and market makers. Because AI is so effective at optimizing complex systems, its use can further tighten trading parameters that are vital for market stability, such as how much capital a bank has in relation to its outstanding trading positions.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWith its increasing use in financial markets, it will play a role in the next market correction, perhaps a critical one, as an era of low volatility, high debt, and cheap money comes to an end. AI will need sufficient data across a big enough timespan for the models to adapt to new market conditions without overreacting.\n\nThe question is, if and when a shock comes and an entirely unfamiliar situation arises, what will the financial AIs do? As the financial system gets more interconnected, AI could spread the impact of extreme shocks faster, making the entire system potentially less stable during a shock event. This is particularly true if data sources and AI strategies are shared, and then there is a shock to a particular data source.\n\nConsider the example of a data shock in the case of self-driving cars. When Google was training its self-driving car on the streets of Mountain View, California, the car rounded a corner and encountered a woman in a wheelchair, waving a broom, chasing a duck. The car hadn\u2019t encountered this before so it stopped and waited. When a Tesla driving on autopilot failed to recognize a truck turning across it on the freeway, it kept going. In both cases, the situations were unfamiliar\u2014but one had a failsafe and the other simply failed.\n\nAI simply isn\u2019t good in situations it doesn\u2019t yet recognize.", "output": "Artificial intelligence (AI) platforms used to make investment decisions may exacerbate the next stock-market crash because they are not experienced enough to handle crises. AI systems perform badly in situations they don't recognise and they'll be ill-prepared to manage a crash because the data they use is culled from an unusually stable period of economic activity."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Climate change tripled likelihood of Hurricane Harvey rains \n Hurricane Harvey\u2019s unprecedented deluge, which caused catastrophic flooding in Houston in August, was made three times more likely by climate change, new research has found.\n\n\n\nSuch a downpour was a very rare event, scientists said, but global warming meant it was 15% more intense. The storm left 80 people dead and 800,000 in need of assistance.\n\nThe scientists from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) initiative usually publish their assessments of the role of climate change in extreme weather events around the world as soon as possible. However, in this case they waited for the work to be confirmed by peer review because of the current US government\u2019s opposition to strong action on climate change.\n\nThe researchers said their new work shows global warming is making extreme weather events worse right now and in the US. The cost of the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey has been estimated at $190bn (\u00a3140bn), which would make it the most costly weather disaster in US history, more than Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy combined.\n\nA series of new reports have found that extreme heatwaves, droughts, floods, storms and wildfires across the planet have been made more likely or more intense by rising global temperatures. The UK\u2019s Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) analysed 59 studies of the influence of climate change on extreme weather published in the last two years and found warming has made matters worse in 70% of cases and better in just 7%.\n\nAnother report, published on Wednesday by the American Meteorological Society, assesses 21 different extreme weather events in 2016, from US snowstorms and South African drought to ocean hotspots and Arctic heating. Most of the events can be attributed, at least in part, to human-caused climate change, the scientists found.\n\nHurricane Harvey made first landfall on 25 August and then stalled over Texas, with torrential downpours dumping a year\u2019s worth of rain on Houston and surrounding areas in a few days. In east Harris County, a record 132cm (52 inches) of rain fell over six days, the highest storm total in US history.\n\nThe WWA scientists used both historical rainfall records and high-resolution climate models to determine the influence of global warming. \u201cThis multi-method analysis confirms that heavy rainfall events are increasing substantially across the Gulf Coast region because of human interference with our climate system,\u201d said Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) and lead author of the new study published in Environmental Research Letters.\n\n\u201cIt was very a rare event \u2013 they were very unlucky,\u201d said van Oldenborgh. But the research shows the chance of it happening was raised threefold by climate change.\n\nThe team also estimated that, even if the world limits warming to the internationally agreed 2C limit, the likelihood of such extreme downpours will triple again. \u201cBut, if we miss those targets, the increase in frequency and intensity could be much higher,\u201d said Karin van der Wiel, also at KNMI.\n\n\u201cThe link between global warming and more extreme weather is nowhere more obvious than in the US. Even if Donald Trump isn\u2019t seeing the picture, many others are,\u201d said Richard Black at the ECIU.\n\nFriederike Otto, at Oxford University, said: \u201cWe\u2019re now finding that for many kinds of extreme weather event, especially heatwaves and extreme rainfall, we can be quite confident about the effect of climate change. The ECIU report shows just how quickly knowledge is accumulating, and I think it\u2019s only going to accelerate.\u201d\n\nClimate scientists have long predicted that global warming would increase extreme weather, based on simple physics that means warmer air can contain more water vapour and therefore lead to more intense rain.\n\nMajor storms are powered by the warmth of the water at the ocean\u2019s surface, and therefore hotter seas lead to more violent storms. But the fast developing science of climate change attribution now means the role of climate change in many events happening today can be clearly seen.", "output": "Hurricane Harvey\u2019s intense rainfall, which led to extreme flooding in Houston earlier this year, was made three times more likely and 15% more intense due to climate change, according to research by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) initiative. The hurricane, which killed 80 people and left 800,000 needing help, is believed to be the most expensive weather-related disaster in US history, with an estimated total cost of $190bn."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Social media firms should be be liable for abuse: UK committee \n Theresa May should consider the introduction of two new laws to deter the intimidation of MPs during elections and force social media firms to monitor illegal content, an influential committee has said.\n\nThe independent Committee on Standards in Public Life, which advises the prime minister on ethics, has called for the introduction within a year of a new specific offence in electoral law to halt widespread abuse when voters go to the polls.\n\nThe watchdog will recommend another law to shift the liability for illegal content on to social media firms such as Facebook and Google, a legal change which will be easier once Britain leaves the European Union.\n\nBoth changes form part of the hard-hitting conclusions of an inquiry into intimidation experienced by parliamentary candidates in this year\u2019s election campaign.\n\nOther recommendations include:\n\n\n\nSocial media firms should make decisions quickly to take down intimidatory content.\n\nPolitical parties should, by December 2018, draw up a joint code of conduct on intimidatory behaviour during election campaigns.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe National Police Chiefs\u2019 Council should ensure that police are trained to investigate offences committed through social media.\n\n\n\n\n\nMinisters should bring forward rules so that council candidates will no longer be required to release their home addresses.\n\nLord Bew, the committee chair, said: \u201cThis level of vile and threatening behaviour, albeit by a minority of people, against those standing for public office is unacceptable in a healthy democracy. We cannot get to a point where people are put off standing, retreat from debate, and even fear for their lives as a result of their engagement in politics.\n\n\u201cThis is not about protecting elites or stifling debate, it is about ensuring we have a vigorous democracy in which participants engage in a responsible way which recognises others\u2019 rights to participate and to hold different points of view.\u201d\n\nA YouGov survey of 1,616 adults last month, commissioned by the committee, found that 49% either agreed or were ambivalent when asked if MPs who received abuse brought it upon themselves. But 62% found it highly unacceptable that any member of the public should send abusive messages to MPs on social media.\n\nA majority of the public \u2013 60% \u2013 found it unacceptable that MPs had been disrespectful to members of the public on social media.\n\nMPs reported being subjected to weeks of abuse leading up to the general election, including racism, antisemitism and death threats.\n\nThe shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, was found by Amnesty to have received 45% of all abusive tweets sent during the election, many of which were racist and sexist.\n\nDozens of MPs had already moved to improve their security after Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered by a rightwing extremist in 2016.\n\nThe report said that the intimidation of parliamentary candidates was of particular significance because of the threat it posed to the integrity of the democratic process.\n\n\u201cA new electoral offence of intimidating parliamentary candidates and party campaigners during an election should be considered. This would serve to highlight the seriousness of the issue, result in more appropriate sanctions, and serve as a deterrent,\u201d it said.\n\n\n\nFacebook, Twitter and Google \u201care not simply platforms for the content that others post\u201d because they play a role in shaping what users see, and so \u201cmust take more responsibility for illegal material\u201d, the committee said.\n\n\n\nThey were not liable \u201clargely\u201d due to a EU directive which treated them as \u201chosts\u201d of online content, the watchdog said, but May\u2019s commitment to Brexit means the government can introduce laws to make companies responsible once the UK leaves the EU.\n\nThe report said social media was \u201cthe most significant factor\u201d driving harassment, abuse and intimidation of 2017 general election candidates, which included threats of violence and sexual violence, as well as damage to property.\n\n\u201cSome have felt the need to disengage entirely from social media because of the abuse they face, and it has put off others who may wish to stand for public office,\u201d the report said.\n\n\u201cNot enough has been done. The committee is deeply concerned about the limited engagement of the social media companies in tackling these issues.\u201d\n\nThe committee said it was concerned about the impact on the diversity of a representative democracy and said parties had an \u201cimportant responsibility\u201d to support female, black and minority ethnic and LGBT candidates.\n\nAbbott welcomed the proposal for new obligations on social media companies but questioned whether it would be right to call for new legislation covering intimidation. \u201cI\u2019m not persuaded that yet more legislation is required. Intimidation, threatening behaviour and violence are all illegal. These laws need to be enforced for everyone,\u201d she said.\n\nShe questioned whether she could work with all political opponents given that some were accused of being behind some social media campaigns. \u201cYes, of course, political parties should work together to combat intimidation. But some of my opponents have engaged in dog-whistle politics, and not just at election time,\u201d she said.", "output": "Social media firms should be made liable for illegal content and there should be a new electoral law to counter the intimidation of MPs during elections, according to the UK\u2019s independent Committee on Standards in Public Life. The body, which provides ethical advice to the prime minister, has recommended the changes, which would be easier to implement after Brexit, following an inquiry into the abuse of MPs during this year\u2019s general election. The committee also called for social media companies to remove intimidatory material quickly and for police to be trained to investigate offences committed on social media.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Social media firms should be be liable for abuse: UK committee \n In recent years, the intimidation experienced by Parliamentary candidates, and others in public life, has become a threat to the diversity, integrity, and vibrancy of representative democracy in the UK.\n\nThe Committee reports on its review of intimidation in public life, including Parliamentary candidates and others.\n\nThe Committee makes a package of recommendations for action to government, social media companies, political parties, the police, broadcast and print media, and MPs and Parliamentary candidates themselves.\n\nThe Government\u2019s response to the review was published in March 2018.\n\nPlease note that the recommendation that \u2018The political parties must work together to develop a joint code of conduct on intimidatory behaviour during election campaigns by December 2018\u2019 has since been revised. The Committee decided at their October meeting that, in view of the continuing evidence of intimidation in public life, this joint standard should apply at all times and not just during periods of general election campaigns.", "output": "Social media firms should be made liable for illegal content and there should be a new electoral law to counter the intimidation of MPs during elections, according to the UK\u2019s independent Committee on Standards in Public Life. The body, which provides ethical advice to the prime minister, has recommended the changes, which would be easier to implement after Brexit, following an inquiry into the abuse of MPs during this year\u2019s general election. The committee also called for social media companies to remove intimidatory material quickly and for police to be trained to investigate offences committed on social media.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Private equity circles RIA industry in search for new investments \n The secret is out: The independent financial advisory space is the hottest growth-investment strategy for deep-pocketed private investors.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve seen private equity money ebb and flow over the years, but over the last few years we\u2019ve seen a surge and a change in the way PE firms are investing in the RIA space,\u201d said Scott Slater, vice president of practice management and consulting at Fidelity Clearing & Custody Solutions.\n\nIn the latest testament to the success of the wealth management model, private equity firms have been pouring billions into the space to take advantage of a consolidation wave those same investors are helping to fuel.\n\nFor owners of financial advisory firms, this means an even steadier barrage of inquiries from PE firms looking to buy a stake in their businesses.\n\nPhil Shaffer, an adviser who left Morgan Stanley earlier this year to launch Halite Partners, said he was getting solicitations from private equity investors even before he had any money under management.\n\n\u201cWe are at an inflection point with private equity looking at the RIA space,\u201d he said.\n\nWhy now?\n\nThe stars seem to be aligning on several fronts, including more adviser movement toward the independent space, consolidation of firms within that market and private equity sitting on a mountain of cash.\n\n\u201cThe RIA space is very fragmented, with about three-quarters of firms managing less than $100 million, but at the same time it is growing at about two and a half times the pace of the wirehouses,\u201d said Alois Pirker, research director at Aite Group.\n\n(More: What advisers should consider before taking a capital infusion)\n\nThe trend lines from Cerulli Associates bear this out. The research firm reports that wirehouse and independent broker-dealer reps made up 53.7% of the industry in 2011, while registered independent advisers and hybrid RIAs made up 19.5%. In 2016, wirehouses and IBDs made up 49.7%, while RIAs made up 22.7%.\n\n\u201cI definitely think private equity is adding fuel to the fire of the independent channel,\u201d said Marty Bicknell, chief executive of Mariner Wealth Advisors, whose parent company, Mariner Holdings, has $47 billion in assets. \u201cAnd the momentum is absolutely on that side.\u201d\n\nPE firms now are investing about $3.3 billion a year into the financial advisory space, with the goal of capturing double-digit returns for relatively short-term commitments, said Daniel Seivert, chief executive of investment bank Echelon Partners. The amount invested in 2016 was $3.1 billion, up from $2 billion five years ago.\n\nAdvisory firms of all shapes and sizes should not be surprised by a stepped-up effort from PE firms to secure a piece of the action.\n\nConsolidation capital\n\n\u201cPrivate equity firms are looking to take advantage of the kind of consolidation trend that has been present in other industries at different times,\u201d said Rush Benton, senior director of strategic wealth at CapTrust. \u201cConsolidation requires capital, and PE firms see that opportunity, which is why the trend is here to stay.\u201d\n\nWhile there are multiple ways a buyer or investor can gauge the value of an advisory firm, Mr. Shaffer said it is about increasing the value through scale.\n\nPE firms\u2019 investments in advisory firms Source: CB Insights and ECHELON Partners Analysis\n\n\u201cMost of the buyers are looking at firms with $3 billion to $5 billion under management and up,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we\u2019re also seeing private equity money looking at an operator that can put together $300 million. Or they might invest in five or six smaller RIAs and hire a guy to oversee them.\u201d\n\nIn essence, the private equity influence is less about playing an active role in the wealth management business than it is about leveraging the trend toward scale across the industry.\n\nFor example, if an RIA with $300 million under management is valued at a five-times-earnings multiple, an RIA with $3 billion under management will be valued at twice the multiple.\n\n\u201cThe real driver here is what is happening to the equity value at the firms,\u201d Mr. Shaffer said. \u201cThe private equity guys get that. They can come in and buy lower-multiple firms, and build them up to create higher multiples.\n\n(More: Broker-dealer M&A: Is your firm next?)\n\n\u201cYou will not be able to buy a quality RIA with $300 million in assets for a five-times multiple five years from now,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople want to buy them because they are growth engines, and buyers will be competing for all the really good firms.\u201d\n\nAnother factor spurring the PE buying binge, according to Preqin, a research firm focused on alternative investment assets, is the growing pile of money in private equity funds.\n\nSwollen coffers\n\nOf the more than $2.7 trillion in total private equity assets, nearly $1 trillion is uninvested \u201cdry powder\u201d still seeking investment opportunities.\n\nBy comparison, in 2012, total PE assets were less than $2 trillion, and the dry powder was around $560 billion.\n\n\u201cThe private equity coffers are swollen, and they\u2019re looking for good opportunities to deploy those funds,\u201d said David DeVoe, managing partner of RIA consulting firm DeVoe & Co.\n\nPrivate equity firms rarely buy entire RIA firms, but the deals almost always fuel merger and acquisition activity, which continues to pick up in the RIA space.\n\n\u201cSome investors are looking to get as much as they can, by taking 70% or 80% stakes,\u201d Mr. Seivert said. \u201cThat kind of deal will feel more like an acquisition.\u201d\n\nOther deals will push the limits of ownership up to just under 50%, he said, and a third type will look more like a capital infusion, with the PE investors taking a 25% or 30% ownership position.\n\nLimited terms\n\nIn almost every case, the PE ownership is limited to a term of about a half-dozen years before the private equity fund needs to provide its investors with liquidity. RIAs can find themselves linked to new ownership partners as part of a cycle that can last a long time.\n\nMr. Bicknell described the perpetual status of PE ownership as a \u201ccarousel,\u201d and said RIAs should understand this on the way in. He has not yet sold any piece of his large firm to a private equity investor, but sees the trend as a positive thing.\n\n\u201cPrivate equity is going to lead to more consolidation, which I think is the best thing for this industry, and it\u2019s also in the best interest of the clients,\u201d he said. \u201cAs we professionalize this industry, the client wins because succession issues will no longer exist, and as more capital comes into the space, I believe it will attract more next-generation talent.\u201d\n\nRon Carson, founder and chief executive of Carson Group, said the decision to sell a stake in his nearly $9 billion advisory firm for $30 million last year was all about growth.\n\n(More: Ron Carson explains the origins of \u2018Ronsense\u2019)\n\n\u201cThe private equity space is looking at a fragmented profession that is going to consolidate \u2014 because the larger the firm, the more valuable it is \u2014 and bigger firms are harder to mess up,\u201d he said. \u201cUnless firms get bigger, it will be more difficult to compete, and a lot of smaller firms that want to remain independent are going to lose their clients to larger firms.\u201d\n\nMr. Carson does not buy into the notion of a rotating relationship with outside investors, like the recent $100 million deal between HighTower Advisors and Thomas H. Lee Partners. In HighTower\u2019s case, the PE relationship provided liquidity to other institutional investors.\n\n\u201cI needed private equity for very specific things, and we have first right to buy our ownership back,\u201d Mr. Carson said. \u201cBased on where we are today, my guess is we will probably own 100% of our firm when they want to exit in four to six years. And as the deal is structured, I have complete control of the company; the only thing I can\u2019t do is ruin it.\u201d\n\nBut as Mr. Slater of Fidelity pointed out, there are multiple layers of pros and cons to consider when partnering with a private equity investor.\n\n\u201cThere is a time line for classic private equity that raises the bar for performance for the firms they own,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat you may like is having very smart people coming alongside you and putting money into your business. But what you may not like is somebody pushing you to grow your business faster.\n\n\u201cYou need to understand that you need an alignment of interests.\u201d he said. \u201cYou can\u2019t just take the money.\u201d", "output": "The registered investment advisory (RIA) space is becoming a key area for private investment, with interest peaking amid a growth of\u00a0independent firms even as the\u00a0industry consolidates. Private equity funds are also sitting on a large amount of unused cash. Around 75% of RIA\u00a0firms manage less than $100m, but its pace of growth is high. Private equity investment in the financial advisory space has risen to\u00a0$3.3bn from $2bn in the past five years, according to figures from Echelon Partners. Investors usually expect double-digit returns for relatively short-term commitments.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow to develop 295 apartments in Newham \n H ousing association giant Peabody on Monday named two builders it will partner to deliver nearly 1800 homes in London, kicking off at one of Arsenal FC\u2019s former homes.\n\nIt said listed Berkeley Homes will create 1500 properties in west Thamesmead on a site that was home to the Premier League club until 1913 before it headed to north London.\n\nThe project is part of a wider regeneration of Thamesmead which is expected to deliver 20,000 new homes.\n\nThere will be 35% affordable homes in addition to properties for private sale at the Berkeley part of the scheme.\n\nIn Newham, Peabody has appointed FTSE-250 firm Redrow to develop 295 apartments. They will be a mix of studios and one to three bedrooms.\n\nThe company added it has acquired former Brent council land moments away from Wembley stadium. It wants to build 198 affordable homes there.\n\nPeabody\u2019s chief Brendan Sarsfield said it is looking \u201cto deliver more desperately needed\u2026 homes\u201d.", "output": "Housing association Peabody will work alongside housebuilders Berkeley Homes and Redrow Homes to create almost 1,800 properties in London. Berkeley Homes will establish 1,500 properties in west Thamesmead, the former site of Arsenal FC until 1913, while FTSE-250 firm Redrow will develop 295 apartment homes, offering a mix of properties and studios of between one and three bedrooms.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Collaboration between EMS and primary care physicians could reduce unnecessary emergency transport for fallen seniors \n A protocol that couples paramedic assessment with primary care physician consultation and timely follow up significantly reduced unnecessary ambulance transport for fallen elderly residents of assisted living facilities. The findings of a prospective cohort study are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.\n\nUnintentional falls are the leading cause of nonfatal injury for adults aged 65 years or older who are treated in emergency departments in the United States. Residents of assisted living facilities who fall may not be seriously hurt, but policy still dictates that they be transported to the emergency department. These policies burden the health care system and place patients at risk for harms, such as unnecessary tests or exposure to infection. Therefore, limiting unnecessary transport is desirable.\n\nResearchers from Wake County Emergency Medical Services sought to determine whether unnecessary transport to the emergency department could safely be avoided for patients who experienced a ground-level fall in an assisted living facility. Wake County Emergency Medical Services collaborated with Doctors Making Housecalls, a group of primary care physicians specializing in home care for older adults, to develop a protocol for specially trained paramedics to identify a subset of patients who would not be transported to the emergency department but instead would be scheduled for a visit with a primary care provider within 18 hours of the call for emergency medical services.\n\nThe study involved a convenience sample of 953 residents, 359 of whom had 840 ground-level falls over 43 months. The protocol recommended nontransport after 553 falls, which marked a substantial decrease (62.9 percent) in transports. The researchers concluded that 98 to 99 percent of nontransported patients received safe, appropriate care. If implemented on a widespread basis, this approach could potentially avoid large numbers of unnecessary ambulance transports to the emergency department for simple falls.", "output": "Researchers from the Wake County Emergency Medical Services have found that utilizing a protocol that unites paramedic assessments of patients with primary care physician consultations significantly lowered the need for unnecessary ambulance transport for senior patients in assisted living facilities who had fallen from ground level. The top cause of nonfatal injures for those aged 65 and over admitted to emergency departments are unintentional falls. Those who live in assisted living facilities are usually transported to emergency departments as a matter of policy, even if the falls are not serious, putting unnecessary strain on health services and increasing the exposure of patients to risks such as unnecessary tests or infections. The Wake County Emergency Medical Services worked alongside the Doctors Making Housecalls service to create a protocol for specifically-trained paramedics to identify which patients required emergency transport and which could be provided with primary care provider assessment within 18 hours of the call to the emergency medical services. The study took into account 953 residents, with the group having 359 residents that suffered 840 ground-level falls over a 43-month period. The protocol found that transport was unnecessary after 553 falls, a 62.9 percent decrease in the usual level of transports. The report found that 98-99 percent of those treated by a primary care physician instead of being transported were given safe and appropriate care. The findings could lead to more effective resolution of the high numbers of unnecessary ambulance transports to an emergency department for this common issue.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Under New Tax Plan, the Cost of Aging Could Rise \n Imagine two couples, both alike in incomes, in a state without income tax where we lay our scenario. They have $150,000 in income and $100,000 in medical expenses and take no other itemized deductions.\n\nNow imagine that one gets a deduction for medical expenses and one does not. Using the 2017 tax brackets and a rule that would not allow medical deductions unless they exceed 10 percent of adjusted gross income, a couple that could access the deduction would end up with $15,547 more at the end of tax season than one that could not deduct and thus paid more in taxes, according to calculations that Ruth A. Sattig Betz, an accountant in Farmingdale, N.Y., ran for me.\n\nTake the income down to $75,000 (where the extra $25,000 for the medical costs to pay the $100,000 in bills would come from sources or savings that are not subject to income tax) and the household with the ability to take the deduction would end the year with $6,826 more.\n\nSo the medical expenses clearly matter, a lot. \u201cTwo households may have identical incomes, but they do not at all have identical capacity to pay taxes,\u201d said Cristina Martin Firvida, AARP\u2019s director of financial security. \u201cAnd it\u2019s not because of a choice that one of them made.\u201d\n\nIndeed, to critical observers, it looks like Republican leaders in Congress are using the tax code to punish states with high income taxes. They use the bill to accomplish this by limiting how much of those state income taxes are deductible. That effectively penalizes some of those residents, who did choose to live in those states, with a higher total tax bill.", "output": "The US government\u2019s House of Representatives and Senate are currently debating two tax bills that could significantly affect the cost of aging. The revised tax bills could potentially erase a deduction for medical expenses, removing thousands of dollars in support for the sick and elderly. The medical deductions are permitted when they exceed 10 percent of a household\u2019s adjusted gross income. The House bill has proposed removing this deduction entirely, whereas the Senate bill plans to leave medical expense deductions untouched. If the House bill is successful, those who spent more money on health expenses this year stand to lose more money in 2018. The AARP Public Policy Institute has evaluated IRS data from 2015 and calculated that 8.8 million Americans use the deduction annually, including the elderly, those with children with special needs, and the disabled. Around 55 percent of those claiming the deduction were over the age of 65, with 69 percent having incomes under $75,000. The average sum claimed was $9,904. Around 52 percent of those who are older than 65 will require extended care before they die, federal data has found, making the deduction important for many Americans requiring assistance. The Republicans in Congress could use the eradication of the deduction to penalize states with higher income taxes by reducing the deductibles that are permitted. However, it is likely that the move will cause sick and elderly citizens to rely more on state provisions through Medicaid, putting more pressure on the federal government.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Subway consolidates US, Canadian creative teams with Dentsu Aegis \n Subway announced today it will consolidate its entire U.S. and Canadian (North American) media and creative business with Dentsu Aegis Network after a review launched in July.\n\nBeginning in early 2018, the Franchise at Dentsu Aegis Network North America\u2014which includes Carat New York, mcgarrybowen New York, Carat Canada and DentsuBos\u2014will be responsible for the fast-food chain\u2019s strategy across all channels. Employees out of the Japanese conglomerate\u2019s New York, Toronto and Montreal offices will be tasked with expanding Subway\u2019s brand vitality with consumers.\n\n\u201cThis", "output": "Sandwich chain Subway is consolidating its North American media and creative advertising accounts following a review of its marketing strategy. The company selected Dentsu Aegis Network North America, a network of agencies that includes existing Subway media agency Carat, Mcgarrybowen and DentsuBos, to look after its strategy across all channels. The brand had appointed BBDO as its creative agency in 2015\u00a0but dropped the firm\u00a0in October 2016 and has\u00a0been mostly using its previous partner MMB since, which participated in the review but will not be involved in future.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK undersold Green Investment Bank: National Audit Office \n This examines whether the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has achieved the objectives of the UK Green Investment Bank intervention, and whether UK Government Investments has achieved value for money in the subsequent sale of the Bank.\n\nA report by the National Audit Office on the Green Investment Bank (GIB) has found that the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, now the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (the Department) set up GIB with a clear mission that provided a sound basis for it to succeed. GIB quickly stimulated investment in the green economy, particularly in offshore wind where it was addressing market failures, and returns on the portfolio are forecast to exceed expectations. Its impact in other sectors is less certain, and in deciding to sell GIB the Department lacked clear criteria or evidence to show that the Bank had achieved its intended green impact. The sale of GIB in 2017 was complex and took much longer than expected but the final sale price was within the government\u2019s valuation range, at the lower end.\n\nThe Government established the GIB to \u201caccelerate the UK\u2019s transition to a greener, stronger economy\u201d by investing in green projects. The Department estimated the UK needed investment of up to \u00a3330 billion by 2020. As of March 2017 the GIB had invested in 100 projects, committing up to \u00a33.4 billion of its own capital, and had attracted \u00a38.6 billion of private capital, equating to around \u00a32.50 for every \u00a31 invested.\n\nThe Department set up GIB with a clear rationale and mission and it planned and prepared GIB generally well, providing a sound basis for GIB to succeed. GIB\u2019s objectives included attracting co-investment from private investors, and delivering both green impact and financial returns on investments. The Department set out how it would judge GIB\u2019s success in most areas but not in terms of its green impact. It also wanted GIB to be an \u2018enduring institution\u2019, but it was not clear what this would mean in practice.\n\nIn June 2015, the government decided that further public funding was not affordable and announced it was aiming to sell all or part of the GIB. The Department considered different options for GIB\u2019s future against its two primary sale objectives: securing value for money, and declassifying GIB from the public sector balance sheet to reduce public debt. The Department also told us it wanted to allow GIB to raise its own finance.\n\nIn March 2016 the government launched the sale process, which UK Government Investments (UKGI) ran. UKGI obtained a premium to government\u2019s investment. The sale achieved limited competitive tension, and the Department and UKGI had to develop a fall-back option after launching the sale. The sale process lasted nearly 18 months, more than two times longer than expected. The delay and uncertainty affected GIB operationally and a number of key staff departed, which GIB told us limited its ability to invest.\n\nIn April 2017 the government decided to sell, rather than pursue its phased sale option which it forecast could have raised an additional \u00a363 million, although it could have raised considerably more or less than this depending on how successfully assets moved from construction to operation. The government wanted to transfer the construction and market risks of holding to the buyer. In August 2017 a Macquarie Group-led consortium paid the government \u00a31.6 billion (excluding a stake in assets that government retained, valued at \u00a3132 million). This reduces public sector net debt by \u00a31.6 billion.\n\nThe government intends that GIB in private ownership should continue contributing to green financing so that the UK can meet its commitments on climate change. Macquarie has made public (non legally-binding) commitments for the first three years after the sale, but government actions required to meet climate change commitments will extend beyond 2020.\n\n\u201cUltimately the value for money of the Green Investment Bank intervention will only be seen over time. A key test will be whether the Government needs to intervene again in this way to stimulate growth in the green economy and to help it achieve its climate change commitments\u201d Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office\n\nDownloads\n\nPublication details\n\nISBN: 9781786041593 [Buy a hard copy of this report]\n\nHC: 619, 2017-19\n\nPress release\n\nView press release (12 Dec 2017)", "output": "The UK\u2019s Green Investment Bank (GIB) was sold too cheaply, according to the National Audit Office (NAO). Australian bank Macquarie paid \u00a31.6bn ($2bn) in cash for the GIB in August and agreed an additional \u00a3500m to honour the bank\u2019s existing commitments. The NAO said that this amount was at the lower end of valuations for the GIB and that the UK government could also have gained an additional \u00a363m if it had delayed the sale until the construction of some GIB-owned windfarms was complete. Negative effects for the GIB also resulted from the sale taking longer than anticipated.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK undersold Green Investment Bank: National Audit Office \n Ministers missed out on tens of millions extra on the sale of the Green Investment Bank (GIB) in August, according to the spending watchdog.\n\nThe National Audit Office said the \u00a31.6bn paid in cash by the Australian bank Macquarie came in at the low end of the government\u2019s valuation. Macquarie agreed to spend a further \u00a3500m to cover the bank\u2019s existing commitments.\n\nMoreover, the government could have increased the value of the sale by \u00a363m if it had waited until some of the windfarms owned by the bank had finished construction. One option under consideration was a phased sale, where the government retained ownership of the bank until 2018 when most of its investments were operational and then privatised it through an initial public offering.\n\n\u201cIt was likely that assets would have been worth more if it waited for a sale,\u201d the spending watchdog said in a report on whether ministers achieved value for money on the sale. However, it added that ministers had avoided construction risks by selling when they did.\n\nCaroline Lucas, the Green party co-leader, said: \u201cIt\u2019s simply shocking that the government wasted millions of pounds by not going ahead with the phased sale option.\u201d\n\nThe bank was a centrepiece of the coalition government\u2019s efforts to kickstart the green economy. It invested \u00a312bn of public and private capital in offshore windfarms, waste-to-energy plants and energy-saving projects, but, three years after it was launched, ministers said it would be sold to pay off public debt.\n\nEven though the decision was made to sell as soon as possible rather than wait until 2018, the process still took longer than expected, with negative effects on the bank.\n\nDelays stemming from legislative scrutiny, haggling over the price and legal challenges led the transaction to take more than 17 months \u2013 more than twice as long as expected.\n\nThe delay hit day-to-day operations as key staff fled the bank and contributed to the cost of government legal fees, that more than doubledto \u00a32.36m.\n\n\u201cGIB told us the delay and uncertainty throughout the sale process led to the loss of key GIB staff, and affected GIB\u2019s ability to continue investing in projects,\u201d the NAO said.\n\nVince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader and the minister who launched the bank, said the decision to privatise the institution showed the Conservatives did not care about the environment.\n\n\u201cSadly, the mishandled sale process has created uncertainty, particularly through key staff losses, at a time when the GIB should have been growing and helping the UK hit international carbon reduction targets by fostering the green economy,\u201d he said.\n\nThe National Audit Office said that while officials had secured some commitments from Macquarie to continue its green goals, they were not legally binding.\n\nLabour MP Meg Hillier, chair of the public accounts committee of MPs, said she was \u201cdeeply disappointed\u201d at the guarantees the government had won on the green objectives.\n\nThe NAO report laid bare the lack of serious competition in the bidding process, particularly after a member withdrew in September 2016 from Macquarie\u2019s main rival, the SDCL consortium.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe Macquarie consortium became aware of this, and saw itself as the only credible bidder left in the process. This led to a loss of competitive tension in the sale process,\u201d the report said. The NAO also noted that the drawn-out completion process effectively meant the government lost a further \u00a314.5m on the sale on top of the \u00a363m.\n\nThe government defended selling when it did, saying it offered a higher degree of certainty and shifted risks to Macquarie.\n\n\u201cThe sale of the Green Investment Bank made \u00a3186m profit for the taxpayer. The UK led the world in setting up the GIB to drive investment in renewable technology,\u201d the UK government said.\n\nEdward Northam, the head of the Green Investment Group, Europe, said: \u201cWe\u2019ve made very positive initial progress and look forward to lots more to come, delivering pioneering green investment in the UK and internationally.\u201d", "output": "The UK\u2019s Green Investment Bank (GIB) was sold too cheaply, according to the National Audit Office (NAO). Australian bank Macquarie paid \u00a31.6bn ($2bn) in cash for the GIB in August and agreed an additional \u00a3500m to honour the bank\u2019s existing commitments. The NAO said that this amount was at the lower end of valuations for the GIB and that the UK government could also have gained an additional \u00a363m if it had delayed the sale until the construction of some GIB-owned windfarms was complete. Negative effects for the GIB also resulted from the sale taking longer than anticipated.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scientists develop 'black box' to track surgeons' ability \n Scientists have developed a novel recorder similar in concept to a flight recorder on an airplane that can be used to objectively measure surgeons' proficiency in robotic-assisted prostate cancer surgery.\n\nThe recorder, called the dVLogger developed by the US-based Intuitive Surgical, similar to the \"black box\" in flight would evaluate a surgeon's proficiency in performing the surgery to ensure patient safety.\n\nWhen attached to a robotic surgery system during radical prostatectomy procedures -- the most common treatment for prostate cancer -- the recorder would capture data that could be used to discern the difference between novice and expert surgeons, the study showed.\n\nIt captures both anonymised video and movement data.\n\n\"The dVLogger records the surgeon's movements, capturing where the instruments are and how the surgeon is moving the instruments,\" said lead author Andrew Hung, Assistant Professor at University of Southern California.\n\nTo measure the recorder's ability, four basic prostate surgery steps were analysed. Data from 100 procedures performed by both novice and expert surgeons were recorded.\n\nAlso Read A 3-D approach to fighting cancer with cancer AstraZeneca lung cancer failure sparks 16 percent share fall AstraZeneca rebuilds cancer drug hopes with new lung data Merck's immunotherapy, chemo mix shows extended lung cancer gains J&J ordered to pay $417 million in trial over talc cancer risks Prof. Lalji Singh: A man of dreams, courage and commitment (Obituary) Government launches mobile app to ease child deliveries in peripheral areas What is BJP's relation with Max Hospital, asks AAP Anesthetics could affect plants too: Study Subsidise expenditure on emergencies at private hospitals: IMA\n\nThe results, forthcoming in The Journal of Urology, showed that novice and expert surgeons could be identified by measuring time to complete operative steps, distance of instrument and camera travel and frequency of camera movements.\n\n\"We now have an opportunity to put surgeon proficiency under the microscope and see what role it plays in patient outcomes,\" Hung said.\n\n\"Creating a sustainable, objective method for evaluating surgeon proficiency and standardising credentialing is a way to help ensure patient safety,\" he noted.\n\n--IANS\n\nrt/umer/rn", "output": "US company Intuitive Surgical has developed a \"black box\" technology that can evaluate a human surgeon's performance while undertaking robot-assisted prostate cancer surgery. A study published in the Journal of Urology revealed the dVLogger was able to capture data on a surgeon's movements and their duration, enabling it to distinguish between experienced and novice clinicians. Lead author Andrew Hung, an assistant professor at the University of Southern California, said the objiective evaluations carried out by the dVLogger would help develop standardised evaluations for surgical proficiency.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chilean solar plant to provide power at night \n A new solar power plant in Chile will to supply electricity to the country\u2019s power grid even when the sun doesn\u2019t shine.\n\nWith a bid of $34.40 per megawatt-hour (MWh), Cox Energ\u00eda of Spain won the rights to supply 140 gigawatt-hours of electricity to the Chilean grid during day and night, through foul weather and fair, using photovoltaics alone, reports GreentechMedia. That\u2019s enough to power about 13,000 homes for a year. To keep the electricity flowing, the company will likely rely on some sort of storage system. Exactly what technology it\u2019ll use has not been announced, but it\u2019s most likely some sort of lithium-ion battery setup.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIt\u2019s yet another sign that large-scale energy storage has arrived. A series of large batteries designed to support electricity grids have been deployed this year, with projects making headlines from California to Australia. Tesla and the AES Corporation in the US, Altagas in Canada, and others have jumped in to stake their claims in a market worth an estimated $12.7 billion in 2017, and expected to grow as more and more renewable energy plants are installed around the world.\n\nCox Energ\u00eda\u2019s $34.40 per MWh bid comes on the heels of the lowest confirmed prices ever recorded for solar, when, in November, Mexico awarded the rights to build an 80.3-megawatt plant at $19.70 per MWh, to Mitsui and Trina, energy companies based in Japan and China, respectively. In Chile, the local subsidiary of the Italian company Enel recently won a bid to provide 593 megawatts in renewable energy\u2014a mix of wind and solar\u2014at $21.48 per MWh. When both the Ensel and Cox Energ\u00eda projects come online\u2014which is expected to be in 2024\u2014the Chilean government expects residential electricity prices to fall by 50%. That should help the country hit its target of generating 70% of total energy from renewable sources by 2050.\n\nIt\u2019s a global trend: Wind and solar developers are entering record-low bids for energy projects all over the world as they anticipate steep price drops and the arrival of new storage technologies. Project developers are building new plants more efficiently, wind turbines and photovoltaic panels have gotten cheaper with economies of scale, and storage technologies, such as lithium-ion batteries, have seen prices plummet falling by about 50% since 2014.", "output": "Spain's Cox Energ\u00eda will build a solar power plant that will supply 140 GWh of electricity to Chile\u2019s grid, 24 hours a day. The Madrid-based utility secured the project with a winning bid of $34.40 per MWh. Analysts predict the company will turn to power storage in order to keep the electricity flowing day and night. Chile, alongside Mexico and Brazil, is establishing itself as a major player in the renewable energy sector. Investments in the Latin American region have grown at twice the global rate, a trend set to continue as solar prices continue to drop.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chilean solar plant to provide power at night \n Solar panels have been a hot topic of conversation for sustainably-minded people for decades, but it's taken a long time for them to become a viable option for the average person. Government subsidies have made it less expensive to outfit the roof of your home with solar panels, while tech companies have sprung up to develop smaller-scale options.\n\nIn 2022, it's possible to get solar panels designed to power your home, take camping, or replace the power adapter you use to charge your phone or other small electronics. Investing in solar panels is not only a way to reduce your carbon footprint, but using them can actually save you money. By taking part of your energy use \"off the grid,\" solar panels can lower your monthly utility bill. Here\u2019s how you can integrate the best solar panels into your life.\n\n\u2014 Best Overall: Raptic Portable Power Station\n\n\u2014 Best Budget: Grouphug Solar Charger\n\n\u2014 Best For Camping: Jackery Solar Generator 1000\n\n\u2014 Best Battery Pack: Nature Love Solar Power Bank\n\n\u2014 Best For Home: Eco-Worthy Solar Power System Kit\n\nHow We Chose the Best Solar Panels\n\nOur solar panel recommendations come from a mix of hands-on experience and research into the best options available. We picked some solar panels that were the best for one specific purpose, while two or three of our recommendations could work for different aspects of your life. In addition, we looked for solar panels that could work whether you own or rent, and live in either a house or apartment. Fortunately, there are more options than ever.\n\nSize: The first factor you should consider when getting a solar panel is its size. Most of our solar panel recommendations are small enough to fit in a backpack or dedicated carrying case. But the largest one is several feet long and needs to be permanently attached to your roof.\n\nBattery: Solar panels absorb the sun's rays to create energy, but they should continue to provide power even during the night. The solar panels in this guide either come with a battery or can be connected to one in order to store the energy they've created. The battery's capacity (measured in Milliamps, which is sometimes shortened to mAh) determines how much power can be stored. The batteries that are compatible with solar panels can be hooked up to anything from your smallest tech accessories to the electrical system in your house.\n\nPower Output: Creating and storing solar energy is great, but a solar panel's power output dictates the ways you can use it. Consider this: The power adapter Apple used to ship with the iPhone could output energy at 5 watts, while the highest-ranked toaster on Amazon requires 1,800 watts. That's a wide gulf. Our solar panel recommendations can accommodate the energy requirements for both of those gadgets. You can also make sure you have power when you're off the grid with the best solar generators.\n\nThe Best Solar Panels: Reviews and Recommendations\n\nBest Overall: Raptic Titan Solar 100\n\nPortable and Powerful . RAPTIC\n\nWhy It Made The Cut: As our pick for the best solar panel overall, Raptic\u2019s Titan Solar 100 is a two-panel system that\u2019s easy to set up and carry, but capable of charging all but the most power-hungry electronics.\n\nSpecs:\n\n\u2014 Panel Size: 42 inches long x 26 inches wide (21-inches long when folded)\n\n\u2014 Battery: N/A\n\n\u2014 Power Output: 100 watts\n\nPros:\n\n\u2014 Powerful for its size\n\n\u2014 Great value\n\n\u2014 Includes a carrying case\n\nCons:\n\n\u2014 Doesn\u2019t come with a battery\n\nRaptic's Titan Solar 100 manages to hit the sweet spot of portability, performance, and price that makes it well-suited for all but the most power-hungry needs. The system is comprised of two 50-watt solar panels, for a total power output of 100 watts. Each solar panel works independently, but Raptic attached them using a hinge system, so they fold on top of one another for easy storage. This arrangement makes the Titan Solar 100 a lot easier to set up and break down. Raptic bundles its solar panels with a carrying case to make transportation even easier.\n\nThe Titan Solar 100 is 42 inches wide and 26 inches tall when fully unfolded, which means the solar panels are large enough to capture a lot of the sun's rays. A kickstand on the back angles them to optimize their energy absorption potential, too. Raptic says its solar panels are made out of tempered glass for improved durability, so you shouldn't have to worry about degradation with regular use. The Titan Solar 100 is by far the best value in this guide, but it comes with a catch. Raptic doesn't include a battery with its solar panels, so you'll have to get one separately. Naturally, the company recommends its own power stations: the Raptic Titan and Raptic Titan XL. The Titan Solar 100 terminates into a standard DC power connector, though, so you can use any full-sized battery that has the appropriate ports.\n\nWe're inclined to recommend pairing Raptic's solar panels with its Titan or Titan XL because we've had the opportunity to test the former. We found it to be powerful enough to charge multiple devices without breaking a sweat, and were especially impressed with its relative portability. Raptic offers free shipping on all U.S. orders, which is something to keep in mind if you order directly from its site. If you only plan on getting one set of solar panels to start your journey into renewable energy, Raptic's Solar 100 is the perfect choice.\n\nBest Budget: Grouphug Window Solar Charger\n\nSay Goodbye to Your Phone Charger. Grouphug\n\nWhy It Made The Cut: Grouphug\u2019s Window Solar Panel is an apartment-friendly solar panel capable of charging small electronics. It\u2019s a good first step to take if you\u2019re interested in starting to use solar power.\n\nSpecs:\n\n\u2014 Panel Size: 10 inches long, 8 inches wide\n\n\u2014 Battery: 3,400mAh\n\n\u2014 Power Output: 10 watts\n\nPros:\n\n\u2014 Apartment-friendly size\n\n\u2014 All-in-one design\n\n\u2014 Aesthetically pleasing\n\nCons:\n\n\u2014 Not very powerful\n\n\u2014 Only one charging port\n\nGrouphug's Window Solar Charger is not only the most budget-friendly solar panel you can get right now, it's also the easiest to set up and most versatile. The single panel is fitted inside a pane of glass, which is wrapped in a wooden frame. This solar panel is designed to live semi-permanently on your window, where it's attached using a suction cup. There's nothing to set up: unbox the Window Solar Charger, attach it to your window, and wait.\n\nThe self-contained solar panel has a built-in 3,400mAh battery, which can charge most smartphones to about 50 percent when the sun goes down. You can plug your devices directly into the Window Solar Charger's USB-A port, which is located at the bottom of the frame. Grouphug offers a USB-C to USB-A adapter for under $10, and we recommend springing for it since many tech accessories have begun shipping with a USB-C to USB-C cable. Grouphug says it'll take roughly 10 hours of sunlight to fully charge the Window Solar Charger's battery, so be mindful of your placement.\n\nWhat we like most about the Window Solar Panel is the fact that it's designed for everybody. At 14 inches tall, it's the smallest solar panel we're recommending, and the only one that can be easily used indoors whether you own or rent your place. We were skeptical about the solar panel's suction cup, but it's held for several weeks without fail.\n\nWe're a little wary about the fact that the Window Solar Charger's USB-A port is built into the frame of the solar panel, because it'll be tough \u2014 if not impossible \u2014 to repair for yourself if something goes wrong. That said, Grouphug says it'll take a broken panel back to replace parts if necessary, so there is a reparability option if you need one. If you've avoided getting solar panels because of their cost, cumbersome setup, or space constraints, Grouphug's Solar Charger leaves you with no more excuses.\n\nBest for Camping: Jackery Solar Generator 1000\n\nRenewable Energy for Offroading. Jackery\n\nWhy It Made The Cut: Jackery\u2019s Solar Generator 1000 is a bundle that includes two high-powered solar panels and a high capacity battery pack. This combo generates and stores enough energy to power any camping appliance, or everyday electronics like your phone or computer.\n\nSpecs:\n\n\u2014 Panel Size: 48 inches long x 21 inches wide (24 inches long when folded)\n\n\u2014 Battery: Yes (capacity N/A)\n\n\u2014 Power Output: 200 watts\n\nPros:\n\n\u2014 Ultra powerful\n\n\u2014 Includes a huge battery\n\nCons:\n\n\u2014 Fairly large panels for portable use\n\n\u2014 Doesn\u2019t come with a carrying case\n\nCampers devoted to making their outdoor activities as sustainable as possible should seriously consider Jacekery's Solar Generator 1000. It's handily the most powerful portable solar panel system we're recommending. Jackery, much like Raptic, has opted to design its solar panels to fold inward for easier storage. Each solar panel has a power output of 50 watts, but Jackery's system contains four panels for a total of 200 watts. Energy from the solar panels is fed directly into the Explorer 1000, Jackery's high-capacity battery pack.\n\nThe Explorer 1000 has three AC outlets, two USB-C ports, two USB-A ports, a car outlet, and a maximum power output of 1000 watts. Jackery says this is enough to run a coffee maker for 88 minutes, an electric grill for 50 minutes, and a heating blanket for 11 hours. It's feasible to run all of your camping gear through renewable energy using Jackery's solar panels. You'll probably keep the SolarSaga solar panels connected to Explorer 1000 all the time, but it's worth noting that the panels themselves have a USB-C and USB-A port. If you need to quickly charge your phone while setting up this solar power system, this is a nice touch. Another nice extra is the Explorer 1000's tiny LED screen, which displays how much power the battery has left, and the amount of energy that's currently being used.\n\nWhen it comes to portability, the SolarSaga solar panels included in this bundle fare pretty well. Each one is 48 inches wide and 21 inches tall when unfolded, and half the width when folded. Jackery doesn't include a bag with these panels, though, so you'll need to get one separately. The appropriately sized artists\u2019 portfolio is probably your best bet, as it's designed to be carried around easily. You'll need a fair bit of space to take full advantage of what Jackery's Solar Generator has to offer, but it's the ideal solar panel solution for anyone who loves spending extended periods of time outdoors.\n\nBest Portable: Nature Love Solar Power Bank\n\nBackpack Friendly . Nature Love\n\nWhy It Made The Cut: Because of its small size, this is the only solar panel you can take with you everywhere.\n\nSpecs:\n\n\u2014 Panel Size: Roughly 7.5 x 5 inches\n\n\u2014 Battery: Yes; 25000mAh\n\n\u2014 Power Output: N/A\n\nPros:\n\n\u2014 Extremely portable\n\n\u2014 Panel built right into the battery pack\n\n\u2014 Can charge up to four devices at once\n\nCons:\n\n\u2014 Small panel size\n\n\u2014 Can only power smaller electronics\n\nMost of our solar panel recommendations are portable, but Natural Love's Solar Power Bank takes that concept to the next level. The high-capacity battery pack has a solar panel on its back, so you can charge it anywhere there's sunshine. We've chosen this battery pack because it's durability and wide variety of ports. Nature Love says the Solar Power Bank has an IP66 rating, which means it's dust-proof, and won't get damaged when exposed to water, though it shouldn't be fully submerged.\n\nThe Solar Power Bank can charge up to four devices at once using two USB-A ports, one USB-C port, and a wireless charging pad on top of the battery. Its 25,000mAh capacity allows you to fully recharge an iPhone up to four times and an iPad twice. The battery pack's solar panel is only on one side, so you'll need to front-side up to get an eco-friendly charge. If you need to top it up on a cloudy day, you also have the option to connect the Solar Power Bank to a traditional charging brick. This is the highest-capacity power bank we've found with a battery pack, which means it's a good pick for international travel or camping. If you get stuck outside, the Solar Power Bank's flashlights and LED array can help conserve your phone's battery. If you've begun to replace the tech accessories you rely on most with eco-friendly alternatives, Nature Love's Solar Power Bank is the only battery pack you should consider.\n\nBest For Home: Eco-Worthy Solar Power System Kit\n\nPermanent Solar Panels . Eco-Worthy\n\nWhy It Made The Cut: If you\u2019re willing to put in the time and effort, Eco-Worthy\u2019s Solar Power System Kit can help take your home off the grid without breaking the bank.\n\nSpecs:\n\n\u2014 Panel Size: 58.3 Long x 26.2 Wide\n\n\u2014 Battery: Yes; 50Ah (4x)\n\n\u2014 Power Output: 1100 Watts\n\nPros:\n\n\u2014 Can power any electronic device\n\n\u2014 Very durable\n\nCons:\n\n\u2014 Semi-permanent placement\n\n\u2014 Most difficult to install\n\n\u2014 Expensive\n\nIf you're interested in a solar panel solution to power your entire home \u2014 or at least a nice chunk of it \u2014 we highly recommend Eco-Worthy Solar Power System Kit. The kit comes with six rooftop solar panels, each of which can output up to 195 watts of electricity. These panels come with instructions, but we recommend that you get them professionally installed if you're not comfortable with moderately difficult home repairs. Keep in mind, these solar panels are designed to be permanently attached to your home.\n\nEach panel in Eco-Worthy's kit is 58.3 inches long and 26.2 inches wide, so you'll need a fairly large area if you'd like to have them installed side by side. The company says its panels are made out of Monocrystallin (durable silicon) and designed to withstand heavy exposure to rain and snow. While they're powerful enough for home use, Eco-Worthy says its solar panel kit can be installed onto an RV or boat. In this system, energy from the solar panels is fed to a centralized control box, which routes it through a power converted into four battery cells. Each battery can output up to 3500 watts of electricity, which means they can power multiple appliances simultaneously without the risk of being overloaded. A professional electrician will be able to provide guidance on how to integrate Eco-Worthy's system into your home to mitigate any other potential risk.\n\nIt'll take a serious commitment to purchase and install Eco-Worthy's Solar System, but they're a relatively affordable purchase for the sustainably-minded homeowner. Keep in mind that installing solar panels should be seen as an investment because weaning yourself off the electrical grid will continually save you money. When you look at it through that lens, Eco-Worthy's Solar System is a no-brainer. If you're looking for a more design-oriented choice, the SunPower Equinox\u00ae complete home solar solution is another strong choice.\n\nThings to Consider\n\nLocation: It should go without saying, but solar panels will work best if they're used in an area with a lot of sunlight. You'll want to spend a couple of weeks monitoring how much sunshine your home gets if you're opting for a whole-home solar panel system, and check the weather report before bringing portable solar panels on a trip.\n\nEnergy Consumption: If possible, you should check how much electricity you use either at home or remotely before deciding which solar panels are right for you. One easy way to do that is taking a look at the energy requirements of your most-used electronics. Smaller gadgets \u2014 think phones and tablets \u2014 will need a lot less power to operate than a washing machine and dryer. To cut down on your energy usage further, consider the best rechargeable batteries.\n\nFAQs\n\nQ: How long do solar panels last?\n\nAccording to research conducted by the U.S. Government's National Renewable Energy Lab, solar panels can last up to 25 years at full strength. After that, the panel may become less efficient, generating less energy over time.\n\nQ: Can the environment I live in impact the performance\n\nYes, another study conducted by the NREL found that extreme heat can drive solar panels to become less effective and degrade more quickly. This generally applies to rooftop solar panels installed in very hot regions.\n\nQ: Is there a tax credit for solar panels used to power my home?\n\nYes, the U.S. Government does offer a 26 percent tax credit for solar photovoltaic systems installed in 2022 (this drops to 22 percent in 2023, and is currently set to expire entirely in 2024). For the full details on what can be deducted, please refer to energy.gov's comprehensive explainer.\n\nQ: Can using solar panels meaningfully reduce the amount of money I spend on energy?\n\nThat depends entirely on a few factors including, where you live, how much energy you typically consume, the size and number of your panels, and your home's HVAC system. If you'd like to gauge the amount of money you're likely to save, energysage.com has created a calculator to help you out. Stay connected off the grid with the best wireless chargers.\n\nFinal Thoughts on Solar Panels\n\nYou may not be able to fully convert your energy consumption from fossil fuels to renewables, but getting solar panels is an excellent start. Making small changes \u2014 only charging your phone using a solar panel, for instance \u2014 can add up over time. That first step may encourage or empower you to take additional steps into lessening your reliance on fossil fuels. This is especially true if you move from an apartment into a house, which will enable you to have even more control over your home's relationship to the grid. Regardless, there's never been a better time to get a solar panel.\n\nThis post was created by a non-news editorial team at Recurrent Media, Futurism\u2019s owner. Futurism may receive a portion of sales on products linked within this post.", "output": "Spain's Cox Energ\u00eda will build a solar power plant that will supply 140 GWh of electricity to Chile\u2019s grid, 24 hours a day. The Madrid-based utility secured the project with a winning bid of $34.40 per MWh. Analysts predict the company will turn to power storage in order to keep the electricity flowing day and night. Chile, alongside Mexico and Brazil, is establishing itself as a major player in the renewable energy sector. Investments in the Latin American region have grown at twice the global rate, a trend set to continue as solar prices continue to drop.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Graduway raises $12.7m to connect university alumni \n SAAS-Y ALUMS: Graduway, a software company that offers a platform for college alumni management, has raised $12.7 million from Susquehanna Growth Equity in a Series B funding round. The company previously raised $3.1 million from existing investors Gigi Levy, Massa Innovations and SaaS Capital, according to Crunchbase, bringing the U.K.-based company\u2019s total amount raised to $15.8 million.\n\nGraduway\u2019s platform enables registered alumni to network, share job or internship opportunities, and also provides a database for institutions to track and stay connected to their former students. The company claims to have more than 500 international clients, including the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Oxford. According to a press release, the fundraise will be used to further develop the platform, expand its U.S. office as well as pursue new market locations.", "output": "UK-based software company Graduway has raised $12.7m in a series B funding round led by Susquehanna Growth Equity, bringing the company's total investment to $15.8m. Graduway has developed a platform for university alumni around the world to connect and share work opportunities, while also offering institutions a way to keep track of graduates. According to a company statement, the funds will be used to develop the platform, expand the US office and pursue\u00a0new markets.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google bidding glitch causes advertisers to pause ads, go manual \n by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, December 11, 2017\n\nAdvertisers and their agency partners using a smart bidding tool to run campaigns in Google Shopping that match to a preset return on ad spend (ROAS) were hit with cost per clicks (CPCs) and ad spend that were higher than usual for a few hours on December 6.\n\nThe issue was related to Shopping campaigns using ROAS settings.\n\nROAS bidding, an AdWords Smart Bidding strategy, allows advertisers to target ads to consumers based on a specific return on ad spend in AdWords. The bids are automatically optimized at the time of the auction.\n\nGoogle identified and resolved the \"engineering problem\" on the same day, according to one search agency partner, who said marketers still need to keep a close eye on campaigns when they are using automated bidding policies because they are not infallible.\n\nOne advertiser wrote in a Google AdWords forum that he spent three times the company's \"daily budget in a matter of hours on insane CPCs.\"\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nAnother wrote in the forum \"bid costs were over 500% of normal with no increase in ROAS.\"\n\nFacebook, Google, Microsoft and others are pushing marketers to place more trust in machine learning and algorithms, but a glitch that surfaced last week in Google's Shopping Ad platform reminds marketers it's still a good idea to review all campaigns with their own eyes.\n\nThe search agency partner said one advertising client saw bids jump from 40 cents to $4 on a set of keywords. \"We looked at others running smart bidding and they all saw a jump in CPCs during the same hour,\" per the agency rep. who was buying.\n\nAdvertisers had to pause their campaigns for 12 hours and go back to using manual triggers to run search ads.\n\nGoogle will continue to reach out to advertisers that were impacted by the glitch, and plans to credit their accounts with the incorrect spend during the next few weeks.", "output": "Google is compensating advertisers after a recent glitch saw bid costs skyrocket from a few cents to a several dollars. The hitch involved campaigns on the search giant's Shopping channel that use present return on ad spend settings. Google blamed the issue on an \"engineering problem\", which it said it had resolved\u00a0the same day. Affected advertisers had to suspend their\u00a0campaigns for 12 hours and revert to manual triggers for search ads.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ZhongAn to track chickens with blockchain and facial recognition \n Tech unit of Hong Kong-listed ZhongAn Online Property & Casualty Insurance targets 23 million birds for project \u2018gogochicken\u2019 in three years", "output": "A Chinese tech company is planning to use facial recognition software to monitor chickens. ZhongAn currently uses blockchain technology in a project called \"GoGo Chicken\", which monitors the daily activity of the birds at free-range organic farms,\u00a0from birth onwards. The technology already allows consumers to buy a baby chick and follow its development on a smartphone app, but the company is looking into using facial recognition systems to help people identify individual chickens. The technology could also be adapted for other uses, such as pet care, according to the firm.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ouster secures $27m for laser-enhanced autonomous driving sensor \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nA fledgling lidar startup is launching out of stealth today, backed by more than $30 million in investors\u2019 money. San Francisco-based Ouster has officially unveiled its OS1 lidar, which it said represents a \u201cstep-change in lidar sensing technology\u201d compared to what is currently available elsewhere on the market, with \u201cmarked improvements in mass, form factor, and power requirements.\u201d\n\nOuster said that in addition to improvements in form factor and power requirements, its 64-channel lidar sensor, which is shipping now, also matches the resolution of the highest performing automotive lidar technology available today.\n\nBy way of a quick recap, lidar is a method of surveying the environment with laser-powered light, often used to make high-resolution maps. Many self-driving cars scan the environment using lidar, which allows the vehicle to get a sense of what\u2019s around it and avoid obstacles. This is tricky and perilous at high speeds on busy roads, especially when poor lighting and bad weather is at play, so the need for high-quality cameras and sensors on autonomous vehicles is paramount.\n\nOuster was founded in early 2016 by CEO Angus Pacala and CTO Mark Frichtl, and the startup has been operating under the lidar radar in the nearly two years since.\n\n\u201cThe company has maintained a low-profile for over two years \u2014 staying heads-down and focusing on getting the OS1 ready to ship,\u201d noted Pacala. \u201cI\u2019m incredibly proud of our team for their hard work to produce the most advanced, practical, and scalable LIDAR sensor on the market, and we\u2019re very excited about the impact our product will have in autonomous vehicles and other applications in robotics.\u201d\n\nThe company is also announcing a $27 million series A funding round today led by Cox Enterprises, the parent company of automotive firm Cox Automotive, with participation from Fontinalis Partners, Amity Ventures, Constellation Technology Ventures, Tao Capital Partners, and Carthona Capital. This is in addition to a smaller seed round Ouster previously raised, taking its total funding past the $30 million mark.\n\nOuster said it will use its fresh cash injection primarily for manufacturing, as well as to develop its next-generation sensors, and reckons its manufacturing capacity will hit the \u201ctens of thousands\u201d of sensors in 2018.\n\nLidar has emerged as a key focal point for investors, technology firms, and automotive companies alike. A few months back, Innoviz Technologies raised $65 million to accelerate its lidar tech for autonomous cars, shortly before Samsung and SoftBank jumped on board to take the total round to $73 million. Elsewhere, Israel\u2019s Oryx Vision raised a chunky $50 million round to develop its lidar technologies, while General Motors boosted its self-driving car credentials with the acquisition of lidar startup Strobe.\n\nWith so many companies now operating in the lidar realm, a key competitive factor will be the ability to optimize the size and specs, while also bringing the price down. Ouster said that the initial price of its OS1 sensor will be $12,000.\n\n\u201cOuster\u2019s OS1 LIDAR is a truly compelling piece of technology that we believe is going to accelerate the autonomous driving development curve,\u201d said David Blau, VP of corporate strategy and investments at Cox Enterprises.", "output": "Ouster, a manufacturer of sensors used to map landscapes,\u00a0has raised $27m to develop its technology for autonomous cars. The funding, led by\u00a0Cox Enterprises, will enable the San Francisco company to step up production of its 64-channel, OS1 lidar sensor. The company says its new product is lighter and more energy-efficient than similar sensors but has the\u00a0same resolution as the highest-performing lidar technology available.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google partners with Fairfax to sell programmatic advertising \n Fairfax has entered into a partnership with Google across digital advertising, technology and product development.\n\nGoogle will support Fairfax to sell and market programmatic advertising across The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian Financial Review, WA Today, Canberra Times, Brisbane Times, and lifestyle properties.\n\nThe two companies will also work together to push subscriptions and improve customer experience on the publisher's websites and apps, such as improving load times.\n\nThe move will come as a surprise to some in in the industry, with both Google and Facebook being largely blamed for the demise of media companies' ad revenue within traditional media companies.\n\nHowever, this year Google has been making effort to support publishers' and has responded to a lot of its critiques, such as abolishing first click free and working on better models to facilitate subscriptions.\n\nMany media execs have spoken out against the power of Facebook and Google in the past, including CEO Greg Hywood himself, who spoke against the digital duopoly at the recent senate inquiry into journalism.\n\nJust yesterday, MCN CEO Anthony Fitzgerald slammed Facebook and Google as \"media wastelands\".\n\nFairfax MD of Australian metro publishing Chris Janz says it's a big step forward for Fairfax.\n\n\"We are excited to be deepening our partnership with Google, providing advertisers with a new way to work with Fairfax,\" Janz says.\n\n\"Google\u2019s sales channels and market-leading programmatic technology will empower and enable advertisers\u2019 to access Fairfax\u2019s brands and reach our valuable audiences.\n\n\u201cWe are bringing the very best that Fairfax has to offer together with the smarts and capability of Google. The result will be a stronger Fairfax Media and continued investment in journalism.\u201d\n\nFairfax is confident the deal places its business at the global forefront of digital publishing innovation, says Hywood.\n\n\"We are stepping up and understanding the future. We are ensuring our company, our media and our shareholders benefit from commercial opportunities available to us. We expect upside performance from this partnership, which will allow us to make new investment in our journalism,\" he says.\n\nHave something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au\n\nSign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.", "output": "Australian media company Fairfax has signed an agreement with Google to sell programmatic advertising across several titles, including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review and The Age. Fairfax CEO Greg Hywood, who recently spoke out against the Google/Facebook duopoly on advertising, said the search giant's technology would help advertisers reach the publisher's audiences and enable it to \"make new investment in our journalism\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AR-enhance customer experiences seen offering boost to retailers \n Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More\n\nWhen new technology platforms emerge, traditional retail typically gets disrupted \u2014 and often in painful ways. Consumers generally benefit from the added convenience and cost reductions from e-commerce in the short-term. However, the dominance of companies like Amazon has resulted in many retailers and small businesses closing up shop and laying off employees.\n\nFortunately, the next emerging tech platform, augmented reality (AR), could result in a resurgence of in-person retail shopping. I\u2019ve interviewed several AR influencers who discuss how the technology can reverse the implosion of retail and incentivize customers to physically visit shopping locations.\n\nReducing customer churn\n\nThe broader trend in retail, particularly among millennials, is a shift in focus from products toward experiences. For this reason, many customers still choose to visit a physical shop even if it may be more convenient to order the item online. People still, at large, value the interaction and experience that comes with physical location shopping. For retailers, this presents an opportunity to leverage technology to literally augment the value of their products for their customers.\n\nAlice Bonasio is a journalist and consultant who covers the AR and VR industry. She expands on this point, \u201cthe ability for customers to \u2018try before you buy\u2019 will result in a reduction in churn, one of the major pain points for retailers. When it comes to larger items like furniture or household appliances, one of the biggest drawbacks for consumers is that they misjudge the amount of space they have available or dislike the way the item looks once it\u2019s actually in their home. This buyer\u2019s remorse is a huge drain on resources for retailers.\u201d\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTkk8XroWjo\n\nBonasio continues, \u201cHowever, AR allows customers to see an item in-store and then project it realistically back at home before finalizing the process by placing the order online. Such omnichannel experiences will make in-person shopping a value add to the consumer and help retailers avoid churn.\u201d\n\nAugmenting customer support\n\nThe promise of the internet was a world in which borders and locations became irrelevant. Ironically, in the past few decades, \u201cglobal cities\u201d such as San Francisco, Tokyo, and London have become more economically competitive while less prominent urban centers have fallen behind. Fortunately, AR may be the first platform that can fully deliver on this promise, by enabling people in remote locations to provide on-site customer support.\n\nCathy Hackl is an AR influencer, global speaker and author of Marketing New Realities. She expands on this theme, \u201cin a future where customers walk around wearing mixed reality glasses, it will be possible to provide on-site holographic customer support. Imagine a handicapped woman in West Virginia working remotely on a VR headset, holographically projected onto an information desk at a mall or airport in San Francisco. This would enable all of the benefits that customers would gain from an in-person interaction, save costs by not having to hire more expensive local staff, while making a positive social impact on rural communities that don\u2019t have access to jobs.\n\nHackl continues, \u201cholographic AR customer support wouldn\u2019t just replace our current experience, but dramatically improve it, particularly if artificial intelligence (AI) is implemented as part of the experience. A store\u2019s holographic customer support agent would be able to instantly produce an infinite number of 3D digital representations of real products for customers. The customer could then interact and play with a range of digital products while also gaining real-time enhanced data. What\u2019s the products story? What materials were used? What color variations can be tried? What sizes are in stock in the store? All of this information would be available on-demand, thus revolutionizing the customer support experience.\u201d\n\nFun experiences result in foot traffic\n\nThe popularity of Pokemon Go showed that, when properly incentivized, customers will walk to physical locations in their cities to acquire digital assets and experiences. The implications of this new consumer behavior are significant for restaurants, retailers, and other businesses that rely on foot traffic. During the zenith of the Pokemon Go phenomenon, many business owners reported doubling their sales due to players of the location-based mobile game.\n\nKeith Curtin is the founder of See Digital, a consultancy that helps brands with their AR strategy. He expands on this point, \u201cthere are numerous ways in which AR will help retailers gain more visitors. First, special deals can be combined with engaging game experiences to entice people to show up. Brands can launch massively multiplayer scavenger hunts that result in players gaining access to limited-time deals. Through the use of AI-enabled AR avatars, it will be possible for celebrities to act as personal shopping assistants to people, thus making the experience more personal and engaging, but at scale.\u201d\n\nCurtin expands on this idea, \u201cAR adds further value for companies by producing completely new valuable data sets about consumers. Brand engagement through augmented reality apps allows you to see how your customers are interacting with your products across 3D space and time \u2013 something that has never existed before. These data sets are extremely valuable for retargeting and building brand loyalty.\u201d\n\nBeware of gimmicks\n\nGiven the current state of AR, it\u2019s understandable to be skeptical that the technology could impact retail in a significant way. It\u2019s for this reason that brands should focus on designing experiences that address real customer problems with practical solutions. If a company\u2019s AR tool doesn\u2019t improve the user experience of its customers, it doesn\u2019t make sense to invest in AR.\n\nSanem Avcil is an AR influencer and developer. She expands on this point, \u201cbrands that use AR need to focus on customer needs and the specific ways in which AR can improve the customer journey. How can AR make shopping more seamless, whether at the store or online? Research the types of AR solutions that are available and see if they will really help the customer by saving them time and money or helping them make better purchasing decisions. Ultimately, your decision should be based on whether or not you can increase foot traffic to your location and improve customer engagement once people are inside.\u201d\n\nMichael Park is the CEO and founder of PostAR, a platform that lets you build, explore, and share augmented realities.", "output": "Improving customer experiences using augmented reality (AR) offers a way for retailers to boost footfall in their stores and compete with e-commerce, according to Michael Park, CEO of AR platform PostAR. Park said that retailers such as furniture shops lost business with\u00a0\"try before you buy\"\u00a0services\u00a0because shoppers often found they didn't like the item once they got it home. AR would enable buyers to virtually test a product in their home first, saving the shop money and time. Park\u00a0suggested emulating Pokemon Go, incentivising customers to visit stores with \"engaging game experiences\" or by using celebrity-endorsed avatars.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Precision farming drone unveiled by American Robotics \n An industrial UAS developer called American Robotics has unveiled its flagship product, Scout, which is a self-charging, self-managing UAS platform capable of autonomously conducting daily scouting missions in the field of precision farming.\n\nSpecializing in agricultural automation, American Robotics says that traditional scouting techniques are \u201cinadequate at detecting plant stress early enough to offset the billions of dollars of lost yields.\u201d A lot of the times, these methods, which can include first-generation and consumer UAS, are time-consuming, complicated, and not financially prudent.\n\nAmerican Robotics says that \u201cautomation must be delivered in a reliable industrial solution\u201d in order to improve agricultural decision-making, optimize inputs, and maximize yields, and Scout provides this automation. Once Scout is installed within a farmer's field, manual intervention to plan, fly and manage the UAS operations is not needed, and, farmers also receive health reports and analysis.\n\n\u201cThe technology behind Scout was developed after working with farmers and ag professionals to understand the unique logistical and economic challenges they face. As a result, Scout is the first practical, industrial drone system that truly addresses the needs of this industry,\u201d says Reese Mozer, Co-Founder and CEO of American Robotics.\n\n\u201cFull-automation is a key ingredient in the future of precision farming, and we\u2019re eager and excited to finally deliver this capability to our customers.\u201d\n\nGary V. McMurray, Associate Director, Collaborative Robotics, Georgia Tech Research Institute, says, \u201cthe rapid expansion of drones in farming has been impressive, but I\u2019ve also been concerned with their inability to address the amount of time and cost required by the grower to use these tools.\u201d\n\nMcMurray continues, \u201cAmerican Robotics\u2019 Scout is the only practical solution that addresses this issue. Farmers need a tool that works for them, not another piece of technology that consumes their day. I believe fully-automated drone operation is a revolutionary approach that solves many of the real-world problems facing growers today, and I am confident Scout will scale to meet the needs of growers around the world.\u201d", "output": "Boston company American Robotics has launched Scout, an unmanned aerial vehicle aimed at addressing the needs of the farming industry by autonomously monitoring crops. Once installed the system runs daily missions to establish the state of plants, sending analysis reports and crop health updates to farmers with no human intervention required. CEO Reese Mozer said full automation was a \"revolutionary approach\" and a \"key ingredient in the future of precision farming\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK brands make nearly 100% return on spend on digital\u00a0display ads \n On average, for every \u00a31 Unilever and Nestl\u00e9 spend on display ads in the UK both brands return almost double in sales, according to data from the Internet Advertising Bureaux (IAB UK).\n\nThe figures come as a year of FMCG digital efficiency drives and agency reviews draws to a close, with the IAB claiming that every \u00a31 spent on digital display units yields a typical ROI of \u00a31.94 across all major British supermarkets.\n\nThe study tracked the programmatic display advertising of nine consumer goods brands including Persil, Magnum, Tropicana, PG Tips and Nescafe across a number of premium sites like the Guardian, Mail Online, Yahoo and Gumtree.\n\nThough it didn\u2019t specify the breakdowns for individual brand ROI, it noted that one brand it monitored saw a \u00a33.38 ROI for every \u00a31 it invested.\n\nThe research was completed over a year-long period, comparing display spend with short-term sales numbers gleaned from i2c \u2013 a joint venture between Sainsbury\u2019s and Nectar card owner Aimia \u2013 and Nielsen\u2019s Homescan data. The resulting data, which was commissioned by i2c and the IAB gives an insight into the shopping behaviour at all major UK supermarkets.\n\nThe study comes amid an ongoing efficiency drive from Unilever, which this year decided to run 30% fewer ads as part of a wider cost-cutting exercise to improve efficiency. The brand has said it also intends to reduce the number of agencies it has (around 3,000) in half.\n\nIts arch rival P&G has also been culling \"ineffective\" digital ads, noting earlier this year that rollbacks of around $140m had not impacted the company's bottom line as it delivered strong growth in the first half of the year.\n\nAccording to the IAB\u2019s chief digital officer Tim Elkington, the \"vast majority\" of sales attributable to group's study happened in-store.\n\n\u201cThe calibre and range of the brands involved in the project gives marketers a reassuring guide as to what their investment in digital will pay back,\" he said.\n\nAll of the online ads tracked carried a Sainsbury\u2019s logo which Elkington says illustrated the \u201chalo effect\u201d that store-branded advertising can have on sales in other supermarkets.\n\nThe study also revealed that online ads also had a positive effect on people\u2019s awareness of and favourability towards the brand in question, noting that people who saw the ads were 12% more likely to consider the brand to be 'premium'.", "output": "Digital display ads in the UK are making twice the amount in sales that advertisers are spending on them, with a typical return on investment of \u00a31.94 ($2.60) on \u00a31, according to a study by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB). It monitored the programmatic display ads of nine fast moving consumer goods brands, including PG Tips and Magnum, over the course of a year, comparing display costs with figures from i2c and Nielsen's Homescan. Although the IAB did not reveal each brand's individual ROI, it said one achieved \u00a33.38 ROI for every \u00a31 spent."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sweden's Imagimob aims to bring AI to smart farming \n Imagimob has received \u20ac400k in funding for Edge AI research in farming. Imagimob will use the funding to further strengthen and customise its Edge AI technology for specific requirements and challenges in the farming industry. The funding is administered by the ECSEL JU and Vinnova.\n\nFarming is facing economic challenges in terms of productivity, cost-effectiveness, and increasing labour shortage. In addition, current farming systems have significant drawbacks such as flexibility, efficiency, sustainability and high operator cost. Reliable detection, accurate identification and quantification of factors affecting plant and animal health are critical to reduce costs, trade disruptions and even human health risks.\n\nImagimob is a member of The AFarCloud (Aggretate Farming in the cloud) consortium which represents the whole ICT-based agriculture solutions\u2019 value chain needed for the future market uptake of the precision farming framework targeted in the project. There are 6 Swedish organisations in the consortium including Imagimob, M\u00e4lardalen University and RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden).\n\nOutcomes from the AFarCloud project will strengthen the partners\u2019 market position boosting their innovation capacity, addressing industrial needs in EU and internationally. Achievements in the AFarCloud project will be demonstrated in two field tests in both cropping and livestock scenarios.", "output": "Swedish artificial intelligence (AI) firm Imagimob is using its Edge AI technology to improve efficiency and sustainability in the industrial farming sector by identifying risks to plant and animal health. The company, a member of the Aggregate Farming in the cloud consortium, recently raised \u20ac400,000 ($469,584) in funding from the Electronic Components and Systems for European Leadership joint undertaking and Swedish state R&D body\u00a0Vinnova.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers develop AI to significantly reduce traffic problems \n A new deep learning tool uses raw traffic camera footage from City of Austin cameras to recognize objects - people, cars, buses, trucks, bicycles, motorcycles and traffic lights - and characterize how those objects move and interact. Credit: TACC, CTR, City of Austin\n\nLook above the traffic light at a busy intersection in your city and you will probably see a camera. These devices may have been installed to monitor traffic conditions and provide visuals in the case of a collision. But can they do more? Can they help planners optimize traffic flow or identify sites that are most likely to have accidents? And can they do so without requiring individuals to slog through hours of footage?\n\nResearchers from the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), the University of Texas Center for Transportation Research and the City of Austin believe so. Together, they are working to develop tools that allow sophisticated, searchable traffic analyses using deep learning and data mining.\n\nAt the IEEE International Conference on Big Data this month, they will present a new deep learning tool that uses raw traffic camera footage from City of Austin cameras to recognize objects - people, cars, buses, trucks, bicycles, motorcycles and traffic lights - and characterize how those objects move and interact. This information can then be analyzed and queried by traffic engineers and officials to determine, for instance, how many cars drive the wrong way down a one-way street.\n\n\"We are hoping to develop a flexible and efficient system to aid traffic researchers and decision-makers for dynamic, real-life analysis needs,\" said Weijia Xu, a research scientist who leads the Data Mining & Statistics Group at TACC. \"We don't want to build a turn-key solution for a single, specific problem. We want to explore means that may be helpful for a number of analytical needs, even those that may pop up in the future.\"\n\nThe algorithm they developed for traffic analysis automatically labels all potential objects from the raw data, tracks objects by comparing them with other previously recognized objects and compares the outputs from each frame to uncover relationships among the objects.\n\nOnce researchers had developed a system capable of labeling, tracking and analyzing traffic, they applied it to two practical examples: counting how many moving vehicles traveled down a road and identifying close encounters between vehicles and pedestrians.\n\nThe system automatically counted vehicles in a 10-minute video clip, and preliminary results showed that their tool was 95 percent accurate overall. The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) is working with the University of Texas Center for Transportation Research and the City of Austin to improve the safety and efficiency of city roads. Credit: Sean Cunningham, TACC\n\nUnderstanding traffic volumes and their distribution over time is critical to validating transportation models and evaluating the performance of the transportation network, said Natalia Ruiz Juri, a research associate and director of the Network Modeling Center at UT's Center for Transportation Research.\n\n\"Current practice often relies on the use of expensive sensors for continuous data collection or on traffic studies that sample traffic volumes for a few days during selected time periods,\" she said. \"The use of artificial intelligence to automatically generate traffic volumes from existing cameras would provide a much broader spatial and temporal coverage of the transportation network, facilitating the generation of valuable datasets to support innovative research and to understand the impact of traffic management and operation decisions.\"\n\nIn the case of potential close encounters, researchers were able to automatically identify a number of cases where vehicles and pedestrians were in close proximity. None of these represented real-life dangers, but they demonstrated how the system discovers dangerous locations without human intervention.\n\n\"The City of Austin is committed to ending traffic fatalities, and video analytics will be a powerful tool to help us pinpoint potentially dangerous locations,\" said Jen Duthie, a consulting engineer for the City of Austin and a collaborator on the project. \"We can direct our resources toward fixing problem locations before an injury or fatality occurs.\"\n\nThe researchers plan to explore how automation can facilitate other safety-related analyses, such as identifying locations where pedestrians cross busy streets outside of designated walkways, understanding how drivers react to different types of pedestrian-yield signage and quantifying how far pedestrians are willing to walk in order to use a walkway.\n\nThe project shows how artificial intelligence technologies can greatly reduce the effort involved in analyzing video data and provide actionable information for decision-makers.\n\n\"The highly anticipated introduction of self-driving and connected cars may lead to significant changes in the behavior of vehicles and pedestrians and on the performance of roadways,\" Ruiz Juri said. \"Video data will play a key role in understanding such changes, and artificial intelligence may be central to enabling comprehensive large-scale studies that truly capture the impact of the new technologies.\"\n\nMore information: The team built a website where the public can view examples of their detection, tracking and query tool for traffic analysis. To learn more visit: soda.tacc.utexas.edu/", "output": "Researchers from the Texas Advanced Computing Center, the University of Texas Center for Transportation Research and the City of Austin are working to develop an artificial intelligence algorithm that can help improve road safety. At the forthcoming IEEE International Conference on Big Data, the team plans to unveil the deep learning tool, which analyses data collected from traffic cameras, and can be used to determine the efficiency of a transport network and understand pedestrian behaviour.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Leading firms hired surveillance companies to spy on protesters \n British Airways, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Porsche are among five large companies that have been identified as having paid corporate intelligence firms to monitor political groups that challenged their businesses, leaked documents reveal.\n\n\n\nThe surveillance included the use of infiltrators to spy on campaigners. The targets included the grieving family of Rachel Corrie, a student protester crushed to death by a bulldozer, as well as a range of environmental campaigns, and local campaigners protesting about phone masts.\n\nThe leaked documents suggest the use of secretive corporate security firms to gather intelligence about political campaigners has been widespread. However, police chiefs have in the past raised a \u201cmassive concern\u201d that the activities of the corporate firms are barely regulated and completely uncontrolled.\n\nThe police have claimed that commercial firms have had more spies embedded in political groups than there were undercover police officers.\n\nThe revelations are based on hundreds of pages of leaked documents from two corporate intelligence firms, seen by the Guardian and the Bureau for Investigative Journalism, that reveal the inner workings of a normally subterranean industry over several years in the 2000s.\n\nThe cache shows how one of the firms, C2i International, used two infiltrators to acquire advance warning of demonstrations that were being mounted against firms and to feed this information to those firms.\n\nThe infiltrators pretended to be activists sympathetic to the cause of the campaigners, helping to organise and attending their demonstrations, including on one occasion dressing up as a pirate with a cutlass and eyepatch as part of a protest. They often obtained the campaigners\u2019 internal documents such as emails and accounts of meetings.\n\nCaterpillar, one of the world\u2019s biggest manufacturing companies, hired C2i, which gathered information about a grieving family that was taking legal action against the firm. A contract drawn up by Caterpillar and signed by C2i instructed that its work should be kept confidential.\n\nCorrie, 23, was crushed to death in 2003 by an Israeli military bulldozer as she protested against the demolition of Palestinian homes. The bulldozer was said to have been manufactured and sold to the Israeli military by Caterpillar.\n\nCorrie\u2019s family took legal action against Caterpillar, alleging that the firm was complicit in war crimes by exporting bulldozers to the Israelis knowing that they would be used to demolish Palestinian homes.\n\nIn 2007, US judges dismissed the Corries\u2019 legal action, concluding that they did not have the jurisdiction to decide the case.\n\nNine days later Corrie\u2019s mother, Cindy, spoke on a conference telephone call to around 70 members of a campaign that was supporting the family\u2019s lawsuit. C2i obtained the campaign\u2019s notes of the call.\n\nHer comments are recorded in a five-page \u201crestricted \u2013 commercial\u201d document known as a \u201ccorporate threat intelligence alert\u201d, written by C2i and marked with the Caterpillar logo.\n\nAccording to the alert, the conference call was \u201cheld in direct response to the collapse\u201d of the court case and the recent death of a 17-year-old in Gaza. It appears that any member of the public could dial into the call, which was relatively little publicised.\n\nThe alert noted that \u201cCindy Corrie gave an update on the court case and the future strategy of campaign was discussed \u2026 She gave a detailed chronological account of the legal developments in the case most notably the judges\u2019 decision not to reinstate the case.\u201d\n\nIt recorded how she gave her views on the progress on the lawsuit and their options for taking it forward.\n\nCindy Corrie told the Guardian that she found it \u201creally distasteful\u201d that the corporate spies had misrepresented themselves to listen in on the conference call, which she thought consisted of a group of supporters. She said her family had asked Caterpillar for an open dialogue about the lawsuit but had been turned down.\n\nIn the UK, Caterpillar hired a second corporate intelligence firm to monitor protesters in 2005, according to another set of leaked documents.\n\nThe clandestine Inkerman Group gathers information about protesters and has covertly deployed infiltrators on demonstrations that are directed at firms. One of its confidential documents has warned of the threat presented by protest groups that use direct action to disrupt the \u201ceconomic welfare\u201d of companies.\n\nCaterpillar declined to answer specific questions, saying that \u201cas a general practice\u201d it did not \u201cdiscuss specifics of its relationship with suppliers\u201d. It said: \u201cWhere Caterpillar uses outside firms, the company would expect those firms to act in a lawful manner and in accordance with our values in action.\u201d\n\nLeaked Inkerman documents also show how the firm obtained what it called \u201cverbatim\u201d emails that were being circulated among local protesters who were objecting on health grounds to phone masts being built. The campaigner who sent one of the emails said he believed it was a private communication.\n\nInkerman noted in a 2003 internal assessment that the anti-mast campaigners appeared to be copying tactics used by environmentalists against firms that it said it had \u201cattracted their perverse attention\u201d.\n\nInkerman declined to comment when it was asked who had hired it to collect information about the phone mast campaigners and how it had obtained the emails.\n\nThe energy firm RWE nPower has said it hired Inkerman in the past.\n\nLeaked documents show that C2i claimed it had \u201creal-time intelligence assets\u201d in a range of environmental campaigns including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, local green groups in Oxford and \u201call anti\u2010aviation groups\u201d.\n\nIts clients included Royal Bank of Scotland, British Airways and Porsche around 2008. That year, C2i pitched its services to Donald Trump\u2019s property development firm, which was seeking to create a huge golf course and build a hotel and flats on ecologically sensitive land in Scotland. C2i said Trump\u2019s firm was \u201cunder threat from a consortium of environmental activists\u201d. However, it is not known whether Trump\u2019s firm hired C2i. The firm and C2i declined to comment.\n\nRBS said it no longer used corporate intelligence firms to gather information.\n\nC2i, which changed its name before being wound up in 2011, was set up by Justin King, a former special forces pilot who said he specialised in surveillance and counter-intelligence.", "output": "Five major firms, including British Airways, Porsche and the Royal Bank of Scotland, paid corporate intelligence companies to carry out surveillance on political groups challenging their interests, according to leaked documents viewed by the Bureau for Investigative Journalism and the Guardian. The material, from two corporate intelligence companies, documents activities across several years in the 2000s, including the use of infiltrators as spies. One firm, C2i, provided information about the family of activist Rachel Corrie, who died when protesting against the destruction of Palestinian homes, to Caterpillar, the company believed to have manufactured and sold the bulldozer that killed her.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AmEx to no longer require signatures for purchases \n Starting next April, you won't need to sign anything to make a purchase with an American Express card.\n\nAmerican Express (AXP) announced the change Monday, saying it aims to create a more consistent and faster checkout experience.\n\n\"The payments landscape has evolved to the point where we can now eliminate this pain point for our merchants,\" said Jaromir Divilek, an executive vice president for Amex. \"Our fraud capabilities have advanced so that signatures are no longer necessary to fight fraud.\"\n\nRelated: Should you open a store credit card?\n\nAmerican Express already stopped requiring U.S. merchants to collect signatures on purchases of less than $50. And there were different threshold amounts in other countries. In some regions outside the United States the use of signatures are already less common, according to the company.\n\n\"Having to sign a receipt can be a hassle for customers, and is not necessary to prevent fraud at the point of sale,\" said Mike Cook, an assistant vice president at Walmart (WMT) in a quote provided by American Express. He said the nation's largest retailer is pleased by the change, \"which will promote a more seamless shopping and checkout experience\" for customers.\n\nEven if it takes only a few seconds for a customer to leave a signature, the requirement to get and keep a record of that signature is costly for merchants, said Cherian Abraham, a digital payment executive with Experian. And speeding up the check out process by even just a few seconds can save money and reduce friction with the customer, he said.\n\n\"For a merchant like Walmart, every additional second at the point of sale translates into several millions in terms of costs,\" he said.\n\nRelated: Square unveils cash register of the future\n\nThe industry has been moving away from signatures for some time. Modern credit cards have a computer chip that provides additional fraud prevention. And customers are already used to buying things online, and on their smartphones, without a signature.\n\nAmerican Express is the first card provider to make this change across the board, worldwide. But MasterCard (MA) announced in October that it was dropping the requirement for purchases in the United States and Canada, and Discover (DFS) announced the same change last week for purchases in those countries as well as Mexico and the Caribbean. As with Amex, those policies will change in April.", "output": "American Express has announced its worldwide customers will no longer need to sign for any purchases made with their cards from next year. The change will take effect in April, with the company saying its fraud prevention capabilities have improved enough to make signatures unnecessary. The payment card company has already removed the requirement for retailers in the US to collect signatures for amounts of less than\u00a0$50, and other companies including Mastercard have similarly dropped the requirement for customers in North America.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google launches three new apps in mobile photography initiative \n From creating comic strips to selfie photoshoots, Google\u2019s new apps show the capabilities of our smartphone cameras.\n\nGoogle has today (12 December) announced a new initiative called Appsperiments, in an effort to create useful and innovative apps focused on mobile photography.\n\nUnder the Appsperiments umbrella, the company has launched three apps, which are fully functional in their own right but are based on new technology that Google will continue to build out over time.\n\nThree new Google Appsperiments\n\nThe first app is called Storyboard, available only on Android so far. Here, a user shoots a video on their phone and loads it into the app. The Storyboard app then automatically selects the most visually interesting frames, lays them out and applies one of six different visual styles. In a nutshell, the app can create fun comic strips of your mobile videos and, according to Google, there are approximately 1.6trn different possibilities.\n\nSelfissimo is an iOS and Android offering, which is basically an automated selfie photographer that takes a black-and-white image each time you pose. You tap the screen to start the photoshoot and are encouraged to pose, with the app snapping a picture every time you stop moving. After the photo session, you can review the contact sheet and save either single photographs or the entire photoshoot.\n\nThe third in this suite is an app called Scrubbies, which lets you manipulate the speed and direction of video playback to create video loops that highlight actions and facial expressions, and replay particular moments. You shoot a video in the Scrubbies app and then \u2018remix it\u2019 by scratching it like a DJ.\n\nThe Appsperiments were inspired by the success of Google\u2019s existing Motion Stills app, which creates cinemagraphs and time lapses using experimental stabilisation and rendering technologies.\n\nA multitude of technologies at work\n\nThe new apps rely on a vast swathe of technologies, such as object recognition, person segmentation, stylisation algorithms, and efficient image encoding and decoding technologies.\n\nGoogle explained that it wanted to give people a look at what their smartphone camera could be capable of: \u201cEach of the world\u2019s approximately 2bn smartphone owners is carrying a camera capable of capturing photos and video of a tonal richness and quality unimaginable even five years ago. Until recently, those cameras behaved mostly as optical sensors, capturing light and operating on the resulting image\u2019s pixels.\n\n\u201cThe next generation of cameras, however, will have the capability to blend hardware and computer vision algorithms that operate as well on an image\u2019s semantic content, enabling radically new, creative mobile photo and video applications.\u201d\n\nThe apps can be downloaded on Google Play or the App Store, depending on your phone\u2019s capabilities.", "output": "Google has launched a suite of three apps that make the most of features\u00a0on\u00a0smartphone cameras. The Appsperiments\u00a0offering includes\u00a0the Android-only Storyboard, which chooses the most arresting frames from a video;\u00a0Selfissimo, available on iOS and Android, which takes automatic black-and-white images, and; Scrubbies, which creates video loops. Google plans to build out on the Appsperiments technology, which is built on\u00a0a wide range of technologies, including object recognition, person segmentation and image encoding.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pearson launches entirely online Spanish A-level \n An exam board will launch its first \u201cvirtual\u201d language A-level so pupils can earn their qualifications online despite the shortage of teachers of modern foreign languages.\n\nPearson will offer an online Spanish A-level from next September, in which pupils get access to tutors, resources and tests online. There are more languages to follow, Schools Week can exclusively reveal.\n\nOther virtual learning groups have reported a rise in schools signing up their pupils, and one such company has enjoyed a hike of more than 800 per cent.\n\nPupils are entered to improve their grades, if they are struggling with a phobia of school, or to study languages their schools can\u2019t fund, Schools Week has found.\n\nA spokesperson for Pearson said it is offering the Spanish course in the wake of its success in teaching 70,000 pupils via online courses in the USA.\n\nThe A-level will also tackle the \u201csincere challenges some schools are facing in finding MFL teachers\u201d.\n\nSchools can\u2019t financially justify their classes any more\n\nThe government only filled 93 per cent of its places for MFL teacher-training this year, and is expected to need another 3,500 teachers to meet its targets in coming years.\n\nBut Rene Koglbauer, chair of trustees at the Association of Language Learning, said the main issue was not so much shortages of teachers as budget cuts, which mean classes need more pupils to be viable.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s why a lot of schools can\u2019t offer some languages \u2013 they can\u2019t financially justify it any longer,\u201d he said.\n\nPearson will offer its virtual course for \u00a31,000 per pupil per year, and \u00a3900 if five or more students enter from the same school, trust or federation\n\nWey Education, another UK company which delivers online learning, has a network of online \u201cschools\u201d including Interhigh, which offers GCSEs and A-levels in French, Spanish and German.\n\nPupils taking these qualifications increased by 16 per cent this year, said a spokesperson.\n\nMeanwhile, the number of schools and local authorities signing pupils up for online qualifications at Wey has risen by more than 800 per cent \u2013 from five in 2015-16, to 46 this year.\n\nPaula Reynolds, a business development manager at Wey Ecademy, the arm of the company that sells its courses to schools, said school-refusing pupils were a \u201cmassive\u201d factor in the rise.\n\nSchools are using online qualifications as a way of ensuring anxious pupils keep learning at home while they remain on their school roll, she said.\n\nA pupil in this situation gets a timetable of online lessons and must log in to watch and interact with a tutor. They need a headset and microphone to talk, and can type responses too.\n\nWe can\u2019t make a child log in\n\nTeachers in school, meanwhile, have an observer account to check their pupils are doing the lessons.\n\n\u201cWe can\u2019t make a child log in,\u201d said Reynolds.\n\nTo do a language A-level with Wey costs \u00a32,700, while the GCSE is about \u00a31,000.\n\nThe Goethe Institute in London, which promotes cultural exchange with Germany, has twice as many pupils taking its online German GCSE this year than last, because \u201cincreasingly schools don\u2019t offer German anymore\u201d, according to a spokesperson. About 30 pupils are taking the GCSE, and 11 pupils are taking A-level.\n\nKarl Pfeiffer, the institute\u2019s director of educational links, said many schools don\u2019t \u201chave the time for extra tuition\u201d but want to boost a pupil\u2019s grade. In other cases, parents pay the \u00a3360 for the A-level or GCSE.\n\nGeoff Barton, the general secretary for the Association of School and College Leaders, welcomed helping pupils to learn languages, but warned pupils could be disadvantaged by not having face-to-face interactions with a teacher.", "output": "UK educational publisher Pearson is launching an online A-level Spanish course in September, the first of several foreign-language syllabuses it is planning to offer. The move is in response to a lack of funding in schools for foreign language courses, as well as reduced numbers of teachers. The use of online courses is a growing trend in the UK, with companies such as Wey Education, which offers online GCSE and A-level language courses, going from five students in 2015-16 to 46 this year. Pearson's course costs \u00a31,000 a year, with reductions for five or more students\u00a0from the same institution."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Baby wipes form 93% of material blocking UK sewers \n Baby wipes are causing hundreds of thousands of blockages in the UK sewer system and costing the country \u00a3100m every year, according to a new report.\n\nThe study from Water UK, the trade body representing all of the main water and sewerage companies in the country, found that wipes made up about 93% of the material causing the sewer blockages.\n\nWater UK\u2019s director of corporate affairs, Rae Stewart, said the findings proved that sewer blockages that cost \u00a3100m a year are \u201ca problem we can all do something about\u201d.\n\n\n\n\u201cThere are things that water companies can do, such as improve education about what should and shouldn\u2019t be flushed. There are things manufacturers can do, such as make labelling clearer on non-flushable products. And, of course, there are things individuals can do \u2013 which is bin the wipes rather than flush them.\u201d\n\nThe report said there are approximately 300,000 sewer blockages every year, costing the country \u00a3100m \u2013 money which Water UK says could be taken off bills or spent on improving services.\n\nEarlier this year a fatberg weighing the same as 11 double decker buses and stretching the length of two football pitches was found blocking a section of the sewer system in east London.\n\nNatalie Fee, from the plastic pollution campaign group City to Sea which has been running a campaign about not flushing wipes and other single-use plastic down the toilet, said people should rethink their flushing habits and only flush \u201cthe three Ps: pee, paper and poo\u201d.\n\nFee also called on manufacturers to do more to label wipes properly. \u201cMost people still don\u2019t know that baby wipes contain plastic, and they would be a lot less likely to flush them if it was listed as an ingredient on the pack.\u201d", "output": "Approximately 93% of material causing UK sewer blockages, costing approximately \u00a3100m ($134m) each year, is formed of baby wipes, according to a report by trade body Water UK. The research, which revealed that the country experiences an annual 300,000 sewer blockages, led to calls for greater education by water companies and manufacturers as to which items should not be flushed in toilets. A section of east London\u2019s sewer system was blocked earlier this year by a fatberg which was the weight of 11 double-decker buses.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK should increase aid spending on ocean plastic: Gove \n press release, 17. October 2017\n\nRivers carry plastic debris into the sea\n\nUFZ researchers have proven that large river systems are the main culprits for plastic pollution in the oceans\n\nEvery year, millions of tonnes of plastic debris ends up in the sea - a global environmental problem with unforeseeable ecological consequences. The path taken by plastic to reach the sea must be elucidated before it will be possible to reduce the volume of plastic input. To date, there was only little information available on this. It has now been followed up by an interdisciplinary research team who were able to show that plastic debris is primarily carried into the sea by large rivers.\n\nEvery year, millions of tonnes of plastic debris ends up in the sea \u0096 a global environmental problem with ecological consequences.\n\nPhoto: Richard Carey, fotolia Rivers as source for global marine plastic pollution.\n\nPhoto: Susan Walter, UFZ\n\nIn the meantime, minute plastic particles can be found in the water in virtually every sea and river. This constitutes a serious and growing global environmental problem. There are enormous quantities of input each year and plastic weathers only very slowly. Marine life can be harmed by the tiny plastic particles floating in the water. One example of how this happens is when fish, seabirds or marine mammals mistake the particles for food and consume them. \"It is still impossible to foresee the ecological consequences of this. One thing is certain, however: this situation cannot continue,\" says Dr. Christian Schmidt, a hydrogeologist at the UFZ. \"But as it is impossible to clean up the plastic debris that is already in the oceans, we must take precautions and reduce the input of plastic quickly and efficiently.\"\n\nHowever, in order to take practical measures to reduce plastic input, it will be necessary to answer the initial questions: Where does all the plastic come from anyhow? And how does it get into the sea? Schmidt and his team addressed these questions in a study that recently appeared in the current issue of \"Environmental Science & Technology\" journal. For this purpose, the researchers analysed various scientific studies that examined the plastic load - that is the quantity of plastic carried by the water - in rivers. They converted the results of the studies into mutually comparable datasets and determined the ratio of these figures to the quantity of waste that is not disposed of properly in the respective catchment area. \"We were able to demonstrate that there is a definite correlation in this respect,\" says Schmidt. \"The more waste there is in a catchment area that is not disposed of properly, the more plastic ultimately ends up in the river and takes this route to the sea.\" In this context, large rivers obviously play a particularly large role - not only because they also carry a comparatively large volume of waste on account of their larger discharge. Schmidt says, \"the concentrations of plastic, i.e. the quantity of plastic per cubic metre of water are significantly higher in large rivers than small ones. The plastic loads consequently increase at a disproportionately higher rate than the size of the river.\"\n\nThe researchers have also calculated that the ten river systems with the highest plastic loads (eight of them are in Asia and two in Africa) - areas in which hundreds of millions of people live, in some cases - are responsible for around 90 percent of the global riverine* input of plastic into the sea. \"Halving the plastic input from the catchment areas of these rivers would already be a major success\", says Schmidt. \"To achieve this, it will be necessary to improve the waste management and raise public awareness for the issue. We hope that our study will make a contribution to a positive development so that the plastic problem in our oceans can be curbed in the long run.\"\n\nIn future investigations, the UFZ team intends to find out how long plastic debris takes to reach the sea once it gets into a river. Does it take only a few months or even decades? \"It is important to be aware of this as the impact of a measure becomes apparent only with a corresponding time delay as existing pollution has yet to be washed into the sea\", explains Schmidt. \"Only when we are aware of roughly how long plastic debris remains in the respective river system will it also be possible to assess a measure to improve the waste management system in the catchment area.\"\n\nPublication:\n\nSchmidt, C., Krauth, T., Wagner, S. (2017): Export of Plastic Debris by Rivers into the Sea. Environ. Sci. Technol. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.7b02368 http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.7b02368\n\n*added later to avoid misinterpretations\n\nFurther information\n\nDr. Christian Schmidt\n\nUFZ Department of Hydrogeology\n\nPhone: +49 341 235 1986\n\nchristian.schmidt@ufz.de\n\nUFZ press office\n\nSusanne Hufe\n\nPhone: +49 341 235-1630\n\npresse@ufz.de", "output": "More of the UK\u2019s \u00a313bn ($17bn) annual overseas aid budget should be spent on reducing the amount of plastic pollution in the oceans, according to the country\u2019s environment secretary, Michael Gove. The call comes as research from Germany\u2019s Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research revealed that 90% of all plastic waste in the oceans comes from the following 10 rivers: the Niger and Nile in Africa, and the Amur, Ganges, Haihe, Indus, Mekong, Pearl, Yangtze and Yellow in Asia.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK should increase aid spending on ocean plastic: Gove \n The Prime Minister has confirmed the Government will look at using foreign aid cash to help tackle plastic pollution clogging up the world's oceans.\n\nSky News understands Environment Secretary Michael Gove has asked the Department for International Development (DfID) to consider increasing the proportion of the \u00a313bn annual overseas aid budget that is spent combating the problem.\n\n:: Fishing for plastic to build litter-picking boats\n\nSpeaking in Paris after attending a major climate change summit of world leaders, Theresa May acknowledged greater amounts of overseas aid money could be used to save marine life.\n\n\"We've all been very concerned by the pictures we've seen in recent months of the impact of pollution on marine life, the impact of plastic pollution,\" she said.\n\n\"Of course the UK Government has already taken steps in relation to plastic - a charge on carrier bags, a ban on microbeads.\n\n\"But we are looking at what more we can do.\n\n\"That's not just the Environment Secretary but the International Development Secretary.\n\n\"To see how we can use overseas aid money to ensure we're doing what I think everybody wants, which is reducing this terrible pollution that is taking place and affecting marine life so devastatingly.\"\n\nAdvertisement\n\nPlease use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 3:27 Meet the baby turtles threatened by plastic\n\n:: Plastic in sea could be worse than first feared\n\nMeanwhile, a study by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig, Germany, has found 90% of plastic waste entering the oceans comes from just 10 rivers.\n\nTwo of them, the Nile and the Niger, are in Africa, while the other eight are in Asia: the Indus, Ganges, Amur, Mekong, Pearl, Haihe, Yellow and Yangtze.\n\n:: Sky has been running a campaign to make people more aware of the effect plastic has on the world's oceans and to share ways of tackling the problem. To get involved in Sky Ocean Rescue, visit the campaign website here. You can also watch our documentary, A Plastic Voyage.", "output": "More of the UK\u2019s \u00a313bn ($17bn) annual overseas aid budget should be spent on reducing the amount of plastic pollution in the oceans, according to the country\u2019s environment secretary, Michael Gove. The call comes as research from Germany\u2019s Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research revealed that 90% of all plastic waste in the oceans comes from the following 10 rivers: the Niger and Nile in Africa, and the Amur, Ganges, Haihe, Indus, Mekong, Pearl, Yangtze and Yellow in Asia.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK scientists make breakthrough in treating Huntington's disease \n A landmark trial for Huntington\u2019s disease has announced positive results, suggesting that an experimental drug could become the first to slow the progression of the devastating genetic illness.\n\nThe results have been hailed as \u201cenormously significant\u201d because it is the first time any drug has been shown to suppress the effects of the Huntington\u2019s mutation that causes irreversible damage to the brain. Current treatments only help with symptoms, rather than slowing the disease\u2019s progression.\n\nQ&A What is Huntington's disease? Show Huntington\u2019s disease is a congenital degenerative condition caused by a single defective gene. Most patients are diagnosed in middle age, with symptoms including mood swings, irritability and depression. As the disease progresses, more serious symptoms can include involuntary jerky movements, cognitive difficulties and issues with speech and swallowing.\n\nCurrently there is no cure for Huntington's, although drugs exist which help manage some of the symptoms. It is thought that about 12 people in 100,000 are affected by Huntington's, and if a parent carries the faulty gene there is a 50% chance they will pass it on to their offspring. Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.\n\nProf Sarah Tabrizi, director of University College London\u2019s Huntington\u2019s Disease Centre who led the phase 1 trial, said the results were \u201cbeyond what I\u2019d ever hoped ... The results of this trial are of ground-breaking importance for Huntington\u2019s disease patients and families,\u201d she said.\n\nThe results have also caused ripples of excitement across the scientific world because the drug, which is a synthetic strand of DNA, could potentially be adapted to target other incurable brain disorders such as Alzheimer\u2019s and Parkinson\u2019s. The Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche has paid a $45m licence fee to take the drug forward to clinical use.\n\nHuntington\u2019s is an incurable degenerative disease caused by a single gene defect that is passed down through families.\n\nThe first symptoms, which typically appear in middle age, include mood swings, anger and depression. Later patients develop uncontrolled jerky movements, dementia and ultimately paralysis. Some people die within a decade of diagnosis.\n\n\u201cMost of our patients know what\u2019s in their future,\u201d said Ed Wild, a UCL scientist and consultant neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London, who administered the drug in the trial.\n\nThe mutant Huntington\u2019s gene contains instructions for cells to make a toxic protein, called huntingtin. This code is copied by a messenger molecule and dispatched to the cell\u2019s protein-making machinery. The drug, called Ionis-HTTRx, works by intercepting the messenger molecule and destroying it before the harmful protein can be made, effectively silencing the effects of the mutant gene.\n\nTo deliver the drug to the brain, it has to be injected into the fluid around the spine using a four-inch needle.\n\nProf John Hardy, a neuroscientist at UCL who was not involved in the trial, said: \u201cIf I\u2019d have been asked five years ago if this could work, I would have absolutely said no. The fact that it does work is really remarkable.\u201d\n\nThe trial involved 46 men and women with early stage Huntington\u2019s disease in the UK, Germany and Canada. The patients were given four spinal injections one month apart and the drug dose was increased at each session; roughly a quarter of participants had a placebo injection.\n\nAfter being given the drug, the concentration of harmful protein in the spinal cord fluid dropped significantly and in proportion with the strength of the dose. This kind of closely matched relationship normally indicates a drug is having a powerful effect.\n\n\u201cFor the first time a drug has lowered the level of the toxic disease-causing protein in the nervous system, and the drug was safe and well-tolerated,\u201d said Tabrizi. \u201cThis is probably the most significant moment in the history of Huntington\u2019s since the gene [was isolated].\u201d\n\nThe trial was too small, and not long enough, to show whether patients\u2019 clinical symptoms improved, but Roche is now expected to launch a major trial aimed at testing this.\n\nIf the future trial is successful, Tabrizi believes the drug could ultimately be used in people with the Huntington\u2019s gene before they become ill, possibly stopping symptoms ever occurring. \u201cThey may just need a pulse every three to four months,\u201d she said. \u201cOne day we want to prevent the disease.\u201d\n\nThe drug, developed by the California biotech firm Ionis Pharmaceuticals, is a synthetic single strand of DNA customised to latch onto the huntingtin messenger molecule.\n\nThe unexpected success raises the tantalising possibility that a similar approach might work for other degenerative brain disorders. \u201cThe drug\u2019s like Lego,\u201d said Wild. \u201cYou can target [any protein].\u201d\n\nFor instance, a similar synthetic strand of DNA could be made to target the messenger that produces misshapen amyloid or tau proteins in Alzheimer\u2019s.\n\n\u201cHuntington\u2019s alone is exciting enough,\u201d said Hardy, who first proposed that amyloid proteins play a central role in Alzheimer\u2019s. \u201cI don\u2019t want to overstate this too much, but if it works for one, why can\u2019t it work for a lot of them? I am very, very excited.\u201d\n\nProf Giovanna Mallucci, associate director of UK Dementia Research Institute at the University of Cambridge, described the work as a \u201ctremendous step forward\u201d for individuals with Huntington\u2019s disease and their families.\n\n\u201cClearly, there will be much interest into whether it can be applied to the treatment of other neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer\u2019s,\u201d she added. However, she said that in the case of most other disorders the genetic causes are complex and less well understood, making them potentially harder to target.\n\nAbout 10,000 people in the UK have the condition and about 25,000 are at risk. Most people with Huntington\u2019s inherited the gene from a parent, but about one in five patients have no known family history of the disease.\n\nThe full results of the trial are expected to be published in a scientific journal next year.", "output": "Scientists at University College London\u2019s Huntington\u2019s Disease Centre have developed a drug based on synthetic DNA that appears to halt the progression of the incurable degenerative condition Huntington\u2019s disease. The leader of the phase one trial involving 46 early-stage patients, Sarah Tabrizi, said the outcome was \"probably the most significant moment in the history of Huntington\u2019s\" since the genetic disorder's discovery. The drug, Ionis-HTTRx, was developed by California biotech firm Ionis Pharmaceuticals. Swiss company Roche has paid $45m for a licence to develop the drug for clinical use.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Karrot Health offers bonuses for using\u00a0employer\u00a0gym memberships \n Image via shutterstock\n\nIn their efforts to promote health and wellness, many companies cover gym memberships for their employees. But what if they just paid them to work out instead?\n\nThat\u2019s the premise behind Karrot Health, a new Chicago startup targeting the employee wellness market.\n\n\u201cWhen I worked for Uber, they gave me $80 a month for a gym membership, which adds up to almost $1,000 per year,\u201d said founder and CEO Kelley Halpin. \u201cAll they could tell was that, at some point, I signed up for a gym.\u201d\n\nKarrot lets employers set up a recurring \u201cbonus\u201d for employees that is unlocked by hitting certain fitness milestones \u2014 like logging 10,000 calories\u2019 worth of workouts in a single month. Employees track progress using wearable devices or the fitness tracking features built into their smartphones.\n\nTo ensure that employees actually take advantage of the program, Karrot\u2019s iOS app pulls data automatically from HealthKit, Apple\u2019s default fitness feature, allowing users to track workouts without having to remember to activate anything.\n\n\u201cThat the data was collected passively was important to me,\u201d said Halpin. \u201cOnce you set this up, you are good to go. Everything just runs smoothly on its own after that.\u201d\n\nHalpin said Karrot is currently gearing up for beta tests with a handful of early customers. Companies typically offer around $50 per month per employee in incentives, but they\u2019re free to adjust that amount as they see fit.\n\nWhile Karrot\u2019s beta version is centered primarily around payouts for workouts, Halpin said his long-term plan is to build a full-fledged workout app with personalized challenges and social features. He also wants to dig deep into their data to learn how, when and where users are exercising in order to nudge them into exercising at just the right time.\n\nAlthough Karrot is initially launching for iOS and Apple Watch, its goal is to support as many devices as possible, including Android devices and popular fitness trackers like Fitbit. To get there, the startup is recruiting for additional technical talent.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re looking for at least two or three developers to start,\u201d said Halpin. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of work to do.\u201d\n\nFor now, Karrot is primarily working with startups and smaller technology companies, which Halpin said tend to be more open to adopting new technologies \u2014 and have employees who use Apple Watches and other wearable devices. But he\u2019s also in dialog with some larger employers.\n\n\u201cWhen companies reach a certain size, they start to self-insure employees,\u201d he said. \u201cThat makes health insurance costs very important for them.\u201d", "output": "Chicago start-up Karrot Health is aiming to encourage people to use gym memberships handed out by employers with an app offering\u00a0financial bonuses\u00a0for hitting fitness milestones. The company, which is preparing for beta testing, said participants' data is automatically collected from their wearables by its iOS app, while Apple's HealthKit\u00a0monitors\u00a0and tracks their attendance and progress. The company aims to expand the app's availability to Android and other fitness trackers, and also plans to broaden the app to include personalised goals and social features.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Samsung to expand biometrics security with palm-scanning feature \n Going Mystical\n\nSamsung could be looking to branch into palm reading sometime in the near future, but not to gain insight into your love life.\n\nRecent patent filings by the South Korean electronics giant show that the company may be investing in yet another means of biometric scanning. Samsung's palm recognition technology would join other biometrics, such as facial recognition and fingerprint scanning, along with standard passwords, pin numbers, and patterns as a means of securing your device.\n\nImage credit: Samsung\n\nThe patent shows that this functionality is meant to deliver password hints to the user \u2014 it won't unlock the phone directly. The filing includes an image of a user taking a photo of a hand and using the lines in the palm to complete letters on the device's screen.\n\nThese letters are supposed to provide a subtle hint at the password. However, Samsung could theoretically extend the capabilities of this function to allow the palm scans to unlock the device directly.\n\nBiometrics Showdown\n\nSome may question the need for yet another bio-scanning capability. Apple, Samsung's chief competitor in the mobile phone market, has done away with all biometric security features other than facial recognition in their top-of-the-line iPhone X.\n\nThe use of biometrics, in general, is also still fairly controversial. While these features may be more secure and convenient than traditional passwords or pins, they also carry some unique weaknesses. A person's fingerprint can be lifted off another surface and used to hack their phone, or someone could even use a sleeping person's finger to unlock their device.\n\nSamsung's palm recognition feature is just a patent, and it may never actually make it into a device. However, with each new potential security feature, companies need to ensure safety is always the top priority. Convenience cannot trump security in terms of importance for consumers.", "output": "South Korean electronics giant Samsung has filed a patent for palm-print recognition technology as a means of helping users recover forgotten passwords. According to the filing, a photo of the user's\u00a0upturned hand could be examined in order to\u00a0proffer password hints and reminders. The filing\u00a0suggests the technology could also be used to unlock devices. Samsung has developed other means of biometric identification, from fingerprint scanning to facial recognition."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Microsoft to set up $50m 'AI for Earth' project \n There are plenty of stories about artificial intelligence ending the world as we know it (see 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Terminator, certain Elon Musk tweets). There are fewer about how AI could save the world, but believers are out there. At a gathering Monday for the two-year anniversary of the Paris climate accord, Microsoft announced a $50 million investment in its AI for Earth project that it believes can be a \u201cgame-changer for our planet.\u201d\n\nMicrosoft launched AI for Earth over the summer with an initial $2 million, hiring Lucas Joppa to run it as the company\u2019s chief environmental scientist\u2014a role that, as far as Joppa knows, doesn\u2019t exist at any other technology company. Since the launch, the company has given out 35 grants to groups in 10 countries. The new investment will support and expand upon the current projects as well as new ventures over the next five years.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re impatient and a lot of partners are too,\u201d Joppa told MIT Technology Review. \u201cThere isn\u2019t enough money and resources for people doubling down on these issues.\u201d\n\nAI for Earth grants give groups access and training to use the Azure platform and other Microsoft AI products. The projects so far include producing a more precise land cover map of the Chesapeake Bay watershed for conservation work, a mosquito tracking program that lets researchers learn about wildlife populations through blood analysis (it also functions as an early-warning system for Zika outbreaks), and getting farmers more data to increase crop yields with fewer resources.\n\nAI for Earth is, of course, good for Microsoft\u2019s bottom line as well. Joppa said that if the technology works for small, cash-strapped groups often working in tough conditions in the field, Microsoft gets feedback for their products and clients can be assured that the system will work for them.\n\n\u201cAnytime we can stress-test the technology, the better,\u201d he said.\n\nAnd of course, AI talent retention and recruiting is a huge concern for the tech industry. Joppa said that AI for Earth and its mission are a draw for researchers and developers.\n\n\u201cYes, you need to pay them,\u201d he said. \u201cBut you need to give them meaningful things to work on.\u201d", "output": "Microsoft has announced $50m of extra funds for a new Artificial Intelligence project aimed at saving the planet. 'AI for Earth' was initially launched\u00a0this summer with $2m, which has provided the funds for 35 environmental projects around the world. Among\u00a0those it has supported are a mosquito tracking programme and a system for helping farmers maximise crop efficiency and use fewer resources. The new funding will help support these existing projects and new ones, with partners receiving training and access to Microsoft's AI products, including the Azure platform.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FDA to add new pathway to medical device approval process \n The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is planning to add a new voluntary, alternative pathway for medical devices, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, announced Monday.\n\nThe flexible pathway will lean on more modern criteria for a reference standard and allow comparisons to standards that are more closely aligned with the particular technology FDA is being asked to evaluate.\n\nThe new framework will let device manufacturers demonstrate substantial equivalence by meeting objective performance and safety rules. Gottlieb said this will include FDA-recognized standards, guidance documents, or a combination of the two.\n\n[Also: 2017 was a big year for FDA digital health regulations]\n\nFurther, the pathway will be available to pre-specified mature device categories that meet or exceed the safety and performance criteria of existing devices on the market. Gottlieb said the approach will make it easier for the agency to adopt a new product framework that meets international consensus standards.\n\nThe new pathway would be voluntary and manufacturers could opt to continue to use the current 510(K) evaluation pathway.\n\nRegulatory processes for the agency have remained relatively the same since its first implementation about 40 years ago, Gottlieb wrote. The 510(K) pathway for device approval, for instance, requires manufacturers to show a new device is substantially equivalent to similar devices already on the market and it demands comparisons to devices often up to 40 years old.\n\n\u201cFDA recognizes that such direct comparison testing creates burdens for 510(K) applicants, especially when many new devices are designed in novel ways, using more advanced technologies,\u201d Gottlieb wrote. \u201cIt\u2019s sometimes hard to identify sufficient, appropriate predicate devices in order to conduct testing. This can create an obstacle to certain kinds of innovation and lead to inefficiency in the review process with few, if any, benefits to patient safety.\u201d\n\nThe FDA will release its draft guidance on the new 510(K) pathway in the first quarter of 2018.\n\nHealthcare IT year in review This was one of our most popular stories of the year.\n\nTwitter: @JessieFDavis\n\nEmail the writer: jessica.davis@himssmedia.com", "output": "The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is planning to update its almost 40-year-old regulatory processes for approval of medical devices\u00a0by adding a voluntary alternative alongside the existing 510(K) pathway, according to commissioner Scott Gottlieb. He said identifying \"sufficient, appropriate predicate devices\" for testing sometimes stood in the way of innovation, and the new FDA framework would be open to pre-specified mature device categories\u00a0that met or exceeded the criteria applying to\u00a0products already on the market. Draft guidance on the voluntary pathway is set to be released early next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MEP tables amendments to make joint report legally binding \n David Davis calling the phase one Brexit deal a \"statement of intent\" was \"unhelpful and undermines trust\", the European Parliament's chief Brexit coordinator has said.\n\nGuy Verhofstadt has gone as far as proposing amendments to the European Parliament document that approves the deal so that it reflects his displeasure.\n\nHe tweeted two pictures of the amendments.\n\nOne says Mr Davis' comments were a \"risk to undermine the good faith that has been built during the negotiations\".\n\nTwitter Due to your consent preferences, you\u2019re not able to view this. Open Privacy Options\n\nThe other says phase two talks could only happen \"if the UK Government also fully respects the commitments it made\".\n\nMr Davis responded hours later on Twitter saying it was a \"pleasure, as ever\" to talk to Mr Verhofstadt.\n\nHe wrote: \"We both agreed on the importance of the Joint Report. Let's work together to get it converted into legal text as soon as possible.\"\n\nLiberal Democrat MP Tom Brake responded by calling for Mr Davis to \"put a sock in it\".\n\nHe said: \"David Davis has endangered the entire divorce agreement because he couldn't resist playing to the Brexit gallery and because the Cabinet can't even agree among itself what kind of Brexit it wants.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nPlease use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 1:12 Brexit breakthrough: Key details\n\n\"The sheer incompetence and chaos coming from the Government is unprecedented in my lifetime. Every time David Davis speaks, the Brexit divorce grows worse for Britain.\"\n\nThe row broke out after Mr Davis said the deal struck between Downing Street and Brussels last week was not \"legally enforcable\".\n\nIrish government chief whip Joe McHugh quickly shot back that they would \"be holding the United Kingdom to account, as will the EU\".\n\nHe told broadcaster RTE: \"My question to anybody within the British Government would be: why would there be an agreement, a set of principled agreements, in order to get to phase two, if they weren't going to be held up?\n\n\"That just sounds bizarre to me.\n\n\"This, as far as we're concerned, is a binding agreement, an agreement in principle.\"\n\nImage: EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier insisted there is 'no possibility' of a trade deal by 2019\n\nLeaders of the remaining 27 EU member states will meet in Brussels at the end of this week to decide whether to formally sanction the start of Brexit trade talks.\n\nAhead of the summit, European Council president Donald Tusk wrote to heads of government confirming he will recommend a progression to the second phase of negotiations.\n\nBut, in an apparent warning over the chances of agreeing a final Brexit agreement before the UK's departure in March 2019, Mr Tusk wrote: \"The conclusion of the first phase of negotiations is moderate progress, since we only have ten months left to determine the transition period and our future relations with the UK.\n\n\"This will be a furious race against time, where again our unity will be key.\"\n\nMeanwhile, EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier insisted there is \"no possibility\" that Britain and the EU can conclude a free trade deal by the time Britain quits the bloc.\n\nThe European Commission official said only a \"political declaration\" outlining a future EU-UK relationship will be ready by March 2019.", "output": "David Davis, the UK's Brexit Secretary, has angered the EU by saying that the joint report released, indicating the first stages of agreement on Brexit, is not legally binding,\u00a0speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr show.\u00a0In response, Guy Verhofstadt, the Brexit Coordinator for the European Parliament, has submitted amendments to the resolution to hold the UK accountable for agreements made."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Skills shortage sees Microsoft set up internal 'AI university' \n Ryan is a senior editor at TechForge Media with over a decade of experience covering the latest technology and interviewing leading industry figures. He can often be sighted at tech conferences with a strong coffee in one hand and a laptop in the other. If it's geeky, he\u2019s probably into it. Find him on Twitter (@Gadget_Ry) or Mastodon (@gadgetry@techhub.social)\n\nMicrosoft is so concerned about the shortage of AI skills that it\u2019s setting up an \u2018AI university\u2019 to overcome it. Unfortunately, it\u2019s only for Microsoft employees (for now.)\n\nThe internal AI university will train employees on different concepts that are important for the development of AI. Microsoft Research Director Chris Bishop says the program is designed to give practical skills and knowledge to people who are trained elsewhere in the business.\n\nI recently covered Microsoft\u2019s concern about the lack of AI talent on our sister publication, IoT News. The company is not alone, and many have voiced their concerns about private companies stealing talent from academia \u2014 which is in danger of leaving a generation without important skills.\n\nFor its part, Microsoft is taking an ethical approach to recruiting AI talent.\n\nThe company partners with universities to ensure it doesn\u2019t steal talent, allows employees to continue roles in teaching, funds some related PhD scholarships, sends researchers to co-supervise students in universities, and offers paid internships to work alongside teams at Microsoft on projects.\n\nFor those who have AI skills, they are currently reaping the benefits of the shortage. AI talent is so in demand that employers are offering six-figure salaries.\n\nThese large salaries pose another problem as \u2014 while companies like Microsoft, Google, and Apple can afford it \u2014 innovative startups have even less of a chance at competing against these established giants by not being able to offer the same huge paychecks.\n\nNevertheless, Microsoft\u2019s continued approach to recruiting and training its own AI talent is commendable. Hopefully, other companies will follow to ensure the industry can thrive without being hindered by a lack of skills.\n\nWhat are your thoughts on the AI talent shortage? Let us know in the comments.", "output": "Microsoft is setting up an internal university to teach its employees the knowledge and skills to develop artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The move is in response to the current skills shortage in AI, which has raised salaries along with concerns over an academia \u201cbrain drain\u201d and\u00a0competition for top talent. Against this backdrop, Microsoft\u2019s recruitment has adopted a co-working approach, partnering with universities, enabling employees to continue to teach, giving students access to its researchers and funding PhD scholarships and internships.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Skills shortage sees Microsoft set up internal 'AI university' \n Microsoft has set up its own internal \"university\" to train Microsoft staff in the field of artificial intelligence.\n\nThe company is also looking to hire people at machine learning conferences likes NIPS.\n\nChris Bishop, head of the Microsoft Research lab in Cambridge, said he's keen to avoid \"hoovering\" up AI professors from universities.\n\n\n\nMicrosoft has set up an internal \"AI University\" in a bid to help it overcome the skills shortage in the booming field of artificial intelligence (AI).\n\nChris Bishop, the director of a Microsoft Research lab in Cambridge, UK, told Business Insider that the Microsoft AI University is one of several schemes Microsoft has implemented to address the lack of talent in the field of AI, where there's fierce competition between tech firms to hire the best people.\n\n\"We have a thing called AI University, which is an internal education programme so that people who are incredibly smart and capable but trained in a different domain can quickly learn about machine learning both in a foundational sense but also in a practical sense of how to use it,\" said Bishop.\n\nWhen it comes to AI talent, Microsoft is competing with the likes of Amazon and Apple, who also have research offices in Cambridge, as well as DeepMind (owned by Google), Facebook, Twitter, and many others.\n\nChris Bishop is the head of a Microsoft Research lab in Cambridge. Microsoft\n\nThe global battle for talent is raging because of the potential AI breakthroughs that bright minds stand to make in the next few years thanks to recent advances in computation power and the availability of vast data sets.\n\nAI is now at the core of almost all of the big tech companies' major products (think Apple's iPhone, Amazon Echo, Microsoft Surface, etc) and even fairly small advances in areas like speech recognition and image search could have a big impact on profits.\n\nIn a bid to attract the most capable people, the multibillion dollar tech giants are offering annual salaries in the hundreds of thousands of pounds and some people leading AI-focused teams at these companies are earning over \u00a31 million a year, according to multiple sources that Business Insider has spoken to.\n\nHow Microsoft is recruiting AI talent\n\nMicrosoft is also trying to bring people into the company by finding talent at conferences and sponsoring students through university on the condition that they take a job when they've finished studying.\n\nThe Redmond-headquartered company has set up a large stand at an AI conference in LA this week called NIPS (The Conference and Workshop on Neural Information Processing Systems), where Bishop and his team hope to recruit a number of people.\n\nThe computer science department at Cambridge University. Business Insider UK/Sam Shead\n\nUnlike some other companies, Microsoft is keen to avoid hiring all the best AI professors straight out of university, according to Bishop.\n\n\"One of the things we're trying to avoid doing is simply going into a university, hoovering up all the top professors and then just leaving tumbleweed blowing down the corridors,\" he said.\n\n\"That might be a short term fix for some companies but I don't think it serves even the industry itself very well, let alone academia or the nation, to take that rather short term view.\"\n\nDozens of AI researchers have left Oxford and Cambridge over the last few years for what are likely to be better-paid roles at DeepMind, according to LinkedIn.\n\nIrina Higgins, for example, left her role as a machine learning tutor at Oxford in April 2015 before joining DeepMind as a research scientist in June of the same year. Higgins also completed a PhD in computational neuroscience and artificial intelligence at Oxford before leaving to join DeepMind.\n\nSalaries at DeepMind averaged $345,000 (\u00a3258,000) in 2016, according to UK regulatory filings cited by Bloomberg.\n\nBishop, who declined to comment on DeepMind's hiring, said his lab is funding masters degrees and PhDs at the University of Cambridge and other schools in a bid to spot talent early and get it on side.\n\n\"We try to work with them [universities] to fuel that talent pipeline,\" said Bishop. \"So for example we're a major sponsor of a masters programme at Cambridge University.\" Bishop added that Microsoft Research has funded around 200 PhD scholarships at the centuries-old institution.\n\nOther tech firms, including DeepMind, are also funding students through university but perhaps not on the same scale. Researchers from DeepMind are also giving AI and machine learning lectures to students, and some are even acting as PhD supervisors.\n\nStaff from Microsoft Research in Cambridge also helped to develop the UK's new \"computing\" curriculum, which replaced ICT in 2014.", "output": "Microsoft is setting up an internal university to teach its employees the knowledge and skills to develop artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The move is in response to the current skills shortage in AI, which has raised salaries along with concerns over an academia \u201cbrain drain\u201d and competition for top talent. Against this backdrop, Microsoft\u2019s recruitment has adopted a co-working approach, partnering with universities, enabling employees to continue to teach, giving students access to its researchers and funding PhD scholarships and internships."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "South Korea to create military drone swarm unit \n Beijing: South Korea plans to create a combat unit of weaponised drones next year that would be capable of swarming the nuclear-armed North in the event of a conflict.\n\nArmy officials said the drones would primarily focus on reconnaissance operations against strategic North Korean military sites, amid growing tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programme.\n\nNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects an intercontinental ballistic missile test in North Korea. Credit: AP\n\nBut the unit could be mobilised to launch swarm attacks if necessary, with an army official claiming drone combat would be a \"game-changer in warfare\" on the Korean peninsula.\n\n\"The army plans to set up a special organisation to lead the development of dronebots, establish a standard platform and expand the dronebot programme,\" the unnamed official said.", "output": "Army officers in South Korea are working on plans to create an attack unit of weaponised drones for use in the event of conflict with North Korea. The autonomous aerial vehicles would be primarily used to conduct surveillance operations, but would have the ability to 'swarm' into battle if needed. The technology is based on systems created by Israel, though similar systems are in development by a range of other countries, including the US, Russia and China.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AEye develops hybrid sensor that works like the human eye \n Dussan, AEye\u2019s founder and CEO, has worked in electronics and optics labs at Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory; he put a PhD in computational physics on hold to launch the startup. He initially planned to build AI to help vehicles drive themselves, but he soon found that sensors on the market couldn\u2019t provide the data he wanted to use. \u201cWe realized we had to build our own hardware,\u201d he explains. \u201cSo we did.\u201d\n\nMost autonomous cars use lidar sensors, which bounce laser beams off nearby objects, to create accurate 3-D maps of their surroundings. The best versions that are commercially available, made by market leader Velodyne, are mechanical, rapidly sweeping as many as 128 stacked laser beams in a full 360 degrees around a vehicle.\n\nBut even though they\u2019re good, there are a couple of problems with those mechanical devices. First, they\u2019re expensive (see \u201cLidar Just Got Way Better\u2014But It\u2019s Still Too Expensive for Your Car\u201d). Second, they don\u2019t offer much flexibility, because the lasers point out at predetermined angles. That means a car might capture a very detailed view of the sky as it crests a hill, say, or look too far off into the distance during low-speed city driving\u2014and there\u2019s no way to change it.\n\nAEye\n\nThe leading alternative, solid-state lidar, uses electronics to quickly steer a laser beam back and forth to achieve the same effect as mechanical devices. Many companies have seized on the technology because they can be made cheaply. But the resulting sensors, which are on offer for as little as $100, scan a regular, unvarying rectangular grid and don\u2019t offer the standard of data required for driving at highway speeds (see \u201cLow-Quality Lidar Will Keep Self-Driving Cars in the Slow Lane\u201d).\n\nAEye wants to use solid-state devices a little differently, programming them to spit out laser beams in focused areas instead of a regular grid. The firm isn\u2019t revealing detailed specifications on how accurately it can steer the beam yet, but it does say it should be able to see as far as 300 meters with an angular resolution as small as 0.1 degrees. That\u2019s as good as market-leading mechanical devices.\n\nAEye\u2019s setup doesn\u2019t scan a whole scene in such high levels of detail all the time, though: it will scan certain areas at lower resolution, and other areas at higher resolution, depending on the priority of the car's control software.\n\nStill, the fact that it can be reprogrammed at will makes that a useful feature. \u201cYou can trade resolution, scene revisit rate, and range at any point in time,\u201d Dussan says. \u201cThe same sensor can adapt.\u201d On the freeway its view could be focused primarily on the lane ahead, like a human eye, gathering fewer data points in the periphery of the image. On city streets, it could cover the entire field of view equally, but randomly shift where the points are acquired to minimize the chances of missing an obstacle.\n\nThe device can also use data from its camera in some neat ways. First, it can add color to raw lidar images. That\u2019s a bit different from the way most autonomous cars process lidar, sending it to a central computer to be fused with data from other sensors. Such rapid processing is useful for quickly spotting things where color is important\u2014like brake lights.", "output": "San Francisco start-up AEye has developed an adaptive imaging hybrid sensor for self-driving cars. According to CEO Luis Dussan, AEye's combination of a low-light camera, solid-state lidar and embedded artificial-intelligence algorithms can scan areas in low and high resolution, and add colour to pick out important objects. However, the system is restricted to a 70-degree field of vision, making it expensive to ensure 360-degree coverage on a single car. AEye said it is testing the sensors in automated taxis with \"one of the largest vehicle manufacturer OEMs on the planet\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow announces net gain approach to enhance biodiversity \n Join our growing army of changemakers and get unlimited access to our premium content\n\nRedrow has been trialling ways to enhance biodiversity across select developments, with an aim in place to improve the ecological value of an area after project construction has been completed. Following successful trials at Caddington Woods in Bedfordshire and Saxon Brook in Exeter, the housebuilder has agreed to expand the initiative across all new developments.\n\n\u201cAt Redrow we don\u2019t just build homes, we strive to foster thriving communities, and promoting natural habitats and wildlife in an accessible way for residents is an integral part of this,\u201d Redrow\u2019s sustainability manager Nicola Johansen said.\n\n\u201cWe have established important partnerships and initiatives in recent years relating to site ecology and wildlife. In order to entrench the importance of biodiversity across the business we are now taking the step of measuring biodiversity on our developments, to ensure we are having a positive impact and can make improvements where necessary.\u201d\n\nRedrow becomes one of the first UK housebuilders to attempt to achieve a net biodiversity gain across all developments, including homes, amenities and green spaces.\n\nThe company worked with the RSPB at Caddington Woods to transform the former 6,000-space car park to improve surrounding woodland areas. At Saxon Brook, Redrow has partnered with the Bumblebee Conservation Trust to create pollinator-friendly habitats. Redrow is also building 950 homes at Ebbsfleet Garden City, the largest Healthy New Town Programme pilot.\n\nIn 2015, Redrow was the first housebuilder to be awarded WWF\u2019s Three Trees status for sustainable timber use. The housebuilder has been awarded the status again this year, as part of a second assessment period.\n\nNew approaches\n\nThere are ongoing calls for the construction sector to champion approaches to biodiversity and natural capital. The concept of natural capital seeks to integrate ecosystem-oriented management with economic decision-making and development and some think tanks believe that it can be combined with conservation approaches to align business actions and environmental protection.\n\nThere are also specific cases of this type of approach leading to economic benefits. AECOM and National Grid found that an estimated \u00a39,000 of natural capital improvements could be made per hectare on the land they assessed, driving a benefit-to-cost ratio of 8:1 over 30 years.\n\nRedrow\u2019s announcement arrives at an interesting time for UK housebuilders. Last week, NextGeneration, which benchmarks the sustainability performance of the UK\u2019s largest homebuilders, awarded Lendlease the top spot in its sustainability index. Redrow was ranked third in the report.\n\nAt a national level, the Clean Growth Strategy confirmed that all fuel-poor homes will be upgraded to EPC band C by 2030, while a sector deal with the construction industry following the new Industrial Strategy saw the industry pledge to halve emissions in the built environment by 2025.\n\nMatt Mace", "output": "Housing developer Redrow has announced a new initiative to enhance biodiversity and improve the ecological value of its sites. The new \"net gain\" approach has been trialled at developments in Exeter and Bedfordshire, and will now be rolled out to all new projects. It means the company will aim to achieve a net biodiversity gain across all its developments, making it the first housebuilder in the UK to do so. Projects completed so far include the conversion of a 6,000-space car park into woodland at one site, and the creation of pollinator-friendly habitats at another.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "People warned not to put homes at risk to buy into bitcoin mania \n UBS Wealth Management is not a believer in bitcoin becoming a legitimate currency even as the launch of futures lead some investors to believe the cryptocurrency will become a more stable market.\n\n\"The bubble to end all bubbles continues. Cryptocurrencies only have value if accepted as currencies. However, they cannot be used for the most important transaction in an economy, and cryptocurrency supply can only rise and never fall (making them a poor store of value),\" global chief economist Paul Donovan wrote in a post Monday. \"To date, using cryptocurrencies requires (effectively) a simultaneous asset sale and purchase of goods or services.\"\n\nThe economist said in an October report that bitcoin's extreme price volatility detracted from its ability to be a \"store of value,\" which is an essential feature of being a currency.\n\n\"A twenty-fold increase in bitcoin prices in just two years, and an absence of any fundamental economic backing, cryptocurrency prices are almost certainly a bubble,\" he wrote in that report.", "output": "People are taking out mortgages and using credit cards to buy bitcoin, according to Joseph Borg, a\u00a0securities regulator. He\u00a0warned\u00a0people buying into bitcoin\u00a0\"you're\u00a0on this mania curve. At some point there's got to be a levelling off.\u00a0This is not something a guy who's making $100,000 a year, who's got a mortgage and two kids in college ought to be invested in.\"\u00a0The chief economist of\u00a0UBS Wealth Management, Paul Donovan, is also sceptical of\u00a0bitcoin as a currency despite the launch of futures, saying,\u00a0\"the bubble to end all bubbles continues\".\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "People warned not to put homes at risk to buy into bitcoin mania \n Bitcoin is in the \"mania\" phase, with some people even borrowing money to get in on the action, securities regulator Joseph Borg told CNBC on Monday.\n\n\"We've seen mortgages being taken out to buy bitcoin. \u2026 People do credit cards, equity lines,\" said Borg, president of the North American Securities Administrators Association, a voluntary organization devoted to investor protection. Borg is also director of the Alabama Securities Commission.\n\n\"This is not something a guy who's making $100,000 a year, who's got a mortgage and two kids in college ought to be invested in.\"\n\nBitcoin has been soaring all year, starting out at $1,000 and rocketing above $19,000 on the Coinbase exchange last week. The price on Coinbase, which accounts for a third of bitcoin trading value, is often at a premium over other exchanges.\n\nThe cryptocurrency was trading at just under $16,700 on Coinbase at 2:21 p.m. New York time Monday.\n\n\"You're on this mania curve. At some point in time there's got to be a leveling off. Cryptocurrency is here to stay. Blockchain is here to stay. Whether it is bitcoin or not, I don't know,\" Borg said in an interview with \"Power Lunch.\"\n\nHe also doesn't think futures contracts legitimize the digital currency.\n\nBitcoin futures , trading under the XBT ticker symbol, debuted on the Cboe futures exchange on Sunday night. The CME plans to launch its bitcoin futures Dec. 18.\n\nWhile futures contracts are regulated, bitcoin itself is not. Borg said that's because innovation and technology always outrun regulation.\n\n\"As [technology] continues to accelerate and continues to increase, regulators have got to understand what it is that the innovation's coming up with and we're still trying to get educated,\" he said.\n\n\"We're looking at it from a money transmission point of view but that doesn't cover the entire bitcoin space.\"\n\nDisclaimer", "output": "People are taking out mortgages and using credit cards to buy bitcoin, according to Joseph Borg, a\u00a0securities regulator. He\u00a0warned\u00a0people buying into bitcoin\u00a0\"you're\u00a0on this mania curve. At some point there's got to be a levelling off.\u00a0This is not something a guy who's making $100,000 a year, who's got a mortgage and two kids in college ought to be invested in.\"\u00a0The chief economist of\u00a0UBS Wealth Management, Paul Donovan, is also sceptical of\u00a0bitcoin as a currency despite the launch of futures, saying,\u00a0\"the bubble to end all bubbles continues\".\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "PolicyCastle ties up with Cocoon\u00a0home security to\u00a0offer\u00a0discount \n PolicyCastle now offers a market-leading 15% home insurance discount to Cocoon home security customers who use the AI-powered smart home security device to protect their home\n\nCocoon, the Aviva-backed smart home security system, has announced a deal with PolicyCastle, the innovative digital home insurance platform, giving people buying home insurance through PolicyCastle a 15% discount when protecting their home with the connected security system.\n\nCocoon\u2019s partnership with PolicyCastle bolsters people\u2019s security across the UK with this new market-leading home insurance deal, providing home protection in the lead up to Christmas when potential intruders take advantage of the dark nights and high-value presents.\n\nPolicyCastle\u2019s transparent online service helps UK customers make informed choices when buying home insurance, and perfectly aligns with Cocoon\u2019s mission to help people feel safe at home. UK homeowners can now benefit from the home insurance offer when buying a policy with PolicyCastle for properties protected by a Cocoon smart home security system.\n\nSanjay Parekh, Cocoon CEO said: \u201cWe\u2019re delighted to partner with PolicyCastle, the innovative digital home insurance platform, giving UK homeowners using Cocoon to protect their homes and loved ones a genuinely\n\nmarket-leading discount on their home insurance policy. The connected home has gone through a technological evolution, having mostly failed to deliver much real-world benefits to customers, but just as smart thermostats have saved customers hard-earned cash, Cocoon partnering with PolicyCastle gives UK homeowners security and real year-on-year cost savings at a time when household incomes are being squeezed. We call that a win for the customer.\n\nWe see innovation, whether through technology or commercial partnerships, as the most effective way to improve the lives of our customers. Working together with PolicyCastle and other innovative insurance partners is just one way to kickstart change in the home insurance industry and force larger, established brands to improve their offerings to UK customers. The cost of protecting the home and loved ones is priceless, and here at Cocoon we truly believe that our smart security system will be at the centre of that change\u201d.\n\nEdmund Dilger, PolicyCastle CEO said: \u201cWe are excited to partner with Cocoon to offer a home insurance discount to their customers. Smart home devices have the opportunity to revolutionise the way we maintain and protect our homes and we are delighted to support customers who are using them. PolicyCastle is creating the first database relating different smart home devices, perils and claims, and will work with insurers to provide tailored home insurance policies for customers based on the data. We are delighted to work with Cocoon and other smart home technology businesses as we innovate on behalf of customers.\u201d\n\nCocoon is changing the way we all secure our homes, with a unique AI-powered all-in-one home security system that uses sound-detection to protect more of the home than any other security device. Simple to setup and use, keeping people connected to their home via an app, Cocoon\u2019s Subsound\u00ae technology, offers multi-room protection through infrasound motion detection. A hassle-free way to protect what you care about most.", "output": "UK online home insurance provider PolicyCastle is offering a discount to customers who make use of the monitoring system developed by smart home security firm Cocoon. Policyholders receive a 15% discount when purchasing policies through the online platform while also making use of Cocoon's home security system. Cocoon is backed by UK insurer Aviva.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vietnam hit by rare billion-dollar economic catastrophe losses \n Typhoon Damrey made landfall in Vietnam during November as a Category 2 strength storm, bringing estimated economic damages of VND22.1 trillion (US$1.0 billion) \u2013 a rare billion-dollar event for the country, according to Impact Forecasting, Aon Benfield\u2019s catastrophe model development team.\n\nThis year marks the first time since 1993 in which Vietnam has had a season with a Category 2 storm (Damrey) and Category 3 storm (Doksuri) making landfall, said Impact Forecasting\u2019s November 2017 Global Catastrophe Recap.\n\nDamrey killed at least 108 people, injured 364, while 12 people were listed as missing as a result of the storm, which destroyed more than 3,560 homes and caused damage to an estimated 300,000 additional homes, said the report.\n\n\u201cThe month of November featured an active stretch throughout parts of Asia. Vietnam endured its second significant typhoon landfall of 2017 after Typhoon Damrey left an estimated US$1.0 billion in economic damage, primarily due to flooding,\u201d said Adam Podlaha, global head of Impact Forecasting. [Editor\u2019s note: economic damage is uninsured damage].\n\n\u201cAdditional floods were noted elsewhere in Asia with the return of the annual northeast monsoon, with particular impacts in sections of Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia and Thailand,\u201d he added. \u201cDespite the expensive nature of these events, insurance penetration remains low in this part of the world and signifies the continued financial vulnerabilities of an at-risk population to natural disasters.\u201d\n\nFurther natural hazard events to have occurred elsewhere during November include:\n\nA major magnitude-7.3 earthquake struck northeastern Iraq, killing at least 543 people and injuring almost 10,000 others. At least 40,000 structures collapsed, primarily in rural areas with poor construction. Damage in Iran alone was estimated at up to IRR26 trillion (US$740 million). Local insurers cited that roughly 3 percent of residents in the affected region have insurance.\n\nSouth Korea endured its joint strongest earthquake on record when a moderate magnitude-5.4 tremor struck Gyeongsangbuk-do province on November 15, injuring at least 57 people. The tremor caused damage to more than 1,000 homes and infrastructure.\n\nSeparate tremors also struck Tibet and China, causing damage to a combined 12,000 structures.\n\nPowerful thunderstorms left widespread damage across parts of the United States in the Midwest and Northeast. The greatest impacts resulted from tornado touchdowns, hail larger than the size of baseballs, and damaging straight-line winds. Some of the hardest-hit areas came in the states of Missouri, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Total economic losses were estimated around US$275 million. Public and private insurers cited payouts nearing US$200 million.\n\nA strong storm system in the Mediterranean Sea led to outbreaks of powerful thunderstorms in parts of Greece, Turkey and Italy. At least 17 fatalities were reported, along with considerable damage to homes, businesses and vehicles. The deadliest episode occurred in western Attika region of central Greece.\n\nSeasonal flooding associated with the northeast monsoon led to flood damage in at least nine provinces in southern Thailand. At least five people were killed and 161,266 homes were inundated.\n\nFlooding rains from Cyclone Cempaka killed 11 people in Indonesia.\n\nAdditional flooding in November was recorded in Sri Lanka, Norway and India.\n\nMount Agung began erupting on Indonesia\u2019s Bali Island, leading to the cancellation of hundreds of flights and prompting massive evacuations due to plumes of ash.\n\nSource: Aon Benfield/Impact Forecasting\n\nTopics Catastrophe USA Profit Loss Flood Aon", "output": "Major storms over Vietnam caused an unprecedented VND22.1tn\u00a0($1bn) of damage to the economy last month, according to\u00a0insurer\u00a0Aon Benfield. Much of the costs will be absorbed by the country as \"insurance penetration\u00a0remains low in this part of the world\",\u00a0warned\u00a0Adam Podlaha, global head of Impact Forecasting. The catastrophe losses illustrate the financial vulnerabilities of \"an at-risk population\", he added.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ageing insurance agents main factor in protection gap: Swiss Re \n Despite steady growth in annual underwritten premiums, the number of issued life insurance policies continues to decline across the industry hinting at a protection gap, according to Chris Behling, head of strategic partnerships and alliances at Swiss Re.\n\nThat void is currently at $20 trillion, Behling told a room of carriers, venture capitalists and insurtech startups at American Family Ventures\u2019 InsurTech NYC event, organized in partnership with Montoux.\n\nWhile acknowledging the existence of external factors as contributors to consumer underinsured levels, Behling believes a big factor within the industry is the average agent of insurance agents, currently at 59 and a half. Most are not selling online, he says, and still rely heavily on in-person pitches and paper work.\n\n\u201cNo one wants to have an agent show up at their door or have to get in a car and drive to an office,\u201d Behling says.\n\nAlso see: How Swiss Re tackles underinsurance with analytics\n\nSwiss Re looks at life insurance innovation in three segments: Engage, transact and retain. This isn\u2019t necessarily accomplished by going direct to consumer, according to the insurer. As it stands, only two percent of the life insurance market follows this model.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve heard lots of pitches on how to do it, but no ideas on how to engage,\u201d Behling added, noting that the real answer to carriers\u2019 troubles does not lie in a fancy new website, but in the value customers receive in exchange for data.\n\nAt Swiss Re, that benefit can be found in policyholders learning their mortality age compared to actual age through gamification. Developing products that grow with the customer from early days when a child\u2019s college tuition is a concern up until retirement is yet another value proposition.\n\n\u201cThink of the data you will give someone if you get something else in return,\u201d Behling concluded. \u201cHow do we take information and give customers back real value?\u201d", "output": "A decline in issued life insurance policies has suggested a coverage gap is emerging that could be worth as much as $20tn, according to Chris Behling, the head of strategic partnerships and alliances at Swiss Re. He pointed out that the average age of a life insurance agent is 59 and most agents don't serve clients online, relying instead on face-to-face interactions backed up by paperwork. Behling added that for businesses to move to digital distribution they need to do more than simply refresh their websites. Clients should feel they receive value back through exchanging data with insurers, he noted.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk Openreach drones help bring broadband to Welsh village \n Thursday, Nov 30th, 2017 (9:00 am) - Score 6,117\n\nSometimes getting fibre optic cable from one point to another over difficult terrain (rivers, unstable rocks etc.) can be tricky, which is partly why Openreach (BT) has today become one of the first in the world to use an aerial drone to help deploy the cable for a new FTTP network in the village of Pontfadog.\n\nThe development itself shouldn\u2019t come as much of a surprise, not least because Openreach has previously hinted about their plans to test such an approach and BT\u2019s mobile sibling (EE) also appears to have gained plenty of experience in the field by using similar technology to deploy 4G mobile connectivity (details). Nevertheless using a drone to carry optical fibre cables is a very different challenge.\n\nIn this example the target for Openreach\u2019s first public test was the small rural village of Pontfadog in the rugged Ceiriog Valley (Wrexham, North Wales), which until recently would have struggled to get much more than a handful of Megabits (ADSL MAX) out of the local Glyn Ceiriog exchange.\n\nThe good news is that a new 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based \u201cultrafast broadband\u201d network has now been rolled out to almost the whole village on the valley floor. Sadly around 20 premises sat further up one side of the valley (described locally as the \u201cdark side\u201d of the village), which made them tricky to reach.\n\nIn other words, digging trenches and erecting roadside cabinets wasn\u2019t an option. Wireless and Satellite solutions were also been ruled out, although it\u2019s unclear why (Openreach don\u2019t appear to build those, so that may be the main reason).\n\nAt least they were tricky, until a group of Openreach\u2019s engineers used a portable drone to land cabling on the isolated group of homes.\n\nThe deployment itself took place as part of the state aid support Superfast Cymru programme, which aims to make \u201cfibre broadband\u201d (FTTC/P) services available to around 95% of Wales (currently around 92% of premises can already order \u201csuperfast\u201d speeds of 24Mbps+). Many of those that are left to finish off under the current contract will use FTTP instead of slower hybrid fibre FTTC (VDSL2) connections.\n\nWe should point out that the Welsh Government are currently consulting on a plan to extend this roll-out so that \u201cfast reliable broadband\u201d (defined as 30Mbps+) can reach \u201cevery property\u201d in Wales by 2020 (here).\n\nAndy Whale, Openreach\u2019s Chief Engineer, said: \u201cIt\u2019s a bit different to connecting an apartment block in London, that\u2019s for sure. We managed to connect up virtually the whole village in the valley floor, but getting to this group of 20 houses up one side of the valley was a bit trickier. There\u2019s a particularly steep drop-off from these houses back down the valley, and it\u2019s covered in dense trees and scrubland. We also had the river running along the bottom to contend with, so dragging a cable and digging it in wasn\u2019t really an option. If we tried running the cable through woods it was also very likely we\u2019d get it caught up in branches and other natural obstructions, so we figured the best option was to fly it in over the top of the tree canopy and then lift it up to make sure it was clear of the tree line. Had we tried to lay the cable using standard methods, even if it were possible, this process would have taken days, but in the event it took us less than an hour. We\u2019re constantly trialing new techniques and technologies to help us take fibre broadband further and faster, and importantly to drive delivery costs down. All this means we can now deliver high-speed broadband in situations where traditionally it\u2019s been impossible for any business or partnership to justify the work.\u201d\n\nAt this point any buddying drone enthusiast will point out that the kit being used by Openreach is too small to lift all that cable over any kind of distance and you\u2019d be right. Instead the drone was hooked up to a length of high strength fishing line, which was then flown around 100 meters and dropped across the top of the trees. That line was attached to a draw-rope \u2013 itself attached to a fibre cable \u2013 and the cable was then pulled over.\n\nOpenreach said they were \u201cnot aware of this technique being used anywhere in the world to deliver fixed line broadband in such a situation,\u201d although the basic idea of using drones to carry new cabling is not a new one (e.g. they\u2019ve already been used to help connect cables for new bridges).\n\n\n\nThe operator is now likely to conduct further trials and after that they will considers \u201cplans to equip and train selected engineers to pilot drones in engineering teams across the UK.\u201d\n\nUPDATE 11:04am\n\nFor any drone enthusiasts out there, Openreach are using the DJI Mavic Pro (costs around \u00a3800-\u00a31000). The flyer weighs 750g and has a flight time of 27 minutes per battery, with a max payload of 1.5lbs, plus collision avoidance sensors to help dodge the heads of local engineering teams and a 4K stabilised motorised camera.\n\nOpenreach also used a custom 3D printed release mechanism for the cable.", "output": "Telecoms company Openreach has become the first in the world to use an aerial drone to help lay high-speed FTTP broadband\u00a0cables.\u00a0The drones helped carry\u00a0the fibre-optic line\u00a0to remote homes\u00a0in Pontfadog, Wales,\u00a0as part of the Superfast Cymru programme, a state-supported project designed to increase high-speed broadband availability\u00a0to 95% of the country.\u00a0The Welsh government is consulting on a plan to roll out connectivity to all homes by 2020.\u00a0BT subsidiary EE has used\u00a0drones to deliver 4G in rural areas.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US authorities will not prosecute HSBC following lengthy saga \n HSBC has avoided the threat of prosecution in the US over allegations that its lax controls allowed Mexican drug traffickers to launder cash through the bank.\n\nThe risk of a prosecution has been hanging over Britain\u2019s biggest bank for the past five years after it was forced to pay $1.9bn (\u00a31.4bn) to the US authorities to settle claims it allowed \u201cnarcotics traffickers and others to launder hundreds of millions of dollars through HSBC subsidiaries and to facilitate hundreds of millions more in transactions with sanctioned countries\u201d.\n\nFive years to the day that the settlement was announced, HSBC said the US Department of Justice would file a motion in the district court in the eastern district of New York to dismiss the deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) that had been imposed on the bank at the time.\n\nThe bank said it had \u201clived up to all of its commitments\u201dunder the DPA and was pleased that the DoJ had recognised its progress in strengthening its compliance with anti-money laundering rules and sanctions rules.\n\nThe lifting of the DPA is a relief for the bank, its former chairman Douglas Flint and its outgoing chief executive, Stuart Gulliver. Under Gulliver HSBC has spent $1bn on efforts to clean up its business and bolster its compliance operations. Its shares rose almost 2% to 746p on Monday.\n\nUnder the DPA, the DoJ installed a monitor, American lawyer Michael Cherkasky, in the bank\u2019s operations and he will remain in place until July 2018, exactly five years after he began his oversight of the bank\u2019s operations.\n\nAt the same time the UK\u2019s Financial Conduct Authority appointed Cherkasky in a similar role on its behalf and HSBC said he would \u201ccontinue in that capacity for a period of time at the FCA\u2019s discretion\u201d.\n\nWhen the DPA was announced, the US had described it as \u201csword of Damocles\u201d hanging over HSBC. According to a report by the US Congress, the bank avoided criminal charges at the time because the then chancellor, George Osborne, had warned it could lead to a financial disaster if the bank lost its licence to operate in the US.\n\nGulliver \u2013 who is leaving HSBC in February after nearly four decades \u2013 said the bank was now able to combat financial crime more effectively than five years ago.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe are committed to doing our part to protect the integrity of the global financial system, and further improvements to our own capability and contributions toward the partnerships we have established with governments in this area will remain a top priority for the Bank into 2018 and beyond,\u201d said Gulliver, who is being replaced by insider John Flint.\n\nThe monitor\u2019s role has been mentioned in HSBC\u2019s annual reports \u2013 which spell out any risks facing the bank \u2013 and in February it admitted he had raised concerns that had sparked an FCA investigation into to potential breaches of money laundering rules.\n\nIn recent months, the Guardian reported that the monitor had also been informed about alleged ties between the wealthy Gupta family and the South African president, Jacob Zuma. Concerns were raised by former Labour cabinet minister Peter Hain, and HSBC said it had closed bank accounts held by \u201cfront companies\u201d associated with the Guptas.\n\nHSBC was subject to further scrutiny of its activities after the Guardian and other publications revealed in 2015 that the bank\u2019s Swiss operations had helped wealthy customers dodge taxes and conceal millions of dollars of assets. This followed the leak of documents of 30,000 accounts that covering the period 2005-07.\n\nRival bank Standard Chartered was subject to a DPA at the same time as HSBC and last month admitted it was being extended for a second time to July 2018.\n\n\n\nIan Gordon, an analyst at financial firm Investec, said: \u201cIt is clearly a relief that the DPA has not been extended in contrast to Standard Chartered. It will also potentially lead to an annual monitor-related cost saving of \u00a3200m but not yet as the D0J monitor remains in place until July 2018 \u2026 and this could be extended by the FCA.\u201d", "output": "Shares in HSBC, the UK's biggest bank, rose by almost 2% after the US Department of Justice said it would file papers to dismiss a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) that had been suspended for five years. The DPA was imposed following allegations that HSBC's lax controls had allowed money laundering to take place. As part of the DPA, US lawyer Michael Cherkasky monitored HSBC's activities, and will continue to do so until July 2018, while outgoing CEO Stuart Gulliver said the progress made at the bank meant it could combat fraud more effectively than five years ago.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Flo Technologies raises $11.5m, looks to reduce home water damage \n Flo Technologies has unveiled Flo, an intelligent home water monitoring and conservation system that promises to help reduce water damage insurance claims. The startup has raised a total of $11.5 million from investors led by Crosslink Capital with participation from Anthemis Group and an affiliate of insurer USAA.\n\nThe Flo product is a water monitoring and shut-off system that senses water pressure, flow rate and temperature and uses artificial intelligence to learn homeowners\u2019 water usage patterns. Flo proactively detects vulnerabilities or the tiniest leaks in a home and automatically shuts off the water supply in response to a pipe burst or other catastrophic event.\n\nThe product is the brainchild of Henry Halimi, a mechanical engineer with 25 years of experience who developed his invention over the last 10 years.\n\nAccording to ISO/Verisk about one in 50 insured homes has a property damage claim caused by water damage or freezing each year. These claims cost insurers about $9 billion a year. The average water damage claim costs about $8,860.\n\nHow Flo Works\n\nFlo is a Wi-Fi connected device that is installed on the main water supply line to the home and includes as an app that provides control over a range of conservation and security settings. Its makers say Flo is sensitive enough to detect \u201cmicro-leaks as small as a single drop of water a minute, and intelligently learns a home\u2019s water usage pattern,\u201d which helps avoid catastrophic failures.\n\nFlo is a system-wide service than can detect both visible leaks (such as running toilets that could waste over 3,000 gallons of water a day) and invisible leaks (like drips behind walls or under floors).\n\nFlo does not detect water coming in from outside the home as in the case of leak in a roof.\n\nIts temperature sensors provide early warnings when pipes are about to freeze.\n\nUsing the app, users can control how the system will alert them and respond to potential issues.\n\nFlo, which will sell at retail for $699 starting in the first quarter of 2018, is being made available at a discounted rate of $399 for those willing to participate in an early adopter program and allow their experience to help the company refine its product.\n\nRelated:\n\nTopics InsurTech", "output": "Home monitoring system Flo Technologies has raised $11.5m in a financing round including from an affiliate of insurer USAA. The firm has introduced a home water monitoring system called Flo which can track water pressure and temperature along with water usage patterns. Flo aims to proactively detect faults in a home's water supply and can shut it off in the event of a significant vulnerability. The system will retail at $699, but is available for $399 if customers sign up for an early-adopter programme. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Financial crisis starting in China twice as likely: Deutsche Bank \n Deutsche Bank argues that China is almost twice as likely as any other major economy to experience a financial crisis in the coming years.\n\nThe bank points to the country's notoriously high levels of debt as the reason for this.\n\nChief economist for Asia Pacific Michael Spencer does note however, that the risks are low compared to \"some countries prior to the peripheral European debt crisis or the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s.\"\n\n\n\nLONDON \u2013 The probability of a financial crisis starting in China is almost twice as high as in any other major global economy, according to new research from analysts at Deutsche Bank.\n\nWriting in a note titled \"How much risk in China?\" \u2014 Deutsche Bank's chief economist for the Asia Pacific region, Dr Michael Spencer, warned that the probability of a crisis in the world's second largest economy was as much as 13%.\n\nThat, Spencer said, is \"nearly twice the probability of a crisis in the next riskiest country and nearly three times the probability of a crisis in any random country at any random point in time.\"\n\nLike the majority of discussions around a potential financial crisis in China, Deutsche Bank's concerns centre around the huge levels of indebtedness in the country, which have soared in conjunction with the rapid expansion of the Chinese economy in the last few decades.\n\n\"Since 2008, the level of debt owed by Chinese non-financial corporations, households and governments has risen by more than 100% of GDP. As the debt burden has grown, so has concern about financial stability,\" Spencer wrote.\n\n\"The stock of debt owed by all non-financial borrowers rose by 36% of GDP in 2009 alone. An easy monetary policy stance since 2013 has seen indebtedness rise steadily, with total nonfinancial sector borrowing reaching 255% of GDP at the end of last year. And with each step higher in the credit/GDP ratio, investor concerns have risen,\" he continued.\n\nNow, China may be the major economy at the greatest threat of a financial crisis, but Spencer noted that the likelihood of a crisis \"is well below the probabilities calculated for some countries prior to the peripheral European debt crisis or the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s.\"\n\nDeutsche Bank\n\nThat's largely down to the significant current account surplus China's government continues to run, which provides a large amount of protection against any crisis.\n\n\"The current account surplus does, according to our estimates, play an important role in reducing the risk of a crisis in China,\" Spencer wrote.\n\n\"Had the current account been a deficit of 2% of GDP last year rather than a surplus of nearly 2%, the probability of a crisis would have been 7% higher.\"\n\nWhile he is relatively sanguine about China, Spencer's warnings do echo the thoughts of the International Monetary Fund, which has warned on numerous occassions about the threats China's ballooning debt poses not only to its own economy, but also the global financial system.\n\nLast week, for example, an IMF report warned of the global financial stability risks created by the situation in China right now.\n\nThe report, released after the fund's annual fact-finding mission to the world's second largest economy, noted that while China's political classes have taken steps to try and prevent debt levels getting out of control and improve overall financial stability in recent years, more still must be done.\n\n\"The system\u2019s increasing complexity has sown financial stability risks,\" the IMF\u2019s assessment said.\n\n\"Credit growth has outpaced GDP growth, leading to a large credit overhang. The credit-to-GDP ratio is now about 25% above the long-term trend, very high by international standards and consistent with a high probability of financial distress.", "output": "A significant financial crisis beginning in China is almost twice as likely to happen than in any other major global economy, say analysts at Deutsche Bank. The banks chief economist Dr Michael Spencer adds that the probability is as much as 13%, due to concerns over China's huge debt levels which have surged, and coincided\u00a0with the rapid expansion of the country's economy:\u00a0\"Since 2008, the level of debt owed by Chinese non-financial corporations, households and governments has risen by more than 100% of GDP. As the debt burden has grown, so has concern about financial stability,\" says\u00a0Spencer.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK inflation rises to 3.1% as wage growth remains muted \n 2. Things you need to know about this release\n\nThe Bank of England were granted exceptional pre-release access to an estimate of the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) at 9.00am on Monday, 11 December 2017 so that the data were available for the Monetary Policy Committee meeting held on that day. Correspondence with the Bank of England is available.\n\nOn Tuesday, 19 December we will be publishing our first set of preliminary estimates of the Household Costs Indices (HCIs). The HCIs are a set of experimental measures, currently in development, that aim to reflect UK households\u2019 experience of changing prices and costs. Estimates will be produced for retired and non-retired households, low- and high-income households, and households with and without children.\n\nThe National Statistics status of the Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers\u2019 housing costs (CPIH) was reinstated on 31 July 2017. A letter from the Director General for Regulation to the National Statistician detailed the actions that were taken to meet the requirements as set out in the CPIH assessment report.\n\nWe have illustrated our future approach to measuring changing prices and costs faced by consumers and households using three \u201cuse cases\u201d, along with how they relate to the measures that we currently publish and those that are under development. Specifically, they refer to the CPIH as our lead measure of inflation based on economic principles; the Household Costs Indices (HCIs, currently under development with preliminary estimates published for the first time on 19 December) as a set of measures to reflect the change in costs as experienced by households; and the Retail Prices Index (RPI) as a legacy measure that is required to meet existing user needs.\n\nConsumer price inflation is the rate at which the prices of goods and services bought by households rise or fall. It is estimated by using price indices. One way to understand this is to think of a shopping basket containing all the goods and services bought by households. Movements in price indices represent the changing cost of this basket. Consumer price indices \u2013 a brief guide gives an overview of the indices and their uses.\n\nThe most common approach to measuring inflation is the 12-month inflation rate, which compares prices for the latest month with the same month a year ago. In any given month, the 12-month rate is determined by the balance between upward and downward price movements of the range of goods and services included in the index.\n\nThis release also examines how the various types of goods and services contribute to the change in the 12-month inflation rate between the latest two months. The size and direction of these contributions depends on how prices changed between both the latest two months this year and the same two months last year. For example, the price of a product could make an upward contribution to the change in the rate even if it fell, provided that it fell by less than it did between the same two months a year ago. Explaining the contribution to change in the 12-month rate (2013) covers this concept in more detail.\n\nThe CPIH is the most comprehensive measure of inflation. It extends the CPI to include a measure of the costs associated with owning, maintaining and living in one\u2019s own home, known as owner occupiers\u2019 housing costs (OOH), along with Council Tax. Both of these are significant expenses for many households and are not included in the CPI.\n\nAside from including OOH and Council Tax, CPIH is otherwise identical to CPI. This means that, aside from these two components, the factors contributing to the CPI rate are the same as those contributing to the CPIH. For example, if food is reported as increasing the CPIH rate, it is also acting to increase the CPI rate. The size of the contributions for components other than OOH and Council Tax are exaggerated in the CPI compared with the CPIH because they account for a larger proportion of the overall index.\n\nThe CPI is produced at the same level of detail as CPIH, in the accompanying dataset and time series dataset.\n\nThe Retail Prices Index (RPI) does not meet the required standard for designation as National Statistics. In recognition that it continues to be widely used in contracts, we continue to publish the RPI, its sub-components and RPIX. To view the all-items RPI and 12-month inflation rate and an at-a-glance comparison with other measures, please see the time series section of the inflation and price indices area of our website. The accompanying dataset and time series dataset provide more detailed information.\n\nThe figures in this publication use data collected on or around 14 November 2017.", "output": "UK inflation measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rose to an almost six-year high of 3.1% in November, up from 3% in October, the Office for National Statistics said. The Bank of England Governor\u00a0is obliged to write a letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer explaining any rise above 3% and outlining how it plans to return the rate to 2%.\u00a0The most recent data shows that average weekly\u00a0wages are growing at just 2.2%. Richard Lim, chief executive at Retail Economics said the rise in inflation had come \"at precisely the wrong time for retailers\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese tourists spend record $7.75bn in Australia \n Source: Xinhua| 2017-12-12 15:28:02|Editor: Yurou\n\nVideo Player Close\n\nCANBERRA, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Spending by Chinese tourists in Australia has hit an all-time high, a major tourism study said on Tuesday.\n\nThe International Visitor Survey (IVS) revealed that Chinese tourists spent 7.75 billion U.S. dollars in Australia in the 12 months to the end of September 2017.\n\nChina was the second biggest source of international visitors to Australia with 1.33 million people, trailing only New Zealand with 1.35 million.\n\nIn total, more than eight million tourists visited Australia in the 12-month period, staying a total of 268 million nights in the country and spending a record 31 billion U.S. dollars.\n\nSteve Ciobo, Australia's Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, said that much of the growth in Australia's tourism sector was being driven by visitors from Asia, including China, India and other countries and regions.\n\n\"The Turnbull Coalition Government is working to maximise the potential of China -- Australia's fastest growing and most valuable inbound tourism market -- to create new Australian jobs,\" Ciobo said.\n\nChinese and Australian officials announced that 2017 is the China-Australia Year of Tourism. An open capacity aviation agreement between Australia and China and significant visa reform have contributed to the 13 percent growth in spend by Chinese visitors. Eight new aviation routes between the two countries are expected to be opened within the next 12 months.\n\n\"Another market that has seen consistent growth is the United States, with visitors and spending both growing by 40 percent over the last three years,\" Ciobo said.\n\n\"Youth travellers to Australia are also growing strongly with a 10 percent increase in spend in the year ending September 2017,\" he added.\n\nNew South Wales benefited most from international tourism with 7.85 billion U.S. dollars spent in the state, a 12 percent increase on the previous year.", "output": "Spending by Chinese visitors in Australia reached a record $7.75bn in the 12 months to the end of September, according to the latest International Visitor Survey by Tourism Research Australia. China was the second-largest source of overseas visitors to Australia at 1.33 million, behind New Zealand's 1.35 million. Australia's Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Steve Ciobo said growth in Australian tourism was being driven by visitors from Asian countries."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Meat giant Tyson beefs up stake in vegan burger maker Beyond Meat \n America\u2019s biggest meat producer, Tyson Foods, increased its stake in Beyond Meat, a maker of plant-based protein food products, during the startups most recent round of fundraising, the Springdale, AR company announced in a Dec. 7 press release.\n\n\u201cGlobal demand for all protein remains high and we\u2019re passionate about meeting that demand sustainably,\u201d Justin Whitmore, executive vice president of corporate strategy and chief sustainability officer at Tyson, said in a statement. \u201cOur investment in Beyond Meat provides another fantastic alternative for consumers as we strive to sustainably feed the world.\u201d\n\nIn October 2016, Tyson acquired a 5% stake in Beyond Meat, pledging to assist the plant-based protein maker in expanding its product offerings and distribution, Powder & Bulk Solids reported. Charles \u201cChuck\u201d J. Muth, a former Coca-Cola executive was appointed as the new Chief Growth Officer of Beyond Meat in May 2017.\n\nTyson\u2019s most recent investment \u201cslightly increases\u201d its stake beyond the initial 5%, the release said. Beyond Meat\u2019s latest round of investments will be used to boost production, support the firm\u2019s R&D efforts, and further sales and distribution. The faux meat maker raised $55 million in this latest round, the Wall Street Journal\u2019s coverage said.\n\n\u201cThis investment reinforces our focus on protein and enables us to support Beyond Meat\u2019s efforts to produce new, leading edge products. What we\u2019re most excited about is that we can do all of this while continuing to provide the great tasting, high quality food that is the hallmark of our company,\u201d said Whitmore.\n\nFor more news headlines, articles, and equipment reviews, visit our Equipment Zones", "output": "Vegan food start-up Beyond Meat raised $55m in its latest funding round, as America's largest meat producer Tyson Food increased its stake in the company. \"Our investment in Beyond Meat provides another fantastic alternative for consumers as we strive to sustainably feed the world,\" said Tyson's Justin Whitmore. Beyond Meat has formed partnerships with major grocers including Safeway, Kroger and Sysco over the past year and from January TGI Fridays will serve its meatless burgers. As we highlighted this week, the Farm Animal Investment Risk and Return Initiative believes meat will be taxed within the decade."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bitcoin ban in China sees local crypto surge\u00a080-fold in 40 days \n China\u2019s cryptocurrency enthusiasts have been left out of bitcoin\u2019s historic rally in recent months, thanks to the Chinese government banning initial coin offerings in September and then shutting down all major domestic exchanges. But it didn\u2019t take long for them to find something new to pour their money into.\n\nThat turned out to be OneCoin, designed by Chinese tech company Xunlei. Since its launch in mid-October, OneCoin\u2019s value has jumped dramatically in secondary markets\u2014at one point more than 80-fold, according to numerous reports (link in Chinese). That\u2019s despite OneCoin not being available for trade in any major marketplace. Its crazy ride has helped Xunlei become the best-performing stock on Nasdaq for most of the past two months.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nXunlei\u2019s share price plunged in recent days after OneCoin drew public scrutiny. That came after a disenchanted business partner accused OneCoin of being an initial coin offering\u2014a hard-to-regulate way to raise funds based on an offering of cryptocurrency rather than shares.\n\nWill Beijing eventually intervene to ban OneCoin? How long can the OneCoin frenzy last? These are among the key questions now being pondered by cryptocurrency fans and speculative investors alike.\n\nWhat the heck is OneCoin?\n\nLet\u2019s first talk about Xunlei for a bit. Founded in 2003, the Shenzhen-based company started out as a torrent downloader, a sort of Chinese answer to Pirate Bay. Later Xunlei transformed itself into a video-streaming platform with mostly licensed content, even as peer-to-peer downloading remained a key offering. In 2014, Xunlei went public on Nasdaq, after a first attempt failed due partly to concerns over the pirated materials on its platforms. In late August, the company announced that it would become a blockchain company\u2014a big shift in its business strategy. It also released a blockchain-based hardware product called OneCloud.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIn essence, OneCloud is a network-attached storage device that lets multiple users share online storage remotely. On top of that, it\u2019s a \u201cmining machine\u201d that allows users to share their idle bandwidth with Xunlei\u2019s content delivery networks (CDNs)\u2014and earn some OneCoin as a reward.\n\nOneCoin, also known as Wankebi, can then be used to purchase value-added services provided by Xunlei\u2014for example, extra storage on its cloud service, or faster download speeds for its torrent downloader software.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nOneCoin is designed in a similar way to bitcoin. Currently, there are over 1.6 million OneCoin up for grabs every 24 hours. The reward will cut in half annually, and OneCoin\u2019s total number will be capped at around 1.5 billion.\n\nXunlei hasn\u2019t published the code for OneCoin, whereas major cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum are open-sourced. The company runs a wallet app for OneCoin that supports peer-to-peer transactions but not centralized exchange services. As shown by the app\u2019s installation files, OneCoin runs on a private blockchain based on the ethereum network, according to Xiao Lei, a Beijing-based bitcoin analyst.\n\nXunlei didn\u2019t reply to a request for comment for this story.\n\nWhat\u2019s the hype about OneCoin?\n\nXunlei has said that OneCoin miners should be focused on the idea of shared computing rather than making money on speculation. But apparently people are flocking to OneCoin for the wrong reason, as far as its creator is concerned.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAccording to a report from the Beijing News (link in Chinese), by the end of last month OneCoin traded at around 8 yuan ($1.21) in numerous chat groups on QQ, a popular social network. That means it had increased in value more than 80-fold in 40 days since its launch. What\u2019s more, the OneCloud device\u2014that storage-cum-mining tool\u2014was reportedly being sold online for around 2,000 yuan by enterprising types, more than five times its original price tag. Meanwhile over 24 million people have pre-ordered the device on the website of Xunlei, which has struggled to meet demand.\n\nThe rally of both Xunlei\u2019s shares and OneCoin\u2019s price halted at the end of last month, after Xunlei fell into a dispute with a partner called Shenzhen Xunlei Big Data Information Services Company, which runs online services selling wealth-management products. Xunlei had originally given Big Data the right to use Xunlei branding (unrelated to OneCoin) for its data and financial services, but it later retracted that, saying the arrangement wasn\u2019t fair. In retaliation, Big Data accused Xunlei of conducting an illegal ICO through the OneCoin project\u2014an allegation Xunlei denied. Later, the two sides issued a joint statement saying they had settled their \u201cmisunderstanding\u201d and reached new partnership deals, without offering more details.\n\nDuring the dispute, state broadcaster CCTV aired a short segment (link in Chinese) endorsing the technology innovation behind OneCoin. State-backed financial experts interviewed by the program dismissed the idea that OneCoin is an ICO, noting Xunlei didn\u2019t raise a penny through the project.\n\nSo will OneCoin be banned?\n\nOneCoin seems to be on path to having a legal status similar to that of bitcoin in China. Bitcoin itself is legal in the country, but trading it is largely restricted.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nOver the weekend, Xunlei announced that (link in Chinese) it has renamed OneCoin \u201cLianke\u201d and the OneCoin wallet app to \u201cLianke Pocket.\u201d The company now requires all users of the new wallet app to register with their real names by Dec. 14; otherwise, they\u2019ll be unable to use the app\u2019s transaction function. Last but not least, Xunlei said it would work with authorities to crack down on illegal trading platforms for Lianke.\n\nIn the wake of Xunlei\u2019s announcement, OneCoin\u2019s price plummeted in intraday trading to 4.3 yuan today (Dec. 11) on buywkb.com, a small cryptocurrency trading venue based in Hong Kong.\n\nXiao, the bitcoin analyst, said OneCoin has put Xunlei in a \u201cvery awkward position.\u201d For one thing, he explained, OneCoin\u2019s limited supply makes it highly speculative by nature, whether Xunlei likes it or not. Although Xunlei didn\u2019t raise money through OneCoin, he noted, if OneCoin trading becomes popular on third-party exchanges, then the company essentially launched a securitized asset without government approval. \u201cIt\u2019s playing around in the gray area,\u201d he said.", "output": "With China left out of the bitcoin surge due to Beijing's ban in September on initial coin offerings, its cryptocurrency enthusiasts have turned to OneCoin, designed by Chinese tech firm Xunlei. Its value surged more than 80-fold within 40 days of launch despite not being traded on any major exchange, according to reports. OneCoin has been the best-performing stock on Nasdaq over much of the past eight weeks. It remains to be seen how long the cryptocurrency's\u00a0rally lasts and whether the Chinese government will ban it."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EU commits $10bn to fighting climate change at Paris summit \n The European commission has announced funding of \u20ac9bn (\u00a38bn) for action on climate change, one of a flurry of measures from governments, businesses and investors aimed at achieving the goals of the 2015 Paris agreement.\n\nThe EU funds will form part of the bloc\u2019s External Investment Plan, and will be focused on sustainable cities, clean energy and sustainable agriculture. The announcement was made at the One Planet Summit in Paris on Tuesday, held to mark the second anniversary of the landmark 2015 pact.\n\nFrench president Emmanuel Macron hailed the progress made at the event and said it was possible to create alternatives to the fossil-fuel driven economy, but that more effort was needed globally.\n\nMiguel Arias Ca\u00f1ete, commissioner for climate action and energy for the EU, said the Paris agreement was already resulting in more investment flowing to moves to combat global warming. He said: \u201cThese kinds of investments are of critical importance if we are to move from aspirations to action. The EU\u2019s plan will scale up much-needed investments across Africa and the EU neighbourhood region.\u201d\n\nHe said new jobs would be created, and the knock-on effects would include poverty reduction, improved health and better access to technology in poorer regions.\n\nNeven Mimica, commissioner for international cooperation and development, added that the aims included supporting the digitalisation of small and medium-sized companies, essential for sustainable development and reducing poverty.\n\nThe EU and its member states are the world\u2019s biggest providers of climate finance, with a total of more than \u20ac20bn provided to developing countries last year.\n\nOther measures unveiled at the conference included large companies, such as the French insurer Axa and the ING bank, partially divesting from fossil fuels, and local governments from across the world signing up to improved goals on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.\n\nTheresa May, the UK prime minister, said developed countries had a responsibility to help the world\u2019s poor adapt to the expected ravages of climate change, and pledged \u00a3140m to poor countries to help them do so.\n\nHowever, the Liberal Democrats attacked her participation, arguing that the government had failed to put the UK on track to achieve its goals on emissions reduction, for instance by withdrawing support for clean energy and selling off the Green Investment Bank, a move which was criticised by the government watchdog. Lynne Featherstone, the Lib Dem spokeswoman on energy and climate, said: \u201cI don\u2019t know how Theresa May has the front to show her face [at the international conference]. Her record on the environment is a disgrace \u2013 she has failed to take the ambitious steps needed to decarbonise our economy and protect our planet.\u201d\n\nThe World Bank vowed to phase out most of its finance for oil and gas by 2019, and publish more data on the impacts of its investments on climate change. The group, which has been criticised by environmental campaigners for failing to take action on its fossil fuel investments in the past, also formed a partnership with the Global Covenant of Mayors aimed at providing $4.5bn for cities to adapt to the effects of climate change.\n\nBill Gates, one of the world\u2019s richest men, also joined the pledges, vowing that his philanthropic foundation would devote $300m (\u00a3225m) to helping the world\u2019s poorest farmers adapt to the effects of climate change.\n\nThe Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will spend the sum over the next three years, providing smallholders in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia with the means to protect their farms from the droughts, heatwaves and floods that are expected to be the result of a changing climate. The money will be spent through governments and direct grants.\n\nNick Austin, director of agricultural development at the foundation, told the Guardian he expected poor farmers to bear the brunt of climatic changes, at a time when the world\u2019s burgeoning population is putting ever greater pressure on food supplies.\n\nAdaptation to the effects of climate change, also termed resilience, has become a greater focus for environmentalists as scientists have warned that some changes to the climate are becoming inevitable, even if the world succeeds in limiting global temperature rises to 2C.\n\nAustin said: \u201cWe recognise that adaptation has been a vastly under-invested opportunity . [There is] an upside in economic opportunities for resilience to climate change. Agriculture will benefit, but there is still a long way to go.\u201d\n\nIn a separate move, Microsoft will spend $50m on artificial intelligence technology aimed at protecting the planet against climate change, the company said on Tuesday.\n\n\n\nBrad Smith, president of Microsoft, told the Guardian the investment would spur technological change that would help deliver clean energy and cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions.\n\nHe gave the example of using artificial intelligence to create \u201csmart\u201d buildings, that would use less energy by responding to and anticipating their occupants\u2019 behaviour. It could also be used in agriculture to increase crop yields in the face of the effects of global warming, which is expected to cause droughts, floods and heatwaves across the globe.\n\nHowever, not everyone was impressed by the deals emerging from the One Planet summit. Brandon Wu, director of policy and at ActionAid USA, said the poor were still being short-changed by rich countries.\n\n\u201cDespite the hype, the One Planet summit delivering little for the world\u2019s people who are most vulnerable to climate change,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople in poor countries already living with increasingly severe hurricanes, floods and other disasters made worse by the climate crisis, need commitments for real money from rich countries.\u201d", "output": "The European commission has pledged \u20ac9bn ($10.6bn) to counter climate change as part of the European Union\u2019s External Investment Plan. The commitment was announced on Tuesday at the One Planet Summit in Paris, which marked the second anniversary of the 2015 Paris Climate Accord. The funds will primarily be directed towards clean energy, and sustainable agriculture and cities. At the conference several companies, including French insurer Axa and Dutch bank\u00a0ING, announced partial\u00a0divestments\u00a0from fossil fuels. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation also pledged $300m to help poor farmers adapt to climate change.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "World Bank to stop financing oil and gas after 2019 \n The World Bank will end its financial support for oil and gas extraction within the next two years in response to the growing threat posed by climate change.\n\nIn a statement that delighted campaigners opposed to fossil fuels, the Bank used a conference in Paris to announce that it \u201cwill no longer finance upstream oil and gas\u201d after 2019.\n\nThe Bank ceased lending for coal-fired power stations in 2010 but has been under pressure from lobby groups also to halt the $1bn (\u00a3750m) a year it has been lending for oil and gas in developing countries.\n\nThe Bank said it saw the need to change the way it was operating in a \u201crapidly changing world\u201d, adding that it was on course to have 28% of its lending going to climate action by 2020. At present, 1-2% of the Bank\u2019s $280bn portfolio is accounted for by oil and gas projects.\n\nIn exceptional circumstances, the Bank said it would consider lending for oil and gas projects in the very poorest countries but only where it helped the poor get access to energy and the project did not conflict with commitments to reduce greenhouse gases made in the 2015 Paris climate change accord.\n\nThe announcement was made at the One Planet Summit, convened by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, the World Bank president, Yim Yong Kim, and the UN secretary general, Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, to mark the two-year anniversary of the agreement.\n\nThe Greenpeace International climate campaigner Gyorgy Dallos said: \u201cThe end is clearly coming for the oil and gas industry as the pace of change accelerates.\u201d\n\nDallos said the Bank had sent a damning vote of no confidence in the future of the fossil fuel industry. \u201cThe world\u2019s financial institutions now need to take note and decide whether their financing is going to be part of the problem or the solution,\u201d he said.\n\nStephen Kretzmann, an executive director of the Washington-based advocacy group Oil Change International, said: \u201cIt is hard to overstate the significance of this historic announcement by the World Bank.\n\n\u201cEnvironmental, human rights, and development campaigners have been amplifying the voices of frontline communities for decades in calling for an end to World Bank financing of upstream oil and gas projects. [Now] the World Bank has raised the bar for climate leadership by recognising the simple yet inconvenient truth that achieving the Paris agreement\u2019s climate goals requires an end to the expansion of the fossil fuel industry. It is time for all of the institutions, countries, investors and individuals who are still in the Paris agreement to stop funding fossils \u2013 once and for all.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe World Bank announcement came as the Bank of England\u2019s governor revealed that there was growing global support for a new initiative designed to help pave the way for a low-carbon economy by persuading companies to come clean about their exposure to climate change risks.\n\n\n\nFrom left: Michael Bloomberg, Mark Carney and Axa chief executive Thomas Buberl at the One Planet Summit. Photograph: Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images\n\nSpeaking at the Paris summit, Carney said 237 companies with a combined market capitalisation of $6.3tn (\u00a34.7tn) were now backing the scheme.\n\n\n\nBritain\u2019s six leading banks \u2013 Lloyds, Barclays, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander and Standard Chartered \u2013 have all supported the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, set up by Carney in his role as chairman of the Financial Stability Board, an international body charged with preventing a repeat of the 2008 banking crisis.\n\nUnder the plan, companies pledge to use their financial reports to disclose their direct and indirect exposure to global warming under a range of different scenarios. Banks are obliged to say how much they have lent to companies with climate-related risks.\n\n\n\nCarney said 20 of the 30 globally systemically important banks and eight out of 10 of the largest asset managers and leading insurance companies were committed to informing investors. Leading construction, consumer goods, transport, mining and energy companies have also signed up.\n\n\u201cMarkets need the right information to seize the opportunities and mitigate the risks that are being created by the transition to a low-carbon economy,\u201d Carney said. \u201cThis solution, of the market and for the market, is truly entering the mainstream.\u201d\n\nUK sources said that London was becoming a hub for climate change-related finance, with green bonds issued in more than 40 different currencies, including the Indian rupee and the Chinese yuan.\n\n\n\n\n\nMichael Bloomberg, the chair of the taskforce, said: \u201cClimate change poses both economic risks and opportunities. But right now, companies don\u2019t have the data they need to accurately measure the risks and evaluate the opportunities.\u201d\n\nThe article was amended on Thursday 14 December to better reflect the World\u2019s Bank\u2019s decision to end financial support for both exploration and extraction.", "output": "The World Bank will stop providing financial support for oil and gas exploration within two years. The bank made the statement at the One Planet Summit in Paris, which marked the second anniversary of the Paris Climate Accord. The bank, which stopped lending for coal-fired power plants in 2010, currently lends $1bn per year for oil and gas in the developing world. At the summit, Bank of England governor Mark Carney announced that 237 companies with a joint market capitalisation of $6.3tn were now supporting the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Forests may not grow back after wildfires, according to US study \n Bigger, hotter wildfires are ravaging forests and burning them to the ground more frequently as the climate gets hotter and drier. Now a new study shows that in some places in the U.S., those forests may never grow back.\n\nThat adds to evidence that amid climate change, some forest landscapes \u2014 including those in Canada \u2014 can change dramatically after being burned.\n\nThe new U.S. study looked at 1,500 forest sites affected by 52 wildfires in five states in the U.S. Rockies between 1985 and 2015. It found overall decreases in the amount of tree regrowth since 2000 compared to before 2000 due to warmer, drier conditions.\n\nAfter 2000, no seedlings were growing back at about one third of sites, compared to 15 per cent of sites that burned before 2000, said Camille Stevens-Rumann, lead author of the study published today in the journal Ecology Letters.\n\nThe forest failed to regrow following the Buffalo Creek fire of 1996. Researchers say that some areas have grown warmer and drier over the past 30 years and may no longer have suitable conditions for the growth of some tree species. (Monica Rother)\n\nThat complete lack of regrowth happened most frequently at lower-elevation sites that have become measurably warmer and drier in the past 30 years, said Stevens-Rumann, an assistant professor in the Department of Forest and Rangeland Stewardship at Colorado State University. Those areas may no longer have suitable conditions for the growth of tree species that were there before and may become other types of ecosystems, such as grasslands.\n\nSped-up climate effects\n\n\"We often think about climate change as something that we're going to feel the effects of in the future. The truth is wildfires are facilitating those changes happening sooner,\" Stevens-Rumann told CBC News. \"And I think that was a really big surprise to all of us to see it even over just a 30 year period.\"\n\nAnd it's not just a matter of giving those forests a little more time to grow back. Stevens-Rumann said most seedlings sprout in the first three years after a fire, and that the number there after that time is a strong predictor of how dense the regrown forest will be.\n\nFew surviving trees remain in the changed landscape located in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness Area in Idaho after a forest fire in 2007. No seedlings were growing back at all at a third of sites that burned since 2000. (Camille Stevens-Rumann)\n\nShe said the findings of the study \u2014 funded by the U.S. government \u2014 suggest that, going forward, replacement trees may need to be planted at higher elevations than before. And at lower elevations? \"We need to just start accepting that they're not going to become forests again, unfortunately,\" said Stevens-Rumann.\n\nThe permanent loss of forests after a fire could have many effects on local ecosystems.\n\nIn addition, large patches where the trees don't grow back could pose a greater hazard if another fire erupts, said Stevens-Rumann. That's because the dead, fallen trees provide ample fuel for fires that are harder to control in an open landscape.\n\nCarbon release\n\nThis lack of regrowth may also reduce the amount carbon taken up by trees and increase the amount released into the atmosphere: \"That's a big shift in carbon and carbon storage, definitely.\"\n\nWhat is happening in the U.S. Rockies won't necessarily happen everywhere. In southern California, where huge flames from several wildfires continue to tear across the landscape after destroying more than 680 homes and forcing thousands of people to flee, huge, intense fires have been frequent for thousands of years, Stevens-Rumann said.\n\n\"They resprout very quickly after a fire and will likely continue to do so even with these large fire events.\"\n\nCalFire works in Ventura County as efforts continue against the Thomas Fire in Ojai, Calif., Dec. 9, 2017. In southern California, intense fires have been frequent for thousands of years, and vegetation tends to grow back quickly. (John Cetrino/EPA-EFE)\n\nIn Canada, researchers say some forests here could also fail to grow back after fires in drier areas.\n\nThey have also seen some changes in the way the northern boreal forests of Canada and Alaska respond to fires as the climate changes.\n\nAccording to Natural Resources Canada, climate change during this century is expected to result in more frequent fires in many boreal forests, potentially doubling the amount of area burned by 2100 compared to recent decades.\n\nAnd the fires are also expected to get larger and more intense, says University of Guelph researcher Merritt Turetsky, who holds a Canada Research Chair in Integrative Ecology.\n\nTuretsky has studied boreal forest sites in Alaska burned by a huge fire in 2004, and said about five per cent of those have no regrowth.\n\n\"It looks like a different planet,\" she told CBC News.\n\nSmoke and flames from the wildfires erupt behind a car on the highway near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, May 7, 2016. According to Natural Resources Canada, climate change could potentially double the amount of northern boreal forest burned by 2100 compared to recent decades. (Mark Blinch/Reuters)\n\nThe fire was so intense in some places that it burned up all organic matter needed to help the soil retain nutrients and moisture required for trees to grow.\n\nThat could happen more in the future as the peat covering much of the north \u2014 including the floor of the boreal forest \u2014 dries out more and burns more frequently, making fires more intense.\n\nAspen win\n\nEllen Whitman, a PhD candidate at the University of Alberta and the Canadian Forest Service, is studying the regrowth of boreal forest after fires in Wood Buffalo National Park in the Northwest Territories.\n\nIn most cases, the forests are growing back as they were before, she said.\n\nBut in some cases, the dominant black spruce and white spruce are being replaced by deciduous trees such as aspen. That's especially the case for forests that burned less than 80 years ago, where trees haven't yet had time to develop fire-resistant seed cones. Spruce trees are also outcompeted in drier areas, suggesting climate may also play a role, Whitman said.\n\nAspen trees show their bright yellow fall colours near Nederland, Colo., Sept. 22. Under some conditions, aspen are outcompeting spruce and dominating after wildfires in Canada's northern boreal forest, researchers say. (Rick Wilking/Reuters)\n\n\"Those forests that were there previously were in part the product of the previous climate,\" she added, \"so when we do see these shifts, it's quite likely that it's due to [climate change].\"\n\nThe shift from a coniferous to a deciduous forests could have wide ranging effects on northern ecosystems, including wildlife. For example, it may benefit moose and deer that do well in deciduous forests and could have a negative impact on woodland caribou in some places, as they're thought to prefer older conifer forests.\n\nInterestingly, Whitman said, the shift could also make forests more fire resistant, as deciduous trees don't burn as easily as spruce.", "output": "Some US and Canadian forests may never grow back after wildfires, due to the increasing heat and dryness of the general climate, according to research by US scientists. The study examined the impact of 52 wildfires on 1,500 sites in five states in the Rockies, between 1985 and 2015. Findings showed that seedlings were not regrowing at approximately one third of these sites after 2000, up from 15% prior to that date. Permanent forest loss could raise the risk of further fires\u00a0and\u00a0increase the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wells Fargo sued for $50m by Navajo Nation \n The Navajo Nation has sued Wells Fargo, saying its citizens were targeted by workers trying to meet the bank\u2019s aggressive sales quotas.\n\nThe lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court in Albuquerque, alleges many of the same practices that led to last year\u2019s $185-million settlement between Wells Fargo and regulators, including the creation of unauthorized banking accounts, credit cards and other products.\n\nBut the lawsuit also goes further, alleging that the San Francisco bank targeted particularly vulnerable members of the Navajo Nation, including minors, the elderly and those who do not speak English. It also alleges that Wells Fargo lied to the tribe when, in a letter sent early this year, it said no tribal members were harmed by the bank\u2019s sales practices.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cThis shows a specific targeting of an ethnic community in the United States and, within that, subgroups of vulnerable Navajos,\u201d said John Hueston, a Los Angeles attorney representing the tribe. \u201cIt\u2019s a level of exploitation of a vulnerable community that has not surfaced in other cases to date.\u201d\n\nThe nation is seeking damages, fines and penalties of more than $50 million, Hueston said.\n\nWells Fargo spokesman Jim Seitz said in a statement that the bank could not comment on ongoing litigation, but he reiterated steps the bank has taken to compensate consumers and change practices in the wake of last year\u2019s accounts scandal.\n\n\u201cOver the past year we have taken significant steps to make things right for our customers, including members of the Navajo Nation, who may have been affected by unacceptable retail sales practices,\u201d he said.\n\nThe bank has eliminated the sales goals that, along with pressure from managers and lax oversight from top executives, were blamed for pushing workers to open sham accounts and credit cards for customers. It has also agreed to pay $142 million in a class-action settlement that will be open to all customers who had unauthorized accounts opened in their names since 2002.\n\nWells Fargo is the only major bank that has locations within the Navajo Nation, Hueston said.\n\nA former Wells Fargo worker in Arizona said in a sworn statement \u2014 part of another lawsuit filed this year \u2014 that workers pushed credit cards and bank accounts on Native Americans seeking to cash tribal checks.\n\njames.koren@latimes.com\n\nFollow me: @jrkoren", "output": "Wells Fargo has been sued for over $50m in the US by the Navajo Nation, which alleges that bank employees targeted its citizens in order to fulfil sales targets. The lawsuit, filed in Albuquerque on Tuesday, cites many practices, such as the opening of unauthorized accounts, that led to last year\u2019s $185m settlement by the bank with US regulators. The case also claims that Wells Fargo targeted vulnerable Navajo citizens, including the elderly, minors and those who did not speak English, and lied to the tribe when it claimed no members had been harmed by its practices.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Arctic sea ice melting fastest for 1,500 years \n Permafrost in the Arctic is thawing faster than ever, according to a new US government report that also found Arctic seawater is warming and sea ice is melting at the fastest pace in 1,500 years.\n\nThe annual report released on Tuesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed slightly less warming in many measurements than a record hot 2016. But scientists remain concerned because the far northern region is warming twice as fast as the rest of the globe and has reached a level of warming that\u2019s unprecedented in modern times.\n\nThe Arctic has traditionally been the refrigerator to the planet, but the door of the refrigerator has been left open Jeremy Mathis\n\n\u201c2017 continued to show us we are on this deepening trend where the Arctic is a very different place than it was even a decade ago,\u201d said Jeremy Mathis, head of NOAA\u2019s Arctic research program and co-author of the 93-page report.\n\nFindings were discussed at the American Geophysical Union meeting in New Orleans.\n\n\u201cWhat happens in the Arctic doesn\u2019t stay in the Arctic; it affects the rest of the planet,\u201d said acting NOAA chief Timothy Gallaudet. \u201cThe Arctic has huge influence on the world at large.\u201d\n\nPermafrost records show the frozen ground that many buildings, roads and pipelines are built on reached record warm temperatures last year nearing and sometimes exceeding the thawing point. That could make them vulnerable when the ground melts and shifts, the report said. Unlike other readings, permafrost data tend to lag a year.\n\nPreliminary reports from the US and Canada in 2017 showed permafrost temperatures are \u201cagain the warmest for all sites\u201d measured in North America, said study co-author Vladimir Romanovsky, a professor at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks.\n\nArctic sea ice usually shrinks in September and this year it was only the eighth lowest on record for the melting season. But scientists said they were most concerned about what happens in the winter \u2013 especially March \u2013 when sea ice is supposed to be building to its highest levels.\n\nArctic winter sea ice maximum levels in 2017 were the smallest they\u2019ve ever been for the season when ice normally grows. It was the third straight year of record low winter sea ice recovery. Records go back to 1979.\n\nAbout 79% of the Arctic sea ice is thin and only a year old. In 1985, 45% of the sea ice in the Arctic was thick, older ice, said NOAA Arctic scientist Emily Osborne.\n\nNew research looking into the Arctic\u2019s past using ice cores, fossils, corals and shells as stand-ins for temperature measurements show that Arctic ocean temperatures are rising and sea ice levels are falling at rates not seen in the 1,500 years. And those dramatic changes coincide with the large increase in carbon dioxide levels in the air, the report said.\n\nThis isn\u2019t just a concern for the few people who live north of the Arctic circle. Changes in the Arctic can alter fish supply. And more ice-free Arctic summers can lead to countries competing to exploit new areas for resources. Research also shows changes in Arctic sea ice and temperature can alter the jet stream, which is a major factor in US weather.\n\nThis is probably partly responsible for the current unusual weather in the United States that brought destructive wildfires to California and a sharp cold snap to the south and east, according to NOAA scientist James Overland and private meteorologist expert Judah Cohen.\n\n\u201cThe Arctic has traditionally been the refrigerator to the planet, but the door of the refrigerator has been left open,\u201d Mathis said.\n\nOutside scientists praised the report card.\n\n\u201cOverall, the new data fit with the long-term trends, showing the clear evidence of warming causing major changes,\u201d in the Arctic, said Pennsylvania State University ice scientist Richard Alley.", "output": "Arctic sea ice is melting at the fastest rate in 1,500 years, while seawater in the region is also warming, according to the annual report by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Last year, areas of permafrost reached record high temperatures, sometimes exceeding the thawing point. Winter sea ice levels this year were the lowest recorded since records began in 1979, marking the third consecutive year of record lows for winter recovery. Jeremy Mathis, a co-author of the report, described the Arctic as \u201cthe refrigerator to the plant\u201d adding \u201cthe door of the refrigerator has been left open\u201d.\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Electrochaea uses CO2 from wastewater to make natural gas \n Copenhagen, Denmark\n\nSometimes, there can be too much of a good thing.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nEvery so often, from California to Germany, there\u2019s news of \u201cnegative electricity prices,\u201d a peculiar side effect of global efforts to generate clean energy. Solar farms and wind turbines produce varying amounts of power based on the vagaries of the weather. So we build electrical grids to handle only the power levels we expect in a given location. But in some cases, there\u2019s more sun or wind than expected, and these renewable energy sources pump in more power than the grid can handle. The producers of that power then have to pay customers to use up the excess electricity; otherwise, the grid would be overloaded and fail.\n\nAs we build more and more renewable-power capacity in efforts to meet the emissions-reduction goals of the Paris climate agreement, these situations will become more common. Startups led by entrepreneurs who see this future on the horizon are now looking for ways to make money off the inevitable excess clean electricity.\n\nOn a mildly chilly day in April, with the smell of poo in the air, I met one of these startups at a sewage-water treatment plant in Copenhagen, Denmark. Electrochaea takes carbon dioxide produced during the process of cleaning wastewater, and converts it into natural gas. That alone would be impressive enough; if we want to stop global warming in its tracks, we need to do everything we can to keep CO2 from entering the atmosphere. But Electrochaea has also figured out a way to power the whole enterprise with the excess green energy produced during particularly sunny and windy days that otherwise would have gone to waste, because there would have been no way to store it.\n\nIn other words, when scaled up, Electrochaea\u2019s process could be an answer to one of the biggest problems of the 21st century: energy storage, while also making a dent in cutting emissions.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThis article is part of The Race to Zero Emissions series investigating carbon-capture technology. You can also read our feature laying out the case for using the technology to fight climate change.\n\nThe battery problem\n\nThe biggest problem with wind and solar energy is that they\u2019re intermittent. There might be violent winds one day, and calm skies the next; broiling sunshine on Monday and 100% cloud cover on Tuesday. Some argue this problem is easily overcome by storing any excess energy in batteries until it\u2019s needed at a later time. Further, battery advocates say, even though the bookcase-sized batteries required to store solar energy for a small home are expensive today, prices are falling and will continue to fall for some time.\n\nExcept it\u2019s not that easy. The batteries on the market for these applications are, essentially, large versions of the lithium-ion batteries found in mobile phones. They can only store energy for a certain amount of time\u2014weeks, at most. As soon as the charging source is removed, they start to lose the charge.\n\nThat\u2019s not a problem if the batteries are for ironing out the peaks and troughs of daily use. The trouble is that humanity\u2019s energy demand is skewed based on local seasons, which requires sometimes drawing on every available source, and sometimes not using much energy at all. Mumbai\u2019s peak energy demand is during the hottest days of summer, when people run air conditioners to survive. London\u2019s peak energy demand comes during the coldest days of winters, when people burn natural gas to heat their homes and offices.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nPeak energy demand, whether for heating or cooling, can be as much as 20 times the energy consumed on an average day. Today, we shovel more coal or pump more natural gas into fossil-fuel power plants on those high-demand days. Some places, like Bridgeport in Connecticut, have old fossil-fuel plants, often coal, that they keep shut down most of the year and fire up only during peak demand. Obviously, that won\u2019t work in a future powered by renewable energy.\n\nThere are two solutions on the table for inter-seasonal energy storage, and they both involve massive investment in infrastructure: First, you could build so many solar panel fields or so many wind turbines that you could produce much more than 20 times the power of an average day. The upshot: you\u2019d have much more excess energy on a low-demand day, but would at least be able to fill demand on peak-demand days. The second option is to get so many batteries that they can store up enough excess energy that, even as they lose their charge, there\u2019s still enough power to get the grid through peak-demand days.\n\nEven if both renewable generation and storage were affordable enough for these plans\u2014and they\u2019re not, yet\u2014there\u2019s still another economic wall that might be impossible to traverse: Most of the time, your new gigantic power plant and fleet of batteries would be useless, because peak demand happens only a few times each year. No government can waste the money needed to build something with so little utility.\n\nStore it another way\n\nBeyond batteries, there are other mechanical ways to store energy. One is to pump water into elevated lakes. Another is to compress air with excess energy. Yet another is to store energy in the form of a high-speed rotating disk. But, like batteries, none of these options can store energy between seasons.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThere is one option for the inter-seasonal problem called underground thermal-energy storage. It works on a simple principle: no matter the temperature above ground, at a depth of about 15 meters, temperature in most places on Earth is about the same: 10\u00b0C (or 50\u00b0F). The planet\u2019s soil provides natural insulation, and, in theory, we could use that insulation to store energy.\n\nThere have been successful pilot projects around the world showing you can set up solar panels that, after filling the grid, use any excess electricity to heat gravel, heat-carrying chemicals, or water stored in tanks deep underground. With enough insulation, the heat could be stored for months, until it\u2019s needed in homes nearby, and delivered to them via pipes and heat pumps. (This heat energy can also be converted to run air conditioners, where cooling is needed instead of heating.)\n\nThere are just two problems when it comes to scaling up: First, it\u2019s expensive to build. Even if the cost of construction and management were to come down, if cities and towns haven\u2019t already planned for underground reservoirs (and most haven\u2019t), then it can be prohibitively exorbitant to find and secure the space. Second, the solution only works at a local scale, because transporting heat comes with natural losses. So the farther you need to move it from the storage site, the more loss you have to deal with.\n\nElectrochaea provides another option, where renewable energy could be stored indefinitely and transported without losses.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe green goo\n\nIf you don\u2019t mind the smell, wastewater treatment plants are fascinating. The Copenhagen plant takes in all the water sent down toilets, bathrooms, and kitchen sinks, and puts out H2O that\u2019s nearly clean enough to drink\u2014just one more step would be required, the plant operator told me. But since the city has no shortage of water, the treatment plant dumps its clean, but non-potable water into the North Sea.\n\nBefore that, the water goes through dozens of steps, including one where organic matter is allowed to settled to the bottom of large, open tanks. This sludge, rich in carbon-containing molecules, is transferred to a sealed bioreactor where microbes filtered from local soil are added. If this were done in the open tanks, the microbes would break the matter down slowly to produce carbon dioxide. But, in the bioreactor, in the absence of oxygen, a different set of microbes springs into action. They produce methane\u2014the primary component of natural gas\u2014instead.\n\nThe facility takes the methane (and any remaining sludge that can\u2019t be broken down) and then burns it in a biomass power plant. \u201cWe produce more energy than we consume to clean up the water coming into our plant,\u201d says Dines Thornberg, a manager at Biofos, the part-government-owned company that operates the treatment plant.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThat may be true. But the process still does pollute, since some chemical degradation happens independent of microbes and creates carbon dioxide. To help Denmark hit its Paris agreement goals, Biofos wants to cut its own carbon footprint. That\u2019s why the company gave Electrochaea valuable space at its plant to build the pilot-scale chemical plant that completes the job that Biofos\u2019s microbes couldn\u2019t do: convert the carbon dioxide released in the bioreactor into methane. To achieve this amazing transformation, Electrochaea gets help from microbial life called archaea.\n\nArchaea are the oldest of the three branches of life, which include bacteria and eukaryotes (consisting of all other more advanced organisms including humans). Their ancient survival skills include one that us humans now can put to good use: an ability to naturally take in CO2 and turn it into methane.\n\nMost scientists believe life on Earth was formed in hydrothermal vents, created by underwater volcanoes. The temperatures there can reach 400\u00b0C (750\u00b0F), far higher than that of boiling water. But the water in the vents doesn\u2019t boil and the gases the vents release\u2014including carbon dioxide and hydrogen\u2014don\u2019t explode thanks to the tremendous pressure applied by miles of seawater above. Some archaea that live in the vents have learned to use carbon dioxide as food, combining the carbon (C) from carbon dioxide (CO2) with hydrogen (H2) to form and release methane (CH4). Humans do the reverse, consuming carbon-rich food and combining it with oxygen\u2014both readily available on land\u2014to make and expel carbon dioxide.\n\nElectrochaea\u2019s pilot plant on Biofos\u2019s premises takes up an area the size of a tennis court. As usual for a chemical factory, there\u2019s a tangle of stainless steel pipes with sensors and control valves. The pipes all lead to a big cylindrical bioreactor, about 10 meters (30 ft) tall, kept at 60\u00b0C (140\u00b0F) and eight times the atmospheric pressure. Through a small glass window at the bottom of the bioreactor, I can see a bubbling mixture the color of an avocado milkshake. That\u2019s Electrochaea\u2019s proprietary species of archaea, cultured and bred to efficiently combine carbon dioxide and hydrogen to produce methane.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe gases injected into the bioreactor come from two sources. The wastewater-treatment plant sends a mixture of carbon dioxide and methane. Meanwhile, two shipping container-sized electrolyzers use renewable electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen is sent off into the atmosphere, and the hydrogen to the Electrochaea bioreactor.\n\nThe microbes are so effective that in the time the mixture of gases travels from the bottom of the bioreactor to its top, 99 out of every 100 molecules of carbon dioxide and hydrogen are converted into methane, water, and heat. The heat is useful: it helps keep the temperature inside the reactor steady. Meanwhile, as the archaea consume the CO2 and H2, they multiply. Because they are naturally occurring species, extra archaea can be simply dumped into sewers, flushed out by the water also created in the process.\n\nThe valuable product from the reaction is methane. In fact, the stuff created through this process is even more valuable than typical methane. It\u2019s \u201crenewable methane\u201d or \u201cbiomethane,\u201d because the gas was produced from non-fossil-fuel sources and without any fossil-fuel power. This methane can be used to run boilers in homes, power plants, and even cars or buses. It\u2019s a cleaner fuel than coal and oil, producing the fewest emissions for each unit of energy released. Methane can also be very easily stored. In fact, across Europe, there are large underground stores, connected by pipes that can safely transport the gas.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWhen the system runs at full capacity, the archaea produce about 50 cubic meters of natural gas per hour. For every unit of energy of electricity fed into the system, it produces about 0.75 units of energy stored in the form of methane, according to Doris Hafenbradl, Electrochaea\u2019s chief scientist. That\u2019s not as good as lithium-ion batteries, which can reach near 100% efficiency. But unlike the energy stored in batteries, once methane is produced it can be stored indefinitely, because it doesn\u2019t spontaneously degrade into other chemicals. If this process could be scaled up, it could solve renewable energy\u2019s inter-seasonal storage problem.\n\nElectrochaea\u2019s plant does not need to be close to solar farms or wind turbines, because excess electricity can be extracted from anywhere on the grid. The limitations on location come based on access to CO2. Water treatment plants are fair game and so are ethanol producers (such as beer and liquor factories). Exhaust gases from power plants could be used, but they will need to be cleaned to remove sulfur and particulate emissions, which could harm archaea.\n\nSolving problems at scale\n\nThe Copenhagen plant is one of three where Electrochaea has successfully installed its technology. The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory has one installation on its campus in Boulder, Colorado, and the last is part of a European Commission-funded project in Solothurn, Switzerland. Ultimately, Electrochaea\u2019s core business model is to license the technology. The company is currently courting a Hungarian power company that wants to build a plant 10 times the size of the one in Copenhagen. It would be the startup\u2019s biggest yet. And the carmaker Audi has shown interest in Electrochaea\u2019s technology as a way to use biomethane in its natural-gas-powered cars.\n\nElectrochaea is one of a growing number of players in the \u201cpower-to-gas\u201d industry. ITM Power and Hydrogenics, for example, make electrolyzers that convert excess renewable energy into storable hydrogen. But hydrogen is not as widely used as natural gas. That\u2019s why companies such as Electrochaea, MicrobEnergy, and ETOGas are betting that it\u2019s worth the extra step of turning that hydrogen into methane. MicrobEnergy, as the name suggests, uses microbes for the conversion, just like Electrochaea. ETOGas, a Hitachi-supported startup, uses metal catalysts.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nDoing it this way also gives these companies a potential second business model: Because these processes all involve injecting carbon dioxide into the system, it could turn out to be the case that they are hired to install their power-to-gas systems simply to reduce a facility\u2019s CO2 emissions, whether it has an excess of renewable energy or not.\n\nElectrochaea hasn\u2019t secured a carbon-capture customer yet. And to be sure, its technology is carbon-capture and recycling\u2014not storage or removal. The methane produced in the process will eventually be burned again, and that will put carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In other words, it simply delays the production of greenhouse gases, instead of eliminating them.\n\nThat said, there is some value in delaying emissions. Every CO2 molecule not dumped in the atmosphere right now is a CO2 molecule that doesn\u2019t absorb and retain sun\u2019s heat. If nothing else, Electrochaea and companies like it may do their part in saving the planet simply by helping change the conversation around carbon dioxide, from treating it as a byproduct to considering it as a feedstock.\n\nYou can sign up to our newsletter for more stories on the challenges and opportunities of low-emissions technology. The reporting was supported by a fellowship from the McGraw Center for Business Journalism at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism.", "output": "Electrochaea has transformed carbon dioxide from wastewater into natural gas, using the excess green energy from wind turbines or solar panels that would otherwise be wasted. The solution could be scaled to create multi-seasonal energy storage, something that most batteries are not capable of, the company said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK chemical and pharma industries appeal to remain within EU \n Following last week's announcement that a deal had been reached between the UK and EU on phase one of Brexit negotiations, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) called for a cooperation agreement between the UK and EU on medicines.\n\n\u201cIt is now crucial that the regulation and supply of medicines for UK and EU patients is prioritised. A cooperation agreement between the UK and the EU on medicines is the best way to ensure that there is no disruption to 500m patients receiving the medicines that they need,\u201d the ABPI said.\n\nPharmaceutical expert Catherine Drew of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said the ABPI statement reflected the industry\u2019s continued pressure for a pragmatic solution to medicines regulation post-Brexit.\n\nMeanwhile, in a letter to environment secretary Michael Gove seen by Out-Law.com, the Chemical Industries Association (CIA) asked for continued membership of the EU Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation, to enable its members to retain market access to the EU.\n\nCIA chief executive Steve Elliott said in the letter that because 60% of all chemical exports from the UK were destined for the EU, and 75% of all chemical imports came from the EU, continued engagement with REACH and the European Chemicals Agency was \u201cthe most cost-effective way of securing the competitiveness of our sector\u201d.\n\nElliott said a \u201cno deal\u201d scenario or exclusion from REACH would mean registrations and authorisations would become non-existent on the day the UK leaves the EU. \u201cDuplicating registration costs would obviously affect the competitiveness of UK products and create a significant drain on resources in order to simply stay where we are today,\u201d Elliott said.\n\nThe CIA letter conceded REACH was \u201cfar from perfect\u201d but said the best way of minimising disruption to supply chains was by staying within the regime and under the remit of the European Chemicals Agency.\n\nThe calls from the ABPI and CIA echoed similar statements from pharmaceutical giants AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Roche, which submitted their views on the potential impact of Brexit to a UK parliamentary inquiry last week.", "output": "The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) and the Chemical Industries Association (CIA) have asked for a continued membership of EU Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation. This will enable both industries to keep market access to the EU. In a letter to Michael Gove, the Environment Secretary, the CIA said 60% of all chemical exports from the UK were destined for the EU, and 75% of all chemical imports came from the EU - meaning that staying in REACH was the \"most cost-effective\" solution."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Uber license decision will not be heard until spring 2018 \n For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBreaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nMinicab app firm Uber\u2019s appeal against Transport for London\u2019s decision not to renew its licence in the city will not be heard until spring 2018.\n\nBoth sides of the dispute appeared before Westminster Magistrates\u2019 Court in London on Monday, for a case-management hearing. Chief magistrate Emma Arbuthnot said that a hearing as to whether the GMB union and the Licensed Taxi Drivers\u2019 Association could become interested parties in the case would take place on Tuesday and Wednesday next week. A full appeal hearing on the case, though, would not be happen until either May or June next year. An exact date is yet to be set.\n\nTfL announced its decision to scrap Uber\u2019s operating licence in the capital in September, sparking a fierce battle between the company, unions, politicians, rival services and customers.\n\nRecommended Sheffield suspends Uber licence over management questions\n\nThe transport authority had accused the Silicon Valley giant of lacking corporate responsibility in relation to issues around public safety and security.\n\nIn October, Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi met with TfL and apologised to Londoners for some of the company\u2019s past practices. Both sides described those talks as constructive but details of progress in negotiations have been sparse since.\n\nUber employs around 40,000 drivers in London, servicing an estimated 3.5 million people, which makes the capital one of its most important international markets. However, it has been under severe fire from a growing army of UK critics over the past year.\n\nSome have claimed that the privately owned company unfairly skews competition, while other have accused it of not doing enough to crack down on incidents of violence involving drivers.\n\nBeyond London, Uber\u2019s licence was recently also suspended in Sheffield after the company reportedly failed to respond to official requests about its management.\n\nIn Brighton its licence was renewed in early November, but only for a period of six months.\n\nIn London, Uber can continue servicing its London passengers until the appeals process is exhausted, which some experts have said could take several years.\n\nIn a statement on Monday, a spokesperson for Uber said that the company had filed the appeal \u201cso that we can continue serving millions of riders and tens of thousands of drivers in London\u201d.\n\nThe spokesperson added that discussions with TfL around resolving the issue were still \u201cconstructive\u201d.\n\n\u201cAs our new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has said, we are determined to make things right.\u201d", "output": "Ride-sharing app Uber is to appeal the loss of its London private hire licence in spring next year. Uber and Transport for London appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court for a case management hearing on Monday. A hearing as to whether the Licensed Taxi Drivers' Association and the GMB union could be interested parties in the case will take place next week. An exact date for a full appeal hearing has yet to be set. TfL scrapped Uber's operating licence in September, accusing it of lacking corporate responsibility over issues around public safety.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "City will lose 10,500 jobs on day one of Brexit: EY \n City firms plan to move 10,500 jobs out of the UK on \u201cday one\u201d of Brexit, with Dublin and Frankfurt the financial centres most likely to benefit from the UK\u2019s departure from the EU.\n\nThe job tracker compiled by the accountants EY, which counts job announcements to the end of November, found that the number of roles likely to be affected had fallen from estimates of 12,500 a year ago. But it also concluded that the jobs being affected by Brexit were not just the \u201cback office\u201d ones initially forecast, but \u201cfront office\u201d staff who deal directly with clients.\n\nOmar Ali, EY\u2019s UK financial services leader, said Friday\u2019s announcement of a first-stage deal, allowing talks to move on to trade, had sent \u201ca wave of relief across the City\u201d.\n\n\u201cIt signalled an intention to agree a transitional period as early as possible next year and the starting point for negotiations on future trade deals, both of which are fundamental to avoid adding any additional risks to the system and for the future strength of the UK financial services industry,\u201d said Ali.\n\nMajor City firms have started to announce how they will respond to the UK\u2019s exit from the EU after being told by the Bank of England to present contingency plans for all eventualities, including a \u201chard\u201d Brexit. Last month Sam Woods, a deputy governor of the Bank, warned that 10,000 jobs could leave the City on \u201cday one\u201d after reviewing these plans.\n\nAli said firms\u2019 contingency plans had become more detailed over the past year. \u201cThe extent of broader strategic restructurings and relocation plans will of course ultimately depend on the specifics of any long-term UK deal with the EU, but a drop in the volume of jobs moving will be welcome news for the City.\u201d\n\nEY said that since the July 2016 referendum 31% of the 222 companies it was tracking have said they are considering or have confirmed the movement of some of their operations and/or staff out of the UK.\n\nGoldman Sachs, for instance, has begun to implement contingency plans by taking the top eight floors of a 37-storey block under construction in Frankfurt, even though it is building a new European headquarters in London. It has not said how many of its 6,000 roles in London will be impacted.\n\nEY\u2019s tracker puts Dublin and Frankfurt ahead of other alternative centres in the EU, attracting 14 and 12 companies, respectively.\n\nAnalysts at the Japanese bank Nomura are also tracking the potential for job moves and said: \u201cDepending on whether we get a transitional deal, 10,000 jobs spread over a one- to three-year period is a relatively small number, but for markets it\u2019s the long- term impact of Brexit that we find adds up to 35-40,000 that will matter more.\u201d", "output": "Using a job tracker which counts job announcements by City companies, EY has predicted that 10,500 jobs will move away from London on the first day the UK departs from the EU. The number of roles affected has fallen from the 12,500 predicted a year ago, however the nature of the roles has changed to more so-called \"front room\" staff - those dealing with clients, not just administrative roles as originally predicted.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brexit could leave UK vulnerable to global monopolies \n We live in a world of corporate goliaths and the trend to gigantism is accelerating. The new era of hi-tech data capitalism has an embedded proclivity to monopoly. The bigger the network, whether Facebook or Google, the more valuable it is to be connected. Big is good in the digital universe, while even bigger is better.\n\nMeanwhile, analogue capitalism, confronted by the challenge of the new, is reacting by consolidating and merging into ever larger entities. Unless they do, comes the reply to any challenge from national competition authorities, they won\u2019t have the heft and scale to meet the new competition. Increasingly, we are surrounded by the most awesome concentration of corporate power in the history of capitalism. In every industry, reported the Obama administration last year, the market power of the biggest companies has been growing and mark-ups and profit margins with them. America\u2019s era of the robber barons in the late 19th century had nothing on this.\n\nLast week came another small milestone, in Britain. Hammerson, a property company few will have heard of, swooped on its rival, Intu, even less well known, in a \u00a33.2bn bid. Yet the outcome will affect us all. Many major shopping malls \u2013 London\u2019s Brent Cross, Birmingham\u2019s Bullring, Manchester\u2019s Trafford Park, Oxfordshire\u2019s Bicester Village \u2013 will be owned by the same company. Hammerson will be the arbiter of how we shop: what stores are positioned where, in what mall and at what rent; it can even determine the restrictions on forms of permissible public activity in its private spaces.\n\nHammerson will argue that it had no choice. So much shopping is online that the mall is looking increasingly like a late 20th-century phenomenon, outdated and outmoded. E-shopping is booming and, with the advent of virtual reality, you can go beyond browsing online to \u201chandling\u201d the goods you plan to buy. Hammerson\u2019s only option is to buy up its competitors and try to hold the digital invaders at bay. You can see its point, but its monopolistic grip on the market will be such that it is better empowered to resist declines in rent and will take any opportunity to lift them. Our competition authorities stand idly by, helpless onlookers rather than proactive interveners.\n\nBirmingham\u2019s Bullring shopping centre is now owned by Hammerson after its takeover of Intu. Photograph: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images\n\nMeanwhile, the digital invaders are getting bigger. One of the laws of economics, itself an analogue discipline teaching doctrines far removed from the realities of today\u2019s markets, used to be that as companies grow they start to lose control of their capacity to be efficient and unit costs rise. This is called decreasing returns to scale. In this way, or so the theory went, we could trust a free market not to produce corporate goliaths because they become inefficient, the ideology that Brexiters so blindly believe. But one of the features of data capitalism is exactly the opposite: increasing returns to scale. One of the attractions of Facebook, Spotify, Uber, Amazon or Airbnb is their very size. Their managers don\u2019t lose control of their operations as they grow. Indeed, computerised techniques allow costs, from wages to the organisation of production lines, supply chains and warehouses, to be ever more efficiently managed.\n\nFrom the users\u2019 point of view, the bigger the network and search engine the more efficient it is to use: Google is the search engine of choice because of its scale; similarly, Uber, the ride-hailing app; Facebook, the communication channel, and Airbnb, the means to find a room. In every case, the sheer size of their network means we get the best results. On top of this, they take over rivals. Facebook has bought WhatsApp, Microsoft owns LinkedIn, and Google acquired YouTube, along with a host of small companies destined to be potential challengers but that were devoured. Thus today\u2019s capitalism: corporations are growing ever bigger in the new and old economy alike. In the new economy, they hold more and more personal information and data about consumers; in the old, they hold ever more market power. Profits as a share of GDP in advanced industrial economies are rising and, with them, share prices and directors\u2019 remuneration; wages and job security are declining. Globalisation has become a universe of monopoly, oligopoly and shadow cartels. Prices are not fixed in smoke-filled rooms: the market leader in whatever global industry sets a reference price that everybody follows tacitly \u2013 or faces dire consequences.\n\nThis is a far cry from the imagined world of Brexiters, where supranational authorities and regulations, especially EU regulations, are \u201cshackles\u201d. National competition authorities are all that are needed to ensure free and fair competition; virtuous global enterprise is rewarded and policed by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the fabulously effective and universally revered global trade referee. All Britain has to do is champion free trade outside the sclerotic EU under WTO rules and it will be blessed with a new age of growth and prosperity. In reality, competition and anti-monopoly authorities are no match for the behemoths and the WTO is systematically gamed and undermined by the two economic superpowers. The US, the Brexiters\u2019 great buddy, is refusing to nominate judges to the WTO\u2019s appeal court; instead, it takes on China unilaterally for alleged trade abuses. The WTO is weak and getting weaker.\n\nInternational trade is not a game of cricket between equally matched teams, only disturbed by Brussels Eurocrats, as Jacob Rees-Mogg, Boris Johnson et al imagine, waiting for a Britain, energised by leaving the EU, to further stimulate it. It is a dog-eat-dog world in which the choice for a medium-size country is to make common cause with one of the three economic blocs capable of challenging the new monopolists and cartels \u2013 China, the US or the EU \u2013 or roll over and be plundered. Britain alone has no chance of challenging the West Coast tech giants over their policies on anything from tax to data or challenge any of the analogue goliaths over their stance, say, on diesel emissions or plastic packaging.\n\nYou don\u2019t have to be a Marxist to worry about where today\u2019s capitalism is heading \u2013 both the Bank of England and the Economist magazine share the concerns. But it is curious that Labour\u2019s allegedly leftwing leadership is so quiet. Far from a capitalist plot, EU membership is one of Britain\u2019s few available defences. Trade unions understand this well: it is time for Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell to find their voice. Leaving the EU can and must be stopped.", "output": "Brexit could leave the UK unable to challenge US technology giants over their policies on data and paying tax or to tackle traditional industries on, for example, diesel emissions or plastic waste, argues economist and writer Will Hutton. The tendency of digital capitalism is towards monopoly, with companies such as Facebook and Google defying traditional economic analysis to become more rather than less efficient as they grow. Regulators such as the World Trade Organisation are becoming weaker as corporate power grows, leaving the UK in a weaker position when negotiating deals with major trading nations post-Brexit."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Neural networks learning to forget useless information \n That\u2019s an important skill. The world provides a never-ending source of data, much of which is irrelevant to the tricky business of survival, and most of which is impossible to store in a limited memory. So humans and other creatures have evolved ways to retain important skills while forgetting irrelevant ones.\n\nNeural networks are now being taught how to forget.\n\nThe same cannot be said of machines. Any skill they learn is quickly overwritten, regardless of how important it is. There is currently no reliable mechanism they can use to prioritize these skills, deciding what to remember and what to forget.\n\nToday that looks set to change thanks to the work of Rahaf Aljundi and pals at the University of Leuven in Belgium and at Facebook AI Research. These guys have shown that the approach biological systems use to learn, and to forget, can work with artificial neural networks too.\n\nThe key is a process known as Hebbian learning, first proposed in the 1940s by the Canadian psychologist Donald Hebb to explain the way brains learn via synaptic plasticity. Hebb\u2019s theory can be famously summarized as \u201cCells that fire together wire together.\u201d\n\nIn other words, the connections between neurons grow stronger if they fire together, and these connections are therefore more difficult to break. This is how we learn\u2014repeated synchronized firing of neurons makes the connections between them stronger and harder to overwrite.\n\nSo Aljundi and co have developed a way for artificial neural networks to behave in the same way. They do this by measuring the outputs from a neural network and monitoring how sensitive they are to changes in the connections within the network.\n\nThis gives them a sense of which network parameters are most important and should therefore be preserved. \u201cWhen learning a new task, changes to important parameters are penalized,\u201d say the team. They say the resulting network has \u201cmemory aware synapses.\u201d\n\nThey\u2019ve put this idea through its paces with a set of tests in which a neural network trained to do one thing is then given data that trains it to do something else. For example, a network trained to recognize flowers is then shown birds. The researchers then show it flowers again to see how much of this skill is preserved.", "output": "A team of researchers at the University of Leuven, together with Facebook AI Research, is aiming to improve machine learning by training artificial neural networks to learn and forget skills akin to how humans absorb information. Researchers have developed a way for these networks to employee Hebbian learning - the idea neurons work better when they \"fire\" together.\u00a0If an action is perceived as correct, or useful, it can be reinforced while incorrect, or less useful, actions can be discarded.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China open to global partnerships for\u00a0space station project \n SHENZHEN, China \u2013 \u201cAfter the Belt and Road Initiative, I think China has a space initiative in mind. China has invited developing nations to conduct experiments on its space station planned to be on the orbit in 2022, has signed an agreement with the UN, and does not neglect any possibility to conclude an agreement with countries that have expertise on the peaceful use of the outer space. For instance, in July 2017, it signed a memorandum of understanding with Romania, which possesses such expertise, and, geopolitically, it falls along the route of the Belt and Road Initiative,\u201d said Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu, a Romanian cosmonaut and diplomat.\n\nAs an annual delegate to COPUOS, Prunariu is very familiar with China\u2019s space achievements: \u201cChina is strikingly advanced in space activities and focused on manned human space flights. I felt from the beginning China\u2019s huge potential in space. When I was still the president of the Association of Space Explorers, I personally insisted to have Chinese astronauts become members of ASE and to hold the ASE congress in Beijing in 2014, to start getting to know each other better. The first Chinese astronaut, Yang Liwei, was elected as a member of ASE Board. Time showed indeed that China is promoting space activities and open to develop space projects as well as advanced technology and science, with the purpose to ensure national security and to gain its place, prestige and recognition on the global stage, as a strong space-faring nation with a high level of technology.\u201d\n\nWu Ping, Deputy Director General of China Manned Space Agency, presented the project to the 59th session of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) at the UN in Vienna in June 2016. Under the agreements, UNOOSA and CMSA will work together to enable United Nations member states, particularly from developing countries, to conduct space experiments on board China\u2019s space station, and to provide flight opportunities for astronauts and payload engineers. China and the UN will promote international cooperation in human space flight and other space activities, increased awareness of the benefits of human space technology and its applications, and capacity-building activities in space technology.\n\nThe Chinese space station, Tiangong 3, is currently under development and is expected to be operational around 2022. It will have a core module and two experimental modules, and can be expanded further. The modules are scheduled to be sent into space between 2020\u20132022. It will be capable of accommodating three full-time astronauts and up to six during rotation periods. The station will also accommodate the Chinese future Xuntian space telescope.\n\nWith its advanced technology and multi-purpose onboard facilities, the station could provide opportunities for UN member states to conduct microgravity experiments on physics, biology, and life science as well as Earth observation.\n\nThe UN signed several agreements with various Chinese institutions ranging from disasters management and emergency response, the use of space-based data, and the infrastructure of disasters management and emergency response, as well as cooperating in exploration and innovation. Prunariu stresses that \u201conly cooperation in various fields, including space, can make nations know each other better, remove suspicion and gradually build mutual trust.\u201d\n\nThe CMSA hopes for broadened collaboration with other countries and international organizations under the framework of the agreement, on the principle of peaceful uses of outer space, equality and mutual benefit, and joint development.\n\nIt is unlikely that there will be cooperation between China and the US for the moment. In 2011, Rep. Frank Wolf inserted a clause into the US spending bill to prevent NASA or the OSTP (White House Office of Science and Technology Policy) from using federal funds \u201cto develop, design, plan, promulgate, implement or execute a bilateral policy, program, order, or contract of any kind to participate, collaborate, or coordinate bilaterally in any way with China or any Chinese-owned company.\u201d\n\nHowever, Jeffrey Manber, CEO of NANORACKS, a private commercial company that provides hardware for the International Space Station, explains that there is always a way where there is a will: \u201cThe Canadians, Russians and Americans would have worked with the Chinese on the ISS but this law forbids it. When we started to work, we felt this amendment does not apply to us because we are a commercial company, we are not using tax-payers\u2019 money. We have customers from 30 nations who pay us for services. We went to Obama administration and asked to engage the Chinese, and they gave us permission. Charles Bolden, administrator of NASA at the same, wrote a letter to the Congress saying this complies with the Wolf amendment, NASA was not involved, no technology transfer.\u201d\n\nChina is gradually achieving excellence in its space programs and it has the capabilities to implement outstanding space projects. The wide range of programs, the long term planning and the openness to international cooperation makes it a unique space-faring country.", "output": "The Chinese government is planning to increase its activities in space exploration, according to Romanian diplomat and cosmonaut Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu. The country is building a space station called Tiangong 3, which is expected to be in orbit by 2022, and has signed an agreement with the United Nations to allow developing countries to use the facility to conduct space experiments. Co-operation with other advanced countries is also thought likely, although the United States is prevented by a clause in a 2011 bill from collaborating with China on space projects.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Visa to reassure consumers with 'sensory branding' for\u00a0payments \n In an ever-expanding universe of connected, payments-enabled devices, Visa is looking to reassure consumers (and promote itself) with a \"sensory branding\" programme that will use sound, animation and haptic cues to signify completed transactions.\n\nWith research showing that up to 71% of people think that the Visa logo signifies that a website is secure, the company is bidding to find new ways to evoke the same emotions in the digital and physical world.\n\n\n\nTo this end, the card scheme has developed short sound, animation and haptic (vibration) cues that it will make available as a software development kit on the Visa Developer Platform, and through the Visa Ready program, next year.\n\n\n\n\n\nWhile the plans may seem gimmicky, 83% of people polled by Visa say that the sound or animation cues positively impacted their perception of the firm's brand, while 81% say the features would make them have a more positive view of merchants.\n\n\n\nWith this in mind, a national merchant and POS hardware vendors have agreed to pilot programmes for 2018.\n\n\n\nMeanwhile, Visa is hoping to take advantage of haptic technology's ability to incite feelings of happiness and excitement with a global advertising campaign ahead of the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.\n\n\n\nLynne Biggar, chief marketing and communications officer, Visa, says: \"As payments become increasingly embedded in commerce, the notion of \u2018Everywhere You Want To Be\u2019 takes on even greater meaning for our brand. As new payment experiences continue to take shape in the world, this suite of sensory branding elements will give consumers the assurances we know they want every time they use Visa.\"", "output": "Visa is exploring using \"sensory branding\" to help signal completed and secure transactions. Seven in 10 people think the Visa logo shows that a website is secure and the company wants to expand this sense of security with a software development kit that can create\u00a0animation, sound and haptic (vibration) clues,\u00a0which it will make\u00a0available on the Visa Developer Platform and through the Visa Ready programme. While the move may appear novel, some 81% of consumers polled by Visa said the features would make them\u00a0view merchants\u00a0more positively. Pilot programmes are being planned for next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Euclid develops combination of materials for expandable proppants \n Over the years, proppant technology has evolved from sands to engineered, high-strength proppants, cured and partially cured resin-coated proppants to prevent fines, lightweight and deformable proppants, and coated walnut shells for improved transportation and reduced embedment.\n\nThe latest in the line-up could be expandable proppants, which are nearing commercialisation from a technology developer in the US.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re working to understand the in-situ application of force in the fracture network to control and manage development of that network,\u201d says Andy Sherman, president and chief executive of Euclid, Ohio-based Terves.", "output": "Composite manufacturer Terves' expandable proppant technology, which allows hydraulic fractures to remain open by swelling and applying force to the fracture network, is close to commercialisation. The XO Prop product has been added to the Terves Exalon rigid expandable product range, and uses semi-permeable expandable rigid polymer beads in a soon-to-be-patented formula. The proppant expands over one to two days, and comes in a rod or sphere shape between 20 and 100 mesh in size."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scientists attempt to convert space debris into IoT devices \n Chinese scientists have devised an innovative way to utilize a spent rocket in space as a smart application platform. They are now working on a plan to fit intelligent chip systems in the final stage of their space-bound rockets to turn them into an orbital Internet of Things (IoT). In this way, these rockets can be used as a communication and experiment platform rather than being discarded as space junk after sending a satellite into orbit.\n\nA report published in Xinhua News talks about a program being conducted at Fudan University in Shanghai. Chinese scientists working under this program installed smart chips on the final stage of a Long March 4C rocket that was used to send the Fengyun-3D satellite into space last month. Zheng Lirong, the lead scientist of the project, told Xinhua News that fitting smart chips on that rocket enabled scientists to establish the preliminary stage of an in-orbit IoT. This smart chip system has been named \u201cXinyun\u201d in Chinese, which literally means the cloud of chips.\n\n\u201cWith these intelligent chips attached, space debris can be transformed into a low-cost science experiment and communication platform,\u201d Lirong said.\n\nAccording to NASA, more than 500,000 pieces of space junk are currently orbiting the Earth at speeds up to 17,500 miles per hour (28,300 kilometers per hour). Scientists recognize orbital junk as a serious threat to space missions as even a small piece of space debris can damage spacecraft, satellites, and even the International Space Station (ISS). The majority of this orbital junk includes rocket sections that were discarded during space launches. NASA already has an established set of procedures and guidelines on how to avert a potential collision with orbital junk in space.\n\nA program carried out installed several #intelligent chips on the final stage of the Long March 4C #rocket, which sent the Fengyun-#3Dsatellite into orbit in November. https://t.co/S7WEowqk7Y \u2014 CGTN Radio (@CGTNRadio) December 8, 2017\n\nAccording to Xinhua News, Chinese scientists have been working on this project for the past two years and during these two years, they successfully developed the functional modules to create \u201cnanosatellites\u201d able to work in space.\n\nIoT is a concept discussed by technology companies for decades. It is all about connecting different devices over the internet and enabling them to communicate with humans, with other applications, and with each other as well. The concept not only talks about connected devices and smart homes but also offers a vision of smart cities and industries. IoT solutions are already being employed in our daily lives, ranging from smart, wearable gadgets and GPS-tracked grazing to connected, driverless cars.\n\nAccording to Xinhua News, the new Chinese technology is still in testing phase, and scientists are currently studying the path of orbiting debris. The IoT system has been in space for more than 430 hours, and the communication between the space nodes and the ground networks is currently stable. The system is receiving commands from the ground staff and is sending them the data from space. Further tests will let scientists verify the energy self-sufficiency, fault tolerance, and other functions of the intelligent chip system in space.", "output": "Chinese scientists are seeking to turn discarded rocket sections into internet of things (IoT) devices. Researchers at Shanghai's Fudan University are installing smart chips in the final stages of space-bound rockets so they can be used as low-cost experiment and communication platforms, rather than becoming yet more space debris. The system, which is still at a test stage, is being called Xinyun, which means \"cloud of chips\" in Chinese. More than 500,000 pieces of space junk are thought to be orbiting Earth at up to 17,500 mph, according to NASA.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "VC investment in AI totals $7.6bn through first 9 months of 2017 \n TWO letters can add up to a lot of money. No area of technology is hotter than AI, or artificial intelligence. Venture-capital investment in AI in the first nine months of 2017 totalled $7.6bn, according to PitchBook, a data provider; that compares with full-year figures of $5.4bn in 2016. In the year to date there have been $21.3bn in AI-related M&A deals, around 26 times more than in 2015. In earnings calls public companies now mention AI far more often than \u201cbig data\u201d. At the heart of the frenzy are some familiar names: the likes of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft. A similar, though less transparent, battle is under way in China among firms like Alibaba and Baidu. Several have put AI at the centre of their strategies. All are enthusiastic acquirers of AI firms, often in order to snap up the people they employ. They see AI as a way to improve their existing services, from cloud computing to logistics, and to push into new areas, from autonomous cars to augmented reality (see article). Many observers fear that, by cementing and extending the power of a handful of giants, AI will hurt competition. That will depend on three open questions, involving one magic ingredient.\n\nAlphaGone\n\nThe tech giants certainly have big advantages in the battle to develop AI. They have tonnes of data, oodles of computing power and boffins aplenty\u2014especially in China, which expects to charge ahead. Imagine a future, some warn, in which you are transported everywhere in a Waymo autonomous car (owner: Alphabet, parent of Google), pay for everything with an Android phone (developer: Google), watch YouTube (owner: Google) to relax, and search the web using\u2014you can guess. Markets with just a handful of firms can be fiercely competitive. A world in which the same few names duke it out in several industries could still be a good one for consumers. But if people rely on one firm\u2019s services like this, and if AI enables that firm to predict their needs and customise its offering ever more precisely, it will be burdensome to switch to a rival.\n\nThat future is still a long way off. AI programs remain narrowly focused. Moreover, the ability of the incumbents to perpetuate their advantages is made uncertain by three questions.\n\nThe most important is whether AI will always depend on vast amounts of data. Machines today are usually trained on huge datasets, from which they can recognise useful patterns such as fraudulent financial transactions. If real-world data remain essential to AI, the tech superstars are in clover. They have vast amounts of the stuff, and are gaining more as they push into fresh areas such as health care.\n\nA competing vision of AI stresses simulations, in which machines teach themselves using synthetic data or in virtual environments. Early versions of a program developed to play Go, an Asian board game, by DeepMind, a unit of Alphabet, were trained using data from actual games; the latest was simply given the rules and started playing Go against itself. Within three days it had surpassed its predecessor, which had itself beaten the best player humanity could muster. If this approach is widely applicable, or if future AI systems can be trained using sparser amounts of data, the tech giants\u2019 edge is blunted.\n\nBut some applications will always require data. How much of the world\u2019s stock of it the tech giants will end up controlling is the second question. They have clout in the consumer realm, and they keep pushing into new areas, from Amazon\u2019s interest in medicine to Microsoft\u2019s purchase of LinkedIn, a professional-networking site. But data in the corporate realm are harder to get at, and their value is increasingly well understood. Autonomous cars will be a good test. Alphabet\u2019s Waymo has done more real-world testing of self-driving cars than any other firm: over 4m miles (6.5m kilometres) on public roads. But established carmakers, and startups like Tesla, can generate more data from their existing fleets; other firms, like Mobileye, a driverless-tech firm owned by Intel, are also in the race.\n\nThe third question is how openly knowledge will be shared. The tech giants\u2019 ability to recruit AI expertise from universities is helped by their willingness to publish research; Google and Facebook have opened software libraries to outside developers. But their incentives to share valuable data and algorithms are weak. Much will depend on whether regulations prise open their grip. Europe\u2019s impending data-protection rules, for example, require firms to get explicit consent for how they use data and to make it easier for customers to transfer their information to other providers. China may try to help its firms by having negligible regulation.\n\nThe battle in AI is fiercest among the tech giants. It is too early to know how good that will be for competition, but not to anticipate the magic ingredient that will determine the outcome: the importance, accessibility and openness of data.", "output": "Artificial intelligence (AI) received $7.6bn in venture capital (VC) investment between January and September, more than the $5.4bn for all of 2016, according to data provider PitchBook. AI-related merger and asset deals amounted to $21.3bn this year. Big names such as Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet are putting AI at the heart of their strategies, seeing the technology as a way to better their existing services and to push into new areas such as augmented reality and self-driving cars.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Made In Space to create optical fibres in orbit \n Made In Space has partnered with the New Jersey company Thorlabs on a project to produce ZBLAN optical fiber in orbit. This machine, which is a bit bigger than a microwave, is scheduled to launch toward the International Space Station abroad a SpaceX Dragon capsule on Dec. 12, 2017.\n\nA bold plan to rev up off-Earth manufacturing is about to get a big test.\n\nA small, privately built machine designed to make optical fiber is launching toward the International Space Station (ISS) aboard SpaceX's Dragon cargo capsule tomorrow (Dec. 12).\n\nIf all goes according to plan, this little factory \u2014 which is owned by California-based startup Made In Space \u2014 will churn out stuff that's good enough to sell here on Earth, opening up space to greater commercial use. [3D Printing: 10 Ways It Could Transform Space Travel]\n\n\"We believe that we're really on the verge of something truly amazing here, with kind of using space for industrial purposes for some of the very first times,\" Made In Space CEO Andrew Rush said during a news conference in late November.\n\nMade In Space is no stranger to the ISS. In 2014, a 3D printer built by the company made it to the orbiting lab, as part of a pilot project with NASA that aimed prove out the technology's use in space. That machine performed well, so the company launched a commercial version, known as the Additive Manufacturing Facility (AMF), to the station in 2016. The AMF continues to produce stuff for a variety of customers today. (NASA owns the 3D printer that launched in 2014.)\n\nThe machine that will launch tomorrow, which Rush said is a bit bigger than a microwave, is more specialized. It will produce a type of exotic optical fiber known as ZBLAN, which Made In Space representatives said is difficult to make on Earth: The high-gravity environment here causes tiny crystalline flaws to emerge in the fiber.\n\n\"In space, ZBLAN optical fiber can be produced without these crystals, providing superior data-transmission capabilities compared to both Earth-produced ZBLAN and traditional silica-fiber optic lines,\" Made In Space representatives wrote in a description of the project. \"This microgravity-produced fiber has numerous applications, including trans-Atlantic telecommunications, high-speed internet [and] lasers, as well as enhancing technologies in space.\"\n\nThe Made In Space machine will produce at least 330 feet (100 meters) of ZBLAN on this trial run, pulling the material like taffy from heated feedstock material. The fiber will then come back to Earth (aboard the same Dragon that took the feedstock up) for study and characterization, with the aid of project partner Thorlabs, a New Jersey-based company.\n\nIf the space-made ZBLAN looks good, Made In Space will aim to sell it, Rush said. And that will be just the beginning.\n\n\"We do intend to develop this into a commercial product that we sell in large quantities,\" he said. \"The progression of that will be kind of a step-by-step approach.\"\n\nLaunching raw materials to space is expensive, but ZBLAN is the sort of high-value product that makes on-orbit manufacturing economically feasible, Rush has said. And the company can make a lot of the material from a relatively small launch mass \u2014 about 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) of fiber per 2.2 lbs. (4 kilograms) of ZBLAN \"preform,\" Rush said during the news conference.\n\nThere's a lot of other cool stuff going up on the Dragon tomorrow as well: for example, a super-sensitive space-junk sensor, an experimental new bone adhesive, and an instrument that will measure the amount of energy going into and out of the Earth system with incredible precision.\n\nAnd the launch itself will be a milestone in SpaceX's quest to develop reusable spaceflight systems, a key priority of the company's founder and CEO, Elon Musk. The Dragon flying tomorrow already has one space mission under its belt, as does the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket that will carry the capsule aloft.\n\nFollow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.", "output": "Made In Space has launched into space a machine that prints optical fibres in orbit. The device, which is about the size of a microwave, was sent towards the International Space Station on board a SpaceX Dragon capsule. If successful, Made In Space's machine will make items good enough to sell on Earth, opening up space to greater commercial and industrial use.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon Alexa voice purchases up 13.5% this quarter \n The Echo Plus looks premium, and almost identical to the original\n\nAmazon 's Alexa voice technology is helping consumer brands sell more, according to a recent study, underscoring its potential as a major marketing platform.\n\n\n\nThe study, run by Linc Global and Rakuten, shows that Echo owners increased their purchases of consumer products, like diapers, by 13.5% in the third quarter of 2017, up from the 7.5% jump seen in the second quarter of this year. Those companies also saw an unusually high 60% upsell rate, meaning the consumers bought more products from the same brand after their Echo purchase.\n\n\"This study indicates that voice search has a positive impact on sales of standardized products,\" James Lee, an analyst at Mizuho Securities wrote in a note published Wednesday.\n\nThe broader takeaway, according to Lee, is that Alexa's voice technology could turn into a major marketing platform for consumer brands. For example, the note says Pamper diapers could build an Alexa app that recommends re-orders of previous purchases or new products based on past shopping history.\n\nAmazon is also testing a new service that would potentially let customers order products from the consumer brand's Alexa app and pick up at local retailers, according the Mizuho note.\n\n\"Alexa's voice platform provides a powerful marketing channel for brands to sell direct,\" Lee wrote in the note.\n\nRelated: If Apple is serious about Siri, it needs to compete on Amazon's turf", "output": "Amazon Alexa users bought 13.5% more products using the device's voice technology in Q3 2017 than in Q2, figures show. The figure increased 7.5% in the previous quarter of this year, according to a study by Linc Global and Rakuten. The same companies also showed a surprisingly high 60% upsell rate, with consumers buying more items from the same brand after their initial Echo purchase. The statistic indicates that Alexa could prove a key marketing platform, said James Lee, an analyst at Mizuho Securities.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon Alexa voice purchases up 13.5% this quarter \n BII\n\nThis story was delivered to BI Intelligence \"E-Commerce Briefing\" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.\n\nEcho owners have been increasing their voice purchases of consumer products in Q3 2017, according to a study by Linc Global and Rakuten cited by CNBC.\n\nThe study found that Amazon Echo users increased their voice purchases of consumer products, like diapers and paper towels, by nearly 14% in Q3 \u2014 much steeper growth than the 7.5% increase in Q2. Moreover, shoppers who bought items through the Echo continued to make additional voice purchases from the same brands, which boosted upsell rates by 60%. However, Amazon offers voice-only deals that may be enticing these shoppers to buy more products.\n\nVoice shopping still has a ways to go before consumers start using it regularly for nonconventional purchases. A separate survey by SAP Hybris found that 28% of voice device owners weren\u2019t confident that their devices could provide them with suitable gift recommendations. Twenty percent of respondents stated that smart speakers are limited because they can't determine the visual quality of products, while 19% felt that speakers require too much guidance to make shopping through them worthwhile.\n\nThis means that the shopping experience still isn\u2019t robust or frictionless enough for customers to widely adopt it beyond repeat purchases \u2014 customers will likely continue to buy the same household items via voice, for example, because they know the brand and quality of the items they'll receive.\n\nHome devices with a screen \u2014 such as the Echo Show \u2014 may help increase voice shopping. Providing a screen could help customers better evaluate products if they need to. Additionally, voice assistants could use AI to power product recommendations for voice shoppers, which could help boost purchasing beyond consumer products. Amazon is especially well poised to do this, as it has a surfeit of customer data from its online shoppers, and is known for its product recommendations.\n\nHowever, Google is also known for its AI capabilities, and retailers could take advantage of a partnership with the company by allowing it to access their customer data. With voice-enabled speakers estimated to be in about 55% of US households by 2022, retailers should be developing strong strategies on this channel now to benefit from the growing adoption of these devices.\n\nA revolution in payments and banking is beginning as virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa gain the abilities of cashiers, personal shoppers, and bank tellers.\n\nAlready, Siri can help users make peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers with Venmo, Alexa can pay off Capital One credit card bills, and Google Assistant can let users shop with their voice from nearby stores.\n\nThis is just the beginning. Today, 18 million US consumers have made a voice payment, and BI Intelligence projects that figure will quadruple over the next five years.\n\nDan Van Dyke, senior research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on voice payments that:\n\nShares current and projected adoption of voice payments.\n\nOutlines voice payments and banking integrations on the market.\n\nExamines growth drivers and barriers to consumers' voice payments adoption.\n\nProvides strategies for successfully deploying voice interfaces.\n\nTo get the full report, subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND more than 250 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> Learn More Now\n\nYou can also purchase and download the report from our research store.", "output": "Amazon Alexa users bought 13.5% more products using the device's voice technology in Q3 2017 than in Q2, figures show. The figure increased 7.5% in the previous quarter of this year, according to a study by Linc Global and Rakuten. The same companies also showed a surprisingly high 60% upsell rate, with consumers buying more items from the same brand after their initial Echo purchase. The statistic indicates that Alexa could prove a key marketing platform, said James Lee, an analyst at Mizuho Securities.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nuvo introduces AI-driven robo-adviser \n Nuvo describes itself as an \u201cartificially intelligent digital broker powered by chatbot technology\u201d, offering financial advice through a combination of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and an in-house team of experts.\n\nThe FCA-regulated platform uses AI technology to learn about its customers and show them financial products suited to their needs and spending behaviour, positioning itself as something between a financial advisor and a comparison site.\n\nNuvo charges no fee for usage, and instead makes a profit by charging banks and insurers a commission fee.\n\nAccording to CEO and co-founder Richard Hayes, Nuvo can field thousands of concurrent conversations and recall user data to avoid repetition when fulfilling new quotes. It also runs regular analysis to ensure customers are always receiving the best deal for their circumstances, providing notifications when users come out of an introductory period or a new price is on offer.\n\nFor more complicated products like mortgages, Nuvo has a team of financial experts on board to provide personalised expertise to customers.\n\nThe news comes as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanely alum Ramya Joseph launched AI-powered ETFs platform Pefin last week, charging $14 a month with no minimum investment.\n\nSpeaking to the FT Adviser, Hayes said: \u201c\"It's the advice and understanding that places the customer at the centre of recommendations that is currently missing. Cheapest is not always best for the customer.\n\n\u201cThis is where Nuvo comes in, to provide free, impartial advice that ensures customers get the right option for them. Nuvo recommends the right product at the right price.\"\n\nThis article first appeared on http://www.digitalwealth.news/", "output": "Cheshire-based start-up Nuvo is offering customers tailored financial advice via a free platform employing artificial intelligence and chatbots. According to CEO Richard Hayes, the platform learns about its customers' habits and requirements using AI, while the chatbot offers a range of tailored financial products. Nuvo is positioning itself somewhere between a robo-adviser and a comparison site, earning revenue through commissions from asset managers and insurers rather than fees paid by customers. Human advisers are also available to discuss more complex issues, according to the firm.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google leading the AI race: The Economist \n COMMANDING the plot lines of Hollywood films, covers of magazines and reams of newsprint, the contest between artificial intelligence (AI) and mankind draws much attention. Doomsayers warn that AI could eradicate jobs, break laws and start wars. But such predictions concern the distant future. The competition today is not between humans and machines but among the world\u2019s technology giants, which are investing feverishly to get a lead over each other in AI.\n\nAn exponential increase in the availability of digital data, the force of computing power and the brilliance of algorithms has fuelled excitement about this formerly obscure corner of computer science. The West\u2019s largest tech firms, including Alphabet (Google\u2019s parent), Amazon, Apple, Facebook, IBM and Microsoft are investing huge sums to develop their AI capabilities, as are their counterparts in China. Although it is difficult to separate tech firms\u2019 investments in AI from other kinds, so far in 2017 (see chart 1) companies globally have completed around $21.3bn in mergers and acquisitions related to AI, according to PitchBook, a data provider, or around 26 times more than in 2015.\n\nMachine learning is the branch of AI that is most relevant to these firms. Computers sift through data to recognise patterns and make predictions without being explicitly programmed to do so. The technique is now used in all manner of applications in the tech industry, including online ad targeting, product recommendations, augmented reality and self-driving cars. Zoubin Ghahramani, who leads AI research at Uber, believes that AI will be as transformative as the rise of computers.\n\nOne way to understand AI\u2019s potential impact is to look at databases. From the 1980s these made it cheap to store information, pull out insights and handle cognitive tasks such as inventory management. Databases powered the first generation of software; AI will make the next far more predictive and responsive, says Frank Chen of Andreessen Horowitz, a venture-capital firm. An application such as Google\u2019s Gmail, which scans the content of e-mails and suggests quick, one-touch replies on mobile devices, is an early example of what could be coming.\n\nAs with past waves of new technology, such as the rise of personal computers and mobile telephony, AI has the potential to shake up the businesses of the tech giants by helping them overhaul existing operations and dream up new enterprises. But it also comes with a sense of menace. \u201cIf you\u2019re a tech company and you\u2019re not building AI as a core competence, then you\u2019re setting yourself up for an invention from the outside,\u201d says Jeff Wilke, chief executive of \u201cworldwide consumer\u201d at Amazon, and adjutant to Jeff Bezos.\n\nFuelled by rivalry, high hopes and hype, the AI boom can feel like the first California gold rush. Although Chinese firms such as Baidu and Alibaba are also investing in AI, and deploying it in their home market, the most visible prospectors are Western tech firms. Alphabet is widely perceived to be in the lead. It has been making sizeable profits from AI for years and has many of the best-known researchers. But it is early days and the race is far from over. Over the next several years, large tech firms are going to go head-to-head in three ways. They will continue to compete for talent to help train their corporate \u201cbrains\u201d; they will try to apply machine learning to their existing businesses more effectively than rivals; and they will try to create new profit centres with the help of AI.\n\nIdiot savants\n\nThe most frenzied rush is for human talent, which is far more scarce than either data or computing power. Demand for AI \u201cbuilders\u201d who can apply machine-learning techniques to huge sets of data in creative ways has ballooned, far exceeding the number of top students who have studied the techniques.\n\nToday AI systems are like \u201cidiot savants,\u201d says Gurdeep Singh Pall of Microsoft. \u201cThey are great at what they do, but if you don\u2019t use them correctly, it\u2019s a disaster.\u201d Hiring the right people can be critical to a firm\u2019s survival (some startups fail for lack of the right AI skills) which has set off a trend of firms plundering academic departments to hire professors and graduate students before they finish their degrees.\n\nJob fairs now resemble frantic \u201cThanksgiving Black Friday sales at Walmart\u201d, says Andrew Moore, dean of Carnegie Mellon University\u2019s (CMU) school of computer science, a pioneering institution in AI (whose robotics department was famously plundered by Uber in 2015). Academic conferences, such as this week\u2019s Neural Information Processing Systems in Long Beach, California, double up as places to shop for talent (see article). The best recruiters are academia\u2019s AI celebrities: people like Yann LeCun of Facebook and Geoffrey Hinton of Google\u2014both former professors who keep a university affiliation\u2014can attract others to work alongside them. Proprietary data can also serve as a draw, if the huge salaries are not enough.\n\nIf none of that works, companies buy whole startups. The tech industry first took notice of this trend in 2014, when Google spent an estimated $500m on DeepMind, a startup with no revenue or marketable product but a team of \u201cdeep learning\u201d researchers; after the deal they designed a program that beat the world champion at \u201cGo\u201d, an ancient board game. Other firms have also shelled out to buy money-losing startups, which are typically valued not on future profits or even sales but instead receive a price for each employee that can be as much as $5m-10m.\n\nBehind closed doors\n\nCompanies have different philosophies about how to deal with staff. Some, such as Microsoft and IBM, invest heavily in AI research and publish a large number of papers (see chart 2), but do not require researchers to apply their findings to money-making activities. At the opposite end of the scale are Apple and Amazon, which do not have enormous research initiatives, expect all work to feed into products and are tight-lipped about their work. Google and Facebook are somewhere in between on whether researchers must toil only on money-making ventures.\n\nThe intense battle for talent may force secretive companies to become more open. \u201cIf you tell them, \u2018come work with us but you can\u2019t tell anyone what you\u2019re working on\u2019, then they won\u2019t come because you\u2019ll be killing their career,\u201d explains Mr LeCun, who leads Facebook\u2019s AI research lab. This trade-off between secrecy and the need to attract people also applies to the Chinese giants, which are trying to establish Western outposts and hire American researchers. Baidu has opened two research labs with an AI focus in Silicon Valley, in 2013 and this year. Western AI researchers rate them highly but prefer to work for the American giants, in part due to their relative transparency. If companies can lure the right people in AI, the effect is to extend their workforces exponentially. AI is \u201clike having a million interns\u201d at one\u2019s disposal, says Benedict Evans of Andreessen Horowitz. That computational power is then integrated into firms\u2019 existing businesses. The advantages of AI are most visible in firms\u2019 predictions of what users want. Automated recommendations and suggestions are responsible for around three-quarters of what people watch on Netflix, for example, and more than a third of what people buy on Amazon. Facebook, which owns the popular app Instagram, uses machine learning to recognise the content of posts, photos and videos and display relevant ones to users, as well as filter out spam. In the past it ranked posts chronologically, but serving up posts and ads by relevance keeps users more engaged. Without machine learning, Facebook would never have achieved its current scale, argues Joaquin Candela, head of its applied AI group. Companies that did not use AI in search, or were late to do so, struggled, as in the case of Yahoo and its search engine, and also Microsoft\u2019s Bing.\n\nAmazon and Google have gone furthest in applying AI to a range of operations. Machine learning makes Amazon\u2019s online and physical operations more efficient. It has around 80,000 robots in its fulfilment centres, and also uses AI to categorise inventory and decide which trucks to allocate packages to. For grocery ordering, it has applied computer vision to recognise which strawberries and other fruits are ripe and fresh enough to be delivered to customers, and is developing autonomous drones that will one day deliver orders.\n\nAs for Google, it uses AI to categorise content on YouTube, its online-video website, and weed out (some) objectionable material, and also to identify people and group them in its app, Google Photos. AI is also embedded in Android, its operating system, helping it to work more smoothly and to predict which apps people are interested in using. Google Brain is regarded in the field of AI as one of the best research groups at applying machine-learning advances profitably, for example by improving search algorithms. As for DeepMind, the British firm may not ever generate much actual revenue for Alphabet, but it has helped its parent save money by increasing the energy efficiency of its global data centres (and its Go experiment was a public-relations coup).\n\nArtificial intelligence is also being applied in the corporate world. David Kenny, the boss of Watson, IBM\u2019s AI platform, predicts that there will be \u201ctwo AIs\u201d: companies that profit from offering AI-infused services to consumers and others which offer them to businesses. In practice, the two worlds meet because of the tech giants\u2019 cloud-computing arms. Providers are competing to use AI as a way to differentiate their offerings and lock in customers. The three largest\u2014Amazon Web Services, Microsoft\u2019s Azure and Google Cloud\u2014offer application-programming interfaces (APIs) that provide machine-learning capabilities to other companies. Microsoft\u2019s cloud offering, Azure, for example, helped Uber build a verification tool that asks drivers to take a selfie to confirm their identities when they work. Google Cloud offers a \u201cjobs API\u201d, which helps companies match jobseekers with the best positions.\n\nAI on the brain\n\nMany firms in other industries, from retailing to media, stand to benefit from what those in the cloud business tout as the \u201cdemocratisation\u201d of AI. Providing AI to companies that do not have the skills or scale to build up sophisticated capabilities independently could be a money-spinner in the $250bn cloud market. But providers often must customise APIs for clients\u2019 complex needs, which is time-consuming. Microsoft, with its history of selling software to clients and offering them support, seems likely to do well in this area. It is only a matter of time before AI offerings become \u201cmore and more self-help\u201d, counters Diane Greene, who runs Google Cloud.\n\nIBM is another contender, having backed a huge marketing campaign for its Watson platform. AI researchers tend to be dismissive of IBM, which has a large consulting business and a reputation for valuing time billed over terabytes. The firm\u2019s critics also point out that, although IBM has invested over $15bn in Watson and spent $5bn between 2010 and 2015 to buy companies, much of that with the aim of acquiring proprietary data, for the most part it does not have unique data of its own. But IBM\u2019s weaknesses may not hold it back. Bosses of most businesses feel pressure to have an AI strategy, and they will pay handsomely to acquire one quickly.\n\nTo date tech giants have mostly tried to apply AI to reap profits from their existing operations. In the next few years they hope that AI will let them build new businesses. One area of intense competition is virtual assistants. Smartphones know their users intimately, but AI-powered virtual assistants aim to take the relationship further, whether through phones or smartspeakers. Apple was first to explore their promise when it bought Siri, a voice assistant, in 2010. Since then Amazon, Google and Microsoft have invested heavily: their assistants\u2019 speech recognition is better as a result. Samsung, Facebook and Baidu are also competing to offer them.\n\nOne algorithm to rule them all\n\nIt is unclear whether standalone speakers will become a huge market, but it is certain that people will move beyond text to engage with the internet. \u201cAll these companies understand that whoever owns that choke point for consumers will rule the market,\u201d says Pedro Domingos, author of \u201cThe Master Algorithm\u201d, a book about AI.\n\nFurther into the future, augmented-reality (AR) devices are another AI-infused opportunity. Mobile apps like Snap, a messaging app, and the game Pok\u00e9mon Go are early examples of AR. But AR could more radically transform people\u2019s relationship with the internet, so that they consume digital information not from a small screen but via an ambient, ever-present experience. AR devices will offer portable AI capabilities, such as simultaneous translation and facial recognition.\n\nIn the race for AR, big tech firms have not got much beyond the warm-up phase. Google and Apple have launched AR software-development kits; they both want developers to build apps that use AR on their platforms. There is also a rush to develop AR hardware. Google was early to launch a prototype for AR glasses, but they flopped. Microsoft has developed a headset it calls HoloLens, but with a price of between $3,000-5,000, it is a niche product. Other firms, including Facebook and Apple, are thought to be planning their own offerings. Being ahead in AI could translate into big leads in these new fields.\n\nNowhere is that truer than in the realm of autonomous vehicles. Tech firms are driving millions of miles to build up big, proprietary datasets, and are making use of computer vision to train their systems to recognise objects in the real world. The potential spoils are huge. Personal transportation is a vast market, worth around $10trn globally, and whoever cracks self-driving cars can apply their knowledge to other AI-based projects, such as drones and robots. Unlike search engines, where people may choose to use a service that is good enough, users are more likely to favour self-driving cars with the best safety record, meaning that the companies that best employ AI to map out the physical world and register the fewest crashes will enjoy outsize benefits.\n\nEach firm is approaching the problem differently. Baidu, the Chinese giant, is trying to create a self-driving-car operating system, much like Google\u2019s Android in mobile devices (although it is unclear how it plans to make money). Alphabet has its own autonomous-car effort, as do Uber, Tesla, an electric carmaker, a herd of little-known startups and, increasingly, established carmakers. (Apple is rumoured to have scaled back its car ambitions.)\n\nSelf-driving cars are just one example of how technology firms\u2019 AI strategies are pushing beyond the virtual world of software into hardware. Many companies, including Alphabet, Apple and Microsoft, are also investing to build specialised, powerful \u201cAI chips\u201d that can power their various activities. These will compete with those made by NVIDIA, a tech firm that has built an empire on powerful chips used in various AI realms, such as autonomous cars and virtual reality.\n\nIt is unclear whether the likes of Alphabet and Apple will sell these chips to rival firms or keep them for themselves. They have an incentive to use their innovations to improve their own services, rather than renting or selling them to rivals\u2014which could become a problem if it means a very few firms develop a meaningful advantage in brute computing power.\n\nThat begs the broader question of whether AI will further concentrate power among today\u2019s digital giants. It seems likely that the incumbent tech groups will capture many of AI\u2019s gains, given their wealth of data, computing power, smart algorithms and human talent, not to mention a head start on investing. History points to the likelihood of concentration; both databases and personal computers ushered in ascendancies, if only for a while, of a tiny group of tech firms (Oracle and IBM in databases, Microsoft and Apple in personal computers).\n\nBy the metrics that count\u2014talent, computing power and data\u2014Google appears to be in the lead in AI. It can afford the cleverest people and has such a variety of projects, from drones to cars to smart software, that people interested in machine learning rarely leave. Other firms had to learn to take AI seriously, but Google\u2019s founders were early devotees of machine learning and always saw it as a competitive edge.\n\nAI\u2019s spiritual home\n\nSome in the tech industry, such as Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla and rocket firm SpaceX, worry about Alphabet and other firms monopolising AI talent and expertise. He and a handful of other prominent Silicon Valley bosses funded OpenAI, a not-for-profit research outfit focused on AI with no corporate affiliation. Mr Musk and others are worried about what might happen when a firm finally cracks \u201cgeneral intelligence\u201d, the ability of a computer to perform any human task without being explicitly programmed to do so. Such a vision is probably decades away, but that does not stop Google from talking about it. \u201cWe absolutely want to\u201d crack general AI, says Jeff Dean, the boss of Google Brain. If a firm were to manage this, it could change the competitive landscape entirely.\n\nIn the meantime, much will depend on whether tech firms are open and collaborative. In addition to publishing papers, many companies today make their machine-learning software libraries open source, offering internal tools to rivals and independent developers. Google\u2019s library, TensorFlow, is particularly popular. Facebook has open-sourced two of its libraries, Caffe2 and Pytorch. Openness has strategic advantages. As they are used, the libraries are debugged, and the firms behind them get reputational benefits. \u201cBeware of geeks bearing gifts,\u201d quips Oren Etzioni of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, another non-profit research group.\n\nOne guru of the field worries that libraries such as TensorFlow will bring in talented researchers but that their owners may start charging later on, or use them for profit in other ways. Such caution may prove wise, but few think about the long term when a gold rush is under way. So it is now in Silicon Valley. Most techies are too consumed by the promise and potential profits of AI to spend too much time worrying about the future.", "output": "Google is leading the charge in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), thanks to projects including DeepMind, TensorFlow and Google Brain, according to an article in The Economist. It said that Google's combination of huge quantities of data, computing power, human talent and smart algorithms help put the search giant ahead of its rivals, and could give it the edge when it comes to scaling and commercialising rapidly evolving AI technologies, such as autonomous cars and virtual reality."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Rwanda launches healthcare platform to entice medical tourists \n New drive to ease access to specialised medical care\n\nOrdinarily, a Rwandan seeking specialized treatment abroad would go through a rigorous process. Most of them go through agents of various international hospitals who will come with a markup price while others rely on friends and family abroad to get them appointments.", "output": "Rwanda is looking to establish itself as a medical tourism hub after a local start-up\u00a0launched\u00a0a\u00a0health services booking and travel platform. Revisions to the visa regime and expanded flights for local carrier RwandAir are also expected to\u00a0draw\u00a0in more overseas patients. The platform, managed by Infinite Health International, the African representative of healthcare services provider\u00a0Best in Class Care, offers patients immediate virtual consultations, while those with medical referrals can access care in accredited Rwandan hospitals, as well as get help with\u00a0medical travel. The service\u00a0also aims to\u00a0give\u00a0Rwandans better access to healthcare.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brexit is a distraction from UK's economic downfall: Mitchell \n As Brexiteers shout \u201cforward\u201d and remainers chant \u201c back\u201d, the battle over the EU dominates British politics. Yet it obscures a more basic British problem. Our clapped-out economy, brilliant at consumption, poor at production, is becoming unviable. A \u201cnation of shopkeepers\u201d has become a nation of shoppers, dependent on debt.\n\nDeindustrialisation and misguided economic policies have reduced the former workshop of the world to a level where Britain can neither pay its way, nor afford the defence and public services an advanced society needs. Everything in which we once were leaders \u2013 ships, railways, TV, great bridges, nuclear plants, bicycles, textiles, clothing, even Kit Kats \u2013 we now import.\n\nWe consume more than we produce, leading to an annual balance of payments deficit rising above 6% of GDP, financed by borrowing and selling companies, property and citizenship to survive. The result is a sluggish economy (a growing proportion of which is owned by foreigners); low productivity (because the manufacturing sector has shrunk to one-tenth of GDP); and static pay, as every sector except finance cuts costs to survive.\n\nBeing in or out of the EU has little relevance to this basic problem. The EU is a market, not a mutual support system. Instead of redistributing growth to succour laggards it punishes them, as it has Greece. It drains us and proscribes the techniques of nurture by state aid, protectionism and devaluation by which Germany and France grew. Its \u201caid\u201d is just our own money back, with the EU\u2019s heavy costs taken out. Even worse, Germany\u2019s huge surpluses mean that deficit countries like the UK, with our \u00a360bn-plus trade deficit, are compounded by the single market.\n\nYet coming out offers no solution either. It generates uncertainty and deters investment. Most of world trade is controlled by multinationals, and Britain would be more vulnerable to their ministrations. Tory Brexiteers aim at turning us, down and dirty, into a low-wage, deregulated, cost-cutting tax haven-on-Thames. Hardly acceptable to an electorate that has already endured decades of that.\n\nTraining and upskilling are little use without industries to employ the beneficiaries\n\nThe only solution is to rebalance an economy excessively dependent on finance and services by widening the manufacturing and production base and making it competitive. Neither free trade nor the single market will do that. New industries don\u2019t just come, still less grow to scale, or become national champions like VW, Samsung or Toyota, unaided. The only historic model of rebuilding is that used by Germany and Japan after the second world war, and later by young dragons such as Korea and Taiwan, followed now by China.\n\nAll built powerful exporting sectors by the opposite methods to those that have reduced Britain to its present pass. They used a devalued exchange rate, deliberately kept low to penalise imports and boost exports. They built up powerful exporting sectors and strong competitor companies by industrial policy, state support and investment, while restraining domestic demand to channel ability and investment into production. The result was a process of continuous improvement, while Britain wound down.\n\nHarsh treatment, but what alternative do we have? Neoliberalism has damaged, not boosted. Shelf-stacking and delivery driving for the consumer society offer few prospects. The Washington consensus doesn\u2019t work. Training and upskilling are little use without industries to employ the beneficiaries. The financial sector is better at producing wealth for the few than jobs for the many.\n\nThe government\u2019s new industrial strategy offers hope without muscle. Our civil servants are hopeless at working with industry. We lack the French pantouflage skill at transferring their elite civil servants between public and private sectors, while Treasury rules make financial support bureaucratic and restrictive. Our governments have been generous to the banks, not to manufacturing. Finance prefers safe lending on mortgages to venture capital. Our unions don\u2019t work like the German ones do in the Mitbestimmung system. Our companies look to short-term profit rather than long-term growth. Our capitalism is better at rent-seeking than competing.\n\nSerious policies of state support, economic discipline, corporate governance and investment priorities are essential to make Britain\u2019s economy fit for use, in or out of the single market. Widening and deepening our industrial base requires a substantial devaluation, a restraint on domestic living standards, an industrial policy sustained by state intervention, investment and a venture capitalism that will allow a hundred plants to blossom. Britain won\u2019t make it unless it can make things and sell them to the world.\n\nThe prospect is daunting. Hopes for a government strong enough to do it look slim, and an electorate already alienated by years of austerity to no purpose won\u2019t welcome more tough measures. Perhaps we\u2019re set on a path of decline which has to go further and hurt more, before anything is done. Yet nothing will be, unless our political elite grasps the real problem. The argument over EU membership is just another distraction.", "output": "A sluggish economy, low productivity and static pay are bigger threats to the UK than Brexit, according to former Labour MP for Grimsby, Austin Mitchell.\u00a0Deindustrialisation and economic policy have turned the UK into \"a nation of shoppers, dependent on debt\", says Mitchell. An annual balance of payments deficit of over 6% of GDP demonstrates this consumption, he states. Mitchell advises a turn to reindustrialisation and a more long-term approach to growth.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Boeing aims to beat Elon Musk to be first to land humans on Mars \n Take that Elon Musk! Boeing will beat SpaceX to Mars, CEO Dennis Muilenburg told CNBC.\n\nMusk has made it clear that sending humans to Mars is one of his primary goals, even saying it is the reason he started SpaceX in the first place.\n\nBut Boeing is in the final assembly stages of building a rocket called the Space Launch System with NASA, and the company will be the first to bring humans to the red planet, Muilenberg told \"Mad Money\" host Jim Cramer in an exclusive interview.\n\nBoeing expects to have the system ready for a test flight in 2019.\n\n\"Eventually we are going to go to Mars, and I firmly believe that the first person that sets foot on Mars will get there in a Boeing rocket,\" he said.\n\nSpaceX was not immediately available for comment.\n\nMusk unveiled plans for a massive SpaceX rocket and spacecraft system called the \"BFR\" in September. It will ultimately replace all of SpaceX's current lineup, and will be used for space exploration and for rapid transport around Earth.\n\n\"I feel fairly confident we can build the ship and be ready for the launch in five years,\" Musk said during his presentation at the International Astronautical Congress in Australia in late September. \"Five years seems like a long time for me.\"", "output": "The CEO of aircraft manufacturer Boeing has revealed the company is working with NASA to build a rocket capable of reaching Mars. Dennis Muilenburg said Boeing's Space Launch System rocket is due for a test flight in 2019\u00a0and added: \"I firmly believe that the first person that sets foot on Mars will get there in a Boeing rocket.\"\u00a0In contrast, Elon Musk estimated his SpaceX system \"BFR\", plans for which were unveiled in September, would be ready for launch in five years."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "YouTube plans to launch a music-streaming service \n Spotify and Apple Music may have a new streaming rival in 2018.\n\nYouTube is planning to launch a standalone paid music streaming service in March 2018, according to a report at Bloomberg.\n\nAccording to sources, the service will be called Remix and is expected to feature on-demand music streaming like Spotify alongside a video clip element borrowed from YouTube. No pricing details have been confirmed as yet.\n\nRemix wouldn\u2019t be the first time that YouTube\u2019s parent company Alphabet has launched a streaming service: as well as Google Play Music, launched in 2011, there was 2014\u2019s ad-free music video service YouTube Music Key, which turned into subscription service YouTube Red in 2016.\n\nAccording to Bloomberg\u2019s report, Warner Music Group has already signed onto the service with Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and independent label consortium Merlin also said to be in talks.\n\nRemix will be entering a crowded marketplace: as well as Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal, the new streaming service will also have Amazon\u2019s recent Music Unlimited to contend with.\n\nRead next: How the technology behind Bitcoin could change the music industry \u2013 and help everyone get paid", "output": "Alphabet, the parent company of YouTube, will launch music-streaming service Remix in March 2018, according to reports. Warner Music Group is said to have already signed up for the service, with talks going on with independent label consortium Merlin, as well as Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group. No pricing details have been released. Remix marks Alphabet's third foray into the increasingly competitive sector, following Google Play Music in 2011\u00a0and YouTube Music Key, launched in 2014 and rebranded as YouTube Red two years later.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Starling Bank connects with Railsbank to use its open API \n Starling Bank has hopped on to the Railsbank platform, providing a firm footing for businesses to issue UK bank accounts and access Faster Payments via the Railsbank Open API.\n\nLaunched last year by serial entrepreneur Nigel Verdon, Railsbank promises to provide businesses with access to global banking services with just five lines of code.\n\n\n\nStarling - which announced plans to move into the business banking market in October - now joins Railsbank stakeholder Ark\u00e9a Banking Services, a subsidiary of Credit Mutuel Ark\u00e9a, on the startup's banking panel.\n\n\n\nCOO and co-founder of Railsbank Clive Mitchell says: \u201cWe are delighted to be partnered with the team at Starling and to be one of the first aggregator platform live on Starling. It shows that our partner bank network is growing quickly, and that wholesale open banking with APIs is a reality.\"", "output": "Mobile challenger bank Starling Bank has joined the Railsbank platform, giving businesses access to UK banking services and Faster Payments through Railsbank's open API. Starling also joins the start-up's banking panel alongside Ark\u00e9a Banking Services. Railsbank's COO,\u00a0Clive Mitchell, said the deal\u00a0\u201cshows\u00a0wholesale open banking with APIs is a reality\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Grocery band Kroger attempts to challenge Amazon and Walmart \n Amazon\u2019s advertising business is worth at least $1 billion, and Walmart has a growing advertising platform, too. Kroger, one of the biggest grocery brands in the U.S., is also venturing into retail media. Kroger is selling its suppliers ad units and solutions, and it is developing a programmatic platform that will go live next year.\n\nKroger, which owns the likes of Harris Teeter, Baker\u2019s and Fred Meyer Jewelers, generated $27.7 billion in sales from July to September of this year, up 4.5 percent from the same period a year prior, according its quarterly earnings report released in November. Approximately half of all U.S. households have a Kroger loyalty card, which drives nearly 90 percent of Kroger\u2019s sales, according to the company. Like Walmart, Kroger boasts that its loyalty program data and purchase data gathered from its mobile apps, brand websites and around 2,800 stores across 35 states in the U.S. can help its suppliers (mostly consumer packaged goods companies like Procter & Gamble) serve targeted ads on Kroger\u2019s properties and the open web.\n\nKroger\u2019s sales pitch may sound familiar, as mass retailers like Amazon and Walmart all use their consumer purchase data as the cornerstone to carve out a media business. But different from Amazon, which has an in-house media division called Amazon Marketing Group, and Walmart, whose media platform was largely built by WPP-owned Triad Retail Media (which also creates ad units to sell for other retailers), Kroger bought the data analytics piece of agency Dunnhumby (formerly a joint venture between Kroger and Tesco) around three years ago to form its own consumer insights subsidiary called 84.51\u00b0.\n\n\u201cCPG brands today are splitting their marketing spend between trade and advertising. Trade promotion is one of the industry\u2019s largest investments \u2014 this is promotional dollars to influence brick-and-mortar sale pricing like temporary price reductions,\u201d said Cara Pratt, vp of customer communications product strategy and innovation for 84.51\u00b0. \u201cCPGs shift their marketing budgets across vehicles \u2014 many of which deliver against different business objectives, but all are intended to [generate] sales. Our science and Kroger\u2019s customer insights help CPG brands drive actions.\u201d\n\nKroger is the only retailer that the 84.51\u00b0 team of 775 serves. The division also helps more than 300 CPG clients understand how to better use Kroger\u2019s data and third-party data for advertising. The majority of 84.51\u00b0 employees are based in its Cincinnati office, which is only a 10-minute walk from the Kroger headquarters. A small team in Portland, Oregon, is also responsible for media planning and buying for the Kroger brand, according to Bob Welch, svp of customer communications and Kroger media services for 84.51\u00b0.\n\nWelch said Kroger\u2019s advertising business has two pillars: One component is Kroger\u2019s customer communications program, where the retailer runs direct and email campaigns for its suppliers with tailored content and promotions; the other is what the company calls \u201cprecision marketing solution,\u201d powered by Kroger\u2019s purchase data from 60 million households.\n\nOne offering under Kroger\u2019s precision marketing solution is on-site advertising on Kroger.com. 84.51\u00b0 is responsible for developing ad formats on the site and managing ad sales for Kroger, much like what Triad Retail Media does for Walmart. \u201cYou can say that we borrowed the Triad model, but the differentiation is our ability to personalize the experience,\u201d said Pratt. \u201cWe can connect 96 percent of Kroger transactions to a customer, which allows us to serve very targeted product placement and drive better conversion.\u201d\n\nCPG clients can also buy co-branded media on the open web \u2014 largely display ads that include the Kroger logo and direct consumers to Kroger properties when they click on the ad \u2014 as well as run word-of-mouth campaigns through Kroger\u2019s MyMagazine Sharing Network, where brands give out free products, and members give their feedback and share the product on social media in return, according to Pratt.\n\nPratt declined to share the total number of ad formats Kroger sells and the corresponding pricing model. \u201cSome formats are CPM-based and some are [cost-per-click]-based,\u201d she said. \u201cCPC-based ads are more connected to search marketing.\u201d\n\nMost Kroger precision marketing buys are placed programmatically through a combination of programmatic direct and open exchange inventory, according to Pratt. 84.51\u00b0 is also developing a programmatic platform that will be available in the next year to let advertisers buy ads on Kroger.com. Kroger\u2019s ad solutions don\u2019t apply to Harris Teeter or Roundy\u2019s brands at the moment.\n\n\u201cExtending our capabilities to those newer brands to the Kroger family will occur in the future,\u201d said Pratt.", "output": "Kroger, one of the biggest grocery brands in the US, is working to develop its own media unit, offering data-driven, personalised ad campaigns to consumer packaged goods firms. Collaborating with data analytics firm 84.51\u00b0, Kroger helps brands optimise its data as well as third-party information for highly-targeted advertising. The retailer, whose loyalty card is held by half of US households, aims to take on rivals Amazon and Walmart with its programmatic offerings, and is set to launch a platform next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Samsung Pay offers app for mobile banking in South Korea \n Samsung Electronics Co.'s mobile payment system is moving to expand into the banking sector to offer more diverse services to users, the South Korean tech giant said Sunday.\n\n\n\nThe company said that starting Thursday, the payment system installed on some of its newer smartphones can be used to carry out transactions at some local banks.\n\n\n\nUnder the upgrade, the 9 million domestic users of Samsung Pay, who can now use their phones like cash or credit cards, as well as at ATMs, will be able to withdraw or send money from accounts in Shinhan and Woori banks. This can be done by downloading a dedicated app on their smartphones.\n\n\n\nThe system makes full use of the iris scanner on its top of the line phones, with users no longer required to present bank books and ATM cards. The sending of money can be done without the use of one time password systems.\n\n\n\nSamsung said it plans to expand the same services to other local lenders.\n\n\n\n\"The mobile payment is being developed so that it will one day fully replace a person's purse of wallet,\" a Samsung executive said.\n\n\n\nRelated to such an expansion, LG Pay, set up by Samsung's main domestic rival LG Electronics Inc., said it is moving to expand its services in more stores across the country.\n\n\n\nThe consumer electronics company said while its payment system is currently being offered only with its premium phones like the V30, it plans to incorporate the feature into mid-range phones starting next year. It said LG Pay will reach the United States next year. (Yonhap)\n\n\n\n", "output": "South Korea's Samsung Electronics is upgrading the payment system on its latest smartphones to allow users to withdraw and send money using local banks Shinhan and Woori. The upgrade affects nine million domestic Samsung Pay users, who need to download a dedicated app to access the service, but will no longer need to rely on ATM cards after having done so. The company said it plans to expand the roll-out to other local banks."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Data devices could use 20% of global electricity by 2025 \n The communications industry could use 20% of all the world\u2019s electricity by 2025, hampering attempts to meet climate change targets and straining grids as demand by power-hungry server farms storing digital data from billions of smartphones, tablets and internet-connected devices grows exponentially.\n\nThe industry has long argued that it can considerably reduce carbon emissions by increasing efficiency and reducing waste, but academics are challenging industry assumptions. A new paper, due to be published by US researchers later this month, will forecast that information and communications technology could create up to 3.5% of global emissions by 2020 \u2013 surpassing aviation and shipping \u2013 and up to 14% 2040, around the same proportion as the US today.\n\nGlobal computing power demand from internet-connected devices, high resolution video streaming, emails, surveillance cameras and a new generation of smart TVs is increasing 20% a year, consuming roughly 3-5% of the world\u2019s electricity in 2015, says Swedish researcher Anders Andrae.\n\nIn an update to a 2016 peer-reviewed study, Andrae found that without dramatic increases in efficiency, the ICT industry could use 20% of all electricity and emit up to 5.5% of the world\u2019s carbon emissions by 2025. This would be more than any country except the US, China and India.\n\nHe expects industry power demand to increase from 200-300 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity a year now, to 1,200 or even 3,000TWh by 2025. Data centres on their own could produce 1.9 gigatonnes (Gt) (or 3.2% of the global total) of carbon emissions, he says.\n\n\u201cThe situation is alarming,\u201d said Andrae, who works for the Chinese communications technology firm Huawei. \u201cWe have a tsunami of data approaching. Everything which can be is being digitalised. It is a perfect storm. 5G [the fifth generation of mobile technology] is coming, IP [internet protocol] traffic is much higher than estimated, and all cars and machines, robots and artificial intelligence are being digitalised, producing huge amounts of data which is stored in data centres.\u201d\n\nUS researchers expect power consumption to triple in the next five years as one billion more people come online in developing countries, and the \u201cinternet of things\u201d (IoT), driverless cars, robots, video surveillance and artificial intelligence grows exponentially in rich countries.\n\n\u201cThere will be 8.4bn connected things in 2017, setting the stage for 20.4bn internet of things devices to be deployed by 2020,\u201d says the leading internet analyst firm Gartner.\n\nThe industry has encouraged the idea that the digital transformation of economies and large-scale energy efficiencies will slash global emissions by 20% or more, but the scale and speed of the revolution has been a surprise.\n\nGlobal internet traffic will increase nearly threefold in the next five years says the latest Cisco Visual Networking Index, a leading industry tracker of internet use.\n\n\u201cMore than one billion new internet users are expected, growing from three billion in 2015 to 4.1bn by 2020. Over the next five years global IP networks will support up to 10bn new devices and connections, increasing from 16.3bn in 2015 to 26bn by 2020,\u201d says Cisco.\n\n\n\nA 2016 Berkeley laboratory report for the US government estimated the country\u2019s data centres, which held about 350m terabytes of data in 2015, could together need over 100TWh of electricity a year by 2020. This is the equivalent of about 10 large nuclear power stations.\n\nData centre capacity is also rocketing in Europe and Asia with London, Frankfurt, Paris and Amsterdam expected to add nearly 200MW of consumption in 2017, or the power equivalent of a medium size power station.\n\n\u201cWe are seeing massive growth of data centres in all regions. Trends that started in the US are now standard in Europe. Asia is taking off massively,\u201d says Mitual Patel, head of EMEA data centre research at global investment firm CBRE.\n\n\u201cThe volume of data being handled by such centres is growing at unprecedented rates. They are seen as a key element in the next stage of growth for the ICT industry\u201d, says Peter Corcoran, a researcher at the university of Ireland, Galway.\n\nUsing renewable energy sounds good but no one else benefits from what will be generated, and it skews national attempts to reduce emissions\n\nIreland, which with Denmark is becoming a data base for the world\u2019s biggest tech companies, has 350MW connected to data centres but this is expected to triple to over 1,000MW, or the equivalent of a nuclear power station size plant, in the next five years.\n\nPermission has been given for a further 550MW to be connected and 750MW more is in the pipeline, says Eirgrid, the country\u2019s main grid operator.\n\n\u201cIf all enquiries connect, the data centre load could account for 20% of Ireland\u2019s peak demand,\u201d says Eirgrid in its All-Island Generation Capacity Statement 2017-2026 report.\n\nThe data will be stored in vast new one million square feet or larger \u201chyper-scale\u201d server farms, which companies are now building. The scale of these farms is huge; a single $1bn Apple data centre planned for Athenry in Co Galway, expects to eventually use 300MW of electricity, or over 8% of the national capacity and more than the daily entire usage of Dublin. It will require 144 large diesel generators as back up for when the wind does not blow.\n\nFacebook\u2019s Lulea data centre in Sweden, located on the edge of the Arctic circle, uses outside air for cooling rather than air conditioning and runs on hydroelectic power generated on the nearby Lule River. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian\n\nPressed by Greenpeace and other environment groups, large tech companies with a public face , including Google, Facebook, Apple, Intel and Amazon, have promised to use renewable energy to power data centres. In most cases they are buying it off grid but some are planning to build solar and wind farms close to their centres.\n\nGreenpeace IT analyst Gary Cook says only about 20% of the electricity used in the world\u2019s data centres is so far renewable, with 80% of the power still coming from fossil fuels.\n\n\u201cThe good news is that some companies have certainly embraced their responsibility, and are moving quite aggressively to meet their rapid growth with renewable energy. Others are just growing aggressively,\u201d he says.\n\nArchitect David Hughes, who has challenged Apple\u2019s new centre in Ireland, says the government should not be taken in by the promises.\n\n\u201cUsing renewable energy sounds good but no one else benefits from what will be generated, and it skews national attempts to reduce emissions. Data centres \u2026 have eaten into any progress we made to achieving Ireland\u2019s 40% carbon emissions reduction target. They are just adding to demand and reducing our percentage. They are getting a free ride at the Irish citizens\u2019 expense,\u201d says Hughes.\n\nEirgrid estimates indicate that by 2025, one in every 3kWh generated in Ireland could be going to a data centre, he added. \u201cWe have sleepwalked our way into a 10% increase in electricity consumption.\u201d\n\nFossil fuel plants may have to be kept open longer to power other parts of the country and the costs will fall on the consumer, he says. \u201cWe will have to upgrade our grid and build more power generation both wind and backup generation for when the wind isn\u2019t there and this all goes onto people\u2019s bills.\u201d\n\nUnder a best case scenario, says Andrae, there will be massive continuous improvements of power saving, renewable energy will become the norm and the explosive growth in demand for data will slow.\n\nBut equally, he says, demand could continue to rise dramatically if the industry keeps growing at 20% a year, driverless cars each with dozens of embedded sensors, and cypto-currencies like Bitcoin which need vast amounts of computer power become mainstream.\n\n\u201cThere is a real risk that it all gets out of control. Policy makers need to keep a close eye on this,\u201d says Andrae.", "output": "The rapidly growing communications industry, with its billions of smartphones, tablets and interconnected devices, could cause 3.5% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, 5.5% by 2025 and up to\u00a014% by 2040. It is also on target to use 20% of the world's electricity by 2025.\u00a0This is despite the industry long claiming that it can lower carbon emissions by reducing waste and increasing efficiency. The major technology companies have committed to using renewable energy for their data centres, but at present only 20% of electricity used in the world's data centres is from renewable sources.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Agtech start-up Roots develops crop-temperature control system \n Boaz Wachtel is best known in Israel for founding the Green Leaf (Ale Yarok) political party, which ran for Knesset several times on a platform of legalizing cannabis. Green Leaf never passed the voter threshold and Watchtel \u201cretired\u201d from the party in 2006. He has now transformed his passion for green into a different kind of initiative.\n\nWachtel is the founder of several Israeli agriculture technology companies. His latest \u2013 Roots Sustainable Agricultural Technologies \u2013 just went public on the Australian Stock Exchange, raising a modest $5 million.\n\nThere\u2019s nothing modest about Watchtel\u2019s ambitions for Roots, however, which he believes will be a game-changer addressing both worldwide hunger and the impact of drought on population migration. If Watchtel\u2019s technology had been available six years ago, when the climate change-sparked civil war first broke out in Syria, he says, \u201cI don\u2019t think that disaster would have occurred.\u201d\n\nWhat does Roots make that could be so revolutionary that it can stall revolutions? A seemingly simple technology that heats and cools the roots of plants, and another that can irrigate whole farms by harnessing dew.\n\nThe formal name for the latter is \u201cirrigation by condensation\u201d (IBC). Pipes filled with cooled water are run through crop beds. The contrast between the temperature of the cooled water in the pipe and the air outside extracts enough water through condensation to irrigate the plants. It works even in deserts or areas where there\u2019s little rainfall but plenty of humidity, Wachtel tells ISRAEL21c.\n\nWachtel got the idea when he was living in the United States in the late 1980s. Another entrepreneur was doing something similar, but with seawater. The problem was that \u201cno farmer wants seawater running on his farm,\u201d Wachtel explains. If the pipe breaks, the crops would be ruined. \u201cAnd if the farm isn\u2019t close to the sea, pumping the water can be very expensive.\u201d\n\nRoots\u2019 IBC system is standalone, with its own fresh water and electricity-cooled pipes. Eventually, Watchtel hopes to run it all by solar power. IBC was lauded as a \u201ctechnology of the month\u201d by NASA\u2019s Tech Briefs.\n\nWhile IBC is still in development, Roots\u2019 other technology, root zone temperature optimization (RZTO), is in trials on 12 Israeli farms and three in Spain. RTZO helps plants survive harsh weather by heating their roots in the winter and cooling them in the summer.\n\nThe Guardian featured RTZO prominently in an article asking \u201cHow do you feed 9.7 billion people?\u201d\n\nKeeping plants at the right temperature is nothing new \u2013 that\u2019s what greenhouses are all about. But most technologies \u201cfocus on air and temperature management, which is very wasteful, since there\u2019s a large volume of air,\u201d Wachtel says.\n\nBy focusing on just the roots, Wachtel\u2019s Roots uses less energy, making it more environmentally friendly. RTZO works by inserting heat-exchanging coils into the ground.\n\nRoots\u2019 tests so far show great promise. RTZO has led to crop yield increases of 20 to 40 percent for strawberries, cucumbers, tomatoes and basil, and up to 60% increases for lettuce.\n\nThe Australia connection\n\nWachtel hasn\u2019t strayed entirely from his Green Leaf roots \u2013 both Roots\u2019 products can be used for growing cannabis. And the two companies Wachtel started previously are both in the medical cannabis space: MMJ Phytotech, which has a market cap of $56 million, and Cresco Pharma, valued at $37 million.\n\nMMJ and Cresco, like Roots, are publicly traded in Australia, where there is a lot of interest in Israeli agricultural technologies. Like Israel, much of Australia is arid desert.\n\nHowever, the Australia connection is not just about water. The Australian Stock Exchange has been trying to expand beyond resource stocks (mining, forestry, oil exploration), Wachtel says. \u201cAs a result, they have been very open to listing startups and early-stage companies as a way to diversify the stock exchange.\u201d\n\nRoots began operating in 2012 within the Avital Pharma tech incubator and received seed funding from the Israel Innovation Authority (formerly the Office of the Chief Scientist).\n\nRoots is still small \u2013 just seven people, under the leadership of Sharon Devir, who has a background in agricultural engineering.\n\nWachtel, the inventor, is not a farmer or even a techie. He holds a master\u2019s degree in management and marketing from the University of Maryland.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m a curious guy who reads a lot,\u201d he tells ISRAEL21c. \u201cAnd I have a passion to solve water scarcity issues.\u201d In the early 1990s, Wachtel worked on water policy issues as a guest researcher at the Freedom House NGO.\n\nRoots plans to sell RTZO and IBC together in a single package. \u201cAnd it has to be affordable, for low-income farmers, to provide them access to water,\u201d Watchtel stresses.\n\nFor more information, click here\n\nADVERTISEMENT", "output": "Roots Sustainable Agricultural Technologies has developed a crop-root temperature control system it said uses minimal energy. The Israeli start-up said the system increases yield by mitigating the stress brought about by extreme temperature fluctuations. The company, which recently listed on the Australian stock exchange and raised AUD5m ($3.8m) in an initial public offering, has also developed an irrigation method that relies solely on condensation."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EU jobseekers still prefer UK even as Brexit vote damps allure \n The UK remains the most popular country among Europeans looking to work abroad, but its lead is eroding fast, according to new analysis by the world\u2019s largest job site Indeed.\n\nHowever, Britain\u2019s lead is shrinking as Germany and Ireland storm up the league table of most popular countries for European workers\n\nBritons remain the least likely to look for work in another EU country, but Brexit has driven a 15% increase in the number with itchy feet\n\nIndeed research comes as official statistics confirm an exodus of EU citizens from the UK in the 12 months following the Brexit referendum\n\nThe UK remains the most popular country among Europeans looking to work abroad, but its lead is eroding fast, according to new analysis by the world\u2019s largest job site Indeed.\n\nResearchers analysed the online search patterns of millions of jobseekers across the EU15, and found that among those looking for work in another country, the UK remains by far the most popular choice \u2013 attracting nearly a third of all interest in the first nine months of the year.\n\nBut for all Britain\u2019s dominance, its star has waned substantially in the wake of the 2016 Brexit vote. The UK\u2019s 31.8% share of EU15 cross-border job searches in the first nine months of 2017 is 14.7% lower than it was during the same period in 2015.\n\nTable: Ranking of the most popular countries for EU15 jobseekers (based on each country\u2019s share of cross-border job searches).\n\nThe analysis also suggests Britain\u2019s loss could be its rivals\u2019 gain. Germany, the second most popular country, saw its share of searches rise by a fifth (19.3%), while Ireland\u2019s rose by a third (33.6%) and Luxembourg\u2019s by a dizzying 56%.\n\nIndeed\u2019s data mirrors the UK\u2019s latest official migration statistics, which show that the number of EU citizens moving to Britain fell by 19% in the 12 months following the Brexit referendum. During the same period, the number of EU citizens leaving Britain rose by 29% to 123,000.\n\nThe analysis, which highlights where people would like to work and gives a flavour of trends to come, also reveals many British-based workers are busy planning to move elsewhere in the EU.\n\nWhile British job seekers considering a move abroad have traditionally been drawn mostly to English-speaking countries such as the US, Canada and Australia, between 2015 and 2017 Indeed tracked a 15.4% increase in the proportion looking for work in the EU.\n\nMeanwhile on the other side of the coin, Ireland\u2019s booming jobs market \u2013 and the waning appeal of Britain\u2019s \u2013 prompted a 16.5% fall in the proportion of Irish job seekers hoping to move to Britain.\n\nIt\u2019s a similar picture in Poland, a country which already has one million of its citizens living in the UK. Indeed\u2019s researchers found that between 2015 and 2017 the proportion of job seekers in Poland looking for work in Britain fell by 11.4%.\n\nMariano Mamertino, EMEA economist at Indeed, commented: \u201cFor much of the past decade, Britain\u2019s dynamic labour market has made it a poster boy for ambitious Europeans keen to progress their careers.\n\n\u201cLast year\u2019s Brexit vote hasn\u2019t stopped that attractiveness in its tracks, but it is clearly giving many European jobseekers pause for thought.\n\n\u201cSo while the UK is still the most popular destination among Europeans looking to work abroad, its lead is shrinking fast. Britain\u2019s loss could be its rivals\u2019 gain \u2013 and Germany, France and Ireland are all attracting a greater share of the interest from upwardly mobile EU citizens.\n\n\u201cOne more surprising aspect of the Brexit effect is the apparent outbreak of itchy feet among British jobseekers. Britain remains a net importer of talent from the EU, but the surge of interest in European roles among UK-based job seekers suggests the cross-Channel traffic is no longer just a one-way street.\u201d", "output": "The job-search patterns of European Union nationals on job site Indeed have shown that the UK remains their preferred country for overseas work. However, since 2015 - before the Brexit referendum - the proportion of jobseekers looking for work in the UK has fallen to 31.8% from 37.3%. The 14.7% contraction compares with a 19.3% surge in those preferring\u00a0Germany and 33.6% for\u00a0Ireland."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cedar develops personalised patient billing platform \n New York City-based Cedar, a startup offering patient-personalized medical billing, has raised $13 million in Series A funding. Participants in the round include Founders Fund, Thrive Captial, Martin Ventures and SV Angel.\n\nCedar promises a smart billing system that incorporates data points collected across the overall patient payment process. Its platform uses these to inform the method of communication, messaging, and payment option that it surfaces for patients, while optimizing its selections via machine learning in pursuit of improved patient responses.\n\n\u201cAt Cedar, we study everything from a patient\u2019s billing history, to their level of engagement with previous communications and general payer and demographic information,\" Florian Otto, cofounder and CEO of Cedar, said in a statement. \"Putting all of these signals together, our platform provides data-driven recommendations for providers to optimize all interactions with patients...We are excited to work with innovative, consumer-centric healthcare providers that see patient billing as an opportunity to vastly improve the patient experience and their own operations.\u201d\n\nCedar\u2019s platform is designed for hospitals, health systems, and medical groups. With it, providers are able to consolidate billing information across multiple caregivers while allowing a provider billing team to oversee these activities through a dashboard interface.\n\nThe platform can be implemented within 10 weeks and integrates with any EHR or practice management system, according to Cedar. Early tests of the system have demonstrated, on average, a 22 percent increase in collections, a 33 percent reduction in accounts receivable days, a 62 percent increase in self-serve payments, and a customer satisfaction rate of more than 90 percent.\n\n\u201cThe consumer experience in healthcare lags behind nearly every other industry \u2014 this is painfully obvious when you look at the current patient billing process,\" Kareem Zaki, an investor at Thrive Capital, said in a statement. \"We see Cedar doing much more than providing a Band-Aid solution to this problem. They're approaching the patient billing experience from a completely different viewpoint than other vendors, and creating a new standard for revenue cycle operations.\u201d", "output": "New York start-up Cedar aims to improve the consumer experience with its medical payment platform. Aimed at health systems, hospitals and medical groups, it incorporates data from across a patient's medical billing history, enabling providers to offer a personalised service. According to Cedar, which recently raised $13m in series A funding, implementation of the platform resulted in customer satisfaction rates of more than 90%, while collections rose by 22% and self-serve payments were up by 62%.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apprentice bringing AR to biopharma labs \n Jersey City, New Jersey-based Apprentice is bringing augmented reality to the realm of pharma and biotech manufacturing.\n\nThe startup recently raised $2.5 million to help it pursue its goal. The lead investor was Silverton Partners, and Hemi Ventures also participated.\n\nIn a phone interview, Apprentice cofounder and CEO Angelo Stracquatanio said the funding is the company\u2019s seed round.\n\n\u201cWe see it as a positive sign that the industry is moving in the direction we\u2019d always hoped it would move in,\u201d he said. \u201cAR is being adopted at a commercial scale.\u201d\n\nStracquatanio noted that the money will be used to expand the company\u2019s development area, work on R&D and improve its core product.\n\nApprentice\u2019s solution has three main modules, all of which run on smart glasses like Google Glass and Microsoft HoloLens.\n\nThe first, called Tandem, is geared toward collaboration. When an employee needs assistance from a subject matter expert, Tandem makes it possible for the pair to communicate, even if they are in different locations. Using the tool, the remote expert can see what the employee on the manufacturing floor sees and coach him or her through the issue.\n\nAnother part of the solution, Manuals, serves as the startup\u2019s process and workflow aid. It enables users to have hands-free access to operating procedures and other tasks.\n\nGauge is the third piece of the puzzle and is centered on data collection and safety in the workplace. Rather than spending exorbitant amounts of time recording information, operators can use the module to gather lab and manufacturing data while performing another task.\n\nThe ultimate goal is to leverage augmented reality to improve efficiency and safety in laboratory and manufacturing environments.\n\n\u201cWe were so inspired by Apprentice\u2019s passion for utilizing the latest technology to offer real solutions for labs and complex manufacturers,\u201d Mike Dodd, partner at Silverton Partners, said in a statement. \u201cThey are market leaders in using augmented reality to provide direct client benefits as a result of the users\u2019 enhanced operational experience.\u201d\n\nStracquatanio said Apprentice\u2019s revenue model has two phases.\n\nThe first is a pilot phase, during which the company provides everything from the software to the smart glasses to a client. The Jersey City startup also offers the client with training and support throughout the lifetime of the pilot, which typically lasts between one and three months.\n\n\u201cIf you set it and forget it, that\u2019s not fruitful for them or us,\u201d Stracquatanio said. \u201cWe treat it as a collaborative effort.\u201d\n\nAfter the initial phase, Apprentice utilizes a software-as-a-service model based on a per device or per user basis.\n\nPhoto: abluecup, Getty Images", "output": "New Jersey-based company Apprentice aims to bring augmented reality to laboratory and manufacturing environments through its Tandem, Manuals and Gauge tools. All three tools require smart glasses. Tandem\u00a0enables a remote expert to experience what a producer or employee on the factory floor sees, while Manuals offers hands-free access to operating procedures, and Gauge facilitates the collection of lab and manufacturing data. Apprentice recently raised $2.5m in seed funding from Silverton Partners, which will be used to improve core products, invest in R&D and expand the firm's work area, according to CEO Angelo Stracquatanio.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wales 2nd, England 18th in global recycling table \n A new Eunomia report prepared jointly with the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) reveals that the world\u2019s leading recycling nations may be overstating the level of real recycling they are achieving.\n\nRecycling \u2013 Who Really Leads the World? (Issue 2) is an update to the Eunomia publication (launched in March 2017) that ranked countries by reported recycling rates and then, using publicly available waste data, calculated adjusted recycling rates for the top 10 on a like-for-like basis to provide truly comparable recycling rate figures.\n\nAlthough recycling rates reported by each country establishes a top three of Germany (66%), Wales (64%) and Singapore (61%) our updated report goes further to look in more detail at what is included in these reported recycling rates, and uses new research to create a revised recycling rate league table. After adjusting for differences in how different countries measure recycling rates, for example whether construction or commercial waste is included or excluded, or how ash from incineration is accounted for, a more comparable set of recycling rates can be derived. Using these adjusted rates, the top three countries are: Germany (56%), Austria (54%) and South Korea (54%) with Wales dropping into fourth place (52%).\n\nOur in-depth knowledge of waste management practices and measurement methods in Europe has recently been used to support the development of the European Commission\u2019s new Circular Economy Package.\n\nRob Gillies, Eunomia Managing Consultant and report author said:\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s interesting is that when ranked based on reported recycling rates, the winners are clear, whereas after making adjustments for different measurement methods the top recyclers are much closer together, so the top spot is all to play for if countries want to be ambitious.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s important to note this research has been carried out so we can identify who the real leaders in recycling are, to share best practice by shining a spotlight on what these countries are doing. We also hope that this will help progress the debate on how best to measure \u2018real\u2019 recycling, in line with the principles of the waste hierarchy, in a way that is as consistent as possible within Europe and further afield.\u201d\n\nSt\u00e9phane Arditi, Policy Manager on Circular Economy, Products and Waste for EEB said:\n\n\u201cThis kind of ground-breaking research tells us what EU countries really need to do to achieve higher recycling rates, which require proper collection and recycling of biowaste. It also tells in a truly circular economy there can be no room for incineration of valuable resources that could instead be actually recycled. The fact that some countries have increased recycling rates by 35 percentage points in under 15 years shows that all member states can achieve the new EU recycling targets.\u201d", "output": "Wales is the second-best country in the world for recycling household waste, surpassed only by Germany, according to research by environmental analysts Eunomia. The report analysed recycling rates for municipal solid waste, including household plastic and packaging. New policies from the Welsh government, a zero waste target for 2050 and recycling rates of 63.8% mean that the country is likely to top the poll next year. England, with rates of 42.8%, ranks 18th globally, behind countries including Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, South Korea, Switzerland and Taiwan.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wales 2nd, England 18th in global recycling table \n Wales ranks second in the world for recycling household waste but England lags far behind other European countries, according to new research.\n\nPolicies brought in by the Welsh government and a target to be zero waste by 2050 have driven the country up the league table to come in just under Germany. With recycling rates of 63.8% for municipal solid waste, which includes household plastic and other packaging, Wales is set to become the world leader for recycling by next year, according to a report from the environmental analysts Eunomia.\n\nBut in England, where recycling rates have been flatlining, Michael Gove, the environment secretary, will be under pressure over rates of just 42.8%. England ranks 18th in the world, behind South Korea, Taiwan, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy, among others.\n\nThe report examined reported recycling rates of municipal solid waste, which is made up of everyday items that are disposed of by the public at home or on the go.\n\nDominic Hogg, chairman of Eunomia, said: \u201cIt\u2019s great to see the ambition of the Welsh bearing fruit, with their recycling rates close to the top of the table. It\u2019s embarrassing for England, which ... is standing still in terms of performance and dropping in the rankings as others continue to progress. We know that the public is concerned about the growing problem of waste, especially the way plastics are dealt with.\u201d\n\nCountries that made it into the top 10 had recycling rates of more than 50%. There were key themes and policies shared by those countries doing well on recycling.\n\nThese include:\n\nMandatory separate collection of key dry recyclable materials.Mandatory separate collection of bio waste.\n\nStatutory targets for rates of recycling or the reduction of unrecycled waste.Pay-as-you-throw charges.Producer responsibility schemes, where producers fund the collection of key recyclables.Taxes on landfill.Deposit refund systems.\n\nEngland only has two of these in place: a tax on landfill and separate collection of dry recyclable materials.\n\nA Welsh government spokesperson said: \u201cIn the 20 years since devolution, Wales\u2019s recycling rate has increased from just under 5% to 64%. We are well on track to meet our 70% target by 2025.\n\n\u201cOur success has been achieved through a comprehensive package of measures. These include statutory targets, funding, principled, progressive leadership and a firm commitment from local authorities and the Welsh public to reducing, reusing and recycling.\n\n\u201cWe are always looking at how we can continue to improve. Earlier this year, Cabinet secretary Lesley Griffiths announced her plans to halve food waste by 2025. We are confident this is achievable thanks to the enthusiasm that exists in Wales to recycling.\u201d\n\nGove has said a bottle deposit scheme is a great idea and called for views on setting one up.\n\nBut experts are concerned that with local council budgets facing further cuts and no sign of central government investment in improving recycling rates, England will continue to fail to raise levels of recycling.\n\nThe Recycling Association last week called for more responsibility throughout the supply chain to make recycling easier for the public.\n\nSimon Ellin of the Recycling Association said: \u201cCentral government needs to put money into the system to make it work. Local authorities have been cut, they can\u2019t afford to do a lot of the work around recycling, they aren\u2019t doing the communicating with the public or the advertising. All that impacts on recycling rates.\n\n\u201cIf the government is serious about waste recycling they need a coherent plan and they need to put the investment in.\u201d\n\nThe report comes as local authorities face more challenges from an imminent ban by the Chinese government on importing household waste.\n\n\n\nExperts say the higher cost of recycling could see some local authorities reducing collections and not collecting some plastics.", "output": "Wales is the second-best country in the world for recycling household waste, surpassed only by Germany, according to research by environmental analysts Eunomia. The report analysed recycling rates for municipal solid waste, including household plastic and packaging. New policies from the Welsh government, a zero waste target for 2050 and recycling rates of 63.8% mean that the country is likely to top the poll next year. England, with rates of 42.8%, ranks 18th globally, behind countries including Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, South Korea, Switzerland and Taiwan.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Online learning continues to expand in Arab world \n In the past 10 years alone, tech invaded classrooms and played a crucial role in disrupting the way knowledge is consumed worldwide.\n\nBenchmarking this with what\u2019s happening in the edtech scene regionally, Arab innovators and educators are not standing still one bit. Success stories like online educational platform Rwaq, which has 1.9 million enrolments in 300 courses since it started four years ago, or big initiatives like The One Million Arab Coders launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum to train one million young Arabs on coding, reveal that the MENA region is well on its way to becoming an edtech leader.\n\nThe education industry started evolving much quicker following the era of the 3 Ws and online access to education got much easier. The launch of Khan Academy in 2006 was a leap towards a new way for consuming educational content called Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). This online platform for educational tools offered people the chance to learn about different subjects outside of the typical classroom. Perhaps, this idea was an evolution of the 1953-televised courses that were introduced by the University of Houston.\n\nIt was from then onwards that many platforms started to find a safe ground to launch and flourish and even pivot.\n\nIn 2002, MIT started its OpenCourseWare project, which offered online course materials from its undergraduate curriculums for free to everyone.\n\nIn 2010, the first iPad was introduced to the market and adopted in a number of schools in the UK.\n\nGlobal online courses platforms like Udacity and Coursera (2012) were launched to bridge the knowledge gap. The first raised $105 million in 2015, with a $1 billion valuation making it a unicorn company. Coursera, on the other hand, raised $64 million in June 2017, at an $800 million valuation.\n\nBill Gates visiting Khan Academy's offices. (Image via Khan Academy)\n\nWhile we are yet to see such MOOC valuations in the Arab region, a number of initiatives are playing a leading role in educating people, in Arabic.\n\nIn 2014, Queen Rania Foundation for education development launched Edraak in Jordan, a MOOC platform that offers a variety of courses in Arabic.\n\nToday, the platform has 1,400 new registered learners a day and is reaching over 1.4 million Arabic speaking learners from all over the world, and over two million fans on social media channels, according to Shireen Yacoub, CEO of Edraak. The platform features over 76 different courses in various topics. Edraak joined forces with Google.org to create an online educational platform for Arabic open educational resources (OERs), targeting K-12 students and their educators across the Middle East and North Africa region, said Yacoub.\n\n\u201cToday, an estimated 13 million MENA children, equivalent to 40 percent of the school age population, are missing out on education because of conflict and displacement. The refugee crisis has also strained existing education systems in host countries, like Jordan and Lebanon that have taken in large numbers of refugee students, compromising the quality of education offered to both local and refugee children,\u201d she explained.\n\nThe content of the new platform will include videos, automated assessment tools, mini-games, and reading material.\n\nSaudi Arabia\u2019s Rwaq is one of the largest MOOC platforms in the Arab region. With 1.9 million enrolments in 300 courses since it started four years ago, Rwaq has been focusing on providing high quality Arabic content. \u201cBy far, technology courses are the most demanded. We had 50,000 enrolments in Java courses taught by Dr. Mohath Alkhalaf,\u201d said cofounder Fouad Alfarhan. \u201cIt\u2019s becoming clearer that nanodegrees/specialization programs are the most promising model. The initial model where student could take MOOC course and convert it into university hours is not working that well,\u201d he commented on the evolution of MOOC usages, hinting at its role in building employees capacities. \u201cThe collaboration between MOOC platforms and corporates to create online educational programs is working well. Corporates might find MOOC platforms the best place to prepare their future employees or current ones.\u201d\n\nPerhaps this move is what the region needs, when over 22 percent of companies already use MOOCs to develop employees, added Yacoub pointing at the knowledge gaps currently seen across the MENA.\n\nIn order to roll out nanodegree programs, Alfarhan told Wamda that he is in the process of signing a sponsorship deal with an international organization and hoping the program will officially launch in December 2017.\n\nUnder the same goal, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs in Saudi Arabia launched Doroob, in partnership with MOOC provider edX, to offer entrepreneurs the necessary tools to build sustainable businesses.\n\nNadrus and Dawrat are other MOOC examples from the Gulf. Dawrat offers movable educational workshops in different locations in Kuwait. The last one was at 360 Mall. \u201cPeople would sign up online or even on the spot,\u201d explained Dawrat cofounder Mohammad Al-Suraye. \u201cEach room accommodated around 20 people. We had 15 workshops over three days and over 400 people overall.\u201d\n\nOne of Dawrat's movable workshops at 360 mall. (Image via Dawrat)\n\nNadrus as a platform has served more than 600,000 learners over the past four years, with more than 200 Arabic courses (public and private) and serves over 100,000 registered users, according to cofounder and CEO Ahmad Fahad Al-Shagra.\n\nWhen asked about the future vision of MOOC, Al-Shagra spoke about \u2018Intajy\u2019, their white-labeled cloud training engine, which includes personalized learning through artificial intelligence. He said that now they have colossal sums of data to teach their algorithms, and that they will be launching their gamified mobile application in Q1 2018. \u201cSaaS is the best way ahead with Intajy leading the path in the region to empower Arabic skills training,\u201d he added. They are working closely with ministries across the GCC region to scale their impact. \u201cEmirates Driving Institute [...] uses Intajy.com as its official e-learning platform to deliver thousands of hours of training every month to their customers in Arabic, English, and Urdu.\u201d\n\nThe DIY era\n\nNew tools and inventions are being put into practice to elevate the education process into a more enjoyable experience. The do-it-yourself approach started to gain traction as pocket-sized computer Raspberry Pi was launched in 2012. It included a wifi and a bluetooth connectivity, a MicroSD Card, a hard drive, and cables among other things.This kit taught the basics of computers and is used in robotics.\n\nAward-winning startup littleBits was launched in 2011 by Lebanese-Canadian Ayah Bdeir. It is an open source library of electronic modules that snap together through magnets. It provides different types of kits, such as Star Wars Droid Inventor Kit, which topped the holiday toy list this year.\n\n\u201cDesigners make tables and chairs, and now they\u2019re designing DVD players and coffee makers and Nests. So they need to prototype with electronics; littleBits was a tool for prototyping. It was never really meant for kids,\u201d explained Ayah Bdeir in an interview on how her startup changed its marketing strategy to target kids.\n\nServing the same purpose, The Little Engineer debuted in Beirut, Lebanon in 2009, and is now available in India, Singapore, Kenya, Nigeria and soon in the Gulf. This startup started by offering courses, kits, and workshops in science, technology, engineering, and maths to kids at their offices. Now, the startup is working with private schools in Lebanon by giving them the tools and curriculums, and is also training teachers on how to use them. This year, founder Rana El Chmaitelly started working with few public schools after getting the permission of the Ministry of Education.\n\n\u201cWe work with a network of schools that has 20, 40, and 50 schools,\u201d said El Chmaitelly in a chat with Wamda. Her plan is to expand within Lebanon, starting within Beirut and going to Bekaa, the Shouf and the North. \u201cI can invest in a competition in China but that\u2019s not my goal. I want to invest in my own country despite all the challenges. I prefer to use the money to equip a public or private school here,\u201d she said.\n\nGetting funds to buy the expensive material to build robots and get corporates to support education in the country are two key challenges she is currently facing. She believes the local education system is about to expire and needs to become more technologically advanced. Currently operating in the UAE, Jordan, Lebanon and soon in Kuwait, The Cosmic Dome is another example of a startup working in the edtech field. It installs domes of different sizes indoors or outdoors, to project educational subjects during events, marathons, or any national competition or activity. \u201cThe use of calculators in schools resulted in revising the math instruction methods in the 70s. I believe that the next trend will go for the immersive experiences, VR, and 3D printing,\u201d said Mohamad Abbas, CEO of The Cosmic Dome. \u201cThe immersive experiences like the ones simulated inside a planetarium [a domed-building in which different types of data is visualized] allow learners to be immersed in the projected environment. As for the VR, I believe no student will have to physically go to school in the future as all classes would be delivered through a VR interface and it would virtually place them in an almost real classroom environment. Perhaps the most important advantage of using VR in the future would be saving the time learners take to travel to and from their schools and investing it in actual learning,\u201d he explained.\n\nAbbas is already working on installing his project in different schools and training teachers to use them. \u201cEach school must have a small to average sized planetarium to fit an average of one class. The planetarium can be visited by science classes, art classes, music classes, and others.\u201dInitiatives on a larger scale\n\nWhen governments and big companies get more engaged in contributing to a better educational system, things move much quicker.\n\nSmart Learning initiative, a program launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has an ongoing partnership with Microsoft Gulf. It includes equipping over 145 schools, 3,500 teachers, and 24,000 students with Windows-enabled devices that have built-in educational apps, according to Ahmed Ameen Ashour, head of education sector at Microsoft Gulf. The latter also signed an MoU with Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) to deploy Office 365 in schools, enabling around 150,000 students and 13,000 teachers to collaborate and innovate. It will also bring Bett MEA to Abu Dhabi for the second year, to gather education leaders and stakeholders and share case studies and best practices.\n\nAshour believes there are three main pillars for edtech. The first being immersive learning, \u201cwith VR advancements permeating industries across the world. VR can be implemented in gamified solutions, stimulating visualizations for picture storytelling, for performing lab experiments in physics, medical, astronomy, and biology. Wearing headsets, students would be able to clearly see how a chemical reaction takes place and form a new concentrated solution or the way rats breathe and perform the respiratory activities,\u201d he clarified. He also has high hopes in gamification methods and cloud computing, which provides students with \u201ca digital library and relief from heavy textbooks. Quality content is yet another milestone that has ignited a new trend in the edtech industry,\u201d Ashour added.\n\nHH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum has also launched The One Million Arab Coders initiative, to train one million young Arabs on coding.\n\n\u201cWe expect an increase in e-learning and online training initiatives across the region simply because with online training the results are easily measurable, cheaper, and consistent from a quality perspective,\u201d commented Al-shagra on the initiative launch. \u201cWe have seen some impressive breakthroughs in Arabic Speech Recognition from relatively small players in Jordan. Mobile learning and gamification with spaced repetition are becoming more reliable across the region.\u201d\n\nHer Excellency Dr. Sahar Nasr, the Minister of Investment and International Cooperation in Egypt and Higher Education Minister Khaled Abdul-Ghaffar, have recently signed a cooperation protocol to support university students studying entrepreneurship. It is part of an initiative called Fekretak Sherketak (\u2018Your Idea is Your Company\u2019), which was launched in September 2017. It aims at connecting entrepreneurs with government entities and offering consultancy services and trainings. The agreement will allow university students to work in startups and receive technical training and financing.\n\nA trip back in time\n\nThe introduction of education technology (edtech) goes back to the early twenties. The first teaching machine was patented in 1928 by Sidney Pressly. It had multiple-choice questions and moved when the student picked the right choice. In the early 1930s, IBM released an 805 test scoring machine, which was intended to read pencil marks left by students on exam papers and grade them.\n\nIn 1960, PLATO (programmed-logic for automatic teaching operations) was designed and built by the University of Illinois. It came with a television set and offered courses for students and certain local schools.\n\nBetween 1961 and 1968, a new program called The Flying Classroom started broadcasting on Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruction as part of an educational program given to schools back then. Speak & Spell, a small electronic device with a visual display, came to life in 1978. It was the first of three-educational toys series: Speak & Read and Speak & Math. The toy helped kids aged up to seven years to learn spelling and pronouncing over 200 common misspelled words.\n\nAlso in 1978, Apple, which was already two years old, supplied Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium organization with 500 Apple Computers II in order to distribute them to schools. In 1981, BBC Microcomputer Systems was released. It consisted of a series of microcomputers mainly focusing on education, and was adopted by many schools in the UK. Ten years after, in 1991, the worldwide web era began on a global scale, and also spread to become a primary education tool.\n\nIt will take years for schools and universities to be entirely disrupted by technology, because digital transformation drastically changes the way they operate. It also touches upon the mindset of teachers and people in charge and how they are able to change kids\u2019 mindset through technology. This means installing computers at schools would not be enough if students did not focus on the required skill sets. Yet, emerging countries regard this transformation as a competitive edge. We might not get rid of all school subjects any time soon, like Finland intends to do, but we\u2019re making small steady steps towards that goal.", "output": "Online education is booming in the Arab-speaking world, with Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) playing a key role for both youngsters and adults. Edraak, which reaches 1.4 million students worldwide, has partnered with Google to launch a platform aimed at helping the 13 million refugee children across the Middle East and North Africa. Meanwhile, companies including Saudi Arabian platform Rwaq, as well as rivals Nadrus and Dawrat, are offering MOOCs which allow companies to further develop their employees and fill gaps in education or skills training.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cancers in human tissue detected using electric currents \n In a study published recently in Angewandte Chemie, researchers demonstrated that an imaging technique called scanning electrochemical microscopy could become a very useful medical tool. Rather than having to use additional chemicals like dyes or fluorescent markers to get a good look at tissue, this method uses electrochemical probes to detect natural biomolecules around the tissue.\n\nIn this study, the researchers used soft microelectrodes that were brushed gently across tissue samples. While it moved across them, it measured the electrical current produced by certain chemicals in the tissues to get an idea of the physical structure of that tissue as well as its composition. The team provided three separate demonstrations of this technique's use. In the first, it scanned mouse livers to show that a certain type of nanoribbon that's being studied as a potential drug delivery mechanism can be distributed throughout the liver. In the second, the probes measured hemoglobin proteins to get a full image of a mouse heart (the right side of the image above). And in another experiment, the researchers used the technique to show that it can accurately differentiate healthy human tissue from cancerous tissue.\n\nIn the future, the researchers would like to use this method to not only detect cancerous cells but also destroy them. \"We are perfectly capable of using electrochemistry to kill cancer cells on microscope slides and in petri dishes,\" Hubert Girault, an author of the study, said in a statement, \"but doing so in thick tissue is another story.\"", "output": "Researchers have discovered using scanning electrochemical microscopy can help in distinguishing cancerous tissue from healthy organs, according to a study in Angewandte Chemie. The paper revealed that brushing microelectrodes gently over thick tissue enabled the team to measure the electric currents produced by chemicals in the tissue, giving an idea of its structure. Study author Hubert Girault said it was possible to kill cancer cells using electrochemistry in a petri dish, but \"doing so in thick tissue is another story\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Meat tax \u2018inevitable\u2019 within a decade says $4tn investor network \n \u201cSin taxes\u201d on meat to reduce its huge impact on climate change and human health look inevitable, according to analysts for investors managing more than $4tn of assets.\n\n\n\nThe global livestock industry causes 15% of all global greenhouse gas emissions and meat consumption is rising around the world, but dangerous climate change cannot be avoided unless this is radically curbed. Furthermore, many people already eat far too much meat, seriously damaging their health and incurring huge costs. Livestock also drive other problems, such as water pollution and antibiotic resistance.\n\nA new analysis from the investor network Farm Animal Investment Risk and Return (Fairr) Initiative argues that meat is therefore now following the same path as tobacco, carbon emissions and sugar towards a sin tax, a levy on harmful products to cut consumption. Meat taxes have already been discussed in parliaments in Germany, Denmark and Sweden, the analysis points out, and China\u2019s government has cut its recommended maximum meat consumption by 45% in 2016.\n\n\u201cIf policymakers are to cover the true cost of human epidemics like obesity, diabetes and cancer, and livestock epidemics like avian flu, while also tackling the twin challenges of climate change and antibiotic resistance, then a shift from subsidisation to taxation of the meat industry looks inevitable,\u201d said Jeremy Coller, the founder of Fairr and the chief investment officer at the private equity firm Coller Capital. \u201cFar-sighted investors should plan ahead for this day.\u201d\n\nMaria Lettini, director of Fairr, said: \u201cAs implementation of the Paris climate agreement progresses we\u2019re highly likely to see government action to reduce the environmental impact of the global livestock sector. On the current pathway we may well see some form of meat tax emerge within five to 10 years.\u201d\n\nNations begin to implement sin taxes as consensus forms over the harm caused by the product, the analysis notes, and today more than 180 jurisdictions tax tobacco, more than 60 tax carbon emissions, and at least 25 tax sugar.\n\nThe first global analysis of meat taxes done in 2016 found levies of 40% on beef, 20% on dairy products and 8.5% on chicken would save half a million lives a year and slash climate warming emissions. Proposals in Denmark suggested a tax of $2.70 per kilogram of meat.\n\nMeat taxes are often seen as politically impossible but research by Chatham House in 2015 found they are far less unpalatable to consumers than governments think. It showed people expect governments to lead action on issues that are for the global good, but that awareness of the damage caused by the livestock industry is low. Using meat tax revenues to subsidise healthy foods is one idea touted to reduce opposition.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s only a matter of time before agriculture becomes the focus of serious climate policy,\u201d said Rob Bailey at Chatham House. \u201cThe public health case will likely strengthen government resolve, as we have seen with coal and diesel. It\u2019s hard to imagine concerted action to tax meat today, but over the course of the next 10 to 20 years, I would expect to see meat taxes accumulate.\u201d\n\nMarco Springmann, at the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food at the University of Oxford, said: \u201cCurrent levels of meat consumption are not healthy or sustainable. The costs associated with each of those impacts could approach the trillions in the future. Taxing meat could be a first and important step.\u201d\n\nThe need for a high meat tax could be reduced if breakthrough technologies emerge to drastically cut the emissions from livestock, said Lettini, but none exist today. Another, more promising option is the nascent but fast-growing industry in plant-based meat alternatives, such as the meat-free Impossible burger. Bill Gates has invested, and major meat and dairy companies are now piling in with investments and acquisitions.\n\n\u201cThere are huge opportunities in the market,\u201d said Lettini. \u201cIf we can start replacing meat protein with plant-based protein that has the same look, taste and feel as meat, where real red-blooded meat eaters are happy to dig into a burger that is plant-based, we are changing the world.\u201d", "output": "\u201cSin taxes\u201d to limit the impact of meat consumption on climate change and human health are likely to be introduced within the next 10 years, according to analysis for the Farm Animal Investment Risk and Return Initiative, whose investors manage over $4tn in assets. The livestock sector, which is seeing meat consumption increase worldwide, causes 15% of all global greenhouse gas emissions. Excessive meat consumption also contributes to issues such as water pollution and antibiotic resistance. Denmark, Germany and Sweden have already considered meat taxes, while China\u2019s government decreased its recommended meat consumption by 45% last year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple R&D chief reports on progress with\u00a0self-driving car tech \n After remaining tight-lipped for years, Apple is now more than eager to share how much progress it's making on self-driving car technology. AI research director Ruslan Salakhutdinov made a presentation this week that revealed more of what the company's autonomous driving team has been up to. Some of the talk was familiar, but there were a few new examples of how far the fledgling project had come.\n\nTo start, Apple has crafted a system that uses onboard cameras to identify objects even in tricky situations, such as when raindrops cover the lens. It can estimate the position of a pedestrian even if they're hidden by a parked car. Other additions included giving cars direction through simultaneous localization and mapping, creating detailed 3D maps using car sensors and decision-making in urgent situations (say, a wayward pedestrian).\n\nIt's still not certain if or how Apple will commercialize its self-driving know-how. At the moment, its next goal is to produce driverless employee shuttles. The company isn't currently expected to sell its own cars, but licensing its work to others would be unusual when Apple is well-known for preferring to develop everything in-house.\n\nThe talk in itself is notable. Apple has been slowly opening the kimono on its AI research, but it hasn't been clear on just how much it was willing to discuss. Salakhutdinov's chat shows that it's willing to offer at least some kind of consistent openness rather than maintaining its legendary secrecy. Not that it has much of a choice. Apple has struggled to attract AI talent in part because its secretive approach has been unappealing for researchers used to receiving academic and industry recognition. Presentations like this could keep Apple's AI team in the spotlight and reel in scientists who'd otherwise go to Facebook, Google or tech giants.", "output": "In an uncharacteristically open move, Apple has outlined its progress regarding self-driving car technology. At a recent presentation, AI research director Ruslan Salakhutdinov discussed onboard cameras that estimate the position of pedestrians hidden behind parked cars, as well as car sensors that constantly develop detailed 3D maps, providing direction to cars through simultaneous localisation and mapping. Apple's secrecy has contributed to its recent difficulties in attracting\u00a0top AI researchers, who are accustomed to the industry recognition\u00a0they would gain at\u00a0companies such as Facebook and Google. This move towards a more open approach is perhaps a recognition of this fact.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "San Francisco imposes strict rules on use of delivery robots \n Express Delivery\n\nDelivery robots are still a rare sight in the U.S., but that might not be the case for much longer. In order to get ahead of the game, authorities in San Francisco have passed new regulations that will control their usage.\n\nCompanies will be limited to three robots each, only nine of which will be allowed to traverse the whole city. These limits were put in place by new rules enacted by San Francisco's board of supervisors. Furthermore, the activity of these robots will be limited to industrial areas where there aren't many people around.\n\nThe regulations also state that the machines are not permitted to travel at more than three miles per hour, and must be accompanied by a human supervisor at all times. Bob Doyle, a spokesman for the Association for Advancing Automation Association, compared these restrictions to the early days of automotive vehicles where cars had to be preceded by a person carrying a flag.\n\n\u201cTo put such a strict limit on these types of autonomous delivery vehicles drastically slows down the process of testing and the potential for these being put into (use before) the general public,\u201d Doyle told the San Francisco Chronicle.\n\nIf delivery robots are ever to enter widespread use, it's vitally important that they have been tested at length, and in similar conditions to those that they'll ultimately be working in. It's being argued that these restrictions are short-sighted, as they could prevent companies from perfecting these machines through that kind of rigorous, real-world testing.\n\nThe original proposal submitted by supervisor Norman Yee set out to ban the robots outright. The ban was proposed to prevent the robots from overcrowding sidewalks, similar to previously proposed bans pertaining to Segways and bicycles.\n\nMachines Among Us\n\nAutomation and artificial intelligence give various industries new opportunities when it comes to their workforce. This will change the job market for humans, but it's also set to have a wider impact on society.\n\nFor instance, if a delivery robot causes an accident, who is to blame? Responsibility would likely fall to the company that owns it, but there isn't the direct culpability that would apply to an individual. Without the proper means of compelling the owners of these robots to prioritize public safety, putting limitations on their usage might be the best idea.\n\nSan Francisco is something of an outlier when it comes to its restrictions of delivery robots. Elsewhere in California, including the Bay Area, Redwood City, San Carlos, Sunnyvale, and Concord, pilot programs have been approved. While further afield, other states, including Idaho, Wisconsin, Virginia, Florida, and Ohio, have all given their blessing for robots traversing city streets, too.\n\nIntegrating robots and other automated workers into our society will offer up all kinds of moral and ethical dilemmas. This technology stands to contribute a wide range of benefits to our society, but we'll need to carefully plan the unleashing of robots in our cities if we want to walk peacefully beside them on the sidewalk.", "output": "Authorities in San Francisco have approved new regulations for the use of autonomous delivery robots within the city. Under the rules, delivery robots will be restricted to travelling at 3 mph, their travel routes will be limited to sparsely-populated industrial areas and they will need to be accompanied by a human supervisor. While more permissive than the initially proposed outright ban, the Association for Advancing Automation Association's Bob Doyle argued the regulations are far too restrictive, saying they \"drastically slow\u00a0down the process of testing and the potential for these being put into [use before]\u00a0the general public\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Droitwich Tennis Club gains more young members with Redrow sponsorship \n A PARTNERSHIP between Droitwich Tennis Club and Redrow Homes has led to a large increase in the number of youngsters playing tennis in the town.\n\nThe two-year sponsorship deal for the club is now in its second year and has helped coaches promote the sport among young people with 27 per cent more youngsters taking up tennis in the last 18 months.\n\nDroitwich Tennis Club now works with around 200 children aged five to 18 across eight schools, including dedicated sessions to encourage teenage girls to be active.\n\nThe club was recently shortlisted by the Hereford and Worcester Sports Partnership for the Community Club of The Year Award.\n\n\n\n\n\nClub chairman Neil Bates said the sponsorship deal worked really well as the funding allowed the club to plan courses months in advance and enabled schools to add sessions into their timetables.\n\n\u201cThis in turn gives school reassurance that we are around and encouraging their pupils to take part.\u201d\n\nHe added some schools had paid for extra sessions to keep training going throughout the whole school year and almost 50 children had also taken up the course through after school clubs.\n\nThe last six-week course encouraging teenage girls to play tennis attracted 21 participants.\n\nPauline Turnbull, Redrow Homes (Midlands) sales director, said: \u201cIt\u2019s organisations like Droitwich Tennis Club that help create a sense of community and make the neighbourhood somewhere people really want to live.\u201d\n\nShe added the results were testament to the hard work and dedication of all involved and it was great the company\u2019s sponsorship had helped make a difference.\n\nEmail neilbates1963@sky.com or visit www.droitwichtennis.co.uk for more on Droitwich Tennis Club.", "output": "Droitwich Tennis Club has seen a 27% uptake in children taking up tennis in the 18 months since a sponsorship deal with Redrow begun. The club now works with around 200 children across eight local schools, with almost 50 children taking up a tennis course through after-school clubs. Redrow sales director (Midlands) Pauline Turnbull said they were delighted at the increased turnout, saying \"it\u2019s organisations like Droitwich Tennis Club that help create a sense of community and make the neighbourhood somewhere people really want to live\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lemonade's third-party partners don't need insurance licences \n Digital insurer Lemonade says companies that integrate its insurance sales platform, or API, into their own apps and web sites \u201cgenerally speaking do not have to be licensed as insurance agents or brokers.\u201d\n\nAt the same time, the insurer said it recognizes that rules may vary by state and it knows it may have to vary its program in some cases as it expands around the country.\n\n\u201cWe have a carefully developed a thorough program of compliance that is designed to ensure that we do not pay commissions to unlicensed persons and to forbid those who integrate with our APIs from selling, soliciting or negotiating insurance,\u201d the company said in response to questioning by Insurance Journal. \u201cA few key state regulators have raised these issues with us but after we reveal the factual details of our program, they have been satisfied,\u201d\n\nThe question of whether firms that use the insurer\u2019s API need to be licensed arose after Lemonade reported it had launched a public API (application programming interface), allowing other businesses and organizations to offer its renters and home insurance policies through their apps or web sites.\n\nA few weeks later, Lemonade reported that more than 400 businesses had applied within the first 24 hours of it offering to make its sales platform widely available. More than 40 percent were firms related to real estate and another 28 percent were in financial services.\n\nThe company told Insurance Journal that it is rolling out the API program slowly, using an automated system to distinguish among applicants. It is using various criteria to determine which businesses to work with including the target markets of the businesses applying, whether they are in the seven states where Lemonade currently sells insurance and whether offering renters and home insurance is compatible with their focus.\n\nQuestions Raised\n\nInsurance Journal editors received several inquiries and several readers posted online comments on the issue of licensing. A number of responders maintained that if the API adopters are selling or being paid, they must be licensed. Lemonade says it is taking measures to assure the adopters are not selling insurance and that they are not receiving commissions if they are unlicensed.\n\nInsurance departments in New York, Texas and California told Insurance Journal they are aware of Lemonade\u2019s plan and are looking into the details.\n\nState agent association leaders are in a similar position of awaiting more details. One executive said he thought that if there is no payment for the referrals or clicks, no license is needed. Another likened it to simply advertising on the site. One said it would even be alright for Lemonade to pay a referral fee for every lead but that it can\u2019t offer a fee only for referrals that result in a purchase.\n\nLemonade said the documentation on its developer web site provides rules and guidance in keeping with its approach of not paying commissions.\n\nNew York-based Lemonade is a licensed carrier that is currently offering renters, condo and homeowners insurance in New York, California, New Jersey, and Nevada; renters and condo insurance in Texas and Rhode Island; and renters insurance in Illinois and Ohio.\n\nUnder the API program, real estate brokers and landlords can deploy the Lemonade API to offer renters insurance to their customers after they select the apartment they want to rent.\n\nLemonade also sells coverage for what it calls \u201cstuff\u201d\u2014cameras, bikes and other items. In these cases, if someone buys a bike, the Lemonade message to buy insurance for the new wheels would pop up on the buyer\u2019s screen at the time of purchase.\n\nRelated:\n\nTopics Carriers New York", "output": "Adopters of insurtech Lemonade's API will most likely not require an insurance licence to adopt the firm's offerings as an add-on service. The US-based firm says a few state regulators have raised issues surrounding licencing, and confirmed it has processes in place to make sure commissions are not paid to unlicensed parties. The firm received enormous interest in its API when it launched, with more than 400 applicants in the first 24 hours. It now says it is using an automated system to whittle down the list. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cyber insurance could spur on ransomware attackers \n Researchers at security company WatchGuard have warned that cyber insurance risks fuelling an increase in ransomware. The researchers highlight mandatory breach disclosure as one of the drivers for increased cyber insurance. Companies are increasingly aware of the damage a breach notification can do to their business. As such, they are rightly taking out cyber insurance policies. Those policies not only offer recompense when an incident occurs but also offer to pay for the recovery of data.\n\nAccording to Corey Nachreiner, CTO at WatchGuard Technologies: \u201cWe find it concerning that insurers sometimes pay ransoms to recover their customers\u2019 data. While we understand the business decision, insurers currently have no long-term actuarial data for cyber incidents and ransomware. It is possible that paying ransoms will encourage this criminal business model and increase the number of incidents insurers have to handle or the cost of ransoms.\u201d\n\nWhat\u2019s wrong with insurers paying out?\n\nInsurers have long provided cover for the recovery of goods and people. Kidnap and ransom policies are common place and cover kidnap, extortion, wrongful detention and hijacking. Some insurers even have their own teams or use specialist, often ex-military contractors to do the recovery before they pay. There is no evidence that K&R insurance has led to any real increase in incidents.\n\nWatchGuard is taking a different view when those services are extended to ransomware. They believe that savvy cybercriminals will seek to exploit those companies with cyber insurance. They will become priority targets as the cybercriminals will be sure of a payday.\n\nVery few cyber insurance policies require an organisation to be audited before the policy is agreed. ET looked at 7 different cyber insurance policies. There was no need to provide any list of security software or policies in force. Nor was there a process that would have led to agents for the insurance companies vetting IT security. This means that there is a significant risk of smaller organisations relying on cyber insurance rather than tightening their security.\n\nThe question that this raises is \u201cwill insurance companies tighten up their policy requirements?\u201d\n\nNachreiner continued: \u201cWe expect SMBs to continue to adopt extortion insurance in 2018 but cyber insurance should not replace security controls and best practices. We predict that insurance providers will start to implement guidelines that require companies to have strong security controls in place as a prerequisite. When combined with other layers of security, cyber insurance is a great addition to your cyber security strategy.\u201d\n\nWhat does this mean?\n\nBusiness are required to hold a number of different types of insurance by law. Adding cyber insurance cover makes sense given how dependent businesses are on technology. SMEs are in a cost crunch. They cannot afford to compete for good quality cybersecurity staff. Many struggle to recruit and retain skilled IT staff. This means that their cybersecurity stance poses a limited challenge for experienced hackers.\n\nWith GDPR on the way and greater breach disclosure requirements across all businesses, many know they need a solution. Paying for a cyber insurance policy makes sense. One of the drivers for SMEs moving to the cloud is to get someone else to do their cybersecurity. Paying an insurance company to recovery both their data and their reputation also makes sense. After all, why pay \u00a330K plus for an internal IT security person when a smaller payment to the insurer will make the whole thing go away.\n\nThe problem here is that neither moving to the cloud or buying cyber insurance relieves a company of its legal duty. It will be interesting to see if an increase in pay-outs occurs during 2018 and how the insurance industry, especially post GDPR, responds.", "output": "An increased adoption of cyber insurance could be encouraging hackers employing ransomware to target victims, security company WatchGuard has argued. The security firm argues hackers may intentionally select victims with cyber protection in place, knowing insurance policies often pay out fees to redeem data stolen during a ransomware attack. WatchGuard also questions whether some insurers will start tightening policy requirements or necessitate clients are audited before coverage is put in place. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ZhongAn establishes offshore arm with eye on global expansion \n China\u2019s biggest online-only insurer says the establishment of its new offshore arm is a response to China\u2019s Belt and Road Initiative", "output": "China's largest online-only insurer ZhongAn has sown a seed to expand internationally, establishing an offshore arm.The offshore venture, which is being established in partnership with Hong Kong-based Sinolink Worldwide Holdings, has been established to allow for greater investments in global financial and insurance technology. The move is reportedly in response to China's\u00a0\u201cBelt and Road Initiative\u201d which encourages Chinese companies to expand globally.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow releases final phase of homes in Leicestershire \n Redrow on the home straight in Hinckley\n\nHomebuilder Redrow has released the final phase of its Park View development in Leicestershire.\n\nA selection of three and four-bedroom properties has been launched to complete the popular Coventry Road development in Hinckley.\n\nPark View has been a particular hit with eco-focused home buyers because of each one of its homes having been built with photovoltaic solar panels included to help owners save money and energy.\n\nAnd, with up to eight homes sold in any one month, Pauline Turnbull, sales director for Redrow Homes (Midlands) says the remaining homes are expected to sell out soon.\n\n\u201cAll of Redrow\u2019s homes are energy efficient but, with the solar panels at Park View, these properties are even more so \u2013 which is especially noticeable at this time of year when the cold weather sets in and we all start turning the thermostat up on the central heating,\u201d says Pauline.\n\n\u201cBut it\u2019s not just their energy efficiency that makes them appealing. Park View\u2019s properties are all from our Heritage Collection with charming, traditional exteriors combined with stylish and modern interiors \u2013 so they\u2019re not only attractive to the pocket but the eye too.\u201d\n\nBearing in mind their popularity already and their many plus-points, the final phase has been eagerly awaited and Pauline admits: \u201cIt is no exaggeration to say we expect these homes to fly.\n\n\u201cIt is the final instalment of a sought-after development on which we have seen rapid sales. The fact that this will be people\u2019s last opportunity to join what is becoming a great community means they are likely to sell quicker than ever.\u201d\n\nHomes are priced from \u00a3249,995, and among them is the stylish Shrewsbury detached property. A substantial family home, the Shrewsbury boasts a layout that\u2019s as fabulous as it\u2019s functional with a kitchen and dining area at the rear of the home, complemented by a utility and cloakroom, and a separate lounge and integral garage.\n\nUpstairs are four good-sized bedrooms \u2013 the master of which has an en-suite \u2013 and a family bathroom.\n\nHouse hunters wishing to view a Shrewsbury can visit Redrow\u2019s Amington Garden Village in nearby Tamworth, where there is one as a show home, fully furnished and expertly decorated to demonstrate its full potential.\n\nClose to Clarendon Park, the new homes at Park View are within walking distance of Hinckley town centre and the local train station, offering commuter links to Leicester, Birmingham, Coventry and, even, London.\n\nFor more information, visit the show homes, open Thursday to Monday inclusive from 10am to 5.30pm. For the latest availability and pricing log onto redrow.co.uk/parkview.", "output": "The final phase of homes in Redrow's Park View development in Leicestershire have been released, along with a selection of three and four-bed properties in the popular Coventry Park development in Hinckley. The final phase at View Point has been eagerly anticipated, as the cost-saving benefits of the properties' built-in solar panels have particularly helped the development become a hit with buyers. Sales director for Redrow (Midlands) Pauline Turnbull notes that, with up to 8 homes in any one month being sold, \"It is no exaggeration to say we expect these homes to fly\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Man Group introduces first onshore Chinese fund \n Man Group has launched its first onshore investment strategy for qualified investors in China. The new investment strategy will leverage the experience of Man AHL, Man Group\u2019s diversified quantitative investment management business, to harness market trends across a range of liquid markets in China.\n\nThe new investment strategy is systematic trend following in its approach, and aims to be uncorrelated with traditional portfolios. Managed by Man AHL\u2019s Shanghai-based investment professionals, the strategy seeks to identify and capture market trends across diverse liquid onshore markets, focusing initially on listed futures including agricultural commodities, industrial commodities, bonds, metals, energy and stock indices. Founded in 1987, Man AHL is a pioneer in systematic investment management, trading over 600 markets and managing assets for institutional and private clients globally.\n\n\n\nMan Group\u2019s first onshore investment strategy is launched by Man Investment Management (Shanghai) Co., Ltd, a Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise (WFOE) incorporated by Man Group in Huangpu District, Shanghai, following successful registration with the Asset Management Association of China (AMAC) as a private securities investment fund manager (PFM) in September 2017. ICBC will act as custodian to the fund, with Guotai Junan Securities providing administration and brokerage services.\n\n\n\nYifei Li, Chair of Man Group China, says: \u201cAs China\u2019s fund management industry continues to go from strength to strength, we are pleased to launch our first onshore investment strategy for qualified local investors. The strategy leverages Man AHL\u2019s 30 years of quantitative investing expertise, combining this with our local investment capabilities to serve the needs of Chinese investors.\u201d\n\n\n\nTim Wong, Chair of Man Group Asia, says: \u201cWe are truly excited about the rapid pace of the development of China\u2019s financial markets and the investment opportunities they represent. I am delighted that we are bringing our first onshore quantitative strategy to the market, which taps into the strength of our research and investment capabilities. We aim to deliver other innovative solutions to serve our clients\u2019 investment needs in the future.\u201d", "output": "Man Group has launched its first onshore fund in China, aimed at\u00a0accredited Chinese investors. The hedge fund has introduced the fund via its wholly owned Chinese subsidiary, Man Investment Management, based in Shanghai. The fund will tap into the expertise of Man's quantitative team, Man AHL. The offering aims to follow a systematic\u00a0trend-following strategy and seeks\u00a0to be uncorrelated to traditional assets. The fund will focus on\u00a0liquid onshore markets, in particular,\u00a0listed futures\u00a0relating to\u00a0agricultural and industrial commodities, bonds, metals, energy and stock indices.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Third autonomous shipping test bed opens in Norway \n Edit page New page Hide edit links\n\nThe ODIN USV and a working scale model of the YARA Birkeland all-electric, autonomous container vessel were on the water for the opening event (photo: Kongsberg Maritime)\n\nAn official autonomous shipping test-bed has been opened in Horten, on the coast of Norway. Established to support the growth in development of new solutions for autonomous maritime operations, the new area is open to both Norwegian and international organisations, and is designed to be a convenient, safe, non-congested space to trial new technology and vessels.\n\nThe area is specially designated for autonomous trials by the Norwegian Maritime Administration and the Norwegian Coastal Administration. Maritime autonomy pioneer KONGSBERG has worked closely with the town of Horten, DNV GL, FFI (Norwegian Defence Research Establishment) and the University College of South East Norway, to establish the new test-bed, which is situated adjacent to Kongsberg Maritime\u2019s Horten facility.\n\nBuilding on Norway\u2019s position within the burgeoning autonomous shipping segment, the test-bed is the third of its kind in the country and only the fourth such approved area in the world. Its introduction follows the opening of the world\u2019s first autonomous shipping test-bed in September 2016, which was supported by KONGSBERG and located on the Trondheimsfjord in Norway.\n\nThe test-beds in Trondheim and Horten are an important resource for KONGSBERG\u2019s on-going development of technology for ground-breaking projects such as the YARA Birkeland all electric, autonomous container ship, the Hr\u00f6nn, autonomous offshore support vessel and marine robotics technology. These and other autonomous vessel projects are set to transform many aspects of shipping and offshore operations, by introducing safer, more environmentally friendly and cost-effective modes of transport and working at sea.\n\nKONGSBERG\u2019s use of the fjord at Horten for safe autonomous vessel testing during 2017 has been integral to the area receiving its official status as a test-bed. In August, KONGSBERG and FFI demonstrated high-speed autonomous obstacle avoidance using the ODIN Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) fitted with the cutting-edge K-Mate autonomy controller solution. In November, the GEBCO-NF Alumni Team\u2019s entry to the USD 7 Million Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE underwent Technology Readiness Tests in the area. The team\u2019s unique SEA-KIT USV/AUV concept uses the K-Mate solution for surface navigation and tracking of a KONGSBERG HUGIN AUV.\n\n\u201cWith critical developments in maritime autonomy technology and software taking place at Kongsberg Maritime in Horten, the location of the new test-bed will support a number of ground-breaking technology projects,\u201d says Egil Haugsdal, President, Kongsberg Maritime. \u201cThe move towards greater autonomy at sea has the potential to transform maritime operations and while the technology has now been proven, we look towards the regulations. Establishment of these test-beds are an important step, as it shows close co-operation between the people making the technology and vessels and the organisations developing the rules that will allow them to operate.\u201d", "output": "International technology group Kongsberg has established a new test bed for autonomous shipping in Norway, the third facility of its kind to open in the country. The new area, off the coast near Horten, has been specially designated for autonomous trials involving Norwegian and international organisations by the Norwegian Maritime Administration and the Norwegian Coastal Administration. Egil Haugsdal, Kongsberg Maritime president, said that now the autonomous technology had been proven, the industry was looking toward regulation."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Robots must disrupt more jobs if they are to benefit economies \n Never has there been more discussion of the disruption of work and, by some measures, never has there been less disruption.\n\nIt could be the calm before the AI-aided storm. It could also be a sign of a stagnating American economy.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cTake a deep breath and calm down,\u201d write the authors of a recent study on how technology will impact jobs. Futurists and Silicon Valley-types worried about robots and artificial intelligence taking over for humans are overly alarmed, they say, adding that it is misleading when people like the World Economic Forum\u2019s Klaus Schwab say that \u201cthe speed of current breakthroughs has no historical precedent.\u201d\n\nIn fact, data show that the US labor market is the calmest it has been in more than 160 years. The problem is there is not enough disruption. If anything, we need more jobs destroyed.\n\nThat argument, made by Robert Atkinson and John Wu of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a think tank promoting policies that spur innovation, is against the grain.\n\nThey make a compelling case\n\nTheir belief that we are in an age of stagnation, not disruption, is based on a decade-by-decade analysis of how quickly occupations have been appearing and disappearing since 1850. The methodology involves summing up the share of percentage increase or decrease in the number of jobs in every occupation category, as defined by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, to find the total percentage of jobs created and destroyed. By this method, the 1950s was an extremely disruptive period, with a job-churn rate at a 20th-century high of 37%.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWhile the types of jobs people did changed drastically from 1950 to 1970, very little changed from 2000 to 2015. The rate in the 2000s was an all-time low of 14%, and thus far, the 2010s are even lower, at 6%.\n\nJob disruption in late 19th and 20th centuries was mostly attributable to the introduction of agricultural technologies that reduced the need for farm workers. The number of household workers also declined as low-cost appliances like washing machines and vacuum cleaners replaced domestic help. Jobs in manufacturing and the service sector replaced these jobs.\n\nToday, the composition of jobs is relatively stagnant. Atkinson and Wu say this is because true innovation is at an ebb. New digital technologies are impressive, the authors say, but not nearly as revolutionary as the changes that arose from widely available electricity and steel in the 1890s, and the electromechanical technologies that emerged in the 1950s and 1960s that greatly increased manufacturing efficiency. The lack of new technology has hurt labor productivity, the researchers argue, and it is one of the reasons wages have risen so little since 1980. We need policies to promote disruptive new technologies like those used by Uber and Amazon.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIt may still be worth preparing for the worst\n\nAndrew Stern, former president of the Service Employees International Union, says Atkinson and Wu\u2019s argument is thought provoking, yet it is no reason to stop being worried about the future. \u201cThere are an enormous number of academics and people creating the future who think this could be a big problem,\u201d Stern told Quartz.\n\nWe should take those people seriously, he believes, and at the very least \u201cplan for the scenario\u201d where the job apocalypse arises. Stern also points out that the study does not take into account the falling number of working-age people who have jobs, the falling share of US GDP that goes to workers, and the rising number of jobs that are insecure\u2014most of the job growth since 2005 has been in temporary positions or independent contracting.\n\nEthan Pollack, an economist at the Aspen Institute\u2019s Future of Work Initiative, shares Stern\u2019s belief that it is worth preparing for the worst. Pollack says there is evidence that certain technologies, like AI, could take off and have a massive effects on jobs. The US is not good at helping workers get back on their feet, so this kind of job destruction would have devastating effects.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s been decades since the waves of automation and outsourcing hit the manufacturing communities in the Rust Belt,\u201d Pollack told Quartz. \u201cAnd we\u2019re still dealing with the fallout from that.\u201d", "output": "New technology needs to cause more disruption to jobs if the economy is to benefit, according to two US researchers. Robert Atkinson and John Wu of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation used US labour market statistics to show that the current jobs market is very stable compared with the 1950s, which saw a highly disruptive period as a result of increased automation in the manufacturing sector. A lack of similarly revolutionary technologies in recent years has damaged productivity, the researchers argue."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ExxonMobil reduces energy required for production of ethylene \n Scientists from ExxonMobil and the Instituto de Tecnologia Quimica (ITQ) in Valencia, Spain, have discovered a new material that could significantly reduce the amount of energy and emissions associated with the production of ethylene. Depending on the application, use of the new material in conjunction with other novel separation processes could result in up to a 25% reduction in both the energy needed for ethylene separation, as well as associated carbon dioxide emissions.\n\nEthylene is a critical component in producing chemicals and plastics. Finding alternative, low-energy technologies to separate ethylene from ethane has been a longstanding challenge due to their similar properties. While chemical manufacturers have evaluated a number of alternatives to cryogenic distillation, including new adsorbents and separation processes, many of these technologies are hindered by low selectivity and an inability to regenerate when exposed to contaminants.\n\nThe researchers found that the new material, composed of a uniquely-structured silica zeolite, can be used in gas separation processes (such as the recovery of ethylene from ethane) with an unprecedented degree of selectivity at ambient temperature. The material could provide insights into the design of additional materials to be used as adsorbents or membranes in a variety of gas separation applications associated with chemical manufacturing. Zeolites are porous materials frequently used as adsorbents and catalysts in chemical processes.\n\nThe patented material, ITQ-55, is able to selectively adsorb ethylene over ethane as a result of its flexible pore structure. Built from heart-shaped cages interconnected by flexible elongated pore openings, the material allows the diffusion of the flatter ethylene molecules as opposed to the more cylindrical-shaped ethane molecules. The new material acts as a flexible molecular sieve.\n\nAdditional research must be conducted before the material can be considered for larger-scale demonstration and commercialisation. Fundamental research will continue focusing on incorporating the material into a membrane and developing additional novel materials for gas separation.\n\n\u201cOur ultimate goal of actually replacing cryogenic distillation is a long-term challenge that will require many more years of research and testing, in and out of the lab,\u201d said Gary Casty, section head for catalysis at ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co. \u201cOur next steps will focus on better understanding the full potential of this new zeolite material.\u201d\n\nChemical plants account for about 8% of global energy demand and about 15% of the projected growth in demand to 2040. As global populations and living standards continue to rise, demand for auto parts, housing materials, electronics and other products made from plastics and other petrochemicals will continue to grow. Improving industrial efficiency is part of ExxonMobil\u2019s mission to meet the world\u2019s growing need for energy while minimising environmental impacts.", "output": "Scientists at ExxonMobil and Spain's Instituto de Tecnologia Quimica have developed a new material capable of separating ethylene from ethane - known as cryogenic distillation - at room temperature, potentially reducing the energy required for the process by a quarter. The researchers used ITQ-55, a silica zeolite with a heart-shaped structure, which acted like a chemical sieve, for the ethylene molecules. The teams said more work is needed to fully understand the potential of the zeolite material."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Proptech Compass wins $450m Softbank investment \n Real estate technology firm Compass announced on Thursday it's getting an investment of $450 million from the SoftBank Vision Fund.\n\nThe infusion from the $93 billion venture vehicle \u2014 whose backers include the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank and Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund \u2014 brings Compass' total capital raise to $775 million.\n\nOther Compass investors include Goldman Sachs , outgoing American Express CEO Ken Chenault, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, and major property developer The LeFrak Organization, run by billionaire Richard LeFrak.\n\nRobert Reffkin, co-founder and CEO at Compass, told CNBC shortly after the announcement that the company is much more than a real estate company because it's \"powering the best of technology.\"\n\n\"Compass is on the path to be the largest owner of real estate data, globally, and the No. 1 real estate technology company in the world,\" Reffkin said on \"Squawk Box.\"\n\n\"We have our own in-house technology team that's building an end-to-end platform for agents to run and manage every part of their business,\" he said. \"Is Amazon a store? Is Tesla a car? I think that distinction is getting a little fuzzier.\"\n\nReffkin was chief of staff to Gary Cohn when Cohn was the No. 2 executive at Goldman. Cohn is currently a top economic advisor to President Donald Trump as director of the National Economic Council.", "output": "The SoftBank Vision Fund has invested $450m into proptech Compass. The investment brings Compass's total capital raised to $775m, with other investors in the business including\u00a0the LeFrak Organisation, Goldman Sachs and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. Commenting on the investment, Compass CEO and co-founder Robert Reffkin said:\u00a0\"Compass is on the path to be the largest owner of real estate data\u00a0globally\u00a0and the number one\u00a0real estate technology company in the world.\"\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "VetWare uses genomics to boost milk yields for\u00a0Indian\u00a0farmers \n Around 200 milk farmers from Indapur village, some 140 km southeast of Pune in Maharashtra, and surrounding areas are sitting under a pink-and-white shamiana on a sunny, winter afternoon in November. It is an awareness workshop for what data tracking and genomics can do for milk farming but the buzz is more around when dairies will raise milk procurement prices.\n\nAs veteran veterinarian Abdul Samad strides to the stage to address the gathering, some in the crowd are expecting a political speech. Dr Samad doesn\u2019t disappoint. He starts with stagnant milk prices but quickly segues into a solution within the reach of farmers: \u201cStop agitating about milk prices and start focusing on improving productivity and profits. Have you ever cared for where the bull semen is coming from when you do artificial insemination for your cattle?\u201d\n\nThe switch from politics to semen quality is a hard swerve and there are amused murmurs in the audience.\n\nBut, reality stares them in the face.\n\nMilk prices in India rose three times in the decade to 2015 but have plateaued since. This has led to Indian diaries and the farmers they procure milk from looking for solutions to rein in costs and at the same time raise milk output from their bovines. For a country that produces some 155 million tonnes of milk a year, the big question is how to increase the productivity of the Indian cow from the current average of 1,200 litres a year to averages in countries such as the US and Israel: around 3,500 litres annually. (One litre of milk is approximately 1 kg; it takes 1,000 milk litres to weigh a tonne.)\n\n\n\n\u201cEven a small shop owner keeps all the records, data. Where is your cattle data,\u201d asks Dr Samad, who retired as dean of Bombay Veterinary College in 2010.\n\nWith more than four decades of work behind him, the vet knows what he\u2019s talking about. In 2002, Samad, along with a software engineer Prashant Murdeshwar, co-founded a company called VetWare. It now offers a mobile-based and easy-to-use app, called Herdman, for farmers to capture cattle data using QR codes on the front end. That data is used to produce insights about cattle health, matching bulls to bring about genetic improvement, and even milk production forecasting. These insights are delivered in the local language to milk farmers and the vets looking after their herds.\n\n\n\nThe potential of the software and genomics is immense in the fragmented India milk farming sector, where some 120 million farming families are engaged in cow and buffalo rearing, according to the Indian Agricultural Census. If they can double milk yield, it will have large implications for nutrition in India, milk and milk product exports, and generation of new national income that is better distributed among the country\u2019s 700 million farmers.\n\nThe repository of information that Herdman covers includes feed data, days to puberty and calving, weight, health and disease tracking, milk yields, quality of milk etc. for each of some 240,000 cows and buffaloes on the software across India. Chitale Dairy from Sangli and Hatsun Agro in Salem are the pioneers of adopting techniques wrapped into Herdman.\n\nHatsun wants to deploy the solution over one million cattle in two years time. Larger dairy operations such as Amul have their own tagging and data collection solutions; more on that later.\n\nConnected cow\n\nMany in the crowd at Indapur are clueless but curious about how tracking cattle data using mobile phones can help them double milk productivity. \u201cHow long can we remain cry babies hoping the politicians will help address the pricing issue?\u201d asks Sudhakar Mane, who has a dozen cows in Indapur. \u201cThis doctor is saying we can even correct the problems in our current cattle by getting semen from bulls who can ensure the next generations are far more productive.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut how? Hope this isn\u2019t some kind of a gimmick,\u201d asks Ganesh from a nearby village. He goes only by his first name.\n\nThe answer, according to Dr Samad, 64, lies in genomics apart from using software tools to ensure farmers do not make blind decisions and mistakes in managing the health of their herds.\n\n\n\n\u201cIf you look at right from 1952 until today, we have hardly made any difference as far as the national average is concerned. We must talk of the national average, not some isolated examples of animals giving 20-30 litres of milk every day,\u201d says Dr Samad.\n\nHerdman combines intelligent tracking of animals with genomics big data to help milk farmers make informed decisions about breeding their cattle with the right bull.\n\n\u201cBreeding is about selecting good animals and leaving out bad animals. Unless you have records and the data, how would you know where the good animals are,\u201d asks Dr Samad.\n\nABS Global, a US cattle genomics company, is tapping into the cattle big data by relying on Herdman, apart from its own software algorithms that do intelligent matchmaking between cows and buffaloes with bulls to give birth to high, milk-producing female calves.\n\n\n\n\u201cSoftware such as Herdman help keep the data accessible. For instance, when a farmer is evaluating a cow to buy, he can scan the QR code tag and read all the historic data to make a more informed buying decision,\u201d says Arvind Gautam, the head of ABS\u2019 India operations. To be sure, ABS is not the only player in this space \u2013 its rival Sexing Technologies is also active in India, as are World Wide Sires and Genex, also from the US, and Semex of Canada.\n\nLarger Indian dairies such as Hatsun are designing breeding program for its over 300,000 cows and buffaloes by figuring out dry periods for each of them. This information, too, comes from Herdman.\n\n\u201cIf for instance, Hatsun gets to know that March is when most of its cattle will be in dry period, it can redesign the breeding program in a way that there\u2019s a healthy mix between lactation periods to ensure milk productivity doesn\u2019t suffer,\u201d says Gautam.\n\nThe \u201cblack box\u201d problem\n\nA foreign animal husbandry expert working with an Indian dairy sums it up best when he talks about Indian dairies \u201cblack box\u201d problem. \u201cEvery day we know exactly how many farmers poured milk and the quantities they poured\u2026. but we have absolutely no idea how many cows it took to produce that milk,\u201d he says, requesting anonymity because he was not authorised to speak with media.\n\nAs a result, generic and vague recommendations were made to farmers and animal health services were \u201ctotally reactive, rather than being proactive to assist farmers to avoid animal health problems,\u201d says the expert on an email.\n\n\n\nHis dairy has seen benefits accrued for not just its animal husbandry team, but also for the milk procurement team and, above all, the farmers, he adds, summarising the benefits below.\n\nBy tagging and recording animals in a Herdman database the animal husbandry team has now the ability to:\n\nidentify the issues constraining milk production, quality and reproductive performance and act on them\n\npredict calving and address calving-related health issues\n\ncompare best-performing animals by age, parity and breed\n\nMuch of the information can now be reviewed in a unified manner and messages can be sent to farmers by SMS or other electronic methods.\n\nThe milk procurement team has the ability to:\n\npredict milk flows up to six months in advance based on cows\u2019 calving pattern. With time, volume, as well as components should be accurately predicted, enabling planning to be more precise\n\ndetermine whether changes in farmers milk output is explained by animal information (calving or a cow drying off)\n\nin conjunction with the animal husbandry team, profile farms\u2019 milk production based on the number of cows, breed and lactation status\n\n\n\nFor the farmer, the benefits are:\n\nreceive relevant advice directly in a timely manner\n\nhave animal production, reproduction and health history data easily available, which will provide a better estimate of cow value and risk of disease and mortality, which, in turn, should lead to lower cow insurance premiums and possibly lower interest rates on loans.\n\nExperts such as Marcia I. Endres, a professor at the University of Minnesota\u2019s animal science department, say the key is to ensure that smaller farms in India get data at a low cost, which can then be used to improve operations. Endres has studied Dr Samad\u2019s software.\n\n\u201cAn old adage says \u201cyou can\u2019t manage what you can\u2019t measure\u201d and the software collects information that the farmers and their veterinarians did not have before,\u201d says Endres.\n\nOnce an animal is registered on Herdman, current health and any historical data available are captured. From thereon, each event including heat period, artificial insemination date, pregnancy, calving, vaccinations, treatment of any diseases occurred and, finally, the milk yield across different lactation cycles is recorded.\n\nFor every animal registered on the system, farmers have to pay Rs 50 annually or use it free but be served local ads.\n\nBig data meets cattle genomics\n\nAfter Dr Samad\u2019s session in Indapur, the farmers move to a hall on the first floor of a building nearby. The room is full and farmers such as Mane are now prepared to get the final tips.\n\n\u201cHow can India double milk production by 2026,\u201d ABS\u2019s Gautam asks the audience.\n\nMaintaining records of cattle health and their family history or parental matching is only the starting point. It takes years before results start showing from genomics-based breeding.\n\nABS\u2019s genetic mating software matches cows with bulls using dozens of parameters and based on expectations of a farmer from the next generation calf. Depending on the cow they have and the problems they want to rectify, farmers can demand anything from more fat content in the milk to better rudder placement, or even set a target of 20 or 30 litres milk daily.\n\nAfter these requirements are captured, the software algorithm runs search queries in its database to find an appropriate set of bulls and displays the result by ranking them according to their effectiveness. This matching process, which involves running hundreds of potential combinations, takes less than 30 seconds.\n\n\n\nGathering all the genetic data on bulls and cows is such a massive effort that Genus ABS India, a joint venture between ABS Global and Chitale Dairy which started groundwork in 2010 in Bhilwadi, Sangli, has selected only a few breeds to start with: Murrah, the buffalo breed, and Gir and Sahiwal for sire.\n\n\u201cThe more data we feed into the system, the better it gets. As data grows, its reliability too will improve,\u201d says Gautam. Companies such Sexing Technologies and ABS have been described as the Monsantos of the dairy world for the genetic-level potential they hold for the $350 billion global dairy industry.\n\nWhat Dr Samad\u2019s Herdman software does is solving only one tiny piece of the grand puzzle. For India\u2019s milk productivity to double by 2026 for instance, it will need to combine all genetic big data of cattle with a scientific breeding program.\n\nLike dairy farmers in the US did. \u201cThe high productivity per cow in the USA has a lot to do with improvements in genetics and management that could only happen because we had records on how the cows are producing every day or at least once a month from testing, allowing producers to select the best animals and improve management practices by being able to measure the results,\u201d says Endres, the US professor.\n\n\n\nIndia lags countries such as Brazil too.\n\n\u201cUntil 1985, they (Brazil) were doing cross-breeding like we are doing mostly today,\u201d says Dr Samad. \u201cThen they realised cross-breeding is not the answer for tropical countries like theirs.\u201d Recording data was followed by identifying genetically superior animals.\n\nSlowly, the results started showing. Brazil has two kinds of herd system: one is where the cows are free-grazed and the other where they are stall-fed. For the grazed ones, the average yield today is 4,000 litres to 4,500 litres of milk annually. The ones that are fed specific nutrients along with feed in stalls, yield 8,000 litres and more, according to Dr Samad.\n\nNot just that. Cows with breeds of Indian origin dominate the Brazilian market. The top nine breeds of bulls, including Ongole from Andhra Pradesh, account for nearly 80% of milk production in Brazil were taken from India, and improved upon genetically. According to agricultural economist Devinder Sharma, a descendant of Gir breed of cows from Gujarat has recorded 60 litres of milk a day in Brazil.\n\nThe US has raced even further ahead \u2014 the \u201cconnected cow\u201d is enabled by everything from real-time sensors to robotic milking.\n\n\u201cMore recently we have seen growth in the use of technologies such as individual cow sensors (for rumination, activity, feeding and resting time, temperature, etc) and automation (robotic milking and automated milk feeders) which provide even larger amounts of individual animal data to be used for health, reproduction and performance improvement,\u201d says Endres.\n\nA Bahubali in Bhilwadi\n\nABS\u2019s efforts have led to creating a league table of India\u2019s top performing bulls. \u201cBahubali, the bull, is more popular in our community than the movie,\u201d says Vikas Dandelkar, a farmer in Bhilwadi, tells FactorDaily at the local milk collection centre.\n\nThe semen of Bahubali, a cross-breed Murrah buffalo bull in Sangli, is much sought after \u2014 each of its semen doses costs Rs 150 versus Rs 30 for a normal bull insemination dose. Placed No. 2 on India\u2019s league table for bulls by semen quality, it has exceptionally high dam yield of 5,586 kg per lactation with well over 7% fat.\n\n\u201cSince there is no genomics in buffaloes or indigenous cattle breeds, selection of bull is as per mother\u2019s milk data \u2013 higher the better,\u201d says Gautam of ABS. There are 96 other bulls on the league table including Holstein breed Stryker and Brute, Jersey breed Preet and Tyson, and two other Murrah buffaloes Redhu and Maharaja. They are all based on a farm in Bhilwadi at Genus ABS lab.\n\n\n\nChitale Dairy has seen its milk productivity improve since when the genomics lab was first set up in 2010. From around 350,000 litres a day three years ago, Chitale now procures over 750,000 litres daily in Bhilwadi, Sangli. And, the improvement has come by keeping the number of cows and buffaloes, around 100,000, mostly unchanged.\n\n\u201cTo achieve this level of improvement, having big data is a must,\u201d says Vishwas Chitale, director, Chitale Dairy. \u201c[Results with] genomic selection is only possible with recording.\u201d Some of the improvement in yields at Chitale Dairy are due to other interventions such as feeds.\n\nHerdman is not the only software being used by milk dairies and farmers in India. From National Dairy Development Board (NDDB)\u2019s own software solution developed in-house to products from newer technology startups such as Stellapps, there are enough options.\n\nNDDB has been actively using software in data capture, genomics and even to ensure a balanced diet for some 2.7 million bovines.\n\n\u201cThe country\u2019s breeding programme depends on this,\u201d Niraj Prakash Garg, a deputy general manager at NDDB\u2019s IT division told FactorDaily at Anand, Gujarat, in December last year. He was referring to NDDB\u2019s Ration Balancing Programme aimed to ensure balanced, personalised fodder for nearly 2.7 million cows and buffaloes across 40,000 Indian villages.\n\n\n\nIn March this year, NDDB also launched a new Android app for tracking and managing genetic improvement of cattle using artificial insemination. The plan is also aimed at capturing big data on millions of bovines and over 15 million milk producers. \u201cThe key output is you\u2019re able to identify which bull is good,\u201d says Garg. Extra emphasis is given on the ration program, which helps farmers optimise feed for their cattle, personalised for each animal. By December 2016, over 2 million cattle were already part of the diet program with each of the milk farmers saving Rs 30 every day per animal because of the software, according to Garg.\n\nNDDB\u2019s scale of operations dwarfs all other dairies. During 2015-2016 for instance, the cooperatives registered under the NDDB collected around 15.58 million tonnes of milk from cows and buffaloes under its ration programme. \u201cIt\u2019s not a pilot or an experiment, but a full, mainstream program with demonstrated benefits,\u201d says Garg.\n\nSoftware limited\n\nFor Dr Samad and ABS, Bhilwadi\u2019s Chitale Dairy has been a sandbox to experiment with software to genomics. With those experiments maturing, Samad\u2019s Herdman software is now evolving with bigger dairies such as Hatsun in Chennai, which has some 220,000 cows on the software. Hatsun Agro Products, a listed company, runs India\u2019s largest private dairy operation.\n\n\u201cIf you are able to manage the data, you can easily increase the milk yield without doing anything else by 20-25%, only because you are preventing management losses. Otherwise, you don\u2019t do pregnancy tests, you come to know after six months and by then you, as a farmer, have lost half the year of precious time,\u201d says Dr Samad.\n\n\n\nBy combining the operational data about cattle with genomics on the other end, the benefits could be far more.\n\n\u201cIt keeps on calculating and tracking performance indices of health, fertility and milk production of each animal and keeps flagging the problems and prompting for appropriate interventions,\u201d says Dr Samad. \u201cWe find that 90% of the time, it is not the infection but it\u2019s the management (or lack of it) which is causing the problem.\u201d\n\nStill, both Gautam and Dr Samad agree that the real benefits of genomics will take at least a decade to start showing on a sizeable scale.\n\nThere are issues of broken economics to deal with \u2013 how to cover additional expenses such as the cost of fortified feed and that of sexed semen (Rs 150 for a dose but an insemination may take multiple attempts) while milk prices remain stagnant. Pradeep Balhara, the owner of 1,000-cattle Balhara Dairy in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, says, \u201cYou can\u2019t talk vitamins and other nutrients if the basic, staple food is missing.\u201d\n\n\n\nAmong the early users of Herdman \u2013 Balhara\u2019s been using it for over a decade \u2013 the biggest benefit for him, he says, has been the ability to plan the breeding cycles of different animals. \u201cIt means a lot for a dairy like us, we can avoid the dry seasons,\u201d he says.\n\nIt\u2019s moving the needle for small farmers, too. Mahesh Dhondiram Yesugade, a milk farmer in Sangli with one cow, started using Herdman two years ago and followed its advisories. He says his income increased by Rs 200 a month in the first year and in the latest month by Rs 1,000 \u2014 an increase of some 50% from the Rs 2,000 he used to make earlier. \u201cI now plan to buy another cow and plan breeding in a way that there\u2019s no dry season,\u201d he says.\n\nFarmers like Balhara and Yesugade are critical to the success of the Second White Revolution, as the nationwide dairying programme of the 1970s and 1980s is referred to. The benefits of data- and genomics-driven dairying will need showing, not telling, says Endres, the University of Minnesota professor. \u201cWe need to have the early adopters, otherwise a technology will not be successful. Cultivating those early leaders is important.\u201d", "output": "Indian veterinary technology firm VetWare hopes to help Indian farmers increase their milk yields by integrating genetic data into dairy\u00a0farming processes. VetWare has developed a mobile app called Herdman, which combines intelligent tracking with genomics big data to enable farmers to capture cattle data on weight, health and milk yields. It's hoped that such low-cost data solutions will help India close the gap with countries such as the USA, which has long used genetics data to improve breeding programmes and raise milk productivity. VetWare aims to apply the QR-based Herdman to one million cattle within two years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK anticipates China tourism surge after increasing flights 50% \n Thousands more Chinese tourists are set to visit the UK under Government plans to increase the number of flights from the country by 50%.\n\nThe maximum of 100 passenger flights per week that can operate between Britain and China, is set to increase to 150.\n\nA landmark new agreement will see a big increase in flights between the UK and China. Up to 150 flights a week could open up opportunities for new business and tourism across the country https://t.co/Q4xK2RVFPX pic.twitter.com/DPpATfpS45 \u2014 Department for Transport (@transportgovuk) December 10, 2017\n\nChinese tourists are some of the highest spenders in Britain, staying longer and travelling more than visitors from other countries, according to the Department for Transport.\n\nBritain has boosted the number of flights from China in preparation for Brexit (Steve Parsons/PA)\n\nTransport Secretary Chris Grayling said: \u201cThese agreements are an important part of preparing Britain for a post-Brexit world and making sure we have access to key markets in the Far East, and they come at a time when our exports are growing and we continue to attract international investment.\n\n\u201cIt just underlines that Britain will do well regardless of the outcome of the Brexit negotiations.\n\n\u201cThe whole Government is working to secure the best possible future relationship with the EU, and great progress has been made his week, but no one should believe that Britain\u2019s future success depends on decisions taken in Brussels.\u201d\n\nThe number of Chinese tourists who visited the UK rocketed during the first half of this year, after the flight limit was increased from 40 per week to 100 in October 2016, the Department for Transport said.\n\nBetween January and June, 115,000 visits were made from China to the UK, a rise of 47% on the same period last year.\n\nSpending also increased to \u00a3231 million, up 54%, according to figures.", "output": "The UK government is to allow 50% more flights from China as it further taps the lucrative Chinese tourism market. Chinese visits\u00a0to the UK\u00a0surged 47% in the\u00a0first half of 2017\u00a0after inbound flights were more than doubled last October. The move boosted spending\u00a054%.\u00a0\"These agreements are an important part of preparing Britain for a post-Brexit world and making sure we have access to key markets in the Far East,\" said\u00a0Transport Secretary Chris Grayling.\u00a0The number of flights from China will increase to 150 a week from\u00a0100.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese private funds rise 28% in 10 months to $1.63tn \n Kevin Frayer | Getty Images News | Getty Images\n\nChina's private fund industry is growing rapidly as the country's wealthy increasingly turn toward money managers. Assets under management of Chinese private funds rose 28 percent over the first 10 months of the year, to 10.77 trillion yuan ($1.63 trillion), according to a Nov. 10 report, the latest, from the Asset Management Association of China. The funds target high-net-worth individuals, a group that has grown rapidly in China. The number of Chinese with at least 10 million yuan (roughly $1.5 million) in investible assets has multiplied more than eight times within a decade, to 1.6 million in 2016, according to Bain's report on China Private Wealth, released in August.\n\n\"Collectively, China's HNWIs have about RMB 49 trillion (about $7 trillion) in investable assets, and they have grown more discerning about how, and with whom, they invest that money,\" the report said. The first generation to benefit from China's capitalist turn have tended to manage their money independently. In contrast, \"newer HNWIs \u2014 who often include the sons and daughters of first-generation company founders \u2014 are more willing to seek professional advice.\" As investors recover from the shock of China's 2015 market crash, the number of private Chinese funds has grown nearly 20 percent this year, to 21,628, according to the Asset Management Association of China. About 8,000 of those fall into the \"hedge fund\" category of investing in securities, according to local consultancy Z-Ben Advisors. \"There is increased interest, increased opportunity,\" said Chantal Grinderslev, senior advisor and director of operations at Z-Ben Advisors. \"If anything it's the secret blessing of the block on outflows. It's really spurring interest onshore from investments onshore. \" When it comes to the kinds of funds China's wealthy are pursuing, private equity and venture capital funds have seen much of the growth in the last year, Grinderslev said. According to Z-Ben, assets under management for securities-focused Chinese private funds has fallen from nearly $400 billion at the end of last year to $340 billion this fall. China's hedge fund industry also remains small by global standards. Global hedge fund research firm Preqin only tracks 117 \"pure hedge funds\" based in China.\n\nwatch now", "output": "China's private fund industry is rocketing, rising 28% over the first 10 months of this year to CNY10.77tn ($1.63tn), according to the Asset Management Association of China. The surge is due to growing numbers\u00a0of\u00a0wealthy individuals who are increasingly turning\u00a0to\u00a0money managers. Those with at least $1.5m to invest have\u00a0multiplied by over eight times within the past 10 years to 1.6 million.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EDF to provide PG&E with 40 MWh of behind-the-meter storage \n EDF Renewable Energy, a subsidiary of EDF Group, has been chosen by Pacific Gas & Electric, the primary utility company serving the northern California community and the San Francisco Bay Area, to provide 40 megawatt-hours of \u201cbehind the meter\u201d energy storage for its commercial and industrial customers.\n\nElectricity is like compressed air. It has to be used right away or it is wasted. A conventional electrical grid has little ability to store energy or adjust for increases in demand. Utility companies have to make more electricity than they need in order to have enough. The excess is lost, which equates to lost revenue.\n\nGrid-scale storage is expensive, but so is generating electricity that never gets used. Bringing so-called peaker plants online to supply more electricity when demand is high is also expensive. Storage options help balance the flow of electricity across the grid and soak up excess capacity that can be used later, turning power that would otherwise be wasted into more revenue.\n\nBehind-the-meter storage allows customers to better manage their own energy usage. They can charge their batteries during times when rates are low and use the stored energy later when rates are high, avoiding demand charges that can double or triple the usual cost of electricity. In most cases, they can also continue to operate even if the main utility grid is down. And when appropriate, they can send power back to the grid and earn some income to offset the cost of the storage system. EDF\u2019s proprietary PEGASE Energy Management System works seamlessly in the background to manage the behind-the-meter storage system and maximize the benefits available to customers.\n\nMartin Wyspianski, PG&E senior director for energy portfolio procurement and policy, is happy with the progress his company has made toward meeting California\u2019s renewable energy and storage goal of 1325 megawatts by 2020. \u201cAs our clean energy portfolio grows, so does the importance of storage technology. These contracts and the storage capacity they represent will help us better integrate our growing renewable generation sources, and bring increased reliability to the grid. They are an important milestone in our progress toward a clean energy future,\u201d he tells The Financial Times.\n\nSign up for Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era \u2014 Podcast: I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014 gasp \u2014 grow. So ... Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014\u2014 grow. So ...", "output": "Pacific Gas & Electric has selected EDF Renewable Energy Partners to provide 40 MWh of \"behind the meter\" energy storage to commercial and industrial customers across the northern California and San Francisco Bay areas. Behind-the-meter storage enables users to efficiently manage their energy usage by avoiding demand charges, balancing between low and peak-rate times and earning income by sending any unused power back to the grid. Senior director at PG&E, Martin Wyspianski said the EDF contracts are \"an important milestone\" toward meeting California's renewable energy and storage goal of 1,325 MW by 2020."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Enel divests 80% stake in US wind farms for $233m \n Enel has signed a cash equity agreement through its US renewables division Enel Green Power North America (EGPNA).\n\nThe deal will divest an 80% stake in the Caney River and Rocky Ridge windfarms to investment fund Gulf Pacific Power for around $233m.\n\nEGPNA intends to continue managing, operating, and maintaining both farms, while deconsolidating a $140m debt.\n\nLocated in Kansas, the 200MW Caney River windfarm generates around 765GWh per year, while the 150MW Rocky Ridge farm in Oklahoma is able to generate approximately 600GWh annually.\n\n\u201cThe 200MW Caney River windfarm generates around 765GWh per year, while the 150MW Rocky Ridge farm in Oklahoma is able to generate approximately 600GWh annually.\u201d\n\nUnder long-term power purchase agreements (PPA), Caney River sells electricity output to the Tennessee Valley Authority, while Rocky Ridge provides output to the Western Farmers Electric Cooperative.\n\nEnel Green Power head Antonio Cammisecra said: \u201cToday\u2019s agreement with a new investment partner reinforces the success and confirms the appeal of our continued industrial growth strategy throughout the build, sell, and operate model to support new growth opportunities both in North America and other markets around the world.\n\n\u201cThis strategy allows us to be more financially agile as we continue to invest in more renewable energy projects in the five continents.\u201d\n\nWith presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Oceania, Enel Green Power develops and operates renewables such as wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, and hydropower.\n\nThe firm expects to complete the transaction by the end of this year.", "output": "Enel has announced the signing of a cash equity agreement that will see its 80% stake in the 250 MW Caney River and 150 MW Rocky Ridge wind farms sold to the Gulf Pacific Power investment fund. The deal, which is worth about $233m, will mean that Enel continues to maintain and operate the assets. Enel expects the transaction to be completed by the end of the year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Eni hedges bets on bioplastics over decline of oil \n Eni targets plastics purchase in strategy shift\n\nMILAN (Reuters) \u2014 Energy firm Eni aims to express an interest in bidding for an Italian bioplastics business in a move that underlines a longer-term desire to hedge its exposure to oil and gas, financial sources said.\n\nEni wants to revive its chemicals, retail and refining businesses to offset volatility in oil prices and regain favour with investors after its shares underperformed those of industry rivals in the past three years, the sources said.\n\nThe state-controlled major is looking at the Italian assets of bioplastics multinational Mossi Ghisolfi, which has been put under creditor protection, two banking sources said.\n\n\"Non-binding bids are due in the next few days and Eni is there,\" one of the sources said, adding that the deal was worth \"hundreds of millions of euros\".\n\nThere has been media speculation about Eni being interested in Mossi Ghisolfi, but this is the first time it has emerged the group would submit bid interest in the assets.\n\nEni did not comment.\n\nThe potential acquisition, although small for Eni, flags an ongoing strategy shift for CEO Claudio Descalzi, who has spent four years creating a lean exploration business, racking up big discoveries in places like Mozambique and Egypt.\n\nWhile keeping a firm focus on exploration, the 62-yr-old reservoir engineer now wants to rejig the business model to bolster and create greener midstream and downstream businesses like marketing and refining as a hedge against oil price swings.\n\nAn acquisition of Mossi Ghisolfi's Italian unit, which uses agricultural waste to make plastics, would fit such a profile.\n\nThe move comes at a time when the boom in renewable energy and the prospect of a world powered by electric vehicles is creating a challenge for the oil industry.\n\nBALANCED PORTFOLIO\n\nEni has been sounding out investors on why its shares have underperformed and feedback suggested more downstream protection is needed, said two fund managers contacted by the group.\n\nIts heavy presence in high-risk areas such as Libya and Nigeria was another reason for concern, they said.\n\n\"It makes sense to build a more balanced portfolio less exposed to oil price swings ... It will help boost multiples and support the stock,\" said Mediobanca oil analyst Alessandro Pozzi.\n\nSince oil prices plunged from above $100 a barrel in 2014 to below $30 in 2016, Eni shares have fallen more than 20% while France\u2019s Total has risen 7% and Royal Dutch Shell 9%.\n\nTotal and Shell have fared better because they have greater exposure to downstream businesses such as refining and petrochemicals, where demand is lifted by economic growth fueled by lower crude prices.\n\nExxonMobil Corp said last week it was revamping its refining and chemical operations to boost profits.\n\nEni, whose exploration and production (E&P) arm generated more than 80% of operating income over 2015 and 2016, has been the industry's best discoverer in recent years. But its downstream business has struggled.\n\nA year or so ago, it toyed with the idea of selling its chemicals and retail operations but pulled both deals, opting instead to streamline operations and make them more profitable. That strategy has led it to consider acquisitions, sources said.\n\nCEO Descalzi has said the group could float its retail arm with an initial public offering (IPO) within 2 yr to 3 yr.\n\nA banker familiar with the matter said Eni wanted to strengthen its retail business, adding this could involve acquisitions.\n\nEni is seeking to reduce its carbon emissions, making new investments in solar plants and converting refineries to biofuels. Last month, it signed a deal with carmaker Fiat Chrysler to work on new carbon-low fuels for cars.\n\nIt also plans to expand its LNG business.\n\n\"It used to be all about E&P. Now at its roadshows Eni dedicates almost half the time to downstream,\" the banker said.\n\nReporting by Stephen Jewkes; Additional reporting by Danilo Masoni; Editing by Edmund Blair\n\nRelated News\n\nFrom the Archive", "output": "Italy's second-largest energy company Eni is among the bidders for the Italian arm of bioplastics outfit Mossi Ghisolfi, according to unnamed sources. The potential acquisition, said to be worth \"hundreds of millions of euros\", is part of Eni's drive to invest more in\u00a0its downstream businesses to hedge against volatile energy prices. The Mossi Ghisolfi\u00a0unit uses agricultural waste to make plastics."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Engie acquires South African energy companies \n Engie to develop South Africa\u2019s energy services\n\nEngie has signed agreements with two South African energy services companies, Thermaire Investments Ltd and Ampair Ltd, to acquire 100 per cent of their respective shares\n\nEngie develops a number of solar projects in South Africa. (Image source: Kimco Realty/Flickr)\n\nThe company said that completion of the transaction is conditional on approvals of the relevant regulatory bodies.\n\nEngie further added that with Thermaire and Ampair, it aims to develop a regional platform to offer energy services to the public, industrial and commercial building sectors.\n\nJointly, the acquired companies will form one of the largest South African HVAC contractors to export its skills cross-border and into the greater Southern African region.\n\nMohamed Hoosen, CEO of Engie Southern Africa, said that as a global energy company and expert operator in renewable and energy storage, lighting, heating and cooling systems, as well as energy management and controls, Engie is embarking on an acquisition strategy to grow its presence in the African market.\n\nCommenting on the partnership, JP Hargovan, CEO of Thermaire Investments, added, \u201cAs one of the oldest established HVAC businesses in Southern Africa, we are thrilled at the prospect of developing and growing our business in line with the greater Engie strategy.\u201d\n\nThermaire Investments and Ampair are affiliated companies which provide client supply, installation and maintenance services within the HVAC industry. Their activities range from power plants, commercial buildings, shopping malls and data centres. Together, both companies employ more than 500 people across South Africa, Botswana and Mozambique.\n\nEngie\u2019s activities in South Africa include commissioning of the 670MW Avon Peaking Power, 335MW Dedisa Peaking Power, 94MW Aurora Wind Power and the combined 21MW Aurora-Rietvlei Solar Power and Vredendal Solar Power Park (Photovoltaics). The company also involves in an ongoing construction of the 100MW Kathu Solar Park in the Northern Cape of South Africa.", "output": "French utility Engie is set to acquire affiliated South African energy services firms Ampair and Thermaire Investments, as part of a strategy\u00a0to expand its presence in the country. The companies' activities range from power plants, commercial buildings, shopping malls and data centres. The purchase will see the two firms become one of South Africa's largest heating, ventilation\u00a0and air conditioning contractors, as well as part of Engie's platform offering regional energy services to the domestic, commercial and industrial sectors.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Microsoft pledges further $50m for AI for Earth climate scheme \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nMicrosoft has announced an expansion to its AI for Earth program, committing an additional $50 million to organizations that are working to solve the climate change crisis.\n\nThe tech giant first announced AI for Earth back in June, and the initiative promised to provide a bunch of cloud-based tools and AI services to organizations looking to tackle problems relating to climate change. At the time, Microsoft said it was putting $2 million into the program, in addition to other add-ons, such as providing training on the use of AI. Today, the company announced an \u201cexpanded strategic plan\u201d and a further $50 million over the next five years to \u201cput artificial intelligence technology in the hands of individuals and organizations around the world who are working to protect our planet,\u201d according to Microsoft president and chief legal officer, Brad Smith.\n\nParis agreement\n\nThe news comes on the eve of the two-year anniversary of the Paris Agreement, which was adopted by nearly 200 countries around the world in December, 2015. World leaders are reconvening in Paris tomorrow at the One Planet Summit to take stock and support the goals set out in the original agreement.\n\nAI is already being used across many industries, from grocery picking / packing to online image searches, and tackling climate change should really be no different.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\n\u201cAt Microsoft, we believe artificial intelligence is a game changer,\u201d said Smith. \u201cOur approach as a company is focused on democratizing AI so its features and capabilities can be put to use by individuals and organizations around the world to improve real-world outcomes. There are few societal areas where AI can be more impactful than in helping address the urgent work needed to monitor, model, and manage the Earth\u2019s natural systems.\u201d\n\nManaging and processing vast swathes of data is one key area where AI could help with climate change. For example, ground sensors or weather stations can capture myriad environmental data points, while AI can be trained to automatically classify the raw data that\u2019s captured for human interpretation.\n\n\u201cFundamentally, AI can accelerate our ability to observe environmental systems and how they are changing at a global scale, convert the data into useful information, and apply that information to take concrete steps to better manage our natural resources,\u201d added Smith.\n\nIt\u2019s worth noting here that Microsoft\u2019s moves aren\u2019t entirely altruistic. The company is keen to push its cloud and AI technologies into more environments, so to speak. Microsoft claimed that in the past six months it has awarded more than 35 grants globally for access to its Azure platform and AI technology as part of the AI for Earth program.\n\nAs for its \u201cexpanded strategic plan,\u201d well, Microsoft said that it aims to grow its seed grants for creating and testing new AI applications across four key areas: climate, water, agriculture, and biodiversity. The company said it will provide more \u201cadvanced training\u201d to universities and NGOs leveraging AI in their projects. Further down the line, Microsoft said that it will pick out the ones that show the most promise and make more substantial investments to help them scale. As part of this effort, the company is setting up a new \u201cmulti-disciplinary team\u201d of AI and sustainability experts who will work with the latter-stage projects.\n\nThe company also hinted at its own plans for any technology that emerges from its investments, saying that it could be integrated into its own platform for use by others.\n\n\u201cAs these projects advance, we\u2019ll identify and pursue opportunities to incorporate new AI advances into platform-level services so that others can use them for their own sustainability initiatives,\u201d said Smith. \u201cSome of this will involve platform services that will be offered by others. In other instances, these may be incorporated into Microsoft\u2019s own platform services.\u201d", "output": "Microsoft is to offer a further $50m to organizations combating climate change via its AI for Earth programme. The initiative, which was launched in June, provides cloud-based tools and AI services to groups working on climate change-related problems. The additional funds are part of an \u201cexpanded strategic plan\u201d which seeks to \u201cput artificial intelligence technology in the hands of individuals and organizations around the world who are working to protect our planet\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SEC preempts securities fraud, shuts down ICO \n FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\n\n2017-227\n\nA California-based company selling digital tokens to investors to raise capital for its blockchain-based food review service halted its initial coin offering (ICO) after being contacted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and agreed to an order in which the Commission found that its conduct constituted unregistered securities offers and sales.\n\nAccording to the SEC\u2019s order, before any tokens were delivered to investors, Munchee Inc. refunded investor proceeds after the SEC intervened. Munchee was seeking $15 million in capital to improve an existing iPhone app centered on restaurant meal reviews and create an \u201cecosystem\u201d in which Munchee and others would buy and sell goods and services using the tokens. The company communicated through its website, a white paper, and other means that it would use the proceeds to create the ecosystem, including eventually paying users in tokens for writing food reviews and selling both advertising to restaurants and \u201cin-app\u201d purchases to app users in exchange for tokens.\n\nAccording to the order, in the course of the offering, the company and other promoters emphasized that investors could expect that efforts by the company and others would lead to an increase in value of the tokens. The company also emphasized it would take steps to create and support a secondary market for the tokens. Because of these and other company activities, investors would have had a reasonable belief that their investment in tokens could generate a return on their investment. As the SEC has said in the DAO Report of Investigation, a token can be a security based on the long-standing facts and circumstances test that includes assessing whether investors\u2019 profits are to be derived from the managerial and entrepreneurial efforts of others.\n\n\u201cWe will continue to scrutinize the market vigilantly for improper offerings that seek to sell securities to the general public without the required registration or exemption,\u201d said Stephanie Avakian, Co-Director of the SEC\u2019s Enforcement Division. \u201cIn deciding not to impose a penalty, the Commission recognized that the company stopped the ICO quickly, immediately returned the proceeds before issuing tokens, and cooperated with the investigation.\u201d\n\n\u201cOur primary focus remains investor protection and making sure that investors are being offered investment opportunities with all the information and disclosures required under the federal securities laws,\u201d said Steven Peikin, Co-Director of the SEC\u2019s Enforcement Division.\n\nMunchee consented to the SEC\u2019s cease-and-desist order without admitting or denying the findings.\n\nThe SEC\u2019s new Cyber Unit is focused on misconduct involving distributed ledger technology and initial coin offerings, the spread of false information through electronic and social media, brokerage account takeovers, hacking to obtain nonpublic information, and threats to trading platforms. The SEC also has a Distributed Ledger Technology Working Group that focuses on various emerging applications of distributed ledger technology in the financial industry.\n\nThe SEC\u2019s investigation was conducted by the Enforcement Division\u2019s Cyber Unit and Complex Financial Instruments Unit, including Jeff Leasure, Brent Mitchell and James Murtha. The case was supervised by Robert Cohen, Reid Muoio, and Valerie Szczepanik.\n\nThe SEC\u2019s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy issued an Investor Bulletin in July 2017 to make investors aware of the potential risks of participating in initial coin offerings.", "output": "Food reviewing service Munchee cancelled its first initial coin offering (ICO) after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) raised registration concerns. Munchee was seeking to raise $15m to better its existing restaurant review app by selling tokens. In a statement, the SEC noted since Munchee was telling investors they should expect the value of tokens acquired in the ICO to increase. Additionally, the firm said it would aim to establish a secondary market for tokens. With these factors in mind the SEC said the ICO constituted selling securities to the public without the required exemption or registration."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shareholder fraud lawsuit revived against Alibaba in the US \n NEW YORK: A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday revived a lawsuit accusing Alibaba Group Holding Ltd of defrauding shareholders by concealing a regulatory warning about counterfeiters that the Chinese online retailer had received shortly before going public.\n\n\n\nThe 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled 3-0 that a lower court judge erred in dismissing claims by holders of Alibaba's American Depositary Shares and ADS call options against Alibaba, Executive Chairman Jack Ma and others.\n\n\n\nAlibaba said it was disappointed by the decision but that the ruling did not determine that Alibaba had violated U.S. securities law.\n\n\n\n\"We believe our behavior was entirely appropriate, and we intend to defend ourselves vigorously as this litigation progresses,\" it said in a statement.\n\n\n\nThe appeals court in the Tuesday opinion said the plaintiffs adequately alleged that Alibaba intended to defraud them but did not rule on the merits of the case.\n\n\n\nAlibaba has long faced accusations that its websites are a haven for counterfeiters, including of luxury goods.\n\n\n\nShareholders accused Alibaba of concealing a meeting on July 16, 2014, two months before its $25 billion initial public offering, in which China's powerful State Administration for Industry and Commerce threatened huge fines if Alibaba failed to suppress counterfeiting.\n\n\n\nThe price of Alibaba's ADS fell 12.8 percent on Jan. 28 and 29, 2015 after the SAIC revealed its concerns about products that were banned, fake or substandard, or infringed trademarks.\n\n\n\nIn June 2016, Chief Judge Colleen McMahon of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan dismissed the nationwide lawsuit, saying Alibaba had flagged the regulatory risks in its IPO materials.\n\n\n\nThe appeals court called the SAIC threat \"highly material\" to investors because it \"required Alibaba to choose between giving up an important source of its revenue or risking enormous fines,\" either of which could hurt results or the IPO's success.\n\n\n\n\"Given the eventual market reaction to revelation of the information that was concealed at the time of the IPO, its revelation would likely have had a multi-billion dollar negative effect,\" the appeals court said.\n\n\n\nThe lawsuit was returned to McMahon for further proceedings.\n\n\n\nRobert Kry, a partner at MoloLamken representing the plaintiffs, said: \"We're pleased with the decision, and look forward to proving our claims.\"\n\n\n\nThe case is Christine Asia Co et al v Ma et al, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 16-2519. - Reuters", "output": "A lawsuit against Alibaba has been revived in the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals. The Chinese conglomerate has been accused by shareholders of hiding regulatory warnings - regarding counterfeiters - that it has received before going public. This is not the first time that Alibaba has been hit by accusations that its websites are rife with counterfeiters.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sri Lanka formally leases its main southern port to China \n Sri Lanka's government handed over the running of Hambantota port to a Chinese company on Saturday. Photo: AFP", "output": "Sri Lanka has formally handed over the running of its primary southern port, Hambantota, to China Merchants Port Holdings on a 99-year lease. Hambantota is expected to play a significant role in the Beijing government's \"One Belt One Road\" initiative, being situated near the main shipping route from Asia to Europe. The US, Indian and Japanese governments have voiced concerns that China may use the port as a naval base. China is investing heavily in overseas ports\u00a0to increase its maritime power and open up new shipping routes."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesla confirms it's working on own AI chip for self-driving cars \n There have been rumors that Tesla is developing its own chip optimized for self-driving applications ever since we reported on the automaker quietly hiring legendary chip architect Jim Keller from AMD last year.\n\nNow CEO Elon Musk finally confirmed the rumor \u2013 specifying that Tesla is working on its own new AI chip and that the effort is led by Keller.\n\nAt the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS) yesterday, Musk held a fireside chat with Tesla\u2019s new Director of AI and Autopilot Vision, Andrej Karpathy, Jim Keller, Tesla\u2019s Vice-President of Autopilot Hardware Engineering, and Shivon Zilis, a partner at Bloomberg Beta and a project director for Musk\u2019s office.\n\nAccording to people at the event, the discussion revolved around Tesla\u2019s artificial intelligence work and it was seemingly a recruiting effort for the company.\n\nBut Musk also made a few interesting comments, including a confirmation that Tesla is working on its own AI chip to enable self-driving technology.\n\nThe CEO confirmed that Keller is behind the effort, which he believes will result in \u201cthe best custom AI hardware in the world.\u201d\n\nKeller has an important reputation in the hardware world after having been a key player in the creation of several architectures, like Athlon K7 and K8 at AMD, before developing Apple\u2019s A4 and A5 processors, which powered most of Apple\u2019s mobile devices from 2010 to 2012. He later came back to AMD and led the design of the company\u2019s latest chip architecture.\n\nAfter quietly joining Tesla in late 2015, we reported that the automaker poached a team of chip architects and executives from AMD following Keller\u2019s hire.\n\nThat\u2019s when the speculation that Tesla is working on its own chip, presumably for self-driving, started. It was also in the middle of Tesla changing hardware from Mobileye to Nvidia for its Autopilot program.\n\nTesla is now up to its Autopilot \u20182.5\u2019 hardware suite with more computing power for autonomous driving based on Nvidia\u2019s Drive PX platform.\n\nMusk previously said that he expects Tesla\u2019s 2.0 and 2.5 Autopilot hardware suites to enable \u201cfully self-driving\u201d, but if it doesn\u2019t, Tesla will replace the computers in those vehicles for free.\n\nAnd now we know that Tesla is working on computers with its own AI chips.\n\nWhen asked about potential improvements at the event yesterday, Keller said that there are opportunities to remove overheads between components for specialized hardware, which Musk says could result in 10 times the current power for a fraction of the cost.\n\nComputing power inside vehicles is becoming increasingly important and like several other generally outsourced vehicle components, Tesla seems dead serious about bringing it in-house.", "output": "Tesla is working on its own artificial intelligence (AI) chip with microprocessor designer Jim Keller, the car maker has confirmed. CEO Elon told the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems the effort will lead to the development of the \"best custom AI hardware in the world\". Keller has held a number of important roles in chip design, including at Apple.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Investec invests in Africa off-grid solar installer Mobisol \n UK-registered Investec Asset Management announced last week that alongside its consortium partners it has made a new growth equity investment in Berlin-based, Africa-focused off-grid solar home systems installer Mobisol GmbH.\n\nThe investment group, which also includes the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Dutch development bank FMO, first backed Mobisol in October 2016. Investec said in a statement that the follow-on growth equity investment, coupled with recently concluded debt-financing deals, brings Mobisol's newly-secured capital to above USD 25 million (EUR 21m). This sum was obtained over the past six months, according to the announcement.\n\nMobisol offers solar systems that allow homeowners to charge mobile phones and power lighting, radios and stereos, TVs and other appliances. Since its inception, the company has installed more than 100,000 systems in Tanzania, Rwanda and Kenya.\n\n\u201cMobisol\u2019s partnership with the Investec consortium allows us to further grow and to set the stage for providing reliable and affordable solar energy solutions to 20 million people by 2023,\u201d said Thomas Gottschalk, founder and CEO of Mobisol.\n\n(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.843)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "A consortium led by Investec Asset Management has invested in off-grid solar installer Mobisol. Berlin-based Mobisol has installed over 100,000 photovoltaic home systems in Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania. The investment, alongside debt-financing deals, takes the company's newly-secured capital to over \u20ac20m ($25m), which it will use to help meet its target of providing affordable solar energy solutions to 20 million people by 2023."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Eight TV takes aim at Google, Facebook with mobile video reviews \n Two of the biggest tech companies, Google and Facebook, have been competing as the internet's biggest destinations for video. And yet, a small startup is betting it has a shot of nabbing their views by narrowing in on one of YouTube's most popular styles.\n\nEight TV(opens in a new tab) is an app focused on product reviews -- by anyone and for anyone (anyone who carries a smartphone and probably likes Snapchat, that is). Shows can be created in minutes, often shot with selfie cameras. All videos are linked to a webpage to buy the item. The app pulls from the more than 100 million products in Amazon's database.\n\nFor the creators of Eight TV, the hope is that anyone can be a star, and consumers can access authentic and personable reviews. Unlike on YouTube where creators use elaborate setups and tech to record and to edit review videos, Eight TV users simply use their smartphones.\n\n\"We\u2019re focused on regular people where they can pick up the phone and say what they think,\" said Leon Crutchley, cofounder of Eight TV. \"We live in this world where every day there\u2019s a new direct-to-consumer makeup or mattress brand. A lot of teenagers are asking what matters.\"\n\nSome of these teenagers may get makeup advice from Kylie Jenner or YouTuber Bethany Mota. Eight TV would hope they listen to \"Sophia Makeups\":\n\nEight TV is vying to create a new class of creators and new form of shopping that also acts as entertainment, all optimized for smartphones. Of course, building a new social app isn't easy in a world where Facebook and Google dominate. Snapchat's user growth has stagnated as Instagram copycats many of its features. Musical.ly recently got acquired by a tech company in China as it tries to compete among the social giants. While Eight TV may focus on vertical and mobile, Google is also doing more with that format with celebrities in search and with YouTube Reels.\n\nSo far, Eight TV has 50,000 monthly active users, the majority of whom are teenage girls. That demographic dominated the early years of Snapchat so its no surprise that Lightspeed Ventures, one of the first investors in Snapchat, decided to invest in Eight TV during Apple's Shark Tank knock-off Planet of the Apps. Both Snapchat and Eight TV are focused on vertical video and mobile, as well.\n\n\"At Lightspeed, we like to invest in an inherent consumer behavior with a technology layer over it. The insight here\u2026the analog version is watching QVC and HSN. And the mobile-first version for shopping similar items is Eight TV,\" Nicole Quinn, investor at Lightspeed, wrote(opens in a new tab) on Medium.\n\n\"Snapchat ... got people comfortable with the front-facing camera.\"\n\nEight TV is also a part of Snap Accelerate(opens in a new tab), an exclusive group of companies that have access to some free ads and other integrations. An employee at Snap reached out to Eight TV after one product reviewer started sharing her videos to Snapchat and was referring hundreds of people a day to the app.\n\n\"What Snapchat has done is got people comfortable with the front-facing camera. That\u2019s what surprised us most with starting this platform, that people didn't want to use the back-facing camera to point at the product,\" Crutchley said.\n\nThe app is also taking a page from another buzzing startup, HQ. This week, Eight TV formally launched a live show called \"The Daily Drop\" that gifts users with free or discounted products every day at 8 p.m. ET. A host is available live for questions and responds with video replies that are viewable by anyone. It's similar to HQ drawing people into its app twice a weekday for live trivia with a cash prize.\n\n\"We\u2019ve been watching those guys since day one. Their show is really cool, and I think a really powerful thing about it is that every single day there\u2019s something to look forward to,\" Crutchley said.\n\nBut a concern for HQ and for Eight TV is: How long will the excitement last?\n\nHQ has been promoting more hosts and is releasing an Android app later this year. Eight TV's next steps include launching an Android app along with making all of their videos available on the web and adding personalization in the app. For example, not every Eight TV user may like makeup and therefore the app should probably not show those users makeup videos first.\n\nAsked if he had anything else to share, Crutchley described his team's headquarters. Eight TV is based in San Mateo, California, apparently right next to YouTube's first office.\n\n\"One of the first ever videos on YouTube was the founders sitting there in this pizza restaurant,\" Crutchley said, which he said his team has visited too. What remains to be seen is where they'll go next.", "output": "Eight TV is betting it can harness the pulling power of homemade product review videos to challenge Google and Facebook. While YouTube posters use elaborate set-ups to record content, Eight TV app users can create video reviews using just their smartphones. The app then links the review to a shopping website where the reviewed item is sold, drawing from more than 100 million products in Amazon's database. Eight TV\u00a0has 50,000 monthly active users, mostly\u00a0teenage girls, and\u00a0aims to create a new type of online smartphone-only\u00a0shopping entertainment.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Boston company cancels 468 MW Cape Wind project \n Boston-based Energy Management Inc has cancelled the offshore wind development lease for its 468-MW Cape Wind project off Massachusetts, according to a statement quoted by the media.\n\nThe company has informed the US Department of the Interior (DOI) that it will no longer be using its permit for the project. The lease was issued in 2010.\n\nThe 130-turbine Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound has been under development since 2001 and was expected to be the country\u2019s first offshore wind farm. Multiple lawsuits delayed the project significantly, leading to the termination of power purchase agreements with NStar and National Grid (LON:NG) in early 2015.\n\nIn April 2016, the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board denied the project developer's request to extend to May 1, 2017 the permits for subsea and onshore transmission lines. Later that year, the company dropped its appeal to the state's Supreme Judicial Court for a reversal of the rejection.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Energy Management has ended its 468 MW Cape Wind offshore project. The Boston-based firm told the US Department of the Interior (DOI) that it will no longer be using its lease, which was issued in 2010. The 130-turbine scheme in the Nantucket Sound has been under development since 2001. It was delayed by several lawsuits, which led to the cancellation of power purchase agreements with NStar and National Grid two years ago. In 2016, the Massachusetts Facilities Siting Board turned down the developer's request to extend permits for transmission lines, a decision that was upheld on appeal."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Naval Energies cuts staff in shift to priority projects \n Naval Energies, a subsidiary of France's Naval Group, has confirmed it plans to reduce its headcount by about 100 jobs as it aims to focus resources on the highest-priority projects in tidal energy, floating wind and ocean thermal energy conversion.\n\nThe staff reduction will be implemented in the first half of 2018 and is expected to be evenly split between France and Ireland. In France some employees have already returned to Naval Group, the company said. Naval Energies' subsidiary OpenHydro, a tidal energy specialist, is based in Ireland.\n\nThe refocusing of resources comes as the marine renewable energy market is progressing more slowly than originally foreseen, the company explains and adds that this delay \"is also linked to a lack of visibility of the political will of certain states, including France.\"\n\nIn an e-mailed statement, Naval Energies further said that its most advanced product is the tidal turbine. \"Today, our priority is to ensure the success of our demonstration projects in Canada and Japan, and prepare the ramping up of the Normandie Hydro project in the Raz Blanchard,\" it says. According to the company, these projects will allow it to validate both its technology and economic model.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Naval Energies is to axe about 100 jobs as it focuses its resources on key projects in tidal energy, floating wind and ocean thermal energy conversion. The job cuts will take place in the first half of next year and be evenly split between France, where some staff have already returned to owner Naval Group, and Ireland, where its subsidiary OpenHydro is based.\u00a0The company said its\u00a0most advanced product is a tidal turbine.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snapchat claims they can command $1m a day for 3D branded AR images \n Snapchat\u2019s 3-D augmented reality lenses are the newest marketing ploy that allows people to put virtual avatars or Bitmojis in a real-life setting. Brands like Budweiser, BMW and this month, McDonald\u2019s have tested this AR development.\n\nThe AR lenses are not cheap \u2014 and Snapchat seems to be aggressively selling them to holding group agencies, claiming its AR technology is among the best, according to conversations with six ad buyers. How media agencies buy 3-D lenses and what they pay for them varies widely because pricing depends on factors like targeting criteria and when an AR lens goes live: One ad buyer from a major media shop said an AR lens typically costs between $500,000 and $1 million per day. This executive\u2019s team recently paid over $700,000 for a branded 3-D lens for one day.\n\n\u201cSince the AR lens is a premium product, we typically support that with other types of ads on Snapchat,\u201d said this person. \u201cSnapchat has a rate card, but there are a million ways that advertisers can negotiate the price.\u201d\n\nThe New York-based executive added that in the sales pitch, Snapchat\u2019s senior leadership believes \u201cAR is the next internet,\u201d so a brand of the future needs to have an AR presence. \u201cSnapchat highlights that it has superior AR tech in its sales pitch,\u201d said this person. \u201cSnapchat positions AR lenses as a standalone media buy \u2014 they are Snapchat\u2019s most expensive [ad] product at the moment.\u201d\n\nAnother holding group agency executive has a different experience. This executive said Snapchat didn\u2019t pitch 3-D lenses as a standalone ad offering in its sales pitch \u2014 instead, Snapchat added them to a holistic media-buying plan. \u201cWe usually take an audience-first approach instead of one ad unit planning,\u201d said this person.\n\nWhile James Douglas, svp and executive director of social media for IPG Mediabrands-owned Society, said his clients typically make a big media commitment with Snapchat \u2014 some sign an annual media contract \u2014 with Snapchat Ads at the core and stickers and lenses as value-add placements.\n\nIt\u2019s all about media negotiations, he said. For instance, if an insurance company that usually doesn\u2019t think about Snapchat wants to get 20-year-olds to consider their 401(k) in one Snapchat campaign, Snapchat may charge $300,000 a day for a 3-D lens because the brand is unlikely to be a long-term client, according to Douglas.\n\n\u201cIf it\u2019s a well-known consumer packaged goods company, Snapchat may quote $200,000 for an AR lens, but not on a premium day,\u201d he said. \u201cSnapchat is very flexible to negotiate media investments with agencies, and I like that.\u201d\n\nA Snapchat spokesperson said $300,000 is the base price for a 3-D lens that can run for up to 12 months. But the final price an advertiser would pay depends on if it\u2019s a national takeover on a premium day or if it\u2019s a targeted audience lens priced on impressions.\n\n\u201cIf a brand paid $750,000 for a day, it has been a holiday nationwide takeover where advertisers can reach up to 30 million unique people and 65 million impressions,\u201d said the spokesperson. \u201cOn average, [effective] CPM for [3-D] lenses is between $8 and $20. This is lower than almost all premium video content on large platforms.\u201d\n\nFor now, AR lenses \u2014 like standard lenses \u2014 are mostly manual ad buys, with agencies giving Snapchat ad assets and Snapchat doing the engineering. The entire lens development process can take up to six weeks, ad buyers said. But as Snap CEO Evan Spiegel mentioned in the company\u2019s earnings call in November, Snapchat is testing a self-serve toolkit called Lens Studio with select brands. The New York-based executive\u2019s team is in the pilot program, and this person said with the self-serve platform, advertisers can upload creative assets online and create an AR lens on their own in about an hour.\n\n\u201cSnapchat only offers the AR toolkit to a small number of top advertisers at the moment,\u201d said this executive. \u201cSnapchat plans to roll it out free of charge in the near future.\u201d\n\nDouglas said conversations with his Snapchat reps suggest the platform has worked aggressively on moving ad inventory to programmatic buying, with Snapchat Ads \u2014 a vertical video ad format \u2014 being the fundamental ad placement.\n\n\u201cIn addition to Snapchat Ads, the platform is also moving filters, stickers and AR lenses into an actionable bidding environment,\u201d said Douglas. \u201cThose ad offerings need to grow and expand.\u201d\n\nAlthough Snapchat AR lenses are not cheap, advertisers interviewed for this story believe engagement with the lenses is high, and Snapchat offers brand lift studies to quantify brand awareness.\n\n\u201cWe justify our ad spend [on 3-D lenses] because we see millions of people often use the lens and share it with their friends. People are 100 percent engaged with the brand \u2014 that type of engagement is valuable,\u201d said the New York-based executive. \u201cBut most clients haven\u2019t bought into the idea that everyone needs an AR lens yet. After all, those lenses don\u2019t drive sales.\u201d", "output": "Snapchat can reportedly charge advertisers $1m a day for one of its augmented reality (AR) lenses -- digital images placed within its real-time videos. While one ad buyer said a branded 3D lens costs between $500,000 and $1m a day, Snapchat said its base price was $300,000. Final prices are dependent on factors such as whether the image is targeted at a specific audience, how long it runs\u00a0and the\u00a0nature of the\u00a0impression. Advertisers can justify the cost because engagement with the lenses is high, according to a New York-based ad buyer.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brazil pledges $154m to Amazon solar projects \n The Brazilian development agency for the Amazonas Basin, the Superintend\u00eancia do Desenvolvimento da Amaz\u00f4nia (SUDAM), and the Ministry of National Integration of Brazil, to which the agency is linked, have announced that the funds, Fundos Constitucionais do Norte (FNO) and Fundo de Desenvolvimento da Amaz\u00f4nia (FDA) will grant loans to private individuals who want to carry out solar energy projects.\n\nAccording to SUDAM\u2019s statement, the funds will be used to finance residential solar projects under net metering in the nine states of the Amazon Basin. A total of 500 million BRL (US$154.3 million) will be available in 2018 to finance these projects, according to the local portal Veja, which also reveals that the loans will be granted by the local banks Banco da Amaz\u00f4nia, Banco do Nordeste and Bank of Brazil.\n\nThe Minister of National Integration, Helder Barbalho, described the measure as \u201ca fundamental achievement of an extraordinary social impact.\u201d\n\nPopular content\n\nThe current coverage area of \u200b\u200bthe Legal Amazon, which accounts for approximately 59% of Brazil's total area, covers the states of Acre, Amap\u00e1, Amazonas, Par\u00e1, Rond\u00f4nia, Roraima and Tocantins and part of the states of Mato Grosso, Maranh\u00e3o and Goi\u00e1s. Around 55% of the indigenous population of the country reside in these states.", "output": "Brazil has pledged BRL500m ($154m) towards residential solar projects in the Amazon basin next year. Development agency Superintend\u00eancia do Desenvolvimento da Amaz\u00f4nia (SUDAM) and the Ministry of National Integration of Brazil said that loans will be granted to individuals who want to build solar energy projects in the nine states of the so-called Amaz\u00f4nia Legal. These will be backed by local banks Banco da Amaz\u00f4nia, Bank of Brazil and Banco de Nordeste. Helder Barbalho, minister of national integration, said the scheme should have \"extraordinary social impact\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "JinkoSolar to start 2018 as world's largest PV module supplier \n JinkoSolar shipped 2,374 MW of modules in Q3, cementing the firm's market leadership position as it prepares for 2018.\n\nThe third quarter (Q3) financial results from JinkoSolar were largely unsurprising, confirming that the Chinese Tier-1 solar firm will head \u2013 as expected \u2013 into 2018 as the largest supplier of modules globally.\n\nRather than dwell on a 19% sequential contraction of revenues (down to $964.8 million in Q3) due to a 17.7% drop in module shipments (which fell from 2,884 MW in Q2 to 2,374 MW in Q3), JinkoSolar\u2019s CEO Kangping Chen was instead eager to talk about the firm\u2019s technological progress.\n\nAs stressed earlier this year in an interview with pv magazine, JinkoSolar is ramping up its half-cut cell production series, and is also pouring vast amounts of investment and energy into developing bifacial n-type cells and optimizing its mono wafer costs via diamond wire manufacturing techniques.\n\n\u201cWe will continue to allocate resources towards innovating new and exciting solar technologies to strengthen our leading position in the market,\u201d Chen said, hinting that JinkoSolar\u2019s devotion to developing new technology will take priority over market expansion in the short term.\n\nDespite the expected quarter-over-quarter contraction, this year\u2019s Q3 figures were vastly healthier than last year\u2019s. Revenue was 20.4% higher and module shipments 47.8% higher. The company was also able to increase its gross margin slightly \u2013 from 10.5% in Q2 to 12% in Q3 \u2013 having scaled back its use of OEM manufacturers and initiated a series of cost-cutting measures.\n\nPopular content\n\nGross profit, however, was a little skinnier for the quarter, down to $116.1 million on the back of tumbling module average selling prices (ASPs) \u2013 balanced out by a fall in shipping costs.\n\nOn the market front, the CEO said that JinkoSolar will continue to monitor events in the U.S. closely, stressing that whatever the outcome of the Section 201 case the company \u201cstrongly believes in the U.S. market\u2019s long-term growth trajectory\u201d. Effusive words also came the way of India, Europe, Latin America and the MENA region.\n\nOn the capacity front, JinkoSolar ended the quarter with production capacities of 7 GW, 4.5 GW and 8 GW for wafer, cells and modules respectively. In Q4, the company is forecasting module shipments of between 2.3 GW to 2.5 GW, and is poised to end the year having shipped between 9.6 GW and 9.8 GW \u2013 approximately 10% of the global market share.", "output": "China's JinkoSolar will head into 2018 as the market leader in photovoltaic (PV) modules after it posted strong Q3 results. While QoQ revenue contracted 19% as module shipments declined, YoY revenues increased by\u00a020.4% as module shipments surged by 47.8%. Gross margin rose\u00a0from 10.5% in Q2 to 12% in Q3.\u00a0JinkoSolar is ramping up its half-cut cell production series, and is investing heavily in developing bifacial n-type cells and optimising its mono wafer costs via diamond wire manufacturing techniques, it said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian rooftop solar capacity surges 82% in 2017 to 1.9 GW \n As of September 2017, India's total PV rooftop capacity stood at 1,861 MW, according to Bridge to India. The analyst company has estimated that India will install 10.8 GW rooftop by 2021.\n\nIndian solar market analyst Bridge to India has released the latest edition of its infographic report, \u2018India Solar Rooftop Map\u2019. As per the report, India added new rooftop solar capacity of 840 MW in the last 12 months ending September 2017, at y-o-y growth of 82%. The company has estimated growth with Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 77% for the next four years. As things stand, the total installed capacity as of September 2017 stood at 1,861 MW.\n\nThe rooftop PV report has highlighted that commercial and industrial (C&I) consumers remain the biggest consumer segment, accounting for 63% of total capacity and 66% of new capacity added in the last 12 months. Capacity additions in this segment grew 86% in the last 12 months.\n\nThe residential market, in contrast, grew at a more sedate pace of 45%. However, the major disappointment comes from the low uptake in the public sector, which added just 173 MW in the last 12 months against Bridge to India\u2019s estimate of 200 MW.\n\nSpeaking at the launch of the infograph, Vinay Rustagi, MD of Bridge to India, said: \u201cRooftop solar has been growing robustly. Debt and equity financing is also flowing more freely now, but it is still abundantly clear that the 40 GW target for March 2022 is highly unrealistic. The government would be particularly disappointed by the slow pace of capacity additions in the public-sector segment despite providing a strong mandate and 25% capital subsidy. Net metering progress also remains patchy at best.\u201d\n\nContributors\n\nAccording to Bridge to India research, OPEX market share has increased to 30% (10% increase from last year). Among the power developers, CleanMax (Mumbai-headquartered, 15.8%), Cleantech Solar (Singapore-based, 15%) and Amplus Solar (Gurugram-based, 9.5%) are the clear leaders in OPEX project development category.\n\nPopular content\n\nDelta (Taiwan-headquartered) and SMA (Germany-headquartered) have maintained their dominance in the inverter market covering 50% of the share, followed by KACO (Germany), which covers 6.5% market. One of India\u2019s biggest solar companies, Tata Power Solar remains the biggest EPC contractor in rooftop solar with 6.2% market coverage.\n\nAccording to the report, Maharashtra, the western state of India, has overtaken Tamil Nadu state in the south to become the largest solar rooftop state in India. As of September 2017, Maharashtra has installed 237 MW compared to 191 MW in Tamil Nadu. The two states are followed by Rajasthan, Karnataka, and Gujarat, which have rooftop PV capacities of 129 MW, 125MW and 103 MW installation respectively.\n\nBridge to India\u2019s revised estimate for expected capacity additions in 2017 is 887 MW, 28% lower than its previous estimation. Following the slower growth, the research and consultancy firm has revised downwards its projections for the next five years, with total estimated capacity additions of 10.8 GW by 2021 (down 18% over consultancy\u2019s previous estimate, that is, 13.2 GW) expected. The estimation is 73% short of India's 40 GW rooftop PV target.", "output": "India had installed a total 1,861 GW in rooftop solar power capacity by September, according to market analyst Bridge to India, with 2017 additions rising 82% YoY to 840 MW. Commercial and industrial buyers\u00a0accounted\u00a0for 63% after expanding\u00a066% in the\u00a0year to September, while the residential market\u00a0grew\u00a045%,\u00a0the India Solar Rooftop Map report stated. The public sector fell short of expectations, adding\u00a0173 MW of solar power compared with Bridge to India's forecast of 200 MW. Installations are expected to grow an annual 77% over the next four years."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "France reduces grid fees for small renewable energy generators \n France\u2019s Ministry Of Ecological and Solidary Transition (MTES) has issued a new decree that introduces a significant reduction of the grid fees for renewable energy power generators with a capacity of up to 5 MW.\n\nAccording to the new provisions, which came into effect on December 4, the grid fee for PV installations not exceeding 100 kVa will be lowered by 40%, while those for solar power generators ranging in size from 100 kVa to 5 MW will be lowered between zero to 40% depending on the project size. The fee reduction will be applied to all PV projects, including installations under self-consumption and projects selected in the government\u2019s tenders, Samy Engelstein of French renewable energy association SER told pv magazine.\n\n\u201cThis,\u201d Engelstein stressed, \u201cmakes projects under 5 MW more attractive, as there will be a significant improvement of their economic balance. In certain cases, it can be a key point to make the project profitable.\u201d\n\nPopular content\n\nFrance is currently supporting residential and commercial PV through regulation for self-consumption and a three-year tender for rooftop PV installations above 100 kW in size. In the first two rounds of the tender, approximately 300 MW of PV capacity was allocated. The government expects developers to install 1,45 GW of PV through the three-year tender, which is open to rooftop PV systems installed on buildings, greenhouses, agricultural facilities and carports.", "output": "France is lowering its grid fees for solar power projects of 5 MW or below, giving a boost to residential and commercial instalments. The grid fee for solar installations under 100 kVA has dropped by 40%, while schemes producing from 100 kVA to 5 MW will be lowered between 0% and 40%, depending on project size. The fee reductions will be applied to all solar schemes, including those under self-consumption and projects chosen in government tenders."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Switzerland to replace solar feed-in tariffs with rebate scheme \n Switzerland\u2019s regulatory framework for the promotion of PV will change starting in 2018. According to the Swiss Photovoltaic Association Swissolar, the current FIT scheme (KEV) for residential and commercial PV will be replaced with a rebate scheme (EIV).\n\nFrom 2018, FITs will be paid only to projects that were registered for a FIT contract before mid-2012. All other PV systems will be funded through the EIV, which will guarantee a maximum of 30% of the investment costs, according to Swissolar.\n\nWith these new provisions, the number of supported projects could considerably increase. So far, the investment subsidy has been paid only for PV systems not exceeding 30 kW in size.\n\nIn recent years, a huge waiting list has been set up under the FIT scheme in the Alpine Republic. According to Swissolar, it contains around 38,000 PV projects, which are now being treated preferentially in the payment of the EIV. New applicants would, therefore, have to be patient, with projects up to 100 kW having to wait about 2.5 years.\n\nHowever, these systems could already be installed without the commitment of the funding agency, according to Swissolar. For PV systems over 100 kW, the waiting period may be of more than six years. According to the association, there is no financial risk for the investors in both cases, as the payment of contributions is guaranteed by law.\n\nPopular content\n\nIn addition, the new regulations will in the future allow collective projects for self-consumption. The simplified scheme also allows higher self-consumption rates, which makes these models more economically interesting for multi-family houses and commercial real estate, said Swissolar.\n\nThe calculation for the remuneration of surplus solar power, which continues to be fed into the grid despite optimized self-consumption, is newly regulated in the law. In many distribution areas, an increase in these \u201creturn rates\u201d is to be expected.\n\nIn Switzerland, power providers set these tariffs for their areas independently, which is why they have differed widely regionally so far. According to reports from the Swiss Association of Independent Energy Producers (VESE), this year's average was 0.09 CHF (US\u20ac0.0855) per kWh. However, tariffs ranged from 0.04 CHF to 0.14 CHF per kWh.", "output": "Switzerland is to replace feed-in tariffs (FIT) for solar projects with a rebate system. From 2018, FITs for commercial and residential solar energy will only be paid out to projects registered before mid-2012. All other schemes will receive funding through the rebate programme, which guarantees up to 30% of investment costs, Swissolar said. The changes mean the number of funded photovoltaic projects could rise considerably. Up to now, the subsidy had only covered projects not exceeding 30 kW."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US 9-month solar output rose 47% in 2017: DOE \n The EIA\u2019s Monthly Energy Review for December 2017 shows coal generation falling 1.5% in the first nine months of the year versus the first nine months of 2016.\n\nBy Mark Burger\n\nThe latest Electric Power Monthly by the U.S. Energy Information Agency shows solar PV continuing its impressive growth, generating 47% more electricity from January through September 2017 than the same time period in 2016.\n\nEvery state in the U.S. increased its output from solar, from South Dakota, the only remaining state that did not generate more than 1,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) or one gigawatt-hour (GWh) in the nine month period, to perennial PV giant California.\n\nCalifornia, with its 24,877,000 MWh, more than laps the field over next place Arizona, with 4,593,000 MWh. However, as PV output growth across the U.S. accelerates, the Golden State\u2019s share of PV generation, shrank from 48% in 2016 to 43% in 2017. Rounding out the top 10 generators are North Carolina, Nevada, New Jersey, Texas, Massachusetts, Georgia, Utah and Colorado.\n\nPopular content\n\nOf those top 10 states, Georgia had the highest year to year percentage growth, increasing 186% from 2016 to 2017, followed by Texas with 165% and Utah with 123%. Other states that made impressive percentage and quantity growth gains in the same time period are Minnesota, Idaho, Virginia, Alabama, South Carolina and Mississippi.\n\nIn market segment terms, utility scale growth was twice as high, increasing 58% from 2016 to 2017, as small scale at 29%. The residential sector increased by 32% year-over-year, while the smaller sectors, commercial and industrial each grew 23%. Overall, PV continues its climb of market share of total electricity generated, going from 1.3% from January through September 2016 to 1.9% in the same time period in 2017.", "output": "US solar output has risen 47% this year through September, according to the Department of Energy. Every state increased its solar output, including South Dakota \u2013 the only state to generate less than 1,000 MWh over the period \u2013 and photovoltaic giant California, which produced 24,877,000 MWh. Overall, solar made up 1.9% of total US energy production between January and September, up from 1.3% over the same period in 2016, the report showed."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ystrategies launches wind-turbine energy optimiser WindWISDEM \n US venture capital firm Ystrategies Corp (OTCMKTS:YSTR) announced today it has launched a startup that offers a cloud computing platform for wind farm performance optimisation.\n\nThe new company, called WindWISDEM Corp, is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is an expert in identifying cooperative action among multiple wind turbines by applying physics-based algorithms against unpredictable wind data. The advantages include reducing risk while increasing power production.\n\nThe team behind the startup is focused on the development, deployment and integration of advanced, proprietary cloud computing software systems and their application to wind farms, the venture capital firm noted.\n\nYstrategies has made an initial investment of USD 350,000 (EUR 296,000) in WindWISDEM to jump-start its commercialisation. The latter expects to introduce a Phase 1 system with customers in the second quarter of 2018.\n\n(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.846)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "US venture capital firm Ystrategies has launched WindWISDEM, a start-up that uses algorithms to calculate how to optimise energy output from wind turbines under different weather conditions. The cloud-based platform also helps reduce risks to turbines. Ystrategies made an initial investment of $350,000 in the start-up and expects to roll out a first-phase version to customers next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Silfab Solar, Morgan to develop cheap low-silicon PV modules \n High-efficiency PV module manufacturer and distributer, Silfab Solar, a subsidiary of Italy\u2019s Silfab S.r.l., has partnered with Morgan Solar Inc. to develop and mass produce solar PV modules for large commercial and utility-scale projects in the North American market.\n\nThe integration of advanced low concentration optics into standard PV modules, using standard manufacturing processes, is said to use \u201csignificantly less\u201d silicon, while electrical output remains at a similar level.\n\nIn the new modules, which are currently being manufactured for test projects expected to be rolled out next year, 62% less silicon is being used, John Paul Morgan, CTO of Morgan Solar tells pv magazine in an interview. This could go up to 80%, he says.\n\nPerformance will be slightly reduced, he adds, but will pale in comparison to the cost savings. \u201cReduced cells and silicon use per-module can reduce overall module costs by as much as 30 percent,\u201d said the two companies in a statement released earlier.\n\nCurrent global average module prices for utility-scale are around $0.31 to $0.32/W, Bloomberg New Energy Finance\u2019s Jenny Chase recently told pv magazine. With limited movement on polysilicon prices in H1 2018, market leaders will see H1 prices of around $0.33/W (Based on 10% gross margin), and $0.30/W by mid-year.\n\nLarge-scale expansion\n\nAround 10 MW of modules will be produced at Silfab\u2019s Mississauga facility, located just outside of Toronto, for test projects in 2018. However, by 2019, \u201chundreds of megawatts\u201d are expected to be manufactured, with this ramping up in 2020, if broader market acceptance occurs.\n\nCurrently Silfab\u2019s production capacity is around 350 MW, with the company having ramped up from 180 MW in 2015. Morgan says this is being almost fully utilized, with the production of smart module technology, glass on glass solutions and bifacial modules.\n\nTo accommodate the expansion, therefore, Morgan says Silfab is currently investing in a \u201cfairly significant\u201d production facility expansion. He declined to go into specifics, and Silfab Solar could not be reached for comment.\n\nPopular content\n\nMorgan goes on to explain that the technology has been specifically designed to require the \u201cbare minimum\u201d in terms of modifications to standard solar module production lines.\n\nA slicing step has been added, as the slices of cells are narrower \u2013 a \u00bc cell or smaller is used, although the technology is also compatible with half-cut cells, explains Morgan \u2013 and, on the back of this narrower cell, the stringer needs to be modified.\n\nAs such, says Morgan, an investment in the hundreds of thousands would be needed to ramp up existing facilities for a large production volume of the new modules.\n\nMorgan Solar is the developer of the SimbaX CPV module and Savanna dual-axis PV tracker. The company recently received CA$3.7 million investment from the Canadian government through the Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) for development of both the SimbaX panel and its the translucent SPOTlight panel.\n\nTo date, says Morgan, tens of millions have been invested in the technology.\n\nHe adds the partnership arose after Morgan Solar made the decision two years that if it was to develop a low cost solar technology that could compete with silicon PV, it would need to use existing manufacturing facilities, as opposed to building its own.\n\nMorgan says there is a \u201cnatural fit\u201d between Silfab and Morgan Solar, which have worked together in the past on tracker projects.\n\nThe article was modified on December 5 to include comment by Morgan Solar; and on December 6 to remove information relating to the ongoing U.S. trade case, as a final decision is still to be made.\n\n", "output": "Canadian companies Silfab Solar and Morgan Solar JV are to develop low-cost photovoltaic (PV) modules for North American commercial users. The pair plan to integrate low-concentration optic technology into standard solar PV modules.\u00a0The technique is expected to\u00a0reduce the amount of silicon needed by as much as\u00a080%\u00a0and cut costs by about\u00a030%.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "First Solar debuts large-format modules for mass production \n First Solar marked a major milestone in its re-tooling towards producing large-format modules today, with the production of its first Series 6 module on new production lines at the company\u2019s factory in Ohio.\n\nThe 1.2 x 2 meter modules are expected to become commercially available at 420-445 watts with efficiencies of over 17%, which is a testament to the thin film solar maker\u2019s remarkable progress with cadmium telluride PV.\n\nThe retooling in Perrysburg began a year ago and has represented roughly $177 million in investment; when the retooling at First Solar\u2019s much larger factory in Malaysia is complete the cost will be around $1.4 billion dollars.\n\nFirst Solar expects to begin full-scale commercial production of Series 6 in Ohio in 2018, and to reach 600 MW-DC annually at this factory.\n\nConcurrent with this milestone, First Solar has announced that it will not only be expanding its facilities in Vietnam to double the originally planned production capacity to 2.4 GW-DC annually. The twin factories in Vietnam are expected to begin production in late 2018 and early 2019.\n\nPopular content\n\nAltogether, this means that with both its current Series 4 and the new Series 6, First Solar expects to have around 3 GW of annual capacity in 2018, 5 GW in 2019 and 5.7 GW in 2020.\n\nAnd there is no shortage of demand for the new product, especially given the exemption for thin-film PV under the Section 201 case. First Solar announced two deals, a 595 MW supply arrangement for a combination of its smaller-format Series 4 and Series 6 with Origis Energy and a 200 MW Series 6 deal with D.E. Shaw.\n\nThe Origis deal will run from this month through 2020, and First Solar will supply Series 6 to D.E. Shaw in 2019. All are destined for projects in the United States.\n\nUpdate: This article was updated at 1:03 pm EST on 12/05/17 to put the retooling of First Solar\u2019s Malaysia factory at a more precise $1.4 billion.", "output": "First Solar has debuted large-format Series 6 modules that are expected to be made available at 420-445 W, with efficiencies of more than 17%. The company hopes to start full-scale commercial production of the two-metre units at its Ohio plant next year. First Solar also announced that it plans to double its production capacity at its two Vietnamese sites."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's Longi Solar claims PERC cell energy efficiency record \n Chinese solar manufacturer Longi Solar announced it has achieved an 82.15% bifaciality world record for its bifacial PERC monocrystalline cell, dubbed Hi-MO2. The company said the result was confirmed by China\u2019s National Center of Supervision and Inspection on Solar Photovoltaic Products Quality (CPVT).\n\nBifaciality is commonly defined as the ratio of the output measured from the rearside of a cell over the output measured from its front side. According to Longi, the bifaciality of standard bifacial PERC solar in the market is currently around 75%.\n\nLongi further said its bifacial PERC cell, in mass production, has a conversion efficiency of around 21.2%. \u201cIf the backside power yield increases the overall module efficiency by 10%, the power of bifacial PERC module can reach 330 watts for 60-cell module (300 watts from the front side), and 396 watts for 72-cell module (360 watts from the front side),\u201d the company asserted in a statement released.\n\nThe company also claims that it offers more resistance to PID thanks to its double glass lamination, and that its average annual degradation is below 0.45% for 30 years and under 2% in the first year of its lifetime.\n\nPopular content\n\nIn late October, Longi announced a 22.71% efficiency for its monocrystalline passivated emitter rear contact (PERC) solar cells. The company will start manufacturing its 22.0% PERC cells by the end 2017.\n\nIt expects its module power rating to be between 340 W and 345 W for a 60-cell panel format, and its PERC cell to surpass a conversion efficiency of 23.0% at some point in the \u201cnear future.\u201d", "output": "Chinese solar panel maker Longi Solar said it has set a record for the efficiency of a bifacial solar cell. Test results on its product, called a bifacial passivated emitter rear contact (PERC) cell, were backed by China\u2019s National Center of Supervision and Inspection on Solar Photovoltaic Products Quality. Longi said the rear side of its bifacial module achieved\u00a082.15% of the front side, compared with\u00a0an industry standard of about 75%."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow third in this year\u2019s NextGeneration Sustainability Benchmark \n Redrow, the leading UK housebuilder, has risen to third in this year\u2019s NextGeneration Sustainability Benchmark \u2013 an independent, industry-specific initiative which benchmarks the sustainability performance of the UK\u2019s top 25 housebuilders.\n\nThe 2017 NextGeneration Benchmark report rigorously evaluates the annual progress the homebuilding sector has made in delivering sustainable development, while highlighting best-in-class performance within the industry. Having received a Gold Award last year, Redrow\u2019s move up the league table of housebuilders, from fourth place to third, shows the business\u2019 sustainability strategy is delivering real social and environmental value.\n\nRedrow\u2019s ethos is based on creating thriving communities by building responsibly and valuing people. The housebuilder utilises its placemaking design principles to ensure social, environmental and economic aspects are incorporated into its developments. This includes communities, such as Colindale Gardens in North London, that will offer a wide range of local amenities for residents, including nine acres of dedicated open space, a new school and improved transport facilities.\n\nIn 2017 alone, the housebuilder invested \u00a3163million into community development, planted over 5,600 trees and 50% of its homes were built on brownfield land. In addition, 97% of Redrow developments are built within 500 metres of public transport.\n\nRobert Macdiarmid, Group Sustainability Director at Redrow, said:\n\n\u201cWe work hard to ensure that our developments are thriving communities with space and facilities to enable residents to connect with one another and the wider community. We also recognise the importance of designing places where people can play, get active and spend time in green space and nature, helping them to live happier, healthier lifestyles. We are proud of the work the business has done to rise to third place in this year\u2019s NextGeneration Sustainability Benchmark. However, we are not going to rest on our laurels. Next year we will work even harder to become recognised as the UK\u2019s leading sustainable housebuilder.\u201d\n\nRedrow places a premium on building sustainably. Over 90% of materials and subcontractors are sourced and employed locally to development, 99.9% of the timber in Redrow\u2019s homes is responsibly sourced and the business works tirelessly to ensure that as little construction waste as possible ends up in landfill \u2013 in 2017 95% was recycled or diverted for other uses. The business is also actively nurturing the next generation of construction industry employees and 15% of its workforce are classed as trainees.", "output": "Redrow has come third in the 2017 NextGeneration Sustainability Benchmark, which evaluates sustainable development among\u00a0the top 25 UK housebuilders. The report evaluates the yearly progress the sector has made in sustainable development and also highlights best-in-class performance. This year, Redrow invested \u00a3163m ($218m) in community development and built\u00a050% of its homes on brownfield land. The vast majority (97%) of its sites were built within 500 metres of public transport. Meanwhile, more than 90% of materials and subcontractors were sourced and employed locally to respective developments.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "South African wind, solar strategy 10% cheaper than coal, nuclear \n A least-cost electricity mix based on renewables may be between 10% and 30% cheaper than business-as-usual with new coal and new nuclear. This is the main conclusion of a new study conducted by Jonas H\u00f6rsch, a researcher from Germany\u2019s Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies at the Goethe-University Frankfurt.\n\nIn the study, H\u00f6rsch has compared the total system cost for different electricity mixes in the South African electricity system for various input assumptions for the future cost of wind, solar PV and batteries, and has compared these costs with those included in the projections of the 2016 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) Draft, the expansion plan for the South African power system until 2050, which was released in November.\n\nWhen it was unveiled, the IRP was criticized for the new annual build-limits for solar PV and wind imposed by the South African government. At the time, the local solar association claimed that the capping of solar and wind development was artificial and cost-ineffective, and did not reflect the real potential that solar technology can play. At the time, South Africa\u2019s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) had also stressed how cost reductions of wind and solar technologies combined with the large wind and solar resources in the country made it uneconomical to build any further coal or nuclear power generators.\n\nCSIR experts claimed that the power-system reliability of South Africa could be achieved on the back of wind, solar PV and flexible power generators at 10-20% costs lower than in the base case sketched by the Department of Energy in the IRP.\n\nPopular content\n\nAccording to H\u00f6rsch, the findings of the CSIR model, which did not take into account the influence of the additional wind and solar PV generators on the transmission network, can be confirmed even when grid investments are taken into account. \u201cEven in the worst case,\u201d H\u00f6rsch stressed, \u201cassuming that the cost of renewables and batteries will not further reduce from today until 2050 at all, the wind and solar PV mix is still 10% cheaper than business-as-usual.\u201d\n\nIf built, H\u00f6rsch went on to say, new coal and nuclear power plants will increase the total power system costs, and \u201cwould hence have to be cross-subsidized by the rest of the power system or by the taxpayers\u201d.\n\nSouth Africa\u2019s PV capacity reached 1,474 MW at the end of December 2016, while wind power generation capacity topped 1,460 MW, according to a report released by the CSIR.", "output": "A mix of solar and wind power combined with battery storage would be at least 10% cheaper than a combination of coal and nuclear power plants in South Africa, according to a study by the Goethe-University Frankfurt. It added weight to a\u00a0study last year by South Africa's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), which suggested renewable energy would be between 10% and 20% more cost-effective than what had been laid out in a 2016 Integrated Resource Plan. That proposal\u00a0had come under fire for imposing caps on\u00a0the building of solar and wind plants."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sirin Labs signs Lionel Messi as blockchain ambassador \n SIRIN LABS, developer of the SOLARIN ultra-secure mobile phone, announced today that it has signed Barcelona star Lionel Messi as its brand ambassador. The company seeks to raise awareness of Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Read this Term technology through an affiliation with the soccer legend.\n\nSIRIN LABS has recently revealed an all-in-one PC for the blockchain generation and the crypto crowd. The company's line of blockchain-based products and services is mainly aimed at the existing cryptocurrency community. As such, the team is betting heavily on the market opportunity offered by Messi's legions of fans, although many of them may not have heard of the blockchain revolution.\n\nTrailing just behind Cristiano Ronaldo, Leo \"the Flea\" Messi's posts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are worth an estimated $500,000 each, giving him one the most valuable profiles of any athlete.\n\nWhile some, out of curiosity, are speculating how much the deal cost SIRIN LABS, the firm has not revealed an exact figure. Others may wonder at the rationale behind spending big money to sign the Argentinian footballer, who is widely considered the world\u2019s best.\n\nMessi is joining the blockchain revolution as @SIRINLABS ambassador! Crazy fun times Big honor for us to partner up with him pic.twitter.com/vrp4AzGTuj \u2014 Moshe Hogeg (@moshehogeg) \u0667 \u062f\u064a\u0633\u0645\u0628\u0631\u060c \u0662\u0660\u0661\u0667\n\nMoshe Hogeg, founder and CEO of SIRIN LABS, indicated that his firm wants to secure a long-term partnership with the world\u2019s top-rated footballer.\n\nIn turn, Leo Messi wrote on his Facebook page that he is happy to join the SIRIN LABS project as an ambassador to \"make blockchain more accessible through its next operating system for smartphones!\"\n\nHe added in a promotional post: \"I am usually busy trying to decentralize defenses and after digging deeper into Blockchain and decentralized systems, I'm excited to join SIRIN LABS as an ambassador to make blockchain more friendly with their upcoming operating system for smartphones!\"\n\nSIRIN LABS was in the news this year when it released its crowdsale event to support the development of FINNEY, an open source, secure smartphone and all-in-one PC, that runs on a fee-less blockchain.\n\nThe FINNEY devices will run on a SIRIN LABS operating system that will be designed to support crypto-related applications, such as wallets, secure Exchange Exchange An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv Read this Term access, encrypted communications, and a P2P resource sharing ecosystem for payment and apps, all supported by the SRN token. The SRN token will be the network\u2019s default currency and only SRN token holders will be able to purchase FINNEY devices.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nAll the devices will form an independent blockchain network, a distributed ledger that is scalable and lightweight, powered by IOTA\u2019s Tangle technology. According to the developers, it will be free of centralized backbones or mining centers, and capable of providing fast, fee-less and secure transactions", "output": "Sirin Labs has signed Barcelona footballer Lionel Messi as a brand ambassador to boost blockchain awareness. Sirin Labs's line of blockchain-based products, including the ultra-secure Solarin mobile phone, is targeted at the existing cryptocurrency community. The company is hoping Messi, one of the most valuable athletes on social media whose posts have an estimated value of $500,000 each, will help it tap the large market opportunity of people who have not yet heard of blockchain.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ford's autonomous vehicle will be 'commercial grade' \n Ford revealed more details about the design of its upcoming self-driving car, which is expected to enter production in 2021 (but don't be surprised if it doesn't). The automaker previously said the car would use a dedicated platform and hybrid powertrain, and would be built with ride-sharing in mind. But it now appears the car will be very heavily focused on fleet use.\n\nIn a Medium post, Ford executive vice president Jim Farley said the company's first self-driving car will be \"commercial grade.\" Similar to a police car, the autonomous vehicle will have certain components like the brakes upgraded to handle more strenuous duty cycles and higher mileage than comparable passenger-car components, Farley said.\n\nThat makes sense for a car used in ride-sharing services, since that work puts it under basically the same stress as a taxi. But this car won't necessarily be just a robotic Crown Victoria. Farley hinted that fleet use could involve jobs besides carrying passengers, referencing a test of autonomous pizza delivery vehicles conducted with Domino's as an area the Blue Oval wants to investigate further.\n\nFarley also discussed the need for self-driving cars to communicate with human beings. Ford got a lot of attention when it dressed a man up as a car seat to test different ways for self-driving cars to signal pedestrians, and customers received voice instructions from the autonomous Domino's delivery vehicles in order to get their pizzas. Farley emphasized the need for systems like these, so it's possible that future Ford self-driving cars will \"talk\" to people.\n\nAs previously discussed by Ford, the self-driving car will feature a hybrid powertrain. This not only reduces emissions but also provides the necessary electrical power for the array of sensors and computers that make autonomous driving possible. Ford currently uses a fleet of Fusion Hybrids as autonomous test mules.", "output": "Ford's next autonomous car will be built with ride-sharing in mind, and will be \"commercial grade\", according to Ford executive vice president Jim Farley. The company anticipates that production will begin\u00a0in 2021. The new vehicle is expected to be capable of higher mileage than normal passenger vehicles, and will have the capacity\u00a0to signal its next movements to pedestrians.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Half of EU coal plants are not profitable \n Coal phase-out by 2030 could cut utility losses by \u20ac22 billion\n\nLONDON, December 8 \u2013 More than half of all coal plants in the EU are loss-making, rising to 97% by 2030, finds a Carbon Tracker report launched today. It warns investors that utilities currently only plan to close 27% of capacity by then and that a complete phase-out of coal by 2030 could stem utility losses by \u20ac22 billion ($26bn).\n\nForthcoming air quality standards and carbon prices are pushing up coal operating costs while clean technology costs continue to fall. The report finds that building new onshore wind and solar PV projects will be cheaper than operating existing coal plants by 2024 and 2027 respectively.\n\n\u201cThe changing economics of renewables, as well as air pollution policy and rising carbon prices, has put EU coal power in a death spiral. Utilities can\u2019t do much to stop this other than drop coal or lobby governments and hope they will bail them out.\u201d Matt Gray, Carbon Tracker analyst and co-author of the report\n\nCarbon Tracker analysed the profitability of every coal unit in the EU to look at the financial implications of a coal phase-out in Europe consistent with the goal of the Paris Agreement.\n\nGerman utilities RWE and Uniper could avoid losses of \u20ac5.3bn and \u20ac1.7bn respectively by closing plants by 2030. This strategy would cut losses for all of Europe\u2019s 15 largest coal plant operators, except Italy\u2019s Enel and Romania\u2019s CE Oltenia.\n\nGermany is home to the largest number of unprofitable coal plants, with potential losses avoided by early closure totalling \u20ac12 billion. In Poland savings could amount to \u20ac2.7 billion, while the Czech Republic, Spain and the UK could save \u20ac2.2 billion, \u20ac1.8 billion, and \u20ac1.7 billion respectively.\n\n\u201cOur asset-level model outlines a phase-out of coal-fired power consistent with the Paris Agreement. 54% of Europe\u2019s coal plants are already running at a loss, and by 2030 virtually all of them will be.\u201d Laurence Watson, Carbon Tracker data scientist and co-author of the report\n\nSeven countries have already set a date for ending coal power by 2030 or earlier \u2013 Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal and the UK \u2013 reflecting its growing unprofitability and incompatibility with emissions targets. \u201cCoincidentally, by phasing out coal the UK is not only acting in the best interests of their citizens through improved air quality, but also the financial interests of utility shareholders,\u201d the report states.\n\nLignite of the Living Dead notes that utilities may keep coal plants running at a loss for many reasons, including: hopes that governments will make capacity payments for guaranteed power supply or payments to retire plants; expectations that competitors will close plants, pushing power prices up; the clean-up costs associated with retiring plants; and opposition to closures from governments for political reasons.\n\nHowever, stricter EU air quality standards will focus utilities to decide between investing in already unprofitable plants or cutting their losses. Coal plants will have to meet these standards by 2021, which will require 70% of existing capacity to install expensive new technologies. Rising carbon prices could also increase costs. The European Commission has proposed banning coal from receiving capacity market payments by 2025, undermining the chances of new support from member states.\n\nCarbon Tracker analysed the gross profitability of 619 coal units in the 28 EU countries. It compared coal owners\u2019 business as usual plans and member state phase-out policies with the International Energy Agency\u2019s Beyond 2\u00b0C Scenario (IEA B2DS), which phases out all coal power in the EU by 2030 and gives a 50% chance of limiting global warming to 1.75\u00b0C.\n\nTo arrange interviews please contact:\n\nStefano Ambrogi \u2013 Head of News & Communications \u2013 sambrogi@carbontracker.org \u2013 +44 7557916940", "output": "Over 50% of the 619 coal-fired power stations within the European Union are losing money, according to research by Carbon Tracker. The sector, described as being in a \u201cdeath spiral,\u201d will suffer \u20ac22bn ($26bn) in losses by 2030 if the bloc meets its climate change commitments. Higher carbon prices and tighter regulation against air pollution are likely to mean that even more plants become unprofitable, with 97% being loss-making by 2030. The falling cost of renewables is also expected to make it cheaper to construct new wind and solar farms than to run existing coal plants by the mid-2020s.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Half of EU coal plants are not profitable \n More than half of the European Union\u2019s 619 coal-fired power stations are losing money, according to a new report. As a result, the industry\u2019s slow plans for shutdowns will lead to \u20ac22bn in losses by 2030 if the EU fulfils its pledge to tackle climate change, the report warns.\n\n\n\nStricter air pollution rules and higher carbon prices are set to push even more plants into unprofitability, according to the analysts Carbon Tracker, with 97% of the plants losing money by 2030. Furthermore, rapidly falling renewables costs are on track to make building new wind and solar farms cheaper than continuing to run existing coal plants by the mid 2020s.\n\nUtility companies continue to run lossmaking plants in the hope that competitors will close their plants first or that governments will provide subsidies in return for guaranteed power, though the European commission wants to ban such payments. In Spain, the government has banned Iberdrola from closing its last coal plants, claiming it is concerned over energy security despite the country\u2019s overcapacity in electricity.\n\nCoal in Europe is in a \u201cdeath spiral\u201d, according to Carbon Tracker, with seven nations including the UK already having announced the end of coal power by 2030 or earlier. At the UN climate change summit in November, the launch of a new alliance of 19 nations committed to phasing out coal rapidly was greeted as a political watershed. \u201cThe time of coal has passed,\u201d said the UK\u2019s climate minister Claire Perry.\n\nUntil recently European utilities were strong performers, beating Europe\u2019s Stoxx 600 index by 60% between 2000 and 2010. But since then, the utilities have plunged 20% in value as the rise of renewable energy and government policies radically reshaped the market.\n\nCarbon Tracker analysed the revenues and operating costs of all the EU\u2019s coal plants and found 54% are already loss making today. All coal power must be phased out if the EU is to meet the goals of the global Paris climate change agreement, but the current business plans of the utilities would see just a quarter of plants closed.\n\nThe new report estimates that closing all the plants by 2030 will avoid losses of \u20ac22bn for the plant\u2019s owners, either shareholders or governments. Germany hosts the largest number of unprofitable coal plants and the losses avoided by early closure there total \u20ac12bn, with both RWE and Uniper highly exposed. Plans put forward to close German plants have been delayed by the failure of talks to form a new coalition government.\n\n\u201cThe changing economics of renewables, as well as air pollution policy and rising carbon prices, has put EU coal power in a death spiral,\u201d said Matt Gray, co-author of the Carbon Tracker report. \u201cUtilities can\u2019t do much to stop this other than drop coal or lobby governments and hope they will bail them out.\u201d\n\nGray said coal-fired electricity capacity could be replaced by cheaper renewables, with building new onshore wind and solar PV projects projected to be less expensive than operating existing coal plants by 2024 and 2027 respectively. \u201cThat is a striking finding, something that would have been unimaginable five years ago,\u201d he said. \u201cThe energy consumer deserves the lower cost options.\u201d\n\nHowever, Brian Ricketts, secretary-general at the industry group Euracoal, said coal was needed to keep the lights on in Europe because renewable energy is unreliable and said \u201cprice gouging\u201d could be expected from gas operators without competition from coal.\n\nRicketts said government subsidies for clean energy now dominate the market: \u201cTraditional economics, based on supply, demand and market equilibrium, has all but disappeared. Our preference would be to see decarbonisation take place under the economically efficient EU emissions trading system.\u201d\n\nSupporters of renewables reject the charge that renewables are unreliable, pointing out the lack of blackouts despite the fast rising proportions of green energy on grids and plunging coal use, and also the dropping cost of battery storage. The UK, where coal use will end by 2025, has gone from 40% of coal-fired electricity to 2% since 2012. The EU\u2019s emission trading scheme has been criticised for providing far too many carbon permits, meaning the carbon price is low.\n\nThe expected coal use across the globe in coming decades, particularly in Asia, has fallen sharply recently. In 2013, the International Energy Agency expected world-wide coal-burning to grow by 40% by 2040 \u2013 it now anticipates just 1% growth.", "output": "Over 50% of the 619 coal-fired power stations within the European Union are losing money, according to research by Carbon Tracker. The sector, described as being in a \u201cdeath spiral,\u201d will suffer \u20ac22bn ($26bn) in losses by 2030 if the bloc meets its climate change commitments. Higher carbon prices and tighter regulation against air pollution are likely to mean that even more plants become unprofitable, with 97% being loss-making by 2030. The falling cost of renewables is also expected to make it cheaper to construct new wind and solar farms than to run existing coal plants by the mid-2020s.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gene therapy treatment benefits haemophiliacs \n A new study conducted in the Children's Hospital Of Philadelphia (CHOP) reported positive results in a phase 1/2 clinical trial for the inherited bleeding disorder hemophilia B.\n\nCredit: Sebastian Kaulitzki/ Shutterstock.com\n\nA single blood vessel infusion of a novel bio-engineered gene therapy treatment allowed the adult participants safely produce sustained levels of clotting factor that avoided debilitating bleeding episodes. Participants were able to end the prophylactic treatments, a fusion gene therapy that eliminated their need for intravenous infusions of artificial clotting factor.\n\nLindsey A. George, MD, a lead investigator and hematologist at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) stated that the one-time therapy was sufficient to prevent bleeding without any medical interventions for hemophilia patients. A set of 10 patients safely experienced and sustained clinical benefit after one successful infusion, he added.\n\nThe research team published their findings in the New England Journal of Medicine. Previously, they had reported preliminary reports from the trial at the comprehensive session of the American Society of Hematology annual meeting.\n\nGeorge is a member of CHOP's Division of Hematology and of the Raymond G. Perelman Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics, which is a part of CHOP's Roberts Collaborative for Genetics and Individualized Medicine.\n\nKatherine High, MD, a gene therapy pioneer, the study's senior author, president and head of Research and Development at Spark Therapeutics included 10 adult male participants in the phase 1/2 clinical session.\n\nPeople who live with hemophilia face a lifelong need for vigilant monitoring and recurrent factor concentrate infusions to prevent spontaneous, potentially life-threatening bleeds and to protect their joints,\" Katherine High, Spark Therapeutics\n\n\"The discipline required to execute the usual prophylactic regimen can exact a heavy toll on quality of life that most people take for granted, and those regimens result in significant costs to patients, families and the health care system.\"\n\nThe team used a naturally occurring clotting factor that works 8- to 10-fold stronger than the normal factor. It was named the \u201cFactor IX-Padua (FIX-Padua),\u201d and was discovered in 2009 by a scientific team that included Valder R. Arruda co-author of the study, MD, PhD, at CHOP.\n\nThe team used an adeno-associated viral vector in the study to deliver the bioengineered payload of the gene that codes for FIX-Padua. Participants in the trial safely expressed that protein.\n\nParticipants with hemophilia have an inherited gene mutation that impairs them from producing the usual blood clotting factor, resulting in life-threatening or disabled bleeding, due to trauma.\n\nHemophilia B is a disease with low levels of clotting factor IX (FIX), which for more than two decades has been utilized to develop the gene therapy research. The actual strategy is to bring out a corrective gene in the participants by expressing the therapeutic levels of the developed blood clotting factor.\n\nThe experiments for hemophilia on animal models turned out to be successful, but in human trials the results were frustrating, as the immune response was defeated by sustained expression of FIX.\n\nBy taking advantage of FIX-Padua's attributes, the current research team aimed to attain clinical benefits by using the lowest dosage, as the higher doses of vector used previously stimulated a limiting immune response.\n\nParticipants maintained the factors levels of 33%, which is more than enough to reduce the severity of the disease and hardly eliminates bleeding. This condition aids them to avoid painful and disabling joint bleeds that occur in traditional treatments that utilize a regular dosage of blood clotting factor. The clinical benefits were maintained for 78 weeks of regular follow-ups.\n\nAfter vector fusion effect, 8 out of the 10 did not require any external doses, 9 out of 10 participants experienced no bleeds, and none of the 10 participants had serious adverse effects due to gene therapy.\n\nOnly 1 participant among 10 had administered the factor previously due to baseline joint damage. But on the whole, nearly 91% of the patients used fewer factors than before the treatment.\n\nGeorge stated that they were looking forward to continuing the evolution of this therapy in a Phase 3 trial. \u201cI am optimistic, this study is just the beginning of a true paradigm shift in the treatment of hemophilia\" he added.\n\nSource:", "output": "Gene therapy could be used to treat patients suffering from blood clotting disorder haemophilia B, a clinical trial has shown. A study at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) showed that a one-time blood vessel infusion of the treatment enabled adult patients to safely produce sustained levels of clotting factor to prevent debilitating bleeding. Reporting the findings in the New England Journal of Medicine, lead investigator Lindsey A George said 10 patients gained a sustained clinical benefit after one successful infusion.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK van fleet cuts insurance rate thanks to telematic device use \n Downwell Group has reduced its annual insurance premiums by 20% and cut the number of accidents on its mixed fleet thanks to connected vehicle cameras.\n\nThe company provides demolition and other pre-construction services in the Essex area and installed the SureCam 3G forwarding-facing solution from Intelligent Telematics earlier this year across its fleet, replacing a previous tracking solution.\n\nThe 3G camera technology enabled an additional premium reduction with the company\u2019s insurance partner due to its ability to show immediately identify the fault party in an accident.\n\nDownwell Group is also using the connected vehicle camera to analyse driver behaviour and encourage improved driving practices by supporting targeted training, better engaging with drivers and implementing an incentive scheme. Moving forward, this will not only improve safety and ultimately save lives, but also contribute to reduced wear and tear on vehicles and lower fuel consumption.\n\nFor more of the latest industry news, click here.", "output": "Downwell Group, a UK-based van fleet, has been able to cut its insurance rate by 20% this year due to its use of smart cameras which monitor how vehicles are\u00a0driven. The firm also says it's seen a reduced number of accidents through using the technology. The insurance reduction is being granted since the use of the smart cameras allowed the fleet manager to show who the culpable party was in the event of collisions or accidents on the road.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wrisk, Etherisc and Sherpa chosen for FCA sandbox \n FCA selects three insurance start-ups to join its third regulatory sandbox\n\nThe Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has selected 18 firms to join its third regulatory sandbox cohort, including three companies \u2013 Wrisk, Etherisc and Sherpa \u2013 working in insurance.\n\nThe Sandbox will enable firms to test their products in a \u201clive market\u201d environment, says the FCA. It hopes that its sandbox underlines its commitment to financial services innovation.\n\nIt received 61 applications in total and under a third (18) of them were chosen to take part. Those involved cover a range of sectors.\n\nTwo fifths (40%) of firms selected were based outside of London, compared to just a quarter (25%) in the first cohort and a slightly over a third (35%) in the second cohort.", "output": "The Financial Conduct Authority has selected three insurtech firms, Wrisk, Etherisc and Sherpa, to make use of the agency's sandbox. The sandbox will allow the start-ups to test their products in a live market without fear of regulatory backlash. A total of 18 start-ups have been selected. Wrisk provides users with usage-based contents insurance while also providing customers with a score assessing their insurability. Etherisc uses smart contracts to reimburse policyholders in the event their flights are cancelled. Sherpa creates a digital risk profile for customers and suggests products based on uploaded data. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Swiss insurer Helvetia buys into Estonian insurtech \n Swiss insurer Helvetia has bought a stake in an insurtech company based in Estonia. The solution provided by the firm enables customers to get comprehensive coverage online.\n\nHelvetia acquired a stake in Inzmo via its Venture Fund, the Swiss company said in a statement today. Inzmo developed a fully digital B2B2C insurance procedure covering all steps required \u2013 from contract to administration of policies and claims, Helvetia added.\n\nHelvetia has been gaining experience with the Inzmo solution since June. The insurer paid less than 10 million francs for the stake.\n\nBicycle Theft\n\nThe technology allows users to buy coverage within minutes and to administer their policies. They can also file claims online, using the application.\n\nHelvetia and Inzmo are active in selling insurance policies covering bicycles, electronic gear, glasses and watches. Inzmo will use the money Helvetia invested to develop the application further.", "output": "Swiss insurer Helvetia has taken a stake in Estonian insurtech Inzmo. The insurtech uses technology to speed up the process of buying insurance, while also allowing policyholders to make claims via an online platform. The two firms are now working together to sell coverage protecting bicycles, electronic gear, glasses and watches.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Passive funds increasingly vote against companies: Morningstar \n The asset management units of Deutsche Bank and Nomura Holdings are increasingly aggressive in voting against company boards, signs of the rise in active stewardship among passive funds, according to Morningstar.\n\nNomura Asset Management had the biggest jump in votes against companies\u2019 proposals in the last three years: The firm voted against boards 22 percent of the time last year, up from 18 percent in 2015 and 13 percent in 2014, Morningstar said in a report Wednesday. Deutsche Asset Management voted against companies\u2019 plans 23 percent of the time last year, rising from 21 percent in 2015 and 17 percent in 2014, the report shows.\n\nNicolas Huber, head of corporate governance at Deutsche Asset Management, said in an email that the fund manager takes corporate governance \u201cvery seriously.\u201d The German firm cast the largest percentage of votes against companies\u2019 proposals last year, according to Morningstar, which tracked the voting records of 12 passive fund managers globally.\n\n\u201cWhether it\u2019s an index or active investment, we have the same rules,\u201d Huber said in the email. \u201cThis has given us the advantage of having a very clear position on what is important to us. Our voting policy is very clear and precise and strives to reduce room for interpretation.\u201d\n\nThe other passive fund managers in Morningstar\u2019s report include Amundi, BlackRock, Geode Capital Management, LGIM, Lyxor Asset Management, Nikko Asset Management, State Street Corp., Charles Schwab Corp., UBS Group\u2019s asset management unit and Vanguard Group.\n\nWhile the report shows Deutsche and Nomura being the most aggressive in their voting against corporate boards, Vanguard\u2019s track record was starkly different. The firm cast votes against companies\u2019 proposals just 6 percent of the time in the year through June 30, according to Morningstar.\n\nIn an interview, Simon Jones, a senior investment consultant and head of responsible investment at Hymans Robertson, said the difference in voting patterns can be explained in part by the engagement policies of individual fund firms.\n\n\u201cCertain companies will vote quite explicitly against directors if they are not getting the engagement or the change they are seeking,\u201d he said. \u201cYou will have managers that only vote against resolutions where channels of engagement have been unsuccessful, whereas others will use voting.\u201d\n\n[II Deep Dive: Meet the New Activists]\n\nIn a statement accompanying its report, Morningstar said that U.S. asset managers have traditionally been more unlikely to challenge companies through voting, compared to their European competitors, particularly in relation to environmental and social issues. But there are signs that this is changing, the firm said.\n\nLGIM declined to comment. Amundi, BlackRock, Nikko, State Street, Charles Schwab and UBS and Vanguard didn\u2019t immediately return phone calls seeking comment.\n\nIn an August interview with Institutional Investor, Glen Booraem, global head of corporate governance at Vanguard, said the firm believes it has a shareholder obligation to \u201cadvocate for actions\u201d at companies, where necessary, to \u201cenhance the long-term value.\u201d", "output": "Passive funds are increasingly voting against proposals made by their portfolio companies, according to a report from Morningstar. Among funds mentioned in the report, Deutsche Asset Management and Nomura Asset Management were found to be the most aggressive in voting against companies' boards. The two firms voted against board proposals 23% and 22% of the time respectively. Morningstar noted US-based managers were historically less likely to vote against boards than their European counterparts. There is evidence, however, this is changing with US managers becoming more willing to vote for change.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Alibaba and Ford partner to tackle sustainable mobility issue \n Alibaba Group has formed a strategic alliance with Ford Motors to enhance consumer retail experiences and explore solutions for sustainable mobility.\n\nAs part of the three-year partnership, Ford will work with Alibaba\u2019s four business units namely AliOS, Alibaba Cloud, Alimama and Tmall and jointly explore mobility services, connectivity, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and digital marketing.\n\nFord and Alibaba will initially focus on digital solutions for new retail opportunities at various stages of the automotive ownership cycle. Alibaba will also further leverage Ford's experience in selling vehicles globally.\n\nJim Hackett, Ford\u2019s president and chief executive officer said: \u201cChina is one of the world\u2019s largest and most dynamic digital markets, thriving on innovation with customers\u2019 online and offline experiences converging rapidly. Collaborating with leading technology players builds on our vision for smart vehicles in a smart world to reimagine and revolutionize consumers\u2019 mobility experiences,\u2019\u2019\n\nAlibaba Group chief executive officer Daniel Zhang said: \u201cAlibaba is excited to redefine the consumer journey and user experience for automobiles together with Ford Motor Company. Our data-driven technology and platform will expand the definition of car ownership beyond just having a mode of transportation and into a new medium for smart lifestyle.\u201d", "output": "Alibaba Group and Ford Motors have announced a partnership that will aim to explore solutions for sustainable mobility. The partnership will initially focus on digital solutions for retail that will cater to various stages of the car ownership cycle, and will include focuses on cloud computing, mobility services, connectivity and artificial intelligence. \u201cOur data-driven technology and platform will expand the definition of car ownership beyond just having a mode of transportation and into a new medium for smart lifestyle\u201d, said Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Publishers using code to crack down on mobile page redirects \n This is the third article in an occasional series on ad fraud. Other posts examined the state of video ad fraud and why old fraud tactics won\u2019t die.\n\nIn a publishing environment that often resembles a house of horrors, the mobile redirect is one of the most infuriating \u2014 to both users and publishers. A person clicks a link they think will take them to a story on a reputable news publisher only to suddenly end up in the app store to download a random mobile game. Most users would end up hating the publisher for such an underhanded move, only the publisher more often than not has no idea the redirect is taking place.\n\n\u201cEvery vendor has this problem,\u201d said a programmatic specialist at a news publisher, requesting anonymity to avoid drawing attention to the crappy ads being served on his company\u2019s website. \u201cI\u2019ve tested turning off everyone but Google AdX, and I still have issues. I can\u2019t just keep these exchanges turned off because there is too much money on the line with them. That\u2019d be like cutting off your nose to spite your face.\u201d\n\nThe security of 0.5 percent of all ad impressions sold programmatically is compromised, and the main culprit of these attacks is site redirects, according to tech firm Confiant, which specializes in blocking bad ads from publishers\u2019 webpages. While low-tier ad networks that resell inventory without the publisher\u2019s authorization are part of the problem, even the ad industry\u2019s most prominent buy-side and sell-side platforms are hooking publishers up with spammy ads that lead to redirects.\n\nWhile 0.5 percent sounds like a low number, remember that webpages can be crammed with dozens of ads and that users see thousands of impressions in a single day. If a user spends much of their time online on sites that sell their inventory through programmatic exchanges, it\u2019s likely the user will regularly get hit with redirects.\n\nThe website redirects that publishers complain about are familiar for anyone who spends a lot of time browsing the internet. They occur on both desktop and mobile, but they function slightly differently in each environment.\n\nFor example, on desktop a user opening up an article will get forced onto a new browser tab where a suspicious advertiser claims to be giving away Amazon gift cards in exchange for the user\u2019s email address. On mobile, the redirects are more likely to be geared toward getting the user to download an app to their device.\n\nThis can be done by ripping users away from the article they\u2019re reading and forcing them into the app store where an install for a malicious app begins. Mobile redirects can also send users to new webpages that beg them to download their app. As seen in the photo below, one tactic is to tell users that their device is damaged by a virus that can be quickly eradicated if users download the shady advertiser\u2019s app, which claims to be a cybersecurity product.\n\nThese publishers\u2019 observations were all anecdotal. Because the people behind the site redirects take a lot of precautions to obfuscate where their ad calls will lead users, publishers could not quantify how often redirects happen on their sites.\n\nIt takes some technical know-how just to catch and monitor a single ad that forces readers to another website. To do this, publishers have to set up a Charles Proxy, a server that allows web developers to monitor all of the code that a device exchanges with the internet. The bad actors forcing the redirects are careful to not ruin user experience too often, said Louis-David Mangin, CEO of Confiant.\n\n\u201cThere is a fine balance to making something profitable for the bad guys but not painful enough that it prompts the industry to crack down on it completely,\u201d he said.\n\nPublishers were quick to blame supply-side platforms for their redirect issues. And that makes sense since SSPs are the vendors that publishers have direct relationships with. But SSPs are just one stop in the ad supply chain that is responsible for the problem, said Justin Kennedy, COO of Sonobi, a programmatic platform that operates on both the buy and sell sides.\n\nMany demand-side platforms allow buyers to self-declare the type of creative they\u2019re serving, and there is often little human oversight to check whether the advertisers submitting the creative are telling the truth, Kennedy said. The sales structure at many DSPs is also incentivized to bring as many advertisers into the platform as possible, which means lots of ad creatives get passed through without much vetting.\n\nIn November, Google announced it was working on an update to its Chrome browser that would block unwanted site redirects. Chrome controls about 60 percent of the internet-browsing market, according to NetMarketShare, so this could help publishers mitigate the problem. But publishers that spoke to Digiday for this story are only cautiously optimistic about getting help from Google. They also fear the ad blocker coming to Chrome could hurt their businesses.\n\nRaising price floors is another tool publishers can use to lessen redirects since spammy advertisers tend to buy remnant inventory. However, of the two publishers that told Digiday they raised price floors to reduce redirects, only one said they\u2019ve seen a decline in how often users contact their site to complain about redirects.\n\nOne source from a gaming publisher quipped: \u201cIt\u2019s why we can\u2019t wait to get away from the open exchange.\u201d", "output": "Publishers are usually blamed for mobile website redirects, but they're mostly unaware it happens on their sites. To tackle the problem of readers being taken to pages they didn't expect, publishers have set up a Charles Proxy, which monitors the code a device exchanges with the internet. Some are also raising charges to price the spammers responsible out of the market.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Agencies use NDAs to cover up sexual harassment charges \n Ad agencies are using nondisclosure agreements to hide sexual harassment claims.\n\nDigiday spoke with 15 women for this story. All of them had not only signed some kind of confidentiality agreement stemming from a case of harassment \u2014 both sexual and nonsexual \u2014 but also knew of at least one other case of an NDA being signed at the company they worked for at the time.\n\nWhat has emerged is a pattern of using confidentiality agreements to stop harassment charges from becoming public. This in turn has protected the harassers, according to these women. In every case, the women Digiday spoke to had nondisclosure agreements built into a severance package, while the harassers kept their jobs.\n\n\u201cMy point of view is that big agencies and lawyers put so much pressure on an already difficult emotional situation that they basically bully the employee, eventually wearing them down to settle,\u201d said one New York-based woman who worked at multiple agencies and tried to bring a wrongful termination suit. \u201cDo I wish I never signed an NDA? Yes. I wish I took my agency all the way to court.\u201d\n\nEver since The New York Times published a report detailing sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexual misconduct allegations against filmmaker Harvey Weinstein, women across industries have come out to share their stories, and there has been more of a spotlight on how a culture of shaming and secrecy has helped protect harassers. Some of it is because women themselves choose to keep quiet and move on. But much of it is shielded because of high-powered, well-funded companies with attorneys who can push confidentiality agreements that prevent women from pursuing claims or lawsuits in perpetuity, in exchange for a settlement package.\n\nOne industry veteran who has worked in the industry for more than 20 years said she knew at least three cases where NDAs were signed. (\u201cIf I knew three, that meant there were probably 10,\u201d she speculated.) In one, it was a senior male agency executive who settled with someone. Five years later, the same executive was again accused of harassment. That\u2019s when he \u201cretired,\u201d taking on a consulting role that meant he still worked with clients and collected a paycheck, but had less day-to-day hands-on responsibility with staff.\n\nThe process is eerily similar across accounts: One woman who signed an NDA after being sexually harassed by a male colleague brought up the issue twice, once to her boss and another time to human resources. She then talked to a lawyer. The agency \u2014 which, like most holding-company owned agencies, has publicly proclaimed that it \u201cnever settles\u201d \u2014 responded by negotiating a settlement package that included an NDA. The woman chose to take that option and not file a lawsuit. The man stayed in his job.\n\n\u201cWhat it felt like was it was taken out of the leadership\u2019s hands, including that of my boss, and lawyers are the ones who drove this,\u201d the woman said.\n\nThe industry veteran said women \u201cdon\u2019t make a big deal out of it because they don\u2019t want their names getting out there as someone who is hard to work with.\u201d This woman said that in her experience, it\u2019s an \u201cunwritten rule.\u201d\n\nA \u2018poisonous\u2019 woman\n\n\u201cWhen things become personal, change happens,\u201d theorizes Kim (not her real name), who signed an NDA as part of a harassment claim and went on to work in recruiting and coaching.\n\nKim was at the vp level at a major company. She said she\u2019s experienced multiple forms of harassment. She internalized some of them: \u201cI don\u2019t know how to say this, so I just will: I\u2019m tall; I\u2019m slim; I like to dress myself well, and I am in shape. That has served me well in my professional career.\u201d\n\nKim said she was good at her job, but often felt like people were told to take her to meetings or use the way she looked to close a deal or sale. \u201cI was great at my job, but it didn\u2019t dawn on me until later that I was being treated as a sexual object as being a good-looking woman,\u201d she said. \u201cI performed well, and I was compensated handsomely for it.\u201d\n\nKim said she was one of the many women Digiday has spoken to who have been placed in an alcohol-heavy marketing atmosphere and felt she had to be doubly careful to avoid any miscommunication. \u201cI was the boring one. I had men tell me that because I wouldn\u2019t have the extra drink or go out late when we were on trips,\u201d she said.\n\nThere were other things: At one point, Kim found out a rumor (untrue) was circulating that she was having an affair with a male colleague. \u201cThat hurt,\u201d she said. Another was a culture in which people would joke that with certain executives, wearing a low-cut dress was the way to get a project approved.\n\nWhen Kim got a new male boss, she was rated and ranked highly in performance reviews. Kim said the new boss harassed her with passive-aggressive comments, rumors about her work and leadership and other forms of harassment that she said undermined her. She went to HR. They suggested mediation or a relocation to an Asian office. She hired a lawyer. The company, she said, termed her \u201clitigious\u201d and \u201cpoisonous.\u201d They gave her a package with an NDA and a year\u2019s extra pay.\n\nThe deal was that she wouldn\u2019t talk about the terms of her exit package. It didn\u2019t name the perpetrator, but included that she wouldn\u2019t talk to former colleagues or anyone else. Her lawyer told her it was standard legalese.\n\nKim ended up moving to a new city and got a new job. She said she wouldn\u2019t have gotten it if she\u2019d gone public. She went through therapy. \u201cIt was so raw. It was a lot,\u201d she said, adding that she was depressed. Now, four years later, she said she wishes she\u2019d stood up for herself more.\n\n\u201cWith what\u2019s happening today, it feels like women can get their power back and bring this out into the light,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s less shameful.\u201d\n\nOthers agree. Two women mentioned they feel like agencies, scared of what could come out, will try harder today to remove known harassers from their jobs. That means there may be more NDAs, but with harassers having to sign them.\n\nAnother New York-based agency woman said NDAs are usually marked by a telltale departure, or sometimes, a normally high-performing woman is bundled into a round of layoffs. Sometimes, it\u2019s built into the actual employment contract that the employee will resolve all personnel matters \u201cprivately.\u201d That means confidentiality agreements before harassment even happens, if it ever does. There are \u201cpayouts,\u201d she said. When an older married colleague sexually harassed her, she said she didn\u2019t report it because she felt she\u2019d be silenced. Or, people would \u201cthink I asked for that to happen and I was flirting back.\u201d She said NDAs are a \u201cBand-Aid.\u201d \u201cBrushing things under the rug seems like a fine short-term solution, but it\u2019s unsustainable,\u201d she added. \u201cI\u2019ve seen when harassment happens and it\u2019s silenced, it enables other bad behavior, including what feels like a sanctioning of bad behavior.\u201d\n\n\u2018Time for heads to roll\u2019\n\nKenneth Katz, an employment lawyer who has advised employees on harassment cases in many industries, said it\u2019s still a gray area whether a judge will enforce a contract used to conceal a harassment offense. Sometimes they do: Companies can mandate that the employee who signed the NDA pay back the money, plus lawyer\u2019s fees, or even damages. They can put in an injunction against a lawsuit if one is filed. But action on the part of the company rarely happens. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of a scare tactic or something put in place so the employee can feel like there was a contract.\u201d In Katz\u2019s experience, it becomes a finality for the woman \u2014 \u201cit\u2019s usually a woman\u201d \u2014 and they move on and stop talking about it. (There is a legal debate following the Weinstein case about whether NDAs should even be enforceable in harassment cases.)\n\nKatz said companies often worry about copycats: If one NDA is signed, others come forward expecting similar terms, especially in cases of serial harassers. Katz said he expects that because of the so-called Weinstein effect, companies will be more willing to settle. The difference might be that harassers are quietly kicked out of agencies with no explanation. \u201c[Harassment] is becoming a bigger story,\u201d he said.\n\nOne top head of talent at an agency said she\u2019s changed her mind about NDAs. \u201cI used to think the NDA wasn\u2019t a bad idea \u2014 people who want to keep their money and career prospects intact,\u201d she said. \u201cBut now? This really bad behavior has to be stopped, and we can\u2019t keep doing that. We won\u2019t move anywhere as a society. It\u2019s time for heads to roll.\u201d\n\nThere haven\u2019t been a string of high-profile departures. However, a recent report in AdAge said that according to anonymous sources, the recent exit of Joe Alexander, chief creative at IPG-owned the Martin Agency, was because of an investigation.\n\nThe woman who tried to bring a wrongful termination suit and signed an NDA said she\u2019s proud she at least started the process. She bought herself jewelry \u2014 diamond earrings \u2014 with the money she ended up with after she paid taxes and lawyers. \u201cThey were quarter carats,\u201d she said, \u201cif that tells you anything.\u201d", "output": "A pattern is emerging among advertising agencies involving the use of Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) to keep sexual harassment cases from going public, as women begin speaking out about their experiences. Multiple cases cite HR departments using NDAs, large severance packages or relocation offers whenever instances of sexual harassment are reported, particularly when a senior staff member is implicated. Kenneth Katz, an employment lawyer who advises on harassment cases, believes that recent events will change HR behaviours.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Stoke-on-Trent offers homes for \u00a31 in regeneration scheme \n Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nMorning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nIn the city of Stoke-on-Trent, England, the council is offering 25 homes for sale for just \u00a31 each. The houses are mainly two-bedroom Victorian terraces, in a deprived area of the city where there are a large number of empty properties, and which has a reputation locally for high levels of disorder and antisocial behaviour. Clearly, the city council hopes the \u201cReviving Communities Scheme\u201d will do just that.\n\nThis doesn\u2019t mean that Christmas has come early for private landlords or property developers in Stoke. These properties must be renovated and lived in, rather than demolished or rented out, and there are strict criteria which applicants need to meet.\n\nWould-be \u00a31 home owners must have a local connection and earn no more than \u00a327,000 each year if they\u2019re a single person (up to \u00a360,000 if they\u2019ve got a family with children). This scheme includes a loan of up to \u00a360,000 \u2013 repayable over 15 years \u2013 which funds renovations carried out by the council before new owners move in. This way, new owners can avoid the stressful process of organising the renovations themselves.\n\nThe big issues\n\nFaced with ongoing austerity measures, Stoke-on-Trent City Council has had to make \u00a3172m in savings since 2010 and will need to find a further \u00a334m by 2020. So one might wonder why the council doesn\u2019t simply renovate the properties to rent them out and generate much-needed income in the process. The answer is that \u2013 rather than being a money-maker \u2013 this scheme sets out to address some of the deepest social issues facing Britain today.\n\nIt is estimated that there are more than 589,000 empty homes in England and Wales \u2013 more than 200,000 of which have been empty for six months or more. Against the backdrop of severe housing shortages across the UK \u2013 and an anticipated need to build over 210,000 homes per year \u2013 the \u00a31 scheme can put disused homes back into use, providing short-term relief from some of the pressure on the housing market and freeing up extra rental spaces in the city.\n\nThe scheme has been introduced at a time when many young people are struggling to buy a home. Incomes are stagnating and, on average, house prices are 7.6 times the average UK salary, up from 3.6 times earnings in 1997. The Council of Mortgage Lenders recently revealed that less than 50% of people under 35 believe they are likely to buy a home within 10 years.\n\nWhile there have been calls for young people to spend less and save for a deposit, the reality is often that young people \u2013 who are far more likely to live in private or social rented housing \u2013 routinely pay more in rent than they would for a mortgage.\n\nThe uncertainties of living in rented housing \u2013 exacerbated by short-term lets \u2013 have recently spread to council tenants and other social renters. The \u00a31 homes scheme offers residents, and especially younger people, an affordable way to buy their own homes and escape these uncertainties.\n\nSmall but successful\n\nSchemes like this have been tried before \u2013 in Stoke back in 2014, and in cities as far afield as Liverpool in the UK, Roubaix in France and Abruzzo in Italy. The previous scheme in Stoke proved remarkably popular, attracting hundreds of applications for just 35 homes.\n\nThere is evidence that they work, too \u2013 Stoke\u2019s first \u00a31 homes scheme led to reductions in disorder and anti-social behaviour, as well as improvements in local health outcomes and housing conditions in the local area. Meanwhile, The Portland Inn Project has encouraged local organisations to work together to turn the former Portland Inn into a community centre. In working to breathe new life into the former pub, they have helped local residents develop a stake in the community.\n\nSchemes such as this can work in tandem with other initiatives to deliver real benefits for local people. For example, Stoke has been shortlisted for the UK City of Culture 2021 contest. The ambition to revive declining communities and support local cultural and heritage industries formed a key part of the bid.\n\nIn this sense, the \u00a31 scheme can be seen as part of the broader plan to encourage and sustain the city\u2019s long-term cultural revival. It has given the council a means to encourage and maintain stable inner-city communities, while delivering benefits for residents by creating a sense of safety, belonging and ownership. It can also encourage younger residents to make a long-term commitment to the local area, helping places to become communities that survive and thrive long into the future.\n\nOn their own, small projects such as \u00a31 houses won\u2019t give all residents a chance to own their own home \u2013 nor can they alleviate the insecurities of renting or make up for the nation\u2019s housing shortages. Only the national government has the power to solve problems of this scale. But they do give local authorities the means to encourage a sense of ownership in their local communities. And for Stoke \u2013 and many other post-industrial centres across the UK and Europe \u2013 that commitment from residents is what helps cities thrive.\n\nThis article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.", "output": "Stoke-on-Trent is selling 25 homes for just \u00a31 ($1.34) to help revive deprived areas and boost housing supply. The local council is selling the homes, mainly two-bedroom Victorian terraces, to applicants who promise to renovate and live in them. Potential residents must meet strict criteria, including having a local link and earning no more than \u00a327,000 per annum as a single person, or up to \u00a360,000 if a family with children. The scheme also includes a loan of up to \u00a360,000, repayable over 15 years, to fund renovations made by the council before the new owners move in."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Purdue University develops agricultural IoT network with HPE \n The goal is as lofty as they come: to feed the world. Agricultural output will need to double by 2050, when the global population will hit an estimated 9 billion people. High tech \u2014 in the form of the Internet of Things (IoT), wireless and mobile technologies, and automated data collection and analysis \u2014 is leading the charge.\n\nPurdue University\u2019s College of Agriculture has developed an agriculture-centric IT infrastructure including advanced IoT sensors and devices that will allow researchers to study and improve plant growth and food production processes. \u201cEvery process from farm to table and in between has potential for improvement,\u201d stresses Pat Smoker, director of Purdue Agriculture IT, in West Lafayette, Indiana. \u201cTechnology will play a big role in helping us achieve that.\u201d\n\nThe digital agriculture initiative kicked off about three years ago. Recognizing the need for a partner in innovation, Purdue sought proposals from a number of its IT partners. The university decided that Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) company, was most closely aligned with its goals.\n\n\u201cTheir proposal nailed the challenges and opportunities we were facing, recognized our strengths and had a vision on how to use them to grow the agricultural technology economy,\u201d Smoker says. \u201cThey had infrastructure solutions that enabled the very things we wanted to focus on.\u201d\n\nAnother plus: HPE\u2019s wireless management started not with the core but with the end devices, what Smoker calls \u201cthe adaptive stuff that happens at the edges.\u201d He adds, \u201cThey had the hardened equipment we needed in a demanding environment \u2014 a wet, dirty field with many varieties of animal and insect cohabitants.\u201d\n\nPurdue established a partnership with HPE blending research, innovations and disruptive technologies such as IoT to revolutionize farming research with digital agriculture. In fall 2016, the university began installing an IoT network on its 1,408-acre research farm, the Agronomy Center for Research and Education (ACRE). The system is now being built out to production levels and should be complete by Q1 2018.\n\nThe system captures terabytes of data daily from sensors, cameras and human inputs. To gather, aggregate, process and transmit such volumes of data back to Purdue\u2019s HPE supercomputer, the university is leveraging a combination of wireless and edge computing technologies. ACRE researchers can enter data into a mobile device onsite and transmit it via the Aruba wireless network, first to the HPE Edgeline systems and then to an HPC data center for analysis.\n\nInnovations include solar-powered mobile Wi-Fi hotspots, an adaptive weather tower that provides high-speed connectivity across the entire ACRE facility and the PhenoRover, a semi-automated mobile vehicle that roams throughout ACRE research plots capturing real-time data from plant-based sensors. Pilot projects include an Unmanned Aerial Systems (also called drones) program to advance the effectiveness of plant-growth data collection.\n\nThe digital process is a huge timesaver. \u201cPreviously, our faculty had to design data handling protocol,\u201d Smoker explains. \u201cThey had to figure out how to get data off the sensors and back to the lab, develop analytics and get someone to write the code. We need to take all that off their plate so they can focus on the science and don\u2019t need to think so much about the mechanism.\u201d\n\nIt also increases the speed and accuracy of research. For example, researchers using mobile devices in the field can transmit information about seed growth back to central labs to analyze the impact of water levels, fertilizer quantities and soil types. In turn, the labs can communicate their analysis back to the field to allow quick adjustments.\n\nThe potential is enormous. Digital agriculture could enable \u201cprecision farming,\u201d in which fertilizer levels or irrigation requirements are adjusted for sections or individual plants, and automated equipment can apply the ideal treatment for specific weeds, a boon for sustainability. \u201cAt some point, could the plants themselves report the presence of disease or insect infestation for the farmer to act on?\u201d he asks.\n\nInitially, the College of Agriculture will be the only one using the Big Data pipeline. But that\u2019s just the beginning. \u201cThis college is one of 11 at the university,\u201d Smoker says. \u201cAt some point, the next-generation infrastructure we are creating will become mainstream and eventually provided to the research community at large. Then we\u2019ll be off doing the next new thing at the edge.\u201d\n\nEileen McCooey, a New York-based consultant and Baseline contributor, has extensive experience covering a wide range of business and consumer topics, including digital technologies and consumer electronics of all kinds.", "output": "Purdue University's College of Agriculture has partnered with Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) company, to develop an IT infrastructure for agriculture that uses IoT sensors and devices to encourage more\u00a0efficient\u00a0plant growth and food production processes. The initiative uses\u00a0innovations such as solar-powered mobile Wi-Fi hotspots and a semi-automated vehicle that captures real-time data using plant-based sensors. The IoT infrastructure allows for much quicker decision-making as plot data can be reported, analysed and fed back to the farmer for efficiency adjustments. The Indiana\u00a0university began testing in late 2016, with scaling to production\u00a0level expected early next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HM Treasury offers \u00a32m to fintechs to build rent payment tracker \n HM Treasury is offering \u00a32 million to budding entrepreneurs who can develop an application that will enable Britain\u2019s 11 million renters to record and share their rent payment data, helping to improve their credit scores and their chances of getting a mortgage.\n\nWinning bids to the Rent Recognition Challenge will be selected by a panel of \"leading figures\" from the fintech sector, says the Treasury.\n\n\n\nThe economic secretary to the Treasury, Stephen Barclay, says: \"People\u2019s monthly rent is often their biggest expense, so it makes sense for it to be recognised when applying for a mortgage. Without a good credit score, getting a mortgage can be a real struggle.\n\n\n\nMost lenders and Credit Reference Agencies are unable to take rental data into account, because they don\u2019t have access to it. The Rent Recognition Challenge will challenge firms to develop an innovative solution to this problem.\"\n\n\n\nThe competition will provide an initial round of grant funding to six promising proposals to help to turn the ideas into a workable product. The expert judges will then whittle the six down to just a handful of teams who will receive further funding and support to bring their ideas to market.\n\n", "output": "The UK government has called on developers to come up with an innovative solution that would enable tenants' rental data to be recorded and shared, with a \u00a32m ($2.7m) purse on offer. The Rent Recognition Challenge will offer grant funding to the six most promising solutions, with expert judges from the fintech sector whittling the number down further, with additional funding available at this stage.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK government earmarks \u00a325m for Planning Delivery Fund \n Housing and Planning Minister Alok Sharma today (4 December 2017) announced that the Planning Delivery Fund is now open for bids and will support ambitious local authorities and third sector organisations in areas of high housing need to plan for new homes and infrastructure.\n\nInitially opening up \u00a311 million of the fund, councils will be able to apply to help gain the skills or capacity they need to deliver high quality housing growth at scale, pace and implement wider planning reforms. The fund is aimed at encouraging more innovation in the design quality of new housing developments, as well as provide design advice and support to local authorities.\n\nAs part of the government\u2019s plans to raise housing supply to 300,000 per year on average by the mid-2020s, a package of measure has been announced to boost local authority planning capacity, support councils to take a proactive role in planning and encourage ambition and leadership in the delivery of new communities.\n\nOthers measures announced along with the \u00a325 million Planning Delivery Fund include:\n\na further \u00a33 million funding to support the delivery of the 14 garden villages that are part of the government\u2019s existing programme\n\npublishing a consultation on plans to allow the creation of locally led New Town Development Corporations, and help speed up the delivery of new garden towns.\n\nHousing and Planning Minister Alok Sharma said:\n\nLocally-led developments have enormous potential to deliver the scale and quality of housing growth that we need. By supporting our local authorities, we will be able to unlock more homes where people want to live. These measures including the \u00a325 million of government support which will help develop new communities that will not only help deliver high-quality well-designed homes, but will also bring new jobs and facilities and a boost to local economies.\n\nAcross England, the government is currently supporting 24 locally-led garden cities, towns and villages, which have the potential to deliver around 220,000 homes.\n\nBacked by \u00a316 million funding, a further \u00a33 million has been allocated to 14 garden villages in the programme to fund dedicated staff and studies and assessments that are vital to the delivery of garden villages that are key to successful delivery.\n\nThe government\u2019s housing white paper in February 2017 committed to the creation of New Town Development Corporations, which would be overseen by the local authority or authorities covering the area proposed for a new garden community, rather than by Whitehall. Government is now seeking views on this proposal.\n\nFurther information\n\nThe first part of Planning Delivery Fund allocation of \u00a311 million will be open to bids for the financial years 2017-18 to 2018-19.\n\nA garden town is a development of more than 10,000 homes. Garden villages are smaller settlements of between 1,500 and 10,000 homes.\n\nThe 14 garden villages are: Long Marston, Oxfordshire Cotswold, Tresham, Culm, Welborne, West Carclaze, Dunton Hills, Spitalgate Heath, Halsnead, Longcross, Bailrigg, Infinity Garden Village, St Cuthberts and Handforth.\n\nGarden Village Capacity funding allocation Welborne, Fareham BC \u00a3275,000 Tresham, East Northants DC \u00a3275,000 West Carclaze,Cornwall Council \u00a3275,000 Long Marston, Stratford-upon-Avon DC \u00a3230,000 St Cuthbert\u2019s, Carlisle City Council \u00a3275,000 Culm, Mid Devon DC \u00a3230,000 Halsnead, Knowsley MBC \u00a3230,000 Handforth, East Cheshire DC \u00a3188,000 Spitalgate Heath, South Kesteven DC \u00a3230,000 Dunton Hills, Brentwood DC \u00a3230,000 Longcross, Runnymede DC \u00a3230,000 Bailrigg,Lancaster City Council \u00a3130,000 Infinity, Derby City Council & South Derbyshire DC \u00a3101,000 Oxon Cotswold, West Oxfordshire DC \u00a3101,000\n\nMeasures apply to England only.\n\nRead the full written ministerial statement.", "output": "The UK government is inviting applications from local councils and other organisations for its \u00a325m ($33m) Planning Delivery Fund, aimed at boosting innovation in housing developments and offering design support to local authorities. It is part of a package of measures, including the allocation of \u00a33m for an existing garden village initiative, and the consultation on plans to speed up the development of new garden towns. The government aims to build 300,000 homes per year by 2020 to help ease the current crisis.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK plastic recycling could be undermined by Chinese ban \n A ban on imports of millions of tonnes of plastic waste by the Chinese government from January could see an end to collection of some plastic in the UK and increase the risk of environmental pollution, according to key figures in the industry.\n\nRecycling companies say the imminent restrictions by China \u2013 the world\u2019s biggest market for household waste \u2013 will pose big challenges to the UK\u2019s efforts to recycle more plastic.\n\n\n\nAnalysis of customs data by Greenpeace reveals British companies have shipped more than 2.7m tonnes of plastic waste to China and Hong Kong since 2012 \u2013 two-thirds of the UK\u2019s total waste plastic exports.\n\nPressure is growing on Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Coffey, the environment minister, to take urgent action to support and build the UK recycling industry to meet the challenges created by the China ban. But when asked recently, Michael Gove, the environment secretary, said: \u201cI don\u2019t know what impact it will have. It is ... something to which \u2013 I will be completely honest \u2013 I have not given it sufficient thought.\u201d\n\nStuart Foster from Recoup, said there were indications in 2008 and 2012 that the Chinese market might be restricted in future but no action was taken in the UK. He said the restrictions on the export market should be an opportunity for the UK to develop its own infrastructure and create a circular economy in plastics.\n\nBut there was no robust plan in place to cope with the impact of the closure of the biggest market for waste in the world and the restrictions would lead to stockpiling of plastic waste, more incineration and the risk of more landfill.\n\n\u201cWhatever happens we need to maintain control of the material because the bigger worry is about leakage of plastic into the environment,\u201d said Foster.\n\n\n\nChina\u2019s dominance in manufacturing means that for years it has been the world\u2019s largest importer of recyclable materials. In 2016, China imported 7.3m tonnes of waste plastics from developed countries including the UK, the US and Japan.\n\nQ&A Why does the UK export its waste to China? Show China's dominant position in manufacturing means that for many years it has been the largest global importer of many types of recyclable materials which it uses in its manufacturing industry. Countries like the UK have relied on China as a market for its waste, partly because until recently the Chinese had lower standards than other markets. Exporting to China was a way of meeting higher recycling targets and reducing landfill without having to improve the collections and quality of our recyclable waste material. But China, in a campaign against \"foreign garbage\", is simultaneously banning the importation of 24 types of material, including plastic and mixed paper waste. The Chinese government has indicated it will in future only accept recyclable material with a maximum contamination level of 0.3%. The current situation could be an opportunity for the UK to increase the proportion of recycled plastic in its own products, improve the quality of recovered materials and to use recycled material in new ways. Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.\n\nBut this summer the Chinese announced they intended to stop the importation of 24 kinds of solid waste by the end of this year, including polyethylene terephthalate (Pet) drinks bottles, other plastic bottles and containers, and all mixed paper, in a campaign against yang laji or \u201cforeign garbage\u201d.\n\nThe Chinese have also increased quality controls for all other waste including cardboard, something other markets are likely to follow, which will also put the British recycling industry under huge pressure. The impact could see local authorities reducing collections because they are not economically viable.\n\nSimon Ellin, chief executive of the Recycling Association, said the government was asleep on the job and the situation was a shambles. \u201cIf the government is serious about waste and recycling, they need to invest and come up with a coherent plan for the recycling industry,\u201d he said.\n\nRay Georgeson, head of the Resource Association, an advocacy body for the recycling industry, said the lower-grade materials would have nowhere to go.\n\n\u201cCan you imagine the press coverage if local authority recycling rates drop by 5 or 10% because the plastics have no market to go to?\u201d he said.\n\nLee Marshall, chief executive of Larac, which advises local authorities on recycling, told Greenpeace the fee at sorting plants may increase for councils because the sorting would have to be done to a better standard for new markets, or the price they get for any materials may decrease.\n\nThis could lead some councils to stop collecting some types of plastic, such as meat trays and yoghurt pots, for recycling. \u201cWhile councils don\u2019t like turning materials off \u2026 if the economics are such that it does cause them a problem, that\u2019s a decision they\u2019ll have to make,\u201d he said.\n\nMarcus Gover, chief executive of Wrap, said the restrictions posed \u201csubstantial challenges\u201d and urgent action was needed to secure a thriving recycling supply chain for plastics and paper to benefit the UK economically and environmentally. The quality of UK recycling has to improve to meet higher standards put in place by China and other markets, he said\n\nMany believe the restriction of the Chinese market should be opportunity for the UK to develop its recycling infrastructure and forge a link with the UK manufacturing industry to utilise more recycled plastic.\n\n\n\nBut many experts said the government was not taking action.\n\nFoster said: \u201cIf you could get the link in place with UK manufacturers making plastic products, so that it makes business and environmental sense to use the recycled content and at the same time build up the recycling infrastructure in the UK, this is a real opportunity.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe need the right policy put in place. But unfortunately because of Brexit ... we have other priorities.\u201d\n\nMary Creagh MP, chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, said: \u201cThis ban could mean a double whammy for council tax payers if the price of our exported waste falls and the cost of UK disposal rises. The government should show leadership and invest in more reprocessing facilities at home to reuse these valuable materials, create green jobs and prevent plastic and paper pollution.\u201d\n\nA Defra spokesperson said: \u201cWe are continuing to work with the waste industry and the Environment Agency to understand the impact across the sector of the Chinese government\u2019s proposed restrictions on waste imports.\n\n\u201cWe are also looking at ways to process more of our recycling at home as part of our resources and waste strategy.\u201d", "output": "The UK\u2019s attempts to increase plastic recycling could be undermined by a Chinese ban on imports of solid waste from January 2018. China is currently the world\u2019s largest market for household waste, and the ban will affect millions of tonnes of discarded plastic. Research from Greenpeace shows UK firms have shipped two-thirds of the country\u2019s total waste plastic exports, or over 2.7m tonnes, to China and Hong Kong since 2012. Figures show that the government needs to increase support for the sector to avoid environmental pollution and increased costs.\n \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lyft launches autonomous-vehicle pilot trips in Boston \n Lyft\u2019s first self-driving car pilot is officially underway. The company is sending autonomous vehicles \u2014 developed by the startup NuTonomy \u2014 to pick up passengers in Boston\u2019s Seaport district, which is a growing tech hub. The cars are not completely driverless, as human safety drivers will remain behind the wheel, ready to take control when needed. But it\u2019s a big moment for Lyft, which has seen its star rise this year as its main rival Uber was beset by numerous self-inflicted scandals.\n\nHere\u2019s how it works: riders will randomly be paired with one of NuTonomy\u2019s self-driving cars when they use the Lyft app in the Seaport area. NuTonomy, which spun out of MIT in 2013 and was recently purchased by automotive supplier Delphi, has been operating self-driving cars in Boston since January. The company has been testing in Boston\u2019s Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park, a small industrial zone that doesn\u2019t fully represent the kinds of environments a driver would encounter around the city.\n\n\u201clet members of the public experience driverless vehicles firsthand.\u201d\n\n\u201cOur partnership with Lyft has two goals,\u201d NuTonomy says in a blog post. \u201cFirst, we want to let members of the public experience driverless vehicles firsthand, so they can better understand the impact this new technology will have on their lives. Second, based on feedback from pilot participants, NuTonomy\u2019s engineers will adapt and improve our system, so that we can deliver an autonomous transportation experience that is extremely safe, efficient, and comfortable.\u201d\n\nNuTonomy isn\u2019t the only self-driving company to team up with Lyft. The ride-hail company is working with Drive.ai to deploy autonomous taxis in San Francisco, and also has agreements with Ford and Alphabet\u2019s Waymo.\n\nLyft is trying to catch up to the self-driving efforts of rival Uber, which is operating its own autonomous taxis in Pittsburgh and Phoenix. While Uber may be ahead, it is also mired in exponentially more problems than Lyft. The company is being sued by Waymo, which alleges the theft of many of its self-driving car secrets. And Uber\u2019s vehicles have been involved in numerous accidents and traffic infractions, raising questions about their safety.", "output": "US ride-sharing service Lyft has begun its first commercial pilot of autonomous vehicle technology on public roads. The company is using self-driving cars to pick up passengers from the Seaport district of Boston, a growing technology hub in the city. The service uses cars from local firm NuTonomy, which was founded as a spin-off from MIT university in 2013 and has been testing the vehicles since January. While the cars will have human safety drivers to take over in an emergency, the aim of the test is to allow customers to experience autonomous vehicles in a real-life situation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Medlinker social network for doctors in China raises $60m \n China-based Medlinker, a social networking platform for doctors, has raised approximately $60 million (400 million yuan) in Series C funding, Chinese investment publications report. The round was led by China Electronics Corporation Data (CEC Data), part of a state-owned conglomerate, with additional participation from China Renaissance, Sequoia Capital China, and Tencent Holdings.\n\nAccording to its website and Apple Store page, Medlinker\u2019s platform hosts more than 430,000 verified doctors. Its iOS and Android mobile app and cloud service allows doctors to connect with peers, facilitate referrals, and share medical records. Along with hosting discussions, news stories, and medicine-themed games, the service also allows patients to book medical appointments and submit questions for the medical community to answer.\n\n\u201cWithin three years, Medlinker has built a platform to connect doctors online and offline and develop deep cooperation up and down the supply chain,\u201d Zhou Liang, a private equity director at investor China Renaissance, said in China Money Network. \u201cCEC Data\u2019s involvement as a strategic investor will help Medlinker to expand its ecosystem and gain a competitive edge to grow into a leading company.\u201d\n\nAccording to Deal Street Asia, CEC Data\u2019s partnership with Medlinker is a strategic move to not only expand the platform\u2019s ecosystem, but to begin new projects that will better connect patients with physicians and insurers.\n\nMedlinker was founded in 2014. Prior to this latest funding, it received $40 million from Tencent Holdings and Yunfeng Capital in a 2015 Series B round. In addition, Deal Street Asia noted that Medlinker also received Series A funding from Sequoia Capital China, Ce Yuan Ventures, and PreAngel during the same year.\n\nPhysician social networks outside of China include Doximity network and Figure 1 platforms (which is described by some as an Instagram for doctors). The former recently announced an integration with Haiku, Epic\u2019s mobile platform for EHRs, that would allow doctors to easily make calls while viewing patient\u2019s medical records. The latter announced $10 million in funding this June for its clinical image-based platform.", "output": "Chinese firm Medlinhealker is set to expand its app-based platform, which offers a social network for doctors, following a $60m series C funding round led by China Electronics Corporation Data. Medlinker's iOS and Android-compatible app and cloud service allows clinicians to share medical records and hold discussions, while patients can use the service to book appointments and have their medical questions answered. Investors in Medlinker also include Tencent and Sequoia Capital China.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Dynamic Workplace Recovery wins Business Continuity Institute award \n Employers are keen to show their support for diversity and inclusion. But how employees and customers respond to D&I messaging can undermine some of the good work they're doing behind the scenes.", "output": "Flexible office provider Regus has won the Business Continuity Institute's Hall of Fame Award\u00a0for its\u00a0Dynamic Workplace Recovery service. The offering\u00a0enables companies to plan for the impact of major disasters on their business by giving them access to a range of flexible staff-relocation options.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Blockchain payments platform BitPay\u00a0raises $30m in series B \n Blockchain payments technology platform BitPay announced on Wednesday it has secured $30 million during its Series B funding round, which was led by Aquiline Technology Growth, a fund managed by Aquiline Capital Partners that invests in early- and growth-stage financial technology companies.\n\nBitPay stated its platform gives businesses and individuals powerful tools for secure blockchain payment acceptance, savings, and spending. During the past year, BitPay has notably achieved a record year for merchant payment processing on the bitcoin blockchain, now approaching $2 billion in annualized payment volumes.\n\nThe open source wallet platform has also seen growing consumer adoption, recently reaching the milestone of $3B in monthly user payments. BitPay\u2019s prepaid Visa debit card, which lets bitcoin users turn bitcoin into dollars, pounds, or Euros for use with Visa merchants, has also seen significant year over year growth. While sharing more details about the platform\u2019s growth, BitPay CEO, Stephen Pair, stated:\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re proud of our team\u2019s work to grow BitPay\u2019s impact and revenues to this point. We\u2019ve been able to solve some of our customers\u2019 biggest payment problems, from multimillion dollar B2B payments to day to day expenses. Continually improving our customers\u2019 experience with BitPay is a priority for us as we plan our next steps for product development.\u201d\n\nMax Chee, Head of Aquiline Technology Growth, also commented:\n\n\u201cBitPay plays an important role in the crypto-currency ecosystem by helping consumers, businesses and other financial institutions seamlessly accept and transfer Bitcoin for goods and services in the real world. We have been very impressed with BitPay\u2019s financial performance, including 700% top-line growth, and look forward to supporting its ambitious plans in the sector.\u201d\n\nBitPay added that it plans to use the funds from the Series B for strategic steps toward solving the problems of the world\u2019s most difficult and valuable payments.", "output": "US bitcoin payments service provider BitPay has raised $30m in a series B funding round, led by Aquiline Technology Growth. BitPay, which uses blockchain technology to facilitate secure payment acceptance, as well as savings and spending, has been growing strongly, with merchant payment processing nearing $2bn in\u00a0annualised payment volumes. BitPay's open source wallet offers a pre-paid debit card that allows bitcoin to be converted into\u00a0major fiat currencies.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Time names those speaking out about abuse as Person of the Year \n Movie stars are supposedly nothing like you and me. They're svelte, glamorous, self-\u00adpossessed. They wear dresses we can't afford and live in houses we can only dream of. Yet it turns out that\u2014in the most painful and personal ways\u2014movie stars are more like you and me than we ever knew.\n\nIn 1997, just before Ashley Judd's career took off, she was invited to a meeting with Harvey Weinstein, head of the starmaking studio Miramax, at a Beverly Hills hotel. Astounded and offended by Weinstein's attempt to coerce her into bed, Judd managed to escape. But instead of keeping quiet about the kind of encounter that could easily shame a woman into silence, she began spreading the word.\n\n\"I started talking about Harvey the minute that it happened,\" Judd says in an interview with TIME. \"Literally, I exited that hotel room at the Peninsula Hotel in 1997 and came straight downstairs to the lobby, where my dad was waiting for me, because he happened to be in Los Angeles from Kentucky, visiting me on the set. And he could tell by my face\u2014to use his words\u2014that something devastating had happened to me. I told him. I told everyone.\"\n\nTIME\n\nShe recalls one screenwriter friend telling her that Weinstein's behavior was an open secret passed around on the whisper network that had been furrowing through Hollywood for years. It allowed for people to warn others to some degree, but there was no route to stop the abuse. \"Were we supposed to call some fantasy attorney general of moviedom?\" Judd asks. \"There wasn't a place for us to report these experiences.\"\n\nFinally, in October\u2014when Judd went on the record about Weinstein's behavior in the New York Times , the first star to do so\u2014the world listened. (Weinstein said he \"never laid a glove\" on Judd and denies having had nonconsensual sex with other accusers.)\n\nWhen movie stars don't know where to go, what hope is there for the rest of us? What hope is there for the janitor who's being harassed by a co-worker but remains silent out of fear she'll lose the job she needs to support her children? For the administrative assistant who repeatedly fends off a superior who won't take no for an answer? For the hotel housekeeper who never knows, as she goes about replacing towels and cleaning toilets, if a guest is going to corner her in a room she can't escape?\n\nLike the \"problem that has no name,\" the disquieting malaise of frustration and repression among postwar wives and homemakers identified by Betty Friedan more than 50 years ago, this moment is born of a very real and potent sense of unrest. Yet it doesn't have a leader, or a single, unifying tenet. The hashtag #MeToo (swiftly adapted into #BalanceTonPorc, #YoTambien, #Ana_kaman and many others), which to date has provided an umbrella of solidarity for millions of people to come forward with their stories, is part of the picture, but not all of it.\n\nThis reckoning appears to have sprung up overnight. But it has actually been simmering for years, decades, centuries. Women have had it with bosses and co-workers who not only cross boundaries but don't even seem to know that boundaries exist. They've had it with the fear of retaliation, of being blackballed, of being fired from a job they can't afford to lose. They've had it with the code of going along to get along. They've had it with men who use their power to take what they want from women. These silence breakers have started a revolution of refusal, gathering strength by the day, and in the past two months alone, their collective anger has spurred immediate and shocking results: nearly every day, CEOs have been fired, moguls toppled, icons disgraced. In some cases, criminal charges have been brought.\n\nEmboldened by Judd, Rose McGowan and a host of other prominent accusers, women everywhere have begun to speak out about the inappropriate, abusive and in some cases illegal behavior they've faced. When multiple harassment claims bring down a charmer like former Today show host Matt Lauer, women who thought they had no recourse see a new, wide-open door. When a movie star says #MeToo, it becomes easier to believe the cook who's been quietly enduring for years.\n\n'WERE WE SUPPOSED TO CALL SOME FANTASY ATTORNEY GENERAL OF MOVIEDOM?' Ashley Judd 49 Actor More Judd says she was sexually harassed by Harvey Weinstein when she was 29 years old. \u2018 We need to formalize the whisper network. It's an ingenious way that we've tried to keep ourselves safe. All those voices can be amplified. That's my advice to women. That and if something feels wrong, it is wrong\u2014and it's wrong by my definition and not necessarily someone else's. \u2019 Weinstein said in a statement he 'never laid a glove' on Judd.\n\nThe women and men who have broken their silence span all races, all income classes, all occupations and virtually all corners of the globe. They might labor in California fields, or behind the front desk at New York City's regal Plaza Hotel, or in the European Parliament. They're part of a movement that has no formal name. But now they have a voice.\n\nII\n\nIn a windowless room at a two-story soundstage in San Francisco's Mission District, a group of women from different worlds met for the first time. Judd, every bit the movie star in towering heels, leaned in to shake hands with Isabel Pascual, a woman from Mexico who works picking strawberries and asked to use a pseudonym to protect her family. Beside her, Susan Fowler, a former Uber engineer, eight months pregnant, spoke softly with Adama Iwu, a corporate lobbyist in Sacramento. A young hospital worker who had flown in from Texas completed the circle. She too is a victim of sexual harassment but was there anonymously, she said, as an act of solidarity to represent all those who could not speak out.\n\nFrom a distance, these women could not have looked more different. Their ages, their families, their religions and their ethnicities were all a world apart. Their incomes differed not by degree but by universe: Iwu pays more in rent each month than Pascual makes in two months.\n\nBut on that November morning, what separated them was less important than what brought them together: a shared experience. Over the course of six weeks, TIME interviewed dozens of people representing at least as many industries, all of whom had summoned extraordinary personal courage to speak out about sexual harassment at their jobs. They often had eerily similar stories to share.\n\nIn almost every case, they described not only the vulgarity of the harassment itself\u2014years of lewd comments, forced kisses, opportunistic gropes\u2014but also the emotional and psychological fallout from those advances. Almost everybody described wrestling with a palpable sense of shame. Had she somehow asked for it? Could she have deflected it? Was she making a big deal out of nothing?\n\n\"I thought, What just happened? Why didn't I react?\" says the anonymous hospital worker who fears for her family's livelihood should her story come out in her small community. \"I kept thinking, Did I do something, did I say something, did I look a certain way to make him think that was O.K.?\" It's a poisonous, useless thought, she adds, but how do you avoid it? She remembers the shirt she was wearing that day. She can still feel the heat of her harasser's hands on her body.\n\nAlyssa Milano 44 Actor More Millions of people responded with the hashtag #MeToo when Milano urged them to post their experiences on Twitter. \u2018 It's affected me on a cellular level to hear all these stories. I don't know if I'll ever be the same. I have not stopped crying. I look at my daughter and think, Please, let this be worth it. Please, let it be that my daughter never has to go through anything like this. \u2019 Tarana Burke 44 Activist More Burke, founder of a nonprofit that helps survivors of sexual violence, created the Me Too movement in 2006 to encourage young women to show solidarity with one another. It went viral this year after actor Alyssa Milano used the hashtag #MeToo. \u2018 Sexual harassment does bring shame. And I think it's really powerful that this transfer is happening, that these women are able not just to share their shame but to put the shame where it belongs: on the perpetrator. \u2019\n\nNearly all of the people TIME interviewed about their experiences expressed a crushing fear of what would happen to them personally, to their families or to their jobs if they spoke up.\n\nFor some, the fear was born of a threat of physical violence. Pascual felt trapped and terrified when her harasser began to stalk her at home, but felt she was powerless to stop him. If she told anyone, the abuser warned her, he would come after her or her children.\n\nThose who are often most vulnerable in society\u2014immigrants, people of color, people with disabilities, low-income workers and LGBTQ people\u2014described many types of dread. If they raised their voices, would they be fired? Would their communities turn against them? Would they be killed? According to a 2015 survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality, 47% of transgender people report being sexually assaulted at some point in their lives, both in and out of the workplace.\n\n'HE SAID IF I EVER WRONGED HIM, HE WOULD HAVE ME KIDNAPPED, HAVE MY EYES GOUGED OUT WITH A BIC PEN AND THROW ME INTO THE HUDSON RIVER.' Selma Blair 45 Actor More After director James Toback denied accusations by dozens of women that he had sexually assaulted them, Blair spoke out about her encounter with him. \u2018 I decided to go on the record when I saw his denial. He called the women liars. But their stories were so similar to mine, and they were such credible women. There was no agenda other than they wanted to share this story, be free of this story. And in a magazine interview, he called the people who said this about him 'c-nts' and 'c-cksuckers.' That was just wrong. And I wanted to give a face to these now more than 300 women who have come out. \u2019 Toback has denied all allegations of harassment.\n\nJuana Melara, who has worked as a hotel housekeeper for decades, says she and her fellow housekeepers didn't complain about guests who exposed themselves or masturbated in front of them for fear of losing the paycheck they needed to support their families. Melara recalls \"feeling the pressure of someone's eyes\" on her as she cleaned a guest's room. When she turned around, she remembers, a man was standing in the doorway, blocked by the cleaning cart, with his erect penis exposed. She yelled at the top of her lungs and scared him into leaving, then locked the door behind him. \"Nothing happened to me that time, thank God,\" she recalls.\n\nWhile guests come and go, some employees must continue to work side by side with their harassers. Crystal Washington was thrilled when she was hired as a hospitality coordinator at the Plaza, a storied hotel whose allure is as strong for people who want to work there as it is for those who can afford a suite. \"Walking in, it's breathtaking,\" she says.\n\nBut then, she says, a co-worker began making crude remarks to her like \"I can tell you had sex last night\" and groping her. One of those encounters was even caught on camera, but the management did not properly respond, her lawyers say.\n\nPlaza Hotel Plaintiffs More From left: Veronica Owusu, Gabrielle Eubank, Crystal Washington, Dana Lewis, Paige Rodriguez, Sergeline Bernadeau and Kristina Antonova filed a suit against New York City's Plaza Hotel for 'normalizing and trivializing sexual assault' among employees there. \u2018 'I am a single mother. I have an 11-year-old daughter, and she's depending on me,' says Lewis, who still works at the hotel to make ends meet. 'My entire life revolves around her. I wasn't really left with the option of leaving. I'm not left with the option of giving up. I want to show her that it's O.K. to stand up for yourself. If you keep fighting, eventually you'll see the sun on the other side.' \u2019 Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, which owns the Plaza, said it takes remedial action against harassment when warranted.\n\nWashington has joined with six other female employees to file a sexual-harassment suit against the hotel. But she cannot afford to leave the job and says she must force herself out of bed every day to face the man she's accused. \"It's a dream to be an employee there,\" Washington says. \"And then you find out what it really is, and it's a nightmare.\" (Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, which owns the Plaza, said in a statement to TIME that it takes remedial action against harassment when warranted.)\n\nOther women, like the actor Selma Blair, weathered excruciating threats. Blair says she arrived at a hotel restaurant for a meeting with the independent film director James Toback in 1999 only to be told that he would like to see her in his room. There, she says, Toback told her that she had to learn to be more vulnerable in her craft and asked her to strip down. She took her top off. She says he then propositioned her for sex, and when she refused, he blocked the door and forced her to watch him masturbate against her leg. Afterward, she recalls him telling her that if she said anything, he would stab her eyes out with a Bic pen and throw her in the Hudson River.\n\nBlair says Toback lorded the encounter over her for decades. \"I had heard from others that he was slandering me, saying these sexual things about me, and it just made me even more afraid of him,\" Blair says in an interview with TIME. \"I genuinely thought for almost 20 years, He's going to kill me.\" ( Toback has denied the allegations, saying he never met his accusers or doesn't remember them.)\n\nMany of the people who have come forward also mentioned a different fear, one less visceral but no less real, as a reason for not speaking out: if you do, your complaint becomes your identity. \"'Susan Fowler, the famous victim of sexual harassment,'\" says the woman whose blog post ultimately led Uber CEO Travis Kalanick to resign and the multibillion-dollar startup to oust at least 20 other employees. \"Nobody wants to be the buzzkill,\" adds Lindsey Reynolds, one of the women who blew the whistle on a culture of harassment at the restaurant group run by the celebrity chef John Besh. (The Besh Group says it is implementing new policies to create a culture of respect. Besh apologized for \"unacceptable behavior\" and \"moral failings,\" and resigned from the company. )\n\nIwu, the lobbyist, says she considered the same risks after she was groped in front of several colleagues at an event. She was shocked when none of her male co-workers stepped in to stop the assault. The next week, she organized 147 women to sign an open letter exposing harassment in California government. When she told people about the campaign, she says they were wary. \"Are you sure you want to do this?\" they warned her. \"Remember Anita Hill.\"\n\nSara Gelser 43 State Senator More After the Oregon state senator accused her fellow legislator Jeff Kruse of sexual harassment, the statehouse launched an investigation and stripped him of his committee assignments. \u2018 We can't pick and choose based on whose political beliefs we believe in. And that means we have to be willing to speak out when it's a member of our own party. \u2019 Kruse said in a statement that he never touched Gelser inappropriately. Anonymous 28 Hospital worker More The mother of two told the HR department at the hospital where she worked that an executive there repeatedly came on to her. \u2018 I thought, What just happened? Why didn't I react? Why couldn't I force words out of my mouth? When I got home, I crumbled. I kept thinking, Did I do something, did I say something, did I look a certain way to make him think that was O.K.? \u2019\n\nTaylor Swift says she was made to feel bad about the consequences that her harasser faced. After she complained about a Denver radio DJ named David Mueller, who reached under her skirt and grabbed her rear end, Mueller was fired. He sued Swift for millions in damages. She countersued for a symbolic $1 and then testified about the incident in August. Mueller's lawyer asked her, on the witness stand, whether she felt bad that she'd gotten him fired.\n\n\"I'm not going to let you or your client make me feel in any way that this is my fault,\" she told the lawyer. \"I'm being blamed for the unfortunate events of his life that are a product of his decisions. Not mine.\" (Mueller said he would appeal.)\n\nIn an interview with TIME , Swift says that moment on the stand fueled her indignation. \"I figured that if he would be brazen enough to assault me under these risky circumstances,\" she says, \"imagine what he might do to a vulnerable, young artist if given the chance.\" Like the five women gathered at that echoing soundstage in San Francisco, and like all of the dozens, then hundreds, then millions of women who came forward with their own stories of harassment, she was done feeling intimidated. Actors and writers and journalists and dishwashers and fruit pickers alike: they'd had enough. What had manifested as shame exploded into outrage. Fear became fury.\n\n'WHEN I TESTIFIED, I HAD ALREADY HAD TO WATCH THIS MAN'S ATTORNEY BULLY, BADGER AND HARASS MY TEAM, INCLUDING MY MOTHER ... I WAS ANGRY.' Taylor Swift 27 Singer-Songwriter More Radio DJ David Mueller groped Swift during a photo op in 2013. She reported him to his radio station, KYGO, and he was terminated. He said her accusations were false and sued Swift. She countersued for $1 and won. \u2018 In that moment, I decided to forgo any courtroom formalities and just answer the questions the way it happened. This man hadn't considered any formalities when he assaulted me ... Why should I be polite? \u2019 Mueller's lawyer did not respond to multiple requests for comment.\n\nThis was the great unleashing that turned the #MeToo hashtag into a rallying cry. The phrase was first used more than a decade ago by social activist Tarana Burke as part of her work building solidarity among young survivors of harassment and assault. A friend of the actor Alyssa Milano sent her a screenshot of the phrase, and Milano, almost on a whim, tweeted it out on Oct. 15. \"If you've been sexually harassed or assaulted write 'me too' as a reply to this tweet,\" she wrote, and then went to sleep. She woke up the next day to find that more than 30,000 people had used #MeToo. Milano burst into tears.\n\nAt first, those speaking out were mostly from the worlds of media and entertainment, but the hashtag quickly spread. \"We have to keep our focus on people of different class and race and gender,\" says Burke, who has developed a friendship with Milano via text messages. By November, California farmworkers, Pascual among them, were marching on the streets of Hollywood to express their solidarity with the stars.\n\nWomen were no longer alone. \"There's something really empowering about standing up for what's right,\" says Fowler, who has grown comfortable with her new reputation as a whistle-blower. \"It's a badge of honor.\"\n\nSandra Pezqueda 37 Former Dishwasher More Pezqueda filed a suit alleging that her supervisor at the Terranea Resort, a luxury retreat in South California, pursued her for months. When she rebuffed him, he changed her schedule and cut her hours. \u2018 Someone who is in the limelight is able to speak out more easily than people who are poor. The reality of being a woman is the same\u2014the difference is the risk each woman must take. \u2019 Attorneys for the staffing company that employed Pezqueda deny her allegations. Terranea Resort declined to comment except to say that the suit involves an outside agency. Blaise Godbe Lipman 28 Director More Lipman accused a former agent, Tyler Grasham, of sexually assaulting him when he was 18. Grasham has since been dismissed by his agency and is being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department. \u2018 I experienced a little bit of victim blaming, victim shaming\u2014people digging into my Instagram and pulling up sexy photos, as if that discredited me from speaking out against sexual violence. And gay men are often highly sexualized in the media, so coming out with a story of sexual assault, especially one that also involved alcohol and maybe drugs, there is an idea that 'Well, did you want it?.' \u2019 Grasham could not be reached for comment. Correction: The original version of this caption incorrectly said Tyler Grasham was Lipman\u2019s agent. Grasham never represented Lipman.\n\nIII\n\nDiscussions of sexual harassment in polite company tend to rely on euphemisms: harassment becomes \"inappropriate behavior,\" assault becomes \u00ad\"misconduct,\" rape becomes \"abuse.\" We're accustomed to hearing those softened words, which downplay the pain of the experience. That's one of the reasons why the Access Hollywood tape that surfaced in October 2016 was such a jolt. The language used by the man who would become America's 45th President, captured on a 2005 recording, was, by any standard, vulgar. He didn't just say that he'd made a pass; he \"moved on her like a bitch.\" He didn't just talk about fondling women; he bragged that he could \"grab 'em by the pussy.\"\n\nThat Donald Trump could express himself that way and still be elected President is part of what stoked the rage that fueled the Women's March the day after his Inauguration. It's why women seized on that crude word as the emblem of the protest that dwarfed Trump's Inauguration crowd size. \"All social movements have highly visible precipitating factors,\" says Aldon Morris, a professor of sociology at Northwestern University. \"In this case, you had Harvey Weinstein, and before that you had Trump.\"\n\nMegyn Kelly, the NBC anchor who revealed in October that she had complained to Fox News executives about Bill O'Reilly's treatment of women, and who was a target of Trump's ire during the campaign, says the tape as well as the tenor of the election turned the political into the personal. \"I have real doubts about whether we'd be going through this if Hillary Clinton had won, because I think that President Trump's election in many ways was a setback for women,\" says Kelly, who noted that not all women at the march were Clinton supporters. \"But the overall message to us was that we don't really matter.\"\n\n'WE'RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME. I DON'T HAVE TIME TO PLAY NICE.' Rose McGowan 44 Artist and Activist More McGowan reached a settlement with producer Harvey Weinstein in 1997 after accusing him of sexually assaulting her in a hotel room. McGowan's decision to speak to the press this year helped expose Weinstein as a serial harasser. \u2018 The number of people sharing their stories with me is so intense, especially since all of this is incredibly triggering for me as well. People forget a lot that there's a human behind this, someone who is very hurt. But that's O.K. It fuels my fire. They really f-cked with the wrong person. \u2019 Weinstein has denied all allegations of non\u00adconsensual sex.\n\nSo it was not entirely surprising that 2017 began with women donning \"pussy hats\" and marching on the nation's capital in a show of unity and fury. What was startling was the size of the protest. It was one of the largest in U.S. history and spawned satellite marches in all 50 states and more than 50 other countries.\n\nSummer Zervos, a former contestant on The Apprentice , was one of roughly 20 women to accuse the President of sexual harassment. She filed a defamation suit against Trump days before his Inauguration after he disputed her claims by calling her a liar. A New York judge is expected to decide soon if the President is immune to civil suits while in office. No matter the outcome, the allegations added fuel to a growing fire.\n\nBy February, the movement had made its way to the billionaire dream factories of Silicon Valley, when Fowler spoke out about her \"weird year\" as an engineer at Uber. \"I remember feeling powerless and like there was no one looking out for us because we had an admitted harasser in the White House,\" Fowler says. \"I felt like I had to take action.\"\n\nBarely two months later, Fox News cut ties with O'Reilly after the New York Times reported that he and the company had spent $13 million to settle claims against him from five women. In October, the Times revealed a sixth settlement, bringing that total to more than $45 million. Wendy Walsh, a psychologist and former guest on the network, was one of the first women to share her story about the star anchor\u2014but she was initially reluctant to go on the record. \"I was afraid for my kids, I was afraid of the retaliation,\" she says. \"I know what men can do when they're angry.\"\n\nEventually she allowed her name to be used. \"I felt it was my duty,\" Walsh says, \"as a mother of daughters, as an act of love for women everywhere and the women who are silenced, to be brave.\"\n\nThe downfall of O'Reilly, who has denied all allegations of harassment, would prove to be just the beginning of the reckoning in media and entertainment. In June, Bill Cosby was brought to trial on charges that he had drugged and sexually assaulted a woman named Andrea Constand, one of nearly 50 women who have accused Cosby of sexual assault over several decades. Although the case ended in a mistrial\u2014it is scheduled to be retried in April\u2014the fact that it happened at all signaled a shift in the culture, a willingness to hold even beloved and powerful men accountable for past misdeeds.\n\nWendy Walsh 55 Former Fox News Contributor More After Walsh and other women accused Bill O'Reilly of sexual harassment, Fox News fired him. \u2018 In the early '90s, as a news anchor, I wore buttoned-up suits, skirts to my knees, sensible shoes. I dipped out of the industry. When I came back, I was put in a sausage dress. The hair got blonder and the cleavage got deeper and the heels higher. Fox had created a sort of Snapchat filter: any woman, even a woman with advanced degrees, would be turned into what looked like an office sex toy. Part of what happened to the women at Fox News started in the makeup room. \u2019 O'Reilly has denied harassing colleagues. Lindsey Reynolds 32 Food-Blog Editor More When she quit her job as social-media manager at the restaurant group of celebrity chef John Besh, Reynolds sent an email to her bosses complaining about the company's culture of sexism. She later filed a complaint with the EEOC. Besh has since stepped down. \u2018 After I sent that email, I burst into tears and felt sick to my stomach and was shaking. I was nobody. I'm just a person from a small town in Texas. I have no money, no power, no social standing. And they have more power and money than I will ever have. I felt extremely vulnerable and scared. Then I heard from women I had never met\u2014they worked as line cooks while I worked in corporate\u2014who had experienced the same toxic culture. \u2019 The company said it is working to enact policies to create a culture of safety and respect. Besh has apologized for 'unacceptable' behavior and 'moral failings,' and resigned.\n\nComplaints at the University of Rochester helped expose harassment in academia. The chief executive of SoFi, the $4 billion lending firm, resigned following a lawsuit over claims of sexual harassment. Then, in early October, the dam finally broke.\n\nOn Oct. 5, the New York Times published the first story to expose Weinstein, one of the most powerful men in Hollywood and a leading Democratic political fundraiser, as a serial sexual predator. The revelation was quickly followed by New Yorker investigations that widened Weinstein's list of accusers and showed the incredible lengths he went to cover his tracks. Weinstein denied the allegations, but the levers that he had long pulled to exert his influence suddenly were jammed. Fellow chieftains refused to defend him. Politicians who once courted him gave away his donations. His company's board fired him.\n\nWithin days, the head of Amazon Studios, an influential art publisher and employees at the financial-services firm Fidelity had all left their jobs over harassment claims. By the end of the month, the list of the accused had grown to include political analyst Mark Halperin, a former TIME employee; opinion-shaping literary critic Leon Wieseltier; and numerous politicians and journalists. The Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey was scrubbed from a completed movie.\n\n'IT DOESN'T MATTER IF THEY CRITICIZE ME. I CAN SUPPORT OTHER PEOPLE WHO ARE GOING THROUGH THE SAME THING.' Isabel Pascual 42 Strawberry picker More In the wake of the revelations about Harvey Weinstein, Pascual spoke out at a march in L.A. about being stalked and harassed in order to give voice to her fellow agricultural workers. \u2018 I was afraid. When the man was harassing me, he threatened to harm my children and me\u2014that's why I kept quiet. I felt desperate. I cried and cried. But, thank God, my friends in the fields support me. So I said, Enough. I lost the fear. It doesn't matter if they criticize me. I can support other people who are going through the same thing. \u2019 *Pascual's name was changed to protect her family.\n\nThe response to the Weinstein allegations has shaped the way people view women who come forward. In a TIME/SurveyMonkey online poll of American adults conducted Nov. 28\u201330, 82% of respondents said women are more likely to speak out about harassment since the Weinstein allegations. Meanwhile, 85% say they believe the women making allegations of sexual harassment.\n\nThe movement\u2014and fallout\u2014quickly spread around the world. Michael Fallon, Britain's Defense Secretary, quit the Cabinet after journalist Jane Merrick revealed that he had \"lunged\" at her in 2003, when she was a 29-year-old reporter. In France, women took to the streets chanting not only \"Me too\" but also \"Balance ton porc ,\" which translates roughly to \"Expose your pig,\" a hashtag conceived by French journalist Sandra Muller. In the week after #MeToo first surfaced, versions of it swept through 85 countries, from India, where the struggle against harassment and assault had already become a national debate in recent years, to the Middle East, Asia and parts in between.\n\nLindsay Meyer 31 Entrepreneur More Meyer says that Justin Caldbeck, a venture capitalist who invested in her first company, harassed her. After six other women reported harassment by Caldbeck, he resigned from his firm. \u2018 I wanted it to stop. I wanted to be able to get back to running my company and not have the daily distraction of being constantly emailed, called, text-messaged. That took a lot of energy to deal with and to process and to try to bury\u2014because I didn't want it to be a big deal. For so long, I went around harboring this ridiculous belief that because I was a nonwhite woman in my 20s that somehow it was expected that I would have to be treated this way. And now I see that that is so silly. I am a person with dignity. \u2019 Caldbeck apologized in a statement to the women he 'made uncomfortable.' Juana Melara 52 Housekeeper More Hotel guests have propositioned and exposed themselves to Melara while she was working. \u2018 One time when I was cleaning, a guest asked me if I knew how to massage. I said, 'No, I don't even do it to my husband.' The way he was looking at me wasn't friendly. I rushed to finish the room as fast as I could and get out of there. It's crazy that people think that if they pay for the room, they are paying for sexual service. \u2019 The hotel declined to comment.\n\n\"Suddenly,\" says Terry Reintke, a German member of the European Parliament, who discussed her own harassment in a speech on Oct. 25, \"friends from primary school or women that I know from completely different surroundings that would never call themselves feminists were starting to share their stories.\"\n\nBy November, the spotlight was back on American politicians. A woman named Leigh Corfman told the Washington Post that Roy Moore, the Alabama Republican nominee for the Senate, abused her when she was 14 and he was a 32-year-old assistant district attorney. Nine women have come forward to describe inappropriate encounters with Roy Moore, including several who say he pursued them when they were teenagers. Moore has called the allegations \"false\" and \"malicious.\" \"Specifically, I do not know any of these women nor have I ever engaged in sexual misconduct with any woman,\" he said in late November.\n\n'I'M SURE THE ROAD WILL BE LONG AND DIFFICULT, BUT IT WILL BE POSITIVE IN THE END.' Sandra Muller 46 Journalist More In France, Muller started the Twitter hashtag #BalanceTonPorc (Expose Your Pig), which helped inspire women to march in the streets to protest sexual harassment. \u2018 France is a country of love, but there is love and love, you know? There are ways to approach a woman, and if it's done with respect, it's O.K. Without respect, it's not good. Now if men want your love, they have to ask themselves how to be, how to approach a woman. They are scared. We must restart all relationships from the beginning. We have to cleanse society to find a better way. I'm sure the road will be long and difficult, but it will be positive in the end. \u2019\n\nThe following week, radio host Leeann Tweeden wrote that Minnesota Democratic Senator Al Franken groped her on a USO tour in 2006, before he was in office. Several other women have since come forward with similar harassment allegations against Franken, who has called on the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate his own behavior. On Dec. 5, Michigan Democratic Representative John Conyers resigned amid allegations that he had made sexual advances toward the women on his staff. He has said that the allegations \"are not accurate; they are not true.\"\n\nTexas Republican Representative Blake Farenthold has also found himself in the crosshairs after media reports that he used $84,000 in taxpayer dollars to settle a sexual-harassment lawsuit with a former aide in 2014. Farenthold denies that he engaged in any wrongdoing and has vowed to repay the settlement.\n\n'WHEN TRUMP WON THE ELECTION, I FELT A CRUSHING SENSE OF POWERLESSNESS. AND THEN I REALIZED THAT I HAD TO DO SOMETHING.' Susan Fowler 26 Former Uber Engineer More Fowler's February blog post about the harassment she experienced as an engineer at Uber went viral. Uber then launched an investigation that led to the ousting of its CEO Travis Kalanick and more than 20 other employees. \u2018 When other women spoke out, they were retaliated against. So there were certain things that I thought I could avoid: 'I'm not going to sue, because they'll make me sign a non\u00addisclosure agreement. I'm not going to do press right afterward, because they'll say I'm doing it for attention. I can't have any emotion in my blog. I have to be very, very detached.' And I had to make sure that every single thing that I included in there had extensive physical documentation, so it couldn't be 'he said, she said.' And that's what I did. \u2019\n\nThe accused were both Democrats and Republicans, but the consequences thus far have been limited\u2014and often filtered through a partisan lens. In politics, at least, what constitutes disqualifying behavior seemed to depend not on your actions but on the allegiance of your tribe. In the 1990s, feminists stood up for accused abuser Bill Clinton instead of his \u00adaccusers\u2014a move many are belatedly regretting as the national conversation prompts a re-evaluation of the claims against the former President. And despite the allegations against Moore, both \u00adPresident Trump and the Republican National Committee support him.\n\nThat political divide was revealed in the TIME/SurveyMonkey poll, which found that Republicans were significantly more likely to excuse sexual misdeeds in their own party. The survey found that while a majority of Republicans and Democrats agree that a Democratic Congressman accused of sexual harassment should resign (71% and 74% respectively), when the accused offender was in the GOP, only 54% of Republicans would demand a resignation (compared to 82% of Democrats).\n\n'WHY ARE YOU QUESTIONING THE VICTIM HERE? LET'S FLIP IT. LET'S TALK ABOUT WHAT THE PREDATOR IS DOING.' Terry Crews 49 Actor More Crews is suing agent Adam Venit and William Morris Endeavor for sexual assault. Crews says Venit groped him in front of his wife at an industry event. Venit was briefly suspended from the agency. \u2018 People were saying, 'You should have beaten him up.' I'm like, Why is nobody questioning him? Nobody questions the predator. You know why? Because they just expect it. And I expect it. And I just said, 'No more.' Why are you questioning the victim here? Let's flip it. Let's talk about what the predator is doing. \u2019 The agency said it had suspended and demoted Venit, who declined to comment.\n\nAs another election cycle approaches, Americans find themselves trying to weigh one ugly act against another in a painful calculus of transgression. Is a grope caught on camera more disqualifying than a years-ago assault that was credibly reported? What are we willing to forgive or ignore or deny if the violator shares our politics?\n\nIV\n\nIt wasn't so long ago that the boss chasing his secretary around the desk was a comic trope, a staple from vaudeville to prime-time sitcoms. There wasn't even a name for sexual harassment until just over 40 years ago; the term was coined in 1975 by a group of women at Cornell University after an employee there, Carmita Wood, filed for unemployment benefits after she had resigned because a supervisor touched her. The university denied her claim, arguing that she left the job for \"personal reasons.\"\n\nUniversity Professors More University of Rochester professors Celeste Kidd (right) and Jessica Cantlon (left), along with six current and former members of the brain and cognitive sciences department, filed complaints with the university and the EEOC, alleging harassment and retaliation. \u2018 'If they couldn't stop us from talking, they were going to stop every\u00adbody from listening,' says Cantlon. 'The administration went into our emails to try to find pieces of material that they could use to embarrass us or try to make other faculty members angry with us. But eight of us linked arms and continued to pursue the complaint. I think working together was powerful. It was hard to silence all of us.' \u2019 The university has launched an investigation led by former U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White.\n\nWood, joined by activists from the university's human-affairs program, formed a group called Working Women United that hosted an event for workers from various fields, from mail-room clerks and servers to factory workers and administrative assistants, to talk about their own harassment experiences.\n\nIt was a proto-version of the social-media explosion we're seeing today, encouraging unity and reminding women that they were not alone. But even as public awareness about the problem of sexual harassment began to grow, legal and policy protections were almost nonexistent. In the 1970s, most businesses and institutions had no policies on sexual harassment whatsoever, and even egregious complaints were regularly dismissed.\n\n'I ALWAYS THOUGHT MAYBE THINGS COULD CHANGE FOR MY DAUGHTER. I NEVER THOUGHT THINGS COULD CHANGE FOR ME.' Megyn Kelly 47 Journalist More The host of NBC's Megyn Kelly Today and former Fox News anchor called out Bill O'Reilly for claiming that nobody at Fox News had complained about his behavior. She had. In 2016, Kelly revealed that she'd been sexually harassed by former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes. \u2018 I always thought maybe things could change for my daughter. I never thought things could change for me. Never. I believed the system was stacked against women, and the smart ones would understand how to navigate it ... I'm starting to see it so differently. What if we did complain? What if we didn't whine, but insisted that those around us did better? \u2019 Ailes denied Kelly's claims of harassment before he died in May. O'Reilly said he didn't know of any complaint by Kelly.\n\nIn 1980 the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency tasked with enforcing civil rights laws in the workplace, issued guidelines declaring sexual harassment a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. It was a victory, but with caveats: even after sexual harassment became explicitly illegal, it remained difficult to lodge a complaint that stuck\u2014in part because acts of harassment are often difficult to define. What separates an illegal act of sexual harassment from a merely annoying interaction between a boss and his subordinate? When does a boss stop just being a jerk and become a criminal? Because the Civil Rights Act offered no solid legal definition, interpretation has evolved slowly, shaped by judges and the EEOC over the past 37 years.\n\nIn 1991, Anita Hill testified before the Senate committee confirming Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, accusing him of sexual harassment and bringing national attention to the issue. But, she says, \"The conversation was not about the problems in the workplace. It was about the fallout in politics.\"\n\nMore From left: Jane Merrick, journalist; Zelda Perkins, producer; Terry Reintke, Parliament member; Bex Bailey, charity worker. \u2018 Britain's Defense Secretary Michael Fallon quit his Cabinet position after Merrick said he 'lunged' at her when she was a young reporter: 'I think we're all part of this movement. On Twitter, there aren't any country borders, because it's such a powerful thing. There are millions of women who have experienced harassment and assault in every country.\u201d \u2019 Fallon said in a statement that he's 'behaved inappropriately in the past.' Kate Peters for TIME\n\nEven now, the contours of what constitutes sexual harassment remain murky. Some of the recent stories clearly cross the line, like a boss exposing himself to a subordinate or requiring that his researcher sit on his lap. But others feel more ambiguous. Under what circumstances can you ask a colleague about their marriage? When is an invite to drinks alone a bridge too far?\n\nJonathan Segal, a partner at the Philadelphia law firm Duane Morris, who specializes in workplace training, says he hears that confusion in the conversations men are now having among themselves. \"It's more like, 'I wonder if I should tell someone they look nice, I wonder when it's O.K. to give a hug, I wonder when I should be alone with someone in a room,'\" he says.\n\nAmanda Schmitt 30 Art curator More A publisher of Artforum, Knight Landesman, stepped down after Schmitt sued him for sexual harassment. \u2018 The harassment started when I was at the beginning of my career and had just moved to New York City. I was trying to figure out my place in the art world, my place in the city, my place as an adult in the workplace. The harassment began so early, and it was so accepted in the industry. When I finally spoke out publicly, I wondered why I hadn't sooner. I was afraid that I didn't have the strength to make it stop. I don't feel that fear anymore. \u2019 Artforum's other publishers say they took swift action to support Schmitt. Landesman could not be reached for comment. Adama Iwu 40 Lobbyist More Iwu organized an open letter signed by 147 women calling out harassment in California's capital, which launched a state-senate investigation. \u2018 Young women told me about the same men who harassed me years ago. And all I did was participate in the whisper network: 'Here's what you can wear,' 'Here's where you can go,' 'Here's who to avoid.' But you have to address it head on and as a group. It's hard to call 147 women liars. We can't all be crazy. We can't all be sluts. \u2019\n\nThis uncertainty can be corrosive. While everyone wants to smoke out the serial predators and rapists, there is a risk that the net may be cast too far. What happens when someone who makes a sexist joke winds up lumped into the same bucket as a boss who gropes an employee? Neither should be encouraged, but nor should they be equated.\n\nCompanies, meanwhile, are scrambling to keep up. Most large U.S.-based corporations now have fairly complete policies on sexual harassment, and many have anti\u2013sexual harassment training programs and claim to be \"zero-\u00adtolerance workplaces.\" A 2016 EEOC report found that a company's willingness to protect so-called rainmakers\u2014high-performing men like Kalanick, Weinstein and O'Reilly\u2014to be one of the most pernicious reasons C-\u00adsuites and corporate boards overlooked harassment. It doesn't matter how good a company's policy is if its systems are ignored or don't work. \"So much harassment training is like an episode of The Office ,\" says Victoria Lipnic, the acting chair of the EEOC.\n\nIn some instances, sexual-harassment training has even been shown to backfire. In a 2001 study, Lisa Scherer, an associate professor of industrial-organizational psychology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, found that while training increased knowledge about what constituted sexual harassment, it also sometimes had a corrosive effect on workplace culture. \"What was disturbing was that the males who had gone through training showed a backlash effect,\" she says. \"They said they were less willing to report sexual harassment than the males who had not gone through the training.\"\n\nEmployers are also girding for future allegations and lawsuits. The insurance company Nationwide reported a 15% increase in sales of employment practices liability insurances between 2016 and 2017. And Advisen, which tracks insurance trends, says that EPLI insurance price has increased 30% since 2011, which indicates that more companies are reporting losses.\n\nCorporate boards, wary of alienating female employees and customers and of drawing bad press, have been among the quickest to make changes. Uber, for example, which built its reputation on a willingness to flout norms, used to be a guiding light for small startups. Now nobody is pitching their company as the next Uber, says Fowler. \"There's a shift to, 'We're not disrupting anymore. We're trying to build something that's good for consumers and treats employees fairly.'\" It's a start.\n\nState and local governments have also taken some concrete steps. In October, the Chicago city council passed an ordinance\u00ad requiring hotels to provide panic buttons to employees who work alone in hotel rooms. In Springfield, Ill., lawmakers passed a measure that will allow an investigation into a backlog of sexual-\u00adharassment complaints in the statehouse. In Arizona, pending legislation would void nondisclosure agreements signed by victims of harassment to keep them silent.\n\n'I STAYED ANONYMOUS BECAUSE I LIVE IN A VERY SMALL COMMUNITY. AND THEY JUST THINK USUALLY THAT WE'RE LYING AND COMPLAINERS.' Anonymous 22 Former office assistant More After a co-worker allegedly began kissing and pressing himself on her, this young Native American woman says she felt trapped. Her office had no HR department. She didn't feel her colleagues or family on her small, conservative reservation would believe her. So she quit her job. \u2018 On the reservation, we keep to ourselves and don't really put too much out there. I thought of all the other people that had no voice. They're scared to do something like this because their parents say, 'You're not supposed to do that. You're not supposed to speak up.' \u2019\n\nAt the federal level, the House and Senate have passed new rules requiring members of Congress and their staff to complete mandatory sexual-harassment training. A handful of Senators have also introduced legislation to rein in what are known as mandatory arbitration agreements\u2014legal clauses that can appear in employee contracts that prevent workers from suing their employers in court for any reason, including sexual harassment. Some 60 million American workers are currently bound by them.\n\nV\n\nWe're still at the bomb-throwing point of this revolution, a reactive stage at which nuance can go into hiding. But while anger can start a revolution, in its most raw and feral form it can't negotiate the more delicate dance steps needed for true social change. Private conversations, which can't be legislated or enforced, are essential.\n\nNorms evolve, and it's long past time for any culture to view harassment as acceptable. But there's a great deal at stake in how we assess these new boundaries\u2014for women and men together. We can and should police criminal acts and discourage inappropriate, destructive behavior.\n\nAt least we've started asking the right questions. Ones that seem alarmingly basic in hindsight: \"What if we did complain?\" proposes Megyn Kelly. \"What if we didn't whine, but we spoke our truth in our strongest voices and insisted that those around us did better? What if that worked to change reality right now?\" Kelly acknowledges that this still feels more like a promise than a certainty. But for the moment, the world is listening.\n\n\u2014With reporting by Charlotte Alter and Susanna Schrobsdorff/New York, Sam Lansky/Los Angeles, Kate Samuelson/London, Maya Rhodan/Washington and Katy Steinmetz/San Francisco\n\nCorrection : The original version of this story misstated when the claims settled by Bill O\u2019Reilly and Fox News were first disclosed. The New York Times reported in April that Fox and O\u2019Reilly had settled five claims against him. O\u2019Reilly left the network later that month.", "output": "People who have spoken out about sexual harassment have been named as Time magazine\u2019s \u201cPerson of the Year\u201d. The magazine has been recognising the person who \u201chas done the most to influence the events of the year\" since 1927, when it awarded the title \u201cMan of the Year\u201d. Time\u2019s editor-in-chief, Edward Felsenthal, said that \u201cthe Silence Breakers\u201d have been responsible for \u201cthe fastest-moving social change we've seen in decades\u201d. The #MeToo campaign, which emerged in response to allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, is identified as part of the wider movement towards openness about abuse.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Iter nuclear fusion project reaches halfway point \n In this Sept. 15, 2016 file photo, cranes stand at the construction site of the ITER ( the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) in Cadarache, southern France. A vast international experiment designed to demonstrate that nuclear fusion can be a viable source of clean and cheap energy is halfway toward completion. The organization behind the ITER announced the milestone Wednesday Dec. 6, 2017 and confirmed it's aiming to conduct a first test run in 2025. (AP Photo/Claude Paris, File)\n\nA vast international experiment designed to demonstrate that nuclear fusion can be a viable source of energy is halfway toward completion, the organization behind the project said Wednesday.\n\nConstruction of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, in southern France has been dogged by delays and a surge in costs to about 20 billion euros ($23.7 billion).\n\nITER's director-general, Bernard Bigot, said the project is on track to begin superheating hydrogen atoms in 2025, a milestone known as \"first plasma.\"\n\n\"We have no contingency plan,\" he told The Associated Press in a phone interview from Paris.\n\nScientists have long sought to mimic the process of nuclear fusion that occurs inside the sun, arguing that it could provide an almost limitless source of cheap, safe and clean electricity. Unlike in existing fission reactors, which split plutonium or uranium atoms, there's no risk of an uncontrolled chain reaction with fusion and it doesn't produce long-lived radioactive waste.\n\nA joint project to explore the technology was first proposed at a summit between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985, with the aim of \"utilizing controlled thermonuclear fusion for peaceful purposes ... for the benefit for all mankind.\"\n\nIt took more than two decades for work to begin at the site in Saint-Paul-les-Durance, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of Marseille. The project's members\u2014China, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States\u2014settled on a design that uses a doughnut-shaped device called a tokamak to trap hydrogen that's been heated to 150 million degrees Celsius (270 million Fahrenheit) for long enough to allow atoms to fuse together.\n\nThe process results in the release of large amounts of heat. While ITER won't generate electricity, scientists hope it will demonstrate that such a fusion reactor can produce more energy than it consumes.\n\nThere are other fusion experiments, but ITER's design is widely considered the most advanced and practical. Scientists won't know until 2035, following a decade of testing and upgrades, whether the device actually works as intended.\n\nStill, fusion experts said Wednesday's milestone was noteworthy.\n\nIn this Sept. 15, 2016 file photo, cranes stand at the construction site of the ITER ( the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) in Cadarache, southern France. A vast international experiment designed to demonstrate that nuclear fusion can be a viable source of clean and cheap energy is halfway toward completion. The organization behind the ITER announced the milestone Wednesday Dec. 6, 2017 and confirmed it's aiming to conduct a first test run in 2025. (AP Photo/Claude Paris, File)\n\n\"The glass is half full, rather than half empty,\" said Tony Donne of EUROfusion, a consortium of European research organizations and universities that provide scientific advice for ITER.\n\nDonne said the appointment of Bigot had helped the project overcome what he called a \"very difficult period\" during which political considerations had hampered construction of what some consider the most complicated machine ever built.\n\nCost remains an issue, though, and Bigot was visiting Washington on Wednesday to drum up support from the United States, which contributes about 9 percent of the budget. Much of the funding goes to suppliers in the member states\u2014in the case of the U.S. that includes General Atomics, which is building the central solenoid, an 18-meter (59-foot) electromagnet that's powerful enough to lift an aircraft carrier.\n\nBigot said most other members, including the European Union which pays 45 percent of the budget, had pledged their financial support for years to come and he was hopeful the Trump administration would see the benefits of staying on board.\n\n\"All countries including the United States know that their energy supply is not sustainable beyond this century,\" said Bigot, who was previously France's nuclear energy chief.\n\nShould Washington cut its funding, the project won't collapse, he said. \"It's too important for the other members. But there would be some delay.\"\n\nGerald Navratil, a professor of applied physics at Columbia University, said fusion could help solve the problem of how to reliably produce large amounts of electricity without emitting greenhouse gases, noting ITER's current cost is comparable to that of developing a large passenger aircraft.\n\n\"Energy is such an important part of our technological society that expenditure of 20 billion to develop a new energy source is really not out of line,\" he said.\n\n\u00a9 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.", "output": "The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (Iter) in the South of France\u00a0has reached its halfway point, said Bernard Bigot, the director-general of the project. Power could be produced from the experimental facility from 2025, using nuclear fusion, a process that has been pursued since nuclear energy was conceived. By creating a scenario similar to that which occurs in the sun, scientists hope to find an energy source that could harness more energy than the entirety of humanity requires."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Iter nuclear fusion project reaches halfway point \n Assembling the world's largest nuclear fusion experiment is now an engineering problem. But it may be the most daunting challenge that has ever been posed, as Stuart Nathan explains.\n\nMy last visit to the site of Iter, the international project to develop and build the world\u2019s largest ever nuclear fusion reactor and a model for the powerplant of prospective fusion power stations, was three years ago. Then, there was comparatively little to see on-site, as the foundations that will support the enormous weight of the fusion machine were still under construction, and the concrete had yet to be poured. The situation now is very different.\n\nThe theoretical and design aspects of the Iter \u2018fusion machine\u2019 \u2014 as it is known within the organisation \u2014 have largely been finalised, and the contracts for construction of its components farmed out among its member states. The remaining task, to piece all 10 million components together, is essentially a programme of mechanical, electrical and process engineering; but what a programme.\n\nIt will be the most complex machine ever built \u2014 an accolade that\u2019s been held at various times in past decades by the Boeing 747, the Apollo command module, The US nuclear missile submarines, and the Large Hadron Collider. Because of the level of instrumentation and the need to comply with existing nuclear regulations, Iter is currently seen as likely to be the most complex fusion reactor ever built.\n\nReturning to Cadarache, near Marseilles, a few weeks ago, progress was obvious from the first glance.\n\nBuildings on the ground\n\nThe parched, sun-drenched landscape is the same, but whereas previously, only the bones of a few buildings were projecting from the rocky man-made plateau that forms the Iter site, the full complex is now visibly taking shape.\n\nThe most obvious progress is on the tokomak complex. Forming a T-shape, with the assembly hall to the south and the still-unbuilt diagnostics building and tritium plant flanking the tokomak hall itself to the east and west, the assembly hall is complete and the walls of the square tokomak hall are now rising above the pit where the machine will sit, descending two stories below ground. In the coming months the hall will completely enclose a squat circular concrete tower rising from the pit floor, pierced with rectangular and oval holes. Reminiscent of medieval fortifications, this is the bioshield that will keep Iter\u2019s operators safe from the lethal neutron flux that the fusion reaction will produce in operation.\n\nThe tokamak pit in front of the assembly hall, on the left of this picture. The building with the red stripe is the poloidal coil workshop; to its left is the cryostat workshop, and in front is the cryoplant\n\nThe concrete of the floor, hall walls and bioshield is regularly studded with rectangular steel slabs onto which the fusion machine will be welded to hold it safely in place, in compliance with French nuclear regulations.\n\nMore concrete supporting structures radiate from the bioshield into the spaces that will be occupied by the equipment that will heat the hydrogen plasma confined by mighty magnets within the tokomak\u2019s toroidal vacuum chamber; to the north will be radiofrequency generators, which will blast in microwave energy, and equipment to replenish the plasma by blowing pellets of frozen hydrogen into it; and to the south \u2014 squeezed in between the tokomak itself and the assembly hall, which will then be redundant (and according to jocular staff, the location for dance parties) \u2014 will be neutral beam injectors, huge devices that accelerate beams of hydrogen, render them electrically neutral and then fling them into the plasma (more on these below).\n\nKeeping cool; the cryoplant\n\nNearby on the site is the cryoplant that will supply and manage liquid helium, the crucial ingredient for chilling the tokomak\u2019s magnets to near-absolute zero (the precise temperature is -269\u00b0C), keeping their superconducting electrical coils in a state of zero resistance. This makes it possible to maintain the titanic magnetic fields that both keep the plasma squeezed tightly, and accelerate its component particles (nuclei of the heavy hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium) to enormous speeds (corresponding to temperatures of 150x106\u00b0C, ten times hotter than the centre of the sun).\n\nTemperature and confinement are the two most crucial conditions necessary to force the particles, which all carry identical positive electrical charges, to overcome electrostatic repulsion and collide with each other with enough momentum for them to fuse together into helium nuclei, releasing the energy that is the raison d\u2019\u00eatre of the project.\n\nThe cryoplant, the world\u2019s largest, includes three identical refrigerators which will liquefy some 25 tonnes of helium gas to supply the magnets and the vacuum pumps. Capable of a liquefaction rate of 1,230 litres per hour, these refrigeration units are fed by 18 compressors. Another refrigeration plant containing two units will produce liquid nitrogen from the air, which will act as a pre-cooler in the helium plant and will also chill the tokomak\u2019s thermal shield, reducing the load on the superconducting cooling system.\n\nCoils and cryostat; on-site manufacturing\n\nPerhaps most exciting of all for visitors are two buildings where manufacture of real components is under way. In one, contractors from Indian engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro are welding huge steel components together into the tokomak cryostat.\n\nAlready giving the impression of being Colosseum-scale, this will be the biggest vacuum vessel ever built, 30m in width and height, weighing a total of 3850 tonnes, and enclosing a volume of 16,000m3. It will maintain the thermal shield, and will also keep its interior at a pressure of 10-4Pa. The biggest contribution of India to the Iter project, the cryostat components will be the first and last pieces of the fusion machine assembly to be installed in the tokomak pit.\n\nChecking the welding on the cryostat base\n\nThe installation of the cryostat will be a staggered process, and its assembly is too. The sections of stainless steel are being welded together into four very large components. The first to be installed is the base, whose lower plate, shaped like a wide, flat dish with an upturned rim, is complete. On top of this will go the pedestal, a shallow cylinder topped with a flat rim; the 25,000 tonne combined weight of the tokomak itself and the rest of the cryostat will bear directly onto this component.\n\nThe thickest metal in the cryostat is found in the pedestal \u2014 200mm \u2014 which is now undergoing final welding and is being finished directly above the baseplate, onto which it will be welded before the whole base assembly is lifted into the pit. The base is the heaviest single component of the fusion machine, weighing 1250 tonnes.\n\nA rendering of the cryostat, showing the four components\n\nOn top of the base will sit two cylindrical tiers with an internal diameter of 28m. Both tiers have holes matching those of the bioshields, which will be connected to instrumentation and equipment by leak-tight bellows. On the lower of these, the first welding pass to link the pieces together is completed; the second welding pass will complete the joints to ensure leak-tightness. The parts of the upper tier are currently arriving from India. The final component, the lid, will be last to be assembled and the last piece of the fusion machine to be put in place.\n\nWinding poloidal field double-pancakes. A reel of superconducting cable is surrounded by red scaffolding on the left\n\nNot far away from the cryostat hall is a facility that was cavernous and intimidatingly empty on my last visit. Here, the poloidal field coils of Iter are being wound. Iter will have three sets of magnets: the central solenoid, a pillar that will sit in the middle of the torus and is important for driving a current around the plasma.\n\nToroidal coils, which occupy the position of lines of longitude on a globe and are the main method for squeezing the plasma; and poloidal coils, which occupy the lines of latitude will help to stabilise and shape the plasma. The six poloidal coils are among the largest and heaviest components of the whole assembly, and apart from the top and bottom coils are too big to be transported to the site from an external manufacturer, so the four middle coils, with diameters of 24 and 17m, must be wound on-site with only their component parts \u2014 a cable formed from strands of superconducting niobium-titanium alloy, bundled and packed into hefty stainless steel conduits through which liquid helium coolant will circulate.\n\nThough the steel is some millimetres thick, this cable arrives at the site wound onto huge 20 tonne reels; it is then laboriously unwound, cleaned, straightened, and forced into a more gentle curve to form the flat hoops of the poloidal coils.\n\nLike many of the operations that will form Iter, this is a sequential process. The coils will be deployed not singly but in winding packs, each pack consisting of multiple \u2018double-pancakes\u2019 of two identical coils; and building these packs is complicated.\n\nWhile being wound, the coils are wrapped in glass fibre insulating tape in an automated process where the winding speed and tension are carefully controlled. The completed double pancake, the largest of which now weighs 37 tonnes, is then lifted with the magnet assembly building\u2019s overhead crane into a mould, where it is impregnated with epoxy resin under pressure.\n\nThe number of double-pancakes in each magnet pack is determined by position, from the bottom of the machine magnet packs. 1, 3, 4 and 5 have eight double pancakes, while pack two has six and pack 6 has nine.\n\nTo form the packs, solid double-pancakes must be stacked together, undergo an additional vacuum resin impregnation step, and have additional components such as clamps, protective covers and liquid inlet and outlet pipes added.\n\nProgress on on-site magnet production is now at a stage where the first vacuum impregnation processes can begin. Off-site, pack 1 (the smallest and upper-most poloidal coil) is now halfway through production at the Srednenevsky Shipbuilding Plant in St Petersburg, with its fifth double-pancake being wound and the first two having now completed vacuum impregnation. The third double-pancake was being impregnated as this article was being written.\n\nPutting it together; the assembly schedule\n\nThe building sequence that will lead up to the completion of the fusion machine is now clear, but it won\u2019t be quick. First, the remaining construction of the tokomak building itself must be completed, so that the rails of the crane in the assembly hall can be extended over the tokomak pit. Completion is expected by the end of 2018. Then the wall between the assembly hall and tokomak hall (currently towering over the tokomak pit and adorned with a huge poster showing a cutaway diagram of the fusion machine) will be demolished, and the neutral beam equipment installed. The base of the cryostat will then be lowered into place early in 2019, followed by the first two poloidal field coils.\n\nAssembly of the tokomak vacuum vessel itself can then start. The first stages of this part of the assembly process have already begun in the assembly hall. The floor of the hall is being prepared for the arrival of two vacuum vessel sector sub-assembly tools, which are being built by Taekyung Heavy Industries in South Korea. The ground-level supporting components of the tools are now grouted into position, and the components of the tools themselves are now arriving at Cadarache.\n\nOne of the vacuum vessel sector assembly tools, assembled for testing in Korea; the dark grey components are test masses\n\nThese tools will themselves be mammoth components, 22m tall, weighing 800 tonnes and with two hinged hydraulic \u2018wings\u2019 that can open to a width of 20m. The role of each tool is to suspend a 40\u00b0 slice of the toroidal vacuum vessel (seven are being forged in Italy; the other two in Korea) in a precise position, while the wings will suspend two toroidal field coils and thermal shield components, sliding them around the outside of the vacuum vessel sector where they will be fixed into position, along with associated thermal shielding.\n\nAssembling the sectors is a task requiring extraordinary precision, and the assembly tools will be heavily equipped with sensors to measure the relative positions of the components as they are hoisted into position, manoeuvred and welded into place. It will take both of the assembly hall\u2019s overhead cranes working in concert to lift and move the assembled sectors, which will weigh 1200 tonnes each.\n\nOnce the nine sectors of the tokomak - each a vacuum vessel/toroidal field coil/thermal shield assembly - are in place and welded together, the remaining four poloidal coils will be hoisted into position, followed by the upper and lower tiers of the cryostat. The central solenoid, being made in the US, will then be craned in and installed (the ceilings of the tokomak and assembly halls are twice the height of the fusion machine to allow clearance for this component, which runs the full height of the vacuum vessel). Then it\u2019s time for the final component, the cryostat lid, to be installed.\n\nA vacuum vessel sector component ready for machining\n\nIn-vessel assembly can then begin, carried out by hand and by an array of robotic equipment, installing equipment to put the tokomak in its initial configuration for first plasma in 2025.\n\nOnce the first plasma campaign is complete, the configuration of the tokomak interior will be altered, with further equipment installed, including the diverter (a water-cooled structure, made moistly of titanium, at the base of the torus where the plasma touches the wall and most of its energy is expended), ready for deuterium-tritium plasma operation, where actual fusion will take place, from 2035. This will also include testing of breeder blanket modules, where collisions between neutrons and lithium atoms will generate tritium. Commercial fusion plants, if feasible, will need to generate their own tritium; it is radioactive and currently produced only in small quantities in specialised nuclear reactors\n\nPower up: the neutral beam injectors\n\nIn order to produce a burning plasma \u2014 a state of self-supporting nuclear fusion in the hot soup of charged particles circulating inside the vacuum chamber, which has never before been achieved \u2014 the plasma must be heated. There are three ways of doing this. The first is to induce a current around the plasma, which is achieved using the magnet systems (mainly the central solenoid); and two external methods: microwave \u2014 or radiofrequency \u2014 heating, of which Iter will use two types; and neutral beam injection.\n\nRendering of a neutral beam injector; the D-shaped object is a toroidal field coil shown inside the cryostat\n\nNeutral beams are jets of electrically-neutral hydrogen atoms, accelerated at high speed into the plasma, where they give up their energy by colliding with the particles of the plasma. They have to be uncharged, or they would be deflected out of the plasma by the magnetic fields. But to be accelerated at all, they have to be charged, so neutral beam injectors work by stripping an electron away from hydrogen atoms, accelerating them with linear magnetic fields to a high velocity, passing them through a gas chamber where they reacquire their lost electron without losing momentum, then sending them into the tokomak.\n\nThis is proven technology \u2014 most tokomaks use it, including the Joint European Torus in the UK, but Iter\u2019s system will have to accelerate atoms three to four timers faster than any previous injectors, for them to penetrate deeply enough into the plasma to be effective. The faster positive ions are travelling, the harder they are to neutralise; so Iter will use injectors which make and accelerate negatively-charged ions \u2014 the first time this method has been used. Negative hydrogen ions are less stable than positive ones, so easier to neutralise but harder to handle.\n\nIter will have three injectors; two for heating and one for diagnostics. Each of the two heating injectors will be able to supply 16.5MW of power at 1MeV of energy, in pulses up to an hour long. The hardware is being developed art a facility in Italy called PRIMA, which houses two test beds: SPIDER, for the development and characterisation of the negative ion source, and MITICA, a full-scale prototype of an injector. Europe, Japan and India are all contributing to this effort, and the last components for the Japanese contribution to MITICA \u2014 parts of the power supply \u2014 were delivered in November.\n\nPRIMA provides an example of the scale of companies contributing to Iter. OCEM, a Bologna-based electrical equipment specialist more commonly involved in providing airfield lighting, is developing and providing components for the power supply of SPIDER. \u201cWe are an SME, but Iter has helped us think big,\u201d says OCEM power division md Guiseppe Taddia. \u201cIt has helped us increase our technical skills and skills in project and contract management, as well as helping us motivate our staff.\u201d\n\nAt the other end of the industrial spectrum, Siemens and Hitachi are collaborating on developing an ultra-high voltage deck and bushing for the injectors. Operating at 1MV DC, weighing 100tonnes and requiring seismic qualification, it is well in excess of anything used in industry.\n\nCLICK HERE FOR MORE ENERGY TECHNOLOGY NEWS", "output": "The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (Iter) in the South of France\u00a0has reached its halfway point, said Bernard Bigot, the director-general of the project. Power could be produced from the experimental facility from 2025, using nuclear fusion, a process that has been pursued since nuclear energy was conceived. By creating a scenario similar to that which occurs in the sun, scientists hope to find an energy source that could harness more energy than the entirety of humanity requires."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Concern as UK's Westminster School plans branches in China \n One of Britain\u2019s top public schools is set to open six offshoots in China teaching the Chinese national curriculum at a time when the country\u2019s authoritarian leader, Xi Jinping, is pushing to tighten the Communist party\u2019s grip on the classroom.\n\n\n\nAccording to the Financial Times, Westminster School will on Thursday unveil plans to create branches in six major Chinese cities in partnership with a Hong Kong education group called HKMETG. The first will open in Chengdu, capital of the south-western province of Sichuan, in 2020.\n\nWestminster, whose alumni include politicians such as Tony Benn and Nick Clegg as well as Martin Amis, Helena Bonham Carter and Louis Theroux, described the move as a \u201csoft power\u201d initiative that would help fund a bursary scheme in the UK.\n\n\u201cThe reason for opening the schools is that we\u2019re quite excited about being able to influence education of Chinese pupils in China,\u201d a spokeswoman said.\n\nWestminster, which was founded in 1179 by Benedictine monks, is the latest in a series of British schools to head east. Dulwich College, Harrow and Wellington all operate spin-offs for international students in Shanghai, with Dulwich also boasting campuses in Beijing and Suzhou and a franchise in the southern city of Zhuhai.\n\nUnusually, however, the Westminster schools will reportedly teach China\u2019s national curriculum to 6- to 15-year-olds.\n\nXiong Bingqi, an education specialist from Shanghai\u2019s Jiaotong University, told the Guardian that was the only way Chinese authorities would allow a foreign school to offer Chinese students compulsory education.\n\n\n\nHowever, as a result teachers are likely to skirt over politically sensitive topics such as the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, in which Chinese troops gunned down an unknown number of civilians, and Mao\u2019s Great Famine, in which tens of millions died.\n\nWestminster said students aged 16-18 would be able to study the English national curriculum.\n\n\n\nChinese textbooks have grown increasingly pro-party since Xi took power in 2012 and set in motion a severe political chill that has seen academics forced into exile and critics jailed.\n\nIn August, China\u2019s assistant education minister, Zheng Fuzhi, unveiled a new generation of party-sanctioned textbooks designed to push Xi\u2019s so-called \u201ccore socialist values\u201d and reinforce Beijing\u2019s claims over places such as Tibet, Taiwan and the South China Sea.\n\nOne recent command to schools pronounced that pupils should be \u201cguided to firmly support the CPC [Chinese Communist party] leadership\u201d.\n\nLast December Xi said universities should be strongholds of party rule and teachers \u201cengineers of the human soul\u201d whose \u201csacred mission\u201d was to help students improve their ideological quality.\n\nSteve Tsang, the head of the School of Oriental and African Studies\u2019 (SOAS) China Institute, told the Financial Times he believed Westminster was making a mistake.\n\n\u201cI think they have no idea what they\u2019re dealing with \u2026 If you set up a school in China, they will have a party secretary superintending the whole school and the party secretary will be responsible for political education.\u201d\n\nXiong said it was normal for Beijing to require a foreign school to operate under Chinese rules: \u201cEven if you are running a school in the US, you need to obey local education laws and regulations.\u201d\n\n\n\nHe said there would be greater flexibility outside the period of compulsory education, although not when it came to ideologically or historically sensitive topics. \u201cTeaching anything in history class that is different from what is in Chinese textbooks, that\u2019s impossible.\u201d\n\nWestminster is likely to have to modify its motto, as well as its teaching materials, before opening in one-party China, an officially atheist country. The school\u2019s motto is currently: \u201cDat deus incrementum\u201d or \u2018God gives bounteously\u201d.\n\nBefore it opened in China, Dulwich College had to replace its original motto - \u201cDetur gloria soli deo\u201d (\u201cLet glory be given to God alone\u201d) - with \u2018Detur pons mundo\u201d (\u201cBuilding bridges to the world\u201d).\n\nAdditional reporting by Wang Zhen\n\n", "output": "The UK's posh Westminster School, which has educated British political leaders, will soon be teaching pupils to love the Chinese Communist Party (CPP) when it\u00a0opens classrooms at six sites in China. The new branches\u00a0will teach the local national curriculum, which stresses pupils must be firmly guided to support the CCP leadership.\u00a0The expansion plans are hoped to raise bursary funds for the London school. But the move has raised questions as China's authoritarian leader Xi Jinping cracks down on what's taught in the country's classrooms, resulting in\u00a0some academics going\u00a0into exile and critics being jailed."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "No deal 'worst possible outcome' for economy, security and nuclear: Lords \n It is impossible to imagine a worse outcome for Britain than failing to agree a Brexit deal, the House of Lords will warn on Thursday, in a last-ditch warning to ministers under increasing pressure to walk away from stalled talks with the EU.\n\nIn a 60-page report that predicts legal and economic chaos without an exit agreement, the cross-party committee of peers cautions that a government strategy of brinkmanship with Brussels \u201crisks becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy\u201d.\n\n\u201c\u2018No deal\u2019 would mean the abrupt cessation of over 40 years of economic, political and legal partnership,\u201d they conclude. \u201cIt is difficult, if not impossible, to envisage a worse outcome for the United Kingdom.\u201d\n\nThe government was accused of failing to prepare for the future on Wednesday after the chancellor, Philip Hammond, revealed there had been no cabinet discussion on Britain\u2019s ultimate relationship with Europe, and the Brexit secretary, David Davis, said no assessment of the likely impact on different business sectors had been carried out.\n\nTheresa May is also facing a backlash from hardliners in the cabinet after it emerged that the only way to salvage a stricken first-phase agreement over Northern Ireland might be to extend EU regulatory alignment to the whole of the UK \u2013 a soft Brexit option many regard as the worst of all worlds.\n\nNow the Lords report warns that the alternative of walking away from the talks entirely and relying on existing WTO trade rules would have catastrophic implications, ranging from a 20% rise in food prices and grounded airline flights, to the loss of 75,000 jobs in the City and \u00a38-10bn in tax revenues.\n\n\u201cA complete \u2018no-deal\u2019 outcome would ... bring UK-EU cooperation on matters vital to the national interest, such as counter-terrorism, police, justice and security matters, nuclear safeguards, data exchange and aviation, to a sudden halt,\u201d said the report, after taking evidence from more than 50 expert witnesses.\n\n\u201cIt would place the status of UK nationals in the EU, and EU nationals in the UK, in jeopardy, and would necessarily lead to the imposition of controls at the Irish land border.\n\n\u201cThe short-term impact on trade in goods would also be grave,\u201d the peers added. \u201cThe UK\u2019s ports would be overwhelmed by the requirement for customs and other checks. There is simply not enough time to provide the necessary capacity, IT systems, human resource and expertise to deal with such an outcome.\u201d\n\nThe Lords warning came as business leaders also accused the Tory party of \u201cgross irresponsibility\u201d for considering a no-deal route out of the Brexit impasse. \u201cTo those politicians suggesting we walk away from the negotiating table, I have a simple message: careless talk will cost jobs,\u201d the CBI president, Paul Drechsler, told an audience in the City on Wednesday night. \u201cBusinesses will press snooze for as long as they can \u2013 but the alarm will go off,\u201d he added.\n\nBritish business leaders have long warned that failure to move on from phase one talks by next week could force them to take painful contingency measures to prepare for a no-deal Brexit, but the Lords report sets out in unprecedented detail why it fears such a scenario could come about by accident.\n\n\u201cThe key factor adding to the risk of \u2018no deal\u2019 is the lack of time,\u201d the peers write. \u201cWhile we reiterate our support for the government\u2019s goal of securing a comprehensive agreement by October 2018, the uncertainty over the feasibility of that aim means that the overriding UK and EU interest is now to secure an orderly and legally certain transition, as early as possible.\u201d\n\nThe committee also dismissed testimony provided by David Davis in which he claimed there could still be a \u201cbare bones\u201d deal with the EU if the main exit negotiations broke down. The peers argued that a disorderly breakup would be more likely to lead to a widespread breakdown in trust between the two sides.\n\nLord Jay, acting committee chairman and a former ambassador to France, said: \u201cThe overwhelming weight of evidence suggests that \u2018no-deal\u2019 would be the worst possible outcome for the UK, in terms of the economy, security, the environment and citizens\u2019 rights.\u201d\n\nCampaigners against a hard Brexit claimed the report provided damning evidence against the theory that Britain could be prepared to walk away. \u201cFor months we have have heard bluster from Brexiteers about how no deal is better than a bad deal,\u201d said Eloise Todd, of Best For Britain. \u201cWhat this report finally tells us is that no deal is a bad deal... [it] is a brutal character assassination carried out on the whole, shambolic government.\u201d\n\nThe government argues that it has to maintain the \u2018no-deal\u2019 option to prevent Brussels from dictating all the terms of the exit. Responding to criticism of the government\u2019s strategy during prime minister\u2019s questions, Theresa May claimed \u201cvery good progress\u201d had been made in the talks.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re leaving the European Union, we\u2019re leaving the single market and the customs union but we will do what is right in the interests of the whole United Kingdom,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.\u201d", "output": "The UK's House of Lords European Union committee has condemned the possibility of a 'no deal' Brexit option, and said it was: \"difficult, if not impossible, to envisage a worse outcome for the UK\". The comments were part of a report which highlighted the lack of time available to reach agreement on key issues, and suggested it could inadvertently lead to a no deal outcome. The cross-party committee called on the government to consider extending the UK's EU membership or transition period."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Water risk is an overlooked global threat for investors \n If investors are not aware of water risks, now is the time to get up to speed, argues Monika Freyman\n\nWater, like carbon, is a growing operational and strategic risk that investors must look out for. But unlike the threats of higher carbon prices or regulatory changes due to climate change that continue to build, today's water threats can lead to immediate and significant, or even total, value destruction.\n\nWater resources, already at risk in a more climate volatile world, are also under growing threat from pollution, a rising global population, and skyrocketing water competition from growing cities, power generation and food production needs.\n\nFloods. Shortages. Spills. Community backlash. Every day, we're seeing how water security translates into water risk overnight.\n\nNewmont delayed a $5 billion mining project in Peru after community protests over water concerns. Competition with farmers for groundwater in India forced Coca-Cola to close plants and abandon some expansion plans. BHP and Vale face a $48 billion fine stemming from compensation claims. These are just a few proof points.\n\nSo what can investors do? Do what investors do best \u2014 research the risks and manage them.\n\nThat's where Ceres' new Investor Water Toolkit comes in. Created for investors by investors, the \"Toolkit\" is the first ever investor-designed, comprehensive resource to help investors better understand and evaluate water risks throughout every step of the decision-making process \u2014 from creating institutional priorities and goals, conducting portfolio attribution analysis, to buy/sell decision-making and much in between.\n\nThe Toolkit was produced in partnership with over 40 members of Ceres' Investor Water Hub, collectively managing $6 trillion in assets. It provides resources and tools on analysing water risk along with real-life case studies from pension funds, endowments and asset managers. The Toolkit offers different levels of analysis, meeting investors wherever they are on their journey of integrating water risks into portfolio decision-making. These range from understanding and evaluating risks to providing recommendations for advanced methods of scenario analysis.\n\nIt also showcases that a broad spectrum of industries have exposure to potential water risks. A new water footprint analysis Ceres released alongside the Toolkit reveals that the majority of stocks in the MSCI World, MSCI Emerging Markets, S&P 500 and Russell 3000 are in industries with medium to high water risk.\n\n\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00adThat's why serious analysis of these risks is more important than ever. Water risk footprinting, also known as water risk heat-mapping, is one of many important investor water research methods.\n\nAnd in fact, some investors are already leading the way. For instance, ACTIAM, a Netherlands-based firm managing \u20ac54.6 billion in assets, is measuring the footprint of its portfolio as part of its 2030 goal to limit the water use and impacts of its portfolio \u2014 the first ever public commitment by a large institutional investor.\n\nIn the US, the Florida State Board of Administration (SBA) analysed the water risks of its $15 billion passive investment portfolio, using water risk scores to create a heat map. The map visually represents the financial exposure of Florida SBA's investments in companies with varying degrees of water risk exposure.\n\nMany investors are also beginning to see the value of scenario analysis and stress testing not only to assess the impact of climate change but also to more fully understand water risk exposure. This mirrors the call for scenario analysis by the G20's Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure.\n\nInvestor water risk exposure can be very different from corporate water risk exposure, because investors need to evaluate the risks throughout their portfolios, including their aggregate exposure to high-risk industries or geographic regions. And given that investment firms may own hundreds, if not thousands, of companies or securities, investors also need to prioritise which entities to research and engage further on water risks. The Toolkit has a number of recommendations for just how to do this, using the size of holdings, ability to influence change, and geographic exposure analysis as key considerations.\n\nThe online Ceres Investor Water Toolkit is designed to fill a critical gap for investors who have been looking for ways to integrate water and other sustainability considerations into investment decision-making. While there are many other resources in the marketplace to help companies model their water risks, there are few that specifically target investors.\n\nWater risks are increasingly material. Climate change and other drivers are turning water into a scarce commodity, increasing competition for available resources and making protection of water quality more vital than ever. These risks have to become an integral part of investor research and risk management processes and daily financial decisions. Otherwise, investors will be blind to a risk that is only continuing to grow.\n\nMonika Freyman, CFA is Director of Investor Engagement, Water at Ceres, a sustainability non-profit organisation working with the most influential investors and companies to build leadership and drive solutions throughout the economy.", "output": "Water risk is a growing operational and strategic threat investors may be overlooking. Climate change, pollution, rising global population, power generation, food production\u00a0and competition for supply by cities are\u00a0already impacting the worldwide water supply. Water security risks can impact\u00a0a company overnight. Recent examples include\u00a0competition for water in India forcing\u00a0Coca-Cola to shut plants and halt expansion plans. Additionally,\u00a0Newmont\u00a0had to delay its $5bn mining project in Peru over water fears while\u00a0BHP and Vale are facing a $48bn fine due to compensation claims over water.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mounting financial risks threaten to derail Chinese economy: IMF \n \"The system's increasing complexity has sown financial stability risks,\" the fund said in the 2017 China Financial Sector Stability Assessment report released on Thursday morning Asia hours.\n\nThose tensions emerged as China moves away from its role as the world's factory to a more modern, consumer-driven economy, the IMF said. The financial sector is critical in facilitating that transition, but in the process it evolved into a more complicated and debt-laden system.\n\nAn almost two-year long study of the Chinese financial system by the International Monetary Fund found three major tensions that could derail the world's second-largest economy.\n\nThe report was a culmination of the fund's several visits to China between October 2015 and September 2017. The assessment is intended to identify key sources of systemic risk in the financial sector so that policies can be implemented to enhance resilience to shocks and problems that could spread across the globe.\n\nThe first tension in China's financial system, according to the IMF, is the rapid build-up in risky credit that was partly due to the strong political pressures banks face to keep non-viable companies open, rather than letting them fail. Such struggling firms have, in recent years, taken on more debt to achieve growth targets set by the authorities.\n\nThe overall debt-to-GDP ratio in the Asian economic giant grew from around 180 percent in 2011 to 255.9 percent by the second quarter of 2017, data by the Bank for International Settlements showed. The rise coincided with a slowdown in productivity growth and pressures on asset quality in the banking system \u2014 increasing the risks faced by the Chinese economy.\n\nThe second tension identified by the IMF is that risky lending has moved away from banks to the less-regulated parts of the financial system, commonly known as the \"shadow banking\" sector. That adds to the complexity of the financial sector and makes it more difficult for authorities to supervise activities in the system, the IMF said.\n\nAnd the third issue identified by the international organization is that there's been a rash of \"moral hazard and excessive risk-taking\" because of the mindset that the government will bail out troubled state-owned enterprises and local government financing vehicles. An example is the \"implicit guarantees\" that financial institutions offer when selling products to retail investors. That is a situation where the financial product sold are not guaranteed, but banks almost always compensate investors for principal losses by dipping into their own capital.\n\nThe People's Bank of China, in response to the IMF assessment, said in a statement on its website that it disagrees with some points in the report but the fund's recommendations are \"highly relevant in the context of deepening financial reforms\" in the country.\n\nOne of the points the Chinese central bank said it disagrees with is the conclusion that many banks lack the ability to withstand shocks. The IMF's stress tests found that 27 out of 33 banks studied were under-capitalized. But the PBOC said the Chinese financial system is resilient.", "output": "China's financial system is under threat from risky\u00a0bank\u00a0debt, risky lending and excessive risk-taking, the\u00a0International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned\u00a0as the nation\u00a0moves towards\u00a0a consumer-driven economy. \"The system's increasing complexity has sown financial stability risks,\" the IMF said in the\u00a0report of a two-year study into the world's second-largest economy. The Chinese central bank said it disagrees with the assessment, particularly\u00a0the assertion that many lenders would be unable to absorb shocks.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Irish government to ban most zero-hour contracts \n The Minister for Employment and Social Protection Regina Doherty said the new legislation would significantly improve the employment protections for people in less secure arrangements. Photograph: Dara Mac Donaill / The Irish Times\n\nThe Government is to ban zero-hours contracts in most circumstances and strengthen rights for workers on insecure contracts and those working variable hours.\n\nThe Minister for Employment and Social Protection Regina Doherty said the new legislation,published on Thursday, would significantly improve the employment protections for people who were in less secure arrangements, not by choice, and may not know from week to week what hours they will be working.\n\nShe said the vast majority of employers treated their employees well and they should have nothing to fear from the new Bill.\n\n\u201cOn the contrary, the Bill is aimed at tackling exploitative employment arrangements and those unscrupulous employers who do not respect even the most basic rights of employees.\u201d\n\nREAD MORE\n\nThe general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) Patricia King said the new legislation was by no means perfect and required some amendments but it did represent progress.\n\n\u201cThe Ictu will lobby hard to achieve amendments to this Bill to meet the demands of the workers who are affected by insecure and precarious work. It appears from the provisions of the Bill that the prohibition of zero-hour contracts excludes casual workers. It is our view that all workers should be covered by this prohibition.\u201d\n\n\u2018If and when\u2019\n\nHowever the employers\u2019 group Ibec argued the legislation as drafted would have significant adverse consequences.\n\n\u201cIt will deprive employees and employers of the ability to make their own flexible working arrangements and to adapt to change collaboratively.\u201d\n\nLabour Party senator Ged Nash said the Bill was silent on \"a new and dubious form of precarious work\" known as \"if and when\" contracts.\n\nHe said the Bill would apply only to employees who had worked under contract for at least 18 months.\n\n\u201cThis of itself is a major improvement to the status quo and is a very welcome development. But the new legislation entirely dodges the question of \u2018if and when\u2019 contracts and how such workers are to be treated. It seems that, for most workers trapped in the \u2018if and when\u2019 spiral, work of that nature will continue to be treated as a casual form of work. \u201d\n\nThe new legislation will prohibit zero hours contracts in all circumstances except in \u201ccases of genuine casual work or where they are essential to allow employers to provide cover in emergency situations or to cover short-term absences\u201d.\n\nSubstitute workers\n\nThe Department of Employment and Social Protection said such flexibility would be required in residential care settings, for example, where a member of staff must accompany a resident in the care facility to hospital at short notice and an appropriately qualified substitute worker needed to be called in to cover the absence.\n\nMs Doherty said: \u201cWhile we understand that zero-hour contracts are not prevalent in this jurisdiction, we want to ensure that that remains the position.\u201d\n\nUnder the new legislation five key terms of employment must be provided to workers within five days of commencing work for their employer. These are:\n\n\u2013 The full name of the employer and employee\n\n\u2013 The address of the employer\n\n\u2013 The expected duration of the contract (where the contract is temporary or fixed-term)\n\n\u2013 The rate or method of calculating pay\n\n\u2013 What the employer reasonably expects the normal length of the employee\u2019s working day and week will be.", "output": "The Irish Government is to ban most zero-hours contracts, while also improving rights for workers in insecure and variable employment. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions said the new legislation, published last Thursday, demonstrated progress, but needed to be amended. Employers\u2019 group Ibec claimed that the legislation would deprive both companies and workers of the ability to establish flexible working arrangements.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google launches gender diversity gaming initiative \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nGoogle is launching its Change the Game program, a diversity initiative for starting a dialogue about women who play and make mobile games. It also partnered with market researcher Newzoo on a study about people\u2019s behaviors when they play games on their phones.\n\nChange the Game will focus on women who are playing mobile games as well as to jumpstart more careers for them in the game industry. To the former point, it has released a trailer that it\u2019s calling an \u201canthem video\u201d to showcase the diverse range of women who play games. Google Play is also spotlighting a collection of games starring women protagonists, such as State of Play Games and Noodlecake Studios\u2019s Lumino City and Camouflaj\u2019s R\u00e9publique.\n\nAccording to the Newzoo study, 65 percent of women between the ages of 10 and 65 play mobile games. These stats are out of the 3,000 people who participated in the study, 2,000 of whom identified as women and 1,000 as men. Though a high percentage of women play games, Google product marketing manager Mathilde Cohen Solal said a disconnect exists between how men and women approach their experiences.\n\n\u201cFor example, women are less likely to explore a variety of genres. While men usually play games from three or more genres, women tend to play two genres or less,\u201d said Solal in a phone call with GamesBeat. \u201cThey\u2019re less likely to talk about games among their friends and communities. They\u2019re less likely to identify as gamers.\u201d\n\nThe study also says that most of the women thought only 30 percent of mobile games are made \u201cfor them,\u201d though it\u2019s not entirely clear what that means exactly. The study isn\u2019t conclusive, and Solal is cautious about assigning cause or correlation to its findings. Change the Game intends to continue doing more research to look at different behaviors, demographics, and geographic regions.\n\n\u201cWhat we\u2019ve realized is that everything is interrelated,\u201d said Solal. \u201cIt\u2019s very hard to find one cause of the behavior, of something that\u2019s happening. What I would say is something that\u2014a hypothesis we\u2019ve talked about with a lot of experts is there\u2019s a kind of chicken and egg relationship.\u201d\n\nImage Credit: State of Play Games / Noodlecake Studios\n\nThe underlying implication is that women may feel that mobile gaming isn\u2019t welcoming or inclusive. Change the Game is trying to ease player perception with its anthem videos and collections, but it\u2019s also approaching the developer side as well.\n\n\u201cTo support the creation of more inclusive games and storylines, we\u2019ve partnered with Ideas United to launch a development program for emerging game designers,\u201d said Google\u2019s product marketing manager Kate Brennan. \u201cWe asked them to pitch us a mobile game concept that would resonate with underrepresented audiences and we\u2019re spending the next few months bringing those games to life.\u201d\n\nGoogle is also working with Girls Make Games and Made With Code, both organizations that help girls learn programming and game design skills. It\u2019s the last piece to complete its pipeline of getting more girls involved with games, more women to join the industry, and folks to feel more welcome to play.\n\n\u201cFor right now, we\u2019re looking at initially getting people excited about and involved with the process of game-making, that initial first step,\u201d said Brennan. \u201cRetention is definitely something we\u2019re thinking about, but haven\u2019t explicitly looked at right now. I think both of the programs do a good job of showing an entry-level overview of the games industry as a whole. Something we like to highlight is it\u2019s not just coding. It\u2019s also music direction, art design, a whole plethora of jobs within the gaming industry that young girls can get excited about.\u201d\n\nThe Change the Game initiative is still new, so it hasn\u2019t revealed many of its future projects. However, Brennan says that it\u2019s incredibly necessary.\n\n\u201cRight now, knowing that only 27.8 percent of the industry identifies as women or trans or marked \u2018other,\u2019 that\u2019s really important,\u201d said Brennan. \u201cIncreasing that will lead to more inclusive work environments, and also more games that are telling stories that appeal to many different people. Ultimately we do believe that gaming has the ability to move people, to tell fantastic stories, to get people involved, to build empathy.\u201d\n\n\u201cBasically, we found in our research that the great thing about mobile games today is that they\u2019re way more diverse than ever before,\u201d said Solal. \u201cThere are a lot of new people playing. But the industry as a whole \u2013 and we are part of that industry \u2013 still isn\u2019t keeping up with that.\u201d", "output": "Google has launched a diversity initiative designed to create a dialogue about female gamers. The Change the Game programme will use an \u201canthem video\u201d to demonstrate the diversity of women who play games, while Google Play will highlight games featuring female protagonists. The company has also joined with creative agency Ideas United to establish a development programme for new designers to create games designed to appeal to underrepresented groups. Google is also partnering with the Girls Make Games and Made with Code groups, which encourage girls to learn programming and game design.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tradesman visas urged as construction industry faces Brexit hit \n More than one in six people working on housebuilding sites across Britain come from other EU countries, rising to half of site workers in London, according to a new report.\n\nA survey of 37,000 housebuilding workers across Britain shows 17.7% are from the EU. More than half of those come from Romania, with 12% from Poland and almost 10% from Ireland.\n\nIn London, where housing demand is at its most acute, some building skills are dominated by EU workers, with more than 70% of carpenters, 63% of demolition and groundworks workers, 61% of general labourers, 54% of plasterers, painters and decorators, 44% of bricklayers and nearly 40% of roofers hailing from other EU countries.\n\nNationwide, 15% of bricklayers , 25% of general labourers and almost 18% of finishing trades, which include plasterers, painters and decorators, come from the EU.\n\nThe survey by the Home Builders Federation (HBF) on more than 1,000 housebuilding sites, underlines the extent of UK sites\u2019 reliance on overseas workers. The federation said its report was the first extensive survey of the sector and showed that builders would need continued access to skilled EU workers following Brexit to deliver the government\u2019s target of building 300,000 homes a year.\n\nThe federation is lobbying the government for a special permit system (similar to the mooted barista visas) that would allow housebuilders to recruit workers from abroad after 2019 to ramp up construction from the 217,00 homes built last year.\n\nIn the capital, 56% of workers in the housebuilding sector are from outside the UK and 49.5% are EU nationals. Of those, half come from Romania, 8.5% from Bulgaria, and 6.4% from Poland.\n\nThe federation said that although tens of thousands of UK-born workers have been recruited and trained in recent years, training took time and would not be enough to meet demand. It said that with an ageing UK workforce, the reliance on EU nationals was likely to grow. About 70% of overseas workers are in their 20s or 30s compared with just over 50% of their UK colleagues.\n\nFederation spokesman Steve Turner said: \u201cWe needed evidence that demonstrates housebuilding should be treated as a special case; hopefully this quite clearly demonstrates that it is a special case and heavily reliant on EU labour.\u201d\n\nHowever, the survey shows that most EU housebuilding site workers intend to stay in Britain. Fewer than 7% of EU nationals surveyed said they were not intending to stay in the UK industry.\n\nStewart Baseley, the federation\u2019s executive chairman, said: \u201cThe results of this census clearly demonstrate the reliance the industry currently has on non-UK workers. Output is up a massive 74% in recent years but achieving the very challenging targets set by government will require further big increases in workforce capacity.\n\n\u201cWhile the industry is investing heavily in recruiting and training young people leaving our schools, colleges and universities, continued access to overseas workers is absolutely essential.\u201d\n\nMore than 217,000 new homes were built across the UK last year \u2013 15% more than in the previous year but still well short of the government\u2019s target of 300,000 homes a year. In London, 39,600 homes were built, the highest number since the 1930s.\n\nThe new London plan published last week set a target for 65,000 new homes a year although the government has indicated the figure should be 72,000 to meet housing needs.", "output": "The Home Builders Federation has called for a post-Brexit work permit system as it revealed one in six construction workers come from European Union nations. A survey of 37,000 housebuilding workers across the UK showed that 17.7% were from Europe, more than half of which were\u00a0Romanian. In London, EU workers made up more than\u00a070% of carpenters and 61% of general labourers, the study found.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "DHS accuses Chinese drone maker DJI of spying on US \n An unclassified memo from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) alleges that Chinese UAS maker DJI is \u201cproviding U.S. critical infrastructure and law enforcement data to the Chinese government \u2026[and] is selectively targeting government and private owned entities within these sectors to expand its ability to collect and exploit sensitive data.\u201d DHS also alleged that DJI was leveraging its lower manufacturing costs \u201ccombined with illegal dumping tactics\u201d to give it monopoly power in the U.S. \u201cAs a result, U.S. companies have fewer options and are more likely to purchase DJI UAS.\u201d\n\nThe memo was drafted this past summer but widely released only last week. DJI\u2014D\u00e0-Ji\u0101ng Innovations Science and Technology, headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong\u2014is one of the the largest manufacturers of recreational and commercial drones worldwide. Its models include the Phantom and Mavic Pro. It holds an estimated 50 percent share of the overall North American market and nearly 70 percent of the North American market for UASs priced between $1,000 and $4,000. It also has technology partnerships with powerhouses including Sony, owns a majority interest in Swedish camera maker Hasselblad and offers its units for sale in Apple stores. Competitors have alleged that the company engages in dumping and other unfair trade practices.\n\nIn late November, DJI issued a strong statement rebutting the DHS memo. \u201cThe bulletin is based on clearly false and misleading claims from an unidentified source\u201d and shows \u201ca fundamental lack of understanding of DJI, its technology and the drone market.\u201d DJI\u2019s statement also refuted claims of dumping, \u201cDJI does not sell products at a loss or cheaper in the United States than in China.\u201d It also disputed charges that its drones are equipped with facial recognition software or that it widely shared data with the Chinese government.\n\nLimited Data Sharing\n\nTo the extent data is shared with the Chinese government, the company said, it has done so to comply with \u201clocation-specific rules and policies within China\u201d related to registration and no-fly zones. \u201cIn compliance with Chinese regulation, DJI utilizes the user's IP address, GPS location, and MCC (mobile country code) ID to determine if a drone is being operated in China. If so, DJI provides the customer with features necessary to comply with Chinese regulations and policies. Otherwise, DJI provides no information about or data collected by the drone to the Chinese government.\u201d\n\nHowever, the company did say that its advanced new products have \u201cActive Track\u201d algorithms that \u201ccan track the movement of the shape of the face or the shape of the person to facilitate control of the drone or movement of the camera.\u201d It also acknowledged several actual or potential recent security breaches including compromise of its secure web certificate and the DJI website, receiving a report that its Amazon Web Services server repository was accessible by unauthorized parties. In both cases, DJI said, it promptly fixed the problems. The company also noted that it maintains a \u201cBug Bounty Program\u201d that pays security researchers to identify potential vulnerabilities in DJI's technology.\n\nNevertheless, the DHS memo notes that the U.S. Army has stopped using DJI products due to \u201can increased awareness of cyber vulnerabilities associated\u201d with them. Earlier this year the U.S. Navy issued its own memo on \u201coperational risks\u201d associated with operating DJI vehicles.\n\nDespite the U.S. military's misgivings, DJI is establishing a foothold with U.S. law enforcement and contractors and companies with critical security and infrastructure links. DHS pointed out that a DJI Inspire UAS is currently used by the Los Angeles County Sheriff and on site by a contractor currently building DHS's own National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas.\n\nIt also noted that DJI's current U.S. infrastructure customers include American Water, Union Pacific Railroad and American Electric Power. The company is also targeting water utilities in Chicago, Los Angeles, New Jersey, and New York; and railway companies in Omaha, Los Angeles, and Dallas. DHS asserted that DJI's target client list \u201cappears to focus on the account holder's ability to disrupt critical infrastructure. \" The DHS also alleged that the Chinese government could use DJI data to \u201cdisrupt and degrade\u201d the U.S. food supply and to surreptitiously evaluate assets planned for purchase.\n\nThe DHS concluded that data gleaned from DJI systems could be used by the Chinese government to conduct physical or cyber attacks against the U.S. or shared with terrorist organizations or other parties to strike the U.S.", "output": "Chinese drone manufacturer DJI has been accused of spying on the US by the Department of Homeland Security, in a memo released to the public this week. DJI is accused of \u201cproviding critical infrastructure and law enforcement data to the Chinese government\" and \"selectively targeting government and privately-owned entities within these sectors to expand its ability to collect and exploit sensitive data\". DJI\u00a0has a 50% total share of the US drone market, rising to nearly 70%\u00a0for drones priced between $1,000 and $4,000.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lithuania speeds up licensing regime to lure fintechs post-Brexit \n Tech & Science\n\nThe sector was already victim to 10.7 percent of attacks globally in 2022 and it is expected to increase even more in 2023.", "output": "Since the Brexit decision, Lithuania has been positioning itself as a fintech hub by speeding up the processes by which foreign firms can enter the country and receive online payment permits. The Lithuanian central bank has streamlined its licence approval processes so that online payment permits can be secured by prospective foreign fintechs in three months and full banking licences in just six months, making the process several times quicker than in rival nations. Lithuania has reportedly granted 18 operating licences to foreign fintechs in 2017 alone, including one to UK-based Revolut, with an additional 16 under review.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Earny, the\u00a0refunds-focused fintech, secures $9m funding \n EXCLUSIVE \u2013 The payment protection app Earny announced today it has raised $9 million and wants to use the funds to diversify into the travel vertical.\n\nBased in Santa Monica, Calif., Earny automatically monitors for and claims refunds on past purchases through retailer and credit card price protection policies.\n\nWith its new funding, Dori Yona, COO and co-founder of Earny, told Bank Innovation that the company will expand in the travel field. It will start by providing payment protection to hotel bookings early next year and then will gradually diversify in other aspects of the vertical, he said.\n\nThe series A funding was led by Mayfield Fund, an early investor in ride-share app Lyft and social-market platform Poshmark. Other investors include Comcast Ventures and Science Inc. This new round brings the company\u2019s total funds to $11.5 million.\n\n\u201cWe are very excited about Mayfield because they have a huge history and have built massive companies that changed consumer behavior,\u201d Yona said.\n\nThe funds will be also be used to double Earny\u2019s employees to 35 people and to start a major marketing campaign.\n\n\u201cWe want to focus on brand awareness,\u201d he said. \u201cThese funds will also let us make a big marketing push \u2013 TV, print, advertising, and the whole gamut.\u201d\n\nAs a part of the deal, Mayfield managing director, Rishi Garg, will join Earny\u2019s board.\n\nSo far, Earny has partnered with major retailers including Amazon, Best Buy, Bloomingdale\u2019s, Nordstrom, Costco, Kohl\u2019s and Wal-Mart. It also works with the typical 90-day price protection policies for credit cards like Visa, Mastercard, Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, US Bank, Capital One, Barclays and First Premier Bank.\n\nThe app, which is free to download on both Android and Apple, monitors and automatically files for a claim on behalf of its user.\n\nTypically, Earny can secure more than 90% of its claims, he said. Earny shoppers approximately get back 5% of what they spend online on average, Yona said. Some Earny shoppers have gotten back more than $1,600 back in a year, he said.\n\nThe company was launched in 2016 after winning Mastercard\u2019s Masters of Code Hackathon. Last May, it raised $1.2 million in seed funding from investors that include Mastercard, Sweet Capital and Science Inc.\n\nTo learn more about the latest developments in mobile payments, join us on March 5-6, 2018 at the Parc 55 in San Francisco for Bank Innovation 2018. Click here to register.", "output": "Earny, which uses retailer and credit card price protection policies to claim refunds on users' purchases, has raised $9m. Earny said the money\u00a0will be used to diversify into the travel industry, including payment protection for hotel bookings. Early already has partnerships with Amazon, Bloomingdale's and Wal-Mart, among others. The\u00a0COO and co-founder of the Santa Monica-based firm, Dori Yona, said:\u00a0\"We want to focus on brand awareness \u2026\u00a0these funds will let us make a big marketing push into\u00a0TV, print [and]\u00a0advertising.\"\u00a0The series A funding was led by Mayfield Fund and takes Earny's total backing to $11.5m.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FabRx launches Kickstarter campaign for 3D printed medicine \n FabRx FabRx Printlets. 3D printed formulations with different shapes, colours, and flavours.\n\nFabRx, a biotech company looking to transform the manufacture of medicines using 3D printing, is to launch a Kickstarter campaign for its own 3D printing platform.\n\nThe machine will be an adapted version of The Magic Candy Factory's and will enable the preparation of medicines that are ideal for children. With a goal of \u00a350,000, FabRx\u2019s Kickstarter campaign will get underway on Wednesday 6th December.\n\nBased in Kent, with a laboratory in London, FabRx is looking to not only make medicines more appealing for children, but also achieve more precision in the dosage, combine more than one drug per medicine, and prepare medicines on-demand in hospitals and pharmacies. The company will also look to produce several forms of medicine, including tablets, capsules, and chewable formulations, all appropriate for children \u2013 the tablets the printer produces are called Printlets. Printlets can be made to contain a certain does, be easy to swallow, and prepared in the child\u2019s desired flavour, colour and shape. FabRx has also managed to combine up to four drugs in one medicine, each represented by a different coloured layer.\n\nWinner of the TCT Show Start-Up Award 2017, FabRx has been working at the advanced 3D printing laboratory at UCL for more than five years conducting research around 3D printed medicines. It has entered into a partnership with The Magic Candy Factory, to adapt their printer which has already been successful in the 3D printing of sweets. The design will be altered, so as to avoid contamination from the environment, and FabRx will also ensure pharmaceutically approved materials will be supported.\n\nMeanwhile, the software will allow the user to select key dosage form parameters, and can already enable the printing of any shape and flavour. Upgrades will be implemented so the user can accurately prepare the dose prescribed by the doctor. Since the dose of the tablet depends on weight, the software will be designed so it can transform the selected dose to an object in the selected shape with the right weight.\n\nOn the back of this Kickstarter campaign, FabRx plans to start studies with hospital patients in mid-2018, using the standard printer and beta-version of its modified software. The company plans to develop the first prototype of the printer and the modified software after feedback is garnered from the clinicians and patients in summer 2018.", "output": "A UK-based biotech start-up is seeking crowdfunding to support the launch of a new 3D printing platform for children's medicine. FabRx, based in Kent, has been working for five years at the 3D printing laboratory at University College London developing ways of adapting the technology to produce medicines. It has now launched a bid to raise \u00a350,000 on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter to support its plan to adapt an existing 3D printer produced by the Magic Candy Factory, a company that produces bespoke sweets. FabRx aims to make medicines more appealing to children and achieve greater precision in dosages.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese English language tutor ALO7 raises $37.5m in series D \n ALO7 (Formerly known as Saybot), a China-based English language learning product and services provider, receives $37.5 million in Series D financing round.\n\nThe round was led by Legend Capital with participation from GuoHe Capital and UG Investment and C-round investors Qualcomm, New Oriental, and Vickers Venture Partners.\n\nThis financing will be used to hire a large number of highly-skilled technical engineers to accelerate a dual upgrade of the company\u2019s products and services.\n\nLed by CEO Pengkai Pan, EVP Andrew Shewbart, ALO7 provides English language learning product and services which leverages technology that manages online and offline interactions between students, teachers, parents, and school administrators. Using smartphones, tablets, and PCs, users can access AI-driven interactive materials, in-depth reports on student progress, an online learning platform, and adaptive testing based on big data.\n\nThe company provides a primary-school digital courseware and textbook series, Genius English, and recently introduced Wise English, a program for middle schools, at the conference.\n\nALO7 was founded in the United States in 2004 by MIT PhD Pengkai Pan and his mentor, digital-media guru Nicholas Negroponte. In 2010, ALO7 joined the K12 English education market, focused on providing high-quality teaching products and services to schools.\n\nFinSMEs\n\n29/11/2017", "output": "China's ALO7 has raised $37.5m in series D funding for its English language learning products. ALO7, formerly known as Saybot, offers an online learning platform, which includes artificial intelligence-driven interactive materials and adaptive testing based on big data, as well as digital courseware and textbooks for schools. It will use the money to hire a large number of technical engineers to expedite an upgrade of its products and services. The investment was led by Legend Capital, with involvement from Qualcomm.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers at IIT Hyderabad develop way to recycle polystyrene \n In India, researchers at IIT Hyderabad have discovered a way to recycle the common polystyrene foam thermocol using citrus extract from orange peels.\n\nCitrus extract was found to dissolve thermocol\u2014which otherwise takes hundreds of years to biodegrade\u2014almost instantly without added heat. The dissolved polystyrene is then drawn into fibers via wet-solution spinning.\n\nThe project is being led by Professor Chandra Shekhar Sharma from the Department of Chemical Engineering at IIT Hyderabad and has received financial support from the Technology Development Board, Department of Science and Technology.\n\n\u201cUsing the orange peel extract to dissolve polystyrene will not change the chemical composition, and so will not make polystyrene into a biodegradable product. What this process does is to extend the use and life cycle of polystyrene waste material,\u201d says Professor Sharma tells The Hindu.\n\nOnly 12% of polystyrene waste gets recycled currently, and citrus peel waste is plentiful. A pilot-scale machine to demonstrate the process is currently being built.\n\nMore on the story.", "output": "A new process can dissolve the polystyrene foam thermocol almost instantly without the need for heat, say scientists at IIT Hyderabad. Using orange peel extract, the researchers, led by Professor Chandra Shekhar Sharma from the Department of Chemical Engineering, found that the citrus extract could almost instantly dissolve the thermocol, which was then drawn into fibres. Thermocol usually takes centuries to dissolve; however, the scientists said the new method was a way to extend the lifecycle of thermocol rather than to make it biodegradable."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Burger King tests\u00a0ways to hyper-localise outdoor advertising \n Burger King is testing how its outdoor ads can be changed on the go to have the biggest sales impact.\n\nThe fast-food restaurant is wading through analytics for 30 different ads created by 360i and bought by Vizeum that ran on 100 billboards over the course of a week in October. Each billboard was near one of 13 Burger King restaurants across London, and the creative changed dynamically in response to time of day, proximity to a local event and the weather to push people to their nearest Burger King during quieter sales periods such as breakfast, snacking and late night.\n\nUntil recently, outdoor advertising hasn\u2019t been able to quantify the audiences it has delivered. Over the last year, however, outdoor media owners such as JCDecaux, which worked with Burger King on the campaign, have started letting brands plan and buy more contextually to a targeted audience.\n\nBurger King measured pre-, during- and post-campaign foot traffic using beacons installed in its restaurants to isolate the campaign\u2019s impact on each location\u2019s foot traffic. The beacons tracked the number of Wi-Fi engagements with Burger King diners as they entered stores, recording a cumulative number of increased visits tied to devices rather than personal information. For example, a series of ads promoted the restaurant\u2019s breakfast and midmorning products and consequently delivered an increase in visitors to Burger King locations during those periods.\n\nBurger King would not share further details about the test so soon after it had concluded. But Renato Rossi, Burger King\u2019s vp of marketing in the U.K., told attendees at Ad:tech London earlier this month that the initial metrics had proven \u201cstreets can be a lot more connected to our digital environment.\u201d Speaking to Digiday at the event, he admitted the mix of data on foot traffic and sales might not be the clearest attribution model but said it was a start to understanding the path to purchase from its outdoor ads. The business will evolve the model in 2018, he said.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re not going to suddenly stop buying static ads. If we get the current [outdoor advertising] investment we do today and translate 100 percent of it in [digital-enabled outdoor ads], we would lose too much coverage, which we can\u2019t afford,\u201d Rossi added. \u201cThis isn\u2019t yet a full migration from static to digital. Both will coexist for the coming years.\u201d\n\nAt the start of 2017, just 2.5 percent of all digital out-of-home campaigns with JCDecaux ran dynamic ads, but by the end of the year, that percentage will have quadrupled, according to the media owner. In fact, 2017 will be the first year where revenue derived from digital will overtake static, traditional media at JCDecaux.\n\nRossi\u2019s pragmatism aside, the marketer believes outdoor media can prompt direct action from people and become more accountable in the process. He and his team are considering buying impressions for dynamic billboards upfront that they can allocate over the course of the year to specific locations they want to try and increase sales to. Traditionally, a business like Burger King would have campaigns on a certain number of static panels per restaurant live all year, but there would be limited flexibility in how the media buy is matched to the specific needs of that location.\n\nOutdoor media is Burger King\u2019s second-biggest media outlay after TV, yet it\u2019s one of the most restrictive channels, Rossi revealed. He added that having a static message on a billboard that can\u2019t change for two weeks means those ads have reverted to \u201clowest common denominator\u201d product promotions that are \u201cattractive to the majority but not relevant to anyone.\u201d\n\nImage courtesy of Burger King.", "output": "Fast-food chain Burger King is analysing how outdoor ads that change dynamically to achieve the biggest sales impact have affected foot traffic at its London restaurants. Burger King used Wi-Fi engagement data in its stores to track customer numbers at particular times, and found dynamic ads promoting breakfast and midmorning products delivered increased visitor numbers during those periods. Speaking at Ad:tech London, vice-president of marketing Renato Rossi admitted the relationship between\u00a0foot traffic data and restaurant sales\u00a0wasn't yet\u00a0clear, but said Burger King would be developing the test next year.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Time Out develops a conversational app for Google Assistant \n City guide Time Out has developed a conversational app for Google Assistant, used in Android phones, iOS and Google Home devices, through which people can ask up to 100 questions about what to do in their city. People can ask questions like, \u201cWhat\u2019s a good bar to go to tomorrow?\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019s happening in London tonight?\u201d or \u201cWhere\u2019s a good place to go for cocktails with the girls this weekend?\u201d Time Out\u2019s assistant responds with three suggestions chosen by the publisher\u2019s editors.\n\nIn time, Time Out will incorporate e-commerce deals into the assistant. For instance, people could hear three different theater show options, one of which could have a discount available as part of a partnership with the publisher. Time Out\u2019s app for Google Assistant went live last week and is only available in London for now.\n\n\u201cThis is highly applicable to what we already do with local businesses,\u201d said Christine Petersen, CEO of Time Out Digital. \u201cWe already have a pretty broad offering with local shops and restaurants. Audio will play into this; it will be a really important part of the ad toolkit that we offer.\u201d\n\nAware of the limits of a business reliant solely on advertising, Time Out began focusing on growing e-commerce and affiliate relationships in 2016. In the first half of 2017, revenue from e-commerce was up by 51 percent from the same period in 2016, according to the company. ESI Media\u2019s London news brand, London Evening Standard, is another publisher looking to incorporate offers from local business like theater ticket sales into its Amazon Echo Show skill.\n\nAs voice-activated platforms grow, publishers and brands are spending more time thinking about what their brand sounds like. The female British voice of Time Out\u2019s assistant is one of Google\u2019s rather than one the publisher recorded. After each suggestion, the assistant asks, \u201cAre you keen?\u201d a slightly more British way of asking questions, according to the company. The assistant understands and responds to a few other playful questions. For instance, if the user asks, \u201cWhere are you from?\u201d the assistant responds with the opening rap from \u201cThe Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.\u201d\n\nIn early July, Time Out released an Amazon Alexa skill that delivers the top three things to do in a city, chosen by editors, but Time Out wanted to offer a skill that goes beyond the simple call-and-response model commonly found on the Echo and Google Home devices.\n\n\u201cWe wanted this to be a human-focused project. We spent a lot of time in a room watching people ask questions to their phone,\u201d said Sanjay Vakil, Time Out\u2019s director of product development. \u201cThe rallying cry from our team was for it to sound like your best friend in the city who knows what\u2019s going on, rather than a dumb robot.\u201d\n\nVakil said Time Out\u2019s app for Google Assistant took roughly three months of development work from a primary team of three people spending half their workday on the project, as well as input from dozens of editorial staffers to perfect the conversational tone. It was built on Google\u2019s Dialogflow, which uses natural language processing to understand voice input.\n\nWhile developing the assistant, the team worried about people asking it certain types of questions, including questions it would have no way of knowing, like the cost of tea in China. In this situation, the assistant provides a generic response. Another concern was when it doesn\u2019t know the answer to what the user believes is a reasonable question, like, \u201cWhat train will get me to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park?\u201d In this instance, the assistant offers help, like sending directions or a map to the user\u2019s phone. When the assistant doesn\u2019t trust its answer because something has broken technically, it offers a humorous reply, like, \u201cSorry, I don\u2019t have any ideas for that. I\u2019m still new at this whole assistant thing. What else do you want to do?\u201d\n\nAccording to Vakil, the data Time Out gets from Google is limited to reams of text and anonymized information about the questions asked. But in time, Time Out will be able to infer information on what people are interested in knowing and when. For instance, the assistant could offer the top three local kebab shops late on a Saturday night.\n\n\u201cVoice is a channel that will grow, and we want to grow with it,\u201d said Vakil. \u201cWe felt we were on the cutting edge because we weren\u2019t asking questions like, \u2018When is my flight due?\u2019\u201d", "output": "City guide Time Out has developed a conversational assistant app for Google Assistant, which can be used on Android phones, iOS and Google Home devices. The app is built on Google's Dialogflow and enables users to find out what's happening in their city by asking questions such as, \u201cwhat\u2019s happening in London tonight?\u201d. Time Out's assistant will also incorporate e-commerce deals with selected partners when it makes recommendations. Product development director Sanjay Vakil spoke of how Time Out\u00a0wanted the assistant to \"sound like your best friend in the city who knows what\u2019s going on\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dutch designers 'bake' plastic from algae for 3D printers \n Dutch designers Eric Klarenbeek and Maartje Dros have developed a bioplastic made from algae, which they believe could completely replace fossil-derived plastics over time.\n\nWorking at Atelier Luma in France, Klarenbeek and Dros have cultivated aquatic algae, which they then dry and process into a material that can be used to 3D print objects.\n\nThe designers believe that the algae polymer could be used to make everything from shampoo bottles to tableware or rubbish bins, eventually entirely replacing plastics made from fossil fuels like oil.\n\nThey are among a host of designers using algae to create products that are more environmentally friendly than their synthetic counterparts, from fabric dyes and water bottles to chairs and even entire building facades.\n\nAs well as algae, Klarenbeek and Dros have created biopolymers from other organic raw materials such as mycelium, potato starch and cocoa bean shells, which they use to 3D print objects.\n\nThe studio's ultimate goal is to establish a local network of biopolymer 3D printers, called the 3D Bakery.\n\n\"Our idea is that in the future there will be a shop on every street corner where you can 'bake' organic raw materials, just like fresh bread,\" said Klarenbeek.\n\n\"You won't have to go to remote industrial estates to buy furniture and products from multinational chains. 3D printing will be the new craft and decentralised economy.\"\n\nBoth Design Academy Eindhoven graduates, Klarenbeek and Dros' research follows on from Klarenbeek's work with mycelium, which began six years ago and led to him developing the world's first 3D-printed chair using living fungus.\n\nSince then, together with American company Ecovative, the studio has developed a commercial line of mycelium products called Krown. The DIY kits allow consumers to grow their own lamps, tables or biodegradable picnic items.\n\nThe designers believe their project offers a solution to the vast consumption of non-renewable fossil fuels, which emit carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere when burnt to create materials like plastic. Scientists attribute rising CO2 levels to global warming.\n\n\"All around the world in recent decades, enormous amounts of fossil fuels \u2013 materials that lay buried in the ground for millions of years \u2013 have been extracted,\" said the designers.\n\n\"In this relatively brief period, a vast amount of carbon dioxide has been released into the atmosphere, with damaging consequences. It is therefore important that we clean the CO2 from the atmosphere as quickly as possible and this can be done by binding the carbon to biomass.\"\n\nAs a type of plant, algae absorbs carbon dioxide during the process known as photosynthesis, which it uses to create energy. Therefore, the designers are advocating the growth of algae to be used as a production material to help reduce global CO2 levels and prevent climate change.\n\n\"Everything that surrounds us \u2013 our products, houses and cars \u2013 can be a form of CO2 binding,\" they said. \"If we think in these terms, makers can bring about a revolution. It's about thinking beyond the carbon footprint: instead of zero emissions we need 'negative' emissions.\"\n\nAfter three years of research into algae with Wageningen University, Salga Seaweeds, Avans Biobased Lab in Breda and other institutions, Klarenbeek and Dros were invited to establish an open research and algae production lab at Atelier Luma in Arles.\n\n\"Algae is equally interesting for making biomass because it can quickly filter CO2 from the sea and the atmosphere,\" said the duo.\n\n\"The algae grow by absorbing the carbon and producing a starch that can be used as a raw material for bioplastics or binding agents. The waste product is oxygen, clean air.\"\n\nSince February 2017, the pair has been splitting their time between their home and studio in a former paint factory on the River Zaan in Zaandam, the Netherlands, and the AlgaeLab at Atelier Luma in Arles, France.\n\nIn the lab, the duo cultivate the living algae, which they then dry and process into a material that can be used to 3D print objects.\n\nThe designers believe that the local algae polymer could be used to make everything from shampoo bottles to tableware or rubbish bins, eventually replacing fossil oil-based plastics entirely.\n\n\"Our ambition is to provide all restaurants and catered events in the city with tableware from the AlgaeLab,\" they said.\n\n\"We are currently using our 3D printers to produce the same design in Arles and in Zaandam, one from French algae and the other from Dutch seaweed.\"\n\n\"Both have exactly the same form, but they are made from local materials,\" the studio continued. \"This is the change we believe in; designing products that are distributed via the internet but made locally.\"\n\n\"We don't want to grow into a large centralised organisation,\" added Klarenbeek, who believes that the 3D Bakery could be a reality within 10 years. \"We want to change the system so that people grow raw materials locally that they can use to produce things that comply with their needs.\"\n\nThe duo's research is currently on show at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam as part of an exhibition called Change the System, curated by Annemartine van Kesteren.\n\nFor the duration of the exhibition, which runs until 14 January 2018, Klarenbeek and Dros are working on a new algae glass made from algae grown in the museums' pond. When enough algae is produced, it will be \"harvested\" and dried into a 3D printable material, which will then be used to produce a replica of a glass object from the museum's collection.\n\nVan Kesteren presented this project as part of Dezeen's Good Design For A Bad World talks series at Dutch Design Week, which aimed to question whether designers can offer solutions to global issues.\n\nThe curator sees Klarenbeek and Dros' work as an important example of how a small project could be scaled up, to make a real difference to the world.\n\n\"According to Eric, if we dream big we need to find the solutions on a microscale,\" said Van Kesteren. \"Algae are a miracle in his approach.\"\n\nPhotography is by Antoine Raab unless stated otherwise.", "output": "Plastic made from plant material for use in 3D printers could replace oil-based materials, say Dutch designers Eric Klarenbeek and Maartje Dros. They created biopolymers using organic raw materials such as algae, fungi and potato starch. The pair want to see local biopolymer 3D print stores, or \"3D bakeries\",\u00a0creating everything from furniture to water bottles."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NASA expects commercial space flights to meet safety standards \n WASHINGTON \u2014 As the two companies developing commercial crew vehicles prepare for test flights in the next 12 months, a NASA official said the agency expects those companies to be able to meet, or come close to, stringent safety requirements for those spacecraft.\n\nAt a Nov. 29 meeting of the NASA Advisory Council\u2019s human exploration and operations committee, Lisa Colloredo, deputy program manager for NASA\u2019s commercial crew program, said Boeing and SpaceX were making good progress towards achieving a \u201closs of crew\u201d, or LOC, requirement established by NASA at the beginning of the program.\n\nThe LOC requirement states that the odds of an accident killing or causing serious injury to a crewmember be no more than 1 in 270 flights for a 210-day mission at the International Space Station. That covers all aspects of the mission, including launch and reentry.\n\n\u201cWe have a very difficult LOC requirement to meet, and we knew that when we going in,\u201d Colloredo said. The 1-in-270 LOC requirement for commercial crew is more stringent than the 1-in-90 value at the end of the shuttle program. \u201cI would say that we\u2019ve made a lot of progress, and the providers have both done a lot of redesign work to improve their LOC numbers.\u201d\n\nThose changes, she said, include \u201cmore robustness\u201d to the thermal protection systems on the spacecraft and additional parachute testing. \u201cIt\u2019s served its purpose of getting the right look at the top drivers for LOC,\u201d she said, including making design changes to improve those values.\n\nColloredo said she expected that both companies would meet the 1-in-270 LOC requirement, or come close enough that NASA would be willing to accept the vehicles as safe enough for its astronauts. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty likely in the end that SpaceX and Boeing will come in with their evidence that they meet the requirement or close to it,\u201d she said. Ultimately, she said, it will require NASA due diligence to either confirm they meet the requirement or be willing to accept a variance from the requirement in a specific area.\n\nAnother NASA committee has also monitored the ability of Boeing and SpaceX to meet the LOC requirement. At the October meeting of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), committee members discussed the progress both companies were making on addressing key risk issues for their systems.\n\n\u201cThe ASAP believes that NASA is judiciously continuing to address the risk drivers with the providers for the most serious scenarios through continued analysis, modeling, testing, and design development. It remains challenging,\u201d the panel noted in the minutes from that meeting. \u201cNevertheless, the focus on worst case scenarios has driven positive design decisions for both providers, as well as other aspects such as increases in systems testing for some of the systems that carry notable risks.\u201d\n\nThe biggest challenge, ASAP reported, was meeting micrometeoroid and orbital debris protection requirements. NASA was working to improve the modeling of the risks posed to those spacecraft from micrometeoroids and orbital debris through experiments mounted on the station as well as on Dragon cargo spacecraft.\n\nAt the NASA Advisory Council committee meeting, Colloredo said the LOC requirement was the biggest programmatic issue facing the overall program, but not the only one. She said NASA was assessing if it had included all the costs of various government-provided services for commercial crew missions. It was also working to ensure that search and rescue training for Air Force personnel supporting commercial crew launches would be ready in time for the first missions.\n\nBoth companies are working to schedules that call for both uncrewed and crewed test flights in 2018, although later in the year than previously planned. SpaceX is planning an uncrewed test of its Crew Dragon in April, previously scheduled for February. The crewed test flight is now planned for August, instead of June. Between the two flights will be an in-flight abort test.\n\nBoeing\u2019s uncrewed test flight of its CST-100 Starliner is now scheduled for August, two months later than previously planned. The crewed test flight has shifted from August to November, although the company said earlier this fall that the crewed test flight might slip into early 2019.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re making a lot of progress with the providers,\u201d Colloredo said. \u201cWe\u2019re getting prepared for flight and we acknowledge that we have a lot of work ahead of us.\u201d", "output": "NASA has set stringent safety standards for the companies currently developing spacecrafts under its commercial crew vehicle programme. Boeing and SpaceX are both planning crewed and uncrewed test flights during 2018 as they work towards delivering operational vehicles for future NASA missions. The US space agency is requiring them to meet a 'loss of crew' standard based on the odds of an accident resulting in death or serious injury to the crew being no more than one in 270 flights for a 210-day mission. The standard is seen as challenging and requires additional progress before it is met.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mondelez to review media assignment after $200m spend \n by Richard Whitman , Columnist, December 5, 2017\n\nFood and snack giant Mondelez International is conducting a review of its North American media agency assignment, the company has confirmed.\n\nThe company spent more than $200 million on measured media in the U.S. last year, according to Kantar Media.\n\nCarat, part of Dentsu Aegis Network, has been the media agency incumbent for the company\u2019s North America region since 2015, when Mondelez conducted a global review.\n\nThe firm then split the account between Carat and Publicis Groupe\u2019s SMG. In addition to adding North America duties, Carat retained its Europe and Asia-Pacific assignments.\n\nA Mondelez spokesperson confirmed \u201cwe are doing a review of our NA media roster, and Carat has been invited to participate in that process.\u201d\n\nThe spokesperson emphasized the review is focused on North America media and noted \u201cCarat continues to be a valued media partner to Mondelez International, supporting our business across a number of geographies around the world.\u201d\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nThe firm had said earlier that it intends to cut some $3 billion in costs out of its budget by 2018.\n\nI wonder how that will impact fees for whichever agency wins the review? Think maybe Mondelez will be paying a little less for NA media agency services going forward? Thaat would be my guess. Still, it's a huge account with iconic brands like Oreo, Cadbury and Ritz and most agencies would jump at the opportunity to handle it.", "output": "Food company Mondelez International, which spent $200m on measured media in the US last year, is reviewing its North American agency roster. The move follows reports the firm plans to make savings of $3bn in 2018. Mondelez's media portfolio -- which includes brands Cadbury, Ritz and Oreo -- is split between Carat, which handles Europe and Asia-Pacific, and Publicis Groupe's SMG.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook suffers malware attacks as advertisers turn to Amazon \n Here\u2019s today\u2019s AdExchanger.com news round-up\u2026 Want it by email? Sign up here.\n\nMalware Blues\n\nProPublica found dozens of politically charged ads on Facebook that inject malware into consumers\u2019 computers. The ads come with provocative headlines about hot-button political issues and targeted Facebook users likely to click based on political ideologies. Some ads caused computers to freeze with a warning and a phone number users could call to get it fixed for a price. Other ads linked to spoofed domains peddling free products that rope consumers into automatic credit card charges. All the ads, which have been removed from the platform, violated Facebook\u2019s guidelines for advertising, clickbait, fraud and spam. \u201cThere is no tolerable amount of malware on the site,\u201d Facebook ads VP Rob Goldman tells ProPublica. \u201cThe tolerance is zero, but unfortunately that\u2019s not the same as zero occurrence.\u201d More.\n\nEnter The Triopoly\n\nGoogle and Facebook, watch out: Holding companies are gearing up to spend big on Amazon in 2018. Publicis and Omnicom will increase their ad spend with the ecommerce giant to upward of $800 million next year, while WPP will direct $200 million of client spend to the platform, reports WSJ\u2019s Alex Bruell. \u201cWe are absolutely leaning into Amazon as an ad partner and think there are big advantages to our clients,\u201d said Kelly Clark, CEO of WPP\u2019s GroupM. More. Agencies see Amazon\u2019s huge audience and rich intent data as an opportunity to reach consumers with better-targeted ads. And there\u2019s a fringe benefit in that Amazon\u2019s rise may help check Facebook\u2019s and Google\u2019s power.\n\nDish CEO Charlie Ergen has stepped down from his role to focus on the company\u2019s wireless business, Variety reports. President and COO Eric Carlson will take his place. Dish\u2019s ambitions in wireless are big: The company has paid more than $11 billion to acquire wireless licenses and assets and invested an additional $10 billion worth of minority stakes in wireless companies. Ergen\u2019s shift comes among a major shake-up of Dish\u2019s senior management team, including former EVP of marketing, programmatic and media sales Warren Schlichting moving over to head Sling TV, Dish\u2019s OTT network. More.\n\nBut Wait, There\u2019s More!\n\nYou\u2019re Hired!", "output": "Dozens of politically charged ads containing malware have been found on Facebook by news organisation ProPublica, despite Facebook's attempts to prevent them. Once clicked, the malware infects\u00a0users' computers and attempts to extract money through extortion or by selling false products. Meanwhile, Amazon's rich customer intent data and gigantic audience is helping the brand to be perceived as a strong contender\u00a0to both Facebook and Google\u00a0as an ad partner. Advertising giants Publicis and Omnicom are set to increase their Amazon ad spend by $800m in 2018, while WPP is pushing $200m of client spending towards Amazon next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tri Delta Transit switches to Neste MY Renewable Diesel \n Tri Delta transit to use Neste biodiesel\n\nTri Delta Transit, an Eastern Contra Costa County Transit Authority in California, has switched their entire fleet of transit buses from operating on petroleum diesel to using only Neste MY Renewable Diesel.\n\nNeste MY Renewable Diesel is a low-carbon fuel, produced from 100% renewable and sustainable raw materials. This innovative fuel cuts greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80% and significantly reduces tailpipe emissions, all while enhancing fleet performance. Neste MY Renewable Diesel is a drop-in alternative to petroleum diesel and is distributed via the same fuel infrastructure.\n\nTri Delta Transit provides more than 3,000,000 trips each year to a population of more than 250,000 residents in the 225 square mi of Eastern Contra Costa County.\n\nThey operate 14 local bus routes Monday\u2013Friday, four local bus routes on weekends, door-to-door bus service for senior citizens and people with disabilities, and shuttle services to community events.\n\nRelated News\n\nFrom the Archive", "output": "Tri Delta Transit, a County Transit Authority in California has retrofitted its entire fleet of buses to run exclusively on Neste MY Renewable Diesel. Produced from 100% renewable and sustainable raw materials, the renewable diesel cuts emissions by 80%."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ISS study to examine whether space is a cultural wasteland \n In space, no one can hear you scream \u2014 unless you're cheering for your favourite hockey team.\n\nLife on the International Space Station (ISS) bears a lot of similarities to life on Earth. There's Wi-Fi, cable, and even Halloween costume parties. It's all meant to help astronauts feel at home while they're floating 400 kilometres above sea level.\n\nBut for the first time, Canadian researchers are examining how rocket men and women adapt to life in the cosmos during long-term space missions \u2014 and it could have wider implications for space travel beyond the moon.\n\n\"We're looking at how astronauts from a variety of cultures and nationalities live together on the space station and possibly create a shared culture,\" said Dr. Phyllis Johnson, a UBC-based researcher and principal investigator of the study.\n\n\"A space culture might develop.\"\n\nWelcome to the spookiest space station. Spiderman has no problem scaling the walls in space. Happy Halloween <a href=\"https://t.co/V7JXKsbjxl\">pic.twitter.com/V7JXKsbjxl</a> \u2014@Space_Station\n\nAt Home in Space\n\nThe project is called At Home in Space, and it's billed as the first ever psychosocial study of astronauts on the International Space Station.\n\nResearchers aim to figure out how astronauts make themselves feel at home while aboard the space station, and uncover the cultural norms that emerge within the confines of an isolated spacecraft.\n\n\"We're also interested in seeing how living in space has changed their particular lives,\" said Johnson.\n\nAstronauts complete a series of questionnaires before, during and after their months-long stay in the great beyond, and are also encouraged to take photos that accurately depict 'life in space'.\n\n.<a href=\"https://twitter.com/astro_paolo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Astro_Paolo</a> \u2018s \u201cSpidey-sense\u201d is definitely tingling as he perches on the ceiling of the <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Space_Station?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Space_Station</a> Russian segment Service Module. <a href=\"https://t.co/SGm5iDyfvS\">pic.twitter.com/SGm5iDyfvS</a> \u2014@AstroKomrade\n\nSpace culture\n\nJohnson expects that a unique 'space culture' might exist on the space station \u2014 a way of life that many astronauts come to identify with during their time in orbit.\n\n\"Maybe there are things like space traditions that are important to them,\" said Johnson.\n\nJohnson points to Yuri Gagarin Day, an annual celebration held on the ISS every April 12 that honours the first manned trip to outer space, as a notable cultural event that's unique to astronauts.\n\nSoviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man to travel into space, hits the headline of the US paper \"The Huntsville Times\" on April 12, 1961 after oribiting Earth aboard the Vostok I spaceship. AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read /AFP/Getty Images) (AFP/Getty)\n\n\"They could have space traditions that they celebrate. Do they mount mission patches? Change of command ceremonies? Those would be certain kinds of things that would relate to space \u2014 but we don't know how important they are to them.\"\n\nLong-term implications\n\nJohnson says understanding how astronauts adjust to the new living environment could be the key to planning for longer-term manned missions like the seemingly inevitable voyage to Mars.\n\n\"How are they adjusting to this new environment? How do people cope with potential isolation? How do they make it interesting in their lives? How do they keep carrying out their work, and enjoying their work?\"\n\nNASA currently plans on sending humans to Mars in the 2030s. The journey would take years for travellers, with very limited contact to the outside world.\n\nJohnson hopes the results of her study could enhance travel conditions for those voyagers.\n\n\"If you're going to to go somewhere and be somewhere for a long period of time, and not have as much contact with your normal experiences on Earth, then we need to know how people do it, and what makes it a good experience for them.\"\n\nResearchers hope to complete the study by 2020.", "output": "Canadian scientists are researching the way astronauts interact with each other on the international space station (ISS) to see if a shared \"space culture\"\u00a0is emerging. The study is being led by Dr Phyllis Johnson of the University of British Columbia, and is the first psychosocial study of the subject. Participating astronauts give their views before, during and after their missions, during which they are also encouraged to take photographs to illustrate their daily lives. The research could help understand the challenges that will face space travellers on future long missions away from Earth.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ads.txt seen defeating domain fraud\u00a0but exposing\u00a0new problems \n \u201c The Sell Sider\u201d is a column written for the sell side of the digital media community.\n\nToday\u2019s column is written by Ian Hewetson, vice president of client services at Eyereturn Marketing.\n\nForget this summer\u2019s solar eclipse. We\u2019re witnessing something far more unusual right now: the universal endorsement of a single system in the ad tech world, the adoption of Ads.txt.\n\nAds.txt truly is an elegantly simple, universally accessible solution to a problem that\u2019s bedeviled the industry for far too long. But in the rollout excitement, a few subtle issues are emerging that may have outsize effects on buyers and sellers without the right level of oversight.\n\nAds.txt solves a single problem: domain spoofing. This is where someone creates a fraudulent site and passes the false domain to the supply-side platform (SSP), which sends the false domain to a demand-side platform (DSP), which bids on it.\n\nAdvertisers suffer because they\u2019re not buying New York Times inventory. The New York Times suffers because the fake NYT inventory undercuts its pricing. And the reputation of ad tech suffers for allowing this to continue.\n\nOn the surface, Ads.txt is very simple. Publishers place a text file on their site, which only they can do. The text file states which sellers represent that site. DSPs create databases matching buyers and sellers. When a DSP sees an impression being offered by a seller not listed on the site\u2019s Ads.txt file, it can reject that bid. If DSPs only buy Ads.txt inventory, they\u2019re inoculating themselves against buying spoofed domains.\n\nThough this is simple, the devil can be in the details. In the course of an Ads.txt rollout, it became clear that a lack of communication between publishers and SSPs could break the system. Critically, the only party that can really identify these breakdowns is the DSP.\n\nFor example, we saw one instance where a publisher had implemented its Ads.txt file for two major sellers. It contacted both sellers to ensure that it was done correctly so that its inventory would be surfaced by those sellers as Ads.txt-verified. Both sellers confirmed that all was good, which the publisher took at face value.\n\nExcept all was not good. In both cases, the publisher\u2019s inventory was not being seen by buyers as Ads.txt-compliant.\n\nFor the first seller, the Ads.txt protocol was outside the general standard. This seller uses multiple legitimate paths to sale, and the Ads.txt setup is rather convoluted, requiring distinct domains for different types of inventory. Strike 1: The publisher failed to interpret the specs correctly and implemented Ads.txt incorrectly. Strike 2: The seller looked at the implementation and declared it to be valid when it was not.\n\nIn the case of the second seller, the Ads.txt setup was very straightforward, and the publisher implemented it correctly. But it appears the seller was not passing the publisher ID on the bid request, resulting in a mismatch, which stops any bidding on this inventory. In this case too, the publisher reached out to the seller, but the last I heard, the issue was still unresolved.\n\nBoth issues only came to light during Ads.txt testing of my company\u2019s DSP when we checked Ads.txt compliance on our top 1,000 domains. Having a relationship with this publisher and not seeing its inventory as approved, we contacted it and helped with the investigation.\n\nWhen we first raised the flag, the publisher initially assured us that its implementation was golden because both of its sellers had verified that it was. It took some actual investigation and collaboration to figure out the issue.\n\nWhat we\u2019ve taken away from the experience is that Ads.txt is a great solution to the problem of spoofed domains. What we\u2019ve also discovered is that it\u2019s subject to a wide variety of missteps on the implementation side, and these missteps can slip through multiple hands unless verification is done on the demand side.\n\nIf you\u2019re a publisher reading this and you\u2019ve noticed any decline in demand since implementing Ads.txt, you should check with your DSP to make sure your implementation is correct. And if you\u2019re on the demand side and not seeing specific inventory sources, give those publishers a call.\n\nWe\u2019re all in this together, and while it\u2019s a programmatic world, sometimes it takes some real-world collaboration to get the job done right.\n\nFollow Eyereturn (@EyereturnMktg) and AdExchanger (@adexchanger) on Twitter.", "output": "The near-universal adoption of the Interactive Advertising Bureau's Ads.txt may have tackled the issue of domain spoofing, but other problems have emerged, Ian Hewetson, VP of client services at Eyereturn Marketing wrote. Hewetson pointed to examples of mishandled implementation and ID errors that had exposed a host of new issues.\u00a0Demand-side verification and good-old-fashioned communication had been\u00a0required in the cases\u00a0to avoid similar problems, he said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google moon-shot\u00a0competitors\u00a0seek\u00a0funding to stay in contention \n WASHINGTON \u2014 With less than four months remaining in the competition, two of the remaining teams in the Google Lunar X Prize are seeking to raise tens of millions of dollars to complete their spacecraft.\n\nIn a Nov. 29 statement, Israeli team SpaceIL said it needed to raise $20 million by the end of the year, from both the public as well as the Israeli government, or else it would be forced to cancel the entire mission.\n\n\u201cWe are at a critical turning point in the project\u2019s life cycle. Within approximately two weeks we will complete the construction of the spacecraft and will be able to proceed to the testing phase,\u201d Eran Privman, chief executive of SpaceIL, said in a statement. \u201cRegretfully, if we fail to raise $20 million immediately, we will be unable to continue, and seven years of pioneering Israeli development and much hard work will be wasted.\u201d\n\nThe total SpaceIL needs to raise is $30 million, Privman said in the statement. Morris Kahn, a former chairman of the board of SpaceIL who has previously contributed $18 million to the project, said he will provide $10 million if the team can raise the other $20 million.\n\nSpaceIL, a non-profit organization, has relied on a philanthropic model to fund its entry into the competition. SpaceIL has raised $55 million to date, including contributions by Kahn as well as the Miriam and Sheldon Adelson Foundation. The organization has sought to develop a lunar lander as part of an educational outreach effort to encourage the country\u2019s students to pursue careers in science and engineering.\n\nThe lander is being built and tested by Israel Aerospace Industries. SpaceIL has a launch contract through Spaceflight Industries to fly the lander on a SpaceX Falcon 9 mission, which SpaceIL said in its statement \u201cis expected in the coming year.\u201d\n\nHowever, SpaceIL and the four other finalists in the Google Lunar X Prize competition have only a few months left to send their spacecraft to the moon in order to win the $20 million grand prize. The competition has set a deadline of March 31, 2018, for teams to complete their missions, which includes landing on the moon, traveling at least 500 meters across its surface, and returning high-resolution video and other data.\n\nSpaceIL is not the only team making a last-ditch fundraising effort. An Indian team, Team Indus, is reportedly seeking to raise $35 million \u2014 half the mission\u2019s total cost \u2014 to cover its final development and launch costs. A team official told the Indian newspaper The Hindu Dec. 4 that it would start a crowdfunding effort \u201cin the next couple of weeks,\u201d along with sponsorship and other efforts, to raise that funding.\n\nTeam Indus plans to launch its lander, which will carry a rover for another team, Japan\u2019s Team Hakuto, on an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. That rocket\u2019s return to flight from an August launch failure has been delayed until early January, and the team has not specified where in the queue of missions they are after that launch. Complicating matters are plans by India\u2019s space agency, ISRO, to launch its own lunar orbiter and lander mission, Chandrayaan-2, in March 2018 on a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle.\n\nTeam Hakuto, run by Japanese space resources company ispace, has completed its rover and does not require additional funding. Moon Express, a U.S. company that is also a finalist, said earlier this year a $20 million funding round gave the company enough money to complete and launch its entry in the competition. Moon Express has not announced a launch date for that lander, which will fly on Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron rocket. That rocket will make a second test flight as soon as Dec. 7 from the company\u2019s New Zealand launch site, and if successful will be ready to enter commercial service.\n\nMoon Express, which plans a series of commercial lunar landers in the next several years, has more recently downplayed the importance of winning the prize. The company states on its website that on its first mission \u201cwe will attempt to win the $20M Google Lunar XPRIZE, if available,\u201d but only after completing operations for paying customers on that mission.\n\nThe fifth finalist in the competition, Synergy Moon, has released few details about the status of its funding efforts, development of its lander or the untried launch vehicle it intends to use to launch the mission.", "output": "Two teams competing in the Google Lunar X Prize moon-shot challenge face the prospect of pulling the plug on their projects due to a lack of funding. Israeli non-profit SpaceIL, which is developing a lunar lander, has already raised $55m but needs $30m more to complete the project.\u00a0Indian outfit Team Indus, whose lander supports a Japanese entrant's rover, is said to require $35m, half its mission's total costs, and plans to start crowdfunding in the coming weeks.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ad industry groups passing buck on data protection responsibility \n When it comes to the General Data Protection Regulation, it\u2019s a dog-eat-dog world.\n\nFor many in digital media, that will mean a giant game of hot potato, as clients want agencies to assume risks, while agencies insist publishers assume them, and publishers then do the same to tech vendors. It\u2019s hard to blame everyone from running away from responsibility: Maximum fines of \u20ac20 million ($24 million) or 4 percent of annual revenue are at stake.\n\nIn an effort to dodge the GDPR-fine hot potato, agency groups are tweaking contracts to ensure any risk gets passed back down the supply chain to the data source, putting ad tech vendors and publishers closer to the line of fire. Publishers themselves aren\u2019t standing still either, calling their biggest ad tech suppliers and demanding they agree to compensate them if the publisher is fined for something that happens on the ad tech vendor\u2019s watch.\n\nUnder the GDPR, businesses that are defined as \u201cdata controllers\u201d are most liable for fines, as they are the source of the consumer data. That means publishers in particular are in the line of fire, as are advertisers that operate websites with first-party customer data. Ad tech vendors can be a mix of data controllers and data processors, but either way, they\u2019ll also be expected to gain consumer consent for using both publishers\u2019 and advertisers\u2019 data.\n\nPublishers on either side of the Atlantic are renegotiating contracts with ad tech vendors that guarantee the publisher will get compensation should it be fined for something the vendor has caused, while also demanding the vendor prove they\u2019re GDPR-ready. They\u2019d be crazy not to. \u201cAd tech vendors can\u2019t hide in the herd anymore but must get their houses in GDPR order fast,\u201d said Todd Ruback, chief privacy officer and vp of legal affairs at marketing analytics company Evidon.\n\nBut the buck doesn\u2019t stop there. The biggest ad tech vendors are in turn pushing their own GDPR-specific contracts further downstream to their own subcontractors. \u201cIndemnification and liability is becoming the hot potato, getting passed from company to company,\u201d Ruback said. \u201cIt\u2019s getting very complex.\u201d Smaller ad tech vendors won\u2019t necessarily have the funds to cope with paying compensation to publishers should they be found in breach, which will lead to consolidation in the ad tech market, he added.\n\nMeanwhile, agency groups are also trying to cover their backs, updating contracts to push the liability back to the data source, which ultimately is the publisher. Sequential liability has long been a standard part of agency-client contracts. It\u2019s there as a backstop for agencies, so if a client fails to pay up, the agency can then refuse to pay the media owner that supplied the inventory. It\u2019s only recently that they\u2019ve started writing in GDPR sequential liability \u2014 an approach that\u2019s angered some in the market, who believe agencies should take more responsibility for isolating how and where data is shared in their own supply chain in preparation for the GDPR, not just push back on the publishers. Others believe agencies will try to bury the new terms in 2018 trading deals with publishers.\n\n\u201cThis is just another example of the buy side raping and pillaging the sell side,\u201d said an ad tech exec who spoke on condition of anonymity. \u201cThe smart publishers will be savvy to it, but most will be resigned to it because agencies have the buying power, and publishers need the money.\u201d\n\nWhile agencies with the most leverage and buying power can more easily dictate GDPR contractual terms with publishers, publishers with the most clout will be able to make indemnification demands of vendors, and the biggest vendors will be able to do the same with smaller vendors. When it comes to GDPR readiness, size will likely matter a lot.\n\nBut the skirting of liability from either end of the supply chain can\u2019t last. \u201cThere is a collision happening. But the market will eventually right itself,\u201d Ruback said. \u201cIf agencies want to do business with publishers and publishers want to do business with agencies, they\u2019ll have to come to some kind of middle ground about liability.\u201d", "output": "Smaller companies within the advertising industry face collapse as ad agencies, publishers and tech vendors try to pass the buck on compliance\u00a0with forthcoming data-protection laws. Anonymous insiders have warned the bigger firms with more clout will be able to impose their indemnification demands, but smaller outlets may struggle if they're slapped with stiff fines under the\u00a0General Data Protection Regulation. That could lead to\u00a0consolidation within the industry.\u00a0Todd Ruback, chief privacy officer at Evidon, said: \"Indemnification and liability is becoming the hot potato, getting passed from company to company.\""}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Super-telescope ESPRESSO begins search for new stellar bodies \n eso1739 \u2014 Organisation Release\n\nFirst Light for ESPRESSO \u2014 the Next Generation Planet Hunter\n\nThe Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanet and Stable Spectroscopic Observations (ESPRESSO) has successfully made its first observations. Installed on ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, ESPRESSO will search for exoplanets with unprecedented precision by looking at the minuscule changes in the light of their host stars. For the first time ever, an instrument will be able to sum up the light from all four VLT telescopes and achieve the light collecting power of a 16-metre telescope.\n\nESPRESSO has achieved first light on ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory in northern Chile [1]. This new, third-generation echelle spectrograph is the successor to ESO\u2019s hugely successful HARPS instrument at the La Silla Observatory. HARPS can attain a precision of around one metre per second in velocity measurements, whereas ESPRESSO aims to achieve a precision of just a few centimetres per second, due to advances in technology and its placement on a much bigger telescope.\n\nThe lead scientist for ESPRESSO, Francesco Pepe from the University of Geneva in Switzerland, explains its significance: \u201cThis success is the result of the work of many people over 10 years. ESPRESSO isn\u2019t just the evolution of our previous instruments like HARPS, but it will be transformational, with its higher resolution and higher precision. And unlike earlier instruments it can exploit the VLT\u2019s full collecting power \u2014 it can be used with all four of the VLT Unit Telescopes at the same time to simulate a 16-metre telescope. ESPRESSO will be unsurpassed for at least a decade \u2014 now I am just impatient to find our first rocky planet!\u201d\n\nESPRESSO can detect tiny changes in the spectra of stars as a planet orbits. This radial velocity method works because a planet\u2019s gravitational pull influences its host star, causing it to \u201cwobble\u201d slightly. The less massive the planet, the smaller the wobble, and so for rocky and possibly life-bearing exoplanets to be detected, an instrument with very high precision is required. With this method, ESPRESSO will be able to detect some of the lightest planets ever found [2].\n\nThe test observations included observations of stars and known planetary systems. Comparisons with existing HARPS data showed that ESPRESSO can obtain similar quality data with dramatically less exposure time.\n\nInstrument scientist Gaspare Lo Curto (ESO) is delighted: \u201cBringing ESPRESSO this far has been a great accomplishment, with contributions from an international consortium as well as many different groups within ESO: engineers, astronomers and administration. They had to not just install the spectrograph itself, but also the very complex optics that bring the light together from the four VLT Unit Telescopes.\u201d\n\nAlthough the main goal of ESPRESSO is to push planet hunting to the next level, finding and characterising less massive planets and their atmospheres, it also has many other applications. ESPRESSO will also be the world\u2019s most powerful tool to test whether the physical constants of nature have changed since the Universe was young. Such tiny changes are predicted by some theories of fundamental physics, but have never been convincingly observed.\n\nWhen ESO\u2019s Extremely Large Telescope comes on line, the instrument HIRES, which is currently under conceptual design, will enable the detection and characterisation of even smaller and lighter exoplanets, down to Earth-like planets, as well as the study of exoplanet atmospheres with the prospect of the detection of signatures of life on rocky planets.\n\nNotes\n\n[1] ESPRESSO was designed and built by a consortium consisting of: the Astronomical Observatory of the University of Geneva and University of Bern, Switzerland; INAF\u2013Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste and INAF\u2013Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Italy; Instituto de Astrof\u00edsica de Canarias, Spain; Instituto de Astrofisica e Ci\u00eancias do Espa\u00e7o, Universidade do Porto and Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal; and ESO. The co-principal investigators are Francesco Pepe (University of Geneva, Switzerland), Stefano Cristiani (INAF\u2013Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Italy), Rafael Rebolo (IAC, Tenerife, Spain) and Nuno Santos (Instituto de Astrofisica e Ciencias do Espaco, Universidade do Porto, Portugal).\n\n[2] The radial velocity method allows astronomers to measure the mass and orbit of the planet. Combined with other methods such as the transit method, more information can be inferred \u2014 for example, the size and density of the exoplanet. The Next-Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) at ESO\u2019s Paranal Observatory hunts for exoplanets in this way.\n\nMore information\n\nESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world\u2019s most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It is supported by 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, along with the host state of Chile and by Australia as a strategic partner. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope and its world-leading Very Large Telescope Interferometer as well as two survey telescopes, VISTA working in the infrared and the visible-light VLT Survey Telescope. ESO is also a major partner in two facilities on Chajnantor, APEX and ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. And on Cerro Armazones, close to Paranal, ESO is building the 39-metre Extremely Large Telescope, the ELT, which will become \u201cthe world\u2019s biggest eye on the sky\u201d.\n\nLinks\n\nContacts\n\nFrancesco Pepe\n\nUniversity of Geneva\n\nGeneva, Switzerland\n\nEmail: Francesco.Pepe@unige.ch\n\nStefano Cristiani\n\nINAF\u2013Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste\n\nTrieste, Italy\n\nEmail: cristiani@oats.inaf.it\n\nNuno Santos\n\nInstituto de Astrof\u00edsica e Ci\u00eancias do Espa\u00e7o and Universidade do Porto\n\nPorto, Portugal\n\nEmail: Nuno.Santos@astro.up.pt\n\nRafael Rebolo\n\nInstituto de Astrof\u00edsica de Canarias\n\nTenerife, Spain\n\nEmail: rrl@iac.es\n\nGaspare Lo Curto\n\nESO\n\nGarching, Germany\n\nEmail: glocurto@eso.org\n\nRichard Hook\n\nESO Public Information Officer\n\nGarching bei M\u00fcnchen, Germany\n\nTel: +49 89 3200 6655\n\nCell: +49 151 1537 3591\n\nEmail: rhook@eso.org\n\nConnect with ESO on social media", "output": "The first observations have been made using a groundbreaking new telescope that's hoped to detect the tiniest of distant planets. The\u00a0Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanet and Stable Spectroscopic Observations (ESPRESSO) lens, installed on the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile will, for the first time, enable scientists to study the light detected\u00a0by multiple\u00a0observatories.\u00a0It\u00a0can measure velocities of light up to\u00a0the precision of\u00a0a few centimetres per second, making it easier to search for new stellar bodies. ESPRESSO will also be able to test\u00a0whether nature's physical constants have changed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Relativity Space uses 3D printing to manufacture launch vehicles \n This article originally appeared as \u201cA relativistic shift in launch vehicle manufacturing\u201d in the Nov. 20 issue of SpaceNews Magazine\n\nThere\u2019s no question that additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, has become an important technology in the aerospace industry. A growing number of companies are using the technology to make components for satellites and launch vehicles that are lighter or less expensive than if they were made with conventional techniques, if they could be made at all.\n\nOne company is taking that technology to an extreme \u2014 or, in its view, to a logical conclusion. Relativity Space, a startup based in Los Angeles that only recently emerged from stealth mode, plans to use 3D printing to produce entire launch vehicles, an approach it claims can be more cost effective than traditional manufacturing techniques.\n\nFor Tim Ellis, the mid-20s chief executive and co-founder of the company, printing an entire rocket simply makes sense. \u201cIt was really just looking at what was the inevitable conclusion of that technology,\u201d he said in a recent interview. \u201cLooking further into the future, it became obvious to us. We view it as autonomous manufacturing.\u201d\n\nBy being able to manufacture a rocket with 3D printing, vehicles can be built faster and less expensively because far less human labor is needed. It also allows the company to revise vehicle designs quickly, without sunk costs in tooling tied to certain designs.\n\nThat requires advances in 3D-printing technology. Relativity has developed Stargate, which it claims is the largest 3D printer in the world that uses metals, in this case a proprietary alloy. \u201cWe have to develop this new process ourselves from scratch,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to make the technology itself. But, we believe that once it actually exists, it will be much faster to scale up and produce rockets at scale.\u201d The company\u2019s goal is to go from raw material to a rocket ready for flight within 60 days.\n\nIn other fields, 3D printing enables the creation of parts that would be difficult, if not impossible, to manufacture with ordinary techniques. The same will be true with launch vehicles, Relativity believes.\n\n\u201cThe launch vehicle that we\u2019re going to be flying is going to look totally different from those that are traditionally manufactured,\u201d Ellis claimed. \u201cYou get much more organic structures than you normally get. The shapes and forms of what comes out of the printer, and what the launch vehicles look like, will be significantly different.\u201d\n\nRelativity\u2019s 3D-printed Aeon 1 engine, shown on the test stand at NASA Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, is designed to produce 15,000 pounds of thrust. (Relativity Space)\n\nHe gave few specifics about how that would work, but did give one example. \u201cA far fewer part count is a real advantage,\u201d he said. \u201cYou get more highly integrated components that look very, very complex, but there are fewer of them. The complexity is driven by software, so you end up with these more organic-looking shapes that are more efficient.\u201d\n\nWhile the company has been developing technologies to 3D print launch vehicles, it has also been working on an engine for it. The Aeon 1 engine, powered by methane and liquid oxygen and producing more than 15,000 pounds-force of thrust, has undergone tests at NASA\u2019s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The Space Act Agreement between NASA and Relativity for those tests was one of the few hints of the company\u2019s activities while the company was in stealth.\n\n\u201cIt simplifies a lot of the vehicle architecture,\u201d Ellis said of the choice of propellants. That combination allows for what\u2019s known as \u201cautogenous\u201d pressurization, where the propellants in effect self-pressurize, eliminating the need for helium bottles and plumbing to pressurize the tanks.\n\nThe company plans to initially put those technologies together into a rocket called Terran 1. The two-stage rocket will have nine Aeon 1 engines in its first stage and one in its second. It will be capable of placing up to 1,250 kilograms into low Earth orbit.\n\nThat payload capacity falls into a gap in the market. It\u2019s much larger than the crop of small launch vehicles under development designed for payloads of no more than a few hundred kilograms, such as Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron or Virgin Orbit\u2019s LauncherOne. But it\u2019s far smaller than the large vehicles in development or operation by companies like Blue Origin, SpaceX and United Launch Alliance.\n\nEllis said he sees Terran 1 as well suited to support the small satellite constellations under development. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of private conversations with potential customers who are showing a lot of interest in this payload class,\u201d he said, not naming any specific companies. \u201cWe see that payload class being a sweet spot for constellation launch, whether it\u2019s deployment or resupply of them.\u201d\n\nHe added that, with the flexibility 3D printing provides to change designs, the company can resize the vehicle to meet market demands better than other vehicles. \u201cTheir plans change,\u201d he said of constellation developers, \u201cso we want to be a good partner with them while they\u2019re defining their plans.\u201d\n\nTerran 1 is still several years away from its first flight. Relativity\u2019s current schedule calls for a first launch in early 2021. That timeline, significantly longer than many other vehicles under development, is driven by the new technology needed to make the rocket, Ellis said.\n\nRelativity is still a small, young company. It currently has 14 employees, many of whom are veterans of larger NewSpace companies including Virgin Galactic, SpaceX and Blue Origin, where Ellis worked before starting Relativity. The company is starting to hire more engineers \u2014 it expects to have 40 to 50 employees by the end of 2018 \u2014 which was one of the reasons why it decided now to open up about its technology and its plans.\n\nThat hiring is a mix of both aerospace engineers and those with 3D printing backgrounds, said Jordan Noone, Relativity\u2019s chief technology officer and its other co-founder. \u201cAerospace engineers are some of the best cross-talent engineers out there,\u201d he said, in terms of the broad range of issues they deal with.\n\nThe company has raised a little more than $10 million to date. That includes a seed round from Y Combinator, the Silicon Valley business incubator, and billionaire Mark Cuban. It later raised a Series A round led by venture capital firm Social Capital.\n\nEllis acknowledged the company will need to raise more money to fund both its technology development as well as the introduction of the Terran 1 rocket. \u201cWe\u2019re always interested in talking with investors and partners to help with the financing,\u201d he said, but wouldn\u2019t say how much the company will need in the coming years.\n\nWill all the emphasis on 3D printing technologies, though, it raises the question: is Relativity a space company using 3D printing as an enabling technology, or a 3D printing company that sees launch vehicles is the first of many markets?\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no question that if you can fully automate and print a rocket, it\u2019s applicable to a lot of the aerospace industry,\u201d he said. The company is looking into other uses of those printers, although Ellis declined to discuss any specific examples. \u201cBut yes,\u201d he said, \u201cthe technology is generalizable.\u201d\n\nHowever, Ellis made clear that Relativity is interested in 3D printing as a means to an end that involves a familiar destination for space enthusiasts. \u201cWe have a long-term vision of 3D printing a rocket on Mars,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s been part of the company since day one. It was actually the headline of our Y Combinator application.\u201d\n\nHe said there was just one other company he knew of that had a core mission of going to Mars. He didn\u2019t mention it by name, but SpaceX and its founder, Elon Musk, have long emphasized the goal of establishing a human presence on Mars. \u201cWe\u2019re the second company saying this is want we want to go do this,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re building a part of the colonization process that no one else is really focusing on as their core technology.\u201d\n\nCould that mean rockets built \u2014 or, rather, printed \u2014 by Relativity will one day be launching people to Mars? \u201cNot yet,\u201d Ellis said. \u201cHow that ends up happening we\u2019ll talk about later.", "output": "A small California-based start-up plans to use 3D printing techniques to manufacture space launch vehicles. Relativity Space believes its Stargate 3D printer, which it claims is the world's largest, will facilitate a production cycle that would go from raw materials to flight-ready rocket within 60 days. The first will be the Terran 1, a two-stage rocket capable of placing up to 1,250 kg into low Earth orbit, launching tentatively in 2021. Relativity Space CEO Tim Ellis notes that printing an entire rocket makes sense long term as \u201cthe inevitable conclusion of that technology\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Space Debris Sensor studies impact of small\u00a0objects in low orbit \n The film Gravity dramatized the risks of space junk. But although flyaway wrenches and broken-off rocket parts may pose the deadliest threat to spacecraft, most orbital debris is actually much smaller\u2014think flecks of paint and the splinters of shattered satellites. Now, NASA hopes to learn more about the dust-size microdebris orbiting Earth with the Space Debris Sensor (SDS), set to be attached to the International Space Station (ISS) following a 4 December cargo launch by SpaceX.\n\nUsing ground-based radars, the U.S. Air Force keeps track of about 23,000 objects larger than a baseball, so satellite operators can avoid collisions by maneuvering out of the way. But much less is known about smaller debris, says Brian Weeden, director of program planning for Secure World Foundation, a nonprofit focused on space sustainability, in Washington, D.C. The SDS will study objects smaller than a millimeter\u2014and at high speeds they can still cause real damage, Weeden says. \"If a satellite is in orbit for 10 or 15 years, those little abrasions can have an impact by degrading sensors or degrading materials on the satellite,\" he says.\n\nNASA previously studied microdebris by inspecting the windows and radiators of space shuttles, which returned to Earth pockmarked with tiny impacts. \"A detailed ground inspection could estimate what sizes the objects were that impacted it, but there's limited information you can get out of that,\" says Joseph Hamilton, an orbital debris scientist and SDS principal investigator at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.\n\nAfter it's mounted to the ISS, the new sensor will offer a better handle on the true microdebris population. The 1-square-meter detector on the SDS contains layers of thin sensors embedded within a mesh of fine wires. When debris strikes the surface of the SDS, it will break a number of these wires, which correlate to the particle's size. Damage to layers beneath gives a sense of particle speeds and trajectories. The back plate will measure the intensity of the impact, helping scientists estimate the object's density.\n\nWith these data, scientists can determine the particles' orbits, which provide clues to their origins. An elliptical orbit, for instance, suggests that a particle is a natural micrometeoroid, whereas a circular orbit implies that it probably sloughed off a satellite. And by getting a more accurate estimate of the microdebris population, scientists can extrapolate and better predict the populations of objects larger than 1 millimeter, but smaller than 10 centimeters. These objects can cause more significant damage to spacecraft, but are still too small to be tracked by radar, Hamilton says.\n\nThe SDS, which will orbit at the ISS's altitude of about 400 kilometers, is considered a technology demonstration. If successful, future missions could study microdebris at altitudes in the 700- 1000\u2013kilometer range, a more congested area of space where even less is known. The findings could help satellite designers develop better shielding, whereas improved models of the microdebris population could help them find an orbit where space dust is less of a problem.\n\nSome companies have sensed opportunities in studying space junk. Astroscale, a private satellite services company based in Singapore, developed a 22-kilogram microsatellite called IDEA OSG 1 that was to study debris at these higher altitudes between 600 and 800 kilometers. On 28 November, it was one of many satellites launched on a Russian Soyuz rocket that failed to reach its target orbit, and is presumed to be lost. Before the launch, Astroscale Chief Operating Officer Chris Blackerby, based in Tokyo, said the company was seeking opportunities to share the data collected by the satellite through agreements with government agencies or private organizations. Astroscale did not respond to requests for comment about the Russian rocket failure.", "output": "NASA scientists are set to learn more about the damage caused to the International Space Station by microdebris in Earth's low orbit with the deployment of the Space Debris Sensor (SDS). The one-metre-square device will measure the speed and density of particles between 1mm and 10cm, as well as the effects of their impact. Should the SDS perform well, scientists could extend their field of study to areas where there is even more debris.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Space Debris Sensor studies impact of small\u00a0objects in low orbit \n The International Space Station (ISS) is about to get a big upgrade to study very tiny bits of space junk floating in Earth orbit.\n\nCalled the Space Debris Sensor (SDS), the one-square-meter array has a series of microsensors to study what happens when it\u2019s struck by objects the size of flecks of paint or other particles less than four inches (10 cm) in size.\n\nIt\u2019s a first step in studying this virtually untrackable space debris population. As Science Magazine points out, there may be future missions at higher orbits, figuring out where the majority of small space junk and micrometeoroids reside and designing future spacecraft orbits based around that. It could also help figure out how best to shield a craft to avoid a fatal event if an errant screw strikes it at high speed.", "output": "NASA scientists are set to learn more about the damage caused to the International Space Station by microdebris in Earth's low orbit with the deployment of the Space Debris Sensor (SDS). The one-metre-square device will measure the speed and density of particles between 1mm and 10cm, as well as the effects of their impact. Should the SDS perform well, scientists could extend their field of study to areas where there is even more debris.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Worms bred in conditions simulating closed ecosystem on Mars \n An experiment that resulted in various flowering plants, especially in a Mars soil simulant. The pots were put in water to keep the soil containing the earthworms cool.\n\nIn what could be an important milestone for future farmers on Mars, two healthy baby worms were recently born in simulated Martian soil. The births took place in an experiment that is helping scientists understand how human settlers might one day grow crops on the Red Planet.\n\nWieger Wamelink, a biologist at Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands, is running plant growth experiments in a mixture of NASA-made Martian soil simulants \u2014 made from volcanic terrestrial rocks \u2014 and pig manure, to which he added live adult worms. University officials said in a statement that the infant worms are the first offspring of adult worms to be born in a Mars soil simulant.\n\nMars is not a naturally habitable environment for life as we know it, so if humans want to live there long term, Red Planet settlers will have to establish closed ecosystem models. (These are essentially large terrariums where factors like temperature and atmospheric moisture can be controlled.) According to the statement, those ecosystems will ideally utilize available waste materials, including human excrement and dead organic matter. That's where the worms come in.\n\nIllustration of potential appearance of a closed agricultural ecosystem on Mars. (Image credit: Wageningen University and Research Centre)\n\nWorms begin the breakdown of organic matter, which is continued by bacteria. That leads to the release into the soil of such vital plant nutrients as nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, according to the statement from Wageningen University and Research.\n\nThe researchers also found that the holes that worms dig in the soil aerate the mixture and improve the soil's structure, making it easier for water to penetrate the soil and nourish plants.\n\nThe appearance of baby worms seems to indicate that at least in the short term, the worms are thriving in these closed ecosystems.\n\nThe goal of the experiment is to find out how well worms break down old waste to produce food for bacteria and plants in the mixture of soil simulant and pig slurry (or manure). Various flowering plants were allowed to germinate in several pots of this mix, and adult worms were then added.\n\nSimulated \"Martian gardens\" allow NASA scientists to test which plants can be grown on Mars. This photo shows the results of a preliminary study on lettuce. From left to right: lettuce seeds grown in potting soil, the Martian simulant with added nutrients, and the simulant without nutrients. (Image credit: Dimitri Gerondidakis/NASA)\n\nA crowdfunding campaign has been launched to continue experiments on these hardy worms. \"Worms for Mars\" has already raised more than half their funding goal of \u20ac10K, and with the public's help, Wageningen University and Research hopes to continue testing out different crops along with their crawling assistants.There is is the possibility that sharp edges in non-Earth soil could damage the guts of the critters, the researchers said in another statement.\n\nWhen worms eat organic matter, they also eat the soil. Since there isn't much weathering of Martian terrain, sharp edges in its soil do not get worn down (the way they do on Earth) and may cause worms harm, according to the statement. The presence of heavy metals in Martian soil could also be a long-term problem for worms, which would require lengthier experiments to address properly, the researchers said.\n\nFollow Doris Elin Salazar on Twitter@salazar_elin. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.", "output": "Biologists at the Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands have successfully bred two worms in simulated Martian soil as part of plant growth experiments. In a statement, the university said the worms break up the soil and produce bacteria by breaking down organic matter, stimulating the release of essential plant nutrients, and suggesting the creatures could help support a closed ecosystem on the Red Planet. A crowdfunding campaign to continue monitoring the worms has already reached 50% of its \u20ac10,000\u00a0($11,700) goal.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WMAP team that worked out age of the universe wins\u00a0$3m prize \n A team of researchers who helped shape our understanding of the origin, evolution and nature of the cosmos is now $3 million richer.\n\nThose folks worked on NASA's WMAP space mission, which was awarded the 2018 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics today (Dec. 3) during a ceremony in Palo Alto, California.\n\nFrom 2001 to 2009, WMAP mapped the cosmic microwave background (CMB) \u2014 the light left over from the Big Bang \u2014 with unprecedented precision. This work allowed scientists to nail down the age of the universe (about 13.8 billion years), its rate of accelerating expansion (roughly 70 kilometers per second per megaparsec) and its basic composition (about 5 percent \"normal\" matter, 24 percent dark matter and 71 percent dark energy). [Dark Matter and Dark Energy: The Mystery Explained (Infographic)]\n\nAstronomers had gotten pieces of this overall picture before, from a variety of different observations. But WMAP \u2014 which is short for Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe \u2014 allowed them to put everything together, said mission principal investigator Chuck Bennett, who's based at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland.\n\n\"I think the big impact of WMAP was to go from a kind of collection of miscellaneous facts and approximate numbers to a single theory or model that says, 'Here's exactly what's going on. Here are the numbers,'\" Bennett told Space.com. \"And everything agrees with them \u2014 all the different, diverse measurements.\"\n\nFellow WMAP team member David Spergel, an astrophysicist at Princeton University, voiced similar sentiments.\n\n\"I see the legacy as establishing the standard model and making cosmology quantitative,\" Spergel told Space.com. \"There have been improvements in the measurements since WMAP, but I think we provided a very solid base that the field is building on.\"\n\nThose improvements were provided largely by the European Space Agency's Planck spacecraft, which mapped the CMB from 2009 to 2013. Planck's data have reinforced and refined, rather than challenged, the WMAP results.\n\n\"It's impressive that these independent experiments get the same answer \u2014 that feels good,\" Spergel said. \"And we get consistent measurements from the ground.\"\n\nBennett, Spergel and three other WMAP leaders \u2014 Gary Hinshaw of the University of British Columbia and Norman Jarosik and Lyman Page Jr. of Princeton \u2014 will get the largest slices of the $3 million award, Breakthrough Prize representatives said. The rest will be split among the other 22 members of the mission's experiment team.\n\nThis is not the first time WMAP has been recognized for its contributions to physics and cosmology. The mission team also won the prestigious Shaw Prize for Astronomy in 2010 and the Gruber Prize in Cosmology in 2012.\n\nThe Breakthrough Prize in science and math was founded in 2012 by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, Sergey Brin, Anne Wojcicki and Yuri and Julia Milner. Every year, it awards $3 million prizes in the fields of Fundamental Physics, Life Sciences and Mathematics \u2014 the largest individual monetary awards in science. (For comparison: Each 2017 Nobel Prize was worth 9 million Swedish kronor, or about $1.1 million at current exchange rates.)\n\nThe WMAP researchers were therefore not the only people to be recognized at today's ceremony, which was hosted by Morgan Freeman and featured appearances by actors Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher and hip-hop artist Wiz Khalifa, among other celebrities. Also announced were five $3 million prizes in the Life Sciences field and one $3 million award in the Mathematics field, as well as several smaller purses in other categories. You can read about all the winners here: https://breakthroughprize.org/News/41\n\nThe total value of the newly announced awards tops $22 million, Breakthrough Prize representatives said.\n\n\"The idea that science is important, science is something that shapes our understanding of the universe that we live in, and that this is recognized \u2014 hopefully it motivates schoolkids and generates public interest in support of science,\" Bennett said.\n\nFollow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.", "output": "The team behind the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), which accurately dated the age of the universe (13.8 billion years old), its composition and the speed of its expansion, has been awarded this year's $3m Breakthrough Prize in fundamental physics. The award, founded by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, among others, is the largest individual cash prize in science. The WMAP team previously won the Shaw Prize for astronomy in 2010 and the Gruber Prize in cosmology in 2012.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tokio Marine chatbot to be used for recruitment purposes \n Tokio Marine Life Insurance Singapore, the only Japanese life insurer in Singapore, launched the recruitment function in the latest phase of its TOMI chatbot (short for Tokio Marine Insurance).\n\nThis makes TOMI the first chatbot in Singapore to support an insurer\u2019s recruitment process, on top of being the first self-learning AI chatbot in Singapore that makes life insurance more accessible to the public.\n\nAimed at enhancing the insurer\u2019s engagement with today\u2019s digitally savvy generation in recruitment, TOMI now answers more than 300 questions on how to pursue a career as a financial adviser. It also provides information that is typically not accessible to the public, including required qualifications, the training involved and even hiring preferences. The chatbot continues to be accessible at all times through commonly-used social media platform Facebook Messenger.\n\n\u201cAdvisers play an important role in supporting Singaporeans in managing their financial planning and insurance coverage. We are always looking for talented individuals who are keen to help people plan the necessary coverage for themselves and their loved ones,\u201d\n\nsaid James Tan, Chief Executive Officer of TMLS.\n\n\u201cTOMI will help us reach out to these potential talents more quickly and easily, through familiar communication channel Facebook Messenger, and encourage them to join us as advisers.\u201d\n\nTo help users who are uncertain about a career in insurance, TMLS introduced a short interactive quiz on TOMI that briefly evaluates the user\u2019s interests and personality. TOMI also now provides information on upcoming recruitment events, organised multiple times a year, to encourage interested individuals to personally engage with TMLS.\n\nTo access TOMI\u2019s recruitment function, users may go to TOMI\u2019s main menu and select the tab \u201cAsk Career\u201d. Alternatively, the function can also be accessed via the \u201cAsk Career\u201d section on the main menu of TOMI.", "output": "Tokio Marine Life Insurance Singapore is using its chatbot technology to help insurance companies with their recruiting efforts. The company's chatbot, dubbed TOMI, is also helping answer questions for prospective applicants looking to start a career in financial advice. Interested parties can ask TOMI about necessary qualifications, training and the preferences of employers. It will also provide a quiz for applicants who aren't sure about a career in insurance. The chatbot is accessible via Facebook Messenger.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Andrew Farley named commercial director for Lancashire \n He replaces Phil Heaps, who is retiring from the role after 40 years with the company.\n\nAndrew was formerly commercial director at Wainhomes (NW) Ltd, serving a total of 15 years with the company, and also had spells with PH Property Holdings and Crosby Homes.\n\nHe said: \u201cMy task at Redrow will be to maintain procurement availability, quality and cost levels, while building on and enhancing supplier and contractor relations, supported of course by the experienced commercial department at the Lancashire division.\n\n\"Phil has done an incredible job and it\u2019s down to me now to build on that.\u201d", "output": "Andrew Farley has been appointed as commercial director for Lancashire at housebuilder Redrow. Farley, the former commercial director at Wainhomes, replaces Phil Heaps, who retired after 40 years at Redrow. He's tasked with \"maintaining procurement availability, quality and cost levels, while building on and enhancing supplier and contractor relations\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurtech SafetyNet launches offering for landlords \n Renter SafetyNet, a new insurance program from CUNA Mutual Group\u2019s innovation lab, was launched today in Wisconsin. In a shifting housing market where more people than ever are renting rather than buying, Renter SafetyNet is a first-of-its-kind program created specifically for landlords to come out of the Madison-based insurance tech startup, SafetyNet.\n\n\u201cPEW research put out that renters are at a 50 year all-time high. The rental market is growing, but on top of that, rental prices are increasing,\u201d said Danielle Sesko, Director of Innovation and Product Development. \u201cThe average living wage for a two-bedroom apartment is actually over $21 an hour. That\u2019s over three times the federal minimum wage. It\u2019s significant, and it\u2019s putting financial stress on the average hardworking American.\u201d\n\nThat stress means that nearly half of all Americans are unprepared for a financial emergency. Almost eight out of 10 workers are living paycheck to paycheck, and about seven out of 10 admit they have below $1,000 in savings. 46% of people say they couldn\u2019t come up with $400 to cover a surprise expense, including rent should they lose their job.\n\n\u201cAn income loss can throw a family\u2019s financial security into jeopardy, making it difficult to pay rent and keep a roof overhead, and this impacts landlords\u2019 ability to bring in rental income,\u201d said Dan Murray, vice president of product development at Renter SafetyNet. \u201cA program like Renter SafetyNet not only helps landlords protect their income, but also keeps tenants in their homes.\u201d\n\nRenter SafetyNet works by providing landlords with a lump-sum payment to cover a tenant\u2019s rent after a no-fault job loss like a layoff, illness or injury. Proved claims are mailed out within two to three business days and cover rent for one to three months.\n\nCoverage for landlords owning less than 40 rental units starts at $5 a month. Sesko said that the majority of landlords own one or two rental property units and they rely month-to-month on the payments from their tenants.\n\n\u201cA lot of folks are using single units or duplexes as a way to supplement their income or a way to get cash flow in their retirement years,\u201d said Sesko. \u201cThis helps protect those folks. We found that if a tenant were to default on their rent, both parties really suffer.\u201d\n\nSafetyNet launched their first product a year and a half ago that aimed to increase the financial security of individuals in emergencies like disability or unemployment. That product did well, so they developed Renders SafetyNet so assist on the other end of the financial equation.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re looking at solutions in the market to help other groups of people,\u201d said Sesko. \u201c[SafetyNet products help] the landlord and protects their rental income, but also help people stay in their homes. It\u2019s a win-win for both sides of the business.\u201d\n\nAs millennials specifically continue to delay home ownership in exchange for more flexibility in their housing, that change brings a necessary shift in how insurers provide products and services to them.\n\n\u201cThe entire rental landscape has been changing over the last ten years due to growing generations, millennials specifically,\u201d said Sesko. \u201cThat changes the business models of the landlords who have been renting to other generations. [\u2026] Our goal is to run an insurance business that is lean, efficient, cost-effective. We\u2019re trying to build simple and affordable solutions for the everyday hardworking American.\u201d\n\n__\n\nChristine McGuigan is the Managing Editor of Silicon Prairie News.\n\nSave\n\nSave", "output": "Wisconsin-based insurtech start-up SafetyNet has introduced a new offering aimed at landlords. The product, dubbed Renter SafetyNet, allows landlords to guard against\u00a0tenants being unable to pay rent due to loss of income. Coverage starts from $5 for landlords with less than 40 units. Claims can cover rent payments lost over a period of up to three months.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Jupiter's moon, Europa, may have tectonic plates, say scientists \n The case for plate tectonics on Jupiter's ocean-harboring moon Europa keeps getting stronger.\n\nScientists had already spotted geological signs that plates within the moon's ice shell may be diving beneath one another toward the moon's buried ocean. Now, a new study suggests that such \"subduction\" is indeed possible on Europa and shows how the phenomenon might be happening.\n\nThe new results should intrigue astrobiologists and anyone else who hopes that Earth isn't the only inhabited world in the solar system. [Photos: Europa, Mysterious Icy Moon of Jupiter]\n\n\"If, indeed, there's life in that ocean, subduction offers a way to supply the nutrients it would need,\" study lead author Brandon Johnson, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences at Brown University in Rhode Island, said in a statement.\n\nSuch nutrients include oxidants, electron-stripping substances that are common on Europa's surface and that could help provide an energy source for life, the researchers said.\n\nHere on Earth, subduction is driven primarily by temperature differences between relatively cool (and, therefore, dense) rocky plates and the superhot surrounding mantle. Thermal gradients can't be the prime mover on Europa, however: Ice plates would warm up as they dove, quickly equilibrating to the temperature of the ice below, study team members said.\n\nBut that doesn't mean subduction can't be happening on the Jovian moon, Johnson and his colleagues found. Their computer models suggest that Europan ice plates can indeed dive \u2014 if they're saltier than their surroundings.\n\n\"Adding salt to an ice slab would be like adding little weights to it, because salt is denser than ice,\" Johnson said in the same statement. \"So, rather than temperature, we show that differences in the salt content of the ice could enable subduction to happen on Europa.\"\n\nSuch differences may indeed exist within the moon's ice shell, the researchers said. Upwelling from the underground ocean could deposit salt patchily on the surface, as could eruptions of cryovolcanoes, the scientists said.\n\nThe presence of plate tectonics on Europa could help us learn more about our own planet as well as the icy moon, Brown said.\n\n\"It's fascinating to think that we might have plate tectonics somewhere other than Earth,\" he said. \"Thinking from the standpoint of comparative planetology, if we can now study plate tectonics in this very different place, it might be able to help us understand how plate tectonics got started on the Earth.\"\n\nThe new study has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.\n\nFollow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.", "output": "Scientists at Brown University in Rhode Island believe tectonic activity could be taking place on Jupiter's moon, Europa. Computer models suggest that differing salt levels, rather than temperature fluctuations, are behind the movement, prompting astrobiologists to question whether subduction \u2013 planetary plates moving beneath each other \u2013 could be capable of\u00a0supplying essential nutrients to any potential living organisms in the waters below the plates.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bacteria from Earth survives in space and on returning astronauts \n The International Space Station is not as squeaky clean as you might think, a new study finds.\n\nThe microbes living on the International Space Station (ISS) may be similar to the bacteria found in homes on Earth, a new study shows.\n\nA joint team of professional scientists and citizen scientists from Project MERCCURI (or Microbial Ecology Research Combining Citizen and University Researchers) and the Human Microbiome Project studied swabs taken by astronauts on the orbiting lab. The types of bacteria found in the orbiting laboratory closely resembled those found in homes on Earth, study team members said. [Bacteria in Space Grows in Strange Ways]\n\nDavid Coil, study author and a microbiologist at the University of California (UC), Davis, said in a statement that humans are \"completely surrounded by mostly harmless microbes on Earth, and we see a broadly similar microbial community on the ISS. So [the station] is probably no more or less gross than your living room.\"\n\nThe swabs were collected from 15 locations inside the space station. The station's microbiome (the population of microbes living there) would not have originated in space, but are directly from the astronauts' bodies and anything else sent to the space station from Earth, because the orbiting lab is completely enclosed, the researchers said in the statement.\n\nThe study also revealed that the space station's microbiome is very diverse, according to the statement, which indicates that the microbes are healthy.\n\nMicrobe swabs from the International Space Station, shown here after returning to Earth in February 2015. The swabs were collected by project MERCCURI (Microbial Ecology Research Combining Citizen and University Researchers). (Image credit: Carl Carruthers)\n\n\"The microbiome on the surfaces on the ISS looks very much like the surfaces of its inhabitants, which is not surprising, given that they are the primary source,\" Jenna Lang, lead author of the study and a former postdoctoral scholar at UC Davis, said. \"We were also pleased to see \u2026 that the diversity was fairly high, indicating that it did not look like a 'sick' microbial community.\"\n\nProject MERCCURI involves the work of researchers from UC Davis and other organizations like Science Cheerleader, a group of current and former NFL and NBA cheerleaders pursuing careers in science and technology.\n\nProject MERCCURI team members at Cape Canaveral just before the microbe swabs launched in April 2014. (Image credit: David Coil)\n\nThe swabs collected from the space station were compared to data from previous, Earth-based studies, including the Wild Life of Our Homes citizen science project, which examined the microbial diversity found within homes. Researchers also compared the samples from space to surveys of human body sites from the Human Microbiome Project, according to the study.\n\n\"Studying the microbial diversity on the ISS is not only of relevance to space exploration but also serves as an important comparison to buildings on Earth, because the ISS has many novel features such as [a] limited influx of microbes,\" said study author Jonathan Eisen, a professor of medical microbiology and immunology at UC Davis.\n\nThe findings were published today (Dec. 5) in the open-access journal PeerJ.\n\nFollow Samantha Mathewson @Sam_Ashley13. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.", "output": "Scientists from Project Merccuri and the Human Microbiome\u00a0Project have discovered the microbes on the International Space Station (ISS) are no different from those\u00a0on Earth. Analysis of swabs taken from 15 locations on the ISS revealed a diverse, healthy microbe population, and study author David Coil said the space station was \"probably no more or less gross than your living room\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers launch oil rig decommissioning simulator \n Aberdeen\u2019s Robert Gordon University (RGU) has launched a state-of-the-art decommissioning simulator to service the growing sector.\n\nThe simulator and the associated software is a world-first and will be used to support decommissioning activities in the UK and other parts of the world.\n\nRGU, in collaboration with funding partners The Oil & Gas Technology Centre, KCA Deutag and Drilling Systems, with technical support from Baker Hughes, a GE Company (BHGE), has established the simulator to focus on well-plugging and abandonment (P&A).\n\nP&A is an area which is forecast to cost the UK more than \u00a38 billion over the next decade, with around 2500 wells expected to be decommissioned across the UK, Danish, Dutch and Norwegian Continental Shelves.\n\nThe simulator can support both oil and gas operators and service companies with the planning and preparation for well P&A, in a similar way pilots get trained and tested on flight simulators.\n\nThe simulator is a truly unique capability for RGU and for the industry and it has the potential to significantly enhance the safety, improve the efficiency and reduce the cost associated with decommissioning oil and gas wells.\n\nRGU\u2019s partnership with The Oil & Gas Technology will also create new opportunities to develop and test technologies, accelerating new solutions in collaboration with the industry and technology providers.\n\nProfessor Paul de Leeuw, Director of RGU\u2019s Oil and Gas Institute, believes the development of this unique decommissioning simulator will have numerous benefits for the industry.\n\nHe said: \u201cBy providing this facility at RGU to simulate well decommissioning, we will ultimately be able to enhance safety and reduce the cost of well P&A.\n\n\u201cOperators and drilling contractors will be able to use the simulator to develop the technical and non-technical skills and capabilities of their rig crews for decommissioning wells, while improving team performance.\n\n\u201cThis has been a collaborative approach between RGU, The Oil & Gas Technology Centre, KCA Deutag, Drilling Systems and BHGE, all of whom we have worked extremely closely, which has ensured the smooth delivery of this truly innovative facility.\u201d\n\nStudents will also benefit from training and development on the simulator.\n\nMalcolm Banks, Well Construction Solution Centre Manager at the Oil & Gas Technology Centre said: \u201cThe Oil & Gas Technology Centre is delighted to be co-funding this exciting new facility that will help companies improve planning for the decommissioning of wells and accelerate technologies to drive efficiency and reduce costs in this growing area of the industry.\n\n\u201cThe Centre is working in partnership with the industry and technology providers to develop new solutions that will revolutionise well construction, increase automation, improve integrity and transform plugging and abandonment.\n\n\u201cWith 12 well-related projects and field trials ongoing, and many more in the pipeline, state-of-the-art facilities like this decommissioning simulator, are essential as we aim to unlock the full potential of the North Sea and anchor our supply chain in North East Scotland.\u201d\n\nRune Lorentzen, KCA Deutag President of Offshore and RDS, said: \u201cAs a world leading drilling and engineering contractor we continually strive to enhance the skills not only of our own personnel, but those working across the industry. We are therefore delighted to be partnering with RGU as a centre of excellence to launch this innovative new training simulator.\u201d\n\nClive Battisby, COO Drilling Systems, added: \u201cWorking once again with RGU, the new decommissioning simulator shows how our close collaborative partnership and expertise really works to create truly custom cutting edge real-time training simulations and systems.\n\n\u201cIn this case using the physical tool data and CAD drawings taken from customer\u2019s real-world downhole tools, has been added into the simulation to create a package of decommissioning tools to allow knowledge and skills to be learnt in a safe learning and very realistic environment.\u201d", "output": "Researchers at Robert Gordon University, located in Aberdeen, have developed the world's first oil rig decommissioning simulator. The project was funded by KCA Deutag in conjunction with Drilling Systems and the Oil & Gas Technology Centre\u00a0and Baker Hughes. The simulator covers well-plugging and abandonment procedures, and will be used to train workers across the globe in the decommissioning field, as well as test theoretical new technologies."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bitcoin's huge carbon footprint raises fears as its value rockets \n If you\u2019re like me, you\u2019ve probably been ignoring the bitcoin phenomenon for years \u2014 because it seemed too complex, far-fetched, or maybe even too libertarian. But if you have any interest in a future where the world moves beyond fossil fuels, you and I should both start paying attention now.\n\nLast week, the value of a single bitcoin broke the $10,000 barrier for the first time. Over the weekend, the price nearly hit $12,000. At the beginning of this year, it was less than $1,000.\n\nIf you had bought $100 in bitcoin back in 2011, your investment would be worth nearly $4 million today. All over the internet there are stories of people who treated their friends to lunch a few years ago and, as a novelty, paid with bitcoin. Those same people are now realizing that if they\u2019d just paid in cash and held onto their digital currency, they\u2019d now have enough money to buy a house.\n\nThat sort of precipitous rise is stunning, of course, but bitcoin wasn\u2019t intended to be an investment instrument. Its creators envisioned it as a replacement for money itself \u2014 a decentralized, secure, anonymous method for transferring value between people.\n\nTo support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider disabling your ad-blocker to allow ads on Grist. Here's How\n\nReader support helps sustain our work. Donate today to keep our climate news free. One Time\n\nMonthly $120\n\n$180\n\nOther\n\nDonate $10\n\n$15\n\nOther\n\nDonate\n\nBut what they might not have accounted for is how much of an energy suck the computer network behind bitcoin could one day become. Simply put, bitcoin is slowing the effort to achieve a rapid transition away from fossil fuels. What\u2019s more, this is just the beginning. Given its rapidly growing climate footprint, bitcoin is a malignant development, and it\u2019s getting worse.\n\nCryptocurrencies like bitcoin provide a unique service: Financial transactions that don\u2019t require governments to issue currency or banks to process payments. Writing in the Atlantic, Derek Thompson calls bitcoin an \u201cingenious and potentially transformative technology\u201d that the entire economy could be built on \u2014 the currency equivalent of the internet. Some are even speculating that bitcoin could someday make the U.S. dollar obsolete.\n\nBut the rise of bitcoin is also happening at a specific moment in history: Humanity is decades behind schedule on counteracting climate change, and every action in this era should be evaluated on its net impact on the climate. Increasingly, bitcoin is failing the test.\n\nDigital financial transactions come with a real-world price: The tremendous growth of cryptocurrencies has created an exponential demand for computing power. As bitcoin grows, the math problems computers must solve to make more bitcoin (a process called \u201cmining\u201d) get more and more difficult \u2014 a wrinkle designed to control the currency\u2019s supply.\n\nTo support our nonprofit environmental journalism, please consider disabling your ad-blocker to allow ads on Grist. Here's How\n\nToday, each bitcoin transaction requires the same amount of energy used to power nine homes in the U.S. for one day. And miners are constantly installing more and faster computers. Already, the aggregate computing power of the bitcoin network is nearly 100,000 times larger than the world\u2019s 500 fastest supercomputers combined.\n\nThe total energy use of this web of hardware is huge \u2014 an estimated 31 terawatt-hours per year. More than 150 individual countries in the world consume less energy annually. And that power-hungry network is currently increasing its energy use every day by about 450 gigawatt-hours, roughly the same amount of electricity the entire country of Haiti uses in a year.\n\nThat sort of electricity use is pulling energy from grids all over the world, where it could be charging electric vehicles and powering homes, to bitcoin-mining farms. In Venezuela, where rampant hyperinflation and subsidized electricity has led to a boom in bitcoin mining, rogue operations are now occasionally causing blackouts across the country. The world\u2019s largest bitcoin mines are in China, where they siphon energy from huge hydroelectric dams, some of the cheapest sources of carbon-free energy in the world. One enterprising Tesla owner even attempted to rig up a mining operation in his car, to make use of free electricity at a public charging station.\n\nIn just a few months from now, at bitcoin\u2019s current growth rate, the electricity demanded by the cryptocurrency network will start to outstrip what\u2019s available, requiring new energy-generating plants. And with the climate conscious racing to replace fossil fuel-base plants with renewable energy sources, new stress on the grid means more facilities using dirty technologies. By July 2019, the bitcoin network will require more electricity than the entire United States currently uses. By February 2020, it will use as much electricity as the entire world does today.\n\nThis is an unsustainable trajectory. It simply can\u2019t continue.\n\nThere are already several efforts underway to reform how the bitcoin network processes transactions, with the hope that it\u2019ll one day require less electricity to make new coins. But as with other technological advances like irrigation in agriculture and outdoor LED lighting, more efficient systems for mining bitcoin could have the effect of attracting thousands of new miners.\n\nIt\u2019s certain that the increasing energy burden of bitcoin transactions will divert progress from electrifying the world and reducing global carbon emissions. In fact, I\u2019d guess it probably already has. The only question at this point is: by how much?", "output": "The value of a bitcoin exceeded $12,000 this week, encouraging speculation that the use of futures will encourage digital currencies to be viewed as a mainstream asset class,\u00a0as at least two US firms\u00a0start trading in bitcoin futures this month.\u00a0However, as Hannah Murphy in the Financial Times\u00a0highlighted, the rise has hidden dramatic falls en route. Furthermore, a long-term concern about bitcoin is its huge power demands\u00a0mean renewable energy\u00a0sources on their own will not be able to supply the cryptocurrency network with sufficient power, meaning new power generation plants potentially using fossil fuels will be needed.\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Worst-case predictions for global warming confirmed in new study \n Climate models are sophisticated software simulations that assess how the climate reacts to various influences. For this study, the scientists collected more than a decade\u2019s worth of satellite observations concerning the amount of sunlight reflected back into space by things like clouds, snow, and ice; how much infrared radiation is escaping from Earth; and the net balance between the amount of energy entering and leaving the atmosphere. Then the researchers compared that \u201ctop-of-atmosphere\u201d data with the results of earlier climate models to determine which ones most accurately predicted what the satellites actually observed.\n\nThe simulations that turned out to most closely match real-world observations of how energy flows in and out of the climate system were the ones that predicted the most warming this century. In particular, the study found, the models projecting that clouds will allow in more radiation over time, possibly because of decreased coverage or reflectivity, \u201care the ones that simulate the recent past the best,\u201d says Patrick Brown, a postdoctoral research scientist at the Carnegie Institution and lead author of the study. This cloud feedback phenomenon remains one of the greatest areas of uncertainty in climate modeling.\n\nThe UN\u2019s seminal IPCC report relies on an assortment of models from various research institutions to estimate the broad ranges of warming likely to occur under four main emissions scenarios. In another key finding, the scientists found that the second-lowest scenario would be more likely to result in the warming previously predicted under the second-highest by 2100. In fact, the world will have to cut another 800 gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions this century for the earlier warming estimates to hold. (By way of comparison, total greenhouse-gas emissions stood at about 49 gigatons last year.)\n\nVarious politicians, fossil-fuel interest groups, and commentators have seized on the uncertainty inherent in climate models as reasons to doubt the dangers of climate change, or to argue against strong policy and mitigation responses.\n\n\u201cThis study undermines that logic,\u201d Brown says. \u201cThere are problems with climate models, but the ones that are most accurate are the ones that produce the most warming in the future.\u201d\n\nIn fact, the new paper is the latest in a growing series that project larger impacts than previously predicted or conclude that climate change is unfolding faster than once believed.\n\nThe goal of the research was to evaluate how well various climate models work, in hopes of \u201cnarrowing the range of model uncertainty and to assess whether the upper or low end of the range is more likely,\u201d Brown wrote in an accompanying blog post.\n\nKen Caldeira, a climate researcher at Carnegie and coauthor of the paper, says the growing body of real-world evidence for climate change is helping to refine climate models while also guiding scientists toward those that increasingly appear more reliable for specific applications.\n\nBut an emerging challenge is that the climate is changing faster than the models are improving, as real-world events occur that the models didn\u2019t predict. Notably, Arctic sea ice is melting more rapidly than the models can explain, suggesting that the simulations aren\u2019t fully capturing certain processes.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re increasingly shifting from a mode of predicting what\u2019s going to happen to a mode of trying to explain what happened,\u201d Caldeira says.", "output": "The worst-case projections for global warming appear likely to be correct, according to research by the Carnegie Institution in California. The study compared climate models to real-world observations of how the atmosphere is behaving and concluded that the simulations that were closest to such observations were the ones which predicted the greatest warming. According to the United Nations\u2019 highest prediction for greenhouse-gas concentrates, this could see temperatures rise by almost 5 \u00b0C by 2100, 15% hotter than earlier predictions. The research also found that the odds of temperatures rising by over 4 degrees by 2100 rose from 62% to 93%.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Worst-case predictions for global warming confirmed in new study \n Tebaldi, C. & Arblaster, J. M. Pattern scaling: its strengths and limitations, and an update on the latest model simulations. Clim. Change 122, 459\u2013471 (2014)\n\nBurke, M., Hsiang, S. M. & Miguel, E. Global non-linear effect of temperature on economic production. Nature 527, 235\u2013239 (2015)\n\nHawkins, E. & Sutton, R. The potential to narrow uncertainty in regional climate predictions. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 90, 1095\u20131107 (2009)\n\nFlato, G. et al. Evaluation of Climate Models. In Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (eds Stocker, T. F. et al.) (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2013)\n\nFasullo, J. T. & Trenberth, K. E. A less cloudy future: the role of subtropical subsidence in climate sensitivity. 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Science 352, 224\u2013227 (2016)\n\nDessler, A. E., Zhang, Z. & Yang, P. Water-vapor climate feedback inferred from climate fluctuations, 2003\u20132008. Geophys. Res. Lett. 35, L20704 (2008)\n\nGregory, J. M., Andrews, T. & Good, P. The inconstancy of the transient climate response parameter under increasing CO2. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A 373, https://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2014.0417 (2015)\n\nHu, X. et al. Inter-model warming projection spread: inherited traits from control climate diversity. Sci. Rep. 7, 4300 (2017)\n\nWielicki, B. A. et al. Clouds and the Earth\u2019s Radiant Energy System (CERES): an Earth observing system experiment. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 77, 853\u2013868 (1996)\n\nde Jong, S. SIMPLS: an alternative approach to partial least squares regression. Chemom. Intell. Lab. Syst. 18, 251\u2013263 (1993)\n\nWold, H. in Multivariate Analysis 391\u2013420 (Academic Press, 1966)\n\nSmoliak, B. V., Wallace, J. M., Stoelinga, M. T. & Mitchell, T. P. Application of partial least squares regression to the diagnosis of year-to-year variations in Pacific Northwest snowpack and Atlantic hurricanes. Geophys. Res. Lett. 37, (2010)\n\nDelSole, T. & Shukla, J. Artificial skill due to predictor screening. J. Clim. 22, 331\u2013345 (2009)\n\nCaldwell, P. M. et al. Statistical significance of climate sensitivity predictors obtained by data mining. Geophys. Res. Lett. 41, 1803\u20131808 (2014)\n\nEfron, B. & Gong, G. A leisurely look at the bootstrap, the jackknife, and cross-validation. Am. Stat. 37, 36\u201348 (1983)\n\nIPCC. Summary for Policymakers. In Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (eds Stocker, T. F. et al.) (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2013)\n\nBaker, M. B. & Roe, G. H. The shape of things to come: why is climate change so predictable? J. Clim. 22, 4574\u20134589 (2009)\n\nCaldwell, P. M., Zelinka, M. D., Taylor, K. E. & Marvel, K. Quantifying the sources of inter-model spread in equilibrium climate sensitivity. J. Clim. 29, 513\u2013525 (2016)\n\nGrise, K. M., Polvani, L. M. & Fasullo, J. T. Reexamining the relationship between climate sensitivity and the Southern Hemisphere radiation budget in CMIP models. J. Clim. 28, 9298\u20139312 (2015)\n\nCeppi, P., Brient, F., Zelinka, M. D. & Hartmann, D. L. Cloud feedback mechanisms and their representation in global climate models. Wiley Interdiscip. Rev. Clim. Change 8, e465 (2017)\n\nRowlands, D. J. et al. Broad range of 2050 warming from an observationally constrained large climate model ensemble. Nat. Geosci. 5, 256\u2013260 (2012)\n\nHansen, J. et al. Ice melt, sea level rise and superstorms: evidence from paleoclimate data, climate modeling, and modern observations that 2 \u00b0C global warming could be dangerous. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 16, 3761\u20133812 (2016)\n\nTebaldi, C. & Knutti, R. The use of the multi-model ensemble in probabilistic climate projections. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 365, 2053\u20132075 (2007)\n\nKnutti, R., Masson, D. & Gettelman, A. Climate model genealogy: generation CMIP5 and how we got there. Geophys. Res. Lett. 40, 1194\u20131199 (2013)\n\nSchmidt, G. A. et al. Practice and philosophy of climate model tuning across six U.S. modeling centers. Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss. 2017, 1\u201324 (2017)\n\nCurry, J. A. Climate Models for the Layman (The Global Warming Policy Foundation, 2017)\n\nBrient, F. & Schneider, T. Constraints on climate sensitivity from space-based measurements of low-cloud reflection. J. Clim. 29, 5821\u20135835 (2016)\n\nMyers, T. A. & Norris, J. R. Reducing the uncertainty in subtropical cloud feedback. Geophys. Res. Lett. 43, 2144\u20132148 (2016)\n\nTian, B. Spread of model climate sensitivity linked to double-Intertropical Convergence Zone bias. Geophys. Res. Lett. 42, 4133\u20134141 (2015)\n\nZhou, C., Zelinka, M. D., Dessler, A. E. & Klein, S. A. The relationship between interannual and long-term cloud feedbacks. Geophys. Res. Lett. 42, 10463\u201310469 (2015)\n\nRohde, R. A. et al. A new estimate of the average Earth surface land temperature spanning 1753 to 2011. Geoinform. Geostat. 1, 1\u20137 (2013)\n\nCleveland, W. S. Robust locally weighted regression and smoothing scatterplots. J. Am. Stat. Assoc. 74, 829\u2013836 (1979)\n\nCollins, M. et al. Long-term climate change: projections, commitments and irreversibility. In Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (eds Stocker, T. F. et al.) (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2013)\n\nRamanathan, V. et al. Cloud-radiative forcing and climate: results from the Earth Radiation Budget experiment. Science 243, 57\u201363 (1989)\n\nArmour, K. C., Bitz, C. M. & Roe, G. H. Time-varying climate sensitivity from regional feedbacks. J. Clim. 26, 4518\u20134534 (2013)\n\nRugenstein, M. A. A., Caldeira, K. & Knutti, R. Dependence of global radiative feedbacks on evolving patterns of surface heat fluxes. Geophys. Res. Lett. 43, 9877\u20139885 (2016)\n\nRoe, G. H., Feldl, N., Armour, K. C., Hwang, Y.-T. & Frierson, D. M. W. The remote impacts of climate feedbacks on regional climate predictability. Nat. Geosci. 8, 135\u2013139 (2015)\n\nFeldl, N. & Roe, G. H. The nonlinear and nonlocal nature of climate feedbacks. J. Clim. 26, 8289\u20138304 (2013)\n\nHwang, Y.-T. & Frierson, D. M. W. Increasing atmospheric poleward energy transport with global warming. Geophys. Res. Lett. 37, L24807 (2010)\n\nMeinshausen, M. et al. The RCP greenhouse gas concentrations and their extensions from 1765 to 2300. Clim. Change 109, 213\u2013241 (2011)\n\nTrenberth, K. E., Fasullo, J. T. & Kiehl, J. Earth\u2019s Global Energy Budget. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 90, 311\u2013323 (2009)\n\nTrenberth, K. E. & Fasullo, J. T. Regional energy and water cycles: transports from ocean to land. J. Clim. 26, 7837\u20137851 (2013)\n\nTaylor, K. E., Stouffer, R. J. & Meehl, G. A. An overview of CMIP5 and the experiment design. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 93, 485\u2013498 (2012)", "output": "The worst-case projections for global warming appear likely to be correct, according to research by the Carnegie Institution in California. The study compared climate models to real-world observations of how the atmosphere is behaving and concluded that the simulations that were closest to such observations were the ones which predicted the greatest warming. According to the United Nations\u2019 highest prediction for greenhouse-gas concentrates, this could see temperatures rise by almost 5 \u00b0C by 2100, 15% hotter than earlier predictions. The research also found that the odds of temperatures rising by over 4 degrees by 2100 rose from 62% to 93%.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vietnam's changing gambling laws could spur new investment \n Top 1: Scrap Mechanic The game begins with you waking up next to a spaceship that's on fire for...", "output": "The Vietnamese government's changing attitude towards gambling could bring billions in revenue to the country in the form of casinos. Eight casinos are currently licensed for operation in the country, with six of those currently operational. New casinos will be levied with a luxury tax of 10% for a 10 year period, a preferential rate for both investors and tourists. At present, Vietnamese gamblers contribute $800m to casinos in the Cambodia, Singapore and Macau, which could be redistributed in-country.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurtech start-up Honcho has funding plans derailed by Brexit \n Netherlands enables contactless payments on entire public transport network All modes of public transport now accept payments using contactless technology after the completion of major project in the Netherlands\n\nGovernment and industry figures meet to discuss AI regulation Tech industry figures are broadly supportive of the need for artificial intelligence (AI) to be regulated, but despite growing consensus there is still disagreement over what effective AI regulation looks like\n\nBishop Fox\u2019s Vinnie Liu talks offensive security skills There is growing demand for offensive security testing, but it needs a multi-layered skillset that can be hard to quantify. Bishop Fox\u2019s CEO and co-founder explains why and some potential mitigation strategies\n\nUKtech50 2023 winner: Michelle Donelan/Chloe Smith, secretary of state, DSIT Computer Weekly looks at the achievements and successes of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, as its secretary of state is recognised as the most influential person in UK technology for 2023\n\nUKtech50 2023: The most influential people in UK technology Computer Weekly has announced the 13th annual UKtech50 \u2013 our definitive list of the movers and shakers in the UK tech sector\n\nNatWest and University of Edinburgh form partnership to research data use in banking sector Scottish university and banking group set up research centre that will aim to improve the use of banking data\n\nWelsh ambulance service upgrades life-saving communications Welsh ambulances going through major communications upgrade as part of wider NHS programme\n\nResearchers in Belgium move towards industrial production of qubits Using existing equipment and know-how, researchers at the Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (Imec) in Belgium are finding ways of mass-producing qubits\n\nOpen banking regulator sets out next steps Plans for ongoing evolution of the UK open banking sector have been set out by regulator in bid to grow the open banking sector in a \u2018safe, scalable and economically sustainable way\u2019\n\nClop cyber gang claims MOVEit attack and starts harassing victims The Clop cyber extortion and ransomware operation is demanding organisations pay a ransom to avoid data stolen via an exploited vulnerability in a file transfer product being leaked\n\nPayments regulator makes APP fraud reimbursement mandatory UK payments regulator confirms changes to rules around repaying customers who lose money to authorised push payment fraudsters\n\nGovernment to test rural broadband options with \u00a37m fund Government to fund tests of technologies that could be issued to improve internet connectivity for rural communities\n\nGoogle launches hacker-backed SME security training scheme Citing research that shows almost half of SMEs are struggling to recruit cyber security specialists, Google is launching a programme designed to upskill more people to fill thousands of vacant roles\n\nIndian IT services giant takes UK teachers\u2019 pensions contract from Capita Tata Consultancy Services bolsters its growing UK public sector customer base with key contract win\n\nApple's $3,500 headset offers VR at a premium Apple devices have always commanded a premium, but will consumers and business splash out $3,499 on its new Vision Pro headset?\n\nMercedes Pay turns vehicles into payment devices German car manufacturer add contactless payment feature to enable drivers to find and book parking spaces and pay automatically when they arrive\n\nVictims of MOVEit SQL injection zero-day mount up The BBC, Boots, and British Airways are among the victims of cyber incidents arising from a recently disclosed vulnerability in the MOVEit file transfer, exploitation of which is spreading fast\n\nNetherlands makes case for harmonisation of cloud security standards Harmonisation of cyber security standards is necessary to reduce the regulatory burden on Dutch SMEs \u2013 and regulators need to cooperate better\n\nESA uses NetApp as-a-service for space data \u2018hot\u2019 archive The European Space Agency collects data from millions of miles away. It must get storage right when there\u2019s no chance of a u-turn to take more photos or re-record data\n\nTechUK publishes \u2018UK tech plan\u2019 for next government Technology businesses are calling on UK politicians to devise a \u2018comprehensive, forward-thinking strategy\u2019 to realise the benefits of technology ahead of the next general election\n\nCyber spotlight falls on boardroom \u2018privilege\u2019 as incidents soar Three quarters of data breaches now involve a significant human element, and the higher up they get in an organisation, the more risks people seem to take, according to Verizon\u2019s annual Data Breach Investigations Report\n\nWorkers \u2018deeply uncomfortable\u2019 with digital surveillance at work Employees express discomfort towards employers\u2019 use of various digital surveillance and monitoring techniques, which are often powered by artificial intelligence\n\nBank of International Settlement sets up channel secure from quantum breach The Bank of International Settlement has worked with two of Europe's central banks to explore preventing the security risks posed by quantum computers\n\nUK has time limit on ensuring cryptocurrency regulatory leadership, says Parliamentary report Parliamentary report makes 53 recommendations to the government's plans to regulate cryptocurrency\n\nMedical regulator drops probe into NHS whistleblower Peter Duffy amid dispute over email evidence The General Medical Council has dropped an investigation into an NHS whistleblower who exposed widespread clinical harm at Morecambe Bay Trust amid questions over disputed email evidence\n\nSweden is developing its own big language model Artificial Intelligence Sweden is leading an initiative to build a large language model not only for Swedish, but for all the major languages in the Nordic region: Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese\n\nNBN unveils uncapped data plan for remote Australia Following a successful trial to examine delivery of an improved satellite service, including the capability to achieve faster burst speeds of up to 100Mbps, an uncapped usage plan has been launched to address data needs of rural Australia\n\nQualcomm beefs up Snapdragon Space XR Developer Platform for immersive future Mobile platform technology giant launches immersive technology designed to create a cross-device, extended and augmented reality ecosystem that will enable head-worn experiences from existing smartphone applications\n\nAI interview: Dan McQuillan, critical computing expert Critical computing expert Dan McQuillan speaks to Computer Weekly about the top-down imposition of artificial intelligence on society, and how AI is a fundamentally political technology shaped by humanity\u2019s most reactionary tendencies\n\nMet Police director of intelligence defends facial recognition The Met Police\u2019s director of intelligence has appeared before MPs to make the case for its continuing use of facial-recognition technology, following announcements from the force and the Home Office that they intend to press on with its adoption\n\nCIO interview: Adam Warne, CIO, River Island The privately owned fashion retailer places a premium on its high street presence, but sees digital innovation as key to improving customer service in stores\n\nHSBC explores quantum computing for finance sector UK banking giant works with quantum computing specialist to explore the technology\u2019s potential in the finance sector\n\nHow India\u2019s DICV is tapping smart manufacturing Daimler India Commercial Vehicles has deployed augmented and virtual reality, advanced sensors, data analytics and other technologies to improve manufacturing processes and customer fleet management\n\nDE-CIX switches on Internet Exchange in Finland Comms tech provider celebrates 10 years of partnership with Internet Exchange operator and home to leading carrier and datacentre neutral interconnection ecosystem\n\nEurope\u2019s cellular networks viable alternatives to broadband, LEO satellites Research finds that 5G download speeds of nearly 1Gbps were found in four out of the top five cities tested, and were equal to that of satellite and fixed networks\n\nTech salaries on the rise, says Aspire Tech salaries are still on the rise for many roles as firms continue to battle for talent\n\nGenerative AI boosts HPE Q2 earnings The hype around generative AI appears to be working \u2013 at least for HPE, according to the company\u2019s second-quarter earnings\n\nBT claims UK first with 5G-enabled, immersive, interactive simulation experience Leading UK telco launches connected spaces that offer fully immersive experiences by combining interactive 360-degree video content with extended reality technology\n\nLloyds Bank calls on tech companies to control social media \u2018wild west\u2019 Lloyds Banking Group is calling on tech giants to step forward in the fight against online fraud, which emanates in the social media \u2018wild west\u2019", "output": "UK insurtech start-up Honcho will carry out its fundraising via crowdfunding platform CrowdCube after funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB), due to assist its launch, were put on an indefinite hold as a result of Brexit. The \u00a3650,000 drop in funding will now be made up with investment paid for company shares, with Honcho already raising \u00a3300,000 on its CrowdCube page. Honcho provides a free mobile app for comparing car insurance prices, with insurance providers bidding for customers for a \u00a31 fee. The business was due to be launched in Q1 2018, but as the funds from the EIB are on hold until Brexit is finalised, the company moved to crowdsourcing to meet its deadlines.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Christa Carone leaves WPP to join Group Nine Media as president \n by Larissa Faw , December 1, 2017\n\nChrista Carone is departing WPP to join Group Nine Media in the newly expanded role of president. COO Eric Ashman previously held the president title, but with different responsibilities and scope.\n\nAs president, Carone will oversee a variety of disciplines at the digital media company, including sales and marketing teams, as well as its data insights.\n\nShe will \"allow us to be a better partner for brands and agencies alike,\" says CEO Ben Lerer.\n\nMost recently, Carone was the COO of WPP\u2019s Group SJR and managing director of Colloquial, the agency's joint venture with J. Walter Thompson. Prior to that, Carone served as the CMO for the Boston 2024 Partnership, the organization tasked with developing Boston\u2019s bid for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.\n\nShe also worked at Fidelity Investments and Xerox Corp.\n\nCarone joins the company at an opportune time. Earlier this week, Group Nine Media announced it has raised $40 million in a new round of funding to help expand video content across its brands and to finance future acquisitions.", "output": "Digital firm Group Nine Media will add Christa Carone, formerly the COO of WPP's Group SJR, as president, replacing Eric Ashman. Carone will manage teams across various disciplines, including marketing, sales and data insights. Carone was also formerly the managing director of WPP's venture Colloquial. Group Nine Media recently completed a $40m funding round for the expansion of video content across owned brands and for future acquisition financing.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Millennials buy holidays as home ownership becomes unrealistic \n M illennials are taking more expensive holidays because they believe saving enough money to buy a house is unrealistic, a travel expert has said.\n\nHoliday firm Contiki reported a 10% increase in the average amount of money people aged 18 to 35 are spending on trips this year compared with 2016.\n\nIt found that young travellers are taking more adventurous and so-called bucket list trips, with increased year-on-year demand for destinations such as New Zealand (up 83%), South America (up 71%), Bali (up 56%) and Vietnam (up 50%).\n\nWith a typical first-time home buyer in the UK aged 30, Contiki sales and marketing director Donna Jeavons has noticed a trend in young people prioritising experiences including travel over getting on the property ladder.\n\nSix things millennials should be giving up to buy a house\n\nShe said: \"With housing being so expensive, many young people are opting to live in the moment and pursue other goals first, knowing that buying a house could be a little further down the line than it was for previous generations.\n\n\"Saving a bit here and there isn't really scratching the surface for millennials, so many are choosing to have the best holiday they can afford instead.\"\n\nThe average age of Contiki customers is 26 and earlier this year the firm introduced specially themed trips to Canada for \"avid Instagrammers\".\n\nThis was in response to research which showed that a section of the youth market is drawn to destinations from where they can upload popular social media posts.\n\nSeveral other companies have also started selling products aimed at younger travellers.\n\nU by Uniworld will be Europe's first river cruise brand exclusively for young people when it launches in April 2018 with craft beers, mixology classes, street art tours and vintage motor bike rides.\n\nThe firm's chief executive Ellen Bettridge said: \"We are targeting an active traveller between the ages of 21 and 45, with everything from the decor, dining and cocktail service to the land activities thoughtfully curated to meet the needs of this audience.\"\n\nAir France's new subsidiary airline aimed at young people, Joon, began operating from Paris on Friday.\n\nIt is \"designed for our millennial customers\" with features such as the ability to stream movies and television shows using smartphones and tablets, crew uniforms with a \"chic sportswear look\" and a partnership with travel site Airbnb Experiences.\n\nDominique Wood, an executive vice president at Air France, said: \"With Joon, we have created a young and connected brand that will give the group a new impetus.\"", "output": "Millennials are paying more for holidays and saving less because of the perception that buying a house in the expensive property market is an unattainable goal, according to holiday company Contiki. The firm recorded a 10% increase in the average amount spent on holidays by those aged 18 to 35 in 2017, when compared to last year. Contiki offers holidays designed for social media sharing in order to cater to the millennial market."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "PilotWorks raises $13m for kitchen-sharing start-up plan \u00a0 \n A start-up called Pilotworks wants to make it easier for food entrepreneurs to start a business, whether they seek to open a new restaurant, launch a catering empire, or formulate irresistible packaged snacks.\n\nAcre Venture Partners, a fund backed solely by Campbell Soup , has led a $13 million investment in Pilotworks with Techstars and others, hoping it will become the WeWork of food and hospitality.\n\nAs Pilotworks CEO Nick Devane notes: \"Food entrepreneurs need a lot more than a few desks and fast internet to start a business. We give them kitchens that are up to code, equipped with everything they need whether its dry storage or blast chillers. And we help them market and distribute what they make.\"\n\nWhile co-working spaces for tech entrepreneurs abound thanks to WeWork, and other office leasing platforms, food makers previously had to strike up deals with restaurants, or navigate a fragmented industry to find available commissaries.\n\nDevane considers Pilotworks a tech start-up as much as a food business, because it developed custom scheduling software and an online community for its members. These make it easy to book space and equipment at a Pilotworks kitchen, and to take advantage of industry mentors and workshops on-site.\n\nFood start-ups aren't the only ones using the company's kitchens so far. Culinary schools have offered courses there, counting Pilotworks as a \"pop-up\" classroom.\n\nThe New York-based start-up intends to use its new funding for hiring, marketing and geographic expansion, Devane said. The company is expanding into Chicago and Dallas next.\n\n\n\n\n\n", "output": "PilotWorks is aiming to give prospective food-delivery entrepreneurs easier access to fully equipped commercial kitchens. Acre Venture Partners, the investment\u00a0arm of Campbell\u00a0Soup, led a $13m fund-raising\u00a0series to launch PilotWorks as the WeWork of the food and hospitality industry, with plans to open\u00a0shared kitchens through the US.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Kespry secures $33m for mining, construction industry\u00a0drones \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nIndustrial drone platform provider Kespry has raised $33 million in a series C round of funding led by G2VP, with participation from Cisco Investments, Shell Technology Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, DCM Ventures, Spectrum 28, ABB Ventures, and H. Barton Asset Management.\n\nFounded out of Menlo Park in 2013, Kespry targets industries such as mining and construction with an automated system that uses unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to capture and process imagery of sites from the skies above. The system includes everything needed to complete the inspection, including the drone and an iPad, and the user can draw out an area for analysis with their finger. The Kespry drone then works out a flight path and does the rest, with on-board lidar sensors helping it avoid any obstacles it encounters. It also taps AI and machine learning to deliver analytics and insights based on its findings.\n\nUp until now, Kespry had raised around $38 million in outside funding, and with its latest cash infusion it plans to invest in sales, marketing, and R&D. The company also said that it plans to expand into more industries, including the energy utility sector.\n\n\u201cWith the exponential growth of the Kespry aerial intelligence platform, we\u2019re participating in a generational shift of how industrial work gets done,\u201d said Kespry CEO and chair George Mathew. \u201cWe\u2019re incredibly pleased to have leading industrial-tech investors recognize Kespry\u2019s contributions to the future of work. The digital transformation in insurance, mining, construction, and many other industries represents a massive market opportunity.\u201d\n\nDrone companies have been drawing in significant investment in recent times, with an estimated $454 million plowed into UAV startups in 2016 alone. Other companies operating in the space include PrecisionHawk, which has raised around $30 million in funding, and DroneDeploy, Measure, and Prenav, which have all reeled in VC cash recently.\n\nThe technology can do things like make it easier for insurance companies to assess roof damage after storms, as drone inspections are significantly quicker (and safer) than manual inspections.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been committed to identifying and applying advanced digital technologies to the energy sector for decades, and our investment in Kespry epitomizes our focus,\u201d added Daniel Jeavons, general manager for advanced analytics at Shell. \u201cThe use of industrial drones powered by AI and machine learning is a game-changer for the energy sector. It will make industrial work more efficient and safer, while empowering workers with powerful new digital tools and important, future-focused skills.\u201d\n\nUpdate: Dec 5, 6 a.m.: Amount raised was amended to $33 million.", "output": "Kespry has raised $33m in series C funding for its industrial drones. California-based Kespry provides industries such as construction and mining with drones to inspect sites and capture and process images of them. Users can draw out an area for analysis on an iPad using their finger. The drone then works out a flight path, carries out the inspection and delivers results analysed with artificial intelligence and machine learning. Kespry will use the funding, led by G2VP, to invest in sales, marketing\u00a0and research and development. Kespry has already raised $38m in earlier rounds.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Half of UK firms unprepared for data protection regulations \n Visit our privacy policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.", "output": "Just half of companies in the UK are prepared for the EU's incoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and a similar proportion of IT workers said cybersecurity had been covered in training, according to a report. When GDPR, designed to strengthen data protections, comes into force, non-compliant organisations could face large fines. Meanwhile, 82% of employers said they struggled to fill cybersecurity roles, possibly hinting at a skills gap.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Warehouses are growing up, average build sizes double from 2001 \n NEW YORK\u2014Those boxes piling up on your doorstep over the holidays don\u2019t ship from Santa\u2019s workshop. As Americans spend more money shopping online, real estate developers are sinking record amounts of money into new warehouse space, building bigger, taller structures to meet the needs of e-commerce \u2014 and the robots that help it along.\n\nBuilders spent $2.6 billion (U.S.) on U.S. warehouse construction in September, more than triple the figure in September 2012, according to the census. The size of the average warehouse completed this year was 188,000 square feet, according to a report published this week by CBRE Group Inc., more than double the size in 2001. Developers are also raising their roofs, with ceiling heights up 21 per cent over that period.\n\nWarehouses are getting bigger for the same reason retailers and logistics firms are building more of them.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s the notion of the endless aisle,\u201d said Joe Dunlap, a managing director at CBRE, where he leads the supply chain advisory practice. A retailer that stocks 30,000 items in its stores might offer 10 times as many items for sale online. More stock requires larger footprints. Higher ceilings accommodate mezzanine levels, letting operators cram more shelves into a building.\n\nToday\u2019s industrial buildings require thicker concrete floors to support heavy machinery used to automate the warehouse process, Dunlap said.\n\nWhile builders are pouring money into next-generation warehouses, venture capital firms are stoking competition in warehouse automation. Since Amazon.com Inc. acquired bot-maker Kiva Systems for $775 million in 2012, a new batch of robot makers has burst on the scene, including Geek+, which has raised $22 million. 6 River Systems Inc., a robotics company founded by former Kiva employees, scored a $15-million round, while RightHand, which makes a robo-arm, added $8 million to its war chest.\n\nMeanwhile, warehouses are likely to keep getting bigger and more expensive.\n\nRead more about:\n\nSHARE:", "output": "Real estate developers spent $2.6bn on warehouse construction in the US in September alone, more than three times the amount spent in the same period in 2012. The average size of a warehouse built in 2017 was 188,000 sq ft, more than twice the size in 2001, and ceiling heights are 21% higher, CBRE data shows. The cause for change is likely due to retailers and logistics companies looking to store products sold online, as e-commerce stock requires a larger footprint than brick-and-mortar counterparts' stock."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Landlords will pay more CGT on selling properties in an SPV \n What does the UK property market currently look like?\n\nWhilst the new Stamp Duty relief scheme stole the headlines, quietly in the budget small print was the news that those who invest in property using a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) will, as of next year, pay an increase in Capital Gains Tax when they sell the property, due to a freeze on indexation allowance. Prior to this latest move, using an SPV as a way of holding investment property meant that a lower amount of tax was payable when such a property was sold. It\u2019s the latest in a line of changes that have increasingly meant that Buy To Let isn\u2019t the straightforward investment that it used to be a few years ago. We\u2019ve already seen changes in the way that rental income is taxed, which although being phased in over the next two years will mean an increased personal tax bill for Landlords in January who still own properties in their own name, rather than under an SPV. Buy To Let lending legislation has also changed, with new rules being introduced by the Prudential Regulation Authority in October, making it more complicated to obtain lending to finance the purchase of an investment property.\n\nGETTY Those who invest in property using a SVP will pay more when they sell it\n\nNow, with this latest change in tax meaning that landlords will not only pay more tax on their rental income, but also any profit that they make from an increase in the value of a property over the time they own it, it\u2019s easy to understand why many investors might start to question the viability of their portfolios. The problem is, the demand for quality, privately rented housing remains strong in most areas of the UK, and therefore if more landlords choose to exit the market as a result of increased taxation, whilst this may assist some First Time Buyers to get on the property ladder \u2013 which it would appear is what the Government intended as an outcome when changes were announced in 2016 - it may also cause issues elsewhere in the property ecosystem due to a decrease in available rental properties. If we look at the headline figures, you can see where the issues may lie. According to the latest data available from the Department for Communities and Local Government, there are currently an estimated 23.5million residential dwellings in the UK. 14.7million are owned by their occupiers, either with or without a mortgage. Approximately 4.7million are rented privately from landlords, whilst circa 4million dwellings are provided by social housing.\n\nGETTY Out of the 23.5million residential dwellings in the UK, 4.7million are rented privately\n\nDue to the fact that, over the last few years, it\u2019s become harder to get a residential purchase mortgage due partly to the stricter lending criteria introduced in 2014 as part of the Mortgage Market Review, as well as rising house prices together with fewer homes available on the market to buy all making it harder for would-be purchasers to buy, the demand for quality private rented housing in the UK has grown. For example, predictions from consultants PwC suggest that an additional 1.8million privately rented homes will be required by that in 2025, which would represent a significant increase in the current levels of lettings stock available. Yet with increased taxation and costs of ownership, Buy To Let is looking less and less attractive to some landlords who are now selling up their portfolios. Meaning that, ironically, there is less rental stock available in the market in some areas, which has led to upwards pressure on rents in many parts of the UK. In fact, in their latest Buy To Let index released this week, national letting agents Your Move suggest that rents have increased on average at 2.4% so far this year.\n\nSUBSCRIBE Invalid email We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info\n\nCities such as Norwich and Cambridge have seen 6% rises in rents over the past twelve months, with the average monthly rent in the UK now at \u00a3887. As Brian Murphy, Head of Lending for Mortgage Advice Bureau, who\u2019s Best Buys for Buy To Let mortgages has been released today explains, \u201cWhilst interest rates remain at historic lows, it\u2019s easy to see the initial attraction of investing in property. Returns on straightforward savings are still very low, and historically, as an asset class property has performed exceptionally well, and rental demand continues in many parts of the UK. That said, Buy To Let has become more complex to navigate over the past few years, not just in terms of taxation but also increased regulation, for example with Right To Rent checks and increased health and safety measures. Whereas previously, investing in property may have been perceived as an easy way to make money, it now takes a lot of preparation and an ongoing commitment by investors to ensure that they stay on top of their paperwork and property management in order to ensure that their asset maintains it\u2019s viability.", "output": "The UK budget has included a change to special purpose vehicle (SPV) regulations that will require landlords to pay more capital gains tax when selling a property, as a result of a freeze of their indexation allowance. Formerly, investment properties held in an\u00a0SPV attracted\u00a0a lower level of tax when they were sold. The move may dent the buy to let market further after\u00a0the Prudential Regulation Authority brought out\u00a0regulations\u00a0in October\u00a0that have complicated the financing of investment property purchases.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How an independent panel could ration Medicare services \n Dec. 7 marks the end of the 2017 Medicare open enrollment period. The goal of open enrollment is for Medicare beneficiaries to be able to choose the best possible plan for their needs. The U.S. Senate has its own opportunity to help promote greater choice for older adults in Medicare by joining the House in voting to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB).\n\nIPAB was included as a last-minute addition to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010. It would establish a 15-member commission all appointed by the president and vested with the responsibility to make arbitrary reductions in Medicare. These changes would be mandatory and would automatically become law unless Congress passed legislation by a two-thirds majority to make equivalent cuts.\n\nIPAB\u2019s inherent danger exists in both its composition and its mission. Appointees would not be subject to Senate confirmation and there would be no guarantee of consumer representation. Further, we don\u2019t even know who these people will be \u2014 the president isn\u2019t required to name members until Medicare spending reaches a certain threshold, triggering IPAB.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe Independent Payment Advisory Board would not only make recommendations for cuts \u2014 it would also be required to implement these spending cuts rapidly, perhaps within a year. This could lead to payment cuts to providers and could exacerbate the current problem of physicians, particularly specialists, not accepting new Medicare patients.\n\nHalf of Medicare beneficiaries earn less than $23,500 a year, or just twice the poverty limit, according to Census figures. Any cuts to Medicare or program coverage limits would have a dire impact on these vulnerable seniors who are dependent on Medicare and other programs for assistance.\n\nThe work of IPAB would result in Congress abdicating its more than 50-year responsibility in setting Medicare policy. Passing this responsibility to a small group of unelected and unaccountable individuals is unfair and dangerous to the future of Medicare and those it serves.\n\nThe opportunity exists to repeal IPAB before it is ever convened. The Senate could join the House and pass a bipartisan bill, House Resolution 849, to repeal IPAB immediately. Or there is already bipartisan legislation pending in the Senate on IPAB repeal which could be considered. One of these bills is sponsored by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas; the other bill is sponsored by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon. Clearly, this issue transcends the partisanship often associated with the ACA.\n\nA vote on IPAB repeal could happen this month in the Senate. A separate bipartisan vote was taken by Congress to prevent any funds to be spent to establish IPAB. It is time to take the ultimate step and repeal IPAB once and for all.\n\nAs advocates for older adults both in San Diego and nationally, we work to protect beneficiary access to the essential care and services provided by Medicare.\n\nThere are ways to improve the health care system and strengthen Medicare\u2019s solvency at the same time \u2014 using more electronic health records, providing more innovations in delivery systems and treatments, and focusing more on outcomes. Some of the reforms in the ACA have already accomplished this. IPAB would set us back and possibly introduce rationing of care and services for the first time in Medicare\u2019s history.\n\nIt\u2019s a safe assumption that many older Americans who depend on Medicare have no idea about the cuts Medicare will be facing. It\u2019s an even safer assumption that once IPAB-related cuts impact them, these seniors will be angry. After all, 89 percent of seniors want Congress and President Trump to \u201ckeep the promise and integrity of Medicare without cuts to the program,\u201d according to a 2016 Morning Consult poll. The same poll found that only 9 percent of seniors think that \u201cgovernment officials should be able to make changes to Medicare without the approval of Congress.\u201d\n\nWe call on California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, both dedicated supporters of Medicare and those it serves, to support IPAB repeal and keep the job of Medicare reform where it belongs \u2014 in Congress.\n\nBlancato is executive director of the National Association of Nutrition and Aging Services Programs based in Washington D.C. and board chair of the American Society on Aging. Downey, past chair of the California Commission on Aging, is the president and CEO of Serving Seniors in San Diego.", "output": "There is currently an opportunity in the US Senate to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) which currently holds the power to make arbitrary reductions from Medicare. At present any changes that the IPAB makes are mandatory unless legislation is passed by Congress with a two-thirds majority. IPAB itself is only triggered once Medicare spending reaches a certain spending threshold, at which point the President must appoint a 15-member commission to address the\u00a0budget costs. This system is neither transparent nor a guarantee of consumer representation, with IPAB\u00a0obliged to implement any cuts it proposes at a fast pace. Such a move would pose a risk to Medicare beneficiaries, exacerbating current issues with physicians and specialists unable to accept new patients. These cuts would endanger the half of Medicare beneficiaries who earn less than $23,500, and the seniors that depend on Medicare programs for assistance. There is strong bipartisan support for repeal of the IPAB, with one bill already passed in the house calling for immediate repeal and further legislation pending in the Senate. Indeed, one vote has already been passed to deny any funds to establishing the IPAB. Should the IPAB be called into action, it may represent the first time that Medicare has its care and services rationed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Germany adds 150 MW of solar in October \n In October, Germany Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) registered new photovoltaic systems with a total capacity of 148.9 MW. Of this amount, 39.4 MW comes from 15 ground-mounted PV plants, of which some were awarded in tenders for large-scale solar and some are for installations of up to 750 kW. The remaining capacity, around 109.4 MW, is represented by 6,141 smaller projects mostly rooftop PV installations.\n\nIn the first 10 months of 2017, around 1,460 MW of new PV systems were registered in Germany. If this growth trend continues, the 2.5 GW corridor set as a target by the German government will once again fall short this year. However, the newly installed capacity in 2017 will probably be higher than the two previous years, when it reached around 1,500 MW annually each time. Meanwhile, the country\u2019s cumulative installed PV power base has increased to 42.7 GW, as of the end of October 2017.\n\nIn the meantime, the EU Commission has given the green light for Germany\u2019s new regulation for tenant\u2019s solar power supply. Projects selected under this scheme, however, are recorded separately by the Bundesnetzagentur since the law was published at the end of July. In October, five new registrations were added. Since July, 24 PVsystems for the supply of tenants with a total output of 464.9 kilowatts have been registered with the Bonn-based authority.\n\nPopular content\n\nSolar subsidies will remain stable in December and will not increase in January. Depending on the size of the roof system, the FIT is 10.61 to 12.20 \u20ac cents/kWh. For solar power systems exceeding 100 kW, the FIT will be 8.44 \u20ac cent/kWh. For direct marketing, which is mandatory for all PV systems with a capacity of more than 100 KW, tariffs will range between 8.84 and 12.60 \u20ac cents/kWh, depending on the size of the plants.", "output": "Germany's Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) added 148.9 MW of new photovoltaic facilities in October taking 2017's total to 1,460 MW, meaning it's likely to miss this government's 2.5 GW target.\u00a0The new installations include 39.4 MW generated from 15 ground-mounted PV facilities and 109.4 MW from 6,141 smaller installations, largely being rooftop facilities. By the end of October, the accumulated PV power systems had risen to 42.7 GW."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Argentina allows residential power sales to the grid \n The Argentinean Senate has approved the law of Distributed Renewable Generation, with 65 votes for and none against, according to a statement provided to pv magazine by Marcelo \u00c1lvarez, from local renewable energy industry body, C\u00e1mara Argentina de Energ\u00edas Renovables (CADER). The Senate vote was the final necessary step to the introduction of the law, following preliminary approval by the Chamber of Deputies in September.\n\nCommenting, \u00c1lvarez said the government, and relevant authorities, need to rigorously regulate the new law, particularly with regard to how the guaranteed fiscal, financial and tariff incentives will be used.\n\nThe new provisions are expected to come into play in the first quarter of 2018, according to Alvarez. The wording of the law, approved by the Chamber of Deputies, resulted from the various bills on distributed generation, which were presented by all Argentinian political forces over the past years. The resulting, unified, text introduces a net metering scheme that that will enable owners of small and middle-sized solar and renewable energy power generators to sell excess electricity to the national grid.\n\nPopular content\n\nIt further states that all construction projects on public buildings will include the use of distributed generation facilities from renewable sources, and that distribution companies cannot add any additional charges for network maintenance, access fees, electrical backups, or any other type of tax associated with the installation of distributed generation systems.\n\nA special fund, FODIS, worth around 500 million pesos (US$28.7 million) will be created, to help homeowners and small and medium enterprises resolve the issue of financing. The law could also include a series of fiscal benefits for prosumers, which will come from an additional fund of 200 million pesos ($11.5 million).", "output": "Argentina's Senate has granted approval of the Distributed Renewable Generation law, with the legislation due to come into effect in Q1 2018. The law allows small and middle-size solar and renewable energy power generator owners to sell spare electricity to the national grid. The legislation also mandates the use of renewable energy distributed generation facilities for all public building construction projects. Distribution companies will also be prevented from imposing charges, such as access fees, network maintenance, electrical backups or taxes, on distributed energy generation projects."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Prototype can show AR object\u00a0behind and in front of\u00a0real objects \n That\u2019s where researchers at the University of Arizona\u2019s College of Optical Sciences think they can help. A prototype augmented-reality display they\u2019ve come up with can show a virtual image that both blocks the real-world objects sitting behind it and can itself be blocked by other real-world objects placed in front of it.\n\nHong Hua, an optical sciences professor at the University of Arizona and coauthor of a recently published paper on the work, says the display\u2014made initially for just one eye\u2014is kind of like a telescope system. Lenses image a real-world view on a spatial light modulator (these are used to control beams of light in things like projectors), which is used to make a mask that, pixel by pixel, blocks out the portion of the real world that the virtual object will sit in front of. The modulated light and the virtual image then travel through the eyepiece and reach your eye.\n\nHua, it should be noted, is also a consultant for the mysterious augmented-reality startup Magic Leap and is listed as an inventor on some of the company\u2019s patent applications and patents, including two patents granted in 2017 for a headset with a see-through display featuring mutual occlusion and opaqueness control that looks very similar to this work. She won\u2019t say precisely what she does for Magic Leap, but she does say this academic research is unrelated. Still, given its importance for making AR seem realistic, it would make sense if the company were also pursuing the work (when asked about it, Magic Leap had no comment).\n\nHua says a big challenge to making this kind of dual occlusion work in AR is dealing with light\u2014specifically, you have to be able to precisely control light from the real world in order to superimpose, say, a digital teapot onto a shelf so it appears to be in front of things like a can of compressed air as well as behind a can of spray paint (as Hua and graduate student Austin Wilson did with their prototype). Head-mounted displays available today can\u2019t do that.\n\nIn order to make it eventually work in real time in an AR headset, Hua says, you\u2019d need a depth sensor, which is becoming increasingly common on headsets such as HoloLens.\n\nThe hardware needed to make this kind of occlusion possible would also have to get a lot smaller. Right now it\u2019s pretty bulky, she says, because she and Wilson were concentrating on making the system inexpensive rather than compact. They\u2019re working on a new prototype now to make it wearable, Hua says, but it will still be helmet-size.\n\n\u201cTo make it into the popular glasses form factor is probably going to take a while,\u201d she says.", "output": "Researchers from the University of Arizona's College of Optical Sciences have created a prototype for an augmented reality (AR) display that can accurately show depth, with AR objects able to be superimposed upon real-world objects and appear simultaneously to be behind and in front of other objects. The display, presently only made for one eye, uses lenses to modulate light to create the appearance that a virtual object is situated physically in reality. The prototype will eventually be made smaller and involve a depth sensor and be incorporated into headsets.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Alibaba's AI biometrics system coming to Shanghai subway \n A Shanghai Metro train. The system operates more than 4,000 trains on 17 lines and has 367 stations in its network. Photo: Zigor Aldama", "output": "Chinese conglomerate Alibaba Group is set to deploy its artificial intelligence (AI) technology for the first time in the country's transport sector. In a joint statement, Alibaba and the Shanghai Shentong Metro Group said users of the Shanghai Metro would be able to purchase tickets and access travel information using Alibaba's far-field voice and facial recognition technology. No launch dates were given, but the move forms part of China's ambitious plan to develop an AI industry worth $150bn.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Inside the Resurgence of Home-Based Primary Care \n Dr. Thomas Cornwell has conducted more than 32,000 house calls over his time in the health care field. He began seeing patients at home more than 20 years ago, even developing x-rays in the driveways of his patients, where he visited them for primary care at home.\n\nAnd to Cornwell, doing that many visits doesn\u2019t strike him as unusual. It\u2019s the way medicine, particularly primary care services, used to be done in America, he said during a discussion on in-home care at the Alzheimer\u2019s Association Symposium in Illinois in November.\n\nIn 1930, 40% of health care was done at home. By 1960, that figure had dropped to 10%, and in 1980, it was less than 1% of care. While home health care reaches millions of patients per year, Cornwell is on a mission to drive savings, work in tangent with home health nurses and bring primary care options back to the home setting.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nPrimary care spreading\n\nCornwell is the CEO of the Home Centered Care Institute (HCCI), a not-for-profit organization that aims to expand house call practices throughout the country, and founder of Northwestern Medicine HomeCare Physicians. A practicing physician for more than 30 years, Cornwell is currently working on home-based primary care training initiatives to develop house call practices at different institutional systems in the U.S.\n\nWith a multimillion dollar grant, home-based primary care trainings are taking place this year and in 2018 at eight Centers of Excellence (COEs) by COE faculty.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe COEs include the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio; Medstar House Call Program in Washington, D.C.; Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City; Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago; Truman Schnabel House Calls Program/University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia; University of Arizona Center on Aging within the College of Medicine in Tucson, Arizona; University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Fayetteville, Arkansas; and University of California San Francisco.\n\n\u201c[There is] truly remarkable quality care in the home,\u201d Cornwell said during the presentation, noting that some physicians have questioned how primary care can be conducted in the home.\n\nSome have even told Cornwell he is \u201cbegging for a lawsuit\u201d by performing health care in home settings. However, Cornwell notes that addressing the health care needs of just a certain population of Medicare patients, even treating them at home, can have a huge impact.\n\nFor example, just 5% of the Medicare population consumes about 50% of the total spending, he said. In addition, 1% of the Medicare population consume 23% of all Medicare costs\u2014and these are patients typically with five or more chronic diseases, who also have some functional impairment. Providing primary care at home can likely reduce the exorbitant spending among this group by reducing hospitalizations and adding chronic care and preventive treatment.\n\nFuture benefit\n\nCornwell has his sights set far beyond training initiatives with institutions. He hopes that home-based primary care will become a Medicare benefit one day, rather than being conducted on a one-off basis through grants and demonstrations.\n\nThere is roughly one new Medicare benefit created about every decade\u2014coincidentally, and home-based primary could be next, Cornwell said.\n\nIndeed, there is hope for home-based primary care to become permanent. The Independence at Home Demonstration from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) works with medical practices to test primary care for seniors at home, and to evaluate whether Medicare beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions receive better care. So far, the demonstration, which originated in 2012, is a money-saver, according to reports from CMS.\n\nThe demonstration was extended beyond in its initial run, and a bill in Congress aims to make it permanent. The bill has yet to be voted on.\n\nWritten by Amy Baxter", "output": "The rates of health care visits performed in peoples\u2019 homes have declined sharply in the last century but there are signs that it may be undergoing a revival. One such indicator is the Home Centered Care Institute (HCCI), an institute that hopes to revive the practice of home healthcare visits which has fallen from 40 percent of interactions in 1930 to less than 1 percent by 1980. There are significant advantages to performing medical visits at home, particularly amongst Medicare beneficiaries. Half of Medicare spending is taken up by only 5 percent of the Medicare population, whilst 1 percent of beneficiaries account for 23 percent of total costs. These patients often suffer from a range of chronic conditions and performing primary care at home both removes the stress of a hospital visit without shouldering the costs involved as well. In addition, primary care at home also supports preventative treatment plans. The HCCI has received a multimillion-dollar grant to offer home-based primary care training and its CEO, Dr. Thomas Cornwell, hopes the practice will eventually become a Medicare benefit, rather than a one-off treatment. Currently, the Independence at Home Demonstration from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is testing the use of primary care for seniors at home to evaluate the benefits for patients with multiple chronic conditions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Uber loses bid to appeal driver case to UK Supreme Court \n Uber\u2019s request to leapfrog the Court of Appeals and go straight to the UK Supreme Court in its bid to appeal a decision on workers\u2019 rights, has been knocked back.\n\nThe private taxi app biz had wanted to skip the Court of Appeals and have its case heard in front of the higher court, but its application has been denied.\n\nIt\u2019s the latest set-back in the taxi hailing biz\u2019s attempts to appeal a 2016 decision in which the Central London Employment Tribunal ruled that two drivers \u2013 James Farrar and Yaseen Aslam \u2013 were Uber staff and so entitled to holiday pay, paid rest breaks and the minimum wage.\n\nThe firm appealed the decision, but lost that case last month at the Employment Appeal Tribunal, after which it applied to have its appeal heard at the Supreme Court.\n\n\"Now that Uber has been denied permission to go straight to the Supreme Court, they should take this opportunity to work with their drivers instead of fighting them at every stage,\" Aslam said of the decisions.\n\n\"We've already beaten Uber twice and are prepared to do so again in the Court of Appeal.\"\n\nJason Moyer-Lee, general secretary of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain, which is backing Farrar and Aslam's case, said the latest decision was \"another blow to Uber's legal strategy behind denying workers their rights\".\n\nHe added: \"The IWGB would encourage Uber yet again to stop wasting everyone's time and simply focus on providing minimum wage and holiday pay to the thousands of drivers who have been deprived of their rights for years.\"\n\nUber\u2019s employment practices have also come under scrutiny from MPs on the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, which wrote to the firm (PDF) at the end of last month asking for more information on driver and passenger safety.\n\nChair Rachel Reeves said that Uber had failed to give specifics on how many drivers were working more than 70 and 80 hours a week - the biz had said just that less than 6 per cent of drivers spend more than 60 hours logged into the app per week.\n\n\u201cIt is strange that a data-driven business like Uber appears unable to answer our question on how many of its drivers are working more than 70 and 80 hours a week. We expect them to now respond with the missing figures,\u201d Reeves said.\n\nShe also asked for information on when driver hour limits would be introduced in the UK, and what those limits would be, per day and per week, per driver. \u00ae", "output": "The UK arm of ride-hailing service Uber has been denied an application to fight a workers' rights case in the Supreme Court, rather than the Court of Appeals. Uber is appealing a 2016 decision by the Central London Employment Tribunal that drivers James Farrar and Yaseen Aslam were considered staff, and entitled to holiday and sick pay. Jason Moyer-Lee, general secretary of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain urged Uber to \"stop wasting everyone's time and focus on providing minimum wage and holiday pay to the... drivers who have been deprived of their rights for years\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mariah Carey, Motorhead among musicians ready to accept Monero \n Will you be doing your holiday shopping with cryptocurrency? The open-source cryptocurrency Monero is banking on it.\n\nOn Tuesday (Dec. 5), Monero announced its new online shopping initiative called Project Coral Reef that allows music fans to purchase holiday gifts and merchandise from over 35 artists, including Mariah Carey, G-Eazy, Kaskade, Motorhead, Toby Keith, Fall Out Boy and more at discounted prices.\n\n\u201cAs cryptocurrencies become more popular, it\u2019s important that my fans have choices when it comes to how they buy my songs and merchandise,\u201d said G-Eazy in a statement. \u201cGiven Monero is one of the safest, most secure and most private cryptocurrencies, it\u2019s one of the best options for my fans this holiday season.\u201d\n\nAs well as offering an alternate payment option, Project Coral Reef is a community-driven effort intended to raise awareness for Monero\u2019s secure and private system that runs with a unique protocol and code-base and possesses with algorithmic differences relating to blockchain obfuscation. Monero points this in contrast to the more widely known BitCoin \u2014 which just passed $10,000 per coin \u2014 where transaction information is publicly available on the blockchain.\n\n\u201cCryptocurrencies are fast becoming more popular to make purchases, but not all currencies are created equal and not all are as private and secure as people think. Project Coral Reef is a very important step towards the mainstream adoption of Monero,\u201d said Riccardo \u201cfluffypony\u201d Spagni, lead maintainer of Monero, in a statement. \u201cFor the first time, consumers around the world can use Monero to securely and privately buy their favorite artists\u2019 music and merchandise.\u201d\n\nThe new initiative is launching in partnership with payment processor GloBee, music merchandising companies Global Merchandising Services and Manhead Merchandise, as well as the involved recording artists.\n\n\u201cOur focus is to create the best environment for fans to engage with their favorite artists\u2019 merchandise and licensed products,\u201d said Christopher Drinkwater, head of e-commerce for Global Merchandise, in a statement. \u201cWith the emergence of cryptocurrencies as an increasingly popular way for consumers to purchase goods, it makes sense that we partner with a trusted digital currency such as Monero to allow fans to transact with artists in a way in which they have never been able to before.\u201d\n\n\n\n\u201cAs someone on the front lines of the music merchandise business, I know how passionate fans are in supporting their favorite band or artist,\u201d added Chris Cornell, founder and CEO of Manhead Merchandise. \u201cI also know how much they value keeping their financial information private. Giving fans the option to use their Monero to purchase awesome gear at our artists\u2019 stores this holiday season is a win-win for our artists, and our fans\u2019 right to privacy.\u201d\n\nFind out more about Project Coral Reef here and see a list of all participating artists here.", "output": "Dozens of musicians, including Mariah Carey, G-Eazy and Motorhead, are to accept the Monero cryptocurrency for merchandise. Monero's Project Coral Reef retail platform lets music fans buy items from more than 35 artists at discounted prices. In addition to being an alternative payment option, Project Coral Reef also seeks to raise awareness of Monero's secure and private system, which, unlike bitcoin, does not make transactions publicly available on the blockchain.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian bike-sharing company Mobycy raises $500,000 seed funding \n Bicycle sharing startup Mobycy raises seed funding\n\nCredit: Thinkstock\n\nGurgaon-based Bycyshare Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which owns bicycle sharing startup Mobycy, has raised $500,000 (Rs 3.2 crore) in a seed round from a US-based angel investor, the company said.\n\nThe startup, which was launched earlier this year by the former vice president and marketing head of digital wallet firm Mobikwik, Akash Gupta, will use the capital to enhance operations, Mobycy said in a press statement.\n\n\u201cWe are starting with 5,000 bikes and the plan is to expand to at least five or six cities within the first six months. We are also developing the technology and building the app. The fund will also be used for team building. We are a team of 10 now,\u201d Gupta told VCCircle over the phone.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nMobycy\u2019s smart bikes are enabled with internet of things (IoT) locking devices and global positioning system (GPS)-based tracking sensors. They can be operated without docks or stations for parking.\n\nThe startup claims that a user will just have to fire up the Mobycy app to find a bike, unlock it with the QR code provided to him or her. Once the trip is completed, the bike has to be pared at a safe place. The only exceptions are gated community and private compounds.\n\nMobycy currently rents out bikes at Re 1 per hour. The monthly plan requires users to make a security deposit of Rs 999, which is refundable, besides Rs 99 for two-hour rides per day. Users will have to sign up using their Aadhaar details. Students, however, can enrol using their college photo identification card, and will have to pay Rs 499 as security deposit.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe bicycles will initially be available across Delhi-NCR, including metro stations, markets and popular haunts such as North Campus and Cyber City.\n\nEarlier this month, VCCircle had reported Gupta\u2019s decision to quit Mobikwik to launch his own green-tech venture.\n\nGupta had started his career with IT major Infosys as a software engineer in September 2005. He also had stints in research firm Frost & Sullivan, Dell Technologies, and Airtel\u2019s DTH division, where he rose through the ranks to become the national acquisition head, besides e-tailer Snapdeal. He joined Mobikwik as general manager, marketing, and got elevated as vice president and head of marketing.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nShare article on Leave Your Comments", "output": "Indian start-up Mobycy, owned by Bycyshare Technologies, has raised $500,000 in seed funding from a US angel investor. The company, launched by a former marketing chief of Mobikwik,\u00a0Akash Gupta, offers internet of things-enabled bikes\u00a0fitted with GPS sensors. The bikes cost\u00a0INR1 ($0.015)\u00a0an hour\u00a0and customers use their Aadhaar identification number\u00a0details to register for the service.\u00a0Mobycy does not use docks or parking stations and is starting with 5,000 bikes.\u00a0Mobycy bikes are available across Delhi's National Capital Region, and the funding will be used to enhance operations, the\u00a0company said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "QR code payments coming to Hong Kong's taxi service \n But new method receives lukewarm response from taxi industry insiders, who say more incentives and data protection needed to get drivers on board", "output": "Hong Kong's e-payment operator Octopus has launched a QR code service aimed at transitioning the city's 40,000 taxi drivers away from cash. The smartphone service, which is also targeted at small sellers, removes the need for merchants to install card readers. So far the service has not proved widely popular. Taxi industry insiders said more data protection and incentives are needed to boost its uptake amongst drivers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google launches DeepVariant AI to interpret genetic data \n DeepVariant helps turn high-throughput sequencing readouts into a picture of a full genome. It automatically identifies small insertion and deletion mutations and single-base-pair mutations in sequencing data.\n\nHigh-throughput sequencing became widely available in the 2000s and has made genome sequencing more accessible. But the data produced using such systems has offered only a limited, error-prone snapshot of a full genome. It is typically challenging for scientists to distinguish small mutations from random errors generated during the sequencing process, especially in repetitive portions of a genome. These mutations may be directly relevant to diseases such as cancer.\n\nA number of tools exist for interpreting these readouts, including GATK, VarDict, and FreeBayes. However, these software programs typically use simpler statistical and machine-learning approaches to identifying mutations by attempting to rule out read errors.\n\n\u201cOne of the challenges is in difficult parts of the genome, where each of the [tools] has strengths and weaknesses,\u201d says Brad Chapman, a research scientist at Harvard\u2019s School of Public Health who tested an early version of DeepVariant. \u201cThese difficult regions are increasingly important for clinical sequencing, and it\u2019s important to have multiple methods.\u201d\n\nDeepVariant was developed by researchers from the Google Brain team, a group that focuses on developing and applying AI techniques, and Verily, another Alphabet subsidiary that is focused on the life sciences.\n\nThe team collected millions of high-throughput reads and fully sequenced genomes from the Genome in a Bottle (GIAB) project, a public-private effort to promote genomic sequencing tools and techniques. They fed the data to a deep-learning system and painstakingly tweaked the parameters of the model until it learned to interpret sequenced data with a high level of accuracy.\n\nLast year, DeepVariant won first place in the PrecisionFDA Truth Challenge, a contest run by the FDA to promote more accurate genetic sequencing.\n\n\u201cThe success of DeepVariant is important because it demonstrates that in genomics, deep learning can be used to automatically train systems that perform better than complicated hand-engineered systems,\u201d says Brendan Frey, CEO of Deep Genomics.", "output": "Google has turned its AI capabilities towards making sense of genetic information, launching its artificial intelligence tool, DeepVariant, to make sense of a person's genomic detail. The AI has been developed by two Google off-shoots, Google Brain and Verily, to process high-throughput sequencing readouts which previously have often only offered a limited view of a full genome. The use of AI in genomics may allow for the identification of genetic causes for diseases and precision drug and treatment plans, overcoming the previously hindrances of data scale and complexity."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Private rents may rise 5-6% across Ireland by 2019: Savills \n Surge into the rental market means the vacancy rate across Ireland is now just 1.31%, or 1.41% in Dublin. Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien\n\nOne in four people are now renting their home in Dublin, the highest figure since quarterly records began, with a new report predicting that the average rent in the capital will soar by 5-6 per cent a year to surpass \u20ac2,000 by 2019.\n\nIn a new analysis of Ireland's private rented market, John McCartney, economist with property agents Savills, finds that some 895,600 people are living in rented accommodation \u2013 up by 39,500, or 4.6 per cent, in the past 12 months, and by 42 per cent since the second quarter of 2007.\n\nThis represents 18.9 per cent of the population across the country, while in Dublin, the proportion of renters is at 24.3 per cent \u2013 these figures are the highest since quarterly records began.\n\nThey are also likely to be the highest since the home ownership boom began during the 1970s. Back in 2000, census figures show that the proportion of renters in Dublin was less than 10 per cent.\n\nREAD MORE\n\n\"Property prices continue to advance faster than average earnings, creating an affordability challenge to home-ownership which is driving people into the rented sector,\" Mr McCartney said, adding that he expects the proportion of renters to continue to rise.\n\nThis surge into the rental market means that the vacancy rate across Ireland is now just 1.31 per cent, or 1.41 per cent in Dublin, and Savills expects rents to keep rising until the market reaches the \u201cequilibrium\u201d rate of 5.6 per cent.\n\n\u201cHowever this will not happen within the foreseeable future and so the outlook is for further rent inflation,\u201d Mr McCartney says.\n\n\u2018Chronic shortage\u2019\n\nSavills expects the vacancy rate to improve to 2.04 per cent by December 2019, which means that the \u201cchronic shortage\u201d will persist for the medium-term, as Mr McCartney says that at current new-build rates, \u201cthere is more chance of it [vacancy rate] falling than rising\u201d and it \u201ccertainly won\u2019t rise appreciably\u201d over the next four-five years.\n\nThis tight supply means that rents will continue rising. Mr McCartney expects rents to rise by 5-6 per cent a year in Dublin until the end of 2019, and by 7.2 per cent across the country.\n\nLatest figures from Daft.ie show that the average rent across Ireland is now \u20ac1,198 nationally, or \u20ac1,819 in Dublin\u2019s city centre, which means that by end 2019, rents could have risen to \u20ac1,376 and \u20ac2,024, respectively.\n\nHowever, rental inflation may be higher in certain properties, and a two-tier market is likely to develop with higher rents on properties exempt from rent controls.\n\nThe surge in rents means renters are increasingly moving to the commuter belts, just like those who sought to buy before them did.\n\n\u201cIt may get to point where you can\u2019t even rent in Dublin,\u201d says Mr McCartney, adding that we are going to see people increasingly \u201ccommuting to rent\u201d \u2013 but without the benefit of owning their own property.\n\nMr McCartney also sounds a warning note about the inflationary pressures rising rents will have on the economy, in terms of wage claims, as well as the \u201chuman cost\u201d, of people being forced to commute long distances because they cannot afford to rent in big cities.\n\nInvestors\n\nCash investors are also crowding out mortgage-financed landlords. The research shows about 61 per cent of privately-rented properties are owned outright by their landlords, up by almost 20 per cent since 2012. This means that just 39 per cent of rented properties have mortgages on them, down by 23,192 properties since 2012 \u2013 and 8,000 properties became mortgage-free in the last year alone.\n\nFor Mr McCartney, the flow is due to \u201csmall-time ordinary people\u201d buying with cash and looking for a better yield on their money than that offered by deposits.", "output": "One in four Dublin residents is renting their home, more than at any other time since quarterly records were instituted. The average rent in the area will rise by between 5% and 6% annually, and is expected to hit \u20ac2,000 by 2019, according estate agent Savills. Analysis of the Irish private rental market found that the number of renters has risen 4.6% in the past year, and 42% since Q2 2007. In 2000, just 10% of residents in the area were renting.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Code.org gets funding from Gates Foundation for teacher training \n Code.org is getting $12 million in philanthropic funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other donors like auditor PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers), as first reported by the Seattle Times. The organization also announced in a Medium post that it has reached ten million girls with student accounts on its platform.\n\nThe Code.org nonprofit trains teachers on how to teach computer science lessons to students from kindergarten through 12th grade. It also hosts Hour of Code activities for students to learn coding basics. This year\u2019s Computer Science Education Week starts today and there are over 122,000 Hour of Code global events registered to happen throughout the week.", "output": "Code.org, a non-profit that trains teachers on how to offer computer science lessons, has raised $12m\u00a0from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and PwC, among\u00a0others. Code.org also hosts the Hour of Code programme, which will offer 122,000 events over the second week of December.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Robots trained to predict future repercussions of their actions \n University of California, Berkeley, researchers have developed a robotic learning technology that enables robots to imagine the future of their actions so they can figure out how to manipulate objects they have never encountered before. In the future, this technology could help self-driving cars anticipate future events on the road and produce more intelligent robotic assistants in homes, but the initial prototype focuses on learning simple manual skills entirely from autonomous play.\n\nUsing this technology, called visual foresight, the robots can predict what their cameras will see if they perform a particular sequence of movements. These robotic imaginations are still relatively simple for now - predictions made only several seconds into the future - but they are enough for the robot to figure out how to move objects around on a table without disturbing obstacles. Crucially, the robot can learn to perform these tasks without any help from humans or prior knowledge about physics, its environment or what the objects are. That's because the visual imagination is learned entirely from scratch from unattended and unsupervised exploration, where the robot plays with objects on a table. After this play phase, the robot builds a predictive model of the world, and can use this model to manipulate new objects that it has not seen before.\n\n\"In the same way that we can imagine how our actions will move the objects in our environment, this method can enable a robot to visualize how different behaviors will affect the world around it,\" said Sergey Levine, assistant professor in Berkeley's Department of Electrical Engineeing and Computer Sciences, whose lab developed the technology. \"This can enable intelligent planning of highly flexible skills in complex real-world situations.\"\n\nThe research team will perform a demonstration of the visual foresight technology at the Neural Information Processing Systems conference in Long Beach, California, on December 5.\n\nAt the core of this system is a deep learning technology based on convolutional recurrent video prediction, or dynamic neural advection (DNA). DNA-based models predict how pixels in an image will move from one frame to the next based on the robot's actions. Recent improvements to this class of models, as well as greatly improved planning capabilities, have enabled robotic control based on video prediction to perform increasingly complex tasks, such as sliding toys around obstacles and repositioning multiple objects. UC Berkeley researchers have developed a robotic learning technology that enables robots to imagine the future of their actions so they can figure out how to manipulate objects they have never encountered before. In the future, this technology could help self-driving cars anticipate future events on the road and produce more intelligent robotic assistants in homes, but the initial prototype focuses on learning simple manual skills entirely from autonomous play. Credit: Roxanne Makasdjian and Stephen McNally, UC Berkeley\n\n\"In that past, robots have learned skills with a human supervisor helping and providing feedback. What makes this work exciting is that the robots can learn a range of visual object manipulation skills entirely on their own,\" said Chelsea Finn, a doctoral student in Levine's lab and inventor of the original DNA model.\n\nWith the new technology, a robot pushes objects on a table, then uses the learned prediction model to choose motions that will move an object to a desired location. Robot use the learned model from raw camera observations to teach themselves how to avoid obstacles and push objects around obstructions.\n\n\"Humans learn object manipulation skills without any teacher through millions of interactions with a variety of objects during their lifetime. We have shown that it possible to build a robotic system that also leverages large amounts of autonomously collected data to learn widely applicable manipulation skills, specifically object pushing skills,\" said Frederik Ebert, a graduate student in Levine's lab who worked on the project.\n\nSince control through video prediction relies only on observations that can be collected autonomously by the robot, such as through camera images, the resulting method is general and broadly applicable. In contrast to conventional computer vision methods, which require humans to manually label thousands or even millions of images, building video prediction models only requires unannotated video, which can be collected by the robot entirely autonomously. Indeed, video prediction models have also been applied to datasets that represent everything from human activities to driving, with compelling results.\n\n\"Children can learn about their world by playing with toys, moving them around, grasping, and so forth. Our aim with this research is to enable a robot to do the same: to learn about how the world works through autonomous interaction,\" Levine said. \"The capabilities of this robot are still limited, but its skills are learned entirely automatically, and allow it to predict complex physical interactions with objects that it has never seen before by building on previously observed patterns of interaction.\"\n\nThe Berkeley scientists are continuing to research control through video prediction, focusing on further improving video prediction and prediction-based control, as well as developing more sophisticated methods by which robots can collected more focused video data, for complex tasks such as picking and placing objects and manipulating soft and deformable objects such as cloth or rope, and assembly.", "output": "A team of researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have created a learning technology that gives robots the ability to predict the outcomes of their actions and therefore adjust accordingly. The tech, named 'visual foresight' can predict what cameras will see in the following seconds if they carry out a certain action. Sergey Levine, assistant professor for Electrical Engineering and Computer Science likens the ability to how humans interpret their own surroundings, explaining \"this method can enable a robot to visualize how different behaviours will affect the world around it\". "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tortuga AgTech raises $2.4m for its indoor farming robotics \n Tortuga AgTech, a Denver-based robotics startup targeting controlled-environment fruit and vegetable growers has raised a $2.4 million Seed round.\n\nTortuga Agtech is developing robotic systems for harvesting fresh produce in controlled environments, from indoor hydroponics to greenhouses, starting with strawberries.\n\n\u201cOur products will enable advanced growing methods to compete with scale agriculture, which means growers will be able to grow better produce that\u2019s also better for the planet,\u201d says the company\u2019s website.\n\nThe round was led by early-stage hardware VC Root Ventures and closed in September. Root Ventures is also an investor in Momentum Machines, San Francisco\u2019s burger-making robot company, which raised $18.4 million in June.\n\nAlso participating in this round were Silicon Valley tech VCs Susa Ventures and Haystack, data-focused firm AME Cloud Ventures, AI and robotics VC Grit Labs, the Stanford-StartX Fund and SVG Partners, which runs the Salinas Valley-based Thrive Agtech Accelerator. AME Cloud is also an investor Zume Pizza, a pizza delivery company in the Bay Area with a robot for a chef, which raised $48 million in October.\n\nHarvesting of row crops has been automated for decades, but harvesting of specialty crops, like nuts, fruits, and vegetables, remains an elusive skill for farm robotics startups. Not only do these crops vary greatly in size, height, and color, they can also be more delicate and require not just a light touch in picking, but immediate assessment and packing by size or quality.\n\nThough high-tech indoor agriculture is ripe for robotics interventions because of the easier and more stable working conditions compared to the field, not many robotics startups have emerged servicing this kind of growing.\n\nSpread is a Japanese indoor vertical farming company that will open an automated lettuce farm in early 2018 allowing for a 50% reduction in human labor, according to the company. Transplanting seedlings, managing the growth process, and harvesting will all be automated, according to the company\u2019s website.\n\nSouth San Francisco-based vertical farm Plenty\u2019s CEO told Business Insider that the company uses tiny robots in its seeding process. Though the company is not yet commercially growing strawberries, CEO Matt Barnard told AgFunderNews this is in the works.\n\nMost operating vertical farms today are growing only leafy greens and microgreens due to the short growing cycles and high yields. There are just a few growing strawberries such as Japan\u2019s Ichigo Company.\n\nGreenhouses, however, are gaining market share of strawberry cultivation worldwide. Though greenhouse-growing of strawberries in the US has not yet taken off, 24% of strawberries grown in the Netherlands, the worlds second-largest exporter of food (by value) grow in a greenhouse according to the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics.\n\nAlso working on harvesting strawberries, but in outdoor environments, are Agrobot and Harvest Croo.", "output": "Denver-based start-up Tortuga AgTech has completed a $2.4m seed round to support the development of its farming robots. The firm is focusing on controlled-environment agriculture, targeting everything from hydroponics to greenhouses. Automated harvesting of row crops has been around for decades but speciality crops, such as nuts and fruits,\u00a0require more advanced robotics.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon eliminating human jobs through robotic investments: MIT \n From delivery drones to warehouse robots, Amazon has made no attempt to hide its ambitious goals for automation. Even as the company continues to hire thousands of new employees, increasing its employee numbers by about 40 percent over the last year, many jobs are also being filled by autonomous counterparts. An analysis published Monday by Quartz has found that the e-commerce giant\u2019s large growth and hiring numbers do not mitigate the overall retail job losses that it helped cause. Because of Amazon\u2019s investment in automation and robotic employees, the combined employment at Amazon and related retail companies will still decline by a net 24,000 jobs.\n\nBack in 2012, Amazon acquired Kiva Systems, the warehouse robotics company, to help automate its order fulfillment operations. By 2015, when we paid a visit to an Amazon fulfillment center, human-robot symbiosis was floourishing as 2,000 orange robots worked alongside humans to keep shelves stocked. Then last year Amazon signed a deal with the U.K. to test delivery drones and made its first package delivery via drone.\n\nNow, with 2017 drawing to a close, Amazon has added a dizzying 55,000 robots to its fleet, more than doubling its total number of robo-workers from 2016. Quartz\u2019s estimates suggest that by the end of the year robots could make up 20 percent of the company\u2019s workforce. As Amazon would no doubt point out, the company is indeed hiring at a blistering pace\u2014and automation can have many large-scale benefits. But as we\u2019ve argued before, the tricky part is making sure those benefits are evenly distributed.", "output": "By the end of 2017, robots could make up 20% of Amazon's workforce, according to MIT Technology Review. The company has added 55,000 machines to its books amid a period of rapid expansion. Despite human staff increases of 40%, data from Quartz also revealed the number of human employees, both at the company and related retailers, is set to shrink by a net figure of 24,000.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "YouTube CEO addresses brand safety concerns \n Since June we have removed over 150,000 videos for violent extremism.\n\nMachine learning is helping our human reviewers remove nearly five times as many videos than they were previously.\n\nToday, 98 percent of the videos we remove for violent extremism are flagged by our machine-learning algorithms.\n\nOur advances in machine learning let us now take down nearly 70 percent of violent extremist content within eight hours of upload and nearly half of it in two hours and we continue to accelerate that speed.\n\nSince we started using machine learning to flag violent and extremist content in June, the technology has reviewed and flagged content that would have taken 180,000 people working 40 hours a week to assess.\n\nAs the CEO of YouTube, I\u2019ve seen how our open platform has been a force for creativity, learning and access to information. I\u2019ve seen how activists have used it to advocate for social change, mobilize protests, and document war crimes. I\u2019ve seen how it serves as both an entertainment destination and a video library for the world. I\u2019ve seen how it has expanded economic opportunity, allowing small businesses to market and sell their goods across borders. And I\u2019ve seen how it has helped enlighten my children, giving them a bigger, broader understanding of our world and the billions who inhabit it.But I\u2019ve also seen up-close that there can be another, more troubling, side of YouTube\u2019s openness. I\u2019ve seen how some bad actors are exploiting our openness to mislead, manipulate, harass or even harm.In the last year, we took actions to protect our community against violent or extremist content, testing new systems to combat emerging and evolving threats. We tightened our policies on what content can appear on our platform, or earn revenue for creators. We increased our enforcement teams. And we invested in powerful new machine learning technology to scale the efforts of our human moderators to take down videos and comments that violate our policies.Now, we are applying the lessons we\u2019ve learned from our work fighting violent extremism content over the last year in order to tackle other problematic content. Our goal is to stay one step ahead of bad actors, making it harder for policy-violating content to surface or remain on YouTube.Human reviewers remain essential to both removing content and training machine learning systems because human judgment is critical to making contextualized decisions on content. Since June, our trust and safety teams have manually reviewed nearly 2 million videos for violent extremist content, helping train our machine-learning technology to identify similar videos in the future. We are also taking aggressive action on comments, launching new comment moderation tools and in some cases shutting down comments altogether. In the last few weeks we\u2019ve used machine learning to help human reviewers find and terminate hundreds of accounts and shut down hundreds of thousands of comments. Our teams also work closely with NCMEC, the IWF, and other child safety organizations around the world to report predatory behavior and accounts to the correct law enforcement agencies.We will continue the significant growth of our teams into next year, with the goal of bringing the total number of people across Google working to address content that might violate our policies to over 10,000 in 2018.At the same time, we are expanding the network of academics, industry groups and subject matter experts who we can learn from and support to help us better understand emerging issues.We will use our cutting-edge machine learning more widely to allow us to quickly and efficiently remove content that violates our guidelines. In June we deployed this technology to flag violent extremist content for human review and we\u2019ve seen tremendous progress.Because we have seen these positive results, we have begun training machine-learning technology across other challenging content areas, including child safety and hate speech.We understand that people want a clearer view of how we\u2019re tackling problematic content. Our Community Guidelines give users notice about what we do not allow on our platforms and we want to share more information about how these are enforced. That\u2019s why in 2018 we will be creating a regular report where we will provide more aggregate data about the flags we receive and the actions we take to remove videos and comments that violate our content policies. We are looking into developing additional tools to help bring even more transparency around flagged content.We\u2019re also taking actions to protect advertisers and creators from inappropriate content. We want advertisers to have peace of mind that their ads are running alongside content that reflects their brand\u2019s values. Equally, we want to give creators confidence that their revenue won\u2019t be hurt by the actions of bad actors.We believe this requires a new approach to advertising on YouTube, carefully considering which channels and videos are eligible for advertising. We are planning to apply stricter criteria, conduct more manual curation, while also significantly ramping up our team of ad reviewers to ensure ads are only running where they should. This will also help vetted creators see more stability around their revenue. It\u2019s important we get this right for both advertisers and creators, and over the next few weeks, we\u2019ll be speaking with both to hone this approach.We are taking these actions because it\u2019s the right thing to do. Creators make incredible content that builds global fan bases. Fans come to YouTube to watch, share, and engage with this content. Advertisers, who want to reach those people, fund this creator economy. Each of these groups is essential to YouTube\u2019s creative ecosystem\u2014none can thrive on YouTube without the other\u2014and all three deserve our best efforts.As challenges to our platform evolve and change, our enforcement methods must and will evolve to respond to them. But no matter what challenges emerge, our commitment to combat them will be sustained and unwavering. We will take the steps necessary to protect our community and ensure that YouTube continues to be a place where creators, advertisers, and viewers can thrive.", "output": "Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube, has laid out what the company's plans to combat the \"bad actors\" using the site to post controversial or extremist material. In a blog post, she said the measures already taken had yielded positive results, with 70% of \"violent, extremist content\" taken down within eight hours of posting, and half removed within two hours, thanks to YouTube's sophisticated machine-learning algorithms. Wojcicki also pledged to \"significantly\" ramp up numbers of human moderators, apply stricter criteria when authorising channels and videos' eligibility for advertising.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon Alexa soon to accept payments for skills via human voice \n Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More\n\nDevelopers and businesses making skills for Amazon\u2019s Alexa will soon be able to accept Amazon Pay for purchases directly within voice apps from the Alexa Skills Store. The news was announced today during the Alexa State of the Union at AWS re:Invent in Las Vegas. Among other Alexa news shared today are plans to bring Alexa to Australia and New Zealand in early 2018 and to add $100 million to the Alexa Fund for international investment.\n\nInitial skills categories to accept Amazon Pay include donations, restaurants, and event ticketing.\n\nSkills with plans to adopt one-time payments for premium content include Teen Jeopardy!, Sports Jeopardy!, Match Game, Heads Up, and History\u2019s Ultimate History Quiz. A developer preview was made available today, while other tools to enable transactions will be made more widely available early next year. Double Jeopardy! was one of the first skills to accept paid subscriptions. Millions have been doled out thus far to developers in the U.S., U.K., and Germany, and today the program was extended to developers in Australia, Japan, India, and Canada.\n\nOther changes on the way in early 2018 include a public beta for the recently announced Gadgets API so developers can start making games that interact with the Echo Buttons for multi-person gameplay that go on sale next month.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\nAlexa skills developers accepting payments will likely take advantage of the ability to understand unique voices, a feature that started bringing personalization to Alexa users this fall and extended the service to developers Tuesday.\n\nNative payments for Alexa skills follows a series of recent efforts by Amazon to compensate makers of those skills. Starting last spring, Amazon began to pay developers based on the level of engagement a skill is able to produce.\n\nSkills like flash briefings and streaming audio are still able to run advertisements, but ads are otherwise forbidden for Alexa developers.", "output": "Owners of Amazon Echo devices will soon be able to pay for restaurants and tickets or make donations by asking virtual assistant Alexa. The announcement was made during the recent Alexa State of the Union at AWS re:Invent in Las Vegas, where developers of skills for Alexa planning\u00a0to adopt one-time vocal payments included Teen Jeopardy! and History\u2019s Ultimate History Quiz. At the same event, Amazon revealed it was bringing Alexa to Australia and New Zealand in early 2018, while a public beta for the Gadgets API aimed at developers of multi-person games\u00a0would also launch next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Target becomes latest retail giant to launch\u00a0mobile wallet \n Following in the footsteps of Walmart and CVS, Target has become the latest American retail giant to launch its own mobile payments service.\n\nThe firm has added a wallet feature to it Android and iOS apps. Customers with Target-branded REDcard credit and debit cards can add them to the wallet and then pay at the checkout by scanning a QR code.\n\n\n\nThe app also integrates with Target's Cartwheel offers and Weekly Ad coupons, letting users redeem them with a scan of a barcode.\n\n\n\nMike McNamara, chief information and digital officer, Target, says: \"Guests are going to love the convenience of having payment, Cartwheel offers, Weekly Ad coupons and GiftCards all in one place with Wallet.\"\n\n\n\nTarget was one of the driving forces behind MCX, a QR code-based mobile wallet joint venture with other retail giants such as Walmart, CVS and 7-Eleven that hoped to bypass credit cards, reducing fees.\n\n\n\nMCX mothballed its CurrentC app last year but Walmart, CVS and now Target are still betting on the barcode technology, rather than the NFC favoured by Apple, Google and Samsung.\n\n", "output": "US retailer Target has added a payment wallet to its app. Customers with Target's REDcard credit and debit cards can add them to the app, available for both Android and iOS, and make payments at the store's checkouts by scanning a QR code. Rival outlets Walmart and CVS also recently launched similar payment wallets.\u00a0\"Guests are going to love the convenience of having payment, Cartwheel offers, Weekly Ad coupons and GiftCards all in one place with Wallet\", said\u00a0Mike McNamara, Target's chief information and digital officer.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "R3 makes its Corda blockchain software available on AWS \n AWS customers can now build and deploy applications for finance and commerce on Corda\n\nDecember 5, 2017 (New York/London/Singapore) \u2013 Enterprise software firm R3\u2019s Corda has become one of the first distributed ledger technology (DLT) solutions available to users of Amazon Web Services (AWS), enabling AWS\u2019s network of users to build and deploy applications for finance and commerce on R3\u2019s Corda. Now available on AWS Marketplace, R3\u2019s Corda allows AWS users to develop CorDapps, or deploy example CorDapps from R3 directly from AWS Marketplace. Corda is an enterprise-grade DLT solution that removes costly friction in business transactions by enabling institutions to transact directly using smart contracts, while ensuring high levels of privacy and security. Corda can be built on by third party providers who can then operate and earn revenue from DLT applications using the platform\u2019s common code and protocols to ensure interoperability. The network of companies working with R3 to develop CorDapps has grown to over 60 from a wide variety of industries and regions across the globe. These companies join R3\u2019s wider ecosystem of over 100 banks, financial institutions, regulators, trade associations, professional services firms and technology companies. R3 recently launched version 2.0 of Corda, adding functionality to the stable core application programming interface (API) achieved in version 1.0. This means CorDapp developers on AWS can build on Corda v2.0 safe in the knowledge that any future improvements and enhancements to the platform will not disrupt their work.\n\nDavid E. Rutter, CEO of R3, comments: \u201cCorda is a leading DLT platform for businesses and this announcement marks a significant milestone for enterprise-grade blockchain technology. Corda\u2019s strength comes from its vibrant ecosystem of interoperable applications, and extending the pool of potential developers to the vast network of Amazon Web Services users will spark further innovation amongst businesses building innovative DLT apps for finance and commerce.\u201d\n\nDownload the Corda AMI here and find out more about the AWS blockchain partner programme here.\n\nAbout R3\n\nR3 is an enterprise software firm working with a network of over 160 banks, financial institutions, regulators, trade associations, professional services firms and technology companies to develop on Corda, its distributed ledger platform designed specifically for businesses. R3\u2019s global team of over 140 professionals in nine countries is supported by over 2,000 technology, financial, and legal experts drawn from its global member base. R3 is backed by investment of USD 107 million from over 40 firms Corda is the outcome of over two years of intense research and development by R3 and its members and meets the highest standards of the banking industry, yet is applicable to any commercial scenario. It records, manages and executes institutions\u2019 financial agreements in perfect synchrony with their peers, creating a world of frictionless commerce. Learn more at r3.com.\n\nPress contact:\n\nR3:\n\nNick Warren/Nick Murray-Leslie\n\nChatsworth Communications\n\n+44 (0)207 440 9780\n\n[email protected]\n\nCharley Cooper\n\nR3\n\n+1 929 329 1550\n\n[email protected]", "output": "R3 has made it's distributed ledger software Corda available on Amazon Web Services, offering the platform to business and finance firms to use\u00a0or develop\u00a0its\u00a0apps, called\u00a0CorDapps. Corda is a consortium of 70 banks that make use of distributed ledgers, based on blockchain, for financial services. Corda was previously hosted on Microsoft Azure.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Korea's online-only bank expands into insurance \n K bank, Kakao Bank strives to expand, stimulate banking industry\n\n\n\nBy Nam Hyun-woo\n\n\n\nK bank, Korea's first online-only bank, started selling bancassurance products Monday, expanding its around-the-clock accessibility to another business.\n\n\n\nThe bank released 20 savings and protection type policies, called \"mobilessurance,\" through a single mobile application.\n\n\n\nFour domestic life insurers and four non-life insurers are selling their policies through K bank.\n\n\n\nThe life insurers are Hanwha Life, a K bank shareholder, IBK Insurance, BNP Paribas Cardif Life and Kyobo Lifeplanet Life. The non-life insurers are Hanwha General, Hyundai Marine, MG Non-life and KB Insurance. Lotte Insurance will also join them after wrapping up a product review.\n\n\n\nAccording to K bank, it offers consumer 24/7 phone-consultation services, mobile messaging and e-mail. As well as consultations, a subscription is also available around the clock, the bank said.\n\n\n\nBancassurance is the latest expansion of the Korean internet-only banks' business domain and they are making efforts to grow their playing field to meet growing customer demand.\n\n\n\nSince their launch this year, K bank and the other online-only bank, Kakao Bank, have enjoyed explosive popularity. At the end of October, Kakao Bank had 4 million accounts, while K bank had half a million.\n\n\n\nTheir emergence has created a ripple effect in the stagnant banking industry here. As online-only banks made aggressive sales pitches with their accessibility and fresh products, conventional banks hiked their deposit interest rates from between 1 percent and 2 percent to between 2 percent and 3 percent. They also lowered loan rates by an average of 0.05 percentage points.\n\n\n\nTo meet the growing demand, online-only banks are now preparing new products. Along with deposits and lending, they are preparing for loans for house rental deposits and mortgages.\n\n\n\nKakao Bank plans to roll out rental deposit loans early next year as its customer base is mostly young adults who tend to pay monthly rent or jeonse deposits. Jeonse refers to Korea's unique housing lease system, under which a tenant pays around 60 to 70 percent of the full price of the property to landlords for a certain period, generally two years without paying rent.\n\n\n\nThe next business online-only banks are eyeing is credit cards\n\n\n\nAccording to sources, Kakao Bank has issued 1.5 million debit cards as of October, while K bank has issued 370,000. As their debit card business hits its stride, both banks are preparing for an entry into the credit card business, setting up special teams to get regulatory approval.\n\n", "output": "South Korea's first online-only bank, K bank, has expanded into insurance by selling bancassurance products. The bank has released 20 savings and protection policies through a mobile app, including products from four domestic life insurance firms and four non-life insurers. The service offers customers round-the-clock consultations through phone calls, mobile messaging and email. K bank has enjoyed huge success since its launch earlier this year, holding approximately 500,000 accounts at the end of October.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bayzat secures $5m for insurance and HR service \n Bayzat, a provider of insurance and HR solutions in the MENA region, announced it has secured an additional $5 million in funding led by Silicon Badia, a VC firm based in the MENA region and in the US, alongside existing investors BECO Capital and Hamed Kanoo Co LLC.\n\nThis additional funding brings Bayzat\u2019s total funding in this Series A-1 round to over $8 million after the company received its initial funding tranche earlier this year from strategic investors.\n\nBayzat was founded by entrepreneurs Talal Bayaa and Brian Habibi and is currently headquartered Dubai. It has so far 18,000 lives insured through their site.\n\nAccording to Bayaa, CEO, the desire to allocate more resources towards developing his firm\u2019s HR software is a decision borne of experience. \u201cThe Middle East\u2019s technology market is undeveloped, particularly in the form of SaaS. Companies are restricted to paper-driven archaic processes because they are not aware of any alternatives. Inefficient procedures like manual employee record management and payroll are a drain on businesses and their employees, and yet it continues to flourish here; one of the most forward-thinking countries on the planet! It\u2019s a pain point we see across the region that desperately needs resolving.\u201d\n\n\u201cBayzat\u2019s dual strategy and core focus on building unique technology for this market is what attracted us to this business initially,\u201d said Namek Zu'bi, managing partner, Silicon Badia when discussing their investment.\n\nSince its launch in 2015, Bayzat has experienced exceptional year-on-year growth (over 350 percent increase in revenue). Supplemented by the region\u2019s switch to mandatory insurance and the mounting need for technology solutions for both insurance and business processes, the startup has succeeded in capturing a portion of a $30 billion premium market in the MENA region.\n\nWith a firm foothold on the current insurance landscape, Bayzat has started bolstering its efforts to refining its burgeoning HR automation platform \u2014Bayzat Benefits.\n\nSince Bayzat Benefit\u2019s induction, the platform has introduced a host of different tools and automation prospects to alleviate mundane company administrative work. These include OCR technology, which gives users the ability to extract important information (from passports of Emirates IDs) directly from scanned images, and enables professionals from all departments to upload sensitive data quickly directly onto Bayzat\u2019s platform.\n\nBayzat\u2019s latest addition, payroll, looks to streamline a pivotal area for finance and HR management. Employees uploaded onto Bayzat Benefits\u2019 will have their salary and commission information stored and configured automatically, allowing finance and HR professionals to allocate more time to nurturing their other responsibilities.", "output": "Insurance and HR solutions provider Bayzat has raised an extra $5m funding for its services in the Middle East and North Africa region. The Dubai-based company already provides life insurance to 18,000 through its site, but wants to further develop its HR software offering. The additional funding was led by venture capitalist firm Silicon Badia, alongside existing investors BECO Capital and Hamed Kanoo, and takes the total raised in the round to more than $8m.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Video-streaming channels in US cut spending on original shows \n The video bubble hasn\u2019t burst quite yet, but it sure has deflated for video makers looking to sell short-form content to streaming platforms.\n\nOver the past few months, several high-profile video streaming platforms have either shut down or scaled back their spending on original content. So far this fall, NBCUniversal closed the doors on Seeso, its $3.99-per-month comedy streaming service that offered everything from short- and long-form original series to full episodes of \u201cSaturday Night Live.\u201d Similarly, Fullscreen announced in November that it was shutting down its $4.99-per-month subscription streaming service, following Comcast, which put Watchable on life support, and Spotify pulling back on spending.\n\nMeanwhile, Verizon\u2019s Go90, another high-profile buyer of short- and mid-form video shows over the past few years, has cut spending as the company rethinks its original content strategy, according to multiple content partners. It\u2019s all up in the air, as Verizon\u2019s big Oath merger \u2014 during which Verizon\u2019s top media executive, Marni Walden, left the company \u2014 has slowed the Go90 team. \u201cThe people over [at Go90] said that it\u2019s all being worked out, but it takes time to integrate,\u201d said one Go90 partner.\n\nThe tumult has created an uneasy environment for video producers, digital studios and publishers, all of which were able to make money from platforms willing to fund original content but now face a tenuous market where it\u2019s not exactly clear who will buy digital video programming in 2018 and beyond. That\u2019s a major problem for those banking on the scramble for digital video programming to make up for the dominance of Google and Facebook. In fact, the one player still cutting checks for content is a familiar face.\n\n\u201cThe only company who is buying [short form] in bulk right now is Facebook,\u201d said an executive at a digital studio that has content deals with Facebook and Go90.\n\n\u201cIn terms of short-form content buyers, almost everyone we saw two years ago is gone from the market,\u201d said Eric Korsh, president of Mashable Studios. \u201cRed Bull, Comcast, Verizon and others are either going back to their roots or reimagining their role in short-form video \u2014 which currently amounts to the same thing.\u201d\n\nThe platforms want to go longer\n\nAs one digital studio executive put it, a wide majority of the original digital video programming market today \u2014 at least in the U.S. \u2014 is covered by Facebook, YouTube Red and Go90. The remaining buyers are smaller and niche video players that might buy some shows here and there, he said, but if you\u2019re looking to consistently sell what people have traditionally called \u201cweb series,\u201d Facebook, YouTube Red and Go90 are it.\n\nBut all three of those platforms are also moving in the direction of longer-form content. In Facebook\u2019s latest wave of funding for Watch, it\u2019s pushing content partners to make their shows longer. YouTube is spending between $500,000 and $1 million \u2014 and in some cases even more \u2014 per episode on TV-quality original projects, sources have previously told Digiday. And in August, Verizon hired longtime CBS executive Chris Castallo as head of development for Go90, a move that points to Go90 potentially moving in the direction of acquiring longer-form shows, one Go90 partner said.\n\nFor many digital media companies, a decision by Go90 to venture into more TV-sized original fare would be a big blow. Verizon has spent a ton on the belief that there\u2019s an audience for a streaming platform that offers well-produced programming from top digital talent. Audiences haven\u2019t exactly agreed.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re seeing a flight to quality and investments in longer-form storytelling from companies from Facebook and YouTube Red to Comedy Central, IFC, NBC and Turner,\u201d said Marc Hustvedt, CEO of digital studio Above Average. \u201cThese and other buyers recognize the audience value of hit programming with strong characters that are given room to breathe and develop, which is frankly refreshing.\u201d\n\nThe money is still in (streaming) TV\n\nThe market for short-form originals might be thinning, but that\u2019s not the case for original video programming in general. Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Apple, Facebook and YouTube are all considered big buyers of content \u2014 it\u2019s just that the content these companies want is more premium TV fare than what\u2019s typically found on web video platforms.\n\nNetflix plans to spend $8 billion on content in 2018. Amazon, meanwhile, reportedly spent close to $250 million just to buy the rights to \u201cThe Lord of the Rings\u201d and plans to make a high-profile drama series from the deal, which would cost additional hundreds of millions of dollars over multiple seasons. Hulu is spending more on premium cable TV-quality shows, spurred on by its landmark Emmy-winning hit \u201cThe Handmaid\u2019s Tale.\u201d Apple, which is one of the newest buyers in this area, has a budget of $1 billion and two TV executives at the helm to fulfill its own content ambitions. And as mentioned earlier, Facebook and YouTube are increasingly looking for TV-quality projects with TV-level budgets.\n\n\u201cThose guys are not digital, really; they\u2019re TV,\u201d said one longtime TV and digital video producer. \u201cWhen you talk to Netflix these days, they don\u2019t give a shit that you can produce something cheaper than anybody else. They\u2019re competing with \u2018Game of Thrones\u2019; they\u2019re OK with spending $15 million per episode if they need to.\u201d\n\nWhile this can be an exciting opportunity for video producers to create breakthrough shows, the simple truth is that most digital media companies do not have the necessary background and skill sets required to package and produce TV shows. It\u2019s something top publishers including BuzzFeed, Bleacher Report and Refinery29 are working toward, especially by creating studio and entertainment divisions focused on longer-form content.\n\n\u201c[TV] is what everyone is trying to get into,\u201d said a second digital studio executive. \u201cThis cycle is less digital buyers and more TV buyers, and everyone is trying to swim toward that. But there\u2019s a certain pedigree you need to have to go to [the streaming and TV] players that many digital shops do not have. That plays itself out in how someone talks about a project, how it\u2019s packaged, what kind of stars are attached and how many scripts you have written. These seem like small things, but it takes time to build that muscle.\u201d\n\nThe hope for a rebound\n\nWhile there are fewer buyers of short-form video today, not everyone is convinced this will remain the case. Multiple sources said this is just a phase, and the market will pick back up eventually.\n\nVerizon, for instance, remains ambitious about video. Maybe Go90 does not exist in its current form down the road, but Verizon is still expected to be a buyer of video. Facebook\u2019s experiment with Watch could also work out, convincing the company to spend more on both short-form and long-form original programs beyond 2018.\n\n\u201cWe are in an adjustment period about what works and what doesn\u2019t. But premium, high-quality, short-form originals are certainly not going away,\u201d said Peter Csathy, founder of media advisory firm Creatv Media, who pointed to niche OTT buyers such as Crypt TV and Vrv as companies that are still interested in commissioning such content. \u201cAnd with greater competition in the OTT video world, suppliers of premium short-form content will play an increasingly critical role.\u201d\n\nStill, it\u2019s a fraught time for many digital video makers. More buyers could enter the marketplace but could just as easily leave if their video efforts don\u2019t pan out the way they haven\u2019t for Seeso, Watchable and others.\n\n\u201cThis is ultimately very healthy for the marketplace,\u201d said Hustvedt. \u201cWhen you\u2019re in the business of supplying original programming to platforms, you would rather see fewer buyers that you know can support multiple seasons in success, rather than a gaggle of upstarts overpaying today but that might not be around next year.\u201d", "output": "Video-streaming platforms have started to scale back on original short-form content, creating an uneasy environment for producers. NBCUniversal recently shut down Seeso, its $3.99 a\u00a0month comedy streaming service that offered both short and long-form content, alongside full episodes of series such as Saturday Night Live. In addition Full Screen closed its $4.99 a month streaming service. Spotify has reduced spending while Comcast's Watchable has pulled out of funding original content. This has created difficult market conditions for content producers, digital studios and publishers; however, Facebook remains a big spender, especially for long-form content.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ad buyers look beyond YouTube because of brand safety concerns \n The end of the year is regularly a good time for those selling quality video. It\u2019s even better this year, thanks to concerns about brand safety brought on by YouTube\u2019s continued controversies and a desire by brands to stay away from political news.\n\nAccording to ad buyers, that\u2019s meant adding spending on outlets like Hulu and ESPN. Conversations with four media agencies executives show that not every client is halting advertising on YouTube and hard news sites, but in general, programmatic video CPMs at nonpolitical publishers and connected TV providers like Apple TV and Amazon Fire have been increasing, which could partially be ascribed to clients\u2019 growing demand for brand-safe content, according to agency executives.\n\n\u201cI think video CPMs on Hulu have increased around 20 percent year over year, even more expensive than prime-time TV sometimes,\u201d said a media head from a Chicago-based agency. \u201cGenerally speaking, open exchange video CPMs are up 5 to 8 percent year over year.\u201d\n\nThe agency executive said two financial services clients have stopped programmatic ads from politics news on any site since around a year ago \u2014 and the two brands haven\u2019t gone back to advertising on hard news sites today \u2014 while most clients that target millennials and younger audiences now feel comfortable with advertising on YouTube.\n\n\u201cWe haven\u2019t started to do a big shift into premium programmatic video yet, largely because that is typically a large holding-company level private marketplace deal tactic,\u201d said this person. \u201cFor certain luxury clients like automotive, it may make sense to cherry-pick premium video inventory, but largely we don\u2019t see the economy of scale in [PMPs].\u201d\n\nBrand-safety concerns have changed where ad buyers spent their video budgets this year. Standard Media Index surveyed 14 video networks and platforms \u2014 including YouTube, Snapchat, Roku, Facebook, Viacom and Hulu \u2014 and found that in terms of direct buys, YouTube \u2014 while the largest by video ad spend volume \u2014 is the only company where brands\u2019 video ad spend declined, by 9 percent year over year, from when brand-safety discussions started in April to October. In comparison, during the same period, brands\u2019 video ad spend on Roku, Snapchat and Hulu increased by 154 percent, 50 percent and 19 percent year over year, respectively.\n\nStandard Media Index said the above numbers are based on media-buying invoices, and its survey pool represents approximately 70 percent of all U.S. ad agency spend. But the company doesn\u2019t distribute dollar figures for its digital data because it doesn\u2019t cover the complete digital market.\n\nRory O\u2019Flaherty, vp of performance media for agency Huge, said every client\u2019s brand-safety tolerance is different: Some brands take an audience-first approach so they are more lenient, while others don\u2019t want to be adjacent to news content at all. But a bigger trend is more programmatic ad spend is going into video on demand or connected TV, which is relatively brand-safe and the actual creative is great, he said.\n\n\u201cGenerally speaking, we haven\u2019t seen much increase in programmatic video CPMs, but more ad demand definitely goes to certain publishers based on brand safety and high viewability,\u201d said O\u2019Flaherty. \u201cBut remember, if you pull ads from YouTube and news sites altogether, you are losing lots of benefits in reaching your audience.\u201d", "output": "Brand safety concerns about YouTube have led to increased spending on video outlets such as ESPN and Hulu, as well as Apple TV and Amazon Fire. Open exchange video CPMs have increased 5% to 8% year on year, according to agency executives, with agencies seeking non-political sites to avoid controversy. Research from Standard Media Index on 14 video networks and platforms, such as YouTube, Snapchat, Roku, Facebook, Viacom and Hulu, found that YouTube was the only platform where\u00a0video ad spend declined year on year, in its case\u00a0by\u00a09%.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dubai's SellAnyHome.com claims it can sell a home in 30 minutes \n Wanna sell your house in 30 minutes in Dubai?\n\nOmar Chihane aims to make SellAnyHome.com a stock exchange for properties.\n\ndubai - SellAnyHome.com is an online marketplace for property buyers and sellers\n\nby Deepthi Nair Published: Tue 5 Dec 2017, 6:27 PM Last updated: Tue 5 Dec 2017, 6:48 PM", "output": "Dubai start-up SellAnyHome.com is offering to sell residential property within 30 minutes of listing it. Sellers receive\u00a0an approximate estimate followed by a visit from a consultant\u00a0to\u00a0value\u00a0the property. The start-up is targeting only\u00a0high-net-worth individuals and professional investors who are looking to add properties to their portfolios using an accelerated buying process. The start-up charges 1% commission to the buyer for each completed transaction.\u00a0SellAnyHome.com likens itself to a stock exchange as it brings \"real-time market coordination between buyers and sellers\". It is aiming to raise $10m by early next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Delhi cricket match disrupted by excessive pollution \n A Sri Lankan player vomited on the field and was escorted off the ground as heavily polluted air continued to plague an international cricket test match in Delhi.\n\nThe fast bowler Suranga Lakmal was seen doubled over and retching on Tuesday afternoon as levels of the most harmful pollutants hovered at about 300 micrograms per cubic metre in parts of the Indian capital \u2013 12 times the World Health Organisation safe limit.\n\nLakmal was one of the players to be badly affected on Sunday when air pollution forced a break in play in the test between India and Sri Lanka, the first such interruption in international cricket history. He and another bowler, Lahiru Gamage, were forced to abandon bowling duties mid-over for a spell in the changing rooms where the coach, Nic Pothas, said Lakmal was \u201ccontinuously vomiting\u201d.\n\nLakmal was helped off the ground on Tuesday by a Sri Lankan team physiotherapist after his team-mates \u2013 mostly playing in pollution masks \u2013 rushed to his aid. Later the Indian pacer Mohammed Shami also vomited. Groundsmen scattered sawdust.\n\nThe scenes at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium have fuelled a debate in India over whether Delhi should be permitted to hold sporting events during winter when year-round pollution in the city reaches severe levels.\n\nThe Indian cricket board said on Monday that in future it would consider amending its schedules based on pollution forecasts.\n\n\u201cScheduling of matches in Delhi during this time of the year will be considered,\u201d said Amitabh Chaudhary, the acting secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.\n\nThe acting president of the board, CK Khanna, had earlier dismissed concerns, saying: \u201cIf 20,000 people in the stands did not have problems and the Indian team did not face any issue ... the Sri Lankan team made a big fuss?\u201d\n\nJavier Ceppi, the director of the Fifa under-17 World Cup held in India in October, wrote on Twitter after Sunday\u2019s incidents that Delhi could not host sporting events from Diwali until the end of February \u201cat least\u201d.\n\nYou can't host sport events in Delhi from Diwali till end of Feb, at least. It is a fact. We had to accommodate our whole schedule to avoid it and others should also think about athletes health first #DelhiSmog \u2014 Javier Ceppi (@JavierCeppi) December 3, 2017\n\nThe Indian Medical Association also condemned the decision to let the Delhi test go ahead. \u201cYou have fast bowlers, batsmen and fielders out there exposed to these very harmful pollutants over five days at a stretch. It takes a serious toll on your health in the long run,\u201d said the association\u2019s president, KK Aggarwal.\n\nIndian players and the match umpires have almost all eschewed masks throughout the test and some fans accused the Sri Lankans of grandstanding, pointing out that India\u2019s captain, Virat Kohli, posted a record double-century despite the conditions.\n\nThe atmosphere in Delhi is dense with carcinogenic chemicals fine enough to lodge deep in the lungs and breach the blood-brain barrier. Multiple studies have linked the pollution to higher rates of lung cancer, heart disease and chronic respiratory conditions in the long-term, while immediate exposure can trigger asthma attacks and cause discomfort to the eyes and throat.\n\nIndian environmental authorities said pollution levels last year exceeded those recorded during the 1952 great smog of London, considered one of Britain\u2019s worst environmental disasters.\n\nContributors to the poor air in the city include road dust, open fires, vehicle exhaust fumes, industrial emissions and the burning of crop waste in neighbouring states, all of which worsen in winter when winds slow and air is trapped closer to the ground.\n\nDelhi and surrounding states have implemented separate action plans that are unevenly enforced. A lasting solution would require national coordination while simultaneously tackling the myriad sources of poor air, a challenging task in a country with generally limited law enforcement.", "output": "Sri Lankan cricket player Suranga Lakmal vomited during an international cricket Test match in Delhi because of\u00a0heavy pollution.\u00a0The incident followed\u00a0play being stopped because of\u00a0pollution on 3 December. Debates are continuing about whether Delhi, where pollution is 12 times over the safe limit,\u00a0should be allowed to hold sporting events during the winter, when\u00a0the problem is at its worst.\u00a0As we highlighted, Delhi's poor air quality has led to flight cancellations and it was declared a\u00a0public health emergency, comparable\u00a0to smoking 50 cigarettes a day. About\u00a02.5 million Indians die from pollution annually.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "News Corp attempts to capitalise on YouTube brand safety issues \n \u2018Do you know where your ads are\u2019 \u2013 News Corp puts brand safety at the forefront of their latest campaign.\n\nNews Corp has launched a two-week national trade advertising campaign that asks marketers if they know where they ads are today, following more brand safety sagas.\n\nAmid renewed controversy surrounding digital advertising safety for brands within tech-platforms, this campaign reinforces advertisers that News\u2019 products offer brands trusted and transparent digital environments.\n\nExecutive general manager of network sales Lou Barrett said: \u201cWe are launching the next iteration of our brand safety campaign to proactively reassure our customers that it is our priority to protect and enhance their brands. We invest heavily in premium generated content, third party audience measurement and are continually working towards creating safe environments for our customers.\n\n\u201cAdvertisers should feel confident that they get what they pay for and that they can genuinely trust News to deliver on that. We are committed to providing greater transparency to ensure our advertisers have a clear and accurate picture of where their budget is going and where their advertisements are being placed as well as receiving a true and verified measure of audience engagement.\u201d\n\nNews Corp boasted its brand safety earlier this year with a similar campaign.\n\nThe campaign was created by Big Red and News Corp Australia\u2019s creative services team and will appear in trade media nationwide.", "output": "News Corp Australia\u2019s creative services team has collaborated with ad agency Big Red to launch a campaign asking marketers if they know where their ads are being displayed. The move aims to capitalise on the uncertainty surrounding content placement on sites such as YouTube. News Corp executive general manager of network sales Lou Barrett said \"advertisers should feel confident they get what they pay for\" and said News Corp gave advertisers \"a\u00a0true and verified measure of audience engagement\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese firms focus on automation not moving factories to Africa \n The promise of Chinese manufacturing moving to Africa increasingly seems like a real possibility. Chinese car factories assemble in South Africa. Mainland footwear companies have expanded into Ethiopia. Chinese entrepreneurs have opened textile plants in Rwanda and other operations across the continent.\n\nBut it may be too soon to proclaim Africa the world\u2019s next factory. According to a new study (pdf) by researchers at Peking University\u2019s Center for New Structural Economics and the Supporting Economic Transformation program at the Overseas Development Institute in London, few Chinese manufacturing firms are relocating as a result of rising wages in China. And if they are relocating overseas, Southeast Asia, rather than Africa is their preferred destination.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe survey, released this month, \u201csuggests a need for realism on the potential for jobs transfer to low-income host countries,\u201d according to the authors Jiajun Xu, Stephen Gelb, Jiewei Li and Zuoxiang Zhao.\n\nThe researchers surveyed 640 Chinese firms producing home appliances, garments, footwear, and toys, and employing about 16 million workers. Rising wage costs\u2014wages grew between 9% to 11% between 2005 and 2014 at the factories\u2014were the most cited challenge.\n\nThe most common response to rising wages, however, was not relocating to countries with cheaper labor but turning to automation. Almost a third of firms said upgrading technology was their first strategy and more than half said it was among their top three responses. Chinese manufacturers are expected to have the world\u2019s largest number of installed industrial robots (p. 29), about 600,000, by 2018, according to the Industrial Robot Statistics.\n\nOnly 6% of firms said relocation of production was their most likely response, and only half of those said they would relocate to areas outside of China. Among 62 firms that had invested abroad or planned to, only two named Africa as a preferred destination. Southeast Asia was a far more likely destination.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nOthers have also pointed out the obstacles to manufacturing moving from China to Africa. Indermit Gill, director of the Duke Center for International Development at Duke University, points out in a recent blog post for Brookings that the global share of manufacturing value in 2015 was still split evenly between high-income and developing countries, with China accounting for more than half of the contribution of developing countries. Between 1994 and 2015, China\u2019s share continued to grow while Africa\u2019s has barely budged.\n\nAnother commonly stated reason for manufacturing\u2019s move to places with cheaper labor like Africa is China\u2019s aging population. But China\u2019s workforce is still sizable: in 2025 the population of Chinese between the ages of 15 and 64 will be a billion, and will still be almost that amount in 2050, Gill points out. \u201cDon\u2019t bet on China giving back manufacturing jobs any time soon,\u201d he concludes.", "output": "Fewer than expected Chinese firms are trying to cut their wage bill by relocating their factories to Africa, a survey has found. Researchers at Peking University\u00a0surveyed\u00a0640 Chinese businesses that had\u00a0a total of about 16 million workers\u00a0producing\u00a0home appliances, clothes, shoes and other goods, and\u00a0revealed only 6% were planning to respond to higher wages by moving factories abroad.\u00a0Among 62 companies that have invested overseas, or plan to, only two named Africa as a preferred destination, with southeast Asia proving much more popular. The most common response to wage growth\u00a0was relying more heavily on\u00a0automation."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Japanese asset manager Sparx sets up $17.95m renewable fund \n Subsidiary Sparx Asset Trust & Management has launched the Renewable Energy Brown Field Fund as part of the group\u2019s new investment strategy for renewable energy. Initial investors include Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (SMBC), Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing, Ricoh Leasing, Taiyo Life Insurance and Tochigi Bank, according to an online statement. The fund will continue to accept capital contributions and aims to eventually raise JPY 50 billion.\n\nSparx, which is listed on the JASDAQ Securities Exchange, says the new fund will help to stabilize its long-term cash flows, as it will avoid risks associated with project development by solely investing in operational assets. Sparx plans to run the brownfield fund for a period of 20 years, but will only make new investments in operational projects until October 31, 2020.\n\nIts Green Field Fund, which invests in solar, wind and biomass projects from the development phase, currently owns 344 MW of renewables capacity. Its portfolio in Japan was valued at roughly JPY 147.8 billion at the end of September. The fund owns 24 projects throughout the country, of which 21 are solar.\n\nPopular content\n\nThe Sparx group recently posted a net profit of JPY 1.57 billion for the second quarter of the current Japanese fiscal year. In July, its Sparx Green Energy and Technology unit finished building a 12.8 MW solar array in Chiba prefecture, eastern Japan.", "output": "A unit of Tokyo-based asset manager Sparx has set up a JPY20bn ($17.95m) fund to invest in operational renewable energy projects throughout Japan. Initial investors in the Sparx Asset Trust & Management has launched the Renewable Energy Brown Field Fund include Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing, Ricoh Leasing, Taiyo Life Insurance and Tochigi Bank. The fund will continue to accept capital contributions and aims to eventually raise JPY50bn."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "American Eagle Outfitters uses Messenger bots to reach customers \n An interactive gift guide is the latest innovation in American Eagle Outfitters\u2019 Facebook Messenger campaign to use bots to engage customers via social media.\n\nAmerican Eagle\u2019s first bots, for the main brand and Aerie, were launched on Facebook Messenger on Black Friday last year. Between November 2016 and June 2017, four million messages were exchanged, and there was a 25 percent clickthrough rate from Messenger to American Eagle Outfitters\u2019 website. Seventy-five percent of people using the bots were new to the brand.\n\n\u201cMessaging, specifically in social, is where our consumer is spending their time, says Kristen D\u2019Arcy, vice president of performance and digital marketing, American Eagle Outfitters. \u201cWe\u2019re always looking for the right way, at the right time, to connect with consumers to drive preference and loyalty for our brands. To utilize messaging for connection with a brand feels intimate\u2014it\u2019s a one-on-one conversation in a familiar medium.\u201d\n\nThe casual clothing retailer operates more than 1,000 retail stores in North America and Asia, and ships to 81 countries via its website. The Aerie bot was promoted via email and social, as well as paid media on Facebook. Users could opt-in to subscription messaging from the bot.\n\nThe retailer worked with bot platform partner Pandorabots to create the bots, first identifying what customers were most interested in, and how they were engaging with the site. The bots for Messenger offered varied content, such as customer service, fit and care, branded content and shopping. American Eagle Outfitters used an API to integrate its product catalog into the bots so that customers could easily browse products within Messenger. Customers can also view product thumbnails and save items they are thinking about buying\n\n\u201cOur goal is to give consumers an experience online as close to personalized as our sales associates do in store everyday by looking at clues that help us recommend which style to explore, which items to buy, and what gifts might be perfect for a recipient,\u201d says D\u2019Arcy. \u201cOur bot quizzes and gift guides help us try and replicate that experience online and personalize our suggestions accordingly.\u201d\n\nRelated Articles:\n\nCoke\u2019s New Mobile Bots Communicate With Vending Machines\n\nPutting Chatbots in the Marketing & AI Conversation", "output": "US clothing brand American Eagle Outfitters said its Facebook Messenger chatbot helped achieve a 25% click-through rate between November 2016 and June 2017, according to Kristen D\u2019Arcy, its vice-president of performance and digital marketing. She said the service received\u00a0four million messages, while three-quarters of customers using the bot, which centred on the main brand and Aerie\u00a0and offered help with issues such as branded content and fit and care, were first-time shoppers with the brand.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ADB agrees to finance 20 MW solar facility in Afghanistan \n The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to finance a large-scale PV power project in Afghanistan to the tune of US$44.7 million. The loan will be used to finance the construction of a 20 MW grid-connected solar facility in Naghlu, Surobi district, close to the country\u2019s capital Kabul. The solar park, ADB said in a statement, will initially fill the demand-supply gap, and improve sustainability of the northeast grid covering Kabul, Nangarhar, and the Laghman provinces.\n\nThe project will also prepare the site and substation for another 10 MW of large-scale PV. The projects, in fact, may be expanded up to 40 MW, \u201cif additional financing from other development partners or the private sector is realized.\u201d\n\nAfghanistan\u2019s Ministry of Energy and Water, and government-owned energy utility Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat will provide support for the project in the form of plant design, technical evaluation, grid integration, and operation and maintenance. The project, on the other hand, will provide power transformer and support facilities, upgrade the capacity of the existing substation, and operation and maintenance services for three years.\n\nPopular content\n\n\u201cThe new on-grid solar power generation project, which is the largest of its kind in Afghanistan, will not only provide access to a clean and reliable power supply, but also demonstrate the viability of future renewable energy investments through public-private partnerships,\u201d said ADB\u2019s Country Director for Afghanistan, Samuel Tumiwa.\n\nIn late March, Afghanistan\u2019s High Economic Council approved a plan to deploy 100 MW of renewable energy generation capacity, which included 65 MW of hybrid solar. Afghanistan\u2019s Ministry of Energy and Water aims to install 500 MW of PV plants by 2020. The country\u2019s renewable energy policy is targeting 4 GW to 5 GW of new renewable energy capacity by 2030.", "output": "The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is to provide $44.7m of financing for a 20 MW grid-connected solar facility near Kabul in Afghanistan. Should the project be successful, the plant could be expanded to\u00a040 MW. Afghanistan\u2019s Ministry of Energy and Water is to offer infrastructural support,\u00a0technical evaluation, grid integration, and operation and maintenance of the project."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's Chalco to raise $1.9bn by selling stakes in subsidiaries \n HONG KONG (Nikkei Markets) -- Aluminum Corporation of China (Chalco) said it entered agreements to raise a total 12.60 billion yuan ($1.90 billion) by selling stakes in four subsidiaries to investors including China Life Insurance, in a move aimed at reducing the Chinese state-owned aluminum producer's debt-equity ratio.\n\nChalco will sell 30.8% of Chalco Shandong for 1.79 billion yuan, a 36.9% stake in Zhongzhou Aluminum for 2.40 billion yuan, 25.67% in Baotou Aluminum for 2.64 billion yuan and 81.14% of Chalo Mining for 5.77 billion yuan, it informed the stock exchange late Monday.", "output": "State-owned Aluminum Corporation of China (Chalco) is raising CNY12.6bn ($1.9bn) by selling stakes in four of its subsidiaries, as it seeks to reduce its debt-to-equity ratio. It is offloading 30.8% of Chalco Shandong, a 36.9% stake in Zhongzhou Aluminium, 25.7% in Baotou Aluminium and 81.1% in Chalco Mining. The move comes amid a push by the Chinese government to reduce corporate debt.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MBSB to fund 50 MW Malaysian solar plant \n PV developer Solar Management (Seremban) will design, build and operate the array in Rembau, Negeri Sembilan. It is scheduled for completion by the end of November 2018.\n\nThe deal marks the first time MBSB has provided financing for a solar project. Solar Management (Seremban) will mainly use the funds to pay for EPC services and the commissioning of the project.\n\n\u201cThe Islamic financing facility consists of 19 million ringgit of Performance Guarantee-i under the Kafalah concept and 228 million ringgit of term financing with the sub limit of 137 million ringgit under the Tawarruq and Kafalah concept respectively,\u201d MBSB said in an online statement.\n\nTee Cheng Hua, director of Solar Management (Seremban), praised the Malaysian government\u2019s feed-in-tariff (FiT) scheme, the Net Energy Metering (NEM) mechanism and its support for the development of large-scale PV plants.\n\nPopular content\n\nSeparately, Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua reported this week that China Machinery Engineering Corp. (CMEC) will supply PV equipment to Mattan Engineering, the EPC services provider that is working on the 50 MW array in Rembau. Under the terms of the 137 million ringgit contract, CMEC \u2014 a unit of China National Machinery Industry Corp. \u2014 will mainly provide PV modules and racks, Xinhua said.\n\nMBSB\u2019s financing package is the second Islamic financing facility to be announced for a PV project in Malaysia in recent weeks. In mid-November, Malaysian engineering firm Mudajaya revealed plans to raise up to 245 million ringgit by issuing sukuk Islamic bonds, to back the construction of a 49 MW solar array in the town of Sungai Siput, Kuala Kangsar, Perak.", "output": "Malaysia Building Society Berhad (MBSB) will provide $60.4m to Solar Management to develop a 50 MW solar project in Rembau, Negeri Sembilan. Solar Management (Seremban) will maintain and operate the facility after it is completed by November 2018."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IMEEI to buy a 98.87% stake in two Chinese solar companies \n As China has begun to close the technology gap, opportunities for Taiwanese manufacturers may lie closer to home, offering conditions that could perfectly suit the high efficiency technology.\n\nIM No. 3 Power Co., a wholly owned unit of Hohhot-based energy infrastructure specialist IMEEI, will buy a 98.87% stake in Wulate Qianqi Photovoltaics from the 48th Research Institute for CNY 139.3 million.\n\nIt will also purchase a 100% equity stake in Alashan Youqi New Energy for CNY 24.3 million from the same company, which develops PV projects and produces energy storage materials, integrated circuits, LED products, magnetic materials and sensors. As part of the transaction, IM No. 3 Power will also settle the debts of the two acquisition targets, according to a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange.\n\nSolar developer Wulate Qianqi Photovoltaics owns a 50 MW solar project at an undisclosed location in China. The array was connected to the grid in late 2014. PV investor Alashan Youqi New Energy, meanwhile, owns a 10 MW solar installation at another unspecified location in China. It was connected to the grid in March 2015.\n\nPopular content\n\nIMEEI launched its PV investment business in 2015. By the end of May 2016, it filed for the rights to build 4.3 GW of solar capacity, according to a statement on its website. The group \u2014 which also develops solar thermal, wind and coal-fired power projects \u2014 recorded a net profit of CNY 243.6 million in the first half of 2017.\n\nIts construction contracting business posted a gross profit of CNY 117.5 million, up 31.7% year on year. The company said its PV business helped to raise its gross profit margin considerably in the first six months of the year. It has not revealed how much operational solar capacity it owns.", "output": "IM No. 3 Power Co., part of infrastructure company Inner Mongolia Energy Engineering (IMEEI), is to buy a 98.87% stake in\u00a0Wulate Qianqi Photovoltaics for\u00a0$73.25m. The company will also buy\u00a0a 100% equity stake in Alashan Youqi New Energy, which develops solar materials and energy storage materials."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Major Starbucks opens in China to serve growing taste for coffee \n Starbucks is going venti in China.\n\nThe Seattle-based coffee company opened a 30,000-square-foot store in Shanghai on Tuesday. It's the first Starbucks Reserve Roastery -- the company's new retail offering -- outside the U.S.\n\nIt's also the largest Starbucks in the world, spanning an area nearly twice as large as the next biggest, a Roastery in Seattle that opened three years ago.\n\nExecutive Chairman Howard Schultz said the store would blend the company's 46-year history in the coffee shop business with \"China's rich, diverse culture.\"\n\nChina is a vital market for Starbucks (SBUX), according to John Gordon, a restaurant analyst at Pacific Management Consulting.\n\nThe company's latest quarterly earnings were pretty gloomy, showing disappointing sales growth in a tough retail environment.\n\nThe one bright spot was China, which stood out as Starbucks' fastest growing market. Sales there were up 8% compared with the same quarter last year.\n\nThe company is riding that wave and expanding aggressively in China, opening a new Starbucks store every 15 hours on average.\n\nRelated: China will get 2,000 more McDonald's restaurants in the next few years\n\nEven though Chinese are traditionally tea guzzlers and less hooked on coffee than Americans, the country's growing ranks of upwardly mobile consumers still view Starbucks as an attractive, aspirational brand.\n\nThe company is playing to that perception with its new Shanghai shop.\n\n\"This is a show store,\" Gordon said. \"The point is to be in a highly, highly visible, touristy [area] where there's foot traffic, offices and urban housing in order to promote the brand.\"\n\nRelated: Starbucks bets big on China\n\nThe store features massive copper casks for storing coffee beans, although the actual roasting will take place elsewhere on the premises. There is also a special emphasis on tea, with a dedicated bar offering items like nitrogen cold brew tea.\n\nIn a sign of the times, Starbucks partnered with Chinese tech giant Alibaba (BABA) to aggressively promote the Shanghai store opening online. Customers can book coffee tasting experiences on Alibaba's e-commerce site and also buy special Starbucks Reserve coffee and related products tied to the store's launch.\n\nBut the Shanghai roastery won't hold the title of largest Starbucks for too long. The company has already inked a deal for an enormous 43,000-square-foot Reserve Roastery in Chicago that's set to open in 2019.", "output": "Starbucks has opened its first Starbucks Reserve Roastery outside the US in Shanghai, which is also its largest store in the world. China is vital to the US coffee company, as it is its fastest-growing market and Starbucks is finding sales growth difficult to achieve elsewhere. Starbucks is planning to have 10,000 stores in China within a decade, with sales up 8% quarter on quarter. The opening was promoted with the help of Alibaba's e-commerce site, where Chinese customers were able to book tastings and buy coffee and other products.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Surge in defective product recalls raises financial risk \n SINGAPORE - Defective productsor work-related incidents have caused insured losses in excess of US$2 billion over the past five years, making them the largest generator of liability losses, insurer Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) said in a report released on Tuesday (Dec 5).\n\nThis means that defective products not only \"pose a serious safety threat to the public, but can also cause significant financial damage to the companies responsible\", AGCS said.\n\nIn particular, with manufacturing activity shifting to Asia, \"Asia continues to account for a disproportionate number of recalls in the US and Europe, due to historically weaker quality controls in some countries\", AGCS said.\n\nIn the US, Chinese manufactured products accounted for over three times as many recall cases as US-made products. Citing Samsung's recall of its Galaxy Note 7 phones and Takata's defective airbags, the report also noted that three out of the eight largest recalls costing more than a billion dollars in recent times originated in Asia, specifically Japan and South Korea.\n\nConcurrently, a rise in recalls may be attributed to tougher regulation, more complex global supply chains, growing consumer awareness and materials being provided from fewer suppliers.\n\nAccording to AGCS, the average cost of a significant recall stands at US$12 million, with \"ripple effect\" events costing up to billions. Based on its research, the car industry has been most impacted by product recalls, followed by the food and beverage sector.\n\nIn the case of Japanese manufacturer Takata, 60 to 70 million units across at least 19 manufacturers were being recalled globally, amounting to an estimated cost of US$25 billion, which led to Takata's bankruptcy this year. \"Given the use of many common components, a single recall can impact a whole industry,\" AGCS said.\n\nAdditionally, the report also identified emerging recall triggers that will drive future risks and claims, largely stemming from new technologies. These include: cyber recalls from security vulnerabilities or hackers manipulating products, social media and recalls for ethical reasons.\n\nAllianz suggests that pre-event preparation can have a huge impact on the size of a recall and the financial and reputational damage sustained. It added that specialised product recall insurance can help businesses recover faster by covering the costs of a recall, including business interruption.\n\nSaid head of global crisis management at AGCS, Christof Bentele: \"There is now much more attention on how companies deal with defective or contaminated products, how responsive they are and how resilient their safety systems are. More than ever consumers are also part of the agenda and are driving company behaviour by making their choices subject to how companies deal with crises.\"\n\n\"A company that embraces crisis management, and makes it part of its DNA, is far less likely to suffer a major incidence,\" he added.", "output": "A surge in defective products, resulting in recalls, has led to insured losses of over $2bn in the past five years. This now makes it the biggest liability loss, according to insurer Allianz Global Corporate & Speciality, which warned that defective products not only \"pose a serious safety threat to the public, but can also cause significant financial damage to the companies responsible\". The rise has much to do with the shift of manufacturing to Asia, which\u00a0accounts for a disproportionate amount of recalls in Europe and the US due to less stringent quality controls.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WeWork India takes 170,000 sq ft in two deals across Mumbai \n Trump Faces Daunting Task in Classified Docs Case: Experts Donald Trump faces a formidable task defending against charges that he illegally kept top-secret documents upon leaving the White House in 2021, according to legal experts, who said neither the law nor the facts appear to be on his side.\n\nFY23 Growth May Beat Current 7.2% Estimate: CEA India\u2019s FY23 growth could be higher than the current estimate of 7.2% when the numbers for the fiscal are finalised in early 2026, chief economic advisor V Anantha Nageswaran said on Saturday.", "output": "WeWork India has signed two separate deals totalling 170,000 sq ft across two suburbs of Mumbai. Of the deals, nearly 100,000 sq ft is based in the Blackstone Group's 247 Park in the Vikhroli suburb. The second deal is for a 70,000 sq ft office building in Andheri. Both leases will run for 20 years, with rental reset clauses every three years. This adds to the existing 330,000 sq ft of leased WeWork deals concluded earlier in the year.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lendlease to cover costs of replacing combustible cladding \n Lendlease will cover the cost of replacing combustible cladding on Melbourne's Royal Women's Hospital, in what Victoria's top health property official says will be the first of 20 hospitals that need to be rectified.\n\nThe contractor \u2013 or its insurers \u2013 will foot the bill for rectifying the 10 per cent of external cladding that does not comply with the building code and is the first of eight hospital buildings that the state government says has cladding that will be removed and replaced.\n\nTwelve more hospitals are undergoing extensive tests to determine whether their cladding meets building code requirements.\n\nLendlease will replace cladding on Melbourne's Royal Women's Hospital. Daniel Pockett\n\n\"There's a level of compliance where they actually didn't deliver the building in the way we asked for the building to be built, so therefore they accept that they have to rectify it,\" said Robert Fiske, the chief executive of the Victorian Health and Human Services Building Authority.\n\nLendlease's liability for the work \u2013 a consequence of its acquisition of the hospital's original builder Baulderstone Hornibrook \u2013 has previously been reported. The disclosure on Friday of the list of up to 20 hospitals, however, makes it clear that the costs of non-compliant cladding is now hitting the wider construction industry.", "output": "Lendlease, or its insurer, will pay for the replacement of external cladding that failed building-code fire standards\u00a0on Melbourne's Royal Hospital. It's one of 20 medical centres\u00a0that Victoria state health officials say are clad in materials that pose a fire hazard and\u00a0need retrofitting.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Europe's largest solar plant to be built in Spain \n The government of the Spanish region of Arag\u00f3n announced it will fast-track the development of a 549 MW PV project that Spain\u2019s industrial conglomerate ACS hopes to build in an area located between the municipalities of Escatr\u00f3n and Chiprana.\n\nThe Government Council has decided to classify the investment \u201cof public interest for the region\u201d, in order to halve the usual administrative procedures for the project\u2019s authorization.\n\nThe \u20ac330 million plant will consist of 12 sub-stations. They will be owned by special purpose vehicles under the control of Cobras Concesiones SL, a unit of Cobra, which is itself the renewable energy arm of the group ACS. The company has already submitted approval requests to the relevant environmental authorities of the region for all the project\u2019s units, the local government said.\n\nPopular content\n\nWhen completed, Cobra\u2019s project will be Europe\u2019s largest solar power plant. Currently, the Old Continent\u2019s biggest solar park is a 300 MW solar plant located in Cestas, in France\u2019s Bordeaux region.\n\nThe project was selected by Spain\u2019s Ministry of Ministry of Energy, Tourism and the Digital Agenda in this year\u2019s second renewable energy auction held in July, in which 3.9 GW of solar capacity was allocated. In the auction, the ACS group had the largest share of solar projects with around 1.55 GW of assigned capacity. The PV projects selected in the contest must start delivering power in 2020.", "output": "Spanish industrial group ACS is to construct Europe's largest solar facility in the Spanish region of Arag\u00f3n. The 549 MW plant will include\u00a012 substations and will cost \u20ac330m ($390m) to construct. Currently, Europe's largest solar facility is a 300 MW installation near Bordeaux in France.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fortum to buy 35 MW of solar facilities in Russia \n Finnish power utility Fortum has continued the expansion of its solar energy business by acquiring 35 MW of solar plants in Russia.\n\nFortum said the seller was Russian solar module maker and project developer Hevel Solar, without providing details on the financial terms of the deal.\n\nTwo of the plants, the Pleshanovskaya and Grachevskaya solar power plants (both with a capacity of 10 MW each), are located in the Orenburg region, while the third facility, the 15 MW Bugulchanskaya solar plant, was installed in the Republic of Bashkortostan.\n\nAll of the projects were commissioned between 2016 and 2017 and currently receive guaranteed capacity payments for a period of 15 years under the Russian Government's capacity supply agreement (CSA), after commissioning at an average CSA price corresponding to approximately \u20ac430/MWh, Fortum added.\n\nPopular content\n\nThe Finnish power provider currently owns eight power plants in the Chelyabinsk and Tyumen regions, mainly comprising gas-fired combined heat and power (CHP) capacity. To date, the company has built over 2 GW production capacity that receives guaranteed capacity payments, currently for a period of 10 years under the Russian Government's CSA scheme. In 2016, Fortum's Russian operations represented around a quarter of its sales and about a third of the comparable operating profit.\n\nFortum is targeting a GW-scale wind and solar portfolio. The company aims to invest between \u20ac200 million and \u20ac400 million in large-scale solar projects in India. In early April, Fortum completed its third solar park in India: a 70 MW PV plant located at the Bhadla solar park in Rajasthan, northwestern India. The company is also planning to build a solar park in Luunja Municipality, near Tartu in northeastern Estonia.", "output": "Finnish power utility Fortum has agreed to acquire 35 MW of solar plants in Russia. The deal includes three facilities; the Pleshanovskaya and Grachevskaya solar power plants each have a capacity of 10 MW, while the Bugulchanskaya solar plant\u00a0has a capacity of 15 MW. Fortum plans to invest significant sums in\u00a0Indian solar plants."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK government expected to break promise on worker representation \n Companies would not be forced to appoint workers to their boards and instead be allowed to choose how they intend to heed the views of employees, according to proposals to overhaul boardroom rules.\n\nThe proposals, to be published on Tuesday, appear to confirm that Theresa May\u2019s pledge to put workers on boards \u2013 made during her campaign last year to become Conservative party leader \u2013 has been abandoned.\n\nWithin three months she had started to water down the pledge, while in August the government offered three potential options to give employees a voice in the boardroom. The government said it would ask the Financial Reporting Council \u2013 the accountancy regulator that oversees the corporate governance code for all listed stock market companies \u2013 to consult on the three options.\n\nA consultation published by the FRC includes all three options \u2013 to assign a non-executive director to represent employees, to create an employee advisory council or to nominate a director from the workforce. While it does not list other options, it means that the City corporate code will include a provision for employees\u2019 voices to be heard in the boardroom.\n\nThe City corporate code will include a provision for employees\u2019 voices to be heard in the boardroom. Photograph: Getty Images\n\nThe TUC general secretary, Frances O\u2019Grady, said it was \u201cgood that the code recognises the key role workers\u2019 voices play within businesses\u201d.\n\n\u201cThe next step is for the corporate governance code to recognise the important role that unions play in the long-term success of companies,\u201d she added.\n\nThe code operates across stock market listed companies and operates on a \u201ccomply or explain\u201d basis so that companies which ignore its provisions must provide an explanation.\n\nThe consultation \u2013 open until February \u2013 also includes plans that would require firms to publish their gender balance, building upon recommendations in the review by Sir Philip Hampton and Dame Helen Alexander, who died in August, in to boardroom diversity.\n\nThe FRC is proposing that these figures include the first layer of management below the board \u2013 and their direct reports \u2013 and goes further than suggested by including all companies and not just the 350 biggest listings on the stock market.\n\nIt does not propose similar disclosure on ethnicity but asks for views on whether it should encourage the release of more information on this issue.\n\nThe FRC\u2019s latest proposals would also mean that companies which have a 20% vote against their remuneration report would have to explain how they intend to discuss the dissent with shareholders.\n\nSir Win Bischoff, chair of the FRC, said: \u201cAt this crucial time and as the country approaches Brexit, a revised code will be essential to restoring trust in business, attracting investment and ensuring the long-term success of companies for ... wider society.\u201d", "output": "The UK government is expected to abandon promises to put workers on company boards. Instead, the UK Financial Reporting Council will give firms options on how to consult employees. The proposed changes to the City corporate code would require firms to disclose their gender and diversity balance, and to discuss dissent with shareholders in the event of a 20% vote against remuneration reports. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Masdar to build world's largest floating solar farm in Indonesia \n Upon completion, the project will be the biggest floating PV installation in the world. It will cover 225 hectares of surface area on the Cirata Reservoir in West Java province. Masdar will moor 700,000 floats to the bottom of the 6,000-hectare reservoir, which already provides power for a 1 GW hydroelectric plant. It did not reveal additional details about the project, which will include an onshore high-voltage substation.\n\nMasdar\u2019s deal with PT Pembangkitan Jawa-Bali follows a memorandum of understanding they signed in July. The two sides aim to collaborate on energy projects on the islands of Java, Bali and Sumatra, according to an online statement.\n\n\u201cWe believe this project development agreement is a milestone in the development of other floating PV solar power plants,\u201d said Iwan Agung Firstantara, president director of PT Pembangkitan Jawa-Bali.\n\nMasdar claimed that a key advantage of floating PV in tropical countries is that can provide energy in forested areas that would otherwise be unsuitable for solar development. It said an additional 60 reservoirs throughout Indonesia could be developed to host floating solar plants.\n\nPopular content\n\nMasdar has invested $2.7 billion in renewable energy projects throughout the world since 2006. Its bigger projects include the Hywind Scotland and London Array offshore wind farms, as well as a 200 MW solar plant in Jordan.\n\nLast year, it won the rights to build the 800 MW third phase of the Mohamed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, in collaboration with Fotowatio Renewable Ventures and Spain\u2019s GranSolar. The consortium will build the project for $0.0299/kWh, among the world\u2019s lowest winning bids for a solar power installation.", "output": "Abu Dhabi-based clean energy group Masdar plans to build the world's largest floating solar farm with a unit of Indonesian state utility PT PLN. The 200 MW installation will cover 225 hectares of the 6,000-hectare Cirata Reservoir in West Java province, which already provides power for a 1 GW hydroelectric plant. Masdar will moor 700,000 floats to the bottom of the reservoir."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NREL develops perovskite solar window with 11.3% efficiency \n Relying on perovskites and single-walled carbon nanotubes, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy\u2019s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have developed a smart window, which converts sunlight into electricity while going from transparent to tinted in order to minimize heat coming into the structure.\n\nThe color change comes from molecules (methylamine), which are driven out of the window device when exposed to sunlight (less than 3% visible transmittance), and reversibly absorbed into the device, returning the absorber layer \u2014composed of a metal halide perovskite-methylamine complex\u2014 to the transparent state (68% visible transmittance) as the device cools back down.\n\nThe prototypes tested showed a solar power conversion efficiency of 11.3%.\n\n\u201cThere is a fundamental trade-off between a good window and a good solar cell. This technology bypasses that. We have a good solar cell when there\u2019s lots of sunshine and we have a good window when there\u2019s not,\u201d said Lance Wheeler, the lead author of the paper, Switchable Photovoltaic Windows Enabled by Reversible Photothermal Complex Dissociation from Methylammonium Lead Iodide, published in Nature Communications.\n\nAlthough, according to Wheeler, the new technology holds the potential to be integrated into vehicles, buildings and beyond, cycle stability, however, still needs improvement. In testing under 1-sun illumination, the 1-square-centimeter demonstration device cycled through repeated transparent-tinted cycles, but the performance declined over the course of 20 cycles due to restructuring of the switchable layer chemical issues, thus leading to degradation.\n\nMeanwhile, the findings from University of Cambridge scientists, currently based at the U.S. Department of Energy\u2019s Argonne National Laboratory, have shed more light on the little known molecular mechanisms between the electrodes and electrolyte that combine to determine how a dye-sensitized solar cell operates.\n\nPopular content\n\n\u201cMost previous studies have modeled the molecular function of these working electrodes without considering the electrolyte ingredients,\u201d said Jacqui Cole, research team lead. \u201cOur work shows that these chemical ingredients can clearly influence the performance of solar cells, so we can now use this knowledge to tune the ions to increase photovoltaic efficiency.\u201d\n\nThe research findings, published in Nanoscale, indicate how a thin-film electrode containing titanium dioxide, a naturally occurring compound found in paint, sunscreen and food coloring, can have a huge impact on solar cell efficiency.\n\n\u201cPrior research considered the working electrodes outside the device, so there has been no path to determine how the different device components interact,\u201d Cole said. \u201cOur work signifies a huge leap forward as it\u2019s the world's first example of applying in situ neutron reflectometry to dye-sensitized solar cells.\u201d\n\nThe cells recently broke a world record with a power conversion efficiency of 14.3% using a dye-sensitized electrode featuring two co-sensitized metal-free organic dyes. These dyes \u201cpromise cheaper, more environmentally friendly synthetic routes and greater molecular design flexibility than their metal-containing counterparts,\u201d according to the paper.\n\n\u201cWe just need a modest boost in performance to make these solar cells competitive,\u201d Cole said, \u201csince price-to-performance governs the economics of the solar cell industry. And manufacturing dye-sensitized solar cells is very cheap relative to other solar cell technologies.\u201d", "output": "Scientists at the US Department of Energy\u2019s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have presented a perovskite-based solar window that gets darker the sunnier it is and has a conversion efficiency of 11.3%. The window drives out methylamine molecules when it is exposed to sunlight, darkening the glass, and\u00a0absorbs them\u00a0as it cools back down."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Finland's W\u00e4rtsil\u00e4 to build 75 MW solar PV plant in Nigeria \n Helsinki-based manufacturer for energy solutions, W\u00e4rtsil\u00e4 signed a contract to build a 75 MW (AC) PV power plant in Nigeria with Pan Africa Solar Ltd.\n\nThe company said in a press release said that this will be its first grid-connected utility-scale PV project and Nigeria\u2019s largest PV plant, when completed. The solar park will be built at an unspecified location in in Katsina State, in northern Nigeria.\n\n\u201cOur contract bid was successful because we were able to bring added value to the project in various areas, including local support and technical advisory services. Pan Africa Solar and W\u00e4rtsil\u00e4 are currently finalising the EPC contract and in the meantime, this letter of Award is a major milestone,\u201d said the president of W\u00e4rtsil\u00e4 Energy Solutions, Javier Cavada.\n\nW\u00e4rtsil\u00e4 specified that the project is one of the 14 solar projects that were proposed by IPPs and were selected by the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trader (NBET), part of Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Power, in July 2016.\n\nPopular content\n\nAt the time, NBET signed power purchase agreements for as much as 975 MW of solar. The first to be signed was for the above-mentioned Pan Africa Solar\u2019s project. Other companies that signed PPAs with NBET include, among others, Nigeria Solar Capital Partners for a 135 MW solar farm in Ganjuwa, and AfriNigeria who will develop a 50 MW project in Nasarawa state.\n\nIn Nigeria, solar IPPs usually negotiate and execute a put and call option agreement (PCOA) with the Federal Ministry of Finance after executing a PPA. The PCOA agreement transfers the payment risk from the state-owned company Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) directly to the ministry. The Put Call Option Agreement (PCOA) is a guarantee mechanism recently adopted by the Nigerian government.\n\nNigeria aims to cover 30% of total energy capacity through renewables by 2030.", "output": "Finnish technology company W\u00e4rtsil\u00e4 is to deploy 75 MW of solar power in Nigeria, after being awarded a contract by\u00a0Pan Africa Solar Ltd to build the facility in the north of the country. Nigeria plans for\u00a0renewable energy to account for\u00a030% of power production by 2030."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Solar in developing nations jumped 54% in 2016: BNEF \n Despite a decrease in total new clean energy investment, new solar-powered generating capacity in non-OECD countries grew 54% YoY in 2016 and tripled over three years fueled by low-price equipment and innovative new applications.\n\nAccording to the Bloomberg New Energy Finance's (BNEF's) Climatescope report, which assesses 71 countries in emerging markets on their progress made towards the clean energy transition, and reports on clean energy investment in those countries, the total solar PV capacity scaled up from 22 GW added in 2015, and a mere 3 GW in 2011, to 34 GW in 2016, which alone would meet the total annual electricity demands of 45 million homes in India, or of every home in Peru or Nigeria.\n\nFigure 1: Solar new-build in Climatescope nations (gigawatts)\n\nSource: Bloomberg New Energy Finance\n\nTaking on the mantle of leader among the developing nations, China accounted for 27 GW, followed by India with 4.2 GW. Meanwhile, Brazil, Chile, Jordan, Mexico Pakistan, and nine other nations saw installed photovoltaic capacity double or more.\n\n\u201cThe massive drop in photovoltaic module prices we\u2019ve seen over the last several years continues to reverberate through developing countries,\u201d said Ethan Zindler, Head of Americas for BNEF. \u201cIt's creating opportunities ranging from multi-million dollar projects that serve the grid, to small-scale installations that enable farmers to boost their yields through better irrigation and to connect to the Internet.\u201d\n\nPopular content\n\nIn renewable capacity deployment, new applications such as photovoltaics in micro-grids, pay-as-you-go battery/lantern systems, water pumps, and even mobile phone towers are driving the deployment hike, with start-ups often taking the lead, securing financing from private sources, and forging partnerships with large corporations such as telecom providers. For instance, more than 1.5 million households in Africa now use solar home systems that were bought on a mobile-money enabled financing plan, up from just 600,000 at the end of 2015, finds BNEF.\n\nOverall, solar accounted for 19% of all new generating capacity added in Climatescope countries last year, up from 10.6% in 2015, and 2% in 2011.\n\nTotal new clean energy investment in non-OECD countries fell by $40.2 billion to $111.4 billion in 2016, from $151.6 billion in 2015. While China accounted for three quarters of the decline, new clean energy investment in all other non-OECD countries also fell 25% from 2015 levels, the report finds.\n\nMeanwhile, in terms of policy, 76% of the nations have established domestic CO2 containment goals, demonstrating the brisk pace at which developing countries are shifting to renewables. This was also indicated by the World Bank\u2019s RISE (Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy) scorecard, which assessed the energy access, energy efficiency and renewable energy policies of 111 countries earlier this year, and found that developing nations, such as Mexico, China, India and Brazil, are increasingly taking the lead in delivering supportive policies for clean energy adoption.\n\nHowever, there is still room for improvement, as according to BNEF, only two thirds (67%) have introduced feed-in tariffs, or auctions to support clean energy projects, and just 18% have set domestic greenhouse gas emissions reduction policies.", "output": "A total of 34 GW of new solar power generating capacity came online in 2016 in 71 emerging market countries, an increase of 54%, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance's Climatescope report. China accounted for 27 GW, followed by India with 4.2 GW. technologies including\u00a0photovoltaics in micro-grids, pay-as-you-go battery/lantern systems, water pumps, and mobile phone towers are driving take-up in emerging markets, BNEF said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Burkina Faso turns on 33 MW solar PV plant \n The president of Burkina Faso, Roch Marc Christian Kabor\u00e9, and the French president Emmanuel Macron, have today officially commissioned what they call Westen Africa's largest PV plant.\n\nAccording the country\u2019s Minister of Energy, the PV 33 MW plant is located in the Zagtouli village near the capital Ouagadougou. The project was financed by France\u2019s Development Agency (AFD) to the tune of \u20ac22.5 million and by the European Union with \u20ac25 million. The facility is supplying 5% \u2013 about 55 GWh per year \u2013 of the country\u2019s total electricity consumption.\n\nAccording to AFD, the plant will sell power to local utility Sonabel at 35 CFA (around $0.06) per kWh, while producing energy cost the energy provider an average of 133 CFA per kWh in 2016. It was built by Cegelec, a unit of French developer Vinci Energies, with 129,600 solar modules with an output of 26o W.\n\nPopular content\n\nAlthough Burkina Faso is a landlocked country with very limited access energy resources, it has an annual solar radiation of 19.8 MJ/ m2 per day and the direct sunshine is over 3,000 hours per year. The governmemt\u2019s recent energy strategy is seeking to reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels and gradually shift the country\u2019s production mix to clean energy and electricity imports at an affordable cost.\n\nThe World Bank approved a $80 million credit to Burkina Faso for the Electricity Sector Support Project (PASEL) in June of this year. The funds are being used to incorporate low-cost solar resources into Burkina Faso\u2019s energy mix and improve its distribution network, the financial institution said at the time. Later in October, the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, has announced that it will provide an undisclosed sum to co-finance Burkina Faso\u2019s plans to electrify several rural areas in the period 2017-2021.", "output": "France\u2019s Development Agency (AFD) and the European Union has financed Burkina Faso's largest PV plant. The 33 MW solar facility is located\u00a0near the capital Ouagadougou and will supply\u00a05%\u00a0of the country\u2019s total electricity consumption. It will sell power to local utility company\u00a0Sonabel at\u00a0$0.06 per kWh."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "David Attenborough warns of threat to oceans \n The world\u2019s oceans are under the greatest threat in history, according to Sir David Attenborough. The seas are a vital part of the global ecosystem, leaving the future of all life on Earth dependent on humanity\u2019s actions, he says.\n\nAttenborough will issue the warning in the final episode of the Blue Planet 2 series, which details the damage being wreaked in seas around the globe by climate change, plastic pollution, overfishing and even noise.\n\nPrevious BBC nature series presented by Attenborough have sometimes been criticised for treading too lightly around humanity\u2019s damage to the planet. But the final episode of the latest series is entirely dedicated to the issue.\n\n\u201cFor years we thought the oceans were so vast and the inhabitants so infinitely numerous that nothing we could do could have an effect upon them. But now we know that was wrong,\u201d says Attenborough. \u201cIt is now clear our actions are having a significant impact on the world\u2019s oceans. [They] are under threat now as never before in human history. Many people believe the oceans have reached a crisis point.\u201d\n\nAttenborough says: \u201cSurely we have a responsibility to care for our blue planet. The future of humanity, and indeed all life on Earth, now depends on us.\u201d\n\nBBC executives were reportedly concerned about the series appearing to become politicised and ordered a fact-check, which it passed. The series producer, Mark Brownlow, said it was impossible to overlook the harm being caused in the oceans: \u201cWe just couldn\u2019t ignore it \u2013 it wouldn\u2019t be a truthful portrayal of the world\u2019s oceans. We are not out there to campaign. We are just showing it as it is and it is quite shocking.\u201d\n\nA bleached section of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Photograph: BBC NHU\n\nBrownlow said much of the footage shot of albatross chicks being killed by the plastic they mistake for food were too upsetting to broadcast. The programme also filmed on the Great Barrier Reef in 2016, witnessing the worst bleaching event in its history.\n\nClimate change is causing ocean temperatures to rise, bleaching the corals vital as nurseries for ocean life, and waters are warming rapidly in Antarctica too. Jon Copley, from the University of Southampton and one of many scientists appearing in the final episode, says. \u201cWhat shocks me about what all the data shows is how fast things are changing here [in Antarctica]. We\u2019re headed into uncharted territory\u201d\n\nCarbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning also dissolves in seawater, making it more acidic. Prof Chris Langdon, at the University of Miami, says it is \u201cbeyond question\u201d that the problem is manmade. \u201cThe shells and the reefs really, truly are dissolving. The reefs could be gone by the end of the century.\u201d\n\nThe noise from shipping, tourism, and fossil fuel exploration is also revealed as harming sea life. Steve Simpson, at the University of Exeter, who works on coral reefs in southeast Asia, says: \u201cThere is a whole language underwater that we are only just getting a handle on. They use sound to attract a mate, to scare away a predator. You hear pops and grunts and gurgles and snaps.\u201d He shows the noise of motorboats distracting saddleback clownfishes from warning against a predator attack.\n\nThe Blue Planet 2 team found plastic everywhere they filmed, even in the most remote locations such as South Georgia island, an important breeding site for wandering albatrosses. There, Lucy Quinn from the British Antarctic Survey says many chicks are killed by plastic fed to them by their parents, including one young bird whose stomach was punctured by a plastic toothpick.\n\nOverfishing, which remains prevalent around the world, is also addressed. \u201cEvery night thousands of miles of fishing lines laden with hooks are set \u2013 there is enough, it is said, to wrap twice around the world,\u201d says Attenborough. But the programme also highlights some success stories, such as the revival of sperm whales off Sri Lanka and herring stocks off Norway after bans or restrictions were put in place.\n\nStrict management of the herring fishery in Norway has saved it from collapse. Herring now draw in humpback whales and orca. Photograph: Audun Rikardsen\n\nAttenborough also visits Trinidad, where the conservationist Len Peters has transformed the prospects of the giant leatherback turtles who come to the island to lay their eggs and whose numbers have fallen catastrophically in recent decades. \u201cI grew up in a house where turtle meat was normal,\u201d says Peters. But his work to end turtle hunting and encourage tourism has seen numbers rise from 30-40 to more than 500.\n\nQuinn says the oceans are of vital importance for the whole world: \u201cThe oceans provide us with oxygen, they regulate temperature, they provide us with food and energy supplies. It is unthinkable to have a world without a healthy ocean.\u201d\n\nDaniel Pauly, who leads the Sea Around Us programme at the University of British Columbia in Canada, and was not involved in Blue Planet 2, endorsed its stark conclusion. He said vast, subsidised fishing fleets were scraping the bottom of the barrel and that ocean acidification could be terminal for many species.\n\nPauly also warned of the dangers of plastic attracting toxic chemicals and then being eaten: \u201cThey become poison pills.\u201d Pauly said the question facing humanity now was simple: \u201cAre we going to fight for the oceans or not?\u201d\n\nThe final episode of Blue Planet 2 is at 8pm on BBC1 on 10 December in the UK. The full series will then be available online via the iPlayer, including in ultra HD and high dynamic range, the first time the BBC has provided such content.", "output": "Oceans face their greatest ever threat, according to naturalist Sir David Attenborough, who will use the final episode of his Blue Planet 2 series to warn that the future of life on earth is now dependent on humanity taking action against climate change, overfishing, noise and plastic pollution. The final episode of the series, which also highlights the dangers posed to the Great Barrier Reef by coral bleaching, will be devoted entirely to the threats faced by the oceans. The series passed a fact check ordered by BBC executives concerned that it would be accused of being too political.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google hiring thousands of moderators to counter YouTube abuse \n Mr. Ducard said that while YouTube Kids may highlight some content, like Halloween videos in October, \u201cit isn\u2019t a curated experience.\u201d Instead, \u201cparents are in the driver\u2019s seat,\u201d he said, pointing to the ability to block channels, set usage timers and disable search results.\n\nParents are also encouraged to report inappropriate videos, which someone at YouTube then manually reviews, he said. He noted that in the past 30 days, \u201cless than .005 percent\u201d of the millions of videos viewed in the app were removed for being inappropriate.\n\n\u201cWe strive,\u201d he added, \u201cto make that fraction even lower.\u201d\n\nHolly Hart of Gray, Tenn., said she was recently reading while her 3-year-old daughter was in the room when she noticed that Disney Junior characters in the video her daughter was watching started \u201cturning into monsters and trying to feed each other to alligators.\u201d An image previewing a recommended video showed the characters in a provocative pose.\n\n\u201cIt was an eye-opener for me,\u201d said Ms. Hart, who had downloaded the app because it was being used at the local elementary school.\n\nNot all of the inappropriate videos feature cartoons. Alisa Clark Wilcken of Vernal, Utah, said her 4-year-old son had recently seen a video of a family playing roughly with a young girl, including a scene in which her forehead is shaved, causing her to wail and appear to bleed.", "output": "Google will hire thousands of additional moderators next year following criticism that the company allowed offensive material, including hate speech and child abuse, to appear on its video-sharing website, YouTube. The move, which will take the company\u2019s total moderating workforce to over 10,000, was announced by YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, who said that the company would also continue to develop machine-learning technology designed to automatically highlight content for removal. Last month, the New York Times reported that YouTube Kids was hosting violent and sexual material, sometimes featuring nursery rhymes and familiar characters."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google hiring thousands of moderators to counter YouTube abuse \n Google is hiring thousands of new moderators after facing widespread criticism for allowing child abuse videos and other violent and offensive content to flourish on YouTube.\n\nYouTube\u2019s owner announced on Monday that next year it would expand its total workforce to more than 10,000 people responsible for reviewing content that could violate its policies. The news from YouTube\u2019s CEO, Susan Wojcicki, followed a steady stream of negative press surrounding the site\u2019s role in spreading harassing videos, misinformation, hate speech and content that is harmful to children.\n\nWojcicki said that in addition to an increase in human moderators, YouTube is continuing to develop advanced machine-learning technology to automatically flag problematic content for removal. The company said its new efforts to protect children from dangerous and abusive content and block hate speech on the site were modeled after the company\u2019s ongoing work to fight violent extremist content.\n\n\u201cHuman reviewers remain essential to both removing content and training machine learning systems because human judgment is critical to making contextualized decisions on content,\u201d the CEO wrote in a blogpost, saying that moderators have manually reviewed nearly 2m videos for violent extremist content since June, helping train machine-learning systems to identify similar footage in the future.\n\nIn recent weeks, YouTube has used machine learning technology to help human moderators find and shut down hundreds of accounts and hundreds of thousands of comments, according to Wojcicki.\n\nYouTube faced heightened scrutiny last month in the wake of reports that it was allowing violent content to slip past the YouTube Kids filter, which is supposed to block any content that is not appropriate to young users. Some parents recently discovered that YouTube Kids was allowing children to see videos with familiar characters in violent or lewd scenarios, along with nursery rhymes mixed with disturbing imagery, according to the New York Times.\n\nOther reports uncovered \u201cverified\u201d channels featuring child exploitation videos, including viral footage of screaming children being mock-tortured and webcams of young girls in revealing clothing.\n\nYouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said human moderators \u2018remain essential to removing content\u2019. Photograph: Taylor Hill/FilmMagic for YouTube\n\nYouTube has also repeatedly sparked outrage for its role in perpetuating misinformation and harassing videos in the wake of mass shootings and other national tragedies. The Guardian found that survivors and the relatives of victims of numerous shootings have been subject to a wide range of online abuse and threats, some tied to popular conspiracy theory ideas featured prominently on YouTube.\n\n\n\nSome parents of people killed in high-profile shootings have spent countless hours trying to report abusive videos about their deceased children and have repeatedly called on Google to hire more moderators and to better enforce its policies. It\u2019s unclear, however, how the expansion of moderators announced on Monday might affect this kind of content, since YouTube said it was focused on hate speech and child safety.\n\nAlthough the recent scandals have illustrated the current limits of the algorithms in detecting and removing violating content, Wojcicki made clear that YouTube would continue to heavily rely on machine learning, a necessary factor given the scale of the problem.\n\nYouTube said machine learning was helping its human moderators remove nearly five times as many videos as they were previously, and that 98% of videos removed for violent extremism are now flagged by algorithms. Wojcicki claimed that advances in the technology allowed the site to take down nearly 70% of violent extremist content within eight hours of it being uploaded.\n\nThe statement also said YouTube was reforming its advertising policies, saying it would apply stricter criteria, conduct more manual curation and expand its team of ad reviewers. Last month, a number of high-profile brands suspended YouTube and Google advertising after reports revealed that they were placed alongside videos filled with exploitative and sexually explicit comments about children.\n\nIn March, a number of corporations also pulled their YouTube ads after learning that they were linked to videos with hate speech and extremist content.\n\nContact the author: sam.levin@theguardian.com", "output": "Google will hire thousands of additional moderators next year following criticism that the company allowed offensive material, including hate speech and child abuse, to appear on its video-sharing website, YouTube. The move, which will take the company\u2019s total moderating workforce to over 10,000, was announced by YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, who said that the company would also continue to develop machine-learning technology designed to automatically highlight content for removal. Last month, the New York Times reported that YouTube Kids was hosting violent and sexual material, sometimes featuring nursery rhymes and familiar characters."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US supreme court weighs gay rights and free speech in cake case \n The supreme court justice Anthony Kennedy voiced competing concerns on Tuesday about respecting the religious beliefs of a Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, and the gay couple\u2019s dignity.\n\nKennedy, the author of all the court\u2019s major gay-rights decisions, worried early in a riveting argument at the high court that a ruling in favor of baker Jack Phillips might allow shop owners to put up signs saying: \u201cWe do not bake cakes for gay weddings.\u201d\n\nLater, though, Kennedy said the Colorado civil rights commission seemed \u201cneither tolerant nor respectful of Mr Phillips\u2019 religious beliefs\u201d when it found his refusal to bake a cake for the gay couple violated a state anti-discrimination law.\n\nPhillips was in the courtroom on Tuesday, as were the couple he refused, Charlie Craig and David Mullins. They listened to an argument that otherwise seemed to put the conservative justices squarely with Phillips and the liberals on the side of the couple.\n\nThe case pits Phillips\u2019 first amendment claims of artistic freedom against the anti-discrimination arguments of the Colorado commission and the two men. The argument was the first involving gay rights since the supreme court ruled in 2015 that states could not prevent same-sex couples from marrying.\n\nThe Trump administration is supporting Phillips in his argument that he cannot be forced to create a cake that violates his religious beliefs. It appears to be the first time the federal government has asked the justices to carve out an exception from an anti-discrimination law.\n\nProtesters on both sides filled the sidewalk in front of the court.\n\n\u201cWe got Jack\u2019s back,\u201d Phillips\u2019 supporters said.\n\nBackers of Craig and Mullins countered: \u201cLove wins.\u201d\n\nInside the packed courtroom, the liberal justices peppered Kristen Waggoner, Phillips\u2019 lawyer, and Noel Francisco, the US solicitor general, with questions about how to accommodate Phillips without eviscerating laws that require businesses that are open to the public to serve all customers. The case could affect photographers and florists who have voiced objections similar to those of Phillips.\n\nJustices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan ticked off other categories of people who are involved in weddings to ask if they too might be able to refuse a same-sex couple. A graphic artist who designs menus and invitations? A jeweler? A hair stylist? A makeup artist?\n\nWaggoner said the person who makes menus and invitations might be in the same position as Phillips, but not the others because what they do is \u201cnot speech\u201d.\n\nKagan replied: \u201cSome people might say that about cakes, you know?\u201d\n\nMore generally, Stephen Breyer, in an exchange with Francisco, said his concern was that the court would have \u201cno way of confining\u201d a decision in favor of Phillips.\n\nKennedy\u2019s comments in the first half of the 75-minute argument seemed firmly in line with the concerns for human dignity he expressed in his opinion in the 2015 gay marriage case and other gay-rights decisions over more than 20 years.\n\nKennedy expressed his doubts when Francisco tried to describe a narrow range of situations in which Phillips and similarly situated business owners might have a right to refuse service.\n\n\u201cThe problem for you is so many examples do involve speech,\u201d Kennedy said. \u201cIt basically means there is an ability to boycott.\u201d\n\nWhen Frederick Yarger, the Colorado solicitor general, and the American Civil Liberties Union\u2019s David Cole stood up to defend the state commission ruling against Phillips, the conservative justices pounced.\n\nBecause same-sex marriage was not yet legal in Colorado in 2012, Samuel Alito noted that Craig and Mullins could not have obtained a marriage license where they lived or found a local official to marry them. Yet Phillips supposedly \u201ccommitted a grave wrong\u201d when he refused to make them a cake, Alito said. That struck him as unfair, he said.\n\nChief Justice John Roberts pressed Cole and Yarger on whether a Catholic legal services agency that provides help for free would have to take up a case involving a same-sex couple, despite the religious opposition to same-sex marriage. Yes, Cole said, \u201cif they\u2019ve provided the same services to couples who are straight\u201d.\n\nNeil Gorsuch, a Colorado native who joined the court in April, asked Cole whether a baker who made a cake shaped like a red cross to celebrate relief efforts would have to make the same cake for the Ku Klux Klan. Cole said no, because Colorado\u2019s anti-discrimination law refers to race, sex and sexual orientation but does not protect KKK members.\n\nKennedy\u2019s questions in this portion of the argument seemed to reflect the strong first amendment views in favor of free speech and religion that he has developed in nearly 30 years on the court.\n\nKennedy described comments made by one of the seven Colorado commissioners in the case as hostile to religion. \u201cDid the commission ever disavow or disapprove\u201d of those remarks? he asked. Not before today, Yarger said, disavowing them.\n\nThe exchange raised another possibility: that the court could return the case to the commission for reconsideration because its first decision was tainted by religious bias.\n\nColorado is among only 21 states with statewide laws barring discrimination against gays and lesbians in public accommodations.\n\nThe case will be decided by late June.", "output": "A US legal case is pitting first amendment rights to artistic freedom against anti-discrimination laws as the result of a refusal by a Colorado baker to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. Jack Phillips, backed by the Trump administration, argues that baking the cake would violate his religious beliefs. The case could have implications for photographers, florists and others who provide wedding services. Colorado is one of just 21 states which have statewide laws against anti-LGBT discrimination in public accommodations. A decision is expected in the case next June.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Air pollution is \u2018public health catastrophe\u2019 for unborn babies \n Air pollution significantly increases the risk of low birth weight in babies, leading to lifelong damage to health, according to a large new study.\n\nThe research was conducted in London, UK, but its implications for many millions of women in cities around the world with far worse air pollution are \u201csomething approaching a public health catastrophe\u201d, the doctors involved said.\n\n\n\nGlobally, two billion children \u2013 90% of all children \u2013 are exposed to air pollution above World Health Organization guidelines. A Unicef study also published on Wednesday found that 17 million babies suffer air six times more toxic than the guidelines.\n\nThe team said that there are no reliable ways for women in cities to avoid chronic exposure to air pollution during pregnancy and called for urgent action from governments to cut pollution from vehicles and other sources.\n\n\u201cIt is an unacceptable situation that there are factors a woman cannot control that adversely affect her unborn baby,\u201d said Mireille Toledano, at Imperial College London, and who led the new research published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).\n\nThe study analysed all live births in Greater London over four years \u2013 over 540,000 in total \u2013 and determined the link between the air pollution experienced by the mother and low birth weight, defined as less than 2.5kg (5.5lbs). The scientists found a 15% increase in risk of low birth weight for every additional 5 micrograms per cubic metre (\u00b5g/m3) of fine particle pollution.\n\nThe average exposure of pregnant women in London to fine particle pollution is 15\u00b5g/m3, well below UK legal limits but 5\u00b5g/m3 higher than the WHO guideline. Cutting pollution to that guideline would prevent 300-350 babies a year being born with low weight, the researchers estimated. \u201cThe UK legal limit is not safe and is not protecting our pregnant women and their babies,\u201d said Toledano.\n\n\u201cWe know that low birthweight is absolutely crucial,\u201d she said. \u201cIt not only increases the risk of the baby dying in infancy, but it predicts lifelong risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease etc. You are setting in stone the whole trajectory of lifelong chronic illness.\u201d\n\nThe new research shows the impact of air pollution on babies in London is significant, but affects a relatively small number \u2013 only about 2.5% of all full-term babies are born with low weight. However, many cities around the world \u2013 such as Delhi in India \u2013 suffer far higher levels of toxic air, raising concerns of huge impacts on unborn babies.\n\n\u201cThough the new results from the UK are concerning, a global perspective reveals something approaching a public health catastrophe,\u201d said Sarah Stock and Tom Clemens, from the University of Edinburgh, in a BMJ editorial. \u201cThe pregnancy effects of extreme exposure environments like Delhi are unmeasured, and there is an urgent need to turn attention to such environments where large numbers are at considerable risk of harm.\u201d\n\nStock told the Guardian that outdoor air pollution is already causing millions of early deaths every year among adults and children: \u201cAnd that is not taking into account deaths in utero or resulting from exposure in pregnancy, because we just don\u2019t have the data yet.\u201d\n\nUnicef executive director Anthony Lake said: \u201cNot only do pollutants harm babies\u2019 developing lungs \u2013 they can permanently damage their developing brains \u2013 and, thus, their futures. No society can afford to ignore air pollution.\u201d\n\nThe new BMJ study is based on observations and so cannot prove a causal link between air pollution and low birth weight, but the correlation is very strong, said Toledano: \u201cThe power of our study is incredible due to the sheer numbers.\u201d The study is the largest to date in the UK and the link is strengthened by a series of previous studies from other regions that replicate the findings.\n\nThere are some uncertainties in the estimates of air pollution exposure and the level of smoking among the pregnant women. But Toledano said: \u201cCould it be that we are slightly off in how much the increased risk is? Yes. Is it going to completely disappear? No.\u201d\n\nShe said there are a number of serious public health problems around the world, such as the lack of clean water that kills over 500,000 infants every year, but said toxic air was one of them: \u201cThere is no question this is an extremely important public health risk. We have to do something and we can\u2019t just say it is down to the individual mother. Every baby deserves to be born safely.\u201d", "output": "Air pollution significantly raises the risk of babies having a low birth weight, causing long-term risks of conditions including cardiovascular disease and diabetes, according to research carried out in London. The implications for women in cities with even worse air pollution than the UK capital were described by the researchers as \u201csomething approaching a public health catastrophe\u201d. Across the world, 90% of all children, or two billion individuals, experience air pollution which breaches World Health Organization guidelines.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Traffic fumes \u2018wipe out\u2019 benefits of walking for older people \n The over-60s should stick to green spaces and parks when they go for a walk and avoid the city streets, according to a groundbreaking study that says air pollution from traffic fumes largely wipes out the health benefit from the exercise.\n\nWalking is often recommended for older people, but the study from Imperial College London and Duke University in the USA suggests that the over-60s and those with lung and heart problems should steer clear of urban areas with heavy traffic. The negative effect may well be the same in younger people, say the authors, and it reinforces the urgency of reducing emissions in city streets.\n\nThe research compared walking for two hours in Oxford Street with strolling in Hyde Park, which registers some air pollution but far less than in the heart of the capital city\u2019s shopping district.\n\nThe researchers recruited 119 people who were either healthy, had stable heart disease or stable COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) which damages the lungs. They were randomly allotted to walk either in the west end of Oxford Street which is restricted to taxis and buses emitting diesel fumes and which has frequently breached air quality limits set by the World Health Organisation, or a traffic-free area of Hyde Park. Some weeks later they did the other walk. The findings were published in the Lancet medical journal.\n\nNoise and pollution levels were significantly higher on Oxford Street, including increased levels of black carbon, nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter. All the participants benefited from a stroll in the park, with lung capacity improving within the first hour, and a significant lasting increase for more than 24 hours in many cases. By comparison, a walk up and down Oxford Street led to only a small increase in lung capacity in participants \u2013 far lower than recorded in the park.\n\nBlood flow also increased after exercise, with decreases in blood pressure and an increase in heart rate. Arteries became less stiff in those walking in Hyde Park, with a maximum change from baseline of more than 24% in healthy and COPD volunteers, and more than 19% in heart disease patients.\n\nThis effect was drastically reduced when walking along Oxford Street, however, with a maximum change in arterial stiffness of just 4.6% for healthy volunteers, 16% for those with COPD and 8.6% for heart disease.\n\nThese findings are important as walking is frequently recommended for older people. \u201cFor many people, such as the elderly or those with chronic disease, very often the only exercise they can do is to walk,\u201d said Kian Fan Chung, professor of respiratory medicine at the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial and lead author of the study. \u201cOur research suggests that we might advise older adults to walk in green spaces, away from built-up areas and pollution from traffic,\u201d he added.\n\nChung said traffic pollution might also affect younger people doing their shopping in the heart of a city.\n\n\u201cI think it might well do. The only difference is that young people are much more resilient,\u201d he said. A study in younger people should be done, he said.\n\nOther scientists said the study was important evidence of the harms of air pollution, although they would not advise people to stop walking in the city streets, because the benefits for healthy people were reduced but not completely lost.\n\nIan Colbeck, professor of environmental science at Essex University, said the paper highlighted the risks to health by walking along polluted roads, for the over-60s with specific pre-existing medical conditions.\n\n\u201cWe know from other research that for the vast majority of the population the benefits of any physical activity far outweigh any harm caused by air pollution except for the most extreme air pollution concentrations,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s important to that people continue to exercise. In the UK physical inactivity is the fourth largest cause of disease and mortality and contributes to around 37,000 premature deaths in England every year.\u201d\n\nProf Stephen Holgate from Southampton University and special adviser to the Royal College of Physicians on air quality, said: \u201cThe observation that air pollution encountered on a high street in London removes any health protection produced by exercise outdoors is yet another demonstration that pollution is eroding the health of ordinary people. More than this, it would seem that pollution, in large part related to traffic emissions, has an immediate adverse effect on those with chronic diseases such as COPD and cardiovascular diseases.\n\n\u201cWhile medication for cardiovascular disease apparently protects against acute pollutant effects, is this the way we should be dealing with the problem? I would say no. This important study mandates action to radically reduce pollution at source to enable our cities and towns to be safe places to live in and move around.\u201d", "output": "Air pollution from traffic eradicates the benefits of walking for over-60s, according to research by Imperial College London and Duke University in the US. The study recommends that older people, and those with heart and lung problems, should avoid areas of heavy traffic and walk instead in green spaces. The fumes may also have a similar impact on younger people. The study analysed results from 119 people walking for two hours either on\u00a0London\u2019s Oxford Street or in Hyde Park; lung capacity increased and arterial stiffness reduced far more after exercising in the park than on Oxford Street.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mayors signing \u2018Chicago Climate Charter\u2019 receive Obama's praise \n CHICAGO \u2014 Former president Barack Obama on Tuesday praised American mayors, business leaders, and academics as being the \"new face of American leadership on climate change\" now that President Trump has abandoned an international climate accord that Obama helped forge during his presidency.\n\nThe comments from Obama came at a gathering in Chicago of mayors and municipal officials from the U.S. and around globe to discuss climate change in light of Trump\u2019s declaration earlier this year that he will withdraw the U.S. from the landmark Paris Agreement.\n\nAs part of the North American Climate Summit, the mayors signed a pledge dubbed the \u201cChicago Climate Charter\u201d \u2014 a non-binding pact in which the cities agree to continue working toward the goal of reducing greenhouse emission as set out by the Paris accord.\n\n\"In this environment right now, it's easy sometimes to feel discouraged, and feel as if people are talking past each other,\" said Obama, who did not mention President Trump by name in his 14-minute address to the summit. \"This is where the particular talents of mayors come in. Because first of all, you are used to dealing with folks who can sometimes be unreasonable. You are accustomed to having to deal with the realities in front of you and take action, not just talk about it.\"\n\nTrump announced in June that he was withdrawing the U.S. from the climate accord. Under terms of the agreement \u2014 which was negotiated during Obama\u2019s tenure in the White House \u2014 nations can\u2019t officially give notice of their departure from the non-binding agreement until November 2019. Syria announced last month that it would join the accord, leaving the U.S. as the only country out of the agreement once it can formally withdraw \u2014 a fact that Obama called \"difficult to defend.\"\n\nTrump criticized the Paris Agreement, which sets the goal of holding global warming below 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, as an example of a deal \u201cthat disadvantages the United States to the exclusive benefit of other countries.\u201d\n\nOne part of the Paris Agreement that big cities won\u2019t be able to duplicate: contributing billions of dollars that the U.S. (during the Obama administration) and other governments pledged to help developing countries transition to cleaner forms of energy.\n\nThe ex-president made the case to the friendly crowd that curbing carbon emissions and promoting economic growth are not mutually exclusive.\n\nObama noted that his administration pushed for new regulations limiting the amount of carbon pollution existing power plants could release in the air, promoted wind and solar energy and set new fuel economy standards for vehicles.\n\n\"We met resistance every step of the way,\" Obama said. \"There were skeptics who said these actions would kill jobs and depress growth. Instead after we took these actions, we saw the U.S. economy grow consistently, we saw the longest streak of job creation in American history by far. It's a streak that continues, by the way.\"\n\nObama quipped about his economic record, \"Thanks, Obama.\"\n\nPhoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, who signed the mayor's pact, said that Trump\u2019s decision to back out of the accord has been damaging to the United States reputation worldwide and has the potential to hurt the American economy.\n\n\u201cMayors like me around the country have no choice but to step up to the plate and send a message to people in our communities, around the country and around the globe that we are not going to give up our role in sustainability or fighting climate change,\u201d Stanton said. \u201cWe understand that clean energy is our economic future, and we can\u2019t build an economy by looking backwards.\u201d\n\nMore:Forget Paris: U.S. mayors sign their own pact after Trump ditches climate accord\n\nMore:Chicago Climate Charter, explained: What cities say they'll do to reduce greenhouse gases\n\nMore:The U.S. is now the only country not part of Paris climate agreement after Syria signs on", "output": "Mayors from across the world met in Chicago this week to discuss environmental issues and to sign \u201cThe Chicago Climate Charter\u201d, a non-binding pledge that their cities will continue to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris Climate Agreement. \u00a0Former US president Barack Obama addressed the meeting, describing mayors, academics and business people as the \"new face of American leadership on climate change\" in the wake of Donald Trump\u2019s decision to withdraw the US from the Paris Accord.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sea level rise predictions may be too high: Greenland study \n Feeder streams 300 FEET Darker ice Snow covering an old channel This river drains an area of about 24 square miles Collector lake Researcher\u2019s camp Here the river is about 60 feet wide and up to 6 feet deep. Moulin Feeder streams 300 FEET Darker ice Snow sometimes covers old channels. This river drains an area of about 24 square miles Collector lake Researcher\u2019s camp Here the river is about 60 feet wide and up to 6 feet deep. Moulin 300 feet wide This river drains an area of about 24 miles Collector lake About 60 feet wide and up to 6 feet deep. Moulin\n\nOn Greenland\u2019s vast ice sheet, meltwater flows in rivulets as sunlight and warm air heat the surface ice.\n\nSurface variations create thousands of low-lying areas where meltwater collects and eventually drains.\n\nThe rivulets drain into larger rivers that carve natural paths across the ice sheet.\n\nOver years, impurities in the ice become concentrated, making it darker. Those areas absorb more sunlight, causing more melting.\n\nUnderneath the surface, the ice develops holes, like swiss cheese.\n\nThis river reached a large depression in the ice and formed a lake.\n\nThe lake fed another fast-moving river on the opposite side.\n\nThat river disappeared down a hole in the ice, called a moulin.\n\nSea level rise depends on how much water drains from the ice sheet into the ocean, and how fast.\n\nNew research suggests that more of the water may be trapped inside the ice sheet than previously thought.\n\nOn Greenland\u2019s vast ice sheet, meltwater flows in rivulets as sunlight and warm air heat the surface ice.\n\nSurface variations create thousands of low-lying areas where meltwater collects and drains.\n\nThe rivulets drain to larger rivers that carve natural paths across the ice sheet.\n\nOver years, impurities in the ice become concentrated, making it darker. Those areas absorb more heat, and cause greater melting.\n\nThis river reached a depression in the ice and formed a lake, which fed another river on the opposite side.\n\nThat river disappeared down a hole in the ice, called a moulin.\n\nSea level rise depends on how much water drains from the ice sheet into the ocean. New research suggests there may be more water trapped in the ice than previously thought.", "output": "Sea-level rise predictions may be too high, according to international research which measured the meltwater runoff from ice in Greenland. Scientists found that less meltwater flows through the ice sheet, and to the ocean, than previously estimated as some is retained in porous ice. Greenland is losing an average of 260 billion tonnes of ice each year, which would lead to sea level rises of two inches by the end of the century. Additional research will now try to determine the amount of water retained within the ice.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EU, UK mull bitcoin secrecy curbs on\u00a0laundering, tax-dodge fears\u00a0 \n The UK and other EU governments are planning a crackdown on bitcoin amid growing concerns that the digital currency is being used for money laundering and tax evasion.\n\nThe Treasury plans to regulate bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to bring them in line with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financial legislation. Traders will be forced to disclose their identities, ending the anonymity that has made the currency attractive for drug dealing and other illegal activities.\n\nUnder the EU-wide plan, online platforms where bitcoins are traded will be required to carry out due diligence on customers and report suspicious transactions. The UK government is negotiating amendments to the anti-money-laundering directive to ensure firms\u2019 activities are overseen by national authorities.\n\nThe Treasury said: \u201cWe are working to address concerns about the use of cryptocurrencies by negotiating to bring virtual currency exchange platforms and some wallet providers within anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing regulation.\u201d\n\nQ&A What is bitcoin? Show Bitcoin is a 'cryptocurrency' \u2013 a decentralised tradeable digital asset. Invented in 2008, you store your bitcoins in a digital wallet, and transactions are stored in a public ledger known as the bitcoin blockchain, which prevents the digital currency being double-spent. Cryptocurrencies can be used to send transactions between two parties via the use of private and public keys. These transfers can be done with minimal processing cost, allowing users to avoid the fees charged by traditional financial institutions - as well as the oversight and regulation that entails. The lack of any central authority oversight is one of the attractions. This means it has attracted a range of backers, from libertarian monetarists who enjoy the idea of a currency with no inflation and no central bank, to drug dealers who like the fact that it is hard (but not impossible) to trace a bitcoin transaction back to a physical person. The exchange rate has been volatile, with some deeming it a risky investment. In January 2021 the UK's Financial Conduct Authority warned consumers they should be prepared to lose all their money if they invest in schemes promising high returns from digital currencies such as bitcoin. In practice it has been far more important for the dark economy than it has for most legitimate uses. In November 2021 it hit a record high of more than $68,000, as a growing number of investors backed it as an alternative to other assets during the Covid crisis. Bitcoin has been criticised for the vast energy reserves and associated carbon footprint of the system. New bitcoins are created by \u201cmining\u201d coins, which is done by using computers to carry out complex calculations. The more bitcoins that have been \"mined\", the longer it takes to mine new coin, and the more electricity is used in the process. Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.\n\nThe rules are expected to come into effect in the next few months. The Treasury said digital currencies could be used to enable and facilitate cybercrime. It added: \u201cThere is little current evidence of them being used to launder money, though this risk is expected to grow.\u201d\n\nThe bosses of Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan have criticised bitcoin as a vehicle to commit fraud and other crimes. But Sir Jon Cunliffe, a deputy governor of the Bank of England, last week said the digital currency was too small to pose a systemic threat to the global economy. He also cautioned that bitcoin investors needed \u201cto do their homework\u201d.\n\nBitcoin was trading at $11,566 on Monday. It hit a fresh record high of $11,800 on Sunday but fell to $10,554 on news of the regulatory crackdown.\n\n\n\nThe Labour MP John Mann, a member of the House of Commons Treasury select committee, suggested MPs would look into the regulation of virtual currencies.\n\nHe told the Daily Telegraph: \u201cThese new forms of exchange are expanding rapidly and we\u2019ve got to make sure we don\u2019t get left behind \u2013 that\u2019s particularly important in terms of money laundering, terrorism or pure theft.\n\n\n\n\u201cIt would be timely to have a proper look at what this means. It may be that we want speed up our use of these kinds of thing in this country, but that makes it all the more important that we don\u2019t have a regulatory lag.\u201d\n\nStephen Barclay, the economic secretary to the Treasury, set out the government\u2019s plans in a written parliamentary answer in October. \u201cThe UK government is currently negotiating amendments to the anti-money-laundering directive that will bring virtual currency exchange platforms and custodian wallet providers into anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing regulation, which will result in these firms\u2019 activities being overseen by national competent authorities for these areas.\n\n\u201cThe government supports the intention behind these amendments. We expect these negotiations to conclude at EU level in late 2017 or early 2018.\u201d", "output": "European governments including the UK are seeking to strengthen the regulation of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in an effort to prevent them being used for money laundering and tax evasion. The anonymity of the virtual currencies has made them popular with drug dealers and other criminals seeking to transfer funds for illegal activities without leaving a trace. Proposals have been drawn up for action to be taken across the European Union, requiring cryptocurrency exchanges to comply with existing regulations by carrying out due diligence on users and reporting suspicious transactions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "South Korea mulling new bitcoin tax, regulatory code\u00a0 \n Kim Dong-yeon, South Korea\u2019s deputy prime minister and the minister of strategy and finance, revealed earlier this week that the government is investigating various methods to better regulate the local Bitcoin market and tax Bitcoin users accordingly.\n\nWhile the South Korean government and its local financial authorities are actively discussing the possibility of enforcing a policy on Bitcoin taxation, at a press conference, Deputy Prime Minister Kim stated that the government does not intend to include any Bitcoin taxation policy in 2018\u2019s amendment of the tax law.\n\nSouth Korea likely to follow Japan\u2019s taxation policy\n\nSince the beginning of this year, the South Korean government has introduced light regulatory frameworks for Bitcoin businesses and investors that are structurally similar to that of the policies imposed by the Japanese government and the Japan Financial Service Agency (FSA).\n\nCurrently, cryptocurrency exchanges and trading platforms have the freedom to operate in both regions, with minimal government interference and oversight.\n\nAs a part of a major initiative to facilitate the growth of the Japanese cryptocurrency market, the Japanese government eliminated the eight percent consumption tax on Bitcoin in July, with the intent of sustaining the rapid growth rate of the Japanese Bitcoin industry and growing demand from the traditional finance sector.\n\nIt is likely that the South Korean government will implement a similar Bitcoin tax policy to that of the Japanese government, given that most of the regulatory frameworks provided by the South Korean financial authorities in 2017 focused on providing freedom and flexibility to businesses, like Japan.\n\nDiscussion on centralization of trading\n\nSeveral agencies, Bitcoin communities, and government officials have expressed their concerns with the centralization of trading within South Korea. Bithumb, South Korea\u2019s leading cryptocurrency exchange, the world\u2019s second largest cryptocurrency trading platform behind Bitfinex, accounts for nearly 70 percent of South Korea\u2019s Bitcoin trades.\n\nSouth Korea\u2019s Ministry of Strategy and Finance will explore potential methods of distributing cryptocurrency and Bitcoin trading volumes across a wider range of cryptocurrency trading platforms within the market.\n\nBanks are testing Bitcoin\n\nAdditionally, some of the country\u2019s largest and most influential financial institutions such as Shinhan, South Korea\u2019s second-largest commercial bank, have already begun testing Bitcoin wallet and vault systems, with a long-term strategy to provide a safe and insured platform with which Bitcoin users can store funds.\n\nShinhan emphasized that a vault service for Bitcoin users, especially large-scale investment firms and institutional investors, is necessary, given that Bithumb was hacked twice this year.\n\nHowever, it is also important to consider the structure of the Bitcoin network and its decentralized nature. Because the Bitcoin network exists on a peer-to-peer protocol, the safest way to store Bitcoin is on non-custodial wallet platforms, wherein the user obtains absolute control of private keys and funds.\n\nOverall, it is highly optimistic that the South Korean government has started to acknowledge the rapid growth rate of Bitcoin and drafted several solutions to standardize the South Korean Bitcoin industry.", "output": "The government of South Korea is considering how best to tax users of bitcoin and regulate the market more effectively. Deputy Prime Minister Kim Dong-yeon\u00a0said such a move was under active consideration, but would not be included in amendments to tax law in 2018.\u00a0South Korea has minimal oversight of\u00a0bitcoin users, and is likely to follow the lead of\u00a0Japan, which lifted an\u00a08% consumption tax on bitcoin earlier this year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US to Senate bill S.1241 to criminalise hidden ownership of cryptos \n The US Senate Judiciary Committee is currently tackling bill S.1241 that aims to criminalize the intentional concealment of ownership or control of a financial account. The bill also would amend the definition of \u2018financial account\u2019 and \u2018financial institution\u2019 to include digital currencies and digital exchanges, respectively. According to ranking committee member Senator Dianne Feinstein, the proposed bill is needed to modernize existing AML laws.\n\nChanging definitions\n\nThe bill would amend the definition of \u2018financial institution,\u2019 in Section 53412(a) of title 31, United States Code, to include:\n\n\u201cAn issuer, redeemer, or cashier of prepaid access devices, digital currency, or any digital exchanger or tumbler of digital currency.\u201d\n\nIf passed, the bill would likely have far-reaching effects for users of digital currencies both in the US and abroad.\n\nIndustry opinions\n\nSeveral industry commentators have issued their opinions on the proposed law. Tone Vays claimed that he expects a confrontation between the Bitcoin team, including the holders and users, and the US government.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s bad\u2026I think it\u2019s gonna end in a very confrontational way between Bitcoin\u2014even Bitcoin holders and users\u2014and the US Government.\u201d\n\nIn his testimony during the hearing, John A. Cassara claimed that the issue of virtual currencies is interesting:\n\n\u201cSenator, I\u2019m just glad I had my career when I did because I don\u2019t know what I\u2019d do trying to follow the money when it comes to digital currencies, it\u2019s extremely, extremely challenging\u2026I think if you look at the metrics, the metrics suggest today [that] digital currencies are a small fraction of the threat that we face. That\u2019s not to say it\u2019s gonna be the case in 5-10 years from now. We\u2019re right at a crossroads, and it\u2019s going to be very, very interesting to see what goes forward.\u201d\n\nEarlier reports also indicate that the White House is actively monitoring cryptocurrencies which could only mean more attempts to regulate the world\u2019s first successful decentralized monetary system. With the growing involvement of Wall Street and the ever escalating media attention, it is not surprising that governments are stepping up their attempts to regulate digital currency.", "output": "It could soon be a criminal offence in the US for citizens to conceal their ownership of cryptocurrencies. Under the terms of bill S.1241, currently being considered in the US Senate, the definitions of \"financial account\"\u00a0and \"financial institution\"\u00a0could\u00a0be amended to include digital currencies and exchanges alongside traditional financial assets and markets. Senators backing the changes say they are necessary in order to modernise existing anti-money-laundering laws.\u00a0Some industry experts warn the move could provoke a confrontation between bitcoin owners\u00a0and the US government.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Buildup raises $7m for construction sector task management tools \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nBuildup, a task management and collaboration platform aimed at the construction industry, has raised $7 million in a Series A round of funding from Tel Aviv-based TLV Partners, UpWest Labs, 01 Ventures, Abstract Ventures, and Check founders Guy Goldstein and Ahikam Kaufman.\n\nFounded in 2013, Palo Alto-based Buildup targets contractors, developers, and property managers with cross-platform software for identifying and fixing tasks and issues related to a job. It includes features such as punch lists, automated task sequencing, quality control tools, subcontractor performance analysis, and more. Ultimately, it\u2019s all about bringing handwritten lists and printed documents into a central cloud-based location.\n\nPrior to now, Buildup had raised $1.6 million in seed funding, and with its latest cash influx the company said that it plans to expand its engineering, sales, and marketing teams.\n\nInefficient\n\nThe global construction market is reportedly worth around $10 trillion, but the industry isn\u2019t renowned for its efficiency, with some reports suggesting that the sector is among the lowest in terms of productivity \u2014 partly due to its lack of digitization.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\n\u201cThe construction industry lags behind other markets in the overall productivity of its workers,\u201d noted TLV Partners managing partner Eitan Bek. \u201cBuildup addresses the longest phase of a construction project: building. The management team has executed extremely well, with limited resources, and has managed to achieve significant customer adoption in a challenging market.\u201d\n\nAnd it\u2019s against this backdrop that the tech industry has seen myriad construction-related launches and investments around the world.\n\nBack in September, BuildingConnected raised $22 million to grow its bid procurement platform for building contractors, and \u201cAirbnb for construction\u201d startup EquipmentShare raised $20 million to grow its marketplace for selling and lending equipment.\n\nElsewhere, Emagispace raised $4.2 million for its modular building block technology, Belgian startup Aproplan raised around $6 million for its \u201cSalesforce for construction\u201d platform, and Zillow acquired New Home Feed to help builders market new properties. Notably, Netscape creator Jim Clark recently launched CommandScape, which is touted as a state-of-the-art building management system for premium properties.\n\nBuildup said that it has worked with ENR-ranked top 50 companies such as Turner Construction, Whiting Turner, AvalonBay, and Greystar, among others.\n\n\u201cOur customers have used Buildup to make job sites more efficient and collaborative, while also gaining newfound insight into critical and timely data during the execution stage of construction projects, when most of their budget is spent,\u201d added Buildup CEO and cofounder Oren Cohen.", "output": "California firm Buildup has raised $7m in series A funding from investors including Abstract Ventures and TLV Partners, bringing its total funding to $8.6m. The company has developed cloud-based software for the construction and property management industries that\u00a0replaces paperwork with a digital alternative. The sector has slowly begun to adopt digitisation and investors are keen to back firms embracing the technology. Buildup's new funding followed\u00a0rounds by\u00a0BuildingConnected, EquipmentShare and Aproplan, which raised $22m, $20m and $6m respectively.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "PwC study shows shift to online plan purchases \n According to PwC, nearly half of UK small businesses bought their most recent business insurance online and they are increasingly looking to interact with customers digitally, though just one in ten have cyber insurance\n\nAlmost half (43%) of small businesses bought their most recent insurance online. They also want to interact more with their customers online, but only one in ten (12%) has cyber insurance.\n\nA new PwC survey of 2,100 small businesses from across the globe shows the insurance market for SMEs is likely to completely transform to match the digital transformation within the next decade.\n\nThe survey, which included 300 firms from the UK, also showed that small businesses in the UK are more digitally savvy than their peers across the world when it comes to interacting with their insurance providers online, with almost half (46%) saying they have purchased insurance online, versus 24% worldwide.\n\nThe survey made these conclusions:\n\n43% of UK small businesses bought their most recent business insurance online\n\nMore than two thirds (68%) of UK small businesses who plan to switch insurance providers in the next two years say they want to do so online\n\nJust one in 10 (12%) UK small businesses have cyber insurance and 14% do not have liability cover\n\n60% of small companies under five years old say they want to purchase business insurance online - this drops to 44% of more established companies aged over ten years, who tend to have deeper relationships with brokers and agents\n\nAs well as this, over a third also say they would be willing to use sensor technologies in their businesses if it would bring down their insurance premiums.\n\nUK insurance leader at PwC, Jim Bichard said:\n\n\u201cThe UK insurance market has always been seen as one of the most mature, but our survey shows we can also be the most innovative. Taking a lead from the digital transformation seen in personal lines, UK insurers are now leading the way on how they interact online with small businesses.\u201d\n\nDespite this, he believes there is still much room for improvement, and outlined how insurers can achieve that:\n\n\u201cUsing technology; insurers can also reinforce the value they bring through providing greater coverage for current & emerging risks.\n\n\u201cIn order to make the most of this growth opportunity, insurers need to focus on understanding the varied and complicated ways the UK\u2019s small businesses function, as well as investing in ways to deliver a full range of products that will meet their needs.\u201d\n\nPwC says the insurance industry needs to act now to meet these growing demands from small businesses.", "output": "Professional services firm PwC has released a study that found that 43% of UK small businesses last purchased their business insurance online. Despite a strong interest in wanting to interact more with customers online, only 12% have cyber insurance and only 14% have liability cover. The research from 2,100 small businesses globally found that UK small businesses are more digitally aware than their worldwide counterparts, with 46% purchasing insurance online, as opposed to 24% globally. Of those which planned to switch insurance provider in the next two years, 68% wish to do so online."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Smart Ag develops\u00a0autonomous farming technology \n Dive Brief:\n\nAgriculture technology firm Smart Ag has developed what it calls AutoCart software to automate existing ag equipment, which can help alleviate labor shortage issues farmers are facing, according to Food Manufacturing. The automatic grain cart system enables one person to do what typically requires two skilled operators.\n\nThough still in the pilot stage, testing of a driverless John Deere tractor and grain cart began this fall at MBS Family Farms in Iowa. AutoCart uses navigation technology adapted from the aerospace industry. It allows the tractor pulling the grain cart to chart an efficient path to wherever the combine operator sends it. The cart is programmed only to go where the combine has already been, thus preventing it from going into an area that hasn't yet been harvested.\n\n\"It looks like the headless horseman when the tractor's out there without an operator in it,\" Mark Barglof, chief technology officer for Smart Ag, told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier. \"It takes a little bit to get used to, but once you do get used to it, you can see the future is really in front of you.\"\n\nDive Insight:\n\nThe combination of fewer new workers entering the workforce and a lack of skilled laborers could have a profound impact on the future of food companies and plant processes. Farmers face similar hurdles \u2014 harvesting processes for fruits and vegetables have become increasingly challenging due to agricultural labor shortage and lack of experienced machine operators on the farm.\n\nProducers have said they struggle to find the labor they need to package meat and tend to livestock or pick strawberries, flowers, tomatoes and other crops. In some cases, produce is left to rot in the field, potentially hurting the nation's abundant food supply and risking the possibility of higher prices that consumers pay at the grocery store.\n\n\"For decades we've been limited on farms to about 1,000 acres per full-time equivalent [employee]. If we're going to break out of that and drive more efficiency, it's probably easier to automate than to train unskilled labor,\" Allen Lash, CEO of Family Farms Group, told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier.\n\nCompanies will need to think outside the box to close labor gaps, and many are likely to turn to automation and new technology like the machine being tested by Smart Ag. Robots are already being used in retail warehouses to pick and sort products. Stores such as Walmart and Ahold Delhaize are deploying robots to support tasks like scanning shelves and counting stock.\n\nIt\u2019s not much of a stretch to imagine robots and other automated technology penetrating food manufacturing facilities, processing plants and farms. According to Boston Consulting Group, today\u2019s robots, food-related or otherwise, only automate about 10% of the tasks that machines can perform, though that number is expected to increase to about 25% in the next decade.\n\nIf this trend holds, and the automated ag equipment and technology pans out, this could solve the agricultural industry\u2019s headaches over employment gaps, though it also could cause disruption for existing laborers and young workers looking to enter the sector.\n\nBut the owner of MBS Family Farms told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls publication that the technology is not about replacing any of its 20 workers. \u201cI want to be clear that our excitement around this technology isn\u2019t about replacing any one of those 20,\u201d Mehmen said. \u201cIt\u2019s about bringing more on... We see this as something that can help with that significantly.\"\n\nAutomated farming systems like this one could impact the whole food system. Despite having to cover R&D costs and expenses related to the new technology, food prices could actually go down because it costs less to get it to market. But if this does eventually happen, it could take some time before shoppers notice any meaningful impact on their wallet.\n\nStill, don\u2019t expect these kinds of advancements to take the farming community by storm anytime soon. Automation, technology and robots could be just a bit too progressive for many small mom-and-pop farms operating along the nation\u2019s countryside. The price tag also turn off cash-strapped producers, many of whom have already seen their income sharply reduced due to a prolonged drop in corn, soybean and other commodity prices.", "output": "Iowa-based agtech Smart Ag\u00a0has unveiled\u00a0its Autocart software for\u00a0automating\u00a0existing farming equipment. The software is still under development and\u00a0uses navigation technology to chart the most efficient pathways for farming machinery. Autocart is intended to control some of the tasks done by tractors and combine harvesters.\u00a0Extensive labour shortages are predicted in the farming industry and automation is expected to be necessary to\u00a0augment the workforce.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EBRD offers funding for 45 MW Jordanian wind farm \n A 45-MW wind project in Jordan proposed by UAE-based Shobak Wind Energy PSC will get USD 52 million (EUR 43.7m) in debt financing from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).\n\nThe financing will consist of two USD-26-million A and B loans, one funded by the Europe Arab Bank (EAB). The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) has provided the remaining USD 26-million portion of the required funds.\n\nConstruction on the USD-104-million Shobak project is expected to start by the beginning of next year, Daniel Calderon, co-founder and CEO of Alcazar Energy said. The latter is the owner of Shobak Wind Energy, which is partnering in the scheme with US-based power developer Hecate Energy.\n\nEBRD noted it has supported 350 MW of renewable energy projects in Jordan, investing more than USD 1 billion.\n\n(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.840)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "UAE firm Shobak Wind Energy will receive $52m in debt financing from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for a 45 MW wind project in Jordan. The funding will be provided in two loans of $26m, split between the Europe Arab Bank and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector. The project, a $104m partnership between Alcazar Energy's Shobak Wind Energy and power developer Hecate Energy, is due to start by early 2018. EBRD has previously provided $1bn of funding for 350 MW of renewable energy projects."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Reuters uses AI to mine Twitter for stories \n Nevertheless, news agencies such as the Associated Press have moved ahead with automated news writing services. These report standard announcements such as financial news and certain sports results by pasting the data into pre-written templates: \u201cX reported profit of Y million in Q3, in results that beat Wall Street forecasts ... \u201d\n\nSo there is significant pressure on other news agencies to automate news production. And today, Reuters outlines how it has almost entirely automated the identification of breaking news stories. Xiaomo Liu and pals at Reuters Research and Development and Alibaba say the new system performs well. Indeed, it has the potential to revolutionize the news business. But it also raises concerns about how such a system could be gamed by malicious actors.\n\nThe new system is called Reuters Tracer. It uses Twitter as a kind of global sensor that records news events as they are happening. The system then uses various kinds of data mining and machine learning to pick out the most relevant events, determine their topic, rank their priority, and write a headline and a summary. The news is then distributed around the company\u2019s global news wire.\n\nThe first step in the process is to siphon the Twitter data stream. Tracer examines about 12 million tweets a day, 2 percent of the total. Half of these are sampled at random; the other half come from a list of Twitter accounts curated by Reuters\u2019s human journalists. They include the accounts of other news organizations, significant companies, influential individuals, and so on.\n\nThe next stage is to determine when a news event has occurred. Tracer does this by assuming that an event has occurred if several people start talking about it at once. So it uses a clustering algorithm to find these conversations.\n\nOf course, these clusters include spam, advertisements, ordinary chat, and so on. Only some of them refer to newsworthy events.\n\nSo the next stage is to classify and prioritize the events. Tracer uses a number of algorithms to do this. The first identifies the topic of the conversation. It then compares this with a database of topics that the Reuters team has gathered from tweets produced by 31 official news accounts, such as @CNN, @BBCBreaking, and @nytimes as well as news aggregators like @BreakingNews.\n\nAt this stage, the algorithm also determines the location of the event using a database of cities and location-based keywords.", "output": "News agency Reuters is using artificial intelligence (AI) to automatically identify breaking news stories. The company's research and development team has created a system called Reuters Tracer, which uses Twitter to monitor news events as they happen. The system automatically selects the most relevant and writes a headline and summary, which are then sent around the company's global distribution channels. The software analyses around 12 million tweets a day, half of which come from accounts curated by Reuters journalists, and half of which are randomly sampled. The company claims the system has worked well in tests, generating accurate alerts quickly.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Noodle raises $14m for expansion into online learning courses \n As more nonprofit colleges and universities bet their futures on online offerings, many are turning to for-profit companies to help create and advertise their new digital degree programs.\n\nOne of the newer players to step into that online program manager (OPM) space, Noodle Partners, got a boost this week: $14 million in Series A funding led by edtech venture capital firm Owl Ventures. The announcement comes about a year after the startup raised $4 million in a seed round from Osage Venture Partners and New Markets Venture Partners, bringing Noodle Partners\u2019 total raised to about $18 million.\n\nBackdrop to the raise is a growing market and demand for online courses. Nearly 12 percent of all undergraduate students, and about a quarter of graduate students, are enrolled in full time online degree programs, according to the 2017 The Changing Landscape of Online Education (CHLOE) report.\n\nMeanwhile, research by Eduventures shows the number of online programs offered at 2- and 4-year higher-ed institutions more than doubled between 2011-2015. And the number of schools working with OPMs to help create and deliver those programs increased at an even higher rate, growing 133 percent over the same period.\n\nIt\u2019s a market that John Katzman, CEO of Noodle Partners, knows well. Prior to founding Noodle Companies in 2010, the holding company for Noodle Partners and three other organizations, he started 2U, a provider of OPM services for colleges. There, he helped 2U raise nearly $100 million, and left shortly before the company went public.\n\nNow, Katzman is raising funds again, this time as a direct competitor to his previous endeavor. But he says his plans for fundraising and revenue are different this time around. For one, \u201cI don\u2019t need to raise the way we did at 2U,\u201d Katzman tells EdSurge.\n\nThat\u2019s because the online program market he sees today is strikingly different from the one that 2U found its roots in. \u201cA decade ago, the cost to build a program was very high, and there was substantial risk,\u201d says Katzman.\n\nIn those days, he says schools often lacked the in-house expertise to create and sell an online program from scratch, and looked to OPMS to provide, among various services, technology support, recruiting and marketing, and instructional design. Other OPM providers, including 2U, still use that all-in-one model.\n\nNoodle is far from being the only company helping colleges create online degree programs. According to The Atlantic, just five companies\u20142U, Academic Partnerships, Bisk, Pearson Embanet, and Wiley Education Services\u2014control nearly half of the OPM market, which is estimated at around $1.1 billion.\n\nA decade ago, the cost to build a program was very high, and there was substantial risk.\n\nJohn Katzman\n\nTo vie for colleges and clients, Katzman offers a different, \u201cpick and choose\u201d approach with Noodle Partners. Unlike some OPM providers that sell an entire package of services, he believes in letting schools decide which features to outsource or build in-house. (Another OPM, Wiley Education Services, offers a similar model.)\n\nThe flexible option to purchase instructional design, marketing and student support services was one of the reasons why Tulane University chose Noodle Partners, even after having built some online programs in-house.\n\n\u201cWe can elect to use those services or not, and that was attractive to be able to decide internally as we scale,\u201d says Jamie Northrup, senior associate vice president of strategy at Tulane.\n\nStill, Katzman doesn\u2019t think colleges can take any shortcuts to creating their online programs. It\u2019s \u201cnot a la carte,\u201d he says. \u201cAll of the things I did at 2U have to be done. You need to fund the program and market it and recruit students, and you need instructional design and everything else. Our feeling is some universities have substantial capacity [to do some components in-house] rather than allowing an outside firm to do it.\u201d\n\nIn addition to Tulane, Noodle Partners has signed on nearly a dozen universities like American and New York University.\n\nAs colleges bring more services in house, Katzman is betting that they will not want to pay for expensive all-in-one services. On average, OPM providers get a 60 percent revenue share for around a decade, according to the Eduventures report.\n\nNoodle offers a flat fee-for-service option, without long-term revenue-sharing contracts, and claims those fees can be as little as 3 to 5 percent of student tuition dollars. Combined with the services offered by its partner vendors, however, Noodle\u2019s fees more typically costs 30-35 percent of student tuition, Katzman says.\n\nWe can elect to use those services or not, and that was attractive to be able to decide internally as we scale.\n\nJamie Northup\n\nStill, experts are skeptical that fee-based services will replace the revenue-sharing model that currently dominates the OPM deals in place today, Inside Higher Ed reports.\n\nNoodle is similar to its competitors in some ways, too, and has its own revenue-sharing option. In those arrangements, the company uses it own funds to build and market the program in exchange for 60 percent revenue for about three years, before switching to the fee-based payment plan.\n\nIn the push to dominate the OPM race, Noodle Partners will face another challenge: client saturation. According to the CHLOE study, boosting student enrollment tops the list of reasons for colleges investing in online learning, \u201cwith other objectives, such as student completion gains and cost reduction, trailing far behind.\u201d And as more OPMs offer colleges the ability to extend their footprint on a national and global scale, those reaches may overlap.\n\nOf course, many online programs still attract local students. (Some have been criticized by faculty for cannibalizing in-person courses.) But to compete effectively, Katzman thinks online programs will have to integrate with specialized in-person offerings to win over prospective students.\n\n\u201cDifferentiation will be the key online. It\u2019s what kind of students do we serve and what are we teaching them, and where are we placing them?\u201d he says. \u201cAs geography matters less, how you position your school will matter a lot.\u201d", "output": "Edtech firm Noodle Partners has raised $14m in a series A funding round to help it expand into the online programme manager (OPM) market. Online learning courses are a growing market, with 25% of postgraduates using them, with Noodle operating as both a creator and advertiser for OPMs. The firm offers a bespoke system that allows educational institutions to determine which aspects to keep in-house and which to outsource. The funding was led by edtech venture capital firm Owl Ventures and brought Noodle's total funding to about $18m."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snapchat creates first sponsored bitmoji with\u00a0McDonald's\u00a0feature \n When it comes to Snapchat users messing around with their bitmojis, McDonald\u2019s is hoping they\u2019re loving it.\n\nMcDonald and Snap have partnered for the platform\u2019s first sponsored bitmoji. The augmented reality feature, which rolls out today, aims to promote its McCafe products and lets users have their 3D Bitmoji steal a coffee cup from them. In an almost elfish manner, the character mischievously runs around the cup before running off the screen\u2014McCafe and all.\n\nThe feature was created with We Are Unlimited\u2014a Chicago-based agency that runs McDonald\u2019s social, digital, retail and data marketing in the U.S.\u2014along", "output": "Snapchat has created its first sponsored personalised emoji\u00a0in the form of an\u00a0augmented reality (AR) feature to promote McDonald's coffee. The so-called bitmoji was created by Chicago-based digital media agency We Are Unlimited, and shows a 3D character stealing a McCafe coffee cup. The feature\u00a0took four weeks to design. While\u00a0it's Snapchat's first sponsored bitmoji, the firm\u00a0has previously worked\u00a0with brands including Budweiser and Warner Brothers.\n\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "No Brexit deal reached but 'progress made': Theresa May \n Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he is \u201csurprised and disappointed\u201d the British government was unable to conclude a deal he believed had been agreed on Irish Border after Brexit.\n\nTaoiseach Leo Varadkar said he is \"surprised and disappointed\" the British government was unable to conclude a deal he believed had been agreed on Irish Border after Brexit.\n\nAt a press conference in Brussels with British prime minister Theresa May, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said there had been no agreement during talks on Monday.\n\nIt is understood the British prime minister met fierce resistance from the DUP, which is propping up her Conservative government, to proposals which would have ruled out a hard Border and aligned Northern Ireland\u2019s regulations with the Republic.\n\nBritish prime minister Theresa May and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker told a press conference in Brussels this afternoon of failure to achieve a deal on Monday on key Brexit issues. Photograph: Virginia Mayo/AP Photo\n\nMinister of State for European Affairs Helen McEntee, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and T\u00e1naiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney make a statement on Brexit negotiations on Monday evening at the Government Press Centre in Dublin. Photograph: Cyril Byrne\n\nIreland wants to move to next Phase of Brexit talks. Some progress today, and still time to conclude things before December 14th. \u2014 Leo Varadkar (@campaignforleo) December 4, 2017 https://t.co/5nlq7r9tBO pic.twitter.com/iFSY5Rst1C \u2014 DUP (@duponline) December 4, 2017 .@simoncoveney: I suspect the border will look much like what it looks today. We have lanuguage now that gives us the safeguards we need and reassurance that hard border will not re-emerge. \u2014 Fine Gael (@FineGael) December 4, 2017\n\nAfter news of the proposed deal leaked on Monday, DUP leader Arlene Foster had said: \"Northern Ireland must leave the EU on the same terms as the rest of the UK.\n\nREAD MORE\n\n\"We will not accept any form of regulatory divergence which separates Northern Ireland economically or politically from the rest of the United Kingdom. \"\n\nSpeaking in Dublin, Mr Varadkar said he been told that a deal had been struck. He said he had sought a written guarantee that there would be no hard Border on the island of Ireland which \u201chas been to the absolute forefront of Ireland\u2019s concerns\u201d since the Brexit referendum last year.\n\nMinister of State for European Affairs Helen McEntee, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and T\u00e1naiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney make a statement on Brexit negotiations on Monday evening at the Government Press Centre in Dublin. Photograph: Cyril Byrne\n\n\"We don't want an Irish Sea border any more than we want one between Newry and Dublin,\" he said. He said he had contacted Mr Juncker and European Council president Donald Tusk and confirmed there was agreement over the text.\n\n\u201cI acknowledge that Theresa May is negotiating in good faith. My position is unequivocal. Ireland wants to proceed to phase two. We cannot agree unless there are firm guarantees on the lack of a hard Border in any circumstances. I still hope this matter can be concluded in the coming days.\u201d\n\nWhen asked by a reporter about the difference between the terms \u201cregulatory convergence\u201d and \u201cregulatory alignment\u201d, he said the two things \u201cmean the same in our view. We are happy to accept either.\u201d\n\n\u2018Just one party\u2019\n\nRegarding the role of the DUP, he said listening to the DUP is important, but that they were just one party in Northern Ireland, \u201cwe need to have regard to all the parties\u201d.\n\n\"That's always been our approach in this. The motivation of the Irish Government is to try to maintain the status quo in Ireland, allowing people to continue with their normal lives, cross the Border as they do now. We don't wont to pick a row with anyone, there's no hidden agenda here.\"\n\nHe said it was never the Irish Government\u2019s role to ensure the DUP was onside. \u201cWe engaged in negotiations in good faith with EU and UK. We agreed a text this morning, we believe it stands, but we believe the prime minister needs more time.\u201d\n\nThe Taoiseach refused to ascribe blame for the failure of a deal. \u201cI don\u2019t think pointing fingers would allow us to get where we want to get in this.\u201d He refused to be drawn on what DUP leader Arlene Foster\u2019s role was in the issue.\n\nT\u00e1naiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney added: \"Negotiating teams have been in place for weeks now, the issues were also raised in Westminster, it's through that negotiating structure that we have worked up a draft that we were able to conclude this morning, agreed with the president of the Commission and Council.\" The \"deal was done\", he stressed.\n\n\u201cThe Taoiseach and I are at one on this. We had a deal today in relation to a wording that in our view would provide reassurance over a hard Border in Ireland. We don\u2019t want that.\n\n\u201cWe need a credible way in which he could ensure that could be avoided.\n\n\u201cWe want to ensure that wording remains intact. If we are going to move on to phase two we need to ensure there will be no hard Border in Ireland.\u201d\n\nEarlier, in Brussels, Mr Juncker said Ms May was a tough negotiator who had defended the UK\u2019s point of view, and \u201cdespite best efforts it was not possible to reach a complete agreement today\u201d.\n\n\u201cWe stand ready to resume the negotiations\u201d, he said, adding \u201cI have to say we are narrowing our positions\u201d.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m still confident that we can reach sufficient progress before the European Council [meets] on 15th of December.\u201d\n\nMs May said the sides have had a constructive meeting, and that \u201cit is clear that we want to move forward together\u201d. She said there would be further negotiation and consultation. \u201cWe will reconvene before the end of the week. We will conclude this positively.\u201d\n\nMr Juncker concluded saying neither party would be taking questions.\n\nEarlier, Mr Coveney had said he suspected the Border in the future will \u201clook much like what it looks today\u201d and will be \u201clargely invisible\u201d, with no barrier to trade.\n\n\u201cWe have language now that gives us the safeguards we need and reassurance that a hard Border will not re-emerge,\u201d he said.\n\nThe T\u00e1naiste added the Irish Government was \u201cin a much better place than we have been at any point in the Brexit negotiations\u201d.\n\nBritish prime minister Theresa May and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker told a press conference in Brussels this afternoon of failure to achieve a deal on Monday on key Brexit issues. Photograph: Virginia Mayo/AP Photo\n\nSources suggested the compromise had involved the UK agreeing to maintain \u201cregulatory alignment\u201d in customs regulations and trade practices between the North and South of Ireland. Originally, Ireland had sought a commitment to \u201cno divergence\u201d in these areas.\n\nNews of the earlier deal, raising the prospect of starting Brexit trade negotiations in the coming weeks, lifted sterling earlier.\n\nIrish Government sources had said the deal would guarantee \u201cregulatory alignment\u201d between Northern Ireland and the Republic in all Brexit eventualities.\n\nA British government source suggested there was \u201ca significant difference\u201d between the phrase \u201ccontinued regulatory alignment\u201d and \u201cno regulatory divergence\u201d between the two parts of Ireland.\n\nA draft of the agreement between Britain and the EU is reported to commit to \u201ccontinued regulatory alignment\u201d on the island of Ireland if Britain leaves the EU without a trade deal.\n\nThe phrase offers more flexibility, implying that regulations could be distinct but equivalent, rather than obliging Northern Ireland to retain EU regulations.\n\nDUP\n\nReacting to reports that the UK has agreed there will be no regulatory divergence on the island of Ireland on the single market and customs union post-Brexit, DUP chief whip Jeffrey Donaldson MP said: \"That is not our understanding of the UK government's position.\"\n\nDUP MP Sammy Wilson told BBC Talkback the British government had made clear the UK will leave the EU in its entirety and is committed to no economic or territorial divergence.\n\n\u201cI am not going to let Irish Government leaks lead me down the road of speculation,\u201d he said.\n\nMr Wilson said there are difficulties with what is being suggested, claiming it is \u201cimpossible to guarantee convergence as many powers rest with Stormont\u201d.\n\nHe suggested the Irish Government was \u201ctrying to bounce\u201d the British government into something they like. \u201cThey are doing their best to undermine the unionist position,\u201d he added.\n\nFormer UUP leader Lord David Trimble told BBC Radio 4 the proposed Border deal was \"a thoroughly bad idea\".", "output": "No deal was reached during today's Brexit negotiations between\u00a0Theresa May and Jean-Claude Juncker relating to the Irish border. Juncker said that \"despite best efforts, it was not possible to reach a complete agreement today\".\u00a0In an amicable\u00a0but short press conference, the pair said they would\u00a0reconvene before the end of the week. Neither party was able to take questions from the press, as Juncker said that May had a commitment with Donald Tusk.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Qualys takes over NetWatcher to expand its security solutions \n Video: Four reasons for moving to cloud computing\n\nQualys has announced plans to acquire NetWatcher assets to improve the firm's cloud security offerings.\n\nEarlier this week, the Foster City, Calif.-based firm said that it has entered an asset purchase agreement with network security company NetWatcher to purchase specific technologies.\n\nNetWatcher offers network security monitoring software which combines vulnerability management, intrusion detection, behavioral monitoring, security information and event management (SIEM), threat intelligence and monitoring in real-time.\n\nQualys hopes that this technology, which also picks up on weak password use, unsafe behavior and outdated software, will improve the firm's cloud platform and incident response.\n\nThe agreement will be made through a cash transaction. Further financial details have not been disclosed.\n\nIn a press release, Qualys said the NetWatcher service is expected to be fully integrated into the Qualys cloud platform within the next 12 months.\n\n\"Built on open source components, NetWatcher has created a comprehensive cybersecurity and threat intelligence service that helps businesses of all sizes effectively manage cyber threats, provide incident response, and manage compliance across on-premise, hybrid and cloud environments,\" said Philippe Courtot, Chairman and Qualys CEO. \"Native integration of Netwatcher into the Qualys Cloud Platform allows us to deliver its capabilities at enterprise scale, helping us expand our reach into the real-time threat intelligence market and strengthen our relationships with managed security service providers, who will offer and deliver this service to their clients worldwide.\"\n\nUnder the terms of the agreement, NetWatcher's team will be incorporated into Qualys, and NetWatcher CEO Scott Suhy has been appointed Vice President of Strategic Alliances and Business Development for Qualys.\n\nNetWatcher founder and CTO Kenneth Shelton will become Vice President of Engineering for the Qualys Real-time Threat Correlation platform.\n\nSee also: AWS aims to accelerate IoT adoption with new services, OS\n\nExisting NetWatcher customers will still be able to use the service, and the acquisition is not expected to impact future Qualys financials.\n\nThis week, Accenture snapped up a minority stake in quantum computing startup 1QBit, which develops machine learning algorithms and software for quantum computing.\n\nBest gifts: Top tech for co-workers\n\nRelated stories", "output": "Cloud security provider Qualys, which is based in California, has purchased network security company NetWatcher\u00a0in order to acquire\u00a0its range of services, which includes\u00a0vulnerability management, threat detection\u00a0and intrusion alerts. Financial details have not been disclosed but Qualys plans to fully integrate Netwatcher over the next 12 months.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vineyard robots set for increased use in European wineries \n Robots may soon have a bigger role in some of the world's most prestigious vineyards, after successful trials in Bordeaux and Portugal this year, including at Ch\u00e2teau Clerc Milon, owned by Baron Philippe de Rothschild.\n\nCh\u00e2teau Clerc Milon, under the same ownership as Ch\u00e2teau Mouton Rothschild in Pauillac, has tested a prototype vineyard robot named \u2018Ted\u2019 to help with soil cultivation and weeding in its vines.\n\nThe news comes amid growing reports about rising levels of automation in many business sectors.\n\nClerc Milon\u2019s trial with \u2018Ted\u2019 took place earlier this year via a partnership with French group Na\u00efo Technologies.\n\nBaron Philippe de Rothschild\u2019s MD, Philippe Dhalluin, said, \u2018We see robotics as an effective solution for the future.\n\n\u2018As well as helping to make our vineyard work less arduous and respecting the soil, it will reduce our dependency on fossil energies and the harm caused by traditional agricultural machinery.\u2019\n\nBaron Philippe de Rothschild said that it has been pursuing organic and biodynamic methods more generally in its vineyards and has cut chemical treatments by 30% since 2008.\n\nDhalluin, who is also MD at Mouton, told Decanter.com that he doesn\u2019t anticipate robots replacing humans in the vineyard, particularly when it comes to picking and selecting grapes.\n\n\u2018When working in the vineyards, we are first and foremost concerned by the well-being of our workers.\n\n\u2018TED will be able to relieve them of some of the repetitive tasks but a robot will never replace the human hand [which is] essential for a perfect, high quality harvest.\u2019\n\nSeparately, Port producer Symington Family Estates has also recently trialled a vineyard robot named \u2018vine scout\u2019, which can monitor vine health and alert winemakers to any problems, such as water stress. It uses GPS tracking to function autonomously in the vines.\n\nThe three-year project for \u2018vine scout\u2019 began in 2016 and is part-funded by the European Union, as well as private institutions.\n\nBoth trials in Portugal and Bordeaux are the latest examples of automation in vineyard management.\n\nDrones are already being used in some areas of Bordeaux to monitor vine health, such as at Ch\u00e2teau Pape Clement owned by Bernard Magrez.\n\nAnd new technology, such as optical sorting machinery, is credited with helping to reduce the proportion of poor vintages. However, winemakers would also argue that this is backed by a cultural shift towards lower yields, reduced reliance on chemicals and greater precision.", "output": "A French vineyard has tested a robot called 'Ted' as the sector makes increasing use of technology to automate its processes. The experiment took place at Ch\u00e2teau Clerc Milon, one of the vineyards owned by Baron Philippe de Rothschild at Pauillac in the Bordeaux region. Ted is designed to help with soil cultivation and weeding, and was developed under a partnership with French tech firm Na\u00efo Technologies. Other vineyards have also begun using robotics, including a \"vine scout\" which navigates autonomously and monitors the health of the vines."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "aWhere harnesses weather data for precision agriculture \n Share\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSome estimates suggest over half of growers\u2019 activities are impacted by weather conditions, from field workability to fertility management to harvest timing. No wonder more companies are entering the weather data and analysis space, either with standalone products or by teaming up with other firms\u2019 management and grower platforms.\n\nThe data and modeling here are challenging \u2014 one expert called weather data \u201cunstructured and complex\u201d \u2014 but here is a sampling of what companies are doing to help guide farmers\u2019 and retailers\u2019 weather-based decisions.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nGathering The Data\n\nAll companies in this segment draw from large and varied sources of live, raw weather data that can include temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, wind speed, etc. Feeds can come from national \u2014 and increasingly, global \u2014 networks, public and private. Information is also tapped from radar, meteorological satellites, surface weather stations, rain gauge networks and forecast models.\n\nNo one data source can provide the depth of information needed for more intense agricultural use.\n\nFor instance, radar can show where rain is, but it measures moisture far above the ground. Those totals can differ quite a bit from what actually hits a field, points out Brad Colman, Weather Science Lead with Climate Corp. For its FieldView platform, the company combines the best data from radar networks (NOAA) with \u201cas many rain gauges as we can get our hands on,\u201d he says.\n\nClimate Corp.\u2019s rainfall data feeds come as an average precipitation measurement for a grid of roughly one-third of a square mile. \u201cWe then match those grids up to farmers\u2019 fields. We receive our first estimate of precipitation 15 minutes after the hour; then, as more data is received, we update the readings with additional quality-controlled values,\u201d he explains.\n\nIn fact, in 2017, Climate Corp. developed a novel method using \u201cmachine learning\u201d to more intelligently incorporate rain gauge data into its model. This new method has improved previous issues by more than 45%.\n\nAnalyzing The Data\n\naWhere utilizes historical data as well as current conditions in its products. \u201cWe have a 10-year history across 1.5 million virtual weather stations worldwide. This allows us to analyze how weather happening today is different versus a long-term normal,\u201d says Brian Soliday, Chief Revenue Officer.\n\nTo create those \u201cvirtual stations,\u201d the company consumes weather information on a global scale and generates 8 billion data points per day, to basically create a weather-station\u2019s-worth of data every 9 kilometers across the ag earth. \u201cWe use soil information and crop calendars as well, so we know where the crop is in its growth stage in a particular growing area,\u201d says Soliday. \u201cIf something is happening in the environment (such as moisture stress), we know if it has a potential positive or negative effect on yield or production.\u201d\n\nSoliday sees a huge challenge going forward in the lack of perceived value of weather information, especially when data is so easily available for free via a multitude of sources.\n\n\u201cWeather information is important, but it\u2019s the agronomic insight that we provide that adds real value,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s just a constant struggle for the end user to understand that value and what that means to them on a daily basis \u2014 that it helps them increase yields.\u201d\n\nTake a crop stress model, issued daily. Without it, growers look at rainfall and are encouraged that their fields got 15 inches of rain over a growing season, a normal range.\n\n\u201cThat may be true, but if the precipitation this year was in three primary events, it wasn\u2019t evenly distributed, and a lot of that ran off. That means the moisture in the soil column isn\u2019t at the level it\u2019s perceived to be,\u201d says Soliday. \u201cPlus the temperatures at night are higher, so the crops are experiencing evapotranspiration and respiration 24/7. This phenomena is not like what we would have seen in years past, where the night cooled down and crop moisture loss would be reduced.\u201d\n\nJoel Wipperfurth, Ag Technology Appli\u00adcations Lead with Winfield United, also sees the problem of charging for weather services, especially because there is a lot of publicly available data. Other service providers need to add contextual interpretations beyond radar and rainfall reports available on the free weather apps on consumers\u2019 phones, he says.\n\nWinfield United actually has weather stations at its 170 Answer Plots to gather data, to use real-time and historically. The company\u2019s research team tracks the trials\u2019 growing environments and generates data to try to predict products\u2019 responses.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re trying to add predictability to the places where the farmer invests,\u201d he explains.\n\nIn the Answer Plots, he is now doubling the use rate of weather data that researchers are collecting, using it once to help explain how a hybrid performed and a second time to build a better crop model in the R7 Field Forecasting Tool.\n\nTransferring Expertise\n\nBoth aWhere and Climate Corp. service agriculture exclusively, but other companies have entered the ag weather space from other industries.\n\nExpert in the transportation and roadway management industies, Iteris has developed a unique weather and soil data analysis and forecast system specifically for agriculture that helps create a comprehensive, gridded database of atmospheric and soil conditions worldwide. It covers 1980 through 10 days into the future, says Jeff Keiser, Vice President, Strategic Sales and Marketing. The company delivers the information to agricultural companies and product manufacturers through its ClearAg Platform.\n\nHistorical data can be important in crop production, Keiser points out. For example, growers may want to compare ClearAg\u2019s five-day forecast of weather and soil conditions to what has happened in the past in their field. Historical data from other sources may come from a station that may be dozens, to hundreds of miles away. That differenceis important, but it may not be clear if the data for both time periods are just presented in a table of numerical values, he says.\n\nAgriculture is one of seven industries that Weather Decisions Technologies (WDT) serves. \u201cHere our approach is to work with companies that are agronomic experts and provide them with the highest quality weather datasets for their platforms, dashboards, and analytics,\u201d explains Richard Reed, Senior Account Executive, Agriculture.\n\nOver the past two years, WDT has developed an answer to the common problem of rainfall on larger farms that have multiple fields spanning several miles. \u201cThe most accurate way to get actual precipitation data from the area is to install on-site precipitation gauges, but they can ultimately cost tens of thousands of dollars in equipment and communication costs,\u201d points out Reed.\n\nWDT\u2019s new precipitation analysis system, called SkyWise MetStorm Precision Precipitation Analysis, produces ultra-high resolution (250m2) 1-hour grids of precipitation estimates. There\u2019s no need for in-field equipment.\n\nDTN is known for its vast ag, oil and gas, weather, and commodity trading networks \u2014 and has been in the \u201cweather insight\u201d business for 35 years, says Matt Walsh, Vice President Agribusiness. But the company has gone a step further in agriculture by teaming up with partners such as co-ops to offer weather information to retailers\u2019 grower customers.\n\nIt has also created DTN Ag Weather Station, an information network that harnesses more than 5,500 weather stations located on users\u2019 farms across North America to report highly local data in real time. \u201cUsers have the option of adding their own on-site weather station and aggregating information from their own field,\u201d says Walsh.\n\nThe units\u2019 sensors also measure soil moisture, soil temperature, solar radiation and leaf wetness. \u201cThis delivers tremendously detailed field-level forecasts and insights for specific areas and geographic regions,\u201d he adds.\n\nPerhaps the largest company doing ag weather these days is The Weather Co., an IBM Business.\u201d As for sheer numbers, the firm\u2019s data platform is one of the largest IoT platforms in the world processing 400 terabytes of data every day from a variety of worldwide sources, serving up billions of forecasts a day globally. \u201cIt houses all our APIs and weather data, such as forecasts, observations, alerts and notifications, historical weather data, weather imagery and lifestyle data,\u201d says Chacko Jacob, Agriculture Leader.\n\nThe Weather Co. is able to integrate forecasts, soil data, seasonal analyses and current weather conditions into a localized platform that delivers critical analytics for field analysis and crop planting, he says.\n\nMore On Soil\n\nSome companies are going below the surface to gather soil information influenced by weather. Iteris has adapted a Land Surface Model with agronomic crop specifications to help generate field surface and sub-surface soil data. This approach goes two meters deep and divides soils into eight unique layers that impact crop production during critical periods such as tillage, seeding, fertilization and at maturity for harvest.\n\nOne example of this model at work: potatoes. As a root crop, they take on the temperature of the surrounding soil at the depth they mature. To minimize crop damage and manage crop storage and quality, growers often send out staff with soil thermometers multiple times during the day, says Keiser. One ClearAg user found that the platform\u2019s soil temperature data nearly mirrored the measurements workers made, without trips to the field. The good news is now that grower can plan and schedule harvest operations plus field agronomy staff spend time on more important tasks such as soil testing and evaluating varieties.\n\nKeiser gives other examples where tailored weather information benefits growers. It\u2019s likely that certain seed hybrids or varieties germinate best under warmer soil conditions, whereas others can be successfully planted earlier when the ground is still marginally cool but soil moisture is sufficient.\n\nThen too, some foliar crop protection product formulations may perform best when crop leaves are dry but the relative humidity is on the high side, in order to encourage leaf or stem surface adhesion characteristics, he says.\n\n\u201cThese questions tend to modify the paradigm of using weather data from assessing the impact of what happened to the crop due to past weather events to using forecast data to drive business decisions on the most important actions to take next,\u201d says Keiser.\n\nHarnessing Weather In The Future\n\nExperts PrecisionAg\u00ae Professional contacted suggested a few technologies that will impact \u2014 or be impacted by \u2014 advances in weather data.\n\nHybrid selection. Using reliable weather data, growers will match certain fields or field zones to specific seed genetic characteristics and thereby further increase crop productivity through multi-hybrid planters, predicts Iteris\u2019 Keiser.\n\nNew crop protection tools. A whole new class of crop products is beginning to emerge, generally referred to as \u2018biologicals,\u2019 he says. These products often are affected by aspects of soil temperature and moisture and have the potential to impact overall soil and plant health.\n\nRobotics. Broader use of autonomous vehicles or robots will be possible thanks to good data on current environmental conditions of both the crop and the field as they vary during the course of the day and the growing season.\n\nDrones. WDT\u2019s Reed says that as technology advances, companies will use drones to collect near-surface weather data over large-scale areas, which will help improve both weather forecasts and operational decision-making.\n\nRemote sensing. aWhere\u2019s Soliday sees a lot more collaboration with remote sensing firms \u2014 that offer high resolution satellite imagery or small footprint UAVs \u2014 in the future. A weather service platform that indicates stress in a field could direct a remote sensing partner to check it out visually.\n\n\u201cWe call that kind of targeting \u2018tipping and cueing,\u2019\u201d says Soliday. Growers can see areas they need to focus on and avoid wasting money collecting pixels on areas that are doing well.\n\nWinfield United\u2019s Wipperfurth made an observation about the future of rainfall predictions. Current forecasts begin to break down at the 15-day mark, and meteorologists often look back at data from 15 or even 30 years ago to fill in the gaps. He\u2019s heard there\u2019s a move now to only go back 10 years, because of recent climate shifts. Conditions from just 10 years ago might actually be a more accurate prediction of what\u2019s going to happen with rainfall after 15 days out, he says.\n\n0 1 5 Weather Services Advance Precision Agriculture", "output": "US start-up aWhere combines historical data and current weather mapping to improve crop and soil management. The company pulls information from 1.5 million virtual weather stations to generate eight billion data points a day, before combining it with crop information to create precision farming plans. AWhere's chief revenue officer, Brian Soliday, commented: \"Weather information is important, but it\u2019s the agronomic insight that we provide that adds real value.\"\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "We don't agree to divergence between NI and the UK: Arlene Foster \n DUP leader Arlene Foster addresses the media on Brexit, saying that her party has made clear that \"Northern Ireland must leave the European Union on the same terms as the rest of the United Kingdom.\" Video: Reuters\n\nThe Democratic Unionist Party has warned it will not countenance a Brexit deal which \"separates Northern Ireland economically or politically from the rest of the United Kingdom\".\n\nOn Monday, following reports the British government was close to agreeing a deal with the European Union that would allow for continuing regulatory alignment in customs and trade practices across the island of Ireland, DUP leader Arlene Foster said Northern Ireland must leave the EU on the same terms as the rest of the UK.\n\nAt a press conference at Stormont and in a subsequent statement to address the detail of the leaked text of draft documentation on a deal to allow movement to the next stage of Brexit talks, Ms Foster said British prime minister Theresa May's government, which her party is propping up through a confidence and supply agreement at Westminster, fully understands the DUP position.\n\nDemocratic Unionist Party\u2019s Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson. File photograph: AFP/Leon Neal\n\n\"We will not accept any form of regulatory divergence which separates Northern Ireland economically or politically from the rest of the United Kingdom, \" she said. \"The economic and constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom will not be compromised in any way.\n\nREAD MORE\n\n\u201cThe prime minister has told the House of Commons that there will be no border in the Irish Sea. \u201cThe prime minister has been clear that the UK is leaving the European Union as a whole and the territorial and economic integrity of the United Kingdom will be protected.\n\n\u2018Spoke to Ms May\u2019\n\n\u201cWe want to see a sensible Brexit where the Common Travel Area is continued, we meet our financial obligations, have a strictly time-limited implementation period and where the contribution of EU migrants to our economy is recognised in a practical manner.\u201d\n\nAbout 20 minutes after making her public statements, Ms Foster spoke to Ms May by telephone. DUP objections to a deal on regulatory alignment, plus final arrangements on EU citizens' rights and the role of the European Court of Justice in any post-Brexit transition period are all thought to have contributed to the subsequent announcement by European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels that \"it was not possible to reach a complete agreement today\".\n\nMr Juncker and Ms May have agreed to hold further negotiations before the end of this week, with the latter saying she is \u201cconfident we will conclude this positively\u201d.\n\nTaoiseach Leo Vardakar has said he is \u201csurprised and disappointed\u201d the British government was not in a position to conclude what was agreed on the Border on Monday but would not be drawn on finger pointing or attributing blame.\n\n\u2018No economic or territorial divergence\u2019\n\nDUP Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson MP accused the Irish Government of being \"a bunch of political chancers\" and of \"doing their best to undermine the unionist position\".\n\nHe also suggested Mr Varadkar was trying to \u201cpursue his own republican agenda\u201d.\n\nMr Wilson said the British government had made clear the UK will leave the EU in its entirety and is committed to no economic or territorial divergence.\n\nFormer UUP leader Lord David Trimble described the Border proposals as \u201ca thoroughly bad idea\u201d, and present UUP leader Robin Swann said they would be \u201cwholly unacceptable and would fundamentally alter the relationship between Northern Ireland and Great Britain\u201d.\n\nHowever, Green Party leader Steven Agnew said \u201cthe provision would avoid the need for a hard Border\u201d and SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said the DUP \u201cmust move to act in Northern Ireland\u2019s interest, not simply serve the their own interests\u201d.\n\nSinn F\u00e9in Northern leader Michelle O\u2019Neill wrote on Twitter: \u201cAfter the day that\u2019s been in it, nothing changes \u2013 we need to see special status for the North; that includes remaining in customs union and single market.\u201d\n\nSinn F\u00e9in MEP Martina Anderson said special status for the North in the EU would provide the best protection for the Belfast Agreement and the rights of citizens. \u201cWe cannot have a situation where a minority are allowed to trample over the rights of the majority in the North who voted to remain in the EU,\u201d she said.", "output": "The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) will \"not accept any form of regulatory divergence\", either economic or political,\u00a0between\u00a0Northern Ireland\u00a0and the\u00a0UK after Brexit, Arlene Foster, the leader of the DUP, has said. Unionists are concerned any such divergence \u2013 known as \"special status\" \u2013 could create\u00a0an unofficial border in the Irish Sea\u00a0between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. The Conservative Party is reliant on the support of the DUP in a \"confidence and supply\" deal agreed between the parties after the general election earlier this year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bangladesh aims to lift energy security with LNG regas plant \n The state-owned North-West Power Generation Co. Ltd. (NWPGCL) in Bangladesh in early November announced plans to build a 3,600-MW regasification liquefied natural gas (LNG) combined cycle power plant in the Patuakhali district, on the heels of an earlier agreement to construct a similar 750-to-850-MW plant in Khulna.\n\nThe new plants are part of a concerted effort to increase generation capacity in a country that traditionally has relied on gas-fired power. Bangladesh\u2019s ruling party, the Bangladesh Awami League (BAL), has said upgrading the country\u2019s energy infrastructure is critical to increasing security and lessening the need to import power from neighboring countries. Officials are working with many countries, including Russia, on energy initiatives.\n\nAnalysts said the country had 15,821 MW of generation capacity as of November 2017, and the country\u2019s Power Division has said capacity must be increased to 24,000 MW\u2014a 52% jump\u2014by 2021, according to its most recent Power Sector Master Plan. Analysts have said electricity demand in Bangladesh is likely to reach 30,000 MW by 2030. Senior government officials have said Bangladesh expects to import at least 25% of its electricity from India for the next few years.\n\nOther large power generation projects underway in Bangladesh include the country\u2019s first nuclear facility, a 2,400-MW plant at Rooppur, and a 1,320-MW coal-fired facility in Rampal, being built by India\u2019s NTPC. The nuclear plant, expected to enter commercial operation in 2023, will utilize two VVER-1200 reactors (water-water energetic reactors), each producing the equivalent of 1,200 MW. It is being built by the Russian Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corp.\n\nIn addition to adding coal, nuclear, and natural gas-fired generation, the country\u2019s government also has a goal to produce at least 10% of its power from renewable sources by 2020.\n\nKhurshedul Alam, NWPGCL\u2019s managing director, said his group has signed a memorandum of understanding with Germany\u2019s Siemens AG to build the Patuakhali facility. He said the site was chosen because it has a port into which the LNG can be imported.\n\nAlam told the Dhaka Tribune in late October that NWPGCL already had agreements in place \u201cto import around 125 million cubic feet (MMcf) per day equivalent of regasified LNG at [the] Bangladesh-India border through an offshore LNG terminal from India\u2019s West Bengal to the plant in Khulna.\u201d He said Bangladesh has \u201copted to import LNG as the country is reeling from an acute gas crisis because the current reserves are depleting very fast.\u201d\n\nThe two NWPGCL projects are in addition to a 500-to-600-MW regasification LNG combined cycle power plant being built in Matarbari, in Cox\u2019s Bazar, Chittagong, Bangladesh. That project is a joint venture of Japan\u2019s MITSUI and the Coal Power Generation Co. Bangladesh Ltd.\n\nNWPGCL has three operating power plants in Bangladesh: a 360-MW dual-fuel facility in Bheramara that began operation in September 2017; a 225-MW natural gas-fired combined cycle plant in Sirajganj that began commercial operation with 150 MW of generation capacity in December 2012, and was upgraded to 225 MW in July 2014; and a natural gas-fired combined cycle plant in Khulna that began commercial operation with 150 MW of generation capacity in 2013, and was upgraded to 225 MW in June 2016.\n\nState-owned Petrobangla, also known as Bangladesh Oil, Gas and Mineral Corp., in mid-October signed an agreement for the use of an LNG regasification terminal with a consortium of local Hong Kong Shanghai Manjala Power Ltd., Malaysia\u2019s Global LNG, and Petronas LNG Ltd. The terminal\u2014a floating storage and fixed jetty based regasification unit (FSRU)\u2014will be set up by the consortium at Kutubdia Island in Cox\u2019s Bazar.\n\n1. Floating terminals will supply LNG. Texas-based Excelerate Energy is building a floating storage regasification unit offshore Bangladesh, one of three units currently planned to increase the amount of liquefied natural gas (LNG) imported by the country. Courtesy: Excelerate Energy\n\nIt is the third LNG floating terminal planned to supply Bangladesh through Petrobangla. The first, being built by Texas-based Excelerate Energy, is a 500 million cubic feet per day FSRU (Figure 1) that is expected to begin service in April 2018. A second terminal with similar capacity is being built by Summit Group, a Bangladesh company headquartered in Dhaka; it is expected to come online by year-end 2018. Each terminal will import LNG from Switzerland, Oman, and Qatar.\n\n\u2014Darrell Proctor is a POWER associate editor.", "output": "Bangladesh's North-West Power Generation aims to construct a 3,600 MW combined cycle power plant for the regasification of liquefied natural gas (LNG), to be located in the Patuakhali district. The company has already agreed to another 750\u00a0to\u00a0850\u00a0MW plant, located in Khulna. Bangladesh hopes to augment its generation capacity as part of an energy infrastructure upgrade, reducing the need to import energy from abroad. The Bangladeshi Power Division aims to increase capacity from its current 15,821 MW to 24,000 MW by 2021, with an eventual aim of 30,000 MW by 2030."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Farming data analytics firm Uptake raises $117m \n Uptake, a data analytics startups that uses sensor data to optimize machinery including farming equipment, has raised a $117 million Series D round.\n\nBaillie Gifford, one of the UK\u2019s largest independent investment management firms, led the round, which also included GreatPoint Ventures and Revolution Growth, a Washington, DC-based VC helped by AOL cofounder Steve Case.\n\nThis brings Uptake\u2019s total fundraising to $264 million, $130 million of which was raised in two rounds earlier this year, and it is now valued at $2.3 billion. Uptake is cash flow positive, according to TechCrunch, but said in a statement that the new funds will allow it to speed up its growth.\n\nThe company was founded by two cofounders of flash deal site Groupon on the idea that most commercial equipment comes outfitted with some sensors, but little use has been made of the data they produce. Using these sensors, plus additional sensors from outside partners in some cases, Uptake tracks the performance and usage of combines, carts, trucks, and semis, to name a few, in order to gauge optimal use and also machine performance. The software is able to make recommendations to optimize machinery expenses by minimizing downtime among other things.\n\nUptake uses machine learning and predictive analytics to anticipate needed servicing and prevent problems, allowing growers to optimize the timing of repairs and order parts in advance. The company says that using predictive analytics can also help to avoid safety concerns like combine fires, which cause 40 to 50 serious injuries and $20 million in property losses each year in the US, according to a study by the University of Minnesota.\n\n\u201cUtilizing machine learning we can figure out the least amount of machine downtime so that growers get the crop out expediently. Utilizing the sensor data from the [Controller Area Network] CAN-BUS, we can perform data analytics on the onboard sensors to find the subtle precursors which cause combine fires,\u201d wrote Tim Marquis, agriculture lead for Uptake in PrecisionAg.\n\nThe company claims that machine learning allows them to work in multiple industries in addition to agriculture including rail, energy, mining, aviation, and construction.\n\nThe company\u2019s website says its platform can help growers \u201cunderstand field conditions before dispatching equipment and crews,\u201d and \u201cmaximize asset efficiency by improving routes, fuel consumption, and operator productivity.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt comes to recommendations. For example, we\u2019ve worked with imagery data in the past to demonstrate our capabilities in combining agronomic datasets, like historic yield and planting data from a combine, weather, and imagery, to create predictive yield models and planting date estimation,\u201d said a company spokesperson to AgFunderNews.\n\nThe company\u2019s site says that its capabilities can serve growers, food processing plant managers, equipment growers, precision agriculture product managers, and equipment manufacturers.\n\nAlso working with machine data analytics for agriculture is Brazilian company Solinftec, which received funding from alternative and renewable Technologies growth equity platform TPG ART in July.\n\nSolinftec has a suite of technologies including proprietary hardware, a telemetry communications network, and a software-as-a-service platform. The hardware, which includes a proprietary onboard computer for tractors and can integrate with any machine brand, gives operations information about the status of their machines and their progress based on their positioning and what activity they\u2019re undertaking.", "output": "Uptake, an agriculture analytics firm,\u00a0 has raised $117m in a series D funding round. The company uses sensors to track\u00a0the performance of a range of farming machinery and\u00a0uses\u00a0machine learning to determine optimal usage and if repairs are needed. The round was led by the UK's Baillie Gifford, with US investors also involved, and has brought the company's\u00a0total fundraising to $264m,\u00a0valuing it\u00a0at $2.3bn.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Plans unveiled for \u00a3500m agritech facility\u00a0in Cambridge \n A new \u00a3500 million AgriTech park designed to tackle global food security issues could be up and running in the UK by 2022.\n\nThe SmithsonHill-led project is seeking planning permission to construct the \u2018world-leading\u2019 facility, called Arc, in South Cambridgeshire.\n\n\u201cBetween 2015 and 2016, the number of hungry people globally rose by 38 million. We are facing a global food production challenge and with the population estimated to rise by a further two billion by 2050, it is one that demands immediate attention. In order to overcome these issues, world-changing, innovative AgriTech spaces must be established where we can share ideas and learnings and where we can compete on a global scale with other countries,\u201d said Emma Fletcher, Managing Director at SmithsonHill.\n\nShe continued: \u201cCambridge has firmly established itself as one of Europe\u2019s leading destinations for technology and bioscience, but despite the regions strength in these sectors, the UK AgriTech industry has been woefully undersupplied until now. Our world-leading AgriTech park will fuse farming with science and technology, providing unmatched flexible space including laboratories, workshops, office accommodation and incubator units, as well as adjacent land critical for crop and technology trials. Our ultimate aim is to develop a unique environment in which businesses can thrive, and where we will develop and deliver ground-breaking innovations to assist crop production and yield, minimising both input and cost and reducing global food waste.\u201d\n\nSmithsonHill, a partnership initiative between Russell Smith Farms and Hill Commercial Investment, has submitted the proposals for the 1 million sqft site, which would employ 4000, with the local authorities. Construction is cited to begin in 2019, if it is given the go-ahead, with units available by 2022.", "output": "Plans for a one\u00a0million sq ft site\u00a0in Cambridge\u00a0that will combine agriculture and technology to find\u00a0solutions to global food insecurity have been submitted for approval by\u00a0SmithsonHill. The Arc\u00a0facility\u00a0is expected to cost \u00a3500m ($670m) and is the result of a partnership between Russell Smith Farms and Hill Commercial Investment. The facility\u00a0would act as an incubator for companies aiming to combine farming with science to develop agricultural technology. SmithsonHill is planning to open the facility in 2022, with construction due to start in 2019, subject to planning permission being granted.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Greensphere Capital seeks $500m for renewables in London\u00a0IPO \n Greensphere Capital Plc is aiming to raise as much as USD 500 million (EUR 422m) from an initial public offering (IPO) in London to invest in sustainable infrastructure, including renewables.\n\nThe company on Thursday announced the initial placing and offer for subscription of up to 500 million shares at USD 1 apiece. It wants to list on the Premium Segment of the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange (LSE) by December 20. Numis Securities is the sponsor, broker and placing agent in the UK.\n\nGreensphere is building a diversified portfolio of Sustainable Infrastructure Investments in energy transmission, distribution and storage, renewables, water, waste, sustainable agriculture and other sectors. Its focus will be on countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), but it may also invest up to 30% of its net asset value (NAV) in assets or businesses in non-OECD countries.\n\nIPO DETAILS\n\nThe IPO will include a placing primarily targeted at institutional and professionally-advised private investors, and an offer for subscription available to UK investors. The deadline for receipt of application forms under the offer for subscription is December 14, while placing commitments under the initial placing are due on the next day. First admission of Greensphere stock and dealings are seen to start on December 20, 2017.\n\nPORTFOLIO AND INVESTMENT POLICY\n\nThe company will be investing, directly and indirectly, in Sustainable Infrastructure Investments which mitigate against the risks of resource scarcity, input price and project life-cycle cost volatility, and climate stress.\n\nGreensphere will actually maintain two investment portfolios -- a private one with unlisted Sustainable Infrastructure Investments and a listed one. The focus of both will be investments with \u201cstable cashflow generation potential over the longer term, strong, creditworthy counterparties, and proven, experienced management teams and operators\u201d, the company said.\n\nThe Listed Portfolio, managed by Ecofin, will contain liquid equity and equity-related securities of companies in the \"Renewable Infrastructure Universe\", listed or traded on one or more stock exchanges. The Listed Portfolio may be invested in limited partnerships (LPs), renewable infrastructure funds and closed-end funds which invest in income producing assets.\n\nThe \"Renewable Infrastructure Universe\" includes companies and businesses engaged in the production of renewable power, such as solar, wind, geothermal, hydro and biomass power plants, or the transmission, distribution and storage of energy. These would be companies based mainly in North America, Europe and Asia, but also in other geographies.\n\nGreensphere said it will invest mainly in operational assets, but it may spend up to 30% of the NAV of the Private Portfolio on projects under construction or in development.\n\nDIVIDENDS\n\nIn its first financial year, Greensphere will target a dividend of USD 0.03 per share. This is to grow to USD 0.05/share in the second financial year, and to USD 0.06/share after that. The company will target a total return, including distributed dividends and growth in the NAV per share, but excluding share price performance, of 10% to 12% per year on the issue price over the long term.\n\n(USD 1 = EUR 0.84)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Greensphere Capital plans to raise $500m in a London IPO for investment into sustainable infrastructure such as renewable energy sources. The company will offer up to 500 million shares for $1 each, and is aiming to list on the Premium Segment of the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange by 20 December. The move will be sponsored, brokered and placed by Numis Securities. Areas that Greensphere plans\u00a0to expand its portfolio into include\u00a0renewables,\u00a0energy transmission, distribution and storage projects, sustainable agriculture and related areas.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US military group commits $100m to genetic extinction research \n A US military agency is investing $100m in genetic extinction technologies that could wipe out malarial mosquitoes, invasive rodents or other species, emails released under freedom of information rules show.\n\nThe documents suggest that the US\u2019s secretive Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) has become the world\u2019s largest funder of \u201cgene drive\u201d research and will raise tensions ahead of a UN expert committee meeting in Montreal beginning on Tuesday.\n\nThe UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is debating whether to impose a moratorium on the gene research next year and several southern countries fear a possible military application.\n\nUN diplomats confirmed that the new email release would worsen the \u201cbad name\u201d of gene drives in some circles. \u201cMany countries [will] have concerns when this technology comes from Darpa, a US military science agency,\u201d one said.\n\nThe use of genetic extinction technologies in bioweapons is the stuff of nightmares, but known research is focused entirely on pest control and eradication.\n\nCutting-edge gene editing tools such as Crispr-Cas9 work by using a synthetic ribonucleic acid (RNA) to cut into DNA strands and then insert, alter or remove targeted traits. These might, for example, distort the sex-ratio of mosquitoes to effectively wipe out malarial populations.\n\nSome UN experts, though, worry about unintended consequences. One told the Guardian: \u201cYou may be able to remove viruses or the entire mosquito population, but that may also have downstream ecological effects on species that depend on them.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy main worry,\u201d he added, \u201cis that we do something irreversible to the environment, despite our good intentions, before we fully appreciate the way that this technology will work.\u201d\n\n\n\nJim Thomas, a co-director of the ETC group which obtained the emails, said the US military influence they revealed would strengthen the case for a ban.\n\n\u201cThe dual use nature of altering and eradicating entire populations is as much a threat to peace and food security as it is a threat to ecosystems,\u201d he said. \u201cMilitarisation of gene drive funding may even contravene the Enmod convention against hostile uses of environmental modification technologies.\u201d\n\nTodd Kuiken, who has worked with the GBIRd programme, which receives $6.4m from Darpa, said that the US military\u2019s centrality to gene tech funding meant that \u201cresearchers who depend on grants for their research may reorient their projects to fit the narrow aims of these military agencies\u201d.\n\nBetween 2008 and 2014, the US government spent about $820m on synthetic biology. Since 2012, most of this has come from Darpa and other military agencies, Kuiken says.\n\nIn an email reporting a US military-organised conference in June, a US government biologist noted that Darpa\u2019s biotechnology program manager Renee Wegrzynhad said \u201cthe safe genes projects account [was] for $65m, but then mentioned with all other support in the room, it was $100m\u201d.\n\nA Darpa spokesman said that the figure was \u201ca liberal, notional estimate\u201d that included researchers at the meeting funded by Darpa under related efforts.\n\n\u201cDarpa is not and should not be the only funder of gene-editing research but it is critical for the Department of Defense to defend its personnel and preserve military readiness,\u201d he said.\n\n\n\nDarpa believes that a steep fall in the costs of gene-editing toolkits has created a greater opportunity for hostile or rogue actors to experiment with the technology.\n\n\u201cThis convergence of low cost and high availability means that applications for gene editing \u2013 both positive and negative \u2013 could arise from people or states operating outside of the traditional scientific community and international norms,\u201d the official said. \u201cIt is incumbent on Darpa to perform this research and develop technologies that can protect against accidental and intentional misuse.\u201d\n\nGene-drive research has been pioneered by an Imperial College London professor, Andrea Crisanti, who confirmed he has been hired by Darpa on a $2.5m contract to identify and disable such drives.\n\nFears that the research could be channeled towards bioweapons were \u201call fantasy\u201d, he said. \u201cThere is no way this technology could be used for any military purpose. The general interest is in developing systems to contain the undesired effects of gene drives. We have never been asked to consider any application not for the good of eliminating plagues.\u201d\n\nInterest in the technology among US army bureaus has shot up since a secret report by the elite Jason group of military scientists last year \u201creceived considerable attention among various agencies of the US government\u201d, according to an email by Gerald Joyce, who co-chaired a Jason study group in June.\n\nA second Jason report was commissioned in 2017 assessing \u201cpotential threats this technology might pose in the hands of an adversary, technical obstacles that must be overcome to develop gene drive technology and employ it \u2018in the wild\u2019,\u201d Joyce wrote.\n\nThe paper would not be publicly disclosed but \u201cwidely circulated within the US intelligence and broader national security community\u201d, his email said.", "output": "US military group Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) will invest $100m in genetic extinction technologies, according to emails made public through freedom of information regulations. Species such as malarial mosquitoes and invasive rodents could be eradicated by using the technology. The investment makes Darpa the world\u2019s leading funder of \u201cgene drive\u201d research. Some experts fear the research could have unintended ecological consequences, while others have raised concerns about potential military applications. The UN Convention on Biological Diversity is debating the introduction of a moratorium on such research next year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "40% fall in footfall at branches leads to 680 staff cut at RBS\u00a0 \n Royal Bank of Scotland has joined Lloyds Banking Group in doing its bit to ruin Christmas for front-line facing staff, announcing plans to kill off 259 branches and lay off 680 staff.\n\nThe closure of a quarter of the RBS branch network is a response to dwindling customer footfall. The bank says that the number of customers using branches has fallen by 40% over the past three years, while mobile transactions have increased by 73%.\n\n\n\nRBS has told 1000 staff that their jobs are at risk but that it expects many to be redeployed resulting in a total job loss figure of 680.\n\n\n\nAn RBS spokesperson says the branches lined up for the axe will pull down their shutters in six months time, \"in order to ensure our customers have time to consider the right banking options for them\".\n\n\n\nThis latest announcement comes on top of previous RBS branch closure programmes which resulted in over 500 branches being lost.\n\n\n\nThe news from RBS comes just days after Lloyds Banking Group announced plans to close another 49 branches with the loss of 99 jobs.\n\n\n\nLabour union Unite has accused RBS of betraying local communities.\n\n\n\nRob MacGregor, Unite national officer says: \u201cThe Royal Bank of Scotland has decided to decimate its bank branch network. Now serious questions need to be asked about whether these closures mark the end of branch network banking. This announcement will forever change the face of banking in this country.\"", "output": "Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has becomes the latest UK bank to cut its branch network, announcing that it will lay off 680 staff with the closure of 259 branches. The bank claims the closures are due to a 40% drop in footfall at branches over the last three years. The latest round of cuts is in addition to previous closure programmes that resulted in the loss of more than 500 branches. Following the news, RBS was accused of \"betraying\u00a0local communities\" by labour union, Unite.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "East of England Co-op to sell produce after 'best before' dates \n A major retailer has become the first to start selling food that is past its \u201cbest before\u201d date in a drive to reduce food waste.\n\nFrom this week, the East of England Co-op \u2013 the biggest independent retailer in East Anglia \u2013 will sell tinned goods and dried food such as pasta, crisps and rice for a nominal 10p once they reach their best-before date. The offer will not apply to fresh and perishable foods, however, which carry a \u201cuse by\u201d date indicating when a product is safe to eat.\n\nThe move by the retailer, which is independent of the Co-operative Group, follows a three-month trial in 14 stores that found that the 10p items generally sold within hours of being reduced.\n\nQ&A What is the difference between \u2018use by\u2019 and \u2018best before\u2019 dates? Show \u2018Best by\u2019 or \u2018best before\u2019 date labels only refer to when food is at its best and tend to be used for quality control by retailers. For this reason it is perfectly safe to sell food at or after its \u2018best before\u2019 date. \u2018Use by\u2019 labels are more important as they indicate when a product is safe to eat, protecting consumers from potentially dangerous bacteria that could be in food after that date. Simplification of labelling is underway through new guidance from the Government\u2019s waste advisory body Wrap, the Food Standards Agency and Defra, which advocates the use of only one date on a pack in order to reduce consumer confusion. \u2018Display until\u2019 labels have been phased out and food manufacturers are advised to select a \u2018use by\u2019 date only when there is a food safety reason \u2013 otherwise they should use a \u2018best before\u2019 date.\n\nWas this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.\n\nDespite concerted efforts to reduce food waste through the entire supply chain, the government\u2019s waste advisory body, Wrap, says \u00a313bn-worth of edible food is thrown out in Britain every year.\n\nWrap is overseeing a major simplification of labelling with consumers often unaware of the difference between a use-by and a best-before date.\n\nThe East of England Co-op hopes to save at least two tonnes of food from being wasted annually with the initiative.\n\nAs part of the Co-op Guide to Dating campaign, shoppers will be told \u201cDon\u2019t be a binner, have it for dinner!\u201d and \u201cIt\u2019s not nice to get dumped\u201d.\n\n\u201cWe are committed to reducing waste in our business and the Co-op Guide to Dating is one of many initiatives we have instigated to make the East of England Co-op as efficient as possible, reducing our impact on the environment,\u201d said Roger Grosvenor, the company\u2019s joint chief executive and head of its retail division.\n\n\u201cDuring our trial we found our 10p items went within hours of being reduced, sometimes quicker,\u201d said Grosvenor. \u201cThe vast majority of our customers understand they are fine to eat and appreciate the opportunity to make a significant saving on some of their favourite products. This is not a money-making exercise, but a sensible move to reduce food waste and keep edible food in the food chain. By selling perfectly edible food we can save 50,000-plus items every year which would otherwise have gone to waste.\u201d\n\nThe Food Standards Agency advises that products past their best-before date are safe to eat but may not be at the optimum quality intended by the producer. The products will remain on sale for a month past their best-before date.\n\nThe East of England Co-op has also launched a new \u201creduced to clear\u201d policy, offering bigger discounts earlier in the day on foods nearing their use-by dates.\n\nThe 10p discounted food cannot be donated to charities such as food banks as they do not accept items past their best-before dates.", "output": "The East of England Co-op, East Anglia\u2019s largest independent retailer, will become the first business of its kind to sell food past its \u201cbest before\u201d date in an attempt to cut waste. The tinned and dried produce will be sold for 10p. Fresh and perishable items will not be included in the initiative. The move follows a three-month trial carried out in 14 shops that found the 10p items typically sold within hours. The company hopes that the scheme will save a minimum of two tonnes of food waste per year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Univfy applies AI to personalise IVF treatments \n Univfy analyzes many factors in a patient\u2019s fertility profile, such as age, body mass index, ovarian reserve test results, semen analysis, and clinical diagnoses. This is in order to give personalized probability of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) success. A secondary aim is to bring more transparency to the success and cost of IVF.\n\nMoreover, by using Univfy patients can learn about the costs of IVF treatment and their probability of success after one, two or three IVF cycles. The platform, therefore, also helps couples to make better financial decisions.\n\nTo discover more about this combination of artificial intelligence and predictive technology, we spoke with the Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Mylene Yao.\n\nDigital Journal: Thanks for the interview. What are the established methods for couples seeking to have children?\n\nDr. Mylene Yao: First, about 85 percent of couples in their 20s conceive naturally over a year if they\u2019re trying every month. You can increase your chance of conceiving by timing sex around and in the 36 hours after ovulation.\n\nWomen who have risk factors such as past sexually transmitted diseases, irregular periods, certain birth defects, or medical problems that can impact fertility (like thyroid disease) should consult a fertility specialist regardless of her age, to determine if her fertility may be compromised and whether a specific treatment would improve her chances of having a baby.\n\nMen who have risk factors such as undescended testes and past infection that can impact sperm production (such as mumps orchitis) should also consult a fertility specialist or urologist/andrologist. Often, the doctor will order a semen analysis to determine if there is male risk factor.\n\nIf the fertility doctor confirms that there are risk factors and the couple\u2019s chances of natural conception is low, then he/she would normally recommend one or more treatment options. The exact treatment will depend on the cause of subfertility (a term used in the U.K.) or infertility (a term used in U.S.). For most couples, in vitro fertilization (IVF) is a highly effective medical treatment that significantly improves the chances of having a baby.\n\nDJ: What alternative methods are there?\n\nYao: The treatment methods depend on the cause of infertility. Also, the age of the couple \u2014 especially the age of the woman \u2014 should be taken into account when deciding on the treatment method. As a woman ages, her ovarian reserve decreases, so if IVF is the most effective treatment for a women, you would not want to delay IVF treatment because the same treatment can give lower results if it is done later in life.\n\nSome commonly used methods of fertility treatment (not necessarily \u201calternatives\u201d as they are not applicable in every patient) are ovulation induction (if irregular ovulation is the only cause), intrauterine insemination (usually done as an alternative to IVF due to its lower cost), tubal surgery (if tubal factor were the only cause and the woman has good ovarian reserve), the use of donor sperm (if there is male factor infertility).\n\nDJ: How does Univfy work?\n\nYao: Univfy is a predictive analytics platform that combines machine learning, artificial intelligence, and fintech to improve the patient\u2019s experience. Most importantly, we help more women to succeed in having a baby from IVF by working with their doctors to help them afford several IVF cycles.\n\nMany more patients can have a baby if they could afford to do more than one IVF treatment. Without the use of machine learning, much fewer patients actually qualify for refund warranty programs.\n\nUnivfy uses an IVF center\u2019s own past data and outcomes to develop and validate a prediction model of IVF success. We then integrate the IVF success prediction model with the clinic\u2019s IVF fee schedule to help fertility doctors offer special pricing programs that are designed to help more women afford several IVF cycles, if needed.\n\nDJ: How does Unify help with the cost of IVF?\n\nYao: Univfy helps to connect the patient\u2019s financial cost and her specific probability of having a successful treatment. Doctors using the Univfy platform report that the patient\u2019s experience is dramatically improved by the level of transparency and accountability. Doctors want to provide transparency but in the past, without the Univfy PreIVF Report, it was technically not possible.\n\nWith the Univfy PreIVF Report, doctors can provide much more personalized counseling when supported by the Univfy PreIVF Report, which tells a patient her probability of having a baby from one, two, or three IVF treatments, the probability of not having a baby even after 3 tries, and the financial options that are available. Traditionally, medical counseling and financial counseling are conducted separately. However, patients who have to pay for IVF out-of-pocket need to understand their medical and financial risks and benefits in order to make an informed decision.\n\nA pregnant woman David Roseborough / Creative Commons\n\nDJ: How was the artificial intelligence developed?\n\nYao: The Univfy technology was originally developed by myself and Professor Wing H. Wong, at Stanford University as part of an academic research project. Univfy has licensed the technology and also developed new technology during its commercialization efforts, all under the Univfy global IP portfolio.\n\n\n\nDJ: Which factors are assessed to help assess IVF success?\n\nYao: The Univfy PreIVF Report uses health data that are available from standard clinical evaluation by fertility doctors. Health data such as age, body mass index, ovarian reserve test results, clinical diagnosis, reproductive history, past use of fertility treatment and results, and semen analysis are used by the prediction model to compute the predicted probability of IVF success.\n\nDJ: How have you assessed the predictive technology? Did you run trials?\n\nYao: Each prediction model that we provide to fertility doctors has been subjected to rigorous testing and validation, even much more than examples that we have published in top, peer-reviewed clinical research journals.\n\nSince we are providing predictive technology to patients who have already been determined to have infertility and for whom doctors are already recommending IVF treatment. Univfy does not make the diagnosis or recommend the treatment), clinical trials are not applicable. Our goal is to help patients to be more informed about the IVF treatment that has been recommended to them and to be able to afford IVF, should they decide to take their doctor\u2019s recommendations.\n\nDJ: What has been the reception from the medical profession?\n\nYao: Fertility doctors are very happy with the Univfy PreIVF Report because the report has dramatically improved their patient\u2019s experience. They feel that they can provide more personalized counseling and the level of transparency and accountability that their patients deserve.\n\nDJ: How have patients reacted?\n\nYao: Patients very much appreciate having a very data-driven, validated report that is personalized to their own health data. We have heard very positive feedback from doctors using the Univfy PreIVF Report.\n\nDJ: Which other areas are you working on?\n\nYao: Currently patients experience a huge financial barrier when seeking help from IVF treatment. We are working to expand our financial program to incur cost savings on medication and genetic testing so that more patients can access IVF and utilize genetic testing technology, which can be very beneficial for some patients. We\u2019re hoping to develop a consumer loan program to help patients get their needed treatment sooner rather than later.", "output": "California-based start-up Univfy is looking to personalise in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatments by applying artificial intelligence and predictive technology to treatment decisions. Univfy's predictive analytics platform factors\u00a0in variables such as age, body mass, semen analysis and clinical diagnosis\u00a0to help improve both IVF success rates and cost transparency. Univfy operates by taking existing clinical data on a patient before integrating the success prediction model into a clinic's IVF fee schedule to produce more affordable pricing plans.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Landlords, GetRentr build tool to monitor UK licensing changes \n NLA Licensing 365 allows landlords to monitor local licensing schemes in all UK postcodes for up to 16 properties, with alerts sent to them directly if the licensing status in an area changes.\n\nThe platform will alert landlords when new licensing schemes are being consulted on or due to be introduced and, importantly, whether their properties will be affected.\n\nRichard Lambert, CEO of the National Landlords Association, said: \u201cThe number of licensing schemes in England has increased from just over 10 in 2010 to 67 schemes now, with a further 10 currently in consultation, so NLA Licensing 365 has been created to make life easier for all landlords.\n\nThis tool will help ensure you never miss important information about potential new licensing schemes, and that you can be prepared to make your properties meet any new licence requirements.\n\nIt also allows you to view the licensing requirements for prospective properties, which is beneficial for those looking to expand their portfolios into new areas where they may not be familiar with the local regulations.\u201d\n\nOrla Shields, CEO and Co-Founder of GetRentr, said: \u201cOur mission is to use data and technology to ensure good agents and landlords can easily comply with regulation, rogue landlords are exposed and no tenant has to live in unsafe, substandard accommodation again. Our partnership with the NLA ensures we reach private landlords who may not use agents.\u201d\n\nFor more information about NLA Licensing 365, go to www.landlords.org.uk/nla-licensing-365", "output": "The National Landlord Association (NLA) has worked with proptech start-up GetRentr to create a tool that monitors changes and updates to landlord licensing schemes. NLA Licensing 365 notifies landlords of licensing changes in the postcodes on up to 16 properties and enables prospective buyers to view local regulations. GetRentr CEO Orla Shields said the app would also help in regulation compliance, could\u00a0weed out rogue landlords and reach landlords who don't use agents.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "German fintech Deposit Solutions secures $20m \n Deposit Solutions, a German fintech company, has raised $20 million in a round led by e.Ventures and Greycroft, both existing shareholders.\n\nThe new funds will be used to grow the Hamburg-based company\u2019s Open Banking platform for savings deposits for both B2B and B2C services, and to expand internationally. Its APIs allow banks to connect to the platform to build and offer deposit services. It has partnered with more than 50 banks.\n\n\u201cThis investment round is a strong vote of confidence from our shareholders and allows us to further focus on our core mission, establishing Open Banking as the new industry standard for the deposit market,\u201d said Dr Tim Sievers, CEO of Deposit Solutions.\n\nThe company acquired Berlin startup Savedo earlier this year to improve on the B2C side of its business, which has reached 85,000 retail customers to date.\n\n\u201cDeposit Solutions started to build its open banking infrastructure long before fintech even became a household name and has consistently pursued its vision of transforming the \u20ac10 trillion deposit market ever since,\u201d added Andreas Haug, managing partner of e.Ventures, which was an existing investor and backed the company in previous rounds.", "output": "German financial technology company Deposit Solutions has secured new investment of $20m to support growth of its Open Banking platform. The funds came from venture capital firms led by existing shareholders e.Ventures and Greycroft. The Hamburg-based company bought Savedo, a marketplace for savings deposits, earlier this year to strengthen its business to consumer operation. The extra funding will allow Deposit Solutions to expand its services internationally as it seeks to make its platform the industry standard for the deposit market.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shapeshifting metals could greatly improve aircraft efficiency \n Humanity may be divided on a great many issues, but most would agree that it would be very cool to have airplane wings made of shapeshifting metal. The geometry of those fabulous foils affects virtually every aspect of flight, and making them from metal that can change its shape in midair could make your journey smoother, safer, and more efficient.\n\nShapeshifting wings aren't new. The Wright brothers flew over the North Carolina sand dunes using a hip brace and wires to warp the Flyer\u2019s cloth-and-wood wings. Modern aircraft achieve the same results\u2014OK, much better results\u2014with mechanically driven flaps, slats, ailerons, spoilers, elevators, and rudders.\n\n\u201cIf you look at conventional aircraft technology, you have so many moving parts,\u201d says Othmane Benafan, an engineer at NASA's Glenn Research Center. Those moving parts are essential\u2014they are how pilots steer, reduce turbulence, take off, land, and basically do everything else besides glide aimlessly. But the actuators, cables, motors, lubricant, hydraulic gear, and other bits needed move those parts around take up weight and space\u2014precious resources on any aircraft.\n\nThe alternative is to move those wing parts using shapeshifting metals. Or, as they\u2019re known to engineers, shape memory alloys. \u201cParts made from shape memory alloys are typically 10 to 20 percent the size and weight of a conventional part,\u201d says Jim Mabe, a shape memory alloy guru at Boeing. For an industry that spent $133 billion on fuel last year, anything smaller and lighter is exciting news.\n\nShape memory alloys are essentially reversible Shrinky Dinks. When heated to certain temperatures, they shrink, twist, and bend. Cool them off, and they return to their original shape. Hot, cold, hot\u2014shape memory alloys can cycle back and forth millions of times without wearing out. All you need is the ability to generate heat or pull it from some other, already spicy hot part of the plane, like the engine.\n\nAircraft makers, researchers, and government agencies like NASA can use these metals to do more than just reduce fuel bills. Shape memory alloys can also be used to add moving parts to a plane, doing things that would cost too much in size and weight using conventional mechanics. For instance, quieting a jet engine's roar. Temperature activated fold-up wings would allow aircraft carriers to cram more fighters on deck. This tech might even quell sonic booms, opening the door to the revival of supersonic passenger jets like the Concorde.\n\nDown Shape Memory Lane\n\nShape memory alloys were developed in the aerospace field, though not for flight, per se. In 1959, at the Naval Ordnance1 Laboratory, a researcher named William Buehler was developing materials for intercontinental ballistic missile nose cones that could endure the extreme temperatures and pressures of doing missile stuff like flying to the edge of space, then reentering the atmosphere. Buehler came up with an alloy of nickel and titanium that was not only strong and fatigue resistant but also super malleable at high temperatures. He discovered the alloy\u2019s most surprising feature by purposely dropping bars of the stuff on his shop floor and listening to the thuds. (I know, these are the kinds of stories people should be telling STEM-shy kids.)\n\nThe cool bars made a very different noise than the bars still warm from the furnace, indicating to Buehler that the molecules could be in different orientations at different temperatures\u2014not a common property of metals. Later one of his colleagues held his lighter under an accordion-like strip of the alloy. To everyone\u2019s surprise it completely unfolded, indicating that the heated molecules were doing more than just expanding in response to the heat; they were completely changing the orientation of their bonds. These alloys change phase, but not from, say, solid to liquid. They\u2019re changing from one solid phase to another\u2014like ice turning into a different kind of ice.", "output": "Constructing aeroplane wings from metal that changes its shape could significantly improve the efficiency of flights. Airline industry engineers are examining the potential for replacing the heavy hydraulics and mechanical parts needed to move wing flaps with what is known as shape memory alloys. These would be up to 90% smaller and lighter than existing parts, helping to save on weight and fuel costs. The metals can be made to change their shape by subjecting them to changes in temperature, but technical problems of\u00a0controlling the effect remain, given the extreme changes in temperature that take place in flight.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook moves marketers to main Audience Insights service \n Facebook has long held a tight grip on what data advertisers can and cannot access. Now, it\u2019s pulling some of the reins away from social media vendors as it shutters its Audience Insight API.\n\nThis week, Facebook quietly shut down its research tool, which allowed social vendors including Spredfast to build billion-dollar businesses by tapping into the social network\u2019s firehose of data and crunch vast amounts of user information for marketers.\n\nAudience Insights digs up aggregated demographic, interest and lifestyle data, including age, education levels, job titles, hobbies, family size, income and location.", "output": "Facebook has said it will close its Audience Insights application programming interface by the end of the year, with the social vendors that used it being transferred to a different version of Audience Insights, which supplies data directly to marketers. The decision has divided advertisers, with some suspicious that the alternative version of Audience Insights, which has no intermediary, raises issues of unvetted metrics. Audience Insights aggregates user data in areas such as demographic, education, working life and location, and observers have suggested the restructure of Audience Insights will form part of an effort to find new revenue streams.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK walking and cycling targets could save 13,000 lives per year \n If the UK hits government targets for walking and cycling more than 13,000 lives and almost \u00a310bn would be saved over the next decade, according to a new report.\n\nThe study from the transport charity Sustrans has found that meeting government plans in England and Scotland for an increase in walking or cycling would reduce deaths from air pollution by more than 13,000 in the next 10 years. It would also save almost \u00a39.31bn.\n\nXavier Brice, CEO for Sustrans, said that at a time when road transport is \u201cresponsible for the majority of air quality limit breaches in the UK\u201d it has never been more important to reduce the number of \u201cmotorised vehicles on our roads\u201d.\n\n\u201cThe new findings reiterate that walking and cycling have a huge role to play in tackling the air quality crisis that causes tens of thousands of premature deaths every year. If we are to make a major modal shift, we need to provide a network of direct protected cycle routes on roads in addition to quieter routes across the UK.\u201d\n\nAir pollution contributes to around 40,000 premature deaths a year in the UK. The government is being taken to court for a third time over the levels of toxic air in cities across the UK caused by nitrogen dioxide, mainly from diesel vehicles. Many towns and cities are now also failing WHO guidelines for the most damaging type of air pollution known as PM2.5, 45% of which comes from car tyre and brake wear and would not be reduced by a move to electric vehicles.\n\nA report last month revealed that every area in London exceeds World Health Organisation limits for PM2.5.\n\nBrice said: \u201cWe are urging governments at all levels to include funding for walking and cycling infrastructure in their clean air plans and the UK government to prioritise investment in active travel as part of wider urgent action to make air safe again.\u201d\n\nSustrans, in partnership with the environmental consultancy Eunomia, found that if targets to double journeys by bike and increase walking by \u201c300 stages per person\u201d in the England\u2019s Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy were met, this would prevent more than 8,300 premature deaths from air pollution. This would result in \u00a35.67bn in benefits over 10 years through the avoided costs associated with poor air quality, including NHS treatment in hospital for respiratory diseases.\n\nEqually, if the aim of 10% of everyday journeys to be taken by bike set out in Scotland\u2019s Cycling Action Plan was realised, it would save nearly 4,000 premature deaths and \u00a33.64bn.\n\nSustran said the gains would be even bigger if wider benefits to health and wellbeing from increased physical activity were included.\n\nTwenty-nine local authorities in England that are breaking legal air quality limits now have to pull together clean air plans by November next year.\n\nAnn Ballinger, an air quality expert at Eunomia, said: \u201cThis is the first time that Sustrans\u2019s data has been used alongside public health data to understand what impacts walking and cycling schemes have on an individual\u2019s exposure to air pollution.\n\n\n\n\u201cOur analysis suggests investment in cycling and walking has considerable potential to improve local air pollution. We believe this innovative model could be of considerable value in supporting local authorities and government as these bodies consider options to tackle the air pollution emergency at a local level.\u201d\n\n", "output": "Over 13,000 lives and almost \u00a310bn ($13.5bn) could be saved over the next decade if the UK can achieve government cycling and walking targets for England and Scotland, according to research by transport charity Sustrans and environmental consultancy Eunomia. The study shows that cycling and walking could have a huge impact on reducing air pollution in the UK, which contributes to 40,000 premature deaths in the country each year. The UK government is currently being taken to court for the third time in relation to toxic air levels in the country\u2019s cities, primarily due to emissions from diesel vehicles.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "P&G's Gillette targets students in Malaysian careers app \n P&G Gillette is forking out RM2.4 million on its digital innovation in marketing towards Malaysian Millennials via its P&G First Real Job and Ideas campaign which runs in both 2017 and 2018. The programme which partnered the Malaysian Youth Community (MYC), aims to be a one stop connection with Malaysian universities through the mobile app called, MYC! Digital Student News and Income (MYC! mobile app).The collaboration centres around the Millennials oriented, MYC! mobile app which is a news, ideas and digital reputation platform. It also aims to enable young Malaysians to start gathering and sharing news, as well as, to start building their digital reputation.Youths can take part in student jobs (gig economy) and build their reputation digitally, via providing peer reviews of brands and employers; and in turn receive cumulative ratings given by different employers. The platform enables an open market review of individual youth work attitudes, where their resume or digital reputation is built through micro jobs with real employers.The brand said this benchmark program has enabled many innovative milestones for marketing and consumer empowerment, such as the first marketing program to track mass consumer trials nationwide. This includes knowing each individual consumer in a mass scale setting and re-engaging these consumer with personalised offers as part of the ongoing Millennials community.P&G Gillette added that this is in support of the coming age of the self-customisation of career paths, wish to connect and hear from young Malaysians in universities on how they define their first real job or first real ideas via this campaign. Millennials are currently the most vocal participants in developed economies via their social media and knowledge economy involvement.Meanwhile, the first 100,000 Malaysian university young men that participate will receive a first real job grooming kit in the form of a Gillette Mach 3 razor kit. Utkrash Mohan, brand operations head of P&G Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, said \u201cGillette has always been at the forefront of innovation to empower our consumers around the world to achieve their best look so they can feel confident. It is this belief that has led us to partner with MYC for the second year in a row on the \u2018First Real Job\u2019 program to groom and bring the students one step closer to career-readiness.\"In 2016, Mohan said, the brand reached out to 50,000 young men in universities throughout Malaysia. This year, its objective is \"to touch and improve the lives of 100,000 young Malaysian men in the form of a free Gillette Mach 3 razor kit to ensure they look and feel their best to kick-start their career\u201d.Young Malaysian women will receive other supporting grooming gifts contributed by partners who have engaged and joined in the program.MYC!'s CEO Jason Ko (pictured, fourth from right) said, \u201cThrough MYC! app, a student news and lifestyle income application, Malaysian students will be able to participate in a two-way information transaction, by submitting their first real ideas, share peer to peer product reviews, youth news and also participate in student micro jobs. The platform is based on the principle of crowd sharing to create a better millennial economy of the future.\u201dThe MYC! App and website is essentially a student lifestyle media and information hub that enables and empowers student income and lifestyle; with information such as student news trends, ideas, internships, scholarships, student income opportunities and more. All these useful information are delivered to Malaysian students by their chosen fields of studies or interest or by university, where possible.P&G recently announced in April 2017, that it would be investing in over US$100 Million (over RM410 million) over the next five years via its E-Center, the first of its kind outside the United States. The E-Center will be pivotal to the company\u2019s undertaking of end-to-end digital innovation across three core areas: supply chain management, e-analytics and e-business.", "output": "Procter & Gamble (P&G) brand Gillette is partnering with the Malaysian Youth Community in the MYR2.4m ($590,000) P&G First Real Job and Ideas marketing campaign aimed at the nation's students. Using the MYC! Digital Student News and Income app, P&G offers Malaysian university students a platform where they can share news and ideas, as well as post reviews of products and construct a digital reputation via micro jobs. P&G said the programme supports the \"self-customisation of career paths\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fintech innovation hub ALL Work & Social opens in Manchester \n The first venue from ALL Work & Social launched in Manchester last night, with plans for further workspaces to open in Leeds and Manchester.\n\nAimed at tech and digital disrupters, they\u2019ve been described as \u201cmodern-day social clubs\u201d with co-working spaces, events facilities and hospitality.\n\nXYZ Works & Social is the first development, founded by Allied London\u2019s Michael Ingall, he described its ethos as \"an independent and boutique space that will uniquely connect all its members to each other, businesses on Spinningfields and the wider Manchester community.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe all work in a very different, more social way now, and it will continue to change rapidly over the coming few years,\u201d added Allied\u2019s group property director, Chris Reay.\n\n\u201cWe are accepting members on 4 simple membership levels; social member of our lounge on the ground floor, social member of our hub on level 1, a resident desk membership or a private studio membership. Members can choose what suits them best, it\u2019s easy to sign up and they\u2019re not tied into a long contract.\n\n\u201cMembers will have access to our events campaign, discounts, VIP treatment and our app which will allow profiles, social feed, meeting room bookings, coffee orders and events bookings.\"\n\nThe venue features \u201cThe Vault\u201d which will be a dedicated fintech space. There will also be hot-desking, private suites and fixed desks. Finally a Level 7 Members Club, which will have dedicated onsite catering.", "output": "Flexible office space provider Allied London has launched XYZ Works & Social in Manchester under its ALL Works & Social brand. Described by Allied London\u2019s Michael Ingall as an \"independent and boutique space\", the location, which includes a dedicated fintech area called the Vault, is aimed at technology and digital disrupters in the city. Ingall said the\u00a0workspace\u00a0offered four types of membership, from the ground-floor lounge to private studio membership. Allied plans to open more sites in Manchester and Leeds."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Breakthrough creates ammonia with 60% yield at room temperatures \n Scientists in Australia have produced ammonia in up to 60% yield at room temperature and pressure by electrochemically reducing nitrogen gas from the atmosphere in ionic liquids. This technique improves on previous approaches to nitrogen reduction, with exciting prospects for renewable energy.\n\nAs a key source of fertilisers, ammonia is one of the most important chemicals worldwide. Its use as an easily transportable energy store and source of hydrogen for renewable energy is also gaining traction. For over a century, ammonia has been industrially synthesised by the Haber\u2013Bosch process. But this is energy intensive, requiring high temperature and pressure, and produces around 2% of global carbon dioxide emissions. A sustainable alternative would solve lots of problems.\n\nElectrochemically reducing N 2 to NH 3 is a possibility. Although scientists have investigated various electrodes, catalysts and conditions, their current-conversion (or faradaic) efficiencies are impractically low: less than 7% for processes involving ambient conditions. In 2014, Stuart Licht\u2019s team at George Washington University in the US reported a way to produce ammonia directly from electricity, air and steam with an efficiency of 35%, but this involved steam in a molten hydroxide electrolyte and temperatures of 200\u2013250\u00b0C.\n\nNow, Doug MacFarlane\u2019s team at Monash University has almost doubled this. Key to the success of their method is the use of certain hydrophobic ionic liquids that have very high solubility for nitrogen, but do not absorb much water. This is important in preventing the preferential reduction of water to hydrogen that occurs in the same region of potential. Typical electrolytes with a much higher aqueous content and limited solubility for nitrogen are adversely affected by this competing process. That is not to say that the ionic liquid-based approach does not produce hydrogen: it is in fact the only byproduct.\n\nMacFarlane thinks the significance of their process is enormous: \u2018Ammonia is readily transportable and can be used directly as a fuel, or cracked back into nitrogen and hydrogen for use in fuel cells.\u2019 The hydrogen also represents a form of stored energy and MacFarlane says it is important to consider how they can separate and use the byproduct productively.\n\nJoshua McEnaney, part of Jens N\u00f8rskov\u2019s group at Stanford University in the US that recently reported an alternative route to ammonia production centred around a lithium cycling strategy, finds the high efficiency and mild conditions encouraging. \u2018It will inspire researchers to continue to build upon the efficiencies and yields of this work and related systems,\u2019 he says.", "output": "In a potentially highly significant development, scientists at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia have developed an ionic liquid-based way to produce ammonia from nitrogen gas, with a yield of 60% and a sole by-product of hydrogen. Doug MacFarlane of the university revealed the key to the room temperature and pressure process was the use of hydrophobic ionic liquids that did not produce water, and said: \u201cAmmonia can be used directly as a fuel or cracked back into nitrogen and hydrogen for use in fuel cells\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Xiaomi follows Huawei by incorporating AI into its smartphones \n The tech industry is replete with concepts and prototypes as well as real products utilizing Artificial Intelligence for various purposes. The smartphone industry has been the latest port of call with Huawei releasing its 2017 flagship Mate 10 models as well as the Huawei V10 with an AI chip. Xiaomi has now revealed that it plans to incorporate AI technology into its smartphones as from next year. The disclosure was made by CEO Lei Jun during a speech delivered at the 4th World Internet Conference held today in Wuzhen, China.\n\nLei Jun\u2019s was reportedly titled \u201cOpportunities for Xiaomi in the AI Age.\u201d During the speech, the Xiaomi CEO stated that in the next 10 years, the company\u2019s core strategy would focus on Artificial Intelligence. He also disclosed that the next generation of Xiami phones expected to be released in 2018 will incorporate Artificial Intelligence. However, no specific time frame was revealed as to when the AI smartphones would start launching. But the tech giant is expected to debut with the Xiaomi Mi 7 packing a Snapdragon 845 chip in the early part of next year. The flagship Mi 7 could very well feature the technology as it would most likely be featured first on a flagship model.\n\nRead Also: Xiaomi Enters The Smart Speaker Race With The Mi AI Speaker\n\nXiaomi first released an AI product in July with the launch of the Mi AI Speaker. The company is in an advantaged position to develop its AI technology as it already has a vast smart IoT platform and the global user base of the MIUI ROM keeps growing, presently said to have exceeded 300 million users. Xiaomi\u2019s cloud service is also said to house over 200PB data. Lei Jun sees internet companies becoming Artificial Intelligence companies in the near future and so believes Xiaomi should actively embrace AI technology now.\n\n(source)", "output": "Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has announced plans to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) technology into its smartphones as of next year. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun made the announcement at a conference in Wuzhen, revealing that the company would make AI its focus over the next 10 years. He also expressed the belief that many internet companies will transition into AI companies in the near future.\u00a0The news follows\u00a0Huawei's announcement that it will make use of AI\u00a0in its forthcoming designs.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Show home unveiled for 59-flat Chiswick development \n Welcome to ChiswickW4.com\n\n\n\nThe site for Chiswick residents - and anyone planning to buy in the area, eat or shop in W4.\n\nIf you are viewing this text, your browser lacks the ability to read frames. Although you will need a browser that can handle frames to use our site, you can get an idea of the site by following some of the links below.\n\nOur main sections are:\n\nSERVICES\n\nA comprehensive listing of anything you might need in the Chiswick area. Home Improvement section lists carpenters, builders, roofers and loft conversions, gardeners, Chiswick electricians, bathroom and kitchen installers and painters and decorators\n\nWe also have the most comprehensive listings directory for businesses in Chiswick.\n\nThere are more Chiswick Plumbers listed here.\n\nINFORMATION\n\nA one-stop information database on Chiswick, with schools and local councils. Our Calendar lists events in Chiswick.\n\nENTERTAINMENT/FUN\n\nA listing of things to do, where to eat in Chiswick. A guide to Chiswick Restaurants.\n\nNEWS\n\nWe cover local news in depth and have a large archive of Chiswick news stories. To keep up to date sign up for our newsletter . We also have information on traffic and travel, weather and Chiswick tides.\n\nPROPERTY\n\nWhen you're seriously looking to buy or let, you need to know EVERYTHING that's available. That's where we make the difference. We already have over 1000 houses for sale or to let in Chiswick, listed on our database, which is searchable by price/rent and number of bedrooms.\n\nFor more on our aims, click here.\n\nWe also have sites in other parts of London such as Wimbledon, Fulham and Wandsworth.", "output": "Redrow has opened a show home for a 59-apartment development it's building on the site of a 1960s office block at 500 Chiswick High Road in west London. The development will include\u00a0seven penthouses and five townhouses. The three-bedroom show apartment was designed by interior design company Hatch Interiors.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Washington State Democrats seek a carbon tax \n Washington is just one of a growing number of states poised to introduce or advance new, stricter, or more expansive carbon fees or cap-and-trade programs in upcoming legislative sessions. Collectively, the measures could help to cut U.S. emissions by at least hundreds of millions of tons in the next decade, and provide critical counterpressure on the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to unravel climate efforts like the Paris accords and Clean Power Plan (see \u201cExiting Paris, Trump Cedes Global Leadership on Climate Change\u201d).\n\nSome of these same states and legislators have proposed similar programs before, only to see them fail for lack of legislative or public support. But the White House\u2019s regressive environmental policies, Democratic gains in the November election, and shifting public sentiments have improved \u201cthe prospects for actually passing some of these,\u201d says Michael Wara, senior research scholar at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.\n\nAmong other pending or forthcoming proposals:\n\nIn Massachusetts, which is under a judicial order to increase emissions reductions, Mike Barrett, a state senator, introduced a carbon pricing proposal in the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, which must make final recommendations on bills by February. Barrett\u2019s measure would eventually charge $40 per metric ton of carbon emissions or equivalent pollution, but return all of the funds to citizens and businesses through subsequent tax rebates. It exempts the electricity industry, since that\u2019s already covered under the state\u2019s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a cap-and-trade program that includes nine eastern states.\n\n\n\nMeanwhile, Massachusetts state representative Jennifer Benson introduced a carbon pricing proposal in the House that would also eventually charge both consumers and business a fee of $40 per ton of carbon emissions. The measure would return the vast majority of the funds to individuals and employers through rebates, but set aside around 20 percent for climate mitigation and adaptation measures.\n\n\n\nLegislators in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Vermont have also been considering carbon tax bills.\n\n\n\nIn August, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative announced a draft plan to cut emissions another 30 percent between 2020 and 2030. That would eliminate at least an additional 130 million tons of carbon pollution.\n\n\n\nNew Jersey\u2019s newly elected Democratic governor, Phil Murphy, has pledged to \u201cimmediately restore New Jersey\u2019s place in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.\u201d Governor Chris Christie withdrew the state from the initiative in 2011.\n\n\n\nState regulators in Virginia also approved an emissions reduction proposal that would allow the state to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.\n\n\n\nAt the recent United Nations climate talks in Bonn, Germany, most of the RGGI member states and Washington, D.C., announced a similar regional carbon pricing effort to cut emissions from the transportation industry.\n\n\n\nThis summer, several dozen legislators in Oregon introduced a statewide cap-and-trade program set to be heard in the 2018 legislative session. As proposed, it would be one of the few U.S. cap-and-trade programs to encompass sectors of the economy beyond the electricity industry. The system, which will apply to any entity that emits more than 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide or equivalent pollution per year, would feature an auction floor that ticks up over time coupled with emissions caps that steadily tighten.\n\n\n\nAlso this summer, California passed a law to extend its cap-and-trade program, which was to set to expire in 2020. The state had already linked its carbon market with Quebec\u2019s, and Ontario officials said in April that the province will join as well. Meanwhile, Governor Jerry Brown has also discussed connecting California\u2019s market with those of the European Union and China, which plans to roll out the world\u2019s largest carbon market in the months ahead.\n\nMany economists, including some prominent conservatives, argue that market-based mechanisms like cap-and-trade or carbon taxes are among the most effective means of lowering greenhouse-gas emissions.\n\nCap-and-trade systems allow companies to bid on a limited number of allowances for generating greenhouse gases, which decrease over time to reduce total emissions. Carbon taxes are direct fees levied on carbon-based products. In both cases, the impact can spill over to consumers in the form of higher prices. But the raised funds are generally funneled back to citizens, invested in climate projects, or spent on other government programs (see \u201cCanada Moves Ahead on Carbon Taxes, Leaving the U.S. Behind\u201d).\n\nThere are various trade-offs. Cap-and-trade programs create more certainty about the level of emissions cuts that will be achieved over time. Carbon taxes offer greater clarity about the price companies will have to pay, and are generally cheaper and simpler to administer.\n\nRegardless of the particular approach, climate and energy observers say it\u2019s encouraging to see so much gathering momentum at the state level, stressing that the measures provide crucial benefits beyond local boundaries.", "output": "The US state of Washington may introduce a carbon tax after Democrats took control of the State's Senate during recent elections. A number of other states have proposed similar measures, but none have been successfully implemented, owing to a lack of legislative or public support. However, the Trump administration's removal of support for carbon reduction agreements has shifted the debate and made passing such measures more likely. The Washington State proposal hasn't been finalised, but proceeds would be likely to be applied to support renewable energy sources and infrastructure.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "'Internet of everything' is central to more efficient oil rigs \n Digitalization is emerging as a technological driver of change around the world and provides businesses with abundant opportunities for growth and monetary gain. While industries like manufacturing and healthcare have taken the digitalization world by storm, the oil and gas industry has been remarkably slow to adopt this new way of thinking.\n\nIt is true that oil and gas has been \u201cdigitalized\u201d for some time. True digital transformation, however, now requires adoption of the Internet of Everything (IoE)\u2014 the networked connection of people, process, data and things\u2014throughout the value chain.\n\nMost of today\u2019s digital initiatives in oil and gas are incremental rather than disruptive. Some offshore operators are taking a step forward to make improvements in technical or operational capabilities, but many are not fully embracing the power digitalization can provide. Numerous benefits such as increased cost savings and signi\ufb01cant improvements in collaboration, productivity, maintenance and revenue can be realized through digitalization if more offshore operators would take the technological plunge.\n\nAccording to a January report by Accenture on digitalization in the oil and gas industry, the primary barriers to change or adoption include:\n\nRegulatory frameworks that are struggling to adapt to a new era of data sharing along value chains;\n\nA lack of standardization in data coming from sensors;\n\nAn inability to share information across the ecosystem; and\n\nThe challenge of recruiting millennials to replace an aging workforce.\n\nDigital collaboration technologies provide oil and gas companies, and specifically offshore engineers, a multitude of benefits. These include the ability to digitalize workflow and planning processes; optimize decisions between experts, disciplines and companies involved in the life of field perspective; and visually identify operational activities and maintenance events once projects are online.\n\nThrough digitalization, all offshore field projects can be easily understandable through online 2-D/3-D visualizations rapidly created or replicated using existing field layouts with a 3-D asset library and immediately monitored and reported to real-time operating levels. It also can offer an instant view of the cost consequences due to a required action or change to a field.\n\nFor offshore operators subsea and topside assets are their most valuable players. The foundation of these structures comprises years of knowledge, engineering talent and commitment. The technology-savvy world is moving to a digital environment. For the oil and gas industry to respond to this trend, offshore assets must reside there too. Offshore operations will dramatically change when oil and gas companies embrace and upgrade their digital capabilities, thus improving the way they collaborate with and connect new data insights to their operating models.\n\nReal-world results\n\nAn independent European oil and gas operator was looking to exploit the Norwegian Shelf in the North Sea. It aimed to reduce costs by using already existing infrastructure in a neighboring oil field and had appointed an engineering firm to install a cable along the seafl oor.\n\nCollaboration meant having to work across multiple disciplines and languages. This increased the complexity of communications, decision-making and project management, all of which could lengthen the delivery timescale. For example, each company used a different type of planning software, with Gantt charts provided as the basis for project discussions. But it was almost impossible to get diverse teams of operations personnel, managers and budget holders on the same page.\n\nThe operator turned to a specialist in 3-D visualizations and software development for major subsea and offshore engineering companies to find a solution. The digital collaboration platform created by the third-party expert brought all project data\u2014assets and activities, both subsea and topside\u2014online and into plain sight through an easy-to-understand visualization.\n\nThe collaboration platform complemented the use of Gantt charts, which are still maintained to plan activities. The intuitive interface presented all of the project data as an animated time line, with a customizable set of information layers. Users could navigate to a snapshot of the project for any date using a simple slider and toggle information layers as required.\n\nThe platform has matured to support the entire process of offshore and subsea installations, from planning and feasibility to preparation and actual operations. It gave users a simplified view of activities being carried out offshore along with the status of vessels, rigs and installations.\n\nAccording to the operator, the digital collaboration platform simplified the business of understanding with what was already there and what had yet to be installed at any point. It presented the field layout graphically, with vessels, trenching, production, rock tumblers and pipe information layers that could be switched on and off, depending on the remit. Further, by using the digital platform, the operator successfully collaborated with all parties as one team, accelerated its project time line by 30% and incurred only minor errors and low periods of downtime.\n\nThe benefits are undeniable when digital technologies are implemented across the oil and gas industry, regardless of current oil prices. These include:\n\n\u2022 Return on investment: Digital collaboration tools are easy to integrate and train employees on and are capable of accelerating project time lines by up to 80%, especially during the early concept and FEED phases. Once the project data are centralized and visualized, they can then be leveraged across the organization for collaboration in fl uid analysis, operational data gathering, maintenance and decommissioning planning. These time savings can drive cost savings as high as 70% across a project\u2019s life cycle;\n\n\u2022 Simplified collaboration: By providing a unified view of the project, digital collaboration tools simplify multilanguage cross-disciplinary communications. This reduces the opportunity for misunderstandings and scheduling confl icts and supports knowledge transfer, collaboration and creative problem-solving;\n\n\u2022 Better decision-making: The solution enables activities to be tracked against the project plan and any deviation easily measured. The ability to perform \u201cwhat-if\u201d analysis allows the outcome of decisions to be modeled in a riskfree environment before taking action in the field; and\n\n\u2022 Reduced risk: Increased visibility allows a safety zone to be established around the installation to enable compliance with health and safety requirements. Vessels are prohibited from entering or remaining in the zone at specified points of the project.\n\nDigitalization has the potential to create tremendous value for both the industry and society as a whole. However, for oil and gas such a transformation will require organizations to implement a focused digital strategy championed by the C-suite, executive teams and IT leaders to create a culture of innovation and technology adoption. It also will need investment and commitment to revisit, renew and upgrade current processes, infrastructure and systems and a willingness to share and collaborate across the ecosystem. All the aforementioned needs will be required for a successful digital transformation for the oil and gas industry to truly realize the power and potential digitalization provides.\n\nHave a story idea for Offshore Solutions? This feature highlights technologies and techniques that are helping offshore players overcome their operating challenges. Submit your story ideas to Group Managing Editor Jo Ann Davy at jdavy@ hartenergy.com.", "output": "The oil and gas industry needs to adopt digitisation and the internet of everything in order to explore new growth areas and revenue streams, according to Olav Sylthe of Xvision Software. The use of interconnected \"people, process, data and things\" across the entire value chain would help oil and gas businesses, which have been slow to adopt digitisation, to improve efficiency, reduce costs and streamline projects."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US claims DJI commercial drones may be Chinese spies in the skies  \n SHANGHAI \u2014 D.J.I., the popular drone maker, stands as a symbol of China\u2019s growing technology prowess. Its propeller-powered machines dominate global markets and buzz regularly over beaches, cityscapes at sunset and increasingly, power plants and government installations.\n\nNow D.J.I. is fighting a claim by one United States government office that its commercial drones and software may be sending sensitive information about American infrastructure back to China, in the latest clash over the power of data in the growing technological rivalry between the two countries. It also shows how consumer technology companies have become increasingly central to debates about national security.\n\nThe company, formally named Da Jiang Innovations Science and Technology Company, put out a statement this month contesting the allegations made in a dispatch from United States customs officials. The memo, from the Los Angeles office of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau, was dated in August but had begun to circulate online more recently.\n\nIt said officials had \u201cmoderate confidence\u201d that the D.J.I.\u2019s commercial drones and software are \u201cproviding U.S. critical infrastructure and law enforcement data to the Chinese government.\u201d It cited what it called a reliable source, who it did not identify, in the drone industry \u201cwith first and secondhand access.\u201d", "output": "A leading Chinese manufacturer of aerial drones has been accused of providing sensitive data about the US to Beijing. A memo from customs officials in Los Angeles expressed \"moderate confidence\" that commercial drones produced by Da Jiang Innovations Science and Technology (DJI) were providing \"critical infrastructure and law enforcement data\" from the US to Chinese authorities. The drones have the capacity to store data and back it up to the company's servers, where user agreements mean it can be transferred across borders. DJI says the claims are false and misleading.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Regus plans to open 19,000 sq ft location in Miami \n The parent company of executive office provider Regus plans to bring its shared office concept, called Spaces, to South Florida starting in Miami, a Regus executive told The Real Deal.\n\nRegus\u2019 Jeff Doughman, said Spaces plans to open multiple locations in South Florida \u201cfrom West Palm Beach/Boca Raton on south.\u201d The parent company of Spaces and Regus is IWG plc, a multinational company formerly known as Regus.\n\nSpaces plans to open a 19,000-square-foot location at 2 MiamiCentral, a 190,000-square-foot office building under construction in downtown Miami near the site of a passenger train station that will be built for the planned Brightline rail service. Construction of 2 MiamiCentral is expected to be finished early next year.\n\nSpaces also just preleased almost 24,000 square feet at Cube Wynwyd, an eight-story office building planned at 222 Northwest 24th Street. RedSky Capital landed an $18.27 million construction loan for the building, designed with almost 80,000 square feet of office space and about 11,400 square feet of retail space.\n\nSign Up for the undefined Newsletter SIGN UP By signing up, you agree to TheRealDeal Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.\n\nDoughman said Spaces locations have sleek, open designs and a larger percentage of shared office space and lounge space than Regus locations, which have more private office space.\n\nThough Regus is well known for providing private offices with flexible terms, \u201cwe\u2019ve had co-working spaces for years,\u201d Doughman said. Co-working space rates at Regus locations start at $75 to $100 a month.\n\nDoughman said there are 37 Regus locations in South Florida, including five that have opened since late 2016 in Sunny Isles Beach, Miami Beach, Jupiter, Fort Lauderdale and Aventura.", "output": "Flexible office space provider Regus will open two more locations in south Florida, with several more to follow, according to Jeff Doughman, the executive vice-president\u00a0of North American field operations. Regus will open a 19,000 sq ft Spaces centre at the under-construction 2 MiamiCentral, set to open in early 2018, and has pre-leased 24,000 sq ft of the eight-storey Cube Wynwyd site. Regus has 37 premises\u00a0in south Florida.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Warm weather could degrade 5G by over 15% \n Future 5G cellular systems, including backhaul links and device-to-device connections, could be affected by solar ray emissions, Embry-Riddle research suggests. Credit: Ahmed Sulyman/Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University\n\nHot, sunny weather could degrade future fifth-generation or \"5G\" cellular transmissions by more than 15%\u2014which could mean more dropped calls in places like Florida and the Middle East\u2014but an Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University engineer says research will guide solutions.\n\nForthcoming 5G cellular systems could support applications requiring ultra-fast processing speeds by tapping into super-high frequency radio waves, which would offer 10 to 100 times more computing space than today's 4G cellular systems.\n\nBut, how would bright sunshine affect such high-speed transmissions?\n\nTo answer this question, Ahmed Sulyman, an associate professor in Embry-Riddle's Prescott, Ariz.-based Department of Computer, Electrical, & Software Engineering, teamed up with colleagues in Saudi Arabia to publish the first comprehensive analysis of solar radio emissions on land-based wireless communications systems at 60 Gigahertz (GHz) bands.\n\nSulyman's study appears in a special edition of the peer-reviewed journal IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation (Volume: 65, Issue 12, Dec. 2017, pp. 6624-6635).\n\nThe conclusion? Future 5G cellular systems using 60 GHz bands might work better at night because solar radio emissions seem to degrade such transmissions. \"This suggests there could be more dropped calls and lost data transmission, and the data rate could be lower during the day compared to nighttime,\" said Sulyman.\n\nHe added, however, that effective communication links at 60 GHz are possible at distances up to 134 meters indoors, and up to 110 meters outdoors, even in hilly, dense urban areas\u2014particularly if antennas are pointed toward each other.\n\n\"Engineers can always work around problems if they understand them properly,\" said Sulyman, a Senior Member of IEEE, the world's largest technical professional organization. \"Once we understand the exact nature of solar radio interference on 5G networks, we can plan for it by optimizing links for day-time and night-time operations.\"\n\nHe noted that satellite televisions work well during the day and at night because planners offset any transmission degradation so seamlessly that consumers never know the difference. Similarly, he said, continuing studies of how bright sunshine affects 5G networks will help developers make better decisions to support those systems, too, he said: \"These results will help 5G cellular network planners to prepare appropriate link budgets when deploying 60 GHz radio outdoors in extremely hot and sunny weather.\"\n\nFirst-generation cellular systems were introduced in 1982, and each subsequent generation of the technology has tended to require about 10 years of development. Rollout of 5G wireless digital systems could happen in the 2020s or sooner, Sulyman said. New 5G standards should be developed in 2019, during the World Radiocommunication Conference.\n\nIf 5G systems could make use of extremely high-frequency radio waves\u2014characterized by millimeter-length bands (30- to 300 GHz)\u2014users would benefit from much faster data-access speeds and \"nomadic\" service that functions much like Wi-Fi, untethered from transmission towers.\n\nAs a cost-saving measure, telecommunications developers have been looking at transmissions in the unlicensed 5 GHz and 60 GHz bands. Transmissions in this range would provide cellular operators with an appealing business option in areas not profitable enough to justify more expensive licensed bands.\n\nCurrently, most 4G LTE networks make it possible to download a full-length high-definition movie in about five to ten minutes. Future 5G technology would offer much higher speeds. But there could be drawbacks to using higher-frequency radio waves, which have shorter transmission ranges shorter transmission ranges that can be blocked by buildings and weakened by atmospheric conditions.\n\nFor his study, Sulyman and colleagues looked at how solar radio emissions would affect 60 GHz communication, in various system configurations such as line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight setups. First they configured an indoor experiment in order to determine the \"path loss exponent\" or PLE - a measure of transmission degradation - resulting from solar radio emissions. Then, they compared those results with measurements gathered at two sunny outdoor locations in Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia - a hilly region with high-rise buildings and vegetation, and similar terrain with very little vegetation. In hot and sunny weather, PLE values increased by 9.0 to 15.6%, compared to measurements captured at night in cool, clear weather. In other words, the integrity of transmissions were negatively affected by strong sunshine.\n\nSulyman's journal article in IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, \"Effectives of Solar Radio Emissions on Outdoor Propagation Path Loss Models at 60 GHz bands for Access/backhaul links and D2D communications,\" was co-authored by Hussein Seleem, Abdulmalik Alwarafy, Khaled Humadi and Abdulhameed Alsanie of King Saud University.\n\nIn June 2017, Sulyman published another paper in IEEE Wireless Communications, describing a novel architectural approach to bridging Internet-based \"Internet of Things\" networks with cellular based systems. Sulyman, who is a senior member of IEEE, joined Embry-Riddle's Prescott Campus in February 2017, having previously taught in Saudi Arabia.\n\nMore information: Ahmed Iyanda Sulyman et al, Effects of Solar Radio Emissions on Outdoor Propagation Path Loss Models at 60 GHz bands for Access/backhaul links and D2D communications, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation (2017). DOI: 10.1109/TAP.2017.2759959 Journal information: IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation\n\nProvided by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University", "output": "Solar radio emissions could interfere with 5G cellular transmissions, according to a study led by Ahmed Sulyman, associate professor of electrical engineering at Embry-Riddle. The study found that\u00a0the integrity of 5G\u00a0transmissions we negatively affected by as much as 15.6% in\u00a0bright sunlight.\u00a0The team carried out tests\u00a0indoors, at night, and in two sunny outdoors locations in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Japanese train successfully demos 5G at 60 mph \n Credit: Samsung\n\n(Tech Xplore)\u2014Samsung fans get to say Cool. A 5G test on an over-100KM/H train (over 60 mph) scored results that are apt to please the corporate insiders, considering all the attention being paid to 5G in the pre-standard stage.\n\nDaniel Fuller in Android Headlines made the observation that many companies involved in 5G research and development are almost ready to start working with carriers on deployment, as soon as the official standard is announced.\n\nOnce the standard is announced, giants like Samsung want to be ready to roll.\n\n\"At this point, 5G is mostly a matter of fine-tuning the software running on the equipment to ensure that it's up to par with the official standard once the 3GPP announces it. This means that carriers can begin deploying true 5G very soon after the announcement, and some have already begun deploying 4.9G and pseudo-5G solutions in commercial network markets, with plans to refarm them into actual 5G access points once the standard is announced,\" said Fuller.\n\nThis train scene was a joint test in October, by both Samsung and Japan-based operator KDDI. It was carried out in Japan, over a 1-mile stretch of track with a moving train.\n\nFuller noted the test took advantage of two fixed wireless points that used Samsung's equipment and KDDI's network backhaul.\n\nSamsung used a 5G router (CPE), radio access unit (5G Radio), virtualized RAN and virtualized core, for testing.\n\nResults? Samsung reported a \"5G uplink and downlink handover\" and achieving a peak speed of 1.7Gbps.\n\nFuller commented that \"this test sticks out because of the sustained speed and uninterrupted connection over the of 1.5 kilometers, close to a mile, running a section of track that length between two substations.\" No issues\u2014\"and 5G speeds were sustained on the uplink and downlink throughout the entire trial, with peak speeds reaching as high as 1.7 gigabits per second.\"\n\nAll in all, the Japan trial involved a speed test and a testing the connection by streaming 8K video to the train; and uploading 4K video from a special camera mounted on the front of it.\n\nDaniel Fuller, Android Headlines: \"Technology conglomerate Samsung does not think that a fast-moving train is a strange place for consumers to demand access to 5G mobile internet, and neither does Japanese mobile carrier KDDI.\"\n\nSamsung connected the dots between 5G's future and high speed trains.\n\n\"The demonstration leveraged capabilities driven by 5G, such as high throughput, low latency and massive connections, which verified potential services and use cases that would be highly-beneficial to passengers and operators of high-speed trains. This could pave the way to vastly improved backhaul for onboard WiFi, superior passenger infotainment and increased security and analytics.\"\n\nKDDI also commented.\n\nYoshiaki Uchida, KDDI, said the success of the demonstration in everyday locations such as a train and train station was an important milestone indicating 5G commercialization was near. Uchida also said that to fulfill their aim to launch 5G by 2020, \"KDDI will continue exploring real-life scenario experiments for diverse 5G use and business cases together with Samsung.\"\n\n\u00a9 2017 Tech Xplore", "output": "Samsung and Japanese rail operator KDDI have successfully demonstrated a 5G test on a train travelling at 100 km/h (over 60 mph). The test, which was carried out on a one-mile stretch of track in Japan, relied on two fixed wireless points running Samsung technology and KDDI's network backhaul. The result was a \"5G uplink and downlink handover\" with a peak speed of 1.7 gigabits per second, according to Samsung."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers develop photocatalyst to convert CO2 to methane \n (a) The figure shows the color change of the photocatalyst developed by the research team. It shows that the reduced titanium dioxide absorbs light more towards the right and the color gets darker.(b) A graph comparing the methane production efficiencies of the photocatalysts developed by the research team and the existing photocatalysts. The methane production efficiency of the photocatalyst (0.35-BT-30) developed by the team is superior to other photocatalysts.(c) The energy level diagram of the photocatalyst developed by the research team. It shows the characteristic that the oxygen atoms on the surface of titanium dioxide are defected and the band gap is controlled by changing oxidation number from 4 to 3. Credit: Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST)\n\nA research team of Energy Science and Engineering at DGIST has developed a titanium dioxide (TiO2)-based, high-efficiency photocatalyst that converts carbon dioxide to methane using a simple reduction method.\n\nThe photocatalysts developed by the research team can be used to convert carbon dioxide to fuels like methane. Therefore, it can be applied to technologies for carbon dioxide abatement and resource reclamation.\n\nAnthropogenic emission of greenhouse gases, particularly CO2, is a significant factor driving global climate change; sustainable, low-carbon, readily portable fuels are one of the most pressing needs of modern society. To that end, there has been a worldwide effort underway to find ways to convert carbon dioxide, a major contributor to global warming, into a usable fuel, such as hydrogen, methane, ethanol, methanol and butanol.\n\nIn order to use carbon dioxide as a resource, it is essential to increase the conversion efficiency and light absorption efficiency when converting carbon dioxide into fuel, and to use photocatalysts to prevent secondary harmful substances.\n\nCarbon dioxide recycling depends on synthesizing materials such as titanium dioxide, copper oxide, and reduced graphene oxide, or controlling the structure and surface of photocatalyst material. DGIST's research team has discovered a synthesis method that rapidly reduces titanium dioxide (TiO2) at low temperatures using a strong reducing agent, sodium borohydride (NaBH4).\n\nIn the study, titanium dioxide-based photocatalysts using this synthesis method showed 12.49 percent conversion of methane to photochemical carbon dioxide in the gas phase, which represents the highest conversion rate among the introduced photocatalysts so far.\n\nIn addition, the photocatalyst developed by the research team exhibits controlled band gap through the conversion of the oxidation number from four to three by breaking the oxygen atoms on the surface of titanium dioxide. This change increases the amount of light absorption and efficiently separates the charge, resulting in higher carbon conversion of carbon dioxide. Moreover, the experiment has also proved that the efficiency of methane conversion of carbon dioxide can be increased up to 29 times using platinum nanoparticles.\n\nProfessor In said, \"The newly developed titanium dioxide photocatalyst is superior to the other photocatalysts reported so far as it has outstanding carbon dioxide conversion efficiency as well as excellent stability. We would like to contribute to the development of carbon dioxide reduction and recycling technology by conducting further researches to improve conversion efficiency to the extent that it can be commercialized.\"\n\nMore information: Saurav Sorcar et al, Highly enhanced and stable activity of defect-induced titania nanoparticles for solar light-driven CO 2 reduction into CH 4, Materials Today (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.mattod.2017.09.005 Journal information: Materials Today\n\nProvided by Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology", "output": "Researchers at South Korea's Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST) have developed a simple reduction method to convert carbon dioxide to methane, which achieves the highest conversion rate ever seen among photocatalysts. The team used sodium borohydride to reduce titanium dioxide, with resulting photocatalysts in the gas phase measuring 12.49% conversion of methane to photochemical carbon dioxide. The DGIST team said that the introduction of platinum nanoparticles increased conversion efficiency by up to 29 times. Further tests will be conducted to determine whether the method can be commercialised."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Enel to sell 350 MW of US wind-energy assets \n Enel Green Power North America has agreed to sell investment fund Gulf Pacific Power 80% stakes in the 200MW Caney River and 150MW Rocky Ridge wind farms in Kansas and Oklahoma, respectively.\n\n\n\nThe deal is priced at approximately $233m, which will be paid when the transaction closes by the end of the year.\n\nEnel Green Power will retain a 20% interest in the projects and continue to manage, operate and maintain both wind farms.Caney River is located in Elk County and has been operating since 2011. It sells electricity to the Tennessee Valley Authority.Rocky Ridge, which is in Kiowa and Washita counties, came online in 2012 and supplies the Western Farmers Electric Cooperative.Enel Green Power head Antonio Cammisecra said: \u201cToday\u2019s agreement with a new investment partner reinforces the success and confirms the appeal of our continued industrial growth strategy throughout the \u2018build, sell and operate\u2019 model with the aim to support new growth opportunities both in North America and other markets around the world.\u201d", "output": "Enel Green Power North America is to sell its stakes in the 150 MW Rocky Ridge and\u00a0200 MW Caney River wind farms, in Oklahoma and Kansas for about\u00a0$233m. Enel Green Power will continue\u00a0to manage, operate and run maintenance on both wind farms."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian utilities agree to buy power from Engie solar project \n After months of uncertainty, Solairedirect has finally found a buyer for its 250 megawatt solar power project in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.\n\nThe original designated buyers of the project, power distribution companies in Andhra Pradesh, have come around and agreed to procure electricity generated from the 250 megawatt project in the Kadapa solar power park. Solairedirect, a subsidiary of French utility Engie, secured this project in a competitive auction earlier this year.\n\nThe project is one of the cheapest solar power projects, with a 25-year tariff of Rs 3.15/kWh (4.8\u00a2/kWh). Thus, it was surprising that the Andhra Pradesh power utilities refused to purchase electricity from the project. Tariff bids had fallen to as low as Rs 2.44/kWh (3.7\u00a2/kWh) within a few months of the Kadapa auction.\n\nConsequently, the state power utilities had asked NTPC Limited (owner) to find new buyers for the project and even voluntarily offered exemptions from any likely charges for sale of power to other states. The power utilities stated that they have already contracted enough solar power meet their Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) \u2014 a regulation that mandates power utilities to procure a set minimum percentage of electricity from solar and other renewable energy technologies. Interestingly, the utilities face perhaps the highest RPO targets in the country and, at current rates, are likely to fall short of the solar power capacity required to meet those targets.\n\nThe Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) has proposed to increase the share of renewable energy in its electricity mix to 25.25% by March 2022. For non-solar renewable energy technologies, APERC has proposed a target of 12.50% by March 2022. The commission has also proposed to increase the solar power share from 4.75% in 2017-18 to 12.75% in 2021-22.\n\nAccording to the Ministry of New & New Renewable Energy (MNRE) at 8% solar RPO target, Andhra Pradesh would require 9,834 megawatts operational capacity by March 2022. At 12.75% this capacity requirement would increase substantially.\n\nAs of 31 October 2017, the state had an installed solar power capacity of just 2.1 gigawatts.\n\nThe utilities have now agreed to sign a power purchase agreement with the Solairedirect power plant, but with a condition. NTPC will \u2018bundle\u2019 125 megawatts of coal-based electricity with the 250 megawatts of solar power. This would ensure that the overall cost of the electricity procurement is lower than Rs 3.15/kWh (4.8\u00a2/kWh).\n\nSign up for Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era \u2014 Podcast: I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014 gasp \u2014 grow. So ... Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014\u2014 grow. So ...", "output": "Power utilities in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh have agreed, after some delay, to buy electricity from a 250 MW solar power project owned by Engie subsidiary Solairedirect. Initially, the utilities refused to buy power from the Kadapa solar power park even though it was offering a relatively low 25-year tariff of INR3.15 ($0.05)/kWh. Under the\u00a0power purchase agreement, they will buy power from the solar project\u00a0as long as it is bundled with 125 MW of coal-based electricity to ensure prices remain under INR3.15/kWh."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Engie concludes acquisition of 605 MW wind farm in Brazil \n Engie Brasil Energia SA, a unit of France\u2019s Engie SA (EPA:ENGI), announced on Friday that it has concluded the acquisition of the rights to the 605-MW Umburanas wind power complex in Bahia state.\n\nEngie Brasil paid BRL 16.9 million (USD 5.2m/EUR 4.3m) to local renewables company Renova Energia SA (BVMF:RNEW11) as part of the agreement.\n\nThe company noted that it expects to invest some BEL 1.8 billion in the development of the 360-MW first phase of the project, and would work on the remaining 245 MW in the future. Completion of Phase I is seen in 2019. About 102.5 MW of the project were sold in auction A-5/2014 at the average price of BRL 139.60 per MWh.\n\nThe financial settlement was achieved on November 24, when Engie made a BRL-7.5-million payment concerning the first installment of the deal. A month earlier, Brazil's power sector regulator Aneel approved the transfer of rights and cancelled four permits already given to Umburanas.\n\n(BRL 1 = USD 0.309/EUR 0.259)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Engie Brasil Energia, a subsidiary of France's Engie, has closed the acquisition of the 605 MW Umburanas wind power facility in Bahia. Engie Brasil paid $5.2m to Renova Energia for the rights and\u00a0expects to complete the first 360 MW of the project\u00a0in 2019."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Enel to sell 80% stake in US wind farm company \n Italian utility Enel SpA (BIT:ENEL) said today that its US renewables arm will sell an 80% stake in the owner of 350 MW of wind power generating capacity in the states of Kansas and Oklahoma.\n\nSpecifically, Enel Green Power North America Inc (EGPNA) has entered into a cash equity agreement to sell 80% of the Class A shares in Rocky Caney Wind LLC to investment fund Gulf Pacific Power LLC for about USD 233 million (EUR 196m).\n\nThe transaction is seen closing by the end of the year. It will allow the Italian group to deconsolidate some USD 140 million worth of debt, Enel noted.\n\nRocky Caney Wind is the owner of the 200-MW Caney River wind farm in Elk County, Kansas and the 150-MW Rocky Ridge wind park in Kiowa and Washita Counties, Oklahoma. Caney River sells its power output to the Tennessee Valley Authority, while Rocky Ridge sells it to the Western Farmers Electric Cooperative.\n\nAside from retaining a 20% stake, EGPNA will also continue to manage, operate and perform maintenance activities at both plants after the transaction wraps up.\n\n(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.841)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Enel said\u00a0that it plans to sell 80% of its Class A shares in Rocky Caney Wind, the owner of 350 MW of wind power generating capacity in Oklahoma and Kansas. Enel Green Power North America aims to close the deal by the close of the year and will retain a 20% stake in the plant and continue to operate the facilities following the transaction."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ventient Energy becomes UK's largest non-utility wind company \n The UK today saw the launch of a new onshore wind company with a portfolio of 690 MW of installed capacity, which is owned by institutional investors advised by JP Morgan Asset Management.\n\nThe company is called Ventient Energy Ltd and was formed by the merger of a portfolio of 15 wind farms of Zephyr Investments Ltd with 19 wind farms that were formerly owned by Infinis.\n\nBased in Edinburgh, Scotland, the company describes itself as the third largest onshore wind generator and the largest non-utility owner of onshore wind in the UK. And it sees opportunities for growth. \"The UK onshore wind market is fragmented, and Ventient Energy owns only 6% of market capacity at present, so we see plenty of opportunities to grow our installed capacity through consolidation,\" said chief executive Scott Mackenzie.\n\nVentient Energy's team has replaced Innogy Renewable UK Ltd as provider of asset management services for Zephyr Investments.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Ventient Energy has acquired a\u00a0portfolio of 690 MW of onshore UK\u00a0wind capacity, making it the country's largest non-utility owner of such assets. The Edinburgh-based company was formed\u00a0by merging 15 Zephyr wind farms with 19 farms formerly owned by Infinis Wind. The company will\u00a0replace\u00a0Innogy Renewable UK as the provider\u00a0of asset management services for\u00a0Zephyr Investments."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Canada Pension Plan buys 16.33% stake in India's ReNew Power \n The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Investment Board will buy a stake of up to 16.33% in Indian independent power producer ReNew Power Ventures Pvt Ltd, which is majority owned by Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS).\n\nIn a filing with the Competition Commission of India, CPPIB said it plans to acquire the stake in two separate transactions. Firstly, the Canadian investment manager is investing about USD 200 million (EUR 168.6m) in compulsorily preference shares that will be converted into equity once ReNew launches an initial public offering (IPO). The size of the interest in this part of the deal will depend on the valuation of the IPO and is not expected to exceed 10% of ReNew\u2019s equity share capital.\n\nAs part of a second transaction, CPPIB will buy 6.33% of the Indian firm\u2019s stock from the Asian Development Bank.\n\nAccording to a report by the Economic Times, CPPIB\u2019s investment in ReNew will represent a 14%-15% stake that will make it the third largest shareholder at the company. The newspaper cited unnamed industry sources as saying that the acquisition price is USD 350 million, valuing ReNew at USD 2.37 billion.\n\nEarlier this year, Japanese power company JERA Co Inc, which is a joint venture between Tokyo Electric Power Co (TYO:9501) and Chubu Electric Power Co (TYO:9502), acquired a 10% stake in ReNew Power for USD 200 million in a deal that valued the Indian firm at USD 2 billion.\n\nAt present, ReNew Power has more than 2 GW of commissioned wind and solar capacity and an additional 1 GW of assets under construction, it says on its website.\n\n(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.843)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Investment Board plans to purchase a stake as high as 16.33% stake in ReNew Power Ventures, an independent Indian power producer. ReNew is currently majority controlled by Goldman Sachs. COP will gain its stake in two transactions: an initial $200m of preference shares to be converted\u00a0into equity after an IPO, and a 6.33% stake from the Asian Development Bank."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US pharmacy chain CVS buys insurer Aetna for $69bn \n It\u2019s Amazon\u2019s world\u2014we just live in it.\n\nThe retail behemoth has already transformed the way the world shops. Now Amazon\u2019s moves to enter the health care industry have led two major US companies to make one of the biggest deals of the year, signaling major changes to come in the way Americans buy drugs and otherwise manage their health.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe pharmacy chain CVS Health agreed today (Dec. 3) to buy Aetna, one of the biggest health insurance companies in the US, for roughly $69 billion. It\u2019s an acquisition that could create a new model for the healthcare industry, with CVS likely to start offering primary-care services and medical follow-ups directly from its drugstores and walk-in clinics.\n\nThe deal is a direct consequence of Amazon\u2019s penchant for disruption. Analysts say CVS snapped up Aetna to stay competitive with Amazon, which has made several moves this year that have pharmaceutical companies atremble. In May, CNBC reported that the company was looking to hire a general manager to develop a strategy for getting into the pharmaceutical business. Then word spread that Amazon had acquired pharmacy licenses in a dozen states. The company said it did so to sell medical supplies, but the move positions Amazon to sell drugs down the line, should it decide it wants to. And just last week, reports circulated that Amazon had held preliminary discussions with generic drugmakers Mylan and Sandoz.\n\nIt\u2019s unclear whether Amazon is interested in selling drugs to consumers or acting as a drug wholesaler. Either way, the company\u2019s recent actions have made the pharmacy industry nervous.\n\n\u201cCVS would never admit it, but this sort of pivot is Amazon\u2019s doing,\u201d Trip Miller, managing partner at Gullane Capital Partners, a minor shareholder in Amazon, told The Street. \u201cWhat they\u2019re doing now is definitely based on Amazon\u2019s interest.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe fact that CVS snapped up Aetna without a clear sense of Amazon\u2019s plans is a testament to the tech giant\u2019s track record of shaking up industries ranging from books to clothes, TV, and groceries. Industry players know when Amazon eyes a new business, those who wait too long to react will wind up sitting ducks.", "output": "US pharmacy chain CVS has agreed to buy major US insurer Aetna for $69bn, which could create a new model for the healthcare sector, with CVS potentially offering primary care services and medical follow-ups directly from its pharmacies and walk-in clinics. This\u00a0move by CVS is seen as a response to\u00a0its concerns about possible plans by\u00a0Amazon to make a disruptive entry into\u00a0the industry."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BBC launches website to teach children about online safety \n Tony Hall, the director-general of the BBC, has said the corporation can help \u201cminimise the risks\u201d for children in the digital world, as he announced its new website for nine to 12-year-olds.\n\nThe site, called Own It, is the first product to be launched as part of the corporation\u2019s \u00a334m investment in children\u2019s programming over the next three years.\n\nHall said the BBC\u2019s intervention would \u201cmaximise the amazing opportunities for children growing up in a fully connected world \u2013 but we must also take steps to minimise the risks\u201d.\n\nOwn It will be delivered in partnership with a range of organisations in the field of child internet safety, and is supported by an \u201cengine room\u201d of expert advisers, doctors and academics.\n\nHall said there were many important issues facing children today. \u201cIs there a right age for children to give informed consent for their data to be used online? What responsibility should organisations have to make sure their platform is right for the age range that are really using it?\u201d\n\nSocial media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat require users to be at least 13. To create an account, users are asked for their date of birth, although Hall said the restriction was often flouted. On Snapchat, under-13s are redirected to a children\u2019s version, called SnapKidz.\n\n\u201cTwo-thirds of 10-year-olds in this country have a social media account \u2013 but we all know that\u2019s not supposed to happen until they\u2019re 13,\u201d Hall wrote.\n\n\n\nOwn It, which will be available from 6 December, covers everything from online privacy and avoiding malware, to dealing with everyday dilemmas children face online. It will sit alongside CBeebies and CBBC and quick links to charities and organisations like Childline will also be available.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe BBC was asked in March by Ofcom to produce more UK-commissioned programming for children. According to Ofcom, \u00a377m was spent on first-run UK-originated children\u2019s programming in 2015, down from \u00a3140m in 2005. The BBC is responsible for 97% of original UK-produced children\u2019s programming.\n\nHall wrote in the Guardian: \u201cChildren\u2019s programming helps define our identity as a nation, and while there are many imports we all enjoy from the US, no one wants our children\u2019s culture defined in the west coast of America.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re renewing our focus on creating programmes and other content for children across the UK, reflecting their own lives and experiences back to them.\u201d\n\nThe BBC has saved \u00a330m annually after scrapping the BBC3 TV channel aimed at 16 to 34-year-olds in favour of an online-only offering.", "output": "The BBC has launched a new website for children, which will be delivered in partnership with groups working on child internet safety, and which will be supported by advisers and doctors. The Own It site is part of a broader \u00a334m ($45.5m) investment by the BBC in children\u2019s programming over the next three years. BBC Director-General, Tony Hall, said that the corporation needed to \u201cminimise the risks\u201d to children \u201cgrowing up in a fully connected world\u201d. The site, which will be available from 6 December, will deal with issues including malware and online privacy.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Delhi Test match halted due to polluted air \n A cricket Test match between India and Sri Lanka was repeatedly interrupted on Sunday with claims players were \u201ccontinuously vomiting\u201d due to hazardous pollution levels in the Indian capital.\n\n\n\nCommentators said it was the first recorded instance of an international match being halted due to the toxic smog that afflicts much of north India year-round but worsens to hazardous levels during winter months.\n\nAirborne pollution levels 15 times the World Health Organisation limits confronted players on the second day of the third Test at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in Delhi on Sunday.\n\nAs the haze worsened, many Sri Lankan players returned from lunch wearing face masks before complaining to umpires, who halted play for 20 minutes to consult with team doctors and match officials.\n\nThe match resumed but was interrupted twice more as bowlers Lahiru Gamage and Suranga Lakmal left the field mid-over with breathing difficulties.\n\n\u201cWe had players coming off the field and vomiting,\u201d the Sri Lanka coach Nic Pothas told reporters after the match.\n\n\u201cThere were oxygen cylinders in the change room. It\u2019s not normal for players to suffer in that way while playing the game.\u201d\n\nA paramedic speaks to Sri Lanka\u2019s Lahiru Gamage after he complained of shortness of breath. Photograph: Altaf Qadri/AP\n\nPothas said Lakmal was \u201ccontinuously vomiting\u201d in the changing room. \u201cI think it\u2019s the first time that everybody has come across that situation,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cThere aren\u2019t too many rules regarding pollution. What we are going to do tomorrow is in the hands of the match referee. They will have meetings tonight to put in some sort of a precedent if it happens like this tomorrow.\u201d\n\nThe Indian bowler Kuldeep Yadav was also seen sporting a face mask as he brought drinks to teammates on the field.\n\nUmpires were awaiting Lakmal\u2019s return to the field when the Indian skipper, Virat Kohli, elected to declare with his side cruising on 536 runs with three wickets in hand.\n\nThe interruptions drew boos from the crowd for Sri Lanka\u2019s opening batsmen as they made their way to the crease, where they played without masks.\n\nThe acting president of India\u2019s cricket board was also unimpressed and said he would write to his Sri Lankan counterpart about the incident.\n\n\u201cIf 20,000 people in the stands did not have problems and the Indian team did not face any issue, I wonder why the Sri Lankan team made a big fuss?\u201d CK Khanna said.\n\nIt is the latest professional-grade match in Delhi to be affected by air pollution after two matches in the domestic Ranji Trophy tournament were abandoned in the city when it was engulfed in smog in November 2016.\n\nSome Indian fans accused the Sri Lankan side of being melodramatic but the cricket writer Ayaz Memon said the episode sent an \u201cunedifying message\u201d about pollution in the city.\n\n\n\nSri Lanka\u2019s captain Dinesh Chandimal fields in a mask. Photograph: Altaf Qadri/AP\n\nSchools were shut and doctors declared a public health emergency in Delhi last month as pollution levels spiked to levels 40 times the WHO safe limits, likened to smoking at least 50 cigarettes in a day.\n\nUnited Airlines briefly halted flights into the capital and foreign diplomats voiced fears the city could become a \u201cnon-family\u201d posting due to the polluted environment.\n\nDoctors warn against physical activity in the smog but around 30,000 runners still participated in an annual half-marathon in the city in November.\n\nDelhi officials have been accused of not preparing for what has become an annual crisis each winter, while the Indian government has played down the urgency and health risks associated with the problem.\n\nThe extremely poor air in the city is the result of a combination of road dust, open fires, vehicle exhaust fumes, industrial emissions and the burning of crop residues in neighbouring states. Indian weather agencies also blame dust storms that originate in the Gulf.\n\nAgence France-Presse contributed to this report\n\n", "output": "Hazardous pollution halted a cricket test match in Delhi between India and Sri Lanka on Sunday, as players reputedly vomited due to the toxic air. The disruption was the first recorded instance of play being halted due to smog. Airborne pollution levels during the match were 15 times the recommended World Health Organisation limits, prompting members of the Sri Lanka team to adopt face masks and complain to the umpires. Although play resumed, it faced two further interruptions as bowlers experienced breathing difficulties. Last month, doctors in Delhi declared a public health emergency due to high pollution levels.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Younicos to 'train' batteries at Hywind floating wind project \n German-American energy storage company Younicos will deliver a 1MW/1.3 MWh energy storage system for the 30-MW Hywind Scotland floating wind farm as part of a project that aims to \u201cteach\u201d the battery how to behave.\n\nStatoil, which holds 75% in the Hywind Scotland offshore wind project, explained in a press release on Tuesday that the goal of the so-called Batwind storage solution project is to understand how an energy storage system can help boost the value of the electricity generated at the site and how the work of a battery together with the wind farm and the grid can be optimised.\n\nTwo modular battery containers will be placed at the onshore substation in Peterhead, with operation of the battery planned to start in the second quarter of 2018.\n\n\u201cThere is limited knowledge of how to make a battery act based on dynamic information, in order to maximize value of renewable energy,\u201d says Sebastian Bringsvaerd, head of Hywind Development in Statoil. The Batwind partners, Statoil and Abu Dhabi renewable energy company Masdar, want the battery to automatically know when to store electricity, and when to release it out to the grid.\n\nThe next steps in developing the battery storage solution will depend on the learnings and testing of the system at Hywind Scotland.\n\n\u201cBatwind has the potential to add value by mitigating periods without wind \u2013 and by that making wind a more reliable energy producer year around. This could expand the use and market for wind and renewables in the future,\u201d Bringsvaerd added.\n\nHywind Scotland, the world's first floating offshore wind farm, was opened in October by Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. It uses five 6-MW Siemens Gamesa machines. It is Statoil's ambition to cut the costs of energy from the Hywind wind farm to EUR 40-60 (USD 48-71.5) per MWh by 2030.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Statoil has commissioned German-American energy storage firm Younicos to build a battery-storage system at its 30 MW floating wind farm off the coast of Scotland, Hywind. The Batwind energy-storage project aims to \"teach\" the battery when to\u00a0store electricity and\u00a0when to send it to the grid to maximise the\u00a0value of the power. The 1 MW/1.3 MWh will be based in two 10 ft containers by at the\u00a0onshore substation at Peterhead with operation due to begin in Q2 2018."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mexican record setting solar bid is in fact for wind power \n PV watchers are in for a disappointment after it emerged that an auction result reported as the cheapest price for solar ever was actually a price for wind.\n\nNews outlets, including GTM, rushed to celebrate what Electrek reported was a record low price of $17.70 per megawatt-hour for solar energy on the release this month of the preliminary results of Mexico\u2019s latest auction for energy, power and clean energy certificates.\n\nThe preliminary results announcement from Mexico\u2019s National Energy Control Center (Centro Nacional de Control de Energ\u00eda or CENACE in Spanish) listed the price among four lots adjudicated to Enel, the Italian energy giant, but did not specify technologies.\n\nWind analysts were quick to note that the figures for clean energy certificates (certificados de energ\u00eda limpia or CELs) figures didn\u2019t make sense for solar.\n\n\u201cWhen CENACE published its initial press release, it was evident that these four sites were likely wind power,\u201d said Brian Gaylord, senior analyst for Latin America and Southern Europe at MAKE Consulting.\n\n\u201cIn order to add up the amount of power and CELs sold per the figures, these four projects with Engie's eolica [wind]-labeled site yielded a matching sum,\" he said.\n\nFurther confirmation came with the publication of detailed information from CENACE and a press release from Enel.\n\n\u201cEnel, through its renewable energy subsidiary Enel Rinnovabile, has been awarded the right to supply energy and clean certificates with four wind projects for a total capacity of 593 megawatts in the country\u2019s third long-term public tender,\u201d the energy company stated.\n\nThe win consolidates Enel\u2019s position as Mexico\u2019s leading renewable energy developer, said the firm. Enel will be investing $700 million in Mexico to help complete the plants, which are expected to enter operation in the first half of 2020.\n\nThree of them, Amistad II, III and IV, are due to be built in Acu\u00f1a, in the northern state of Coahuila. Amistad II and III are 100-megawatt plants, while Amistad IV is slated to be 149 megawatts. Enel started building the first Amistad wind farm in March.\n\nA fourth plant, the 244-megawatt Dolores project, is planned for the China municipality in Nuevo Le\u00f3n, a state in northeastern Mexico.\n\nThe projects will almost double Enel\u2019s existing 675 megawatts of wind power in Mexico, but represent only a fraction of the renewable energy capacity the company has in its pipeline for the country.\n\nEnel already also operates 53 megawatts of hydro power in Mexico, and aside from the Amistad and Dolores projects is developing an additional 293 megawatts of wind and 992 megawatts of solar generation capacity, including Latin America\u2019s second-largest PV plant.\n\nThe developer is planning to put all of its renewable energy projects into a special-purpose vehicle that will be 80 percent owned by the Canadian institutional investor Caisse de d\u00e9pot et placement du Qu\u00e9bec and the Mexican pension fund CKD Infraestructura M\u00e9xico.\n\nThe confirmation that all of Enel\u2019s winning bids in the latest auction round were for wind projects means the lowest price achieved by solar in Mexico was actually $19.70 per megawatt-hour, for an 80.3-megawatt plant from Neoen. (A previous version of this article incorrectly reported that Mitsui-Trina secured the lowest bid)\n\nThe price represents a new record for Latin America after the most recent auction in Chile saw Enel bidding $21.48 per megawatt-hour of solar power on one sub-block of capacity. It isn\u2019t quite the cheapest worldwide, though.\n\nThat honor still belongs to a tender for 300 megawatts of solar power in Saudi Arabia, in October, which saw Abu Dhabi developer Masdar offering a price of $17.86 per megawatt-hour. Nevertheless, solar carried the day in Mexico in terms of capacity granted.\n\nThe technology took more than 55 percent of capacity on offer, totaling 992 megawatts, in nine out of 14 energy lots.\n\nThe auction, Mexico\u2019s third, was the first to include a pre-qualification process, which GTM Research Americas solar analyst Manan Parikh said was likely a sign that the country was tightening up on renewable energy procurement. \u201cIt\u2019s a way to keep people honest,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cInitially they had this permitting scheme, which has since been scrapped, and anyone could come in and say, \u2018I want a permit,\u2019\" he said. \"People would just sit on these permits and do nothing with them.\u201d\n\nThe move to auctions seems to have brought a new level of integrity to the proceedings -- even if there is still the possibility for confusion about who is bidding for what.\n\n--\n\nJoin GTM for Solar Summit Mexico 2018. This two-day event will leverage GTM Research's regional expertise in Mexico to ensure your company is uniquely positioned to capture specific opportunities while appropriately managing regulatory, political, and market risks.", "output": "The cheapest price ever reported for solar power ($17.70) has turned out to be the figure for wind power, after confusion following Mexico's National Energy Control Center's preliminary price publication for Enel's lots. Enel Rinnovabile, is able to supply 593 MW of wind over four projects after winning the November tenders. The company will invest $700m into Mexico to complete the plants, due to begin operation in H1 2020. Enel presently has 675 MW of wind capacity in Mexico."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Five countries set to cross\u00a01 GW threshold in 2018 \n When this year comes to a close, GTM Research expects eight countries will top the 1-gigawatt mark in annual PV installations. By the end of 2018, that number will grow to 13 countries.\n\nAccording to GTM Research\u2019s latest Global Solar Demand Monitor, the next five countries to cross the 1-gigawatt annual threshold will be Brazil, Egypt, Mexico, the Netherlands and Spain.\n\nSource: GTM Research Global Solar Demand Monitor\n\nA new European renaissance\n\nGTM Research expects a 35 percent increase in European demand in 2018 -- a welcome change in a region where installations fell by more than triple their peak in 2011.\n\nLeading that charge is Spain. The report points to a temporary revival in Spain with 3.9 gigawatts of PV contracted through a recent technology-neutral auction, which is set to be delivered between 2018 and 2019. There is potentially more to come, though future tenders have not yet been confirmed and the country now looks on track to meet obligations set forth in the Europe 2020 agreement.\n\nAccording to the report, Spain\u2019s annual solar market will balloon from 40 megawatts in 2017 to 1.4 gigawatts in 2018.\n\nLooking to the north, the Netherlands will also surpass 1 gigawatt in 2018. Annual growth in the Netherlands has been strong since 2011; the Stimulation of Sustainable Generation scheme has provided a more recent boost.\n\n\u201cThe European market is entering a phase of sustainable growth, no longer driven by the feed-in tariff boom and bust cycle,\u201d said Tom Heggarty, a senior solar analyst at GTM Research.\n\nEurope is moving toward a subsidy-free market, he said. Examples include merchant projects commissioned in Italy, subsidy-free plants in development in the U.K., and German PV auction prices moving closer to wholesale power prices.\n\nLatin America is heating up\n\nLed by Mexico and Brazil, Latin American solar demand is expected to more than double in 2018.\n\n\u201cBrazil is about to become a 1-gigawatt annual market on the heels of developing several large utility-scale projects tendered in 2014,\u201d said Manan Parikh, GTM Research senior analyst. \u201cThe cancellation auction didn\u2019t achieve the desired results, leaving almost 80 percent of canceled capacity (800 megawatts) in play to still be developed or flipped with a penalty.\u201d\n\nMexico currently has the second-largest demand for electricity in the region and is home to favorable renewable energy targets. According to the report, Mexico will make up the bulk of Latin American demand share out to 2022, with 60 percent coming from utility projects and 40 percent distributed.\n\nA great Egyptian buildup\n\nGTM Research expects Egypt\u2019s annual solar market to grow fivefold between 2017 and 2018, reaching 1.4 gigawatts.\n\n\u201cAfter a challenging few years following the initial award and subsequent cut of feed-in tariffs, over 1,500 megawatts of utility-scale projects in Egypt have now reached financial close, driven almost entirely by a large international development bank financing consortium led by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Finance Corporation, which to date has committed nearly $2 billion USD in loans,\" said GTM Research solar analyst Ben Attia. \u201cWe expect the majority these projects to be realized in late 2018 and early 2019.\u201d\n\nThese five countries and other forthcoming gigawatt-scale markets, especially those with regularly cadenced competitive reverse auctions, are diversifying the market in a way that will help stabilize the global supply-demand balance. GTM Research anticipates a cumulative 606 gigawatts to be installed globally between 2017 and 2022.\n\n***\n\nGet access to all of GTM Research's global solar reports and data with an annual subscription. Learn more here.", "output": "Eight nations will surpass the 1 GW mark for yearly photovoltaic installations by the end of the year, with that number rising to 13 by the end of 2018, according to research from market intelligence firm GTM Research. The next five nations to exceed 1 GW will be Brazil, Egypt, Mexico, the Netherlands and Spain, with a 35% rise in the demand for solar in Europe predicted for 2018. GRM predicts that 606 GW will be installed worldwide between 2017 and 2022.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australia mulls plan to export renewable energy to Indonesia \n An ambitions 6-GW wind and solar project in Western Australia that would export power to Indonesia has moved on after developers, among which Vestas Wind Systems A/S (CPH:VWS), submitted the scheme for environmental review in Australia.\n\nThe complex in the East Pilbara region is planned to include at least 4 GW of wind and 2 GW solar power facilities. According to the project website, a final investment decision could be taken in 2020.\n\nThe partners behind the Asian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH) plan are renewable energy project developers CWP Energy Asia and InterContinental Energy, in addition to Vestas. They have been engaged in development works and viability assessment for three years and are now looking for local partners in Indonesia for equipment manufacturing, construction and investment, Vestas said on Wednesday.\n\n\"The scale of the wind turbines, solar panels and related equipment needed for the Project would be large enough to justify building new manufacturing facilities in Indonesia [...],\" Vestas said.\n\nThe plan is to use components made in Indonesia and, when the park is operational, export electricity to the country via subsea high-voltage transmission cables. The complex is expected to become fully operational by 2029, generating power for over seven million homes in Indonesia, according to the project's website.\n\nThe first phase of the ambitious development is estimated to require about USD 10 billion (EUR 8.42bn) in investment. Subsequent phases envisage the delivery of renewable power to other countries in South East Asia, apart from Indonesia, Vestas said.\n\n(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.842)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Plans to transmit electricity via a 2,500 km (1,500 mile) undersea cable to Indonesia from a wind and solar installation in Western Australia have been submitted to authorities, with approval possible by 2020. Vestas Wind Systems, InterContinental Energy and CWP Energy Asia are among the backers of the proposed Asian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH), which envisages a plant producing 4 GW of power of wind and 2 GW of solar. Indonesian investors are being sought for the project, which is hoped to start sending power across the ocean by 2029."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cap of \u20ac63/MWh set on German onshore wind tenders in 2018 \n The auctions for onshore wind power in Germany next year will be open for bids below EUR 63 (USD 74.7) per MWh, the Federal Network Agency said today, and explained why this cap is higher than expected.\n\nBased on the results of auctions in 2017, the ceiling price allowed in the tenders should have been EUR 50/MWh. This, however, is below the current value of wind power, EUR 56/MWh, and the network regulator has taken measures to ensure that the tenders will be able attract enough bids.\n\nThe Federal Network Agency, known in German as the Bundesnetzagetur, lifted the maximum price as it wants to see good competition in the tenders. They will award up to 2.8 GW in 2018, similar to the level in 2017.\n\nThis year the three tenders for German onshore wind resulted in average successful bids of EUR 57.1/MWh, then EUR 42.9/MWh, and finally EUR 38.2/MWh in the last auction, the results of which were revealed earlier in November.\n\n(EUR 1 = USD 1.19)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "German auctions in 2018 for onshore wind power will accept bids lower than \u20ac63 ($75) per MWh, the Federal Network Agency (the Bundesnetzagetur) has confirmed, as a result of the current value of wind power being above what should have been the ceiling price of \u20ac50 per MWh. The organisation will auction as much as 2.8 GW of capacity next year. This year, the winning bids across three tenders were\u00a0\u20ac57.1 per MWh, \u20ac42.9 per MWh, and \u20ac38.2 per MWh. The value of wind power is\u00a0\u20ac56 per MWh at present.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Israel aims for 1,600 MW of capacity in first solar tenders \n The government of Israel has approved a new plan for the addition of 1,600 MW of solar power capacity in three years, mostly on rooftops, Globes reports.\n\nThe policy, unveiled by energy and infrastructure minister Yuval Steinitz, aims to lift Israel\u2019s power generation in line with the country\u2019s renewable energy goals. The quota for solar rooftop solar will be divided in two categories -- small residential photovoltaic (PV) facilities and large rooftop business projects. Capacity under the large rooftop scheme will be tendered by the Public Utilities Authority in what will be the first auctions of this kind in Israel.\n\nProjects for small rooftop photovoltaic (PV) installations will not be competing in tenders. They will instead get fixed rates for power sent to the grid.\n\nContracts for small and large rooftop plants, as well as ground-mounted facilities, will be fixed for a 20- to 25-year period and will be higher for smaller installations, the Public Utilities Authority has said.\n\nIsrael has set a target to produce 10% of its total power from renewables by 2020 but currently the share of renewables generation is only 3%. At present, it has 700 MW of projects under construction.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "The Israeli government has given its approval for expanding solar power capacity by 1,600 MW in three years, largely using rooftop facilities. The power generation will be split into smaller residential photovoltaic facilities with fixed rates and bigger rooftop installations, the latter of which will be offered in auctions held\u00a0by the Public Utilities Authority, the first such auctions to take place in Israel. These contracts will be for 20 to 25 years. Israel aims to source 10% of its power from renewables by 2020, rising from 3% currently.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Siemens Gamesa\u2019s 8 MW offshore turbine to be tested by Fraunhofer \n The nacelle of Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA\u2019s (BME:SGRE) recently-launched 8-MW offshore wind turbine will undergo performance tests from April 2018 at the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology (IWES).\n\nSiemens Games and Fraunhofer IWES have signed a contract for the comprehensive validation of the SG 8.0-167 DD, research institute Fraunhofer said on Thursday. The wind turbine maker announced the launch of the new direct drive (DD) offshore wind turbine, with a rotor diameter of 167 metres, earlier this week.\n\nThe prototype of the new machine will be subject to hardware in the loop (HiL) tests at IWES\u2019 Dynamic Nacelle Testing Laboratory (DyNaLab) that will seek to validate the turbine\u2019s performance and grid compatibility. Tests will be completed at the end of next year.\n\nSiemens Gamesa and IWES have been collaborating since the start of the year in order to specify the test plan for the 8-MW turbine turbine.\n\nAs previously announced, the wind turbine maker installed and commissioned the first prototype in the 8-MW class in Oesterild, Denmark, at the beginning of 2017. It plans to erect an additional SG 8.0-167 DD prototype there next year to test its blades.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy's 8MW SG 8.0-167 direct drive turbine is due to have performance tests in April, with the testing contract given to the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology (IWES). The direct drive offshore turbine prototype has a 167-metre rotor diameter, and will be tested with hardware in the loop at the IWES Dynamic Nacelle Testing Laboratory. The performance tests will be finished at the end of 2018.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Moratorium on commercial fishing in Arctic agreed \n Sea ice is seen from NASA's Operation IceBridge research aircraft in March, 2017, above Greenland, which is among parties to the Arctic Ocean commercial fishing moratorium\n\nArctic and major fishing nations, including China, announced Friday that they have agreed to a moratorium on commercial fishing in Arctic waters before a fishery in the icy region is even feasible.\n\nThe far north is warming at nearly twice the global average rate, causing changes in the size and distribution of fish stocks that may become more attractive to fishers in the medium to long term.\n\nCanadian Fisheries Minister Dominic Leblanc said Canada, together with the European Union, China, Denmark\u2014for Greenland and the Faroe Islands\u2014Iceland, Japan, South Korea, Norway, Russia and the United States agreed \"that no commercial fishing will take place in the high seas portion of the central Arctic Ocean while we gain a better understanding of the area's ecosystems.\"\n\nThey also agreed that before any fishing takes places, they must establish \"appropriate conservation and management measures.\"\n\nTo that end, the parties committed to conducting joint scientific research and monitoring to try to better understand Arctic Ocean ecosystems and whether the region can support commercial fisheries in the future.\n\nKarmenu Vella, EU Commissioner for the Environment, Fisheries and Maritime Affairs, called the legally binding agreement \"historic.\"\n\n\"It will fill an important gap in the international ocean governance framework and will safeguard fragile marine ecosystems for future generations,\" he said.\n\nThe agreement in principle must still be ratified by all 10 parties.\n\nGreenpeace, praising the deal, said the moratorium is expected to endure for at least the next 16 years, covering an area of 2.8 million square kilometers (one million square miles).\n\n\u00a9 2017 AFP", "output": "A moratorium on commercial fishing in Arctic waters has been agreed by Canada, China, Denmark, the European Union, Iceland, Japan, Norway, South Korea, Russia and the US. The region is experiencing global warming at twice the average rate, resulting in changes in the distribution of fish stocks. The moratorium, covering 2.8 million sq km, is designed to allow time to gain \u201ca better understanding of the area\u2019s ecosystems\u201d and for the introduction of \u201cappropriate conservation and management measures\u201d. Greenpeace welcomed the deal which, when ratified, is expected to be in place for at least 16 years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google launches VR philanthropy initiative \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nWith its ability to transport users anywhere and give them any kind of experience, VR has huge potential as a tool for positive change. Google is highlighting that with its new philanthropy program, Daydream Impact.\n\nThis new initiative is designed to give organizations, non-profits and advocates the tools and training they need to make 360-degree experiences that bring people closer to their given topics. Google already worked with a handful of organizations on a pilot period for the program, producing the videos that you can see in this article.\n\nDaydream Impact first provides groups with tutorials on making VR video content with a free Coursera online training course. It covers everything from pre to post-production, offering tips on getting the best shots and how to publish and promote your content. The other side of the program is a loaner service that provides qualified projects with a Jump 360-degree camera and a Google Expeditions kit as well as a Daydream View headset and Daydream-read smartphone. Groups will be given six months to create their projects and then showcase it.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\nSo far, the program has produced projects on the struggles of the Congo from the Eastern Congo Initiative, as well as a look at the changes in coastline environments, anti-bullying pieces and has even been deployed in hospitals to help minimize anxiety for cancer patients during treatment.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve already learned that VR, although still an emerging platform, has so many more applications than we originally thought possible,\u201d the Eastern Congo Initiative\u2019s Dane Erickson said of the program. \u201cWe thought of this as a film for our donors and supporters, but through the Google Expedition program we\u2019re beginning to see how VR can be used for education. Obviously we love connecting to donors, but connecting with kids, showing them our work in a classroom setting, that opens up a whole new avenue for our advocacy priorities.\u201d\n\nThis story originally appeared on Uploadvr.com. Copyright 2017", "output": "Google has launched a new philanthropy programme to provide organizations with tools and training in Virtual Reality. The Daydream Impact project offers tutorials on making VR video content, as well as an equipment loan service. Projects that have already been produced include work by the Eastern Congo Initiative on the region\u2019s struggles; a project on changing coastline environments, and initiatives on anti-bullying and anxiety reduction for cancer patients.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon plans exploding drones to limiting injury during emergency \n One of the big worries about delivery drones is what happens if something goes wrong mid-delivery? We don\u2019t want people\u2019s parcels (or the drones carrying them) falling from the sky, causing damage and injury. Well, Amazon thinks this might not actually be a bad idea \u2014 as long as the drones fall safely. Earlier this week, the company was granted a patent for the \u201cdirect fragmentation for unmanned airborne vehicles.\u201d In other words: a drone that takes itself apart midair if something goes wrong.\n\nThe patent describes how an onboard \u201cfragmentation controller\u201d would take charge in the event of a catastrophic failure, like a battery exploding or propellor failing. The computer would quickly study the drone\u2019s flight path, weather conditions, and nearby terrain, before initiating a \u201cfragmentation sequence,\u201d where the drone slowly dismantles itself midair.\n\nIt sounds counter-intuitive as a safety protocol, but if a drone is going to crash anyway, it\u2019s better that it hits the ground in small chunks, rather than as bigger, heavier intact aircraft. An illustration from the patent shows a drone dropping various components onto patches of empty ground and a small lake, before crashing itself safely in a tree.\n\nAn illustration from the patent shows a drone dismantling itself mid-air. Image: Amazon / USPTO\n\nThe patent reads: \u201cDuring the fragmentation sequence, one or more parts or components of the UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] can be released. In doing so, the weight, speed, air drag coefficient, and other factors related to the UAV can be altered.\u201d The order in which parts are jettisoned could be selected based on their value, says the patent, and then detached using hooks, springs, or \u201csmall explosive charges.\u201d\n\nOf course, as with any patent, there\u2019s no guarantee Amazon is doing anything more here than exploring a left field concept. In the past, the company has either patented or applied to patent concepts including parachutes built into shipping labels, drone beehives for distribution in big cities, and drone-carrying blimps. As tends to be Amazon\u2019s style, it\u2019s aggressively throwing ideas at the wall and seeing what sticks. All of these inventions would need to be approved by government regulators before they ever got off the ground.", "output": "Amazon has been granted a patent for a drone that would dismantle itself in mid-air in the event of mechanical failure leading to a crash. The system would aim to reduce the potential damage or injury caused by drones failing in flight by allowing them to break into smaller pieces. Once a catastrophic failure occurred, it would use its onboard computer to analyse factors including its flight-path, weather conditions and nearby terrain before initiating a \"fragmentation sequence\" to minimise damage. This might involve dropping components onto empty ground or into a lake, then crashing itself into a tree.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "PNE Wind and VPC to create renewable 'energy islands' \n German wind farms developer PNE Wind AG (ETR:PNE3) has partnered with local engineering firm VPC GmbH to work on grid-independent and self-sustained renewable energy supply solutions for public and commercial use.\n\nThis future-oriented cooperation will be establishing the so-called \"Energy Islands\" both in Germany and abroad, according to an announcement on Friday.\n\nThe plan is to combine various renewable energy sources, including wind and solar photovoltaics (PV), with storage technologies or generators powered by biofuels. Advantages include cost-effective energy supply, long-term price stability and independent generation.\n\nPNE Wind will be in charge of the approval, financing and participation models, as well as the construction and operation of wind farms. On the other hand, its partner will be responsible for the PV, biodiesel, storage and grid connection, as well as project management and operation of the overall system.\n\nThe move is part of PNE Wind\u2019s strategy to become a \"Clean Energy Solution Provider\". In mid-November, the company said it wants to expand the range of services it offers, enter new markets and add solar, storage and other green technologies to its portfolio.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "German wind farm developer PNE Wind has partnered with local engineering firm VPC\u00a0to create grid-independent renewable energy solutions for residential and\u00a0commercial customers, called \"energy islands\".\u00a0As well as supplying wind energy, PNE will\u00a0be in charge of the approval, financing and participation models, while VPC will be responsible for the PV, biodiesel, storage and grid connection, and overall operation of the systems."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "RCAM Technologies plans to 3D print 140-metre tall wind towers \n If you\u2019ve ever driven alongside a truck hauling wind turbine components, the limitations are immediately obvious. The enormity of the blades and tower segments make it difficult to transport the materials on highways to the project site.\n\nA California startup thinks it\u2019s found a workaround. RCAM Technologies was recently awarded a $1.25 million grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC) to develop and test 3-D printing technology enabling the construction of concrete turbine towers in place at the project site.\n\nThe average tower height for turbines installed in the United States is just over 80 meters. RCAM Technologies, founded by National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) alumnus Jason Cotrell, wants to use reinforced concrete additive manufacturing technology -- a form of 3-D printing -- to erect towers 140 meters or higher. Cotrell left NREL in May to pursue grant funding to develop the technology.\n\nBased on estimates derived using NREL\u2019s levelized cost of energy (LCOE) modeling tools, the company expects that a 140-meter tower would increase electricity production by more than 20 percent at a site with moderate wind shear. By enabling turbines to reach steadier, stronger winds, the ultra-tall towers would boost capacity factors and generate electricity at lower cost.\n\nAccording to the grant request form submitted to the CEC, at scale, the market-ready 3-D printing technology envisioned by RCAM Technologies \u201cwill enable fabrication of a wind turbine tower onsite, in one day at half of the cost of conventional steel towers, and reduce the levelized cost of wind generated electricity in a low wind speed site by 11 percent.\u201d\n\nDigital concrete\n\n\u201cWhen you\u2019re building a wind plant, you want to build the wind turbines as tall as you possibly can to capture the faster wind aloft,\u201d said Cotrell in an NREL video. \u201cHowever, when you\u2019re building tall wind turbines, the tower diameters become so large that they\u2019re difficult to transport over the roads. With this technology, what we\u2019re able to do is manufacture those towers onsite using an automated concrete manufacturing process that allows us to bypass the transportation and logistics constraints.\u201d\n\nUnder its agreement with the California Energy Commission, RCAM Technologies will design the lower half of two ultra-tall hybrid turbine towers between 140 meters to 170 meters. The upper half of the towers will use conventional tapered steel tower sections; the lower half of the towers will be constructed with reinforced concrete additive manufacturing technology. Prototype sections of the concrete towers will be fabricated using a robotic arm and 3-D printer, and will be tested at the University of California, Irvine.\n\nIn a real-world deployment, RCAM Technologies expects the large-diameter concrete tower sections to be fabricated onsite with concrete supplied by standard concrete trucks or an existing concrete batch plant such as the one used to prepare the tower foundations.\n\nPotential to boost capacity factors\n\nAccording to NREL, the best wind power sites in the Great Plains are posting annual capacity factors today of more than 50 percent with 80-meter towers. Taller towers would make wind power economically competitive in more regions.\n\n\u201cOutside of the centrally located wind belt, average performance does not yet meet the levels required to compete with low-priced natural gas and (increasingly) low-cost solar photovoltaics, particularly in an era of relatively low load growth,\u201d said a team of NREL researchers in a presentation on tall wind turbine technologies delivered at an American Wind Energy Association conference in May of this year.\n\n\u201cTo broaden the geographic reach of wind power, a continued evaluation of tall tower technology appears to be merited,\u201d the team added. \u201cAchieving higher hub heights can still drive significant improvements in capacity factor throughout broad regions of the country.\u201d\n\nPath to market, partnering with UC Irvine\n\n\u201cConcrete towers have quickly emerged as a cost-effective alternative to steel tubular towers for hub heights over 120 meters,\u201d said Aaron Barr, a senior consultant with MAKE Consulting, in an email. MAKE Consulting is owned by Wood Mackenzie, Greentech Media\u2019s parent company.\n\nBarr noted that concrete wind towers have been deployed for a decade in Europe. But most of the concrete towers built there have used precast concrete sections manufactured elsewhere and shipped in multiple segments to the project site. RCAM Technologies\u2019 process would avoid those logistical constraints by pouring concrete on site.\n\n\u201cPerforming on-site pouring of concrete towers can present some cost savings in logistics and material cost,\u201d he added, \u201cand present one of the most promising applications of 3-D printing in the wind energy industry.\u201d\n\nBarr cautioned that 3-D printing could increase the time required to install turbines. \u201cThe specialized equipment and concrete curing times would significantly increase the construction cycle of a typical wind plant,\u201d he said. \u201cMost U.S. wind plants are able to install turbines at a pace of one turbine per day or faster, given that all turbine equipment has been delivered to on-site staging areas. Use of an in-situ concrete tower solution dramatically increases this installation cycle, adding cost and execution risk to the wind plant development.\u201d\n\nCan RCAM Technologies build 3-D-printed concrete turbine towers as fast and as cheaply as it estimates? Construction and testing of a prototype will be done in partnership with UC Irvine at the school\u2019s civil engineering laboratory.\n\nAs part of a technology-to-market program at NREL called Energy I-Corps, Jason Cotrell and colleague Scott Jenne interviewed 75 wind turbine manufacturers and project developers.\n\n\u201cWe found out,\u201d said Cotrell in the NREL video, \u201cthat another wind turbine manufacturer had been exploring a very similar technology. We\u2019ve been in contact with that manufacturer and expect to be partnering with that manufacturer going forward.\u201d\n\nIn an email, Cotrell confirmed that RCAM Technologies is discussing partnership opportunities with several wind turbine manufacturers, including the unnamed company mentioned in the video.\n\nRCAM Technologies\u2019 agreement with the CEC notes that if the technology could increase the wind capacity deployment potential for new sites and repowered sites in California nearly tenfold -- from 6 gigawatts to 60 gigawatts.", "output": "Californian start-up RCAM Technologies has received a $1.25m grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC) to test production of 3D-printed wind-turbine towers on site. National Renewable Energy Laboratory Alumnus and founder of the company, Jason Cotrell, wants to fabricate towers from reinforced concrete that are 140 metres higher, almost double the average height of towers in the US at present."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Repowering ageing wind turbines can cut ballooning operation costs \n North America\u2019s aging fleet of wind turbines could lead to a surge in operations and maintenance spending through 2030, according to a report released this month by IHS Markit. The report found cumulative O&M spending for the wind energy sector in the United States and Canada will top $40 billion from 2015 to 2025.\n\n\u201cThe average age of the North American wind fleet will rise from 5.5 years in 2015 to 7 years in 2020, and to 14 years in 2030,\u201d said Maxwell Cohen, senior research analyst at IHS Markit and co-author of the report, in a statement.\n\nCohen and co-author Ryan Siavelis gathered data from nearly one-third of the wind energy market in North America -- 300 wind projects comprising nearly 20,000 turbines -- to prepare the analysis.\n\nAccording to the report, O&M costs average between $42,000 and $48,000 per megawatt during the first 10 years of a wind turbine\u2019s operations. Over time, direct O&M costs related to turbine maintenance increase, while indirect O&M costs for site administration hold steady or decline.\n\nBy 2030, an older, larger turbine fleet in the United States and Canada -- estimated at more than 70,000 turbines -- will present service providers with ample opportunities for growth. \u201cThe age of that capacity in 2030 will make the O&M business very lucrative, which is why so many players are expanding into this sector of the business,\u201d said Siavelis in a statement.\n\nCohen and Siavelis identified Suzlon, Siemens Gamesa, MHI and Vestas among the original equipment manufacturers that have entered the space in pursuit of wind O&M service agreements.\n\nO&M\u2019s emergence as a \u201cstrategic battleground\u201d\n\nAnalysts at MAKE Consulting likewise see significant growth opportunities in wind turbine services. MAKE\u2019s own wind turbine O&M report was published this month. By 2026, the report found, the global wind turbine services market could exceed $27 billion. MAKE Consulting is owned by Wood Mackenzie, Greentech Media\u2019s parent company.\n\nIn an email, MAKE Consulting\u2019s Aaron Barr noted that his firm\u2019s O&M average for the U.S. market was lower than IHS Markit\u2019s -- $28,000 per megawatt, compared to a range between $42,000 per megawatt and $48,000 per megawatt -- but he identified the same salient industry trends.\n\n\u201cThe overall O&M market is growing primarily because the fleet continues to grow with new installations,\u201d he said. \u201cAll of these new turbines coming online must be maintained for 20+ years.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnother factor contributing to the growing O&M market is the increasing age of the existing fleet,\u201d added Barr. \u201dOlder turbines face higher O&M costs due to legacy equipment, accumulated fatigue damage, and spare-part obsolecense.\u201d\n\nSeeking to control O&M costs, project owners have been forced to decide whether to keep turbine servicing in-house, and they are turning to digitalization to optimize project performance.\n\n\u201cThe O&M segment has emerged as a key strategic battleground within the industry,\u201d said Barr. \u201cAsset owners are increasingly sensitive to O&M costs, and many of the largest owners are now performing their own maintenance. OEMs still maintain a majority of the global fleet, but they face competitive pressure from self-performing asset owners (their customers), independent service companies, and their OEM competitors.\u201d\n\nHe went on: \u201cThe O&M market has also become one of the central focuses of technical innovation -- including application of data science, aerodynamic enhancements, and controls strategy R&D. The digitalization revolution the industry is going through is also primarily driven by the O&M market and associated operational improvements.\u201d\n\nRepowering potential\n\nTo address an aging wind turbine fleet and increasing O&M expenditures, project owners are increasingly turning to repowering -- replacing obsolete turbines with new more powerful turbines at the same project site, or replacing select components such as blades or gearboxes on existing turbines.\n\nThe Energy Information Administration recently published an update on the potential for wind farm repowering in the United States. EIA found that 12 percent of the turbines installed in the United States came on-line before 2000; those turbines account for just 2 percent of the country\u2019s installed wind electricity generating capacity.\n\nEIA cited data from GE, which has already repowered some 300 wind turbines, indicating that repowering can increase wind turbine fleet output by 25 percent and add 20 years to the life of the turbine.\n\nCurrent tax law incentivizes owners to repower projects. Projects qualify for the federal Production Tax Credit if at least 80 percent of the property\u2019s value is new. Qualifying repowering projects that meet the 2019 deadline established under the December 2015 PTC extension can then receive an additional 10 years of tax credits.\n\nThe National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that annual repowering investment in the United States could reach $25 billion by 2030.", "output": "The average age of the North American wind fleet will rise from 5.5 years in 2015 to 14 years in 2030, and ageing wind turbines will suck up about $40bn in operation and maintenance expenses in the US and Canada from 2015 to 2025, said a report by IHS Markit.\u00a0To cut those costs, some projects owners have turned to repowering - upgrading\u00a0turbines and\u00a0replacing\u00a0blades or gearboxes on existing turbines."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mushrooms contaminated with Chernobyl radiation headed to France \n Mushrooms containing traces of radiation, believed to be from Chernobyl, have been stopped from being imported into France.\n\nThe shipment of more than three tonnes of mushrooms from Belarus contained traces of cesium 137, a waste product of nuclear reactors, French authorities said.\n\nIt was discovered passing through Frankfurt, Germany but did not pose a health threat, according to the nuclear safety body IRSN.\n\nThe incident comes just a week after Russia denied a nuclear accident had occurred in the country after it recorded \"extremely high\" traces of a radioactive isotope.\n\nRussia's weather service measured pollution of ruthenium-106 at 1,000 times normal levels in the Ural mountains.\n\nImage: The abandoned, partially-completed cooling towers stand at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant\n\nAn IRSN spokesman said the contaminated mushrooms had \"no link with the ruthenium-106 pollution\".\n\n\"As the mushrooms came from Belarus, it is very likely the contamination originated in Chernobyl,\" the spokesman said.\n\nChernobyl in Ukraine is just south of the Belarus border and was the site of a major nuclear disaster in 1986.\n\nCesium 137, which has a 30-year half-life, is still widely found in the areas around Chernobyl.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe IRSN spokesman said eating tens of kilos of the Belarus mushrooms would expose a consumer to radioactivity levels similar to natural ambient radioactivity during a whole year.\n\nHe added that there had been no health risk for the customs officials, even if they had touched the mushrooms with their bare hands.", "output": "A shipment of mushrooms containing radiation believed to come from Chernobyl has been discovered in Frankfurt, on its way to France. The shipment contained over three tonnes of mushrooms from Belarus, and showed traces of nuclear reactor waste product cesium 137. French nuclear safety organisation IRSN said that the mushrooms did not pose a threat to health. A week ago, Russia denied that it had experienced another nuclear accident following recordings of \u201cextremely high\u201d traces of a radioactive isotope.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Purplebricks tasks Feefo with managing customer reviews \n Purplebricks Group plc (LON:PURP) has today announced a new partnership with customer review site Feefo, providing customers with even more opportunities to review the Purplebricks\u2019 service.\n\nFeefo is widely regarded as being transparent, independent and secure, and is trusted by consumers as a vocal advocate of honesty in the reviews industry. It is only available to genuine customers, who are provided with a unique review link, ensuring only authentic reviews.\n\nFeefo works with over 4,000 corporate customers internationally, including many leading online and high street consumer brands, and helps consumers to make more informed decisions about what to buy and who to do business with.\n\nThe company is currently working on implementation and integration with the Feefo service and will launch early in 2018. It will remain in partnership with Trustpilot and the information gleaned from both review websites will give the company invaluable customer insight and build on the excellent service its people deliver for customers on a day by day basis.", "output": "Online estate agent Purplebricks has partnered with Feefo, a web-based customer review site. The move aims to increase transparency in the sector and enable customers to make informed choices about property purchases. Purplebricks, which also partnered with Danish review site Trustpilot, is working to integrate Feefo's data service, with a launch set for early next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Global paying publishers for data to improve targeted audio ads \n Radio broadcaster Global is tapping traditional news publishers\u2019 first-party data to provide better targeted audio ad campaigns for its advertisers.\n\nOver the last year, Global has paid publishers, including ESI Media, Dennis Publishing, MailOnline and Haymarket, to overlay their first-party data into campaigns that run across its digital audio exchange Dax. These second-party data deals have been applied to roughly 15 of the 350 audio ad campaigns Dax runs a month, according to the broadcaster. Dax negotiates a flat fee with each publisher, according to Oliver Deane, director of commercial digital for Global, though he wouldn\u2019t share additional details.\n\nWith radio stations like Heart, Capital FM and Classic FM, Global is not a direct rival to news publishers when it comes to competing for display ad revenue, making second-party data partnerships like these appealing to both sides. For news publishers constantly on the lookout for new revenue options, decoupling audience data from their inventory is becoming a more common way to monetize.\n\n\u201cThis is becoming successful for us,\u201d Deane said. \u201cWe have good relationships with publishers, and because we are an audio platform and a neutral business, for publishers we\u2019re seen as an additional revenue source.\u201d\n\nDuring a recent campaign for the Royal Bank of Scotland, where the bank\u2019s aim was to drive people to its online remortgaging application, Dax used data from real estate aggregator site Zoopla. People who had visited Zoopla and were in the market for a mortgage were targeted with audio creative. This led to a 68 percent increase in visits to its remortgage page, and 75 percent of those sent to the page completed the remortgaging application, compared to 43 percent for those who didn\u2019t hear the ad, according to Global, which wouldn\u2019t share specific numbers.\n\nLast year, Dax worked with Audi to target users who had visited Haymarket magazine Autocar\u2019s site. The campaign drove six times more visits than it would typically have to the Audi site and 13 percent of all traffic to the site during the campaign period, according to Global.\n\nSo far, campaigns that have incorporated the second-party data performed just as well for branding outcomes \u2014 like increasing purchase intent or brand awareness \u2014 as they did for direct-response campaigns, according to Deane.\n\n\u201cWhen we take this to advertisers, they are surprised another publisher has given us their first-party data to monetize, so we\u2019re making advertisers aware of this,\u201d Deane said. \u201cIt\u2019s growing steadily.\u201d Global claims that 90 percent of listeners hear the ads Dax serves all the way through, though that\u2019s to be expected, partly because people are used to hearing ads within audio content.\n\nJeremy Sigel, global head of partnerships and emerging media at Essence, said audio is still often an afterthought for advertisers more seduced by video ad formats. In order for the industry to grow, other audio publishers must invest more in bespoke audio solutions like personalization and dynamic creative, formats that Dax caters to. \u201cThat will elevate the medium and make it more appealing to advertisers,\u201d he said.\n\nThe growing interest in audio and voice-operated platforms is working in Global\u2019s favor. People in the U.K. spend nearly 10 hours a week listening to digital audio, according to the latest Radio Joint Audience Research figures. Global is also expanding, recently acquiring AudioHQ in the U.S. for an undisclosed amount and opening offices in France and Germany.\n\nWith Amazon and Google creating potential new ad opportunities on voice-activated devices Alexa and Home, respectively, advertisers are thinking harder about how their brand comes across over audio. Research company Gartner estimates that 30 percent of people\u2019s online browsing globally will be screenless by 2020. Radio advertisers have had to think about this for years, but more tools in digital audio have expanded the creative offering. Dax has an audio creative team of about 70 people, including producers and scriptwriters, who help advertisers create ads.\n\n\u201cAdvertisers are getting their heads around what their brand sounds like, whether that\u2019s a distinctive voice, the type of music, even having names that are easy to pronounce,\u201d Deane said. \u201cMore thought is going into sonic branding.\u201d", "output": "Radio broadcaster Global is paying publishers including MailOnline, Dennis Publishing and Haymarket to use their first-party data\u00a0to improve targeted ad campaigns on its Dax\u00a0exchange. Such deals have been applied to about 15 of 350 ad campaigns the broadcaster runs each month, said Oliver Deane, Global's director of commercial digital. The partnership is proving successful for both parties, as publishers see radio as an additional revenue source, Deane added.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Education start-up teaches Indian children about IoT and robots \n Fourteen-year-old Hargobind Khurana had always been fascinated with computers, electronics, and robots. Since his school curriculum didn\u2019t offer much in this regard, he\u2019d spend hours on the internet trying to learn the basics. But even online, the information was often unorganised, with no one to explain complex ideas to him.\n\nLately, though, Khurana has been learning more systematically after enrolling with SP Robotic Works (SPRW), one of the several educational tech startups in India. These firms work to bridge a critical gap in conventional education, teaching technologies such as robotics, the internet of things (IoT), and virtual reality (VR). \u201cThe course is very one-to-one,\u201d his mother Meenu told Quartz, describing the structured online classes that include videos and other learning tools. \u201cAlthough it is online, it is as if (a teacher) is teaching you.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAlthough robotics is a broad concept including areas such as automation, embedded systems, mechanical engineering, IoT, etc, these ed-tech startups start with the basics. They design small kits containing breadboards, wires, sensors, and other such components, and get children to play with them. They then move on to teaching the children basic programming and concepts in physics, and gradually help them develop their own robots. These could be ones that merely follow a line or react to light, or more complex mobile phone-controlled ones that can perform certain tasks.\n\nAnd these courses could be either online, at school, or outside the classroom. Chennai-based SPRW, for instance, runs online-only courses, assisted by their AI-driven chat bot. \u201dThe bot serves as a personal trainer and asks them questions, understands whether they\u2019re having difficulties, repeats concepts in different ways,\u201d said Sneha Priya, who started the company with her husband in 2012.\n\nStudents can register and purchase kits, priced between Rs5,000 ($77) and Rs15,000 ($230), and learn the basics through the videos provided to them. Since June 2016, when it began holding classes, SPRW has sold over 5,000 kits, racking up revenues of over Rs1.5 crore, Priya said. Backed by angel investor groups like Chennai Angels and the Indian Angel Network, SPRW will soon also begin teaching virtual reality and image processing.\n\nWhile SPRW\u2019s focus is on online training, there are others that prefer in-person sessions.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cIn the classroom, you get to mingle with 50-60 people from different backgrounds, and if you have an issue, someone is there with you. The community is very active,\u201d said Pawan Gnanaraj, who heads the robotics and operations team at Chennai-based Lema Labs. The IIT Madras-incubated startup runs a six-month programme that includes six weeks of classes and four months of project work. It has trained over 4,500 persons, including school and college students, since 2013.\n\nPune-based Robokidz, on the other hand, partners with schools and sets up labs for a fee. Classes are conducted once a week in schools either by Robokidz trainers or by school teachers trained by it. Giving students such exposure early on also helps them make more informed career choices, said Sagar Sanghvi, founder of Robokidz. The five-year-old company is currently working with over 300 schools across India.\n\n\u201cIoT and artificial intelligence and robotics are now coming into (the) mainstream\u2026so in that sense its important that children are knowledgeable about these things because tomorrow they\u2019re going to drive cars that are intelligent and have buildings that are IoT-enabled,\u201d Narayanan Ramaswamy, a partner at KPMG in India who focuses on education and skill development, told Quartz.\n\nThe end product\n\nA major attraction of these courses is that the students\u2019 work is often showcased outside the classroom, or sometimes even put to commercial use.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cWe thought if we can provide\u2026industrial opportunities to people when they\u2019re learning, their learning gets doubled,\u201d Priya of SPRW said. Her startup lets students help with the projects the company takes on\u2014some of the recent ones being creating robots for a farming company that helps weed agricultural fields, robots to clean solar panels for Tata Power Solar, and a warehouse robot used by firms like Qualcomm.\n\nStudents aged 12 years and above have also independently funded and built products, including a beach-cleaning robot called Swachh Bot and BOB, which helps serves dishes at a restaurant.\n\nRobokidz, which teaches children aged between eight and 16, gets its students to make miniature cars with gear mechanisms, robots based on programming and sensors, or those that can be controlled using smartphones connected on wifi networks. It then invites students to participate in its annual competition, the Robotics Premier League.\n\nHowever, challenges remain. Finding trainers, for instance. Also, to keep the children interested, they must ensure that the curricula is neither boring nor difficult. Then, there is the need for patience. \u201cThey (children) don\u2019t want to listen to the theory and just want to jump to making the things,\u201d Robokidz\u2019s Sanghvi said. \u201cSo once they make it and are happy, we have to make them understand the science behind it.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nOverall, though, the need for this start up-led exposure to robotics is clear. \u201cOur schools lack technology while everyone out there is using a smartphone. Technology is rapidly changing and the education space has lot to catch up. The learning skills required for future innovators and researchers require seeding at a young age,\u201d Prahlad Vadakkepat, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore, told Quartz. \u201cTechnological literacy is essential to live in future societies.\u201d", "output": "An education start-up in India is giving children the opportunity to learn key skills in alternative technologies and put their learning to practical use. Chennai-based SP Robotic Works (SPRW) was founded in 2012 and now offers online one-to-one tutorials in subjects including robotics, the internet of things (IoT) and virtual reality (VR). Students register for the courses and buy kits containing electronic components for them to familiarise themselves with, while\u00a0participating in the online tutorials. The kits cost between $77 and $230.\u00a0SPRW also involves students in existing commercial projects and supports their own robot inventions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon patents system for cutting prices as users watch ads \n User-generated Amazon reviews are one of the most important ways that consumers find products and decide what to buy. So much so that Amazon has consistently shown itself to be Google\u2019s competitor in e-commerce search. Almost all Amazon product reviews are written but, as business research firm L2 wrote, Amazon is now pivoting to video.\n\nIt\u2019s a broad strategy with Amazon inviting some of its 2 million merchant partners to join the test program, where videos will be posted to the site in mid-December. According to L2, \u201cthis feature is a logical step given how often consumers watch how-to and product review videos before making purchases. By adding the feature, Amazon clearly aims to keep shoppers on its own site, preventing them from migrating to YouTube or social media platforms.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThere\u2019s potentially another reason for Amazon to promote the use of video in e-commerce. It now has a way to offer customers discounts for watching ads. In October, Amazon was awarded a patent for \u201ccontent-based price reductions and incentives.\u201d The patent says that \u201ccustomers in an electronic environment can be presented with the option to receive advertising, such as audio, video, or interactive content, in order to receive discounted pricing or similar benefits.\u201d\n\nOne example of how Amazon sees this working is that a customer can watch a video ad on an item\u2019s detail page, such as a product review. As the customer watches more of the ad, the displayed price for the item drops.\n\nDepending on how strong Amazon\u2019s patent is, no online retailer outside of Amazon\u2019s ecosystem can offer this benefit to customers.\n\nThe background to this patent is informative as it helps explain how far reaching Amazon\u2019s thinking could be, and how they plan to keep lowering prices for consumers. One major difference between e-commerce and in-store purchasing is that loss-leading\u2014selling goods cheaper than what they cost\u2014doesn\u2019t work in e-commerce. When customers visit a physical store, they have invested their time to get there so stocking up on additional items is worth it. This doesn\u2019t happen online. So this patent levels the playing field, allowing sellers to offer discounts to online customers based on their investment in time.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWith this patent, Amazon has signaled that it is taking on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Snap, and other media platforms for digital ad spend. And customers will now also know the value of their time. And potentially whether their time gets more or less valuable depending on their purchasing behavior. One person\u2019s time is inevitably more valuable than another\u2019s, so with dynamic pricing, it\u2019s not hard to imagine a personalized price based on a customer\u2019s attention span and spending behavior.\n\nPerhaps most importantly, Amazon had a lock on low-friction e-commerce with its original patent for one-click checkout, which has expired this year. The question is, with the shift to video-enabled e-commerce, is dynamically priced, attention-incentivized video advertising the next big thing that secures Amazon\u2019s advantage for years to come?", "output": "Amazon is developing a system that drops product prices as a reward for customers viewing adverts. The online retailer has patented the \"content-based price reductions\" system, which would allow users to receive discounts or other benefits in return for consuming video, audio or interactive content. The move comes as part of Amazon's efforts to compete with YouTube and various other social media platforms, which have seen it testing video content on the site."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Publishers want their own ads and sponsorships on Facebook Watch \n Facebook\u2019s ambitions to produce TV-like content has a problem: Creators still aren\u2019t happy with the money they\u2019re making off commercials and sponsorships Facebook sells. As a result, show makers are pushing Facebook to let them do the selling \u2014 and say they\u2019re willing to take their shows to other platforms if the terms don\u2019t improve.\n\nSources at four companies that have sold shows to Facebook, including one major media conglomerate and three digital publishers, said they have pushed Facebook to make it easier for them to sell mid-roll ads. They\u2019ve also pushed Facebook on being able to sell sponsorships for Facebook Watch shows. Facebook has been hesitant to open up these opportunities, these sources said. \u201cThe response is always: \u2018We\u2019re considering it, but we\u2019re not there yet,\u2019\u201d said one Facebook-funded shows partner.\n\nFacebook is selling mid-roll ad breaks programmatically, according to two ad buyers. The company is hesitant to open up these slots to publishing partners because it prefers to sell ads based on user targeting, rather than contextual placements made through direct buys, publishing sources said. Facebook has also been out pitching advertisers on show sponsorships, but they\u2019re pitched as part of broader Facebook media buys, according to an ad buyer. If Facebook gave publishers the ability to sell sponsorships for funded shows, it could lose out on some ad revenue, some publishing sources speculated.\n\nRight now, Facebook takes 45 percent of all ad revenue generated from video ad breaks (though, in many cases, this revenue split only comes up after Facebook has recouped the money it gives to publishers to make shows and other videos every month.) It\u2019s unclear how the revenue split might be affected if publishers are given access to the ad slots, though many publishers would expect it to remain at the current revenue share \u2014 which is the same as YouTube\u2019s. With show sponsorships, Facebook could request the same share.\n\nIt\u2019s a crucial time for digital media as many digital publishers that placed bets on building big businesses by focusing on advertising revenue and video distribution on Facebook are still struggling to grow revenue. The hope that the reach provided by Facebook would eventually translate into consistent ad dollars is still largely unproven \u2014 and it\u2019s creating more urgency inside these companies to turn their Facebook video efforts into viable businesses.\n\n\u201cFacebook has been pretty good about trying to create monetization opportunities for us: We were part of the live deal, we\u2019re part of the mid-roll deal,\u201d said one Facebook Watch and mid-rolls partner. \u201cBut when they don\u2019t work, they need to help us come up with other answers on how we can make this into a business \u2014 that\u2019s how we\u2019re trying to put pressure on them.\u201d\n\nMultiple publishers said they\u2019re increasingly pushing Facebook to improve its monetization products by pointing out that other social platforms have friendlier monetization terms. While Snapchat does not provide production funds for its shows, it does allow companies to sell ad slots inside the shows and evenly split the revenue. Twitter, meanwhile, is offering its Amplify video partners 70 percent of the ad revenue their videos generate on the platform.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re at a point now with our Facebook strategy, where we\u2019re thinking in some cases it makes more sense to get the second season of one of our [Watch] shows sponsored by an advertiser and then run it on Facebook or other platforms \u2014 and not have the show exclusively licensed by Facebook,\u201d said one Facebook Watch partner with multiple shows. \u201cRight now, Watch is not delivering a huge audience \u2014 the shows that do are because the publisher has built up a huge audience on their pages. As a result, it\u2019s becoming increasingly clear that, where six months ago it wasn\u2019t a question that we wanted to bring shows to Watch, now we\u2019re questioning if we even should if [Facebook isn\u2019t] bringing audience or monetization in any sort of efficient way.\u201d\n\nFacebook declined to comment on its future plans for selling into mid-roll ad breaks.\n\nFor publishers, Facebook\u2019s rules have limited how much money they can make with Watch shows that are funded by the platform. Facebook\u2019s original content partners, for the most part, have not been allowed to sell sponsorships and integrations for the programs, three sources said. Even when these sources had sponsors willing and ready to spend on their shows, Facebook rejected the deals.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re barely making any money off of [Watch shows] \u2014 it\u2019s all off the minimum [production] guarantees,\u201d said one Watch partner. \u201cFrom a money perspective, Watch could be good if you can sell sponsors on top of it; otherwise, it\u2019s pretty meager.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s important to note that while Facebook is subsidizing well over a hundred programs inside Watch, it\u2019s not funding every show. Publishers can independently set up Facebook Watch show pages to distribute serialized programming inside the section. Facebook has previously said that publishers are welcome to create Watch show pages for branded series they\u2019ve made for advertisers, but these are not shows directly funded by Facebook.\n\nThe big issue for Facebook\u2019s Watch partners is the ability to sell into the mid-roll ad breaks that can appear inside shows. So far, Facebook\u2019s ad breaks monetization program has yielded scant revenue for publishers.\n\n\u201cWe have argued to Ricky [Van Veen] and others that they have to let us sell [some of the mid-roll ad inventory; our own sales team can sell our own product better than they can,\u201d said one Facebook Watch original content partner.\n\n\u201cThere are brands now who have seen these shows who want access to this type of programming,\u201d said another partner. \u201cAt some point there has to be an answer to how am I going to make money on your platform.\u201d\n\nSome are optimistic that Facebook will eventually loosen its grip on mid-roll ad inventory and Facebook Watch show sponsorships. Of course, this will happen when publishers apply greater pressure on Facebook to do so.\n\n\u201cFacebook is very much long-term when it comes to how they plan to monetize video,\u201d said one Facebook Watch and mid-roll partner. \u201cThat\u2019s fine for Facebook, but publishers don\u2019t have the luxury of being long-term in how they monetize their content today. That\u2019s where Snap and Twitter are being rightfully aggressive with publishers.\u201d", "output": "Publishers want to sell their own ads and sponsorships on Facebook's video platform Watch, citing unhappiness with the current levels of revenue. Sources at four publishers, including one media conglomerate and three digital publishers, said they have put pressure on the social media giant to let them sell mid-roll ads and sponsorships. But Facebook prefers to sell mid-roll ads based on user targeting rather than through contextual placements, and could lose out\u00a0if they let publishers sell sponsorships, according to publishing sources.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook partners with Meetrics on viewability \n Facebook has chosen Meetrics as its first viewability partner from outwith the US as it continues to work on improving advertiser confidence in its figures following revelations that it had claimed an adverts reached more people than official census data.\n\nFacebook counts on Meetrics as first international viewability partner\n\nThe verification firm will furnish advertisers with viewability metrics for Facebook display ad campaigns across desktop and mobile with a view to introducing video viewability measures in the \u2018near future\u2019.", "output": "Facebook has partnered with the German analytics company Meetrics, which will provide the social media giant with data on the viewability of adverts. This marks the first time the Facebook has commissioned a company outside of the US to provide the service since it began collecting such data in 2008. The deal will help Facebook advertisers to gauge how many\u00a0display ads reach their intended audience. The company plans to build on the service in future by\u00a0verifying other forms of content, including video.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Commercial carriers urged to adapt to deliver on-demand insurance \n Our culture is rapidly evolving into one of instant gratification. As services like Uber, Amazon Prime Now, and TaskRabbit continue to grow in popularity, consumers expect to be able to order almost any product or service and have it delivered instantly.\n\nA recent survey by the Pew Research Center found that 72% of American adults have used some type of shared or on-demand online service \u2014 a number that will continue to grow. In other words, it\u2019s time for businesses to embrace on-demand products and services, including commercial insurance carriers.", "output": "On-demand cover in the commercial insurance has largely been limited to events insurance, purchased through agencies, however, commercial carriers risk being left behind if they don\u2019t adapt to cater to the on-demand model, writes Ted Devine in Property Casualty 360, as these policies, and opportunities in project-specific professional liability or contractor's liability areas, could easily be sold online. He suggests carriers need to rework processes of selling and binding insurance to compete with firms like Cuvva and Verifly, which are unencumbered by legacy systems and cost structures, like the annual cycle that underscores insurance procurement and servicing of commercial policies. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "German publishers taking data protection rules in their stride \n Germans are privacy fiends, but when it comes to the highly anticipated General Data Protection Regulation, they\u2019re treating it as business as usual.\n\nThe reasons for this vary, including cultural differences and the country\u2019s attitude toward different business threats like the ePrivacy Regulation. Germany\u2019s stance on data privacy is singular in Europe due to its time under Stasi rule. Consequently, data transparency in media and advertising is highly valued and incorporated earlier into business practices than in other countries.\n\nFor German marketers, transparency in data use is the top concern, with 66 percent of marketers citing this as the area in which they expect transparency from ad tech vendors, according to a recent report from independent media-buying platform Iotec, which polled 250 senior marketers. By contrast, the top focuses for U.K. marketers are ad fraud and transparency on ad tech vendor pricing, according to a corresponding Iotec report that polled 500 U.K. senior marketers.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s an air of calmness and pragmatism in Germany compared to elsewhere,\u201d said Paul Wright, CEO of Iotec. \u201cThey\u2019re used to this approach.\u201d\n\nPreparing for the GDPR hasn\u2019t been easy in Germany, though. But transitioning to being GDPR-compliant has been less of a jolt for media and advertising companies there than it has in the U.K., for example.\n\nWhile the majority of the U.K. market is awaiting final direction on how to obtain consent and share data from the Information Commissioner\u2019s Office, German publishers are conducting business as if the law is already being enforced. Some U.K. data specialists at publishers have already pointed out that waiting on the ICO\u2019s final guidance is naive \u2014 there are plenty of other ways to prepare, given the fundamentals of the regulation are set. Yet many have paused strategy changes until the final guidance arrives in December.\n\n\u201cIn Germany, we\u2019re [Iotec] signing data-processing agreements, which clarify what we do with data and is signed by us and the client. We put pixels on publishers\u2019 sites, and they want to know how we use that data,\u201d said Wright. Having those terms written into contracts makes it clear to the publisher who is liable for the sharing of customer data, which will be critical under the GDPR, given the severity of the fines. \u201cWe\u2019re not as used to that in the U.K., where we\u2019re less clear who is liable,\u201d he added.\n\nAnother reason German media businesses seem way ahead of the rest of Europe in their readiness for the GDPR is because the ramifications of the regulation have been major topics in the press there for nearly two years, unlike in the U.K., where widespread coverage has only happened recently.\n\nAdded to that, Germany took a firmer approach to enforcing the ePrivacy Directive (due to be overhauled into the ePrivacy Regulation next year) than the U.K. and other European markets. Users that visit a publisher website in Germany are opted out of having their data stored by default. Only once they opt in do publishers store their data. In the U.K., it\u2019s the other way around.\n\nInternal GDPR workshops are common at German publishers, during which long lists of ad tech suppliers are vetted with the aim of crushing any risk, and contracts are adjusted accordingly to ensure suppliers or ad networks are accountable for their own sharing of data.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s still a way to go on that,\u201d said Oliver von Wersch, a publisher consultant and former managing director of growth projects and strategic partnerships at German media house Gruner + Jahr. \u201cMany publishers here now have a more clear picture and are addressing vendors with new contracts. I expect in the first quarter we will start seeing the active removal of vendors from the supply chain.\u201d\n\nBusinesses have been advised to appoint data protection officers to get in line with the new law. In the U.K., these roles are still rare, whereas in Germany, most publishers already have them, according to von Wersch. \u201cPublishers [in Germany] understand there is a lot of homework to do around [GDPR] documentation, having the right security guidelines in place and defining data processes,\u201d he added. \u201cMany of them are well underway.\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s not to say the Germans are immune to anxiety. Rather, their energy is firmly directed to the ePrivacy Regulation due to be enforced next year. The terms of this law are still being determined in Brussels, but if the current proposal for the law stands, the potential ramifications are far more alarming than those of the GDPR, according to German publishers. Axel Springer is among those lobbying against the changes.\n\n\u201cThe [GDPR] itself is balanced in terms of what the rights of the publisher are and what the rights of the user are,\u201d von Wersch said. \u201cBut if you look at ePrivacy, it becomes very different \u2014 it\u2019s very much on the side of the user and opposes many things publishers are reliant on for monetization.\u201d", "output": "German publishers and media companies are unflustered by the forthcoming European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), as many are behaving as though the rules are already being enforced. Germany has long been a wide adopter of data transparency, including the soon-to-be-overhauled ePrivacy Directive. Its companies have been implementing measures such as signing data-processing agreements ahead of GDPR, while the UK and other European Union countries have lagged behind in drawing up plans to meet the directive's requirements.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Poorer children have 5 times higher exposure to takeaways \n Increasing numbers of fast food take\u00adaways are springing up close to schools in England, with pupils in the most socially deprived areas exposed to five times as many outlets as their richest peers.\n\nData provided to the Guardian by Cambridge University\u2019s Centre for Diet and Activity Research (Cedar) shows more than 400 schools across England have 20 or more fast food takeaways within a 400-metre radius, while a further 1,400 have between 10 and 19 outlets within the same distance.\n\nPublic health experts have warned that heavy exposure of children to fast food outlets and increased consumption of high-fat nutrient-poor food leads to greater risk of childhood obesity, as well as heart disease and stroke in later life.\n\nThe number of fast food shops close to schools is increasing in all English regions, the Cedar data reveals, with growth highest in the north of England. In June 2014 the average English school had 2.3 takeaways within 400 metres. By September 2017 it had risen to 2.6.\n\nThe mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, this week highlighted the problem when he published draft planning rules designed to prevent new takeaways opening within 400 metres of schools in the capital, part of a package of measures he said would \u201ctackle the ticking timebomb of childhood obesity and help us all lead healthier lives\u201d.\n\n\n\nBut the Cedar figures show that the areas around schools in many parts of London are already saturated with fast food outlets. Of the 20 English local authorities with the highest average number of takeaways near schools, 17 are in the capital.\n\nSchools in London have an average of six fast food outlets within a 400-metre vicinity, although this rises to more than eight in the poorest areas and falls to fewer than two in the wealthiest.\n\n\n\nAccording to Public Health England (PHE), a third of children aged two to 15 are obese or overweight. In London, 40% of children are overweight or obese when they finish primary school, the highest proportion in England.\n\nBefore the mayor of London\u2019s announcement, only about 20 local authorities in England had adopted planning regulations designed to limit the number of fast food outlets. While some have succeeded in capping numbers, there is no clear evidence it has delivered public health dividends.\n\nSeven of the 10 schools with the highest density of nearby fast food outlets are in London. At the top of the scale is the Soho Parish primary school in the heart of the West End, which has 94 fast food restaurants within a 400-metre radius, up from 82 in 2014, a rise of 15%.\n\n\n\nOutside the capital, schools surrounded by dense clusters of fast food outlets include Middle Street primary in Brighton, which has 67 outlets within a 400-metre radius, St Anne\u2019s in Blackburn, with 46, Hope House in Barnsley (42), and Grafton House in Tameside (42).\n\nMartin Caraher, a professor of food policy at City, University of London, welcomed the mayor\u2019s plans, but warned that they may be undermined by cuts to local council public health budgets. \u201cAll credit to Sadiq Khan, this is a brave move,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it comes with a cost, and council public health budgets have been squeezed and staff are leaving. Who is going to monitor and implement this plan?\u201d\n\nThe mayor\u2019s draft plan, which came into force on Wednesday, bans new takeaways within a 400-metre walking distance of a primary or secondary school. There are no powers to operate planning rules retrospectively, meaning the measure will stop additional outlets opening but will not close existing ones.\n\nIt also requires new takeaways to sign up to a healthier catering commitment, which encourages owners to make simple changes to food preparation methods, such as grilling rather than deep frying, and using less salt.\n\nSoho Parish primary in central London has 94 fast food outlets within a 400-metre radius, according to Cedar. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian\n\nHowever, the restrictions will apply only to shops classed under planning laws as A5 use, which applies to outlets selling hot food for consumption off the premises. This does not include chains such as McDonald\u2019s, which operate as restaurants with takeaway capacity and are classified differently.\n\nNor does it include operators such as Greggs bakeries whose primary business is not as a hot food takeaway. The Cedar figures do include such shops as well as McDonald\u2019s-style outlets.\n\nA Guardian investigation in July revealed that the fast food retail industry was booming. Cedar analysis found that there were 56,600 hot food takeaways in England in 2017, an 8% increase in three years. The heaviest concentrations of fast food outlets were to be found in the most economically deprived areas, such as the north-west.\n\nPHE called this year for all councils to introduce planning restrictions on fast food into their local planning schemes. Currently, about 20 local authorities in England have implemented planning strategies to limit takeaway numbers. While some claim the new rules have kept a lid on overall A5 outlet numbers, it is not clear if any of the councils have managed to stop the rise of obesity.\n\nExperts have warned that planning restrictions may be of limited use, partly because they do not stop the expansion of other shops selling high fat, low nutrient food, such as supermarkets or newsagents.\n\nThe restrictions may also be bypassed by developments in the hospitality industry such as the rise of online ordering of fast food, often prepared in \u201cdark kitchens\u201d off the high street not covered by A5 class planning rules.", "output": "Pupils in the most socially deprived areas in England are exposed to five times as many fast food outlets as their wealthiest peers, according to data from Cambridge University. Over 400 schools in the country have 20 or more takeaways within 400 metres, and an additional 1,400 have between 10 and 19 within the same radius. Health experts warn that such heavy exposure results in greater risk of childhood obesity, heart disease and stroke in adulthood. In September 2017, the average school had 2.6 fast food outlets within 400 metres, up from 2.3 in June 2014.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Singapore scientists develop ethylene using solar energy \n An artificial photosynthesis device developed by a team of of scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) could provide a greener alternative to current ethylene production, employing a completely renewable energy source, while simultaneously converting CO2 with the help of copper catalysts.\n\nAccording to the findings published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, NUS achieved an unprecedented 1.5% solar-to-ethylene energy efficiency (the total solar-to-carbon-fuels energy efficiency is 2.9%).\n\nCurrent industrial production of ethylene employs steam cracking of saturated hydrocarbons at 750\u00b0C to 950\u00b0C, which translates to an enormous consumption of energy, emitting about two tons of carbon dioxide for every ton of ethylene produced.The process, developed by the NUS team, takes place at room temperature and pressure, with only the use of benign chemical reagents.\n\nPopular content\n\nThe researchers have also added a battery to store excess solar energy, thus ensuring stable and continuous production of ethylene, and are now developing suitable catalysts that can be used in similar systems to produce liquid fuels such as ethanol from CO2 and H2O.\n\n\u201cWe believe that our work, which is a product of efforts for the last two years, will play a crucial role to address key challenges in the realization of a scalable artificial photosynthesis system to produce clean fuels sustainably,\u201d said assistant Professor Jason Yeo Boon Siang.", "output": "Scientists at the National University of Singapore's Department of Chemistry have developed a low-cost, energy-efficient way to produce ethylene from carbon dioxide and water. In an article published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, the team simulated photosynthesis using benign chemical reagents at room temperature and pressure, achieving an unprecedented 1.5% solar-to-ethylene energy efficiency. The team said its work would further the development of \"a scalable artificial photosynthesis system to produce clean fuels sustainably\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Agtech start-up FBN raises\u00a0$110m for\u00a0farm\u00a0analytics platform \n Farmers Business Network (FBN), a farmer-to-farmer digital network offering data insights, input procurement, and crop marketing services, has raised $110 million in Series D funding.\n\nFBN is one of just a few farmtech startups that have raised rounds larger than $100 million: vertical farming group Plenty and biological inputs startup Indigo are two recent examples. This latest round brings FBN\u2019s total fundraising to $200 million.\n\nThe round attracted new, lead investment from two large institutional investors: global asset management firm T. Rowe Price and Singapore state fund Temasek. These lead investors typically invest in later stage, private equity deals, highlighting how far FBN has come since its founding three years ago, argues Charles Baron, cofounder and VP of product.\n\n\u201cThese are blue chip investors who are investing in the growth and proven track record FBN has built,\u201d he told AgFunderNews. \u201cWe\u2019ve built a phenomenally high-growth business with membership doubling year-on-year to nearly 5,000 farms around the US across 16 million acres, taking on another million acres each month.\u201d\n\nTo put this in perspective, there are about 50,000 large-scale farms growing commodity crops like corn and soy in the US where FBN has focused most of its attention.\n\nExisting investors Acre Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, GV (Google Ventures) and DBL Partners also participated in the round.\n\nThe company has grown in other ways too: its input procurement business has expanded from selling 170 products initially to over 1,200, it launched a crop marketing business earlier this year, it is expanding into Canada, and its team is now 200-strong, with plans to increase by another 100 in the next 12-18 months.\n\nThis growth puts an exit for the founders and investors in FBN in the cards within the next few years, and while most agrifood tech startups plan to exit their businesses through a trade sale to one of the large agrifood corporates, FBN has always planned to remain an independent company, according to Baron.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019d like to be a public company that farmers can invest in; that\u2019s the best way for us to realize the vision of an independent company,\u201d he said, adding that a public listing and IPO is likely in the next two to five years.\n\nWhat is FBN?\n\nFBN started life as an ag data platform with the intention of helping farmers manage their data and gain insights from each other on areas such as seed selection, compare productivity, and benchmark field performance over time. The platform predominantly collects data extracted from farm equipment but also aggregates farmers\u2019 manually recorded data.\n\nIt later launched a seed finder app to share seed performance results and research with farmers to help them make better purchasing decisions.\n\nUsing data collected and crowdsourced from farmers about their seed and other input purchases, FBN was able to bring transparency to an otherwise opaque input pricing system.\n\n\u201cPrices are rarely listed online, and zone pricing is incredibly common where input suppliers will divide up the country into zones and charge different prices: a farmer in northern Illinois can pay a totally different amount to a farmer in southern Illinois,\u201d said Baron.\n\nFBN has also used its network to crowdsource genetic information about seeds, and revealed that the exact same genetic variety of seed could be sold by as many as 12 different companies under different brand names and at different prices.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s been a total black box for farmers, but we were able to build up a database from thousands of seed label pictures of the exact seed varieties uploaded by our farmers,\u201d said Baron.\n\nAn Input Procurement Business\n\nSo the natural progression was for FBN to start selling inputs to farmers with this transparent pricing and it now sells over 1,200 seed, pesticide, fertilizer, and other input products from a variety of suppliers including direct from the manufacturers.\n\n\u201cThe way to think about FBN Direct is as an open marketplace; we welcome anyone that wants to supply our farmers from the major agrochemical companies to smaller distributors. Many companies have been blocked from reaching farmers as they can\u2019t get into the highly consolidated retail market that works predominantly with the agrochemical majors; we\u2019re creating more competition,\u201d said Baron.\n\nThe input procurement business FBN Direct is now an e-commerce platform enabling farmers to discover and purchase supplies completely online \u2014 FBN Direct launched as an over-the-phone service initially \u2014 which also offers farmers credit on their purchases through flexible payments or loans via third-party providers. This part of the business, that enables farmers to share their farm data with financial providers, could naturally develop into a more general farm loans marketplace in the future, added Baron.\n\n\u201cThe farm economy is not set up to meet the needs of farmers, but to meet the needs of the supplier,\u201d said Baron. \u201cFBN puts farmers first in the system and closer to the consumer by helping them to get the benefit of industry aggregation via the network and the scale of e-commerce.\u201d\n\nIndustry insiders tell AgFunderNews that FBN\u2019s business model does pose a threat to ag retailers and the large agrochemical companies: \u201cThere is enough money and energy behind FBN for it to be something big ag needs to keep an eye on, especially if you look at how other industries have been disrupted,\u201d said one insider from a large agribusiness.\n\n\u201cAny startup that can successfully harness technology to drive network effects is going to be a huge threat to the incumbents,\u201d said Rob Leclerc, CEO of AgFunder. \u201cLike we\u2019ve seen time and time again in other industries, the incumbents usually don\u2019t get it until it\u2019s too late.\u201d\n\nBut some insiders are also critical of FBN\u2019s approach and rhetoric around the role of the retailers.\n\n\u201cYou don\u2019t have to demonize the retailer to be still creating value. Retailers provide much more than prices and product sales; they provide a service including consultancy,\u201d said the insider.\n\nHe added that the retailer and agrochemical majors are also starting to move some of their sales online in some geographies so will adapt to the online trend FBN is taking advantage of.\n\n\u201cFBN is trying to disrupt ag retail and grain brokers, not directly the suppliers. In essence, they are attempting to raise more capital than anyone to brute force a business model,\u201d said another industry insider.\n\nA Crop Marketing Platform\n\nFBN last raised funding in March of this year with a $40 million Series C and raised the Series D preemptively \u201cto capitalize on its new businesses, particularly crop marketing,\u201d according to Baron.\n\nThe company will use the latest proceeds to build out this crop marketing platform with the intention of enabling buyers from all over the globe to buy directly from US farmers.\n\n\u201cThis is where an online, digital network can be so transformational; now a food company from anywhere in the world can work with FBN and the best farms in America to avoid going through multiple middlemen,\u201d said Baron. \u201cIt also allows farmers to use data to market their crop better, yield them better prices, but also bring them production contracts in advance so that they can know their price and costs before the season has even started to a much greater level of detail.\u201d\n\nFBN will also provide them with cash advances for working capital, \u201ctaking the risk with them\u201d said Baron.\n\nFBN has hundreds of thousands of acres under contract for the 2018 growing season, according to Baron.\n\nMoving into New Territory\n\nFBN serves farmers growing 25 different crops across 42 states. The majority still grow the major commodity crops, corn, soy, and wheat, but the company\u2019s footprint is growing in large specialty crops like lentils, and chickpeas as well as orchard crops and vegetables on the west coast, according to Baron.\n\nThe company\u2019s offering is slightly different for these farmers as they aren\u2019t capturing the same data from machinery as the broadacre farmers are; it\u2019s more focused on pricing intelligence and input benchmarking, according to Baron.\n\nFBN will also use the proceeds of this round to expand into Canada where it\u2019s opening offices shortly. New territories globally are also in the pipeline, and with investment from Singapore\u2019s Temasek, it\u2019s likely Asia will be a target in the medium term.", "output": "US agriculture technology start-up Farmers Business Network (FBN) has raised a further $110m in a funding round led by Singapore sovereign-wealth fund Temasek and asset management firm T. Rowe Price. FBN, which also raised\u00a0$40m in March, enables farmers across 42 US states to find and purchase products including seed, fertiliser and pesticides online, as well as gain access to credit. The latest funding will be used to build out FBN's\u00a0platform and expand into Canada and potentially Asia.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Hiring spree sees 2017 trainee recruitment surge\u00a0to record \n Redrow, the multi-award-winning housebuilder,has reported a 19% increase in the number of trainees it has taken on this year, achieving a record 353 such recruitments in 2017 compared to 297 in 2016.\n\nThe trainees work across many disciplines across the company from general construction tradesmen and civil engineers to quantity surveyors and designers. With 22% of Redrow\u2019s trainees being female, the proportion is significantly higher than the 13.5% of women reported as the industry\u2019s workforce average.\n\nThe range of trainees includes a significant proportion of those undertaking construction trade apprenticeships, there are also many graduate trainees. There is a wide spectrum of qualifications available, from NVQ to degree, and the opportunity, over time and funded by the housebuilder, to join respected professional organisations such as the Chartered Institute of Building, the Institute of Civil Engineers or the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.\n\nPart of the company\u2019s approach to training is the way that apprentices are encouraged to undertake projects in the community, as a way to develop leadership and management skills.\n\n\u201cRedrow\u2019s work in the community gives our trainees a holistic experience that allows them to develop soft skills such as communication, leadership and problem solving, alongside their on-the-job experience, through working with local schools and charities,\u201d says Karen Jones, HR director at Redrow and also trustee of the Construction Industry Training Board. \u201cWe feel that this rounded approach to development sets up our trainees for a successful future and ensures the next generation of housebuilders are the best they can be.\u201d\n\nAmong current examples are graduates working on Considerate Constructors project, the Big Build Challenge, engage with local schoolchildren and get them thinking creatively about the environment, and a dozen graduate trainees from the area recently completing a project in partnership with Help Bristol\u2019s Homeless in converting an empty shipping container into somewhere the city\u2019s homeless population could inhabit.\n\nJones adds: \u201cRedrow has a strong history of giving young people the skills they need to succeed in the housebuilding industry. This year we welcome another record intake of new trainees who will have the best possible start to their careers. The construction industry faces a looming skills gap that will only be exacerbated by Brexit. Housebuilders like us are investing in the next generation of construction industry talent and the government\u2019s Autumn Budget contained a set of additional commitments to support more young people into the sector which we warmly welcome.\u201d\n\nRedrow is a member of the 5% Club, where a company commits to at least 5% of its workforce comprised of apprentices, graduates or sponsored students over the next five years. Redrow already exceeds this aim by far, with 17% of the total workforce as trainees.\n\nOne example of Redrow\u2019s current graduate trainee team is Matthew Finch, who joined in September this year as part of the rotational graduate scheme. The 26-year-old gained a Bachelor of Science degree, a PGCE and an NVQ Level 6 in Construction Management before joining, and had also already worked on site as an assistant site manager.\n\nMatthew says: \u201cAlthough I knew I wanted to work in the housebuilding industry, I want to gain a holistic view of the business. The rotational scheme is allowing me to rotate in all the different departments before going into the department which is most suitable for me and the business. Thanks to the grad-scheme, I now know I will have the expertise and foundations to be successful within the business.\n\n\u201cI am looking forward to spending time scoping out new developments and like the thought of being able to take a scheme from the very beginning to completion with residents moving in and communities forming. I think that will be incredibly rewarding.\u201d\n\nHis ambitions are strong and he already feels \u2018at home\u2019 with one of Britain\u2019s biggest housebuilders: \u201cI\u2019d like to progress up the corporate ladder in the future and become more involved with not only building the best homes, but building them in the best locations. Since joining Redrow, I have really enjoyed the atmosphere and company culture. Everyone here is so accommodating and helpful. Despite being extremely busy, senior members of staff are always willing to take the time to set me tasks, ensuring that I fully understand and are genuinely interested in my personal development.\u201d\n\nDid you like this? Share it:", "output": "Housebuilder Redrow has hired 19% more trainees this year, recruiting a record 353 from 297 in 2016. It's taken on staff\u00a0across departments\u00a0including construction, civil engineering, quantity surveying and\u00a0designing. More than a fifth of trainees\u00a0are\u00a0female, higher than the 13.5% average for the industry, and comprise\u00a0graduates and apprentices.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Regus opens fourth office centre in Bulgaria \n November 30 (SeeNews) - Luxembourg-headquartered provider of flexible workspace solutions Regus said on Thursday it will open its fourth office centre in Bulgaria\u2019s second largest city of Plovdiv.\n\n\"[...] our plans are to continue to grow in the country.\" Luydmila Uzun, general manager of Regus Bulgaria, said in the statement.\n\nRegus operates three office centres in Bulgarian capital Sofia.", "output": "Regus, the workspace provider operating from Luxembourg, has launched its fourth office facility in Plovdiv, Bulgaria\u2019s second-biggest metropolis. Regus also has three office centres located in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, with plans to open further locations in the country.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US retailers fall short of consumer expectations \n Retailers are still coming up short on winning shoppers over with in-store experiences.\n\nMore than one-third of shoppers said they \"feel nothing\" when asked about their initial reaction after shopping in stores, GPShopper found in its latest report, \"Reality of Retail: Consumer Connection.\"\n\nGPShopper's study, which was conducted with research firm YouGov, asked roughly 1,200 U.S. adults what innovations \u2014 both digital and physical \u2014 they want retailers to incorporate in stores.\n\nThe survey found:\n\n86 percent of shoppers like \"experience stores,\" where they can test products in stores but buy on mobile or online, similar to the Samsung store concept.\n\n85 percent like the idea of product recommendations based on ratings, similar to what Amazon\n\n80 percent like buying items online and picking purchases up in stores, as Wal-Mart Target\n\n78 percent like stores that were first online and then developed physical storefronts, similar to Warby Parker.\n\n\"We believe in retail but also think [stores] need to evolve to meet the modern consumer,\" said Maya Mikhailov, CMO and co-founder of GPShopper.\n\n\"The modern consumer is connecting to retail digitally. ... The most important device for them is the mobile phone.\"\n\nMikhailov added that traditionally brick-and-mortar retailers are now \"stumped\" about what to do with excess square footage amid the age of digital. And as evidenced by GPShopper's latest survey, many retail companies have yet to hit a high note with consumers' emotions.\n\nFollowing \"feeling nothing,\" many shoppers appear to be \"anxious.\"", "output": "Big US department stores are falling short of customer expectations in the digital age, with 86% of consumers preferring \"experience stores\" to traditional outlets, according to a survey by GPShopper. 85% of the 1,200 US adults surveyed bought products based on online recommendations, while more than one third said they felt nothing when shopping in traditional stores. Retailers such as Warby Parker, Ulta and Apple, which offer the chance to \"experience the brand\" instead of simply selling products, are the sector's big winners, according to GlobalData Retail Managing Director Neil Saunders.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dubai's Abraaj to build natural gas power plant in Mexico \n Dubai-based Abraaj Group has invested in a 111 MW natural gas-fired power plant in Mexico \u2013 the first phase of the company\u2019s plan to develop a 500 MW power generation platform in the country.\n\nThe investment in the Chihuahua plant was made through an Abraaj-managed fund focussing on opportunities in Mexico, and the company has partnered with Emerging America \u2013 a Mexican firm that develops natural gas-fired projects. No price was mentioned in the announcement by the group.\n\nThe 500 MW platform is being financed with debt from local banks Banorte and Nafinsa, and is expected to commence operations at the beginning of 2019.\n\nSaad Zaman, partner at The Abraaj Group, said: \u201cThis plant represents the first of many investments that Abraaj intends to carry out in the Mexican energy infrastructure sector.\n\n\u201cWe have an advanced pipeline of attractive projects and will leverage our global energy expertise to develop complementary natural gas-fired and renewable energy platforms.\n\n\u201cBuoyed by a strong regulatory framework, the Mexican energy infrastructure sector is a long-term and sustainable investment opportunity for Abraaj. We are delighted to partner with Emerging America to deliver efficient and more affordable power to the country.\u201d", "output": "Dubai-based Abraaj Group plans to build a 111 MW natural gas-fired power plants in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. The project is the first phase of investment for a 500 MW natural gas power generation platform in Mexico. It will be financed by local banks Banorte and Nafinsa, and is expected to commence operations at the beginning of 2019."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GM aims to roll out commercial self-driving cars in 2019 \n GM says it will have a ride-sharing service featuring its line of self-driving Chevy Bolts ready to go by 2019. That would place the No. 1 US automaker ahead of its main rival Ford, which has said it plans to unveil its own self-driving car without pedals or a steering wheel by 2021.\n\nGM\u2019s top executives made the announcement today during a call with investors. The company recently allowed reporters to take rides in its autonomous test cars through the congested streets of San Francisco. Most reported that the car handled most situations proficiently, with a few hiccups.\n\nGM is obviously feeling pressured to fast-track its self-driving taxi service\n\nBut GM is obviously feeling pressured to fast-track its self-driving taxi service, especially in light of recent developments like Alphabet\u2019s Waymo deploying its fleet of autonomous minivans in Arizona without a human driver behind the wheel.\n\nWaymo\u2019s technology may be more advanced than GM\u2019s, and its cars may have racked up more miles of experience, but GM has been on a buying spree as it seeks to shore up its position in both autonomous and electric vehicle development. Last month, Cruise, the self-driving unit of GM, said that it would buy Strobe, a startup that makes LIDAR sensors that help autonomous vehicles \u201csee\u201d their surroundings. Cruise itself was acquired last year for over half a billion dollars.\n\nThe race to deploy a commercial, self-driving product pits GM against untraditional players like Waymo and Uber. Uber has self-driving vehicles ferrying passengers in Pittsburgh and Phoenix, but has yet to say when it plans to start monetizing its service. Waymo plans to start shepherding passengers in its fully driverless minivans (no safety driver) within the next few months, but that will only be available to a very limited group of passengers. GM is unique in its position that it will have a scalable commercial product in just two years.", "output": "General Motors plans to launch autonomous vehicles for the commercial urban market in 2019, with a focus on ride-sharing functionality. The automaker is currently testing its fully autonomous Chevrolet Bolt in San Francisco, Phoenix, and Detroit, with plans to expand into Manhattan in 2018. Human reserve drivers are still accompanying the cars at present, but the vehicles have reportedly demonstrated the capability to navigate complex traffic."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "60% faster, cheaper, cover 45x more alerts: CS\u2019 compliance bots \n Credit Suisse says that a new big data platform and the intelligent deployment of software robots is reversing years of rising compliance costs.\n\nSince deploying an advanced data analytics and technology platform earlier this year, the Swiss bank says it has generated a 45-fold increase in the number of productive alerts from its predictive monitoring of transactions compared to last year. Resolution of the alerts is 60% faster despite the volume of data, and the result comes at a fraction of the historical cost of such monitoring.\n\n\n\nThe shake-up in the compliance function follows the creation in 2015 of an independent Compliance and Regulatory Affairs organisation (CCRO) reporting directly to the CEO.\n\n\n\nLara Warner, who heads up the unit says: \"Over the past two years we have gone from a human-led approach to compliance, where we were carrying out periodic checks, to a technology-led approach in which we are continuously monitoring activities across the bank to enable earlier prevention and detection.\"\n\n\n\nThe pool of data and advanced analytics accessible to compliance teams via the platform comprises some four billion records. Thanks to a combination of real-time processing and on-the-money monitoring, the bank is now able to perform KYC checks on international client transactions 80% faster at approximately 40% lower costs.\n\n\n\nInitially designed to spot patterns of money laundering, the algorithms deployed on the platform are now being adapted to detect fraud and monitor transactions, says Warner.\n\n\n\nCredit Suisse has also been deploying an army of software robots to carry out certain repetitive compliance tasks. One of them, dubbed 'James the Robot', is used for suitability and appropriateness checks - to ensure clients are invested in the right products. James conducts these checks 200 times faster than when they were done manually, representing a significant reduction in risk for the bank.\n\n\n\nIn a statement, the bank says: \"After three years of rising compliance costs at Credit Suisse, due both to new regulation and investment in technology, the deployment of the new platform and the use of data analytics in 2017 has turned the tide.\"", "output": "After three years, tech investment, including the deployment of big data analytics and software robots, is starting to positively impact compliance costs at Credit Suisse, which claims to be 60% faster and much more cost efficient resolving alerts from monitoring transactions, even though the number of alerts has increased 45-fold compared to 2016. The bank\u2019s bots have reportedly made KYC checks on international transactions 80% faster and roughly 40% cheaper. They are also being used for fraud detection and reducing risk by executing repetitive tasks like suitability and appropriateness checks around 200 times faster than they were manually.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California's largest solar plant to inject steam in oil wells \n Yesterday, Aera Energy and GlassPoint Solar announced plans to build California\u2019s largest solar energy project. Located at the Belridge oilfield west of Bakersfield, the project will be used to generate steam to inject into the ground to help extract oil.\n\nThe site will produce 12 million barrels of steam per year, replacing 4.8B ft3 of natural gas that would have been burnt to generate the steam. The oil-producing solar project is projected to save more than 376,000 metric tons of carbon emissions, which is equivalent to the emissions of 80,000 cars per year.\n\nBelridge Solar will consist of two power plants, a solar thermal plant and solar electric plant. The solar thermal facility will output 850 MW of thermal energy, producing 12 million barrels of steam per year via reflecting sunlight from large mirros on a centrally located tube. The solar electric plant will produce 26.5 MW of electricity.\n\nAera and GlassPoint plan to break ground on the Belridge Solar plant in the first half of 2019 and expect to be producing steam and electricity as early as 2020.\n\nAn explanation for the purpose GlassPoint\u2019s solar thermal project was provided:\n\nHeavy oil is produced by injecting steam into the reservoir to heat the oil so it can be pumped to the surface. This process, known as thermal Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), typically generates steam using natural gas. By harnessing the sun\u2019s thermal energy to replace the combustion of natural gas, GlassPoint is enabling Aera to reduce its energy consumption and carbon footprint at Belridge.\n\nA patent was given for \u2018solar augmented geothermal energy\u2018 that looks very similar to this oil extraction method and was actually referenced by GlassPoint in its own patent filings. The image below gives a rough description of the flow of steam in the power plant:\n\nFive other plants have been built globally with this technology. Glasspoint has been involved in three of them. The first pilot plant for the technology was built in California in 1983 by Arco Solar. Early in November, Glasspoint finished construction on Phase 1 of the same technology in Oman. The Oman plant will be 1GW in size.\n\nThe technology is deployed in 28MW blocks that cover 14 acres:\n\nA gorgeous collection of images mostly from the Oman site:\n\nA video of the Oman project:\n\nConsidering residential solar? Understand Solar will connect you with local contractors. Tweet me to pick apart quote.\n\nFor more electric vehicle, autonomous transport and clean technology news, make sure to follow us on Twitter, Newsletter, RSS or Facebook to get our latest articles.", "output": "Aera Energy and GlassPoint Solar have announced plans to construct California's largest solar energy facility. The solar thermal site will produce 12 million barrels of steam per year to be injected into the Belridge oilfield for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The system will replace natural gas in EOR and save\u00a0more than 376,000 metric tons of carbon emissions."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Finserves seek computational edge via quantum computing start-up \n A host of financial services firms, including the Royal Bank of Scotland, have joined a C$45 million Series B funding round for Vancouver-based quantum computing startup 1QBit Information Technologies.\n\nLed by Fujitsu, the round, comprising equity and revenue contracts, was also joined by insurance giant Allianz, CME Group's venture arm, and Accenture.\n\n\n\nOver the last four years, 1QBit has built up a team of over 50 researchers, software developers, and industry experts who specialise in developing algorithms and software for quantum and classical computing, focused on machine learning, optimisation methods, and simulation.\n\n\n\nThe firm works with clients in areas such as finance, energy and life sciences, helping them tackle \"computationally intensive problems\". The latest round will not only pump money into the company as it builds up its hardware-agnostic software platform, but also see Accenture and Fujitsu offer the technology to their clients.\n\n\n\nPaul Daugherty, chief technology and innovation officer, Accenture, says: \"The 1QBit platform accelerates our client\u2019s ability to leverage the most advanced quantum and classical processors available to solve their most complex business challenges, and gives them a hardware-agnostic solution that enables them to stay ahead of the computational curve.\"", "output": "Quantum computing start-up 1QBit Information Technologies has raised CAD45m in a series B round featuring Royal Bank of Scotland, Allianz and CME Group. The hardware-agnostic 1QBit platform is expected to help clients stay ahead of the computational curve in solving complex business challenges, said Paul Daugherty, CTO at Accenture, which also participated. In addition to development, the latest round will see Fujitsu, which led the round, and Accenture, offer the technology to clients. Boasting a team of over 50 researchers, software developers, and industry experts, 1QBit creates software for quantum and classical computing, focusing on optimisation, simulation and machine learning. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bitfinex, Tether deny mismanagement as links come under scrutiny \n SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 As the price of Bitcoin has soared, the virtual currency has edged toward the mainstream.\n\nSquare, the fast-growing payments company run by the Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, has begun selling Bitcoins to ordinary consumers, and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange will soon allow banks to trade on the value of Bitcoin.\n\nBut if you want to see where the price of Bitcoin is actually determined in round-the-clock bidding, you have to go to a number of unregulated exchanges that often fly in the face of American and European laws.\n\nThese days, no exchange is bigger than Bitfinex, an opaque operation that provides no information on its website about where it is or who operates the company.", "output": "Bitfinex, the largest cryptocurrency exchange, and dollar-linked cryptocurrency issuer Tether have denied claims of mismanagement weeks after a $30m hack of the platform. Both condemned the allegations as being made by\u00a0\"questionable actors\" and said\u00a0Bitfinex aims to be \"the most transparent crypto exchange in the industry\". However, the exchange provides no information on management and it has only just\u00a0acknowledge its links with\u00a0Tether after the connection was revealed in the\u00a0leaked Paradise Papers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "No Isolation uses avatar to overcome loneliness in ill children \n For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBreaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nThe hardest thing about the hereditary syndrome Jade Gadd developed at the age of 13 wasn\u2019t the pain, even though that could be hard. Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome affects every system in the body, but not at the same time, so Jade never knows when she might lose her speech, or when her fragile bones might break, or when her skin might become so sensitive that she can\u2019t bear being touched.\n\nAt 17, Jade has become accustomed to the changing nature of the disease. But she has always struggled with the loneliness that comes from long periods of isolation.\n\n\u201cI felt like I was disappearing from the world,\u201d she says of the time after her diagnosis. \u201cI used to go to after school clubs and have friends that felt like family. But when I came out of hospital they disappeared and I was devastated.\u201d\n\nNow Jade has a new social life through a robot called AV1 that she has nicknamed Bee. The robot is the creation of No Isolation, a Norwegian company founded two years ago with one big goal: to end loneliness.\n\nThe NHS estimates that there are more than a million children in the UK who have a long-term or lifelong illness and need medicines for the foreseeable future. Schools and other local authorities have a responsibility to make sure children with chronic illnesses receive a full education, but in practice, services can be slow and expensive. It took Jade a year to get a science teacher at home.\n\nAV1 costs \u00a31800 to rent for one year, which includes a 4G subscription and unlimited support. That sounds a lot, but it quickly earns its keep when a school has to pay for home tutoringin sever al different subjects.\n\nKaren Dolva, the 26-year-old co-founder of No Isolation, describes AV1 as \u201ca phone wrapped in a robot\u201d. It is a small, white avatar, designed to sit on a desk with its head down until a remote user signs on at home through their tablet or phone. Then the head comes up and lights go on behind the the eyes, where there is also a camera, speaker and microphone. Unlike a phone, however AV1 has no screen.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019re not having your best day when you\u2019re ill at home in bed. So we took away the screen,\u201d Karen says. \u201cThe kids get it instantly, but they are more used to playing games and having avatars represent them than we are.\u201d\n\nAV1 is not only a pair of eyes and ears in a classroom. It also allows the user to respond to questions and hold conversations. One afternoon at the No Isolation office in Oslo, Karen shows me the iPad interface. It includes options to raise your hand, which is signalled by flashing lights. There\u2019s a button to whisper, which brings the volume on the robot down so low that only someone with their ear pressed to the speaker can hear. Finally, there\u2019s the option to signal that you are present, but tired and unable to talk much or answer questions.\n\n\u201cYou can set a blue light so you don\u2019t have to say, \u2018Today I\u2019m not feeling well,\u2019 because that\u2019s not always an easy thing to say,\u201d Karen says.\n\nNo Isolation came out of a friendship between Karen, who had trained in user experience design; Marius Aabel, who specialises in electronics and hardware; and Matias Doyle, a software designer. They all worked at Startup Lab, an incubator and early stage investor, in Oslo around 2012. No Isolation was founded in the summer of 2015. The trio set out on months of research, talking to parents who cared for sick children and some whose children had passed away.\n\nDuring the research, they became especially close with Anne Fi Troye, a Norwegian woman who lost her daughter to cancer 12 years ago. Since that time, Anne Fi had been doing whatever she could to help children with illnesses battle loneliness. The feedback helped the founders realise that children needed an avatar that could be present not just in the classroom, but in the breaks, so they can keep up their friendships and develop socially with their peers.\n\n\u201cThe telepresence robot goes out on your behalf,\u201d Karen says. \u201cYou have a presence every day so that you don\u2019t miss anything. So the day you are there in the classroom, it\u2019s not a big deal, because everyone spoke to you yesterday.\u201d\n\nJade, who lives in the North East, was the first UK user of AVI, though there are about 700 AV1s in use across the world. She got used to using it in the holidays, when her dad would take it to the shops so that Jade could pick out her own fruit and toiletries.\n\nJade says: \u201cIt sounds trivial, but when life doesn\u2019t have days or nights and you can count the people you see in an average week on one hand, being able to see Tesco is like traveling to the moon.\u201d\n\nHer maths teacher, Steve McArdle, said the difference to Jade\u2019s wellbeing is huge.\n\n\u201cThe maths and further maths programme is intensive and fast paced,\u201d Steve says. \u201cJade has been attending lessons when well but through the link and our wider support programme she has so far missed nothing.\u201d\n\nThe reaction from fellow students has also been positive. \u201c[They were] excited at first and keen to be involved in the support programme,\u201d McArdle says. \u201cThe avatar uses her normal desk and they see it as her, if remotely rather than a machine.\u201d\n\nAV1 cannot record sessions, just as a pupil could not record a lesson in class. No Isolation have worked with the Norwegian Government to make sure that the robot won\u2019t breach privacy of teachers and students. Karen says: \u201cThat\u2019s a big part of it, the teachers should not feel like they are being monitored or that the parent might be watching.\u201d\n\nNo Isolation has had two rounds of funding. The first round raised \u20ac850,000 last February and then a seed round raised a further \u20ac2 million last November. The team is already onto its next business idea: a simple interface to combat loneliness in the elderly.\n\nThis so-called compassionate computer, or KOMP, is in the trial phase. It is designed to receive videos, links, photos and text and display them in a readable format, with no pop ups or clicks that might confuse older users.\n\n\u201cYou have so many different types of loneliness: chronically ill adults, seniors, even city loneliness,\u201d Karen Dolva says. \u201cWe can make a difference, we know we can.\u201d", "output": "Norwegian start-up No Isolation has developed a small robot device that helps chronically ill youngsters combat loneliness by offering an avatar-like link to the outside world. The AV1 sits on a classroom desk and is activated via a smartphone. Its camera, speaker and microphone enable children to answer questions in class and interact with others from home, while a blue light reveals when they are present but unable to participate. The company has sold 700 AV1 units, costing \u00a31,800 ($2,412) per year's rental, including 4G subscription and support, and is planning to develop a similar device for the elderly.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Olam looks to boost smart farming in Asia and Africa \n SINGAPORE/LAMPUNG -- On a sunny day in late July in Lampung, a rural farming town in the southern part of Indonesia's Sumatra Island, an employee of agricultural-goods trading company Olam International was busy making the rounds of cocoa farms, collecting data from farm owners.\n\n\"How old are your cocoa trees?\" he asked. \"What is your crop yield?\"", "output": "Singapore-based Olam International is using artificial intelligence and big data as part of its smart farming initiative, the Olam Farmer Information System (OFIS). It aims to boost production and value for smaller cocoa, coffee and nut growers in Africa and Asia, as well as improve efficiency, quality and traceability across the global supply chain. The company also plans to launch an online platform under its Olam Direct programme, where farmers can sell crops, purchase fertilisers\u00a0and access insurance and other financial services. Olam is a major provider of foodstuffs such as nuts and\u00a0cocoa beans\u00a0to world agriculture businesses.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Factory production will be affected by global warming \n As the mercury rises, industrial facilities will become less efficient. That\u2019s the finding of a new study, which crunched data about production rates from half a million Chinese manufacturing plants from 1998 to 2007.\n\nThe research, published in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, suggests that factories across China will see their output fall 12 percent by the middle of the 21st century if they don\u2019t adapt to climate change. That would be equivalent to a loss of $39.5 billion in 2007 dollars.\n\nThere would be two major effects at play. The first, which we\u2019ve described in the past, is that humans are affected by extreme temperature. When it\u2019s hot, they work less, and they are less productive when they do manage to work.\n\nBut the new analysis shows that both light industries, such as food manufacturing or timber processing, and heavy industries, like chemical refining or metal smelting, find their productivity dented by the heat. Because light industry is more reliant on humans and heavy industry is more reliant on equipment, that suggests high temperatures are taking a toll on the productivity of both labor and capital.\n\nIn other words, the machines themselves are less productive in the heat.\n\nPerhaps even more intruiging, thought, is that high-tech industries, such as production of medical supplies or manufacturing of computer parts, appear to feel the same effects. \u201cThis is striking, as firms in high-technology industries tend to operate in air-conditioned environments,\u201d the researchers write.\n\nThe findings are, of course, limited to China. But they are likely to apply to the rest of the world. Either way, the global economy is interconnected. As the authors point out, \u201cany climate change damage to the Chinese manufacturing sector is likely to affect global prices and thus welfare around the world.\u201d", "output": "Global warming will make industrial facilities less efficient, according to research into the production rates of half a million Chinese manufacturing plants between 1998 and 2007. The study suggests that factories throughout the country would see a 12% fall in output by the middle of the century without action to tackle climate change. The research found that, as well as human productivity, rising temperatures would also affect the productivity of machines. Unexpectedly, the study found that high-tech industries, which tend to have air-conditioned environments, would also experience the effects.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Three Chinese life insurers ordered to stop introducing new products \n Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-20 19:55:32|Editor: Xiang Bo\n\nVideo Player Close\n\nBEIJING, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- China's insurance regulator said Monday that it has banned three life insurance firms from issuing new products in the next six months.\n\nThe three companies, the Bank of Communications Life Insurance, ABC Life Insurance and Greatwall Life Insurance, have violated certain regulatory provisions, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) said on its website.\n\nInvestigators have found serious problems in the companies' product design and management, the commission said, ordering the companies to recall the defective products and rectify the problems.\n\nCIRC said it will continue to tighten regulatory supervision and punish irregularities.\n\nThis came amid the country's efforts to intensify financial regulation and supervision to contain financial risks.", "output": "The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) has issued bans on the issuance of new products for three life insurance firms, the Bank of Communications Life Insurance, Greatwall Life Insurance and ABC Life Insurance for violation of regulatory provisions. The regulator found that the companies' product design management was flawed, leading to defective product recalls. The CIRC plans to strengthen its supervision and be more stringent against financial risks."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Website crypto-miners run scripts after exiting browsers \n How Does This Browser Technique Work?\n\n\"This type of pop-under is designed to bypass adblockers and is a lot harder to identify because of how cleverly it hides itself,\" J\u00e9r\u00f4me Segura, Malwarebytes' Lead Malware Intelligence Analyst, says in the post. \"Closing the browser using the \"X\" is no longer sufficient.\"\n\nUPCOMING WEBINAR \ud83d\udd10 Mastering API Security: Understanding Your True Attack Surface Discover the untapped vulnerabilities in your API ecosystem and take proactive steps towards ironclad security. Join our insightful webinar! Join the Session\n\nHow to Block Hidden Cryptocurrency Miners\n\nSome websites have found using a simple yet effective technique to keep their cryptocurrency mining javascript secretly running in the background even when you close your web browser.Due to the recent surge in cryptocurrency prices, hackers and even legitimate website administrators are increasingly using JavaScript-based cryptocurrency miners to monetize by levying the CPU power of their visitor's PC to mine Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.After the world's most popular torrent download website, caught secretly using, a browser-based cryptocurrency miner service, on its site last month, thousands of other websites also started using the service as an alternative monetization model to banner ads.However, websites using such crypto-miner services can mine cryptocurrencies as long as you're on their site. Once you close the browser window, they lost access to your processor and associated resources, which eventually stops mining.Unfortunately, this is not the case anymore.Security researchers from anti-malware provider Malwarebytes have found that some websites have discovered a clever trick to keep their cryptocurrency mining software running in the background even when you have closed the offending browser window.According to a blog post published Wednesday morning by Malwarebytes, the new technique works by opening a hidden pop-under browser window that fits behind the taskbar and hides behind the clock on your Microsoft's Windows computer.From there (hidden from your view), the website runs the crypto-miner code that indefinitely generates cryptocurrency for the person controlling the site while eating up CPU cycles and power from your computer until and unless you notice the window and close it.Researchers say this technique is a lot harder to identify and able to bypass most ad-blockers because of how cleverly it hides itself. The crypto-miner runs from a crypto-mining engine hosted by Amazon Web Servers.To keep itself unidentified, the code running in the hidden browser always takes care of the maximum CPU usage and maintains threshold to a medium level.You can also have a look at the animated GIF image that shows how this clever trick works.This technique works on the latest version of Google's Chrome web browser running on the most recent versions of Microsoft's Windows 7 and Windows 10.If you suspect your computer CPU is running a little harder than usual, just look for any browser windows in the taskbar. If you find any browser icon there, your computer is running a crypto-miner. Now simply, kill it.More technical users can run Task Manager on their computer to ensure there is no remnant running browser processes and terminate them.Since web browsers themselves currently are not blocking cryptocurrency miners neither does the integrated Windows Defender antivirus software, you can use antivirus programs that automatically block cryptocurrency miners on web pages you visit.For this, you can contact your antivirus provider to check if they do.Alternatively, you can make use of web browser extensions, like No Coin , that automatically block in-browser cryptocurrency miners for you, and regularly update themselves with new mining scripts that come out.Created by developer Rafael Keramidas, No Coin is an open source extension that blocks Coin Hive and other similar cryptocurrency miners and is available for Google Chrome , Mozilla Firefox , and Opera No Coin currently does not support Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari, and Internet Explorer. So, those using one of these browsers can use an antimalware program that blocks cryptocurrency miners.", "output": "Security researchers have discovered that some cryptocurrency websites have found a way to keep crypto-mining Java script running on users' computers even after they have closed the site. Experts from Malwarebytes have reported that the technique involves opening a new pop-up window that hides on the desktop and uses the machine's processing power to run crypto-mining code until the user notices the window and closes it. Anti-virus software can be used to block cryptocurrency miners on webpages, and there are also browser extensions available including No Coin, which can be used with Chrome, Firefox and Opera.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Land Registry aiming to digitise 95% of transactions by 2022\n \n Post navigation\n\nThe Land Registry yesterday announced a new business strategy, aimed at speeding up the buying and selling of homes in England and Wales.\n\nThe new strategy is also aimed at making the process cheaper and simpler.\n\nThe Land Registry aims to digitise 95% of its daily transactions within five years, and to create a more definite record of property ownership.\n\nA pilot digital register for a \u201csmall selection\u201d of properties will be in place by the end of next month.\n\nCalled Digital Street, this will be \u201cmachine readable\u201d and capable of being updated instantly.\n\nThe Land Registry said: \u201cDigital Street will contribute towards a property industry where people will buy, rent, sell, finance, build and manage property with ease.\u201d\n\nThe new five-year plan is aimed to make it the world\u2019s leading land registry for speed, simplicity and an open approach to data.\n\nThe Land Registry currently contains over 25m titles showing evidence of ownership of some 84% of the land mass of England and Wales.", "output": "The UK's Land Registry is aiming to digitise 95% of its daily transactions over the next five years in order to speed up services for customers and simplify property transactions. The public agency holds records of ownership for 25 million properties in England and Wales, accounting for 84% of the land mass. The project, called Digital Street, will create a machine-readable digital register that can update instantly. A pilot using a small number of properties will be in place by the end of the year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Irish Stock Exchange to be bought by Euronext for \u20ac137m \n Euronext to Acquire Irish Stock Exchange\n\nEuronext announced the acquisition of 100% of The Irish Stock Exchange plc (\u0093ISE\u0094), for \u0080137 million.\n\nISE is currently owned by five Irish financial institutions, J&E Davy, Goodbody Stockbrokers, Investec Capital & Investments, Cantor Fitzgerald and Campbell O\u0092Connor that have all committed to sell their shares.\n\nThe transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close in Q1 2018.\n\nA strategic venue to join Euronext\u0092s federal model\n\nHeadquartered in Dublin, ISE is Ireland\u0092s incumbent stock exchange operator and a global leader in the listing of debt and funds securities. ISE is the first pool of liquidity for Irish equities (51 listed companies, c. \u0080122bn total domestic equity market capitalisation[3]), the first debt listing venue globally (30,000+ securities and listings1 from 90 countries) and the first fund listing venue globally (5,242 Investment Funds Securities and 227 ETFs1).\n\nISE generated revenue of \u008029.4m, EBITDA of \u00809.6m and a net income of \u00808.0m in 2016. For the first 9 months of 2017, ISE generated \u008024.2m of revenue, up +13.3% compared to the same period in 2016, and an EBITDA of \u00808.5m, up +22.4% compared to the same period in 2016.\n\nThe combined group pro forma 9 months of 2017 revenue would amount to \u0080416.9m and an EBITDA of \u0080227.7m before synergies.\n\nISE to join Euronext\u0092s federal model for further growth opportunities and increased efficiency\n\nThe transaction brings together two highly complementary businesses with significant growth opportunities and expands Euronext\u0092s federal model to a new attractive European country. It creates a leading global player in debt and fund listings, combining the listing expertise of ISE with the traded markets expertise of Euronext.\n\nEuronext will benefit from ISE\u0092s leading global positions in debt and fund listings as well as its unique product and listing expertise. The acquisition will also enhance Euronext\u0092s growth outlook thanks to ISE\u0092s embedded core businesses\u0092 growth, complemented by the additional strategic growth plans for ISE, which will be reinforced with the full support of Euronext.\n\nIdeal positioning of ISE in a dynamic environment, to take advantage of post-Brexit opportunities\n\nThe acquisition of ISE by Euronext, combined with Ireland\u0092s very competitive economic environment, will further strengthen Ireland\u0092s position as a strong European anchor to take advantage of Brexit opportunities. This transaction will also develop the Irish capital markets ecosystem within a European context and as part of Euronext\u0092s core mission to power the real economy.\n\nISE is at the centre of Ireland\u0092s highly competitive financial ecosystem. The country provides a recognized finance-friendly environment, with a highly educated workforce, and a business-oriented mind-set, as well as an attractive economy within the Eurozone, with forecast GDP growth of c.3.8%[4] 2017e-18e. Ireland is in a strong position to seize opportunities arising from Brexit since it is both close to the UK business culture and strongly rooted inside the Eurozone.\n\nDublin will have a strong group-wide position within Euronext\u0092s highly inclusive federal governance structure, notably as the global centre of excellence for all Euronext\u0092s group-wide activities in the listing of debt, funds and ETF securities.\n\nISE will then benefit from a strong European anchor to support and develop the Irish listed companies\u0092 ecosystem within a European context and as part of Euronext\u0092s core mission to power the real economy.\n\nIntegrated federal governance at the core of Euronext\u0092s federal model\n\n1 2 next\n\nFor more information on related topics, visit the following channels:", "output": "Euronext, the pan-European stock exchange group, has offered to buy the Irish Stock Exchange (ISE) for \u20ac137m ($162m). The offer came as Ireland makes attempts to deepen ties with Europe as Brexit uncertainty continues, and Europe tries to take on London as a financial centre. If it obtains regulatory approval the deal is expected to conclude early next year. Last year ISE made\u00a0revenues of \u20ac29.4m\u00a0and had a net income of \u20ac8m.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Luxembourg signs fintech partnership with Japan \n Source: The LHoFT\n\nAs part of the Luxembourg State visit in Japan and following the Luxembourg-Japan Business Forum in Tokyo highlighting the future of financial relations between Japan and Luxembourg, the Luxembourg House of Financial Technology Foundation (LHoFT) is pleased to announce the signature of a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Fintech Association of Japan (FAJ) on Wednesday, 29 November.\n\nThis MoU was signed by Nicolas Mackel, CEO of Luxembourg for Finance, on behalf of the LHoFT, and witnessed by H.E. Pierre Gramegna, Luxembourg Finance Minister, as well as other distinguished guests from the Luxembourg official delegation.\n\n\n\nNasir Zubairi, CEO of the LHoFT commented: \u201cThis cooperation agreement with the Fintech Association of Japan is the confirmation of the strong and trusted relationship between Japan and the Luxembourg financial centre. The agreement confirms that Luxembourg is becoming a core hub for Fintech and for corporations looking for Fintech investment opportunities across Europe.\u201d\n\n\n\nShirabe Ogino, Director of the FAJ added: \u201cThrough this MoU, we believe members of the Fintech Association of Japan will have better access to the European Union and receive up-todate information on trends or policies in the EU. We are also welcoming European Fintech startups to explore the financial sector in Japan.\u201d", "output": "The financial technology sectors of Luxembourg and Japan will work together closely, following the signing of an agreement between industry bodies in the two countries. The leaders of both organisations expressed hopes that the partnership will lead to mutual investment opportunities. Nasir Zubairi, CEO of the Luxembourg House of Financial Technology Foundation, added: \"this cooperation agreement with the Fintech Association of Japan is the confirmation of the strong and trusted relationship between Japan and the Luxembourg financial centre\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Coinbase reaps the rewards of bitcoin surge \n Bitcoin is a whisker away from the $10,000 mark, as it continues its spectacular run this year. It has gained 900% since January. One company in particular is benefiting from this bull run. The startup \u201cunicorn\u201d Coinbase is adding thousands of bitcoin-curious users daily and now has more registered users than the number of active accounts at the stock brokerage Charles Schwab, CNBC reported.\n\nCoinbase, which operates one of the biggest consumer-facing bitcoin wallets and exchanges in the business, added 100,000 users yesterday alone. Over 780,000 new users have signed up so far this month. That\u2019s according to data it publishes on its website, and which was collated by cryptocurrency fund manager Alistair Milne.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nCoinbase\u2019s rise is also apparent in its App Store rankings. It\u2019s ranked 53 out of all apps in the US App Store, up from 1,264th place in September. Yesterday it claimed the third spot among finance apps, behind only Square\u2019s Cash and PayPal\u2019s Venmo. Square Cash has long held the top spot, and it\u2019s perhaps no coincidence that it is also experimenting with a feature that will let customers buy and hold bitcoin.\n\nCoinbase appears to be far more popular among consumers than other cryptocurrency firms that have raised comparable amounts of venture funding. It has raised over $200 million since 2012, at an estimated valuation of $1.6 billion. While Coinbase has nearly cracked the top 50 most popular apps among US iOS users, the rival wallet service Blockchain.info, which has raised $70 million to date, is ranked 760th. Blockchain claims 19 million wallets have been created on its platform, while Coinbase claims 45 million wallets. Circle, which once allowed users to buy and hold bitcoin within its app, has raised $137 million, and is ranked 1,036th. Circle no longer lets users buy and sell bitcoin directly, but it still uses the cryptocurrency in the background to settle transactions.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nCompany US App Store ranking Funds raised Coinbase 53 $217 million Circle 1,036 $136 Blockchain.info 760 $70 Source: Crunchbase, Sensor Tower\n\nIf the oft-quoted analogy that bitcoin is like the internet of the 1990s is taken seriously, then Coinbase is the AOL of the bitcoin world, acting as a user-friendly, on-ramp for millions to a weird and wonderful new network\u2014while collecting a healthy chunk of fees. No matter how bitcoin trades in the coming days, Coinbase has already reaped the rewards of the cryptocurrency\u2019s bull run.", "output": "Bitcoin wallet and exchange site Coinbase has benefited from the soaring price of bitcoin, with the company seeing registered user numbers rise by more than 780,000 in November alone. Coinbase's\u00a0app is ranking 53rd on the App Store in the US, skyrocketing from 1,264th place in September this year. The company's popularity has led to more than $200m in investment since 2012, with a present valuation of approximately $1.6bn. Coinbase reportedly holds 45 million wallets.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI helps Facebook combat terrorist content \n SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Facebook says it's able to remove 99% of Islamic State and Al Qaeda terrorist content before it's flagged by users thanks to advances in artificial intelligence that are helping stop the spread of terrorist content.\n\nOnce Facebook is aware of the terrorist content, it removes 83% of it within an hour of it being uploaded, the company said Tuesday.\n\n\"We are encouraged by these numbers but we know we have to work to do and we are working on getting better and faster,\" said Monika Bickert, who runs global policy management. She would not say how much terrorist content \u2014 how many posts, images, videos and the like \u2014 is removed from Facebook.\n\n\"The 99% and 83% that are removed are pretty impressive on the surface but the question is: Are we talking about 1,000 videos or 10,000, or 100,000?\" says Seamus Hughes, deputy director of the program on extremism at George Washington University. \"What's glaringly missing are the actual hard numbers.\"\n\nAttacks on Western targets and sharp criticism from European officials have intensified pressure on Facebook to crack down on terrorist activity. European officials are calling on technology companies to take more responsibility for the content on their networks and to provide more information to authorities that could help them foil or investigate attacks.\n\nTerrorist groups use popular Internet services such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook to spread propaganda, attract and train new recruits, celebrate terrorist attacks and publicize executions. They also use messaging services to communicate.\n\nFacebook says it's rooting out and removing extremists' propaganda and messages by using sophisticated algorithms to mine words, images and videos.\n\nArtificial intelligence can't do the job alone, so Facebook has a team of more than 150, including counterterrorism experts, who are dedicated to tracking and taking down propaganda and other materials. It's also collaborating with fellow technology companies and consulting with researchers to keep pace with the ever-changing social media tactics of the Islamic State and other terror groups.\n\nFacebook is part of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism, which was formed in June with companies such as Google, Microsoft and Twitter. The companies share a database of \"hashes\" \u2014 essentially digital fingerprints \u2014 to track and take down videos and images that appear on their services.\n\nMore:Facebook taps artificial intelligence in new push to block terrorist propaganda\n\nMore:Russians used Facebook the way other advertisers do: By tapping into its data-mining machine\n\nMore:Zuckerberg: We're responsible for halting violent content on Facebook\n\nFacebook says it has prioritized going after Isis and Al Qaeda because it believes they pose the greatest threat globally but it plans to expand to terrorist content posted by other extremist groups.\n\nThe challenge: When chased from Facebook, terrorists set up shop elsewhere. Terrorism experts say extremists have decamped to smaller outfits such as messaging service Telegram, which use end-to-end encryption.\n\nSome of the techniques being developed by Facebook to combat terrorism can be deployed in other areas including Russian propaganda, Bickert said.\n\nA Russian organization linked to the Kremlin targeted unsuspecting Americans with Facebook posts and ads to stoke outrage over polarizing issues from gay rights to gun rights in the tense political climate surrounding the 2016 presidential election.\n\nExecutives from Facebook, Twitter and Google were recently summoned to a series of hearings on Capitol Hill to answer questions about election interference by Russians on their platforms. Russia has denied any meddling in the election.\n\n\"Facebook is having conversations with Capitol Hill at a higher clip than before,\" Hughes said. \"It's going to raise the question: If you can do this on terrorist content, then why can't you do this on fake news and Russian propaganda?\"", "output": "Facebook is using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to detect and remove pro-terrorist content from the site. Facebook claimed the system enables it to remove 99% of propaganda content before it is flagged by users, and 83% of it is removed within an hour of being uploaded. However, the company has not released figures for how many posts these percentages represent. The company has a team of more than 150 staff working on its counter-terrorism effort, and is part of a joint project with other technology firms called the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google accused of data protection breach in UK class action \n More than 5 million people in the UK could be entitled to compensation from Google if a class action against the internet giant for allegedly harvesting personal data is successful.\n\nA group led by the former executive director of consumer body Which?, Richard Lloyd, and advised by City law firm Mischon de Reya claims Google unlawfully collected personal information by bypassing the default privacy settings on the iPhone between June 2011 and February 2012.\n\nThey have launched a legal action with the aim of securing compensation for those affected. The group, called Google You Owe Us, says that approximately 5.4 million people in Britain used the iPhone during this period and could be entitled to compensation.\n\nGoogle is accused of breaching principles in the UK\u2019s data protection laws in a \u201cviolation of trust\u201d against iPhone users.\n\nThe lawsuit was unprecedented and represented \u201cone of the biggest fights of my life\u201d, said Lloyd, who has led legal actions against companies before.\n\n\u201cI believe that what Google did was simply against the law. Their actions have affected millions, and we\u2019ll be asking the courts to remedy this major breach of trust.\n\n\u201cThrough this action, we will send a strong message to Google and other tech giants in Silicon Valley that we\u2019re not afraid to fight back if our laws are broken.\n\n\u201cIn all my years speaking up for consumers, I\u2019ve rarely seen such as massive abuse of trust where so many people have no way to seek redress on their own.\u201d\n\nHe added: \u201cThis is \u2026 the first case of its kind in the UK against a major tech company for misusing our valuable personal data.\n\n\u201cI want to spread the world about our claim. Google owes all of those affected fairness, trust and money. By joining together, we can show Google that they can\u2019t get away with taking our data without our consent, and that no matter how large and powerful they are, nobody is above the law.\u201d\n\nA Google spokesperson said: \u201cThis is not new. We have defended similar cases before. We don\u2019t believe it has any merit and we will contest it.\u201d", "output": "Google is facing a class action lawsuit that could entitle more than five million people in the UK to compensation if the company is found to have harvested their personal data unlawfully. The Google You Owe Us group pursuing the action, which alleges Google unlawfully collected the data by bypassing default privacy settings on iPhones between June 2011 and February 2012, is led by a former executive director of consumer group Which?, Richard Lloyd, and advised by City law firm Mischon de Reya. Lloyd said Google's actions were a \"massive breach of trust\". Google is contesting the action.\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SocGen to cut 900 more staff, close 300 branches in savings drive \n French bank SocGen is taking the axe to its business once again, announcing plans for a further 900 job reductions and the closure of 15% of its branch network.\n\nThe three-year plan will involve a further rationalisation of the branch network, cutting the number of high street outlets from 2000 to 1700 stores, a consolidation of back office centres from 20 to 14, and the automation of 80% of front-to-bck processes.\n\n\n\nThe bank is also dedicating EUR150m to \"disruptive innovation projects\", which will be achieved through equity investments in startup businesses..\n\n\n\nThe overhaul could lead to a headcount reduction of approximately 900 employees, in addition to the 2,550 already announced at the beginning of 2016, taking the total number to around 3,450 by 2020.\n\n\n\nThe reorganisation will result in the bank recording an exceptional charge of around EUR400 million in Q4 17, with the aim of generating EUR1.1 billion in annual savings.", "output": "French bank Societe Generale plans to cut 900 jobs as it closes 15% of its network of branches over three years in\u00a0a bid to make annual savings of \u20ac1.1bn ($1.3bn). The company is reducing high street stores from 2,000 to 1,700 and\u00a0back office centres from 20 to 14, while 80%\u00a0of front-to-back processes will be\u00a0automated. It follows cuts of 2,550 staff last year.\u00a0SocGen will also invest \u20ac150m ($178m) into \"disruptive innovation\" initiatives by start-ups.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Marketers look to institute strict whitelist strategies after scandal \n The fear and disappointment that gripped brands in the wake of the brand-safety crisis on YouTube in March has been replaced with pragmatism and caution in the latest one.\n\nLast week, investigations by the BBC and The Times of London found ads that ran against content and comments that exploited kids, which pushed brands such as Adidas, Mars and Diageo to freeze spend on YouTube. The platform has since deleted hundreds of accounts and removed 150,000 videos. British advertisers\u2019 trade body ISBA called Google execs to a meeting with top marketers to dress them down over the problems. But despite the tough talk, marketers for the most part aren\u2019t threatening to pull ad spending, unlike the previous brouhaha. Now, marketers are more likely to take the onus on themselves to institute proper whitelist strategies.\n\n\u201cWe [L\u2019Or\u00e9al] can\u2019t say we\u2019re not going to use this channel because of certain issues [like brand safety]. At the end of the day, consumers are there,\u201d said St\u00e9phane B\u00e9rub\u00e9, L\u2019Or\u00e9al\u2019s CMO for Western Europe. \u201cI can tell you we\u2019re working very closely with Google and Facebook [on ad placement] and have seen a lot of improvement in this area. It\u2019s our responsibility as advertisers, not just L\u2019Or\u00e9al, to be able to find solutions that let us control the environments where our ads are served.\u201d\n\nB\u00e9rub\u00e9 discussed the importance of brands acknowledging the nuances of content on the site. The cosmetic brand won\u2019t advertise on certain YouTube channels even if they are brand-safe because they are at odds with its own values. While most big brands would agree with B\u00e9rub\u00e9, preferring to adopt stricter whitelists, some are happy to display ads next to safe but edgier YouTube channels because this is where their audience is, according to Aydin Moghaddam, head of paid search at digital agency Roast.\n\nThe safety or suitability of other content is subjective, added Andrea Ching, CMO at OpenSlate, a video analytics firm specializing in YouTube. Marketers must continue to balance maintaining suitable environments for their brands and staying current with the \u201cchanging content landscape and shifting social norms,\u201d she said.\n\nIt comes down to advertisers knowing what they\u2019re buying, said one media expert who consults with marketers on media strategy, speaking on condition of anonymity. During the first brand boycott of YouTube, the source\u2019s client took advantage of the cheaper rates and bought more ads on the site. \u201cWhen everyone else pulled out, the marketer said, \u2018As long as you know what you\u2019re buying and you\u2019re chasing an audience, you can go deeper into the platform,\u2019\u201d the source said. \u201cThere will be more of that same pragmatism from brands toward YouTube because for all the fear and complexity, marketers are saying they have to get on with it.\u201d\n\nYouTube is too big for most global advertisers to refuse even if they don\u2019t have full confidence in it. In the U.K., 18- to 34-year-olds watch an average 55 minutes of YouTube videos a day, according to comScore data cited by Google. What\u2019s driving the attention to YouTube is the content, much like it is for TV, according to Ronan Harris, Google\u2019s U.K. managing director.\n\nYouTube\u2019s pitch to brands, however, has left many demanding more from the video giant. As proactive as Google has been at addressing some of the industry\u2019s trust issues, the perception is it\u2019s still struggling to get to the root of the problem. Take Google Preferred, for example. In the wake of the initial brand-safety crisis, YouTube moved some advertisers to its Preferred lineup of the most popular channels, which were also sold as advertiser-safe content zones. Yet videos that brands don\u2019t want to be associated with still slip through the net. Google Preferred combined with greater monitoring still doesn\u2019t offer 100 percent protection, said Matt Bushby, Just Eat\u2019s head of growth marketing.\n\nSpeaking to Digiday prior to the latest brand boycott of the video platform, he said: \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of gamer content in there [Google Preferred], which might be a good audience for us, but actually is it premium content? That\u2019s a conversation we\u2019re having with YouTube because while we have lightened our spend there, we\u2019re still on the platform, and it\u2019s a challenge that we have to work together to solve as an industry.\u201d\n\nNeither Jellyfish nor M/Six believe Google Preferred is the most cost-effective or efficient way of buying media on YouTube.\n\nDigital agency Jellyfish uses a system that plugs into the YouTube application programming interface to select each individual video its clients appear against at scale. \u201cNo one can say 100 percent of their activity will always be brand-safe, but we\u2019re pretty confident our technology, in conjunction with Google\u2019s approach, is better than relying only on Google Preferred,\u201d said Daniel Wilkinson, head of paid media at Jellyfish.\n\nYouTube will remain consistent with past behavior, proactively working to resolve the content problem, argued Todd Krizelman, CEO and founder of ad sales insights platform MediaRadar. But for those keeping score, he said, \u201cthe perception is that YouTube is struggling to solve this problem.\u201d", "output": "Marketers are likely to establish proper whitelist strategies themselves in the wake of the YouTube brand safety crisis. Brands including Diageo and Adidas recently froze spending on YouTube after ads were found against content that exploited children. The Google-owned platform has since deleted hundreds of accounts and 150,000 videos. But marketers are unlikely to threaten to pull ad spending altogether and are instead likely to work with platforms to address the problems. St\u00e9phane B\u00e9rub\u00e9, L'Or\u00e9al's CMO for Western Europe, said it was the responsibility of all advertisers to help find solutions to control environments where ads are served."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook allocates more of budget towards series for Watch \n Facebook is spending more on individual shows for its Watch video-viewing section as the company scales back the total number of deals it signs with content partners. In doing so, the company is also looking for longer periods of exclusivity for the programs it funds.\n\nFacebook launched Watch in August in an effort to bring more TV-like video programming to its platform. Instead of short, 60- to 90-second clips that work well within the news feed, Facebook wants more long-form material for Watch \u2014 and is willing to pay for it. Budgets for the first batch of \u201cspotlight\u201d (short-form) shows for Watch, which totaled in the hundreds, were roughly $10,000 to $40,000 per episode. For \u201chero\u201d shows (TV-length original series), Facebook was willing to spend anywhere from $250,000 to more than $1 million per episode, according to sources.\n\nWhile Facebook is no longer using the \u201cspotlight\u201d or \u201chero\u201d labels for shows in conversations with original content partners, multiple sources said Facebook is spending two or three times the money it previously allocated for individual short-form series. Three sources that have recently sold shows to Facebook, including several renewals from Facebook\u2019s first batch of original series, said Facebook is spending between $50,000 and $70,000 per episode for their short-form programs.\n\nFacebook\u2019s original content team has also told media partners in these conversations that it\u2019s looking to spend more per show, while buying fewer shows overall, with one source describing the approach as \u201cbigger budgets, fewer shows.\u201d Overall, Facebook is willing to spend up to $1 billion on content through 2018, which could include live sports deals, according to an earlier Wall Street Journal report.\n\n\u201cThey went out and did what a lot of the digital platforms do when they want original content,\u201d said one Facebook Watch original content partner. \u201cThey made a bunch of different deals with different kinds of content companies and populated their platform.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt got more producers and publishers thinking about Watch,\u201d added a second Facebook Watch original content partner. \u201cIf they had greenlit only 10 shows from their top publishers, yeah, we could direct a lot of traffic, but it would not be part of the Hollywood conversation that it currently is. Because they have hundreds of partners doing it, there are now Hollywood agents telling clients to take their ideas to Facebook.\u201d\n\nNow, Facebook is focused on renewing shows that drive repeat viewers, as well as new projects that look and feel more like YouTube and TV than news-feed videos.\n\n\u201cSince we launched Watch, we have learned a lot. We want to work closely with our partners to develop strong communities around their shows, with compelling storylines and characters that drive conversation. We are encouraging partners to experiment with different formats and the limited shows that we are funding are lighthouse examples of this type of engaged storytelling,\u201d said Nick Grudin, vp of media partnerships at Facebook, in a statement.\n\nThe second Facebook Watch partner, which has had series renewed by Facebook, said Facebook has an internal repeat-viewers metric it uses to benchmark the success of shows. If a show can get at least 10 percent of its total audience to watch every episode, Facebook considers it a success and is likely to renew the series for additional seasons, according to this partner. So far, Facebook has confirmed that it has renewed four shows, including \u201cReturning the Favor,\u201d \u201cBall in the Family,\u201d \u201cLoosely Exactly Nicole\u201d and Refinery29\u2019s \u201cStrangers.\u201d\n\n\u201cThey want more sophisticated, premium content \u2014 which will cost more money,\u201d said a third Facebook Watch partner. \u201cBased on what they\u2019ve bought from us, it has the look and smell of TV-type formats, not Facebook-type formats.\u201d\n\nFacebook is also pushing media partners to make longer episodes \u2014 which naturally require bigger budgets.\n\n\u201cOne of their notes to us was that our show was great, but instead of doing seven-minute episodes, we could have made them 20-minute episodes,\u201d said the second Facebook Watch partner. \u201cWe told them we could, but it would cost us more.\u201d\n\nAs Facebook is willing to spend more on shows, it\u2019s also asking for longer periods of exclusivity for them, according to sources. Previously, the \u201cspotlight\u201d shows Facebook ordered were exclusive to Facebook for about two weeks, after which the content partners could distribute and make money off the shows elsewhere. While the terms vary by project, Facebook is now asking for anywhere from three months to a year of exclusivity on the shows it funds, these sources said.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s all negotiable, and we build it into the budget,\u201d said the third Facebook Watch partner. \u201cThe longer they want to hang on to content, the more money we need. It\u2019s a math problem.\u201d\n\nFacebook also wants more long-form, TV-size shows that it can own outright. In these deals, the content partner essentially works as a hired production company but does not have any rights to the content after it\u2019s produced. Here, Facebook still plans to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars or more per episode, sources said. (The Hollywood Reporter previously reported that content partners expect Facebook to focus more on bigger-budget projects.)\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s a matter of ease; they\u2019re not trying to build some massive library [of TV shows] that they can claim residuals off of,\u201d said the first Facebook Watch partner. \u201cIt\u2019s just easier when you don\u2019t have to deal with rights issues for big properties that you\u2019ve poured a lot of money and resources into.\u201d", "output": "Facebook is allocating bigger budgets for individual episodes while scaling back the total number of series on its Watch video site. The social media giant launched Watch in August in a bid to attract TV-like programming to its site. Funding for its early short-form shows were between $10,000 to $40,000 per episode. But for long-form TV-length original series, Facebook was reportedly ready to spend between $250,000 and over a $1m per episode. It is also apparently willing to spend up to $1bn on content next year, including live sport deals, the Wall Street Journal has reported."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "South Africa's Sasol looks to sell Canadian shale gas assets \n JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's Sasol is pulling out of all of its gas-to-liquids (GTL) greenfield projects including one in Louisiana project expected to cost US$13 billion to US$15 billion, the company said on Thursday.\n\nWalking away from the project, which would have been the biggest investment abroad by a South African company, underscores the headwinds the industry is facing in a volatile market with generally depressed prices.\n\n\"While our current GTL assets are generating good returns and cash flows, the value proposition for Sasol to build new GTL projects is uneconomic against a volatile external environment and a structural shift to a low oil price environment,\" the company said in a statement.\n\nThe company had previously delayed its final investment decision on the project because of low oil and gas prices.\n\nSasol will also divest from its Canadian shale gas assets on which it took a 9.9 billion rand (US$715 million) impairment on its 2016 earnings.\n\n\"There will likely be further write-downs on it,\" Bongani Nqwababa, Sasol joint CEO and president, told Reuters. He cited prices and accounting requirements related to the pending sale as the main reasons.\n\nBut the company is forging ahead with its Louisiana ethane cracker project, which is now estimated to cost $11.13 billion to complete and will be the biggest foreign investment by a South African company. It is now 79 percent complete.\n\nThe plant will take ethane, a component of natural gas, and turn it into ethylene, used in the manufacture of plastic products.\n\nSasol said it had completed reviews on more that half of its global assets and they \"have confirmed that the majority of the company\u2019s assets will be retained\".\n\nThe company, which pioneered the conversion of coal to fuel when South Africa was subject to sanctions under apartheid, also said it saw no need to boost its crude oil refining capacity, which currently stands at 270,000 barrels per day in South Africa.\n\nSasol also said it had increased its revolving credit facility to US$3.9 billion from US$1.5 billion and extended its maturity to five years.\n\nThe syndication closed oversubscribed with 17 banks committing to the transaction which allowed the company to increase the facility from its target size of US$3.0 billion.\n\nThe company said it aims to raise its dividend payout ratio to 40 per cent of earnings per share by 2022 from 36 per cent currently, and later to 45 per cent.", "output": "Johannesburg-based energy firm Sasol has decided to sell its Canadian shale gas assets, described as \"non-core\" following a\u00a0review of the company's holdings. Sasol said most\u00a0of its holdings would be retained\u00a0and it will\u00a0begin a structured sale process alongside Canadian asset partner Progress Energy. The company also revealed it will not be investing in any more greenfield\u00a0gas-to-liquids schemes\u00a0or crude oil refining capacity.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook works with publishers to test breaking news feature \n Facebook will set a cookie to keep you logged in, but it won't set one to remember whether you want to stick with a chronological News Feed. That sort of thing makes it hard to tell at a glance how old a story from a media outlet in your Feed might be. To counter that, the social network is giving certain publications access to a \"breaking\" tag for their posts. The bright red tag sits below a post's image and highlights how long ago it was published. Recode writes that publishers will be able to flag a story for between 15 minutes and six hours, and that it can be used once every 24 hours.\n\nFor now, the list of publishers who can use it is small and includes ABC News and Vox Media, and Facebook is keeping the full list of media organizations involved close to the chest. The breaking tag won't weight a post's ranking within Facebook's algorithms. At least not yet. A spokesperson told Recode that part of the test was to decide whether or not a breaking news story should have preference over other posts in the News Feed.\n\nFacebook has been working with news organizations on different ways to post, host and promote their stories for awhile. Instant Articles, for example, were fast-loading versions of news stories hosted by Facebook, made their debut a few years ago. Then there's the split News Feed that keeps posts from Pages and friends siloed off from each other, and the Explore Feed. We've reached out to Facebook for more information and will update this post should it arrive.", "output": "Facebook is letting some publishers test a breaking news feature for developing stories. Publications including ABC News and Vox Media\u00a0will be allowed to have a bright red \"breaking\" tag beneath a post's image, which highlights how long ago the story was published. Publishers can mark a post as breaking for between 15 minutes and six hours, once every 24 hours, according to reports. The tag will currently not be used to determine a post's ranking within Facebook's algorithm, but whether a breaking news story should have priority over others is thought to be part of the test.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Intel, Warner Bros team up for AR, VR entertainment in robo-cars \n Video: Intel's self-learning AI chip aimed at autonomous machines\n\nIntel said it has formed a partnership with Warner Bros., to create in-cabin and immersive experience within autonomous cars.\n\nThe chip giant, which acquired Mobileye for a play in the autonomous vehicle market, also threw a jab at Nvidia, a key rival.\n\nSpeaking at the Los Angeles Auto Show, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich outlined the Warner Bros., partnership. While the focus on autonomous vehicles has revolved around mapping, vision, sensors, and the Internet of Things, Krzanich argued the in-cabin design and entertainment systems will be just as ground breaking.\n\nRead also: Intel's Mobileye purchase may really be about thwarting Nvidia's car to cloud, data center connection | Intel buys Mobileye for $15.3 billion, eyes autonomous driving market, computer vision\n\nIn a post that went with Krzanich's keynote, he said:\n\nSo much of the discussion around autonomous driving has naturally focused on the car as a mode of transportation, but as driverless cars become a reality, we must start thinking of the automobile as a new type of consumer space. In fact, we have barely scratched the surface in thinking about the way cars will be designed, the interaction among passengers, and how passengers will spend time while they are riding and not driving. In this respect, autonomous driving is today's biggest game changer, offering a new platform for innovation from in-cabin design and entertainment to life-saving safety systems.\n\nIntel and Warner Bros., will develop new experiences and layouts for autonomous vehicles. The effort, called the AV Entertainment Experience, will revolve around a proof-of-concept car that will be added to Intel's 100 autonomous car test fleet.\n\nAlthough Intel is initially focusing on the entertainment experience in autonomous vehicles rest assured that smart office applications will follow. Intel and Warner Bros., will feature virtual and augmented reality tools as well as advertising. But freeing up humans who spend hundreds of hours behind the wheel driving will also create opportunities for mobile offices.\n\nIntel noted Mobileye's advanced driver assistance technology, advances in safety systems, and autonomous decision-making and said efficiency will matter. Enter the Nvidia dig.\n\nKrzanich's post noted:\n\nAnd finally, safety systems of the future will rely on technologies with maximum efficiencies to handle the enormous amount of data processing required for artificial intelligence. Earlier this year, we closed our deal with Mobileye, the world's leader in ADAS and creator of algorithms that can reach better-than-human-eye perception through a camera. Now, with the combination of the Mobileye \"eyes\" and the Intel microprocessor \"brain,\" we can deliver more than twice the deep learning performance efficiency than the competition. That is a huge difference and one that matters. More than two times the deep learning efficiency leads to better fuel economy and less expensive cooling solutions.\n\nThe Intel-Nvidia efficiency argument rhymes with benchmark wars with AMD years ago. When benchmarks are touted it usually makes sense to go right to the footnotes.\n\nHere's Intel's footnote on Nvidia:\n\nThe comparison is based on Mobileye EyeQ5 TOPS performance expectations vs. NVIDIA claimed Xavier platform DL Performance of 30 TOPS at 30W. Source:http://www.nvidia.com/object/drive-px.html Deep learning Tera Operations Per Second (DL TOPS) - Typically 1 multiply-accumulate operation = 2 DL OPS. The widths of the integer matrix multiplication vary by architecture, dedicated hardware and supported topologies. Any claimed DLTOPS number depends on several assumptions such as frequency, number of MACs and various other hardware specifications. Performance tests and ratings are measured using specific computer systems and/or components and reflect the approximate performance of Intel products as measured by those tests. Any difference in system hardware or software design or configuration may affect actual performance. Buyers should consult other sources of information to evaluate the performance of systems or components they are considering purchasing. For more information on performance tests and on the performance of Intel products, visit Intel Performance Benchmark Limitations. Results have been simulated and are provided for informational purposes only. Results were derived using simulations run on an architecture simulator. Any difference in system hardware or software design or configuration may affect actual performance.\n\n\n\n\n\nPrevious and related coverage\n\nIntel: We've found severe bugs in secretive Management Engine, affecting millions\n\nAn attacker can use Intel's flaws to run malware that's invisible to the operating system.\n\nIntel: We're ending all legacy BIOS support by 2020\n\nIntel will drop BIOS support as part of a plan to boost UEFI adoption.", "output": "Intel has partnered with Warner Bros to develop augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR) entertainment systems for autonomous vehicles. \"As driverless cars become a reality, we must start thinking of the automobile as a new type of consumer space\", said Intel CEO Brian Krzanich. The partnership will focus on a proof-of-concept vehicle in which it tests new experiences, layouts and advertising, as part of what the companies\u2019 call their AV Entertainment Experience project. Intel and Warner Bros have also hinted at the creation of smart office products for use in self-driving cars."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Residents express concerns about plans for a new school \n The video will auto-play soon 8 Cancel\n\nWe have more newsletters\n\nSomething went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nNever miss a breaking story in Cheltenham by signing up to our daily newsletter\n\nThe news that a \u00a330million school could open in Leckhampton has stirred up some strong opinions.\n\nWe revealed earlier that Gloucestershire County Council has earmarked land off Kidnappers Lane as the preferred location for a new secondary school, in a bid to ease Cheltenham's shortage of places.\n\nThe land was previously identified by developers for housing, but the county council has now expressed an interest in the land for a school.\n\nSome residents have expressed concerns that the move will only add to Leckhampton's traffic problems and spoil its countryside.\n\nBut there is also excitement from parents who are hopeful of more options for their children.\n\nBalcarras School, in Charlton Kings, will launch a bid to run the new school.\n\nDominic Burke, headteacher at comprehensive Balcarras, has said the school is needed to provide extra capacity for Cheltenham pupils.\n\n(Image: Bing)\n\nKit Braunholtz founded the LEGLAG community group, which campaigns to protect Leckhampton green land.\n\nHe said: \"I don't think the south of Cheltenham is the right place for a new school because of the traffic problems it would generate.\n\n\"Anyone who uses Shurdington Road already finds themselves queuing up for hours to get past the traffic lights.\n\n\"The land is part of the view from Leckhampton Hill. I think we all agree that should be protected.\"\n\nMr Braunholtz believes the new school and Redrow's development of more than 300 homes on Farm Lane will together create \"terrible\" traffic problems.\n\nHe added: \"A lot of people will be extremely unhappy.\"\n\nOther residents took to social media to vent their frustrations over the possible development.\n\nRoger Merrett wrote on Facebook: \u201cFirst Tewkesbury Borough Council allow Redrow to build houses in the fields off Farm Lane and now Gloucestershire County Council want to plonk a school off Kidnappers Lane.\n\n\u201cWhy do the local authorities seem intent on ruining the countryside around Leckhampton?\u201d\n\nMarina Mason commented: \u201cGlad I don't use Shurdington Road to get to work.... That will cause absolute mayhem in the morning!\u201d\n\nAnd Sarah Abbott added: \u201cWould need a late start, my husband can take up to 30 mins some days to get down that small stretch of Shurdington Road!\u201d\n\nMr Burke outlined plans to set up a trust to run both Balcarras and a new comprehensive school.\n\nHe said: \u201cBalcarras is still in the process of preparing a bid to sponsor a new school for Cheltenham.\n\n\u201cThe motivation is that we do think Cheltenham needs extra capacity. We have been under pressure for some time.\n\n\u201cWe want to be part of the solution. The answer to that is not just to keep expanding schools.\n\n\u201cThere comes a point when you can\u2019t do that any longer. We are absolutely crammed. We are already over capacity by about 50 children on our site.\u201d\n\nMr Burke described today\u2019s announcement from the county council as \u201cvery welcome\u201d.\n\nHe said: \u201cDuring our consultation recently we stressed that we didn't have control over the site and that we awaited news from other parties as to where the location might be.\n\n\u201cWherever the school is sited we want it to be an outstanding school in every sense.\n\n\u201cThe prospect of being chosen to sponsor the school is exciting but we realise what a great responsibility it will be.\u201d\n\nCheltenham Bournside School has previously expressed an interest in sponsoring the school.\n\nMum Marti Toth-Norris, from Up Hatherley, who has two children aged three and two, thinks the news is \u201cvery exciting\u201d.\n\nShe added: \u201cCheltenham has such good schools, hopefully this will be another great one.\n\n\u201cThe location is certainly wonderful. Hope they will make it accessible though as that area is infamous for those awful narrow roads.\u201d\n\nThere was also support from Councillor Max Wilkinson (Lib Dem, Park).\n\nBournside, Gloucestershire County Council and Tewkesbury Borough Council have been approached for comment.", "output": "Residents of the Leckhampton area of south Cheltenham have raised concerns that a new school will increase traffic problems. Kit Braunholtz, founder of the LEGLAG community group, said that the new school, combined with Redrow's residential development on Farm Lane, would cause \"terrible\" traffic issues.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US falling behind China and Russia in AI race: Report \n Story highlights Both China and Russia have recently highlighted the importance of artificial intelligence to the future of the global economy and military power A new report warns that the US military must now decide if it wants to \"lead the coming revolution or fall victim to it\"\n\nWashington CNN \u2014\n\nMore than 60 years after a space race rivalry with the Soviet Union ushered in a new era of ballistic missile development, the US is facing another \u201cSputnik moment\u201d amid a rapidly escalating international competition over artificial intelligence, according to former Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work.\n\nThe idea that rapid advances in artificial intelligence will define the next generation of warfare \u2013 a concept known as the \u201cThird Offset Strategy\u201d \u2013 was first articulated by former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel in 2014.\n\nPossible AI applications for the military include: creating more nimble systems, possibly at lower cost; developing more effective training systems; software that processes mountains of data from surveillance systems or for \u201cpattern-of-life\u201d surveillance; improved facial recognition capabilities; war games support and automated combat in so-called manned-unmanned operations, according to a September report from the RAND Corporation.\n\nBut a new report published Wednesday and provided exclusively to CNN by Work and Govini, a data and analytics firm that conducts government analysis, warns that the US military must now decide if it wants to \u201clead the coming revolution, or fall victim to it\u201d amid emerging challenges from China and Russia.\n\n\u201cThis stark choice will be determined by the degree to which the Department of Defense (DoD) recognizes the revolutionary military potential of AI and advanced autonomous systems,\u201d the report said.\n\nSpecifically, the White House and Pentagon must determine the extent to which the US will ramp up research and development in technologies associated with artificial intelligence \u2013 including advanced computing, artificial neural networks, big data, machine learning, unmanned systems and robotics, it said.\n\nThe US must also determine a national strategy for how aggressively it will develop new systems, operational concepts and organizational constructs that exploit artificial intelligence advancements in warfare, according to the report.\n\nAn important part of that strategy relates to \u201cautonomy\u201d which results \u201cfrom delegation of a decision to an authorized entity to take action within specific boundaries,\u201d Work told CNN.\n\nThe technology\n\nWhile critics have often warned against the development of autonomous offensive weaponry for fear of losing operational control, Work told CNN that the US pursuit of \u201cnarrow AI\u201d will always prioritize human control but allow the machine to \u201cindependently compose and select among different courses of action to accomplish assigned goals based on its knowledge and understanding of the world, itself, and the situation.\u201d\n\nMusk, Zuckerberg feud over future of AI 05:05 - Source: CNN\n\n\u201cThey are worried about the Terminator, but the US view is more like the Iron Man,\u201d Work said in reference to the Marvel superhero who is a man equipped with a powerful and adaptable suit of armor.\n\nThe US has already begun to apply elements of AI to military platforms and strategy \u2013 a move perhaps no more evident than in its investment in the $400 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.\n\nCombining an array of sensors and software used to quickly collect data and interpret data, the F-35 \u201cis the key example of human elaboration,\u201d Work told CNN.\n\n\u201cIt sucks up data and portrays that to the pilot in a way they couldn\u2019t have done on their own,\u201d he added, calling the aircraft a \u201cperfect example of human-machine collaboration\u201d that should be applied to other military platforms.\n\nBut despite some success in implementing AI technology to date, Work told CNN that he does not \u201cdon\u2019t believe our national response is nearly good enough to this point.\u201d\n\nThe race\n\nBoth China and Russia have recently highlighted the importance of artificial intelligence to the future of the global economy and military power.\n\nSpeaking to students during a national \u201copen lesson\u201d in September, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the country that takes the lead in the sphere of computer-based artificial intelligence will rule.\n\n\u201cArtificial intelligence is the future not only of Russia but of all of mankind,\u201d said Putin. \u201cThere are huge opportunities, but also threats that are difficult to foresee today.\u201d\n\nThe words of the Russian President echo what scientists in Russia and around the world have been mulling over for quite some time.\n\nWork on developing drones and vehicles for military and civilian usage is well under way in Russia, according to state media.\n\nThe Russian military is also developing robots, anti-drone systems, and cruise missiles that would be able to analyze radars and make decisions on the altitude, speed and direction of their flight, according to state media.\n\nAnd in July, the Chinese government published a detailed road map outlining a national plan to prioritize the development and application of AI \u2013 a move Work said he considers a \u201cSputnik moment.\u201d\n\n\u201cArtificial intelligence has become the new focus of international competition. Artificial intelligence is the strategic technology that leads the future,\u201d the Chinese government publication said.\n\n\u201cThe major developed countries in the world regard the development of artificial intelligence as a major strategy to enhance their national competitiveness and safeguard their national security,\u201d it added.\n\nChina\u2019s hopes to lead the world in AI technologies by directly linking defense and commercial development.\n\nThe funding\n\nWhile DOD and Silicon Valley have recently invested in AI research and development, relying on American commercial research and development is not going to be enough, according to Work.\n\nThe US has lacked a clear plan to keep pace with foreign rivals despite predictions that AI \u201chas the potential to be a transformative national security technology, on a par with nuclear weapons, aircraft, computers, and biotech,\u201d according to a recent study by Greg Allen of Harvard\u2019s Belfer Center for Science and International studies.\n\nBut according to Work and Govini, Wednesday\u2019s report aims to help build the foundation of a national response to, what they view, as a clear challenge by foreign powers.\n\nBy providing an analysis of government spending on key components of AI between 2012 and 2017, the report provides guidance for defense leaders and the White House on how the US should respond to challenges from China and others, Work said.\n\nA full breakdown of Govini\u2019s analysis can be viewed here.\n\nAnd while the report generally concludes that DOD is \u201cputting its money where its mouth is\u201d when it comes to the Third Offset Strategy, Work told CNN that there is still \u201ca long way to go.\u201d\n\nThe report\u2019s analysis of unclassified government spending on AI over the last five years indicates that DOD is focusing on collecting data and applying it to two primary components of the offset strategy: virtual reality (simulations and training technology) and computer vision (the data that tells a system what to strike and not to strike).\n\nWhile important foundational elements of artificial intelligence, the US must begin to prioritize measures toward applying those advancements toward mission concepts, according to Matt Hummer of Govini.\n\nDOD should increase its investment in \u201cadvanced computing\u201d technology \u2013 which represents the lynchpin for broader application \u2013 and analytical technology \u2013 which is used to display information to a human operator, he said.\n\nFurther development of the Cloud \u2013 a critical part of increasing processing speed \u2013 is also an area the US should emphasize, he said.\n\nUltimately, an emphasis on prioritizing artificial intelligence spending is going to \u201crequire a national response led from the White House,\u201d according to Work.\n\n\u201cThis is designed, I hope, to not only help DOD leaders to think about what to invest in but help the White House to think about broad contours of a national response,\u201d he said.", "output": "The US military risks falling behind China and Russia in the artificial intelligence (AI) race, according to data and analytics firm Work and Govini. The US government needs to determine its commitment to research and development in AI technologies, as well as a national strategy for developing systems that exploit AI advancements in warfare, to avoid falling behind its rivals, according to the report. Russia is already developing military robots and anti-drone systems, while China hopes to lead the world in AI by linking defence and commercial development.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Litter and waste on UK beaches increase by 10% this year \n The rubbish washing up on the UK\u2019s beaches is continuing to increase, rising by 10% in 2017, the Marine Conservation Society\u2019s (MCS) annual beach clean has revealed.\n\nMuch of the waste is plastic, leading the MCS to call on the government to urgently introduce a charge on single-use plastic items, such as straws, cups and cutlery. The chancellor, Philip Hammond, recently announced the government is considering such action.\n\nAbout 12m tonnes of plastic litter enters the oceans every year, killing millions of marine animals. People are also believed to be inadvertently eating the plastic, potentially contaminated with toxic chemicals, via seafood.\n\nThe MCS beach clean in September saw 7,000 volunteers scour 340 beaches and collect an average of 718 pieces of rubbish every 100 metres. The survey uses a standard methodology and data from the last decade and shows a rising tide of litter along the coast.\n\nMost of the litter is small, unidentifiable fragments of plastic, broken down in the sea from larger objects and often mistaken for food by fish and birds. But 20% of the rubbish is packaging from \u201con the go\u201d food and drink, such as cups, bottles, cutlery, stirrers and sandwich packets.\n\n\u201cOur beach clean evidence shows a shocking rise in the amount of litter this year,\u201d said Sandy Luk, MCS chief executive. \u201cOur oceans are choking in plastic. We urgently need a levy on single-use plastic as a first step.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe are concerned we are continuing on this upwards trend,\u201d said Lizzie Prior, beach and river clean project officer at the MCS. \u201cPlastic never goes away \u2013 it does not decompose. It just goes to smaller and smaller pieces and becomes much more harmful for our marine environment.\u201d\n\nShe said the tax on plastic bags introduced in 2015, which has seen their use drop by 85%, had a rapid impact, with the number of bags found on beaches down by 40% since 2014. \u201cIt is really fantastic to see that small charge completely changed people\u2019s behaviour,\u201d she said. \u201cA levy [on other single use plastic] would be a fantastic next step.\u201d\n\nThe populous south-east of England had the highest amount of litter, with 1,092 items per 100 metres of beach, a jump of 46% from last year. South-west England was second, with 1,036 items per 100 metres.\n\nA spokesman for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: \u201cWe are taking significant steps to tackle plastic waste including plans to introduce a ban on plastic microbeads and a call for evidence around deposit reward and return schemes for plastic bottles. We recognise there is more to do in this area, and we will be working with industry to explore how we can further reduce the amount of single-use plastic waste.\u201d\n\nIceland and the Co-op announced on Thursday that they would back a UK-wide bottle deposit return system (DRS), while the Natural History Museum in London has said it will stop selling single-use plastic bottles to the 4.5 million people who visit each year.The MCS 2017 survey found the second highest amount of litter in the 10 years for which there is comparable data. The peak in 2014 is thought likely to be the result of unusually severe storms early that year, which washed up more rubbish.\n\nThe MCS also found a big leap in wet wipes litter in 2017, up 94% on the previous year, though the cause is unclear. Most wet wipes contain plastic and Prior said she knew of no wet wipes on sale today that meet water company standards for degradability.\n\nShe said people should not flush them down the toilet and that labelling on wet wipes needs to improve: \u201cIf they don\u2019t meet the water company standards, they should say \u2018non-flushable\u2019 very clearly on the front of the packet.\u201d\n\nPrior said only three things should be flushed down toilets: \u201cIf you remember the three Ps \u2013 pee, poo and paper \u2013 you\u2019re doing the right thing.\u201d", "output": "The amount of rubbish washed up on UK beaches rose by 10% in 2017, according to the Marine Conservation Society\u2019s (MCS) annual beach clean. The event enlisted 7,000 volunteers who cleaned 339\u00a0beaches, collecting\u00a0an average of 718 pieces of litter for every 100 metres. Most of the rubbish was small fragments of plastic, but 20% was packaging for takeaway food and drink. As a result, the MCS is calling on the government to impose charges on single-use items including cups, cutlery and straws. In his recent budget, chancellor Philip Hammond announced that he was considering such charges.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow finishes construction at Devonport in Plymouth \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nGet the pick of the week's best stories and fascinating features direct to your inbox every Saturday and Sunday morning in our exclusive Weekender newsletter\n\nThe budget would have been a disappointing blow to anyone hoping for major investment in the South West - the exception was a very welcome \u00a379million for the A30 St Austell link road.\n\nSpeaking at the recent Western Morning News\u2019 Business Awards, held in St Mellion, Cornwall on November 16, Gary Streeter, MP for South West Devon said the region had three priorities: \u201cInfrastructure, infrastructure and infrastructure.\u201d\n\nAnd we agree. A key aim of the #BackTheSouthWest campaign is to secure investment so the region can reach its potential.\n\nAnd there could be good news in the budget, if you scour the small print.\n\nFor example, the region could tap into the \u00a3316billion National Infrastructure Productivity Fund, extended for another year, \u00a3500million for AI, 5G and Full Fibre Broadband, half of the \u00a31.7bn Transforming Cities Fund designed to improve transport links and \u00a31billion being made available of discounted lending for high value infrastructure projects.\n\nFor Back The South West campaigners, the link between investment and prosperity is clear.\n\nMichael Beadel is chairman and a partner in the real estate team at Stephens Scown. The firm is a partner in the Back The South West Campaign.\n\nHe said: \u201cHistory has shown that regions which continue to invest in their infrastructure, even in uncertain times, are more likely to prosper. The South West has so much to offer, but to reach our full potential it is crucial for public spending and private investment in our big infrastructure projects to continue.\u201d\n\nLet's take a look at the big projects currently under way that are transforming the region.\n\nInward investment is unlocking hundreds of jobs for Exeter in the shape of the Ikea store, set to open next year and the vast regional distribution centre for Lidl that has opened just in time for Christmas.\n\nThe vast investment at Exeter and East Devon Growth Point, Skypark and Exeter Science Park is creating a cluster for innovative businesses and housing for its relatively well-paid workers.\n\nIn Plymouth, Oceansgate is showing how the region can turn its seascape into a specialism with the UK\u2019s pioneering marine hub and in Newquay, Cornwall\u2019s bid to become a UK spaceport is creating huge opportunities for like minded businesses.\n\nThese developments are widely welcomed but there is still so much more we need to do to secure the investment we need to create the Great South West.\n\nChairman of the Heart of the South West LEP, Steve Hindley CBE DL, said: \u201cWe are passionate about our area; the Heart of the South West and the wider Great South West region, and we will continue to strive fervently to get our true potential recognised.\u201d\n\n(Image: Kier)\n\nA30 \u2013 Temple, Cornwall\n\nValue: \u00a360million\n\nCompletion: Current phase completes this winter but next phase of the A30 dualling could start in 2020.\n\nThe three-mile section of road over Bodmin Moor and Preeze Cross Bridge was formally declared open for business on July 14, bringing to an end two years of roadworks misery. Cardinham Bridge opened to traffic three days later.\n\nThe first major benefit of the new road was the fact that on the first weekend of the school summer holidays, traffic on the A30 was flowing freely.\n\nIn previous years, tailbacks of over 10 miles would have been witnessed in the switch from dual to single carriageway on the approach to the original road or the roadworks.\n\nThe A30 road was completed ahead of a revised schedule after a project which suffered delays when an exceptionally wet winter undermined some of the initial work.\n\nDuring its busiest time, the road carries around 40,000 vehicles a day, meaning that roughly 280,000 cars, lorries, camper vans, caravans and motorbikes could have trundled along the new stretch in the first week.\n\nThe horrendous congestion caused by the previous road layout - a dual carriageway narrowing to a single lane - was estimated to have cost businesses, residents and visitors \u00a3235 million a year.\n\nHowever, the successful completion of the scheme is expected to bring more than \u00a3134million into the Cornish economy - meaning that in just seven days the new road could have provided a \u00a32.5million boost.\n\nAround 70% of residents in Cornwall and more than 80% of workers are based to the west of Temple, with more than three quarters of businesses surveyed at the start of the scheme predicting that it would have a positive impact on their business.\n\nThe construction on the new dual carriageway involved the cutting of 300,000 tons of earth, equivalent to filling 226 Olympic sized swimming pools, and 130,000sqm of asphalt, the equivalent of surfacing 18 Wembley-sized football pitches and 15,000 metres of vehicle safety barrier equivalent to the distance between Chiverton Cross to Mitchell.\n\nThe contractors have also built 5,500 metres of Cornish hedge as part of the environmental works, and planted 15,000 trees and shrubs and 95,000 square metres of seeding, equivalent to seeding 13 Wembley-sized football pitches.\n\nAerohub \u2013 Newquay Airport : Phase 1\n\nBudget: \u00a37m\n\nCompletion: 2020.\n\nAs part of the diversification strategy for Cornwall Airport Newquay, Cornwall Development Company working on delivering the Aerohub Enterprise Zone project based at Newquay airport.\n\nA designated Enterprise Zone, Aerohub offers the largest planning free development site in the UK, with over 348 acres of development land.\n\nCombined with uncongested and unrestricted airspace, one of the UK\u2019s longest runways, direct maritime access, and an unparalleled aviation environment, Aerohub is the best location in Europe for aerospace businesses.\n\nWork on the Aerohub Business Park at Cornwall Airport Newquay started this year, and will be completed in early 2019. The first phase of the project will include a three-storey landmark office building and a further eight business and light industrial units.\n\nThe Aerohub Business Park is located on the south side of the airport and falls within the UK's only aviation-focused Enterprise Zone. Enterprise Zones were created by the Government in 2011 to boost business investment and job creation. Once fully developed the business park could support up to 1,000 jobs.\n\nThe new \u00a37.4million project will address the lack of high-quality employment space that is perceived to be a real barrier to growth in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.\n\nOf that figure \u00a34.3 million is coming in the form of a grant from the current round of European funding and will be matched by \u00a33.1 million of investment from Cornwall Council.\n\nAerohub is now home to 14 businesses employing more than 450 people at an average annual wage of \u00a333,400 - almost twice the average wage in Cornwall.\n\nThe business park will become the gateway to the 850-acre site Enterprise Zone, which is a focus for future flight technologies and aims to become a future UK Spaceport.\n\nThe Aerohub is also hoping to host the UK\u2019s first spaceport and tap into the \u00a325bn spaceflight launch market by 2020.\n\nAerohub Enterprise Zone manager Miles Carden and the man behind Cornwall's spaceport bid to the government, said: \u201cThere's something intangible about space flights and space travel. We all relate to the Apollo programme and the Man on the Moon. It's right there in people's psyche.\n\n\u201cBecoming Britain's first spaceport is a 25-year project which could create 5,000 highly paid jobs in Cornwall. But it won't happen overnight. It will happen in phases and the first phase will still deliver hundreds of jobs.\u201d\n\nIn the summer it was announced that Orbital Access Limited (OAL) has teamed up with Spaceport Cornwall \u2013 the group which includes Cornwall Airport Newquay and Goonhilly Earth Station, on the Lizard peninsula.\n\nNews of the partnership was announced at the UK Space Conference in Manchester. It means OAL will work alongside Spaceport Cornwall as its principle operator on the dream to develop a system where aircraft can be used to launch satellites into orbit.\n\nAnchorwood Bank, Barnstaple\n\nValue: \u00a360million\n\nCompletion: Retail units by 2018 and residential development in 2019\n\nOne of the biggest commercial developments in recent years in North Devon, Anchorwood Bank in Barnstaple, formerly home to Shapland and Petter, will host 172 houses and a retail area with shops and restaurants.\n\nAn Asda store opened on site in November last year, the first spade has gone in the ground for the residential development and a large steel structure which will house the shopping district has been erected.\n\nThe development is headed by social housing provider North Devon Homes with partners Wessex Investors and Pearce Construction.\n\nIt is hoped that the housing development, shopping and restaurant area, will transform a derelict site into a vibrant, waterside space.\n\n(Image: Paul Slater Images)\n\nBeckley Point, Plymouth\n\nValue: \u00a330.79million\n\nCompletion: January 2018\n\nWhat is the tallest building in the South West, this 505-bed student accommodation block, in the centre of Plymouth, is managed by The Student Housing Company, part of leading provider Global Student Accommodation (GSA).\n\nConstruction on the project started on the August 15, 2015, and is being delivered by developer Kier Group.\n\nAll internal work was completed in September 2017, and completion of the external works is expected by the end of January 2018.\n\nWith the tip of the tower reaching 78 metres high, the 23-storey tower will be the region\u2019s tallest building.\n\nWith students already living in the tower, more than 100 have already rebooked for the 2018/19 academic year.\n\nRooms cost about \u00a38,000 for a 45-week tenancy, but enjoy spectacular views.\n\nStudents are housed in a combination of single en-suite studios, double bedroomed \u201ctwodios\u201d, and \u201cclusters\u201d where six bedrooms share a kitchen and living area.\n\nThere are communal study and common rooms, games and \u201cchill-out\u201d spaces, and even a cinema.\n\nThe skyscraper is staffed around the clock, with a team of 10 full-time workers including managers, cleaners and maintenance roles.\n\nAnd topping the pile is the 23rd storey Sky Lounge, which has panoramic views and will be available to the public for hire.\n\nThe pioneering technology behind the \u00a360million Mayflower Water Treatment Works In March next year South West Water will publish its business proposals for 2020-25 for public consultation as part of the water industry price review, which occurs every five years. The flagship project for the current 2015-20 period is the Mayflower Water Treatment Works. This \u00a360m infrastructure project means that by this time next year Plymouth and the surrounding area will be enjoying tap water treated using advanced technology found nowhere else in the UK. Around two and a half years in construction, the Mayflower Water Treatment Works is designed to deliver high quality drinking water to the area in a more efficient and environmentally sustainable way than ever before. The existing water treatment works at Crownhill was built in the 1950s and is reaching the end of its useful life. Water treatment technology and standards have improved dramatically since it was built, the city\u2019s population has grown significantly, and, as a result of urbanisation, the site\u2019s location would make further expansion difficult. Work on its replacement began back in 2013, with the setting up of a research facility to trial \u2018ceramic membrane filtration\u2019 - an innovative treatment process which is less chemical and energy-intensive than traditional methods. Ceramic membranes are durable, have a long working life (they have been operating in Japan for more than 20 years) and require minimal support and maintenance, making them a cost-effective alternative. Over the course of 18 months, a dedicated team from South West Water worked in close collaboration with Dutch water treatment specialists PWNT to trial the process with water from a range of local sources including Burrator reservoir, the River Tavy and River Tamar. The pilot proved successful and planning began for the new works. A 24-acre site on the edge of Roborough was identified as the location for the build \u2013 this already had the benefit of planning approval, granted in 1991, for a new water treatment works. Ahead of construction, South West Water enlisted a team of specialist ecologists to ensure there would be minimal impact on wildlife and habitats. Slow worms, adders, grass snakes and lizards were among the animals safely captured and re-homed, one-way badger \u2018gates\u2019 were installed, and the initial site clearance was carried out using hand tools under the careful supervision of the experts. By carrying out the clearance over winter there was no danger of disturbing any nesting birds. Trees with the potential to support roosting bats were carefully inspected and \u2018soft-felled\u2019 to minimise disturbance. In addition to the works itself, construction has also involved the laying of seven kilometres of water mains pipeline and the addition of a hydro-electric plant and solar panels which will provide a proportion of onsite energy, thereby helping reduce carbon emissions. Delivery is on schedule by South West Water\u2019s H5O engineering delivery alliance (including Arcadis, Pell Frischmann and Balfour Beatty as the main construction contractor alongside Interserve) and PWNT. During the construction phase, the project has sustained more than 150 jobs. The new works will be capable of producing up to 90 million litres (megalitres) every day and will ensure a sustainable supply of high quality drinking water to homes and businesses for decades to come.\n\nHinkley Point C Nuclear Plant, Somerset.\n\nValue: \u00a319.6bn\n\nCompletion: First nuclear reactor scheduled for completion in 2025\n\nOn our doorstep is Europe\u2019s biggest construction project with 2,000 workers every day currently on site.\n\nThe construction will provide 25,000 jobs and is set to have a major impact across the region with opportunities in the construction, supply chain and associated businesses.\n\nAround \u00a3435 million worth of contracts have been signed so far with businesses in the region.\n\nThere are a number of initiatives under way to ensure the region has the right skills to meet the demand that is predicted to drain workers across Devon and Cornwall. At its peak, 5,600 people will work on site and the finished power plant will employ 900 people.\n\nBuilt by EDF and its partner, costs over the coming years will rise to around \u00a319.6bn after an announcement earlier this year that the project is likely to be over time by 15 months and over budget by \u00a31.5billion.\n\nThe French state-controlled energy firm is funding two-thirds of the plant with China investing the rest.\n\nIn return, EDF will receive a guaranteed price for Hinkley's electricity for 35 years in a complex subsidy arrangement.\n\nThe construction has not been without controversy.\n\nThe level of subsidy has been criticised by experts and the National Audit Office because it guarantees the company a revenue of \u00a392.50 per megawatt-hour of power, well above current market prices.\n\nThe reliance on nuclear energy has also been criticised by environmental campaigners who argue that the Government should instead be investing in solar and wind energy.\n\n(Image: Neale Abbott/aeroplaneviews.co.uk)\n\nIkea, Exeter\n\nValue: \u00a380million\n\nCompletion: Summer 2018\n\nThe wait for an Ikea west of Bristol is almost over.\n\nIt will be the Swedish chain\u2019s 21st store and will employ around 250 staff.\n\nThe development off the A379 also includes plans for 220 new homes at Newcourt.\n\nThe cash contribution to the city's Community Infrastructure Levy amounts to \u00a33,921,002.\n\nLidl Regional Distribution Centre, Exeter\n\nValue: \u00a355million\n\nCompletion: November 2017\n\nThe new, 50,000 m\u00b2 hub in the Exeter Gateway business park close to Junction 29 of M5 comes as part of Lidl\u2019s wider investment and modernisation programme across the South West. Lidl was given planning approval in June last year after Sainsbury's scrapped a plan to build a depot there.\n\nCreating 500 jobs, the Regional Distribution Centre will serve Lidl stores from Penzance to as far as Burnham-on-Sea and across to Weymouth, with 1,700 pallets of products projected to go through its premises every day.\n\nIt is phase one of a scheme with planning permission for a further 110,000 sq m of logistics and distribution space in phase two of the development secured this September.\n\nThe massive development on land at Hayes Farm would create between 1,530 and 1,817 new jobs and contribute an extra \u00a390 to \u00a3105m to the regional economy, the applicants, the Church Commissioners For England claim.\n\nInfrastructure will take a step forward post Brexit As the region weighs up what life may the look like in the region post Brexit, infrastructure features largely on the horizon, says Richard Walford, Foot Anstey Partner and Head of Property, Infrastructure and Construction The good news is that, as we all know, the South West is an attractive place for people to live and work. The challenge is to encourage potential movers to follow up sentiment with action and take the steps to actually relocate and build a life in the region. For some parts of the South West the promotion of our region is working. I recently attended a meeting of the Property Chamber at Exeter City Council and was impressed truly with the success of the City. Relatively well connected by roads and rail and with a forward thinking, pro-development Council, Exeter claims the 4th highest rate of housing growth of any city in the UK. Alongside this it has made gains in productivity, jobs and population growth. Exeter's good fortune is a cause for celebration but it is important to understand what underlies the growth in order that the region's politicians and businesses don\u2019t overlook, or even worse, kill the goose that lays the golden egg. Being an attractive location set in the midst of a region blessed with great natural beauty helps but it is Exeter's comparative success compared to the rest of the region that is interesting. In my role I deal with a range of businesses daily, both those already within as well as those looking to relocate to the region. For all of these businesses Exeter's transport infrastructure at the end of the M5 and the more navigable part of the high speed rail network are decisive factors that make Exeter the place of choice to locate a South West hub or headquarters. Businesses that are based or choose to develop there have fared very well. Burrington Estates, for example who moved to Exeter in 2011 has very quickly established itself as a high quality developer of commercial and residential sites. Looking ahead to a post Brexit world, the region's authorities are recognising the need to come together and combine their efforts to stand up for the peninsula. The Greater Exeter Strategic Plan and Great South West are two such initiatives. It is great to see the willingness to cooperate and lobby on behalf of the whole region. But what cannot be ignored is what these bodies lobby for. Whilst politically it may be pragmatic to spread the jam, all the evidence on the impact of infrastructure points to the importance of focussing on central growth hubs; be that London, Manchester, Bristol or perhaps even Exeter. Infrastructure projects on the scale required to truly unlock the full potential of the South West economy (think A303 upgrade or fast rail link to Plymouth) cannot be fully funded by the private sector. They will require public funding from both the region and Westminster. Garnering that support will require close cooperation and targeted campaigns of the regions decision makers. The sooner the region can set aside its local concerns and differences and fully throw its weight behind those campaigns, the better.\n\nThe huge chunk of land is earmarked for more storage and distribution warehouses, offices and business space as part of the Exeter and East Devon Growth Point.\n\nAs for Lidl, it says it is continuing to invest in the South West region, with half of its stores being refurbished in the next year.\n\nThe retailer has also confirmed contracts with 14 suppliers, including Wyke Farms, County Confectionery , Kanes Foods and Crediton Dairy in the region, which will be worth over \u00a3100million across the next five years with extensive export opportunities to Lidl markets.\n\nLidl's regional director Mark Henry said: \u201cThe South West is an important region for Lidl and it\u2019s an area where we\u2019ve experienced particularly strong growth.\u201d\n\nLidl says it has ambitious expansion plans across the UK, with an investment aim of \u00a31.45bn by 2019. Regional Distribution Centres will make up a significant part of this objective, with this latest RDC opening becoming the 12th in the Lidl portfolio.\n\nAnd it is good news for workers too. Lidl has made a pledge to pay the Living Wage Foundation\u2019s Real Living Wage, now \u00a38.75 an hour.\n\nHow Cornwall is being transformed by its mining future Cornwall is on the brink of a transformation into a world class centre of excellence in modern mining and a potential return to the glory days of mining in the county, writes Michael Beadel is chairman of Stephens Scown LLP. This renaissance couldn\u2019t have come at a better time. As a supporter of the Back The South West campaign, I am a passionate believer in the need for the region to pull together and get behind the sectors and industries that are going to secure jobs for the future. The demand for lithium is set to soar, driven by the need for lithium-ion batteries for the growing electric car market. The price of lithium has tripled in the past 18 months, rising to US$16,000-18,000 per tonne. Recent studies have suggested that the price could increase by 16% year on year until at least 2025. If this happens, the price of lithium will have grown the fastest of any commodity in the last 100 years. And Cornwall could be at the centre of this development. Cornish Lithium\u2019s exploration is being focused on the underground hot springs of Cornwall, where lithium is dissolved in liquid brines. What makes this development all the more exciting is that it comes on the back of several years of good news for mining in the South West. Whilst china clay extraction, led in Cornwall by Imerys Minerals, continued to be an important part of the local economy, metal mining started again in 2015 with Wolf Minerals\u2019 major tungsten and tin project, the Drakelands mine in Devon, going into production. This was an historic achievement: the first metal mine to open in the UK for 45 years. The heavy lifting on the Wolf Minerals project by all those involved has very greatly advanced the viability of metal mining in the UK. The benefit to the locality has been very real \u2013 more than 200 people are permanently employed at Drakelands, many of them local people, and including some who had previously emigrated in search of mining work but have now been able to return to their home country. Additional indirect UK jobs created are estimated at approximately 1,000. Then, in the summer of 2016, Strongbow Exploration achieved another momentous step for Cornwall, in saving the third largest tin deposit in the world from extinction. A deal was signed to buy the mineral rights and assets necessary for South Crofty to become a producing mine again. Other significant operators in the sector include Cornwall Resources Limited (the JV between Strategic Minerals plc and New Age Exploration Limited), which started its exploration drilling programme at Redmoor, near Callington in Cornwall, in March 2017. There will be many who hope, like me, that there is a new dawn for mining in the South West, supported by local and central government, which brings much needed jobs for Cornwall.\n\n(Image: Penny Cross)\n\nOceansgate Marine Hub, Plymouth\n\nValue: Phase 1: \u00a37.8million\n\nCompletion: Phase 1: End of 2017\n\nWork on two rows of industrial units and a three-story office block only began in January 2017.\n\nBut by March the team from Midas had dug foundations and even begun assembling the steel skeleton for the office building.\n\nThe area, once the heart of Devonport, had been destroyed and was then turned into the post-war South Yard naval site.\n\nBut now it will become offices, labs and light industrial units.\n\nThe Enterprise Zone marine hub is expected to give Plymouth\u2019s economy a mighty shot in the arm, providing world class facilities for marine manufacturing and engineering companies.\n\nWith two more phases to follow the project has already attracted so many firms the overall scheme could be completed within five years creating thousands of jobs.\n\nMidas, which has about 60 staff working on the patch, is expecting to hand the Phase One buildings back to Plymouth City Council in December 2017, to be rented out to firms.\n\nThe initial phase of Oceansgate will deliver 1,270sq m of office space, over the three floors, which will be leased to one firm, or several, by Plymouth City Council.\n\nUp to 14 firms could move in \u2013 or one company could take the entire space.\n\nThe entire site is 35 hectares \u2013 five times the size of Royal William Yard.\n\nSkypark, Exeter\n\nValue: \u00a3210million\n\nCompletion: Current phase completes this Autumn with work continuing over the 20 years\n\nSkypark is being billed as the South West\u2019s most significant Business Park development combining office, industrial and distribution space with hotel, local facilities and a biomass and gas combined heat and power plant in a landscaped environment of over 100 acres.\n\nOver the next 20 years, this \u00a3210 million development is predicted to create up to 6,500 new jobs with a significant impact on the local economy as part of the wider Exeter and East Devon New Growth Point initiative.\n\nThe first tenant in the first office building, which offers 17,142 sq ft of employment space, is due to move on site in December.\n\nSoftware development company Oneserve is marking a new era for the company in the move with plans to increase its workforce to 60 in the coming years.\n\nWork on the flagship DCH headquarters is well underway and the Ambulance Special Operations Centre (ASOC West) and DPD UK\u2019s new 60,000 sq ft distribution centre will be located there.\n\nThe development, spearheaded by regeneration specialists St Modwen and Devon County Council, follows \u00a33.5million of investment in road and services infrastructure at Skypark and the five-acre public realm area, including trim trail exercise stations.\n\nIan Guy, senior development manager for St Modwen and Devon County Council\u2019s development partner for the \u00a3210m Skypark development, said:\n\n\u201cSkypark reflects demand for good quality commercial space in the South West through the development of the Enterprise Zone which will further enhance the site\u2019s commercial appeal and help to attract more inward investment and business occupiers to the area in the long term.\n\n\u201cThe new office available at Skypark is part of our ongoing programme of speculative building for the South West , which currently comprises over 180,000 sq ft of new commercial space, providing a solid platform from which to generate sizeable income and long term value right across the region. When the development completes, in the next 20 years, Skypark will provide up to 1.4 million sq ft of industrial and office space with potential for up to 6,500 jobs.\u201d\n\nSTEM Regional Centre of Excellence is a game changer New in 2017, City College Plymouth\u2019s Regional Centre of Excellence for STEM is the most significant investment in the city\u2019s skills infrastructure for many years. The \u00a313million state-of-the-art facility, which has been shortlisted for the Best New Building at this year\u2019s Abercrombie Awards, provides a flexible learning environment that simulates \u2018real work\u2019 scenarios with industry-standard workshops, science and sport laboratories and media studios. It is equipped with high-tech resources to support a broader and more relevant STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) curriculum. The centre will have a huge impact on the training and education of STEM-related subjects for the city and the wider region. It will focus on the city\u2019s priority STEM sectors to promote and provide growth and investment in skills development, connectivity and innovation. This will include support for job creation, particularly in high-growth sectors, to drive productivity and promote enterprise. These aspirations are an integral part of the STEM Plymouth Strategic Plan, helping to ensure Britain\u2019s Ocean City is recognised as a world leader in STEM development. The success of the new centre will depend in no small measure on the continued involvement of more than 200 employers who are working with the College to create Plymouth\u2019s future workforce. The College\u2019s commitment is to train and develop those young people and adults required by local employers and the city\u2019s economy, to ensure a bright future ahead for all. Phil Davies, Principal and Chief Executive of City College, said: The \u00a313million facility is the greatest investment in skills training in Plymouth for many years. It is the College\u2019s direct response to the skills shortages that have been identified in the region\u2019s economic strategies and planning over the past decade. With a greater emphasis on STEM skills, the College is now perfectly placed to support young people and businesses who need the next generation of students to be equipped with STEM-related skills and knowledge. \u201cI extend my thanks to our funders, the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership, Plymouth City Council and the Regional Growth Fund, and to all our employer partners for making this Regional Centre of Excellence a reality.\u201d Chris Garcia, Heart of the South West LEP Chief Executive, said: \u201cThis was one of our first Growth Deal projects to get off the ground, helped by our funding of \u00a35.43m. In the early days of the LEP we recognised that our area\u2019s labour market would benefit from a significant injection of skills in the subjects of science, technology, engineering and maths to meet the demands of the growing economy. \u201cThis new centre offers students state-of-the-art facilities to encourage young people to take up STEM subjects and enable those already in work to upskill and take on higher value careers.\u201d The STEM Regional Centre of Excellence is just one of a number of capital projects recently completed or under way at Devon\u2019s four principal further and higher education colleges. Together, City College Plymouth, Exeter College, Petroc and South Devon College make up the Devon Colleges Group (DCG), launched a year ago with a shared vision focussed on enhancing skills, raising aspirations and driving regional economic growth and productivity. Through their collaboration, the Colleges are backing the region\u2019s future and supporting its strategies for growth and prosperity. The Group has pledged to analyse the skills needs and gaps in the region, respond quickly to emerging trends in order to deliver Devon\u2019s growth ambitions and continue serving their local communities by providing high quality and relevant education and training.\n\nThe Skypark is a key part of the East Devon Growth Point initiative, designed to unlock the economic potential of East Devon.\n\nAlready on the ground is Exeter Science Park with long term plans is to deliver 20,000 new homes, including the new town at Cranbrook and over 25,000 jobs up to 2026.\n\nVision, Plymouth\n\nValue: \u00a370million\n\nCompletion: October 2017\n\nThis is the biggest city regeneration scheme in the South West and the firm behind it has vowed it is not done building in Plymouth.\n\nDeveloper Redrow has finished construction at the vast 464-property project in what was once the Royal Navy South Yard Enclave, in Devonport, surrounded by Plymouth\u2019s \u201cBerlin Wall\u201d.\n\nThe immense estate is now home to more than 1,100 people living in a mixed-use development of one- and two-bedroom apartments alongside two-, three- and four-bedroom houses, shops, offices and a 42-flat extra care housing block for older people.\n\nVision has also contributed to the South West economy by employing 50 contractors at any one time and on average, 80 jobs were sustained and supported on a daily basis.\n\nRedrow directly employed 10 apprentices during its 10 years, leading them all into construction industry jobs.\n\nNFU Mutual is investing in its local offices to protect South West businesses To protect the South West\u2019s farmers and businesses, insurer NFU Mutual is investing heavily in its network of 45 local offices across the region whose expert teams know their customers and are on hand to step in when fires floods strike. \u201cAt a time when many financial institutions such as banks and insurers are closing local offices and offering services only by \u2018phone or online, we\u2019re investing in our local offices,\u201d said Tim Price, Rural Affairs Specialist at NFU Mutual. \u201cWe know that customers really value having a local office with staff who know them and their business \u2013 and that\u2019s why we\u2019re investing millions to ensure we have modern offices across the countryside with expert staff on hand and sophisticated IT systems. \u201cThat means that we have the expertise and products to insure a wide range of businesses from farms to hotels and shops and major food processors who make some of the South West\u2019s finest dairy and meat products. \u201cWe use our expertise to ensure that customers have the right insurance in place to protect their businesses \u2013 and keep them running if an incident like a serious fire means they need alternative premises to stay in production. Business Interruption \u201cIn today\u2019s highly competitive business environment, it\u2019s often not the damage a fire causes to a firm\u2019s premises and equipment that puts its future at risk, but any failure in its ability to continue supplying goods and services. \u201cThat\u2019s why business interruption insurance is a vital protection measure. When disaster strikes in the form of fire, flood, storm and accident, NFU Mutual\u2019s local infrastructure enables it to come to the aid of customers quickly. Our fast response helps keep the wheels of the economy turning and maintains jobs in the local community. \u201cWe pride ourselves on getting on scene very quickly when a serious incident happens. Our local offices and specialist back up claims handlers can quickly provide emergency funding, help arrange alternative accommodation and get the claims process underway.\u201d This philosophy is part of our ethos as a mutual insurer. Our customers are members of the organisation, with a say in how the business is run \u2013 and are our first priority. Managing risks Today, keeping modern businesses up and running isn\u2019t just about insurance. Well-run businesses use risk management as a key principle to help them work efficiently. This means expert analysis of all the potential risks in its activities, changing procedures and equipment to remove as many risks as possible and then putting in place measures to manage the remaining risks. NFU Mutual\u2019s own Risk Management Services company provides this consultancy service to farmers and businesses.\n\nRedrow also donated more than \u00a33.7million towards education, transport and roads, including new buses, and supporting public areas such as Granby Green.\n\nThe house builder also invested \u00a3700,000 to support the restoration of Devonport Market Hall and Clock Tower which is to become a digital hub for Plymouth.\n\nNigel Palmer, managing director for Redrow West Country, insisted: \u201cThe completion of Vision is not the end of Redrow in Plymouth \u2013 we have not finished in the city by any means.\u201d", "output": "Redrow has completed construction at the \u00a370m ($94m) Vision development in Devonport, Plymouth. The 464-property project, in the former Royal Navy South Yard Enclave, is home to over 1,100 people and includes homes, offices, shops and a 42-flat extra care housing block. Redrow also invested \u00a3700,000 towards the restoration of the local market hall and clock tower, which is to become a digital hub, and donated more than \u00a33.7m towards education, transport and roads in the area.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian banks Bendigo and Adelaide offer Apple Pay \n Starting today, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank in Australia is offering support for Apple Pay. The announcement means account holders in Australia can now use Apple Pay with their Bendigo Blue Bank cards.\n\nPeople who use Apple Pay with their Bendigo Bank MasterCard will continue to get the rewards and benefits that their Mastercard credit and debit cards provide.\n\n\n\nEligible cards also include:\n\nAct. Mastercard\u00ae debit\n\nBasic Black Mastercard credit\n\nBlue Mastercard debit\n\nBusiness Mastercard credit\n\nBusiness Mastercard debit\n\nCSB b-entertained Mastercard\n\nCSB b-packaged Mastercard\n\nLow Rate Mastercard\n\nLow Rate Platinum Mastercard\n\nPlatinum Mastercard\n\nPokitpal Mastercard debit\n\nQantas Platinum Mastercard\n\nReady Red Mastercard credit\n\nRSPCA Mastercard\n\nBendigo and Adelaide Bank was one of several banks that lost a fight in March to gain access to the NFC chip used in iPhones so they could offer their own integrated digital wallets to customers.\n\nThey also unsuccessfully lobbied the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to be allowed to collectively bargain with Apple and boycott Apple Pay.\n\n(Thanks, Adam!)", "output": "Australian banks Bendigo and Adelaide Bank are now\u00a0supporting\u00a0Apple Pay. For Bendigo customers, it means they can use Apple Pay with their Bendigo Blue bank cards as well as their Bendigo Mastercard while\u00a0retaining the existing benefits linked to the cards. Bendigo and Adelaide's support comes reluctantly, however, as they had previously fought unsuccessfully to be granted access to the NFC chip used by Apple in order to offer their own competing digital wallet service.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Co-op and Iceland support plastic bottle deposit return schemes \n Iceland and the Co-op have become the first supermarkets to support a bottle deposit scheme after the government sought views on the idea to reduce plastic pollution in the oceans.\n\nThe retailers came out in favour of setting up a mandatory deposit return scheme (DRS) in England and Wales as the environment secretary, Michael Gove, began to review the results of a seven-week consultation on whether to introduce a system to increase recycling rates of plastic bottles and reduce leakage into the oceans.\n\nOther leading supermarkets, in a survey carried out by Greenpeace, were non-committal over whether to support a deposit scheme, but none appeared openly hostile. Morrisons said: \u201cWith mixed views in the industry, it may be that the government will have to decide which way to go.\u201d\n\nPressure is growing on the government, retailers and consumers to increase rates of plastic bottle recycling, reduce plastic littering and cut marine pollution.\n\nRecycling rates in the UK have flatlined for five years and last year fell to 44%, according to Keep Britain Tidy. Just 57% of all plastic bottles are collected for recycling, compared with levels of up to 90% in countries that have deposit return schemes. It comes as plastic usage across the globe is surging.\n\nRichard Walker, the director of sustainability for Iceland Foods, responding to the Greenpeace survey, said the failure in Britain to recycle up to 16m single-use plastic bottles every day was causing untold damage to oceans and wildlife.\n\n\u201cThis cannot carry on \u2026 deposit return schemes work. In Norway theirs has led to 96% of all bottles being returned, with similar results in other countries that have adopted a DRS. Britain urgently needs to do the same.\u201d\n\nAt the Co-op, Jo Whitfield, the retail chief executive, said the company was a firm supporter of initiatives to boost recycling rates.\n\n\u201cThe Co-op is in favour of creating a deposit return scheme which increases the overall recycling of packaging and significantly reduces litter and importantly helps tackle marine pollution,\u201d she said.\n\nThe environment secretary believes a DRS could improve the recycling rate of plastic bottles and cut leakage into the oceans.\n\nThe Scottish government has said it will introduce a deposit return scheme for drinks containers but has not yet released details of how it will operate.\n\n\n\nMore than 8m tonnes of plastic are discarded into the oceans each year, putting marine wildlife under serious threat. The first global analysis of plastic use found humans have produced 8.3bn tonnes since the 1950s, with the majority ending up in landfill or polluting the oceans and other ecosystems.\n\nIn its call for views on a DRS, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs cites far better recycling rates in South Australia and Denmark for bottles and cans (90% and almost 80% respectively), where a form of deposit return scheme operates.\n\nLouise Edge, an oceans campaigner for Greenpeace, welcomed the backing from the two supermarket chains.\n\n\u201cIt is possible to prevent throwaway plastic polluting our rivers and oceans, but to do this we really need companies to step up to the plate,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cIceland and Co-op have shown some vision and set the standard \u2013 now it\u2019s time for other companies to follow suit and start publicly backing deposit return schemes.\u201d\n\nIn February, Coca-Cola in Europe came out in favour of a DRS and in evidence to MPs last month, Nick Brown, the company\u2019s head of sustainability, said such a scheme needed to be UK-wide.\n\nHe said: \u201cWe have seen that other countries which have a deposit scheme have improved recovery rates of packaging and reduced littering, which is important to us.\n\n\u201cWe understand that things need to change both with household waste collection and packaging on the go. We think a deposit scheme can work in that context.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile, the Natural History Museum in London has announced it will end the sale of single-use plastic water bottles at its sites to help reduce the pollution of the oceans.\n\nProf Ian Owens, the director of science at the museum, said: \u201cOur plan to stop selling single-use plastic water bottles is about becoming part of the movement towards a refillable culture and doing our part to encourage a mass lifestyle change that will help reduce the deluge of plastic into our seas.\u201d\n\nSupermarkets\u2019 responses to Greenpeace survey\n\nTesco is not hostile to changes to the current system, if the scheme is \u201cas easy and accessible for consumers as possible\u201d and \u201censures good quality\u201d for end use.\n\nWaitrose believes kerbside recycling is the most effective solution but if a DRS was introduced would work with the government to consider how it would operate in a supermarket setting.\n\nSainsburys says drinks containers are only a small part of the broader waste and recycling challenge, and a more holistic approach is needed.\n\nMorrisons is concerned about the cost of a DRS, and says government will have to decide which way to go.\n\nAldi supports the British Retail Consortium position, which is against a DRS and argues for a more holistic approach.\n\nLidl admits return schemes have potential benefits but need to be fully analysed and evaluated and will require significant investment.\n\nMarks & Spencer agrees there is a need to increase recycling rates for plastic bottles. It says a mandatory DRS is \u201can important solution to consider\u201d but may pose challenges.", "output": "The Co-op and Iceland have become the first UK supermarkets to back a bottle deposit scheme, following a government consultation on reducing plastic pollution in the oceans. The two companies support the creation of a mandatory deposit return scheme (DRS) in England and Wales. In the UK, just 57% of plastic bottles are recycled, compared with up to 90% in countries such as Australia, Denmark and Norway that use DRS. The Scottish government has pledged to introduce a DRS for drinks containers\u00a0but has not yet disclosed details of the proposed scheme.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MIT engineers create 3D printer that works 10-times faster \n Nov 29, 2017 | By Benedict\n\nEngineers at MIT have developed a laser-assisted FDM 3D printer that prints around 10 times faster than average desktop machines. The new 3D printer\u2019s unusual printhead uses a laser and novel screw mechanism to increase flow rate.\n\nMIT researchers Jamison Go and Anastasios John Hart have developed a novel 3D printer printhead\n\nLasers are a common component in many 3D printers. Stereolithography (SLA), selective laser melting (SLM), and selective laser sintering (SLS) all have a laser at their core that is used to turn their respective base materials into 3D printed objects.\n\nBut the most common type of desktop 3D printer, the fused deposition modeling (FDM) printer, doesn\u2019t usually come with a laser, instead using a heater cartridge in its printhead \u201chot end\u201d to melt plastic.\n\nBut could a laser improve your average FDM 3D printer? MIT researchers Jamison Go and Anastasios John Hart have just developed a desktop 3D printer that is reportedly 10 times faster than most commercial counterparts. And the secret to this speed, the researchers say, is a laser-assisted, screw mechanism printhead.\n\nThese two new mechanisms are not common features of FDM printheads, yet both serve to increase material flow rate. The screw mechanism feeds the plastic filament through a nozzle at high force, while the laser rapidly heats and melts the material.\n\nA tenfold speed increase is definitely food for thought, and Hart thinks this new kind of printhead could make FDM 3D printing a more viable production technique\u2014as opposed to a tool for prototyping only.\n\nIt\u2019s easy to see why: a one-hour print job could be shortened to five or 10 minutes, which means skilled workers like repair technicians could use such a 3D printer on the job, quickly printing a new spare part after diagnosing a problem.\n\nEven emergency medicine applications could benefit from a simple yet speedy 3D printer like the one developed at MIT.\n\nSelection of objects 3D printed on the new MIT printer\n\n(Image: Chelsea Turner)\n\nBut the new 3D printer wasn\u2019t made for any particular end task; rather, its development was an attempt to overcome three problems associated with FDM 3D printing: slow printhead speed, low extrusion force, and slow heat transfer.\n\n\u201cGiven our understanding of what limits those three variables, we asked how do we design a new printer ourselves that can improve all three in one system,\u201d Hart says. \"And now we've built it, and it works quite well.\u201d\n\nThe screw mechanism replaces the standard \"pinch-wheel\" mechanism of FDM printheads, which can only go so fast without losing grip of the filament.\n\nThe new device, which turns within the printhead, is able to process a specially developed textured filament, which increases grip and allows the printhead to feed the filament through at much higher speeds.\n\nThe laser, on the other hand, serves to heat and melt the 3D printing filament before it passes through the nozzle. It ensures the filament is more quickly and thoroughly melted than is possible using the conduction heating of standard FDM printheads.\n\nThe heat of the laser can be adjusted by quickly turning it on and off.\n\nAnother speed-increasing feature of the new 3D printer is its new gantry design. An H-shaped frame is powered by two motors and connected to a motion stage holding the printhead. The system is fast enough to keep up with the increased flow rate of the printhead.\n\nTo prove the power of the new 3D printer, the MIT researchers printed several complex parts, each of which took only five to 10 minutes. These included a miniature chair, a simplified model of Building 10 at MIT, eyeglasses frames, a spiral cup, and a helical bevel gear.\n\nUnfortunately, the machine isn\u2019t yet perfect. While attempting to print at such high speeds, the researchers found that the printed layers, being subject to such high force and temperature, sometimes haven\u2019t cooled down and hardened by the time the next layer is applied.\n\nThis means the researchers have had to actively cool a part as it prints\u2014a challenge they will continue to address as they refine the printer over time.\n\nThe MIT team also plans to try printing with high-strength polymers and composite materials, as well as attempting to tackle large-scale 3D printing.\n\nThe research, \u201cFast Desktop-Scale Extrusion Additive Manufacturing,\u201d has been published in Additive Manufacturing.\n\nPosted in 3D Printer\n\nMaybe you also like:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nkr_ wrote at 12/2/2017 3:23:36 PM:It's quite easy to extrude 10 times faster... The real challenges, as many found out before, are to obtain accurate prints with sharp corners and layer adhesion.Chris wrote at 11/30/2017 6:35:23 PM:I wonder if Jim Combs and Stratasys will have anything to say about this. He invented this years ago.RepRapper wrote at 11/29/2017 6:19:43 PM:Unfortunately, the machine isn\u2019t yet perfect. While attempting to print at such high speeds, the researchers found that the printed layers, being subject to such high force and temperature, sometimes haven\u2019t cooled down and hardened by the time the next layer is applied. Yes... all the RepRappers have known this for years..Maave wrote at 11/29/2017 2:59:16 PM:Thankfully Mr Hart has also posted this research paper on Cornell's ArXiv reposity, so it's not locked behind a journal paywall https://arxiv.org/abs/1709.05918Banker Overlord wrote at 11/29/2017 2:55:30 PM:At those kinds of speeds, it's a game changer.\n\n\n\n", "output": "A laser-assisted 3D printer that works 10-times after than other models has been developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers. While lasers are common in many 3D printers, the most common \u2013 fused deposition modelling (FDM) printers \u2013 use heater cartridges in the printheads to melt plastic. MIT engineers have now developed a FDM printer that uses a screw mechanism to feed through plastic filament at high force and then a laser to rapidly melt it. The speed improvement means that 3D printing will be viable for production as well as prototyping, researchers said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Construction lorries spreading mud hazard, neighbours complain \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nSign up to our daily newsletter for the latest local and breaking news in Bristol.\n\nResidents living near the former Frenchay Hospital say nearby roads have been left in a dangerous state by construction lorries driving out of the site.\n\nThe B4058 Bristol Road was left thick with sticky red mud outside the entrance to the site, which is being developed into 500 new homes.\n\nResident Tony Williams called on South Gloucestershire Council to make developers Redrow Homes clean up the roads, and stop making the situation worse.\n\nHe said he feared there would be an accident soon, given the slippery state of the road \u2013 especially as the weather gets colder.\n\nMr Williams said all the roads around Frenchay were thick with the red mud, going from the entrance to the site and up to the north where the B4058 meets the A4174 Avon Ring Road.\n\nRedrow began work at the start of this year on the huge redevelopment of the site, which will provide 500 new homes in that corner of north Bristol.\n\nA spokesperson for the developer said they had acted after seeing the state of the road.\n\n\"Redrow strives to keep its sites and their surrounding areas as clear and orderly as possible for the safety and convenience of local communities,\" she said.\n\n\"We are aware that the movement of our vehicles can sometimes cause discolouration of roads due to the type of debris being transported off site.\n\n\"As such we have a strict policy of vehicle wheel washing and road brushing to ensure as little staining occurs as possible.\n\n\"Unfortunately, due to the marl ground conditions at this site some discolouration has occurred. In response we have increased both the road and vehicle cleaning to ensure the crossing remains in use.\n\n\"In addition, we have applied to the council to bring forward the repainting of the crossing lines so that they are more prominent,\" she added.\n\n\"This exit is only used by vehicles when there is an increased load to remove that would be too disruptive for us to send through the main exit. We are investigating other solutions to help keep this exit clear when it is in use.\n\n\"We are committed to building quality, and much-needed, new homes in Frenchay and will continue to listen to and engage with local residents in the area at each stage of the development,\" she added.", "output": "Neighbours have accused construction lorries used in the conversion of a former Bristol hospital of creating a safety hazard on nearby roads. They say the trucks are spreading slippery thick mud over a crossing near\u00a0Frenchay Hospital, which Redrow is turning into 500 new homes.\u00a0Redrow said it's increased \"road and vehicle cleaning to ensure the crossing remains in use\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scientists design translation AIs that can learn languages \n Language-Learning AI\n\nComputers have become much more adept at translating from one language into another in recent years, thanks to the application of neural networks. However, these AI systems usually require a lot of content translated by humans for the computers to learn from, while two new papers demonstrate that it's possible to develop a system that doesn't rely on parallel texts.\n\nMikel Artetxe, a computer scientist at the University of the Basque Country (UPV) and the author of one of these papers, compares the situation to giving someone various books in Chinese and various books in Arabic, without any of the same texts overlapping. A human would find it very difficult to learn how to translate from Chinese into Arabic in this scenario, but a computer might not.\n\nIn a typical machine-learning process, the AI system would be supervised. This means that it would make its attempt at the right answer for any given problem, a human would tell it whether or not that's correct, and it would amend its activity as needed. That isn't the case with these two papers.\n\nInstead, they hinge upon the way that words are connected in similar ways across different languages \u2013 for instance, 'table' and 'chair' are frequently used together, no matter the dialect. By mapping out these connections for each language and then comparing them, it's possible to get a decent idea of which terms relate to one another. This process is not supervised by a human.\n\nThe systems can be used to translate full sentences, rather than just individual words, using two complementary training strategies. Back translation sees a sentence written in one language roughly translate into the other, then back to the first, with the system tweaking its protocols if the result isn't exactly the same. Denoising is a similar process, but with words being removed or added to the sentence for different translations. Working in sync, these methods help the machine get a greater understanding of how language actually operates.\n\nVocabulary Test\n\nThe two systems \u2013 one developed at UPV and the other by Facebook computer scientist Guillaume Lample \u2013 are yet to be peer-reviewed, but they have shown promising results in early testing. Click to View Full Infographic\n\nThe only way to make a direct comparison between their capabilities is by gauging their ability to translate between English and French text that comes from a shared pool of around 30 million sentences. Both managed to score a bilingual evaluation understudy score of around 15.\n\nGoogle Translate, which uses supervised machine learning, scores around 40 by this measure, whereas human translators can score 50. However, the unsupervised scores are a significant improvement over basic, word-for-word translation.\n\nIndeed, the researchers behind both papers agree that they could each enhance their system by drawing on the other's work. They could also be made more capable if they were semi-supervised, by introducing a few thousand parallel sentences to their training program \u2013 which would still cut down on the time and data required to learn the ropes.", "output": "Two research papers have highlighted the promising potential of artificial intelligence (AI) systems capable of teaching themselves languages without human\u00a0supervision. The studies by computer scientists at Facebook and University of the Basque Country\u00a0describe AI systems \u00a0that can teach themselves\u00a0to translate by searching for connections between languages. The researchers said some supervision could enhance the\u00a0systems'\u00a0capabilities.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Site manager wins National Residential Site Agent of the Year \n Redrow site manager Martin Caldwell has cemented his place at the top of the construction trade after taking the title of National Residential Site Agent of the Year.\n\nThe 35-year-old won the coveted award at the Grand Finals of the LABC Building Excellence Awards, held at the Westminster Park Plaza Hotel in London.\n\nBoss of the builder\u2019s Ricksby Grange development in Wrea Green Martin, from Lytham, had already secured the North-West accolade of LABC Site Agent of the Year earlier this year.\n\nBut his latest victory, hotly contested across 10 regions, sees him declared the best in the whole of the country.\n\n\u201cI am absolutely delighted \u2013 although the news hasn\u2019t quite sunk in yet,\u201d says Martin. \u201cAs I sat around the table at the awards ceremony I didn\u2019t think, for one moment, I was going to win. I am only 35 and there was a lot of competition from site managers with many more years\u2019 experience than me. \u201cSo, yes, I was immensely proud but, as I always say, while it might be my name written on the award, it should really have all those of every person I work with, every member of my team, because they have won it too. I couldn\u2019t have done it without them.\u201d\n\nThe LABC (Local Authority Building Control) Awards recognise outstanding working relationships between building companies and their managers with the local authorities and their surveyors; as well as build quality, control on site for technical awareness, good communication and management of safety.\n\nThe awards event is one of the most well-known and prestigious within the building industry. At the Grand Finals \u2013 attended by more than 800 building professionals \u2013 the winners were announced by writer, broadcaster, actor and former conservative MP Gyles Brandreth.\n\nMartin, who already has two NHBC Pride in the Job Seals of Excellence \u2013 the first of which he won at just 23 \u2013 among a host of other awards, went on:\n\n\u201cThe industry has changed. It\u2019s not just about building houses these days, but about looking after the people you work with, your clients, health and safety rules, the cleanliness of the site, and so much more \u2026 and with Redrow rightly running such a tight ship, all of that becomes second nature. \u201cIt does make my job more difficult of course, but it\u2019s also helped me become national champion!\u201d\n\nThough he also added:\n\n\u201cI became a dad five months ago. To be honest my baby boy William was the best and biggest \u2018award\u2019 that either myself or my wife Lauren could have been given.\u201d\n\nRedrow construction director for Lancashire, Keith Collard, said:\n\n\u201cMartin has never given anything less than 100% to Redrow, and that\u2019s at the heart of everything we do. \u201cSite managers like Martin make sure that the people who buy our homes can have absolute confidence in us from the moment they reserve a house to the minute they put the key into the door \u2013 and beyond. \u201cWe are proud of him and all our site managers.\u201d\n\nMartin hopes to continue his career ever upwards with Redrow, aiming for project manager and contracts manager, meanwhile striving always for the next award.", "output": "Redrow site manager Martin Caldwell has won the National Residential Site Agent of the Year award. The award adds to Caldwell's already impressive list of industry accolades, including LABC Site Agent of the Year and two NHBC Pride in the Job Seals of Excellence. Redrow construction director for Lancashire, Keith Collard, commented on the news, saying: \u201cMartin has never given anything less than 100% to Redrow, and that\u2019s at the heart of everything we do\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk TalkTalk suffers major outage affecting thousands of customers \n T housands of TalkTalk customers were left without broadband after the internet giant suffered a \"major outage\".\n\nBroadband outage monitor Down Detector experienced a spike of 6164 reports of TalkTalk broadband outages at around 3pm on Wednesday.\n\nThe problems are believed to have been caused by a \"major\" outage.\n\nTalkTalk said it had resolved the issue within an hour but outraged customers said on Twitter that they were still experiencing problems.\n\nPaul Saunders said it seemed like \"almost total UK blackout\" and tweeted an image of Down Detector's live outage map.\n\nOthers said TalkTalk products were \"awful\" and said they often experience similar incidents.\n\nAnnabella wrote: \"This happens at least twice a month.\"\n\nIn an update, TalkTalk tweeted: \"We're aware that some customers are having intermittent browsing issues.\n\n\"We have our engineers investigating this as a matter of priority. We apologise for any inconvenience whilst we investigate the cause of this.\"\n\nTalkTalk said it had resolved the \"Web Page Browsing Issue\" on its status dashboard at around 3.30pm.\n\nA TalkTalk spokesperson said: \u201cTechnical issues led to some customers experiencing disruption to their service for a limited period this afternoon.\n\n\"Our engineers resolved this quickly and all services are now restored. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.\u201d", "output": "Abstract:\u00a0TalkTalk's broadband service suffered a major outage which left thousands of UK customers without internet. On Wednesday 29 November, the Broadband outage monitoring service Down Detector received 6,164 outage reports at around 3pm. TalkTalk said it had resolved a \"Web Page Browsing Issue\" by 3:30pm and apologised for any inconvenience caused. Users took to social media to complain about the service, with one describing TalkTalk's products as \"awful\" and another stating that similar instances occur \"at least twice a month\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "RWE faces compensation claim over climate change \n A German court has ruled that it will hear a Peruvian farmer\u2019s case against energy giant RWE over climate change damage in the Andes, a decision labelled by campaigners as a \u201chistoric breakthrough\u201d.\n\nFarmer Saul Luciano Lliuya\u2019s case against RWE was \u201cwell-founded,\u201d the court in the north-western city of Hamm said on Thursday.\n\nLliuya argues that RWE, as one of the world\u2019s top emitters of climate-altering carbon dioxide, must share in the cost of protecting his hometown Huaraz from a swollen glacier lake at risk of overflowing from melting snow and ice.\n\nRWE\u2019s power plants emitted carbon dioxide that contributed to global warming, increasing local temperatures in the Andes and putting property at risk from flooding or landslides, Lliuya argues.\n\n\u201cEven people who act according to the law must be held responsible for damage they cause to property,\u201d the judges said.\n\nNow the court must decide whether \u201cthe accused\u2019s contribution to the chain of events depicted here is measurable and calculable,\u201d they added.\n\n\u201cThis is a major success not just for me, but for the people of Huaraz and everywhere in the world threatened by climate risks,\u201d Lliuya said in a statement circulated by NGO Germanwatch.\n\nHe wants RWE to pay \u20ac17,000 ($20,000) towards flood defences for his community in Peru\u2019s northern Ancash region.\n\nThe 37-year-old also wants the German company to reimburse him for the \u20ac6,384 he himself has spent on protective measures.\n\nLliuya bases his claims on a 2013 climate study which found that RWE was responsible for around 0.5% of global emissions \u201csince the beginning of industrialisation\u201d.\n\nThe court said in a statement that it will choose experts to evaluate the claim in cooperation with both plaintiff and defendant, with Lliuya paying about \u20ac20,000 in fees up front.\n\n\u201cIt will be up to the experts to quantify [RWE\u2019s] role, which could be different\u201d from the amount he claims, the judges said.\n\nAfter an initial hearing in mid-November, the court in the north-western city of Hamm gave both sides until Thursday to provide further arguments to help them decide whether the case should go ahead.\n\nThe decision to hear the case is a \u201chistoric breakthrough with global relevance,\u201d Germanwatch, which has backed Lliuya\u2019s claim, said in a statement.\n\n\u201cMajor emitters of greenhouse gases can be held responsible for protective measures against climate damage.\u201d\n\nRWE could not immediately be reached for comment.\n\nBut the firm has insisted that the complaint was \u201cnot admissible\u201d and was even \u201cunjustified\u201d, arguing that a single company cannot be held liable for specific consequences of climate change.\n\nA lower court in the German city of Essen, where RWE is based, initially found that the lawsuit against the energy giant was unfounded.\n\nThe company has in the past said it did not understand why it has been singled out for legal action, stressing the efforts it had made to become more environmentally friendly.\n\nIn this Aug. 12, 2016 photo, a group of tourists walk past a photo featuring an image of the Pastoruri glacier before its retreat, during a tour called \u201cThe Route of Climate Change\u201d in Huaraz, Peru. Benjamin Morales Arnao, the head of Peru\u2019s National Institute for Glacier Research, said that while the country\u2019s glaciers \u201care a source of life, due to their water resources and biodiversity ... these glaciers are also a source of glacier glacial catastrophes.\u201d (AP Photo/Martin Mejia) Photograph: Martin Mejia/AP\n\nAs well as modernising its coal-fired power plants to reduce CO2 emissions, RWE has invested billions in renewable energy as part of Germany\u2019s move away from fossil fuels, it says.\n\nShares in RWE fell on the news, losing 0.31% in Frankfurt against a DAX index of blue-chip German shares up 0.52%.\n\nThe Peruvian\u2019s case comes at a time when German politics is sharply divided over how to balance climate action against economic growth.\n\nA government-directed \u201cenergy transition\u201d to renewables, rather than nuclear power and fossil fuels, is making only halting progress, while environmentalists are pushing the country\u2019s powerful auto industry to produce less polluting vehicles after a series of scandals.\n\nClimate and energy policy was among the most bitterly disputed issues in three-way coalition talks between chancellor Angela Merkel\u2019s conservatives, the pro-business Free Democrats and the ecologist Greens before they broke down this month.", "output": "Energy giant RWE will face legal action in Germany over claims by a Peruvian farmer that, as a leading carbon dioxide emitter, the firm must share the cost of protecting his home town from flooding resulting from melting ice. Saul Luciano Lliuya argues that emissions from RWE\u2019s power plants contributed to global warming, which led to rising temperatures and increasing flood and landslide risks in the Andes. Lliuya is calling for RWE to pay \u20ac17,000 ($20,000) towards flood defences in Huaraz, and for \u20ac6,384 in personal compensation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Commercial spaceport proposed in Georgia, US \n On the southeast coast of Georgia, around 20 miles north of the Florida border, a few concrete slabs and a handful of roads lie on 4,000 acres of luscious green land. They are the remnants of a now-defunct manufacturing plant. The area hasn\u2019t seen much action in 50 years, but soon, it could be teeming with activity again \u2014 as the site of future US rocket launches.\n\nThe new proposed commercial spaceport, the first one ever for Georgia, is known as Spaceport Camden. Local government officials have big plans for the area over the next few years: they hope to build a launchpad to support rocket launches to orbit, as well as a landing area that would allow rockets to touch down after takeoff. Built through partnerships with private companies, the area could become the first exclusively commercial spaceport on the East Coast; the others in Florida and Virginia are operated by or associated with federal agencies.\n\n\u201cI think we have the opportunity to build the first exclusive non-federal range on the East Coast.\u201d\n\nThe county thinks the project could be a smart way for Georgia to enter the booming commercial spaceflight economy, which was valued at $329 billion in 2016, according to the Space Foundation, a nonprofit advocating for spaceflight. Spaceport Camden is strategically located on the coast, which would allow rockets to launch east over mostly open ocean, posing little risk to populated areas on land. So far, many commercial space companies have shown interest in the place, according to county officials. Once the site is up and running, it could also serve as a hub for business and tourism, as well as an educational outpost for local schools.\n\nThere\u2019s still a long way to go before that happens, though. Camden County, which the spaceport is named after, is currently working to get the site licensed for launches by the Federal Aviation Administration. It\u2019s a lengthy process that involves analyzing the property to see how the site will affect surrounding areas. But if Spaceport Camden is cleared, officials hope that major structures of the spaceport can be built as soon as possible. \u201cI think we have the opportunity to build the first exclusive non-federal range on the East Coast,\u201d Steve Howard, the Camden County administrator and head of the Spaceport Camden initiative, tells The Verge.\n\nAn aerial view of what the Spaceport Camden layout could look like. Image: Camden County\n\nSpaceport Camden already has a unique connection to spaceflight. The old plant that once sat on the site was actually used in the 1960s to build rocket engines that ran on solid propellant for NASA. In 1965, the most powerful rocket engine at the time was fired up during a test at the plant. NASA even considered the area as an alternative launch site for its Apollo missions to the Moon, according to documents declassified in 2005. Florida was ultimately chosen, and NASA also wound up relying on liquid fuel rocket engines instead, rendering the engine plant somewhat obsolete. So for the last half century, the site has been mostly dormant.\n\nThen, a little less than five years ago, a space company reached out to the state of Georgia, looking for a new location to launch its rockets. (Howard wouldn\u2019t say which company that was, but SpaceX considered Georgia for a new launch site between 2012 and 2014 before settling near Brownsville, Texas.) That initial meeting prompted Camden County officials to meet with other private spaceflight companies to gauge interest in a Georgia spaceport where the booster plant once lived. \u201cWhen they visited they all came to the same conclusion: that it\u2019s a great site,\u201d Howard says. \u201cObviously there was a reason why the site was chosen back in the \u201960s.\u201d\n\n\u201cObviously there was a reason why the site was chosen back in the \u201960s.\u201d\n\nAlong with its prime location on the coast, Spaceport Camden is pretty far south in the US, putting it relatively close to the equator. That makes it easier for companies that want to launch rockets into orbit from the US. The equator is the widest section of the planet, as well as the fastest spinning part of the Earth's surface. That means launching closer to the equator actually gives rockets an extra boost of speed that helps them achieve orbit more easily.\n\nPlus, Howard touts the site\u2019s location between two well-established NASA spaceports along the East Coast: Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. \u201cI think there is synergy opportunity there,\u201d says Howard. The spaceports could work together or share resources, he says.\n\nFor a while, the Spaceport Camden initiative was just a promising idea, but now the state of Georgia has shown it\u2019s serious about the project. In May, Georgia governor Nathan Deal signed a bill called HB 1, or the Georgia Spaceflight Act. The bill helps to limit the liability of spaceflight companies that launch people into space from the state. HB 1 was a signal to the industry that Georgia welcomes commercial space.\n\nSpace startup Vector\u2019s prototype rocket launching from Spaceport Camden in August. Photo: Vector\n\nSince then, Spaceport Camden has even seen its first launch... sort of. In August, a spaceflight startup named Vector launched one of its test rockets from the site \u2014 though the vehicle didn\u2019t reach orbit. The rocket, which Vector wants to use to launch small satellites someday, was only a prototype, originally meant to reach an altitude lower than 10,000 feet. Because of this, the launch didn\u2019t require the same kind of licensing that the FAA demands for missions that achieve orbit. \u201cOverall it was an A-plus experience,\u201d Jim Cantrell, CEO and co-founder of Vector, tells The Verge. \u201cWe hope they get approval for orbital launches soon so we can go back.\u201d\n\nCurrently, 10 sites throughout the US hold FAA licenses to operate as commercial spaceports\n\nCurrently, 10 sites throughout the US hold FAA licenses to operate as commercial spaceports. These sites have undergone environmental impact reports, to see how the spaceports might affect surrounding wildlife and property. Camden County is currently funding a third-party researcher to conduct that report, and the analysis has been ongoing for a couple of years. The process involves conducting numerous public hearings and scientific studies, but Howard is hopeful that report will be complete early next year.\n\nOnce that\u2019s finished, Spaceport Camden can start to grow. Howard says the plan is to partner with commercial companies to get the various structures of the property built. These companies would lease parts of the property, similar to how SpaceX leases launchpads and a landing site at Cape Canaveral, and even build their own launchpads (and landing zones, if necessary) for their specific vehicles. Howard says he has a number of operators already interested, and he\u2019s confident the county will be able to make substantive construction deals.\n\nA conceptual rendering of what a landing zone at Spaceport Camden could look like. Image: Camden County\n\nAerospace technology is already Georgia\u2019s biggest export, but a spaceport could help bring even more spaceflight business and educational opportunities to the area. A report done by space consulting firm Astralytical found that Spaceport Camden could be a great home for businesses that not only launch from the site, but also design their vehicles there. \u201cLaunch is only one small component of the entire space industry,\u201d Laura Forczyk, the owner of Astralytical, tells The Verge. \u201cWhen you\u2019re looking at the future growth of a spaceport, you look at the whole process \u2014 from research and development, to design of spacecraft, to launching... The whole process could happen from start to finish within Spaceport Camden.\u201d", "output": "Proposals have been drawn up for the first exclusively commercial spaceport on the American East Coast, called \"Spaceport Camden\". The Spaceport's strategic coastal location would allow rockets to largely launch east over open ocean, while proximity to the Kennedy Space Centre and Wallops Flight Facility would encourage resource sharing, according to the head of the Spaceport Camden Initiative, Steve Howard. The launch site is currently awaiting approval from the Federal Aviation Administration.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Galaxy Resources jumps on Asian lithium deals \n Shares in the lithium company Galaxy Resources jumped 8.6 per cent (31\u00a2) on Wednesday, making it the best performed stock in the ASX 200 after investors welcomed news that it had signed a series of long-term off-take agreements with customers in Asia.\n\nThe binding agreements cover five-year terms and are for a minimum of 200,000 tonnes per annum of lithium concentrate. They mean that lithium concentrate produced at Galaxy's Mt Cattlin mine in Western Australia as far ahead as 2022 already has a guaranteed buyer.\n\nCharging cables connect to a row of electric taxis in Shenzhen, China. Credit: Bloomberg\n\nGalaxy Resources, which is headquartered in Perth and also has projects in Canada and Argentina, did not name the customers in its ASX statement but said they were \"all key suppliers of lithium products and materials throughout Asia\".\n\nGalaxy also said it would be paid a higher \"headline\" price for its product in 2018 than 2017.", "output": "Shares in Galaxy Resources jumped on 29 November after it said it had signed a series of long-term lithium off-take agreements with customers in Asia. The five-year deals cover are for a  minimum of 200,000 tonnes per annum of lithium concentrate, guaranteeing buyers for all the output of Galaxy's Mt Cattlin mine in Western Australia as far ahead as 2022. Galaxy also said it would be paid a higher \"headline\" price for its product in 2018 than 2017."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snapchat allows users to separate friends from brands in update \n An Update On Our German Community: 15 Million And Growing!", "output": "Snapchat has announced a feature allowing users to view friends and publisher content in separate feeds. Messages and photos from friends will now be partitioned off from the brand content, with friends' Chats and Stories sitting on the left-hand side of the interface, and the brand-centric Discover page located on the right. The move is intended to \"separate social from media\" and address the criticism that users too frequently see unwanted content from publishers and brands mixed up with that of their own social network."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Republican Tax Plan Could End Up Hurting Seniors \n The Republican tax bill comes with a price.\n\nAccording to \"pay as you go\" rules, the tax bill could trigger sudden and severe cuts to federal programs, including Medicare.\n\nOne of President Donald Trump's biggest campaign promises was to preserve Medicare and Social Security, and these cuts could break that promise.\n\n\n\nBig changes are afoot in Washington. After more than 10 months in the White House, tax-reform momentum is building for President Trump after House Republicans passed, by a 227-to-205 vote, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Following the failure of Congress to come to an agreement on healthcare reforms earlier this year, Trump is looking for his first major legislative victory as president, and he views tax reform, a key campaign pledge, as a means to get it.\n\nWhile you can read a more thorough summary of what the House GOP tax bill entails, its primary focus is on cutting taxes for middle-class families, as well as corporations. Individual taxpayers would see a notable simplification of the U.S. tax code, with fewer income-tax brackets, a beefier standard deduction, and far fewer deductions and credits.\n\nAs for corporations, the peak marginal income-tax rate would be lowered to 20% from 35%. The thinking here is that putting more money into the pockets of businesses will lead to job creation and higher wages. Since the U.S. economy relies on consumption for about 70% of GDP, both lower taxes on the middle class and corporations should help boost spending, as Republicans see it.\n\nThe GOP tax plan comes with a price\n\nBut there's a price to be paid for this massive overhaul to the U.S. tax code. According to an analysis conducted by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the GOP tax plan would add about $1.5 trillion to the deficit over the next decade. Yes, that figure includes the positive impacts of lower tax rates on consumers and corporations. It means that the GOP needs to find ways to boost revenue and/or cut expenses to bridge this gap. Otherwise, the results could be disastrous.\n\nShould Republicans pass the House GOP tax bill in its current form but fail to reduce the long-term (i.e., 10-year) deficit, the paygo budget rule, which was introduced in 1990, would be triggered. Paygo, which is short for \"pay as you go,\" is a budget rule requiring that tax cuts, as well as increases in entitlement and mandatory spending categories, be covered by tax increases and/or cuts in mandatory spending -- though it doesn't apply to discretionary spending.\n\nIn other words, if the 10-year cost of a program is greater than $0 -- in the case of the GOP tax plan, it's close to $1.5 trillion -- as determined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), it would trigger sequestration.\n\nWhat's sequestration? It's the process of applying across-the-board spending cuts to mandatory spending programs. According to estimates from the CBO, sequestration would require $136 billion worth of cuts in mandatory spending in 2018 if the GOP doesn't find a way to raise additional capital or make further cuts in spending.\n\nPresident Trump might be forced to break a key promise on entitlements\n\nWhere would this $136 billion come from? Glad you asked. Most of it -- say, $85 billion to $90 billion -- would be derived from cuts to agricultural subsidies, Customs and Border Patrol operations, Student Loan Administration funding, and some of the health funds for the Affordable Care Act, according to The Hill. It's possible the OMB may not be able to scrape enough from these mandatory programs to cover the entirety of the $136 billion.\n\nMore importantly, $25 billion would need to be cut from Medicare, the healthcare program that covers about 58 million Americans, of which five out of six are senior citizens aged 65 and up. If there's a silver lining here, paygo can't cut Medicare by more than 4% in a year.\n\nBut here are the two issues at hand. First, if the deficit remains in 2019, 2020, and beyond, paygo would kick in and continue to reduce mandatory spending to counter the increase in the deficit caused by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Thus, a 4% cut to Medicare spending could become the norm year after year until the deficit is resolved.\n\nSecond, it would require Trump to break perhaps his most important campaign promise: the pledge that he wouldn't cut funding to so-called \"entitlement programs\" like Social Security and Medicare. Seniors are the primary beneficiaries of these programs, and they'd be none too pleased if their funding was cut to pay for tax reforms.\n\nTrump has broken a promise before\n\nHowever, Americans should keep in mind that Trump's pledge to leave entitlement programs alone has technically already been broken. Back in May, the president released his outline for the fiscal 2018 federal budget, and in that proposal was a $72 billion cut over the next 10 years to the Social Security Disability program. Even though this failed to make it into the final budget, the mere fact that Trump attempted to pass along a cut to any part of Social Security goes against his pledge to leave these vital programs alone.\n\nWhile I don't believe we'll see Medicare subjected to paygo-induced sequestration, the GOP tax plan and previous attempts at health reform do lay down a few clues on where Republicans are looking to save money. Within healthcare reform, the GOP had been looking to slash Medicaid funding by up to $800 billion over the next decade.\n\nMeanwhile, the current GOP tax bill contains a provision allowing the federal government to tether tax provisions to the Chained Consumer Price Index (CPI). Unlike the standard CPI, the Chained CPI takes into account something known as substitution bias. This is the idea that consumers will trade down to cheaper goods or services as others become more expensive.\n\nSwitching to the Chained CPI would result in smaller annual inflationary increases. Though it doesn't specifically mean that the Chained CPI would be used as a measure for Social Security or Medicare, it certainly opens the door for that to happen. And if it did happen, it would mean smaller cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security recipients that'd save the federal government money.\n\nThe GOP looks to expedite tax reform, but questions remain\n\nAnother factor that comes into play is that the GOP is hard-pressed to pass tax reforms, given that one of their 52 seats in the Senate is up for election in Alabama. Without any expected Democratic support, they can only afford to lose two votes at present and still have tax reform pass in the Senate. If they lose their seat in Alabama, the margin for error becomes just one GOP Senator. They couldn't pass healthcare reform with a two-seat majority in the Senate, so a one-seat majority for tax reform could be impossible if they're looking to approach things unilaterally.\n\nWhat taxpayers and especially seniors should keep in mind at the moment is that tax reform often means compromise, either within a party or with the other political party. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act probably won't look the same once it's been voted on in the Senate, which means there's a chance of no sequestration whatsoever to Medicare and other mandatory spending programs in the years that lie ahead.\n\nOnly time will give us more answers.", "output": "The proposed Republican tax bill could result in issues for senior American citizens, as the \u201cpay as you go\u201d rules risk causing severe cuts to federally-funded programs such as Medicare. The tax bill has been passed as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act through the House by Republicans through a 227-to-205 vote. The bill represents the new hope for the Trump administration, which aims to gain a legislative victory after the healthcare defeat of recent months. The bill\u2019s aim is to cut taxes for the middle-class, as well as businesses. However, the cuts proposed could cause a negative impact on healthcare for seniors. The Paygo, or pay-as-you-go, budget regulation requires all tax cuts to be covered by tax increases or mandatory spending cuts. In this case, if the 10-year cost is larger than $0, it will trigger sequestration, or spending cuts for mandatory spending programs. At present, the GOP tax plan cost stands at $1.5 trillion. The Congressional Budget Office believes that sequestration will cause $136 billion worth of cuts to mandatory spending in 2018, if capital is not raised through another method. The $136 billion in cuts is likely to be made through a decrease in spending to Customs and Border Patrol operations, agricultural subsidies, Student Loan Administration funding and some health funding for the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare. It would also be made from a $25 billion cut to Medicare, which covers approximately 58 million Americans, of which five out of six are aged over 65. Though Paygo cannot cut Medicare by more than 4 percent in one 12-month period, it will likely be triggered in 2020 if the deficit has not been cleared by 2019. This could cause a 4 percent cut to Medicare every year until the deficit has been paid. The move would, however, cause President Trump to break his campaign promise to leave \u201centitlement programs\u201d such as Medicare out of cuts. The GOP had been seeking to cut Medicaid funding by $800 billion with their previously proposed reforms, and the tax bill may provide a legal way to do so. The present tax bill also includes a link between tax provisions and the Chained Consumer Price Index (CPI), which could mean less money for Social Security recipients for the cost of living as smaller annual inflationary increases may allow the government to save money.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's overseas trade policy changing cargo insurance landscape \n \"As a rule, we will always use a marine warranty surveyor where Delay in Start-up (DSU) is concerned on the load out and load in of critical items oarticularly from the sea fastening aspect... but once you've got it off and on to a trailer everything changes,\" said Munich Re Syndicate Singapore regional marine underwriter Tony Betteridge.\n\nHe added that from a project cargo perspective he is finding the largest losses are on the inland transit section and as a result is looking at surveyors that have a mechanical background for aspects of the job such as hydraulic systems, and perhaps civil surveyors for things like bridge loading.\n\n\"In the project cargo field we're moving more and more away from a pure marine warranty surveyor to surveyors with skills in all sorts of different classes,\" Betteridge said.\n\nMeanwhile project cargo is seeing larger values of risks, not just on the conveyance limit but also the DSU values at the back end which can see sums insured of as high as $1bn now.\n\nProject-critical equipment is routinely shipped around the world and high levels of risk are associated with these shipments due to the nature of the cargo, transport logistics, and tight timeframes.\n\nFailure of a shipment to arrive intact can balloon a simple cargo loss into a multi-million dollar Delay in Start-up (DSU) loss when factors such as re-fabrication, shipping, expenses, lost profits and other operational costs are considered.\n\nThis is being compounded by the fact that BRI projects are increasingly coming to the fore and these are going to places with very different infrastructure from that traditionally expected in places such as Southeast Asia.\n\nNoting that almost any project on BRI will involve putting cargo on trailers, especially larger items on very sophisticated hydraulic module trailers, Betteridge reiterated \"like a ship they have to be properly maintained and properly underwritten\".\n\n\"When you're handling this sort of cargo the distances involved, particularly in BRI projects potentially are going to be very long inland transits,\" he emphasised and so therefore with some of the extra long trailers, some with up to 24 axles, there needs to be extra attention paid to overland issues.\n\n\"You're moving away more from a traditional marine survey to a route survey as well,\" Betteridge said.", "output": "China's \"One Belt, One Road\" policy is transforming the insurance landscape for project cargo, the shipping of oversized and specialist consignments for major infrastructure schemes. The demands of the nation's overseas trade and development initiative is requiring new approaches to cargo risk profiles and surveying as insured values reach $1bn. Delay in Start-Up (DSU) loss risks are surging due to the nature of the cargo, transport logistics and the strict timeframes. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CFTE targets re-education of finance workforce \n Ten years on from the global financial crisis, bankers are facing another dilemma destined to destroy tens of thousands more jobs. New technologies, particularly automation, artificial intelligence, and blockchain, are disrupting the world\u2019s banking centers.\n\nThe attack on banking jobs has been relentless. British banks are set to close almost 800 branches this year, after shutting nearly 600 in 2016. The CEO of Deutsche Bank, Germany\u2019s largest bank, warned that the company could afford to lose half of its staff to automation. Swiss bank Nordea announced at the end of last month that it was cutting a tenth of its staff, and its CEO said the banking industry could cope with half its current number of personnel. Consultancy Greenwich Associates estimates that 15% of the finance industry\u2019s jobs are at risk of being lost to AI-driven alternatives.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cEverything that can be automated, will be,\u201d says Huy Nguyen Trieu, a former managing director at Citi and lecturer in financial technology (fintech) at Oxford University. But widespread financial job losses aren\u2019t inevitable, he adds. Right now, he argues, the problem is that not enough people working in finance\u2014particularly older people\u2014have the right skills to take advantage of the technological changes that are transforming their industry. At the same time, bank CEOs are too quick to fire people.\n\nWith his wife, Tram Anh Nguyen (a former capital markets trader), Nguyen Trieu created the Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CFTE), which provides online courses in fintech. The first course, \u201cAround Fintech in 8 hours,\u201d costs \u00a3299 ($397) and is taught by people who have lectured in the UK, Hong Kong and Singapore. It is split into four chapters, each with four 30-minute modules within them. The sections cover everything from challenger banks and cloud computing to peer-to-peer lending and cryptocurriences, as well as explaining the key people and companies in the burgeoning fintech world (some of whom make appearances as part of the course). The second session begins on Dec. 11.\n\nIn addition to teaching, Nguyen Trieu is leading by example with the launch of an AI-enabled mobile savings app, which is in the early planning stages. Quartz spoke with him at his office in London about how urgently the finance industry needs to prepare for a machine-led future. The conversation has been edited and condensed.\n\nQuartz: After working at big banks for more than a decade, what led you to try out teaching instead?\n\nAdvertisement\n\nNguyen Trieu: Banking was my day job but I also had a night job mentoring entrepreneurs and writing my blog Disruptive Finance. Two years ago, I met Peter Tufano, the Dean of Oxford\u2019s Sa\u00efd Business School, and I was talking about trying to hire people at Citibank but a lot of the students weren\u2019t properly prepared. Peter said, \u201cwhy don\u2019t we do something about it?\u201d I became a resident expert at Oxford and so we started to do fintech lectures.\n\nIn early 2016, it all became too much. I was telling entrepreneurs you have to focus on something but I was doing a lot of different things. The reality is I couldn\u2019t really tell everybody, \u201cfinance is being transformed, big things are happening,\u201d and still do the same thing I\u2019d been doing for the past 10 years. I left and launched The Disruptive Group with the objective of building the next Google of finance.\n\nWhat does that mean?\n\nTen years ago, no one would have expected Google to be one of the biggest players in advertising. I think the same is happening in finance. There will be companies creating new products and services, which we can\u2019t even imagine today. The Disruptive Group had three pillars: building businesses, advising entrepreneurs, and education. I thought education would take up just 10% of time. But when I was trying to build businesses, I found that one of the big issues I was facing was talent\u2014people who could combine finance and technology. Everyone\u2019s struggling to find good talent.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWho should take this course?\n\nInitially, I thought my ex-colleagues in finance who are missing the boat and don\u2019t realize what\u2019s happening. But it\u2019s also for those who realize but don\u2019t know where to start. Fintech is going to impact their careers very quickly.\n\nWhat was also especially important for my wife is the potential social impact. Fintech is having a huge impact, especially in emerging markets, where suddenly you can create companies that provide finance to people in a way you couldn\u2019t before. That\u2019s why we wanted to do something that was accessible for people beyond London.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBut there\u2019s a big difference in fintech scenes across the world.\n\nThe mindset and the way people use technology and fintech is very different. If you\u2019re in Hong Kong, you have WeChat on your phone and you use it on a daily basis. Here, you don\u2019t use fintech on a daily basis. Some people might use Revolut but they still have a traditional bank account. Here, fintech is seen as innovations on top of existing financial services whereas in Hong Kong, fintech is finance.\n\nSo the course is for everyone, everywhere?\n\nAnd not just for people in finance. When we did the beta test only 40% of the users were from the finance industry\u2014the rest were from tech, or were entrepreneurs or consultants.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nDid you find it surprising that finance take-up was so low?\n\nI talk to a lot of students and most of them still expect to enter the world of finance in the same way we entered it 10 or 20 years ago. They still think they will join banking, stay there for the next 15 years, and if they do well become managing directors. Only after a while do they realize it\u2019s not going to happen because those jobs might not exist at all.\n\nSo automation, AI, machine learning, and the like are all coming for your job if you don\u2019t retrain?\n\nBanks are thinking today about cutting thousands of jobs and increasing their technology budgets. To me, it is is absurd for a CEO of a bank to think this way. What is the value of the service being provided to clients? They\u2019re still providing the same service as 10 or 20 years ago, but instead of having people you have machines. There is an opportunity for all of these people working in large banks to provide better and different services by using tools we have at our disposal today. We are trying to change this mindset, particularly in the western world, which is about just using automation to protect your bottom line.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nHow do you get execs at the top of finance firms to understand the impact of fintech? Do they need retraining, too?\n\nWe\u2019ve had feedback from senior people who say it\u2019s interesting but they didn\u2019t say for themselves. They say it\u2019s interesting for their staff. We\u2019re starting to see a change in mindset but there\u2019s a lot of convincing to do.\n\nWhat about policymakers and regulators? How many of them should take a course like yours?\n\nAll of them.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nSo, what finance jobs most at risk right now?\n\nIn general, anything that can be automated will be automated. But right now, compliance is at risk. Over the past few years there\u2019s been a lot of investment in compliance and KYC [know your customer], because regulators wanted the investment and it was a way for banks to demonstrate they were doing their part after the financial crisis. Now, that has totally changed. It\u2019s starting to cost a lot and regulators have said we want you to show that you are being efficient, not just hiring a lot of people.\n\nWhat is going to be the most transformative force in the finance industry?\n\nThe big change for me doesn\u2019t even come from tech, it\u2019s enabled by tech. It\u2019s invisible finance. Finance is very boring. Everybody knows a pension fund is very important, but if you ask me how much I have in it, I have no idea. What we\u2019ve seen over the past 20 or 30 years is that as the finance world has become digitalized, the level of customer service we have has gone down. My situation versus your situation is totally different but when we go to the HSBC site, we have the same kind of information.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWhat will make it happen is APIs. I used to be in the telecom industry and 10 or 15 years ago if I wanted to launch an app I could spend a week developing the app and then three months making the same app for Samsung, Ericsson, Nokia, etc. There was no standardization. What was very successful were the ringtones. When you had standardization of iPhones and Androids, you had millions of apps because it was simple. In the world of APIs it will be the same in finance. It\u2019s going to be very easy to create a financial service just for you.\n\nIs that the thinking behind your launch of an AI-driven savings app?\n\nIt\u2019s a project from The Disruptive Group, which is a business builder. We\u2019re currently working on the bank project, and CFTE was also launched out of it. So they are sister projects, although most of the focus is on CFTE at the moment, if only because our timing for the bank is longer.", "output": "Edtech start-up The Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CFTE) plans to retrain financial workers, who may be at risk of losing their jobs to artificial intelligence (AI). \"15% of the finance industry\u2019s jobs are at risk of being lost to AI-driven alternatives\", according to\u00a0Greenwich Associates. Bankers\u00a0need \"the right skills to take advantage of the technological changes that are transforming their industry\", said CFTE\u00a0co-founder\u00a0Huy Nguyen Trieu. The CFTE's first\u00a0course covers topics including P2P lending, cryptocurrencies, key fintech figures, and cloud computing."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Change Healthcare and Zebra Medical partner for AI radiology \n Change Healthcare and Zebra Medical Vision today announced an agreement to create solutions that deliver artificial intelligence solutions to complex radiology reporting environments. Change Healthcare\u2019s proven radiology solutions, along with Zebra Medical Vision\u2019s algorithms, will benefit radiologists and other imaging specialists by improving the efficiency of routine tasks and the effectiveness of workflow in the radiologist reading environment.\n\nBy working together on the pragmatic integration of artificial intelligence algorithms into radiology solutions, Change Healthcare and Zebra Medical Vision are innovating to transform the radiology readflow environment. In parallel, Change Healthcare will continue to work closely with its forum of clinical and academic leaders on leveraging the integral insights inherent in imaging and clinical information so that solutions developed truly help imaging specialists identify critical conditions more quickly.\n\n\u201cFor artificial intelligence to be truly valuable, it must be integrated into radiologists\u2019 routine, daily readflow,\u201d said Ashish Sant, senior vice president and general manager, Radiology & Infrastructure, Change Healthcare in a statement. \u201cPragmatic, artificial intelligence solutions such as the All in One (AI1) offering from Zebra Medical Vision are essential. We see a strategic fit as Change Healthcare pursues solutions that optimize workflow and access to clinical data for our medical imaging customers.\u201d", "output": "Change Healthcare and Zebra Medical Vision have partnered to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into radiology solutions. Change Healthcare aims to incorporate Zebra's algorithms into its existing imaging services, hoping to \"optimise workflow and access to clinical data for our medical imaging customers\" and speed up the diagnosis of serious conditions, according to\u00a0senior VP and manager at Change Healthcare, Ashish Sant.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Revolut rolls out duty-free payment alternative \n This article is the latest in our popular new series in association with Tito\u2019s Handmade Vodka, which examines travel retail and airport sector \u2018disruptors\u2019 \u2013 focusing on companies and individuals challenging established models through innovation.\n\nUK/INTERNATIONAL. An app-based banking alternative called Revolut is being rolled out in the global duty free and airlines market.\n\nAdvanced Software Systems will begin distributing the Revolut cards with immediate effect. Premier Portfolio International will handle sales to travel retailers.\n\nRevolut allows users to open a prepaid current account in 60 seconds. There they will receive instant spending notifications, spending categorisation and can set weekly or monthly budgets.\n\nThe app also allows users to hold and exchange up to 25 currencies with the real exchange rate. They can also send free domestic and international money transfers and spend abroad in over 130 currencies with no fees via a contactless MasterCard.\n\nLondon-based Revolut has already launched in Middle East travel retail. The launch was planned to coincide with the original date of the MEADFA Conference (now postponed until January).\n\nAirport or airline customers can receive their Revolut card instantly upon purchase. Revolut aims to partner with additional airlines in the coming months, providing cards to travellers looking to spend money abroad without fees.\n\nThe company plans to expand into North America in early 2018, followed by launches in Australia and Asia in the near future.\n\nRevolut is also launching a pay-per-day travel insurance service. It will use a customer\u2019s geo-location to provide instant medical and dental cover, starting at less than \u00a31 per day. Pay-per-day travel insurance will sit alongside Revolut\u2019s new device insurance as the company looks to assemble a suite of smart insurance products.\n\n\u201cWe are excited to be able to help even more customers save money abroad by entering the global duty free and airlines market,\u201d said Revolut Founder & CEO Nikolay Storonsky. \u201cBy distributing our cards to airline passengers and duty free store consumers, we can help them avoid rip-off fees whenever they try to transfer, spend or withdraw money abroad.\u201d\n\nAdvanced Software CEO Howard Amor, a well-known figure in the travel retail sector, commented: \u201cAs a software house with 40 years of management experience of the airlines and duty free market, we wanted to find new and traveller-specific ideas with real financial and logistical benefits for the market.\n\n\u201cRevolut stood out as a market leader compared to currently available travel money cards, so we are delighted to partner with such an innovative company. Revolut takes up no space in the duty free bar and is a new and exciting product area for airlines and duty free. Its FX rates and fee-free card will save travellers a huge amount.\u201d", "output": "Revolut is rolling out its app-based alternative banking service to airports across the globe. Revolut's service allows users to transact abroad, in over 130 currencies, with no fees. The app can hold and exchange 25 currencies at any given time. \u201cBy distributing our cards to airline passengers and duty-free store consumers, we can help them avoid rip-off fees whenever they try to transfer, spend or withdraw money abroad\u201d, said Revolut founder & CEO Nikolay Storonsky.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Head of Apple News monetisation and strategy quits after a year \n Publishers hoping to make money off Apple News can\u2019t be cheered by this: David Kang, who became senior director of Apple News monetization and strategy in November 2016, is leaving after a year in the position.\n\nIt\u2019s unclear why Kang is leaving the Apple News role, but it can\u2019t be easy running monetization at a company that\u2019s been notoriously indifferent, if not hostile, to advertising, given that it makes most of its money selling phones and prizes its users\u2019 privacy.", "output": "Apple News has lost its director of monetisation in the latest in a string of senior-level departures from the service this year. David Kang, who joined Apple in 2014 and has overseen Apple News's monetisation and strategy since November 2016, is said to be taking on\u00a0a different role within Apple but it is unclear why he is moving. Publishers have had a mixed relationship with Apple News;\u00a0while\u00a0they value the traffic and exposure the service brings, Apple has been resistant to proliferating ads on the service and many publishers have reportedly not seen the revenues they\u00a0expected.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Samsung buys AI firm Fluently to refresh voice-assistant Bixby \n Samsung's not giving up on Bixby, despite initial lukewarm responses to its AI assistant.\n\nBixby is the South Korean firm's answer to other voice assistants like Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa. But when it debuted, fans found it just wasn't as smart as the competition.\n\nTo buff up Bixby's brains, Samsung has now acquired Fluently(opens in a new tab), which makes an AI chatbot that can compose smart replies in English and Korean.\n\nFluently produced an app that plugged into messengers like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, and offered natural-sounding contextual responses.\n\nRespond to friends with a tap. Credit: fluently\n\nSimilar to Gmail's auto responder, Fluently reads an incoming message, and tries to offer you a selection of appropriate reactions.\n\nThe Fluently acquisition adds onto Samsung's 2016 buyout of US-based AI platform Viv, which was co-founded by the team that created Siri.\n\nTo be fair to Bixby, it's a lot younger than the competition. And the Viv team didn't contribute to the current version of Bixby either, so it's safe to say that the injection of all this new expertise will help Bixby close the gap a lot sooner.", "output": "Samsung has bought artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot firm Fluently to boost its voice-assistant Bixby. Fluently's chatbot integrates with messaging services to offer natural, contextually relevant automated responses. The acquisition follows Samsung's previous purchase of US-based AI firm Viv, which was co-founded by the team that created Apple's Siri.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US researcher builds AI system that can create new video games \n The goal for Angelina is that it will dream up completely new elements of games\u2014a form of computational creativity. On the surface, Angelina works with striking simplicity: Cook presses a button labeled \u201cPlay,\u201d and it boots up. The AI then describes a new game in a unique description language that outlines both the game\u2019s rules and its levels. It can make games from images that it pulls from license-free depositories such as Wikimedia Commons, and it can flesh out the premise and rules with characters and ideas lifted from online newspapers or social media (think U.S. presidents or Brexit, for example). This information is written to a text file that can then be run by a stand-alone application, in the same way that a game cartridge is read by a game console.\n\nIn its early years, Angelina was limited to developing platform games, in the style of Nintendo\u2019s Super Mario Bros. But in the software\u2019s current iteration, which has been designed for further expansion, its repertoire has expanded to other genres, such as puzzle games and adventures.\n\n\u201cAngelina doesn\u2019t set out to make a game in a particular genre\u2014instead, it tries to build games that match its notion of what a good game is,\u201d says Cook. This notion of quality currently comes from Cook\u2019s own ideas about game design (such as ensuring that the game is not impossible to win or lose, and offering players a number of interesting choices at each step), but in time, he says, the system will learn from the feedback of players, as well as the AI\u2019s experience of playing games made by human designers.\n\nIn most cases today, semiautonomous game-making systems are supported by human designers. \u201cThere are two types of content in video games: \u2018throwaway\u2019 content, such as terrain, common enemies, quests that don\u2019t add to the overall plot that make very little lasting impact on the player, and \u2018memorable\u2019 content, such as boss monsters, major plot points,\u201d says Mark Riedl, a 42-year-old associate professor at Georgia Tech. \u201cWhile the automated creation of \u2018throwaway\u2019 content has been used for decades using simple rule-based algorithms, generating \u2018memorable\u2019 content is a human-level AI problem.\u201d\n\nDespite the challenges, it\u2019s an area that could, Cook believes, reap major rewards in unlocking new game concepts and mechanics. Recently, he fed Angelina a game outline about exploring a dungeon as an adventurer. Instead of designing basic levels for an adventure game, Angelina designed levels in which a player controls multiple adventurers simultaneously and must get some of them killed in order to rescue the remainder. \u201cIt frequently does things like this\u2014looking beyond the assumptions I have, and finding interesting things I would not think to look for,\u201d says Cook.", "output": "A US researcher has\u00a0built an artificial intelligence-driven\u00a0system capable of independently imagining new video games without human input. While AI has been tasked with configuring\u00a0enemies, terrain and minor story elements, the Angelina\u00a0AI built by Michael Cook at the University of Falmouth has created hundreds of experimental games since its earliest form in 2011.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Business models of many US universities are unsustainable \n Almost half of financial planning staff at US universities believe that the current business model at their institution is \u201cnot sustainable for the next five to 10 years\u201d, according to new research.\n\nA survey of 183 US higher education professionals who are involved in the financial planning and budgeting process at their institution found that 47 per cent of respondents thought that their business model was unsustainable.\n\nThis figure rises to more than 50 per cent when just based on respondents from two-year community colleges and for-profit universities, and drops to about 45 per cent for respondents from both public and non-profit private four-year universities, according to Tony Ard, vice-president of higher education software at Chicago-based management consulting firm Kaufman Hall, which conducted the study.\n\nMeanwhile, two-thirds of respondents (66 per cent) said that they are not able to respond quickly to changing financial circumstances or are unsure if they could, based on existing tools and processes at their institution. A similar proportion (64 per cent) believed that higher education was behind most other industries in terms of \u201cadopting modern financial planning practices and tools\u201d.\n\nMore than two-fifths of respondents (43 per cent) said that the current length of the budget cycle limits their ability to make informed decisions and react to changing circumstances; 82 per cent of respondents said that their budgeting cycle takes more than three months to complete from initial rollout to board presentation, while 34 per cent said that it takes more than six months.\n\nThe survey was conducted in August and September 2017.\n\nMr Ard said that the findings confirm that there is a \u201cgrowing recognition from people within higher education, and specifically in finance offices, that at the micro-level we probably can\u2019t grow our way out of these financial challenges\u201d.\n\nHe said that the unsustainability of universities\u2019 business models was because of \u201cflat demographic trends around high school graduates\u201d, a drop in state appropriation to public universities and the \u201cchallenges with growing tuition revenue\u201d.\n\n\u201cThere has been a lot of scrutiny on published tuition rates\u201d and there have been questions over the \u201caverage family\u2019s ability and willingness to pay what it perceives as a high tuition rate\u201d, Mr Ard said.\n\nHe added that it is \u201cnot that easy\u201d for universities to \u201cinfluence their costs in the short run because it\u2019s pretty much tied up in people and facilities\u201d.\n\nMr Ard said that while institutions with \u201cvery strong brand names will be fine\u201d, there are risks that more universities will close or merge as a result of their financial challenges.\n\nellie.bothwell@timeshighereducation.com", "output": "Almost half of the financial planning staff at US universities have said their current business model is unsustainable in the short term, according to a survey by management consultancy Kaufman Hall. Among 183 US higher education professionals, 66% said they couldn't respond quickly to changing financial circumstances, while 64% believed the education sector was lagging behind other industries in the adoption of \"modern financial planning practices and tools\". Kaufman Hall's Tony Ard said he could foresee universities merging or closing because of\u00a0financial pressures, though institutions with \"very strong brand names\" would be unaffected.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "P2P property finance start-up Proplend joins UK brokers group \n PROPLEND has joined the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB) as a patron.\n\nThe peer-to-peer property platform said on Wednesday that it received positive feedback from the trade body\u2019s broker community, prior to its membership being approved.\n\n\u201cBrokers play a significant role in the UK finance market, particularly within our commercial property funding sector,\u201d said Brian Bartaby (pictured), chief executive of Proplend.\n\nRead more: Proplend embarks on equity fundraising to scale up the business\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s important to know what you\u2019re looking for as well as where to look. This is where specialist commercial brokers come in.\n\n\u201cIncreasingly their market awareness and due diligence point them in the direction of P2P lending platforms like Proplend, who are rapidly becoming a larger slice of the lending ecosystem.\n\n\u201cWe can help when high street banks and secondary lenders have been unable to \u2013 often providing finance quicker and with more flexible, bespoke terms.\u201d\n\nRead more: Proplend\u2019s Brian Bartaby on the IFISA\n\nThe NACFB provides access to more than 1,600 commercial finance brokers nationwide.\n\n\u201cOur member brokers have warmly received Proplend as they offer further diversity in the property lending space,\u201d said Norman Chambers, managing director of the NACFB.\n\n\u201cWe encourage all our members to engage with Brian and explore Proplend\u2019s services to see how they may help their commercial property clients find bridging and mortgage finance solutions.\u201d\n\nProplend connects individual and institutional investors with creditworthy borrowers looking for secured commercial property loans. The platform has lent out more than \u00a328.5m to date, on commercial property worth over \u00a357m, with an average loan-to-value of less than 60 per cent.\n\nIt is fully authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority and launched its Innovative Finance ISA earlier this year.", "output": "The P2P property lending platform Proplend has joined the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB), which provides access to more than 1,600 commercial finance brokers nationwide. \u201cOur member brokers have warmly received Proplend as they offer further diversity in the property lending space,\u201d said NACFB MD\u00a0Norman Chambers.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sandia Lab develops cybersecurity tool Hades to trick hackers \n Sandia National Laboratories cyber researcher Vince Urias helped develop the Sandia-originated HADES program that employs alternative realities to confuse hackers. HADES stands for High-fidelity Adaptive Deception & Emulation System. Credit: Randy Montoya\n\nThe Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky once postulated that the devil no longer uses fire and brimstone but instead simply tells you what you want to hear.\n\nSandia National Laboratories cyber researchers go with that second option when it comes to foiling a hacker. Rather than simply blocking a discovered intruder, Vince Urias, Will Stout and Caleb Loverro deploy a recently patented alternative reality, dubbed HADES for High-fidelity Adaptive Deception & Emulation System, which feeds a hacker not what he needs to know but what he wants to believe.\n\n\"Deception is the future of cyber defense,\" said Urias. \"Simply kicking a hacker out is next to useless. The hacker has asymmetry on his side; we have to guard a hundred possible entry points and a hacker only needs to penetrate one to get in.\"\n\nRather than being summarily removed from a data source, a discovered hacker is led unobtrusively into HADES, where cloned virtual hard drives, memory and data sets create a simulation very much like the reality. However, certain artifacts have been deliberately, but not obviously, altered.\n\n\"So, a hacker may report to his handler that he or she has cracked our system and will be sending back reports on what we're doing,\" Urias said. \"Let's say they spent 12 months gathering info. When they realize we've altered their reality, they have to wonder at what point did their target start using deception, at what point should they not trust the data? They may have received a year or so of false information before realizing something is wrong. A hacker informing his boss that he's discovered a problem doesn't do his reputation much good, he's discredited. And then the adversary must check all data obtained from us because they don't know when we started falsifying.\"\n\nFurthermore, when a hacker finally puzzles out something is wrong, he must display his toolkit as he tries to discern truth from fiction.\n\n\"Then he's like a goldfish fluttering in a bowl,\" said Urias. \"He exposes his techniques and we see everything he does.\" Credit: Sandia National Laboratories\n\nHADES just won a 2017 R&D100 award, presented by R&D Magazine to recognize exceptional innovations in science and technology over the past year. The Sandia work, patented in October, began five years ago with a three-year Laboratory Directed Research and Development grant.\n\n\"It used to be that technologically we couldn't move a visitor to a different reality without them knowing,\" said Urias, \"but there's been a radical change in networking in the last 10 to 15 years, from hardware to software. With the ephemerality of the network fabric, I can change realities without a hacker knowing.\"\n\nAdversaries want data that helps their situational awareness. \"But when we change data in our fake world, we devalue information and set up eventual inconsistencies.\"\n\nTo do this, Urias said, \"we move to another location in the cloud and build a slightly different world around them. Our intent is to introduce doubt. If they get something, is it real or is it fake? The worst horror for an adversary is the identical world, but changed. Can we introduce more work for them?\"\n\nHADES can operate in multiple modes from a small organization without resources to a large company, he said. The Department of Homeland Security's Cyber Security Division has worked with Sandia on deployment.\n\nLike any technique, HADES has its limitations. While the simplest deceptive environment can be done on a small private computer, environments of greater fidelity require more CPU and memory resources and may thereby reduce the number of virtual environments deployable on a single server.\n\nWhat the information technology and cybersecurity communities want, Urias said, is what he wants: \"To stop the [information] bleeding, and get actionable intelligence: What is an adversary looking for, what did they actually get, and how did they get it?\"\n\nThe technique has allowed the researchers to locate malware an adversary has placed in a system, and is capable of active attack.", "output": "Researchers at the US's Sandia National Laboratories have developed a cybersecurity system that moves hackers into a separate, simulated environment. High-fidelity Adaptive Deception & Emulation System, or Hades, is a cloud-based system that allows the team to unobtrusively move identified hackers into an alternative reality, where they can then monitor their every action and feed them misleading and incorrect data. The US Department of Homeland Security's cybersecurity division is working with Hades on rolling out the system, which can be deployed on a small or large scale.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Public Health England calls for ban on Coca-Cola Christmas tour \n The NHS\u2019s public health boss is urging local councils and shopping centres to ban visits from Coca-Cola\u2019s promotional Christmas trucks because of sugar\u2019s key role in rotting children\u2019s teeth and making them fat.\n\n\n\nDuncan Selbie, the chief executive of Public Health England, has criticised the soft drink giant\u2019s annual PR stunt, in which 14-tonne lorries decorated with fairy lights and fake snow visit towns, cities and landmarks around the UK to advertise its products.\n\nSelbie\u2019s comments come as PHE research found that most of the places the trucks plan to visit before Christmas have above-average rates of children with tooth decay or obesity.\n\n\u201cBig-name brands touring the country at Christmas to advertise their most sugary products to children and boost sales does nothing to help families make healthy choices and wider efforts to combat childhood obesity and rotten teeth,\u201d Selbie said.\n\n\u201cLocal authorities celebrating sugary drinks in this way need to reflect on whether it\u2019s in the best interests of the health of local children and families.\u201d\n\nCoca-Cola is sending two articulated lorries to 42 locations in England and Scotland in the run-up to Christmas, including Wembley in north London, the O2 complex in the capital\u2019s Docklands and the Lakeside shopping centre in Thurrock, Essex.\n\nThe firm\u2019s promotional material says the trucks will be \u201cdelivering Christmas cheer up and down the country. At every stop you\u2019ll have the chance to project your festive selfies across the side of the truck as it lights up.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019ll also be able to experience a snowy winter wonderland setting while enjoying a choice of Coca-Cola Classic, Diet Coke or Coca Cola Zero Sugar.\u201d\n\nStaff will offer consumers, many of them children, free 150ml samples of the three drinks at a truck lit by 372 bulbs and 8,772 fairy lights.\n\nBut PHE believes that Coke\u2019s marketing risks worsening already high rates of tooth decay and obesity. On Thursday, one of the trucks is due to visit Bolton, where 40.5% of five-year-olds have tooth decay \u2013 the highest number of all the areas on the list.\n\nOverall, 61% of the stops are in places where both five- and 12-year-olds have higher rates of rotten teeth than the English average, NHS dental statistics reveal.\n\nThe same proportion of places have an unusually high number of 10- and 11-year-olds who are overweight or obese, while 56% have above-average numbers of children aged three and four in reception class who are dangerously overweight.\n\nCouncils and health officials in areas already visitedby the trucks have protested against the marketing stunt, and some have called for an outright ban on the trucks.\n\nThe tour began on 11 November in Glasgow, where Linda de Caestecker, the director of public health at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, was among 44 people urging Coke to give away only water and sugar-free versions of its products. In a letter, they called on the company to be more responsible in how it markets its products and highlighted the large numbers of young children in the city who were overweight, obese or have tooth decay.\n\n\u201cThe bright lights of the Coca-Cola truck and giving out free fizzy drinks will of course appeal to children. But when we\u2019re in the midst of an obesity epidemic \u2013 and have increasing numbers of children with tooth decay \u2013 it\u2019s not really doing children any favours,\u201d said Prof Mary Fewtrell, nutrition lead at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re seeing increasing numbers of local protests against the truck, both from the public and council leaders, public health professionals and dentists. The motivation behind these is not to take the joy out of Christmas; but to recognise that linking fizzy drinks with the fun of the festive season is a marketing tactic and not good for child health,\u201d she added.\n\nCoca-Cola defended its use of the promotional Christmas trucks, which it says have made 397 stops and covered 730,000 miles in the UK.\n\n\u201cThe Coca-Cola Christmas truck tour is a one-off, annual event where we offer people a choice of 150ml samples of Coca-Cola Classic, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar or Diet Coke, so two of the three options are no sugar drinks. This is also reflected in the take-up of samples on the truck tour, with on average over 70% of what we sample being a zero-sugar option,\u201d a spokesperson for the company said.\n\n\u201cWe also have a policy of not providing drinks to children under the age of 12, unless their parent or guardian is present and says they can have one. The truck tour route changes every year as we try to cover a fair geographical spread of the UK.\u201d", "output": "The CEO of Public Health England (PHE) is calling for local councils and shopping centres to ban visits from Christmas trucks promoting Coca-Cola because of the role of sugar in childhood dental decay and obesity. Duncan Selbie criticised the 14-tonne lorries, decorated with 372 bulbs and 8,772 fairy lights, as research from PHE indicated that 61% of the 42 stops on the tour have above-average rates of such health issues.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Britvic bolsters defences as CEO cracks down on ad fraud \n Soft-drinks advertiser Britvic is prioritizing rooting out fraudulent traffic from its media buys.\n\nAd fraud has emerged as the key issue for Britvic amid the fallout from the industrywide transparency debate, according to CMO Matt Barwell, who said its brands are distancing themselves from metrics easily inflated by bots and fraudulent clicks. Removing fraudulent placements is now a core pillar of all the advertiser\u2019s media plans, pushing its spend away from the so-called long tail of cheaper sites toward more premium inventory.\n\nFor now, Barwell said a carefully considered mix of whitelists, blacklists and keyword exclusions alongside pre- and post-bid verification is the best approach. All media buys for Britvic\u2019s brands, which include Robinsons and Drench, are verified for fraud by ad verification company Adloox, a move that has helped push fraud rates down to the low, single digits, said Barwell. Whitelists have also helped purge fraud from Britvic\u2019s buys, with the advertiser\u2019s own combined with those from M/Six, Adloox and GroupM, to create larger whitelists and blacklists for media plans to adhere to.\n\n\u201cWhen I look at the pre- and post-bid validation that we\u2019re buying on display, it makes me confident that we are managing to avoid fraud at the level that others may be exposed to,\u201d Barwell said. \u201cThe idea is to be really clear about what metrics are needed for what campaigns or channels and then work with our data providers to understand what we should pay for things like a 10-second view or click-through rate.\u201d\n\nBarwell said the brand\u2019s efforts to combat fraud have been aided by a commitment to avoid buying cheap inventory. Britvic, along with its media and creative agencies, now plan campaigns upfront prior to the creative being developed, meaning there\u2019s a greater focus on assessing the effectiveness of each channel prior to ad buying. Barwell explained: \u201cWe\u2019ve been trying to force our media agency and creative agencies to work together more on the communications planning from the outset and to have those insights drive the creative process so that we\u2019re developing ideas specifically for the channels our audiences use.\u201d\n\nGiven Britvic\u2019s agency is M/Six, it\u2019s likely using the media buyer\u2019s criteria for the quality of placements, which are based on four metrics: the size of the ad, 50 percent of the ad is on screen, the average percentage length of time the ad is in view and how much of the ad has the sound turned on. Barwell acknowledged that he must pay a premium for those types of placements, given they are unlikely to be found in the cheaper, bottom-of-the-funnel environments.\n\nFor Barwell, weeding out ad fraud from Britvic\u2019s media buying is more of a focus than ad misplacement. \u201cI\u2019m more relaxed about brand safety,\u201d he said.\n\nHe made the claim prior to the latest reports of misplaced ads on YouTube, which spurred brands such as Adidas and Diageo to pull spend from the video platform last week. Barwell acknowledged the negative PR that comes with any brand-safety story but stressed that fake inventory was the more inherent threat to his bottom line and brands. Fake clicks are projected to cost advertisers \u00a312.3 billion ($16.4 billion) globally this year, according to Adloox.\n\nThat\u2019s not to say Barwell isn\u2019t taking the scandal engulfing YouTube seriously. Rather, he and his team are not as reliant on the site as some of their peers and, therefore, have been able to limit their risk by focusing on other channels they have more confidence in, such as private marketplaces. \u201cOf course, no brand owner wants their brand showing up in environments that they don\u2019t want,\u201d he said. \u201cThe bigger issue is fraud. The media owners, the platforms and the agencies need to take more responsibility for helping us navigate that minefield.\u201d\n\nAt times, the advertiser has \u201cleapt too quickly\u201d to put money behind new technology and new platforms without genuinely challenging itself to prove what the return of investment is, according to Barwell. It\u2019s why on Facebook, rather than purchase ads, Britvic\u2019s activity comes from its official brand channels in order to avoid the risk of it appearing in unsavory places.\n\nThe threat of ad fraud has become so big that the London City Police is working with Adloox to tackle the threat. The partnership will help the national police deepen its investigation into sources of invalid traffic and nonhuman traffic that proliferate across programmatic advertising. Ad fraud is set to cost the industry \u00a337 billion ($49 billion) by 2025, according to the World Federation of Advertisers.\n\nImage courtesy of Britvic.", "output": "UK drinks maker Britvic will use whitelists and blacklists as well as use verification company Adloox to patrol the use of its ads online as CEO Matt Barwell cracks down on fraudulent placements. The moves come as the industry wrestles with an increase in fraud, which the\u00a0World Federation of Advertisers estimates will cost UK companies \u00a337bn ($50bn) by 2025.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Skyx wins funding to develop crop-management\u00a0software\u00a0 \n Israeli drone software startup Skyx has raised an undisclosed seed funding round to commercialize software that allows one operator to control a fleet of up to six crop spraying drones.\n\nThe round marks the first investment for a new Israeli agtech VC, the Rimonim Fund, which was the sole investor in the round. The fund was cofounded by Sharon Devir, also cofounder of Roots Sustainable Agriculture Technologies, which recently listed on the ASX, and Michal Devir, a medical doctor with medtech investing experience. Michal Devir will join Skyx as chairperson.\n\nSkyx\u2019s software allows the user to control multiple drones \u2014 what it calls a \u201cswarm\u201d \u2014 and direct them to complete a single mission. The software allows the user to build a fleet of drones gradually over time and choose the drones themselves, as Skyx intends to be compatible with any commercially available hardware.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re not a drone company. The vision that we have is that our software will become an operating system that includes mission planning and mission control in real time and autopiloting for the entire fleet,\u201d said founder Eylon Sorek.\n\nThe traditional methods of pesticide application such as planes, tractors, and handheld sprayers, are inefficient in terms of both labor and cost and offer environmental risks such as pesticide drift and water contamination, as well as risk to human health for growers and workers in close, frequent contact with the chemicals, according to Sorek.\n\nSkyx seeks to add not only safety but more efficiency and precision to this process. \u201cNot only for uniform spraying but also for variable spraying rates at unlimited sizes and shapes of spots in the farmland,\u201d said Itzik Turkel, the company\u2019s cofounder and CTO.\n\nSkyx is not looking to compete with drone companies themselves, but it is competing with the software that drone manufacturers offer as an add-on.\n\n\u201cThe way we see it, the vast majority of drone companies don\u2019t really know agriculture because they are building drones for many verticals,\u201d said Sorek, who sees his initial customer base in companies that sell spraying-as-a-service.\n\n\u201cThe reason that we don\u2019t see one person and one drone in the field today is because this person doesn\u2019t offer enough return on investment. With a swarm, you can achieve a competitive price point with the exact same operation.\u201d\n\nThe benefit to the customer is greatly dependent on the size of the fleet, and here is where regulation becomes important, which Sorek says is a major hindrance to the growth of spraying drones.\n\nSome regulatory authorities require drones to be within the line of sight of the operators, disallowing autonomous drones. Others restrict drone size and payload. Regulations have generally been more relaxed for agricultural drones for field mapping and remote sensing functions, but drones for crop spraying have not received the same regulatory allowances.\n\n\u201cThe ability for a fleet to cover larger and larger areas is in the hand of regulators,\u201d said Sorek.\n\nA limiting factor is also the frequency with which spraying drones need to be serviced, refilling pesticide payloads and replacing batteries. Sorek says that a reasonably-sized fleet for one operator to service is four to six drones, which can reasonably cover 40-60 hectare (100-150 acres) in one day \u2014 appropriate for small and medium-sized operations according to Sorek, but not large row crops operations.\n\nFor this reason, and in light of the types of crops commonly grown in Israel where Skyx has conducted pilot research, the company will initially focus on horticultural operations in the US and the EU \u2014 targeting spraying contractors servicing vegetable growers.\n\nOther recent fundings in crop spraying drone technology include Nileworks, a Japanese company claiming its multi-copter drones are able to see the shape of a field and spray just 30cm above, thereby reducing drift raised a \u00a5800 million ($7.12 million) financing round from Japanese investors last month.", "output": "Israeli start-up Skyx has raised an undisclosed sum in a seed funding round to develop its crop-spraying drone software.\u00a0The Rimonim Fund, an agriculture technology venture capital firm,\u00a0was the\u00a0sole participant. Skyx has developed software for drones used in agriculture but does not make drones itself. Founder Eylon Sorek said the software provides\u00a0mission planning and autopiloting for\u00a0drone\u00a0fleets, and said the company would initially focus on US and European agricultural markets.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Outstream and social in-feed ads over half of UK video ad spend \n Despite brand-safety concerns, user experience issues and measurement gripes, digital video advertising is in decent shape. According to data from GroupM\u2019s \u201cThis Year Next Year,\u201d U.K. marketing forecast, this is at the expense of legacy media: TV has zero percent growth forecast for 2018 in the U.K.\n\nHere are four charts on the state of online video advertising in the U.K.\n\nOutstream overtakes pre-roll\n\nThe overall ad market has grown, thanks to digital video. In the first half of 2017, advertisers spent \u00a3699 million ($930 million) on video ads \u2014 a 46 percent year-over-year increase \u2014 making video the fastest-growing digital format, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau\u2019s latest report on U.K. digital ad spend.\n\nInvestment in outstream and social in-feed video ads has nearly doubled, making it the most popular format, accounting for 52 percent of video spend, overtaking pre- and post-roll ads.\n\nNoticing the demand in outstream, publishers The Guardian, News UK and The Telegraph have joined forces to pool outstream ad inventory. \u201c[The alliance] brings this kind of format and inventory back under direct publisher control, with guaranteed quality and brand-safe environments, while still having enough scale to satisfy advertisers and agencies,\u201d said Mark Holden, global strategy director at media agency Starcom.\n\nSource: IAB\n\nAds are becoming more relevant\n\nStriving for more ad revenue has meant some publishers overlook user experience, particularly when it comes to autoplay video formats. According to data from the IAB\u2019s \u201cConsumer Insights: Video\u201d report, ads are becoming more relevant: 53 percent of adults who find online video ads more relevant than static ads also feel advertising relevancy has improved over the past year.\n\nOne in 10 video ads appears beside risky content\n\nIn its \u201cThis Year Next Year\u201d report, GroupM estimates three-quarters of brands that paused advertising on YouTube in May after their ads appeared next to extremist content have returned to the platform. (The estimates were made prior to this week\u2019s reports of brands like Diageo and Mars pulling ads from YouTube after finding them running against unsuitable content, although buyers don\u2019t expect this to harm YouTube much.)\n\nIntegral Ad Science\u2019s \u201cMedia Quality Report\u201d in the U.K., which examines ad inventory, from this year found that just over 13 percent of video inventory on desktop in the U.K. appeared next to content that was considered \u201crisky.\u201d Most of this fell into the \u201cmoderate risk\u201d category, with programmatic accounting for 12.2 percent and direct deals making up 9.2 percent of that category. (In the chart below, dark blue indicates no risk, gray is moderate risk, purple is high risk and red is very high risk.)\n\nAlthough \u201crisk\u201d is a subjective term and brands have varying levels of tolerance for risk, IAS found that inventory with a level of risk was mostly next to violent and adult content, with 26.4 percent and 23.7 percent of that inventory appearing next to those categories, respectively, while hate speech was the lowest at 2.2 percent.\n\nSports rights holders command high ad rates\n\nLive sports events have long attracted viewers and ad dollars. Now, platforms like Amazon and Facebook are joining the fray and bidding for rights.\n\nAccording to GroupM\u2019s \u201cThe State of Video\u201d report, 2021 will be a milestone year for live TV sports media rights. A total of 10 rights deals will be up for renewal, including the UEFA Champions League and Bundesliga soccer matches in Europe, as well as the NFL\u2019s \u201cMonday Night Football\u201d and MLB rights in the U.S. The value of these deals will total $5.7 billion (\u00a34.3 billion).\n\n\u201cIt may be broadcasters remain the best at TV production and the big-screen experience, with rights sliced accordingly,\u201d the report states. \u201cSuch broadcasters might themselves seek to sub-license new technology and digital partners to reach the markets and fans they are unable to service.\u201d", "output": "UK digital ad spend on outstream and social in-feed video almost doubled for H1 2017 year on year, overtaking pre and post-roll ads for the first time, with 52% of spend, according to a marketing report by GroupM. The report also revealed video ads were the fastest-growing digital format, with UK advertisers spending\u00a0\u00a3699m ($930m) on them, a year-on-year rise of 46%. The report also highlighted that 53% of adults felt online ads were more relevant than static campaigns, and estimated 75% of brands that suspended their ads on YouTube have returned to the video-sharing site."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "LIDAR is improving, but it's not getting any cheaper \n But those specifications aren\u2019t enough to help vehicles at high speed in unpredictable situations. A car is traveling at 70 miles per hour would have just four seconds to respond to an obstacle. The angular resolution is also too low to make out an object that\u2019s far away, because the laser beams will be too spread out to return a viable image. As a result, many autonomous cars use data from other sensors to help recognize obstacles, even if they have lidar sensors on board.\n\n\u201cThe consensus is pretty clear,\u201d Austin Russell, CEO of rival lidar manufacturer Luminar and one of our 35 Innovators under 35 of 2017, told MIT Technology Review earlier this year. \u201cYou need a lidar that can see out past 200 meters. You also need to be able to see ... not just that there\u2019s an object out there, but what it is.\u201d\n\nVelodyne\n\nSuch concerns have pushed the world\u2019s most advanced driverless-car projects to build their own lidar systems. Two of them, Waymo and Uber, are currently embroiled in a heated lawsuit centered on stolen trade secrets related to their in-house devices.\n\nNow, Velodyne has launched a sensor called VLS-128 that it hopes will satisfy the demand for increased performance. The new device uses 128 laser beams, twice as many as its predecessor. The firm\u2019s chief technical officer, Anand Gopalan, told MIT Technology Review that those beams are separated by angles as small as 0.1\u00b0, with a range of 300 meters, and create as many as four million data points per second as they spin through 360 degrees. The increase in resolution, says Gopalan, will provide such detail that cars won\u2019t need other sensors for obstacle detection\u2014though they probably will still carry other sensors in the interests of redundancy and safety.\n\nIngmar Posner, an associate professor of information engineering at the University of Oxford and founder of the university\u2019s autonomous-driving spinoff Oxbotica, says the increase in performance is \u201cawesome.\u201d He agrees that it should allow vehicles to detect objects more reliably using lidar data, and believes it would enable driverless cars to cope better in faster-moving environments.\n\nFor once, though, Velodyne is starting to see competition. Russell\u2019s startup, Luminar, has developed its own mechanical lidar system, which uses a single mirror to steer a powerful laser in order to see 250 meters, with beams separated by as little as 0.05\u00b0 (see \u201cCollege Dropout Says He\u2019s Cracked Self-Driving Cars\u2019 Most Crucial Component\u201d). And other firms, such as Aeva, are experimenting with systems that blend lidar and radar approaches, to push range and resolution even further.\n\nStill, Velodyne has more experience with actually building and selling such devices, and it says it will ship units of the VLS-128 before 2017 is out. Gopalan wouldn\u2019t say whether its customers included firms that were building their own alternatives, such as Waymo and Uber, explaining only that he would \u201cexpect this sensor to meet the needs of any autonomous-vehicle program in the industry, either current or in the future.\u201d\n\nFor now, big companies may be the only ones able to afford the sensor. Gopalan wouldn\u2019t say how much it will cost at first, explaining only that it could cost \u201cthousands of dollars\u201d when it enters mass production, though it\u2019s not clear when that will happen. But the device\u2019s predecessor, the HDL-64E, is not mass-produced and costs $80,000 per unit. Gopalan would say, however, that the new sensor will probably be installed in robotic taxis and autonomous trucks at first.\n\nRussell shares that sentiment. \u201cSome of the companies in the ride-sharing space have said that if you had an autonomous car that just worked, they\u2019d be willing to purchase these cars for $300,000 to $400,000 apiece and buy as many as you could possibly make,\u201d he says. That\u2019s because the total vehicle cost\u2014and, therefore, the price of sensors\u2014is less important than it is in a consumer car, because a steep investment could be recouped quickly by keeping a vehicle on the road nearly 24 hours a day.\n\nMeanwhile, many firms, including Velodyne, are busy building low-cost, solid-state lidar sensors for autonomous vehicles. But in truth, they lack the range and resolution required for high-speed driving (see \u201cLow-Quality Lidar Will Keep Self-Driving Cars in the Slow Lane\u201d). Gopalan agrees. He imagines seeing such devices used as driver aids in consumer vehicles, or to augment expensive sensors in fully autonomous vehicles.", "output": "Velodyne has built a new autonomous vehicle sensor a fifth the size of its previous design, which it says can see further and make out more details than any other commercially available LIDAR. Using LIDAR, Velodyne's VLS-128 has 128 laser beams separated by angles as small as 0.1 degrees, each with a range of 300 metres, said Velodyne's CTO Anand Gopalan. However, at present, only major technological players will be able to afford the technology, each of which will cost \"thousands of dollars\" when it eventually enters mass production, a date which remains uncertain. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Robots given 'undo' button to encourage quicker learning \n Deep reinforcement learning works a lot like a child learning a skill: practice makes perfect. For an autonomous agent like a robot, though, its environment has to be reset to its original state between attempts\u2014a chore that can take hours as humans scurry around replacing objects, for example.\n\nA new arXiv paper by researchers with Google Brain, the University of Cambridge, the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, and UC Berkeley details a method that can teach an agent to reset the environment for the next attempt, as well as stop it from performing actions that would be irreversible.\n\nTheir advance was to give agents a \u201cforward\u201d and \u201creset\u201d policy that work together. While the forward policy is tasked with learning a skill, hitting reset forces an agent to learn how to \u201cleave no trace,\u201d effectively rewinding an action. Actions that the robot thinks would be irreversible are aborted as soon as possible.\n\nThe researchers write that they sought to give their agents \u201cintuition\u201d to classify anything that is reversible as safe, since it\u2019s possible to go back to the original state. Through trial and error, the agent discovers that more and more actions are reversible, allowing it to explore safely.\n\nDeep reinforcement learning is often done in simulation, and especially when real-world environments will be less forgiving of errors, like an autonomous car driving over a cliff. Even for safer situations, waiting for manual resets can become a bottleneck for data collection. For this reason, the team\u2019s work was confined to virtual environments. Eventually, however, real-world testing has to be done, and this research could make it faster and safer.\n\nAs Jack Clark points out in his Import AI newsletter, this paper echoes the work outlined in another paper (PDF) from Facebook AI Research last month, in which a single agent has two separate modes, nicknamed Alice and Bob, one of which tries to reverse the task the other has attempted to complete. This type of work to make AI able to plan ahead could save it (and us) from disastrous mistakes in the future.", "output": "Researchers have developed a function that would enable robots to more effectively benefit from deep learning, by deploying a reset that would effectively undo a previous action. The research, which was published in a recent arXiv paper, outlines how the robot is given a \u201cforward\u201d and \u201creset\u201d policy that work together; whereby the forward policy learns a skill, whilst hitting the reset forces the robot to learn how it can \u201cleave no trace\u201d of its action. This process would therefore teach robots never to perform an action that is irreversible, for example, driving an automated vehicle over a cliff's edge."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NHS to employ ethical hackers as it bolsters cybersecurity \n The UK's Foreign Office has said it too blames North Korea for the WannaCry ransomware campaign that brought the majority of the NHS and other public sector organisations to their knees back in May.\n\n\"The UK's National Cyber Security Centre assesses it is highly likely that North Korean actors known as the Lazarus Group were behind the WannaCry ransomware campaign one of the most significant to hit the UK in terms of scale and disruption,\" Foreign Office Minister Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon said in a statement.\n\nThe official announcement follows comments by Security Minister Ben Wallace in October that suggested the government believed a nation-state was responsible for WannaCry campaign, and that it was \"as sure as possible\" that state was North Korea.\n\nHe said, like the US authorities, the UK government would \"identify, pursue and respond\" to malicious activity and wants to make it clear it will not tolerate malicious cyber activity of any kind, wherever it may originate and however severe the impact. It will impose costs on the responsible parties, preventing them from launching further attacks and using them as an example to deter other potential criminals.\n\n\"We condemn these actions and commit ourselves to working with all responsible states to combat destructive criminal use of cyber space,\" he added. \"The indiscriminate use of the WannaCry ransomware demonstrates North Korean actors using their cyber programme to circumvent sanctions.\"\n\nLord Ahmad added that the UK authorities will work closely with other organisations around the world to \"uphold a free, open, peaceful and secure cyberspace.\"\n\nThe WannaCry attacks affected 300,000 computers in 150 countries, including 48 NHS trusts, the government said. Users were told they needed to pay a ransom to get their machines unlocked and data restored.\n\n19/12/2017: NHS ransomware: US blames North Korea for \"cowardly\" WannaCry attack\n\nThe US government has officially blamed North Korea for the devastating WannaCry ransomware campaign that crippled public services and infrastructure in more than 35 countries in May.\n\nThe announcement, made by Homeland Security Advisor Thomas Bossert in the New York Times, is the first time the US has formally blamed a nation-state for the attack which hit the NHS, Spain's Telefonica, FedEx and German rail company Deutsche Bahn.\n\n\"After careful investigation, the US today publicly attributes the massive 'WannaCry' cyber attack to North Korea,\" said Bossert. \"It encrypted and rendered useless hundreds of thousands of computers in hospitals, schools, businesses and homes. While victims received ransom demands, paying did not unlock their computers.\"\n\n\"It was cowardly, costly and careless,\" added Bossert. \"The attack was widespread and cost billions, and North Korea is directly responsible.\"\n\nNorth Korea became a suspect almost immediately following an initial investigation into the attack, particularly as the malware shared a number of similarities with the attack on Sony Pictures, widely thought to have been carried out by the North Korean-based \"Lazarus Group\".\n\nThe WannaCry campaign is thought to have affected around 300,000 computer systems across the world, propagated through a vulnerability in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. The attack was eventually halted when security researcher Marcus Hutchins discovered a 'kill switch' in the malware that shut down the malware before it delivered its payload.\n\nThe US stance comes almost three months after the UK government and Microsoft officially blamed North Korea for the attack. \"North Korea was the state that we believe was involved in this worldwide attack on our systems,\" said security minister Ben Wallace, speaking to BBC Radio 4. \"It is widely believed across the community and in a number of countries that North Korea had taken this role.\"\n\nAs well as officially blaming Pyongyang for the attack, Bossert took the opportunity to highlight recent bolstering of IT defences by the Trump administration.\n\n\"(Trump's) continued sanctions on Russian hackers and directed the most transparent and effective government effort in the world to find and share vulnerabilities in important software,\" said Bossert, almost certainly referring to the recent ban on Kaspersky products from all government departments.\n\nBossert added that the US was now calling on the private sector to \"increase its accountability in the cyber realm by taking actions that deny North Korea and other bad actors the ability to launch reckless and destructive cyber attacks.\"\n\nNorth Korea has always denied its involvement in the WannaCry attack, and labelled the UK's accusation as a \"wicked attempt\" to enact tougher sanctions against the country.\n\nSpeaking to the Korean Central News Agency, a spokesperson for the Korea-Europe Association said at the time: \"It does not make any sense that the DPRK, which gives the highest priority to the life and health of its people, would carry out a cyber attack on the UK health service.\"\n\n28/11/2017: NHS to hire ethical hackers in 20m cyber security boost\n\nThe NHS has set aside 20 million to establish a new security centre designed to constantly probe the organisation's cyber defences using ethical hackers.\n\nThe Security Operations Centre (SOC) will operate throughout all NHS sites across the UK, providing monitoring services and guidance on how to handle cyber security incidents to local departments.\n\nPart of its remit will be to employ 'white-hat' hackers to test the NHS' ability to prevent a data breach or a repeat of the style of attacks seen during the WannaCry ransomware campaign, which hit over one-third of health trusts earlier this year.\n\nDan Taylor, head of the Digital Security Centre at NHS Digital, said that the new centre will provide a \"near-real-time monitoring and alerting service that covers the whole health and care system\"\n\n\"The Security Operations Centre will enhance NHS Digital's current data security services that support the health and care system in protecting sensitive patient information,\" he added.\n\n\"The partnership will provide access to extra specialist resources during peak periods and enable the team to proactively monitor the web for security threats and emerging vulnerabilities.\n\n\"It will also allow us to improve our current capabilities in ethical hacking, vulnerability testing and the forensic analysis of malicious software, and will improve our ability to anticipate future vulnerabilities while supporting health and care in remediating current known threats.\"\n\nTaylor said the centre would \"drive economies of scale, giving health and care organisations additional intelligence and support services that they might not otherwise be able to access\".\n\nNHS Digital also said it's seeking a partner to provide advice and help run the project, a contract for which is tendered to run for three to five years.\n\nIt's not the first time a public body has turned to ethical hacking to probe its defences. In July, it was revealed that the Met Office had previously asked cloud security firm Cloudreach to purposefully break its systems in an effort to test how well its teams were able to deal with major outages.\n\nThe move is the latest attempt to try and overhaul the NHS' outdated IT systems, which were considered to have been a soft target for the WannaCry malware. A recent report by the National Audit Office found that \"basic IT security\" could have prevented the spread of the ransomware, and that the NHS had been warned previously about its reliance on the outdated Windows XP operating system.\n\n\"Given the impact of the WannaCry attack, one must ask why it has taken them so long to create an SOC,\" said Matt Lock, director of sales engineers at Varonis, in a statement to IT Pro.\n\n\"The new centre must be a part of an ongoing effort to keep up with the latest attacks from extremely well-funded and experienced criminals intent on compromising the NHS system.\n\n\"An SOC is an important piece of the overall security posture for large organizations, but continuous improvement and advancements are critical parts of the equation.\"\n\n31/10/2017: North Korea denies it created the WannaCry ransomware\n\nNorth Korea yesterday denied being behind the devastating WannaCry attack, after the UK government identified the nation as the creator of the ransomware.\n\nHome Office Minister Ben Wallace told the BBC last week that the government was \"as sure as possible\" that North Korea was behind the cyber attack in May, which caused chaos among NHS hospitals, dozens of which had to suspend and postpone appointments and operations.\n\nBut a spokesperson for the North's Korea-Europe Association denounced this as a \"wicked attempt\" to toughen sanctions against the country, which is currently embroiled in a war of words with the US over its nuclear tests.\n\nIn the statement, published on the Korean Central News Agency, the spokesperson said: \"It does not make any sense that the DPRK, which gives the highest priority to the life and health of its people, would carry out a cyber attack on the UK health service.\n\n\"The moves of the UK government to doggedly associate the DPRK with the cyber attack cannot be interpreted in any other way than a wicked attempt to lure the international community into harbouring greater mistrust of the DPRK and further tighten sanctions and pressure against the latter.\"\n\nThe spokesperson added: \"This is an act beyond the limit of our tolerance and it makes us question the real purpose behind the UK's move.\"\n\nAlong with the UK government, Microsoft also said it believed North Korea was behind the WannaCry attack. Brad Smith, Microsoft's president and chief legal officer, said that the attack was carried out by the country using cyber tools stolen from the NSA in the US.\n\nAn investigation into the ransomware attack found that the NHS failed to follow basic IT security principles that could have prevented the malware from taking effect, such as upgrading from the unsupported Windows XP operating system.\n\n27/10/2017: NHS ransomware: \"Basic IT security\" could've prevented WannaCry\n\nA report conducted by the National Audit Office found that the NHS was informed by the Department of Health and the Cabinet as early as 2014 about the dangers of cyber attacks and were encouraged to make plans to move away from old software like Windows XP by April 2015.\n\nDespite the NHS's critical alerts telling organisations to patch their system to prevent the spread of WannaCry ransomware, the department had \"no formal mechanism for assessing whether local NHS organisations had complied with their advice and guidance and whether they were prepared for a cyber attack\".\n\n\"The WannaCry cyber attack had potentially serious implications for the NHS and its ability to provide care to patients. It was a relatively unsophisticated attack and could have been prevented by the NHS following basic IT security best practice. There are more sophisticated cyber threats out there than WannaCry so the department and the NHS need to get their act together to ensure the NHS is better protected against future attacks,\" said Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office.\n\nThe attack, which occurred on 12 May 2017, affected 81 out of 236 NHS organisations in England. It also lead to the cancellation of 19,500 medical appointments, the locking of 600 GP surgeries, and the diversion of ambulances from five hospitals, according to the report.\n\nAlthough the department, NHS England, and the National Crime Agency said that no NHS organisation paid the ransom, the report found that the department does not know how much the attacks cost the NHS when considering costs such as the cancelled appointments, IT support and consultants, along with the restoration of data.\n\n\"What the NHS needed was the ability to detect and put a stop to malicious behaviour as early as possible in the kill chain,\" Nick Pollard, security intelligence and analytics director at Nuix said.\n\nHe suggested the use of next-generation endpoint security, which \"can analyse unknown processes and terminates those that exhibit bad behaviours, keeping end users from clicking on unusual and potentially harmful attachments and applications even before they knew you were in danger\".\n\nThe report said that the NHS has learned from WannaCry and is taking action to secure local firewalls by asking hospital trust boards to make sure they have implemented measures outlined in all alerts issued between March and May 2017.\n\n16/10/17: Microsoft says North Korea was behind WannaCry attack\n\nMicrosoft's president and chief legal officer has said that North Korea was behind the WannaCry attack that affected companies worldwide.\n\nBrad Smith told ITV News: \"I think at this point that all observers in the know have concluded that WannaCry was caused by North Korea using cyber tools or weapons that were stolen from the National Security Agency in the United States.\"\n\nSmith also said cyber-attacks conducted by nation-states have become more frequent and more severe. He added that governments around the world should do more to protect people from harm.\n\n\"We need governments to come together as they did in Geneva in 1949 and adopt a new digital Geneva Convention that makes clear that these cyber-attacks against civilians, especially in times of peace, are off-limits and a violation of international law,\" said Smith.\n\nHe addressed criticism over the fact that Microsoft left Windows XP vulnerable to attackers since it had withdrawn support for the operating system. \"When there's a broad attack, we provide patches for [all versions of Windows],\" he said. \"We did so with WannaCry, we did it again in June when Ukraine was attacked.\"\n\nHe added: \"At the same time we repeatedly asked people, we explained to people, we virtually pleaded with people 'please don't rely on software that now belongs in a museum'.\"\n\nSmith underlined that hospitals need to give more priority to upgrading their IT systems. \"When hospitals think about the equipment that is critical to protecting their patients they've got to think not only about the beds...Computers play a fundamental role in the delivery of healthcare and patients shouldn't have to rely on healthcare based on an old computer.\"\n\nWannaCry affected over 200,000 computers in 150 countries and demanded money for users to access their files.\n\nMarcus Hutchins, the British security researcher who stopped the attack, was charged by US authorities with creating and distributing the Kronos banking Trojan in August.\n\nAt IP Expo 2017, Microsoft's Brad Anderson told IT Pro that the company had seen a 300% increase in cyber attacks in the last year. The sophistication of the attacks have increased and the most sophisticated ones he has seen are from nation-states.\n\n18/08/2017: 'WannaCry' ransomware hits LG self-service kiosks\n\nElectronics giant LG has likely become the latest victim of the WannaCry ransomware, which infected self-service kiosks found at its service centres.\n\nLG has yet to confirm the infection was definitely the WannaCry ransomware, but a spokesperson told The Korea Herald that the malware bears a strong resemblance to WannaCry, which caused widespread chaos when it targeted NHS hospitals and businesses in May.\n\n\"The problem was found to be caused by ransomware. There was no damage such as data encryption or asking for money, as we immediately shut down the service centre network,\" the spokesperson said.\n\nThe infection was reported to the state-run Korean Internet & Security Agency, which noted that it had found samples of code in the LG kiosks that were identical to code used in the original WannaCry ransomware campaign.\n\nLG moved to quickly shut down the kiosks and pushed out a security update for them, and said that all the of the kiosks are now back up and running.\n\nDean Ferrando, EMEA manager at cyber security firm Tripwire, suggested that the infection of LG's kiosks is down to the company failing to apply a security update to the vulnerable machines.\n\n\"Reports suggest that the company had not applied all the security updates available from Microsoft. This highlights something that we already knew - many organisations are not good at applying software security updates,\" he said.\n\n\"Applying available patches is one of the easiest ways to keep an organisation safe from new attacks however, the unfortunate truth is that, despite the warnings and advisories to patch and secure the systems, there will always be a system that is missed.\"\n\n17/08/2017: WannaCry paralyses 200 computers in Delhi\n\nWannaCry has infected over 200 computers belonging to book publishing company Rachna Sagar in the Indian capital New Delhi.\n\nThe attack was reported on 9 August as staff found they could no longer access their user accounts, according to The Indian Express.\n\nUsers were faced with a message demanding $800-$1000 US dollars in Bitcoin in order to unlock their computers.\n\nA complaint filed by the company at the Darya Ganj police station read: \"This morning, when we started our work and opened Busy software, we received a text message which said our files are encrypted. The message said we have to pay money to enable decryption of our files.\"\n\nThe company uses \"Busy\" accounting software where employees have two accounts: live and busy. In order to conduct business, they need to access their live account which has been blocked by hackers.\n\nA source told The Indian Express: \"The hackers have locked out their data since April. Employees have not been able to conduct any business since the day of the cyber attack. Their billing process has been delayed and they are even scared to use net banking as they fear online payment systems may be compromised.\"\n\nIT Pro has contacted Rachna Sagar for comment.\n\nThis isn't the first WannaCry attack to hit India. There were isolated incidents reported in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala and West Bengal, but it is the capital's first attack.\n\nMarcus Hutchins, the British national who stopped the initial spread of WannaCry, was arrested in Las Vegas charged on six counts relating to the creation and distribution of a banking Trojan known as Kronos. The judge has set a trial date for October and released Hutchins on bail. He's not allowed to access the server he used to prevent WannaCry from spreading and must remain under house arrest.", "output": "The UK's National Health Service (NHS) is to hire so-called white-hat hackers -- coding experts who use the techniques of criminals to crack cyberattacks -- as part of a drive to boost its digital defences. They'll test new security systems to be drawn up by a \u00a320m ($27m) Security Operations Centre, which was created in the wake of the devastating WannaCry ransomware attack this year, according to digital chief Dan Taylor. The centre will provide alerts against attempted cyberattacks such as the WannaCry ransomware, Taylor said. NHS Digital is seeking a partner to help advise on, and run, the project over the next three-to-five years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Manufacturer cost cutting could lead to increased recalls \n As many as 99% of food and drink manufacturers admitted to shrinking their products or considering doing so in the future, claimed Lockton.\n\nIt described shrinkflation as an \u201cendemic\u201d\u200b, as 76% manufacturers admitted to coming under pressure from retailers to cut costs.\n\nOnly 1% of respondents ruled out shrinkflation, while 43% of manufacturers admitted they had already reduced the size of products and kept the price the same. A further 56% said they were thinking of doing the same in the future.\n\nLockton\u2019s head of product recall Ian Harrison said: \u201cThe real impact of shrinkflation goes way beyond consumers getting less for their money \u2013 manufacturers are seemingly willing to significantly alter products to cut costs. \u200b\n\n\u201cIf price pressures continue, consumers could be left with a bad taste in their mouths as manufacturers are forced to use inferior ingredients as well as reducing the size of their offerings.\u201d\u200b\n\nManufacturers have already started to use cheaper raw materials in response to demand for reduced costs, according to Lockton.\n\nDemand for reduced costs\u200b\n\nOne in 10 said they had already started to use cheaper raw materials, while as many a 72% said they were considering doing this in the future.\n\nJust under a third (32%) of manufacturers said they had started to look for international sources for cheaper raw materials, while 53% said they planned to.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re fast approaching a tipping point where the quality of what's on our shelves is at stake,\u201d\u200b added Harrison.\n\nWhat is shrinkflation? Shrinkflation is a term used to describe the business practice of changing the physical weight of a product, while keeping its price constant. Source: The Office for National Statistics\n\n\u201cThe move towards cheaper raw ingredients is setting a dangerous precedent that puts manufacturers at risk of product recall or food scandal. Inexpensive ingredients are often associated with poorer quality, food fraud and lower safety standards.\u201d\u200b\n\nOn-site safety standards have also taken a hit as manufacturers combat rising costs.\n\nOf the manufacturers surveyed, 38% said standards had been eroded, while a further 32% said production facilities were less safe than in the past due to pressure to cut costs.\n\nReduced focus on improving safety standards\u200b\n\nOver half (55%) of manufacturers surveyed said they had reduced or would reduce their focus on improving safety standards in order to meet contractual demands from retailers.\n\nLockton\u2019s research also found that 44% of manufacturers were forced to take out increased liability insurance purely to meet contractual demands from retailers. On average, manufacturers had to purchase 13% additional liability.\n\nHarrison said retailers were trying to distance themselves from any potential scandals, such as the horsemeat scandal.\n\n\u201cBy pushing responsibility further down the supply chain, retailers are hoping to shelter themselves from any potential fallout should a recall or legal action occur,\u201d\u200b he said.\n\n\u201cMore liability cover is no bad thing, but comes with higher premiums and manufacturers must determine what costs are realistic for them.\u201d\u200b\n\nFoodManufacture.co.uk has approached the British Retail Consortium for a comment on Lockton\u2019s report.\n\nMeanwhile, earlier this year, Coco Pops, Peperami and Doritos were reportedly the latest food products to decrease in weight, while maintaining their original prices.\u200b", "output": "Manufacturers are being forced to cut costs of food products, meaning a compromise on ingredients. Such a compromise could lead to increasing product recalls, impacting insurers providing coverage to food and beverage firms. Unless manufacturers are willing to compromise on the size of their products then cheaper ingredients are likely to be used. Manufacturers have been historically reluctant to alter the size of their products due to consumers having a familiarity with the brand. \u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google joins palm oil impact mapping project on Borneo\u00a0 \n In Indonesia, researchers from the Center for International Forestry Research have developed the Borneo Atlas, mapping the location and ownership of 467 palm-oil mills on Borneo, in an effort to help buyers ensure palm oil purchased doesn\u2019t negatively impact forests. So far, 90% of the island\u2019s palm oil production has been mapped. The map is integrated with Google Maps so users can look in detail at plantations and will be updated automatically to show any plantation expansion.", "output": "The Center for International Forestry Research in Indonesia has partnered with Google Maps to monitor the environmental impact of the palm oil industry on\u00a0Borneo. They've created a map that draws\u00a0a 10 km-radius around each of the 467\u00a0palm-oil mills on the island. So far, 90% of plantations have been recorded with the use of various documentary sources, while satellite imagery will be used to update the map and monitor the impact of mills on the immediate environment.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Deliveroo puts pressure on UberEats with Lunchbox service \n It's midday, your stomach is growling and you haven't brought a packed lunch. You could go outside and queue for some Pret a Manger, or \u2014 if you live in east London \u2014 you could try Deliveroo's new Lunchbox service. It's a \u00a36 meal deal from various restaurant partners including Motu, Yoobi Sushi, Franco Manca, BabaBoom and Mother Clucker. The service is available between 12 and 3pm, Monday to Friday, and the menu changes at the start of every week. Food is prepared in \"Editions\" \u2014 delivery-only kitchens built by Deliveroo \u2014 and can be dropped off almost anywhere in \"The City\" or Canary Wharf. (More places will be added over time.)\n\nThe food delivery business is hugely competitive in the UK. Deliveroo is up against UberEats \u2014 which already offers breakfast, McDonalds and scheduled deliveries in the capital \u2014 Amazon, and the combined might of Just Eat and Hungryhouse, which was recently allowed to merge by the Competition and Markets Authority. Deliveroo is growing rapidly because of its prices and, more importantly, brand recognition \u2014 it was one of the first companies to offer lyrca-clad bicycle couriers in the UK. That's no guarantee of future success, however. To keep its rivals at bay, Deliveroo will need more ideas like Editions and its subscription-based Plus service.", "output": "In an effort to shore itself up against a growing field of competition, Deliveroo is offering a \u00a36 ($8) restaurant \"lunchbox\" service for customers in The City and Canary Wharf. The food itself is prepared in \"Editions\", which are small delivery-only kitchens built by Deliveroo. The service already has support from popular food chains such as Franca Manca, Motu and Yoobi Sushi, helping Deliveroo distinguish itself from its main rival UberEats, which already delivers McDonald's across London.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "YouTube removes 150,000 videos and disables comments amid scandal \n YouTube has removed 150,000 videos and disabled comments on many more in response to the latest brand safety scandal to rock the online video platform.\n\nOver the past week, huge brands including Amazon, eBay, Mars, Diageo, Adidas and Deutsche Bank stopped advertising on YouTube over concerns their ads are running against videos of children being targeted and exploited by paedophiles.\n\nMedia buyers have warned that YouTube is difficult to police and that there will always be an element of risk running ads on user generated content platforms due to the liberal nature of what is deemed acceptable content and the ease and speed it allows users to upload posts.\n\nSince the scandal broke, calls to toughen the rules around publishing on user-generated platforms has intensified and YouTube has told AdNews it is strengthening its policies and enforcement processes around content that involves minors.\n\n\"In the past week, we\u2019ve tightened up and strengthened the enforcement of our policies to terminate the accounts of users making predatory comments on videos featuring minors,\u201d a YouTube spokesperson said.\n\n\u201cAs a result, we terminated hundreds of accounts and removed over 150,000 videos from our platform. We also turned off comments on over 625,000 videos targeted by child predators. Finally, we removed ads from nearly two million videos and over 50,000 channels masquerading as family-friendly content.\u201d\n\nAdNews scoured YouTube to get a sense for how deep the problem runs. It is clear that YouTube has disabled comments and removed ads from videos containing children that most people would deem inappropriate, but there are still many videos on the platform that wouldn\u2019t pass the parent test.\n\nA 30-second search on YouTube pulls up far too much disturbing content.\n\nMore work needed\n\nA simple search for \u2018young girl on bed\u2019 pulls up far too many videos containing content that would never be published on a professionally curated media website.\n\nYouTube has told AdNews it unequivocally does not condone or accept content that endangers or sexualizes minors but the sheer volume of videos that are uploaded every second and the fact that many of these videos may not be illegal makes such policies very challenging to police.\n\n\u201cIn recent months, we've noticed a growing trend around content on YouTube that attempts to pass as family-friendly, but is clearly not. While some of these videos may be suitable for adults, others are completely unacceptable, so we are working to remove them from YouTube,\" vice president of product management Johanna Wright said in a recent blog.\n\nYouTube is taking five measures to address the problem including tougher enforcement of its community standards, age-restricting content, disabling comments and advertising on inappropriate content.\n\n\u201cIn the last couple of weeks we expanded our enforcement guidelines around removing content featuring minors that may be endangering a child, even if that was not the uploader\u2019s intent,\u201d Wright added.\n\n\u201cIn the last week we terminated over 50 channels and have removed thousands of videos under these guidelines, and we will continue to work quickly to remove more every day.\u201d\n\nSince June, YouTube says it has removed ads from three million videos and expects to remove a further 500,000 more videos in the wake of the fresh scandal.\n\nIndustry pressure mounts\n\nCommentators across the media landscape are calling for tougher action on user-generated platforms to bring their publishing standards further in line with those that restrict professional media organisations.\n\nIn a comment piece in The Times, Sky Group chief executive Jeremy Darroch joined a growing chorus of media executives, calling for tech giants that make money from media to be placed on a level playing field with the rest of the media, a sentiment that AdNews has previously expressed.\n\n\u201cWith every new expos\u00e9, these platforms promise to do more. They promise they will do better. Yet they continue to profit from what they publish and the cycle starts again\u2026the tech companies grow in value. It is surely time we asked: why is there no regulation where there is the risk of such serious harm?,\u201d Darroch wrote.\n\n\"I am not suggesting regulation of the internet, but establishing a set of principles of accountability that meet societal norms and can be put in place with oversight, in much the same way that Ofcom requires broadcasters to comply with principles governing the way that content is made available on TV. This would bring the same rigour to the internet that enables TV to be a safe and trusted space.\u201d\n\nWhat is this costing YouTube?\n\nAdNews approached widely-respected US market analyst Brian Weiser of Pivotal Research Group to get his view on whether the brand safety issue would have a material effect on Google.\n\n\u201cWhile it does seem like there may be some impact on YouTube from large brands reducing their spending, we won\u2019t likely see the impact in Google\u2019s reported results,\u201d Wieser said.\n\n\u201cYouTube is a relatively small share of Google\u2019s total revenue base, and large brands are a sub-set of that figure.\u201d\n\nYouTube has had two major brand safety issues in the past year that have threatened its business model.\n\nSome advertisers are clearly not impressed and are taking matters into their own hands, but AdNews understands this does not necessarily mean budgets are shifting into other digital advertising options.\n\nPublicly, many are adopting a \u2018wait and see\u2019 approach to whether YouTube can resolve its brand safety issues.\n\nPrivately, AdNews understands some advertisers' patience is wearing pretty thin.\n\nHave something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au\n\nSign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.", "output": "YouTube said it has taken down more than 150,000 videos, and disabled comments on more than 625,000, in the wake of the latest scandal to plague the video sharing site. Advertisers including Mars and Adidas withdrew their ads amid concerns that their ads were playing alongside inappropriate content. A spokesperson for YouTube told AdNews that the sheer volume of content uploaded made the platform \"very challenging to police\". Media publishers have called for some form of regulation to bring accountability for such sites.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ECB warns of volatility risks despite robust eurozone\u00a0growth \n The European Central Bank (ECB) warned Wednesday that despite the improved economic growth in the euro area there are concerns related to a sudden increase in volatility.\n\n\"Systemic stress indicators for the euro area have remained low over the past six months,\" the ECB said in a statement on Wednesday, but added that \"the risk of a rapid repricing in global markets nevertheless remains.\"\n\nMarkets have been on the bullish side throughout the year and many continue to push further into record territory. The is up by 16 percent since January and the pan-European Stoxx 600 is up by 7 percent. Some solid earnings and hopes of tax cuts in the U.S. and deregulation for the banking system have boosted equities.\n\nThe ECB believes there is the risk that this overall sense of optimism is miscalculated, which could end up shaking financial markets once money managers realize they took on more risk than they could handle.\n\n\"Continued compression of risk premia, subdued volatility and signs of increased risk-taking behavior in global financial markets are all sources of concern, as they may sow the seeds for large asset price corrections in the future,\" the ECB outlined in its Financial Stability Review report.", "output": "Despite improved economic growth in the European Union, the bloc's central bank has warned that overoptimism in markets may be misplaced. The \"risk of a rapid repricing in global markets ... remains\", the European Central Bank warned, adding it had the potential to\u00a0shake\u00a0up\u00a0the financial system.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ETF fees set to drop as passive investment outstrips active \n As the cost of exchange-traded funds continues to plummet and becomes more affordable, there is still room for competition in the booming sector, latest EY research reveals.\n\nOver the next three years, EY's ETF report shows the global market will reach US$7.6 trillion, and a substantial number (66%) of asset managers will offer ETF products in the near future.\n\nThe report, which surveyed 70 ETF providers, found price points and the ability to innovate are crucial for the sector to maintain its growth trajectory.\n\nDespite ETF fees continuing to fall to an average of 27 basis points last year, 71% of respondents predict fees will decline even further as becoming a low-cost provider is a prerequisite to survival.\n\nZero-fee ETFs will not become the norm, the report noted, but in 10 years' time, passive funds' assets will exceed those in actively managed funds globally. ETFs consequently will benefit disproportionately from this shift as a result of low fees and intraday liquidity in volatile markets.\n\nForty-three per cent of respondents said there is insufficient competition among index providers and expect more players to enter the space, including more self-indexing.\n\nParticipating in stock lending programs, digital distribution and best execution are some ways to continue to reduce costs for investors, the report suggested.\n\nIn terms of demand, institutional investors will continue to dominate ETF investing over the next three years, and up to 25% of inflows will come from new investors.\n\nWealth managers, private banks and investment funds are showing promising interest in ETFs. Pension funds are likely to use ETFs to manage liquidity, while wealth managers are expected to look for core exposure through model portfolios.\n\nEY warned that ETF providers will need to anticipate investor needs, incorporate macro trends in regulation and technology, and focus on educating investors - product development will involve launching new thematic ETFs, greater access to debt and investing in alternatives.\n\nETFs will help new entrants defend against declining mutual fund inflows and will form as part of a product range that include fixed income or smart beta products, the report said.\n\nEY Oceania wealth and asset management leader Antoinette Elias said in the last 12 months, Australia's ETF market capitalisation increased by 39% to $33.3 billion.\n\n\"The local ETF market is taking a growing share of the traditional managed funds space and continues to be retail investor driven, rather than institutional. Access to broader asset classes and international exposure is making ETFs increasingly attractive to retail investors,\" Elias said.", "output": "The cost of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) is expected to fall over the next three years, according to a study by EY. The study predicts passive management, responsible for the majority of ETF assets, will have a greater share of the market than active funds within the next 10 years. Almost three-quarters of respondents surveyed for the study said they anticipated fees would continue to fall, with being a low-cost provider seen as a necessity for success in the ETF space. Average ETF fees fall by approximately 27 basis points each year.\u00a0\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "French rocket maker Arianespace at risk as SpaceX keeps costs low \n Rocket company Arianespace is the pride and joy of Europe\u2019s space agencies, and in particular, the French government, which sees the Ariane rocket as a pinnacle of its engineering prowess.\n\nBut Arianespace is under severe threat from Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX, and news that Germany\u2019s DLR Aerospace Centre \u2013 a heavyweight contributor to the European Space Agency/ESA \u2013 is looking at switching launch commitments from Arianespace to SpaceX has caused consternation.\n\nThe worry is that without regular business from the scientific community, and in particular the ESA, could spell the end of life for Arianespace. Its CEO Stephane Israel, speaking on November 24th, admitted that if Europe switches its support for Arianespace then the rocket company is unlikely to make it through the next decade. Israel is looking for a guaranteed five large satellite launches a year for 2018 and the following years.\n\nSet against these demands is SpaceX, with its lower costs and much more frequent access to space \u2013 SpaceX is talking about 18-20 launches per year.\n\nThe German Aerospace Centre says it wants to support Arianespace, \u201cor else it will become like Nokia\u201d, but argues that costs must come down and launch frequency improved.\n\nArianespace is developing its own reusable rocket (Ariane 6) which should be ready for business with a maiden flight in 2020-2021.", "output": "The future of France-based Arianespace looks uncertain after it emerged that Germany\u2019s DLR Aerospace Centre is considering switching its future launch commitments to Elon Musk's SpaceX. CEO Stephane Israel has acknowledged the company could fold if it loses the contract, yet Arianespace's ambition for five satellite launches in 2018 doesn't come close to SpaceX's stated goal of 18-20 annually. The German Aerospace Centre says it wishes to continue supporting Arianespace, but costs must decrease and launch frequencies increase \u201cor else it will become like Nokia\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple customers discover major security flaw in latest Macs \n If you have an Apple computer running the latest version of the company\u2019s software, macOS High Sierra, be warned: It might be possible for someone to quite easily get into your computer without your login credentials.\n\nWithout explaining what the actual bug is (we don\u2019t want to make it any easier for potential hackers than this already is, and you can find it on Twitter pretty easily), someone can login to a Mac by typing a word in the login field, leaving the password field blank, and attempting to log in several times. Eventually the system will let you in with full access, according to security researchers.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nYou can also use this same flaw to access System Preferences on a computer whose settings you don\u2019t have access to. Quartz wasn\u2019t able to recreate the login bug, but was able to edit who has access to a computer in System Preferences on a Mac running macOS High Sierra 10.13.1.\n\nApple is aware of the bug, and sent Quartz the following statement on how to patch the login flaw for now:", "output": "Apple customers have found a major bug in the latest version of the company's operating system,\u00a0macOS High Sierra, for their\u00a0laptops and desktops. A Turkish developer discovered\u00a0that anyone could gain administrator privileges on Macs running the\u00a0operating system without a password,\u00a0making private user data extremely vulnerable.\u00a0Apple said in a statement to Quartz that it is currently working to\u00a0fix the issue.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Uber woes continue as 'bombshell' letter is revealed in trial \n The Uber-Waymo trial scheduled to begin Dec. 4 has been postponed, after a bombshell allegation that Uber operated a covert unit tasked with stealing code and trade secrets from its competitors.\n\nThree Uber employees testified today (Nov. 28) in a tense, hours-long hearing that was supposed to be the final one before the case went to trial. US district judge William Alsup ordered them to appear after the US Justice Department informed the court that the company had withheld key evidence. The letter, from an attorney representing Richard Jacobs, a former Uber security analyst, alleged that Uber\u2019s Market Analytics unit existed to acquire \u201ctrade secrets, code-based & competitive intelligence.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cI can no longer trust the words of the lawyers for Uber in this case,\u201d the visibly angry judge said in court. \u201cIf even half of what is in that letter is true, it would be an injustice for Waymo to go to trial.\u201d Alsup had referred the lawsuit for a criminal probe in May.\n\nIn a court filing on Nov. 27, Waymo alleged that Uber \u201cintentionally withheld the Jacobs Letter and related materials to prevent Waymo from discovering material evidence in this case.\u201d Waymo also asked to take a new deposition of Uber founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick, and of Angela Padilla, Uber\u2019s deputy general counsel and recipient of the Jacobs letter.\n\nAccording to tweets from James McPherson, a lawyer and autonomous driving analyst attending the pretrial hearing, Jacobs was terminated by Uber in the spring of 2017. His attorney then sent a letter to Uber making the allegations about the Market Analytics unit. Jacobs eventually settled out of court with Uber for $4.5 million, and is now cooperating with the company. That put him in the awkward position of disputing his own letter.\n\nA Waymo attorney asked Jacobs under oath: \u201cYour lawyer sent letter that you approved alleging that Market Analytics exists solely to acquire code and trade secrets from competitors, yes?\u201d according to McPherson. Jacobs reportedly responded: \u201cI disagree with this now. I have no firsthand knowledge. No knowledge at all.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nJacobs also described Uber\u2019s deliberate efforts to \u201cprevent sensitive info from legal discovery.\u201d \u201cThere was legal training around the use of attorney client privilege markings on written materials, and the implementation of encrypted and ephemeral communications, intended to both protect and destroy communications that might be considered sensitive,\u201d he said, according to the Financial Times. Employees were told to use phone or video calls for sensitive conversations, and use the messaging app Wickr, which has encrypted, self-destructing messages.\n\nAlsup has asked Uber to provide a \u201ccomplete list\u201d of employees who had a Wickr account or used other self-deleting messaging apps. \u201cAny company that would set up such a surreptitious system is as suspicious as can be, when the whole point to avoid leaving a paper trail,\u201d he said, drawing air quotes with his fingers around the word \u201cpaper.\u201d\n\nThe letter also reportedly claimed the company \u201chad a sophisticated strategy to conceal, cover up or destroy documents with intent to impede government investigations.\u201d In its Nov. 27 filing, Waymo said the Jacobs letter \u201cindicates there may be a very good reason why the \u201814,000 files\u2019 in question\u201d\u2014the ones former Uber engineer Anthony Levandowski is accused of stealing\u2014\u201dwere supposedly not found on Uber servers.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt turns out the server was for dummies and the real stuff goes on on the shadow system,\u201d Alsup said.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nUber is facing at least five federal probes in the US, several of them into dubious operational schemes. The company has drawn additional scrutiny from Congress and state attorney generals after last week disclosing that it had paid hackers $100,00o to stay silent about a massive data breach that occurred in October 2016, affecting 57 million riders and drivers.\n\nThis post was updated to include additional details of the Nov. 28 hearing.", "output": "A letter revealing the existence of a division at Uber intended to steal trade secrets from rivals has derailed the Uber-Waymo trial. The letter\u00a0also claimed the firm\u00a0\u201chad a sophisticated strategy to conceal, cover up or destroy documents with intent to impede government investigations\u201d. Uber was accused of\u00a0withholding evidence and\u00a0the billion-dollar lawsuit,\u00a0filed by Waymo over the alleged theft of auto-vehicle technology, was delayed.\u00a0Uber\u00a0is already facing at least five federal probes in the US, most of them over dubious operational schemes, and has disclosed losses of 40% in Q3 2017.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NASA seeks to kickstart satellite-repair space-robot market \n Hundreds of millions of dollars can go into the school bus-sized satellites that blast into orbit above Earth and provide services including broadband internet, broadcasting or military surveillance.\n\nBut if a part breaks or a satellite runs out of fuel, there\u2019s no way to send help.\n\nCommercial industry and government agencies believe they\u2019re getting close to having an answer: robot repairs.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe idea is to extend the lives of satellites through on-orbit satellite servicing, in which robotic spacecraft essentially act as the AAA roadside service trucks of space, traveling from satellite to satellite to refuel them and fix problems.\n\nOn a spring day earlier this year in Greenbelt, Md., 30 companies gathered at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center to learn about the technology and view hardware for on-orbit satellite servicing. They ranged from spacecraft makers to purveyors of robot arms and even insurance brokers. A second event is planned for January.\n\nIndustry watchers see the heightened activity as commercial validation for a 30-year-old idea that, until recently, attracted only government dollars.\n\n\u201cI think it could be a sustainable market,\u201d said Carissa Christensen, chief executive of space analytic consulting firm Bryce Space and Technology.\n\nOne of the first such commercial robot technicians is set to launch next year, but analysts say a mature market is still at least 10 years away. Not only do the spacecraft and capabilities still need to be fine-tuned, but the space industry, which is relatively conservative, will want to see several demonstrations before signing on.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s an environment where you can\u2019t make mistakes,\u201d said Steve Oldham, senior vice president of strategic business development at SSL, a division of San Francisco-based Maxar Technologies that has such a project in the works.\n\nTechnology still needs to advance to the point where robots become capable service workers. Already, though, the number of satellites that will need servicing is rising rapidly.\n\nIn 2016, there were more than 1,400 operational satellites in orbit, compared to 994 in 2012, according to a June report commissioned by the Satellite Industry Assn. trade group and written by Bryce Space and Technology. Many are programmable, meaning their software can be updated throughout their lifespan, which can stretch to 10 or 15 years.\n\nNASA has already started to develop some of the necessary technology. In February, the space agency launched a sensor called Raven during a cargo resupply launch for the International Space Station.\n\nRaven can track vehicles approaching the space station, much like a baseball catcher keeps tabs on an incoming ball long before stretching out an arm to grab it.\n\n\u201cSatellites in low-Earth orbit are traveling anywhere between 15,000 and 18,000 mph,\u201d said Ben Reed, deputy division director of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center\u2019s satellite servicing projects division, which developed Raven. \u201cWe need to put our servicer underneath it with a robotic catcher\u2019s mitt in the right place.\u201d\n\nNASA\u2019s satellite servicing projects division was born out of previous missions to maintain and service another expensive asset \u2014 the Hubble Space Telescope. Astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle serviced the telescope five times, with the last mission in 2009 focused on replacing circuit boards and adding new sensors. When the shuttle program ended, NASA\u2019s ability to access and service space assets disappeared, Reed said.\n\nThe division is also developing refueling technologies and is working to eventually launch a fully robotic spacecraft that will go to an existing satellite in orbit, autonomously capture and then refuel it.\n\nThe autonomous-capture aspect is important, Reed said, because waiting for a video signal to reach human operators on Earth would just be too slow. The round-trip delay between moving that spacecraft\u2019s robotic arm and seeing the result on video can take about three seconds.\n\n\u201cWe need rapid, rapid, rapid,\u201d he said, snapping his fingers. \u201cYou don\u2019t think when you reach out your hand to catch a set of car keys.\u201d\n\nLess time-sensitive tasks, such as cutting wires, will be done telerobotically via human operators.\n\nNASA\u2019s satellite servicing project division is not intended to compete with industry, but rather transfer the technology it develops to interested parties, Reed said.\n\nRocket and satellite maker Orbital ATK Inc., which was recently acquired by defense giant Northrop Grumman Corp., has begun assembling a service spacecraft known as the Mission Extension Vehicle-1. The craft is set for launch next year with service starting as soon as 2019.\n\nOrbital ATK has already snagged satellite operator Intelsat as its first customer. The spacecraft\u2019s structures, solar arrays and propellent tanks are being manufactured in San Diego and Goleta.\n\nIn June, satellite and spacecraft manufacturer SSL announced a new business venture focused specifically on on-orbit satellite servicing. SSL was selected in February by DARPA to be the agency\u2019s commercial partner in a program to service satellites in geosynchronous orbit. SSL will build the spacecraft and the refueling capability while DARPA provides robotic tools and software.\n\nThe spacecraft will be test-launched in 2021. SSL is developing it at a satellite manufacturing facility in Palo Alto; two robotic arms are being built at a subdivision in Pasadena. SSL has already signed its first commercial customer, Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES.\n\nSome analysts question whether this robot geek squad will be needed at all. A coming boom in small, cheap satellites could replace some more expensive, large satellites. Along with reduced launch costs, led by Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX and its reusable rockets, it could be cheaper to just launch several new small satellites than fix or refuel old ones.\n\nBut Christensen of Bryce Space and Technology is confident there will be a need for a high-and-low mix of satellites. And she points out that cheaper launch costs could drive more repairs.\n\n\u201cIf you\u2019ve got a quarter of a billion dollars of hardware on orbit, it seems like it would be useful to figure out an application for that,\u201d Christensen said.\n\nAnd industry officials believe orbiting robot service workers will be essential if and when humans begin assembling giant craft to explore the planets.\n\n\u201cThose far-reaching, species-changing discoveries is what gives us the passion to move forward every day with something that sounds mundane,\u201d said NASA\u2019s Reed.\n\nsamantha.masunaga@latimes.com\n\nTwitter: @smasunaga", "output": "NASA's satellite servicing projects division and private firms are among organisations seeking to develop robots that can refuel or repair satellites in space. There were more than 1,400 operational satellites in orbit around Earth last year, offering the potential for a fast-growing and lucrative market. A recent meeting between 30 firms took place at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center and another is scheduled for next year to explore potential technologies, while the first robot technicians are due to be sent into orbit next year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Halliburton develops electromagnetic pipe corrosion inspection \n Traditional methods of monitoring the integrity of wellbore tubulars have been able to inspect the first few concentric strings of pipe, but not the outer strings.\n\n\u201cAll the strings should be important because we are concerned as much for the outside integrity as we are concerned about the inside integrity,\u201d says Freeman Hill, product manager for well and reservoir surveillance at Halliburton. \u201cCorrosion feeds on itself. Corrosion issues can decimate a well.\u201d\n\nBut locating the outer corrosion before leaks occur used to be \u201cfairly impossible,\u201d Hill says. \u201cNo one was able to take a look at the outmost pipes because the technology wasn\u2019t there.\u201d\n\nWhile government regulations dictate minimum inspection intervals in some areas, routinely monitoring the tubulars for integrity can help operators reduce non-productive time and save money by making it easier to plan repairs before a small issue spirals into a major leak.\n\nIn October, Halliburton launched the Electromagnetic Pipe Xaminer V (EPX V) service, which the company says can pinpoint casing defects and metal corrosion in up to five tubular strings throughout the well.\n\nThorough and frequent inspection can help determine if corrosion is taking place at an acceptable rate for the design life of the well or if intervention is called for, Hill says.\n\nArticle continues below the advert\n\n\u201cIs it meeting the corrosion rate the customer needs for the well so it can last the required life? Or is it corroding too fast? If it\u2019s too fast, what measures can we put in place to correct it? We can monitor it more often, intervene,\u201d he says. \u201cWe can help the customer beat the leak before it gets there.\u201d\n\nINSPECTION: The EPX V with high resolution array and full array sections. Photo: Halliburton\n\nHill says one of the first questions he hears from prospective clients is whether EPX V service can measure the collars in all the tubulars.\n\n\u201cWe see the collars in all the strings. When we show them the fourth and fifth string collars, they know we can measure the metal on them. That tells them this really works,\u201d he says.\n\nRated to 15,000 psi and 350 degrees Fahrenheit, with an outside diameter of 1-11/16 inches, the tool diagnoses each tubing string using high-definition frequency technology. The technology can run on mono-conductor wireline, Halliburton\u2019s RELAY digital slickline, or on memory using standard slickline or coiled tubing.\n\nDevelopment on what became the EPX V started in 2015. The first deployment was onshore in the US in 2016.\n\n\u201cWe had to find new technologies that would work together,\u201d Hill says. \u201cWe truly had to innovate.\u201d\n\nThe breakthrough came with high-definition frequency technology, Hill says.\n\n\u201cThe EPX V uses an array and transmitters that continuously send out the electromagnetic wave in multiple frequencies at the same time. Because it is continuous and we can put power down there on it, we are able to put out the electromagnetic field further out than we were able to do before, so we get signals back from each pipe. It\u2019s a very sophisticated process,\u201d Hill says.\n\nThe omnidirectional tool provides more than 100 channels of information about the condition of the tubulars. The EPX V has two sections: a high-resolution shallow section that uses two receivers and one transmitter, and a full-resolution array section with six receivers and one transmitter.\n\nThe frequency phase shifts and magnitude of the signal indicate the integrity of the pipe.\n\n\u201cWe have so much information on metals. We understand how the frequencies behave in different metal environments, so being able to control the frequencies and have this array is powerful,\u201d Hill says.\n\nThe tool can also function in wellbores where the pipes aren\u2019t perfectly aligned.\n\nThe 17.5-foot tool can provide details in real-time or run in memory mode. It can be used to monitor the condition of the well or diagnose existing problems. Halliburton can pair its Acoustic Conformation Xaminer (ACX) service, which identifies wellbore leaks, with the EPX V tool.\n\n\u201cIf I have a leak on a well and it\u2019s something I think is caused from corrosion, I\u2019d want to run the EPX V so I could see the amount of corrosion,\u201d Hill says. The ACX tool triangulates noise logs to identify the location of leaks.\n\nThe tool generates an analysis that summarises the well\u2019s integrity, joint by joint for each tubular, and includes recommendations for remediation.\n\nIn one recent deployment, Halliburton ran the EPX V tool for a client and located a five-foot corrosion problem, along with a pair of similar corrosion problems further down the wellbore that might not have been identified using traditional inspection methods. The operator had the option to repair all three problems at once, saving a second intervention.\n\n\u201cSome operators want to know what\u2019s coming and how long they have before it becomes a problem,\u201d Hill says.\n\nIn at least one run, EPX V has allowed the operator to correct an existing schematic of the wellbore, Hill says.\n\n\u201cThey can see everything now. They\u2019ve been handicapped for a while. Things have changed,\u201d Hill says.", "output": "Halliburton has launched the Electromagnetic Pipe Xaminer V service, which it says can detect casing defects and metal corrosion in up to five wellbore tubulars throughout a well.\u00a0Traditional ways of monitoring the integrity of wellbore tubulars have been able to inspect the first few concentric strings of pipe, but not the outer strings.\u00a0Thorough and frequent inspection can help determine if corrosion is taking place at an acceptable rate for the design life of the well or if intervention is called for, Halliburton said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Siemens' Topsides 4.0 aims to cut offshore operating costs by $100m \n Siemens\u2019 new Topside 4.0 initiative, which it describes as \u201ca digital lifecycle solution,\u201d targets the offshore production industry. The offering is centred around the \u201ckey modules\u201d of compression, power generation, power distribution and automation, the company says.\n\nTopsides 4.0 starts during an offshore project\u2019s concept selection and design phase, when it\u2019s possible to identify and avoid redundancies in processing systems and minimise interfacing risk.\n\nIt enables digital project management and manufacturing, virtual testing and commissioning, and delivers what Siemens calls an \u201cintelligent digital twin\u201d of the topsides \u2014 a digital replica of the plant, process and automation systems that shows how they interact. The technology reduces costs over a facility\u2019s lifecycle through performance analytics and optimisation in the virtual environment.\n\n\u201cWe say it\u2019s an intelligent virtual twin because it knows how the equipment is going to behave,\u201d says Thomas Sparks, vice president of Oil & Gas Strategy and Technology at Siemens.\n\n\u201cYou can do improvements on the virtual twin, you can do training with the virtual twin, and that can have an impact on start-up.\u201d\n\nDIGITAL DOUBLE: An illustration of a Topside 4.0 virtual twin. Photo: Siemens\n\nSparks says the Topsides 4.0 service can reduce a project\u2019s lead time by as much as nine months, cut capital expenditures by $10 million and operating costs over 10 years by as much as $100 million.\n\nArticle continues below the advert\n\nThe numbers are significant in a lower-margin offshore climate.\n\n\u201cHow can we bring the overall value proposition to the oil and gas industry? That is our role in the technology department \u2014 to understand the customer\u2019s needs, look in the Siemens portfolio of solutions and bring them into the industry,\u201d Sparks says.\n\n\u201cThose customer needs have changed a bit in the low oil price environment. Everybody is focussed on lower capex and operating costs, much more than they have been in the past.\u201d\n\nThe new initiative is part of an overall push to bring down costs, he says.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s about leveraging new technology to get there. Digitalisation is one effort, but not the only one.\u201d\n\nTwo recent Siemens acquisitions have significantly enhanced the company\u2019s oil and gas capacity. In 2014, Siemens acquired Rolls-Royce\u2019s gas turbine and compressor business along with access to its aero-derivative technology.\n\nThe purchase of Dresser-Rand the following year expanded the rotating equipment catalogue as well as Siemens\u2019 reach in the oil and gas industry.\n\nThe acquired technologies are integral to the Topside 4.0 service, which is complemented by Siemens\u2019 expertise in electrical systems and automation, Sparks says.\n\nThe company is also drawing on its track record in digital technology, for example its work with the Barcelona rail network to ensure on-time train service and the imaging techniques developed within the Siemens health care division. Those technologies have applications in the upstream business, he says.\n\nThomas Sparks, Siemens (Photo: Siemens) Photo: Siemens\n\nWe can take a much greater scope on a vessel such as an FPSO and apply the existing solutions from other industries, integrating them and bringing in digitalisation. Thomas Sparks, Siemens\n\n\u201cThis is the package we are providing to the oil and gas industry,\u201d he explains. \u201cWe can take a much greater scope on a vessel such as an FPSO and apply the existing solutions from other industries, integrating them and bringing in digitalisation.\u201d\n\nProject design \u201cin a virtual environment\u201d avoids redundancies by allowing engineers to predict how systems will work together, make necessary adjustments and determine the optimal topside design.\n\n\u201cWe have, to a certain extent, already applied these technologies to existing platforms,\u201d Sparks says, citing Aker BP\u2019s Ivar Aasen platform on the Norwegian continental shelf.\n\nThe fixed platform, which came on stream at the end of 2016, is monitored and controlled remotely from an operation centre in Trondheim.\n\n\u201cDe-manning the platform has had a huge impact,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you can de-man the platform you don\u2019t need living quarters, you don\u2019t have to fly people out there, and there are huge savings. Offshore platforms are the most expensive hotels on earth.\u201d\n\nTaking full advantage of the Topsides 4.0 offering requires collaboration from the outset, he says.\n\n\u201cIt starts at the design phase. You can\u2019t really do it on a brownfield, just elements of it,\u201d he says. \u201cWe really need to be involved in the beginning.\u201d\n\nSiemens is targeting the FPSO market for an opportunity to prove the Topsides 4.0 concept and the benefits of greater digitalisation.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a journey,\u201d he says of the digital revolution. \u201cSome companies have adapted to it.\u201d", "output": "Siemens has developed Topsides 4.0, which it says can reduce a project\u2019s lead time by as much as nine months, cut capital expenditures by $10m and operating costs over 10 years by as much as $100 million. The \"digital lifecycle solution\" is centred around the \u201ckey modules\u201d of compression, power generation, power distribution and automation. It enables digital project management and manufacturing, virtual testing and commissioning, and delivers what Siemens calls an \u201cintelligent digital twin\u201d of the topsides \u2014 a digital replica of the plant, process and automation systems that shows how they interact."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Workers entitled to paid leave, rules European Court of Justice \n Workers are entitled to paid leave and can claim compensation if they are not allowed to take their holidays, the EU\u2019s highest court has ruled.\n\n\n\nIn a case involving a UK window salesman, the European court of justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg \u2013 whose continuing jurisdiction is vehemently opposed by Brexiters \u2013 has reinforced employees\u2019 rights.\n\nThe long-running legal challenge concerned a claim brought by the salesman, identified as Mr King, against The Sash Window Workshop Limited. The dispute was over his employment contract, which did not specify if he was entitled to paid leave.\n\nThe salesman had been paid entirely on commission and his contract described him as self-employed. A UK employment tribunal subsequently found he should have been treated as a full-time worker.\n\nThe case is one of a series that have gone to the Luxembourg court to establish whether businesses operating in the \u201cgig economy\u201d are depriving employees of benefits to which they should be entitled by reclassifying workers as self-employed.\n\n\n\nIn its judgment on Wednesday morning, the ECJ said: \u201cA worker must be able to carry over and accumulate unexercised rights to paid annual leave when an employer does not put that worker in a position in which he is able to exercise his right to paid annual leave.\n\n\u201cThe employer was able to benefit from the fact that Mr King did not interrupt his professional activity \u2026 It is for the employer to seek all information regarding his obligations in regard to paid annual leave.\n\n\u201cIn the absence of any national statutory provision establishing a limit to the carryover of leave in accordance with the requirements of EU law, to accept that the worker\u2019s acquired entitlement to paid annual leave could be extinguished would amount to validating conduct by which an employer was unjustly enriched to the detriment of the purpose of that directive, which is that there should be due regard for workers\u2019 health.\u201d\n\nClaire Gilroy-Scott, a partner at Goodman Derrick, who represented King, said: \u201cThis case is of importance in clarifying that workers who are denied their entitlement under the working time regulations to paid annual leave do not have to take a period of unpaid leave first before taking legal action to receive pay for that leave.\n\n\n\n\u201cThis would otherwise have left a worker (who was without protection from unfair dismissal and reliant upon continued work) with the unattractive prospect of having to suffer a detrimental impact on his remuneration by taking unpaid leave. The court has confirmed that a worker may carry over and make a claim for untaken leave entitlement on the termination of the engagement in these circumstances.\u201d\n\nJames Potts, the head of legal at the law firm Peninsula, which represented The Sash Window Company, said: \u201cEmployers with self-employed individuals, whether these number in single figures or the thousands, need to seek advice on the real status of their workforce.\n\n\u201cThis European decision binds UK tribunals when deciding similar cases. In its current form, the Brexit withdrawal bill maintains European judgments made before the UK\u2019s exit from the EU. However, it does give the supreme court the right to depart from these decisions where it is right to do so. As such, this decision will remain binding post-exit unless a future case proceeds through the domestic courts to the supreme court, where this decision could be departed from.\u201d\n\nDr Jason Moyer-Lee, the general secretary of the Independent Workers\u2019 Union of Great Britain, said: \u201cToday\u2019s bombshell judgment from the court of justice of the European Union is a game changer for the so-called gig economy. The law is now recognising the massive unpaid debt of gig economy companies to their workers and IWGB members will be coming to collect.\n\n\u201cToday\u2019s judgment is also a striking reminder of the impending disaster that is Brexit for worker rights. It\u2019s cases like this one, where the Tories are told that their manoeuvres to protect big business to the detriment of workers are a step too far, that help one understand why they have such an obsessive hatred for the [ECJ]\u201d", "output": "Workers are entitled to holiday pay and can claim compensation if denied leave, according to a ruling on 29 November by the European Court of Justice. The judgment came in an case involving a Mr King, a UK window salesman, and his employer, the Sash Window Workshop. The case involved a dispute over King\u2019s contract, which failed to specify whether he was entitled to paid leave\u00a0and which described him as self-employed. The Independent Workers\u2019 Union of Great Britain claimed the case was a \u201cgame changer\u201d for the gig economy.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US could lose 14,000 historic sites to rising sea level \n Abstract The impact of changing climate on terrestrial and underwater archaeological sites, historic buildings, and cultural landscapes can be examined through quantitatively-based analyses encompassing large data samples and broad geographic and temporal scales. The Digital Index of North American Archaeology (DINAA) is a multi-institutional collaboration that allows researchers online access to linked heritage data from multiple sources and data sets. The effects of sea-level rise and concomitant human population relocation is examined using a sample from nine states encompassing much of the Gulf and Atlantic coasts of the southeastern United States. A 1 m rise in sea-level will result in the loss of over >13,000 recorded historic and prehistoric archaeological sites, as well as over 1000 locations currently eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), encompassing archaeological sites, standing structures, and other cultural properties. These numbers increase substantially with each additional 1 m rise in sea level, with >32,000 archaeological sites and >2400 NRHP properties lost should a 5 m rise occur. Many more unrecorded archaeological and historic sites will also be lost as large areas of the landscape are flooded. The displacement of millions of people due to rising seas will cause additional impacts where these populations resettle. Sea level rise will thus result in the loss of much of the record of human habitation of the coastal margin in the Southeast within the next one to two centuries, and the numbers indicate the magnitude of the impact on the archaeological record globally. Construction of large linked data sets is essential to developing procedures for sampling, triage, and mitigation of these impacts.\n\nCitation: Anderson DG, Bissett TG, Yerka SJ, Wells JJ, Kansa EC, Kansa SW, et al. (2017) Sea-level rise and archaeological site destruction: An example from the southeastern United States using DINAA (Digital Index of North American Archaeology). PLoS ONE 12(11): e0188142. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0188142 Editor: Peter F. Biehl, University at Buffalo - The State University of New York, UNITED STATES Received: July 28, 2017; Accepted: November 1, 2017; Published: November 29, 2017 This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. Data Availability: Primary locational data for the archaeological sites used in this study is available from the site file managers of the states examined herein. These include: Georgia SHPO; Virginia Department of Historic Resources (VA-DHR); Florida Department of State, Division of Historical Resources (FDOS-DHR); South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology (SCIAA); University of Alabama\u2019s Office of Archaeological Research (OAR); Louisiana Office of Cultural Development, Division of Archaeology; Maryland Historical Trust; and the North Carolina Office of State Archaeology (OSA). The Coastal State Site Data for Sea-Level Rise Modeling. 2017 From Georgia Archaeological Site File (GASF), Virginia Site Files, Florida Site Files, South Carolina SHPO, Alabama Site Files, Louisiana Site Files, Maryland Site Files, North Carolina Site Files. Edited or directed by: David G. Anderson, Joshua Wells, Stephen Yerka, Sarah Whitcher Kansa, Eric C. Kansa. Released: 2017-03-01. Open Context. Available from: http://opencontext.org/tables/0c14c4ad-fce9-4291-a605-8c065d347c5d DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.6078/M7ST7MRR. Funding: The development of DINAA is funded by the National Science Foundation (Awards Numbers NSF 1217240, 1623621, 1216810, 1623644), and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (Award #LG-70-16-0056-16). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.\n\nIntroduction In recent years, concerns about the damaging effects of anthropogenic global climate change have been amplified by the increasing frequency of destructive weather events, large-scale wildfires and droughts, and a growing body of evidence indicating sea levels will rise appreciably over the next several centuries, from 1 m in the next century to 5 m or more in the centuries thereafter ([1\u20134]). The effects of such increases in sea level will be severe and long-lasting. At present, over 40% of all people worldwide live within a 100 km distance from the nearest coastline, many in low lying areas vulnerable to sea level rise [5\u201311]. Should projected rises occur, the effect on humans living on and near the coast, including the loss of infrastructure is nearly incalculable, and will require population movement and resettlement on scales unprecedented in human history. Here we demonstrate, using examples from the southeastern United States, that not only modern populations and properties, but also irreplaceable heritage in the form of the physical record of past human settlements, are currently vulnerable to projected sea level rise as a destructive agent. We argue that archaeologists and society at large should direct increased attention to planning for and mitigating these losses to heritage resources. The worldwide historic preservation community has begun to express serious concerns over the threat of global climate change to the archaeological and historic record, especially with respect to the potential loss of data that will occur as coastal zones are subjected to increased erosional forces and inundation from rising sea levels [12\u201335]). Analyses have been directed to determining how rising or fluctuating sea levels damage archaeological and historical resources, sacred and traditional sites, as well as submerged resources like former terrestrial archaeological sites, buildings, and shipwrecks [36\u201345]. Threats to coastal and near-coastal cultural resources will also come from activities undertaken to resist rising waters. Sea walls and other barriers may provide protection to critical coastlines at favorable cost benefit tradeoffs [46], but their construction will potentially impact large numbers of existing and undocumented cultural resources, far exceeding work conducted as a result of recent oil spills like the Exxon Valdez in Alaska and Deepwater Horizon along the southeastern Gulf coast [47\u201350]. Far less consideration has been given to the damage or loss of cultural resources that will occur as populations residing in coastal areas are displaced inland, building new communities or expanding existing ones. In previously less-developed regions, where little prior archaeological work has occurred, innumerable unrecorded archaeological and historical sites will also be threatened. The salvaging of valuable materials from threatened infrastructure itself will likely take a toll on historic properties, although some of the more iconic buildings may themselves be relocated to higher ground. For example, the White House or the Lincoln Memorial may be moved from Washington, D.C., much like the Egyptian New Kingdom era temple of Abu Simbel was moved before the rising waters of the Aswan High Dam submerged the area in the 1960s, and the Cape Hatteras lighthouse was relocated 2,900 feet to protect it from encroaching seas in 1999 [32, 51, 52]. Damage from shoreline erosion represents a significant concern to preservationists, with appreciable research globally now being directed to well-known archaeological and historical resources threatened by such processes [19, 24, 25, 27\u201345]. Important research is addressing the threat of global climate change, particularly sea level rise, to national landmarks or national parks in the United States [19, 21, 28, 29, 32, 53, 54]. However, more inclusive and geographically broad-based analyses are rare, because comprehensive data sets encompassing all known archaeological and historical resources at regional or continental scales have not previously been available. In the United States, cultural resource data are managed at the state rather than the national level, or within specific federal agencies, making such database development and large-scale analyses challenging. Integrating these data together is crucial to determining how climate change, including fluctuations in sea-level, will impact heritage resources at regional and continental scales. Calls for such syntheses have recently appeared [55, 56], and fostering research on this scale is widely heralded as a grand challenge facing the archaeological profession in the United States [57, 58], essential to exploring questions about changes over time in organizational complexity, human responses to climate change, and long-term settlement dynamics [31, 59\u201370].\n\nLinked database development: The DINAA project The Digital Index of North American Archaeology [71\u201373], or DINAA, permits the examination of relationships between environmental and cultural resources over large areas, by rendering diverse heritage data sets interoperable, and linking them with natural systems data sets encompassing physiography, biota, and climate in the past, present, and projected into the future. A multi-institutional collaboration, DINAA consists of an online, integrated open-source database of archaeological and other kinds of evidence for North America\u2019s human settlement. Since 2012, DINAA has compiled and rendered interoperable archaeological site file data from 15 states in Eastern North America (N = 505,056 sites). This work has been done in consultation and cooperation with government, academic, and tribal stakeholders, and with funding from the National Science Foundation, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and support from the leadership of archaeological professional organizations, including the Society for American Archaeology, the Society for Historical Archaeology, and the Archaeology Division of the American Anthropological Association [73] (Fig 1). As of October 2017, personnel from 21 states are actively participating in DINAA development, and the project has initiated discussions with site file managers and governing authorities in the remaining 28 states in continental North America, and in other countries, with the goal of developing a truly continental database. Information rendered accessible through DINAA is seeing increasing attention and use by researchers and resource managers, enhancing public awareness, education, and appreciation for scientific research in general and archaeology in particular [74\u201386]. PPT PowerPoint slide\n\nPNG larger image\n\nTIFF original image Download: Fig 1. DINAA partnerships as of July 2017 with dot density plot showing distribution of cultural resources at low resolution within states whose data have been received thus far. Data: [73]. Ohio and most Pennsylvania site data is at county-level resolution. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0188142.g001 DINAA is a publicly accessible compilation of existing archaeological site file, collection, and report data from multiple regional, state, and local repositories, linked with other archaeological databases as well as modern and paleoenvironmental data sets, with site numbers serving as the basic identifier and standardized temporal metadata as a relational control between data sets, to permit analyses by selected time periods. Archaeological site files contain data and metadata about the chronology, location, and function of sites, in combination with other information that can include diagnostic artifact descriptions, radiocarbon and other absolute dating determinations, and bibliographic citations. While each state and agency uses somewhat different systems, they are rendered interoperable through DINAA. Through deployment on Open Context [73], an open data publishing service for archaeology, DINAA embraces current best practices in scientific data-management including open standards and open licensing, transparent version control of both data and source code, Linked Data, and iterative development. Through aggregation and human editorial processes to align data set schemas and controlled vocabularies, DINAA provides some of the benefits of centralization without requiring different (and typically financially constrained) state agencies to change their own systems. Thus, DINAA fosters independent development and experimentation through integration of distributed systems managed by a host of institutions. This approach enables community-wide participation and investment in archaeological informatics, making the resulting cyberinfrastructure products shared and useful for all. DINAA also strictly conforms to legal requirements regarding the maintenance and use of cultural resources data. While analyses like those reported herein can occur making use of records with specific geospatial data, the data itself and permission to use it must be obtained from the agencies maintaining the information. DINAA, accordingly, does not publish or store precise site coordinates online, and the project redacts other sensitive attributes, particularly property ownership, from state site file repositories, in consultation with agency and other interested parties, including tribal nations. Directions to offices to contact to obtain such information for each site are provided with analytical output, but DINAA itself does not maintain or release such data. For public display purposes DINAA site data is aggregated within a tiled web map in Open Context, where a map-tiling algorithm allocates each site record to a 0.176 degree grid cell in the WGS Web Mercator projection (roughly 20x20 km at the equator). The Open Context platform provides publicly accessible online map interfaces for visualization and queries at a low level of spatial resolution that still has great utility when examining distributions encompassing large areas or time periods. DINAA digital data are archived with the California Digital Library, and mirrored in repositories in other countries to ensure long term survival [71, 72]. Indexing, or linking to and rendering interoperable data from many sources and across disciplines is a major function of DINAA, increasing its utility for resource management, research, and public education (Fig 2). By cross-referencing distributed collections on the Web, DINAA enables users to find and access relevant content in archaeological systems like Archaeology Southwest [87], the Paleoindian Database of the Americas [88, 89], the Eastern Woodlands Household Archaeology Database Project [90], the Canadian Archaeological Radiocarbon Database [91], the Digital Archaeological Archive of Comparative Slavery [92], the Chaco Research Archive [93], PeriodO [94], and The Digital Archaeological Record [95]. Aggregators such as Pelagios [96], a collaborator with DINAA, can then \u201charvest\u201d cross-references between different systems to present users with services, maps, and visualization tools to discover related data and other media that relate to DINAA curated site files. DINAA can serve as a key node in connecting North American archaeological data, allowing, for the first time, its linkage across multiple time periods and geographic regions, and using an array of environmental data sets to explore fundamental issues such as changes in human land use over time; the nature of the archaeological record collected over the past century, including the identification of research strengths and gaps; and, as we show here, how future changes in climate will affect site preservation and heritage management. PPT PowerPoint slide\n\nPNG larger image\n\nTIFF original image Download: Fig 2. DINAA links information in a wide range of online data repositories, using archaeological site numbers as the common referent. DINAA directs users to these outlets, but access and content control remains on their systems (black arrows indicate existing linkages, white arrows indicate linkages under development). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0188142.g002\n\nStrategies for mitigating losses due to sea-level rise At present, the effects of sea level rise on past cultural resources can be directly observed in the sparsity of the coastal archaeological record for the late Pleistocene and early Holocene period, during which time humans living in the Americas occupied vast areas of the continental shelf that were exposed by sea levels as much as 120 m lower than today [37\u201339, 61, 62]. Following a period of rapidly rising sea levels in the late Pleistocene and Early Holocene, the coastlines of the eastern United States reached near modern locations about 6000 years ago, but have still experienced fluctuations of 1 to 2 m vertically and up to several kilometers horizontally in recent millennia, with significant impacts on coastal populations [97\u201399, 101\u2013102]. These regions are now directly threatened by rising waters, and the potential for the loss of thousands of years of accumulated information is significant. Given the large numbers of cultural resources threatened by sea level rise, planning possible protection and mitigation strategies should proceed with an increased sense of urgency. Many researchers and government agencies within the United States and beyond, in fact, have initiated or been developing both broad based and focused, site-specific studies on the effect of sea level rise [21\u201323, 25\u201335, 129]. One way to proceed is to use the entire known sample of cultural resources to document the numbers of properties that will be lost, by specific time period and within specific areas. Developing such a comprehensive database, of course, will be necessary, and include site records maintained by disparate state, federal, tribal, and local government agencies. This information can help to develop a triage system for cultural resources in coastal and near-coastal regions [130]. At the same time, efforts should be directed toward identifying and evaluating areas and site types currently under- or unexamined. The goal of such efforts should be to assist in the development of programs directed to the excavation, removal or relocation, and architectural documentation of critical cultural resources and resource areas. In the Southeast such efforts are appearing at the state level, including studies of significant sites or areas in Georgia [25, 131]) and Florida ([41, 66\u201370, 132], and collectively over large areas by federal agencies like the National Park Service [21, 28, 32]. DINAA offers a means to augment these studies by updating inventories with robust data linked to many other data sets and analytical platforms, facilitating effective resource management planning. Data on the number of components by major temporal period located at archaeological sites within 200 km of the coast, by elevation above modern sea level, are given for the state of South Carolina in Table 5. The numbers of sites in each elevation interval correspond to the state totals, since they are derived from the same site file data set in DINAA (Table 1), but the numbers of components are invariably higher, in some cases much higher, because some sites were repeatedly visited and are multicomponent. In some cases individual occupations can be quite specifically identified to temporal period while others can be only generally identified to age, perhaps no more specifically than to a categorization as precontact or historic. It should be noted that comparable tables can be generated for each state in the region; South Carolina was chosen as an example for illustrative purposes, and to show the potential of DINAA. PPT PowerPoint slide\n\nPNG larger image\n\nTIFF original image Download: Table 5. Archaeological site and component loss in South Carolina due to sea level rise within 200 km of the coast. Data: [73]. PI = Paleoindian. EA = Early Archaic, MA = Middle Archaic, LA = Late Archaic, AA = Any Archaic, EW = Early Woodland, MW = Middle Woodland, LW = Late Woodland, AW = Any Woodland, M = Mississippian, LP = Late Prehistoric, UP = Unknown Prehistoric, CEP = Contact Era/Protohistoric, 16th = 16th Century Historic, 17th = 17th Century Historic, 18th = 18th Century Historic, 19th = 19th Century Historic, 20th = 20th Century Historic, UH = Unidentified Historic. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0188142.t005 Land use patterns are highlighted when examining individual state data by time period, and help to determine if survey coverage or research biases have affected the estimated number of existing sites in coastal areas. Few early prehistoric Paleoindian through Middle Archaic period components, for example, are found in coastal (i.e., low elevation) areas in South Carolina, compared to the much larger number of later precontact and historic components. With greatly lowered sea levels during these earlier periods, the coast would have been much farther away, perhaps making these areas less attractive for settlement. Likewise, given the intense occupation in coastal areas after sea levels largely stabilized in the region during the later Mid-Holocene [133\u2013136], it is not surprising that large numbers of components are found in close proximity to modern sea level. Even in this area, appreciable variability in location exists, due to the effects of ca. 1\u20132 m fluctuations in sea level in recent millennia ([97\u201399, 101, 102]. Interestingly, within the South Carolina sample the larger regional pattern holds, in that that large number of components are found within 1 m of modern sea level, and far fewer above 3 m in elevation, reinforcing the conclusion that people over the last several thousand years lived in close proximity to the coast, albeit shifting location as needed to accommodate the fluctuations in sea level of plus or minus 2 m or so that have occurred. Resource managers will need to evaluate sites in large numbers to determine which ones to preserve, protect, or mitigate. This is no different than what modern cultural resources management deals with on a regular basis, only here we call for consideration of the entirety of the coastal record as one data set, rather than on an individual case-by-case basis. Effective systems of management, including triage and mitigation, can only be developed when we have an accurate understanding of the cultural resources in an area, and where critical gaps in that knowledge exist. Existing databases need to be completed or developed and subsequently linked to systems like DINAA, while strict protections for sensitive location and other information are maintained. Many cultural resource databases reflect incomplete coverage of a geographic area or contain only particular kinds of data. A recent exemplary study of the effects of sea level rise on National Park Service coastal parks, for example, excluded most known archaeological resources because they were not part of the Facilities Management Software System database listing assets requiring routine maintenance within each NSP unit [21]. Improving and linking dispersed databases, and rendering them interoperable for research and management purposes, will allow management decisions to proceed with much larger and more representative samples. Archaeologists and land managers need to be aware that cultural resources face specific threats, and that sea level rise will impact resources differently in different areas, depending on geomorphological factors like shoreline shape and slope, the underlying matrix, the nature of the archeological deposits, and a range of other variable associated with the cultural properties [22\u201326, 28\u201330, 123, 137]. For example, some shell middens dating to the Mid-Holocene have already witnessed episodes of submergence and exposure, but remain at partially intact in coastal marshlands of the Southeast (e.g., [97, 98, 136], suggesting sea level rise does not necessary always equate with the total destruction of all types of resources. The circumstances favoring preservation or loss of coastal sites will need to be carefully evaluated on an individual or class basis [22, 130]. Resources directed to cultural resources will undoubtedly change as environmental conditions change, and historic preservation specialists will continue to have a major role in preserving our cultural heritage [26, 114\u2013115, 129, 138]. Guidance for resource managers on how to deal with the impacts of climate change is clearly needed, and action directed to these ends is underway in federal agencies like the US National Park Service [21, 28, 29, 139, 140] as well as international governing bodies like the United Nations [141, 142]. Effort should be directed to making sure our inventories of cultural resources are accurate, adequate, as complete as possible, and linked together with interoperable data elements, so the information can be utilized to prioritize preservation projects and research problems by site type and risk level, allowing the most pressing needs in resource preservation to be addressed effectively. More sites should be evaluated for placement on the NRHP; at present, in some circumstances only formal listing offers any hope of preservation or mitigation. Resources should be directed to evaluating sites in large numbers, as has happened with southeastern coastal shell ring and midden sites [132, 135, 136]. The economic costs of mitigating cultural resource loss through excavation, relocation, or architectural documentation should be considered thoroughly and incurred conscientiously, as it is well known that public funding for historic preservation efforts is often difficult to acquire, limited in quantity, and requires a high level of justification. Ultimately, what will be needed is a commitment, like that last seen in the Great Depression, to document that which will be lost if the effects of sea level rise are not mitigated. This time, instead of rescuing information from sites in reservoir floodpools as was done by the Tennessee Valley Authority [143], or deliberate economic recovery or tourist-industry focused make-work projects like those in the Macon, Georgia area [144], much of the work will need to occur in coastal areas or where the resettlement of displaced populations will occur. The Cape Hatteras lighthouse relocation was expensive and technically challenging, but offers an excellent example of what can be done when resources are made available [51]). Consideration may have to be given to relocating or constructing protective barriers for other such monuments, like the Castillo de San Marcos and Ft. Matanzas in St. Augustine, for example, or the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials [21, 28]. The solution to addressing the effect of sea level rise on major centers of heritage, like the nations\u2019 capitol, Boston, New York, or Washington, to list just a few of the threatened cities that will receive consideration ([119]), would probably be the construction of sea walls and similar projects, whose cost is projected to be far less than the damage caused by flooding [46]. While these kinds of projects would cause massive damage to cultural resources in the construction zone, including where fill/retaining wall materials came from, their loss could be better accepted given an effective assessment of the totality of the resources affected by sea level rise. Sites in heavily developed, low lying areas may in fact be at less risk, because there will be added effort taken to protect those areas. An NRHP eligible site or structure in central New Orleans is probably more likely to be protected by new sea walls or levees than a shell ring on a low, relatively undeveloped southeastern coastline. This analysis assumes sea level rise will destroy cultural resources. Of course, depending on the rate and rapidity of rise, it may only submerge these resources, with the extent of damage or loss uncertain. Some studies have shown that sea level fluctuations may not totally destroy cultural resources; much depends on the rapidity and frequency with which submergence or exposure may occur (e.g., [37, 38, 127, 136]. More such studies are critically needed, since preservation in place may be our only option for most sites, unfortunately by default. What will be preserved is important to determine, because it will mean resources can be directed to other, more vulnerable site types. Some of these sites may be accessible using underwater archaeological methods in the future, meaning mitigation should be directed to site types unlikely to survive sea level rise or storm surges. Finally, we need to be thinking not just about sites and architecture, but also about the long term curation of physical collections and records. Storing the archival records and collections within one or even several meters vertical elevation above modern sea level will need to be rethought, since such actions can no longer be considered a viable means of ensuring effective curation in perpetuity.\n\nConclusions Although the scientific community recognizes the profound impact of humans on the natural environment in recent centuries, few institutions fund the investigation of long-term human-environmental interactions through database development like DINAA. The initial data collection and integration phase of DINAA has been undertaken largely voluntarily by project team members at several institutions, together with limited funding from the Archaeology Program of the National Science Foundation. This has allowed us to develop a proof-of-concept framework integrating archaeological data from 15 states [72, 73], for linkage to environmental and collections data sets. DINAA demonstrates how a truly continental archaeological database useful for research, resource management, and public education can be developed, and how it can be maintained and updated on a regular schedule by a sustainable community of scholars and stakeholders. Linking archaeological site files and other data sets at broad scales catalyzes research across disciplines, promoting more holistic understanding of both human adaptation and environmental impacts. As multidisciplinary databases addressing sea level and other forms of global change are developed, the role of cultural resources are increasingly coming to be regarded as a critical factor when planning mitigation strategies [19, 27, 148, 149]. DINAA, through its adoption of an open data policy (within limitations regarding sensitive information), promotes information sharing and integration, not only of archaeological but paleoenvironmental, biogeographical, physiographic, and other data characterizing our environment. Within archaeology such approaches to data management are increasingly viewed as not only good science, but an ethical obligation [150]. DINAA has open-ended applications allowing researchers, land managers, and interested members of the public to examine the nature and scale of human responses to the dramatic fluctuations in temperature, biota, and sea level that have occurred over the ca. 15,000+ years people have lived in the Americas, and help inform our understanding of possible human responses to similar changes predicted for the future, questions of critical importance. Hopefully there will be time to implement these suggestions. However, changes in sea level may be far greater and occur far faster than currently predicted. Delay in thinking about these matters and in seeking solutions accomplishes nothing. Developing data infrastructure like DINAA is crucial to multidisciplinary analyses linking differing kinds and sources of data together and rendering them interoperable. By facilitating the mapping of archaeological sites over time and at varying geographic scales, showing where people were on the landscape and how they reacted to changes in climate and biota, tools like DINAA are useful to addressing research and management concerns. These include helping people gain a much greater appreciation for American history and culture, and protecting the vulnerable heritage of indigenous communities. Linked data can be used to explore the impact of sea level rise on cultural and historical resources. The effects of sea level rise on cultural resources is intimately linked to the humanitarian and economic issues that need to be faced in all crises [44, 145]. Cultural resources, promoting an awareness of and appreciation for our heritage, are essential to our well-being, and a continuing source inspiration [26, 146, 147]. Population relocation and new infrastructure required to cope with sea level rise, we have seen, will have severe negative impacts on coastal and near-coastal cultural resources. Given the investment humanity has made in these areas, efforts should be directed to preventing and, if this is not possible, managing potential losses. Cyberinfrastructure development is a critical part of 21st century archaeology, and projects like DINAA will make archaeological data increasingly useful and relevant to research, management, and public educational efforts. Data-driven archaeology can provide unparalleled insights into long-term human-environmental interactions, enabling archaeology to more fully participate in the efforts directed to understanding the impacts of climate change. Such knowledge is critical to making well informed forecasts and policy decisions about the consequences of rapid climate change, extreme weather events, and burgeoning populations, factors that will shape our civilization profoundly in the coming decades. While legal and ethical restrictions require that we safe-guard the precise location data behind this study (which is available from the agencies maintaining it [151]), DINAA makes data openly available with a lower level of spatial resolution to enable at least partial replication of these analyses, and most critically, to enable researchers in many fields of study to try other applications, using a framework built on information from the past to project trends forward in time. Our species has witnessed comparable periods of dramatic climate change in the past, and understanding how we responded can provide valuable lessons, and hope, for the future. Indeed, these are some of the greatest lessens archaeology can teach us, by providing information about how past human response, and resilience, as we move forward into an increasingly uncertain world.\n\nAcknowledgments Primary locational data for the archaeological sites used in this study is available from the site file managers of the states examined herein [151]. No permits were required for the described study, which complies with all relevant regulations. The authors express our deepest thanks to the SHPOs and site file managers in the states partnered with DINAA. Without their help, the analyses reported here would not have been possible. Thomas H. McGovern, Marcy Rockman, Kenneth E. Sassaman, and Martin P. Walker are also to be thanked for their advice and detailed comments, and the PLOS ONE reviewers and editors, as well as Stephen J. Yerka for preparing the graphics. The population data summarized in Table 3 was made utilizing the LandScan (2013)\u2122 High Resolution global Population Data Set copyrighted by UT-Battelle, LLC, operator of Oak Ridge National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the United States Department of Energy. The United States Government has certain rights in this Data Set. Neither UT-Battelle, LLC nor the United States Department of Energy, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of the data set.", "output": "Climate change-related rises in sea levels could cause the loss of nearly 14,000 national monuments and archaeological sites in the US by the year 2100, according to scientists. Sea levels are expected to rise by an average of one metre across the world by that date. The research, the first of its kind, combined site elevations on the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts with predictions about rising sea levels. The researchers said that climate change presented dangers for \u201cthe archaeological and historic record\u201d and called for discussion of the need for relocation and documentation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sexual harassment has economic as well as personal cost \n Up to 85% of women report that they have been sexually harassed at work, and 80% of them leave their firms within two years. Many even change industries. We know this imposes an economic cost on them, but what\u2019s the larger cost to all of us? As talented women are pushed into starting over again, industries lose their ideas and expertise. And ideas are what drives today\u2019s economy. The Economist has said that \u201cnew ideas are getting hard to find.\u201d But what if actually, we\u2019re just limiting who gets to have ideas? Systemic sexual harassment mean that women and their ideas are disproportionately chased away. That\u2019s not something that companies \u2014 or countries \u2014 can afford.\n\nUp to 85% of women report that they have been sexually harassed at work, according to a 2016 report by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. What happens next is often not captured in numbers, but in the fine-print details of recent media reports. Whether the industry is media, entertainment, politics, technology, or something else, these women say things like: \u201cI quit.\u201d Or, \u201cI left that place.\u201d Or \u201cmaybe I shouldn\u2019t be in [this industry]\u201d. Some women scaled back on their ambitions, while others left companies or their chosen industry altogether.\n\nReading these many stories, over the last few months, made me reflect on my own exits. After a senior law enforcement official chased me around a hotel room while we both served on a statewide board for community colleges, I left the education field. I went into the tech industry, where I saw firsthand that male executives preferred to promote the ideas and innovations proposed by the female colleagues they happened to be having sex with. (And, moreover, having sex with in the office \u2013 I saw that firsthand, too, though I wish I could unsee it). I left that industry, too, becoming an independent consultant and advisor. Then, after hearing too many young women\u2019s stories of venture capitalists who asked for sex in return for funding, I stepped back from participating in the startup ecosystem, the driving economy of Silicon Valley. I had never thought of sexual harassment as affecting my career arc, and yet I can now see how its friction surely influenced it.\n\nWhile each woman\u2019s harassment story is different in particulars, together the vignettes add up.\n\nObviously, each individual diminishes her earning power as she starts over. And collectively, this rash of exits is one reason that women as a group haven\u2019t advanced to the highest levels of power in any industry. Research supports what these anecdotes suggest: according to data collected by sociologist Heather McLaughlin and others, about 80% of women who\u2019ve been harassed leave their jobs within two years.\n\nBut it\u2019s only when we squint at the stories, the more insidious economic story becomes visible. Which is this: as people drop out, opt out, and tune out of their chosen fields, it affects the whole economy. It\u2019s the missing female Harvey Weinstein who never got a chance to shape the full range of stories of our society. It\u2019s the female Charlie Rose who never got a chance to earn the power and influence associated with that role. And moving away from the hypothetical, it\u2019s the Susan Fowlers and Ellen Paos who didn\u2019t get to build the companies or make the investments that offered the new solutions that society most desperately needs.\n\nThe development of new ideas is what allows economies to grow richer year after year. This is especially true in the modern, digital, social economy: ideas are essential for growth, innovation, and ultimately prosperity. Power can either liberate or limit ideas. Too often, ideas are considered or dismissed based on who contributes them, and how powerful the person\u2014not the ideas themselves\u2014are.\n\nJust as recently as September, The Economist reported that \u201cnew ideas are getting hard to find.\u201d Robert Gordon and other notable economists\u2019 quotes show that America\u2019s economic boom is now behind us, as the productivity of new innovators and innovations to market have tumbled.\n\nThose economists seem to think we\u2019ve run out of ideas, but I\u2019m wondering if it\u2019s something else. Could it be that institutionalized patriarchy \u2013 the system in which men predominantly hold the power and women are largely excluded from it \u2013 is itself the key turnstiles, slowing economic progress? Could it be that many women\u2019s contributions are blocked by those currently are in charge? Could it be that women are gaslighted into believing their ideas aren\u2019t as worthy? And that men\u2019s mediocre ideas are artificially elevated, rewarded and celebrated? Surely there\u2019s an economic impact in all of that. While researchers have attempted to quantify the economic cost to individual women of being harassed, we may never be able to fully quantify the total economic cost to all of us \u2013 just as we can\u2019t quantify the total costs to human prosperity of racism or other systemic discrimination.\n\nBut it\u2019s only logical that as sexually predatory behavior goes on and is covered up, some people get to contribute their ideas, while others don\u2019t. And we all pay the price. Because the key inference here is not about how one person feels or that people are being treated wrongly \u2013 important issues, surely \u2014 but that the system itself is the limiting gateway for our ideas, growth, and prosperity.\n\nIn the coming months, I predict that there will be a discussion on how \u201cfair\u201d it is that men lose their jobs for this conduct. The headline will likely read, \u201cClaims of sexual harassment have gone too far\u201d. After all, that person will argue, the harassers are (overall) good people who do (generally) good and valuable work. As you hear those backlash arguments, I want you to stop and ask yourself something: how \u201cfair\u201d it is that women have been essentially (and sometimes quite literally) chased out of their ability to contribute? We can see the effect of men losing their jobs, but that\u2019s only because women have already been rendered invisible, before their ideas even had a shot. Just because you can\u2019t see that, doesn\u2019t make the loss to society and our economy any less real.\n\nSeeing this bigger picture changes the call to action.\n\nInstead of thinking of sexually predatory behavior as a few (or many) bad seeds, we ask, instead\u2026 how do we change our organizations to rebalance power? In the near-term, companies could improve reporting procedures so transparency and crowdsourced data could make the \u201cwhisper network\u201d visible. A change in legal defaults to make settlements public would make it possible to see patterns. This, in turn, would make companies and their boards more accountable to the marketplace.\n\nThis is a bottom-line issue, in addition to being a human dignity issue. If only a few ideas are seen and valued, the wealth of a broader set of ideas is lost. While there\u2019s a lot of attention economically on \u201cthe race against the machine\u201d, we\u2019re only now paying attention to the more enduring race affecting our economy in parallel: the skirt chase around the conference table. The question of what is created depends on who has a place at that table. And that is the problem, and the opportunity, that needs to be acted on.", "output": "Sexual harassment has an economic cost, according to an opinion piece by Nilofer Merchant in the Harvard Business Review.\u00a0The Economist reported in September that the increasing difficulty of finding new ideas is damaging economic prosperity in the US. Merchant argues that institutionalized patriarchy is slowing economic development by blocking women\u2019s contributions and promoting mediocre men. Power needs to be rebalanced within organizations to preserve human dignity and to counter the economic cost of harassment.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sexual harassment has economic as well as personal cost \n WERE there far fewer undiscovered ideas out there than in our more primitive past, how would people know? This is not an idle question; decoding the mysteries of nature, from atmospheric pressure to electricity to DNA, allowed people to bend the natural world to their will, and to grow richer in the process. A dwindling stock of discoverable insights would mean correspondingly less scope for progress in the future\u2014a dismal prospect. And some signs suggest that the well of our imagination has run dry. Though ever more researchers are digging for insights, according to new research, the flow of new ideas is flagging. But that uncovering new ideas is a struggle does not mean that humanity is near the limits of its understanding.\n\nThe development of new ideas\u2014meaning scientific truths or clever inventions\u2014allows economies to grow richer year after year. Adding more workers or machinery to an economy boosts GDP, but only for a while. Applying ever more men with hoes to the cultivation of a field will generate diminishing returns in terms of crop yields, for instance; wringing more from the soil eventually requires the use of better seed-stock or fertiliser. Unless humanity finds new ways to do more with the same amount of labour and capital, growth in incomes peters out to nothing.\n\nDwindling growth in incomes is not a bad description of what has happened in much of the industrialised world in recent decades. Meagre rises, in turn, lead some to conclude that there are simply not many breakthroughs left to be uncovered, of the sort that lifted living standards during the Industrial Revolution. That, for instance, is the view of Robert Gordon, an economist at Northwestern University, whose bleak book, \u201cThe Rise and Fall of American Growth\u201d, reckons that the era of economic revolution is behind us.\n\nIs it? A recent paper by Nicholas Bloom, Charles Jones and Michael Webb of Stanford University, and John Van Reenen of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, provides relevant evidence. Though striking an agnostic position as to whether humanity has used up all its eureka moments, they nonetheless conclude that new ideas are getting more expensive to find. The authors consider four different case studies, within which they compare research \u201cinputs\u201d (such as the money spent on researchers and lab equipment) and outputs. The number of transistors that can be squeezed onto a microchip has doubled with reassuring regularity for half a century, every two years or so\u2014a phenomenon known as Moore\u2019s Law (after Gordon Moore, a founder of Intel). Yet this success has been achieved by pouring more and more resources into the effort over time. The research productivity of each scientist participating in the battle to cram in transistors has correspondingly tumbled.\n\nMuch the same is true in other fields of inquiry, such as efforts to raise crop yields and extend life. As the authors acknowledge, squeezing oranges dry is not a problem if new oranges keep arriving: ie, if new lines of research appear even as others are exhausted. Yet they reckon that, across the economy as a whole, the notion that the cost of ideas is rising holds true. Since the 1930s, the effective number of researchers at work has increased by a factor of 23. But annual growth in productivity has declined (see chart).\n\nNot the only fruit\n\nDespair is premature, however. The effort to find new, growth-boosting ideas is not necessarily hopeless, just complicated. Whether herding more researchers into the laboratory raises growth might depend on how intensively the resulting brainstorms are used, for example. Across the global economy, many countries have yet fully to exploit ideas already in use by firms at the frontier of scientific knowledge. The problem, in other words, is not that oranges are in short supply or are already squeezed dry, but rather that of the ten workers at the juice bar, only one has learned to do the squeezing. Investments in education and training, to expand the share of workers that can use new ideas, or in the quality of management, to improve how effectively ideas are applied within firms, would do wonders for growth, even if the world\u2019s scientists are idly scratching their heads.\n\nAnalysing the supply side of the innovation equation in isolation can also be misleading. The demand for new ideas, and, correspondingly, the incentive to tackle difficult questions, also matters. In his analysis of the Industrial Revolution, Robert Allen, an economic historian then at Oxford, sought to explain why it started in Britain rather than anywhere else. Supply-side factors, such as improved literacy and stronger property rights, certainly played a part. But it was the demand for labour-saving innovation, prompted by Britain\u2019s relatively high wages at the time, which gave tinkerers a strong incentive to develop and hone the steam engine and its applications.\n\nPut differently, researchers are often like the drunken man searching for his keys under the streetlight, because that is where the light is. Until some pressure is applied to encourage him to look elsewhere, the search will often prove fruitless. It is easy to see why firms might take a lackadaisical approach to some research questions. Disappointing wage growth across advanced economies is a deterrent to the invention and use of labour-saving innovations. Persistently high rates of profit give big firms plenty of money to plough into fancy research labs, but also suggest that the competitive pressures which might prompt them to exploit the resulting discoveries are weak.\n\nThe accumulation of knowledge is in some ways a burden. The more is known, the more researchers must absorb before they can add to the stock of human knowledge\u2014or the more they must collaborate with other researchers to combine their areas of expertise. But the incomplete exploitation of currently available knowledge is in some way reassuring. It suggests that people are underperforming relative to their potential: both in how they use available ideas and in how they uncover new ones.", "output": "Sexual harassment has an economic cost, according to an opinion piece by Nilofer Merchant in the Harvard Business Review.\u00a0The Economist reported in September that the increasing difficulty of finding new ideas is damaging economic prosperity in the US. Merchant argues that institutionalized patriarchy is slowing economic development by blocking women\u2019s contributions and promoting mediocre men. Power needs to be rebalanced within organizations to preserve human dignity and to counter the economic cost of harassment.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GOP tax bill is just another way to repeal health care. Will coverage ever be safe? \n Andy Slavitt\n\nOpinion columnist\n\nIt has been just two months since the Senate gave up on trying to pass a series of health care bills that Americans had soundly rejected in poll after poll. Yet the same Republican recipe for health care now is back on the table in the form of the lopsided tax bill that the Senate plans to vote on this week.\n\nA lot of people get intimidated by the idea of trying to understand the tax bill. It\u2019s a shame because, much like congressional budgets, tax bills reveal priorities.\n\nMore:Obamacare verdict is in, but will Trump let GOP scrap repeal?\n\nMore:Republican tax plan is right to kill Obamacare's individual mandate\n\nAnd GOP priorities are easy to follow as they haven\u2019t changed since the party failed to accomplish its three-part health care agenda: Cut the money going toward health care for low-income people, seniors and kids; use that money to cut taxes for people in the upper-income brackets; and end the federal protections that stopped discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions. Flip the order, and the tax bill looks the same.\n\nMuch like the earlier health bills, with their corporate tax breaks and breaks for the upper-income brackets, the dollars and cents of the House and Senate tax bills point to clear beneficiaries and losers. The beneficiaries? Corporations and wealthy individuals (particularly those who stand to inherit large estates), who get large permanent tax cuts. In 2025, the bill would give tax cuts averaging $360,000 to the top 0.1% of households.\n\nAnd like the health care bills last summer, these tax cuts are paid for in large part with cuts to health care benefits \u2014 affecting people with private coverage, Medicare and Medicaid.\n\nTo start, an estimated $338 billion that is helping millions of working-class Americans pay for insurance is on the block to be cut. Republicans argue that these are people who are being compelled to buy health insurance and so neither they nor anyone else will be hurt. That\u2019s simply untrue.\n\nYes, there is a requirement that Americans purchase health care or pay a penalty, and the Senate GOP proposes to remove it. And requiring people to do something is not wildly popular. But why does that requirement exist? Former Massachusetts governor and 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney put it this way in 2011: \u201cIt is fundamentally a conservative principle to insist that people take personal responsibility as opposed to turning to government for giving out free care.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s also a good basic insurance principle \u2014 more people with insurance reduces everyone\u2019s costs. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office expects everyone\u2019s insurance to cost 10% more if the Senate GOP is successful.\n\nThe American Academy of Actuaries, an independent and just-the-facts body, says it's even worse than that. It predicts \u201csevere market disruption and loss of coverage\u201d as insurers stop offering coverage.\n\nThat\u2019s not all. In the version of the tax bill passed this month by the House, Americans who have serious chronic conditions or pay for nursing home care or high-cost medications would lose the ability to deduct medical expenses. These are people with often crippling medical bills, nearly half with annual incomes under $50,000 and more than half of them 65 and older.\n\nThis assault on the sick fits with the executive order the president signed last month, which is designed to give insurance companies loopholes so they can exclude people with pre-existing conditions, adding an effective surcharge to policies that do cover people with pre-existing conditions.\n\nMore:Tax bill race to break Trump's populist promises: Who's winning?\n\nPOLICING THE USA: A look at race, justice, media\n\nTo pave the way for this tax bill, Republicans passed a budget that over 10 years allows them to grow the debt by up to $1.5 trillion with just 50 votes in the Senate. And so far, most of the party's deficit hawks are suspiciously silent. There is a half-hearted set of GOP talking points claiming the economy will grow enough to offset those lost taxes, but 37 out of 38 economists recently surveyed disagreed.\n\nMore likely, the $1.5 trillion budget hole will be used to meet the objectives of the failed health care repeal bills \u2014 to make dramatic cuts to the Medicaid and Medicare programs. Conveniently forgetting it was their tax cuts for the wealthy that got us there, these same lawmakers will decry the manufactured fiscal crisis and bemoan that we can\u2019t afford the cost of health care for our older and sicker citizens.\n\nMany of these cuts will occur automatically. Under a 2010 pay-as-you-go law, Medicare will automatically face draconian cuts of $250 billion over 10 years. And three former Defense secretaries warned that the tax bill would endanger national security funding, which should make John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, think twice before signing on.\n\nTax cuts for the wealthy? Health care repeal? Call it what you will. For this Congress and White House, they are two sides of the same coin \u2014 gold on one side, lead on the other.\n\nAndy Slavitt, a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors, is a former health care industry executive who ran the Affordable Care Act and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from 2015 to 2017. Follow him on Twitter: @ASlavitt", "output": "The proposed tax bill from the Republican party still includes the healthcare repeals that were unsuccessfully pushed in the Senate two months ago. The GOP priority to repeal and replace Obamacare seems to have driven the tax bill, which appears to still cover the main points of the prior agenda: reduce the funding for health care for low-income citizens, seniors and children; use this funding to lower taxes for higher-income citizens; and end any federal protections against discrimination towards those with pre-existing conditions. The bill appears to benefit corporations and wealthy citizens, offering significant permanent tax cuts. By 2025, the bill - if passed - will give tax cuts of an average $360,000 to the top 0.1 percent of American homes. These tax cuts will be funded by reductions in health care benefits across private coverage, Medicare and Medicaid. A key point is the predicted $338 billion cut to assistance for working-class Americans' insurance, with the requirement for citizens to purchase care up for removal. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has predicted that all citizens' insurance will cost 10 percent more if the bill passes. The American Academy of Actuaries, an independent body, warns of \u00a0\u201csevere market disruption and loss of coverage\u201d if insurers no longer offer coverage. In addition to this, those with severe chronic conditions, nursing home care requirements or high-cost medication needs will no longer be able to deduct medical expenses. The presidential decree that allows insurance companies to exploit loopholes to exclude those with pre-existing conditions also compounds the issue. The tax bill will be enabled by a budget that gives 10 years for debt growth of up to $1.5 trillion with only 50 votes in the Senate. The\u00a0debt will likely be used to facilitate cuts to the Medicaid and Medicare programs. , Medicare is already facing cuts of $250 billion over 10 years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Darpa keen to work with commercial space sector on new projects \n WASHINGTON \u2014 The military space business is stuck in its old ways and missing a \"golden opportunity\" to capture the energy of a rejuvenated commercial industry, said a former White House space and aviation technology adviser who is now a top official at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.\n\n\"In the national security space sector, we're in dire need of new thinking and innovation,\" said Fred Kennedy, director of DARPA's Tactical Technology Office. He assumed that post in September after serving as deputy director since January.\n\nSpeaking at a breakfast meeting of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation Nov. 15, Kennedy criticized the Pentagon's methods for acquiring satellites and called for a \"shakeup\" in national security space programs.\n\nIn the Defense Department, Kennedy said, \"We've gotten very good at building small numbers of extremely exquisite things, very expensive things on very long time schedules.\" That culture that emphasizes high performance and low risk is now working against the military because its satellites have become huge targets for adversaries.\n\n\"Our savior is going to be the commercial sector,\" said Kennedy. Some pockets within the military are moving in that direction but not soon enough. \"We're starting to see an influx of commercial technology, but we need more of it, and quick.\"\n\nKennedy worries that the commercial space boom could turn out to be a fad that fades in a few years, so the Pentagon should be harnessing that energy now. \"My biggest fear is that in a couple of years people will forget Matt Damon and 'The Martian' and be back where we were before.\"\n\n'Other transactions' contracting\n\nDARPA's weapon for capturing privately funded technology is an authority known as \"other transactions,\" or OTA, to sign contracts with vendors that bypasses some of the federal procurement red tape.\n\n\"We do that. It's very effective and useful,\" said Kennedy. \"I can't say it's always quicker than the normal contracting process. But it is actually an effective way of teaming.\"\n\nThe way it works with DARPA: The agency selects a commercial partner and the company is expected to help fund the venture. \"Then we can go out and work on problems jointly,\" Kennedy said.\n\nHe touted one of DARPA's most ambitious space programs, the robotic servicing of geosynchronous satellites, or RSGS. It is a government-industry partnership with SSL MDA Holdings.\n\nIf the project is successful \u2014 a launch is planned for 2021 \u2014 it would elevate DARPA's status as a disruptor, Kennedy said. He recalled that an earlier program called Orbital Express, designed to service spacecraft in low-Earth orbit, got off to a fast start but was deactivated in 2007 because there was no business case for it.\n\nThe RSGS effort is aimed at high-orbit satellites, most of which are in need of some type of service \u2014 new flight computers, more fuel, more propellant. Companies in the industry told DARPA that they would buy that service if available. \"We have to get out of today's culture of treating satellites like a Rolls Royce or Ferrari, that they have to work for 15 years, so you'd better test the hell out it, make sure it absolutely works,\" said Kennedy. \"Geosynchronous orbit is a natural place to go. \u2026 They all need to be refueled, repaired, moved or retired. There is a commercial interest and a national security need.\"\n\nThe RSGS will be a \"commercial transition and not something we push to the Air Force,\" he said. Once the system is up and running, SSL will commercialize it.\n\nIndustry skeptical\n\nKennedy's cheering words of encouragement, however, were met with skepticism from executives in the audience who argued that DARPA often funds the development of technologies that already are available in the private sector, creating government vs. industry competitions that undermine private efforts.\n\nKennedy only partially agreed. He said he hopes projects like the RSGS will result in a \"shakeup\" in how the space sector does business with the government. \"I'd like to use RSGS and other systems to be some kind of a wedge to force people to think differently about the enterprise, in our case, about the 'order of battle.'\"\n\nBut he acknowledged that \"culture is the biggest problem\" in military programs. \"I'd like to live in a world where we do not have to wait 10 years and spend $20 billion to get a capability,\" he said. \"I would like to see a change away from that.\"\n\nExecutives in the audience pointed out that the Defense Department has not moved to capitalize on the small satellite revolution or \"hosted payloads\" as alternatives to custom-built military spacecraft. The industry had expected to see movement in that direction by now as the Pentagon considers future replacements for its constellations of missile-warning and classified communications satellites.\n\nRather than deploy hundreds of sensors in tiny satellites that are cheaper to replace, the Pentagon has preferred to buy large expensive systems, giving enemies richer targets, industry officials said.\n\n\"That is a problem,\" said Kennedy. \"The idea of having lots of something as a deterrent isn't a bad thing. \u2026 It's very difficult for DoD to see beyond the traditional model. But DARPA is well positioned to poke at that model.\"\n\nKennedy defended DARPA's decision to award BAE Systems a $12 million contract to develop a digital \"testbed\" for space command-and-control technologies. Companies in the sector contend that such technology is commercially available.\n\nThe project, known as \"Hallmark,\" is more ambitious than it looks, said Kennedy, and DARPA believes it needs to invest in areas where there is no commercial capability. The testbed is not just to experiment with technology but also to do cognitive assessments of operators. \"We want to measure how people are performing when they get new tools. We think that's a unique place for us,\" he said. \"We thought we needed to invest in that.\"\n\nSpace plane moving forward\n\nDARPA also has come under criticism for rejecting commercial proposals for a military space plane in favor of a new development venture with Boeing Phantom Works.\n\nKennedy said the experimental space plane, dubbed XS-P, will help the military services launch satellites into space quickly and at less cost than traditional methods. DARPA reportedly invested $40 million in the project.\n\nThe space plane was initially named the XS-1 but it was relabeled once DARPA realized XS-1 also was the designation of the original rocket engine\u2013powered aircraft, the Bell XS-1, designed and built in 1945.\n\nThe new XS-P uses an AR-22 engine built by Aerojet Rocketdyne. It would be reusable like a commercial airliner and DARPA wants it to be able to fly to space 10 times in 10 days.\n\nAn initial flight is scheduled for 2019, said Kennedy. The contract with Boeing is an \"other transactions\" deal so it will be up to the company to move it forward after the development is completed.\n\n\"That's commercial transition,\" he said. \"I'm not here to sustain capability. I can't afford that.\" Boeing has a commercial business case for the space plane, he added. \"They believe they can go off and launch capability and make money. DoD then can purchase those services.\"\n\nThis story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.", "output": "The director of the Tactical Technology Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), Fred Kennedy, has said the military space industry is \"in dire need\" of innovation and called on the commercial space sector to create new technologies. Kennedy has been critical of the Pentagon's satellite purchasing methods and wants to \"shake up\" national security space programmes so Darpa can take advantage of the current commercial interest in space. Darpa uses \"other transactions\" or OTA for contracts with companies to avoid federal procurement bureaucracy, a practice Kennedy said can be effective in speeding up development of new projects.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google AI notifies users when others are looking at their screen \n None of these tips from TechRepublic Premium require a paid Google Workspace account, so anyone should be able to make use of them. You do, of course, need to have a Google account. From the guide: HOW TO PASTE WITHOUT FORMATTING I use this tip all the time. When you copy and paste text into ...", "output": "Researchers at Google have demonstrated an \"Electronic Screen Protector\" which uses an AI to alert smartphone users whenever someone is secretly looking at the phone's screen over their shoulder. The privacy feature uses the phone's front-facing camera as well as the neural networks of GazeNet and Google's FaceNet to power its facial detection capabilities. It's hoped that the \"Electronic Screen Protector\" will help professionals users maintain privacy while working in crowded public spaces. The researchers are due to present their work at the 2017 NIPS Conference in California in December.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese bike graveyards show lack of demand for bike-sharing \n At first glance the photos vaguely resemble a painting. On closer inspection it might be a giant sculpture or some other art project. But in reality it is a mangled pile of bicycles covering an area roughly the size of a football pitch, and so high that cranes are needed to reach the top; cast-offs from the boom and bust of China\u2019s bike sharing industry.\n\n\n\nJust two days after China\u2019s number three bike sharing company went bankrupt, a photographer in the south-eastern city of Xiamen captured a bicycle graveyard where thousands have been laid to rest. The pile clearly contains thousands of bikes from each of the top three companies, Mobike, Ofo and the now-defunct Bluegogo.\n\nOnce hailed as \u201cUber for bikes\u201d, China\u2019s cycle hire startups allowed users to unlock GPS-enabled bikes with their smartphone, and drop them off anywhere without the need to park it at a dock.\n\n01:30 Peak bike: are China's dockless cycles becoming a public nuisance? - video\n\nBluegogo\u2019s bankruptcy last week sparked questions about the future of dockless bike sharing in China, amid concerns there are too many bikes and insufficient demand. In an open letter apologising for his missteps, Bluegogo\u2019s chief executive said he had been \u201cfilled with arrogance\u201d.\n\nA share bicycle graveyard viewed from the air in Xiamen, south-east China. Photograph: Chen Zixiang/The Guardian\n\nCustomers are charged just pennies per 30 minute ride, but competing companies have flooded cities with bikes to ensure cycles are always available. The top two firms have each raised more than $1bn (\u00a3750m) in funding.\n\nShanghai currently has 1.5m shared bikes on the streets, and despite its population being three times greater than London, that number far outstrips the 11,000 Santander Cycles peppered throughout the UK capital.\n\nA mechanic from bike share company Ofo stands amongst damaged bicycles needing repair in Beijing. Photograph: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images\n\nThe large number of cycles on Chinese streets have led to scenes of clogged sidewalks no longer fit for pedestrians and piles of mangled bikes that have been illegally parked.\n\nBut the scene in Xiamen appears to be one of the largest amalgamations of discarded bicycles, with trucks unloading bikes from around the city.", "output": "The future of China's bike-sharing industry is in doubt as demand has fallen catastrophically, according to The Guardian. It cited a bicycle graveyard the size of a football pitch in Xiamen, that was piled high with discarded machines. In an open letter following its recent bankruptcy announcement, Bluegogo CEO Li Gang apologised for having been \"filled with arrogance\". The country's two biggest operators, Mobike and Ofo, which have secured $1bn of investment between them, are among the companies reportedly flooding the market."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Why Telemedicine is the Future in Senior Housing \n The 21st Century Senior Living Community is a series brought to you by CDW, a provider of technology solutions and services focused exclusively on serving the healthcare marketplace. The series takes a clear-eyed look at how leading providers and their partners are creating the next generation of senior living communities by raising the bar on services, design and technology.\n\nDebate remains about the terminology, but one thing is certain: telehealth and telemedicine are becoming cornerstones of health care delivery and stand to significantly improve senior care.\n\nA 2016 survey from the National Business Group on Health found that by 2018, 96% of health systems will be using some form of telehealth in their health care delivery. The term \u201ctelehealth\u201d is a broad and often misunderstood one, and does not exactly inspire enthusiasm. Yet its sweeping qualities make it an easy concept to understand: it is the use of digital or electronic technologies in the delivery of health services.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThis can mean anything from teleconference doctor appointments to wearing fitness bands, like a Fitbit, that monitor personal behavior to build a health-related dataset.\n\nIt\u2019s not surprising, then, that perhaps more than any other demographic, seniors could see the most upside from telehealth\u2019s three key benefits: access, personalization, and quality.\n\n\u201cFifty percent of hospital readmissions are actually from those over the age of 65,\u201d said moderator Ginna Baik, strategic business development executive at CDW-Healthcare. \u201cIt\u2019s becoming not only a pertinent but most important issue inside of health care in general, as well as the continuum of care in senior care.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nHow senior care benefits from telehealth\n\nWhile there is still some debate surrounding the nuance in terminology, there is general agreement about the value of the technology and the degree to which it will continue to grow, particularly in senior care.\n\n\u201cThere really are endless reasons why those greater than 65 have more difficulty accessing care,\u201d said Dr. Eduardo Vadia, co-founder of Access Physicians, during a recent Senior Housing News webinar on the rise of telemedicine in senior housing. \u201cThis is a better approach to providing better access.\u201d\n\nThe statistics tell the tale. Vadia\u2019s Access Physicians telemedicine program \u2014 an acute care program in partnership with Louisville-based post-acute giant Kindred Healthcare (NYSE: KND) \u2014 projects more than 600,000 patients served in 2017, leading to an operational savings of $2.64 million and a 17% reduction in mortality rate. He wants to see more outcomes-based data, which will help sell the broader implementation.\n\nThe patient experience will, too. Travel time is a huge barrier to health care for seniors. Telehealth cuts that. Access\u2019s program has a Net Promotor Score of +95, with patients expressing satisfaction in their care:\n\n\u2013 99% felt the doctor spent an adequate amount of time with them\n\n\u2013 95% felt the doctor included them in decisions\n\n\u2013 100% felt their questions were answered to their satisfaction\n\nFighting the cost barrier\n\nWhile Vadia is encouraged by the program\u2019s ability to deliver \u201celite care,\u201d he noted that program longevity depends not just on finding clinical wins, but financial ones. This is critical because, as the panelists agreed, one of the largest barriers to widespread implementation is cost.\n\n\u201cWhat I think success looks like [in telehealth] is policy changes, and having CMS and payers really put some cash behind us, because money makes things move,\u201d said Davis Park, director of Front Porch Center for Innovation & Wellbeing. The center is affiliated with Front Porch, which offers a variety of senior living options, including continuing care retirement communities (CCRC).\n\nTo expand upon the results Vadia has seen, Park noted that health care systems must be incentivized to support telemedicine delivery via new payment models.\n\n\u201cI personally think legislation needs to move in this direction,\u201d Park said. \u201cI think that we all should try to be as informed as possible so that we can advocate for these kinds of reimbursement models.\u201d\n\nMedicare has reimbursed for telehealth services since 1997, though conditions for reimbursement vary. Information is available at Center for Connected Health Policy, and individual addresses and ZIP codes required for reimbursement can be searched at www.datawarehouse.hrsa.gov.\n\nFor those wanting to launch their own telehealth programs, Park recommends talking to leadership in their organizations, and partnering with organizations in the community already using telehealth initiatives. Front Porch has used grant funding to develop telehealth initiatives in some senior housing settings, focusing on telemedicine and teledentistry.\n\n\u201cThis is a very disruptive space, and your care teams are not going to like it,\u201d Park said. \u201cPeople are not going to be happy that you have a screen in one of your rooms or are wheeling them into people\u2019s bedrooms. We need to be mindful about people\u2019s insecurities about this.\u201d\n\n\u2018Just medicine\u2019\n\nPerhaps part of the insecurity is the use of language. It\u2019s not just the confusion over the terms, with many not realizing that \u201ctelemedicine\u201d is a subset of \u201ctelehealth.\u201d The problem is also in the use of \u201ctele.\u201d Vadia wants to normalize telemedicine by driving out the prefix, so that patients, families, and doctors view it just as \u201cmedicine\u201d \u2014 just another piece of the total medical offering.\n\nAnother panelist, Dr. David Lindeman, director of CITRIS Health, offered straightforward advice.\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t sweat the terminology,\u201d he said. \u201cJust focus on what you\u2019re doing.\u201d\n\nLindeman\u2019s experience with telehealth through CITRIS has been eye-opening. CITRIS stands for the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society, and works to bring together laboratory research at various University of California campuses with public and private institutions and investors to facilitate the development of new technologies.\n\nBut nothing sells like a personal experience. Lindeman uses telehealth as a patient member of Kaiser Permanente, and saves time by rarely going in for appointments, instead communicating via email.\n\n\u201cThis has become expected,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen people do realize that they do not have to take an hour or two out of the day, a caregiver does not have to take an older adult in for an appointment, or staff has to be assigned to a senior living community to move to a location, it\u2019s a game-changer. And I think it\u2019s now become far more the norm.\u201d\n\nWritten by Jack Silverstein", "output": "Telehealth and telemedicine will be key features for future health care delivery and senior care. A National Business Group on Health survey in 2016 found that by next year, 96 percent of health systems will likely offer telehealth in their services. The use of electronic or digital technology can include teleconferences for doctors\u2019 appointments to health monitoring devices such as fitness bands. Senior care could be improved through the use of technology, which can provide greater access to healthcare, better personalization and improved quality. With 50 percent of hospital readmissions being patients over the age of 65, improving care and access to care is vital. The Access Physicians telemedicine program, which provides acute care in conjunction with Kindred Healthcare, has estimated that over 600,000 patients will be cared for in 2017, saving $2.64 million in operational costs and reducing the mortality rate by 17 percent. The program has found that 99 percent of users felt the doctor spent a sufficient amount of time on their care; 95 percent felt the physician included them in their care decisions; and 100 percent felt their queries were answered to their satisfaction. With finance being the largest obstacle for wider implementation of telemedicine, the support of CMS and payers is critical for the practice to spread. Since 1997, Medicare has already provided reimbursement for telehealth services, though it is conditional. However, the introduction of telehealth programs should be carried out with care, given the insecurity of patients and care teams about potential disruption.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Airbus, Rolls-Royce and Siemens to develop hybrid-electric plane \n Airbus, Rolls-Royce, and Siemens have formed a partnership to develop a near-term hybrid-electric flight demonstrator for commercial aircraft. The partners expect the E-Fan X series-hybrid-electric technology demonstrator to fly in 2020 following a ground test campaign, provisionally on a BAe 146 flying testbed, with one of the aircraft\u2019s four gas turbine engines replaced by a 2MW electric motor. Provisions will be made to replace a second gas turbine with an electric motor once system maturity has been proven.\n\nThe E-Fan X demonstrator will explore the challenges of high-power propulsion systems, such as thermal effects, electric thrust management, altitude and dynamic effects on electric systems and electromagnetic compatibility issues. The objective is to push and mature the technology, performance, safety and reliability enabling quick progress on the hybrid electric technology. The program also aims at establishing the requirements for future certification of electrically powered aircraft while training a new generation of designers and engineers to bring hybrid-electric commercial aircraft one step closer to reality.", "output": "Airbus, Rolls-Royce, and Siemens have said that they will develop a hybrid-electric plane that seats 50 to 100 passengers. The project, E-Fan X, aims to have a prototype based on a BAe 146 aircraft ready to fly by 2020 before bringing a product to market by 2030. Airbus will build the control architecture of the hybrid-electric propulsion system and batteries; Rolls-Royce will be responsible for the turbo shaft engine and 2 MW generator, while Siemens will deliver the 2 MW electric motor."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Egyptian-Japanese partnership to construct \u20ac500m wind farms \n Cairo \u2013 Mubasher: A consortium of Egypt\u2019s Elsewedy Electric and Japan\u2019s Marubeni is planning to establish two 500-megawatt wind farms.\n\nEl Sewedy, the largest listed cable company in the Arab world, will deal with Japanese institutional funds to finance both farms, and it has started negotiations with banks over financing the project, sources familiar with the matter told Alborsa News.\n\nThe consortium is selecting a land plot in the Gulf of Suez and another in the west area of the Nile.\n\nIn March, Elsewedy had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Marubeni to build, own, and operate two 500-megawatt wind farms, with investments worth up to EUR 500 million.", "output": "Two 500 MW wind farms are to be constructed in Egypt under a \u20ac500m ($594m) deal between the country's Elsewedy Electric company and Japanese trading and investment firm\u00a0Marubeni. The consortium is understood to be seeking finance from Japanese banks for the projects, which will be constructed on two sites\u00a0in the Gulf of Suez and west of the Nile.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shell to double clean energy investment, halve carbon footprint \n Shell has doubled its spending on clean power and bowed to shareholder pressure by promising to halve the carbon footprint of the energy it sells by 2050, as the oil giant said it was stepping up its ambitions on green energy.\n\nThe Anglo Dutch firm is increasing capital expenditure for its new energies division, to $1bn-$2bn (\u00a3750m to \u00a31.5bn) a year for 2018-2020, up from a previous plan of up to $1bn a year by 2020.\n\nBut the spending on wind power, biofuels and electric car infrastructure will still account for a small fraction of the giant\u2019s planned $25-30bn annual investment. Shell has $5bn-$6bn a year pegged for deepwater drilling and $2-3bn a year allocated for shale oil and gas.\n\nThe company\u2019s new climate change target aims to cut the net carbon footprint of its products in half by 2050, and around one-fifth by 2035.\n\n\u201cIt is making sure that the products within society have an overall lower carbon footprint. That is the longterm way of making sure our business remains a relevant business in the face of the energy transition,\u201d said Ben van Beurden, Shell\u2019s chief executive.\n\nThe carbon target is similar to one put forward by shareholder activists at the company\u2019s AGM earlier this year, which the board opposed and defeated.\n\nShell said the goal addressed the spirit of the shareholders\u2019 proposal but the company\u2019s chosen methodology meant it did not have \u201cnegative side-effects\u201d of the resolution. \u201cWe could see a kernel of truth and relevance in there,\u201d said Van Beurden.\n\nThe Dutch activist shareholder group behind the proposal, Follow This, welcomed the new target.\n\n\u201cWe applaud Shell\u2019s ambitious decision to take leadership in achieving the goals of the Paris climate agreement to limit global warming to well below 2C,\u201d said the group\u2019s founder, Mark van Baal.\n\nShell said it would grow its new energies division through its existing businesses and by acquiring companies, as it has done recently by buying electric car charging firms Ionity and New Motion.\n\n\n\nVan Beurden defended the level of spending on green energy. \u201cIs the investment we are going to put in new energies enough? Let\u2019s see, we have to start somewhere,\u201d he said.\n\nWind and biofuels would have a key role, he said. \u201cWe will systematically improve, we will grow this business up to be a very significant part of the future of the company, otherwise you can\u2019t even get to a 20% reduction of a carbon footprint.\n\n\u201cBut we have to do it in a disciplined way. If we destroy value in this process, no one is going to be served.\u201d\n\nHowever, the company said hydrocarbons would still be at the heart of its business and the global energy landscape over the next two decades.\n\n\u201cOil and gas will remain an important part of the energy system [up to 2030], no credible forecast says otherwise,\u201d said Van Beurden.\n\nQ&A What is the Paris climate agreement? Show The 2015 Paris climate agreement is the first truly global deal to tackle climate change. It commits governments to limit temperature rises to no more than 2C (3.6F) \u2013 which scientists say is the threshold of safety, beyond which the effects of global warming are likely to become catastrophic and irreversible \u2013 and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5C. It has been signed by 197 countries. The US is on course to become the only country outside the agreement if it follows through on Donald Trump\u2019s vow to leave. Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.\n\nOn the idea that some of its assets would be stranded by governments taking action on carbon emissions as part of the Paris climate deal, he said: \u201cI think we will have very limited, if any, stranded assets [in the 2020s].\u201d\n\nThe chief executive said that the firm sees underlying reasons that the oil price could go even higher than where it stands now, at just over $60 per barrel, but in the meantime the price could be unpredictable.\n\n\u201cI think we will see an era of volatility,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cYou may argue the fundamentals point to a slightly higher oil price than we see at the moment.\u201d\n\nAs expected, Shell also announced it was would begin rewarding shareholders in cash rather than issuing more shares.\n\n\u201cBen van Beurden has delivered an early Christmas present for Shell shareholders,\u201d said Nicholas Hyett, analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, of the scrapping of the scrip dividend which was introduced after Shell bought gas behemoth BG Group for \u00a335bn in 2016.", "output": "Shell has said it plans to reduce its carbon footprint by 20% by 2035 and 50% by 2050 as it doubles investment in clean energy to as much as $2bn a year from 2018. The reduction in its carbon emissions will come not just from its own operations but will include the consumption of its products, such as petrol. The focus of its clean-energy drive will be wind power, biofuels and electric car infrastructure. Shell has also allocated $5bn\u00a0to $6bn a year for deepwater drilling and $2bn to $3 billion\u00a0a year for shale oil and gas."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "London mayor unveils plan for gender-neutral public toilets\u00a0 \n More gender-neutral toilets should be built in public spaces to help trans and non-binary people feel more comfortable, according to Sadiq Khan\u2019s new London Plan.\n\nThe mayor\u2019s planning blueprint for London will argue that more public toilets should be built across the capital, including in commercial developments, to reflect the diversity of the city.\n\nThe document, due to be published this week, will include guidance saying more toilets must be built in shops, leisure facilities and large public areas that are suitable for all users, including disabled people, older people and families with young children.\n\nFor the first time, the London Plan also calls for the provision of gender-neutral toilets for trans and non-binary people.\n\nIn addition, it will argue for more \u201cchanging places toilets\u201d, which are designed to be suitable for people with profound and multiple impairments, some people with learning disabilities and people who require the assistance of a carer. These are different to standard disabled toilets, with additional features including a height adjustable changing bench, height adjustable sink, a toilet designed for assisted use and a hoist.\n\nKhan said he was concerned that some Londoners and visitors to the city are limited over where they can visit and how long they can spend somewhere because the capital does not have enough appropriate toilet facilities.\n\n\u201cI have vowed to be a mayor for all Londoners so I am determined to ensure that everyone has the ability to enjoy our great city to its fullest,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cToilets are a vital public service and can help to shape the experience of the capital for those who live here and for those visiting. We need a range of toilets that reflect the incredible diversity of this city \u2013 giving people the confidence to move around London with dignity.\u201d\n\n\n\nRuth Hunt, chief executive of Stonewall, the charity for LGBT rights, said: \u201cWe\u2019re pleased the mayor has used the London Plan to call on councils to create more gender-neutral toilets, and so help meet the needs of all Londoners and the city\u2019s many visitors. Gender-neutral toilets are a practical solution for many people, for many reasons and it\u2019s a powerful demonstration of acceptance that has benefits for everyone.\n\n\u201cBut this move isn\u2019t just practical, it\u2019s symbolic. By introducing gender-neutral toilets, planners can show that London is a city that cherishes its diverse population.\u201d\n\nThe plan also pleased charities for older people and those campaigning for disability rights. This year, half of respondents to an Age UK survey of over-75s said the issue of too few loos was a \u201cregular\u201d problem when going out shopping.\n\nPaul Goulden, chief executive of Age UK London, said: \u201cIt is reassuring to see that the mayor\u2019s London Plan has committed to building more accessible public toilets across the capital. We want as many older Londoners as possible to be able to move confidently around their city without restriction and this pledge should go a long way to improving their experiences when out and about in London.\n\n\u201cThe commitment to building more changing places toilets is especially encouraging, as many older people contend with limited mobility or require the support of a carer. We look forward to the provision of the new free, publicly accessible toilets across the city.\u201d\n\nRobert Meadowcroft, chief executive of Muscular Dystrophy UK, added: \u201cThe mayor has rightly recognised that we need changing places toilets so that profoundly disabled people won\u2019t face a choice between exclusion or changing on the floor of a public toilet.\n\n\u201cMuscular Dystrophy UK and the Changing Places Consortium welcomes this positive move and are keen to work with London\u2019s train stations, shopping centres, cultural institutions and attractions to get more facilities built and make sure the city is accessible for all.\u201d", "output": "London\u2019s public spaces should have more gender-neutral toilets for the benefit of trans and non-binary people, according to a blueprint for the capital by mayor Sadiq Khan. The proposals, to be published this week, will call for more public toilets reflecting London\u2019s diversity to be built, including in commercial developments. The guidelines will call for toilets to be accessible for all users, including disabled and older people, and families with young children. The plans will also call for more \u201cchanging places toilets\u201d suitable for those with profound and multiple impairments or who require assistance from a carer.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "VR headset shipments surge to record as Oculus cuts prices \n While the debate about whether virtual reality is just some oversold hype rages on, the nascent industry can at least boast of having crossed an important milestone.\n\nAccording to a report from Canalys today, one million virtual reality headsets shipped in the three months ending September 30. This was the first time the gadgets had topped this mark in a single quarter.\n\nWhat\u2019s generating that momentum? Price cuts, says Canalys.\n\n\u201cVR adoption in the consumer segment is highly dependent on price, and Oculus\u2019 strategy of lowering prices has definitely helped drive adoption,\u201d said Canalys research analyst Vincent Thielke, in a statement.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\nDuring the third quarter, Sony was the market share leader, with shipments of 490,000 PlayStation VR (PS VR) sets. Facebook\u2019s Oculus was number two with 210,000 Rift headsets shipped. HTC came in third, with 160,000 Vive VR headsets. Those three companies are dominating, accounting for 86 percent of the VR headset market share in Q3.\n\nThielke pointed to the Rift\u2019s discounted price of $399 over the summer as having helped move headsets. That success inspired Oculus to permanently drop the price to that level this month.\n\nMeanwhile, strong consumer adoption of VR in Japan is giving Sony a boost.\n\n\u201cSony is well-placed to take advantage of this increasing interest in VR,\u201d said Canalys analyst Jason Low in a statement. \u201cSony has dominated the Japanese VR headset market since the release of the PS VR, taking more than an 80 percent share, and will continue to lead as it increases supply of the PS VR headset with bundles featuring new titles from popular franchises, including Doom, Skyrim, and Gran Turismo.\u201d\n\nCanalys projects that next year the VR headset market will gain more fuel from PC vendors who will roll out new headsets supporting Microsoft\u2019s Windows Mixed Reality platform.", "output": "A million virtual reality (VR) headsets were shipped in the three months through September, the most for a single quarter, analytics firm Canalys said. Price cuts for Oculus headsets and strong demand in Japan drove the surge, Canalys said. Sony claimed the largest market share, with 490,000 PlayStation VR sets; Oculus sold 210,000; and, HTC 160,000. Canalys has predicted that Microsoft's Windows Mixed Reality platform will boost future sales.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Airbnb allows people on group trips to split the bill \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nWhen Brian Chesky asked last December what Airbnb should be working on, one of the most popular requests the company\u2019s chief executive received was the option to let groups of guests more easily share the cost of their stay. Today, powered by the company\u2019s acquisition of Tilt, a split payment feature is now available and rolling out worldwide.\n\nAccording to Airbnb, an estimated 38 percent of guests reported that they didn\u2019t receive all the money owed to them from group trips. It\u2019s something many of us are probably used to \u2014 booking accommodations for a friend or family getaway by putting the upfront cost on a credit card, only to find that at the end of the trip, at least one person hasn\u2019t paid their share. Or perhaps it\u2019s extremely complicated to figure out how much someone owes for their stay. Either way, Airbnb\u2019s newest feature promises to eliminate the problem moving forward.\n\nGroup travel is a big opportunity for Airbnb, with at least 15.5 million groups using the service last year. Using the split payment feature, you can now send your fellow guests a link where they can provide payment details, make a payment for one or more friends, or add an email address that will direct Airbnb to send someone a notification asking for the money.\n\nThis feature will be available in most markets starting today.\n\nJames Beshara, Airbnb\u2019s director of group travel, told VentureBeat that split payments are \u201cone of our most-requested features in recent years, and in our initial testing we\u2019ve already had more than 80,000 groups successfully split payments. Starting today, the feature will be live globally and across more than 40 major currencies.\u201d Beshara is the former CEO of Tilt, which Airbnb purchased earlier this year for a reported $50 million. This is the first time Airbnb has officially confirmed the acquisition.\n\nAt the time, Tilt was a crowdfunding platform that let users fundraise and pool money online, akin to GoFundMe and others. When asked what specifically about Tilt motivated Airbnb to pursue split payments, Beshara responded: \u201cWe\u2019ve been seeing travelers request social and group travel functionalities from Airbnb for quite some time, and combining the expertise of Airbnb and Tilt greatly accelerated our ability to begin solving these problems for our community. Splitting payments \u2014 when you have 5, 10, or 15 people paying at different times, using different currencies, and needing the financial side of things to function flawlessly (since guests would lose their reservation if there were any hiccups) \u2014 is a significant step forward for social travel, especially when you consider the large cost of accommodations for a group trip.\u201d\n\nAccording to Airbnb, some of the top destinations where people are traveling with split payments include Paris; New York City; London; Buenos Aires; Los Angeles; Sydney; Melbourne; Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; and Boston.\n\nThe addition of split payments is another milestone for Airbnb as the company continues to check off features that hosts and guests have asked for. It also gives Airbnb additional tools to target demographics that it may not have optimized before, such as business travelers, groups, and travelers with disabilities.", "output": "Airbnb has responded to one of its customers' most frequent requests and launched a service enabling groups of travellers to split their accommodation bill. Available now worldwide, tourists can access a feature in which a link requesting email details is sent to every member of a party, while Airbnb will send notifications for payment. In testing, the company said more than 80,000 groups used the feature successfully. The move followed\u00a0Airbnb's acquisition of Tilt, a crowdfunding platform that allows users to pool money online,\u00a0and is the first announced development arising from the takeover.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "YouTube boycott expected to have little impact on bottom line \n Just as controversies roll off Donald Trump, scandals don\u2019t affect YouTube the way that many people hope they will.\n\nYouTube is embroiled in another ad scandal, with advertisers freezing their buys over videos of children on the platform accompanied by obscene comments. Ad buyers say the controversy won\u2019t lead brands to dial back their spending on the platform, though. Those that pull their ads are likely to return, and YouTube will continue to grow and wield control over video buyers.\n\n\u201cBrands say they care [about brand safety], but do they really?\u201d said an ad buyer from an agency holding company, requesting anonymity out of concern of irritating Google. \u201cHistory says they\u2019ll be back and spending more.\u201d\n\nOn Nov. 24, The Times of London reported that brand ads on YouTube were being served next to content and comments that exploited children. Particularly bothersome for brands was that ads were being served next to videos of children singing and dancing in their underwear on YouTube, commenters repeatedly left sexually suggestive comments on the videos and YouTube failed to boot the predatory accounts in a timely manner.\n\nIn response to this, brands like Mars, Lidl and Adidas pulled their ads off YouTube. YouTube declined an interview request, but said in a statement that it has shut down hundreds of accounts for making predatory comments and is \u201cworking urgently to fix this.\u201d\n\nIf this sounds familiar, that\u2019s because it is. In March, brands like AT&T and Verizon took their ads off YouTube after the Times \u2014 the newspaper owned by Google enemy Rupert Murdoch that also kick-started YouTube\u2019s most recent controversy \u2014 published an expos\u00e9 that showed brand ads appearing in videos that promoted terrorism.\n\nDespite all the hubbub, most of the brands that pulled their ads from YouTube were back on the platform within a few months, and the boycott had little impact on YouTube\u2019s bottom line.\n\n\u201cWhen you are part of a monopolistic culture, [putting up with YouTube\u2019s gaffes] comes with the territory, unfortunately,\u201d said an exec of an independent ad agency requesting anonymity. \u201cYou don\u2019t have a lot of control when they have all of the video views. I think brands will forgive YouTube and move on.\u201d\n\nMarcus Pratt, vp of tech at media-buying shop Mediasmith, said the blowback YouTube is receiving should remind advertisers that digital video doesn\u2019t match TV\u2019s quality or scale. Advertiser optimism about digital video has led demand to exceed supply. This trend leaves advertisers dependent on YouTube \u2014 one of the few places selling video inventory at scale \u2014 and it has driven publishers to pivot to video in a desperate attempt for ad dollars.\n\nEven if some brands commit to their YouTube holdout for the long haul, it is next to impossible for an individual advertiser to make a dent in the platform\u2019s ad business since it is designed to perpetually draw in buyers by the thousands. Brendan Gahan, founder of social agency Epic Signal, said one of his clients has yet to come back to YouTube after pulling out from the platform this summer, but that overall, his agency continues to put more money toward YouTube in each successive quarter.\n\nThe holding company ad buyer said the brouhaha won\u2019t stop brands from pouring money into YouTube, but the protests still serve a purpose for buyers. After YouTube\u2019s scandal earlier in the year, advertisers pressured the video platform into allowing more third-party measurement tags on its platform.\n\n\u201cThis will blow over quickly,\u201d the buyer said. \u201cBut brands should indeed make a lot of noise. It\u2019s the only thing that forces YouTube to focus on fixing its problems.\u201d", "output": "Profits at Google-owned video-sharing site YouTube are not likely to be affected by recent scandals\u00a0which prompted brands to suspend or withdraw their advertising on the platform, according to an anonymous ad executive. Mars, Lidl and Adidas were among the big names removing their ads from YouTube after they were found next to content that exploited minors, while earlier this year, a similar boycott occurred over extremist material posted on the site. One buyer urged advertisers to continue making a fuss, as it was the \"only thing that forces YouTube to focus on fixing its problems\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lexplore aims to diagnose dyslexia using AI \n In an era of breakneck change and tech innovation, evaluating dyslexia in young students looks much the same today as it has in the past: A struggling reader\u2019s parents and teachers might sit down, gather information and assess the child on their strengths and weaknesses to determine a diagnosis and appropriate interventions.\n\nOften this is done via paper tests\u2014despite the growing usage of predictive analytics in schools, where there are seemingly as many data dashboards as students in a classroom. All that\u2019s to say, it seems like an industry almost too tempting for deep-pocketed tech investors and an ambitious startup with an eye on using machine learning to trim the fat.\n\n\u201cToday\u2019s methods are quite cumbersome,\u201d explains Frederik Wetterhall, the CEO and co-founder of Lexplore, a company that has devised a dyslexia screening tool that pairs eye tracking cameras with AI and algorithms. \u201cWith paper- and pen-based tests, it\u2019s quite hard to read the results and takes a lot of time. [Educators] ask, \u2018Who are the kids we think have difficulties?\u2019 and they miss a lot of kids.\u201d\n\nWetterhall\u2019s company opts for a different approach, screening every student using computers and eye tracking cameras in an effort to find the few that might have dyslexic tendencies. Already, it\u2019s caught the attention of investors, who just this March injected $5.6 million into the company in a funding round led by Gabriel Urwitz, CEO of private equity group Segulah, specifically to help it expand into U.S. schools.\n\nCurrently, Lexplore has an established presence in its native Sweden, where it\u2019s used across Stockholm\u2019s municipal education board to help identify kids who may be dyslexic as early as first grade.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a screening tool, not a diagnostic tool,\u201d clarifies Wetterhall. \u201cThe main purpose is to find kids that are struggling with reading early on.\u201d\n\nEye movements is one of the best ways to index reading ability at an incredibly in-depth level Julie Kirkby\n\nFrom Research to Reality\n\nLexplore claims its technology is new\u2014particularly the algorithm that separates typical from atypical readers. But the concepts it\u2019s based on aren\u2019t. Its tech draws from a deep well of previously-conducted research stretching back decades, which is generally supportive of using a combination of eye tracking and machine learning to screen for dyslexia.\n\n\u201cEye movements is one of the best ways to index reading ability at an incredibly in-depth level,\u201d says Julie Kirkby, a psychology professor at Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom, who has studied eye tracking and dyslexia for years.\n\nOne study from 2015 reported being able to identify dyslexic readers using eye tracking with 80 percent accuracy. That study used different cameras and methods, but Lexplore claims its technology can do even better, achieving 95 percent accuracy in a study conducted by two of the company\u2019s co-founders immediately prior to the launch of the company, originally called Optolexia.\n\nTools like Lexplore make their analysis by tracing how a reader\u2019s eyes follow words in sequential (or non-sequential) order looking for patterns. Readers at low risk for dyslexia tend to make more progressive movements\u2014from left to right\u2014as they scan words. Dyslexic readers on the other hand make more regressive movements\u2014right to left movements\u2014and do not make regular pauses (or fixations) during reading in the same way non-dyslexic readers do.\n\nA comparison of eye movements between two readers (source: Lexplore)\n\nClaims like Lexplore\u2019s 95 percent accuracy seem a little high but are possible, Kirkby acknowledges, since research has shown that eye trackers can pick up on these reading differences. While researchers are torn on the exact reasons for these differences, they are likely a \"product of reading disability rather than a cause,\" Kirkby says.\n\nFor Lexplore, the challenge has been refining this research into something user-friendly and inexpensive enough to make it attractive for schools, particularly ones that screen for dyslexia in traditional ways. According to Wetterhall, his technology is impartial and not subjective the way teachers and paper-based evaluations are. Ultimately, he says, that advantage may help screen at-risk kids faster.\n\n\u201cWe have a high balanced sensitivity and specificity,\u201d says Wetterhall. \u201cWe are equally good at finding kids with dyslexia and also excluding kids.\u201d\n\nKirkby, who reviewed the Lexplore research at the request of EdSurge, was most surprised that the study was able to achieve its results using lower-frequency trackers. The data collected might not be suitable for high-quality research of the kind she typically helps conduct, but such innovations could end up making eye-tracking technology more affordable for schools.\n\nTracking the Market\n\nLexplore hasn\u2019t made many inroads into U.S. schools, but it has done some preliminary work with a handful of private institutions in the Atlanta area. Among them is the private Galloway School in the tony Buckhead neighborhood, where tuition runs more than $20,000 year. There, the company came to the attention of the school after a suggestion from the parents of a Swedish student. As a result, Galloway became one of the first stateside schools to test drive Lexplore\u2019s technology as part of a research pilot to see how the technology would translate from Swedish to English readers.\n\nAt Galloway, Lexplore representatives guided about 200 kids in grades 1-4 through the brief screening process. Kids read two short texts on a computer as a small, mounted eye tracking camera scanned and recorded their eye movements and uploaded it to the company\u2019s database, along with some basic identifying information such as their name and age. That data was then uploaded to the cloud on a Microsoft Azure-based platform. Early in Lexplore\u2019s development, Microsoft helped the company scale its product and now works with them in a sort of informal partnership, assisting with marketing and lead generation.\n\nAccording to Wetterhall, the collected data is only used to sharpen its machine learning algorithm, which analyzes each child\u2019s eye movements looking for patterns and abnormalities. \u201cWe have the data to help us develop our method further,\u201d Wetterhall says, \u201cbut when we store it, it\u2019s not connected with personal info, just a birthdate.\u201d\n\nAfter the screening, Lexplore made results available to the school and asked for feedback. \u201cThe kids were in and out in a very quick amount of time, and they were not stressed at all about it, like a regular test,\u201d says Polly Williams, a principal at Galloway\u2019s primary school. \u201cOne of the things I asked for was to be able to see a visual comparison of a child who was struggling versus a regular child, side-by-side. I thought that would have been good to show parents.\u201d\n\nWilliams says she was impressed, and thinks the service could be significantly cheaper than current screening methods, although pricing hasn\u2019t been set. But she isn\u2019t sure yet whether her school will continue using it. \u201cI think they\u2019re still working out their business model and really identifying how to position and market themselves,\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s quite figured out yet.\u201d\n\nRight now, Williams says the company offers a couple of different models: a white glove package where company reps come to the school to conduct screenings; an option where schools purchase the hardware and software along with some support; and a do-it-yourself route that includes only the equipment.\n\nIt\u2019s that last model that raises eyebrows for Kirkby, who cautions that educators are not necessarily scientists or researchers and may not have the resources to understand how to make the most of their results.\n\n\u201cIf they can afford to dedicate someone to understand that data, I think that could present them with a really interesting way of getting more from their interventions,\u201d she says. \u201cBecause then they can design an intervention and test a before-and-after scenario. But the schools would have to invest in that knowledge.\u201d", "output": "Swedish firm Lexplore has combined artificial intelligence and eye-tracking cameras to create a screening tool that can identify dyslexic children. Already used across Stockholm\u2019s municipal education board and in several private schools in Atlanta in the US, the system traces a reader's eye as it moves over a text. So far the system has achieved 95% accuracy. Lexplore, which has an informal partnership with Microsoft, has yet to work out a US pricing level, but one principal said it was \"significantly cheaper\" than current systems."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK charging network isn't keeping up with EV growth: report \n Analysis from non-standard vehicle finance provider Moneybarn, shows UK infrastructure might be unable to support the growing number of electric vehicles (EVs) on the road.\n\nNumbers of EVs are expected to rise to 700,000 by 2020 and at the end of last year, there were 100,000 Ultra Low Emission Vehicles (ULEVs) in the UK for only 4,615 electric charging stations. This equates to just one charging station every 53 miles. In contrast, there are petrol stations available on average every 29 miles.\n\nThis means the current number of charging stations could leave motorists dangerously low on charge and out of range for stations during long journeys and non-motorway travel.\n\nIn addition, only 2,500 of the 14,000 electric chargers fall into the \u2018rapid\u2019 category which, charges EVs in around 30 minutes. The majority are \u2018fast\u2019 chargers which take 3-4 hours - inconvenient for on-the-go charging.\n\nSimon Bayley, sales and marketing director of Moneybarn, said: \u201cWhile it\u2019s great to see a rise in the adoption of electric vehicles, UK infrastructure needs to keep up. Motorists need peace of mind they can complete journeys without the worry of running out of power or long charging delays. It will be interesting to see how the government responds to this growing need.\u201d\n\nThe UK will need a range of technologies for managing electrical consumption to meet an estimated rise of up to 15% in overall demand and to prevent spikes of up to 40% at peak times.\n\nOne suggestion has been for drivers to ensure they recharge their EVs overnight when spare power capacity is abundant to avoid power outages. However, 43% of households have no off-street parking, so many drivers will be unable to recharge vehicles overnight in garages or driveways.\n\nThe government has introduced the Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill in Parliament and aims to invest more than \u00a31.2 billion in the industry, to try and combat some of these issues. However, it\u2019s uncertain whether these changes will happen in time to significantly help motorists, who already own an electric vehicle.", "output": "The UK doesn't have enough electric vehicle (EV) charging stations to meet growing demand from the\u00a0sector, with 4,615 charging points per 100,000 EVs and hybrids, the equivalent of one every 53 miles, according to data from Moneybarn. The car finance provider also pointed out only 2,500 of the UK's chargers could top up an EV within 30 minutes, while the other 11,500 took three to four hours. The government has already pledged to invest \u00a31.2bn ($1.6bn) in the sector.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SelfDrive offers $1.50 an\u00a0hour electric vehicle rentals in Dubai \n This story about renting an electric car in Dubai was first published by Gas2.\n\nSelfDrive, an online car rental company in Dubai, has begun offering customers the chance to drive an electric car for less than $1.50 an hour. Yes, a minimum 24 hour rental is required, but that still works out to about $30 for a day\u2019s worth of use. The rental plan is for the all-electric Renault Zoe, a car slightly smaller than the Nissan LEAF that happens to be the highest selling electric car in Europe. Consider the ZOE the little sister of the Samsung SM3 electric car sold in South Korea. Notably, the longer-range ZOE just arrived into the UAE a few weeks ago.\n\nSoham Shah, founder and director at Pinewoods Technology Services Dubai, tells Gulf News: \u201cWe are thankful to the Road Transport Authority and the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority for collaborating to incentivize electric cars by allowing free charging across all Dewa car charging stations, free parking and Salik tags.\u201d\n\nDewa has a network of 90 charging stations in Dubai and all of them will be free to use for people who rent from SelfDrive. The rental agreement limits customers to no more than 250 kilometers of driving a day. Cars can also be reserved on a weekly or monthly basis.\n\nSaeed Mohammad Al Tayer, managing director and chief executive officer of Dewa, says, \u201cUnder the umbrella of the Supreme Energy Council, Dewa is working on implementing the Dubai Green Mobility Initiative to promote the use of electric and hybrid vehicles. This supports the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 for Dubai to have the lowest carbon footprint in the world by 2050 and the Dubai Carbon Abatement Strategy to slash carbon emissions by 16 per cent by 2021.\u201d\n\nAll electric car owners in Dubai are entitled to use the Dewa network of EV chargers for free until 2019. They also enjoy priority parking privileges and are not required to pay annual licensing fees. Dewa will have 100 chargers in operation by the end of 2017 with plans to install another 100 next year.\n\nAl Tayer says the incentives are intended to \u201cmotivate organizations to use sustainable transport such as hybrid and electric vehicles and to contribute to the sustainable development of the emirate by reducing carbon emissions in ground transport, which is the second largest gas emitter in Dubai.\u201d\n\nRelated:\n\nRenault Zoe 40 Launches In The UAE\n\n2017: The UAE\u2019s Year For An EV Charging Boom\n\nDubai Supreme Council Of Energy Announces New Electric Car & Hybrid Incentives\n\nThe UAE Has Become A Cleantech Hub, Because Leadership\n\nSign up for Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era \u2014 Podcast: I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014 gasp \u2014 grow. So ... Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014\u2014 grow. So ...", "output": "Dubai online car rental firm SelfDrive is offering the opportunity to rent an electric Renault Zoe for less than $1.50 an hour or around $30 per day. Users are limited to 250 km of driving per day\u00a0and will have have free access to Dewa's 90 charging stations. Vehicles can be rented on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Dubai's Clean Energy Strategy aims for the country to have the world's lowest carbon footprint by 2050 and reduce CO2 emissions by 16% by 2021.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers develop quantum key distribution encryption system \n A New Level of Cryptography\n\nThe advent of functioning quantum computers has been considered to present a threat to today's encryption methods. On the other hand, these quantum systems might hold the key to keeping computers and the internet secure, thanks to quantum cryptography. A team of researchers from Duke University, Ohio State University, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have tackled quantum encryption on a whole new scale.\n\nIn a study published in the journal Science Advances, the researchers demonstrated a system that uses quantum key distribution (QKD), creating and distributing encryption codes at megabit-per-second rates. The secret lies in putting more information on the photons \u2014 light particles used in QKD and in most of today's quantum networks \u2014 and combining it with high-speed detectors.\n\nIllustration of a high-dimensional quantum communication device that can stream encrypted video. Image Credit: Agheal Abedzahdeh/Duke University\n\nThe feat was achieved by adjusting the moment when photons are released, making it possible to encode two bits of information on a photon instead of just one. As a result, their system can transmit keys five to ten times faster than current methods, which only allow for between tens to hundreds of kilobits per second. Running several systems that use their new method in parallel creates current internet speeds.\n\nThis is important, because most of today's existing \"quantum-secure encryption systems cannot support some basic daily tasks, such as hosting an encrypted telephone call or video streaming,\" Nurul Taimur Islam from Duke said in a press release.\n\nSecuring a Quantum Future\n\nQKD requires a set of encryption keys sent separately from the encrypted message. In principle, the information becomes \"hack-proof,\" because tampering with the message or the encryption key would alert both the receiver and the sender. However, QKD cannot work flawlessly, because it requires equipment that is still imperfect. This makes QKD vulnerable to hacking.\n\n\"We wanted to identify every experimental flaw in the system, and include these flaws in the theory so that we could ensure our system is secure and there is no potential side-channel attack,\" said Islam, explaining how they had to identify and incorporate the limitations of the equipment they used.\n\nIn any case, QKD is still currently the best chance we have for improving today's cybersecurity measures, which have been proven \u2014 time and again \u2014 to be inadequate to deal with hacks and breaches. And because this new system used equipment that's mostly commercially available, it would be easy to integrate into the current framework of the internet.", "output": "Researchers from Duke University, Ohio State University and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a quantum key distribution (QKD) encryption system using off-the-shelf components. In an article for Science Advances, the team explained how encoding two bits per photon in transmitted keys, rather than one, made systems between five and 10 times faster, and running several together created a viable internet speed. However, the team also acknowledged that QKD is currently vulnerable to hackers, as the equipment used to devise it is still \"imperfect\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Samsung's 'graphene ball' could rapidly speed up battery charging \n 0 The image of \"graphene balls\"\n\n\n\n\n\nBy AsiaToday reporter Choi Sung-rok\n\n\n\n\n\nSamsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) said Monday it has developed 'graphene ball' that could increase lithium-ion batteries' capacity by 45 percent and make their charging speed five times faster.\n\n\n\n\n\nWhile the existing lithium-based batteries take an hour to be fully charged, the graphene-based batteries will take only 12 minutes. In addition, the new batteries can be used in electric vehicles, as they can maintain stability at up to 60 degrees Celsius.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe findings were recently published on science journal Nature Communications under the title \"Graphene balls for lithium rechargeable batteries with fast charging and high volumetric energy densities.\"\n\n\n\n\n\nSAIT has sought a way to apply graphene, which has high strength and conductivity, to batteries, and then found a mechanism for mass synthesis of graphene into a 3D popcorn-like structure using low-cost SiO2, or silica.\n\n\n\n\n\nAccording to the new findings, the graphene balls shortened charging time by increasing charging capacity and satisfied high temperature safety when used as material for anode and cathode on lithium-ion batteries.\n\n\n\n\n\nSince the first commercialization in 19991, the lithium-ion batteries have been applied to mobile devices and electric vehicles, expanding the market. However, its technology has been facing limits in terms of capacity and charging speed. Therefore, various attempts have been made to apply new innovative materials. Graphene has been garnering attention as one of the next generation materials.\n\n\n\n\n\nHence, SAIT has applied for two patents in South Korea and the United States related to graphene ball.\n\n\n\n", "output": "Researchers at the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) have used graphene balls to increase a lithium-ion battery's capacity by 45% and reduce charging time to 12 minutes. The team used silica to generate synthesised graphene in structures similar to popcorn, which remained stable at high temperatures when used as both an anode and cathode on lithium-ion batteries. SAIT has applied for patents covering the technology in South Korea and the US.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Soil Essentials targets digitised crop management \n Angus-based precision farming experts Soil Essentials have launched an online precision farming platform aimed at independent agronomists and farm businesses.\n\nThe new Kore software is the fruit of a three-year project supported by the European Space Agency (ESA) and collaboration with Deimos Space UK, the British arm of Spanish remote sensing experts Elecnor Diemos.\n\nThe cloud-based app allows users to incorporate satellite and drone imagery data with existing on-farm information such as soil type, yield maps and historic weather data to aid and improve crop management.\n\nSee also: Early success for blight-resistant GM potato trial\n\nWhile other similar options are available, Soil Essentials managing director Jim Wilson told Farmers Weekly at British Potatoes that Kore\u2019s unique selling point is it is completely bespoke to the individual needs of customers.\n\nSoil testing\n\nAn example is the spatial frequency in soil testing protocols, which can vary from business to business. With Kore, any such methodology can be programmed into its data-analysing modules by the company\u2019s developers.\n\n\u201cIt also allows small independent agronomy groups or farm businesses to put their own branding on the interface.\n\n\u201cWe like independent agronomy and its way of thinking and felt that the sector was in danger of losing out, so needed a precision tool that allows them to compete,\u201d said Mr Wilson.\n\nSatellites\n\nThe platform uses satellite imagery from the ESA\u2019s latest Sentinel satellites and updated daily. This is supplemented by drone and tractor sensor imagery where required to ensure access to crop growth data during periods of cloud cover.\n\nClever functions of the software include the ability to carry out plant counts in crops such as potatoes, sugar beet and maize as they emerge.\n\nCrop growth\n\nSubsequent monitoring of crop growth parameters such as percentage ground cover as the season progresses allows potato growers to produce variable rate desiccant application maps.\n\nModelling within the platform can also forecast potato yield and tuber size distribution, helping to time crop burn off accurately to maximise marketable yield \u2013 particularly important for salad and seed potato growers.\n\nIn addition, 50 years of historic weather data is fed into the system and when combined with slope and aspect data, field-scale late blight risk alerts can be produced for more informed fungicide application decisions.\n\nThe price of the service starts at \u00a31/ha a year for images from lower cost satellites. More accurate, higher resolution options from the commercial satellite networks are \u00a32/ha a year.", "output": "Scottish agritech firm Soil Essentials is hoping to give the independent agronomy sector a boost with the launch of its Kore online platform. Developed with the support of the European Space Agency (ESA) and in partnership with Deimos Space UK, the system blends existing information on soil type, historic weather data and yield maps with daily-updated satellite and drone imagery from ESA\u2019s Sentinel satellites. The company said Kore can be tailored to a farmer's specific needs, and features crop-count tools and yield forecast models.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Teladoc reports strong results and aims for 23 million users \n Image: Teladoc\n\nThink telehealth is a trend? The deep-pocketed suits on Wall Street beg to differ.\n\nTeladoc, the 3100-member remote healthcare network, saw its stock price rise by more than 24% over the holiday week, according to the finance website The Motley Fool and various stock trackers.\n\nThe move followed Teladoc\u2019s first-ever investor and analyst day and came just a few weeks after the announcement of its third-quarter results: $68.7 million in revenue, for a 112% year-over-year increase; 22.6 million paid memberships, a 33% year-over-year hike; and a 51% spike in total visits. \u201cTeladoc demonstrated very strong performance in the third quarter, delivering results that were at or above our expectations on all key metrics,\u201d CEO Jason Goveric said early this month, foreshadowing the stock\u2019s ascent.\n\nFounded in 2002, Teladoc was the first telehealth platform to take off in the country. It provides round-the-clock access to board-certified physicians with a variety of specialties, including dermatology, behavioral health, and general medicine. The company\u2019s doctors prescribe medical treatments, manage records, and consult patients through an app, which supports video and phone calls.\n\nThe model seems to be working. Its 22.6 million members\u2014who made 306,000 visits last quarter\u2014report an average customer satisfaction rate of 95%, according to Teladoc. Members, meanwhile, reported a 92% resolution rate following encounters, the company noted.\n\nAnd Teladoc\u2019s tentacles extend beyond telehealth. It also uses big data and analytics, medical devices, and consumer wearables to boost care and engage patients, according to the company. Its tool bench, according to experts, combines many of the much-discussed features at the center of the marriage of healthcare and technology.\n\nSo, what has this all done for its stock? Teladoc, or TDOC, closed its initial public offering in July 2015 with more than 8.2 million shares of common stock at $19 apiece, according to the company. As of 12:35 p.m. today, Nov. 27, the stock\u2019s value had climbed to $35.80, a 55-cent jump from the opening bell.\n\nTeladoc hosted its investor and analyst powwow last Monday in New York City. The senior management team was expected to highlight \u201ckey industry insights\u201d and \u201cseveral business segments,\u201d the organization noted.\n\nIn the fourth quarter, Teladoc expects its revenues to rise beyond $75 million and membership to grow by 400,000, to 23 million people.", "output": "New York firm Teladoc has said it aims to have 23 million people paying to access its portal by the end of Q4. The company's\u00a0Q3 results\u00a0revealed\u00a0it had 22.6 million paid memberships, a year-on-year increase of one-third, while revenue reached $68.7m, a year-on-year rise of 112%. CEO Jason Goveric said the\u00a0results were \"at or above our expectations on all key metrics\". The firm expects Q4 revenue to reach $75m. Teladoc was the first telehealth platform to take off in the US and offers video and phone access to specialist and general doctors via its app.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gene therapy research hindered by virus shortages \n Eager to speed development of revolutionary treatments, the Food and Drug Administration recently announced that it would expedite approval of experimental gene therapies. But the regulatory process may not be the biggest obstacle here.\n\nBiotech companies have exciting plans to introduce treatments that may be transformative, sometimes curing genetic diseases with a single treatment. And the firms are itching to test their products.\n\nBut they are struggling to obtain a critical component of the therapy: the disabled viruses used to slip good genes into cells that lack them.\n\nThis delivery system lies at the heart of many forms of gene therapy; without the disabled viruses, there is no treatment. But manufacturing them is costly and onerous.", "output": "The expanding field of gene therapy is being hampered by a lack of disabled viruses with which to test new treatments, with some companies forced to wait years for a supply. Companies that create bespoke viruses are deluged with orders, but the process of creation is laborious, requires extensive documentation and is prone to setbacks. Smaller firms that don't have the financial clout to follow BioMarin's example and build their own facility, are having to\u00a0pay\u00a0millions to buy slots in delivery queues years ahead of time.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "QR payments via GCash accepted in Philippine convenience stores\u00a0 \n MANILLA, Philippines \u2013 The Manilla Bulletin reports that GCash, an electronic payments firm that utlizes QR codes, has partnered with Ministop, one of the largest 24-hour convenience store chains in the Philippines, to promote the benefits of cashless payments in the country.\n\n\u201cWe are excited over this partnership since Ministop is the first convenience store in the country to embrace e-payment via QR code. This will be good for the larger population because of the ease, convenience, and security that e-payments provide both to the consumers and merchants,\u201d said Anthony Thomas, president and CEO of Mynt, which operates GCash.\n\nMinistop has developed products and services that cater to the consumption profile of the Filipino market with its wide assortment of merchandise and an extensive selection of ready-to-eat products, which are mostly frequented by employees and students, notes the news source.\n\n\u201cProviding 24/7 convenience to our customers has always been our thrust,\u201d said Thelma Roxas-Jacob Ministop\u2019s general manager. \u201cAnd we find that Globe GCash\u2019s e-payment via QR code program will redefine convenience to our customers by providing them an easier way to shop for their favorite treats and meals with just few clicks on their mobile phones.\u201d\n\nTo use the scan to pay feature of the GCash App, customers need to download or update the GCash App in their iPhone or Android smartphone, register for an account and load their GCash wallet in any of the 12,000 GCash partner outlets nationwide, including Robinsons Business Centers, Globe Stores, SM Business Centers, Puregold branches, 7-Eleven Cliqq kiosks and TouchPay kiosks, among others. To make a purchase, users tap or point the phone\u2019s camera at the QR code, and input the amount to be paid.\n\nThomas told the news source that Filipinos will see GCash becoming more ubiquitous in the next couple of years as it acquires more partner merchants including micro entrepreneurs. \u201cWe are not reserving e-payment for organized trade, but also for your cigarette vendor, balut vendor and the sari-sari store, among others. Eventually, you can pay with your smartphone anywhere you go. No need to bring cash,\u201d he said.", "output": "Payments using QR codes will soon be accepted in one of the largest retail chains in the Philippines. Ministop, which runs 24-hour convenience stores across the country, is partnering with payment system GCash to deliver the service. Customers will be able to use the GCash app on their iPhone or Android smartphone after loading it with funds at one of 12,000 outlets. Payments can then be made using the phone's camera to scan QR codes on items for purchase. GCash, which is operated by Mynt,\u00a0is seeking to expand its coverage in the Philippines with similar\u00a0deals.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI headhunter Woo doubles success rate of human recruiters \n The hiring process is tedious for people on both sides of the interview table. There are online forms, stacks of r\u00e9sum\u00e9s, LinkedIn browsing, and countless job interviews. Each of these tasks is repetitive, a matter of scanning the Internet for data. That makes them ideal for artificial intelligence to take on.\n\n\n\nAI is skilled at automating tasks that have a lot of easily accessible data it can learn from. Enter Woo, a recruitment platform that harnesses AI to get people into jobs that best fit them. The platform serves as a headhunting tool for large corporations and a simplified job-hunting tool for talent.\n\n\n\n\u201cIf you think about an interview, it\u2019s an outcome of a lack of information on both sides,\u201d Woo CEO and founder Liran Kotzer told Forbes. \u201cBut if there\u2019s a machine that knows everything\u2014like a god\u2014knows about your past experiences, about your projects, your culture\u2014the machine is going to tell you that there\u2019s a perfect fit and both parties won\u2019t question it.\u201d The company claims its headhunting software, Helena, has a 52 percent success rate of interested candidates accepting job interviews, more than twice that of human recruiters.\n\n\n\nWoo isn\u2019t alone\u2014Belong, a startup based in Bengaluru, India, also uses AI to pull information on candidates from all over the Web, including sites like GitHub and Twitter. It then generates a ranking of the best candidates based on the requirements for a given position.\n\n\n\nBut while using algorithms to streamline the hiring process is clearly attractive to any firm that wants to save on costs and time spent recruiting, as we have written before, AI can often be biased (see \u201cHow to Root Out Hidden Biases in AI\u201d). This isn\u2019t the fault of the software, as such\u2014it\u2019s only as good as the data it is fed. And we humans have an unfortunate habit of being unable to shake habits like gender and racial bias. If we\u2019re to avoid such pitfalls in a world in which AI mediates the hiring process, then, we\u2019re going to have to keep a sharp eye out to make sure it does a better job than we have of playing fair.", "output": "Large corporations are using artificial intelligence (AI) recruitment platform Woo to headhunt potential employees. Woo uses AI to scan the internet for data, such as LinkedIn pages, to\u00a0place people into jobs that suit their skills. Its developers\u00a0claim\u00a052% of candidates identified by Woo's software, Helena, have accepted\u00a0job interviews, double the rate of human recruiters.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Washing synthetic fabrics pollutes ocean more than microbeads \n Since the 20th century, clothing has increasingly been considered as disposable, and the industry has become highly globalised, with garments often designed in one country, manufactured in another, and sold worldwide at an ever-increasing pace. This trend has been further accentuated over the past 15 years by rising demand from a growing middle class across the globe with higher disposable income, and the emergence of the \u2018fast fashion\u2019 phenomenon, leading to a doubling in production over the same period.\n\nThe time has come to transition to a textile system that delivers better economic, societal, and environmental outcomes. The report A new textiles economy: Redesigning fashion\u2019s future outlines a vision and sets out ambitions and actions \u2013 based on the principles of a circular economy circular economy A systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution. It is based on three principles, driven by design: eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials (at their highest value), and regenerate nature. \u2013 to design out negative impacts and capture a USD 500 billion economic opportunity by truly transforming the way clothes are designed, sold, and used.\n\nBeyond laudable ongoing efforts, a new system for the textiles economy is needed and this report proposes a vision aligned with circular economy principles. In such a model, clothes, fabric, and fibres re-enter the economy after use and never end up as waste. Achieving a new textiles economy will demand unprecedented levels of alignment. A system-level change approach is required and one which will capture the opportunities missed by the current linear textiles system.", "output": "Washing synthetic clothes causes more damage to oceans than microbreads found in cosmetics, according to research by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. The report, launched on Tuesday by Dame Ellen and fashion designer Stella McCartney, calls for reform of the throwaway nature of fashion and for research into a recyclable, non-polluting \u201csuper fibre\u201d. Fast fashion has led to global clothing production doubling in 15 years. Since 2000, the number of times that clothes are worn has fallen 36%. Each year, half a million tonnes of microfibres are released into the ocean from clothes, equivalent to over 50 billion plastic bottles.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "App allows instant purchase, sale or rental of property \n WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Nov. 17, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Groundbreaking news hit the real estate industry in the United States today as Trent Real Estate, Inc of West Palm Beach, FL, announced that the first build of its unique real estate mobile software application was complete.\n\nThe app \u2013 which allows anyone to buy, sell, or rent real estate directly from their phone \u2013 was seed funded for $150,000 and is currently in Series A seeking further funding to finish the round. The name of the app is to be announced in the near future.\n\nTrent Real Estate\n\n\"Our application is the first of its kind. Imagine being able to buy or sell a home as easily as ordering a ride from Uber or Lyft, or a pizza from Dominos \u2013 that's exactly what our app does,\" explained Roy Trent Jr., founder of Trent Real Estate.\n\n\"We wanted to create a one-stop shop for brokers, agents, buyers, sellers, and renters. With our app, you don't even need to speak to anyone; just pick up your phone and buy, sell, or rent when you need. We believe that this is a key step forward in the future for real estate brokerage.\"\n\nTrent, who has personally closed over $3 billion dollars' worth of real estate deals, is the mastermind behind the app, which has made the often-convoluted process of buying, selling, or renting a property a streamlined affair.\n\nUsers simply fill out key areas of information such as descriptions, mortgage information and inspection days, then choose the commission percentage they would like to pay the agent they choose. The app has a full database of agents, each of whom competes for business on a first-accepted basis.\n\nOnce an agent has accepted the agreement, the app is time-stamped and sent to both parties and accepted as a real contract. Users can also fill out mortgage documents, and related services such as property inspections from the app.\n\nThe news comes not long after Inc. Magazine revealed that the real estate industry was ripe for tech disruption. Matt Hunckler, writing for the magazine, said, \"real estate has dragged its feet to adopt new technology, and as a result, many processes are weighed down by paper. There is a lot of speculation about how real estate will be disrupted \u2013 but companies across the country already have boots on the ground. In 2016, 235 real estate tech companies received VC funding \u2013 compared to just 72 in 2012.\"\n\nTrent Real Estate's unique new app is at the vanguard of this transformation \u2013 and promises to be a revolution in the way that over 100m Americans will buy, sell, or rent property in the coming decades.\n\nFor media inquiries or to invest in the revolutionary real estate concept, please contact\n\nRoy Trent at 321-305-1422 or email at [email protected].\n\nSOURCE Trent Real Estate", "output": "Florida-based firm Trent Real Estate has completed the first build of a groundbreaking, as-yet-unnamed mobile app that allows users to buy and sell real estate using their smartphone. Users can fill out descriptions, mortgage information and inspection days, as well as complete mortgage documents, with everything time-stamped for legality purposes. Trent Real Estate is currently in the midst of a series A round, after having gained $150,000 in seed funding."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow CEO says local authorities unable to reach housing targets \n Redrow chief executive John Tutte has said government targets won\u2019t be hit while local authorities remain responsible for housing.\n\nDescribing the local authority structure as \u201cfragmented\u201d, Mr Tutte said it was unlikely that central government targets would be achieved if the current system was maintained.\n\n\u201cYou will never get the housing delivered in this country while you rely entirely on local authorities making the decisions,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cThe problem with housing is it\u2019s left to all the local governments across the country.\n\n\u201cIf you wanted to build a railway line from London up to Leeds and you left it to the local authorities, well it\u2019d never get joined up would it.\u201d\n\nSpeaking exclusively to Construction News, Mr Tutte said he believed it would be difficult for many smaller housebuilders to access the \u00a344bn-worth of finance promised for housing in last week\u2019s Budget.\n\n\u201cThere are so many finance initiatives, it\u2019s a minefield trying to work your way through what all the funding options are,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cThe larger companies, who to be frank don\u2019t need access to that funding, would have the people and the resources and the skillset to understand it all.\n\n\u201cBut all this funding is directed [to] businesses that are not of a scale and don\u2019t have the in-house resources to know how to access it.\n\n\u201cSo I do think [the government] make life a little bit complicated at times. It\u2019s a pity they can\u2019t have a more effective way to put funding into smaller businesses.\u201d\n\nMr Tutte also questioned the uptake of government funding in recent years.\n\n\u201cI\u2019d be interested to know of the money that\u2019s been allocated in these funds over the last five years how much of it has actually been taken up,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cNothing ever really gets said about that. It\u2019s not the first time it\u2019s happened.\u201d\n\nThe chief executive expressed his disappointment over the Budget announcement that the government was conducting another review into landbanking.\n\nHowever, he told CN he hoped Oliver Letwin\u2019s latest review would analyse other obstacles to development.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a little bit disappointing that the government still thinks the industry might be landbanking,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cI think the industry has been reviewed four times on landbanking.\n\n\u201cIt comes from local authorities [who] say, \u2018We\u2019re granting all these permissions and they are not being built out\u2019.\n\n\u201cBut we very much challenge a lot of the numbers that come out of local authorities.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m confident that [Oliver Letwin\u2019s review] will show that we\u2019re not landbanking; hopefully it will also show where the real logjams are.\u201d", "output": "Abstract:\u00a0Councils are unable to meet central government housing targets, Redrow CEO John Tutte said. Housing is the responsibility of different local authorities across the UK and that\u00a0\"fragmented\" and complicated system meant it would be tricky for smaller house builders to access the \u00a344bn ($60bn) of financing earmarked for housing, Tutte said. Meanwhile, larger firms who don't need access to that funding\u00a0are the ones with a skillset to understand the system, he added.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Councillors approve 72-home Redrow development in Burbage \n We have more newsletters\n\nSomething went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nSign up to FREE email alerts from hinckleytimes - weekly\n\nNew homes will be built off Lutterworth Road in Burbage, with developers promising dwellings of a distinctly 1930s feel.\n\nCouncillors approved reserved matters for the scheme which will feature 72 properties ranging from one bedroom to four bedrooms and containing 14 affordable homes.\n\nOutline planning permission for up to 80 homes was granted in January 2016 before an appeal was due to be heard.\n\nDeveloper Davidsons initially had a submission turned down but later argued the borough at that time could not demonstrate a five-year housing supply.\n\nTo avoid going to appeal the second application was granted.\n\nNow competitor Redrow has followed through with a blueprint to progress the project on former agricultural fields at the back of existing houses.\n\nThe firm\u2019s submission stated: \u201cThe aim of the proposal is to provide a new high quality residential development that respects and enhances its existing landscape and built context.\u201d\n\nThe estate will access from Lutterworth Road and a new crossing and extra footpath are planned.\n\nIn an attempt to disperse the road noise from the neighbouring M69 a densely wooded embankment has been established between the site and the motorway.\n\nRedrow said: \u201cA range of plot sizes are proposed, from detached houses to semi-detached and terraced. The scale of the site will be two storeys, with feature dwellings in key locations, these have been positioned in prominent corner locations aiding legibility and wayfinding through the site.\n\n\u201cThe proposed properties will have a distinct 1930s architectural style, reflecting the quality workmanship of that era.\u201d\n\nThe plans for the 3.4 hectare plot were vigorously opposed by residents and the parish council when initially submitted.", "output": "A housing development of 72 homes will be built in Burbage, Leicestershire\u00a0after the local authority granted planning permission. Redrow Homes will complete the development on a 3.4 hectare site adjacent to existing homes, alongside the M69 motorway. It will consist of homes ranging from one to four bedrooms in size and include 14 affordable homes, which will be designed in a 1930s style, the company said. Planning permission\u00a0was granted on a\u00a0second application after another developer, Davidsons, had an earlier submission rejected.\u00a0The initial plans were opposed by\u00a0local residents and the parish council.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Unprepared retail industry a tempting target for cyber attacks \n Photo: Shutterstock\n\nIn the midst of the retail industry\u2019s most lucrative time of the year, a new report finds the industry ranks fifth in overall cybersecurity health out of 18 major industries.\n\n\u201cAs a trust-based industry the retail industry has a compelling reason to move up within the ranks,\u201d says the report by cybersecurity firm SecurityScorecard. The company analyzed more than 1,900 companies in the retail industry and compared the results to 17 other major industries across a variety of cybersecurity categories.\n\nThe holiday shopping season is expected to rake in up to $682 billion, according to the National Retail Foundation. However, \u201cfor retailers who are not paying enough attention to their cybersecurity health, [the start of the holiday shopping season] could mean the start of a slippery slope from cyberattacks to reduced sales and eventually to store closures,\u201d the report says.\n\nRetailers make a particularly tempting target for cyber criminals, owing to all the customer data and credit card information they retain, making even small retailers potential targets. \u201cRetailers are a goldmine of personal data but their high-profile nature and sometimes aging complex systems make them a popular target for hackers,\u201d said Jeremy Drew, partner at UK-based law firm RPC, which recently released its own report on the cybersecurity environment for the retail industry.\n\nThe National Retail Foundation says it\u2019s working on long-term solutions with all parties to ensure that consumer information is protected. \u201cCybersecurity is a perpetual game of high-stakes leapfrog where each new level of security devised by legitimate businesses is quickly overcome by criminals,\u201d the NRF says, \u201cso there is no single answer and no single industry that can provide it.\u201d\n\nBecause retail is essentially a trust-based business, cybersecurity mishaps can cause customers to bolt to competitors. Nineteen percent of customers won\u2019t shop at a store that\u2019s been hacked recently, the report says, and 33 percent of customers stay away for at least three months.\n\nRetailers suffered more than 4,000 security incidents over the last year, the report says. \u201cCompounded with the fact that a cyberattack may increase a company\u2019s churn by 2.9 percent, having poor cybersecurity health can be a real threat to the financial viability of companies in this industry.\u201d\n\nA particular weakness in the retail and e-commerce sector involves application security. Web applications have grown in importance and are a tempting target for hackers, but such applications haven\u2019t kept up with increasing security demands. The retail sector ranks near the bottom in terms of cybersecurity performance, the report says, and it\u2019s getting worse. \u201cThis year, web application exploits were one of the most common cybersecurity attacks against e-commerce retailers, accounting for 13 percent of all attacks,\u201d the report says.\n\nThe root of the problem can be tracked to the \u201cdecentralized ownership of technology in brick-and-mortar shops,\u201d the report says. In such instances, unqualified personnel may have been installing critical equipment, such as WiFi networks. The result: Vulnerabilities are introduced into the network that remain undetected until it\u2019s too late.\n\nA 2013 report found that 64 percent of retail stores took more than 90 days to detect intrusions, with the average time being 210 days.\n\nThe retail industry also finished dead last in the area of \u201cDNS Health,\u201d which is critical for the authenticity of emails. Inadequate protection in this area can lead to \u201cincreased potential for phishing attacks\u2014a type of attack where a hacker tricks consumers to visit a fraudulent site and attempts to steal login credentials or credit card information,\u201d the report says.\n\nWeakest Sector in Retail\n\nAn analysis of the bottom 50 U.S. retailers reveals that clothing stores were among the poorest performers. \u201cThere were more poor performing clothing stores than poor performing department stores, car dealerships, food stores, grocery/pharmacy stores, wholesale retailers, office supply stores, and stores selling sports good combined,\u201d the report says.\n\nTop retailers scored in the mid-A range across 10 security factors, while bottom retailers received an overall grade in the mid-C range, on average, with network security and patching cadence\u2014how often software updates are installed\u2014receiving a grade of D.\n\n\u201cUltimately, as cyberattacks continue to steal the headlines and consumers become more educated on the potential risks of poor cybersecurity performance, the retail industry, especially its bottom performers, will require significant investments in cybersecurity to keep its doors\u2014physical or digital\u2014open from this holiday season to the next,\u201d the report says.", "output": "The retail industry is particularly vulnerable to cyber attack, warns a report, and are a cybercriminal's goldmine of customer and credit data during the holiday shopping period. \"For retailers who are not paying enough attention to their cybersecurity health, the start of the holiday shopping season could mean the start of a slippery slope from cyberattacks to reduced sales and eventually to store closures,\"\u00a0the SecurityScorecard\u00a0report warns. Jeremy Drew at law firm RPC\u00a0said\u00a0retailers' high profiles over Christmas and often ageing IT systems \"make them a popular target for hackers\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Banks could lose \u00a31bn in rise of fintech challengers: Carney \n British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson speaks with head of Tyro Fintech Hub Andrew Corbett-Jones during a visit to the Tyro Fintech technology hub in Sydney, Australia, July 26, 2017.\n\nREUTERS/William West/Pool\n\nImpact of fintech on the UK banking sector included in Bank of England's stress testing scenario for the first time ever.\n\nThe Bank says lenders could lose \u00a31 billion in profits from increased competition and higher customer liquidity.\n\nThe BoE admits that it may be underestimating the risks posed by fintech.\n\n\n\nLONDON \u2013 The Bank of England thinks banks could be underestimating the risks to their business posed by financial technology startups.\n\nThe Bank wrote in its stress testing results that fintechs could:\n\nreduce banks' overdraft revenues\n\nerode payment services fee income\n\nincrease liquidity risk as customers switch accounts more frequently\n\nand make it harder for lenders to attract and retain customers, or cross-sell products.\n\nThe BoE speculated that banking profitability could take a \u00a31 billion hit from all this increased competition, although cautioned that these were just thought experiments rather than predictions.\n\nThe impact of fintech on the banking industry was included in the central bank's stress testing scenario for the first time ever this year. The stress tests are \"war games\" for the financial sector to make sure that lenders could cope with a nightmare economic scenario and ensure another financial crisis doesn't occur.\n\nThe results, published on Tuesday, show that all major lenders passed for the first time ever. But the BoE highlighted the growing threat of fintech as something banks must watch out for.\n\nSpeaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Bank of England governor Mark Carney said that banks \"took the good from financial technology and said that will help drive down their costs\" when asked about the impact on their businesses.\n\nBut he questioned their \"basic assumption\" that fintech will allow established banks to lower the cost of acquiring and maintaining customers as it lowers costs.\n\n\"Actually, from a consumer perspective, this is potentially a very exciting environment,\" Carney said, suggesting customers could switch banks more often and therefore push up their cost of business for traditional lenders.\n\nHe pointed to new reforms coming into force in the new year that will make data sharing and accounting switching easier.\n\n\"It's possible that some banks become not front-facing to the customer but utilities behind,\" Carney said, adding that new apps that are not even banks could become consumers' main point of contact with financial services.\n\nThis kind of competition is included in the Bank's stress testing scenario, which speculated that fintech \"contributed to the significant squeeze in net interest margins banks experienced in the exploratory scenario, leading to a reduction of \u00a31.1 billion in banks\u2019 aggregate profits by end\u20112023 \u2014 worth just over 0.2 percentage points of projected return on equity in 2023.\"\n\nThe Bank also admitted that it may be underestimating the risks posed by fintechs to traditional banks, saying in its stress testing results: \"Competitive pressures enabled by FinTech, and in particular the emergence of Open Banking, may cause greater and faster disruption to banks\u2019 business models than banks project. \"\n\nThe Bank stressed that they are supportive of the fintech sector, which the government see as a key service to export in post-Brexit Britain, despite the possible threats it poses to traditional banks.\n\nThe fintech industry has exploded in the UK over the last decade and is now worth an estimated \u00a37 billion. Banks such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Barclays, and BNP Paribas have moved to embrace the sector in recent years by investing, partnering, and monitoring startups in the space. They hope that these innovative new businesses can help them reduce costs and future-proof them.\n\nNOW WATCH: The CIO of a crypto hedge fund explains the value in cryptocurrency \u2014 and why the market will explode over the next 2 years\n\nSee Also:\n\nSEE ALSO: CITI: The technology banks are going wild for could turn them into 'dumb pipes'\n\nDON'T MISS: Bank of England says UK lenders could cope with 'disorderly' Brexit \u2014 as all banks pass stress tests for the first time\n\nNEXT UP: Here's the doomsday scenario British banks faced in the Bank of England's annual stress test", "output": "Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has urged established lenders not to underestimate the fintech sector, saying increased competition from digital start-ups was exciting for consumers but could reduce banks' profits by \u00a31bn ($1.4bn). The comments followed the first ever\u00a0tests of the impact of fintech competition\u00a0on the industry. All the major lenders passed, but Carney warned upcoming open\u00a0banking regulations\u00a0\"may cause greater and faster disruption to banks\u2019 business models than banks project\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk TalkTalk gala night raises \u00a3420,000 for autism charity \n As seen on Channel 4, our film blends drama and documentary to tell one autistic girl\u2019s story.\n\nThis film, directed by the Oscar-winning Tom Hooper, follows a day in the life of 15-year-old autistic girl Ash \u2013 featuring her real-life family and best friends. We\u2019re sure many of you will recognise your own experiences in Ash and her family\u2019s story.\n\nOur campaign aims to shine a light on autistic women and girls to increase understanding of the gender gap in autism diagnosis.", "output": "UK telecoms provider TalkTalk raised \u00a3420,000 ($563,000) during a recent gala event for the charity Ambitious about Autism, bringing its total raised for the charity since 2006 to more than \u00a33.5m. The Night of Ambition, held in central London's Supernova pop-up venue, was hosted by actor Tina Hobley. Guests also pledged to support Autism Exchange, an initiative aimed at getting more young autistic people into work.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Russia launches Soyuz-2.1b rocket to deploy weather satellite \n A Soyuz rocket is scheduled to lift off Tuesday from a launch pad in Russia\u2019s Far East with a new Russian weather satellite and 18 secondary payloads from companies and institutions in the United States, Canada, Japan, Norway, Sweden and Germany.\n\nThe liquid-fueled launcher is set for blastoff at 0541:46 GMT (12:41:46 a.m. EST) Tuesday from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, a facility in Russia\u2019s Amur region near the Chinese border.\n\nLiftoff is scheduled for 2:41 p.m. local time at Vostochny.\n\nTuesday\u2019s flight will be the second launch from Vostochny, a multibillion-dollar spaceport built to help Russia shift more launches to its own territory from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. A Soyuz rocket made the first launch from the Siberian spaceport in April 2016.\n\nRussia\u2019s Meteor M2-1 weather satellite is the Soyuz rocket\u2019s main passenger, beginning a five-year mission collecting imagery and data for Roshydromet, the Russian government\u2019s weather agency. Launch services for the 17 satellites from international customers were booked through Glavkosmos, a Russian commercial launch broker.\n\nThe Soyuz-2.1b rocket will head north from Vostochny, dropping its four kerosene-fueled boosters, nose shroud and core stage to fall in the Siberian forest. A third stage powered by an RD-0124 engine and a Fregat upper stage will deliver the satellites to a preliminary parking orbit about 12 minutes into the flight.\n\nThe Fregat upper stage\u2019s main engine will ignite seven times on Tuesday\u2019s mission, first to place the Meteor M2-1 weather satellite into its targeted orbit, then to maneuver to different altitudes for deployment of 18 more spacecraft.\n\nThe seventh and final Fregat main engine burn will steer the upper stage back into Earth\u2019s atmosphere for a destructive re-entry in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Mexico.\n\nThe 6,062-pound (2,750-kilogram) Meteor M2-1 weather observatory awaiting launch Tuesday carries four meteorological instruments: two multi-channel scanners and cameras to obtain infrared and visible images of clouds and ice cover, a microwave radiometer to measure temperature and humidity in the atmosphere, and an infrared spectrometer to monitor the ozone layer.\n\nThe Russian weather satellite also hosts a search-and-rescue radio transponder and a payload to relay data from remote weather stations and offshore buoys to Russian forecasters.\n\nMeteor M2-1 is the first Russian weather satellite equipped to receive emergency distress beacons through the international Cospas-Sarsat network.\n\nThis video shows technicians readying the Meteor M2-1 weather satellite for launch, including the removal of instrument covers and other ground equipment before encapsulation inside the Soyuz rocket\u2019s payload fairing. Video credit: Roscosmos\n\nBuilt by VNIIEM, a Moscow-based aerospace contractor, the Meteor M2-1 spacecraft is the third in a series of upgraded Meteor M weather satellites. Two Meteor M satellites launched in 2009 and 2014 are still functioning, according to VNIIEM.\n\nOnce operational in polar orbit around 513 miles (826 kilometers) above Earth, the Meteor M2-1 satellite will provide data inputs to help Russian meteorologists craft medium-range forecasts.\n\nMore than 70 Russian Meteor weather satellites have launched since 1964.\n\nSeparation of the Meteor M2-1 satellite from the Fregat upper stage is set for 0642 GMT (1:42 a.m. EST), shortly after the mission\u2019s second Fregat main engine burn.\n\nA third Fregat engine firing will move the perigee, or low point, of its orbit closer to Earth for deployment of the IDEA OSG 1 spacecraft shortly after 0800 GMT (3 a.m. EST) in an elliptical egg-shaped loop around the planet.\n\nManufactured and owned by the Japanese company Astroscale, the suitcase-sized IDEA OSG 1 satellite is covered with sensors to register impacts with tiny pieces of space junk smaller than a millimeter in diameter. The space debris detectors, developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, will help tell scientists and engineers about the amount of space junk in low Earth orbit, focusing on satellite and rocket fragments too small to be tracked by ground-based radars.\n\nThe IDEA OSG 1 spacecraft\u2019s two-year mission is sponsored by OSG Corp., a Japanese tool maker, and is the first of several satellites planned by Astroscale. A follow-on mission conceived in partnership with Britain\u2019s Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. could launch in 2019 to demonstrate a relatively low-cost method of removing small pieces of space debris from orbit.\n\nAnother 16-second firing of the Fregat main engine will circularize its orbit at an altitude of approximately 370 miles (600 kilometers) for the release of 16 more satellites.\n\nThe Baumanets 2 microsatellite built by students at Bauman Moscow State Technical University is set to separate from the Fregat upper stage at 0815 GMT (3:15 a.m. EST). The 190-pound (86-kilogram) spacecraft\u2019s mission is primarily educational, but the satellite also carries an optical camera and a communications experiment.\n\nA few minutes later, the Norwegian Space Center\u2019s AISSat 3 satellite will deploy from the Fregat upper stage, kicking off a three-year mission to monitor ships and determine their position, speed and direction. The 14-pound (6.5-kilogram) spacecraft, built in Canada by the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies Space Flight Laboratory, is the latest in a series of Norwegian maritime tracking satellites.\n\nA staggered deployment sequence for 14 CubeSats will come next. The exact order of the separation maneuvers has not been disclosed.\n\nTwo commercial Landmapper-BC CubeSats manufactured and owned by Astro Digital, formerly Aquila Space, are also on Tuesday\u2019s Soyuz flight. They are the third and fourth Landmapper-BC satellites to launch, following two craft that flew on a Soyuz mission in July, and failed shortly after reaching space.\n\nAstro Digital\u2019s Landmapper-BC satellites are about the size of a shoebox and weigh around 22 pounds (10 kilograms), packing color and infrared cameras for wide-area imaging. The Silicon Valley-based company aims to field a commercial Earth-imaging fleet, initially with 10 CubeSat-class satellites.\n\nSan Francisco-based Spire Global has 10 Lemur-2 satellites on Tuesday\u2019s Soyuz launch, ready to join the company\u2019s commercial weather monitoring constellation.\n\nSpire\u2019s Lemur-2 craft carry GPS radio occultation antennas, using satellite navigation signals passed through Earth\u2019s atmosphere to derive temperature and humidity profiles that can be fed into numerical forecast models.\n\nSpire\u2019s satellites \u2014 each weighing about 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) \u2014 also track ships out of range of terrestrial receivers.\n\nWith Tuesday\u2019s flight, the company will have launched a total of 67 Lemur-2 CubeSats, some of which have ended their missions.\n\nSpire won a NOAA contract last year to supply pilot weather data to determine the information\u2019s usefulness in forecasting.\n\nTwo European CubeSats will also be deployed.\n\nThe SEAM mission, led by Sweden\u2019s KTH Royal Institute of Technology, will conduct measurements of magnetic and electric fields in the ionosphere, a layer in Earth\u2019s upper atmosphere where auroras are generated. The SEAM spacecraft is also a pathfinder for the design of future small-scale European science missions.\n\nBilled as the first German commercial CubeSat, the D-Star One spacecraft has four communications modules on-board, two of which will be used by the amateur radio community. Developed by German Orbital Systems in Berlin in cooperation with the Czech company iSky Technology, officials hope to build follow-on satellites to construct a low Earth orbit communications network.\n\nTwo more maneuvers by the Fregat upper stage will set up for separation of an experimental communications craft for Telesat, a leading Canadian-headquartered operator of large geostationary broadcast satellites.\n\nTelesat ordered two demonstrator satellites in April 2016 to help engineers wring out technical hurdles before the company builds out a 117-satellite constellation to provide global broadband communications coverage from orbits less than 1,000 miles up, a goal officials say could be realized by 2021.\n\nTelesat\u2019s LEO Vantage 2 satellite is the first of the test craft to reach the launch pad. The roughly 154-pound (70-kilogram) prototype satellite was built by the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies Space Flight Laboratory, and Space Systems/Loral in Palo Alto, California, serves as prime contractor.\n\nTelesat eyes the U.S. military and the aviation and maritime industries as prime markets for the Ka-band network. The satellites will also link under-served communities and far-flung outposts with high-speed Internet connectivity.\n\nAnother test satellite, named LEO Vantage 1, is set for launch on an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle in late December. It was provided by Surrey Satellite Technologies Ltd., a British subsidiary of Airbus Defense and Space.\n\nTelesat will verify each satellite design\u2019s capabilities and performance next year.\n\nThe LEO Vantage 2 spacecraft is expected to deploy from the Fregat upper stage into a 620-mile-high (1,000-kilometer) orbit at 0954 GMT (4:54 a.m. EST), followed by a final Fregat engine firing at 1043 GMT (5:43 a.m. EST) for a de-orbit burn.\n\nEmail the author.\n\nFollow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.", "output": "Russia has successfully launched a Soyuz-2.1b rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome to deploy 19 satellites into orbit, most notably the country's upgraded Meteor M2-1 weather satellite. The 2.75-tonne observatory will measure humidity and temperature in the Earth's atmosphere, while\u00a0scanners and cameras will capture images of cloud and ice cover, and infrared spectrometry will measure the ozone layer. The Meteor M2-1 is also the first Russian\u00a0weather satellite to able to use the International Cospas-Sarsat network to receive emergency distress beacons. The other 18 payloads come from countries such as the US, Canada, Japan and Germany.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NASA and SpaceX to launch ozone measurement sensor to ISS \n NASA and SpaceX are teaming up to save the world from itself \u2014 sort of.\n\nOn Monday, December 4, the aerospace company will launch a Dragon spacecraft aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, carrying a NASA instrument called TSIS-1 as part of its special delivery to the International Space Station (ISS). TSIS-1, which is short for Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor, will measure sunlight with unprecedented detail, in order to study the sun\u2019s impact on Earth\u2019s ozone layer.\n\n\u201cTSIS-1 makes two key measurements: total solar irradiance, or TSI, the sun\u2019s total energy input into Earth, and solar spectral irradiance (SSI), the distribution of the sun\u2019s energy input across ultraviolet, visible, and infrared wavelengths of light,\u201d NASA explained in a post. \u201cTSI measurements are needed to quantify the solar variations in the total amount of energy input to the Earth. SSI measurements are also vital because different wavelengths of light are absorbed by different parts of the atmosphere.\u201d\n\nThe ozone layer \u2014 situated in Earth\u2019s stratosphere \u2014 is responsible for absorbing ultraviolet radiation blasted off by the sun, making our planet habitable. TSIS-1 is a great step toward understanding the sun\u2019s impact on the ozone region, especially considering how careless humanity has been about it.\n\nIn the past, humans have caused ozone depletion by spraying aerosol cans, which release chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) into the atmosphere. These can break down ozone molecules and make the ozone layer worse at its job \u2014 which, in case you forgot \u2014 is keeping us all from getting burned to a crisp. In the 1980s, this was a big concern, which led to the creation of the Montreal Protocol in 1989.\n\nIn short, the TSIS-1 \u2014 and the ozone layer \u2014 are good. We hope scientists at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) and NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center will have plenty of data to comb through once TSIS-1 is up and running.", "output": "SpaceX is set to transport a NASA sensor to the International Space Station, where it will monitor the sun's effect on the Earth's ozone layer, which absorbs deadly ultraviolet radiation. According to a NASA statement, the total and spectral solar irradiance sensor  will measure total solar irradiance, the sun\u2019s total energy input into Earth, and solar spectral irradiance, the distribution of the sun\u2019s energy input across ultraviolet, visible\u00a0and infrared wavelengths of light.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Invesco Canada introduces robo-advice capabilities \n A Bay Street sign, a symbol of Canada's economic markets and where main financial institutions are located, is seen in Toronto, May 1, 2013.Mark Blinch/Reuters Share\n\nInvesco Canada Ltd., one of the country's largest mutual-fund providers is keeping with the times in launching a robo-adviser tool that will help wealth-management firms and their advisers bring digital advice to Canadian investors.\n\n\"The wealth-management industry is undergoing massive change due to new technologies and proposed regulations, and one of our global priorities as an organization is to help advisers navigate this rapidly changing environment,\" Peter Intraligi, president of Invesco Canada, said in a statement.\n\nRobo-advisers \u2013 also known as online portfolio managers or digital advisers \u2013 have recently gained traction in the Canadian financial landscape. Over the past five years, the total number of providers has jumped from only a handful in 2012 to more than 15 registered platforms today.\n\nThe new platform, titled advisorDUO, has similar capabilities to a traditional robo-adviser, where clients are able to sign up for accounts digitally and receive a recommended portfolio based on risk tolerance and investment goals.\n\nUnlike other platforms, Invesco's offering is only being rolled out to mutual-fund dealers to use exclusively with their financial advisers. Investment firms must sign an agreement with Invesco in order for their advisers to gain access to the platform. The platform doesn't deal directly with individual investors. Already, there are seven mutual-fund firms signed up to pilot the platform, including Sterling Mutuals Inc., an investment firm in Windsor, Ont., that has over 250 advisers.\n\n\"AdvisorDUO has the potential to be a game changer for us,\" said Nelson Cheng, chief executive of Sterling Mutuals. \"It has the capacity to increase the reach and productivity of our advisers while enabling us to benefit from how an ever-increasing number of investors prefer to work with a financial adviser.\"\n\nThe platform will allow Invesco to strengthen its relationships with mutual-fund firms \u2013 and their financial advisers \u2013 during a time when competition continues to emerge for asset managers, leaving many independent dealers having to think outside the box for distribution access.\n\n\"Investors and their advisers are looking for solutions that meet their evolving needs \u2013 enriching the client experience while improving the adviser's practice efficiency,\" said Andrew Manning, head of marketing for Invesco Canada. \"Built and designed using Invesco's in-house digital expertise, advisorDUO maintains the adviser-investor link, with the intent of increasing the competitiveness of financial advisory firms and allowing advisers to serve clients in the way they wish to be serviced.\"\n\nAnother difference with conventional robo-advisers is that Invesco's platform provides investors access to exchange-traded fund products through five mutual fund \"fund-of-fund\" portfolios. The majority of robo-advisers recommend portfolios that are predominately made up of individual ETFs.\n\nInvesco is well known on the Street for both its mutual fund and ETF lineups, with assets under management of $40-billion. The company was one of the first mutual-fund companies to enter the ETF industry in 2009, and now has $8.6-billion invested in its PowerShares ETF products, as of Oct. 31.\n\nThe platform recommends one of five fund-of-fund Invesco Target Risk Portfolios. Each portfolio provides investors exposure to Invesco's Powershare ETFs, as well as ETFs from rivals Vanguard and BlackRock Canada. Portfolio management fees for fee-based accounts range from 0.41 per cent to 0.51 per cent, while the adviser series ranges from 1.41 per cent to 1.51 per cent. These fees include all underlying ETF fees, and are competitive compared with stand-alone mutual funds, which can have fees ranging from 1.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent.\n\nMany traditional robo-adviser platforms are starting to partner with investment firms, offering hybrid models, discounted pricing for adviser accounts or licensing agreements of their proprietary technology.\n\nFor firms, digital partnerships are enticing as they eliminate burdensome paperwork during account openings and minimizes administrative costs.\n\nBut the ability to maintain client assets in house and under their administration was a big draw for Sterling's Mr. Cheng.\n\n\"With other digital platforms we looked at, we would have to sign a referral agreement and then the assets are 'off book' and the client no longer belongs to the dealer,\" says Mr. Cheng. \"The other firm can do whatever they want and the dealer can't do anything about it. That was not a route we wanted to take.\"", "output": "Invesco has introduced a robo-adviser platform for its Canadian clients. The platform is called advisorDUO and will let clients sign up to receive portfolio recommendations based on their risk tolerance. The platform is only being provided to mutual fund shops to use within their existing adviser relationships. Invesco says seven mutual fund providers have signed up to use the robo-adviser platform. The platform will allow investors to gain exposure to exchange-traded funds, like the majority of robo-advisers do, but this exposure will come in the form of mutual funds invested in ETFs.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese taste for luxury ham forces Spanish into traditional food \n Having discovered the joys of French wine, caviar and truffles, China\u2019s new rich are turning to a new gourmet delicacy to satisfy their demand for luxury goods from the west: Spain\u2019s jam\u00f3n ib\u00e9rico, or Iberian ham. But demand is now threatening to outstrip supply, leaving Spaniards facing steep price rises in their most prized Christmas delicacy.\n\nThe recent lifting of import restrictions has allowed top-of-the-range ham to find its \u201crightful place in the market, alongside caviar and truffles\u201d, Ren\u00e9 Lem\u00e9e, the head of exports for the famous Cinco Jotas brand, told El Pa\u00eds newspaper.\n\nThe Chinese, pork lovers par excellence, have now been seduced by jam\u00f3n ib\u00e9rico. The problem is that the best ham takes years to produce and, as demand outstrips supply, it is pushing up the price by as much as 10%. A 7.5kg leg sells at between \u20ac150 and \u20ac600 (\u00a3135-\u00a3540).\n\nSpanish ham comes in many forms, but to be defined as jam\u00f3n ib\u00e9rico de bellota (acorn-fed Iberian ham), which is what the Chinese want, it must first come from Iberian blackfoot pigs, or from 50% crossbreeds. These pigs must then spend several months of the year roaming the dehesa, a pasture planted with oaks, feeding on grass and acorns. During the last few months before being slaughtered they must live exclusively on this diet.\n\nIberian pigs search for acorns. Photograph: Karen Robinson/The Observer\n\nNot only are there relatively small areas of dehesa \u2013 mostly in north-west and western Spain \u2013 but each pig needs about two hectares (five acres) to fulfil its needs. Once slaughtered, the animals\u2019 legs are plunged into vats of salt and hung and dry-cured over a range of temperatures for a minimum of 36 months, with the best hams cured for about 48 months.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s inevitable that the price in Spain is going to rise,\u201d said Roberto Batres, the director of Shanghai de Delaiberia Gold, which exports ham, wine and olive oil to China. \u201cThe companies licenced to trade in China don\u2019t have enough jam\u00f3n de bellota to meet Chinese demand.\u201d\n\nIn an effort to meet demand the Chinese have started importing raw frozen pork from Iberian pigs and curing the meat themselves, although Batres says the product is excessively salty.\n\nThe production and consumption of top-quality ham is the subject of the same awe and mystery as the making of fine wine. Cutting de-boned jam\u00f3n de bellota on a ham-slicing machine is regarded as sacrilege. The leg must be bolted on to a frame called a jamonero and then cut by hand using a long, narrow blade. Most towns in the ham-producing areas of Extremadura, Castilla y Le\u00f3n and Andaluc\u00eda hold solemn ham-slicing competitions, often attended by hundreds of spectators.\n\n\u201cThey have established a ham-cutting school in China and a professional association,\u201d said Batres. \u201cThat\u2019s a sign of how far the product has penetrated the local market.\u201d", "output": "China's increasing demand for Spanish jam\u00f3n ib\u00e9rico is forcing up prices of the\u00a0ham\u00a0as Spaniards prepare to tuck into the traditional Christmas delicacy. The recent lifting of import restrictions on the luxury item\u00a0has strained supplies of the Iberian-ham, produced slowly\u00a0from carefully raised pig breeds, and increased\u00a0prices 10%. As we highlighted previously,\u00a0China is the world's largest consumer of pork and its\u00a0rising middle class is being\u00a0enticed by luxury brands."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China funds suspension may hit pace of Hong Kong investment \n China's securities regulator has suspended approval of Hong Kong-focused mutual funds, according to the industry newspaper China Fund, potentially slowing the pace of Chinese money into Hong Kong stocks.\n\nNew funds with \"Hong Kong\" in their names - which rules dictate must allocate at least 80 percent of their portfolio into Hong Kong-listed stocks - have seen their approvals suspended by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), China Fund said on its website, citing two unidentified fund sources.\n\nThe move could delay the launch of 59 products that are backed up in the queue, although funds that invest less than 50 percent of their portfolio in Hong Kong will not be affected, according to the newspaper, which is affiliated with the official People's Daily.\n\nThe sources, who were notified by the CSRC, said the body did not explain why it was suspending Hong Kong-focused funds.\n\nBut they speculated that regulators may hope to cool fervor in a market that has soared over 30 percent this year, aided by Chinese money inflows, according to the newspaper.", "output": "Chinese investment in Hong Kong stocks may be curbed by a surprise directive from Beijing that has suspended the approval of 59 mutual funds linked to the former British colony. The China Securities Regulatory Commission has given no reason for the move but it's thought to be motivated by a desire to cool a market that has surged more than 30% this year, fuelled\u00a0by\u00a0Chinese money. Hong Kong-linked fund portfolios\u00a0must be heavily weighted towards stocks listed in the southern city."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "App-based challenger bank Revolut to add cryptocurrency support \n Bitcoin and other digital currencies are not \"a fraud,\" the chief executive of app-based bank Revolut told CNBC, ahead of the start-up's plans to launch a range of services for cryptocurrencies.\n\nThe firm's CEO gave an alternative view to JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who has called the phenomenon a \"fraud\" that will \"blow up.\"\n\n\"They are definitely not a fraud,\" Nikolay Storonsky said in an interview Tuesday. Revolut's co-founder said that, though people are less likely to use bitcoin in everyday transactions, the same could be said for commodities like gold.\n\n\"Real-world usage for gold is quite limited. But still there is a huge market, huge volumes that are being traded in the market, and these volumes determine the gold price,\" he said.\n\n\"The question, 'Where is the real gold price?' No one knows. It's the same with bitcoin. Volumes are increasing, the price is shooting up, there is no implication of bitcoin in the real world, it's quite limited.\"\n\nHe said that 99 percent of bitcoin transaction volumes are \"speculation-driven,\" with just 1 percent of volumes involving everyday applications.\n\nSome executives in the financial services sector have expressed concern about the volatile nature of bitcoin, however, with Credit Suisse's CEO Tidjane Thiam describing it as \"the very definition of speculation and the very definition of a bubble.\"\n\nBut Storonsky, who is a former Credit Suisse trader, said bitcoin was similar to another commodity in this aspect \u2014 oil.\n\n\"If you look at the oil market, 90 percent of volume is speculation, 10 percent is real use case.\"", "output": "UK app-based bank Revolut is set to launch support for cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, ethereum and litecoin. Customers will be bale to buy, hold and sell the digital currencies as well as enable\u00a0their transfer between Revolut accounts. CEO\u00a0Nikolay Storonsky said cryptocurrencies\u00a0were \"definitely not a fraud\", in contrast to comments made by his JPMorgan counterpart Jamie Dimon. Storonsky compared bitcoin to gold, whose transaction volumes were mostly speculation-driven, with much smaller percentages of real-world usage.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SA insurtech Fo-Sho launches for lower-income customers \n Accelerator Startbootcamp Cape Town has scored some success, with South African insurtech startup Fo-Sho set to launch this Thursday (30 November) with its short-term insurance offering aimed at lower-income consumers.\n\nFor the past three months the Johannesburg-based startup, which was founded in June last year, has along with nine other startups been part of Startbootcamp Cape Town\u2018s inaugural accelerator programme. The programme concludes with a demo day this Thursday.\n\nThe startup has been beta testing its product and has so far secured premium commitments in excess of R10-million.\n\nIn addition the company has already secured a \u201cmulti-million rand venture capital investment\u201d from BEE investor and Alpha Vista Systems director Dempsey Naidoo, says Fo-Sho co-founder and CEO (pictured middle) Avi Naidoo. He however would not disclose the exact amount of the investment but he said the deal was signed in July.\n\nFo-Sho applies artificial intelligence, machine learning, behavioural economics and peer-to peer underwriting\n\nFo-Sho\u2019s insurance products use artificial intelligence, machine learning, behavioural economics and peer-to peer underwriting. Policy holders are grouped into similar risk profiles. These groups create savings pools which then reduce the cost of risk and act to mitigate excess payments in the event of a claim.\n\nIn addition, the startup claims one can register for cover in about three minutes.\n\nNaidoo told Ventureburn in a phone call that he got the idea behind the platform in May last year after seeing a Johannesburg community come together to assist a security guard who had his un-insured car stolen.\n\nHe said that\u2019s when he realised that insurance is \u201creally unfair\u201d, citing \u201cstructural and pricing issues\u201d. \u201cPeople who need it (insurance) the most are the ones least able to afford it,\u201d he added.\n\nThe startup, whose founding team is made up of three insurance industry veterans who claim to have total of 50 year\u2019s worth of experience between them, will have its products underwritten by A-rated insurance company Constantia.\n\nAlthough the startup has not yet been granted a license by the Financial Services Board (FSB), Naidoo said his company is in the process of applying for one. In the meantime, the company would operate under Constantia\u2019s license.\n\nBut he added that Fo-Sho would still, despite this, make its own decisions regarding pricing and the services it offers consumers.\n\nStartupbootcamp Cape Town managing director Zachariah George believes that Fo-Sho\u2019s model that makes use of \u201csocially validated methodology\u201d will allow consumers access to a fairer form of insurance.\n\n\u201cThe result is the pooling of like-minded risk groups and a reduced risk of fraudulent claims, a major point for policy issuers \u2013 and subsequently giving issuers greater leeway to increase the amount of cash-backs paid to claim-free clients. We know that this will skyrocket to become the new norm in the industry,\u201d said George.\n\nFeatured image (left to right): Fo-Sho founding team Mithun Kalan, Avi Naidoo, and Siva Moodley (Supplied)", "output": "South African insurtech Fo-Sho has launched with the goal of providing short-term insurance policies for lower-income portions of the population. The firm says it makes use of artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analysis in underwriting its risks. Fo-Sho has reportedly written over ZAR10m ($729,000) in premiums during a testing period. Customers will be able to register and apply for coverage in as little as three minutes, the firm says. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Half of US fracking wells are close to private water systems \n Hydraulically fractured wells in California's Central Valley. Credit: Debra Perrone\n\nHow safe is the water you drink? For the 45 million Americans who get their drinking water from private groundwater wells rather than a public utility, the answer is decidedly murky. The Environmental Protection Agency regulations that protect public drinking water systems don't apply to privately owned wells, leaving owners responsible for ensuring their water is safe from contaminants.\n\nIn assessing how frequently hydraulic fracturing takes place close to a public water supply, a 2016 EPA report said that drinking water supplies located near hydraulic fracturing sites are more likely to be impacted should a contamination event occur. How many privately owned groundwater wells could face a similar fate is undetermined.\n\nMotivated by the EPA study, UC Santa Barbara researchers Scott Jasechko and Debra Perrone sought to change that.\n\nThe investigators amassed a large database of private drinking water wells and compared their locations to hydraulic fracturing sites. Conducting a scientific analysis of data that spanned 15 years, from 2000 to 2014, and covered nearly 27,000 wells in 14 states, they found that about half of all hydraulically fractured wells stimulated in 2014 existed within 2 to 3 kilometers of a domestic groundwater well. Their results appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.\n\n\"This co-location emphasizes the need to determine the frequency that hydraulic fracturing activities impact groundwater well water quality. This knowledge is important to maintaining high-quality water in many domestic wells,\" said co-author Jasechko, an assistant professor at UCSB's Bren School of Environmental Science & Management. \"Our results underscore the importance of increased water monitoring efforts near both hydraulically fractured and conventional oil and gas wells in ascertaining the risk of contamination and in protecting water well quality.\"\n\nJasechko and Perrone charted the data on a variety of maps, one of which tracked hotspots. \"These hotspots are areas where, in light of potential contamination mechanisms, limited resources for assessing spill frequency and well integrity could be used more effectively and efficiently,\" explained Perrone, an assistant professor in UCSB's environmental studies program.\n\nPerrone noted that some hotspot areas include not only hydraulically fractured but also conventional oil and gas wells, which are more abundant. \"We can use these hotspot analyses to focus resources, so that we can learn more about oil and gas contamination mechanisms: How often do they occur, and do they have an impact on groundwater?\" she said.\n\n\"Our analysis underscores the need to increase monitoring efforts to maximize the probability that we can identify well waters that may be impacted, and do our best to remediate, contain and isolate potentially contaminated waters before they cause harm,\" Jasechko added. \"We can consider stronger policies that include requirements for repeated groundwater quality testing of the many domestic self-supply wells that exist close to hydraulic fracturing.\"\n\nOften, research can be limited by the amount of data available. In this case, the problem is a lack of consistent data across states as well as across industries. In fact, the scientists found vast differences in how states collect groundwater data.\n\n\"One policy recommendation would be to have a national standard for data collection on groundwater well construction,\" Perrone said. \"On the energy side, a national standard for data collection for both unconventional and conventional oil and gas wells could provide opportunities for increased transparency across jurisdictional boundaries.\"", "output": "Almost half of hydraulically fractured wells in the US are within 2 km to 3 km of a domestic groundwater well, according to a study from\u00a0UC Santa Barbara researchers\u00a0Scott Jasechko and Debra Perrone,\u00a0highlighting the need to determine the impact of fracking on groundwater well quality.\u00a0Environmental Protection Agency regulations do not give the same protections to private water supplies that they do to public water systems, with owners being responsible for maintaining their water quality. The researchers said that water quality near fracking sites needed to be more closely scrutinised."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fashion brands urged to stop wasting 25% of material resources \n LONDON \u2013 Non-profit Made-by and Reverse Resources has launched a report that suggests manufacturers producing textiles and clothing for many major fashion brands are wasting an average of 25 per cent of virgin material resources. WRAP also worked with Made-by to support the findings.", "output": "Leading fashion brands are wasting an average of 25% of virgin material resources, according to a report by European non-profit Made-by and industrial textile upcycler\u00a0Reverse Resources. The findings are supported by UK waste reduction charity, Wrap. As a result of the research, Made-by has launched a project that will target European apparel brands and suppliers. Companies will be supported to reduce spillage rates and to avoid incineration and landfill. The project will form part of the European Clothing Action Plan, which is the first EU-funded project aiming to increase sustainability throughout the entire lifecyle of clothing.\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New bans urged as\u00a0UK children see 12 TV junk-food ads per hour \n Children are seeing as many as 12 advertisements for junk food within an hour while watching family television shows such as The Voice, new research has revealed on Tuesday.\n\nChildren as young as four are seeing ads for pizza, burgers, sweets and biscuits in breaks during shows on ITV, C4 and E4 such as Hollyoaks and The Simpsons, Liverpool University researchers found.\n\nThe findings have led to renewed calls from health experts to ministers to toughen up rules restricting the broadcast of adverts for foods high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS), which they claim are \u201cnot fit for purpose\u201d.\n\nDr Emma Boyland and Dr Rosa Whalen, from Liverpool University\u2019s appetite and obesity research group, found that a half-hour episode of Hollyoaks on E4 in February \u2013 seen by 140,225 children \u2013 contained no fewer than nine adverts for such products. They included promotions of McDonald\u2019s bacon double clubhouse burger, Domino\u2019s chicken strippers and their pepperoni passion pizza, Oreo thins biscuits and Haribo sweets.\n\nAn episode of The Voice the next day on ITV watched by 708,500 children featured 12 ads for HFSS foods, including Domino\u2019s pizzas, McVitie\u2019s chocolate digestive nibbles and Anchor spreadable butter.\n\nPart of a Domino\u2019s pizza TV advert. Photograph: YouTube\n\n\u201cThis report is another grim reminder why we\u2019re losing the fight against the scourge of childhood obesity,\u201d said Prof Mary Fewtrell, nutrition lead at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.\n\n\u201cChildren are very impressionable and need protection from the hundreds of millions of pounds spent each year on junk food advertising, much of which is within the family viewing hours of 6-9pm.\u201d\n\nUnder current rules, put in place a decade ago by the broadcasting regulator Ofcom, adverts for HFSS foods are banned from being shown in or around children\u2019s programmes or any programme where 75% of the audience will be children.\n\nBut the Obesity Health Alliance (OHA), which commissioned the new study, said children were still being exposed to adverts for unhealthy foods because no such restrictions apply to shows aimed at adults but watched by many under-18s. It wants the ban extended to everything shown before the 9pm watershed.\n\n\u201cWe know brand recognition influences children\u2019s behaviours from as young as 18 months, which is why the government saw it fit to ban junk food advertising during children\u2019s shows back in 2010,\u201d added Fewtrell.\n\nCaroline Cerny, the OHA\u2019s lead, said: \u201cThe rules to protect children from junk food advertising in the UK are 10 years old. They weren\u2019t strong enough then and they are definitely not fit for purpose now, as they only cover 27% of children\u2019s viewing time.\u201d Three-quarters of adverts during The Voice would be banned if Ofcom changed the rules, the OHA said.\n\nITV said the Ofcom rules do not need to be extended. \u201cThere is already a robust system of regulation in place in the UK to restrict both the content and scheduling of advertising for food high in fat, salt or sugar, to children and young people, which is enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority, is endorsed by Ofcom and is rigorously applied by ITV across all of its platforms,\u201d said a spokesman for the broadcaster.\n\nThe government ruled out any change. \u201cCurrent advertising restrictions in the UK on junk food are among the toughest in the world, including a ban on advertising junk food in children\u2019s media.\u201d\n\nLabour pledged that it would ban all junk food advertising before the 9pm watershed if it was elected.", "output": "Children as young as four view as many as 12 advertisements for junk food per hour while watching family television shows, according to research by Liverpool University and commissioned by the Obesity Health Alliance (OHA). Current rules, instituted a decade ago by regulator Ofcom, ban ads for foods high in fat, sugar and salt from being shown in or around children\u2019s programmes, or shows for which 75% of the audience will be children. The OHA has called for the ban to be extended to all broadcasts before 9pm.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Montreal 'upcyclers' use decommissioned trains for new projects \n Montreal\u2019s Metro system celebrated its fiftieth birthday this October. And for a limited time its first-generation \u201cMR-63\u201d cars were available to buy for the bargain price of C$C750\u20131,000 (\u00a3445-\u00a3593), along with a C$4000 (\u00a32,370) shipping fee. The two-ton, baby-blue cars make up the oldest fleet in North America. They are gradually being decommissioned.\n\nOut of 30 submissions, the Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de transport de Montreal (STM) has picked seven projects that will receive cars. These include a high-rise community centre built from multiple cars stacked on each other; a 13-story building that will encase over one hundred cars; a car plonked in a botanic garden in remote northern Quebec; and an art-installation made of 16 sets of sliding doors. Submissions were evaluated by the STM on criteria that included optics, heritage value, feasibility and sustainability.\n\n\u201cWe wanted to do something crazy, but not too \u201cin-your-face\u201d crazy,\u201d said Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Morin-Bordeleau, co-founder of Projet MR-63, one of the lucky finalist projects. \u201cSo we thought, let\u2019s get eight metro trains, create a building out of it, make it self-sustaining and generate revenue, and showcase the culture of Montreal.\u201d He expects the sculpture, which will house a caf\u00e9, bar, gallery and community space, to be complete in 2020.\n\nArtist\u2019s impression. Image: Project MR-63.\n\nMorin-Bordeleau acknowledged that his love of the metro carriages, like many Montrealers\u2019, is steeped in nostalgia for the \u201cglorious era\u201d of the sixties, when Montreal hosted Expo \u201967, the world fair that marked Canada\u2019s centennial and attracted fifty million visitors to the city.\n\nOn top of the metro system, which was hurriedly built to accommodate Expo crowds, remnants of this era include Moshe Safdie\u2019s iconic Habitat 67 complex, the Montreal Biosphere (capped by a geodesic dome designed by Buckminster Fuller) and two large man-made islands in the St-Lawrence river, created and reshaped using rubble dug out by the subway construction.\n\nWhile he was not alive in the sixties, Morin-Bordeleau\u2019s mother was a photographer for Expo \u201967 and \u201cwould talk about [it] with stars in her eyes,\u201d he said. He sees the project, which he founded with his brother, as an homage to this period. \u201cWe want to make Montreal proud and the metro trains were exactly the symbol we needed. It\u2019s a mix between the glory of the past and visions for the future,\u201d he said.\n\nThe brothers were initially inspired by the Village Underground arts centre in Shoreditch, London, which rents out studio space in four upcycled tube carriages to artists and designers.\n\nParts of MR-63 cars will travel internationally in the form of a travelling art installation. Another finalist of the STM\u2019s call for proposals is interactive art piece Thresholds, a corridor of 16 opening and closing subway doors that people can walk through. Created by Montreal artist Michel de Broin, it was exhibited in Montreal\u2019s this summer and he plans on taking it abroad.\n\nWhile he acknowledged that the \u201cdistinctive\u201d doors of the metro were likely to have a particular effect on a Montrealer, he believes the experience of the piece \u201cwill work anywhere\u201d. His website describes the experience as \u201crecalling the digestive tract\u2019s ingestion process as the installation breathes and swells\u201d.\n\nMR-63 cars that are not being upcycled are slowly being retired, a process that is anticipated to finish in mid-2018. Montreal-based metal recycling firm American Iron and Metal is recycling the cars at the rate of one a day, with a new car ferried each morning to their headquarters on a specifically-designed trailer.\n\nThe invitable metro map. Image: STM.\n\nThe question of what to do with old subway cars has been approached in a variety of ways by different cities. In England, tube cars shuttle passengers down the east coast of the Isle of Wight, while a 1967 Victoria Line tube carriage hosts a monthly supper club in Walthamstow.\n\nIn 2015, over 2,500 New York subway cars were dropped into the Atlantic to create an artificial underwater reef for fish and crustaceans. Two of Buenos Aires\u2019 iconic 1913 wooden cars have been converted into diesel-electric buses, and Washington architect Arthur Cotton Moore wants to transform his city\u2019s old metro cars into one-bedroom prefab apartments for the homeless.\n\nBack in Montreal, the subway is receiving a new generation of trains \u2013 but like their predecessors, the city\u2019s new underground cars will arrive at stations accompanied by the faint smell of burning wood. That\u2019s because designers have opted to continue making the tyre brake pads out of yellow birch sourced from Quebec\u2019s forests. According to the STM, wooden brake pads are quieter than steel or graphite disc pads, and environmentally safer, given that they do not release of carbon dust into the atmosphere. To prevent friction or burning, the wood is saturated in hot peanut oil, left to drip-dry for 30 days, and soaked in salt water.\n\nMontreal commuters have come off lightly with their subway\u2019s trademark fragrance. Washington DC\u2019s subway cars organic brake pads are often blamed for a lingering fishy smell.", "output": "Artists and architects are among those who will receive decommissioned Montreal Metro carriages. In celebration of the metro's 50th birthday, the Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de transport de Montreal (STM) put up some of its first-generation MR-63 cars for sale at the price of CAD750-1,000 ($584-$778), along with a CAD$4,000 shipping fee. STM then chose seven submissions to receive the disused baby-blue cars, which are part of the oldest fleet in North America. Winning projects include an art installation made up of 16 sets of sliding doors and a community centre built\u00a0from multiple carriages stacked on top of each other.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australia can reach renewable energy tipping point by 2020: EY \n Australia can reach a renewable energy tipping point in 2020, with renewable generation costs to be less than fossil fuels, EY power leaders say.\n\nAustralia may be one of the first nations to reach this stable grid parity point, EY Global Advisory power and utility leader Serge Colle told Fairfax Media.\n\n\"As early as 2021, [globally] we reach what we call grid parity; with Australia, the expectation is that this will come one year earlier, as early as 2020,\" Mr Colle said.\n\nGrid parity is when renewable or alternative sources can produce energy at a levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) equal to or less than buying energy generated from traditional power sources such as coal or natural gas.", "output": "The cost of renewable energy may fall below coal and natural gas in Australia by 2020, a year earlier than in many other markets, because of the high price of baseload power in the country, according to EY. \"If gas in Australia was near its historical cost levels or near that of the USA \u2013 of $3 to $4 per gigajoule \u2013 then gas would still be competitive for a few years yet, but that is not the case with gas at $10/GJ\", said Grattan Institute energy director Tony Wood."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UPS to convert New York delivery vans from diesel to electric \n Financials\n\nUPS Releases 1Q 2023 Earnings\n\nUPS today announced first-quarter 2023 consolidated revenues of $22.9 billion, a 6.0% decrease from the first quarter of 2022.", "output": "US logistics company UPS is planning to convert two-thirds of its New York delivery fleet from diesel to electric. The project will be conducted under a partnership between the company and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, which will provide $500,000 of funding to help develop effective conversion technology. Unique Electric Systems will work with UPS to design and build the system, which should be operational next spring. The plans would mean about 1,500 UPS vans going electric by 2022.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI quicker than human analysts to locate missile sites \n Intelligence agencies have a limited number of trained human analysts looking for undeclared nuclear facilities, or secret military sites, hidden among terabytes of satellite images. But the same sort of deep learning artificial intelligence that enables Google and Facebook to automatically filter images of human faces and cats could also prove invaluable in the world of spy versus spy. An early example: US researchers have trained deep learning algorithms to identify Chinese surface-to-air missile sites\u2014hundreds of times faster than their human counterparts.\n\nThe deep learning algorithms proved capable of helping people with no prior imagery analysis experience find surface-to-air missile sites scattered across nearly 90,000 square kilometers of southeastern China. Such AI based on neural networks\u2014layers of artificial neuron capable of filtering and learning from huge amounts of data\u2014matched the overall 90 percent accuracy of expert human imagery analysts in locating the missile sites. Perhaps even more impressively, the deep learning software helped humans reduce the time needed to eyeball potential missile sites from 60 hours to just 42 minutes.\n\n\"The algorithms were used to find the locations where they said there is a high confidence of a missile site, and then humans reviewed the results for accuracy and figured out how much time the algorithms saved,\" says Curt Davis, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science, and director of the Center for Geospatial Intelligence, at the University of Missouri. \"To my knowledge that\u2019s never been studied before: How much time did you save, and how does that ultimately impact the human performance?\"\n\nThe University of Missouri study, published on October 6 in the Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, comes at a time when satellite imagery analysts are figuratively drowning in a deluge of big data. DigitalGlobe, a leading commercial satellite imagery company, generates about 70 terabytes of raw satellite imagery each day, never mind all the imagery data coming from other commercial satellites and government spy satellites.\n\n'How much time did you save, and how does that ultimately impact the human performance?' Curt Davis, University of Missouri\n\nDavis and his colleagues showed how off-the-shelf deep learning models\u2014heavily trained and modified for satellite imagery analysis\u2014could identify objects of potentially great interest to intelligence agencies and national security experts. The deep learning models, including GoogleNet and Microsoft Research's ResNet, were initially created to detect and classify objects in traditional photo and video imagery. Davis and his colleagues adapted such models to the challenges and limitations of interpreting satellite imagery, such as training some deep learning models to interpret both color and black-and-white imagery, in case only black-and-white images of SAM sites were available.\n\nThey did so with satellite imagery representing a huge swath of Chinese territory, not that much smaller than the entire country of North Korea.\n\nAnd in fact, analysts rely extensively on satellite imagery to keep track of how North Korea's weapons programs evolve. Human analysts have already likely identified most, if not all, existing SAM sites within the relatively small country. But similar deep learning tools could help automatically flag new SAM sites that appear in North Korea or other countries. Knowing the location of existing and new SAM sites can sometimes lead analysts to other locations of interest, because countries often place SAM sites in specific areas to defend valuable nearby assets from air attack.\n\nThe latest study also illustrates the challenges of applying deep learning AI to satellite imagery analysis. One major problem is the relative lack of large training datasets that include the hand-labeled examples needed to train deep learning algorithms to accurately identify features in satellite imagery. The University of Missouri team combined public data on the worldwide locations of about 2,200 SAM sites with DigitalGlobe satellite imagery to create their training data, and then tested four deep learning models to find the best-performing one.", "output": "Scientists in the US have developed artificial intelligence (AI) systems which can detect undeclared missile sites from satellite images much quicker than human analysts. A team at the University of Missouri's Center for Geospatial Intelligence conducted an exercise using images of 90,000 sq km of southeastern China, which were analysed using the AI's deep learning algorithms. Using the system, they were able to reduce the time taken to identify potential missile sites from 60 hours to 42 minutes, and matched the 90% accuracy rates of human analysts.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Airbnb buys Chicago-based adtech start-up AdBasis \n Image via Shutterstock\n\nAirbnb just bet on Chicago-crafted adtech to extend its global reach.\n\nAdBasis, a Chicago startup whose technology lets advertisers experiment with hundreds of variations for a single ad campaign at once, just announced that it has been acquired by Airbnb.\n\nTerms of the deal were not disclosed.\n\nThe startup said it will continue working on its ad testing and optimization platform as part of the Airbnb team. AdBasis will remain available to other customers, which include Angie\u2019s List, Safeway and Tableau, until February 2018, according to a statement released by the startup. After that point, the platform will become an internal resource for Airbnb's marketing department, according to a source familiar with the deal.\n\nAdBasis lets marketers drop Photoshop projects directly into its SaaS platform, indicating which elements of the ad they would like to run automated variations on. Variations can include anything from minor tweaks to copy or design elements to swapping out photos based on user demographics or location.\n\nThe startup's technology also tracks how different variations on a campaign perform, helping marketers stretch their advertising dollars further.\n\nAirbnb, which is a longtime AdBasis customer and has more than 3 million individual listings across the world, will use the platform to improve its targeting and optimization efforts, the source said.\n\nAdBasis was founded by Jason Puckett and Joseph DiVita, veterans of Chicago tech companies Social Katy and Belly, respectively. The startup launched its services in 2015.", "output": "Airbnb has acquired a Chicago-based advertising start-up to boost its online marketing operation. AdBasis, which already counted Airbnb as a long-standing customer, provides brands with a system for optimising their adverts by testing hundreds of different versions at once. The company was launched in 2015 and provides services to clients including Angie's List, Safeway and Tableau, which it will continue serving until February 2018 when it will become an internal resource purely for Airbnb. Financial details of the deal have not been made public.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Final tests begin on Tesla's Australian 'big battery' \n The world's largest lithium-ion battery being built in South Australia to store renewable energy is about to enter final testing.\n\nState Premier Jay Weatherill has said Elon Musk's Tesla has finished installing the battery powerpacks at Jamestown, in the state's mid-north, where they are linked to an adjacent wind farm.\n\nWeatherill said the 100-megawatt battery will now be energised and tested to ensure it meets all energy market and state government regulatory requirements, and will be up and running in time for the Southern Hemisphere's summer season.\n\nWhen first announced in July, the battery came with a guarantee from Musk that it would be working within 100 days of the grid interconnection agreement being signed, or it would be free for the South Australian government.\n\nThe 100MW/129MWh battery is expected to provide backup and stability services through energy storage to the South Australian grid.\n\nLast week, Musk unveiled the Tesla Semi, an electric truck with a range of 500 miles that is slated to be in production by 2019.\n\nTechRepublic: Elon Musk and the cult of Tesla: How a tech startup rattled the auto industry to its core\n\nWhile Tesla has yet to disclose the cost, battery size, or distribution plans for its new trucks, a number of companies have already signed up to purchase units.\n\nIn September, Musk's SpaceX venture also announced its plans for the BFR rocket, which is intended to allow for manned missions to Mars, as well as travel to any city on Earth within an hour after launch.\n\nWith AAP\n\nRelated Coverage\n\nFive things you need to know about Tesla's new electric semi truck\n\nTesla just unveiled an all-electric, semi-trailer truck at an event in California, and here's all you need to know.\n\nTesla nearing deal to build its own plant in China: Report\n\nTesla is passing on the joint venture route and plans to build its own electric car plant in Shanghai's free-trade zone, a new report said.\n\nTesla's solar roofs could revolutionize the industry\n\nTesla and SolarCity have just unveiled a new series of solar roofs that look almost indistinguishable from traditional ones, and are said to cost the same amount of money.\n\nHere are all the companies that have bought Tesla's electric semi truck so far (TechRepublic)\n\nThe Tesla Semi was formally unveiled in November 2017, and a host of big-name companies have pre-ordered the trucks to try them out.\n\nWill human drivers always be the weak link when sharing the road with autonomous vehicles? (TechRepublic)\n\nA collision between a self-driving shuttle and a human-driven truck in Las Vegas shows the inevitability of accidents, and who is more likely to be at fault, as we share the road with robots.", "output": "Tesla's 100 MW energy storage project in South Australia is entering the final stages of testing. The world's largest lithium-ion battery will store energy from a wind farm at Jamestown and\u00a0release it into the grid when demand is high or supply is low. Tesla\u00a0CEO Elon Musk had pledged that the development would be completed free of charge to the South Australian government if it wasn't operational within 100 days of the agreement being signed."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Irish agriculture tech firms increasing look to export market \n Enterprise Ireland, the Irish Government agency, aims to boost UK-Irish trade relations and support farmers to produce, sell and export more than ever before. Providing funding and support has allowed client companies to develop innovative solutions from the laboratory through to the farm, including a number of \u2018smart farming\u2019 solutions.\n\nWith Irish agricultural exports exceeding \u20ac44m in 2016, and several Irish companies exporting on a global scale, it is clear collaboration between the UK and Ireland will continue to be key despite current Brexit uncertainty. In particular, Enterprise Ireland expects to see a strong spike in demand for innovative technology, with a number of Irish disruptors gaining momentum in the UK market. Leaders in this space range from MagGrow, a magnetic spraying technology that helps farmers grow more by using less, to HerdWatch, the number one farm management app.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe agricultural sector is changing rapidly and, with stats showing that food production must increase by 70% by 2050 to feed the 9.6bn people predicted to inhabit the planet[1], increasing the quantity and quality of agricultural production is paramount. One way to achieve this is through making farms more \u201cintelligent\u201d and more connected through \u2018precision agriculture\u2019.\n\nRecognising the need to encourage, grow and develop the next generation of Irish agri-business companies and enable them to compete on a global scale, Enterprise Ireland supports innovative agri businesses through a series of initiatives, including:\n\n\u00b7 The Competitive Feasibililty Fund for Agri-Business \u2013 With a total fund size of up to \u20ac250,000, this fund aims to support agri-business entrepreneurs grow scalable businesses. Applications for funding are considered on a competitive basis.\n\n\u00b7 The Competitive Start Fund \u2013 Agriculture and Manufacturing - The purpose of the Competitive Start Fund is to accelerate the growth of start-up companies that have the capability to succeed in global markets. The fund is designed to enable those companies reach key commercial and technical milestones. The maximum support available is \u20ac50,000 for a 10% ordinary equity stake in the start-up company.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u00b7 The National Ploughing Championships Innovation Arena Awards, in conjunction with Enterprise Ireland.\n\n\u00b7 In addition, there are Research & Development supports for clients in the form of funding. Enterprise Ireland also provides on-the-ground support for attending shows in-market, market experts, pathfinders and lead-generation support.\n\nSean Long, Senior Market Adviser at Enterprise Ireland, commented: \u201cWhile unpicking the UK\u2019s relationship with Europe is a huge task and there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding the future of UK agriculture, Ireland has historically been a first-point partner in the agricultural sector, and we hope this relationship will continue. The agricultural space is moving even faster into the digital world, and Ireland is perfectly placed to service the next generation of UK farmers.", "output": "\"Smart farming\" systems are forming an important part of the Irish agricultural export market to the UK, which exceeded \u20ac44m ($52.3m) last year. The Irish government sees a key role for disruptive technologies in the sector, both for global export and for use on farms in the country. Examples that have made an impact on the UK market include a magnetic spraying technology called MagGrow and a farm management app called HerdWatch. The development and effective use of such technology is being encouraged with a package of\u00a0government initiatives designed to support innovation and start-up agri-tech companies.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BBVA completes export documents pilot using Wave's DLT \n BBVA, the Spanish banking group, in collaboration with Wave, a company which allows members of the supply-chain a direct exchange of documents in a decentralized environment conducted the first pilot that uses blockchain to automate the electronic submission of documents in an import-export transaction between Europe and Latin America.\n\nThanks to the Wave solution, which uses Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and blockchain, BBVA was able to reduce the time required to send, verify and authorize an international trade transaction, which normally takes from seven to ten days, to just 2.5 hours.\n\nThe pilot was run on an actual sale transaction between Mexico and Spain, in which Frime, a company of Barcelona, Spain, bought more than 25 tons of frozen tuna from Pinsa Congelados, of Mazatlan, M\u00e9xico. The payment was made using a letter of credit \u2013 the most common payment system in international trade transactions. BBVA Spain issued the letter and BBVA Bancomer processed the payment.\n\nThe large volume of documentation required by a letter of credit entails a series of different processes that in most cases involve error-prone processes such as manual checks and sending physical documents, of which can make the process last up to two weeks.\n\nThe Wave system made it possible to make changes or corrections that arose from the moment the goods were loaded until their arrival at the destination. The pilot also included the electronic signature of documents, the simultaneous distribution of copies to all parties and the reception of the ownership of the documentation at each step along the way.\n\nWave\u2019s electronic submission of documents represents a huge step forward in terms of cost savings and greater efficiency, makes the entire process transparent and reduces operational risk.\n\nThis project is part of BBVA\u2019s commitment to digitize the financial sector and make it more efficient through the use of emerging technologies like DLT and blockchain. In addition to the pilot with Wave, BBVA has also conducted others for currency conversions and international transfers.\n\nBBVA belongs to the leading consortiums working on developing platforms and proofs of concept related to blockchain, such as R3, Hyperledger, Enterprise Ethereum Alliance and Alastria.", "output": "Spanish banking group BBVA has used blockchain technology to complete an export deal between companies in Spain and Mexico. The bank used a distributed ledger technology (DLT) system developed by technology firm Wave, which enables users to verify and authorise documents automatically along the supply chain much faster and with more accuracy than by using conventional procedures. The trial operation involved a genuine sale of 25 tons of frozen tuna, and the transaction time was cut from seven to 10 days to just two and a half hours.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Driverless buses to serve three Singaporean districts by 2022 \n While driverless buses are making cameos in Las Vegas and Michigan, they're set to become a more common sight in Singapore in the near future. Following initial trials of an autonomous shuttle (fit for 80 passengers), the country plans to bring a mixture of the larger buses and smaller mini-vans to three new neighborhoods by 2022.\n\nSingapore has been at the forefront of driverless tech for years, which fits nicely with its mission to become the world's first smart city. This year alone it launched a robo-cop car, allowed Scania to trial autonomous trucks on its roads, and gave the green light to Peugeot's driverless vehicle tests. Now, with the opening of a self-driving vehicle center, the nation is trying to lure even more manufacturers. And, according to the government, around six as-yet undisclosed firms are ready to try out their tech at its two-acre facility.\n\nThe center is also serving as the testing ground for the shuttles, before they make their way to Punggol, Tengah, and the Jurong Innovation District, where they'll run during off-peak hours. Commuters will be able to hail the buses using their smartphones.\n\nBut, Singapore already has some competition on its hands, in the form of Baidu's upcoming driverless bus trials in China, and Finland's pilot programs in Helsinki.", "output": "The government of Singapore has unveiled plans to introduce driverless buses to three districts by 2022. Singapore recently opened an AV testing centre, where a number of companies are experimenting with the technology and which is being used to develop the shuttle\u00a0buses. Commuters will be able to hail the\u00a0buses with their smartphones."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Drones, smartphones helping fight malaria spread in Tanzania \n The fight against malaria has been improving, but there's still lots more work to do. For one thing, anti-larval sprays are both expensive and time-consuming -- you can't always afford to spray an entire area. Thankfully, a mix of technology is making that mosquito battle more practical. Wales' Aberystwyth University and Tanzania's Zanzibar Malaria Elimination Programme have partnered on an initiative that uses drones to survey malaria hot zones and identify the water-laden areas where malaria-carrying mosquitoes are likely to breed.\n\nAn off-the-shelf drone (in this case, DJI's Phantom 3) can cover a large rice paddy in 20 minutes, and the data can be processed in the space of an afternoon. You can discover and spray trouble zones within hours, preventing outbreaks from getting started. And there are expansion plans, too. The next step is to bring the drone imagery to smartphones to both guide the spraying teams and track their progress. Instead of having only a general idea of where to go, sprayers can make a beeline for affected areas and report back when they're done.\n\nIt could be a while before drone-assisted spraying finds widespread use. There are concerns that drones may interfere with local wildlife and spark privacy concerns. The creators hope that familiarizing residents will make them more comfortable with the technology, though, and mindfulness could prevent clashes with the ecosystem. So long as that happens, it might be possible to virtually wipe out malaria in entire neighborhoods without having to spend a fortune or waste valuable hours.", "output": "An initiative between Aberystwyth University in Wales and the Tanzanian Zanzibar Malaria Elimination Programme is using DJI Phantom 3 drones to survey malaria hotspots in Tanzania and identify areas were disease-carrying mosquitoes are likely to breed. The next stage of the programme will bring the imagery to smartphones to help guide eradication teams treating the affected area with anti-larval sprays.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "India approaching AI with caution as IT boom comes under threat  \n When his employment was terminated, Kumar was earning close to $17,000 annually, a nice middle-class salary in India. Around the same time, Tech Mahindra announced profits for the previous financial year of $419 million, on revenue of $4.35 billion. (Tech Mahindra did not respond to a request for comment for this story.) IT services and related offerings in India record annual revenue of $154 billion and employ nearly four million people. The sector\u2019s vigor has relied upon its ability to shave costs lower and lower\u2014upon its ability to arbitrage the cheaply bought skills of workers like Sunil Kumar.\n\nBangalore is filled with IT professionals and engineers who resemble him. His curly hair is thin on top and gray at the temples; when we spoke he was wearing a faded checked Tommy Hilfiger shirt, a backpack, and a look of subdued anxiety. He grew up in a village a few hundred miles from Bangalore, where his father wove silk saris on a handloom. In 1995, when he was 15, he moved to Bangalore to study for a diploma in mechanical engineering; it was a step below a university degree, which he would gain later through a correspondence course.\n\nUntil he joined Tech Mahindra, in the summer of 2008, Kumar worked as a draftsman at an aerospace firm. The new job opened his life up the way the IT industry did for so many Indians, offering a chance to vault from a blue-collar background to a white-collar future. He got married, and the couple had a son; he took out a loan of $47,000 to buy a house, so that his parents and two brothers, who followed him to Bangalore, could stay with him. \u201cI live a middle-class life,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t want to showcase to people that I\u2019m doing an IT job. Branded shirts, shoes\u2014I don\u2019t want them.\u201d\n\nThe size and prestige of India\u2019s IT industry are reflected in the design of Infosys campuses in Mysore (above) and Bangalore (below).\n\nINDIAPICTURES/UIG VIA GETTY IMAGES\n\nWhen Kumar lost his job, he became part of a wave of layoffs washing through the Indian IT industry\u2014a term that includes, in its vastness, call centers, engineering services, business process outsourcing firms, and infrastructure management and software companies. The recent layoffs are part of the industry\u2019s most significant period of churn since it began to boom two decades ago. Companies don\u2019t necessarily attribute these layoffs directly to automation, but at the same time, they constantly identify automation as the spark for huge changes in the industry. Bots, machine learning, and algorithms that robotically execute processes are rendering old skills redundant, recasting the idea of work and making a smaller labor force seem likely.\n\nAn analysis by the business newspaper Mint reported that the top seven IT firms in India will lay off at least 56,000 employees this year. After its annual general meeting this summer, the $10 billion behemoth Infosys announced that 11,000 of its 200,000 employees had been \u201creleased\u201d from repetitive tasks by automation and redeployed elsewhere within the company, the burden of their previous work now borne by algorithms. HfS Research, which studies the IT industry, predicted last year that automation will result in a net loss of 480,000 jobs in India by 2021. \u201cIf we sit still, there is absolutely no doubt that our jobs are going to be wiped out by AI,\u201d Vishal Sikka said in March, when he was still the CEO of Infosys. (Sikka resigned in August.) \u201cSixty to 70 percent over the next 10 years\u2014or maybe less than 10 years\u2014of the jobs that we do today are going to be replaced by AI ... unless we continue to evolve ourselves.\u201d\n\nAutomation could hit India particularly hard because much of its high-tech economy involves \u00adrelatively routine work that is prime for computers to take over.\n\nThe fear that AI is pulverizing jobs is not unique to India, but automation could hit this country particularly hard because so much of its high-tech economy involves relatively routine work that is prime for computers to take over. In some cases, Indian IT services companies will automate the work themselves. In other cases, companies in the West will do it, so they no longer have to farm work out to humans in India.\n\nSunil Kumar wasn\u2019t told, in any detail, why he was being let go; he insists that what he did at Tech Mahindra wasn\u2019t automatable, and that he was fired as part of a drive to invigorate the bottom line. Devika Narayan, a sociologist at the University of Minnesota who is researching the subject for her doctoral thesis, thinks automation may indeed be getting too much blame for the loss of jobs like his. Companies might well be talking up automation to mask some of their own failures, or to distract from the ill effects of other factors beyond their control, she says. She points out that many IT giants are flabby and overstaffed, and that American companies are now wary, given the U.S. political climate, of sending work overseas. \u201cThe extent to which automation is being exaggerated is still unclear to me,\u201d Narayan says. She suspects that Indian IT companies \u201cwant to leverage this automation narrative to undertake structural changes, particularly downsizing.\u2019\u201d", "output": "The rise of automation in India is regarded as a double-edged sword, with companies benefitting from technological advances and reduced costs of artificial intelligence (AI), but human workers paying the price through unemployment, according to Samanth Subramanian. Writing for the MIT Technology\u00a0Review, he said the country's two-decade old IT boom could be ended by chatbots and algorithms. While only about 25% of easily automated tasks are being carried out solely by machines in India, according to Forrester Research, Subramanian said Indian businesses are still \"enthusiastically dabbling\" in the sector, spelling potential doom for the IT industry.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NASA sends E.coli into low orbit to test antibiotics in space \n NASA is sending E. coli to space for astronaut health\n\n\n\nby Frank Tavares, Ames Research News\n\n\n\nMoffett Field Ca (SPX) Nov 27, 2017\n\n\n\nEcAMSat contains this experimental module, inside which the E. coli are stored. Nutrients, the antibiotic, a special dye and waste are stored in bags connected through a series of tubes to the microfluidics card - a device storing small pools of liquid containing the bacteria. Credits: NASA/Ames Research Center/Dominic Hart\n\nEver wonder what would happen if you got sick in space? NASA has sent bacteria samples into low-Earth orbit to help find out.\n\nOne of the agency's latest small satellite experiments is the E. coli Anti-Microbial Satellite, or EcAMSat, which will explore the genetic basis for how effectively antibiotics can combat E. coli bacteria in the low gravity of space. This CubeSat - a spacecraft the size of a shoebox built from cube-shaped units - has just been deployed from the space station, and may help us improve how we fight infections, providing safer journeys for astronauts on future voyages, and offer benefits for medicine here on Earth.\n\n\"If we find resistance is higher in microgravity, we can do something, because we'll know the gene responsible for it, and be able to design countermeasures,\" said A. C. Matin, principal investigator for the EcAMSat investigation at Stanford University in California. \"If we are serious about the exploration of space, we need to know how human vital systems are influenced by microgravity.\"\n\nScientists believe that bacteria like E. coli may experience stress in microgravity. This stress triggers defense systems in the bacteria, making it harder for antibiotics to work against them. Bacteria on Earth do something similar by developing a natural resistance to traditional antibiotic treatments. By knowing how E. coli's resistance to antibiotics changes in space, we can also better understand bacteria on Earth, leading to more effective treatments here, too.\n\nThe E. coli strains used on EcAMSat are responsible for urinary tract infections, which can happen to astronauts in space in addition to other types of infections. With these results, scientists will learn about the ideal dosage of medicine to combat E. coli infections in space, and explore other techniques that could enhance the power of antibiotics that already exist today.\n\n\"Beyond low-Earth orbit, the compounding human health effects of microgravity and space radiation will require more knowledge about how biology reacts to the space environment,\" said Stevan Spremo, project manager for the mission at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley.\n\n\"Lessons learned in this experiment will serve as a stepping stone for more advanced biological CubeSat missions, answering critical questions.\"\n\nEcAMSat is a uniquely autonomous satellite, meaning it can conduct its experiment without any communication from Earth. After arriving at the International Space Station, crew will work with ground controllers to release the satellite into orbit, and it is programed to automatically begin its experiment. Students at Santa Clara University in California will monitor the spacecraft, handle mission operations and download data.\n\nThe spacecraft will awaken the dormant E. coli by flooding them with a nutrient-rich fluid, adjusting their containers to the temperature of the human body, and then injecting the bacterial samples with different amounts of antibiotics. Two types of E. coli will be compared: one with a naturally occurring gene that helps it resist antibiotics, the other without.\n\nThe bacteria will be mixed with a dye that changes from blue to pink. A dye that remains blue indicates most cells have died in reaction to the antibiotic. The more cells that remain viable and active in spite of the medicine, the stronger shade of pink the dye becomes. An on-board color sensor will detect these changes, and determine how strongly the two types of E. coli resist the antibiotic at different doses.\n\nThe experiment will last for 150 hours as EcAMSat orbits the Earth, and the dataset, less than a megabyte in total, will then be transmitted via radio down to Earth. After the conclusion of its mission, this little satellite will burn up in the Earth's atmosphere some 18 months later.\n\nKeeping Astronauts Healthy Today, Searching for Life Tomorrow\n\nEcAMSat is not only building on a legacy of reliable hardware design demonstrated on prior small satellite missions, but also maturing technology for future missions to enhance our understanding of life in our solar system. In the future, some of the same components designed for EcAMSat could live on in other missions.\n\n\"Though EcAMSat will only fly this once, many of its components may embark on a different mission: life detection in the solar system,\" said Tony Ricco, chief technologist for the mission at Ames. \"Using sensors and the microfluidics technology from EcAMSat, NASA is developing the technology needed to look for life on moons such as Enceladus and Europa - ocean worlds covered by icy crusts.\"\n\nIn a package the size of a couple loaves of bread, the science from this satellite will provide health benefits for future astronauts and humans on Earth for decades to come.\n\nGreenbelt MD (SPX) Nov 01, 2017\n\n\n\n\n\nA diagnostic tool, similar in theory to those used by the medical profession to non-invasively image internal organs, bones, soft tissue, and blood vessels, could be equally effective at \"triaging\" extraterrestrial rocks and other samples before they are shipped to Earth for further analysis. In an effort designed to find creative uses of technology for future robotic and human missions to ... read more\n\nRelated Links\n\n", "output": "NASA is using an autonomous satellite to conduct experiments to determine how low gravity might affect resistance to antibiotics. The project involves a small craft the size of a shoebox made up of cubes containing a strain of the bacteria E.coli responsible for urinary tract infections. Named the E.coli Anti-Microbial Satellite, it will be launched into orbit from the International Space Station and will conduct the experiments automatically over a 150-hour period before transmitting the results to scientists at Santa Clara University in California. It will then burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Online lending firm WeLab plans $500m IPO \n Hong Kong-based online mobile lending start-up WeLab, backed by investors including Credit Suisse Group AG, local tycoon Li Ka-Shing and Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund, is planning an initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.", "output": "Hong Kong-based online mobile lending platform WeLab is looking to an initial public offering (IPO) on the country's stock exchange to help raise $500m, according to anonymous insiders. The four-year-old start-up, which counts Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund and Credit Suisse Group among its backers, analyses unstructured data in seconds to help borrowers make decisions on loans. The IPO comes at a time when China is cracking down on micro-lenders, and regulatory body the Internet Financial Risk Special Rectification Work Leadership Team Office recently asked local governments to stop issuing licences.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bitcoin\u2019s mining uses more electricity than whole of Ireland \n Luke Broyles\n\n@luke_broyles\n\n$1 billion #Bitcoin...\n\n\n\nFidelity's @TimmerFidelity thinks #BTC could reach $1 billion by 2038, or 15 years from today.\n\n\n\nThis would make one sat worth $10.\n\n\n\nWho knows if 2038 will be right... However if #Bitcoin thesis is correct there is no logical conversation rate for USD. \ud83e\udd2f", "output": "Bitcoin\u2019s mining network, used to prevent fraud, consumes more electricity annually than all\u00a0of Ireland, according to cryptocurrency news platform, Digiconomist. The statistics, which showed Bitcoin using 30.14TWh per year, were released as the currency broke $9,000 for the first time. Such usage exceeds that of 19 European countries and means\u00a0each Bitcoin transaction uses nearly 300KWh of electricity, equivalent to boiling 36,000 full kettles. One of Visa\u2019s two US data centres, which conduct 200 million transactions daily compared to Bitcoin\u2019s 350,000, is believed to run on 2% of the cryptocurrency's\u00a0power.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bitcoin\u2019s mining uses more electricity than whole of Ireland \n Bitcoin\u2019s \u201cmining\u201d network uses more electricity in a year than the whole of Ireland, according to statistics released as the currency broke $9,000 for the first time.\n\nAccording to Digiconomist the estimated power use of the bitcoin network, which is responsible for verifying transactions made with the cryptocurrency, is 30.14TWh a year, which exceeds that of 19 other European countries. At a continual power drain of 3.4GW, it means the network consumes five times more electricity than is produced by the largest wind farm in Europe, the London Array in the outer Thames Estuary, at 630MW.\n\nAt those levels of electricity consumption, each individual bitcoin transaction uses almost 300KWh of electricity \u2013 enough to boil around 36,000 kettles full of water. Although power consumption of other payment networks is harder to isolate, one of Visa\u2019s two US data centres reportedly runs on about 2% of the power required by bitcoin. Between them, those two data centres conduct around 200m transactions a day; the bitcoin network handles fewer than 350,000.\n\nThe astronomical power draw is a facet of how the bitcoin network protects itself against fraud. With no centralised authority confirming transactions, bitcoin is instead backed by \u201cminers\u201d, who put specialised computers to work churning through extremely power-intensive computing problems. Solving those problems both rewards the miner, handing them almost a quarter of a million dollars in bitcoin, and verifies all transactions made in the last 10 minutes.\n\nAs the price of bitcoin goes up, so does the value of the reward, meaning that more miners put more computers to the task of running the network. But since the price of bitcoin doesn\u2019t necessarily rise in step with the number of transactions, that disconnect can mean the currency uses a significant amount of power per transaction in periods of high prices.\n\nThe value of one bitcoin neared $10,000 on 27 November, as the currency continued to grow in its third significant boom in its history. Previous periods of sustained growth, in 2013 and 2014, each ended with substantial busts, leading commentators to label them, in hindsight, as speculative bubbles.", "output": "Bitcoin\u2019s mining network, used to prevent fraud, consumes more electricity annually than all\u00a0of Ireland, according to cryptocurrency news platform, Digiconomist. The statistics, which showed Bitcoin using 30.14TWh per year, were released as the currency broke $9,000 for the first time. Such usage exceeds that of 19 European countries and means\u00a0each Bitcoin transaction uses nearly 300KWh of electricity, equivalent to boiling 36,000 full kettles. One of Visa\u2019s two US data centres, which conduct 200 million transactions daily compared to Bitcoin\u2019s 350,000, is believed to run on 2% of the cryptocurrency's\u00a0power.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Japan, India to pool resources for joint lunar mission \n India and Japan took their deepening natural partnership into outer space when the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) divulged that they may jointly carry out a sample-return mission to the moon.\n\nThere is a sound rationale for this even though the two countries have independent plans to go to the moon: ISRO\u2019s Chandrayaan-2 orbiter-lander-rover mission is proposed for launch in 2018 and JAXA\u2019s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) mission in 2019. They have had success in the past, too: since 2007-08, JAXA\u2019s Selene orbiter and ISRO\u2019s first orbiter-impactor, Chandrayaan-1, have found water on the moon, discovered lunar volcanic tubes, which could serve as sites for human habitation (pdf), and mapped the eternally dark Shackleton crater, among others. Their concern is the wide techno-economic gap with Beijing, which is playing an efficient game of catch-up with Washington. This, in turn, is affecting the geo-strategic balance of power in the Indo-Pacific, and, likewise, India\u2019s and Japan\u2019s security outlook.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nCatching up makes comparisons inevitable. While New Delhi and Tokyo took 10 long years to graduate from orbiter to the forthcoming landing-roving demonstrations, Beijing undertook four lunar missions from 2007 to 2014. The last of them, Chang\u2019e 5-T1, went around the moon, practicing a sample-return mission. In 2018-2019, when India and Japan will carry out SLIM and Chandrayaan-2, Beijing will be technologically far ahead with its back-to-back sample-return missions, Chang\u2019e-5 and Chang\u2019e-6, that are likely to bring back a few kilograms of lunar soil and rocks for high-end analyses. These analyses will be vital for Beijing to develop space systems and technologies for safely carrying out human-rated missions in the 2020s. Beijing\u2019s fast-tracked lunar exploration programme has put it on par with the US and Russia, which are also preparing for human-rated moon missions in the 2020s.\n\nA joint moon mission makes sense also because it is thriftier to pool resources when up against the economically stronger countries: China, US, and Russia. Besides, there are many lessons that Japan can offer India, such as its success with public-private collaboration in the space launch and exploration sector: for nearly two decades, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has been the primary manufacturer and operator of JAXA\u2019s expendable launch system. New Delhi is mulling over privatising the manufacturing, management, and launch operations of its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle by 2020.\n\nThe partnership will also stimulate the development of several crucial technologies, such as the electric ion propulsion (EIP) engines. ISRO recently demonstrated its EIP engines on the South Asia Satellite, a strategic undertaking of prime minister Narendra Modi\u2019s Neighbourhood First Policy. JAXA\u2019s EIP engines have performed intricate and autonomous manoeuvring of the Hayabusa space probe (launched in 2003) that touched the surface of asteroid Itokawa, 300 million miles away from the Earth (pdf).\n\nCrucial for any extraterrestrial sample-return mission is the construction of non-polluting and non-contaminating clean-room infrastructure for the storage of extra-terrestrial samples. JAXA\u2019s Hayabusa series of sample-return missions has resulted in collaborations with companies, like the Hitachi High-Tech Corporation, to develop this. Such infrastructure will also be crucial for space-station based manufacturing, which is an anticipated major industrial sector in the coming decades.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nNew Delhi and Tokyo will also have to devise the network for communicating with the proposed spacecraft. India and Japan currently possess one Deep Space Communication Network (DSCN) antenna each: a 32 m antenna in Karnataka and one measuring 64 m in Nagano, Japan. All their outer space missions have been dependent so far on the US DSCN global triad\u2014three radio antennae, located roughly 120 degrees from each other across the globe\u2014based in California, Spain, and Australia. China, Russia, and Europe possess an independent DSCN global triad, which they regarded a national priority. Considering the numerous outer space missions, planned by American public agencies and their thriving private space sector, it is likely that the US DSCN will have too many domestic liabilities to be available for international customers. Therefore, Tokyo and New Delhi should use their partnership to build a DSCN infrastructure each\u2014the state-of-the-art 70 m antenna\u2014on each other\u2019s land parcels. They should together pitch for a property in the Western Hemisphere, akin to what the Chinese acquired in Patagonia, Argentina.\n\nLunar exploration technologies that seemed fantasies in the past are now becoming imminent possibilities. The rush to acquire them is resulting in a space race in Asia that is additionally yielding scientific research and techno-economic growth. It is, therefore, important that the new India-Japan outer-space partnership use the lunar mission as an opportunity to fill the gaps, techno-economic and otherwise.\n\nThis article was exclusively written for Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations. We welcome your comments at ideas.india@qz.com.", "output": "India and Japan are looking to team up for an unmanned mission to gather samples from the\u00a0moon surface in a bid to overtake China in the Asian space race. The fast-tracked Chinese lunar exploration programme has put the country on par with the US and Russia. A joint moon mission between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) would allow the pair to pool resources when up against their economically\u00a0stronger rivals\u00a0and also stimulate development of technologies such as electric ion propulsion engines.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NVIDIA to apply its AI to medical image processing \n NVIDIA's AI will help GE speed up medical image processing Deep learning tech is doing some of its best work in hospitals.\n\nDeep learning tech is making itself at home in hospitals by helping radiologists examine medical scans for just a buck per image. Now, GE Healthcare is bringing that AI tech directly to the scanners, thanks to partnerships with NVIDIA and Intel. It announced that it will update 500,000 of its medical devices around the world with NVIDIA AI tech, most notably its Revolution Frontier CT scanner (below). The tech \"is expected to deliver better clinical outcomes in liver lesion detection and kidney lesion characterization because of its speed,\" GE wrote in a press release.\n\nThe tech will also be used in GE's advanced ultrasound imaging devices to provide visualization and quantification of data. \"NVIDIA's GPUs accelerate reconstruction and visualization of blood flow and improve 2D and 4D imaging for ... interventional deployments,\" the company said.\n\nClinical diagnosis has dramatically improved thanks to improved imaging via incredibly advanced MRI, CT and other machines, but there's a downside to that tech. It generates up to 50,000 terabytes of data, per hospital, but only three percent of that is analyzed or even tagged, says GE.\n\nUsing AI would not just help patients, but also make the data available for further analysis so the algorithms can be refined even more. As such, GE is also developing a new analytics platform and placing some of the data in NVIDIA's GPU Cloud. It has also teamed with Intel on its Xeon Scalable platform to get images to radiologists more quickly.\n\nAI can produce impressive results, but it often takes months or even years of training to get there. For instance, Zebra-Med was only able to unveil its $1 per scan service after training its system on millions of images, in cooperation with hospitals in the UK and US. Companies like GE, NVIDIA and Intel have an even larger reach, and can potentially give researchers a more impressive amount of data to work with. So, for now, Elon Musk's fears aside, AI has a better chancing of healing us than hurting us.", "output": "GE Healthcare has partnered with Intel and Nvidia to update 500,000 of its medical scanning devices with artificial intelligence (AI) technology, according to a company statement. Among the machines being improved is the Revolution Frontier CT scanner, which\u00a0detects liver lesion and kidney lesion characterisation. AI will also be integrated into GE Healthcare's ultrasound devices, offering improved 2D and 4D imaging. The medical company is also set to develop an analytics platform to archive some of the 50,000 TB of data generated by the machines in Nvidia's GPU Cloud.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gut-monitoring wearable seen aiding post-op recovery, weight loss\u00a0\u00a0 \n Consumer health devices are giving all of us new insights into our bodies, from the quality of our sleep to the number of steps we take each day.\n\nBut thus far, the stomach remains elusive.\n\nDoctors at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles are testing out a new wearable called \"AbStats,\" that can read the stomach in a similar manner to how a Fitbit tracks steps. The device was invented by Brennan Spiegel, director of health services research at Cedars-Sinai.\n\nThe device, which sits neatly on the stomach, uses sensors to record how our gut sounds when it's digesting food or at rest. The algorithm is trained to hear relevant sounds from the gut like cracks and rumbles.", "output": "Wearable gut-monitoring technology being developed to aid surgical recovery may also support in weight loss programmes. The AbStats\u00a0device,\u00a0being tested\u00a0by scientists at the Los Angeles\u00a0Cedar-Sinai Hospital,\u00a0uses sensors to record and assess patients' gut sounds, both while digesting food and at rest. It's being tested on post-op patients to determine whether they are ready to eat. They are also examining whether AbStats could be used to help patients lose a few pounds, as it is thought weight gain could be caused by eating meals before fully digesting an earlier one.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nvidia, Nuance partner to help healthcare institutions use AI \n Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More\n\nNvidia and Nuance announced a partnership today that\u2019s aimed at helping health care institutions tap into artificial intelligence. The Nuance AI Marketplace for Diagnostic Imaging is, as the name suggests, designed as a hub where medical professionals can pick up new tools for analyzing the results of X-ray imaging and other radiology tools.\n\nAI developers will be able to release the models they\u2019ve trained through Nuance\u2019s PowerShare network, which will then allow participating medical institutions and radiology groups to subscribe. After they\u2019ve subscribed, Nuance\u2019s PowerScribe software will automatically apply the AI algorithm in relevant situations.\n\nNvidia\u2019s Digits developer tool will be updated to provide developers with a way to publish their algorithms directly to Nuance PowerShare, so it\u2019s easier for people to get their applications into the marketplace.\n\nThe deal is designed to help medical institutions benefit from the rise of machine learning by offering access to trained models. What\u2019s more, the institutions developing these models can benefit from sharing them with other radiologists to drive the overall field forward.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\nMedical imaging is a tough field to tackle with machine learning since it encompasses multiple sections of the body and uses different machines that output different results. (A static X-ray film is quite different from a video of an ultrasound, for example.) On top of that, radiologists are often looking for different objects on the resulting images or videos.\n\nWith that in mind, Kimberly Powell, vice president for health care at Nvidia, said she expects multiple algorithms working in concert will be necessary to provide even a single diagnosis through a single test. The marketplace is supposed to support that vision by making it easier for medical professionals to orchestrate the use of multiple systems.\n\nThe news comes alongside another partnership between Nvidia and GE Healthcare to use the chip maker\u2019s hardware to help power improved hardware for CT scans and ultrasounds, as well as an analytics platform.", "output": "Massachusetts computer software firm Nuance has partnered with US chip manufacturer Nvidia to launch a tool aimed at bringing artificial intelligence (AI) to the field of medical imaging. The Nuance AI Marketplace for Diagnostic Imaging offers a platform for developers to release shareable AI models which help analyse X-ray images and other radiology systems. Kimberly Powell, VP for health care at Nvidia, said she expects to see several algorithms working in concert to provide a single diagnosis due to the complex nature of the field.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI harnessed to help overcome doctor shortage in India \n Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More\n\nIn a world with limited doctors, emerging diseases and superbugs, and sharply rising costs, how can we successfully tackle health care problems at scale? This is just one of the critical challenges India\u2019s explosive startup community hopes to solve by implementing AI to serve the needs of the country\u2019s 1,324 billion citizens. The result of this effort will have huge implications for the U.S. and other health care ecosystems around the globe.\n\nTo understand how dire the situation is, it\u2019s worth considering India\u2019s health paradox. The country\u2019s deep demographic dividend \u2014 which occurs when the majority of a country\u2019s population consists of working-age individuals \u2014 is driving rapid and unprecedented growth, but it is also a ticking time bomb. With an average age of 27, India has one of the youngest and most educated populations in the world. Since 1991, this phenomenon has fueled approximately 7 percent annual growth, produced new goods and services, and reduced dependents in the economy.\n\nBut in order to continue reaping the benefits of this dividend, India\u2019s young population needs to have access to quality nutrition and health care. In addition, when the dividend declines (as we are witnessing in China), the country will need to have new infrastructure in place to care for its aging population. Unfortunately, the necessary infrastructure doesn\u2019t exist today.\n\nThe doctor-to-patient ratio in India is one of the worst in the world, with just 0.2 doctors for every 1,000 Indians (by comparison, there are 1.1 doctors for every 1,000 Americans in the U.S.). Modern medical facilities \u2014 and as a result, doctors \u2014 are heavily concentrated in urban areas.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\nIndia\u2019s health care issues are primarily a problem of resource scarcity. The country needs more medical facilities and more medical expertise, and both of these require time and billions of dollars to develop. Such resources are not easily obtainable, so we must consider other ways to dramatically increase access to existing resources in an effective and inexpensive way.\n\nThis is where AI has the potential to reshape India\u2019s health care industry. Manu Rekhi, managing director of Inventus, says: \u201cIndian AI platform companies are building upon two decades of India\u2019s IT industry expertise. They are supercharging how software and human intelligence can partner to create new human-in-the-loop AI systems for global markets, as well as the bottom of the pyramid.\u201d\n\nIndeed, a number of Indian startups have implemented deep AI expertise to move the needle on specific health conditions and diseases. Some of these companies offer technology and distribution opportunities that attract Fortune 500 partners for both the India market and globally.\n\nOne such company is Tricog Health, a startup handpicked by GE\u2019s health care accelerator program for its cloud-based cardiac diagnosis platform. Coronary heart disease is increasingly prevalent in India, having escalated from causing 26 percent of adult deaths in 2003 to 32 percent in 2013. Tricog increases access to cardiac care across 340 cities in 23 states, including in some of the most remote locations in India. The company\u2019s platform collects physiological data and ECGs from medical devices in the field and then uses specialized AI to process the data in real time and give the cardiologist a diagnosis.The cardiologist then reviews the diagnosis and recommends next steps to the GP or nurse in the field instantaneously using the Tricog mobile app. By using Tricog\u2019s AI engine, a few specialists can diagnose over 20,000 patients.\n\nAnother startup, Bengaluru-based Aindra Systems, is using AI to tackle cervical cancer, which is the second most common cancer among Indian women between the ages of 15 and 60. In fact, India represents a whopping one-third of the total global incidences of cervical cancer. Aindra\u2019s solution can detect cervical cancer in its early stages and measurably increase the odds of survival. The company increases the productivity of the pathologists screening cervical cancer samples, who otherwise typically need to manually examine each sample and flag cases with a high cancer probability to an oncologist for further review.\n\nAdarsh Natarajan, founder and CEO of Aindra Systems, says: \u201cOur vision is to implement mass cervical cancer screening using AI, and help the 330 million Indian women in the at-risk age bracket. With early detection, up to 90 percent of deaths can be avoided with appropriate treatment. Aindra\u2019s computational pathology platform includes an affordable and portable point-of-care cervical cancer screening device to automate deep learning analysis and bring down the screening time significantly to help detect cancer at an early stage.\u201d\n\nThe AI boom in health care is just starting, and the up-and-coming list of players is endless. Niramai is working on early detection of breast cancer. Ten3T is providing remote health monitoring services via AI to detect anomalies and alert the patient\u2019s doctor. HealthifyMe, a Bangalore startup, is working on lifestyle diseases like obesity, hypertension, and diabetes. With its AI-enabled nutrition coach, Ria, HealthifyMe brings the best of elite nutrition expertise with AI in the loop.\n\nAnd, of course, global corporate leaders like Google are bringing their AI capabilities to India, as well. Google recently partnered with Aravind Eye Hospitals to use image recognition algorithms to detect early signs of diabetic retinopathy, an eye disease that can cause blindness in diabetics if not treated early. Aravind Eye Hospitals is the largest eye care group in the world, having treated 32 million patients and performed 4 million surgeries. The hospital has provided 128,000 retinal images to Google that have been invaluable for the application of AI to detect diabetic retinopathy in 415 million at-risk diabetic patients worldwide.\n\nWith a bevy of AI-fueled solutions in the works, India is poised to leapfrog over some of the key barriers to conventional health care. Of course, this has profound implications for health care delivery in other countries, including the U.S. With rising health care costs and unfavorable government policies, an increasing number of people in the U.S. are being priced out of access. The burden on emergency rooms across the country is increasing as more people are unable to afford preventative care at primary care centers. AI-assisted technologies could reduce health care costs in the U.S. using the same mechanisms being implemented in India to affordably scale access to millions of people.\n\nThese startup-driven innovations and global platforms are just the tip of the iceberg. AI can ultimately become a force multiplier in bringing preventative health care to everyone, rather than just those in urban or affluent communities. As you\u2019ll often hear AI experts say, \u201cMore data beats better algorithms.\u201d In other words, simpler algorithms only need a larger training dataset to generate accurate, valuable predictions for both payers and providers. With 1.3 billion citizens, India has the potential to provide the vast amounts of data needed to improve the accuracy and precision of these algorithms and empower both startups and large companies to help solve health care problems around the world.\n\nPranav Deshpande is a product marketer at Twilio in San Francisco and a volunteer with Startup Bridge at Stanford, an annual conference that connects leading technology innovators in the US and India to build new relationships for tomorrow\u2019s moonshots.", "output": "Artificial intelligence (AI) could be used to tackle India's doctor shortage. The nation's 1.3 billion population of largely working-age individuals has driven rapid economic growth but could also prove a healthcare time-bomb. The doctor-to-patient ratio is just 0.2 for every 1,000 individuals, compared with 1.1 in the US,\u00a0and modern clinics tend to be concentrated in cities. AI can help address this by increasing access to existing resources. For example, Aindra Systems uses AI to increase the productivity of early-stage cervical cancer screening, while Tricog Health's mobile app helps increase access to cardiac care in remote locations.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Coinbase to add more developers for altcoin support \n Coinbase is one of those cryptocurrency companies looking to expand its presence. There have been rumors regarding the possible addition of other cryptocurrencies. So far, no one knows which currencies those will be exactly or when this will happen. It does appear the company is looking to hire a handful of additional engineers. These staffers could work on any digital currency protocol they would like. An interesting turn of events, to say the least.\n\nIt is good to see Coinbase acknowledge they need to support additional currencies. Right now, their list is still pretty short. Given the strong demand for exposure to other altcoins, something will need to change sooner or later. Integrating altcoin support will not be easy whatsoever. In fact, the company will need to introduce some big changes to make this happen. Hiring additional engineers would certainly help move things along in this regard.\n\nCoinbase is Serious About Altcoin Support\n\nAccording to Brian Armstrong, the company would like to have five additional engineer son board. These staffers can work unsupervised and focus on whichever digital currency protocol they like. This opens the door for altcoin integration on the platform. Whether or not anyone will decide to explore this venture, remains to be seen, though. A lot of altcoin developers would like to see their coin on this exchange. However, they need to pass the engineering interview first and foremost. That may be a bit of a challenge for a lot of people.\n\nhttps://twitter.com/brian_armstrong/status/934563254101164033?s=17\n\nAll of this shows the company is pretty serious about altcoin support. It would be good to see some of the respected currencies added to their platform. However, one could argue the company\u2019s engineers should focus on this integration themselves. Then again, this new opportunity shouldn\u2019t be ignored whatsoever. Any developer or engineer passionate about altcoins can make a meaningful impact. Whether or not anyone will respond to this \u201cchallenge\u201d remains to be determined, though. Right now, that seems somewhat unlikely.\n\nThere is a growing demand for more fiat currency gateways associated with prominent altcoins. Right now, some currencies genuinely struggle in this regard. This even includes currencies in the top 10 by market cap. Something will need to change sooner or later to improve upon this situation. Without additional engineers, Coinbase won\u2019t be of much help, that much is evident.", "output": "San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase could expand the number of digital currencies it supports and offer a much-needed platform for a wider range of altcoins. CEO Brian Armstrong said in a series of tweets that the company was looking for five engineers to work on any altcoin they chose, if they passed the company's interview stage. The growth in digital currencies has not been matched by the number of fiat currency gateways available.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "3D-printed double-handed glove could lead to 'augmented humans' \n Nov 24, 2017 | By Benedict\n\nItaly\u2019s Youbionic has used 3D printing to create a bionic \u201cDouble Hand,\u201d a robotic device worn on the wrist that doubles the wearer\u2019s manual capacities. A fully assembled version of the device costs $2,100.\n\nEver find yourself with your hands full and wish you had an extra set of fingers? Perhaps you work in the service industry but hate balancing plates on your arms, or perhaps you just like buying multiple drinks at the bar.\n\nWhatever your situation, Italian robotics company Youbionic has developed a weird and wonderful 3D printed solution to your problems: a Double Hand.\n\nActivated by sensors worn on the user\u2019s actual hand, the 3D printed Double Hand effectively doubles one\u2019s manual capacities by replicating natural hand movements across two individual bionic hands.\n\nOf course, these PLA 3D printed hands aren\u2019t quite as dextrous as your own, but you can actually control each bionic hand individually by making finger movements: your index and middle fingers can open and close one bionic hand, while your ring finger and pinky control the other one.\n\nThat probably means you can\u2019t do anything much more complex than gripping and lifting sturdy objects, but even that function alone could be useful in many situations.\n\nYoubionic, however, is being highly ambitious, saying the Double Hand is the first step in evolving ourselves from regular humans to \u201caugmented humans,\u201d with the Double Hand able to be used by, for example, astronauts repairing the International Space Station.\n\nIt\u2019s worth noting that, although the Double Hand is 3D printed, it isn\u2019t open source. You have to buy the bionic device for $2,100, while the digital files for the wrist support alone cost $58.\n\nNonetheless, it\u2019s intriguing to see how Youbionic used 3D printing to arrive at their design. Federico Ciccarese, Founder of Youbionic, told 3ders that all Youbionic devices are designed using Rhinoceros and printed in PLA on a Flashforge Creator Pro 3D printer.\n\nIt wasn\u2019t a simple case of coming up with a quick design and churning it out on the Flashforge though. Ciccarese says he went through four prototypes, trying to figure out how to make the hand look sufficiently real, before settling on the current model.\n\nEventually, the Youbionic chief happened upon the ideal shape and position for the fingers, and is now able to create an entire Double Hand in three days: two days for printing, one day for assembly.\n\nHe\u2019s even created a left and right version, so users can technically use four hands at once.\n\nBut if you thought having four 3D printed hands was impressive, just wait til you hear what Youbionic has in store in the future. According to Ciccarese, we\u2019ll soon be treated to an entire \u201chumanoid,\u201d which will include the current 3D printed hands plus many more augmented body parts.\n\nThe Youbionic founder thinks this kind of augmented body technology is the natural accompaniment to augmented vision, i.e. AR and VR technology, with both kinds of augmentation helping humans perform complex tasks to a higher standard.\n\nA final important matter to note concerns the target recipients of this bionic technology. The 3D printed Double Hand is, of course, designed for wearers who have a functioning hand of their own, since real finger movements prompt movements in the 3D printed device.\n\nBut Youbionic has also developed a bionic single hand for those who do not have a hand of their own. This will come as a relief to those who believe that bionic research should largely be dedicated to those who can benefit from it the most.\n\nYoubionic\u2019s single hand, which is designed for amputees and other users, uses electrodes to detect muscle signals in the wearer\u2019s arm, converting those signals into artificial hand movements. We wrote about the versatile 3D printed hand last year.\n\nCiccarese even foresees a future in which users can update their bionic limb in the same way they update their smartphones.\n\nSee Youbionic\u2019s work here.\n\nPosted in 3D Printing Application\n\nMaybe you also like:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "output": "Italian robotics company Youbionic has created a 3D-printed \"double hand\", which uses the movements of a wearer's fingers to manipulate two bionic hands. The $2,100 device takes three days to print and assemble, and comes in left or right-handed versions. Youbionic has also developed a version for amputees, which relies on implanted electrodes to control it. Founder Federico Ciccarese said the augmented body technology is a natural accompaniment to augmented reality technology, and added the firm would be working on other body parts to eventually create a completely augmented \"humanoid\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Clinical trial results expected for neurodegenerative DNA drugs \n What started more than a decade ago as a hunch among a small group of San Diego researchers has grown into real hope for treating currently-incurable neurodegenerative diseases.\n\nNext year, Carlsbad\u2019s Ionis Pharmaceuticals is expected to release clinical trial results for Huntington\u2019s and Lou Gehrig\u2019s diseases that use designer DNA drugs to mute the mutant genes responsible for causing patients\u2019 nervous systems to gradually go haywire.\n\nIf early trial results show a reduction in levels of the harmful proteins believed to cause these diseases, then larger trials are likely to follow providing a new path to fight life-stealing conditions that, for all of human history, have remained untouchable by medicine.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWhile positive results are far from certain, Ionis already has a serious proof-of-concept in Spinraza, a drug approved late last year that uses a similar but not identical approach to successfully treat a neurological condition that kills one in 1,000 children before they reach their second birthdays.\n\nThe big deal here is that Ionis has been able to show success working on the far side of the blood-brain barrier, a protective shield of sorts that automatically filters out most drugs injected into the bloodstream, making targets in the brain and spine extremely difficult to hit.\n\nSo, if early-phase results, the first of which are expected in January, show that these DNA drugs \u2014 formally called \u201cantisense oligonucleotides\u201d \u2014 can reduce harmful proteins in nerve cells, well, that will be a very big deal indeed, especially because Spinraza has already proven that Ionis chemists have found ways to make these drugs last long enough in patients\u2019 systems to create viable long-term treatments.\n\nIt\u2019s quite a moment on the horizon, given that, just a decade ago, nobody thought this approach could work.\n\nWell, almost nobody.\n\nDr. Richard Smith, a local neurologist and director of the Center for Neurologic Study in La Jolla, explained that the difficulty, the point that has drawn the most skepticism form peers, has always been drug delivery. The blood-brain barrier requires these drugs to be injected directly into the cerebrospinal fluid, and most thought such an approach would result in drugs simply floating around doing nothing.\n\n\u201cEveryone thought that, even if you put it directly in the spinal fluid, nerve cells wouldn\u2019t take them up,\u201d Smith said.\n\nBut Smith, who did pioneering work in the use of interferon to treat neurologic disease and who spent much of his career treating patients with Lou Gehrig\u2019s disease, which scientists call amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS, said he had an intuitive feeling that these drugs, these tiny pieces of DNA, might surprise everyone.\n\nHe approached high-flying UC San Diego neurobiologist Don Cleveland, a researcher known foundational work mapping the mechanisms of neuron growth and protein production. Smith recalls that first meeting with Cleveland as a bit of a roller coaster ride.\n\n\u201cI think this is pretty much a direct quote. He said it was \u201cthe looniest idea he\u2019d ever heard,\u201d Smith said.\n\nThere was a pause, and Smith said he figured he\u2019d be accused of wasting Cleveland\u2019s time.\n\n\u201cThen he said with the greatest enthusiasm, \u2018let\u2019s do it!\u201d Smith said.\n\nThey approached Frank Bennett, now senior vice president of research at Ionis, and pitched the idea. With a doctorate in pharmacology, Bennett knew the challenges involved in getting tiny pieces of DNA to enter nerve cells and was skeptical but still open to Cleveland and Smith\u2019s ideas even though Ionis, previously known as Isis Pharmaceuticals, was not at the time involved with trying to use the technology on neurological diseases.\n\nThe key, Bennett said, was that Smith and Cleveland had identified a specific type of \u201cmessenger\u201d ribonucleic acid or \u201cm-RNA\u201d that could, theoretically, be blocked by a designer DNA drug.\n\n\u201cI listened to the idea and said, \u2018it\u2019s interesting and attractive because we finally have a target we can go after,\u201d Bennett said.\n\nIonis agreed to make a batch of drug candidates for further research, and when that first batch didn\u2019t pan out, agreed to do a second round of 80 candidates. Smith described this progression with wonder in his voice. To receive so much commitment on such a long shot, he said, is unheard of, especially because most of Ionis\u2019 work at the time was in cancer.\n\n\u201cI mean, they were a cancer company, so for them to make 80 different molecules for us to try, and then another 80 after that, it was just remarkable,\u201d Smith said.\n\nThe key to early success in animals that has allowed further work in human patients has been the ability to prove that these drugs do get sucked in by nerve cells and that chemical wizardry performed in Ionis\u2019s huge labs has made the drug stable and durable enough to last long enough to bond with passing mRNA strands.\n\nThe efficacy, Cleveland said, has amazed everyone.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t get two hours of efficacy. We don\u2019t get two to three days. We don\u2019t get two or three weeks. We get three or four months. The drug lasts a really long time,\u201d Cleveland said.\n\nThat means that patients could theoretically come in a few times a year, get a shot in the spine, and go home.\n\n\u201cThat would be more like going to the dentist. You don\u2019t necessarily look forward to it, but you do it,\u201d Cleveland said.\n\nThis approach has recently produced startling results with spinal muscular atrophy, Spinraza\u2019s successful target. Lack of a key protein causes the motor neurons in patients\u2019 spinal cords to whither and die, but, using a specially-designed antisense oligonucleotide, researchers have been able to fix a critical error in messenger RNA, allowing a very similar substitute protein to be produced.\n\nApproved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in December after its development by Ionis and a team at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, the drug has already been delivered to hundreds of children and adults and, in many cases, has dramatically reversed nerve damage.\n\n\u201cNow they have kids who are walking, kids who never could move, for those families, it\u2019s a miracle,\u201d Cleveland said.\n\nThese results, coupled with the trials that are about to show results, caused a fair bit of excitement at the recent annual meeting of the American Neurological Association recently.\n\nGathering in a large meeting room at the Sheraton San Diego hotel, extremely sharp minds from all over the world listened as Cleveland explained the trials underway.\n\nIt\u2019s a big change, Cleveland said, from where things were at just a few years ago.\n\n\u201cI wouldn\u2019t have even been invited to speak to a meeting like that, because no one thought it could work. We\u2019ve really gone from total skepticism and outright criticism to a feeling that these drugs are just obvious and inevitable,\u201d Cleveland said.\n\nAfter hearing Cleveland speak, Dr. Craig Blackstone, senior investigator in the cell biology section at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, said Cleveland and Smith get lots of credit for their sheer tenacity.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re the ones who really moved things forward in terms of convincing Ionis that they should do this. They\u2019ve shown lots of people that there\u2019s a real possibility that this approach is going to be effective,\u201d Blackstone said.\n\nSo, are similar results coming for Huntington\u2019s and ALS given that they use the same designer DNA approach in a different way?\n\nAt the moment, all results are still blinded, and researchers don\u2019t know what\u2019s coming.\n\nIt\u2019s important to note that, while all of the estimated 30,000 Americans living with Huntington\u2019s could potentially be affected, it is not yet known what a reduction of harmful protein levels will mean for these patients. And, for ALS, these drugs will affect only the \u201cfamilial\u201d form of the disease, which is estimated to affect only 5 percent to 10 percent of all cases. The vast majority of ALS cases are termed \u201csporadic\u201d and their cause has not been traced to specific genetic mutations.\n\nStill, a detectable drop in the harmful proteins that cause ALS or Huntington\u2019s, Cleveland said, even if it does not cause a meaningful reversal in symptoms, will be good enough to justify larger and longer trials where more significant results would be more likely.\n\n\u201cIf we can shut off the bad gene, it\u2019s just really likely that will have a big effect on disease,\u201d Cleveland said. \u201cThat would be very exciting.\u201d\n\nHealth Playlist \u00d7 On Now Video: Leaders urge public to help extinguish hepatitis outbreak On Now San Diego starts cleansing sidewalks, streets to combat hepatitis A On Now Video: Scripps to shutter its hospice service On Now Video: Scripps La Jolla hospitals nab top local spot in annual hospital rankings On Now Video: Does a parent's Alzheimer's doom their children? On Now EpiPen recall expands On Now Kids can add years to your life\n\npaul.sisson@sduniontribune.com\n\n(619) 293-1850\n\nTwitter: @paulsisson", "output": "The results of clinical trials of designer DNA drugs that treat neurodegenerative diseases are expected to be released next year. California-based Ionis Pharmaceuticals is testing antisense oligonucleotides that mute the mutant genes behind conditions such as Huntington's and Lou Gehrig's diseases. If early-phase results show a reduction in the levels of proteins thought to trigger malfunctions in patients' nervous systems, larger trials are likely to follow.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK house prices gain contradicts\u00a0Brexit-pundit warnings: YOPA \n Another reminder never to listen to pundits, this time with data on UK home prices gathered over the past ten months\u2026\n\nIn a result that surprised many, the vote on June 23 2016 resulted in a decision to leave the European Union.\n\nThe impact of the decision has been much debated, with many economists stating that the UK economy would be harmed by a decision to leave, whether that\u2019s through a loss of cheap labour that powers the fruit picking industry or the restriction of movement for those in the Square Mile.\n\nGates Cap Management Reduces Risk After Rare Down Year Gates Capital Management's ECF Value Funds have a fantastic track record. The funds (full-name Excess Cash Flow Value Funds), which invest in an event-driven equity and credit strategy Read More\n\nUnfortunately, one of the biggest challenges with determining how the economy is performing is the \u2018lag\u2019 between the economic data being collected and the data being analysed and reported on. Take GDP growth for example, which usually reports on the performance of the past three months.\n\nLuckily the financial markets often have an almost immediate reaction to political crisis\u2019, and indeed fluctuations in Sterling have certainly occurred since the Brexit vote. But the financial markets don\u2019t always reflect the state of a national economy.\n\nInstead, the estate agent YOPA decided to check how UK home prices were doing in the wake of the Brexit vote, and the results are somewhat surprising. First, the estate agent collected and aggregated industry predictions in January 2017, and then created a Brexit house price widget to track how these predications would correlate against the actual house price changes throughout the year.\n\nThe reasoning behind creating this house price widget was that property prices are a good barometer of how an economy is doing performing, mainly because they closely correlate with consumer confidence in the economy. If you can\u2019t afford a house, you don\u2019t buy one. If you can\u2019t afford a price, you lower it. This may be a very simplistic view of it, but it broadly holds true.\n\nThe industry expert predictions yielded a total gain in house prices of 1.2% throughout 2017. This would have been a modest leap, simply because house prices have typically significantly outpaced inflation. Due to various concerns about how the economy would fare and the uncertainty surrounding the negotiation process meant that these experts were generally sensible to produce lower figures.\n\nYet what happened was unexpected: UK home prices over the past 10 months have risen significantly \u2013 to the tune of 5.2%, according to Land Registry values. While there was an initial dip, house prices surged after April, and they kept on rising. A property worth \u00a3200,000 in January could well be worth more than \u00a3210,000 today.\n\nBrexit UK home prices: Encouraging or not encouraging?\n\nUnfortunately, it\u2019s hard to say whether this is symptomatic of the overall economy. The significant devaluation of the currency has made it easier for people overseas to buy houses, as their money is worth a lot more, and this is particularly true of London.\n\nWith talks currently stalled and the overall negotiating position unclear, investing in housing is likely to be a cautious process for the next few years as we wait to see how Brexit pans out.", "output": "UK house prices have risen 5.2% in the past 10 months, contradicting predictions that the Brexit vote last year would suppress home values,\u00a0according to data compiled by online estate agent YOPA. Its calculation,\u00a0based on Land Registry values, compares with a 1.2% aggregated forecast of\u00a0industry pundits, a figure YOPA established through its own methodology. While industry insiders said a devaluation in the pound following the vote in June 2016\u00a0was behind some of the boost, it may be\u00a0too early to tell whether the surprising increase will affect the rest of the economy.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Humanity has a 10% chance of making AI safe: Elon Musk \n It\u2019s mid-afternoon on a Friday at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, and three of Elon Musk\u2019s children are gathered around him \u2013 one of his triplets, both of his twins.\n\nMusk is wearing a gray T-shirt and sitting in a swivel chair at his desk, which is not in a private office behind a closed door, but in an accessible corner cubicle festooned with outer-space novelty items, photos of his rockets, and mementos from Tesla and his other companies.\n\nMost tellingly, there\u2019s a framed poster of a shooting star with a caption underneath it that reads, \u201cWhen you wish upon a falling star, your dreams can come true. Unless it\u2019s really a meteor hurtling to the Earth which will destroy all life. Then you\u2019re pretty much hosed, no matter what you wish for. Unless it\u2019s death by meteorite.\u201d To most people, this would be mere dark humor, but in this setting, it\u2019s also a reminder of Musk\u2019s master plan: to create habitats for humanity on other planets and moons. If we don\u2019t send our civilization into another Dark Ages before Musk or one of his dream\u2019s inheritors pull it off, then Musk will likely be remembered as one of the most seminal figures of this millennium. Kids on all the terraformed planets of the universe will look forward to Musk Day, when they get the day off to commemorate the birth of the Earthling who single-handedly ushered in the era of space colonization.\n\nEditor\u2019s picks\n\nAnd that\u2019s just one of Musk\u2019s ambitions. Others include converting automobiles, households and as much industry as possible from fossil fuels to sustainable energy; implementing a new form of high-speed city-to-city transportation via vacuum tube; relieving traffic congestion with a honeycomb of underground tunnels fitted with electric skates for cars and commuters; creating a mind-computer interface to enhance human health and brainpower; and saving humanity from the future threat of an artificial intelligence that may one day run amok and decide, quite rationally, to eliminate the irrational human species.\n\nSo far, Musk, 46, has accomplished none of these goals.\n\nBut what he has done is something that very few living people can claim: Painstakingly bulldozed, with no experience whatsoever, into two fields with ridiculously high barriers to entry \u2013 car manufacturing (Tesla) and rocketry (SpaceX) \u2013 and created the best products in those industries, as measured by just about any meaningful metric you can think of. In the process, he\u2019s managed to sell the world on his capability to achieve objectives so lofty that from the mouth of anyone else, they\u2019d be called fantasies.\n\nAt least, most of the world. \u201cI\u2019m looking at the short losses,\u201d Musk says, transfixed by CNBC on his iPhone. He speaks to his kids without looking up. \u201cGuys, check this out: Tesla has the highest short position in the entire stock market. A $9 billion short position.\u201d\n\nHis children lean over the phone, looking at a table full of numbers that I don\u2019t understand. So his 13-year-old, Griffin, explains it to me: \u201cThey\u2019re betting that the stock goes down, and they\u2019re getting money off that. But it went up high, so they lost an insane amount of money.\u201d\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re jerks who want us to die,\u201d Musk elaborates. \u201cThey\u2019re constantly trying to make up false rumors and amplify any negative rumors. It\u2019s a really big incentive to lie and attack my integrity. It\u2019s really awful. It\u2019s\u2026\u201d\n\nHe trails off, as he often does when preoccupied by a thought. I try to help: \u201cUnethical?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s\u2026\u201d He shakes his head and struggles for the right word, then says softly, \u201cHurtful.\u201d\n\nIt is easy to confuse who someone is with what they do, and thus turn them into a caricature who fits neatly into a storybook view of the world. Our culture always needs villains and heroes, fools and geniuses, scapegoats and role models. However, despite opinions to the contrary, Elon Musk is not a robot sent from the future to save humanity. Nor is he a Silicon Valley savant whose emotional affect has been replaced with supercomputer-like intelligence. Over the course of nine months of reporting, watching Musk do everything from strategize Mars landings with his rocket-engineering team to plan the next breakthroughs with his artificial-intelligence experts, I learned he is someone far, far different from what his myth and reputation suggest.\n\nThe New York Times has called him \u201carguably the most successful and important entrepreneur in the world.\u201d It\u2019s an easy case to make: He\u2019s probably the only person who has started four billion-dollar companies \u2013 PayPal, Tesla, SpaceX and Solar City. But at his core, Musk is not a businessman or entrepreneur. He\u2019s an engineer, inventor and, as he puts it, \u201ctechnologist.\u201d And as a naturally gifted engineer, he\u2019s able to find the design inefficiencies, flaws and complete oversights in the tools that power our civilization.\n\nRelated\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s able to see things more clearly in a way that no one else I know of can understand,\u201d says his brother, Kimbal. He discusses his brother\u2019s love of chess in their earlier years, and adds, \u201cThere\u2019s a thing in chess where you can see 12 moves ahead if you\u2019re a grandmaster. And in any particular situation, Elon can see things 12 moves ahead.\u201d\n\nHis children soon leave for the home of their mother, Musk\u2019s ex-wife Justine. \u201cI wish we could be private with Tesla,\u201d Musk murmurs as they exit. \u201cIt actually makes us less efficient to be a public company.\u201d\n\nWhat follows is \u2026 silence. Musk sits at his desk, looking at his phone, but not typing or reading anything. He then lowers himself to the floor, and stretches his back on a foam roller. When he finishes, I attempt to start the interview by asking about the Tesla Model 3 launch a week earlier, and what it felt like to stand onstage and tell the world he\u2019d just pulled off a plan 14 years in the making: to bootstrap, with luxury electric cars, a mass-market electric car.\n\nThe accomplishment, for Musk, is not just in making a $35,000 electric car; it\u2019s in making a $35,000 electric car that\u2019s so good, and so in-demand, that it forces other car manufacturers to phase out gas cars to compete. And sure enough, within two months of the launch, both GM and Jaguar Land Rover announced they were planning to eliminate gas cars and go all-electric.\n\nMusk thinks for a while, begins to answer, then pauses. \u201cUh, actually, let me go to the restroom. Then I\u2019ll ask you to repeat that question.\u201d A longer pause. \u201cI also have to unload other things from my mind.\u201d\n\nFive minutes later, Musk still hasn\u2019t returned. Sam Teller, his chief of staff, says, \u201cI\u2019ll be right back.\u201d\n\nSeveral minutes after that, they both reappear and huddle nearby, whispering to each other. Then Musk returns to his desk.\n\n\u201cWe can reschedule for another day if this is a bad time,\u201d I offer.\n\nMusk clasps his hands on the surface of the desk, composes himself, and declines.\n\n\u201cIt might take me a little while to get into the rhythm of things.\u201d\n\nThen he heaves a sigh and ends his effort at composure. \u201cI just broke up with my girlfriend,\u201d he says hesitantly. \u201cI was really in love, and it hurt bad.\u201d\n\nHe pauses and corrects himself: \u201cWell, she broke up with me more than I broke up with her, I think.\u201d\n\nThus, the answer to the question posed earlier: It felt unexpectedly, disappointingly, uncontrollably horrible to launch the Model 3. \u201cI\u2019ve been in severe emotional pain for the last few weeks,\u201d Musk elaborates. \u201cSevere. It took every ounce of will to be able to do the Model 3 event and not look like the most depressed guy around. For most of that day, I was morbid. And then I had to psych myself up: drink a couple of Red Bulls, hang out with positive people and then, like, tell myself: \u2018I have all these people depending on me. All right, do it!'\u201d\n\nMinutes before the event, after meditating for pretty much the first time in his life to get centered, Musk chose a very telling song to drive onstage to: \u201cR U Mine?\u201d by the Arctic Monkeys.\n\nMusk discusses the breakup for a few more minutes, then asks, earnestly, deadpan, \u201cIs there anybody you think I should date? It\u2019s so hard for me to even meet people.\u201d He swallows and clarifies, stammering softly, \u201cI\u2019m looking for a long-term relationship. I\u2019m not looking for a one-night stand. I\u2019m looking for a serious companion or soulmate, that kind of thing.\u201d\n\nI eventually tell him that it may not be a good idea to jump right into another relationship. He may want to take some time to himself and figure out why his previous relationships haven\u2019t worked in the long run: his marriage to writer Justine Musk, his marriage to actress Talulah Riley, and this new breakup with actress Amber Heard.\n\nMusk shakes his head and grimaces: \u201cIf I\u2019m not in love, if I\u2019m not with a long-term companion, I cannot be happy.\u201d\n\nI explain that needing someone so badly that you feel like nothing without them is textbook codependence.\n\nTrending Tasha Reign: I Was Assaulted on Stormy Daniels\u2019 Porn Set and Spoke Out Trump Attacks 'Gutless Pig' Bill Barr for Calling His Indictment 'Very Damning' A Yelling Jim Jordan Contradicts Trump While Defending Him \u2018Vanderpump Rules\u2019 No Longer Needs Lisa Vanderpump\n\nMusk disagrees. Strongly. \u201cIt\u2019s not true,\u201d he replies petulantly. \u201cI will never be happy without having someone. Going to sleep alone kills me.\u201d He hesitates, shakes his head, falters, continues. \u201cIt\u2019s not like I don\u2019t know what that feels like: Being in a big empty house, and the footsteps echoing through the hallway, no one there \u2013 and no one on the pillow next to you. Fuck. How do you make yourself happy in a situation like that?\u201d\n\nThere\u2019s truth to what Musk is saying. It is lonely at the top. But not for everyone. It\u2019s lonely at the top for those who were lonely at the bottom.\n\n\u201cWhen I was a child, there\u2019s one thing I said,\u201d Musk continues. His demeanor is stiff, yet in the sheen of his eyes and the trembling of his lips, a high tide of emotion is visible, pushing against the retaining walls. \u201c\u2018I never want to be alone.\u2019 That\u2019s what I would say.\u201d His voice drops to a whisper. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be alone.\u201d\n\nA ring of red forms around his eyes as he stares forward and sits frozen in silence. Musk is a titan, a visionary, a human-size lever pushing forward massive historical inevitabilities \u2013 the kind of person who comes around only a few times in a century \u2013 but in this moment, he seems like a child who is afraid of abandonment. And that may be the origin story of Musk\u2019s superambitions, but more on that later. In the meantime, Musk has something he\u2019d like to show me.\n\n\u201cIf you say anything about what you\u2019re about to see, it would cost us billions,\u201d he says, rising from his desk. \u201cAnd you would be put in jail.\u201d\n\nThe most interesting tourist attraction in Los Angeles County is one that\u2019s not in many guidebooks: It\u2019s in the otherwise-untouristed southwestern city of Hawthorne, around SpaceX. If you walk along Crenshaw Boulevard from Jack Northrop Boulevard to 120th Street, what you will see is a city of the future that\u2019s under construction. This is Musk city, an alternate reality, a triumph of futuristic imagination more thrilling than anything at a Disney park. On the west side of the street, a 156-foot-tall rocket towers above SpaceX headquarters, symbolizing Musk\u2019s dream of relatively low-cost interplanetary travel. This particular rocket booster was the first in human history to be launched into space, then recovered intact on Earth after separating, and then fired back into space. On the east side of the street, an employee parking lot has been dug up and turned into the first-ever tunnel for the Boring Company, Musk\u2019s underground-honeycomb solution to traffic jams and the future home of all his terrestrial transportation projects. Then, running for a mile beside Jack Northrop Boulevard, there\u2019s a white vacuum tube along the shoulder of the road. This is the test track for the Hyperloop, Musk\u2019s high-speed form of city-to-city travel. Taken together, the dreams of Musk city promise to connect the planet and the solar system in ways that will fundamentally change humanity\u2019s relationship to two of the most important facets of its reality: distance and time.\n\nBut there is a particular building in Musk city that few have visited, and this is where Musk takes me. It is the Tesla Design Studio, where he\u2019s slated to do a walkthrough of the Tesla Truck and other future vehicle prototypes with his team of designers and engineers.\n\nOutside the door, a guard takes my phone and audio recorder, and I\u2019m given an old-fashioned pen and paper to take notes on. Musk then continues into the building and reveals the Tesla Truck, which aims to help the trucking industry go green. (Musk has even been toying with creating a supersonic electric jet, with vertical takeoff and landing, in the future.) Four key members of the Tesla team are there \u2013 Doug Field, JB Straubel, Franz von Holzhausen, Jerome Guillen \u2013 and watch with anticipation as Musk explores a new configuration of the cab for the first time.\n\nGuillen explains the idea behind the truck: \u201cWe just thought, \u2018What do people want? They want reliability. They want the lowest cost. And they want driver comfort.\u2019 So we reimagined the truck.\u201d\n\nThis is a perfect example of the idea that Musk-inspired wannabe visionaries around the world worship like a religion: first principles thinking. In other words, if you want to create or innovate, start from a clean slate. Don\u2019t accept any ideas, practices or standards just because everyone else is doing them. For instance, if you want to make a truck, then it must be able to reliably move cargo from one location to another, and you must follow existing laws of physics. Everything else is negotiable, including government regulations. As long as you remember that the goal isn\u2019t to reinvent the truck, but to create the best one, whether or not it\u2019s similar to past trucks.\n\nAs a result of this type of thinking, Musk is able to see an industry much more objectively than others who\u2019ve been in the field their whole lives.\n\n\u201cI was literally told this is impossible and I\u2019m a huge liar,\u201d Musk says of the early days of Tesla. \u201cBut I have a car and you can drive it. This is not like a frigging unicorn. It\u2019s real. Go for a drive. It\u2019s amazing. How can you be in denial?\u201d\n\nAn unfortunate fact of human nature is that when people make up their mind about something, they tend not to change it \u2013 even when confronted with facts to the contrary. \u201cIt\u2019s very unscientific,\u201d Musk says. \u201cThere\u2019s this thing called physics, which is this scientific method that\u2019s really quite effective for figuring out the truth.\u201d\n\nThe scientific method is a phrase Musk uses often when asked how he came up with an idea, solved a problem or chose to start a business. Here\u2019s how he defines it for his purposes, in mostly his own words:\n\n1. Ask a question.\n\n2. Gather as much evidence as possible about it.\n\n3. Develop axioms based on the evidence, and try to assign a probability of truth to each one.\n\n4. Draw a conclusion based on cogency in order to determine: Are these axioms correct, are they relevant, do they necessarily lead to this conclusion, and with what probability? 5. Attempt to disprove the conclusion. Seek refutation from others to further help break your conclusion. 6. If nobody can invalidate your conclusion, then you\u2019re probably right, but you\u2019re not certainly right.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s the scientific method,\u201d Musk concludes. \u201cIt\u2019s really helpful for figuring out the tricky things.\u201d\n\nBut most people don\u2019t use it, he says. They engage in wishful thinking. They ignore counterarguments. They form conclusions based on what others are doing and aren\u2019t doing. The reasoning that results is \u201cIt\u2019s true because I said it\u2019s true,\u201d but not because it\u2019s objectively true.\n\n\u201cThe fundamental intention of Tesla, at least my motivation,\u201d Musk explains in his halting, stuttering voice, \u201cwas to accelerate the advent of sustainable energy. That\u2019s why I open-sourced the patents. It\u2019s the only way to transition to sustainable energy better.\n\n\u201cClimate change is the biggest threat that humanity faces this century, except for AI,\u201d he continues. \u201cI keep telling people this. I hate to be Cassandra here, but it\u2019s all fun and games until somebody loses a fucking eye. This view [of climate change] is shared by almost everyone who\u2019s not crazy in the scientific community.\u201d\n\nFor the next 20 minutes, Musk examines the Tesla Truck. He comments first on the technical details, even ones as granular as the drawbacks and advantages of different types of welding. He then moves on to the design, specifically a driver-comfort feature that cannot be specified here, due to said threatened jail time.\n\n\u201cProbably no one will buy it because of this,\u201d he tells his team. \u201cBut if you\u2019re going to make a product, make it beautiful. Even if it doesn\u2019t affect sales, I want it to be beautiful.\u201d\n\nAccording to Musk\u2019s best guess, our personalities might be 80 percent nature and 20 percent nurture. Whatever that ratio actually is, if you want to understand the future that Musk is building, it\u2019s essential to understand the past that built him, including his fears of human extinction and being alone.\n\nFor the first eight or so years of his life, Musk lived with his mother, Maye, a dietitian and model, and his father, Errol, an engineer, in Pretoria, South Africa. He rarely saw either of them.\n\n\u201cI didn\u2019t really have a primary nanny or anything,\u201d Musk recalls. \u201cI just had a housekeeper who was there to make sure I didn\u2019t break anything. She wasn\u2019t, like, watching me. I was off making explosives and reading books and building rockets and doing things that could have gotten me killed. I\u2019m shocked that I have all my fingers.\u201d He raises his hands and examines them, then lowers his digits. \u201cI was raised by books. Books, and then my parents.\u201d\n\nSome of those books help explain the world Musk is building, particularly Isaac Asimov\u2019s Foundation series. The books are centered around the work of a visionary named Hari Seldon, who has invented a scientific method of predicting the future based on crowd behavior. He sees a 30,000-year Dark Ages waiting ahead for humankind, and creates a plan that involves sending scientific colonies to distant planets to help civilization mitigate this unavoidable cataclysm.\n\n\u201cAsimov certainly was influential because he was seriously paralleling Gibbon\u2019s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, but he applied that to a sort of modern galactic empire,\u201d Musk explains. \u201cThe lesson I drew from that is you should try to take the set of actions that are likely to prolong civilization, minimize the probability of a dark age and reduce the length of a dark age if there is one.\u201d\n\nMusk was around 10 at this time, and plunged in his own personal dark age. He\u2019d recently made a move that would change his life. It was a wrong decision that came from the right place.\n\nWhen his parents split up two years before, he and his younger siblings \u2013 Kimbal and Tosca \u2013 stayed with their mom. But, Musk recounts, \u201cI felt sorry for my father, because my mother had all three kids. He seemed very sad and lonely by himself. So I thought, \u2018I can be company.'\u201d He pauses while a movie\u2019s worth of images seem to flicker through his mind.\n\n\u201cYeah, I was sad for my father. But I didn\u2019t really understand at the time what kind of person he was.\u201d\n\nHe lets out a long, sad sigh, then says flatly about moving in with Dad, \u201cIt was not a good idea.\u201d\n\nAccording to Elon, Errol has an extremely high IQ \u2013 \u201cbrilliant at engineering, brilliant\u201d \u2013 and was supposedly the youngest person to get a professional engineer\u2019s qualification in South Africa. When Elon came to live with him in Lone Hill, a suburb of Johannesburg, Errol was, by his own account, making money in the often dangerous worlds of construction and emerald mining \u2013 at times so much that he claims he couldn\u2019t close his safe.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m naturally good at engineering that\u2019s because I inherited it from my father,\u201d Musk says. \u201cWhat\u2019s very difficult for others is easy for me. For a while, I thought things were so obvious that everyone must know this.\u201d\n\nLike what kinds of things?\n\n\u201cWell, like how the wiring in a house works. And a circuit breaker, and alternating current and direct current, what amps and volts were, how to mix a fuel and oxidizers to create an explosive. I thought everyone knew this.\u201d\n\nBut there was another side to Musk\u2019s father that was just as important to making Elon who he is. \u201cHe was such a terrible human being,\u201d Musk shares. \u201cYou have no idea.\u201d His voice trembles, and he discusses a few of those things, but doesn\u2019t go into specifics. \u201cMy dad will have a carefully thought-out plan of evil,\u201d he says. \u201cHe will plan evil.\u201d\n\nBesides emotional abuse, did that include physical abuse?\n\n\u201cMy dad was not physically violent with me. He was only physically violent when I was very young.\u201d (Errol countered via email that he only \u201csmacked\u201d Elon once, \u201con the bottom.\u201d)\n\nElon\u2019s eyes turn red as he continues discussing his dad. \u201cYou have no idea about how bad. Almost every crime you can possibly think of, he has done. Almost every evil thing you could possibly think of, he has done. Um\u2026\u201d\n\nThere is clearly something Musk wants to share, but he can\u2019t bring himself to utter the words, at least not on the record. \u201cIt\u2019s so terrible, you can\u2019t believe it.\u201d\n\nThe tears run silently down his face. \u201cI can\u2019t remember the last time I cried.\u201d He turns to Teller to confirm this. \u201cYou\u2019ve never seen me cry.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d Teller says. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen you cry.\u201d\n\nThe flow of tears stops as quickly as it began. And once more, Musk has the cold, impassive, but gentle stone face that is more familiar to the outside world.\n\nYet it\u2019s now clear that this is not the face of someone without emotions, but the face of someone with a lot of emotions who had been forced to suppress them in order to survive a painful childhood.\n\nWhen asked about committing crimes, Musk\u2019s father said that he has never intentionally threatened or hurt anyone, or been charged with anything, except \u2026 in this one case, he says he shot and killed three out of five or six armed people who broke into his home, and was later cleared of all charges on self-defense.\n\nIn his e-mail, Errol wrote: \u201cI\u2019ve been accused of being a Gay, a Misogynist, a Paedophile, a Traitor, a Rat, a Shit (quite often), a Bastard (by many women whose attentions I did not return) and much more. My own (wonderful) mother told me I am \u2018ruthless\u2019 and should learn to be more \u2018humane.'\u201d But, he concluded, \u201cI love my children and would readily do whatever for them.\u201d\n\nAs an adult, Musk, with the same optimism with which he moved in with his father as a child, moved his dad, his father\u2019s then-wife and their children to Malibu. He bought them a house, cars and a boat. But his father, Elon says, hadn\u2019t changed, and Elon severed the relationship.\n\n\u201cIn my experience, there is nothing you can do,\u201d he says about finally learning the lesson that his dad will never change. \u201cNothing, nothing. I wish. I\u2019ve tried everything. I tried threats, rewards, intellectual arguments, emotional arguments, everything to try to change my father for the better, and he\u2026 no way, it just got worse.\u201d\n\nSomewhere in this trauma bond is the key to Musk\u2019s worldview \u2013 creation against destruction, of being useful versus harmful, of defending the world against evil.\n\nThings at school weren\u2019t much better than life at home. There, Musk was brutally bullied \u2013 until he was 15 years old.\n\n\u201cFor the longest time, I was the youngest and the smallest kid in the class because my birthday just happens to fall on almost the last day that they will accept you into school, June 28th. And I was a late bloomer. So I was the youngest and the smallest kid in class for years and years. \u2026The gangs at school would hunt me down \u2013 literally hunt me down!\u201d\n\nMusk put down the books and started learning to fight back \u2013 karate, judo, wrestling. That physical education, combined with a growth spurt that brought him to six feet by age 16, gave him some confidence and, as he puts it, \u201cI started dishing it out as hard as they\u2019d give it to me.\u201d\n\nWhen he got into a fight with the biggest bully at school and knocked him out with one punch, Musk noticed that the bully never picked on him again. \u201cIt taught me a lesson: If you\u2019re fighting a bully, you cannot appease a bully.\u201d Musk speaks the next words forcefully. \u201cYou punch the bully in the nose. Bullies are looking for targets that won\u2019t fight back. If you make yourself a hard target and punch the bully in the nose, he\u2019s going to beat the shit out of you, but he\u2019s actually not going to hit you again.\u201d\n\nWhen he was 17, Musk left college and moved to his mother\u2019s home country, Canada, later obtaining passports for his mother, brother and sister to join him there. His father did not wish him well, Musk recalls. \u201cHe said rather contentiously that I\u2019d be back in three months, that I\u2019m never going to make it, that I\u2019m never going to make anything of myself. He called me an idiot all the time. That\u2019s the tip of the iceberg, by the way.\u201d\n\nAfter Musk became successful, his father even took credit for helping him \u2013 to such a degree that it\u2019s listed as fact in Elon\u2019s Wikipedia entry. \u201cOne thing he claims is he gave us a whole bunch of money to start, my brother and I, to start up our first company [Zip2, which provided online city guides to newspapers]. This is not true,\u201d Musk says. \u201cHe was irrelevant. He paid nothing for college. My brother and I paid for college through scholarships, loans and working two jobs simultaneously. The funding we raised for our first company came from a small group of random angel investors in Silicon Valley.\u201d\n\nMusk\u2019s career history decorates his desk. There\u2019s an item from nearly all of his companies, even a mug for X.com, the early online bank he started, which became PayPal. The sale of Zip2 resulted in a $22 million check made out directly to Musk, which he used in part to start X.com. With the roughly $180 million post-tax amount he made from the sale of PayPal, he started SpaceX with $100 million, put $70 million into Tesla, invested $10 million into Solar City, and saved little for himself.\n\nOne of the misunderstandings that rankles Musk most is being pigeonholed and narrowcast, whether as the real-life Tony Stark or the second coming of Steve Jobs. When, at a photo shoot, he was asked to wear a black turtleneck, the trademark garb of Jobs, he bristled. \u201cIf I was dying and I had a turtleneck on,\u201d he tells me, \u201cwith my last dying breath, I would take the turtleneck off and try to throw it as far away from my body as possible.\u201d\n\nSo what is Musk about?\n\n\u201cI try to do useful things,\u201d he explains. \u201cThat\u2019s a nice aspiration. And useful means it is of value to the rest of society. Are they useful things that work and make people\u2019s lives better, make the future seem better, and actually are better, too? I think we should try to make the future better.\u201d\n\nWhen asked to define \u201cbetter,\u201d Musk elaborates, \u201cIt would be better if we mitigated the effects of global warming and had cleaner air in our cities and weren\u2019t drilling for vast amounts of coal, oil and gas in parts of the world that are problematic and will run out anyway.\n\n\u201cAnd if we were a multiplanetary species, that would reduce the possibility of some single event, man-made or natural, taking out civilization as we know it, as it did the dinosaurs. There have been five mass-extinction events in the fossil record. People have no comprehension of these things. Unless you\u2019re a cockroach or a mushroom \u2013 or a sponge \u2013 you\u2019re fucked.\u201d He laughs sharply. \u201cIt\u2019s insurance of life as we know it, and it makes the future far more inspiring if we are out there among the stars and you could move to another planet if you wanted to.\u201d\n\nThis, then, is the ideology of Musk. And though basic, it\u2019s actually very rare. Think of the other names that one associates with innovation this century: They\u2019re people who built operating systems, devices, websites or social-media platforms. Even when it didn\u2019t start out that way, the ideology in most cases soon became: How can I make my company the center of my users\u2019 world? Consequently, social-media sites like Facebook and Twitter use a number of tricks to activate the addictive reward centers of a user\u2019s brain.\n\nIf Musk\u2019s employees suggested doing something like this, he\u2019d probably look at them like they were crazy. This type of thinking doesn\u2019t compute. \u201cIt\u2019s really inconsistent to not be the way you want the world to be,\u201d he says flatly, \u201cand then through some means of trickery, operate according to one moral code while the rest of the world operates according to a different one. This is obviously not something that works. If everyone\u2019s trying to trick everyone all the time, it\u2019s a lot of noise and confusion. It\u2019s better just to be straightforward and try to do useful things.\u201d\n\nHe discusses building a permanent moon base, and further funding SpaceX by creating passenger rockets capable of traveling to any city in the world in less than an hour, a form of transport he calls \u201cEarth-to-Earth.\u201d I ask if there\u2019s anything that he believes works that surprises people.\n\n\u201cI think being precise about the truth works. Truthful and precise. I try to tell people, \u2018You don\u2019t have to read between the lines with me. I\u2019m saying the lines!'\u201d\n\nOn another occasion, I watch Musk at a weekly SpaceX engineering-team meeting, where eight experts sit around a table in high-backed red chairs, showing Musk a PowerPoint with the latest updates to the Mars spaceship design. And while Musk keeps pace on technical details with some of the most brilliant minds in aerospace, he also adds an element that goes beyond logistics and engineering.\n\n\u201cMake sure it doesn\u2019t look ugly or something,\u201d he advises at one point. Then, later, \u201cThe aesthetics of this one are not so great. It looks like a scared lizard.\u201d And, in a characteristically wry moment, \u201cWhen you land on Mars, you want the list of what you have to worry about to be small enough that you\u2019re not dead.\u201d\n\nOverall, there\u2019s a theme to Musk\u2019s feedback: First, things have to be useful, logical and scientifically possible.\n\nThen he looks to improve efficiency on every level: What are people accepting as an industry standard when there\u2019s room for significant improvement?\n\nFrom there, Musk pushes for the end product to be aesthetically beautiful, simple, cool, sleek (\u201cHe hates seams,\u201d says one staffer) and, as Musk puts it at one point in the meeting, \u201cawesome.\u201d\n\nThroughout this process, there\u2019s an additional element that very few companies indulge in: personalization. This usually involves Musk adding Easter eggs and personal references to the products, such as making the Tesla sound-system volume go to 11 (in homage to Spinal Tap) or sending a \u201csecret payload\u201d into space in his first Dragon launch that turned out to be a wheel of cheese (in homage to Monty Python).\n\nBeyond all this, most maddening or exciting for Musk\u2019s employees, depending on which one you ask, is the time scale on which he often expects work to be done. For example, one Friday when I was visiting, a few SpaceX staff members were frantically rushing back and forth from the office to the parking lot across the street. It turns out that during a meeting, he asked them how long it would take to remove staff cars from the lot and start digging the first hole for the Boring Company tunnel. The answer: two weeks.\n\nMusk asked why, and when he gathered the necessary information, he concluded, \u201cLet\u2019s get started today and see what\u2019s the biggest hole we can dig between now and Sunday afternoon, running 24 hours a day.\u201d Within three hours, the cars were gone and there was a hole in the ground.\n\nOn the other hand, one thing Musk is notorious for is setting ambitious deadlines that he often can\u2019t meet. The Roadster, the Model S and the Model X were all delayed from his original timeline, and now the Model 3 \u2013 with its nearly half-a-million-person-long waiting list \u2013 is experiencing its own production delays. There are many reasons for this, but Musk summarizes: \u201cBetter to do something good and be late than bad and be early.\u201d So expect Musk to get it done, just not on time. Because if he can\u2019t do it, he won\u2019t pretend otherwise.\n\n\u201cI expect to lose,\u201d Musk says. He\u2019s in a three-story building in San Francisco that has only recently been furnished. It used to belong to Stripe, the credit-card payment processor, but now belongs to Musk, who\u2019s housing two of his companies there: Neuralink and OpenAI.\n\nThese are visions of what Tesla or SpaceX may have looked like when they first began. A small group of excited people working with limited resources to hit a distant, ambitious target. But unlike Tesla and SpaceX, there aren\u2019t anything close to road maps toward these goals, nor are they so clear-cut.\n\nOpenAI is a nonprofit dedicated to minimizing the dangers of artificial intelligence, while Neuralink is working on ways to implant technology into our brains to create mind-computer interfaces.\n\nIf it sounds like those are contradictory ideas, think again. Neuralink allows our brains to keep up in the intelligence race. The machines can\u2019t outsmart us if we have everything the machines have plus everything we have. At least, that is if you assume that what we have is actually an advantage.\n\nIt\u2019s an unusual day at the office: Musk is showing a documentary about artificial intelligence to the Neuralink staff. He stands in front of them as they sit splayed on couches and chairs, and lays out the grim odds of his mission to make AI safe: \u201cMaybe there\u2019s a five to 10 percent chance of success,\u201d he says.\n\nThe challenge he\u2019s up against with OpenAI is twofold. First, the problem with building something that\u2019s smarter than you is \u2026 that it\u2019s smarter than you. Add to that the fact that AI has no remorse, no morality, no emotions \u2013 and humanity may be in deep shit. This is the good son\u2019s second chance against the remorseless father he couldn\u2019t change.\n\nThe other challenge is that OpenAI is a nonprofit, and it\u2019s competing with the immense resources of Google\u2019s DeepMind. Musk tells the group he in fact invested in DeepMind with the intention of keeping a watchful eye on Google\u2019s AI development.\n\n\u201cBetween Facebook, Google and Amazon \u2013 and arguably Apple, but they seem to care about privacy \u2013 they have more information about you than you can remember,\u201d he elaborates to me. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of risk in concentration of power. So if AGI [artificial general intelligence] represents an extreme level of power, should that be controlled by a few people at Google with no oversight?\u201d\n\n\u201cSleep well,\u201d Musk jokes when the movie ends. He then leads a discussion about it, writing down some ideas and bluntly dismissing others. As he\u2019s speaking, he reaches into a bowl, grabs a piece of popcorn, drops it in his mouth and starts coughing.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re talking about threats to humanity,\u201d he mutters, \u201cand I\u2019m going to choke to death on popcorn.\u201d\n\nIt is 9 p.m. on a Thursday night, and I\u2019m waiting in the foyer of Musk\u2019s Bel Air home for our final interview. He walks down the stairs a few minutes later, wearing a T-shirt depicting Mickey Mouse in space. A tall blond woman follows him down the stairs.\n\nHe is, true to his words, not alone.\n\nThe woman, it turns out, is Talulah Riley, his second wife. They met in 2008, and Musk proposed after 10 days together. They married in 2010, then divorced two years later, then remarried the following year, then filed for divorce again, then withdrew the filing, then re-filed for divorce and finally followed through with it.\n\nMusk suggests doing something rare for him: drinking. \u201cMy alcohol tolerance is not very high,\u201d he says. \u201cBut I tend to be a fuzzy bear when I drink. I go happy fuzzy.\u201d\n\nHe pours two glasses of whiskey for us, and the three of us adjourn to his living room, where there\u2019s a mechanical Edison phonograph, an Enigma machine and a short-wave radio from World War I on display.\n\nDuring the interview, Riley lounges on the couch nearby, half paying attention to the conversation, half paying attention to her phone.\n\nMusk is in a different mood than he was at SpaceX, and that\u2019s something that those who\u2019ve come to know Musk observe. One moment, he may be reciting favorite lines from an animated TV show he just saw, the next he may be curtly giving detailed instructions, the next he may be ignoring you while lost in a thought, the next he may be asking for your advice on a problem, the next he may be breathless with laughter while riffing on a humorous tangent for five minutes, the next he may be acting as if you\u2019ve both never met. And through it all, you learn not to take it personally, because chances are that it has nothing to do with you.\n\nWe start off talking, or at least with me trying to talk, about AI, because a few weeks earlier, Musk had tweeted, \u201cCompetition for AI superiority at national level most likely cause of WW3 imo.\u201d\n\nBut when I ask him about that, Musk gets testy. \u201cI don\u2019t have all the answers. I\u2019m not saying that I have all the fucking answers. Let me be really clear about that. I\u2019m trying to figure out the set of actions I can take that are more likely to result in a good future. If you have suggestions in that regard, please tell me what they are.\u201d\n\nRiley chimes in: \u201cI think just the way it gets couched is that \u2018Elon Musk says we\u2019re all gonna die,\u2019 as opposed to \u2018Hey, let\u2019s have some regulation.'\u201d\n\nMusk, it soon becomes clear, is not in the mood to talk about his work. Instead, he has some advice he\u2019d like to offer to the world from his personal experience: \u201cI find one learns lessons in the course of life,\u201d he begins with a wry half-smile. \u201cAnd one lesson I\u2019ve learned is, don\u2019t tweet on Ambien. That\u2019s on the record: Tweeting on Ambien is unwise. You may regret it.\u201d\n\nMusk grabs a coffee-table book published by The Onion and starts leafing through it, laughing hysterically. \u201cIn order to understand the essential truth of things,\u201d he theorizes, \u201cI think you can find it in The Onion and occasionally on Reddit.\u201d\n\nAfterward, he asks excitedly, \u201cHave you ever seen Rick and Morty?\u201d And the conversation bounces from that animated show to South Park to The Simpsons to the book Hitchhiker\u2019s Guide to the Galaxy.\n\nOne of the lines from Hitchhiker\u2019s, Musk says, ended up being Musk Family Rule Number One: \u201cDon\u2019t panic.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe boys were quite skittish about all kinds of things,\u201d Riley explains.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s our other rule,\u201d Musk continues. \u201cSafety third. There\u2019s not even a Rule Number Two. But even though there\u2019s nothing in second place, safety is not getting promoted to number two.\u201d\n\nWe\u2019re interrupted by Teller, Musk\u2019s chief of staff, who informs him that as we were talking, the Hawthorne City Council ended an hours-long debate with a 4-to-1 vote allowing Musk to burrow his tunnel two miles into the city.\n\n\u201cGood,\u201d Musk says. \u201cNow we can dig past our own property line. Dig like fiends!\u201d\n\nHe laughs at the expression, and I understand now that Musk didn\u2019t have me over to talk about his projects and vision. There\u2019s nothing to be gained from talking about the problems of science with someone who doesn\u2019t understand them. At the end of the day, he just wants to unwind and laugh about the world he\u2019s trying to improve.\n\nI\n\nleave his home still hearing his chuckles in the doorway, and hoping that when\n\nthe Mars colony builds its first statues of Musk, they\u2019re not of a stiff man\n\nwith a tight-lipped expression looking out into space, but of a fuzzy bear.", "output": "Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk has said humans have between a 5% and 10% chance of making artificial intelligence (AI) safe. Speaking from the office of his non-profit outfit OpenAI, Musk told Rolling Stone magazine that making something that was cleverer than humans but which lacked remorse, morality or emotion\u00a0could leave mankind facing serious problems. \"If artificial general intelligence represents an extreme level of power, should that be controlled by a few people at Google with no oversight?\""}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Samsung SDS to build admin blockchain for Seoul city government \n Samsung SDS has won an order from the Seoul city government to draw up a roadmap to apply blockchain for administrative use.\n\nSeoul plans to first apply blockchain in municipal duties that actively collect private information of citizens.\n\nIt will apply blockchain to all administrative duties by 2022, including in public transportation, social security, and public safety.\n\nThe goal is to increase citizen convenience and increase transparency.\n\nSamsung SDS will, for the next five months, take a comprehensive look at Seoul's governance environment to see how to apply and expand the use of blockchain.\n\nThe IT service provider will design a future model and come up with a step-by-step approach for application.\n\nSamsung SDS, together with affiliate Samsung Card, first commercialised its blockchain platform Nexledger earlier this year.\n\nIn May, it joined global blockchain alliance EEA, whose members include Microsoft and Intel, to spread blockchain use globally.\n\nLast month it applied its blockchain solution to local shipping firms for trials.\n\nSamsung is pushing for its security solution offerings, such as Nexledger and its biometric solution Nexsign. Last month, it announced the integration of behavioral biometrics into Nexsign through a partnership with BioCatch.\n\nPREVIOUS AND RELATED COVERAGE\n\n<=\"\" p=\"\" rel=\"follow\">\n\n<=\"\" p=\"\" rel=\"follow\"> <=\"\" p=\"\" rel=\"follow\">", "output": "Samsung subsidiary Samsung SDS will develop a blockchain-based administration solution for Seoul city's government. After initially evaluating the existing governance infrastructure, Samsung SDS will create a roadmap for blockchain's use in collecting private citizen data, which will then be rolled out to other municipal services, such as transportation and social security, by 2022. Last month saw the start of trials with local shipping outfits of the company's blockchain technology.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Airbnb acquires disabled travel start-up \n Airbnb has acquired accessible-travel startup Accomable as part of plans to improve its offering for disabled travellers.\n\n\n\nAccomable was launched just over two years ago by childhood friends Srin Madipalli and Martyn Sibley \u2013 who both have spinal muscular atrophy \u2013 to make it easier for people to find accessible places to stay around the world. It lists properties that can cater for a range of disabilities, highlighting details such as step-free access, hoists, roll-in showers and shower chairs.\n\nThe site, now run by a team of six, with more than500 listings in 60 countries, grew rapidly thanks to a grant from the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, part of Oxford University\u2019s Sa\u00efd Business School, and a further \u00a3300,000 funding from \u201cangel\u201d investors.\n\nNow, Accomable\u2019s team and listings will be merged with Airbnb\u2019s. In the coming months, the listings will be made available via the Airbnb site, and the team says it will now work towards improving the overall Airbnb experience for disabled travellers. Airbnb is also developing an \u201caccessibility needs\u201d checklist that allows hosts to be more descriptive about their home.\n\nIn an open letter posted on its site, Madipalli reassured customers that the merger with a larger platform won\u2019t mean accessibility becomes an \u201cafterthought\u201d.\n\n\u201cOur decision to join Airbnb was one that we spent a long time considering,\u201d he says. \u201cOur work has allowed us to develop unrivalled expertise in the world of accessible travel, building a brand that disabled travellers can trust. We are convinced that joining Airbnb provides the best opportunity to take our dream and mission to a global level.\u201d\n\nFor accessible tourism expert and travel writer Carrie-Ann Lightley, it is significant to see accessible travel being taken seriously by a mainstream travel business though itremains just one aspect of the solution.\n\n\u201cAirbnb\u2019s investment in accessibility gives another option for disabled travellers, whose options are typically limited, and one I\u2019m sure many will take up,\u201d she says. \u201cIt shouldn\u2019t overshadow the work of specialist operators though: many disabled travellers want and need a level of support that the mainstream industry still can\u2019t cater for.\u201d\n\nFor Lightley, when it comes to travel, reliable information about facilities is the \u201csingle biggest barrier\u201d disabled people face.\n\n\u201cArmed with the right details, as a disabled traveller I can go anywhere, and make anything work,\u201d she says. \u201cAccommodation providers need to include good, detailed photographs of all rooms on their websites, as well as detailed accessibility guides.\u201d", "output": "Airbnb has acquired Accomable, a start-up that provides travel information for people with disabilities. The company, which lists over 500 accessible places to say in 60 countries, was launched two years ago by Srin Madipalli and Martyn Sibley, both of whom have spinal muscular atrophy. It received a grant from Oxford University\u2019s Sa\u00efd Business School, in addition to \u00a3300,000 ($399,958) from angel investors. Accomable\u2019s listings will now be merged with Airbnb\u2019s, appearing on the latter\u2019s site within months. Airbnb also intends to improve its overall offerings for disabled travellers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IoT firm the Yield offers predictive sensors for smart farming \n Editor\u2019s Note: AgFunder is an investor in The Yield.\n\n\u201cWe put electronics into open bays in one of the world\u2019s roughest marine environments with an objective to protect food safety; it doesn\u2019t get harder than that.\u201d\n\nRos Harvey, CEO of ag sensor and IoT startup The Yield, is talking about the Australian startup\u2019s oyster-focused aquaculture business line. Founded in 2014 with a mission to \u201cfeed the world without wrecking the planet,\u201d The Yield purposefully focused on a specific business problem, in a relatively small market segment, to perfect its technology stack before expanding. The startup now offers an end-to-end microclimate sensing and predictions service for land-based crops as well as aquaculture.\n\nStarting Small\n\nThe specific business problem faced by oyster farmers relates to the harvest restrictions placed on them by regulators. Food safety regulators use rainfall as a way to determine when to open and close oyster harvesting because rain causes run-off from fields and surrounding land that could include dangerous contaminants, which will be filtered by the oysters.\n\nMeasuring the salinity of the water is a much more accurate way of determining run-off and the presence of these contaminants. By deploying microclimate sensors measuring salinity, The Yield can reduce unnecessary closures by up to 30% by providing this information to both growers and local regulators. This translates into an extra four weeks a year of harvesting time, which is not insignificant for farmers, according to Harvey.\n\nThe technology soon progressed to use machine learning and artificial intelligence to offer oyster farmers salinity predictions used by the regulators to open and close harvest with 95% accuracy three days ahead of time.\n\nThe end-to-end service, which involves the deployment and management of the sensors as well as the data analytics and user interface, also enables oyster farmers to manage labor scheduling, disease risk, harvest records, and consignment reporting. For example, growers are required to keep track of water temperature and salinity when shipping out oysters as part of food safety standards.\n\nThe Yield sells the oyster product to the food authorities in the states of New South Wales and Tasmania, representing over 60% of Australia\u2019s oyster industry, according to Harvey.\n\n\u201cWe really learned to do this in some of the most difficult conditions in the world, and to some of the highest standards out there as it relates to food safety, so it was a great place to launch our next product from with all we had learned,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s also a great idea to start small and localized to iron out issues first before you scale.\u201d\n\nOnwards to Agriculture\n\nSensing+ for Agriculture, which the company launched last month, uses the same concepts of microclimate sensing and machine learning-based predictions, to offer an end-to-end solution for intensively irrigated crop growers.\n\n\u201cAlmost every grower we talk to has at least one unused agtech solution sitting in the shed, because they are rarely installed or supported properly, so it\u2019s core to our offering that we take care of the whole package \u2013 from installing, supporting and maintaining the sensors, to delivering predictions and insights via mobile apps and on the desktop; all hardware and software is supplied as an ecosystem,\u201d says Harvey.\n\nThe Yield built the product alongside growers in Australia over two years to ensure it was solving the specific challenges they face around the five main business decisions they need to make each year: planting, irrigating, feeding, protecting, and harvesting.\n\nSensing+ now offers farmers informed and intuitive decision support around these five activities by measuring the 12 factors that drive most agricultural models: temperature, rainfall, leaf wetness, humidity, soil temperature and soil moisture, wind speed and direction, photosynthetic active radiation, total solar radiation and air pressure.\n\nUsing irrigation decisions as an example, The Yield uses the microclimate data it collects to create a water balance for farmers \u2014 including the amount of water lost to evapotranspiration and the growth curve of certain crops \u2013and to predict the soil moisture at any given time. This enables the farmer to adjust their irrigation schedule and optimise the use of costly water resources.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re the only business making 7-day predictions for soil moisture \u2013 and microclimate growing conditions generally \u2013 wherever we have hardware,\u201d says Harvey.\n\nThis information is presented to growers in an app. Growers use the app to learn, act and record activity that generates an auditable train which Harvey describes as a \u201cnews feed for each field and crop.\u201d\n\nTimely Decision Support\n\nFor spraying decisions, the Sensing+ app gives growers the microclimate insights they need to decide the best time to spray based on the 12 factors such as humidity and wind, which might make agrichemicals less effective with the risk of washing off the plants and getting into the environment. Sensing+ also helps growers track when spraying actions occur \u2014 which is particularly relevant for large-scale operations that sometimes struggle to keep up with all the activity on their land. And it does all the relevant spray calculations, records things like withholding periods, and gives a real-time inventory based on the amount of chemicals used. Each spray action creates a date and weather stamped record as part of the field and crop record.\n\nGrowers can also choose to receive custom notifications in the app, where they input the conditions they want to know about, and Sensing+ sends them an alert when these have been reached. One example is wind speed and direction, as growers will rarely spray when the wind reaches higher than 20 km per hour, so they can set to receive an alert when the wind is 18 km per hour and then turn off their irrigation system or sprayer at that time. With the 7-day predictions, they can then choose when a more suitable time to perform that task will be, saving time and money if contracting third parties to do the work, argues Harvey.\n\n\u201cThe overarching benefits to growers for having a solution like Sensing+ are convenience, time-saving, optimising farm resources such as water, chemicals, and labour, having a digital record at crop and field level to plan for each growing season, the ability to make evidence-backed decisions, and the 7-day microclimate predictions give them an unforeseen level of visibility over what is happening (and coming) on their farm,\u201d says Harvey.\n\nAs well as collecting data from its sensor network, The Yield crowdsources some data from the farmers around growth metrics.\n\n\u201cWe predict where a crop should be in terms of growth stage and will send farmers alerts to ask \u201cis this where you are now? Yes or No.\u201d Their response feeds back into our analytics to optimize the rest of the system,\u201d says Harvey.\n\nEight weeks after deploying a sensor in a microclimate, The Yield is able to start offering farmers 7-day predictions based on conditions in their immediate environment. \u201cYou need enough of a data stream to reach an acceptable threshold for the system to self-learn and for us, at the moment, that\u2019s eight weeks.\u201d\n\nWorking with Bosch\n\nWhile The Yield uses third party microclimate sensors, it designed the supporting hardware and mesh network needed to maintain connectivity across operations in partnership with Bosch, the German multinational engineering and electronics company. Bosch is also an investor in The Yield.\n\nThe Yield owns the IP on this enterprise-grade \u201cfarm area network,\u201d which consists of nodes and a communications gateway, but contracted Bosch\u2019s R&D team to help develop the design and manufacture them. The network is essential for the business because it means the startup can control the quality of the data its analytics platform ingests.\n\n\u201cOne of our cornerstone customers is a prominent winemaker in Richmond, Tasmania, and they told us that every time a tourist bus goes past, their 4G footprint shrinks, which means they can suddenly lose a whole load of data. That is a big no-no for us; you can\u2019t do predictions and build analytics from localized data if you don\u2019t have a constant, high-quality stream. So, the area network is critical to avoid any gaps in the data stream,\u201d says Harvey.\n\nLater the company plans to build its own microclimate sensors too,\n\nHow Did The Yield Get Here?\n\n\u201cI often describe myself as the most unlikely entrepreneur; I\u2019m a woman, I\u2019m not a technologist, and I\u2019m in my 50s.\u201d\n\nHarvey worked in international development for 15 years before founding The Yield, and while that might seem an unlikely beginning for a tech entrepreneur, her experience is very complimentary.\n\nShe founded a social enterprise called Better Work in 2002, which was a partnership between the United Nations and World Bank Group, which aimed to bring transparency to the supply chains of large clothing companies including Nike and The Gap. What ended up being a tech-enabled business, Better Work monitored conditions in these supply chains such as safety, child labor, and worker rights, with the earliest iterations of tablet computers and cloud-based data storage \u201calthough it wasn\u2019t called the cloud back then,\u201d says Harvey.\n\nThe business sold that information to the brands as a knowledge service.\n\n\u201cIn international development, the holy grail is sustainable business models, and that\u2019s how we approached using technology, as an enabler and facilitator, and not the end point,\u201d she says. \u201cToo often I\u2019d see examples of people throwing money at problems, then the focus shifts and donors move on, and the initiative collapses. But if you come to technology in reverse, with the intention of solving a business problem first, and then building a platform to support it, it\u2019s a much more sustainable and scalable approach.\u201d\n\nMoving back to Tasmania in the early 2000s, Harvey wanted to apply her thinking and experience to a new business problem and agriculture was a clear choice of a sector with many business problems to address.\n\nHarvey also has great ambitions for The Yield to effect change to the food system and thereby contribute to reducing the impact of agriculture on the environment, and the company is already providing aggregated data to approved research organizations working on public good problems \u2013 with the express consent of their customers. But to make it work and scale, \u201cwe need to focus on execution; we won\u2019t be able to realize larger ambitions if we don\u2019t help farmers increase their yield through using our technology.\u201d", "output": "Australian start-up the Yield has launched Sensing+ for Agriculture, which offers microclimate sensing and machine learning-based predictions to farmers with intensely irrigated crops for up to seven days ahead. Developed over two years and with the involvement of German firm Bosch, the Yield's system measures the 12 elements behind most agricultural models, from wind speed to temperature and rainfall. The\u00a0data gathered is sent to farmers' smartphones\u00a0to inform decision-making regarding planting, irrigating, feeding, protecting and harvesting crops. The technology was first deployed in Australian\u00a0oyster farms\u00a0to determine if conditions were right to\u00a0harvest the oysters.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snapchat enables promoted, AR-supported ads to retain viewers \n This week, Snapchat debuted two new ad styles meant to engage its users more and encourage less skipping, TechCrunch reports. So far, the app's ads have largely consisted of short videos, which followed the last clip in a Story or were placed throughout Discover content, as well as sponsored Lenses that promoted some sort of product. Now, advertisers will have the option of putting together a Promoted Story or an AR Trial ad.\n\nFor Promoted Stories, advertisers will be able to create a more in-depth ad featuring three to 10 photos or videos that will work just like any other Snapchat Story. These ads will appear throughout a country for one day and will be labeled as sponsored content. Today, for example, US users will see an HBO Promoted Story featuring six Snaps that show what series or movies you could be watching on HBO instead of engaging in Black Friday shopping.\n\nThe AR Trial ads are like more active versions of Snapchat's sponsored 3D World Lenses. In September, Snapchat released 3D World Lenses that promoted Blade Runner and Bud Light, but they were mostly just fun, not functional. The Bud Light Lens, for example, just featured an AR Bud Light vendor that you could place on whatever surface you liked. But the AR Trial ads are meant to let users get a better look at the product being sold. BMW's new AR Trial ad will let you place its X2 vehicle in the area you're viewing through the camera lens and then allow you to walk around it and even change its color.\n\nSnap Inc. had a less than impressive third quarter, reporting just 4.5 million new users, and the company has said it will focus on attracting more users in the coming year. Those efforts include a redesign of the Android version of its app and some significant tweaks to the app overall. Some of those changes are meant to make it easier to navigate through all of the app's offerings, which is not always intuitive and could help it increase its user base. And that, like these new ad formats, is likely to please Snapchat's partners.", "output": "Snapchat is offering advertisers two new ad formats to keep users watching. Promoted Stories are in-depth ads with up to 10 photos or videos and labelled as sponsored content. An HBO Promoted Story reminded users what TV series and films they could be watching instead of shopping on Black Friday. Meanwhile, Augmented Reality (AR) Trial ads work like Snapchat's 3D World Lenses, giving users a good look at a product. BMW's AR Trial ad enabled users to virtually walk around its X2 vehicle.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mortgage approvals at 13-month low may bode ill for UK market \n British banks approved the fewest mortgages for house purchases in more than a year in October, with economists warning the decline could signal the start of a downturn in the UK housing market.\n\nMortgage approvals fell to a 13-month low of 40,488 last month, down from 41,576 in September, according to the industry trade body UK Finance.\n\nSamuel Tombs, the chief UK economist at consultancy Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the Bank of England\u2019s decision earlier this month to raise interest rates for the first time in more than a decade, to 0.5% from 0.25%, would probably exacerbate the downward trend.\n\n\u201cThis appears to be just the start of a bigger downturn,\u201d Tombs said. \u201cHousing market activity likely has cooled further in recent weeks, given that mortgage rates have moved swiftly higher and consumer confidence has weakened since the hike by the Bank of England\u2019s monetary policy committee.\u201d\n\nThe chancellor\u2019s decision to cut stamp duty for first-time buyers would do little to counter this downturn, primarily because it is expected to push up house prices, Tombs said.\n\nHoward Archer, the chief economic adviser to the forecasting group EY Item Club, said the mortgage approval figures were the latest evidence of \u201clacklustre housing market activity\u201d, after new buyer enquiries fell in October at their fastest pace since July 2016, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.\n\nHe said cash-strapped consumers were reluctant to commit to major purchases at a time when real pay was falling, as shop prices rise faster than wages.\n\n\u201cIt is also very possible that the recent Bank of England interest rate hike will weigh down on housing market activity,\u201d Archer added. \u201cWhile the increase in interest rates was just 0.25% and mortgage rates are still at historically very low levels, it could have a significant effect on housing market psychology.\u201d\n\nEY Item Club is forecasting house price growth of about 2-3% in 2018, underpinned by a shortage of homes for sale, high employment, and mortgage interest rates that remain historically low.\n\nIt was a different story for existing homeowners, who rushed to remortgage in October, before the Bank\u2019s highly anticipated rate rise in November. There were 34,036 loans approved for remortgaging last month, according to UK Finance. That was up by 11.6% compared with September, and 37% higher than at the same point last year.\n\n\u201cThe anticipated bank rate rise saw a flurry of remortgage activity as many homeowners took advantage of the competitive rates on offer,\u201d said Mohammad Jamei, the trade body\u2019s senior economist.\n\nAnnual growth in credit card lending slowed to 5.1% in October from 5.5% in September.\n\nMeanwhile, non-financial businesses repaid a net \u00a31.5bn of debt last month, the largest since February, in a sign that businesses are becoming more cautious about investing when the outcome of Brexit negotiations is far from clear.\n\n\u201cIn terms of saving, consumer deposits grew at a slower rate in October, while businesses have continued the trend of bolstering their cash reserves amidst a cautious business landscape due to Brexit uncertainties,\u201d Jamei said.\n\n", "output": "British mortgage approvals dropped to 40,488 in October, a 13-month low, according to industry trade body UK Finance. Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the figures appeared to be \"just the start\" of a bigger downturn in the UK housing market, which would probably be exacerbated by the recent interest rate rise to 0.5% from 0.25%.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Surging prices forcing 100,000 households from property market \n Almost 100,000 households in England are being priced out of the property market each year because of a shortage of affordable homes to rent or buy, according to a report.\n\nResearch by the estate agent Savills, shared with the Guardian, found the number of priced-out households had risen from its previous projection in 2015 of 70,000 a year. This was in part because of a change in how housing need is assessed, but also due to rising prices and stagnant wage growth.\n\nOn Wednesday, the chancellor, Philip Hammond, reiterated a pledge to build 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s and unveiled a package of measures to support housebuilding. Savills said one-third of those would need to be offered at below market prices to meet the growing need for affordable homes.\n\nAbout 96,000 households are unable to afford homes at the market rate, either to buy or rent, Savills said, with the vast majority in London and the south. It said varying approaches were needed to address the shortfall in different parts of the country: low-cost rented homes were needed more in markets in which incomes were smaller, while a mixture of homes, including shared ownership, would help in more expensive areas.\n\nIn London, 20% of the households affected have incomes above \u00a335,000, Savills said, while the same proportion earn less than \u00a310,000.\n\nOver the past three years, 55,000 fewer affordable homes have been built each year than were needed, the research found. Although 42,500 households in the capital required below market rate housing, only 8,800 affordable homes a year had been delivered. In the south outside London, 15,500 affordable homes a year were being built while 34,100 were needed.\n\nMeanwhile, in the north of England, low incomes were locking out 9,600 households a year, with 8,900 homes being delivered.\n\nAlthough the post-budget headlines were dominated by Hammond\u2019s decision to scrap stamp duty for the majority of first-time buyers, his announcement included more money for building and rule changes to help councils provide housing.\n\nA speech by the prime minister, Theresa May, at the Conservative party conference in October made a commitment of \u00a32bn over four years to fund social housing. However, to house 100,000 emerging households over this period would need funding of \u00a37bn a year, Savills said.\n\nPaying for the new homes would reduce the housing benefit bill by \u00a3430m a year.\n\nHelen Collins, the head of housing consultancy at Savills, said the budget had offered many positives for the housing sector, but expressed some concerns.\n\n\u201cWhile the chancellor had plenty of good news, we feel there are still some important issues missing from housing policy,\u201d she said.\n\nThese included no changes on building on greenbelt land and no additional funding for homes for social rent. \u201cThere was little reference to the importance of social rented homes as a better and cheaper alternative to the private rented sector for very low-income households,\u201d Collins said.", "output": "A shortage of affordable homes is pricing 100,000 households out of the market each year, according to a report by estate agent Savills. That's a significant rise from a 2015 projection of 70,000 a year and is due to increasing prices, low wage growth and changes in how housing need is assessed. UK Chancellor Philip Hammond vowed to build 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s but Savills said a third of those\u00a0would need to be below market prices to meet the demand for affordable housing.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Beijing's Tsinghua to buy 30% stake in Taiwan semiconductor unit \n Tsinghua Unigroup Ltd.'s earlier attempt to buy a piece of Siliconware Precision Industries Co. Ltd. was brought to a swift end when Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen described the investment as a \"huge threat\" to the island\u2019s important semiconductor industry. Photo: Visual China\n\nA company controlled by Tsinghua University has agreed to buy a 30% stake of a Taiwan-owned semiconductor unit.\n\nTsinghua Unigroup Ltd. will pay 1.03 billion yuan ($155 million) for a stake in Siliconware Precision Industries Co. Ltd.\u2019s Suzhou subsidiary, the Taiwan firm said in a statement on Friday.\n\nThe deal comes after Unigroup\u2019s 2016 attempt to buy into the Taiwan parent company failed to pass regulatory scrutiny, under the then-incoming Tsai Ing-wen administration.\n\nThe new sale will supply fresh capital to Siliconware, and will help it expand into the fast-growing Chinese mainland market, it said.\n\nSiliconware has struggled in recent years, with its operating profit declining over the past two years. In late 2015, it signed an agreement to sell a quarter stake to Unigroup, but the deal was frozen in April last year until the incoming Taipei government clarified its policy on investment from the mainland, Reuters reported.\n\nTaiwan\u2019s leader, Tsai Ing-wen, who took office in May 2016, threw cold water on Unigroup\u2019s plans when she called investments from the mainland a \u201chuge threat\u201d to the island\u2019s important semiconductor industry.\n\nUnigroup\u2019s two other deals to buy Taiwan chipmakers Powertech Technology Inc. and ChipMOS Technologies Inc. have also collapsed.\n\nSiliconware tried an alternative to fight the financial setback \u2014 agreeing to merge with a larger peer, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. That deal has completed all anti-trust reviews, including on the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and in the U.S., Siliconware said Friday.\n\nShares of Taiwan-listed Siliconware rose 5.29% on Monday, while Unigroup\u2019s Shenzhen-listed affiliate Unisplendour Corp. Ltd. saw its shares drop 2.1%.\n\nContact reporter Coco Feng (renkefeng@caixin.com)", "output": "Tsinghua Unigroup, controlled by Tsinghua University, is to buy a 30% stake of a subsidiary of Taiwan's Siliconware Precision Industries. This follows Unigroup's attempt in 2016 to buy the Taiwan parent company which failed to pass regulatory approval. This deal will provide extra capital for struggling Siliconware and help it expand in the Chinese market.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Beijing migrants forcibly evicted to cut city population \n More than a hundred Chinese intellectuals and scholars have decried a \u201cruthless\u201d campaign to evict thousands of migrant workers from Beijing.\n\n\n\nThe latest round of evictions began in the wake of a fire on 18 November that killed 19 people in an industrial neighbourhood in south Beijing, and 17 of the victims were migrants. City officials have declared a 40-day campaign against \u201cillegal structures\u201d, which for years have housed the millions of migrant workers who run Beijing\u2019s restaurants, delivery companies, construction sites, retail shops and a host of small factories.\n\nThe open letter, which was addressed to the country\u2019s leadership and circulated on Chinese social media, called the evictions \u201ca serious trampling of human rights\u201d. Signatories included professors, researchers, poets and artists and more names continued to be added.\n\nIt criticised the lack of due process and rapid speed at which the campaign was being implemented. Videos and photos posted on social media showed streets clogged with clothes and other belongings after migrants were given just minutes to pack up.\n\nMany who had lived in the Chinese capital for years were only allowed to take what they could carry before police sealed entire buildings. Authorities reportedly cut water and electrical service in some cases.\n\n\u201cAny civilised and law abiding society cannot tolerate this, we must clearly condemn and oppose these actions,\u201d the letter said.\n\nThe haphazard nature of the mass evictions make it difficult to determine exactly how many people have been displaced. Migrants are being forced from their homes at the start of Beijing\u2019s winter and temperature have hovered around freezing for the past week.\n\nChina operated a national \u201chousehold registration\u201d system designed to control internal movement, meaning migrant workers lack many of the rights compared to native Beijingers. The system has been widely criticised for years and officials have pledged reform but have made little progress.\n\nBeijing officials have targeted a 15% cut in population of the downtown districts from 2014 levels within the next two years. That amounts to a reduction of about two million people, and authorities have also plan to demolish 40m square metres of illegal housing.\n\nInternational rights groups also condemned the campaign.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s somewhat astounding that the large numbers of migrant workers could be evicted so quickly, but this is in part because the Chinese authorities have systematically eroded all the ways people can protect their rights,\u201d said William Nee, a researcher at Amnesty International in Hong Kong. \u201cAnd, of course, China maintains the world\u2019s largest censorship apparatus, so that it\u2019s hard to meaningfully debate issues of injustice.\u201d\n\nBut Beijing officials denied they were targeting migrant workers at all, and said it was focused on safety.\n\n\u201cIt is irresponsible and groundless to say the campaign is to evict the \u2018low-end population\u2019,\u201d an official from the Beijing Administration of Work Safety told local media.", "output": "Thousands of migrants living in Beijing are being forcibly evicted, sometimes with only minutes' notice, as part of the Chinese authorities' campaign against \"illegal\" structures and to meet a target of a 15% population reduction in the city centre. These structures house millions of migrant workers who work in the city's shops, factories, delivery companies and restaurants. China's household registration system means migrant workers, some of whom have lived in the capital for years, lack many rights compared with native residents. The evictions began after a fire in south Beijing that killed 19 people, who were mainly immigrants.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon announces five new AWS Elemental Media Services \n Amazon has announced the new Sumerian service, which allows developers to quickly create virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and 3D apps suitable for use online.\n\nOn Monday, the retail giant and cloud services provider said during the AWS re:Invent kick-off event that Amazon Sumerian can be used to quickly develop these kinds of applications to run on suitable browsers, as well as mobile devices, head-mounted displays, and digital signage.\n\nIn a news release, AWS said the new service can be accessed from the AWS Management Console, and there is no further subscription required.\n\nInstead, customers pay for the storage they use when creating and saving apps.\n\nAmazon Sumerian can be used by developers to drag and drop 3D objects into scenes, such as offices or landscapes, to create VR, AR, and 3D environments.\n\nUsers can embed their own objects, choose from a pre-loaded library, or use third-party offerings from repositories including Sketchfab and Turbosquid.\n\nTemplates are also included, and scenes produced through the software can run in browsers which support WebGL or WebVR graphics rendering, as well as devices including Daydream, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and iOS smartphones and tablets.\n\nIn addition, Amazon Sumerian includes tools for the creation of animated 3D characters. As Amazon Lex and Amazon Polly are included in the solution, users are able to implement automatic speech recognition (ASR), natural language understanding (NLU), and text-to-speech capabilities.\n\n\"Customers across industries see the potential of VR and AR technologies for a wide range of uses -- from educating and training employees to creating new customer experiences,\" said Marco Argenti, Vice President of Technology at AWS. \"But, customers are daunted and overwhelmed by the up-front investment in specialized skills and tools required to even get started building a VR or AR application.\"\n\n\"With Amazon Sumerian, it is now possible for any developer to create a realistic, interactive VR or AR application in a few hours,\" Argenti added.\n\nAmazon also took the opportunity to announce five new AWS Elemental Media Services at AWS re:Invent.\n\nThe five new cloud services, AWS Elemental MediaConvert, Elemental MediaLive, Elemental MediaPackage, Elemental MediaStore, and Elemental MediaTailor, offer solutions for AWS customers for formatting and compressing video, encoding live video, preparing live video streams, delivering media and embedding targeted advertising.\n\nThe company says the new video services will \"let customers build end-to-end workflows for both live and on-demand video with the professional features, image quality, and reliability needed to deliver premium video experiences to viewers across a multitude of devices.\"\n\nLast week, Amazon announced the Amazon ML Solutions Lab, a scheme designed to assist AWS customers in learning how to leverage machine learning through training with the firm's ML specialists. Boot camps, workshops, advisory professional services and other forms of programming are all on offer.\n\nFavorite gifts: Top tech, gadgets for under $100\n\nPrevious and related coverage", "output": "Amazon has unveiled five new cloud tools for its Amazon Web Services (AWS) division. Elemental MediaConvert, Elemental MediaLive, Elemental MediaPackage, Elemental MediaStore, and Elemental MediaTailor allow AWS customers to format and compress video, as well as encode and prepare live feeds. In addition, the suite offers \"professional features, image quality and reliability\", according to Marco Argenti, VP of Technology at AWS. Amazon also launched its Sumerian service, which allows users to create 3D, virtual and augmented reality apps on several devices.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Big brands pull ads from YouTube and Google over brand safety fears \n Major brands have begun pulling their ads from YouTube and Google after their ads appeared with content that had become the go-to for sexual predators.\n\nThe likes of Mars, Cadbury, Lidl, Deutsche Bank, and Adidas have all removed advertising from YouTube in what is the second mass exodus from the platform this year \u2013 following the advertiser boycott when ads were placed against extremist content.\n\n\u201cWe are shocked and appalled to see that our adverts have appeared alongside such exploitative and inappropriate content,\u201d a Mars spokesperson told the Guardian. \u201cWe have taken the decision to immediately suspend all our online advertising on YouTube and Google globally. Until we have confidence that appropriate safeguards are in place, we will not advertise on YouTube and Google.\u201d\n\nThe decision made by the brands comes despite YouTube laying out a plan that will see it taking a tougher stance on predatory behaviour and exploitative videos in order to keep kids safer on the platform in future.\n\nThe Google-owned video sharing site was forced to act after a variety of reports surrounding both the type of content kids were seeing on YouTube and the predatory environment they were being subjected to.\n\nDespite the questions raised against YouTube and its policy changes so far, it is believed that could be somewhere in the region of 50,000 to 100,000 predatory accounts still active on the platform.", "output": "Major brands such as Mars and Deutsche Bank have removed ads from YouTube and Google over brand safety concerns. Companies, also including Cadbury, Lidl and Adidas, have pulled their ads after some appeared next to content that could be exploited by sexual predators. A Mars spokesperson said the firm was \"appalled\" to see its ads next to such inappropriate content, adding it would not advertise on either platform until the appropriate safeguards were in place. Advertisers also boycotted YouTube earlier this year, after ads were placed next to extremist content."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Liverpool Mutual Homes partners with City Council and Redrow \n Partnerships between local authorities and housing associations were a key theme at the NHF National Development Conference 2017. A panel discussion regarding the development ambitions of these partnerships was held between Chris Bowen from Liverpool Mutual Homes, Manjeet Gill from Solace and Colm Lacey from Brick by Brick. LABM\u2019s Sophie Taylor finds out more from the panel.\n\nChairing the discussion, NHF Chief Executive David Orr claimed that partnerships between local authorities and housing associations are key to the success of the housebuilding industry. David argued that it was essential to \u201cdevelop the right kind of strategic and other relationships, and consider how you use these to make the best use of the assets and resources that both partners bring to the table\u201d.\n\nPutting partnerships into practice in Liverpool\n\nLiverpool Mutual Homes have engaged in a strategic partnership with Liverpool City Council and Redrow, with Willmott Dixon as a building contractor. Aiming to build 1,500 new homes by 2020, the partnership is centered around a common ethos of delivery.\n\nHow the model works:\n\nLocal authority land is offered by Liverpool City Council. Redrow pay market value for the sites, which goes into the council in a ring-fenced programme account for the housing partnership. LMH delivers affordable housing which they subsidise themselves, or is subsidised by the council where necessary.\n\nThe council allocates land to offer to the partnership, giving LMH the opportunity for exclusivity. LMH and Redrow then work together on the best solution to bring the sites forward. They have done a lot of work at the market assessment level to ensure that they are delivering outputs that are appropriate to the sites as well as the city\u2019s housing market. Redrow and LMH take the leading role on programme management, the allocation of sites, and working out how cross-subsidy will work. Liverpool City Council put land into the partnership and put subsidy through. The collaboration agreement between Redrow and LMH offers a partnership to the local authority that provides a full range of strategic advice.\n\nSince the contracts were signed in February 2015, 250 units have been delivered. Redrow have generated a land value of over \u00a34m, and the council has agreed to ring-fence over \u00a33m of that money towards the housing partnership\u2019s schemes. At the moment, there are 150 units being developed in the city centre for Rent to Buy and shared ownership. Total investment to date has reached \u00a375m.\n\nChris Bowen advises that these types of partnerships work best when they involve organisations with similar goals, which are committed to being flexible and pragmatic. Chris commented that in the LMH partnership, all parties are dedicated to \u201cimproving housing choice, growth in population in the area, and more regeneration.\u201d He continued: \u201cWe are coming from a common standpoint: that we want to make a difference.\u201d\n\nProsperity and housing\n\nUnderstanding the different roles of local authorities and housing associations, and the potential that partnerships between them can offer is a key issue for Solace, The Society of Local Authority Chief Executives. As part of their \u2018prosperity\u2019 agenda, housing has become a core strategic area.\n\nManjeet Gill believes that there are many reasons why housing associations and local authorities should work together. They both have a social role: an advocacy role in influencing the Government\u2019s policy direction, and social objectives regarding regeneration and communities.\n\nLocal authorities also have an understanding of the planning regime, different types of capabilities, can borrow at cheaper rates, and hold a lot of land. With access to pension funds, public borrowing and the ability to raise bonds, local authorities are able to provide different types of financing. They are also ultimately responsible for overall community wellbeing and the housing strategy of their local area.\n\n\u201cWe are coming from a common standpoint: that we want to make a difference.\u201d\n\nIn places such as Croydon, Sheffield, Liverpool, and Lincolnshire, local authorities have started to work with housing associations, but performance is mixed. Local authorities have also started to develop housing themselves and establishing companies to do so. However, where these companies exist, there is a need for good strategic partnerships to deliver a large quantity of housing.\n\nManjeet Gill suggests that housing associations should talk to Solace for advice \u2014 large housing associations may not have the time to contact different local authorities, while smaller housing associations can look to Solace for help with capacity building and support within the partnerships, particularly within niche areas such as extra-care.\n\nBrick by Brick\n\nRecent studies have suggested that around 75% of local authorities are either thinking about or have already set up a housing company of some kind. One of these is Brick by Brick, established by Croydon Council.\n\nCroydon is faced with a huge housing need, a growing population (around 20% since the early 80s), a particularly young population, and a changing type of population \u2014 with a growth in non-traditional households that change tenure fairly regularly. The borough currently has an oversupply of larger units, and a significant undersupply of smaller units. Furthermore, around 80% of residents cannot afford to buy the lowest value units, and 50% cannot afford to rent the lowest value units.\n\nTo address the deepening housing need whilst capturing the advantages of growth in property value, Croydon Council formed Brick by Brick \u2014 an independent private company with the council as its sole shareholder. The company purchases land at market rates, borrows at market rates, and purchases legal/financial services from the council \u2014 creating an additional income stream for Croydon Council. The company\u2019s main purpose is to engage in development activities, and where a profit is made, this returns to the council, creating a sealed commercial model.\n\nBrick by Brick aims to deliver 50% affordable housing, with a local sales policy to give local residents priority for affordable homes for a discrete period of time. There is a focus and commitment on design and delivery impact, in order to change perceptions of the local area. Most of the sites are suburban infill, and use tenure-blind design.\n\nIn the last six months, 30 sites have been given consent, delivering around 1,000 units \u2014 45% of which are affordable (of which 50% will be for affordable rent and 50% for shared ownership). There are another 15 sites in pre-application, delivering around 800 units of which over 50% will be affordable.\n\nDo these partnerships address the housing crisis?\n\nIt is clear that different types of partnerships and approaches are more appropriate for different areas. However, David Orr concluded that strategic partnerships will be an important mechanism for truly increasing housing supply, \u201cbringing together the skills, knowledge, resources and expertise that each respectively has, to create something that is greater than the sum of its parts\u201d. Despite many barriers that remain, for the first time in a long time, the political environment is supportive of the housing sector\u2019s objectives, and the National Housing Federation is optimistic about the future.\n\nPictured above is the recently completed affordable rent scheme in Fazakerley, Liverpool, delivered by LMH under the umbrella of the Liverpool Housing Partnership.", "output": "UK house builder Redrow has generated a land value of more than \u00a34m ($5.3m) and agreed to protect \u00a33m of that sum as part its a strategic partnership with Liverpool Mutual Homes and Liverpool City Council. The joint venture aims to build 1,500 new homes by 2020, with the city council offering up local authority land for sale to Redrow. That money is then ring-fenced, while Liverpool Mutual Homes builds affordable housing. Two hundred and fifty units have been delivered since the scheme's launch in February 2015, with another 150 under construction.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Eastern Europe's closer China ties stoke EU integration concerns \n Advertisement\n\nHungary in recent months has been associated with a Belt and Road fiasco, as work for the Hungarian stretch of the Belgrade-Budapest railway \u2013 China\u2019s most ambitious transport project in Europe \u2013 has been halted for allegedly violating EU public procurement laws. But next Monday setbacks will be glossed over by grandiose symbolism as the Hungarian capital prepares itself to welcome the heads of government of China and 16 Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC). In fact, while Beijing has yet to deliver on its promises for infrastructure investment in the region, it has been working full steam on institutionalizing its cooperation with Eastern Europe, shaping the 16+1 initiative into a platform for its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This is turning into a stress test for EU cohesion.\n\nEstablished in Warsaw in 2012, the 16+1 framework for cooperation is China\u2019s most advanced sub-regional diplomatic initiative in Europe, involving 11 Central and Eastern European EU member states and five Balkan states, each in the process of negotiating their accession to the EU. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, Beijing initiated this format with the promise to foster investment, economic and trade cooperation, and to bring connectivity projects to the region. After the launch of Beijing\u2019s signature Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, the format has turned into a platform for China to develop infrastructure projects to connect Asia to Europe \u2013 with the aim to facilitate Chinese access to the European market, to export China\u2019s excess capital and labor, and to build its global power.\n\nInstitution Building Shows Dynamism in 16+1 Political Relations\n\nSo far at least, China\u2019s economic engagement in the region lags far behind its promises. Despite last year\u2019s announcement of a 10 billion EUR investment fund for infrastructure projects in Central and Eastern Europe, most Chinese investment in Europe has been mainly directed to Europe\u2019s four largest countries in the West, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and France. Hungary is an exception in Eastern Europe, as it has obtained significant investment. At the same time, the Belgrade-Budapest railway \u2013 a landmark BRI project \u2013 is still blocked by an EU investigation trying into whether it violated EU laws on public tender processes.\n\nDiplomat Brief Weekly Newsletter N Get briefed on the story of the week, and developing stories to watch across the Asia-Pacific. Get the Newsletter\n\nWhile China\u2019s promises for increased economic cooperation have yet to materialize, political cooperation and institution building with Eastern European countries have moved ahead at a remarkable pace. The 16+1 format now involves regular ministerial conferences such as the first China-CEEC Ministerial conference on energy cooperation that was held in Bucharest on November 8. A two-day meeting of China-CEEC transport ministers in Warsaw in October led to the creation of a 16+1 Coordinating Secretariat on Maritime Issues.\n\nEnjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5 a month.\n\nWith the upcoming summit in mind, governments from the Baltic to Eastern Europe have praised their countries as suitable destinations for Chinese investment under BRI-labelled infrastructure projects. Latvia pledged to strengthen cooperation on transport and logistics, infrastructure investments, trade and tourism. Hungary intends to launch a tender for the Hungarian stretch of the Belgrade-Budapest railway at next week\u2019s summit. Bulgaria hosted a 16+1 forum branding Plovdiv as \u201cthe oldest city on the Silk Road.\u201d During the October 16+1 meeting of transport ministers in Warsaw, the Polish prime minister referred to a plan for a new airport hub in Poland, which would be combined with a high-speed railway connecting Europe and Asia, while Slovenia\u2019s infrastructure minister promoted his country as a major logistics hub in Central Europe, with logistics centers in Ljubljana, Maribor, and Koper, and the Port of Koper connecting commercial ports in the Northern Adriatic.\n\nA Stress Test for EU Cohesion\n\nIn light of these countries\u2019 high expectations for economic gains, next week\u2019s summit is a stress test for EU cohesion. The EU has viewed the 16+1 format with concerns since 2015. A 2015 European Parliament\u2019s resolution called on EU member states to \u201cspeak with one voice to the Chinese government, particularly in view of Beijing\u2019s present diplomatic dynamism.\u201d The text took note of Chinese expanded diplomacy activities in Central and Eastern Europe and stressed that the \u201c16+1 group should not divide the EU or weaken its position vis-\u00e0-vis China and should also address human rights issues.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nChina and CEEC countries have presented the format as a positive contribution to EU-China relations. On the sidelines of the recent ASEAN-EU summit, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang reassured European Council President Donald Tusk that, \u201ccooperation between China and CEEC countries is conducive to the comprehensive and balanced development of China-EU relations and to European integration as well.\u201d\n\nBut European integration seems very much at stake when Eastern European governments use their relationship with China to gain leverage over Brussels. This became clear when Macedonian President Ivanov claimed that the EU\u2019s neglect of the Balkans was forcing these EU accession candidates states to turn to China for investment.\n\nThe importance of next week\u2019s summit goes beyond potential new Chinese promises or announcements of investments in CEEC countries. The 16+1 cooperation is full of symbolism that can threaten the cohesion within the EU if left unaddressed.", "output": "China's deepening ties with Eastern Europe under its \"One Belt, One Road\" initiative is making Brussels nervous. Former soviet states are\u00a0leveraging\u00a0closer relations with Beijing\u00a0against the\u00a0European Union.\u00a0Macedonian President Ivanov's recent claim that\u00a0EU\u00a0neglect has\u00a0forced\u00a0the Balkans to seek Chinese\u00a0investment is among comments seen driving a wedge into the bloc's\u00a0integration. This comes as\u00a0China announces it will\u00a0provide funding of over\u00a0$3bn\u00a0for development and investment projects in Central and Eastern Europe.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Plans revealed for over 400 properties in Telford \n Midlands Property Jon Robinson\n\nCredit - Redrow Homes (Midlands)\n\nPlans have been revealed for a major housing development of more than 400 properties that could be built in Shropshire.\n\nApplicant Redrow Homes (Midlands) is seeking permission for the project on land west of Castle Farm Way in the Priorslee area of Telford.\n\nThe site already had planning permission for 600 homes which was approved in 2014, which has now lapsed.\n\nTelford and Wrekin Council is set to make a final decision on the plans in the coming months.\n\nA document submitted to the council by the applicant said: \"The aim of the proposal is to provide a new high quality residential development that respects and enhances the existing landscape setting of the site, but that also delivers benefits to the wider community through provision of new footpath links, open spaces and much needed market and affordable housing within the area.\n\n\"The scheme now proposed, although a full standalone application, is based on the parameters of the formal approval and the access points agreed in 2014.\n\n\"The site has been derelict for a number of years, previously housing the former Celestica factory now demolished.\n\n\"The majority of the site is now covered with rough grassland and self-set trees amongst the existing mature trees and vegetation.\"", "output": "The Midlands branch of UK housebuilder Redrow is seeking planning permission for a 400-home development in Telford, Shropshire. Based on a scheme which previously gained planning permission in 2014, but since lapsed, the currently derelict site will include market and affordable housing. A decision on the scheme is expected to be made by Telford and Wrekin Council in the coming months.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "San Leon Avobone withdraws winding up petition from High Court \n Oil and gas explorer San Leon has been pulled back from the brink after a petition to have it wound up was withdrawn from the High Court in Dublin. Stock image\n\nOil and gas explorer San Leon has been pulled back from the brink after a petition to have it wound up was withdrawn from the High Court in Dublin.\n\nThe petition was lodged by Avobone, a company with which San Leon has had a long-running battle mainly relating to a loan San Leon had received from Avobone. San Leon, which had partnered up with Avobone on an asset in Poland, maintained the loan was only repayable in certain circumstances which had not been met.\n\nAvobone disputed this and after various arbitration and court hearings San Leon agreed to pay \u20ac23.3m plus interest to Avobone.\n\nThe schedule for repayments was revised a number of times after San Leon had difficulty making payments - the company has itself been left waiting for loan note repayments due out of a project in Nigeria.\n\nAfter the withdrawal of the petition, San Leon says it has to pay \u20ac3.3m on or before December 19 and \u20ac8.3m on or before January 15. A payment of \u20ac4.2m due tomorrow at the latest has been made.\n\n\"As previously announced, the company is scheduled to be repaid approximately US $19m a quarter on its loan notes from Q4 2017, with the next payment due to be received by the company on or before 1 January 2018. The company has received $5m of the sum due this quarter to date, which was allocated to Avobone.\"\n\nSan Leon - run by former Smart Telecom boss Oisin Fanning - told the market in the summer that a Chinese company had made an indicative takeover offer valuing the company at 67-76p a share.\n\nA formal offer was contingent on the completion of due diligence - with the Chinese expecting to be able to make a their move within 45 days according to San Leon. That period of time elapsed and no offer was forthcoming.\n\nSan Leon then said it was still in dialogue with the company, China Great United, which had said the reason for the delay in due diligence was that it was now talking to a potential partner who could add value to the Nigerian project.\n\nAnother potential is a merger with Midwestern - a partner in the Nigerian project.\n\n\"San Leon remains in discussions with Midwestern, which are at a very early stage and broad-ranging, regarding a potential corporate transaction, which could include an offer by Midwestern for San Leon or an offer by San Leon for certain assets of Midwestern,\" the company said earlier this month.", "output": "Irish oil and gas exploration firm San Leon has laid out a new schedule of payments to Dutch firm Avobone after the latter withdrew a winding-up order from Dublin's High Court. San Leon will now pay \u20ac3.3m ($3.93m) on or before 19 December, followed by \u20ac8.3m on or before 15 January. The move is the latest chapter in an ongoing battle between the two firms which began over a loan extended to San Leon by Avobone.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Visible Alpha acquires Alpha Exchange ahead of Mifid II \n Visible Alpha has confirmed its acquisition of Alpha Exchange as it looks to create and end-to-end solution for research management ahead of MiFID II.\n\nThe deal will see Visible Alpha\u2019s existing analysis tools and research administration services combine with Alpha Exchange\u2019s research management platform to help clients consume, track, budget, value and pay for content.\n\n\u201cAlpha Exchange brings innovative, cutting-edge technology to the way research can be managed, discovered and shared,\u201d said Scott Rosen, CEO of Visible Alpha.\n\n\u201cWith the Alpha Exchange team on board, we will further provide investment professionals with industry-leading tools to streamline and enhance their workflows by focusing on the most relevant and meaningful research content.\u201d\n\nVisible Alpha currently has more than 80 firms with a combined $14 trillion in assets under management using a combination of its tools.\n\nEmma Margetts, co-founder of Alpha Exchange, said the addition of Visible Alpha\u2019s analytics and data will \u201cprovide the opportunity to build an even more intelligent research discovery engine\u201d.", "output": "Visible Alpha has acquired Alpha Exchange to offer research management capabilites ahead of the introduction of Mifid\u00a0II. Visible Alpha's analytics and research administration services will be combined with Alpha Exchange's research management platform to help customers track, value and pay for content, as the incoming EU legislation mandates the unbundling of research from trading. More than 80 companies with a combined total of $14tn in assets under management currently use Visible Alpha Tools.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China becomes Harrods' biggest global market \n Harrods' biggest international market is China, and it is planning to invest in expanding this market.\n\nA \u00a3200 million investment into in-store and online sales is being rolled out over the next three years.\n\nThis investment will include expanding payment options for Chinese customers using We ibo and WeChat.\n\nIt is already possible to buy Harrods goods with Alibab's payment system Alipay.\n\n\n\nHarrods, London's famous luxury department store, is planning the biggest revamp in its 180-year history as part of a \u00a3200 million (US$265 million) investment which is aimed partly at attracting more Hong Kong and Chinese customers, managing director Michael Ward told the South China Morning Post on Thursday.\n\nHe called the project the most ambitious investment and store renovation the iconic shoppers' paradise has undertaken since it first opened its hallowed doors in 1834.\n\nThe three-year capital plan includes ploughing more money into its e-commerce offering to ensure the store remains popular for customers from around the world, especially from affluent Asian destinations, led by Hong Kong and China, said Ward.\n\n\"Our Hong Kong and Chinese customers are extremely important to Harrods so are considered part of our redevelopment plans,\" he said in an interview with the Post.\n\n\"For us, the future is in the East and we have been focusing on that for a number of years.\"\n\nAt present, the UK itself is the store's largest single market, although sales to overseas customers are rising fast.\n\nChina is the largest international market for Harrods, while Hong Kong is its largest Southeast Asian market and fastest growing.\n\nWard said the region has been a rich long-term source of customers for Harrods, given the relationship between Britain and Hong Kong.\n\nThe company claims that research shows one in every \u00a35 spent by Chinese visitors to London is at Harrods.\n\nWard said Chinese customers are some of the store's most knowledgeable, adding they \"do not want to be treated in a different way\".\n\nHe said the interior of the shop, which has 330 different sections covering a million square feet of retail space, will be \"entirely redeveloped.\"\n\nThere will be no changes to the exterior, but all the interiors are being redone. For example, the Food Hall's walls have been knocked down and the fine watch room will be expanded to incorporate a marble staircase leading to new space on the lower ground floor.\n\nSmack in the middle of London's affluent Knightsbridge, Harrods is often described as the most famous shop in the world.\n\nIt is now owned by Qatar Holdings, the sovereign wealth fund of the Gulf state, which bought it in 2010 from Mohammed al-Fayed, who had owned it since 1985.\n\nWard said various options are being considered to attract more Chinese customers, including improving signage to help them navigate their way through the store and more product information on food items \u2013 something specifically requested by Chinese customers.\n\n\"We have seen a lot of social media activity in China,\" said Ward, adding it would continue to drive the use of e-payment mechanisms, to help Chinese customers to shop there.\n\nThe company will also invest in its official Weibo and WeChat accounts, two of mainland China's most popular social media platforms.\n\nHarrods introduced Alibaba's Alipay digital payments system last year, and plans to follow that with Tencent's WeChat Pay service next year.\n\nWard said the launch of Alipay has opened the doors for conversation with Alibaba's Tmall, but it has yet to decide whether it would consider selling products on the online shopping platform. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.\n\n\"The growth of Chinese e-commerce platforms is very impressive and we watch their progress closely,\" said Ward, who is in Hong Kong this week to launch the first edition of Harrods magazine. \"But it would need to be the right customer experience for us to seriously consider it.\"\n\nWard said Hong Kong customers are very familiar with Harrods.\n\n\"Many of our Hong Kong customers have second homes in London and may have children at boarding schools in the UK. They spend a significant amount of time in London and at Harrods so we don't see them as tourists, even if they do get to benefit from tax-free shopping,\" he said.\n\nThis year the company opened a Harrods Tea Room at The British House in Beijing in a bid to introduce the brand to mainland customers. But it has no plans to open any stores in China.\n\n\"There are no plans to recreate the Knightsbridge store anywhere else in the world, as we believe there is only one Harrods,\" said Ward.\n\nThe Knightsbridge store, established in 1849 by Charles Henry Harrod, attracts some 15 million customers annually.", "output": "China has become Harrods' biggest international spender, leading London's famous luxury department store to expand into the Chinese market. A \u00a3200m ($267m) investment is planned instore and online over the next three years, including increasing its payment options for Chinese customers with Weibo and WeChat. Alibaba's Alipay is already available to Harrods customers. The move is being heralded as Harrods' most ambitious investment since it first opened its doors in 1834."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Record number of international students apply to UK universities \n Official figures show the number of foreign students was at 70,945 - an increase of 2%\n\nUNIVERSITIES saw a record number of international student admissions this year - despite fears they may be put off by Brexit.\n\nOfficial figures show the number of foreign students applying to British unis was the highest ever at 70,945 \u2013 a two per cent rise on last year.\n\n2 Numbers of people from abroad applying to study at British universities soared, despite our vote to quit the bloc Credit: Alamy\n\nUcas said there was a five per cent rise in students applying from outside the EU like the US and China and a small decrease in students from countries like Germany France and Italy.\n\nOverall 2,090 more international students \u2013 who pay higher fees - applied to start undergraduate courses this autumn, a 2.8 per cent hike on last year.\n\nThey more than made up for the number of EU students applying that fell slightly by 650 students to 30,700.\n\nInternational students pay much more than British and EU students currently - an average of \u00a313,000 a year but the costs of doing a degree like medicine can rise to around \u00a324,000 a year.\n\n2 International students pay higher fees, but EU students pay the same as British ones Credit: PA:Press Association\n\nIt comes amid feverish claims Brexit and Britain\u2019s immigration policy may be deterring applicants.\n\nAlan Smithers, professor of education at the University of Buckingham, said the figures underlined British universities\u2019 reputation around the world.\n\nHe said: \u201cWith more overseas students than ever entering our universities this year it looks as though the fears about tougher immigration rules putting them off are unfounded.\n\n\u201cEU students are down a bit and EU students may have been unsettled by fears the very generous arrangements for them will come to an end with Brexit.\n\nInternational Trade Secretary Liam Fox says no decision will be made on Northern Ireland future until after trade talks start\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s also good news for universities because international students pay much higher fees than British and EU students.\u201d\n\nSarah Stevens, of the Russell Group, who represent the country\u2019s most elite universities, added: \u201cIt is a very positive message that so many talented students from across the globe continue to want to come and study here, attracted by the world-class teaching and research that our universities provide.\u201d\n\nUniversity chiefs have complained they face \u201cdisaster within weeks\u201d without a clear plan for Brexit.\n\nProf Stuart Croft of Warwick University warned of a staff exodus because of uncertainty over their residency status.", "output": "The number of international applications to UK universities rose 2% this year to a record total of 70,945, despite the Brexit process. There was also a 5% rise in applications\u00a0from students\u00a0outside\u00a0the EU.\u00a0The number of students applying from the\u00a0EU fell slightly, from 31,350 to 30,700 \u2013\u00a0a 2% decline. International students pay an average of \u00a313,000 a year, compared with the capped fees\u00a0of\u00a0\u00a39,000 for British nationals. Alan Smithers, professor of education at the University of Buckingham, said: \u201cIt looks as though the fears about tougher immigration rules putting [students] off are unfounded.\"\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian insurer Coverfox unveils sales app for third-party agents \n A panel discussion about the need for the legalisation of same-sex marriages has highlighted the lack of awareness prevailing in Indian society about...\n\nRetired Justice M.R. Shah\u2019s unwavering belief in the theory of deterrence and advocating stricter laws for serious offenders has somehow shaped the...\n\nMahatta & Co, a photo studio in Srinagar which opened in 1915, has stood the test of time. Everything around has changed except for the studio and...", "output": "Indian insurance comparison service Coverfox has launched an app enabling third-party agents to sell their products. While the Coverdrive platform aims to reach\u00a0as many as 2.6 million independent agents, policies can be sold through the app\u00a0by anyone who completes insurance training provided by the company. Intermediaries will also be able to track information on\u00a0potential clients through the app.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Malaysia's first insurance chatbot is launched \n AIA Bhd has broken new ground with the launch of Malaysia\u2019s first insurance chatbot, \u201cAsk Sara\u201d.\n\nThe new artificial intelligence powered enquiry channel is currently available to AIA\u2019s 14,000-strong agency force, also known as Life Planners, as part of the insurer\u2019s continued efforts to enable its distributors to be more effective in their day-to-day business, particularly when it comes to servicing of customers.", "output": "Malaysia has seen the introduction of its first insurance-focused chatbot. Dubbed \"Ask Sara\", the chatbot has been introduced by AIA and will be made available to the firm's agency force. The chatbot is aimed at improving relationships between the company and its customers. It has been programmed to answer up to 700 frequently asked questions the firm regularly fields."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Only 6% of NZ SMEs have cyber coverage \n Sixty per cent of cyber attacks target small and medium businesses. Photo / 123RF\n\nNew Zealand small businesses are lagging behind Australia in their uptake of cyber protection, according to the Insurance Council of New Zealand.\n\nOnly 6 per cent of all small businesses in New Zealand have cyber insurance - less than half the amount of Australian small businesses, at 14 per cent.\n\nWithout cyber insurance many Kiwi businesses are vulnerable to digital attacks, Insurance Council chief executive Tim Grafton said.\n\n\"Big corporates get it, we are seeing a real move to most having a cyber policy or at least a standing item on their board agendas,\" Grafton said. \"The real problem area is small and medium enterprises. We are a nation of small businesses with more than 90 per cent of businesses in New Zealand under 20 employees.\"\n\nThe most common sort of crypto attacks are unsophisticated and low in value, but can be damaging to small businesses, Grafton said.\n\nA recent Norton New Zealand small business security survey found one in five small firms in New Zealand had been targeted by a cyber attack.\n\nNinety per cent of cyber incidents begin with human error, which makes robust cyber risk management for organisations extremely important, he said.\n\n\"The common sorts of crypto attacks are unsophisticated, untargeted and, while low in dollar value \u2013 usually sub $5000 - enough to be an annoyance and damaging to a small business.\"\n\nThe average amount of time a breach goes unnoticed is around nine months.\n\nSixty per cent of all cyber attacks target small and medium businesses, and retail and the financial services sectors are most at risk of a data breach, according to the Insurance Council of New Zealand.", "output": "Small and medium-sized businesses in New Zealand are lagging in cyber insurance coverage compared to their Australian counterparts, the Insurance Council of New Zealand has said. More than 90% of New Zealand's businesses fall into this category, with most having less than 20 employees. Only 6% of these businesses have cyber coverage, compared to 14% of small businesses in Australia. One fifth of the country's small businesses have been subject to a cyber attack, according to a recent survey.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Discarded H&M clothes fuel Swedish power plant \n A Swedish power plant that aims to eliminate the use of fossil fuels by 2020 has taken to burning recycled wood and garbage\u2014including clothes from H&M\u2019s central warehouse, as first reported on Swedish public television.\n\n\u201cFor us it\u2019s a burnable material,\u201d said Jens Neren, head of fuel supplies at Malarenergi AB, which owns and operates the plant in Vasteras, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Stockholm. \u201cOur goal is to use only renewable and recycled fuels.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAccording to Bloomberg, the plant has burned about 15 tons of discarded clothing from H&M so far in 2017, making it a minuscule percentage of the 400,000 tons of trash it has burned to supply power to about 150,000 households. The clothes, according to H&M\u2019s head of communications, Johanna Dahl, are burned because they\u2019re unsafe for wearing.\n\n\u201cIt is our legal obligation to make sure that clothes that contain mold or do not comply with our strict restriction on chemicals are destroyed,\u201d Dahl told Bloomberg.\u201cH&M does not burn any clothes that are safe to use.\u201d\n\nWhile Sweden is a leader in eliminating the use of fossil fuels, the fast fashion cycle encouraged by brands such as H&M is far from sustainable, as 15 tons of discarded clothing from a single warehouse would indicate.\n\nBeyond the staggering resources required to produce H&M\u2019s hundreds of millions of products globally each year, fast fashion encourages an environmentally catastrophic cycle that sees manufacturers producing ever-increasing quantities to meet rising demands in markets such as Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and Russia. According to a 2016 McKinsey study, clothing production worldwide doubled between 2010 and 2014, and from 2000 to 2011 the average number of annual collections produced by European apparel companies rose from two to five.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIt\u2019s a lot of material for one planet to handle. Plus, when clothes are so cheap, customers value them less, making them even likelier to end up in landfills\u2014if they\u2019re not in an incinerator first.\n\n\ud83c\udf0d Quartz is running a series called The Race to Zero Emissions that addresses the challenges and opportunities of climate action. Sign up here to be the first to know when stories are published.", "output": "Swedish firm Malarenergi, which operates the Vasteras power plant near Stockholm, has burned 15 tonnes of clothing supplied by manufacturer H&M in 2017. The plant, which aims to use only renewable and recycled fuels and eliminate the use of fossil fuels by 2020, has also burned 400,000 tonnes of rubbish, generating electricity for around 150,000 households. H&M\u2019s head of communications, Johanna Dahl, said the garments passed on to Vasteras plant were unsafe to wear and said: \"Clothes that contain mould or do not comply with our strict restriction on chemicals are destroyed.\""}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurtech Wesurance to launch in Hong Kong next month \n Hong Kong insurtech startup Wesurance will next month launch the city's first insurance app featuring artificial intelligence and electronic know your customer (eKYC) capabilities.\n\nThe mobile app for insurance services has been launched in partnership with Allied World Assurance Company and TransUnion.\n\nThe app features an AI powered virtual assistant named Amy who can walk customers through the process of taking out a policy. It will be available 24/7 from any location, and will use a frequently asked questions database to answer over 80% of customer queries.\n\nUnsolved questions will be immediately directed to internal representatives, and Amy will send reminders and notifications throughout the customer journey.\n\nWesurance also incorporates eKYC and facial recognition technology for faster and easier user verification powered by TransUnion\u2019s IDVision solution. Users can take a photo of their HKID card followed by a selfie to accurately verify a user's identity.\n\nClaims can likewise be proceeded through Amy and by taking photos of supporting documents, and Wesurance promises a turnaround time of a few days.\n\n\u201cAt Wesurance, we deliver insuretech services that allow insurance providers to offer the same simplicity and customer centricity that Hong Kong residents expect in other areas of their lives,\u201d Wesurance CEO Eddie Chang said.\n\n\u201cTravel insurance policies are our first range of product. We plan to launch other insurance products on this platform at a later stage. We are confident that this mobile platform will transform the way consumers use insurance in Hong Kong.\u201d\n\nWesurance will be available from the iTunes App Store or Google Play in early December.\n\nFirst published in Computerworld Hong Kong\n\nRelated content", "output": "Insurtech Wesurance is launching a virtual assistant app in Hong Kong, making use of artificial intelligence. The virtual assistant, called Amy, will be able to provide support, help customers take out a policy or get a quote and help process claims. The app will also have facial recognition technology and will allow customers to have their claims processed through taking photos of supporting documents. The virtual assistant has been developed in partnership with Allied World Assurance Company and TransUnion. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Eni partners with Fiat Chrysler on lower-emission fuels \n Italian oil giant Eni S.p.A.E and U.K.-based vehicle company, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. FCAU have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly develop research projects and applications that reduce carbon emission from modes of transport. The agreement in the presence of Italian Prime Minister, Paolo Gentiloni is in line with both companies' strategy to focus on carbon emission reduction.\n\nPer Eni, the agreement will enable the companies to research extensively on technologies related to compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG). These technologies are expected to enable the companies to reduce tank weights and increase mileage. Moreover, Eni announced that it has developed a new kind of petrol, which includes 15% methanol and 5% bioethanol to reduce emissions. Usage of methanol in the fuel enables to significantly reduce emissions. Eni and Fiat Chrysler will together test this new type of petrol in five Fiat 500 Enjoy fleet cars. Eni believes this type of petrol can reduce around 4.3% carbon emissions.\n\nOf the total carbon emissions, road transport vehicles alone are responsible for approximately 23%. The companies are also taking this matter into consideration and testing new types of fuels in existing modes of transport to assess their importance. The companies are testing the use of increased proportion of Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil or HVO in diesel for existing motors, which reduces emissions by 60% during the production process.\n\nAbout the Company\n\nEni with its consolidated subsidiaries is engaged in oil and gas, electricity generation, petrochemicals, oilfield services and engineering industries. The company's major business segments are Exploration and Production (E&P), Gas and Power, and Refining and Marketing. The company conducts its major exploration and production activities for hydrocarbons. In addition, Eni is involved in offshore and onshore hydrocarbon field construction.\n\nPrice Performance\n\nEni has gained 1.1% year to date compared with 1.2% growth of its industry .\n\nZacks Rank and Stocks to Consider\n\nEni carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).\n\nSome better-ranked stocks in the oil and energy sector include ConocoPhillips COP and Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. NOG . All the stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here .\n\nHouston, TX-based ConocoPhillips is a major global exploration and production company. The company's sales for 2017 are expected to increase 24.4% year over year. The company delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 152.3% in the last four quarters.\n\nMinnetonka, MN -based Northern Oil and Gas is an independent energy company. The company's sales for the fourth quarter of 2017 are expected to increase 51.9% year over year. The company delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 175% in the last four quarters.\n\nWall Street's Next Amazon\n\nZacks EVP Kevin Matras believes this familiar stock has only just begun its climb to become one of the greatest investments of all time. It's a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in pure genius.\n\nClick for details >>\n\nWant the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report\n\nFiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (FCAU): Free Stock Analysis Report\n\nENI S.p.A. (E): Free Stock Analysis Report\n\nNorthern Oil and Gas, Inc. (NOG): Free Stock Analysis Report\n\nConocoPhillips (COP): Free Stock Analysis Report\n\nTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.\n\nThe views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.\n\nThe views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.", "output": "Italian oil company Eni and car manufacturer Fiat Chrysler have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop technology aimed at reducing carbon emissions from road vehicles. The agreement will see Eni work fuel technologies like compressed and liquefied natural gas, as well as hydrotreated vegetable oil in diesel cars, which can reduce emissions by up to 60%. The two firms will also test Eni's latest fuel, a blend of 15% methanol and 5% bioethanol, in Fiat cars. Road vehicles are responsible for around 23% of CO2 emissions."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Health IQ rewards health-conscious people with cheaper life cover \n Health IQ Insurance Services, a startup focused on providing life insurance for -conscious individuals, said it has secured $34.6 million in Series C funding, led by Andreessen Horowitz.\n\nTo date, the company has raised a total of $81 million in funding mostly from its existing investors - Charles River Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Foundation Capital, First Round Capital, Felicis Ventures and Western Technology Investments.\n\nHealth IQ says its mission is to improve the health of the world by celebrating the health conscious people through financial rewards.\n\nThe company partners with insurance carriers such as SBLI, Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. and Assurity Life Insurance Co., and reinsurer partner Swiss Re to offer health conscious people between 4 percent and 33 percent lower rates on life insurance.\n\n\"We believe the best way to change the world's health is to celebrate the health conscious rather than harass the people who aren't. We are doing that celebration today with lower rates and better underwriting in life insurance,\" Munjal Shah, Co-Founder and CEO of Health IQ said.\n\nFounded in 2013 by a team of health-conscious entrepreneurs, Health IQ is a licensed life insurance company in all 50 states. In 22 months, it has helped customers secure a total of $5.3 billion in insurance coverage.\n\nHealth IQ documents which individuals are health conscious and helps them to get lower rates and better coverage from insurance companies, thus rewarding the health conscious.\n\nHealth IQ has worked with carriers to develop better underwriting that takes into account unique factors related to the health conscious. For example, Body Mass Index or BMI does not differentiate between muscle and fat, resulting in weight lifters and athletic individuals being overcharged for their muscularity.\n\nHealth IQ said it has spent years gathering the science and big data to prove that the health conscious individuals deserve lower rates.\n\nThe data showed that persistent runners have a 50 percent lower risk of cardiovascular mortality, vegetarians have a 22 percent lower risk of colorectal cancer incidence, and higher muscular strength is associated with a 30 percent lower risk of cancer mortality.\n\nHealth IQ combined this medical research with its own proprietary research gleaned from the over 1 million people who took the Health IQ test launched by the company over three years ago. This research showed that health conscious individuals have a 41 percent lower mortality rate.\n\nFor comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com\n\nBusiness News", "output": "Californian start-up Health IQ Insurance Services aims to persuade more US residents to become health conscious customers by offering tailored insurance coverage boasting lower costs. The company, which recently raised $34.6m in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, is licensed in all 50 states, and has spent years gathering medical data and research to prove to insurers that healthier people deserve reduced rates, securing $5.3bn in coverage over the past 22 months.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Balderton Capital secures \u00a3281m amid uncertainty \n UK venture capital firm Balderton Capital has raised $375 million (\u00a3281 million) for its sixth fund to invest in Series A startups in Europe.\n\nThe firm has successfully secured backing from the European Investment Fund \u2014 a major coup after the fund stopped investing in the UK after the Brexit vote.\n\nBalderton plans to invest more in France and continental Europe with its new fund and has made 10 investments already.\n\nManaging partner Bernard Liautaud said the UK's future as a tech hub remains up in the air.\n\n\n\nOne of the UK's biggest venture capital firms, Balderton Capital, has raised a sixth fund of $375 million (\u00a3281 million) and bucked a post-Brexit trend by landing at least some of the money from an EU fund thought to have pulled out of the UK.\n\nBalderton Capital, founded in 2000, has backed a number of successful startups such as transport app Citymapper, investment platform Nutmeg, and banking startup Revolut.\n\nThe firm will continue focusing on Series A startups with its new fund, which is backed by fund-of-funds, pension funds, and other institutional investors. Some backers are US-based but, in a growing trend, two backers are Asian. Balderton has made 10 new investments out of the fund to date, including AI firm Sophia Genetics and Zego, an insurance firm for gig economy workers founded by ex-Deliveroo employees.\n\n\"The focus is on European entrepreneurs who have a plan to build a really big company,\" said Balderton's managing partner, well-known French entrepreneur Bernard Liautaud. \"What we mean by early stage is Series A \u2014 we want to be the first institutional investor, after seed and friends and family.\"\n\nA typical first cheque might be between $5 million (\u00a33.8 million) and $10 million (\u00a37.5 million) he added. Startups will need a product market fit and momentum.\n\nIt's a \"doubling down\" on Balderton's previous strategy, Liautaud said, because it's working. He wouldn't disclose returns on Balderton's fifth fund, but pointed to the fact that the company's portfolio startups have managed to raise substantial rounds after raising money from Balderton.\n\n\"When we look at our portfolio as a whole, they have raised $850 million (\u00a3640 million). That's an enormous amount,\" he said.\n\nLiautaud added that Balderton will likely invest more in continental Europe with the new fund.\n\n\"We are seeing more opportunities in France, and we will see Balderton investing more there than we have [previously],\" Liautaud said. \"It's likely the relative part between the UK and continential Europe will balance out towards continental Europe than in prior funds.\"\n\nFrance has boosted its share of VC money in the last year, thanks to local successes like adtech firm Criteo, ridesharing firm BlaBlaCar, and big data firm Talend. In 2007, Liautaud's own French firm Business Objects was acquired by SAP for \u20ac4.8 billion (then \u00a33.3 billion).\n\nAsked if he was confident in a post-Brexit UK, Liautaud replied: \"I just don't know. The base is very strong for entrepreneurs, that continues to be very good. Other regions will rise to the challenge, but I don't think suddenly people will leave the UK.\"\n\nLiautaud added that London still had advantages over other European capitals, such as its strength in finance and as a hub for talent. Its future success, he said, would depend on talent being able to emigrate to the UK once it leaves the EU.\n\nBalderton managed to win funding from the European Investment Fund\n\nBalderton has managed to buck a damaging post-Brexit trend with its new fund, with new funding from the European Investment Fund (EIF).\n\nThe EIF is an EU entity which to date has handed billions to UK venture capitalists to encourage investment in European tech startups. It froze investment to the UK after the country voted to leave the EU, with multiple UK-based firms affected by the sudden halt. The EIF consistently denied it had pulled out of the UK, but several fund managers told Business Insider the fund had stopped investing.\n\nAzmat Yusuf, chief executive of Balderton portfolio startup Citymapper. Getty/John Phillips/Stringer\n\nHow is it that Balderton subsequently raised money from the EIF?\n\nAccording to one source, it's likely that the EIF chose to invest in Balderton's latest fund because it had already invested in the firm's $305 million (\u00a3228 million) fifth fund back in 2014. According to the source, the EIF will invest in funds where it already has commitments, but not in any firms newly applying for funding after the Brexit vote.\n\nThe EIF confirmed to Business Insider it had backed Balderton.\n\nAsked how difficult VCs might find closing funding rounds after Brexit, Liautaud said: \"I think it depends for which kinds of fund. Our fund is very clear in its focus, it\u2019s early stage, it\u2019s across Europe, we have invested across Europe for 15 years now. It's well known, we have a track record, we are agnostic to the region.\n\n\"I think it\u2019s harder for a fund that is a UK-only fund in terms of raising money from outside, maybe. Because we invest everywhere we haven\u2019t seen an issue.\"\n\nThe EIF's rules mean it will only invest in funds which themselves back companies inside the EU and other designated eligible nations. That means a new fund that focuses on UK startups is unlikely to successfully raise money from the EIF \u2014 and it may partly explain why Balderton intends to shift its investment balance towards Europe.\n\nAfter a summer of shame for US venture capital, Balderton is shouting about ethics\n\nSilicon Valley has had a torrid time in the media this summer, with stories of harassment in venture capital and tech startups, and massively unethical behaviour such as Uber covering up a major data breach.\n\nThere have been fewer such stories in Europe, and Liautaud wants Balderton to proactively state its pro-ethics position. To that end, the firm is working on a manifesto as a kind of commitment to integrity and ethical behaviour in business.\n\n\"Missteps in ethics have led to enormous problems,\" he said, pointing outside of tech to VW's emissions scandal, and the Libor rates scandal in finance. \"It results in a billion dollar fine, management wipeout, and a reputation built up for years that is completely tarnished.\n\n\"We think that ethics is a powerful force to create business.\"\n\nIt sounds a little vague to an insider, but it involves pledging to act with the best behaviours, integrity, not putting pressure on startups and avoiding \"all the bad behaviours\" we've seen. Balderton separately has a harassment policy in place.\n\nBalderton has also spent a year working on a guide to employee equity in startups, after studying practices in the US and Europe. The guide is available to the public, with startups able to use the document as a basis.", "output": "Balderton Capital, a UK-based venture capital company, recently raised a fund worth \u00a3281m ($375m) for series A investments in European startups. This is the firm's sixth such fund. Bernard Liautaud, Balderton's managing partner, wouldn't disclose returns on their fifth fund, though he said that after receiving investment from Balderton, their portfolio as a whole had raised $850m. Asked if he was confident in a post-Brexit UK, Liautaud replied: \"I just don't know... Other regions will rise to the challenge, but I don't think suddenly people will leave the UK\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Small-scale hydro projects threaten environments in the Balkans \n Hydropower constructions have rocketed by 300% across the western Balkans in the last two years, according to a new analysis, sparking fears of disappearing mountain rivers and biodiversity loss.\n\nAbout 2,800 new dams are now in the pipeline across a zone stretching from Slovenia to Greece, 37% of which are set to be built in protected areas such as national parks or Natura 2000 sites.\n\nHeavy machinery is already channelling new water flows at 187 construction sites, compared to just 61 in 2015, according to the research by Fluvius, a consultancy for UN and EU-backed projects.\n\nUlrich Eichelmann, the director of the RiverWatch NGO, which commissioned the paper, said that the small-scale nature of most projects \u2013 often in mountainous terrain \u2013 was, counterintuitively, having a disastrous impact on nature.\n\n\u201cThey divert water through pipelines away from the river and leave behind empty channels where rivers had been,\u201d he told the Guardian. \u201cIt is a catastrophe for local people and for the environment. For many species of fish and insects like dragonflies and stoneflies, it is the end.\u201d\n\nThis, as yet unnamed fish species, previously unknown to science, is considered threatened by a planned hydropower plant Po\u00e7em on the river Vjosa, Albania. Photograph: Wolfram Graf/Save the Blue Heart of Europe\n\nOne stonefly species, Isoperla vjosae, was only discovered on Albania\u2019s iconic Vjosa river this year, during an expedition by 25 scientists which also found an unnamed fish previously unknown to science. Like the Danube salmon and the Prespa trout, it is already thought to be at risk from what Eichelmann calls \u201ca dam tsunami\u201d.\n\nThe scientists\u2019 report described the Vjosa as a remarkably unique and dynamic eco-haven for scores of aquatic species that have disappeared across Europe. \u201cThe majority of these viable communities are expected to irrecoverably go extinct as a result of the projected hydropower dams,\u201d it said.\n\nHowever, Damian Gjiknuri, Albania\u2019s energy minister, told the Guardian that two planned megadams on the Vjosa would allow \u201cthe passage of fish via fish bypass or fish lanes\u201d.\n\n\u201cThese designs have been based on the best environmental practices that are being applied today for minimising the effects of high dams on the circulation of aquatic faunas,\u201d he said.\n\nThe Vjosa river is home to many aquatic species that are threatened with extinction by planned dams, according to scientists. Photograph: Gregor \u0160ubic/Save the Blue Heart of Europe\n\nGjiknuri disputed the new report\u2019s findings on the basis that only two \u201chigh dams\u201d were being built in Albania, while most others were \u201crun-of-the-river hydropower\u201d.\n\nThese generate less than 10MW of energy and so require no environmental impact assessments, conservationists say. But their small scale often precludes budgets for mitigation measures and allows arrays of turbines to be placed at intervals along waterways, causing what WWF calls \u201csevere cumulative impacts\u201d.\n\nBeyond aquatic life, the dam boom may also be threatening humans too.\n\nSince 2012, property conflicts between big energy companies and small farmers have led to one murder and an attempted murder, according to an EU-funded study. The paper logged three work-related deaths, and dozens of arrests linked to Albania\u2019s wave of hydropower projects.\n\n\n\nPhotograph: Euronatur Foundation/RiverWatch/Save the Blue Heart of Europe\n\nAlbania is a regional hotspot with 81 dams under construction but Serbia, Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina are also installing 71 hydro plants, and Serbia has a further 800 projects on the drawing board.\n\nGjiknuri said the Albanian government was committed to declaring a national park on a portion of the Vjosa upstream from the planned 50m-high Kaliva\u00e7i dam, preventing further hydro construction there.\n\n", "output": "Hydropower projects in the western Balkans have surged 300% in just two years, according to a paper commissioned by RiverWatch NGO, raising concerns over environmental impacts on mountain rivers and\u00a0wildlife,\u00a0and human conflict over property disputes. Many of the current 187 construction sites are smaller-scale, \"run-of-the-river\" projects\u00a0that generate less than 10 MW, which are exempt from environmental impact assessments, however, they have a \"severe cumulative impact\" on waterways, according to WWF, and spell the end for many species of fish and insects,\u00a0said Ulrich Eichelmann, director of RiverWatch NGO.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Swedish house-market crisis may signal declines in other nations \n In Sweden, a combination of low interest rates and rapidly rising house prices has been making the central bank nervous for years. House prices have increased by an average of 9% per year for the past three years, pushing up household indebtedness in lockstep.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBut now it seems cracks are appearing in Sweden\u2019s housing market, after property prices fell 1.5% in September from the month before and a further 3% in October, some of the steepest declines in years.\n\nSweden\u2019s central bank is trying to put a positive spin on it. This week, policymakers said the slowdown would lead to a more stable market and, most importantly, limit household indebtedness. \u201dHigh and rising household indebtedness poses the greatest risk to the Swedish economy,\u201d the Riksbank said (pdf).\n\nHousehold debts are growing much faster than incomes in Sweden. The average debt-to-income ratio for households with mortgages was 338% in September, up from 326% a year earlier. This makes households vulnerable when interest rates start to rise (the current benchmark rate is below zero, even though economic growth has been relatively strong) or house prices start to fall significantly.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe Scandinavian country doesn\u2019t take the prospect of a housing shock lightly, because it fears a re-run of the early 1990s, when a real estate crash and banking crisis devastated Nordic economies. The central bank warned this week that banks had \u201cmajor exposures\u201d to the property sector and would be sensitive to a large fall in prices, exacerbated by the fact that local banks are deeply interconnected. Officials are taking measures to engineer a soft landing, including plans to require borrowers to pay off more of the principal on their mortgages and not just the interest.\n\nWorries about the housing market are also making traders jittery. This week, the Swedish krona briefly surpassed 10 krona a euro, a level reached only one other time since the financial crisis. At the same time, Sweden\u2019s inflation has started to slow, setting back plans by the central bank to raise interest rates.\n\nIf Sweden\u2019s housing market has reached an inflection point, marking the end of an era of low interest rates fueling rapidly rising house prices, other countries should take note. What\u2019s happening there could serve as a preview for places where interest rates have also been low for years and experts fear that housing bubbles have inflated to dangerous levels.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nStockholm and Sydney don\u2019t have that much in common, but as Australia\u2019s housing market balloons to four times the size of GDP, policymakers there should be watching closely to see whether Sweden\u2019s housing market cools in a way that gives over-indebted households time to adjust and the central bank room to raise rates without shocking the system.", "output": "Rapid growth in Sweden's housing market went into reverse in the autumn, with values falling 3% in October and 1.5% in September. That follows three years of 9% annual expansion that has stoked household indebtedness. The central bank recently warned that lenders had \"major exposures\" to the property market and would be hit by a steep fall in prices. Some now fear the Swedish experience is an indicator of the fate of housing markets in other low-interest rate nations with brewing property bubbles."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Glyphosate licence extended another five years by EU \n Glyphosate, the key ingredient in the world\u2019s bestselling weedkiller, has won a new five-year lease in Europe, closing the most bitterly fought pesticide relicensing battle of recent times.\n\nThe herbicide\u2019s licence had been due to run out in less than three weeks, raising the prospect of Monsanto\u2019s Roundup disappearing from store shelves and, potentially, a farmers\u2019 revolt.\n\nInstead, an EU appeal committee voted on Monday to reauthorise the substance despite a petition by 1.3 million EU citizens last week calling for a ban.\n\nIn 2015, the World Health Organisation\u2019s cancer agency, the IARC, famously declared glyphosate \u201cprobably carcinogenic to humans,\u201d although several international agencies, including Efsa, subsequently came to opposite conclusions. Monsanto insists glyphosate is safe.\n\nThe EU health commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis said: \u201cToday\u2019s vote shows that when we all want to, we are able to share and accept our collective responsibility in decision making.\u201d\n\nHowever, the approval falls far short of the 15-year licence the commission had originally sought and Conservative MEPs lashed out at what they called \u201can emotional, irrational but politically convenient fudge\u201d.\n\nAshley Fox, the Conservative party\u2019s delegation leader in the European parliament, said that the vote \u201csimply prolongs the uncertainty for our farmers, who are being badly let down. They cannot plan for the future without long term assurances about the availability of substances they rely on.\u201d\n\nA re-run of the struggle to reauthorise glyphosate will now begin again in two years\u2019 time, with a new safety assessment by the European Food Safety Authority (Efsa).\n\nGreenpeace EU food policy director, Franziska Achterberg, commented: \u201cThe people who are supposed to protect us from dangerous pesticides have failed to do their jobs and betrayed the trust Europeans place in them.\u201d\n\nThe Green party called it \u201ca dark day for consumers, farmers and the environment\u201d.\n\nChris Portier, an advisor to IARC in its glyphosate decision, told the Guardian that, in his view, the EU decision was scientifically unsound.\n\n\u201cThe guidelines maintained by ECHA [the European chemical agency] would easily classify this compound as a group 1B carcinogen and, as such, it should be banned for use in Europe,\u201d he said.\n\nThe row over glyphosate has raised questions over modern farming techniques, regulatory capture and scientific independence, as well as the safety of ubiquitous pesticides.\n\n\n\nTraces of glyphosate are routinely found in tests of foodstuffs, water, topsoil, and human urine in amounts way above safe limits set by regulators. Ben & Jerry\u2019s recently introduced a new line of organic ice cream, in a bid to sate public concern.\n\nCampaigners say Monsanto ghostwrote research papers for regulators, enlisted EPA officials to block a US government review of glyphosate and formed front groups to discredit critical scientists and journalists, citing documents revealed in a US lawsuit by non-Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma sufferers.\n\nMore than 280 similar lawsuits are now pending against Monsanto, according to the US right to know campaign.\n\nBut the enzyme-blocking chemical has also become a mainstay of modern agricultural techniques that farmers\u2019 unions see as environmentally friendly, even as critics condemn it as a \u201cpesticide treadmill\u201d of danger to plants, animals and people.\n\nMonsanto argues that, as a no-till system, glyphosate lowers carbon emissions and protects soil quality. The company declined to comment on today\u2019s result, deferring to farmers\u2019 groups.\n\n\n\nGuy Smith, vice-president of the National Farmers Union, said: \u201cToday\u2019s decision will be welcomed by farmers who have watched with growing concern as what should have been a straightforward decision has become increasingly political.\u201d\n\n\u201cGlyphosate reduces the need to use other herbicides, it helps to protect soil and cut greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the need for ploughing, and it enables farmers in this country to grow crops that help produce safe, affordable, high-quality British food.\u201d", "output": "Glyphosate, the central component of Monsanto\u2019s Roundup weedkiller, has been granted a new five-year lease by the European Union (EU). The licence, which was due to run out in under three weeks, had been the source of an ongoing dispute between regulators, health organisations, and the public. In 2015, the World Health Organisation found that the chemical was \u201cprobably carcinogenic to humans\u201d, but other international groups opposed this finding and Monsanto insisted its product was safe. Last week, an appeal committee ignored a petition by 1.3 million EU citizens and relicensed the pesticide.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Climate change is increasing the number of child brides in Africa \n It was the flood that ensured that Ntonya Sande\u2019s first year as a teenager would also be the first year of her married life. Up to the moment the water swept away her parents\u2019 field in Kachaso in the Nsanje district of Malawi, they had been scraping a living. Afterwards they were reduced to scavenging for bits of firewood to sell.\n\nSo when a young man came to their door and asked for the 13-year old\u2019s hand in marriage, the couple didn\u2019t think about it for too long, lest he look elsewhere. Ntonya begged them to change their minds. She was too young, she pleaded. She didn\u2019t want to leave. But it was to no avail. Her parents sat her down and spelled it out for her: the weather had changed and taken everything from them. There was not enough food to go around. They couldn\u2019t afford another mouth at the table.\n\nThat night she lay down in bed for the first time with the man she had never seen before and followed the instructions of her aunt, who had coached her on the important matter of sex. Ten months later, she gave birth to their first daughter.\n\nAround 1.5 million girls in Malawi are at risk of getting married because of climate change. That\u2019s a huge number\n\nEveryone has their own idea of what climate change looks like. For some, it\u2019s the walrus struggling to find space on melting ice floes on Blue Planet II. For others, it\u2019s an apocalyptic vision of cities disappearing beneath the waves. But for more and more girls across Africa, the most palpable manifestation of climate change is the baby in their arms as they sit watching their friends walk to school. The Brides of the Sun reporting project, funded by the European Journalism Centre, set out to try to assess the scale of what many experts are warning is a real and growing crisis: the emergence of a generation of child brides as a direct result of a changing climate.\n\nAnd time and again, in villages from the south of Malawi to the east coast of Mozambique, the child brides and their parents told an increasingly familiar story. In recent years they had noticed the temperatures rising, the rains becoming less predictable and coming later and sometimes flooding where there had not been flooding before. Families that would once have been able to afford to feed and educate several children reported that they now faced an impossible situation.\n\nNone of the villages had any way of recording the changes scientifically, or indeed felt any urge to do so. All they knew was that the weather had changed and that where they used to be able to pay for their girls to go through school now they couldn\u2019t. And the only solution was for one or more daughters to get married.\n\nSometimes it was the parents who made the decision. For the good of the rest of the family, a daughter had to be sacrificed. She would be taken out of school and found a husband, one less mouth to feed. Sometimes it was the girl herself who made the decision and forced it upon her parents. Unhappy, hungry, she hoped that a husband might be the answer.\n\nFatima Mussa, 16 and nine months pregnant, lives in Nataka, in the district of Larde, near the coast in eastern Mozambique\n\nCarlina Nortino (main image, first left) sits with her husband, Horacio, in the dry sand that is all that is left of the river that once flowed past the village of Nataka in the Larde district of Nampula province, on the east coast of Mozambique. From the ground, there is nothing to see of the river. But a drone camera sent up to hover above reveals the ghost of the river, a darker line of green growth winding its way across the plain.\n\nCarlina is 15, Horacio 16. They married when she was 13, two years after the river disappeared, she says.\n\n\u201cI remember when I saw people here fishing. I used to sell the fish, I took it from the fishermen and went to sell it to the village. There was water everywhere. I remember seeing Horacio with the other fishermen. But without rain, the fish died.\u201d\n\nHer family used to harvest as many as 20 50kg bags of cassava. Today it is down to one or two bags. She blames the lack of rain.\n\nHoracio looks across to where the river once ran. \u201cI can\u2019t fish any more because the fish don\u2019t have water any more. The water disappeared. Now I do agriculture. Before, the rain started in September and came regularly until March. Now the rain only comes in January and February and that\u2019s it.\u201d\n\nCarlina had dreamed of becoming a midwife: school was the most important part of her life. \u201cIt was never my desire to get married at that young age. I wanted to go to school. But I was forced to by my father. The family didn\u2019t have enough food to survive. So my father accepted the proposal because he couldn\u2019t support me to go to school.\u201d\n\nShe give birth to their first child, a boy, earlier this year. There were problems from the start. The family could not afford to go to a hospital with an incubator and the child died. \u201cI am sure that if my father and my husband weren\u2019t that poor, my son would be alive,\u201d she says.\n\nIt wasn\u2019t his choice to marry her off, says her father, Carlitos Camilo. The 49-year-old used to support his family through fishing and farming. Then the weather changed and there was no more fish. \u201cIf I was able to feed my children, I wouldn\u2019t have pushed her to get married so young. Look at my other daughters, they grew up, they went to school, they got married at a normal age.\u201d\n\nIn 2015 the United Nations Population Fund estimated that 13.5 million children would marry under the age of 18 in that year alone \u2013 37,000 child marriages every day \u2013 including 4.4 million married before they were 15. Across the whole of Africa, Unicef warned in 2015 that the total number of child brides could more than double to 310 million by 2050 if current trends continue.\n\nThere are many reasons for children marrying young. In some societies, it is regarded as simply practical; when children reach puberty, sexual behaviour starts to carry with it the risk of pregnancy. Elsewhere, poverty is the driver: when parents cannot afford to feed several children, it tends to be the girls who have to go.\n\nBut set against that is a growing awareness of the issue and a stated desire by governments to tackle it. Malawi made it illegal to marry below the age of 18 in 2015 and wrote it into its constitution this year. The rate of child marriage should be falling. Yet it persists. In Mozambique the number of child brides is actually rising as a result of the growing population. Something else has entered the equation.\n\nLittle girls fetch water in Kachaso village, Nsanje district, Malawi. Extreme poverty in the region may compel them to marry before they\u2019re ready.\n\nThe new factor is climate change, says Mac Bain Mkandawire, executive director of Youth Net and Counselling, which campaigns for the rights of women and children from its base in Zomba, Malawi.\n\n\u201cWe do not have detailed figures, but I would say 30% to 40% of child marriages in Malawi are due to the floods and droughts caused by climate change,\u201d he says. There are no detailed figures, he explains, because no one has previously thought to connect the two issues and to ask the right questions.\n\n\u201cGiven that there are about 4 or 5 million girls at risk of getting married in Malawi, around 1.5 million girls are at risk of getting married because of climate change related events. That is a huge number.\u201d\n\nThe published figures may underestimate the scale of the problem because many marriages are informal affairs, not officially recorded. Often they are simply an agreement between two families, or if there are no parents then between the boy and the girl themselves. Sometimes a small dowry is paid by the husband or his family.\n\nThat\u2019s how it was for Filomena Antonio. She was 15 when 21-year-old Momande Churute approached her father, Antonio, and offered him 2,000 Mozambican meticals (\u00a325) to marry his daughter.\n\nAntonio Momade Jamal is 50. He has lived in Moma in Nampula province, all his life. He started fishing in 1985 when it was still a profitable business. Back then, buyers used to come from the city of Nampula to compete for the catch. Then the weather started to change.\n\n\u201cWe see that it\u2019s too hot. We talk about that and we all agree that it\u2019s difficult to catch enough fish because of these high temperatures,\u201d he says. \u201cIn the areas where we used to go, the sea level is rising and the waves are much stronger.\u201d\n\nHe thought Filomena too young to marry but he felt he had little choice and when Momande offered to support her to stay in school, he agreed. He says he is not the only one.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve seen other neighbours who, because they are struggling, let their daughters get married. I have five other kids who go to secondary school. I have two other daughters, one of 13, another of 11. If a man came to ask for their hand, I would think about it, I would consider it. This man could help me support not only my daughter, but also help my other kids continue their education.\u201d\n\nFilomena sits next to him, listening. She appears to have accepted her fate as long as it means she can go off to study in the city. She wants to be a nurse.\n\n\u201cWe met here in the neighbourhood and he asked me to be with him,\u201d she says, indicating Momande. \u201cI liked him. I thought he was a beautiful man.\u201d\n\nIts course still visible from the air, the river in Nataka, Larde district, Mozambique was a vital source of fish and water for irrigation until the rains became unreliable and the river dried up.\n\nShe told him he had to ask her father\u2019s permission. \u201cMy father accepted because he had poor conditions, so he believed that my husband could support me to go to school. I accepted because my father allowed me to. Since my father is poor, I thought I would get married so that my husband would help me. I believe that if my father had kept doing well with the fishing, he wouldn\u2019t have accepted the proposal because then he could afford my education, the school fees, my books.\u201d\n\nMozambique is one of the world\u2019s poorest countries, with almost 70% of its 28 million people living below the poverty line. It is particularly vulnerable to climate change: the Netherlands Commission for Environmental Assessment warns that \u201cclimate-related hazards such as droughts, floods and cyclones are occurring with increasing frequency\u201d.\n\nThe legal age of marriage is 18 (16 with parental consent) but still Mozambique has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world, with nearly one in two girls married by the age of 18 and one in seven by 15. The highest rates of child marriage are found in the northern provinces, including Nampula, which also has the highest number of adolescent pregnancies.\n\nFatima Mussa is 16, and nine months pregnant. She hadn\u2019t really wanted to get married. On the other hand, her father could no longer afford to keep her. She married 18-year-old Priorino Antonio last year when she was 15 after he approached her father in the village of Nataka, in Nampula province, and offered him 2,000 meticals. There was no ceremony.\n\n\u201cMy father said \u2018I would have never considered allowing my daughter to marry now, because she is young. But she will marry because I don\u2019t have enough money to send her to secondary school.\u2019 I didn\u2019t want to get married at such a young age, but I didn\u2019t know what to do, since I couldn\u2019t go to school. So I saw an opportunity to marry someone who could maybe improve my life a little bit.\u201d\n\nAcross the border in Malawi, nearly half the country\u2019s girls are married by the age of 18 and nearly one in 10 by age 15, leaving Malawi ranked by Unicef as the 11th worst country in the world for child marriage. The legal age of marriage was raised to 18 in 2015 but there have been no reports of any prosecutions.\n\nPoverty is the key factor, increasingly driven by climate change. The International Monetary Fund says that 70% of the 19 million population live below the poverty line, and 25% live in extreme poverty: \u201cConsidering that a significant number of the non-poor in rural areas are highly vulnerable to weather shocks, the poverty rate is \u2013 if anything \u2013 expected to increase due to the impact of recent floods and drought.\u201d\n\nFor Lucy Anusa, it was the drought of 2016 that tipped her over the edge. She was 14, the youngest of three sisters living with their farmer parents in Namalaka, near the southern end of Lake Malawi, when the drought laid waste to their crops.\n\nLucy Anusa, now a 15-year-old mother, has returned to live with her family near Lake Malawi.\n\n\u201cI met this man who proposed to get married. I had to accept despite the fact that my parents kept telling me good things about education. But I opted for marriage given the way things were at home.\u201d\n\nHer parents were unhappy, but she was too stubborn. Only when she became pregnant and the husband turned her out of their home did she start to regret her decision.\n\nNow 15, she gave birth to their daughter earlier this year. \u201cMy mother had to welcome me back. But she kept reminding me: \u2018My daughter, I told you about this. You are too young for marriage. You have a lot of challenges when you go into marriage so young.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe changes in the weather are wrong-footing farmers, says Amos Mtonya from Malawi\u2019s department of climate change and meteorological services. \u201cWhen it starts to rain, they immediately start planting. But then, three weeks later, they realise that everything they planted is dry,\u201d he says. \u201cSo to some, giving away their girl child can be a relief. It can also help the husband\u2019s family, since it gets someone to assist with the household chores. Of course tradition plays its role, but climate change will encourage people to get married early.\u201d\n\nThe government\u2019s own report on the 2015 floods listed child marriage as one of the side effects, a view shared by the anti-child marriage campaign group Girls Not Brides. \u201cIf we don\u2019t act now we risk another generation of childhoods being lost,\u201d says its executive director Lakshmi Sundaram.\n\nMaliya Mapira dropped out of school because a teacher got her pregnant. She was 15 at the time. Her parents are tobacco farmers and the worsening harvests meant they were living hand to mouth. When they discovered who the father was, they wanted Maliya to marry him. \u201cBut along the way the teacher was unable to support me, not even the baby. If my parents could have supported me, I would have preferred to continue with education rather than get married. But I didn\u2019t want to put pressure on them. So I just decided to get married to this man to survive.\u201d\n\nBut marriage has changed little for her. She and tobacco farmer Maliki Hestone, trying to raise her six-month-old son, Bashiru Akim, face the same problems her parents failed to overcome. \u201cSometimes, because of the floods, the crops get washed away. At the end of the day, we get very little harvest from it,\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t want to have more children because we are struggling taking care of the one I have. It would just make things more difficult.\u201d\n\nFive hundred miles away, in the courtyard of a house on the edge of Moma, Majuma Julio is stirring a pot of maize, preparing lunch for husband, Juma Momade, who is holding their year-old daughter, Fatima, on his lap.\n\nMajuma Julio, now 17, married at 15 and has a daughter nearly two: \u2018I don\u2019t blame anyone. The weather just changed.\u2019\n\nThe couple married two years ago when Majuma was 15 and Juma was 19. It\u2019s not what she wanted, Majuma says. But she was staying with an uncle, a farmer, who was paying to support her through school. The weather changed and there was no more money; marriage was the only solution.\n\n\u201cIt was because of the sun. There was too much sun and the rain was not falling enough. His production started to decrease three years before the marriage,\u201d says Majuma. \u201cIt used to rain for two months, but after a while it started coming less and less. I don\u2019t blame anyone. The weather just changed. My uncle called me and informed me that there was a man who wanted to marry me. I accepted. I didn\u2019t like the idea but I just accepted because I wanted to study.\u201d\n\nMajuma knew that marriage would mean children. But Juma had promised to support her. \u201cJuma and the imam came to my uncle\u2019s house, they did the ceremony and we were married. I am all right now. I feel better than when I was in my uncle\u2019s house because my husband treats me well, I keep going to school, there\u2019s no problem.\n\n\u201cI won\u2019t let my daughter get married at 15 years old. She has to study.\u201d\n\nUp the coast from Moma, administrator Brigi Rupio looks out across the wide blue expanse of the Larde river. \u201cWhen I arrived here in 2014, there was a house right next to the river,\u201d he says, pointing to where the bank is being undercut by the current. \u201cBut in 2015, there were severe floods that destroyed houses and increased the level of the river. Then there was drought. We had areas where we used to produce rice. But because of the dry spells, it\u2019s not possible any more. The weather is changing. Even those who cannot read or write can notice that.\u201d\n\nThe young girls taken out of school to marry early can attest to that.", "output": "Climate change is causing the emergence of a generation of child brides across Africa, according to research by The Brides of the Sun project. Rising temperatures, unpredictable rainfall and floods are leading to food shortages and making it difficult for families to feed and educate all their children, incentivising them to marry their daughters off. In Malawi alone, 1.5 million girls are at risk of marriage due to climate change-related factors. In 2015, Unicef warned that the number of child brides in Africa could double to 310 million by 2050 if current trends continue. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "European Investment Bank lends \u20ac50m to Italian wind projects \n The European Investment Bank (EIB) is lending EUR 150 million (USD 177m) to Italian wind projects with a combined capacity of 165 MW, developed by E2i Energie Speciali.\n\nThe bank said today the line of credit, granted to Italian electricity and natural gas producer Edison SpA (BIT:EDN), will finance both new and full refurbishment wind projects in Abruzzo, Basilicata, Campania, Puglia and Sicily. With these, E2i\u2019s portfolio will grow to more than 700 MW.\n\nE2i Energie is a joint venture between Edison and F2i, which is also known as Fondi Italiani per le Infrastrutture SGR SpA. It will use the EIB funds to complete the eight projects, awarded in the 2016 auction by GSE. Six of the projects are already under construction, while work in Puglia is planned to start later in 2017.\n\nThe EIB loan may be deployed in multiple tranches, each having a term of 15 years, and will be available for 24 months.\n\n(EUR 1 = USD 1.18)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "The European Investment Bank (EIB) has lent \u20ac150m to Italian natural gas and electricity producer Edison for 165 MW of wind projects. The eight financed projects will form part of E2i Energie's portfolio, a joint venture between Edison and F2i, a private equity firm, bringing the total portfolio to more than 700 MW of capacity. Six projects have already begun construction, with a Puglia project due to start later this year. The loans each have a term of 15 years, being available for two years."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Atlantis signs lease for 160 MW tidal barrage project in England \n Atlantis Resources Ltd (LON:ARL) has signed heads of terms with the Duchy of Lancaster for an option for the long-term lease of the riverbed for the proposed 160-MW tidal barrage and flood protection project in the Wyre estuary, northwest England.\n\nThe tidal power company said today it expects that it will take about three years to secure all needed consents to begin development. Atlantis said it will now work with the Duchy of Lancaster, the Wyre and Lancashire councils, local stakeholders, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the supply chain and investors to advance the project. It has begun discussions with potential development stage investors.\n\nAccording to the firm, which will be the lead developer of the Wyre project, the scheme could be a pathfinder for similar barrage projects across the UK. Chief executive Tim Cornelius said it \"offers a route to low cost, predictable and sustainable domestic electricity supply.\"\n\nThe tidal barrage is forecast to generate almost 300 GWh per year.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Tidal power firm Atlantis Resources has signed a long-term lease for the riverbed in the Wyre estuary in northwest England with the Duchy of Lancaster. The company plans to develop a 160 MW tidal barrage and flood protection facility, though it will take about three years to gain the appropriate consent. Atlantis will work alongside the Wyre and Lancashire council, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and local stakeholders to complete the project, which is due to generate nearly 300 GWh per year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "LEDs linked to increasing light pollution \n Story highlights Satellites can pick up less light from LEDs However, as many countries switch to LEDs, they are also adding more lights Light pollution affects many animals as well as human health\n\nCNN \u2014\n\nArtificial lighting at night is contributing to an alarming increase in light pollution, both in amount and in brightness, affecting places all over the world, a new study has found.\n\nSome regions have showed a steady increase in light pollution aligned with economic development, but more developed nations that were thought to be \u201cgoing dark\u201d by switching to energy-saving LEDs showed no apparent decline in their rates of light pollution.\n\nGlobally, there has been a push toward more energy- and cost-efficient light sources, such as LEDs, but this has directly contributed to an alarming increase in light pollution, the researchers believe.\n\nUsing the first calibrated satellite radiometer for night lights, which can detect radiance, a team of scientists found a 2.2% increase in the Earth\u2019s outdoor artificial lighting each year between 2012 and 2016.\n\n\u201cI was very surprised by the result of the study, particularly in wealthy well-lit countries like the US,\u201d said Christopher Kyba of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, lead author of the study.\n\n\u201cWhen we switch from a sodium lamp to a white LED, what we observe is a decrease in the total amount of light that the satellite can see. But what we saw instead for the US was basically a constant amount of light; new lights were added in other places,\u201d he said.\n\nIn many other developed countries that are already very bright, the team saw an increase in the total amount of light, despite the fact that many cities appear to be \u201cgoing dark\u201d by switching to LEDs, Kyba added.\n\nAs with the US, some of the world\u2019s brightest countries like Spain, Italy and the Netherlands showed stability in levels of outdoor light over this time frame.\n\nThe United States at night as seen by the Suomi NPP satellite in 2012. NASA Earth Observatory\n\nThe study also noted a consistent growth in lighting in South America, Africa and Asia, with a few exceptions in regions like Yemen and Syria, which showed a decrease due to escalating conflict and warfare.\n\nThe risks from light pollution\n\nThe study concluded that a steady increase in the use of energy-efficient lights that are cheap and readily available will result in even more light pollution and a reduction of natural day-night light cycles in areas that still experience them.\n\nLight pollution poses a threat to 30% of vertebrates and more than 60% of invertebrates that are nocturnal, including plants, microorganisms and, most alarmingly, human health, the researchers add.\n\nWhite LED light has been linked to disruptions in sleep patterns, and the glare is found to affect eyesight.\n\nLast year, the American Medical Association issued an official policy statement about LED street lighting, recommending a radiance and color temperature level less harmful to health.\n\nIn August, a Harvard study found an increased risk of breast cancer in women living in neighborhoods with higher outdoor lighting. This was linked to increased brightness at nighttime, as the body expects light during daytime and darkness at night.\n\nThe health of birds is also at risk. A study published last month found that high-intensity light in urban areas can alter their behavior in terms of migration, foraging and vocal communication. The impact was especially adverse in nocturnal migrating birds that were used to orienting in darkness and were failing to do so due to light pollution.\n\nAnother landmark study published last year found that 83% of the world\u2019s population and more than 99% of the US and European populations were affected by light pollution and could not see the stars at night.\n\nGareth Jones, professor of biological sciences at the University of Bristol, who was not part of the new study, said it is \u201can important paper because it uses new and carefully calibrated methods for quantifying light pollution over a wide range of wavelengths at high spatial resolution. The study confirms that light pollution continues to increase and is of global relevance.\u201d\n\n\u201cAlthough there are benefits in terms of greater energy efficiency associated with changes to new lighting technologies such as LEDs, nevertheless light pollution and its associated risks to human health and biodiversity continue to increase,\u201d Jones added.\n\nThe Rebound Effect: How much is too much light?\n\nThe arguments for the transition to LEDs include cost-saving and reductions in energy consumption, but this has led to increased demand and greater use of outdoor lighting.\n\nLarge cities like Milan appeared to have a decrease in radiance around the city center but an increase in rural areas, which the scientists attributed to the replacement of older lamps with LEDs.\n\n\u201cFrom energy economics, there\u2019s a phenomenon called The Rebound Effect,\u201d Kyba said: If we have an energy-efficient car, for example, we allow ourselves to live farther from work and thus end up driving more. Though there\u2019s a limit to the amount of time one spends driving, with LED lights, there seems to be no saturation point.\n\nMilan after transition to LED technology in the city center. International Astronomical Union/NASA/ESA\n\nThe improved energy efficiency has therefore led to more LED lighting being installed in households and outdoors, Kyba said.\n\nHe also highlighted an issue with the way people are using LEDs, which offer features like dimmers that are going unused.\n\n\u201cWhat is currently happening is that we take take the old lamps out, keep the masts standing and get the new lamp on,\u201d he said. \u201cSo we\u2019re not using these amazing ways of using LEDs.\u201d\n\nFollow CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter.\n\nHe also offered a practical solution to reduce the light being emitted in cities.\n\n\u201cIn city centers, we need to completely rethink the way we light by putting people at the center and not cars, which have their own lights,\u201d Kyba said. \u201cWe shouldn\u2019t have streetlights anymore. We should have lighting for pedestrians and for the people riding bikes.\u201d", "output": "Light pollution is increasing as the low cost and energy consumption of LED lights leads to greater demand and use, according to a study by the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences. The research, which used the first calibrated radiometer for night lights, discovered a 2.2% increase in global outdoor artificial lighting each year between 2012 and 2016. Light pollution affects wildlife behaviour and has also been linked to sleep disruption and breast cancer in humans.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Managers launch ETFs in India despite lack of demand \n Passive funds emerged in USA more than two decades ago. The first modern day ETF S&P SPDR or Spiders started trading there in 1993. The market for ETFs has grown tremendously since then. Today, there are 2,000 ETFs listed in the US. Industry estimates suggest ETFs manage $4 trillion globally. India got its first ETF in Nifty BeES in 2001 launched by Benchmark AMC. It was probably way ahead of its time. Sensing category\u2019s slow growth, Benchmark decided to sell it to Goldman Sachs MF in 2011. Sensing a potential for passive funds, Reliance Nippon Life lapped up Goldman Sachs schemes.\n\nBenchmark AMC managed merely Rs 70 crore in ETFs in 2004. The size of the Indian ETF market has now grown to Rs 65,124 crore. The growth has been tepid at best if we compare that of ETFs with actively managed equity funds. During the same period, the size of the actively managed equity funds galloped from Rs 29,362 crore in 2004 to Rs 8.55 lakh crore as on October 2017.\n\nLet\u2019s look at the reasons for slow growth of ETFs in India. The most important factor for investors and advisers\u2019 aversion to this category is the superior performance of actively managed funds vis-a-vis passive funds. For instance, actively managed large cap fund category has delivered 15 percent CAGR return over a five-year period while BSE Sensex has grown by 12 percent during the same period.\n\nSince ETFs passively track their underlying indices, they come with lower expenses as compared to their active fund peers. ETFs which track the broader indices like Sensex and Nifty charge 0.05 percent-0.10 percent annual total expense ratio (TER) whereas the TER of actively managed funds can go up to as high as 3 percent. Due to their low-cost nature, ETFs have no room to pay commissions on par with actively managed funds, providing little incentive for distributors prefer to sell passive funds.\n\nPaltry commission and performance are not the only reasons for slow take off of passive funds. ETFs can be only bought through the exchange from demat accounts and majority of MF investors in India have been investing physically through their neighborhood distributors. Even those who hold demat accounts prefer to buy shares or subscribe to IPOs rather than buying dull ETFs. This is in sharp contrast to US where seven out of the 10 most actively traded securities on US stock markets last year were ETFs, not shares, says a Financial Times report.\n\nPassive funds are seeing huge inflows in the US as active fund managers have found it increasingly difficult to beat the market due to an efficient and developed market. We are witnessing similar trend in India in the large cap funds space. Over a 10-year period, 45 percent of active funds have underperformed the Nifty 50. High costs/TER can be one of the reasons for this underperformance. That said, fund managers believe there will be ample opportunities for outperformance especially, in the mid- and small-cap space, which are not well researched.\n\nThe lackluster demand for ETFs in India has not stopped fund houses from launching ETFs. Starting from Gold ETFs and equity ETFs, fund houses are innovating their offerings by adding new flavour to their products. Today, we have ETFs to participate in the US indices and debt markets. Further, while traditional ETFs mimic their underlying index based on market capitalisation, the new age ETFs called smart beta ETFs have emerged. These ETFs combine both active and passive methods of investing by looking at factors such as earnings, low volatility, return on equity, dividend yield, etc. through custom build indices.\n\nWhile this looks like an interesting innovation, investors should note such ETFs may not be able to outdo active funds as the underlying factors/theme may not outperform in all market cycles. Active fund managers on the other hand can avoid such factors depending on market conditions. One area where smart beta ETFs score over active funds is they do not come with key-person risk as they operate on fixed automated processes.\n\nWhile the ETF market could take decades to flourish in India, fund houses are fully prepared to cash in on this opportunity. The popularity of ETFs is growing due to the government\u2019s plans to divest its holdings in PSUs through this route. The first divestment through CPSE ETF mopped up Rs 11,500 crore and the second version in the form of Bharat 22 ETF is expected to mop up Rs 8,000 crore. Fund houses are in intense race to get a mandate for managing such issues. Additionally, media reports suggest the Employees Provident Fund Organization\u2019s or EPFO investment in ETFs is expected to touch Rs 45,000 crore by the end of this fiscal. This massive flush of flow into ETFs suggest that the category will only grow from here.\n\nRavi Samalad is Assistant Manager, Editorial, Morningstar Investment Adviser India Private Limited", "output": "Fund managers are introducing exchange-traded funds into the Indian market, despite the fact that actively managed mutual funds still dominate in the country. One possible reason for this is the high performance of active large-cap stocks funds in the country, which have outperformed indexed offerings, returning\u00a015% over the last five years. By comparison the BSE Sensex index has returned 12%. Distributors of fund products\u00a0also have more incentive to sell mutual funds, due to the greater commissions they can reap thanks\u00a0to the products' higher expense ratios.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Statoil delivers wind farm 15% under budget \n Dudgeon offshore wind farm operator Statoil and partners Masdar and Statkraft say they delivered the 67 turbine project 15 per cent under budget on its opening this week.\n\nThe 402 megawatt wind farm in Great Yarmouth is now delivering electricity to the U.K. grid, providing renewable energy to around 410,000 homes.\n\nSince the investment decision was made in 2014, construction costs have been reduced from GBP 1.5 billion to approximately GBP 1.25 billion.\n\n\u201cDudgeon represents an important contribution to realizing the U.K.\u2019s renewable energy strategy,\u201d Statoil chief executive officer Eldar S\u00e6tre said in a statement. \u201cThe U.K. has already achieved impressive reductions in CO2-emissions with clear policies to phase out coal, and last year achieved the lowest CO2 emissions since before year 1900. Statoil is proud to contribute to this both by being a large supplier of natural gas and by our investments in offshore wind.\u201d\n\nThe opening also moves the Norwegian state controlled company further into the green energy sector as it leverages its offshore oil and gas expertise to complement its portfolio with profitable renewable energy solutions. \"As part of our strategy to develop from an oil and gas company to a broad energy major, Statoil will grow significantly in profitable renewable energy, with an ambition to invest around NOK 100 billion towards 2030,\u201d said S\u00e6tre.\n\nIt comes as Norway's trillion-dollar sovereign wealth fund is proposing to drop oil and gas companies from its benchmark index, in part to make the Norwegian government's wealth less vulnerable to a permanent drop in oil prices.\n\nIt also comes as the U.K. government doubles down on electric vehicles to reduce emissions from the transportation sector. In its budget this week, the government announced a \u00a3400 million fund for EV charging infrastructure projects across the country and pledged to invest an extra \u00a3100 million to help people buy EVs and \u00a340 million toward charging research and development. The more renewables are feeding the grid, the greener EVs become.\n\nAlso this month, California Gov. Jerry Brown met with top Statoil executives to discuss the company's pursuit of wind power off the Golden State's coastlines. Because of the depth of its continental shelf, the state would likely require floating wind turbine technology, another specialty of Statoil, which has in its portfolio Hywind Scotland, the world\u2019s first floating offshore wind farm that came into production in October.\n\nStatoil\u2019s current offshore wind portfolio, which includes the Sheringham Shoal wind farm in the U.K. and the Arkona wind farm in Germany, has the capacity to provide more than one million homes with renewable energy.\n\nDudgeon is located 40 kilometres off the coast of Norfolk in England. Local suppliers account for more than 40 per cent of the value creation in the project.\n\nToward 2030 it is estimated the installed capacity of offshore wind in Europe can grow from 12 GW (2016) to 70 GW. Improved technology, increased deployment and lower costs are the key drivers turning offshore wind into an attractive power source, outcompeting traditional sources of energy in important markets, Statoil said.", "output": "Statoil and partners Masdar and Statkraft said they delivered the 67 turbine Dudgeon offshore wind farm for about 15% below its original budget. In 2014, the 402 MW wind farm in Great Yarmouth was predicted to cost \u00a31.5bn and was eventually brought in for about \u00a31.25bn. Statoil\u2019s offshore wind portfolio has the capacity to provide more than 1 million homes with electricity."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shell gets 10-year licence extension for Nigeria power plant \n Ejiofor Alike\n\nThe Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has renewed the power generation licence for Afam VI Power Plant, a 650MW-capacity facility that has delivered over 24.16 million Megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity into the Nigerian grid between inception in 2008 and 2016.\n\nShell\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Media Relations Manager, Bamidele Odugbesan confirmed this development in a statement yesterday.\n\nAfam VI is owned by The Shell Petroleum Development Company Joint Venture (SPDC JV) and located in Okoloma in Oyigbo Local Government area of Rivers State.\n\nPresenting the renewed licence to the leadership of SPDC at the Commission\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s office in Abuja yesterday, NERC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Commissioner, Legal, Licensing and Compliance, Mr. Dafe Akpeneye, described SPDC JV as a committed partner in the Nigerian power sector adding that the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s belief in the sector and its resolve to help it develop were remarkable.\n\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We hope for greater efficiency and improved operations from Afam VI in the next 10-year phase of your operations just as we look forward to working together to resolve some of the challenging issues in the power sector,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.\n\nReceiving the licence, the General Manager, Gas of SPDC, Dr. Philip Mshelbila, described the Afam VI as a model worthy of emulation by government and other players in the power sector.\n\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a power plant with a dedicated gas plant operating with high uptime generating clean and efficient power from the combined cycle of three gas and one steam turbines,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he added.\n\nHe lamented the challenges of debt, power evacuation and off-take which he said prevented the plant from delivering optimally at 15 percent of the total national grid-connected electricity.\n\nAfam VI uses combined cycle gas turbine technology that burns 40 percent less gas than plants using older open cycle technologies. This also contributes significantly to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. In 2016, Afam VI power plant supplied approximately 12 per cent of the nation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s grid-electricity.\n\nBuilt with the most efficient technology in the industry and utilising waste heat energy from the gas turbine exhaust, the plant generates an additional 200MW from the steam turbine without consuming any additional gas, thereby considerably reducing its carbon footprint.\n\nAs a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project under the United Nations Executive Board for Climate Change, Afam VI Power Plant eliminates over 500,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year, while also maintaining excellent safety standards.\n\nThe operations at Afam VI have generated subcontract opportunities and employment for over 150 staff from the 16 host communities. It also provided hands-on and offshore training for 15 youths in Electrical, Mechanical and Instrumentation engineering on Combined Cycle Power Plant operations and maintenance. All the trainees are already employed in the Nigerian power industry. Arrangements have been concluded for the training of another 15 community youths.\n\nThe power plant also won SPDC the Best Company in Climate Action Award in the 2016 edition of Sustainability, Enterprise, Responsibility Awards for Corporate Social Responsibility (SERAs\u00e2\u20ac\u201cCSR), an annual event to celebrate organisations that invest resources to improve the socioeconomic living conditions of people in Nigeria and Africa.\n\nc", "output": "The Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has renewed the power generation licence for the Afam VI Power Plant, a 650 MW facility that has delivered over 24.16 million MWh of electricity into the Nigerian grid since\u00a02008.\u00a0In 2016, the combined cycle gas\u00a0power plant supplied about 12% of Nigeria's\u00a0grid-electricity.\u00a0Afam VI utilises\u00a0waste heat energy from the gas turbine exhaust to generate\u00a0an additional 200 MW from a\u00a0steam turbine."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Total to install 8,000 biodigesters in India \n French oil and gas major Total SA (EPA:FP) said on Monday it will deploy 8,400 biodigesters for households in the Indian state of Telangana as part of a voluntary carbon neutrality initiative.\n\nThe so-called Adilabad project will see Total start deploying the units this month, with the goal of completing work on the first ones next year.\n\nThese biodigesters use a fermentation process to convert livestock manure into biogas for cooking and hot water. What is left as solids after the fermentation can then be used as a nutrient source for crops, the company\u2019s statement says.\n\nThe initiative is eligible for certified carbon credits and will benefit some 45,000 people. In addition, it will help eliminate 50,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions a year for a period of 10 years.\n\nThe project will be implemented under a newly-signed agreement with the GoodPlanet Foundation.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Total has said it will deploy 8,400 biodigesters for households in the Indian state of Telangana in the coming years as part of a voluntary carbon neutrality initiative. The biodigesters use a fermentation process to convert livestock manure into biogas for cooking and hot water; the solid by-product of the fermentation process can be used as a fertiliser. The initiative is eligible for certified carbon credits and will help eliminate 50,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over 10 years."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "South Africa to test country's first vanadium redox flow battery \n South Africa\u2019s first utility-scale vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) will be deployed and tested over 18 months at local grid operator Eskom\u2019s Research, Testing and Development (RT&D) Centre in Rosherville.\n\nBushveld Minerals Ltd (LON:BMN) today said commissioning is expected in the first half of next year. The battery, to be produced by UniEnergy Technologies (UET), is to have peak power of 120 kW and will be able to store peak energy of 450 kWh.\n\nBushveld Energy Ltd, a 84%-owned unit of BMN, is working on the project together with the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC). Eskom will test the battery, its performance and applications under various simulations, including minimum load shifting, wind and solar power generation smoothing, power quality improvement and self-black-start capability. Independent power producers (IPPs), energy storage developers, decision-makers and various capital providers will also be able to get access to the VRFB.\n\nAfter the 18 months of testing, the battery will be moved to a commercial site.\n\nEskom has identified the need for up to 2 GW of additional, daily balanced energy storage. Fortune Mojapelo, CEO of Bushveld Minerals, pointed out that South Africa is extremely well-positioned to take advantage of the expansion of the energy storage market as it has the second largest reserves of vanadium in the world in the Bushveld Complex.\n\n\u201cThis project brings new technology to South Africa to make the local power system more efficient and more importantly create a new industry to not only supply South Africa, but offer significant export potential as well,\u201d Mojapelo said. In 2016, Bushveld Energy and the IDC signed a cooperation agreement to partner to bring significant portions of the VRFB value chain to South Africa.\n\nChristo Fourie, Head of the IDC's New Industries Strategic Business Unit, said that in the next year the company will support the deployment of multiple \"pilot\" energy storage systems together with local or international partners and technology firms.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "South Africa\u2019s first utility-scale vanadium redox flow battery will be deployed and tested over 18 months at local grid operator Eskom\u2019s Research, Testing and Development Centre in Rosherville. Bushveld Minerals said commissioning is expected in the first half of next year. The battery, to be produced by UniEnergy Technologies will have peak power of 120 kW and will be able to store peak energy of 450 kWh. After 18 months of testing, the battery will be moved to a commercial site."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "World Bank promises $100m for Indian solar \n India Signs Loan Agreement with the World Bank for $100 Million for utility-scale Solar Parks.\n\nIndia and the World Bank have signed a guarantee agreement of $98 million provided through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and Clean Technology Fund (CTF) loan and grant agreement for $2 million for the \u201cShared Infrastructure for Solar Parks Project\u201d in India, on November 20, 2017.\n\nSameer Kumar Khare, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs on behalf of Government of India, and Hisham A. Abdo, Acting Country Director, World Bank India, has signed the agreement.\n\nA loan agreement was also signed by K S Popli, Chairman and MD, India Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd (IREDA) and Hisham A. Abdo, Acting Country Director, World Bank India.\n\nThe project consists of two components namely, first, shared infrastructure for Solar Parks (estimated total project cost of $98 million, including $75 million in IBRD loan and $23 million in CTF Loan) and second, $2 million technical assistance under CTF Grant.\n\nPopular content\n\nThe objective of the project is to increase solar generation capacity through establishment of large-scale parks in the country.\n\nThe project will help establish large-scale solar parks and support the government\u2019s plan to install 100 GW of solar power out of a total renewable-energy target of 175 GW by 2022.", "output": "The World Bank has signed a guarantee with India for $98m for the \u201cShared Infrastructure for Solar Parks\" project. The funds will be provided through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Clean Technology Fund loan and grant agreement schemes. A further $2m will be provided for technical assistance from CTF.  The initiative forms part of the Indian government's plan to install 100 GW of solar power and 175 GW of renewables by 2022."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google partner to support 130,000 Indian developer scholarships \n To create a pool of highly skilled tech workers, Google in association with education websites Pluralsight and Udacity on Thursday announced a new scholarship programme to help 130,000 mobile and web developers and students across India.\n\n\u201cIn this joint effort, Google is sponsoring 100,000 scholarships on the Pluralsight technology learning platform and 30,000 scholarships on Udacity to help developers gain access to advanced learning curriculum and further their employability in emerging technologies such as mobile and web development, machine learning, artificial intelligence and cloud platforms,\u201d said a company release.\n\n\u201cSince we announced our skilling initiative in India, 210,000 students have completed Google-developed courses on Udacity, with 117,000 completing the course this year,\u201d said William Florance, Developer Products Group and Skilling Lead for India, Google, in the release.\n\nArun Rajamani, Country Head and General Manager, Pluralsight, said: \u201cWe are excited to see technology professionals in India future-proof their skills, move strongly towards full-stack development and push the boundaries of innovation that will create a stronger India and a better world through technology.\u201d\n\nIshan Gupta, Managing Director, Udacity India, said: \u201cWith this scholarship programme, students can master web- and mobile-development skills with the experts from Udacity and Google.\n\n\u201cThe programme will have two phases. The first phase will have free access to our courses in mobile and web development along with mentorship and community support.\n\n\u201cThe top 1,000 students will earn an additional six-month scholarship to our mobile and web developer nano-degree programmes.\u201d\n\nSHARE Copy link\n\nEmail\n\nFacebook\n\nTwitter\n\nTelegram\n\nLinkedIn\n\nWhatsApp\n\nReddit", "output": "Tech giant Google is partnering with education websites Udacity and Pluralsight to offer mobile and web development scholarships to 130,000 Indian students and developers. Recipients will learn advanced technical skills in emerging areas such as AI, machine learning, and the cloud. 210,000 students have completed Google-backed training with Udacity so far. The scholarships will grant free initial course access, mentorship and community support, with an extra six-month scholarship for the top 1,000 performers in the web and mobile development disciplines."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Engie cancels six-turbine wind project after veterans' backlash \n French utility Engie (EPA:ENGI) has abandoned plans to build a six-turbine wind farm at the site of a former First World War battlefield.\n\nThe company\u2019s decision was confirmed by Australia\u2019s Minister for Defence Personnel and Veterans\u2019 Affairs Dan Tehan on Tuesday. The so-called Bullecourt project was planned to be developed at the small village of Bullecourt, northern France, where thousands of Australians died.\n\nThe proposal spurred a widespread emotional reaction in Australia, forcing the developer to cancel the project. Its plans called for the installation of six turbines at the historic site, which were expected to start power generation in 2020, local media reports.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Engie has cancelled plans to build the Bullecort project, a six-turbine wind farm on the ground of a former First World War battlefield in France. The decision was announced by the Australian Minister for Defence Personnel and Veterans\u2019 Affairs, Dan Tehan. Thousands of Australians perished at the site, leading to a backlash over the project's development. The site would have begun generating power in 2020."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Demand is weak at Japan's first solar auction \n A solar tender in Japan seeking to award contracts to 500 MW of projects got roughly 140 MW of valid bids, with the lowest offer being JPY 17,200 (USD 154.4/EUR 130.7) per MWh.\n\nThe highest bid in the tender was of JPY 21,000 (USD 188.5/EUR 159.6) per MWh. In comparison, recent solar auctions in Germany, the Middle East, India and Latin America have attracted bids per MWh lower than or roughly equal to EUR 50 (USD 59), SAR 67 (USD 18.4/EUR 15.6), INR 2,650 (USD 41/EUR 34.6) and USD 25, respectively.\n\nNikkei Asian Review reports that the auction in Japan, in which rates are apparently more attractive than in other parts of the world, have lured several foreign companies. It mentions Canadian Solar, Hanwha Q Cells and X-Elio among the winners of power contracts. In total, the nine winning projects have been proposed by eight companies -- four Japanese and four international.\n\nAt the end of 2016, the Japanese government announced the start of tenders for 2-MW-plus solar power plants, including this 500-MW auction and two more in fiscal 2018/19.\n\n(JPY 100 = USD 0.9/EUR 0.76)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Prices at Japan's first solar auction are triple the average of other global tenders. The lowest offer on 140 MW of tenders was $154.4/MWh and the\u00a0highest $188.5 per MWh. A total of 500 MW will be auctioned. Nine successful projects were proposed by eight firms;\u00a0four Japanese and four global, including\u00a0Canadian Solar, X-Elio and Hanwha Q Cells."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Portable skin cancer detector wins Dyson Award for Canadian team \n Meet sKan\n\nDetecting skin cancer early isn't easy. Currently, it's done through visual inspections or biopsies, but some doctors may not pick up on the disease using the former, while some patients may not be able to afford the latter. As such, a team of graduates from McMaster University in Canada set out to develop an inexpensive skin cancer detector, and their innovative work has earned them the prestigious international James Dyson Award.\n\nCancer affects the metabolic rate of skin cells, with cancerous cells heating up faster than their healthy counterparts following a shock of cold temperature.\n\nTo make identifying these cells easier, the McMaster University team \u2014 Michael Takla, Rotimi Fadiya, Prateek Mathur, and Shivad Bhavsar \u2014 built a skin cancer detector with 16 thermistors that can track the rate of temperature increase following a cold shock from an ice pack.\n\nThe thermistors are simply placed on the potentially cancerous area of skin, and the device produces a heat map that can be used to determine the presence of melanoma.\n\n\u201cBy using widely available and inexpensive components, the sKan allows for melanoma skin cancer detection to be readily accessible to the many\u201d award founder James Dyson said in a statement announcing the win. \u201cIt\u2019s a very clever device with the potential to save lives around the world.\u201d\n\nIn addition to winning the Dyson Award for their skin cancer detector, the team also received a cash prize of approximately $40,000 to advance their research. They received $10,000 at the the Forge\u2019s Student Start-up Pitch competition in March.\n\nDiagnosing Skin Cancer\n\nAccording to Mathur, the team was inspired to create sKan after realizing technology hadn't had the same impact on skin cancer diagnosis as it had on other medical fields.\n\n\u201cWe found research that used the thermal properties of cancerous skin tissue as a means of detecting melanoma. However, this was done using expensive lab equipment,\" he said in a McMaster University news release. \"We set out to apply the research and invent a way of performing the same assessment using a more cost-effective solution.\u201d\n\nGoing forward, the sKan team hopes to create a more advanced prototype that will allow them to begin pre-clinical testing.\n\nImage Credit: James Dyson Awards\n\nAs reported by The Guardian, nearly 39 people are diagnosed with skin cancer every day in the U.K., and the American Cancer Society (ACS) estimates 87,110 new cases of melanoma will be diagnosed in the U.S. 2017, with 9,730 people dying from the condition. Early detection is key to cancer survival, so if sKan succeeds, it could significantly reduce that number.\n\n\u201cOur aspirations have become a reality,\u201d said Mathur. \u201cSkin cancers are the most common form of cancer worldwide, and the potential to positively impact the lives of those affected is both humbling and motivating.\u201d", "output": "A graduate team\u00a0at McMaster University in Canada have\u00a0won the James Dyson Award for their portable skin cancer detector, sKan. The device uses a pad of 16 thermistors to track the increase in\u00a0skin temperature following a cold shock to a potentially cancerous patch of skin caused by\u00a0an ice pack. The device then produces a heat map that can be used to determine the presence of melanoma. The prize comes with an investment of $40,000 in sKan,\u00a0which the team said would help them\u00a0create a more advanced prototype to use in\u00a0pre-clinical testing.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian solar output almost doubles in third quarter \n India\u2019s solar parks generated 5.3 billion kWh of electricity in the third quarter of 2017, up 91% in annual terms thanks to new capacity additions, Mercom Capital Group said on Thursday.\n\nHowever, solar power generation in the three months was lower than the 5.5 billion kWh produced in the second quarter, the consultancy said, citing data from India\u2019s Central Electricity Authority (CEA). Newly-added capacity in July-September totalled 2.2 GW, according to Mercom\u2019s quarterly market update.\n\nIn the first nine months of the year, solar power production in the country rose by 88% on the year to 15 billion kWh. New PV installations accounted for 39% of India\u2019s total power capacity additions in the first three quarters of the year, representing a total of 7.1 GW.\n\nMercom projects that India will deploy between 9.5 GW and 10 GW of PV plants this year and 7 GW next year, expecting the market to be affected by the rising prices of Chinese PV modules, certain infrastructure and power evacuation issues and the renegotiation of power purchase agreements (PPAs) terms in line with the record-low level of solar tariffs.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "In the third quarter of 2017 Indian solar parks generated 5.3 billion kWh of electricity, an increase of 91% YoY, according to Mercom Capital Group. However, data from India\u2019s Central Electricity Authority shows this number was slightly lower than the second quarter, which produced 5.5 billion kWh. Mercom projected that India will have deployed between 9.5 GW and 10 GW of solar PV this year; that is projected to fall to 7 GW next year as the market reacts to rising prices of Chinese PV modules and the renegotiation of power purchase agreements in line with record-low solar tariff levels."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "African drug supply chain start-up mPharma wins backing from US \n Greg Rockson, founder of mPharma, sometimes struggles to sum up the myriad services his three-year old startup provides. But it\u2019s safe to say the Accra, Ghana-based company is starting to disrupt Africa\u2019s pharmacy retail supply chain and is setting its sights on bigger targets beyond the continent.\n\nMPharma manages prescription drug inventory for pharmacies and their suppliers in four African countries. It provides inventory financing to clients and is using its growing purchasing power to help lower the cost of prescription drugs for patients.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe scale of its ambition to disrupt such a significant sector has attracted a bevy of major international investors for its recent Series A funding round, amounting to $6.6 million announced today.\n\nThe most recent round was led by Shravin Bharti Mittal, who runs a fund for India\u2019s Bharti Mittal family, best known in Africa for its mobile operator Airtel. Silicon Valley venture capital firm Social Capital and local VCs Golden Palm Investments and 4DX Ventures, also joined the round. In addition, the company got backing from several new family office investors from Senegal, Kenya, and Turkey.\n\nEarly Facebook investor Jim Breyer is also investing and joining the board as an observer, Rockson says. It\u2019s Breyer\u2019s first investment in the Africa tech ecosystem.\n\nmPharma had previously raised up to $5 million in seed funding led by Silicon Valley\u2019s Social Capital. Ashley Carroll and Chamath Palihapitiya of Social Capital both joined the board in 2015.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nTo date, mPharma employs over 40 people and has operations in Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It currently has over 70 outlets serving more than 20,000 patients each month, largely via pharmacies in private hospitals.\n\nThe company intends to use its new funding to accelerate the use of its proprietary software for more clients. Rockson sees huge opportunities in the expansion of health insurance and the growth of private hospitals in Africa, as well as the increasing number of middle class professionals entering the workforce.\n\nAfrica\u2019s healthcare challenges are well-chronicled. With a deficit of 4.2 million health workers, it has the world\u2019s second-worst health worker shortage, exacerbated by a general lack of healthcare infrastructure and medical technology. And after decades of prioritizing health systems to deal with communicable diseases like malaria and HIV/Aids, the continent is now seeing a steady rise in non-communicable diseases like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Most countries are ill-prepared.\n\nThese challenges, along with weak input from governments, have made private pharmacies the primary healthcare providers in many African countries. Driving down prescription drug costs for end users could have a significant impact.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe big opportunity for mPharma is fixing the fragmented prescription drug supply chain common in African countries and other emerging markets. In the four countries it operates, the 10 biggest pharmacy chains have a total of just 186 outlets, while there are up to 15,000 independent pharmacies, according to mPharma.\n\n\u201cThe drug supply chain in Africa is built on a \u2018push\u2019 data model,\u201d Rockson explains. \u201cDistributors have to wait to receive a purchase order from providers before supplying drugs to them. This model is built on siloed data systems between distributors and providers. As a result, both parties are unable to forecast demand which leads to frequent stockouts,\u201d he adds.\n\nBy taking over the inventory management of a pharmacy, accurately forecasting demand of prescription drugs, and building up bargaining power with suppliers, Rockson says mPharma has been able to lower costs for patients by as much as 30% in some cases.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cWe can serve more patients and bring down drug costs if mom and pop pharmacies are able to better manage their inventory.\u201d", "output": "Ghana-based start-up mPharma is looking to improve the pharmaceutical supply chain across Africa. mPharma operates in four African countries managing drug inventories for pharmacies and suppliers, while also providing inventory financing and helping to lower prescription drug costs. The company's ambitions have\u00a0caught the attention of investors worldwide, with a\u00a0recent series A funding round raising\u00a0$6.6m. This followed an initial $5m in seed funding led by Silicon Valley\u2019s Social Capital. mPharma counts among\u00a0its board members an early investor in Facebook, Jim Breyer.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Greatcell Solar secures $3m for perovskite test facility \n An Australian food, water and energy fund has agreed to invest AUD 4 million (USD 3m/EUR 2.6m) in Perovskite Solar Cell (PSC) technology developer Greatcell Solar Ltd (ASX:GSL).\n\nThe company intends to use the fresh funds to accelerate the development of its prototype facility at CSIRO in Clayton, Victoria, and immediately commence procurement of the needed long lead-time capital equipment.\n\n\u201cThe investment will allow us to expedite our scale-up and commercialisation plans and move forward with great financial confidence,\u201d said managing director Richard Caldwell. He added that the company looks forward to announcing emerging international business relationships as the year unfolds.\n\nGreatcell anticipates to get the investment early next month in exchange for the issuance of 18.2 million shares. It noted that the particular fund has indicated its desire to maintain its percentage shareholding and possibly even increase it over time.\n\n(AUD 1.0 = USD 0.762/EUR 0.643)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Solar Cell technology developer, Greatcell Solar has secured investment of $3m from an Australian food, water and energy fund. Greatcell looks to use the funding to push development of its prototype facility at CSIRO in Clayton, Victoria. \"The investment will allow us to expedite our scale-up and commercialisation plans and move forward with great financial confidence,\" said managing director Richard Caldwell. Greatcell noted that the investor is looking to maintain its shareholding ratio and potentially increase it over time."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tower building boom hits central Manchester \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nSign up for our daily newsletter to get the day's biggest stories sent direct to your inbox\n\nThis is the development that could transform the skyline of Manchester city centre... and it\u2019s been a decade in the making.\n\nA total of 25 towers \u2013 seven of which are more than 40 storeys tall \u2013 have been earmarked for the area around Great Jackson Street, with some already under construction.\n\nPlans to transform the south of Manchester city centre have been been on the table for years... but these new images give a glimpse of how the scheme would finally look.\n\nProposals for the scheme were published two years ago but a new revised document promises to increase the height of some towers and raise the number of homes and apartments to more than 6,300.\n\n(Image: Deloitte Real Estate)\n\nThe development will stretch right out to the Hulme border as part of a strategy to expand the city centre\u2019s borders and would include restaurants, cafes, shops, and even gyms.\n\nSeveral huge towers, one of which is 64 storeys in height, are already being built at Owen Street, near Deansgate, while developers DeTrafford received permission in September for a fresh cluster of skyscrapers just across the road.\n\nThe updated blueprints, which have just been revealed, show that the apartment blocks destined for the Mancunian Way/Chester Road corner of the site will also be taller than originally anticipated, after planners decided that \u2018a development of a greater height could be accommodated\u2019.\n\nA cluster of seven buildings, known as Plot C \u2018Crown Street\u2019, will range from 50, 46, and 39 storeys in height.\n\nIt is the largest of the eight plots in the Great Jackson Street development, and this cluster alone is expected to boast almost 1,900 homes.\n\n(Image: Deloitte Real Estate)\n\nAccording to the plans, the tallest buildings will be on the outskirts of the developed area, and should \u2018step down in height towards the centre of the framework area\u2019.\n\nThe document, put together by Deloitte Real Estate, says the majority of homes will be one, two and three-bed apartment.. but does not rule out the possiblity of more family-oriented town houses.\n\nIt said: \u201cThe overall mix of apartments will be justified per plot based on market demand; however, a maximum of 33 per cent one-bed apartments should be sought.\n\n\u201cOpportunities to introduce Town Houses, with their own front doors and defensible space, will be used as an alternative means of creating active frontages and encouraging safe and well animated public realm.\u201d\n\n(Image: SimpsonHaugh & Partners)\n\nIt also provided more details on the amenities the development would bring with it, stating: \u201cIn order to provide a long-term, sustainable residential development, there will be a need to ensure a convenience offer which includes an attractive range of amenities in order to satisfy the immediate needs of the resident population - such as morning workouts, evening drinks and daily necessities.\u201d\n\nThe document adds: \u201cPotential ground floor uses could include retail and leisure uses such as restaurants, cafes and local convenience stores, as well as amenity facilities to support the primary\n\nresidential use, such as a residents\u2019 lounge, gym, health care facilities and flexible working space.\u201d\n\nDeloitte however said in the plans that there would be no \u2018nightclub-type uses or other potentially anti-social night-time\u2019 of buildings later than 11pm.", "output": "A development of 25 tower blocks in the Great Jackson Street area of Manchester could bring an additional 6,300 homes to the city, according to proposals. Deloitte Real Estate reported that the majority of homes would be one to three-bedroom flats, with no more than 33% having one bedroom. In addition, family-oriented townhouses are not ruled out. Deloitte added: \u201cPotential ground floor uses could include retail and leisure\" while \"no nightclub-type uses or other potentially anti-social night-time\" usage would be allowed after 11pm. The tallest tower planned is 64 storeys high.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Enel to build 90 MW wind farm in Russia \n Italian energy group Enel (BIT:ENEL) intends to build a wind farm of over 90 MW on the Don river region in southwestern Russia, the Russian Association of Wind Power Industry (RAWI) reports.\n\nThe wind power facility will be situated in Azov, Rostov Oblast, at the site of a former gambling zone. Construction works are slated to begin next year, RAWI said on Monday, adding that talks for the implementation of the scheme have been carried out between Rostov Oblast\u2019s governor Vasily Golubev and Enel Russia\u2019s CEO Carlo Palasciano Villamagna.\n\nAccording to the report, Enel has bought the project from Sowitec Russia OOO, the Russian subsidiary of Germany\u2019s Sowitec Group. In earlier reports, local media said that the wind farm will consist of 80 turbines that will be installed in stages at a total cost of USD 178 million (EUR 151.6m).\n\nEnel Russia was selected as preferred bidder for 291 MW of wind schemes in Russia\u2019s latest renewables auction, in which a total of 2,221 MW of projects were selected. The Italian group won two projects in the tender -- a 201-MW scheme in Murmansk and the 90-MW one in Rostov.\n\n(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.852)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Italian energy company Enel is set to begin construction work next year on a 90 MW wind farm, one of two projects it secured during Russia\u2019s latest renewables auction. The Rostov Oblast project will consist of 80 turbines, installed in phases, and is set to cost $178m, according to local media reports. Implementation talks have already taken place between Enel Russia\u2019s CEO Carlo Palasciano Villamagna and Vasily Golubev, governor of the Rostov Oblast region. Enel's other Russian wind project is a 201 MW scheme in Murmansk."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wind tables lowest bid in Argentine renewable energy auction \n The lowest bid received in the Round 2 tender of Argentina's RenovAr renewable energy auction programme was of USD 37.30 (EUR 31.48) per MWh and it came from the wind sector.\n\nThe lowest bid for solar technology was USD 40.44 per MWh, Argentina's Ministry of Energy and Mining said on Thursday as it announced the opening of economic bids in the tender.\n\nRound 2, launched in August, follows two previous tenders under the programme, Round 1 and Round 1.5, which were conducted in the second half of 2016. The latest tender aims to contract a total of 1.2 GW of capacity. Of the about 9.4 GW bids received, some 7.5 GW have been qualified to remain in the competition, whose results will be announced on November 29. The qualified bids include over 3.75 GW of solar offers and almost 3.5 GW of wind, the ministry said on Thursday.\n\nThe average Round 2 prices for wind and solar were USD 47.64 and USD 48.67 per MWh, respectively. For wind this marks a fall of 31.5% compared to Round 1 and 12.1% compared to Round 1.5, while for solar the declines are of 36.2% from Round 1 and 13.2% from Round 1.5.\n\nThe table below gives more details about the lowest and average prices per technology. The average is calculated on the basis of qualified offers.\n\nTechnology lowest USD/MWh average USD/MWh Wind 37.30 47,64 Solar 40.44 48.67 Biomass 92.00 107.07 Biogas 150.00 157.97 Biogas from landfills 128.00 129.18 Small hydropower 89.00 97.28\n\nUnder the RenovAr programme, awarded projects sign 20-year power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the Wholesale Electricity Market Administration Company (CAMMESA). A total of 2.4 GW of projects were awarded under the first two tenders of the programme.\n\nThe announcement comes on the heels of the completion of a power auction in Mexico, where a price of USD 20.57 per MWh was achieved.\n\n(USD 1 = EUR 0.844)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "The second round of Argentina's RenovAr renewable energy auction saw the lowest bid come from the wind sector, at $37.30 per MWh, while the lowest solar bid was $40.44 per MWh, said the country's Ministry of Energy and Mining. Round two was launched in August, following two previous auctions (Round 1 and Round 1.5), and procured 1.2 GW of capacity. 9.4 GW of capacity was bid, of which 7.5 GW qualified for the auction. The ministry said average prices in round two for solar and wind were $48.67/MWh and $47.64/MWh, respectively."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "India plans 2 GW wind tender \n India's renewable energy ministry on Thursday announced a tender for 2 GW of wind capacity to be carried out by Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).\n\nIndia is in a process of transitioning from feed-in tariffs (FiTs) to auctions in the wind sector. The government's first 1-GW wind auction achieved a price of INR 3.46 (USD 0.053/EUR 0.045) per kWh and was followed by a second 1-GW tender, concluded in October, that resulted in a price of INR 2.64 per kWh.\n\nAnnouncing approval for the bigger tender on Wednesday, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) said that the competitive prices are encouraging distribution companies (discoms) to purchase wind power to meet their non-solar renewable purchase obligation (RPO). Buyers under the scheme will be discoms of non-windy states that need wind power to fulfil the non-solar RPO.\n\nAccording to the document, published by the ministry, SECI should issue a request for selection (RfS) in a few days. Projects of at least 50 MW and up to 400 MW will be awarded per bidder. The off-take contracts will be for 25 years.\n\nNavigant Research this week said that wind turbine orders announced globally fell in the first half of 2017 in part due to the shift to bidding in the Indian wind industry.\n\nWhen reporting half-year results earlier this month, domestic wind turbine maker Suzlon Energy Ltd (BOM:532667) said the \"transition period\" was impacting volumes, but expressed confidence that the industry would regain momentum. \"With the newly discovered tariff, Wind is competitive with respect to other sources of energy and has emerged as a mainstream energy source,\" chief executive J P Chalasani said then.\n\nLast month there were reports in local media that the Indian government was considering tendering 4.5 GW of wind projects in three batches by February 2018 to speed up capacity additions.\n\n(INR 100 = USD 1.546/EUR 1.303)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "As the country moves from feed-in tariffs to auctions, India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has revealed a tender for 2 GW of wind capacity will be carried out by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), part of 4.5 GW of wind projects set to be auctioned by February 2018. The most recent tender in October reached a price of INR2.64 ($0.04) per kWh, a price competitive enough to attract distribution companies looking to meet non-solar renewable purchase obligations. SECI will be issuing a request for selection soon."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Black Friday to increase pollution and plastic waste \n The online shopping frenzy of the Black Friday weekend will see 82,000 diesel vans and trucks on UK roads, raising concerns of air pollution spikes on residential streets as more than \u00a37bn of purchases are delivered.\n\nIn the UK online shoppers are expected to spend up to \u00a31.35bn today alone, according to analysts at IMRG, the UK\u2019s online retail association. Plastic toys, games and electronic goods are among the most sought after items in the biggest weekend of shopping in Britain and the US, with environmentalists and health experts warning that it will add to the mountain of plastic waste and increase air pollution.\n\nThe relatively modern post-Thanksgiving tradition has been adopted from the US, where nearly 70% of Americans \u2013 164 million people \u2013 plan to shop this weekend, which spans Black Friday through to Cyber Monday, according to the National Retail Federation.\n\nIn the UK, Black Friday is mostly an online event, although retailers also saw queues this morning at shopping centres across the country. 81% of Black Friday purchases include a home delivery, with Amazon expected to take the majority of sales. A diesel truck will leave an Amazon fulfilment centre every 93 seconds at peak times, according to Staveley Head, which insures trucks and vans for retailers.\n\nStephen Holgate, professor of immunopharmacology at the Medical Research Council, said online shopping contributed to the air pollution crisis. \u201cVans are key contributors to diesel pollution. In our RCP [Royal College of Physicians] report we show van use continues to increase. Vans are now up to 10-12% of vehicles in our cities. They, along with small goods transport vehicles, are almost all diesel and make up about 12% of diesel emissions in urban settings.\n\n\u201cSupermarket and internet shopping really drives this and unlike people going to the shops themselves, the vans penetrate into quiet residential roads where vulnerable groups like children and the elderly live in large numbers. These vans sit and idle for hours in the road as they wait to deliver more packages, and this is a huge problem.\u201d\n\nHe said the chancellor had missed an opportunity not to tackle \u201cwhite van man\u201d in the budget. Vans were explicitly left out of increases in tax on new diesel cars.\n\nThe weekend also marks the start of the Christmas shopping season, during which air pollution spikes are recorded around shopping centres, according to Gary Fuller of King\u2019s College London. \u201cAny increase in traffic, and especially diesel traffic on our roads, will not be helpful for air pollution,\u201d he said.\n\nBrian Kay, director of Green Business Watch, said reports still suggested online shopping impacted less on the environment than individuals driving to the shops. \u201cWhat is important is that this online shopping is done in an as environmentally friendly way as possible, so, for example, those 82,000 diesel vehicles should be electric,\u201d he said.\n\nSome retailers are not taking part in Black Friday. In Seattle, outdoor clothing retailer REI is giving its 12,000 employees a paid holiday and will not process any online orders. Instead it is encouraging customers to spend time outside with family and friends.\n\nGreenpeace is launching an alternative to what it labels the \u201chyper-consumerism\u201d associated with Black Friday. It has organised an international makers festival \u2013 called \u201cMake Smthng\u201d \u2013 where people around the world are asked to come together to make, upcycle or repair something rather than shop.\n\n\u201cBlack Friday has become one of the major peaks of consumerism,\u201d said Chiara Campione, Greenpeace\u2019s global project leader. \u201cThis shopping binge also generates greater volumes of waste than ever. This dangerous trend is harming our planet. We buy without thinking for a minute, but the waste we create will sometimes last for centuries.\u201d\n\nPlastic toys and games are expected to be some of the most sought after items over the weekend, according to Euromonitor International. But Roland Geyer, author of the first global analysis of mass produced plastics, said recycling and incineration would not be enough to stem the plastic flow from such consumerism.\n\n\u201cEven if we stay on the current trends of increasing recycling and incineration rates, we will have doubled the amount of plastic waste discarded since 1950 in the next 20 years,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cThe easiest way to reduce plastic waste is to not buy that product made of plastic or packaged in plastic, destined to become rubbish much sooner than we like to think.\u201d", "output": "Black Friday-related online shopping will bring 82,000 diesel vans and trucks onto UK roads, sparking fears that air pollution will spike on residential streets. Shoppers are expected to spend \u00a31.35bn ($1.8bn) on Friday alone. The biggest shopping weekend in the UK and US sees particularly high numbers of plastic toys, games and electronic items being purchased, leading environmentalists to also warn of an increase in plastic waste. However, Brian Kay, director of Green Business Watch, said that the evidence suggested that online shopping was still less environmentally damaging than customers driving to shops.\n \n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple patents suggest move into health monitoring \n A new wave of speculation from industry analysts is putting Apple in the spotlight over its supposed plans for creating a new sort of EHR \u2013 the soul of a new device, so to speak.\n\nThe new speculation is fueled by the patents Apple has recently secured.\n\nAnalysts reason that Apple may be poised to enter the mobile healthcare monitoring device, EHR, and healthcare data storage markets.\n\nHealthcare IT News reported in June that Apple was working to put health records on the iPhone, where iPhone users could easily access their medical records, including lab results, medical tests, appointments and other healthcare records in one place.\n\nThe more recent efforts appear to go beyond healthcare records, however.\n\nPatent US 9723997 B, obtained by Apple back in August, for example, is an electronic device that computes health data of the user based upon sensor data regarding the received light.\n\nIn some implementations, the electronic device may also include one or more electrical contacts that contact one or more body parts of the user.\n\nAs described in the patent, \u201cin such implementations, the health data may be further computed based on the electrical measurement obtained using the electrical contacts.\n\nAccording to the patent description: \u201c'Electrical measurements may be used to measure heart function, compute an electrocardiogram, compute a galvanic skin response that may be indicative of emotional state and/or other physiological condition, and/or compute other health data such as body fat, or blood pressure.\u201d\n\nApple is not the lone tech giant showing an interest in healthcare. Amazon, too, has kept a close eye on the market.\n\nBack in July, Amazon started a secret lab at its Seattle headquarters to explore business prospects in the healthcare sector, including EHRs and telemedicine. At the time Amazon was reportedly considering developing an EHR platform as well as telemedicine and health apps for existing devices, such as its Echo smart speakers, which connect to a personal assistant, called Alexa. It dubbed the project \u201c1492,\u201d the year Columbus first landed in the Americas.\n\nLater, it appeared that Amazon was looking into ways to break into the pharmaceutical sector.", "output": "Speculation has mounted that Apple may be developing a health monitoring device after it secured a number of patents relating to the technology. In August, the company obtained a patent relating to a device that would use electrical contacts to monitor heart function and generate an electrocardiogram, as well as measure other indicators such as body fat and blood pressure, and gauge people's emotional states from their skin responses. In June it was reported that Apple was working on an app to put patients' medical records on to their iPhone to help them manage their health."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bank Negara Malaysia expected to issue crypto-regulation early 2018 \n The Malaysian central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), is expected to issue a directive to regulate the use of digital currencies in the country in early 2018. The central bank has been discussing and working on a proposed cryptocurrency regulation for some time now and this new development is expected to be hailed by industry players.\n\nAccording to BNM Governor Tan Sri Muhammad Ibrahim, the introduction of regulations for virtual currencies are intended to prevent abusing the system for criminal and illegal activities and to maintain the stability and integrity of the financial system.\n\n\u201cThe advent of digital currencies as some have forecast will mark the beginning of a new era in the financial sector. As authorities, we cannot be oblivious to these developments\u2026.The banking sector needs to adopt the latest and most advanced technologies to improve its risk management framework.\u201d\n\nPossible impact(s) of the new regulations on the cryptocurrency market\n\nUnder the regulations, individuals who convert their virtual currencies into fiat currencies will be considered as reporting institutions and will be subjected to Malaysia\u2019s Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act of 2001. This means that cryptocurrency transactions will be subjected to laws similar to those imposed on banks.\n\nHowever, the implementation of regulations as a guide for digital currencies would not automatically mean that the virtual tokens are already accepted as legal tender in the country. It is just seen as an indication that the central bank is keeping an open mind on the new wave of innovative technologies being introduced in the financial sector.\n\nThe expected introduction of digital currency regulations also shows that an interesting future is awaiting the virtual currencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin in Malaysia. It remains to be seen, however, if this will lead to the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies in the country.", "output": "Traders in Malaysia converting digital currencies, such as bitcoin and litecoin, into fiat coinage will be considered\u00a0reporting institutions\u00a0regulated by the same laws covering the nation's\u00a0banks, if widely expected regulations are unveiled by the country's state bank, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM). The regulations are expected in early 2018 and would subject traders to anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism provisions.\u00a0Governor Tan Sri Muhammad Ibrahim said the regulatory framework was necessary to ensure the stability and integrity of Malaysia's financial system and prevent fraud. There are, however,\u00a0no definitive moves to make digital currencies legal tender.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Council tax hike on empty homes won't solve problem, says MP \n The government\u2019s plan to tackle the housing crisis by increasing council tax on empty homes has been labelled a joke which will have little effect on the oligarchs, foreign royals and multi-millionaire businesses who own expensive vacant properties in the UK. .\n\n\n\nPhilip Hammond announced on Wednesday that councils would be able to charge 100% extra council tax on properties that have been empty for two or more years. Currently local authorities can charge up to 50%.\n\n\u201cIt can\u2019t be right to leave property empty when so many are desperate for a place to live,\u201d the chancellor said in his budget address.\n\n\n\nThere are 1,652 empty homes in Kensington and Chelsea, the west London borough which includes Grenfell Tower, according to a leaked list. More than 600 of them have been empty for more than two years, and would be included in the higher tax.\n\n\n\nUnder Hammond\u2019s plan, council tax on homes in the borough\u2019s highest band would increase from \u00a32,124 a year to \u00a34,248. The average selling price there is \u00a32.1m, with semidetached homes fetching an average of \u00a36.2m. Some homes in the borough are valued at as much as \u00a385m.\n\nPaul Sweeney, the Labour MP for Glasgow North East, said Hammond\u2019s plan would not solve the issue generally.\n\n\u201cWe need to have a punitive rate above normal council tax to actually incentivise reuse of empty properties,\u201d Sweeney said on Twitter. \u201cWhat a joke.\u201d\n\nHammond announcing an allowance for councils to charge a 100% council tax rate on empty property won't solve this issue. We need to have a punitive rate above normal council tax to actually incentivise reuse of empty properties. What a joke. #Budget2017 #FitForTheFew \u2014 Paul Sweeney MP (@PaulJSweeney) November 22, 2017\n\nHenry Pryor, a buying agent for luxury property, said the increased tax would have no effect on wealthy buyers. \u201c[It would be] water off an oligarch\u2019s back,\u201d he said. \u201cThe impact on the market is unlikely to be more than resentment from natural Conservative voters, some of whom had hoped they would be overlooked this time. Most higher value owners will regard this as a cost of doing business in London in particular and for the chance to own a home in one of the most highly regarded global centres.\u201d\n\nPyror pointed out that more than 200 wealthy foreigners were already choosing to pay \u00a3218,200 a year in tax rather than declare which of London\u2019s \u00a320m-plus mega-mansions they owned.\n\nHelen Williams, the chief executive of the charity Empty Homes, said the council tax increase would be little disincentive for those buying properties as investment. \u201cFor a very wealthy buyer spending millions, 100% council tax is not really enough of a disincentive,\u201d she said. It would be more helpful if the government carried out a review into why overseas buyers kept their properties empty, she added.\n\nJeremy Corbyn, Labour\u2019s leader, said: \u201cWe need a large-scale publicly funded house building programme, not this government\u2019s accounting tricks and empty promises.\u201d\n\nAccording to Kensington and Chelsea data there are 64 homes listed as vacant in Notting Dale, the ward where Grenfell Tower was built. Of those, six are recorded as having been vacant for more than two years, and the remainder fall into the category of unoccupied and substantially unfurnished.\n\nThe ward listed as having the highest number of long-term empty properties is Brompton and Hans Town, which includes Sloane Street and Harrods. The ward has 100 homes listed as empty for more than two years and another 128 recorded as unoccupied and substantially unfurnished.\n\nAnalysis by the specialist trade magazine Inside Housing suggested there was a strong correlation between high house prices and the number of empty homes. \u201cThis will fuel suggestions that the so-called \u2018buy to leave\u2019 phenomenon \u2013 whereby investors buy properties to leave them empty \u2013 is rife in the borough,\u201d the magazine said.\n\nThere are more than 200,000 homes in the UK that have been empty for more than six months, according to the latest government data.", "output": "The decision by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond,\u00a0to allow local authorities to double council tax on properties left vacant for more than two years has been dubbed \"water off an oligarch\u2019s back\" by critics. Hammond's changes would increase the highest band council tax charges on empty properties in Kensington and Chelsea\u00a0from \u00a32,124 a year to \u00a34,248. Helen Williams, the CEO of charity Empty Homes, said: \"It would be more helpful if the government carried out a review into why overseas buyers kept their properties empty.\"\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Financial consultants shrug off robo-advice threat \n \"The poor customer take up of pure robo-advice propositions in the market today highlights the ongoing importance of the human aspect of an adviser\u2019s service.\"\n\nThe research from Aegon found that the degree of concern felt by advisers correlates to the typical size of their client portfolios, with advisers whose client portfolios are at the lower end of the scale more alert to the threat from the lower cost option of robo-advice.\n\nIn some cases, this may also be explained where those with smaller portfolios may have less complex needs that could be served on a more basic, standardised approach.\n\nFor advisers with client portfolios of more than \u00a3200k, 88% feel it offers no threat to their business, and even for portfolios of up to \u00a3100k, the figure remains high at 73%.\n\nWhile the majority of advisers believe robo-advice is no threat to their business, a third (31%) do point to robo-advice and similar digital services as one of the top challenges to the wider industry over the coming two years, a little behind Brexit (40%). Advisers who manage less than \u00a35 million in client assets are three times more likely to feel threatened by the technology than those who manage over \u00a3100 million (63% vs 20%), suggesting advisers with less scale consider the new technology as more of a challenge to their business.\n\nSteven Cameron, Pensions Director at Aegon, said: \u201cThe increasing use of technology in financial services is essential to engage customers in the future. It also provides opportunities for adviser firms to find new ways for people to access advice, particularly on less complex topics, which may not have been open to them in the past. This innovation has real potential to enhance adviser businesses, providing parallel advice and guidance offerings that can benefit customers and help close the advice gap.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe poor customer take up of pure robo-advice propositions in the market today highlights the ongoing importance of the human aspect of an adviser\u2019s service. For this reason we see robo-advice technology as being most likely to represent an opportunity for advisers to complement their offerings, and not a threat. Customers will increasingly come to expect digital services alongside traditional advice so it\u2019s important advisers embrace technology and consider how best to deliver a seamless experience across digital and physical channels.\n\n\n\n\u201cProviders need to support intermediaries to create a successful market for advice and we believe robo developments will prove to be healthy for the adviser industry. As advisers grow used to the new innovations, they should prove to be a useful and valuable extension to face to face financial advice.\u201d", "output": "More than three-quarters of UK financial advisers don't see robo-advice as a threat to their businesses, according to research by Aegon. Advisers with larger client portfolios are less likely to view these platforms as a threat, according to the research. Advisers managing less than \u00a35m ($6.7m)\u00a0in client assets are three times as likely to view robo-advice as a significant threat to their businesses. Nonetheless, they expect demand for robo-advisers to increase over the next 12 months.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "'Blackbox' insurance devices raise privacy concerns \n Forecast is a series exploring the future of AI and automation in a variety of different sectors\u2014from the arts to city building to finance\u2014to find out what the latest developments might mean for humanity's road ahead. We'll hear from Nikolas Badminton, David Usher, Jennifer Keesmaat, Heather Knight, Madeline Ashby and Director X, among others. Created by Motherboard in partnership with Audi.\n\nEvery day, approximately nine people are killed in the United States in car crashes related to distracted driving, and nearly 1,100 more are injured. In 2015, the National Safety Council, a nonprofit that promotes health and safety, reported cell phones were involved in 27 percent of all crashes in the US.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIn Canada, one estimate says distracted driving deaths have increased 26 percent in the past decade, and someone in Ontario is injured in a distracted driving-related collision every 30 minutes.\n\nCell phones are largely to blame for this increase in distracted driving. Lawmakers have sought to legislate the problem away, yet it remains; we\u2019re addicted to our screens, even when that addiction could potentially kill us or others.\n\nThe tech world has taken notice and launched dozens of apps in recent years to combat the use of cellphones while driving. Live2Txt and LifeSaver, for example, block incoming calls or text messages while you\u2019re driving.\n\nOthers, like TrueMotion, use AI algorithms to detect when you\u2019re driving, where you\u2019re going, what type of vehicle you\u2019re in, how you\u2019re using the phone (text messaging, calls, etc.) and provides a drive score that includes all of your distracted driving incidents, and when they happened.\n\nThe company (formerly Censio) touts increased safety and the potential monetary benefits of providing that safe driving data to your insurance company, but some critics are concerned about the privacy implications of apps that track your every movement without your complete knowledge.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s extending the Facebook model to insurance, which is what people had been worried about for a very long time,\u201d Madeline Ashby, a futurist and science fiction writer, told Motherboard. \u201cYou\u2019d be surrendering vast amounts of data about yourself, from which patterns can be inferred and used against you by a judgemental system.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAnd then there\u2019s the privacy implications of all this data, including where drivers have been, how long they were there, and other patterns they might not want others to know.\n\nAccording to the terms of use for the Nexar dashcam, for example, \u201cWe reserve the right to store incidents and time-lapse photography indefinitely in order to support the ratings assigned to drivers' license plate numbers.\u201d\n\nBrad Cordova, co-founder of TrueMotion, told Motherboard the issue of who actually owns the data can vary based on the insurer and their agreements with clients.\n\n\u201cInsurance companies don\u2019t really want all the data \u2026 they care more about the customer experience,\u201d he said. \u201cI think this is an ongoing discussion about who owns the data [and] when.\u201d\n\nThe app and others like it are all part of a larger move toward so-called \u201cusage based insurance\u201d (UBI). This market is growing, with as many as 10 different UBI products available in almost every US state.\n\nTrueMotion always runs in the background and uses your phone's own speed and GPS sensors, along with deep learning algorithms, to contextualize your movement and determine how your phone is being used. It can detect what kind of vehicle you\u2019re in (a bus has a different vibration pattern from a car, for example) and whether you\u2019re the driver or passenger. If can detect speed, sudden braking or acceleration, how far the phone is from your face, and if the device is up to your ear or sitting in a phone mount.\n\nCordova said it helps make the insurance process fairer for good drivers, because it can eliminate the traditional method of categorizing drivers by age and gender and instead helps companies base their rates on actual driving habits.\n\nIn May, Forbes reported a good score can earn a 20 percent premium discount from Progressive Insurance, while bad drivers can see hikes of 10 percent.\n\nAshby, however, worries that by using data we might not realize we\u2019re giving up creates an unfair advantage for insurance companies. You might not even be aware of some of your driving habits, but the insurance companies are and they can ding you in the pocketbook, she said. Worse, they might examine other factors unrelated to driving performance (such as the kind of music you listen to) and make assumptions about your driving habits.", "output": "Devices using artificial intelligence to track driving habits are being criticised on the grounds that users are often unclear about how private their data is. Concerns range from drivers being under surveillance by insurers to data being sold to unknown third parties. \u201cIt\u2019s extending the Facebook model to insurance, which is what people had been worried about for a very long time,\u201d said Madeline Ashby, a futurist and science fiction writer. However, providers of the technology argue that using this data to determine pricing allows good drivers to get lower premiums and risky driving to be properly assessed. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google, Facebook can't control their algorithms \n If you searched Google immediately after the recent mass shooting in Texas for information on the gunman, you would have seen what Justin Hendrix, the head of the NYC Media Lab, called a \u201cmisinformation gutter.\u201d A spokesperson for Google later gave a statement to Gizmodo that placed blame squarely on an algorithm:\n\n\"The search results appearing from Twitter, which surface based on our ranking algorithms, are changing second by second and represent a dynamic conversation that is going on in near real-time. For the queries in question, they are not the first results we show on the page. Instead, they appear after news sources, including our Top Stories carousel which we have been constantly updating. We\u2019ll continue to look at ways to improve how we rank tweets that appear in search.\"\n\nIn other words, it was an algorithm \u2014 not a human making editorial decisions \u2014 that was responsible for this gaffe. But as Gizmodo\u2019s Tom McKay pointed out, this kind of framing is intentional and used frequently by Twitter and other social networks when problems arise.\n\nHe writes: \u201cGoogle, Twitter, and Facebook have all regularly shifted the blame to algorithms when this happens, but the issue is that said companies write the algorithms, making them responsible for what they churn out.\u201d\n\n\n\nAlgorithms can be gamed, algorithms can be trained on biased information, and algorithms can shield platforms from blame. Mike Ananny puts it this way:\n\nBy continually claiming that it is a technology company \u2014 not a media company \u2014 Facebook can claim that any perceived errors in Trending Topics or News Feed products are the result of algorithms that need tweaking, artificial intelligence that needs more training data, or reflections of users. It claims that it is not taking any editorial position.\n\nPlatforms rely on these algorithms to perform actions at scale, but algorithms at scale also become increasingly inscrutable, even to the people who wrote the code. In her recent TED Talk about the complexity of AI, Zeynep Tufekci points out that not even the people behind Facebook\u2019s algorithms truly understand them:\n\nWe no longer really understand how these complex algorithms work. We don't understand how they're doing this categorization. It's giant matrices, thousands of rows and columns, maybe millions of rows and columns, and not the programmers and not anybody who looks at it, even if you have all the data, understands anymore how exactly it's operating any more than you'd know what I was thinking right now if you were shown a cross section of my brain. It's like we're not programming anymore, we're growing intelligence that we don't truly understand.\n\nThis is problematic for journalism. We cannot write about what we cannot see, but we increasingly write about what we think will be surfaced by these algorithms, which generate eyeballs, which then generate clicks, which then generate an increasingly smaller pool of digital ad dollars (the majority of which are now going to Facebook and Google.)\n\n\n\nAnd despite our (perhaps) growing unease with these platforms, we still rely on the them for distribution. In their excellent report on the convergence between publishers and platforms, Emily Bell and Taylor Owen write that \u201cA growing number of news organizations see investing in social platforms as the only prospect for a sustainable future, whether for traffic or for reach,\u201d echoing what Franklin Foer recently wrote in The Atlantic about The New Republic\u2019s increasing dependency on these platforms \u2014 and what their algorithms might surface: \u201cDependence generates desperation \u2014 a mad, shameless chase to gain clicks through Facebook, a relentless effort to game Google\u2019s algorithms. It leads media outlets to sign terrible deals that look like self-preserving necessities: granting Facebook the right to sell their advertising, or giving Google permission to publish articles directly on its fast-loading server. In the end, such arrangements simply allow Facebook and Google to hold these companies ever tighter.\u201d\n\n\n\nMaciej Ceglowski\n\nThis reliance on algorithmic click-chasing was the basis for a recent essay by Maciej Ceglowski, who runs a bookmarking site called Pinboard and frequently writes about socio-technological issues. He traces one story that burgeoned out of Amazon\u2019s \u201cfrequently bought together\u201d algorithm, and then spread very quickly to other media outlets, despite little evidence that it was true. Justification for republishing, he wrote, was often because other news outlets had already reported on it. He writes: \u201cTogether with climate change, this algorithmic takeover of the public sphere is the biggest news story of the early 21st century. We desperately need journalists to cover it. But as they grow more dependent on online publishing for their professional survival, their capacity to do this kind of reporting will disappear, if it has not disappeared already.\u201d\n\n\n\nOur conversation is below.\n\nYou write that \"the real story in this mess is not the threat that algorithms pose to Amazon shoppers, but the threat that algorithms pose to journalism.\" But it seems like there's also an additional threat here \u2013 that there's an increasing reliance on using these algorithms and tools to show what\u2019s performing well on competitors' social media sites to find story ideas.\n\nI'm curious to get your thoughts on how so many news organizations wind up with the same piece on the same topic \u2014 and how we move away from click-chasing when so many are reliant on clicks to pay the bills.\n\nIt\u2019s important not to confuse individual tools with the broader structural problems in journalism that make people feel those tools are necessary. The tool(s) you mention (and many others like it) are a symptom of the broader problem, which is that social networks have become the primary distribution channel for news. News organizations have become wholly dependent on Facebook and Google in particular for online distribution, and for whatever revenue they still get, but the interests of those two companies do not align with those of journalists or the public. The problem is the casino, not the specific slot machines in it.\n\nAre there ways to build reward mechanisms or incentives into search/social to combat this mentality of click-chasing? If it's not going to come from the publishers, could it come from elsewhere? Tech workers? Who has the leverage here to create change?\n\nThere is no technical solution for this problem. Publishers need to find a way to isolate journalists from the immediate pressure of click chasing, while finding a way to keep the lights on that is less reliant on Google and Facebook. In particular, we need some way to insulate working journalists from the pressure to pile on to stories they don\u2019t have adequate time to research, and the pressure to evaluate their success by clicks and virality on a per-story basis.\n\nThe only people who have the leverage to change the rules of the casino are tech workers. Even a small group of specialized workers at Google or Facebook, if they made a concerted effort, have enough clout that they could push through policies that would improve the state of online journalism. But they have so far declined to use this power, even for modest workplace changes in their own self interest.\n\nWho do you think is covering algorithms well and accurately? How would you like to see them covered?\n\nJust like the story of industrial revolution was not really about valves and pistons, what\u2019s happening around machine learning is not tied to the details of the implementation. The real story of algorithms and machine learning is how these technologies are affecting communities and societies. The algorithm story only makes sense when it\u2019s rooted in a larger context of power relationships between people.\n\nJournalists should not be intimidated by the technical content of machine learning, which despite its name and reputation is not prohibitively complex. The distinguishing feature of machine learning in our era is that its implementation is simple but inscrutable, even to the programmers who build it. You feed massive data sets into a fairly simple mathematical contraption, and get useful results. But you can\u2019t point to why you got those results, any more than a brain surgeon can point to individual thoughts in your head.\n\nTwo key points I wish journalists would remember: first, for machine learning to be effective, it has to train on truly enormous amounts of user data. This drives a dynamic of restless and aggressive surveillance.\n\nSecond, when these techniques fail, they fail in ways that are not human. AI is simple math, there's no room in it for ethics, or common sense, or empathy. Some of the egregious errors we will catch, but a lot of them we will not. These systems, which would require an extraordinary level of oversight to run safely, are being deployed across the planet by naive Stanford grads with almost no human supervision, for profit, and have the potential to profoundly reshape our society.\n\nIs it even possible to cover these systems well and accurately? If material cannot be found, it basically doesn't exist \u2014 so what's the line, and how do journalists balance?\n\nJournalists have painted themselves into an ethical corner, because their work is hostage to the same surveillance and distribution system that is destroying their profession. They deserve some of the blame for this.\n\nMoreover, Google has shown itself to be aggressive towards criticism that starts to hit home. But journalists are supposed to be good at confronting power. Weaning media outlets off of Facebook, and off of online ads as the sole source of revenue, will create some space for more assertive and skeptical coverage of that world.\n\nIt's almost like we need a technical ombudsman to assess these things. I'm curious what you think of that \u2014 or what role(s) within a newsroom should be taking this on. It's an ethical question, but usually the people who think about ethics in newsrooms come from a news background, not a technical one.\n\nWhat you need is just a regular ombudsman, vigilant against the corrosive effects of click chasing, rushed deadlines, and herd behavior.\n\nThe technical machinery of the online ad casino is not what's vital here. What\u2019s important is countering its effects. Witness just the last week of news, where a humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico got almost no front-page coverage because news organizations (correctly) determined that they would get the most clicks by covering a feud between the President and the NFL. At one point, the NYT had eight NFL feud stories on its front page, while millions of Puerto Ricans went without water or power.\n\nIt doesn\u2019t take someone steeped in algorithms to point out that this is a shameful dereliction of journalistic duty. It just takes an independent voice within the organization unafraid to speak up. But the New York Times just got rid of its ombudsman role.\n\nHow do we effectively cover the technical organizations that sponsor our conferences?\n\nIf you want to bite the hand that feeds you, it\u2019s good to have somewhere else to eat. Stop letting them sponsor your conferences! Switch to a cheaper hotel, have the conference in Dayton instead of New York, do whatever you have to do to wean yourselves off that sweet, sweet tech money. I can pass the hat for this among tech workers, if you think it will help.\n\nBut stop cozying up to the people destroying your profession. I have been to these news conferences and watched Google baldly assert that it lacks the resources to prune fake news, while prominent journalists nodded along. It was embarrassing to even watch.\n\nFocus less on the technology (where it\u2019s easy to fall prey to bullshit) and much more on the power relationships and which way the money flows. Talk to technical experts and cultivate technical sources. Don\u2019t let the big tech companies intimidate you.\n\n[Disclosure: Poynter receives funding from Google News Lab.]\n\nWhat's the answer here? Like, what do we do? Reporters aren't going to be given more time to write up stories, they need to file, they have Crowdtangle and Chartbeat and Twitter Trends and ways to see what's resonating \u2014 what's the way forward?\n\nRecognize that you are going down a path of no return for your profession. The online ad racket thrives on novelty, and you will be forever chasing new formats, with diminishing returns, while upstarts with no ideological scruples like Breitbart eat your lunch. Stop looking at which of your stories \u2018resonate\u2019, based on clicks and views, and find an alternative way to evaluate your work that is not so granular. Otherwise you\u2019re doomed. Doooomed.\n\nEvaluate reporters base on their aggregate body of work, not on each individual story. Burn your tracking codes. Give people a way to pay you directly, rather than through ads. Stop enabling surveillance.\n\nReporters have been busy, harried and on deadline since the first newspaper. That\u2019s part of the professional identity. But you\u2019re also prone to self-pity in a way that doesn\u2019t do credit to your industry. Get out there and bust heads.\n\nSwitching gears for a second, I'm curious how you come up with the longform essay topics on your blog. You\u2019ve written about Antarctica and scurvy and flight and infrastructure projects, and they're all incredibly well-researched and varied. What inspires you to take something on?\n\nI can\u2019t walk three steps without having a deep insight. I remember things better when I write about them, and I also enjoy long-windedly explaining things to people. So when I get particularly obsessed about a topic, it's fun for me to write it up.\n\nYou talk about algorithms, and the need for better reporting \u2014 but I also see a need for better coverage of numbers in general (You point this out more than a decade ago.) If you were going to design a curriculum for journalists to follow, what kinds of courses and skills would you want them to know? (And the all-important question: How does this then spread to smaller newsrooms where resources are even more strapped\u2026?)\n\nFirst off, journalists need to know how to do practical security. In conjunction with Tech Solidarity, I've been offering a 50-minute security briefing for working journalists, and I\u2019m happy to offer it to any reporter, for free. People need to be safe.\n\nIf I could teach journalists three mathy things, they would be these:\n\n1. Basic probability and statistics.\n\n2. The concept of one-way functions and cryptographic signatures that is at the heart of secure messaging and e-commerce.\n\n3. The basic concepts that underpin machine learning. I realize this sounds daunting, but I am an art major and absorbed this stuff.\n\nWe need better online explainers for this, and this is something the tech industry can help with. I\u2019m hoping to get a deeper understanding of machine learning this year so I can write a decent, intellectually honest explainer for journalists and other interested people outside the field.", "output": "\u00a0\n\n\n\nLarge technology companies, such as Google and Facebook may not be able to fully understand the sprawling algorithms which help search for news online. Such algorithms have become so large and complex that even with careful attention they may not be able to be tweaked to alleviate bugs and other issues. Large tech players are also facing criticism for claiming they have no editorial control despite being able to set the initial parameters of their search capabilities.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "India's Flipkart to start selling insurance coverage \n Flipkart to start selling insurance products in services push\n\nCredit: Reuters\n\nHomegrown e-commerce major Flipkart will sell insurance products on its platform, filings with the Registrar of Companies show.\n\nFlipkart will initially sell products in general, life and health insurance and intends to later venture into other categories such as motor insurance as well, the filings state.\n\nThe company will launch this product after obtaining the regulatory approval from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority. IRDA regulations allow Flipkart to tie-up with up to three insurers under each of insurance category. The e-commerce major will facilitate and provide end-to-end transactions (except underwriting) that include discovery, payment, delivery and after-sales services.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nHowever, the exact timeline of the launch was not specified as it is not clear whether the company has already obtained the regulatory approval. It could also not be ascertained whether Flipkart has already partnered with any insurance players.\n\nFlipkart did not immediately respond to email queries from VCCircle, seeking more information about its foray into insurance.\n\nIn June this year, media reports stated that Flipkart was considering selling financial products and services online.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nFlipkart, which sees this line of business as a potential revenue spinner, is betting on its large customer base to expand the reach of the insurance products. Besides, it is also counting on its other capabilities such as its huge data mine of consumer insights, a differentiated value proposition to customers and its ability to deliver top-notch customer experience, Flipkart stated in the filings.\n\nFlipkart is leaving no stone unturned in its efforts to keep competition at bay with its deep-pocketed rival Amazon offering a range of diversified services, thanks to its $4 billion war chest that it amassed, courtesy of funding rounds from Japan\u2019s SoftBank in August, and Microsoft, Tencent, and eBay in April.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nFlipkart is also reportedly developing a WeChat-like app, where it aims to become an aggregator of several services that will operate under a single platform.\n\nShare article on Leave Your Comments", "output": "Indian online retailer Flipkart is planning to offer insurance coverage. The retailer is awaiting regulatory approval, and will initially offer life, health and general insurance policies, while other lines may follow in the future. Flipkart will partner with three insurers for each line of coverage. A timeline for the launch of the offering has not yet been determined. Flipkart has amassed almost $4bn in funding, having garnered investment from Microsoft, eBay, SoftBank and Tencent.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Coca-Cola and Gogglebox collaboration is most engaging Xmas ad \n A film showing the cast of Channel 4's Gogglebox reacting to Coca-Cola's much-anticipated and annual 'Holidays are Coming' ad was found to be the UK\u2019s most engaging spot of the season, according to facial recognition data from Realeyes.\n\nCoca Cola's Holidays Are Coming is the most engaging Christmas ad\n\nThe agency tested 55 of the top Christmas ads to see which ones evoked the most attention \u2013 and more importantly \u2013 emotion from viewers.\n\nThe twist on Coke's classic film, which showed families on their sofas chatting about the ad, trumped Vodafone, John Lewis and McDonald's to claim the crown.\n\nThe top ten spots were populated by the following brands.\n\n1. Coca-Cola: Gogglebox on 'Holidays are coming'\n\n2. Vodafone: 'A Christmas Love Story'\n\n3. McDonald's: 'Carrot stick Christmas'\n\n4. M&S: 'Paddington and the Christmas Visitor'\n\n5. Currys/PC World: 'Merry Techmas'\n\n6. H Samuel: 'Beautiful Christmas Gifts'\n\n7. Waitrose: 'Christmas together'\n\n8. Heathrow: 'Bears Christmas'\n\n9.Pandora: 'Do Get What You Wish For'\n\n10. Tesco: 'Turkey, Every Which Way'\n\nCoca-Cola and McDonald\u2019s, Tesco all opted for portraying typical household situations which Realeyes speculated found leverage due to audiences due to their \u201cmore honest insight into the real-life nature of Christmas\u201d.\n\nMihkel J\u00e4\u00e4tma, chief executive of Realeyes, said: \u201cWhilst the hype around Christmas ads has now become a national pastime, it\u2019s sometimes forgotten that their job is to help sell more products and people\u2019s emotional response plays a big part in where they decide to shop.\n\n\u201cThis year saw advertisers trying to be more authentic by using real-life situations, humour and romance to relate to people, which could be seen as a way to cheer them up via universal themes after what\u2019s been another divisive and turbulent year.\u201d\n\nJohn Lewis, and 'Moz the Monster' placed 17th after taking the crown in 2016 with 'Buster the Boxer'.\n\nThe study involved Realeyes measuring the emotional reactions of 3,300 people.", "output": "Coca-Cola's Christmas advert has been judged the most engaging for viewers in a survey conducted using facial recognition technology. Research agency RealEyes used webcams to monitor the reaction of viewers to video content, which it then analysed. In the survey, the company showed 55 UK Christmas adverts to 3,300 people. The Coca-Cola video showing members of Channel 4's Gogglebox programme responding to the company's Holidays Are Coming\u00a0ad was rated in first place for audience reaction, while\u00a0Vodafone's Christmas Love Story\u00a0came in second. John Lewis finished in 17th place, after winning last year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Boeing and China's Okay Airways finalise $1.4bn jet order \n Okay Airways, China's first privately owned airline, is seen at the terminal of Huanghua airport in the central Chinese city Changsha. The airline finalised an order for five Boeing Dreamliners. Photo: EPA", "output": "Beijing-based Okay Airways, jointly privately owned by Boeing and China, has finalised a $1.4bn order for five 787-9 Dreamliner jets. China's aviation expansion is being spurred on by its growing middle class and tourism industry, and\u00a0competition for international routes is intensifying\u00a0between\u00a0China's three main airlines, Air China, China Eastern and China Southern. Okay currently has 26 Boeing 737s in its fleet.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk Hundreds complain outage shuttered internet access \n TalkTalk Down: The home broadband provider appears to be suffering an outage\n\nUpdate \u2022 14:52 GMT\n\nTalkTalk\u2019s online service status checker does not acknowledge any problems with its home broadband \u2013 despite hundreds of complaints from customers online.\n\nHowever, the TalkTalk\u2019s official social media account (@TalkTalk on Twitter) is informing some users that it is \u201ccurrently experiencing issues\u201d in certain areas of the UK.\n\nReplying to one disgruntled customer from Manchester, @TalkTalk tweeted: \u201cHi Jody, unfortunately we're currently experiencing issues there, we're working on getting this resolved now.\u201d\n\nIt has also tweeted that it is \u201ccurrently experiencing some issues with services in the North West.\n\n\u201cWe're working on resolving this now, and we're sorry for any inconvenience caused.\u201d\n\nAsked when customers could expect the problems to be fixed, the account replied: \u201cwe don't have a time right now but the team are on the case and we hope to get it sorted asap.\u201d\n\nOriginal Story \u2013\n\nTalkTalk appears to be down for hundreds of customers across the UK.\n\nEnraged TalkTalk home broadband customers have flooded social media to complain about the outage.", "output": "TalkTalk's home broadband service suffered\u00a0an outage, according to crowd-sourced data from independent website\u00a0DownDetector. It has tracked social media posts related to the subject, saying the problem appeared\u00a0most severe in London, Nottingham, Manchester and Birmingham. TalkTalk's Twitter account acknowledged outages in parts of the country, apologised and said it was \"working on resolving\u201d the problem.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dazed boosts native ads engagement with website\u00a0redesign \n Lifestyle and culture magazine Dazed redesigned its website this September with the goals of getting people to read more articles, making native ads more visible, and focusing on fewer, more effective display ads.\n\nThe redesign has increased time on site by 21 percent to two minutes and 19 seconds, according to the publisher. The article page was tweaked to show three related articles and one native ad, based on prior site behavior.\n\nDazed has served 5.7 million native ad impressions across the site in the last month, like this text-based article on portraits from citizens of Memphis in partnership eyewear brand Ace & Tate. These are co-created by the Dazed editorial team and the advertiser. According to the company, readers that come from its homepage (roughly 15 percent of all traffic, Dazed estimates) are spending on average seven minutes with its native ads, rather than roughly two minutes before the redesign.\n\nThose changes were driven by advertising clients requesting more visibility for their native posts. Previously native ads were getting lost on the old homepage, which was an updated feed of the most-read articles, according to Bridget Mills-Powell, head of digital at Dazed.\n\nPublishers are keen to keep people glued to their site, as time spent is proving a more attractive metric to advertisers than pageviews or video views. USA Today has redesigned its site around personalization to encourage readers to stick around, leading to a 75 percent increase in time spent per article.\n\nAs part of the redesign Dazed overhauled its display ads, scrapping ones that were \u201cgreat for impressions but bad for viewability,\u201d said Mills-Powell. Native ad revenue currently makes up half of Dazed\u2019s digital revenue, with display advertising accounting for the other half, although Mills-Powell anticipates native will overtake display next year. Dazed introduced a bespoke header unit, which existing clients Hermes, Balenciaga and Gucci have used on campaigns. The latter had 1.66 percent click-through rate during the week the site went live, industry average click-through rates are woefully low at 0.35 percent, according to Google. As a result, viewability has also gone up by 20 percent, according to the company.\n\nMost people won\u2019t access Dazed by visiting its homepage, but those that do are its most loyal and engaged users. Since the redesign, the number of visitors to the homepage who go on to view three stories has increased by 34 percent and the number clicking on two stories has increased by 43 percent. Dazed doesn\u2019t typically share absolute traffic numbers.\n\nAn internal core team of five have been working on the Dazed redesign for about two months. Dazed will keep A/B testing over the next few months, one avenue it\u2019s looking at is how to tailor content to users based on referral, whether that\u2019s social or search.\n\nImage: courtesy of Dazed via Facebook.", "output": "British media group Dazed has revealed its recent website overhaul has increased user dwell time by 21% to two minutes and 19 seconds, with visitors spending an estimated seven minutes reading its native ads, compared with two minutes before the redesign. The lifestyle and culture brand also said the number of homepage visitors who read three stories has risen by 34%, while the number of viewers clicking on two has gone up by 43%. Bridget Mills-Powell, the head of digital, said part of the revamp involved ditching ads that were \"great for impressions but bad for viewability\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "German, Italian Amazon workers strike\u00a0on busy Black Friday \n Amazon won't be enjoying Black Friday -- and the rest of the holiday season -- this year.\n\nOver 500 workers at the e-commerce giant's main distribution hub in Italy have agreed to strike for the first time this Black Friday after disappointing talks with Amazon for bonuses and better pay, Reuters reported Wednesday. The plan follows strikes scheduled for the same day at six Amazon warehouses in Germany.\n\nThe strike is set to last the entire holiday season until Dec. 31 and expected to disrupt Amazon's busiest shopping season -- the company told the Financial Times it received more than a million orders last Black Friday. But it added that it remained committed to ensuring its customers receive their orders punctually during this period.\n\nThe number of orders Amazon receives on Black Friday may seem little compared to Alibaba's 1.48 billion shoppers this Singles' Day, but the online retailer still has to more than double its staff strength to cope with higher demand. Amazon employs 1,600 permanent staff at its Piacenza site in Northern Italy, but brings up its staff strength to 4,000 every year during the shopping season. The hub opened when Amazon launched its platform in Italy in 2010. Workers are paid a monthly average of 1,300 euros (about $1,541), according to FT.\n\nIn a statement, Amazon said its workers are among the highest paid in the logistics sector and enjoy benefits such as private medical insurance and training subsidies. But trade unions disagree.\n\n\"The world's biggest online retailer wants to achieve record sales on [Black Friday], but employees have to produce record performance not only on this day so that everything runs how Amazon wants it,\" Stefanie Nutzenberger, board member of a German trade union, told Reuters.\n\n\"We want a bonus because the company is having great results, and the profits need to be distributed,\" Gianluca Zilocchi, secretary of an Italian trade union told FT. \"There's also a question of rights and a suffocating climate for workers.\"\n\nCNET has reached out to Amazon for a comment.\n\nWatch this: Shop for gifts on Amazon without giving away surprises 02:11\n\nRebooting the Reef: CNET dives deep into how tech can help save Australia's Great Barrier Reef.\n\nThe Smartest Stuff: Innovators are thinking up new ways to make you, and the things around you, smarter.", "output": "Amazon workers in Germany and Italy have gone on strike on Black Friday, one of the retailer's busiest days of the year,\u00a0as their unions\u00a0hold out for better bonuses and higher pay. Also, the 500 workers in Italy have said they will not do any overtime until 31 December, which may cause delays for customers.\u00a0\"We want a bonus because the company is having great results, and the profits need to be distributed,\" said\u00a0trade unionist\u00a0Gianluca Zilocchi. Workers at six German distribution centres are also striking on Black Friday, 24 November.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aviva fights gender inequality with shared parental leave \n The insurance company Aviva is offering equal parental leave for men and women, with six months\u2019 pay across the board, in a move that is meant to eradicate career impediments for female staff.\n\n\n\nParents employed by Aviva will be offered the same benefit of up to a year\u2019s leave, with 26 weeks of basic full pay \u201cregardless of gender, sexual orientation or how they became a parent\u201d.\n\nIt opens the door for not only biological parents but those using a surrogate or opting for adoption.\n\n\u201cThe new policy is part of Aviva\u2019s strategy to create a diverse and inclusive working culture in which barriers to career progression are removed,\u201d the company said.\n\nThe move has been hailed by unions for helping progress equality and diversity in the workplace. Andy Case, a regional officer for Unite, said: \u201cUnite believes that the parental leave policy announced today is market leading and represents a significant and positive step forward for equality in the workplace.\n\n\u201cWe are keen to hear our members\u2019 comments on this positive initiative, which we will feed back to Aviva management as part of our ongoing dialogue on equality, diversity and inclusion.\u201d\n\nAviva is launching the policy in a handful of locations, including the UK, Ireland, France, Singapore and Canada, for those employees who became parents on or after 19 November, before extending it to its other businesses within the next year.\n\nHowever, it said the amount of time off and resulting pay could differ by country. UK staff will be offered up to 12 months off \u2013 half of which will be paid.\n\nThe policy will be available to any employee regardless of the amount of time they have worked at Aviva or how much they earn.\n\nPart-time employees are also eligible, and there is no requirement to share leave between parents even if they both work for the insurer.\n\nThe Aviva chief executive, Mark Wilson, said: \u201cI want to live in a world where the only criteria for success is someone\u2019s talent, not their gender. Treating parents equally will help make this happen.\n\n\u201cWe want Aviva to be a progressive, inclusive, welcoming place to work. It\u2019s good for our people and it\u2019s also good business sense.\u201d", "output": "Insurance company Aviva is to offer equal parental leave to men and women in a move designed to promote gender equality. The policy will also apply to part-time workers. In the UK, leave of up to a year will be offered, with 26 weeks of basic full pay available to staff \u201cregardless of gender, sexual orientation or how they became a parent\u201d. The policy will initially be launched in a number of locations including the UK, Canada, France, Ireland and Singapore, for those who became parents on or after 19 November. It will be extended further next year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US farmers use twice as many antibiotics as those in UK \n Fresh analysis published by the food and farming alliance Sustain today indicates that US farm antibiotic use is now more than twice as high per animal as it is in the UK. Data from the US Food and Drug Administration [1] shows that total sales of medically important antibiotics for use in animals increased by 26% between 2009 and 2015. By contrast, the UK government recently reported on a 27 per cent drop in use of antibiotics in animals reared on British farms over the last two years. [2]\n\nAmerican farmers and meat processors routinely use antibiotics, chlorine rinses and irradiation to reduce food-poisoning bugs in meat. However, health campaigners argue these carry their own risks and often mask poor welfare and hygiene standards on farms, in slaughterhouses and in meat processing. The World Health Organisation recently called on farmers and the food industry to stop routinely using antibiotics prophylactically in healthy animals. [3] This is to preserve the effectiveness for treatment of actual disease outbreaks in humans and animals.\n\nKath Dalmeny, Chief Executive of the Sustain food and farming alliance [4] said:\n\n\u201cWhen US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told the CBI last week that the UK would have to accept US meat standards, I was horrified. Mass-produced American chicken may seem cheap, but it comes at a gigantic cost to our health, animals and workers.\n\n\u201cBritish food and farming industries have started to take action on the critically important issue of overuse of antibiotics in farming. We simply cannot afford to let our trade negotiators sweep such progress aside by flooding our market with cut-price US chicken raised with routine antibiotic use.\n\n\u201cIf antibiotics lose their efficacy through over-use in medicine and farming, we will return to an era when millions of lives could be lost every year to simple infections. [5] All food and trade policy must reinforce international efforts to reduce antibiotic use, not create new markets for farmers \u2013 such as those in the US \u2013 who are using much more than they should.\u201d\n\nC\u00f3il\u00edn Nunan, Scientific Adviser to the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics [6], said:\n\n\u201cWe need to consider what pressure UK regulators will come under - and what farming practices we may be supporting internationally \u2013 as a result of international trade deals. Many European countries, including the UK, are starting to phase out routine preventative use and to significantly cut overall antibiotic use. There is even the real possibility of an EU-wide ban in routine preventative use in the next few years. In contrast, the United States still has no serious plans to deal with antibiotic abuse in farming, and use is increasing every year. Antimicrobial-resistant bacteria are no respecters of country borders. Rather than the UK adopting US standards, we need to call on the US to show some leadership on reducing the use of antibiotics in animals through improvements in production systems and animal husbandry. This is in everyone\u2019s interests.\u201d\n\nThe new comparison of farm antibiotic use data comes as the Government enters trade talks with the US, in which the Americans are expected to argue strongly in favour of the UK abandoning EU food standards in order to secure a speedy trade deal. [7] But a House of Lords report from July this year flagged that domestic producers fear the market being flooded with cheaper, lower welfare imports that will make it difficult for them to compete. [8]\n\nENDS. Media contact: Orla Delargy, Sustain; email: orla@sustainweb.org\n\nEditor\u2019s notes\n\n[1] 2015 Summary Report on Antimicrobials Sold or Distributed for Use in Food-Producing Animals; US Food and Drug Administration Department of Health and Human Services, December 2016: https://www.fda.gov/downloads/ForIndustry/UserFees/AnimalDrugUserFeeActADUFA/UCM534243.pdf\n\n[2] Press release: Record low for sales of antibiotics for use in animals, from: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Veterinary Medicines Directorate, and Department of Health. Published 27 October 2017: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/record-low-for-sales-of-antibiotics-for-use-in-animals\n\n[3] News release: Stop using antibiotics in healthy animals to prevent the spread of antibiotic resistance, UN World Health Organization. Published 7 November 2017: http://who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2017/antibiotics-animals-effectiveness/en/\n\n[4] Sustain representing about 100 national organisations working for better food, fishing and farming \u2013 to improve health, ethical food production, farming livelihoods and the environment: https://www.sustainweb.org\n\n[5] Taken from conclusions of the UK\u2019s Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, commissioned by the UK government and chaired by Jim O\u2019Neill \u2013 see the 2016 report at: https://amr-review.org/\n\n[6] The Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics is an alliance of health, medical, civil society and animal welfare groups campaigning to stop the overuse of antibiotics in animal farming. It was founded by Compassion in World Farming, the Soil Association and Sustain in 2009, and is supported by the Jeremy Coller Foundation. The alliance\u2019s vision is a world in which human and animal health and well-being are protected by food and farming systems that do not rely on routine antibiotic use: http://www.saveourantibiotics.org/\n\n[7] US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross said to the CBI on 6 November 2017: \u201cDiscussions with the private sector reveal that the removal of both tariff and non-tariff barriers will be a critical component of any trade discussions between us\u2026 we must reduce unnecessary divergences in regulations and standards that many of our companies, especially our SMEs, face.\u201d See Guardian report, 6 November 2017, Trump adviser Ross says UK-US trade deal will mean scrapping EU rules: Commerce secretary\u2019s comments suggest Britain will have to accept chlorinated chicken in post-Brexit agreement: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/nov/06/trump-ross-says-uk-us-trade-deal-eu-brexit-chlorinated-chicken and CBI report at: http://www.cbi.org.uk/news/cbi2017-blog-wilbur-ross-speaks-at-the-cbi-annual-conference/\n\n[8] House of Lords European Union Committee, 5th Report of Session 2017\u201319, HL Paper 15, Brexit: farm animal welfare, published 25 July 2017: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201719/ldselect/ldeucom/15/15.pdf\n\nNotes on data analysis\n\nA rough comparison can be made between antibiotic use in US and UK livestock. In 2015, total sales of medically important antibiotics in the US was 9,702 tonnes whereas in the UK in 2016 it was 337 tonnes. So total US use was approximately 29 times higher than UK use in absolute terms. In terms of livestock populations, in 2015:\n\nthe US had 9.3 times more cattle\n\nthe US had 14.4 times more pigs\n\nthe US slaughtered 11.2 times more chickens (figures for the UK are for 2014)\n\nthe US had 6.2 times fewer sheep.\n\nSince antibiotic use is known to be extremely low in sheep in comparison to other species, these figures suggest that US farm antibiotic use is more than twice as high per animal as it is in the UK.\n\nPublished 24 Nov 2017 Save Our Antibiotics: The Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics is a coalition of health, medical, environmental and animal welfare groups campaigning to stop the overuse of antibiotics in animal farming. Press office", "output": "US farmers could be using more than twice as many antibiotics per animal as those in the UK, according to research by food and farming group Sustain. The research has exacerbated fears that food standards in the UK would be undermined by a trade deal with the US after Brexit. Sustain said that sales of antibiotics for animals\u00a0in the US\u00a0have risen by 26%\u00a0since 2009, compared with a 27% fall in the UK. Medical experts have called for an urgent reduction in the use of antibiotics in order to avoid the development of antibiotic resistance.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HeyDoctor unveils app enabling doctors to\u00a0text prescriptions \n Getting a prescription via text is a possibility.\n\nSan Francisco, California-based HeyDoctor has released a new telemedicine app that enables physicians to prescribe certain treatments through text messaging.\n\nIt works like this: Patients can download the app and click on the issue that fits their need. HeyDoctor currently offers a variety of services, including UTI testing, acne diagnosis, cold sore management, birth control, HIV testing, erectile dysfunction treatment, smoking cessation and more.\n\nAfter answering a few questions about their condition, the patient\u2019s needs are evaluated by a doctor, who prescribes proper treatment. Any medications needed can be sent via mail order or picked up at a pharmacy.\n\nPatients don\u2019t need health insurance to use the app. Instead, they can use a credit or debit card to pay for care. In a recent phone interview, HeyDoctor cofounder and CMO Brendan Levy said a service like UTI testing and treatment costs about $20.\n\nConsultations are administered by HeyDoctor\u2019s own in-house medical team of board-certified physicians.\n\nLevy, a family medicine doctor, said the company\u2019s origins stem from his interest in making it easier for physicians to connect with patients. At the beginning of 2017, he and Rohit Malhotra founded HeyDoctor to fulfill that goal and help people get low-acuity primary care online.\n\nCurrently, the startup is pursuing a direct-to-consumer business model. Going forward, Levy noted that HeyDoctor may also partner with health systems to provide ongoing care to specific patient populations.\n\n\u201cYou could follow up on our platform [and] have better results and lower costs,\u201d he said.\n\nTo ensure it\u2019s keeping patients\u2019 information safe, Levy said HeyDoctor utilizes encryption technologies and security consultants.\n\n\u201cWe think that security\u2019s obviously paramount,\u201d he noted.\n\nCurrently, the app is available in 19 states: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia and Washington. Within the next three months, it plans to expand to 10 more: Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Mexico, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming.\n\nIn addition to expanding geographically, Levy said HeyDoctor also wants to increase the number of services it offers.\n\nOverall, one of the key benefits of the startup\u2019s technology is that it enables patients to follow up with the same provider fairly quickly after the initial diagnosis.\n\n\u201cIn this case, it\u2019s nice because you have an ongoing chat relationship,\u201d Levy said.\n\nHeyDoctor isn\u2019t the only company taking advantage of texting capabilities. Earlier this year, Austin, Texas-based Medici launched as a messaging app that allows patients to text all their doctors \u2014 including their physician, dentist, therapist and veterinarian \u2014 from a single platform.\n\nPhoto: diego_cervo, Getty Images", "output": "Medical technology start-up HeyDoctor has launched a telemedicine app enabling doctors to prescribe treatments for some conditions\u00a0via text message. Patients can be referred for services\u00a0including\u00a0urinary tract infection\u00a0treatment, cold sore and\u00a0acne management, HIV testing and birth control provision. Once a prescription has been given, medication can be ordered via mail or collected at a pharmacy. Payment is made through the app rather than via an insurer. HeyDoctor has an in-house medical team of doctors to evaluate patients' needs through it may in future work with health systems.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Algae microbots may enable internal drugs delivery and diagnoses \n Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nVoices Dispatches email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nScientists have developed tiny, remote-controlled \u201cmicrorobots\u201d with the ability to release cancer-targeting drugs, which they hope will one day be used to diagnose disease and administer drugs inside the human body.\n\nKnown as \u201cbiohybrids\u201d, they are biological cells with useful engineered features added on, namely magnetic particles that allow them to be guided around the body.\n\nBut despite their highly technical capability, the robots are made from spirulina algae, a product more recognisable as a health food product than a construction material.\n\n\u201cRather than fabricate a functional microrobot from scratch using intricate laboratory techniques and processes, we set out to directly engineer smart materials in nature,\u201d said Professor Li Zhang, an engineer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong who contributed to the Science Robotics study.\n\nAs a result they were able to make use of the algae\u2019s intrinsic properties.\n\n\u201cFor instance, because these biohybrid bots have a naturally fluorescent biological interior and magnetic iron-oxide exterior, we can track and actuate a swarm of those agents inside the body quite easily using fluorescence imaging and magnetic resonance imaging,\u201d said Professor Zhang\n\nThis meant the scientists were able to control the robots remotely using magnetism as they moved them to sites in the stomachs of rats.\n\nThe devices also released cancer-fighting compounds as they degraded, meaning they could have the potential to treat disease.\n\n\u201cCreating robotic systems which can be propelled and guided in the body has been and still is a holy grail in the field of delivery system engineering,\u201d said nanomedicine researcher Professor Kostas Kostarelos, another team member from the University of Manchester.\n\nThe robots are also able to sense changes in the body associated with the onset of illness, an ability that could make them useful tools for diagnosis.\n\nScience news in pictures Show all 20 1 / 20 Science news in pictures Science news in pictures Pluto has 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen Pluto has a 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen that is doing strange things to its surface, Nasa has found. The mysterious core seems to be the cause of features on its surface that have fascinated scientists since they were spotted by Nasa's New Horizons mission. \"Before New Horizons, everyone thought Pluto was going to be a netball - completely flat, almost no diversity,\" said Tanguy Bertrand, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and the lead author on the new study. \"But it's completely different. It has a lot of different landscapes and we are trying to understand what's going on there.\" Getty Science news in pictures Over 400 species discovered this year by Natural History Museum The ancient invertabrate worm-like species rhenopyrgus viviani (pictured) is one of over 400 species previously unknown to science that were discovered by experts at the Natural History Museum this year PA Science news in pictures Jackdaws can identify 'dangerous' humans Jackdaws can identify \u201cdangerous\u201d humans from listening to each other\u2019s warning calls, scientists say. The highly social birds will also remember that person if they come near their nests again, according to researchers from the University of Exeter. In the study, a person unknown to the wild jackdaws approached their nest. At the same time scientists played a recording of a warning call (threatening) or \u201ccontact calls\u201d (non-threatening). The next time jackdaws saw this same person, the birds that had previously heard the warning call were defensive and returned to their nests more than twice as quickly on average. Getty Science news in pictures Turtle embryos influence sex by shaking The sex of the turtle is determined by the temperatures at which they are incubated. Warm temperatures favour females. But by wiggling around the egg, embryos can find the \u201cGoldilocks Zone\u201d which means they are able to shield themselves against extreme thermal conditions and produce a balanced sex ratio, according to the new study published in Current Biology journal Ye et al/Current Biology Science news in pictures Elephant poaching rates drop in Africa African elephant poaching rates have dropped by 60 per cent in six years, an international study has found. It is thought the decline could be associated with the ivory trade ban introduced in China in 2017. Reuters Science news in pictures Ancient four-legged whale discovered in Peru Scientists have identified a four-legged creature with webbed feet to be an ancestor of the whale. Fossils unearthed in Peru have led scientists to conclude that the enormous creatures that traverse the planet\u2019s oceans today are descended from small hoofed ancestors that lived in south Asia 50 million years ago A. Gennari Science news in pictures Animal with transient anus discovered A scientist has stumbled upon a creature with a \u201ctransient anus\u201d that appears only when it is needed, before vanishing completely. Dr Sidney Tamm of the Marine Biological Laboratory could not initially find any trace of an anus on the species. However, as the animal gets full, a pore opens up to dispose of waste Steven G Johnson Science news in pictures Giant bee spotted Feared extinct, the Wallace's Giant bee has been spotted for the first time in nearly 40 years. An international team of conservationists spotted the bee, that is four times the size of a typical honeybee, on an expedition to a group of Indonesian Islands Clay Bolt Science news in pictures New mammal species found inside crocodile Fossilised bones digested by crocodiles have revealed the existence of three new mammal species that roamed the Cayman Islands 300 years ago. The bones belonged to two large rodent species and a small shrew-like animal New Mexico Museum of Natural History Science news in pictures Fabric that changes according to temperature created Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold Faye Levine, University of Maryland Science news in pictures Baby mice tears could be used in pest control A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males Getty Science news in pictures Final warning to limit \"climate catastrophe\" The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase Getty Science news in pictures Nobel prize for evolution chemists The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies Getty/AFP Science news in pictures Nobel prize for laser physicists The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his \"optical tweezers\" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and G\u00e9rard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers Reuters/AP Science news in pictures Discovery of a new species of dinosaur The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. In Sesotho, the South African language of the region in which the dinosaur was discovered, its name means \"a giant thunderclap at dawn\" Viktor Radermacher / SWNS Science news in pictures Birth of a planet Scientists have witnessed the birth of a planet for the first time ever. This spectacular image from the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the very act of formation around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the center of the image, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the central star. ESO/A. M\u00fcller et al Science news in pictures New human organ discovered that was previously missed by scientists Layers long thought to be dense, connective tissue are actually a series of fluid-filled compartments researchers have termed the \u201cinterstitium\u201d. These compartments are found beneath the skin, as well as lining the gut, lungs, blood vessels and muscles, and join together to form a network supported by a mesh of strong, flexible proteins Getty Science news in pictures Previously unknown society lived in Amazon rainforest before Europeans arrived, say archaeologists Working in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a team led by archaeologists at the University of Exeter unearthed hundreds of villages hidden in the depths of the rainforest. These excavations included evidence of fortifications and mysterious earthworks called geoglyphs Jos\u00e9 Iriarte Science news in pictures One in 10 people have traces of cocaine or heroin on fingerprints, study finds More than one in 10 people were found to have traces of class A drugs on their fingers by scientists developing a new fingerprint-based drug test. Using sensitive analysis of the chemical composition of sweat, researchers were able to tell the difference between those who had been directly exposed to heroin and cocaine, and those who had encountered it indirectly. Getty Science news in pictures Nasa releases stunning images of Jupiter's great red spot The storm bigger than the Earth, has been swhirling for 350 years. The image's colours have been enhanced after it was sent back to Earth. Pictures by: Tom Momary\n\nIt\u2019s still early days for the robots. Rigorous tests need to be undertaken to ensure that having been inserted into the body, they either degrade naturally without leaving any harmful substances, or else they can be removed or excreted after finishing their work.\n\nOne of the key points about this work, said Professor Kostarelos, is that it represents the first example of how such robots could degrade naturally.\n\nThe iron magnetic coating helps fine-tune the rate at which the bots degrade in the body.\n\nThe real potential of these bots, according to Professor Kostarelos, lies in the potential to navigate them towards \u201chard-to-reach cavities of the human body\u201d where they can treat or diagnose disease without the need for more invasive methods.", "output": "Chinese University of Hong Kong researchers have helped create \"biohybrid\" remote-controlled \"micro-robots\" that could be produced to carry and release cancer-battling drugs within the human body. The\u00a0bots are composed of spirulina algae cells fitted\u00a0with magnetic particles that enable operators to direct them around the body. Their natural fluorescence makes them\u00a0detectable using\u00a0imaging techniques and they\u00a0naturally release cancer-fighting chemicals as they degrade, making them\u00a0a potential method of delivering drugs. Their ability to react to changes in the body in the presence of illness also makes them possible disease detectors.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tech firms turn to public spaces as new source of consumer\u00a0data \n A great deal has been written about privately owned public space, or POPS. A Guardian investigation earlier this year revealed the proliferation of \u201cpseudo-public spaces\u201d. Tales of people being watched, removed from or told off in POPS have spread online. Activists have taken to monitoring POPS, and politicians on both sides of the pond are calling for reforms in how they are run.\n\nLocal authorities\u2019 motives for selling off public spaces are normally simple: getting companies to buy and maintain public space saves precious public pounds. Less straightforward and often overlooked in this debate is why \u2013 given the maintenance costs, public safety concerns and increasingly unflattering media attention \u2013 developers would actually want to own public space in the first place.\n\nTo answer that question it\u2019s important to note that POPS can\u2019t be viewed as isolated places, like parks or other public spaces might be. For the companies that own them, public spaces are bound up in the business that takes place inside their private buildings; POPS are tools that allow them, in one way or another, to boost profits.\n\nTrade-offs\n\nIn some cities, such as Hong Kong and New York, ownership of public space is a trade-off for the right to bend the rules in planning and zoning. In 1961 New York introduced a policy that came to be known as \u2018incentive zoning\u2019. Developers who took on the provision of some public space could build wider, taller buildings, ignoring restrictions that had previously required staggered vertical growth to let sunlight and air into streets.\n\nSince then, the city has allowed developers to build 20m square feet of private space in exchange for 80 acres of POPS, or 525 individual spaces, according to watchdog Advocates for Privately Owned Public Space (APOPS).\n\nSeveral of those spaces lie in Trump Tower. Before the King of the Deal began construction on his new headquarters in 1979, he secured a pretty good deal with the city: Trump Tower would provide two atriums, two gardens, some restrooms and some benches for public use; in exchange 20 floors could be added to the top of the skyscraper. That\u2019s quite a lot of condos.\n\nShockingly, the current president has not always kept up his end of the bargain and has been fined multiple times for dissuading members of the public from using POPS by doing things like placing flower pots on top of benches \u2013 violating a 1975 rule which said that companies had to provide amenities that actually make public spaces useable. The incident might suggest the failure of the \u2018honour system\u2019 under which POPS operate day-to-day. Once developers have secured their extra square footage, they might be tempted to undermine, subtly, the \u2018public\u2019 nature of their public spaces.\n\nBut what about where there aren\u2019t necessarily planning benefits to providing public space? Why would companies go to the trouble of managing spaces that the council would otherwise take care of?\n\nAttracting the \u2018right sort\u2019\n\nGranary Square, part of the \u00a35bn redevelopment of London\u2019s Kings Cross, has been open since 2012. It is one of Europe\u2019s largest privately-owned public spaces and has become a focal point for concerns over corporate control of public space. Yet developers of the neighbouring Coal Drop Yards site, due to open in October 2018, are also making their \u201cdynamic new public space\u201d a key point in marketing.\n\nCushman Wakefield, the real estate company in charge of Coal Drops Yard, says that the vision of the developers, Argent, has been to \u201cretain the historical architecture to create a dramatic environment that will attract visitors to the 100,000 square feet of boutiques\u201d. The key word here is \u201cattract\u201d. By designing and managing POPS, developers can attract the consumers who are essential to the success of their sites and who might be put off by a grubby council-managed square \u2013 or by a sterile shopping mall door.\n\nA 2011 London Assembly Report found that the expansion of Canary Wharf in the 1990s was a turning point for developers who now \u201cassume that they themselves will take ownership of an open space, with absolute control, in order to protect the value of the development as a whole\u201d. In many ways this is a win-win situation; who doesn\u2019t appreciate a nice water feature or shrub or whatever else big developer money can buy?\n\nThe caveat is, as academic Tridib Banerjee pointed out back in 2001: \u201cThe public is welcome as long as they are patrons of shops and restaurants, office workers, or clients of businesses located on the premises. But access to and use of the space is only a privilege and not a right\u201d \u2013 hence the stories of security guards removing protesters or homeless people who threaten the aspirational appeal of places like Granary Square.\n\nIn the US, developers have taken this kind of space-curation even further, using public spaces as part of their formula for attracting the right kind of worker, as well as consumer, for nearby businesses. In Cincinnati, developer 3CDC transformed the notoriously crime-ridden Over-The-Rhine (OTR) neighbourhood into a young professional paradise. Pouring $47m into an initial make-over in 2010, 3CDC beautified parks and public space as well as private buildings.\n\nTo do so, the firm received $50 million in funding from corporations like Procter and Gamble, whose Cincinnati headquarters sits to the South-West of OTR. This kind of hyper-gentrification has profoundly change the demographics of the neighbourhood \u2013 to the anger of many long-term residents \u2013 attracting, essentially, the kind of people who work at Procter and Gamble.\n\nElsewhere, in cities like Alpharetta, Georgia, 3CDC have taken their public space management even further, running events and entertainment designed to attract productive young people to otherwise dull neighbourhoods.\n\nData pools\n\nThe proposed partnership between the city of Toronto and Sidewalk Labs (owned by Google\u2019s parent company Alphabet) has highlighted another motive for companies to own public space: the most modern of all resources, data.\n\nData collection is at the heart of the \u2018smart city\u2019 utopia: the idea that by turning public spaces and the people into them into a vast data pool, tech companies can find ways to improve transport, the environment and urban quality of life. If approved next year, Sidewalk would take over the mostly derelict east waterfront area, developing public and private space filled with sensors.\n\nOf course, this isn\u2019t altruism. The Globe and Mail describe Sidewalk\u2019s desired role as \u201cthe private garbage collectors of data\u201d. It\u2019s an apt phrase that reflects the merging of public service and private opportunity in Toronto\u2019s future public space.\n\nThe data that Sidewalk could collect in Toronto would be used by Google in its commercial projects. Indeed, they\u2019ve already done so in New York\u2019s LinkNYC and London\u2019s LinkUK. Kiosks installed around the cities provide the public with wifi and charging points, whilst monitoring traffic and pedestrians and generating data to feed into Google Maps.\n\nThe subway station at Hudson Yards, New York City. Image: Getty.\n\nThis is all pretty anodyne stuff. Data on how we move around public spaces is probably a small price to pay for more efficient transport information, and of course Sidewalk don\u2019t own the areas around their Link Kiosks. But elsewhere companies\u2019 plans to collect data in their POPS have sparked controversy. In New York\u2019s Hudson Yards development \u2013 which Sidewalk also has a stake in \u2013 ambiguity over how visitors and residents can opt out of sharing their data when in its public square, have raised concerns over privacy.\n\nIn Toronto, Sidewalk have already offered to share their data with the city. However, Martin Kenney, researcher at the University of California at Davis and co-author of 2016\u2019s \u2018The Rise of the Platform Economy\u2019, has warned that the potential value of a tech company collecting a community\u2019s data should not be underestimated. \u201cWhat\u2019s really important is the deals Toronto cuts with Sidewalk may set terms and conditions for the rest of the world,\u201d he said after the announcement in October.\n\nThe project could crystallise all three motives behind the ownership of POPS. Alongside data collection, Sidewalk will likely have some leeway over planning regulations and will certainly tailor its public spaces to its ideal workers and consumers \u2013 Google have already announced that it would move its Canadian headquarters, from their current location in Downton Toronto, into the first pilot phase of the development.\n\nEven if the Sidewalks Lab project never happens, the motives behind companies\u2019 ownership of POPS tell us that cities\u2019 public realms are of increasing interest to private hands.\n\nWant more of this stuff? Follow CityMetric on Twitter or Facebook.", "output": "Private corporations are looking to exploit the potential for data mining in privately managed public spaces. Developers are taking on the ownership and management of public spaces\u00a0in deals with local authorities that offer benefits for both sides. In return for providing and maintaining public facilities, companies can gain planning concessions that enhance the value of their developments. In one example,\u00a0Alphabet's Sidewalk Labs is working with Toronto on a privately owned public space initiative, where it would fill a currently derelict waterfront area with sensors that would gather data that Google could use across its businesses.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lyft looks for another $500m on top of $1bn already raised \n Uber rival Lyft is raising an additional $500 million in funding ion its ongoinjg battle with Uber, according to a U.S. share authorization document filed in Delaware.\n\nThe additional funding round, led by Alphabet's CapitalG, is an extension of the $1 billion round announced in October.\n\nLyft spokesman Adrian Durbin, confirming the funding round, in an e-mailed statement said, 'Increasing the potential for this round will allow us to further accelerate our commitment to serving passengers and drivers.'\n\nScroll down for video\n\nThe additional funding round, led by Alphabet's CapitalG, is an extension of a $1 billion round announced in October, and raises the firm's valuation to $11.5 billion\n\nAxios was first to report the news.\n\nIn October Lyft had said that the previous round of funding boosted its valuation to $11 billion from $7.5 billion.\n\nThe fresh funding would raise its valuation to $11.5 billion.\n\nIt comes a day after Lyft secured a permit to test autonomous vehicles in California, taking it one step further in the race with several other companies to bring self-driving cars to the masses.\n\nLyft's permit, reflected on the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) website, comes two months after it announced plans to offer a self-driving car as a ride option in the San Francisco Bay Area.\n\nLyft already has partnerships in place with autonomous car companies to advance its self-driving strategy.\n\nRide-hailing firm Lyft Inc said on Monday it would launch its service in Toronto, marking the first international expansion for the U.S.-based rival of Uber Technologies Inc. A stock image is pictured\n\nFORD'S SELF-DRIVING VEHICLES Ford self-driving test vehicles will be connected to Lyft's network, but at first, customers will not be able to use them, according to Sherif Marakby, Ford's vice president for autonomous vehicles and electrification. The firm will initially put human-driven vehicles on Lyft's network, and it is unclear when the first self-driving cars will hit roads. Ford is also testing delivery services using self-driving vehicles and a van shuttle service. The self-driving vehicles Ford will deploy through Lyft will use software developed by Argo AI, Advertisement !- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/ru/sciencetech/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 - ->\n\nThe firm struck a research collaboration earlier this year with Alphabet unit Waymo.\n\nIt has also secured deals with Ford Motor Co and startup Nutonomy to incorporate self-driving cars in its fleet.\n\nEarlier this year, Lyft joined forces with Ford to deploy self-driving vehicles in 'large numbers' by 2021.\n\nFord and Lyft teams will begin working together to design software to allow Ford vehicles to communicate with Lyft's smartphone apps.\n\nFord will initially put human-driven vehicles on Lyft's network, and it is unclear when the first self-driving cars will hit roads.\n\nFord self-driving test vehicles will be connected to Lyft's network, but at first, customers will not be able to use them, according to Sherif Marakby, Ford's vice president for autonomous vehicles and electrification.\n\n'We're not building prototypes for the sake of building prototypes,' Mr Marakby said, adding Ford intends to ultimately put thousands of self-driving vehicles in use.\n\nFord's new Chief Executive Jim Hackett is scheduled to meet with investors next weel to outline the automaker's strategy for boosting profitability.\n\nLyft co-founder John Zimmer displays his company's 'glowstache' following a launch event in San Francisco.\n\nMr Hackett's plans to compete for revenue from mobility services, which include car sharing and ride-hailing, will be one area of focus for investors.\n\nThe Lyft partnership fills in a piece of the puzzle.\n\nFord is also testing delivery services using self-driving vehicles and a van shuttle service.\n\nThe self-driving vehicles Ford will deploy through Lyft will use software developed by Argo AI, a company in which Ford is investing $1 billion (\u00a3746 million) over the next five years.\n\nLyft's chief rival Uber secured the California permit to test self-driving cars in March. Apple Inc, Samsung Electronics, Tesla Inc and a host of automakers also have the permit.", "output": "The US ride-hailing service Lyft has extended its latest investment round with the aim of raising an additional $500m in capital, it has announced. The move came after Google parent company Alphabet put in $1bn through its venture capital division CapitalG in October. The company has added 100 new markets during 2017, bringing its coverage to 95% of the US population. The extra investment will support its planned expansion into Canada before the end of the year, and the development of its autonomous vehicle testing programme in California."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hippeas looks to launch its own e-commerce site to avoid Amazon \n Chickpea snack brand Hippeas has gone from zero to making a million dollars a month in revenue in less than two years. While Amazon orders have fueled those sales, the startup wants to keep the retailer at arm\u2019s length by launching its own e-commerce site.\n\nThe site is expected in 2018. Selling directly to shoppers is a priority for Hippeas, with founder Livio Bisterzo fearing the momentum behind the business will fade if it doesn\u2019t sidestep retailers. On its current sales trajectory, which puts the business at \u00a37.5 million ($10 million) this year and \u00a318.8 million ($25 million) the next, Hippeas is projected to make \u00a3100 million ($132.8 million) in sales by 2022.\n\nIt will take longer to hit those numbers without going directly to customers, said Bisterzo, who also sees the move as a chance to be less reliant on Amazon. While Starbucks is Hippeas\u2019 biggest distribution channel, orders from Hippeas\u2019 Amazon store are forecast to hit $3.5 million next year. Although Bisterzo is grateful for both the visibility and increased sales that come with selling on Amazon, he views it as a frenemy.\n\nHaving an e-commerce site is important because Hippeas can \u201cfully curate\u201d the experience, which you can\u2019t do on Amazon, he explained. Bisterzo wants control of the type of customer data that Amazon possesses. The online behemoth\u2019s reluctance to share shopper data has long been a point of contention for retailers on the site, many of whom have no choice but to accept the situation or risk losing revenue by not being on a site that e-commerce research firm Slice Intelligence said accounted for 43 percent of all online revenue in the U.S. last year.\n\nWhile Hippeas\u2019 sales are exponentially growing on Amazon, the site itself is not a marketing tool but a transactional one, said Debbie Ellison, head of digital at Geometry. She pointed to Graze, a U.K.-based snack brand that expanded through a direct-to-consumer relationship, as an example of how Hippeas wants to use shopper data to develop new products and drop products that don\u2019t work.\n\n\u201cIf Amazon holds stock and fulfills orders, this model cannot work,\u201d Ellison said. \u201cIt makes sense that Hippeas launches its own e-commerce site to further connect emotionally with their shoppers to drive purchase and product innovation.\u201d\n\nSelling directly to consumers also means Hippeas can see what ads drive sales, said Bisterzo. It\u2019s difficult to spend \u201cbig money\u201d on online ads without having a platform that you can \u201cclearly see a direct return\u201d from, he added. \u201cWe would argue that some of our Amazon traffic is driven by our campaigns, but there\u2019s no direct correlation when it comes to understanding what works and what doesn\u2019t,\u201d he continued. \u201cBy having a [business-to-consumer] site, we can genuinely start to understand how meaningful our online spend is.\u201d\n\nOnce the site launches, Bisterzo said more of its ads, which appear mainly on Facebook and Instagram, would encourage people to visit with calls to action.\n\nBisterzo acknowledges that going directly to consumers will be easier said than done. Larger and richer companies such as Diageo, Mondel\u0113z and Heineken have struggled with e-commerce. Yet unlike those companies, Hippeas isn\u2019t a legacy business with retailer commitments to appease and deep-rooted customer behaviors to change. \u201cI don\u2019t see many consumers buying cases of Pepsi from Pepsi.com,\u201d Bisterzo explained.\n\nFor all the talk of selling directly to customers, Hippeas won\u2019t abandon Amazon anytime soon. Hippeas has invested in Amazon to the point where it now has a dedicated member of its team managing its vendor profile on the e-commerce site. Hippeas began as a seller in the Amazon Launchpad program for startups before transitioning to Amazon\u2019s Vendor Central, in which it sold in bulk to Amazon rather than directly to customers on the site. In the summer, Hippeas set up its own shop on Amazon, selling directly to customers, which is a \u201cgame-changer\u201d for the business, Bisterzo said.\n\n\u201cThe big challenge has been becoming a meaningful vendor on Amazon, which we were able to do by driving traffic through some of our campaigns,\u201d Bisterzo said. \u201cThe beauty of working with Amazon is that you have live data and analytics that you can learn from.\u201d", "output": "Chickpeas snack maker Hippeas is looking to wean itself off Amazon and sell direct to online customers. CEO Livio Bisterzo sees the move\u00a0as key to maintaining\u00a0sales momentum that has the company\u00a0forecasting\u00a0revenue of $25m next\u00a0year and $133m by 2022. Bisterzo wants access to Hippea's customer data, which Amazon doesn't share.\u00a0\u201cBy having a B2C site, we can genuinely start to understand how meaningful our online spend is,\u201d Bisterzo said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook, Instagram tout 540 million fans to World Cup marketers \n With the world\u2019s most popular sporting tournament taking place next summer, Facebook and Instagram are leveraging their massive popularity among football fans to provide marketers and advertisers with opportunities to score\u2026\n\nOn 14 June, 2018, the most famous sporting tournament on the planet, the FIFA World Cup, will kick-off for the twenty-first time, with Russia as host. While 32 teams battle it out on the pitch, millions of football fans around the world will share their love for the game on Facebook and Instagram.\n\nFacebook has more than 400m football fans as users, while Instagram, which joined the Facebook family in 2012, offers more than 140m. Football, in fact, is by far the most popular sport on both platforms, with three times more followers than the next most popular sport, basketball. Facebook\u2019s director of comms planning in Northern Europe, Ian Edwards, believes that this level of engagement offers unrivalled opportunities for marketers.\n\n\u201cIn 2014, 350m people produced over 3bn interactions with World Cup content on Facebook, more engagement than any other event in the platform\u2019s history,\u201d says Edwards. \u201cBearing in mind that Instagram was a young player last time round, this year\u2019s tournament is set to be even more massive across both platforms. For marketers, the potential is huge.\u201d\n\nBig match, small screen\n\nEdwards believes that to successfully engage football fans, online marketers need to understand the consumer trends shaping the way we experience football.\n\n\u201cSport is no longer something that only happens in a stadium or on television. It\u2019s happening across multiple screens, with 90% of sports fans saying they use a mobile device while watching games. What\u2019s more, our data shows that mobile usage of Facebook increases during the commercial breaks of major TV shows and football matches.\n\n\u201cMobile phones have also created a 24/7 appetite for football content online. When we analysed football conversation over an average month during the regular football season we saw 1.6bn interactions with football-related content. Factor a global football tournament World Cup into the equation and you can imagine how those numbers will skyrocket.\u201d\n\nEdwards points to how mobile has also created new ways for fans to interact with their heroes, with players offering privileged access to their off-field lives through Instagram and Facebook.\n\n\u201c94% of sports fans on Instagram use the platform to see the personal side of athletes. This kind of authenticity is especially important to millennial and Generation Z fans.\u201d\n\nThe rise in mobile has, of course, also led to an explosion in video consumption. Three times more video was uploaded to Facebook in 2016 compared to 2015, while sports fans on Instagram watch twice as much video as non-fans. During Euro 2016, there were nearly 1bn views for videos related to the tournament.\n\nEdwards says: \u201cPeople spend five times as long looking at moving versus static imagery on Facebook. Not using video as the centre of your sporting campaigns on Facebook and Instagram would be a little like buying TV time during the Christmas period and then running a static image.\n\n\u201cConsidered together, these trends point the way forward for marketers hoping to leverage the power of social media around next year\u2019s tournament.\u201d\n\nThree new global communities\n\nWhile football fans are a diverse bunch, Facebook has discovered three distinct personalities among the hundreds of millions of fans on their platforms. As you would expect, each of these personas has different needs and expectations and respond to different creative approaches. \u201cIt\u2019s important to consider the different types of fans drawn to such a massive global event,\u201d says Edwards.\n\nThe first of these, Match Maniacs, are \u201cpredominantly young men whose lives revolve around football,\u201d says Edwards. \u201cThey revel in rivalries with friends and are twice as likely to report watching a sports match than the general population.\u201d There are 103 million Match Maniac on Facebook and Instagram, with especially high numbers across EMEA in Italy, the UK, Germany, France and Spain.\n\nThe second grouping is Homeland Heroes: moderately engaged fans who regard supporting their national team as part of their identity, particularly around big games. Homeland Heroes are more evenly split between male and female than Match Maniacs, and tend to be more family-oriented. There are 160m Homeland Heroes on Facebook and Instagram, with the largest numbers in Egypt and Italy, across EMEA.\n\nThe third type of fan, Social Supporters, are always looking for cool ways to show their influence and join in the fun. \u201cThese friends of fans are mostly female and love the energy of the event rather than the details of the match. They are 1.6 times more likely to discuss food or drinks in their posts as they organise social events around sporting events World Cup and, crucially, are at least twice as likely to buy consumer packaged goods online,\u201d says Edwards. There are 307 million Social Supporters on Facebook and Instagram, with the UK, Germany, Italy, France and Egypt all ranking highly.\n\nEdwards says: \u201cFacebook and Instagram are constantly creating new tools to help brands tell great stories to different audiences. We offer immersive 360 Video, Instagram Stories (created by 300m people every day), and Facebook Live, which lets any brand become a broadcaster on mobile.\n\n\u201cWith all these new formats, we recognise that creating video for mobile be a challenge. Brands have had six decades to learn the rules for television, but mobile is still in its infancy. At the same time, that means there\u2019s a huge opportunity to experiment and innovate. To help brands know what great creative looks like on mobile, we\u2019ve created an interactive gallery on Facebook\u2019s Creative Hub that offers examples and lets them mock-up their own Facebook and Instagram creative.\u201d\n\nFor marketers hoping to target football fans, it looks like the goal is wide open.", "output": "Facebook and Instagram hope to attract marketers and advertisers to engage with their combined 540 million football-fan users during the 2018 World Cup. The platforms are poised to overtake the three\u00a0billion World Cup-related interactions they hosted during the 2014\u00a0finals. \"This year\u2019s tournament is set to be even more massive across both platforms,\" said Ian Edwards,\u00a0Facebook head of communications\u00a0for Europe. \"For marketers, the potential is huge.\u201d\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The New York Times grows by selling custom ads programmatically \n The New York Times is growing its programmatic business by allowing machines to sell its custom ad units.\n\nIn the third quarter, the Times began selling its custom Flex Frame ads programmatically, which helped it double its programmatic direct revenue over the previous quarter, said Sara Badler, director of programmatic advertising at the Times, declining to share precise figures. Over the past 12 months, the Times also doubled its number of programmatic staffers from three to six, expanded its programmatic sales internationally and opened all of its ad products, including homepage and video ads, to programmatic buying.\n\nWhile the Times\u2019 business model has shifted toward a renewed emphasis on subscriptions \u2014 its CEO Mark Thompson believes the paper can get 10 million subscribers, and its digital subscription revenue rose 46 percent year over year to $86 million in the third quarter \u2014 it reported that it raked in $49 million in digital ad revenue in the third quarter. To prevent its ad business from becoming stale, the Times is opening its ad products to programmatic in response to buyers increasingly pushing their dollars through automated channels.\n\n\u201cClients want to do cooler things programmatically,\u201d Badler said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about banner ads anymore.\u201d\n\nOpen exchanges still account for more than half of the Times\u2019 annual programmatic ad revenue, but the percentage is shrinking as the Times\u2019 programmatic direct business grows, said Badler, declining to provide specific percentages. The line items on the Times\u2019 ads.txt file indicate that Google and the Facebook Audience Network sell much of the Times\u2019 open market inventory.\n\nBut the Times keeps its video ads and custom units sheltered from open exchanges, where ad rates tend to be lower and publishers have less control over what brands will wind up on their site. For example, programmatic advertisers who buy its proprietary Flex Frame ads \u2014 which dynamically adjust size to fit a user\u2019s screen \u2014 have to set up a programmatic guaranteed deal, in which publishers and buyers agree to a fixed price and inventory commitment before the transaction occurs. About 20 brands have purchased Flex Frames this way, Badler said.\n\nCompared to the open exchange, programmatic guaranteed gives publishers better control over their inventory and allows them to charge a premium. For about a year, the Times has used Google\u2019s programmatic guaranteed product whenever buyers want to set up a deal outside of the open exchange so that they can layer on their own first-party data for audience targeting.\n\nMichael Stoeckel, vp of global tech strategy at Prohaska Consulting, said most publishers still reserve their custom ad units for direct sales since programmatic has a reputation for being low-price and commoditized. Even in 2017, some publisher execs at legacy media companies say direct salespeople view programmatic as a boogeyman that cannibalizes sales.\n\nBut selling custom units and proprietary audience data has become more common in private marketplaces as publishers package together deals to get higher CPMs than the open market, Stoeckel said. USA Today and CafeMedia sell custom ads programmatically, according to company spokespeople. Even Snapchat, which built its ad business around custom units, has opened up to programmatic.\n\nChris Wexler, executive director of media and analytics at ad agency Cramer-Krasselt, said the Times selling custom units programmatically is indicative of a broader shift in the industry. Wexler said programmatic is finally beginning to shift from \u201cjust a way to clear remnant banner inventory to a core mechanism that will power the future of most media transactions.\u201d", "output": "The New York Times is offering direct programmatic purchases for its custom Flex Frame ad units, doubling revenue between Q2 and Q3 2017 to reach $49m. The Times has increased its programmatic staffers from three to six in the past year, and extended its programmatic sales globally. The entirety of its ad product range is now available through programmatic buying. Half of the Times' annual programmatic ad revenue still relies on open exchanges, though this is being reduced.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Stamp duty cut will stoke prices for first-time homebuyers: OBR \n For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBreaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nThe scrapping of stamp duty for first-time buyers will leave them paying more for their homes than the saving made because it will ramp up prices, the Treasury auditor has said.\n\nThe biggest winners will be existing homeowners \u2013 rather than people struggling to get on the housing ladder \u2013 the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) warned.\n\nJust 3,500 additional homes would be bought each year because of the headline-grabbing Budget measure, expected to cost about \u00a33.2bn by 2022-23.\n\nAnd it was open to \u201cabuse\u201d, with couples tempted to put a purchase in the name of whoever was a first-time buyer, the OBR suggested.\n\nThe head of the Resolution Foundation think tank suggested it meant the cost to the public purse would be a cool \u00a3900,000 for each extra first time buyer.\n\n\u201cIt would be much cheaper to literally build them a house each,\u201d said Torsten Bell, its director.\n\nIn his Budget \u201crabbit\u201d, Philip Hammond announced that stamp duty will be scrapped immediately for first-time buyers of homes below \u00a3300,000.\n\nIn London and other property hotspots, it will be axed on the first \u00a3300,000 of a purchase price up to \u00a3500,000 \u2013 representing a cut of up to \u00a35,000.\n\nThe Chancellor said that the move would slash the tax for 95 per cent of first-time buyers and abolish it altogether for 80 per cent of them.\n\nBut, asked by The Independent if the increase in house prices sparked by the abolition of stamp duty would be greater than the saving made, the OBR\u2019s chairman Robert Chote replied: \u201cYes.\u201d\n\nHe said first-time buyers would still feel the were benefiting, if they were able to buy a home they otherwise would be denied.\n\nBut, he added: \u201cThose houses will be more expensive.\u201d\n\nWhile some initially cheered the move, personal-finance experts slammed it as a token measure and one that\u2019s unlikely to offer significant relief to savers trying to buy their own home.\n\n\u201cWhile welcome, abolishing stamp duty is a drop in the ocean given the affordability challenge of getting Generation Rent onto the property ladder,\u201d said Simon Heawood, chief executive and founder of property investment site Bricklane.com.\n\n\u201cThe focus on bridging the housing generational gap must lie on the all-important first rung of the ladder \u2013 saving up for a deposit. The issue of housing supply and price is important, but looking at measures to support Generation Rent\u2019s ability to get together a deposit is crucial,\u201d he added.\n\nHouse prices have surged in recent years, barring many from being able to buy, especially as wage growth has stagnated.\n\nThe most recently available official data shows that annual house-price growth across the UK stood at 5.4 per cent in September, up from 4.8 per cent in August.\n\nThe average UK house price was \u00a3226,000 during the month, marking a 0.4 per cent increase on the previous month.\n\nResponding to Mr Hammond\u2019s announcement, the OBR also said that the move would probably have the effect of driving house prices up even more \u2013 by around 0.3 per cent, with most of the increase happening in 2018.\n\nPolly Neate, chief executive of housing charity Shelter, also responded critically to the news.\n\n\u201cThe stamp duty holiday focused on first-time buyers sounds positive on paper but realistically, this will only help a very small number of people who have already been able to save enough for a deposit,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cFor most young people, home ownership has become a pipe dream and the high cost of rents has made it difficult for them to save.\u201d\n\nSeparately on Wednesday, Mr Hammond promised a wide-ranging spending package to boost housebuilding. He set a target of an annual 300,000 homes built by the middle of the next decade.\n\nHigher capital funding, loans and guarantees, plus measures to boost the supply of skills, resources and land, would add up to \u00a344bn, he said.\n\nAnd the Chancellor adopted another Labour policy, with a threat of what have been dubbed \u201cuse-it-or-lose-it\u201d powers to target developers who hoard land but refuse to build.\n\nBig developers have repeatedly been accused of exercising an iron grip on the pace of housebuilding, with no commercial incentive to build faster unless prices are on the rise.\n\nBut they have resolutely rejected accusations of land-hoarding, insisting delays are often caused by a cumbersome planning system and failures by local-authority planners.\n\nNew cash set aside for housebuilding will include a \u00a3630m small-sites fund, \u00a32.7bn to more than double the Housing Infrastructure Fund, \u00a3400m for estate regeneration, \u00a38bn of new financial guarantees to support private housebuilding and an additional \u00a334m to develop construction skills, Mr Hammond said.\n\nHe defended the Government\u2019s housebuilding record, claiming 1.1 million homes had been built since 2010, of which 350,000 were \u201caffordable\u201d, but also warned that the proportion of young homeowners had plunged from 59 per cent of young people to just 38 per cent over 13 years.\n\n\u201cWe need to do better still if we are to see affordability improved,\u201d he said.", "output": "UK house prices could rise by around 0.3% following Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond's decision to axe stamp duty on homes sales of less than \u00a3300,000, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility. Hammond said the cut would help first-time buyers onto the property ladder. Financial experts criticised the measure, saying it would benefit only those who had saved up a 5% deposit to buy a house and it would do nothing for a generation that could only afford to rent a home. The average house price in the UK is \u00a3226,000 ($301,800) after rising 5.4% in September, up from 4.8% in August."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lego unveils Facebook\u00a0chatbot Ralph to drive Christmas sales \n Lego has embraced a Facebook Messenger chatbot to help engage fans and aid consumers with gift indecision in the run up to Christmas.\n\nRalph the giftbot has been created as a guide through the notoriously stacked back catalogue of Lego kits. He was built to capitulate upon Christmas indecision around gift-making and to give Lego an ecommerce foothold on the social network.\n\nJames Poulter, senior manager, digital consumer engagement at Lego, said: \u201cWe are continuously searching for new and fun ways to engage with our consumers and shoppers. Chat bots are increasingly being used by brands to engage in the digital space, and in turn to drive sales. The Lego Group is one of the first in the toy industry to embrace this concept.\u201d\n\nThe bot has been developed as a streamlined experience where user inputs are limited to answering questions via on-screen prompts. Ralph the Robot asks users questions like their age, budget, and the type of sets they are interested in. A few seconds later and a slew of kits have been coughed up for purchase, complete with free shipping.\n\nThis controlled environment has been designed where user inputs are limited, meaning that Ralph\u2019s responses will be solely created to reduce friction from potential purchases on the social network. The tone is broken up with numerous Gifs of the bot in action.\n\nGenelle Holton, UK digital marketing manager, stated that Facebook\u2019s market reach made it a desirable platform to host the bot on. Ricardo Caetano, global creative strategist at Facebook Creative Shop, added: \"The Messenger Platform enables businesses to build experiences that facilitate connection with customers, create meaningful interactions and ultimately drive results.\"\n\nTry the bot out here. It is featured in UK, US, Canada, France, Germany and Poland.", "output": "Lego has deployed a chatbot on Facebook's Messenger service to help drive Christmas sales. Ralph will help customers in the UK, US, Canada, France, Germany and Poland find their ideal gift through\u00a0a series of questions about age, budget and the type of set\u00a0required. Ralph is also aimed at giving the Danish toy manufacturer a foothold in the digital e-commerce space.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon UAM header bidding test throws down ad gauntlet to\u00a0Google\u00a0 \n Amazon is testing a header bidding solution called Unified Ad Marketplace with select publishers, according to three sources close to the product.\n\nUAM, which is in a limited test, is a header bidding container that lets other exchanges or supply-side platforms bid on the same display ad inventory concurrently. Amazon UAM doesn\u2019t work with Prebid.js \u2014 an open-source header bidding solution that the likes of AppNexus and Rubicon Project have adopted \u2014 so publishers will need to set up a separate line item for UAM if they use it along with Prebid.js solutions, said two publishing executives interviewed for the story.\n\nOne midsize publisher said his team started testing UAM this month. Although his team hasn\u2019t yet received much information on UAM\u2019s performance due to its novelty, he sees many upsides. For instance, a big value-add is Amazon\u2019s \u201cunique ad demand\u201d \u2014 Amazon has users\u2019 email, credit card and shopping data that other SSPs don\u2019t have, so it can tie every data point together and serve very targeted ads, said this person. Meanwhile, UAM reacts to a bid request fast as it\u2019s cloud-based, and Amazon pays publishers every 60 days based on CPMs, while most SSPs pay publishers every 90 days, said this publishing executive.\n\n\u201cAs a publisher, I don\u2019t have much bargaining power with SSPs on payment terms, so it\u2019s great that Amazon helps us reconcile billings with SSPs and pays us quicker,\u201d said this person. \u201cAmazon also has safe demand \u2014 UAM doesn\u2019t provide in-banner video and mobile redirects that we found in lots of open exchanges.\u201d\n\nBy creating another ad tech product, UAM helps Amazon become a more serious threat to Google\u2019s programmatic dominance. Amazon already has the industry\u2019s most popular server-to-server wrapper in the industry, according to ServerBid. And its DSP business has grown considerably over the past year. UAM will help Amazon penetrate the market for smaller and midsize publishers\u2019 ad tech, which is a market that Google has had a stranglehold on.\n\nUAM runs first-price auctions, and Amazon offers publishers auction-level data, meaning that publishers are able to confirm that they are getting the highest available rate for their inventory, according to a source familiar with UAM\u2019s development. But that doesn\u2019t seem to be enough for publishers.\n\nThe executive from the above midsize publisher believes a big downside of UAM is that Amazon\u2019s reporting is very basic. \u201cYou can\u2019t take bidding data outside of Amazon,\u201d said the executive. \u201cPublishers usually take reporting from SSPs and use data tools to visualize that information, but UAM doesn\u2019t offer reporting API [application programming interface].\u201d\n\nAnother executive from a major publisher, who also doesn\u2019t want to talk about UAM on the record, agreed that the data Amazon provides is the \u201cbare minimum.\u201d This person added that Amazon will soon make UAM self-serve.\n\nAmazon UAM is free of charge for publishers, but Amazon takes a cut of ad impressions sold. Digiday obtained Amazon\u2019s UAM instructions for publishers, which say that \u201cUAM charges a 10 percent transaction fee by deducting 10 percent from SSP bid prices prior to conducting a first-price auction.\u201d\n\nOf course, UAM is not Amazon\u2019s first foray into header bidding. Amazon introduced a header bidding wrapper called Transparent Ad Marketplace last December. UAM and TAM function in similar ways and are both part of Amazon Publisher Services, but the former seems to be developed for publishers \u2014 mainly small to medium-sized ones \u2014 that don\u2019t necessarily have partnerships with major exchanges, while the latter serves big publishers that want to manage exchanges they are already working with through Amazon, according to publishing executives.\n\n\u201cWe are not big enough for [Amazon] to open up TAM for us, but I know that some publishers smaller than us use TAM,\u201d said the first publishing executive. \u201cSo [TAM] is probably like many coveted ad tech integrations, and it is about who you know, not always your volume.\u201d", "output": "Amazon looks set to challenge Google in the programmatic ad space as it tests header bidding solution Unified Ad Marketplace (UAM) with a select group of publishers, according to anonymous insiders. Invitation-only, cloud-based programme UAM enables supply-side platforms to bid on inventory, while also offering access to Amazon's vast swathes of consumer data, enabling hyper-targeted ads. However, critics have argued the data provided is the \"bare minimum\". The development of UAM follows last December's launch of Transparent Ad Marketplace.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "YouTube introduces new guidelines to protect children from harm \n YouTube says it's trying to make the video site safer for kids.\n\nAfter recent criticism that YouTube is not doing enough to crack down on disturbing and exploitative videos aimed at children, the Google-owned video service on Wednesday announced a five-point plan to \"toughen\" its approach on family-friendly content.\n\nThe new guidelines are:\n\nTougher application of community guidelines and faster enforcement through technology\n\n\n\nRemoving ads from inappropriate videos targeting families\n\n\n\nBlocking inappropriate comments on videos featuring minors\n\n\n\nProviding guidance for creators who make family-friendly content\n\n\n\nEngaging and learning from experts\n\n\n\nThe rules follow reports earlier this month that exposed flaws in YouTube's algorithms and screening policies. The controversy stemmed from YouTube Kids, designed as a more child-friendly version of the video site. The service's filters failed to recognize or pull down some videos that feature disturbing imagery but are aimed at children -- like Mickey Mouse laying in a pool of blood, or a claymation version of Spider Man urinating on Elsa, the Disney princess from \"Frozen.\"\n\nWatch this: YouTube sets rules for terrorism gray-zone videos 01:40\n\nVideos featuring children doing innocuous activities like exercising are also riddled with predatory or sexual comments from viewers, something YouTube is attempting to curb with its new guidelines.\n\nAnd more recently, the company took down several videos that featured children in abusive or vulnerable situations only after BuzzFeed brought the videos to the company's attention.\n\nThe new guidelines come as tech giants find themselves under intense scrutiny from Congress for the power and influence they have over what billions of people see online. Earlier this month, Google, Facebook and Twitter testified in marathon Senate and House hearings over the way Russian trolls abused their platforms to meddle in last year's US presidential election. Lawmakers grilled the tech companies over accountability for the algorithms they used.\n\nRegulating family-friendly content isn't the only thing YouTube is working on. Earlier last week, Google said it's cracking down on terror videos in an effort to fight against online extremism.\n\nThose extremist videos have landed YouTube in hot water before. Earlier this year, advertisers boycotted YouTube after their ads appeared next to extremist and hate content because of YouTube's automated advertising technology. Major brands, including AT&T and Johnson & Johnson, ditched advertising on the platform. But Ruth Porat, Google's CFO, said on an earnings conference call last month that most of the advertisers that boycotted have returned to the platform.\n\nTo read more about safeguarding YouTube, check out CNET's guide to make YouTube safer for your children.\n\nFirst published Nov. 22 at 1:18 p.m. PT.\n\nUpdate at 1:58 p.m. PT: Adds more background.\n\nThe Smartest Stuff: Innovators are thinking up new ways to make you, and the things around you, smarter.\n\nSpecial Reports: CNET's in-depth features in one place.", "output": "Google-owned video sharing site YouTube is looking to crack down on disturbing or suggestive content\u00a0aimed at, or including, minors. The goal is to ensure such content doesn't make it to the website.\u00a0The company has released a five-point plan, including\u00a0blocking inappropriate comments on videos featuring children and disabling ads from inappropriate videos aimed at families. The move\u00a0follows instances of content including\u00a0disturbing imagery going unrecognised by YouTube's algorithms.\u00a0Videos featuring youngsters in abusive or vulnerable situations were also reported to the site by Buzzfeed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK lenders told to extend open banking to e-wallets, cards \n The UK's Open Banking project is being expanded to embrace all payment account types - including credit cards, prepaid cards and e-wallets - covered by PSD2.\n\nIn a bid to boost competition and innovation, last year the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) told the nine largest current account providers in Great Britain and Northern Ireland to set up a body to build common API standards to let customers share their financial data with non-bank providers.\n\n\n\nWith the core set of requirements coming into force in January, the CMA and UK Treasury is already looking ahead to expanding the project to let bank customers using credit cards, e-wallets and prepaid cards take advantage of open banking services through a programme of releases over the next two years.\n\n\n\nImran Gulamhuseinwala, trustee of the Open Banking Implementation Entity, says: \"Key to any innovation is the process of discovery and it became clear through the second half of 2017 that there is much more the OBIE could do to drive adoption of Open Banking and create a richer environment for new services.\n\n\n\n\"These enhancements should give even greater confidence to the fintech community to seize the opportunity to participate fully in the financial services ecosystem. They will create standards for future dated, recurring and international payments as well as all the payment and product types covered by PSD2.\"", "output": "The UK's Competition and Markets Authority has requested the nine biggest UK lenders extend \u00a0\u00a0open banking provisions to e-wallets, credit cards and\u00a0prepaid cards. It's urged the banks to\u00a0create a governing body for common standards on application programming interfaces (APIs), software bridges that enable\u00a0the sharing of customers' financial\u00a0data with\u00a0non-banking firms. The project has been extended to coincide with the API requirements' initiation in January, with a release programme due over the next two years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Yoox creates 15-second fashion ads to generate sense of urgency \n Fashion brand Yoox has created a video campaign in which buyers can \u2018save\u2019 the \u2018endangered\u2019 fashion items buy buying them only within the 15 seconds ad format, before they are gone forever, from both the ad and from the Yoox website.\n\nYoox and Google create shoppable 15 second video ad\n\nThe items are actually then shown to someone else, giving them the chance to buy the item instead, in a campaign that hopes to create a sense of urgency around the 15 seconds video ad format.", "output": "Stink Studios and Google have collaborated on a campaign for fashion brand Yoox, creating 15-second video ads that Google is calling \"brandformance at its best\". The ephemeral ads, which will run until mid-December, aim to instill a sense of urgency in consumers, who have only the duration of the video\u00a0to buy an item before it \"vanishes\" from the Yoox site. The innovative format uses Stink Studios' RITA technology, which shows videos in real time and allows them to change in response to user preferences.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook reveals plans for two digital training schemes in India \n Facebook continues to intensify its Indian operations as it has unveiled two programmes designed for individuals and startups, with the aim of training more than five million people on digital skills by 2020, to keep up with the Indian government's Digital India initiative.\n\nFacebook India unveils two programmes to provide digital training to entrepreneurs and SMB's\n\nThe two India-exclusive programmes are Facebook Digital Training, which will offer free social and content marketing training (not just limited to Facebook) and Facebook Startup Training Hub, which will aim to help entrepreneurs and small and medium businesses (SMB) to digitise their business, as reported by gadgets 360.", "output": "Facebook will launch two initiatives in its Indian market aimed at giving up to five million people digital skills by 2020. Facebook Digital Training offers free social media and content marketing education, while the Startup Training Hub looks to bring digitisation to entrepreneurs, as well as small and medium-sized\u00a0businesses. The personalised learning schemes, offered via mobile in English and Hindi, also support the government's Digital India initiative.\u00a0It has been\u00a0estimated that the country will\u00a0have a digital economy worth $1tn by 2022.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brexit to cost UK \u00a372bn by 2021: Office for Budget Responsibility \n The latest update of our forecasts was published on the 22 November 2017 in the November 2017 Economic and fiscal outlook. Read the overview.\n\nIn Chapter 2, we begin by looking at the main developments since our last forecast and the latest external forecasts for the UK economy. The latest outturns give us a starting point for our forecasts.\n\nChapter 3 sets out our forecasts for the economy over a five year horizon. We cover our assumptions regarding the UK\u2019s exit from the EU, our latest forecast changes in light of recent developments and the effect of policies announced in the Budget.\n\nChapter 4 sets out our forecasts for receipts and public spending over a five year horizon. We also explain our loans and other financial transactions forecasts. All this, together with new policy decisions, builds the outlook for borrowing and debt.\n\nIn Chapter 5, we assess the Government against its fiscal targets. We examine whether the Government has a better than 50 per cent chance of meeting them on current policy. We also test the sensitivity of our fiscal forecasts in an alternative economic scenario.\n\nAnnex A covers the Autumn Budget 2017 policy decisions and Annex B explains the UK\u2019s EU contributions in our spending forecasts.\n\nWatch the presentation", "output": "The impact of Brexit will cause the UK economy \u00a372bn in lost economic activity by 2021, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility's economic and fiscal outlook. This equates to\u00a0GDP being\u00a03.4% smaller in 2021 than originally estimated in March 2016, before the referendum took place.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brexit to cost UK \u00a372bn by 2021: Office for Budget Responsibility \n Brexit will cost Britain \u00a372 billion in lost economic activity annually, according to an analysis of government figures.\n\nLeaving the EU is already dragging down the British economy.\n\nThe UK is now growing more slowly than Japan or Italy.\n\n\n\nLONDON \u2014 Chancellor Philip Hammond's annual budget, presented yesterday, has finally given Britain the first concrete numbers on the cost of Brexit.\n\nThe government's Office for Budget Responsibility published revised GDP growth numbers based on data following the June 2016 referendum. Those new estimates suggest that Brexit will cost Britain \u00a372 billion in lost annual economic activity by 2021, according to an analysis by the Resolution Foundation.\n\nPreviously, the best estimate of the economic damage leaving Europe will inflict on the UK came from a private estimate by one of Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis's advisors, of about \u00a322 billion per year, mostly from extra trade tariffs and barriers.\n\nHere are the new GDP charts from the OBR.\n\nThey show other major economies such as the US, the EU, and Canada all growing faster now than they were in the six months prior to the Brexit referendum in 2016. Only in the UK has growth slowed, as the pound lost value and investors hit the pause button. Even Japan, an infamous economic basket case hobbled by years of stagnation, is doing better than the UK:\n\nOBR\n\nIn terms of sequential GDP growth through Q3 2017, Britain now lags France and debt-ridden Italy, too. This chart comes from Pantheon Macroeconomics:\n\nPantheon Macroeconomics\n\nThis next chart shows how much we are forecast to lose in GDP activity every year, based on the difference between the OBR's previous estimate in March and its new estimate, from updated post-referendum data:\n\nOBR\n\nThe Resolution Foundation says the gap will represent a loss of \u00a372 billion in 2021:\n\n\"The economy is now expected to be roughly \u00a342 billion smaller at the start of 2022 than was thought back in March. This downgrade comes on top of the deterioration pencilled in after the Brexit vote of June 2016. As such, the latest GDP projections point to an economy that will be \u00a372 billion (or 3.4 percent) smaller in 2021 than had been projected in March 2016.\"\n\nThat's \u00a372 billion in lost jobs, revenues, consumer spending, and so on.\n\nThere are other factors at play, of course. A big one is the UK's chronic lack of productivity, exacerbated by its refusal to allow in the young immigrant workers to generate the income tax receipts its ageing population needs to pay for the NHS and its state pensions.\n\nBut the OBR's downward revisions from March to November of this year all come in the post-Brexit-vote period, and the only thing of macroeconomic substance that changed between then and now was the realisation that the UK is headed toward hard Brexit rather than a trade deal that would keep the country closely tied to the single market.", "output": "The impact of Brexit will cause the UK economy \u00a372bn in lost economic activity by 2021, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility's economic and fiscal outlook. This equates to\u00a0GDP being\u00a03.4% smaller in 2021 than originally estimated in March 2016, before the referendum took place.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Global firms used timber from firm linked to massacre: Greenpeace \n More than a dozen US and European companies have been importing timber from a Brazilian logging firm whose owner is implicated in one of the most brutal Amazonian massacres in recent memory, according to a Greenpeace Brazil investigation.\n\nThe first-world buyers allegedly continued trading with Madeireira Cedroarana after police accused its founder, Valdelir Jo\u00e3o de Souza, of ordering the torture and murder of nine people in Colniza, Mato Grosso, on 19 April, claims the report by the NGO.\n\nThe state attorney alleges de Souza organised the assassinations to gain access to the forest where the victims \u2013 all smallholders \u2013 lived. Since the indictment on 15 May, the suspect has been on the run.\n\n\n\nDuring this period, the fugitive\u2019s company allegedly sold products to foreign firms who shipped them to the US, Germany, France, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada and Japan.\n\nGreenpeace alleges these shipments may be in contravention of the US Lacey Act, which bans trade in timber that violates any foreign law, and the European Union\u2019s timber regulation, which obliges companies to conduct due diligence to ensure there is \u201cno more than a negligible risk that it has been illegally harvested.\u201d\n\nIt lists the 13 companies involved as Pine Products, Lacey Wood Products, Mid-State Lumber Corp, South Florida Lumber, Wood Brokerage International, Vogel Import & Export, Delfin Germany, Tiger Deck, Global Timber, Centre Import Bois M\u00e9diterran\u00e9e, Derlage Junior Hout, Global Gold Forest and Houthandel van der Hoek.\n\nGreenpeace activists set up crosses in Bras\u00edlia in memory of people killed during conflicts in the Amazon. Photograph: Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters\n\nEven before this year\u2019s massacre, the report alleges these firms should have hesitated to do business with Madeireira Cedroarana because it had accrued about \u00a3130,000 in unpaid federal fines for stocking and trading illegal timber. There also appears to be evidence of widespread fraud, timber laundering and killings of forest defenders in Amazon states including Mato Grosso.\n\nGreenpeace urged US and European authorities to consider Brazilian timber to be at high risk of coming from an illegal source, and thus to oblige companies to go beyond official paperwork and to carry out third-party field audits.", "output": "Over a dozen European and US firms have imported timber from a Brazilian logging company owned by a man implicated in an Amazonian massacre, according to Greenpeace. Valdelir Jo\u00e3o de Souza, founder of Madeireira Cedroarana, was accused by police of ordering the murder of nine people in Mato Grosso in Brazil, in order to gain access to forest land, in April. Since his indictment, de Souza has been on the run, but his company has allegedly sold products to overseas firms. Greenpeace claims the transactions could contravene the US Lacey Act and the European Union\u2019s timber regulation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Thames Water to stop using Cayman Islands subsidiaries \n Thames Water has appointed the former SSE boss Ian Marchant as chairman to spearhead a review of the business, including closing the company\u2019s controversial Cayman Islands subsidiaries.\n\n\n\nBritain\u2019s biggest water and wastewater services company, which has not paid corporation tax in the UK for the past 10 years, said there was no tax advantage from its two Cayman subsidiaries and that they were created for the purpose of raising money through bonds to fund its infrastucture investment programme. But it is understood that management accepts that \u201cit just looks wrong\u201d.\n\nThe company said the subsidiaries \u201chave always been fully registered in the UK for tax purposes but no longer serve their original purpose of enabling smoother access to the global bond markets\u201d.\n\nThames Water has a complicated structure of nine companies and the new chairman has been tasked with simplifying it. Marchant, who ran energy firm SSE for more than 10 years and also chairs the engineering services firm John Wood Group, will join Thames Water\u2019s board on 1 December and become chairman on 26 January.\n\nThames Water said it had been able to defer corporation tax because of its capital investment programme \u2013 which includes a \u00a34.2bn, 15-mile sewer under the Thames.\n\nBut critics note that about \u00a31.2bn has been taken out of Thames Water in the form of dividends in the past 10 years. Its owner over that period, the Australian investment bank Macquarie, which sold its final stake earlier this year, landed it with \u00a310.75bn of debt financing. In March, Thames Water was fined a record \u00a320.3m after huge leaks of untreated sewage into the Thames and on land.\n\nMarchant succeeds Sir Peter Mason, who became chairman in 2006 and delayed his retirement last year to help the company through a transitional phase with the arrival of a new chief executive, Steve Robertson, and chief financial officer, Brandon Rennet, as well as new investors.\n\n\n\nNew shareholders include the Universities Superannuation Scheme, one of the UK\u2019s largest pension funds, which has acquired a 10% stake and is pushing for an overhaul of governance arrangements and customer service. The biggest shareholder is Canadian pension fund Omers, followed by the BT pension scheme.\n\nThames Water was a public utility until it was privatised in 1989. In the mid-1990s it was sold to a consortium led by Macquarie.", "output": "Thames Water, the UK\u2019s largest water and wastewater services firm, will close its two Cayman Islands subsidiaries. The company has appointed former boss of energy company SSE, Ian Marchant, as chairman to review the entire business and to simplify the firm\u2019s nine-company structure. Thames Water, which has not paid corporation tax within the UK for the past decade, said that the subsidiaries offered no tax advantage and were created to raise money for infrastructure investment through bonds. However, the company\u2019s management has accepted that the use of the subsidiaries \u201cjust looks wrong\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Russians turn food waste into biofuel via 'hydrothermal liquefaction' \n In Russia, scientists from Skoltech and the Russian Academy of Sciences\u2019 Joint Institute for High Temperatures proposed a new way to convert food waste into biofuel via hydrothermal liquefaction \u2013 a thermal depolymerization process used to turn wet biomass into oil. Other researchers use carbohydrates fermentation or fat transesterification for biofuel production but since only part of their respective biomasses are converted to fuel, the leftovers remain to be disposed of and doesn\u2019t solve the food waste issue.\n\nTrying to solve the food waste issue, Skoltech scientists theorized that hydrothermal liquefaction presented a uniquely energy-efficient and universal option. In particular, this method makes it possible to produce biofuel directly from wet biomass. Notably, it is best to convert the wet biomass before it dries, as the drying process consumes a considerable amount of energy. They experimented with various types of food waste, including parmesan cheese, ham and apples. Knowledge of the molecular composition of products obtained as a result of hydrothermal liquefaction will allow scientists to develop the most optimal methods for their subsequent processing to produce fuel suitable for powering cars.", "output": "Scientists from Skoltech and the Russian Academy of Sciences\u2019 Joint Institute for High Temperatures have used hydrothermal liquefaction to convert food waste into biofuel. The energy-efficient process converts wet biomass, including parmesan cheese, ham and apples into biofuel.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UAE researchers produce biodiesel from date pits \n In the UAE, a group researchers led by UAE University found that date pits hold nearly 12% oil that is suitable for biodiesel production at about 90% efficiency. The study Biodiesel Production from Oils Extracted from Date Pits, appears in the journal Green and Sustainable Chemistry.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a waste material. It\u2019s not a valuable material we\u2019re looking at \u2026 We\u2019re making use of it before we discard it \u2026 Anything we can get of value out of it will be a positive,\u201d Dr Sulaiman Al Zuhair of UAE University told The National. The\n\nWhen the date-based biodiesel is combusted, the research team said they detected methane and hydrogen produced, which could be captured for further use as energy. About 40 million date palms are planted around the UAE with most pits going to waste, though some are used to produce soaps and cosmetics but before then it was used as charcoal in ancient times.", "output": "Date pits have been found to contain nearly 12% oil that is suitable for biodiesel production at about 90% efficiency, according to a team from UAE University.\u00a0When the date-based biodiesel is combusted, methane and hydrogen was produced, which could be captured for further use as energy. About 40 million date palms are planted around the UAE with most pits going to waste, though some are used to produce soaps and cosmetics.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Uber developing tech for non-smartphone users in India \n San Francisco-headquartered Uber is working on technologies that will allow people in India without smartphones or in low bandwidth areas to book a ride. On the cards are several innovations for India, which is the second-largest market for the ride hailing firm, Daniel Graf , vice-president and global head of product at Uber told ET in an interview.\u201cWe are making a big investment in India which could also help other markets with similar conditions\u2026 Many areas get 3G or 2G connectivity or even less than that. How do you make it work there? This is an android dominant market and many of the phones are 2012 or older, some folks don\u2019t have a smartphone but they should be able to get an Uber too,\u201d said Graf. He added that the company which already has 1,000 people in India is making a \u201cstrong commitment\u201d to grow the talent in India.Graf who is on his first visit to the country, said Uber is investing heavily towards making the trips through the ride sharing app more reliable and affordable. In the works are technology changes that will make predicting the arrival time more accurate despite constant changes to the infrastructure and traffic bottlenecks along making the pricing more stable.\u201cThere are stakeholders for Uber \u2014 drivers and riders and we want to create a ride which is reliable and affordable. Reliable means low ETA, but that\u2019s not always the case. We have a long way to go to make it more reliable,\u201d said Graf. He added that apart from making it affordable, the company\u2019s goal is to make the ride safer with the use of technology. He added that for instance, Uber has introduced features that can sense if a driver has not mounted the phone (that helps with navigation) and is holding it in his hand. \u201cIf the driver has accelerated or braked too aggressively, we can detect that too with the sensors,\u201d said Graf.Despite the management reshuffle at Uber recently which led to its founder Travis Kalanick being replaced by Dara Khosrowshahi as its CEO, Graf said that India continues to be a focus market for the company. On being asked about SoftBank\u2019s proposed investment in Uber which may create conditions for a merger with bitter rival Ola, Graf said, \u201cIt\u2019s not about Ola or Uber, it\u2019s about transportation in general. We are (ride sharing) at low single digit of the overall transportation opportunity, even if there were more players, there are so many opportunities in the market.\u201dAs far as some features offered by its rivals are concerned such as booking outstation trips or offering rentals is concerned, Graf said the company is currently focused on its priorities which is to make the rides more reliable, affordable and safer. \u201cIt always depends, at the end of the day, we want to give reliable transportation. There are so many things we can do, we experiment a lot, and then we decide where we are going to double down and where we are not. Maybe, (accurate) ETAs are more important than something else.\u201dGraf who is credited with building Google Maps and Google Local at his previous stint at Google, said the company is investing heavily in its mapping technology in line with the complexities of India.The idea is to map destinations and pick up points accurately and match rides better on the pool (ride sharing) offering which will not just help riders and drivers but also cities as it may help in reducing congestion.", "output": "The vice-president and global head of product at Uber, Daniel Graf, has said that the company is committing to reaching people in India with low connectivity - 2G, 3G or less - and those without a smartphone. Although he did not\u00a0provide details of how this will occur, he acknowledged that\u00a0there is a large consumer base with little access to internet\u00a0and out-of-date phone software.\u00a0He added that the company is striving to improve reliability issues caused\u00a0by unpredictable traffic, bottlenecks and changing infrastructure. India \"continues to be a focus market\" for Uber, which has over 1,000 employees there.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mathematical model helps make wheat straw pellets for ethanol \n In Kansas, thanks to an international and interdisciplinary collaboration, faculty at Kansas State University\u2019s Institute of Computational and Comparative Medicine and bioenergy researchers at Yangzhou University in China have marked a significant milestone for the production of ethanol fuel from wheat straw.\n\nTheir study, \u201cPredictive temperature modeling and experimental investigation of ultrasonic vibration-assisted pelleting of wheat straw,\u201d was recently published in Applied Energy, a top-tier journal in the field of energy. Their work examined factors that affect production of large-scale biomass during ultrasonic vibration-assisted pelleting.\n\nThe research team developed a computational and mathematical model to determine factors that impact temperature rise during a pelleting process of biomass. The condensed biomass, or pellets, can be easily handled and transported to make ethanol. Ethanol extracted from pellets can substitute for fossil fuels and mitigate accumulation of greenhouse gases.\n\nBy studying the entire pelleting process of biomass, the proposed mathematical model determines the key factors and delivers a new guideline for pellet production by avoiding unnecessary experiments.", "output": "Researchers from Kansas State University and Yangzhou University in China have created a mathematical model that advances the science behind the production of ethanol from wheat straw. The model determines factors that affect temperature rise during the pelleting process that precedes the creation of fuel.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk Watchdog to bring in new rules on\u00a0broadband speed in ads \n Internet giants are to be blocked from misleading millions of customers with bogus claims about how fast their broadband is.\n\nAt the moment, companies such as BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin advertise their broadband based on so-called \u2018up to\u2019 speeds.\n\nHowever, few customers realise that the claims are allowed even if just 10 per cent of households can achieve those speeds.\n\nThe new rules, announced by the Committee on Advertising Practice (CAP), mean the firms will have to limit their claims to the average speed available to at least 50 per cent of customers at peak times.\n\nCompanies such as BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin advertise their broadband based on so-called \u2018up to\u2019 speeds but few realise the claims are allowed even if just 10 per cent of households can achieve those speeds\n\nThe current state of Britain\u2019s broadband service has come under fire from families, businesses and consumer groups. Many feel misled over the claims about speeds, breakdowns in service and rocketing costs.\n\nSome homes are paying more than \u00a31,500 a year for packages which include pay TV, yet our broadband system is second rate compared to nations including Slovakia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Romania.\n\nThis is largely because most UK services are carried along ancient copper telephone wires rather than hi-tech fibre optic cables. So, the further people are from telephone exchanges, the slower their service is.\n\nCAP director Shahriar Coupal said: \u2018When it comes to broadband ads our new standards will give consumers a better understanding of the speeds offered by different providers when deciding to switch providers.\u2019\n\nThe rules will come into force in May next year and will apply to residential broadband adverts.\n\nThe Government\u2019s digital minister, Matt Hancock, said: \u2018Headline \u201cup to\u201d speeds that only need to be available to 10 per cent of consumers are incredibly misleading \u2013 customers need clear, concise and accurate information in order to make an informed choice.\n\nMany feel misled over the claims about speeds, breakdowns in service and rocketing costs\n\n\u2018We have been fighting for this for some time now, and it\u2019s a great victory for consumers.\u2019\n\nManaging director of home products and services at consumer group Which?, Alex Neill, added: \u2018Millions of households are currently experiencing broadband speeds that just don\u2019t live up to their expectations and unrealistic adverts showing speeds you\u2019re never likely to get don\u2019t help.\n\n\u2018It is good to see people may finally see the speeds they could achieve before they sign up to a deal.\u2019\n\nThe telecoms regulator, Ofcom, which recently outlined a new compensation scheme for customers whose broadband service fails, welcomed the announcement.\n\nIts consumer group director, Lindsey Fussell, said: \u2018We\u2019ve been backing this change, which will help close the gap between what broadband shoppers expect, and what they receive.\u2019 Under Ofcom\u2019s arrangements, compensation will be \u00a38 per day for loss of service and \u00a325 if a firm misses an appointment to carry out a repair.\n\nAnd \u00a35 per day will be paid if a firm fails to start a new service when promised. The fines will come into effect at the start of 2019.\n\nOur broadband system is second rate compared to nations including Slovakia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Romania\n\nThe crackdown comes after a Which? study found last week that broadband speeds in three in four homes are slower than those claimed by internet providers.\n\nFamilies in 284 out of 390 local authority areas are typically getting slower speeds than stated.\n\nFirms provide official estimates of their median broadband speed to Ofcom. Which? compared the latest figures to the median speeds that households are actually getting, based on 712,000 home tests. The median is the mid-point speed seen from all the tests in a local area.\n\nThe biggest gap was in Ashfield in Nottinghamshire where tests found the median download speed was 62 per cent slower than the figure claimed by broadband firms.\n\nThe actual figure was 15.1 megabits per second (Mbit/s) versus the official claim of 40 Mbit/s.\n\nThe figure in Surrey Heath was 58 per cent below expectations and in Havant, Hampshire, it was 57 per cent slower. Cambridge, Gloucester and St Albans in Hertfordshire were all 56 per cent lower than stated.", "output": "Telecoms companies will be required to change how they advertise broadband speeds. Research has found that households in 284 out of 390 local authorities are typically getting slower speeds than promised. Under new rules from the Committee on Advertising Practice, providers will have to base speed claims\u00a0in\u00a0advertisements on\u00a0the average speed that is available to at least 50% of customers at peak times rather than the \"up to\" speeds. \"It is good to see people may finally see the speeds they could achieve before they sign up to a deal,\" said Alex Neill of consumer group Which?.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk Customers unhappy in West Midlands as TV boxes fail to record \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nOur free Nuneaton & Bedworth email updates are the best way to get headlines direct to your inbox\n\nTalktalk customers have been left fuming after their Youview boxes failed to record.\n\nNumerous viewers from across the region have been plagued by the issues this week.\n\nScores took to Twitter to vent their fury, with the firm receiving dozens of complaints.\n\nCustomers who contacted Talktalk have been told to book in an engineer - but it now has emerged that the problem was not with the hardware.\n\nThe issue, which has been restricted to customers across the West Midlands, is due to the signal, Talktalk has revealed.\n\nIn a post on a help forum the company said: \"We want to thank you all for your patience while we\u2019ve been investigating the recent issues you\u2019ve been reporting to us with your recordings.\n\n\"Thanks to your feedback, we\u2019ve discovered this to affect a proportion of our customers that happen to be in and around the West Midlands area.\n\n\"The majority of issues experienced were caused by some changes to the way regional transmitters were broadcasting TV channels that had an adverse effect on our TV boxes. The changes are being rolled back today, so your service should resume to normal again by this evening but you may need to reboot your box once more for this to take effect. We\u2019d like to apologise for the inconvenience caused during this time.\u201d\n\nThe issue had left customers infuriated as there seemed to be no reason for their boxes to suddenly stop working.\n\nOne customer said: \"I was advised to do a factory reset. This means all my old recordings were lost. Now it seems like it was nothing was wrong with the Youview bvox. It's a shame Talktalk didn't put two and two together earlier.\"\n\nAnother said: \u201cSo my recordings have failed FOUR NIGHTS IN A ROW. I reboot STB as instructed, everything looks fine then I come home at 2 am to find it supposedly recording something from several days ago...and Scheduled showing I have nothing scheduled. Check my recordings for that evening and every single one has failed. So I reboot and everything looks OK..then same old Groundhog Day.\u201d\n\nA talktalk user added: \u201cI had a new TV box in September and it started to play up about 3 weeks ago. It now stops recording in the middle of programmes, it won\u2019t ad hoc record, it loses recordings, it won\u2019t delete, it sticks, and I have reset it at lease twice a day since Thursday.\u201d", "output": "TalkTalk has been beset with complaints from its customers in the West Midlands region after their YouView boxes failed to record. In an apology statement, TalkTalk confirmed that the issue was caused by a signal problem rather than any faults with hardware. \"The majority of issues experienced were caused by some changes to the way regional transmitters were broadcasting TV channels that had an adverse effect on our TV boxes\", said the company. Many customers were advised to perform factory resets of their YouView boxes during the incident, which erased their recorded content.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Driver assistance systems installed in Revv's rental cars \n Indian self-drive car rental startup Revv has partnered with Mobileye to equip their cars with Mobileye's Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADAS). Mobileye, an Intel company, specialises in on-road image sensing and providing crucial data to aid assistive and autonomous driving technology. The ADAS system is a set of advanced safety features that Mobileye can retrofit in production cars to make them safer and smarter, and it is this very set that will be present in Revv's cars, going forward.\n\nThe Mobileye ADAS unit includes \u2014 forward collision warning (FCW) by gauging acceleration, braking and trajectory of the car ahead, headway monitor and warning (HMW) to gauge proximity from the car ahead, pedestrian and cyclist collision warning (PCW) to avoid accidents (only works during day), lane departure warning and speed limit indication. The retrofitted technology will include Mobileye's own camera and sensor units, which enable computer vision to process environment data while travelling. Revv, notably, is the first Indian company in the commercial commuting and ride sharing space to avail and equip its fleet with the advanced assistance technology.\n\nWhile the switch towards autonomy has been evident for a while, the nascent steps are only being taken now. With Revv adopting Mobileye's ADAS technologies, more players in the ride sharing and commercial commuting space, which are often prone to accidents, will move to equip their fleet with similar technologies. Revv reportedly carried out on-road tests of the 30 ADAS equipped cars (out of its fleet of 800 cars) and drove for over 4,00,000kms. Mobileye, meanwhile, has been one of the most noted companies working on advanced autonomy, and will be using Revv's platform as an effective way to gauge the tricky Indian roads and improve the systems.", "output": "The Mobileye-powered Advanced Driver Assist System (ADAS) has been installed into the cars of Indian automobile rental company Revv. The ADAS system includes a forward-collision warning which gauges proximity to the car ahead, has\u00a0headway monitor warning, pedestrian and cyclist collision warning, lane departure warning and speed limit indicator. Mobileye is testing the software on India's \"tricky\" roads to refine and improve its systems.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk TalkTalk announces multiscreen feature in new app \n Sky, Virgin Media and BT all offer their customers ways to watch TV beyond the living room. TalkTalk has an app for its rental and purchase store -- formerly Blinkbox, you might recall -- but otherwise it's fallen behind the pack somewhat. The company is changing that sometime in the first few months of next year, though, when it'll launch new apps that take TalkTalk TV truly multiscreen for the first time.\n\nQuite simply, the new app for iOS and Android will put TalkTalk's live TV and on-demand library on mobile devices. Subscribers will be able to watch Freeview and any of their paid channel bundles anywhere, so it's not limited to devices on the same home network as the set-top box. The apps support Chromecast too, so you can push TV to another bigger screen elsewhere, and exactly the same experience will be available in browsers, should a laptop or PC be your second screen of choice.\n\nThere is one limitation. While you can be logged in to the TalkTalk app on up to 4 devices, you can only stream to one at a time -- in addition to whatever's playing on your home set-top box, of course. That won't strictly be true for TalkTalk's fibre broadband customers though, as next year they will also be able to add another set-top box to their package to create a multiroom situation at home. The one additional device rule will still apply here, though technically that means there can be three active screens at any one time, including the two set-top boxes. TalkTalk isn't sharing how much an additional box will set you back just yet, but for everyone, the new multiscreen feature of the service will be free and not a paid perk.\n\nTo make multiscreen happen, TalkTalk built its new mobile apps and web interface from scratch so users can get at all their live and on-demand TV in the same way they can on their set-top boxes. It has a different look, of course, since navigation isn't bound to a remote. The apps sport a more visual, card-like UI highlighting popular live and on-demand content, as well as the newest releases in the movie and boxset purchase and rental store. This is in addition to a traditional EPG view of live TV for quick-browsing. For anything that isn't live -- so, anything on a catch-up service or something you've rented, for example -- you can pause on one device and pick up where you left off on another.\n\nTalkTalk also throws some curation into the mix within the \"My TV\" section of the app, which is what the company calls a \"safe space.\" What's meant by that is recommendations will only come from channels and such you already own, so it won't suggest things you need to buy or sign up to another channel bundle in order to watch. Multiscreen is still a few months away for customers at this point, but when it does launch next year it'll see TalkTalk close the distance on its main rivals with this important value-adding feature.", "output": "TalkTalk TV looks set to finally catch up with the likes of Sky, Virgin Media and BT with the launch of its\u00a0multiscreen streaming app in\u00a02018. Available on iOS and Android, the app will enable subscribers to watch TalkTalk's live TV and on-demand library anywhere on mobile devices. However, content can only be streamed to one device at any given time. The app will also feature a curation service called \"My TV\", and will be free for all existing TalkTalk customers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Graphene 'could provide limitless energy' \n Researchers at the University of Arkansas, led by professor Paul Thibado, have found strong evidence that the internal motion of 2D materials could be used as a source of clean, limitless energy. The team has reportedly taken the first steps toward creating a device that can turn this energy into electricity, with the potential for many applications. A patent has recently been applied on this invention, called a Vibration Energy Harvester, or VEH.\n\nThe team studied the internal movements of carbon atoms in graphene and observed two distinct features: small Brownian motion and larger, coordinated movements. In these larger movements, the entire ripple buckled, flipping up and down like a thin piece of metal being repeatedly flexed. This pattern of small random motion combined with larger sudden movements is known as L\u00e9vy flights. This phenomenon can be observed in a variety of contexts, such as biomedical signals, climate dynamics, and more. Thibado is claimed to be the first to have observed these flights spontaneously occurring in an inorganic atomic-scale system.\n\nwhile other researchers have theorized that temperature-induced curvature inversion in graphene could be used as an energy source, Thibado\u2019s work is unique thanks to his discovery that graphene has naturally occurring ripples that invert their curvature as the atoms vibrate in response to the ambient temperature. This is the key to using the motion of 2D materials as a source of harvestable energy, Thibado said. Unlike atoms in a liquid, which move in a random directions, atoms connected in a sheet of graphene move together. This means their energy can be collected using existing nanotechnology.\n\nSuch a VEH device would involve a negatively charged sheet of graphene suspended between two metal electrodes. When the graphene flips up, it induces a positive charge in the top electrode, and when it flips down, it charges the bottom one, creating an alternating current.\n\nThe pieces of graphene in Thibado\u2019s lab measure about ten microns across, so tiny that more than 20,000 of them could fit on the head of a pin. Each Levy flight exhibited by an individual ripple measures only 10 nanometers by 10 nanometers, yet could produce 10 picowatts of power. As a result, each of these micro-sized membranes has the potential to produce enough energy to power a wristwatch, and they would never wear out or need charging.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe team will also be experimenting with other 2D materials, in addition to graphene. Ironically, it was found that the superior conductivity of graphene\u00e2\u0080\u0094a characteristic that that allows it to excel as a material for creating tiny electric circuits in other contexts\u00e2\u0080\u0094makes it less than ideal for this purposes. His VEH device yields more energy if the active material is not conductive, because if electrons move too easily across it, this lowers its efficiency. The researchers are studying other 2D materials to determine if they could produce energy more efficiently than graphene.\n\nA VEH technology could have significant implications on the effort to connect physical objects to the digital world, known as the Internet of Things. This self-charging, microscopic power source could make everyday objects into smart devices, as well as powering more sophisticated biomedical devices such as pace-makers, hearing aids, and wearable sensors. Self-powering enables smart bio-implants, explained Thibado, which would profoundly impact society.", "output": "There is strong evidence that the internal motion of 2D materials could be used as a source of clean, limitless energy, and a device to prove the concept is under construction, according to researchers at the University of Arkansas. The team has applied for a patent for the Vibration Energy Harvester, which makes use of the internal movements of carbon atoms in graphene. The so-called L\u00e9vy flights\u00a0have been observed in a variety of contexts, such as biomedical signals and\u00a0climate dynamics, but never before\u00a0in an inorganic atomic-scale system.\u00a0The technology could be used to power\u00a0small, digital objects, such as watches, pacemakers and internet of things devices.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Drivezy builds own currency to allow users to crowdfund vehicles \n 4 hacks on how to raise funds by the believer in blockchain technology to fuel world economy\n\nYou're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.\n\nThe ride for this startup is picking up.\n\nFrom being a pioneer among Indian companies to allow the use of cryptocurrency in operations to addressing bottlenecks that challenged the scalability of its platform in less just two years of operations, Drivezy is nothing short of exemplary.\n\nFormerly called JustRide in 2015, the car-sharing aggregator transformed into a peer-to-peer marketplace for self-drive cars and two-wheeler rentals last year and is now venturing into cycle rental services.\n\nWhat's fuelling their growth? In its latest feat, the company has raised $10 million, part equity from Das Capital, and existing investors Axan Partners and IT-Farm. Part debt funding has been made by Mahindra Finance, ICICI Bank, Shriram Finance and Cholamandalam Finance.\n\nRoad To RentalCoins\n\nEmbracing technology could be the road ahead for innovation in India.\n\nQuick to imbibe this, Drivezy built RentalCoins, a cryptocurrency that allows users to crowdfund a fleet of vehicles that would cater to everyone's needs.\n\nPeople invest only what they can afford. By lowering the barrier to entry, this system is expected to allow a greater segment of the Indian population to invest in a shared fleet of vehicle that generates monthly returns.\n\nAccording to Ashwarya Singh, CEO and Founder of Drivezy, investors from across the globe will be able to directly invest in shared vehicles for the first time in India.\n\n\"We aim to raise $20 million through two private ICO's to fund 2,000 vehicles that shall ply across the country. The initial phase of the project will be a proof of our concept and shall be open to accredited investors only. We shall convene a public ICO in 2018 which would allow everyone to participate,\" Singh told Entrepreneur India.\n\nSingh believes blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies are the missing links that could unite individual sharing markets like vehicle sharing, ride sharing, co-working spaces etc into a true sharing economy.\n\nThe amalgamation of blockchain and sharing economy will give rise to a new economic paradigm where nobody buys anything, but everyone owns everything, said Singh. The company's RentalCoins can potentially create almost 10 lakh micro-entrepreneurs, who can supplement their household income by renting their assets Singh claims.\n\nDrivezy is aiming to leverage the power of the blockchain to build a secure and transparent technology to globalize the Indian car sharing marketplace via its upcoming Initial Coin Offering (ICO).\n\nHow Do You Get Investors Interested in Your Vision\n\nStarting up your own business is not easy, especially if you're doing it for the first time. There are a multitude of factors at play when you look to raise funds for your startup and a successful fundraise entails striking the right balance. Here's how Singh thinks is required to get the first (or next) round of funding.\n\nFigure out the Problem: A common advice that does rounds in start-ups is always aiming to solve real-world problems to build great products. The irony is that you cannot build a great product unless you figure out what the actual problem is.\n\n\"Our initial idea was to build a seamless self-drive car rental service as more than 90% Indians don't own a car. However, initially we had neglected a crucial piece of the puzzle; the people who did own a car, used it for less than a few hours each day,\" Singh said.\n\nSeek Mentors, Not Investors: There's a wide variety of potential seed investors out there, and very few of them are known to public. Because of this, it's important to think about fundraising not in terms of pure cash but rather in terms of relationships and value. Your early-stage investors are the cornerstone for your future fundraises. They provide credibility to your idea and help build your network for the next round.\n\n\"When we raised our seed investment back in 2015, we looked for people who could guide our business and believed in us and our vision. There are bound to be ups and downs so choose wisely. If you have figured the right problem to solve, then startup accelerators can offer excellent guidance,\" Singh said.\n\nHire the Right Team: Hiring amazing talent is both the most difficult thing founders will ever do and the most transformative for their start up. Don't just hire the best; but hire the people who match your culture and management style. If you hire a smart set, and provide them the right environment, the team will collectively work towards the common issue your company is trying to solve.\n\nStart Small, Think Big and Scale Fast: No matter how valuable you think your idea is, your product must be market-fit. Find a value hypothesis that compels people to use your product. You cannot create a great product overnight. Building a great product is a painstaking iterative journey. You can start local, but once you've served the first hundred customers, figure out how you can scale your idea to cover the next hundred moving toward thousand. Above all time is the key. If you're too slow to figure it out, someone will surely pip you to the finish line.", "output": "Indian car rental company, Drivezy, has created a cryptocurrency called RentalCoins, which allows users to crowdfund its fleet of vehicles. Formerly named JustRide, Drivezy is a technology aggregator for self-drive cars and bike rentals. The company has raised $10m and has been backed by Google, DAS Capital and Axan Ventures, amongst others. The company is now looking to raise $20m through a public ICO in 2018 and two private ICOs previously.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Graphene additive doubles life of road surfaces \n Directa Plus has announced its collaboration with Iterchimica, am Italy-based producer and distributor of specialized additives for asphalt. The collaboration with Iterchimica is focused on developing a graphene-enhanced asphalt additive, which is patent-pending, that can significantly improve the durability and sustainability of asphalt road surfaces.\n\nThe new additive incorporating the Directa\u2019s Graphene Plus (G+) has been launched by Iterchimica as \"Eco Pave\". As per reports, the success of laboratory and small-scale trials convinced Iterchimica to conduct a pilot test where Eco Pave will be used as an additive for asphalt covering several kilometers of road surface.\n\nThe Company anticipates receiving an initial order for G+ before the year-end for the pilot test. The presence of G+ reportedly produces a technically-advanced, sustainable additive that significantly enhances the performance of asphalt used for road surfacing. In particular, due to the thermal management properties of G+, the asphalt is less susceptible to hardening and cracking in cold temperatures as well as to softening in warm temperatures. It increases the elasticity and strength to reduce the wear, particularly with high loads, which is especially beneficial for maintenance purposes such as repairing potholes.\n\nIn addition, road surfaces built with asphalt containing Eco Pave will be recyclable with up to 100% of the milled asphalt being repeatedly re-used to build a new pavement, which avoids the landfilling of the exhausted material as well as the extraction of new bitumen.\n\nBased on their research, Iterchimica estimate that the addition of Eco Pave will extend the life of an asphalt road surface from the current average of 6-7 years to 12-14 years. Thanks to the joint R&D process undertaken by Directa Plus and Iterchimica, the parties have been able to produce Eco Pave at a commercially viable selling price. As a result, asphalt containing Eco Pave could significantly reduce maintenance costs.\n\n\n\n\n\n", "output": "Directa Plus has collaborated with Italy-based Iterchimica to create a patent-pending graphene-enhanced asphalt additive that can significantly improve the durability and sustainability of road surfaces. Iterchimica's Eco Pave incorporating Directa\u2019s Graphene Plus (G+) can extend the life of an asphalt road surface from the current average of 6-7 years to 12-14 years, it said.\u00a0The asphalt is less susceptible to hardening and cracking in cold temperatures, and to softening in warm temperatures.\u00a0Iterchimica\u00a0also claims that road surfaces built with asphalt containing Eco Pave will be recyclable with up to 100% of the milled asphalt being reusable."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Two more Redrow show homes open at Amington Green in Tamworth \n Tamworth buyers are green with envy\n\nThe grass is always greener on the other side and with even more to see at Amington Garden Village that\u2019s sure to be the case for Tamworth house hunters.\n\nWork on the landmark new community is progressing well with two more Redrow show homes now open at the Amington Green phase in addition to the four that have been wowing visitors to Amington Fairway since the summer.\n\nCombining traditional Arts & Crafts inspired architecture with interiors designed with how real families live today, Redrow\u2019s Heritage Collection homes offer the best of old and new.\n\nPauline Turnbull, sales director for Redrow Homes (Midlands), explains: \u201cIt\u2019s almost six months since we launched Amington Garden Village, a flagship scheme to create hundreds of much-needed new homes in Tamworth. It wouldn\u2019t be practical to have a show home for every property style we\u2019re building but with six professionally styled and fully furnished examples available to view, buyers can gain a real insight as to what it could be like to live in a brand new Redrow home.\u201d\n\nThe new show homes at Amington Green are an Oxford Lifestyle, a surprisingly spacious home with all three bedrooms boasting an en-suite, and a four-bedroom Shrewsbury style property. Both are detached designs.\n\n\u201cAt Amington Fairway the show homes are very much designed with family living in mind, but we also recognise that there\u2019s a demand from the over 55 market including downsizers or rightsizers as we prefer to call them,\u201d Pauline adds.\n\n\u201cNot everyone whose children have flown the nest will want a smaller home, they might just want a property that\u2019s easier to manage and more in keeping with their lifestyle. Our research has revealed a growing number of people don\u2019t necessarily want lots of bedrooms but bigger bedrooms and well planned living space. The Oxford Lifestyle at Amington Fairway is a prime example as all of the bedrooms have an en-suite with the master also featuring a dressing area; while downstairs there\u2019s an inviting and sociable open plan kitchen and dining room, with adjoining utility, complemented by separate lounge with feature bay window.\u201d\n\nThe ground floor of the Shrewsbury is similar in that there\u2019s a combined kitchen and dining room, with handy utility and cloakroom to the rear of the property, and lounge at the front. Journey upstairs and there are four bedrooms, including master with en-suite, plus the family bathroom.\n\nAlong with building new homes on the former golf course site, Redrow will invest around \u00a314 million to help ensure Amington Garden Village is sustainable for the benefit of the wider community. This includes contributions towards the cost of building a new primary school, creating a new community woodland, extending the Hodge Lane Local Nature Reserve and funding improvements to sports facilities.\n\nFor more information about Amington Fairway see redrow.co.uk/amington.\n\nTo find out more about Amington Green see redrow.co.uk/amingtongreen.", "output": "UK housebuilder Redrow has opened two show houses as part of the Amington Green phase of its\u00a0\u00a314m ($18.6m) Amington Garden Village development in Tamworth, Staffordshire. They add to the four show homes from the Amington Fairway phase that are already open to the public, and include family homes, as well as properties pitched at the 55+ market.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nomad Health opens online marketplace to telehealth freelances \n Nomad Health\u2019s online freelance marketplace for healthcare professional staffing now includes postings for telehealth positions alongside traditional healthcare roles.\n\nWith the updated service, doctors interested in telehealth practice will be able to view and apply to open position listings from several telehealth service providers, including American Well and First Stop Health. Current telemedicine openings include specific areas such as tele-urgent care, teledermatology, and telepsychiatry, according to a statement from the company.\n\n\u201cThanks to modern technology, doctors are returning to their roots and seeing patients at home. The comfort of easy access to high quality care is leading to extraordinarily high satisfaction for telemedicine doctors and their patients,\u201d Dr. Alexi G. Nazem, CEO and cofounder of Nomad Health, said in a statement. \u201cTelemedicine is a win-win, and Nomad is so pleased to help drive this medical technology revolution forward.\u201d\n\nSam Toole, strategic sales manager at Nomad, explained that much of the infrastructure and interface developed for the telehealth postings were similar to those already in place for in-person positions. Still, he said that Nomad \u201cworked closely with all of our clients\u201d through an early limited release of the functionality, and incorporated the telemedicine providers\u2019 feedback into the final system.\n\n\u201cOn the telemedicine side it\u2019s more of just making sure that the platform worked well in terms of their model and how they hire doctors,\u201d Toole told MobiHealthNews. \u201cIt\u2019s a little bit different, obviously, than bringing in a full-time doctor to be working in a hospital, so we just worked with our early clients to make sure that we built the system in a way that was easy and intuitive for them to use, for both in tracking of time they were working with doctors and then posting those jobs so it was clear to the clinician what the opportunity was.\u201d\n\nNow that the telehealth posting functionality has been fully released, Toole said that the service is enjoying a warm reception from employers and jobseekers alike.\n\n\u201cWe see that the providers on Nomad are extremely excited about these roles, and it is evident in terms of the activity the jobs do get when they are posted on the platform,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is very common for telemedicine roles to be posted and get a massive amount of interaction, excitement, number of applications, inquiries about the role very quickly. So as we on-board telemedicine companies around the United States, we continue to see the providers be very, very excited.\u201d\n\nThe inclusion of telemedicine is the latest in a stream of service expansions for the company, which was founded in 2015 and initially served the east coast. After raising $4 million for the platform from First Round Capital, RRE Ventures, and .406 Ventures last year, the platform opened its doors to nurses in July and has steadily introduced itself to a number of new states including Texas, Florida, North Carolina, and California. Last month, Nomad\u2019s platform was also officially endorsed by the Texas Hospital Association.", "output": "Nomad Health has added listings for freelance telehealth professionals to its online portal, according to a company statement. Strategic sales manager Sam Toole said telehealth roles posted so far had received a \"massive amount of interaction, excitement, number of applications and inquiries\". The addition of telehealth positions follows the inclusion of nurses in June\u00a0and an official endorsement for the platform from Texas Hospital Association last month.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Digital adoption is driving insurance prices down \n Insurers are focused on changing their processes in order to meet customer demands for a more digital experience, but that trend is having some unintended consequences, according to a new survey.\n\nThe efficiency and transparency realized by increased digitalization in insurance is driving prices down, consultancy Simon-Kucher & Partners discovered in its 2017 Global Pricing and Sales Study. The company interviewed 46 insurers around the world and found that 46% -- nearly half -- identified price pressure as the biggest barrier to revenue growth. Most planned price increases are slashed or not implemented at all -- a third of insurers said that they implemented 20% or fewer planned increases.\n\nWhat's good news for customers, though, isn't good news for insurers. Implementing digital processes at the expense of growth impacts the long-term viability of a company. Specifically, digitalization is correlated with low-cost competition and increased price transparency, the two largest contributors to price pressure.\n\nInsurers can't afford to put the brakes on digitalization though. So, Simon-Kucher suggests that carriers invest in \"value selling\" -- that is, training the sales staff and designing the digital customer acquisition experience to focus more on the value proposition of the product, and using data to identify the highest-value customers. That is, insurers need to think of digital in terms of how it delivers growth, not just how it cuts costs.\n\n\"Like many other industries, digital transformation is top of mind for the insurance industry. However, we find that most of the digitalization investments to-date are focusing primarily on process efficiency,\" says Wei Ke, head of the North American financial-services practice for Simon-Kucher & Partners. \"The natural next step is to consider monetization opportunities through the digital channel, both at the point of sale and post-sale engagement.\"", "output": "The adoption of digital initiatives by insurance companies is creating greater transparency, which in turn is driving pricing down, according to a survey by consultancy Simon-Kucher & Partners. Nearly half of global insurers responding to the survey said that pricing pressure is a barrier to revenue growth. The adoption of digital initiatives is also seen to be contributing to the commoditisation of services and greater negotiating power being placed into the hands of consumers, according to the\u00a0insurers surveyed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Outdated laws hinder Crispr\u00a0research in Canada, say scientists \n CRISPR, pronounced \u201ccrisper,\u201d is a simple yet powerful tool for editing genomes. It allows researchers to easily alter DNA sequences and modify gene function. The protein Cas9 (or \u201cCRISPR-associated\u201d) is an enzyme that acts like a pair of molecular scissors, capable of cutting strands of DNA.\n\nCRISPR and targeted genome editing have opened a new era in molecular biology. The technology has given researchers an efficient and reliable way to make precise, targeted changes to the genome of living cells, and this has been a long-standing goal of biomedical research.\n\n\n\nCRISPR \u2013 revolutionary new tool to cut and splice DNA. Illustration courtesy of Jennifer Doudna/UC Berkeley\n\nCanadian scientists have been left out of the conversation on CRISPR gene-editing, and that is a real shame. By the end of 2014, some 1000 research papers had been published that mentioned CRISPR.\n\nThe technology had been used to functionally inactivate genes in human cell lines and cells, to study Candida albicans, to modify yeasts used to make biofuels and to genetically modify crop strains. CRISPR can also be used to change mosquitoes so they cannot transmit diseases such as malaria.\n\nThe two faces of CRISPR technology\n\nCRISPR is one of the most exciting yet controversial technologies in health sciences today. On the one hand, it has the potential to alter the genetic content of cells, potentially preventing inherited diseases. Research was done in 2015 at Canada\u2019s Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, where researchers used CRISPR technology to correct the mutation that causes Duchenne muscular dystrophy.\n\n\n\nSooam Biotech clones many animals, including cattle and pigs for medical research and breed preservation, but is best known for its commercial dog service Jung Yeon-Je, AFP\n\nYet, on the other hand, there is the fear the technology will be used to create genetically enhanced humans, The potential of the technology is huge and the theoretical risks this could play into creating designer humans also bring up the distasteful case for eugenics and cloning.\n\nHowever, despite fears of the technology being used in the wrong way, on November 8, one major Canadian science group announced it wants the country\u2019s law on CRISPR gene-editing changed, calling on the federal government to lift the prohibition and allow researchers to alter the genome of inheritable \u201cgerm\u201d cells and embryos.\n\nCanada\u2019s Assisted Human Reproduction Act\n\nEven though CRISPR technology is allowed to be used in the United States, it is still illegal to use gene-editing techniques to make genetic alterations that can be passed on to future generations. This is an important distinction because, in the U.S., scientists are still allowed to conduct experiments that include genetically altering embryos \u2013 as long as those embryos never become babies.\n\nHowever, in Canada, under the federal AHRA law, even basic research that could be categorized as \u201cgene-editing\u201d is illegal, with penalties of up to 10 years in jail. The focus by scientists and ethicists is one a key provision of the 13-year-old AHRA that makes it a crime to alter the genome of a cell or embryo that\u2019s capable of being transmitted to descendants.\n\n\n\nThe Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada used CRISPR technology to correct the mutation that causes Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Hospital for Sick Children\n\n\u201cScientists here feel left behind,\u201d Vardit Ravitsky, a University of Montreal bioethicist, told Gizmodo. \u201cThey have the technical capacity to do this research and they have these good research questions. The only reason they\u2019re not doing it is legal.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe main logic here is a slippery slope logic. If you allow us to genetically alter an embryo for research, what\u2019s next?\u201d said Ravitsky. \u201cBut embryos don\u2019t fall by chance into a uterus. By banning research you are banning research that is not just about making babies. This research can promote our understanding of reproductive development, of the development of diseases. It makes no sense to say no to research.\u201d\n\nRavitsky thinks Canada should have a law closer to the one in the U.S. where research is allowed, but altered embryos are not allowed to be implanted into the uterus. \u201cIn a few years, if we decide it\u2019s safe and we want to move ahead with the first gene-edited pregnancy, we can decide then,\u201d she said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have to decide now.\u201d", "output": "Scientists in Canada have called for a 13-year-old law preventing the use of gene-editing systems such as Crispr to be re-evaluated, claiming they are being left behind\u00a0in the field. Researchers have pointed to the US as a model, where Crispr research on embryos is permitted, as long as they do not develop into babies.\u00a0Researchers want a similar law in Canada, where the\u00a0Assisted Human Reproduction Act\u00a0bans all gene-editing work, even when it does\u00a0not make genetic alterations that could be passed on to future generations.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ABB unveils digital pilot projects for hydrocarbon industry \n With an investment of US$24 million, the first wave from some 20 digital pilot projects emerge from ABB, targeting maintenance cost reduction and data in-sights across oil, gas and chemicals facilities.\n\nABB is investing in a series of pilot projects aimed at bringing new digital products, services and solutions to industry. All projects are built using the ABB Ability platform, which, by using digitally enabled industry solutions, collects, stores, searches, finds, views and analyses data. The data is then presented as useful information in different contexts and timeframes.\n\nThe pilot projects extend from agile manufacturing, cloud-based collaboration and energy grid of the future to cyber asset management, digitally enabled process performance services and condition-based maintenance. Three projects specifically targeting the oil, gas and chemicals sectors, address the un-tapped potential of condition based maintenance, servicing of rotating equipment and fine-tuning process performance of installed control systems.\n\nThe first project targets maintenance, one of the most significant and untapped areas of cost savings in oil, gas and chemical facilities. With maintenance budgets accounting for some two-thirds of annual net profit, it is the largest single controllable expenditure. One leading oil operator estimates that about 63% of maintenance labour results in no action. This is because maintenance that is not needed is sometimes performed on perfectly functional equipment, thereby introducing unnecessary cost and risk.\n\n\n\nABB is investing in a series of pilot projects aimed at bringing new digital products, services and solutions to oil, gas and chemical facilities.\n\nThe project provides customers with the services, tools and information needed to capture, trust and act upon data and online information generated by todays installed condition monitoring systems. It ensures electrical equipment maintenance is only performed when necessary and not on an arbitrary schedule, eliminating needless interruption to production and reducing expenditures.\n\n\u201cOur approach provides the vital piece of the puzzle in the transition from a scheduled maintenance ap-proach to one that\u2019s predictive \u2013 regardless of what kind of condition monitoring system is in place,\u201d says ABB\u2019s Dan Overly, Head of Product management for ABB\u2019s oil gas and chemicals business. \u201cWe are helping customers get value from data. Early testing shows that this project can help reduce customer maintenan-ce costs by as much as 30%.\u201d\n\nA second project, targeting rotating equipment, provides a suite of analytical services and applications that give access to good quality data, identifies failure patterns of rotating equipment and predicts their potential failures. In addition, it benchmarks the customer fleet for improved budget allocation and al-lows ABB to build adjacent service offerings based upon the data collected.\n\nThis offering addresses the demands of chemical plant managers who are asking for a better understand-ing of how their fleet of rotating equipment performs, predict failures before they occur, and eliminate unnecessary maintenance to reduce operating costs.\n\nThe third project focuses on digitally enabled process performance services. It aims to improve operation and production quality by collecting data from customers\u2019 existing assets, identifying areas where process improvement is needed, suggesting approaches to address challenges and deficits, and then implementing the services necessary to strengthen performance.\n\nWith lower oil prices, upstream operators are increasingly focusing on improving production. With today\u2019s prices, process performance improvement can significantly improve the bottom line of the oil companies. Typically, 3 \u2013 5% increased production is achievable, translating into about US$35 million extra earnings annually for a platform producing 50 000 bpd at US$50/bbl.\n\nOne outcome of this project is the ABB AbilityTM Process Performance Dashboard. Following some 15 years of identifying poor process system performance in upstream oil and gas facilities, ABB has developed six key performance indicators (KPIs) for the process performance of a plant. These include three symptoms and three results of bad process behavior.", "output": "ABB is investing $24m in 20 pilot projects, including three that apply digital technologies across oil, gas and petrochemical facilities. The projects will address condition-based maintenance, servicing of rotating equipment and fine-tuning the process performance of installed control systems. The maintenance project aims to provide customers with the services, tools and information they need to capture, trust and act upon the data and online information generated by today's installed condition monitoring systems. The system is designed to end arbitrary maintenance of electrical equipment by performing\u00a0it only when necessary, reducing costs."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Edtech Kiddom claims presence in 70% of US school districts \n Silicon Valley is determined to improve education by infusing it with technology. Its latest example is Kiddom, whose personalized learning software has quietly entered classrooms in 70% of U.S. school districts, according to the company.\n\nBottom line: Education is an obvious target for tech entrepreneurs\u2014it has both mission and market size, especially as schools increasingly invest in tablets and lightweight laptops, amidst growing concerns over of the future of work.\n\nThe pitch: The promise of \"personalized learning\" is that students will be more successful if enabled to learn and work at their individual paces, along with regular guidance from teachers. Kiddom helps track each student's progress and can provide customized lesson materials. It also collects information on each student's skill level, learning pace and learning style.\n\n\"I think it's a data problem,\" says venture capitalist Keith Rabois, who led an investment in Kiddom for Khosla Ventures. He points out that medical records weren't digitized until recently, before which it was more difficult for patients and doctors to get a full understanding of a person's health. \"There's a big promise in personalized learning, almost a Holy Grail.\"\n\nAlthough Kiddom isn't currently making any money, CEO Ahsan Rizvi says that revenue generation likely will include charging use fees to school districts for new products (its currently free tools will remain free).\n\nKiddom says that once 20% of teachers in a school are using its software tools, it usually takes six to seven months for the rest of the school to adopt.\n\n\"Memorizing content is not what makes students successful,\" argues Abby Griffy, an instructional supervisor for Marshall County School District in Kentucky. Griffy's district began using Kiddom earlier this year as part of an effort to overhaul its approach and shift away from its previous focus on standardized tests. It also still uses software from some of Kiddom's competitors.\n\nOne of the district's main goals is to better prepare students for jobs and educational pursuits after high school\u2014to \"instill 21st Century skills in them,\" Griffy says.\n\nOne of Kiddom's most compelling features, for Griffy and Marshall County's school district, is the ability to match student assignments and work to education standards. For this, the company is using content from a dozen providers, such as Khan Academy and PBS Learning Media, and uses machine learning to analyze the school work.\n\nSince it began these efforts, standardized tests scores have dropped, says Griffy, though administrators expected a dip as part of the transition.\n\nBut not all experts are convinced yet that tech-enabled personalized learning is an education panacea.\n\nPersonalized learning can require that teachers prepare more assignments and lesson plans, putting a strain on their already busy schedules.\n\nSome experts are concerned that the heavy use of computers for lessons and assignments can deprive students of skills like group collaboration. Asked for comment, Kiddom tells Axios that it views technology as a way to enhance interactions between the student and teacher, not as a replacement for it.\n\nThe Carpe Diem Collegiate High School and Middle School in Yuma, Ariz. was initially praised for its rows of cubes with computers for each student that produced higher standardized tests scores. However, the school struggled to retain students. Silicon Valley-based AltSchool also recently said it's scaling back its school operations to instead focus on selling its software.\n\nKiddom, which has only raised $6.5 million in funding, faces several better-capitalized competitors, including Google Classroom, Summit Learning Platform (330 schools in 40 states, backed by Mark Zuckerberg's philanthropic organization), and AltSchool ($174 million raised).\n\nGo deeper: Mother Jones recently looked into Summit Learning Platform and its parent company, a network of charter schools founded in 2003.\n\nEditor's Note: Sign up for Axios newsletters to get our smart brevity delivered to your inbox every morning.\n\nThe story has been updated to clarify that Khan Academy and others aren't formal partners.", "output": "US edtech Kiddom, which offers personalised free learning tools, said its software has been used in 70% of the country's school districts. CEO Ahsan Rizvi said the firm aims to start generating revenue by charging for new products. Kiddom's platform has been praised for enabling teachers to track\u00a0students' progress, monitor\u00a0the speed at which they learn\u00a0and match assignments to\u00a0education standards. Critics argue that\u00a0personalised learning increases teachers' workloads and moves students away from working as a group."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Drilling Systems releases 'on-rig' training simulator \n Drilling Systems has announced the release of its new \u2018On the Rig\u2019 (OTR) portable work-site simulator package. This advanced simulator provides flexible multi-discipline training modules and many other features to enable comprehensive training, development and personnel assessment in a fully mobile solution.\n\nIn an offshore environment, safety is of paramount importance. Operators face the challenge of ensuring skills and competencies are up to date and HSE targets met, while trying to meet increasing efficiency and operational performance goals. The OTR simulator addresses this challenge by providing high quality training without the need to leave the rig. Designed in a modular form, the system assesses and trains at every level of capability and can be used on multiple platform types across various operational disciplines.\n\nThe OTR system offers comprehensive training and competence modules for operations including well control, drilling practices, BOP landing, lower marine rising packages (LMRP) disconnects, managed pressure drilling, Drill-well-on-sim (DWOS), complex lifts, banksman, human factors/CRM, operational readiness, lifting and deck operations. Highly adaptable and easy to use, it can be used to put theory into practice and verify personnel competence for heightened on-site safety. It contains many years of experience about different scenarios and, as well as keeping personnel up to date with latest operational processes and procedures, enables training for emergency and other abnormal situations without any risk to safety. With 3D simulation and an easy to use learning management interface, the system provides both self-led or instructor supported learning in a way that helps personnel better retain information and learn how to apply theoretical knowledge.\n\nOTR is a highly adaptable simulation platform which combines training on technical and non-technical skills using an easy to use, app-style interface. The simulation platform has integrated competence assessment, which provides both student and instructor with clear progress indicators and feedback. Modules are split into volumes and chapters with pass or fail at each stage to ensure robust learning. To enable well-defined benchmarking and evaluation of skills, the OTR continuous learning, development and assessment capability are mapped against industry standards. Data capture and in-simulation assessment against position specific profiles for different rig roles provide managers with complete evaluation of skills levels and tracking of individual maturity progression.\n\nIan Hudson, CEO at Drilling Systems commented, \u201cThis new package was specifically developed to address the need for high quality training on the rig. From discussions with operators, we are convinced that this is the best way to increase safety with an improved learning experience for rig crews across multiple disciplines. Having this system on site and without the need to engage an instructor, personnel can keep themselves completely up to date with latest practices and skill levels. The integrated tracking within the system also means that managers can easily see and assess skill levels \u2013 making the whole skills management process much more efficient.\u201d\n\nUltimately, the OTR simulator package offers a new way for operators to efficiently manage accreditation, competency and value as part of daily operational activities. Without the need to leave the platform, skills can be regularly refreshed and latest procedures or new processes readily learned. Through this more integrated approach to the development and verification of skill levels, the OTR simulator can help reduce risks to safety from human error and enhance individual performance for greater operational efficiency \u2013 without overtly impacting on day to day operations.", "output": "Drilling Systems has released an \"On the Rig\" (OTR) portable work-site simulator package. The fully mobile solution uses\u00a03D simulations to delivery training and competence modules on well control, drilling practices, BOP landing, disconnects of lower marine rising packages, managed pressure drilling, drill-well-on-sim, complex lifts, banksman, human factors/CRM, operational readiness, lifting and deck operations."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wintershall deploys Emerson wireless downhole system on Maria \n Edit page New page Hide edit links\n\nThe Roxar Downhole Sensor System (illustration: Emerson)\n\nEmerson\u2019s latest Roxar Downhole Sensor System has been deployed on the Maria field offshore Norway, providing the field\u2019s operator Wintershall with improved well integrity monitoring and offshore safety. The latest deployment of the system \u2013 a wireless solution that delivers crucial integrity data and measures online and real-time pressure and temperature information from behind the casing in subsea production wells \u2013 follows the successful deployment of several dozen systems in other fields over the past four years, all providing crucial data to offshore operators on the status of their well barriers and casing. The pressure and temperature monitoring system allows Wintershall to verify that the predicted pressure build-up falls within the design criteria, and an alarm trigger point is implemented in case pressures that are potentially outside the system design are reached.\n\nThe Roxar Downhole Sensor System also comes with new advances that enable operators to access online displays and trending of previously unreachable temperature and pressure subsurface data behind the well casing and achieve online integrity verification without any impact on production. The system, that has been tested at 225\u00b0 C/437\u00b0 F and can withstand pressures of up to 1,380 Bar/20,000 Psi, has already generated significant direct savings for operators, due to reduced testing requirements and more time to focus on production.\n\n\u201cAfter continued sales and further advances to the system, the Roxar Wireless Downhole Sensor Solution has reached full maturity,\u201d says Sturle Haaland, European sales director at Emerson Automation Solutions. \u201cThe system and its track record prove yet again that Emerson has the willingness and capabilities to respond to customers\u2019 specific demands and follow through with best-in-class technology and services to meet them. Operators will now have the information they need to make informed decisions on well integrity, adhere to regulatory requirements, ensure offshore safety, and enable their wells to produce at optimal levels.\u201d\n\nThe added knowledge on pressure and temperature dynamics delivered by the Roxar Downhole Sensor System\u2019s highly accurate quartz gauges in previously unreachable parts of the completion has also led to a better understanding and confidence in operators\u2019 well integrity strategies. The system ensures that wells meet integrity monitoring standards, such as API RP90 and NORSOK D-010. The system also has a Technology Readiness Level of TRL7 as per API RP 17N \u201cRecommended Practices for Subsea Production System Reliability, Technical Risk and Integrity Management.\u201d", "output": "Wintershall is using Emerson\u2019s latest Roxar Downhole Sensor System at the Maria field offshore Norway, with the aim of improving well integrity monitoring and offshore safety. The wireless system measures online and real-time pressure and temperature information from behind the casing in subsea production wells, allowing Wintershall to verify that predicted pressure build-up is within the design criteria, and to notify engineers if it falls outside them. The system has been tested at 225\u00a0C and can withstand pressures of up to 1,380 Bar."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Canadian banks invest in Montreal-based AI innovation labs \n BMO Financial group is to inject $2 million into a new AI lab in Montreal that will aim to help startups make the transition from science projects to high-growth companies.\n\nThe bank is working with Creative Destruction Lab on a new programme in Montreal that will usher 28 artificial intelligence startups through a six-month accelerator programme.\n\n\n\n\"The CDL-Montreal programme represents a stimulant challenge, not only for our startup companies but also for all the partners involved in this innovative project,\" says Fil Papich, co-head BMO Capital Markets, Quebec. \"HEC Montr\u00e9al's commitment to building bridges between BMO and the top emerging technology companies provides us with a valuable perspective on providing products and services that enable technology entrepreneurs to accomplish their business ventures.\"\n\n\n\nThe 28 firms selected for the cohort were whittled down from a list of 200 seed-stage applicants, the majority of already have a patent or are in the process of obtaining one. The six-month interneship will offer business and technology mentoring, equity opportunities, and business development partnerships.\n\n\n\nAndrew Irvine, head, Canadian Business Banking & BMO Partners, BMO Bank of Montreal. \"The talented entrepreneurs that we get the chance to work with through this programme have so much to offer to our industry. We look forward to collaborating with them and helping to provide opportunities that will enhance the financial technology landscape and ultimately provide a better customer experience.\"\n\n\n\nMontreal is fast becoming a hotbed for AI and data science startups. BMO's involvement in the CDL lab comes hot on the heels of an announcement by Broealis AI, an RBC Institute for Research, to open a new academic and research lab in the city early next year. RBC is also joining BMO in supporting the Creative Destruction Lab initiative.", "output": "Two leading Canadian banks are investing in a new project to support tech start-ups working on artificial intelligence (AI). The Bank of Montreal and the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) are working with Creative Destruction Lab on the CAD2m ($1.6m) programme in Montreal. A total of 28 firms were selected from 200 applicants to receive mentoring, equity support and business development to turn their technologies into profitable companies. The project expands the presence of AI research and development in the city, after Borealis AI, funded by RBC, announced it will open a research lab in the new year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Walmart testing autonomous floor-scrubbing robots \n Walmart has been testing autonomous floor-cleaning robots in five of its stores, LinkedIn reports. The floor scrubber, developed by Brain Corp., is equipped with cameras, sensors and LiDAR to help it maneuver down aisles and around obstacles. And it can largely navigate itself after first being driven by a person in order to learn its path.\n\nPhil Duffy, VP of innovation and marketing for Brain Corp., told Fox Business that the company's technology is in approximately 50 malls and retailers nationwide. \"We are also in airports, educational campuses, corporate campuses and industrial sites. In addition, we will be launching in Japan, through our partner, SoftBank Robotics, by summer 2018,\" he said.\n\nOf course, this type of technology leads some to wonder how many jobs will be on the line if it's adopted more widely. Walmart is also testing shelf-scanning robots that can look for misplaced items, check prices and note inventory levels. However, the company insists that both are meant to complement its workforce, not replace it, and their use would allow Walmart staff to focus on other aspects of their jobs. A Walmart spokesperson told Fox, \"The maintenance team is actually quite excited to work with new technology like this.\" But that doesn't seem to apply to everyone. As one Walmart employee told LinkedIn, \"Nobody in my store likes it.\"", "output": "US retailer Walmart is amongst a number of companies testing autonomous robots to clean floors in their stores. Developed by artificial intelligence (AI) start-up Brain Corp, the robots can navigate down aisles after first being driven by a human to learn the route. They then use sensors and cameras to help them avoid obstacles when operating independently. Brain Corp says the technology is being used in over 50 shopping centres, airports and other venues across the country. In association with their partner, SoftBank robotics, they plan to expand into Japan next year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BMW proposes AI-managed electric bike roads to ease traffic \n In some cities, the most common electric vehicles are likely to be two-wheelers like bikes and motorcycles. But cities aren't really designed for them -- you have to compete with cars on the road and at charging stations. BMW and Tongji University think they can do better: they've developed a concept, Vision E3 Way, that gives e-bike riders their own roads. The paths would be safer and reduce traffic congestion, as you might expect, but they'd also take advantage of the electric nature of the vehicles to make two-wheel riding more accessible.\n\nThe routes would typically sit above regular roads, and would be decidedly cozier thanks to covering and a cooling system driven by purified rainwater. An automatic speed limit (in the concept, about 15.5MPH) and AI-driven traffic management would prevent the faster vehicles from crashing into scooters. And you might not even need to own a machine to use it -- BMW envisions a rental system where you'd pick up a bike at an access point if you need to get across town in a hurry.\n\nYou won't necessarily see something like this in markets where cars dominate, like North America. A system like Vision E3 Way could be very useful in countries like China, however. It's not just that many more people ride bikes in these areas -- it's that high population densities could necessitate separate, automated roads to keep traffic flowing. The challenge is getting cities to take up the idea. Even if these roadways don't cost much to build, it's no mean feat to significantly alter the urban landscape.", "output": "BMW has developed plans for an elevated roadway for electric bikes to help reduce road congestion, make riding safer and reduce air pollution in cities. The Vision E3 Way concept has been developed in association with Tongji University in Shanghai, and is thought to be most suitable for adoption in Chinese cities. The new roadways would be situated above existing roads, and use artificial intelligence (AI) traffic management to regulate speeds and prevent accidents. The proposal includes the provision of rental bikes to increase accessibility to the lanes."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sugar industry accused of manipulating research like tobacco \n New evidence shows the sugar industry suppressed scientific research that linked sugar to heart disease and bladder cancer in rats.\n\nThe Sugar Research Foundation, the group funding the studies, cut the project short and didn't publish the results.\n\nNutritionists caution that sugar, not fat, is largely to blame for many of the problems in our modern diets.\n\n\n\nFor decades, sugar lobbyists have been taking aim at studies linking sugar and cancer.\n\nWhen a study last year found that mice on sugar-heavy diets were more likely to develop breast cancer, the Sugar Association, one of the biggest sugar lobbying groups in the US, called it \u201csensationalized.\u201d The group insists that \u201cno credible link between ingested sugars and cancer has been established.\u201d\n\nBut doctors and researchers claim the sugar industry may have been intentionally keeping research about that link from getting published. A new study in the journal PLOS Biology reveals how the Sugar Association worked to suppress scientific findings on the harmful effects of table sugar on rodents nearly 50 years ago.\n\nThe report details the results of two unpublished studies, known as Project 259, which were funded by the sugar lobby in the late 1960s. Both involved research on the effects of feeding sugar to rats.\n\nIn the first study, one group of rats was fed a balanced diet of cereal, beans, fish and yeast, while the other rats were given a high-sugar diet. The researchers found that the sugar eaters were at greater risk for strokes, heart attacks and heart disease, and had higher-than-normal levels of fat (triglycerides) in their blood.\n\nThe second study compared sugar-fed rats with starch-fed rats and found that the sugar-eating rodents were more likely to have elevated levels of an enzyme associated with bladder cancer in humans.\n\nNone of that rodent research saw the light of day, though. The Sugar Research Foundation cut Project 259 short and didn\u2019t publish any of the results.\n\n\"Our study contributes to a wider body of literature documenting industry manipulation of science,\" the researchers, who hail from the University of California San Francisco, wrote in their report.\n\nIn a statement, the Sugar Association denied that allegation, saying the new study is just \"a collection of speculations and assumptions about events that happened nearly five decades ago, conducted by a group of researchers and funded by individuals and organizations that are known critics of the sugar industry.\"\n\n\"We reviewed our research archives and found documentation that the study in question ended for three reasons, none of which involved potential research findings: the study was significantly delayed; it was consequently over budget; and the delay overlapped with an organizational restructuring,\" the group said.\n\nBut this is not the first time we\u2019ve learned that \u2018big sugar\u2019 has gotten in the way of science. Last year, some of the same researchers found that the Sugar Research Foundation \u2014 the former name of the Sugar Association \u2014 paid off three Harvard scientists in 1967 to make sugar seem less unhealthy and suggest that fat was the problem in our diets instead.\n\n\"The kind of manipulation of research is similar to what the tobacco industry does,\" study co-author Stanton Glantz said in a release.\n\nDecades of research on sugar since Project 259 have linked sugar consumption to a glut of serious health problems, including high cholesterol, heart disease, and kidney disease, to name a few. Recent research also suggests that sugar may play a role in tumor growth, but scientists don't think it makes cancer grow faster, and still aren't certain whether sugar consumption has any link to cancer formation.\n\nAfter years of fueling up on high-sugar, low fat foods, consumers are finally becoming wise to the problems with sugar that were hidden for so many years. And the US Food and Drug Administration is, too \u2014 by 2021, all nutrition labels will have to include the percent daily value of added sugars for the first time, while the \"calories from fat\" column will get scrubbed.", "output": "The US Sugar Research Foundation (now the Sugar Association) intentionally kept research from the 1960s linking sugar and heart disease and bladder cancer in rats, from being published, claim researchers from the University of California San Francisco. They likened the manipulation of research to practices used by tobacco firms. Some of the researchers also claimed last year that in 1967 the lobby group paid three Harvard scientists to portray fat as the problem, not sugar. The Sugar Association denied the allegations of the new study, which it\u00a0said was conducted and funded by known industry critics.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China Merchants gets approval to buy Brazil's lucrative port TCP \n Want to read more before deciding on a subscription? It only takes a minute to sign up for a free account and you\u2019ll get to enjoy:\n\nWeekly newsletters providing valuable news and information on the ports and terminals sector\n\nFull access to our news archive\n\nLive and archived webinars, podcasts and videos\n\nArticles on innovations and current trends in the ports and terminals industry\n\nOur extensive archive of data, research and intelligence\n\nGet more free content sign up today\n\nReady to subscribe? Choose from one of our subscription packages for unlimited access!", "output": "Brazil's competition regulator has given unrestricted approval for China Merchants Port Holdings (CMPH) to buy its port operator TCP Participa\u00e7\u00f5es. CMPH was looking to buy a 90% stake in TCP, which is Brazil's most profitable container terminal, for $887m as part of a Latin American expansion. CMPH is also planning\u00a0to invest up to $1.12bn\u00a0in developing and running a major port in Sri Lanka.\u00a0As we\u00a0highlighted in July, China is investing heavily in overseas ports\u00a0to increase its maritime power and open up new shipping routes."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Alibaba's Taobao online auctions finally shift Boeing 747s \n Fancy an airplane to go with your clothes, toys and groceries? Chinese online shopping platform Taobao just sold two.\n\nThree Boeing 747 cargo aircraft went under the hammer this week on the popular site, which is owned by Chinese internet behemoth Alibaba (BABA).\n\nChinese logistics giant SF Express bought two of the planes for a combined total of more than 320 million yuan ($48.3 million), an Alibaba spokeswoman told CNNMoney. The third 747 went unsold in the online auction, as only one interested buyer signed up.\n\nRelated: $24 billion in 24 hours: World's biggest shopping day sets new record\n\nSix offline auctions over the last two years had apparently failed to unearth buyers for the aircraft, but they were quickly snapped up after being listed with Taobao on Monday.\n\nThe sale comes as Boeing (BA) winds down production of the 747 -- once the world's largest passenger plane -- citing low demand. It has already stopped making new passenger versions of the jet, but will continue making cargo planes for at least a few years.\n\nAlibaba said the three jets previously belonged to Jade Cargo International, a freight carrier that filed for bankruptcy in 2013.\n\nThey were listed on a special section of Taobao where bankrupt companies can auction off assets. Potential buyers were asked to shell out a 6.7 million yuan ($1 million) deposit to take part in the auction.\n\nRelated: It's not just Amazon: Chinese tech giants are selling groceries too\n\nPerhaps unsurprisingly, this appears to be the first time an aircraft of this size has been sold on Taobao. Back in 2013, the platform began selling light aircraft online.\n\nIn recent months the company has been pushing into new lines of business, such as selling groceries at traditional brick-and-mortar stores.\n\nWhile impressive, the Boeing 747 sale doesn't come close to matching a record set by eBay (EBAY), one of Alibaba's big global rivals, more than a decade ago. A 405-foot pleasure boat known as the \"Gigayacht\", was sold for $168 million on the site in 2006.\n\n-- Steven Jiang contributed to this report.", "output": "Three Boeing 747 cargo aeroplanes went up for auction on Alibaba's Taobao online platform this week, with Chinese logistics company SF Express buying two of them for a total of CNY320m ($48.3m) and the third going unsold. Over the past two years, six offline auctions failed to shift the aircraft; however, they were quickly bought once listed on the popular online platform. As we have highlighted, Alibaba has been moving into new areas of business over the past few months, such as buying up bricks-and-mortar retail shops.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China pursues Myanmar peace role to protect its investments \n The world's second-largest economy raised its hand this week to help halt the ongoing ethnic cleansing in Myanmar. But it's not just altruism: China has an eye on ensuring stability for its hefty investments in the region.\n\nIn the wake of rising brutality against Rohingya Muslims, an ethnic minority in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, China proposed a three-point plan to resolve a crisis that threatens to bring a return of U.S. sanctions to the former military dictatorship.\n\nThe proposal involves a cease-fire, repatriation of refugees from neighboring Bangladesh and talks for a long-term solution to improve economic prosperity in the northern Burmese state of Rakhine, where the Rohingya are largely based. As one of Myanmar's poorest provinces, Rakhine is also the site of a special economic zone currently being built by a China-led consortium.\n\nBased in Kyaukpyu, one of Rakhine's major towns, the zone includes a $7.3 billion deep sea port, oil and gas pipelines that will run from Rakhine's coast to China's Yunnan province and a $2.3 billion industrial park.\n\nIt's not unusual for Beijing to intervene in Burmese domestic affairs \u2014 China has previously played a mediating role in Myanmar's Kachin and Shan states, areas also struck by ethnic strife. But the Asian giant's latest diplomatic initiative has a clear business agenda, analysts said.\n\n\"It is fair to say that commercial interests are at play, China has significant investments in Rakhine state, the center of the crisis,\" said Nick Marro, China analyst at The Economist Intelligence Unit.", "output": "China is stepping in to try and halt the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Myanmar's Rohingya minority, primarily to ensure stability for its major investments in the region.\u00a0\"It is fair to say that commercial interests are at play,\" said Nick Marro\u00a0at The Economist Intelligence Unit. \"China has significant investments in Rakhine state, the center of the crisis.\"\u00a0The Myanmar government has\u00a0brutally suppressed\u00a0the minority muslim group in the country's north.\u00a0China has proposed a three-point strategy to put an end to the crisis and stop any threat of a return of US sanctions to Myanmar.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nebraska reassess active/passive asset mix \n Nebraska Investment Council, Lincoln, restructured the overall equity portfolio in the defined benefit plan and cash balance plan it oversees, moving to 100% active management in global equities and 100% passive management in international equities, said Michael Walden-Newman, state investment officer, in an email.\n\nThe council, which oversees $26.2 billion in assets including the $11.8 billion defined benefit plan and $2.1 billion cash balance plan, approved changes to those plans' equity allocations at its meeting Monday. The council increased global equity to 19% from 15%, and decreased domestic equity to 27% from 29% and international equity to 11.5% from 13.5%. The overall target allocation to equity remains unchanged at 57.5%.\n\nGlobal equity will change to a 100% active portfolio from its current 75% active/25% passive construction. In council meeting materials, a presentation from investment consultant Aon Hewitt Investment Consulting said staff and the consultant \"believe that global mandates provide a more fertile hunting ground for 'alpha' than region-specific (e.g., 'international' or 'emerging market') mandates.\"\n\nInternational equity, meanwhile, will change to a 100% passive portfolio from a 57.5% passive/42.5% active mix because \"staff and AHIC do not believe that active management in non-U.S. is the most efficient use of our active risk,\" according to the presentation. Domestic equity will remain unchanged at 90% passive/10% active.\n\nNo new managers are being hired as a result of the changes. Despite the additional assets being allocated to active global equity, the council will not hire additional managers. The meeting materials said fewer active managers \"reduces the potential that managers will take off-setting active positions, thus creating a 'closet index' with active management fees.\"\n\nIn global equities, the council is terminating BlackRock from its $502 million passive global equity portfolio and reallocating to the four existing active managers: Arrowstreet Capital to $864 million from $602 million; Dodge & Cox to $610 million from $301 million; MFS Investment Management to $801 million from $401 million and Wellington Management to $267 million from $201 million. The remaining additional funding for the active managers is from the international and domestic equity reductions.\n\nIn international equities, the council is terminating active managers Baillie Gifford and Gryphon International Investment from their respective portfolios of $316 million and $452 million and increasing BlackRock's passive portfolio to $1.54 billion from $1.04 billion.\n\nIn domestic equities, BlackRock's passive portfolio is being decreased to $3.25 billion from $3.49 billion and Dimensional Fund's Advisors' active portfolio to $361 million from $388 million.", "output": "Nebraka Investment Council has restructured its equity portfolio. The council's defined benefit will now cover all of its global equity holdings in actively managed strategies and all of its international holdings in passive offerings. The institution\u00a0is not hiring any new investment managers despite the changes. Previously, passive management accounted for 25% of Nebraska's global equity strategies. Active management previously accounted for 42.5% of the firm's international stock exposure. Nebraska has 90% of its domestic equity exposure in passive strategies.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon to take 122,000 sq ft at WeWork's NYC Herald Square site\u00a0\u00a0 \n Amazon agreed to sign a membership deal for all desks in the WeWork space at 2 Herald Square, a Midtown office building that has been on the brink of foreclosure, sources told The Real Deal.\n\nThe e-commerce giant is taking over the full 122,000-square-foot space and some employees have already begun working there, sources said. WeWork, which has the address of 950 Sixth Avenue on the eastern side of the 11-story, 354,000-square-foot building, signed a lease there late last year.\n\nMultiple sources also said Amazon is negotiating to lease part of the building\u2019s retail component. Avison Young has been marketing 59,000 square feet of vacant retail space there. Victoria\u2019s Secret is the building\u2019s only retail tenant.\n\nSitt Asset Management and more than 80 investors own the property, which has been facing a flurry of troubles \u2013 a family ownership dispute, a defaulted senior mortgage and the long-delayed sale of the leasehold. Paramount Group, which has a preferred-equity position in the building, has held off on its plans to take control of the leasehold, even as foreclosure looms.\n\nSign Up for the undefined Newsletter SIGN UP By signing up, you agree to TheRealDeal Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.\n\nSL Green Realty, which owns the $250 million leasehold mortgage, was expected to begin foreclosure proceedings in October. Sources said the real estate investment trust is still planning that move.\n\nWeWork declined to comment, and Amazon and Avison Young could not be reached.\n\nWeWork struck a similar deal earlier this year with IBM, which signed for an entire WeWork building at 88 University Place.\n\nAmazon, meanwhile, is growing rapidly in New York City. The company, which has a market cap of nearly $550 billion, signed a 15-year lease for 359,000 square feet at Brookfield Property Partners\u2019 5 Manhattan West and struck a deal for a 855,000-square-foot distribution warehouse on Staten Island.", "output": "Amazon has closed on a membership deal for all the available desk space at the WeWork facility at 2 Herald Square, a New York midtown building that had been at risk of foreclosure. The 122,000 sq ft premises was leased to WeWork in 2016. Amazon is also said to be in talks to lease 59,000 sq ft of retail space in the building. At present, the sole tenant is Victoria\u2019s Secret. The building is owned by Sitt Asset Management, alongside more than\u00a080 investors."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Signs of flowing water on Mars likely to be false \n Two years ago, NASA made a big splash when it announced the discovery of flowing water on the surface of Mars. But it turns out, the space agency might have been wrong. The surface features that NASA thought were made up of liquid water may actually be flowing grains of sand instead, according to new research from the US Geological Survey. And that could decrease the chances of microbial life living on the Red Planet.\n\nThe features in question are dark streaks that show up periodically on Martian hills, known as recurring slope lineae, or RSLs. When one of NASA\u2019s spacecraft, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, studied these lines more closely, it found that the RSLs were made up of hydrated salts \u2014 meaning they were mixed with water molecules. At the time, NASA thought that was significant evidence that flowing liquid water caused these bizarre streaks.\n\n\u201cMars still has water now, it just might be in fewer accessible places.\u201d\n\nBut researchers at the USGS say these features look identical to certain types of slopes found on sand dunes here on Earth. Those slopes are caused by dry grains of sand flowing downhill, without the help of any water. It\u2019s possible the same thing is happening on Mars, too. Since liquid water is key for life here on Earth, many thought these strange lines of flowing water may help support life on the Martian surface. But now these RSLs may not be the best place to look for life anymore.\n\nOf course, it\u2019s still possible that life could exist on Mars, but researchers may want to focus on other places, like under the surface. It\u2019s thought that liquid water exists underground, where it\u2019s a bit warmer and easier for water to stay a liquid. \u201cMars still has water now, it just might be in fewer accessible places,\u201d Michael Meyer, the lead scientist for NASA\u2019s Mars Exploration Program, tells The Verge.\n\nRecurring slope lineae on the walls of Garni Crater on Mars. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona\n\nThe RSLs seemed to contain water because of the weird way they behave: the streaks seem to seep down the hills, a bit like water trickling downward. That, and they grow thicker in the warmer months. While Mars is pretty frigid, its temperatures can exceed -9 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer, making the surface a bit more accommodating for water. In fact, water on Mars is thought to contain a type of salt called perchlorates that can make it easier for water to exist as a liquid at colder temperatures. Scientists thought that maybe the warm summers allowed this salty water to flow.\n\nBut the USGS thinks there\u2019s another explanation for how the streaks form: researchers studied the shapes of 151 RSLs and found that all of them are located on slopes steeper than 27 degrees. But the flows appear to stop when the slopes become less steep \u2014 which water wouldn\u2019t do. Instead, the RSLs all seem to form at slopes similar to what you\u2019d find with piles of sand on Earth, according to lead study author Colin Dundas. Plus, the dark streaks seem to flow out of the tops of the hills, but water probably wouldn\u2019t sprout out of the the tops of slopes at these angles, he says. Instead, the water would probably start flowing out somewhere farther down the slope.\n\n\u201cThis suggests there isn\u2019t a large amount of liquid water associated with RSLs.\u201d\n\nResearchers still think that what the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter found is solid, and that hydrated salts are involved. But they\u2019re probably not as wet as NASA originally thought. \u201cThis suggests there isn\u2019t a large amount of liquid water associated with RSLs,\u201d Dundas, a research geologist with the USGS, tells The Verge. \u201cThere may be a small amount of liquid water involved... but this is pointing to a relatively dry mechanism.\u201d", "output": "Images thought by NASA to show flowing water on the surface of Mars may actually show a torrent of flowing sand, reducing the likelihood of life taking root there, according to research from the US Geological Survey. \u201cMars still has water now, it just might be in fewer accessible places,\u201d said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA\u2019s Mars Exploration Program. \u201cThere are lots of things that speak to Mars at least having the potential for life early on\u201d, said Meyer. \u201cAnd if it did happen, it has the potential for life hidden deep down below the surface\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple admits China students were illegally overworked on iPhone X  \n High-school students hired to assemble iPhone X devices by Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn \u2014 rushing to meet holiday demand for the new smartphone \u2014 illegally worked overtime hours at a plant in China, Apple has acknowledged.\n\nAccording to a report Tuesday by the Financial Times, at least six students from a group of 3,000 from a vocational school sent to work at the iPhone X factory in Zhengzhou, China, said they worked 11-hour days, in violation of local labor laws barring students from working more than 40 hours per week.\n\nIn a statement, Apple said, \u201cDuring the course of a recent audit, we discovered instances of student interns working overtime at a supplier facility in China. We\u2019ve confirmed the students worked voluntarily, were compensated and provided benefits, but they should not have been allowed to work overtime.\u201d\n\nThe tech company also said, \u201cApple is dedicated to ensuring everyone in our supply chain is treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. We know our work is never done and we\u2019ll continue to do all we can to make a positive impact and protect workers in our supply chain.\u201d\n\nThe iPhone is Apple\u2019s most critical product line, representing 55% of revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30. The company beat Wall Street forecasts for the period thanks to a bump in iPhone sales.\n\nApple said demand for the iPhone X, which began shipping this month, was \u201coff the charts\u201d but according to several reports it was forced to cut the expected number of units produced in 2017 by as much as half. The iPhone X \u2014 priced starting at $1,000, it\u2019s Apple\u2019s most expensive smartphone ever \u2014 has a nearly full edge-to-edge 5.8-inch screen, an advanced camera system, and a new facial-recognition feature used to unlock the device.\n\n\u201cWe couldn\u2019t be more excited as we begin to deliver our vision for the future with this stunning device,\u201d Apple CEO Tim Cook said about the iPhone X (with the \u201cX\u201d pronounced \u201cten\u201d) on the company\u2019s quarterly earnings call.\n\nApple and its suppliers have come under fire multiple times in past years for mistreatment of workers at Chinese manufacturing facilities, with reports of overcrowded factory dorms and excessive labor hours.\n\nIn 2010, Foxconn experienced a wave of suicides and suicide attempts among its workforce, and in 2011 an explosion at Foxconn\u2019s iPad plant in Chengdu, China, killed four people. In 2014, a BBC investigative report found Apple\u2019s standards for protecting workers at Chinese facilities were being violated.\n\nPictured above: An ad for the iPhone X in Beijing, where the smartphone went on sale Nov. 3.", "output": "Apple has admitted that student interns hired in China by sub-contractor Foxconn to assemble its iPhone X were\u00a0illegally overworked. The students toiled for more than 11 hours a day in\u00a0the Zhengzhou\u00a0factory, in breach of local labour laws that prohibit\u00a0them from\u00a0working more than 40 hours a week.\u00a0The company and its suppliers have come under scrutiny multiple times before over mistreatment of Chinese workers, facing\u00a0accusations of overcrowding and excessive work hours.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian police mull firing chilli powder from drones to quell mobs \n AURANGABAD \u2014 A team of four police constables-turned-drone operators, led by inspector Hemant Todkar, in Aurangabad\u2019s cyber crime department will form India\u2019s first anti-crime dedicated drone squad when it formally launches in few weeks in this Maharashtra city.\n\nAurangabad police isn\u2019t the first to use drones in policing globally or in India but a unique Indian use case developed by the squad \u2013 the proposed sprinkling of concentrated chilli powder through drones to control unruly mobs \u2013 is a first. It is perhaps patent-worthy, too, says Yashasvi Yadav, an IIT graduate who is the police commissioner of Aurangabad.\n\nThe drone squad will have four drones and will carry up to 2 kg of chilli concentrate. These drones will fly back to the command centre before their batteries drain out or there\u2019s any other emergency, all controlled using software.\n\n\u201dOur officers will fly drones like pros playing video games. We have a back-to-home feature too, whereby drones will come back to the starting point if they run out of battery or there\u2019s an emergency or they run out of chilli powder.\u201d Yadav did not mention the name of the drones manufacturer but it is likely to be of Chinese make and will cost around Rs 15 lakh for four of them.\n\n\n\nYadav, who is betting on drones as the latest crime-fighting tool, says there are three immediate applications to be carried out when the drone squad formally launches in few weeks: monitoring and managing unruly mobs by spraying chilli powder, reaching the crime scene and relaying live imagery for identifying criminals, and traffic management.\n\n\u201cThe biggest problem we are trying to solve is disbursal of unlawful assembly (of people). The problem in India is that for every small or big issues, there are agitations and marches and many of them turn violent. They make allegations against police, there are riots, damages done to public property and so on,\u201d Yadav says.\n\nThe drones will be a deterrent, the commissioner says. \u201cWith drones watching and tracking, the mobsters will think twice before creating trouble.\u201d\n\nThe video evidence, further, will be as good as it gets in a court of law, Yadav adds. \u201cIn a way, it will be unimpeachable evidence. Right now, we are relying on witnesses who sometimes turn hostile because of threats or even insensitivity.\u201d\n\nThere are plans to add a dye solution to the drone payload, too, to identify the rioters. \u201cWe are going to be putting dye in chilli powder so that whoever is part of an unlawful assembly gets marked. Later, after arrest, that person cannot claim he was not part of the assembly,\u201d Yadav says.\n\nAs reported by Times of India\u2019s Aurangabad crime reporter Mohammed Akhef earlier this year, the drone experiments started in May itself.\n\n\n\nPolice teams in the US have been using drones for rescue and search operations, traffic management, crime scene analysis, crowd monitoring and so on, according to Dronefly. The instances of drones helping nab criminals in the US has prompted tech-savvy officers such as Yadav to explore newer applications in India.\n\nIn India, there have been efforts to track illegal fishing in national reserves and to catch sand mining smugglers.\n\n\u201cPolicing in india has become a very herculean, difficult and complex task because of burgeoning population, multiple faiths and their festivals. Whenever we used to discuss these issues with our officers and experts, it was mostly about better infrastructure and the police to public ratio, which effectively means increasing the number of policemen,\u201d says Yadav.\n\n\u201cNow india\u2019s population is so huge that if you go by the western standards, we might have to increase the force by at least ten times from where we are today, which is impossible given the costs involved.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s also a human factor, which results in mistakes and other complexities; drones negate those issues.\u201d\n\nAurangabad\u2019s anti-crime drone squad is taking wings after India announced a draft policy framework for use of drones in the country that will encourage the commercial use of drones in areas as diverse as construction to agriculture, industrial monitoring to photography, disaster management to physical deliveries \u2014 potentially giving rise to a new industry that could generate millions of dollars in revenues and thousands of jobs.\n\nThe chilly drones\n\nCommissioner Yadav\u2019s love for drones goes back to the year 2015 when he was the superintendent of police in Lucknow, the state capital of Uttar Pradesh, India\u2019s largest state. Back then, he used drones as part of a pilot to monitor crowds in festivals such as Muharram. But, the experiment only used mild pepper spray.\n\nFacial recognition and automatic number plate capturing technologies were also deployed in Lucknow along with CCTV cameras resulting in a reduction of prevailing crime rates by over 60%, Yadav claims. \u201cI\u2019ve always thought that technology could be a good force multiplier.\u201d\n\nIn August this year, Yadav and his team in Aurangabad piloted drones for monitoring and managing festive crowd during the \u201cGanesh Chaturthi\u201d festival, during which idols of the Hindu God Ganesha are immersed in water bodies by crowds of devotees.\n\nThe chilli powder to be used in the drones is being developed at a chemical lab in Aurangabad.\n\n\u201cWe concentrate chilli powder in a chemical lab, where effectiveness of the powder is increased by 3 to 4 times. The drones are going to be fitted with a pump which will spray chilli concentrate on unruly mob. It\u2019s non lethal and no permanent damage is caused,\u201d he says. \u201cWe have finished live experiments with drones, included on our own cops.\u201d\n\nDuring the pilot in August this year in Aurangabad, Todkar and his team used only two drones, primarily for monitoring crowd activity from 10 am to midnight on the day of idol immersion.\n\n\n\n\u201cThere were no incidents and the drones were helpful in monitoring localised activities,\u201d says Todkar, a mathematics graduate who\u2019s been working in Aurangabad\u2019s cyber crime department for one and half years.\n\nFor all the promised benefits in fighting crime using drones by police teams, sceptics are worried about the potential misuse and invasion of privacy by the handlers.\n\n\u201cEven with chilli powder concentrate, these are kind of weaponised drones. Who is going to be accountable, who will ensure their rightful use?\u201d asks a former superintendent of police from Karnataka who had evaluated use of drones couple of years ago. He requested anonymity because he didn\u2019t want to upset his former colleagues.\n\n\u201cLike with many surveillance tools, even drones can be used for visual snooping, perhaps much more effectively and mischievously than anything else,\u201d he added.\n\n\n\nFor his part, Yadav sees drones as replacing conventional ways of managing unruly mobs in a \u201cnon-lethal\u201d way.\n\n\u201cThe only alternative for drones right now, is \u201clathi charge\u201d because tear gas shells are totally ineffective. In fact, the rioters pick up the shells and throw them back at the cops. Also, for \u201clathi charge\u201d to be effective, police should outnumber the mob, which is generally not the case and the cops get beaten when the crowd is bigger. Another option is to use rubber bullets, but it can be lethal. Third is using real bullets. Drones are a non-lethal replacement for all of them,\u201d argues Yadav.\n\nAurangabad Police has a workforce of some 4,000 to police a city population of some 1.5 million.\n\nFinally, drones can go where no cops can, at least at the speed at which they can respond. When someone calls the police helpline number, depending on the severity of a crime, the drone squad can be activated.\n\n\u201cA drone can reach fastest to a scene of crime. If there\u2019s a robbery or dacoity complaint, drones can reach the crime scene, lock the target and follow them wherever they go, or escape. It will be on automated locking mode. We will know the exact location, vehicle details, unless there\u2019s a big obstruction in the line of sight,\u201d says Yadav.", "output": "Police in the cyber crime department of India's\u00a0Aurangabad city\u00a0are\u00a0mulling patenting a system to fire concentrated chilli powder\u00a0from its new fleet of\u00a0four drones to quell public uprisings.\u00a0The drones will carry up to 2 kg of chemically engineered chilli concentrate and be controlled from a command centre. The vehicles\u00a0will likely be provided by a Chinese manufacturer and used for monitoring and managing unruly gatherings, inspecting crime scenes, capturing live footage\u00a0and managing traffic.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "InventoryBase aims to increase transparency for inspection checks \n A new petition, which has been created by the AIIC, aims to encourage the government to consider the benefits of mandatory inventory reporting as part of its plans to increase regulation of the Private Rented Sector.\n\nAn independent inventory ensures that there is no room for ambiguity during the check-in and check-out procedures, which in turn dramatically reduces the number of deposit disputes, according to InventoryBase, which provides cloud-based property inspection software.\n\nInventoryBase has announced that it is supporting the Association of Independent Inventory Clerks (AIIC) in their bid for mandatory inventories for all private residential tenancies.\n\nAlongside the ongoing high-profile consultation on the leasehold and management sector, there is currently a review into improving the quality of the sector being carried out by an all-party Communities & Local Government Select Committee of MPs.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s clear the government is keen to increase regulation and professionalism in the letting sector and we see no reason why mandatory inventory reporting should not be a part of this movement,\u201d said Danny Zane, joint chair of the AIIC.\n\nCompulsory tenancy deposit protection was introduced in 2007, but there has never been any additional legislation concerning the documentary evidence required to enable adjudicators to adequately arbitrate on disputes.\n\nSteve Rad, managing director of InventoryBase, commented: \u201cWe think it\u2019s great that The AIIC have decided to take a step forward in making such a needed change within the industry. We deal with many different providers of lettings and see the importance every day of having reports of a good standard for the benefit of both tenant and landlord.\u201d\n\nYou can review and sign the petition by clicking here.\n\nWant to comment on this story? If so...if any post is considered to victimise, harass, degrade or intimidate an individual or group of individuals on any basis, then the post may be deleted and the individual immediately banned from posting in future.", "output": "InventoryBase, a provider of cloud-based property inspection software, is supporting the Association of Independent Inventory Clerks' (AIIC) bid for mandatory inventories for all private residential tenancies in the UK. While mandatory tenancy deposit protection was introduced in 2007, legislation hasn't been introduced regarding the recording of inventory. The AIIC hopes to capitalise on an ongoing review into the quality of the sector by a cross-party government committee. \u201cWe think it\u2019s great that The AIIC have decided to take a step forward in making such a needed change within the industry\", said Steve Rad, managing director of InventoryBase.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "German onshore wind tender sees price drop to \u20ac38.2/MWh \n Germany\u2019s Federal Network Agency announced today it has awarded 1,000.4 MW of capacity in a heavily oversubscribed wind tender that saw the average price decrease to EUR 38.2 (USD 44.85) per MWh.\n\nThe network regulator, also known as the Bundesnetzagetur, approved a total of 61 onshore wind projects after receiving 210 bids for a total of 2,591 MW. About 98% of the successful bids came from citizens\u2019 cooperatives.\n\nThe states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg got the largest number of successful bids -- 17 and 16, respectively. Each of the two states will see 270 MW of wind turbines be deployed.\n\nThis is Germany\u2019s third onshore wind auction this year. The average successful bid in the second tender, held in August, arrived at EUR 42.9/MWh, while that in the first one amounted to EUR 57.1/MWh.\n\n(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.174)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Germany\u2019s Federal Network Agency has awarded 1,000 MW of clean energy capacity at an average price of \u20ac38.2 ($44.85)/MWh in its latest onshore wind auction, the third this year. The average price in the first auction was \u20ac57.1/MWh, falling to \u20ac42.9/MWh in the second one. Almost all of the 210 bids came from citizens\u2019 co-operatives and the regulator approved 61 of them. More than half of the successful projects are in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg \u2013 17 and 16, respectively, totalling 270 MW each."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Investigation launched into Uber's $100,000 hack cover-up \n New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has opened an investigation into Uber\u2019s concealment of a data breach in 2016, according to a report.\n\n57 million riders and drivers were affected by a 2016 data breach, which Uber attempted to cover up by paying off the hackers to stay silent.\n\nUsernames, email addresses, and phone numbers were all exposed by the hack.\n\n\u201cThe revelation that Uber concealed a major 2016 data breach affecting 57 million users and paid hackers to destroy the evidence is yet another PR nightmare from Uber\u2019s darkest era, but it\u2019s also a major problem when it comes to state laws around data breach disclosure practices,\u201d reported Tech Crunch on Tuesday. \u201cIn light of Bloomberg\u2019s report, the office of New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman confirmed to TechCrunch that it has opened an investigation into the incident.\u201d\n\nTech Crunch also added that Uber could face problems in their home state of California for the attempted data breach cover up.\n\n\u201cGiven the New York Attorney General\u2019s interest in the latest Uber scandal, it follows that Uber will likely be in the hot seat in its home state of California, where under Civil Code 1798.82 businesses are required to disclose data breaches affecting more than 500 state residents to the Attorney General \u2018in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay\u2019,\u201d they explained.\n\nIn response to the incident, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi declared, \u201cNone of this should have happened, and I will not make excuses for it. We are changing the way we do business.\u201d\n\n\u201cAt the time of the incident, we took immediate steps to secure the data and shut down further unauthorized access by the individuals,\u201d he continued, adding, \u201cWe also implemented security measures to restrict access to and strengthen controls on our cloud-based storage accounts.\u201d\n\nThe investigation is the latest in a string of bad news for Uber. There have been numerous claims of sexual assault and harassment by Uber drivers, and last week, a lawsuit filed against Uber by two women who claim to have been sexually assaulted by Uber drivers claimed \u201cthousands of female passengers have endured unlawful conduct by their Uber drivers.\u201d\n\nUber has previously attacked Breitbart News, demanding its advertisements be removed from the website and declaring that the ridesharing company wants \u201cnothing to do\u201d with Breitbart News and its readers.\n\nCharlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington and Gab @Nash, or like his page at Facebook.", "output": "The New York State Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, has confirmed an investigation will be launched into the coverup of Uber's 2016 data breach, which affected 57 million users. The ride-hailing company paid $100,000 to silence the hackers. Uber has previously tangled with Schneiderman over the \"God View\" data abuse scandal, as well as over its failure to reveal a 2014 data breach. Uber is also set to face legal problems over the 2016 breach in California, where such events must be brought to the attention of the attorney general \"in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Eye-tracking device Senhance approved for surgical robotics \n Minimally invasive surgery has gotten a boost with the approval of a new robotically assisted surgical device.\n\nThe Senhance System builds on traditional laparoscopic surgery with ergonomic improvements and technological advancements. New eye-sensing technology tracks surgeons\u2019 pupils so they can pan throughout the surgical field using only eye movements. Surgeons also can zoom in or out by moving toward or away from the screen. Force feedback also helps surgeons feel whether the tissue they\u2019re grasping with the robotic arm is stiff or flexible.", "output": "TransEnterix has received approval for a robotically assisted surgical device that tracks the pupils of surgeons who are using it, enabling them to pan all over the surgical field using only eye movements. The Senhance System is the first new product in the abdominal surgical robotics market since 2000, said TransEnterix. The North Carolina firm carried out studies of 195 patients undergoing gynecological and colorectal procedures with the Senhance System in real-world settings. Outcomes were found to be comparable with the da Vinci Si Surgical System and thus met the approval criteria set by the Food and Drug Administration."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Marketing firm Hypetap poaches talent from\u00a0Pandora and Unruly \n The influencer marketing provider Hypetap has appointed its first Sydney hires with Nick Robson as its commercial director and Naz Fathi as sales manager.\n\nRobson will set up a team in Sydney and head the company\u2019s sales division with a focus on growing Hypetap\u2019s current client portfolio, maintaining relationships with existing clients, as well as identifying partnership opportunities.\n\nPrior to joining Hypetap, Robson was executive group sales director at ad-tech company, Unruly. He was the company\u2019s first employee in Australia and responsible for the post-merger integration of Unruly\u2019s sales teams with News Corp Australia when acquired in 2015. He\u2019s held similar positions at Future Arts Media, a digital agency specialising in the creation of strategic content solutions and spent time on the media agency side, starting out with Dentsu Aegis.\n\nFathi joins from Pandora, and will be responsible for helping grow the Hypetap brand in the Sydney market.\n\nThe appointments follow a period of rapid growth for Hypetap, having doubled its team and it\u2019s influencer network, as well as quadrupling revenue (416 per cent) over the past 12 months (FY 17 from FY 16). The company also recently closed a capital raise with big-name investors including the likes of Amanda Coote (Founder of Forever New), Joe Hanna and a prominent media family out of New York and their local partner.\n\nThe move expands Hypetap\u2019s national footprint with a physical presence now in Sydney and Melbourne.\n\n\u201cNick\u2019s experience creating highly resonant data-driven content, background in growing sales teams and strong network in Sydney, makes him the perfect person to help propel Hypetap\u2019s growth even further,\u201d commented Detch Singh, co-founder and co-CEO, Hypetap.\n\n\u201cMore brands are understanding the value of influencer marketing and now looking to implement more sophisticated and long-term campaigns. Having someone on board with Nick\u2019s experience, as well as Naz, will allow us to continue this growth and ensure we\u2019re delivering bigger and better campaigns for our clients.\u201d\n\nRobson said of his appointment, \u201cIt\u2019s an exciting time to come on board. The company is growing extremely fast and making waves in the influencer marketing industry. Hypetap\u2019s position as the premium provider, with its strong focus on data and technology is what really drew me to the company. I\u2019m looking forward to growing the Sydney team and client portfolio so we can continue to deliver impactful campaigns for our clients.\u201d", "output": "In its first hiring moves in Sydney, the Victoria-based influencer marketing firm Hypetap has secured Nick Robson from Unruly and Nad Fathi from Pandora to come on board as commercial director and sales manager\u00a0respectively. Robson, who was executive group director at adtech firm\u00a0Unruly, will set up a team in Sydney and focus on acquiring new clients. Fathi will promote the visibility of the\u00a0Hypetap brand in Sydney. Hypetap has grown rapidly\u00a0recently, with revenues up by\u00a0416% since 2016.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Air pollution shown to damage sperm quality \n High levels of air pollution are associated with poor sperm quality and could be partly responsible for the sharp drop in male fertility, according to a new study.\n\nA team of scientists, led by researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, studied the sperm of nearly 6,500 men and found a \u201cstrong association\u201d between high levels of fine particulate air pollution and \u201cabnormal sperm shape.\u201d\n\nThe report, published in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine, said that although the effect is \u201crelatively small in clinical terms\u201d it might still lead to infertility for a \u201csignificant number of couples\u201d given the extent of air pollution in cities around the world.\n\n\u201cWe found a robust association between exposure to PM2.5 air pollution and low percentage of sperm normal morphology in reproductive-age men,\u201d the researchers wrote.\n\n\u201cAlthough the effect estimates are small and the significance might be negligible in a clinical setting, this is an important public health challenge.\u201d\n\n\n\nSperm counts among men have more than halved in the last 40 years although scientists are unsure of the cause. Fertility experts greeted the latest research with caution.\n\n\n\nAllan Pacey, professor of andrology at the University of Sheffield, welcomed the report but said that although the findings \u201cmay seem quite interesting\u201d the assessment of \u201csperm size and shape [sperm morphology] is one of the most difficult tests to carry out on sperm and therefore can be less accurate. Moreover, many doctors and scientists now believe that on its own poor sperm morphology is probably not as clinically relevant as we once thought it was.\u201d\n\nRichard Sharpe, an expert in male reproductive health and professor at the University of Edinburgh, said he was \u201cthoroughly underwhelmed\u201d by the findings.\n\n\n\n\u201cSperm morphology is highly variable, both between men and within the ejaculate of an individual man \u2026 So changes of the order of magnitude reported here in association with exposure to fine particulate matter are unlikely to be of any great relevance to likely fertility, as the authors admit.\u201d\n\nSharpe also questioned whether the study had made enough allowance for other factors such as socioeconomic status and diet.\n\nThe study looked at 15 to 49-year-old men in Taiwan between 2001 and 2014. It assessed sperm quality and measured the level of fine particulate pollution, which is caused by cars, dust from construction and wood burning, around participants\u2019 homes.\n\nThe scientists found a strong association between PM2.5 exposure and abnormal sperm shape. It was associated with a heightened risk of being in the bottom 10% of normal sperm size and shape, after taking account of potential factors, such as smoking and drinking, age and weight.\n\nThe study acknowledged that it was unclear how air pollution, which is known to contribute to millions of deaths around the world each year, could impair sperm development. But researchers said many of the components of fine particulate matter, such as heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, have been linked to sperm damage in previous experimental studies.\n\n\n\nThe researchers acknowledged that this was an observational study, so no firm conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect, and they said they were not privy to information on any previous fertility problems of those involved.\n\nBut Pacey said it was an important contribution to developing an understanding of the potential causes of male infertility.\n\n\u201cFrom this and other studies, I remain of the opinion that air pollution probably does have the potential to negatively influence male reproductive health.\n\n\u201cBut the jury is still out about quite how and to what extent this impacts on male fertility, rather than measurable and small interesting changes in semen quality.\u201d", "output": "Air pollution is linked to poor sperm quality and could be a factor in the significant decline in male fertility, which has seen sperm counts more than halve in 40 years, according to research from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The study analysed sperm from almost 6,500 men and identified a \u201cstrong association\u201d between high levels of PM2.5 fine particulate air pollution and \u201cabnormal sperm shape\u201d. The report concludes that although the impact is \u201crelatively small in clinical terms\u201d it could still cause infertility for a \u201csignificant number of couples\u201d given pollution levels in cities across the globe."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Air pollution shown to damage sperm quality \n Air pollution has become the world\u2019s largest single environmental health risk. Exposure to ambient air pollution was estimated to cause >3.7 million premature deaths worldwide in 2012. 7 PM is the most important air pollutant and affects more people than any other pollutants. There has been a large volume of epidemiological studies examining air pollution and its various health outcomes including birth defects. However, only a few studies with small samples have investigated the health effects of ambient PM on semen quality in humans, and the results have been inconsistent. 8\u201315 In addition, most of these studies focused on the acute or short-term effects, despite the fact that people generally suffer from prolonged exposure. Chronic, low-dose exposure may contribute to significant spermatogenesis impairment. 16 Moreover, previous studies have generally estimated PM exposure using residential proximity to routine ground-level air pollution monitoring stations. The exposure is typically at the community (district, county or city) rather than the individual level, with the same exposure level assigned to all of a community\u2019s. This limitation may mask the variation, or cause misclassification, thus leading to the inconsistent results of possible effects associated with PM air pollution. We therefore investigated the health effects of exposure (including long-term exposure and a spermatogenic cycle exposure) to fine PM\u2014 PM with an aerodynamic diameter of <2.5 \u00b5m (PM 2.5 )\u2014on semen quality in Taiwanese men from the general population, using a spatiotemporal model based on satellite-derived aerosol optical depth (AOD) data to estimate each participant\u2019s PM 2.5 exposure.\n\nInfertility is a global public health concern. It was estimated that 48.5 million couples worldwide were infertile in 2010, 1 with men contributing >50%. 2 Environmental exposure to chemicals, including air pollutants, has been considered as one of the potential factors contributing to deteriorated semen quality, 3 although the biological mechanisms remain uncertain. Many of the components of ambient particulate matter (PM), such as heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), have been shown to have toxic effects on semen quality in animal experiments. 4\u20136 Oxidative stress induced by particles is also of the potential to disturb spermatogenesis.\n\nWe further performed subgroup analyses stratified by normal and abnormal semen parameters according to reference values from the WHO guidelines. 22 A total of 1524 participants were categorised into abnormal group because they had at least one of the four semen parameters lower than the following reference limits: 15\u00d710 6 /mL for sperm concentration, 40% for total motility, 32% for progressive motility and 4% for normal morphology. Consequently, the other 4951 participants were categorised into normal group.\n\nWe used multivariable linear regression models to evaluate the associations between PM 2.5 exposure and each semen quality parameter. Sperm concentration was log-transformed for data analysis due to its skewed distribution. A crude model without adjustment and three adjusted models were developed with potential confounders added gradually: model 1 was adjusted for age (years), education (high school or lower, college or university and postgraduate), smoking status (never, former and current), alcohol consumption (less than once/week, 1\u20133 times/week and >3 times/week), exercise (<1 hour/week, 1\u20132 hours/week and >2 hours/week) and occupational exposure to dust and organic solvents (yes and no); model 2 was further adjusted for BMI (calculated as weight (kg) divided by the square of height (m)), systolic blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose and total cholesterol (all as continuous variables); model 3 was further adjusted for season (calendar season) and year of the medical examination (categorical variable). Short-term and long-term effects of PM 2.5 exposure were analysed separately for comparison. The effect estimates were calculated for an increment of every 5 \u00b5g/m 3 in average PM 2.5 concentrations. The potential effect modifications by age group (<35 years vs \u226535 years), smoking (never vs ever) and overweight (BMI \u226525.0 vs <25.0 kg/m 2 ) were examined by adding multiplicative interactions terms between PM 2.5 and these factors. Each potential modifier was examined in separate models.\n\nEach participant\u2019s address was geo-coded into latitude and longitude, and address-specific monthly and yearly average PM 2.5 concentrations were calculated afterwards. The estimated annual average concentrations in Taiwan and at the participants\u2019 locations are presented in figure 1 . The south-western and middle-eastern areas were generally the most and least heavily polluted, respectively. Most of the participants lived in the western area with apparent gradients of exposure. Because a spermatogenic cycle is around 3 months, we calculated 3-month average concentration (based on the concentrations of the month of the medical examination and the 2 months before the medical examination) to assess the short-term effects. We also calculated 2-year average concentration (based on the concentrations of the year of the medical examination and the year before the medical examination) as an indicator of long-term exposure to ambient PM 2.5 air pollution.\n\nA spatiotemporal model with high resolution (1\u00d71 km) was developed based on satellite AOD data to retrieve ground-level PM 2.5 concentrations. The details have been described elsewhere. 17 This model was validated with ground-measured data from >70 monitoring stations in Taiwan from 2005 to 2014. (PM 2.5 data were only available for three monitoring stations from 2000 to 2004. Thus, validations were not conducted for this period.) The correlation coefficients ranged from 0.72 to 0.83 for yearly average PM 2.5 , and 0.70 to 0.81 for monthly average PM 2.5 in different years (see online supplementary figure 1 ).\n\nAll of the participants were required to be sexually abstinent 2\u20137 days before contributing semen samples. They were then instructed to collect semen samples in sterile containers by masturbation. If the sample was collected at home, the participant was required to mark down the time and send the sample to laboratory immediately. No assessments were conducted if the duration was longer than 2 hours after ejaculation. The semen samples were analysed at the MJ Health Screening Center\u2019s central laboratory using standard protocols based on the WHO guidelines. 21 Sperm concentration, total motility (percentage of motile sperm), progressive motility (percentage of sperm with progressive motility) and morphology (percentage of sperm of normal morphology) were assessed by trained technicians. The assessment began as soon as the ejaculates had liquefied, and were completed within 1 hour of sample collection. An aliquot of the sample was put into a diluent solution and thoroughly mixed for the concentration assessment. A microcell counting chamber was used in six areas at a total microscope magnification of \u00d7400. For the motility assessment, a 10 \u00b5L well-mixed sample from another aliquot was placed on a glass slide covered with a coverslip, and then examined at a total microscope magnification of \u00d7400. Two hundred sperm cells were examined and classified into WHO motility categories A, B, C or D. The percentages of total motile sperm (A+B+C) and sperm with progressive motility (A+B) were calculated. Other smears were also prepared and air-dried, and then used for the morphology assessment. The WHO \u2018strict\u2019 criteria were used to examine 200 sperm cells and the percentage of morphologically normal sperm was calculated.\n\nThere were 1 58 542 male participants of reproductive age (15\u201349 years) 21 who participated in the programme from 2001 to 2014, when satellite AOD data from the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration were available for air pollution exposure estimation. During the study period, 6938 participants voluntarily selected a semen quality examination. Generally, participants receiving semen measurements were comparable with all the 1 58 542 male participants in terms of age, educational level, smoking habits and body mass index (BMI) (see online supplementary table 1 ). Only 211 participants (3.0%) had multiple visits with two or more semen tests, therefore, repeated-measures analysis was not conducted. A total of 463 participants with incomplete information were excluded (1 on anthropometric measures, 3 on blood test results, 174 on educational level, 236 on lifestyle factors and 49 on PM 2.5 exposure estimates due to missing address) and 6475 participants were ultimately included in data analysis. The 463 excluded participants had similar age and semen parameters (all p>0.05).\n\nWe studied male participants from a large cohort consisting of Taiwanese residents who participated in a standard medical examination programme run by a private firm (MJ Health Management Institution, Taipei, Taiwan). The details have been documented elsewhere. 17\u201319 All procedures of the medical examination programme are approved according to ISO9001. Information on the medical examinations and related quality control can be accessed in the Technical Report of the MJ Health Research Foundation. 20 In brief, the participants received a series of medical examinations including general physical examinations, anthropometric measurements and biochemical tests of blood and urine. They also completed a standard self-administered questionnaire survey. The semen quality assessment was voluntarily selected by the male participants. All of the participants gave written informed consent when they joined the programme.\n\nThe results of the regression models are summarised in table 3 . Both short-term and long-term exposure had similar effects on sperm concentration and morphology. An increment of 5 \u00b5g/m 3 in PM 2.5 was associated with an increase in sperm concentration (1.02\u00d710 6 /mL for short-term exposure and 1.03\u00d710 6 /mL for long-term exposure) and reduced risk of decreased concentration (OR was 0.90 for both short-term and long-term exposure). In contrast, an increment of 5 \u00b5g/m 3 in PM 2.5 was associated with a decrease in normal morphology (0.83% for short-term exposure and 1.29% for long-term exposure) and increased risk of decreased normal morphology (ORs were 1.18 for short-term exposure and 1.26 for long-term exposure). There were no associations observed for progressive motility. Regarding the total motility, the association was not significant for short-term exposure in logistic regression analysis.\n\nDistribution of PM 2.5 from 2001 to 2014; 3-month refers to the month of and the 2 months before the visit; 2-year refers to the year of and the year before the visit. Boxes cover the 25\u201375th percentile (IQR) with a centre line for the median concentration. Whiskers extend to the highest observation within 3 IQR of the box, with more extreme observations shown as circles. PM 2.5 , particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter <2.5 \u03bcm.\n\nPM 2.5 distribution among the participants is shown by year in figure 2 and locations of the study participants are shown in figure 1 . The PM 2.5 concentrations varied spatially among the participants within each year. The overall mean 3-month and 2-year PM 2.5 concentrations were 25.8 (SD: 8.5) and 26.1 (SD: 7.3) \u03bcg/m 3 , with IQRs of 7.9 and 5.9 \u00b5g/m 3 , respectively. The 3-month and the 2-year PM 2.5 concentration were highly correlated (correlation coefficient=0.81, p<0.001).\n\nThe semen characteristics by year are shown in table 2 . For all of the participants, the mean (SD) values for sperm concentration, total motility, progressive motility and normal morphology were 54.0 (41.3)\u00d710 6 /mL, 65.3 (14.5) %, 46.8 (16.1) % and 67.4 (14.9) %, respectively. Linear regression models were used to investigate the trends in semen parameters over the study period adjusting for age. An increasing trend was observed for progressive motility (p<0.001) and no trends were found for other three parameters (all p>0.05).\n\nDiscussion\n\nTo our knowledge, this is the largest study investigating the health effects of PM 2.5 air pollution on semen quality. It is also the first study considering the effects of both long-term exposure and short-term exposure (in a spermatogenic cycle). We find it is highly correlated between long-term and short-term exposure in this population. Because air pollution is quite stable over the study period, we speculate the exposure in a spermatogenic cycle is similar to the long-term exposure, and the effects are more likely the reflections of long-term exposure. We find robust associations between PM 2.5 exposure and semen quality. Every increment of 5 \u00b5g/m3 in 2-year average PM 2.5 is associated with a decrease of 1.29% in sperm normal morphology and a 26% increased risk of having the bottom 10% of sperm normal morphology, after adjusting for a wide range of potential confounders. In contrast, every increment of 5 \u00b5g/m3 in 2-year average PM 2.5 is associated with an increase of 1.03\u00d7106/mL in sperm concentration and a 10% decreased risk of having the bottom 10% of sperm concentration. The associations remain robust in the analyses by taking into account a wide range of potential confounders, using different statistical methods (linear and logistic regression) and categorising participants into normal and abnormal groups.\n\nThe negative association between air pollution and normal morphology was also reported in the Teplice Program in Czech Republic,11 and in two recent studies in China and Poland.10 13 The average time course in these studies was 3-month concentration. However, long-term exposure was not taken into account. It is not clear it was a short-term exposure or a surrogate of long-term exposure. Three studies in the USA, which the average time ranged from daily to 3-month concentration, did not observe significant associations.8 9 12 Hansen et al attributed the non-association to the relatively low level of air pollution.9\n\nThe mechanism of how air pollution adversely affects sperm morphology is not fully understood. Air pollution-induced oxidative stress has been hypothesised to be one of the contributors to sperm dysfunction. A wide range of air pollutants, such as O 3 , NO 2 and particles, can induce increased oxidative stress,23 which is related to the excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS and their metabolites can damage DNA, lipids and proteins, altering enzymatic systems and cell apoptosis and, ultimately, lead to decreasing semen quality.24 In addition, PM 2.5 may carry multiple trace elements and PAHs. The toxic effects of metals such as lead and cadmium on spermatogenesis have been well documented in animal models5 6 and confirmed in human studies.25 PAHs, a group of compounds that includes several endocrine disruptors, can also cause sperm alterations through its effects on the hypothalamic pituitary axis and testicular spermatogenesis.4\n\nWe observed a positive association between exposure and sperm concentration. This finding is not in line with previous studies, most of which have not observed significant associations between air pollution and sperm concentration.8 9 11 Sokol et al reported a negative association between O 3 and sperm concentration.12 A recent study by Zhou et al reported a positive association between sperm concentration and PM 10 ,13 which is similar to our study. Regarding motility, the associations also remain uncertain. Hammoud et al and Selevan et al observed a negative association,8 11 whereas no associations were observed in other studies.10 12 13 The reasons for the positive associations between exposure and sperm concentration in the present study need to be elucidated by further studies. We hypothesise that the slight increases in sperm concentration are a compensatory phenomenon. Numerous studies have demonstrated the hormesis phenomenon on chemical aerosol exposure and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinising hormone (LH).26 Low-dose exposure may increase the levels of FSH and LH, which strengthen spermatogenesis, thus increasing sperm concentration. Further studies are warranted to investigate the underlying mechanism.\n\nWe did not observe decline trends in semen quality over the study period. Although the trend of progressive motility was statistically significant, the figures fluctuated over time. The reported global downwards trend in semen quality has not been concluded because previous studies exhibit great heterogeneity due to geographical and/or ethnic variations and different study designs and methodological standards.27 In the present study, we adjusted for the year in the data analyses and the adjustment had few effects.\n\nCompared with previous studies, our study has some important strengths. The large sample size enabled us to have sufficient power to detect the small effects by low-dose exposure. Furthermore, our participants were from a general population rather than being men from infertility clinics. The affluent information on a wide range of potential confounders and modifiers enabled us to consider the effects of these factors. Another advantage is that we used accurate, high-resolution satellite-based technology to estimate PM 2.5 exposure at the individual level. All of the previous studies estimated air pollution exposure at the community level, which may mask exposure variation and result in misclassification. This technology also enables us to obtain short-term and long-term exposure for comparison.", "output": "Air pollution is linked to poor sperm quality and could be a factor in the significant decline in male fertility, which has seen sperm counts more than halve in 40 years, according to research from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The study analysed sperm from almost 6,500 men and identified a \u201cstrong association\u201d between high levels of PM2.5 fine particulate air pollution and \u201cabnormal sperm shape\u201d. The report concludes that although the impact is \u201crelatively small in clinical terms\u201d it could still cause infertility for a \u201csignificant number of couples\u201d given pollution levels in cities across the globe."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MTV, Telegraph and Evening Standard test video for Amazon Alexa \n The Amazon Echo Show, the tech giant\u2019s latest Alexa-enabled device complete with a 7-inch screen, launched last week in the U.K., with media companies like the BBC, The Telegraph and MTV adding video content to their audio skills.\n\nAmazon has flooded the market with variations of its Echo products, such as the more compact Echo Dot, the Echo Spot for connected homes and the Echo Look style assistant, and is maintaining market dominance. Forty percent of U.K. households will have an Amazon Echo device by early next year, and 9 percent of households already do, according to research from Global and Radioplayer.\n\nYet the Echo Show, which retails at \u00a3199.99 in the U.K. and $230 in the U.S., is far from becoming a mainstream product, and monetization is mostly limited to sponsorship packages with brands. But that isn\u2019t stopping publishers from experimenting with it.\n\nHere\u2019s what three media companies are creating for the Echo Show.\n\nThe Telegraph\n\nThe Telegraph\u2019s editorial team picks five stories to run on its Echo Show daily bulletin, which can be updated throughout the day as further details unfold. The videos are a mix of animation, video clips licensed from news agencies and videos created specifically for the bulletin.\n\nAs Amazon made its Alexa personal assistant available on home sound system Sonos, the addition of the screen on the Echo Show signals Amazon is nearing further integration with smart TV manufacturers \u2014 or so publishers believe. \u201cWe were keen to be on it for launch because if it really takes off within smart TVs, it could very rapidly become a very substantial amount of people who have access to our brand,\u201d said Chris Taylor, chief information officer at The Telegraph.\n\nThe Telegraph said it has significantly invested time, effort and resources to get video-centric skills ready for launch. It has hired six people dedicated to creating content for the device, who work in shifts throughout the week predominantly on Echo Show content. \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t do that if it wasn\u2019t going well,\u201d Taylor said.\n\nIn the last few weeks, in anticipation of the Echo Show launch, the publisher stopped using Amazon\u2019s preprogrammed voice to record audio skills, in favor of its staff reading the bulletins. That\u2019s caused a spike in consumption, although Taylor wouldn\u2019t specify exact numbers.\n\nMTV UK News\n\nMTV UK News has a team of seven people creating content tailored to different platforms like Facebook and Snapchat, and since early October, Amazon Echo. The team covers the top pop culture news and highlights, including fashion, music and YouTube stars, in Echo editions, creating a video to accompany the Echo audio for the Echo Show. Each edition is presenter-led with a different personality for each day of the week \u2014 Montana Brown from \u201cLove Island\u201d takes the Monday slot, for example \u2014 and contain MTV\u2019s trademark colorful animations.\n\nThe Echo Show edition is between two and four minutes long. MTV claims MTV UK News has 150 million monthly video views across third-party platforms, a figure the Echo Show will soon contribute to.\n\n\u201cWe want to be on every device the audience is. Voice platforms are going to be huge,\u201d said Joanna Wells, vp of digital content for MTV UK. \u201cYou have to have a really good script. Having the different personalities of the presenters keeps it new and fresh.\u201d\n\nEvening Standard\n\nThe ESI Media news brand the London Evening Standard is using the Echo Show to showcase the \u201cGoing Out\u201d section of its newspaper. This includes a daily edition of five of the top things to do in London, whether that\u2019s shows, restaurants or exhibitions that its journalists have reviewed. Often fronted by journalist David Ellis, the video edition runs between 60 and 90 seconds. Most people have watched the entirety of the videos, according to David Tomchak, digital director for editorial at Evening Standard.\n\nA team of journalists focused on the \u201cGoing Out\u201d section create each edition for the Echo Show, which usually takes two people, including a presenter, and features stills and video content shot specifically for the device. Covering news was never on the cards for the Evening Standard, as it\u2019s a crowded space.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not too bothered about the [audience] numbers right now,\u201d Tomchak said. \u201cIt\u2019s more about testing the use of voice command.\u201d For the Evening Standard, listeners could eventually interrupt the skill to book tickets to an event, incorporating e-commerce revenue through ticket sales, for example.", "output": "UK media companies have begun experimenting with Amazon's Echo Show device, which launched in the country last week. Newspaper The Telegraph now produces a daily bulletin for the device, and chief information officer Chris Taylor expects the technology, if it takes off, to substantially increase its audience. MTV UK News has added Echo Show to the several platforms it produces content for, while The London Evening Standard uses it to highlight the Going Out section of its paper."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NHS reveals initial innovation centre tools \n The UK's National Health Service (NHS) is backing a slew of apps and wireless sensors that could help save lives and diagnose patients remotely. RespiraSense, for instance, is a small device that sticks to the side of the user's rib cage. A plaster-shaped sensor measures breathing through the chest and abdomen, before processing and transmitting that information through a small plastic capsule. It can help detect a number of life-threatening conditions including sepsis, a blood infection that causes the body to attack its own organs. Doctors can access the data on a tablet and receive alerts when a patient's breathing hits a dangerous threshold.\n\n\n\nThe NHS is also championing HaMpton, an app for pregnant women who might be at risk of pre-eclampsia. The condition, characterised by high blood pressure and protein in the urine, usually occurs 20 weeks into a pregnancy. HaMPton allows users to carry out their own blood pressure readings and urine tests at home; the results, along with a short survey, are then recorded in the app and processed by a hospital computer. The alternative \u2014 twice-weekly tests at a Maternity Assessment Unit \u2014 can be stressful for patients and increases the burden on stretched NHS hospitals.\n\nOther highlights include Waitless, an app that tells patients with minor injuries the fastest way to be treated, and Dip.io, a home urine test that allows patients to check for chronic kidney diseases, urinary tract infections (UTIs) and pre-eclampsia. They all fall under the NHS Innovation Accelerator, a programme designed to increase innovation and use of technology in the healthcare sector. Selected projects have access to experts and mentors inside the NHS, workshops and webinars, and, crucially, bursaries to aid their development. They're all in a trial phase, but it's hoped the best will become standard NHS procedure some day.", "output": "The UK's National Health Service (NHS) is offering support and mentoring to start-ups developing novel medical technology via its Innovation Accelerator. Among the firms are RespiraSense, which has developed a plaster-shaped sensor to measure breathing rates and help detect sepsis, and HaMpton, which allows pregnant women to test blood pressure and protein levels to detect symptoms of pre-eclampsia at home. In addition, Waitless offers speedy treatment suggestions for minor injuries, while Dip.io is a home urine test that allows users to check for kidney disease and urinary tract infections.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tencent sees UK's first WeChat Pay tills open in Camden Market \n Walk around Camden Market this weekend and you'll notice that many of the stalls now support WeChat Pay. The mobile payment platform \u2014 an extension of Tencent's messaging app WeChat \u2014 is big in China but almost unheard of in the UK (at least outside of the Chinese community). So why bother? Well, the north London market is popular with Chinese tourists. SafeCharge, a company that helps businesses process payments, took notice and has updated its point-of-sale (POS) software accordingly. Now, stall owners can accept WeChat Pay with a tablet and compatible till.\n\nCamden is the first place in the UK to accept WeChat Pay at the point of sale. It's a small experiment, but one that could prove fruitful as Christmas draws near. SafeCharge has over 1,000 customers \u2014 many of which are based in the UK \u2014 and is now talking to other businesses, including department stores and luxury retailers, about similar support. That's not to say WeChat Pay will soon rival Google or Apple's platforms in the UK. But it could be a worthy rival for the Alibaba-owned Alipay, which recently launched a fresh marketing campaign on the London Underground.", "output": "Payments technologies provider SafeCharge has updated its point-of-sale software in London's Camden Market to accept Tencent's WeChat Pay. It's the China-based e-commerce giant's first foray into the UK payments sector, and the north London location is a popular destination for Chinese tourists. SafeCharge, which has more than 1,000 customers, is also in talks with department stores and luxury retailers about rolling out WeChat Pay.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Android devices covertly send location data to Google \n Many people realize that smartphones track their locations. But what if you actively turn off location services, haven\u2019t used any apps, and haven\u2019t even inserted a carrier SIM card?\n\nEven if you take all of those precautions, phones running Android software gather data about your location and send it back to Google when they\u2019re connected to the internet, a Quartz investigation has revealed.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nSince the beginning of 2017, Android phones have been collecting the addresses of nearby cellular towers\u2014even when location services are disabled\u2014and sending that data back to Google. The result is that Google, the unit of Alphabet behind Android, has access to data about individuals\u2019 locations and their movements that go far beyond a reasonable consumer expectation of privacy.\n\nQuartz observed the data collection occur and contacted Google, which confirmed the practice.\n\nThe cell tower addresses have been included in information sent to the system Google uses to manage push notifications and messages on Android phones for the past 11 months, according to a Google spokesperson. They were never used or stored, the spokesperson said, and the company is now taking steps to end the practice after being contacted by Quartz. By the end of November, the company said, Android phones will no longer send cell-tower location data to Google, at least as part of this particular service, which consumers cannot disable.\n\n\u201cIn January of this year, we began looking into using Cell ID codes as an additional signal to further improve the speed and performance of message delivery,\u201d the Google spokesperson said in an email. \u201cHowever, we never incorporated Cell ID into our network sync system, so that data was immediately discarded, and we updated it to no longer request Cell ID.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIt is not clear how cell-tower addresses, transmitted as a data string that identifies a specific cell tower, could have been used to improve message delivery. But the privacy implications of the covert location-sharing practice are plain. While information about a single cell tower can only offer an approximation of where a mobile device actually is, multiple towers can be used to triangulate its location to within about a quarter-mile radius, or to a more exact pinpoint in urban areas, where cell towers are closer together.\n\nThe practice is troubling for people who\u2019d prefer they weren\u2019t tracked, especially for those such as law-enforcement officials or victims of domestic abuse who turn off location services thinking they\u2019re fully concealing their whereabouts. Although the data sent to Google is encrypted, it could potentially be sent to a third party if the phone had been compromised with spyware or other methods of hacking. Each phone has a unique ID number, with which the location data can be associated.\n\nThe revelation comes as Google and other internet companies are under fire from lawmakers and regulators, including for the extent to which they vacuum up data about users. Such personal data, ranging from users\u2019 political views to their purchase histories to their locations, are foundational to the business successes of companies like Facebook and Alphabet, built on targeted advertising and personalization and together valued at over $1.2 trillion by investors.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe location-sharing practice does not appear to be limited to any particular type of Android phone or tablet; Google was apparently collecting cell tower data from all modern Android devices before being contacted by Quartz. A source familiar with the matter said the cell tower addresses were being sent to Google after a change in early 2017 to the Firebase Cloud Messaging service, which is owned by Google and runs on Android phones by default.\n\nEven devices that had been reset to factory default settings and apps, with location services disabled, were observed by Quartz sending nearby cell-tower addresses to Google. Devices with a cellular data or WiFi connection appear to send the data to Google each time they come within range of a new cell tower. When Android devices are connected to a WiFi network, they will send the tower addresses to Google even if they don\u2019t have SIM cards installed.\n\n\u201cIt has pretty concerning implications,\u201d said Bill Budington, a software engineer who works for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit organization that advocates for digital privacy. \u201cYou can kind of envision any number of circumstances where that could be extremely sensitive information that puts a person at risk.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe section of Google\u2019s privacy policy that covers location sharing says the company will collect location information from devices that use its services, but does not indicate whether it will collect data from Android devices when location services are disabled:\n\nWhen you use Google services, we may collect and process information about your actual location. We use various technologies to determine location, including IP address, GPS, and other sensors that may, for example, provide Google with information on nearby devices, Wi-Fi access points and cell towers.\n\nAccording to the Google spokesperson, the company\u2019s system that controls its push notifications and messages is \u201cdistinctly separate from Location Services, which provide a device\u2019s location to apps.\u201d Android devices never offered consumers a way to opt out of the collection of cell tower data.\n\n\u201cIt is really a mystery as to why this is not optional,\u201d said Matthew Hickey, a security expert and researcher at Hacker House, a security firm based in London. \u201cIt seems quite intrusive for Google to be collecting such information that is only relevant to carrier networks when there are no SIM card or enabled services.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWhile Google says it doesn\u2019t use the location data it collects using this service, its does allow advertisers to target consumers using location data, an approach that has obvious commercial value. The company can tell using precise location tracking, for example, whether an individual with an Android phone or running Google apps has set foot in a specific store, and use that to target the advertising a user subsequently sees.", "output": "Mobile devices running Android software track owners' locations without consent, even when the device has no apps running or SIM card inserted. An investigation by Quartz found that devices connected to the internet have been sending addresses of nearby cell towers to Google, even when location services are switched off, since January 2017. The revelations have led to concerns about consumers' privacy, though Google said that the data was never used or stored, and that the practice will soon be terminated."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Samsung plans to establish AI research hub \n People walk past an advertisement for the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge smartphone in Berlin, Germany.\n\nSamsung is planning to set up an artificial intelligence (AI) research center, it announced Wednesday.\n\n\n\nThe center will be established between the mobile and consumer electronics businesses that form two of three of Samsung's major divisions.\n\nThe South Korean electronics giant said it was making these minor organizational changes in order to \"quickly respond to market changes.\"\n\nHS Kim, the head of the consumer electronics division, will head up Samsung Research. Samsung did not say where the AI center will be based.\n\nThe company also said that Young Sohn, Samsung's chief strategy officer, will have a \"strengthened\" role to look for new business areas for all the business groups. This includes mobile, consumer electronics, and device solutions, which contains the fast-growing semiconductor unit.\n\nSohn led Samsung's $8 billion acquisition of Harman last year.\n\nThe latest changes come after Samsung announced a shakeup of its leadership in October, where it replaced its CEO.", "output": "Samsung has followed up on its leadership reshuffle in October with the creation of an artificial intelligence research centre. Led by HS Kim, head of the consumer electronics division, the as-yet-unlocated centre will be positioned between Samsung's mobile and consumer electronics divisions. The South Korean firm said the restructuring would enable it to \"quickly respond to market changes\". In addition, Samsung said it was strengthening chief strategy officer Young Sohn's position to support him in finding\u00a0new business areas.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "YOPA removes estate agents comparison advert \n The online agency Yopa has removed an ad comparing its performance against other estate agents after complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority.\n\nThe dispute centred on the Yopa website which featured a comparison table of different estate agents including the number of properties they listed and their average listing age.\n\nTwo complainants - who noted that the comparison was based on Yopa\u2019s national figures against their competitors\u2019 local figures - challenged whether the comparison was misleading.\n\nA statement from the authority says: \u201cWe raised these concerns with the advertiser. Yopa confirmed that the ad had been removed and that they would not compare their national data with competitors\u2019 local data.\u201d\n\nOn that basis, the case was judged to be informally resolved.\n\nYopa - which earlier this month was listed by business media service LinkedIn as one of the top UK start ups of 2017 - has extensive financial investment from Savills, the Daily Mail general Trust and LSL Property Services.", "output": "Yopa, an online estate agency based in the UK, has pulled an advertisement favourably comparing its prices with rivals'. The move comes in response to complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) questioning the legitimacy of the information. The ad compared Yopa\u2019s national statistics with rivals' local figures, presenting a misleading conclusion. The ASA confirmed that the ad had been removed and Yopa, which counts Savills and the Daily Mail general Trust among its investors, would not repeat the error.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US estate agents lobby Congress to keep homeowners'\u00a0tax breaks \n For decades, the real estate industry has benefited from generous tax deductions that raise home values by making it cheaper for people to own property and shoulder their local taxes. Now, as the Republican tax plan makes its way through Congress, the industry is worried that the fallout will harm its business by making homeownership less valuable.\n\nAround the country, real estate organizations are calling legislators, warning clients about their future tax bills and staging protests, all in an effort to keep homeowners as a favored class in the tax code. \u201cWe don\u2019t consider ourselves to be Republicans or Democrats,\u201d said Linda Jay, chief executive of the Bakersfield Association of Realtors in central California. \u201cWe are the Realtor party.\u201d\n\nLast week, Ms. Jay and other agents congregated in front of the local office of Representative Kevin McCarthy, the House majority leader, holding signs and chanting, \u201cSave homeownership.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe know he has a tough job to do,\u201d she said. \u201cBut we certainly are not going to shy away from letting him know what our feelings are.\u201d", "output": "US estate agents are urging legislators not to cut mortgage interest deductions for local taxes for fear of prompting a fall in house prices. The Senate version of the Republican tax plan would\u00a0remove\u00a0the deduction for local property taxes, while the House version would cap\u00a0it at $10,000, and both would increase the period of homeownership\u00a0required before qualifying for capital gains taxes, a move estate agents\u00a0worry\u00a0would reduce transaction volumes. According to analysis from Moody's, the most expensive property markets, such as New York or New Jersey, could be the worst\u00a0hit by the proposed measures.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WeWork said to be looking at offering short-term retail sites \n WeWork is quietly setting the stage for the launch of a brick-and-mortar retail platform as it continues to branch out into new business lines ahead of an expected public offering.\n\nSeveral sources told The Real Deal that work on retail concepts gained momentum over the past six months and is shaping up to be a priority for the firm. What WeWork\u2019s retail business could look like is still unclear, but sources said extending the firm\u2019s co-working model \u2014 furnished spaces on short-term leases \u2014 to retailers is a possibility. The firm is also considering the addition of WeWork-managed retail spaces in its buildings as a potential amenity for its office tenants, the sources said.\n\nWeWork declined to comment.\n\nIn October, WeWork and its private equity partner Rhone Group announced the $850 million acquisition of the Lord & Taylor building in Midtown from retail giant Hudson\u2019s Bay Company. As part of the deal, Rhone and WeWork\u2019s joint real estate investment vehicle is investing $500 million in preferred shares in HBC. According to the Wall Street Journal, WeWork Property Advisors\u2019 Eric Gross is getting a seat on HBC\u2019s board.\n\n\u201cRetail is changing and the role that real estate has to play in the way that we shop today must change with it,\u201d WeWork\u2019s co-founder Adam Neumann said in a statement at the time. \u201cThe opportunity to develop this partnership with HBC to explore this trend was too good to pass up.\u201d\n\nOther signs point to WeWork\u2019s growing interest in retail. Unnamed WeWork principals invested in retail technology startup Outernets, which produces intelligent advertising screens for storefronts, according to Outernets co-founder Omer Golan. Golan said he has been working with WeWork on retail concepts, but was instructed not to share any details.\n\nOver the summer, several employees of the online electronics retailer Sharkk became employees at WeWork, according to their Linkedin profiles, and its founder, Dov Brafman, is now listed on LinkedIn as WeWork\u2019s director of retail (In response to a query from TRD, WeWork said his title on LinkedIn was being changed). In an interview he gave to the K-Factor podcast earlier this month, the show describes him as an entrepreneur who sold his startup to WeWork.\n\nThe retail push comes as WeWork increasingly branches out into new business lines. The company opened its first Rise by We gym in Manhattan in October and acquired the coding school Flatiron School. It has also announced plans for an elementary school.\n\nWeWork has plenty of money to fund its new ventures. In August, the company announced a $4.4 billion investment from Japanese conglomerate Softbank, reportedly at a $20 billion valuation, although much of that money is earmarked for the firm\u2019s expansion into East Asia. The infusion made WeWork one of the five most valuable startups in the U.S.\n\nIs WeVacation next?\n\nSign Up for the undefined Newsletter SIGN UP By signing up, you agree to TheRealDeal Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.\n\nHospitality is another potential new business line for WeWork, according to a source familiar with the company, although it has yet to disclose any specific forays into the space.\n\nNeumann is an investor in the Panamanian hospitality company Selina Hostels, which runs hostels and co-working spaces in several Latin American countries, according to the source and a May report in the Mexican news outlet Cancunissimo. The Journal also reported that WeWork bought a stake in Wavegarden, a company that makes wave pools, in 2016.\n\nWeWork has already dabbled in hospitality, renting out some rooms in its WeLive co-living space at 110 Wall Street on a nightly basis. Several high-level WeWork executives have a hospitality background. Michael Gross, the company\u2019s vice chair, used to run Morgans Hotel Group. The firm\u2019s head of co-working, Richard Gomel, is a former Starwood Hotels & Resorts executive. WeWork\u2019s regional manager for Latin America, Pato Fuks, founded the hotel operator F\u00ebn Hoteles.\n\nWeWorld\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s important to understand that our intent with our business from the beginning was to do multiple We-based businesses, for lack of a better term,\u201d the company\u2019s co-founder Miguel McKelvey said at a Cornell Tech at Bloomberg event this month. \u201cWhen we made the first proposal for a building after Green Desk, it was a multi-use building that included WeLive, WeWork, a hotel concept, a restaurant concept, a barber shop, fitness concept and there was an education idea there too. So the premise from the beginning was that this is a multi-dimensional support system for people who think differently in the world.\u201d McKelvey took issue with the description of his firm as a co-working company, saying he prefers community company.\n\nWeWork\u2019s expansion into retail, then, should not come as a surprise. It never made a secret out of its aspiration to become the \u201cphysical social network,\u201d Facebook\u2019s equivalent in the real world.\n\nBut the retail plans may also speak to the limits of scaling WeWork\u2019s two original business lines, co-working and co-living.\n\nAlthough WeWork continues to add new co-working locations at a rapid clip, competition has become fierce, particularly in its first market, New York. In September, Crain\u2019s reported that WeWork offered tenants at rival flexible office-space provider Knotel 12 months free rent if they switch to one of its spaces \u2014 an indicator of how the fight for customers is squeezing revenues. Meanwhile Luxembourg-based IWG, whose Regus brand is a leading global provider of flexible office space, saw its share price plunge by 30 percent in a single day in October in the wake of disappointing earnings. WeWork has also hedged its co-working bets; it is the lead investor in a $32 million Series B round for the Wing, a women-only co-working space. And it\u2019s had success with renting out entire spaces to blue-chip corporate tenants, such as IBM and Amazon.\n\nWeWork\u2019s co-living business has faced headwinds. The company once predicted it would have more than 30 WeLive spaces open by the end of 2017, but it currently has just two, with a third on the way. Industry sources said banks have been squeamish about financing co-living developments. At the Cornell Tech event, McKelvey blamed the complexity of new development.\n\n\u201cThe cycle for ground-up development, to do it with partners, is so much longer,\u201d he said. \u201cSo there are many projects that are in process but you just don\u2019t hear about them yet.\u201d", "output": "Flexible workspace provider WeWork is looking at branching out into several new business areas, including managed retail spaces, some of which could be in its office space buildings, according to sources. WeWork opened a gym in Manhattan in October and also acquired a coding college, Flatiron School. It has also made initial moves into offering overnight accommodation."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BMW becomes first brand to team up with Snapchat for AR lens \n BMW is the first brand to use Snapchat\u2019s new AR \u2018augmented trial\u2019 Lens which lets customers visualise how products look in the real world before purchase.\n\nBMW said in a statement that it is hoping the playful medium will help it attract a younger audience\n\nThe brand is using the technology to promote its new X2 model, allowing Snapchat users to interact with a virtual 3D version of the car as they would in a garage showroom.\n\nBMW said in a statement that it is hoping the playful medium will help it attract a younger audience. J\u00f6rg Poggenpohl said the tool allows it to \u201cenrich\u201d users\u2019 digital experience through content they find appealing, with a high recognition value.\n\n\u201cWe wanted to insert ourselves in an organic way into the Snapchat environment and its users\u2019 world. That is the most meaningful way to address our fans in a style that fits the channel and the target group,\u201d he added.\n\nAs The Drum reveled in July, Snap has been working on the product for a while. In summer the tech firm\u2019s head of consumer, app and gaming Fintan Gillespie actualy hinted that BMW would be a good brand partner, saying: \u201cyou can imagine being able to show a new BMW in your driveway, or a Burberry handbag on your desk.\u201d\n\nAs part of the push, Snapchatters can 'customise' the AR version of the car; changing the colour and moving it around to view it from different angles. BMW is also running vertical video ads within Snapchat, and when individuals swipe up on these they can play with the Lens.\n\nBrands have already been investing in Snapchat's 3D World Lenses which let users overlay pictures taken using their rear-facing camera with a series of interactive 3D filters, but this is the first time a product has been able to be 'tested' by consumers using the Snap camera before they consider a purchase.\n\nAR previews are something that retailers like Ikea and Gap have already been experimenting with for a while, but Snap's ability to reach 178 million users per-day means it can bring the feature to retailers at scale. It also means Snap can potentially stave off increasing competition from arch rivals Instagram and Facebook by way of a fresh unique feature which brings in revenues to boot.\n\nThe company claims its interactive lenses drive a six point lift in brand awareness for advertisers and a 3.4 point lift in action intent. Snap is likely hoping its latest format helps prove its worth to brands by converting online shoppers.\n\nIn the US at least, a recent Daymon study indicated that 61% of consumers believed AR was already changing where they decided to shop, with 55% saying they thought AR \"made shopping fun\". Juniper research, meanwhile, has suggested that dedicated brand AR apps are likely to have limited revenue opportunity and a short shelf-life due to the need for constant innovation, something Snapchat's latest tool could potentially help solve.", "output": "BMW has become the first brand to deploy Snapchat\u2019s \"augmented trial\" lens as part of the campaign for its new X2 model. The augmented reality tool allows users to view the car\u00a0from different angles and change the colour, while at the same time watch accompanying vertical ads. In a statement, BMW said it hoped the \"playful medium will help it attract a younger audience\". Snap, which has 178 million daily users, said its interactive lenses have previously resulted in a six percentage\u00a0point lift in brand awareness and a 3.4-point boost in action intent.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cybersecurity broker WhiteHawk eyes $3m listing in Australian IPO \n United States-headquartered cyber security player, WhiteHawk, has opened up its proposed $4 million public offer to prospective investors in its ongoing effort to list on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).\n\nThe company, which operates a cyber security software brokerage platform dubbed the \u201cWhiteHawk Exchange\u201d, revealed its Australian initial public offering (IPO) intentions earlier this year and lodged its prospectus with Australia\u2019s corporate regulator on 7 November.\n\nNow, the company is hoping to raise at least $4 million through the issue of 20 million shares, with the option of a further $500,000 worth of shares if the offer is oversubscribed.\n\nWhiteHawk\u2019s ultimate goal is to list publicly on the ASX and use the funds from its IPO for engineering and development of the WhiteHawk Exchange platform, which effectively acts as an automated broker for cyber security solutions.\n\nThe funds will also be used for research and development, sales and marketing, and for working capital requirements.\n\nLaunched in 2016, WhiteHawk began as a cyber security advisory service with a long-term plan to develop a self-service cyber security marketplace designed to match businesses up with the most appropriate cyber security solutions for their needs.\n\nSpecifically, the company has developed a machine learning algorithm and an associated artificial intelligence platform designed to let enterprises seek out advice on their cyber security needs and be matched to vendor products, based on their identified needs, via the WhiteHawk Exchange.\n\n\u201cToday, we help US and Australian companies to connect to content, solutions, and service providers through evolving our rich data and user experience,\u201d WhiteHawk said in a statement.\n\nAccording to the company\u2019s website, its marketplace currently claims more than 40 different vendors, including Symantec, Trend Micro, Sophos, Micro Focus, Kaspersky Lab, Juniper Networks and Fortinet, among others.\n\n\u201cSince WhiteHawk launched in 2016, we have worked hard to develop an easy-to-use platform that will enable small to midsize companies to better understand their vulnerabilities and protect themselves against the ever-increasing cyber threat,\u201d WhiteHawk CEO, Terry Roberts, said.\n\n\u201cWe believe that our technology has an incredible amount of potential given the vast number of businesses across the globe who are simply unaware or ill-equipped to deal with online crime and fraud.\n\nOur Initial Public Offering is a significant step forward for WhiteHawk as well as for the cyber security industry. I am very excited to be bringing this opportunity before investors and am committed to delivering growth for WhiteHawk\u2019s shareholders,\u201d she said.\n\nGiven how different WhiteHawk\u2019s business model is compared to those of traditional technology distributors, it remains to be seen just how the company\u2019s brokerage platform will affect local distributors and partners that deal with the solutions offered by the vendors already featured on the WhiteHawk Exchange.\n\nHowever, in an ASX release issued on 22 November, WhiteHawk said it currently earns revenue largely from lead generation agreements with cyber security vendors in the US market, and has won advisory service contracts with a small and growing number of Government agencies.\n\nIts current advisory service clients include the US Department of Energy and Department of Homeland Security as well as a number of medium to large-sized business customers, domestic and multi-national companies based in the US, all of which provide a steady stream of low-level revenue while WhiteHawk\u2019s online sales business model matures.\n\nThe company\u2019s Initial Public Offering closes on 5 December.", "output": "US-based cybersecurity company WhiteHawk aims to raise AUD4m ($3m) in an initial public offering (IPO) and\u00a0listing on the Australian Securities Exchange. WhiteHawk's Exchange platform uses a machine-learning algorithm and artificial intelligence to broker cybersecurity deals between\u00a0enterprises and vendors\u00a0such as Symantec, Kaspersky Lab and Juniper Networks.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Budget pressures lead brands to try out\u00a0'micro-influencers' \n Bigger doesn\u2019t always mean better for Unilever when it comes to the influencers it works with.\n\nInfluencers previously hired by the advertiser had to be as well-known as a finalist on the hit TV show \u201cThe Great British Bake Off,\u201d according to Madeleine Boulton, assistant brand manager at Unilever. Now, the business is turning to so-called micro-influencers, people with smaller follower counts than the biggest social media stars, but who can offer better engagement at a fraction of the cost. At least that\u2019s the theory. For Unilever, which is looking for alternatives to costly agencies, these types of influencers increasingly make sense.\n\nWorking with influencer network Tribe, the advertiser has been treating influencers like agencies, going to them with briefs and relying less on its agencies in the process. \u201cPreviously, we\u2019ve used agencies [to work with influencers], but if you have a middleman like that, then as an advertiser it becomes a bit detached,\u201d Boulton said. \u201cI quite like being in control of the influencers myself.\u201d\n\nUnilever\u2019s most noteworthy use of Tribe\u2019s micro-influencers to date came in the summer when it ran a campaign for its margarine brand Stork. After posting a brief that asked influencers for images of foods they had baked using Stork ingredients, Unilever picked the 21 creator posts it liked best. Those creators then posted their images to their own Instagram accounts, leading to around 436,000 followers seeing the images over five weeks, according to the brand.\n\nThe images generated 11,990 likes and comments, while the cost per engagement was 16 pence (21 cents). Anything considered 30 pence (40 cents) or less is considered good value, according to Tribe. Another micro-influencer campaign that ran for Stork around the same time had a CPE of 20 pence (26 cents).\n\nUnilever uses the CPE to benchmark how well its campaigns perform against others within the Tribe network rather than as a metric to pay influencers. Instead, the advertiser pays the influencer a fixed fee per post, which ranges from \u00a350 ($66) to \u00a3100 ($132) for influencers who have between 3,000 and 10,000 followers, according to Tribe. \u201cIf the influencer had a good number of followers and I really liked the content, but the price they were asking felt too high, then I\u2019d ask if they could lower the price, which most of the time they did,\u201d Boulton said.\n\nAdvertisers like Unilever are increasingly applying performance-based pricing models like CPE to their influencer campaigns, viewing the metric as a way to keep campaign costs tied to what influencers deliver such as likes and shares. The problem, however, is influencers could game the CPE model and focus on meeting engagement numbers at the expense of creating quality content. CPE is a step toward more qualitative metrics for influencer campaigns, according to industry observers, but it still poses a philosophical challenge, in which brands measure engagement the same way they would a media buy.\n\nWhile larger influencers aren\u2019t as \u201cauthentic\u201d as their smaller counterparts, Boulton said there\u2019s still a role for them in the advertiser\u2019s plans. The perfect blend between both groups, according to Boulton, would be using the larger influencers for high-impact campaign launches, while having micro-influencers do more of the day-to-day engagement. \u201cThat cake posted by a micro-influencer might look a bit battered, but it has that homely edge that you don\u2019t get from an influencer\u2019s polished and pristine content,\u201d she added. \u201cIt\u2019s not as accessible for the everyday baker.\u201d\n\nThe advertiser is still testing micro-influencers, having done sporadic campaigns with them prior to its work with Tribe. Last year, Unilever worked with influencer platform Mavrck to recruit 1,000 micro-influencers for a three-week campaign for its hair care brand Clear, which captured 2,421 email addresses.\n\n\u201cBrands like us [Unilever] don\u2019t necessarily have the budget now to go and spend on mega-influencers,\u201d Boulton said. \u201cWe\u2019re looking across the board at how we can be smarter with our money, and working with micro-influencers is one of them.\u201d\n\nAs Unilever gets closer to influencers, it is moving further away from working with traditional agencies. The advertiser is slashing half of the 3,000 agencies it employs worldwide, the savings from which will go toward the \u20ac1 billion ($1.2 billion) it hopes to accrue by 2019. Aline Santos, its svp of global marketing, said earlier this year that the traditional agency model is \u201cunder huge pressure.\u201d", "output": "Fast-moving consumer goods brand Unilever is turning to \"micro-influencers\" to help increase audience awareness of its products\u00a0at a fraction of the cost of using more well-known social media stars. Madeleine Boulton, assistant brand manager at Unilever, said the company treats its micro-influencers like agencies, and applies cost-per-engagement models to ensure they deliver value for money. Boulton said Unilever would still consider using \"mega-influencers\"\u00a0for bigger campaigns, while relying on\u00a0micro-influencers for more frequent, lower-level engagement. She added\u00a0the firm was \"looking across the board at how we can be smarter with our money\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Farmshelf gets cash boost for restaurant-based vertical farms \n Farmshelf, the New York City startup that brings vertical grow systems into restaurants and food retail spaces, has received an investment from one of Thailand\u2019s biggest real estate development companies, Sansiri.\n\nThe investment by Sansiri comes a part of a broader $80 million investment across six companies that include lifestyle magazine Monocle, home sharing app Hostmaker, and Farmshelf. According to the Financial Times, Sansiri invested $300 thousand in Farmshelf, a relatively small amount compared to the other investments disclosed as part of the announcement such as the $58 million stake in US boutique hotel brand Standard International.\n\nAccording to Crunchbase, Farmshelf received a $150 thousand seed round investment from startup accelerators Urban-X and SOSV in September 2016. The $300 thousand investment from Sansiri marks the second overall funding round for the company.\n\nAs detailed in the announcement, Sansiri\u2019s investment plan for Farmshelf includes integrating the vertical farming startups products into select residential properties, as well as possibly scaling the business across Asia.\n\nIt\u2019s an interesting investment for a company that has up to this point focused on installations in New York City restaurants and food retail. I visited the company\u2019s installation at Grand Central\u2019s Great Northern Food Hall in June and liked how it fit into the upscale food court. Residential properties seems like a bit of a departure for the company, so I am intrigued to see how these might be rolled out within the Asia market.\n\nLong term, these types of developer deals make a whole lot of sense for a company like Farmshelf. Access to both retail and residential developments is not only a heavy business development lift for a resource constrained startup, but the long term success of these types of installations will require a strong commitment from the property holder and business operator.\n\nGet The Spoon in Your Inbox Leave this field empty if you're human:", "output": "New York food-growing startup Farmshelf has received a $300,000 investment to develop its vertical farming technology for restaurants and shops. The new funding comes from Thai property company Sansiri, which plans to incorporate\u00a0the system\u00a0into residential properties as part of the deal.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google tests voice recognition bots to transcribe doctors' notes \n Doctors work long hours, and a disturbingly large part of that is documenting patient visits -- one study indicates that they spend 6 hours of an 11-hour day making sure their records are up to snuff. But how do you streamline that work without hiring an army of note takers? Google Brain and Stanford think voice recognition is the answer. They recently partnered on a study that used automatic speech recognition (similar to what you'd find in Google Assistant or Google Translate) to transcribe both doctors and patients during a session.\n\nThe approach can not only distinguish the voices in the room, but also the subjects. It's broad enough to both account for a sophisticated medical diagnosis and small talk like the weather. Doctors could have all the vital information they need for follow-ups and a better connection to their patients.\n\nThe system is far from perfect. The best voice recognition system in the study still had an error rate of 18.3 percent. That's good enough to be practical, according to the researchers, but it's not flawless. There's also the matter of making sure that any automated transcripts are truly private and secure. Patients in the study volunteered for recordings and will have their identifying information scrubbed out, but this would need to be highly streamlined (both through consent policies and automation) for it to be effective on a large scale.\n\nIf voice recognition does find its way into doctors' offices, though, it could dramatically increase the effectiveness of doctors. They could spend more time attending patients and less time with the overhead necessary to account for each visit. Ideally, this will also lead to doctors working more reasonable hours -- they won't burn out and risk affecting their judgment through fatigue.", "output": "Google is trialling the use of voice recognition software in doctors' surgeries in the US. Researchers at Stanford University have partnered with the internet company's artificial intelligence research division, Google Brain, on the project. It used voice recognition systems to transcribe conversations between doctors and volunteer patients during medical consultations, and was intended to test whether such a system could help GPs save time in writing up notes. However, even the best of the systems tested had an error rate of 18.3%\u00a0and concerns remain\u00a0over how patient confidentiality would be assured if the technology were adopted.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ginger.io changes tack to become app-based mental health service \n San Francisco health startup Ginger.io went public today with a major pivot that the company has been undergoing over the last year and a half. While the startup began life as a passive monitoring company that sold its artificial intelligence technology to hospitals, it has reinvented itself as a healthcare provider in its own right, offering a full service online and app-based mental healthcare service, either direct-to-consumer for a fee or via insurers and self-insured employers.\n\n\u201cThe realization for us was that trying to convince that whole industry to change their way of operating and adopt this technology would take a lot of time,\u201d CEO and cofounder Dr. Anmol Madan told MobiHealthNews. \u201cNot that it couldn\u2019t be done. We were making a lot of progress there; we had 40 different hospitals that were using our technology. But it was just a slow process and we felt that \u2026 by bringing to bear the clinical components and combining it with the technology, we could work directly with the people who are paying for healthcare \u2014 i.e. the employers, the average consumer, the health plans \u2014 and we could offer the full service.\u201d\n\nSo for the last 18 months, the startup has been reinventing itself as an online medical practice that provides users with an escalating range of options for mental and behavioral healthcare.\n\n\u201cThe way Ginger.io works is as soon as you install the app you\u2019re connected to a mental health coach,\u201d Madan said. \u201cYou have a dedicated team of three coaches who are available 24 hours a day seven days a week and they provide a starter kit. In addition, they also guide you through a variety of self-care content built on cognitive behavior therapy, mindfulness, resiliency, covering a vast range of issues that help you build skills in those areas based on those symptoms and needs. If required, we can escalate you to a video visit with a licensed therapist or a board-certified psychiatrist. And the psychiatrist can also, if appropriate and relevant, prescribe medication to you if that\u2019s what\u2019s required for you to get better.\u201d\n\nThe company\u2019s big data roots come into play when it comes to scaling the system, finding efficiencies, and tracking whether patients are really improving.\n\n\u201cWe practice a membership-based care model where we measure everything that happens within the system,\u201d cofounder Karan Singh told MobiHealthNews. \u201cEvery interaction with a coach or therapist or psychiatrist \u2014 it\u2019s similar to how after you take a Lyft ride you rate your driver. After this you rate your coach, therapist, and psychiatrist, and we use that data to improve the kind of care we deliver and improve the quality of the support we\u2019re providing.\u201d\n\nMadan says the average rating for a clinician on the system is 4.75 out of 5. Collecting data has also allowed them to tailor the system to people\u2019s needs \u2014 for instance, observing that peak usage of the coaching service happens late at night and adjusting coach availability accordingly.\n\nGinger.io also measures patient progress in more traditionally clinical ways.\n\n\u201cReally every member who comes through our system we measure their progress on regular rhythms,\u201d Singh said. \u201cSo we might use standard clinical assessments like a PHQ-9 or the GAD-7 and we match that against best practice. So I think that\u2019s pretty unique in this space in that we continue to track member progress and if we don\u2019t see symptom responses, reevaluate it and we have our clinical supervision and the rest of our clinical team review those cases and determine if a different course of treatments is required to get them the level of support that\u2019s needed.\u201d\n\nJust 12 months after launching its employer business, the company now has 25 large to mid-sized employer customers over a range of industries.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been working in mental health and behavioral health for a number of years now,\u201d Singh said. \u201cI think that experience working on the front lines and really understanding how the business of healthcare actually works, how incentives operate, how workflows might need to change and, frankly, how culture might need to change in order to ultimately integrate technology led us to evolve from offering just the technology solution, to actually becoming a full stack behavioral health provider that integrates that technology and that data at our core, which allows us to deliver great care, and measure that it works.\u201d", "output": "Healthtech Ginger.io has successfully switched from selling artificial intelligence technology to hospitals to becoming an online mental health service, with 25 businesses now using its services. The San Francisco firm has spent the past 18 months developing its service, which includes an app and 24-hour access to a support team, while care can be escalated to include video consultations with clinicians, who can prescribe medication if needed. All services are rated, with the average score for a clinician being 4.75 out of five. Ginger.io's service is available to\u00a0individuals as well as via insurers and self-insured employers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Regus set to open two new business centres in Nairobi \n If you\u2019ve always dreamed of starting your own business, it\u2019s something you want to get right. If you are confident, you can safely say that you will have goals and desires that you would like to achieve. Some people want to hold onto their passions, and that\u2019s fine. However, some want to follow their dreams and ensure they come true. When this is the case, ensuring that you are actively pushing your business in the right direction is essential.\n\nIndeed, the organization is not the only factor that matters in all aspects. There are many small ways of thinking and even the occasional leap of faith that is important, but when you put in the effort to be organized, it will help you make these things happen. So, you must do whatever it takes to ensure you can manage all aspects of your business and continue with courage. This requires you to keep your eye on the ball and strive to grow the business and reach the desired point. Let\u2019s see how you can achieve this.\n\nBranding Strategy\n\nFirst, you\u2019ll want to make sure you try to make sure you know your business from the past. It isn\u2019t easy to organize your business or propel yourself forward if you know your brand name. Therefore, the first thing you should be able to achieve is to know your brand. Creating the right branding strategy will allow you to gain confidence in your business and take it to the level you would like.\n\nOne important thing you could do to increase your business\u2019s growth is to invest in custom packaging boxes that enable branding. Create a design for your packaging that promotes your company\u2019s image. It is essential to consider your product category and determine the branding strategy most effectively for you.\n\nKnowledge about Customer\n\nThe next thing you should be able to do is to spend some time understanding your customer. If you don\u2019t have profiles for your customers and you don\u2019t have an idea in your head about who your customers are, you\u2019re not on the right track. Therefore, ensuring you take the time to build the profiles that will help you increase your sales is crucial.\n\nMake a Proper Plan\n\nWhen you are sure of the current direction of your business, it is possible to put together an overall business plan that includes all the essential elements of a business plan. Knowing how you will grow your business is vital. This will not be the case if you are not organized. You may have many different ideas about what you want to achieve. It would be best if you recorded everything to start your strategy.\n\nYou might consider avoiding the cost of renting office space by opting for a virtual address instead. A virtual office address will allow you to present a stylish brand identity in your favorite city without the price shock.\n\nGift Boxes\n\nKraft boxes also come in gift boxes. Kraft boxes also wrap gifts for special occasions, such as birthdays and anniversaries. The kraft boxes are easy to fold, so you can avoid all the dirt and glue in the package.\n\nSet Your Vision\n\nYou\u2019ve made your plan, which will help you feel more organized. However, it would be best if you took action on this. Her goals are a factor. If you have set goals for yourself, you have something to strive for and achieve. This method organizes your ideas and goals and pushes you to the next level.\n\nThis is one tip you can discover that will help keep you accountable. Because when you strive for something, it\u2019s much easier to ensure your business is progressing. Setting mini-goals can help here.\n\nProfessional Presentation\n\nThe second thing that will help is to help you make sure you present yourself as a professional. If you want to stay in tip-top shape, you can have a well-branded website and branded emails and ensure that you look like the organized and proficient company you are.\n\nEfficient System\n\nYou\u2019ll probably be asked to make sure you\u2019re using the internet. Even if you\u2019re using an efficient system, there\u2019s much more you can do electronically. There is plenty of digital asset management software you can use to help you organize everything. Finding an efficient system that works for you is essential to ensure you don\u2019t worry about what documents belong and can work on moving your business forward.\n\nPrepare Marketing Strategies\n\nOne of the most effective ways to stay organized is to ensure you know exactly what you\u2019re doing in your marketing. If you want to expand, you have to strategize. You need to make sure you have a marketing plan that tells you how you will increase your growth. If you\u2019ve come up with your marketing strategies, you\u2019ll need to include them in an action plan to help your business scale.\n\nConsistency\n\nNext, you will need to make sure you are as consistent as possible. If you want to stay organized and allow your business to grow how you want it to, staying consistent is the best way to do it. Being consistent when trying to gain momentum is critical. This can help you push your business further and get results through social media and marketing.\n\nShare Your Workload\n\nSometimes you\u2019ll be a little overwhelmed \u2013 that\u2019s how things work. You\u2019ll find that you can\u2019t always do it on your own. You\u2019ll need to make sure you can hire freelancers and employees to help with your workload.\n\nMarkup Your Schedule\n\nIn this way, you will find that it is beneficial to have a calendar that allows you to be better organized. When your business is expanding rapidly, it\u2019s not easy to keep track of things. Whether it\u2019s meetings, financial obligations, or marketing, calendars can help you stay organized. Content calendars will help you plan your social media activities, and synced journal calendars can help you manage your appointments. This could be a massive boost to your overall success.\n\nFeel Organized With Work\n\nYou must hold yourself accountable if you\u2019re having trouble making things happen. Feeling more organized with your work and goals is easy and fun. It doesn\u2019t matter if you have someone checking you out or if you\u2019ve created an incentive you want to know; it will help ensure you can complete your tasks.\n\nMonitor\n\nAdditionally, you may want to be sure to monitor everything you do. This applies to your goals, marketing strategy, and customers. It would be best if you didn\u2019t keep moving forward. You need to make sure you are working on the right goals. Make sure your customers are happy and get the services they want from you. Make sure you\u2019re in the right place every month. It will allow you to stay organized and clutter-free.\n\nIt\u2019s that simple. Sometimes it\u2019s impossible to organize yourself and figure out what you need to do to make progress. However, most of the time, it\u2019s about getting started. Maybe you\u2019re not sure what you could do to make that happen. However, now that you have all the information you can get, you have gathered the only thing you have to choose the right points that are most beneficial for you and start working.", "output": "Shared office provider Regus (part of IWG) is opening two new business centres in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. The city has in recent years attracted an increasing number of micro and small businesses, a sector that\u00a0now employs 7.5 million people across the country. The new centres will open in December, with one of them, Vienna Court,\u00a0having been awarded an environmental award by the US Green Building Council. The development incorporates solar power, rain water harvesting and cycling storage.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook still posting discriminatory housing ads \n In February, Facebook said it would step up enforcement of its prohibition against discrimination in advertising for housing, employment or credit.\n\nBut our tests showed a significant lapse in the company\u2019s monitoring of the rental market.\n\nGet Our Top Investigations Subscribe to the Big Story newsletter.\n\nLast week, ProPublica bought dozens of rental housing ads on Facebook, but asked that they not be shown to certain categories of users, such as African Americans, mothers of high school kids, people interested in wheelchair ramps, Jews, expats from Argentina and Spanish speakers.\n\nAll of these groups are protected under the federal Fair Housing Act, which makes it illegal to publish any advertisement \u201cwith respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.\u201d Violators can face tens of thousands of dollars in fines.\n\nEvery single ad was approved within minutes.\n\nThe only ad that took longer than three minutes to be approved by Facebook sought to exclude potential renters \u201cinterested in Islam, Sunni Islam and Shia Islam.\u201d It was approved after 22 minutes.\n\nUnder its own policies, Facebook should have flagged these ads, and prevented the posting of some of them. Its failure to do so revives questions about whether the company is in compliance with federal fair housing rules, as well as about its ability and commitment to police discriminatory advertising on the world\u2019s largest social network.\n\nFacebook\u2019s advertising portal lets users choose their audiences based on specific traits, demographics and behavior profiles. Our ad for an apartment rental excluded African Americans, Asian Americans and Spanish-speaking Hispanic audiences. It was approved in under a minute.\n\nHousing, employment and credit are the three areas in which federal law prohibits discriminatory ads. However, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development \u2014 the agency responsible for enforcing fair housing laws \u2014 told us that it has closed an inquiry into Facebook\u2019s advertising policies, reducing pressure on the company to address the issue. In a 2015 newspaper column, Ben Carson, now HUD secretary, criticized \u201cgovernment-engineered attempts to legislate racial equality\u201d in housing.\n\nFacebook\u2019s failure to police discriminatory rental ads flies in the face of its promises in February that it would no longer approve ads for housing, employment or credit that targeted racial categories. For advertising aimed at audiences not selected by race, Facebook said it would require housing, employment and credit advertisers to \u201cself-certify\u201d that their ads were compliant with anti-discrimination laws.\n\nBased on Facebook\u2019s announcement, the ads purchased by ProPublica that were aimed at racial categories should have been rejected. The others should have prompted a screen to pop up asking for self-certification. We never encountered a self-certification screen, and none of our ads were rejected by Facebook.\n\n\u201cThis was a failure in our enforcement and we\u2019re disappointed that we fell short of our commitments,\u201d Ami Vora, vice president of product management at Facebook, said in an emailed statement. \u201cThe rental housing ads purchased by ProPublica should have but did not trigger the extra review and certifications we put in place due to a technical failure.\u201d\n\nVora added that Facebook\u2019s anti-discrimination system had \u201csuccessfully flagged millions of ads\u201d in the credit, employment and housing categories and that Facebook will now begin requiring self-certification for ads in all categories that choose to exclude an audience segment. \u201cOur systems continue to improve but we can do better,\u201d Vora said.\n\nAbout 37 percent of U.S. households rented in 2016, representing a 50-year high, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. On average, renters earn about half as much as homeowners, and the percentage of families with children that rent rather than buy has increased sharply in the past decade, the study said. Minority renters have long faced pervasive housing discrimination. A 2013 study by HUD found that real estate agents show more units to whites than to African Americans, Asians and Latinos.\n\nFacebook has long been a popular destination for rental listings, on pages hosted by real estate brokers, property owners and building managers. Earlier this month, Facebook announced that it had added two large providers of rental listings to its Facebook Marketplace service. \u201cMarketplace is a popular place for people to look for a home to rent,\u201d Facebook product manager Bowen Pan said in a press release.\n\nFacebook warns rental advertisers in its Marketplace section that \u201clistings that discriminate against a protected class can be reported and will be removed from Facebook.\u201d\n\nFacebook\u2019s anti-discrimination initiative was prompted by an article published last year by ProPublica. For that story, we bought a Facebook ad targeting house hunters. We were able to use Facebook\u2019s features to block the ad from being shown to anyone with an \u201caffinity\u201d for African American, Asian American or Hispanic people. Our ability to narrow the audience based on race raised the question of whether such ads violated the Fair Housing Act.\n\nAfter ProPublica\u2019s article appeared in the fall of 2016, HUD, then under the Obama administration, began examining Facebook\u2019s practices. Facebook then said it would build an automated system to spot ads that discriminate illegally. \u201cWe take these issues seriously,\u201d Facebook Vice President Erin Egan wrote in a blog post. \u201cDiscriminatory advertising has no place on Facebook.\u201d\n\nRead More Facebook Lets Advertisers Exclude Users by Race Facebook\u2019s system allows advertisers to exclude black, Hispanic, and other \u201cethnic affinities\u201d from seeing ads.\n\nIn February, Facebook announced it had built its system and was rolling it out. The press lauded the announcement: \u201cFacebook cracks down on ads that discriminate\u201d was the Washington Post\u2019s headline.\n\nFacebook has been under fire for other aspects of its automated ad buying system as well. Two months ago, the company disclosed that it had discovered $100,000 worth of divisive political ads placed by \u201cinauthentic\u201d Russian accounts. And in September, ProPublica reported that Facebook\u2019s ad targeting system allowed buyers to reach people who identified themselves as \u201cJew haters\u201d and other anti-Semitic categories. Facebook pledged to remove the offending categories and to hire thousands more employees to enforce its ad policies.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re adding additional layers of review where people use potentially sensitive categories for targeting,\u201d Facebook General Counsel Colin Stretch said during Senate testimony earlier this month.\n\nAfter Stretch\u2019s public statement, we wondered whether the ability to buy discriminatory housing ads had really been addressed. So we set out to buy an advertisement with the exact same targeting parameters as the ad we bought last year. The ad promoted a fictional apartment for rent and was targeted at people living in New York, ages 18\u201365, who were house hunting and likely to move. We asked Facebook not to show the ad to people categorized under the \u201cmulticultural affinity\u201d of Hispanic, African American or Asian American.\n\n(ProPublica generally forbids impersonation in news gathering. We felt in this instance that the public interest in Facebook\u2019s ad system justified the brief posting of a fake ad for non-existent housing. We deleted each ad as soon as it was approved.)\n\nThe only changes from last year that we could identify in Facebook\u2019s ad buying system was that the category called \u201cEthnic Affinity\u201d had been renamed \u201cMulticultural Affinity\u201d and was no longer part of \u201cDemographics.\u201d It is now designated as part of \u201cBehaviors.\u201d\n\nOur ad was approved within minutes.\n\nLeft: A screenshot of ad targeting categories ProPublica submitted and Facebook approved in 2016. Right: Categories ProPublica submitted and were approved in 2017, raising questions about what the social network has done to police discriminatory ads.\n\nThen we decided to test whether we could purchase housing ads that discriminated against other protected categories of people under the Fair Housing Act.\n\nWe placed ads that sought to exclude members of as many of the protected categories as we could find in Facebook\u2019s self-service advertising portal. In addition to those mentioned above, we bought ads that were blocked from being shown to \u201csoccer moms,\u201d people interested in American sign language, gay men and Christians.\n\nWe also tested whether it was possible to use geography as a way to target racial groups \u2014 a practice known as redlining. We bought a housing ad that targeted ZIP codes in Brooklyn whose residents are more than 50 percent non-Hispanic white people, according to the U.S. Census bureau. By definition, that meant the ad was not shown to Facebook users living in Brooklyn neighborhoods where minorities are a majority of the residents.\n\nFacebook drew blue lines around our target neighborhoods and told us our \u201caudience selection is great!\u201d It approved the ad.", "output": "Facebook is still permitting the posting of US housing ads that break the law by discriminating against people in specific ethnic groups or with disabilities, according to investigative journalism non-profit\u00a0ProPublica. In October 2016, the group revealed that it had been able to purchase an ad on Facebook\u00a0which excluded Hispanic, African-American and Asian-American people from viewing it. Facebook announced in February that it had installed tools to prevent this. However, ProPublica claims that it recently purchased an ad for rental apartments which excluded groups including African Americans, Jews, Spanish speakers and people interested in wheelchair ramps.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook still posting discriminatory housing ads \n Facebook is still allowing people to post housing ads that illegally discriminate against certain ethnic groups or people with disabilities, according to ProPublica.\n\nProPublica reported in October 2016 it was able to buy an ad in Facebook's housing category and exclude black, Hispanic or Asian-Americans from seeing it. Discriminating against specific races, colors, religions, sex, handicaps, familial status and national origin when it comes to housing ads is against the law under the Fair Housing Act. Facebook said it added new tools in February to prevent the issue.\n\nBut a new ProPublica report shows the publication bought housing ads recently -- and was still allowed to block groups including African Americans, people interested in wheelchair ramps, Jews, and Spanish speakers from seeing it. Most ads were approved within three minutes, except for an exclusion for people \"interested in Islam, Sunni Islam and Shia Islam\" which was also eventually approved.\n\nWhile the ad bought in October 2016 was about a community meeting about housing, the recent housing ad was about rental apartments, which would make it illegal.\n\nFacebook admitted it allowed the ads, and apologized for the error in a statement. Ami Vora, VP of product management, said the company will add a notification across all categories for anyone who places an ad that excludes certain groups of people. Purchasers will have to acknowledge they are posting in accordance with Facebook's policies and the law.\n\n\"This was a failure in our enforcement and we're disappointed that we fell short of our commitments,\" Vora said in the statement.\n\n\"Earlier this year, we added additional safeguards to protect against the abuse of our multicultural affinity tools to facilitate discrimination in housing, credit and employment. The rental housing ads purchased by ProPublica should have but did not trigger the extra review and certifications we put in place due to a technical failure. Our safeguards, including additional human reviewers and machine learning systems have successfully flagged millions of ads and their effectiveness has improved over time. Tens of thousands of advertisers have confirmed compliance with our tighter restrictions, including that they follow all applicable laws. We don't want Facebook to be used for discrimination and will continue to strengthen our policies, hire more ad reviewers, and refine machine learning tools to help detect violations. Our systems continue to improve but we can do better. While we currently require compliance notifications of advertisers that seek to place ads for housing, employment, and credit opportunities, we will extend this requirement to ALL advertisers who choose to exclude some users from seeing their ads on Facebook to also confirm their compliance with our anti-discrimination policies \u2013 and the law.\"\n\nA source close to the situation said there was a coding error which did not prevent discriminatory tactics from being used on rental ads. However housing ads that pertained to purchasing property were properly screened.\n\nFacebook also faced scrutiny over its ad targeting capabilities in September, when another ProPublica report showed the platform allowed ads to be shown to people who identified as \"Jew haters\" and other anti-semitic terms. The company responded by adding more features to block the use of derogatory terms to target users, as well as hiring more people to look over ads before they post.", "output": "Facebook is still permitting the posting of US housing ads that break the law by discriminating against people in specific ethnic groups or with disabilities, according to investigative journalism non-profit\u00a0ProPublica. In October 2016, the group revealed that it had been able to purchase an ad on Facebook\u00a0which excluded Hispanic, African-American and Asian-American people from viewing it. Facebook announced in February that it had installed tools to prevent this. However, ProPublica claims that it recently purchased an ad for rental apartments which excluded groups including African Americans, Jews, Spanish speakers and people interested in wheelchair ramps.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Solar accounts for record 39% of India's new power capacity \n The solar energy sector has accounted for the largest capacity addition to the Indian electricity grid so far this year.\n\nIt has contributed around 39%\u2014over 7,100 megawatts (MW)\u2014to the overall capacity additions, according to data from Mercom Capital Group, a US-based research and consulting firm. For comparison, solar energy capacity additions stood at only around 4,313 MW in all of 2016.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIn all, the country now has a total solar capacity of around 14.7 gigawatts (GW, 1 GW = 1,000 MW) as of September 2017.\n\nThe spurt in solar power capacity comes on the back of the Narendra Modi government\u2019s push for renewable energy, and its target of installing 175 GW of renewable energy (100 GW of this from solar sources) by 2022. \u201cLast year (financial year 2016-17) was a landmark year in the Indian power sector\u2026for the first time, the capacity addition in renewables sector was more than conventional and the same is likely to continue even this year also,\u201d Amit Kumar, a partner at consulting firm PwC, told Quartz.\n\nIndia\u2019s demand for coal is also likely to peak by 2027, according to an analysis by the Institute for Energy Economics & Financial Analysis (IEEFA), a US-based research institute, the Financial Times reported (paywall). It will be replaced by renewables, which the IEEFA predicts will account for 27% by 2027.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nCloudy future\n\nThe last few months, however, have been difficult for the sector. Solar energy developers are battling issues ranging from lack of power transmission infrastructure, increasing costs of solar panels, and lacklustre power demand. \u201cEven though the Indian solar market is on pace for a record-breaking year, the momentum has definitely slowed,\u201d said Raj Prabhu, Mercom Capital Group\u2019s CEO.\n\nFor instance, nearly 1,000 MW of large-scale projects that are ready to be connected to the grid haven\u2019t been commissioned yet due to delays by the government, according to the Mercom report. The sector also had to tackle ambiguity around the goods and services tax on solar plant components and various states\u2019 demands to renegotiate older power purchase agreements (PPAs). The sector expects another policy change\u2014an imposition of anti-dumping duties on imported panels\u2014in the next few months.\n\nAs a result, capacity addition has only reached 7,100 MW this year in the sector\u2014around 3,000 MW short of the annual target set by the ministry of new and renewable energy. \u201cThe fourth quarter of 2017 will be a crucial one for the solar sector in many ways, considering the anti-dumping recommendations due to be released, the uncertain trajectory of module prices, and low power demand,\u201d the Mercom report added.", "output": "Solar energy accounted for a record 39% of energy capacity added to India's grid this year, according to Mercom Capital Group. The 7,100 MW of new capacity was still short of the 10,000 MW target as lacklustre demand, rising solar panel costs and an absence of power transmission infrastructure slowed growth. \"Even though the Indian solar market is on pace for a record-breaking year, the momentum has definitely slowed,\" said Mercom CEO Raj Prabhu."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Second business centre opened in Phnom Penh \n Regus opens its second biz centre\n\nGlobal workspace provider Regus officially opened its second business centre in Phnom Penh yesterday with the aim of offering flexible office solutions for the growing number of Cambodian and global professionals.\n\nLocated in Casa Meridian, a luxury condo development on Phnom Penh\u2019s Diamond Island, the firm offers 191 rentable workstations, co-working spaces, professional address solutions and virtual offices that are bookable by the hour.\n\nLars Wittig, country manager for Regus Cambodia, said that the demand for short- and long-term rentable office space and meeting rooms has been on the rise. The company first opened a 208 workstation facility in Canadia Tower in 2012.\n\n\u201cAs a developing economy, Cambodian enterprises, especially startups, are challenged by a lack of capital, business networks and affordable professional office space,\u201d he said. \u201cBy providing opportunities for modern and dynamic businesses to work where and when they want, they can become better connected globally through our network.\u201d\n\nThe firm, which is based in Luxembourg and listed on the London Stock Exchange, claims to be the world\u2019s largest provider of flexible workspace solutions with 2.3 million customers spread across more than a 100 countries with 3,000 locations. The company posted total revenue earnings of nearly $3 billion last year with a net profit of $183 million.\n\nWittig added that for startups, rentable workstation fees start at $79 per person a month while office space for two or more people begins at $479 per month.", "output": "Abstract:\u00a0Flexible office space provider Regus has opened its second offering in Phnom Penh, a 191-desk business centre\u00a0with virtual offices and co-working spaces, at the city's\u00a0Diamond Island development. Five years after Regus launched\u00a0its first space in the capital, the Casa Meridian site aims to address the needs of Cambodia's growing number of start-ups, according to country manager Lars Wittig.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "USAA plans 1,000 tech hires in Phoenix over three years \n USAA plans to hire up to 1,000 technology professionals at its Phoenix office by the end of 2020, the company announced.\n\nWith the move, USAA will add Phoenix as the fourth city associated with the insurer\u2019s chief technology and digital office initiative, focusing on data analytics, innovation, digital experience and design. Austin, Plano and the military carrier\u2019s hometown of San Antonio, Texas make up the other sites. USAA\u2019s Phoenix location currently employs 4,500 people.\n\n\u201cAs our membership grows and their needs change, our workforce must keep pace and evolve,\u201d said Gay Meyer, assistant vice president of HR operations at USAA, in a statement. \u201cPhoenix is a great market for us and with the area\u2019s deep pool of tech talent, adding these roles makes sense.\u201d\n\nSantana, Danni\n\nGrowing internal technology capabilities is a focus for USAA. The company recently opened its design studio in Austin in February, responsible for experimenting with ways to improve the customer experience. The new office houses 120 employees.\n\nAlso see: Inside USAA\u2019s approach to digital design\n\n\u201cWe are constantly working to design, develop and deliver the best possible experiences,\u201d said Michael Pansini, USAA\u2019s VP of applications development, adding the company is predominantly looking to hire software engineers and application developers, in an interview with Phoenix Business Journal.", "output": "USAA is planning to hire 1,000 staff focusing on technology by 2020. The staff will be based in the insurer's Phoenix, Arizona office. The firm has made technological developments a key focus, looking to add personnel to oversee the growth of its capabilities in data analytics, innovation, digital experience and design. USAA opened a design centre in Austin, Texas recently, as it looks to enhance their customers' digital experience. The centre employs 120 people."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Marine sector behind in acquiring cyber coverage \n And while insurers have also expressed an interest in creating new products to stop competing for the same traditional lines of business, many have still not done so, noted Latitude Brokers founding partner Andrew Brooker at the 5th Asia Marine Insurance Conference.\n\nThere is a need to provide response consultants and more importantly fit-for=purpose policies. \"We need a starting point; clear fit-for-purpose base which we're not doing,\" he said.\n\nPart of the reason for this is a lack of understanding of the issues involved and the ability to provide solutions to them on the part of both insurers and the insureds. Brooker suggested that a way forward for this relatively recent phenomenon might be to take the quick and effective introduction of Kidnap & Ransom (K&R) insurance when the Gulf of Aden piracy situation rose to prominence.\n\nMany of the elements involved there such as unfamiliarity with the situation and confusion about how to react are similar to that being faced by companies with cyber crime now. Similarly the impetus to take more proactive measures onboard ships was also driven by the insurers providing the K&R insurance. This included the hardening of ships, providing of armed guards and so on.\n\nIn the same way, Brooker believed that the current inertia on the part of shipping company management in implementing cyber security measures could be overcome by demands from the insurers to step up.", "output": "Shipping companies are behind in terms of their adoption of coverage for cyber threats, according to Latitude Brokers founding partner Andrew Brooker. Part of the reason for this is the lack of policies specifically designed for marine clients. Marine insurance policies\u00a0often excludes cyber coverage, according to a report from\u00a0Miller Insurance. The insurer added in its report that marine clients searching for this kind of protection often have to do so through dedicated cyber insurance specialists.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ping An plans to spin off, list tech units \n A Ping An Bank employee (left) addresses queries from a customer on credit and loan services at a financial expo held in Beijing. [Photo/for China Daily]\n\nInsurance company to invest $7.54b in development of innovative products\n\nPing An Insurance Group Co of China Ltd is planning to spin off and list its technology and internet units separately and set up more financial services platforms as part of a strategic transformation plan, the company said on Monday.\n\nJessica Tan, deputy chief executive and the chief operating officer and chief information officer, said Ping An is transforming by applying biometrics, big data, artificial intelligence and blockchain and iCloud technologies to empower four business ecosystems\uff0dfinancial services, healthcare services, automobile services and real estate finance.\n\nTan said Ping An has invested more than 50 billion yuan ($7.54 billion) internally on research and development to develop innovative projects including financial technology, medical technology, artificial intelligence and externally exported socialized services. Financial technology is expected to lift potential returns on bank earnings by as much as 44 percent.\n\nPing An said the four ecosystems are estimated to reach a market size of as much as 550 trillion yuan by 2022. Tan said the fifth ecosystem would be on city life but it would take time to establish this new business.\n\nJason Yao, chief financial officer and chief actuary, said the Chinese mainland's insurance market was far from saturated compared with that in other developed countries.\n\nHe pointed out that Ping An will consider spinning off the listing of technology and internet subsidiaries in the near future but gave no timeline.\n\nHe also mentioned that Ping An has been doing internet insurance business for 15 years including the launching of Lufax business and has been focusing on technology for seven years.\n\nPing An now has more than 22,000 technology staff, with 40 percent coming from internet companies and 20 percent possessing masters degrees, 500 big-data scientists and 2,000 global patents. Tan said their team is expected to expand in the future.\n\nDiscussing competition from internet companies entering the insurance industry, Yao said insurance technology is a trend and Ping An is open to cooperation with them.\n\nLi Yuan Siong, deputy chief executive and chief insurance business officer, said the company is conducting an asset-light approach, adopting a \"finance plus technology\" strategy that will consistently improve profit and value, though the company's share price has not fully reflected its value yet.\n\nPing An's net profit in the first six months of this year rose 6.5 percent year-on-year to 43.43 million yuan. The company's core finance businesses had an overall individual customer base of 143 million, increasing 9.3 percent year-on-year; it has 403 million internet users.\n\nPing An's shares closed at HK$86.2 ($11) in Hong Kong on Tuesday, up 8.84 percent from Monday's closing price.", "output": "China's Ping An is planning to spin off and list its technology and internet-focused divisions. The firm also says it's open to partnering with internet companies entering the insurance space. There is no timeline for when the insurer will list the divisions as separate entities. Ping An's stock is trading in a similar fashion to a technology company, according to Bloomberg. It's reported that the firm's share price has risen 122% in 2017, keeping pace with China's technology behemoth Tencent, which has seen returns of 127%."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Landmark legal case could affect outsourced UK workers\u2019 rights \n A union is launching a legal challenge over the rights of 75 university support staff to negotiate their pay and conditions, in a landmark case that could improve rights for outsourced workers.\n\nThe receptionists, security officers, postroom staff and porters working at the University of London are employed through the facilities management company Cordant Security, but are seeking the right to agree their pay and conditions directly with the university.\n\nPapers for the case, led by gig economy union the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain, and the Good Law Project, devised by the barrister Jolyon Maugham QC, are being filed at the central arbitration committee on Tuesday.\n\nThe case argues that denying the workers the right to collectively bargain with their \u201cde facto employer\u201d is a breach of article 11 of the European convention on human rights concerning joining trade unions and having them protect their interests.\n\nIf successful, the case could potentially open the door for thousands of outsourced workers across the UK to negotiate with the company that ultimately benefits from their labour. The union said that if it established the precedent of a joint employer for the purposes of collective bargaining, this could potentially be applied to people employed via agencies, such as those working in the Sports Direct warehouse.\n\nThe IWGB general secretary, Jason Moyer Lee, said: \u201cWhen it comes to the most important elements of pay and terms and conditions for the outsourced workers, it is the University of London and not Cordant which calls the shots.\n\n\u201cIn order for these workers\u2019 collective bargaining and human rights to mean anything, we need to be able to negotiate directly with the university, not the glorified middleman.\u201d\n\nA University of London spokesperson said: \u201cThe university does not employ any of these workers and does not accept that the relevant legislation recognises the concept of joint employment. We have therefore not agreed to the IWGB\u2019s request for recognition.\u201d\n\nThe spokesperson added that the university had begun a review of the performance of its contracted facilities management services, which would cover pay, conditions and benefits.The court case is the latest in a series of battles over better employment rights and pay between outsourced workers, particularly cleaning staff, and universities and other big institutions including hospitals.\n\nThe TUC general secretary, Frances O\u2019Grady, said the practice of using outsourced workers hit those in the lowest-paid sectors the hardest.\n\n\u201cOutsourcing\u2019s a cheap trick used by bad bosses to dodge their basic responsibilities to workers. They\u2019re trying to hammer down people\u2019s pay and get an unfair advantage,\u201d O\u2019Grady said. \u201cOther European countries have a sensible way of dealing with this. Unions and businesses negotiate fair pay rates for the whole sector, which means outsourcing can\u2019t drive down pay and conditions.\u201d\n\nThis article was amended on 21 November 2017. An earlier version of this article incorrectly referred to agency workers, rather than outsourced workers. We were also incorrect when we said the case was being launched by the staff; it is being brought by the union.\n\n\n\n", "output": "A UK legal challenge over the rights of support staff at the University of London could prove a landmark case for outsourced workers. The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain and the Good Law Project are leading the case, filed on Tuesday on behalf of 75 staff employed via facilities management firm Cordant Security. The workers are seeking the right to agree pay and conditions directly with the university. The case argues that denial of collective bargaining rights with a \u201cde facto employer\u201d breaches the European convention on human rights. If successful, the case could affect thousands of outsourced workers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HSBC closes account held by Marine Le Pen for 25 years \n Marine Le Pen, the leader of France\u2019s Front National, has claimed that she and her party are victims of a \u201cbanking fatwa\u201d after HSBC closed a bank account she had had for 25 years.\n\nThe move by Britain\u2019s biggest bank comes amid heightened scrutiny of political accounts and the day after Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 G\u00e9n\u00e9rale, France\u2019s second-largest bank, asked the far-right party to close all its accounts after a 30-year relationship.\n\nLe Pen told a press conference on Wednesday that HSBC had \u201cdriven me out\u201d.\n\nShe said the closure of her and the party\u2019s accounts amounted to a \u201cbanking fatwa\u201d against the Front National, which has said it will sue both banks for discrimination.\n\nLe Pen said the closures were a political decision designed to \u201cstop the Front National taking part in democratic life and to cause the conditions of its ruin and collapse\u201d.\n\nBanks were trying to \u201csilence the voices\u201d of the almost 11 million people who voted for her in May in the final round of the French presidential election, which she lost to the centrist newcomer Emmanuel Macron.\n\n\u201cFinancial oligarchs are trying to stifle the opposition and interfere in the course of French democracy,\u201d she said. \u201cWill the opposition in France be forced into banking exile? What would become of France\u2019s reputation if that happens?\u201d\n\n\n\nLa pers\u00e9cution bancaire devient personnelle : M. Vandeville, patron de la HSBC, me chasse de la banque dont je suis cliente depuis 25 ans.\n\nJe diffuserai l\u2019enregistrement de la conversation lors de ma conf\u00e9rence de presse \u00e0 11h30. MLP \u2014 Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) November 22, 2017\n\nHSBC has been criticised for closing the accounts of small business customers and charities. In September, small businesses in the UK \u2013 ranging from an avocado importer to marketing and design companies \u2013 complained their accounts had been shut by the bank without notice.\n\n\n\nThe banks have not made public their reasons for closing the Front National and Le Pen accounts.\n\nHSBC said it could not comment on individuals. SocGen issued a statement saying its decisions on opening and closing accounts were based only on banking issues, and a respect of banking rules, \u201cwithout any political consideration\u201d.", "output": "HSBC has closed a bank account held for 25 years by Marine Le Pen, leader of France\u2019s far-right Front National (FN) party. France\u2019s second-largest bank, Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 G\u00e9n\u00e9rale, asked the FN to close all its accounts, the result of a 30-year banking relationship, earlier this week. Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Marine Le Pen claimed that the moves constituted a \u201cbanking fatwa\u201d against her party, which has stated that it will sue the banks for discrimination. Neither HSBC nor Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 G\u00e9n\u00e9rale has revealed the reasons for their actions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MIT creates rent indices for India's top cities with Propstack \n MUMBAI: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has created office realty rent indices for India\u2019s top six cities in collaboration with Propstack in the run-up to opening up of India\u2019s Real Estate Investment Trust market that prompted large investments from global institutional funds.The development assumes significance as the maiden index for Indian office real estate market is expected to bring greater transparency into this segment and could trigger higher institutional investments from large sovereign wealth and pension funds.MIT Center of Real Estate has developed these indices, based on data from realty information and analytic firm Propstack, for Mumbai, National Capital Region, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad. These indices have been developed from data of last 12 years related to rent and its growth on quarterly basis in these six key markets.\u201cWe introduce new methodology for constructing real estate rent indices. Using unique data on contract rents from six Indian metropolitan markets, we pair subsequent rented units in the same building to create over 12,000 pseudo repeat rent pairs,\u201d said the paper released by MIT\u2019s Sheharyar Bokhari, David Geltner, and Alex van de Minne.Rent indices are an important indicator for tracking the space market and can be used to support asset allocation, performance measurement and attribution, transparency, research and investment product development.\u201cIndian commercial market has been witnessing steady and robust growth in the last few years owing to improving macroeconomic factors leading to business development. This coupled with uptake in office space absorption, rental growth and improving transparency has been attracting global investments. With the upcoming REIT listings, indices tracking rental growth in key markets would help in pushing this further,\u201d said Raja Seetharaman, cofounder, Propstack.Among the six Indian office markets, Bengaluru has seen the biggest increase in rents since 2010 more than 5% annually. Chennai and Pune grew annually at 2.8% and 2.7%, respectively. Hyderabad and the NCR office market rents have increased 1.9% and 1.8% per year, respectively.While Mumbai had the slowest annual growth at 0.4%, it had grown tremendously during in 2005-2008, when rents more than doubled. The growth indicates that important emerging markets such as India need to develop sophisticated commercial realty information analytics.", "output": "The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has calculated office rent indices for the six leading cities in India in a collaboration with property data firm Propstack. The partnership comes as India's market in real estate investment trusts is about to open, which is expected to receive significant investment from institutional funds. The indices were calculated with a new methodology and should assist in asset location, performance measurement, transparency, research and investment product development."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Housing market crisis is oversimplified and requires new thinking \n Recent years have seen growing public and political recognition that there is a crisis in housing. This has led to a widening debate on the causes and potential solutions.\n\nHowever, within this debate there has been little in the way of a consensus view of what constitutes the current housing crisis and what a \u201ccrisis-free\u201d housing system might look like. There seems little clear idea of any measurable goal. The nearest we have as a target to aim at has been a series of aspirational numbers for new-build homes, with limited clarity on what to expect if we were to hit those numbers.\n\nClarity about what success would look like is essential. Without a framework for what we need and want from housing, our ability to understand and fix it appropriately will be compromised. A lack of clarity also increases the risk of unintended consequences from misguided policy interventions.\n\nThe current housing debate is \u201cbedevilled by rival simplifications\u201d. There are several quite often competing explanations for why we have a housing crisis. For many it is our failure to build homes at the same rate as projected household formation. This failure might be assigned to the planning system, the greenbelt, housebuilder business models, the land market, or NIMBYs. For others, the crisis is a result of falling interest rates, rising credit supply, low income growth, wealth and income inequality, tax incentives, or simply our fixation on house price growth. For some, there is no shortage of homes, rather a poor distribution. And for others there isn\u2019t really a housing crisis.\n\nDespite the apparent contradictions in this mix of positions, each of the arguments that support these various views may hold significant elements of truth. Housing is a complex and interconnected system within the economy and society. There is no simple single housing market. There are multiple markets defined by location, property type, tenure, and price. Therefore, there is no simple single housing crisis. Instead we have multiple overlapping issues affecting different parts of the country in different ways and to varying degrees.\n\nThere may be factors that influence all housing markets across the UK, indeed across much of the globe. There will be others that impact more locally and within specific housing sectors.\n\nSo, for instance, there is growing acceptance by many experts that the cost and availability of credit has been one of the biggest, if not the biggest, drivers of increases in national house prices over the last twenty years. But it is not the only factor. The growth in buy-to-let has contributed to the financialisation of housing, with homes increasingly thought of as an investment rather than a place for people to live. A lack of supply is predominantly an issue for London and its surrounds, but there are localised shortages elsewhere, particularly of specific types or tenure of homes. Planning (including a lack of) and the land market limit the responsiveness of supply to rising demand. Housing is unevenly distributed, mostly across generations but also spatially and within generations. Some areas don\u2019t need a net increase in housing but desperately need existing poor-quality homes improved or replaced. In many areas the biggest issue is low (or negative) income growth and employment insecurity.\n\nAll these issues and others play a part in defining \u201cthe housing crisis\u201d. Having a framework for what we need and want from housing, combined with an understanding of the complexities and interactions that run through the housing market, is essential to resolving the problems they create.\n\nA misunderstanding of the complexities of housing can be found in one of the most frequently stated explanations for the crisis: a lack of new supply compared with household projections. Unfortunately, this argument is flawed. Household projections are not a measure of housing demand. The effective demand for new housing is determined by the number of people or companies willing and financially able to buy property. Meanwhile new supply only accounts for around 12% of total transactions and probably less of available homes for sale.\n\nImportantly, even if some analysis may suggest there is no shortage of supply, that does not mean there is no need for new supply. Household projections are a statistical construct based on the past, not a direct measure of future housing demand. But they are still important if used appropriately within a framework for what we need and want from housing.\n\nIf we are more explicit about the role of household projections in measuring housing need and the assumptions they contain, then the supply versus household projections argument might be recast as a debate on changing household sizes and the consumption of housing (both in terms of space and multiple properties). This then implies that we should be clearer about the minimum acceptable amount of housing people need, while also accounting for what they want. Should younger people still expect to form households at the same rate and size as their parents? The assumptions and projections around future household sizes should be moved from the background, where they are typically only discussed by planners and researchers, to the centre of the debate.\n\nThey should be just one part of a framework for success that explicitly states what we need and want from housing (not just in terms of size but also cost, tenure, quality, security, and location) and better defines the minimum we are prepared to accept. That will provide a clearer understanding of where housing is failing to meet those requirements and help set objectives for how to fix it. These could then be applied appropriately across different markets.\n\nIf measurement against the framework shows that households are not able to form at an appropriate rate and size relative to what they need, then we probably need to increase supply while possibly encouraging older households to move out of larger homes. If rents are too expensive then we may need to reform the rental sectors and increase supply. If housing quality is poor, then we need to work harder at improving and replacing existing stock. If many areas are struggling due to low (or negative) income growth and employment insecurity, then we probably need to look beyond just housing. It might even question whether we need to rebalance the economy and infrastructure investment away from London and its commuter zone.\n\nHaving a framework for success may even highlight which issues we can fix and which we can\u2019t. For example, it looks likely that we are stuck with a low interest rate and hence high house price to income market. Under those conditions, prospective first-time buyers will continue to struggle to raise a deposit and access home-ownership irrespective of how much new supply can be realistically delivered. Rather than trying to return to the relatively short-lived 20th century ideal of mass home-ownership, perhaps we should be focussing our efforts on making renting cheaper, higher quality, and more secure as a long-term home. Increasing new supply would be an important tool in achieving that outcome.\n\nWhen we have a framework for what success could look like, our ability to understand and fix housing appropriately will be dramatically improved. It would be an important step towards making housing available, affordable, and appropriate for everyone that needs it. It would also be more useful than simply setting a nice round number national target for new homes.", "output": "There's little consensus on what constitutes the UK's housing crisis or what an ideal housing market would look like, according to an opinion piece in Residential Analysts. As debate swings between competing \"rival simplifications\" of the cause of the crisis, such as slow progress in housebuilding and low interest rates, it's important to recognise that there is not just one \"single housing market\". It is a complex, layered entity and if it's to be \"fixed\" then clarity is needed via a framework of success for each individual layer of the market.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk Handful of customers report the internet service as not working \n TalkTalk down - Internet not working for hundreds of customers\n\nUPDATE ONE: The issues affecting TalkTalk and AOL today appear to have been resolved.\n\nDown Detector reports of issues with the services have fallen from the hundreds to just a handful.\n\nSpeaking to Express.co.uk, a TalkTalk spokesperson said: \u201cTechnical issues led to a limited number of customers in Nottinghamshire experiencing difficulty with their services this evening.\n\n\n\n\"Our engineers have now restored all services. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.\u201d\n\nORIGINAL: TalkTalk is down right now in the UK for hundreds of customers who have reported issues with the firm's internet service today.\n\nIndependent website Down Detector has received a surge of TalkTalk down reports, with the majority of those affected experiencing issues with their internet connection.\n\nThe Down Detector outage map shows users across the UK experiencing issues with TalkTalk today.\n\nDown Detector is an independent website that tracks social mentions around certain topics to detect outages across the globe.\n\nThe TalkTalk outage coincided with issues in the US for users of AOL - which is part of the TalkTalk Group.\n\nThe official TalkTalk service status page says there are currently issues with the Broadband service in the UK, but added it's a localised issue.", "output": "Technical issues caused hundreds of TalkTalk customers in Nottinghamshire to experience internet connection issues and phone problems, with customers of TalkTalk-owned AOL in the US also seeing the service go down. The telecoms company stated that the issue was localised, and has now resolved all the issues, commenting that a \"limited\" number of customers were affected.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Uber agrees to buy up to 24,000 self-driving Volvo cars \n Uber\u2019s long term goal has always been to disrupt humans out of existence, and replace its fleet of man-piloted 2010 Mazda 3s with something a little more modern. That plan got an additional boost today with the news that Uber has entered into an agreement with Volvo to buy up to 24,000 self-driving cars from the automobile manufacturer.\n\nWith delivery of thousands of cars scheduled to start in 2019, that gives us a firm date for when Uber plans to deploy self-driving cars as a widespread alternative to human-navigated vehicles.\n\nThe cars in question will be Volvo\u2019s flagship luxury SUV, the XC90. The retail price of an XC90 is somewhere around $50,000, on top of which Uber will have to supply the self-driving technology. All told, the deal could cost over $1 billion, which is a lot of cash to burn, even by Uber\u2019s standards.\n\nThis isn\u2019t the first time Uber and Volvo have worked together. Uber already uses Volvo\u2019s XC90 as the testbed for its self-driving system, which is currently undergoing trials in Arizona and Pittsburgh. Although those cars are self-driving, they still have an engineer present behind the wheel, ready to take control.\n\nWaymo, the Google self-driving car spinoff, recently announced that some of its self-driving minivans are already running around Phoenix without a human inside; within months, the company is planning on using those fully self-driving cars to launch a ride-hailing service in the city.", "output": "Uber has agreed to buy up to 24,000 autonomous vehicles from Volvo as it seeks to replace its drivers with self-driving cars. Delivery of the luxury SUV XC90 vehicles is scheduled to start in 2019. With the cars costing around $50,000 each and the addition of self-driving technology, the deal could cost Uber more than $1bn. Uber already uses XC90s for its testing in Arizona and Pittsburgh, although those vehicles have human drivers ready to take control if something goes wrong. Google\u2019s Waymo is already testing vehicles without drivers in Phoenix."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "A new role for first responders: providing in-home health care \n CAMBRIDGE, Mass. \u2014 Dedalo Sousa, an 85-year-old with type 2 diabetes, has seen the inside of a hospital more times than he can remember.\n\nHe has a regular doctor. But sometimes, \u201cwhen he gets scary things, we don\u2019t want to wait for his doctor visit,\u201d said Sousa\u2019s wife, Emilia Torres.\n\nadvertisement\n\nOnce it was a cyst on his back. Another time, Torres said, he had something like heartburn.\n\nTorres admitted that the her husband\u2019s emergency room visits are often for \u201cminor things.\u201d She added, however, \u201cI panic when he gets sick.\u201d\n\nThat impulse \u2014 combined with the fact that health problems crop up outside of office hours, or that even daytime problems can present a transportation challenge \u2014 drive many older patients to turn to 911 for help. And laws in many places, including Massachusetts, are very clear: A 911 call means a trip to the hospital.\n\nBut hospitals and insurers have begun trying to change that story by changing how emergency medicine is delivered. The idea is, instead of transporting patients to the hospital, emergency medical technicians respond to their needs in their own home. Many patient needs \u2014 for instance, slightly elevated blood pressure, a dip in blood sugar \u2014 are simple enough to not need a trip to the hospital. Avoiding hospitals saves insurers money, is easier on patients, and reduces the risk of hospital-acquired infections.\n\nadvertisement\n\nIt\u2019s called mobile integrated health; currently, more than 100 such programs exist nationwide. In Massachusetts, a number of pilot programs in mobile integrated health have sprouted up in recent years. The Department of Public Health has waived certain rules governing EMS providers for two Boston-area pilot programs.\n\nSenior paramedic Joe Hughes works on his computer between visits on the mobile integrated health program. Kayana Szymczak for STAT\n\nOne such program was started in 2014 by nonprofit Commonwealth Care Alliance. Its participants are so-called \u201cdual eligible\u201d individuals \u2014 residents who qualify for both Medicaid and Medicare. This group tends to have multiple complex health issues, often including behavioral health conditions.\n\nThey also make up a disproportionate share of health care spending. According to a 2016 MedPAC report, while dual-eligible beneficiaries account for 18 percent of beneficiaries with traditional Medicare coverage, they accounted for 31 percent of spending in 2012. This is due, at least in part, to frequent ER visits.\n\nBut avoiding emergency rooms can be trickier than it seems. In evenings when doctors are gone and clinics are closed, a 911 call is some patients\u2019 best bet for medical attention. And Massachusetts law \u2014 and similar ones in many other places \u2014 dictates that when a person calls 911, the ambulance that responds must transport them to a hospital, regardless of the seriousness of their health needs.\n\nPilot mobile health projects take a different tack. In the case of the program run by CCA, participants enroll by signing up online or through their doctors. Instead of 911, those participants are given another number on a refrigerator magnet to call if they have a medical emergency between 6 p.m. and 1 a.m., the state rules for their hours of operation.\n\nA nurse practitioner answers the phone and assesses the patient\u2019s condition, and contacts EasCare Ambulance Service, which contracts with the organization.\n\nA patient calling during the program\u2019s hours of operation will usually have a paramedic at the door within an hour. Calls at other times are queued for that evening\u2019s shift.\n\nOnce at a patient\u2019s home, the visit proceeds much like a home health care visit \u2014 vitals are taken and symptoms are noted. The EMT then relays this information to a doctor over the phone, before beginning treatment such as running an IV, administering medication, or taking tests.\n\nBecause the modified ambulances don\u2019t carry stretchers, if the EMTs determine a patient needs to go to the hospital, they call for a regular ambulance.\n\nBut generally, that isn\u2019t needed. According to a survey CCA conducted of 275 patients who received mobile care through July 2017, 84 percent avoided any emergency room visits during that time.\n\nAccording to a CCA-coauthored 2016 report, those avoided visits amount to about $800 to $3,600 in savings per patient, relative to what it would have cost if the patient received the same treatment in a hospital emergency department.\n\nParamedic Joe Hughes checks on an IV treatment given to patient Sousa during a home visit. Kayana Szymczak for STAT\n\nStill, despite the growing enthusiasm of insurers for mobile integrated health programs, their overall efficacy hasn\u2019t been thoroughly studied.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re able to anecdotally note that there is a benefit, but we need to measure how beneficial these programs really are,\u201d said Dr. Stephen Dorner, an emergency medicine physician at Massachusetts General Hospital who co-authored a 2016 journal article on mobile integrated health programs. Dorner also serves as a consultant to CCA.\n\nHe and his co-authors pointed out that while mobile health programs are sprouting up across the country, \u201ctheir performance has rarely been rigorously evaluated.\u201d\n\nCCA\u2019s program is a good example, he said.\n\n\u201cWe know that it saved money when people avoided going to the hospital,\u201d Dorner added. \u201cBut we\u2019re talking about avoiding something that it\u2019s hard to predict in the first place. There hasn\u2019t been a full-scale, retrospective analysis.\u201d\n\nNewsletters Sign up for Morning Rounds Your daily dose of news in health and medicine. Please enter a valid email address. Privacy Policy\n\nCurrently, CCA\u2019s mobile integrated health service is only available to participants in the Boston area; it hopes to extend its coverage to 28 southeastern Massachusetts cities and towns in the first half of 2018.\n\nBut the state would have to change the program\u2019s waiver to allow, among other things, emergency medical technicians to perform some of the duties of paramedics.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re not allowed to do that yet, but we want to, so we can help people more,\u201d said Ron Quaranto, chief operating officer of Cataldo Ambulance Service. Cataldo operates its own mobile health program, called SmartCare Community Paramedics. The program, also created under a DPH waiver, serves Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center patients with severe health problems that put them at high risk for repeated hospitalizations.\n\n\u201cAt least we can continue the pilot program,\u201d Quaranto added. \u201cBut we\u2019d like the state to extend the special project waiver.\u201d\n\nFor now, they\u2019ll have to wait, said Ann Scales, spokesperson for Massachusetts Department of Public Health Commissioner Monica Bharel. The current state budget does not provide funding for mobile integrated health pilots to become permanent.\n\n\u201cUntil the necessary program startup and operating costs are appropriated, the Department of Public Health cannot promulgate the Mobile Integrated Health regulations and implement the program,\u201d she said.\n\nFor his part, Sousa is glad he can be treated in his own home.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s a gentleman who will not go to the hospital,\u201d explained Torres, his wife.\n\n\u201cNo, no, no,\u201d laughed Sousa, sitting in his recliner, answering freely, with a smile that said he didn\u2019t entirely disagree.", "output": "Hospitals and insurers attempting to change the method of delivery for emergency medicine by sending emergency medical technicians to patients\u2019 homes. At present, older adults tend to rely on 911 for assistance, which often leads to unnecessary hospitalization. By taking care of the simple check-ups older adults often need at home, insurers save money and patients risk fewer health complications. Over 100 mobile integrated health programs have been initiated worldwide, with some focusing on the high-needs group of \u201cdual eligible\u201d patients that require both Medicare and Medicaid. This group generally has more than one complex health problem, and accounted for 31 percent of spending for Medicare in 2012, largely due to repeated ER visits. At present, 911 calls are the only option for many senior patients to receive medical attention for their various ailments. However, the pilot mobile health projects sign up patients to a separate number if they have an out-of-hours medical emergency, allowing for triage to the ambulance services or paramedics if necessary. The paramedic carries out vital symptom checks and administers treatment if necessary. A survey of one such project by the nonprofit Commonwealth Care Alliance, of 275 patients that had mobile care treatment throughout July of this year, 84 percent avoided ER visits, saving approximately $800 to $3,600 per patient in terms of ER fees. A full evaluation of the potential success of these programs needs to be made, however, before it can be implemented more widely. Waivers would also have to be put in place to allow emergency medical technicians to perform the same duties as paramedics, and in some states budgets would have to be extended for the programs to gain permanency."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AdEx, travel media giant Ink to auction boarding-pass ad space \n Blockchain-powered global ad exchange AdEx announced today that they have entered into an exclusive partnership with Ink, the world\u2019s leading travel media company.\n\nAbout Ink\n\nInk is the world\u2019s biggest travel media company with an audience reach of over 775 million passengers annually. They offer opportunities for advertisers to connect with a global audience through in-flight magazines, mobile devices, and other digital, print, and video media products. They work with some of the world\u2019s most prominent airlines including American Airlines, Norwegian, Qatar Airways, United, and many others.\n\nThe world leader in travel media, Ink has won numerous awards including Travel Magazine of the Year, Best Cover, Best Photography, and Best Overall Editorial at industry events throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia.\n\nFor more information about Ink please visit ink-global.com.\n\nAbout AdEx\n\nAdEx is one of the largest and most popular decentralized ad networks in the world. Using blockchain technology and smart contracts, AdEx solves many of the most significant problems plaguing traditional ad networks today. Advertisers, publishers, and consumers alike will benefit from the advantages that blockchain technology brings to the online advertising market, including increased data security, fraud protection, enhanced audience targeting, and clear and accurate reporting. Previous partnerships have included such renowned blockchain companies and projects as NEO, Wings, and Fintech Blockchain Group.\n\nFor more information about AdEx please visit adex.network.\n\nAdEx and Ink to Auction 2 Million Ad Spots\n\nUnder the new partnership, AdEx and Ink will hold a blockchain-based auction for ad spaces on airline boarding passes. The auction will be the first of its kind and marks one of the few instances where a blockchain-based company has crossed over and entered the real sector of the economy.\n\nInk CEO Simon Leslie says:\n\nWe are pleased to be working with AdEx to deliver advertisers such a targeted medium, and to be involved in this media first.\n\nFor the first auction, 2 million ad spaces on boarding tickets will be offered up for sale. AdEx will oversee the bidding process while Ink and the airline in question will choose the winners.\n\nIvo Georgiev, CEO of AdEx Network, states:\n\nThis is a giant step for us as it bridges travel media, advertising and blockchain to offer advertisers even more opportunities for reaching their desired target audiences.\n\nAccording to Georgiev, several prominent companies, including eToro and Propy, have expressed their intent to bid for the ad spots in the upcoming auction.\n\nFurther details about the auction, including results, are expected to be released next week.\n\nAdEx has already partnered with several prominent cryptocurrency-related companies. After their partnership with digital assets platform NEO was announced in August of this year, the price of the platform\u2019s ADX token rose by over 400% to almost $2 from $0.35 over a matter of days. ADX is currently trading at around $1.\n\nDo you think that this latest AdEx partnership will help pave the way into the \u201creal sector\u201d for other blockchain-based services? Let us know in the comments below.\n\nImages courtesy of AdEx, Ink", "output": "Blockchain-based ad-serving network AdEx is partnering with Ink, the world's largest travel media firm, to launch a first-of-its-kind auction for ad space on airline boarding passes. Ink CEO Simon Leslie said two million spaces on tickets would be up for grabs in the inaugural auction, with companies including Propy and eToro among those expressing early interest.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Video header bidding pays off for LittleThings' ad rates \n Although header bidding has a video problem, feel-good publisher LittleThings is getting unified auctions for its video inventory to pay off.\n\nAdopting video header bidding helped LittleThings increase its programmatic video ad rates by about 20 percent over the past 12 months, said Justin Festa, chief digital officer at LittleThings, declining to share raw numbers. LittleThings avoided a slowdown of its ad loads by putting videos at the bottom of its articles and not using autoplay, so webpages are fully loaded by the time users click on the video player to initiate video ad calls, Festa said.\n\nFor example, in an article about Thanksgiving side dish recipes, there are six paragraphs about food that precede the overhead hands-in-pans video, which sits at the bottom of the post. LittleThings recently pivoted its video strategy by laying off 13 people and shrinking the number of shows it produces for Facebook Live. It also diversified its video distribution by creating a \u201cpostproduction\u201d team of five people that works on publishing LittleThings\u2019 video content across platforms like Amazon, Apple TV, Roku and Tubi TV. LittleThings receives about 80 million to 120 million video views a month on its website, Festa said.\n\nGiven that ad buyers are pouring money into video and header bidding has helped publishers increase their display ad rates, it\u2019s logical that publishers would use video header bidding to increase their video ad revenue. But video header bidding has been slow to take off because header bidding\u2019s latency problems are more acute with video, and most publishers continue to sell the bulk of their video inventory direct.\n\nThe phrase video header bidding is also a misnomer since there isn\u2019t a header in video. But the idea of header bidding \u2014 where publishers simultaneously offer inventory to multiple exchanges before making calls to their ad servers \u2014 persists within video, so publishers and vendors that sell video inventory programmatically through unified auctions still use the phrase.\n\nA year ago, LittleThings began testing video header bidding with Index Exchange\u2019s wrapper tag and has since added a handful of supply-side platforms to its wrapper.\n\nLittleThings uses header bidding to sell about 30 percent of its video inventory. For the rest, it uses other selling methods like direct sales and Google\u2019s dynamic allocation. About 40 million people visited LittleThings in October, according to comScore.\n\nSetting up video header bidding is more difficult than setting up header bidding for display, which explains why LittleThings sells a limited amount of its video ad space using header bidding. For one, there\u2019s another middleman with video header bidding.\n\nWith display header bidding, a publisher only needs to work with an SSP. For video header bidding, the publisher needs to make sure its video player and SSP are on the same page when it comes to serving video ads. Since adopting video header bidding, Festa and LittleThings\u2019 tech team of eight people have been in frequent contact with the publisher\u2019s SSPs and video player to ensure everything is being implemented correctly.\n\nAnother thing that makes video header bidding hard to set up is that video ad tags are much more complicated than display ad tags, said Brian Rifkin, co-founder of video vendor JW Player. For example, advertisers will push Flash-based VPAID or VAST tags through an exchange even if the exchange no longer accepts Flash. When this happens, the ad gets blocked from loading, and the publisher loses potential ad revenue on wasted impressions.\n\n\u201cVideo is a totally different auction than display,\u201d Festa said. \u201cNo matter what wrapper you use, you can\u2019t just check a box and suddenly have video [header bidding]. It\u2019s its own setup.\u201d", "output": "US publisher LittleThings has seen growth of 20% in its programmatic video ad rates over the past 12 months after adopting header bidding via unified auctions. It now receives between 80 million and 120 million video views a month on its home and family-focused website, according to chief digital officer Justin Festa. He said the company sold around 30% of video ads via header bidding, despite the system being more laborious than display auctions, as it requires compatibility between LittleThings' video player and supply-side platforms, and also features complicated ad tags.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Iron Ox start-up targets robot-boosted farm production \n UNITED STATES (REUTERS) - Head of fresh organic lettuce - sold at the same price as one grown in the field with pesticide. That is the goal of the founders of Iron Ox - and it is one they think is possible thanks to its robots.\n\nIron Ox chief executive officer Brandon Alexander, gave up his job as a Google engineer - and is now getting into farming, just like his grandfather before him, and he is using his tech skills to boost production.\n\nSays Mr Alexander:\"Our mission statement isn't just build core robots or just to build great machine learning. It's to make high-quality fresh produce more accessible to everyone and we believe the way to do that is to leverage advanced robots, leverage things like AI but do it in such a way that we can actually supply better produce than they have access to today.\"\n\nBut unlike crops like wheat, corn and soy, that have been cultivated using GPS guided sprayers and automatic combine machines, fresh produce is much more challenging.\n\nThis machine by Agrobot can only pick berries grown in a structured way - although the next iteration promises to be one that can handle more chaos in the fields.\n\nAbundant Robotics says its big challenge is to get the robot to pick the apples without bruising them and avoid damaging the trees. It is aiming to be ready for commercial use next year.\n\nAnd Iron Ox chief technology officer Jon Binney believes - that where his robots will outfarm humans is not out in the fields - but at a greenhouse.\n\nIron Ox is looking to set up greenhouses across America -starting with the San Francisco Bay Area - and will focus on fast-growing crops like lettuce, basil and any other greens that can go from seed to the table in six weeks.", "output": "California-based company Iron Ox is set to develop advanced robots and artificial intelligence to help grow and harvest fresh produce. CEO and former Google engineer Brandon Alexander wants to build a series of greenhouses across the US, beginning in San Francisco, and believes sophisticated robots will eventually do a better job than humans of growing and harvesting produce. Companies such as Agrobot and Abundant Robotics have both developed fruit-picking machines, but challenges remain about damage to fruit and trees during harvesting.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ransomware costs expected to total $11.5bn by 2019 \n Not many organizations end up paying $67 million in ransomware related costs like United Health Services (UHS) did last year following a September 2020 attack that crippled its network. The organization is, however, an example of the increasingly heavy financial toll that these attacks have begun to exact from victims over the past two years.\n\nSecurity experts that have been following the trend point to several factors as driving the increased costs associated with ransomware attacks, especially for organizations in the healthcare sector. One of the most obvious is an increase in the average ransoms that attackers have been demanding from victims.\n\nAn analysis of claims data from policyholders by cyber insurance firm Coalition last year showed the average ransom demand jumping 47% from just over $230,000 in Q1, 2020 to $338,669 in Q2, 2020. Some, like the operators of the Maze ransomware strain hit victims with an average ransom demand of $420,000. A study by Coveware found actual ransomware payouts skyrocketing too\u2014from just over $84,000 in Q4, 2019 to over $233,817 in Q3, 2020.\n\nHowever, the ransom itself is only part of the total cost and is often not a factor at all for organizations that refuse to accede to extortion attempts. Even for such organizations, the cost of attacks has increased steadily over the past two years or so. Here, according to security experts, are five of the most common reasons why that has happened.\n\n1. Downtime costs\n\nDowntime has emerged as one of the biggest\u2014if not the biggest\u2014costs associated with a ransomware attack. Ransomware victims can often take days and sometimes even weeks to restore systems following a ransomware attack. During that time normal services can be seriously disrupted resulting in lost business, lost opportunity cost, lost customer goodwill, broken SLAs, brand erosion and a slew of other problems. The bulk of UHS's costs, for instance, was tied to lost income because of its inability to provide patient care services as usual and billing delays.\n\nSuch issues could get even worse. In recent months, adversaries have begun targeting operational technology networks to maximize downtime for victims and to increase pressure on them to pay. One example is an attack earlier this year on packaging giant WestRock Company, that impacted operations at some of the company's mills and converting plants. A similar attack on Honda in 2020 temporarily disrupted operations at some of the automaker's plants outside Japan.\n\nTwo-thirds of respondents in a survey of nearly 2,700 IT professionals that Veritas commissioned last year estimated it would take their organizations at least five days to recover from a ransomware attack. Another report from Coveware pegged the average downtime substantially higher at an average of 21 days in Q4, 2020.\n\nRyan Weeks, CISO at Datto, says a survey the company did last year showed that the average cost of downtime related to a ransomware attack in 2020 was a startling 93% higher than it was just one year ago. \"Downtime is often immensely more costly than the ransom itself,\" he says. \"The rate at which the cost of downtime is increasing really puts the ransomware epidemic into perspective.\"\n\nThe company's data showed the average downtime from a ransomware attack can cost upwards of $274,200\u2014or much higher than the average ransom demand. This can make it tempting for organizations to simply accede to attacker demands, Weeks says. \"For example, in 2018, the city of Atlanta, Georgia, was hit by a ransomware attack that cost the city upwards of $17 million dollars to recover from. However, the ransom payment itself was only $51,000,\" he says.\n\nSuch numbers point to the need for organizations to have a well-considered cyber resilience strategy and business continuity plan, Weeks says. When considering a business continuity plan, organizations need to think about issues like recovery time objective (RTO)\u2014the maximum duration of time within which business operations must be restored\u2014and recovery point objective (RPO)\u2014how far back in time they need to go to retrieve data that is still in usable format. \"Calculating your RTO helps determine the maximum time that your business can afford to be operating without access to data before it\u2019s at risk. Alternatively, by specifying the RPO, you know how often you need to perform data backups,\" he says.\n\n2. Costs associated with double extortion\n\nIn an especially troubling development, ransomware operators have begun stealing large volumes of sensitive data from organizations before locking up their systems and then using the stolen data as additional leverage to extract a ransom. When organizations refuse to pay, the attackers leak the data via dark websites set up for that purpose.\n\nA study that Japan's Nikkei conducted in collaboration with Trend Micro found that more than 1,000 organizations worldwide fell victim to this type of a double extortion attack just in the first 10 months of 2020. The practice is believed to have started with the operators of the Maze ransomware family but was quickly adopted by numerous groups including the operators of Sodinokibi, Nemty, Doppelpaymer, Ryuk and Egregor ransomware families. Seven-in-ten of the ransomware incidents that Coveware responded to last quarter involved data theft.\n\n\"The fact that many ransomware groups now steal data before they encrypt it increases the risk of a data leak,\" says Candid Wuest, vice president of cyber protection research at Acronis. \"This means that all the related costs such as brand damage, legal fees, regulatory fines and data breach clean up services are more likely to be needed, even if the systems were restored without any major downtime.\"\n\nThe trend has upended the traditional math associated with ransomware attacks. Ransomware victims\u2014even those with the best data backup and recovery process\u2014now must contend with the real possibility of their sensitive data being leaked publicly or sold to rivals. As a result, victims of ransomware attacks will likely have to bear the brunt of financial penalty from regulatory bodies, says Xue Yin Peh, senior cyber threat intelligence analyst at Digital Shadows. The publishing and exposure of data stolen from victims may constitute a breach under regulations such as the EU's GDPR, California's CCPA and HIPAA.\n\n\"Victims might also face legal consequences in the form of third-party claims or class action lawsuits,\" Peh notes. The potential for such trouble increases when the data that is stolen and published by attackers involves other organizations\u2014such as third-party data files or client data. \"If consumer data was exposed, a firm could expect costs around breach notification and as well. Cyber insurance premiums could also increase as a result of a ransomware attack.\u201d\n\n3. IT upgrade costs\n\nIn the immediate aftermath of a ransomware attack, organizations can sometimes underestimate the costs involved not just in responding to the incident but also in securing the network from further attacks. This is especially true in situations where an organization might assume the best option is to pay the attackers.\n\n\"In a scenario where paying a ransom has secured the release of infected machines, victims have no guarantee that the attackers no longer have access to their enterprise,\" says Migo Kedem, head of SentinelLabs at SentinelOne. They have no assurance that the attackers haven't implanted more malware on their systems or that they haven\u2019t sold or transferred their illicit access to another criminal group. There is no guarantee that once paid, the attackers will disinfect machines, delete pilfered data, or give up their access to the victim network.\n\nTo mitigate against further attacks organizations often must upgrade their infrastructure and implement better controls. \"The hidden costs that victims fail to take into consideration are the incident response and IT upgrade costs necessary to secure that network from further attack,\" Kedem says.\n\n4. Increased costs from paying a ransom\n\nMany companies pay a ransom assuming it's cheaper than restoring data from scratch. That's a mistake, say security experts. A survey that Sophos conducted last year showed that more than one-quarter (26%) of ransomware victims paid their attacker a ransom to get data back. Another 1% paid a ransom as well but didn't get their data back anyway.\n\nWhat Sophos discovered was that those that did pay a ransom ended up paying double in total attack-related costs compared to those that didn\u2019t. The average cost of a ransomware attack\u2014including downtime, device and network repair and recovery costs, people time, opportunity cost and ransom paid\u2014for companies that did pay a ransom was roughly $1.4 million compared to around $733,000 for the non-payers.\n\nThe reason is that victims still need to do a lot of work to restore data, Sophos found. According to the company, the costs associated with data recovery and a return to normalcy are roughly the same whether an organization recovers data from backup or with an attacker-provided decryption key. So, paying a ransom only adds to those costs.\n\n5. Cost of reputational damage\n\nRansomware attacks can erode consumer trust and confidence and result in an organization losing customers and business. A survey of nearly 2,000 consumers from the US, UK, and other countries that Arcserve conducted last year showed 28% saying they would take their business elsewhere if they experienced even a single service disruption or experience where their data was inaccessible. More than nine-in-ten (93%) said they considered an organization's trustworthiness prior to purchasing and 59% said they would avoid doing business with a company that experienced a cyberattack in the past 12 months.\n\nThe recent emergence of a group calling itself Distributed Denial of Secrets could soon make it harder for organizations to play down data breaches. The group, which has modeled itself along the lines of WikiLeaks, claims to have collected troves of data that ransomware attackers have leaked online and has said it will publicly publish the data in the name of transparency. The group has already published data belonging to multiple companies that it says it obtained from sites and forums used by ransomware operators to leak stolen data.", "output": "An uptick in the frequency of ransomware cyber attacks will cost the global economy approximately $11.5bn in 2019. In 2015 such attacks cost $325m. The prediction comes even as fewer victims are agreeing to pay the ransom demands issued by hackers deploying this method of attack. In particular, the healthcare sector is said to be particularly vulnerable. The number of attacks on healthcare firms is slated to increase four-fold by 2020. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "DoJ steps in to block AT&T's merger with Time Warner \n Rumors surfaced earlier this month suggesting the Department of Justice was laying the foundation for an antitrust lawsuit to block AT&T's $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner. On Monday, the litigation came to fruition.\n\nThe development serves as a major blow to a deal that's been in the works for more than a year. Bloomberg first reported on the news earlier in the day.\n\nThe proposed merger was announced in October 2016. The goal, among other things, is to give AT&T more leverage in the rapidly changing entertainment landscape by allowing them to bundle mobile services with video products. Time Warner, as you may know, owns Turner Broadcasting System, Warner Bros and HBO, thus serving as a significant influencer in the production and broadcasting space.\n\nAccording to Bloomberg, the deal appeared to be headed toward approval as early as a month ago. That, however, was before new US antitrust Makan Delrahim came into power and took over the investigation. Delrahim apparently encouraged AT&T to sell its Turner broadcasting arm or DirecTV but the company declined.\n\nDelrahim said in a statement today that the merger would greatly harm American consumers, adding that it would mean higher monthly television bills and fewer of the new, emerging innovative options that consumers are beginning to enjoy.\n\nDavid R. McAtee II, Senior Executive Vice President and General Counsel, AT&T Inc., responded to the lawsuit:\n\n\"Today's DOJ lawsuit is a radical and inexplicable departure from decades of antitrust precedent. Vertical mergers like this one are routinely approved because they benefit consumers without removing any competitor from the market. We see no legitimate reason for our merger to be treated differently.\" \"Our merger combines Time Warner's content and talent with AT&T's TV, wireless and broadband distribution platforms. The result will help make television more affordable, innovative, interactive and mobile. Fortunately, the Department of Justice doesn't have the final say in this matter. Rather, it bears the burden of proving to the U.S. District Court that the transaction violates the law. We are confident that the Court will reject the Government's claims and permit this merger under longstanding legal precedent.\"\n\nAT&T intended on closing the deal by the end of 2017 but given the DoJ hurdle, that now seems unlikely.", "output": "The assistant Attorney General at the Department of Justice's antitrust division, Makan Delrahim, has begun legal action to prevent\u00a0AT&T\u2019s $85.4bn acquisition of Time Warner, claiming the deal would lead to higher costs and less choice for US viewers. The proposed merger was first announced in October 2016\u00a0and looked set to win approval\u00a0until Delrahim's appointment. AT&T's\u00a0general counsel,\u00a0David\u00a0McAtee,\u00a0called the lawsuit \"a radical and inexplicable departure from decades of antitrust precedent\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "PayPal invoices functionality added to Facebook\u00a0Messenger \n PayPal users selling their old Lego bricks can now create and send invoices within Facebook Messenger.\n\nTo use the new feature, sellers open the extension tray within Messenger, select PayPal and create the invoice, with the item name, description, price and quantity.\n\n\n\nThey then send it to the buyer, who can press the Pay with PayPal button and complete the transaction with PayPal One Touch.\n\nThe move comes a month after PayPal introduced person-to-person payments within Messenger. The firm also has a Messenger customer service bot.", "output": "A month after PayPal launched person-to-person payments within Facebook's Messenger, it has added functionality that enables users to create and send invoices over the social media site's service. Upon receipt of the invoice, transactions can be completed using PayPal One Touch.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NatWest software to offer investment advice to customers \n UK and US move closer to transatlantic data bridge deal The British and American governments have committed, in principle, to a new data bridge agreement that will ease the free flow of personal data across the Atlantic\n\nUniversity of Manchester hit by cyber attack The University of Manchester has been hit by a cyber attack of an undisclosed nature\n\nCDEI publishes portfolio of AI assurance techniques The UK\u2019s Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation has published a variety of case studies to show how different assurance techniques can build and maintain trust in artificial intelligence systems\n\nSweden\u2019s Ikano Bank outsources core banking to TCS Ikano Bank moves to cloud banking platform from Indian IT services giant Tata Consultancy Services\n\nVulnerability exploitation volumes up over 50% in 2022 Data from Palo Alto Networks\u2019 Unit 42 threat intel specialists reveals insight into the scale of vulnerability exploitation in the wild\n\nUK gets new rules to regulate crypto sector The Financial Conduct Authority is introducing new rules to regulate the cryptoasset sector, after being handed a government remit to oversee crypto promotions\n\nClop may have been sitting on MOVEit vulnerability for two years The Clop cyber extortion gang may have been keeping the MOVEit SQL injection vulnerability they used to penetrate the systems of multiple victims secret for two years\n\nNetherlands enables contactless payments on entire public transport network All modes of public transport now accept payments using contactless technology after the completion of major project in the Netherlands\n\nGovernment and industry figures meet to discuss AI regulation Tech industry figures are broadly supportive of the need for artificial intelligence (AI) to be regulated, but despite growing consensus there is still disagreement over what effective AI regulation looks like\n\nBishop Fox\u2019s Vinnie Liu talks offensive security skills There is growing demand for offensive security testing, but it needs a multi-layered skillset that can be hard to quantify. Bishop Fox\u2019s CEO and co-founder explains why and some potential mitigation strategies\n\nUKtech50 2023 winner: Michelle Donelan/Chloe Smith, secretary of state, DSIT Computer Weekly looks at the achievements and successes of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, as its secretary of state is recognised as the most influential person in UK technology for 2023\n\nUKtech50 2023: The most influential people in UK technology Computer Weekly has announced the 13th annual UKtech50 \u2013 our definitive list of the movers and shakers in the UK tech sector\n\nNatWest and University of Edinburgh form partnership to research data use in banking sector Scottish university and banking group set up research centre that will aim to improve the use of banking data\n\nWelsh ambulance service upgrades life-saving communications Welsh ambulances going through major communications upgrade as part of wider NHS programme\n\nResearchers in Belgium move towards industrial production of qubits Using existing equipment and know-how, researchers at the Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (Imec) in Belgium are finding ways of mass-producing qubits\n\nOpen banking regulator sets out next steps Plans for ongoing evolution of the UK open banking sector have been set out by regulator in bid to grow the open banking sector in a \u2018safe, scalable and economically sustainable way\u2019\n\nClop cyber gang claims MOVEit attack and starts harassing victims The Clop cyber extortion and ransomware operation is demanding organisations pay a ransom to avoid data stolen via an exploited vulnerability in a file transfer product being leaked\n\nPayments regulator makes APP fraud reimbursement mandatory UK payments regulator confirms changes to rules around repaying customers who lose money to authorised push payment fraudsters\n\nGovernment to test rural broadband options with \u00a37m fund Government to fund tests of technologies that could be issued to improve internet connectivity for rural communities\n\nGoogle launches hacker-backed SME security training scheme Citing research that shows almost half of SMEs are struggling to recruit cyber security specialists, Google is launching a programme designed to upskill more people to fill thousands of vacant roles\n\nIndian IT services giant takes UK teachers\u2019 pensions contract from Capita Tata Consultancy Services bolsters its growing UK public sector customer base with key contract win\n\nApple's $3,500 headset offers VR at a premium Apple devices have always commanded a premium, but will consumers and business splash out $3,499 on its new Vision Pro headset?\n\nMercedes Pay turns vehicles into payment devices German car manufacturer add contactless payment feature to enable drivers to find and book parking spaces and pay automatically when they arrive\n\nVictims of MOVEit SQL injection zero-day mount up The BBC, Boots, and British Airways are among the victims of cyber incidents arising from a recently disclosed vulnerability in the MOVEit file transfer, exploitation of which is spreading fast\n\nNetherlands makes case for harmonisation of cloud security standards Harmonisation of cyber security standards is necessary to reduce the regulatory burden on Dutch SMEs \u2013 and regulators need to cooperate better\n\nESA uses NetApp as-a-service for space data \u2018hot\u2019 archive The European Space Agency collects data from millions of miles away. It must get storage right when there\u2019s no chance of a u-turn to take more photos or re-record data\n\nTechUK publishes \u2018UK tech plan\u2019 for next government Technology businesses are calling on UK politicians to devise a \u2018comprehensive, forward-thinking strategy\u2019 to realise the benefits of technology ahead of the next general election\n\nCyber spotlight falls on boardroom \u2018privilege\u2019 as incidents soar Three quarters of data breaches now involve a significant human element, and the higher up they get in an organisation, the more risks people seem to take, according to Verizon\u2019s annual Data Breach Investigations Report\n\nWorkers \u2018deeply uncomfortable\u2019 with digital surveillance at work Employees express discomfort towards employers\u2019 use of various digital surveillance and monitoring techniques, which are often powered by artificial intelligence\n\nBank of International Settlement sets up channel secure from quantum breach The Bank of International Settlement has worked with two of Europe's central banks to explore preventing the security risks posed by quantum computers\n\nUK has time limit on ensuring cryptocurrency regulatory leadership, says Parliamentary report Parliamentary report makes 53 recommendations to the government's plans to regulate cryptocurrency\n\nMedical regulator drops probe into NHS whistleblower Peter Duffy amid dispute over email evidence The General Medical Council has dropped an investigation into an NHS whistleblower who exposed widespread clinical harm at Morecambe Bay Trust amid questions over disputed email evidence\n\nSweden is developing its own big language model Artificial Intelligence Sweden is leading an initiative to build a large language model not only for Swedish, but for all the major languages in the Nordic region: Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese\n\nNBN unveils uncapped data plan for remote Australia Following a successful trial to examine delivery of an improved satellite service, including the capability to achieve faster burst speeds of up to 100Mbps, an uncapped usage plan has been launched to address data needs of rural Australia\n\nQualcomm beefs up Snapdragon Space XR Developer Platform for immersive future Mobile platform technology giant launches immersive technology designed to create a cross-device, extended and augmented reality ecosystem that will enable head-worn experiences from existing smartphone applications\n\nAI interview: Dan McQuillan, critical computing expert Critical computing expert Dan McQuillan speaks to Computer Weekly about the top-down imposition of artificial intelligence on society, and how AI is a fundamentally political technology shaped by humanity\u2019s most reactionary tendencies\n\nMet Police director of intelligence defends facial recognition The Met Police\u2019s director of intelligence has appeared before MPs to make the case for its continuing use of facial-recognition technology, following announcements from the force and the Home Office that they intend to press on with its adoption\n\nCIO interview: Adam Warne, CIO, River Island The privately owned fashion retailer places a premium on its high street presence, but sees digital innovation as key to improving customer service in stores\n\nHow India\u2019s DICV is tapping smart manufacturing Daimler India Commercial Vehicles has deployed augmented and virtual reality, advanced sensors, data analytics and other technologies to improve manufacturing processes and customer fleet management", "output": "Royal Bank of Scotland-owned NatWest will offer its customers investment advice through robo-advisors, in response to customers' demands for more digital services, according to Phil Northey, managing director of premier banking at NatWest. For a \u00a310 ($13) charge, customers can access the NatWest Invest platform and get advice on investments, as well as receive information about risk and which of the five funds on offer are right for them. This year, RBS said 220 face-to-face adviser roles were cut as a result of automated services.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google 'Send Money' allows payments via email \n Coinbase Super Bowl marketing stunt prompts debate over QR code security\n\nNews Experts are torn over QR codes and whether the cyber security threat they theoretically present is actually enough to warrant genuine concern in real-world scenarios", "output": "Google will launch its peer-to-peer payment service, Send Money, in the UK over the coming weeks. The facility is available only to Gmail users who have Google Wallet accounts, and allows money to be sent via email, even to recipients without Gmail addresses. The service has been available in the US for several years. The move pits Google squarely against rivals PayPal and Snapchat\u2019s Snapcash, while a similar service from Facebook is also reportedly in the works.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lightning Network executes first\u00a0bitcoin-litecoin exchange \n The Lightning Network brought to Bitcoin with Segwit enables users to instantly exchange Bitcoin for Litecoin and vice versa. The first ever transaction between the two coins has now happened.\n\nSegwit (short for Segregated Witness) brought with it many new exciting features for Bitcoin when it was implemented in August this year, not least of them atomic swaps and the Lightning Network. The Lightning Network is an off chain network, that can, among other things, help reduce the load on the main Bitcoin blockchain.\n\nBillions of transactions can theoretically be made instantly through the application of smart contracts. Transfers are made with other parties with a 10-day lock-in period, allowing the exchange to either occur between the two parties or have them cancel and be refunded. The first swap can be seen taking place on the YouTube video below. it was released yesterday by Lightning Labs who devised the code.\n\nSegWit and Its Progress\n\nAre there downsides to any of this? Not really unless you are a miner, no. Bitcoin miners will not be making as much profit from receiving transaction costs, as there stands to be less of them made. Whether this will prove to be a decent combat to the increasingly centralized nature of the current state of Bitcoin mining remains to be seen, as large corporate controlled operations rather than a collective of truly decentralized users, hold a vast, potential unfair sway over the Bitcoin network.\n\nMarshaling the approval of pool owners and mining operators has been key, however, to bringing the power of SegWit to both Litecoin and Bitcoin, as combined hashing power was needed in order to activate the SegWit changes on the entire blockchain.\n\nLitecoin\u2019s SegWit implementation came first, ahead of Bitcoin, not by design, as infighting prevented agreement for the change happening sooner for Bitcoin. This ultimately meant that Litecoin was able to act as a testbed for both the implementation of SegWit itself and also actually running the Lightning Network code which was originally written for Bitcoin by Lightning Labs but could be implemented on Litecoin as the coin is essentially a fork of Bitcoin.\n\nLitecoin And Bitcoin Highways\n\nLitecoin creator Charlie Lee wrote:\n\nThink of it being two highways: Today, Bitcoin is packed full of cars and Litecoin is empty. Even with Bitcoin packed, the cars are not coming to use the Litecoin highway today because it\u2019s not connected and it\u2019s inconvenient (centralized exchanges and slow on-chain transfers) to go across. LN will build bridges over the highways.\n\nThe potential benefits of the two coins working together is well summed up with Charlie Lee\u2019s highway metaphor, users need speed and the Lightning Network would appear to more than deliver on that front while also easing congestion on the blockchain.\n\nThe news brought an increase in Litecoin\u2019s price as well, as it rose from $63 to $72 in 3 hours, happening during Bitcoins bull run in the last 24 hours to $8k.\n\nAre you exciting for the upcoming months? Will this help retail adoption of Bitcoin payments with its speed of use? Let us know what you think in the comments below.\n\nImages courtesy of the Bitcoinist archives, BigStockPhoto", "output": "The first instant transactional exchange between bitcoin and litecoin has taken place, using technology known as Segregated Witness (SegWit) and the\u00a0Lightning Network. The system\u00a0enables billions of transactions through\u00a0smart contracts, speeding the exchange process. The move will reduce profits for bitcoin miners, who add value through transaction volume, but it proved that SegWit and the Lightning Network code are functional and can increase transactional speed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Japanese shun new-build tradition for cheaper home renovations \n From van and bus conversions to trailers and tiny homes, discover the best in small living and find out how to downsize your own living space.", "output": "A lack of money is forcing young Japanese to buck tradition and renovate\u00a0properties instead of build new housing. The nation's\u00a0housing market has developed a culture of much shorter building lifespans, with houses typically lasting just 20 years to 30 years and having little resale value. The pattern has been reinforced by past poor building standards and a lack of incentives for home improvements. As a result, buyers tend to acquire land and demolish the property on it, building a new house instead.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China to stabilise land prices through stiff regulation \n A man walks in front of advertisements for residential property in the glass facade of a real estate agency in Guangzhou, Guangdong province of China.\n\nChinese authorities have said they will head off the risk of a property market crash by stiffening regulation and preventing high land prices.\n\nRegulators from land and housing ministries, as well as the Peoples Bank of China (PBOC), have agreed plans to curb speculation in bricks and mortar, Reuters reported, citing comments on Chinese state television (CCTV).\n\nThe authorities said they would stop funds being illegally funneled into property and that capital flow would be more forcibly balanced between real estate and other industries.\n\nCCTV also reported that there would be greater scrutiny of the land market to prevent the underlying cost from pushing up property prices.", "output": "The People's Bank of China and the country's regulators have agreed on a series of measures aimed at ensuring the housing market does not heat up, following President Xi Jinping's recent statement that \"housing is for living in, not for speculation\". According to Chinese state television, capital flow will be balanced between real estate and other sectors, and the land market would be subject to greater scrutiny to prevent a rise in prices. Province leaders were also warned to enforce regulations governing building and lending restrictions."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK faces food price inflation due to La Ni\u00f1a and Brexit: Rabobank \n UK consumers could be hit by a new bout of food price inflation next year after the return of the La Ni\u00f1a global weather phenomenon, which may hit production of key commodities including coffee and cocoa.\n\nThe UK is expected to be particularly exposed to the effect of the event, which tends to prompt dry weather in the US midwest and heavy rainfall in south-east Asia and Australia, because of the uncertainty caused by Brexit.\n\nStefan Vogel, head of agri commodity markets at Rabobank, predicted a \u201cyear of anxiety for UK farmers and consumers\u201d.\n\nVogel said: \u201cWe see significant threats on the horizon to global food prices in 2018, which have been relatively stable or even trending lower for a number of years.\n\n\u201cChief among them is the potential of La Ni\u00f1a, a weather event caused by the cooling of the tropical Pacific Ocean that could affect areas ranging from grain fields in the Americas to palm oil plantations in Asia.\n\n\u201cUnfortunately, the current high-inflation environment in the UK makes it disproportionately exposed to any significant movement in food prices, while the uncertainty over trade deals when Britain leaves the EU exacerbates the situation further.\u201d\n\nAccording to the US-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the chance of La Ni\u00f1a conditions strengthening and lasting over the northern hemisphere winter is currently between 65% and 75%.\n\nThe UK\u2019s Met Office has also warned of an \u201cincreasing risk\u201d of a La Nina event this winter, bringing a cold snap to the UK.\n\nIt says it is unlikely there will be a major La Ni\u00f1a event, as experienced between 2010 and 2012, when severe droughts in key growing areas including the US midwest devastated crops while excessive rains in Columbia led to the spreading of a deadly coffee fungus.\n\nIn its outlook report for 2018, Good Buy, Low Prices, Rabobank\u2019s analysts predict that La Ni\u00f1a is likely to prompt volatile prices for commodities \u2013 ranging from palm oil in south-east Asia, where above-average rainfall and isolated flooding can take place, to crops in parts of Argentina, Peru, southern Brazil and the US that might be affected by drought or low rainfall.\n\nJara Zicha, a commodities analyst at Mintec, said the effects of a La Ni\u00f1a and its stronger brother El Ni\u00f1o were hard to predict. A change in the weather could also be beneficial to some crops.\n\nTwo years ago, one of the strongest El Ni\u00f1os on record brought rain to drought-stricken California helping fruit and nut farmers in the region, for example. \u201cWhat is important is how strong La Ni\u00f1a is,\u201d Zicha said.\n\nBut he added: \u201cThis just adds another level of uncertainty. The UK already has very weak sterling making prices expensive and we are slowly starting to see those now. Going forward, Brexit is another uncertainty and La Nina is another factor the UK has to deal with.\u201d\n\nRising crude oil prices and global freight costs as well as the potential imposition of new tariffs on the import of goods once the UK leaves the EU, could all add to price rises according to Rabobank.\n\nFurther price rises would come on top of increases in the price of fish, fats and vegetables which have driven food price inflation to the highest level in more than four years.\n\nCity analysts and some retailers had predicted that the big drop in the value of the pound since the Brexit vote in June 2016 would cease to have a strong upward effect on prices by the end of this year. But Rabobank\u2019s analysts suggest otherwise.\n\n\u201cAlongside weather, the rising cost of global trade and potential currency fluctuations also create upside risks for food prices,\u201d Vogel said. \u201cOur view is these outweigh the downside risks in 2018. Food and agribusinesses must therefore plan ahead to manage these risks proactively and appropriately.\u201d", "output": "The La Ni\u00f1a weather event could impede production of key commodities, including cocoa and coffee, leading to further food price inflation in the UK next year, according to Rabobank. The UK is particularly exposed to the impact of the event due to Brexit uncertainty. La Ni\u00f1a results from the cooling of the tropical Pacific Ocean and could affect regions from grain fields in the Americas to Asian palm oil plantations. Rabobank said that weather events pose \u201csignificant threats on the horizon to global food prices in 2018\u201d.\n \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK faces food price inflation due to La Ni\u00f1a and Brexit: Rabobank \n Rabobank\u2019s outlook for 2018 indicates that, while global agri-commodity stocks are historically well-supplied, balance sheets are tightening. The key risk factor to the current low-price environment is a severe supply shock, driven by potential adverse weather in a major producing region.\n\nVideo: Outlook 2018 In some browsers, you may only see a black screen below without a play button. Please click on that black screen to view the video.\n\nReport summary\n\nPrices for agricultural products mainly continued to trend further down in 2017, for both G&O and softs. Ongoing weakness in emerging currencies supported the export competitiveness of producing countries like Brazil and Russia\u2014keeping pressure on commodity prices\u2014as did the absence of major adverse weather events in the main agricultural areas. But what will 2018 bring? A look to the near future is crucial to the business success of F&A companies.\n\nApproaching 2018, the oversupply of G&O remains an ongoing issue, as record-large global stock levels will keep prices under pressure. For producers and buyers, we envisage opportunities\u2014for example, low agricultural prices can provide ample opportunities for consumer hedging strategies, and the steep contango seen in a few agricultural commodities provides farmers with the opportunity to lock in higher prices by selling forward further into the future.\n\nBut an adverse weather event, like La Ni\u00f1a, could disrupt crops across key regions and cause food prices to spike trade headwinds. Producers also face trade risks from increasing freight and input costs along with fluctuating currencies.\n\nRabobank expects strong demand for coffee and cocoa, and a bullish outlook on wheat with rising consumption eating into stocks after US acreage record lows.", "output": "The La Ni\u00f1a weather event could impede production of key commodities, including cocoa and coffee, leading to further food price inflation in the UK next year, according to Rabobank. The UK is particularly exposed to the impact of the event due to Brexit uncertainty. La Ni\u00f1a results from the cooling of the tropical Pacific Ocean and could affect regions from grain fields in the Americas to Asian palm oil plantations. Rabobank said that weather events pose \u201csignificant threats on the horizon to global food prices in 2018\u201d.\n \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers claim their device makes hydrogen fuel affordable \n A team of engineers has created a device that it claims could not only make hydrogen cars affordable, but could power homes cleanly, too.\n\nAffordable, plentiful and clean hydrogen fuel could offer the greatest way for us to ditch our internal combustion engine cars, but the cost of its production and use of rare minerals in harvesting has kept it as a niche solution.\n\nBut now, a new device developed by a team of engineers from UCLA aims to allow people to produce their own hydrogen energy from abundant supplies of water to power their cars as well as their homes.\n\nIn a paper published in the journal Energy Storage Materials, the team revealed its device that uses solar energy to convert water into hydrogen energy, which would be particularly helpful in rural areas.\n\nHow it works\n\nUnlike typical hydrogen energy production, this method uses the abundant minerals of nickel, iron and cobalt, making it much more affordable.\n\nAlso, unlike traditional hydrogen fuel cells and supercapacitors that have two electrodes \u2013 one positive and one negative \u2013 to create the hydrogen, this new device has a third electrode.\n\nThis extra electrode means it can act as both a supercapacitor to store energy, and as a device for splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen \u2013 a process known as water electrolysis \u2013 to create the energy.\n\nAll three electrodes connect to a single solar cell that serves as the device\u2019s power source, and the electrical energy harvested can be stored in one of two ways: electrochemically in the supercapacitor, or chemically as hydrogen.\n\nIts creators say the device is a major step forward in hydrogen fuel production because it does so in an environmentally friendly way. Currently, about 95pc of hydrogen production worldwide comes from converting fossil fuels such as natural gas into hydrogen.\n\nA breakthrough moment\n\nRichard Kaner, the study\u2019s senior author, compared the breakthrough to the first time a phone, web browser and camera were combined on a smartphone. He added that its full range of applications may not yet be known to science.\n\nCurrently capable of fitting into the palm of your hand, the team believes the device can be expanded, given that its key components are all made from abundant and inexpensive minerals.\n\nMir Mousavi, a co-author of the paper, said: \u201cFor hydrogen cars to be widely used, there remains a need for a technology that safely stores large quantities of hydrogen at normal pressure and temperature, instead of the pressurised cylinders that are currently in use.\u201d", "output": "US scientists have developed a device for producing hydrogen, which they have claimed could make the gas a cheap fuel source. Engineers from the University of California, Los Angeles said the device is a major step forward in producing environmentally friendly fuel efficiently. It makes hydrogen using\u00a0inexpensive metals such as nickel, iron and cobalt, reducing the cost of manufacturing, and relies on solar energy to power the process. A third electrode allows it to act as a supercapacitor to store energy, as well as splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen through electrolysis.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Locus Robotics secures $25m for warehouse robots \n Locus Robotics, a Wilmington, MA-based startup, raised $25 million in a Series B funding led by Silicon Valley Scale Venture Partners, with additional participation from existing investors. Locus plans to use the funds to expand into international markets and build up its growing subscription-based robot fleet. Locus business model uses Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) which allows customers to use Locus\u2019 solutions without a large-scale capital investment.\n\nThe story of how Locus came to be is almost as interesting as to why their mobile robots and RaaS business mode are getting so much attention and acceptance.\n\nIn March 2012, in an effort to make their distribution centers (DCs) as efficient as possible, Amazon acquired Kiva Systems for $775 million and almost immediately took them in-house. There was a year of confusion after the acquisition whether Kiva would continue providing DCs with Kiva robots. It became clear that Amazon was taking all Kiva\u2019s production and that, at some future date, Kiva would stop supporting their existing client base and focus entirely on Amazon \u2013 which happened in April 2015 when Amazon renamed Kiva to Amazon Robotics and encouraged prospective users of Kiva technology to let Amazon Robotics and Amazon Services provide fulfillment within Amazon warehouses using Amazon robots.\n\nLocus Robotics came to be because its founders were early adopters of Kiva Systems robotics technology. When they couldn\u2019t expand with Kiva because Kiva had been taken off the market by Amazon, they were inspired to engineer a system they thought better and which empowered human pickers with mobile robots. The Locus mobile robot and related software are their solutions.", "output": "American startup Locus Robotics has raised $25m in a series B funding round. The funds will be used to support the expansion of Locus' fleet of warehouse robots. The company uses a subscription model called \"Robots-as-a-Service\" (RaaS), allowing customers to hire their technology without making a large capital investment. The company was created to provide an alternative service for former customers of robotics company Kiva Systems, which stopped servicing its existing user base in 2015 after being acquired and renamed by Amazon.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Perlego offers online textbook subscription service \n The Netflix model is a tricky beast: Offering all-you-can-watch takes immense funding, as Netflix's 7-billion-dollar 2017 content budget proves, and it only pays off once you have a massive user base to match it. Yet companies keep trying to replicate it in different industries. I've written on the Netflix for podcast model, which is currently a major battleground, and I've written on Netflix for books, which I consider a failed venture, given that the two major players, Scribd and Oyster, are both essentially out of the game.\n\nIt was that last article that caught the attention of Perlego, a subscription service that is attempting to crack the all-you-can-read model by focusing on a niche: textbooks. After a quick interview, I'm cautiously optimistic about the project.\n\nWhat's Perlego?\n\nPerlego is a monthly ebook subscription service that offers university students unlimited access to over 200,000 titles for \u00a312 a month (which is about $15.50 U.S., or, more importantly, less than the price of a single print book). Students can sign up for free and read over 50,000 public domain ebooks or can shell out Premium money to read 150,000 ebooks and publications from most of the leading professional and academic publishers across a range of subjects, from Business to Philosophy.\n\n\u201cPremium users can read any title they like, as many times as they want, Perlego's Head of Growth Oliviero Muzi Falconi tells me, \u201cbut they currently cannot download the ebook or read it offline.\u201d\n\nTheir mission is to make textbooks both more affordable and more accessible, which is a pretty easy mission to get behind: Prices for textbooks have risen 1,041 percent since 1977.\n\n\u201cWhen we were at university,\u201d Oliviero says, \u201cwe would spend \u00a3400 each year to buy all of our reading material (in the US the average annual spend is closer to $1,200), we would only read a few chapters of each title, pass the exam and then stack the books in a corner of our room, hoping to sell them back to our friends. If we we're ever lucky enough to find the book in the library \u2013 which rarely happens for core textbooks \u2013 we'd have to deal with waiting lists and the inevitable late-return fee. Most of us were using Netflix for movies and Spotify for music \u2013 so why not have a \u2018Spotify for textbooks'?\u201d\n\nHow It's Rolling Out\n\nPerlego was founded in August 2016 by Gauthier Van Malderen and Matthew Davis with \u00a3500k in Seed funding.\n\nA Beta version was released in the UK in January with 65,000 titles from a few leading publishers such as Wiley and Palgrave to test the product with university students.\n\n\u201cUp to this stage, we have been heavily focussing on acquiring content and most of our energy was spent negotiating distribution deals with the top publishers such as Pearson, Wiley or OUP. Today we have signed over 200,000 titles from most of the leading publishers including those mentioned above and the ebook distribution giant Ingram. We are launching a new version of the platform with thousands of new titles and many new features for the beginning of term (around the end of September). Perlego is sold both directly to student (B2C) and to the University (B2B).\u201d\n\nThey are currently focused in the UK, but are planning to expand in the near future. So what sets it apart from the failed Netflix of books models I've ranted against in the past?\n\nWhy It Works\n\nOliviero pitched the service to me by stating it was unlike Scribd or Oyster \u2014 and like Spotify \u2014 because they paid publishers a fixed amount dependent on how much of the publisher's content was read that month. However, paying publishers more for each view their content gets actually is the model that Scribd used, and it's what hurt them: Voracious genre readers wound up costing Scribd more than they were worth, just as too many gluttons at an all-you-can-eat restaurant can put it out of business.\n\nThe reason this model works great for Perlego? Their niche isn't something most people love reading: It's a chore to slog through a textbook, and few people have a textbook-a-day reading habit. And since textbooks tend to be wildly overpriced, there's a huge gap in the market for a startup like Perlego to slip in.\n\nBut that's also what seems to be a potential stumbling block for the young streaming service: Why are incumbent publishers bothering to partner with Perlego, who might steal their customers? To complete the analogy, plenty of TV providers out there are wishing they hadn't been so quick to licence to Netflix, which is now eating their lunch.\n\nWhy Publishers Are On Board\n\nI asked Oliviero about initial resistance from publishers, and how Perlego won them over.\n\n\u201cMuch like record labels have resisted the move to a subscription model for music,\u201d he told me, \u201cmost publishers have looked suspiciously to previous ebook subscription models. The two main reservation publishers have about the model are that cheap subscriptions cannibalise their sales and DRM methods are easy to crack and the content will leak on the internet. In reality, professional publishers have been losing business as they have wildly overpriced core-textbooks and students have resorted to finding different solutions to avoid paying for new books altogether.\u201d\n\nSecond-hand market sales now account for 30 percent of total textbook sales, according to Oliviero, meaning that publishers don't see a dime of a third of their market. Some chose to rent instead, and pirated copies of the most recent edition are also running rampant. Perlego offers publishers a way to monetize all those students who would never have bought a textbook new in the first place. They even shared data on who's reading what, helping the publishers out more.\n\nAnd They're Positioned to Expand\n\nIf their niche is as profitable as it looks, Perlego could grow fast and earn revenue quickly: The textbook-rental service Chegg IPO'd in 2013 and is worth $1.4 billion now. But for now, they are sticking to what they know: Oliviero tells me they have no plans to go beyond \u201cacademic and professional content.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe want to be the \u2018world's learning library' so in that sense we don't feel limited to the textbook format in particular. We have already added 80,000 publications, white-papers and professional reports from publishers such as The Economist or OECD which are very popular with Business and MBA students. In the next months we will also add thousands of Case Studies to increase our offer to Business students, the largest student segment,\u201d he says.\n\nBut if anyone at Perego does have Netflix-sized ambitions, it's easy to see how they'd get there: Strong revenue from a great niche could power the kind of content acquisition that no other Netflix-of-books model has had the chance to try.", "output": "A company offering a Netflix-style subscription service for university textbooks has launched in the UK. Perlego offers users access to 200,000 textbooks for a subscription of \u00a312 ($15.50) per month, or 50,000 public domain books with a free registration. It\u00a0launched in January with \u00a3500,000 of seed funding, and aims to capitalise on the demand\u00a0for textbooks that are too expensive to buy or have limited availability in university libraries. Academic publishers signing up to the service hope to pull revenue from students who would not otherwise buy new textbooks.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nano-mapping used for precision DNA imaging and sequencing \n Jason Reed, Ph.D., member of the Cancer Molecular Genetics research program at VCU Massey Cancer Center and an associate professor in the Department of Physics at the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences. Credit: John Wallace at VCU Massey Cancer Center\n\nA team of scientists led by Virginia Commonwealth University physicist Jason Reed, Ph.D., have developed new nanomapping technology that could transform the way disease-causing genetic mutations are diagnosed and discovered. Described in a study published today in the journal Nature Communications, this novel approach uses high-speed atomic force microscopy (AFM) combined with a CRISPR-based chemical barcoding technique to map DNA nearly as accurately as DNA sequencing while processing large sections of the genome at a much faster rate. What's more\u2014the technology can be powered by parts found in your run-of-the-mill DVD player.\n\nThe human genome is made up of billions of DNA base pairs. Unraveled, it stretches to a length of nearly six feet long. When cells divide, they must make a copy of their DNA for the new cell. However, sometimes various sections of the DNA are copied incorrectly or pasted together at the wrong location, leading to genetic mutations that cause diseases such as cancer. DNA sequencing is so precise that it can analyze individual base pairs of DNA. But in order to analyze large sections of the genome to find genetic mutations, technicians must determine millions of tiny sequences and then piece them together with computer software. In contrast, biomedical imaging techniques such as fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) can only analyze DNA at a resolution of several hundred thousand base pairs.\n\nReed's new high-speed AFM method can map DNA to a resolution of tens of base pairs while creating images up to a million base pairs in size. And it does it using a fraction of the amount of specimen required for DNA sequencing.\n\n\"DNA sequencing is a powerful tool, but it is still quite expensive and has several technological and functional limitations that make it difficult to map large areas of the genome efficiently and accurately,\" says Jason Reed, Ph.D., principal investigator on the study. Reed is a member of the Cancer Molecular Genetics research program at VCU Massey Cancer Center and an associate professor in the Department of Physics at the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences. \"Our approach bridges the gap between DNA sequencing and other physical mapping techniques that lack resolution. It can be used as a stand-alone method or it can complement DNA sequencing by reducing complexity and error when piecing together the small bits of genome analyzed during the sequencing process.\"\n\nIBM scientists made headlines in 1989 when they developed AFM technology and used a related technique to rearrange molecules at the atomic level to spell out \"IBM.\" AFM achieves this level of detail by using a microscopic stylus\u2014similar to a needle on a record player\u2014 that barely makes contact with the surface of the material being studied. The interaction between the stylus and the molecules creates the image. However, traditional AFM is too slow for medical applications and so it is primarily used by engineers in materials science.\n\n\"Our device works in the same fashion as AFM but we move the sample past the stylus at a much greater velocity and use optical instruments to detect the interaction between the stylus and the molecules. We can achieve the same level of detail as traditional AFM but can process material more than a thousand times faster,\" says Reed, whose team proved the technology can be mainstreamed by using optical equipment found in DVD players. \"High-speed AFM is ideally suited for some medical applications as it can process materials quickly and provide hundreds of times more resolution than comparable imaging methods.\"\n\nIncreasing the speed of AFM was just one hurdle Reed and his colleagues had to overcome. In order to actually identify genetic mutations in DNA, they had to develop a way to place markers or labels on the surface of the DNA molecules so they could recognize patterns and irregularities. An ingenious chemical barcoding solution was developed using a form of CRISPR technology.\n\nCRISPR has made a lot of headlines recently in regard to gene editing. CRISPR is an enzyme that scientists have been able to \"program\" using targeting RNA in order to cut DNA at precise locations that the cell then repairs on its own. Reed's team altered the chemical reaction conditions of the CRISPR enzyme so that it only sticks to the DNA and does not actually cut it.\n\n\"Because the CRISPR enzyme is a protein that's physically bigger than the DNA molecule, it's perfect for this barcoding application,\" says Reed. \"We were amazed to discover this method is nearly 90 percent efficient at bonding to the DNA molecules. And because it's easy to see the CRISPR proteins, you can spot genetic mutations among the patterns in DNA.\"\n\nTo demonstrate the technique's effectiveness, the researchers mapped genetic translocations present in lymph node biopsies of lymphoma patients. Translocations occur when one section of the DNA gets copied and pasted to the wrong place in the genome. They are especially prevalent in blood cancers such as lymphoma but occur in other cancers as well.\n\nWhile there are many potential uses for this technology, Reed and his team are focusing on medical applications. They are currently developing software based on existing algorithms that can analyze patterns in sections of DNA up to and over a million base pairs in size. Once completed, it would not be hard to imagine this shoe-box-sized instrument in pathology labs assisting in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases linked to genetic mutations.", "output": "US scientists have developed a technique for mapping DNA at a much faster rate than existing methods, and using smaller specimens. The researchers were led by Dr Jason Reed of Virginia Commonwealth University's Cancer Molecular Genetics research programme. Their method speeds up existing atomic force microscopy (AFM) by more than a thousand times, using optical instruments to detect molecular reactions. They then use a new chemical barcoding system to place markers on DNA molecules to identify patterns. The new process has many potential applications, including helping to diagnose and treat genetic mutations that cause diseases such as cancer.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Al Jazeera moves on from quick-hit clips as YouTube views surge \n Al Jazeera\u2019s AJ+ was one of the first distributed media brands to quickly build an audience off the back of Facebook with short, text-on-screen news alerts and mini-explainers covering politics, international news and social issues. But as AJ+ looks to evolve beyond the quick-hit clips that work well within news feeds, the publisher is paying more attention to YouTube.\n\nNow, AJ+ is focused on developing episodic franchises, multipart investigative series and explanatory journalism pieces for YouTube. Series include \u201cDirect From With Dena Takruri,\u201d \u201cChinese Food: An All-American Cuisine\u201d and \u201cDivided America.\u201d Its YouTube series typically have episodes with running times between seven and 15 minutes. The focus on serialized content is meant to drive retention, as people come to expect that certain video series will have new episodes on a certain day.\n\n\u201cYouTube is a search engine, but it\u2019s also the world\u2019s largest video-on-demand platform. The audience is naturally looking for a different style of content, something that\u2019s more in-depth and presented,\u201d said Zainab Khan, social content editor for AJ+. \u201cYouTube pushes this as well in terms of having a publishing schedule; people on the platform want to know when to come back for a new video.\u201d\n\nAJ+\u2019s decision to pivot to YouTube, which began in earnest in the summer of 2016, was driven by a desire to get people to spend more time watching its videos. The publisher was getting hundreds of millions of views per month on Facebook, but people aren\u2019t accustomed to watching videos there for more than a few seconds at a time. (The average time spent on a Facebook news feed video is nearly 17 seconds, according to Facebook.)\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re doing well on Facebook, but we were also looking at the retention numbers, and those were not as high as we would like them to be, especially on the content that we were putting a real investment into, which is our in-depth and investigative reporting,\u201d said Michael Shagoury, director of audience development for AJ+. \u201cThis is real, quality journalism, and that\u2019s just not flying on Facebook, so we knew we needed to build an audience somewhere that would appreciate this type of content and would consistently come back for it.\u201d\n\nThis meant taking a harder look at YouTube and developing a strategy that could lead to consistent audience growth on the platform. Today, AJ+ publishes about 12 to 15 videos per month on YouTube. Prior to the pivot, AJ+ posted up to 200 videos per month on YouTube, treating the platform as an archive of everything the publisher created.\n\nOnce AJ+ scaled back how many videos it put on YouTube, the publisher saw no drop-off in subscriber growth, allowing it to focus on the types of videos it saw were performing well on YouTube. AJ+ has more than 370,000 subscribers on YouTube, putting it behind some competitors such as Vox.com, which has nearly 3.2 million subscribers and is also spending more time focusing on YouTube.\n\nAJ+ has 20 staffers within its organization focused on creating the type of content it puts on YouTube. This wasn\u2019t an easy transition for them to make, according to Shagoury.\n\n\u201cWe were high on Facebook numbers for a long time, and our producers got used to getting millions of views and that being the metric of success,\u201d Shagoury said. \u201cSlowly, over time, we\u2019ve worked with them to get them to value retention and watch time.\u201d\n\nA year and a half into its YouTube pivot, AJ+ only recently started to see its subscribers spike. In the last three months, AJ+ has added new subscribers at four times the rate of previous months. Average video view duration has increased from 1 minute and 31 seconds to 4 minutes and 6 seconds, the AJ+ execs said. And 68 percent of AJ+\u2019s YouTube traffic is coming from the platform\u2019s suggested videos and browse features, which means AJ+ is getting a boost from the YouTube algorithm.\n\nAJ+ is part of a wave of video publishers \u2014 especially in news \u2014 paying more attention to YouTube. In addition to Vox.com, The Atlantic has also said it\u2019s devoting more time to YouTube, driven by the desire to get people to watch videos for longer periods of time and for a more consistent form of revenue with YouTube\u2019s more established ad ecosystem.\n\n\u201cEven if we wanted to focus on revenue for YouTube, we really had to build that audience up a lot more than what it was and to get those important metrics up to where they needed to be for us to even properly consider YouTube as a revenue stream,\u201d Shagoury said.\n\nAJ+ remains a core part of Al Jazeera\u2019s digital efforts, especially after a failed attempt earlier this decade in launching a successful cable news channel in the U.S. In 2013, Al Jazeera spent $500 million to buy the cable network Current TV and rebrand it as Al Jazeera America. The cable news channel was shut down in 2016 after the company failed to attract an audience. With AJ+, Al Jazeera has a brand with an established audience on social platforms, which could help it grow both in the U.S. and internationally \u2014 AJ+ just launched in France.\n\nFacebook, meanwhile, remains a key part of AJ+\u2019s distribution strategy, but as a top-of-the-funnel platform meant to \u201cexpose new people to the AJ+ brand,\u201d Shagoury said. \u201cFacebook is a great growth engine and provides us with the widest brand awareness. YouTube is the platform that\u2019s one level deeper down the funnel, where people can spend more time with us and form a deeper connection.\u201d", "output": "AJ+, an online current affairs channel run by Al Jazeera, has started to see increased engagement 18 months after choosing YouTube to host its serialised video content. Michael Shagoury, director of audience development for AJ+ said the \"real, quality journalism\" wasn't working on Facebook, where average video views are 17 seconds, but it had built up a following of more than 370,000 subscribers on Google's video-sharing site, with pieces running between seven and 15 minutes. AJ+ subscriber figures have risen fourfold in the past three months.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Study finds that product placement doesn't bother UK audiences \n From simple props to bespoke multi-dimensional deals, product placement has evolved into an experience-focused proposition designed to enhance the viewing experience.\n\nLove Island and the Great British Bake Off have been two of 2017\u2019s standout TV shows so far. One a reality dating show, the other a baking competition but both massive ratings winners for their respective channels.\n\nChannel 4 splashed out \u00a375m to poach the Great British Bake Off from the BBC, a risk that has paid off. The show\u2019s final episode on 31 October was watched by 11 million viewers, Channel 4\u2019s largest audience for 32 years.\n\nNow in its third year, Love Island attracted 2.43 million viewers for its final episode on 24 July, the highest number in ITV2\u2019s 19-year history.\n\nWhereas Love Island signed Superdrug as a headline sponsor and included a number of bespoke product placement deals, Channel 4 decided to make the Great British Bake Off entirely product placement free in order to maintain the \u201cintegrity\u201d of the series. It did, however, sign up Lyle\u2019s Golden Syrup and Dr. Oetker as headline sponsors.\n\nREAD MORE: Great British Bake Off \u2013 Will brands rise to the challenge?\n\nReports in the Guardian suggest Channel 4 decided to give up lucrative product placement deals in order to keep the show \u201ccommercially clean\u201d and as close to the BBC original as possible, the implication being that consumers dislike product placement.\n\nBut is that necessarily true? Viewers are certainly aware of product placement, with 74% regularly or frequently noticing it in TV programmes, films and music videos, according to a survey of more than 1,000 British consumers conducted exclusively for Marketing Week by audience research platform Lucid.\n\nHowever, just 15% say they dislike it, while the majority (56%) say they don\u2019t mind it.\n\nWe saw Gabby on the show and thought she really epitomised who we feel the Quiz girl is. We knew immediately that we wanted to collaborate with her. Lesley Morton, Quiz\n\nSome 44% of those questioned believe product placement has increased over the past 12 months, while 53% think it has stayed the same. Just 3% feel it has decreased. The majority of product placement is seen on satellite or cable TV (33%) or blockbuster films (33%), followed by reality TV (31%) and terrestrial TV (26%).\n\nThe main issues with product placement, however, are that it distracts from the film or TV show (37%) and makes viewers suspicious of the show\u2019s independence (36%).\n\nThe research, therefore, suggests that while consumers are clearly aware of product placement, the majority do not mind seeing it in their daily lives.\n\nEvolving opportunities\n\nProduct placement is no longer just props used to make drama seem more realistic. It is now more about bespoke deals that mix continuous on-screen exposure with tactical multichannel brand executions.\n\nITV senior creative manager, Katherine Marlow, thinks a big part of this shift has been driven by producers who are increasingly getting in touch with commercial opportunities.\n\n\u201cWhat you had in the UK was a long history of prop placement where brands were used to improve the realism of our programmes, so [producers] were a bit unclear about what more we needed to give to a client if they\u2019re now paying for it.\u201d she explains.\n\n\u201cSo there was a bit of an education job that we needed to do and a lot of that was us trying to be a little bit brave about what we could offer, as long as it felt natural within the editorial.\u201d\n\nMarlow describes the introduction of the \u2018Bush Scrabble\u2019 challenge for Mattel during the 2015 series of I\u2019m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here as a \u201creal turning point\u201d for commercial working with the producers on product placement that became gameplay in the context of the show.\n\nAfter the episode aired, 41% of viewers were reminded of \u201chow much fun Scrabble was to play\u201d, according to ITV research, while 10% of viewers had their opinion of the game improved. Some 69% of those questioned said the Scrabble game scored \u201cwell for fit\u201d in the context of I\u2019m a Celebrity, while 82% thought it scored well \u201cfor enjoyment\u201d.\n\nITV has been running product placement in Coronation Street and Emmerdale for the past six years, which Marlow believes works well due to the scale, heritage and trust the soaps have among the general public.\n\nWe initially trialled product placement in the last series of TOWIE on a \u2018test and learn\u2019 basis and have now continued this activity into a second series. Suzy Brown, Visa\n\nWhile reality TV does lend itself to product placement, she explains that each show differs in the way these partnerships work. A structured reality programme like The Only Way is Essex (TOWIE) has to be mindful of the lives and experiences of the cast, whereas a show like The X Factor offers a greater degree of control. Brands like Three, Aer Lingus and Turkish Airlines have all had recent placements in the programme, showing the contestants directly experiencing their products or services.\n\nREAD MORE: Just Eat builds on The X Factor sponsorship with biggest ever brand campaign\n\nMarlow explains that the ultimate goal is to enhance the viewing experience, because the last thing the broadcaster wants to do is put any viewers off.\n\n\u201cIf you\u2019re already an existing customer does the fact that you\u2019ve then seen that product used in The X Factor make you feel more loyal to that brand? Likewise, if you had never bought that brand, does it make you want to go out and buy it?\u201d Marlow asks.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a really fine line to tread and we\u2019re trying to, on a very implicit level, elicit a favourable response. It\u2019s just about how subtle we can be.\u201d\n\nLong standing relationships\n\nAs TV formats change and brand objectives adapt, the nature of the product placement relationship has to evolve. Visa started working with ITV three and half years ago with a view to increasing the knowledge and adoption of Visa contactless payments outside London.\n\nThe product placement started with subtle integrations into two retail locations in Coronation Street and Emmerdale, showing the characters using contactless transactions as a way of normalising the behaviour.\n\n\u201cThat was really interesting because we were then placing a behaviour, not a product,\u201d Marlow explains.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s fine when you\u2019ve got characters who then play within that world. What we always need to be careful of is something like The X Factor. It is real people\u2019s lives, so it\u2019s about thinking of the most natural scenarios where they could use those products.\u201d\n\nAfter two and a half years Visa wanted to evolve the message to show mobile pay being used outside traditional retail environments, targeted specifically at young consumers. At that point Visa moved the deal from the soaps to TOWIE.\n\nForget rummaging around for cash\u2026 stay sleek like @OnlyWayIsEssex @ChloeLewis01 and tap for brunch with Visa using your mobile! \u2615\ufe0f pic.twitter.com/DHhWF1ehFy \u2014 Visa UK (@VisaUK) November 1, 2017\n\nSuzy Brown, Visa marketing director for UK and Ireland, explains that the strategy is less focused on product placement and more on finding ways to drive millennial engagement with the brand. The company also wanted to reinforce the ease and speed of using contactless, as well as the flexibility of paying with Visa while on holiday.\n\n\u201cWe initially trialled product placement in the last series of TOWIE on a \u2018test and learn\u2019 basis and have now continued this activity into a second series [the last series ending 5 November],\u201d Brown explains.\n\n\u201cTOWIE has been a good partnership as we have been able to integrate a number of our key marketing objectives into the current series including a Visa cross border payment, a Visa Checkout payment and five mobile payments worked into the storyline across different episodes.\u201d\n\nBrown says that TOWIE was selected due to the level of audience engagement it attracts and the fact the typical viewer demographic index highly for shopping.\n\n\u201cWe are targeting a new type of viewer, people who dip in and out of TV, watch on catch-up and so forth,\u201d she adds. \u201cWhat\u2019s more, this is an audience that is multi-screening while watching TV, focusing as much of their attention on social media as what is happening in the programme.\u201d\n\nThis means that while the first round of product placement activity in the previous season was entirely in-show, this series Visa used second screen activations and ran competitions across social media to coincide with the placements. The social activity was then amplified by content being shared via the official TOWIE channels and the cast\u2019s personal accounts.\n\nJumping on a trend\n\nFinding your products featured on one of the biggest shows of the year presents a real opportunity for any brand. This was the situation for clothing label Quiz, which saw its dresses worn by a number of Love Island\u2019s female contestants during the series which ran from 5 June to 24 July.\n\nContestants Jessica Shears, Olivia Attwood, Camilla Thurlow and Tyla Carr were seen on screen wearing lace dresses and embroidered playsuits from Quiz\u2019s latest collection. The clothing brand worked with Shears after she exited the show for its #LostInSummer blogger event while the remaining contestants were still in the house.\n\nCamilla Thurlow (left) and Tyla Carr (right) wear Quiz on Love Island.\n\nThen in October the brand launched a collaboration collection with Love Island finalist Gabby Allen. \u201cWe saw Gabby on the show and thought she really epitomised who we feel the Quiz girl is \u2013 she is fun, she doesn\u2019t take herself too seriously, has a cracking sense of humour and of course great style, but she\u2019s also a real girl\u2019s girl, which is something that is really important to us,\u201d says Quiz head of marketing, Lesley Morton.\n\n\u201cWe just loved her whole vibe and we knew our customers would love her too. We knew immediately that we wanted to collaborate with her.\u201d\n\nSplit in two, the first half of the collection featured a selection of casual items and partywear \u201cdesigned to give customers a slice of Love Island style\u201d, Morton explains. The second drop, released on 7 November, is focused on party glamour and statement pieces for the festive season.\n\nIt all comes down to the show itself and ensuring that it remains as natural as possible. Katherine Marlow, ITV\n\n\u201cFrom a marketing perspective, we\u2019ve been focusing on creating great content and experiences with Gabby. Of course, social media has been a key channel for us for pushing the collaboration, both on our own channels and Gabby\u2019s,\u201d says Morton.\n\n\u201cThis has also been done in conjunction with our wide network of influencers, with more than 100 influencers wearing and posting images and products from the collection.\u201d\n\nWhile capitalising on the popularity of a show like Love Island has been important for Quiz, the brand has also trialled product placement in the past, albeit on a smaller scale. Morton explains that product placement worked for the brand from an awareness perspective and is likely to form part of the strategy going forward.\n\nThe Love Island effect\n\nThe standout success of Love Island this summer represented a \u201crevolution\u201d in the way ITV approaches the amount of activation around its product placement deals, says Marlow.\n\nNow on its biggest shows the ITV team are maximising their partners\u2019 exposure on screen via social media and embarking on secondary partnerships that sit alongside the headline sponsor.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve done 16 product placement deals this year and only about a third of those are relating to a sponsorship, all the rest are new brands,\u201d Marlow says.\n\n\u201cSuperdrug is an example of where we\u2019ve done it for a sponsor [on Love Island], but then we have done a deal with Ministry of Sound. We\u2019re crafting a partnership that still has enormous value outside of the sponsor. We are very careful how we go about doing that because there is ultimate respect for the overall sponsor. \u201c\n\nSuch was the success of the show that the broadcaster sold more than 100,000 personalised water bottles (designed in the style of those used by the cast) direct to fans through its Love Island app and signed a licensing deal with Primark on Love Island branded merchandise, which sold out nationwide.\n\nLove Island also saw the broadcaster evolve beyond continuous deals. Due to the nature of its products, sponsor Superdrug was guaranteed exposure across the whole series. However it would not have been possible to stage a party every night with a Ministry of Sound DJ, so the team took more of a phased approach.\n\n\u201cSome deals can be continuous and some deals might be tactical. With Ministry of Sound\u2019s new album coming out in the summer we did a live party and DJ Colin Francis went into the villa to do a live set,\u201d Marlow explains.\n\n\u201cGoing forward, given the scale of the show, it\u2019s about all of us across the commercial team, the producers and editors thinking, where do we want to take it? What brands do we feel could really enhance that experience? Also, every single brand has to feel like they are getting good value, so you need to have discreet packages where they feel like they\u2019re owning something.\u201d\n\nMarlow acknowledges that there is lots of demand around the show, which returns for a winter edition in the New Year, meaning her team will need to choose the \u201cright brands, on the right terms\u201d.\n\n\u201cThis year has been crazy for us in terms of not only the volume, but the ambition for these deals, so we remain really excited and we\u2019ve got some announcement coming out in the New Year where we\u2019re going to take it to a new level,\u201d she adds.\n\n\u201cHowever, it all comes down to the show itself and ensuring that it remains as natural as possible. That\u2019s still the best way for anyone.\u201d", "output": "More than half of UK TV viewers don't mind product placement in shows, while just 15% dislike it, according to a survey by Marketing Week. The study also showed that 53% of the 1,000 respondents felt levels of product placement had stayed the same over the past 12 months, while 44% thought they had increased, and 3% felt levels had dropped. The main criticism of the advertising device was that it distracted from the programme, according to 37% of respondents, while 36% said it made them question a show's independence.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UPS eyes expansion of East Midlands Airport freight terminal\u00a0 \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nNever miss a story and read the latest headlines with our free email updates\n\nMore than 1,000 new jobs could be on their way to East Midlands Airport after parcel delivery firm UPS submitted plans to build a new \u00a3100 million-plus air freight terminal.\n\nThe firm wants to build a huge new sorting and delivery complex on a 28.5-acre site to the east of the Castle Donington airport.\n\nEast Midlands is already UPS\u2019s biggest air gateway in Britain and its second biggest in Europe, behind Cologne.\n\nIts current hub covers 86,000 sq ft and employs 342 package handlers, screeners, clerical workers, support staff, team leaders, supervisors and a manager.\n\nOver the past decade it has processed 100 million packages there, serviced by six flights a day.\n\nIt is understood the parcel giant could invest up to \u00a3114 million in the new site \u2013 making it one of the biggest projects it has ever undertaken.\n\nA design and access statement submitted as part of a planning application to North West Leicestershire District Council show the 24-hour operation could employ 936 people within two years and 1,392 within eight years.\n\nThe site, between the airport and M1, is next to Pegasus Business Park and is currently used for parking.\n\nPlanning documents say the new complex would speed up the operations of UPS at the airport and provide it with room for growth.\n\nThe main hub would have more than 450,000sq ft of floor space. A smaller office building to the east of the main hub would have 28,000 sq ft of floor space.\n\nIn a statement a UPS spokeswoman said: \u201cUPS is always looking to make strategic investments that provide opportunities to grow our business and to strengthen the services and solutions that we bring to our customers.\n\n\u201cWe can confirm that planning permission has been submitted for expansion of our operations at the East Midlands Airport.\n\n\u201cGiven that the planning stage is not finalised at this time, we are not able to provide further specifics.\u201d\n\nEast Midlands Airport is already the UK\u2019s busiest pure cargo airport, second only to Heathrow \u2013 handling more than 320,000 tonnes of flown cargo every year.\n\nThe airport hopes to triple freight shipments to one million tonnes a year within the next 10 to 20 years.\n\nIt is already a UK hub for UPS, and provides support operations for TNT and Royal Mail.\n\nAnd, last year DHL, opened a \u00a390 million extension to its huge depot on the site.\n\nAndy Cliffe, managing director at East Midlands Airport, said: \u201cThere are still very positive growth conversations at the airport \u2013 UPS has recently submitted \u00a3100 million plans for a new parcel distribution facility here.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s a significant addition to what they already have at the airport and we take transatlantic flights for those guys and from all over Europe.\n\n\u201cDHL have their extension, while on the passenger side we are still in growth mode.\n\n\u201cI would describe this as a time of enormous opportunities, but at the same time some of the risks (associated with Brexit) are very significant.\u201d", "output": "Delivery company UPS is planning to build a new airfreight terminal at East Midlands Airport that could generate more than 1,000 new jobs. The company's existing facility at the site is its second-largest in Europe, handling 100 million packages in the past decade and employing 342 people. Plans submitted to the local authorities\u00a0envisage a \u00a3114m ($152m) sorting office providing 450,000 sq ft of floor space,\u00a0enabling the company to speed up and expand its services.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese solar unit GCL's\u00a0shares surge as insurer\u00a0takes a stake \n Under a non binding agreement signed, Taiping Financial Holdings will lead a US$1 billion fund to buy new shares and convertible bonds", "output": "Chinese solar farm GCL New Energy, a unit\u00a0of solar panel materials manufacturer\u00a0GCL-Poly Energy, saw its shares rocket after announcing\u00a0that a unit of China Taiping Insurance is to purchase a major stake in the company. It is\u00a0hoped this will ease\u00a0GCL's debt load.\u00a0Under a non-legally binding \u201ccooperation framework agreement\u201d, Taiping Financial Holdings will\u00a0lead an HKD8bn\u00a0($1bn) fund to make the purchase. Many pension funds and private equity companies are investing in solar and wind farms because of\u00a0their long-term stable cash flows, according to UBS's head of Asian utilities, Simon Powell.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Large food companies exposed to water scarcity problems \n \u201cFood companies are in the bull\u2019s eye of climate change, and hotter temperatures are making water one of the biggest risks to the $5 trillion industry\u2019s bottom line,\u201d a recent analysis of food companies\u2019 exposure to water risks reveals.\n\nClimate change is causing both extreme rain and extreme droughts, leading to issues not just around water shortages, but increased risk from insufficient water management and inadequate infrastructure. How corporations respond to these threats can vary according to a recent report entitled \u201cFeeding Ourselves Thirsty,\u201d\n\nCeres, a nonprofit focused on working with investors to encourage sustainable practices at large corporations, analyzes 42 of the world\u2019s largest food companies\u2019 water practices across the packaged foods, beverages, agricultural products and meat industries using data from financial statements, corporate sustainability reports and survey responses. The study is a follow-up from a similar one from 2015, and shows some progress in terms of reporting and transparency, but less in terms of proactive action.\n\nThe top scoring companies were Nestle, Unilever, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo.\n\nNestle is a controversial player in the world of water, consistently warring with local municipalities for rights to bottle spring water, but the report rewards disclosure of water risk exposure, proactive evaluation of future water risk, and incorporation of water risks into business planning.\n\nIn fact, 83% of the companies evaluated make some formal risk assessment regarding water. 75% make some form of public disclosure of water metrics such as water use or wastewater discharge.\n\nThe lowest scoring company was Monster Beverage with a score of zero along with Pilgrim\u2019s Pride and Chiquita Brands, each scoring one.\n\nFirst Losses Roll In\n\nThe financial risk of climate change is no longer theoretical. A drought in Brazil in 2016 led Fresh Del Monte to lose $2.5 million and abandon some growing areas in the country. The company is ranked 39 out of 42 companies in the report with a score of eight out of 100.\n\nIn 2017, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo lost more than 1 million retailers in Tamil Nadu, India when a drought left a bottling operation competing with the local populations for groundwater. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo received relatively high overall scores in the analyses (72 and 70 respectively).\n\nA recent MSCI analysis of food companies valued the global revenue risk from lack of water availability for irrigation or animal consumption at $459 billion. What\u2019s more, $198 billion is at risk from changing precipitation patterns affecting current crop production areas, according to the same analysis.\n\nWith figures like this, it\u2019s no wonder that funds and corporations are hearing more concern about water from investors.\n\n\u201cEven five years ago these issues were more addressed by more specialized investors, but mainstream investors really have jumped into the fray,\u201d said Cambria Allen, corporate governance director for the UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust, a $59 billion fund and the largest payer of retiree benefits in the US aside from government programs Medicare and Medicaid, at the recent Sustainable Agriculture Summit in Kansas City, Missouri.\n\nThe Ceres report backs up this claim; \u201cSome 85 percent of the companies scored in this report cited water as a material risk in their financial filings. More than 90 food companies so far this year have highlighted water risks on their earnings calls with investors.\u201d\n\nIn another encouraging sign, the study notes that corporate board interference on the issues of climate and water is correlated with a better score in the study. Additionally, 12 of the 42 companies link water efficiency goals and executive pay \u2013 the strongest of these links put in place by Dean Foods, J.M. Smucker, Molson Coors and WhiteWave Foods.\n\nThe average company score increased by 10 percent since the 2015 study with Nestle and Smithfield making the largest improvements. Packaged food and beverage companies were the best performers overall with agriculture products and the meat industry continuing to lag.\n\nThe report concludes that investor pressure from both institutional and individual investors is effective. And increasingly, investors are making sure that large food players are making moves to control their water futures. Shareholder proposals on the topic of water rank at number three behind climate change and deforestation, according to Ceres water program manager Eliza Roberts.\n\nRead the full report here for detailed company rankings.", "output": "The world's largest food companies are paying attention to the problems caused by inadequate water supply and mismanagement, according to a report by non-profit organisation Ceres. It analysed the practices of 42 firms, and found that 83% carried out a formal risk assessment about water, while three-quarters released public disclosures about water metrics. The study said that Nestl\u00e9, Coca Cola, PespiCo and Unilever were the top-performing companies. It also\u00a0revealed that 85% of the firms mentioned water as a material risk in financial filings, while 12 firms linked water risk to executive pay.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Digital pills send alert to doctors once they are swallowed \n The latest weapon in the fight against opioid addiction may be sensors in prescription opioids that alert physicians whenever their patients pop a pill. These digital pills aren\u2019t on the market yet, but a small test run shows that they can help doctors monitor how patients use prescription painkillers at home.\n\nSensors alert physicians whenever their patients pop a pill\n\nBy prescribing opioids equipped with radio transmitters to patients treated for broken bones, researchers tracked patients\u2019 pill use in real time. The research team, led by Peter Chai at Harvard Medical School\u2019s Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital, found that most of the patients started spacing out their doses after a few days, and stopped before their pills ran out, according to the study published in the journal Anesthesia and Analgesia. (The participants turned their remaining pills in to their docs).\n\nPrescribing too many pills might lead patients to take more than they need, the study says \u2014 or leave them with extra pills to be sold. So giving researchers a way to track how many pills patients actually use could help doctors write better opioid prescriptions that leave fewer pills left over. Digital pills could also help doctors spot \u2014 and stop \u2014 dangerous drug use early. This level of detail is a first: typically, doctors have no way to monitor opioid use once a patient goes home with a bottle of pills. \u201cWe\u2019re placing the onus of one of the most dangerous medicines we have into the hands of patients,\u201d says Chai, a physician and medical toxicologist at Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital.\n\n\u201cOne of the most dangerous medicines we have.\u201d\n\nChai wanted to know if there was a way to spot problematic drug use as the behavior emerges. If someone suddenly starts taking their prescribed painkillers more frequently, for example, it could mean they\u2019re suffering from a painful complication. Or it could mean they\u2019re growing tolerant to the drug, and could begin misusing it. \u201cThose are two different conversations,\u201d Chai says \u2014 and they\u2019re ones that are only possible if a doctor can track their patients\u2019 pill use.\n\nThat\u2019s where the digital pills come in. Made by a Florida-based company called eTectRx, they\u2019re gel capsules that contain both the drug and a radio transmitter \u201cabout the size of a sesame seed,\u201d Chai says. (They\u2019re a little different from the digital versions of antipsychotic Abilify, which the Food and Drug Administration just approved.)\n\nOnce the pill hits the patient\u2019s stomach, the gel cap dissolves \u2014 releasing both the oxycodone tablet and the transmitter. The transmitter powers up when it touches stomach acid, and signals to an iPod-sized device via a patch stuck to the patient\u2019s belly. This device then beams a message to a database in the cloud, telling the doctor that the patient has swallowed a pill. (Patients need to put on the device when they take the pill in order for it to register.) Eventually, the patient poops out the tiny transmitter. Chai says he does not want the transmitters back.\n\nEventually, the patient poops out the tiny transmitter\n\nThe team sent 15 patients who\u2019d been treated for broken bones home with 21 of these pills, along with instructions to take them for a week as needed. The researchers found that most patients started tapering their opioid doses on their own, and stopped after about four days \u2014 before the full week was up. None took all 21 pills, and most took many fewer \u2014 which means doctors might be sending people with fractures home with too many painkillers that could then be sold or misused.\n\nThe researchers also spotted an alarming trend: people were taking painkillers right before going to sleep to pre-empt waking up with pain. But Chai says this could lead to dangerous drops in breathing for some people \u2014 and it\u2019s a practice they might not have identified without the digital pills.", "output": "Researchers from Harvard Medical School's Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital are testing a smart pill that sends doctors an alert when patients take prescription painkillers. The digital pills are equipped with tiny radio transmitters in a gel cap that are triggered by stomach acid, which then emit\u00a0a radio signal to a patch attached to the patient, which is forwarded on to the patient's doctor. It is hoped that the pills will allow doctors to monitor the medication habits of patients and help them to spot dangerous drug use. The pills are made by a Florida-based company, eTectRx."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Global storage market to rapidly grow by 2030: Report \n This article first appeared on the BNEF mobile app and the Bloomberg Terminal.\n\nForecast shows one-fourth of deployments in the U.S.\n\n$103 billion invested in energy storage over this period\n\nGlobal cumulative storage deployments\n\nSource: Bloomberg New Energy Finance\n\nThe global energy storage market will double six times between 2016 and 2030, rising to a total of 125 gigawatts/305 gigawatt-hours. This is a similar trajectory to the remarkable expansion that the solar industry went through from 2000 to 2015, in which the share of photovoltaics as a percentage of total generation doubled seven times. Eight countries will lead the market, with 70 percent of capacity to be installed in the U.S., China, Japan, India, Germany, U.K., Australia and South Korea. Energy storage, both utility-scale and behind-the-meter, will be a crucial source of flexibility throughout this period and will be essential to integrating increasing levels of renewable energy.\n\nSee the full research report here.\n\nBNEF Shorts are research excerpts available only on the BNEF mobile app and the Bloomberg Terminal, highlighting key findings from our reports. If you would like to learn more about our services, please contact us.", "output": "The US and China are among eight nations set to lead the global energy storage market in the coming decade. A report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts the market will double in value six times between now and 2030. The study also said the market will reach 125 GW, or 305 GWh, and follow a curve similar to the explosion of solar energy between 2000 and 2015. It\u00a0added that utility-scale and behind-the-meter storage would be \"essential to integrating increasing levels of renewable energy\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Poland could be fined \u20ac100,000 per day over deforestation \n Poland has been given two weeks to stop illegal deforestation in the Unesco-protected Bia\u0142owie\u017ca forest or face fines of at least \u20ac100,000 a day.\n\nIn a precedent-setting ruling that will echo across the EU, the European court of justice ordered Poland to show it was acting lawfully in the ancient woodland, or face a \u20ac36.5m (\u00a332m) annual penalty.\n\nAgata Szafraniuk, a lawyer for the green law firm ClientEarth, said that the court was acting after Poland\u2019s environment minister, Jan Szyszko, showed \u201ccomplete contempt\u201d for an earlier emergency ban on logging in the ancient woodland.\n\n\u201cFinancial penalties are, unfortunately, an essential tool to ensure that the best-preserved primeval forest in Europe is protected from further harm,\u201d she said. \u201cTrees are still being cut down every day, so the court prescribed this measure to guarantee the full protection of this unique forest, and to avoid irreparable damage.\u201d\n\nThe court move will ratchet up pressure on Poland, which is already facing a suspension of its EU Council voting rights over a clampdown on the country\u2019s independent press and judiciary.\n\nWomen\u2019s groups have also been targeted for police raids, and rights to protest have been curtailed, adding to concerns about the rule of law in the east European country.\n\nDonald Tusk, the EU Council president, condemned Poland\u2019s nationalist-right Law and Justice party government on Sunday, suggesting it was following the \u201cKremlin\u2019s plan\u201d.\n\nThe Polish government maintains that it always behaves lawfully and that logging in Bia\u0142owie\u017ca is necessary to staunch a spruce bark beetle outbreak.\n\n\u201cIn the western media, everything is based on disinformation,\u201d a Polish government spokesman told the Guardian. \u201cWe are doing everything right by law. We are using EU law. We are using Polish law, and we are doing nothing against decisions made by the European court of justice.\u201d\n\nGreenpeace says that it has logged photographic evidence of violations to the court\u2019s \u201cpublic safety\u201d condition for logging in 16 out of 30 areas of Bia\u0142owie\u017ca surveyed .\n\nSzyszko though, has previously accused the EU of \u201cspreading lies\u201d by using photos of extensive logging in Bia\u0142owie\u017ca that he claimed were \u201cmanipulated\u201d in a cyber-attack.\n\nWhile the EU\u2019s case on illegal logging was \u201cwithout any arguments, ours are based on facts and documents,\u201d the Polish official said. \u201cBia\u0142owie\u017ca is not the last primeval forest, because it was made by local people, and we have facts and books that show that people were there from the beginning.\u201d", "output": "Poland faces fines of a minimum of \u20ac100,000 ($117,000) per day if it does not stop illegal deforestation in the Bialowieza forest, which is protected by Unesco, within two weeks. The ruling by the European court of justice, which establishes a legal precedent, requires Poland to prove that it is acting lawfully or receive a \u20ac36.5m annual fine. The Polish government claims that logging in the forest is essential to combat the spruce bark beetle. However, Greenpeace states that it has photographic evidence of breaches of \u201cpublic safety\u201d conditions for logging.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cajutel sees blockchain widening internet use in West\u00a0Africa \n Cajutel believes blockchain technology can help Africa gain better internet access.\n\nNovember 21, 2017, Bissau, Guinea \u2014 Blockchain implementation is a broad subject when applied to matters of innovation and development. Using the Blockchain to achieve developmental goals is a phenomenon that is gaining popularity among the developing countries of the world, where basic infrastructure is still a primary need of citizens.\n\nTwo most important elements of technology\n\nIn most parts of Africa, infrastructure such as electricity, potable water, access roads, Internet among others are unavailable, not because of a lack of resources, but due to the absence of honest, transparent and secure technical and administrative processes.\n\nLeveraging the Blockchain is enabling a lot of companies to achieve developmental goals, by eliminating the hitherto human and bureaucratic obstacles that have slowed down these regions so far.\n\nAlong with electricity, Internet service is one of the most important technological elements needed for any nation to keep up with global advancement, yet many developing countries are still left out of this opportunity of economic advancement.\n\nBlockchain enables global participation\n\nHigh speed Internet provider, Cajutel, is using Blockchain technology as a tool to raise capital for the development of Internet services in Guinea Bissau and Guinea.\n\nThe CEO of Cajutel, Andreas Fink, explains that his company has embraced the Blockchain and ICO methodology of raising capital, in other to open up opportunities for investment to smaller investors.\n\nThis has become necessary due to the existing difficulty in getting huge investors and venture capitalists to embrace the project using existing traditional processes.\n\nAccording to Fink, his company\u2019s ICO is different from most other token sales because in Cajutel\u2019s case, company shares are exchanged for cryptocurrencies.\n\nUnlike other ICOs where tokens bought by investors exist afterwards as independent entities in the cryptocurrencies marketplace, Cajutel\u2019s tokens are tied directly to the project as shares.\n\nThis implies that investors are offered the opportunity for long term investment benefits, as purchasing such shares automatically qualifies an investor as a shareholder of the company.\n\nFink says:\n\n\u201cIn our case, we are using the ICO in a more traditional way, which means that we are raising funds against the shares of the company, because at the end of the day you will have investors who put money down and expecting a return, they want to participate in your revenue which you are giving up.\u201d\n\nGiving the nation a whole new outlook\n\nFor what it is, Internet service stands out as a platform upon which numerous aspects of human and regional development must rely.\n\nFrom financial services to other basic processes of data storage and management, the role of the Internet has become very crucial, especially over the last three decades.\n\nAs a tool for national development, Cajutel is looking for an investment of $30 mln to cover Guinea-Bissau and Guinea (the big plan), or a minimum of $12 mln for a slower building plan to only cover Guinea-Bissau.\n\nThis is a target that the company plans to use in achieving what it describes as a revolutionary nation-building procedure, considering the fact that its present competitors are just two mobile operators MTN and Orange, offering Internet speeds that are limited to 256kbps ($60/month) while business offerings go up to 1Mbps ($1400/month).\n\nCajutel\u2019s vision is to build the most cost effective broadband access network, and to provide state of the art communications for its customers \u2013 thus creating a big boost to the education and economy. The company also plans on delivering affordable, reliable Internet communication to the local market, and is focused on providing the best performing mobile data network for Guinea-Bissau and Guinea.\n\nAnother key area where Cajutel plans to improve in serving the nation, is improving the speed of Internet to a level that has never been achieved in the region.\n\n\u201cCatujel will be the fastest Internet provider in the area for the public, outperforming existing operators offering by a factor of 10x to 100x with an at least 30 percent cheaper price. This enables Internet technologies not currently present in West Africa simply due to lack of bandwidth and too high prices. It makes it affordable for the general public to get access to the Internet. That is why only less than 2 percent have access today. So there\u2019s 98 percent available to be grabbed by us\u201d, says Fink.\n\nAfrica is making progress\n\nInternet service is a real world project that cuts across all parts of the globe. The globalization phenomenon is essentially lubricated by Internet technology, therefore for purposes of national and regional growth and development, the Internet is an essential tool.\n\nAfrica and the rest of the developing world are implementing the Blockchain as a tool to enable them to catch-up with their peers, in terms of infrastructural development. This is largely achieved by reducing the level of human and faulty administrative interference, as the Blockchain guarantees transparent, secure and trustless working processes.\n\nWebsite \u2014 http://www.cajutel.gw/\n\nWhite paper \u2014 https://cajutel.gw/whitepaper.pdf\n\nCajutel is the source of this content. This press release is for informational purposes only and should not be viewed as an endorsement by CoinIdol. We take no responsibility and give no guarantees, warranties or representations, implied or otherwise, for the content or accuracy. Readers should do their own research before investing funds in any company.\n\n", "output": "Guinea-Bissau internet provider Cajutel will use blockchain technology to help it raise funds for its ambitious aim of bringing the internet to the 98% of West Africans currently lacking a service. The company plans to build a cost-effective broadband and mobile phone network, and has launched an initial coin offering (ICO) to raise between $12m and $30m. CEO Andreas Fink said tokens purchased during the ICO would be automatically turned into company shares, offering a long-term investment.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China recruits leading companies for AI 'national team' \n Zhang Tong, the head of Tencent\u2019s AI Lab. The company has been selected as one of four members of China\u2019s AI national team. Photo: Handout", "output": "Baidu, Alibaba Group, Tencent Holdings and iFlyTek have been called on by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology to spearhead the development of new artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and create open innovation platforms. Specifically, Baidu will focus on self-driving cars, Alibaba's cloud computing unit will explore AI solutions for urban life, Tencent will examine computer vision for medical diagnosis and iFlyTek will focus on voice intelligence. While supporters have underscored the open-source nature of the initiative, some have questioned the elevation of big firms as \"national champions\", claiming smaller start-ups will be crowded out.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Garmin Pay goes live in US and Australia \n Garmin v\u00edvoactive 3: More ways to beat yesterday\n\nThe tech company has just announced that Garmin Pay is now live in the United States and seven other countries, including Australia, for the Vivoactive 3. So if you\u2019re out running without your phone and cash, there\u2019s a chance you\u2019ll be able to pay for sustenance with a simple flick of the wrist.\n\nWe say \u201ca chance\u201d because at launch you can only add Mastercards issued by a limited number of banks. In the U.S., the list currently includes BECU, Bank of America, Capital One, First Tech Federal Credit Union, and U.S. Bank. Support for more banks is coming \u201csoon,\u201d the company promised, and Vivoactive 3 owners with Visa cards will also be able to use Garmin Pay before long. For updates on compatibility, as well as support information for outside the U.S., check out this page on Garmin\u2019s website.\n\nRecommended Videos\n\nSimilar to Apple Pay and Android Pay, Garmin\u2019s system, which is powered by the FitPay payment platform, also utilizes NFC (near field communication) technology, allowing users to make a payment without having to reach for their handset or wallet.\n\nDan Bartel, Garmin\u2019s vice president of worldwide sales, said in a release that Vivoactive 3 wearers \u201cnow have the freedom to leave their phone and wallet at home when they go to run or work out, and still be able to make purchases wherever their day takes them.\u201d\n\nThe Vivoactive 3, which starts at $300, was announced by Garmin at the IFA tech show in Berlin, Germany in August.\n\nThe successor to the Vivoactive HR features a round-faced Chroma color display with a single side-facing button. The GPS-enabled device also incorporates heart sensors for constant monitoring during workouts. Impressively, the battery is said to last for a whole week, though with GPS on this figure is cut dramatically to 13 hours.\n\nAn interesting feature on the Vivoactive 3 is Side Swipe. This lets you swipe the side of the watch to scroll through the menus if your don\u2019t want to get your sweaty hands on the display.\n\nTo find out more, check out how the Vivoactive 3 fares against the latest Apple Watch and the Fitbit Ionic.\n\nEditors' Recommendations", "output": "Kansas-based tech firm Garmin has rolled out its digital wallet, Garmin Pay, to the US, Australia, and six other countries. Garmin Pay allows users of the Vivoactive 3 smartwatch and other forms of near field communication technology to pay for goods quickly and easily. However, only MasterCards issued by Bank of America, Capital One, First Tech Federal Credit Union, BECU and US Bank can currently be added to the wallet. More institutions are expected to be added to the roster soon.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "State Bank of India to begin testing smart contracts \n State Bank of India is to begin testing the use of smart contracts next month, with blockchain-enabled know your customer processing to follow.\n\nSpeaking to the Economic Times, India's largest lender took the wraps off the work conducted by the BankChain consortium, a coalition of 27 Indian and Middle East banks who have been collaborating with vendor PrimeChain to explore and create new applications for banking and finance.\n\n\n\n\"By next month, we should have two beta production solutions ready for use by the 27 banks,\" SBI's head of innovation Sudin Baraoker told the paper. \"We will also invite further participation.\"\n\n\n\nBaraoker sees plenty of potential for the use of smart contracts at the bank: \"Smart contracts can be used for simple things like non-disclosure agreement... rather than signing forms. A lot of internal processes can be contracted. We do a lot of IT procurement, a lot of it can be implemented using blockchain.\"\n\n\n\n", "output": "The BankChain consortium, which has been working on applications for smart contracts in banking and finance, is set to begin beta-testing two solutions next month with India's biggest lender, the State Bank. The trial will also test blockchain-enabled \"know your customer\" processing at a later date. The consortium consists of a collaboration between almost 30 Indian and Middle Eastern banks and vendor PrimeChain Technologies.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shipping container hotel, flats planned for Waterloo Station \n Because shipping containers are designed to move and these ones might have to.\n\nTreeHugger emeritus Bonnie sends in a photograph of a pile of shipping containers on Lower Marsh behind London's Waterloo Station, which turns out to be a new \"Apart-Hotel\" for Stow, a London property developer. Stow-Away is \"a new brand of design-led extended stay hotels\" offering \"a fun, distinctive and eco-friendly stay experience.\"\n\n\u00a9 Bonnie Alter\n\n\ufeffThere is nothing new about shipping container hotels; they have become so trendy that in China, they have made fake shipping containers to cash in on the trend. But this one is particularly interesting because of the reason shipping containers are being used.\n\nLondon SE1/via\n\nThe site is, in fact, owned by the railway, and provides access to the viaduct behind. According to conservation documents, it was vacant because of \"enemy action during the Second World War.\"\n\n\u00a9 Doone Silver Kerr\n\nAccording to the architects, Doone Silver Kerr, \"The proposed development uses 30ft shipping containers as the building system in order to meet the requirements of Network Rails asset protection agreement, which requires the scheme to be dismantled within 28 days.\"\n\n\u00a9 Doone Silver Kerr\n\nShipping containers are a bit narrow for decent hotel rooms; as you can see in the rendering here, there is not really enough room to get around the side of a queen-sized bed. Given the choice, most hotel designers would want a little more width. But if you have to vacate the site on 28 days notice, they make a lot of sense.\n\nThe Architects' Journal 26 March 2012/Screen capture\n\nPeople who rave about the speed of shipping container construction should also remember that the biggest time suck in real estate is not necessarily the construction but also the approvals and financing and all the other stuff that goes into a building; this project was originally approved in 2012 with Will Alsop as architect. The new project is not identical; according to a local London site, \"Doone Silver Architects say that plans for a roof terrace have been removed 'due to anti\u2010terrorism concerns'.\"\n\nYou can have the fastest construction system in the world and it can still take years to make a building.", "output": "London architects\u00a0Doone Silver Kerr plan to turn stacks of shipping containers into apartment and\u00a0hotel rooms behind London's Waterloo Station. The firm chose the cargo boxes as they are cheap and easy to dismantle, essential on railway land with\u00a0covenants that\u00a0stipulate\u00a0any construction must be removable within 28 days. The boxes will form a so-called apart-hotel\u00a0for property developer Stow. The trend is not new: shipping-container hotels are popular in China.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bayer and Bosch target precision herbicide application \n New technology which will apply state-of-the-art weed detection to apply herbicide more accurately could be available for use by 2020.\n\nAs part of a three-year research partnership between two German agricultural and tech giants, Bayer and Bosch are developing smart spraying technology.\n\nUsing camera sensors, it can differentiate between crops and weeds and target weeds with pesticides \u2013 at lightning speed, in a single process. It is hoped the technology will be available by 2020.\n\n\u201cSmart spraying sustainably clears fields of weeds. This safeguard yields while minimising environmental impact,\u201d Dr. Markus Heyn, member of the Robert Bosch GmbH board of management, said.\n\nThe rise of such technology is seen as an important step forward as agriculture leaders advance innovations that are climate-friendly, to reduce the industry\u2019s carbon footprint.\n\nWorld hunger is also a growing problem for the industry. According to predictions made by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), farmers will have to sustainably generate around 50% more yield by 2050 in order to feed the global population.\n\n\u201cWe want to venture together with Bosch into new territory, combining different technologies to ensure that herbicides are only applied in areas where they are really necessary,\u201d Tobias Menne, head of digital farming at Bayer, said.\n\n'Field manager'\n\nThe technology solution will offer a digital \u201cfield manager\u201d which assesses the field and recommends the best time to treat weeds.\n\nWeeds can be difficult to identify, but by using camera sensors, the technology can determine what is growing in the field and then adopt a targeted application technique to spray crop protection agents specifically on weeds.\n\nThe multiple camera sensors, which are spread across the entire width of the crop sprayer, take a continuous series of pictures, identifying the different weeds and allowing the optimum treatment to be defined.\n\nWhile the crop sprayer is still crossing the field, the herbicide is sprayed in the required quantity and mixture using the appropriate application parameters.\n\nWhile the relevant weeds are targeted, weedless areas remain untouched. All this occurs within milliseconds.\n\n'Quantum leap'\n\n\u201cSmart spraying is a quantum leap in the fight against weeds,\u201d said Bj\u00f6rn Kiepe, head of agronomy at Bayer\u2019s digital farming unit.\n\n\u201cWe are combining modern weed identification technology with the ability to apply different active substances as the situation demands. This process is very precise, with a spatial resolution of well under one meter. This will make it even easier for farmers to practice sustainable crop protection.\u201d\n\nBosch has been transferring its automotive technology to the agriculture industry, and is already generating sales worth 1 billion euros as a result.\n\nBy the middle of the next decade, it plans to double sales of technologies for agriculture. \u201cBosch can do more than cars and cordless screwdrivers. We are bringing high tech to farms, opening up a market worth billions,\u201d said Dr. Markus Heyn.", "output": "Bosch and Bayer have collaborated on the development of a smart spray system that targets weeds but leaves main crops untouched, and it could be on sale as early as 2020. The system, the product of a three-year partnership, has been called a \"quantum leap\" by Bj\u00f6rn Kiepe, head of agronomy at Bayer\u2019s digital farming unit. It uses multiple camera sensors to continuously take images, automatically applying the correct treatment\u00a0when\u00a0a weed is identified. The entire process takes less than a second. Technology giant Bosch has generated \u20ac1bn ($1.18bn) from its agri-tech arm.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AISense seeks total recall with conversation-transcription bot \n Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More\n\nThere\u2019s a new machine learning company on the block, with big ambitions to help people remember every conversation they\u2019ve ever had. Called AISense, the company operates a voice transcription system that\u2019s designed to work through long conversations using machine learning and provide users with a full text record of what was said.\n\nAt first, the company is tackling meeting notes through a partnership through videoconferencing service Zoom. The two parties will bring a commercial product to market next year that will allow Zoom customers to get automatic transcriptions of their conversations.\n\nVoice transcription isn\u2019t anything new in the machine learning field, with companies like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon all providing their own prebuilt systems for recognizing speech and turning that into text. But AISense CEO Sam Liang said in an interview that he believes his company has an edge because of its focus on long-form conversations.\n\nAISense isn\u2019t planning to stop with meeting transcription, however. Liang said that the company\u2019s overall goal is to provide ambient transcription of every moment of users\u2019 lives.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\n\u201cConversations can happen at any time, unplanned and unscheduled,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I run into somebody in the hallway and I talk for ten minutes, there\u2019s a huge amount of information there being exchanged. I don\u2019t want to lose that, actually.\u201d\n\nIt remains to be seen if that\u2019s something people are actually keen on using, however. One of the key concerns from consumers about smart home speakers like the Amazon Echo and Google Home \u2014 which only record and respond to users\u2019 utterances after the use of a trigger word \u2014 is that they\u2019re always listening.\n\nAISense actually wants to be always listening, which raises a host of potential problems when it comes to matters like wiretapping laws that prohibit recording without the consent of all parties involved. Liang said that the company plans to comply with all of the legal obligations related to its work.\n\nInterestingly, AISense doesn\u2019t use the conversations it records to improve the accuracy of its speech system. The company employs other sources of training data, like conversations posted publicly to the web.\n\nThe company announced today that it raised a $10 million round of series A funding led by Horizons Ventures. Other participants in the round included Draper Associates, Draper Dragon, David Cheriton, and Bridgewater Associates.\n\nRight now, AISense\u2019s transcription system is in beta with a small number of users, but the company is working towards both its completed integration with Zoom as well as a consumer application that would allow anyone to get conversations transcribed.\n\nWhile Liang thinks that the company\u2019s future lies with ambient transcription, at the moment it\u2019s focused on more task-oriented use cases like business meetings and classroom lectures.", "output": "California start-up AISense is beta-testing voice-recognition software that can transcribe\u00a0long conversations. In partnership with videoconferencing service Zoom, AISense is focusing on meeting minutes, with both firms aiming to launch a product next year and, eventually, enable\u00a0full text records of people's conversational lives. CEO Sam Liang said the system uses conversations on the internet as training data and added that while AISense is always \"listening\", it will be fully compliant with wiretapping legal requirements. The company recently raised $10m in a series A funding round led by Horizons Ventures.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MIT starts urban R&D program for China's smart cities \n MIT has launched a unique new urban research and innovation program that looks to advance city life in China through an ambitious range of academic and entrepreneurial activities.\n\nThe China Future City Lab, created with university, corporate, and governmental partners, has officially taken flight following a two-day conference, launch event, and signing ceremony late last week.\n\n\u201cWe want to be a pioneer,\u201d said Siqi Zheng, the MIT urban studies associate professor who heads the new lab, speaking at the launch event last Friday. The China Future City Lab, she also noted, will have \u201ca clear focus on China\u2019s sustainable urbanization.\u201d\n\nThe China Future City Lab consists of three foundational elements. First, the lab will support a wide range of basic research in China, investigating many aspects of urban social and economic life.\n\nSecond, the lab will house a program known as the MIT-Tsinghua Future City Innovation Connector (FCIC), which will support startup teams applying ideas to China\u2019s urban areas. The FCIC will also aim to identify innovative concepts and technologies that could be implemented in China.\n\nAs a third element of its activities, the China Future City Lab will engage with Chinese cities that will serve as \u201cliving labs\u201d or testing sites where MIT researchers will have a unique opportunity to examine their urban-focused ideas and innovations.\n\nThe development of the new lab comes at a time when China has been rapidly urbanizing. Over half of the country\u2019s population now lives in urban areas, up from roughly 20 percent in the early 1980s. As Zheng noted in her remarks on Friday, lessons from this rapid change can be applied to other countries and regions, since the global population is also urbanizing markedly, albeit at a slower pace than in China.\n\n\u201cThe new knowledge should have implications everywhere,\u201d Zheng said.\n\nFitting the global strategy\n\nThe creation of the China Future City Lab fits closely with a new framework for global activities that MIT released last spring. As detailed in a preliminary report, \u201cA Global Strategy for MIT,\u201d this approach calls for, among other things, enhanced efforts to cultivate collaborative projects in different regions of the world, including China.\n\n\u201cOur intention is to bring the best of MIT to China, and the best of China to MIT, and I know the China Future City Lab will be a key building block of that strategy,\u201d said Richard K. Lester, the associate provost of MIT overseeing the Institute\u2019s international activities, in remarks at the launch on Friday.\n\nChina\u2019s urbanization, Lester added, is \u201cof enormous intellectual and practical interest to the MIT community, to our faculty, to our students, across a wide range of disciplines.\u201d The areas of research that figure to be directly involved in the subject, Lester suggested, include urban studies, economics, architecture, management, computer science, artificial intelligence, transportation systems, and civil and environmental engineering.\n\nIn turn, he noted, those disciplines will need to tackle a variety of large-scale problems common to China and other societies, including climate change mitigation and the deployment of clean energy technologies, access to clean water, access to affordable health care, and new challenges brought about by aging populations.\n\nA tradition of engagement \u2014 and a renewal of it\n\nAs Lester detailed in his remarks, MIT also has a lengthy history of engagement with China. The first Chinese student at MIT arrived in 1877, just 16 years after the Institute opened, and, as shown in an ongoing campus exhibit, \u201cChina Comes to Tech,\u201d curated by MIT professor of history Emma Teng, over 400 students from China studied at MIT over the next half-century.\n\nMore recently, MIT has been building a more extensive network of institutional ties with China, including parterships within academia. One of those agreements is with Tsinghua University, which is MIT\u2019s partner in the Future City Innovation Connector component of the new lab.\n\nThe China City Future Lab also builds upon the precedent established by the Beijing Studio, a 30-year partnership the School of Architecture and Planning established with Tsinghua University that enabled hundreds of MIT students to evaluate urban studies issues in China.\n\nThe China Future City Lab is also launching with the help of eight corporate founding members, comprising six private companies and two state-run property firms, that have interests spread across China and Hong Kong. They are:\n\nHongkong Land, founded in 1889, which is one of Asia\u2019s oldest established property groups;\n\nZall Group, a major developer in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province;\n\nFosun Property, an international conglomerate and investment company based in Shanghai;\n\nChina Resources Land, a state-run property developer with headquarters in Shenzhen;\n\nTusincere Science City Investment Group Co., Ltd., a firm that builds business parks;\n\nNash Work, China\u2019s largest operator of co-working spaces, with sites in several major cities;\n\nChengYu Construction Investment Group, a development firm located in Zhengzhou; and\n\nTianyi Holding, a property firm with interests in investment, planning, design, development, and management, located in Tianjin.\n\nExecutives from the group of founding partners appeared and gave remarks at a launch event on Friday in MIT\u2019s Samberg Conference Center.\n\nA separate symposium for the China Future City Lab, on Thursday, featured talks by several MIT faculty members, as well as remarks from Hashim Sarkis, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning, and Eran Ben-Joseph, head of the school\u2019s Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP).\n\nZheng is the Samuel Tak Lee Associate Professor of Real Estate Development and Entrepreneurship in DUSP and the Center for Real Estate.\n\nOn Friday, Lester lauded Zheng\u2019s work, as both a researcher and a program-builder at the Institute. Zheng has formally been an MIT faculty member for less than a year, but, as Lester noted, she has quickly assembled the kinds of institutional and international support needed to launch a major new project.\n\n\u201cIn that short time, she has established herself as a real force, and a builder of new educational and research programs in the very best tradition of MIT,\u201d Lester said.\n\nIn her remarks, Zheng emphasized the open-ended nature of the new lab\u2019s work. Set against an urbanizing population and the rapid economic growth of China this century, the nature of urban studies, she suggested, means that scholars need to be open-minded about the kinds of issues they will study and the methods they will use to examine them.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m sure we can explore more and more opportunities,\u201d Zheng said.", "output": "The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is partnering with university, corporate, and governmental bodies to launch urban research programme, the China Future City Lab. It aims to support research, find and back start-ups working on urbanisation in the country, and connect with cities deemed testing sites. China's increased urbanisation offers opportunities for MIT students to learn in several fields, from civil engineering to artificial intelligence, while the China Future City Lab is the latest in a long series of collaborations between the country and MIT."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Leeds construction firm fined for silt pollution of watercourse \n A Leeds-based house building company has been fined \u00a3120,000 for illegally polluting a watercourse from a Huddersfield construction site.\n\nHarron Homes Limited was sentenced yesterday (20 November) at Leeds Magistrates\u2019 Court after admitting one charge of causing illegal discharges from its Farriers Croft estate in 2015.\n\nThe Environment Agency prosecuted the firm after investigating reports of contaminated run-off which was entering a tributary of Grimescar Dyke.\n\nRosalind Emsley-Smith, prosecuting for the Environment Agency, told the court that an officer visited the site on 20 November 2015 and saw polluted water flowing out of the entrance of the construction site. The company was also pumping silt contaminated water from site excavations which also entered the watercourse.\n\nFollowing the Environment Agency\u2019s visit, Harron Homes attempted to control the silt run-off by setting up settlement tanks. However, further incidents of pollution were reported in November and December 2015 and subsequent inspections revealed that this system was inadequate. Silty water was found to be discharging, resulting in further pollution.\n\nSamples taken from the discharges showed that they were having a significant impact on the water quality in the watercourse up to three kilometres further downstream. Some samples showed there to be nearly 35,000 milligrams of suspended solids per litre of water, whereas a healthy watercourse is expected to have a concentration lower than 30 milligrams per litre.\n\nThe firm's attempt to contain the muddy water was inadequate; silt was seen flowing off the site\n\nMark West, environment management team leader at the Environment Agency, said:\n\nThese pollution incidents had a significant impact on the water environment over a number of weeks, and were entirely avoidable. In West Yorkshire there has been a worrying increase in the number of pollutions incidents reported to us that on investigation are attributable to the construction sector.\n\nConstruction companies should consider the potential environmental impact of developments they undertake at the initial planning stage and must adhere to environmental permitting rules and invest in appropriate management systems to prevent their activities from affecting the local environment.\n\nIf anyone spots pollution of this kind, they are urged to contact the Environment Agency\u2019s incident hotline on 0800 807060 so we can investigate.\n\nIn mitigation, Harron Homes told the court that it had now put procedures in place to prevent future pollution incidents.\n\nIn addition to the fine, the company was ordered to pay \u00a38,706.71 in legal costs and a \u00a3120 victim surcharge.", "output": "A housing construction company in Leeds has been fined for polluting a watercourse. Harron Homes was prosecuted by the Environment Agency for allowing contaminated water to flow from its site at Farriers Croft near Huddersfield in West Yorkshire. Silty water was discharged into a tributary that flows into Grimescar Dyke, a local river, over several weeks. The company was fined \u00a3120,000 for the offence, which had a significant measurable effect on water quality up to two miles downstream from the site.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WeWork weighs South Korean expansion \n \n\n\n\nWeWork eyes massive expansion in Korea\n\nMatthew Shampine, general manager of WeWork Korea, recently ditched his old American phone number for a Korean one and opened a local bank account. As an ethnic Korean adopted to the United States, he has been learning Korean from a tutor three times a week. He loves soju so much that the refrigerator at his new house in Yeouido, western Seoul is packed with the alcoholic beverage.All this happened in a matter of just three months after he was promoted to take full charge of the Korean unit in August. Having joined WeWork in January 2013, he spent two years as head of marketing and revenue for WeWork\u2019s Asia Pacific market before the latest promotion, going back and forth between Korea and other Asia Pacific countries.His new role came after WeWork has actively expanded here since first opening a branch in Gangnam Station, southern Seoul in August last year. In just 15 months, the New York-based company has opened two more locations - Euljiro, central Seoul, the biggest in Asia, with a capacity to house 3,000 people, and Samseong-dong, southern Seoul - and two additional offices will soon open in Yeoksam, southern Seoul and Gwanghwamun, central Seoul.\u201cWe are going to aggressive keep expanding throughout Seoul this year and next year and every subsequent year to kind of build all around the city,\u201d he said in a recent interview at WeWork Euljiro, where he keeps his office as well. \u201cIn a while it may seem like a cluster of buildings right now in Gangnam, but we do believe in expanding throughout the rest of the city as well for sure because Seoul is such a huge city in terms of distance.\u201dHe noted that WeWork is in fact looking at \u201ceverywhere\u201d in Korea - be it Pangyo, Gyeonggi, or Busan.\u201cI just personally transitioned my role to focus on Korea, so the first thing is trying to make sure we are adequately staffed for that scale and continuing to look for new locations.\u201dThe seven-year-old company, valued at about $20 billion, currently operates across 58 cities in 19 countries. On upbeat prospects for the fast-growing co-working giant, Japan\u2019s SoftBank in August made a $500 million investment to help it expand its operations in Korea, China, Japan and Southeast Asia more broadly. Shampine declined to specify how much of that fund has been allocated to Korea.With the rise of the gig economy, also known as the sharing economy, and ever-increasing land prices, co-working spaces have been sprouting up across the capital recently. A handful of local businesses - such as Hyundai Card, a credit card issuer, Fast Track Asia, a local start-up, and Toz Business Center - have jumped on the bandwagon and most recently, Spaces, a Dutch co-working space operator, opened its first location at Gran Seoul building in Jongno, central Seoul, in September.With regard to the intensified competition for shared offices in the city, Shampine said he believes his company stands out from the others in that it offers a unique value - connecting people through the vast network of members across its offices around the world, from New York to Delhi to Melbourne and Shanghai and its brand value that has empowered it to attract diverse members.\u201cI\u2019ve been to a few [other local co-working spaces] but I don\u2019t see competition that way,\u201d he said. \u201cHow to provide value to members is much more important than what someone else is doing.\u201dHe went on to say that WeWork can be a good platform for Korean companies that need to go international because the domestic market is relatively small.\u201cWe can make it happen much faster by connecting them with the rest of the world.\u201dHe also mentioned that one upshot of WeWork is \u201cconnecting\u201d members with varied personal and professional backgrounds.\u201cIt\u2019s really hard to predict but really cool things happen when you put them all in the same building.\u201dMembers are not only entrepreneurs and start-ups but also people trying out the service space for the first time - lawyers and accountants as well as people working in PR, marketing and recruiting - teams from large companies such as Microsoft and Shinsegae and agencies that have recently broken off from larger companies to start on their own.They constantly bump into each other and develop ties through events and parties that take place five to seven times a week with themes ranging from yoga to Halloween to panel discussions and Demo Days. On the day of the interview, an event themed on women in leadership roles was scheduled for the evening.Shampine himself landed a job at WeWork after becoming a member at its initial location in Manhattan. While he was working as a web developer for Mercedes-Benz, he joined forces with four programmers there to launch their own digital agency and they moved into WeWork. There he went on to co-found WeWork Labs, an incubator for early-stage start-ups, with WeWork founders and has climbed the corporate ladder ever since.Asked to assess how competitive Koreans are in the global start-up scene, he mentioned several of their strengths as he is also actively involved in being an angel investor for companies in both the United States and Korea.\u201cKorea has a lot of really smart, intelligent people and there are a lot of great universities. We are hosting the fourth \u2018Be the Rocket\u2019 program,\u201d he said.\u201cBe the Rocket\u201d is Seoul National University\u2019s start-up acceleration program and WeWork Korea has been supporting it since 2016 by renting a venue for the event and providing office space to the winners.He also cited other upbeat aspects of the Korean start-up environment.\u201cChina is China, but Korea is a great place where people can feel comfortable and meet a lot of people. Korea is a great hub for meeting and connecting people together. You also have an engineering talent for sure and a lot of great companies that are working on expanding themselves abroad.\u201dWith regard to the language barrier, the most common weakness cited by Korean entrepreneurs hoping to spread overseas, he said, \u201cI have seen [Koreans\u2019 English proficiency] significantly getting better every day over the last 10 years. Koreans in general are very international in terms of studying abroad and their connections.\u201dWill WeLive, a co-living business launched by WeWork in New York and Washington D.C. last year, ever head to Korea?\u201cFrom what I know, we will announce the project in the near term. I personally believe it would be very successful here,\u201d he said. \u201cBut as of now we are very much focused on making sure we build a great WeWork Korea.\u201dBY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun@joongang.co.kr]", "output": "Shared workspace provider WeWork is planning to expand into South Korea after opening its first three branches there over the last year. The New York-based company received a $500m investment from Japan's Softbank earlier this year to help grow its business in Southeast Asia. It will open two new offices in Seoul shortly, and plans further branches around the city, as well as in other locations across the country, such as Pangyo, Gyeoggi and Busan. Other co-working providers, including the Dutch company Spaces, have also recently opened offices in Seoul.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Blake Tower wins best apartment gong at WhatHouse? Awards \n The WhatHouse? Awards 2017, UK housebuilding\u2019s most prestigious event, took place at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Friday 17 November, culminating in the Berkeley Group being named WhatHouse? Housebuilder of the Year in front of over 1,500 industry figures.\n\nNamed Large Housebuilder of the Year at last year\u2019s event and retaining the title this year, Berkeley Group also went one better, beating Small Housebuilder of the Year Metis Homes and Medium Housebuilder of the Year Hopkins Homes to the ultimate title. Swan Housing Association was named Housing Association of the Year.\n\nIt also won across other categories, picking up Golds for Best Partnership Scheme, Best Mixed-Use Development and Best Regeneration and a Bronze for Best Apartment Scheme. Part of the Berkeley Group, St James, also won two Golds, for Best Exterior Design and Best Public Realm, with another, St Edward, winning Silver for Best Development..\n\nThe celebrity host at this year\u2019s Awards Gala Luncheon was comedian Jack Whitehall, joined on stage in the Great Room of the Grosvenor House Hotel by Lawrence Dallaglio, former captain of England\u2019s rugby union team, who presented to winners of 21 Awards categories.\n\nAmong the wide range of new homes builders from across the country that won the other awards, there were a few who received more than one: Mount Anvil winning three Golds; Habitat First winning one Gold and two Bronzes; Hill winning three Silvers; Meyer Homes and Crest Nicholson winning one Gold and one Silver each; Redrow winning one Gold and one Bronze; 2014\u2019s Housebuilder of the Year City & Country winning one Silver and one Bronze; and Altin, Countryside and McCarthy & Stone winning two Bronzes each.\n\nRupert Bates, editorial director of Whathouse.com and leading trade magazine Show House, and head of the judging panel, said, \u201cThe industry has many challenges ahead, but for now let us celebrate the best new homes in Britain. We would like to thank all the housebuilders, suppliers and other industry colleagues who have once again supported this great event, with special thanks to the Awards sponsors and judges.\u201d\n\nHere\u2019s the full list of winners from this year\u2019s WhatHouse? Awards, download the Judges\u2019 Report for all the details or look at the summary here:\n\nHousebuilder of the Year: Berkeley Group\n\nBest Large Housebuilder \u2013 sponsored by Roca\n\nGold, Berkeley Group\n\nSilver, CALA Homes\n\nBronze, Redrow; Countryside\n\nBest Medium Housebuilder \u2013 sponsored by N+C\n\nGold, Hopkins Homes\n\nSilver, Hill\n\nBronze, Churchill Retirement Living ; Mactaggart & Mickel\n\nBest Small Housebuilder \u2013 sponsored by Jablite\n\nGold, Metis Homes\n\nSilver, Freeman Homes\n\nBronze, Conservation Builders\n\nHousing Association of the Year \u2013 sponsored by WhatHouse?\n\nGold, Swan Housing Association\n\nSilver, Thames Valley Housing\n\nBronze, Aster Group\n\nBest Build To Rent Project \u2013 sponsored by Thomas Gray\n\nGold, Legal & General Investment Management Real Assets, The Slate Yard, Salford\n\nSilver, Be Living, be:here, Hayes, Middlesex\n\nBronze, Folio London, Royal Albert Wharf, London E16\n\nBest Starter Home Scheme \u2013 sponsored by Q Assure\n\nGold, Network Homes, The Crescent, Hertford\n\nSilver, Lovell Homes, Lymington Mews, Dagenham; St Modwen Homes, Locking Parklands, Locking, Somerset\n\nBronze, Higgins Homes, Clissold Quarter, Stoke Newington, Hackney\n\nBest House \u2013 sponsored by Nolte Kitchens\n\nGold, Habitat First Group, The Habitat House, Lower Mill Estate, Cirencester, Gloucestershire\n\nSilver, Meyer Homes, Gabriel Square, St Albans, Hertfordshire\n\nBronze, Altin Homes, The Place, Sale, Manchester\n\nBest Apartment Scheme \u2013 sponsored by Warwick Estates\n\nGold, Redrow, Blake Tower, London EC2\n\nSilver, City & Country Residential, The Iron Foundry, Bristol\n\nBronze, Berkeley Central London, Vista, London SW8\n\nBest Luxury House \u2013 sponsored by New ID\n\nGold, Huntsmere, \u2018Bewdley\u2019, Alderley Edge, Cheshire ; Werner Capital, \u2018Camp End Manor\u2019, St George\u2019s Hill, Weybridge, Surrey\n\nSilver, Aspire Luxury Properties, \u2018Kings Lodge\u2019, Oxshott, Surrey\n\nBronze, Oakeve, \u2018Hurlingham\u2019, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire\n\nBest Renovation \u2013 sponsored by New Homes Law\n\nGold, Cubitt Greystock, Grange Hall, Stoke Newington\n\nSilver, Hill, Anstey Hill Barns, Cambridge\n\nBronze, City & Country, St Osyth Priory, Clacton-on-Sea, Essex\n\nBest Development \u2013 sponsored by Beko\n\nGold, Crest Nicholson Regeneration, Bath Riverside, Bath, Somerset\n\nSilver, Places For People, Rousillon Park, Chichester, West Sussex ; St Edward, 190 Strand, London WC2\n\nBronze, Altin Homes, The Place, Sale, Manchester\n\nBest Partnership Scheme \u2013 sponsored by Show House Jobs\n\nGold, Berkeley Homes, Hackney Council, Genesis, WDCO and MHDT, Woodberry Down, London N4; Mount Anvil with Clarion Housing Group, Lexicon, London EC1\n\nSilver, Barratt Homes, David Wilson Homes and the RSPB, Oakfield Village\n\nBronze, Countryside and L&Q, Acton Gardens\n\nBest Luxury Development \u2013 sponsored by Laufen\n\nGold, Mount Anvil, Dollar Bay, Canary Wharf, London E14\n\nSilver, Crest Nicholson Regeneration, Bath Riverside, Bath, Somerset\n\nBronze, Ama (New Town), The Crescents, Cramond, Edinburgh\n\nBest Mixed-Use Scheme \u2013 sponsored by TCL Group\n\nGold, Berkeley Homes, One Tower Bridge, London\n\nSilver, Quartermile Developments, Quartermile, Edinburgh\n\nBronze, Crest Nicholson, Harbourside, Bristol\n\nBest Retirement Development \u2013 sponsored by Show House Jobs\n\nGold, Adlington, Adlington House, Otley, West Yorkshire\n\nSilver, Hill, Woodside Square, Muswell Hill, London N10\n\nBronze, McCarthy & Stone, Bowes Lyon Court, Poundbury, Dorset\n\nBest Sustainable Development \u2013 sponsored by Roca\n\nGold, Lendlease, Elephant Park, Elephant & Castle, London SE17\n\nSilver, Fabrica by A2Dominion, Elmsbrook, Bicester, Oxfordshire\n\nBronze, Habitat First Group, Silverlake, Warmwell, Dorset\n\nBest Regeneration Scheme \u2013 sponsored by Jackson-Stops\n\nGold, Berkeley Homes East Thames, Royal Arsenal Riverside, London SE18\n\nSilver, Hopkins Homes, Prospect Place, Framlingham, Suffolk ; Notting Hill Housing, Royal Albert Wharf, London E16\n\nBronze, Bellway South London, Maida at Wellesley, Aldershot, Hampshire ; Churchill Retirement Living, Mount\u2019s Bay Lodge, Penzance, Cornwall\n\nBest Interior Design \u2013 sponsored by Green Lighting\n\nGold, Mount Anvil, Dollar Bay, Canary Wharf, London E14\n\nSilver, Meyer Homes, Gabriel Square, St Albans, Hertfordshire\n\nBronze, Millgate Homes, Knowle Hill Park, Cobham, Surrey\n\nBest Exterior Design \u2013 sponsored by Ibstock Bricks\n\nGold, St James, Riverlight, London SW11\n\nSilver, Barratt London\u200b, Lombard Wharf, London SW11\n\nBronze, Habitat First Group, \u2018The Lighthouse\u2019, Silverlake, Warmwell, Dorset\n\nBest Public Realm \u2013 sponsored by TCL\n\nGold, St James, Heritage Walk/Kew Bridge West, London TW8\n\nDid you like this? Share it:", "output": "Developer Redrow's\u00a0Blake Tower project near the Barbican in London\u00a0won\u00a0the gold award for Best Apartment Scheme at the WhatHouse? Awards. Redrow also won a bronze award in the Best Large Housebuilder category.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Paris and Amsterdam to succeed London as hosts of key EU agencies \n Paris has been picked to succeed London as host city of the European Banking Authority once Britain leaves the European Union.\n\nParis beat out Dublin in the final round of voting Monday among the 28 EU nations minus Britain. Frankfurt, in a surprise, failed to be selected as one of the two finalists.\n\nThe European Banking Authority monitors the regulation and supervision of Europe's banking sector. It has a staff of about 180.\n\nFrench President Emmanuel Macron said the choice of Paris for the banking regulator showed the \"attractiveness of France\".\n\nMeanwhile, EU President Donald Tusk said on Twitter before the vote that \"whatever the outcome, the real winner of today's vote is EU27. Organised and getting ready for Brexit.\"\n\nBest of luck to all the candidates to host EMA and EBA.\n\nWhatever the outcome, the real winner of today's vote is EU27. Organised and getting ready for #Brexit. \u2014 Charles Michel (@eucopresident) November 20, 2017\n\nEarlier on Monday, EU members had tapped Amsterdam as the future home the European Medicines Agency.\n\nThe two watchdogs, with a total of 1,000 highly skilled jobs between them, are currently based in London's Canary Wharf district but must leave before Britain quits the EU in March 2019.\n\nFrankfurt, home to the European Central Bank and aiming to be the Union's primary financial centre after Brexit, suffered a blow when it was badly beaten in the second round of EBA voting.\n\nIn a third round, Paris overhauled Dublin, which had been just one vote short of a second-round majority. With the scores in the runoff tied again by abstention, Paris won when the Estonian minister chairing the meeting, Matti Maasikas, again had to draw lots.\n\n_______________\n\nRead more:\n\n[ Amsterdam pips Milan to be host city of EU medical agency ]\n\n[ Lobby group urges 'ambitious' Brexit trade deal ]\n\n[ Frankfurt winning race for post-Brexit banking spoils ]\n\n_______________\n\nMr Maasikas struck a more subdued note, calling the contest \"a sad reminder of the concrete consequences of Brexit\".\n\nThe battle for both agencies has been bitterly contested, with governments jostling to win the backing of other countries with \"hot bargaining\" behind the scenes, a diplomatic source told AFP.\n\nThere were eight bidders for the banking regulator. The agency is perhaps best known for its regular \"stress tests\" on the EU's financial sector in the wake of the global financial crisis. Meanwhile, a total of 16 candidates had thrown their cap into the ring to be the new home of the EMA.\n\nThe European Commission, the EU's executive arm, delivered an evaluation of the applications in September based on a range of criteria, from transport links to job prospects for spouses and schools.\n\nBut the staff of the agencies in question, already being forced to up sticks from London, had reportedly been nervous about some of the candidates, reportedly including Bratislava, Warsaw, Bucharest and Sofia.\n\nDespite fierce competition, the 27 EU states were keen to avoid any protracted and bruising dispute over the matter as they see preserving unity as essential in facing Brexit, the biggest setback in the post-World War Two history of European integration.\n\nMeanwhile, for Britain, the departure of the two agencies is an economic and political blow.\n\nLabour MP Lyn Brown tweeted that it showed London's \"loss of influence\" in the wake of Brexit.\n\nMeanwhile, the centre-right European People's Party, which is the largest group in the European Parliament, said: \"For the UK, its loss is the first self-inflicted wound of Brexit.\"", "output": "After the UK leaves the EU, Paris will host the European Banking Authority, while Amsterdam hosts European Medical Agency. Both agencies are currently based in London's Canary Wharf district, but cannot remain there after Brexit. Paris narrowly beat Dublin when the chair of the meeting was forced to draw lots,\u00a0after the cities acquired 13 votes each.\u00a0Frankfurt, home to the European Central Bank, was \"badly beaten\" in the second round of voting. The Estonian minister chairing the meeting, Matti Maasikas, said the contests were \"a sad reminder of the concrete consequences of Brexit\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bitcoin wallet defaults to bitcoin cash, risking user confusion \n The Bitcoin wallet provided by Bitcoin.com is defaulting to Bitcoin clone Bitcoin Cash (BCH) instead of Bitcoin (BTC). Users sending Bitcoins to a BCH address could potentially lose their coins.\n\nThe controversy was brought to light on a posting on Reddit\u2019s /r/Bitcoin, where one user claimed that the Bitcoin.com wallet defaulting to a BCH wallet is a \u201cscam\u201d. The move is certainly confusing, as the Bitcoin.com wallet which defaults to Bitcoin Cash is called a Bitcoin wallet and not a Bitcoin Cash wallet.\n\nReddit user /u/Renben9 posted:\n\nI share your concern. Lots of people will send BTC to the BCH address. To all the geeks who don\u2019t think this is a problem, view it from the perspective of a newbe: Go to exchange and buy bitcoins\n\nDownload bitcoin wallet\n\nSend your bitcoins to your bitcoin wallet\n\nNothing happens.\n\nDeceptive Name\n\nThe controversial Bitcoin fork, Bitcoin Cash \u2013 or BCH, is a clone of Bitcoin which has already been described by The Keiser Report host Max Keiser as a \u201cfraud\u201c;\n\nBitcoin cash is an alt-coin that has its fans just like many alt-coins. I don\u2019t think anyone who uses bitcoin\u2019s name and applies it to an alt-coin like bitcoin cash does is adhering to acceptable business practices. In other words, bitcoin\u2019s brand is being stolen by a competitor that calls itself bitcoin cash and this is outright fraud in my opinion, just like it\u2019s fraudulent to use Coca-Cola and Nike\u2019s name to sell soft drinks or shoes.\n\nThe naming confusion expands further with the newly forked Bitcoin Cash using the website Bitcoin.com, and the Bitcoin most are familiar with uses Bitcoin.org. The chance of buying or even reading about the \u201cthe wrong bitcoin\u201d is therefore increased, especially to those only just beginning to dabble in cryptocurrency.\n\nHow Exactly is BCH different from BTC?\n\nBitcoin Cash\u2019s main difference from the core Bitcoin code is the adoption of a larger blocksize, which was increased to 8mb in a move deemed as important in trying to help Bitcoin transaction processing speed and bottlenecking issues. The downside of this is that it will make it harder for those running their own nodes such as on Raspberry Pi\u2019s, deemed essential to keeping Bitcoin decentralized, no matter how small their contribution it can make a real difference in poorer countries lacking internet infrastructure.\n\nBitcoin core\u2019s (The Bitcoin) answer to transaction speed is not increasing blocksize but instead introducing off chain solutions such as those provided by the Lightning Network. While this solves transaction speed and bottlenecking issues, including being able to swap Bitcoin for other currencies such as Litecoin, it does mean that those mining Bitcoin will not make as much money processing lower fee driven transactions.\n\nAll can agree that the waters have been muddied, but with traditional investors and the world\u2019s largest trading platform CME Group due to start trading Bitcoin futures, it would appear BCH has a lot of catching up to do which may explain some of it\u2019s potentially dirty and brand confusing tactics.\n\nAt press time, the price of Bitcoin Cash currently sits at $1186, compared to Bitcoin\u2019s $8240.\n\nAre Bitcoin.com and Bitcoin Cash abusing users by misusing the Bitcoin name? Let us know what you think in the comments below.\n\nImages courtesy of Bloomberg, Reddit,", "output": "The Bitcoin.com wallet is defaulting to bitcoin cash (BCH), sparking concerns users could potentially lose their coins. BCH was created from a fork of bitcoin (BTC) and the change threatens to confuse users who assume the name Bitcoin.com wallet means it is for BTC, rather than BCH, and send their coins to the wrong wallet. The naming confusion also means new investors are more likely to research or buy the \"wrong bitcoin\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amendment that 'could have kept UK in Customs Union' defeated \n Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBrexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nDeep Labour divisions over Brexit were exposed in the form of a bizarre three way split last night, after party whips forced MPs to vote with the Conservatives against an amendment that would keep the UK in the customs union.\n\nFormer Shadow Cabinet member Ian Murray tabled a surprise amendment to the Taxation (Cross Border Trade) Bill, which would have prevented taxes being charged on imports to the UK after it leaves the EU, a move that, owing to WTO rules, would effectively have kept the UK in the customs union.\n\nLabour whips ordered MPs to vote against the amendment, which was defeated by 311 votes to 76, and saw the unusual spectacle of Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell voting with the government.\n\nMr Murray, having tabled the amendment, voted against his own party whip. Other Labour MPs abstained almost by accident, having been granted permission to leave the Commons.\n\n\n\nProminent Labour backbencher Wes Streeting said this morning: \u201cI would have voted for Ian's amendments, but we were told that we could go home because no important votes (!) and I had a work commitment off the estate. Not happy.\u201d\n\nIan Murray, who brought the amendment, said: \u201cIt is disappointing that this amendment was defeated but the fight for Customs Union membership is far from over.\n\n\u201cThe Government\u2019s reckless, ideological decision to pull us out of the Customs Union will damage trade with the EU, our biggest economic partner, and risk chaos at our ports with lorries backing up motorways as they face reams of new red tape. And it will make a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland inevitable.\n\n\u201cCustoms Union membership is simply the best economic option for our country. Leaving it for fantasy new trade deals which cannot replicate the trade we do with Europe is no solution.\u201d\n\nAfter the vote took place, Labour\u2019s Shadow International Trade Secretary Barry Gardiner said the amendment was impractical and would not have kept the UK in the customs union. \u201cAmendment would have stopped Treasury from applying any tariffs or quotas to goods in or out of EU after Brexit. It did NOT keep us in Customs Union as EU could still impose tariffs on us!\u201d he wrote on Twitter.\n\nConservative former minister Anna Soubry, and prominent Remainer said: \"It can't be right that the overwhelming majority of honourable and right honourable members in this place agree that we should be in the customs union and the single market.\n\n\"And the only reason that that isn't even on the table anymore, and it's an uncomfortable truth, is because I fear my party is in hock to 30 to 35 hard, ideologically driven Brexiteers.\"", "output": "Last night, former Shadow Cabinet member Ian Murray tabled an amendment to the Taxation (Cross Border Trade) Bill, which would have stopped tax on UK imports from the EU. According to WTO rules, this would have meant the UK would still be part of the Customs Union. However, Labour\u2019s Shadow International Trade Secretary Barry Gardiner disagreed, saying this would only have\u00a0stopped the UK from imposing tariffs on all traded goods between the UK and EU. Labour whips ordered MPs to vote down the amendment. It was defeated, with 311 votes against\u00a0to 76 for.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Kepler telescope finds exoplanet with super-short orbit \n K2 light curve of C12_3474. Stellar activity is seen as the quasi-periodic, long period modulation. Transits are visible as shallow dips. The 5.3-day-long data gap, during which the telescope entered in safe mode, is clearly visible at \u223c2/3 of the time series. Credit: Barrag\u00e1n et al., 2017.\n\n(Phys.org)\u2014NASA's prolonged Kepler exoplanet-hunting mission, known as K2, has revealed the presence of another \"super-Earth\" alien world. The newly found planet, designated EPIC 246393474 b (or C12_3474 b), is more than five times more massive than the Earth and orbits its parent star in less than seven hours. The discovery is reported November 6 in a paper published on the arXiv pre-print repository.\n\nKepler is so far the most prolific planet-hunting telescope. The spacecraft has discovered more than 2,300 exoplanets to date. After the failure of its two reaction wheels in 2013, the mission was repurposed as K2 to perform high-precision photometry of selected fields in the ecliptic. Since then, the revived Kepler spacecraft has detected nearly 160 extrasolar worlds.\n\nResearchers have used K2 to detect so-called \"super-Earths\" \u2013 planets with masses higher than Earth's but lower than that of the solar system's gas giants. In September, astronomers have confirmed the discovery of three super-Earths orbiting a nearby star, which were first spotted by this spacecraft. Now, an international group of researchers led by Oscar Barrag\u00e1n of the University of Turin in Italyusing K2 has detected one more such planet.\n\n\"In this paper we present the discovery of EPIC 246393474 b (hereafter C12_3474 b), an ultra-short-period planet transiting a K7 V star,\" the astronomers wrote in the paper.\n\nThe Kepler spacecraft observed a K-type main sequence star known as EPIC 246393474 from December 2016 to March 2017 during its Campaign 12. The star is about 740 million years old with a radius and mass approximately 33 percent smaller than that of the sun.\n\nAs a result of these observations, the researchers identified a transit signal in the light curve of this star. The planetary nature of this signal was later confirmed by follow-up observational campaign using ground-based telescopes, including the WIYN 3.5-Meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona.\n\nAccording to the study, EPIC 246393474 b has a radius of 1.54 Earth radii and is 5.3 times more massive than our planet, indicating a density of approximately 8.0 g/cm3 and suggesting a rocky-iron composition. The exoplanet has an equilibrium temperature of 2,039 K.\n\n\"The planetary density is consistent with a composition made of a mixture of iron and rocks. We estimated that the iron content of C12_3474 b cannot exceed about 70 percent of the total planetary mass,\" the paper reads.\n\nWhat is most interesting about EPIC 246393474 b is that it has an ultra-short orbital period. Barrag\u00e1n's team found that it orbits its host every 6.7 hours at a distance of about 0.007 AU. This makes it the shortest-period planet known to date with a precisely determined mass.\n\nThe researchers noted that the close distance of EPIC 246393474 b to its parent star suggests that it has lost its entire atmosphere due to stellar irradiation. However, they added that further mass measurements of transiting ultra-short-period planets should be performed in order to confirm this theory.\n\nMore information: EPIC 246393474 b: A 5-M\u2295 super-Earth transiting a K7 V star every 6.7 hours, arXiv:1711.02097 [astro-ph.EP] arxiv.org/abs/1711.02097 Abstract\n\nWe report on the discovery of EPIC 246393474 b, an ultra-short-period super-Earth on a 6.7-hour orbit transiting an active K7 V star based on data from K2 campaign 12. We confirmed the planet's existence and measured its mass with a series of follow-up observations: seeing-limited MuSCAT imaging, NESSI high-resolution speckle observations, and FIES and HARPS high-precision radial-velocity monitoring. EPIC 246393474 b has a mass of 5.31\u00b10.46 M\u2295 and radius of 1.54+0.10\u22120.09 R\u2295, yielding a mean density of 8.00+1.83\u22121.45 gcm\u22123 and suggesting a rocky-iron composition. Models indicate that iron cannot exceed \u223c70 % of the total mass. With an orbital period of only 6.7 hours, EPIC 246393474 b is the shortest-period planet known to date with a precisely determined mass.\n\n\u00a9 2017 Phys.org", "output": "NASA's K2 Kepler telescope has identified another \"super-Earth\" exoplanet. The planet\u00a0is five times bigger than Earth and orbits its parent star in under seven hours. Kepler has discovered over 2,300 planets so far, including super-Earths \u2013 planets with higher masses than Earth but lower than that of the solar system's gas giants.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scientists develop cheap solution for Wi-Fi and wireless security \n New 3-D reflectors optimize wireless coverage in the home and the office\n\nHANOVER, N.H. - November 8, 2017- A team of researchers led by Dartmouth College may have finally solved the problem of how to inexpensively improve wireless signal strength for indoor spaces with multiple rooms. The same technology for enhancing office and home Wi-Fi signals can also be used to strengthen wireless security.\n\nThe research, to be presented on Wednesday, November 8, at ACM's BuildSys 2017 in Delft, Netherlands, relies on 3-D printing to produce a cheap, customized reflector that directs wireless signals to where users need them most.\n\n\"Through this single solution, we address a number of challenges that plague wireless users,\" said Xia Zhou, an assistant professor of computer science at Dartmouth. \"Not only do we strengthen wireless signals, we make those same signals more secure.\"\n\nCustomizing the coverage of wireless networks inside buildings is critical for users to improve signal reception in desired areas while weakening signals in others. By shaping signals, users can increase wireless efficiency through lessening the signal-deadening impact of building materials and interior layouts.\n\nSuch a system can also make it more difficult for attackers by adding to existing security measures like encryption through physically confining wireless signals to limited spaces. This also leads to reduced interference.\n\nAchieving the goal of improved wireless performance is particularly challenging indoors because of the complex interactions of radio signals with the environment. Existing approaches to optimizing wireless signals rely on directional antennae to concentrate signals, but this equipment is either difficult to configure or beset by high cost.\n\nThrough experiments presented in the research paper, the team improves upon previous studies that placed an aluminum soft-drink can behind a Wi-Fi access point to strengthen signal in one direction. The current research generalizes this idea by presenting a systematic approach to optimizing reflector shapes for enabling a more developed set of signal distributions.\n\nAfter assessing interior layouts and the target areas to strengthen or weaken signal strength, the Dartmouth research team placed a \"computationally optimized\" signal reflector around a wireless router. The reflector, composed only of plastic and a thin layer of metal, redirects wireless signals to the desired coverage areas.\n\nAfter testing the approach in two different interiors for signal strength and speed, the researchers reported that optimized 3-D reflectors provide numerous benefits including: strong physical security, low cost, and ease of use for non-expert users.\n\nThe researchers tested the reflector with a variety of off-the-shelf Wi-Fi access points, including those using the latest Wi-Fi protocol 802.11ac.\n\n\"With a simple investment of about $35 and specifying coverage requirements, a wireless reflector can be custom-built to outperform antennae that cost thousands of dollars,\" said Zhou.\n\nTo create the technology, the research designed an algorithm that optimizes a reflector's 3-D shape to target wireless coverage. The team also developed an approach to simulating how radio signals spread and interact with objects in their environment.\n\nWith information on a specific interior space, locations of wireless access points and the desired target area, the system computes an optimized reflector shape in only 23 minutes. Researchers found that the reflectors can decrease strength by up to 10 dB where the signal is not wanted and increase strength by 6 dB where it is desired. The reflector is also relatively easy to place.\n\nBecause the current design is limited by its static shape, the research team will now study reflectors made of different materials so that the device can automatically adapt its shape when the interior layout changes. The team will also examine higher frequency bands such as millimeter waves and visible light.\n\n###\n\nThe research is a joint effort by researchers from Dartmouth College, University of Washington, Columbia University, and UC Irvine.\n\nA video demonstration of the research can be viewed at: http://www.dartgo.org/3dwifireflector", "output": "A cheap 3D-printed reflector can improve both Wi-Fi signal and wireless security, according to Dartmouth College researchers. Scientists used 3D printing technology to build a customised reflector to increase wireless efficiency, by directing the Wi-Fi signal and lessening the impact of building materials and interior layouts. Confining signals to limited spaces can also make it more difficult for hackers to interfere in a network, according to the research presented at ACM's BuildSys 2017 conference in Delft, Netherlands."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NASA's latest space telescope completes pre-launch freeze test \n NASA's James Webb Space Telescope sits inside Chamber A at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston after having completed its cryogenic testing on Nov. 18, 2017. This marked the telescope's final cryogenic testing, and it ensured the observatory is ready for the frigid, airless environment of space. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn\n\nThe vault-like, 40-foot diameter, 40-ton door of Chamber A at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston was unsealed on November 18, signaling the end of cryogenic testing for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.\n\nThe historic chamber's massive door opening brings to a close about 100 days of testing for Webb, a significant milestone in the telescope's journey to the launch pad. The cryogenic vacuum test began when the chamber was sealed shut on July 10, 2017. Scientists and engineers at Johnson put Webb's optical telescope and integrated science instrument module (OTIS) through a series of tests designed to ensure the telescope functioned as expected in an extremely cold, airless environment akin to that of space.\n\n\"After 15 years of planning, chamber refurbishment, hundreds of hours of risk-reduction testing, the dedication of more than 100 individuals through more than 90 days of testing, and surviving Hurricane Harvey, the OTIS cryogenic test has been an outstanding success,\" said Bill Ochs, project manager for the James Webb Space Telescope at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. \"The completion of the test is one of the most significant steps in the march to launching Webb.\"\n\nThese tests included an important alignment check of Webb's 18 primary mirror segments, to make sure all of the gold-plated, hexagonal segments acted like a single, monolithic mirror. This was the first time the telescope's optics and its instruments were tested together, though the instruments had previously undergone cryogenic testing in a smaller chamber at Goddard. Engineers from Harris Space and Intelligence Systems, headquartered in Melbourne, Florida, worked alongside NASA personnel for the test at Johnson.\n\n\"The Harris team integrated Webb's 18 mirror segments at Goddard and designed, built, and helped operate the advanced ground support and optical test equipment at Johnson,\" said Rob Mitrevski, vice president and general manager of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance at Harris. \"They were a key, enabling part of the successful Webb telescope testing team.\"\n\nThe Webb telescope team persisted with the testing even when Hurricane Harvey slammed into the coast of Texas on Aug. 25 as a category 4 hurricane before stalling over eastern Texas and weakening to a tropical storm, where it dropped as much as 50 inches of rain in and around Houston. Many Webb telescope team members at Johnson endured the historic storm, working tirelessly through overnight shifts to make sure Webb's cryogenic testing was not interrupted. In the wake of the storm, some Webb team members, including team members from Harris, volunteered their time to help clean up and repair homes around the city, and distribute food and water to those in need.\n\n\"The individuals and organizations that have led us to this most significant milestone represent the very best of the best. Their knowledge, dedication, and execution to successfully complete the testing as planned, even while enduring Hurricane Harvey, cannot be overstated,\" said Mark Voyton, James Webb Space Telescope optical telescope element and integrated science instrument manager at Goddard. \"Every team member delivered critical knowledge and insight into the strategic and tactical planning and execution required to complete all of the test objectives, and I am honored to have experienced this phase of our testing with every one of them.\"\n\nBefore cooling the chamber, engineers removed the air from it, which took about a week. On July 20, engineers began to bring the chamber, the telescope, and the telescope's science instruments down to cryogenic temperatures\u2014a process that took about 30 days. During cool down, Webb and its instruments transferred their heat to surrounding liquid nitrogen and cold gaseous helium shrouds in Chamber A. Webb remained at \"cryo-stable\" temperatures for about another 30 days, and on Sept. 27, the engineers began to warm the chamber back to ambient conditions (near room temperature), before pumping the air back into it and unsealing the door.\n\n\"With an integrated team from all corners of the country, we were able to create deep space in our chamber and confirm that Webb can perform flawlessly as it observes the coldest corners of the universe,\" said Jonathan Homan, project manager for Webb's cryogenic testing at Johnson. \"I expect [Webb] to be successful, as it journeys to Lagrange point 2 [after launch] and explores the origins of solar systems, galaxies, and has the chance to change our understanding of our universe.\"\n\nWhile Webb was inside the chamber, insulated from both outside visible and infrared light, engineers monitored it using thermal sensors and specialized camera systems. The thermal sensors kept tabs on the temperature of the telescope, while the camera systems tracked the physical position of Webb to see how its components very minutely moved during the cooldown process. Monitoring the telescope throughout the testing required the coordinated effort of every Webb team member at Johnson.\n\n\"This test team spanned nearly every engineering discipline we have on Webb,\" said Lee Feinberg, optical telescope element manager for the Webb telescope at Goddard. \"In every area there was incredible attention to detail and great teamwork, to make sure we understand everything that happened during the test and to make sure we can confidently say Webb will work as planned in space.\"\n\nIn space, the telescope must be kept extremely cold, in order to be able to detect the infrared light from very faint, distant objects. Webb and its instruments have an operating temperature of about 40 Kelvin (or about minus 387 Fahrenheit / minus 233 Celsius). Because the Webb telescope's mid-infrared instrument (MIRI) must be kept colder than the other research instruments, it relies on a cryocooler to lower its temperature to less than 7 Kelvin (minus 447 degrees Fahrenheit / minus 266 degrees Celsius).\n\nTo protect the telescope from external sources of light and heat (like the Sun, Earth and Moon), as well as from heat emitted by the observatory, a five-layer, tennis court-sized sunshield acts like a parasol that provides shade. The sunshield separates the observatory into a warm, sun-facing side (reaching temperatures close to 185 degrees Fahrenheit / 85 degrees Celsius) and a cold side (minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit / minus 240 degrees Celsius). The sunshield blocks sunlight from interfering with the sensitive telescope instruments.\n\nWebb's combined science instruments and optics next journey to Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems in Redondo Beach, California, where they will be integrated with the spacecraft element, which is the combined sunshield and spacecraft bus. Together, the pieces form the complete James Webb Space Telescope observatory. Once fully integrated, the entire observatory will undergo more tests during what is called \"observatory-level testing.\" This testing is the last exposure to a simulated launch environment before flight and deployment testing on the whole observatory.\n\nWebb is expected to launch from Kourou, French Guiana, in the spring of 2019.", "output": "NASA has taken its latest space telescope out of deep freeze -- a key test of the device's resilience to the cold temperatures of space before its launch in 2019. The\u00a0James Webb Space Telescope was sealed inside Chamber A at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, on July 10 where scientists tested its\u00a0telescope and science instrument module to ensure they functioned as expected in space-like conditions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ProShares launches bearish brick and mortar ETF \n A little more than a week before one of the year\u2019s biggest shopping days, ProShares launched an exchange traded fund designed to capitalize on poor performance of brick and mortar stores.\n\nThe ProShares Decline of the Retail Store ETF (EMTY) provides short exposure to companies in a sector that has struggled and shows few signs of turning around. While shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. and Foot Locker, Inc. both leapt to more than 25 percent last week after stronger than expected earnings reported\u2014the future for many companies in the retail sector feels grim.\n\nProShares points to declining sales and bankruptcies by more than 30 major retailers in the last three years, including Toys \u201cR\u201d Us, RadioShack and Payless.\n\nThe apparel segment accounts for more than 28 percent of the index, followed by department stores, at 10.71 percent, and then similar weights across others within the sector. J.C. Penny Co. Inc., Sears Holdings Corp., Barnes & Noble Inc. and others that have made headlines in recent years for poor performance are also in the index. The 56 companies are equally weighted.\n\nThe short-only fund moves inversely to the Solactive-ProShares Bricks and Mortar Retail Store Index and includes companies that receive at least 50 percent of their revenue from retail operations and 75 percent of that retail revenue from in-store sales.\n\nOnly U.S. companies are included in the index. The firms must have a market cap of at least $500 million and a six-month daily average value traded of at least $1 million, and meet other requirements, according to ProShares. It is rebalanced monthly and reconstituted annually.\n\n\u201cStories sell, as we all know,\u201d said Rusty Vanneman, the chief investment officer at CLS Investments.\n\nHe said thematic ETFs account for only about 3 percent of all ETFs and less than 1 percent of ETF assets. The strategies behind thematic ETFs might not be as effective as others, but their names and issues are typically identifiable and easy to explain\u2014which draws money from retail investors.\n\nVanneman said the opposite can occur too. A manager might have a highly effective strategy, but if the name isn\u2019t eye-catching or the strategy requires significant unpacking, positive flows might be harder to come by.\n\nMichael Sapir, co\u2011founder and CEO of ProShare Advisors, said in a statement that investors are \u201cwitnessing signs of trouble in the malls and falling stock prices in the markets\u201d and for the first time \u201ccan turn these trends into a potential investment opportunity through an ETF.\u201d\n\nProShares also launched another ETF that tracks an index of both online companies and stores. The ProShares Long Online/Short Stores Index (CLIX) has long positions in retailers and shorts companies that rely principally on in-store retail revenue.", "output": "ProShares has launched an exchange-traded fund (ETF) hoping to profit from the poor performance of brick and mortar stores. The Decline of the Retail Store ETF offers short exposure to firms in the struggling retail sector. The fund moves conversely to the Solactive-ProShares Bricks and Mortar Index, and includes US firms with\u00a0at least 50% of revenue from retail operations,\u00a075% of which has to come\u00a0from in-store sales."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "PayPal inks partnership with micro-investing app Acorns \n PayPal is funding several new digital services lately. You can send cash to your friends via the money service using Facebook Messenger, Skype and even PayPal's own money cards. The company also makes it easy to pool money for gifts and tip Twitch streamers. Now you can fund your Acorn investment account with PayPal, too, making it easier to take care of your financial future.\n\nAcorns is an app-based service that empowers you to invest your spare change in stocks, similarly to other apps, like Qapital. Once you connect your bank (or PayPal) account to Acorns, you can monitor it within PayPal, either online or in the PayPal app itself. You'll also be able to check the value of your Acorns account, monitor your contributions and see your investment transfers all without having to launch the Acorns app. You can make recurring or one-time investments using PayPal funds, or you can have Acorns \"round up\" any purchases you make with PayPal and invest that spare change.", "output": "PayPal has partnered with the micro-investing app Acorns, which helps users invest their spare change. Under the deal, users will be able to link their Acorns account and monitor it via the PayPal app, allowing them to also make investments using their online funds. California-based Acorns works by rounding up payments made by users through the app to the nearest dollar, and investing the difference. These funds can then be topped up with other one-off or recurring payments."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bank execs fleeing for cryptocurrency firms \n Executives tasked with exploring blockchain tech for banks and consulting firms are finding it harder and harder to resist going full crypto. Case in point: three executives at BNY Mellon, Deutsche Bank, and PWC well known for leading blockchain work at their firms have left to pursue their own blockchain projects in recent days. Their reason? They want to pursue blockchain ambitions outside the strictures of a corporate innovation lab.\n\nThe executives are now either directly employed by blockchain \u201cventure studio\u201d ConsenSys, or will work on their own projects with ConsenSys funding. Among them is Alex Batlin, who formerly led blockchain work at BNY Mellon, and before that at UBS. He\u2019s now working on his own company, Trustology, with backing from ConsenSys. \u201cI am a big believer in cryptoassets being super exciting, so being able to take these ideas to production in a timeframe that I want to do it in, it\u2019s really tricky to do that in a bank,\u201d he says. The other two execs are PWC\u2019s Ajit Tripathi and Deutsche Bank\u2019s Edward Budd.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIt\u2019s not the first time execs at big banks have defected to go all-in on blockchain. One well known example is Blythe Masters, who joined Digital Asset Holdings as chief executive, after leading commodities trading at JPMorgan. Others have turned to blockchain ventures after departing the C-suite, whether as founders or investors. There\u2019s ex-Barclays head Antony Jenkins, the founder of data optimization fintech firm 10x Future Technologies who joined the board of Blockchain in 2016, and former UBS chief information officer Oliver Bussman, who promotes Switzerland\u2019s \u201cCrypto Valley\u201d as a base for blockchain companies in the canton of Zug.\n\nThe blockchain specialists are leaving their corporate employers with valuable contacts. Last year three members of a blockchain team at Deloitte in Toronto left to form their own startup, with their ex-employers\u2019 blessing. Batlin, the former BNY Mellon man, says he hopes the bank will be a client of his new project eventually.\n\nMoney is flowing into the crypto space. For instance, ConsenSys was started in 2014 by Joseph Lubin, a cofounder of Ethereum, which has gained 2,900% this year alone. \u201cI believe ConsenSys pays a lot better than a bank,\u201d says one executive working on innovation at a global bank who has been involved in the cryptocurrency space for years, who did want to be named.\n\nThe executives who are moving say money isn\u2019t the reason. For Batlin, it\u2019s the freedom to move quickly on a technology that he\u2019s been covering for his employers for years. It\u2019s the same story with Tripathi, who was until recently a director at PWC in charge of blockchain and fintech matters. He\u2019s now joining ConsenSys as a partner, and will be in charge of delivering projects to corporate clients. \u201cYou can\u2019t turn on a dime in big corporations,\u201d Tripathi says. \u201cThere is a bubble right now, and the bubble drives innovation. Does it make it easier for [blockchain startups] to attract talent? Absolutely it does, because there is definitely a lot more runway. But it\u2019s not about the money.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBudd, previously the chief digital officer for the global transaction bank at Deutsche, joined ConsenSys to help launch its new UK office, according to efinancialcareers.\n\nFor Batlin, a veteran of corporate innovation labs, the flow of talent from big banks and consultancies to blockchain startups is just part of the natural order. \u201cIn many ways, this kind of rotation is natural,\u201d he says. \u201cAs you experiment in the lab you start getting ideas, but you can\u2019t take stuff to production in a lab. That\u2019s the definition of a lab.\u201d\n\nCorrection [Nov. 20]: An earlier version of this post said 10x Future Technologies was a blockchain venture. It is a data optimization fintech startup.", "output": "A number of bank blockchain specialists are leaving their roles and moving directly into cryptocurrencies. Alex Batlin, formerly of BNY Mellon, Ajit Tripathi, from PwC, and Deutsche Bank's Edward Budd have all recently left their jobs to pursue projects outside the restrictions of their previous organisations. All three are now directly employed by blockchain software company ConsenSys, or on schemes backed by ConsenSys. Batlin, now at Trustology, said he was excited about \"being able to take these ideas to production in a time-frame that I want to do it in\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI creates a number of risks for insurers: Novarica \n The promise of artificial intelligence in the insurance industry is threefold:\n\n\n\nTo help insurers get deeper insights into their business and make better decisions.\n\nTo automate insurer processes and decision-making for increased efficiency and reduced cost.\n\nTo create a better customer experience that provides more immediate responses and requires less arduous data collection.\n\nParts for an ESP (electronic stability program) console sit in a premould machine inside the Robert Bosch GmbH manufacturing plant in Hatvan, Hungary, on Tuesday, August 23, 2016. Chief executive officer Volkmar Denner said Bosch has no plans to scale back U.K. capital expenditures and that it was too early to determine the impact of Brexit on the business. Photographer: Akos Stiller/Bloomberg Akos Stiller/Bloomberg\n\nBut with that promise comes risk \u2013 perhaps greater than the risks inherent with all new technologies \u2013 that the insurance industry needs to consider. The Financial Stability Board released a detailed report this month on the potential upsides and downsides of AI, most of which align with Novarica\u2019s research of the technology.\n\nRisk one: Reliance on external players\n\nMany of the risks highlighted in the report stem from the increasing reliance financial services companies will have on outside technology companies for key business components. This results in several problems:\n\n\n\nIt creates an environment where the regulatory bodies overseeing banking and insurance may not have the same influence or access to those critical tech companies.\n\nOutside players providing technology used for decision-making means limited auditability after something has gone wrong.\n\nA single point of failure creates problems for the whole industry; if one technology player is hacked or goes out of business, it can impact a large percentage of financial institutions at once.\n\nRisk two: Opacity of decision-making\n\nAnother source of risk is that the results of AI and machine learning may be too complex for humans to fully understand. As the FSB report puts it, \u201cNew trading algorithms based on machine learning may be less predictable than current rule-based applications and may interact in unexpected ways.\u201d The FSB report is focusing mostly on how such opacity might mean volatility or instability in the financial markets due to AI-based trading, but this applies to the insurance industry as well.\n\nExisting regulatory rules in the insurance space make this risk less likely in some areas of the business. Because insurers of admitted lines must file their rates with the state, there\u2019s a limit to how much AI will be able to influence actuarial models. Insurers may use AI behind the scenes to determine new variables and tables, but that information will need to be translated into traditional rate models. Many insurers use predictive analytics in a parallel way, reducing scores into broad pricing categories (e.g., platinum, gold, silver status) for the same reason.\n\nAnother example is an insurer that piloted the use of AI for determining direct marketing campaigns. After IT ran its data through a neural network to come up with demographic priorities, the marketing organization ignored the results. That marketing team saw AI as a black box and didn\u2019t understand the prioritization. When IT instead reverted to a simpler model with scores in fewer key factors, it was seen as a success, and the marketing team adjusted its direct marketing approach. Despite the less sophisticated model, the visibility into how the algorithm came to its conclusion meant humans could understand and buy into the results.\n\nA combination of regulations and human resistance will likely slow down the adoption of pure AI-driven decision-making at many insurers. However, that won\u2019t hold it off forever, and insurers will need to carefully watch areas where AI technology means humans no longer fully understand why certain decisions are being made.\n\nRisk three: Implementing bias\n\nAn important finding from the report is worth repeating in full. \u201cEven if innovative insurance pricing models are based on large data sets and numerous variables, algorithms can entail biases that can lead to non-desirable discrimination and even reinforce human prejudices.\u201d\n\nMachine learning algorithms utilize historical data to make future decisions. If insurers train AI systems using past decisions made by humans, then any human biases inherent in those previous actions will be part of the training. Without careful review, it\u2019s possible (or likely) that AI systems will learn and unintentionally magnify human bias when making future decisions. Insurers, with their large stores of data \u2013 and their impact on human lives \u2013 have an obligation to work against such biases. If humans cede responsibility of decision-making to algorithms, it\u2019s important to recognize that it does not absolve the industry of that responsibility.\n\nRisk four: When AI is too smart\n\nOne existential threat is that AI and the access to big data may result in insurers getting too good at predicting risk for individual applicants. The insurance industry works because of the nature of a risk pool, where overall premiums cover the percentage of people and businesses that file claims. But when predictive abilities reach a certain level, the risk pool breaks down. Will AI become so intelligent that it creates entire classes of uninsurable people?\n\nThis is already a problem in the health insurance space, especially in terms of pre-existing conditions, which is why the government is involved. Insurers need to be wary of other lines going the same way, where suddenly state or federal regulators have to step in to make sure certain drivers aren\u2019t excluded from auto insurance or certain businesses from liability coverage.\n\nInsurers have a responsibility to do the best job they can in determining risk and setting rates. As such, it\u2019s unlikely that the industry will hold off on applying new risk-predictive technologies when they become available. But more than any other industry, insurers hold their overall mission to help people and businesses above pure profit, and this threat is one they will eventually need to grapple with as AI technology matures.\n\nThis blog entry has been reprinted with permission from Novarica.", "output": "The adoption of artificial intelligence within insurance is not without risks to the industry, according to Jeff Goldberg, SVP of research Novarica. Among the risks Goldberg notes is the opacity introduced when AI is utilised. Many AI systems are too complex for humans to get their heads around, which results in the output produced by the technology being rejected, discarded or overlooked. Another risk, according to Goldberg, is AI becoming too smart, potentially creating large pools of uninsurable parties it determines cannot be economically covered. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Enormous demand from businesses to offer Lemonade's coverage \n Digital insurer Lemonade reports that more than 400 businesses applied to sell its insurance within the first 24 hours after it offered to make its sales platform widely available.\n\nOn October 12, Lemonade announced it launched a public API (application programming interface), allowing anyone to offer its renters and home insurance policies through their apps or websites.\n\nWithin the first day, Lemonade said more than 400 businesses applied for early access. Writing on the company blog, CEO and Co-Founder Daniel Schreiber provided a breakdown of those applying:\n\n43% real estate and property management firms\n\n28% financial services\n\n21% e-commerce\n\n8% home security and IoT\n\nThe company told Insurance Journal that it is rolling out the API program slowly, using an automated system to distinguish among applicants. It is using various criteria to determine which businesses to work with including the target markets of the businesses applying, whether they are in the seven states where Lemonade currently sells insurance and whether offering renters and home insurance is compatible with their focus.\n\n\u201cOur natural first step is to look towards real estate partners and financial services, but the beauty of the API is that it will grow as Lemonade expands its product line as well, expanding its relevancy for other businesses,\u201d the company said in an email reply to an inquiry.\n\nLemonade currently offer renters, condo and home insurance in New York, California, New Jersey and Nevada; renters and condo insurance in Texas and Rhode Island; and renters insurance in Illinois. It plans to enter additional states in the coming year.", "output": "After launching a public API in October, insurtech Lemonade received more than 400 applications from businesses looking to offer its coverage as an add-on service with 24 hours. The majority of these firms were property management firms or real estate companies - the firm largely offers renters insurance. Financial service firms and e-commerce companies also had a heavy presence among applicants. Lemonade isn't allowing every to offer its coverage immediately. The firm says it will assess third-parties' target market. It also is restricted, at present, to the seven states it is licensed to sell insurance in. \u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "British banks will lose 'passporting rights': says Barnier \n Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBrexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nBritish banks will lose \u201cpassporting rights\u201d to do business in the European Union after Brexit, the EU\u2019s chief Brexit negotiator has said.\n\nSpeaking in Brussels on Monday, Michel Barnier said that \u201cBrexit means Brexit\u201d \u2013 and that there could be no opt-ins to parts of the single market for certain industries.\n\n\u201cOn financial services, UK voices suggest that Brexit does not mean Brexit. Brexit means Brexit, everywhere,\u201d Mr Barnier said in a major speech to a think-tank.\n\n\u201cThe legal consequence of Brexit is that the UK financial service providers lose their EU passport. This passport allows them to offer their services to a market of 500 million consumers and 22 million businesses.\u201d\n\nThe pronouncement is bad news for the City, where over 5,400 British firms rely on passporting rights to bring in \u00a39bn in revenue every year to Britain. The British Bankers\u2019 Association (BBA) has said the loss of passporting would be \u201cdisruptive, costly and time-consuming\u201d.\n\nIt also comes the same day as the EU announces where it will relocating the European Banking Authority, an EU agency currently based in London, after Brexit.\n\nThe chief negotiator said the EU might judge some UK rules as \u201cequivalent\u201d to EU passporting rights, but ruled out the City of London having access to EU financial markets under the same passporting deal as now.\n\nBrexit trade talks to be pushed back by another four months, says Manfred Weber\n\nMr Barnier told the audience at the Centre for European Reform: \u201cThose who claim that the UK should pick parts of the single market must stop this contradiction. The single market is a package, with four indivisible freedoms, common rules, institutions, and enforcement structures.\n\n\u201cThe UK knows these rules very well, like the back of its hand. It has contributed to defining them over the last 44 years with a certain degree of influence. We took note of the UK decision to end free movement of people, and this means clearly that the UK will lose the benefits of the single market.\n\nMichel Barnier speaking at the Centre for European Reform in Brussels (CER)\n\n\u201cThis is a legal reality; the EU does not want to punish, it simply draws the logical consequence of the UK\u2019s decision to take back control.\u201d\n\nAs well as ruling out a carve-out for the financial sector, Mr Barnier appeared to suggest there could be no special deal for the UK\u2019s car manufacturers to stay in the single market, as proposed by industry bodies.\n\nIn the same speech, the senior EU official also expressed disappointment at what he suggested as a fixation in some British circles on \u201cno deal\u201d being a viable option for the UK.\n\n\u201cWe have a shared history and this started long before the last 44 years. This is why the no deal is not our scenario, even though we will be ready for it,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cI regret that this \u2018no deal\u2019 option comes up so often in the UK public debate. Only those who want to ignore the current benefits of EU membership can say that no deal would be a positive result.\u201d\n\nBrexit: the deciders Show all 8 1 / 8 Brexit: the deciders Brexit: the deciders European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier Getty Brexit: the deciders French President Emmanuel Macron Getty Brexit: the deciders German Chancellor Angela Merkel Reuters Brexit: the deciders Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker EPA Brexit: the deciders The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt Getty Brexit: the deciders Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May Getty Images Brexit: the deciders Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond PA Brexit: the deciders After the first and second appointed Brexit secretaries resigned (David Davis and Dominic Raab respectively), Stephen Barclay is currently heading up the position PA\n\nLiberal Democrat leader Vince Cable said the decision was a \u201cmajor blow\u201d to the Government\u2019s Brexit plans.\n\n\u201cLoss of this access risks blowing a hole in the budget at a time when our public services are already seriously underfunded,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cAll of this could be avoided if the Government chose to stay in the single market.\n\n\u201cInstead, ministers seem intent on killing the golden goose by choosing an extreme form of Brexit that will seriously damage the financial sector.\u201d", "output": "After leaving the EU, British banks will lose the \"passport\" set out in the single market directive, and with it the right to offer their services to an EEA market of 500 million consumers and 22 million businesses, according to Michel Barnier, European Chief Negotiator for Brexit. Speaking in Brussels on Monday, Barnier said that no industry would be given special treatment. \"Brexit means Brexit, everywhere\" he said to the audience at the\u00a0Centre for European Reform. Over 5,400 British firms rely on these rights to bring in an annual revenue of\u00a0\u00a39bn ($12bn).\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Britain loses seat on International Court of Justice \n The UK will not have a judge on the bench of the international court of justice for the first time in its 71-year history after the British candidate withdrew following an acrimonious competition.\n\nMinutes after an 11th round of voting was scheduled to begin in New York on Monday, a letter was released by the UK mission to the UN announcing that Sir Christopher Greenwood would accept defeat and allow the rival Indian candidate, Dalveer Bhandari, to fill the final vacancy on the ICJ.\n\nThe decision to bow to mounting opposition within the UN general assembly is a humiliating blow to British international prestige and an acceptance of a diminished status in international affairs.\n\nQuick Guide What is the international court of justice? Show The international court of justice is the United Nations\u2019 principal tribunal for dealing with legal disputes and border disagreements between nations. Known as the \"world court\", its is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague. The loss of Sir Christopher Greenwood from the ICJ bench is not only a blow to the UK\u2019s standing in the diplomatic and legal worlds, but may have an impact on its deliberations because judges have the right to hear cases involving their own countries. \u201cLosing our ICJ judge is an extraordinary, sad illustration [of] how we [the UK] are shrivelling on the world stage,\u201d the former head of the government\u2019s legal service, Sir Paul Jenkins, has said. Photograph: Fred Ernst/AP Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.\n\nThat the runoff for the last place on what is known as the world court was between Britain and India, a nation likely to feature as a more significant trading partner post-Brexit, may have been a contributory element in the final calculations.\n\nThere have been calls in Indian media for the country to leave the Commonwealth if the UK exploited its position as one of the five permanent members of the security council to defend its weakened position.\n\nThe ICJ is composed of 15 judges elected to nine-year terms by the UN general assembly and the UN security council.\n\nFour other judges, from Brazil, France, Lebanon and Somalia, had already been elected to the ICJ in the earlier rounds.\n\nIn the last round of voting at the UN a week ago, Greenwood secured only 68 votes in the general assembly against Bhandari\u2019s 121 votes. The British candidate, however, had nine votes in the UN security council against the Indian\u2019s five. A majority in both the general assembly and security council was required to win a place on the ICJ bench.\n\n\n\nThe race for the last place involved weeks of diplomatic lobbying and, in the end, the UK was partially the victim of residual international resentment in the UN general assembly of the dominance and privileges of the permanent five members of the security council \u2013 the US, Britain, France, China and Russia.\n\nOther factors also torpedoed UK efforts. Greenwood, a highly experienced and capable lawyer, was tainted in some eyes because of his advice to the Blair government in the run-up to the Iraq invasion in 2003.\n\nHe was instructed by the then attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, to examine the arguments over the legality of using force against Saddam Hussein and concluded that use of force was justified.\n\nThis is the second time the UK has been humiliated at the UN in recent months, amid signs that some EU nations no longer feel the need to automatically support an isolationist former partner.\n\nThe outcome was seen as a significant moment in the history of the court. Dr Damian Gonzalez Salzburg, of Sheffield University\u2019s centre for International and European Law, said: \u201cIt will be the first time in UN history where less than five judges from the most powerful regional group will sit at the ICJ. This may indicate the will of non-Western States to challenge Western privileges enshrined in customary rules for ICJ elections\u201d.\n\n\n\nAnother factor may have been continuing resentment of the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, and his undiplomatic put-downs of other countries.\n\n\n\nIn a separate vote at the UN general assembly last June, the UK was defeated 94-15 when a Mauritian-backed resolution questioning the disputed legal status of the UK\u2019s hold over the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean was referred to the ICJ.\n\nThe world court, which is based at The Hague, hears disputes over sovereignty and international borders from all over the globe. Greenwood had served one nine-year term as a judge there.\n\nThe letter from Matthew Rycroft, the UK\u2019s permanent representative at the UN, said: \u201cThe current deadlock is unlikely to be broken by further rounds of voting.\n\nDalveer Bhandari. Photograph: Hindustan Times/Getty Images\n\n\u201cWe have therefore consulted our candidate, Sir Christopher Greenwood, who has confirmed that his candidature for re-election to the international court of justice should be withdrawn.\n\n\u201cIn taking this step, we have borne in mind the close relationship that the United Kingdom and India have always enjoyed and will continue to enjoy, and the fact that both candidates fulfil the requirements for election and have already served the court diligently with impartiality and independence.\u201d\n\nThe letter added that had voting been stalemated again, there is a mechanism for resolving disputes \u2013 a joint conference between the UN security council and general assembly - but it acknowledged that \u201csome thought needs to be given to this procedure before the next ICJ election in order that it might be used when it is clearly needed\u201d.\n\nRycroft added: \u201cThe UK has concluded that it is wrong to continue to take up the valuable time of the security council and the UN general assembly with further rounds of elections.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe UK congratulates the successful candidates, including Judge Bhandari of India. We are naturally disappointed, but it was a competitive field with six strong candidates.\n\n\u201cIf the UK could not win in this runoff, then we are pleased that it is a close friend like India that has done so instead. We will continue to cooperate closely with India, here in the United Nations and globally.\u201d", "output": "This week Britain withdrew its candidate, Christopher Greenwood, from the running for a seat on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Indian judge\u00a0Dalveer Bhandari.\u00a0The move\u00a0is thought to be a \"blow to British international prestige\", and marks the first time Britain is not represented since the ICJ's inception in 1946. Greenwood secured only 68 votes to Bhandari's\u00a0121\u00a0in the General Assembly. However, in the Security Council the British candidate won nine votes to Bhandari's five. Reasons for Greenwood's withdrawal range from his assistance to Blair in the Iraq war, to recent tensions around Brexit.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Japan, India seen close to signing moon exploration pact \n New Delhi (Sputnik) \u2014 The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are working on a joint lunar mission, which will be the third for both countries. According to ISRO Chief AS Kiran Kumar, the two space agencies have enhanced collaboration in the recent years.\n\n\"We are looking at a possible joint lunar mission which is still in a very preliminary stage. We are working on the details at the moment. The relationship between India and Japan in terms of the space agencies has had a visible change. We are working together for possible future cooperative missions,\" ISRO chairman AS Kiran Kumar said during the 24th Session of Asia Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF) held in the Indian city of Bangalore.\n\nThe president of JAXA, Naoki Okumura, also expressed optimism.", "output": "The Indian Space Research Organisation and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency are said to be close to agreeing a joint mission to the moon, the first of many potential collaborations in the future. The two countries are also discussing the possibility of using their space technology for weather monitoring and\u00a0gathering data for climate-change studies. Japan and India have both previously carried out successful moon missions, and analysts have dismissed suggestions the joint venture is aimed negatively at China.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Theresa May wins approval from ministers on \u00a340bn\u00a0Brexit\u00a0offer \n Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBrexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nTheresa May has cleared the way for Britain to pay the EU a hefty Brexit \u2018divorce bill\u2019 of some \u00a340bn in a bid to break the deadlock in withdrawal negotiations.\n\nThe Independent understands Ms May won the backing of key cabinet figures to almost double the amount being offered by the UK to settle its financial obligations in Brussels.\n\nBut the Prime Minister agreed with her ministers that the extra money must be conditional on securing an acceptable transition deal and a good free trade agreement.\n\nRecommended Britain loses two major EU agencies to France and Netherlands\n\nThe move marks a key development in the UK\u2019s approach and opens the way for EU leaders to approve in December the start of talks on a trade deal that would be critical to Britain\u2019s post-Brexit prosperity.\n\nWith the clock ticking until the UK drops out of the EU in March 2019, Ms May has been under intense pressure to ensure Brussels agrees to allow trade talks to begin at the summit of the European Council on 14 and 15 December.\n\nBut while the EU has been demanding more money as its price, Ms May knows Brexit-backing members of her Cabinet, like Michael Gove and Boris Johnson, and some hard-line Tory backbenchers will not forgive handing Brussels a huge pay-off.\n\nA proposal agreed at Monday\u2019s Brexit cabinet sub-committee meeting, to be fleshed out this week, will see a \u201csomething for something\u201d approach, with a bigger divorce bill accepted in return for concrete movement on trade and transition.\n\nBrexit: the deciders Show all 8 1 / 8 Brexit: the deciders Brexit: the deciders European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier Getty Brexit: the deciders French President Emmanuel Macron Getty Brexit: the deciders German Chancellor Angela Merkel Reuters Brexit: the deciders Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker EPA Brexit: the deciders The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt Getty Brexit: the deciders Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May Getty Images Brexit: the deciders Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond PA Brexit: the deciders After the first and second appointed Brexit secretaries resigned (David Davis and Dominic Raab respectively), Stephen Barclay is currently heading up the position PA\n\nMs May will not make an open offer yet or set out a clear figure when she does. Instead it is likely to see her give more detail to EU leaders on how the UK believes the final bill for the UK\u2019s liabilities should be calculated \u2013 amounting to a further \u00a320bn.\n\nThis comes on top of indications given in her speech in Florence in September that would see the UK pay an initial \u00a320bn.\n\nThere were also reports that the UK Government could still allow the European Court of Justice a role in protecting the rights of three million EU citizens.\n\nA Downing Street source underlined the importance of the EU agreeing to allow trade and transition talks at the same time as the offer from the UK being made.\n\nHammond signals Britain to increase Brexit 'divorce bill' offer to Brussels: \"We want to make progress in the discussions\"\n\nHe said: \u201cIt remains our position that nothing's agreed until everything's agreed in negotiations with the EU.\n\n\u201cAs the Prime Minister said this morning, the UK and the EU should step forward together.\u201d\n\nMs May is set to meet European Council President Donald Tusk on Friday and will be able to discuss the development on the divorce bill as well as the future of the Irish border and EU citizens right \u2013 the three key issues on which progress is needed.\n\nMs May had emphasised the need to synchronise moves forward with Brussels during a trip to Birmingham with two cabinet ministers taking a more cautious approach to Brexit, Chancellor Philip Hammond and Business Secretary Greg Clark.\n\nDavid Davis blames Germany and France for Brexit talks deadlock: \"They are the most powerful players on the European continent\"\n\nShe said: \u201cWhat I want to see is developing that deep and special partnership with the EU for the future and I want to see us moving together because as I\u2019ve always said, a deal that\u2019s good for the UK will be good for the European Union.\u201d\n\nMr Hammond underlined the urgent need to secure a post-Brexit implementation period in the next few months, acknowledging it was a \u201cwasting asset\u201d that would have less value the later it was agreed.\n\nThe Chancellor said it would be \u201cmuch less useful\u201d in a year's time as businesses would have started making alternative arrangements and government agencies would have begun putting in place contingency plans ahead of the expected Brexit date on 29 March 2019.\n\nBut Conservative ex-minister Robert Halfon said the public would go \u201cbananas\u201d if the UK offered \u00a340 to \u00a350bn at a time of constraints on public spending.\n\nTory Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg urged the Government not to fall into a \u201ctrap\u201d on the divorce bill, and argued the UK should use the EU\u2019s need to fill holes in its budget as leverage.", "output": "The prime minister, Theresa May, has won the backing of senior members of her cabinet to raise her offer to settle the Brexit \"divorce bill\" to\u00a0about\u00a0\u00a340bn ($53bn). She has sought approval from colleagues to almost double the original offering in order to try to\u00a0move on to formalising a trade deal with the EU. Rumours of the increased offer have worsened\u00a0the already fraught\u00a0relationships among\u00a0contingents of the\u00a0Conservative party.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK start-up Bio-bean to power London buses with coffee-based fuel \n There's a new buzz powering public buses in London.\n\nBritish startup bio-bean has partnered with Shell (RDSB) and Argent Energy to create a coffee-based biofuel that will be used in London's diesel buses.\n\nThe company has produced 6,000 liters of coffee oil for the pilot project with London's transportation authority -- enough to help power the equivalent of one city bus for a year.\n\n\"It's a great example of what can be done when we start to reimagine waste as an untapped resource,\" bio-bean founder Arthur Kay said in a statement.\n\nThe startup collects used coffee grounds from cafes, restaurants and factories, and transports them to its recycling facility. There, the grounds are dried before coffee oil is extracted.\n\nThe coffee oil is then blended with other fuels to create B20 biofuel, which can be used in diesel buses without modification.\n\n\"Spent coffee grounds are highly calorific and contain valuable compounds, making them an ideal feedstock from which to produce clean fuels,\" the company says on its website.\n\nBio-bean estimates that Britain produces 500,000 tonnes of coffee grounds a year, most of which are discarded in landfills where they can emit harmful greenhouse gases.\n\nThe company also sells \"coffee logs,\" which are used in fireplaces and stoves as an alternative to wooden logs.\n\nRelated: Tiffany's opens first-ever cafe\n\nBio-bean said there is \"no formal agreement\" to continue using its coffee oil in London, but it hopes to quickly find new markets and applications.\n\n\"There is huge potential for this project to expand in the U.S., which drinks the most coffee on the planet, 400 million cups of per day,\" the company said in a written statement.", "output": "UK start-up Bio-bean, in a partnership with Shell and Argent Energy, has created a coffee-based biofuel to power London buses in a pilot project. Bio-bean collects coffee grounds from restaurants, cafes and factories and takes them to its recycling facility, where the coffee is dried and coffee oil extracted, which is blended with other fuels to create B20 clean biofuel. This can then be used in buses without the need for engine modifications.\u00a0\"There is huge potential for this project to expand in the US, which drinks the most coffee on the planet, 400 million cups\u00a0per day,\" said\u00a0the company."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Silver and zinc among 44 elements that could be in short\u00a0supply \n Until recently, humanity has treated the Earth as an infinite resource. As the Earth's population has exploded over the past century however, we've learned in many different ways that that's untrue. We've overfished the ocean, pumped too much carbon into the atmosphere and oceans, driven thousands of species into extinction, and terraformed much of the planet's land. This periodic table produced by the American Chemical Society shows that there are also 44 chemical elements that will face supply limitations in the coming decades. Among those under a \"serious threat in the next 100 years\" are silver, helium, zinc, and gallium. Robert Silverberg wrote about The Death of Gallium back in 2008:\n\nGallium's atomic number is 31. It's a blue-white metal first discovered in 1831, and has certain unusual properties, like a very low melting point and an unwillingness to oxidize, that make it useful as a coating for optical mirrors, a liquid seal in strongly heated apparatus, and a substitute for mercury in ultraviolet lamps. It's also quite important in making the liquid-crystal displays used in flat-screen television sets and computer monitors.\n\nAs it happens, we are building a lot of flat-screen TV sets and computer monitors these days. Gallium is thought to make up 0.0015 percent of the Earth's crust and there are no concentrated supplies of it. We get it by extracting it from zinc or aluminum ore or by smelting the dust of furnace flues. Dr. Reller says that by 2017 or so there'll be none left to use. Indium, another endangered element-number 49 in the periodic table-is similar to gallium in many ways, has many of the same uses (plus some others-it's a gasoline additive, for example, and a component of the control rods used in nuclear reactors) and is being consumed much faster than we are finding it. Dr. Reller gives it about another decade. Hafnium, element 72, is in only slightly better shape. There aren't any hafnium mines around; it lurks hidden in minute quantities in minerals that contain zirconium, from which it is extracted by a complicated process that would take me three or four pages to explain. We use a lot of it in computer chips and, like indium, in the control rods of nuclear reactors, but the problem is that we don't have a lot of it. Dr. Reller thinks it'll be gone somewhere around 2017. Even zinc, commonplace old zinc that is alloyed with copper to make brass, and which the United States used for ordinary one-cent coins when copper was in short supply in World War II, has a Reller extinction date of 2037. (How does a novel called The Death of Brass grab you?)\n\nZinc was never rare. We mine millions of tons a year of it. But the supply is finite and the demand is infinite, and that's bad news. Even copper, as I noted above, is deemed to be at risk. We humans move to and fro upon the earth, gobbling up everything in sight, and some things aren't replaceable.", "output": "A periodic table created by the American Chemical Society has revealed that 44 elements will be in short supply in the coming decades, with helium, gallium, silver and zinc being under \"serious threat in the next 100 years\". Hafnium, which is also endangered, is needed for computer chips and in the control rods of nuclear reactors. Gallium, which strongly resists oxidisation, is used in\u00a0optical mirrors, ultraviolet lamps and LCD displays for\u00a0televisions and computers."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 G\u00e9n\u00e9rale asks Front National to close accounts \n France\u2019s second largest bank has asked the Front National to close all its accounts and take its business elsewhere. The bank, Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 G\u00e9n\u00e9rale, told the far-right party, led by Marine Le Pen, that it wished to end its 30-year \u201cbanking relationship\u201d. It gave no specific reason for the decision.\n\nFN officials said they were fighting the move and claimed that the party was being persecuted. The party headquarters in Nanterre, outside Paris, and local FN federations, have all been targeted, the news website Mediapart and France Inter radio reported on Tuesday.\n\nAccording to an internal party communication leaked to Mediapart, the bank is seeking to close all current and savings accounts held by the party.\n\n\n\nAn FN spokesman, David Rachline, told Sud Radio on Tuesday morning: \u201cIt\u2019s a real scandal. We will resist and fight to overcome this persecution.\u201d\n\n\n\nSocGen has refused to comment on the row, citing client confidentiality. The bank stated: \u201cWe can only say that as part of the relationship we have with all our customers, whether it be for the opening or closing of an account, we follow the current regulations and requirements required of a banking establishment to the letter.\u201d\n\nOn Tuesday FN officials denied that the decision had been made because the party accounts were in the red. \u201cIf that was the case why hasn\u2019t Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 G\u00e9n\u00e9rale closed the UMP - Les R\u00e9publicains\u2019 accounts when they owe the considerable sum of \u20ac50m?\u201d said Wallerand de Saint Just, the FN treasurer. \u201cThe Front National\u2019s situation is perfectly healthy and there\u2019s no reason for any banker to use that as an excuse to so brutally throw out a long-standing customer that has always behaved according to the banking rules.\u201d\n\nThe FN was reported to have been asked to close its SocGen accounts several months ago, but it had challenged the decision with the banking mediator without success. On Monday the party had asked its federations to send monthly contributions by cheque because it had encountered difficulties with direct debits.\n\n\n\nAn anonymous FN official told Mediapart the party had no debts with SocGen and said the decision was \u201ca political challenge\u201d.\n\n\n\nLouis Aliot, the FN vice-president and Le Pen\u2019s partner, also said the party had no direct financial problems. \u201cA certain number of financial institutions have difficulty with democracy and pluralism,\u201d Aliot told BFMTV. \u201cI\u2019ve noticed that Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 G\u00e9n\u00e9rale is very generous with Les R\u00e9publicains, especially when it comes to renegotiating their debts, when they own \u20ac50m, which is not our case. The French need to know that democracy is in the hands of the banks and those with money.\u201d\n\n\n\nDuring France\u2019s presidential campaign Le Pen claimed that French banks were refusing to lend money to finance her leadership bid, which cost about \u20ac12.5m. This sum will be reimbursed out of state coffers but only after the party\u2019s accounts have been inspected and approved.\n\n\n\nFN federations took a second hit after failing to do as well as expected in the legislative elections in June, which were reported to have cost a further \u20ac15m.\n\n\n\nThe FN had appeared to be struggling to raise campaign funds in January after Le Pen was asked to repay a \u20ac9m loan from a Russian-based bank that had been dissolved. Le Pen met the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, at the Kremlin in March, two months before the presidential vote.\n\nLe Pen has scheduled a press conference for Wednesday on the theme \u201cFrench democracy threatened by financial oligarchs\u201d.", "output": "Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 G\u00e9n\u00e9rale, France\u2019s second-largest bank, has requested that the far-right political party Front National (FN) closes its accounts with the institution. The bank told Marine Le Pen\u2019s party that it wanted to bring the 30-year \u201cbanking relationship\u201d to a close, but gave no\u00a0reason for the request. Officials from the FN are challenging the decision. An anonymous representative stated that the party had no debts with the bank and that the move was \u201ca political challenge\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK's pollution-fighting agency bought 2.5 million disposable cups \n More than 2.5m disposable cups have been purchased by the UK\u2019s environment department for use in its restaurants and cafes over the past five years \u2013 equivalent to nearly 1,400 a day.\n\nThe Liberal Democrats\u2019 environment spokesman, Tim Farron, said the revelation, obtained through a freedom of information request, showed Michael Gove \u201cneeds to get his own house in order\u201d in light of his public pledges to tackle the growing scourge of plastic pollution.\n\nThe Lib Dems revealed that 516,000 disposable cups had been purchased by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs\u2019 (Defra) catering contractors in the last year alone, under two separate outsourced contracts for use in catering outlets across its sites. The figure was 589,700 in 2016 and 785,100 the previous year.\n\nThe catering contractors did not previously provide any reusable cups, but purchased 200 reusable cups on 31 October 2017.\n\n\n\nSeparate figures uncovered by the Lib Dems have revealed the House of Commons itself is also failing to get to grips with disposable cup waste, using almost 4m disposable cups in the past five years.\n\n\n\nThey reveal that 657,000 disposable cups have been purchased by the Commons\u2019 catering service in the last year alone \u2013 equivalent to 1,000 per MP \u2013 but down from 918,700 in 2013. In addition, 500 reusable or so-called \u201ckeep cups\u201d were purchased in 2013, but only four of these have been sold in the last three years.\n\nAn estimated 3bn paper cups are thrown away in the UK every year, but it was revealed last year that less than one in 400 is recycled, meaning that millions end up in landfill. The plastic lining in cups means they cannot be recycled in normal depots and have to be put in special bins and sent to one of three dedicated recycling mills.\n\nThe Liberal Democrats are calling for the introduction of a 5p charge on disposable coffee cups in the budget, following the success of the plastic carrier bag charge which has reduced usage in England by 85% since it was introduced in October 2015.\n\nThe chancellor, Philip Hammond, is expected to announce in Wednesday\u2019s budget a \u201ccall for evidence\u201d on how taxes or other charges on single-use plastics such as takeaway cartons and packaging could reduce the impact of discarded waste on marine and bird life. Under Defra\u2019s litter strategy launched in April, a working group has been set up drawing together industry and retailers to develop further practical steps to tackle plastic waste.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s astounding that the department which is supposed to be protecting our environment is responsible for such a colossal amount of waste\u201d said Farron. \u201cMillions of plastic cups have been thrown away by the government, some of which will now be polluting our seas, rivers and countryside. Michael Gove needs to get his own house in order. A coffee cup charge should be introduced in the budget to tackle waste and encourage the use of reusable cups, including in the civil service and parliament.\u201d\n\nA spokesperson for Defra said: \u201cWe are committed to reducing unnecessary waste within the department and these figures show the number of disposable cups used has fallen by more than half since 2013. We are working with our suppliers to see what more can be done to further cut their use and promote recycling.\u201d\n\nA House of Commons spokeswoman added that they were \u201ccommitted to reducing the amount of waste across the parliamentary estate including plastic and [to] operate a mixed recycling scheme to ensure as much as possible of our waste is recycled.\u201d", "output": "The UK\u2019s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs -- which is seeking to tackle plastic pollution -- has purchased more\u00a02.5 million disposable cups for its cafes and restaurants over the past five years. The figure,\u00a0equivalent to almost 1,400 per day, was revealed by the Liberal Democrat Party. The party also revealed\u00a0the House of Commons used nearly 4 million disposable cups within the past five years. It's is\u00a0calling for a 5p (7\u00a2) charge on such\u00a0vessels, three\u00a0billion of which are discarded in the UK each year, with fewer\u00a0than one in 400 recycled.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Harvard\u2019s affirmative action rules trigger investigation \n Story highlights The Justice Department's interest in Harvard's policies stems from a 2015 federal complaint It has concluded the school is \"out of compliance\" with federal law\n\nWashington CNN \u2014\n\nThe Justice Department is actively investigating Harvard University\u2019s use of race in its admissions policies and has concluded the school is \u201cout of compliance\u201d with federal law, according to documents obtained by CNN.\n\nThe Justice Department\u2019s battle with Harvard potentially sets the stage for the first major legal test of affirmative action policies under the Trump administration. Last year, the US Supreme Court ruled that race can be one among many factors universities use in making admission decisions.\n\nTwo letters from the Justice Department\u2019s Civil Rights Division indicate that Harvard has challenged the department\u2019s authority to investigate, and further state that if the school fails to provide documents to the department by December 1, the agency may file a lawsuit against the school.\n\n\u201cAs we have repeatedly made clear to the Department of Justice, the university will certainly comply with its obligations under Title VI. In the process, we have an obligation to protect the confidentiality of student and applicant files and other highly sensitive records, and we have been seeking to engage the Department of Justice in the best means of doing so,\u201d Anna Cowenhoven, Harvard\u2019s associate dean of communications, said in a statement to CNN.\n\nHarvard DOJ investigation\n\nAdditional correspondence obtained by CNN shows that the Justice Department formally notified Harvard it was under investigation on September 20 and since that time, lawyers for the agency and the school have been trading letters over the scope of the department\u2019s document requests, despite what Harvard noted were \u201cits concerns about the highly unusual nature of this investigation.\u201d\n\nThe Justice Department\u2019s interest in Harvard\u2019s policies stems from a 2015 federal complaint that accuses the school of discriminating against Asian-Americans in admissions. When The New York Times reported in August that the Justice Department was looking for lawyers to work on \u201cpossible litigation related to intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions,\u201d the department said that the posting was related to an ongoing case rolled over from the Obama administration.\n\n\u201cThe posting sought volunteers to investigate one administrative complaint filed by a coalition of 64 Asian-American associations in May 2015 that the prior administration left unresolved,\u201d Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said in a statement at the time.\n\n\u201cThe complaint alleges racial discrimination against Asian-Americans in a university\u2019s admissions policy and practices. This Department of Justice has not received or issued any directive, memorandum, initiative, or policy related to university admissions in general. The Department of Justice is committed to protecting all Americans from all forms of illegal race-based discrimination,\u201d she had said.\n\nBut these more recent letters from the Justice Department, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, mark the first confirmation that the school is currently under investigation.\n\nSupporters of affirmative action in college admissions say that it levels the playing field in higher education by welcoming traditionally excluded groups like minority students, whereas its critics say the practice favors one group over another based on race instead of academic achievement.\n\n\u201cThe Department of Justice takes seriously any potential violation of an individual\u2019s civil and constitutional rights, but we will not comment at this time,\u201d Justice Department spokesperson Devin O\u2019Malley told CNN in a statement.\n\nYet former Justice Department officials told CNN the Harvard case marks a sign of what\u2019s to come.\n\n\u201cThe Justice Department clearly appears to be on the hunt for a case to bring a significant challenge to affirmative action,\u201d said Vanita Gupta, former head of the Justice Department\u2019s civil rights division under President Barack Obama who now leads the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.\n\nGupta noted several factors making the Harvard case somewhat unusual for the Justice Department\u2019s intervention, including the fact that private attorneys are already aggressively litigating the case and the Department of Education dismissed a complaint against the school back in 2015.\n\n\u201cThe Justice Department is going out of its way to scoop this case up and get involved,\u201d Gupta said.", "output": "Harvard University is under investigation by the US Justice Department in relation to the role of race in its admissions policies. The department has resolved that the school is \u201cout of compliance\u201d with federal law. Last year, the country\u2019s Supreme Court determined that race could be included as a factor in university admission decisions. The interest in Harvard\u2019s policies dates to a 2015 federal complaint that saw the university accused of discrimination against Asian-Americans. The case could potentially become the first key legal challenge to affirmative action policies under the Trump administration.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Xiaomi commits $1bn to Indian internet and smartphone start-ups  \n As it continues to assert its place in the mobile marketplace, Xiaomi is now turning to India to build a strong app ecosystem.\n\nWith China now accounting for almost half of the global smartphone marketshare, companies such as Xiaomi are trying to assert dominance in the hotly contested market.\n\nWhile one of the fastest-growing brands year on year, Xiaomi is now seeking to build its own app ecosystem to take on the might of its biggest rival, Huawei.\n\nAccording to Livemint, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun said that in order to do this, it will turn to the next-nearest smartphone market giant, India, with a planned investment of $1bn in start-ups in the country. This investment would cover 100 Indian start-ups over the course of five years.\n\nXiaomi has already begun by buying stakes in six major internet companies, including Hungama and KrazyBee, both directly and through its sister company, Shunwei Capital.\n\nThe Xiaomi business model\n\nLei said that the plan will be to replicate what it has done in China, where it has invested $4bn in 300 different companies.\n\n\u201cWe will have all types of services and products and integrate them. That is the Xiaomi business model,\u201d Lei said.\n\n\u201cWe focus on a few key things and everything else, we let our partners provide. We\u2019ve reached just a huge scale in seven years because of this partnership/affiliation model.\u201d\n\nThe focus for Xiaomi\u2019s funding will be on companies that could provide smartphone apps to keep people glued to their phones, such as entertainment content.\n\nShould everything go as planned, Xiaomi would become one of the biggest investors in the Indian internet market. However, it said that it will only be involved in minority stakes, rather than outright takeovers.\n\nWhile the company\u2019s phones remain highly popular in China and India, its sales are increasing gradually elsewhere, most recently seen in Russia, where it is now the fifth-largest smartphone provider.\n\nA Xiaomi sign. Image: testing/Shutterstock", "output": "China's Xiaomi is planning to invest $1bn in Indian start-ups and create an ecosystem of mobile apps for use on its smartphones, taking on its main rival, Huawei. It is also looking to set up more factories around the country. \"We as a company are 100% committed to 'Make in India'. This is something we started thinking in the beginning of this year, that can we extend the same programme to other categories [of products]\u00a0also,\" said Manu Jain, the vice-president and managing director of\u00a0Xiaomi India.\u00a0Xiaomi has already bought stakes in six major Indian internet companies."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NASA develops shape-retaining alloy wheels for Mars rovers \n NASA has developed chainmail tires with a memory and thinks they'll do the trick for future rovers.\n\nAs readers of The Register's coverage of the Curiosity Rover may recall, the vehicle has experienced considerable wheel damage that has led to changes to its route in 2014 and a 2017 software update to preserve the wheels and provide better grip.\n\nThrow in the fact that it's not yet possible to send a spare wheel to Mars and have it fitted, and NASA has a clear need for more robust tires.\n\nEnter a technology called \u201cspring tires\u201d that use a tubular structure of steel mesh \u2013 think tire-shaped chainmail - to cushion rovers as they roll. Spring tires have many fine qualities as the mesh forms a pattern that provides good grip on many surfaces. Mesh is also light by nature and can survive some damage. But spring tires don't deform well: if one rolls over a sharp rock, it can acquire a dent - or \u201cplastic deformation\u201d as NASA boffins put it.\n\nAs it happens, some metals can endure plastic deformation and return to their original shape. An accidental meeting between two NASA boffins \u2013 one working on wheels, the other a material scientist \u2013 led to a discussion in which the two discussed that Nickel Titanium has exceptional \u201cshape memory\u201d.\n\nThe alloy was quickly pressed into service for test tires. The result, as the video below shows, is a tire that can roll right over razor-sharp rocks without ill-effects.\n\nYoutube Video\n\nNASA has not outlined an immediate plan to use Nickel Titanium spring tires, but the agency is chuffed enough to have released its videos of the tech and to cheekily suggest it may have re-invented the wheel. \u00ae", "output": "NASA has developed a metal alloy tyre that can hold its shape in rough terrain better than existing wheels. The space agency has been experimenting with steel mesh tyres for vehicles such as the Mars rover, whose wheels have been seriously damaged on its current mission. The latest test involved using nickel titanium, an alloy with much better \"shape memory\" than other metals. The results showed the tyre was highly resilient, returning to its original shape after rolling over sharp rocks and obstacles.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tencent moves beyond gaming to focus on monetising content \n Gaming and entertainment continue to line Tencent\u2019s pocket, with the internet giant posting third-quarter revenues of RMB65.2 billion (US$9.83 billion) a 61% increase year-on-year.\n\nTencent's third quarter revenues surged off the back of strong gaming and video revenues\n\nTencent, which is valued at $472 and is Asia\u2019s most valuable company, has continued to focus on digital content to drive growth for the company as it moves beyond gaming to focus on monetising its content to grow advertising revenues.\n\nTencent\u2019s online gaming revenues grew 48% to RMB26.8bn largely driven by the continued success of Honour of Kings, as well as new titles such as a Chinese version of Contra Return. Smartphone games continued to dominate, increasing 84% to represent RMB18.2bn in revenue while PC games grew 27% to RMB14.6bn.\n\nTencent Video's fee-based subscriptions passed 43 million, which Tencent claims is the largest video streaming services subscriber base in China. Meanwhile, live streaming broadcasts and subscription video on-demand helped boost revenue from social networks, including Weixin and WeChat, which increased 56% to RMB15.3bn.\n\nMonthly active users (MAU) for WeChat and Weixin reached 980 million, up 15.8% year-on-year, and higher advertising revenues from Weixin Moments and Weixin Official Accounts helped social and others advertising revenue surge 63% to RMB6.9bn.\n\nTencent\u2019s online advertising business grew 48% to RMB4.1bn driven by increased revenues from Tencent Video, however the year-on-year growth was offset by the high base from last year\u2019s Olympic Games.\n\nMa Huateng, chairman and CEO of Tencent, said, \u201cDuring the third quarter of 2017, we recorded strong business and revenue growth across multiple business lines including games, digital content, online advertising and payment related services. In particular, our video platform gained audience and revenue market share, we believe it has become China\u2019s top online video platform in terms of mobile daily active users and subscriptions.\n\n\u201cWe believe this success reflects our increasing investment in self-commissioned video content, our improved selection of licensed video content, and our scheduling and audience management initiatives. We believe our multi-faceted digital content businesses are synergistic with each other, and allow us to deliver unique content to our users.\u201d", "output": "Chinese internet giant Tencent has reported a 61% increase in Q3 revenues as it continues to focus on monetising content. The firm, Asia's most valuable, posted Q3 revenues of CNY65.2bn ($9.8bn) after moving beyond gaming in a bid to grow its advertising income. The company's online gaming revenues also rose 48% to CNY26.8bn, largely driven by its key title Honour of Kings. Meanwhile, fee-based subscribers to Tencent Video, the company's streaming service, passed 43 million, which it claims is the largest video subscriber base in China.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Historic England urges conversion of old mills to homes, offices \n Historic England has launched a campaign to save the country\u2019s historic textile mills after finding that nearly half of Greater Manchester\u2019s once-bustling factories had been demolished.\n\nAbout 45% of the region\u2019s 971 mills have been destroyed since the 1980s, a study by the University of Salford found, while hundreds more stand empty and neglected.\n\nHistoric England condemned the destruction of the buildings and called for the surviving mills to be restored and turned into housing, offices or public amenities.\n\nThe heritage body said it had identified space for 25,000 new homes among the more than 500 former mills still standing in Greater Manchester and Lancashire.\n\nCatherine Dewar, Historic England\u2019s planning director in the north-west, said: \u201cWith their ability to accommodate wonderful homes, workplaces and cultural spaces, our historic mill buildings deserve a future and should not be destroyed.\n\n\u201cThey helped make us who we are in the north of England and have a profound impact on the physical and cultural landscape.\u201d\n\nWhile Greater Manchester\u2019s skyline has changed beyond recognition in the past century, the destruction of mills has had the biggest impact on Salford, where 66% of its 47 factories have been torn down.\n\nHolmes Mill in Clitheroe, Lancashire, has been converted into a brewery, restaurant, hotel and leisure venue. Photograph: The Historic England Archive/PA\n\nIn Rochdale, once one of the world\u2019s most productive cotton spinning towns, 96 textile mills have been demolished in the past 30 years, according to the University of Salford study. In the town\u2019s 102 surviving mills, experts identified nearly 205,000 square metres of vacant or underused space that was ripe for redevelopment.\n\nHistoric England said there was overwhelming public support for saving the country\u2019s once-booming powerhouses instead of leaving them to fall into ruin.\n\nA YouGov survey of more than 2,000 adults found that 85% were against their demolition, with 70% saying they should be seen as a potential solution to Britain\u2019s housing crisis.\n\nThe mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said: \u201cIt\u2019s a real shame that half of Greater Manchester\u2019s historic mills have been lost. These buildings are an important part of our industrial legacy \u2013 the original northern powerhouse.\n\n\u201cBut equally they are an important part of our future, whether that\u2019s creating new jobs for local people by investing in the industries of the future, providing much-needed affordable housing, or transforming these unique spaces into cultural destinations. I fully support Historic England\u2019s plea to ensure our remaining mills have a key place in the developing fabric of our region.\u201d\n\nPendle Village Mill in Lancashire has been converted into a shopping emporium. Photograph: The Historic England Archive/PA\n\nThe heritage agency said it wanted to galvanise mill owners and developers to fulfil the potential of the historic buildings, citing successful conversions such as the Cotton Works in Bolton \u2013 a former cotton spinning mill dating back to 1926 that is now home to 276 apartments.\n\nIn a bid to kickstart the renovation of the north\u2019s mills, Historic England has announced a \u00a3252,000 grant to carry out vital repairs on the Grade II-listed Leigh Spinners mill in Leigh, Lancashire. The building is considered one of the last great textile mills to be built in the UK and is one of the largest and most complete mills remaining in Greater Manchester.\n\nDewar said: \u201cMills have so much to offer in terms of space, character and identity. By shining a light on successful regeneration projects, we hope to inspire others to recognise the potential of our former industrial buildings and start a conversation about their future.\u201d", "output": "The heritage protection authority for England has launched a campaign to save historic textile mills by converting them into homes and offices. A study by the University of Salford found that nearly half of the 971 mills built in Greater Manchester have been destroyed since the 1980s, and hundreds more are empty and unused. Historic England says the remaining buildings could provide 25,000 new homes if they were converted. It cited polling figures that show\u00a0public opposition to\u00a0their demolition and support for redevelopment.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AIB invests \u20ac30m in cross-border payments company TransferMate \n AIB makes a strategic bet on the digital future as Brexit storm clouds gather.\n\nAIB has invested \u20ac30m in cross-border B2B payments player TransferMate, in a move aimed at reducing international payments costs for business customers.\n\nTransferMate was founded in 2010 and has since developed a wide regulatory footprint.\n\n\u2018This partnership is a great example of how a leading bank and a fintech company can work together to improve their customers\u2019 experiences\u2019\n\n\u2013 COLIN HUNT\n\nInformed sources say that the deal values TransferMate at between \u20ac250m and \u20ac300m.\n\nSo far, more than $10bn has been sent to more than 100 countries over the TransferMate platform.\n\nTransferMate and AIB have also agreed to a strategic partnership focused on providing Irish businesses with international payments and receivables capabilities.\n\nPreparing for business post-Brexit\n\n\u201cCross-border B2B payments can be complex, time-consuming and expensive for businesses,\u201d explained TransferMate CEO Terry Clune.\n\n\u201cAt TransferMate, we aim to provide the most convenient and cost-effective way for businesses to move money around the globe. B2B payments represent 98pc of the $138trn of currencies traded annually cross-border.\n\n\u201cTransferMate has built a unique technology platform, and we are delighted to welcome AIB as an investor and partner.\u201d\n\nClune said the investment will enable TransferMate to invest in its commercial teams across the US, Canada, Australia and Europe, and grow its head-office, commercial and technology functions in Ireland.\n\n\u201cThis partnership is a great example of how a leading bank and a fintech company can work together to improve their customers\u2019 experiences,\u201d Clune added.\n\nCo-founder and CFO of TransferMate, Sinead Fitzmaurice, added: \u201cOur partnership with AIB aims to combine the bank\u2019s forward-looking digital strategy with our technology and global reach to bring business customers of the bank a truly convenient and cost-effective solution when sending or collecting funds globally.\u201d\n\nTransferMate has broad regulatory approval in major markets. Post-Brexit, it will become the only EU payment institution regulated throughout the EU and United States.\n\n\u201cThis \u20ac30m investment demonstrates our commitment to deploying our capital and expertise in support of leading enterprises such as TransferMate,\u201d explained AIB\u2019s managing director of wholesale, institutional and corporate banking, Colin Hunt.\n\n\u201cThe investment is in line with AIB\u2019s strategic priority to increase the pace of innovation to serve changing customer needs by working with both dedicated internal teams and with external partners and start-ups. We will work with TransferMate and other digitally innovative partners to continue to ensure AIB business customers have access to the some of the best digital banking capabilities in the world.\u201d\n\nAIB branch in Galway. Image: Martin Good/Shutterstock", "output": "Allied Irish Banks (AIB) has invested \u20ac30m ($35m) in cross-border payments platform TransferMate in a deal that gives the latter firm an estimated valuation of between \u20ac250m and \u20ac300m. The two firms will also form a strategic partnership to offer Irish businesses international payments and receivables capabilities ahead of Brexit. TransferMate CEO Terry Clune said the funds would allow the company to expand its head office and technology functions in Ireland, as well as support its commercial teams around the world.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mobile crypto-wallet users at risk from screen capture software \n Mobile Android cryptocurrency wallet users are at risk for hacking because of a new vulnerability that allows the MediaProjection service to capture the user\u2019s screen and audio content. More than three-quarters of all Android users are at risk, as the bug affects the Lollipop, Marshmallow and Nougat platforms.\n\nGoogle has accidentally created the risk, since the release of Lollipop 5.0. Prior to this release, the MediaProjection functionality was only available to system-level applications and through release keys. All new systems since have been vulnerable to this type of data attack.\n\nPopup coverup\n\nApparently, when a hacker seeks to start recording screen information, a popup will appear, informing the user. However, hackers are able to cover that popup with a second popup in a process called \u2018tapjacking.\u2019 According to experts on the topic:\n\n\"Furthermore, the SystemUI pop-up is the only access control mechanism available that prevents the abuse of the MediaProjection service. An attacker could trivially bypass this mechanism by using tapjacking this pop-up using publicly known methods to grant their applications the ability to capture the user\u2019s screen.\u201d\n\nGoogle has offered a patch in the Oreo (8.0) version, but all previous versions are at risk. Cryptocurrency users who access private wallets on mobile devices could very easily have their wallets hacked via this system and are encouraged to upgrade to the latest system for protection.", "output": "Users of mobile cryptocurrency wallets could be at risk of data theft after a bug was discovered in Android operating systems. Hackers can use the MediaProjection service to capture screen and audio content from the phone, potentially revealing login details. Activating the function generates a pop-up, but this can be disguised by so-called \"tapjacking\". Google has offered a patch to fix the problem on its Oreo (8.0) operating system, but all previous systems remain at risk."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Havas reports improvement in Q3 organic revenue growth \n by Steve McClellan @mp_mcclellan, November 16, 2017\n\nHavas reported modest improvement in organic revenue growth in the third quarter to 0.1%, a full percentage point over Q2\u2019s -0.9%. For the first nine months the firm remains in negative territory at -0.3%.\n\nBut company CEO Yannick Bollore said he was particularly pleased with what he termed \"the recovery in North America\" where organic growth rose to 2.9% in Q3 from -1.7% in the second quarter.\n\nThe company attributed the improvement to a turnaround at Boston-based Arnold and improved results at Havas New York, particularly in the healthcare business.\n\n\u201cUS agencies also benefitted from the effects of recent account wins and increased spending on the part of certain clients,\u201d the company stated in an earnings release. During the third quarter Havas Media was appointed as Sanofi\u2019s U.S. media agency partner for its Rx business and as strategic media planning partner for the Consumer Healthcare business.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nConsolidated third quarter revenue for the French holding company in Q3 was down around 2% to 525 million euros (about $618 million at today\u2019s exchange rate). The company cited exchange rate fluctuations as a key reason for the decline.\n\nFor the first nine months of the year, consolidated group revenue was essentially flat at 1.6 billion euro ($1.9 billion).\n\nCommenting further on the results Bollore stated, \u201cDespite an ever more challenging sector environment, we remain positive over the mid-term because we believe firmly in the positive effects of our strategy and in our client-centric organization.\u201d", "output": "Global communications firm Havas Group has reported a modest rise in Q3 organic revenue growth. The 0.1% growth is a full percentage point over the -0.9% reported in Q2, but over the first three quarters of this year\u00a0Havas has stayed in negative territory at -0.3%. Meanwhile, the company saw a recovery in the North American market, reporting an increase in organic growth to 2.9% in Q3, up from -1.7% in Q2. Overall, Havas' consolidated group revenue for the first nine months of the year remained flat at \u20ac1.6bn ($1.9bn).\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BuzzFeed and Vice reportedly miss revenue goals for the year \n Forget the pivot to video; the pivot to reality is in full swing in digital media.\n\nThe culprits are well-known. Google and Facebook have an iron grip on digital ad revenue. Publishers are trying to save themselves by making wholesale shifts in their business models, but they can\u2019t transition fast enough. Last week brought an avalanche of the results: BuzzFeed and Vice reportedly missed revenue goals for the year; Mashable was sold for a fifth of its one-time valuation; and Oath, the Verizon unit containing Yahoo, AOL and HuffPost, laid off more than 500. The list goes on.\n\nThere are a number of things going on. At a high level, digital publishing has failed to diversify, having put all its eggs in the advertising basket. Then, the platforms came for advertising. Most digital ad spending today is going to a handful of tech companies, leaving just a few scraps for publishers to fight over. Facebook has hurt in other ways, cutting back the referral traffic it sends publishers, and has only started to help publishers monetize their content there. Publishers that took a distributed approach, thinking the revenue would follow, have found otherwise.\n\nBut it\u2019s too simplistic to say this is simply a story of the big, bad platforms. What\u2019s happening now is more of a correction than an upheaval. Just a year ago, Mashable took a round of venture capital at a $250 million valuation. Selling for a fifth of that price a mere 12 months later says more about the expectations venture-funded digital media eagerly embraced when capital was cheap and plentiful.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a story about runaway valuations for content startups,\u201d said Todd Sawicki, CEO of Zemanta, a programmatic native ad platform. \u201cIf a startup had been valued based on more traditional methods and multiples, many of these valuations would never have happened.\u201d\n\nWhen it came time to build a sustainable business, many of the publishers that were adroit at spinning rosy growth scenarios on paper were less successful. The now-lampooned pivot to video is a case in point. It\u2019s easy to talk about audiences moving to mobile, expertise in \u201csnackable\u201d content and distributed media strategies built around millennials. It\u2019s quite another to execute those strategies profitably.\n\nTake video. Too often, publishers create the video but don\u2019t design their sites with it in mind, cramming pages with other ads that compete for attention and bandwidth, said Brian Rifkin, co-founder of digital video player company JW Player. Then, there are all the things to get right on the sales and ad operations side, such as matching the right video format to the right device and making sure the ad meets the advertisers\u2019 specs for viewability. Success in digital media is about nailing the details, not getting the headlines.\n\n\u201cA lot of it is the grind-it-out execution,\u201d Rifkin said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been through a lot of advertising executions, and this one is the most difficult. How many times have you gone to a website and clicked \u2018play\u2019 and bailed out? The business is there. Publishers need to create good content, make sure there\u2019s intent to watch, focus on the user experience.\u201d\n\nMany digital media companies with sky-high valuations based on a bad set of assumptions also hungrily eyed TV deals, where the real money supposedly is. This looks increasingly like a Hail Mary strategy. In most cases, the production costs for doing TV shows are pretty equal to licensing costs, and unless you have a syndication deal, the profit is fairly low, said Bernard Gershon, president of GershonMedia, a publishing consulting firm. There are also lots of studios already quite good at making TV programming. The only thing digital media companies would bring unique to the table is strong brands, but even there, much of digital media has outsourced its connection to its audience to platforms.\n\nRich Antoniello, CEO and founder of Complex Media, looks at the current pivots to video as rushed and reactive. The men\u2019s lifestyle publisher took its time introducing video, starting in 2012 and getting to 65 percent video over five years and emphasizing long-form shows that are better at building a brand than short clips that blur by in people\u2019s newsfeed. \u201cYou have to condition your audience and the advertising community,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can\u2019t just say, \u2018Hey, we\u2019re in video now.\u2019\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s not just startups that are sweating it out. Even publishers with strong brands and diverse revenue streams find themselves struggling in a rough market \u2014 and this is when the economy is going great. \u201cThis is not my favorite year,\u201d grumbled one publisher in the former camp.\n\nIf there\u2019s one overarching truism, it may be that just about everything about publishing is going to be a slow grind. Publishers won\u2019t necessarily give up on video, but 2018 will see a fine-tuning of their approaches and a recognition that they can\u2019t live on advertising alone.\n\n\u201cMobile video will be a great business opportunity one day, but that day has not fully arrived,\u201d said Bryan Goldberg, founder of Bustle. \u201cThis is a marathon. Digital media companies need to pace themselves.\u201d\n\nGoldberg said Bustle limited video to about 10 percent of total head count, up from about 5 percent in 2016, recognizing that mobile video doesn\u2019t easily monetize. (Compare that to Mic, where almost everyone touches video in some way.) Bustle also focused on formats it could more immediately monetize, like Instagram Stories, and on taking ad dollars away from legacy magazine publishers. \u201cFor a digital media startup to challenge TV in the year 2017 is premature. That is a battle for 2020 and beyond, but magazines are sitting ducks right now,\u201d Goldberg said.\n\nThe business model pivot has already started. BuzzFeed is pushing hard into commerce content, with a staff of 19 people cranking out posts designed to drive people to purchase. Vox Media gave in to selling ads programmatically. Publishers like The Atlantic and The New York Times that already have established subscription businesses are pushing even harder into those areas.\n\n\u201cWhile we are still optimistic in our ability to continue to grow advertising revenue next year, we are also seeing success in some of our paid content experiments of late, like The Atlantic\u2019s [membership program] Masthead and Quartz\u2019s Global Economy book,\u201d said Michael Finnegan, president of Atlantic Media. \u201cI think this squares with the increasing willingness of consumers to pay for content today.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re already seeing a pivot away from pure advertising-supported businesses that have multiple revenue streams, including subscriptions,\u201d Gershon said. \u201cThey\u2019re going to have to double and triple down on truly high quality video. People are not going to pay to watch people sitting around a table talking about the news. There\u2019s going to be a pivot to real business models.\u201d", "output": "Digital publishers Buzzfeed and Vice Media are both set to miss their revenue targets for the year, according to reports. Buzzfeed had been aiming for revenue of $350m in 2017, but is now expected to fall short by as much as $70m. The disappointing performance makes it unlikely that the company will go public in the near future. Meanwhile, Vice will miss its $800m target, though it's not known by how much. Other digital publishers are also struggling, with Mashable recently being sold for $50m, a fifth of its valuation in 2016."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Twitter cracks down on hate speech 'on and off the platform' \n Twitter is cracking down on hate speech and not just by looking at its own site.\n\nIn what amounts to a major shift in Twitter policy, the company announced on Friday that it will be monitoring user's behavior \"on and off the platform\" and will suspend a user's account if they affiliate with violent organizations, according to an update to Twitter's Help Center(opens in a new tab) on Friday.\n\n\"You also may not affiliate with organizations that \u2014 whether by their own statements or activity both on and off the platform \u2014 use or promote violence against civilians to further their causes,\" the update reads.\n\nTwitter isn't taking action immediately. Rather, it's given users until December 18, 2017 when it will then begin enforcing the rule. The month-long wait is due to regulations in the European Union that require companies to inform users of a new policy change 30 days prior to enforcement.\n\nThe Dec. 18 deadline also applies to using \"hateful images or symbols\" in profile images or profile headers. Twitter will also monitor for hate speech in usernames, display names, and profile bios.\n\nThis new rule closes a loophole that Twitter's critics had long pointed out: That known white supremacists and others affiliated with hate groups could still use the platform to send a sanitized version of their message and use their followers to bolster their overall profile.\n\nIt's unclear how exactly Twitter will prioritize taking action and how much will come from user reports versus its own monitoring.\n\n\"The updates to the rules today will be enforced starting December 18. We'll also have more details on these policies to share that day,\" a Twitter spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement.\n\nThese changes comes amid aggressive moves by Twitter to curb abuse and harassment on the site after more than a decade of essentially letting the abusers operate freely.\n\nOver the last week, Twitter has taken action against the accounts of white supremacists. Twitter permanently banned Tim \"Treadstone\" Gionet, a prominent alt-right troll more widely known as Baked Alaska, earlier this week. It also removed the verification badges of Jason Kessler, one of the organizers of the racist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, and of alt-right activist Richard Spencer.\n\nTwitter's decision to monitor users off site sparked concern from free speech advocates such as Andrew Torba, founder of social network Gab. \"This is a scary precedent to set,\" he wrote in an email to Mashable. \"Rules like this will only force dissidents and those who are speaking truth to power to silence themselves or risk being silenced by Twitter.\"", "output": "Twitter is set to close a loophole that enables users affiliated with hate groups to be active on its site by monitoring behaviour \"both on and off the platform\", according to a company statement. The clampdown, which also covers images and usernames, comes into effect on 18 December, a delay brought about by European Union regulations which require companies to give a month's notice before implementing changes. Free speech advocates have criticised the move, calling it a \"scary precedent\". Twitter also recently revoked the verification badges of Richard Spencer and Jason Kessler, and banned prominent troll Tim Gionet.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook algorithm hinders advertisers by removing content \n Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More\n\nThere are a number of disturbing elements to the Russian election hacking scandal \u2014 most notably the fact that a foreign entity was somehow able to use Facebook and other social networks to influence an already stressful U.S. election.\n\nBut what has baffled me most about the hacking scandal is that the Russians were able to proceed with their agenda with such ease, while my influencer marketing agency (which has no interest in nefarious global domination) struggles on a daily basis to do even the most basic tasks on the platform.\n\nAs the Wall Street Journal noted recently, \u201cRelying on AI can lead to false positives, as when [a] company pulls down legitimate content that its algorithms think might be offensive.\u201d\n\nMy firm does a high volume of work on Facebook to amplify our influencers\u2019 content. Brands often hire us to create programs with quick turnarounds and tight deadlines, such as a one-day event or a short-term giveaway. Having that (legitimate) content pulled down because an algorithm suspects it is offensive can throw an entire program off the rails.\n\nWe have had to develop an entire document to detail the various \u201cwatch-outs\u201d we need to keep in mind in order to take advantage of Facebook\u2019s reach without raising the ire of its finicky and overly critical computer algorithms. These trigger-happy software programs can be incredibly problematic. It has been our experience that Facebook\u2019s software doesn\u2019t hesitate to remove content first and ask questions later.\n\nVentureBeat reached out to Facebook on this, and Facebook maintains that it\u2019s not the case that it will remove content before properly reviewing it. It said it reviews all advertisements before they go live, as per the ad review process posted on its site and that, for other content, it will only pull something down if violates Facebook policies.\u201d\n\nIt has been my firm\u2019s experience that while non-ad content can be posted without review, it will indeed get automatically pulled if it flags the algorithm. It will then often be re-posted following an appeal. We\u2019ve seen the same thing on Facebook-owned Instagram. An influencer we work with once had her entire Instagram account shut down following the posting of a piece of sponsored content. It was reinstated after a couple of weeks of desperate emails and phone calls to Instagram headquarters.\n\nYou can find the full list of Facebook\u2019s prohibited content here. While the vast majority of these restrictions are understandable \u2014 certainly we don\u2019t want people posting ads that promote illegal activities, discrimination, or weapons \u2014 many are not that clear cut. The machinations our team goes through in order to get clients\u2019 brands boosted on Facebook are borderline overwhelming. Let\u2019s look at a couple of examples:\n\n1. The tricky word \u201cyou\u201d\n\nFacebook prohibits the use of personal attributes within a boosted post. This can be really tricky when promoting a product intended to relieve an ailment. Here are excerpts from two posts that we were looking to boost in one of our programs:\n\nPost A: Do you suffer from dandruff? It\u2019s a common problem\u2026.\n\nPost B: Laura is preventing dandruff now and during the colder months\u2026\n\nGiven the strict algorithm, we were only allowed to boost Post B. Post A would almost certainly be pulled down because of the word \u201cyou.\u201d\n\nFacebook\u2019s spokesperson said that while the company does allow ads for services that treat medical conditions, they don\u2019t allow ads to imply the reader suffers from those medical conditions (that falls under the company\u2019s \u201cPersonal Attributes\u201d policy). Facebook noted that our Post A example wouldn\u2019t make the cut because it implies the reader has dandruff, which is a medical condition.\n\nWhat frustrates my team in this situation is that our content wasn\u2019t implying anything. It was simply asking the question. If an influencer with thousands of followers poses a question, how is that an implication of anything? These restrictions impact the creativity of our influencers\u2019 content.\n\n2. Medical conditions\n\nThe Facebook algorithm is also triggered by mentions of specific medical conditions. Understandably, Facebook prohibits the paid promotion of pharmaceutical products. Unfortunately, this can cause the algorithm to mistakenly flag a post that is related to a medical condition but not related to pharmaceuticals. We recently did a program for a medication-free treatment for depression. The post below, promoting this new treatment, would surely be flagged due to the mention of depression (with bonus flagging for the use of the word \u201cyou\u201d):\n\n\u201cLet\u2019s talk about depression. If you deal with depression, you are not alone. It is a very real condition that affects people in all stages of life, myself included.\u201d\n\nFacebook told VentureBeat the above post was not allowed because the statement \u201cyou are not alone\u201d implies the reader has depression. Our firm feels that the use of the qualifier \u201cif\u201d should make this okay. We do see how the text is off-limits given Facebook\u2019s guidelines, but it still feels like we\u2019re running into roadblocks left and right when trying to do our job \u2014 and it\u2019s not as if we\u2019re hacking an election, promoting guns, or selling drugs.\n\nThough the post was honest and authentic, and written by one of our influencers, we couldn\u2019t take the risk of a flag, so instead we had our influencer post the following (less engaging, highly sanitized) statement:\n\n\u201cMy commitment to wellness has me focusing on happiness this month. One thing that helps is reading inspirational stories about other people who are living their best life.\u201d\n\n3. Pictures with words\n\nImages that contain words have also become problematic. Facebook\u2019s spokesperson said it limits words in images in order to create the best possible user experience and that research shows too much text in images damages the experience. While that\u2019s helpful insight, we have seen a marked lack of consistency on the amount of text that works. Additionally, even if the algorithm doesn\u2019t pull down one of our images, too many words can also impact the performance of the post. As Facebook details here, it has \u201crecently implemented a new solution that allows ads with greater than 20 percent text to run, but with less or no delivery.\u201d Certainly this is not any kind of solution for our clients, all of whom expect better performance than \u201cless or no delivery.\u201d\n\nWe are all big fans of Facebook at my firm, for both personal use and for its tremendous ability to get the word out on behalf of our clients. But we can\u2019t help but feel frustrated when we repeatedly run into roadblocks as a result of an overactive algorithm.\n\nFacebook serves as a vital piece of our marketing mix. We just wish it would become a bit more reliable. What do the Russians know that we don\u2019t?\n\nDanielle Wiley is CEO of Sway Group, an influencer marketing agency.", "output": "Facebook's algorithm is frustrating advertisers by removing content it deems has violated the social media site's rules, according to Danielle Wiley, CEO of influencer marketing agency Sway Group. \"It has been my firm\u2019s experience that while non-ad content can be posted without review, it will indeed get automatically pulled if it flags the algorithm\", she said. Facebook said all ads were reviewed before posting, and content was only pulled following that process. The restrictions\u00a0\"impact the creativity of our influencers\u2019 content\", said Wiley.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sizmek to close Rocket Fuel brand and disclose media buying fees \n After acquiring ad-tech company Rocket Fuel for $145 million in July, Sizmek is folding Rocket Fuel\u2019s brand and said it will start disclosing the fees included in media buying to instill more trust and transparency for advertisers about how they purchase digital ads.", "output": "Independent buy-side advertising platform Sizmek has shut down the Rocket Fuel brand, after purchasing the business for $145m in July. As part of the move,\u00a0Sizmek plans to disclose its media buying fees\u00a0in hopes of providing greater advertising transparency, and to challenge Facebook and Google's market dominance, though the Financial Times' accusations that Rocket Fuel\u00a0placed ads on\u00a0fraudulent websites have hindered its progress. It is hoped that Sizmek's rebrand towards \"radical transparency\" and AI capabilities will attract advertisers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Confido website disappears days after raising $420,000 in ICO \n A little known project that raised half a million to develop a new goods tracking service so that you pay through a smart contract only after delivery, has today closed shop.\n\n\u201cWe are in a tight spot, as we are having legal trouble caused by a contract we signed,\u201d Joost van Doorn, the project founder and a former eBay employee says before adding:", "output": "A tech start-up that claimed to offer a new payment and goods tracking service has deleted its website days after raising $420,000 from investors through an initial coin offering (ICO). Confido had earlier posted an announcement on the site referring to \"legal trouble\" as a result of a contract they had signed, but provided no further details. The statement from founder Joost van Doorn also contained an apology for the financial damage the announcement would cause. The cryptocurrency lost 80% of its value on exchanges after the announcement.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tiny cheap satellites to shake-up everything from ships to spies \n Hundreds of tiny, inexpensive satellites are being sent into orbit every year. Here\u2019s how they\u2019ll change our relationship with the world around us.\n\nWhere is this data coming from? Start your free trial today Email Where is this data coming from? Start your free trial today Email\n\nNanosatellites \u2013 tiny satellites you can hold in your hand \u2013 are being launched into space at unprecedented rates.\n\nAs the pace of technological development speeds up, making it less and less expensive to send a \u201cnanosat\u201d into orbit, these machines could provide a value to society that extends far beyond space exploration.\n\nIn the future, nanosatellites will transform a variety of industries that utilize space information \u2013 from more accurate weather and climate predictions to better monitoring (and safety) of air and sea traffic to smarter forecasting of crop yields and commodities.\n\nget the 51-page Google in TELECOM report Learn how Google is quickly expanding its global reach in telecommunications. Email\n\nWhat are nanosatellites?\n\nThe International Space Station, currently the largest satellite in orbit around the earth, measures ~356 feet by ~240 feet.\n\nNanosatellites, on the other hand, are small satellites with a mass between 1 kg and 10 kg, or just 2.2 lbs to 22 lbs. Some nanosatellites are as small as just ten cubic centimeters. Yet they possess many of the same antennas, sensors, and control systems that make larger satellites so useful for space exploration and monitoring.\n\nNanosats that take a 10\u00d710\u00d710-unit cubic structure are known as CubeSats. A single-unit (or 1U) CubeSat has a mass no greater than 1.33 kg (2.93 lbs), but can be stacked with others to create 2U, 3U, or 6U rectangular models.\n\nUntil a few years ago, it cost at least $2M to build a functional satellite, regardless of size. Now, students and scientists can create nanosats using DIY kits and off-the-shelf components \u2013 allowing the machines to be made with budgets in the tens of thousands of dollars.\n\nLaunching a nanosat is also far cheaper than sending a normal satellite to space, which can cost many millions of dollars. These tiny \u201csats\u201d can be launched en masse via ride-sharing on rockets, though the costs vary drastically based on satellite mass, distance into space, and nature or \u201cpayload\u201d of the space mission.\n\nStartup Open Cosmos, for example, provides \u201cenabling services\u201d for taking customers\u2019 satellite plans from design to launch (in under 10 months) at prices starting around $630,000. Their one-stop-shop offering includes things like mission simulation, testing, and insurance.\n\nSpaceflight, on the other hand, offers straightforward commercial pricing for ride-shares that can be booked within weeks of a pre-scheduled rocket launch \u2013 making it possible to send a 3U CubeSat to \u201clow earth orbit\u201d (LEO) for as little as $295,000.\n\nAs more and more nanosatellites are sent to space by universities, tech companies, government entities, and private citizens alike, they\u2019ll provide comprehensive \u201ccoverage\u201d of earth at an incredibly low cost \u2013 leading to game-changing transformations across each of the sectors discussed below.\n\nEducation, Research & Academia\n\nJust as the decreasing costs of computers have rapidly changed the way we learn about our world, the growing volume of small satellites circling the planet (and sending data back to earth) will change the way we learn about our universe.\n\nNanosatellites affixed with cameras have already sent never-before-seen images down to earth: Russian cosmonauts, for example, recently gave us the world\u2019s first panoramic, 360-view video shot in open space.\n\nBut the educational value extends much further than replacing textbooks (or PBS documentaries) with live-streams from space. Researchers will also benefit from sending lab projects into orbit.\n\nConducting research in space is important for many scientific objectives \u2013 which is partly why the International Space Station (ISS) has served as a full-time low-gravity research lab for years.\n\nSince fluids can be almost completely combined in microgravity, for example, nanosatellite experiments can help scientists understand fluids that do not mix well on Earth.\n\nIn addition, gravity can diminish the conductivity of certain materials, so scientists looking to create \u201csuperconductive\u201d synthetics also use low-gravity environments to understand materials interactions at the molecular level.\n\nBiologists are already using nanosatellites to understand how gravity impacts biological processes: The SporeSat project, for example, which was sent to space through NASA\u2019s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI), studied the effect of gravity on the reproductive spores of the fern.\n\nWeather Forecasting\n\nSpace weather \u2013 which is concerned with things like solar or cosmic radiation, and interactions among magnetic fields in the atmosphere \u2013 has historically been onerous and costly to measure with traditional satellites.\n\nA 2016 European Geosciences Union General Assembly report called nanosatellites \u201ca paradigm change for space weather studies.\u201d\n\nFor now, organizations like the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have less-than-perfect space weather information, which limits their ability to predict our weather here on Earth.\n\nWith thousands of sensor-equipped nanosatellites in orbit, however, detailed space weather data can be used to help us better predict hurricanes, flooding, and heavy precipitation from tropical or non-tropical storms.\n\nTo help us reach a more weather-smart future, the NOAA granted a 2016 contract to Spire, another startup in the nanosat space. Spire currently operates at least 40 \u201cmulti-sensor nanosatellites\u201d that collect global GPS-RO weather data, which measures certain atmospheric properties that are increasingly seen as crucial to understanding storm-related weather patterns.\n\nAir/Sea Monitoring & Insurance\n\nThe NOAA granted the GPS-RO contract to Spire as part of the agency\u2019s objective of reducing \u201caverage track and intensity errors\u201d by 50% in 10 years. Predicting the trajectory and intensity of storms is crucial to mitigating the impact of future natural disasters.\n\nWeather forecasting has a particularly big impact on marine and aerospace safety. With better information from nanosatellites on atmospheric conditions, aero- and marine-industry stakeholders and insurers will be able to conduct better risk analyses around hurricanes and storms \u2013 ultimately minimizing liabilities (and insurance premiums) and disruptions.\n\nImproved safety will also reduce transport costs by minimizing weather-related losses. Nanosats can also help minimize collisions in our skies and seas, since they can provide views of air or ocean traffic straight from the atmosphere.\n\nAnd as the maritime industry, in particular, embraces automation, nanosats will be able to monitor the Earth\u2019s seas to minimize piracy risks.\n\nFor now, Spire and other startups are using their satellites to offer monitoring data to maritime stakeholders.\n\nAgriculture & Commodities Trading\n\nNanosats will provide value in commercial activities on land, as well. With better weather and climate intelligence, environmental conditions will become more measurable, predictable, and data-driven.\n\nAgriculture will be one of the first areas transformed.\n\nThe Farmer\u2019s Almanac will get a major upgrade with nanosat-secured data: Better predictive data on weather patterns and natural disasters will translate into more accurate forecasts of impact on crops \u2013 ultimately informing decisions on what we grow, where we grow it, how, and when.\n\nStartups like Satellogic are already offering satellite-based insights to the agriculture sector, among others. Satellogic\u2019s machines are what\u2019s known as \u201cspectroscopic satellites,\u201d which pick up signals from light to understand the health of environmental organisms at the molecular level.\n\nWith better intelligence on space weather and its impact on agriculture, market observers will also better understand anticipated global production yields of crops and other commodities \u2013 potentially offering new insights to traders and analysts.\n\nEnvironmental Monitoring & Protection\n\nAccording to a New York Times report, researchers have long warned that the US\u2019 climate monitoring capabilities \u2013 which include satellites as well as air- and surface-based measuring instruments \u2013 are less than adequate, subject to data collection gaps or discrepancies.\n\nData scientist Dr. Zeke Hausfather, who published satellite-based research in the Journal of Climate in June, commented that in our global satellite temperature record, \u201conly a few satellites are measuring temperatures at any given point of time.\u201d\n\nSome of those large satellites also have \u201cfairly large orbital drifts,\u201d according to Hausfather, which limits their ability to fly over the same spot on Earth at the same time every day, which is a precondition to accurately estimating changes in temperatures over time.\n\nWith thousands of tiny satellites tracking changes in much smaller areas of the atmosphere, scientists will unlock new data on climate fluctuations. That information will be crucial to practically all efforts related to environmental preservation \u2014 from predicting future temperature changes to pinpointing at-risk habitats and organisms.\n\nClimate visualization using data from NASA satellites. CREDIT: NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center.\n\nTelecommunications\n\nSatellites of all sizes have played a role in our global communications infrastructure ever since the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, took flight equipped with a radio transmitter in 1957. Our reliance on satellite communication (aka \u201csatcom\u201d) has grown exponentially ever since: By 1990, 2 out of every 3 intercontinental phone calls were transmitted by communication satellites.\n\nCommunication satellites are used to relay and amplify radio signals that transmit information. They essentially create communication channels between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. NASA calls these Tracking and Data Relay Satellites, or TDRS (rendering below).\n\nEven as the internet improves in remote regions, satellites remain crucial to information sharing: Most news agencies still use satellites to distribute text, audio, and video to their affiliates.\n\nWithout satellites, many citizens in less developed countries would lack access to news and other information. And even today, huge swathes of our planet still lack telecommunications infrastructure.\n\nTech-sector stakeholders are already at work using nanosatellites to plug internet coverage caps. Australian company Sky and Space (SAS), for example, is planning to provide telecommunications coverage to millions of people living in a band around the equator \u2013 stretching from Darwin to Hong Kong \u2013 by 2020. SAS\u2019 first step will be launching up to 200 nano-satellites into space, beginning in 2018, in partnership with Virgin Galactic.\n\nDefense\n\nAs our access to space (and space data) continues to accelerate, there will be risks, as well as opportunities.\n\nPrivate companies are gearing up to use satellites for potential defense contracts. Nanosats could be used to spy on other countries\u2019 satellites, for example, or to collect intelligence on enemy spacecraft.\n\nIn addition, nanosatellites will be prime targets for rogue hackers or bad actors working on behalf of hostile governments. These attackers could try to disable telecommunications channels via nanosatellites or disrupt the servicing of other larger satellites by nanosatellites, among many other potenial nefarious applications.\n\nMindful of potential threats, Lockheed Martin invested in nanosat startup Terran Orbital in summer 2017; Terran and its child company, Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, use satellite-secured surveillance data for military/defense intelligence applications.\n\nIf you aren\u2019t already a client, sign up for a free trial to learn more about our platform.", "output": "A new generation of small, cheap satellites is set to have a major influence on the maritime, aerospace, agricultural and environmental sectors as well as those that depend on accurate weather data, according to\u00a0CBinsights. The off-the-shelf nanosatellites,\u00a0which are as small as 10 cubic cms,\u00a0could also help plug gaps in global internet coverage and eavesdrop on foreign countries, CBinsights said. Companies including start-up Open Cosmos and Spaceflight offer design-to-launch packages for as little as $295,000.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Big Property Data runs huge datasets to speed up conveyancing \n A search company called Big Property Data says it is working with 15 major institutions to provide automated property reports aimed at speeding up conveyancing.\n\nThe organisations include the Land Registry, the National Land Information Service, the British Geological Survey and Ordnance Survey.\n\nBPD claims to have amassed over 150 different datasets, containing more than three hundred million points of information which are accessible in 60 seconds on average, dropping the resulting reports directly into a client's account or email inbox.", "output": "A software company is offering an automated system for creating property reports to speed up the conveyancing process. Big Property Data, based in Manchester, is using data from 15 major organisations including the Land Registry, the British Geological Survey and Ordnance Survey to run the service. Using a total of 150 datasets, the system will generate reports in an average of 60 seconds, instead of the day or more usually taken to compile the searches manually.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shortlist Media decides against moving to first-price auctions \n Shortlist Media, which publishes weekly, free city magazines Stylist and ShortList, has gone cold on the idea of moving to first-price auctions after talking at length to the buy side of the market.\n\nThe publisher planned to introduce first-price auction capabilities to its ad tech stack, which it started rebuilding about four months ago. The publisher approached its top 30 ad agency buyers to ask if they were interested in moving to first-price auction-based bidding. But of those 30, only two were willing to bid in first-price auctions, according to David Hayter, programmatic director of Shortlist Media. Reasons for buyer reluctance: the operational headache of having to switch from the second-price method that\u2019s been used for years. Changing to first-price would mean they\u2019d need to reassess overall campaign strategy.\n\n\u201cSome buyers were telling us that when they came across first auction, they were just turning those publishers and exchanges off,\u201d he said.\n\nInstead, Shortlist Media is betting on a different method, which is more of a middle ground between first- and second-price auctions. This model would involve exchanges pushing their first-price options into the wrapper where the auction occurs, then allowing the bid to close on the second price. For example, if two separate exchanges passed first-price bids of \u00a38.50 ($11.22) and \u00a310 ($13.20) into the wrapper, the winning bid would then close at \u00a38.51 ($11.23). But the initial bids would have been higher than if all were done off second-price.\n\nShortlist Media is talking to its tech partners about being able to implement this method. Hayter said they predict that using this method will help them gain yield increases of up to 12 percent.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019ll be a bit of a leap of faith from exchanges to pass their first prices through, and they\u2019ll have to trust each other to close the auction fairly,\u201d said Hayter. \u201cBut it\u2019s more likely than buyers adopting first prices at the moment.\u201d\n\nHayter said the promise of revenue spikes from the shift to first-price auctions is oversold. In fact, he believes the only reason for a short-term lift would be if buyers aren\u2019t aware they\u2019re bidding in a first-price auction. Once they realize it is not a second-price bidding scenario, they\u2019ll redirect their spend elsewhere, he added.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019ll get people who will continue to test it blindly, without talking to the buy side,\u201d said Hayter. \u201cBut the legs will fall out of it once someone fully adopts it. They\u2019ll find most of their budgets will be optimized away from them.\u201d", "output": "UK publisher Shortlist Media has mothballed its plan to introduce first-price auctions after only two of its top 30 ad buyers gave the notion the green light, according to programmatic director David Hayter. Instead, the company is looking to find a middle ground between first and second auctions, in which first-price options are pushed into the wrapper, and bids close on the second price. \"It\u2019ll be a bit of a leap of faith from exchanges to pass their first prices through, and they\u2019ll have to trust each other to close the auction fairly\", said Hayter.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK budget to make room for driverless testing and EVs: Report \n The UK doesn't want to sit by the wayside while the US, Japan and other countries streamline the adoption of self-driving cars. The country's finance ministry has revealed that its upcoming budget (due on November 22nd) will include measures intended to spurt the adoption of self-driving and electric cars. There will be rule changes that let automakers test vehicles on public roads without an operator on standby, and a \u00a3400 million (about $529 million) fund to help companies establish charging station networks. Officials will also offer \u00a3100 million ($132 million) in incentives to lower the cost of buying an EV.\n\nThere are a few other tech-related budget measures, such as \u00a3160 million ($211 million) for 5G networks, \u00a3100 million for computer science teachers, \u00a376 million ($100 million) for skill development and \u00a375 million ($99 million) for the UK's budding AI industry.\n\nThe budget contributions may be necessary given the UK's ambitious goals. Finance minister Philip Hammond wants self-driving cars to roam British streets in 3 years -- that's not a lot of lead time when companies like Nissan only recently started conducting public tests. And while EV funding isn't new (that was present in the Spring Budget, for instance), but the additional money could help create the infrastructure needed to keep autonomous vehicles running. There's no guarantee that any of these measures will put the UK ahead of the curve on driverless tech, but it should at least keep the nation from falling behind.", "output": "UK Chancellor Philip Hammond is expected to announce measures promoting the development of driverless and electric vehicles\u00a0in this week's budget statement to the House of Commons. The measures are likely to include rule changes allowing manufacturers to test autonomous vehicles on public roads without a backup human driver. \u00a3100m ($132m) will be set aside for incentives to buy electric vehicles, while a \u00a3400m ($529m) fund will support new charging stations.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sweden's World Food Building combines\u00a0offices with vertical\u00a0farm \n By 2050, the world's population is expected to swell to 9.6 billion, with around 66% living in urban areas. This projection is leaving many cities wondering how they will feed all those people.\n\nA Swedish food-tech company called Plantagon is proposing that cities consider building what it calls \"plantscrapers\" \u2014 office towers that contain giant indoor farms. Plantagon is constructing its first plantscraper in Link\u00f6ping, Sweden.\n\nCalled The World Food Building, the tower will operate hydroponically, meaning vegetables (mostly greens) will grow without soil in a nutrient-rich, water-based solution. The farm will largely be automated, Plantagon CEO Hans Hassle told Business Insider.\n\nConstruction of the $40 million building began in 2012, and it's set to open by early 2020.\n\nCheck out the plans below.", "output": "Foodtech company Plantagon is building its first \"plantscraper\" in the southern Swedish city of Link\u00f6ping. The $40m World Food Building is an office tower that also contains a large automated indoor farm. The building will grow\u00a0vegetables hydroponically\u00a0in a nutrient-rich, water-based solution and is set to open by early 2020. It will produce 550 tons of vegetables a year. Two-thirds of the building will be offices with the farm occupying the rest of the tower.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI diagnoses pneumonia with similar accuracy to radiologists \n There\u2019s a clear trend that having more data makes it easier to train artificial intelligence. Bigger datasets, like ImageNet, originally showed that AI could be useful for tasks like image recognition, leading to a race among everyone from large technology companies to academics to compile new datasets to stretch the limits of AI.\n\nNow, a new paper from Stanford University shows just how fast a new dataset could be used to train artificial intelligence algorithms to the point of near-human accuracy. Using 100,000 x-ray images released by the National Institutes of Health on Sept. 27, the research published Nov. 14 (without peer review) on the website ArXiv claims its AI can detect pneumonia from x-rays with similar accuracy to four trained radiologists.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThat\u2019s not all\u2014the AI was trained to analyze x-rays for 14 diseases NIH included in the dataset, including fibrosis, hernias, and cell masses. The AI\u2019s results for each of the 14 diseases had fewer false positives and false negatives than the benchmark research from the NIH team that was released with the data.\n\nThe paper includes Google Brain founder Andrew Ng as a co-author, who also served as chief scientist at Baidu and recently founded Deeplearning.ai. He\u2019s often been publicly bullish on AI\u2019s use in healthcare.\n\n\u201cI think health care 10 years from now will use a lot more AI and will look very different than it does today,\u201d he told MIT Tech Review earlier this year.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThese algorithms will undoubtedly get better\u2014accuracy on the ImageNet challenge rose from 75% to 95% in just five years\u2014but this research shows the speed at which these systems are built is increasing as well.", "output": "Artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to detect pneumonia with the same level of accuracy as trained radiologists, according to new research. A paper by scientists at Stanford University detailed the results of a test in which 100,000 x-ray images were analysed by an AI system. It found that of the 14 diseases it was trained to identify, its results showed fewer false positives than the equivalent human diagnoses in each case. One of the paper's co-authors is Google Brain founder Andrew Ng, who predicts AI will play a bigger role in healthcare in future."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Union Investment buys a 13% stake in Berlin proptech Architrave \n \u00d7 Expand Union Investment Jens Wilhelm - Union Investment \u2018The investment in Architrave is our first advance into the PropTech sector,\u2019 said Jens Wilhelm, managing director in charge of real estate, portfolio management and IT infrastructure at Union Investment. \u2018The strategic partnership is a core element of our strategy of driving forward the process of digitisation in the real estate industry.\"\n\nGerman fund manager Union Investment Real Estate has acquired a 13% stake in Berlin-based PropTech Architrave for an undisclosed sum, both firms told REFIRE at EXPO REAL earlier this month, marking Union Investment\u2019s first investment in a PropTech company.\n\nArchitrave specializes in intelligent real estate data management solutions. Union Investment has been a partner of Architrave since September and has added more than 400 of its properties to Architrave\u2019s platform. The German fund manager will help Architrave to develop its AI component with a view to establishing an industry standard for collating real estate data in an open, digital platform. This will benefit property owners, asset managers, property managers and facility managers in equal measure, as they will gain access to a systematic and standardised database for each of their properties without any issues with interfaces or problems with information.\n\n\u2018The investment in Architrave is our first advance into the PropTech sector,\u2019 said Jens Wilhelm, managing director in charge of real estate, portfolio management and IT infrastructure at Union Investment. \u2018The strategic partnership is a core element of our strategy of driving forward the process of digitisation in the real estate industry. With its established customer base and continuous expansion, Architrave is an ideal partner to realise our common vision of an industry-wide asset management data platform.\u2019\n\nSemantics \u2013 which can include hundreds of thousands of terms and definitions to facilitate closer data matches \u2013 has been a buzzword in the online space for a while but algorithms such as the ones used by Architrave are part of the new generation of machine-learning services.\n\nOver time, the aim is to build a pan-European platform, Maurice Grassau, CEO and founder of Architrave, told REFIRE: \u2018For now, we are focusing on Germany, although a lot of non-German assets are managed on our platform, which is in English, German and French. Our training docs mark in the relevant data from the start, which is then classified \u2013 extraction has a different algorithm because the machine learns rules by reading the data itself. Our aim is to get all properties in Germany digitalized as more companies come on board.\u2019\n\nThe advantage of complete digitalization would be that real estate data is always accessible, which would speed up transactions. According to Grassau, Architrave\u2019s data platform is hosted in highly secure German computer centres with maximum safeguards against unauthorised access and misuse. When a property is sold, Architrave transfers the real estate data to the new owner within the platform environment.\n\n\u2018This marks a milestone in process efficiency for integrating acquired properties into investors\u2019 portfolios,\u2019 Grassau said.\n\nIn May 2017, Architrave took second place at Union Investment\u2019s inaugural international PropTech Innovation Award, which attracted interest from 200 companies. Architrave has generated triple-digit revenue growth for the past five years in succession. This year, it is expected to generate revenue of around \u20ac2m, a figure that it hopes to double next year.", "output": "German fund manager Union Investment Real Estate has acquired a 13% stake in Berlin proptech firm Architrave\u00a0for an undisclosed sum. The investment will help Architrave develop its artificial intelligence\u00a0technology to establish an industry standard for collating real estate data on an open platform. Union Investment has been a Architrave partner since September and has already added more than 400 properties to the platform. It is the first time the fund manager has invested in a proptech company. Architrave is\u00a0aiming\u00a0to offer its platform across\u00a0Europe, serving property owners, asset managers and facility managers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scientist makes 3D-printed human skin to help end animal testing \n 'Build Beyond Zero' Changes the Way One Thinks About Buildings", "output": "Young Brazilian scientist Carolina Catarino has been awarded one of eight young researcher prizes of\u00a0\u00a310,000 ($13,250) by the\u00a0Lush cosmetics company\u00a0for her work on lab-grown human skin models. The skin models are\u00a0made with 3D printing techniques and it is hoped they will\u00a0make animal testing unnecessary. In future research, Catarino aims to increase the number of molecules in the skin models, add\u00a0proteins for skin maintenance\u00a0and introduce\u00a0blood vessels for regenerative medicine testing and skin grafts. She is\u00a0also working towards adding\u00a0hair follicles, which\u00a0would help show\u00a0how substances can enter the body.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Company boards should set 40% women quota: EU \n The European commission is to push for a quota for women on company boards to address the slow progress to gender equality in the senior ranks of publicly listed businesses.\n\n\n\nUnder the proposals, companies whose non-executive directors are more than 60% male would be required to prioritise women when candidates of equal merit were being considered for a post.\n\nPrevious attempts by the EU\u2019s executive to set a 40% goal for women in the top ranks of listed companies have been blocked by Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden overs fears that Brussels was overreaching into domestic affairs. Hungary and Poland have opposed the move on ideological grounds.\n\nThe result of the impasse has been slow progress to greater diversity at the top of companies. Women made up 29% of recruits to UK boards in 2016, down from 32.1% in 2014 and 31.6% in 2012, according to research by the recruiter Egon Zehnder.\n\nThe proportion of women on the boards of the largest listed companies across the EU has more than doubled, from 10% in 2005 to 22% in 2015. However, women account for only 7% of board chairs and presidents and 6% of chief executives in the largest companies.\n\nOn Monday, the commissioner for justice and gender equality, V\u0115ra Jourov\u00e1, will publish proposals to redress the gender pay gap.\n\nSpeaking to the Guardian before the launch, Jourov\u00e1 said: \u201cWe have so much evidence that it is good for business to have diversity, to have women and men on boards. Women [make up] 65% of university graduates, so why don\u2019t we use that talent and the investment?\n\n\u201cWomen have a very good talent for long-term, sensible spending [and] for crisis-solving because they can come up with proposals for negotiation and compromise. It is a necessary balance to the approach of men: attack and escape.\u201d\n\nA quota for boards will be one of a series of legislative proposals aimed at tightening the law to improve diversity and pay practices in work.\n\nThe pay gap in the EU, quantifying the difference in average hourly pay for male and female workers, remains resolutely large.\n\nAccording to figures released in October, Britain registered the biggest increase in the EU\u2019s gender pay gap in 2015. The UK\u2019s gender pay gap jumped from 19.7% in 2014 to 20.8% in 2015, the largest annual rise among Europe\u2019s main economies. The gap in the UK now outstrips the EU\u2019s average of 16.3%.\n\nJourov\u00e1, the Czech Republic\u2019s representative in the commission, said: \u201cIn each country there are special reasons for this. I think that in most member states, maybe all, the main problem is segregated jobs. Females\u2019 jobs, nurses, social services, teachers are underpaid. And is it because women are working in these roles? Maybe. I would guess this is also the case with the UK and [it is] something they should think about.\n\n\u201cWe are addressing the member states with a strong call to look into it and change their renumeration policy in the public sector. The gender pay gap is also partly caused because women have more duties at home and take part-time jobs. And are paid less. It is a trap.\u201d\n\nAcross the EU there is a full-time equivalent employment rate of 40% for women and 56% for men.\n\nJourov\u00e1 said she believes discrimination is still a major factor, and that current EU legislation is ineffective because it is not strongly enforced. Jourov\u00e1 has also suggested legislation to force listed companies to publish gender-specific statistics on pay.\n\n\u201cThere are no teeth [to current laws],\u201d she said. \u201cAccording to our estimates, discrimination accounts for 8-10% of the gap. There is not enough enforcement. It must be done by labour inspectorates, and it should be captured in collective bargaining by the trade unions.\u201d", "output": "The European Commission is proposing a 40% quota of women on company boards, in order to combat gender inequality at senior levels of publicly listed firms. The plans would require companies whose non-executive directors are over 60% male to prioritise women if candidates of equal merit apply for posts. Previous efforts by the European Union (EU) to establish a 40% target for women in senior roles at listed firms have failed. The proportion of women on the boards of such firms in the EU has increased from 10% in 2005 to 22% in 2015.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "San Leon San Leon Energy to fight winding-up order \n Executive chairman Oisin Fanning is battling to keep his oil and gas explorer afloat after a cash row led to a winding-up petition, writes Gavin McLoughlin\n\nOisin Fanning faces the wrath of British hedge fund manager Martin Hughes, nicknamed \u2018The Rottweiler\u2019, as San Leon Energy fights a winding-up order following a wrangle with Dutch partner Avobone over a loan to cover a share of drilling. Stock image\n\nInvesting in oil and gas explorers isn't for the faint-hearted. Good results can deliver big rewards - bad results can mean you lose all your money.\n\nBritish hedge fund manager Martin Hughes is certainly not in the faint-hearted category - his nickname in the City is 'The Rottweiler'.\n\nHughes's Toscafund is the majority shareholder in San Leon Energy, the oil and gas explorer run by Irish businessman Oisin Fanning.\n\nSan Leon is on the brink - with a creditor having just filed a petition in Dublin's High Court seeking to have it wound up. Toscafund's investment is small fry in the overall scheme of the funds it manages (over $4bn) - but the Rottweiler is probably snarling at the situation San Leon finds itself in.\n\nThe proximate cause of the difficulty is a long-running financial dispute with Avobone - a Dutch company which had partnered with San Leon on an asset in Poland. The main problem was a loan Avobone gave San Leon to meet Avobone's share of drilling. San Leon said the loan should only have been repayable \"had Avobone exited after the field had generated sufficient cashflow to repay the loan\".\n\n\"As of the timing of Avobone's exit in early 2013, the field had yet to generate cashflow.\"\n\nOisin Fanning. Pic: Courtpix\n\nThe row made its way through various arbitration and court hearings before ultimately being settled this time last year. San Leon agreed to pay \u20ac23.3m plus interest to Avobone.\n\nIt wasn't as simple as all that, however, and a few months later, the companies agreed a revised payment schedule as San Leon had had trouble generating the cash. Another revised schedule was agreed at the beginning of this month.\n\nThen came the bombshell news on Friday that Avobone was seeking a winding-up order. San Leon said its rival was looking to change the terms of the latest agreement, looking for further security for the sums owed.\n\n\"These additional requested terms are totally unacceptable ... [San Leon] has already provided security of payment and shall robustly defend the application,\" the company added. \"San Leon can see no reason for Avobone's actions given the imminent payment expected to Avobone of all outstanding sums.\"\n\nThe matter is due back before the courts next month and it may spell the end for a business that just last year was boasting about a \"transformational\" deal that would see it take a stake in a producing field in Nigeria. The stake was acquired via a complex arrangement that saw San Leon become the beneficial owner of around $175m of loan notes.\n\nBut cash flow from that project has been slow - as of April 1 2017, it was due $58m but had only received $5m.\n\nThe project also contributed to problems in filing accounts. San Leon missed the stock-market-imposed deadline - and said this was due to the complexity of the Nigerian venture.\n\n\"The delay in publication of the accounts has been for procedural reasons,\" San Leon said, adding that it needed to incorporate \"the consolidated financial statements\" of a particular entity related to the Nigerian asset using the equity method of accounting - a process for dealing with the financial effects of an investee company in which the core company has a significant influence.\n\n\"The consolidation process involves several jurisdictions, and has taken longer than expected for what is the first such consolidation and equity accounted investment in Nigeria for San Leon. When this process is completed, it will be followed by a number of normal audit confirmatory and technical review matters, which when completed will then put the company in a position to finalise and publish its financial statements.\"\n\nEventually, the accounts were published three months late, and contained a note of warning from the company's auditors that there were \"material uncertainties which may cast significant doubt\" about the company's ability to continue. There was, the company recognised, a need for further funding.\n\nUltimately, the way out for Fanning might be to sell the business.\n\nSan Leon told the market in the summer that a Chinese company has been sniffing around and even made an indicative takeover offer valuing the company at 67-76p a share. That was a substantial premium to the share price at the time (around 30p). A formal offer was contingent on the completion of due diligence - with the Chinese expecting to be able to make a their move within 45 days according to San Leon. That period of time elapsed and no offer was forthcoming.\n\nSan Leon then said it was still in dialogue with the company, China Great United, which had said the reason for the delay in due diligence was that it was now talking to a potential partner who could add value to the Nigerian project.\n\nAnother option that has been mooted is a merger with Midwestern - a partner in the Nigerian project. \"San Leon remains in discussions with Midwestern, which are at a very early stage and broad-ranging, regarding a potential corporate transaction, which could include an offer by Midwestern for San Leon or an offer by San Leon for certain assets of Midwestern,\" the company said on foot of media speculation. Shares are now suspended from trading on foot of this.\n\nIf a deal can be pulled off it would represent a great escape by Fanning who has been through some rough times in business before.\n\nHe was a founder of collapsed stockbroking firm MMI Stockbrokers, and chief executive from 1993 before stepping down in 1998, the year the company got into serious difficulty. He also founded Smart Telecom which went into examinership three years after Fanning's departure as chief executive in 2006.\n\nLife at San Leon has been eventful too. Leaving aside the current imbroglio with Avobone and the various takeover possibilities, the company last year found itself making headlines when it was excluded from the Norwegian state pension fund's 'investment universe' over its activities in the Western Sahara, a sparsely populated disputed territory.\n\nThe dispute is between Morocco and a group of the region's indigenous population.\n\nThe fund's ethics council said San Leon \"contributes to serious violations of fundamental ethical norms through its onshore hydrocarbon exploration in Western Sahara on behalf of Moroccan authorities\".\n\nAn activist in the region told the Sunday Independent at the time: \"Morocco has no right to explore for oil in Western Sahara without the consent of the people of Western Sahara and if the people of Western Sahara are not to benefit from it. Morocco has no right to look for the oil; San Leon is doing it, so therefore they're kicked out [of the investment fund].\"\n\nIn response, San Leon said that it had satisfied local interests following dialogue with local elected representatives and that it was in the company's own interest - and that of Morocco - that any revenue from oil or gas would benefit the local community.\n\nSan Leon has had interests in the Irish offshore too but sold many of them to John McKeon's Ardilaun Energy which has recently been seeking to raise money from investors. Lamborghini enthusiast McKeon set up Circle Oil which went bust early this year. McKeon had left the board in 2008.\n\nSan Leon retains a 4.5pc net profit interest on the Barryroe prospect, majority owned by Providence Resources. Barryroe is Providence's flagship asset and is due to be drilled next year, Finding a heavyweight partner to help get oil out of the ground on a commercial basis has been a long-running saga. Though the upcoming drilling campaign might help, Barryroe isn't going to help San Leon anytime soon.\n\nFanning is well remunerated. In 2016, his package including share-based compensation came to more than \u20ac1.7m, according to San Leon's last annual report. In 2015, his package was almost \u20ac1.3m.\n\nOn the company's website, his strengths are listed. \"Oisin is both visionary and deeply practical in pursuing business goals on behalf of stakeholders. He recognises the importance of finding and developing talented people to achieve a clear set of objectives\". If San Leon makes it through the court case, and payments from Nigeria remain slow, he'll need to draw on all his strengths to get the business on track.", "output": "Oisin Fanning may be forced to sell his beleaguered oil and gas exploration firm, San Leon Energy, after it was hit with a winding-up order petition in Dublin's High Court. CEO Fanning has steered the company through several crises, but faces more uncertainty thanks to the dispute with Dutch enterprise Avobone, which is set to return to court next month. San Leon is in acquisition talks with China Great United and is also in early-stage merger discussions with partner company Midwestern.\n\n \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sharing-economy insurer Zego raises \u00a36m in funding \n Zego, a pay-as-you-go insurance provider for gig economy workers, has announced a Series A funding round of \u00a36 million led by Balderton Capital with participation from LocalGlobe and a number of angel investors.\n\nThe Series A round follows the company\u2019s last funding round of \u00a31.2 million in July.\n\nLondon-based Zego was founded by a group of former Deliveroo managers to provide insurance coverage to gig economy workers, who are typically not considered employees by the services they work for, leaving them with little or no protection. Uber most notoriously has been challenged in the UK courts over the status of its drivers.\n\nThe fresh capital will be used to grow its engineering team ahead of the launch of new insurance products for the self-employed and it is currently developing a tracking feature to ensure safer drivers pay less.\n\nThe startup, which employs 33, intends to internationalise in the next six months.\n\n\u201cZego provides hardworking drivers with the tools to make gig economy jobs work for them,\u201d said Harry Franks, CEO. \u201cBefore we came along drivers who wanted to work flexibly and part-time were ill-served by the insurance industry and were forced to pay for insurance cover they did not use.\u201d\n\n\u201c are in a new and fast evolving market that traditional insurers find it hard to adapt to,\u201d added Rob Moffat, partner at Balderton.", "output": "Zego, a UK-based insurtech focusing on providing coverage to workers in the \"gig\" economy, has raised \u00a36m ($7.9m) in funding. Balderton Capital led the round. The firm provides insurance coverage for sharing-economy workers, such as Uber drivers, who often don't have coverage provided by their employers. The insurtech was founded by a group of former Deliveroo managers."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "More big earthquakes expected in 2018 due to Earth speed changes \n Home\n\nNews\n\nIndia\n\nScientists Warn of Devastating Earthquakes in 2018 as Earth\u2019s Rotation Slows\n\nScientists Warn of Devastating Earthquakes in 2018 as Earth\u2019s Rotation Slows\n\nScientists say the fluctuation in Earth's rotational speed could trigger intense seismic activity. The heavily populated tropical regions could be the worst hit, says a research paper.\n\nRepresentative Image\n\nNew Delhi, Nov 20: While the NASA may have debunked the theory that a planet called Nibiru (or Planet X) is about to destroy the Earth soon, scientists have predicted a far more scary and believable scenario. The number of big earthquakes could increase in 2018 due to variations in the speed of Earth. Scientists say the fluctuation in Earth\u2019s rotational speed could trigger intense seismic activities across the planet. The heavily populated tropical regions could be the worst hit, says a research paper tabled at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America.\n\nHighlights Big earthquakes could hit the earth in 2018, warn experts.\n\nScientists say Earth's rotation has slowed down which could have catastrophic impact.\n\nThe heavily populated tropical regions could be the worst hit, they warned.\n\n\u201cThe correlation between Earth\u2019s rotation and earthquake activity is strong and suggests there is going to be an increase in numbers of intense earthquakes next year,\u201d Roger Bilham of University of Colorado, who presented the research paper along with Rebecca Bendick of the University of Montana, said.\n\nYou may like to read\n\nWhat The Research Paper Revealed\n\n\u201cThe Earth is offering us a five-year heads-up on future earthquakes,\u201d Guardian quoted Roger Bilham, as saying. The experts studied the relationship between periods of major earthquakes and other factors and discovered that whenever Earth\u2019s rotation had slowed down in the past, the period witnessed a substantial increase in seismic activities across the world.\n\n\u201cNext year we should see a significant increase in numbers of severe earthquakes. We have had it easy this year. So far we have only had about six severe earthquakes. We could easily have 20 a year starting in 2018,\u201d Bilham said.\n\nBilham\u2019s warning comes a few days after a 7.3 magnitude earthquake rattled Iran and Iraq killing over 400 people.\n\nWarning for India\n\nScientists of Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG) had recently warned that a big tremor could hit the region sooner than expect. Scientists explained the Indian Plate is moving towards the Eurasian Plate at the speed of 45 mm/year causing immense pressure under the earth surface in the region.\n\nThe energy created beneath the Earth surface triggered the April 2015 quake and experts said there is high probability of more such high intensity tremors in coming years. Prior to the 2015 quake, the Himalayan region has experienced three big earthquakes during the past century \u2013 Nepal-Bihar (1934), upper Assam (in 1950) and Kangra, Himachal Pradesh (1905).\n\nOn April 25, 2015, a magnitude 7.9 quake wreaked havoc in the Himalayan country of Nepal. Nearly 9,000 people were killed and over 20,000 injured. Tremors were felt as far as New Delhi and other parts of northern and eastern India. The massive earthquake sent Nepal\u2019s economy and infrastructure back by a few years. The Northern Himalayan region is considered to be one of the most active seismic region in the world. Scientists have repeatedly warned of possibility of catastrophic earthquakes in the region. According to a latest research, the world could witness severe quakes in 2018.\n\nTimeline of Major Earthquakes in India, Asia:\n\nApril 25, 2015: An earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale strikes Lamjung district in Nepal.\n\nNovember 23, 2014: A 6.3 magnitude quake hits China, killing at least two people.\n\nNovember 23, 2014: Over 50 people were injured and about 10 houses collapsed after a 6.7-magnitude quake hit Japan.\n\nMay 5, 2014: An earthquake of 6.0 magnitude occurred in the Bay of Bengal and tremors were felt across India.\n\nSeptember 25, 2013: A 7.7-magnitude quake hit Pakistan\u2019s remote south-west province of Balochistan killed over 300 people.\n\nApril 20, 2013: A quake of 6.6 magnitude hit a remote mountainous area of southwestern China\u2019s Sichuan province, killing around 150 people and injuring several people.\n\nSeptember 20, 2011: At least 68 people died and over 300 were injured in a quake of 6.8 magnitude that struck Sikkim.\n\nSeptember 22, 2009: A high-magnitude earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale killed at least 10 people in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan and left dozens more injured.\n\nOctober 8, 2005: The magnitude 7.6 earthquake killed at least 86,000 people, injured more than 69,000 and caused extensive damage in northern Pakistan.\n\nDecember 26, 2004: A quake of powerful 9.3 magnitude on the Richter Scale triggered a massive Tsunami hitting countries in the Asia Pacific region, killing over 2 lakh people.\n\nJanuary 26, 2001: A massive earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale hit the town of Bhuj in Gujarat, killing over 10,000 people.\n\nFor breaking news and live news updates, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Read more on Latest India News on India.com.", "output": "The world should expect many more devastating earthquakes in 2018 due to variations in the Earth's rotational speed, according to a report from the Geological Society of America. Heavily populated tropical areas may be the worst hit, according to the report. This latest news follows the magnitude 7.3 earthquake that hit Iran and Iraq a few days ago, killing over 400 people. Insurance companies worldwide are already concerned about the future due to the rising number of natural disasters, which could push insurance premiums to unaffordable levels for households and companies."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aegon seeking fintech partnerships in India \n Home\n\nNews\n\nAgencies\n\nIn digital drive, Aegon Life looking for fintech partnerships\n\nIn digital drive, Aegon Life looking for fintech partnerships\n\nNew Delhi, Nov 19 (PTI) Aegon Life Insurance is exploring partnerships with fintech firms to expand customer base through a digital push of selling policies online, a top company official said.Among 2\n\nNew Delhi, Nov 19 (PTI) Aegon Life Insurance is exploring partnerships with fintech firms to expand customer base through a digital push of selling policies online, a top company official said.\n\nAmong 23 private life insurers, Aegon is ahead of only Sahara Life on new premium collection.\n\nYou may like to read\n\nThe LIC, the only state-owned life insurer, holds the top rank in the life insurance space.\n\n\u201cWhile market share is important, at this point of time, the focus is to build the business more towards direct-to- customer and more digital with an omni-channel kind of a concept,\u201d Saibal Ghosh, Chief Investment Officer, Aegon Life Insurance, told PTI during an interaction.\n\n\u201cOur focus will be largely digital as we believe that digital is going to be big. We are also looking out for digital partners, we will also be looking at some of the financial services companies with a digital focus,\u201d Ghosh added.\n\nIn terms of premium collection, the company earns around one-third or 30-35 per cent of the business through digital means like mobile application or Internet-based online channels.\n\nThe rest of the polices are sold through the direct channel of the company\u2019s own sales personnel.\n\nThe overall objective, Ghosh said, is to push the online business as much as possible.\n\nAsked to name the probable fintech firms with whom Aegon Life may tie up, he said it is a \u201cwork in progress\u201d.\n\nThe company already has a tie-up with policybazaar.com, an online platform to compare insurance polices.\n\nAegon Life new premium collection more than doubled to Rs 9.37 crore in October 2017, from Rs 4.35 crore in the same month a year ago, according to data from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai).\n\nDuring April-October 2017-18, the new premium grew by 74.4 per cent to Rs 58.85 crore, from the earlier Rs 33.74 crore.\n\nIn 2016-17, the insurer\u2019s overall new premium collection, however, slipped 33 per cent to Rs 91.42 crore, from Rs 136.33 crore in 2015-16, according to the Irdai data.\n\nAegon life sells term and health insurance, unit-linked insurance plans (ULIPs), savings and retirement plans, child, rural and group insurance schemes.\n\nThis is published unedited from the PTI feed.\n\nFor breaking news and live news updates, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Read more on Latest News on India.com.", "output": "Life insurer Aegon Life is seeking partners involved in fintech in India. The firm reportedly ranks 22 out of 23 among premiums collected by Indian private life insurers. The push for partnerships is aimed at giving the firm a greater platform to sell policies online. The firm already has an arrangement with online insurance marketplace PolicyBazaar. It also earns roughly a third of its premiums via digital channels at present. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brokers mull AI use for interaction with insurers \n Brokers are excited about the potential of artificial intelligence (A.I.) to help streamline interactions\u2014not just between brokers and consumers, but also between brokerages and insurance companies.\n\nChatbots are often cited as an A.I. tool to help brokerages automate and streamline their online interactions with clients. But chatbots can also act as \u201cadvisors\u201d internally at brokerages, helping brokers to figure out the different insurance company manuals, data collection rules and processes.\n\n\u201cWe have lots of companies with different rules,\u201d says Amanda Ketelaars, operations manager at Mitchell & Whale Insurance Brokers Ltd., which has already started using a chatbot to streamline interactions with consumers.\n\n\u201cWe think there is lots of learning A.I. and chatbots can do around managing the different [company] rules and helping us to straighten those things out. That makes it easier [for the broker] to find a lot of [company] information that we now have to enter manually. I think it can be an internal advisor as much as an external advisor.\u201d\n\nRick Orr, owner of Orr Insurance & Investment, believes A.I. will save insurers \u201ca fortune,\u201d by automating processes between brokerages and insurers.\n\n\u201cI think you\u2019ll just use A.I. to load the [company] manual into the system and let the brokers chat [with the insurers] and get an answer back,\u201d he says. \u201cYou will end up with way fewer, higher-level underwriters dealing with true exceptions to what the book says, the way it should be.\u201d\n\nFor now, much of the hype around A.I. is the possibility of improving broker relationships with clients. The Insurance Institute of Canada recently released a trends paper on A.I. in the Canadian p&c industry, in which sources talk about increasingly sophisticated chatbots becoming \u201crobo-advisors\u201d in the future.\n\nFor example, PwC predicts robo-advisors will soon offer broker clients more \u2018recommender\u2019 systems and \u2018someone like you\u2019 statistical matching, the paper says. \u201cWhen fully mature, robo-advisors will understand individual and household balance sheets and income statements [and they] will be able to recommend, monitor and change financial goals and portfolios for their p&c policyholders.\u201d\n\nThe genesis for robo-advisors already exists today in the form of chatbots. But the current experience with chatbots suggests regulatory hurdles to achieving the utopian vision of robo-advisors.\n\n\u201cThere are restrictions around licensing and what [a chatbot] can tell [consumers] and what it can\u2019t,\u201d Ketelaars says of the Mitchell & Whale\u2019s chatbot experience.\n\n\u201cBut it can automate simple tasks, answering repetitive or straightforward questions like, \u2018Where do I find your office? Where would I get a quote?\u2019 or \u2018I need to speak to a broker about this.\u2019 It can collect all the information before it gets to the broker. The chatbot can do quoting, until we get to a bind stage and then the person can speak to a broker at the end of that phase.\u201d\n\nThe Insurance Institute paper notes some barriers to A.I. use among brokers in Canada. \u201cBarriers to AI use in Canada include high investment costs, which could be prohibitive to small insurers and brokerages, as well as a general lack of trust in allowing machines to handle personal interactions with humans.\u201d\n\nBut Ketelaars thinks brokers can defray their costs by working with partner insurance companies and insurtechs already working in the A.I. space. Mitchell & Whale, for example, partnered with ProNav Technologies, an Ontario-based insurance tech company, to develop its chatbot.\n\nEDITOR\u2019S NOTE: A previous version of this story paraphrased Rick Orr as saying that brokers could save a fortune with A.I. Rick Orr intended to say insurers could save a fortune. CU regrets the error.", "output": "Insurance brokers are mulling the adoption of chatbots to interact with insurers. Chatbots are frequently used in a customer-service application, but could now be deployed to facilitate discussions between underwriters and brokers. Artificial intelligence-powered bots could be used, for example, to understand an insurer's compliance policies, allowing conversations between brokers and insurers to focus on details surrounding the nuances of clients and their desired coverage. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "RBS launches low-cost\u00a0robo-adviser service \n Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has officially applied the latest artificial intelligence-led technology to its wealth-management operations, as the state-backed lender is trying to gain an edge over rivals in the UK banking sector.\n\nRBS will run the newly launched robo-adviser service under its NatWest brand, the bank it bought more than 15 years ago.\n\nFor retail investors, the investment threshold for the new service has been set at \u00a3500 ($660), which is a low amount compared to the product limits of traditional banking wealth management.\n\nStarting Monday, NatWest branches will begin offering the automated online investment advice to over 5 million customers, RBS said on Friday. The product offers a cheaper option for this basic segment, and actually helps them trim charges for in-depth financial advice around topics such as tax and inheritance planning.\n\nRBS has already tested the waters in using robo advisers in a bid to improve the bank's financial results after having posted its longest streak of annual losses, which remains a blow to UK government plans to sell off the 70 percent public-owned bank.\n\nAdditionally, earlier this year the bank cut tens of investment advice positions and scaled back its service to clients that can invest at least $330,000, more than double the previous $130,000 threshold.\n\nWith banks in the UK still largely playing catch-up in embracing this digital technology, RBS is claiming to be the first among the nation\u2019s big lenders to unlock the potential of the robo-advisers, which are being adopted rapidly by the wealth management industry worldwide.\n\nPaolo Galvani, co-founder and CEO of Moneyfarm, a robo-advisor provider and one of Europe's biggest digital wealth managers, commented on the news: \u201cThe recent surge of online offerings from traditional wealth managers demonstrates the rise of robo-advisers, which the industry can no longer ignore. However, it\u2019s crucial that digital solutions continue to be complemented by professional and human advice, which is not often the case. Moneyfarm provides all clients with over-the-phone access to Investment Consultants who can provide practical advice on the product and in-depth information on an individual\u2019s investment.\u201d", "output": "Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has introduced a robo-advice platform with a minimum investment of \u00a3500 ($663). The platform will reportedly be rolled out via RBS's NatWest brand. The move came after RBS did away with a large number of wealth advice positions earlier this year. It's estimated more than five million customers will have access to the new platform. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI may add $1.2tn\u00a0to global financial services by 2035: Accenture \n According to Accenture research, the financial services industry is now the third most impacted by productivity gains achieved with the implementation of AI, behind only the media and telecoms, and manufacturing sectors", "output": "The adoption of artificial intelligence could add $1.2tn\u00a0to the global financial services industry by 2035, according to a report from Accenture. The report also notes that financial services, as a sector, is the third largest beneficiary of AI developments. Media and telecommunications, as well as manufacturing, are the top sectors benefiting from increased AI adoption. Developments in AI are likely to be a boon for financial service firms' customer service capabilities, while providing products such as micro-insurance is said to be an impossibility without an increased usage of the tech.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "American Century latest active manager to license ActiveShare ETF structure \n Factor Investing Strategy Briefing - Thursday 29th June 2023 - The Connaught, Mayfair. Please join us for our annual smart beta and factor investing event, featuring Goldman Sachs Asset Management, FlexShares, First Trust, MSCI and WisdomTree. Please register now if you would like to attend.\n\nAmerican Century Investments has entered into an agreement with Precidian Investments to license the firm\u2019s ActiveShares methodology in support of the potential launch of actively-managed, semi-transparent ETFs. The Precidian model allows ETF issuers to deliver actively-managed investment strategies in an ETF vehicle without disclosing holdings on a daily basis.\n\nWhile most passive and active ETFs today require daily portfolio disclosure, which exposes active managers\u2019 investment ideas to other investors, the ActiveShares approach masks an ETF\u2019s holdings by inserting a blind trust, known as a \u2018confidential account\u2019, between the fund and its authorized participants.\n\nNormally, authorized participants are entitled to purchase and redeem large blocks of ETF shares from an ETF in exchange for baskets of securities and cash that are acceptable to the fund managers. All other market participants trade ETF shares on a secondary basis. As with an ordinary ETF, the current valuation of the underlying portfolio would be disseminated to the market, and arbitrageurs would be able to compare this indicative value, which is to be updated each second and verified by a second pricing vendor, to the quoted price of the ETF shares.\n\nActiveShares differs, however, in that authorized participants would not be able to calculate their own indicative value, since the creation basket will only be disclosed to a representative (a custodial bank) that will manage the confidential account. To create ActiveShares for an authorized participant, the custodian would accept the required consideration and assemble a creation basket, which it would contribute to the fund for new ETF shares in the confidential account. It would then distribute the ETFs to the authorized participant.\n\nAmerican Century is the latest asset manager to express interest in the structure \u2013 other interested parties include JPMorgan Chase, BlackRock, Capital Research, Nationwide, as well as Legg Mason affiliates ClearBridge and Royce. Precidian is still seeking approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to allow for the use of ActiveShares by asset managers.\n\nAmerican Century has been laying the foundation for its entry into the ETF marketplace, and is reportedly considering other avenues of entry other than ActiveShares. In October, the firm filed registration statements for two transparent ETFs: an index-based value ETF and an actively-managed diversified corporate bond ETF. The firm anticipates a mid-January effective date for both funds, subject to SEC approval.\n\nEdward Rosenberg, senior vice president and head of ETFs for American Century, commented: \u201cAs we build out American Century\u2019s ETF product suite, our long-term plan is to leverage our established active-management capabilities to bring clients our investment strategies in an ETF format, which aligns with certain investors\u2019 preferences. While waiting for SEC approval of the ActiveShares methodology, we are proceeding with plans to launch other transparent ETFs that are informed by decades of experience and apply our unique insights to solve common investment problems and help investors achieve their goals.\u201d", "output": "American Century has become the latest active manager to license an exchange-traded fund structure developed by Precidian Investments. The structure, dubbed ActiveShares, is said to be \"semi-transparent\", meaning managers don't have to disclose holdings on a daily basis, as is the case with active ETFs currently in the market. Precidian is yet to receive regulatory approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission for ActiveShares. American Century follows the likes of JPMorgan, BlackRock and Legg Mason in signing up to license the active ETF structure.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fintech Intrinio partners with Nasdaq for data offering \n The fintech startup Intrinio has partnered with Nasdaq to include the exchange\u2019s real-time data feeds in its financial data marketplace.\n\nIt\u2019s the latest step in an evolution for Intrinio, which aims to \u201cdemocratize all types of data,\u201d CEO and co-founder Rachel Carpenter said.\n\nIntrinio currently offers application programming interfaces for 150 different types of financial data, including S&P Dow Jones index data, U.S. public company financials and feeds from other stock exchanges.\n\nClients \u2014 investors, algorithmic traders, hedge funds and banks \u2014 can select which data feeds they want in order to track companies, to supply their algorithmic trading programs or to do other things.\n\n\u201cTens of thousands of users now are coming to us because we have the most affordable a la carte data feeds on the market,\u201d Carpenter said. Several customers asked for the Nasdaq feed.\n\nThe original idea behind Intrinio was to bring Warren Buffett\u2019s investment ideas to life in software. Carpenter\u2019s co-founder, Joey French, whom she met in college, was a big fan of Buffett.\n\n\u201cWe felt that valuation was an industry ripe for disruption,\u201d Carpenter said. \u201cIt costs a lot of money to run a valuation when it could be automated.\u201d\n\nThey taught themselves how to program and developed an app for the valuation industry. It ended up being highly data intensive, screen-scraping stock prices and fundamentals data from 10,000 sites including Yahoo Finance and company web pages.\n\n\u201cWhen we had it all built, we said, we can\u2019t sell this thing without legitimately purchasing the data,\u201d Carpenter said. \u201cWe were very naive at that point in time. We called all the big data vendors, and we got quoted more than $50,000 for the data we needed. We were just fintech entrepreneurs \u2014 imagine how discouraged we were. Discouraged doesn\u2019t cut it. We were angry.\u201d\n\nIt was too early in the company\u2019s life to raise money, so they set about solving their own problem.\n\n\u201cWe found financial data to be reserved for the elite, for the big institutional investors, and not available to the masses,\u201d Carpenter said.\n\nThey built machine learning technology for a data marketplace and found partners from whom they could obtain data streams for a reasonable price.\n\nUnder the latest agreement with Nasdaq, the exchange streams raw, unfiltered data to Quodd, another partner. Quodd normalizes the data and built a WebSocket infrastructure that allows communication over a single transmission control protocol connection to serve up the data.\n\n\u201cWe believe WebSockets are the way of the future, a simple way to have two-way communications,\u201d Carpenter said. \u201cThey\u2019re easy to get up and running which, true to our mission, will help put this data in more hands faster. With just three lines of code, you can access the data.\u201d\n\nIndividuals can consume any data on Intrinio\u2019s marketplace for $75 a month; companies pay a varying rate.\n\nAlthough her media relations person embraces the term \u201cBloomberg killer\u201d to describe the company, Carpenter does not.\n\n\u201cWe have clients that leverage our data to build apps that may be similar to what you have on a Bloomberg [terminal],\u201d she said. \u201cBut our mission is just to make raw data feeds available.\u201d", "output": "Data-focused fintech Intrinio has partnered with Nasdaq to condense the exchange's data into a feed which corporations and individuals can purchase. Intrinio says its clients range from investors, algorithmic traders and banks. Clients use the data feeds for a variety of reasons, including tracking individual companies and feeding automated trading systems. Individuals can gain access to Intrinio's data feeds for $75 a month. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Two Sigma to turn to outside fundraising for PE fund \n Two Sigma Planning to Raise Outside Money for Private-Equity Investments\n\nBy Juliet Chung\n\nTwo Sigma Investments LP is preparing to raise outside money for its private-equity strategy, which has for years invested only partners\u2019 money, according to people familiar with the matter.\n\nThe New York quantitative hedge-fund firm is spinning off its Two Sigma Private Investments into a business called Sightway Capital and hopes to register it with the Securities and Exchange Commission in January, according to people familiar with the matter. It is unclear how much money the unit currently manages and how much outside money it plans to raise.\n\nSightway will continue to focus on illiquid investments, said a person familiar with the venture, including in credit, special situations, real estate and natural resources. A website for Sightway showcases video of an oil rig, farming equipment, a train, a plane and medical equipment. Wray Thorn will continue to lead the business.\n\n\u201cWhile a wide and growing number of markets and asset classes globally lend themselves to algorithmic and systematic approaches, a number of primarily illiquid investment in private assets still require a different approach,\u201d wrote Sightway\u2019s new chief of strategy and capital development, Susan Soh, in an email viewed by The Wall Street Journal.\n\nSightway\u2019s approach, she wrote, \u201cfocuses on partnering with experienced industry operators and strategic partners to build business platforms in targeted industries, helping these businesses as they seek to grow over time.\u201d\n\nTwo Sigma was founded in 2001 by a computer scientist, David Siegel, and a mathematician, John Overdeck, who had both worked at hedge funds including the D.E. Shaw Group. The firm reached $50 billion in assets under management in October.\n\nThe Sightway effort marks a continued expansion of its business from quantitative investing. Last year Two Sigma joined with American International Group Inc. and Hamilton Insurance Group Ltd. to provide an automated, online analytical system to issue policies in minutes to smaller businesses like beauty parlors and medical offices. Early this year, a Two Sigma affiliate agreed to work with AIG on an insurance platform. The firm also has a venture arm that invests internal money.\n\nA person familiar with Two Sigma said the firm continues to be focused on its hedge funds.\n\nLeslie Scism contributed to this article.\n\nWrite to Juliet Chung at juliet.chung@wsj.com", "output": "After previously only investing partners' money, Two Sigma is turning to external clients to raise investment for its private equity offering. The move is part of the firm's spinning out of its private equity business, which will go by the name\u00a0Sightway Capital. The firm's quantitative focus within its hedge fund strategies has seen it grow its assets significantly, now ranking among the largest quant hedge funds globally. The firm has also been expanding into the insurance space, providing coverage for small and medium-sized businesses through a partnership with AIG.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK minister lobbied on behalf of BP, Premier Oil and Shell \n Britain successfully lobbied Brazil on behalf of BP and Shell to address the oil giants\u2019 concerns over Brazilian taxation, environmental regulation and rules on using local firms, government documents reveal.\n\nThe UK\u2019s trade minister travelled to Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and Sa\u0303o Paulo in March for a visit with a \u201cheavy focus\u201d on hydrocarbons, to help British energy, mining and water companies win business in Brazil.\n\nGreg Hands met with Paulo Pedrosa, Brazilian deputy minister for mines and energy, and \u201cdirectly\u201d raised the concerns of UK-based oil firms Shell, BP and Premier Oil over \u201ctaxation and environmental licensing\u201d.\n\nPedrosa said he was pressing his counterparts in the Brazilian government on the issues, according to a British diplomatic telegram obtained by Greenpeace.\n\nThe Department for International Trade (DIT) initially released an unredacted version of the telegram under freedom of information rules to Greenpeace\u2019s investigative unit, Unearthed, with sensitive passages highlighted. Shortly after, the department issued a second version of the document, with the same passages redacted.\n\nGreenpeace accused the department of acting as a \u201clobbying arm of the fossil fuel industry\u201d.\n\nThe UK government denies it was lobbying to weaken the environmental licensing regime, although the lobbying drive appears to have borne fruit. In August, Brazil proposed a multibillion-dollar tax relief plan for offshore drilling, and in October BP and Shell won the bulk of deep-water drilling licenses in a government auction.\n\nRebecca Newsom, senior political adviser at Greenpeace, said: \u201cThis is a double embarrassment for the UK government. Liam Fox\u2019s trade minister has been lobbying the Brazilian government over a huge oil project that would undermine the climate efforts Britain made at the UN summit in Bonn.\n\n\u201cIf that wasn\u2019t bad enough, Fox\u2019s department tried to cover it up and hide its actions from the public, but failed comically.\u201d\n\nThe document also reveals that the UK pressured Brazil to relax its requirements for oil and gas operators to use a certain amount of Brazilian staff and supply chain companies.\n\nBritish diplomats described the weakening of the so-called local content requirements as a \u201cprincipal objective\u201d because BP, Shell and Premier Oil would be \u201cdirect British beneficiaries\u201d of the changes.\n\nThe UK\u2019s drive to soften the requirements continued on the day after the meeting between Hands and Pedrosa, with a senior DIT official leading a seminar on the subject at the headquarters of Brazil\u2019s oil and gas regulator.\n\nThe UK government has come under fire in the past for providing hundreds of millions of pounds of support for Brazil\u2019s scandal-hit state oil firm Petrobras via the UK\u2019s credit export agency.\n\nThe UK\u2019s continued oil lobbying efforts in Brazil emerged days after British ministers were touting the UK\u2019s leadership on cutting carbon emissions at international climate talks in Bonn.\n\nClaire Perry, the climate change minister, told the summit: \u201cwe are taking our commitments under the Paris agreement very seriously and we are taking action.\u201d\n\nA DIT spokesman said: \u201cDIT is responsible for encouraging international investment opportunities for UK businesses, whilst respecting fully local and international environmental standards. The UK oil and gas industry and supply chain supports thousands of jobs and provides \u00a319bn in goods exports alone.\n\n\u201cHowever, it is absolutely not true that our ministers lobbied to loosen environmental restrictions in Brazil \u2013 the meeting was about improving the environmental licensing process, ensuring a level playing field for both domestic and foreign companies, and in particular helping to speed up the licensing process and make it more transparent, which in turn will protect environmental standards.\u201d", "output": "A UK trade minister successfully lobbied for BP, Premier Oil and Shell in order to address the companies\u2019 concerns about environmental regulation, taxation and rules governing use of local firms in Brazil, according to a diplomatic telegram obtained by Greenpeace. Greg Hands travelled to Brazil in March to support efforts by UK firms to win business in the South American country. Hands \u201cdirectly\u201d raised the firms' concerns with Brazil\u2019s deputy minister for mines and energy, Paulo Pedrosa. Greenpeace has accused the UK Department for International Trade of operating as a \u201clobbying arm of the fossil fuel industry\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK could introduce single-use plastic tax \n The chancellor, Philip Hammond, will announce in next week\u2019s budget a \u201ccall for evidence\u201d on how taxes or other charges on single-use plastics such as takeaway cartons and packaging could reduce the impact of discarded waste on marine and bird life, the Treasury has said.\n\nThe commitment was welcomed by environmental and wildlife groups, though they stressed that any eventual measures would need to be ambitious and coordinated.\n\nAn estimated 12m tonnes of plastic enters the oceans each year, and residues are routinely found in fish, sea birds and marine mammals. This week it emerged that plastics had been discovered even in creatures living seven miles beneath the sea. The introduction just over two years ago of a 5p charge on single-use plastic bags led to an 85% reduction in their use inside six months.\n\nSeparately, the environment department is seeking evidence on how to reduce the dumping of takeaway drinks containers such as coffee cups through measures such as a deposit return scheme.\n\nAnnouncing the move on plastics, the Treasury cited statistics saying more than a million birds and 100,000 sea mammals and turtles die each year from eating or getting tangled in plastic waste.\n\nThe BBC series Blue Planet II has highlighted the scale of plastic debris in the oceans. In the episode to be broadcast this Sunday, albatrosses try to feed plastic to their young, and a pilot whale carries her dead calf with her for days in mourning. Scientists working with the programme believed the mother\u2019s milk was made poisonous by pollution.\n\nThe call for evidence will begin in the new year and will take into account the findings of the consultation on drinks containers.\n\nTisha Brown, an oceans campaigner for Greenpeace UK, said the decades-long use of almost indestructible materials to make single-use products \u201cwas bound to lead to problems, and we\u2019re starting to discover how big those problems are\u201d.\n\n\n\nShe said: \u201cOcean plastic pollution is a global emergency, it is everywhere from the Arctic Ocean at top of the world to the Marianas trench at the bottom of the Pacific. It\u2019s in whales, turtles and 90% of sea birds, and it\u2019s been found in our salt, our tap water and even our beer.\n\n\u201cThe Treasury\u2019s announcement is only a statement of intent, but it recognises the significance of the problem and the urgent need for a solution. There is a long way to go, but hopefully this is the beginning of the end for single-use plastic.\u201d\n\n\n\nJeff Knott, head of nature policy for the RSPB, noted how Blue Planet was \u201cseeing attention turned to the manmade threats the marine world faces\u201d.\n\nHe said: \u201cSadly our marine life is in trouble. Through the mismanagement of our waters with fishing, pollution and littering we are seeing declines in many important marine species as well as those that depend on them.\n\n\u201cA tax on single-use plastics is a welcome move, but we must also recognise more needs to be done to tackle the often less visible threats.\u201d\n\nAfter the Brexit vote, Knott said, the UK had \u201ca strong interest in demonstrating global leadership in tackling this international problem that impacts not just on our shores and our overseas territories but every coastline around the world. However, this must be part of a bigger package of measures that also looks at overfishing, lack of protection, climate change and pollution.\u201d\n\nMike Barrett, director of science and policy for the wildlife charity WWF, said: \u201cToo often birds, fish, turtles and whales are found dead having eaten plastic. Plastic is suffocating our seas.\n\n\u201cAny action to tackle single-use plastic is a good thing, but we must ensure any action is truly ambitious if we want to make the real difference needed to help save the planet.\u201d", "output": "A \u201ccall for evidence\u201d on the environmental impact of taxes and charges on single-use plastics will be announced in the UK\u2019s budget on Wednesday, according to a statement from the country\u2019s Treasury. Approximately 12 million tonnes of plastic enter the world\u2019s oceans each year, causing over a million birds and 100,000 sea mammals and turtles to die. The call for evidence will start in early 2018. It will consider findings from a separate consultation by the environment department on measures including deposit return schemes aimed at reducing waste from disposable drinks containers such as coffee cups."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple Watch uses AI to predict\u00a0high blood pressure, sleep apnea \n The world\u2019s most valuable company crammed a lot into the tablespoon-sized volume of an Apple Watch. There\u2019s GPS, a heart-rate sensor, cellular connectivity, and computing resources that not long ago would have filled a desk-dwelling beige box. The wonder gadget doesn\u2019t have a sphygmomanometer for measuring blood pressure or polysomnographic equipment found in a sleep lab---but thanks to machine learning, it might be able to help with their work.\n\nResearch presented at the American Heart Association meeting in Anaheim Monday claims that, when paired with the right machine-learning algorithms, the Apple Watch\u2019s heart-rate sensor and step counter can make a fair prediction of whether a person has high blood pressure or sleep apnea, in which breathing stops and starts repeatedly through the night. Both are common---and commonly undiagnosed---conditions associated with life-threatening problems, including stroke and heart attack.\n\nThe new study adds to evidence that the right algorithms might transform the Apple Watch from personal trainer to personal physician. Apple said in September that it is working on a study with Stanford that will test whether the gadget can detect atrial fibrillation, or irregular heartbeat, which can lead to stroke or heart failure. A study independent of Apple presented in May has already suggested the answer is yes. And health insurer Aetna said last week that it is partnering with Apple to give Apple Watches to members to try to reduce health costs.\n\nThe Apple Watch\u2019s potential to predict high blood pressure and sleep apnea was revealed by a collaboration between University of California San Francisco and a startup called Cardiogram. The company offers an app for organizing heart-rate data from an Apple Watch, and other devices with heart-rate sensors. UCSF provided data from more than 6,000 Apple Watch users enrolled in a study on mobile health. Cardiogram\u2019s founders drew on their previous experience as Google employees, working on speech recognition for Android phones and the Google Assistant.\n\nCardiogram\u2019s engineers took the kind of artificial neural networks that Google and others use to turn our speech into text and adapted them to interpret heart-rate and step count data. (Like speech, they are signals that vary over time.) The system, dubbed DeepHeart, is given strings of heart-rate and step data from multiple people, and information about their health conditions. In May, the company and UCSF released results showing that DeepHeart could figure out how to predict atrial fibrillation from a person's Apple Watch data. The study presented Monday shows that with one week of data on a wearer, the algorithms can predict hypertension with roughly 80 percent accuracy, and sleep apnea with about 90 percent accuracy.\n\nDoctors don\u2019t---and probably couldn\u2019t---diagnose high blood pressure or sleep apnea just by eyeballing a week\u2019s worth of data from your smartwatch. They diagnose hypertension by putting that familiar cuff on your arm. Sleep apnea requires a visit to a sleep clinic, or use of home monitoring equipment. So how do Cardiogram\u2019s algorithms make good guesses without directly measuring a person's blood pressure or breathing? We only sort of know.\n\nBreathing, heart rate, and blood pressure are all connected to our autonomic nervous system, which regulates the unconscious bodily functions that keep us alive. Past research has shown how hypertension and sleep apnea alter the dynamics of heart rate. For example, heart rate variability is lower in people with sleep apnea. But Brandon Ballinger, a Cardiogram cofounder, admits that he doesn\u2019t know all the patterns in a person's heart rate that his algorithms use to make predictions. \u201cThey\u2019re kind of a foreign form of intelligence,\u201d says Ballinger.\n\nBallinger says that, with the right testing, that doesn't prevent his alien intelligence from having business potential. Cardiogram\u2019s app for Apple Watch and other devices is free today. But the startup\u2019s business plan is to one day add features that advise a user to be checked for atrial fibrillation, high blood pressure, or sleep apnea. To stay on the right side of the FDA, the app would have to advise a person to get tested, and not suggest the person has a particular condition. Cardiogram would make money by offering to ship the necessary equipment for a home test, and billing a person's health insurer. The app could also provide advice after a diagnosis, or link people to medical practitioners or health coaches, Ballinger says. He predicts some of these features will appear within months.", "output": "Health start-up Cardiogram has partnered with the University of California San Francisco on a study that demonstrated that, in concert with the right algorithms, an Apple Watch can predict hypertension and sleep apnea with 80% and 90% accuracy, respectively. To develop the DeepHeart system, Cardiogram adapted artificial neural networks normally used to process speech into text\u00a0to analyse heart-rate and step data from more than 6,000 Apple Watch users. Cardiogram\u2019s heart-rate app is currently free, but the company said revenues could come from shipping home tests or offering post-diagnosis support.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Speechmatics' AI learns a new language in one week \n Benedikt von Thngen, CEO at Speechmatics in Cambridge . Picture: Keith Heppell\n\nWe talk to CEO Benedikt von Th\u00fcngen as firm unveils machine learning technology called Automatic Linguist.\n\nHow Speechmatics has added more languages to its portfolio\n\nIt hopes one day to master all 7,000 languages in the world.\n\nAnd Speechmatics is off to a good start, having deployed its artificial intelligence technology on 28 so far, enabling accurate speech-to-text transcription for a host of purposes.\n\nYesterday, the Cambridge company officially launched Automatic Linguist (AL), its machine learning platform that enables it to tackle a new language in as little as a week.\n\nPurpose-built from the ground up using technology developed at the University of Cambridge, the platform recognises patterns in language and applies them to each new build.\n\nDr Tony Robinson at Speechmatics. Picture: Keith Heppell\n\nChallenged by a major corporate client with learning Hindi in two weeks, Speechmatics delivered a production-ready system that, according to its test, makes 23 per cent fewer errors than the market leader.\n\nBenedikt von Th\u00fcngen, CEO at Speechmatics, told the Cambridge Independent: \u201cHindi was surprisingly easy. We discovered it is very similar to English in pronunciation, so we were able to use a process called adaptation. It learned from the different data sets we have.\n\n\u201cEach language has interesting aspects. If you take Korean, Turkish, Finnish or German, they use agglutination \u2013 where words are added together to form new words. That was a fun challenge to solve\u2026\n\n\u201cYou have tonal languages, like Vietnamese and Mandarin and its variations, which was another fun challenge. But it\u2019s a matter of teaching the system to deal with it and that opens up a new swathe of languages.\u201d\n\nSpeechmatics was joint winner in the Artificial Intelligence scale-up category with Audio Analytic at the Cambridge Independents Entrepreneurial Science and Technology Awards. Picture: Keith Heppell\n\nThe traditional route for enabling speech recognition of a language involved laborious, expensive manual processes, in which vast amounts of data was collated and cleansed by experts, creating a one-off system. It meant it was economical to cover only the most widely-spoken languages.\n\nBut using decades of research in neural networks, developed from Cambridge PhD work by Dr Tony Robinson, who is now CTO at the company, Speechmatics can learn the initial base of a language in less than a day from relatively little data by recognising fundamental sounds and grammatical structures.\n\nOne major use of the software is providing accurate real-time closed captioning for TV, and it is adding a custom dictionary to cater for specialist languages \u2013 football players\u2019 names, for example.\n\nMeetings and recordings can be transcribed with the platform and Benedikt said financial institutions can use the technology for call recording to demonstrate compliance or to audit for PPI mis-selling.\n\nHe predicted: \u201cVoice will very quickly become the main mechanism to interact with devices. We are seeing the really early adoption of that with Amazon Alexa, Siri and Google Voice, which is phenomenal but it\u2019s still very one-dimensional.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll move more into an intuitive world and we are going to get to much more conversational interfaces.\u201d\n\nBenedikt says: \u201cOur USPs are accuracy, operational performance \u2013 memory footprint and speed \u2013 the breadth of language coverage and speed with which we offer a new language, and the speed at which we can add new features.\u201d\n\nA white paper from the firm says: \u201cOur eventual aim is to have a language pack for all the world\u2019s languages. This is an ambitious aim \u2013 it is estimated there are around 7,000 living languages at present, and we hope to cover them all one day.\u201d\n\nBenedikt conceded that was a tall order, given that most of those are barely documented, but said Speechmatics would look first to get to the milestone of 100 and then 1,000.\n\nLittle wonder the Kirkwood Road-based company, which jointly won the AI scale-up category of the Cambridge Independent\u2019s Entrepreneurial Science and Technology Awards in September, is looking to double its staff of 39 over the next 12 months.", "output": "Cambridge company Speechmatics has launched an artificial intelligence (AI) capable of learning a new language in seven days. The software uses fundamental sounds and grammatical structures to understand a language, and can learn the basics in less than a day. The software is currently used for closed captions on TV, while future uses could include recording calls to demonstrate compliance within financial institutions. CEO Benedikt von Th\u00fcngen said the current adoption of voice-activated devices was the start of a wider trend toward \"much more conversational interfaces\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI start-up Bytedance buys social music app Musical.ly for $800m \n Bytedance, an AI-enhanced content platform, is acquiring Musical.ly, maker of a social music app, in a deal that has been estimated at more than $800 million.\n\n\u201cUpon closing of the transaction, Musical.ly will continue to operate as an independent platform, integrating Bytedance\u2019s global leading AI technology and leveraging its reach in China and key markets across Asia to enhance Musical.ly\u2019s offering to users, creators, and partners,\u201d the acquirer said.\n\nThe transaction is expected to close before the end of November. Musical.ly\u2019s co-founders Louis Yang and Alex Zhu and their team will join Bytedance and continue to run the app.\n\nYiming Zhang, founder and CEO of Bytedance, said: \u201cWe see immediate and exciting opportunities to build on the obvious synergy with our business. By integrating Musical.ly\u2019s global reach with Bytedance\u2019s massive user base in China and key Asian markets we are creating a significant global platform for our content creators and brands to engage with new markets. At the same time, our global-leading AI technology will help Musical.ly to accelerate their incredible pace of innovation in mobile video creation.\u201d\n\nMusical.ly was launched in October 2014, and has a \u201cstrong reach\u201d across the US, Europe, South America and India.\n\nBytedance was founded in 2012. In 2016, it established an AI Lab which builds on the company\u2019s datasets to develop innovations in AI.\n\nBytedance said its flagship product, Toutiao, is the largest AI-powered content platform in China, with more than 120 million daily active users.\n\nMusical.ly did not specify how many users it has, but said \u201cevery day, millions of people use Musical.ly to express themselves\u201d, and that the app has hit number one in the iOS app store for free apps in more than 20 countries.\n\nAccording to Billboard, Musical.ly has 200 million users.\n\nThe report said ByteDance is considered one of China\u2019s \u201chottest startups\u201d and so far has kept its independence from the country\u2019s three tech giants: Tencent, Baidu and Alibaba.", "output": "Chinese start-up Bytedance is set to acquire social music app maker Musical.ly in a deal thought to be worth more than $800m. The purchase will see Bytedance integrate its artificial intelligence (AI) technology and use its presence in Chinese and Asian markets to help with Musical.ly's expansion. The target company will continue to operate as an independent business, with co-founders Louis Yang and Alex Zhu at the helm. The deal is set to close before the end of the month.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Eni to construct 20 MW solar facility in Ghana \n Italian oil and gas major Eni SpA (BIT:ENI) earlier this month unveiled plans for the construction of a 20-MW solar park in Ghana\u2019s Northern Region.\n\nThe company announced its intentions during a meeting between the president of Ghana Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Eni\u2019s CEO Claudio Descalzi that aimed to discuss Eni's activities in the West African country. According to a company statement, the photovoltaic (PV) facility will be situated in the region\u2019s capital city of Tamale.\n\nMeanwhile, Eni is also conducting a feasibility study on a project for a floating solar park in the Volta basin, details of which are not available. The Italian group said the two PV schemes will be implemented in line of Ghana\u2019s goal of achieving a 10% renewables share by 2020 and Eni\u2019s vision to add more renewables to its traditional energy business.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Italian energy company Eni is to build a 20 MW solar facility in Ghana. The photovoltaic (PV) project will be constructed in Tamale, the capital city of the country's Northern region. Eni is also carrying out a feasibility study on a possible floating solar park on the Volta basin. Both projects will contribute to Ghana's target of a 10% renewables share by 2020."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian solar companies raise $4.2bn through September of 2017 \n Indian solar companies managed to raise USD 4.2 billion (EUR 3.6bn) in financing in the first three quarters of 2017, including venture capital/private equity (VC/PE), debt financing, and public market financing.\n\nThe total was calculated by consultancy Mercom Capital Group and compares to USD 2 billion raised in the same period of 2016. The nine-month corporate funding secured by solar firms in India was equal to almost 34% of the global total on the back of \u201crobust\u201d financing activity. Meanwhile, Indian companies contributed 60% of the global VC and PE funding in the solar sector.\n\nThe top VC deal was a USD-100-million capital injection secured by Indian rooftop solar developer CleanMax Solar from New York-based buyout firm Warburg Pincus. The list of the biggest deals in the past months is available at https://mercomindia.com/financing-activity-indian-solar-sector/.\n\nMercom said there was nearly 7 GW of solar power capacity in India as of the end of September.\n\n(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.857)\n\n(INR 10 = USD 0.153/EUR 0.131)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Indian solar firms raised $4.2bn between January and September this year, according to consultancy Mercom Capital Group. The corporate funding was equivalent to almost 34% of the worldwide total thanks to \"robust\" financing activity, it said. The investment included venture capital, private equity, public market and debt financing and was more than double the $2bn raised during the same period in 2016."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Enel to bid in Mexico's power auction following massive fundraise \n UPDATE: The official results are in, and revealed Enel's low-cost bid was for wind -- not solar. Preliminary results did not specify technologies. Regrettably, there are errors in the story below as a result. We've retained this story in the interest of transparency. GTM reported on the final results of Mexico's latest energy auction here.\n\nPreliminary results from Mexico\u2019s latest energy auction have broken the lower boundary for solar costs, following a trend seen in other auctions around the world.\n\nThe Mexican government this month announced the average price achieved in its third long-term auction of 2017 was $20.57 per megawatt-hour, which it said is \u201cone of the lowest prices achieved internationally.\u201d\n\nA breakdown of the winning bids, published by Electrek, shows Italian developer Enel pitching two solar lots at $17.70 per megawatt-hour, or just 1.77 cents per kilowatt-hour -- the lowest bid achieved anywhere in the world so far. Two years ago, the U.S. solar sector was cheering projects priced below 4 cents per kilowatt-hour.\n\nThe record-low rate comes hot on the heels of an auction in Chile that saw Enel bidding $21.48 per megawatt-hour of solar power on one sub-block of capacity.\n\nIt was the lowest price for solar in the whole of Latin America, but not quite as cheap as bids achieved in the Middle East not long before.\n\nIn October, a tender for 300 megawatts of solar power in Saudi Arabia saw Abu Dhabi developer Masdar offering a price of $17.86 per megawatt-hour, the lowest cost on the planet up until Mexico\u2019s results this month.\n\nWind power also hit an eye-poppingly low price point in Mexico, coming in at $22 per megawatt-hour for a 118-megawatt project proposed by Engie Wind. \u201cWind energy\u2019s race to the bottom may have just ended in Mexico,\u201d observed MAKE Consulting partner Dan Shreve in a blog post.\n\nThe price was almost half of the lowest bid for wind energy in Mexico last year, belonging to Enel, which MAKE attributed to a combination of low project internal rates of return, a low landed cost of turbines, and extremely low operational expenses.\n\nTo make this year\u2019s wind costs work, said Shreve, Engie would need to gain access to new turbine technology at a favorable price and expect to be able to run it for at least 25 or 30 years instead of the more typical 20. This leaves Engie exposed to significant risks, however.\n\nFirst, there is no guarantee that newer turbines will be able to last longer.\n\nSecond, the power-purchase agreements (PPAs) on offer are only for a term of 15 years, although Shreve noted that a transition to higher-priced wholesale markets might actually help project economics after the PPAs run out.\n\nDespite this, Engie will probably be looking at a project internal rate of return of around 5 percent, compared to the 7.5 percent that Enel might have been able to make from its market-leading pitch last year.\n\n\u201cIt means only the biggest players stand a chance in these new auction systems,\u201d Shreve concluded. \u201cIn order to take on both market and technical risks, the company must have substantial capital and credit.\u201d\n\nGTM Research Americas solar analyst Manan Parikh confirmed the same pattern for solar. \u201cMost of the developers that are in there are major developers,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen them before, either in Mexico or in the broader region. I don\u2019t think there are any surprises in who is winning.\u201d\n\nMexico\u2019s National Energy Control Center (Centro Nacional de Control de Energ\u00eda) is due to confirm the auction results this week. For now, the government is claiming the exercise will attract almost $2.4 billion in investment.\n\nMexico auctioned off 5.49 million megawatt-hours of energy, 593 megawatts a year of power capacity, and 5.95 million clean energy certificates. Solar was the big winner, taking 55.4 percent of the energy and 58.3 percent of the certificates on offer.\n\nSolar and wind also took around 2 percent and 14 percent, respectively, of the power capacity being auctioned, with the rest going to gas.\n\nThe average energy pricing represents an almost 66 percent savings on the maximum price of $60 per megawatt-hour set by the three offtakers in the auction: the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission (Comisi\u00f3n Federal de Electricidad or CFE), Iberdrola and Cemex.\n\n\u201cThe clean energy acquired in this auction is equal to approximately 1.78 percent of the annual electricity generation in Mexico,\u201d said the government. \u201cThis result is an important addition toward meeting the aim of generating 35 percent of electrical energy in Mexico from clean sources by the year 2024.\n\n***\n\nJoin GTM February 13-14 in Mexico City for an in-depth look at the country's rapidly expanding solar market. Solar Summit Mexico will leverage GTM Research\u2019s expertise in Mexico to ensure your company is uniquely positioned to capture specific opportunities while appropriately managing regulatory, political and market risks. Find out more here.\n\nAn earlier version of this article used the incorrect monetary term for Enel's solar bid. The bid came in at 1.77 cents per kilowatt-hour, not $1.77 per kilowatt-hour. We regret the error.", "output": "The preliminary results of Mexico's third long-term power auction saw an average price of $20.57 per MWh, including clean energy certificates, more than 38% lower than the last auction just over a year ago. Solar photovoltaic took up more than 55% of power supply contracts, compared to 44.65% of wind, while total capacity was 2,562 MW. This round also saw external buyers participate in tenders for the first time, as Iberdrola and Menkent went up against the state-owned Comision Federal de Electricidad, while Enel was among the provisional winners."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mexican solar set to be cheapest electricity in the world \n I\u2019ve made a mistake \u2013 I\u2019m sorry. In my haste and excitement to see show off solar power \u2013 I\u2019ve given it undue credit. Wind Power got these bids and I initially misinterpreted a piece of ambiguous information. While solar power did amazingly get a bid at 1.97\u00a2 \u2013 it did not break below the recently set Saudi Record. Anything written in this article hereafter has been updated.\n\nPer a press release from the Centro Nacional de Control de Energ\u00eda (Cenace) of Mexico, the department received bids for 3TWh of solar wind electricity, with the lowest bids being 1.77\u00a2/kWh coming from Italian multinational ENEL Green Power.\n\nThis record low price of green electricity on earth, just beats out the 1.79\u00a2/kWh from Saudi Arabia, and is part of a pattern marching toward 1\u00a2/kWh bids that are coming in 2019 (or sooner).\n\nMexico\u2019s Department of Energy along with Cenace announced the results of the country\u2019s \u2018Third Long Term Auction.\u2019 Fifteen bids were accepted from eight wind and solar power companies. ENGIE bid as Solar and Wind companies, Mitsui alongside Trina, ENEL and Canadian Solar were some of the better known names.\n\nENEL won bids on four projects total with tariffs of 1.77\u00a2, 1.77\u00a2, 1.94\u00a2 and 1.80\u00a2/kWh. The projects were sized 167MW, 122MW, 277MW and 116MW, respectively \u2013 totaling 682MW total. These four bids are the two lowest, and 4th/5th lowest bids ever for solar power projects.\n\nThe average bid price of all 5.5TWh of power of wind and solar, totalling 2.3GW of capacity, was 2.05\u00a2/kWh.\n\nThese projects are due to deliver power to the grid by 2020. The last two auctions, held last year, received average prices of 4.49\u00a2/kWh and 3.17\u00a2/kWh. More details on the bids will be released November 22nd.\n\nThe world has seen solar power fall from a record price of 8.3\u00a2/kWh in 2013 in the USA, to 5.84\u00a2/kWh in 2014 in the UAE, then 4.97\u00a2/kWh in Saudi Arabia in 2015 before settling at 2.42\u00a2/kWh in 2016. So far in 2017 we\u2019ve seen seven bids below 2016\u2019s record price. 2016 and prior data for this chart came from this CleanTechnica research.\n\nElectrek\u2019s Take\n\nSolar power (and wind) is fulfilling the potential that the dreamers of the world of the past foretold of.\n\nWhen the bids of 2.42\u00a2/kWh hit last summer in 2016, much of the world suggested this was a bottom that was unique and couldn\u2019t be passed without financial loss by the owners. When Saudi Arabia hit 1.79\u00a2/kWh just a few weeks back \u2013 the narrative was that these prices were impossible elsewhere in the world because nowhere else in the world has Saudi Arabian oil money, sunlight, and control of all levels of government.\n\nMexico\u2019s economic rating, like Chile\u2019s, is less than perfect. The S&P just increased Mexico to \u2018stable.\u2019 Moody\u2019s Investors Service rates Mexico\u2019s debt at A3 \u2013 one level above S&P\u2019s assessment \u2013 with a negative outlook. These ratings affect the rates that developers can borrow money at. These groups are definitely not getting the same interest rates that the Saudis give each other (if the Saudi\u2019s give any interest rates internally at all \u2013 look up Islamic Finance).\n\nI predict that in 2019 we\u2019re going to see 1\u00a2/kWh from a solar power project \u2013 and this low price will be primarily driven by increasing solar panel efficiencies. I am bullish that efficiency will drive an additional 0.7\u00a2/kWh out of solar power because right now we\u2019re seeing laboratory efficiencies increase from a current standard of 16-17% solar panel efficiency toward a leading edge solar cell at 23.45% by JinkoSolar. Depending on how that cell efficiency translates to a panel, that\u2019s an increase of up to 40% more efficiency based upon 16.5% solar panels. That means 40% less racking, 40% less labor laying our wiring and solar panels, 40% less maintenance and cleaning, 40% less land, etc.\n\nThis efficiency gain is in addition to other technological advances. Drones are lowering long-term costs, international finance has more trust in solar, inverters are getting smarter and cheaper, re-powering is extending plant lives and companies are learning how to manage their projects better.\n\nSoon we\u2019re going to have to confront new questions as solar power costs less than anything seriously considered before, and will offer new opportunities never thought of before. What will we do with all of this cheap energy? How do we move from fossil systems toward solar sources without destroying the social fabric of those dependent on revenue from gas and coal? How will our post scarcity society continue to advance? It\u2019s going to be more difficult to live up to the potentials of solar and \u2018free energy\u2019 than we think.\n\nConsidering residential solar? Understand Solar will connect you with local contractors. Tweet me to pick apart quote.\n\nFor more electric vehicle, autonomous transport and clean technology news, make sure to follow us on Twitter, Newsletter, RSS or Facebook to get our latest articles.", "output": "The Centro Nacional de Control de Energ\u00eda of Mexico has accepted 15 bids following its third Long Term Auction, with eight wind and solar power firms being selected. The list includes Engie, Mitsui, Canadian Solar and Enel Green Power. The bids were for 3 TWh of solar electricity, with a record global low price of 1.77 cent/kWh from Enel. The overall average bid price was 2.05 cent/kWh, with the average price for two auctions last year being 4.49 \u00a2/kWh and 3.17 cent/kWh respectively. The projects are due to generate power for the grid by 2020."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Enel begins output from 300 MW wind facility in Missouri \n Italian utility Enel SpA (BIT:ENEL) said today it has started operations at the 300-MW Rock Creek wind farm in the US state of Missouri.\n\nThe USD-500-million (EUR 425m) wind power plant, located in Atchison County, was completed almost two months ahead of schedule, Enel said. Expected to produce about 1,250 GWh per year, the facility is selling its power and renewable energy credits under long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with Kansas City Power & Light (KCP&L) and KCP&L Greater Missouri Operations Co (GMO).\n\nRock Creek is the Italian company's first project in Missouri and brings the state's operating wind capacity to almost 1 GW, according to the announcement.\n\nEnel announced the start of construction of the wind park in October last year. In May this year it inked a USD-365-million tax equity deal for the project with Bank of America Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM).\n\nThe wind farm is owned by Rock Creek Wind Project LLC, a subsidiary of Enel's US-based renewables unit Enel Green Power North America Inc.\n\n(USD 1 = EUR 0.851)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Italy's Enel has said that its 300 MW Rock Creek wind power plant in Missouri is operational, beating its construction deadline by two months. The $500m plant is the firm's first scheme in the US state, and is set to generate 1,250 GWh annually, while Kansas City Power & Light and KCP&L Greater Missouri Operations have signed up for long-term power purchase agreements."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Enel buys Rattlesnake Creek 320 MW wind farm to power Facebook \n Enel SpA (BIT:ENEL) has acquired the 320-MW Rattlesnake Creek wind project in the US state of Nebraska and has started construction of the facility, the Italian utility said today.\n\nThe project was acquired from Kansas-based Tradewind Energy, which is a long-term strategic development partner of Enel. It was announced in October that the wind farm will power Facebook Inc's (NASDAQ:FB) data centre in Papillion, Nebraska. The social media company will buy a 200-MW portion of the power and renewable energy credits from the project under a bundled, long-term power purchase agreement (PPA).\n\nEnel said it is financing the wind farm, which will cost USD 430 million (EUR 366m) to build, through its own resources. Once operational, the park will produce some 1.3 TWh per of clean power year.\n\nThe company owns the project through a subsidiary of its US renewable energy company Enel Green Power North America Inc.\n\n(USD 1 = EUR 0.851)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Italian energy company Enel has begun construction work on the $430m, 320 MW Rattlesnake Creek wind project, set to power Facebook's data centre in Papillion, Nebraska. The site was purchased from long-term strategic development partner Tradewind Energy, while a bundled, long-term power purchase agreement will see Facebook buy 200 MW of the project's power and renewable energy credits. When fully operational, Rattlesnake Creek will generate 1.3 TWh per of power per year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "redT installs largest vanadium redox flow battery in the UK \n UK energy storage company redT energy plc (LON:RED) said today its 1-MWh energy storage project in Cornwall is now grid connected and fully operational.\n\nThe project, described as the largest operating containerised vanadium redox flow machine system in the UK, is located at The Olde House, a working farm and holiday retreat. It has gone live as part of a trial by energy company Centrica PLC (LON:CNA). The GBP-19-million (USD 25m/EUR 21m) Local Energy Market (LEM) trial is aimed at demonstrating the role of flexible generation and storage in reducing pressure on the grid. The Olde House and redT are the first participants in the trial, Centrica said.\n\nThe redT machines will help The Olde House use more of its onsite solar power and generate revenues through the provision of grid services. \"The Olde House is a perfect example of how UK businesses can now utilise more of their renewable generation and make money supporting the electricity grid,\" commented redT chief executive Scott McGregor.\n\n(GBP 1 = USD 1.309/EUR 1.123)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "redT Energy, a UK-based energy storage firm, has begun its trial of a 1 MWh energy storage facility in Cornwall. The pilot project will be the biggest containerised vanadium redox flow machine system in operation in the UK. The \u00a319m ($25m) installation forms part of a Local Energy Market trial from energy firm Centrica, testing how flexible energy generation and storage can reduce grid pressure."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Abu Dhabi looks to buy KKR's shares in Acciona Global Renewables \n The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) is among the parties negotiating the acquisition of KKR\u2019s (NYSE:KKR) 33.3% stake in Acciona Global Renewables, Spanish newspaper Expansion reports.\n\nAcciona Global Renewables, previously known as Acciona Energia International (AEI), holds the international renewable energy generation business of Acciona Energia. KKR acquired a one-third stake in AEI three years ago for EUR 397 million (USD 466.5m). At the time, the business had 2.3 GW of wind farms, with a small number of solar photovoltaic and thermal power plants, in 14 countries.\n\nAccording to sources quoted by the daily, KKR now wants to sell its interest in the firm for at least EUR 600 million. El Economista reported last month that KKR had engaged investment bank Lazard to prepare the sale.\n\nExpansion\u2019s own sources have now said that the UAE-based sovereign wealth fund is well-positioned to buy the one-third interest. Insiders have also told the daily that ADIA had shown interest in AEI even before KKR bought the stake.\n\n(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.175)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "United Arab Emirates sovereign wealth fund the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is among the potential buyers for New York investment firm KKR's one-third stake in Acciona Global Renewables, according to Spanish newspaper Expansion. KKR purchased the stake three years ago for \u20ac397m ($466.5m), and is now looking to sell for at least \u20ac600m."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China\u2019s Xinjiang Goldwind joins 4 MW wind turbine club \n China\u2019s Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology (HKG:2208) on Tuesday announced the release of a medium-speed smart wind turbine with a rated capacity of 4 MW-4.2 MW.\n\nThe permanent magnet direct-drive (PMDD) machine, named GW4S, expands the company\u2019s 3S platform and will be available with rotor diametres of up to 136 metres (446.2 ft). It is suitable for class IIA wind sites, the wind turbine maker said.\n\nGoldwind intends to install a prototype of the new turbine in China in the second quarter of next year and start selling the product commercially in the first quarter of 2019. Target markets for the 4S turbine will include North America, Australia, South America and Turkey, CEO Tony Pan noted.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology will launch a medium-speed smart wind turbine, developed with a 4 MW to 4.2 MW capacity. The GW4S, a permanent magnet direct-drive machine, will extend the business' existing 3S platform. The device will have a rotor diameter of up to 136 metres and will be available for class IIA wind farms. A prototype turbine will likely be installed by Q2 2018, with commercial sales due by Q1 2019. Goldwind plans to target markets in North America, South America, Australia and Turkey with the new model."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Solar and wind transactions totalled more than 6 GW in Oct 2017 \n Solar and wind deals topped 6 GW in the month of October, Green Dealflow says in its monthly transaction activity report.\n\nIn comparison, only 1,590 MW of solar and wind power assets changed owners in September.\n\nGreen Dealflow, an online marketplace for wind and solar projects, maintains a transaction database tracking equity transactions of solar and wind projects around the globe and below is a short overview of the activity in October.\n\nSOLAR\n\nIn the solar industry, the report records 23 transactions amounting to approximately 4.1 gigawatts. While the number of transactions has not increased significantly compared to September, the amount of capacity transacted has increased almost six times. The largest contributor is the United States with major transactions such as ABP\u2019s acquisition of the Moapa solar farm or NextEra Energy Partners\u2019 acquisition of the Desert Sunlight solar project. Regarding capacity transacted, the United States is followed by Mexico\u2019s almost 1 gigawatt of capacity transacted chiefly the result of Caisse depot et placement du Qu\u00e9bec and CKD Infraestructura M\u00e9xico\u2019s acquisition of numerous projects from Enel Green Power. Regarding numbers of transacted, the transactions are well-balanced among different phases; however, construction-stage assets dominate regarding capacity transacted.\n\nWIND\n\nThe wind industry has seen significant transaction activity during October, although much less than has the solar industry. October saw 19 transactions, up from just 7 in September. Moreover, capacity transacted has increased from approximately 900 megawatts in September to approximately 2.4 gigawatts in October. The United Kingdom dominates wind transactions regarding capacity, followed by Mexico. Mexico\u2019s large amount of transaction activity in the wind industry is due to the same transaction by Caisse depot et placement du Qu\u00e9bec and CKD Infraestructura M\u00e9xico who together has acquired numerous wind and solar projects from Enel Green Power. Those assets transacted are predominantly operation-stage assets.\n\nThe full report can be accessed here.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "The US, UK and Mexico were the main drivers behind 6 GW of solar and wind deals transacted last month, up from 1.59\u00a0GW in September, according to\u00a0Green Dealflow. The US and Mexico were the biggest players in the solar market, where capacity rose almost six-fold, even as transactions rose only modestly. In the wind market, the UK and Mexico took the lead, with 19 transactions in October compared to five the previous month, and capacity leaped from 900 MW in September to 2.4 GW."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ReNew Power to acquire three wind power parks in India \n Indian independent power producer ReNew Power Ventures Pvt Ltd will acquire three fully operational wind parks in Andhra Pradesh totalling 103 MW from the KC Thapar Group, The Economic Times (ET) reports.\n\nKailash Vaswani, deputy chief financial officer at ReNew Power, unveiled the purchase for the newspaper, but gave no financial details regarding the transaction. Unnamed sources, though, told ET that the acquired assets are valued at about INR 10 billion (USD 153m/EUR 130m).\n\nThe transaction includes 79 MW at Molagavalli in Kurnool district and 24 MW at Borampalli in Ananthapur district. The wind farms are selling power to local discoms at INR 4.80 per kWh under 25-year contracts, according to ET\u2019s sources.\n\nThe sale process for the plants was initiated four months ago and attracted a dozen strategic and financial investors, Kotak Investment Banking, which advised the KCT Group, told the newspaper.\n\nWith this acquisition, ReNew Power will expand its portfolio of commissioned wind farms to 1,600 MW from about 1,500 MW.\n\n(INR 10 = USD 0.153/EUR 0.130)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Indian firm ReNew Power Ventures will expand its existing 1,500 MW wind power portfolio by more than 100 MW after it acquires three wind parks in Andhra Pradesh from KC Thapar Group, according to ReNew Power CFO Kailash Vaswani. Although he gave no financial details, anonymous insiders believe the deal to be worth around INR10bn ($153m). The wind parks are all operational, and are selling power to local discoms at INR4.80 per kWh under 25-year contracts."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Phase II of Oman's 1 GW of solar thermal project expected in 2019 \n Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) expects to complete the first phase of its 1,021-MWp Miraah solar thermal park project in Oman next year and to proceed with phase two in 2019, an official told The National.\n\nGlassPoint Solar Inc is currently building the complex for PDO, whose plans for the site is to produce 6,000 tonnes of steam per day for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Just recently, the partners announced that the first out of 36 standard glasshouse blocks housing parabolic trough collectors was completed safely on schedule and on budget.\n\nThe first of nine modules, each including four glasshouse blocks, should be completed by the end of 2017, Abdul-Amir Al Ajmi, PDO\u2019s External Affairs and Value Creation Director, told the newspaper. By the start of 2019, a further two modules should be finalised so that the project could enter phase two, according to the director.\n\nThe companies are currently using aluminium made in China to build mirrors for the USD-600-million (EUR 509m) project, but in phase three they anticipate to produce the aluminium in Oman.\n\n(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.849)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "The first stage of the 1,021 MWp Miraah solar thermal park installation from Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) should be complete in 2018, with the second phase due in 2019. The thermal park is currently being constructed by GlassPoint Solar, with the installation due to generate 6,000 tonnes of steam daily for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The first of nine modules of four glasshouse blocks are due to be complete by the end of the year, with two more due to be finished by the beginning of 2019. The project, worth $600m, is being completed with Chinese aluminium, though it may require material from Oman in future."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Power and utilities deals reach more than double to $74.3bn in Q3 \n Power and utilities (P&U) deals globally reached USD 74.3 billion (EUR 63m) in the third quarter of 2017, which is a two-year high and a surge of 141% from the second quarter, consultancy firm EY calculates.\n\nThe Americas accounted for 71% of the total, or USD 53 billion, shows EY\u2019s Power transactions and trends Q3 2017 report. The quarter-on-quarter increase of 798% was due to five megadeals, representing 96% of the deal value in the Americas. Renewables deals, however, fell by 94% from the second quarter to just USD 180 million. Most were conducted by corporate investors.\n\nP&U deals in Europe also jumped, by 60% to USD 16.9 billion, amid better-than-expected economic activity. There were 35 renewable energy deals for a total of USD 3.2 billion. In the quarter under review, deals in wind energy assets surpassed those in solar. There were 15 wind deals, including one in combination with solar, with a total value of USD 2.8 billion.\n\nIn the Asia-Pacific there was a 68% quarterly drop in deal value to USD 4.3 billion. At USD 3.3 billion, deals in renewables accounted for 77% of the region\u2019s total. M&A in geothermal energy led the list with USD 1.3 billion in value, while solar and wind farm deals together contributed USD 1.4 billion.\n\nAccording to the biannual EY Power and Utilities Capital Confidence Barometer (CCB), strong activity is set to continue. The consultancy said that 79% of executives are expecting the global economy to improve in the next 12 months, with 51% preparing to actively pursue acquisitions.\n\nThe US and Germany are the most attractive P&U investment destinations and Brazil, Australia and China complete the top five.\n\n(USD 1 = EUR 0.85)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Global power and utilities deals rose 141% QoQ to a two-year high of $74.3bn in Q3, helped by a nine-fold increase in activity in the Americas to\u00a0$53bn, according to EY. In Europe, power and utilities deals increased\u00a060% to $16.9bn, while in Asia they fell 68% to $4.3bn. The EY Power and Utilities Capital Confidence Barometer predicts continued strong performance in the\u00a0sector and said more than half of executives were preparing to \"actively pursue\" acquisitions in the next year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Engie and Heliatek install world's largest organic PV rooftop \n French energy group Engie (EPA:ENGI) and Heliatek GmbH on Wednesday announced the inauguration of what is described as the world's largest building integrated organic photovoltaic (BiOPV) installation on a roof.\n\nThe roof of the Pierre Mendes France middle school in La Rochelle, France was covered with 500 sq m (5,382 sq ft) of Heliatek's solar films. The project was carried out in response to a call for tenders by the Charente-Maritime Department, Engie, which has been an investor in Heliatek since 2016, explained.\n\nWith a capacity of 22.5 kWp, the system will produce about 23.8 MWh per year, which will be used directly by the school, covering 15%-20% of its electricity demand.\n\nThe aim of the pilot project is to open the way in the longer term to large-scale development of the technology, Engie said. OPV films are suitable for lightweight roofs, which can not support conventional solar panels. Their advantages include fast installation, no need for piercing the roof and being easy to recycle.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "French energy firm Engie and solar equipment provider Heliatek have completed the world's biggest building-integrated organic photovoltaic (BiOPV) installation, on the rooftop of the Pierre Mendes France school in La Rochelle. The school's rooftop has been equipped with 500 sq metres of solar film, and has a capacity of 22.5 kWp. The installation should generate approximately 23.8 MWh annually for the school, providing 15% to 20% of its total energy needs. The pilot will help to develop further larger-scale installations for the technology, which provides a lighter alternative to solar panels."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IRENA and ADFD announce $50m funding for developing countries \n The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) today said a funding round of USD 50 million (EUR 42m) in concessional loans for renewable energy projects in developing countries is now open for applications.\n\nThis is the sixth funding round under the USD-350-million IRENA/ADFD Project Facility, which is funded by the ADFD.\n\nThe first four rounds provided USD 189 million to 19 renewable energy ventures, which will create over 100 MW of renewable energy capacity and improve the energy access for over a million people. Located in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Small Island Developing States, the projects include wind, solar, hydro, geothermal and biomass technologies and use different systems such as hybrid, off-grid, mini-grid and on-grid including back-up storage.\n\nThe deadline for applications is February 15, 2018. The successful projects in the fifth round will be announced in January 2018.\n\n(USD 1 = EUR 0.850)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Businesses behind renewable energy projects in developing countries are being invited to apply for a share of $50m in concessional loans offered by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD). It is the sixth round led by the $350m IRENA/ADFD Project Facility, which has already backed 19 renewable energy schemes to the tune of $189m, creating more than 100 MW of capacity across Africa, Asia and smaller emerging nations. The deadline for round six applicants is February 2018, while the projects selected from round five will be revealed the month before."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Carnegie increases flagship wave device capacity by 0.5 MW \n Australia's Carnegie Clean Energy Ltd (ASX:CCE) said today it has redesigned its CETO 6 wave energy device, increasing its nominal capacity to 1.5 MW from 1 MW previously.\n\nThe company announced in a statement that it had won a US patent on November 6 that confirms the additional features of the new design as state of the art.\n\nThe redesigned CETO 6 will incorporate multiple moorings instead of just one in order to boost the amount of power that can be absorbed by the wave energy device. This means that multiple foundations will be required for each unit. The firm noted it has developed a networked arrangement for foundations for large-scale wave farms that allows foundation sharing.\n\nCarnegie expects the upgraded and more cost competitive device to be able to compete with other mainstream renewable energy technologies, once it is manufactured in high volumes and deployed as part of large projects.\n\n\u201cCarnegie Clean Energy is determined to make our mark on the global renewable energy market with our CETO 6 wave energy technology,\u201d said CEO and managing director, Michael Ottaviano.\n\nThe company intends to install the CETO 6 off Albany during the 2019-2020 summer weather window. It said last week it has deployed a wave buoy at the specific offshore site to measure metocean conditions.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Australian firm Carnegie Clean Energy has completed a redesign of its CETO 6 wave energy system, raising its capacity from 1 MW to 1.5 MW. The company has gained a US patent for the technology, which will encompass more than one mooring to increase the level of power that can be absorbed. The firm's foundations can now be shared as part of a new network arrangement between wind farms. The device is due to be installed off the coast of Albany during the summer of 2019 to 2020. Carnegie is hoping to provide the new version of the device as a cost-effective competitor to rival technology."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Stina looks to buy vanadium electrolyte R&D firm Pure Vanadium \n Stina Resources Ltd (CNSX:SQA) of Canada in acquiring compatriot research and development (R&D) company Pure Vanadium Corp as part of efforts to become the first vertically integrated producer in North America of vanadium electrolyte for the energy storage industry.\n\nStina, which has vanadium reserves and resources in Nevada, on Thursday announced a definitive agreement for the purchase of Pure Vanadium, a developer of vanadium electrolyte for grid-scale vanadium redox flow batteries. The deal follows the signing of a Letter of Intent (LoT) in July a review of the company's technology.\n\n\"The development of battery technology is progressing rapidly throughout the world with vanadium redox flow batteries being one of the main new technologies for grid-scale energy storage,\" said Stina president and chief executive Brian Stecyk. \"The combination of our vanadium resources in Nevada and new applications for vanadium in battery technology will progress Stina towards its goal of being a leading vertically integrated producer of vanadium electrolyte,\" Stecyk added.\n\nStina will acquire Pure Vanadium through the issuance of 17 million Stina common shares to Pure Vanadium shareholders. The buyer will also provide CAD 250,000 (USD 196,000/EUR 166,000) to continue development and testing of Pure Vanadium's technology.\n\n(CAD 1 = USD 0.784/EUR 0.665)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Canadian firm Stina Resources has moved a step closer to becoming North America's first vertically integrated producer of vanadium electrolyte, with the purchase of Pure Vanadium Corporation. The deal, which follows the signing of a letter of intent in July, will see Stina acquire all outstanding share capital via the issuance of 17,000,000 common shares to Pure Vanadium shareholders. In addition, $196,000 will be set aside for R&D and continued testing of Pure's technology."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Iberdrola sells \u20ac1bn hybrid green bond to refinance UK renewables \n Iberdrola (BME:IBE) has issued EUR 1 billion (USD 1.18bn) worth of green hybrid bonds, seeking funds to refinance investment in renewable energy projects in the UK.\n\nBearing a fixed coupon of 1.875%, the bond was 3.3 times oversubscribed. It was issued on the Euromarket. According to the Spanish utility\u2019s press statement on Tuesday, Iberdrola is the first Spanish company that issues a green hybrid bond and the second internationally.\n\nThe banks that assisted the issuance are Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, Barclays plc (LON:BARC), BNP Paribas (EPA:BNP), Credit Agricole CIB, HSBC (LON:HSBA), ING Bank NV, JP Morgan (NYSE:JP), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Banco Santander (BME:SAN) and Unicredit Bank AG.\n\nIberdrola will have the rights to buy back the new bond at the offered rate within five and a half years. The hybrid bonds will be half-debt and half-capital, it said.\n\nAs part of its strategy to ensure that a large portion of its liabilities have \u201ca green format\u201d, in February Iberdrola announced a \u201cgreen loan\u201d deal amounting to EUR 500 million, the proceeds of which were allocated mainly for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.\n\n(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.181)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Iberdrola has become the first Spanish utility to issue green hybrid bonds after selling\u00a0\u20ac1bn ($1.18bn) of half-debt and half-capital securities with a fixed coupon of 1.875%. Barclays, Credit Agricole, HSBCand JPMorgan were among the institutions participating in the oversubscribed issue, while the funds raised will be used to refinance investment in UK renewable energy projects. The bond follows the launch of Iberdrola's \u20ac500m green loan\u00a0deal in February."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WSE aims to produce wave energy in Tasmania for $76/MWh \n Australian company Wave Swell Energy Ltd (WSE) plans to install a 200-kW wave energy device on the eastern side of King Island in Tasmania, where the wave climate is \u201cmore benign\u201d.\n\nThe move is part of preparations for the deployment of a full-sized, 1-MW version of the device on the west coast of the island.\n\nThe firm said on its website that it expects to install the 200-kW unit by the end of next year to bridge the gap between the tank testing and commercial phases of the technology's development. It will use the data from the smaller project to validate whether the technology is able to generate power for under AUD 100 (USD 76/EUR 64.4) per MWh when 1 MW of units are installed as part of a multi-device wave farm.\n\nThe project also gives WSE the chance to fine-tune the operation of the device in an easily accessible location, it said.\n\n(AUD 1.0 = USD 0.760/EUR 0.644)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Australian energy firm Wave Swell Energy plans to install a 200 kW wave energy system on the east of King Island in Tasmania before deploying a full-size 1 MW device on the west side. The initial installation is due to be completed by the end of 2018 and to start pre-commercial testing. The project will determine if the technology can generate power for less than AUD100/MWh ($76/MWh) when the 1 MW project is completed."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "India mulls tender for 20 GW of solar capacity \n India intends to launch a tender for up to 20 GW of photovoltaic (PV) capacity, seeking to promote domestic manufacturing and lower the tariffs for solar power, Mint reports.\n\nAccording to a government official who preferred to remain anonymous, consultations for the ambitions plan have already started but the authorities are facing some problems related to land and power transmission. The idea for such \u201cmega\u201d auction may lead to a \u201csubstantial reduction\u201d of solar tariffs in the country, he added, as cited by the newspaper.\n\nThe Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is still working on conceptualizing the plan that will see developers install the awarded capacity in phases, a second person aware of the development informed Mint.\n\nThe government of India has set a target for the country to reach 175 GW of renewable power capacity by 2022. The goal for solar is 100 GW.\n\nThe lowest bid for solar power in India so far stands at INR 2.44 (USD 0.037/EUR 0.032) per kWh, received in May in a 500-MW tender in Bhadla, Rajasthan.\n\n(INR 10 = USD 0.153/EUR 0.131)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is pondering inviting bids to build as much as 20 GW of photovoltaic solar power, according to anonymous government officials. It's hoped the project, to be tendered piecemeal, will substantially reduce\u00a0tariff prices\u00a0and boost manufacturing.\u00a0However, officials said issues over land and power transmission were proving problematic. India aims to have 175 GW of renewable capacity by 2022."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian state invites bids to build 650 MW of renewables \n The Australian state of Victoria on Tuesday opened a reverse tender for the addition of up to 650 MW of large-scale renewable energy capacity that is seen to attract up to AUD 1.3 billion (USD 985m/EUR 834m) in investment.\n\nThe formal tender documents were published on Victoria government\u2019s website, inviting companies with an existing planning permission to take part in a competitive bidding process for winning 15-year support agreements with the state, which are seen to ensure revenue certainty. Under these agreements, successful proponents will be paid through a Hybrid payment mechanism, including a combination of a fixed-price payment and a variable contract-for-difference (CfD) payment.\n\nThe 650 MW of capacity targeted in the auction will be split into two categories -- one seeking up to 550 MW of large-scale renewable energy projects, including wind, solar and other energy technologies, and another one, of up to 100 MW, for large-scale solar projects. The deadline for submitting proposals is February 14, while developers are required to launch commercial operations of their plants by 2020.\n\nThose projects are expected to create some 1,250 construction jobs over two years plus 90 ongoing jobs, according to the official statement.\n\nThe auction, initially unveiled in August, is part of the Victorian government\u2019s efforts to create investment certainty, enhance investment and lower electricity prices. \u201cRenewable energy is key to Victoria\u2019s future and we\u2019re not wasting a minute \u2013 to drive new investment, create jobs and cut electricity prices,\u201d said Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D\u2019Ambrosio.\n\nLast month, the Legislative Council in Victoria passed the Renewable Energy (Jobs and Investment) Bill 2017 under which the state will aim to reach a 25% renewable energy share by 2020 and 40% by 2025.\n\n(AUD 1.0 = USD0.758/EUR 0.642)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Firms with existing planning permission are being invited to bid for up to 650 MW of large-scale renewable energy capacity by the Australian state of Victoria. The capacity will be split into 550 MW of mixed renewable energy projects and 100 MW of exclusively large-scale solar. The tender, which features 15-year support agreements, is part of the state's ambition to reduce electricity prices and create investment certainty in the sector. The deadline to submit proposals is 14 February, with a 2020 deadline for commercial operations to begin.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Eelpower brings 10 MW Leverton energy storage facility online \n UK firm Eelpower Ltd said today it has brought online its 10-MW Leverton battery storage facility near Lincoln, England.\n\nThe system, a stand-alone energy barn using lithium-ion technology from China's BYD Co Ltd (HKG:1211), will provide frequency response balancing services to National Grid (LON:NG) from the start of 2018. The company said it secured a firm frequency response contract in October 2017 and had already signed a 15-year T-4 Capacity Market contract beginning in October 2020.\n\nThis is Eelpower's first storage project to be commissioned in the UK. Chief executive Mark Simon said it is the first of a pipeline of battery projects that the company plans to build and operate over the next three years.\n\nThe facility was built in 18 weeks by contractor Anesco.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Hampshire-based renewable energy firm Eelpower has brought its first UK battery storage facility online. The 10 MW standalone energy barn, near Lincoln, will supply frequency balancing services to the National Grid, using lithium-ion technology supplied by China's BYD, and is the first of a series of battery projects Eelpower aims to build and operate in the coming three years. The company signed a frequency response contract in October this year, as well as a 15-year T-4 Capacity Market contract which begins in October 2020.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Qualcomm, ZTE and China Mobile partner on 5G network testing \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nQualcomm Technologies, ZTE, and China Mobile have created a data testing system for 5G networking, which promises to provide wireless data at multiple gigabits per second.\n\nIt\u2019s one more step in a years-long process to get us all faster mobile broadband and more reliable calls. The companies created an end-to-end 5G NR test system that demonstrates a data connection based on the 3GPP R15 standard. That means that the companies are making progress trying to test the quality of transmission of data on 5G networks, which could replace the existing 4G LTE networks for mobile calls and data.\n\nThe 3GPP standard is important as it is a global 5G radio technology, and this is the first time that a compliant data connection has been made across multiple vendors. Multi-vendor interoperability is a milestone on a path to standard-compliant trials in 2018 and commercial network launches in 2019.\n\nThe demo took place at China Mobile\u2019s 5G Joint Innovation Center and used ZTE\u2019s 5G NR pre-commercial base station and Qualcomm\u2019s 5G NR sub-6 GHz prototype chip (which would go in a future mobile device). The system operates in the 3.5 GHz spectrum and supports 100 MHz bandwidth.\n\n\u201cAchieving the world\u2019s first end-to-end 5G NR interoperable data connection is true testament to our 5G leadership, driving toward the timely launch of standard-compliant commercial networks,\u201d said Cristiano Amon, executive vice president at Qualcomm Technologies, in a statement. \u201cQualcomm Technologies is committed to the\n\ncontinued success of China\u2019s wireless industry and we are excited to collaborate with ZTE and China Mobile to accelerate the path to 5G in China.\u201d\n\nImage Credit: Qualcomm\n\nThe system is designed to efficiently achieve multi-gigabit per second peak data rates at significantly lower air interface latency than 4G networks. Once put in place over the next few years, 5G networks will be able to handle mobile broadband tasks such as streaming high-definition video and immersive virtual reality and augmented reality experiences, as well as provide reliable services for autonomous cars, drones, and industrial controls.\n\n\u201cChina Mobile has been committed to promoting the unified global 5G standard with industry partners,\u201d said Li Zhengmao, vice president of China Mobile Communications, in a statement. \u201cThe achievement of end-to-end 5G NR interoperable connection testing, compliant with the 3GPP 5G NR standard, is an important milestone of 5G to productization and pre-commercialization from standard. China Mobile is willing to cooperate with partners including Qualcomm and ZTE to promote that the 5G products continue to mature and the 5G industry marches to success.\u201d", "output": "China Mobile, Qualcomm Technologies and ZTE have tested the world's first end-to-end 5G NR interoperable data connection, based on the 3GPP R15 standard. The test came\u00a0ahead of next year's standard compliant trials and predicted commercial network launches in 2019. The 5G system aims to offer multi-gigabit-per-second peak data rates with much lower latency than 4G, enabling the streaming of high-definition video and virtual and augmented reality experiences. In addition, a 5G network would also provide a more efficient service for autonomous cars and drones.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Driving simulator teaches autonomous cars to drive properly \n In each of these circumstances, a self-driving car must make good decisions, even though the likelihood of coming across them is small. And that raises an important question: how can carmakers train and test their vehicles when these events are so rare?\n\nToday, we get an answer of sorts thanks to the work of Alexey Dosovitskiy at Intel Labs and a few pals at the Toyota Research Institute and the Computer Vision Center in Barcelona, Spain. They\u2019ve created an open-source driving simulator that carmakers can use to test self-driving technologies under realistic driving conditions.\n\nThe system, called CARLA (Car Learning to Act), simulates a wide range of driving conditions and repeats dangerous situations endlessly to help learning. The team has already used it to evaluate the performance of several different approaches to autonomous driving.\n\nDriving simulators are not new. There are numerous realistic driving and racing simulators, many designed for gaming. Various autonomous driving groups have used them to test their technologies.\n\nBut none of these simulators provide the kind of feedback that autonomous driving systems need to train effectively. Neither do these systems allow significant control over driving conditions or the actions of other agents.\n\nRacing simulators do not usually have crossing traffic or pedestrians. And city simulators such as Grand Theft Auto do not give control over the weather, the position of the sun, the behavior of other cars, traffic signals and pedestrians, cyclists, and so on.\n\nAnd these proprietary systems do not give the kind of technical feedback that autonomous driving systems need to learn.", "output": "An open-source driving simulator has been launched that automakers can use to test their autonomous vehicle technology in realistic environments. CARLA (Car Learning to Act) repeatedly retests vehicles against certain criteria, increasing the performance of the technology by forcing it to evaluate scenarios in different ways. Researchers at Intel Labs have\u00a0collaborated with the\u00a0Toyota Research Institute and the Computer Vision Center in Spain to create the technology.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China Everbright taps German firm to offer robo-advice \n Neither firm has provided details of products or services they plan to offer to Chinese clients.\n\nGinmon is a fintech company based in Frankfurt, Germany. Its robo-advisory technology automates asset allocation and construction of portfolios using ETFs. The company stresses on its website that it invests only in physical-replication ETFs. It has previously worked with DAB BNP Paribas Bank in Munich.\n\nThe company opened a Shanghai office in order to target Chinese business.\n\nBeijing-based China Everbright chose Ginmon as the partner for their investment solutions based on \u201chigh level of investor protection and attractive investment solutions\u201d, said Lingwu Xia, director of internet finance at China Everbright, in a statement. The two institutions will cooperate \u201cthrough various channels\u201d.\n\nChina Everbright Group is a financial conglomerate offering banking service, asset management, and securities trading. It owns an investment arm, China Everbright Limited in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong unit, listed on the local bourse, provides asset and wealth management services. As of the end of 2016, China Everbright Limited managed HK$10.8bn ($1.4bn) of assets.\n\nBy entering China\u2019s robo-advisory space, China Everbright will face several incumbents. China Merchants Bank, launched a robo-advisor service in December 2016 called Machinegene Investment, or Mojie. The lender\u2019s app has gathered RMB3bn of assets in a few months\u2019 time.\n\nIn May 2016, Creditease launched its service Tuomi RA. Another firm, robo-advisor Xuanji, plans to go global with a foreign partnership and expansion beyond Asia.\n\nAlthough the robo-advisory discussions have became more active, difficulties remain in the region due to regulatory fragmentation, lack of scale and investors\u2019 preference for human contact. Nonetheless, China\u2019s domestic retail investor base presents an enormous opportunity for robo-advisory services.", "output": "Chinese financial conglomerate China Everbight has teamed with German robo-adviser Ginmon. Ginmon, which has now opened an office in China, generally provides customers on its robo-advice platform access to model portfolios constructed using exchange-traded funds. Asset allocation and portfolio construction is automated for users of the platform. While a number of Chinese banks have introduced robo-advice capabilities, there are still regulatory hurdles and scaling obstacles to overcome for new entrants to the marketplace.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon's Echo Show now shipping in the UK \n Amazon has today (16/11/2017) announced that Echo Show, the first Echo to include a display, is now shipping in the UK.\n\n\n\nEcho Show is available now for \u00a3199.99 from Amazon and pre-orders are arriving with UK customers as of today.Echo Show\u2019s display is designed to add to Alexa\u2019s voice responses with useful, glanceable information you can see from across the room. The display combines with an all-new 8 microphone array along the top of the device, Amazon\u2019s beam-forming technology, and noise cancellation, so Echo Show can hear you from any direction\u2013even while music is playing. Powered by Dolby, Echo Show\u2019s speakers are fine-tuned to deliver crisp vocals with dynamic bass response and immersive sound, says the release. And, with multi-room music, you can play music across multiple Echo devices simultaneously.With the addition of the screen, Alexa can obviously now show you things. Flash briefings now include video content from news providers like BBC News, The Telegraph, MTV and more. You can start a kitchen timer and see it count down, easily see and manage your family\u2019s calendar, or ask to see your to-do and shopping lists. Ask Alexa to show you photos, movie show times, and movies and TV shows from Amazon Video. Plus, as you listen to music from Amazon Music, you\u2019ll also see song lyrics and album art. Customers can also use Echo Show to see a live camera feed from the nursery or your front door, or to control smart home devices from brands like Ring, Arlo, Philips Hue, Hive, TP-Link, Netatmo, WeMo, Smart Things, and Tado.Echo Show also features Alexa calling and messaging. Just ask Alexa to call mum, for instance, and you\u2019ll be connected via video to her Echo Show or Alexa app. You can also enable a feature called Drop In for when you want to quickly connect with your closest family and friends or other Echo devices in your home. For example, you can drop in to ask what time dinner will be ready, see the family room, or check in with a close relative.Alexa \u2013 the brain behind Echo Show \u2013 is built in the cloud, so she (it?) is always getting smarter. Alexa connects through the cloud automatically and is continually learning, adding new functionality and skills. Like Echo and Echo Dot, customers using Echo Show can access thousands of Alexa skills, with new skills from OpenTable, Just Eat, National Rail, Mercedes, BBC News, The Telegraph, Evening Standard, LBC, MTV, 7Digital, Recipedia, Mail Recipes, Sky Sports Super 6, Liverpool FC, Arlo, Ring, and more \u2013 all optimised for the display.Echo Show is available in black or white for \u00a3199.99. Customers can also choose a 2-pack\u2014buy 2, save \u00a3100.00.More information is available at www.amazon.co.uk/echoshow . Echo Show is also available at retailers including Argos, Dixons, John Lewis and Tesco.", "output": "Amazon's Echo Show is now available in the UK. Echo Show's display is designed to complement Alexa's voice responses with visible information users can see from across the room. The screen has multiple\u00a0uses, including playing TV shows and films from Amazon Video, a kitchen timer countdown, and flash briefings from news providers. Echo Show also features an eight-microphone array on the top of the device, noise cancellation, and beam-forming technology, meaning it can hear a user from any direction.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ireland could face snap election after motion of no confidence \n Ireland is on the verge of a snap election after the party that props up the country\u2019s minority coalition government threatened to pull down the administration over a police whistleblower scandal.\n\nThe prime minister, Leo Varadkar, faces the prospect of going to the polls as early as next month, in the middle of a crucial summit on the EU, Britain and Brexit at which the stakes are high for the Irish Republic.\n\nThe prospect of an election emerged over the last 24 hours following a row about emails from the deputy prime minister, Frances Fitzgerald, into how police deal with a whistleblower alleging corruption and malpractice.\n\nFianna F\u00e1il submitted a no confidence measure in Fitzgerald on Friday, which will be voted on next Tuesday.\n\nTimeline Ireland's police scandals Show An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na, Ireland's national police service, has faced a series of scandals in recent years that have led to the resignations of two Garda commissioners, played a key part in former prime minister Enda Kenny stepping down, and now threaten to bring down the Irish government. November 2012 Police whistleblowers allege misconduct Then justice minister Alan Shatter receives an interim Garda report on allegations that drivers' penalty points were being cleared, with no reasons given. Two officers described as whistleblowers - former Garda John Wilson and Sgt Maurice McCabe \u2013 had raised the issue, alleging misconduct and corruption within the force. September 2013 Report supports some allegations A report from the Comptroller & Auditor General supports some of the whistleblowers' allegations, finding \"operational weaknesses\" in the fines system, and saying the Garda had lost significant revenue from irregularities. 25 March 2014 Garda commissioner resigns Martin Callinan, then Garda commissioner, announces his retirement amid calls for his resignation, after he said he found the whistleblowers' allegations \"quite disgusting\". 7 May 2014 Justice minister resigns Alan Shatter, who had also criticised the whistleblowers, steps down after receiving a critical report into how his department handled McCabe's allegations. The government launches an inquiry into the scandal, led by the former high court judge, Kevin O'Higgins. 10 May 2016 O'Higgins report released The 362-page report identifies serious flaws and failures but finds no evidence of Garda criminality or corruption. It upholds many of McCabe's complaints, but also says some of his claims were overstated. The report also finds Shatter \"did his work well\". October 2016 Another whistleblower emerges Supt David Taylor, former head of the Garda press office, says he was directed by senior officers including Callinan and his replacement N\u00f3ir\u00edn O'Sullivan to discredit McCabe. Commissioner O'Sullivan denies any involvement in the alleged smear campaign. 24 February 2017 The Disclosures Tribunal The first public investigation into the alleged smear campaign against McCabe begins, chaired by Supreme Court judge Peter Charleton. It is ongoing. 23 March 2017 More allegations of police misconduct Senior Garda officers reveal that almost one million drink-driving tests recorded by the police did not take place, and a separate error caused almost 15,000 wrongful traffic convictions. The Garda\u00ed apologise, but the mistake could cost Irish taxpayers millions. 18 May 2017 Prime minister resigns Enda Kenny resigns after party pressure over his failure to secure a majority government in the general election in 2016 and his handling of the crises in the Irish police. 10 September 2017 Second police commissioner steps down N\u00f3ir\u00edn O\u2019Sullivan announces her retirement, saying she had faced an \u201cunending cycle\u201d of investigations into the Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na. New Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar, says her decision ensures the police can now focus on reforms.\u200b 24 November 2017 Fianna F\u00e1il threatens snap election The party propping up Ireland\u2019s minority coalition government submits a no confidence motion against deputy prime minister, Frances Fitzgerald, over her handling of the police whistleblower scandal. It threatens to pulls its support for the government, unless she resigns. Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.\n\nVaradkar, leader of the Fine Gael party that heads the minority government, has ruled out the resignation of his deputy Frances Fitzgerald. But opposition Fianna F\u00e1il leader Micheal Martin said Fitzgerald \u201cshould step aside in our view and that would avoid a general election\u201d.\n\nVaradkar met Martin in Dublin on Friday evening and agreed to further contact over the weekend to try and defuse the crisis.\n\n\n\nThe focus is on an email from May 2015, which outlined how legal teams for N\u00f3ir\u00edn O\u2019Sullivan, then the police commissioner, and Maurice McCabe, a police officer and whistleblower, clashed at an inquiry into the latter\u2019s allegations of police malpractice. The email related to a strategy Sgt McCabe\u2019s supporters claim was drawn up by the police high command to discredit him.\n\nSinn Fein\u2019s deputy leader, Mary Lou McDonald, accused the deputy prime minister of having \u201cclearly failed in her duties\u201d when she learned about a strategy via the email that was \u201cso utterly malicious and designed...to ruin Sgt McCabe\u2019s life.\u201d\n\nFitzgerald had claimed that she did not remember the email, and that, in any event, she could not have legally intervened. Her defenders in Fine Gael party have said there is a judicial inquiry into the handling of the way Sgt McCabe was treated and that should be allowed to run its course.\n\nThe Irish foreign minister, Simon Coveney, on Friday said the last thing Ireland needs is a general election in the middle of crucial Brexit negotiations.\n\nFine Gael relies on Fianna F\u00e1il\u2019s support through a confidence and supply arrangement under which the opposition props up the minority government in key votes required to keep it in power. Senior sources in Fianna F\u00e1il said the deal was \u201cdead in the water\u201d if Fine Gael continued to insist Fitzgerald remain in office.\n\nQuick Guide Ireland's political parties Show Fine Gael Forged in the Irish civil war as the side that accepted the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, Fine Gael has a centre-right, pro-market and pro-European outlook. The party has two distinctive wings: a socially liberal, urban and professional base, and a rural grassroots following with strong links to the farming community. Fianna F\u00e1il Initially comprising opponents of the Anglo-Irish treaty, Fianna F\u00e1il is also seen as centre right. It dominated Irish politics for much of the 20th century and used to enjoy a predominantly working-class membership. An archetypal pragmatic political force, the party now has strong links to builders and property investors. Sinn F\u00e9in Once umbilically linked to the Provisional IRA, Sinn F\u00e9in has benefited enormously from the Irish peace process, with Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness becoming internationally renowned political figures. The party takes a populist and pragmatic approach to economic issues. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.\n\n\u201cThere is no longer any trust. Leo Varadkar could have averted this much earlier if he had called Michael Martin in earlier this week to discuss our concerns over the leaked email. It\u2019s 50-50 if Fitzgerald goes, only that will save us from a Christmas election,\u201d one told the Guardian.\n\n\u201cBut if she does fall on her sword this weekend this arrangement is only going to last a few months to let Leo negotiate Brexit in Brussels in December. There will be an election in February or March if we get through this weekend.\u201d\n\nVaradkar\u2019s predecessor, Enda Kenny, resigned in May this year after coming under growing internal party pressure over his failure to secure a majority government in the general election in 2016 and his handling of the crises in the Irish police.\n\n\n\n\n\n", "output": "Ireland could be on the brink of a general election after Fianna F\u00e1il tabled a vote of no confidence in the deputy prime minister, Frances Fitzgerald. The motion is scheduled for a\u00a0vote\u00a0on 28 November. Fianna F\u00e1il\u00a0supports Fine\u00a0Gael's minority government\u00a0and without that support a new election would be likely. The controversy\u00a0concerns Fitzgerald's knowledge of emails exchanged\u00a0in\u00a02015, when she was minister of justice, about the legal strategy deployed against garda Maurice McCabe. A general election would\u00a0come\u00a0at a critical time in Brexit negotiations.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Suzuki and Toyota to sell electric cars in India by 2020 \n NEW DELHI: Japanese automakers Suzuki Motor and Toyota Motor finalised an agreement to manufacture and sell electric vehicles in India by the turn of the decade.The move, particularly the involvement of Suzuki that sells one in every two passenger vehicles in India through local unit Maruti, gives further credence to the government\u2019s vision of switching to full electric mobility from 2030 and boosts its \u2018Make in India\u2019 initiative.According to the memorandum of understanding signed on Friday, Toyota will provide technical knowhow for the project while Suzuki will manufacture the vehicles for the Indian market and also supply some to Toyota.\u201cThe MoU concluded is part of the overall agreement being firmed up between Suzuki and Toyota. Since this (India\u2019s EV push with a 2030 deadline) was a more urgent issue, it has been addressed first,\u201d Maruti Suzuki chairman RC Bhargava told ET. \u201cIt will surely prove beneficial for all involved. We have to make sure that not only the cost, but the performance of the vehicle is such that it meets customer expectations.\u201dToyota, the No. 2 automaker in the world, and Suzuki, the thirdlargest in Japan on local sales, have been holding talks since February to forge a partnership in shared procurement, green vehicles, IT and safety technologies.India, one of the fastest-growing automobile markets, was a key target market and manufacturing hub of those discussions, as the companies sought to leverage Suzuki\u2019s large low-cost manufacturing capability and supplier base here as well as the government\u2019s push to electric mobility.Friday\u2019s announcement underlines their India focus. It didn\u2019t mention any global plans, which they are expected to unveil at a later stage.The companies will launch activities to promote widespread acceptance and use of electric vehicles in India. These will include setting up of charging infrastructure, human resource development including training for after-sales service technicians and systems for appropriate treatment of end-of-life batteries, they said in a joint press statement. \u201cToyota Motor Corporation and Suzuki Motor Corporation have concluded a memorandum of understanding on moving forward in considering a cooperative structure for introducing electric vehicles in the Indian market in around 2020,\u201d the statement said.In line with the agreement, batteries, electric motors and major components for manufacturing electric vehicles will all be procured locally, \u201chelping the Indian government fulfil its \u2018Make in India\u2019 initiative, even in the field of EVs\u201d, the press statement said.LEVERAGING INDIAIn September, Suzuki chairman Osamu Suzuki announced that the automaker, along with Japanese partners Toshiba and Denso, would invest about Rs 1,150 crore to set up India\u2019s first lithiumion battery manufacturing facility at Hansalpur in Gujarat. Suzuki at the time said their joint venture would leverage India as a base for manufacturing these batteries, which would be mounted on hybrid vehicles and shipped to markets overseas.VG Ramakrishnan, managing partner at consultancy firm Avanteum Partners, views the new partnership as a win-win for both companies. \u201cOn its own Suzuki does not have the resources to invest in development of alternative fuel technologies. The partnership with Toyota enables Suzuki to be future-ready.\u201d", "output": "Car manufacturers Toyota and Suzuki have agreed a memorandum of understanding to make and sell electric vehicles in India by 2020, according to a joint statement. In the deal Toyota will offer technical knowledge, Suzuki will manufacture the cars, while Indian suppliers will provide batteries, electric motors and major components. The agreement also covers charging infrastructure and developing systems for the appropriate treatment of end-of-life batteries. The partnership is set to give a boost to the Indian government's ambition of moving to full electrification on the roads by 2030.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Irish PM will block Brexit talks unless hard border is ruled out \n Ireland has issued a stark warning that it will block progress of the Brexit negotiations in December unless the UK gives a formal written guarantee that there will be no hard border with Northern Ireland.\n\nIn sharp remarks before a breakfast meeting with Theresa May, the Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar, said Brexit-backing politicians had not \u201cthought all this through\u201d in the years they had been pushing for the UK to leave the EU.\n\nHis comments marked the start of a testing day for May that included a meeting with the European council president, Donald Tusk, which Downing Street said showed \u201cthere is more work to be done\u201d.\n\nOutside the Gothenburg social summit in Sweden, Varadkar suggested he would block any progress to negotiations about the future relationship with the EU unless the UK was prepared to take a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic, in any form, off the table.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been given assurances that there will be no hard border in Ireland, that there won\u2019t be any physical infrastructure, that we won\u2019t go back to the borders of the past,\u201d Varadkar said. \u201cWe want that written down in practical terms in the conclusions of phase one.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe taoiseach was scathing about UK politicians who he said had backed Brexit without real thought to the consequences of leaving. \u201cIt\u2019s 18 months since the referendum. It\u2019s 10 years since people who wanted a referendum started agitating for one,\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes it doesn\u2019t seem like they have thought all this through.\n\nQ&A Why is Dublin opposed to the idea of a hard border? Show Ireland\u2019s taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, has been much more sceptical than the UK about the potential for avoiding border posts via virtual checks on importers. Whilst agreeing with British ministers and EU negotiators that it is inconceivable for there to be a return to a hard border with the north, Dublin argues that the best way for the UK to achieve this would be by permanently remaining in a customs union with the EU and seeking single market membership like Norway through the European Economic Area. The UK has conceded that some of this will be necessary in its interim phase after Brexit, but hopes clever technological solutions can allow it have looser economic links in the long run. Varadkar is not alone in being sceptical about whether such a cake-and-eat-it customs and trade strategy is viable. Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.\n\n\u201cBritain, having unilaterally taken the customs union and single market off the table, before we move to phase two talks on trade we want taken off the table any suggestion that there will be a physical border, a hard border, new barriers to trade on the island of Ireland.\u201d\n\nVaradkar said it was still possible that EU leaders would agree that sufficient progress had been made on issues such as the Irish border by December to allow talks to move on to trade, but took a sceptical tone about May and other ministers\u2019 approach.\n\n\u201cI think it\u2019s certainly possible that we can come to conclusions in December allowing phase two talks to begin, but if we have to wait until the new year, if we have to wait for further concessions, so be it,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I think it would be in all of our interests that we proceed to phase two if we can in December.\u201d\n\nA UK government source said it had been \u201cclear from the outset there will be no hard border\u201d but admitted there was more work to be done on the issue before the two countries would see eye to eye. Sources pointed to several official documents released by the UK government already that made commitments on the Irish border.\n\n\n\nAfter the pair met for breakfast, an Irish government source told RT\u00c9 that May had told Varadkar they were \u201calmost there\u201d on the Irish border with all sides on the same page, which the taoiseach rebuffed, with the source describing the prime minister\u2019s words as \u201cwishful thinking\u201d.\n\nA Downing Street spokesman said there had been \u201cconstructive discussions on Brexit\u201d between May and Varadkar at the breakfast meeting. \u201cOn Northern Ireland, the PM was clear that the Belfast agreement must be at the heart of our approach and that Northern Ireland\u2019s unique circumstances demand specific solutions.\n\n\u201cThe PM said it was important to protect progress made in Northern Ireland over recent years. Both leaders agreed to work together to find solutions which ensure there is no return to the borders of the past.\u201d\n\nTheresa May (centre) sits behind the Hungarian PM, Viktor Orb\u00e1n, and the Lithuanian president, Dalia Grybauskait\u0117, in Gothenburg. Photograph: Szilard Koszticsak/EPA\n\nEarlier on Friday, the Irish foreign minister, Simon Coveney, met the UK foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, for talks in Dublin. Coveney said: \u201cWe all want to move on to phase two of the Brexit negotiations, but we are not in a place right now that allows us to do it.\u201d\n\nJohnson, on his first visit to Ireland as foreign secretary, insisted the reintroduction of a hard border between the two countries was \u201cthe last thing the UK government wants\u201d and that it had \u201cabsolutely no interest in such an outcome\u201d.\n\nMay met Tusk on the sidelines of the summit, as well as the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the Italian prime minister, Paolo Gentiloni.\n\n\n\nDowning Street hinted May and Tusk had discussed progress on the financial settlement. \u201cThe two leaders spoke about the progress which had been made so far in the negotiations on citizens\u2019 rights, Northern Ireland and the financial settlement,\u201d a spokesman said.\n\nThe pair agreed there was \u201cmore work to be done and discussed how to take further steps forward together in advance of the European council in December\u201d.\n\nIn a statement after their meeting, Downing Street said May and Macron had also discussed the need for further progress before the December council meeting.\n\nFrance\u2019s European affairs minister, Natalie Loiseau, said a no-deal Brexit had become a possibility but stressed unity among the EU27 was \u201crock solid\u201d and deadlock in the talks was due to Britain\u2019s failure to provide sufficient clarity.\n\n\u201cA British departure without an agreement with the EU cannot be excluded,\u201d she told the French newspaper La Croix. \u201cThat would be bad news for Europe, and above all, without doubt, bad news for the UK.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe Dutch parliament\u2019s European affairs committee on Thursday warned the Netherlands to make contingency plans for a \u201cchaotic no-deal\u201d Brexit, blaming a lack of preparation and \u201cunrealistic expectations\u201d on the part of some British politicians.\n\nLoiseau said the bloc was united on the necessity of settling all divorce issues before beginning discussions about the future trading relationship.\n\n\u201cThe EU27 must now be firm, particularly since the negotiations are stalled because the British have failed to provide specific answers on a number of points,\u201d she said, adding that the financial settlement remained the main stumbling block.\n\nEntering the summit on Friday morning, May repeated her pledge that the UK would \u201chonour our commitments\u201d. It is understood she is preparing to offer an additional \u00a320bn to settle the divorce bill in the first week of December before the talks.\n\n\u201cI was clear in my speech in Florence that we will honour our commitments,\u201d she said. \u201cBut of course we want to move forward together, talking about the trade issues and trade partnership for the future.\n\n\u201cI have set out a vision for that economic partnership. I look forward to the European Union responding positively to that so we can move forward together and ensure that we can get the best possible arrangements for the future that will be good for people in the United Kingdom and across the remaining EU27.\u201d\n\nEU leaders must agree that \u201csufficient progress\u201d has been made on three key areas before talks can move on to a future trade deal. The three areas are the so-called divorce bill, which is the financial settlement with the EU; the rights of EU citizens in the UK and British citizens in Europe; and the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.\n\nIf sufficient progress is not agreed to have been made at the summit on 14-15 December, it may mean no progress is guaranteed until the next scheduled European council meeting in March.", "output": "Leo Varadkar, Ireland's Prime Minister, has demanded a formal written guarantee that there will be no hard border in Ireland following Brexit. He\u00a0suggested he will stop the talks progressing until the matter has been formally addressed and \"written down in practical terms\".\u00a0He also criticised\u00a0politicians who fought for Brexit, saying the have simply not\u00a0\"thought all this through\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook releases dynamic and lead ads for auto brands \n Facebook is gearing up to grab automotive advertising budget with dynamic and lead ads for auto brands, both released on Thursday.\n\nDynamic ads for auto, like Facebook\u2019s other dynamic ad products for ecommerce and travel, allow advertisers \u2013auto manufacturers and car dealerships, in this case \u2013 to retarget auto intenders and create lookalike audiences for targeting.\n\nThe ads, which were developed over the past several months, are available through Facebook and Instagram with plans to bring them to Audience Network in the near term, although there\u2019s no set timeline.\n\nIt works like this: Brands upload their vehicle catalog, including details for make, model and year, and the ad creative is automatically generated and targeted based on user intent and a mix of psychographic and demographic data that Facebook pulls from its pixel on an advertiser\u2019s website.\n\nAfter the click, the ads redirect to vehicle info pages or mobile lead ads, which advertisers can use to collect user data and consumers can use to request more information or to take an action, like locating the nearest dealership or scheduling a test drive.\n\nThe lead ads are integrated with Canvas, Facebook\u2019s full-screen mobile ad unit, and pre-populated with the user\u2019s contact information, including email address.\n\nFor the moment, advertisers can set KPIs based on cost per lead or click-throughs on the dynamic unit.\n\nWhat they can\u2019t do, however, at least not yet, is tie dynamic ads or lead ads to dealership visits. That\u2019s on the agenda.\n\nToday, some auto advertisers use Facebook\u2019s store visits tool, which tracks offline purchases, to get a sense of how many people visit a dealership after seeing an ad. But the store visits objective isn\u2019t directly integrated with dynamic ads, which means advertisers can\u2019t actually close the loop on a specific car purchase.\n\nFacebook\u2019s road map includes full attribution for auto dynamic ads.\n\nBut even without closed-loop attribution, auto brands still need to insert themselves into the research process as early as possible.\n\nBecause consumers only buy a new vehicle every seven years or so, it\u2019s important for advertisers to clearly understand the car buyer\u2019s journey, which increasingly takes place on a mobile device.\n\nMobile is starting to \u201creplace the showroom,\u201d said Stephanie Latham, Facebook\u2019s auto industry lead. It\u2019s where product research increasingly occurs, and auto brands need to be there, she said.\n\n\u201cThe average car shopper today visits two dealerships per car sold and, in some cases, they visit zero dealerships,\u201d Latham said. \u201cAnd when they do show up at a dealership, they\u2019re already well-prepared because they\u2019ve done the research online.\u201d\n\nIn fact, 56% of auto intenders conduct research on a mobile device, according to Cox Automotive \u2013 and one in every five minutes spent on a mobile phone in the US is spent on either Facebook or Instagram.\n\nThese interactions give automotive companies another chance to be part of the car buyer\u2019s consideration, Latham said.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s essential for manufacturers and dealers to make sure that they\u2019re discoverable, even if the customer is not searching,\u201d she said. \u201cThe biggest takeaway is that they need to reach the customer early in the process with more relevant and personalized content. If they do that, they can have influence before the customer makes their decision.\u201d", "output": "Facebook is seeking a greater share of automotive advertising by launching dynamic and lead adverts for the sector. The facility is available on both Facebook and Instagram in the US, and allows brands to generate bespoke adverts for different vehicles and have them automatically targeted using Facebook's demographic data. Users clicking on the ads can then be redirected to mobile lead ads, which are automatically filled out using the user's contact information. The push by Facebook reflects surveys showing more than half of those intending to buy a car conduct research on a mobile device.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vast majority of insurtech investments a waste: Guidewire chief \n 95% of investment in new insurtech distribution models will be wasted, claims Guidewire chief executive Marcus Ryu.\n\nAddressing the press at Guidewire Connections 2017, Ryu said that recent investments in insurtech amount to a bubble and it had all happened \u201ctoo fast\u201d.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve seen this movie a hundred times before. It happens in every time in technology. You have a huge surge of early stage investment. Most of it gets wasted. It\u2019s like a law of nature. It just always happens and that\u2019s what\u2019s happening here,\u201d Ryu explained.\n\n$3.5bn has been invested in insurtech over the past few years. It is not possible to spend that money productively, Ryu warned.\n\nRyu identified sensible areas of insurtech spending as satellite and commercial sensor data aggregation and photo based estimating, because they are useful and insurance relevant.\n\nHe was less confident that attempts to change insurance distribution models will be a disruptive force and worth the amount of money that has been funnelled into it. Two thirds of insurtech investment has gone towards companies with new distribution models.\n\n\u201cMy personal view is 95-9% of that is going to be wasted. These are companies that utterly underestimate what it takes to be an insurance company,\u201d Ryu continued.\n\nRyu gave the example of a lead investor in one of the better known insurtech companies \u2013 he did not specify which \u2013 using the metric of customer acquisition to show progress. While this is a good way for Snapchat and consumer internet firms to measure progress, it does not lead to a tangible benefit for an insurer.\n\n\u201cIf you\u2019re an insurance company it\u2019s very easy to get customer acquisition. Any insurance company can acquire all the customers they want and lose money on every one of them. The fact that they were thinking in terms of consumer internet attitude [is telling], you have to spend a lot take lot of losses, but acquire a lot of customers and then figure out how to make money on them later. It does not work.\u201d\n\nRyu said that interesting things were being seen in smaller volume markets, with companies like Slice, but success is likely because they tackle such a small segment of the overall market with niche products, lacking a wider reach that would threaten the industry as it stands.\n\nHe also discussed peer to peer (P2P) insurance risk sharing models, but said that they are also tiny and not consequential yet. Ryu said they should be viewed as experiments and they are all currently \u201csignificantly loss making\u201d.\n\n\u201cThe jury is out\u201d, Ryu said, on whether one of these good ideas can become a strong player, though he would like to see it happen.", "output": "As much as 95% of cash poured into insurtech could be a waste, according to Guidewire CEO Marcus Ryu. Noting that there's been a rush for investors to put money to work in insurtech firms, Ryu added that he's seen several scenarios where investors have been initially impressed by technology, but later came to realise their money was wasted after being deployed in a hasty fashion. Ryu suggested investments in data processing for insurance could be worthwhile, but warned trying to change the distribution model of the industry via technology could be futile.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Jaguar Land Rover begins testing autonomous cars on British roads \n The birthplace of Britain\u2019s automotive industry today hosted another four-wheeled first with a trial of connected and autonomous vehicle technology on its streets.\n\nUK Autodrive has taken its vehicles from test track to the streets of Coventry to trial a number of technologies that will help define vehicles that communicate with each other and their surroundings to improve safety and efficiency.\n\nProject partners Jaguar Land Rover, Ford and Tata Motors European Technical Centre (TMETC) have begun tests on a number of connected car features, with Jaguar Land Rover and TMETC separately trialling autonomous vehicle research technologies.\n\nThe connected car trials are exploring seven different concepts, including connected traffic lights, emergency vehicle warnings, and emergency braking alerts.\n\nThe Jaguar Land Rover and TMETC autonomous vehicle research technology trials are being used to develop self-driving vehicle technology in a real-world setting, but with test operators supervising the cars at all times.\n\nFurther trials are scheduled to take place in Coventry and Milton Keynes early next year followed by a final series of open road demonstration events in both cities during the second half of 2018.\n\n\u201cThe fundamental purpose of UK Autodrive is to get connected and autonomous vehicle technology out onto UK roads, so the start of trialling on the streets of Coventry is clearly a major landmark both for the project and for the UK as a whole,\u201d said Tim Armitage, Arup\u2019s UK Autodrive project director. \u201cOur previous private test track trials showed that the technology works but it is only on real roads that we will start to see the scale of the benefits that it can bring to the general public.\u201d\n\n\u201cAutonomous and connected cars will be a reality in the near future and I am confident they will help to boost safety, reduce congestion and improve air quality.\u201d Coventry City councillor Jim O\u2019Boyle, cabinet member for jobs and regeneration. \u201cAlong with battery technology they will also help to create thousands of new jobs in the automotive sector and its supply chain.\u201d\n\nAs well as the on-road testing of connected and autonomous cars in Milton Keynes and Coventry, UK Autodrive is also trialling a fleet of up to 40 self-driving pavement-based \u2018pod\u2019 vehicles in Milton Keynes, with both types of vehicle due to take part in the project\u2019s final technology demonstrations next year.\n\nCoventry's connected car features: Emergency Vehicle Warning (EVW) \u2013 Sends a signal directly from the emergency vehicle (e.g. ambulance, fire engine, police vehicle) to nearby connected cars. Driver is informed that the emergency vehicle is approaching and advised to make way for it Intersection Collision Warning (ICW) \u2013 Warns the driver when it is unsafe to enter an intersection, due to a high probability of collision with other vehicles In-Vehicle Signage (IVS) \u2013 Sends information about road conditions, congestion or other incidents directly to the in-car display, rather than having to rely on expensive gantry systems Electronic Emergency Brake Light (EEBL) \u2013 Alerts the driver when a vehicle in front suddenly brakes, providing advanced warning, especially when the driver is unable to see the lights of the braking vehicle due to weather conditions, road layout or other vehicles in between Green Light Optimal Speed Advisory (GLOSA) \u2013 Sends traffic light information to the connected car which is able to calculate the optimal speed for approaching the lights, potentially minimising the number of red light stops, improving traffic flow and reducing emission levels from idling vehicles Intersection Priority Management (IPM) \u2013 Assigns priority when two or more connected vehicles come to an intersection without priority signs or traffic lights Collaborative Parking \u2013 Provides real-time information about free parking spaces either in the vicinity or close to the driver\u2019s final destination.\n\nCLICK HERE FOR MORE AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE NEWS", "output": "Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Motors European Technical Centre have begun testing autonomous vehicles on the streets of Coventry. The vehicles have human drivers supervising them and follow previous trials on private tracks. Jaguar and Tata are also involved in a consortium with Ford called UK Autodrive, which has been testing \"connected car\" technology to improve road safety. More tests of both types of technology have been scheduled for next year in Coventry and Milton Keynes, including a fleet of new pavement-based self-driving \"pod\" vehicles."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Warner Bros considers IoT to be part of\u00a0future content strategy \n Warner Bros. is exploring how to further sell ways to enjoy its entertainment content across multiple platforms in the new frontier known as the Internet of Things, or IoT.\n\nThe University of Southern California hosted its Intelligent IoT Integrator (I3) Consortium on Thursday at the Galen Center in Los Angeles to gather its founding members and officially launch the consortium. IoT is a concept that envisions the internet as more than just a way for people to communicate and share information, allowing for objects to interconnect via built-in sensors, camera and actuators.\n\n\u201cI3 is looking at this notion that the internet is more than just people, it\u2019s about people becoming more aware of their surroundings,\u201d said Bhaskar Krishnamachari, professor at the Viterbi school of engineering co-founder of I3. \u201cThe consortium is helping to make the conversation around IoT go beyond just one application and trying to allow third-party application developers to connect to data that\u2019s coming from their communities and build a large number of useful applications for IoT.\u201d\n\nWarner Bros. is one of the founding members of I3, which was founded at USC with the support of the City of Los Angeles. In the new landscape of the Internet of Things, Warner Bros. is interested in developing ways for consumers to digitally purchase and personalize their entertainment experiences then integrate them into their daily lives via their digital devices.\n\n\u201cWhat we sell can be sold as as a digital right, the right to watch \u2018Wonder Woman\u2019 on your television, the right to walk into a theater to watch \u2018Justice League,\u2019 the right to play Injustice on your game console,\u201d said Bryan Barber, VP of digital innovation at Warner Bros. \u201cThe Internet of Things is a development that can create millions and millions of internet consumer touch points. The devices you encounter could light up or respond in ways that are uniquely tailored to you as a fan of DC Comics, Harry Potter, or their own fandom.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a natural intersection between the entertainment industry and the Internet of Things. Warner Bros. is supporting the development of IoT and has joined and supported I3 because we\u2019re excited by this organization and its ability to create an innovation platform,\u201d he continued. \u201cThis is a new frontier and we don\u2019t yet know all the possibilities for Warner Bros. in the Internet of Things. What we\u2019re really want to do is to start trying things and start learning and is going to give us the innovation platform that allows us to do that.\u201d\n\nThe I3 Consortium is was created as a collaboration between the USC Marshall School of Business and the Viterbi School of Engineering, although Krishnamachari said he hopes to one day expand the initiative to include the School of Cinematic Arts and the Rossier School of Education. Other presenters at the consortium included the City of Los Angeles and Tech Mahindra, an information technology company, that introduced the new Community Action Platform for Engagement (\u201cCAPE,\u201d) a new community-based digital platform that will help to build smarter, more sustainable and energy-efficient cities.", "output": "Warner Bros is exploring\u00a0how the internet of things (IoT) could offer a personalised entertainment experience, according to Bryan Barber, its vice-president of digital innovation. His comments followed\u00a0the launch of the Intelligent IoT Integrator (I3) Consortium, of which Warner Bros is a founding member. Barber said the IoT could create \"millions and millions of internet consumer touch points\"\u00a0and added Warner Bros wanted to \"start trying things and learning, and I3 is going to give us the innovation platform that allows us to do that\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers develop paper-thin, flexible motion sensors \n New York, Nov 19 (IANS) Researchers have developed new motion sensors that could herald a near future of ubiquitous, fully integrated and affordable wearable technology.\n\n\"For sensor technology, you need it to be flexible, you need it to be affordable and you need it to be scalable,\" said Richard Liang, director of the High-Performance Materials Institute and professor at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering in the US.\n\n\"This new technology is versatile and the sensors are affordable to print. It's a big innovation that presents many possibilities down the road.\"\n\nIn a paper, published in the journal Materials and Design, engineers from FSU's High-Performance Materials Institute, in collaboration with scientists from Institut National des Sciences Appliqu?es in Lyon, France, detail the properties and cost-effective manufacturing process of an advanced series of motion sensors made using buckypaper -- razor thin, flexible sheets of pure, durable carbon nanotubes.\n\nThe low-profile design could be integrated into bedsheets to monitor quality of sleep, shoes to track step count and posture or workout clothes to measure intensity of exercise.\n\nResearchers also foresee potential applications beyond the realm of wearable technology. In the field of soft robotics, the material could facilitate advances in the production of responsive, self-correcting artificial muscles, the researchers said.\n\nMoreover, the scalable sensors represent another step toward the long-predicted future of an \"internet of things,\" where virtually all of an individual's computers, devices, garments, furniture and appliances are digitally connected to freely exchange information in the cloud.\n\n\"Most projects don't have this many possible applications. This material could be used in structural health monitoring, wearable technology and everything in between. I'm excited because this is something that can affect a lot of people in their everyday lives,\" said the lead author of the study Joshua DeGraff.\n\nThe novel sensor structure combines a strip of seven micron-thin buckypaper with silver ink electrodes printed from a common, commercially available ink-jet printer.\n\nWhile the technology might not be ready for prime time quite yet, researchers are energised by its promising future.\n\nThese new buckypaper sensors represent a marked improvement on current industry standards, with most sensors being either too crude or too inflexible to reliably monitor complex structures like the human body, the researchers added.\n\n(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)\n\nAbout VDC Doraiah Chowdary Vundavally is a Software engineer at VTech . He is the news editor of SocialNews.XYZ and Freelance writer-contributes Telugu and English Columns on Films, Politics, and Gossips. He is the primary contributor for South Cinema Section of SocialNews.XYZ. His mission is to help to develop SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgement towards any.", "output": "Researchers from Florida's FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and scientists from the Institut National des Sciences Appliqu\u00e9es in Lyon, France have developed a scalable, low-cost, flexible motion sensor. According to an article in Materials and Design, the team created sensors from wafer-thin, flexible sheets of nanotubes, known as buckypaper, which then had silver electrodes printed on them, using an everyday inkjet machine. The team said the motion sensors had many applications, from sleep-monitoring bed linen\u00a0to monitoring workouts to the internet of things.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk TalkTalk plans major overhaul of bloated IT infrastructure \n Embattled UK phone and broadband provider TalkTalk is planning to rip out around half of its IT in order to streamline its bloated infrastructure, IT Pro can reveal. The cull is intended to precede the adoption of modern technologies like microservices and containerisation.\n\n\"We've got quite a large amount of 'tech debt' in our estate, and it's really holding us back from being more efficient,\" TalkTalk tooling and environments manager, Gareth Watson, told IT Pro. \"So in the next 12-18 months, we're going on quite a radical drive of simplification. We're looking to rip out almost 50% of our estate.\"\n\nWhen TalkTalk performed a full audit of its estate earlier this year, the company discovered it's suffering from massive inefficiencies due to a gargantuan sprawl of applications and hardware, Watson revealed.\n\n\"We discovered that we have 84 million lines of code spread across 600 applications, across 3,000 servers, with 5,000 interdependencies,\" he said. \"Some of it we've turned off already, because it's not being used - it's just on there doing nothing. It's ridiculous.\"\n\nBy Watson's estimation, around 60% of TalkTalk's codebase is unnecessary. \"We've got twice as much [code] as the Large Hadron Collider. It's maybe a smidge more than we need, you know?\"\n\nIncreased efficiency is something that the telco is currently in dire need of; it reported a 75 million pre-tax loss for the first half of this financial year earlier this week, thanks in part to a 31 million charge to write off assets in its mobile business, and a 59 million charge for an organisational restructure.\n\nThe company also suffered a catastrophic data breach in 2015 that compromised 150,000 customers' details.\n\nBut by streamlining its IT systems, TalkTalk hopes to transition to a much leaner and more agile approach, Watson told IT Pro. The company has already started using CA Technologies' release and testing automation tools to speed up internal testing, and has already condensed the number of development processes that can be used by its developers from 32 down to three.\n\nTalkTalk is expecting efficiency gains of around 80% from deploying CA's automation software, derived from speeding up the way in which its engineers test and deploy code.\n\n\"It takes them 2.4 days to take an application from their development environment, through all the test environments and into production,\" Watson said. \"Using CA's release automation, we're looking to reduce that down to half a day.\"\n\nHe added that while \"2.4 days per application doesn't feel like a lot, we do 50 application deployments per release and eight releases a year - that's nearly 1,000 days a year, just wasted on people getting files moved between servers and things like that. By using CA's tools, we'll take that down to roughly 200 a year\".", "output": "Telecoms company TalkTalk is planning to streamline its IT operations, removing nearly half of its computer infrastructure in the process. The company has around 84 million lines of code across 3,000 servers, and estimates about 60% of this is unnecessary. It intends to address the \"tech debt\"\u00a0over the next 12 to\u00a018 months, and hopes that doing so will improve the company's performance. Implementing new automation software from CA Technologies is expected to lead to efficiency gains of up to 80%. TalkTalk reported a\u00a0\u00a375m ($99m) pre-tax loss for the first half of this year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurtech At-Bay uses heuristics to asses cyber risk \n At-Bay, a new insurance company startup focused on cyber insurance and related risk management, came out of stealth mode on Nov. 17 with news of $6 million in seed venture funding.\n\nLightSpeed Venture Partners led the round, with participation from Shlomo Kramer and LocalGlobe. Munich Re\u2019s Hartford Steam Boiler is a primary backer of the startup, and the two have partnered to bring a cyber risk insurance product to market.\n\nDavid Mercier, senior vice president for HSB, said that his company is \u201cvery excited about working with At-Bay.\u201d\n\n\u201cAt-Bay\u2019s data- and knowledge-driven business model aligns with HSB\u2019s own system of managing and underwriting cyber risk,\u201d Mercier said in prepared remarks. \u201cTheir offering truly leverages the strengths of both companies.\u201d\n\nAt-Bay describes its model as a new way of measuring risk by using in-depth risk research blended with an ability to adjust risk models in real time based on future expectations (known as heuristics). This goes beyond traditional methods of legacy insurance carriers, which use historical data to predict future risk. At-Bay said it also monitors risk continuously. The startup asserts that its methodology helps give clients an updated and future-forward assessment of risk.\n\n\u201cWe match deep insights on a company\u2019s IT security with financial exposure that cyber attack vectors create to enable insurance brokers and risk managers to more clearly and accurately assess and manage cyber risk,\u201d At-Bay CEO and founder Rotem Iram said in prepared remarks. \u201cOur insurance products and supporting risk management services provide organizations with the confidence that they can take on the challenges of tomorrow.\u201d\n\nCalifornia-based At-Bay also has a component for brokers, a digital platform that the startup says is intuitive and combines its insurance product with risk insights. This means that brokers are able to have more insightful discussions with clients about issues including security and financial exposure, case studies, and benchmark data, At-Bay said. The idea here, according to the company, is that \u201cfast, digital and collaborative applications make for a low-friction sales process.\u201d\n\nBefore At-Bay, Iram was chief operating officer for K2 Intelligence, a cybersecurity practice based in Israel. He also has prior experience as a consultant with McKinsey & Co., as a software engineer with RAD Data Communication and as head of the Techno-Intelligence Group for the Israel Defense Forces, according to his LinkedIn profile.\n\nSource: At-Bay", "output": "Insurtech At-Bay is using heuristics - the ability to adjust data-points in real time - to determine levels of cyber risk. The start-up assesses risk based on future predictions, a departure from the traditional method of determining cyber risk exposure, which usually makes use of analysing past incidents of security breaches. The firm has now raised $6m from a group of investors led by LightSpeed Venture Partner. The insurtech is able to bring insurance policies to market due to its primary backer being\u00a0Munich Re\u2019s Hartford Steam Boiler.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook overtakes LinkedIn as B2B's most-used social channel \n This Is an ANA Member Exclusive\n\nAccess to this item is reserved for ANA members only.\n\nNot a Member?\n\nYou can still create a free account to access the latest from ANA's online publications in ANA Newsstand, receive content and special event offers through our newsletters, get breaking industry updates, and so much more.\n\nThe content you're trying to see is available to:\n\nANA Client-Side Marketer Tier Members\n\nPlatinum Tier Members\n\nGold Tier Members\n\nSilver Tier Members\n\nIndividual Members\n\nDiscover everything the ANA can do to help drive growth for your organization. Connect with our membership team.", "output": "Facebook is now the most used business-to-business social channel, with LinkedIn coming second, according to an annual study by Social Media Examiner. The study took in responses from 5,700 B2B marketers and found 43% regarded Facebook as their most important social channel, compared with 37% for LinkedIn and 12% for Twitter. The survey also found 39% have increased their Facebook posts in the past 12 months, while almost 70% planned to do so in the coming year. In Q3 2017, the social media giant posted ad revenues of $10.1bn, an increase of 49% on the same period last year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vertical video ads lack appeal to UK publishers and agencies \n Vertical video is often lauded as the future, but it\u2019s stubbornly not so present in the U.K.\n\nOn the surface, there\u2019s a lot of action, as publishers like News UK, Hearst and the BBC \u2014 not to mention big platforms like Facebook and Snapchat \u2014 have added vertical video capabilities. But many publishers have not, and agencies have been slow to create vertical ad campaigns, according to both publishers and agencies.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a chicken-and-egg situation,\u201d said Chris Mumford, trading director at M&C Saatchi Mobile. \u201cSmaller publishers will need to see ad dollars pushing into vertical video formats to justify making the technical changes on their side, and advertisers are always looking for scale. More content is needed to give advertisers space and scale to play. Low scale obviously drives up the cost of finite inventory. It\u2019s a self-perpetuating mess.\u201d\n\nFor now, most nonsocial vertical video inventory is bought directly from publishers and in private marketplaces, and self-serve through platforms. When inventory becomes available on exchanges and the process is less manual for agencies, there will be a shift, said Mumford.\n\n\u201cI believe we\u2019ll get to a place where we just call it \u2018video\u2019 and \u2018horizontal video\u2019 in the next few months,\u201d said Fariya Faiyaz, account director at Dentsu Aegis mobile agency Fetch, adding that the number of vertical videos brands see in social platforms will drive this.\n\nThere are signs of promise, however. The BBC, which rolled out vertical video in its app in November 2016, said the format drives visitors to watch more, with a 20 percent increase in video views per visit. Fetch is producing about 40 vertical video campaigns for clients, whereas a year ago, vertical video campaigns were in the experimental phase. Faiyaz sees promise now there are more format types within vertical video, like 360-degree video, dynamic creative or multiple videos within one unit.\n\nThe challenge, as with all campaigns, is in proving vertical video drives business results incremental to other video formats. Platforms need to try harder at this; otherwise, agencies won\u2019t be able to justify the added costs, according to Deborah King, head of paid social at Essence.\n\n\u201cI haven\u2019t seen specific case studies, apart from in the film entertainment sector, that validates vertical video drives X amount of sales or this much brand uplift versus horizontal video,\u201d she said. The film entertainment sector has led the charge with vertical video ad campaigns, partly because it has a wealth of video content and expertise. The lack of clear proof of campaign effectiveness is pushing Essence to run A/B tests with clients to see which format delivers brand uplift. \u201cIf the user experience isn\u2019t detrimentally impacted, there will always be slower adoption,\u201d she added.\n\nAdvertisers under pressure to cut costs and keep to strict ROIs for clients will not have investment into new creative executions at the top of their priority lists. But rather than cost, the barrier to wider adoption for vertical video is time, said Mark Holden, global strategy director at Starcom. While agencies need to create upward of a dozen variations of different assets for formats and environments, the top three will almost always be TV broadcast, video-on-demand broadcast and Facebook and YouTube for scale.\n\n\u201cThe intentions are there,\u201d said Holden. \u201cFrom a video-delivery point of view, nonvertical is good enough. It\u2019s not ticking the box for investment versus impact yet.\u201d", "output": "Smaller UK publishers have been slow to adopt vertical videos, in what has been called \u201ca chicken-and-egg situation\u201d by Chris Mumford, trading director at M&C Saatchi Mobile. He said:\u00a0\"Smaller publishers will need to see ad dollars pushing into vertical video formats to justify making the technical changes on their side, and advertisers are always looking for scale.\"\u00a0Deborah King, head of paid social at Essence, said she had seen little evidence that vertical video had a positive impact on sales or brand uplift relative to horizontal video. Nonetheless, Facebook, Snapchat and others have added vertical video capability.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "\u00d8rsted issues \u20ac1.25bn of\u00a0green capital securities and bonds \n Danish offshore wind developer \u00d8rsted A/S (CPH:ORSTED), formerly known as Dong Energy, is issuing EUR 500 million (USD 589m) in green hybrid capital securities and EUR 750 million in green senior bonds.\n\nThe settlement date for both issues, which have been heavily oversubscribed, is November 24, the company said Thursday.\n\nThe issuances will help extend the duration of \u00d8rsted\u2019s senior debt maturity profile and will allow it to refinance EUR 500 million in 4.875% hybrid capital securities issued in 2013. Earlier on Thursday the company said its new Green Bond Framework has received a second opinion with \"a Dark Green shading\" from CICERO.\n\nDetails on the issuances are available in the table.\n\nDetails green hybrid security green senior bond Nominal amount EUR 500 million EUR 750 million Maturity date November 24, 3017 November 26, 2029 Coupon 2.25% - fixed till 1st par call date Nov 24, 2024 1.5% - fixed until maturity Price 99.203% of nominal amount 98.840% of nominal amount Oversubscribed more than 5x more than 2.3x Listing Luxembourg Stock Exchange (official list) and inscribe on the Luxembourg Green Exchange Platform (LGX) London Stock Exchange\n\n\u00d8rsted noted that these transaction do not change its financial guidance for 2017 or the announced expected investment level for the year.\n\n(EUR 1 = USD 1.18)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Danish renewable-energy company \u00d8rsted (previously Dong Energy) is issuing \u20ac1.25bn ($1.47bn) in green capital securities and bonds,\u00a0allowing it to refinance securities issued in 2013.\u00a0The offering is split between \u20ac500m of green hybrid capital securities, to be listed on the Luxembourg stock exchange, and green senior bonds listed on the London Stock Exchange. The settlement is 24 November."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bluegogo's troubles suggest China's bike-sharing boom is over \n China\u2019s third largest bike sharing company has reportedly run into financial trouble, amid a wave of busts and consolidations in an industry that took the country by storm this year.\n\n\n\nBluegogo burned through 600m yuan (\u00a368m) in investor funding in the year since it was founded by its youthful CEO Li Gang, deploying 700,000 bikes across cities in China.\n\nCommonly hailed as the \u201cUber for bikes\u201d, cycle sharing companies saturated Chinese streets with a technicolour of orange, yellow and blue cycles, frequently crowding out pedestrians. Infamous scenes of derelict bicycles piled in mangled heaps have become common sights.\n\nThe companies let customers rent bike using their smartphone, and bicycles could be dropped off anywhere. Users pay a deposit fee of 99 to 299 yuan (\u00a311.30 to \u00a334.10) depending on the company and then are charged a fee for every 30 minutes of use.\n\nBut as reports emerged Bluegogo was in trouble, Chinese social media erupted with users complaining they were unable to get their deposits back, and rumours that Li had fled the country.\n\nBluegogo claimed it had 20m users across China at its height in an open letter written by Li this week. That would mean the company at one point had at least 1.98bn yuan (\u00a3226m) in deposits, although it is unclear how much the company is currently holding.\n\nRumors have also spread on Chinese social media saying Li had left China, prompting him to post on his profile: \u201cI have always been in the country, fighting on the front lines for redemption\u201d.\n\nThe company\u2019s operations will be taken over by another bike sharing startup, Li said in the letter. Visits by Chinese journalists to Bluegogo\u2019s offices found the doors locked and office space abandoned.\n\nBluegogo did not respond to e-mails and text messages seeking comment.\n\nIn the open letter, Li said the company\u2019s problems began in June, \u201cfirst with an advertising accident that affected a large investment and possible acquisition\u201d.\n\nThe ad campaign ran over 4 June replaced the icons for some bikes with tanks, with users encouraged to take those bike to win prizes. The promotion coincided with the 28th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, when Chinese soldiers killed thousands in an effort to suppress democracy protests, and tanks rolled through the streets of Beijing.\n\nA company that supplies bikes to Bluegogo is reportedly still owed 10m yuan, saying Bluegogo suspended orders in April, citing financial problems.\n\nAt least three other bike sharing companies have also gone bust in recent months, although Bluegogo is by far the largest. The wave of consolidations may mean China\u2019s bike sharing industry will soon be dominated by just one or two companies.\n\nBluegogo tried to expand into San Francisco earlier this year but was met by stiff resistance from local politicians. Less than four months later, the company suspended its US experiment. The company also supplied bicycles for an Australia-based bike sharing firm Reddy Go, although it is an separate entity.", "output": "China's third biggest bike-sharing company, Bluegogo, is understood to be in financial difficulties, with users reporting an inability to get their deposits returned. The company's offices are locked and empty, and its founder, Li Gang, has said another bike-sharing start-up will be taking over its operations. At least three other bike-sharing companies have gone bust in China recently, which suggests a period of consolidation in the sector is beginning.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Firms make it easy to rent a friend, father of social media buddy\u00a0 \n In Japan, you can pay an actor to impersonate your relative, spouse, coworker, or any kind of acquaintance.\n\nMoney may not be able to buy love, but here in Japan, it can certainly buy the appearance of love\u2014and appearance, as the dapper Ishii Yuichi insists, is everything. As a man whose business involves becoming other people, Yuichi would know. The handsome and charming 36-year-old is on call to be your best friend, your husband, your father, or even a mourner at your funeral.\n\nHis 8-year-old company, Family Romance, provides professional actors to fill any role in the personal lives of clients. With a burgeoning staff of 800 or so actors, ranging from infants to the elderly, the organization prides itself on being able to provide a surrogate for almost any conceivable situation.\n\nYuichi believes that Family Romance helps people cope with unbearable absences or perceived deficiencies in their lives. In an increasingly isolated and entitled society, the CEO predicts the exponential growth of his business and others like it, as \u00e0 la carte human interaction becomes the new norm.\n\nI sat down recently with Yuichi in a caf\u00e9 on the outskirts of Tokyo, to discuss his business and what it means to be, in the words of his company motto, \u201cmore than real.\u201d\n\nRoc Morin: Just to be perfectly clear, you\u2019ve come as yourself today, haven\u2019t you?\n\nIshii Yuichi: Yes, at this moment I am only myself.\n\nMorin: What was your very first role?\n\nYuichi: I had a single-mother friend, and she had a son. He was trying to enter a private school, but they denied him solely because he had no father. I wanted to challenge the unfairness of Japanese society, so I posed as his father.\n\nMorin: Were you successful?\n\nYuichi: Not in that situation. But, it inspired the idea for this business.\n\nMorin: When was your first success?\n\nYuichi: I played a father for a 12-year-old with a single mother. The girl was bullied because she didn\u2019t have a dad, so the mother rented me. I\u2019ve acted as the girl\u2019s father ever since. I am the only real father that she knows.\n\n\u201cI always ask every client, \u2018Are you prepared to sustain this lie?\u2019\u201d\n\nMorin: And this is ongoing?\n\nYuichi: Yes, I\u2019ve been seeing her for eight years. She just graduated high school.\n\nMorin: Does she understand that you\u2019re not her real father?\n\nYuichi: No, the mother hasn\u2019t told her.\n\nMorin: How do you think she would feel if she discovered the truth?\n\nYuichi: I think she would be shocked. If the client never reveals the truth, I must continue the role indefinitely. If the daughter gets married, I have to act as a father in that wedding, and then I have to be the grandfather. So, I always ask every client, \u201cAre you prepared to sustain this lie?\u201d It\u2019s the most significant problem our company has.\n\nMorin: So, you could be involved with her for the rest of your life?\n\nYuichi: It\u2019s risky that she might discover the truth someday. In this company, one person can only have five families at a time. That\u2019s the rule. It\u2019s not only about secrecy. The client always asks for the ideal husband, the ideal father. That\u2019s a very difficult role to maintain.\n\nIshii Yuichi (Roc Morin)\n\nMorin: How do you determine what the ideal husband or father is?\n\nYuichi: There\u2019s an order form where every possible preference is listed: hairstyle, glasses, beard, fashion sense ... Do you like classy or casual? Is he affectionate or stern? When he arrives, should he be talkative or tired from a long day at work?\n\nMorin: What did the mother you mentioned earlier request on her form?\n\nYuichi: She wanted the father to be kind, very kind. He would never yell. She wanted the kind of father that would be able to deliver wise advice.\n\nMorin: How did you create that persona?\n\nYuichi: I\u2019m not married in real life. I have no kids. At first, I couldn\u2019t really find in myself the kind of father that she wanted me to be. So, I watched a lot of movies about fathers, and I cultivated my persona through the movies.\n\nMorin: Can you describe the sessions with your fake daughter?\n\nYuichi: Sometimes we dine together. We\u2019ve been to theme parks, like Disneyland. We go shopping in Harajuku once a month. The mother pays about 20,000 yen per four hours, plus expenses. That\u2019s about $200.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s agonizing to be alone and just think, \u2018Is this really me, right now?\u2019\u201d\n\nMorin: What\u2019s your cover story?\n\nYuichi: I told her I have my own family now, and that\u2019s why I can\u2019t see her often.\n\nMorin: What happened to the real father?\n\nYuichi: Even the mother doesn\u2019t know. There was a lot of physical violence. They divorced, and that was the end of it.\n\nMorin: Did you take his name?\n\nYuichi: Yes, I use the father\u2019s name\u2014first and last.\n\nMorin: How do you handle it when the daughter gets angry or sad?\n\nYuichi: I never yell, no matter what. That was in the order-form description. The girl was bullied also, if you remember, so her feelings can be very unsettling. There was also a rebellious time, in her teens. She was having difficulties with her mother. When she\u2019s with me, though, she always asks, \u201cWhy do you have to leave now?\u201d It\u2019s unpleasant, but it is a reasonable emotion.\n\nMorin: Does she love you?\n\nYuichi: She does. It\u2019s easy to feel her love. She talks about her relationship with her mother, she shares sensitive feelings, she opens up to me.\n\nMorin: Does any aspect of your real self seep in?\n\nYuichi: I don\u2019t allow it to, otherwise I would become self-conscious.\n\nMorin: Do you feel like you have a responsibility to the daughter, because of your connection to her now?\n\nYuichi: Depending on the situation, it\u2019s different. The heaviness is different, but everywhere I go, I feel it\u2014the responsibility.\n\nMorin: When you\u2019re working, is it purely acting, or do the feelings ever become real?\n\nYuichi: It\u2019s a business. I\u2019m not going to be her father for 24 hours. It\u2019s a set time. When I am acting with her, I don't really feel that I love her, but when the session is over and I have to go, I do feel a little sad. The kids cry sometimes. They say, \u201cWhy do you have to leave?\u201d In those instances, I feel very sorry that I\u2019m faking it\u2014very guilty. There are times, when I\u2019m done with the work and I come back home, where I sit and watch TV. I find myself wondering, \u201cIs this, now, the real me, or the actor?\u201d\n\nMorin: How do you answer that question?\n\nYuichi: I don\u2019t think I have an answer. The person that used to be me\u2014is he me now? I know that it\u2019s common for actors to feel that way. If you\u2019re a really good actor\u2014if you\u2019re in it all the time\u2014it feels very unsettling.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no conflict, no jealousy, no bad habits. Everything is perfect.\u201d\n\nMorin: When do you feel the most like yourself?\n\nYuichi: When I\u2019m with my family, my real family. It\u2019s agonizing to be alone and just think, \u201cIs this really me, right now?\u201d The inner monologues are tough.\n\nMorin: How do you know that your family hasn\u2019t been hired?\n\nYuichi: That\u2019s a good question! No one knows.\n\nMorin: I have a project collecting dreams, and often work is a common theme. Do you dream about your work?\n\nYuichi: I dream about my client\u2014when she cries because I have to leave. It\u2019s a very emotional situation.\n\nMorin: How is the dream different from reality?\n\nYuichi: Sometimes, in the dream, I tell her the truth.\n\nMorin: What do you say?\n\nYuichi: I say, \u201cI\u2019m very sorry. I\u2019m a member of the Family Romance corporation. I\u2019m not your true father.\u201d Right before she can respond\u2014just as she opens her mouth to speak, I wake up. I am terrified of the answer, so I just wake up.\n\nMorin: Are you ever someone else in your dreams?\n\nYuichi: In Japanese business culture, there is a situation where you have to visit a company and say I\u2019m deeply sorry for what I did and just bow and bow. Occasionally, I dream about that.\n\nMorin: How does that work when you\u2019re hired to do that in real life?\n\nYuichi: Usually, I accompany a salaryman who made a mistake. I take the identity of the salaryman myself, then I apologize profusely for his mistake. Have you seen the way we say sorry? You go have to down on your hands and knees on the floor. Your hands have to tremble. So, my client is there standing off to the side\u2014the one who actually made the mistake\u2014and I\u2019m prostrate on the floor writhing around, and the boss is there red-faced as he hurls down abuse from above. Sometimes, I wonder to myself, \u201cAm I actually doing this?\u201d\n\nMorin: What do you feel?\n\nYuichi: I feel extremely uncomfortable. I\u2019m just thinking, \u201cI\u2019m innocent!\u201d I want to point at the actual culprit and shout, \u201cHe did it!\u201d\n\nMorin: Are you ever hired to apologize in other situations?\n\nYuichi: Yes, sometimes in relationships. Imagine there\u2019s a married couple, and the wife cheats on the husband. When that happens, the husband often demands a confrontation with the other man. Naturally, this can be difficult to arrange, because the man usually runs away. In that case, they bring me instead.\n\nMorin: What happens then?\n\nYuichi: There\u2019s a manual for everything in this company. We use psychology to determine the optimal outcome. In this case, the standard tactic is to make me look like a yakuza [gangster]. Typically, I arrive with the wife, and the husband is there, and suddenly I will just bow then deeply apologize. Usually, the husband will berate me, but because I appear to be a yakuza, he won\u2019t pursue the matter further.\n\nMorin: I understand you work as a boyfriend too. Can you describe that experience?\n\nYuichi: Those clients are usually older ladies. It used to be primarily women in their 50s, but now there are even more women in their 30s.\n\nMorin: Is this sexual or just platonic?\n\nYuichi: It\u2019s a dating situation. It\u2019s not about having sexual relations, although some women have expected that. Generally, the women just want to have fun with a younger man. They want to feel young again.\n\nMorin: Why do you think these women hire you?\n\nYuichi: The women typically say that in a real relationship, you\u2019re slowly building trust. It takes years to create a strong connection. For them, it\u2019s a lot of hassle and disappointment. Imagine investing five years with someone and then they break up with you. It\u2019s just easier to schedule two hours per week to interact with an ideal boyfriend. There\u2019s no conflict, no jealousy, no bad habits. Everything is perfect.\n\nMorin: You\u2019ve been on so many fake dates\u2014what is it like for you, in your own personal life, to go on an actual date?\n\nYuichi: I don\u2019t have a real girlfriend right now. Real dating feels like work. It feels like work to care for a real person.\n\nMorin: Do you plan on having a family someday?\n\nYuichi: Honestly, I\u2019m full. I\u2019m full of family, and I feel like it\u2019s a lot to manage. Sometimes, a client asks me to be there in the room when she gives birth. One time, the client was a pregnant woman, and rather than ask her parents, she wanted me to be there. So, I went. Some women propose to me, and I say no, but it\u2019s very hard for me to say no.\n\nMorin: Why?\n\nYuichi: Many women say, \u201cI want to marry you.\u201d I say, \u201cYou\u2019re in love with an order form. It\u2019s not me\u2014it\u2019s the acting that you love.\u201d If I married her, I\u2019d have to keep acting. And, there are certain women who are wonderful, but the soul I have with them is not my real soul. So, I cannot and I would not.\n\nMorin: Do you ever prefer playing a role to being yourself?\n\nYuichi: I like playing the caring father. I play with the kids, even when I\u2019m tired. It\u2019s very tough when you're exhausted, but you still show up, and you try to create happiness. That\u2019s the kind of father I admire, even when it\u2019s me.\n\nMorin: What is your favorite role?\n\nYuichi: It doesn\u2019t happen often, but there are cases when I have to be a groom. There are situations where parents pressure a daughter to marry\u2014if she\u2019s a lesbian, for example. So, they have an entire wedding, and it\u2019s a fake wedding, except for the client\u2019s family. The friends, and everyone else are fake. My side is all fake. Fifty fake people all pretending it\u2019s real. The cost is 2 million yen, for everyone.\n\n\u201cOne man paid a huge sum just to fly with five employees to Las Vegas and take pictures for Facebook.\u201d\n\nMorin: How many times have you been married?\n\nYuichi: Three times.\n\nMorin: And the brides\u2014they never see you again?\n\nYuichi: We never meet again.\n\nMorin: Do the brides get emotional\u2014having to marry a stranger?\n\nYuichi: The women usually don\u2019t like showing emotion to me, but sometimes I feel emotional. Everyone on my side is a coworker, and they\u2019re all celebrating me. So, there is a moment when it does seem very real.\n\nMorin: Why do you think this kind of business thrives in Japan specifically?\n\nYuichi: The Japanese are not expressive people. There is a communication deficit. In conversation, we do not express ourselves, our opinions, our emotions. Others come first, before our own desires. The family size is diminishing too. Families used to be larger. Now, you eat alone.\n\nMorin: What do you predict for the future of your business?\n\nYuichi: The demand is increasing. More people, for example, want help to appear popular on social media. We had one man recently who paid a huge sum just to fly with five employees to Las Vegas and take pictures for Facebook.\n\nMorin: Have you or any of your employees hired other actors for your own lives?\n\nYuichi: It happens. For instance, some employees hire actors to praise them in the presence of people they want to impress. Personally, when I throw speaking seminars, I often bring extras to bolster the crowd.\n\nMorin: Is everyone in the world replaceable?\n\nYuichi: That\u2019s a very good question. I\u2019m not sure. There was one case of a man in his 60s. His wife died, and he wanted to order another copy of her. We provided that.\n\nMorin: And he called the new woman by his wife\u2019s old name?\n\nYuichi: Yes, the same name, and he wanted her to call him what his wife had. She called him Ot\u014dsan\u2014it means father. In Japan, it\u2019s pretty common to say father, even if you\u2019re the wife.\n\nMorin: Did she have the same memories as the wife?\n\nYuichi: There are certain memories, yes. There\u2019s a blank sheet, and the client writes the memories that he wants the wife to remember.\n\nMorin: When your employees mimic a strong emotional connection like that\u2014is it ever a problem that they become too emotionally attached to their clients?\n\nYuichi: Attachment is a problem. So, there are rules. They cannot share personal contact information. If it\u2019s a boyfriend or girlfriend scenario, they cannot be alone in a room. They can hold hands, but they cannot hug. No kissing. No sex.\n\n\u201cI believe the term \u2018real\u2019 is misguided.\u201d\n\nMorin: What makes your company different from competitors?\n\nYuichi: We have a huge variation of employees and the dedication to create an experience that surpasses reality. That\u2019s why our motto is \u201cmore than real.\u201d We had a case recently where a dying man wanted to see his grandchild, but it would not have been born in time. His daughter was able to rent an infant for the day.\n\nMorin: What does it mean to be \u201cmore than real\u201d?\n\nYuichi: There are less concerns. There is less misunderstanding and conflict. Our clients can expect better results.\n\nMorin: You\u2019re offering a more perfect form of reality?\n\nYuichi: More ideal. More clean.\n\nMorin: Are there any requests that you\u2019ve rejected?\n\nYuichi: Unless it\u2019s a crime, we will accept any request. Some people with anorexia, for example, want to see people who are willing to eat in front of them. They just find relief in watching a person who eats a lot. We will even do that.\n\nMorin: What does the word \u201creal\u201d mean to you?\n\nYuichi: I believe the term \u201creal\u201d is misguided. Take Facebook, for example. Is that real? Even if the people in the pictures haven\u2019t been paid, everything is curated to such an extent that it hardly matters.\n\nMorin: Do you believe that the concept of \u201crealness\u201d has become invalid?\n\nYuichi: I believe that the world is always unfair, and my business exists because of that unfairness.\n\nMorin: So, you are correcting injustice?\n\nYuichi: A woman with a boyfriend doesn\u2019t need to hire a boyfriend. A man with a father doesn\u2019t need to hire a father. It's about bringing balance to society.\n\nMorin: Is it possible to avoid the truth forever?\n\nYuichi: The truth does have to come out eventually. The happiness is not endless, but that doesn\u2019t mean that it\u2019s without value. The child had a father when she needed him most. It might have been a brief period, and she might know the truth now, but she had a meaningful experience at that time.\n\nMorin: In your own personal life, what do you want that you don't have?\n\nYuichi: There is nothing more that I want. I've met so many clients. I've played so many roles with them. By doing my job, their dreams come true. In that way, my dreams come true as well. I feel fulfilled, just being needed.", "output": "A company in Japan hires out actors to replace real people in situations as varied as large family weddings and even dates. Family Romance was founded eight years ago by Ishii Yuichi, and now calls on about 800 thespians to play a range of roles. Some clients have hired actors to replace their partner or act as a parent to their children on a long-term basis. American website Rentafriend, founded in 2009, provides fake friends for social media photos.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China suspected of having a hand in Mugabe's fall \n A visit to Beijing last Friday by Zimbabwe\u2019s military chief, General Constantino Chiwenga, has fuelled suspicions that China may have given the green light to this week\u2019s army takeover in Harare.\n\nIf so, the world may just have witnessed the first example of a covert coup d\u2019etat of the kind once favoured by the CIA and Britain\u2019s MI6, but conceived and executed with the tacit support of the 21st century\u2019s new global superpower.\n\nTimeline Zimbabwe timeline: the week that led to Mugabe's detention Show 6 November 2017 Mugabe fires vice president Robert Mugabe fires his powerful vice-president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, clearing the way for his wife, Grace, to succeed him as leader of Zimbabwe. Grace had accused 75-year-old Mnangagwa, a former intelligence chief, of being the \u201croot cause of factionalism\u201d in the ruling Zanu-PF party. 8 November 2017 Mnangagwa defiant Mnangagwa reportedly flees to South Africa, but vows to return to Zimbabwe to lead party members. The party \"is not personal property for you and your wife to do as you please,\" Mnangagwa tells Mugabe in an angry five-page statement. 13 November 2017 Army chief issues warning Zimbabwe\u2019s army chief demands a halt to the purge in Zanu-PF, and warns that the military could intervene. \u201cWe must remind those behind the current treacherous shenanigans that when it comes to matters of protecting our revolution, the military will not hesitate to step in,\u201d General Constantino Chiwenga told a media conference attended by about 90 senior army officers. 14 November 2017 Army denies coup A convoy of tanks is seen moving on the outskirts of the Zimbabwean capital but the military denies a coup. In an overnight declaration on state television, they say Mugabe is safe and they are \"only targeting criminals around him\". 15 November 2017 Mugabe detained Military vehicles take control of the streets of Harare in the early hours. South Africa says Mugabe has told its president, Jacob Zuma, by telephone that he is under house arrest but is \"fine\". Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.\n\nChina, Africa\u2019s biggest foreign investor, has more at stake in Zimbabwe, and more political influence, than any other state. This is largely due to its extensive investments in the mining, agriculture, energy and construction sectors. China was Zimbabwe\u2019s top trade partner in 2015, buying 28% of its exports. But the Chinese connection is about more than money.\n\nThe pre-independence guerrilla force led to victory by Robert Mugabe, the 93-year-old Zimbabwean president detained by the military on Tuesday night, was financed and armed by the Chinese in the 1970s. Close ties have continued to the present day.\n\nWhen the US and EU imposed sanctions after Zimbabwe\u2019s 2002 elections, China stepped in, investing in over 100 projects. Beijing also blocked UN security council moves to impose an arms embargo and restrictions on regime figures.\n\nXi Jinping, China\u2019s president, visited Zimbabwe in December 2015 and has since promised a massive $5bn (\u00a33.8bn) in additional direct aid and investment. He described China as Zimbabwe\u2019s \u201call-weather friend\u201d.\n\nChina\u2019s president, Xi Jinping, shakes hands with his Zimbabwean counterpart, Robert Mugabe, in Harare in 2015. Photograph: Jekesai Njikizana/AFP/Getty Images\n\nXi\u2019s personal support extended to providing $46m towards building a new parliament in Harare. The Mugabe family is reported to have savings and property assets squirrelled away in Hong Kong, a favourite shopping destination for Mugabe\u2019s wife, Grace.\n\nAware of criticism from Mugabe\u2019s opponents that Beijing is propping up a despotic regime, China has used soft power tools to win over public opinion. This included a $100m medical loan facility in 2011 and the construction of a new hospital in rural Zimbabwe. In 2015, state-owned Power Construction Corporation of China signed a $1.2bn deal to expand Zimbabwe\u2019s largest thermal power plant. Chinese investors have also bought into farms seized from their former white owners and given to Mugabe cronies who subsequently neglected them.\n\nChina\u2019s big bet on Zimbabwe is not all staked on Mugabe and his faction in the ruling Zanu-PF party. Military-to-military cooperation has continued since independence in 1980. China financed and built Zimbabwe\u2019s National Defence College and the People\u2019s Liberation Army has helped train the Zimbabwean army.\n\nGen Chiwenga, the armed forces chief, has had regular contacts with Chinese counterparts, most recently with a military delegation that visited in December. China\u2019s defence minister, Chang Wanquan, who met with Chiwenga in Beijing last Friday, visited Harare in 2015. Reports suggest Chiwenga\u2019s backing was instrumental in this week\u2019s military intervention.\n\nThe takeover came shortly after Mugabe backers accused him of acting treasonably in warning of negative consequences arising from Mugabe\u2019s decision to sack the vice-president, Emmerson Mnangagwa. China\u2019s foreign ministry said Chiwenga\u2019s meeting with Chang was a \u201cnormal military exchange\u201d. But Beijing has not explicitly denied foreknowledge of the Harare coup. More significantly, perhaps, it has not condemned, or made any other comment, on Mugabe\u2019s apparent removal from power.\n\nProfile Who is Emmerson Mnangagwa? Show Emmerson Mnangagwa was sworn in as president of Zimbabwe on 24 November, capping a dramatic few weeks that began when he was sacked as vice-president by Robert Mugabe on 6 November. Mnangagwa, a 75-year-old former intelligence chief, had been locked in a battle with the first lady, Grace Mugabe, to succeed her husband as president. His sacking \u2013 an attempt to clear Grace's path to power - was a tactical error that triggered a military takeover, Mugabe's impeachment by parliament, and his resignation. Mnangagwa has strong support within the security establishment and among veterans of Zimbabwe\u2019s 1970s guerrilla war, when he earned the nickname \u201cthe crocodile\u201d.\n\nDespite allegations about his role in atrocities in the 1980s, much of the international community had long seen him as being the most likely figure in Zimbabwe to guarantee a stable transition and implement economic reforms. Photograph: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.\n\nMnangagwa, widely believed to be behind the plot to oust Mugabe and his most likely successor as president, is another long-time friend and collaborator with the Chinese. A former freedom-fighter, he received ideological and military training in Beijing and Nanjing in the 1960s.\n\nAccording to Professor Wang Xinsong, a specialist in international development at Beijing Normal University school of social development and public policy, China has been monitoring infighting within the Mugabe regime and the country\u2019s faltering economy for some time \u2013 and carefully weighing its options.\n\nBeijing was particularly alarmed by an \u201cindigenisation\u201d law effectively seizing majority control of foreign-owned businesses and companies, many of them Chinese. \u201cChina\u2019s political and economic stake in Zimbabwe is high enough to demand a close watch on developments,\u201d Wang wrote in a prescient commentary in December last year.\n\nWang predicted Beijing would stick with Zanu-PF rather than switch support to opposition groups \u2013 but would not tolerate political and economic instability indefinitely. \u201cLetting G40 [the faction around Grace Mugabe] and Mnangagwa fight each other in a post-Mugabe scenario would be too risky. Rather, through negotiation and economic leverage, China may try to ensure a peaceful power transition while the ageing president is still active enough to make such an important decision.\u201d\n\nWhether this is what is happening now, as talks about a transition continued in Harare on Thursday, remains unclear. Much depends on whether Mugabe accepts forced retirement and gives his blessing to his successor, or tries to resist instead. But one thing is certain. Whichever path Zimbabwe chooses next, it will be heavily influenced by its \u201call-weather\u201d friends in Beijing.", "output": "Zimbabwe's General Constantino Chiwenga's visit to Beijing on 10 November has led to suspicions that China had a hand in the military plot to try to oust President Mugabe from power. If that is the case, it marks the first known instance of a covert coup d'etat backed by the\u00a0new world\u00a0superpower. China has invested extensively in Zimbabwe's\u00a0mining, energy, agriculture and construction sectors and is Zimbabwe's top trade partner. China has had political ties with the country since the 1970s when it armed Mugabe's pro-independence forces.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesla unveils electric lorry and roadster \n Elon Musk has always dreamed big, and tonight he showed off his biggest reverie yet: the fully electric Tesla Semi. Powered by a massive battery and capable of hauling 80,000 pounds, it can ramble 500 miles between charges. It\u2019ll even drive itself\u2014on the highway, at least.1\n\nAnd Musk promises production will start in 2019.\n\nThe big rig, which Musk unveiled at SpaceX\u2019s Hawthorne, California headquarters Thursday night, is just the latest step in his mission to make humanity forget about planet-killing fossil fuels and embrace the gospel of electric power.\n\nThat is, of course, if he can convince the trucking industry it\u2019s time for a new way of moving stuff around\u2014and if he can actually make the thing.\n\nThe Truck for the Job\n\nMusk believes that going after the big boys is the best way to have a real impact on climate change. In the five years since Tesla started producing its Model S sedan, it has sold about 200,000 cars. The US has more than 250 million passenger cars on the road, making the impact of this, roughly, zero. Even if Tesla scales up production of its \u201caffordable\u201d Model 3 sedan, it will still be a very long time before the Silicon Valley automaker can change the way humanity moves about enough for any dip in emissions to register as more than a blip.\n\nTrucks offer a more effective way to do that, because they are particularly toxic. \u201cHeavy-duty vehicles make up a small fraction of the vehicles on the road, but a large fraction of their emissions,\u201d says Jimmy O\u2019Dea, who studies clean vehicles at the Union of Concerned Scientists. In California, that category (which includes buses as well as trucks) accounts for 7 percent of total vehicles, but produces 20 percent of transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions and a third of all NOx emissions (those are the ones linked to asthma attacks and respiratory illnesses).\n\nEvery truck you move with electricity instead of diesel has an outsize effect on the health of the planet and everything living on it. Eighteen-wheelers are the ultimate force multiplier.\n\nMusk has done the math. And while lots of players are moving into electric trucking space, none have the star power of Tesla, the kind of clout that makes the whole country pay attention.\n\nTesla\n\nFrom the outside, the carbon fiber cab is all smooth lines. Aerodynamics are a real big deal when it comes to fuel economy and making every electron count, and Tesla promises the Semi will cut through the wind more efficiently than some sports cars.\n\nLook inside the cab of the Semi, and there\u2019s no doubt Tesla knows how to (re) design a vehicle. Like the famed McLaren F1 sports car (Musk owned one until he crashed it while driving around with Peter Thiel), the driver\u2019s seat is now in the middle of the cab. (There\u2019s a jump seat behind it, to the right.) Because it didn\u2019t need to build around a bulky diesel engine, Tesla made the nose of the cab a vertical slab, and the main seat is so far forward, you can see the ground just in front of the vehicle. In a design touch that recognizes that truckers are human beings, there are overhead bins for storing stuff, and at least four cup holders.", "output": "After a number of delays, Tesla has unveiled its first electric articulated lorry, challenging one of the last bastions of hydrocarbon fuel on the roads. The Tesla Semi will have a range of 500 miles on a single charge and will go into production in 2019. CEO Elon Musk also unexpectedly revealed a new Roadster, which he said would be \"the fastest production car ever\" made, with\u00a0a range of almost 1,000 km (620 miles) and acceleration of 0-100 mph in 4.2 seconds. The new Roadster will be available from 2020."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese video game includes teachings of President Xi Jinping \n You\u2019ve logged onto your favorite game, and you\u2019re ready to shoot and kill your enemies. Before being parachuted into the battleground, you see a banner hanging over your head that reads: \u201cNever forget why you started, and you can accomplish your mission.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s Chinese leader Xi Jinping\u2019s newest catchphrase, taken from his work report presented at a recently concluded Communist Party congress.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nSurvival-shooter game PlayerUnknown\u2019s Battlegrounds (PUBG) is the hottest videogame of the year, selling over 13 million copies globally, and Chinese companies are racing against one another to create their own copycats of it. Chief among them is a mobile version titled Wildness Action, which recently took the top spot in China\u2019s iOS store.\n\nIn the latest update of the game, released by gaming company NetEase this week, red banners with slogans reflecting China\u2019s \u201ccore socialist values\u201d are emblazoned everywhere from buildings to bridges to containers. Another slogan, \u201cSafeguard national security, safeguard world peace,\u201d can also be seen in the game.\n\nIt\u2019s a vivid example of the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s attempts to both expand and control the country\u2019s tech sector and internet. As Xi noted in his work report, \u201cEast, west, north, or south, the Party leads everything.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nNetEase added the slogans as part of its overhaul of the game\u2019s narrative. Previously the game was about fighting to be the last survivor on a deserted island; now, it is presented as a military drill for soldiers who\u2019ll be recruited for China\u2019s peacekeeping operations. That said, the key elements of the play mode remain the same, and are still uncannily similar to that of PUBG.\n\nThe changes came after China\u2019s media watchdogs took aim at PUBG and similar survival games, saying they are unlikely to get a license to officially launch in China because they contain too much blood and gore. The violent, competitive spirit behind such games is \u201cagainst our country\u2019s core socialist values\u2026 and bad for teenagers\u2019 physical and mental health,\u201d according to a notice from China\u2019s official video copyright association in October.\n\nIn response, NetEase published a notice (link in Chinese) saying that the company would comply with official instructions to modify its own survival games, ensuring that they convey core socialist values.\n\nChinese smartphone maker Xiaomi\u2014which also operates a PUBG-esque mobile game titled Xiaomi Gunfight\u2014released a statement this week (link in Chinese) saying that it would work with censors to modify the game. \u201cOur main theme is to safeguard world peace and defend the motherland,\u201d the company said.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nXiaomi Gunfight didn\u2019t include slogans with socialist values in the game, but also changed the story to depict a military drill. In the latest version, players who are shot in head don\u2019t die; they simply get \u201celiminated\u201d from the training.\n\nNetEase and Xiaomi didn\u2019t immediately reply to requests for comment. In response to the Chinese regulator\u2019s October notice, Chang Han Kim, CEO of PUGB Corp, a subsidiary of PUGB\u2019s South Korean developer, said: \u201cWe respect the decisions of all review boards, and we look forward to working with them to bring PUBG to as many fans as possible around the world.\u201d\n\nChinese social-media and gaming giant Tencent is also launching its PUBG-like mobile game this month\u2014Glorious Mission: Mission Action has already garnered more than 4 million pre-registrations on its official site.", "output": "A Chinese video game is now including the teachings of President Xi Jinping and slogans on socialist values. Players can take in his exhortations during on-screen shooting rampages in a recent update of the popular Wildness Action. Game maker\u00a0NetEase has included red banners with slogans proclaiming\u00a0China's \"core socialist values\" on everything from bridges to buildings and shipping containers. This marks a further example of the Communist Party's efforts to increase control over the tech sector and internet."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Silicon Valley beats Detroit in the\u00a0autonomous cars patents\u00a0race \n The autonomous car race is heating up. After years in which auto innovation meant mostly new exterior trim, companies are vying to transform the nature of the vehicle itself. It\u2019s not just parts manufacturers and automakers (although at least 64 have set up shop in Silicon Valley). It\u2019s tech giants like Alphabet, Apple, and Uber.\n\nThe prize is a massive share of an evolving multi-trillion dollar market for mobility, much of it autonomous, electric and shared. To gauge this competition, patents are one of the easier things to track. Consulting firm L.E.K. examined US Patent and Trademark Office data on filings for autonomous vehicle technology. It has catalogued an enormous spike in the number of patents filed by major carmakers for autonomous technology since 2007. The majority are for Lidar (laser sensors), image processing, computer vision, vehicle-to-vehicle communication, and advanced driver-assistance systems.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe attention, L.E.K. argues (pdf), is the result of two competing strategies to develop self-driving vehicles. One is the \u201ciPhone\u201d strategy: vertical integration of the entire ecosystem. Apple manufactures (or tightly controls) every dimension of the physical product and the software that runs on the iPhone. The alternate strategy is Google\u2019s \u201cAndroid\u201d model, which promotes a ubiquitous, open-source operating system that manufacturers can install on any product.\n\nBoth have merits, and it\u2019s not apparent which, if either, will dominate. Ford, GM, and Tesla are going the Apple route by choosing to make and tightly integrate the entire product. Alphabet\u2019s Waymo and (ironically) Apple are taking the Android path by investing primarily in the operating systems and datasets for autonomous vehicles, according to L.E.K., citing Waymo\u2019s, decision to scrap its own custom vehicles last year (it has partnered with Fiat-Chrysler), Tim Cook\u2019s overhaul of Apple\u2019s Project Titan (paywall) away from an Apple-branded autonomous vehicle, and Baidu\u2019s choice to open-source its self-driving software platform.\n\nBut there\u2019s one problem, says L.E.K. \u201cIn smartphones and PCs, there was only room for one successful integrated player: Apple. In autonomous vehicles, there are a number of players vying to be the dominant alternative to the Android model. Not all can succeed.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe lead, at least in terms of patents, clearly belongs to a tech company. Waymo has filed at least 2,118 patents since 2007, compared to about half that for its nearest rivals, GM and Ford. Automakers accustomed to more genteel, incremental innovation over decades, rather than the breakneck pace of digital technology, may find it hard to adapt.\n\nOf course, patents don\u2019t necessarily ensure innovation, says Rob Haslehurst, managing director at L.E.K. by email. They are a strong indication of interest in a technology amid a brewing battle of big companies defending their market territory. Those that fail to invest run the risk of losing out completely.\n\nBut some companies are skipping traditional patent protections for speed and agility. Take electric vehicle (EV) technology. Nearly 800 patents for EV charging were filed between 2014 and 2017, many of them by Qualcomm, Hyundai, Ford, and Mitsubishi, reports Netscribes. Tesla has open-sourced all its electric vehicle patents in 2014 to focus on what it calls its competitive advantage from hiring the best people that can improve its processes and operations. \u201cTechnology leadership is not defined by patents, which history has repeatedly shown to be small protection indeed against a determined competitor, but rather by the ability of a company to attract and motivate the world\u2019s most talented engineers,\u201d wrote Musk on the company\u2019s website in 2014.", "output": "Silicon Valley is filing far more patents relating to autonomous cars than traditional auto makers are, according to consultancy firm\u00a0LEK. Alphabet division Waymo has filed more than 2,118 patents since 2007, against General Motors' 1,160 and Ford's 944.\u00a0Two broad strategies have emerged among companies in the sector. Ford, GM and Tesla are taking an\u00a0iPhone-type approach whereby one company makes all the hardware and software for a self-driving car. In contrast,\u00a0Waymo and Apple are following an\u00a0Android-type strategy\u00a0by developing\u00a0an operating system that can be installed on a variety of manufacturers' vehicles.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Keystone pipeline spills 210,000 gallons of oil in South Dakota \n Story highlights Nebraska officials will announce decision on Keystone XL Pipeline TransCanada says there are no threats to public safety\n\nCNN \u2014\n\nA total of 210,000 gallons of oil leaked Thursday from the Keystone Pipeline in South Dakota, the pipeline\u2019s operator, TransCanada, said.\n\nCrews shut down the pipeline Thursday morning, and officials are investigating the cause of the leak, which occurred about three miles southeast of the town of Amherst, said Brian Walsh, a spokesman for the state\u2019s Department of Environment and Natural Resources.\n\nThis is the largest Keystone oil spill to date in South Dakota, Walsh said. The leak comes just days before Nebraska officials announce a decision on whether the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline, a sister project, can move forward.\n\nIn April 2016, there was a 400-barrel release \u2013 or 16,800 gallons \u2013 with the majority of the oil cleanup completed in two months, Walsh said. About 5,000 barrels of oil spilled Thursday.\n\n\u201cIt is a below-ground pipeline, but some oil has surfaced above ground to the grass,\u201d Walsh said. \u201cIt will be a few days until they can excavate and get in borings to see if there is groundwater contamination.\u201d\n\nThere were no initial reports of the oil spill affecting waterways, water systems or wildlife, he said.\n\nThe pipeline was shut down \u201cwithin minutes\u201d of the company discovering an irregularity, TransCanada said Friday. The spill has been controlled, the company said, with no further environmental impacts observed and no threat to public safety.\n\nTransCanada said it was working with state and federal agencies.\n\nImage of Amherst incident taken earlier today by aerial patrol as part of our initial response. For more updates, visit https://t.co/8yWI1Oq2EM pic.twitter.com/uRNtYUdVjL \u2014 TC Energy (@TCEnergy) November 16, 2017\n\n\u201cThe safety of the public and environment are our top priorities and we will continue to provide updates as they become available,\u201d the company said.\n\nThe Environmental Protection Agency is monitoring the situation and will provide resources and assistance if needed, a spokesman said.\n\n\u201cEPA is aware of the spill and is receiving periodic updates from the state of South Dakota, which is overseeing response activity at the spill site,\u201d he said.\n\nConcerns about the spill\n\nThe Keystone Pipeline system stretches more than 2,600 miles, from Hardisty, Alberta, east into Manitoba and then south to Texas, according to TransCanada. The pipeline transports crude oil from Canada.\n\nThe proposed Keystone XL Pipeline, which would stretch from Hardisty to Steele City, Nebraska, would complete the proposed system by cutting through Montana and South Dakota.\n\nThe sections of pipeline affected stretch from Hardisty to Cushing, Oklahoma, and to Wood River, Illinois, the company said.\n\nThe spill occurred in the same county as part of the Lake Traverse Reservation. The leak location is not on Sioux property, but it is adjacent to it and has historical value, said Dave Flute, tribal chairman for Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux Tribe.\n\n\u201cWe want to know how long is it going to take to dig this plume of contaminated soil and how can we be reassured, without a doubt, that it has not and will not seep into the aquifer,\u201d he said.\n\nFlute, along with the tribal emergency management director and the manager of the tribal office of environmental protection, arrived Friday morning at the staging area of the leak site to meet with representatives from TransCanada. Flute said he was out there to offer assistance and to understand the cause of the leak and the environmental impacts it might pose.\n\n\u201cWe want to find out, was there a crack in the pipe? We don\u2019t know. We want to get that information,\u201d Flute said. \u201cMore importantly, and to stay positive, they did clean up the site, they did contain it.\u201d\n\nEnvironmental activist group Greenpeace said the spill shows the new pipeline in Nebraska should not be approved.\n\n\u201cThe Nebraska Public Service Commission needs to take a close look at this spill,\u201d said Rachel Rye Butler of Greenpeace. \u201cA permit approval allowing Canadian oil company TransCanada to build Keystone XL is a thumbs-up to likely spills in the future.\u201d\n\nNew Keystone XL\n\nIn March, President Donald Trump\u2019s administration officially issued a permit that approved construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline.\n\nThe approval followed years of intense debate over the pipeline amid hefty opposition from environmental groups, who argued the pipeline supports the extraction of crude oil from oil sands, which pumps about 17% more greenhouse gases than standard crude oil extraction. Environmentalists also opposed the pipeline because it would cut across the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the world\u2019s largest underground deposits of fresh water.\n\nTar sands oil is much thicker and stickier than traditional oil, significantly complicating cleanup efforts. The fact it\u2019s thicker also means it needs to be combined with other hazardous materials to allow it to be transported in pipelines.\n\nNative American groups have argued the pipeline would cut across their sovereign lands.\n\nTrump said the new pipeline will be a big win for American workers, but critics say it won\u2019t be, because most of the jobs would be temporary.\n\nDakota Access Pipeline\n\nTransCanada said Thursday that the section of the Keystone Pipeline that was leaking was isolated within 15 minutes after a drop in pressure was detected.\n\nAccording to the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources\u2019 website, this is the third pipeline spill in the state this year. Another came in April when about 84 gallons of crude oil leaked from the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline in Spink County.\n\nThat pipeline, which runs through both Dakotas and two other states, drew fierce resistance from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in North Dakota, the tribe\u2019s allies and environmentalists.\n\nOpposition to the pipeline sparked monthslong protests, with as many as 10,000 people participating during the peak of the demonstrations. Clashes with police at the protests turned violent at times, with one woman nearly losing her arm after an explosion last November.", "output": "The Keystone pipeline has spilled 210,000 gallons of oil (5,000 barrels) in South Dakota, the largest spill in the area, according to TransCanada, the company that operates the pipeline. This comes just days before a decision over whether the proposed Keystone XL pipeline can proceed. It is unknown yet whether the spill is affecting rivers, water systems or wildlife. The pipeline runs more than 2,600 miles from Canada to Texas. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pop-up stores to feature in shopping centres \n Imagine a permanent house for pop-up shops.\n\nThat's what Simon Property Group , the largest mall operator in the U.S., is preparing to unveil next month at one of its properties on Long Island, New York.\n\nThe platform, known as \"The Edit@Roosevelt Field,\" offers retailers early on in their businesses the opportunity to set up shop, typically on a quarterly basis, in spaces that span 20 to 200 square feet. All spaces will be enclosed in a dedicated portion of the mall.\n\n\"We needed to create a new product category to allow brands to come earlier on in their life cycle to physical retail,\" Zach Beloff, national director of business development at Simon, told CNBC. \"Brands are looking for the ability to scale, and to scale quickly, and Simon is looking for ways to partner with brands to facilitate that ability to scale.\"\n\nAt Roosevelt Field, some of the first brands to be featured via Simon will include Raden Smart Luggage, menswear brand Vitaly, athletic apparel retailer Rhone, beauty brand Winky Lux, dessert company JARS by Dani, and contemporary art gallery Uprise Art.\n\nIn bringing the idea to fruition, Simon also partnered with Appear Here, a global marketplace for helping tenants find short-term retail space.\n\nJust earlier this year, Appear Here announced it had raised $12 million in Series B funding \u2014 a round led by Octopus Ventures and including participation from Simon Venture Group.\n\n\"We see Simon on the forefront of this space, building a community and experiences,\" said Elizabeth Layne, Appear Here's chief marketing officer. \"Malls present a really interesting opportunity, with a high density of people.\"\n\nThe Wall Street Journal reported last week that Fifth Wall Ventures, which is backed by big real estate names such as CBRE Group and Macerich , has made a \"significant\" investment in Appear Here, according to Brendan Wallace, Fifth Wall's managing partner.\n\nAppear Here has already successfully worked with some of the biggest retail landlords in the United Kingdom, only just tapping into the New York market earlier this year. One of the company's key initiatives is to make it as easy as possible for incoming tenants to sign short-term leases, using a credit card online and without a broker.\n\nMore than 100,000 brands, including Coca-Cola , Spotify, Kanye West and Moleskine, have used Appear Here to find real estate.\n\nSimon has made a significant investment in the Edit platform \u2014 something that's been under development for years, Beloff said. Shoppers visiting The Edit are expected to boost the entire mall \"ecosystem\" and drive sales to other stores, he added.\n\nIn an unorthodox way, the pop-up concept is beginning to find permanent homes and not only at Simon's malls.\n\nWashington Prime Group , another U.S. mall landlord, is finalizing plans to launch a marketplace called Tangible.\n\n\"We take six to eight e-commerce purveyors, some may never want a permanent space, or it may just be a beta test for the next Lululemon ,\" WPG Chief Executive Lou Conforti told CNBC.\n\nEvery 45 to 60 days, he said, those retailers will rotate throughout the Tangible marketplace at a WPG property.\n\n\"In an interesting way, this is why TJ Maxx and Nordstrom Rack and Saks Off Fifth generally do quite well,\" Conforti said. \"There's a treasure hunt aspect.\"\n\nAs many of America's biggest department store anchors struggle to grow sales, modular spaces with rotating up-and-coming retailers offer one solution to fill the gaps. With Appear Here now growing rapidly in the U.S., the future of retail looks to include more pop-ups.", "output": "The largest mall operator in the US, the Simon Property Group, is set to unveil a permanent \"pop-up shop\" platform in one of its Long Island properties for smaller retailers. The platform, called \"The Edit@Roosevelt Field\", will initially feature brands such as Vitaly, Raden Smart Luggage and Uprise Art. Simon partnered with Appear Here, which has already worked with some of the biggest retail landlords in the UK and recently raised $12 million in a series B funding round, to make the platform a reality.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Full-page ad in WSJ warns about\u00a0dangers of\u00a0bitcoin short selling \n Thomas Peterffy, one of the world\u2019s most successful derivatives traders, reiterated concerns Wednesday that bitcoin could lead to a financial crisis.\n\nIn an ad in the Wall Street Journal\u2019s Nov. 15 issue, the Hungarian-born entrepreneur, who is the chairman of Interactive Brokers LLC, outlined his worries about an impending plan to launch a futures exchange tied to bitcoin in the coming weeks. The advertisement was an enlarged version of Peterffy\u2019s open letter to Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo dated Nov. 14, and took up a full page in the WSJ\u2019s print edition.\n\n\u201cMargining such a product in a reasonable manner is impossible,\u201d Peterffy\u2019s letter reads, referring to the use of leverage to augment returns in an investment. \u201cWhile the buyer (the long side) of a cryptocurrency futures contract or a call option could be required to put up 100% of the value to ensure safety, determining the margin requirement for the seller (the short seller) is impossible,\u201d he wrote.\n\nPeterffy fears that exchanges will offer low margins to entice buyers to do business on their platforms, but the wild trading swings that bitcoin BTCUSD, -1.27% is known for could imperil both the trading platform and the investor who is shorting, or betting that they can profit from borrowing an asset whose value is expected to decrease in value.\n\nSo-called short sellers hope to return assets borrowed on margin, or on loan, at a lower value and then pocket the difference between where it was borrowed and its new price. However, the prospective losses in such a scenario, if an asset suddenly skyrockets, can be limitless and brutal.\n\nAnd that is the deepest worry for the trader.\n\nThe CME Group CME, -3.44% kicked off a product to reference bitcoin prices a year ago, and announced a plan to launch futures contracts pegged to bitcoin as early as the second week of December, according to CME CEO Terry Duffy in an interview on CNBC on Monday.\n\nDuffy said CME may institute trading halts at 20% swings in the value of bitcoin to smooth out some of its volatility. Peterffy, however, argues that that might not be sufficient to protect against severe moves within, which aren\u2019t infrequent occurrences in bitcoin trade.\n\nIn an interview with Barron\u2019s, Peterffy expressed similar misgivings. \u201cThe weaker clearing members charge the least. They don\u2019t have much money to lose anyway. For this reason, most bitcoin interest will accumulate on the books of weaker clearing members who will all fail in a large move,\u201d Peterffy said.\n\nPeterffy advocates for isolating bitcoin clearing or trading in an exchange that only clears cryptocurrency transactions to mitigate possible systemic risk.\n\n\u201cUnless the risk of clearing cryptocurrency is isolated and segregated from other products, a catastrophe in the cryptocurrency market that destabilizes a clearing organization will destabilize the real economy, a critical equity index and commodity markets cleared in the same clearing organization become infected,\u201d Peterffy wrote in the open letter Wednesday.\n\nBitcoin was up 9% late Wednesday in New York at around $7,220, while bitcoin rival ether tokens, trading on the Ethereum blockchain, were down about 2% at $331. Both assets have seen stratospheric moves in 2017. Bitcoin is up about 650% year to date, while ether tokens are up more than 4,000% so far this year.", "output": "The chairman of Interactive Brokers LLC, Thomas Petterffy, has issued a warning about the market destabilisation potential of bitcoin in a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal, in particular, pointing to the difficulty of \"determining the margin requirement\" for short sellers. Petterffy wrote:\u00a0\"Unless the risk of clearing cryptocurrency is isolated and segregated from other products, a catastrophe in the cryptocurrency market that destabilizes a clearing organization will destabilize the real economy.\" Peterffy advocates\u00a0isolating bitcoin clearing or trading in an exchange that clears only\u00a0cryptocurrency transactions to mitigate possible systemic risk."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wall Street Blockchain Alliance adds KPMG as member-director \n Source: Wall Street Blockchain Alliance\n\nThe Wall Street Blockchain Alliance (WSBA), an industry leading non-profit trade association, is proud to announce that KPMG LLP has joined as a corporate member.\n\nAlong with this membership, KPMG will also assume a seat on the board of directors.\n\n\u201cBlockchain is maturing toward the production phase and it is clear that it has the potential to dramatically impact financial services by improving outcomes critical to the industry such as cost of operations, capital consumption, customer experience and in some cases new business models and revenues,\u201d said Eamonn Maguire, global leader for KPMG\u2019s Digital Ledger Services.\n\n\u201cWe are thrilled to be joining the WSBA and to have the opportunity to collaborate with some of the leading blockchain experts in the industry.\u201d Ron Quaranta, Chairman of the WSBA states: \u201cWe are truly grateful to have KPMG join the WSBA family as a corporate member. As one of the world\u2019s leading professional services companies, KPMG sits at the cutting edge of blockchain innovation across multiple segments of the global economy. We look forward to collaborating with them, as our global members and indeed the world, begin to implement blockchain innovations across financial markets and beyond.\u201d", "output": "Financial services non-profit trade association Wall Street Blockchain Alliance (WSBA)\u00a0has\u00a0added KPMG as a member\u00a0and\u00a0director. Eamonn Maguire, global leader for KPMG\u2019s digital ledger services said: \"Blockchain is maturing toward the production phase and it is clear that it has the potential to dramatically impact financial services.\"\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fault in Amazon Key's camera allows couriers to re-enter houses \n Last month, the world was introduced to Amazon Key, a new service from the online shopping juggernaut that allows couriers to unlock your front door to deliver packages. One of the main concerns of the service is the central question of whether Prime customers trust Amazon enough to let the company monitor their homes and determine when it\u2019s okay to unlock the door for someone who is, essentially, a stranger. The service relies on Cloud Cam and a compatible smart lock, and only grants permission for a courier to enter after they scan a barcode, which is checked against information in the cloud. A camera also monitors and records the drop-off so customers can check that nothing suspect happened.\n\nNow security researchers have found that the camera can be disabled and frozen from a program run from any computer within Wi-Fi range, reports Wired. That means a customer watching a delivery will only see a closed door, even if someone opens the door and goes inside \u2014 a vulnerability that may allow rogue couriers to rob customers\u2019 homes.\n\nonce the disabling program is run, the app shows the door remaining closed\n\n\"The camera is very much something Amazon is relying on in pitching the security of this as a safe solution,\" Ben Caudill, the founder of Rhino Security Labs told Wired. Researchers from the security firm uncovered the Amazon Key attack and replicated it. \"Disabling that camera on command is a pretty powerful capability when you\u2019re talking about environments where you\u2019re relying heavily on that being a critical safety mechanism.\u201d\n\nThe video demonstration of the attack shows a man dropping off a parcel inside a house. The Amazon Key app shows the delivery goes as normal and indicates the door is locked as the courier leaves. But once the disabling program is run, and the courier reenters the apartment, the app just shows the door remaining closed.\n\nThe demonstration is a proof-of-concept and a deauthorization technique. If the camera is turned off, even manually by the user, you do get a push notification a few minutes later saying it\u2019s offline. Someone wanting to break into a home could follow an Amazon courier and wait for them to make a delivery. They could trigger a deauthorization command as the courier is leaving and cause Amazon Key to go offline, which would stop the door from locking.\n\nBut Amazon does have a process in place that\u2019s meant to avoid these scenarios from happening; the courier has to unlock the door, leave, then manually relock, and the customer will get a notification when they do so. If a courier left and the door was not quickly locked again, the customer would know something is off, although an attack like this would prevent them from seeing exactly what happened. The courier also can\u2019t move on to their next delivery, according to Amazon\u2019s procedures, until the door has been locked and that step has been confirmed the cloud.\n\nUPDATE November 16th, 12:41pm ET: A spokesperson from Amazon says: \u201cSafety and security are built into every aspect of the service. Every delivery driver passes a comprehensive background check that is verified by Amazon before they can make in-home deliveries, every delivery is connected to a specific driver, and before we unlock the door for a delivery, Amazon verifies that the correct driver is at the right address, at the intended time. We currently notify customers if the camera is offline for an extended period. Later this week we will deploy an update to more quickly provide notifications if the camera goes offline during delivery. The service will not unlock the door if the Wi-Fi is disabled and the camera is not online.\u201d", "output": "Security researchers have identified a weakness in Amazon's new \"Key\" service that allows a third party to disable the camera from any computer within Wi-Fi range, potentially allowing rogue couriers to break into customers\u2019 homes. An Amazon spokesperson said:\u00a0\"we currently notify customers if the camera is offline for an extended period. Later this week we will deploy an update to more quickly provide notifications if the camera goes offline during delivery. The service will not unlock the door if the Wi-Fi is disabled and the camera is not online\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vertical farms could be next step for Amazon after Whole Foods\u00a0 \n A few months ago, Amazon (AMZN) bought Whole Foods at a whopping $13.4 billion, with a promise to bring cheap, organic, nutritious, low carbon*, and pesticide-free food to the masses. Soon after the acquisition, Whole Foods cut prices by as much as 43%, bringing prices of organic food at or below non-organic food.\n\nCurrently, Amazon is well established in 13 countries. With this new acquisition, Amazon gained access to 460 Whole Foods stores scattered across the US, Britain, and Canada. A plan to extend further to be within 30 to 60 minutes away from as many people as possible is underway according to Mikey Vu, a partner at the consultancy Bain & Company who is focused on retail, as quoted by the New York Times.\n\nWhat\u2019s next for Amazon? Well, acquisition of vertical farm startups, drone delivery, and more. Let me explain.\n\nIt is no secret that Amazon got the logistics of warehouses and distribution down to a science, and I would argue that, after the Whole Foods acquisition, a natural next step for Amazon in order to have a complete ecosystem of organic food production, distribution, and sales would be to acquire local and/or international vertical farm startups, which are popping up all over the world at an ever-increasing rate.\n\nVertical farm startups like Plenty, AeroFarms, and Bowery recently received between $20 million to $200 million in investments from venture capitalists, including Jeff Bezos \u2014 more proof that vertical farming is on Bezos\u2019 radar.\n\nFor those who are not familiar with vertical farming, here are some advantages:\n\nConsumes 95% less water that traditional farming methods, by some estimates\n\nEliminates the need for pesticides\n\nYear-round crop production\n\nEliminates agricultural runoff\n\nHigh yield/acre\n\nReduces use of fossil fuels from farm machinery and transport of food\n\nNo weather-related crop failures\n\nCreates new urban employment opportunities\n\nReduces the risk of infection from agents transmitted at the agricultural interface\n\nReturns farmland to nature, helping to restore ecosystem functions and services\n\nAs to why Amazon would venture into vertical farming? First, as mentioned above, to close the cycle and have a complete ecosystem. Moreover, vertical farming is high tech and involves storage and logistics, which fits well with Amazon\u2019s top-notch expertise in these domains.\n\nSoon, you will be able to order a fresh salad, or any organic food, from your phone on Amazon, perhaps even automatically schedule delivery every day at a desired time and have it delivered by a drone or small robot directly to your door within 30 minutes. What an exciting time to be alive!\n\nWhat are your thoughts on vertical farming and the future of food?\n\n*Low carbon: Vertical farming is quite energy intensive. However, assuming that energy is coming from a renewable source, it will be low carbon.\n\nCore reference: Vertical Farm", "output": "Amazon may be looking at taking over vertical farming start-ups, following its acquisition of US grocery brand Whole Foods. Start-ups including Bowery, AeroFarms and Plenty offer year-round crop production in environments that require 95% less water than traditional farms and experience few weather-related problems. Owning the\u00a0farms that produced the groceries\u00a0it sold in Whole Foods could\u00a0provide\u00a0Amazon with new efficiencies, especially if\u00a0coupled with its\u00a0extensive supply chain capabilities.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IOT-automated cricket farms will help solve world hunger: Cisco \n As the world population rises alongside mortality rates, we\u2019ve reached a point where there are more humans alive on Earth at one time than ever before. Unfortunately, resources have remained relatively constant, meaning more people are vying for the same basic needs. Clean water, energy, medicine\u2026 and, of course, food.\n\nThere are plenty of companies that are trying to combat world hunger in various ways. Many investors are excited about the opportunity to grow meat in labs rather than taking it from cattle. Vertical farming could allow for us to grow far more crops with less resources, taking up less space. Organizations from The Hunger Project to Action Against Hunger and more are working on ways to combat starvation.\n\nJohn Chambers, Executive Chairman of Cisco, has a different idea for how we will solve world hunger. Insects and the Internet of Things. According to a report from The Register:\n\nAs such [Chambers] has invested in the Aspire Food Group, based in Texas, which claims to run the world\u2019s first automated cricket farm. He said: \u201cThe primary source of protein you will be having within your life, definitely within 20 years and maybe within 15, will be insects,\u201d adding, \u201cthey\u2019re the cleanest form you can produce at least challenge to the environment.\u201d He reckons the tasty morsels will be consumed by everyone, and will be served in high end restaurants as will be used to solve world hunger. But wait, there is also a tech angle. Chambers believes that the move to transition to an orthopteran diet is tied up in the Internet of Things, robotic farming, and capturing the cloud data capability \u201cto grow this faster and safer than we have done before.\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s quite the future to wrap your head around. While insects have been a source of protein for humans for thousands of years, as of late the practice has fallen off. Especially in Western societies, if it crawls we don\u2019t eat it.\n\nThe Internet of Things, in my mind, has a much stronger case for solving world hunger. Here I can get behind Chambers. Robotic farmers can automate the process of growing crops (or meats) at a larger scale than local farmers. That isn\u2019t to say local farmers should be cut out \u2013 we\u2019ll need their centuries of insight passed down from generation to generation if we\u2019re ever going to curtail hunger globally. But for the hard, long, necessary work inherent in farming, robots will be able to aide these farmers at a cheaper price while producing more yield.\n\nNot to mention sensors. Internet of Things devices will be able to measure soil, water, and the amount of sunlight we use to grow crops in real time. If a problem arises, we\u2019ll be alerted immediately. We can distribute the exact amount of nutrients at the precise time to generate the best return, and measure plants on a minute-by-minute basis to ensure they are receiving what they need.\n\nI\u2019m not sure if insects will be the future of fine cuisine. You\u2019ll need a hell of a marketing department to convince Americans to munch on a thorax for lunch instead of a burger and fries. But whether it\u2019s insects, crops, or lab-grown meat, Internet of Things has huge potential for the future of farming and food.\n\nIf you enjoyed this article and want to receive more valuable industry content like this, click here to sign up for our digital newsletters!", "output": "Cisco CEO John Chambers has expressed hope that a combination of automation, the internet of things (IoT) and cricket farming will help to solve future world hunger. Speaking at the Techonomy conference, Chambers outlined his own investment in the Aspire Food Group, which claims to run the world's first automated cricket farm. \u201cThe primary source of protein you'll be having within 20 years will be insects,\u201d he said.\u00a0Chambers argues that IoT, robotic farming and cloud data capability are all key to growing insect farming \u201cfaster and safer than we have done before\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "'Nation' of Asgardia launched into space, elections to be held \n An odd but intriguing experiment in technology, diplomacy, governance and space exploration, among other things, has officially begun its journey.\n\nAfter being delayed one day, an Orbital ATK Antares rocket carrying a cubesat named Asgardia-1 launched from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia early Sunday. The milk carton-sized satellite makes up the entirety of territory of the self-proclaimed \"Space Kingdom\" of Asgardia.\n\n\"Asgardia space kingdom has now established its sovereign territory in space,\" read an online statement.\n\nOver 300,000 people signed up online to become \"citizens\" of the nation over the last year. The main privilege of citizenship so far involves the right to upload data to Asgardia-1 for safekeeping in orbit, seemingly far away from the pesky governments and laws of Earth-bound countries.\n\nBut if you really dig down into Asgardia's terms and conditions, you'll find that those privileges are still subject to earthly copyright laws -- they're set up under the laws of Austria.\n\nAs of now, Asgardia's statehood isn't acknowledged by any other actual countries or the United Nations, and it doesn't really even fit the definition of a nation since it's not possible for a human to physically live in Asgardia.\n\nNot yet, at least. The long-term vision for Asgardia includes human settlements in space, on the moon and perhaps even more distant colonies.\n\nFor now, though, Asgardia is a tiny satellite inside a Cygnus spacecraft set to dock with the International Space Station Tuesday morning. There, Asgardia-1 will patiently wait while Orbital ATK completes its primary mission to resupply the ISS.\n\nAfter about a month, the Cygnus will detach and climb to a higher altitude where the nation-in-a-box will be deployed into orbit.\n\nWe'll see if the activation of Asgardia-1 heralds the beginning of a new era of extra-planetary citizenship, or if it slowly fades into obscurity with each trip around our planet and its nearly 200 more conventional nations.\n\nCrowd Control: A crowdsourced science fiction novel written by CNET readers.\n\nSolving for XX: The tech industry seeks to overcome outdated ideas about \"women in tech.\"", "output": "A milk-carton sized \"satellite nation\", with over 300,000 \"citizens\", has been launched into space. The main privilege of citizenship in \"The Space Kingdom of Asgardia\" is currently the right to upload data to the satellite, called Asgardia-1, for safekeeping in orbit. However, the long-term vision for Asgardia includes human settlements in space, on the moon and perhaps even more distant colonies. For now, Asgardia's statehood is not officially recognised by the UN, since it's impossible for a human to physically live in Asgardia.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NBC to live-stream daily Winter Olympics events for first time \n NBC Sports plans to livestream more than 1,800 hours of Winter Olympics coverage in February from Pyeongchang, South Korea \u2014 the most NBC Sports has ever done for the Winter Olympics.\n\nThe 1,800 hours will include all competitions across 15 sports and 102 medal events. During the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, NBC Sports aired 1,000 hours worth of livestreams. Two years ago during the Summer Olympics, NBC Sports livestreamed 4,500 hours from Rio \u2014 but the Summer Games are bigger, encompassing more than 35 sports.\n\nFor the first time at the Winter Olympics, NBC\u2019s broadcast feed will be live streamed every day. This will be the second time after the Rio Olympics that the NBC broadcast network feed will be included among the livestreams and simulcasts. NBC\u2019s total coverage spans five networks, including NBC, NBCSN, USA, CNBC and the Olympic Channel.\n\n\u201cIn this day and age, all content should be available to consumers across the board,\u201d said Rick Cordella, evp and gm of digital media for NBC Sports Group. \u201cThe media landscape is shifting, and people are comfortable consuming on all these different devices \u2014 we\u2019re now going to be on connected TV devices, whereas in the past we were not [for the Winter Olympics].\u201d\n\nUsers will need to verify their cable, satellite or other pay-TV subscriptions to watch most of the livestreams. That said, NBC Sports offers a temporary free-viewing window, where users visiting an NBC Sports digital platform for the first time will be able to stream coverage for up to 30 minutes before having to sign in with their credentials. On later visits, these same users will be able to access an unauthenticated livestream for five minutes before they are required to log in.\n\n\u201cWe stream more than 20,000 hours of content every year on the NBC Sports app, and it\u2019s all authenticated, so this is nothing out of the ordinary,\u201d said Cordella. \u201cNow, in 2018, if you stream TV on the internet, you know what TV Everywhere is; you know what your credentials are.\u201d\n\nIn 2014, NBCUniversal agreed to pay nearly $7.8 billion for the exclusive U.S. broadcast and digital rights to the Summer and Winter Olympics from 2022 through 2032.\n\nEven at that price, the Olympics remain a profitable venture for NBCU, with the Rio Olympics bringing in more than $1.2 billion in ad sales, according to NBC Sports execs at the time. (About 10 percent of the company\u2019s Olympics ad sales were for streamed content, and the company expects that number to grow.) This came despite the Rio Olympics bringing in a smaller linear TV audience, with the average prime-time audience dropping 18 percent to 24.9 million viewers when compared to the 2012 London Games.\n\nNBC Sports said the total audience for the Olympics continues to grow, with the Rio Games averaging 100 million unique viewers, up 28 percent from 2012, and viewers streaming a total 3.5 billion minutes during the Games.\n\nConnected TVs were a huge part of consumption during Rio, accounting for 40 percent of streaming that occurred during prime time, according to NBCU. It\u2019s why Pyeongchang will also be the first Winter Olympics \u2014 and the second Olympics overall \u2014 to let users watch live coverage on connected TV devices.\n\nNBC Sports is confident that the Pyeongchang Games will exceed total viewership for the 2014 Sochi Games, Cordella said. \u201cWe are bullish on what we think can happen based on what we saw in Rio,\u201d he said.\n\nAll of NBC Sports\u2019 Olympics coverage will be available on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app. In addition to the live competitions, NBC Sports will offer a library of on-demand clips, including highlights, news recaps, athlete profiles and other features, along with full-event replays. About 300 employees will be involved in NBC Sports\u2019 digital coverage plans.\n\nNBC Sports will also produce three digital shows and a social video series as part of its coverage. \u201cGold Zone\u201d will offer a daily two-hour recap of the day\u2019s competitions, \u201cOlympic Ice\u201d will review all of the figure skating news and highlights of the day, and \u201cOff the Post\u201d will be a live hockey studio show airing after each day\u2019s final game. The social video series \u201cEver Wonder?\u201d will explore interesting aspects of the Winter Games sports.\n\nPreviously, NBC Sports announced a partnership with BuzzFeed to again produce a limited-run daily Snapchat Discover channel, which will focus on the stories beyond the competitions.\n\nLivestreaming coverage will begin Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. Eastern time and will run through the following 19 days.", "output": "US broadcaster NBC will live-stream more than\u00a01,800 hours of next year's Winter Olympics through its sports app, providing daily feeds for the first time at any winter games. All\u00a0events and medal competitions across the 15 disciplines will be covered\u00a0at the Pyeongchang, South Korea, games in February. That\u00a0builds\u00a0on the 1,000 hours net-cast from the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia. NBC Sports said Olympics online audience figures are growing. At the\u00a0Rio 2016 summer games NBC\u00a0live-streamed\u00a04,500 hours and notched up an\u00a0average 100 million unique views, up 28% on London 2012.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK ocean litter more than doubled in 2016 \n There has been a dramatic rise in the amount of litter found on the seabed around Britain, according to new government data.\n\nAn average of 358 litter items were found per square kilometre of seabed in 2016, a 158% rise on the previous year, and 222% higher than the average for 1992-94.\n\nAlmost 78% of the litter is plastic, 6.3% rubber and 2.7% metal, according to the data published by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs.\n\nThe amount of seabed litter has fluctuated over the years, but has been in long-term decline since a peak of 1,300 items per square kilometre in 2003. Statisticians link the fluctuations to weather changes, but the rise in 2016 was the first after three years of reductions.\n\nTim Farron, the Lib Dem spokesman on the environment, said: \u201cIt is particularly worrying to see such a sharp rise in plastic litter polluting our seas. Unless we take action, in a few years Blue Planet will have to be renamed Plastic Planet.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe government needs to get its act together and take urgent action to clean up our seas and countryside. The long promised 25-year plan to protect our environment needs to be published now, not simply kicked into the long grass.\u201d\n\nThe publication of Defra\u2019s 25-year plan was originally scheduled for the summer of 2016 but has repeatedly been delayed.\n\nHugo Tagholm, the chief executive of Surfers Against Sewage, said the increase in seabed plastic reflected what tens of thousands of volunteers were finding along the UK coastline.\n\n\u201cThey are seeing more and more plastic in the tideline, particularly single-use plastic, which has grown exponentially in the last two decades,\u201d he said.\n\nTagholm called for taxes and policy changes to increase recycling and reduce business and supermarket use of single-use plastics. He said Defra\u2019s current consultation on deposit-return systems for plastic bottles was crucial.\n\n\u201cThe upstream thinking is what\u2019s vital to protect the seabed, the water column and our beaches,\u201d he said. \u201cWithout weaning the public off their plastic addiction we\u2019re not going to stop this increase. We really are at a crisis point, but unlike climate change we\u2019re at the early stages. We can stop this and reverse this trend.\u201d\n\nNatalie Fee, the founder of the City to Sea campaign group, said: \u201cThis is sadly yet more evidence that the tide has yet to turn against plastic pollution and all the more of an incentive to really get the solutions embedded in mainstream culture.\n\n\u201cJoining the Refill movement and carrying a reusable water bottle or coffee cup in public, carrying a metal straw in your bag, switching to reusable menstrual products \u2013 these things spread a powerful message, we can choose to reuse.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t have to rely on supermarkets or government to make these simple choices for us, although it would help if they were more proactive in tackling this environmental disaster.\u201d\n\nThe production of plastics is forecast to double in the next 20 years. A million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute, and 38.5 million are used every day in the UK. Only half are recycled.\n\nSewage plants also contribute to plastic pollution in the oceans, because they use plastic pellets known as Bio-Beads in wastewater treatment that spill into the UK\u2019s coastal waters.\n\nAcademic studies have estimated that the damage to fishing equipment caused by anthropogenic sea litter costs UK fisheries \u00a310m each year.\n\n", "output": "An average of 358 litter items were found per sq km of seabed around the UK in 2016, a 158% rise on the previous year, according to the data published by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs.\u00a0Almost 78% of the litter was\u00a0plastic, 6.3% rubber and 2.7% metal. The amount of seabed litter has been in decline since\u00a0peaking at\u00a01,300 items per sq km\u00a0in 2003, and this year's rise - the first in three years - may have been a result of weather changes.\u00a0A 25-year plan to protect the UK environment was scheduled to be published in the summer of 2016, but has repeatedly been delayed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NASA plans mission to explore why planets lose their atmosphere \n This artist's rendition shows MEME-X's dual spacecraft as they observe the aurora from an altitude like that of the International Space Station. Credit: NASA\n\nA team of NASA scientists want to use Earth as a laboratory to understand how planets lose their atmospheres and has proposed a mission that the agency recently selected as one of five for further consideration as a possible NASA Explorer mission.\n\nIn the proposed mission that some believe is a potential keystone in the study of the Sun and its effects on planetary atmospheres, the team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is advancing a dual-satellite, polar-orbiting mission to study the universal processes that control atmospheric erosion and its interaction with stellar winds, the continuously flowing stream of charged particles released from the Sun's corona.\n\nCalled Mechanisms of Energetic Mass Ejection-Explorer, or MEME-X, the mission was one of five proposals that received Phase-A funding under NASA's Small Explorer Program. NASA also selected another Goddard mission, Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager [link to story]. Of the five, NASA is expected to select one or two for development and implementation.\n\nCross-Disciplinary Mission\n\n\"MEME-X has strong cross threads across NASA's scientific disciplines\u2014planetary, heliophysics, astrophysics, and Earth science,\" said Thomas Moore, a Goddard scientist and the MEME-X principal investigator. In addition to providing details about the loss of mass in Earth's upper atmospheric layers, the mission could enhance scientists' understanding of the role that solar wind played in transforming Mars from a warm and wet environment that might have supported surface life on Mars to the cold, arid planet of today, he said.\n\nTo that end, MEME-X will focus on one principal question: How do particles escape from Earth's upper atmosphere into the magnetosphere\u2014the protective bubble that shields the planet from incoming radiation from the Sun\u2014and then further, out into space. \"Atmospheric escape is a fundamental process with wide-reaching consequences across space and planetary sciences,\" Moore said.\n\nPlasma, the dominant material in space, consists of negatively charged electrons and positively charged ions; that is, atoms that have lost their electrons. It is a fourth state of matter\u2014not a gas, liquid, or solid\u2014which conducts electricity and is affected by magnetic fields. On an astronomical scale, plasma is common. It's found in the Sun, in the constant stream of material that flows from the Sun\u2014the solar wind\u2014and throughout space. However, on Earth's surface, it's rare, found mostly in fires and in fluorescent and neon lights.\n\nMEME-X's two spacecraft would fly in a polar orbit to find out how plasma escapes from Earth's ionosphere, which lies 50 to 620 miles above the surface, into the protective magnetosphere that shields the planet from potentially harmful solar wind and other space weather, and then out into space. Credit: NASA\n\nFor heliophysics, understanding the outflow of plasma from near-Earth space is particularly crucial, Moore added. The upflow of plasma from the high-latitude polar cap and auroral regions appears to affect the magnetosphere's response to variations in the solar wind and in turn influences space weather, which adds to the challenge of predicting space weather.\n\n\"For 40 years, we've had a long-standing mystery about how a portion of the atmosphere is heated by a factor of a hundred or more and ejected into space, where it dramatically modifies the near-Earth environment,\" said Doug Rowland, MEME-X deputy principal investigator and a heliophysicist at Goddard. \"MEME-X, with its pair of miniaturized spacecraft and advanced instrumentation, will finally give us the tools we need to solve this problem.\"\n\nEquipped with plasma analyzers, which will be mounted on short booms extending along the spacecraft's spin axes, and other instruments developed in part with research-and-development funding, MEME-X would provide the first multipoint measurements of plasma to determine if the matter is being ejected by pressure, as in a geyser, or vacuumed away from Earth, as in a waterspout.\n\nAtmospheric Evolution and Habitability\n\nIn addition to revealing the plasma outflow's effect on space weather, the mission could help answer important questions regarding the evolution of planetary atmospheres and planet habitability, Moore said.\n\nA case in point is Mars. Once wetter and warmer, and possibly congenial for life, the planet now looks dead. It's a desert world, with a sparse atmosphere and virtually no protective magnetic field. NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission, recently discovered that most of the planet's atmosphere has been lost to space, violently scraped from the planet by solar wind.\n\nThe question scientists want to answer is the role of the magnetosphere in atmospheric loss, particularly as it relates to solar wind. \"This is a quest to discover and characterize fundamental processes that occur within the heliosphere and throughout the universe,\" Moore said. \"We want to use the Earth's atmosphere as a laboratory.\"", "output": "Scientists at NASA have proposed a mission to examine how plasma from Earth escapes the magnetosphere \u2013 the protective layer blocking radiation from the Sun. The team at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland are developing\u00a0the Mechanisms of Energetic Mass Ejection-Explorer (MEME-X) project, which uses two miniaturised spacecraft that\u00a0are\u00a0equipped with advanced tools to measure plasma ejections from the Earth into space, aiming to explore how they affect space\u00a0weather.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian recruitment start-up uses AI to research job candidates \n Belong, a Bengaluru-based startup, is creating a \u201cGoogle for people,\u201d as co-founder Rishabh Kaul describes it.\n\nThe three-year-old recruitment firm is part of a new crop of companies using technology to simplify hiring processes, from sorting resum\u00e9s to scheduling interviews. Belong, however, goes well beyond all that.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIt scours the internet to unearth publicly available information on any and all possible candidates, including scanning their Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, LinkedIn profiles, and more. \u201dEarlier, a resume was just like a balance sheet\u2014what you declare about yourself at a given point of time,\u201d explained Kaul. \u201cNow, you have a rich stream of constant data.\u201d\n\nAfter gathering copious amounts of information, the platform ranks potential hires according to their suitability for a role at a particular company\u2014much like how Google tailors search results for each user\u2019s query.\n\nBelong stands out also because it seems to have cracked the code by selling its product to an impressive clientele. This list spans e-commerce behemoths Amazon and Flipkart, telecom provider Airtel, ride-hailing services Ola and Uber, and online grocer BigBasket, among others.\n\nTalent hunt\n\nAdvertisement\n\nFounded by Kaul, Vijay Sharma, Saiteja Veera, and Sudheendra Chilappagari, Belong\u2019s basic proposition is simple: using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to curate data from social media activity, and from niche platforms such as GitHub, ResearchGate, and Muckrack. \u201cThe technology acts like a magnet, finding different pieces of data on every white-collar person,\u201d said Kaul.\n\nThe system scans all profiles with uniform precision to match every candidate to a company\u2019s search requirements and previous hiring patterns. Where there is no precedent\u2014say, if the company is setting up a centre for a new technology like the Internet of Things (IoT), or is expanding into an unexplored geographical region\u2014Belong works with the employer to manually feed in ideal candidate profiles.\n\nAs companies approve and reject suggestions, the machine learning algorithm learns from the choices and fine-tunes the results further. However, Belong\u2019s system does not eliminate candidates, it only re-orders them. So, while the grunt work is done by technology, the decision-making still lies with the human resources (HR) managers. \u201cWe want to make them (the managers) into Ironmen and Ironwomen, so we are being the Jarvis,\u201d said Kaul.\n\nThe main cash cow for Belong, which has raised $15 million so far, is annual contracts. Kaul did not reveal how much it charges but said, \u201ctypically we need (companies) to hire at least 30 to 40 lateral people in a year for it to make return-on-investment sense.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBetween June 2015 and March 2016, Belong posted revenue of Rs83.2 lakh ($127,000), according to regulatory filings sourced by data platform Tofler. Overall, the company recorded a net loss of Rs6.41 crore ($979,000) during the same period.\n\nBigger and better\n\nThis technology-led process casts a wider net for talent and covers more volume in lesser time than humans can. Besides, it targets not just active jobseekers but even passive talent\u2014those who haven\u2019t even thought of quitting their jobs yet. And connecting with them is merely a matter of clicking a button.\n\nAI can save recruiters between 15-20 hours of work each week\n\n\u201cCan a recruiter write a great email to a candidate to excite them? Yes,\u201d said Kaul. \u201cCan they do it for 500 people or send 3,000 emails? I don\u2019t think so.\u201d AI, though, can tailor messages for a multitude of applicants, saving recruiters between 15 hours and 20 hours of work each week while keeping things personal, Belong claims. The platform also tracks the right time to approach someone based on factors like appraisal cycles at their current company and how often they change jobs.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cWe have made offers for highly complex roles in about 10-14 days on the platform,\u201d Abhinav Asthana, CEO and co-founder of tech company Postman, which has recruited via Belong for over a year, told YourStory. At health-tech firm Practo, Belong improved the offer acceptance rate by 65% while Tavant Technologies reported a 55% hike in candidate responses.\n\nAs AI becomes smarter, it could even conduct first-round interviews virtually, ensuring \u201cbetter utilisation of a recruiter\u2019s time and resources,\u201d N Shivakumar, business head of recruitment process outsourcing at Teamlease Services, told Quartz. Overall, it\u2019d help shorten hiring timelines.\n\nAutomation also helps curb biases, Kris Lakshmikanth, founder of HeadHunters India, told Quartz. Belong removes political affiliations, religious views, sexual orientation, and other extraneous factors. (The company includes gender so recruiters can exclusively search for women to up diversity. No company can search for only men, though.)\n\nWhile the algorithm struggles at times\u2014if a person\u2019s Twitter name differs from the real name or if multiple social media pages appear for someone\u2014Belong\u2019s intelligent filtering mostly improves efficiency and saves time. It, however, falls short with personable traits.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nCookie-cutter categories like college degree and technical skills are easy to track but AI is no match for experienced human managers with seasoned instincts when judging if a candidate will fit into the office culture or if they are a team player, HeadHunters\u2019 Lakshmikanth added.\n\nStill, Belong has made attempts to quantify ambiguous descriptors. \u201c(To) make the word entrepreneurial into something mathematical that you can search for\u2026the platform looks for people who\u2019ve scaled something small into something big or people who\u2019ve been with a company since founding,\u201d Kaul explained.\n\nSimilarly, someone may be classified an early adopter based on when they joined Twitter. \u201dIn 2007, being on Twitter was a big deal. No one knew about it,\u201d said Kaul, \u201cThis person would have been on the lookout (for new technologies) rather than someone who joined in 2013, by which time even Amitabh Bachchan had joined.\u201d\n\nAnd just like human HR managers get better over time, Belong is betting that the machines will too.", "output": "A Bengaluru recruitment start-up, Belong, has created an AI solution that its founder describes as \"Google for humans\". The technology is designed to simplify and streamline hiring processes\u00a0by scheduling interviews, assessing CVs but also scouting the internet for appropriate talent. The AI tool tracks down information on candidates by scanning their Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, LinkedIn profiles\u00a0and more. \u201cA\u00a0resume was just like a balance sheet \u2013\u00a0what you declare about yourself at a given time,\u201d explained Belong co-founder Rishabh Kaul, \u201cNow, you have a rich stream of constant data.\u201d Belong's clients include Amazon, Ola and Uber.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NASA goes to Arctic to develop a flying drone for Mars \n All robotic missions on Mars have been limited to the actual surface -- rovers like Curiosity are reliable, but their range is limited. While Curiosity has driven more than 10 miles on the Martian surface, it took more than five years. A flying drone aircraft could cover much more distance, but developing a Mars drone is no easy feat. NASA has partnered with several private organizations and nonprofits to test some flying machines in the most Martian landscape on Earth: a desolate island in the Canadian Arctic.\n\nThe new project is spinning up at NASA's Haughton Mars Project facility on Devon Island, which is the largest uninhabited island on Earth. It's uninhabited because of the harsh conditions -- it's what's known as a polar desert. The growing season is only a few weeks long, and the rest of the year it gets dangerously cold with temperatures as low as -58 degrees Fahrenheit. NASA set up a Mars test facility on Devon Island in the 1990s because of how similar the terrain is to the red planet. The site is located in the Haughton impact crater, a 14-mile depression that was created about 39 million years ago.\n\nJoining NASA in this endeavor are the Mars Institute, the SETI Institute, and FYBR Solutions Inc. By sharing the workload with its partners, NASA hopes it will be able to develop a drone design on Earth that also works reliably on Mars. The surface of the Haughton impact crater is perfect for this testing, but it's still on Earth. Mars has a much thinner atmosphere that complicates unmanned missions. There's enough of an atmosphere that landers need protection from the heat of entry, but not enough to use parachutes or standard wing configurations.\n\nOne of the leading proposals right now is to develop an extremely lightweight helicopter that would carry a simply camera and instrument package as a \"scout drone\" for the Mars 2020 rover. It would need to have huge propellers in relation to its size, though. The drone could map terrain surrounding the rover to identify obstacles so operators can move the rover greater distances with each set of instructions. It could also help spot the interesting areas where the rover might be used to take samples and conduct research.\n\nThe 2020 rover is expected to be based on Curiosity, but it'll have more cameras . If the research at the Haughton Mars Project site pays off, it may even have its own little drone.", "output": "At NASA\u2019s Haughton Mars Project facility on Devon Island in the Arctic, work is underway on an airborne drone designed for use on Mars. NASA is partnering with the Mars Institute, the SETI Institute and FYBR Solutions\u00a0to develop a drone design\u00a0that can function in Mars's thin atmosphere. Currently, the leading proposal is to develop an extremely lightweight helicopter that would be deployed in tandem with the Mars 2020 rover, carrying a simple camera and instrument package, as a \u201cscout drone\u201d\u00a0for the rover."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Maps show how warm sea water is melting Greenland from below \n Significantly more ice in Greenland's glaciers may be exposed to warming ocean waters than previously thought, new research suggests. Indeed, more than half the ice sheet may be subject to the melting influence of the sea.\n\nThese are the latest conclusions of a detailed mapping project exploring the topography of the seafloor and bedrock around and beneath Greenland's glaciers.\n\nPublished in their final form last week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, the maps draw on a variety of data sources, including satellite radar and aerial imagery, as well as special sonar data collected on ship expeditions to the front of the ice sheet. (An earlier, although nearly identical, version of the paper was published online in September.)\n\nIncluded in the new paper are some of the most detailed data yet on the depths of the canyons and fjords scarring the Greenland coast, which carry water in from the sea to lap against the ice. The results suggest that the western and northern regions of Greenland are most exposed to the influence of ocean water. Out of 139 ocean-touching glaciers the team identified, they also found that 67 rest in waters 200 meters (about 650 feet) or more below sea level, where warm water is typically found\u2014at least twice as many as previously thought.\n\nAnd, worryingly, the research suggests that as these glaciers melt and retreat backward, the shape of the seabed will continue to expose many of them to warm ocean water for hundreds of miles as the ice moves inland.\n\n\"The primary uncertainty in sea level rise is what are the ice sheets going to do over the coming century,\" said Mathieu Morlighem, an expert in ice sheet modeling at the University of California, Irvine, who led the paper along with dozens of other contributors from institutions around the world. \"We know that there could potentially be catastrophic collapse of the ice sheets\u2014we know it has happened in the past\u2014but we don't know how likely it is to happen over our time scale. So we've been doing a lot of progress in terms of better understanding how the ice is flowing.\"\n\nThe study also finds that the Greenland ice sheet may contain more ice, with a greater potential to raise global sea levels, than previous research has suggested\u2014about 2.75 inches more, to be exact. Altogether, the new study suggests that the ice sheet has the potential to raise global sea levels by about 24.3 feet, should it melt entirely.\n\nBut the new information about the interaction between ocean and ice along the Greenland coast may be the maps' most important contribution.\n\n\"A lot of research has shown that intrusions of warm water are responsible for melting ice along the polar coastlines and that these intrusions are steered by the shape of the seafloor,\" said Jamin Greenbaum, an oceanography and geology expert at the University of Texas, Austin, who was not involved with the new study, in an email.\n\nIt's mainly in the last few years that the ocean's melting influence on glaciers has come to the forefront of scientific attention, but scientists now recognize it as a major\u2014if not the primary\u2014contributor to ice loss in both Greenland and parts of Antarctica.\n\nThere are many factors driving what scientists believe to be an increase in the amount of warm water (as opposed to colder water) that many glaciers are exposed to. Some of it is as simple as the fact that climate change is causing the oceans to warm, in addition to the outside air, and some of it may also involve the complex ways climate change is believed to be affecting atmospheric patterns, winds and the ocean currents that carry warm water around the world.\n\nAnd scientists now know that the underwater topography\u2014the hills, slopes and crevices at the bottom of the ocean, where the ice meets the sea\u2014is a critical influence on just how much ice actually touches the water. So mapping projects like this one are critical for helping scientists figure out how much of the ice sheet is actually threatened.\n\nAnd they can also significantly inform scientists' understanding of how glaciers will behave, and how quickly they'll lose ice, as they melt. This has to do with the physical processes that affect the way ice in a glacier moves and flows out to sea.\n\nGlaciers that back up to the ocean tend to have similar physical structures. The ice is firmly grounded to the bedrock, up to a point known as the \"grounding line.\" At this point, the ice becomes disconnected from the ground and turns into a kind of floating ledge, known as an ice shelf, that juts out into the ocean from the front of the glacier. These ice shelves are responsible for stabilizing the glacier and hold back the flood of ice behind them.\n\nIf they begin to melt, however\u2014particularly as they're exposed to warmer ocean water\u2014the shelves become thinner and the grounding line begins to retreat backward, causing the glacier to become less stable and making the ice shelf more likely to break. But the manner in which this retreat happens depends largely on the shape and contour of the bedrock beneath it, Morlighem noted. A downward slope, for instance, might cause the glacier to retreat more quickly, while ridges or other topographical features might help to slow or halt the backward motion.\n\n\"The bed topography controls how far the retreat is going to be and how fast also depending on the slope,\" Morlighem said. \"The bed topography is a crucial data set for ice sheet modelers. Even today, the modeling community would tell you that it's the No. 1 data set that we need.\"\n\nGrowing interest in the connections between ice, ocean and bedrock has helped launch multiple research programs aimed at creating more detailed maps of the world's ice sheets. One of these is NASA's Oceans Melting Greenland, or \"OMG,\" mission, which is collecting both aerial and ship-based observations of ocean temperatures and the shape of the seafloor. Data from the OMG mission helped inform the maps Morlighem and his colleagues have just published.\n\nBut scientists aren't only interested in Greenland. They believe similar processes are at play in Antarctica\u2014in fact, \"a lot of the big changes in Antarctica all seem to be ocean-driven,\" said Martin Truffer, an expert in glacier physics at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. And many researchers are trying to improve maps of the Antarctic ice sheet, as well. Greenbaum, for instance, has conducted some of his own mapping research in Antarctica, and his work, published in Nature Geoscience in March 2015, has helped reveal that East Antarctica's biggest glacier\u2014the Totten Glacier, sometimes referred to as the region's \"sleeping giant\"\u2014is vulnerable to the intrusion of warm ocean water.\n\nMeanwhile, the increasingly unstable glaciers in West Antarctica remain some of scientists' biggest concerns about future sea-evel rise. Over the last few years, research has increasingly suggested that ice loss in this region is heavily driven by the influence of the warming ocean. And just last year, the United States and the United Kingdom announced an in-depth coordinated research project focused on one of West Antarctica's largest and most vulnerable glaciers, the Thwaites Glacier, which will focus in large part on the interaction of the ocean and the ice front.\n\nTruffer noted that mapping in Antarctica tends to be more challenging than in Greenland because the Antarctic ice sheet is so much larger and so much more remote. But these projects are no less important.\n\nMorlighem and his colleagues are currently working on some similar efforts to map the Antarctic coast while continuing to update and improve their Greenland maps, as well. Ultimately, Morlighem says, all of the data will inform model projections of how the ice sheets will behave under future climate change and how much they may raise global sea levels over the next few centuries\u2014the real question all this research is aimed at answering.\n\nBut he noted, \"We can't understand how it works if we don't have a good description of the bed topography first.\"\n\nReprinted from Climatewire with permission from E&E News. E&E provides daily coverage of essential energy and environmental news at www.eenews.net.", "output": "More than half of Greenland's ice sheet may be under threat of melting from warm sea water, according to a mapping project reported in\u00a0the journal Geophysical Research Letters.\u00a0The paper includes some of the most detailed data yet on the depths of the canyons around\u00a0the Greenland coast, which carry water from the sea to the\u00a0glaciers.\u00a0Out of 139 ocean-touching ice sheets,\u00a067 rest in waters 200 metres or more below sea level, where warm water is typically found.\u00a0The study also found that the Greenland ice sheet may have\u00a0the potential to raise sea levels by\u00a02.75 inches more than previously thought, for a total of\u00a024.3 ft if it were to melt completely.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ireland rated worst European country for combating climate change \n Greenpeace activists protest on the river Rhine during the UN climate change conference COP23 in Bonn, Germany: Ireland has fallen 28 places to 49th out of 56 countries ranked in the 2018 Climate Change Performance Index. Photograph: Sascha Steinbach/EPA\n\nIreland is the worst performing country in Europe when it comes to taking action to combat climate change, a new study has revealed. The State has fallen 28 places to 49th out of 56 countries ranked in the 2018 Climate Change Performance Index, which focuses on the world\u2019s worst countries for emissions.\n\nThe report, produced by Germanwatch and the New Climate Institute (NCI), says \u201cgreater efforts have been made globally to reduce greenhouse gas emissions\u201d and highlights positive developments on switching to renewable energy sources and energy efficiency.\n\nHowever, it says \u201cno country is doing enough to prevent dangerous greenhouse gas emissions\u201d.\n\nProgress on this front was was still not in line with the commitments contained in the Paris Agreement on climate change and all countries must deliver much stronger policies to reduce polluting emissions, the report adds.\n\nREAD MORE\n\nIn light of steps taken by the Trump Administration, the US is placed 56th on the index but the report points to positive actions being taken by individual US states, cities and companies in reducing CO2 emissions.\n\nThe index ranks the 56 countries whose combined emissions account for 90 per cent of the world\u2019s greenhouse gases. The analysis is based on evaluating emissions; adoption of renewable energy; energy use; and climate policy.\n\nReport co-author Dr Jan Burck told The Irish Times that rising emissions were Ireland's difficulty, even though performance on this front had improved in the past five years.\n\nThe State was \u201cnowhere close to being on track\u201d in its commitments to keep global temperatures to within 2 degrees\u201d currently and up to 2030. However, he did note \u201ca very positive trend in the development of renewable energy\u201d.\n\nThe report, which comes as delegates from 200 nations gather in Bonn to discuss climate action at COP23, places Sweden at the top of the index in fourth position \u2013 the first three positions were left empty as \u201cno country is doing enough to prevent dangerous climate change\u201d, the report states.\n\nAgricultural emissions\n\nWhile agricultural emissions were less significant in total emissions globally, where they were high in countries such as Ireland, there was difficulty in reducing them, but dietary changes in livestock and more efficient fertiliser use could play their part, added Prof Niklas H\u00f6hne of NCI.\n\nJerry Mac Evilly, policy co-ordinator for the Stop Climate Chaos coalition, said the report \u201clays bare the continuing and disturbing contradiction between Government rhetoric on climate change and the sad reality of policy implementation in Ireland\u201d.\n\nIreland\u2019s polluting emissions are rising and the State is failing to meet EU obligations, he added.\n\n\u201cThe Government is not supporting greater EU ambition and, despite some positive noises, there is little indication that this situation is likely to change any time soon. This hypocrisy on climate change not only has significant reputational damage for Ireland but brings with it extremely negative impacts for our economy, our local environment and our health.\u201d\n\nDr Cara Augustenborg of Friends of the Earth Ireland said the Citizens' Assembly put forward 13 concrete recommendations for climate action to allow Ireland to catch up with our European neighbours \"and end nearly a decade of dithering and delay\".\n\n\u201cYet at national level, we\u2019ve seen a new climate action plan which does not guarantee any immediate reductions in pollution. And at EU level, we\u2019ve seen repeated Government efforts to have loopholes inserted into EU legislation currently under negotiation which would hinder greater climate action.\u201d", "output": "A new study by Germanwatch and the New Climate Institute (NCI) has found that Ireland is struggling to manage rising greenhouse gas emissions. The nation is \u201cnowhere close to being on track\u201d, according to the report's\u00a0co-author Dr Jan Burck.\u00a0The 2018 Climate Change Performance Index saw Ireland fall 28 places to 49th out of the 56 countries\u00a0gauged."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Leaked EU document dismisses possibilty of bespoke deal for UK \n Theresa May\u2019s hopes of negotiating a \u201cdeep and special\u201d trading relationship with the EU have been dealt a fresh blow by leaked documents which emphasise that only a basic free trade deal similar to that struck with Canada will be offered.\n\n\n\nAn internal discussion paper prepared by the European commission spells out how the British government\u2019s rejection of membership of the single market and the customs union leaves the member states with little wriggle room in trade talks.\n\nThe document, leaked to the Politico website, was put together by the EU\u2019s negotiating team to aid a \u201cpreparatory discussion\u201d on the \u201cframework for the future relationship\u201d.\n\nThe paper states that \u201csingle market arrangements in certain areas\u201d or the \u201cevolution of our regulatory frameworks\u201d could not be managed within the EU body of law as it stands and therefore the UK would have to be satisfied with a \u201cstandard FTA\u201d.\n\nThe publication of the leaked document comes ahead of a bilateral meeting between May and the president of the European council, Donald Tusk, on the margins of an EU leaders\u2019 summit in Gothenburg on Friday. Tusk will ask the prime minister to explain how the British government intends to move the negotiations forward, to allow the widening of the talks at the European council summit in a month\u2019s time.\n\nHe will warn the prime minister that she cannot take for granted that the other 27 member states will rule that there has been \u201csufficient progress\u201d on citizens rights, the Irish border and the divorce bill, at the European council meeting on 14 and 15 December.\n\nThe Guardian has further learned that the 27 member states have sought a legal opinion from the European commission on a possible extension of the two years allowed for talks under article 50 of the Lisbon treaty.\n\nThe member states do not envision a lengthy extension of the two years, however. One EU diplomat said: \u201cWe all have our own domestic political situations to deal with and so I can\u2019t imagine us having unanimity on extending article 50. And this extension would only be if we are near striking a deal and need a few extra weeks or months.\u201d\n\nSenior diplomats attached to the member states said they had not yet seen the leaked paper produced by Barnier\u2019s team but confirmed that the terms set out chimed with their understanding of the EU\u2019s position that the red lines set out by May for a future deal also rule out special arrangements in particular sectors, including in financial services.\n\nThe documents explain that the UK\u2019s insistence on \u201cregulatory autonomy\u201d and its intention to remove itself from the jurisdiction of the European court of justice mean it is \u201cnot compatible\u201d as a partner within the EU framework.\n\nSuch a model would provide \u201cno direct branching in sectors like financial services\u201d and the documents add that there are only \u201climited EU commitments to allow cross-border provision of services\u201d.\n\nThe paper will come as a blow to the UK, although the position has been voiced publicly by Barnier in the past.\n\nIn her Florence speech in September, May had insisted that the EU and the UK should raise their ambitions and that such a deal, similar to that struck with Canada, would not be good enough.\n\n\u201cCompared with what exists between Britain and the EU today, [a Canada-style arrangement] would nevertheless represent such a restriction on our mutual market access that it would benefit neither of our economies,\u201d May said.\n\nThe EU-Canada deal slashes tariffs but trade in food is restricted by quotas and phytosanitary controls. There is also no additional access to the single market for financial services based in Canada.\n\nOne senior EU official said the British cabinet was still in \u201ccuckoo land\u201d if it believed the EU would offer anything more.\n\nThe EU is still waiting on an improved offer from Britain on its financial settlement, without which direct talks between the EU and the UK on a future deal will not begin.\n\nA senior EU official warned on Thursday that it was up to the British government to move on the divorce issues in order to progress to the next stage of Brexit negotiations.\n\n\u201cWe cannot be more clear than we have been,\u201d the official said, adding that it was up to the UK to provide more information on how it intended to settle its EU budget obligations. Brexit negotiations would continue until the UK passed the EU\u2019s sufficient progress test, the official said. \u201cWe would also like to see sufficient progress in December ... There is no back-up plan. The back-up plan if needed, is to go on negotiating.\u201d\n\n", "output": "The UK's insistence on autonomy from EU regulations and the ECJ make it ineligible as a partner, according to an EU document leaked to Politico. The UK would have to be satisfied with a standard Free Trade Agreement, similar to the Canada-US deal of 1988. The document said: \"If they want access to single market they will have to comply with EU laws.\u201d\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brazil, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Slovakia receive Android Pay \n Google announced today that Android Pay has arrived and will arrive soon in four new countries around the world: Ukraine, Czech Republic, Brazil, and Slovakia.\n\nUkraine got the payments service a few weeks ago, the Czech Republic and Brazil (you can find Google\u2019s local announcements here and here, respectively) are getting it starting today, and Google says it\u2019s soon coming to Slovakia as well.\n\nGoogle says Ukraine\u2019s Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk was the first to try the service when it launched earlier this month:\n\nAnd in a region full of Android fans, we\u2019re excited to see it\u2019s already taking off! Ukraine\u2019s Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk was the country\u2019s first person to try Android Pay when we launched on November 1, demonstrating how it works on the Kiev Metro.\n\nAnd Brazil is the first country in Latin American to get support for Android Pay:\n\nOn the other side of the globe in Brazil, contactless payments are just picking up speed. So we partnered with merchants like Ipiranga and Casa do P\u00e3o de Queijo to help us merge new experiences (like paying with your phone) with familiar ones (like buying groceries or Brigadeiros).\n\nFinally, as will seemingly be the case until Google has launched Android Pay everywhere, the company teases that it will be \u201cbringing Android Pay to even more places soon.\u201d\n\nEarlier this year, Google also launched Android Pay in Spain as well as Taiwan, Canada, and Russia.\n\nCheck out 9to5Google on YouTube for more news:", "output": "Google is extending its Android Pay mobile payments service, to users in four new countries as part of its global deployment: Brazil, Ukraine, Slovakia and the Czach Republic. Brazil is the first Latin American country to receive Android Pay, with Google announcing partnerships with local merchants, such as Ipiranga and Casa do P\u00e3o de Queijo, to promote the system. Earlier in 2017, Google launched Android Pay in Spain, as well as in Taiwan, Canada, and Russia.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pavegen teams up with Google for Pixel launch installation \n Lucid Illusions and Pavegen create an interactive installation for Google | In In Supplier News | By By Caroline Clift\n\nTo coincide with the launch of Google\u2019s new Pixel phones, Lucid Illusions partnered with Pavegen to design and create a harvest walkway at Berlin\u2019s Festival of Light.\n\nAs visitors walked, skipped and jumped along the path, their footsteps triggered the 176 LED cubes in Lucid\u2019s light wall to react according to pressure, speed and location. Their journey was captured as a gif via Google\u2019s newest pixel phone, housed in a photo pod, custom built by Lucid.\n\nIn addition to design and fabrication, Lucid worked closely with Pavegen to develop programming, which could talk to the intelligent tiles and produce a truly unique interactive brand experience.\n\nChris Carr, founder and director of Lucid Illusions, commented: \u201cThe Berlin project marks a key moment for Lucid following the delivery of a series of significant installations for clients including Google, Samsung and Adidas. We see this as a step to further designing and creating increasingly groundbreaking experiences.\u201d\n\nLucid Illusions are known for producing creative event and experience builds, and the Google project follows a year working on boundary-pushing projects including Samsung\u2019s 12 metre high Hypercube structure.\n\nCarr added: \u201cWorking hand in hand with producers, agencies and brands, we\u2019re designing and building highly immersive events and installations with which people can interact and experience on a multitude of levels. With a growing core team, 2018 is shaping up to be Lucid\u2019s most exciting year to date with a range of exciting projects to share with you as they come to fruition over the next couple of months.\u201d", "output": "Design firm Lucid Illusions and tech company Pavagen have joined forces with Google to create a Festival of Light installation in Berlin, celebrating the launch of Google's latest Pixel phone. A path equipped with Pavegen's \"intelligent\" pressure-sensitive tiles, connected to 176 LED cubes in a light wall designed by Lucid, allows visitors to interact with the installation by walking and dancing. Programmatic development was required to facilitate communication between the\u00a0tiles and the cubes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Financial Times makes good progress in stopping domain spoofing \n The Financial Times\u2019 fight against domain spoofing is paying off.\n\nAfter catching 25 ad exchanges misrepresenting access to its inventory in September, the business news publisher took its fraud-fighting test a step further by purchasing counterfeit inventory that purported to be the FT\u2019s to see which vendors were still selling fake FT impressions. Over few days at the end of October, the FT spent $500 on inventory that claimed to be FT.com.\n\nThe publisher found that 24 of the 25 exchanges had stopped spoofing the FT\u2019s domain since the publisher called out the tech vendors that were selling the mislabeled inventory, said Jessica Barrett, global head of programmatic at the Financial Times. She wouldn\u2019t say which vendor continues to misrepresent access to FT inventory.\n\n\u201cI was pleasantly surprised by how many exchanges were willing to work with us to fix this issue,\u201d Barrett said, addressing the Digiday Programmatic Media Summit in New Orleans. \u201cIt was much less worse than I originally anticipated.\u201d\n\nIn September, the FT ran a test to see which exchanges claimed to have access to its inventory and found that 10 display exchanges and 15 video exchanges falsely claimed to sell its video inventory. The FT estimated the value of the fraudulent inventory to be $1.3 million a month. The publisher demanded that several ad tech vendors, including Oath, SpotX and FreeWheel, stop representing access to its inventory.\n\nDomain spoofing \u2014 where unscrupulous publishers and vendors obscure the nature of their traffic to resemble legitimate websites \u2014 most obviously hurts ad buyers since it leads them to waste money on junk. It also hurts publishers. The FT\u2019s concern is that fraudulent impressions won\u2019t drive results for advertisers, and if advertisers mistakenly think they\u2019re getting FT inventory, they\u2019ll blame the FT for getting a low return on investment.\n\nThe ad industry\u2019s push for transparency likely nudged the vendors to clean up their act once the FT surfaced the amount of domain spoofing occurring in their platforms, Barrett said. With initiatives like the IAB Tech Lab protocol ads.txt \u2014 a text file that publishers host on their web servers that lists all the companies authorized to sell their inventory \u2014 taking off, vendors have incentive to hop on the clean inventory bandwagon to avoid becoming a pariah.\n\nBut just because the vast majority of exchanges stopped selling fake FT impressions once the publisher brought it to their attention doesn\u2019t mean masked URLs claiming to be the FT won\u2019t resurface again on their platforms.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s easy to spot domain spoofing, but it is hard to put the kibosh on it,\u201d Barrett said.", "output": "The Financial Times claims tests of its domain spoofing screening methods have successfully caught out tech vendors offering counterfeit inventory. Testing 25 ad exchanges that were misrepresenting its inventory access, the publisher purchased $500 in counterfeit inventory supposedly from the Financial Times to test which vendors were still offering FT impressions. The publisher believes that fraudulent inventory could be costing $1.3m per month, highlighting the need for countering domain spoofing. The FT's focus on dismissing fraudulent impressions is to prevent results loss for advertisers and to maintain transparency."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Microsoft previews online payments via Skype for businesses \n Microsoft has opened up previews for a new type of Skype account that allows users to accept online payments and take notes from a single desktop client.\n\nSkype Professional Account is aimed at small business owners and who conduct lessons over the video communication platform, such as tutors, instructors and consultants.\n\nThe new service merges features from third-party online payment platforms and Outlook, allowing users to accept payments, take bookings and record notes within Skype.\n\nSkype users will also be able to search for businesses they would like to work with within Skype. The platform features dedicated profile pages for small businesses to include information like pricing and business hours.\n\nMicrosoft said Skype Professional account would be free during the preview period, but did not provide any indication of pricing after that. Users can sign up for the preview on the Skype website, though the preview is only available in the US.\n\nIn September, Microsoft announced plans to shift cloud customers using Skype for Business into Teams, its new collaboration suite.\n\nThe company also announced Microsoft 365, a software bundle including Windows 10 and Microsoft's most popular productivity tools into a single subscription package aimed at SMBs and enterprise users, both of which are available in Australia now.", "output": "Microsoft is previewing\u00a0the new Skype Professional Account, which merges features from third-party online payment platforms and Outlook. The Professional Account enables users to accept online payments, take bookings, make notes and search for businesses that they would like to work with. The preview is available in the US and will be free initially, with no\u00a0indication yet provided by Microsoft\u00a0of the final product pricing. The service is aimed at small businesses and those who provide services via Skype, such as language teachers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Miniature robot swims with, learns and can influence other fish \n Researchers at EPFL\u2019s Robotic Systems Laboratory (LSRO), which is headed by Professor Francesco Mondada, have developed a miniature robot that can integrate perfectly into schools of zebrafish. Their work was carried out as part of an EU research program among six partner institutions,* and the findings were recently published in Bioinspiration & Biomimetics.\n\n\u201cWe created a kind of \u2018secret agent\u2019 that can infiltrate these schools of small fish,\u201d says Frank Bonnet with a smile. Bonnet is a post-doc researcher at the LSRO and one of the study\u2019s authors. The robot is seven centimeters long \u2013 longer than the fish it\u2019s modeled after but with the same shape and proportions. It is equipped with magnets that link it to a tiny engine installed under the aquarium to propel it through the water. The researchers chose zebrafish, or Danio rerio, for their study because it\u2019s a robust species whose schools tend to switch direction and move about very quickly.\n\nThere are two aspects to the research program. The first deals with biology, studying the social interactions between individual fish. Here the robot helps scientists generate targeted stimuli and test the fish\u2019s response. The second aspect deals with robotics, and this is where the EPFL researchers focused their work.\n\nFinding the right criteria\n\nFirst, the team determined the key criteria that would allow the robot to integrate into schools of zebrafish and subsequently influence their behavior. These included the fish\u2019s physical characteristics, like shape, color, stripes, etc. Their behavioral characteristics were also taken into account, such as linear velocity, acceleration speed, the distance between individual fish, the size of the schools, their vibrations and motion, and the rhythm at which they move their tails.\n\nThe researchers also wanted to develop a closed-loop system in which the robot is able to not only influence the fish\u2019s behavior, but also adapt its own behavior by learning how to communicate and move like they do. As a result, the robot\u2019s swimming mechanism \u2013 initially designed with the help of biologists \u2013 gradually improved as the robot spent more time with the fish.\n\nFollow me!\n\nThe team tested their robot in different aquariums, some of which had delineated areas like little rooms and corridors. The tests involved ten schools of four zebrafish each that interacted with the robot. For each test, the researchers recorded the position and movement of individual fish, the movement of the school as a whole and the robot\u2019s propensity to integrate into the school. They then compared their results with observations made on schools of five zebrafish swimming under the same conditions, but without the robot. And their findings were unequivocal. \u201cThe fish accepted the robot into their schools without any problem,\u201d says Bonnet. \u201cAnd the robot was also able to mimic the fish\u2019s behavior, prompting them to change direction or swim from one room to another.\u201d\n\nSimilar studies had already been carried out at the LSRO, but on cockroaches. \u201cFish are much more complicated animals. To integrate into an insect community, a robot simply has to emit certain kinds of pheromones. But integrating into a community of vertebrates seems to involve many more criteria, in terms of such things as appearance, movement and vibration,\u201d says Bonnet.\n\n*Universit\u00e9 Paris Diderot\u2013 LIED,University of Graz \u2013 Artificial Life Lab, Cybertronica research, University of Zagreb \u2013 LARICS, FCi\u00eancias.ID \u2013 Associa\u00e7\u00e3o para a Investiga\u00e7\u00e3o e Desenvolvimento de Ci\u00eancias, EPFL - LSRO.", "output": "Researchers at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Laussane\u2019s (EPFL) Robotic Systems Laboratory have a developed a robot that looks like a fish and can seamlessly swim with other fish, eventually leading their direction. The trial used zebrafish and was successful in a range of aquariums with differing\u00a0criteria. The\u00a0robotic fish successfully integrated into a community, copying \u201cappearance, movement and vibration\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Singapore offers $20m funding for AI and data\u00a0fintech\u00a0projects \n Singapore has stepped up its fintech ambitions with the offer of a S$27m ($19.91m) grant to promote the further use of artificial intelligence and data analytics in the financial services market.\n\nThe scheme was officially presented by Ravi Menon, managing director of The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) at the Singapore FinTech Festival, a state-sponsored event that purports to be the world's biggest fintech gathering with over 25,000 visitors expected over the course of the week.\n\nAccording to the MAS, the Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics Grant is reserved for Singapore-based financial institutions and research firms. For banks it can provide as much as a 50% reimbursement projects which \"leverage artificial intelligence and data analytics techniques to generate insights, formulate strategy and assist in their decision making\".\n\nThese techniques may include machine learning, natural language processing or text analytics, deep learning or neural networks, predictive and prescriptive analytics.\n\nA key consideration however will be the impact of the projects on the bank's workforce and the plans for appropriate training programs.\n\nFor research firms, up to 70% reimbursement is on offer for those that can demonstrate \"local knowledge transfer and industry sharing\" and a \"clear application to financial services,\" stated the MAS.\n\nThe launch of the grant scheme comes a day after the MAS and Singapore's Association of Banks decided to release the source-codes of three successful blockchain prototypes for interbank payments in order to encourage more banks to experiment with the technology.\n\nThe MAS has also signed an agreemet with its Polish counterpart the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) which lays out a fintech framework for co-operation and referrals between the two regulators as it continues to use the FinTech Festival to publicise a stream of initiatives.\n\nWith the event due to run until Saturday 18th, more announcements could be imminent.\n\n.", "output": "Singapore is offering S$27m ($20m) in\u00a0grant funding for AI and data analytics initiatives in the financial services market, according to the managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Ravi Menon. Banks may receive\u00a0up to 50% reimbursement for projects that focus on machine learning, natural language processing, neural networks, text analytics and\u00a0predictive and prescriptive analytics. Recipients will be expected to consider\u00a0their projects'\u00a0effects on the banking workforce and its training needs. Research teams can gain up to 70% reimbursement for \"local knowledge transfer and industry sharing\"\u00a0for projects aimed at\u00a0the financial sector.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK Visa card will allow cryptocurrency payments in shops \n New UK Visa card lets you spend Bitcoin like normal money Is it as good as it says it is? We'll have to find out.\n\nWith Bitcoin trading at all time high, investors are working out whether it's best to sit on their stockpile or make the most of it while they can. For those wishing to utilise their investment, opportunities can be limited, with only a small number of big companies currently supporting cryptocurrency transactions. London Block Exchange (LBX) wants to change that. It's launching a new Visa debit card that will let users spend their Bitcoin (and other digital currencies) anywhere across the UK.\n\nLBX claims that the Dragoncard, which launches in the coming weeks, is the first to let investors instantly convert their Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin and Monero currency into sterling. The platform and accompanying smartphone app are secured by the same systems that underpin the UK banking system and have provisionally been approved by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).\n\nWhen used on the High Street, customers will be charged a 0.5% fee for converting their cryptocurrency holdings into pounds at the till. The Dragoncard also comes with a one-off \u00a320 charge and will charge a small fee for ATM withdrawals. Public pre-registrations are already open, but institutional investors will only be accepted via invitation.\n\nBitcoin transactions, by default, aren't typically fast. They take several minutes to complete, which has led experts to deem it unsuitable as method of payment. LBX handles the conversion itself, rather than at the point of sale, allowing it to potentially remove that headache for users altogether.", "output": "The London Block Exchange is to launch the Dragoncard, a Visa debit card that will\u00a0allow UK users to spend bitcoin. Due to launch in the next few weeks, the card will enable the instant conversion of bitcoin, ether, ripple, monero and litecoin into sterling. The financial protections are the same as those offered by UK banks, and the Dragoncard has gained provisional approval from the Financial Conduct Authority. The card will charge a 0.5% fee for conversion at point of sale\u00a0and offers a low fee for cashpoint withdrawals. There is\u00a0a one-off \u00a320 charge for the card.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Off-the-shelf underwater drones touted to revolutionise research \n \"We have no idea what we might find,\" Dr Dean Miller, director of science and media at the Great Barrier Reef Legacy tells me.\n\n\"As scuba-divers we can get down to around 30 to 40 metres safely but with this ROV (remotely operated underwater vehicle) we are allowed to go to 150, so this really turns into exploration in its purist form.\"\n\nBlueye's Pioneer drone is less expensive and more user friendly than previous gear. Credit: Blueye Robotics AS\n\nDr Miller is the first to use the brand new Blueye Pioneer underwater drone, embarking on a 21-day expedition to explore the Great Barrier Reef's most remote, unexplored reaches, and assess the region's declining coral reef corridor.\n\n\"I don't think there is anyone out there who didn't dream as a kid of being able to see what is down in the deeper regions of our oceans,\" Dr Miller enthuses.", "output": "Scientists are exploring the Great Barrier Reef at depths of up to 150 metres, thanks to a new off-the-shelf remotely operated underwater drone. The Blueye Pioneer drone will \"revolutionise the way we understand what happens beneath the waves\", and provide access to deeper coral reefs, to see how they survived recent mass bleaching events, according to Dr Dean Miller, director of science and media at the Great Barrier Reef Legacy. The Pioneer drone is made to \"withstand the forces of the ocean\" and has two hours of battery life, said CEO of Blueye Robotics, Erik Dyrkoren.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Rising sea levels threaten 42 million Indonesian homes \n Almost 42 million homes in Indonesia\u2019s coastal areas are under threat by rising sea levels.\n\nAlmost 42 million homes in the coastal regions of Indonesia are under threat by rising sea levels.\n\nWater levels are rising at the rate of eight millimetres a year in many places.\n\nMost of the affected rely on the sea for their livelihoods, so they cannot move away.\n\nIn Bahagia village (\u201cHappy\u201d village), half the population has had to move away, and the shrimp ponds where residents worked have been destroyed.\n\nThe people of Bahagia fear that unless the government intervenes to build a dam, the entire village will be washed away.\n\nAl Jazeera\u2019s Step Vaessen reports from Bekasi, West Java.", "output": "Almost 42 million homes in the coastal regions of Indonesia are under threat by sea levels that are\u00a0rising as fast as 8\u00a0millimetres a year. Many\u00a0of those\u00a0affected rely on the sea for their livelihoods, so\u00a0cannot move away. In Bahagia village, half the population\u00a0have\u00a0left, and the shrimp ponds where residents worked have been destroyed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Flood maps out of date as sea levels rise \n News\n\nAs officials in Washington try to repair the nation\u2019s flood insurance program, scientists in California are grappling with a looming threat that will complicate flooding hazards in the state: sea-level rise.\n\nCreeping ocean waters are already flooding coastal areas more frequently and eroding sea cliffs more rapidly. They\u2019re also worsening damage from extreme weather events like high tides and torrential rains.\n\nFlooding issues will worsen as sea levels rise, Griggs said, both in coastal regions and inland areas.\n\nScientists can\u2019t predict exactly how much sea levels will rise over time because there are too many unknown factors, particularly how much more climate-warming greenhouse gas humans will produce, said Gary Griggs, a geologist at UC Santa Cruz who studies the coast.\n\nSome parts of the coast will experience greater sea level rise than others. Ocean levels don\u2019t change uniformly along the entire California coast due to geographical variation, but the whole coastline will be affected as sea levels rise.\n\nGriggs and a team of other scientists published a report on California sea-level rise in April. In the most extreme scenario they considered, they projected sea levels could rise over 10 feet by the end of the century.\n\nFlooding issues will worsen as sea levels rise, Griggs said, both in coastal regions and inland areas where water systems will also be impacted by rising ocean levels.\n\nCongress faces a December deadline to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program, which provides flood coverage to millions of Americans. The program relies on floodplain maps many criticize as out-of-date. The program is billions of dollars in debt, and congressional leaders have said they plan to overhaul it as part of the reauthorization process.\n\n\u201cMother Nature doesn\u2019t read flood maps.\u201d \u2014 Frank Mansell\n\nWhen studying flood risk in parts of California, Griggs said he has found some federal maps of flood zones to be \u201cway off\u201d and not reflective of flood risks from sea-level rise.\n\nFlood maps are costly and take three to five years to create, said Frank Mansell, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency in California. Although some parts of the maps have \u201cphenomenal\u201d accuracy, some may be out of date because flood zones change constantly with new construction and environmental changes.\n\n\u201cSometimes they\u2019re out of date by the time you finish revising,\u201d he said, adding that, even when they\u2019re accurate, \u201cmother nature doesn\u2019t read flood maps.\u201d\n\nThe maps don\u2019t account for sea-level rise projections because they reflect only current conditions, Mansell said.\n\nAt the state level, California lawmakers have had numerous discussions about sea-level rise, but have done little in the way of actual policy.\n\nOpponents say Stone\u2019s bill infringes on Californians\u2019 right to protect their property from ocean rise by building sea walls.\n\n\u201cThe Legislature hasn\u2019t really done that much other than worry about it a little bit,\u201d said Assemblyman Mark Stone, a Democrat whose coastal district includes Santa Cruz and Monterey. \u201cIt\u2019s going to have a dramatic impact on homeowners along the coast.\u201d\n\nThis year, Stone introduced a bill he says is the first major piece of state legislation to adapt the coast to sea-level rise. His bill, AB1129, would give the state more power over sea walls, which can protect properties from ocean rise but can shrink beaches and shift problems to other coastal areas.\n\nThe effort has proven to be a \u201cstruggle\u201d because changing local land use rules is politically unpopular, Stone said. The bill didn\u2019t make it out of the Assembly, the house where it originated. Stone said he will continue to try to pass the bill next year. It must clear both houses of the Legislature and secure approval from the governor to become law.\n\nOpponents say Stone\u2019s bill infringes on Californians\u2019 right to protect their property from ocean rise by building sea walls.\n\n\u201cWe think that it\u2019s unfair to property owners to have the government approve developments, allow people to move in and then turn around and not allow for the protection of those properties from erosion,\u201d a representative from the California Association of Realtors said at a committee hearing on the bill earlier this year. \u201cAB1129 works against communities and property owners trying to protect themselves against rising sea levels\u201d\n\nMoving forward, Stone says the Legislature needs to give resources to local communities to help them address sea-level rise.\n\nRising ocean levels also threaten major public infrastructure, particularly structures intentionally built at sea level near the coast, such as power plants and sewage treatment facilities. The airports in San Francisco and Oakland that are built on landfill also face catastrophic damage from sea-level rise.\n\nGriggs said he is aware of only a handful of projects to move infrastructure away from the coast. The structures being moved are mostly roads and parking lots in areas with space nearby to relocate them. He described the projects as positive, but \u201clow hanging fruit.\u201d More substantial changes will require greater political will.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a lot easier to talk about it than it is to take that first step,\u201d Griggs said. \u201cIt keeps creeping up on us.\u201d", "output": "Many US flood maps are out of date because they don't account for sea-level rise projections, according to\u00a0Frank Mansell, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency in California.\u00a0Flood maps are costly and take three to five years to create, he said. Although some parts of the maps have \u201cphenomenal\u201d accuracy, some may be out of date because flood zones change constantly with new construction and environmental changes.\u00a0\u201cSometimes they\u2019re out of date by the time you finish revising,\u201d he said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "120,000 'excess deaths' linked to NHS funding cuts \n Over 60s and care home residents most at risk; changes in nurse numbers may be key\n\nThe squeeze on public finances since 2010 is linked to nearly 120,000 excess deaths in England, with the over 60s and care home residents bearing the brunt, reveals the first study of its kind, published in the online journal BMJ Open.\n\nThe critical factor in these figures may be changes in nurse numbers, say the researchers, who warn that there could be an additional toll of up to 100 deaths every day from now on in.\n\nThey estimate that an annual cash injection of \u00a36.3 billion would be needed to close this \u2018mortality gap.\u2019\n\nBetween 2010 and 2014, the NHS in England has only had a real term annual increase in government funding of 1.3 per cent, despite rising patient demand and healthcare costs.\n\nAnd real term spend on social care has fallen by 1.19 per cent every year during the same period, despite a significant projected increase in the numbers of over 85s\u2013those most likely to need social care\u2013from 1.6 million in 2015 to 1.8 million in 2020, say the researchers.\n\nWhile this mismatch in supply and demand and the funding gaps facing services have been well quantified, the potential impact on population health remains unclear.\n\nTo try and address this, the researchers mined nationally available data on population deaths, life expectancy, and potential years of life lost. And they collected data on health and social care resources and finances from 2001 to 2014.\n\nThey then compared actual death rates for 2011 to 2014 with those that would be expected, based on trends before spending cuts came into play, and taking account of national and economic factors, such as unemployment rates and pensions.\n\nThey categorised their findings by age, place of death, and the local government area in which the death occurred, and used these to estimate future death rates up to 2020.\n\nFinally, they looked at the health and social care funds that would be needed in addition to those already budgeted by the government as of 2016 to close any gaps in death rates.\n\nAnalysis of the data showed that between 2001 and 2010, deaths in England fell by an average of 0.77 per cent every year, but rose by an average of 0.87 per cent every year between 2011 and 2014.\n\nThe spending restraints were associated with 45,368 excess deaths between 2010 and 2014 compared with equivalent trends before 2010.\n\nMost of these deaths were among the over 60s and care home residents. And every \u00a310 drop in spend per head on social care was associated with five extra care home deaths per 100,000 of the population, the analysis showed.\n\nThese associations remained after further detailed analysis and taking account of global and national economic factors.\n\nChanges in the numbers of hospital and community nurses were the most salient factors in the associations found between spend and care home deaths. From 2001 to 2010 nurse numbers rose by an average of 1.61% every year, but from 2010 to 2014 rose by just 0.07%\u201320 times lower than in the previous decade.\n\nOn the basis of the trends between 2009 and 2014, the researchers estimate that an extra 152,141 people could die between 2015 and 2020, equivalent to nearly 100 extra deaths every day.\n\nThe funds needed to close this \u2018mortality gap\u2019 would be \u00a36.3 billion every year, or a total of \u00a325.3 billion, they calculate.\n\nThis is an observational study, so no firm conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect, but the findings back up other research in the field, say the researchers.\n\nThe study has several policy implications, as it indicates that lower spend on health and social care is \u201cassociated with a substantial mortality gap,\u201d they explain.\n\nUniversal coverage is undoubtedly important, they write, but it has to be properly financed if it is going to improve health. And the excess deaths among older people and care home residents make a strong case for targeted interventions, they add.\n\n\u201cThis includes funding increases in social care, in addition to maintenance or rises in nursing numbers aligned with demand,\u201d they conclude.\n\n(Visited 9,268 times, 1 visits today)", "output": "In the first study of its kind, the British Medical Journal has reported that 120,000 deaths have occurred as a result of underfunding in the NHS since 2010. From analyzing trends between 2009 and 2014, researchers estimate an extra 152,141 people could die between 2015 and 2020, amounting to nearly 100 extra deaths every day. In the fragile Brexit negotiations, and considering the \u00a3350m weekly pledge by the Leave campaign, funding will be the determinant of these figures. The funds needed to close what the researchers\u00a0are calling the\u00a0'mortality gap' would be \u00a36.3bn per year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fujitsu unveils inter-blockchain cryptocurrency exchange solution \n NOTE: this is an archived page and the content is likely to be out of date.\n\nFujitsu Laboratories Ltd. today announced that it has developed its \"ConnectionChain,\" a security technology that can safely and easily execute exchanges and payments in different virtual currencies.\n\nA great deal of attention has recently been focused on virtual currency exchange among individuals and companies using initial coin offerings (ICOs)(1) to raise capital from the sale of virtual currencies. Settlement between virtual currencies managed using blockchains, however, requires a reliable application to handle the currency exchange processing at the boundaries between the blockchains, and ensuring transparency in this process has been an ongoing issue.\n\nFujitsu Laboratories has now developed an extension of smart contract(2) technology which inter-connects multiple blockchains by recording the series of related transactions on each chain in a dedicated blockchain, or a \"connection-type chain,\" to link to the currency exchange into a single transaction process that can be automatically executed. It has also developed a transaction control technology to synchronize execution timing of the transaction process on each chain. With these technologies, transparency of transactions can be guaranteed, because all transaction processes are recorded as a trail in the connecting blockchains, even when they cross multiple chains.\n\nIn a trial that used this technology in a simulated virtual currency exchange system, Fujitsu Laboratories confirmed that when the currency exchange process was executed that the entire transaction trail for the virtual currency exchange was recorded in the connecting blockchain. These technologies make it easy to support payments in a variety of regional currencies, and operators can also easily setup special exchange rates for promotional campaigns.\n\nFujitsu Laboratories will continue expanding this technology beyond currency exchange to areas such as high-trust data exchanges between companies and contract automation, while also continuing to conduct trials in a variety of fields, with the goal of commercialization in fiscal 2018 and beyond.\n\nDevelopment Background\n\nWithout a central authority, blockchain offers high usability and guaranteed reliability due to being resistant to modification. It is therefore expected to be widely used in a number of fields, including finance and distribution. For this reason, it is said that around 2020, numerous blockchains will be set up across a range of fields. In addition, as applications in the financial field, there are ICOs in which companies and individuals sell virtual currencies to raise capital, as well as the issuing of proprietary virtual currencies by financial institutions. As a result, the volume of virtual currency being issued is skyrocketing, and it is expected that demand will increase for solutions that can handle transfers between these sorts of virtual currencies or data exchanges managed by blockchains.\n\nIssues\n\nWith services to exchange virtual currencies or other assets, existing smart contracts merely execute transactions or contracts automatically and operate only within the limited scope of a single blockchain.\n\nThere were two major issues when executing exchanges across multiple blockchains, as follows (figure 1).\n\n1. The need to ensure transparency in the application located between the blockchains, which handles the processing for things like the exchange rate and handling fees.\n\n2. The need to control transaction timing across multiple blockchains, and to deal with them as a single continuous series.\n\nAbout the Newly Developed Technology\n\nNow, Fujitsu Laboratories has developed connection-type chain security technology that can safely and easily execute payments between different virtual currencies (figure 2).\n\nDetails of the technologies are as follows.\n\n1. Extended Smart contract technology\n\nFujitsu Laboratories has enhanced the capability of smart contracts, which automate contract processing and the handling of such tasks as placing orders and payments, to also be able to handle processes involving multiple blockchains.\n\nThis technology is enabled by adding new nodes to connect blockchains, forming ConnectionChain, a blockchain used for connecting blockchains. The block data containing the relevant transaction process is extracted from the two blockchains via this connection node, and each transaction process is connected. This enables the entire series of transactions, including task processing on the ConnectionChain, to be automatically executed as a single smart contract.\n\nBy inheriting capability of the blockchain on handling the linking and task processing, rather than trusting to an application, operators can ensure the transparency and confirm the accuracy of the processing.\n\n2. Transaction control technology\n\nFujitsu Laboratories has developed technology to control the transfer of assets in response to transaction processes across all blockchains that make up a system, designing an asset depositing concept that can put asset-transfer on hold, which did not previously exist in blockchain transactions. This technology controls the timing of the transaction processing in each chain, first putting the asset on hold temporarily without confirming the transaction process on the asset-holder's side, then, after confirming the currency transfer from the recipient, confirming the transaction status for the asset-holder, and so on. This enables users to put the entire transaction process into a waiting state, which was difficult with existing blockchain technology, and then either confirm or cancel the transaction process based on the overall outcome.\n\nEffects\n\nIn a trial that used this technology in a simulated virtual currency exchange system, Fujitsu Laboratories interconnected two blockchains using different architectures to a system for exchanging proprietary virtual currencies, and executed asset transfers by exchanging virtual currency. The results confirmed that the transaction records relating to an asset transfer, including the transaction IDs on each blockchain, the amount of assets transferred, and the results of those transactions, were recorded on ConnectionChain as a single transaction (figure 3, left). In addition, if a transaction across blockchains were to fail while in progress, for reasons such as an inability to pay or settle, Fujitsu Laboratories also confirmed that the ID and timestamp for the transaction process that returned the assets on hold to their original owner was recorded (figure 3, right).\n\nThis technology will make it easy for small businesses, such as small-scale online shops that might be operated by a single person, and which accept virtual currencies, to support new regional currencies, and it also enables the operator to freely define exchange rates, enabling initiatives such as preferential exchange campaigns for users who hold a particular virtual currency.\n\nFuture Plans\n\nFujitsu Laboratories aims to expand this technology beyond currency exchange to areas such as high-trust data exchanges between companies and contract automation, while also continuing to conduct trials in a variety of fields, especially in finance, with the goal of commercialization in fiscal 2018 and beyond.", "output": "Fujitsu has unveiled a smart-contracts-based technology to handle cryptocurrency exchanges between multiple, separate blockchains. Called ConnectionChain, the technology connects blockchains so that a series of transactions can be executed automatically in a single smart contract. With task processing included and the ability to synchronise the timing of executions, the technology aims to fill a gap by providing transparency at the processing stage of transfers. Fujitsu has expressed an interest in extending it to other areas like contracts, and is looking to commercialise the tech in the 2018 fiscal year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Foxconn proposes autonomous car lane to serve Wisconsin factory \n Foxconn, the Taiwanese company known for doing contract manufacturing for companies like Apple, brought up the idea of adding autonomous vehicle lanes to a stretch of Interstate 94 near its new Wisconsin factory in a meeting with regional officials, according to the Journal Sentinel.\n\nThe highway is already slated to be widened from six lanes to eight in anticipation of traffic from the factory, which will cover 20 million square feet and cost $10 billion to build. But Foxconn reportedly suggested that some lanes be reserved for autonomous vehicles only. Tim Sheehy, president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, suggested that driverless-vehicle lanes could connect the Foxconn factory with Milwaukee's Mitchell International Airport.\n\nThat doesn't mean the dedicated lanes are anywhere close to a done deal, though. A spokesperson for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation told the Journal Sentinel that the autonomous-driving proposal is just one of many \"on the table.\" Implementing the plan would likely require significant legal wrangling...not to mention the acquisition of a fleet of autonomous vehicles.\n\nFoxconn announced plans for an autonomous-vehicle development center in Michigan in August, so the company is definitely interested in the technology. Michigan has a fairly open attitude to self-driving cars, which isn't surprising, given the massive auto industry presence in the state. But it's unclear how Wisconsin will handle autonomous vehicles\u2014or if officials are really willing to dedicate highway lanes to them.", "output": "Taiwanese company Foxconn has suggested to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation that some lanes on Interstate 94 could be reserved for autonomous vehicles. The route is set to be expanded from six lanes to eight in preparation for the increase in traffic after Foxconn's $10bn, 20 million sq ft Midwest facility opens. Although the company's proposal is one of several being considered, the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce has also suggested a similar self-driving lane be built between Foxconn's site and Milwaukee's Mitchell International Airport."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Foxconn proposes autonomous car lane to serve Wisconsin factory \n A US freeway may get self-driving car lanes thanks to Foxconn The I-94 highway connects to the Apple supplier's upcoming facility in the Midwest.\n\nWisconsin highway planners are studying the possibility of placing driverless vehicle lanes on I-94 to serve Foxconn's mega factory in Racine County. The Taiwanese company -- supplier to tech firms including Apple, Microsoft, and Nintendo -- reportedly made the suggestion at a meeting with regional officials, according to USA Today's Journal Sentinel.\n\nFoxconn's $10 billion midwest facility will span 20 million square feet and could create up to 13,000 jobs. That's an awful lot of humans commuting back and forth from work, and that's before you take into account the goods getting hauled in. But, seeing as the I-94 highway is getting a bump from six to eight lanes anyway, regional officials figured they were prepared for the uptick in traffic. Foxconn, it seems, has other ideas in mind.\n\nWhile companies like Uber and Waymo are trialing self-driving vehicles on roads across the US, there's also been talk of dedicated lanes for robocars (and trucks). Last year, VC firm Madrona Ventures floated the idea for replacing the I-5 freeway between Seattle and Vancouver with an \"autonomous vehicle\" corridor.\n\nBut, Foxconn's desire to yield regular car lanes to driverless vehicles could be a way off yet. A spokesman for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation told the Journal Sentinel that the proposal is just one of many \"on the table.\" One possibility, according to Tim Sheehy (president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce), is driverless lanes between the Foxconn plant and Milwaukee's Mitchell International Airport.", "output": "Taiwanese company Foxconn has suggested to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation that some lanes on Interstate 94 could be reserved for autonomous vehicles. The route is set to be expanded from six lanes to eight in preparation for the increase in traffic after Foxconn's $10bn, 20 million sq ft Midwest facility opens. Although the company's proposal is one of several being considered, the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce has also suggested a similar self-driving lane be built between Foxconn's site and Milwaukee's Mitchell International Airport."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "International tech labour deterred from London firms due to Brexit \n Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBrexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nA third of London\u2019s tech companies have lost out on international hires due to Britain\u2019s decision to leave the European Union last year, according to a new survey.\n\nIndustry body Tech London Advocates said almost two thirds of tech entrepreneurs believe Brexit has already damaged the capital\u2019s international reputation as a leading tech hub.\n\nDespite the findings, over half of the 5,400 tech founders surveyed believed London remains the best place in Europe to start a tech company.\n\nThe majority of London\u2019s tech community also believes that future investment in the capital\u2019s tech sector will come from North America rather than Europe.\n\n\u201cEntrepreneurs are defined by their ability to turn challenges into opportunities and the sentiment across London\u2019s tech sector is increasingly one of determination, conviction and ambition\u201d, said Russ Shaw, founder of Tech London Advocates.\n\n\u201cSlowing down access to European talent will make growing a tech company harder, but London is focused on strengthening its relationship with tech hubs across Europe and around the world that are already fuelling our investment pipeline.\u201d\n\nPrime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday that the UK is to double the number of visas available to workers in tech and science after Brexit.\n\nTech giants including Facebook, Google and Amazon have all announced plans to open London offices since the Brexit vote, but have cited the challenge of attracting top talent.", "output": "One in three tech companies in London has seen potential international hires fall through due to the UK's decision to leave the EU. Tech London Advocates said two thirds of businesses surveyed believed London's reputation has been damaged by the Brexit vote. Theresa May has announced plans to double the number of Tier 1 visas available, to draw talent in. Despite this, those surveyed still believed London is the best place in Europe for start ups, affirmed by announcements Facebook, Google, Amazon and Snapchat have\u00a0that they plan\u00a0expand in London since the Brexit vote.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bidalgo to become a Google Premier Partner for Mobile Advertising \n by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, November 15, 2017\n\nIn a partnership announced Wednesday with Google, Bidalgo is joining the Premier Partner for Mobile Advertising program in Google's Universal App Campaigns to help app marketers \"master\" UAC, which helps marketers target ads based on business goals across Google Play, Google Search,\n\nYouTube and the millions of third-party sites and apps in the Google Display Network.\n\nPart of Bidalgo's plan may be to reach $250 million in revenue this year -- up from $86 million in 2016, according to one report. Peli Beeri, CEO of Bidalgo, told VentureBeat in October that the company has averaged $25 million in revenue each month for the past three months. With that type of run rate, the company could generate $300 million in revenue in the next 12 months as it becomes the go-to source for brands that are looking to buy mobile ads to promote apps and games.\n\nBidalgo, which got its start in Tel Aviv, Israel, touts that its automated advertising platform runs on artificial Intelligence. And that aside from Google, it has official marketing partnerships with Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nGames developer Pixelberry Studios worked with Bidalgo on the UAC platform to become a top 25-grossing app in the U.S., to grow revenue across a diverse gaming portfolio, and drive effective app marketing with a focused team.\n\nWith three employees leading marketing efforts, Pixelberry reached specific goals by working with Bidalgo. Those goals include landing on the top 25-growing apps in the U.S., increasing scale by four times across UAC in six months, and achieving 250% higher return on ad spend with UAC for measurable actions compared with installations.\n\nThe two companies worked to identify creative elements and design a large set of high-performing creative assets for the campaign.", "output": "As part of a plan to reportedly reach $250m in revenue this year, Bidalgo is joining the Premier Partner for Mobile Advertising programme in Google's Universal App Campaigns (UAC). Google's UAC helps marketers target ads based on their business goals across all Google properties, as well as third-party sites and apps in the Google Display Network. Bidalgo, which was founded in Tel Aviv, offers an\u00a0advertising platform and has marketing partnerships with Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest. CEO\u00a0Peli Beeri\u00a0said in October the company had\u00a0averaged $25m of\u00a0revenues in each month for the past three\u00a0months.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK inflation remains at five-year high of 3% \n 2. Things you need to know about this release\n\nAn article sets out the impact of planned improvements to the CPIH and CPI, designed to improve the representativeness of price movements of volatile items (specifically fresh fruit and vegetables).\n\nThe National Statistics status of the Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers\u2019 housing costs (CPIH) was reinstated on 31 July 2017. A letter (PDF, 160KB) from the Director General for Regulation to the National Statistician detailed the actions that were taken to meet the requirements as set out in the CPIH assessment report.\n\nWe have illustrated our future approach to measuring changing prices and costs faced by consumers and households using three \u201cuse cases\u201d, along with how they relate to the measures that we currently publish and those that are under development. Specifically, they refer to the CPIH as our lead measure of inflation based on economic principles; the Household Costs Indices (HCIs, currently under development) as a set of measures to reflect the change in costs as experienced by households; and the Retail Prices Index (RPI) as a legacy measure that is required to meet existing user needs.\n\nConsumer price inflation is the rate at which the prices of goods and services bought by households rise or fall. It is estimated by using price indices. One way to understand this is to think of a shopping basket containing all the goods and services bought by households. Movements in price indices represent the changing cost of this basket. Consumer price indices \u2013 a brief guide gives an overview of the indices and their uses.\n\nThe most common approach to measuring inflation is the 12-month inflation rate, which compares prices for the latest month with the same month a year ago. In any given month, the 12-month rate is determined by the balance between upward and downward price movements of the range of goods and services included in the index.\n\nThis release also examines how the various types of goods and services contribute to the change in the 12-month inflation rate between the latest two months. The size and direction of these contributions depends on how prices changed between both the latest two months this year and the same two months last year. For example, the price of a product could make an upward contribution to the change in the rate even if it fell, provided that it fell by less than it did between the same two months a year ago. Explaining the contribution to change in the 12-month rate covers this concept in more detail.\n\nThe CPIH is the most comprehensive measure of inflation. It extends the CPI to include a measure of the costs associated with owning, maintaining and living in one\u2019s own home, known as owner occupiers\u2019 housing costs (OOH), along with Council Tax. Both of these are significant expenses for many households and are not included in the CPI.\n\nAside from including OOH and Council Tax, CPIH is otherwise identical to CPI. This means that, aside from these two components, the factors contributing to the CPI rate are the same as those contributing to the CPIH. For example, if food is reported as increasing the CPIH rate, it is also acting to increase the CPI rate. The size of the contributions for components other than OOH and Council Tax are exaggerated in the CPI compared with the CPIH because they account for a larger proportion of the overall index.\n\nThe CPI is produced at the same level of detail as CPIH, in the accompanying dataset and time series dataset.\n\nThe Retail Prices Index (RPI) does not meet the required standard for designation as National Statistics. In recognition that it continues to be widely used in contracts, we continue to publish the RPI, its sub-components and RPIX. To view the all-items RPI and 12-month inflation rate and an at-a-glance comparison with other measures, please see the time series section of the inflation and price indices area of our website. The accompanying dataset and time series dataset provide more detailed information.\n\nThe figures in this publication use data collected on or around 10 October 2017.", "output": "The UK's inflation rate remained at 3% in October, a whole percentage point above the government's inflation target, according to a new report by the ONS. Wages are growing at a lesser rate of 2.2% and employment fell by 14,000 people. On the other end of the scale, output grew at its fastest rate in six years - however this follows a considerable dip in the period following the recession of 2007.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK inflation remains at five-year high of 3% \n It has been a week of troubling data for the British economy.\n\nInflation remained at a five-year high of 3%.\n\nEmployment fell by 14,000 people. Employment figures have been almost universally positive for the last two years.\n\nRetail sales witnessed their first year-on-year slump for four years.\n\n\n\nLONDON \u2014 On three consecutive days, the Office for National Statistics released vital data about the health of Britain.\n\nAnd the picture that data painted was, in a word, worrying.\n\nOn Tuesday morning, the ONS showed that inflation remained at a five-year high of 3% in October. Sure, it didn't go up from the previous month, but it remains a whole percentage point above the government's official inflation target and analysts expect a further rise before the end of the year.\n\nHigh inflation might be manageable for regular Brits if wages were keeping up. Unfortunately, they aren't. Wage numbers released on Wednesday showed nominal wages grew by 2.2% over the most recent data period. This effectively means that the amount Brits have to spend is falling. In a healthy economic climate, this should be the opposite.\n\nSlowing consumer spending and overall household consumption are widely acknowledged to have been behind the slowdown in the wider British economy this year, which has pushed the UK to the bottom of the pile in terms of GDP growth in major economies.\n\nThe extent of the consumer slowdown was brought into further contrast by news on Thursday morning that retail sales shrunk during October compared to last year. As Ian Gilmartin, head of retail and wholesale at Barclays Corporate Banking pointed out, this is the \"first dip in year-on-year quantity sold for several years.\" In fact, the last time there was a year-on-year drop like this was in September 2013.\n\nRetail sales represent around one-third of consumer spending, and provide a good indication of how people are feeling about the state of their finances. As Pantheon Macroeconomics' Samuel Tombs explained, the most recent data \"shows consumers\u2019 cautious mindset.\"\n\n\"While today\u2019s number has beat expectations, it comes after a clattering fall in September and does nothing to ease concerns that the High St is under severe pressure heading into the only time of year that it makes any money,\" Jeremy Cook, chief economist at WorldFirst said.\n\n\"The real wage picture is not supportive of consumption, neither is the consumer credit outlook. Therefore we remain very concerned for consumer focused businesses and their wider contribution to growth.\"\n\nSo, inflation is high, wages aren't growing quickly enough to keep up, and people are buying less in the shops. But what about employment \u2014 the jewel in the crown of Britain's economic recovery since the financial crisis?\n\nAfter several years of falling, it finally looks as if a reversal might be coming in the British jobs market. Wednesday's jobs data may have showed another small fall \u2014 59,000 fewer people out of work \u2014 but for the first time in a long while, the number of people in work fell as well, dropping by 14,000 between July and September.\n\n\"After two years of almost uninterrupted growth, employment has declined slightly on the quarter,\" senior ONS statistician Matt Hughes said.\n\nThis doesn't appear to be a blip, Tombs argued on Wednesday, saying that \"the stagnation of job vacancies indicates that employment growth will remain weak over the coming months.\"\n\nA glimpse of positivity?\n\nTo be fair, Wednesday also saw the announcement of an increase in the UK's average output per hour \u2014 a key measure of productivity. Output grew at its fastest rate since 2011, according to the ONS' flash estimate.\n\nProductivity growth in the UK since the financial crisis has been virtually non-existent, leading Bank of England Governor Mark Carney in December 2016 to describe the last 10 years as \"the first lost decade since the 1860s\" when \"Karl Marx was scribbling in the British Library.\"\n\nPhilip Wales, the ONS' head of productivity, urged caution on Wednesday's data, saying that \"the medium-term picture continues to be one of productivity growing but at a much slower rate than seen before the financial crisis.\"\n\nLater in the day, Ben Broadbent, the Bank of England's Deputy Governor for Monetary Policy also issued a warning on productivity, saying it is not \"inconceivable\" that Brexit could lead to a \"sharp step down\" in the UK's output growth, and comparing it to the financial crisis in terms of potential downside.\n\n\"We saw a sharp step down in productivity growth after the financial crisis. And I think there are things involved in Brexit that, once one digs below the macro-economic surface, could potentially do the same,\" Broadbent said, adding that the crisis led to a slowing of productivity growth for a \"painfully long time.\"\n\nSo even the one glimmer of hope in the British economy is something of a false positive.\n\nGrowth will slow further\n\nAll of these negatives mean that overall GDP growth is also set to slow further, having already taken a leg lower since last summer.\n\nUK growth will lag behind virtually every other major European nation for the next handful of years, according to estimates from the European Commission released last week.\n\nThe commission's figures suggest that by 2019, UK economic growth will have slowed to just 1.1%, slower than Italy, Spain and Greece.\n\nHere's the chart:\n\nEuropean Commission\n\n\"The European Commission\u2019s latest set of forecasts does not make for particularly pleasant reading for UK policymakers, showing as it does a continued slowdown in UK GDP growth,\" said Commerzbank\u2019s top UK economist Peter Dixon.\n\nGrowth, the commission points out, has already slowed significantly in the UK in the last couple of years, falling from 2.3% in 2017, to just 1.8% in 2016. By the end of 2017, growth will likely be around 1.4%-1.5%. That will get even worse in 2018 and 2019, as continued uncertainties surrounding the shape of Brexit take hold.\n\n\"Given the ongoing negotiation on the terms of the UK withdrawal from the EU, projections for 2019 are based on a purely technical assumption of status quo in terms of trading relations between the EU27 and the UK. This is for forecasting purposes only and has no bearing on the talks underway in the context of the Article 50 process,\" the European Commission's forecasts note.\n\n\"Under this assumption, GDP growth is still expected to remain subdued at 1.1%. Lower consumer price inflation in 2019 is expected to support private consumption but this may be partially offset by a marginal increase in the household savings rate.\n\nLet's be clear, there may be issues with the British economy that existed before Brexit. Productivity, for example, hasn't simply stopped growing because of the referendum.\n\nHowever, Brexit is pretty much the only game in town when it comes to the economy and companies' investment decisions, and it is now virtually impossible to deny the negative impact it is having on the economic fortunes of regular Brits and the wider nation.", "output": "The UK's inflation rate remained at 3% in October, a whole percentage point above the government's inflation target, according to a new report by the ONS. Wages are growing at a lesser rate of 2.2% and employment fell by 14,000 people. On the other end of the scale, output grew at its fastest rate in six years - however this follows a considerable dip in the period following the recession of 2007.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "'Memory prosthesis' improves human memory for the first time \n It\u2019s all starting to take shape Lea Paterson/Science Photo Library\n\nA \u201cmemory prosthesis\u201d brain implant has enhanced human memory for the first time. The device is comprised of electrodes implanted in the brain, and is designed to mimic the way we naturally process memories, and can boost performance on memory tests by up to 30 per cent. A similar approach may work for enhancing other brain skills, such as vision or movement, says the team behind the work.\n\n\u201cWe are writing the neural code to enhance memory function,\u201d says Dong Song of the University \u2026", "output": "A professor from the University of Southern California has developed a device which can improve the human memory. Research associate professor of biomedical engineering Dong Song collected data from brain electrodes implanted in 20 volunteers during memory improvement tests. Song's device then analysed the patterns to find the best-performing areas of the brain, before stimulating them in the same way. This resulted in a 15% improvement in short-term memory, and working memory boosted by a quarter. The work could lead to a breakthrough for Alzheimer's and dementia sufferers."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "No-deal Brexit risks \u20ac1.3tn of financial services contracts: MEP \n Up to \u20ac1.3 trillion worth of financial services contracts are at risk from the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal, Fine Gael MEP Brian Hayes has warned.\n\nMr Hayes said the EU\u2019s regulatory framework enables financial services to be \u201cpassported\u201d between the UK and all EU countries, but this framework will cease to apply after March 2019 when the UK leaves the EU.\n\n\u201cAnd if no arrangements are put in place to manage the fallout from the change in the regulatory relationship between the UK and the EU, then over \u20ac1.3 trillion worth of financial services contracts are at risk,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cThese are agreed long-term contracts whose lifespan lasts well beyond Brexit. They relate mainly to insurance and derivatives and are of huge importance for the financing of the EU economy,\u201d Mr Hayes said.\n\nREAD MORE\n\n\u201cIf we have a no-deal scenario, effectively a cliff edge, many of these financial services contracts will be null and void and there is complete uncertainty about the value of the outstanding assets and how they would be redeemed.\u201d\n\nThe UK government wants a trade pact with the EU in financial services but EU negotiators are dismissive of the trade models being put forward by London, noting it is not possible to be half in and half out of the single market.", "output": "Financial services contracts worth around \u20ac1.3tn ($1.5tn) that \"are of huge importance for the financing of the EU economy\" could become null and void in the event of a no-deal Brexit, according to Irish Fine Gael MEP Brian Hayes. The long-term contracts, mainly related to insurance and derivatives, were due to last well beyond the UK's proposed 2019 departure from the EU, and a no-deal scenario would mean \"complete uncertainty about the value of the outstanding assets and how they would be redeemed\", said Hayes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Betterment allows users to donate shares to charity \n Betterment users can now donate shares from their portfolios directly to charitable organizations with an account on the automated advice platform, a feature industry experts said is a another step toward the robo advisor offering more holistic services to investors.\n\nThe company announced the new feature Wednesday, along with a number of organizations already on board, including UNICEF, the Wounded Warriors Family Support, Save the Children and The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Those charities and others will be able to receive donations in the form of shares of stock. More partnerships are expected to be announced in the future. The feature will launch Nov. 28 and also be available through Betterment for Advisors.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re throwing technology at the problem like we usually do,\u201d said Alex Benke, Betterment\u2019s vice president of Advice and Investing.\n\nBenke said the Charitable Giving feature has been on Betterment\u2019s to-do list and now seemed as good a time as ever given the year\u2019s market performance and interest from investors. There was some concern that charitable organizations would be hesitant to open an account with the robo advisor, but the benefits ultimately overcame any perceived risk, he said.\n\nThrough Betterment, 100 percent of share contributions make it to the organization. But donors and charities also enjoy respective benefits from using the feature.\n\nInvestors choose the amount they want to donate and Betterment funds that donation using shares from their portfolio that have appreciated in value the most. The strategy cancels out any capital gains taxes an investor would pay had they just sold the securities. In addition to reducing their tax liability, investors can also deduct the full appreciated value of the donation.\n\nKendra Thompson, the managing director and head of Accenture\u2019s global wealth management practice, said robo advisors need to do more than asset allocation and move toward offering holistic advice to continue to attract new investors. Betterment\u2019s Charitable Giving \u201cbroadens the value proposition\u201d to investors, Thompson said.\n\nAside from a new source of potential donors, charities get a more efficient way to accept donated shares that is free of paper and fees. Charitable organizations don\u2019t pay an administration fee for a Betterment account and are not charged for the management. Accounts with assets valued more than $1 million are changed 25 basis points, but the charities are encouraged to sell donated securities and withdraw funds before they reach that threshold, a Betterment spokesperson said.\n\nThe charities are also relieved of the operational burden to accept shares. Betterment handles the transaction from end-to-end and sends both the donor and the charity their required tax documents. \u201d[Charities] absolutely love that because they are able to spend more time doing what they do best as a charity and that\u2019s focused on their actual cause and not record keeping,\u201d Benke said.\n\nCharitable giving is \u201cperhaps the least automated wealth management function,\u201d according to William Trout, a senior analyst at Celent whose research focuses on securities, wealth management and banking.\n\nInvestors have long donated shares to charitable organizations and many, especially the largest charities, are well equipped and experienced in accepting them. Those organizations still stand to benefit from partnering with Betterment but smaller charities without the resources or with little experience in accepting shares also have much to gain, said Chris Martinez, the managing director of Oakbrook Solutions, a consultant to wealth managers on systems, process and delivery.\n\nMartinez, who was previously the managing director and chief information officer at Wilmington Trust, said Betterment\u2019s new feature was, to his knowledge, unique and he could see it attracting broad interest. Younger generations are especially interested in what they are investing in and conscious of how efficiently they are giving to charity, he said.\n\nBut Martinez also said for Betterment\u2019s new feature to really become widely used, it must continue to give investors good cause to use the robo advice platform in the first place.\n\nThompson shared a similar opinion\u2014the Charitable Giving feature will not solely continue to draw assets away from traditional managers but that \u201cricher experiences will drive people to the platform.\u201d\n\nPersonal Capital, another robo advice platform, said its advisors can help its investors donate shares but it does not have an automated process like Betterment\u2019s. The robo advice company Wealthfront could not be reached about its process for donating shares.", "output": "US robo-adviser Betterment has begun to let investors donate to charity via its platform. Users can donate to\u00a0participating charities in the form of shares of stock. Users define an amount they wish to donate and the robo-adviser transfers to the charity by re-allocating the stocks which have appreciated the most within a portfolio.\u00a0UNICEF, the Wounded Warriors Family Support, Save the Children and The Breast Cancer Research Foundation are among participating organisations. The service is due to launch at the end of this month.\u00a0\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Another Chinese city halts subway project over financing concerns \n Hohhot, capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, has canceled construction on its subway Lines 3 and 4. Work on subway Lines 1 and 2, scheduled for completion in 2020, won't be affected. Above, Hohhot Deputy Mayor Sun Jianhua discusses the design of the city's proposed subway on Aug. 20, 2015, in Hohhot. Photo: Visual China\n\nAnother city in northern China\u2019s Inner Mongolia autonomous region has halted construction of subway projects worth billions of dollars, as the central government tightens scrutiny of local authorities\u2019 infrastructure financing.\n\nSeparate sources from banks and regulatory bodies told Caixin that Hohhot, the capital city of Inner Mongolia, scrapped plans to build two subway lines and one expressway linking the city with Ordos, a mining city in southwest Inner Mongolia.\n\nThe abandoned construction in Hohhot followed similar moves in neighboring Baotou, also in Inner Mongolia. Caixin learned from sources close to the matter that the central government called off a 30 billion yuan ($4.5 billion) subway construction project in Baotou in August because of concerns over the drain on city coffers.\n\nThe cancellation of the Inner Mongolia subway projects is having a ripple effect in other cities. Several city governments, including those of Xianyang in Shaanxi province and Wuhan in Hubei province, said in statements that their subway plan are unlikely to win immediate approval under the central government\u2019s crackdown on financial risks related to borrowing for such projects.\n\nIn Hohhot, the canceled subway Lines 3 and 4, involving a total investment of 27 billion yuan, were to be part of an urban subway network project approved by the State Council in April 2014. Hohhot planned to build 54.9 kilometers (34.1 miles) of subway lines to serve the city\u2019s 3 million people with investment totaling 95 billion yuan by 2023.\n\nConstruction of subway Lines 1 and 2, which began in 2015 and scheduled to be completed by 2020, will not be affected, according to a source from Inner Mongolia Communications Investment Co., a government-backed infrastructure contractor.\n\nHohhot also halted a 26.4 billion yuan plan to build a 181-kilometer expressway to Ordos, as approved by the regional government in July.\n\nWhile new city-rail projects have been encouraged in China since 2015 to boost economic growth, the construction halts in Inner Mongolia reflect tightening scrutiny by the central government as part of efforts to contain local-government borrowing risks, sources told Caixin. The central government noticed the heavy spending plans in Baotou and Hohhot in August and told the cities to halt the projects and use the money to support business development and people\u2019s livelihood instead, sources told Caixin.\n\nThe sources from Inner Mongolia Communications Investment said regional and city governments have since issued policies to reassess local infrastructure investment projects and related financing plans.\n\nContact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com)", "output": "Another city in China's Inner Mongolia \u2013\u00a0Hohhot \u2013\u00a0has had to halt the building of subway projects worth billions of dollars because of\u00a0financial issues. The\u00a0stoppage followed\u00a0a similar scenario in another Inner Mongolia city, Baotou, where a $4.5bn subway\u00a0project has been stopped after\u00a0local authorities said\u00a0they couldn't afford it. Other cities, including Xianyang and Wuhan, have\u00a0said they are not expecting\u00a0to get approval by the central government for their subway plans because of the\u00a0financial risks attached to borrowing for this\u00a0type\u00a0of scheme. Beijing recently increased scrutiny of local authority infrastructure financing.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bitcoin cheats death as hash rate slumps in shift to rival coin \n Bitcoin\u2019s price fell over the weekend\u2014while the price of an offshoot, bitcoin cash, soared. The rally in bitcoin cash was so bullish that it even briefly surpassed another cryptocurrency, ethereum, in total market value, at $29.9 billion.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWhile the bitcoin and bitcoin cash price action is exciting, investors in either would do well to pay attention to another critical metric: the amount of computational power committed to mining each digital coin, also known as the hash rate. A steep and prolonged drop in bitcoin\u2019s hash rate could set off a much-feared \u201cchain death spiral\u201d that could render the bitcoin network useless. Bitcoin showed signs of its potential for triggering this dynamic over the weekend, when its hash rate fell by 50%.\n\nHow does a death spiral work? The bitcoin network currently adds a new bundle of transactions, known as a \u201cblock,\u201d roughly every 10 minutes. The exact time is determined by how long it takes for a bitcoin miner to process a block of transactions. This, in turn, is set by something called the \u201cdifficulty\u201d on the bitcoin network. Difficulty automatically adjusts itself to match the hash rate so that transactions won\u2019t take too long.\n\nBut bitcoin\u2019s difficulty only adjusts every 2,016 blocks, or roughly every two weeks. So if the hash rate suddenly plummets, the difficulty could be rendered too high for the amount of processing power on the network. This in turn could mean severe delays in completing bitcoin transactions. As transactions start getting delayed, the network\u2019s utility is reduced and investors could start dumping bitcoins, causing the price to drop. Miners, in turn, could start mining other coins because a lower bitcoin price means mining is less profitable.\n\nAnd so the cycle would continue, with investors and miners abandoning bitcoin, causing greater delays in transaction times, and preventing a difficulty adjustment from happening quickly enough to break the cycle. \u201cTransactions get backlogged to a point where the coin becomes basically useless,\u201d says Peter Kim, who co-founded a developer tool called Nitrous and is now working on an app for the cryptocurrency markets.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThink the death-spiral scenario sounds far-fetched? It came close to happening over the weekend. Bitcoin\u2019s hash rate fell by 50% over two days as miners switched their machines from bitcoin to bitcoin cash, because it was more profitable to do so. The drop in the hash rate meant that the average time taken to complete a bitcoin transaction doubled from 10 minutes to 20 minutes or more, according to bitcoin analyst Jimmy Song. This coincided with a more than 20% crash in bitcoin\u2019s price. \u201cBitcoin cash was up to 100% more profitable to mine because of the price run-up,\u201d Song says.\n\nIronically, bitcoin was saved by bitcoin cash\u2019s own difficulty increases. The algorithm governing difficulty adjustments on bitcoin cash caused a surge in the difficulty, making the coin less profitable to mine. The bitcoin cash people didn\u2019t want volatile hash rates in their cryptocurrency, so they changed the protocol\u2019s difficulty adjustment rules on Nov. 13. By this time, many miners had already switched their hash power back to bitcoin.\n\nAccording to the hash rate monitor at Fork.lol, bitcoin\u2019s hash rate has recovered to about 20 percentage points from where it was before it crashed. Bitcoin\u2019s hash rate is once again well above that of bitcoin cash. A death spiral was averted.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBitcoin watchers don\u2019t expect to see the last of this sort of volatility in hash rate. \u201cWhen it\u2019s more profitable to mine [bitcoin cash], miners will go there. When it\u2019s more profitable to mine [bitcoin], like right now, miners will go there,\u201d Song said.\n\nWhich means the threat of a death spiral for either digital currency can\u2019t ever be written off.\n\nCorrection: An earlier version of this article said a bitcoin-cash hard fork led to miners switching their hash rate to bitcoin; in fact it was bitcoin cash\u2019s difficulty adjustment that caused a surge in difficulty, causing miners to switch.", "output": "Bitcoin came close to collapse when computers used to process its transactions switched to servicing a separate crypto-currency called bitcoin cash. Ironically, bitcoin was saved when\u00a0miners returned\u00a0after their earlier\u00a0desertion inflated the price -- and reduced the profitability -- of the rival coin. The turn\u00a0of events brought the leading cryptocurrency close to a \"chain death spiral\", which happens when there isn't enough computer processing power to maintain transactions. Buffers built into the system to adjust for such changes\u00a0work too slowly to repair a sudden plunge in this\u00a0so-called hash rate.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk TalkTalk outlines how it intends to step up investment in growth \n TalkTalk will 'step up investment' in the second half after adding 46,000 customers\n\nThe FTSE 250 telecoms company said it would step up investment in the second half after adding 46,000 customers in the six months to September 30, compared with a loss of 29,000 last time.\n\nIt had already prioritised growth over earnings in a shake-up spearheaded by founder and chairman Sir Charles Dunstone earlier this year which saw Dido Harding replaced as chief executive by Tristia Harrison.\n\nIts broadband base grew for the third straight quarter as the number of customers on fixed low-price plans reached 1.6 million, more than half of its overall customer base and up from one million in March.\n\nThe rate at which customers leave for rivals, the so-called customer churn, was reduced from 1.5 per cent to 1.3 per cent.", "output": "UK telecomms company TalkTalk plans to capitalise on the strong demand for its fixed, low-price plans and step up its investment in growth during the second half of the fiscal year, according to CEO Tristia Harrison. Her comments came after the company posted a loss of \u00a375m ($99m) for H1 to September and took a \u00a331m restructuring hit. The company's shares fell 17% to 178\u00bcp.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers turn to young poplars for speedy biofuel \n Are petite poplars the future of biofuels? UW studies say yes\n\nMichelle Ma UW News\n\nIn the quest to produce affordable biofuels, poplar trees are one of the Pacific Northwest\u2019s best bets \u2014 the trees are abundant, fast-growing, adaptable to many terrains and their wood can be transformed into substances used in biofuel and high-value chemicals that we rely on in our daily lives.\n\nBut even as researchers test poplars\u2019 potential to morph into everything from ethanol to chemicals in cosmetics and detergents, a commercial-scale processing plant for poplars has yet to be achieved. This is mainly because production costs still are not competitive with the current price of oil.\n\nA University of Washington team is trying to make poplar a viable competitor by testing the production of younger poplar trees that could be harvested more frequently \u2014 after only two or three years \u2014 instead of the usual 10- to 20-year cycle. These trees, essentially juveniles compared with fully grown adults, are planted closer together and cut in such a way that more branches sprout up from the stump after each harvest, using the same root systems for up to 20 years. This method is called \u201ccoppicing,\u201d and the trees are known as poplar coppice.\n\nThis video shows the speed with which young poplar can be harvested. Video provided by Rick Stonex/GreenWood Resources, Inc.\n\nThe team is the first to try converting the entire young tree \u2014 including leaves, bark and stems \u2014 into bio oil, a biologically derived oil product, and ethanol using two separate processes. Their results, published this summer in two papers \u2014 one in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering and the other in Biotechnology for Biofuels \u2014 point to a promising future for using poplar coppice for biofuel.\n\n\u201cOur research proved that poplar coppice can be a good option to meet the cheap, high-volume criteria of biofuel feedstock,\u201d said lead author Chang Dou on both papers, a doctoral student in the UW\u2019s Bioresource Science and Engineering program. \u201cOur findings are significant for the future biofuel industry, and the ultimate goal is to make poplar coppice biofuel a step closer to the pump.\u201d\n\nPoplar woodchips from older trees have been the focus of most research, mainly because wood parts contain the highest concentration of sugar, which is important for making ethanol and chemicals. Earlier studies show that poplar woodchips are a viable biofuel source, but costs still don\u2019t pencil out, especially since trees are cut just once every 10-plus years. Additionally, other tree parts go to waste when only the trunk is used, making the process more inefficient and wasteful.\n\nHowever, if poplar were planted close together like an agriculture crop, and whole trees were harvested on a much quicker cycle, it could make sense from a cost perspective and offer a short return on investment \u2014 and be more attractive for farmers.\n\nAlternative fuels must make economic sense, the researchers stress, for biofuels to make a dent in the petroleum-driven market.\n\n\u201cWe have the environmental incentives to produce fuels and chemicals from renewable resources, but right now, they aren\u2019t enough to compete with low oil prices. That\u2019s the problem,\u201d said Renata Bura, a UW associate professor in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences and the senior author.\n\nBura\u2019s research is part of the Advanced Hardwood Biofuels Northwest project funded by U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The project, directed by UW professor Rick Gustafson, is a consortium of universities and industries led by the UW whose goal is to lay the foundation for a Pacific Northwest biofuels and bio-based industry based on poplar feedstock. For this study, trees in Jefferson, Oregon \u2014 one of the four study sites \u2014 were planted in rows close together in spring of 2012 and harvested less than two years later before the leaves had fallen.\n\nThe UW team first tested whether entire young poplar trees could be converted into sugar by a process that uses high temperature, pressure and enzymes to break down the wood materials into sugar. From there, it is possible to make ethanol, acetic acid, lactic acid and other valuable chemicals by fermenting the sugar.\n\nAfter processing the trees, the researchers found that leaves are poor performers and lowered the overall sugar output, not just because leaves are naturally low in sugar, but they also contain other chemicals that impede the sugar-releasing process. When scaled up to a commercial operation, leaves should be removed and may be used for other purposes, such as feed for animals.\n\nThey also tested whole poplar trees from the same plot in another conversion process that uses much higher heat \u2014 upwards of 500 degrees Celsius \u2014 to transform the tree materials directly to bio oil in a process called \u201cpyrolysis.\u201d Research is underway to convert this dark brown oil to a transportation fuel that resembles gasoline or diesel.\n\nIn the experiment, the researchers found that including leaves didn\u2019t make a big difference to the quality of the resulting bio oil. When scaled up, producers could ultimately save time and money by not separating leaves from branches to achieve similar quality oil.\n\nFuture poplar production plants could leverage both methods, weighing factors like the current cost of materials or the dollar value of the products being made to determine which method makes more financial sense, Dou explained.\n\nThe young poplars used in the study have similar properties to shoots that would sprout from a stump in a true coppicing operation. Using that cutting method, it is possible to harvest trees every two years for up to 20 years without the added effort and cost of pulling up roots, preparing the soil and planting new trees that is required in usual planting regimes.\n\nUltimately, the researchers say that coppice poplar is likely the best balance of cost and reliability for Pacific Northwest growers to produce biofuel.\n\n\u201cCurrently, we are looking at how we can grow poplar for monetized ecosystem services,\u201d Bura said. \u201cIn the future, we envision a bio-based industry that will provide multiple environmental benefits, will invigorate rural communities and will serve as a bridge to a fully developed biofuels industry.\u201d\n\nOther co-authors on the papers are Fernando Resende, a UW assistant professor of environmental and forest sciences; Devin Chandler, a UW graduate student in the Bioresource Science and Engineering program; Wilian Marcondes, a UW exchange student from the University of S\u00e3o Paulo-Brazil; and Jessica Djaja, a UW undergraduate student.\n\nThe research was funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.\n\n###\n\nFor more information, contact Bura at renatab@uw.edu and Dou at changdou@uw.edu.\n\nGrant information:\n\nAgriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant No. 2011-68005-30407", "output": "Researchers at the University of Washington are investigating whether younger poplar trees\u00a0could be a more viable source of biofuel than older ones. Currently trees are harvested after between 10 and 20 years, but the scientists have experimented with a model that allows them to harvest after only two or three years. The trees are planted closer together and cut to allow new growth to sprout from the same root system, a method known as 'coppicing'. The team then uses the entire tree to make bio oil, without the need to separate the leaves from the branches.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China starts work on\u00a0wind tunnel to test hypersonic aircraft \n A J-10 jet fighter performs during the International Army Games on August 13, 2017 in Changchun, Jilin Province of China.\n\nChina is building the world's fastest wind tunnel to simulate hypersonic flight at speeds of up to 12 kilometres per second.\n\nA hypersonic vehicle flying at this speed from China could reach the west coast of the United States in less than 14 minutes.\n\nZhao Wei, a senior scientist working on the project, said researchers aimed to have the facility up and running by around 2020 to meet the pressing demand of China's hypersonic weapon development programme.\n\n\"It will boost the engineering application of hypersonic technology, mostly in military sectors, by duplicating the environment of extreme hypersonic flights, so problems can be discovered and solved on the ground,\" said Zhao, a deputy director of the State Key Laboratory of High Temperature Gas Dynamics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.\n\nThe ground tests will significantly reduce the risk of failure when test flights of hypersonic aircraft start.\n\nThe world's most powerful wind tunnel at present is America's LENX-X facility in Buffalo, New York state, which operates at speeds of up to 10 kilometres per second \u2013 30 times the speed of sound.\n\nHypersonic aircraft are defined as vehicles that travel of speeds of Mach 5, five times the speed of sound, or above.\n\nThe US military tested HTV-2, a Mach 20 unmanned aircraft in 2011 but the hypersonic flight lasted only a few minutes before the vehicle crashed in to the Pacific Ocean.\n\nIn March China conducted seven successful test flights of its hypersonic glider WU-14, also known as the DF-ZF, at speeds of between Mach 5 and Mach 10.\n\nOther countries including Russia, India and Australia have also tested some early prototypes of the aircraft, which could be used to deliver missiles including nuclear weapons.\n\n\"China and the US have started a hypersonic race,\" said Wu Dafang, professor at the school of aeronautic science and engineering at Beihang University in Beijing who received a national technology award for the invention of a new heat shield used on hypersonic vehicles in 2013.\n\nWu has worked on the development of hypersonic cruise missiles, a near space vehicle, high-speed drones and other possible weapons for the People's Liberation Army.\n\nHe said there were a number of hypersonic wind tunnels in mainland China which had helped ensure the high success rate of its hypersonic weapon tests.\n\nThe new wind tunnel will be \"one of the most powerful and advanced ground test facilities for hypersonic vehicles in the world\", said Wu, who was not involved in the project.\n\n\"This is definitely good news for us. I look forward to its completion,\" he added.\n\nMore from the South China Morning Post:\n\nChina tests new spy drones in near space 'death zone'\n\nHow Beijing and Taipei are teaming up in space to track earthquakes\n\nReplace pictures of Jesus with Xi to escape poverty, Chinese villagers urged\n\nIn the new tunnel there will be a test chamber with room for relatively large aircraft models with a wing span of almost three metres.\n\nTo generate an airflow at extremely high speeds, the researchers will detonate several tubes containing a mixture of oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen gases for a series of explosions that could discharge one gigawatt of power within a split second, according to Zhao.\n\nThis is more than half of the total power generation capacity of the Daya Bay nuclear power plant in Guangdong.\n\nThe shock waves, channelled into the test chamber through a metallic tunnel, will envelope the prototype vehicle and increase the temperature over its body to 8,000 Kelvins, or 7,727 degrees Celsius, Zhao said.\n\nThat is nearly 50 per cent hotter than the surface of the Sun.", "output": "China is constructing the world's fastest wind tunnel, which will simulate hypersonic flight at speeds of up to 12km per second. At such a speed an aircraft could fly from China to the US in 14 minutes.\u00a0The project is expected to be\u00a0in operation by 2020 as China pushes forward\u00a0its hypersonic weapon development programme. The US tested an unmanned\u00a0hypersonic flight in 2011 but it lasted only minutes before\u00a0crashing into the Pacific, while\u00a0China recently conducted seven successful test flights.\u00a0\"China and the US have started a hypersonic race,\" said Professor Wu Dafang.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scientists use microbiome to develop biofuel enzymes \n Sample collection and enrichment of thermophilic consortia\n\nThe sample collection and enrichment procedures have been described previously15. Briefly, compost samples were collected from Jepson Prairie (JP) Organics, located in Vacaville, CA, in 2008. The compost-derived microbial consortium was initially grown aerobically with unpretreated switchgrass and then switched to grow on microcrystalline cellulose (1% wt/vol; Sigma) as the sole carbon source in liquid M9 medium augmented with vitamins. The enrichments were grown at 60 \u00b0C and 200 r.p.m. under aerobic conditions in an aerial rotary shaker and serially passed every 14 days with 4% vol/vol inoculum, referred to as passages. Cultivation of the 50 ml culture after passage 80 was scaled at the Advanced Biofuels Process Demonstration Unit, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. A 500 ml culture was inoculated with a 2.5% vol/vol sample from the 50 ml culture and incubated at 60 \u00b0C for 14 days at 150 r.p.m. on a rotary shaker. This culture was inoculated into a 19 l bioreactor (Bioengineering USA) to a total volume of 15 l. The 15 l culture was grown at 60 \u00b0C, 150 r.p.m. and 0.26 volume gas (sterile air) per volume liquid per minute (VVM) for 14 days. A 400 l bioreactor (ABEC) was inoculated with 7.5 l of culture from the 19 l bioreactor to a volume of 300 l and incubated for 14 days at 60 \u00b0C, 150 r.p.m. agitation and 0.25 VVM air sparging. After 14 days, the final fermentation broth was centrifuged using an Alfa Laval Disc Stack centrifuge at 9,000g at 100 l h\u20131 with 30 min cell discharge interval and 125 kPa back pressure. The clarified broth was collected in the 300 l holding tank bioreactor and the pelleted biomass collected and stored at \u201380 \u00b0C. The supernatant was concentrated through a tangential flow filtration system with a 10 kDa Biomax filter membrane (EMD Millipore). The transmembrane pressure was set at 13 p.s.i. with feed pressure of 30 p.s.i. The concentrated supernatant was freeze-dried under vacuum for 24 h using a lyophilizer (Labconco) and the resulting powder was stored at \u201320 \u00b0C. CMCase and xylanase activities were measured daily for the 15 l and 300 l bioreactor cultivations by removal of samples each day from the bioreactors and the supernatant assayed as described below.\n\nSequencing, assembly and binning of metagenomics reads\n\nDNA purification from samples extracted from the 15 l and 300 l bioreactors was performed as previously described13. Illumina sequencing (250 bp \u00d7 2) of the metagenomic samples was carried out by the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) and performed as previously described40. The sequencing reads of the DNA samples recovered from the 15 l bioreactor (days 1\u201314 were trimmed using Trimmomatics (with parameter ILLUMINACLIP:TruSeq3-PE.fa:2:30:10 LEADING:3 TRAILING:3 SLIDINGWINDOW:4:15 MINLEN:36)41 and co-assembled using IDBA-UD42 with the --pre-correction parameter. The 300 l samples (days 4, 5, 7, 10, 12 and 14) were also co-assembled, using the same settings as the 15 l samples. The co-assembled samples for the 15 l and 300 l bioreactor experiments were then binned using MaxBin 2.043 with default parameters, yielding population genomes. The completeness and contamination ratios of these population genomes were assessed using CheckM44. Genomes with >10% of contamination rates were re-binned using MaxBin 2.0 by setting the input contig to the genome file and the input abundance to the extracted abundance files during the whole metagenome binning. The output bins were re-examined using CheckM and the produced bins with higher completeness were chosen to replace the original genome, while the other bins with higher levels of contaminants were discarded. The most likely taxonomic ranks of the recovered genomes were predicted by searching the predicted proteins against the NCBI non-redundant (NR) database, collecting and processing the hits using the least common ancestor (LCA) algorithm proposed by MEGAN445 and assigning the most probable taxonomic rank to the recovered genomes according to the LCA results. GH genes present in the recovered population genomes were identified by using Prodigal46 and then annotated using dbCAN47.\n\nDNA was isolated from a 50 ml aerobic shake flask culture with a bacterial consortium that was adapted from green waste compost obtained from Newby Island Sanitary Landfill in Milpitas, CA, by growth on crystalline cellulose. The enzymatic activities and microbial community membership of this consortium have been described previously13. Metagenomic sequencing was performed by the JGI as described above, and the sequenced reads were assembled as previously described40. Population genomes were recovered by automated binning with Maxbin43 and checked for completeness and contamination with CheckM44.\n\n16S and 23S rRNA gene analysis\n\nA partial 16S rRNA gene (706 bp) was recovered from the \u2018Ca. R. cellulovorans\u2019 metagenomic bin. This fragment was used to identify a nearly full-length 16S rRNA gene (1,597 bp; 99.7% identical JGI gene ID Ga0074251_1085371) that was recovered from the initial assembled metagenome (JGI taxon ID 3300005442) obtained for this consortium when it had been adapted to switchgrass40. This observation indicated that \u2018Ca. R. cellulovorans\u2019 was present in the consortium when it was adapted to switchgrass, before transferring the consortium to grow on microcrystalline cellulose. Sequences from three clones (GenBank accessions KC978751, KC978760 and KC978763) were >99% identical to portions of the full-length rRNA \u2018Ca. R. cellulovorans\u2019 sequence. These clones were recovered from DNA samples isolated from a time series (14 days) of an adaptation of compost from Newby Island Landfill (Milipitas, CA, USA) to grow with microcrystalline cellulose as the sole carbon source at 60 \u00b0C13. As described above, a partial genome was recovered from this cultivation that was >99% identical at the amino acid level to the \u2018Ca. R. cellulovorans\u2019. A partial 23S rRNA gene (1,444 bp) was recovered from the \u2018Ca. R. cellulovorans\u2019 metagenomic bin. The 16S and 23S rRNA gene sequences were aligned using MUSCLE48 trimmed using Gblocks49, and the phylogenetic tree was constructed using MEGA550 with the Tamura\u2013Nei model. Bootstrap values were calculated with 1,000 replicates.\n\nReconstruction of \u2018Ca. R. cellulovorans\u2019 GH gene cluster\n\nSix small contigs were identified in the \u2018Ca. R. cellulovorans\u2019 population genome, which contained partial genes containing a catalytic domain (GH9, GH48, GH6/5, 2\u00d7GH10, AA10) linked to at least one CBM3. The clustering of these genes was confirmed by PCR amplification of DNA isolated from the cellulolytic consortium. PCR primers (Supplementary Table 8) were designed using the CLC Main Workbench (Qiagen) and PCR products were cloned into pJET1.2/blunt Cloning Vector (Fermentas) and sequenced with an ABI system according to the manufacturer\u2019s instructions. Assembly of gene sequences into a gene cluster and annotation of genes was performed with the CLC Main Workbench and checked for chimerae using the Bellerophon algorithm51.\n\nPhylogenetic analysis\n\nAlignments of protein sequences were performed using the CLUSTALW multiple alignment accessory application in the CLC Main Workbench (Qiagen). In brief, phylogenetic trees were constructed using the CLC Main Workbench applying the maximum likelihood method based on the Whelan and Goldman protein substitution model52. Bootstrap values were calculated with 1,000 replicates.\n\nTo build the concatenated protein tree, genes were first searched against the PFAM profiles53 using HMMER354. Genes with PFAM annotations that appear once and only once across all involved genomes were aligned separately using MUSCLE48. After the alignments were concatenated and trimmed using Gblocks49, the concatenated maximum-likelihood protein tree was constructed using MEGA550 with the JTT (Jones, Taylor, Thorton) model. Bootstrap values were estimated with 1,000 replicates.\n\nProtein purification\n\nLyophilized supernatant (170 mg) obtained from the 300 l cultivation was dissolved in 5 ml H 2 O and passed through a 0.2 \u00b5m filter. The supernatant was desalted by dialysis against the buffer (20 mM Tris, pH 8.0) for 24 h with three buffer changes, followed by a 30 ml NaCl gradient fractionation (0\u20132 M NaCl) using a 5 ml HiTrap Q HP column on an \u00c4KTA Protein Purification System (GE Healthcare).\n\nCellulases in the supernatant from the 300 l cultivation were also enriched by binding to phosphoric acid swollen cellulose (PASC), an adaptation of a procedure previously described for cellulosome purification from Clostridium thermocellum 26. Briefly, 250 mg of lyophilized PASC produced from Avicel PH-105 was added to 500 mg of supernatant dissolved in 10 ml H 2 O and mixed at room temperature with a magnetic stir bar for 30 min. After a binding step at 4 \u00b0C for 2 h, the amorphous cellulose was centrifuged for 10 min at 3,000g and rigorously washed for 6 cycles with 25 ml reaction buffer (25 mM 2-(N-morpholino)ethanesulfonic acid (MES), pH 6.0). Washed PASC was resuspended in 10 ml reaction buffer and transferred into dialysis membranes (SnakeSkin and Slide-A-Lyzer; Fisher Scientific) with a 3.5\u201310 kDa cutoff and dialysed at 60 \u00b0C against 4 l reaction buffer at 55\u201360 \u00b0C for up to 48 h with three buffer exchanges per day to prevent possible product inhibition. Dialysis membranes used in this study consisted of regenerated cellulose and were destabilized by cellulases of the substrate, and thus needed to be exchanged every 24 h to prevent membrane rupture. The reaction was considered complete after no visible changes to the substrate were observable. By centrifugation for 20 min at 3,000g the enrichment was split into residual biomass (in the pellet) and the affinity digestion protein fraction (in the supernatant, AD).\n\nMeasurement of protein concentration and GH activity\n\nProtein concentrations were determined using the bicinchoninic (BCA) assay (Pierce BCA Protein Assay Kit, Thermo Scientific) method using a 96-well plate (200 \u03bcl reaction volume) with bovine serum albumin as the standard. CMCase and xylanase activity assays were conducted as described previously55. Enzyme activity units (U) were defined as \u00b5mol of sugar liberated per min. Enzyme activity units for supernatant preparations were calculated as U per ml of supernatant volume. CMC activity units of purified heterologously expressed proteins were reported as U per mg, representing specific activity measurements.\n\nSoluble substrates (p-nitrophenyl (pNP)-labelled) with cellobiohydrolase (pNPC), \u03b2-d-dglucosidase (pNPG), \u03b2-D-xylosidase (pNPX) and \u03b1-l-arabinofuranosidase (pNPA) activities were used to determine enzyme activities on their respective substituents56. The p-nitrophenyl substrate (90 \u03bcl) was incubated with 10 \u03bcl of diluted enzyme, incubated for 30 min, and quenched with 50 \u03bcl of 2% cold sodium bicarbonate. The absorbance of released p-nitrophenyl was measured at 410 nm. Activities using p-nitrophenyl substrates were calculated as U ml\u22121.\n\nSaccharification of cellulose substrates\n\nSaccharifications were performed in the presence of 2% (wt/vol) Avicel (Sigma) and PASC. Each mixture was prepared in 50 mM MES, pH 6.0 with 10 mg protein per g glucan in biomass to a final volume of 625 \u00b5l in a 2 ml screw-cap vial. Saccharifications were carried out at 70 \u00b0C in a shaker for 72 h, with 50 \u00b5l samples taken every 24 h. All hydrolysates were collected via centrifugation at 21,000g for 5 min and 0.45 \u03bcm filtered to remove large biomass particles prior to sugar analysis. After filtration, samples were kept frozen at \u221220 \u00b0C and thawed before analysis. Glucose concentrations were measured on an Agilent 1200 Series HPLC system equipped with an Aminex HPX-87H column (Bio-Rad) and refractive index detector. Samples were run with an isocratic 4 mM sulfuric acid mobile phase. Sugar concentrations were determined using standards containing cellotriose, cellobiose, glucose, xylose and arabinose.\n\nPAGE and zymograms\n\nSDS\u2013PAGE was performed with 8\u201316% Protean TGX protein gradient gels (Bio-Rad) with the Tris-glycine-SDS buffer57. Blue Native (BN)\u2013PAGE58 was performed with 3\u201312% NativePAGE Bis-Tris protein gradient gels (Thermo Scientific) in presence of 0.02% Coomassie Blue G-250. For subunit analysis of native complexes, individual lanes from the BN\u2013PAGE were excised, incubated in 2% SDS and 160 mM dithiothreitol (DTT), and denatured at 95 \u00b0C for 10 min, unless otherwise indictated (Fig. 3e). Proteins were separated with 8% polyacrylamide gels, which were hand cast. Protein bands were stained with SimplyBlue SafeStain Coomassie Blue dye (Thermo Scientific) according to the manufacturer\u2019s instructions.\n\nProtein bands with activity on CMC and xylan were visualized using modification of the zymogram technique, as described previously15. Gels were incubated in 2% wt/vol CMC or 2% wt/vol birchwood xylan solutions followed by incubation at 60 \u00b0C for up to 2 h in reaction buffer (25 mM MES, pH 6.0). In-gel enzymatic activities were visualized by incubating gels with a 0.5% Congo Red solution for 15 min and subsequent multiple washing steps with 20% NaCl.\n\nGlycosylation analysis\n\nProtein glycosylations were visualized in-gel by the periodic acidic Schiff stain27 using a Pierce Glycoprotein Staining Kit (Thermo Scientific) according to the manufacturer\u2019s instructions.\n\nN-glycan analysis was performed as described previously59. However, no N-linked glycans were detected. Total glycosyl compositional analysis was performed by combined gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) of the per-O-trimethylsilyl (TMS) derivatives of the monosaccharide methyl glycosides produced from the sample by acidic methanolysis60. O-linked glycans were released by \u03b2-elimination and permethylated59. The permethylated O-linked glycans were analysed by matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight (MALDI\u2013TOF) and electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI MS/MS)61 and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) for linkage analysis62.\n\nProteinase K digestion\n\nThe E. coli-expressed CelA and CelC and the AD fraction were digested at 50 \u00b0C for 60 min in reaction buffer (20 mM Tris-HCl, 400 mM NaCl and 0.3% SDS, 5 mM EDTA containing 75 \u00b5g of respective enzyme and 3.75 \u00b5g proteinase K). After heat inactivation of proteinase K at 95 \u00b0C, the reaction mixture was analysed by SDS\u2013PAGE (8\u201316% gradient).\n\nProteomic analysis\n\nProteins were digested from SDS\u2013PAGE gels as previously described63. Samples were analysed on an Agilent 6550 iFunnel QTOF mass spectrometer coupled to an Agilent 1290 UHPLC system, as described in ref. 64. Briefly, peptides were loaded onto an Ascentis Express Peptide ES-C18 column (10 cm length \u00d7 2.1 mm internal diameter, 2.7 \u00b5m particle size; Sigma Aldrich) operating at 60 \u00b0C and at a flow rate of 400 \u00b5l min\u20131. A 13.5 min chromatography method with the following gradient was used: the initial starting condition (95% Buffer A (0.1% formic acid) and 5% Buffer B (99.9% acetonitrile, 0.1% formic acid)) was held for 1 min. Buffer B was then increased to 35% in 5.5 min, followed by an increase to 80% B in 1 min, where it was held at 600 \u00b5l min\u20131 for 3.5 min. Buffer B was decreased to 5% over 0.5 min, where it was held for 2 min at 400 \u00b5l min\u20131 to re-equilibrate the column with the starting conditions. Peptides were introduced into the mass spectrometer from the UHPLC by using a Dual Agilent Jet Stream Electrospray Ionization source operating in positive-ion mode. The source parameters used include a gas temperature of 250 \u00b0C, drying gas at 14 l min\u20131, nebulizer at 35 p.s.i.g, sheath gas temp of 250 \u00b0C, sheath gas flow of 11 l min\u20131), V Cap of 5,000 V, fragmentor V of 180 V and OCT(octopole) 1 RF (radio frequency) V pp of 750 V. The data were acquired with Agilent MassHunter Workstation Software, LC/MS Data Acquisition B.06.01 (Build 6.01.6157). The resultant data files were searched against a data set containing reconstructed population genomes from the 300 l bioreactor, with common contaminants appended, with Mascot version 2.3.02 (Matrix Science), then filtered and refined using Scaffold version 4.6.1 (Proteome Software).\n\nHeterologous protein expression\n\nConstructs for the CelABC genes were obtained both by PCR amplification from metagenomic DNA with specific primers (Supplementary Table 8) and synthesis of codon-optimized versions for expression in E. coli (Gen9). Genes were cloned into the modified bacterial expression vector pET39b(+) vector with a T7/lac promoter and a TEV-cleavable C-terminal 6xHis tag but lacking the DsbA secretion sequence (Novagen) using Gibson assembly65. All reagents were purchased from New England Biolabs. The desired genes without their signal sequences and the expression vector were PCR-amplified, DpnI-digested and incubated with 1\u00d7 Gibson assembly Master Mix for 15 min at 50 \u00b0C. The product was then transformed into chemically competent E. coli DH10\u03b1 cells for storage and for heterologous protein expression into chemically competent E. coli BL21 (DE3). Starter cultures (50 ml) of E. coli BL21 (DE3) harbouring plasmids were grown overnight in LB medium containing 25 \u03bcg ml\u20131 kanamycin at 37 \u00b0C and shaken at 200 r.p.m. in rotary shakers. Expression was performed in Terrific broth with 2% glycerol, 25 \u03bcg ml\u20131 kanamycin and 2 mM MgSO 4 . Starter cultures were used to inoculate 1 l of expression medium in a 2 l baffled Erlenmeyer flask and incubated at 18 \u00b0C while shaking (200 r.p.m.), and induced with 500 \u00b5M isopropyl \u03b2-d-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG). Following induction, cultures were again incubated at 18 \u00b0C. At 22 h, cultures were centrifuged at 15,500g for 30 min. Cell pellets were resuspended in 25 ml lysis buffer (50 mM NaPO 4 , 300 mM NaCl, 5 mM imidazole; pH 7.4) and homogenized with an EmulsiFlex-C3 instrument (Avestein). After incubation at 60 \u00b0C for 30 min, lysates were collected via centrifugation at 75,000g for 30 min and 0.45 \u03bcm filtered to remove large particles before purification. Polyhistidine-tagged proteins were purified on Cobalt-NTA resin (Thermo Scientific). To cleave the 6xHis Tag, 1 g purified protein was incubated with 50 mg His-tagged TEV-protease and simultaneously dialysed against 4 l reaction buffer (50 mM NaPO 4 , 300 mM NaCl; pH 7.4) for 24 h and three reaction buffer exchanges. After a second purification step via Cobalt-NTA resin, the flow-through fractions contained the purified and untagged proteins. Proteins were stored at 4 \u00b0C until ready for use. The proteins were >90% pure as visualized by SDS\u2013PAGE (Fig. 4c).\n\nLife Sciences Reporting Summary\n\nFurther information on experimental design and reagents is available in the Life Sciences Reporting Summary.\n\nData availability\n\nMetagenomic sequencing data can be accessed at the JGI IMG website (http://img.jgi.doe.gov/) or the JGI Genome Portal (http://genome.jgi.doe.gov/), and the specific IMG genome IDs are listed in Supplementary Table 12. The draft genome sequence for \u2018Candidatus Reconcilbacillus cellulovorans\u2019 has been deposited at GenBank (MOXJ00000000). The gene sequences and plasmid constructs for the \u2018Ca. Reconcilbacillus\u2019 cellulases CelA (JPUB_007824), CelB (JPUB_007826) and CelC (JPUB_007828) are available from the public version of the JBEI Registry (https://public-registry.jbei.org) and are physically available from the authors and/or Addgene (http://www.addgene.org) upon request.", "output": "Scientists from the Department of Energy\u2019s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), based at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, have used microbiomes to create stable new enzymes which could be used in the production of biofuels and bioproducts. According to a report in the journal Nature Microbiology, the team cultivated microbes in communities, as would occur in the wild, yielding cellulases that had \"remarkably robust carbohydrate-protein complexes\", and managed to maintain the microbial community for more than three years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scientists use microbiome to develop biofuel enzymes \n Newly published research has demonstrated the importance of microbial communities as a source of stable enzymes that could be used to convert plants to biofuels.\n\nThe research was carried out by scientists from the Department of Energy\u2019s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) based at Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory. The findings have been published in the journal Nature Microbiology, and report on the discovery of new types of cellulases - enzymes that help break down plants into ingredients that can be used to make biofuels and bioproducts, according to a JBEI statement.\n\nUnlike traditional methods, the cellulases were cultured from a microbial community or microbiome. Usually, isolated organisms are used to obtain enzymes.\n\n\u201cHere we\u2019re cultivating an entire community of microbes to access enzymes that we couldn\u2019t get from isolates,\u201d said study principal investigator Steve Singer, senior scientist in Berkeley Lab\u2019s Biological Systems and Engineering Division and director of Microbial and Enzyme Discovery at JBEI.\n\n\u201cSome microbes are difficult to culture in a lab. We are cultivating microbes living in communities, as they occur in the wild, which allows us to see things we don\u2019t see when they are isolated. This opens up the opportunity to discover new types of enzymes that are only produced by microbes in communities.\u201d\n\nIt was revealed that the bacterial population Candidatus Reconcilibacillus cellulovorans yielded cellulases that were arranged in \u2018remarkably robust carbohydrate-protein complexes\u2019, a structure never before observed in isolates.\n\n\u201cThe enzymes persist, even after a decline in bacterial abundance,\u201d said Singer. \u201cWe kept the microbial community cultivation going for more than three years in the lab.\u201d\n\nThis stability makes the new cellulose complexes attractive for applications in biofuels production, the authors say. In particular, it gives the cellulases an advantage over alternatives that degrade more rapidly at high tremperature.\n\nIndustrial scale\n\nJBEI scientists collaborated with researchers from the Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts Process Demonstration Unit (ABPDU) at Berkeley Lab, a scale-up facility established by DOE to help accelerate the commercialisation of biofuels research discoveries, to determine whether the enzyme production could be scaled up for industrial applications.\n\nWhile the JBEI scientists were able to produce 50 millilitre samples at the DOE Bioenergy Research Centre, in just six weeks the scientists at ABPDU scaled the cultures to a volume 6,000 times larger, 300 litres, in industrial bioreactors.\n\nSebastian Kolinko, a JBEI postdoctoral researcher, is the study\u2019s lead author.", "output": "Scientists from the Department of Energy\u2019s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), based at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, have used microbiomes to create stable new enzymes which could be used in the production of biofuels and bioproducts. According to a report in the journal Nature Microbiology, the team cultivated microbes in communities, as would occur in the wild, yielding cellulases that had \"remarkably robust carbohydrate-protein complexes\", and managed to maintain the microbial community for more than three years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese quietly investing directly into India at increasing rate \n Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visit Daci'en Temple on May 14, 2015 in Xi'an, China. Sheng Jiapeng | CNSPHOTO | VCG | Getty Images\n\nIf you go by official Indian government figures, Chinese direct investments into the country this century hit a paltry $1.6 billion in March 2017. That's a weak showing compared to President Xi Jinping's 2014 promise to spend $20 billion over five years in India, one of the fastest growing Asian economies. But while there's yet to be big bang investments accompanied by political fanfare, the Chinese have steadily and quietly been investing in Indian companies over the past few years. In fact, people in India who work closely with Chinese businesses estimate that China's investments into the country could be at least five times greater than official numbers. \"Chinese investments have doubled in the last two years. I have no reason to doubt that it will not continue as they have already tasted blood. If you are a Chinese company today with a limitless amount of capital and you look at the whole world and ask 'where is the big bet you can play?' the answer is India,\" said Santosh Pai, a partner at Link Legal, a law firm with offices throughout India. For his firm, Chinese clients are the growth drivers, and since 2011 he has helped about 150 of them get a foothold in the Indian market. Typically, investments come in from Chinese-owned companies based in the U.S., Singapore or elsewhere in the world, and therefore cannot be classified as \"Chinese\" investments. Also, official data only tracks investments made by companies based in mainland China and not even those out of Hong Kong and Macau, experts said.\n\nLow key, high returns\n\nWhile businesses are happy to get Chinese money, it is in no one's interest to publicise those investments given the history of Indo-China relations. The two countries have fought a war and have regular skirmishes on their shared border. \"If a Chinese company says, 'We have entered the Indian market,' they will attract more scrutiny. If Indian companies say, 'We have Chinese investors,' they may lose some goodwill. It is not a conspiracy to hide these things, but the question is: Who does it benefit to stand on the roof and shout out?\" Pai told CNBC. A case in point is the recent investment of $1.1 billion by Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group for a 74 percent stake in India's Gland Pharma. The Chinese major that had struck a deal in July last year to buy an 86 percent stake in the Indian generic injectable drugmaker, reduced its stake size in a bid to save the stalled deal. The deal had raised concerns among some in the Indian government, Reuters reported. India allows foreign investment of up to 100 percent in its pharmaceutical sector, anything above 74 percent requires government clearance. \"Investments that are not administered or influenced by government perception are pouring in,\" Aravind Yelery, assistant director at the New Delhi based Institute of Chinese Studies, told CNBC. \"The Indian state governments are wary of the Chinese, so they are now doing [mergers and acquisitions] and [joint ventures] in the private sector. No mainstream, huge infrastructure investments.\"\n\nBoosting start-up morale\n\nInstead, Chinese investors are coming into India with bite-sized deals of as little as $1 million for start-ups. The big spenders on that front have included Tencent and Alibaba . The two have invested $1.2 billion and $650 million, respectively, in venture capital and private equity deals over the past two years, according to data from tracking firm Venture Intelligence. That influx of funds has had a notable result in the Indian start-up community. \"The Chinese are boosting morale. There is a sudden change in the perception of Indian investors as well. If the Chinese are putting money into Indian start-ups, so will I, is the feeling,\" said Rishabh Lawania, co-founder of Xeler8, a start-up bought by a Chinese fund in January this year. Xeler8 was a data mining company, but after the buyout it functions as a venture capital fund and incubator for start-ups. \"The Chinese are here with deep pockets. It is not uncommon for them to write a million dollar check for a first stage investment. An Indian angel investor is not going to do that. He will invest one fourth that amount,\" said Sunil Kalra, a veteran investor in Indian start-ups. About $3.5 billion has been invested in companies less than 10 years old so far in 2017, according to Venture Intelligence. The Chinese have contributed a little less than 10 percent of that.\n\nwatch now", "output": "Chinese direct investment is flooding into India under the radar, with indications the deals are at least five times greater than official figures show. Investments are going unnoticed because they are relatively small or are coming from Chinese-owned units headquartered outside mainland China.\u00a0\"Chinese investments have doubled in the last two years. I have no reason to doubt that it will not continue,\"\u00a0said Santosh Pai\u00a0at Indian law firm\u00a0Link Legal.\u00a0Aravind\u00a0Yelery at the Delhi-based Institute of Chinese Studies said \"investments that are not administered or influenced by government perception are pouring in\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Zocdoc introduces in-app Insurance Checker feature \n The complicated language commonly found in health plans makes it hard for consumers to understand the coverage their plan provides, especially when it comes to determining what physicians are in-network. More than 50% of insured Americans say they have a difficult time figuring out what their insurance will cover, and 77% would like an easier way to ensure their doctor is in-network when booking appointments, according to a survey by Kelton Global.\n\nTo remedy the problem, healthcare technology provider Zocdoc developed Insurance Checker, a new feature for its Patient-Powered Search app that helps patients find a doctor. Insurance Checker enables patients to understand the coverage under their health plan by providing such information as whether their doctor is in-network and the patient\u2019s eligibility.\n\nIn the first week after launching Insurance Checker last month patients uploaded more than 10,000 images of insurance cards.\n\nSuch information is important to consumers when making decisions about their care, as 22% of insured Americans would skip going to the doctor if they were unable to book an appointment with an in-network doctor, and 17% would go to the emergency room for treatment instead, says the Kelton Global survey, which was sponsored by Zocdoc.\n\nTo get information about their health plan, consumers open the Zocdoc app, select Insurance Checker and snap a photo of their health insurance card using their smartphone. Insurance Checker scans the photo to gather information on the card such as name of the insurance carrier, plan type and member identification number. Combining information from the card with information from the eligibility check and information doctors provide, Insurance Checker can identify in-network physicians for the patient. Insurance Checker uses artificial intelligence to learn how to match information from an image of a patient\u2019s insurance card with information about his health plan, Zocdoc says.\n\n\u201cWith more consumers having high deductible plans, staying in network when booking a doctor\u2019s appointment is important to patients,\u201d says Ruth Sylvia, senior product manager for Zocdoc.\n\nadvertisement\n\nInsurance Checker can also verify patient eligibility, and, if the information is available, estimate the patient\u2019s co-pay. Confirming benefits eligibility prior to booking a doctor\u2019s appointment ensures patients will be covered for a doctor\u2019s visit. Of the patient\u2019s surveyed by Kelton, 20% booking an appointment with a new doctor were turned away because the doctor didn\u2019t accept their insurance, the survey says. In addition, 16% of insured Americans making an appointment with a new doctor did so not knowing if their insurance would cover the visit.\n\nConfirming patient eligibility in advance of booking an appointment also benefits physicians, as doctors\u2019 office administrators typically contact a new patient ahead of an appointment to ensure the patient\u2019s insurance information is valid. Once an appointment is booked, Insurance Checker shares patient eligibility with the doctor\u2019s office. Insurance Checker also saves the scanned image of a patient\u2019s insurance card to his account for use with future appointments.\n\nConfirmation of patient eligibility is provided by Eligible Inc., a developer of application programming interfaces for collecting medical eligibility, claims, and payments data from insurance companies.\n\nIn the first week after launching Insurance Checker last month patients uploaded more than 10,000 images of insurance cards, Sylvia says. The cost for physicians to subscribe to the Zocdoc app is $3,000 per doctor annually. The app, which is available for iOS and Android, is free to patients.\n\nadvertisement\n\nKeep up with latest coverage on digital healthcare by signing up for Internet Health Management News today.", "output": "US medical app Zocdoc, which enables consumers to make doctors appointments, has added a new feature, dubbed Insurance Checker. The in-app service\u00a0allows\u00a0prospective patients to check if a doctor or a treatment is covered under their health insurance plan. More than three-quarters of Americans said they need greater clarity on which doctors and medical services are in their insurance networks, according to a survey sponsored by the firm. Additionally, 22% of survey respondents said they would skip treatment if they could not find an in-network provider.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "$1 gift cards aim to make the stock market accessible to all \n Lele's privately-held company is a clinic in making investing more accessible: it makes gift cards, sold online and at various physical locations, that function as fractional shares of stocks.\n\n\"[In] the last eight years, the tide has been rising. [The] stock market has been doing well, but most of us don't feel rich, right? Because our ships have been in dry dock. They haven't been in the water,\" Lele told \" Mad Money \" host Jim Cramer in an exclusive interview on Monday. \"And here, to get into the market, I think the easiest point of access is to invest in something you know, something that you love.\"\n\nRecent statistics show the number of Americans invested in stocks declining , but Stockpile Co-founder and CEO Avi Lele told CNBC his fractional share trading platform can help change that.\n\nConsumers can also open a brokerage account with Stockpile's mobile app and start investing at 99 cents a trade. The app offers investing advice so newcomers can learn basic investing rules.\n\n\"People are told all the time, 'Start early, diversify and do it for the long haul,' but it's really hard to start early when you're young because you don't have a lot of money and you certainly don't know anything about the market,\" Lele said. \"They don't teach it to you in school and you can't walk into a traditional brokerage saying, 'Hey, I've got $50 bucks, how does the market work?'\"\n\nThe CEO said he ushered his own children into learning about investing with Stockpile when he realized they weren't interested in investing through traditional firms.\n\nLele had set up custodial accounts for them through a traditional brokerage firm, but he was the only account holder and just couldn't get his kids interested, he said.\n\nBut with Stockpile, \"they had their own login. They could check in on their stocks, they could buy things that they knew instead of mutual funds that were hard to [grasp] and they could place trades that came to my phone for approval,\" Lele said. \"All of a sudden, an engaging experience was born. Just a few hundred dollars, but they had skin in the game.\"\n\nDuring a visit to his dentist, Lele even thought up a Halloween promotion that he thought would spur young people's interest in his platform.\n\n\"I was at my dentist a few weeks ago, and dentists hate giving out candy,\" the CEO said. \"And I told him about the company and he said, 'Wouldn't it be neat if I could give out $1 stock cards to the trick-or-treaters?' And so I'm sitting there looking over here and saying, 'Well, Nike kind of goes well with Amazon, orange and black, you want to give those out?'\"\n\nLele's central idea is that people, including disillusioned millennials, can warm to investing if they're buying shares in companies they know and love at affordable prices instead of the lucrative, but astronomically priced stock market.\n\n\"If you're an Apple fan, start investing in Apple. If you're a Nike fan, if you're a sports fan, invest in Nike. Now, that's the on-ramp,\" Lele said. \"But once you're in, we have a whole series of lessons, many lessons, in our app that are designed to teach you, 'Hey, start diversifying. Start looking at ETFs because they're instant, great diversification. Start investing in maybe other countries' stocks to get some foreign exposure.' So it's a starting point, but then it brings you in and now you're not in dry dock.\"", "output": "US fractional investment platform Stockpile is selling gift cards for as little as 99 cents, with the goal of increasing the number of people engaging with the stock market. Offering consumers access to stocks of well-known companies at a significantly cheaper price than the full shares\u00a0can encourage more people to learn about investing, said the firm's CEO. Apathetic younger investors are a key audience for Stockpile.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Financial advisers ponder ways to increase\u00a0female headcount \n Boosting the number of women in the financial advice business to a level that more equally represents the population may require firms make changes related to hiring, compensation, training and other areas.\n\nIt also will require getting more men on board with the effort, according to the comments from a group of about 150 women who gathered Tuesday to discuss ways to increase the ranks of female financial advisers. The group spent three hours brainstorming solutions in a pre-conference session at the Schwab Impact Conference being held in Chicago this week.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re looking for specific actions that we can take back to our firms and communities to further increase the representation of women in this industry,\u201d said Susan Forman, senior vice president and head of marketing for Schwab Advisor Services.\n\nWhile 51% of the U.S. population are women, only about 15.7% of financial advisers are female, and less than a quarter of Certified Financial Planners are women \u2014 amounts that have barely changed in a decade, according to Suzanne Siracuse, publisher of InvestmentNews, who moderated the discussion.\n\n(More:\u200b How to encourage the rise of senior women in financial advice)\n\nRecruiting is one of the areas that firms participating in the session said needs to change. At one advisory firm, they have a recruiting team that requires there to be a diverse set of candidates identified before interviews can begin for any position at the firm. That firm also has programs to help encourage more junior employees to experience many different areas of the business to try and find one in which they can particularly thrive.\n\nAt another firm, the focus is on work-schedule flexibility, allowing four-day work weeks so advisers at the firm can care for children, or in some cases, provide care for a parent.\n\nOther firms provide women advisers with training and coaching to help with leadership development.\n\nLisa Poff, director of marketing and communications at Bridgewater Wealth Management, an advisory firm, said compensation structures that are built solely to reward those who are going out and getting business versus those who are taking care of the business is another deterrent for women in this industry.\n\nAt Bridgewater, which manages about $1 billion in client assets, the firm actively tries to create an environment that\u2019s supportive to its female advisers.\n\n\u201cWe have created a culture of feeling like everyone\u2019s voice is heard,\u201d she said.\n\nSix of its nine advisers are women.\n\n(More:\u200b Advice firm carves out unit for women investors)\n\nThe group agreed it\u2019s important to get more men involved with the effort to expand the numbers of women in the business.\n\nHowever, they were not overflowing with examples of successful efforts.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s an area where we need to look for more solutions,\u201d Ms. Siracuse said. \u201cMen need to buy into this and understand the business case for this.\u201d", "output": "US financial advisory firms are mulling making changes to their recruitment, compensation and training practices to attract more female employees. Despite more than half of the US population being female, only 16% of financial advisers are women. A number of firms are making sure candidates for open positions come from a diverse pool, while other firms are fostering an environment where employees can have more flexible working hours.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk Dunstone's shareholding falls \u00a333m after loss announcement \n Sir Charles Dunstone saw \u00a333million wiped off the value of his TalkTalk shares after the firm crashed into the red.\n\nThe 52-year-old businessman, who owns nearly a third of the internet provider he set up in 2003, is spearheading efforts to revive its fortunes having taken over as executive chairman in February.\n\nBut his turnaround plan suffered a bruising setback yesterday TalkTalk posted a \u00a375million loss for the six months to September 30.\n\nShares tumbled 17 per cent in early trading before closing down 6 per cent or 11.3p at 178.2p.\n\nThat cut the value of Dunstone's 294m shares in the company by \u00a333million to \u00a3524million.", "output": "TalkTalk executive chairman Sir Charles Dunstone saw \u00a333m ($44m) wiped off the value of his shares in the telco after it posted a \u00a375m loss for the six months through September. Dunstone, who owns almost one third of the company, returned to its helm in February to turn its fortunes around. Shares in TalkTalk fell 17% after the loss was announced, reducing the value of Dunstone's holding to\u00a0\u00a3524m.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurers urged to provided equal coverage for mentally ill \n (UNTREATED: This is part of a series on the care of Staten Island's mentally ill. Click here for additional stories in the project.)\n\nSTATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Despite laws put in place to guarantee equal coverage for mental health treatment, insurance companies are denying mental health claims more often than physical health claims.\n\nIn 2015, 29 percent of survey respondents said that their mental health claim was rejected due to the private insurance company saying it was not medically necessary, more than twice the percentage reported for denied medical claims, according to a National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) study.\n\nFourteen percent of medical claims were denied for the same reason, the study shows.\n\nAffordable Care Act plans had lower total denial rates when compared to other private insurance but mental health claim denials were still almost twice as high as medical claim denials.\n\nClaim denials, as well as low reimbursement rates for services and providers who don't accept insurance create financial burdens for many families, often forcing patients to choose between services they desperately need and services they can afford.\n\n\"Middle and working class people can't really afford the financial burden,\" Fran Zagor, president and CEO of the Staten Island Mental Health Society (SIMHS) told the Advance.\n\nLeslie Moran, senior vice president of the New York Health Plan Association (NYPA), said it's not as simple as comparing mental health to physical health because the term \"medically necessary\" varies widely for both.\n\nWHAT DOES MEDICALLY NECESSARY MEAN?\n\nMoran said the NYPA has some \"misgivings\" about the NAMI statistic because physical claims are more defined than mental health in terms of medical necessity.\n\n\"Physical health claims -- i.e. a broken leg, doctor's visit for bronchitis, etc. -- are more defined, or more clear cut versus mental health claims where there might be a question about the appropriate number of visits within a time frame (does the patient need two visits per week?),\" Moran stated.\n\nThe setting where mental health services are provided, such has inpatient versus outpatient treatment, comes in to play as well, she said.\n\nMental health providers say it is unfair for an insurance company to determine medically necessity for mental health treatment because treatment is more complex and insurance companies do not take into consideration the patient's medical history.\n\nThe NAMI report states that there has been little \"clarity\" about what criteria insurance companies use to determine what is or is not medically necessary.\n\n\"In the absence of uniform criteria, insurers have adopted their own standards and have often not been forthcoming about informing beneficiaries about these standards. This in turn has sparked concerns that insurance companies and managed care organizations deny claims for mental health care at far higher rates than other for medical care,\" NAMI said in the report.\n\nWhen an insurance company denies a claim, they are required to provide a reason for the denial in writing and include information on how to appeal the process.\n\nAdditionally, the NAMI study does not acknowledge or include statistics regarding a person's ability to appeal the claim, Moran said.\n\n\"Both internal plan appeals and independent external appeals, and the percentage that are overturned on appeal, is not addressed in this data,\" she said, adding that it is not \"really a fair comparison.\"\n\n\"In approximately 60 percent of disputes about medical necessity, the plan's decision is upheld by an independent external reviewer,\" she said.\n\nPARITY LAWS IN PLACE\n\n\n\nAfter decades of little to no fair coverage from insurance providers, Mental health parity laws were enacted to require insurance plans to have comparable coverage for mental health, addiction and other medical treatment.\n\n\n\nThe federal Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 prevents group health plans and health insurance issuers that provide mental health or substance use disorder benefits from imposing less favorable limitations on those benefits than on medical/surgical benefits, according to CMS.gov.\n\nThis federal law superseded New York state's \"Timothy's Law,\" by replacing the required coverage minimum of 30 days of inpatient and 20 days of outpatient treatment with equal and consistent coverage for mental health treatment.\n\nWhile parity laws have closed some gaps for mental health coverage, providers say that patient's needs are still not being met.\n\n\"The insurance companies say they meet the needs of their members but the reality is, it becomes clear when you're dealing with somebody who has a real issue and people on the insurance panel say 'We can't provide you with services,'\" Zagor said.\n\nMoran argued that Zagor's comment shows \"provider's bias.\"\n\n\"It often comes down to a question of need versus want. In other words, providers want all the treatment for a patient that they can get the health plan to pay for, even when determination is made that the treatment isn't truly medically necessary,\" Moran said.\n\nINSURANCE NOT ACCEPTED\n\n\n\nWhile laws have been changed to make treatment more accessible, many treatment providers don't accept private insurance or Medicaid -- due in part to low reimbursement rates and new provider laws -- forcing those seeking treatment to pay out-of-pocket or forgo treatment altogether.\n\n\"Parents are calling us desperately looking for places to bring their children. Unfortunately, the rate of reimbursement is not high so we won't sign the contract with the insurance company because of it,\" Zagor explained. \"Except there's nowhere else to refer them too.\"\n\nShe said the SIMHS will work with the families, allowing them to pay off the difference between what the insurance company pays and the cost of services.\n\nOnly 55 percent of psychiatrists accept insurance, compared to 88.7 percent of medical physicians in other specialties, a study published by JAMA Psychiatry shows.\n\nMoran acknowledged that there are providers who do not accept insurance, but said it is each provider's decision and does not reflect the on private insurance companies.\n\nThe coverage parity law covers deductibles, co-pays, co-insurance, out-of-pocket expenses, annual and lifetime dollar limits, limits on frequency of treatment, number of visits, and other limits on the scope or duration of treatment.\n\n\"Health plans have an interest in making sure their members get the right are in the right setting at the right time, which applies to mental health services as well as physical health care. Plans work diligently to comply with the letter and spirit of mental health parity laws that ensure access to needed services,\" Moran said.\n\nNAMI states that New York is \"leading the nation\" in terms of coverage parity and enforcement, however, obstacles still exist when trying to find and afford treatment.\n\n\"We have the expertise to deal with all of this. We provide a lot of training [for staff], we use evidence-based practices, there are psychiatrists available; in our setting, we have it all but it all goes back to having the right kind of reimbursement,\" Zagor said.", "output": "Despite recently implemented mental health parity laws, sufferers of mental illness in New York State are rarely reimbursed for treatment, even if they have insurance coverage. A number of medical providers don't accept private insurance for treatment, due largely insurers' reluctance to pay out. In 2015, 29% of mental illness suffers said insurers rejected a claim they made following treatment, according to a survey conducted by the National Alliance on Mental Illness.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vaping sector uses Big Tobacco tactics to protect itself \n Samir Soneji had no idea what he was getting into when he agreed to talk about the potential risks of vaping at the first US E-Cigarette Summit in Washington, DC this past May. His first clue was the booing.\n\nAs a professor at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, Soneji studies how gaps in tobacco regulation affect health. Two years before the conference, he\u2019d reported in JAMA Pediatrics that young people who smoke hookah or use \u201csnus,\u201d a form of moist smokeless tobacco, are twice as likely to try cigarettes as kids who don\u2019t. He suspected that e-cigarettes, with kid-friendly flavors like \u201cCinnamon Roll\u201d and \u201cPeanut Butter Cup,\u201d carried a similar risk. And that\u2019s exactly what he and several colleagues discovered in a recent review of studies that tested that possibility.\n\nEvidence that tobacco companies targeted teens and nonsmokers with candy- and fruit-flavored cigarettes prompted the Food and Drug Administration to ban them in 2009 under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. But those restrictions do not apply to e-cigarettes and hookahs, even though the FDA extended its authority in August 2016 to include all forms of tobacco.\n\nKey points The e-cigarette market is expected to be worth $34 billion by 2021, and is increasingly dominated by tobacco companies such as Reynolds American and Altria (formerly known as Philip Morris).\n\nStudies into the argument that vaping leads to smoking cessation continue to have mixed findings. Meanwhile, studies on the health risks of vaping have different results based on whether they were funded by tobacco companies, or non-affiliated public researchers.\n\nBig Tobacco has been developing e-cigarette devices since the early 1960s, but eventually avoided marketing them because, according to executives, smokeless tobacco \u201ccomplicates our efforts to resist the FDA\u2019s attempts to regulate the tobacco industry.\u201d\n\nMajor tobacco companies co-opted and heavily invested in the promotion of the concept of \u201charm reduction,\u201d as opposed to smoking cessation, as a means of gaining access to public health experts and casting themselves as socially responsible corporations. It is the same argument vaping promoters use today.\n\nE-cigarette manufacturer NJOY and importer Smoking Everywhere have hired the same firms that previously helped the tobacco industry evade regulation and defeat smokers\u2019 liability claims for years. Their allies have hired law firms that have successfully defended major tobacco companies from class action lawsuits.\n\nPhilip Morris, Reynolds American, and its allies paid lobbyists nearly $1.2 million to fight a California bill to prohibit the sale of e-cigarettes in vending machines and regulate them like any other tobacco product.\n\nTobacco and vaping industries spent nearly $10 million to fight regulations on e-cigarettes and related legislation in California since 2009.\n\nSoneji figured that people who came to a conference about the science and regulation of e-cigarettes actually wanted to hear the latest science, whatever the data showed. So he told the audience what he and others had found: youth who vaped were more likely to start smoking cigarettes than those who didn\u2019t. What\u2019s more, kids who made the leap from e-cigs to cigarettes probably wouldn\u2019t otherwise have started smoking, he explained, because they didn\u2019t suffer from anxiety or depression or use alcohol or drugs \u2014 risk factors associated with youth smoking. He also shared evidence that \u201cfun\u201d candy-flavored e-cigarettes attract kids, just as flavored cigarettes did, and that, because labels often misrepresent nicotine levels in the devices, even kids who think they\u2019re vaping only flavors could be inhaling nicotine.\n\nThe booing was not the only sign to Soneji that this was not a typical scientific conference. He later joined a Q&A panel before the morning break. There, a Johns Hopkins researcher who said he consults for pharmaceutical companies and Reynolds American \u2014 which makes VUSE, the top-selling e-cig brand in the US \u2014 asked the panel when public health officials were going to communicate positive messages about how vaping reduces harm, like they do about using clean needles and condoms to stem the spread of disease. Soneji said it would be premature and dangerous to recommend e-cigarettes to help smokers quit, given the lack of rigorous scientific evidence to support it. Minutes later, the head of an anti-smoking organization rose from the audience to dismiss his call for more evidence as \u201crubbish.\u201d The crowd laughed and cheered.\n\nMany people in the audience, Soneji would discover, had an emotional or financial interest in vaping \u2014 and they didn\u2019t pay up to $1,100 a ticket to hear anyone question the benefits of e-cigarettes. \u201cI didn\u2019t realize just how many people would be from the industry, and whose job and livelihood is [tied] to e-cigarettes,\u201d he says. \u201cHearing about the harms of vaping came across as threatening to their existence.\u201d\n\nMany people Soneji spoke to after his talk argued that e-cigarettes save lives. They told him it\u2019s the tar in cigarette smoke that causes lung cancer, and since e-cigarettes don\u2019t have tar, there\u2019s nothing to worry about. An ex-smoker-turned-vaper who had opened a vape shop to help others quit smoking told Soneji that his products were safer because they don\u2019t produce cancer-causing tar. While that\u2019s true, Soneji says, \u201che was very dismissive of any cardiovascular effects around vaping and nicotine, and around the chemical by-products of heating the e-juice.\u201d\n\n\u201cHearing about the harms of vaping came across as threatening to their existence.\u201d\n\nPublic health campaigns have so successfully tied smoking to lung cancer that people often don\u2019t realize more smokers die of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases than of lung cancer. Soneji tried to tell the shop owner, and many others at the summit, that smoking significantly increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and that recent studies suggest e-cigarettes also increase heart attack risk. But they didn\u2019t listen to him. They didn\u2019t understand how anyone could question the value of a product they believe helps people quit one of the world\u2019s deadliest habits.\n\nOnline forums are filled with stories from ex-smokers who saw striking health improvements after switching to vaping. \u201cI no longer wake up coughing and hacking up gunk for the first two hours of my day. I'm no longer getting winded doing the smallest things,\u201d reported a member of the E-Cigarette Forum, which calls itself \u201cthe voice of vaping since 2007.\u201d\n\nEx-smokers offer similar testimonials on vaping forums, blogs, and social media groups. The vaping advocacy group Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association, or CASAA, sells a T-shirt to drive home the point: \u201cVaping saves lives.\u201d\n\nAfter the e-cigarette summit, a media outlet called Vaping360 described Soneji as \u201cthe speaker with the most tedious and pedestrian boilerplate anti-vaping agenda,\u201d and attacked him and his co-authors as \u201ca who\u2019s who of terrible vaping researchers.\u201d\n\nThe attacks on Soneji are similar to those lobbed at any individual who speaks out about the possible harms of vaping. On the Facebook page for the 2016 pro-vaping movie A Billion Lives, a woman who described herself as a tobacco treatment specialist dared to say, \u201cWe don\u2019t know yet the exact repercussions of vaping because it hasn\u2019t been around long enough. But we do know it causes [scarring] in the lungs.\u201d\n\nThe attacks on Soneji are similar to those lobbed at any individual who speaks out about the possible harms of vaping\n\nWithin minutes, a man who\u2019d just posted about how vaping helped him quit smoking told her: \u201cSTFU you are an idiot and a moron. Clearly you don\u2019t know wtf to say cause you would rather people smoke.\u201d The next comment is too profanely misogynistic to print.\n\nIt\u2019s hard to overestimate the power of personal experience. But personal anecdotes, no matter how plentiful or powerful, are no substitute for scientific evidence derived from rigorously designed studies that test alternate hypotheses and control for confounding factors. Scientists are just beginning to test the effects of vaping on the human lung. A recent review of studies concluded that e-cigarette use may cause \u201csignificant\u201d toxicity to the lung, but noted that more research is needed. Long-term studies clearing e-cigarettes as reasonably safe alternatives to cigarettes have not been done. But that hasn\u2019t stopped some vaping advocates from claiming they have.\n\nStudies across diverse subjects show that industry-funded research tends to favor the study\u2019s sponsor\n\nJust a decade ago, the vaping industry \u2014 which includes devices that typically heat nicotine-containing liquids to produce inhalable vapors \u2014 was largely the province of small businesses. Today, the market, which is valued at over $10 billion and expected to be worth $34 billion by 2021, is increasingly dominated by tobacco companies such as Reynolds American and Altria (formerly known as Philip Morris).\n\nMany vaping advocates say they\u2019re competing with Big Tobacco, which they fear will stifle innovation. They say that taxes on e-cigarettes will penalize smokers trying to quit and that regulations requiring companies to disclose the ingredients in e-juice and conform to quality standards will bankrupt small entrepreneurs. Some may well be trying to put the tobacco industry out of business. But others have joined forces with some of the same actors and have deployed the same tactics the tobacco industry used to stoke doubts about smoking\u2019s dangers while marketing \u201csafer\u201d delivery systems. They\u2019re enlisting veteran tobacco industry law firms to contest federal oversight in court and partnering with tobacco-funded libertarian groups to fight regulation in states and cities, and they\u2019re rallying armies of ex-smokers who believe vaping saved their lives.\n\nTurning Public Health Experts into the Enemy\n\nFor decades, tobacco control experts worked together to counter marketing campaigns that made smoking sexy. Hard-hitting TV spots featuring smokers disfigured by cancer and speaking through voice boxes, or hooked up to oxygen tanks and gasping for air helped drive a decline in smoking that had begun in the 1960s. But health alliances forged to stop smoking began to crumble in the mid-2000s with the advent of campaigns to promote \u201creduced harm\u201d products like smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes. While some of these products \u2014 including nicotine patches, lozenges, and gums \u2014 have received FDA approval to treat nicotine addiction after clinical trials showed they were safe and effective, others, including smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes, have not.\n\nE-cigarettes are theoretically safer than cigarettes because they don\u2019t burn tobacco, which produces a noxious mixture of toxic and cancer-causing substances, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, aldehydes, and heavy metals like cadmium and arsenic. Instead, the battery-powered devices produce an aerosol mist by heating \u201ce-juice,\u201d which typically contains flavors and nicotine dissolved in solvents (propylene glycol or vegetable or both) that minimize evaporation until the cocktail is inhaled. Proponents of harm reduction, who advocate offering reduced-risk products to those who can\u2019t stop smoking, argue that giving e-cigarettes to smokers is like providing clean needles to IV drug users: individuals can satisfy their craving while reducing their overall disease burden.\n\nProponents of harm reduction argue that giving e-cigarettes to smokers is like providing clean needles to IV drug users\n\nBut for a harm-reduction argument to be valid, policy makers need strong evidence that vaping improves smokers\u2019 health without creating a new set of risks \u2014 to both users and nonusers. So far, the evidence for quitting is mixed, while long-term safety remains unknown. A systematic review of studies of e-cigarettes and smoking cessation published last year reported that two clinical trials offer evidence that vaping leads to quitting, but cautioned that they were too small to have confidence in the results. Meanwhile, another review published last year, which included a broader range of studies, concluded that people who used e-cigarettes were actually less likely to quit smoking.\n\nAssessing risks to vapers and bystanders associated with chemicals in e-cigarette vapor has proven difficult because manufacturers keep changing the devices, which now come in over 460 brands and close to 8,000 different flavors.\n\nSome vaping advocates insist that e-cigarettes emit only harmless water vapor \u2014 echoing marketing claims \u2014 and propylene glycol, the same ingredient used in fog machines. The FDA has deemed e-cigarette flavorings and the solvents propylene glycol and glycerin \u201cgenerally recognized as safe\u201d for use in food, but that has little bearing on whether they\u2019re safe to inhale. Several studies have detected a range of toxic chemicals in e-cigarette vapor, including diacetyl, which is associated with the severe respiratory disease known as \u201cpopcorn lung\u201d; aldehydes, which are probable carcinogens; acrolein, a potent irritant often found in air pollution; and the cancer-causing tobacco-specific nitrosamines that are also found in cigarette smoke. The few studies of people working with theatrical fog machines found that those working closest to the machines had reduced lung capacity \u2014 and they weren\u2019t repeatedly sucking propylene glycol into their lungs like vapers do. What\u2019s more, several studies report that heating propylene glycol and glycerin under normal vaping conditions can produce an array of toxic chemicals, including benzene, a known human carcinogen, and fine particles, which can cause heart disease.\n\nLevels of toxic chemicals found in e-cigarette vapor are typically far lower than those found in tobacco smoke, but no one knows the long-term effects of inhaling them.\n\nTo figure out whether e-cigarettes reduce harm to smokers, the devices would have to undergo rigorous testing in several clinical trials, just as other nicotine-replacement therapies have. That hasn\u2019t happened. When the Public Health England panel concluded that e-cigarettes are 95 percent safer than cigarettes, it relied on assumptions about risks, not on data derived from carefully controlled studies.\n\n\u201cTheoretical benefits are not evidence,\u201d says Jonathan Klein, scientific director for the American Academy of Pediatrics Julius B. Richmond Center of Excellence, which studies tobacco. To get evidence on relative risks, at a minimum you\u2019d need to track the disease rates of separate groups of people using different products to see if vaping reduces disease outcomes, Klein says. And if you want to protect public health, you\u2019d prevent nonsmokers and young people from getting addicted, he says. \u201cBut that\u2019s not the way it\u2019s been approached.\u201d\n\n\u201cTheoretical benefits are not evidence.\u201d\n\nSoneji says you could classify e-cigarettes as a net population benefit if the devices were better than cold turkey at helping adult smokers quit, and they didn\u2019t attract children. Then they\u2019d resemble conventional nicotine-replacement therapy, otherwise known as NRT (think Nicorette gum or Chantix pills). \u201cNo kids are really interested in NRT,\u201d Soneji says. \u201cAnd NRT is better than cold turkey for smokers interested in quitting.\u201d\n\nAnd though e-cigarette lobbyists compare vaping to needle exchange or methadone treatment, there\u2019s a critical difference, Soneji says: unlike e-cigarettes, methadone isn\u2019t designed to attract people who aren\u2019t already addicted. \u201cIt\u2019s not like you can buy mint-flavored methadone.\u201d\n\nE-cigarettes, by contrast, are mass-marketed in flavors that appeal to kids, who can buy them online by clicking a link that says they\u2019re 18 or older. In 2011, at least four years after e-cigarettes hit the US market, just over 3 percent of 6th through 12th graders had tried e-cigarettes. By 2013, over 8 percent had tried vaping. More than a quarter-million kids who\u2019d never smoked cigarettes had tried vaping that year, researchers reported in Nicotine and Tobacco Research; they were nearly twice as likely to start smoking conventional cigarettes as kids who didn\u2019t vape. By 2015, e-cigarette use among teens had skyrocketed to 27 percent, surpassing the use of every other tobacco product. In 2017, e-cigarette use among teens dropped for the first time, according to the latest survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, though e-cigarettes are still the most favored tobacco product.\n\nAlarmed by the uptake among kids, former surgeon general Vivek Murthy called the devices a \u201cmajor public health concern\u201d in a report on e-cigarettes last year, which the vaping industry and its allies roundly condemned. William Godshall, a longtime anti-smoking activist who promotes vaping as harm reduction, accused Murthy of lying about vapor research and threatening the lives of vapers and smokers on eJuiceMonkeys.com, which posts his newsletter. The site also posted similar reprisals from the vaping industry and its allies.\n\nformer surgeon general Vivek Murthy called e-cigarettes a \u201cmajor public health concern\u201d\n\nPro-vaping blogs and online forums regularly praise studies that serve their aims and condemn those that don\u2019t. And that\u2019s where many of the roughly 8 million vapers and owners of the rapidly rising number of vape shops and lounges \u2014 at 8,500 last year and counting, according to the CDC journal Preventing Chronic Disease \u2014 get their information. They\u2019re also exchanging information at the growing number of meet-ups and conventions where enthusiasts can mingle with like-minded souls, geek out over the latest gear, and watch \u201ccloud chasers\u201d compete to blow the most impressive vapor plumes. At conventions like VapeCon, they can stock up on free samples or take a selfie with a seductively dressed Miss VapeCon. For many, vaping isn\u2019t just a habit, it\u2019s a way of life.\n\nSo when The Simpsons mocked industry claims that they didn\u2019t market to kids a few years ago, many vapers weren\u2019t amused. In the episode, Bart goes to the Kwik-E-Mart to buy e-cigs, and Apu tells him that while they\u2019re legal for children in their state, \u201cthis is not kid stuff.\u201d Then Apu asks, \u201cNow would you like bubble gum flavor, strawberry shortcake, or watermelon dream?\u201d A writer for Vaping360 complained that the show played to \u201ccommon fears and misconceptions.\u201d\n\nLying about Nicotine to Avoid Regulation\n\nVaping advocates often describe e-cigarettes as revolutionary technology that competes with Big Tobacco, and was patented in 2003 by Hon Lik, a Chinese pharmacist who wanted to quit smoking. Yet, internal industry documents released through litigation show that tobacco companies created prototypes of electronic cigarettes decades before Lik introduced his product.\n\nThe idea then, as now, was to develop a product that reduced the harm of smoking. And as part of that effort, the tobacco industry then, like the vaping industry today, denied the harmful effects not just of tar \u2014 which is not present in e-cigarettes \u2014 but also of nicotine, which is.\n\nIn 1962, British American Tobacco-contracted scientists began work on a \u201csmoking device\u201d\n\nIn April 1994, two months after the FDA announced it would study nicotine\u2019s effects, the chief executives of the seven largest US tobacco companies, including Philip Morris and Reynolds, lied under oath before a congressional subcommittee to deny that nicotine is addictive, even as they manipulated nicotine levels to promote addiction. These deceptions came to light in July 1995, when tobacco control researcher Stanton Glantz and his colleagues published the first in a series of papers that analyzed thousands of formerly confidential industry documents.\n\nThe next month, President Bill Clinton proposed sweeping regulations to curb teen smoking, noting that the FDA\u2019s 14-month study confirmed that \u201ccigarettes and smokeless tobacco are harmful, highly addictive and aggressively marketed to our young people.\u201d Cigarettes and smokeless tobacco \u201cfall well within the definitions of drug and device,\u201d the FDA had explained, because they deliver nicotine, a drug that affects the body partly by creating and sustaining addiction as tobacco companies intended.\n\nPhilip Morris, Reynolds, and a coalition of tobacco interests wasted no time filing lawsuits, using an argument that vaping interests would later tweak. Cigarettes aren\u2019t drugs or devices, they argued, but tobacco products, which the agency has no authority to regulate. The Competitive Enterprise Institute \u2014 which now runs interference for the vaping industry \u2014 quickly stepped in to ridicule the proposed rules. Caffeine and nicotine affect the same organs, argued Competitive Enterprise Institute general counsel Sam Kazman in a petition, so the agency may as well regulate caffeinated beverages as drugs and devices. Kazman acknowledged the petition was a stunt, but tobacco executives took his ploy a step further to argue in court that nicotine is no more harmful than caffeine \u2014 a canard promoted by vaping advocates today.\n\nPhilip Morris paid the Competitive Enterprise Institute $200,000 that year as part of its public policy program, and would pay the think tank an additional $445,000 over the next six years. Reynolds also funded the institute, which in turn joined Americans for Tax Reform and the Heartland Institute in a Reynolds-backed front group called \u201cGet Government Off Our Back\u201d (GGOOB) to fight indoor smoking laws and other federal tobacco regulations.\n\nAs GGOOB vowed to \u201cprotect Americans from the regulators\u2019 heavy-handed tactics,\u201d tobacco companies hashed out what would be the largest civil litigation settlement in US history. Forty-six state attorneys general, five US territories, and the District of Columbia sued the companies for deceptive and fraudulent practices under consumer protection and antitrust laws to recover the substantial health care costs associated with smoking. The so-called Master Settlement Agreement dismissed existing and future suits against the companies in exchange for billions in annual payments to compensate the states.\n\nTobacco companies co-opted \u201charm reduction\u201d from an Institute of Medicine report\n\nToward that end, they hired PR firms to create divisions among tobacco control experts and weaken public health policy by identifying moderates who might promote \u201csafer\u201d products while attacking the credibility of moralistic \u201cextremists\u201d who wouldn\u2019t.\n\nIt\u2019s impossible to tell whether the tobacco industry\u2019s efforts to cause dissension among tobacco control experts accounts for the polarized debate on vaping today. The industry has a history of destroying documents that might have revealed whether they carried out their plans. What\u2019s clear, however, is that the industry continued to call on \u201ccredible third parties\u201d like the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Americans for Tax Reform to fight regulations by attacking inconvenient research results and highlighting \u201cabuses\u201d of government-funded anti-tobacco programs. And now the same third parties are helping vaping interests protect e-cigarettes.\n\nTobacco-funded Libertarians Lend a Hand\n\nAs of September 2017, eight states and the District of Columbia have passed laws to tax e-cigarettes. Every state except Michigan has at least one law on the books specifically regulating e-cigarettes, and in many states, including Michigan, local governments have adopted stronger rules. Where public health experts see taxes and regulations as proven strategies to reduce the use of tobacco and its alternatives, vaping advocates view the measures as an assault on their livelihood and individual rights. Their campaigns to fight taxes and regulations have been taken up by far-right libertarian activists like Grover Norquist, founder of Americans for Tax Reform, which has received over $1 million from Philip Morris and Reynolds since the mid-1990s. Norquist praised vapers on his podcast for helping to defeat the 2014 reelection bid of a New Mexico state representative who proposed taxing e-cigarettes as tobacco products, and for beating back tax increases in 26 states.\n\nLast year, Americans for Tax Reform\u2019s Paul Blair joined the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association and the American Vaping Association on a multi-state \u201cRight to Vape\u201d tour to \u201craise awareness\u201d that the FDA\u2019s proposed regulations on e-cigarettes would destroy the industry. At a stop in Wisconsin, the rally\u2019s emcee introduced an \u201cactivist and warrior for the cause,\u201d Aaron Biebert, director of the cinematic valentine to vaping A Billion Lives. In the movie, named for cigarettes\u2019 projected death toll over the next century, Biebert lays out a conspiracy to discredit vaping among puritanical \u201cprohibitionists\u201d who insist smokers \u201cquit or die,\u201d corrupt federal health officials addicted to revenues from tobacco industry taxes and lawsuits, and drug companies intent on quashing their competition.\n\nGlosses on this theory echo across blogs, social media, vaping forums, and right-wing media channels. Biebert\u2019s vilification of the federal government earned him spots on the Herman Cain Show, hosted by the 2012 Republican presidential candidate and Tea Party favorite, and the podcast of the Heartland Institute, the free-market think tank that took money from Exxon while attacking the science of climate change. Perhaps less well-known is that the Heartland Institute, which took at least $325,000 from Philip Morris in the 1990s, also helped the tobacco industry deny the evidence that secondhand smoke harms bystanders \u2014 and that Philip Morris targeted kids with its Joe Camel cartoons.\n\nOn Cain\u2019s show, Biebert explained his movie\u2019s central premise: e-cigarettes would save a billion lives if not for corrupt public health officials who lie about the risks of nicotine and vaping to promote innovation-destroying regulations that will kill an industry. \u201cYou can tell it\u2019s kind of crooked, because it just doesn\u2019t make sense,\u201d Biebert said. \u201cThere\u2019s no science to back it up and here they are shutting down 20,000 businesses, and they don\u2019t care.\u201d (Vapers\u2019 estimates of vape shops tend to run higher than public health officials\u2019.) Biebert went on to say that, time and again, studies show that the air around vapers is no different from \u201cregular air.\u201d Cain, who fought indoor smoking restrictions and took money from Reynolds as head of the National Restaurant Association, wrapped up the interview saying, \u201cBig Brother has lied again to the American people.\u201d\n\nA Billion Lives calls on veteran anti-smoking activists to attack the \u201canti-tobacco industry\u201d for not promoting vaping as a public health \u201cmiracle.\u201d By presenting an alternative to cigarettes, contends David Sweanor, adjunct professor at the Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics at the University of Ottawa, vaping offers the \u201copportunity to do something that would rival the eradication of smallpox.\u201d Godshall, an ardent defender of vaping, describes his idea of the perfect solution to the cigarette epidemic: it would be 99 percent less hazardous than cigarettes, wouldn\u2019t be addicting nonsmokers, wouldn\u2019t encourage anyone to switch to cigarettes, and would help lots of people quit smoking. \u201cAnd it\u2019s called vaping.\u201d\n\nBoth Sweanor and Godshall, who broke with mainstream tobacco control experts over a decade ago, have long promoted alternative tobacco products to reduce the harm associated with smoking (see \u201cA History of Promoting Reduced Harm,\u201d above).\n\nSweanor told me he believes vaping could force the tobacco industry to stop selling cigarettes. \u201cIf the vast majority of the risk is from the smoke, and you can deliver what consumers would like without the smoke in a far less addictive way so you can greatly reduce their health risk and you can facilitate them getting off the product entirely if that's what they want to do,\u201d he asks, \u201cthen how do you justify selling cigarettes?\u201d\n\nSweanor believes officials should inform smokers that different tobacco products carry different risks, rather than telling them to quit tobacco. \u201cWe've got 6 million plus deaths per year, virtually all because of a dirty delivery system,\u201d he told me.\n\n\u201cMaybe e-cigarettes are 50 percent safer, or 25 percent safer, or maybe they are just as bad as cigarettes in ways that we do not know.\u201d\n\nBut are e-cigarettes a clean nicotine delivery system? That\u2019s not what the scientific evidence shows, Soneji says. \u201cMaybe e-cigarettes are 50 percent safer, or 25 percent safer, or maybe they are just as bad as cigarettes in ways that we do not know.\u201d\n\nThe concerted efforts to discount evidence from studies finding cause for concern about vaping echo the tactics of tobacco industry-funded scientists who questioned the link between cancer and smoking, Soneji notes. They sowed confusion and skepticism to undermine a growing body of evidence of smoking\u2019s harms, which helped delay regulations on cigarettes for decades. The research on e-cigarettes is just beginning, he says, yet advocates are simply dismissing potential harms while cheerleading the benefits of vaping far beyond what the science supports.\n\nGodshall, in contrast, insists the science is settled. He blames the \u201cleft-wing\u201d media and government-funded scientists for spreading misinformation about the benefits of vaping. \u201cThe headlines and the news are confusing and deceiving the public about the science,\u201d he says. \u201cMany of the people who are being paid to conduct the science have been knowingly and intentionally manipulating their results, omitting results, selectively cherry picking and basically misrepresenting their own findings because they\u2019re getting federal funding.\u201d\n\nWhere did Godshall get the evidence that vaping is 99 percent safer than smoking? \u201cBasically every study that\u2019s ever been published,\u201d he told me.\n\nRecycling Old Claims\n\nLong before scientists began studying vaping\u2019s potential harms and benefits, distributors marketed e-cigarettes as a \u201chealthier way to smoke.\u201d Ads featuring scantily clad women claimed e-cigarettes could help smokers \u201cstop the habit\u201d and get \u201creal nicotine in a harmless water vapor that you can smoke...virtually anywhere!\u201d Where smokers saw a new gadget to satisfy their nicotine cravings, the FDA saw companies peddling a drug with unsubstantiated health claims. And in the spring of 2009, the agency blocked imports of e-cigarettes made by three Chinese manufacturers as unapproved drug delivery devices.\n\nSmoking Everywhere, which imported and distributed the Chinese products, promptly sued the FDA, tweaking the argument tobacco companies had made a decade earlier: e-cigarettes are not nicotine or drug delivery devices, but tobacco products and therefore outside the agency\u2019s jurisdiction. E-cigarette distributor NJOY soon joined the lawsuit, and CASAA, Godshall, and several other vaping advocates later filed a supporting brief.\n\nSeveral months after seizing the products, the FDA announced that its scientists had detected tobacco-related carcinogens and toxic chemicals in some of the samples. The industry\u2019s libertarian allies quickly rose to its defense. The American Council on Science and Health condemned the FDA for needlessly scaring the public, while Brad Rodu and Joel Nitzkin of the R Street Institute cast doubt on the agency\u2019s science. Godshall for his part urged the FDA to consider a test by e-cigarette manufacturer Ruyan, which he said found \u201cno product hazards.\u201d\n\nGodshall also actively partnered with vaping companies. \u201cI was the person who got the two owners of NJOY and Smoking Everywhere together and helped coordinate their legal team,\u201d he told me. NJOY and Smoking Everywhere hired the same firms that helped the tobacco industry evade regulation and defeat smokers\u2019 liability claims for years. And their allies, including CASAA and Godshall, hired law firms that had successfully defended tobacco companies Brown & Williamson and Philip Morris against class action lawsuits brought by smokers seeking compensation from an industry they said lied about its products\u2019 lethal nature.\n\nBringing in veteran tobacco industry lawyers paid off. Nine months after Smoking Everywhere filed suit, a federal judge ordered the FDA to stop seizing e-cigarette shipments.\n\n\u201cThere is no smoke associated with e-cigarettes. So to call them smoking devices is ridiculous.\u201d\n\nIn the absence of federal oversight, state and city officials proposed their own measures to regulate vaping. In spring 2014, the Philadelphia City Council proposed adding e-cigarettes to indoor smoking laws and prohibiting their sale to minors. CASAA quickly issued a call to action and distributed talking points to help vapers oppose the measures. CASAA describes itself as a grassroots organization devoted to ensuring the availability of reduced harm alternatives to smoking. Yet former board members have received research grants from Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, British American Tobacco, US Smokeless Tobacco Company, and Swedish Match, which also makes smokeless tobacco.\n\nGodshall, Gilbert Ross, then-executive director of the American Council on Science and Health, and R Street Institute\u2019s Nitzkin also showed up to defend vaping. Defining e-cigarettes as smoking devices is \u201ca major distortion of the truth,\u201d Nitzkin told the city council. Godshall urged the council to reject the bills, saying the vaping ban \u201cdeceitfully defines smoke-free e-cigarettes as electronic smoking.\u201d Ross offered his own variation on the vaping isn\u2019t smoking trope. \u201cThere is no smoke associated with e-cigarettes,\u201d Ross said. \u201cSo to call them smoking devices is ridiculous.\u201d\n\nYet that\u2019s exactly what the vaping companies and their supporters called e-cigarettes in their FDA lawsuit. Smoking Everywhere \u2014 as its name suggests \u2014 described itself as a \u201ccorporation that has pioneered the marketing and importation of electronic smoking devices...marketed, labeled, and sold solely to provide adult consumers with alternative \u2018smoking\u2019 pleasure, without the inconveniences of traditional tobacco smoking.\u201d\n\nGodshall also resurrected the argument Kazman of the Competitive Enterprise Institute used to ridicule the FDA\u2019s first attempt to regulate nicotine as a drug. \u201cSo, I mean, why don\u2019t you ban coffee?\u201d Godshall asked. \u201cIt\u2019s got carcinogens in it, toxic chemicals.\u201d\n\nThe Philadelphia City Council, supported by the local health department, didn\u2019t buy his argument. Both bills passed in a unanimous votes in March 2014, a month before the FDA finally proposed its \u201cdeeming\u201d rule to regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco products.\n\nStates have had less success than cities in passing e-cigarette legislation. In California, then-state Senator Ellen Corbett introduced a bill in 2013 to prohibit the sale of e-cigarettes in vending machines and regulate them like any other tobacco product. CASAA again rallied its base to fight the measure, arguing that e-cigarettes aren\u2019t tobacco products, exactly the opposite of what the group claimed in a brief supporting Smoking Everywhere\u2019s lawsuit.\n\nIn the past, cigarette companies had to create phony grassroots smokers\u2019 rights groups to take their case to the public, says UCSF\u2019s Stanton Glantz. \u201cNow there are grassroots groups that popped up on their own that tobacco companies hide behind.\u201d\n\nAnd as vaping advocates fight regulations in public hearings, tobacco companies work the halls and back rooms of the capitol. Philip Morris, Reynolds American, and its allies paid lobbyists nearly $1.2 million over the 2013\u201314 election cycle to fight Corbett\u2019s bill and other tobacco legislation, a review of campaign filings shows, while NJOY kicked in an additional $88,105. When the bill emerged from the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee \u2014 which tobacco control advocates call the \u201cplace where tobacco control bills go to die\u201d \u2014 e-cigarettes were no longer defined as tobacco products. The bill died after many health advocates reluctantly withdrew their support.\n\nFormer California state Senator Mark Leno also tried to regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco products in 2015. This time, the Northern California chapter of the Smoke-Free Alternatives Trade Association (SFATA) mobilized vapers. In opposing the bill, former Norcal SFATA director Stefan Didak told legislators he\u2019s never taken money from the vaping or tobacco industry. He didn\u2019t mention that SFATA\u2019s board members included a former senior marketing executive for Philip Morris and a National Tobacco Company executive who claimed to have shredded a million incriminating documents for the tobacco industry in the 1990s and founded a company that makes synthetic nicotine.\n\nAltria and its allies paid their lobbyists over $908,700 to fight Leno\u2019s measure, while NJOY and SFATA spent $67,500. And again, the Governmental Organization Committee changed the bill\u2019s language to say that e-cigarettes are not tobacco products. \u201cThe chair of the Assembly committee attempted to completely hijack our bill by creating a new definition of e-cigarettes, which was exactly what the tobacco industry wanted,\u201d Leno told me. \u201cWe had to walk away from our own bill.\u201d\n\nThe tobacco and vaping industries have spent nearly $10 million to fight regulations on e-cigarettes and related legislation in California since 2009, state records show. Altria and Reynolds American spent over $70 million in 2016 alone to fight taxes on tobacco and e-cigarettes in California. It took a special session called by Governor Jerry Brown to get around the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee. Leno reintroduced his original bill, which passed last year along with what health advocates call the most wide-reaching package of tobacco control legislation in decades.\n\nRecent research shows that e-cigarette users have more carcinogens in their urine than nonusers\n\nThe scope of tobacco industry spending to influence policy is no surprise to Samir Soneji, who\u2019s well-versed in the industry\u2019s tactics. He remains troubled that tobacco-control allies who once exposed the tobacco industry\u2019s deceptions seem to accept the same actions by the e-cigarette industry. \u201cIt might be the same playbook but they don\u2019t make that connection.\u201d\n\nEven so, the summit made him think differently about the concerns of people whose lives and livelihoods are tied to vaping. It helped him understand why adult smokers who can\u2019t quit despite repeated attempts are willing to try e-cigarettes before there\u2019s conclusive evidence that they work. He\u2019s even thinking of returning to the meeting next year so he can \"rile up some more animosity,\u201d he says, recalling the boos his last appearance provoked. He\u2019s curious if anyone will change their view of vaping in light of new studies, which are \u201ccoming out constantly.\" Recent research shows that e-cigarette users have more carcinogens in their urine than nonusers, for example, in contrast to studies presented at the summit that \u201cheavily discounted\u201d their toxicity.\n\nVaping interests, meanwhile, continue to discount e-cigarettes\u2019 harms as they\u2019ve redoubled efforts to fight restrictions on the devices. After the FDA finalized its rule to regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco products last year, vaping companies and their allies again tapped tobacco industry lawyers to fight the FDA. Nicopure, which makes e-liquids and e-cigarettes, hired the same law firm that ran Philip Morris\u2019 Whitecoat operation to cast doubt on the dangers of secondhand smoke. The suit again challenged the agency\u2019s jurisdiction and argued that the rule violated companies\u2019 constitutional rights to free speech by preventing e-cigarette manufacturers from making truthful statements about its products. \u201cNotwithstanding plaintiffs\u2019 rhetoric,\u201d a federal judge wrote in rejecting the claims in July, \u201cthis provision does not ban truthful statements about health benefits or reduced risks; it simply requires that they be substantiated.\u201d\n\n\u201cBanning e-cigarettes would actually increase transportation-related deaths by driving nicotine-dependent passengers to drive rather than fly,\u201d their opening brief argued\n\nThe industry tried a more creative approach last year, when CASAA and the Competitive Enterprise Institute sued the Department of Transportation to overturn a rule extending the smoking ban on airplanes to e-cigarettes. \u201cBanning e-cigarettes would actually increase transportation-related deaths by driving nicotine-dependent passengers to drive rather than fly,\u201d their opening brief argued, \u201cand would undermine rather than promote passenger comfort by subjecting passengers to nicotine withdrawal symptoms that are a common cause of \u201cair rage.\u201d A federal appeals court rejected their argument in July.\n\nTobacco control advocates scored another win during the summer, when San Francisco passed an ordinance banning the sale of flavored tobacco products. Within weeks, a group called Let\u2019s Be Real, heavily promoted by by SFATA\u2019s Didak, launched a voter petition to repeal the ban. The Competitive Enterprise Institute, R Street, and other tobacco industry allies also attacked the ban, which suggests that they fear other cities will follow suit. Let\u2019s Be Real announced in August that it had collected far more than the required number of signatures to force a referendum on the flavor ban.\n\nWhere things get real is on the bottom line. San Francisco\u2019s strict campaign disclosure laws require petitioners to reveal their benefactors. And the first part of that disclosure offers voters plucky, grassroots appeal: \u201cPaid for by Let\u2019s Be Real San Francisco, A Coalition of Concerned Citizens Supporting Freedom of Choice, Adult Consumers, Community Leaders, and Neighborhood Small Businesses.\u201d\n\nIf that seems rosy, the punchline is somewhat more worrying: \u201cwith Major Funding by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.\u201d", "output": "The vaping industry is using tactics similar to those previously deployed by the tobacco sector in order to create doubts about the dangers of e-cigarettes and to fight regulation, according to an article in The Verge. The vaping market is currently valued at over $10bn, expected to rise to $34bn by 2021. Tobacco firms including Reynolds American and Altria (formerly Philip Morris) have taken over from small companies. The vaping and tobacco industries have spent almost $10m fighting e-cigarette regulation in California since 2009. Vaping firms have also used law firms that formerly protected the tobacco industry from litigation. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK and Canada launch alliance to phase out coal by 2030 \n BONN, Germany \u2014 One of the biggest announcements at this year's United Nations climate talks came on Thursday, when Canada and Britain began a new global alliance aimed at phasing out the use of coal power by 2030. But so far, the countries, states and provinces that have joined the \u201cPowering Past Coal Alliance\u201d account for less than 3 percent of coal use worldwide.\n\nMany of the alliance\u2019s key members \u2014 including Denmark, France, Finland, Italy, Austria, Mexico, and the Netherlands \u2014 were already on their way to retiring what little coal power they had left.\n\nOpponents of coal, the most carbon-intensive of all fossil fuels, were feeling triumphant in Bonn. This week, the International Energy Agency declared that coal's \u201cboom years\u201d were over, as China\u2019s once-insatiable appetite for the fuel has waned and countries like the United States have been closing their coal plants in favor of cheaper and cleaner sources like natural gas, solar, and wind.\n\n\u201cThe market has moved on, the world has moved on, and coal is not coming back,\u201d said Catherine McKenna, Canada\u2019s minister of environment and climate change.\n\nYet coal still provides roughly 40 percent of the world\u2019s electricity, and many countries aren\u2019t willing to commit to a total phase-out just yet. A number of developing countries in Asia \u2014 including India, Vietnam and Bangladesh \u2014 are still looking to build new coal plants to bring electricity to those who don't have it.\n\nFor the world to meet its climate goals, the coal landscape would have to change drastically \u2014 and soon. A recent report from the United Nations Environment Program warned that keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, would require either shutting down nearly every coal plant in the world before 2050 or outfitting the plants with technology to capture emissions and bury them.\n\nThe new anti-coal alliance, which is made up of 19 countries and six states, provinces and cities, has one notable omission: Germany, which still generates 40 percent of its electricity from coal. On Wednesday, Chancellor Angela Merkel acknowledged at the Bonn climate talks that Germany would most likely miss its goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 because of its continued consumption of lignite, a particularly dirty, low-grade form of coal.\n\nWhile many environmentalists had hoped that Ms. Merkel would use the climate talks to set a timetable for the elimination of coal in Germany, she merely said that she was engaged in \u201ctough discussions\u201d on the issue as she sought to form a new government.", "output": "Canada and the UK launched a new global alliance designed to phase out the use of coal power by 2030 at the United Nations climate talks last week. However, the 19 countries, and six cities, provinces and states that have committed to the \u201cPowering Past Coal Alliance\u201d account for under 3% of global coal use. Key members of the group, including Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Mexico and the Netherlands had also already committed to retiring their remaining coal power. The alliance also does not include Germany, which still uses coal to generate 40% of its electricity.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ethereum to pioneer lower blockchain energy consumption \n This piece appears in our new twice-weekly newsletter, Chain Letter, which covers the world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Sign up here \u2013 it\u2019s free!\n\nBefore we get to that, though, let\u2019s talk about miners. Blockchains get a lot of love, but they are only shared sets of data. What brings cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum to life is the way all the computers in their networks agree, over and over, that what a blockchain says is true. To do this, they use an algorithm called a consensus mechanism. You\u2019ve probably heard it called \u201cmining.\u201d (See: \u201cWhat Bitcoin Is, and Why It Matters\u201d)\n\nCryptocurrency miners do much more than unlock new coins. In the process, they check the blockchain to make sure people aren\u2019t spending coins fraudulently, and they add new lists of transactions\u2014the blocks\u2014to the chain. It\u2019s the second step, meant to secure the blockchain from attacks, that guzzles electricity.\n\nUltimately, the miners must transform each list of most recent transactions into a signature that can serve as proof that the information is true. All miners can do this, using a cryptographic tool that takes any input and spits out a string of seemingly random characters. But Bitcoin\u2019s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, made this part particularly difficult.\n\nNakamoto set up a competition, the object of which is to be the first to determine a very specific signature based on three inputs: the signature of the preceding block, the list of new transactions, and a random third number. Since miners don\u2019t know the third number, they must generate signatures repeatedly until one guesses correctly. This expends an immense amount of energy, signaling to the rest of the network that a miner\u2019s accounting can be trusted.\n\nBut while this particular method of reaching agreement\u2014known as \u201cproof of work\u201d\u2014is the most established, it isn\u2019t the only one. A growing number of technologists are exploring different avenues, and some smaller cryptocurrencies already employ alternative means.\n\nThe one in the best position to supplant proof of work is called \u201cproof of stake.\u201d Whereas proof of work rewards participants for spending computational resources, blockchains that use proof of stake would select validators based in part on the size of their respective monetary deposits\u2014their stake. This would be massively more energy efficient, but the concept is still unproven at a large scale and has a number of kinks that need working out.\n\nStill, if all goes as planned, Ethereum will transition to proof of stake relatively soon, perhaps as early as the end of this year. That would be hugely impressive, given that its creator Vitalik Buterin has called devising an effective consensus algorithm \u201cone of the hardest problems in cryptocurrency development.\u201d\n\nThe reality is that we are probably stuck with energy-guzzling cryptocurrencies, at least for a while. In the meantime, maybe true believers would be wise to invest their digital coins in renewable electricity sources.", "output": "The ethereum blockchain is set to introduce changes to its technology that could significantly reduce\u00a0its energy use. At present, blockchains use vast quantities of energy, mainly through the production of digital signatures that protect them from attack through a process known as \u201cproof of work\u201d. An alternative \u201cproof of stake\u201d process, which validates blockchains on the basis of monetary deposits, is more energy efficient and could be adopted by ethereum as early as the end of this year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Jotun launches coatings that can withstand 1,000-degree heat \n Edit page New page Hide edit links\n\nJotun meets extreme demands of onshore oil, gas and chemical industries with new Thermosafe range providing better corrosion protection, hence less maintenance for the operators (photo: Jotun)\n\nThe onshore oil, gas and chemical industries are evolving, and they need protective coating solutions to keep pace with ever more extreme demands. That\u2019s the message from Jotun, one of the world\u2019s leading global paints and coatings provider, which launches the unique Thermosafe range, enabling customers operating at higher temperatures, with enhanced safety, efficiency and productivity.\n\nWith the long life of a coating system and effective protection of facility assets growing in importance, Thermosafe was developed to enhance operational efficiency, cut costs, reduce maintenance and increase on-site safety. Thermosafe compromises five products created to suit specific extreme environments \u2013 including temperature ranges from -196C to 1000C, thermal exposure, corrosion, fire, cryogenic spills and heat enabling better corrosion protection and reduced maintenance needs.\n\nThis, Miles Buckhurst, Global Concept Director HPI at Jotun, explains, is exactly what the industry needs: \u201cWe work hand-in-hand with our global customer base in order to gain an intimate understanding of their operations,\u201d he notes. \u201cThat insight tells us that the shift to higher temperatures, to help optimise processing and productivity, requires a new generation of coating. Thermosafe is a direct response to that demand.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe unbeatable protection these products deliver will allow customers to reduce material and maintenance costs, enhance safety standards, increase efficiency, and boost earnings by decreasing the amount of maintenance needed, and by bringing facilities back online faster after shut downs. We also understand that this is not a \u2018one size fits all\u2019 industry, so have utilised our established expertise to tailor solutions specifically for individual customer requirements.\u201d\n\nThis is clearly demonstrated across the Thermosafe range. For example, Jotatemp 250 provides anti-corrosive protection for continuous operations of up to 250 degrees, providing optimal cost efficiency for customers operating within this threshold. However, those with the potential to experience anything from the lowest liquid gas temperatures up the extremes of burning hydrocarbons can choose Jotatemp 1000 Ceramic for optimum protection up to 1,000 degrees.\n\nThe full Thermosafe range, which also features mesh free epoxy passive fire protection (PFP) solutions and thermal insulation for cryogenic spills, safeguards against a comprehensive spectrum of threats, from thermal exposure, to corrosion, fires and heat.\n\n\u201cWe have used a significant amount of resources to develop unique solutions catering for the needs of this fast-growing segment,\u201d Buckhurst concludes. \u201cThe onshore oil, gas and chemical industries are some of the most demanding in the world, and they deserve coatings that can help them fulfill their potential. We are dedicated to delivering unrivalled performance \u2013 in our products and, as a consequence, for our customers\u2019 operations worldwide.\u201d\n\nThe Thermosafe range consists of:", "output": "Paint and coating provider Jotun has launched its Thermosafe range, offering coatings that can withstand extreme temperatures, for oil, gas and chemical facility assets. The Thermosafe range includes five products for particular conditions: thermal exposure, corrosion, cryogenic spills, fire, and heat from -196 to 1,000 degrees Celsius. The products should help facilities to lower costs, increase safety standards and boost efficiency. The range includes Jotatemp 250; Jotatemp 540 Zinc; Jotatemp 1000 Ceramic; Jotachar 1709; and Jotatherm TB550."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sensirion develops low-power natural gas detection tech \n New environmentally friendly technologies, such as power-to-gas and biogas production systems, will change requirements for the entire natural gas industry, including gas metering. Due to these trends, future gas metering will be confronted with new mixtures of natural gas, including those that contain significant amounts of non-conventional fuel gases such as hydrogen or carbon dioxide. These new gas mixtures present a challenge for technologies that are currently used in natural gas metering.\n\nSensirion has been working on the above for many years and developed a microthermal gas metering method using a new technology to measure thermal gas characteristics. The company plans to commercialise this technology by adding the tehnology to its current product portfolio of SGM6000 modules.\n\nThe SGM6200 series is expected to fulfil both current and future market requirements. One module covers natural gases in groups H and L and E (as defined in EN437), as well as natural gas mixtures, including non-conventional fuel gases with up to 25% hydrogen content. The series will output temperature-compensated volumes of natural gas, aligned with today\u2019s most widely used natural gas billing systems. The meters are also competitively priced, with ultra-low current consumption of 10 \u00b5A.", "output": "Environmental sensor provider Sensirion has created a microthermal gas metering method to detect thermal gas, including non-conventional gas types that may be used in future, such as power-to-gas and biogas production systems. Sensirion plans to add its new method to its existing SGM6000 module range. The modules will encompass natural H, L and E gases, alongside natural gas mixtures with a maximum of 25% hydrogen content. Each device only consumes up to 10 \u00b5A."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CIMC's Blue Whale II rig can operate in 12,000 ft of water \n CIMC Raffles started the final series of sea trials for the ultra-deepwater drilling rig Blue Whale II in preparation for its delivery later this year.\n\nTogether with its award-winning sister rig Blue Whale I, which was completed in February, the two rigs are among the most advanced offshore drilling rigs in the world \u2013 designed to operate in 12,000 feet of water and drill to a depth of 50,000 feet.\n\nThe rigs were constructed based on the Frigstad D90 design and are equipped with a dynamic positioning 3 system.\n\nThey were originally ordered by Frigstad Offshore, but in 2016 the company decided to sell the newbuilds to a subsidiary of CIMC amid the prolonged downturn in the offshore oil and gas industry.\n\nBlue Whale I recently finished drilling its first successful deep-water well for methane hydrate in the South China Sea on behalf of China National Petroleum Corporation.", "output": "Shipyard builder CIMC Raffles has initiated final sea trials for the ultra-deepwater drilling rig, the Blue Whale II, due to be launched in late 2017. The first rig in the series, the Blue Whale I, was completed in February this year, and both rigs can operate in 12,000 ft of water, and are able to drill to a depth of 50,000 ft. The rigs were designed using the Frigstad D90 design as a base, and are equipped with a dynamic positioning 3 system. Frigstad Offshore had ordered the rigs initially, but the builds were sold to a CIMC subsidiary in 2016. Blue Whale I has been used in the South China Sea for the China National Petroleum Corporation, drilling for methane hydrate in its first deepwater well."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Senators Clash Over Last Minute Changes to Tax Bill \n WASHINGTON \u2014 Uncertainty gripped the Senate on Wednesday over efforts to pass a sweeping $1.5 trillion tax cut after a Wisconsin Republican became the first senator in his party to declare that he could not vote for the tax bill as written, and other senators expressed serious misgivings over the cost and effect on the middle class.\n\nThe House is set on Thursday to pass its own version of the tax bill, which would cut taxes by more than $1.4 trillion over 10 years and broadly rewrite the business tax code. But as with the health care debate earlier this year, the Senate emerged as the inconstant ally in President Trump\u2019s pursuit of a major legislative accomplishment in his first year.\n\nSenator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, came out against both chambers\u2019 tax plans on Wednesday, saying that the bills favored corporations over small businesses and other so-called pass-through entities, whose owners pay taxes on profits through the tax code for individuals.\n\n\u201cThese businesses truly are the engines of innovation and job creation throughout our economy, and they should not be left behind,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cUnfortunately, neither the House nor Senate bill provide fair treatment, so I do not support either in their current versions.\u201d", "output": "A conflict has arisen between Republican and Democratic senators over the changes that Republican officials have made to their proposed tax legislation. Votes are due in both chambers of Congress shortly on the proposed overhaul, but Democrats have taken issue with the insertion of a repeal of the Affordable Care Act\u2019s mandate that most people to have health insurance, which has been replaced with a 2025 expiration date for individual tax cuts. Corporate tax cuts have been made permanent. The changes will allow the Republican party to save over $300bn over a decade, but the Congressional Budget Office has said that 13m fewer people would have insurance after a decade without the ACA mandate, and insurance premiums would rise approximately 10%. The Republicans have insisted that the individual mandate is a tax, and is a legitimate modification. The proposed legislative changes will theoretically add over $1.4tn to the federal debt over a 10 year period. The tax bill will also be merged with legislation that will allow the Alaskan Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to be opened to oil and gas drilling. The Republicans plan to protect that law from Democratic filibustering in the Senate, and when combined with the tax reform legislation, the two proposed laws would both be protected. The Trump administration has pushed Congress to resolve its differences to push the tax bill through, though, at present, there is a large divide between the House and Senate tax bills.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "50% of seniors visit the dentist annually \u2013 How to treat the rising geriatric population \n As the geriatric population continues to increase, dentists are changing their approach to dental care. Karen Becerra, DDS, CEO of Gary and Mary West Senior Dental Center in San Diego discussed the challenges and opportunities for dentists when treating seniors.Despite major advances in dentistry and the ability to prevent many oral healthcare issues, dental disease in seniors is one of the most significant and widespread public health problems in America, due to the costs of care and a lack of dental insurance.Data shows that fewer than half of seniors visited a dentist in the previous year, and most of our patients are dual eligibles for both Medicare and Medicaid and can\u2019t afford to pay for dental care. They have trouble finding dentists that will even accept Denti-Cal, California\u2019s Medicaid program.You\u2019d be amazed at how many people don\u2019t realize the Medicare coverage they get when they turn 65 has no coverage for dental care. Transportation is a major issue too, so our facility is co-located within a very popular senior wellness center in Downtown San Diego that sees almost a thousand clients a day.You need to think of a patient\u2019s overall needs \u2013 from mental, social, medical and dental \u2013 so we are constantly consulting with physicians, families and social workers to address all of the patient\u2019s needs. You have to customize the treatment plan based on the patient\u2019s needs and circumstances. A 99 year old is going to get a different treatment plan than a 65 year old, because their ability to tolerate the stress of treatment varies. For example, a recent 99 year old woman had a broken tooth, that after careful consideration and discussion with her primary care physician, we decided it would be better to keep it in her mouth rather than extract it. If she had been 65, we most likely would have taken it out. While every case is different, we always try to keep in mind the patient\u2019s broader health aspects when we consider their treatment.According to the CDC, about one-in-five people 65 and older have untreated tooth decay, and they may even experience new tooth decay at higher rates than children. Seniors are also more prone to issues like dry mouth, tooth loss and periodontal disease \u2013 the prevalence and severity of which increases with age.In addition, oral cancer is seven times more common in people 65 years of age and older, as compared to younger adults, and more older adults die from oral cancer than from skin cancer in America. Research has also shown infections in the mouth may be associated with heart disease, stroke, diabetes, pneumonia and other health problems.As an industry, dentistry is always changing. New technologies and ways to treat patients and improve their experience to make them more comfortable with the dental process are always emerging. Fear is a big aspect of treating seniors, because many of them have had poor experiences in the past, so anything that can help alleviate that is helpful. For example, new high-resolution cameras let us show a patient what is happening in their mouths quickly and help us educate them on the importance of the issues in their mouth and how they need to take care of their teeth. With all of these changes, though, the basics remain the same for seniors and any other patient. If they don\u2019t brush and improve their home care, we\u2019re going to be limited on what I can do to help them, and the oral diseases will reoccur. Prevention stays the same regardless of how old you are.We approach the patient as whole person, looking at their social, medical, mental and dental needs. The mission of the Gary and Mary West Senior Dental Center is to provide affordable, high-quality oral healthcare with comprehensive education, clinical, and wellness services for seniors in need, enabling them to live healthy and productive lives. The Senior Dental Center links high-quality and affordable oral healthcare with a suite of nutrition, case management and wellness services offered through the Gary and Mary West Senior Wellness Center , creating a one-of-a-kind, integrated community-based system of care for older adults. We\u2019re focused on integrating medical and dental care for a seriously underserved population of low-income seniors so oral care isn\u2019t an isolated silo.I think it\u2019s essential. You can\u2019t be in good general health if you have poor oral health, and vice versa. Care has to be looked at holistically. This is a care model we\u2019ve adopted at the Senior Dental Center, where seniors can access a variety of health and wellness services all under one roof. Health navigators are able to collect and share important health information among providers and social services professionals. Our initial intake looks at the whole person \u2013 from traditional healthcare indicators like medical, dental and psychological, but we also really focus on social issues like nutrition and housing, because if those basic needs aren\u2019t met, patients aren\u2019t going to be able to improve their healthcare.Every senior who comes to us with a dental issue first gets a Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) where we evaluate overall health, dental and mental status, as well as functional ability and his or her living situation. This enables us to develop a coordinated care plan that encompasses dental, medical and supportive social services all together. The CGA allows us to understanding the holistic need of a patient so we can prioritize their needs and get them ready to be seated in one of the dental chairs. If at any point during the appointment, any social, medical or mental needs become evident, then we do a direct referral to the other social services co-located at the senior wellness center where we\u2019re located, and we work with regularly.Yes, we expect to see improvements in access as the community at large gets educated in the importance of addressing the oral-health needs of vulnerable seniors. We expect more collaboration, engagement and action from dentists and other health professionals, as well as engagement from community leaders, advocates, insurers and seniors themselves to help address these access issues. We believe the data we are collecting and analyzing at the Senior Dental Center will demonstrate the positive health outcomes and potential cost savings of providing dental care to seniors so that more communities will develop integrated models and more seniors have access to affordable coverage. As a non-profit, we\u2019re always trying to raise funds to support these access efforts, so please visit www.seniordentalcenter.org to see how you can donate to support this cause so we can continue to shine a light on this issue to take all of our learnings and share them with others at the state and national level to proactively address this problem.", "output": "With the rise in geriatric Americans, dentists are taking a new approach to providing care for oral health. Seniors face barriers to dental care, with dental disease in older adults being one of the most prevalent public health issues in the country because of the expense of care and a lack of basic dental insurance. Less than half of all US seniors saw a dentist for a check-up in the past 12 months, and most patients are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, but are still unable to pay for oral care. Denti-Cal, the Californian state Medicaid program, is difficult to use for many dentists. Medicare coverage at present does not cover dental issues; transportation to facilities is also difficult, causing further problems for older adults. Common dental problems include untreated tooth decay; dry mouth; tooth loss; and periodontal disease, all of which can be exacerbated with age. The CDC has said that one in five of those aged 65 and over have untreated tooth decay problems, possibly having new issues of decay at a higher rate than children. Oral cancer is seven times more likely for this demographic than it is for younger adults, and more adults die from the disease than from skin cancer. Mouth infections may also be linked to serious issues such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke, pneumonia and more. Aside from using traditional prevention techniques, helping to reduce older patients\u2019 fear of the dental check process can be helpful, and technology such as high-resolution cameras that speed up the process make it easier. Integrating oral health care with general health care can help older citizens to avoid issues worsening and spreading to other parts of the body, as well as meeting seniors\u2019 dental, medical and psychological needs. Using a Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment, healthcare providers can evaluate patients\u2019 health, dental and mental needs, and provide a care plan that spans all support and social services. Coverage for senior citizens will likely improve over time as further data is collected and analyzed, and as collaborative efforts to improve access succeed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Caring for those senior citizens who cared for us \n Nearly 10,000 seniors will turn 65 today and every day in America through 2019. The U.S. Census Bureau reported Californians 65 years of age and older accounted for 13.6 percent of the state\u2019s population in 2016. Sadly, however, California also leads the nation in the number of older adults living in poverty.\n\nI am privileged to serve as a member of the California Commission on Aging where I continue my advocacy work on behalf of these constituents, a focus I also championed when I chaired the Assembly Committee on Long-Term Care and Aging.\n\nSeniors\u2019 needs expand with age and those living in poverty often go without. Many depend on family members, government resources, community outreach and non-profit organizations to fill the gap. Yet surprisingly, as great as the needs of these vulnerable residents are, many will be surprised to learn that of the nearly 100,000 foundations spread across the country, only six are fully dedicated to serving seniors.\n\nThis week, I had an opportunity to learn more about one of these six foundations and the great work it does on behalf of older Americans. For more than a decade, the Gary and Mary West Foundation has worked at the national, state and local (San Diego) levels to enable seniors to successfully age in place with access to high-quality, affordable healthcare and other support services designed to preserve and protect their dignity, quality of life and independence. Its founders, Gary and Mary West, are working to transform the way healthcare is delivered to an aging population.\n\nEfforts like those of the Gary and Mary West Foundation are enhanced by works of groups like the Frame Works Institute, an organization dedicated to enhancing how non-profit organizations communicate as a way to better frame public discussion on social concerns like the rapidly expanding senior population.\n\nThe group is a partner in the Reframing Aging Project, working with aged-focused organizations from all over the country to create a better understanding of the needs of older adults and their contributions to society. In addition, they are working to use communications and outreach efforts to drive a more informed conversation about aging and its implications for our communities.\n\nAnyone who knows me, knows when I speak about seniors/older adults, I talk about the \u201cSilver Tsunami.\u201d I like what the sense of urgency the term implies. However, in the reframing discussion, it was determined such phrases are negative and should not be used. So, beginning today, I will start speaking in more positive terms, hoping it will have better results. Experts believe, this reframing effort will take about 15 years to change perception regarding how aging is perceived in this country.\n\nFor far too long, growing old has been viewed as a negative experience; however, people should not fear growing old. Rather than viewing this natural process as a time of declining health and increased dependency, the Reframing Aging Project is working to change this in hopes of creating a better understanding of older adults and their contributions.\n\nWe must unite at the local, state and federal levels to assure older adults can remain in their homes, healthy, independent, connected, productive and most importantly, cared-for regardless of their income. Their needs can range from food insecurity to mental health issues to physical and/or oral problems to just plain loneliness. Exploring new models of care is one way to address these concerns.\n\nWe are changing the way advocates talk about aging and it is important that when we look at seniors, we see the whole person \u2014 not just their age. We must continue to find better ways to care for those who cared for us.\n\nCheryl Brown of San Bernardino represented the 47th District in the California Assembly from 2012-2016.", "output": "Between now and the end of 2019, almost 10,000 senior US citizens will reach 65 every day, but of the nearly 100,000 foundations in the US, only six are aimed at helping seniors. Californians aged 65 and older representing 13.6% of the entire state\u2019s population last year, with the state having the highest rate of older adults living in poverty. The Gary and Mary West Foundation is a Californian initiative aimed at helping seniors to age in place with better quality and more reasonably priced healthcare, which works alongside organization the Frame Works Institute to improve interoperability between non-profits. The Gary and Mary West Foundation has joined the Reframing Aging Project, designed to better understand older citizens\u2019 needs and to improve outreach efforts. The organization believes that reframing the process of growing old will take approximately 15 years to help it be seen as a positive experience, and to help others see older Americans as worthwhile contributors to society.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Opinion: Let\u2019s Put Some Teeth into Veterans\u2019 Healthcare Coverage \n By Shelley Lyford\n\nWhen Brian parachuted onto the Korean Peninsula with the 187th Airborne in September of 1950, his teeth were the last thing he worried about. His primary concerns were, first, that his chute would open, second, that he wouldn\u2019t get shot out of the sky by the enemy or tangled up with one of the thousands of other paratroopers jumping out of the \u201cFlying Boxcar\u201d transport planes, third, that he\u2019d land in the jump zone clearing and not in the trees, and fourth, that he wouldn\u2019t break his leg or become separated from his company once he landed.\n\nBrian managed to survive that jump, as well as months of fierce combat against Chinese and North Korean troops during the freezing winter of 1951. But sixty years later, he literally didn\u2019t have a leg to stand on. Like a lot of paratroopers, Brian had developed osteoarthritis in his knees as a result of the repeated impact of parachute landings with a heavy pack and rifle bag strapped to his body.\n\nBrian was a good candidate for double knee replacement which would allow him to walk again, and would relieve the pain of the degenerative arthritis that had wrecked his joints. And since his disability was directly related to his wartime service, it was covered by his veteran\u2019s benefits \u2014 which was good news indeed, because Brian was flat broke by then and just getting by on Social Security. For years after his service, Brian owned a successful restaurant in downtown San Diego. But he fell on hard times, lost his business and couldn\u2019t keep up with his bills.\n\nWhile the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs continued to cover his medical care, routine dental care is generally only covered for veterans on 100% disability or with service-related dental problems, so he couldn\u2019t keep up with his basic dental needs. Ten years of going without dental care had taken their toll on his mouth. Most of his teeth were rotted and his gums were badly infected. So badly, that the orthopedic surgeon couldn\u2019t operate on his knees, for fear Brian\u2019s gum infection might spread through his bloodstream to his knee joints during surgery. So his knee replacement had to be put on hold until he could get his mouth treated. Brian didn\u2019t have coverage for the thousands of dollars\u2019 worth of dental work he needed to extract his rotten teeth and treat his infected gums. And because of the patchwork nature of dental coverage for seniors in California and in most states, he didn\u2019t qualify for coverage under Medicaid, while Medicare doesn\u2019t cover dental care.\n\nThese kinds of coverage gaps in veterans\u2019 healthcare are all too common. It\u2019s unconscionable that our lawmakers have failed to take care of our Veterans\u2019 needs by ensuring they receive basic dental care.\n\nIn the past decade, we\u2019ve come to understand that the mouth is not only the gateway to the body, but also the gateway to chronic disease. Research has uncovered consistent and strong associations between gum disease and systemic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and osteoporosis \u2014 and it\u2019s suspected to cause many other serious conditions including stroke and depression.\n\nWhile gum disease is more often a byproduct of old age, poverty and oral healthcare neglect than of battlefield injuries, those risk factors are increasingly common among the aging population of Korean and Vietnam War veterans. Almost half of our country\u2019s 20 million veterans are over the age of 65. California is home to more vets than any other state: 1.8 million, and more than 800,000 of them are over 65.\n\nHere are the hard facts about the oral health of our seniors overall:\n\n7 in 10 suffer from gum disease\n\n1 in 5 have untreated cavities\n\nNearly 1 in 5 have no teeth at all\n\nOnly 28 states include adult dental benefits under Medicaid, and those benefits cover only certain services and finding a dentist to treat a Medicaid patient can be extremely difficult, if not impossible. In 2009, facing a severe budget shortfall, California eliminated its adult dental care benefit. The state restored some of the benefit in 2014, but Denti-Cal payments are so limited that most dentists don\u2019t see Medicaid patients. And since 70 percent of seniors have no dental insurance, low-income seniors are mostly going without basic dental care.\n\nFor seniors like Brian, \u201cgoing without\u201d can have far-reaching consequences. Fortunately, caseworkers at the VA were eventually able to get him the dental care he needed to proceed with his knee replacement surgery.\n\nVeterans like Brian can\u2019t wait for legislators to provide more funding to the VA and Medicaid so they can get critically needed dental care. His story shows how important it is for the whole community to step up and bridge the gaps in veteran\u2019s care. That includes the public and the private sector, as well as private philanthropy.\n\nI\u2019m the Chair of the Board of the Gary and Mary West Senior Dental Center in downtown San Diego, an integrated, community-based model of care tailored to the special needs of seniors. In the year since it opened, our clinic has hosted more than 4,200 dental visits from low-income seniors, who also receive a spectrum of coordinated medical and social supports services under one roof.\n\nAll seniors should be able to age with dignity, and oral health is a big part of that equation. Without healthy teeth, seniors can\u2019t eat a nutritious diet, or even engage in everyday social interaction. Our clinic has tapped into an enormous pent-up demand for affordable dental care for seniors, including veterans. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of other seniors, including veterans, are still \u201cgoing without\u201d dental care.\n\nIn addition to Gary and Mary West, visionary philanthropists and dentists in other communities have begun to create model programs to assist veterans. Aspen Dental has 450 offices across the country that have provided free dental care to more than 17,000 veterans and people in need since 2014. Meanwhile, a retired periodontist in Washington state, Theresa Cheng, was inspired by the story of a local Iraq veteran, gravely injured by an IED, to start Everyone for Veterans, a nonprofit that now works with 300 dentists to provide free dental care to veterans in need.\n\nBy working together in our communities \u2014 in coordination with state and federal agencies \u2014 for-profits and nonprofits can close the gaps in healthcare funding for veterans. It\u2019s the least we can do to repay our debt to the brave men and women who have put their lives on the line in defense of our nation. Veterans like Brian deserve a special measure of gratitude and care. Not just today, but every day.\n\nShelley Lyford is President and CEO of San Diego-based West Health and the Gary and Mary West Foundation, nonprofit organizations that enables seniors to successfully age in place with access to high-quality healthcare and supportive services.", "output": "The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs provides veterans with coverage for medical care, but routine dental care only garners partial coverage, being available only to those veterans on 100% disability or with oral health problems related their service. The lack of full dental care from both the Department of Veterans Affairs, Medicare and Medicaid causes issues for veterans in need. Research supports the provision of dental as well as general health care, given that gum disease and systemic conditions are strongly correlated. Type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, and osteoporosis have all been linked to oral issues, with strokes and depression potentially also related. The risk factors for these diseases are increasingly higher for the older population of Vietnam and Korean War veterans, and as nearly half of the 20m US veterans are over the age of 65, the problems will continue to worsen without intervention. For senior citizens, seven in ten have gum disease; one in five have untreated cavities, and almost one in five have no teeth remaining. Despite these facts, only 28 states offer adult dental benefits through Medicaid, and even this coverage only covers particular services, with few providers willing to offer them. As it stands, 70% of seniors do not have dental insurance, and low-income seniors generally go without basic care for their oral health.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Two-thirds of rental properties sell to cash buyers: Countrywide \n Post navigation\n\nRecord numbers of landlords are now building their buy-to-let portfolios using cash, Countrywide claims.\n\nAnalysis by the agent shows that over the past 12 months, 65% of all homes bought by a landlord were paid for in cash, surpassing the previous high of 60% set in 2011.\n\nIt is the highest figure since Countrywide\u2019s records began in 2007, a year when 60% of buy-to-let purchases were paid for with a mortgage.\n\nLandlords buying with cash bought \u00a321bn worth of homes which is \u00a30.2bn more than in 2016 and a 32% increase on 2007 when they spent \u00a315.9bn.\n\nThe research also showed that the annual rate of rental growth slowed from 1.1% in September to 0.5% in October, with the cost of the average new let in Britain at \u00a3958 per month.\n\nExcluding London, however, where rental growth dipped back into negative territory, down 0.9%, rents rose 1.2% over the 12 months to October.\n\nThe midlands and Wales continued to be the drivers of rental growth, where rents rose 2.2% and 2.6% over the last year to \u00a3677 and \u00a3658 a month respectively.\n\nJohnny Morris, research director at Countrywide, said: \u201cLandlords have increased their housing wealth considerably over the last 10 years. This means cash purchases are steadily becoming a bigger part of the market.\n\n\u201cBut a landlord buying with cash will often have a mortgage either on their personal home or other properties in their portfolio. Rising prices have allowed landlords to take equity out of both their personal or other rental homes to expand their portfolios.\n\n\u201cRental growth across northern England has slowed under pressure from record numbers of new landlords. But it\u2019s a different story across the midlands and parts of the south where rents are once again nudging upwards.\n\n\u201cIt looks like the last effects of the investor Stamp Duty surcharge have finally worked their way through the system.\u201d", "output": "Estate agent Countrywide has found that large numbers of landlords are paying for buy-to-let properties in cash. Over the past year, 65% of all homes bought by a landlord were purchased with cash, up from 60% in 2011. The figure is the highest since 2007 when\u00a0Countrywide\u00a0began\u00a0keeping records. Over the past year landlords paying with cash bought\u00a0\u00a321bn of homes,\u00a0spending\u00a0\u00a3200m\u00a0more than in 2016, and 32% more than in 2007. The annualised\u00a0rate of rental growth dropped to 0.5% in October, from 1.1% in September, with the average British new let being \u00a3958 a month.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Microfluidic droplets used to create liquid-repellent materials \n Professor Wang Liqui (left) and Dr Zhu Pingan from HKU Mechanical Engineering Department showcase the liquid repellent material they innovated. Credit: The University of Hong Kong\n\nOn liquid-repellent surfaces, liquid droplets bounce away instead of being stuck. These surfaces are important in many fields, such as water-repellent clothes and anti-fouling kitchenware. Used as drag-reduction coatings for water vehicles, these surfaces can even help with speeding up cargo ships and military equipment so as to save energy. The dream of research and development on liquid-repellents is a structure that has robust liquid repellency, strong mechanical stability, and is inexpensive to produce on a commercial scale. However, the functional outcomes of existing liquid-repellent surfaces have not been satisfactory, because of inadequacies of conventional structural design and fabrication approaches in engineering microstructures and properties of such surfaces.\n\nThe challenge was recently overcome by breakthrough research led by Professor Wang Liqiu at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, the University of Hong Kong (HKU) through the development of a robust liquid-repellent structure and the fabrication of porous surfaces by an innovative microfluidic-droplet-based technique. Materials such as textiles, metals, and glasses covered by a layer of this robust porous surface can then become liquid-repellent. The paper was recently published in academic journal Nature Communications (Zhu P. A., Kong T. T., Tang X. and Wang L. Q. 2017. Well-defined porous membranes for robust omniphobic surfaces via microfluidic emulsion templating, Nature Communications 8, 15823). With the new technology developed by the team, clothes would never get wet on rainy days in the future.\n\nThe team resolves effectively the conflict between liquid-repellency and mechanical stability by the springtail-cuticle-inspired design of liquid-repellent structures. Springtails are soil-dwelling arthropods whose habitats often experience rain and flooding. As a consequence, springtails evolve their cuticles with strong mechanical durability and robust liquid repellency to resist friction from soil particles and to survive in watery environments, respectively. Inspired by springtail cuticles, the research team designed porous surfaces composed of interconnected honeycomb-like micro-cavities with a re-entrant profile: interconnectivity ensures mechanical stability and re-entrant structure yields robust liquid-repellency. Ideal liquid-repellent surfaces developed by HKU scientists Credit: The University of Hong Kong\n\nRobust liquid-repellent structure shows a 21-fold enhancement in mechanical stability\n\nThe robust liquid-repellent surfaces repel at least 10 types of liquid, including water, surfactant solutions, oils, and organic solvents and show an astounding over 21-fold enhancement in mechanical stability compared with discrete structures. The porous surfaces are capable of recovering their non-wetting state as well even if micro-cavities are partially wetted by water. The flexible surfaces can also be readily coated onto various objects for liquid-repellency.\n\nSoil-dwelling springtails with dew (body length: ~2.5 mm). Credit: Brian Valentine\n\nPorous surface material just costs about HKD1 per square metre\n\nThe research team also developed an innovative microfluidic-droplet-based technique for the fabrication of porous surfaces which is very much similar to shaped-cookies made by baking molds. Here the molds are uniform micron-sized droplets that are produced by microfluidics technology with precise control over their size, structure, and composition. Molded by microfluidic droplets, commercial-scale uniform microstructures are produced at low cost. The material cost is in a range of HKD 0.7 to 1.3 per square metre, only one thousandth of that in purchasing commercialized products such as PTFE water-repellent film. This technique has high accuracy and effectiveness in engineering surface structures, ensured by the precision and controllability of microfluidic-droplet generation that is low in cost and readily scaled up as well.\n\nBio-inspired design of liquid-repellent structures with robust liquid-repellency. Schematic (a) and image (b) of the designed porous surface. (c) Photo of a water drop suspended on top of the porous surface. (d) repellency of 10 different liquids by the porous surface. Credit: The University of Hong Kong\n\nThe breakthrough will change the way liquid-repellent surfaces are fabricated for robust liquid-repellency, strong mechanical stability, and economical production at a commercial scale. It has also paved the way for further progress in creating surface structures by design, and in tailoring their morphology, repellency and mechanical stability to suit a desired application in various fields, including energy, buildings, automobiles, chemical engineering, electronics, environments, bio-medical industry, advanced manufacturing, water vehicle and military equipment.\n\nBio-inspired design of liquid-repellent structures with enhanced mechanical stability. (a) Intact structure of interconnected porous surface. (b) Intact discrete structure. (c-d) Damaged interconnected structures at (c) 8.6 kPa (kilopascal, the unit of pressure) and (d)11.5 kPa respectively. (e-f) Damaged discrete structures at (e) 0.4 kPa and (f)2.9 kPa respectively. Credit: The University of Hong Kong\n\nFabrication of bioinspired liquids-repellent surfaces by microfluidic method. (a) Process of microfluidic fabrication method, involving emulsion deposition, solvent evaporation, and template removal. (b) Droplet assemblies after emulsion deposition. (c) Dry film after solvent evaporation. (d) Porous surface after template removal. (e-f) Images of porous surfaces with different pore sizes. (g) Transparency of porous surfaces. (h) Wafer-scale fabrication of the porous surface. Credit: The University of Hong Kong", "output": "Researchers led by Professor Wang Liqiu at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering at the University of Hong Kong have created a super-effective liquid-repellent surface, based on a new microfluidic droplet-based method. The new technique can make metals, glass and textiles liquid-repellent by adding a coat of the porous surface, which could lead to clothing being water repellent but flexible in future. The technique was based on the anatomy of springtails, arthropods that live in soil and have liquid-repellent cuticles with strong mechanical capabilities that translate well for human needs."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cash buyers see bitcoin price double on local Zimbabwe exchange\u00a0 \n Bitcoin is apparently surging in Zimbabwe after the military seized power in an apparent coup. Bloomberg reports that bitcoin is trading in Zimbabwe at over $13,000, nearly double the global price of bitcoin. But that\u2019s not quite the whole picture.\n\nThe price that Bloomberg and other media have quoted comes from a cryptocurrency exchange in Zimbabwe called Golix. The Golix website shows a wide spread between bids and asks, with the current price settling at around $13,500. But go to another marketplace for bitcoin in Zimbabwe and you will see much lower prices.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nGolix appears to be the sole cryptocurrency exchange in Zimbabwe. But most markets that aren\u2019t well served by exchanges, like Zimbabwe, usually have a thriving peer-to-peer scene. That\u2019s what you see when you go to LocalBitcoins, the biggest global platform for peer-to-peer bitcoin trading. Zimbabwe\u2019s LocalBitcoin brokers are quoting prices around $7,000, which is in line with the global price of bitcoin.\n\nIt\u2019s the brokers who offer to settle transactions in cash, instead of online payemnts or via bank transfers, who are demanding a steep premium in Zimbabwe. They are asking for $17,000 to $20,000 a coin from buyers who pay them in physical US dollars.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nSo what explains the inflated prices on Golix? It\u2019s probably just low liquidity. Golix\u2019s website shows that it traded just over 7 bitcoins in the last 24 hours, and about 147 coins over the last 30 days. That\u2019s in contrast to tens of thousands of bitcoins traded over LocalBitcoins globally each month, or tens of thousands per day on the biggest US dollar exchanges, like Coinbase or Bitfinex.\n\nLocalBitcoins, in fact, has been rocketing in popularity over the years. It doesn\u2019t show data for Zimbabwe, but volumes on the platform have risen significantly around the world in recent months.", "output": "The price of Bitcoin has risen sharply on Zimbabwe's only cryptocurrency exchange, after the apparent coup by the country's military. The Golix exchange recorded an average price of over $13,000 for bitcoin in the wake of the confused political developments, however, the surge appears to be limited to this\u00a0exchange, and in particular to transactions with cash buyers. By contrast, the price quoted on global peer-to-peer platform, LocalBitcoins, by Zimbabwe brokers appeared to be\u00a0in line with the global price of bitcoin. at around $7,000.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP) lowers 30-day readmission rates \n The Hospital Elder Life Program, or HELP, is an evidence-based treatment plan developed in the 1990s to prevent hospitalized older adults from developing delirium (the medical term for sudden confusion). Delirium can cause people to be either aggressive and agitated or sleepy and inactive\u2014sometimes even a combination of the two. Delirium is also the most common complication older adults experience after surgery.\n\nDelirium has many causes, including infection, excess time in bed, and an imbalance in electrolytes (important minerals dissolved in bodily fluids). Older adults with delirium have longer hospital stays, higher care costs, and increased rates of death and institutionalization.\n\nIn a new study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, researchers examined the HELP program. They wanted to learn how effective it was at preventing older people from being readmitted to the hospital within 30 days, which is often harmful for patients and costly for hospitals.\n\nHELP consists of one or more in-hospital teams, which include an Elder Life Specialist, an Elder Life Nurse Specialist, a geriatrician, and trained volunteers. The team works together to reduce an older person's risk of developing delirium through simple strategies that target specific risk factors. For example, team members help keep patients moving and orient them as to where they are and what the time and day is The team members engage the older adults socially, and provide eyeglasses and hearing assistance as needed. HELP units also use alternatives to medication to ease insomnia and anxiety, and to make sure that older adults who might be at risk for developing delirium eat well and stay hydrated. Since it was developed, HELP has now been implemented in more than 200 hospitals across the United States and around the world.\n\nThe research team studied eight medical and surgical units with HELP programs at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Shadyside. During the study period (2013 to 2014), the HELP units had 4,794 patients over the age of 70. Researchers compared these older people to 2,834 similar individuals who were cared for in non-HELP units during the same period.\n\nThe researchers learned that the differences in hospital readmission rates between the HELP units and non-HELP units translated into 100 fewer readmissions during the year-long study.\n\nThe researchers said that on a national scale, HELP could potentially reduce hospital readmissions for older adults by 40,000 cases each year, potentially saving nearly $500 million dollars annually.\n\nMore information: Fred H. Rubin et al, Effect of the Hospital Elder Life Program on Risk of 30-Day Readmission, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (2017). DOI: 10.1111/jgs.15132 Journal information: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society", "output": "The Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP) a treatment scheme created in the 1990s to help older adults avoid delirium, could potentially reduce hospital readmissions by approximately 40,000 incidents per year, according to research published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. The addition of HELP programs could save almost $500m annually, as delirium \u2013 or sudden confusion that is likely to occur after surgery \u2013 was reduced. The research team examined eight surgical and medical units equipped with HELP programs at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Shadyside between 2013 and 2014, studying 4,794 patients aged over 70. Their data was compared to 2,834 similar patients in non-HELP facilities across the same period. The team found that there were 100 fewer readmissions in the first 30 days post-stay in the HELP units per year, as delirium was less likely to occur. HELP prevents delirium by providing an elder life specialist, an elder life nurse specialist, a geriatric doctor, and volunteers who have been trained for elderly care. The team offers social assistance and guidance, as well as eyeglasses and hearing assistance, to patients to help reorient them. The system is currently used in more than 200 \u00a0hospitals globally.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sales of cryptocurrency mining equipment on the rise in Singapore \n A bitcoin mining company in Singapore is seeing a rising number of customers purchasing mining rigs as the cryptocurrency gains in value. SG Mining, based ...\n\nA bitcoin mining company in Singapore is seeing a rising number of customers purchasing mining rigs as the cryptocurrency gains in value.\n\nSG Mining, based in Singapore, has seen sales shoot up in recent months. In July, the company was selling 15 mining rigs, but now it\u2019s seeing sales of around 100 per month. Dexter Ng, one of the team members who builds the mining hardware and sell them, said to Channel News Asia:\n\nCustomers come in and order 50 rigs on their own. Compared to last time, probably one person only buys one or two. Now we get customers who buy 10, 20 or even 50.\n\nEach of the mining rigs sells for between S$5,000 to over S$6,500, depending on its processing power.\n\nThis rise in the number of customers comes at a time when bitcoin saw its value soar to $7,800 earlier this month. This was in light of the fact that the organisers behind the SegWit2x hard fork had announced that they were suspending the operation due to a lack of consensus.\n\nHowever, shortly following that news saw bitcoin\u2019s price dropping to $5,500 over the weekend before making a recovery on Monday to $6,500. Of course, this is likely to fuel the opinion of critics that the digital currency is in a bubble due to its volatile prices.\n\nStanley Yong, a cryptocurrency researcher, said:\n\nThe price going up is probably a bubble, given that it has reached more than US$7,000 per bitcoin. And the question for us is not whether it is a bubble. But how long this bubble will be there.\n\nIt remains to be seen what future the digital currency has in Singapore. At the end of October, Ravi Menon, the managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the country\u2019s central bank, said that the country doesn\u2019t intend to regulate the cryptocurrency or the market in the short-term.\n\nAt the time, Menon stated that bitcoin doesn\u2019t pose a \u2018risk that warrants regulation,\u2019 however, the central bank will keep \u2018an open mind\u2018 about it.\n\nThe jury is still be out regarding whether bitcoin becomes accepted into the mainstream in Singapore.\n\nFor now, though, many investors are keen to get involved with mining their own coins despite the fact that the market may have suffered a drastic drop over the weekend. That, however, doesn\u2019t appear to be preventing investors from getting involved. This can be seen by the fact that bitcoin\u2019s price has rallied back and is back up by over $1,000 from weekend lows.\n\nFeatured image from Shutterstock.", "output": "Bitcoin's surge has spurred sales of cryptocurrency mining computers in Singapore, with SG Mining saying it's now selling more than 100 rigs a month compared with 15 in June. The increase in sales preceded the suspended SegWit2x coin's hard fork but coincided with bitcoin's value rising to more than\u00a0$7,000. Singapore has embraced crypto currencies\u00a0and its central bank\u00a0has said it has no intention\u00a0of regulating\u00a0the sector.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Uber board member Huffington praises new ethics code \n After a tumultuous year that saw a major sexism scandal and founder Travis Kalanick resign as CEO, Uber released new \"cultural norms\" last week.\n\nMedia mogul Arianna Huffington, who joined the ride-sharing service's board of directors in 2016, thinks it's a step in the right direction.\n\nHuffington has spearheaded efforts to revamp Uber's image, pushing for changes like management training and better relationships with drivers. Her main focus going forward is changing the tech start-up's culture at its core.\n\nAt a recent Fuel List event hosted by Huffington's wellness site Thrive Global and food company Quaker Oats, Huffington told CNBC Make It that the company's new motto can be \"summed up\" in one key phrase: \"We do the right thing. Period.\"\n\nThis catch-all slogan underscores internally and externally that Uber is committed to integrity at all levels of the company. In an interview with CNBC, Huffington says it's important that Uber's 65 million riders love the brand and the company just as much as they love the product.\n\nIn a recent LinkedIn post, Uber's new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi released the full list of the car service's new cultural norms:\n\n1. We build globally, we live locally.\n\n2. We are customer obsessed.\n\n3. We celebrate differences.\n\n4. We do the right thing.\n\n5. We act like owners.\n\n6. We persevere.\n\n7. We value ideas over hierarchy.\n\n8. We make big bold bets.\n\nThe CEO admits, in the blog entry, that Uber's current culture must evolve in order to get the company to the \"next level.\"\n\n\"Rather than ditching everything,\" Khosrowshahi writes, \"I'm focused on preserving what works while quickly changing what doesn't.\"", "output": "Following the announcement of a new company-wide ethics code, dubbed \"cultural norms\", Uber board member and publisher Arriana Huffington has portrayed the company's new approach as \"doing the right thing --\u00a0period\". The new code was published in a LinkedIn post by new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and comprises eight bullet-point statements, including: \"We value ideas over hierarchy\";\u00a0\"We build globally, we live locally\";\u00a0and, \"We celebrate differences\". Huffington praised Khosrowshahi's role in implementing swift cultural change within Uber.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sierra Nevada successfully tests landing for ISS cargo spaceship \n On Saturday, private spaceflight company Sierra Nevada announced that its Dream Chaser spaceplane had successfully glided and landed on a runway after being released from a helicopter. The stunt, done at Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California, is known as a free-flight test and is meant to test out the vehicle\u2019s landing capabilities. It\u2019s an important milestone in the Dream Chaser\u2019s development, as Sierra Nevada readies the plane for spaceflight.\n\nResembling a mini Space Shuttle, the Dream Chaser will soon be used to send cargo to and from the International Space Station as part of NASA\u2019s Commercial Cargo Program. Right now, two companies \u2014 SpaceX and Orbital ATK \u2014 hold contracts with NASA to periodically resupply the station through 2018. But last year, NASA awarded a second round of contracts, in order to cover cargo shipments to the ISS from 2019 through 2024. Sierra Nevada was picked for that round, along with SpaceX and Orbital ATK again. The company expects to start cargo missions sometime in 2020.\n\nThe Dream Chaser is a fairly unique vehicle compared to the other two companies\u2019 spacecraft. Both SpaceX and Orbital ATK developed wingless cargo capsules that launch to the station on top of the companies\u2019 rockets. Orbital ATK\u2019s capsule \u2014 known as Cygnus \u2014 is then designed to burn up in the Earth\u2019s atmosphere once it leaves the station, while SpaceX\u2019s Dragon cargo capsule can survive the descent to Earth, using parachutes to land in the ocean. The Dream Chaser, however, which is meant to launch on top of an Atlas V rocket, glides down to Earth like a plane after reentering the atmosphere, landing horizontally on a runway.\n\nOriginally, Sierra Nevada had hoped its Dream Chaser would carry astronauts, and not just cargo, to the ISS. Back in 2010, NASA awarded the company $20 million to develop the Dream Chaser as a crewed vehicle, and Sierra Nevada did a ton of tests over the next couples of years to prepare the spacecraft for carrying passengers. But in 2014, NASA didn\u2019t pick the Dream Chaser to do crewed flights to the ISS, going with SpaceX and Boeing\u2019s proposed vehicles instead. Since then, Sierra Nevada has been modifying the Dream Chaser to just carry cargo, though the company is leaving the option open to develop a crewed version of the vehicle in the future.\n\nThis weekend\u2019s free-flight test was the second one that Sierra Nevada has done with Dream Chaser. The first one, back in 2013, didn\u2019t go all that smoothly: the vehicle\u2019s landing gears failed, causing the spaceplane to crash-land and then skid off the runway. This landing and flight, however, was deemed a success, according to Sierra Nevada. The test vehicle was dropped from an altitude of a little less than 12,500 feet and reached a maximum speed of 330 miles per hour during the 60-second flight. \u201cEverything went very well for us,\u201d Mike Sirangelo, corporate vice president of Sierra Nevada Corporation, said during a follow-up press conference this afternoon. \u201cOverall our parameters in the test were met or exceeded in our minds.\u201d\n\nSierra Nevada doesn\u2019t expect to do any additional flights with this test vehicle if the data from this event is good, though the company says this particular Dream Chaser could fly again if needed. The data gathered from this test will then be used to refine the development of the company\u2019s first vehicle that will go to orbit, which is currently under construction. That Dream Chaser will also go through extensive testing before its first flight to space, which will be the company\u2019s first operational flight for NASA.\n\nThough, it\u2019s not just NASA that plans to use the spaceplane: the United Nations also has a deal with Sierra Nevada to fly payloads to orbit from other countries on the Dream Chaser, starting sometime in 2021. And Sierra Nevada hopes to find other customers for the vehicle in the future, too. So once this spaceplane is ready for spaceflight, it could have a lot of work to do.", "output": "Private spaceflight firm Sierra Nevada has sent its Dream Chaser vehicle on a successful gliding and landing mission, after being launched via helicopter from the Edwards Air Force Base in southern California. The free-flight test has confirmed the vehicle's landing capabilities, allowing Sierra Nevada to further develop it for release. The Dream Chaser will shortly be used for cargo missions to the International Space Station as part of NASA\u2019s commercial cargo programme. At present, only SpaceX and Orbital ATK have contracts for NASA supplies but Sierra Nevada will be able to participate from 2019 to 2024.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "23,000 London properties deemed suitable for rooftop development \n London may have found a radical solution for its housing crisis\u2014building new homes on roofs.\n\nBritain\u2019s capital could benefit from 41,000 new homes if it developed properties on unused rooftops, adding a potential 28 million square feet of real-estate to its two most central zones, according to research from Knight Frank, a global property consultancy firm.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe real-estate firm says there are as many as 23,000 buildings in the heart of the city that are suitable for rooftop development, which would ease the pressure on developers to find unused plots of land in London\u2019s dense center.\n\nThe data was produced using Skyward, new geospatial mapping software, developed to investigate the feasibility of the UK government\u2019s suggestion that \u201cbuildings can be extended upwards by using the \u2018airspace\u2019 above them\u201d in a recent housing white paper (pdf).\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIn recent years, there has been growing concern that London\u2019s famous skyline is being ruined by new developments, but rooftop developments could offer a solution.\n\nThe volume of roof space that could be used for new housing is equal to eight of Dubai\u2019s Burj Khalifa, the current tallest building in the world at 830 meters. By spreading volume across thousands of buildings in London\u2019s center, it avoids the need to build new, taller towers to house Londoners. (But of course, this is unlikely to stop developers building more skyscrapers to meet demand for office space.)\n\nHousing volume isn\u2019t just an issue that London is facing alone. Cities across the world are all grappling with the same problem: how to meet rising demand for housing and how to make homes cheaper for those living there. New Zealand is planning to ban foreigners from buying existing homes. Meanwhile, Canada has already tried imposing a steep tax on foreign buyers, with limited success.", "output": "A new geospacial mapping system has been used to identify buildings in London which could be suitable for rooftop development. A recent UK government white paper suggested extra housing could be provided by extending buildings upwards to use the \"airspace\" above them. Property consultants Knight Frank used the Skyward software to identify 23,000 such buildings in central London, potentially providing 28 million sq ft of new housing, equivalent to 41,000 new homes. Building in this way would avoid the need to build new, taller towers in the city.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BuzzFeed grows commerce writing team to 19 people \n BuzzFeed\u2019s commitment to commerce revenue continues to grow, and as a result, it\u2019s begun pursuing commerce revenue more like a regular publisher might: through search.\n\nAfter more than two years of experiments focused on identity-focused listicles like \u201c39 Fucking Awesome Gifts For Anyone Who Loves to Swear\u201d or \u201c27 Gifts Only Math and Science Nerds Will Appreciate,\u201d BuzzFeed now has 19 people cranking out commerce posts full time.\n\nIdentity-focused posts are still a staple, but that team, which is part of BuzzFeed\u2019s editorial operation, has recently begun focusing more on search-centric content, designed to respond to queries people make not only on BuzzFeed\u2019s own properties but across platforms like Google and Amazon and using sales data gathered by Skimlinks.\n\nThat focus on search and SEO will play a role during the holiday season, as BuzzFeed tries to build a reputation not just as a publisher that gets you but one that you\u2019d trust to sell you something, too.\n\n\u201cOur biggest change this year is we\u2019re focused more on search,\u201d said Jessica Probus, the director of BuzzFeed Market. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to reach people who know exactly what they want and just need to find the right thing.\u201d\n\nBuzzFeed\u2019s team of commerce writers, which is far larger than the commerce content teams at digital-native peers like Gizmodo or Business Insider, sits inside its editorial department. The content that these writers produce all gathers in a section of BuzzFeed\u2019s website, BuzzFeed Shopping, but in typical BuzzFeed fashion, it is distributed to lots of different places, including BuzzFeed verticals like Tasty and Nifty, as well as a commerce-focused Facebook page, BuzzFeed Buy Me That, which has over 530,000 fans.\n\nThe editorial calendar, which Probus sets with the help of a few colleagues, runs about a month in advance, but it can be changed at the last minute for posts can be whipped up quickly to respond to changing trends, or to respond to the availability of products.\n\nBuzzFeed\u2019s first move into commerce-focused content came in 2015, focusing on identity-based gift guides \u2013 basically listicles filled with products and affiliate links. But as it\u2019s gotten bigger, the commerce team has devoted more resources to posts that capitalize on fast-moving search and retail trends.\n\nWithout a bed of evergreen posts to rest on, BuzzFeed used information about how other identity-focused content performed \u2014 and information about which retailers delivered the best sales conversions \u2014 to shape its early commerce-focused content.\n\nAnd as the shopping team grew, along with its archive of identity-focused content \u2014 Probus said the shopping team has created \u201cseveral hundred\u201d gift guides, though she declined to share a specific number \u2014 it turned its attention toward content that would address its audience\u2019s search queries.\n\nThat emphasis on search also helped inform a gift-guide landing page that it launched for the 2017 holiday season, which sorts its archive into 18 different categories, based on things like price (\u201cUnder $25\u201d) and intended gift recipient (\u201cBFFs\u201d).\n\nThe shift toward a search-focused strategy, which underpins many other commerce-curious publishers\u2019 efforts, is natural for any publisher that\u2019s serious about earning revenue through affiliate commissions.\n\n\u201cIt makes no sense to decide you should have one or the other,\u201d said Ava Seave, a principal at the consultancy Quantum Media and an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School, of the choice between search and social referral traffic. \u201cIf you have enough stuff you\u2019re selling, it makes sense to have both of those tools.\u201d\n\nAdding search-centric posts also delivers another stream of signals about what its readers want to buy, which Probus\u2019 colleagues in BuzzFeed Product Labs can use to shape their product development pipeline. The past two products that Product Labs has brought to market, including the Tasty One Top cooking appliance and Social Sabotage, a card game it released last month. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to create a feedback loop,\u201d Probus said.", "output": "As the site continues to focus on SEO-friendly\u00a0content, BuzzFeed has increased the size of its commerce writing team in a bid to better pursue commerce revenue. As the holiday season approaches, BuzzFeed is keen to be seen as a publisher that readers trust enough to buy from. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to reach people who know exactly what they want and just need to find the right thing\u201d, said Jessica Probus,\u00a0director of BuzzFeed Market. BuzzFeed's commerce writing team is now\u00a0larger than those at its digital-native peers, such as Gizmodo or Business Inside.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Charity app Bail Bloc outsources crypto mining to post bail fees \n A new charity initiative called Bail Bloc may have just found the only good use for cryptocurrencies to date: bailing people out of jail who can\u2019t afford it.\n\nSoftware that uses your computer power to \u201cmine\u201d (in other words, create) digital coins for profit have become a bit of a bogeyman online. But Bail Bloc\u2014a collaboration between online publication The New Inquiry and the non-profit Bronx Freedom Fund\u2014harnesses similar technology for more noble ends.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBail\u2014a court-determined fee to buy your freedom before trial\u2014is intended to keep dangerous people off the streets. But according to The New York Times, \u201cit can, in practice, have damaging effects on poor defendants, especially those who have been charged with small offenses.\u201d Bail Bloc argues that the cash bail system keeps low-income people in jail when they don\u2019t need to be, and can force innocent people to plead guilty in order to get out.\n\nStarting on Wednesday, you can visit the Bail Bloc website and download an app that dedicates some of your computer power to generating Monero, a cryptocurrency that markets itself as being even more private and anonymous than Bitcoin. All of the generated Monero will be used to bail out people who can\u2019t afford it. The project will start by focusing on New York City jails, but in 2018 \u201cfunds will spread to more than three dozen cities in the next five years,\u201d the Bail Bloc site states.\n\n\u201cWe're a publishing platform created by and for communities that have been historically targeted by the state, which means that our access to capital is limited, as is true for most millennials,\u201d Maya Binyam, an editor at The New Inquiry and organizer for Bail Bloc, wrote me in an email. \u201cWhat we do have access to, however, is computing power. And so on a practical level, fundraising through mining makes sense.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nMonero was a logical choice, Binyam said, because it\u2019s one of a few cryptocurrencies that can be mined with common consumer-grade graphics cards. Bitcoin, in contrast, is more popular but requires specialized high-speed computer chips. The Bail Bloc program points participants\u2019 computers towards an existing Monero mining pool, but if it becomes popular enough the project may invest in starting its own pool.\n\nBail Bloc estimates that if 5,000 people ran its software for a year, they could generate $151,000 USD worth of Monero and bail nearly 2,000 people out of jail. The app takes 10 percent of your CPU power by default, but generous users can set it so that they donate 25 or even 50 percent of their computing power.\n\nAccording to the Bail Bloc site, the project uses a \u201crevolving\u201d model. Bail funds are returned to the source when the defendant appears for their court date, so every Monero coin that\u2019s generated could be used to bail more than one person out of jail. The Bronx Freedom Fund claims that more than 90 percent of the defendants they assist return to court, so this turnover could be quite high.\n\n\u201cLike all forms of surveillance, bail is designed to keep people deemed dangerous within reach,\u201d Binyam wrote in an email. \u201cBut the powers that assess an individual\u2019s likelihood to endanger the public are more often motivated by racism, classism, and xenophobia than they are by a desire to ensure safety.\u201d\n\n\u201cAfter all,\u201d she continued, \u201cthe people for whom bail is set haven\u2019t been convicted of anything.\u201d", "output": "The Bronx Freedom Fund charity has partnered with online magazine The New Inquiry to develop Bail Bloc, an app that uses computer power to mine cryptocurrency\u00a0that is then\u00a0used to help people pay bail fees. Users who download the app can donate between 10% and 50% of their computer's processing power to create Monero coins. The project will be launched initially in New York, while a five-year roll-out to more than three dozen cities will begin in 2018.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Biotech plans to release lab-grown mosquitoes to kill wild ones \n Share this article via flipboard\n\nShare this article via sms\n\nShare this article via email\n\nShare this with\n\nShare this article via messenger\n\nShare this article via whatsapp\n\n\n\nCredit: Getty\n\nIt sounds like a classic \u2018mad scientist\u2019 plot, the sort that usually goes badly wrong \u2013 releasing diseased \u2018lab grown\u2019 mosquitoes to kill off wild ones.\n\nArmy corporal who raped female soldier said condom made it 'fine'\n\nIn fact, we\u2019re verging on \u2018There was an old woman who swallowed a fly\u2019 territory here.\n\nBut there\u2019s method to the madness, CNET reports.\n\nThe lab-grown mozzies will be deliberately infected with the bacterium Wolbachia pipientis, which affects the insects (but not animals or humans).\n\nThe lab-grown (male) bugs unleashed by biotech firm MosquitoMate have been approved by America\u2019s Environmental Protection Agency.\n\nThe mosquito\n\nWhen the male mosquitoes released by MosquitoMate mate with female mosquitoes, the eggs don\u2019t hatch due to the effects of the bacteria \u2013 cutting the population.\n\nMosquitomate is to release insects in several American states, starting with Kentucky where it\u2019s based.\n\nThe company\u2019s FAQ says, \u2018Unlike traditional mosquito control, we don\u2019t show up after you have a problem.\n\n\u2018By acting proactively, your population of Asian Tiger mosquitoes will not reach a nuisance level.\u2019", "output": "Kentucky bio firm MosquitoMate has been granted approval from the US Environmental Protection Agency to release laboratory-grown mosquitoes into the wild. The firm hopes that the synthetic mosquitoes will help reduce the wild population. MosquitoMate has deliberately infected its insects with the Wolbachia pipientis bacterium, which prevents the hatching of larvae, but does not affect humans or animals. The mosquitoes are due to be released in Kentucky and several US states.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon launches Echo, Alexa and Prime Music in Canada \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nAmazon has announced that it\u2019s finally launching its voice-controlled Echo speakers in Canada.\n\nThe Echo Dot, Echo, and Echo Plus are open for preorder today for $70, $130, and $200, respectively, though early orders will qualify for up to $30 off the sticker price. Amazon said that it expects the devices to start shipping on December 5, and they will also be available in-store at Best Buy, Staples, The Source, Telus, and a number of other retailers.\n\nAlongside the Echo launch, Amazon is opening the Alexa Skills Kit and Alexa Voice Service for local developers and hardware makers to create integrations built on Alexa for the Canadian market. Additionally, the company revealed that its Prime Music streaming service is now available to Prime members in Canada.\n\nCan\u2019tada\n\nAmazon launched its annual Prime membership in Canada back in 2013, and last year it rolled out Prime Video across the country. But despite its shared language and proximity to the U.S., where the Echo debuted back in 2014, Canada has been slow to gain access to key hardware and services that have first launched elsewhere in the world. The Echo speakers have been available to consumers in the U.K. and Germany since last September, and Amazon has launched the devices \u2014 alongside Alexa \u2014 in India and Japan over the past month.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\nToday\u2019s announcement comes just a week after Amazon launched its Fire TV Stick in Canada and 100 new markets \u2014 albeit a stripped-down $50 basic edition of the Fire TV Stick without Alexa support. So today is a notable occasion for Canadian consumers as it not only ushers in a triumvirate of smart speakers and Prime Music, the availability of Alexa quells criticism that Canada was being forgotten by major tech companies. Last month, Sonos announced a new voice-controlled Alexa-driven speaker called the Sonos One, which was made available in Canada, but without any promise of Alexa support. Almost a month after the launch, Alexa support for Sonos fans in Canada may be imminent.\n\nFor Amazon, the Echo and Alexa launch comes five months after rival Google launched its Home smart speaker in Canada. Apple is also gearing up to launch its HomePod, though there is no word yet on when that device may land in Canada.", "output": "Amazon has launched its Echo Dot, Echo, and Echo Plus speakers in Canada. The launch Imarks a step forward for the country, which has traditionally lagged behind the rest of the world in the adoption of new technologies. Amazon is also inviting developers to come up with integrations for Alexa Voice Service and Alexa Skills Kit aimed at the Canadian market. The move follows the launch of a stripped-down version of Amazon's Fire Stick, and comes five months after Google released its Home smart speaker in Canada.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Airbnb nets $1 billion in Q3 2017 \n Airbnb raked in $1 billion in net revenue in the third quarter of 2017, continuing a 17-month streak for the company.\n\nThe home-sharing company, founded nine years ago, first became profitable during the second half of 2016, Bloomberg reported. Over the last 17 months, Airbnb has reported a profit before interest, taxes and amortization.\n\nSign Up for the undefined Newsletter SIGN UP By signing up, you agree to TheRealDeal Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.\n\nBut last week, Morgan Stanley released a report that indicated Airbnb\u2019s growth may be slowing. According to the report, fewer U.S. and European travelers than expected indicated that they\u2019d book stays with Airbnb next year. The report was based on an online survey of 4,000 consumers, which did not include Latin America and Asia. Sources told Bloomberg that Latin America saw a 150 percent increase in bookings this year compared to last.\n\nEarlier this month, Airbnb fired 50 full-time employees and more than 100 contractors who prepared meals in the company\u2019s offices, the Information reported. Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said an outside food service firm was brought in to increase the number of meals served at its offices. [Bloomberg] \u2014 Kathryn Brenzel", "output": "Online short-term property rental firm Airbnb has reported Q3 net revenue of $1bn. The announcement follows a recent report from Morgan Stanley suggesting the company's growth may be slowing down, though the report did not factor in Latin America; the region saw a 150% increase in bookings in 2017 compared to the previous year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian Consolidated Milk benefits from small IoT tech upgrade \n The system is fully operational at one trial site. Ms Morris said farmers were enthusiastic about its release. However, the cost structure of how the sensors and system are installed is yet to be determined.", "output": "An Australian milk producing company has partnered with Advanced Computing to develop a cloud-based app solution that monitors the liquid's temperature. Victoria-based Australian Consolidated Milk is testing the system at a trial site, and said cold storage sensors gather temperature data, which is relayed via Microsoft's Azure cloud platform to a smartphone app, sending out alerts if temperatures deviated outside the required 5 degrees Celsius. The app also includes lab test results, enabling farmers to find out if they have produced premium or the 40% cheaper second-grade milk.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurer Health IQ takes cryptic approach to fitness assessments \n But Munjal Shah's problem turned out to be an inflammation of the lining of his lungs. Nonetheless, that hospital visit changed the course of his life.\n\nShah was worried about a heart attack, given his family history \u2014 his father, who moved from India to the U.S. \u2014 had his first heart attack in his 40s.\n\nHe was 37 at the time, but hadn't quite kicked an indulgence in sugary treats, like Frosted Flakes, Pop Tarts and cinnamon rolls. \"Honestly, what went through my head is that it seemed so unfair,\" Shah recalled. \"I had the best day of my entrepreneurial life after 10 years of work, and then I was going to die.\"\n\nThe day after Munjal Shah sold his company to Google in 2010, he was running when he experienced sharp chest pains. He ended up in the emergency room.\n\nWhile at Google, he started taking classes at Stanford to learn about health and medicine. He cleaned up his diet and lost 40 pounds. And he made new friends, all fellow entrepreneurial types, who had similar health scares and subsequently changed their lifestyles.\n\nThe group eventually decided to quit their day jobs and start a health company. They had no clear business model in mind but were all curious about finding ways to reward people who were committed to being healthy.\n\nFirst, they had to find them. And that's a lot more challenging than you might think.\n\nMany of us fib to our doctors, saying that we eat better, drink less alcohol and exercise more than we actually do.\n\nTo get around these common lies, the team launched a health quiz, called Health IQ. It features questions that assess how health-conscious a person is, rather than how healthy they claim to be. For instance, instead of asking how much you run, they might ask if you can run an eight-minute mile. Rather than asking if you eat too much, the test will figure out if you understand portion control by checking if you can estimate how many cups of rice there are in a photo.\n\nThe test did a pretty good job of picking out those who were committed to their health. And it went viral. In less than four years, more than 1 million people took it.\n\nDuring that time, about 2,000 of those people died.\n\nAnd that's when Shah figured out how to make money: life insurance.\n\nAfter factoring in things like gender, age and education status, Shah and his team learned that the health-conscious elite \u2014 the yoga practitioners, the crossfitters, the vegans or vegetarians, the strength trainers, the cyclists, the controlled diabetics, the triathletes and the marathoners \u2014 were far less likely to be among the people who died in this test group. Forty-one percent less likely, in fact.\n\nIn particular, it became clear that these people were less likely to die from cancer, which Shah calls the \"blind spot\" in most life insurance underwriting. Studies have shown that those who eat little meat, for instance, have a lower risk of colorectal cancer than people who eat meat most days of the week.\n\nShah still doesn't know from his data why the mortality rates are lower for yogi-loving vegans, at least not yet. It might be that they exercise more, eat better, are diligent about removing toxic chemicals from the home, or maybe it's a combination of factors. But for his purposes, it doesn't really matter. Now that he knows how to find them, he can sell them cheaper life insurance. And he estimates there are a lot of them \u2014 about 50 million in the United States.", "output": "Life insurance start-up Health IQ is aiming to offer healthier customers better rates, and is identifying likely candidates by changing the types of questions it asks potential policyholders. Rather than asking how frequently customers exercise or whether they smoke, the company phrases its questions differently, making it harder for them\u00a0to bend the truth. Policyholders might be asked whether they can run a mile in a certain time, or if they can identify a recommended portion size when shown a picture of food. Health IQ has raised $81m in financing.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Plastics found in animals in world\u2019s deepest places \n Animals from the deepest places on Earth have been found with plastic in their stomachs, confirming fears that manmade fibres have contaminated the most remote places on the planet.\n\nThe study, led by academics at Newcastle University, found animals from trenches across the Pacific Ocean were contaminated with fibres that probably originated from plastic bottles, packaging and synthetic clothes.\n\nDr Alan Jamieson, who led the study, said the findings were startling and proved that nowhere on the planet was free from plastics pollution.\n\n\n\n\u201cThere is now no doubt that plastics pollution is so pervasive that nowhere \u2013 no matter how remote \u2013 is immune,\u201d he said.\n\nEvidence of the scale of plastic pollution has been growing in recent months. Earlier this year scientists found plastic in 83% of global tapwater samples, while other studies have found plastic in rock salt and fish.\n\nHumans have produced an estimated 8.3bn tonnes of plastic since the 1950s and scientists said it risked near permanent contamination of the planet.\n\nJamieson said underlined the need for swift and meaningful action.\n\n\u201cThese observations are the deepest possible record of microplastic occurrence and ingestion, indicating it is highly likely there are no marine ecosystems left that are not impacted by anthropogenic debris.\u201d\n\n\n\nHe said it was \u201ca very worrying find.\u201d\n\n\u201cIsolating plastic fibres from inside animals from nearly 11 kilometres deep (seven miles) just shows the extent of the problem. Also, the number of areas we found this in, and the thousands of kilometre distances involved shows it is not just an isolated case, this is global.\u201d\n\nThe study tested samples of crustaceans found in the ultra-deep trenches that span the entire Pacific Ocean \u2013 the Mariana, Japan, Izu-Bonin, Peru-Chile, New Hebrides and Kermadec trenches.\n\nThese range from seven to more than 10 kilometres deep, including the deepest point in the ocean, Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench.\n\n\n\nThe team examined 90 individual animals and found ingestion of plastic ranged from 50% in the New Hebrides Trench to 100% at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.\n\nThe fragments identified include semi-synthetic cellulosic fibres, such as Rayon, Lyocell and Ramie, which are all microfibres used in products such as textiles, to plastic fibres that are likely to come from plastic bottles, fishing equipment or everyday packaging.\n\nJamieson said deep-sea organisms are dependent on food \u201craining down from the surface which in turn brings any adverse components, such as plastic and pollutants with it.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe deep sea is not only the ultimate sink for any material that descends from the surface, but it is also inhabited by organisms well adapted to a low food environment and these will often eat just about anything.\u201d\n\nScientists have discovered plastic pollution lying on remote frozen ice floes in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. Photograph: Conor McDonnell\n\nAn estimated 300m tonnes of plastic now litters the oceans, with more than 5 trillion plastic pieces \u2013 weighing more than 250,000 tonnes \u2013 currently floating on the surface. Around 8m tonnes of plastic enters our oceans every year.\n\nJamieson said: \u201cLitter discarded into the oceans will ultimately end up washed back ashore or sinking to the deep-sea, there are no other options.\n\n\u201cOnce these plastics reach the deep-seafloor there is simply nowhere else for them to go, therefore it is assumed they will simply accumulate in greater quantities.\u201d", "output": "Animals from the world\u2019s deepest places have been found to have plastic in their stomachs, according to a study by Newcastle University. The research, which suggests that nowhere on earth is now free from plastic pollution, showed that animals from trenches across the Pacific Ocean were contaminated with fibres that most likely originated from sources including packaging, synthetic clothing and plastic bottles. The research analysed samples of crustaceans in trenches ranging from seven to over 10 km deep across the Pacific Ocean. Ingestion of plastic ranged from 50% to 100% depending on the trench.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IBM overhauls data storage process with more user customization \n Video: Germany's telecom regulator weighs in on zero-rating practices\n\nIBM is overhauling the way it manages data stored in one of its European cloud computing data centres, in order to give European customers tighter control over who can access it.\n\nThe move will give customers more control and transparency over where their data lives, who has access to it, and what they can do with this access. The policy may be rolled out further, IBM said.\n\nThe company will implement new controls so that access to customer data in its Frankfurt data centre is controlled by EU-based IBM employees only. EU-based staff will also review and approve all changes from non-EU based employees that could affect clients' data.\n\nIBM said that customers will be able to review and approve all non-EU access requests to their content \"if an instance requires support or access from a non-EU based employee\". If granted, access is temporary and the IBM client will be notified when the temporary access is revoked. Logs that track access are made available to the client.\n\nIBM also said it is adding to its customer support teams in Europe.\n\nSebastian Krause, GM of IBM Cloud Europe, said that concerns about data residency, security, and personal data protection are at an all-time high in Europe, especially with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) around the corner.\n\n\"Every day I hear from a wide range of global clients across every industry that they need tighter controls and visibility into where their data is stored and processed in the cloud,\" he said.\n\n\"The fact that explicit client approval is required for dedicated cloud instances sets IBM apart and gives clients maximum control,\" Krause told ZDNet.\n\nThe company also said that next year it will make it possible for customers to encrypt their data, at rest and in transit, with their own master keys.\n\n\"Encrypting data enables clients to store their data in the cloud and protect it from theft and compromise. Since the keys remain in possession of the customer, the data is protected from cloud service providers as well as from other users,\" Krause said.\n\nIBM currently has 16 out of its 60 cloud data centres in Europe with data centres in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK. Krause said the changes in Germany could roll out further.\n\n\"While data privacy is especially important in Europe, clients in many markets face regulatory pressures to protect their users' data. IBM plans to take the improvements outlined here and adopt them across other IBM locations in the future,\" it said.\n\nGermany is considered to have some of the strongest data privacy legislation in the world. But more broadly, while cloud computing in theory promises that customers can cease worrying about exactly where the data is being held, in reality companies are having to pay a lot more attention to where customer data is stored.\n\nSome of this is because of new regulations such as GDPR, which strengthen data protection in Europe. But there have also be concerns that US law enforcement could request data held in the data centres of US companies even if that data is not stored in the US.This has led some companies to change their approach significantly. For example, last year Microsoft started offering its Azure cloud services from two new German data centres where the customer data was stored under the control of a \"data trustee\": T-Systems International, an independent German company and subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom. Microsoft cannot access data at the sites without the customer's permission.\n\nImage: Getty Images/iStockphoto\n\nPrevious and related coverage\n\nWhat is cloud computing?\n\nEverything you need to know from public and private cloud to software-as-a-service\n\nGermany aims to store all users' browsing data. But court says it's breaking EU law\n\nA law due to come into force in days in Germany on storing internet usage data breaks EU regs, a court rules.\n\nCloud security and IoT are the new peanut butter and jelly [Tech Pro Research]\n\nFor enterprises using cloud services with IoT, it's critical to adhere to as many security practices as possible. Experts weigh in on the best approaches to take.\n\nMore on cloud computing data centers", "output": "IBM is restructuring data storage in its European cloud computing data centres to provide more stringent control over access. European customers will have increased power over their data, a feature that may be rolled out further. The change means that only EU-based IBM employees will be able to access data from the Frankfurt data centre, and only EU staff will review and approve changes from employees outside the EU, depending on client's preferences. The policy alteration comes as data companies are changing\u00a0their approach to security to\u00a0comply with\u00a0General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "LinkedIn to enable sponsored mail messages via dynamic ad format \n by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, November 14, 2017\n\nLinkedIn Marketing Solutions has created a way for businesses to solicit people for their information through ads on the social network.\n\nThe task expands on the company's Lead Gen Forms capabilities to Sponsored InMail, and introduced a new Dynamic Ads format that allows members to download content, making it easier for them to generate and search for leads.\n\nMaking it easier for businesses to collect quality leads directly from the LinkedIn platform should in turn improve conversion rates and drive higher return on investments, Vasudha Mithal, senior product manager at LinkedIn, wrote in a post.\n\nNow there are two versions. Both versions of Lead Gen Forms work in a similar way, but there is one main distinction. The Sponsored Content version is limited to LinkedIn\u2019s mobile app, while The Sponsored InMail version can run on both mobile and desktop.\n\nLead Gen Forms for Sponsored InMail will roll out this week for all customers and will work in the same way as the original Sponsored Content version.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nMarketers can generate leads and enable content downloads \u2014 such as the download of an ebook or white paper \u2014 directly from the ad unit.\n\nThe leads from the Lead Gen Forms for Sponsored Content or Sponsored inMail will become available through LinkedIn\u2019s Lead Gen Forms in Campaign Manager self-serve tool or through third-party CRM systems DriftRock, Marketo, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Oracle\u2019s Eloqua and Zapier.\n\nLinkedIn will report the number of leads, completion rates, and the average cost per lead to businesses for each campaign.\n\nBusinesses also can ask custom questions on both the Sponsored Content and Sponsored InMail versions of Lead Gen Forms. Marketers can include up to three custom questions created by the advertiser. Brands can ask people who are filling out the form to answer multiple choice questions, or ask people to type in an answer that is up to 100 characters long.", "output": "LinkedIn is to enable sponsored InMails via a\u00a0new dynamic ads format. It's part of a revamp aimed at making it easier for companies to generate new leads\u00a0by allowing users to download content, such as ebooks, directly from adverts. The Sponsored Content product will only be available on the LinkedIn mobile app, while\u00a0Sponsored InMail will also be available on desktop platforms. The company said that making it easier for advertisers to collect leads from the site will improve conversion rates and generate\u00a0higher returns.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CitySprint changes contracts to avoid benefits and minimum wage \n CitySprint has been accused of \u201cmaking a mockery\u201d of Britain\u2019s employment rights system after changing couriers\u2019 contracts rather than giving them the minimum wage and holiday pay, despite losing an employment tribunal case on the issue.\n\nThe company, which has 3,500 self-employed couriers in the UK, said it had dropped an appeal against a ruling by the central London employment tribunal that it had unlawfully failed to award holiday pay to Mags Dewhurst and wrongly classed her as a self-employed freelancer. But CitySprint said it had changed contracts for all its cycle couriers.\n\nIn January, the employment judge Joanna Wade described its contractual arrangements as contorted, indecipherable and window-dressing. The tribunal found Dewhurst should be classed as a \u201cworker\u201d and entitled to paid holiday and the national minimum wage under employment law.\n\nCitySprint argued it was an \u201cindividual appeal\u201d that did not apply to the other independent contractors.\n\nThe employment lawyer Martin Warren of Eversheds Sutherland said the company\u2019s decision to apply the tribunal\u2019s findings to one member of staff was risky.\n\n\u201cWith the abolition of tribunal fees earlier this year, the chances of further waves of cases have probably increased. In any subsequent cases, the issue would not be a change in the paperwork. The tribunal would focus on whether there have been any operational changes on the ground,\u201d he said.\n\nCitySprint indicated that it had not changed the way it operated, but altered employment contracts to better reflect its relationship with cycle couriers, who it says have always been independent contractors.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe have updated our [cycle] courier tender documents to simplify the language in these, further clarifying the rights and flexibilities available to self-employed couriers who provide their services to us. We enjoy a great relationship with couriers, who continue to enjoy the freedom and flexibility of their current role,\u201d a spokesperson said.\n\nThe company will pay Dewhurst about \u00a3200 in holiday pay owed from the period covered by the tribunal, but it is understood that she will not receive holiday pay in future under her new contract.\n\nDewhurst told the Guardian: \u201cAs a result of my tribunal claim, CitySprint has forced everyone at the penalty of losing our jobs to sign new documents they say are contracts, but we work in exactly the same way as before \u2013 nothing has changed. It\u2019s a shame CitySprint would rather engage in legal shenanigans than pay me and my colleagues our holidays.\u201d\n\nThe Independent Workers Union of Great Britain, which backed the case against CitySprint, accused the courier company of ignoring the employment tribunal ruling and said it planned to hold CitySprint to account.\n\nJason Moyer-Lee, the IWGB general secretary, said: \u201cIt is outrageous that CitySprint is choosing to simply flout the ruling of the employment tribunal. They are making a mockery of our system of employment rights and protections and they will pay a price for doing so. It goes to show that in the absence of government enforcement of employment law, companies will try to act with total impunity.\u201d\n\nCitySprint\u2019s move comes after the Central Arbitration Committee, a body that resolves worker disputes, found that Deliveroo\u2019s takeaway couriers were self-employed contractors and therefore not entitled to holiday pay or the national minimum wage, because they had the right to allocate a substitute to do their work for them.\n\nCitySprint said it was awaiting the government\u2019s response to the Taylor review, which looked into ways to improve pay and conditions for those in the gig economy. The company said it hoped the government response would \u201cbring much-needed clarity and guidance in this important area for both organisations and individuals\u201d.\n\nThe government has said it expects to respond to the review, which called for legal clarification of the definition of self-employment, by the end of this year.\n\nEmployment law experts said CitySprint was likely to have decided to drop its appeal after Uber lost a similar appeal at the Employment Appeal Tribunal last week.\n\nThe drivers James Farrar and Yaseen Aslam won an employment tribunal case last year after arguing that they should be classified as workers, citing Uber\u2019s control over their working conditions. The taxi-hailing app has said it plans a further appeal.\n\nSimilar cases have been successfully brought against Pimlico Plumbers and the Royal Mail subsidiary eCourier. Pimlico Plumbers\u2019 final appeal on the issue is to be heard at the supreme court in January.", "output": "UK courier firm CitySprint has changed couriers\u2019 contracts to avoid paying the minimum wage and holiday pay, despite losing an employment tribunal case on the matter. The company, which uses 3,500 self-employed couriers, said it had abandoned its appeal against a London tribunal that ruled it had wrongfully classified courier Mags Dewhurst as self-employed and unlawfully failed to award her holiday pay. However, CitySprint confirmed that it had now altered all its cycle courier contracts. The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain said the company was \u201cmaking a mockery\u201d of employment rights."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hulu prepares new ways of advertising to binge watchers \n Hulu subscribers watching \u201cThe Mindy Project\u201d may have seen something that looks a lot like the show, but really isn\u2019t. It\u2019s a commercial from Volkswagen that uses scenes from the Mindy Kaling-produced series and mixes them with a promotional message from the automaker.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a spot that can run not just in \u2018Mindy,\u2019 but in front of other audiences who are watching similar comedies, or people we know who have watched \u2018Mindy\u2019 in the past,\u201d says Peter Naylor, senior vice president of advertising at the streaming-video site, which is owned jointly by Comcast\u2019s NBCUniversal, 21st Century Fox, Time Warner and Walt Disney Co. \u201cPeople come to us so they can learn some new plays.\u201d\n\nAs Hulu bids farewell to \u201cThe Mindy Project\u201d \u2013 the series finale surfaced on Hulu earlier this morning \u2013 it hopes to drum up new business among advertisers eager to test the waters of streaming-video. Netflix doesn\u2019t take traditional commercials and Amazon only runs them in limited fashion. But Hulu, the offspring of traditional TV companies, hopes to catch Madison Avenue\u2019s eye with offers of new commercial formats that can be distributed to select cuts of audience based on program choices and other behaviors. Advertisers who sense a couch-potato migration from living-room TV to mobile screen might have interest.\n\nWhen it launched in 2007, Hulu offered new ideas about how to advertise alongside video. It ran fewer ads than TV networks, and even let subscribers pick the type of commercial they wanted to see. There\u2019s some hopes among traditional TV executives they can adopt similar tactics. But Hulu isn\u2019t resting on past innovations. \u201cThere\u2019s a desire to find new ways to reach audiences who have the control to avoid ads and conventional television,\u201d says Naylor.\n\nHulu aims to offer ads aimed specifically at people in the midst of binge-viewing; ads woven into new virtual-reality programming; and ads keyed to specific occasions, such as the premiere of a new series. The company is making its pitch as advertisers are showing more interest in courting streaming-video subscribers and as it has ramped up production of its own original series.\n\nHulu is also in a bit of flux itself. Mike Hopkins, who had been CEO, recently left the company to join Sony Pictures Entertainment. He is being replaced by Randy Freer, formerly the chief operating officer of Fox Networks Group.\n\nHulu has enlisted two marketers to sponsor a new virtual-reality offering it expects to launch next year. As users watch \u201cDoor No. 1,\u201d a story about a high-school class\u2019 ten-year reunion, they will be able to choose the way the plot unfolds. And as part of the story, they will see Nissan and the dating-app Bumble show up in the storylines, says Nicole Sabatini, vice president of integrated marketing at Hulu.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a unique opportunity to reach a very specific type of audience \u2013 a more influential audience that is looking to try the newest content experiences,\u201d she says. In the program, two characters will end up matching on Bumble and meeting up at the reunion, says Andee Olson, the company\u2019s director of content strategy. \u201cThey don\u2019t really remember each other from high school,\u201d she explains.\u201cI would imagine that happens in real life.\u201d Finding ways to accompany video consumed via digital means is important to the company, she says. \u201cOur audience in general seems more prone to the digital side of advertising.\u201d\n\nDiscover Los Angeles, part of the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board, has moved all of its advertising to digital video, notes John Boudouvas, the unit\u2019s vice president of marketing. It will run two 30-second ads that accompany Hulu\u2019s new program, \u201cRunaways,\u201d which features Marvel characters. Actors from the program will appear in the commercials, says Boudouvas, and talk about the many different people who live in the area.\n\nThe marketer had run ads on local TV in the past, he says, but \u201cit\u2019s not only more expensive, it\u2019s harder to reach a target audience, and that\u2019s really what we are looking for.\u201d\n\nHulu is currently exploring ways to get advertisers to tell a story in multiple segments over the course of a viewer\u2019s specific binge experience, says Sabatini. \u201cViewers could get pieces of the story as they are watching multiple episodes,\u201d she explains. As more video consumption takes place via streaming, Hulu\u2019s new ideas could become mainstream ones embraced by multiple players in the not-too-distant future.", "output": "Video streaming service Hulu is looking for ways to target ads at binge-watching viewers. The new ads will be\u00a0woven as seamlessly as possible into the programming, so as to feel less intrusive. \"There\u2019s a desire to find new ways to reach audiences who have the control to avoid ads and conventional television\u201d said Peter Naylor, senior vice president\u00a0of advertising at Hulu. The streaming service has enlisted two marketers to sponsor a\u00a0virtual reality offering it expects to launch next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurance firms increasingly divesting from coal \n A growing number of insurance companies increasingly affected by the consequences of climate change are selling holdings in coal companies and refusing to underwrite their operations.\n\nAbout \u00a315bn has been divested in the past two years, according to a new report that rates the world\u2019s leading insurers\u2019 efforts to distance themselves from the fossil fuel industry that is most responsible for carbon emissions.\n\nFifteen companies \u2013 almost all based in Europe \u2013 have fully or partially cut financial ties, says the study by the Unfriend Coal campaign, which represents a coalition of a dozen environmental groups including Greenpeace, 350.org and the Sierra Club.\n\nZurich, the world\u2019s seventh biggest insurer, is the latest to shift away from coal, announcing this week that it is pulling out of coal to contribute to broader efforts to achieve the Paris accord goal of keeping global warming below 2C.\n\nAllianz, Aviva and Axa have previously made similar moves. Lloyd\u2019s and Swiss Re are expected to follow in the coming months.\n\nThe campaign has a long way to go. The early movers represent only 13% of all global insurance assets. None of the major US insurers such as Berkshire Hathaway, AIG and Liberty Mutual have taken action, according to the study.\n\nDespite this, the authors say the shift of assets and coverage since 2015 is gaining momentum.\n\n\u201cCoal needs to become uninsurable,\u201d said Peter Bosshard, the coordinator of Unfriend Coal. \u201cIf insurers cease to cover the numerous natural, technical, commercial and political risks of coal projects, then new coalmines and power plants cannot be built and existing operations will have to be shut down.\u201d\n\nSuch financial pressure is crucial if global warming is to be kept in check.\n\nThe International Energy Agency says 99% of coal generation needs to be phased out by 2050 if even the upper goal is be reached, but coal production continues to rise and governments have shown insufficient commitment to reining it back.\n\nZurich said its decision to pull out was a practical as well as altruistic. \u201cIt\u2019s not about politics or blame. It\u2019s about utilising the immense amount of data and analytics we have from internal engineers, as well as external scientific experts, to guide our view of the future,\u201d said Rob Kuchinski, global head of property and energy.\n\nThe Bank of England has identified four reasons insurers should be concerned about climate change: their fossil fuel assets could be stranded, they could be held liable for damages linked to their investments, they could see their market diminish, and their payouts could rise.\n\nPayouts are also expected to rise. Munich Re, the world\u2019s largest reinsurer, recently suffered a \u20ac1.4bn loss and also faces soaring claims from hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.\n\n\n\n\u201cLeft unchecked,\u201d British insurer Aviva states, climate change will \u201crender significant portions of the economy uninsurable, shrinking our addressable market.\u201d\n\nThe topic of insurance is prominent on the agenda of UN climate talks in Bonn this week, where the focus is on the lack of coverage for small islands and other nations most affected by rising sea levels and worsening droughts. Wealthy nations are proposing a plan to underwrite climate change coverage to 400 million people in developing countries by 2020.", "output": "Insurance firms are increasingly divesting from coal companies and declining to underwrite their operations, according to research by the Unfriend Coal campaign. The study reveals that approximately \u00a315bn ($20bn) has been divested over the past two years. Fifteen companies, including Allianz, Aviva and Axa, have fully or partially severed financial links to the sector. Zurich, the seventh-largest insurer in the world, also announced this week that it is divesting from coal and Lloyd\u2019s and Swiss Re are expected to make similar commitments in the next few months. However, companies that have divested still represent just 13% of global insurance assets."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "One billion Android devices reckoned to have outdated software \n Android and Apple fans can argue endlessly about who stole what and which phones are better, but there is at least one area where Android has consistently failed to keep up with its biggest rival: fragmentation. For years, we\u2019ve been writing about Google\u2019s failure to roll out the latest versions of its operating system to vendors in a timely fashion, but despite promises to the contrary, Google has failed to make any significant progress to date.\n\nYou don\u2019t have to dig very deep to confirm this fact either, as the Android Developers Dashboard is regularly updated with a breakdown of platform version distribution. But this week, programmer Dan Luu discovered a worrisome trend after combing through some data: Uptake of new versions of Android appears to be slowing down.\n\nUsing Android market share data, Luu was able to create a graph showcasing the growing divide between Android version usage over time. As for why uptake is slowing, Luu deduces that there could be three possible explanations: Android growth is slowing, device turnover is slowing and/or fewer devices are receiving updates.\n\n\u201cBut even with the data we have, we can take a guess at how many outdated devices are in use,\u201d Luu writes. \u201cIn May 2017, Google announced that there are over two billion active Android devices. If we look at the latest stats (the far right edge), we can see that nearly half of these devices are two years out of date. At this point, we should expect that there are more than one billion devices that are two years out of date! Given Android\u2019s update model, we should expect approximately 0% of those devices to ever get updated to a modern version of Android.\u201d\n\nOne billion outdated Android devices. And considering that Google\u2019s latest platform version breakdown shows that just 0.3% of devices have been updated to Android 8.0 Oreo, there are approximately 1.99 billion phones and tablets that have yet to receive the most recent update (which originally launched in August, by the way).\n\nTo put that into perspective, over 50% of all iOS devices have already been updated to iOS 11 less than two months after launch. While there is some hope that Google has started on the long road to recover with Android 8.0, it will be years before Google comes close to catching Apple, providing it ever does.", "output": "Uptake of new versions of Android appears to be slowing down, with at least 50% of all active Android devices likely to be running outdated software, according to one programmer. By using Android market share data, Dan Luu found that nearly 50% of the two billion active Android devices are running software that's at least two\u00a0years out of date. Luu identifies three possible explanations: growth of the Android platform is slowing, device turnover is slowing or\u00a0fewer devices are receiving updates from Google.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Channel 4 joins European Broadcaster Exchange to run ads on VOD \n Channel 4 has joined an alliance of Europe\u2019s biggest broadcasters to run commercials across their video-on-demand (VOD) services, in a move to combat Google and Facebook\u2019s dominance of online advertising.\n\nChannel 4, which offers shows including Great British Bake Off, Gogglebox, Humans and Hunted via All4, will be the exclusive UK partner in the alliance, the European Broadcaster Exchange (EBX).\n\nAdvertisers will be able to book pan-European campaigns across Channel 4\u2019s All4 and equivalent online TV services operated by Germany\u2019s ProSiebenSat1, France\u2019s TF1 and Mediaset, which has operations in Italy and Spain. The broadcasters claim their VOD services reach more than 160 million viewers a month.\n\nChannel 4, which has reported more than 20% annual growth in its video service to more than 60 million monthly viewers, has taken a 25% stake in the joint venture for an undisclosed sum.\n\n\n\nBroadcasters have started to make increasing amounts of money from catch-up TV services, with Channel 4\u2019s digital revenues climbing 24% last year to \u00a3102m.\n\nHowever, there are fears that the sheer scale of Google\u2019s YouTube and Facebook\u2019s online video could limit the commercial growth of broadcasters\u2019 VOD services. They also fear that marketers\u2019 spend on TV advertising could be lost to online video.\n\nThe Silicon Valley giants already snap up as much as 90% of every new \u00a31 of online advertising money spent in the UK.\n\nBroadcasters are are attempting to attract more digital marketing money by focusing on the issues facing Google and Facebook, including ads running next to inappropriate content such as extremist sites and fake news.\n\n\u201cThe demand for multi-territory digital ad campaigns in brand safe and transparent environments is increasing,\u201d said Jonathan Lewis, head of digital and partnership innovation at Channel 4. \u201cThe video ad market continues to grow exponentially across Europe.\u201d\n\nEBX will launch next year with its headquarters based in London.", "output": "UK-based Channel 4 has taken a 25% stake in the European Broadcast Exchange (EBX), an alliance between some of Europe\u2019s biggest broadcasters that aims to challenge the advertising duopoly of Google and Facebook. Channel 4, whose digital revenues rose by almost a quarter last year to \u00a3102m ($135m), will be the sole UK partner in EBX, which is set to launch next year. The London-based exchange will allow advertisers to serve pan-European campaigns reaching more than 160 million viewers a month via Channel 4's All4, as well as Germany\u2019s ProSiebenSat1, France\u2019s TF1 and Italian/Spanish outlet Mediaset.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Another 200,000 sq ft of shared office space planned in\u00a0Manchester \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nSign up for our daily newsletter to get the day's biggest stories sent direct to your inbox\n\nSpecialist providers are planning another 200,000 sq ft of shared and short-term office space as Manchester\u2019s office market goes flexible.\n\nCity sources suggest that WeWork are looking for a third Manchester outlet \u2013 probably in the Northern Quarter \u2013 whilst rival providers Regus and Spaces head a list of half a dozen new requirements.\n\nIf all the flexible office providers now plotting expansion in the city complete deals it could mean another 200,000 sq ft of flexible workspace. This would double the 100,000 sq ft signed up during the summer quarter.\n\nSpeculation about a fast-expanding sector comes as Colliers International say flexible working is going to dominate the Manchester office market in the coming year.\n\nThe report showed serviced office providers addressed the need for flexible working from small and growing operators by taking up to one fifth of space in Manchester in the first three quarters of 2017.\n\nMajor developments included global co-working specialist WeWork following the opening of its first office outside London at No 1 Spinningfields by adding another 44,000 sq ft at One St Peter\u2019s Square and property developer Allied London launching its own co-working brand All Work & Social to operate alongside WeWork at Spinningfields.\n\nMuch of the demand for flexible office space comes from the media and tech sectors, and follows a similar expansion of flexible workspace in London.\n\nPeter Gallagher, director, national offices at the Manchester office of Colliers International, said: \u201cGreater Manchester\u2019s booming media and tech sector, making the region increasingly the Silicon Valley of the North, has a strengthening requirement for office space tailor-made to meet its needs so it\u2019s no surprise to see it play a major role in the take-up of modern and flexible office space throughout 2017.\u201d\n\nColliers\u2019 Manchester office market snapshot for the third quarter of 2017 also reported ongoing buoyant demand for office space in general with 447,809 sq ft transacted in 79 deals, including nine deals of more than 10,000 sq ft.\n\nHowever, some experts have raised concerns about the rapid growth of flexible office providers, warning that a recession or economic slowdown could hit them first, and hardest.\n\nListed provider IWG recently issued a profit warning, saying its profits would be significantly below market expectations, down by about a third to \u00a3160m. Doubts have been raised about the $20 billion valuation of WeWork, one of the market leaders.\n\nThe lesson from history is that serviced office space can suffer \u2013 but can also benefit \u2013 from recessions. Whilst the end of the dot-com bubble in 2000 hurt industry giant Regus whose U.S. division went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the 2008-2012 recession was generally good for serviced offices as businesses reduced long-term property commitments to focus on short-term deals instead.", "output": "Shared and short-term office providers are planning up to 200,000 sq ft of new office space in Manchester. WeWork is planning a third outlet expected to be in the Northern Quarter of the city, while\u00a0Regus and Spaces are also looking for additional premises. A report by property company Colliers International showed that serviced office providers accounted for a fifth of Manchester's office space in the first three quarters of the year, with 100,000 sq ft of new space taken in the summer. Demand from the media and technology sectors is causing the increase, according to the report.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Social media giant Tencent posts Q3 revenues of nearly $10bn \n Streaming video boosted China\u2019s games and social media giant Tencent in the three months to the end of September. Revealing figures for Tencent Video for the first time, the company claimed about 43 million video subscribers.\n\nTencent reported a 61% surge in group revenues to $9.81 billion (RMB65.2 billion) in the period, the third quarter of its financial year. Net profits increased by 67% to $2.71 billion (RMB18 billion), or 46% to $2.57 billion (RMB17.1 billion) on the more conservative non-GAAP basis.\n\n\u201cOur video platform gained audience and revenue market share. We believe it has become China\u2019s top online video platform in terms of mobile daily active users and subscriptions,\u201d said Tencent\u2019s chairman and CEO Pony Ma Huateng. \u201cWe believe this success reflects our increasing investment in self-commissioned video content, our improved selection of licensed video content, and our scheduling and audience management initiatives.\u201d\n\nThe company said that Tencent Video \u201chas exceeded 43 million fee-based subscriptions\u201d and repeated the claim that it is now China\u2019s largest video platform. Netflix claims 109 million subscriptions worldwide.\n\nHowever, even within China, comparisons are difficult. Tencent has not previously revealed video subscription numbers, so a growth rate cannot be calculated. Tencent Video\u2019s biggest competitor, iQIYI, has previously claimed over 60 million paying users, though the bases for measurement may be different. Tencent did not disclose Tencent Video\u2019s revenue contribution or its impact on earnings.\n\nNevertheless, it made made several bold statements for the unit. \u201cWe will continue to increase our investment in video content, especially self-commissioned video content, and to reinforce our content recommendation algorithms,\u201d it said. It was also encouraged by this month\u2019s successful flotation of its online bookstore, China Literature. \u201cWe believe our multi-faceted digital content businesses are synergistic with each other, and allow us to deliver unique content to our users,\u201d the company said.\n\nIts ecosystem, driven by massive social media presence, delivered \u201cstrong business and revenue growth across multiple business lines including games, digital content, online advertising and payment-related services.\u201d\n\nIts older QQ messaging service saw monthly users numbers drop by 4% to 843 million. But its newer, hyper-connected Weixin/WeChat platform gained 16% to 980 million users.", "output": "Chinese social media giant Tencent has reported Q3 group revenues of $9.81bn, an increase of 61%, and revealed it has more than 43 million subscribers to its Tencent Video unit. It is the first time subscriber numbers have been released, but the company did not offer up the unit's contribution to revenues\u00a0or\u00a0earnings. However, Tencent did announce net profits were up by 67% to $2.71bn\u00a0and in a statement said it would \"increase investment in video content, especially self-commissioned video content\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Landsec CEO touts blockchain for future contract processes \n Blockchain technology will \"absolutely\" have a function in Landsec's business, the CEO of the U.K.'s largest property firm told CNBC on Tuesday.\n\nLandsec is the developer behind some Britain's biggest shopping malls and most iconic sites. For example, it owns the electronic advertising billboards in London's Piccadilly Circus.\n\nThe FTSE 100-listed firm deals with a lot of contracts from leasing properties to hiring contractors.\n\nWhen asked if blockchain technology would be used in this part of the business, Chief Executive Robert Noel replied in the affirmative.\n\n\"Absolutely... If you look at the way what we provide, which is services to business, and those services are around contract, anything that speeds up archaic land law, and contract law, and leasing law, etcetera, will be welcomed,\" Noel told CNBC in a TV interview.\n\n\"And so I'm absolutely sure that there will be progress in that sphere.\"\n\nBlockchain is the underlying technology behind the cryptocurrency bitcoin. But the theory behind it can be applied to numerous industries. Blockchain is also called distributed ledger technology and refers to a method of decentralizing processes.", "output": "Robert Noel, CEO of the UK's biggest property firm Landsec, has said that blockchain definitely has a role to play in the company's future. In an interview on CNBC, Noel said: \"anything that speeds up archaic land law, and contract law, and leasing law, etcetera, will be welcomed\". Many in the industry believe blockchain would bring increased accuracy and speed to the contracts-signing process. However, when asked if he thought the technology could lead to job losses, Noel said: \"I wouldn't go quite that far\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snapchat launches Ad Manager 2.0 tools upgrade for marketers \n Snapchat-owner Snap has announced the launch of Ad Manager 2.0, the firm's biggest upgrade to its ad tools since it first rolled out a solution for marketers using the photo and video-sharing app. New features include simplified ad buying and management tools, as well as new Audience Filters, providing marketers with targeting beyond national or hyper local location filters.\n\nAd Manager 2.0 will unify several of Snapchat's existing advertising tools, including Advanced Mode, Snap Publisher, Business Manager and the new Audience Filters, into a single streamlined tool, and also incorporated Ad Set Duplication and Frequency Capping into the everyday ad buying experience.\n\nAudience Filters will offer advertisers targeting filters at scale for the first time on the platform, enabling advanced targeting based on a number of factors, as well as improved measurement and more efficient pricing.\n\n\"We've streamlined Snapchat Ads Manager so advertisers can buy, optimise, target, and measuer in one simple place,\" said Peter Sellis, director of revenue product at Snap. \"And we added Audience Filters to the tool, a big win for advertisers who want to run creative, targeted camera ads at an efficient price.\"\n\nMarketers will now be able to run Filter-based campaigns with targeting based on age, gender, language, device type, location or any of Snap's Lifestyle Categories. Brands can also fine-tune their delivery schedule, re-engage based on users who shared their filter, and see real-time metrics like paid impressions, saves, shares and spend.\n\nThe new tool rollout comes less than a week after Snap announced its Q3 results, which saw the firm report losses of $443.2m (\u00a3376.9m) and caused its share price to drop by over 20 per cent. A redesign of the entire app is planned for Q4, with a focus on making the app more user-friendly in an effort to pull in more users and increase revenues.\n\nJoin us at the 2017 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony, taking place in London on Thursday 16 November, to mix with the industry's best and brightest, and raise a glass to the year's best campaigns and solutions. To find out more, and to book your place, click here.", "output": "Snap, owner of social media outlet Snapchat, is streamlining its advertising suite into one, unified tool with the launch of Ad Manager 2.0. The offering includes audience filters, as well as ad set duplication and frequency capping, and aims to allow advertisers to \"buy, optimise, target, and measure in one simple place\", according to Peter Sellis, the director of revenue product at Snap. The launch followed\u00a0Q3 losses of $443.2m, which prompted a 20% fall in the company's share price, and precedes an\u00a0app revamp in Q4.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Gold Duke of York Award in technical education for Redrow apprentices \n Two Redrow apprentices have been presented with a Gold Duke of York Award for Technical Education by Prince Andrew in an event at Buckingham Palace.\n\nThe award winners are Billy Tivey and Rebecca Driver, both former students of Medway University Technical College (UTC), where they studied BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma in Construction and the Built Environment, which is the equivalent of three A-Levels.\n\nPart of the course involved two weeks of work experience with Redrow\u2019s South East division at its headquarters in Chatham, where they were able to gain some practical on-site experience as well as an understanding of what a career in the construction sector will offer.\n\nThe Duke of York Award rewards young people who have excelled and achieved the highest grades in their technical education as well as being exceptionally talented during their work experience, excelling in their work experience as well as reasoning in the work they do and communication skills with colleagues.\n\nAs well as these prestigious awards, both winners now have full-time jobs with Redrow: Billy as a trainee site assistant at the St Andrews Park in Halling, Rebecca as a commercial apprentice, aiming to become a chartered quantity surveyor.\n\n\u201cThe work experience provided me with the opportunity to experience first-hand the day-to-day of what being a site manager involves and the role really appeals to me,\u201d says Billy. \u201cBefore my work experience I wasn\u2019t sure whether to pursue a career in design. It\u2019s been really exciting going up to Buckingham Palace and receiving my award from Prince Andrew, definitely a day to remember.\u201d\n\nRebecca says: \u201cI was 14 when I figured out that a career in the construction industry would suit my abilities. I\u2019m quite good with figures and like how these can be translated into a practical job on site. I am currently working towards a Level 6 Degree in Quantity Surveying and can\u2019t wait to be fully qualified. It was great to be recognised by the UTC for my knowledge of the construction sector.\u201d\n\nDelighted by the double-win for the pair of the company\u2019s apprentices, Mike Tynan, area construction manager at Redrow (South East), adds: \u201cThey are both exceptionally bright and it\u2019s been so wonderful to see passionate and committed individuals coming into the sector. The construction industry is facing a real crisis in recruitment and we have found that the partnership with Medway UTC has been an excellent way of introducing young people to the opportunities within the sector and enabled them to further develop their skills.\u201d\n\nDid you like this? Share it:", "output": "Abstract:\u00a0Two young people who served at Redrow Homes\u2019s southeast division as part of their work experience have been given the Gold Duke of York Award for technical education. Billy Tivey and Rebecca Driver were presented with their awards by Prince Andrew at Buckingham Palace. Both have gone on to full-time jobs within Redrow. Tivey is a trainee site assistant with Redrow at St Andrews Park in Halling, while Driver is a commercial apprentice. The award recognises those who have achieved the highest grades in their technical education and have excelled in their work experience.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk TalkTalk shares crash 17% despite 46,000 new customers \n T alkTalk shares crashed 17% on Wednesday after a warning on profits that comes despite a surge in demand for its cheap TV, internet and phone deals.\n\nThe challenger telecoms company embarked on an overhaul of its business last May, pledging to invest at the expense of profits, saying farewell to long-time chief executive Dido Harding and taking an axe to the dividend.\n\nWith 30% shareholder Sir Charles Dunstone leading the shake-up alongside new boss Tristia Harrison, TalkTalk had promised to boost its sometimes shaky service and cut the market share of BT.\n\nToday\u2019s half-year results showed some signs that this is working.\n\nThe City was alarmed by the admission that the profits will be at the bottom end of expectations of \u00a3270 million to \u00a3300 million, and the shares got hammered. Later, they were down 20p, 10%, at 170p.\n\nIn words that could be taken as direct criticism of Harding, Harrison (pictured) said the business had been \u201csimplified and reset\u201d.\n\nThere has been a \u201cturnaround from where we were 12 months ago\u201d, she said.\n\nTalkTalk added 46,000 customers in the six months to September 30, compared with a loss of 29,000 last time.\n\nThe half-year dividend of 2.5p is more than halved but is paid despite a loss of \u00a375 million. Mike van Dulken at Accendo Markets said there was a \u201ctriple-whammy of bad news\u201d in lower profits, an \u201cunsightly loss\u201d and a cut to the divi. \u201cThis is the last thing loyal shareholders will have wanted to hear,\u201d he added.\n\nCustomer churn is down from 1.5% to 1.3%, thanks to better service. Harrison thinks the \u201ccustomer experience is much more stable\u201d and people are flocking to its cheaper offer.\n\n\u201cThese are tough economic times. Customers do not want to be ripped off,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cWe have now delivered a third consecutive quarter of growth in our broadband base, with both retail and wholesale bases growing; returned to on-net revenue growth; and delivered lower churn than a year ago,\u201d she added.\n\nHalf-year sales slipped 5% to \u00a3856 million and the company has taken a \u00a331 million restructuring hit for overhauling its mobile phones business.\n\nBarclays\u2019 equity arm cut its price target for the shares from 215p to 200p.\n\nTalkTalk is working on building an internet network with an \u201cultrafibre\u201d rollout in York in partnership with Sky and CityFibre.\n\nSir Charles told the Standard: \u201cIf I were dictator of the country, I would cancel HS2 and put the money into broadband.\u201d\n\nNigel Langstaff, the former finance chief of Carphone Warehouse, founded by Dunstone, is joining the board.\n\nTalkTalk suffered a huge cyber hack in 2015, hitting 157,000 customers.", "output": "Shares in UK telecoms firm TalkTalk fell by 17% after a \"triple-whammy of bad news\": reduced profits, a half-year loss of \u00a375m ($99m) and a reduced dividend. The company, which has been restructuring under executive chairman Sir Charles Dunstone and CEO Tristia Harrison, revealed half-year profits would be lower than expected at between \u00a3270m and \u00a3300m. However, TalkTalk added 46,000 customers\u00a0during the six months to September, compared with\u00a0losing 29,000 during the same period in 2016, while better customer service is credited with reducing\u00a0churn from 1.5% to 1.3%.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's ICBC launches robo-advice platform \n ICBC\u2019s newly launched \u201crobo-adviser\u201d service will see computer programmes dish out investment advice to retail investors over its mobile banking platform, becoming the first among the nation\u2019s \u201cbig-four\u201d state-owned lenders to unlock the potential of the hot new service being adopted rapidly by the industry, worldwide. Photo: AFP", "output": "The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has introduced a robo-adivsory platform for its retail banking customers. Consumers will be able to access the service for a minimum investment of CNY10,000 ($1,506), significantly below what wealth management clients of the bank normally pay. Other Chinese banks have also sort to enter the robo-advice space with\u00a0China Merchants Bank, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Industrial Bank and Ping An Bank among those launching platforms.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Billion pound investment in insurance tech fails to impress \n Customers and brokers remain disconnected from insurtech despite $1.8bn-worth (\u00a31.35bn) of investment into the sector in 2017, according to a report.\n\nLegacy systems and the slow pace at which start-ups are able to grow mean many people have yet to see the benefits of technological innovations, according to a survey of 1,500 consumers and 100 insurance industry professionals by Consumer Intelligence.\n\nThe survey suggested one in five insurance brokers blames technology for difficulties they experience when dealing with insurers.\n\nIn addition, 70 per cent of customers claim their insurer is no easier to deal with than two years ago - despite the high levels of investment in technology.\n\nWhat\u2019s more, despite consumers\u2019 demands for transparency and simplicity, 61 per cent of customers believe insurers make \u2018claiming\u2019 deliberately confusing.\n\nJust one in ten consumers fully understood their policy cover, claiming jargon and long and complicated terms and conditions acted as barriers to comprehension.\n\nAnd while the vast majority (96 per cent) of insurers ranked technology as the top investment priority, a third believe insurance is five years behind the digital curve.\n\nAccording to the research, large corporates are still beginning their digital transformation, while start-ups lack the customers and data to launch at scale.\n\nMatt Connolly, chief executive at Tallt Ventures, a data driven insight and intelligence business, said: \u201cOur most recent research indicates that not all insurers are positioned to answer the demands of their customers, as they are hindered by age old legacy systems.\n\n\u201cIt is clear that there is a disconnect between the initial promise of the insurtech revolution and the current reality experienced by millions of customers, who feel sold short.\u201d\n\nDaren O\u2019Brien, director at London-based Aurora Financial, commented: \u201cThey do have issues with legacy systems, and with all the mergers and acquisitions that have happened it does not make it easier for them.\n\n\u201cWhen customers take out a new product, it is all singing, all dancing, but on any older plans we are talking about legacy systems that have been around for 20 or 30 years. It is too expensive to move them across to new systems, or they are not compatible with the new systems.\n\n\u201cIt is only in the last decade that we have seen technology driven forward. It does cause massive problems - the information is never readily available and it takes ages to get the information, or they have outsourced their legacy plans to other companies.\u201d\n\nsimon.allin@ft.com", "output": "Despite more than $1.8bn invested in insurtech this year, consumers are still largely waiting to see the benefits with legacy systems obstructing progress, according to a study from Consumer Intelligence, reported Simon Allin in the Financial Times."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Canadian insurers urged to prepare for cyber attacks \n THE FEDERAL government has become more focused on cyber security since the breach at credit rating firm Equifax, delegates heard at the recent Insurance Bureau of Canada\u2019s Regulatory Affairs Symposium in Toronto.\n\nThe Equifax breach leaked highly personal information including names, addresses, social security numbers and birthdates of millions of its customers in the U.S. and Canada. The company was breached in July but Equifax didn\u2019t notify customers until September. The incident led ceo Richard Smith to retire and subsequently issue a public apology in the Wall Street Journal.\n\nIBC president and ceo Don Forgeron said that, due to the Equifax incident, when the IBC met with Malcolm Brown, the deputy minister of public safety, to talk about flood issues and natural catastrophes, he was \u201cabsolutely seized\u201d with cyber breach issues.\n\n\u201cEveryone from the federal government and small business owners are asking how to protect themselves,\u201d Mr. Forgeron said.\n\nHe added that the federal government has plans to act on and respond to these issues soon.\n\n\u201cNo amount of security can completely adequately protect against cyber attacks and although insurance transfers some risk it isn\u2019t the whole solution,\u201d Mr. Forgeron said.\n\nAnd while insurers have an appetite to cover cyber risk, they are also vulnerable. \u201cInsurers are also becoming much more aware of their very own real exposure to cyber attacks,\u201d he said. \u201cInsurers hold personal information, and a lot of it. How do we protect our own systems?\u2019\n\nMr. Forgeron and two speakers at the symposium said Canadian insurers can learn a lot from the Equifax breach. Speaking at a privacy law development panel during the symposium, Farah Zafar, senior counsel, corporate compliance and privacy officer at Economical Insurance, said one of the biggest impacts of a cyber breach is on a company\u2019s brand. She said one of the biggest concerns with the Equifax breach was how long it took the company to tell its customers about it.\n\n\u201cCertainly consumers looking at that felt that Equifax took too long to share that information.\n\n\u201cThere seems to be a visceral reaction because they felt Equifax took too long in getting the information out to impacted consumers.\u201d But Ms. Zafar said it is difficult for companies to assess when to report breaches.\n\n\u201cThe reality is that it can be challenging to get your arms around these breaches and fully understand what has actually happened,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cEven figuring out what happened and fully understanding and providing meaningful information \u2014 that in and of itself can take time although there seems to be a public perception that it needs to be immediate and shared as soon as it happens.\u201d That, she said, makes it crucial for companies to have incident plans in place prior to anything bad happening.\n\nCreating an incident plan once a breach happens is too late.\n\n\u201cInsurers have to be proactive about these things since insurers are aware of the volumes of data they hold from their customers,\u201d Ms. Zafar said.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s really important to be proactive and internally develop a team to respond to these situations that can triage and assess and understand what is going on.\u201d Co-panellist Timothy Banks, a partner at law firm Dentons Canada, said his observations of breach incidents in general is that delaying reporting to consumers is sometimes a wise decision.\n\nHe said usually the numbers of customers affected goes down from what is often initially estimated. \u201cSo there is always a risk in coming out and reporting the size of a breach too early,\u201d Mr. Banks said. \u201cBecause chances are that through additional forensics you are going to narrow the scope of the breach and know the timeline and scope of the intrusion \u2014 narrowing the total number of people affected.\u201d\n\n(More coverage of the symposium was presented in our Nov. 13th weekly edition. To subscribe, please choose the \u2018Subscribe\u2019 tab on our main page or email mpub@rogers.com).", "output": "Canada's government is urging insurers to pay more attention to their own cyber protection policies. Though insurers are showing an increasing appetite to take on cyber risk on behalf of their clients, they themselves are also vulnerable, Don Forgeron, head of the Insurance Bureau of Canada recently noted at a conference. Insurers hold a vast amount of client information, Forgeron noted, and could learn from the recent Equifax security breach about how best to safeguard this data.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese helicopter sales surge\u00a0as airspace rules\u00a0relaxed \n China's growing love affair with helicopters looks set to continue.\n\nPreviously tight airspace rules in the country were relaxed in 2016, allowing civilian use below 3,000 meters. In the months that followed, Bell Helicopter, Airbus Helicopters and Leonardo Helicopters have all secured big orders in China.\n\nIn June, Bell secured a bumper contract to sell 100 407GXP helicopters to Shaanxi Helicopter (SHC).\n\nSpeaking at the Dubai Airshow on Tuesday, Patrick Moulay, the executive vice president of global sales for Bell Helicopter, said the gap between the fleet size in China and that of the U.S. was huge and the former is racing to catch up.\n\n\"This year we have already received more than 200 orders from China alone. This is more than we have received for the rest of the world,\" Moulay said.", "output": "A relaxing of tight airspace rules in China last year has led to a surge in helicopter orders in the country. \"This year we have already received more than 200 orders from China alone. This is more than we have received for the rest of the world\", said Patrick Moulay, executive vice president at Bell Helicopter. The gap\u00a0between the size of China's helicopter fleet and that of the US is fast closing, said Moulay.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Toshiba sells TV business to China's Hisense Group for $114m \n The logo of Toshiba is seen as a shareholder arrives at Toshiba's extraordinary shareholders meeting in Chiba, Japan March 30, 2017. Toru Hanai, Reuters/FILE PHOTO\n\nTOKYO - Struggling Japanese conglomerate Toshiba said Tuesday it has decided to sell its television business to China's Hisense Group as part of its efforts to restore its balance sheet.\n\nToshiba agreed with the Chinese group to sell 95 percent in shares of its unit Toshiba Visual Solutions (TVS) for about 12.9 billion yen ($114 million), it said in a statement.\n\n\"Toshiba has been considering structural reforms that will ... strengthen Toshiba's financial base,\" the firm said.\n\n\"It has become difficult for Toshiba itself to further invest its management resources and execute measures to strengthen the competitiveness\" of the TV business, it said.\n\nAccordingly, it determined that the best way to strengthen the business is \"to transfer it to Hisense\".\n\nThe announcement came days after the Tokyo-based firm said it logged a net loss of $436 million for the fiscal first half, as it moves to complete the multi-billion-dollar sale of its chip business.\n\nAfter months of wrangling with competing bidders, Toshiba said in September it had formally signed an agreement to sell the chip unit for 2 trillion yen to a consortium led by US investor Bain Capital, which included US tech giants Apple and Dell as well as South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix.\n\nThe chip unit brought in around a quarter of Toshiba's total annual revenue and is the crown jewel in a vast range of businesses ranging from home appliances to nuclear reactors.\n\nThe deal is seen as crucial to the survival of the cash-strapped company, one of Japan's best-known firms.\n\nToshiba is on the ropes after the disastrous acquisition of US nuclear energy firm Westinghouse, which racked up billions of dollars in losses before being placed in bankruptcy protection.\n\nkh/ric/dan\n\n\u00a9 Agence France-Presse", "output": "Toshiba is selling its television business to China's Hisense Group. The struggling Japanese conglomerate is selling 95% in shares of its Toshiba Visual Solutions division for $114m as part of its financial structural reforms. It is also selling its chip business to a consortium led by Bain Capital for JPY2tn. Toshiba made a net loss of $436m in its fiscal first half.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Over 16,000 sign scientists\u2019 letter warning of threat to planet \n Story highlights Scientists send warning to the public to fix environmental problems now The letter has been so popular, hundreds more have signed it since it came out Monday\n\nCNN \u2014\n\nMore than 16,000 scientists from 184 countries have published a second warning to humanity advising that we need to change our wicked ways to help the planet.\n\nIn 1992, 1,700 independent scientists signed the \u201cWorld Scientists\u2019 Warning to Humanity.\u201d The letter warned that \u201chuman beings and the natural world are on a collision course\u201d and if environmental damage was not stopped, our future was at risk.\n\nThat letter made headlines 25 years ago, but the world still faces daunting environmental challenges. So environmental scientist William Ripple and his colleagues decided to create a new letter that has also struck a nerve. Since it was published in the journal BioScience on Monday, hundreds more scientists have signed on to the letter.\n\nThe letter essentially says that if there is not a groundswell of public pressure to change human behavior, the planet will sustain \u201csubstantial and irreversible\u201d harm.\n\n\u201cThis is not about some natural phenomenon that is removed from humans,\u201d said Ripple, a distinguished professor of ecology at Oregon State University. \u201cIf we don\u2019t have a healthy biosphere, as it is called, if we continue to have major environmental problems and climate change problems, then this goes directly to the welfare of humans. People need to understand that we are trying to save ourselves from catastrophic huge misery.\u201d\n\nThough there have been a handful of positive changes, current data show that many environmental problems have gotten \u201calarmingly\u201d worse since the last letter was penned.\n\nClimate change\n\nFuture global warming\n\nSince 1970, carbon dioxide emissions have increased sharply, by about 90%. About 78% of that comes from fossil fuel combustion, such as through the use of coal to heat our homes and driving cars that use gas, and through basic industrial processes and human activity which accounts for the majority of the total greenhouse gas emissions increase from 1970 to 2011, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.\n\nThat human activity has helped raise the global average temperature. 2016 was the warmest year on record, according to NASA. In fact, the 10 warmest years on the 136-year record have occurred since 1998, according to the most recent data available.\n\nThough the Trump administration has said climate change programs are a \u201cwaste of your money\u201d and that climate change itself is an \u201cexpensive hoax,\u201d the data suggest that temperature increases will probably cause a shortage in the world\u2019s food crops. The weather will become more damaging, with more intense storms. Sea levels will rise and threaten coastal cities like Miami and New Orleans.\n\nDead zones\n\nThe Dead Zone\n\nThe new letter lists data showing a 75% increase in the number of ocean dead zones since the publication of the first letter. Dead zones are the areas in oceans, large lakes and rivers where marine life either dies or is driven away because the zone lacks sufficient oxygen.\n\nAlthough dead zones can occur naturally, they are created largely by excessive nutrient pollution from human activities like farming and industrial pollution, according to the National Ocean Service. There are many along the US East Coast and in the Great Lakes, and the second largest in the world is in the northern Gulf of Mexico.\n\nScientists believe there are at least 405 dead zones worldwide, including near South America, Japan, China and southeast Australia.\n\nThat\u2019s not merely bad news for the fish that live there; it is bad news for the humans who eat the fish and other seafood that need the fish to survive. The dead zone in the Chesapeake Bay, for instance \u2013 which measures 1.89 cubic miles, or nearly the volume of 3.2 million Olympic-size swimming pools \u2013 results in the loss of tens of millions of fish, which both humans and crabs eat. It threatens the oysters there, too.\n\nDespite the challenges there, the proposed Trump budget would cut cleanup funds for the Chesapeake Bay, the Great Lakes and other bodies of water with dead zones.\n\nFish in trouble\n\nSeafood - Something For Everyone\n\nThere has been an increasing appetite for fish, but it is getting harder to catch them. The recent revision of the US dietary guidelines urged Americans to eat more fish for heart health and weight control. More people have started to see the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet, which also emphasizes fish over meat.\n\nThe fishing industry has upped its efforts, but there has been a large drop in the harvest of wild-caught fish. In fact, a 2006 study found that all species of wild seafood could collapse within the next 50 years if more isn\u2019t done to protect these populations. About 2,300 species of fish are listed as endangered or threatened according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.\n\nIn earlier research, scientists also predicted that this drop could compromise people\u2019s need for protein and for micronutrients, particularly in developing nations. Already, 45% of deaths among children under age 5 is due largely to health problems caused by undernutrition according to a 2013 study.\n\nFresh water threatened\n\nProtecting Water Quality for People and the Environment\n\nEarth has seen a 26% reduction in the amount of fresh water available per capita since the 1992 letter. If conservation efforts and industry levels of pollution don\u2019t change, UNESCO predicts that the world will face a 40% global water deficit by 2030.\n\nPopulation growth, industrialization, urbanization and an increase in water consumption have threatened our freshwater sources significantly, research shows.\n\nCurrently, 20% of the world\u2019s aquifers are being over-exploited.\n\nInvestment in water infrastructure has gone up globally and in the US, but some scientists question whether that investment will be enough.\n\nForests threatened\n\nCNN Explains: Deforestation 02:22 - Source: CNN\n\nBetween 1990 and 2015, the world has lost 129 million hectares of forest land \u2013 an area about the size of South Africa.\n\nMost deforestation has happened in tropical areas, but the US has also lost significant forest land. Studies have projected that with US population growth continuing as predicted, the country could lose 50 million more acres by 2050.\n\nTrees aren\u2019t merely pretty; they help clean the air and water, provide lumber for construction, create habitats for animals and help mitigate the impact of climate change.\n\nThere is some hope when it comes to forests though, as studies have shown that deforestation has slowed and more forests are better managed globally, suggesting that if humans put their minds to it, negative environmental trends can change.\n\nUnsustainable population spike\n\nPopulation growth across Africa 00:56 - Source: CNN\n\nThere has been a 35% increase in the human population since the 1992 letter, putting a strain on the increasingly limited number of available natural resources. That trend is not expected to change any time soon.\n\nResearchers predict that there will be nearly 10 billion people living on Earth by 2050, according to the United Nations, with much of the population growth occurring in developing nations with the highest fertility rates but also the lowest food security.\n\nProgress has also been seen when it comes to slowing growth, in the form of increasing education for women and girls and concentrated family planning efforts.\n\nAnimals disappearing\n\nHe can hear species disappearing 05:40 - Source: CNN\n\nThere has been a nearly 29% collective reduction in the number of animals in the world since the 1992 letter. Scientists say we are living in the sixth mass-extinction event, which means three-quarters of all species could disappear in the coming centuries.\n\nA 2017 publication also looked at a well-studied group of 177 mammal species and found that all of them had lost at least 30% of their territory between 1900 and 2015; more than 40% of those species \u201cexperienced severe population declines,\u201d meaning they lost at least 80% of their geographic range during that time. Put another way: This particular extinction is \u201cmore severe\u201d than previously thought.\n\nSome progress\n\nAntarctic ozone layer is healing 01:20 - Source: CNN\n\nIn the past 25 years, ozone depletion is the one significant positive trend.\n\nThere had been a steady decline in the Earth\u2019s ozone layer, caused in part by gasses released by aerosol spray cans and refrigerants, reducing the ozone layer\u2019s ability to absorb ultraviolet radiation.\n\nAfter 1987, when the world\u2019s governments came together to craft the United Nations Montreal Protocol, emissions of ozone-depleting gasses decreased significantly. The ozone is expected to see a significant recovery by the middle of the century.\n\nThe effort to help the ozone is one example, Ripple said, that when people come together to work on something, they can make a huge impact. That\u2019s what he hopes the new letter will accomplish.\n\nFollow CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter.\n\nIn addition to seeing more scientists sign the letter after its publication, Ripple has been overwhelmed by the number of other people who have reached out, some sending poems and songs that they have created about the environment, and pledged to help.\n\nRipple and his co-authors aren\u2019t sure what the next steps will be, but like many a manifesto writer before him, he is hopeful, despite the dire tone of the letter.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m an optimist,\u201d he said. \u201cMy hope is that this letter triggers a worldwide conversation about these environmental and climate trends and perhaps more fundamentally that it can raise people\u2019s awareness of the seriousness of global environmental problems so we can come together. It is so important to work together as a human race to make a sustainable future on planet Earth.\u201d", "output": "More than 16,000 scientists from 184 countries have issued a warning to humanity about the consequences of climate change. The statement is a follow-up to the 1992 World Scientists\u2019 Warning to Humanity,\u00a0signed by 1,700 individuals, which stated that environmental damage could threaten our survival. The new letter argues that the planet will experience \u201csubstantial and irreversible\u201c \u00a0harm unless public pressure results in behavioural change. The scientists cited data that showed environmental problems have got much worse since the first letter was published.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "India to introduce clean fuels two years early due to smog \n Measures aimed at slashing vehicle emissions will be introduced two years early, the Indian government has announced in its first major policy response to the Delhi smog crisis.\n\nAs the haze improved slightly on Wednesday \u2013 albeit to levels still considered \u201cvery poor\u201d \u2013 the Indian petroleum ministry said it would introduce Bharat VI fuels from April next year, instead of April 2020 as originally planned.\n\nThe Bharat standards govern the volume of toxic materials permitted in the fuels that power the estimated 10 million cars that operate in the Indian capital and contribute significantly to its dangerously poor air quality.\n\nThe new fuels will have one-fifth the sulphur count of the existing standards, and 1,000 times less sulphur than fuels used in 1995.\n\nPolash Mukherjee, an air pollution researcher at the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment, said the fuel standards would need to be paired with equally stringent technology standards to be fully effective. The combination of the two could reduce particulate matter from diesel vehicles by 90%, and petrol vehicles by around 60%, he said.\n\n\n\nThe technology standards are scheduled to be implemented in 2020, but Mukherjee said lobbying efforts were under way to bring them forward.\n\nVehicle emissions make up around a fifth of the total pollution load in Delhi. Studies suggest road dust thrown up by vehicles contributes another 35%. The two combined result in gaseous fumes forming secondary particles that bond with the thick dust and linger in the air.\n\nThe initiative is the first long-term policy step to be taken by the central government since pollution levels reached \u201chazardous\u201d levels last week and doctors declared a public health emergency.\n\n00:31 Delhi smog declared public health emergency \u2013 video\n\nNarendra Modi\u2019s government has been accused of failing to take the crisis seriously, while some measures announced by Delhi authorities have been held up by courts and criticised as quick fixes.\n\nOn Wednesday the Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, met his counterpart in Haryana, a neighbouring state that also has dangerous air pollution levels. In a joint statement with Manohar Lal Khattar, Kejriwal said the pair had agreed \u201con many measures aimed at preventing its re-occurrence in the winter of 2018\u201d.\n\nKejriwal has been critical of the states that surround Delhi for not cracking down on the annual burning of hundreds of acres of crop waste, which sends toxic smoke billowing across north India. However, state leaders including the Punjab chief minister, Amarinder Singh, have said their farmers cannot afford to clear their fields any other way, and need financial incentives to do so.\n\n\u201cFarmers cannot be expected to give up crop residue burning completely till the time they are provided viable solutions,\u201d Singh said on Tuesday.\n\nMeteorologists have predicted the \u201cvery poor\u201d conditions will last for the foreseeable future.\n\n", "output": "India is to introduce measures designed to reduce vehicle emissions two years ahead of schedule, the country's government has announced. The move is a response to the current smog crisis in Delhi. The country\u2019s petroleum ministry will introduce Bharat VI fuels, which have one-fifth of the sulphur count of existing fuels and 1,000 times less sulphur than fuels from 1995, from April 2018, instead of April 2020. Vehicle emissions are responsible for 20% of total pollution in Delhi, which has an estimated 10 million cars, with road dust contributing a further 35%."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brazil planing fire-sale of oil reserves, claim environmentalists \n Brazil is planning a fire-sale of its oil resources before shrinking global carbon budgets push down demand and prices, environmental groups have warned.\n\nThe focus of concern is a government proposal for up to $300bn in tax relief to companies that develop offshore oilfields that opponents claim would use up 7% of humanity\u2019s emission budget if global warming is to be kept below 2C.\n\nClimate Observatory, WWF, Greenpeace and other groups say the subsidies could spark a get-it-out-of-the-ground race with fossil fuel rivals such as the US, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Norway and the UK.\n\nThe accusations contradict Brazil\u2019s position at this week\u2019s climate talks, where the country\u2019s negotiators have urged the world to be more ambitious in cutting carbon emissions.\n\n\u201cThe country is doing the exact opposite \u2013 increasing emissions and opening itself up to big oil with billionaire subsidies at a time when the country still tries to recover from its worst recession,\u201d said Carlos Rittl, executive secretary of Climate Observatory.\n\nThe pre-salt fields are believed to contain oil and gas equivalent to 176bn barrels of crude, or 74.8bn tonnes of CO2. This is 7% of the carbon budget for 2C and 18% for 1.5C, according to calculations by Climate Observatory\n\nExtraction is already under way, but the administration of Michel Temer, who seized power in an impeachment plot against former president Dilma Rousseff last year, is keen to accelerate the process.\n\nIt has proposed a bill \u2013 known as MP 795 \u2013 that would slash taxes up until 2040 for firms that win auctions to develop the oil fields. The subsidy would give the government one of the lowest revenue shares in the world of each barrel extracted, effectively undercutting the competition.\n\n\u201cThis is a terrible signal,\u201d said Jennifer Morgan, executive director of Greenpeace International. \u201cWith this bill, Brazil will make the global responsibility to reduce emissions even more difficult than it already is.\u201d\n\n\n\nCongress is due to vote on the bill before 15 December. Opposition congressmen say the subsidies for oil are unjust at a time when health and education budgets have been frozen for 20 years and payments for forest protection have been slashed.\n\nThe government says the measure is necessary to ensure the success of future auctions which will generate revenue to help an economy that is only slowly emerging from its worst recession in a century. It has earmarked 70.5% of all energy investment until 2026 (pdf) to be spent on fossil fuels.\n\nBrazil\u2019s carbon emissions surged 8.9% last year \u2013 the biggest rise since 2008 \u2013 largely as a result of increased deforestation in the Amazon and Cerrado.\n\nThis threatens the lead-by-example role that Brazil\u2019s skilled diplomats have long played at climate talks.\n\nOfficials point out that many developing countries are also promoting oil and coal and that in some cases, such as Germany, their emissions are also rising. By comparison, they say, Brazil gets 74% of its energy from renewables (mostly hydropower dams) and that the pace of deforestation slowed by 16% this year after a two-year uptick that pushed the country off course from its climate goals.\n\nJos\u00e9 Ant\u00f4nio Marcondes, Brazil\u2019s chief negotiator for climate change, urged developed nations to pick up the pace. Photograph: Kiara Worth/ENB/IISD\n\nThe country\u2019s chief climate change negotiator, Jos\u00e9 Ant\u00f4nio Marcondes, insisted Brazil was doing its part and urged developed nations to pick up the pace by taking action over the next three years.\n\n\u201cIf we are to reach the goals set out in Paris, we cannot delay action until 2020. Ambition and actions should not be postponed,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we do not meet the deadlines, if things become even harder on the discussions \u2013 which we are doing everything to avoid, we must not, we cannot run the risk of repeating Copenhagen when the world failed to agree on action.\u201d\n\nIt was exactly the sort of stirring and positive argument that has enabled Brazil to push past negotiations forward and bridge the gap between rich and poor countries. However, when asked about proposals back home for fossil fuel subsides, he was far less assured.\n\n\u201cWe are of course following the legislative discussions around any possible fiscal measures. However, it should not be overlooked that we adopted in the Paris Agreement emissions reduction targets that are among the most ambitious in the world \u2013 across both developed and developing countries \u2013 and these targets are on top of the dramatic reductions already achieved,\u201d he said.\n\n", "output": "Brazil is planning to hold a fire-sale of its oil resources before prices fall due to decreasing global carbon budgets, according to environmental groups including Climate Observatory, Greenpeace and WWF. The country\u2019s government is proposing up to $300bn in tax relief for firms that develop offshore oilfields that campaigners argue would use up 7% of the total emissions budget if the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement are to be achieved. The areas that would be included in the sale are believed to hold oil and gas equivalent to 176 billion barrels of crude, or 74.8 billion tonnes of CO2."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK publishers need more details on how GDPR law will be enforced \n The scramble to get businesses ready for the enforcement of the General Data Protection Regulation in May has led to a whirlwind of internal committees and strategy meetings. Legal teams are being wheeled out to explain the finer nuts and bolts of the new law, while publishing execs crane their necks to see what peers are doing.\n\nBut developing concrete plans of action is tough. That\u2019s largely because there are still so many areas of the law that can be widely interpreted. The Information Commissioner\u2019s Office is releasing details and guidance on the areas that are still vague, but in a piecemeal fashion. Some publishers and ad tech businesses feel like they\u2019re in limbo, unable to push the button on action plans while they await details on how the law will be enforced. It\u2019s a concern already voiced by the marketing side of the industry.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s very hard to strategize before the next [ICO] guidance is out because we don\u2019t know what the permissions are going to be,\u201d said a publisher for a national newspaper who spoke on the condition of anonymity. \u201cCompanies like Google and Facebook are making a big PR play of being compliant, but we don\u2019t know what that looks like yet. We need to go about getting those permissions [for consumer consent] without obliterating our user base,\u201d this person said.\n\nThe ICO has recently released additional guidance on areas like user profiling and under what conditions consent will be required. But it has yet to issue further guidance on other areas where consent will be needed and what kinds of data processing will be acceptable under the new law. The final guidance is expected in December \u2014 leaving little time to implement.\n\nThat\u2019s not to say publishers are sitting on their hands. As News UK\u2019s chief data privacy officer Robert Streeter said in September at Rubicon Project\u2019s Automation event, waiting around for additional guidance from the ICO isn\u2019t the best move \u2014 there are other ways to push forward. Many have appointed chief privacy officers, and some publishers are already looking at messaging which would be used to inform users about consent.\n\n\u201cAs long as you can demonstrate you have an audit trail that shows compliance plans, that\u2019s the main thing,\u201d said Charles Yardley, gm for strategic partnerships for Forbes Europe. \u201cEveryone is in the same boat with this.\u201d\n\nBut for some, the GDPR has become a bit of a hot potato, with vendors passing the compliance buck back to publishers. One bone of contention stems from the fact that a publisher will share liability if a vendor within its digital ad supply chain passes on that publisher\u2019s data without the vendor itself having obtained consumer consent. In turn, some vendors are not taking much action, believing the onus is on the publisher to \u201cfix it\u201d and incorporate consent for the third-party vendors they use.\n\n\u201cIt is all rather confusing now, as no one is fully sure how it should be interpreted. There\u2019s a lot of uncertainty,\u201d said another publishing exec.\n\nEnsuring compliance throughout the supply chain is just one element that needs to be addressed. Publishers are also whiteboarding scenarios in which they must create totally different technology infrastructures and digital offerings that are appropriate for people who say they don\u2019t want to give consent for their data to be used in exchange for personalized news. Publishers will need to come up with more vanilla, less personalized news services.\n\nSome publishers have expressed concerns that they\u2019ll be out of step with the rest of the industry in their interpretation of the law. Some may interpret the law strictly and switch off all their marketing, wipe their cookies, start over with a clean slate and then ask users politely for consent. Others could explore ways to get automated consent and then allow users to opt out easily. \u201cBecause of how broad the interpretation is, you could find you end up going one way and the industry going in another,\u201d said a publishing exec.", "output": "Publishers are waiting for guidance from the UK government\u00a0about how they should\u00a0implement\u00a0the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which takes\u00a0effect in May. In particular, they are concerned about the lack of detail over what they will be able to do with\u00a0customers' data and when they are required to seek\u00a0consent to use it. However, the Information Commissioner's Office has released partial information on user profiling and consent conditions, and\u00a0more details about data processing are expected\u00a0this\u00a0December. Publishers are also concerned about\u00a0shared liability\u00a0with vendors\u00a0for data misuse\u00a0when\u00a0vendors\u00a0haven't obtained\u00a0consumer consent.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aspiring lithium miner Altura plans Pilbara expansion \n J & R Optimum, the major shareholder in Altura, and Lionergy each have binding offtake agreements for a minimum of 100,000 tonnes a year of spodumene concentrate for an initial five-year period.\n\nMr Brown said the two significant players in Chinese lithium battery market had encouraged Altura to pursue the production expansion to 440,000 tonnes. Despite their interest Altura was keeping its funding options open.\n\nThe positive in-house scoping study was based on the recently-revised Mineral Resource estimate of 44 million tonnes at 1.00 per cent lithium oxide and the revised ore reserve estimate of 34.2 million tonnes at 1.04 per cent.\n\nThe study canvassed introducing 24-hour-a-day operations to boost production with mine life remaining at greater than 10 years and further mine resource extension drilling planned for 2018.\n\nThe Altura share price has more than doubled since early last month when it completed a $26 million institutional placement a 19\u00a2 a share to help pay for the expansion study. Just under half the placement was taken by US asset manger BlackRock, which has also built a position in Pilbara Minerals.\n\nThe placement came soon after Altura locked away a $US110 million debt facility that was the final piece of funding for the first stage of the Pilgangoora project.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nLionergy is building a lithium carbonate/lithium hydroxide plant in China for a consortium which includes J & R with completion expected to coincide with first production for Altura.\n\nAltura has an option to take equity in the plant and Mr Brown confirmed it would consider that option after achieving initial production targets.\n\nAltura executives will travel to Inner Mongolia in the next few weeks to inspect progress on the plant, which has the capacity to absorb all the production from Stage 1 of Altura's Pilgangoora mine.\n\nMr Brown said the size of the spodumene resources around Pilgangoora meant Altura along with others coming into production in Pilbara Minerals and Mineral Resources could consider localised lithium processing consortium in the future.\n\n\"The downstream opportunities are very much in their infancy and at the moment I think we are all focused on production first,\" he said.\n\nAltura and Pilbara Minerals have a formal co-operation agreement, which sees them share some costs, including an access road to the adjoining mines about 120 kilometres from Port Hedland.\n\nThe reporter was a guest of Altura Mining Limited.", "output": "Altura Mining is preparing to raise production of spodumene concentrate from 220,000 tonnes a year to 440,000 tonnes at its $170m Pilgangoora lithium project in Western Australia's Pilbara. Commissioning is scheduled for the Q2, 2018,\u00a0with first lithium concentrate sales in the Q2.\u00a0J&R Optimum, the major shareholder in Altura, and Lionergy each have binding offtake agreements for a minimum of 100,000 tonnes a year of spodumene concentrate for an initial five-year period. Two significant players in the Chinese lithium battery market had encouraged Altura to pursue the production expansion to 440,000 tonnes."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Landlords and tenants unaware of rights and obligations: survey \n Millions of tenants and landlords across the UK are unaware of the laws governing the rental sector with landlords even unsure about responsibilities regarding being safe and fair, new research has found.\n\nSome 37% of UK tenants and 16% of landlords do not know that renters must be given at least two months\u2019 notice if a landlord wishes to evict them and 34%, or 5.8 million people, do not realise they have the right for their deposits to be placed in a Tenancy Deposit Protection scheme.\n\nThe research from online letting agent LetBritain, also found that 43% of tenants and 19% of landlords have no idea that tenants can challenge any excessive charges made by a landlord via an ombudsman while 28% of tenants did not know a landlord should provide 24 hours\u2019 notice before entering their property.\n\nSome 34% were unaware that a landlord must provide an Energy Performance Certificate and 50% of tenants are uninformed that the rent charged by a landlord should be comparable to similar properties in the area or can be challenged while 27% of landlords did not realise this either.\n\nThe firm says the lack of knowledge is worrying. The research also found that 14% of landlords do not realise it is their responsibility to arrange and pay for any repairs to the exterior of a property.\n\n\u2018It is clear that a huge proportion of UK renters, a population growing in size, do not truly understand the legislation and regulation in place to protect them. Likewise, a concerning number of landlords are also in the dark about exactly what rights and responsibilities they have,\u2019 said Fareed Nabir, chief executive officer of LetBritain.\n\n\u2018Such a lack of awareness increases the risk of renters and landlords being exploited and it must be addressed and lettings agents certainly have a duty to better inform all their customers about the vital legislative framework governing the rental sector,\u2019 he added.", "output": "A \"huge proportion of UK renters\" and a \"concerning number of landlords\" are badly informed about the regulations governing the rental sector, according to a study by online letting agent LetBritain. Among the results it found were 37% of tenants and 16% of landlords were unaware an eviction requires two months' notice, while half of tenants and 27% of landlords did not know rent charged must be comparable to that of other similar, local properties. Fareed Nabir, the CEO of LetBritain, said more needed to be done to ensure everyone in the rental sector was better informed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Suite of acquisitions could signal the end of Agtech startup boom \n Share\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn the past few months there has been a flurry of acquisitions of agtech startups by major players in the industry. Let\u2019s look at a short and hardly complete list of a few of these recent acquisitions:\n\nWith startups like these all being recently purchased and absorbed into the larger framework of the digital ag platforms of some major players, one has to wonder if the agtech startup boom is ending.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIt almost feels like this is becoming a game of musical chairs, and what companies are going to find themselves without a seat in one of these large digital ag platforms when the music stops?\n\nOf the startups that do remain, one has to wonder about their survival without either new investment dollars coming in past their B and C investment rounds or a sound enough business plan to get them in the black on their own. I speculate that some of these startups that are lacking in those two areas will either go belly up soon or get purchased for a song by a major player.\n\nAs for the rest of the agtech space, there are some very large digital ag platforms being assembled by major players in the industry. Monsanto with Climate FieldView and Dow/DuPont with their combination of Encirca, Granular, and AcreValue are both very robust digital ag platforms with a lot of capabilities that are only going to increase over time.\n\nLittle guys with a product with a narrow focus have got to be concerned. Sure, a lot of growers like to deal with companies independent of their seed and chemical manufacturers, but logging on to 15 different websites and transferring all of your data to all of them is a real pain and overwhelming to update the information on a regular basis. We\u2019re at a point where we expect all of this stuff to just flow together with minimal effort. Growers expect that maybe there is some work upfront, but it should be easy on an ongoing basis since that was half the point in doing this anyway. This is where the large digital ag platforms have a huge advantage.\n\nFarmers Edge seems to be filling the independent segment of the market as they also appear to be developing into a digital ag platform, but what are the realistic chances of a new startup coming in and entering this space? When you think of the deep pockets they are up against, do new startups really stand a chance at this stage of the game?\n\n0 1 5 Is the Agtech Startup Boom Over?", "output": "The recent spate of acquisitions involving big corporations snapping up agtech start-ups leaves the future in doubt for smaller players and newcomers to the space, according to Ben Johnson, precision farming coordinator at Ag View FS. In a company blog post, Johnson cited John Deere's purchase of Blue River Technology, DuPont's acquisition of Granular, and Premier Crop Systems being snapped up by Syngenta as examples of large corporations with deep pockets snuffing out potentially disruptive competition.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI chatbot\u00a0tested in end-of-life\u00a0care strategies\u00a0 \n patients might be more inclined to share their symptoms or ask questions when no other human is present.\n\nUniversal Images Group | Getty Images\n\nChatbots are used for a variety of tasks: ordering pizza, getting product suggestions via Facebook Messenger and receiving online customer support. But can they cope with death? A three-year clinical study with financial backing of more than $1 million from the National Institutes of Health is exploring whether a chatbot can help terminally ill, geriatric patients with their end-of-life care. Over the next three years, Northeastern University professor Timothy Bickmore and Boston Medical Center doctor Michael Paasche-Orlow will distribute Microsoft Surface tablets preloaded with a chatbot to about 360 patients who have been told they have less than a year to live. Designed in consultation with experts from Boston Medical Center and programmed by Bickmore and other Northeastern University researchers, the chatbot \u2014 which takes the form of a middle-age female digital character \u2014 is preloaded with a number of capabilities. These include clinical ones \u2014 such as gauging a patient's level of pain and keeping tabs on whether medication is being taken \u2014 as well as ones to improve a patient's quality of life. There are modules for talking about stress management and promoting exercise, a social chat feature if patients are just looking for someone to talk to, and even a module for spiritual counseling. What Bickmore and Paasche-Orlow expect is that geriatric patients going through palliative care near the end of their lives will get use out of a tablet-based chatbot, and that having such a service available to hospitals and clinics will be valuable to patients long before they're in hospice care. \"Primary-care physicians don't think to call in palliative-care services until patients are incurable, when in fact the patient might have been in pain or could've used some kind of intervention beforehand,\" said Bickmore, associate dean for research in Northeastern University's College of Computer and Information Science. Today about 90 million Americans live with a serious illness, according to the Center to Advance Palliative Care. This number is expected to double over the next 25 years as the baby boomer generation ages.\n\nIt turns out that patients were very happy to talk with a computer about it. They were very explicit in telling us, 'The doctor never asked me about these things.' Michael Paasche-Orlow Boston Medical Center doctor\n\nThe interactions patients are having with these chatbots are monitored continuously by nurses, who can activate care if a patient tells the chatbot they're experiencing symptoms. The nurses will also alert a family member if patients are telling the chatbot they're thinking about making end-of-life decisions, like completing a last will and testament. \"If a patient rates their nausea or pain a little higher, we ask them if they've taken medicine for that and then try to figure out and troubleshoot that experience,\" Paasche-Orlow said. \"With a lot of these types of things, humans just forget to follow up on them, so there's a lot of lost opportunities to support people in different ways.\" More from Modern Medicine:\n\nNobel-winning research says don't take your phone into bed\n\nFDA testing human organs-on-a-chip\n\nScientists invent a pen that detects cancer in 10 seconds For a decade Bickmore and Paasche-Orlow have collaborated on health IT projects that make use of conversational artificial intelligence, or what Bickmore calls relational agents: computer agents designed to simulate face-to-face conversations with other people, as well as pick up on gesticulations, facial expressions and body posture. Their latest endeavor began with a call for technologies that could potentially assist older patients in the last stages of a terminal illness. These would be issued by a number of high-level institutes, such as the NIH, National Institute of Nursing Research, National Cancer Institute and the National Institute on Aging. In the medical world, conversational artificial intelligence elicits a mixed response. It's a potentially transformative technology, and something against which doctors and patients should guard themselves. Research around chatbots being used for mental health patients published in 2016 in the Journal of the American Medical Association demonstrated that some patients are more likely to display true emotions when they think they're talking to a computer, an insight that could lead to further deployment of conversational agents as a means to automate and lower the costs of clinical treatments. But there are risks of \"ineffective care and patient harm,\" as the JAMA research said. In particular, researchers singled out digital voice assistants of the kinds created by large tech companies, like Apple , Google , Microsoft and Samsung . Certainly, those voice assistants are not intended to act as de facto doctors, but the JAMA research found that when people asked their digital voice assistants questions related to their mental health, responses were \"inconsistent and sometimes inappropriate.\" \"There's a growing number of chatbots or characters out there that pretend to be a health oracle,\" Bickmore said. \"That's a real setup for safety issues for patients.\" Users of the tablet-based chatbot in the palliative-care study are prevented from giving open-ended responses. Whenever it's a patient's turn to say something to the chatbot, they're given prompts on the screen, multiple-choice style. \"We know exactly what their intent is, and they can't go off topic or talk about something we hadn't considered,\" Bickmore said.\n\nThe palliative care chatbot in use at Northeastern University and Boston Medical Center only allows patients to use multiple choice responses to keep communication focused, and keep it from going off topic. Northeastern University\n\nNow in year two of a five-year project that began in 2016, the chatbot project has received $1.3 million, with more funding contingent on the success of the clinical trial that began this year.\n\nAn emotional support for seniors", "output": "Doctors from Northeastern University and Boston Medical Center in the US are testing the use of an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot as part of a palliative care strategy for terminally ill patients. The $1.3m study, which is in the second year of a three-year cycle, has seen about 360 patients with less than a year to live handed computers featuring the chatbot. Different modules embedded within the technology perform medical and social tasks, including monitoring pain medication and offering\u00a0spiritual counselling. All interactions are monitored by clinical staff and results\u00a0suggest patients are comfortable asking the chatbot questions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "'Starshades' for space telescopes to help search for planet\u00a0life \n Nineteen different subscale versions of a light-blocking \"starshade\" were tested recently in the Nevada desert.\n\nThe next step in the exoplanet revolution may be an in-space \"starshade\" that lets alien worlds step out of a blinding glare.\n\nResearchers are testing designs for a starshade, which would fly in formation with a future space-based telescope. The starshade, also known as an \"external occulter,\" would block the light from a star while allowing the scope to spot emissions from much dimmer orbiting planets.\n\nScientists are conducting desert tests of the technology on Earth. They're using the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona to model a starshade's ability to help future instruments find and characterize rocky, Earth-like alien worlds. [10 Exoplanets That Could Host Alien Life]\n\nA starshade may be used on NASA's potential Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), a space-based instrument that would feature a primary mirror 8 feet (2.4 meters) wide, the same size as that of the agency's iconic Hubble Space Telescope.\n\nSeveral years ago, the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) donated two space telescopes to NASA. In 2013, the space agency announced it hoped to use one of these scopes for WFIRST. That move spurred anticipation in the U.S. astronomical community for Hubble-quality imaging over an area of sky 100 times larger than that viewed by Hubble. This version of the mission is called WFIRST-AFTA (for \"Astrophysics-Focused Telescope Assets\").\n\nThe WFIRST-AFTA mission would carry out exoplanet exploration, dark energy research, and galactic and extragalactic surveys.\n\nDesert and mountaintop testing\n\nSmall-scale versions of starshades have undergone nighttime desert testing in Nevada and California and, more recently, at the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope site.\n\nHow a starshade works. The concept is telescope-agnostic and could find use on NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) project. (Image credit: Northrop Grumman)\n\nThe sites selected for evaluating starshade designs each have pros and cons, but collectively the evaluations are complementary and help to validate optical modeling of the idea, said Steve Warwick, Starshade program manager at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems.\n\n\"We can't do everything we can do in space on the ground in terms of optics, but the tests add a lot of confidence to how the starshade will work on orbit,\" Warwick told Space.com.\n\nMcMath operators said testing sharshades with the telescope, which was dedicated in 1962, was the craziest way that anyone had used the facility to date, Warwick said.\n\n\"They were extremely helpful and excited to see what we could do with their facility,\" Warwick said of the McMath team. Starshade testing at the Arizona site has been done twice so far, in late March and then in June.\n\nThe hope is to return to that location in the November-December time period; the exact timing will depend partly on other McMath users' schedules, Warwick said.\n\nA mix of NASA funding and Northrop Grumman funding has enabled the starshade test program to move forward.\n\nPlanet light\n\nSo what's the big deal about starshades?\n\nThe technology \u2014 a flower-shaped screen that flies at a considerable distance from a space telescope \u2014blocks starlight to create a high-contrast shadow. This shadow is so dark that only planet light enters a space telescope for examination by onboard instruments.\n\nNASA's proposed Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) is an orbiting telescope with a 2.4-meter primary mirror \u2014 the same size as the Hubble Space Telescope mirror. Work is underway to fly a starshade in concert with WFIRST to enable exoplanet studies. (Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center)\n\nYou can think of it as your big thumb blocking out blazing beams of light from the sun.\n\nTackling technology gaps\n\nBut a starshade in space has never seen the light of day, so to speak. While starshade engineers are drawing upon a successful track record of fielding large, deployable antennas in space, they must also beat back what are called \"key technology gaps,\" Warwick said.\n\n\"For there to be a starshade launch with any telescope,\" Warwick said, \"we obviously need a lot of confidence that we're going to get the science that we want to get.\"\n\nBoth the desert trials and McMath mountaintop testing address a key technology gap \u2014 \"that the optical models are trustworthy \u2026 that the models agree with what we measure,\" said Warwick. He added that he thinks these gaps can be filled relatively soon.\n\n\"For me, where I sit, what excites me is the idea of being able to fly along with WFIRST,\" he added.\n\nTechnicians have made use of the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona to assess and validate optical models of starshade designs. (Image credit: Northrop Grumman/Robert Brown)\n\nGiven the potential 2024-2025 launch of that instrument, a decision about whether to include a starshade on the mission could come in the next two to three years, Warwick said.\n\nThere are other possibilities beyond WFIRST as well. For example, the proposed 33-foot (10 m) Large Ultraviolet Optical Infrared (LUVOIR) telescope and the projected Habitable Planet Explorer, or HabEx for short, could also incorporate starshades, Warwick said. [Next-Generation Space Telescopes Could Look for Aliens (Video)]\n\nSnagging spectra\n\nThere is growing general support for WFIRST to include technology demonstrations of both a coronagraph (a light-blocking instrument that's built into the space telescope) and a starshade (which flies separately), Warwick said.\n\n\"From our point of view, that's a very exciting opportunity,\" Warwick said. Such technology may enable spectra to be examined of some planets located in the \"habitable zone\" around their stars, where liquid water could exist on a world's surface.\n\n\"A starshade with WFIRST could give us indications about habitable planets \u2026 but there's a huge difference between 'habitable' and 'inhabited,'\" Warwick cautioned.\n\nA larger telescope with a larger starshade could inform scientists about biosignatures from exoplanets, Warwick said, \"and that would give us an indication of inhabited planets.\"\n\nBut again, Warwick said, any biosignatures detected would not necessarily identify intelligent alien life. Rather, such signs would indicate some type of biological activity that has changed the planet's atmosphere.\n\nIn pondering the larger cosmic picture, Warwick said he sees a starshade or something similar revealing that Earth life is not alone in the universe.\n\n\"I'll take a bet that we will find signs of life outside of our solar system before we find it inside our solar system,\" Warwick concluded.\n\nLeonard David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. He is former director of research for the National Commission on Space and is co-author of Buzz Aldrin's 2013 book \"Mission to Mars \u2013 My Vision for Space Exploration\" published by National Geographic with a new updated paperback version released in May 2015. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.", "output": "Scientists are testing \"starshades\", flying screens that block out starlight enabling orbiting telescopes to process only dimmer planetary light. Following night-time tests at the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, the team hopes to fly a starshade with Nasa's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope, which is set to launch in\u00a02024 or 2025. It's believed a starshade could allow telescopes to accumulate more precise data on the \"habitable zones\" of stars, where planets with liquid water might exist.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Developers building micro homes to reach affordability quotas \n In my previous article \u201cThe Tiny House Craze: Zoning Laws Could Be a Tiny Impediment\u201d I discussed the popular new \u201ctiny house\u201d trend in residential housing options. Along with the \u201ctiny house\u201d craze, another new and growing trend in housing options, particularly in urban areas, is the increasing popularity of the \u201cmicro unit.\u201d Whether the popularity and demand is being driven by economic factors and the need for more affordable housing, or by peoples\u2019 preference to downsize to a more simplified lifestyle, \u201cmicro units\u201d are becoming more popular and common. The \u201cmicro unit\u201d has become very popular in urban areas, and seems to have particular appeal to \u201cmillennials\u201d and \u201cempty nesters\u201d looking to downsize. Developers are answering the demand by including more \u201cmicro unit\u201d options in multi-family buildings projects.\n\nUnlike a \u201ctiny house\u201d which is a separate, detached dwelling unit, sometimes even built on a platform with wheels, a \u201cmicro unit\u201d is a small, individual, attached unit making up part of a larger, high density multi-family housing building or complex. So, unlike a \u201ctiny house\u201d on a separate building lot, which must meet zoning regulations for minimum lot size, setbacks, density, and other zoning and building code requirements, a \u201cmicro unit\u201d is part of a larger multi-family building or development, so the development and construction of an individual \u201cmicro unit\u201d would be regulated as part of a larger plan, rather than as individual units.\n\nThe attributes and appeal of the \u201cmicro unit\u201d are many. The smaller size and relatively smaller cost appeals to the affordability aspect. Where a one or two bedroom apartment or condominium unit may be over 1,000 square feet or more, and a typical \u201cstudio\u201d apartment may be in the 400 to 600 square foot range, the new \u201cmicro units\u201d typically contain only 300 to 400 square feet of living space. To make up for the smaller unit size, \u201cmicro units\u201d tend to have a lot of built-in storage space or \u201cpull down\u201d options to allow for additional room when certain components are not being used. To make up for less space within the individual units, developers often provide more shared amenities, such as storage areas, laundry rooms, and fitness rooms.\n\nFrom the developer\u2019s perspective, another appealing aspect of the \u201cmicro unit\u201d is that it may assist the developer in complying with any regulations requiring the developer to provide affordable housing. Some jurisdictions, such as the City of Frederick, have adopted moderately priced dwelling unit (\u201cMPDU\u201d) or similar ordinances, which require a certain percentage of affordable housing units to be built as part of any development over a certain size and density. Often MPDU ordinances allow the developer to pay a \u201cfee in lieu\u201d to develop the project without including the actual affordable housing units. The fee is paid into a fund which is then used to support other affordable housing options. Unlike a moderately priced single family home, which a developer may not find as easy to market for sale in a single family neighborhood of higher priced homes, an affordable micro unit included within a large apartment or condominium project does not present those similar concerns.\n\nIn addition to zoning and subdivision regulations, building codes, and MPDU ordinances, many jurisdictions, including both the City of Frederick and Frederick County, have also adopted \u201cadequate public facilities ordinances\u201d (\u201cAPFO\u201d) which require that adequate public facilities and infrastructure are in place to support new development before the new development is approved and constructed. Public facilities to be considered under an APFO usually include a development\u2019s impact on roads, schools, parks, and other municipal services and facilities, such as public water and sewer services. The developer is required to either provide the facilities at its expense or to pay fees for the resulting impact on existing facilities or new facilities. Jurisdictions will now need to consider how a \u201cmicro unit\u201d impacts those public facilities.\n\nSome jurisdictions have also adopted and implemented \u201cimpact fees\u201d which are charged to the developer to pay the cost of the \u201cimpact\u201d of any new development. Impact fees generally vary depending on the type of residential unit or structure. Jurisdictions would need to consider where a \u201cmicro unit\u201d would fit into the impact fee scale based on the anticipated impact of a \u201cmicro unit\u201d on public facilities and services, as compared with a standard sized apartment unit or condominium or other types of residential dwelling units.\n\nAs the demand grows, planners and elected officials will need to consider where and how \u201cmicro units\u201d fit into their community. Real estate and land use attorneys and developers should stay updated on local zoning regulations which may be adopted to allow for \u201cmicro units.\u201d\n\nOpinions and conclusions in this post are solely those of the author unless otherwise indicated. The information contained in this blog is general in nature and is not offered and cannot be considered as legal advice for any particular situation. The author has provided the links referenced above for information purposes only and by doing so, does not adopt or incorporate the contents. Any federal tax advice provided in this communication is not intended or written by the author to be used, and cannot be used by the recipient, for the purpose of avoiding penalties which may be imposed on the recipient by the IRS. Please contact the author if you would like to receive written advice in a format which complies with IRS rules and may be relied upon to avoid penalties.\n\n[View source.]", "output": "The increased construction of micro units, apartments of around 300-400 sq ft, is helping US housebuilders comply with affordable housing requirements, according to Anne Herbert-Rollins of law firm Miles & Stockbridge. Herbert-Rollins said moderately priced dwelling unit ordinances give developers the flexibility to either build affordable housing themselves, or pay into a fund that can be used by another firm to construct the homes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Space station sent 360-degree 3D movie camera to shoot VR film \n European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli will use a Vuze VR camera to document life on the International Space Station for a VR companion to National Geographic's upcoming series \"One Strange Rock.\"\n\nA cool new virtual reality camera arrived at the International Space Station today (Nov. 14) aboard Orbital ATK's Cygnus cargo spacecraft. The camera will be used to film a 3D, 360-degree cinematic virtual reality (VR) experience as part of National Geographic's upcoming series \"One Strange Rock.\"\n\nEuropean Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli will use the new camera to \"lead us on a tour of the space station,\" Matt Zymet, National Geographic's executive director for advanced formats, said in a prelaunch teleconference with reporters. \"The idea is to use all of that footage to document a day in the life on the space station.\"\n\nThe Vuze VR camera, created by a company called Humaneyes, is a compact and lightweight device with the dimensions of a typical four-sided sandwich. Its eight built-in cameras can record videos and shoot still images in 360 degrees and 3D with ultra-HD (4K) resolution. So, for those of us who have never been to the International Space Station, Nespoli's Vuze VR footage may be the closest we'll ever get to experiencing life in space. [Space Station Photos: Expedition 53 Mission Crew in Orbit]\n\n\"What is it like to live more than 200 miles above the Earth? Life for the astronauts aboard the International Space Station is unlike anything else \u2014 they are among the elite who have left the Earth and seen our home from space,\" National Geographic officials said in a statement.\n\nNespoli will serve as National Geographic's VR director and cameraman, \"using the camera to tour the various modules, show the famous Cupola view of Earth and give viewers a sense of what it\u2019s like to live on board,\" the statement said. \"Throughout the course of filming, Paolo will be working with ground control to downlink footage back to Earth, where it will be incorporated into a VR short film that will accompany the premiere of National Geographic's \"One Strange Rock.\"\n\nAward-winning filmmaker Darren Aronofsky (director of \"Requiem for a Dream\") and the production company Nutopia are working together on this new global series, which will be filmed for 100 weeks around the world and in space.\n\n\"The series will use innovative micro- and macro-photography technology and bring cameras where they\u2019ve never been before, to explore how the particularities of Earth\u2019s unique history made it ideally suited as a cradle for life and to demonstrate how the planet\u2019s biological, chemical and physical systems form an interdependent equilibrium, sustaining all the wonders of the living world we know,\" Nutopia officials said in a statement.\n\nThe virtual reality companion to the television series \"will not only give you a sense of what life is like up on the space station, but through the stories that the astronauts who are on our show tell, will really give you a lens on what is amazing about our planet as seen through their eyes from space,\" Zymet said.\n\nAt the International Space Station, European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli films the Earth through the windows of the Cupola observatory. (Image credit: ESA/NASA/ Twitter\n\n\"One Strange Rock explores how intricate, interwoven and fragile life as we know it is on Earth and how rare it may be in the universe,\" Aronofsky said in a statement. \"The more we appreciate how awe-inspiring the development of life on this planet has been, the more likely we are to become inspired stewards of the home that sustains it.\"\n\nThe series is scheduled to premiere on the National Geographic Channel sometime in 2018. To see Nespoli's footage in 3D and 360 degrees, viewers will need to use a VR headset, Zymet explained, adding that the videos will mainly be distributed via Facebook, Oculus, YouTube and PlayStation VR platforms.\n\nEditor's note: You don't have to be an astronaut to shoot amazing 3D, 360-degree VR videos and photos. The same Vuze VR camera kit that Nespoli will use to shoot footage for \"One Strange Rock\" at the International Space Station is available online from Vuze for $799.\n\nEmail Hanneke Weitering at hweitering@space.com or follow her @hannekescience. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.", "output": "A Vuze virtual reality (VR) movie camera has been sent to the International Space Station to capture footage for a documentary series to be made by \"Requiem for a Dream\" director Darren Aronofsky. The VR camera, developed by Humaneyes, will record 360-degree, and 3D images, with ultra-HD (4K) resolution. Images\u00a0will be downloaded to Earth to be included in a\u00a0National Geographic film for its\u00a0\"One Strange Rock\" series. The film is set to air in 2018.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cisco launches $1bn programme for global smart city development \n Cisco has announced a $1bn program to spur the development of smart cities across the world.\n\nThe City Infrastructure Financing Acceleration Program, as it is known, will seek to make it easier, faster and more affordable for cities to fund and adopt technologies that will help to transform their communities.\n\n\u201cFunding is a major stumbling block for municipalities beginning their smart city transformation,\u201d said Anil Menon, global [resident of Cisco\u2019s Smart+Connected Communities.\n\n\u201cWith our partners, Cisco will bring the capital and expertise it takes to make smart city projects a reality. Digital Alpha, APG, and Whitehelm Capital bring a fresh perspective on investment in an area that has previously been perceived as too new and, therefore, too difficult to finance,\u201d added Menon.\n\nAccording to a statement, the funding will be facilitated through Cisco Capital in partnership with Digital Alpha Advisors, a private equity firm.\n\nPension and fund investors APG Asset Management and Whitehelm Capital will also collaborate.\n\nThe news comes after Bill Gates said he would be spending $80m to build a new smart city near Belmont in Arizona (US).", "output": "Hot on the heels of Bill Gates' announcement that he will invest $80m in an Arizona smart city, Cisco has unveiled a $1bn programme to accelerate smart cities' global development. The City Infrastructure Financing Acceleration Program, facilitated via the company's financial arm Cisco Capital, in partnership with Digital Alpha Advisors, among others, aims to make it easier for cities to adopt community-transforming technologies, according to Anil Menon, global president of Cisco\u2019s Smart+Connected Communities.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sounds of space orchestrated for Voyager 1's 40th anniversary \n Deep space probe, interstellar explorer, and envoy to alien civilisations, Voyager 1 has already racked up an impressive resume to which songwriter can now be added. Using data from the unmanned spacecraft, Dr Domenico Vicinanza, of Anglia Ruskin University and GEANT, and Dr Genevieve Williams, of the University of Exeter, have created a musical composition to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the pathfinding mission.\n\nIn 1619, Johannes Kepler published his treatise Harmonices Mundi, in which he combined his astronomical data about the orbit of the planets with his ideas about the geometric harmony of the universe to create what is commonly known as the Music of the Spheres. On November 13 at the NASA Booth at the SC17 Supercomputing Conference in Denver, Colorado, a 21st century equivalent will make its world premiere.\n\nThe three-minute number was created using a process known as data sonification, where the data about protons, alpha particles, and heavier nuclei in space from Voyager's Low-Energy Charged Particle (LECP) telescope and spacecraft trajectory were used to create melody, harmony and orchestration. The information was collected by the probe from 1977 until this month with each 26-day period converted into one note. The composition includes the moment when Voyager entered interstellar space in 2012.\n\nThe solemn main melody played by the second violins is based on the cosmic ray count, which changes over to flute, piccolo and glockenspiel at the 2012 mark. Meanwhile, piano and French horns double the violins to mark the flybys of Jupiter and Saturn, where the cosmic ray count fluctuated as they passed close by the gas giants. The passage through the heliopause is a key change from C major to E flat major with an alternation of orchestration and harmony.\n\n\"Our orchestra score is more than just inspired by one of the most successful space missions of all time, it is shaped entirely by Voyager 1's incredible journey,\" says Vicinanza. \"Data sonification can play an important role in helping to share scientific discoveries and we hope that by converting 40 years of data into music, listeners will be able to hear aspects of Voyager 1's journey that are perhaps not so obvious when looking at graphs of data.\"\n\nVoyager 1 is one of the two deep space probes sent by NASA to study the outer planets and the frontiers of the Solar System. The 722 -kg (1,590-lb) spacecraft was launched on September 5, 1977 and is powered by three radiothermal generators. In 1979, it flew by Jupiter and in 1980 it visited Saturn. As it did so, the giant planets sent Voyager on a one-way slingshot trajectory toward interstellar space at a speed of 17.043 km/s (38,120 mph) relative to the Sun.\n\nAn excerpt of the Voyager 1 music can be heard in the video below.\n\nSource: Anglia Ruskin University", "output": "Scientists from Anglia Ruskin University, GEANT, the pan-European data network provider, and Exeter University have premiered a three-minute composition, based on data collected by the Voyager 1 spacecraft, at the SC17 Supercomputing Conference in Denver, Colorado. Using a process called data sonification, the team turned data deriving from sub-atomic particles in space into a musical score. The data was collected between 1977 and November 2017. Dr Domenico Vicinanza of Anglia Ruskin University said he hoped the piece would enable people to \"hear aspects of Voyager 1's journey that are perhaps not so obvious when looking at graphs of data\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gene therapy could treat inherited vision problems \n Back in August, the FDA approved the first gene therapy for general use in the United States. That particular treatment, for cancer was beset by controversy due to its exorbitant price tag and potential side effects. Now another gene therapy is on the cusp of approval, this time to treat a form of hereditary blindness. If given the tick by the FDA, this therapy could pave the way for a whole host of treatments for genetically-based vision problems.\n\nThe gene therapy focuses on a rare inherited retinal disease called Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), which is caused by a mutation in one of 19 particular genes. The therapy focuses in one specific gene called RPE65. A healthy version of that gene is attached to a genetically modified harmless virus and injected into a patient's eyes.\n\nThe treatment is currently undergoing final phase 3 clinical trials after nearly a decade of research and the early results have been excitingly positive. Data from the first phase 3 trial showed 93 percent of subjects (27 out of 29) displayed \"meaningful improvements in their vision.\"\n\n\"These are kids who could not walk through a room in normal light, and who were absolutely paralyzed in dim light,\" says study leader Stephen Russell. \"Now they're walking around markedly better.\"\n\nThe final FDA approval decision is hoped to come by January 2018, and back in October an advisory panel unanimously endorsed the efficacy of the treatment. The FDA doesn't have to follow the advice of this expert panel, but it traditionally does.\n\nThe gene therapy focuses on a rare inherited retinal disease called Leber congenital amaurosis paulistano/Depositphotos\n\nWhile this particular therapy is not a complete cure, and it is targeted at a rare genetic disease, many hope it is the first in a new wave of gene therapies directed at a wide variety of ocular diseases. There are over 225 known genetic mutations that cause blindness, and the genetically modified virus used in this particular treatment can likely be used as a delivery mechanism in treatments for a great majority of those conditions.\n\nIf this therapy is ultimately approved it will certainly be a landmark for modern gene therapy. Unlike the prior cancer therapy approved in August, which concentrates on genetically modifying immune cells, this treatment will be the first to replace, or essentially fix, specific missing and mutated genes that directly cause disease.\n\nThe early trial results were published in the journal The Lancet.\n\nSources: University of Iowa, American Academy of Ophthalmology\n\n", "output": "A gene therapy which offers \"meaningful improvements\" to the vision of an inherited retinal disease could be given US Food and Drug Administration approval by January 2018, following unanimous endorsement by an advisory panel in October. Early results of a study of the therapy, published in The Lancet, revealed 93% of participants suffering with rare inherited retinal disease Leber congenital amaurosis experienced improved vision after treatment. Medics leading the study hope it could open the door to future therapies for other ocular conditions."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Smog grounds Delhi\u2019s anti-smog helicopters \n An ambitious plan to use helicopters to fight Delhi\u2019s air pollution has been grounded because the aircraft cannot operate in the thick smog, underscoring growing frustration at authorities\u2019 inability to address the toxic haze engulfing the city.\n\nAccusations that Narendra Modi\u2019s government is failing to take the crisis seriously were further fuelled on Tuesday when the environment minister, Harsh Vardhan, urged residents to remain calm, saying only \u201croutine precautions\u201d were needed, even though air quality levels remain \u201csevere\u201d.\n\n\n\nThe city authorities had engaged a state-owned helicopter company to spray water over Delhi in the hope of settling the thick haze of pollutants. But on Monday administrators were told they would be unable to help dissipate the smog until the smog itself had cleared.\n\n\u201cRight now, with the prevailing smog, it is not possible for the helicopters to carry out operations,\u201d the chairman and managing director of the company, BP Sharma, told the Indian Express. \u201cWe have communicated the same to the Delhi government. There was a meeting regarding this on Monday.\u201d\n\nThe other hitch is that many parts of Delhi \u2013 particularly its southern quarters where parliament, the presidency and the prime minister are all based \u2013 are within a strictly policed no-fly zone.\n\nA spokesman for the city government could not be reached but told the Indian Express: \u201cThere are a few issues and these will be worked out \u2026 All stakeholders are being consulted.\u201d\n\nA 2015 study found that 52% of the particulate matter in the city\u2019s air was from dust kicked up by the tens of thousands of cars on its roads. Uncovered sand and soil from construction sites also contribute to the choking atmosphere.\n\nIn the last week, massive crop burning in neighbouring states and slow winds have also been a factor in sending air pollution levels in parts of north India to more than 30 times the World Health Organisation standards for daily exposure.\n\nDoctors have declared a public health emergency in Delhi, but Vardhan was blas\u00e9, contrasting the pollution to the 1984 gas leak in Bhopal that killed at least 25,000 people.\n\nBhopal, he argued was \u201can emergency situation where you have to panic and you have to see what you have to do\u201d, he said in an interview with CNN-18 news.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not saying we shouldn\u2019t do anything about it [the Delhi smog], everyone has to respond to what he is supposed to do. But there is no need to spread panic among the people.\u201d\n\nPublic pressure has centred on the city\u2019s chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, a populist former bureaucrat and engineer. His proposal to ration traffic according to the last digit of number plates \u2013 odd numbers one day, evens the other \u2013 has been blocked by judges since Friday.\n\n\n\nKejriwal wants to maintain a long list of exemptions to the odd-even rule, including single women, cars transporting children and two-wheelers. Even if implemented, studies of the last time Delhi attempted the measure have found its impact was \u201cabysmally small\u201d.\n\nThe sprinkling helicopter policy was also rubbished by experts who said it would make no difference.\n\nThough Delhi gets the most attention, the haze has settled across the entire north Indian plain, including parts of Pakistan. A lasting solution would require a nationally coordinated response across state and international borders.\n\nA study on Monday found the air quality in Varanasi, in Modi\u2019s home constituency, had even worse air than Delhi. The Indian prime minister is yet to comment on the crisis.\n\nPolash Mukherjee, an air pollution researcher from the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment, said there was a \u201csense of despondency\u201d among the city\u2019s residents, who were increasingly aware of the dangers associated with breathing dense particulate matter.\n\n\u201cThey know it\u2019s severe, and they know something should be done about it, but no one seems to be doing anything,\u201d he said.\n\nThe head of the All-India Parents Association, Ashok Agrawal, said the government was \u201cnot sincere\u201d about the issue. \u201cIt happened last year,\u201d he said. \u201cThey could have taken steps so that it didn\u2019t happen again, or so the density was lower.\n\n\u201cBut they have done nothing to address the problem and it is a health emergency.\u201d\n\nWith the city government unable to find the right steps, and the central one reluctant to take any, Delhi residents have been left to rely on the heavens. Drizzle has been predicted for Wednesday, when forecasters say the city\u2019s air will \u201crecover\u201d \u2013 albeit to levels still classified as \u201cvery poor\u201d.", "output": "Helicopters engaged to disperse smog in Delhi by spraying water in order to settle pollutants have been grounded because of the thickness of the haze. A further problem has arisen because many parts of the city, including where the government is situated, operate a no-fly zone. Doctors have declared a public health emergency in the city due to the poor air quality. Last week, extensive crop burning and slow winds caused air pollution levels in northern parts of the country to rise to over 30 times the World Health Organisation recommended limit for daily exposure.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tech companies offer concierge services in the\u00a0workplace \n We are the global leader in commercial real estate services and investments. With services, insights and data that span every dimension of the industry, we create solutions for clients of every size, in every sector and across every geography.\n\n\n\nLearn More\n\n", "output": "Increasing numbers of landlords and companies, particularly in the tech sector, are turning to high-end concierge services to attract and retain corporate tenants, according to Erica Stricker, a managing director at CBRE. For a monthly fee, staff can get help with chores such as arranging childcare, picking up dry cleaning or arranging car repairs, with support from teams with experience in five-star hotels or boutique resorts. As well as reducing stress, concierge services can improve employee retention. Michigan-based Bronson Healthcare Group saw its staff turnover drop by more than half\u00a0three years after introducing its service.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lidl is worst UK supermarket for food chain antibiotics control \n Most of the UK\u2019s biggest supermarket chains are falling short on measures to reduce the use of antibiotics in the production of the meat and animal products they sell, campaigners have warned, with potentially harmful impacts on human health.\n\nLidl performed worst of the nine supermarket chains examined by the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics, a pressure group made up of several NGOs.\n\nLidl had no publicly available policy on the use of antibiotics in its farm supply chain, leaving consumers in the dark and with no publicly available evidence of any effort to curb the overuse of antibiotics of concern.\n\nThe supermarket told the Guardian it had been working on a policy, which would soon be published. The policy it sent to the Guardian is four sentences long and \u201cencourages producers to optimise welfare, health, hygiene, husbandry and biosecurity\u201d of their animals, using antibiotics \u201cas little as possible and as much as necessary\u201d, without containing any specifics on how this can be achieved or measured.\n\nThe overuse of antibiotics on farms is a major cause of the growing resistance in humans that is giving rise to superbugs, bacteria impervious to all but the strongest medicines and which pose a huge and growing threat to human health.\n\nThe UK\u2019s chief medical officer has repeatedly warned that growing resistance to antibiotics could render even routine operations highly dangerous in a few years.\n\nThe best-performing supermarket was Waitrose, which not only has a clearly articulated policy on antibiotics in its supply chain, but also a strategy for reducing antibiotic use and a commitment to publishing the results, showing the amount of antibiotics used on the farms from which it is supplied.\n\nThe supermarket also bans the routine use of antibiotics on its farms, and the use of some of the strongest antibiotics, which the World Health Organisation has urged should be reserved for the use of human patients, not farm animals.\n\nMarks & Spencer, Sainsbury\u2019s and Tesco were ranked next, while second from bottom were Asda and Aldi, which had publicly available policies on antibiotic use but few stringent measures associated with them, with the Co-op group also falling short on measures such as banning the strong antibiotic colistin and publishing data on antibiotic use.\n\nSuzi Shingler, campaign manager at the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics, said: \u201cThese findings show some supermarkets are finally starting to take the issue of antibiotic resistance more seriously. This is very welcome and has undoubtedly contributed to the recent reductions in use.\n\n\u201cUnfortunately, our survey also shows that some supermarkets have much more to do, and others have yet to take any significant action.\u201d\n\nAll of the supermarkets in the report were contacted by the Guardian for comment. Some referred the Guardian to the British Retail Consortium, which represents major retailers. Andrew Opie, director of food policy at the trade body, said in a statement: \u201cRetailers are aware of the challenges in relation to continued use of antimicrobials in the supply chain and advocate that medicines are used responsibly.\n\n\u201cThis prevents unnecessary use while protecting against any negative effects on animal welfare. It is important that any decisions are supported by robust scientific justification. Significant reductions have already been achieved in UK food and farming and retailers are working collaboratively with industry partners to make sustained improvements.\u201d\n\nA herd of Friesian dairy cows feeding in a cattle shed. Photograph: Alamy\n\nIn addition, Asda said it would soon update its antibiotics policy.\n\nWaitrose said: \u201cWaitrose recognises the potential risks to human healthcare of the overuse of antibiotics in livestock supply chains. Within the Waitrose supply chain, all antibiotics are used carefully, under strict protocols and only in controlled circumstances; entirely healthy animals are not routinely given antibiotics, they are only used for treating ill animals or for those with pre-existing conditions.\n\n\u201cWe maintain some antibiotics are important medicines to hold in the animal health armoury but must be used sparingly and only as a last resort.\u201d\n\nThe Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics advises some basic measures to reduce antibiotic use on farms. These include leaving piglets with their mothers for a few weeks longer after birth, which drastically reduces the need for antibiotics to halt the diarrhoea associated with early weaning.\n\nFast-growing chickens, usually sent to slaughter only a month or five weeks from birth, can be replaced with slower-growing kinds less likely to fall prey to illness. Lower-stocking densities among indoor chickens also reduce antibiotic use substantially.\n\nAmong dairy cows, those raised indoors tend to suffer more from conditions such as mastitis, which requires antibiotic use. The Guardian recently found a large increase in the number of megafarms in the UK, where hundreds or thousands of animals are kept in large sheds, which has concerned antibiotics and animal welfare campaigners.\n\nC\u00f3il\u00edn Nunan, scientific adviser to the Alliance, said: \u201cMuch greater cuts in use are urgently needed if we are to preserve our remaining antibiotics. Intensive livestock farmers have much to learn from the practices of more extensive farming systems, which often have minimal antibiotic use.\n\n\u201cMoving to later weaning of piglets, using slower-growing chickens, lowering stocking densities of animals kept indoors and keeping cattle on pasture are all essential and achievable measures which can lower antibiotic use.\u201d", "output": "Most of the largest UK supermarket chains are failing to adequately reduce the use of antibiotics in their meat and animal product supply chains, posing a potential risk to human health through antibiotic resistance, according to pressure group the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics. Of the nine chains investigated by the group, Lidl performed worst, with no publicly available policy on the issue. Waitrose performed best, having a clear policy on and strategy to reduce antibiotics use, with a ban on routine farm use. Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury\u2019s and Tesco were ranked next, with Aldi and Asda second worst.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "OnTheMarket loses more than 1,000 branches it took from Zoopla \n Post navigation\n\nThe number of estate agency branches that left Zoopla to join OnTheMarket when it launched in 2015 but have subsequently left OTM to rejoin ZPG has now reached more than 1,000.\n\nZoopla said yesterday that it now has over 14,750 agency branches.\n\nIt claimed that OTM\u2019s branch numbers have fallen from a high of 6,500 to a new low of 5,500 branches.\n\nThe most recent agencies to rejoin ZPG include eleven Martin & Co branches, six Hurford Salvi Carr branches in London and five Andrew Milsom branches covering the Thames Valley and Chiltern Hills.\n\nZPG\u2019s announcement came after it recently signed long-term listing agreements with Countrywide and Connells.\n\nMark Goddard, managing director of ZPG Property Services, said: \u201cWe are continuing to see agencies from around the country rejoining ZPG on a weekly basis as agents increasingly understand that they are at a competitive disadvantage when not partnering with us.\u201d\n\nIn September 2014, before OTM\u2019s launch, Zoopla had 16,373 branches listing.\n\nThis number fell to 12,902 at OTM\u2019s launch towards the end of January 2015.\n\nOTM implemented a \u2018one other portal\u2019 rule at launch, which it still operates today.\n\nZoopla\u2019s membership figure did not pick up over OTM\u2019s first year of operation \u2013 and in fact fell slightly, with 12,841 UK agency offices listing on Zoopla by January 31, 2016.\n\nOTM has recently been quiet on its overall membership number, but has announced a five-year listing deal with the 100-branch Arun Estates group.\n\nThis is conditional on OTM\u2019s stock market listing when the \u2018one other portal\u2019 rule will be dropped \u2013 meaning that Arun currently looks as though it will be the first major agent to be listing on all three major portals.\n\nEYE has approached OTM for comment about Zoopla\u2019s latest claims.", "output": "More than 1,000 estate agency branches that abandoned Zoopla for rival OnTheMarket (OTM) have returned to the online giant, it said. Mark Goddard, managing director of Zoopla parent ZPG Property Services, said agents had returned because they \"increasingly understand that they are at a competitive disadvantage when not partnering with us\". Zoopla said it now has 14,750 agency branches. Arun Estates could become the first major agent to list on all three of the UK's major portals after recently striking a five-year deal with OTM.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Stamp duty changes could help older sellers downsize \n A report published today by the London School of Economics and The Family Building Society found potential downsizers cannot buy something that costs the same as their original house without spending large amounts of money on stamp duty - but they can stay where they are for free. It found those aged between 51 and 80 were most likely to say they intended to downsize. It said older retired people in big family houses who are looking to move to a more manageable property should be incentivised to do so, as it would be beneficial to their own wellbeing as well as improve the efficiency ...", "output": "Changes to the UK's stamp duty land tax (SDLT) could help older homeowners downsize and improve the country's housing stock, according to a report by the London School of Economics and the Family Building Society. However, Chase de Vere certified financial planner Patrick Connolly said that while SDLT was a major problem, it wasn't the only barrier to older homeowners, and said finding \"somewhere else to live that meets the criteria for their lifestyle\" was also an issue. Chancellor Philip Hammond is not expected to scrap or change SDLT in next week's Budget.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Supermarket prices rose 3.4% in Q3 2017 due to weakened GBP \n The latest grocery market share figures from Kantar Worldpanel, published today for the 12 weeks to 5 November 2017, show supermarket sales have increased in value by 3.2% year on year in the run up to Christmas.\n\nFraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: \u201cVolume sales have increased by less than 1%, meaning it\u2019s price rises keeping supermarket performance buoyant. Like-for-like grocery inflation now stands at 3.4% \u2013 its highest level since November 2013. With the average shop currently costing \u00a318.26, consumers are now paying an extra 62 pence each time and over the course of a year it could add \u00a3143.70 to a typical family\u2019s grocery bill.\u201d\n\nThe Christmas season has begun in earnest for UK retailers, marked by a flurry of festive adverts in recent weeks, accompanied by inventive product tie ups as grocers look to capitalise on their chosen themes. Fraser McKevitt continues: \u201cConsumers have already been digging deep in preparation for the holiday season, buying 10.1 million packs of traditional Christmas biscuits in October alone. Alcohol sales have ramped up too, increasing by 5.3% year on year as shoppers parted with an extra \u00a3142 million on their favourite tipples. The British public is only just getting started when it comes to Christmas shopping, and is expected to shell out a whopping \u00a328.7 billion at the grocers in the final 12 weeks of 2017.\u201d\n\nLidl is Britain\u2019s fastest growing supermarket for the fifth consecutive period, with sales up 15.1%. New store openings \u2013 and the opportunity they bring to attract new shoppers \u2013 have contributed to the impressive performance. Some 10.6 million households visited Lidl at least once during the past three months, boosting the grocer\u2019s market share by 0.5 percentage points to 5.1%. Sales at Aldi \u2013 which attracted 11.9 million households during the same period \u2013 increased by 13.1%, advancing the retailer\u2019s market share to 6.7%.\n\nMeanwhile Sainsbury\u2019s grew sales by 2.6%, attracting an additional 364,000 shoppers to become the fastest growing among the big four for the first time since April 2016. Fraser McKevitt explains: \u201cBrands were the fastest-selling products at Sainsbury\u2019s during the past 12 weeks \u2013 particularly in soft drinks and dairy \u2013 flying in the face of the market\u2019s focus on own-label lines. The grocer\u2019s strongest growth came from both its Local convenience stores and online sales. Despite a positive quarter, Sainsbury\u2019s market share fell back by 0.1 percentage points year on year to stand at 16.2%.\u201d\n\nTesco welcomed 76% of British households during the past 12 weeks, growing sales by 2.3% as its market share dipped to 28.0%: down 0.2 percentage points on last year. Morrisons saw sales increase by 2.1%, accompanied by a marginal fall in share \u2013 from 10.5% last year to 10.4% during the latest quarter.\n\nFraser McKevitt continues: \u201cAsda has enjoyed its eighth consecutive period of growth \u2013 the longest run of sales increases the retailer has seen since March 2014. Both cheaper and more premium own label lines delivered an impressive performance to help increase overall sales by 1.5% year on year. Asda\u2019s budget Farm Stores range grew by 88%, while sales of its Extra Special line were up 22%. The grocer will be looking to build on this growth over Christmas and well into the new year.\u201d\n\nSales at Iceland increased by 1.1%, with share falling slightly to 2.0% \u2013 down from 2.1% last year. Nearly half of the retailer\u2019s growth came from categories outside its core frozen ranges, such as alcohol, which grew by 23% thanks to increased listings of wine, lager and cider.\n\nFraser McKevitt continues: \u201cAmid news that Nisa\u2019s shareholders have backed Co-op\u2019s takeover of the group, there is plenty of room for growth: convenience stores in all their forms currently account for 12.1% of grocery sales. Nearly 60% of UK households currently visit this type of retailer, spending \u00a33.2 billion in smaller stores during the past 12 weeks. Co-op is already the nation\u2019s most frequently visited grocer \u2013 shoppers pop in almost twice a week on average \u2013 despite having seen sales fall by 1.5% compared to the same period last year.\u201d\n\nWaitrose held market share steady year on year at 5.3%, seeing sales growth across the board: from convenience stores, larger supermarkets and online. Internet specialist Ocado increased sales by 6.8%, growing ahead of the overall online grocery market.\n\nDownload the full press release with data table through the link on this website.", "output": "The price of groceries is rising at its fastest rate since November 2013, at 3.4%. The lower-value GBP has raised the costs of imports and pushed up the rate of inflation, causing grocery bills to\u00a0now stand at an average of\u00a0\u00a318.26. This price increase amounts to an\u00a0additional 62p per shop, adding \u00a3143.70 to a typical family\u2019s grocery bill over the year. Prices have been rising steadily since Q4 2016.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook carefully selecting AR partners from advertiser list\n \n Facebook is trying to drum up early support among advertisers for its push into augmented reality.\n\nThe recruitment pitch started three months ago, when a group of 30 advertisers and agencies, including Nike, StudioCanal and TSB, were given access to a closed beta program to create AR campaigns. Now, around 700 developers for advertisers and agencies, including British retailer John Lewis and digital production agency Stink Studios, are creating interactive photo and video effects for the new Facebook camera feature. Other agencies like Possible, We Are Social and Ralph are waiting to use the feature, as it seems Facebook is being selective about which partners it involves early on.\n\nAgency executives who have seen the social network\u2019s pitch say it is more interested in winning over partners that can do something innovative to generate public interest in the feature than it is in convincing its biggest media buyers. For example, the much-hyped John Lewis Christmas ad was viewed as a key opportunity to get as many people as possible to use the camera, which in itself is a step change in how people use the app. Rather than upload pictures to Facebook\u2019s app, people must take pictures from it to use the AR feature, which in the case of John Lewis lets them take their own monster selfie resembling the ad\u2019s cuddly monster character.\n\nIf AR is to become as big for Facebook as mobile and video have been, then it needs more examples like John Lewis in the early stages, said Matt Payne, head of creative technology and innovation at We Are Social. For Facebook, the key is in the implementation, added Charles Crotty, digital strategy lead for Publicis Media\u2019s Spark Foundry. The social network has the user base, but Snapchat is more established in AR.\n\nFor advertisers who have early access to Facebook\u2019s AR tools, the social network is offering developer support, even providing a private Facebook page where developers who have beta access can share what they\u2019ve learned with one another. One source, who spoke to Digiday on the condition of anonymity, said they were surprised when Facebook appeared at their offices in the U.S. unannounced with a filter it had developed for the company.\n\n\u201c[Facebook] offered us a filter for an event we had in the summer, which didn\u2019t have great exposure but was an interesting test,\u201d said this person. \u201cWe\u2019ve got access to the developer kit now and will be making our own.\u201d\n\nFacebook also sent a developer to StudioCanal\u2019s headquarters two months ago to help the movie producer and its team of Havas agencies produce a filter for this week\u2019s release of \u201cPaddington 2.\u201d\n\nThe filter places the Paddington Bear character\u2019s signature red hat and blue coat on the user, which they can then share. Two days after it launched, the filter had been used over 26,000 times, said Jamie McHale, the digital marketing manager at StudioCanal. That number is as much as McHale and his team know about how the filter is being used, as Facebook has limited the metrics it shares with them. However, Facebook has assured McHale this will change over time.\n\n\u201cThe reason I decided to do it [the AR campaign] with Facebook was the pure reach and scale of its platform,\u201d McHale said. \u201cIt absolutely dwarfs Snapchat.\u201d\n\nThat StudioCanal is already ready to back Facebook\u2019s AR push over Snapchat\u2019s more established AR offering is a testament to the work Facebook has done with brands directly. McHale said Facebook first floated the idea of an AR feature to him a year ago, months before founder Mark Zuckerberg revealed the tools for developers to build AR experiences in the Facebook app in April. Agencies, however, aren\u2019t threatened by Facebook going directly to their clients, as it has asked to be kept updated on the brands already being pitched AR campaigns to avoid doubling up.\n\nTo date, anecdotal evidence on the performance of AR campaigns has been mixed. Advertisers and their agencies accept that AR on Facebook is more trial and error now than it is delivering real return. Most of the ad executives Digiday spoke to agreed it is too early to compare the performance of Facebook\u2019s AR proposition to that of Snapchat\u2019s. Facebook\u2019s AR camera doesn\u2019t have enough awareness yet, argued Melissa Ditson, executive creative director at 360i Europe, which developed an AR filter for TSB\u2019s sponsorship of the Pride of Britain Awards. \u201cWe\u2019re really pleased with what we\u2019ve seen for the Pride of Britain filter so far,\u201d she said.\n\nOther marketers aren\u2019t so quick to buy into the hype around Facebook\u2019s AR ads just yet. Executives at King, Essence and DigitasLBi recently told Business Insider that Snapchat is way ahead of its rivals in the AR race. Tom Winbow, the strategy director at Ralph, said what he has seen of Facebook\u2019s AR features has left him \u201ccold\u201d; Facebook is an \u201cincredibly cost-effective\u201d way to get both mass reach and engagement, but it\u2019s \u201cjust not very fun.\u201d Snapchat is where users naturally live through a lens and, therefore, is \u201cstill the most fun place for AR\u201d when it comes to social experiences, Winbow said.\n\nThe biggest difference so far between Facebook\u2019s AR pitch and Snapchat\u2019s is that the latter is essentially a closed ecosystem. Brands and agencies mainly rely on Snapchat\u2019s developers to build lenses and filters, whereas Facebook\u2019s platform is open, albeit to a select group currently. Being hands-on might allow Snapchat to control the quality of AR activations, which could lead it to price itself out of the reach of most advertisers. There\u2019s no fee attached to developing AR campaigns on Facebook beyond the advertiser\u2019s or agency\u2019s labor costs. On Snapchat, an ad agency would have to pass Snapchat\u2019s development costs on to the client.", "output": "Facebook is selecting partners from its list of advertisers to work on a potential augmented reality (AR) offering. The company offered a closed beta programme to 30 of its leading advertisers to test AR, and has now opened the floor to 700 ad developers to create interactive photo and video effects for its latest camera feature. Executives who've seen the company's pitch say\u00a0Facebook appears keener to win over innovative partners to generate public interest in its AR than big media buyers.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AdColony cuts 20% of workforce in shift to programmatic business \n AdColony will lay off more than 20% of its workforce and exit the mediation and ad-serving game in a bid to focus its business on programmatic.\n\nThe mobile video ad company said Monday that it will shutter most of AdMarvel, the mobile ad tech company it acquired in 2010. The ad exchange portion of AdMarvel will remain, however, and be integrated into the AdColony platform.\n\nRoughly 125 people will lose their jobs in addition to the 100 people AdColony let go in July as the company slims down on the path to programmatic. The new headcount will be just over 400 people.\n\nAdMarvel will continue to operate until May as AdColony works with its publisher partners to migrate off of the legacy tech.\n\nThe process is painful but necessary, said AdColony CEO Will Kassoy.\n\n\u201cMy aim was to have a softer transition and bring everyone into our new business over time rather than having to let people go,\u201d he said. \u201cBut advertisers aren\u2019t looking to us for ad serving and mediation anymore, and as those areas have dried up, we haven\u2019t been able to grow the core areas as fast as we\u2019ve wanted to.\u201d\n\nThose core areas include a focus on performance advertising, scaling the company\u2019s programmatic business and opening up more mobile video inventory.\n\nOne reason growth has been slow is that it\u2019s still early days for programmatic video in mobile, in-app in particular. And that\u2019s where AdColony sees opportunity, Kassoy said.\n\nAdColony\u2019s SDK is integrated into most of the top 1,000 apps, according to data from Metamarkets. That footprint acts as a conduit to a lot of direct video supply, including vertical video and proprietary AdColony video formats.\n\nBut it wasn\u2019t easy making that inventory available programmatically. AdColony products weren\u2019t designed with programmatic in mind, Kassoy said.\n\n\u201cNow we\u2019re putting all of our resources into areas of future growth, into places where we can add value, and that\u2019s video and the app-install market,\u201d he said. \u201cProgrammatic is clearly how more and more advertisers want to do these transactions.\u201d\n\nToday, programmatic represents about 20% of AdColony\u2019s revenue, but Kassoy is hoping the changes the company is making will help that number approach 50%.\n\nIt\u2019s been a long and circuitous road for AdColony, which started life as a mobile ad network back in 2008.\n\nSix years later, Norwegian software company Opera bought AdColony to support its mobile ad subsidiary, Opera Mediaworks. In February, a Chinese consortium almost bought Opera Mediaworks as part of a larger acquisition of the overall Opera business, but the deal fell apart and Opera Mediaworks was spun off into a separate independent company that, full-circle style, changed its name back to AdColony.\n\nOver the years, Opera Mediaworks had acquired a hodgepodge of mobile ad tech, including AdMarvel, Mobile Theory, Apprupt, 4th Screen, Hunt Mobile Ads and Handster, and it became the newly incorporated AdColony\u2019s plan under Kassoy to bring the disparate pieces together into one integrated platform.\n\nBut it became clear that jamming bits of technology together wasn\u2019t the way forward.\n\n\u201cWe realized while working on these integrations that some of these platforms were becoming less viable,\u201d said Kassoy. Although AdMarvel was bringing in revenue, the overall business wasn\u2019t positioned for growth.\n\nAnd that meant making some tough decisions.\n\nThe need for mobile mediation \u201cwill start to go away\u201d over the next few years as publishers demand more transparency in their transactions, he said, and ad serving is becoming a commodity. A lot of publishers are also taking their ad serving in-house.\n\n\u201cThese are lines of business that were viable a few years ago and were profitable even in the last year,\u201d Kassoy said. \u201cBut the technology just didn\u2019t make sense to maintain.\u201d\n\nIn Q2, AdColony revenue was down year over year, but up quarter over quarter. With its new playbook in place, it\u2019s the company\u2019s aim is to generate profitable quarters going forward and \u201cstart clean in 2018,\u201d Kassoy said.\n\n\u201cWe want to be the largest independent in-app mobile marketplace outside of social with high-quality demand and supply,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can\u2019t just be arbitraging media anymore.\u201d\n\nOpera Software reports its Q3 earnings on Nov. 23.", "output": "Mobile video ad firm AdColony will shed more than 20% of its staff in a \"painful but necessary\" round of job cuts as it shifts focus to performance advertising, programmatic and mobile video inventory. The cuts follow the loss of 100 jobs in July and CEO Will Kassoy said a lack of customers meant the company couldn't grow its core areas as fast as he would have liked, leading to more layoffs. Kassoy said he aims to increase AdColony's revenue from programmatic to 50%\u00a0from 20% and added the firm was focusing its efforts on \"video and the app-install market\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GBP dips below 1.31 USD, but analysts are optimistic: Bloomberg \n The pound has fallen amid market jitters over increasing pressure facing Theresa May's leadership.\n\nSterling dropped by more than a cent against the US dollar to $1.3062 in early European trade and was also down by a cent against the euro.\n\nIt was put down to reports that 40 Conservative MPs are prepared to sign a letter of no confidence in the Prime Minister.\n\nMrs May also faced weekend claims that she was being held \"hostage\" by Boris Johnson and Michael Gove about how to deliver Brexit.\n\nJoshua Mahony, market analyst at IG, said: \"The potential for yet another political upheaval in the UK has no doubt grabbed market attention.\"\n\nKit Juckes, global fixed income strategist at Societe Generale, said: \"Sterling is priced for soggy (economic) growth and difficult (political) negotiations.\"\n\nThe pound later recovered some poise back above $1.31 but its latest wobble comes as the time frame for trying to reach the next stage of Brexit negotiations comes into sharp focus.\n\nEU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said on Friday that the UK must clarify or concede more in the next two weeks if it wants to move on to trade talks in December.\n\nPlease use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 3:06 EU gives UK a deadline on Brexit bill\n\nThe CBI and its counterparts from Europe's largest economies used a meeting with the Prime Minister on Monday to urge her to fight for an immediate transition deal.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe value of the pound collapsed after the vote to leave the European Union in June last year and was as low as $1.20 against the dollar earlier in 2017.\n\nSince then it has partially recovered but the pound is still around 13% lower than just before the referendum result emerged.\n\nA weak pound makes imports more expensive, driving up prices for consumers as well as squeezing retailers as they try to absorb some of the higher costs.\n\nBut it has a positive impact for some manufacturers as cheaper sterling means UK-made goods are more competitively priced.\n\nSterling's fall has also been positive for the FTSE 100, since many of the index's constituent companies earn much of their revenue in foreign currencies.\n\nThe top-flight index was ahead on Monday after the pound's latest slip but closed 17 points lower at 7415, reflecting wider market fears about stocks being over-valued.", "output": "Following announcements of rebellion amongst Conservatives MPs, the value of the GBP dipped below 1.31 USD. However, a survey of seven banks by Bloomberg put the odds of the UK and EU reaching a deal in December at 68%. This follows Davis' reported odds of 50-50, a statement his spokeman has since\u00a0denied he said. The probabilities amongst the banks surveyed\u00a0range from 35 to 80%.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook requests FEC flexibility on political ad disclaimers \n by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, November 13, 2017\n\nFacebook is urging the Federal Election Commission to craft flexible rules for political ad disclaimers, arguing that advertisers should be able to make disclaimers via an icon or other \"obvious indicator.\"\n\n\"An approach that prescribes both precisely what information must be disclosed and the transparency goals that must be achieved, but that maintains flexibility as to the specific interface elements by which that information is displayed, would ensure that the Commission\u2019s rules will be relevant and viable for the technology that exists today and the technology that will be developed in the future,\" Facebook general counsel Colin Stretch says in comments filed Monday with the FEC.\n\nThe comments come in response to an FEC request for comments regarding online political ads. The agency recently opened a proceeding to explore whether online political ads must carry the same disclaimers as TV and newspaper ads, which must state the identity of whoever paid for the ad.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nIn 2011, Facebook argued to the FEC that the \"character-limited ads\" on the social-networking service were so physically small that disclaimers should not be required.\n\nStretch says Facebook ads have evolved since 2011. The company still offers small ads, as well as formats. \"Ads can now include videos, can include scrolling carousels of images, and can even cover the entire screen of a mobile device,\" he writes.\n\n\"Allowing ads to include an icon or other obvious indicator that more information about an ad is available via quick navigation (like a single click) would give clear guidance on how to include disclaimers in new technologies as they are developed,\" Stretch says in his letter.\n\nFacebook also says the FEC's definition of \"ad\" should be broadened to include any \"digital or online communications that mention federal candidates\" that are run 30 days before a primary or 60 days before a general election.\n\nCurrently, disclaimer rules apply to \"electioneering\" ads that explicitly ask people to vote for or against a particular candidate or to donate money.\n\nFacebook's filing comes two weeks after the company told lawmakers that material created by Russian agents, including at least 3,000 ads, may have reached 146 million users -- 126 million on Facebook and an additional 20 million on Instagram.\n\nSome of the ads that ran before the election clearly favored President Donald Trump. One on Facebook called Hillary Clinton \"a Satan,\" while another blamed Clinton and former President Barack Obama for illegal border crossings by \"rapists, drug dealers, human traffickers, and others.\"\n\nFacebook also says it plans to require more information from advertisers who run ads related to federal elections, and will create a searchable archive of those ads.", "output": "Facebook's legal team has requested that the Federal Election Commission's (FEC)\u00a0eventual proposals for political advertising disclaimers be transparent but flexible enough to allow for future technological\u00a0developments. In\u00a0response to the FEC's request for comments on such ads, the social media site's general counsel, Colin Stretch, also argued that character-limited ads were so small as to not require disclaimers, and asked that recognisable icons or other \"obvious indicators\" be included instead. Facebook urged that the definition of \"ad\"\u00a0be broadened to include \"digital or online communications that mention federal candidates\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Standard Chartered launches client-facing chatbot AI \n Standard Chartered is to launch an AI-powered chatbot to provide clients with natural language assistance in managing money, making payments and analysing their spending.\n\nThe bank is to roll out the chatbot across its call centres and mobile and online channels in a phased deployment beginning next year in Hong Kong.\n\n\n\nThe new virtual assistant will use technology provided by Kasisto's KAI Banking product to engage clients in 'human like' conversations and is currently undergoing training to deliver answers to questions on the bank's suite of products and services.\n\n\n\nKasisto has already found success in deploying its chatbot at some of the largest banks in the world, including DBS Bank, Mastercard, TD Bank, and Wells Fargo.\n\n\n\nZor Gorelov, Kasisto co-foundr and CEO, says: \u201cKAI is already a banking expert and once it\u2019s trained on Standard Chartered products and services, it will serve as a powerful AI brain ready to meet their clients in the channel they prefer. It has the know-how to fulfil client requests, make recommendations and solve problems - while delivering banking with a human touch. When there is a need to talk to a human, the bot can seamlessly hand off to a Standard Chartered banking professional.\u201d\n\n", "output": "UK bank Standard Chartered is training an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot to offer customers support with financial services. While it should be able to handle simple problems, the bot can escalate\u00a0issues to human advisers if required. The system is based on the Kasisto KAI Banking product, which has been adopted by global institutions including MasterCard, DBS Bank and Wells Fargo.\u00a0Standard Chartered will begin a phased roll-out in Hong Kong next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "YouTube to remove in-video promotional pop-ups \n Have you ever clicked a YouTube creator's suggested video link when it pops up mid-clip? No? You're far from alone. YouTube has revealed that it's removing the ability to promote videos, playlists or livestreams through in-video notifications as of December 14th. The streaming service isn't shy about the reason why: few people were actually interested in these links. Only 1 in 20 people actually clicked on them, and many of those people were taken to a dead livestream. Users said it felt like spam, according to YouTube.\n\nThe company doesn't think this will cause too many problems. Cards and end screen video links are more effective, YouTube said. For third-party links, it wants you to use video descriptions, channel pages or even your channel artwork.\n\nYouTube told us this will remove existing in-video notifications, which could lead to some awkward moments in videos where presenters point to pop-ups that no longer exist. On the balance, though, this appears to be positive news if you're a YouTube fan. It should mean fewer intrusions while you're viewing on the web, and fewer creators going out of their way to plug one video while you're watching another.", "output": "YouTube is to remove video links that pop up during clips to promote other content. Until now, creators could plug other videos, playlists or live streams with in-video links, but figures show very few users actually click on them, and most regard them as\u00a0spam. The links will be removed from new and existing videos from 14\u00a0December, resulting in instances where presenters point to links that no longer appear. YouTube says that end-screen links and video descriptions are a more effective way of promoting other videos.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Losing skilled EU labour could cost UK economy up to \u00a322bn: PWC \n One of the biggest issues for Brexit\u2019s \u201cleave\u201d voters was a fear of immigration. Now the UK government is aiming to reduce EU migration into Britain\u2014drastically.\n\nBrexit talks have yet to include whether the UK will still take part in the Freedom of Movement act, which allows EU citizens free and easy passage between member states. Net migration is already falling, but the lack of clarity over what a post-Brexit UK immigration policy looks like is causing a huge level of uncertainty for people, industries, and the economy.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIn its latest UK Economic Outlook, consulting giant PwC used economic modeling to predict the impact of a sharp reduction in EU migration. It found that a 50% reduction in future EU migration to the UK could reduce the level of UK GDP by around 1.1% in 2030, or \u00a322 billion ($29 billion) at 2017 GDP values.\n\n\u201cEU migrants have played an increasingly important role in the UK economy since 2004, with particularly large impacts on London and certain sectors such as food manufacturing, hotels and restaurants, warehousing, and construction,\u201d PwC wrote. (Quartz has also noted the role played by lower-skilled EU migrants in Britain\u2019s services sector, which accounts for around 80% of total GDP.)\n\nIn 2016, according to PwC, workers from the European Economic Area accounted for 31% of the UK\u2019s food-manufacturing workforce, while also accounting for a large chunk of other service-industry sectors: accommodation (18%), warehousing (17%), food and beverage services (13%), and construction (10%). Overall, EEA workers account for 7% of total UK employment, though some regions (like London) account for much larger portions, and could be all the more affected by a workforce gulf.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nRegion % workers EEA born in 2004 % workers EEA born in 2016 London 7% 14% Scotland 3% 8% Northern Ireland 1% 7% Wales 1% 3% Rest of England (ex. London) 2% 6% UK average 2% 7%\n\n\u201cIf migration from the EU is significantly reduced after Brexit, then government and businesses will need to work together to try and fill the gaps,\u201d says Julia Onslow-Cole, global head of immigration at PwC and a member of the Mayor of London\u2019s Brexit expert advisory panel. \u201cWhile enhanced training of UK nationals and automation might be a solution in certain sectors if we look 10-20 years ahead, realistically they\u2019re unlikely to make up fully for any large reduction in EU migrant workers over the next 5-10 years.\n\n\u201cBusinesses from all sectors have voiced concern over restrictions to EU migration, but healthcare, hospitality, retail, and construction are particularly dependent on EU workers. It\u2019s important that not only do we take steps to retain the EU migrants already living in the UK, but make special provisions for them in the new immigration system post 2021.\u201d", "output": "A 50% reduction in EU migration to the UK after Brexit could cut UK GDP by around 1.1% in 2030, or \u00a322bn at 2017 GDP values. This is according to PwC's most recent UK Economic Outlook, which notes that the industry most likely to lose out from EU labour shortage is the food-manufacturing sector (31% of workforce from European Economic Area), followed by accommodation (18%), warehousing (17%), food and beverage services (13%), and construction (10%). Overall EEA workers make up 7% of the UK's workforce, and 14% of London's.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Internet Media Services acquires majority stake in Httpool \n Internet Media Services (IMS), a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Television Networks, would acquire a majority stake in Httpool, a cross-channel ad network with a presence in Central and Eastern Europe and Asia.Subject to regulatory approval, the deal will create a digital marketing and ad sales company with a combined operation supporting more than 6,000 agencies and brands worldwide, and exclusively representing Twitter, LinkedIn, Spotify and more than 5,000 global and local publishers across 30 countries in Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Asia Pacific regions.In Hong Kong, the firm is led by Charlene Ree (right) and Angie Chung. Revenue for Httpool Asia is ranked second globally in the group, the company said. The closing acquisition is a global Httpool action that Httpool Asia, based in Hong Kong, played a critical role in.Established in 2009, the Httpool Asia completes some 1,500 campaigns annually, which amounts to working with on average 200 brands annually.Httpool Asia clients include Sun Hung Kai, AXA, Standard Chartered, Lenovo, Hong Kong Tourism Board and Fortress.\"Bringing together IMS and Httpool will create a one-stop solution for advertisers launching local or international campaigns, as well as networks and publishers looking to monetise content across many of the world's fastest-growing emerging markets,\" said Andy Kaplan, president, worldwide networks, Sony Pictures Television.\"IMS and Httpool share the same vision, so we couldn't imagine a more appropriate partner. This deal represents a major milestone for Httpool and an important recognition for all our past achievements. Teaming with IMS will fuel our increasing growth, and enable us to expand our proprietary solutions on a global scale,\" said Aljosa Jenko, CEO and founder of Httpool.Httpool Asia managing director Angie Chung and managing partner Charlene Ree said: \"We welcome the news of the IMS majority stake acquisition of Httpool and we expect that this development will see new business avenues come to fruition for our business in Asia.\"", "output": "Sony Pictures-owned firm Internet Media Services is set to acquire a majority stake in cross-channel ad network Httpool, pending regulatory approval.\u00a0The deal would result in an agency boasting more than 6,000 international agencies and brands, with clients including Twitter, Spotify and LinkedIn. Andy Kaplan, president of worldwide networks at\u00a0Sony Pictures Television, said that the acquisition would create a \"one-stop solution for advertisers across many of the world\u2019s fastest-growing emerging markets\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EON and Clever to build EV charging network from Norway to Italy \n One More (EV Charger) for the Road\n\nTo facilitate the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), consumers need to know it's just as easy to recharge EVs as it is to pump gas into a petrol or diesel car. We've seen companies like Tesla install hundreds of supercharger stations around the world \u2014 from the United States, to Australia and Europe, and even China. Automakers like BMW, Ford, and Volkswagen have come together for the pan-European charging network called IONITY, to install 400 charging stations in Germany, Norway, and Austria by 2020. In both cases, the stations are deliberately placed on highways or within populated urban areas to provide a convenient and reliable way for EV owners to charge up and get back on the road.\n\nNow, two more companies \u2014 international energy and e-mobility company E.ON and Denmark e-mobility provider CLEVER \u2014 are partnering to build yet another network of charging stations. Over the next three years, their network will provide 180 \"ultra-fast\" charging stations across 7 countries between Norway and Italy. Each station has a capacity of 150 kW, putting it almost on par with Tesla's 145 kW stations, but behind IONITY's 350 kW capacity.\n\nCLEVER isn't the only company E.ON has partnered with; in fact, their team-up only accounts for 160 of the 180 charging stations. The final 20 will come as part of a deal with Norwegian service station chain YX. Based on how well construction goes on the initial 180 stations, E.ON and CLEVER are open to expanding to 400 stations spread throughout Europe.\n\n\"Together with strong partners we are taking a joint step towards establishing a comprehensive ultra-fast charging infrastructure in Europe,\" said Frank Meyer, Head of Innovation and B2C at E.ON, in a statement. \"We see a reliable ultra-fast charging network in combination with our home and destination solutions as main prerequisites for a mass market adoption of electric mobility.\"\n\nFully Charged in 30 Electric Minutes or Less\n\nThe initiative has already received \u20ac10 million (nearly $12 million) in funding from the European Commission, and is only 1 of 4 projects chosen to be explored. The first series of stations will be located in Germany and Denmark, with each station containing 2-6 chargers. According to E.ON, each charger will be capable of fully charging a 400-km (248-mile) range battery in about 20-30 minutes. Of course, that's only a rough estimate, and the actual charging time will vary by car and battery capacity.\n\n\"We believe that the combination of being able to cater for almost any car brand, securing the right locations, and offering customers well thought through solutions will be part of convincing people that EVs are a real alternative to conventional cars,\u201d said CLEVER CEO Casper Kirketerp-M\u00f8ller.\n\nWe'll have to wait and see how successful and reliable their charging network will truly be, but consider their partnership to be another step forward to worldwide adoption of electric vehicles. Simply being a better alternative that diesel may be enough for some consumers to make the change, but convenience and availability of necessary resources goes a long way to winning people over. Hopefully we'll see other companies and car manufacturers make similar moves to further entice people away from traditional vehicles.", "output": "EON and Danish e-mobility provider Clever are partnering to develop a charging network between Italy and Norway. In total, the partnership will install 160 charging stations between the two countries, with EON working with Norwegian service station chain YX to complete another 20. Each station will have a capacity of 150 kW, charging a\u00a0250-mile-range battery to full\u00a0capacity in 20 to\u00a030 minutes. The initiative has received almost\u00a0$12m in funding from the European Commission."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon denies it is planning free version of Prime with ad breaks \n Amazon is acquiring a taste for ads.\n\nThe e-commerce giant, which is already becoming a force to be reckoned with in digital advertising and is seemingly intent on taking over every industry on the planet, began selling short windows of commercial time this year during its live Thursday night streams of NFL games on its Prime Video subscription service.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nNow, it\u2019s developing a free version of Prime Video\u2014with commercials like those that air on regular TV. Amazon is in talks with TV networks, movie studios, and other media companies about creating programming for the platform, Advertising Age reported (paywall).\n\nIt\u2019s reportedly looking for back catalogs of children\u2019s programming from TV and movie studios, as well as lifestyle, travel, cooking, and other shows that fit well within Amazon\u2019s e-commerce ecosystem, the publication reported. There, customers can already buy everything they need for a Thanksgiving dinner, for example, from the table to the turkey. A cooking show on Amazon Prime Video\u2019s ad-supported channel could show how best to prepare the meal (or build that table).\n\nA freemium model could also help Amazon breakout from the bevy of subscription-video offerings out there, including rivals Netflix and Hulu, by offering TV shows and movies free alongside ads instead of for a monthly fee. And it could drive new sign-ups to the service, a la Spotify.\n\nPrime Video\u2014which features Amazon original movies like Manchester by the Sea and TV shows like Transparent and Man in the High Castle, the live NFL games, and a rich back catalog of movies and TV shows from other networks and studios\u2014is currently only available with a $99-a-year Prime shipping subscription or through an $8.99-a-month standalone subscription in the US.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBut more subscription services are popping up daily, for everything from music and video to food and clothing, and people can only justify spending on so many. From Netflix to HBO to SlingTV, how many subscription-video services does one need, after all? Legacy players like Disney and CBS are launching services of their own, too. More than half of US millennials say there are too many already, and 42% say they think they are paying too much for them, according to a survey published in August from Morning Consult.\n\nRival Netflix has shied away from advertisements, preferring its members to binge video uninterrupted. And Hulu, which runs ads in all of its packages, did away with its free package last year. But others have embraced ads, even snagging dollars from traditional TV. YouTube, where almost anyone can upload and share videos, thrives on ads. And Facebook, which recently launched a hub for original video, airs ads as well.\n\nAmazon\u2019s massive ecosystem is a big selling point for advertisers, too. It offers a peak at data that\u2019s never been available to them before. During the two minutes or so of ad time Amazon reportedly sells in each NFL game, it tracks how many people purchased or looked up products after seeing ads. It could tell an advertiser like Gillette, for example, how many people bought its razors and blades during and immediately after a game where its ad aired, Yahoo Finance reported. (The other ads that air in the game are national spots that also air on TV broadcasts; they are not sold by Amazon.)\n\nThe additional advertising revenue could also support the influx of content coming to the streaming service. Amazon is expected to spend $4.5 billion on video content this year.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nUpdate (Nov 14): Amazon told Quartz no plans to create a free, ad-supported version of Prime Video.", "output": "Amazon has begun selling advertising during its live streaming of American Football games on its Prime Video service. The move has prompted speculation that it is developing a free version of the subscription service that would be supported by advertising, although the company denies it has any plans to do so. The number of subscription video services has increased in recent years, with a number of broadcasters launching their own platforms. Surveys suggest many younger customers think they are too expensive. While Netflix has no adverts, free platforms like YouTube and Facebook rely on them."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Airbus aims to test electric 'flying car' by close of 2017 \n Airbus is making progress on its new electric-powered vertical take-off and landing aircraft \u2014 colloquially (and incorrectly) known as a \u201cflying car.\u201d The European aerospace giant posted a series of photos today from its Vahana project, showing its team working on a pair of single-seat, tilt-rotor vehicles with a paint job that would make a Stormtrooper envious.\n\nAirbus has said it wants to build a fleet of electric, autonomous, multirotor VTOL aircraft that can be used to fly from rooftop to rooftop in dense cities where traffic is often at a standstill. The project launched in early 2016 as one of the first pursuits of A\u00b3 (pronounced A-cubed), its Silicon Valley subsidiary. (Vahana is a Sanskrit word that refers to the vehicle or mount of a god.) Since then, the company has reported regular updates, including a concept video of the user experience.\n\nIn its post, the company says that a full-scale demonstrator is currently under production, with the goal of taking flight by the end of the year. The prototype was recently moved from California to a new flight test center in Pendleton, Oregon, where it will conduct its first demonstration. A\u00b3 has said it plans to have a production-ready version by 2020.\n\nAirbus, which competes with the US-based Boeing, is best known for large jetliners like the double-decker A380. However, the flying car project shows that the Toulouse, France-based company is not above dabbling in some high-concept, and perhaps unrealistic, aviation ideas.", "output": "Airbus aims to test its flying-car project, called Vahana, by the close of 2017. Revealing the project in a series of images, Airbus showed a number of engineers working on its vertical take-off and landing electric vehicle. The European aerospace company wants to develop an autonomous, electric tilt-multirotor vehicle to overcome congestion in urban environments."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lark's AI 'coach' aims to help with weight loss and diabetes \n A new study reveals that artificial intelligence could be a useful tool to help patients prevent Type 2 diabetes. The study, published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, showed that patients at risk of Type 2 diabetes who used the Lark Weight Loss Health Coach AI, dropped 2.38 percent of their baseline weight and increase the percentage of healthful meals they ate by 31 percent.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m really excited,\u201d Lark CEO and cofounder Julia Hu told MobiHealthNews. \u201cI think stepping back and looking at pre-diabetes, it really is such a crushing and chronic condition. Eighty-six million people in the US have pre-diabetes and it costs the health industry billions of dollars a year.\u201d\n\nThe longitudinal observational study was a partnership between six primary care offices in Nevada and southern California and Lark Technologies. The study examined 239 overweight and obese patients at risk of Type 2 diabetes. Participants were offered the app free of charge by their primary care physician. No further physician support was given to the patients, according to the study. The retrospective study looked at users from July 2016 to January 2017.\n\nThe app is personalized to meet patients\u2019 needs and goals. The user can enter their age, gender, weight, height, and goals.\n\n\u201cThis is really AI coaching and mimicking healthcare at its best, but the cool thing about AI is that it is infinitely scalable,\u201d said Hu.\n\nThe study, noted that one of its limitations was the fact that it did not have a control group to directly compare the results to. In addition, the study was observational and not experimental, which meant it was not able to determine causality.\n\nLark\u2019s HCAI has been on the market since 2015 and currently has about a million users, according to Hu. It provides weight loss coaching through modules on an array of topics in unlimited text-based counseling sessions. The modules take about 16 weeks depending on whether users miss a week of the classes or decide to rewatch a module.\n\nAccording to the study, the design takes a holistic approach to weight loss and management. It allows users to report feelings, such as guilt, and then gives the user encouraging advice based on that situation.\n\n\u201cI grew up with a chronic disease all my life,\u201d said Hu. \u201cI had an amazing care team, my pediatrician and my dad. They were there for me not just medically but emotionally \u2026 so that made a huge impact on me, people struggling with chronic conditions could really use a friend and someone who is there for them when they need it. We wanted to scale that sense of compassion and relationship.\u201d\n\nThe company has a healthcare committee of 15 members, including several Harvard and Stanford faculty members that specialize in psychology of some kind.\n\nLark Technologies debuted in 2011 and was originally focused on sleep technologies, but have pivoted, or as Hu says, evolved. Now there are no longer field devices but the technologies sit on top of 70 different health monitors.\n\n\u201cThe idea was, can we create an AI coach that coaches on several different aspects of your health,\u201d said Hu. \u201cWe started with sleep then, went to exercise, then went to nutrition and that helped us really build for chronic conditions. They are diseases that require lifestyle changes, behavioral health change, and self efficacy.\u201d\n\nCurrently, Lark has four products on the marketing including a wellness, diabetes prevention, diabetes management, and hypertension management platforms.\n\n\u201cThis study demonstrates AI\u2019s potential to provide compassionate care that is associated with weight loss, increased healthy lifestyle behaviors, and user trust that can reduce diabetes risk,\u201d the study reads.", "output": "Artificial intelligence systems have the ability to provide compassionate care to sufferers of chronic condition Type 2 diabetes, according to a year-long study by Californian firm Lark Technologies. It handed out its personalised Lark Weight Loss Health Coach AI (HCAI) app to 239 overweight and obese patients at risk of the condition, resulting in users dropping 2.38% of their weight and increasing healthy meals by almost one third. Lark said its HCAI, which takes\u00a0a \"holistic approach to weight loss and management\", already has around one million users.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HTC reveals Vive Focus, all-in-one VR headset \n HTC has officially revealed the Vive Focus, its all-in-one VR headset. As previously announced, the Vive Focus runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chip and uses inside-out positional tracking. It should be the first standalone six-degrees-of-freedom VR headset to see release, though HTC isn't saying exactly when it'll be available.\n\nThe Vive Focus uses a somewhat simple-looking three-degrees-of-freedom controller with a similar trackpad to the larger Vive devices. The headset's design is unusual, taking cues from both PlayStation VR and HTC's own Vive Deluxe Audio Strap, and it comes in a bright shade of blue. HTC hasn't given a lot more away about the Focus' other specs, like its screen resolution.\n\nHTC has only announced plans for the Vive Focus in China just yet, and even then there aren't any details on pricing or a release date. If you were holding out for that Vive-branded standalone Google Daydream headset, meanwhile, there's bad news \u2014 HTC and Google have cancelled their plans to bring it to the US.", "output": "Taiwanese consumer electronics firm HTC has unveiled the Vive Focus, the first standalone six-degrees-of-freedom headset to hit the market. However, HTC's announcement only covered the release of the Vive Focus in China, and gave no details on pricing or launch date. In addition, the company also confirmed it had cancelled its project with Google on a Vive-branded Daydream headset.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI-enhanced device conducts ultrasound with help of a smartphone \n A Bit of AI and iQ\n\nEntrepreneurial engineer Jonathan Rothberg suddenly became popular and rich after he made the world's first DNA sequencer on a chip called the Ion Torrent back in 2011. In the years since then, Rothberg founded and led a new startup called Butterfly Network, which recently unveiled a new device called the iQ, which is equipped with an artificial intelligence (AI) that allows you to perform an ultrasound with a smartphone.\n\nEssentially, the iQ is a lab-on-a-chip medical imaging tool that make ultrasounds accessible to all. You don't need to be a lab technician to figure out how to operate the iQ. It simply attaches to an iPhone's lightning jack, and its machine learning algorithms help the user find what he or she is looking for.\n\nImage Credit: Screen shot from Butterfly Network, Inc.\n\nThe iQ is also revolutionizing a more than 40-year-old technology. Almost all regular ultrasounds use compressed charged crystals or ceramics to send out a sound, pick up an echo, and calculate distance to form an image \u2014 pretty much like how bats navigate.\n\nFor the iQ, Butterfly's engineers replaced these crystals with capacitive micromachine ultrasound transducers (CMUTs). These are rows of incredibly tiny drums that vibrate at a range of frequencies when a current is run through them, depending on the electrical power.\n\nButterly combined this technology with algorithms originally designed for bundling data from thousands of telescopes together to image the cosmos, developed by physicist Max Tegmark and Nevada Sanchez. The latter co-founded the Butterfly Network with Rothberg.\n\nTo keep the iQ's final design as compact as possible, the engineers bonded CMUTs directly onto a semiconductor layer, doing away with wiring. These layers contain all the needed signal processors and amplifiers that convert sound into images, according to a report by Wired.\n\nA Radical Diagnostic Tool\n\nA number of people assume that getting an ultrasound is only for pregnant women, as it remains the most popular method of checking the health of unborn babies. So, why bother with a pocket ultrasound, right? In reality, this is hardly the case. Aside from checking on fetuses, ultrasound is an effective imaging tool for examining internal organs in the body \u2014 hence Butterfly's slogan, \"Whole body imaging. Under $2k.\"\n\nGranted, the images it produces are not as clear as those from higher intensity imaging machines like an MRI or a CT scan. Nevertheless, an ultrasound can be useful, especially if getting one doesn't require you to visit the nearest medical lab.\n\nAccording to the Butterly Network's official website, the iQ has received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to be used for diagnostic imaging covering 13 clinical applications, which include heart scans for both adults and children, pregnancy exams, musculo-skeletal tests, and even for urinary tract checks.\n\nWhile we may be accustomed to these kinds of procedures being relegated exclusively to the domain of doctors and technicians, Butterfly's chief medical officer John Martin argues that giving people the ability to perform an ultrasound with a smartphone is simply taking us one step further in our journey towards self-directed health monitoring. \u201cThermometers once lived only inside hospitals. And blood pressure cuffs, and defibrillators,\u201d Martin told WIRED. Martin was able to use the iQ to spot a growing cancer mass under his own throat, which has since been removed.\n\nWhile, for now, the iQ can only be preordered by licensed healthcare providers, Martin hopes that it can soon be available to all. \u201cThe sooner we can put smart technologies in the hands of people at home, the sooner the right diagnosis can be made. I\u2019ve yet to find a disease state where earlier detection didn\u2019t lead to better outcomes. And I\u2019m living proof of that,\" Martin added.", "output": "New York and Connecticut-based start-up Butterfly Network has been granted clearance by the US Food and Drug Administration for its hand-held iQ ultrasound device, which can be used in 13 applications, such as heart and pregnancy scans. The lab-on-a-chip medical imaging tool uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to offer ultrasounds to users via their smartphones. Butterfly's chief medical officer, John Martin, used it to identify and diagnose a cancerous growth in his own throat. Currently, iQ can only be pre-ordered by licensed healthcare providers, but the company hopes it will be available to the wider public soon.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Automation enables Alibaba's record breaking Singles Day sales \n The Singles\u2019 Day Shopping Festival held each year on November 11th is just like Black Friday, Mothers\u2019 Day or any other sales-oriented psuedo-holiday, but bigger and more extravagant. Starting in 2009 in China as a university campus event, Singles Day has now reached all over China and to more than 180 countries.\n\nAfter 24 hours of non-stop online marketing, including a star-studded Gala with film star Nicole Kidman and American rapper Pharrell Williams, the day (also known as Bachelors Day or 11/11 because the number \u201c1\u201d is symbolic of an individual that is alone) concluded with a sales total of \u00a5168 billion ($25.3 billion) on the Tmall and Taobao e-commerce networks (both belong to the Alibaba Group (NASDAQ:BABA)). Other e-commerce platforms including Amazon\u2019s Chinese site Amazon.cn, JD.com, VIP.com and Netease\u2019s shopping site you.163.com also participated in the 11/11 holiday with additional sales.\n\nSingles Day sales reported by Alibaba were $5.8 billion in 2013, $9.3 billion in 2014, $14.3 billion in 2015, $17.8 billion in 2016, and $25.3 billion for 2017.\n\nIn a story reported by DealStreetAsia, JD.com said that their sales for Singles\u2019 Day \u2013 and its 10-day run-up \u2013 reached \u00a5127.1 billion ($19.1 billion), a 50% jump from a year ago. JD started its sales event on Nov. 1st to reduce delivery bottlenecks and to give users more time to make their purchasing decisions.\n\nMuyuan Li, a researcher for The Robot Report, said: \u201cChinese people love shopping on e-commerce websites because sellers offer merchandise 20% \u2013 60% cheaper than in the stores, particularly on 11/11. Sites and consumer items are marketed as a game and people love to play. For example, if you deposit or purchase coupons in advance, you can get a better deal. Customers compare prices on manmanbuy.com or smzdm.com and paste product page urls into xitie.com to see the historical prices for those products. There are lotteries to win Red Envelope \u201ccash\u201d which are really credits that can be applied to your Singles Day shopping carts, and contests to beat other shoppers to the check out.\u201d\n\nRobotics-related products sold in great quantities on Singles Day. ECOVACS and other brands of robot vacuum cleaners were big sellers as were DJI and other camera drones and all sorts of robotic toys and home assistants.\n\nThe process:\n\nAlthough 11/11 was a great day for people buying robotic products, it was also a significant day for the new technologies of handling those products: 1.5 billion Alibaba parcels will transverse China over the next week delivering those purchases to Chinese consumers while all those packed and shipped items will have been manufactured, boxed, cased, temporarily stored and then unskidded, unboxed, picked and packed, sorted for shipment and shipped in all manner of ways.\n\nNew technology is part of how this phenomenal day is possible: robots, automation, vision systems, navigation systems, transportation systems and 100,000 upgraded smart stores (where people viewed items but then bought online) \u2013 all were part of the mechanical underside of this day \u2013 and foretell how this is going to play forward. There were also hundreds of thousands of human workers involved in the process.\n\nMaterial handling:\n\nHere are a few of the robotics-related Chinese warehousing systems vendors that are helping move the massive volume of 11/11\u2019s 1.5 billion packages:\n\nAlibaba and Jack Ma:", "output": "Robotic devices were among the most popular items bought during this year's record-breaking Singles Day, which resulted in total sales for Alibaba of $25.3bn, compared to $17.8bn in 2016. The e-commerce event, which takes in all of China and more than 180 other countries, also relies heavily on automated systems to select and deliver 1.5 billion Alibaba parcels. Alibaba had specialist warehouses, 100,000 upgraded smart stores using vision, navigation and transport systems, and an army of human workers were on hand during the period, according to therobotreport.com.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Geely completes acquisition of flying-car start-up Terrafugia \n In another huge confidence boost for the nascent \u201cflying car\u201d industry, Volvo\u2019s Chinese parent company announced today that it has completed its acquisition of Terrafugia, a startup founded by MIT engineers and MBA students.\n\nNews of the purchase first leaked back in July, when the South China Morning Post reported that China\u2019s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. was considering adding the 11-year-old Terrafugia to its portfolio. Neither company confirmed the acquisition until today, when they issued a joint statement announcing their intention of making flying cars \u201ca reality.\u201d At the time, the idea of Volvo\u2019s parent company trying to build and sell flying cars had many people scratching their heads. And I have no doubt the number of itchy scalps will grow tenfold now that the deal is done.\n\nhitting that retro-futuristic sweet spot\n\nThat\u2019s because flying cars, while hitting that retro-futuristic sweet spot, are widely considered to be hugely difficult, if not outright unworkable, from a mobility perspective. The idea of filling the skies above our cities with aerial taxis has many urbanists and city planners clutching their pearls in fear. And many of the companies, Terrafugia included, that are working on the technology have been known to over-promise and underperform.\n\nHowever, Terrafugia is not some latecomer to the flying car business like Google\u2019s Larry Page or Uber. The Woburn, Massachusetts-based team has been flying its prototypes since 2009. The Transition, a road-ready prop plane with retractable wings, received approval from the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2012 that essentially made it street legal. And the startup even managed to sell a handful at a price of $279,000 each. To be sure, the Transition was more of a drivable plane than a flying car, but it supposedly fits into a one-car garage, so why split hairs?\n\nIts TF-X prototype is even more ambitious. If the Transition could be considered the product of literally mashing together a car and a plane, the TF-X more closely resembles the pop culture vision of a flying car. \u201cThink Blade Runner or Back to the Future,\u201d Terrafugia says on its website. The retractable wings of the TF-X feature a pair of tilt rotors that would allow the aircraft to take off and land vertically like a helicopter. This type of VTOL (pronounced vee-tol) technology is seen as fundamental to the creation of an aerial taxi service, as envisioned by Uber and others. The aircraft would be electric powered, avoiding all the noise and pollution typically associated with helicopters.\n\n\u201cThe team at Terrafugia have been at the forefront of believing in and realizing the vision for a flying car and creating the ultimate mobility solution,\u201d Geely\u2019s founder and chairman Li Shufu said in a statement. \u201cThis is a tremendously exciting sector and we believe that Terrafugia is ideally positioned to change mobility as we currently understand it and herald the development of a new industry in doing so.\u201d\n\n\u201cherald the development of a new industry\u201d\n\nAs part of the acquisition, Terrafugia\u2019s founder Carl Dietrich will transition to the role of chief technology officer, allowing Geely to appoint Chris Jaran, former managing director of Bell Helicopters, as CEO. Geely\u2019s vice president for international business Nathan Yu Ning will become chairman of Terrafugia, and three other Geely executives will join the company\u2019s board. In the run-up to the purchase, Terrafugia tripled its number of US-based engineers, and Geely says it plans on making even more hires now that the deal is completed.\n\nTerrafugia will also benefit from Geely\u2019s largesse, which was able to transform Volvo from a distressed property purchased from Ford in 2010 to one of the world\u2019s leading automakers. The Hangzhou, China-based company also owns The London Taxi Company, which operates that city\u2019s iconic black cabs, and large chunks of Malaysia\u2019s Proton and the UK\u2019s Lotus.", "output": "Volvo's Chinese parent company, Zhejiang Geely, has completed the purchase of Terrafugia, a flying-car start-up. Terrafugia is developing a prototype electric vertical take-off and landing vehicle with tilt rotors."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EMoov suspends raffle sale listing on\u00a0property portals \n Post navigation\n\nOnline agent eMoov pulled a potential portal listing last night after it appeared to be attempting to show a property on Rightmove and Zoopla that is being sold privately as a raffle prize.\n\nThe agent sent out a press release championing its service yesterday, promoting an upcoming listing from a seller who was due to raffle his property as a competition prize at \u00a35 a ticket, but there was no indication of what service eMoov was actually providing.\n\nThe press release was then recalled.\n\nThe agent had said the seller had chosen eMoov due to its low fees and the ability to get his property shown on Rightmove and Zoopla.\n\nAn eMoov spokesman initially said: \u201cWe are acting as the agent inasmuch as he has listed with us, but he doesn\u2019t require any viewings or offer progressions service so our involvement is limited to listing the property for him.\u201d\n\nEYE questioned whether this is technically a private sale, which is not allowed on the portals, as it was being run on a separate raffle website.\n\nAnother eMoov spokesman then thanked us for raising the issue, and said the property would be held back while clarification was sought from the portals.\n\nThe spokesman said: \u201cRightmove wants to run it past their data team but we are hoping there is no issue as they do occasionally allow listings of this nature, and as this is for a very good cause and not personal gain they are hoping they are able to help.\n\n\u201cWe are also looking to put the listing up but the mechanics at the moment mean it pushes automatically to the portals.\u201d\n\nIt is unclear what previous listings of this nature Rightmove has allowed.\n\nEYE also queried if the seller would have his fee refunded if the listing isn\u2019t allowed, but it later transpired that eMoov was planning to refund it anyway as the raffle was for charity.\n\nSome house raffles are only legal if they are raising money for charity.\n\nA Zoopla spokesman confirmed EYE\u2019s suspicions that such a listing wouldn\u2019t be allowed on the portal, and Rightmove has said the same.\n\nLate yesterday, eMoov sent out another message saying the listing had been suspended as the vendor \u201chas encountered some issues with the pay function on the destination site and so is unable to launch the competition as planned\u201d.\n\nThere was no mention of the portal issue.", "output": "Online agent eMoov has removed a listing from the\u00a0Zoopla and Rightmove portals\u00a0after it appeared to be trying to market a property\u00a0that is being offered as a raffle prize.\u00a0EMoov\u00a0initially said the property would be held back until clarification had been sought from both portals but later announced that the listing had been suspended because\u00a0portals such as\u00a0Zoopla and Rightmove do not allow homes to be privately sold on their sites. In any case,\u00a0the vendor said he was unable to launch the competition as planned, due to technical issues\u00a0on\u00a0the raffle website.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Plentific partners with Web.com to put tradespeople online \n Plentific & Web.com are launching a new partnership to help trade professionals realise their full potential online.\n\nStarting this month, tradespeople signing up to Plentific or Web.com will enjoy features provided by both companies in a single offering. As well as lead generation and domain creation with Web.com, users will also have access to Plentific\u2019s centralised and evolving platform, allowing them to message customers, send quotes and collect payments in one secure location.\n\nPlentific is dedicated to providing a marketplace that makes it simple for the trade to manage their work and find new leads. All jobs booked on Plentific are covered by the \u2018Plentific Guarantee\u2019, a policy that can cover a customer\u2019s project and give them much more confidence in hiring a tradesperson. \u2018Verified Pros\u2019 can also offer two-year insurance-backed protection for their jobs.\n\n\u201cPlentific and Web.com share the goal of making it much easier for everyday tradesmen to manage their businesses online,\u201d said Plentific\u2019s Director of Business Development Kevin North. \u201cThis partnership will allow us to add real value to our product offering by giving tradespeople more of a presence in an increasingly competitive online world. With this, they will be able to find the work they need while also building trust in the services that they offer.\n\n\u201cToo many of us have the impression that getting online is expensive and time consuming. The fact is that customers are far more likely to trust a business with its own domain, especially when compared to tradespeople with free-domain email addresses which look unprofessional.\u201d\n\nWeb.com\u2019s UK Company Director Alastair Thornton said: \u201cOur partnership with Plentific will be a huge help to small trade businesses looking to market themselves on the internet. This kind of web presence does not need to be the sole domain of huge nationwide brands; we want to show that any business with a drive to succeed can reap the benefits of having an online audience.\u201d", "output": "Custom website design firm Web.com and Plentific, an online marketplace for tradespeople, are partnering to offer a combined service. Customers of both will have access to each of the sites' features. Plentific\u2019s director of business development Kevin North said customers were \"far more likely\" to have faith in a company with its own domain, and working with Web.com would enable more tradespeople to compete online and expand their businesses.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook ad suite leverages 1.2 billion users linked to companies \n Facebook Tuesday introduced four new features to help ensure that borders are not barriers to advertising on the social network.\n\nFacebook said in a blog post that more than 1.2 billion of its users are connected to small businesses in other countries.\n\nFacebookCrossBorderSolutionsNovember2017 from SocialTimes on Vimeo.\n\nThe four new features revealed by Facebook Tuesday are:", "output": "With more than 1.2 billion Facebook users connected to small businesses abroad, the social media giant has released four features to help companies advertise across borders. Dynamic Language Optimisation enables Facebook to can match ad set languages to respective users. Multi-country Lookalike Audiences lets companies find the best potential customers in a combination of countries, while Multi-city Targeting helps them reach users in\u00a0groups of cities based on population size. Finally, Cross-border Business Insights Finder lets advertisers\u00a0access comparative country data based on performance across Facebook and Instagram."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bupa pulls out from Northern Ireland NHS hospitals \n One of the UK's biggest private health insurance companies has withdrawn from all hospitals in Northern Ireland, it can be revealed today\n\nOne of the UK's biggest private health insurance companies has withdrawn from all NHS hospitals in Northern Ireland, it can be revealed today.\n\nNorthern Ireland people paying Bupa upwards of \u00a33,500 a year for cover may now have to travel outside the province even for routine operations, such as hip and knee replacements.\n\nLast month it was revealed that Bupa stopped sending patients to the Belfast Health Trust in April this year as the trust did not have the medical negligence cover required.\n\nHowever, it has now emerged that Bupa is not sending any patients to any of Northern Ireland's NHS hospitals. The health insurance company said it stopped referring patients to the remaining four trusts as they did not offer the level of service wanted by its customers.\n\nJames Sherwood, Bupa's director of health and benefits management, said: \"The vast majority of our customers in Northern Ireland have always chosen to receive treatment at private facilities, so very few were using any of the NHS trust hospitals.\"\n\nAs a result of the situation, any Bupa customer who may require an intensive care bed after surgery will no longer be able to have their procedure done here, as none of the private hospitals have an ICU.\n\nThis means anyone having routine cardiac surgery, such as cardiac catheterisation, will have to travel to England for the diagnostic procedure.\n\nScans to grade cancer are no longer available to patients living in Northern Ireland.\n\nMeanwhile, Bupa customers who are deemed to be obese cannot have any operations here, as they are more likely to suffer complications as a result of having a general anaesthetic.\n\nIt is a devastating blow for Bupa customers, coming at a time when hospital waiting times are spiralling out of control and an increasing number of people are using private health insurance to pay for procedures, such as hip and knee replacements.\n\nNHS waiting times for these procedures can be as long as five years from the time a patient goes to their GP and finally goes under the knife.\n\nAt the same time, official statistics released last month revealed the startling number of people in Northern Ireland who are overweight or obese.\n\nAccording to statistics from the Department of Health, 36% of people here are now classed as obese - which increases the likelihood of suffering from joint conditions that will require surgery.\n\nBupa patients classed as obese by private hospitals here will now have to lose weight or travel to England for such operations.\n\nIt is understood that all five health trusts continue to treat patients using other private health insurance companies.\n\nPrivate healthcare companies such as Bupa only pay for treatments if customers attend approved hospitals and see approved consultants.\n\nIn order to be approved, a hospital must fulfil a number of requirements, including meeting hygiene standards and having indemnity insurance in place.\n\nThey normally ask clients to choose from a list of approved doctors and hospitals ahead of any treatment being carried out.\n\nSpeaking last month, Bupa said the decision to withdraw approval from the Belfast Trust was a temporary measure and it was working to ensure the necessary medical negligence insurance - believed to be in the region of \u00a320m - was put in place once more.\n\nHowever, it is now six months since approval was removed and the trust has not said whether it intends to acquire the necessary cover.\n\nIn the meantime Bupa said it paid the travel costs of any people travelling to England for surgery.\n\nHowever, it is not known whether it covers additional costs, such as accommodation or travel costs of a family member to accompany a patient during their treatment.", "output": "Private health insurer Bupa has suspended referring policyholders to National Health Service (NHS) hospitals in Northern Ireland. The firm says the hospitals do not offer the level of service wanted by its customers. Patients will reportedly now have to travel to England for a number of procedures. Cardiac surgery, scans to grade cancers and operations performed among people deemed to be obese are among these surgeries."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lionsgate releases Chrome extension to promote movie \n Lionsgate\u2019s movie Wonder (which premieres on Friday) tells the story of August Pullman, a boy who was born with facial differences and looks different from his classmates. Classmates bully him as he enters fifth grade at his first mainstream school. T0 make that message relatable online, the film studio created a clever way to filter content and show how much better the world would be without hurtful comments.", "output": "Entertainment company Lionsgate has released a Chrome extension that replaces negative online comments with messages of kindness. The introduction of the Choose Kindness Chrome extension marks the release of its movie Wonder, a film about a boy bullied for facial differences. The tool, developed with Jigsaw's Perspective technology, uses machine learning to find abusive content and has three levels of moderation: kind, kinder and kindest. It then places a banner with a statement like \"Kindness is contagious\" over the offending material, giving users the choice to reveal the text or keep it hidden.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Max Bupa introduces health insurance machines in India \n New Delhi [India]: Among India\u2019s leading health insurance players, Max Bupa, on Monday announced the launch of Max Bupa AnyTimeHealth (ATH) machines to propel health insurance penetration in the country.\n\nThe ATH is Max Bupa\u2019s innovative new technology-based solution that will allow customers to run instant health assessment and buy health insurance cover, in just 180 seconds.\n\nRevolutionizing the way people buy health insurance in India by simplifying the insurance purchase journey, Max Bupa ATH machines will let customers initiate their health assessment, choose the right health insurance plan for themselves, and walk away with the policy document all in three minutes.\n\n\u201cHealth insurance has almost become a necessity in India with the growing incidence of lifestyle diseases but the overall penetration is still quite low with close to 80 percent of the Indian population still not covered under any form of health insurance. The Indian health insurance industry needed something disruptive to ensure health cover reaches every Indian,\u201d said MD & CEO, Max Bupa, Ashish Mehrotra.\n\n\u201cWith the Max Bupa ATH machines we aim to democratize health by addressing the key issues and challenges faced by Indians on their buying journey. While we anticipate greater penetration for health insurance overall with the innovation, we also expect the Max Bupa ATH machines to increase our Bancassurance throughput by 2.5X and become an independent sales channel in the next three to five years, comprising 15 percent \u2013 20 percent of our total digital sales,\u201d added Mehrotra.\n\nLooking at the severe under-penetration of health insurance in India, the ATH machines have been designed for customers who find health insurance buying either too complicated, or do not find the time or motivation to insure something as important as their health.\n\nMax Bupa\u2019s AnyTimeHealth is a completely automated, technology-based model with a simple interface that offers a comprehensive awareness-to-purchase journey, overcoming the procrastination hurdle experienced by many Indians.\n\nThe five simple steps a first-time user needs to follow include registration using their email ID and phone number, followed by non-intrusive health assessment, automated health insurance policy recommendation based on details entered and test output, instant payment, and instant policy issuance.\n\nAt this stage, customers will be able to perform non-intrusive health assessment covering Body Mass Index, Blood Pressure, Body Type and Fat percent, Muscle percent, Bone Mass, Body Temperature, Hydration level and Blood Oxygen percent; and buy the policy instantly.\n\nATHs are built on a scalable technology platform, and the future versions of ATHs will be reimagined as end-to-end customer service systems based on Max Bupa\u2019s product and servicing requirements.\n\nThe upgraded versions of the ATHs will service retail customers 24\u00d77 and will be online to offer more customized and personalized health insurance plans. These machines may also offer Artificial Intelligence (AI) based interventions.\n\nAs per the Max Bupa Pulse survey conducted in early 2017, people are moving towards digital mediums and platforms for buying and renewing health insurance.\n\nWhile 47 percent of the respondents confirmed opting for online platforms for renewing health insurance, 13 percent said they would go to online platforms for purchasing health insurance.\n\nMax Bupa\u2019s is a much needed technology application that simplifies health tracking and decision making for customers.\n\nIt is a result of thorough analysis of the obstacles towards health insurance penetration in India and aim to address the challenges of awareness (of one\u2019s health and the need for health insurance), accessibility (of a genuine advisor and policy issuer), and serviceability (end-to-end experience) among Indians through technology.\n\nThe ATH machines will be introduced in the market through the company\u2019s Bancassurance partners \u2013 such as Bank of Baroda, giving Max Bupa access to potentially 20 percent of the banked Indians.\n\nIn the first phase, 20 ATH machines will be installed at partner banks\u2019 branches, across multiple cities.\n\nThrough the next few months, Max Bupa will focus on gathering customer inputs, feedback, and performance data to enhance services/offerings through the systems.\n\nIn the next 12-15 months, Max Bupa has plans to install multiple ATH machines across retail locations such as malls, societies/ RWAs, airport lounges, hotels etc.\n\nMax Bupa expects its ATH machines to drive the next phase of growth for the health insurance industry.\n\nThe ATH machines have been designed by Max Bupa, in partnership with Yolo Health, a health tech startup. (ANI)", "output": "Max Bupa has introduced \"AnyTimeHealth\" (ATH) machines across India with the goal of increasing the adoption of health insurance. The machines allow customers to assess their health, choose an insurance policy and obtain the relevant policy documents in as little as three minutes. The machines measure metrics such as blood pressure, body mass index and temperature in order to recommend a policy. Roughly 80% of the Indian population is without health insurance."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurance blockchain start-up ChainThat gains funding \n LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Xceedance, a global provider of insurance consulting, managed services, technology and data sciences, today announced a multi-million dollar \u201cSeries A\u201d equity investment in ChainThat, a London-based blockchain specialist organisation serving the re/insurance industry.\n\nUsing a proprietary insurance blockchain framework (CT-IBF), ChainThat supports re/insurance contract management and transactional processes in key areas of the insurance lifecycle including claims, accounting and settlement, billing and collections, and credit control. The ChainThat framework includes integrated business intelligence and reporting for real-time management and operational information.\n\nAs a pioneering startup in blockchain and distributed ledger technologies, ChainThat develops products for the commercial, specialty, and reinsurance markets. The ChainThat team provides secure online transactional services specifically tailored for re/insurance operations. Its partnership with Xceedance enables the two companies to drive the adoption of blockchain in re/insurance by developing and applying decentralised technology, data/analytics, and industry-expert services to strengthen the business practices and policyholder services of a wide range of insurance organisations.\n\n\u201cThis is a strategic alliance of two progressive companies that believe specialised services and new technologies can transform the re/insurance industry,\u201d said Arun Balakrishnan, chief executive officer at Xceedance. \u201cOur scale will help to accelerate the growth of ChainThat, and our clients will benefit from the blockchain, distributed ledger technology and smart contract expertise of our partnership. The deep industry knowledge and technology credentials of ChainThat complement our own. Our investment in the power and potential of ChainThat is an advantageous step in the expansion of both companies.\u201d\n\nIn addition to the investment by Xceedance, ChainThat will have access Xceedance global resources, including insurance-expert business and technology consultants, industry-knowledgeable IT professionals, business development and support services.\n\n\u201cWe are thrilled with the strategic investment from Xceedance to help scale our company,\u201d said David Edwards, ChainThat founder and chief executive officer. \u201cKey to this investment stage was finding the right partner with industry knowledge and a passion for the future of re/insurance collaboration. With the support of Xceedance we can now focus on enhancing products to enrich a wide range of customer-centric applications. Together with Xceedance, we look forward to delivering the transformative benefits of practically deployable, decentralised blockchain technology in the insurance ecosystem.\u201d\n\nAbout Xceedance\n\nXceedance is a global provider of consulting and managed services, technology and data sciences to insurance organisations. With offices in the U.S., U.K., Poland and India, Xceedance partners with insurers to launch new products, drive operations, implement technology, and deliver advanced analytics capabilities and process optimisation.\n\nAbout ChainThat\n\nChainThat was formed in 2015 by a group of London-based insurance technology experts, with the aim of transforming insurance markets using blockchain, distributed ledger technology and smart contracts. The solutions of ChainThat cover placing, contract management, facilities, accounting and settlement and claims agreement, all utilising industry standards such as ACORD.\n\n# # #", "output": "ChainThat, an insurance start-up focusing on blockchain technology, has gained \"multi-million\" dollar financing from insurance consultancy Xceedance. The exact amount of the investment was not disclosed. ChainThat provides blockchain technology to help with the management of insurance contracts. The firm predominantly operates in the commercial, specialty and reinsurance spaces."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Council asked to scrap housing partnership with Redrow \n In a surprising motion to Wednesday\u2019s Council Liverpool\u2019s Lib Dem Group are asking Council to back Jeremy Corbyn\u2019s housing policy of \u201cfor the many \u2013 not the few\u201d and have asked them ditch the housing \u201cpartnership\u201d with Redrow Homes.\n\nIn moving the motion Lib Dem Cllr for Allerton & Hunts Cross Mirna Juarez will say, \u201cthe current partnership with Redrow Homes is failing to deliver the housing that Liverpool needs. Instead of a handful of high priced homes the South Liverpool area where Redrow likes to build needs more 3 bed semis and two bed flats.\n\nIn the council\u2019s own figures in Woolton, Church, Allerton, Cressington and Mossley Hill wards there are 4,459 people living alone, many of them in substantial houses. They need two bedroomed flats to move to in the areas where they live. This would release big homes to young families. At the same time the starting price of \u00a3300,000 up to \u00a3650,000 on the Redrow Homes is way beyond the reach of young families who are continuing to leave our City.\n\nThe motions\u2019 seconder Cllr Andrew Makinson will add, \u201cthis is not a good financial deal either. The latest figures are that the cash received from Redrow to date has only assisted with the provision of 96 social homes. This is no more than would have been received in land sales and section 106 planning agreements than from any other developer and we would probably have got more for the land if separately tendered. Because so few houses are built on the land our council tax take is a lot less than if we had agreed a larger number of smaller homes\u201d.\n\nLeaving aside the Redrow Partnership the motion also addresses the problems highlighted in local media of the sale of the freeholds of properties to greedy speculators who then hold residents to ransom with a string of charges. The motion asks for an agreement on the sale of any land by the Council that it be subject to the sale of the freehold of the land to the resident being included in the initial sale. If that is not possible the freeholds should be held by specific companies owned by the freeholders of the estate. Liberal Democrats believe that the council should not support a system whereby unsuspecting home-owners are held to ransom by greedy profiteers.", "output": "Liverpool City Council is being urged to drop its housing partnership with Redrow Homes. Liberal Democrat councillors claim the housebuilder is failing to meet the city's housing requirements, saying that more two and three bedroom homes are needed, rather than a handful of high-priced homes. The motion adds that the starting prices of \u00a3300,000 ($355,000) to \u00a3650,000 for properties are beyond the means of many young families.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Speedy Hire Speedy Hire announces profits before tax up 58.8 per cent \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nSign up for our daily newsletter to get the day's biggest stories sent direct to your inbox\n\nSpeedy Hire\n\nThe tools and plant hire company, has reported a strong first half performance in its latest results.\n\nThe Newton-le-Willows headquartered business announced profits before tax was up 58.8 per cent to \u00a310.8m for the six months to September 30.\n\nRevenues increased by 6.9 per cent to \u00a3183.2m during the period.\n\nSpeedy Hire, which endured a tumultuous 2016, saw its debts reduced to \u00a363.1m, down from the \u00a371.4m reported in March.\n\nInvestors will be happy with the increase to their dividend up 51.5 per cent to 50p per share.\n\nThe results have been attributed to a restructure of the business and operational efficiencies.\n\nThe company also reported growing revenue from value added services businesses; testing, inspection and certification (TIC), training and consumables.\n\nRussell Down, chief executive, said:\"These results are confirmation of the sustainable progress we continue to make following implementation of our customer focussed strategy and a rigorous approach to capital allocation and cost control.\n\n\"Our end markets are diverse and remain competitive. The improvements we have made to our operations have enabled us to more effectively manage the business and meet market challenges.\n\n\"We are confident of delivering a result for the year above current expectations and that the Group has a strong future ahead of it.\"\n\nRenold\n\nThe supplier of industrial chains and power transmission products, has announced a mixed set of trading results as it focusses on strategic goals.\n\nThe company has its international HQ in Wythenshawe and two other parts of the business: Torque Transmission and Chain.\n\nThe group saw revenue increase by eight per cent to \u00a395.4m, for the half year to September 30.\n\nHowever, operating profit was down from \u00a37.6m to \u00a36m compared to the same period in 2016.\n\nThis was down to the Chain division which saw orders grow by 15.7 per cent, but also saw an increase in raw material costs and machine break-downs.\n\nTorque Transmission saw revenue up 6.1 per cent and adjusted operating profit increase.\n\nWhile Renold admitted overall profits were 'disappointing', progress is being made in its STEP 2020 strategic plan to make the business more efficient.\n\nRobert Purcell, chief executive, said: \"Whilst the first half of the year was a disappointing period for profit delivery, the issues in Chain are being resolved, and we are seeing distinct signs of improvement in our end markets.\n\n\"During the period we have continued to build the commercial and operational platform from which to deliver improved performance. Our efforts are starting to bear fruit: our order intake demonstrates significant progress, and we are also seeing the benefits of our actions in the enhanced results of Torque Transmission.\n\n\"We continue to believe that our STEP 2020 strategy is the right path to deliver a more robust, higher margin business. We are confident of delivering improved performance in the second half.\"\n\nITV\n\nShares in broadcasting giant ITV slipped this morning after its revenue declined.\n\nThe group, home to shows such as The X Factor and Broadchurch, said it was confident in the strength of the business ahead of new chief executive Carolyn McCall\u2019s arrival.\n\nIn the nine months to 30 September, total external revenue was down one per cent to \u00a32.1bn, based on a mixed performance across different areas\n\nWhile broadcast and online revenues sank four per cent to \u00a31.45bn, online, pay and interactive revenues jumped eight per cent, while ITV studios revenue was up nine per cent at just over \u00a31bn.\n\nShares were down 1.75 per cent to 151.3p in early trading.\n\nSir Peter Bazalgette, ITV executive chairman, said: \u201cITV\u2019s performance in the first nine months of 2017 is very much as we anticipated.\n\n\"We\u2019ve seen improving trends in all our key revenue lines in the quarter and we\u2019re on track to deliver on the commitments we set out at the start of the year.\u201d\n\nHe added: \u201cWe will enter 2018 in good shape with a strong operating performance underpinned by a robust balance sheet, and we look forward to the arrival of our new CEO, Carolyn McCall, early in the New Year.\u201d", "output": "Tool and plant hire company Speedy Hire has reported H1 2017 pre-tax profits of \u00a310.8m ($14.2m), almost 60% higher than in 2016. The company also said that first-half revenues grew 6.9% to \u00a3183.2m, while\u00a0company dividend rose by 51.5% to 50p per share. CEO Russell Down said the financial results were down to a \"rigorous approach to capital allocation and cost control\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AWS scales back cloud assets in China to comply with law \n Beijing Sinnet Technology said Tuesday it would buy parts of Amazon's cloud business in China for up to 2 billion Chinese yuan ($301 million), but the U.S. e-commerce giant said it was not exiting the world's second-largest economy.\n\nIn August 2016, Amazon signed a deal to let Chinese tech firm Sinnet operate services provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) in China.\n\nSinnet said in a regulatory filing on Monday that the purchase, which is still pending, would help it \"comply with China's laws to further improve the company's AWS cloud services\" in terms of quality and security.\n\nBut Amazon said that it is only selling \"certain physical assets\" and still owns the intellectual property for AWS worldwide.\n\n\"No, AWS did not sell its business in China and remains fully committed to ensuring Chinese customers continue to receive AWS's industry leading cloud services. Chinese law forbids non-Chinese companies from owning or operating certain technology for the provision of cloud services. As a result, in order to comply with Chinese law, AWS sold certain physical infrastructure assets to Sinnet, its longtime Chinese partner and AWS seller-of-record for its AWS China (Beijing) Region,\" Amazon told CNBC's Deirdre Bosa.\n\n\"AWS continues to own the intellectual property for AWS Services worldwide. \u200eWe're excited about the significant business we have in China and its growth potential over the next number of years.\"\n\nThe deal could be linked to increasing regulatory scrutiny from the Chinese government who is trying to tighten their grip on the internet in the country. Sinnet asked its customers earlier this year to stop using virtual private networks (VPNs), which are able to circumvent China's Great Firewall.\n\nOther U.S. firms have also faced a challenging situation in China. In July, Apple removed VPNs from its app store in China, amid the crackdown on such services by the government.\n\nAWS has been a jewel in the crown for Amazon's earnings in recent times and a big reason why the company's shares are up over 50 percent year-to-date.", "output": "Amazon Web Services (AWS) is to sell certain physical assets from its cloud business in China to its partner Beijing Sinnet Technology for CNY2bn ($301m). Amazon said the sale of assets would help AWS to comply with Chinese law that forbids non-Chinese firms from running or owning certain technology for the provision of cloud services; it does not mean the company is leaving the world's second largest economy, and AWS will retain the intellectual property for its cloud services worldwide.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BNY Mellon merges three buy-side firms \n BNY Mellon Investment Management is to launch a new specialist, multi-asset investment management business by combining its three largest US buy-side firms.\n\nMellon Capital Management, Standish Mellon Asset Management and The Boston Company Asset Management will merge to form the new company and offer clients single and multi-asset, active and passive investment strategies.\n\nThe combined entity will have over $560 billion in assets under management, employing more than 300 individuals globally.\n\nIt will be headquartered in Boston and will be led by the current CEO of US asset management at BNY Mellon Investment Management, Des Mac Intyre.\n\n\u201cEach business already has in-depth investment expertise in their respective areas. By combining them we will be able to increase our investment in their collective capabilities and add new investment solutions for the benefit of clients,\u201d he commented.\n\nBNY Mellon explained the companies\u2019 teams, processes and core strategies will largely remain the same, but as they collaborate more closely over time the processes and philosophies will be improve and optimised.\n\nMitchell Harris, CEO of BNY Mellon Investment Management, added clients are increasingly seeking specialist managers with differentiated investment strategies and competitive pricing.\n\n\u201cThis combined US business will give clients unified access to our intellectual capital in multi-asset strategies, alongside a strengthened investment process and an optimised platform with increased resources to deliver innovative and competitively priced solutions,\u201d he added.\n\nThe merger of the businesses is expected to be completed within 12 months and will launch officially under a unified brand later in 2018.", "output": "BNY Mellon Investment Management is merging three of its boutiques together into one entity. The three units in question are Mellon Capital Management, Standish Mellon Asset Management and The Boston Company Asset Management. The merged entity will have approximately $560bn in assets under management. The firm says the merger will take roughly 12 months to conclude, with the new entity launching some time during 2018."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "German robo-adviser Scalable Capital grows assets to \u20ac500m \n Source: Scalable Capital\n\nJust 22 months after its launch in Germany and 16 months after the launch in the UK, digital wealth manager Scalable Capital manages over 500 million euros of investments for more than 15,000 clients.\n\nThe Fintech is expanding its position as the clear market leader in Germany and is one of the fastest growing robo-advisors worldwide.\n\n\n\n\"In the past ten months, we have been able to grow our assets under management fivefold to over half a billion euros. This shows that private investors value the benefits of a technology-driven investment model, cost-effective ETFs and digital usability, \" said Adam French, Founder and CEO of Scalable Capital.\n\nThe cooperation with ING-DiBa exceeds expectations\n\n\n\nScalable Capital's partnership with ING-DiBa, Germany's third-largest bank by number of customers, provided a particular boost to growth: in the first two months of the cooperation, almost 7,000 ING-DiBa customers have already invested more than 150 million euros. So far, no other online wealth manager in Germany has reached 150 million euros in such a short amount of time.\n\n\n\nWhile ING-DiBa is in charge of custody, Scalable Capital manages client investments with its proprietary risk management technology. It is the first fully integrated partnership between a major German bank and a digital wealth manager. The cooperation is likely to be rolled-out to other European markets.\n\n\n\nOver a third of investors are over 55\n\nAs assets under management increase, so does the age of Scalable Capital\u2019s clients. The average age currently stands at 50 years whereas a year ago it was just 42 years. Over a third of investors are over 55; testament to the fact that digital wealth management is by no means only embraced by Millennials. Rather, it attracts audiences with wealth to invest and previous investment expertise that can appreciate its benefits. Particularly welcome is the growing share of female investors, which rose to more than 20 percent within the past 12 months. Regardless of age and gender, Scalable Capital's clients continue to have one thing in common: they are well educated. Over 90 percent of clients have a university degree. Their most common professions are bankers, economists, computer scientists and engineers.\n\n\n\nOn average, clients have currently invested \u00a328,000 with Scalable Capital, with new clients significantly increasing their initial investment within the first six months. Nearly half of the clients also use a free savings plan, which is on average at \u00a3350 per month. The company also manages many large portfolios. Portfolios with more than \u00a3100,000 represent almost a third of assets under management.", "output": "German robo-adviser Scalable Capital has grown its assets under management to \u20ac500m ($589m). The platform launched 22 months ago and the firm says a partnership with German bank ING-DiBa has helped it garner \u20ac150m in assets, with 7,000 of the lender's customers signing up. The robo-adviser isn't just targeting young investors: more than a third of its clients are reportedly over 55.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Audi looks to develop pilot e-diesel factory in Switzerland \n e-tron\n\ne-tron\n\ne-tron\n\nExperience a century of adrenaline-fueled excitement as we honor the Le Mans 100-year anniversary. With Audi's racing heritage deeply ingrained in our DNA, we pay tribute to the iconic race that has shaped motorsport history. Join us as \"Mister Le Mans\" himself, Tom Kristensen, reminisces about the legendary race while taking a ride in the Audi RSGT*. Step into the journey of Le Mans, remembering the past and embracing the future of motorsport. #Audi #PerformanceIsAnAttitude #RSGT #LeMans24 -------------------- *Audi RSGT: Power consumption combined in kWh/100 km: 22.1-19.8; CO\u2082 emissions combined: 0 g/km. Only consumption and emission values according to WLTP and not according to NEDC are available for the vehicle. Further information: www.audi.com/dat.\u200b The vehicles shown are intended for professional use on closed circuits only and are not available as production models. Closed circuit, professional driver. Do not attempt.", "output": "Audi is planning to build a pilot \"e-diesel\" production facility in Switzerland. The proposed unit in Laufenburg will use energy supplied from a hydroelectric power station to synthesise carbon dioxide and hydrogen to produce the fuel. The plant is intended to have capacity to produce about 400,000 litres of the fuel a year. Audi and its partners Ineratec and Energiedienst will submit planning applications for the site shortly, with construction expected to start early next year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Compliance costs create uneven playing field on buy-side \n Several senior fixed income market participants have highlighted the cost of compliance has created a less competitive environment in the asset management industry.\n\nBuy-side experts explained they have started to \u2018defensively merge\u2019 with one another, in a bid to fight off growing costs often seen through compliance technology and a squeeze on profits.\n\n\u201cThis is something we will see more of moving forward and the larger powerhouses will have that bandwidth to cover costs of compliance. Smaller asset managers will need to be more creative when looking at how to comply with legislation,\u201d said Carl James, global head of fixed income trading at Pictet Asset Management.\n\nThe burden of compliance has been particularly felt by smaller asset managers unable to keep up with the costs, according to Andrew Falco, head of fixed income trading at Fidelity International.\n\n\u201cThe regulatory landscape has made the environment less competitive because if you can\u2019t afford compliance costs being put in front of you, you could be driven out of the market place.\n\n\u201cCosts are definitely increasing and I look more like a compliance officer these days, signing reports and best execution files on a daily basis, but we are in a place at Fidelity where we have the means to do this. It makes how you engage with markets much more difficult for smaller asset managers,\u201d Falco explained.\n\nThis year has seen several major buy-side mergers, including Standard Life Aberdeen, Janus Henderson and Amundi Pioneer. A squeeze on profits and rising costs are often cited as being reasons for mergers.\n\nPaul Reynolds, fixed income product manager at TradingScreen, added larger houses also have more ability to build technology for compliance in-house, whereas smaller asset managers simply don\u2019t have the resources.\n\nHe said: \u201cBuilding in-house for some is not in scope these days due to the complexities around integration, connectivity and resources. That puts onus on vendors like us to keep developing these products to supply them to those who can\u2019t build the technology themselves.\u201d", "output": "Smaller asset managers are feeling the pinch as increased regulations have created a less competitive marketplace and forced \"defensive\" buy-side mergers, such as Standard Life Aberdeen, Janus Henderson and Amundi Pioneer, according to industry insiders. The harsh environment has also put pressure on technology providers who are developing solutions for smaller houses lacking in-house resources.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Richest 1% of global population owns 50.1% of all wealth \n The globe\u2019s richest 1% own half the world\u2019s wealth, according to a new report highlighting the growing gap between the super-rich and everyone else.\n\nThe world\u2019s richest people have seen their share of the globe\u2019s total wealth increase from 42.5% at the height of the 2008 financial crisis to 50.1% in 2017, or $140tn (\u00a3106tn), according to Credit Suisse\u2019s global wealth report published on Tuesday.\n\n\u201cThe share of the top 1% has been on an upward path ever since [the crisis], passing the 2000 level in 2013 and achieving new peaks every year thereafter,\u201d the annual report said. The bank said \u201cglobal wealth inequality has certainly been high and rising in the post-crisis period\u201d.\n\nThe increase in wealth among the already very rich led to the creation of 2.3 million new dollar millionaires over the past year, taking the total to 36 million. \u201cThe number of millionaires, which fell in 2008, recovered fast after the financial crisis, and is now nearly three times the 2000 figure,\u201d Credit Suisse said.\n\nThese millionaires \u2013 who account for 0.7% of the world\u2019s adult population \u2013 control 46% of total global wealth that now stands at $280tn.\n\nAt the other end of the spectrum, the world\u2019s 3.5 billion poorest adults each have assets of less than $10,000 (\u00a37,600). Collectively these people, who account for 70% of the world\u2019s working age population, account for just 2.7% of global wealth.\n\nThe report said the poor are mostly found in developing countries, with more than 90% of adults in India and Africa having less than $10,000. \u201cIn some low-income countries in Africa, the percentage of the population in this wealth group is close to 100%,\u201d the report said. \u201cFor many residents of low-income countries, life membership of the base tier is the norm rather than the exception.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile at the top of what Credit Suisse calls the \u201cglobal wealth pyramid\u201d, the 36 million people with at least $1m of wealth are collectively worth $128.7tn. More than two-fifths of the world\u2019s millionaires live in the US, followed by Japan with 7% and the UK with 6%.\n\nHowever, the collapse in the value of the pound since the Brexit vote meant the total number of dollar millionaires in the UK fell by 34,000 to 2.19 million. Just over half of the UK\u2019s 51 million adults have wealth in excess of $100,000. The mean average wealth of a UK adult is $278,038, but the median is $102,641.\n\nWhile the global population of millionaires has grown considerably, the number of ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWIs) \u2013 those with a net worth of $50m or more \u2013 has increased even faster. \u201cThe number of millionaires has increased by 170% [since 2000], while the number of UHNWIs has risen five-fold, making them by far the fastest-growing group of wealth-holders,\u201d the report said.\n\nMost of the new UHNWIs have been created in the US, but 22% come from emerging economies, notably China.\n\nThe biggest losers, the report says, are young people who should not expect to become as rich as their parents. \u201cThose with low wealth tend to be disproportionately found among the younger age groups, who have had little chance to accumulate assets,\u201d Urs Rohner, Credit Suisse\u2019s chairman, said. \u201cBut we find that millennials face particularly challenging circumstances.\u201d\n\nRohner, who is paid SFr4m (\u00a33m), said millennials have been dealt a series of blows including high unemployment, tighter mortgage rules, increased income inequality and reduced pensions. \u201cWith baby boomers occupying most of the top jobs and much of the housing, millennials are doing less well than their parents at the same age, especially in relation to income, home ownership and other dimensions of well-being assessed in this report.\u201d\n\nHe said that millennials are much more educated than their parents. But he added: \u201cWe expect only a minority of high achievers and those in high demand sectors such a s technology or finance to effectively overcome the \u2018millennial disadvantage\u2019.\u201d\n\nOxfam said Credit Suisse\u2019s research showed that politicians need to do more to tackle the \u201chuge gulf between the haves and the have-nots\u201d.\n\n\u201cIn the UK, the wealthiest 1% have seen their share increase to nearly a quarter of all the country\u2019s wealth, while the poorest half have less than 5%,\u201d Oxfam\u2019s head of advocacy, Katy Chakrabortty, said. \u201cThis divide matters hugely at a time when millions of people across the UK face a daily struggle to make ends meet and the numbers living in poverty are the highest for almost 20 years.\n\n\u201cThe recent Paradise Papers revelations laid bare one of the main drivers of inequality \u2013 tax-dodging by rich individuals and multinationals. Governments should act to tackle extreme inequality that is undermining economies around the world, dividing societies and making it harder than ever for the poorest to improve their lives.\n\n\u201cIn the UK, the chancellor should use next week\u2019s budget to prioritise tough action to tackle tax avoidance to help provide funds to fight poverty in both the UK and developing countries.\u201d", "output": "The richest 1% of people on the planet own half of the world\u2019s wealth, according to Credit Suisse\u2019s global wealth report, published on Tuesday. The exact amount owned by the 1% has increased from 42.5% in 2008 to 50.1%, or $140tn (\u00a3106tn),\u00a0this year.\u00a02017 has seen the creation of 2.3 million new dollar millionaires, to a total of 36 million. Such millionaires comprise just 0.7% of the adult population, but control 46% of the total $280tn of global wealth. The poorest 3.5 billion adults, or 70% of the working population, own\u00a0just 2.7% of global wealth.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Richest 1% of global population owns 50.1% of all wealth \n Change location\n\nYou are about to change the origin location from where you are visiting Credit-suisse.com.\n\n*The location of origin is defined in your browser settings and may not be identical with your citizenship and/or your domicile.", "output": "The richest 1% of people on the planet own half of the world\u2019s wealth, according to Credit Suisse\u2019s global wealth report, published on Tuesday. The exact amount owned by the 1% has increased from 42.5% in 2008 to 50.1%, or $140tn (\u00a3106tn),\u00a0this year.\u00a02017 has seen the creation of 2.3 million new dollar millionaires, to a total of 36 million. Such millionaires comprise just 0.7% of the adult population, but control 46% of the total $280tn of global wealth. The poorest 3.5 billion adults, or 70% of the working population, own\u00a0just 2.7% of global wealth.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Global car rental market expected to grow 13.55% annually until 2022 \n Country -Select Country- Afghanistan (Islamic Republic of Afghanistan) \u00c5land Islands (\u00c5land Islands) Albania (Republic of Albania) Algeria (People's Democratic Republic of Algeria) American Samoa (American Samoa) Andorra (Principality of Andorra) Angola (Republic of Angola) Anguilla (Anguilla) Antarctica (Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S)) Antigua and Barbuda (Antigua and Barbuda) Argentina (Argentine Republic) Armenia (Republic of Armenia) Aruba (Aruba) Australia (Commonwealth of Australia) Austria (Republic of Austria) Azerbaijan (Republic of Azerbaijan) Bahamas (Commonwealth of the Bahamas) Bahrain (Kingdom of Bahrain) Bangladesh (People's Republic of Bangladesh) Barbados (Barbados) Belarus (Republic of Belarus) Belgium (Kingdom of Belgium) Belize (Belize) Benin (Republic of Benin) Bermuda (Bermuda) Bhutan (Kingdom of Bhutan) Bolivia (Plurinational State of Bolivia) Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba) Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnia and Herzegovina) Botswana (Republic of Botswana) Bouvet Island (Bouvet\u00f8ya) (Bouvet Island (Bouvet\u00f8ya)) Brazil (Federative Republic of Brazil) British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) (British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago)) British Virgin Islands (British Virgin Islands) Brunei Darussalam (Brunei Darussalam) Bulgaria (Republic of Bulgaria) Burkina Faso (Burkina Faso) Burundi (Republic of Burundi) Cabo Verde (Republic of Cabo Verde) Cambodia (Kingdom of Cambodia) Cameroon (Republic of Cameroon) Canada (Canada) Cayman Islands (Cayman Islands) Central African Republic (Central African Republic) Chad (Republic of Chad) Chile (Republic of Chile) China (People's Republic of China) Christmas Island (Christmas Island) Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Cocos (Keeling) Islands) Colombia (Republic of Colombia) Comoros (Union of the Comoros) Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo) Congo (Republic of the Congo) Cook Islands (Cook Islands) Costa Rica (Republic of Costa Rica) Cote d'Ivoire (Republic of Cote d'Ivoire) Croatia (Republic of Croatia) Cuba (Republic of Cuba) Cura\u00e7ao (Cura\u00e7ao) Cyprus (Republic of Cyprus) Czech Republic (Czech Republic) Denmark (Kingdom of Denmark) Djibouti (Republic of Djibouti) Dominica (Commonwealth of Dominica) Dominican Republic (Dominican Republic) Ecuador (Republic of Ecuador) Egypt (Arab Republic of Egypt) El Salvador (Republic of El Salvador) Equatorial Guinea (Republic of Equatorial Guinea) Eritrea (State of Eritrea) Estonia (Republic of Estonia) Ethiopia (Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia) Falkland Islands (Malvinas) (Falkland Islands (Malvinas)) Faroe Islands (Faroe Islands) Fiji (Republic of Fiji) Finland (Republic of Finland) France (French Republic) French Guiana (French Guiana) French Polynesia (French Polynesia) French Southern Territories (French Southern Territories) Gabon (Gabonese Republic) Gambia (Republic of the Gambia) Georgia (Georgia) Germany (Federal Republic of Germany) Ghana (Republic of Ghana) Gibraltar (Gibraltar) Greece (Hellenic Republic of Greece) Greenland (Greenland) Grenada (Grenada) Guadeloupe (Guadeloupe) Guam (Guam) Guatemala (Republic of Guatemala) Guernsey (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Guinea (Republic of Guinea) Guinea-Bissau (Republic of Guinea-Bissau) Guyana (Co-operative Republic of Guyana) Haiti (Republic of Haiti) Heard Island and McDonald Islands (Heard Island and McDonald Islands) Holy See (Vatican City State) (Holy See (Vatican City State)) Honduras (Republic of Honduras) Hong Kong (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China) Hungary (Hungary) Iceland (Republic of Iceland) India (Republic of India) Indonesia (Republic of Indonesia) Iran (Islamic Republic of Iran) Iraq (Republic of Iraq) Ireland (Ireland) Isle of Man (Isle of Man) Israel (State of Israel) Italy (Italian Republic) Jamaica (Jamaica) Japan (Japan) Jersey (Bailiwick of Jersey) Jordan (Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan) Kazakhstan (Republic of Kazakhstan) Kenya (Republic of Kenya) Kiribati (Republic of Kiribati) Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) Korea (Republic of Korea) Kuwait (State of Kuwait) Kyrgyz Republic (Kyrgyz Republic) Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao People's Democratic Republic) Latvia (Republic of Latvia) Lebanon (Lebanese Republic) Lesotho (Kingdom of Lesotho) Liberia (Republic of Liberia) Libya (Libya) Liechtenstein (Principality of Liechtenstein) Lithuania (Republic of Lithuania) Luxembourg (Grand Duchy of Luxembourg) Macao (Macao Special Administrative Region of China) Macedonia (Republic of Macedonia) Madagascar (Republic of Madagascar) Malawi (Republic of Malawi) Malaysia (Malaysia) Maldives (Republic of Maldives) Mali (Republic of Mali) Malta (Republic of Malta) Marshall Islands (Republic of the Marshall Islands) Martinique (Martinique) Mauritania (Islamic Republic of Mauritania) Mauritius (Republic of Mauritius) Mayotte (Mayotte) Mexico (United Mexican States) Micronesia (Federated States of Micronesia) Moldova (Republic of Moldova) Monaco (Principality of Monaco) Mongolia (Mongolia) Montenegro (Montenegro) Montserrat (Montserrat) Morocco (Kingdom of Morocco) Mozambique (Republic of Mozambique) Myanmar (Republic of the Union of Myanmar) Namibia (Republic of Namibia) Nauru (Republic of Nauru) Nepal (Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal) Netherlands (Kingdom of the Netherlands) New Caledonia (New Caledonia) New Zealand (New Zealand) Nicaragua (Republic of Nicaragua) Niger (Republic of Niger) Nigeria (Federal Republic of Nigeria) Niue (Niue) Norfolk Island (Norfolk Island) Northern Mariana Islands (Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) Norway (Kingdom of Norway) Oman (Sultanate of Oman) Pakistan (Islamic Republic of Pakistan) Palau (Republic of Palau) Palestine (State of Palestine) Panama (Republic of Panama) Papua New Guinea (Independent State of Papua New Guinea) Paraguay (Republic of Paraguay) Peru (Republic of Peru) Philippines (Republic of the Philippines) Pitcairn Islands (Pitcairn Islands) Poland (Republic of Poland) Portugal (Portuguese Republic) Puerto Rico (Commonwealth of Puerto Rico) Qatar (State of Qatar) R\u00e9union (R\u00e9union) Romania (Romania) Russian Federation (Russian Federation) Rwanda (Republic of Rwanda) Saint Barth\u00e9lemy (Saint Barth\u00e9lemy) Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha) Saint Kitts and Nevis (Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis) Saint Lucia (Saint Lucia) Saint Martin (Saint Martin (French part)) Saint Pierre and Miquelon (Saint Pierre and Miquelon) Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines) Samoa (Independent State of Samoa) San Marino (Republic of San Marino) Sao Tome and Principe (Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe) Saudi Arabia (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) Senegal (Republic of Senegal) Serbia (Republic of Serbia) Seychelles (Republic of Seychelles) Sierra Leone (Republic of Sierra Leone) Singapore (Republic of Singapore) Sint Maarten (Dutch part) (Sint Maarten (Dutch part)) Slovakia (Slovak Republic) (Slovakia (Slovak Republic)) Slovenia (Republic of Slovenia) Solomon Islands (Solomon Islands) Somalia (Federal Republic of Somalia) South Africa (Republic of South Africa) South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands) South Sudan (Republic of South Sudan) Spain (Kingdom of Spain) Sri Lanka (Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka) Sudan (Republic of Sudan) Suriname (Republic of Suriname) Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands (Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands) Swaziland (Kingdom of Swaziland) Sweden (Kingdom of Sweden) Switzerland (Swiss Confederation) Syrian Arab Republic (Syrian Arab Republic) Taiwan (Taiwan, Province of China) Tajikistan (Republic of Tajikistan) Tanzania (United Republic of Tanzania) Thailand (Kingdom of Thailand) Timor-Leste (Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste) Togo (Togolese Republic) Tokelau (Tokelau) Tonga (Kingdom of Tonga) Trinidad and Tobago (Republic of Trinidad and Tobago) Tunisia (Tunisian Republic) Turkey (Republic of Turkey) Turkmenistan (Turkmenistan) Turks and Caicos Islands (Turks and Caicos Islands) Tuvalu (Tuvalu) Uganda (Republic of Uganda) Ukraine (Ukraine) United Arab Emirates (United Arab Emirates) United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland (United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland) United States Minor Outlying Islands (United States Minor Outlying Islands) United States of America (United States of America) United States Virgin Islands (United States Virgin Islands) Uruguay (Eastern Republic of Uruguay) Uzbekistan (Republic of Uzbekistan) Vanuatu (Republic of Vanuatu) Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela) Vietnam (Socialist Republic of Vietnam) Wallis and Futuna (Wallis and Futuna) Western Sahara (Western Sahara) Yemen (Yemen) Zambia (Republic of Zambia) Zimbabwe (Republic of Zimbabwe)", "output": "The global car rental market is expected to reach $124.56bn by 2022, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.55% between 2017 and 2022. The US accounted for 44.6% of market share in 2016, with economy cars accounting for approximately 33.1% of the global market. International tourism is the leading factor in the growth of the car rental market, along with rapid industrialisation in India, China and Japan."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Silvertown Quays will feature on-site factory for 850 homes \n O nce a forlorn little east London corner, Silvertown is poised for stardom thanks to a regeneration programme that will create the capital\u2019s first factory-built town.\n\nA factory will be built on-site to construct the components for 850 new homes as part of a \u00a33.5 billion masterplan. Residents should be moving in by 2020.\n\nTheir new homes will be part of an architectural and retail scheme that is promised strictly to be free of skyscrapers and chain stores.\n\n\"We see it as a vibrant 24-hour area. And we are obsessed with design. We won\u2019t build homes that are just boxes with no character or identity\"\n\nRight now there are few clues that Silvertown, stranded on a sliver of land between the Thames Barrier, London City airport and Pontoon Dock, is being put on the map.\n\nA few small developments were thrown up on disused industrial sites in the Eighties and Nineties but work fizzled out, leaving the new locals stranded.\n\nBuying a pint of milk is still a challenge in Silvertown, and if you plan on going out locally to eat or drink, you can forget it: there is nothing here but old, abandoned mills.\n\nGIANT PROJECT\n\nOlaide Oboh is spokeswoman for the Silvertown Partnership, a consortium of three developers \u2014 Chelsfield Properties, First Base and Macquarie Capital \u2014 leading the regeneration.\n\nPre-fabulous: no tall towers and no chain stores at Silvertown, which will eventually have 3,000 new factory-built homes / Silvertown Partnership\n\n\u201cWe see it as a vibrant, 24-hour area,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd we are obsessed with design. We won\u2019t build homes that are just boxes with no character or identity. They will work well and be beautiful to look at.\u201d\n\nThe regeneration of Silvertown has been considered for years.\n\nThere has been a lengthy preparation period, part of which was taken up with obtaining planning permission for the project from Newham council.\n\nStripping out a ton of dangerous asbestos from the Millennium Mills, a hulking Art Deco former flour mill which will eventually become the centrepiece of the 62-acre site, was a mammoth task. But over the next few months the pace will pick up.\n\nPoised for a decision: TfL plans a new Silvertown to Greenwich road tunnel\n\nLater this year a \u201ccontainer city\u201d of up to 250 shipping containers will be installed, providing affordable temporary workspace for small businesses. By the new year the ambitious first phase of this giant project will get under way.\n\nTHE POTENTIAL TO BE SPECTACULAR\n\nThe restoration of the potentially spectacular Millennium Mills, which will feature shops, bars, and restaurants plus workspace for start-up firms, will be completed by about 2019, and simultaneously a new bridge will be installed over Royal Victoria Dock, giving pedestrian access to the new super-fast Crossrail links to the City and West End when they begin next year from nearby Custom House station.\n\nTransport for London, meanwhile, is pursuing plans to dig a new road tunnel beneath the Thames from Silvertown to the Greenwich Peninsula. A government decision on whether to allow the \u00a31 billion project is expected within days. An opening date of 2022 or 2023 has been pencilled in.\n\nConnection: a curved new Royal Victoria Dock footbridge will give access to Crossrail at Custom House / Alamy\n\nEventually there will be about 3,000 new homes, ranging from one to five bedrooms \u2014 a mixture of private, affordable, shared ownership and built to rent.\n\nWhatever their tenure, all of Silvertown\u2019s new homes will be prefabricated, their components created on-site in the purpose-built new factory. This process will be faster than regular housebuilding, and roughly 20 per cent cheaper.\n\nThis saving will not be passed on to buyers, as pricing will be based on local values. However, Olaide Oboh promises other benefits. \u201cWe want to deliver 100 per cent snag-free homes.\n\n\"Don\u2019t think about the old idea of a prefabricated home, built like a cross between a shed and a bungalow. Prefabricated homes are now a sophisticated and universally used way of providing beautiful and well-designed, long-lasting homes. We are going to make this area look beautiful.\u201d\n\nOn the water: sport and leisure will be in the mix at the docks\u2019 new town\n\nThe partnership is working with a seriously impressive 20-strong design team of internationally recognised architects including David Adjaye, David Chipperfield, Rem Koolhaas, Richard Rogers and AHMM, which designed the Saatchi Gallery. The first detailed designs will be revealed next year.\n\nAMBITIOUS PLANS\n\nAward-winning practice Stanton Williams has drawn up the plans for the new Silvertown Bridge, a wide concrete boardwalk curving across Royal Victoria Dock, with an opening section to allow boats and barges to sail below.\n\nThe other ambitious promise made by the Silvertown Partnership is that it will not create a town just for people who work in the City and Canary Wharf but cannot afford to live there, but a self-sufficient urban town.\n\nAs well as independent shops, caf\u00e9s, bars and restaurants, Roundhouse, based in Camden Town, is planning to open up in Silvertown.\n\nHow cool is that?: Roundhouse plans a music/education venue in Silvertown\n\nLike its north London counterpart Roundhouse East will be a music venue and education space.\n\nSilvertown will also have a new school, a health centre, and there\u2019ll be plenty of job creation \u2014 both during the construction and also in the new businesses that will be able to take space at the site.\n\nThe drawback is that the project will take \u201cat least 20 years\u201d to complete, and residents will have to live through the building process. And its proximity to London City airport means flight path noise is inevitable: some homes will need quadruple soundproofing.\n\nThe bright side is the convenience of having an international airport just half a mile away, says Olaide Oboh, while plane takeoff paths will ensure there are no high-rise buildings at Silvertown.\n\n\u201cMillennium Mills is our tallest building at 12 storeys,\u201d she says. \u201cWe are going to show you can do high-density housing without having to go high rise.\u201d\n\nWHAT YOU CAN BUY NOW\n\n\u00a3500,000: a two-bedroom flat at the Barrier Point Road scheme in E16. Purple Bricks (0121 396 0867)\n\nHomes close to London\u2019s major regeneration zones have historically tended to outperform in terms of property price growth.\n\nSo buyers keen to get in on the ground and reap the benefits of Silvertown right now could buy a two-bedroom purpose-built flat close to the river for about \u00a3350,000, or a home with river views for about \u00a3550,000.\n\nThere are some more glamorous townhouses to be had south of North Woolwich Road \u2014 but don\u2019t expect bargains.", "output": "A new housing development in East London will be built with components produced at an on-site factory. The Silvertown Quays development is part of the \u00a33.5bn ($4.61bn) redevelopment of a 62 acre site, alongside London City Airport and the Thames Barrier, being led by a consortium of three developers. The plans include the use of a purpose-built factory at the site to produce prefabricated components for up to 3,000 houses, with 850 being built in the first phase. The method will be faster than traditional construction and up to 20% cheaper.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Modi held bilateral talks with Trump, discussed trade and relations \n Prime Minister Narendra Modi met US President Donald Trump on Monday afternoon on the sidelines of the the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Manila in the Philippines.\n\nThe leaders held bilateral talks with terrorism and trade being at the top of their agenda of discussion.\n\nModi, at a press conference with Trump, said the relations between India and the United States are growing.\n\n\"Relations between India and US are growing. Our relations go beyond, we are working for future interests of Asia and humanity,\" Modi said.\n\n#WATCH: Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets US President Donald Trump in Manila, holds bilateral talks #Philippines pic.twitter.com/aW6dlkgfwe \u2014 ANI (@ANI) November 13, 2017\n\nModi reached Manila on Sunday to attend the 15th ASEAN-India summit and the 12th East Asia summit on November 14. He was accompanied by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and a few other top diplomatic and security officials.\n\nASEAN Summit: PM Narendra Modi holds bilateral talks with US President Donald Trump in Manila, Philippines pic.twitter.com/BSGjLhpLI1 \u2014 ANI (@ANI) November 13, 2017\n\nThe bilateral meeting comes just three days after the US President commended India and Modi for the country's \"astounding growth\". He made the statement on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vietnam on Friday.\n\n\"Since India opened its economy, it has achieved astounding growth and is a new world of opportunity for its expanding middle class,\" Trump had said.\n\n\"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been working to bring that vast country and all of its people together as one, and he's working at it very, very successfully, indeed,\" he added.", "output": "Modi and Trump held a meeting on Monday 13th November, addressing terrorism and trade at this year's ASEAN Summit. Trump commended Modi on India's \"astounding growth\", and opportunities for its expanding middle class. Although trade was at the top of their discussion, Modi added: \"We are working for future interests of Asia and humanity\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Arrival of car rental counter at Goa airport sparks protest \n VASCO: The yellow black taxi cab operators under the banner of United Taximen Union on Wednesday opposed the car rental counter by bringing their families to the Dabolim airport to protest.\n\nThe family members of 350 yellow black cab operators protested the move of the Airport Authority of India to open the car rental counter which they claim to be approved by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India.\n\nSpeaking to reporters during the protest, UTU president Sanjay Naik said that the Airport Authority of India bypassed the state government by opening the car rental service counter at Dabolim airport. \u201cWe have heard from the four legislators of Mormugao taluka that there was no permission granted by the state government or by the department of transport to open the car rental counter at Dabolim airport\u201d.\n\n\u201cWe therefore urge Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to intervene in the matter and give justice to the families of the yellow black taxi cab operators who are operating at Dabolim airport for the last four decades\u201d, said Naik.\n\nWhen contacted airport director Bhupesh Chand Hans Negi was not available for his reaction on the car rental counter.\n\nMeanwhile, the Minister for Panchayat Mauvin Godinho on Wednesday said that he had discussed the matter pertaining to the opening of a new car rental service counter with the Minister for Transport Ramakrishna Dhavalikar. Godinho said that the Transport Minister has claimed that no permission has been obtained or issued from the transport department or by any agency to commission the taxi counter at Dabolim airport.\n\nGodinho disclosed that there are no legal standings with the opening of the car rental counter and there was no consultation with the state government on the matter. \u201cI have directed the airport director to shut the car rental service counter till the issue is sorted out\u201d, said Godinho\n\n\u201cThe state government will take a decision in consultation with the concerned minister and local legislators, whether the new taxi counter could be functional within the framework of law by legally examining the matter\u201d, added Godinho.", "output": "The families of 350 taxi drivers demonstrated at Dabolim Airport, Goa, against the arrival of a car rental counter. The drivers claim that the the Ministry of Tourism, has bypassed the state government and Department of\u00a0Transport -\u00a0and insist no permission has been granted by these bodies. The counter has been shut down until the issue has been resolved.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Estate agents sitting on 'goldmine' of consumer data \n Post navigation\n\nEstate agents are sitting on a data goldmine worth an absolute fortune \u2013 yet most won\u2019t be aware of the value of the information they collect.\n\nRecently, I was offered the email data for 5m UK addresses \u2013 but it came with a hefty half a million pound price tag!\n\nSo how much is your database worth? And how are you going to monitor it?\n\nWe are at the start of the data ecosystem, since people come to us and give us their contact details.\n\nBut what information do you store (with their permission and complying with data protection regulations)? And once you\u2019ve got it, what do you do with it?\n\nI\u2019m told many agents are dropping up to a fifth of all leads from portals because they are not correctly capturing data from prospective customers!\n\nIt\u2019s often been said that data is king \u2013 it is in fact the new gold rush.\n\nBut how do you create value once you have got that database? How regularly do you contact people on your database and ask if they are still looking for a property or wish to receive information?\n\nDo you even have a contact strategy and how often do you clean up the data to ensure it is accurate?\n\nWith so many different ways to keep in touch, what\u2019s your email strategy, your text strategy, your social media strategy, your video strategy?\n\nIf you were to calculate the cost of a lead, you may find you are wasting tens of thousands of pounds worth of data if you don\u2019t capture the information fully.\n\nI know the cost of every lead we register, based on how we have gathered that information. I know it\u2019s a lot cheaper to have an email address than it is to gain a prospect through newspaper advertising or direct mail.\n\nMany agents just don\u2019t realise how valuable their database is \u2013 and should be included in any valuation when selling your business. If you buy a business without a database, what are you actually buying?\n\nWe even use advanced propensity modelling on our data, combining it with other data sets, to establish how likely a person is to move. It\u2019s an extremely successful way of obtaining new leads.\n\nLooking to the future, people will be going to their local estate agent for the full moving package, including white goods and carpets or finding a plumber, so the value of that database is going to be huge.\n\nAre we going to give it up to other parties like portals, just like we\u2019ve done with our stock?\n\nWe\u2019ve got an opportunity now to gain the upper hand by registering everyone who comes through our physical or virtual door.\n\nLet\u2019s ensure that when they are knocking, we do let them in \u2013 and then provide them with the right information that will ensure they are customers for many years to come.\n\nWhat does the future of estate agency look like?\n\nWhen you reflect on the incredible changes that have taken place in estate agency over the past 20 years, you can\u2019t help wonder what the next two decades will be like.\n\nThe digital world has transformed all our businesses \u2013 whether it\u2019s promoting our properties on our own websites or portals, or using social media or email to communicate, or even using digital screens on our shopfronts or using mobile phones and tablets to take photos and videos.\n\nIt\u2019s hard to imagine what the next wave of technology will do for our businesses and whether the public will embrace it in a way that makes it cost effective for us to implement. Take, for example, virtual reality headsets.\n\nWill genuine prospective purchasers really want to sit in their living rooms and take a virtual tour through someone else\u2019s property \u2013 or will they want to see the local neighbourhood for themselves, hear the railway line at the end of the garden or enjoy the view?\n\nSurely it will always be important to get people to a property to see it for themselves \u2013 one of the reasons that open house days remain so popular.\n\nWhat better way is there for local agents to meet people in the flesh who are interested in buying \u2013 and potentially selling their own properties?\n\nThat\u2019s not to say that new digital technologies won\u2019t work or gain support.\n\nThere will be agents who specialise in certain forms of technology, encouraging visitors to stick around on their websites by using games or augmented reality, enabling people to see what a property would look like with different furniture, colour schemes or appliances \u2013 and then offering those items for sale.\n\nImagine if you can completely gut a home and add in a new kitchen and bi-fold doors \u2013 and see the associated costs in the process. Then buy them through your website!\n\nIt\u2019s a concept I trialled 20 years ago \u2013 the total moving experience (TMX), but it was ahead of its time!\n\nThat time is here. Amazon may have started with books \u2013 but now look what they sell. Almost everything. They\u2019ve already teased that they may start to sell property. That could land us all in trouble if it proves to be true.\n\nFuture generations will be completely tech savvy. They will expect far more from their agents. Will those agents who don\u2019t embrace digital change be here in 20 years\u2019 time? I somehow doubt it, don\u2019t you?\n\nChancellor needs to address Stamp Duty concerns\n\nSpeculation is mounting that the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, will cut Stamp Duty for first-time buyers in the Autumn Budget. It\u2019s critical he heeds calls from us all to go through with this.\n\nAs house prices have continued to rise, with the average cost of a home now \u00a311,000 more than it was this time last year, so has unaffordability.\n\nStamp Duty is holding back a whole generation of young people already struggling to save for a deposit, and it is time to bring this injustice to an end.\n\nThe recent interest rate rise could mean a further surge, as buyers fight over limited stock in the run-up to Christmas, and look to lock down a cheap fixed rate mortgage before the new rate makes home-buying even harder .\n\nFor hard-working individuals who have to borrow for the basic cost of living, saving for both Stamp Duty and a deposit to own their own home is a far-flung reality, especially as our branch data shows first-time buyer deposits are up 6% on the month, outpacing inflation.\n\nWe\u2019ve also seen a 68% drop in the number of investors wanting buy-to-let properties, as the Government has taxed them into oblivion.\n\nHammond needs to see that the landlord is not the enemy and savvy investors are realising they are getting better returns on the stock market, so share prices are on the up \u2013 and we\u2019ll have another crash!\n\nWhich incidentally would make the heavily indebted Countrywide and other listed agents \u2018bust\u2019 businesses!\n\nCome on, Chancellor, address these concerns \u2013 or the housing crisis will continue to worsen.", "output": "UK estate agents are unaware of the value the data they collect holds, according to an op-ed on propertyindustryeye.com. Estate agents who\u00a0don't fully capture all information about a lead are wasting \"tens of thousands of pounds worth of data\", wrote\u00a0columnist Paul Smith.\u00a0In the future, estate agents making the most of the information in their databases could offer an all-in-one service to people moving house, he said, and\u00a0warned against handing data over to online portals.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The ultra-thin glass market will be worth estimated $17bn by 2022 \n The report \"Ultra-Thin Glass Market by Manufacturing Process (Fusion, Float), Thickness (<0.1mm, 0.1-0.5mm, 0.5 - 1.0mm, 1.0 - 1.2mm), Application (Semiconductor Substrate, Touch Panel Displays, Fingerprint Sensors), End-Use Industry, Region - Global Forecast to 2022\" published by MarketsandMarkets\u2122, the market is estimated to be USD 9.73 Billion in 2017 and is projected to reach USD 16.99 Billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 11.8% from 2017 to 2022. The growth of this market can be attributed to the increasing demand for ultra-thin glass from the consumer electronics industry.\n\nBrowse 102 Market Data Tables and 55 Figures spread through 161 Pages and in-depth TOC on \"Ultra-Thin Glass Market\"\n\nhttp://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/ultra-thin-glass-market-40947094.html\n\nEarly buyers will receive 10% customization on this report\n\nBased on application, the touch panel displays segment is projected to lead the Ultra-Thin Glass Market during the forecast period\n\nThe touch panel displays segment led the Ultra-Thin Glass Market in 2016. The growth of this segment can be attributed to the increasing use of ultra-thin glass in consumer electronics. Features such as high electrical conductivity and sensitivity of ultra-thin glass make it preferable to be used for display and sensor applications.\n\nGet PDF Brochure @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=40947094\n\nBased on end-use industry, the consumer electronics segment is projected to lead the Ultra-Thin Glass Market during the forecast period\n\nThe consumer electronics segment led the Ultra-Thin Glass Market in 2016 and is expected to lead in the coming years. The growth of the consumer electronics segment can be attributed to the increasing use of ultra-thin glass in various applications, such as smartphones, wearable devices, notebook, and TVs.\n\nAsia Pacific is the largest market for ultra-thin glass\n\nThe Asia Pacific region led the Ultra-Thin Glass Market in 2016, and is expected to continue its dominance in the near future. Increasing e-commerce activities is fueling the growth of ultra-thin glass in Asia Pacific. The high demand for this glass from the consumer electronics industry in countries, such as China and Taiwan, are key factors driving the growth of Ultra-Thin Glass Market in the Asia Pacific region.\n\nKey players operating in the Ultra-Thin Glass Market are Corning (US), Asahi Glass (Japan), Nippon Electric Glass (Japan), CSG Holding (China), SCHOTT (Germany), Nippon Sheet Glass (Japan), Central Glass (Japan), Xinyi Glass (China), Nittobo (Japan), Luoyang Glass (China), Changzhou Almaden (China), Air-Craftglass (Netherlands), Emerge Glass (India), AviationGlass & Technology (Netherlands), AEON Industries (China), Suzhou Huadong Coating Glass (China), Taiwan Glass (Taiwan), China National Building Materials (China), Hilgenberg (Germany), Noval Glass (China), HOYA USA (US), and AvanStrate (Japan).\n\nInquiry before Buying @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=40947094\n\nBrowse Related Reports\n\nFlat Glass Market by Technology (Float, Rolled, Sheet), Product Type (Simple Float Glass, Toughened, Coated, Laminated, Extra Clear), End-Use Industry (Construction & Infrastructure, Automotive & Transportation, Solar Energy) and Region - Global Forecast to 2022\n\nhttp://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/flat-glass-market-187897592.html\n\n\n\nLaminated Glass Market by Interlayers (Polyvinyl Butyral, Ionoplast Polymer), End-Use Industry (Building & Construction, Automotive), and Region - Global Forecast to 2022\n\nhttp://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/laminated-glass-market-142187288.html\n\n\n\nKnow More About our Knowledge Store @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Knowledgestore.asp\n\nAbout MarketsandMarkets\u2122\n\nMarketsandMarkets\u2122 provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 5000 customers worldwide including 80% of global Fortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets\u2122 for their painpoints around revenues decisions.\n\nOur 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets\u2122 are tracking global high growth markets following the \"Growth Engagement Model - GEM\". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write \"Attack, avoid and defend\" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets\u2122 now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets\u2122 is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve.\n\nMarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, \"RT\" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets.\n\nContact:\n\nMr. Rohan\n\nMarketsandMarkets\u2122 INC.\n\n630 Dundee Road\n\nSuite 430\n\nNorthbrook, IL 60062\n\nUSA: +1-888-600-6441\n\nEmail: sales@marketsandmarkets.com\n\n\n\nVisit Our Blog @ http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/chemical\n\nConnect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets", "output": "The ultra-thing glass sector will be worth $16.99bn by 2022 thanks to demand from the consumer electronics industry, according to a forecast by MarketsandMarkets. The market is predicted to be worth $9.73bn this year alone, as high sensitivity and electrical conductivity make the glass suitable for applications such as smartphones and wearables. Key industry players include Japan's Asahi Glass, Chinese firm CSG Holding and US company Corning.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bosch generates \u20ac1bn from agtech sales \n (GERMANY)\n\nBosch is making a big impact in the rapidly growing agriculture technology (agtech) industry.\n\nThe company has bagged \u20ac1 billion in agtech sales, as its sensor and connectivity platforms show themselves to be suited to smart farming \u2013 as well as automotive \u2013 applications.\n\n\u201cBosch can do more than cars and cordless screwdrivers. We are bringing high tech to farms, opening up a market worth billions,\u201d explained Dr Markus Heyn, member of the Robert Bosch GmbH board of management.\n\nWith a growing global population adding to the mounting pressures being placed on arable land, which is already facing huge threats from climate change, smart farms can be one of the solutions for getting more from less.\n\nConnected farms can harness sensor technologies to provide real-time information, easily accessible via smartphone apps. This improves monitoring capabilities, without the need for physical inspection, in turn leading to better field management and higher yields. The Bosch IoT Cloud also enables machinery to communicate potential problems, allowing for early action to avert expensive and costly repairs.\n\nBosch is also working with Bayer on \u2018smart spraying technology\u2019 that can \u2013 in \u2018lightning speed\u2019 \u2013 tell the difference between crops and weeds \u2013 using camera sensors, meaning pesticides only target weeds.\n\n\u201cSmart spraying sustainably clears fields of weeds. This safeguards yields while minimizing environmental impact,\u201d Heyn added.\n\nAnd this is an important factor, as agriculture leaders need to advance innovations, such as smart spraying tech, that are climate-friendly, to reduce the industry\u2019s carbon footprint.\n\nIn September Deere & Company recognised this by moving for precision agriculture startup, Blue River Technology, in a deal worth $305 million. The young American firm uses machine learning and artificial technologies to identify the exact amounts of spray plants and crops require \u2013 reducing fertiliser use by up to 90%.\n\nAnother interesting proposition, from the Earth Institute at Columbia University, is that an extra 825 million people could be fed by swapping around where crops are grown globally.", "output": "US manufacturer Bosch has made \u20ac1bn ($1.18bn) from sales of agricultural technology (agtech) systems, such as sensor and connectivity platforms, as high-tech farming methods are increasingly adopted. Its IoT (Internet of Things) Cloud platform can be used to create \"connected farms\" where crop data can be monitored remotely and analysed to improve crop yields. The company has also helped to create \"smart spraying\" systems which use sensors to differentiate between crops and weeds, making\u00a0the use of pesticides more efficient."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Greece announces smart farming push \n The Greek government aims to use Copernicus, Europe\u2019s earth-monitoring system, to maximise the potential of smart farming, which will help the country ensure its position in the post-crisis era, Greece\u2019s digital policy minister told EURACTIV.com.\n\nSpeaking in Thessaloniki at the \u201cGreek farming growth\u201d event organised by Gaia Epixeirein, a consultancy which brings together farmers, the IT and banking sector, Nikos Pappas pointed out now that the country gets out of the bailout programme it has to enhance its digital skills in order to turn the page toward fair and sustainable growth.\n\n\u201cSmart farming can create all the necessary conditions to improve production and the product itself as well as create new jobs in several sectors,\u201d he said, adding that Greek products won\u2019t be competitive in the global market if they continue to be produced the way they do today.\n\nA close ally of Greek premier Alexis Tsipras, Pappas also emphasised the government\u2019s initiative to establish a Space Agency, which will interconnect as a hub with major Greek and international research centres. He also promised that the country would soon have its own micro-satellite system, which will be created exclusively by Greek universities.\n\n\u201cWe want the technology of tomorrow, today available for all,\u201d the minister added.\n\nBy giving farmers access to cutting-edge digital technology, the European Commission\u2019s grand ambition is to make farming more competitive, reduce its environmental impact, cut food prices and better inform consumers about the food they eat.\n\nBroadband access\n\nBut despite the widespread support it enjoys in Brussels, digital farming is struggling to enter the mainstream, hampered by an ageing farming population and patchy broadband coverage in rural areas.\n\nDigital skills and 5G centre stage as precision farming vies to enter mainstream Farmers, digital experts and representatives from the agricultural technology industry joined forces in Brussels on Thursday (12 October) to urge policymakers to bring precision farming into the mainstream in the EU.\n\n\u201cTo reap the full benefits of digital farming, the EU needs to devise supportive, coherent and forward-looking policies,\u201d said Richard Markwell, president of the European trade association of the agricultural machinery industry (CEMA).\n\nBroadband infrastructure in Greece\u2019s rural areas is poor and Pappas vowed to put an end to \u201cdigital exclusion\u201d. Via the \u201cRural Broadband Internet\u201d project, which is co-funded by the EU, the government aims to provide remote areas with 50Mbps internet speed.\n\nThe European Commission is putting pressure on the member states to improve broadband infrastructure in Europe\u2019s rural areas. But each country and region is responsible for its own timetable for broadband roll-out and therefore nothing more can be done at EU level.\n\n\u201cThe fact that we still have white spots in rural areas where no broadband connection exists is unacceptable,\u201d EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan told EURACTIV in an interview.\n\nHogan: Data ownership should not weaken farmers\u2019 position Data ownership and access should be organised in such a way that farmers\u2019 competitiveness is improved, EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan told EURACTIV.com in an exclusive interview.\n\nThe role of Copernicus\n\nSpeaking on the sidelines of the event, Pappas told EURACTIV that the role of Copernicus would be substantial in the country\u2019s new national strategy.\n\n\u201cThe Greek government stands ready to take full advantage of Copernicus to maximise the potential of smart farming and speed up the introduction of new technologies in the farming sector,\u201d he said, citing a number of pilot projects, which have already been launched in the country.\n\nThe Copernicus programme is designed to support the implementation and monitoring of European policies, such as the CAP, at national or regional level. It provides indicators such as land take, high nature value farmland, and landscape fragmentation between natural and semi-natural land.\n\nThe official cited data collected by the Copernicus Sentinel satellites is provided for free once per week across the EU.\n\nEU mulls incentives for space technologies in farm controls The European Commission is considering new proposals to encourage the use of technologies to monitor farm parcels receiving subsidies from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), an EU official told EURACTIV.com.\n\n\u2018GaiaSense\u2019\n\nA project that uses Copernicus for smart farming purposes is \u201cGaiaSense\u201d developed by Neuropublic IT company.\n\nThe GaiaSense project provides smart farming advisory services and uses satellite data to measure critical parameters at parcel level.\n\nThrough this, a farmer can be aware of the slightest detail of a parcel, ranging from soil condition to plant vitality, and therefore, be able to make decisions based on real data for a farm.\n\n\u201cIt is a lighthouse project showing that the EU Earth Observation service industry is able to capitalise on the public investments of Copernicus and Galileo.\n\nBoth programs support SMEs like ours to provide qualitative and low-cost smart farming advisory services to EU farmers by combining scientific knowledge and data coming from Internet of Things infrastructures and EO platforms,\u201d Neuropublic\u2019s Director of R&D Panagiotis Ilias commented.\n\nRead more with EURACTIV", "output": "The Greek government is investing in smart farming to cut food prices and reduce farming's environmental impact. The move is being supported by the European Commission and makes use of the EU's Copernicus Earth-monitoring system, which provides detailed information on land use in the country that can then be analysed to make agriculture more efficient. The government also hopes smart farming technology will provide new jobs and make Greece's\u00a0agricultural products more competitive globally.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Paypal launches Money Pools to help people manage shared spending  \n PayPal has launched a new feature that lets people club together to track and share the costs of spending on group activities or personal goals.\n\nPayPal says that Money Pools is not a crowdfunding platform because it is \"not intended to facilitate fundraising for activities such as product development and organizers agree not to offer perks, rewards, or other incentives in return for contributions\".\n\n\n\nThe company is rolling out the service in 17 countries via a new 'Your Pools' link on user accounts.\n\n\n\nCustomers can personalise the page with details of spending plans and funding timelines and share the link via text, e-mail, Facebook or Twitter. Contribution may be anonymous or posted publicly in the timeline.", "output": "Paypal users can now join with each other to share costs, using a new Money Pools feature of the service. Customers can contribute funds and track spending on joint activities, using a personalised page, which they can then share on social media or by email. The company is rolling out the feature to 17 countries and said it is not intended to be a crowdfunding platform, as users will not be able to offer rewards or incentives to those contributing pooled funds."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Asean countries band together to foster fintech advances \n National financial technology organisations from six Asean countries have banded together to form a network designed to foster collaboration and boost the region's position as a fintech hub.\n\nBodies from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam make up the Asean Fintech Network.\n\n\n\nThe Asean region is seen as rife for fintech disruption, with over 620 million people across 10 countries, with a shared GDP of $2.5 trillion and a rapidly growing online population yet low banking penetration - more than 300 million citizens do not have bank accounts.\n\n\n\nThe network has identified four priorities: training of the fintech workforce; boosting accessibility of investment capital; creating global market access; and deepening the availability of cutting-edge technology.\n\n\n\nSingapore Fintech Association president Chia Hock Lai says: \"the AFN is a strong platform to promote cross-border collaboration among members and help promote fintech in the region.\"", "output": "Financial technology organisations from six Asean countries have formed a network to encourage collaboration and develop the region as a hub for the sector. The Asean Fintech Network joins together organisations from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The region has a growing online population but poor access to banking, with 300 million people not having accounts. The new network will work to promote training of the fintech workforce, increase global market access, boost the accessibility of capital and improve availability of new technology.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hydro storage tech could reduce greenhouse gas emissions \n In pumped hydro storage there is a tried-and-tested technology that not only fits the bill for future energy needs but has been doing the job for well over a century. Andrew Wade reports\n\nIt\u2019s often assumed that to mitigate the worst effects of climate change we need an energy revolution incorporating a raft of new ideas. However, the core technologies needed to decarbonise the power sector already exist in the form of renewables, with wind and solar now the fastest-growing sources of new generation.\n\nOne major problem, as critics are quick to point out, is intermittency. If that problem could be solved, the energy sector could be transformed within a few short decades. And, as it happens, several countries are betting that we already have the answer.\n\nThe upper reservoir at Glyn Rhonwy, with views across Snowdonia\n\nIn pumped hydro storage there is a tried-and-tested technology that not only fits the bill but has been doing the job for well over a century. First employed in the 1890s, pumped hydro makes up 97 per cent of energy storage worldwide, with around 168GW currently installed. Excess off-peak grid power \u2013 theoretically from renewables \u2013 is used to pump water uphill, where it\u2019s stored as gravitational potential energy. When electricity demand is high, water is released downhill to power turbines, the elevated reservoirs essentially acting as giant batteries to help balance the grid.\n\nCurrently, the UK has four operational plants. When the youngest \u2013 Dinorwig in Snowdonia \u2013 was built over 30 years ago, it was the largest civil engineering contract ever awarded by the government. Today, just up the road in Glyn Rhonwy, a new pumped storage venture is being developed by private company Snowdonia Pumped Hydro (SPH). With 99.9MW of output and 700MWh of storage capacity, it won\u2019t solve the climate change problem singlehanded. However, the process behind its selection also threw up hundreds of other viable UK sites. By exploiting just a handful of these, pumped hydro could be the last missing piece of the UK's clean energy puzzle.\n\n\u201cWe basically started with a few databases of lakes, mines, quarries and so on, and we wrote a little algorithm that would compare them, to see how close they were and try and make matches,\u201d explained Dave Holmes, managing director of Quarry Battery Company (QBC), the parent firm behind SPH.\n\n\u201cWe got down to maybe 1,000 sites, or potential pairs, and then we cruised around the country on Google Earth having a look at them all and trying to figure out which ones were the best.\u201d\n\nThe dual bodies of water ideally need to be similar in size, with a suitable disparity of altitude, or head. As well as identifying sites that were technically desirable, the team had to consider other factors such as planning risk, proximity to the grid and nearby areas of conservation. Glyn Rhonwy\u2019s two disused slate mines ticked a lot of boxes.\n\n\u201cThere were a few things in its favour,\u201d said Holmes. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty close to the National Grid transmission system. The length of the tunnel that you need in comparison to the head; it\u2019s a very steep site, which means the tunnel we\u2019re building isn\u2019t too long. The gradient is actually quite a challenge. It\u2019s 19 per cent\u2026 and we\u2019re looking to go in a single slope all the way to the top.\u201d\n\nThe site also happened to be owned by the local council, which had plans to develop the lower reservoir into an industrial estate. Accommodating SHP\u2019s powerhouse would not be a huge departure.\n\n\u201cWe see it as recycling the land rather than using some new land for the site,\u201d said Holmes.\n\nGlyn Rhonwy gained approval for a 49.9MW plant several years ago, but changes in the energy market prompted SPH to rethink the design. The revised plan for the 99.9MW facility was greenlit in March 2017. According to Holmes, the only significant change was the inclusion of two 49.9MW turbines instead of the original pair of 24.95MW devices.\n\nExcess electricity is used to create gravitational potential energy\n\n\u201cWe found there was more capacity there than we first understood, and it would have been a waste of that capacity to not have a more powerful turbine on it,\u201d he explained.\n\nThe National Grid\u2019s capacity mechanism also helped incentivise the change. Despite having 600MWh of storage in the original plans, SPH would have been rewarded only for its 49.9MW output. By doubling that to 99.9MW, the project will double the income it earns via the mechanism. The revised 700MWh capacity will be enough to supply 200,000 homes with electricity for seven hours a day. Although construction costs will increase from \u00a3140m to \u00a3160m, Holmes believes the payback period on the investment should be halved to under 10 years \u2013 a fraction of the plant\u2019s projected 125-year operational lifetime.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a very exciting time because we can see a light at the end of the tunnel,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping to break ground sometime next year, but it could be early the year after.\u201d\n\nAs construction gets under way in Glyn Rhonwy, a pumped hydro plant of an altogether different breed will be nearing completion some 8,000km away. Located just to the north of Beijing, the Fengning Pumped Storage Power Station will have an installed capacity of 3,600MW, making it the largest pumped hydro facility in the world. Its generators will be fed by an upper reservoir holding nearly 49 million cubic metres of water \u2013 enough to fill about 19,500 Olympic pools. By comparison, each of Glyn Rhonwy\u2019s reservoirs will hold just over 1 million cubic metres.\n\nThe $1.87bn (\u00a31.42bn) Fengning plant will be equipped with 12 x 300MW pump turbines in a single cavern. Ten of these will be fixed-speed units contracted from local suppliers. The final two will be variable-speed pump turbines provided by Andritz, the Austrian engineering giant with a long history in hydro power.\n\n\u201cThe major difference is in a completely different generator design,\u201d Alexander Schwab, Andritz SVP of market management, explained to The Engineer. \u201cWith conventional synchronous generators, the number of poles and the frequency of the grid are defining the rotational speed of the unit. That defines the design speed of the turbine/pump. Consequently, for pump turbines it is necessary to find a compromise between optimal turbine and optimal pump.\u201d\n\nAccording to Schwab, the variable turbines will allow operation ranges for pumping and generating to be designed individually. This should enable Fengning to better manage its output and provide more grid flexibility.\n\nAndritz is supplying variable-speed pump turbines for China\u2019s Fengning project\n\nAndritz has previously installed the technology at Germany\u2019s Goldisthal pumped storage facility, but this is the first time variable speed units will be used in China\u2019s ever-expanding hydro sector. \u201cTaking all the facts into consideration, it will be a project needing the utmost attention from the Andritz side,\u201d said Schwab.\n\nWhen Fengning comes online, China will have three of the four biggest pumped storage facilities in the world. The technology is seen as increasingly vital if the country is to wean itself off the coal that has powered the industrial progress of recent decades. Air pollution across China, particularly around Beijing, has reached such worrying levels that it is no longer simply a public health issue. Speaking recently, the country\u2019s environment protection minister, Li Ganjie, admitted that air quality had become a matter of social stability. Although it remains the world\u2019s biggest polluter, China has committed to reducing CO 2 emissions by 60-65 per cent before 2030. If this is to be achieved, massive expansion of renewables, coupled with pumped storage, will need to play a key role.\n\nBack in the UK, plans are afoot for another major project. While not on the same scale as Fengning, the Coire Glas pumped hydro plant will boast an output of 1,500MW. It will lie to the east of Fort William, in the Great Glen of the Scottish Highlands. Using Loch Lochy as the lower body of water, developer SSE plans to build an upper reservoir 500m above, with a relatively steep incline delivering good energy efficiency.\n\nThe project received planning permission several years ago for a smaller 600MW plant but, similarly to Glyn Rhonwy, those plans have had to be scaled up in a bid to make the project more commercially attractive. In May 2017 SSE submitted a scoping report for the revised scheme, and a decision from the Scottish government is expected in the near future. Importantly, Coire Glas will have the capacity to store a massive amount of energy \u2013 around 30GWh \u2013 more than all existing UK storage capacity combined, according to SSE. The firm says this will help provide the flexibility required for integrating more renewables, as well as the changing usage patterns expected from the growth in electric vehicles.\n\n\u201cSSE considers there to be clear benefits in the delivery of new pumped storage projects in the UK,\u201d Coire Glas project manager Andy Gregory told The Engineer. \u201cIt\u2019s a proven technology that can be deployed at the tens of GWh scale, with a short response time and the ability to provide a number of important services to the system.\u201d\n\nAcross the UK there are hundreds of potential pumped hydro sites, with the low-hanging fruit adding up to around 50GWh. According to QBC\u2019s Holmes, these are mainly in Scotland and Wales due to topography.\n\n\u201cOur best guess at how much is economic already or will be economic soon is around 50GWh,\u201d he said.\n\nSome of these sites are similar in nature to Glyn Rhonwy and Coire Glas, where dual bodies of fresh water would work in tandem. Other sites, however, are less conventional. QBC has been awarded funding to explore the viability of non-standard sites around the UK, looking at seawater, drinking water and lower-head opportunities.\n\nSeawater, in particular, presents both a unique opportunity as well as unique challenges. Using the sea as the lower \u2018reservoir\u2019 unlocks a host of locations that would previously have been overlooked as, in theory, all that\u2019s required is elevated land close to the coast. But seawater brings complications such as fouling and corrosion, and using the open sea can impact on marine life, and have unwanted effects on the coastal profile.\n\nTo date, just a single seawater project has been commissioned \u2013 Japan\u2019s Okinawa Yanbaru Seawater Pumped Storage Power Station. Built in 1999, it featured a striking octagonal upper reservoir set into the lush coastal vegetation. Instead of steel, the penstock was made of fibre-reinforced plastic to avoid corrosion and barnacle fouling, and the pump turbine included stainless steel to improve seawater resistance. Although widely hailed as an engineering success, the plant was shut down in 2016 as it no longer fitted local power demands.\n\nDespite just one pilot project, seawater pumped storage is being explored in several countries, including the UK. South Australia\u2019s proposed Cultana plant could generate 225MW of electricity with eight hours\u2019 storage. The region already supports renewables, but arid conditions make traditional pumped hydro tricky. Combining existing solar and wind generation with coastal storage plants promises to be an innovative solution.\n\nElsewhere in Australia the planned Snowy Hydro 2.0 project will look to add pumped storage to the long-established hydro generation already in place. If completed, it will add generation capacity of 2,000MW and a massive 350GWh of storage. This year, a government-backed study by the Australian National University (ANU) into other viable locations identified 22,000 sites, the bulk of which are on the more densely populated east coast. Combined, these could provide around 67,000GWh of storage.\n\n\u201cWe need to build only about one or two dozen to support a 100 per cent renewable electricity grid,\u201d Andrew Blakers, a professor of engineering at ANU and one of the report\u2019s authors, said recently.\n\n\u201cPumped hydro, high-voltage DC interconnectors between the states, wind, batteries and demand management can do the whole job. Not just for electricity, but the whole job for energy: electrifying land transport, electrifying heating and cooling. You can have 75 per\n\ncent cuts in Australia\u2019s greenhouse gas emissions by electrifying nearly everything, and I think this is what\u2019s going to happen over the next 15 to 20 years.\u201d\n\nThe UK\u2019s topography may not be as rich as Australia\u2019s in terms of potential sites but there are ample resources to exploit. If tidal lagoons finally get the green light, they could also include a pumped hydro element, as well as help balance the grid via their natural geographic dispersion. And, with wind and solar costs still tumbling, there\u2019s no reason why the UK couldn\u2019t fully decarbonise over the next two decades. The fact that the Aussies are already in the race can only bring added incentive.\n\nFor more stories on renewable energy and its application, click here", "output": "Australia could reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by two thirds if can develop just a handful of 22,000 potential\u00a0sites into pumped hydro facilityes.\u00a0The UK, which currently has four operational facilities, also has a wealth of\u00a0similar resources it could tap. The country has hundreds of potential pumped hydro sites which could provide up to 50 GWh if given the green light, said Dave Holmes, managing director of Quarry Battery Company. Pumped hydro, which uses excess energy to pump water uphill to a reservoir, before being released to turn turbines, was first developed in the 1890s.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Schlumberger expands lab for advanced fluid analysis oil services \n Schlumberger today inaugurated the newly expanded reservoir rock and fluid analysis laboratory located in Houston, Texas. The state-of-the-art lab enables petrotechnical experts to better leverage physical and digital rock and fluid analysis for comprehensive reservoir characterisation.\n\nThe Houston Reservoir Laboratory features a leading portfolio of Schlumberger reservoir characterisation technologies, which span downhole rock and fluid data and sample acquisition through wellsite and lab analysis. Integration of data and insight from field and lab measurements in the DELFI cognitive E&P environment enhances collaboration across exploration and production teams to realise the full potential of all available data and science in optimising oil and gas assets.\n\n\u201cDigital technology is fundamentally changing the way the E&P industry works,\u201d said Hinda Gharbi, president, Reservoir Characterization Group, Schlumberger. \u201cThe expansion of the Houston Reservoir Laboratory accelerates our customers\u2019 access to our proprietary technologies, digital models and petrotechnical domain expertise to overcome technical challenges across the life of the field.\u201d\n\nThe 123 000 ft2 facility is staffed by scientists, engineers and technicians working across the spectrum of reservoir rock and fluid analysis. They employ innovative technologies for characterising the reservoir to improve hydrocarbon production and recovery, including Maze microfluidic SARA analysis, unique Fluid Inclusion Technologies (FIT), Malcom interactive fluid characterisation software and CoreFlow digital rock and fluid analytics services.\n\nAs part of the Schlumberger global network of rock and fluids analysis laboratories, the Houston lab also houses the Schlumberger Production Technologies Center of Excellence for conducting research, formulation and testing of production chemicals.", "output": "Oil services giant Schlumberger has expanded a Texas laboratory dedicated to advanced reservoir rock and fluid analysis. The Houston Reservoir Laboratory uses innovative technologies, including CoreFlow digital rock and fluid analytics and fluid inclusion technologies, to examine oil reservoirs and improve hydrocarbon production and recovery. The 123,000 sq ft unit is also home to Schlumberger's Production Technologies Center of Excellence, which researches, formulates and tests production chemicals."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "75% of IoT projects are failing due to lack of interconnectivity \n Three quarters of all Internet of Things (IoT) projects are \"failing\", according to Cisco's Australian CTO Kevin Bloch, primarily because they have been designed to solve individual problems, and have become siloed and unsupported as a result.\n\n\"The inaugural phase of IoT is characterised by numerous point solutions from a multitude of new -- often startup -- vendors. Typically, these solutions have been designed to solve a particular societal problem such as lighting or parking. In each case, a complete IT stack needs to be built in support of the solution,\" Bloch explained.\n\n\"Eventually, customers find themselves with multiple siloes from multiple vendors that don't interoperate, are not cybersecure, use different protocols, and generate more complexity at greater cost.\"\n\nAccording to Bloch, this is why Cisco is constructing an \"IoT Phase 2\" foundation, which consists of a platform that is able to cope with multiple different sensors, vendors, applications, and data interchanges.\n\nThe CTO added that IoT projects are also failing due to a lack of cybersecurity, qualified skills by those running them, project definition, governance, and support.\n\nReleased alongside nine other axioms on the IoT landscape, Bloch said Cisco hopes to aid other companies in launching successful connected solutions by discussing both pitfalls and successes.\n\nThe lack of cybersecurity made up a second of his axioms, with Bloch saying that if something is not secured, it should not be connected.\n\n\"Cybersecurity crime is already at an all-time high and negatively impacting global economies by upwards of 1 percent of GDP,\" he said.\n\n\"We are becoming more mobile, we are using more cloud services, and we are expanding IoT deployment to tens of billions of connected things, thereby expanding exploitation and attack opportunities. Our situation will inevitably get worse if we don't take the right precautions.\n\n\"If you don't secure it, don't connect it.\"\n\nAgain, Bloch said that most of the new IoT solutions being brought to market are being developed by companies or startups without any experience -- including experience in security.\n\nAs a result, he said Cisco is continuing to invest billions of dollars into cybersecurity solutions for IoT, mobility, and cloud. One such product was Cisco's IoT Threat Defense solution launched in June in an effort to mitigate and solve common security issues threatening the deployment and operation of connected devices, with the networking giant at the time saying many vendors and companies strip security mechanisms out of devices in order to keep them at low cost.\n\nCisco IoT CTO Shaun Cooley in June explained that as many devices also don't have the power to protect themselves, network-side security must be emphasised, along with improving processors, enforcing the better labelling of devices, and requiring a notification and approval process prior to allowing connectivity.\n\nThe IoT Threat Defense suite is also enabled by Cisco's network intuitive, which combines the technologies Cisco has been working towards for the past few years: Software-defined networking, software-defined access, network function virtualisation, APIs, and intelligent WAN capabilities.\n\nA third axiom saw Bloch argue that IoT is about collecting data and about the data itself -- not about connecting things, with Cisco predicting that connections will cost nothing within a decade.\n\nUnder this axiom, Bloch said there are two main components needed to be able to \"measure\" the physical world and enable automation: Sensing via a camera, sensor, or processor; and connectivity, or the transferring of data measurements to a computer.\n\n\"Sensing and connectivity provide data that enable a product to externalise its capabilities and provide a range of new opportunities and services,\" he explained.\n\nAnother of Bloch's IoT axioms argued that the key is having the right data, knowing what to ask of the data, and knowing how to find the answers -- with the CTO correlating this to another assumption: That by 2025, 40 percent of all data will never make it to the cloud.\n\n\"While amassing data may seem important, the critical question to ask is 'what do you need the data for?'\" he said.\n\n\"Most organisations already have more data than they can manage, yet most often don't have the right data. If they did, would they know what to ask of the data? If they are able to formulate the problem, how would they go about finding the answers needed within the data?\"\n\nThe key for organisations is finding the answers to those three questions by utilising a combination of compute, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, he argued.\n\nCisco has been focused on providing IoT solutions globally, in June announcing its Kinetic IoT operations platform with a focus on managing connections, \"fog\" computing, and the delivery of data, which \"streamlines the capability of companies bringing their IoT initiatives to market\".\n\n\"It's really a platform for getting data off of your devices,\" Cisco SVP and GM of IoT and Applications Rowan Trollope said at the time, adding that it will complement Cisco's Jasper IoT platform.\n\n\"We're extending from the edge all the way onto the device to provide an amazing platform to get way more data.\"\n\nAccording to Trollope, trillions of terabytes of data is \"locked up\" on unconnected devices across the world, which Cisco Kinetic could help extract. It will also speed up the time between proof of concept and implementation for customers.\n\nRelated Coverage\n\nLogitech: We are bricking your Harmony Link but we'll give you a free Hub instead\n\nInternet users win a small victory over the Internet of Things.\n\nWA government awards research grant for investigation of internet-connected toys\n\nThe positive and negative implications of internet-connected children's toys will be examined by Western Australia's Edith Cowan University.\n\nVideo: How the cloud and IoT are transforming energy delivery systems (TechRepublic)\n\nMarc Overton of Sierra Wireless explains how end-to-end IoT solutions and real-time metering data lower delivery cost and improve consumer agency.\n\nIoT devices are an enterprise security time bomb\n\nThe majority of enterprise players cannot identify IoT devices on their networks -- but that's only the beginning.\n\nWhy preventing IoT attacks isn't just the responsibility of security experts (TechRepublic)\n\nCisco's Anthony Grieco explains how enterprises need to take a deeper look at how they handle Internet of Things cybersecurity.", "output": "A lack of interconnectivity is to blame for the failure of 75% of all Internet of Things (IoT) projects, according to the chief technology officer of Cisco's Australian division. Kevin Bloch said too many IoT solutions are being designed only to solve one particular problem, resulting in multiple systems with different protocols which do not work together and generate more complexity. He also highlighted the problem of poor cyber security, often resulting from start-ups with no experience of developing secure systems.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bosch partners with SwarmFarm for autonomous farming robots \n Jocelyn Bate, co-founder and director of SwarmFarm said while the partnership would move them to the next level, they would retain the advantage of the development team being based on-farm in Central Queensland.", "output": "After agreeing a partnership with engineering firm Bosch, Australian tech firm SwarmFarm expects\u00a0to see its autonomous farming SwarmBot platform ready for commercial roll out\u00a0next year.\u00a0The start-up, which has a development team based on a farm in Central Queensland, aims to help farmers adopt new farming systems, including\u00a0the use of intelligent mobile robots to automate select tasks. Its SwapNostics system is aimed at making the technology simple, so farmers can diagnose and fix machines themselves, keeping the technology working."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Poorly-written old code puts corporates at risk from hackers \n Old and sloppily written code is exposing businesses to hackers, new research has warned, with the financial sector at the highest risk.\n\nAfter reviewing more than 278 million lines of code in 1,388 applications worldwide, researchers have found 1.3 million weaknesses which could allow hackers to take advantage of corporate systems.\n\nResearch by software company CAST found that financial services institutions had the worst code, according to a benchmark called the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE).\n\nCWE is a repository of known security weaknesses hackers could take advantage of and covers software architecture as well as the code itself.\n\nSoftware in the financial sector has the most coding mistakes and non-secure coding practices for every thousand lines of code in its applications - its CWE density.\n\nThe report said: \"Applications installed in 2012 are more than due for a health check. Applications between five and 10 years old have the greatest potential for security flaws.\"\n\nIt added: \"Poor coding is likely due to the fact 37% of developers are not graded on code quality.\"\n\nDr Bill Curtis, the chief scientist at CAST, said: \"We found that overall, organisations are taking application security quite seriously. However, there are clear outliers to this broad finding that put companies and their customers at significant risk.\"\n\nHe added: \"Without a clear understanding of existing application security vulnerabilities, organisations are not addressing some of the biggest software risks that pose a threat to their business.\"\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe telecommunications sector also performed poorly compared to other areas of industry. Also ranking quite high for errors was the IT consulting sector.\n\nSome of the worst code was written with Microsoft's .NET framework, although applications developed in Java that were released more than six times per year had the very highest CWE densities.\n\nThe manufacturing, energy, and pharmaceuticals sector had the least vulnerable code.", "output": "The financial sector is most at risk from hackers thanks to outdated and poorly-written code, according to research by software company CAST. Using a Common Weakness Enumeration benchmark, researchers identified 1.3 million weaknesses; Microsoft's .NET framework and Java were cited as the worst codes. The telecoms and IT consulting sectors were rated the second and third most at-risk industries. Dr Bill Curtis, chief scientist at CAST, said: \"Without a clear understanding of existing application security vulnerabilities, organisations are not addressing some of the biggest software risks\".\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fixflo celebrates history of collaboration with Qube \n Continuing our ongoing series, in which we celebrate the amazing proptech proponents that are now integrated with Fixflo, we are proud to announce our new partnership with MRI QUBE Software.\n\nFixflo & MRI Qube Software: a history\n\nMRI Qube Global Software is one of the world's biggest suppliers of property management software. With more than 10,000 international users, it has a strong track record of inspiring loyalty amongst its customers. Over 30% of MRI Qube customers have used the service for a decade or more, demonstrating both its quality and ease of use. The software\u2019s key features include 24/7 self service, streamlined data management and powerful accounting capabilities.\n\nFixflo first partnered with MRI Qube Software in 2014, initially integrating with the MRI Qube SLM (Sales, Lettings and Management) product before adding our services to the business's MRI Qube PM product, which focuses on block management. This latest integration allowed MRI Qube to include Fixflo's seamless repair reporting software within its systems, meaning the software can now provide a more rounded and comprehensive offering to its customers.\n\nWe were delighted to partner up with MRI Qube Software in 2014, and three years down the line, that delight hasn't abated. Both of groups are dedicated to improving the way in which property managers work on a daily basis, as well as improving the lives of tenants throughout the UK. We're more than confident that, moving forward, our professional relationship will continue to bring a level of service to our mutual clients that is better than that provided by any other platform on the market.\n\nClick here to find about more about our property management software integration", "output": "UK property repair and maintenance company Fixflo has marked its three-year partnership with Qube Global Software. In a blog post, Fixflo cited the two firms' shared history, which led to Fixflo integrating its services into the Qube PM product. Qube has more than 10,000 international users, with almost one third having used its services for a decade or more.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Record levels of fossil fuels burned in 2017 \n The burning of fossil fuels around the world is set to hit a record high in 2017, climate scientists have warned, following three years of flat growth that raised hopes that a peak in global emissions had been reached.\n\n\n\nThe expected jump in the carbon emissions that drive global warming is a \u201cgiant leap backwards for humankind\u201d, according to some scientists. However, other experts said they were not alarmed, saying fluctuations in emissions are to be expected and that big polluters such as China are acting to cut emissions.\n\nGlobal emissions need to reach their peak by 2020 and then start falling quickly in order to have a realistic chance of keeping global warming below the 2C danger limit, according to leading scientists. Whether the anticipated increase in CO2 emissions in 2017 is just a blip that is followed by a falling trend, or is the start of a worrying upward trend, remains to be seen.\n\nMuch will depend on the fast implementation of the global climate deal sealed in Paris in 2015 and this is the focus of the UN summit of the world\u2019s countries in Bonn, Germany this week. The nations must make significant progress in turning the aspirations of the Paris deal into reality, as the action pledged to date would see at least 3C of warming and increasing extreme weather impacts around the world.\n\nThe 12th annual Global Carbon Budget report published on Monday is produced by 76 of the world\u2019s leading emissions experts from 57 research institutions and estimates that global carbon emissions from fossil fuels will have risen by 2% by the end of 2017, a significant rise.\n\n\u201cGlobal CO2 emissions appear to be going up strongly once again after a three-year stable period. This is very disappointing,\u201d said Prof Corinne Le Qu\u00e9r\u00e9, director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the UK\u2019s University of East Anglia and who led the new research. \u201cThe urgency for reducing emissions means they should really be already decreasing now.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere was a big push to sign the Paris agreement on climate change but there is a feeling that not very much has happened since, a bit of slackening,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat happens after 2017 is very open and depends on how much effort countries are going to make. It is time to take really seriously the implementation of the Paris agreement.\u201d She said the hurricanes and floods seen in 2017 were \u201ca window into the future\u201d.\n\nThe new analysis is based on the available energy use data for 2017 and projections for the latter part of the year. It estimates that 37bn tonnes of CO2 will be emitted from burning fossil fuels, the highest total ever.\n\nThe main reason for the rise is an expected 3.5% increase in emissions in China, the world\u2019s biggest polluter, where low rains have reduced low-carbon hydroelectric output and industrial activity has increased. India\u2019s rise in emissions was modest compared to previous years at 2%, while the US and EU are both on track for small falls.\n\n2017 is likely to be the hottest year ever recorded in which there was no El Ni\u00f1o event, a natural global cycle that temporarily nudges up global temperature. The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere also saw a record jump in 2016, and other greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide from agriculture and industry are also rising.\n\n\u201cThe news that emissions are rising after the three-year hiatus is a giant leap backwards for humankind,\u201d said Amy Luers, executive director of Future Earth, a global research initiative. \u201cPushing the Earth closer to tipping points is deeply concerning. Emissions need to peak soon and approach zero by 2050.\u201d\n\nHowever, climate economist Prof Nicholas Stern, at the UK\u2019s London School of Economics, said: \u201cI would not be alarmed. There will be some fluctuations, for example around poor rains and hydro. We should also remember that the methods used to calculate emissions will have their own errors.\u201d\n\nHe said there is strong climate action in China: \u201cIt has a very clear strategy, particularly on coal and energy efficiency and they are getting, and will get, results.\u201d But Stern said it remains vital that all countries ramp up the ambition of their emissions pledges and that richer countries support action across the world.\n\nClimate scientist Prof Michael Mann, at Penn State University in the US, said the research was authoritative but also urged caution, noting that the 2% projected rise in emissions is small relative to the overall uncertainties in the data. \u201cIt seems to me they are over-interpreting the 2017 numbers and jumping the gun a bit. Can\u2019t we wait until the actual numbers are in to do a post-mortem?\u201d\n\nThe ability to monitor emissions quickly and accurately is of growing importance. The Paris agreement is based on voluntary cuts by nations, and without verification that pledges have been fulfilled, the trust that underpins the deal could be eroded. \u201cThis puts immense pressure on the scientific community to develop methods that can truly verify changes in emissions,\u201d said Le Qu\u00e9r\u00e9.", "output": "An estimated 37bn tonnes of carbon dioxide will be emitted globally by burning fossil fuels this year, the highest total ever, according to the 12th annual Global Carbon Budget, published on Monday. The 2% increase in emissions follows three years during which they remained static. The main reason for the increase is an anticipated 3.5% growth in emissions from China, the world\u2019s leading polluter. It is unclear whether the increase is a blip or part of a trend. In order to keep global warming below the dangerous 2C limit, emissions must begin to fall quickly after 2020."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Visa sets up unit to spread contactless\u00a0transit payments\u00a0globally \n Visa is looking to accelerate the adoption of contactless payments on the world's subway, rail and bus networks through the launch of a dedicated transit programme.\n\nContactless ticketing has proved a huge hit in London, where 40% of pay-as-you-go journeys on the tube and buses are now made using tap and pay cards or mobile devices. New York recently vowed to follow suit in the next few years.\n\n\n\nTo help other cities looking to make the move, Visa has set up a global transit programme that will offer consulting services from a team of specialists, comprised of a central group in London and regional experts around the world.\n\n\n\nThe card giant has also created a Mass Transit Transaction model back-office framework to manage contactless payments regardless of transit operators' size or fare structure, and has also expanded its Visa Ready programme to include technologies available to operators.\n\n\n\nVisa claims a switch to contactless could result in major benefits for operators. The firm's recent Cashless Cities report found that transit agencies spend an average of 14.5 cents of every physical dollar collected, compared to only 4.2 cents for every digital dollar.\n\n\n\nMichael Lemberger, head of products, Visa in Europe, says: \"Visa played an important role in partnering with Transport for London (TfL). We are applying the expertise which has led to more than one billion Visa contactless journey on TfL to help mass transit operators around the world move away from cash and tickets to contactless payments on buses and trains.\"", "output": "Visa plans to offer its successful contactless payments systems to transport authorities around the world, following the popularity of the scheme in London. The card company has brought together a team of specialists to offer consulting services as part of a global transit programme, and has developed a Mass Transit Transaction back-office framework to facilitate contactless payments, regardless of an operator's size or fare system. In a recent report, Visa revealed transit agencies spent 4.2 cents for every digital dollar, compared with 14.5 cents for every physical dollar.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese online education forecast to exceed 110 million users \n China's online education market is forecast to reach 194 billion yuan ($29 billion) this year, with the number of active users set to surpass 110 million, according to a report released on Sunday.\n\nMore than 90 million people accessed online courses via Chinese platforms last year, and the scale is expected to rise at an annual rate of at least 20 percent, the report suggests.\n\nThe survey was conducted by Xuetangx - a website run by Tsinghua University that provides online courses (mostly free) - and iResearch, a consulting firm focusing on internet data. Participants were aged 18 to 30, with 58 percent male and more than 70 percent undergraduates.\n\nThe report was based on a survey of 1,440 students who have used Xuetangx services or those of similar platforms during the past year.\n\nIt said half the people who access online courses are in large metropolitan areas - mostly Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong province - although it added that the market is expected to expand to smaller cities.\n\nCourses in languages and vocational skills, such as IT training, management and businesses, are in the greatest demand. The most common reasons for choosing online courses are flexibility, diversity of subject matter and access to well-known teachers, according to the report.\n\nLi Chao, CEO of Xuetangx, said despite the rapid development of online education, traditional education will not be replaced completely because both online and offline learning have their advantages.\n\n\"Traditional education triumphs in its face-to-face communication, which makes it easy for teachers to track a student's learning outcome, whereas online education triumphs in its flexibility and convenience,\" Li said.\n\nHe noted a growing acceptance of online education among both users and colleges.\n\n\"When online open courses first became available on the internet, no students received credit for attending in their bedrooms. But now some colleges have incorporated online courses into their teaching,\" Li said.\n\n\"Now we are turning individual credit online courses into a degree program.\"", "output": "More than 110 million users are forecast to access China's online education services this year, boosting its market value to more than CNY194bn ($29bn), according to a report by Tsinghua University's Xuetangx website. More than 90 million people accessed courses in 2016, a figure that's forecast to\u00a0rise 20%, the report said. About half of users live in\u00a0large metropolitan areas such as Beijing, Shanghai and southern Guangdong province, but uptake is predicted to expand in\u00a0smaller cities, with languages and vocational courses the most popular, the report\u00a0added."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI-powered LinkedIn resume assistant arrives on Word \n We're starting to see more results from Microsoft acquiring LinkedIn last year, like the new employment information features brought over to Outlook.com members. Now the company that build Office is bringing AI to your job search with a new LinkedIn-powered feature in Word called Resume Assistant.\n\nMicrosoft claims that more than 80 percent of resumes are updated in Word, which could make this new assistant super useful to a ton of people, many of whom change roles and jobs much faster than in the past. Resume Assistant brings in examples from other people in your chosen field to help you describe your work experience on your own resume. You can also see the most prominent skills from LinkedIn to help you know what terms to include in your resume, kind of like keywords for jobs.\n\nThe assistant will also help you customize your resume based on actual job postings, get professional help via LinkedIn's freelance platform, ProFinder, for help with writing resumes, interviewing and career coaching. You'll also be able to tell recruiters on LinkedIn that you're open to a new job without alerting your current bosses from within Word.\n\nThese updates are rolling out this week to English Office 365 users in the Office Insiders program. It will be available to those in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, New Zealand, the UK and the US first, then to more platforms and markets during the coming months.", "output": "Microsoft-owned LinkedIn is launching a CV tool called Resume Assistant in Word. The tool, backed by artificial intelligence (AI), uses example CVs from a chosen field to help users tailor their CVs and enables documents to be customised to suit job adverts. Users in need of professional help can access ProFinder for resume writing or interview coaching. Resume Assistant is rolling out to users of English Office 365 in the Office Insiders scheme, and will initially be available in several countries including the US, UK, China and Australia.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Clothes made with 3D-printed fibre developed to\u00a0keep wearers\u00a0cool \n Nov 10, 2017 | By Julia\n\nAs global temperatures continue to rise, air conditioning becomes much more than a luxury; for many, it\u2019s essential to everyday wellbeing. Yet in addition to its often prohibitive cost, air conditioning remains a key purveyor of greenhouse gas emissions, one of the primary agents linked to climate change. It\u2019s a vicious cycle, and an expensive one at that.\n\n\n\nBut that could be all about to change: researchers at the University of Maryland College Park (UMCP) are hard at work developing a new textile that could, one day, don as our own personal cooling unit, without the need of any external energy source for power. Recently published in the American Chemical Society\u2019s journal ACS Nano, the study, titled \u201cThree-Dimensional Printed Thermal Regulation Textiles\u201d investigates the potential of 3D printing in manufacturing high-tech fabrics designed to keep you cool.\n\nThe UMCP research builds on the growing trend of functionalized clothes seen around the world. Think moisture-wicking workout wear, smell-proof athletic gear, and outfits that block ultraviolet rays via chemical coatings. Despite the rise of such functionalized textiles, however, clothes that help cool us down have been much harder to achieve. Previous attempts have resulted in materials that are too bulky, require lots of energy, or are too high in cost. So, the UMCP team, based out of the University\u2019s Materials Science and Engineering Department, wanted to find a more practical solution.\n\n\n\nAs outlined in the study, the researchers combined boron nitride, a material known for its excellent heat transferal capabilities, with polyvinyl alcohol. The result was a completely new nanocomposite fiber that can be 3D printed, and woven into different kinds of fabric. Extensive tests that simulated the high-tech material on human skin showed it to be 1.5 times more efficient than pure polyvinyl alcohol at sucking heat away from the body. Compared to cotton fabrics, the UMCP composite is twice as efficient at cooling down the wearer. In other words, clothes made with this 3D printed nano-composite thread could help keep wearers cool and comfortable, reducing the need for traditional air conditioning methods.\n\nOf course, it may be some time before you can start buying personalized cooling sweaters off of store racks. As far as corporate applications go, a published scientific paper is still a ways off from fully-fledged prototypes or ready-to-wear retail. But as our global temperatures continue to soar, you can bet everyone from Nike to Spalding will want a piece of the pie.\n\n\n\nThe UMCP study was funded jointly by the U.S. Office of Naval Research - Young Investigator Program, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), the U.S. Department of Energy, and the China Scholarship Council. Read the abstract in full here.\n\nPosted in 3D Printing Application\n\nMaybe you also like:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "output": "A 3D-printed fibre woven into clothes that can cool down wearers has been developed at the University of Maryland College Park. Researchers are working on the new textile, which\u00a0could act as a personal cooling unit, without any need for an external energy source. They combined boron nitride with polyvinyl alcohol to develop the nanocomposite thread, which is twice as efficient at cooling down wearers as cotton fabrics. The fabric could reduce the need for air-conditioning and so contribute to lowering\u00a0greenhouse gas emissions."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UN urged to speed the outlawing of killer robots, drones \n The movie portrays a brutal future. A military firm unveils a tiny drone that hunts and kills with ruthless efficiency. But when the technology falls into the wrong hands, no one is safe. Politicians are cut down in broad daylight. The machines descend on a lecture hall and spot activists, who are swiftly dispatched with an explosive to the head.\n\n\n\nThe short, disturbing film is the latest attempt by campaigners and concerned scientists to highlight the dangers of developing autonomous weapons that can find, track and fire on targets without human supervision. They warn that a preemptive ban on the technology is urgently needed to prevent terrible new weapons of mass destruction.\n\nStuart Russell, a leading AI scientist at the University of California in Berkeley, and others will show the film on Monday during an event at the United Nations Convention on Conventional Weapons hosted by the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots. The manufacture and use of autonomous weapons, such as drones, tanks and automated machine guns, would be devastating for human security and freedom, and the window to halt their development is closing fast, Russell warned.\n\n\u201cThe technology illustrated in the film is simply an integration of existing capabilities. It is not science fiction. In fact, it is easier to achieve than self-driving cars, which require far higher standards of performance,\u201d Russell said.\n\nThe military has been one of the largest funders and adopters of artificial intelligence technology. The computing techniques help robots fly, navigate terrain, and patrol territories under the seas. Hooked up to a camera feed, image recognition algorithms can scan video footage for targets better than a human can. An automated sentry that guards South Korea\u2019s border with the North draws on the technology to spot and track targets up to 4km away.\n\n\n\nWhile military drones have long been flown remotely for surveillance and attacks, autonomous weapons armed with explosives and target recognition systems are now within reach and could locate and strike without deferring to a human controller. Opponents believe that handing machines the power over who lives and dies crosses a clear moral line.\n\n\u201cPursuing the development of lethal autonomous weapons would drastically reduce international, national, local, and personal security,\u201d Russell said. Scientists used a similar argument to convince presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon to renounce the US biological weapons programme and ultimately bring about the Biological Weapons Convention.\n\nBecause AI-powered machines are relatively cheap to manufacture, critics fear that autonomous weapons could be mass produced and fall into the hands of rogue nations or terrorists who could use them to suppress populations and wreak havoc, as the movie portrays.\n\nA treaty banning autonomous weapons would prevent large-scale manufacturing of the technology. It would also provide a framework to police nations working on the technology, and the spread of dual-use devices and software such as quadcopters and target recognition algorithms. \u201cProfessional codes of ethics should also disallow the development of machines that can decide to kill a human,\u201d Russell said.\n\nIn August, more than 100 of the world\u2019s leading robotics and AI pioneers called on the UN to ban the development and use of killer robots. The open letter, signed by Tesla\u2019s chief executive, Elon Musk, and Mustafa Suleyman, the founder of Alphabet\u2019s Deep Mind AI unit, warned that an urgent ban was needed to prevent a \u201cthird revolution in warfare\u201d, after gunpowder and nuclear arms. So far, 19 countries have called for a ban, including Argentina, Egypt and Pakistan.\n\nNoel Sharkey, the emeritus professor of AI at Sheffield University and chair of the International Committee on Robot Arms Control, warned about the dangers of autonomous weapons 10 years ago. \u201cThe movie made my hair stand on end as it crystallises one possible futuristic outcome from the development of these hi-tech weapons,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is an emerging arms race among the hi-tech nations to develop autonomous submarines, fighter jets, battleships and tanks that can find their own targets and apply violent force without the involvement of meaningful human decisions. It will only take one major war to unleash these new weapons with tragic humanitarian consequences and destabilisation of global security.\u201d\n\nCriminals and activists have long relied on masks and disguises to hide their identities, but new computer vision techniques can essentially see through them. Earlier this year, Indian government-funded scientists worked with Cambridge University on an algorithm to identify people who obscured their faces with hats and sunglasses, fake beards and scarves. It remains a hard technical problem, but face recognition is only one way to identify people. \u201cA balaclava does not hide one\u2019s gender or age or ethnicity. And it could easily become the \u2018norm\u2019 that the weapons will also attack those deemed to be preventing identification or classification by covering up face and body,\u201d Russell said.\n\n\n\nIn 2015, the UK government opposed an international ban on killer robots. The Foreign Office said it saw no need for the prohibition as international humanitarian law already regulated the area. \u201cThe UK is not developing lethal autonomous weapons systems, and the operation of weapons systems by the UK armed forces will always be under human oversight and control,\u201d a Foreign Office spokesperson said at the time.\n\n\n\nBut according to the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, a number of nations, including the US, China, Russia, Israel, South Korea, and the United Kingdom are moving toward systems that would give \u201cgreater combat autonomy\u201d to machines.\n\n\u201cThe UN moves at iceberg pace and actors with vested interests put obstacles in the path at every turn,\u201d Sharkey said. \u201cBut the campaign continues to move forward with massive support from the scientific community. We must succeed because the alternatives are too horrifying.\u201d", "output": "Lobbyists aim to persuade the United Nations to speed up efforts for a pre-emptive ban on the use of killer drones, as the US, China and UK argue for more autonomous combat machines. In August, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Alphabet DeepMind boss Mustafa Suleyman signed an open letter to the UN calling for a halt to the development of killer drones. Noel Sharkey, chair of the International Committee on Robot Arms Control, said: \"The UN moves at iceberg pace and actors with vested interests put obstacles in the path at every turn.\""}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vodafone digital learning scheme reaches 1.8 million Ghanaians \n Business News of Sunday, 12 November 2017\n\nSource: Seli Abena Azanku\n\nVodafone\u2019s digital education platform 'Instant Schools' has reached 1.8 million hits since it was launched a year ago. The online portal, which is part of a strategic approach by the company to promote digital inclusion, is currently creating a revolution across the country.\n\n\n\nWith a full endorsement from the Ghana Education Service, Instant Schools responds directly to the perennial problem of lack of teaching materials, textbooks, past examination questions and assessment information in many schools across the country.\n\n\n\nThe initiative is delivering a wide range of basic to advanced learning materials online and gives unlimited access to everyone, from the city to the remote villages.\n\n\n\nThe Vodafone Ghana Foundation has introduced the platform to over 40 schools in five regions currently; and other schools in the remaining regions are also in line to benefit. It has a zero-rated unique feature, which means all Vodafone users can access it free of charge on the Vodafone Ghana website.\n\n\n\nCommenting, on this, Yolanda Cuba, Chief Executive of Vodafone Ghana said:\n\n\n\n\u201cThis is a landmark achievement and goes to show the power of education as a tool for change.\n\n\n\nWe are determined to contribute to enhancing the learning experience for students \u2013 to give them a smile on their faces - by making learning a memorable experience. We want to be at the forefront of the educational transformation for the present and future generations. It is a commitment we hold dear to our strategy.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe Instant Schools platform was launched in November last year as part of a commitment by Vodafone to leave noone behind as it strives to entrench its position as the most innovative and creative telecommunications company in Ghana.\n\n\n\n", "output": "Telecommunications company Vodafone has revealed its Instant Schools digital learning platform has achieved 1.8 million hits since its launch last year. The portal offers Vodafone users in Ghana unlimited access to learning materials and is part of the firm's wider commitment to promote digital inclusion in the country. Instant Schools has the backing of the Ghana Education Service, and has been deployed in 40 schools in five regions, with more to follow, according to Vodafone.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "United Therapeutics targets cardiac xenotransplantation \n Heart of a Pig\n\nUnited Therapeutics is set to take a big step forward in its plans to pursue advances in the field of organ transplantation thanks to a new partnership with the University of Maryland. The company has announced a $24 million research partnership that will help the school establish a center specializing in cardiac xenotransplantation research, the first of its kind in the US.\n\nXenotransplantation refers to the cutting-edge practice of transplanting organs between different species. Organ shortages are already a very real concern, and they could grow more pronounced in the future. If we're able to genetically modify organs from animals, we might be able to better satisfy demand.\n\nThe center, which will be constructed in Baltimore, is set to focus on cardiac xenotransplantation. United Therapeutics is also collaborating with the University of Alabama on research pertaining to kidneys, and Columbia-Presbytarian on lung transplants.\n\n\"Xenotransplantation offers hope to thousands of patients who are currently waiting for heart transplants and most of them die waiting for the human organs,\" wrote Muhammad Mansoor Mohiuddin, director of xenoheart transplantation in the Department of Surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, in email correspondence with Futurism. \"Xenotransplantation will provide an alternative to the current available treatment options for end stage organ failure.\"\n\nThe partnership will focus on transplanting pig hearts into human bodies. This concept has been the subject of various studies, including a recent project that was centered around cloned pigs, and a Chinese effort that expects to carry out a successful transplant within the next two years.\n\n\"This grant thrusts our Transplant Division into an elite group of centers doing cutting-edge xenotransplantation research,\" said University of Maryland's chair of the Department of Surgery, Dr. Stephen Bartlett, in a press release. \"We now can look forward to exponentially expanding our department's current and new xeno initiatives, creating an even greater impact in accelerating our trajectory of discovery and innovation in medicine.\"\n\nXenotransplantation Allows for More Organ Donors\n\nMohiuddin stressed that both the University of Maryland and United Therapeutics are eager to make this procedure a \"clinical reality.\" This isn't a research project intended to push the limits of what might be feasible; it's an effort to establish how cardiac xenotransplantation might be used in a practical context.\n\nTo that end, researchers will address some of the most pressing issues that are stopping people in need of organ transplants from being helped. Mohiuddin describes the human immune system's rejection of animal organs as being a \"major barrier\" that has prevented the success of this method in the past. However, genetic modification is offering up ways to counteract these issues.\n\n\"Due to our ability to genetically modify the pigs to make their organs less immunogenic to humans, and the development of novel immunosuppressive drugs, we are able to prevent or delay rejection,\" explained Mohiuddin. Genetic engineering also makes it possible to remove any viruses that might infect humans after the organ has been transplanted.\n\nIn 2016, Mohiuddin led a groundbreaking trial where immunosuppressive drugs were used alongside immunomodulatory antibodies to allow a baboon to support a heart inside its abdomen (with the original heart intact) for a record-breaking 945 days. Now, the challenge is how to build upon those techniques to transplant animal hearts into human patients that can endure for an even greater period of time.", "output": "United Therapeutics has unveiled a $24m partnership with the University of Maryland, focused on cardiac xenotransplantation research. The partners will set up a research centre in Baltimore. Xenotransplantation is\u00a0the practice of transplanting organs between species. The research will focus on transplanting pig hearts into humans; it is hoped that the procedure will eventually prove a viable alternative to current treatment options for end stage organ failure.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IBM builds 50-qubit quantum computer \n The announcement does not mean quantum computing is ready for common use. The system IBM has developed is still extremely finicky and challenging to use, as are those being built by others. In both the 50- and the 20-qubit systems, the quantum state is preserved for 90 microseconds\u2014a record for the industry, but still an extremely short period of time.\n\nNonetheless, 50 qubits is a significant landmark in progress toward practical quantum computers. Other systems built so far have had limited capabilities and could perform only calculations that could also be done on a conventional supercomputer. A 50-qubit machine can do things that are extremely difficult to simulate without quantum technology.\n\nWhereas normal computers store information as either a 1 or a 0, quantum computers exploit two phenomena\u2014entanglement and superposition\u2014to process information differently.\n\n\u201cWe are really proud of this; it\u2019s a big frickin\u2019 deal,\u201d Dario Gil, who directs AI and quantum computing at IBM, told MIT Technology Review. Gil made the announcement at the IEEE Industry Summit on the Future of Computing in Washington, D.C., on Friday morning.\n\nIBM has a storied history in quantum computing. The company\u2019s researchers helped create the field of quantum information processing, and it has pursued fundamental research in the area for decades.\n\nIt has also been making significant progress toward useful quantum systems, first by making quantum computers accessible through the cloud and developing relevant software tools, and second by showing how even a simple machine can do useful work in fields like chemistry (see \u201cIBM Has Used Its Quantum Computer to Simulate a Molecule\u2014Here\u2019s Why That\u2019s Big News\u201d).\n\nIBM is also announcing an upgrade to its quantum cloud software system today. \u201cWe\u2019re at world record pace. But we\u2019ve got to make sure non-physicists can use this,\u201d Gil says.\n\nThe announcement should perhaps be treated cautiously, though. Andrew Childs, a professor at the University of Maryland, points out that IBM has not published details of its system in a peer-reviewed journal. \u201cIBM\u2019s team is fantastic and it\u2019s clear they\u2019re serious about this, but without looking at the details it\u2019s hard to comment,\u201d he says.", "output": "IBM has said it has developed a quantum computer capable of handling 50 quantum bits, or qubits, and is making a 20-qubit system available via the cloud. The breakthrough was announced at the recent Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Industry Summit on the Future of Computing in Washington. Dario Gil, director of artificial intelligence\u00a0and quantum computing at IBM, said the 50-qubit machine was a \"big frickin' deal\". However, other researchers counselled caution, and said details of the device had not been published or peer-reviewed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple News proves important distribution channel for Telegraph \n Since the Telegraph adapted its paywall model last November, the publisher has become more serious about distributing content to third-party platforms. This is particularly true of Apple News. Since January, Apple News has had the publisher sell ads in Apple News in the U.K.\n\nThe Telegraph selects the stories it publishes to Apple News. Since April, it has been using Apple News to drive subscriptions to the 20 percent of its content that is premium. The publisher wouldn\u2019t disclose how many subscribers Apple News has driven. The Telegraph\u2019s Apple News channel gets 5 million unique monthly visitors and delivers 70 million monthly ad impressions, according to the publisher. For comparison, CNN said its Apple News content had 36.5 million unique readers last year.\n\n\u201cApple News is a channel that consistently and continuously performs well for us,\u201d said Dora Michail, digital managing director for The Telegraph, who joined the publisher in February to manage commercial relationships with platforms.\n\nApple News, which comes installed on Apple\u2019s iPhones, launched in October 2015 and is still in its infancy. It claims more than 70 million users. One in five U.K. iPhone users considers Apple News as their main weekly source of news, according to Reuters Digital News Initiative.\n\nFor the most part, publishers have been pleased with the traffic they get from publishing to Apple News. Not all publishers directly monetize on Apple News, instead sharing an RSS feed of content. Publishers have criticized Apple News for their limited access to user data on the platform, on which Apple has historically kept a tight grip. Facebook, by comparison, has a wealth of user data advertisers can access, so monetization from advertising on Apple News has lagged.\n\nOne publisher said the revenue return for the volume of traffic it generates on Apple News is disappointing, and the level of referrals from Apple News to the publisher\u2019s site, where it can more effectively monetize traffic, is less than 0.2 percent. This has led publishers like the Guardian to scale back their partnerships with the platform.\n\n\u201cAs a reseller, our relationship with Apple News extends beyond editorial and into commercial; it\u2019s strong on both angles,\u201d said Michail.\n\nPublishers can sell their own inventory on their own Apple News channels and keep 100 percent of the revenue. The Telegraph\u2019s digital sales team of 15 people sells inventory across the network within Apple News, like in the For You section, a personalized feed of news based on a user\u2019s habits; The Telegraph wouldn\u2019t share what cut of revenue it takes from these sales. Apple has previously said it will keep 50 percent of revenue if a publisher opts for Apple to sell its inventory as part of a network buy.\n\nVodafone and Turkish Airlines are two brands that have advertised on Apple News, which offers display, native and video ad formats. More recently, the two brands have launched vertical video campaigns, brokered by The Telegraph. The vertical video ad plays in between news video stories, accessed when a user swipes right from the home screen to the Today View on their iPhone.\n\nMichail said interest from advertisers continues to grow, saying the growth has been \u201csignificant.\u201d \u201cWe\u2019re making the market; the product has been around for less than a year,\u201d she said.", "output": "UK newspaper the Telegraph has used Apple News to drive subscription to its premium content. The publisher would not disclose how many subscribers the platform has garnered, but said the Telegraph's Apple News channel gets five million unique users a month and delivers 70 million monthly ad impressions. One in five UK iPhone users say Apple News is their main weekly source of news, the Reuters Digital News Initiative said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook challenges listings sites with Local events app \n Today the social network is rebranding its year-old Events app to be called Local, which pulls in local business information on top of events created in Facebook.\n\nLocal aggregates Facebook\u2019s database of 70 million business pages as well as reviews and check-ins. Via the app, consumers can view recommended bars, restaurants and attractions, look at maps and see nearby friends.\n\n\u201cThe new app, Facebook Local, helps you easily find what to do, where to go, where to eat, or what you need\u2014all recommended by the people you know and trust,\u201d said Aditya Koolwal, product manager at Facebook in a statement.\n\nWith", "output": "Facebook's standalone events app has been rebranded Local and could challenge listings companies such as Yelp and Foursquare. Formerly known as Events, Local aggregates Facebook database business pages, reviews and check-ins, as well as events created on the site. Consumers can use the app to view recommended attractions, refer to maps and meet\u00a0nearby friends.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brands to spend almost \u00a36bn on Christmas advertising \n John Lewis 'Moz the Monster' Christmas ad\n\nBrands are set to spend a record of close to \u00a36bn on Christmas advertising during the final quarter of 2017, representing the most ever spent on ads during the festive period.\n\nAccording to the Advertising Association, the \u00a35.92bn ad spend would equate to a year-on-year (YoY) increase of 37 per cent since 2010.\n\n\u201cThe Christmas season is a time when we see many of the very best, big-budget advertisements appearing in our media,\u201d said Karen Fraser, director of the Advertising Association\u2019s advertising think tank Credos. \u201cAs we forecast a record spend from advertisers, many people now see the official start of Christmas as when we hear or see a particular advertisement.\u201d\n\nIn a survey of 1,123 UK adults, carried out by Opinion Matters on behalf of the Advertising Association, it was found that 47 per cent of respondents had been moved to tears by a Christmas ad. Furthermore, 33 per cent said that look forward to Christmas ads just as much as they do for any film release, and around 17 per cent have changed plans just to watch the premiere of a Christmas ad.\n\n\u201cChristmas is a key time for advertisers large and small,\u201d said Fraser. \u201cIn recent years, marketers of businesses using emotive Christmas advertising have won some of the industry\u2019s biggest awards. Businesses delivering advertising with emotional resonance can be rewarded with powerful, long-term effects into the new year and beyond.\u201d\n\nThe link between social media and TV is growing in strength during the period also.\n\nLast year\u2019s Buster the Boxer John Lewis ad became the most shared ad of all-time, generating more than 20m views, and being mentioned more than 30,000 times within two hours of debuting on air.\n\nThis year, the retailer will be hoping for similar success with its story of a young boy and his friendship with an imaginary monster, called \u2018Moz\u2019, living under his bed.\n\nElsewhere, Marks and Spencer has drafted in Paddington Bear, Debenhams has a Cinderella story, and Asda\u2019s features a girl and her grandfather visiting a festive food factory, to name a few.\n\nJoin us at the 2017 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony, taking place in London on Thursday 16 November, to mix with the industry's best and brightest, and raise a glass to the year's best campaigns and solutions. To find out more, and to book your place, click here.", "output": "The Advertising Association has said brands are on track for the biggest Christmas ad spend ever, predicted to be \u00a35.92bn ($7.77bn) during Q4. The trade association said the figure was a 37% year-on-year increase since 2010, thanks in part to high-quality, heart-tugging ads. \"Businesses delivering advertising with emotional resonance can be rewarded with powerful, long-term effects into the new year and beyond,\" said Karen Fraser, the director of the Advertising Association\u2019s thinktank Credos. Opinion Matters\u00a0surveyed 1,123 adults\u00a0on behalf of\u00a0the Advertising Association\u00a0of whom\u00a047% said a Christmas ad had moved them to tears."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Deutsche Bahn's 'Ideas train' seeks to disrupt how we use rail \n The impending era of driverless rides could prove disruptive for traditional modes of public transport. But, Germany's state-owned railway company thinks it has a solution, and it sounds like a lot of fun -- especially for gamers. It just unveiled plans for a new train complete with a digital coach that packs TVs and game consoles. Deutsche Bahn's \"Ideenzug\" (\"Idea Train\") will also boast gym equipment and a play area for kids. The railway firm envisions the project as a way to keep pace with, and even overtake, self-driving cars. (If it thinks autonomous vehicles are a scary prospect, wait till it learns of the Hyperloop).\n\nFor people turned off by backward-facing chairs, the train will boast swivelling seats (some of which will also come with bulges on either side for added privacy). Deutsche Bahn is currently showing off a replica of the project. But, making it a reality could prove a tricky prospect, with some claiming that it may not pass security regulations, as reported by German newspaper S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung. The sticking point seems to be the gym equipment, so gaming will likely still be on the cards.\n\nRailway travel is changing elsewhere too, but these modifications have hinged on green energy and faster journeys. India, for example, recently debuted a solar-powered train, while Japan is known for its high-speed bullet trains. But, Deutsche Bahn's project seems retrofitted to accommodate the modern-day traveller. Someone who wants to get in a workout, catch up on work, and indulge in some multiplayer action en route to their destination. All that's missing is Netflix.", "output": "Germany's state-owned railway company Deutsche Bahn has unveiled a train it believes could compete with self-driving cars. The Ideenzug or \"Ideas train\" includes a digital coach with TVs and games consoles, a play area for children and a gym, as well as swivelling seats for passengers who don't like to travel backwards. However, reports in German newspaper S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung suggested some of the innovative train's features, notably the gym may not survive security regulations."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Adfenix raises $6m in series A\u00a0to help agents target social media \n Post navigation\n\nA Swedish technology company, Adfenix, that specialises in helping estate agents promote their business and listings on social media has received \u00a34.5m of venture capital funding to expand its UK presence and move into America.\n\nThe money has been provided by venture capital firms Notion Capital, Industrifonden, Starbright and Goodfellow.\n\nAdfenix, which operates in the Nordics, UK and Australia, says the funds will be used to grow its existing operations and to expand into the US.\n\nIt claims to be able to help estate agents reach potential buyers three times faster using social media, instead of being forced to rely on portals.\n\nIts services are used by UK agencies including RE/MAX and Farrell Heyworth.\n\nThe company provides three products. Its Home Booster offering takes property listings from agents subscribing to its services and turns them into targeted adverts on social media. Its Agent Booster service advertises the agency on social media by sharing targeted reviews. There is also an online chatbot service that lets website visitors ask questions and book viewings.\n\nThe service costs from around \u00a350 per advert depending on the region.\n\nGabriel Kamienny, co-founder of Adfenix, said: \u201cWe are equipping real estate agents and their clients with the power to sell and buy homes easier and quicker.\n\n\u201cI truly believe that the estate agents of tomorrow are all going to be tech-enabled, and we want to help both traditional agencies to make this leap as well as boosting the new class of hybrid online agencies with their value proposition.\u201d\n\nJeremy Collins, of Farrell Heyworth, said: \u201cWe are able to more than double the number of showings in the first three weeks of a listing when we use Adfenix Home Booster.\u201d", "output": "Swedish advertising technology company, Adfenix, has raised $6m in series A funding to expand it business across the UK and America. Adfenix claims that by using social media targeting it\u00a0can help estate agents to reach potential clients three times faster than if they were to use online portals. Gabriel Kamienny, co-founder of Adfenix, stated that the company aims to equip real estate agents of tomorrow with the tools to be a tech-enabled service."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK makes data on corporate property ownership freely available \n Today, HM Land Registry is making available, for free, data on land or property in England and Wales where the registered legal owner is a UK company or corporate body, or an overseas company.\n\nThe Commercial and Corporate Ownership Data and Overseas Companies Ownership Data contain more than 3 million rows of data and include the address, company\u2019s name, price paid and country of incorporation along with other useful information.\n\nBy making the data available free of charge HM Land Registry is offering citizens and organisations the opportunity to scrutinise the records and discover which companies own land and property in England and Wales.\n\nToday\u2019s release also removes existing cost barriers that have previously restricted the use of the data. This will support growth in the property technology (PropTech) sector and among small and medium-sized enterprises.\n\nResponding to the Government\u2019s commitment to drive innovation in the digital economy, HM Land Registry will be opening up more of its datasets externally and across government to promote economic development, financial stability, tax collection, law enforcement and national security.\n\nChief Executive and Chief Land Registrar Graham Farrant said:\n\nWe are continually striving to make the best use of our hugely valuable data. Our ambition is to become \u2018the world\u2019s leading land registry for speed, simplicity and an open approach to data\u2019. The release of two significant sets of data today marks another important milestone in that journey. We will be releasing more datasets in high quality and accessible formats to enable them to be used by anyone with an interest in land and property, supporting the growing digital economy and adding to the nation\u2019s geospatial intelligence.\n\nHM Land Registry is committed to protecting the register while encouraging greater use of the data. To safeguard against possible fraud or misuse, the datasets are being released under licence and require users to register to get access.\n\nNotes to editors", "output": "HM Land Registry has made data on land and property owned by companies in England and Wales freely available. The information made available includes company names and addresses;\u00a0the price paid for land or properties;\u00a0and country of incorporation. The move is aimed at boosting the growth of the proptech industry and enabling citizens and firms to scrutinise records. Users must register to access the data but it is hoped that greater transparency will promote economic development, financial stability, tax collection, law enforcement and national security.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ESPN launches Snapchat version of its SportsCenter news brand \n After rolling out daily news shows from NBC News and CNN in recent months, Snapchat is teaming with ESPN to bring a regular sports show to the platform for the first time. But unlike the NBC News and CNN shows, ESPN\u2019s new offering from Snapchat carries the name of one of the network\u2019s biggest brands: SportsCenter.", "output": "ESPN has launched its SportsCenter news brand for the Snapchat platform, publishing twice-daily broadcasts during the week, and once over the weekend. Additional episodes will be produced to cover breaking news. The Snapchat versions of SportsCenter will be up to five minutes long and feature several ESPN personalities.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SpaceX reveals 'BFR' rocket plans for Mars travel \n Elon Musk has outlined more details of his vision for SpaceX's future missions to Mars, during a question and answer session on Reddit.\n\nThe firm plans to send two cargo ships to Mars in 2022, followed by four further vessels - two with cargo and two with human settlers - in 2024.\n\nAmong the topics under discussion were plans for the firm's Interplanetary Transport System, or Big F***ing Rocket (BFR), as well as life on the red planet.\n\nOne of Musk's biggest revelations was his plans for internet on Mars, which he says would even allow settlers to use Snapchat during their stay.\n\nScroll down for video\n\nElon Musk has outlined more details of his vision for SpaceX's future missions to Mars, during a question and answer session on social media\n\nSNAPCHAT ON MARS Some users questioned how Mars would be able to communicate and exchange information with Earth. At certain times of the year, there will be a distance of more than 20 light-minutes separating the two planets. Musk suggested that some sort of new 'space internet' would be needed. He said: 'If anyone wants to build a high bandwidth comm link to Mars, please do.' However he also noted that when the planets are closer together, with a minimum distance of three light minutes, data transfer would be less problematic. He added: 'So you could Snapchat, I suppose. If that's a thing in the future.' Advertisement !- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/ru/sciencetech/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 - ->\n\nMusk began the Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit discussing the latest addition to his company's arsenal, the 'Big F***ing Rocket' (BFR).\n\nThe vehicle, announced in September at the International Astronautical Congress, will be used for faster travel between destinations on Earth, as well as to transport people to Mars.\n\nFans who took part in the AMA were keen to know more about the Interplanetary Transport System (ITS), which uses the BFR to carry the 'Big F***ing Ship' (BFS) spacecraft.\n\nThe reusable booster rocket and spaceship hybrid will be powered by 31 of SpaceX's Raptor engines and will carry people to Mars in 2024.\n\nMusk said that the SpaceX's primary concern is getting the ITS up to spec, to ensure the safety of future colonists, but that other companies will have work on the development of the colony itself.\n\nHe said: 'Our goal is get you there and ensure the basic infrastructure for propellant production and survival is in place.\n\n'A rough analogy is that we are trying to build the equivalent of the transcontinental railway.\n\n'A vast amount of industry will need to be built on Mars by many other companies and millions of people.'\n\nMusk began the Ask Me Anything session on Reddit discussing the latest addition to his company's arsenal, the 'Big F***ing Rocket' (artist's impression)\n\nThis might include the development of a 'space internet', which would allow colonists to Snapchat from Mars, Musk noted.\n\nHe said: 'If anyone wants to build a high bandwidth comm link to Mars, please do.'\n\nHowever he also noted that when the planets are closer together, with a minimum distance of three light minutes, data transfer would be less problematic.\n\nThe firm plans to send two cargo ships to Mars in 2022, followed by four further vessels - two with cargo and two with human settlers - in 2024\n\nHe added: 'So you could Snapchat, I suppose. If that's a thing in the future.'\n\nSome changes have been made since the idea for the ITS was first floated in 2016, which Reddit users were quick to pick up on.\n\nThe Raptor engines being tested for the journey to Mars were once stated to have about 300 tons of thrust, but this was later reduced to 170.\n\nOne user asked why this was the case, and Musk jokingly answered that 'we chickened out.'\n\nBut in a more in-depth response, he stated that this was to improve overall reliability, with more engines delivering a lower thrust now being employed.\n\nMusk said: 'In order to be able to land the BF Ship with an engine failure at the worst possible moment, you have to have multiple engines.\n\n'If you just have two engines that do everything, the engine complexity is much higher and, if one fails, you've lost half your power.'\n\nThe rocket will be bigger than any other in existence, and will take satellites to orbit, crew and cargo to the International Space Station and even lead manned missions to the moon\n\nThe BFR would fly most routes on Earth - New York to Tokyo, for example - in about 30 minutes, and anywhere in under an hour, as well as carrying astronauts to Mars\n\nIn terms of a timeframe for development Musk outlined his expectations of how testing will proceed.\n\nOver the next five or so years before SpaceX's first planned launch, the Hawthorne, California, firm will be starting with a full-scale test of short hops of a few hundred kilometres (miles) in terms of height and distance travelled.\n\nThe BFR will use 31 Raptor engines (pictured) to produce a liftoff thrust of 5,400 tons, lifting a total mass of 4,400 tons\n\nHe added: 'Next step will be doing orbital velocity Ship flights.\n\n'Worth noting that BFS is capable of reaching orbit by itself with low payload, but having the BF Booster increases payload by more than an order of magnitude.\n\n'Earth is the wrong planet for single stage to orbit. No problemo on Mars.\n\nNASA 'CAN'T AFFORD' MARS TRIP NASA's spaceflight boss have admitted the space agency does not have the budget for manned mission to Mars. During a meeting of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics on Wednesday, NASA's chief of human spaceflight William H. Gerstenmaier revealed the agency was unable to put a date on missions due to the lack of funding. The embarrassing admission comes days after Vice President Mike Pence vowed to usher in a 'new era' of American leadership in space, with a return to the Moon and explorers on Mars. 'I can't put a date on humans on Mars, and the reason really is that at the budget levels we described, this roughly 2 percent increase, we don't have the surface systems available for Mars,' said NASA's William H. Gerstenmaier, responding to a question about when NASA will send humans to the surface of Mars. 'The entry, descent and landing is a huge challenge for us for Mars,' he said. 'We think an unfuelled mars asset vehicle would weigh around 20 tons, that's a 20 fold increase on a rover.' Gerstenmaier also hinted the agency may instead look at returning to the moon instead, and spoke of 'fiscal realism'. 'If we find out there's water on the Moon, and we want to do more extensive operations on the Moon to go explore that, we have the ability with Deep Space Gateway to support an extensive Moon surface program,' he said, according to ars. 'If we want to stay focused more toward Mars we can keep that.' Advertisement !- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/ru/sciencetech/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_2 - ->\n\nOne of the most upvoted questions posed to Musk was on how he plans to scale the rocket up from a prototype device.\n\nMusk said that scaling wouldn't be a problem, but SpaceX's main focus is on making sure the rockets are reliable and safe.\n\nHe said: 'The objective is to meet or exceed passenger airline levels of safety.\n\nOnce pressurised, the BFR's cabin volume reaches 825 cubic metres - more than that of an Airbus A380 cabin. Pictured is an artist's impression of the rocket docking with the International Space Station\n\nThe nose also houses a central storage area, galley and solar storm shelter to keep passengers safe during dangerous bouts of solar activity\n\n'That will be especially important for point to point journeys on Earth.\n\n'The advantage of getting somewhere in 30 mins by rocket instead of 15 hours by plane will be negatively affected if \"but also, you might die\" is on the ticket.'\n\nAnother question about the BFR's engines, and whether they will be 3D printed, revealed SpaceX has developed an entirely new type of high-strength metal alloy.\n\nAsked about life on Mars itself, Musk claimed that the company is more concerned with the journey than the colony (artist's impression)\n\nMusk said: 'Some parts of the Raptor will be printed, but most of it will be machined forgings.\n\n'We developed a new metal alloy for the oxygen pump that has both high strength at temperature at won't burn.\n\n'Pretty much anything will burn in high pressure, hot, almost pure oxygen.'", "output": "SpaceX, the American space exploration company founded by entrepreneur Elon Musk, has given further details of its plans for missions to Mars. In a question and answer session on Reddit, Musk discussed the company's \"BFR\" (\"Big F***ing Rocket\") propulsion system, which will be used to propel its spacecraft on\u00a0interplanetary journeys as well as on intercontinental\u00a0flights\u00a0on Earth. The rocket will be powered by 31 of SpaceX's Raptor engines\u00a0and full tests are planned over the next six years. The company intends to send cargo ships to Mars in 2022 and\u00a0the first human settlers in 2024.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ping An plans to invest $1bn in global fintech, health start-ups \n \n\n\n\nListen: \"Jonathan Larsen Explains How Chinese Insurance Giant Ping An Wants To Invest $1B In Global Tech Start-Ups\" https://media.blubrry.com/chinamoneypodcast/p/assets.chinamoneynetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/20171113141817/china-money-network-2017-11-13.mp3\n\n\n\n\n\nFor Jonathan Larsen, an 18-year Citi veteran, joining China\u2019s Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. was like an army general being asked to lead a small, elite squad. As Global Head of Retail Banking and Mortgages at Citi, Larsen oversaw a global team of 80,000 employees. But when he joined Ping An this May as Chief Innovation Officer and CEO of the US$1 billion Ping An Global Voyager Fund, the team was just him and his assistant on his first day.\n\nBut his responsibilities and opportunities are possibly greater than ever. As CEO of Ping An\u2019s new Global Voyager Fund, Larsen is leading a growing team of professionals to deploy US$1 billion to companies globally to help the Chinese insurance giant\u2019s drive toward becoming an innovative conglomerate. On top of that, as chief innovation officer of the whole group, Larsen works with the senior management team to make sure that Ping An comes out as a leader of innovation ahead of its competitors in the mid- to long-term.\n\n\"Its a welcome change and it\u2019s very energizing to come to a new domain with very different mission and agenda. Even though the scope of people management is different, the nature of the roles are actually complimentary,\" Larsen told China Money Network at Ping An\u2019s Hong Kong office at the International Finance Center.\n\nPing An, the country\u2019s largest insurer by market value, launched its first overseas fund \u2013 the Global Voyager Fund \u2013 to primarily invest in fintech and healthcare technology globally, with US$1 billion to be allocated by the parent group. The fund has an ambitious objective: to fully invest the US$1 billion in the next three to four years in companies that will \"move the needle\" for Ping An\u2019s innovation objectives.\n\n\"The Global Voyager Fund is one of many levers for driving innovation within Ping An,\" says Larsen. \"It\u2019s about making investments in companies that have distinctive technologies, platforms and models that could achieve success and have strategic relevance for Ping An\u2019s existing and new business.\"\n\nFor fintech, Larsen says that he is most concerned with three parameters when considering a potential investment: the technology, how that technology is likely to unlock value, and what is the synergy between the technology and Ping An. A positive investment needs to click all three boxes.\n\nPersonal and business lending platforms, business model innovations and insurance tech space are some of the areas that Ping An is particularly interested in, Larsen says. In September, Ping An Global Voyager Fund made its first investment in European fintech company, 10x Future Technologies, a fintech company founded by former Barclays CEO Antony Jenkins. The company focuses on providing holistic technology solutions to banks that allow them to keep their APIs and data in one place. Such a platform could be integrated in Ping An\u2019s own bank and its Ping An Financial OneConnect, a platform under Ping An tasked with exporting the fintech capacity of the group to other financial institutions.\n\nIn healthcare, Ping An has paid attention to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for diagnostics, helping physicians shape treatment paths, as well as the use of wearables, and mobile technology for adherence monitoring and follow-up consultations. Ping An, of course, has a healthcare insurance business in China and also owns Good Doctor, a personal health mobile app with 500,000 daily active users. Any investments in these areas would likely have an attractive strategic component for Ping An, Larsen says.\n\nsubscribe to China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Read an interview Q&A below. Alsoto China Money Podcast for free in the iTunes store, orto our weekly newsletter.\n\nQ: You joined Ping An in May as chief innovation officer and also the CEO of the US$1 billion Ping An Global Voyager Fund. What\u2019s the biggest change from your past retail banking role at Citi?\n\nA: During the last four and half years, I have been running the global retail banking group at Citi. From front to back, I had about 80,000 people working for me one way or another, so it\u2019s a big change to come to a small team (at Ping An). In fact, I had (only) my assistant and me for the first day. But of course, Ping An is a huge group itself with 325,000 staff and 1.2 million life insurance agents, but our fund is new as we are starting from scratch and building up our team.\n\nIts a welcome change and it\u2019s very energizing to come to a new domain with very different mission and agenda. Even though the scope of people management is different, the nature of the roles are actually complimentary as I was in touch with new fintech technologies at Citi already.\n\nQ: You have two roles at Ping An, as chief innovation officer and CEO of the Global Voyager Fund. How do they overlap or differentiate?\n\nA: As chief innovation officer for Ping An overall, I\u2019m here to help the group to continue to innovate and to find new technology, new platforms and new approaches that can be integrated into their businesses. That include companies in China and internationally.\n\nThe Global Voyager Fund is one of many levers for driving innovation within Ping An. It\u2019s about making investments in companies that have distinctive technologies, platforms and models that could achieve success and have strategic relevance for Ping An\u2019s existing and new business.\n\nQ: Is this a corporate venture fund?\n\nA: It is a corporate venture fund and our objective is strategic. Via a minority investment in a company we want to achieve some form of partnership that\u2019s going to be helpful to our businesses.\n\nQ: When you say the Ping An Global Voyager Fund is one of many levers for driving innovation, how would you describe the coordination among all those levers?\n\nA: Ping An has dozens of business lines and each runs with high level of autonomy, coupled with a disciplined KPI system. It\u2019s the most disciplined KPI system I have ever seen in my career, actually, a very detailed and very vigorous system to drive what they need to deliver.\n\nQ: Give us an example. For Ping An Global Voyager Fund, what\u2019s your KPI?\n\nA: That\u2019s an interesting thing, I think I am the only person in the company apart from the chairman that doesn\u2019t have KPI. My agenda is much more open. But the important part is that innovation comes from bottom up and from within, it comes from strategic partnerships, it\u2019s from ideas we generate from group level that can be injected into the businesses, and also the partnership we are creating through the voyage fund.\n\nQ: When the fund was established, did it require government approval as it\u2019s an offshore investment platform?\n\nA: It\u2019s entirely Ping An\u2019s capital, and we\u2019re actively investing as we speak. The fund is using capital Ping An already has overseas, so it\u2019s completely compliant with the foreign exchange requirements and any other approvals that are required for deploying capital internationally.\n\nQ: Let\u2019s talk about one of the fund\u2019s focus area, fintech. What are some specific areas in this sector that you\u2019re most optimistic about?\n\nA: Typically, we apply three lenses: Where is the innovation; where is that innovation likely to unlock real value; and what is it going to give the most leverage and be most relevant to Ping An?\n\nThere could be areas that look like a really good opportunity internationally, but maybe less relevant in China. For example, in the International remittances area, obviously China has currency controls and not all of the remittance products that we see in the U.S., Europe or U.K., could simply be applied in a direct way. So that limits opportunities (and won\u2019t be very relevant to us).\n\nQ: Could you give us a couple of examples of companies that fit all those criteria you just described?\n\nA: I\u2019ll tell you about the first deal that we\u2019ve just announced, which is an investment in a company called 10x Future Technologies that was set up two years ago by Anthony Jenkins, who is the former CEO of Barclays and has 30 years experience in retail banking and credit cards.\n\nThe company aims to help banks build contemporary tools, APIs and data lake construction that allows structured and unstructured data to be kept in one place. It solves the problems faced by large-scale banks, which have many layers of legacy technology components that are very expensive and complicated.\n\nQ: What is the strategic part of this investment?\n\nA: Well, Ping An has its own bank and we also have a very interesting business called Ping An OneConnect, which is a business that tries to leverage Ping An\u2019s capabilities and make them available to other players within the China market, with 200 banks joining. So Ping An could take the 10X platform and make that part our core component.\n\nQ: How many companies have you talked to so far for investment purposes?\n\nA: It\u2019s about 250 so far in the past five months. 10X is our first investment and we have a very robust pipeline. Our focus is global and our primary purpose is to look outside China to find leading platforms that we can then bring to China.\n\nWe\u2019re very interested in personal and business lending platform, model innovations and the whole insure tech space. We think that insurance is definitely going to experience fundamental changes in delivery technology over the next three to five years. For example, when you leave the country, your phone knows and trigger travel insurance as needed. Also, low price-point insurance, theft insurance personal accident insurance and travel insurance could also be applied with innovative delivery technology.\n\nQ: Let\u2019s move on to healthcare, what specific areas in this market are you focusing on?\n\nA: Ping An has its own health insurance business in China, we also own Good Doctor, which is the largest tele-medicine platform in the world with 140 million users and 500,000 daily active users. We\u2019re very active in working with municipalities in China in the government health insurance space. We also have a clinic enterprise business that supports about 30% of the clinics in China around the world.\n\nWe\u2019re seeing a lot of very interesting innovation, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for diagnostic triage, for helping the physicians shape the treatment path, the use of wearables, and the use of mobile technology for adherence monitoring, or for follow-up consultation. Imaging is also very interesting. The technology still has some way to go, but it\u2019s at the point where it\u2019s investable and very close to being commercializable on the large scale.\n\nQ: For companies like Good Doctor, what\u2019s your thinking on if there is a way to actually monetize this type of apps?\n\nA: I think there are many channels for delivering revenue. For example, a British tele-medicine platform is actually used as part of the government health insurance program, where it actually is reimbursable by the government health insurance platform. Also, the New Zealand government right now is using a U.S.-based company called healthTap to build tele-medicine as part of its national health delivery strategy.\n\nWe see models in the U.S. where platforms such as Good Doctor are able to charge directly for patients and are able to recover costs, or the patients are able to recover costs through private health insurance. There are product sales that can go with consultations for a user base large enough, and obviously there are advertising opportunities and so forth.\n\nQ: What\u2019s the most important criteria when you make investments, is it the technology or the synergy with Ping An?\n\nA: Of course we want to deploy money efficiently and get a fair return but the overriding rationale is strategic relevance.\n\nGenerally we\u2019re not interested in very early-stage companies as a direct investment opportunity. Typically we want to see companies that are three to seven, or three to ten years old, we want them to have a product, client base and a revenue base however small, or the ability for future profitability, as well as being stable with mature management that we think can really build a business.\n\nQ: Let\u2019s talk about artificial intelligence, across all the different sectors, what are the most promising application of AI that you see right now ?\n\nA: Well, I think we\u2019ve seen a lot of good applications in image recognition also we\u2019ve made pretty good progress in facial recognition. Ping An uses facial recognition for people logging into the online sites or getting a loan from us. We match your face against a government database of faces to eliminate identity fraud in combination with other variables.\n\nWe\u2019ve clearly seen decent advances in fraud analysis and credit analysis using AI techniques or machine learning techniques, as well as interactive voice replacing a lot of call center functionality.\n\nQ: Let\u2019s talk about investing in non-Chinese companies as a Chinese investor, how do you think the recipients of Ping An\u2019s capital perceive you?\n\nA: For Ping An, the astonishing part (for people unfamiliar with the company) is the width of its business, the far-reaching vision for both financial and healthcare sectors, and also how Ping An can be re-positioned as a technology company in the future in terms of how it uses data, machine learning and artificial intelligence.\n\nFrom my experience, our capital is extremely welcome. We approach companies to learn, to take advantage and to leverage the innovation they created.\n\nQ: Recently, China banned initial coin offerings and also the Chinese central bank is rumored to be preparing to issue their own cryptocurrency\uff0cwhat\u2019s your view of cryptocurrency development in China?\n\nA: I think the whole crypto phenomenon is very interesting and I don\u2019t like the idea that you can just make up your own currency and expect it to fly as a medium of exchange. I think the way that the global monetary system works today is that central banks are in charge of the supply of money and I can\u2019t see any basis on which responsible central banks would be willing to give up that control.\n\nSo that raises a separate question: Would it be possible to express central bank issued currencies in the form of an algorithmic currency? I think the answer is quite promising. If you think about it, today currency is virtualized already and there\u2019s no physical instrument that transfers in many situations. I think that will be the future.\n\nAbout Jonathan Larsen: Jonathan Larsen joined Ping An Group this May as the company\u2019s chief innovation officer and CEO of Ping An\u2019s US$1 billion Global Voyager Fund. Prior to Ping An, Larsen worked at Citi for 18 years, last as the company\u2019s global head of retail banking and mortgages.\n\n(China Money Network reporter Pan Yue also contributed to this article.)", "output": "Chinese insurer Ping An is planning $1bn worth of investments in fintech and healthcare startups. The firm is planning to make the investments within the next three or four years with the goal of increasing its technological clout. As well as insurtech, the company is also interested in new innovative banking and lending platforms. Ping An will also look for AI-powered health start-ups as well as companies using data analysis with wearables and mobile technology.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Opioids kill more in the US than Aids at its peak: Zuckerberg \n The \u201cbiggest surprise by far\u201d from Mark Zuckerberg\u2019s listening tour of America is the extent of the opioid crisis, the Facebook CEO said on Friday.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s really saddening to see,\u201d he said, referencing the 64,000 people who died from drug overdoses last year.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s more people than died from Aids at the peak of the Aids epidemic. That\u2019s more Americans that died in the whole of the Vietnam War. It\u2019s more people than die of car accidents and gun violence I think combined, and it\u2019s growing quickly,\u201d he added.\n\nZuckerberg\u2019s eyes welled up as he talked about his encounters with communities affected by the crisis. He described sitting down with a group of recovering heroin addicts in Dayton, Ohio, and hearing a woman say how when she was an addict her objective with shooting up was to get as close to death as she could without dying. He mentioned another man whose thought upon seeing his friend overdose was \u201cI wonder who that guy\u2019s dealer is because that must be really good stuff\u201d.\n\n\n\n\u201cSo this is like ... just intense,\u201d said Zuckerberg, speaking in a 50-minute Q&A at the University of Kansas.\n\nZuckerberg made his comments about opioid addiction the day after former Facebook president Sean Parker used the language of addiction to criticize the social network, stating that features such as the \u201clike\u201d button were designed to give users \u201ca little dopamine hit\u201d.\n\nThe Facebook CEO also highlighted the impact of opioid addiction on the broader community, including the strain on police resources and the employable workforce, referencing an Alabama shrimp fisherman who couldn\u2019t find people to work on his boat because so many people were hooked on opioids.The \u201cgood news\u201d, he added, is that there is a roadmap for dealing with these kinds of crises \u2013 as demonstrated by France, which had its own opioid crisis in the 1990s and 2000s.\n\nZuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have pledged billions to tackling disease through their philanthropic organization the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The Guardian contacted the organization to find out if it would be allocating any funds to tackling the opioid crisis, but received no response.\n\nThe tech CEO\u2019s photogenic trip around 30 states in America to meet people in communities outside of his Silicon Valley bubble has led many to speculate that he plans to run for president \u2013 something the CEO and the company have repeatedly denied.\n\nFor Zuckerberg, many of the answers lie not in government, but in the vague concept of \u201ccommunity\u201d \u2013 which conveniently ties into the company\u2019s updated mission statement, announced in February.\n\nThe year-long trip around the country has had a profound impact on how Zuckerberg views himself and his approach to tackling complex problems.\n\n\u201cI started this year as an engineer and now I\u2019m wrapping it up thinking of myself as more of a community builder too,\u201d he said.\n\nBeing a community builder as well as an engineer requires the ability to not only solve problems but to \u201cshare values\u201d and \u201csupport people\u201d, he explained.\n\nZuckerberg highlighted some of the positive communities on Facebook that bring parents or sufferers of rare diseases together, without mentioning the way that the social network provides a handy way for neo-Nazis to organize.\n\nThe tech billionaire\u2019s failure to acknowledge the downsides to technological development has led some, including Elon Musk on the topic of artificial intelligence, to criticize him as naive. However, towards the end of the session Zuckerberg explained where his relentless optimism comes from.\n\n\u201cOptimists tend to be successful and pessimists tend to be right,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you think something is going to be terrible you are going to look for data points to prove you are right. You will find them. That\u2019s what pessimists do.\n\n\u201cBut if you believe something can work [\u2026] you are going to look for a way to make it happen. Even when you make mistakes, even when people doubt you, you are going to keep pushing forward and make it happen.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe world is full of pessimists right now. There\u2019s no doubt we face a lot of challenges and we have a lot of responsibility and work to do. But we also have a responsibility to remain optimistic so we can solve these problems because optimists are the only ones that will.\u201d", "output": "More people in the US are dying from opioid overdoses today than from Aids\u00a0at the peak of the epidemic,\u00a0with the numbers fast growing, according to Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg.\u00a0He also warned of the more broader knock-on effects of\u00a0opioid addiction, including the strain on police resources and a reduction of the employable workforce. The statements come amid rumours of Zuckerberg's intention to\u00a0run for the presidential office. \"We\u00a0have a responsibility to remain optimistic so we can solve these problems, because optimists are the only ones that will\u201d, said Zuckerberg."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesla introduces its insurance scheme to New Zealand \n Tesla to expand its insurance programme to New Zealand\n\nPosted on 12 November, 2017\n\nTesla has created a customised insurance program, InsureMyTesla, that claims to be cheaper than traditional plans because its specifically tailored to their advanced safety features, such as the Autopilot system. InsureMyTesla is already available in twenty countries and is underwritten by insurers partnering with Tesla. In New Zealand, Tesla is partnering with Vero Insurance. The insurance package demonstrates how the insurance industry is bound for disruption as cars get safer with self-driving capabilities. Until then, Tesla\u2019s safety features should theoretically reduce insurance rates. However some Tesla owners have reported that they have been paying higher than average premiums to drive their electric cars. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that insurance agencies should adjust their prices for Tesla vehicles because the cars come with Autopilot, the company\u2019s advanced assisted feature. \u201cNot to the exclusion of insurance providers but if we find that insurance providers are not matching the insurance proportionate to the risk of the car, then if we need to, we will in-source it,\u201d Musk said in February. The deal with Vero Insurance shows how New Zealand insurance agencies are starting to understand that they must adjust their prices as cars get safer. In the near future Tesla hopes to package the price of insurance and maintenance into the price of future vehicles. \u201cIt takes into account not only the Autopilot safety features but also the maintenance cost of the car,\u201d Jon McNeill, Tesla\u2019s vice president of sales and services, has said of InsureMyTesla. \u201cIt\u2019s our vision in the future we could offer a single price for the car, maintenance, and insurance.\u201d For more information click here.", "output": "Tesla has introduced its insurance scheme for its vehicles to New Zealand, following the company's roll out of the scheme in the US. InsureMyTesla, the company's scheme, is billed as providing cheaper coverage than other insurance providers due to the fact it takes into account the car manufacturer's auto-driving functionality. Tesla will be partnering with Vero Insurance in New Zealand for the latest roll out of the coverage. InsureMyTesla is now available in more than 20 countries. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Innogy upgrades Galloper wind farm \n German energy company Innogy has upgraded the power rating of its Galloper wind farm to 353MW from 336MW.\n\n\n\nThe developer said it had secured an extra 17MW of power across the project after working with Siemens Gamesa to boost the output of the project's 56 turbines to 6.3MW from 6MW.\n\nInnogy also achieved first power at Galloper on 5 November.\u201cWe have generated in record time having built the offshore part of the project in a single year which is a fantastic achievement. It has been a superb team effort from everyone involved,\u201d said project director Toby Edmonds.The developer has installed some 33 turbines at the project, with Swire Blue Ocean's Pacific Orca and Fred Olsen Windcarrier's Bold Tern are both on site continuing installation.", "output": "German energy firm Innogy has worked with Siemens Gamesa to increase the output of its Galloper wind farm wind farm turbines from 6MW to 6.3MW, resulting in a power rating rise to 353 MW from 336 MW. The 56-turbine project generated its first power on 5 November."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EDF Energies Nouvelles commits to 251 MW in India \n EDF Energies Nouvelles (EDF EN) has commissioned eight renewable energy plants in India with a combined capacity of 251 MW, the company announced today.\n\nThe renewables arm of French energy major EDF SA (EPA:EDF) has commissioned five wind parks totalling 164 MW in the state of Gujarat. Together, the wind farms consist of 82 turbines that have the capacity to power 460,000 local homes. EDF EN built the plants through SITAC Wind Management and Development, a 50/50 joint venture with the SITAC Group. Each wind farm has a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with local utility Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL).\n\nEDF EN also said it has commissioned three solar power stations totalling 87 MWp. Two of them, each with a capacity of 36 MWp, are located in Uttarakhand state. The company\u2019s 50/50 joint venture with EREN Renewable Energy, namely EDEN, holds a 49% stake in each plant, while local partners Omkar Powertech India Private Limited, Profigate Infra Gasoline and Rays Power Infra own the remaining 51%.\n\nThe third solar park, of 15 MWp capacity, is located in Madhya Pradesh and is wholly-owned by EDEN. Each of the three plants has a 25-year PPA with local transmission system operators.\n\nThe eight new renewable energy facilities bring the EDF group\u2019s total solar and wind capacity in India to nearly 371 MW, EDF EN said. The group aims at 100 GWp and 60 GW by 2022, respectively.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "EDF Energies Nouvelles has commissioned eight energy plants in India boasting a combined capacity of 251 MW. The portfolio comprises five wind parks in the state of Gujarat, three solar power stations in Uttarakhand state and a solar park in Madhya Pradesh. EDF said the additional projects take its total solar and wind capacity in India to 371 MW, against a target of 60 GW by 2022."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New Energy Solar targets $230m from upcoming listing \n Australian investment company New Energy Solar is targeting up to AUD 300 million (USD 230m/EUR 198m) in proceeds through its upcoming listing on the Australian Stock Exchange, it said on Thursday.\n\nThe company and Walsh & Co, the representative of the New Energy Solar Fund, have filed with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) an offer document for the public offering of stapled securities and options. They hope to raise up to AUD 200 million and possibly accept oversubscriptions for a further AUD 100 million, a news statement says.\n\nThe offering will consist of a Retail Offer, scheduled to open on November 10 and expected to close on November 27, and an Institutional Offer. The final price of the stapled securities that will be issued is to be determined by an institutional bookbuild.\n\nNew Energy Solar plans to use the proceeds from the offering to finance the recently-announced acquisition of a solar portfolio in the US from Cypress Creek Renewables (CCR). The said portfolio includes 14 solar projects in North Carolina and Oregon that should be completed by the end of next year.\n\nA portion of the proceeds may also be used to fund future opportunities, including a currently reviewed project pipeline that represents a direct current (DC) capacity of more than 3,000 MW in Australia and the US.\n\nNew Energy Solar presently owns two solar plants in North Carolina and a further two in California with a combined DC capacity of 225 MW.\n\n(AUD 1.0 = USD 0.766/EUR 0.661)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Australian company New Energy Solar said it hopes to raise up to AUD300m ($230m) via a listing on the Australian Stock Exchange. In filings to the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, New Energy Solar said its public offering comprised a retail offer, running from 10-27 November, followed by an institutional offer. The company aims to raise AUD200m, with the possibility of another AUD100m if oversubscribed. The funds will be used to finance the portfolio acquisition from Cypress Creek Renewables, as well as future opportunities."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tata Power's renewables unit doubles Q2 profit \n Indian utility Tata Power Co Ltd (BOM:500400) on Monday reported a net profit of INR 1.73 billion (USD 26.7m/EUR 23m) for the renewables business in India in its second quarter through September, growing from INR 860 million a year back.\n\nThe improvement came thanks to an increase in profits from renewable energy acquisitions, Tata Power said on Monday. The Indian group currently has activities in 13 Indian states.\n\nTata Power\u2019s CEO and managing director Anil Sardana noted that Tata Power will continue to add renewable energy projects to its portfolio and keep its positions as the largest renewable energy group in India.\n\nThe utility has set a goal between 30% and 40% of its total capacity to come from clean energy sources by 2025. According to its website, Tata Power owns 3,180 MW of renewable energy assets, including 936 MW of solar and 1,140 MW of wind parks.\n\n(INR 10 = USD 0.154/EUR 0.133)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Profitable acquisitions in the renewable energy industry have helped drive Tata Power to a net profit of INR1.73bn ($26.7m) during the three months to September, up from INR860m in the year earlier period. The utility\u00a0has\u00a03,180 MW in assets, including 936 MW of solar and 1,140 MW of wind. It plans to continue adding to its portfolio, and has set a target of between 30% and 40% of its energy capacity to come from renewable projects by 2025."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Iberdrola renewables unit EBITDA stalls in first 9 months of 2017 \n The renewables business of Spanish utility Iberdrola (BME:IBE) generated EBITDA of EUR 1.14 billion (USD 1.32bn) in the first nine months of 2017, flat on the same period of 2016.\n\nThe division's average operating capacity expanded by 4% due to increases in the UK, Brazil and the US, but output declined marginally, by 0.5%, to 24,478 GWh, impacted by lower average load factors, mainly in Spain and Mexico. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were up 34.7% in the UK and 3% in Brazil and Mexico. In the US, they declined 0.6% but this market now has the largest share - 36%, in the company's renewables earnings.\n\nMore details on the performance of the Iberdrola Renewables business are in the table.\n\nEUR million 9-mo 2017 9-mo 2016 Revenue 1,874.9 1,821.8 Gross profit 1,705.2 1,659 EBITDA 1,142.8 1,143.1 EBIT 495 498.5 Pre-tax profit 395.8 372.4 Net profit 334.1 313.7\n\nIn the nine-month period, the renewables segment provided 21% of Iberdrola's EBITDA, the second largest contribution after networks with 57%. Renewables, however, got the biggest portion, 48%, of Iberdrola's investment in the period. The company stepped up investment by 31.5% compared to a year ago to EUR 3.99 billion. At the moment, it is building 7,361 MW of capacity to be commissioned by 2020, including 1,412 MW onshore wind, 1,064 MW offshore wind, 336 MW solar and 978 MW hydro. The figure also includes 3,571 MW of combined cycles and co-generation capacity.\n\nAt the end of the period, Iberdrola's installed capacity was about 48 GW, 60% of which from renewable sources, led by onshore wind with 15.4 GW and including 12.5 GW of hydropower.\n\nThe company's overall EBITDA declined by 5.1% to EUR 5.44 billion, which was attributed to lower hydropower production in Spain and lower demand and margins in the UK's liberalised market. Net profit grew 18.4% to EUR 2.41 billion, aided by a capital gain related to reorganisation in Brazil.\n\n(EUR 1 = USD 1.157)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "In the first nine months of 2017, Spanish utility Iberdrola's renewables arm has generated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of \u20ac1.14bn ($1.32bn), flat compared to the same period in 2017. The renewables division was responsible for 21% of Iberdrola's EBITDA and received the greatest investment, with \u20ac3.99bn. The company's EBITDA in the UK rose 34.7%, while in Brazil and Mexico it was just 3%."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EON Renewables profit falls 20% as offshore wind earnings slump \n The renewables division of German utility E.on SE (ETR:EOAN) has experienced a 19.7% year-on-year decline in adjusted EBIT to EUR 248 million (USD 288m) for the first nine months of 2017.\n\nAdjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) at the Onshore Wind/Solar segment decreased slightly to EUR 62 million from EUR 66 million, in part because of volume-driven earnings declines in Italy and the UK. The result at the Offshore Wind/Other segment was EUR 57 million lower in January-September 2017 due to the adverse effect of unfavourable wind conditions in the UK and the absence of a book gain registered in 2016.\n\nThe table below gives more details about the performance of E.on\u2019s Renewables division in the third quarter and nine months.\n\nResults in EUR million 9-mo 2017 9-mo 2016 Q3 2017 Q3 2016 Adjusted EBIT (loss) 248 309 43 55 - of which Onshore Wind/Solar 62 66 (15) 13 - of which Offshore Wind/Other 186 243 58 42 Adjusted EBITDA 508 584 122 138 - of which Onshore Wind/Solar 209 229 27 57 - of which Offshore Wind/Other 299 355 95 81 Sales 1,130 1,022 420 342 - of which Onshore Wind/Solar 691 567 302 220 - of which Offshore Wind/Other 439 455 118 122\n\nOverall, the energy group booked an adjusted net profit of about EUR 965 million in the nine-month period, which is more than 50% above the prior-year level. Adjusted EBIT was down 8% to EUR 2.1 billion, but in line with expectations.\n\n\u201cAll key figures and developments are in line with our planning. We therefore reaffirm our forecast for full-year 2017,\u201d said CFO Marc Spieker.\n\n(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.159)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "The renewables arm of German utility EON said nine month 2017 profit fell\u00a0with 19.7% to \u20ac248m ($288m). Onshore wind and solar earnings slipped to \u20ac62m from \u20ac66m, while the offshore wind/other category dropped by \u20ac57m from a year earlier period to \u20ac299m because of unfavourable wind conditions and a book gain from 2016 that wasn't repeated. EON as a whole\u00a0reported a net profit of \u20ac965m, a gain of 50%, and CFO Marc Spieker said the company was in line to meet its full-year 2017 forecast."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EDF looks to expand Brazilian renewables portfolio to 2 GW \n EDF Energies Nouvelles (EDF EN) is targeting a portfolio of 2 GW of renewables in Brazil in the coming years, Reuters reported on Wednesday.\n\nBrazil is one of the eight priority markets for the company. It is planning to invest roughly BRL 6 billion (USD 1.8bn/EUR 1.6bn) in new wind and solar projects there, Brazilian unit head Paulo Abranches said at a meeting with Brazilian journalists.\n\nThe expansion in Brazil will be organic with acquisitions not being in the company's plans. Deals will only happen when there is a very attractive opportunity, Abranches added.\n\nCurrently, the company has 600 MW in the states of Bahia and Minas Gerais, of which 350 MW are in operation and the remaining 250 MW are in construction. This alone represents around BRL 3 billion in investments and the BRL 6 billion would come in addition to that, EDF EN noted.\n\n(BRL 1 = USD 0.307/EUR 0.265)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "French company EDF Energies Nouvelles is planning to invest about $1.8bn in renewable energy in Brazil\u00a0and aims to boost its portfolio to\u00a02 GW. The company's Brazilian chief Paulo Abranches said expansion would be \"organic\" rather than through mergers and acquisitions, with deals taking place only when there is an\u00a0attractive opportunity. EDF has 350 MW of capacity operating in Brazil\u00a0and 250 MW under construction.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Canadian Solar and EDF\u00a0link solar plants to Brazil's grid \n Both projects are part of the 399 MWp pirapora projects located in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil, which were awarded a 20 year PPA following Reserve Energy Auctions in 2014 and in 2015.\n\nPirapora I is being powered by 600,000 Canadian Solar high efficiency CS6U-P modules, while the Pirapora III has 290,000, generating 392 Gwh and 186 Gwh respectively of solar energy, both tying into Brazil\u2019s goal of achieving 23% of its energy generation from non-hydro renewables by 2030.\n\nEDF energy acquired an 80% interest in both Pirapora plants from Canadian solar, as well as in the 115 MW Pirapora II project, expected to be in operation by mid-2018.\n\nPopular content\n\n\u201cThis acquisition constitutes further evidence of our growth ambitions in Brazil, a key renewable energy market,\u201d Commented EDF energy CEO Antoine Cahuzac on the large-scale acquisition by EDF energy \u201cIt represents a new step toward the EDF group\u2019s goal of doubling its renewable capacity worldwide by 2030.\u201d\n\nDr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar Inc commented on the advances made on the projects \u201cWe are pleased to announce the commissionings of the Pirapora I and III projects, which are the first solar projects we have connected to the grid in Brazil. We see strong potential in the solar energy market in Brazil and will continue to grow our project pipeline in the country to meet the local demand for clean and affordable solar energy. EDF EN is an important partner and we look forward to continuing our successful partnership with more opportunities in Brazil and other countries.\u201d Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar Inc.", "output": "EDF Energies Nouvelles and Canadian Solar have connected their Pirapora I and Pirapora III 284 MW solar energy plants to Brazil's grid. The plants, part of a 399 MWp (Mega Watt peak) initiative in the country's state of Minas Gerais, will contribute towards Brazil's target of generating 23% of its energy from non-hydro renewables by 2030. The 115 MW Pirapora II plant is set to become operational next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cities pledge zero emissions by 2050 \n The mayors of 25 pioneering cities, representing 150 million citizens, have pledged to develop and begin implementing more ambitious climate action plans before the end of 2020 to deliver emissions neutral and climate resilient cities by 2050. These plans will ensure the cities deliver on their share of emissions reductions required to realise the ambition of the Paris Agreement.\n\nIn concrete terms, these climate action plans, developed with the support of C40 Cities, will help the world\u2019s largest cities cut their emissions steeply over the next decade, and reach net-zero emissions by 2050. The plans will also demonstrate how each city will adapt and improve its resilience to climate-related crises and extreme weather events. Finally, the plans will detail the wider social, environmental and economic benefits for all citizens, of taking climate action.\n\nThe C40 member cities that have made this pioneering commitment, are: Austin, Accra, Barcelona, Boston, Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Caracas, Copenhagen, Durban, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Mexico City, Milan, New York City, Oslo, Paris, Philadelphia, Portland, Quito, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Santiago, Stockholm & Vancouver.\n\nIn delivering the Deadline 2020 programme C40 will be working in collaboration with other leading city initiatives such as The Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance to achieve long-term emission reduction goals across more cities.\n\nC40 Cities today also announced that they will provide direct support to nine African megacities in developing unprecedented, robust and evidence-based long-term climate action plans that align with the goals of the Paris Agreement. This project (Cities Matter: Capacity building in sub-Saharan African megacities for transformational climate change mitigation) is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) supports this initiative on the basis of a decision adopted by the German Bundestag.\n\nThe cities supported through this initiative are: Accra, Cape Town, Addis Ababa, Dar es Salaam, Durban, Johannesburg, Lagos, Nairobi and Tshwane.\n\n\u201cThe Paris Agreement is very clear on what needs to happen to take courageous climate action,\u201d said Mayor of Paris and C40 Chair, Anne Hidalgo. \u201cMayors of the world\u2019s great cities are shaping the century ahead and paving the way for a better, healthier and greener future. Mayors do what they must do, not what they can, and these plans and policies are an excellent example of our state of mind. With the support of key partners, like BMUB and C40, African cities are playing a leading and decisive role in delivering on the ambition of the Paris Agreement.\u201d\n\nShare article twitter\n\nlinkedin\n\nfacebook\n\nemail", "output": "Mayors representing 25 cities, home to a total of 150 million citizens, have pledged to reduce their carbon emissions to net zero by 2050. The cities will also adopt measures to become more resilient to climate change. The plans, which will be developed in partnership with the C40 Cities network, will be in place by 2020. Separately, the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy said their pledges would reduce carbon emissions by 1.3 billion tonnes per year by 2030. The Covenant also launched a new global standard for monitoring and reporting urban emissions, to be implemented from 2018."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK's Labour to include climate change risks in economic forecasts \n The risk posed by climate change would be factored into projections from the government\u2019s independent economic forecaster if Labour took office, the shadow chancellor will announce on Tuesday.\n\n\n\nJohn McDonnell will highlight the human and economic costs of manmade climate change, calling it the \u201cgreatest single public challenge\u201d and say the government should include the fiscal risks posed by global warming in future forecasts.\n\nThe landmark change would, for the first time, put climate change on an equal footing with other complex challenges affecting the public finances such as demography.\n\n\n\nUnder a Labour government, the Office for Budget Responsibility would be given total independence, McDonnell will announce, saying the forecaster would report directly to parliament rather than the Treasury.\n\nSpeaking at the Institute for Public Policy Research on Tuesday, McDonnell will say that meeting the challenges of climate change will require \u201ca transformation of our institutions and how our economies are run\u201d.\n\nMcDonnell said that Labour \u201cwants to ensure that the overwhelming challenge of climate change is addressed from the very centre of government. This includes the potential losses to the public finances.\n\n\u201cThe public deserve to know what impacts we might expect on the national purse from the degradation of our environment. Sound, responsible economic management should already be accounting for this.\u201d\n\nLabour Treasury sources said the party wanted to ensure that long-term impacts of climate change and environmental damage, including effects on food prices, flooding and loss of productivity in more frequent extreme weather, could have a direct impact informing economic policymaking.\n\nMcDonnell will argue that the effects of manmade climate change are already having an economic effect. Costs in recent years have included more frequent flooding, which the Environment Agency estimates now costs \u00a32.2bn annually.\n\nOver the summer, the Bank of England said it had begun its own investigations into the extent of the banks\u2019 exposure to the effects of climate change, announcing it was \u201cinitiating a review of climate-related risks in the UK banking sector\u201d.\n\nSeveral other authorities in Europe, including in Germany and Sweden, have also been examining the financial consequences of climate change. But the UK would be the first country in the world to mandate the assessment done by an independent fiscal council.\n\nUnder Labour, the OBR would be given additional resources to deliver the best economic modelling of environmental impact, McDonnell will say. \u201cIt will become a new centre of expertise for environmental macroeconomics,\u201d he will say.\n\nThe shadow chancellor said he would \u201cguarantee and reinforce that independence of the OBR by making the body report to parliament rather than the Treasury.\n\n\u201cWe want the public, whether businesses or voters, to be absolutely confident that the public finances are properly scrutinised and managed.\u201d\n\nEnvironmentalists welcomed the proposal though cautioned that the effects of climate change could not all be given economic value.\n\nGreenpeace UK\u2019s chief scientist, Dr Doug Parr, said the change would \u201chelp concentrate the minds of future governments on the urgency and scale of the challenge\u201d of climate change on the economy.\n\n\u201cMajor companies and financial institutions have already started factoring in the impacts of climate change in their forecasts, so it\u2019s right that the UK government should do the same for the public purse,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cNot all environmental degradation can be translated into monetary values, but if you just look at the billions of pounds of damage caused by floods, you can see why the impact of climate change on the government\u2019s balance sheets cannot be ignored.\u201d\n\nMichael Jacobs, director of the IPPR commission on economic justice, said the change would be an important shift. \u201cOver the last few years the Bank of England has been telling the financial sector that it must report on the investment risks arising from climate change,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cIt is very welcome that Labour is now signalling that government \u2013 through the OBR \u2013 should do the same with its macroeconomic forecasts. This is an important way to ensure that climate change is properly integrated into economic policy.\u201d\n\nFriends of the Earth CEO Craig Bennett said the change would be \u201cwelcome news\u201d and said the effects of climate change \u201ccould easily dwarf the huge financial crisis from which the world is still recovering.\u201d\n\nThe WWF also backed the change and said other parties should follow. \u201cAll political parties need to ensure long-term planning for the environment is at the heart of their programmes,\u201d Karen Ellis, WWF\u2019s chief advisor on economics and development, said.", "output": "Climate change risks will be factored into government independent economic forecasts in the event of the UK\u2019s opposition Labour Party taking office. Speaking at the Institute for Public Policy Research on Tuesday, shadow chancellor John McDonnell will state that climate change is the \u201cgreatest single public challenge\u201d and will call on governments to include the fiscal risks of global warming in forecasts, placing the threat on an equal footing with other challenges that have an impact on public finances. McDonnell will also announce that Labour would make the Office for Budget Responsibility entirely independent, while providing it with greater resources."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Congo\u2019s peatland carbon sinks at risk from logging \n Stumbling on submerged roots, attacked by bees and wading waist-deep through leech-infested water, the three researchers and their Pygmy guides progress at just 100 metres an hour through the largest and least-explored tropical bog in the world.\n\nThe group halt and unpack what looks like a spear, which is plunged over and over again into the waterlogged forest floor. Each time it brings up a metre-long core of rich, black peat made up of partly decomposed leaves and ancient plantlife. The deepest the steel blade reaches before meeting the underlying clay is 3.7 metres.\n\nLeeds University forest ecologists Simon Lewis and Greta Dargie cheer. The peat bed below the tangle of trees and water in the geographical heart of Africa is much deeper than they expected; and because peat stores carbon and slows global warming, their new research conducted last week in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)will be welcome news for the 194 countries meeting in Bonn for the annual UN climate conference.\n\nLewis and Dargie surprised the world earlier this year when they showed that the peatlands on either side of the Congo river contained one third of all the world\u2019s tropical peat and were five times more extensive than anyone had thought, stretching over 145,500 sq km (56,000 sq miles), an area larger than England.\n\nSince 2012, the two researchers have spent months at a time wading through bogs and sleeping on makeshift platforms built above the crocodile-infested swamp forests in the Cuvette central region of the neighbouring Republic of the Congo. \u201cWe would see elephant feet and gorilla hands imprinted in the peat. We were increasingly in awe that a remote, almost unknown, wilderness such as this could still be found on Earth today,\u201d said Lewis.\n\nWorking mainly in the dry season, they took more than 500 peat samples, and calculated that the central African peatlands hold 30.6 billion tonnes of carbon accumulated over 10,000 years \u2013 the equivalent to three years of the world\u2019s fossil fuel emissions. This would make them one of the world\u2019s most important carbon \u201csinks\u201d, they said.\n\nBut their new exploratory research, conducted with the Congolese botanist Corneille Ewango, 50km from Mbandaka in DRC, suggests that central Africa\u2019s inaccessible forest swamps could be even more important as a global carbon storehouse than they thought, and could need a global initiative to research and protect them.\n\nCampaigners from Greenpeace and the local community of Lokolama are fighting to preserve the precious carbon stores. Photograph: Kevin McElvaney/Greenpeace\n\n\u201cWhile the extent of the peat is known, its depth is not. There is just no data. We are a long way from really knowing how much is there and need to do more research,\u201d said Dargie.\n\n\u201cMaintaining these large stores of carbon must be a global priority. Only with strong scientific data on the peatland, and how it behaves or might react to future changes, can governments establish baselines and protections in international agreements to ensure it is preserved,\u201d said Greenpeace forest campaigner Matt Daggett.\n\nThere is growing understanding that the fate of carbon sinks like the Congo basin peatlands will determine future climate change. If left alone, they are vital collectors of CO 2 ; but if the forests above them are felled and the land is converted to farming, as has been widely practised for the past 30 years in south-east Asia, then the dried-out peat emits vast quantities of CO 2 and intensifies climate change.\n\nTropical peatland stores around 2,000 tonnes of carbon per hectare but this has been barely recognised by governments which have continued to promote intensive farming on peatlands.\n\nThe draining of south-east Asia\u2019s peat swamps and the felling of its trees has been a climate disaster, say scientists. Two months of intense peat fires started in August 2015 to clear land for palm oil and pulp and paper plantations in Indonesia released an estimated 884m tonnes of carbon dioxide, more than the European Union in its entirety emitted that year.\n\nThe Congo basin forest, the second largest in the world after the Amazon, has been relatively protected by its inaccessibility, but environmentalists say it is highly vulnerable and its peat could easily be destroyed. Pressure is building, they say, from logging companies and European governments to lift a 15-year-old moratorium on the allocation of new industrial logging concessions.\n\nLogging on swamplands is prohibited in the DRC but, says the Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK), Congolese legislation does not precisely define what constitutes a swamp. Its analysis suggests 3.4bn tonnes of carbon could be emitted if the concessions become active.\n\nAccording to Greenpeace, nearly half of the DRC\u2019s current logging concessions are in breach of the law because their permissions have run out and they do not have approved management plans. These concessions overlap around 10,000 sq km of peat swampland.\n\n\u201cIf this forest is cut, there will be decomposition of the peat and vast quantities of CO 2 will be released into the atmosphere, said Dagett.\n\nThe Congolese government, which has welcomed the scientists, is cautious about further protection. \u201cThere must be a balance between the forests and development. It comes down to money,\u201d said Joseph Katenga, forest adviser to Amy Ambatobe, the minister for the environment and sustainable development.\n\nBut communities living close to the carbon-rich swamps near Lokolama have welcomed the discovery of peat, hoping it would attract money to better protect their forests which they traditionally use for fishing and hunting.\n\n\u201cAs indigenous people, peatlands are part of our heritage and their discovery for the world to see represents a great hope for future generations,\u201d said Valentin Egobo, who speaks for the Lokolama community.\n\nResearchers have been gathering data in the area since 2012. Photograph: Kevin McElvaney/Greenpeace\n\n\u201cWe hope our government will support us in our role as guardians of this ancient forest and provide us with the needed support to safeguard peatlands for our children and for the world.\n\n\u201cWe did not know the peat was there. This is very important for us but we also need development. Our schools are dilapidated. We are marginalised and impoverished,\u201d Egobo added.\n\nThe future of the DRC rainforest may be determined next month when the Norwegian government is expected to decide whether to fund a French Development Agency plan to expand \u201csustainable\u201d industrial logging in the region. This would allow local communities to benefit from their resources, according to the agency.\n\nBut Greenpeace, RFUK and a petition signed by 135,000 people in Norway and the UK have condemned the plan. \u201cNorway risks putting globally significant stores of carbon at risk through misguided support for so-called sustainable forest management in DRC. Instead of expanding large-scale timber-felling, Norway should work with the Congolese government to shut down the half of the country\u2019s logging areas which the law requires to be closed and returned to the state,\u201d, said Simon Counsell, the director of the RFUK.\n\nThe need to protect the forests above the peatlands was emphasised last week by a major report showing that there is 40% more carbon stored in forested lands than in known fossil-fuel deposits worldwide.\n\n\u201cReleasing this carbon into the atmosphere through continuing deforestation not only commits us to the worst impacts of climate change, but also results in the loss of a globally important carbon sink.\n\n\u201cProtecting the carbon stored in forests is no different than taking action to ensure fossil deposits like coal stay underground,\u201d said the report\u2019s lead author, Martin Herold of Wageningen University in the Netherlands.", "output": "Central Africa\u2019s peat beds, which store 2,000 tonnes of carbon per hectare and slow global warming, need a global initiative to protect them, according to scientists. The peatlands contain one third of the planet's total tropical peat, making them one of the world\u2019s most important carbon \u201csinks\u201d. However, if forests continue to be felled for agriculture, the peat will dry out, releasing huge amounts of CO2 and intensifying climate change. Logging companies and European governments are currently calling for a 15-year moratorium on new industrial logging concessions in the region to be lifted.\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK's new grid charge plans could increase bills for solar users \n With 13 GW of solar installed in the U.K., much of it atop more than 1 million rooftops, PV is poised to play a huge role in electricity generation this summer.\n\nThe U.K.\u2019s residential solar sector is facing further cost pressures following the publication of new plans by energy regulator Ofgem to increase network charges for PV households.\n\nThe plans are part of a wider overhaul of the U.K.\u2019s electricity network, specifically how it is funded, by 2020. Households currently pay an average of around \u00a3120 a year towards maintaining the grid. This figure is levied as part of the unit rate that is charged by utilities for electricity that is supplied to homes via the national grid.\n\nIn short, homes that buy more power contribute more in upkeep towards the grid. Solar households obviously buy less power from the grid, because they are able to generate their own electricity for much of the day. Hence, their overall financial contribution to grid upkeep is less than average.\n\nOfgem is now arguing that this is an unfair situation, particularly in winter when households with solar panels installed will still be as reliant on the national grid as non-solar households.\n\n\u201cWe want to make sure that all users pay a fair share of the costs, even if they are only using the networks when their on-site generation is not producing electricity,\u201d said Ofgem senior partner Andrew Wright. The Ofgem proposals are to either make all households pay a fixed charge for connection to the National Grid, or alternatively to link the charge to the maximum capacity drawn from the grid at peak times. If the latter model is adopted, solar homes are likely to pay more than they currently do, while also resulting in lower bills for non-solar consumers.\n\nPopular content\n\nAnother controversial proposal outlined by Ofgem would be to impose a fee on households that want to fast-charge their electric vehicles (EVs) at home during peak times. The regulator\u2019s concerns are that EV charging during peak hours will deliver additional strain on to the grid, thus necessitating costly upgrades in the region of billions of pounds.\n\n\u201cWhen one set of consumers pays less, it increases charges for others, including those that are in vulnerable circumstances,\u201d added Wright.\n\nIf the proposals are enacted they could impact up to one million households that currently have solar panels installed. While some homeowners enjoy favorable FIT rates, many of the newer installations have very little in the way of subsidy, meaning such regressive charges could have a net negative financial impact on their investment.", "output": "Energy regulator Ofgem's plans to increase grid charges could increase bills for solar powered households. Ofgem plans to reform the UK electricity network by 2020 and aims to rebalance present pay structures. Currently, households that generate solar power pay less for grid upkeep as they use less power, but Ofgem believes that as these homes will use the grid in winter, the payments should be the same as non-solar households. Households will either pay a fixed charge, or be charged for maximum capacity taken from the grid in peak periods. This will likely raise costs for the approximately one million solar-powered homes in the UK."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Germany to operate hydrogen-powered trains by 2021 \n In this Sept 20, 2016 file photo visitors look at an Alstom hydrogen-powered train at the InnoTrans international trade fair for transport technology in Berlin. Rail passengers in northern Germany will be able to travel on the world's first hydrogen-powered trains in four years' time. French engineering giant Alstom says it has signed an agreement to deliver 14 fuel cell trains to LNVG, a rail company in Germany's Lower Saxony state. (Serene Stache/dpa via AP)\n\nCommuters in northern Germany will be able to travel on the world's first hydrogen-powered trains in four years' time.\n\nFrench engineering giant Alstom says it has signed an agreement to deliver 14 fuel-cell trains to LNVG, a rail company in Germany's Lower Saxony state.\n\nThe trains will begin operating on routes between Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremervoerde and Buxtehude from December 2021.\n\nAlstom said Thursday that the Coradia iLint trains will have a range of up to 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) and a maximum speed of 140 kilometers per hour (87 mph).\n\nHydrogen engines emit only water vapor and are considered one of the cleanest forms of transportation. The trains will replace diesel vehicles on non-electrified tracks.\n\nThere are plans to produce the hydrogen using electricity from Lower Saxony's many wind turbines.\n\n\u00a9 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.", "output": "The world's first hydrogen-fuelled trains will be available on LNVG services on several German train lines by the end of 2021. French engineering firm Alstom is contracted to provide 14 Coradia iLint trains to the rail company. The trains have a range of up to 1,000 km and operate at a maximum speed of 140 km per hour. The only by-product of the trains' hydrogen fuel cells is water vapour, making them a clean replacement for diesel trains on non-electrified tracks."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Greece installs first large-scale solar plants in two years \n Greece\u2019s Hellenic Petroleum, a company that focuses mainly on the supply, refining and trading of petroleum products in Greece and abroad, has installed the country\u2019s first large-scale, ground-mounted PV installations since 2015.\n\nThe newly added capacity comprises two PV plants of 1 MW and 4 MW each respectively, while a third 3.6 MW PV plant is also installed and will connect to the grid in the following days.\n\npv magazine reported in June that Hellenic Petroleum had secured financing to develop 190 MW of combined solar PV and wind power capacity in Greece.\n\nThis is not to suggest that Hellenic Petroleum has achieved an innovative business model that allows it to install subsidy-free PV plants. The company has only used Greece\u2019s new policy framework for the support of renewable energies. The new policy is based on auctions and rewards successful projects with feed-in premiums. Greece\u2019s inaugural tender under the new policy scheme ran in December 2016, awarding 40 MW of projects.\n\nAll in all, this is a rather significant step for Hellenic Petroleum, which is not famous for its engagement with renewable energies. Hellenic Petroleum Renewable Energy Sources, a wholly owned subsidiary of the parent company, was founded in 2006 aiming to invest in renewable energies, but until a few weeks ago the company had installed a mere 1.4 MW of photovoltaics and 7 MW of wind power capacity.\n\nPopular content\n\nHellenic Petroleum\u2019s new 1 MW plant was connected to the grid 8 months ahead of the time specified in the auction rules, while the two larger plants were built 14 months ahead of a similar time requirement.\n\nAnother company that failed massively to engage with renewable energies under the old scheme based on generous feed-in tariffs, is Greece\u2019s incumbent utility PPC. Similar to Hellenic Petroleum, the PPC has also announced belated plans to invest is solar, however PPC\u2019s strategy is far from secure because the company has not been awarded tender projects.\n\nGreece\u2019s government has not announced a new renewable energy auction, however some solar PV activity also takes place in the country via its net metering scheme.", "output": "The first large-scale solar plants to be installed in Greece since 2015 have been completed. The three PV plants, built by Greek oil firm Hellenic Petroleum,\u00a0have a combined capacity of 8.6 MW. The company was not\u00a0heavily involved in renewables prior to the projects, having installed a total of just 1.4 MW of solar PV. The three facilities were developed under the Greek government's new policy framework for renewables, an auction system\u00a0with feed-in premiums for successful projects.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sunrun set to\u00a0overtake\u00a0Tesla as biggest US residential solar firm \n As the U.S. residential solar market contracts, one company is bucking the trend: Sunrun. While both Tesla/SolarCity and Vivint have both substantially scaled back installations this year and moved away from the third-party solar model, Sunrun has continued to grow, and has held on to a high share of third-party sales.\n\nDuring Q3 of 2017 Sunrun deployed 90 MW of solar PV, an increase on both a year-over-year and sequential basis. This is only 17% less than Tesla/SolarCity\u2019s 109 MW, and suggests that if current trends continue Sunrun could be the largest residential solar company in the nation as early as 2018.\n\nSunrun\u2019s attachment to the third-party solar model has meant that the company continued to lose money in Q3, with a net loss of $80 million versus $141 million in revenue. This number is slightly higher than a year ago, but not unusual for Sunrun or any company whose sales are based on third-party solar.\n\nInstead, while experiencing quarterly losses third-party solar companies build long-term value in the form of volumes of leases and PPAs with their customers. And while Sunrun\u2019s increase in retained value cannot be compared to other companies due to its use of unique metrics, the company reports that it increased its Net Earning Assets $97 million during the quarter, to bring it to $1.2 billion.\n\nAnd due to this timing of reaping value over the course of decades, for third-party solar companies to grow they must continually raise money. This includes using the rooftop PV systems they have deployed as collateral, and Sunrun Chair Ed Fenster says that the company will be regularly be issuing asset-backed securities beginning in 2019.\n\nPopular content\n\nSunrun also received $40 million in financing from Quebec pension fund CDPQ in November.\n\nHowever, if Sunrun is not worried about financing, it is concerned about the Section 201 trade case. Sunrun Chair Ed Fenster has been a main speaker in Solar Energy Industries Association\u2019s (SEIA) campaign to oppose trade action through the case, but the company is also preparing for the worst, and admits that it has accelerated procurement of modules in the event of significant tariffs.\n\nSunrun\u2019s install costs have been rising over the last year, even as its sales & marketing and general and administrative costs have fallen. Higher module prices would increase its costs, however Sunrun still has a pretty big spread between its cost to deploy solar and the long-term value that it reaps. The company\u2019s Net Present Value has hit $1.15 per watt, its highest to date.\n\nDuring Q3 Sunrun booked 93 MW of solar, but expects to only deploy 87 during Q4, for a total of 325 MW this year. If this is achieved, this will be a 15% growth over 2016.", "output": "US solar energy company SunRun could become the largest residential solar company in the US by next year, current trends imply, as it continues to gain ground on its competitors. The company installed 90 MW of solar PV in the third quarter of this year, making it the only player on the field still noticeably expanding. Tesla/SolarCity and Vivint, meanwhile, have both scaled back their installations and moved away from the third-party model."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Delhi to purchase 1 GW of renewables to cut pollution \n November 6 (Renewables Now) \u2013 Power distribution firms in Delhi will be able to buy 1,000 MW of renewable power by 2019 in an effort to fight air pollution, Delhi's power minister said on Friday.\n\nCited by the Press Trust of India (PTI), Minister Satyender Jain explained that the city government will get more electricity from clean energy sources, if needed. He added that an in-principle agreement has already been made with three discoms. The tendering process will be overseen by central government agency Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), with the projected purchase price being under INR 3 (USD 0.046/EUR 0.040) per kWh.\n\nJain noted, as quoted by the PTI, that the average price for purchasing electricity in Delhi currently stands at INR 5.50 per kWh.\n\nThe Indian city has set a goal of producing 1,000 MW of solar power by 2020 under its solar energy policy from June 2016.\n\n(INR 10 = USD 0.155/EUR 0.133)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "The city government in Delhi will give power distribution companies the opportunity to tender for 1 GW of renewable energy by 2019. The move is intended to help address the problem of air pollution, with the city's power minister saying they will source even more electricity from renewables if necessary. Three in-principle agreements have already been made with distribution companies, and the tendering process is being run by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), an Indian central government agency. The projected purchase price is INR3 ($0.046) per kWh."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "European Investment Bank loans $100m for Mexican wind farms \n The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing a USD-100-million (EUR 86m) loan to Nacional Financiera (NAFIN), a Mexican government-owned development bank, which will be used to support wind farm projects in Mexico.\n\nThe funds will be on-lent to private sector borrowers to aid the development of a 200-MW wind farm in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila and a 130-MW wind farm in the state of Zacatecas, central Mexico.\n\nAnnouncing the signing of the loan last week, the EIB said that wind energy development supports Mexico's renewable energy targets and the EIB's objectives in the areas of renewable energy and energy efficiency and climate action. The agreement follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in March to strengthen cooperation between the institutions.\n\n\"With this financing operation, one of the first ones between EIB and Mexico's public sector, EIB and NAFIN are initiating a strategically important cooperation that will provide further support to sustainable energy solutions across the country and thereby help Mexico and the EU contribute to the fight against climate change,\" said EIB vice-president Roman Escolano, who was in Mexico for meetings with government officials.\n\n(USD 1 = EUR 0.861)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing a $100m loan to finance the construction of two wind farms in Mexico. The funds are being provided to the Mexican state-owned bank NAFIN, which will use them to provide finance to private sector companies developing a 200 MW wind farm in the northern state of Coahuila and a 130 MW plant in Zacatecas in the centre of the country. The deal follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the EIB and NAFIN in March to pursue renewable energy projects."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HSBC lays out $100bn sustainable investment target for 2025 \n HSBC Holdings plc (LON:HSBA) has set a goal to provide USD 100 billion (EUR 86bn) in sustainable financing and investment by 2025.\n\nThe UK bank said it will increase its support for clean energy and lower-carbon technologies, and projects in line with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.\n\nHSBC unveiled the goal today along with four other commitments as part of an update on measures related to its social, environmental and governance (ESG) responsibilities.\n\nThe other objectives include sourcing 90% of the group's electricity from renewable sources by 2025 and 100% by 2030. The bank has also pledged to reduce its exposure to thermal coal, which includes stopping to finance new coal-fired power plants in developed countries and thermal coal mines around the world.\n\nHSBC further promises to improve transparency on climate-related risks and opportunities and to promote the development of industry-wide definitions and standards about sustainable finance and investment.\n\n(USD 1 = EUR 0.862)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "UK bank HSBC is set to strengthen its support for renewable energy and low-carbon technology, aiming to invest $100bn in the field by 2025. The announcement comes alongside a number of other environmental commitments HSBC is making as part of an update to the bank's social, environmental and governance responsibilities. These include a pledge to source all of the bank's electricity renewably by 2030, and to\u00a0reign in its financing of coal-fired power stations in developed countries."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Octopus Investments raises \u00a380m in new financing \n Octopus Investments\u2019 total facility size now stands at GBP 564 million ($739 million), and its solar portfolio now consists of 622 MW of assets.\n\nAfter the fund closed a refinancing deal worth GBP 484 million ($634.5 million) earlier this year, Octopus closed new financing for a further GBP 80 million ($104 million), from banks which were already part of the syndicate of lenders involved in the original refinancing.\n\nThese nine original banks are Banca IMI, Barclays, BNP Paribas, CaixaBanks, Royal Bank of Scotland, SMBC, AIB, Sabadell and Santander Global Corporate Banking.\n\nPopular content\n\n\u201cOur asset management team has delivered on expectations with high quality reporting to a group of experienced lenders,\u201d says Matt Setchell, Head of Energy Investments at Octopus. \u201cThey are impressed with the results, and followed up just six months after the original deal with more funding.\u201d\n\nOctopus Investments claims to be the largest commercial solar investor in Europe, and also invests wind and other renewable energy sectors. It is a part of the Octopus Group, which manages more than GBP 7 billion in funds.", "output": "Renewable financing company Octopus Investments has raised a further \u00a380m ($104m) from a refinancing deal after an earlier one in which it raised \u00a3484m. The firm, which claims to be the largest commercial solar investor in Europe, is part of the Octopus Group, which manages more than \u00a37bn ($9.16bn) in funds. As well as 622 MW of solar assets, it also has investments in wind and other renewable sectors. The latest deal involves banks that were part of its original refinancing, including Barclays, BNP Paribas, RBS and Santander.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NRG Energy seeks $350m to build three solar plants in Hawaii \n US power producer NRG Energy Inc (NYSE:NRG) is looking for about USD 350 million (EUR 302m) in financing to construct three solar power plants in Hawaii, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people with knowledge of the deal.\n\nNRG acquired three projects from bankrupt SunEdison Inc in 2016. They have a combined capacity of 109.6 MW and include the 49-MW Kawailoa, the 45.9-MW Waipio and the 14.7-MW Lanikuhana photovoltaic (PV) parks. The company signed new power purchase agreements (PPAs) for the plants with Hawaiian Electric Co, which had cancelled the original ones with SunEdison.\n\nAccording to the Bloomberg article, NRG has picked CIT Group Inc to lead the financing deal.\n\nReporting third-quarter results last week, NRG said it expects to sell 100% of its interest in NRG Yield Inc (NYSE:NYLD.A) and its Renewables platform as part of its transformation plan, launched in July. The company targets up to USD 4 billion of cash proceeds from asset sales.\n\n(USD 1 = EUR 0.862)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "US power company NRG Energy is said to be seeking around $350m of funding to complete the construction of three solar power plants in Hawaii. Purchased from bankrupt SunEdison in\u00a02016, the projects have a combined capacity of 109.6 MW. CIT Group has reportedly been chosen to lead the financing deal, and NRG has signed new power purchase agreements with Hawaiian Electric, after the previous ones with SunEdison were cancelled.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Loraxian raises $50m for global growth in infrastructure projects \n Canadian renewable energy and infrastructure company Loraxian Inc has closed a USD-50-million (EUR 43.1m) series B funding round with Treasure Union Ltd of Hong Kong, a new partner.\n\nLoraxian will use the funds for global growth, focusing initially on Canada, Asia, and the Middle East, it said last week. A significant part of the proceeds will be spent to \"strategically\" acquire key technologies currently used in the company's infrastructure projects.\n\nThe Canadian company says it takes a systematic approach to all phases of the life of an infrastructure asset. It develops, builds, finances, procures, operates, maintains and owns building and energy infrastructure assets with a focus on southeast Asia and North America.\n\n\"We also look forward to expanding our \u00ad\u00adrelationship with Treasure Union as they support us in funding the growth in global projects in addition to this initial investment,\" said Loraxian founder and chief executive Roland Kielbasiewicz.\n\n(USD 1 = EUR 0.863)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Canadian renewable energy firm Loraxian has raised $50m of new investment to finance the growth of its business within its home country and across Asia and the Middle East. The funding comes from the company's new partner, Hong Kong investment firm Treasure Union. Loraxian has said it will use a significant part of the new capital to acquire key technologies currently used in its infrastructure projects."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ContourGlobal targets \u00a3507m in London IPO \n ContourGlobal plc (LON:GLO) expects its initial public offering (IPO) in London to raise up to GBP 507 million (USD 665.6m/EUR 574.4m), including over-allotments, after pricing it at GBP 2.50 per share.\n\nWith no over-allotments, the proceeds will be GBP 441 million.\n\nThe company, which has 2.64 GW of thermal and 1.5 GW of renewable gross power capacity, will get GBP 306 million of gross proceeds. It previously said it planned to use the amount raised to further strengthen its balance sheet and ensure further flexibility to fund future growth.\n\nThe offer includes 122.4 million of new shares and 54.03 million of existing shares. Stabilising manager Goldman Sachs International has been granted an over-allotment option of up to 26.46 million shares.\n\nContourGlobal LP, the major shareholder, will be left with a stake of 73% with no over-allotments, or 69% if the over-allotment option is exercised in full. At admission, ContourGlobal plc will have 670.7 million shares in issue, with a free float of between 25% and 29%, depending on over-allotments.\n\nConditional dealings in the shares on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) starts today, while commencement of unconditional dealings is expected on November 14. At the IPO price the market capitalisation of the company arrives at nearly GBP 1.68 billion.\n\nPORTFOLIO\n\nContourGlobal has 69 power plants in 19 countries. Natural gas and methane account for about 31% of its capacity, 29% is coal and 21% is wind. In addition, 14% of the portfolio is hydropower plants (HPPs), 3% is oil and the remaining 2% come from solar power plants.\n\nThe company is focused on long-term contracted wholesale power generation, targeting high margins at lower risks relative to other segments in the power sector. Europe is its main market with 2,488 MW of capacity, followed by Latin America with 1,424 MW, and Africa with 228 MW. These figures are for the end of June 2017.\n\n(GBP 1 = USD 1.31/EUR 1.13)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "US energy company ContourGlobal expects to raise \u00a3507m ($665.6m) when it floats on the London Stock Exchange. The IPO includes 122.4 million new and 54.03 million existing shares, with an over-allotment option of up to 26.46 million shares granted. Unconditional dealing is expected to begin on 14\u00a0November. Proceeds will be used to strengthen the balance sheet and fund growth. ContourGlobal will retain a stake of 69% to 73% depending on over-allotments. The firm has 69 power plants in 19 countries, with 31% capacity from natural gas/methane, 29% coal, 21% wind, 14% hydro, 3% oil\u00a0and 2% solar.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brazil's Iberdrola-controlled Neoenergia prices IPO around $880m \n Neoenergia SA, the Iberdrola-controlled Brazilian utility with a solid renewables portfolio, announced an indicative price range of BRL 15.02 to BRL 18.52 per share for its upcoming initial public offering (IPO).\n\nBased on a price of BRL 16.77 apiece, the midpoint of the range, the company and two of its shareholders could raise a total of BRL 2.857 billion (USD 880m/EUR 756m) by selling some 170.3 million new and existing shares. This excludes an additional 34 million common shares that could be offered to cover over-allotments.\n\nNeoenergia targets at least BRL 1.155 billion in proceeds from a primary offering. It points out in the filing that if the secured sum is below that level, it may sell more shares.\n\nThe existing shareholders that plan to sell stock are Banco do Brasil SA and pension fund Previ. They could raise BRL 1.567 billion and BRL 134 million, respectively, in a secondary offering.\n\nAccording to the filing, Spain\u2019s Iberdrola (BME:IBE) will continue to be the majority shareholder in Neoenergia following the IPO, with an interest of 51%, while Banco do Brasil and Previ would cut their stakes to 0.37% and 33.84%, respectively. Currently, the two selling stockholders hold stakes of 9.35% and 38.2%.\n\nDuring the summer, Iberdrola completed the merger of Neoenergia with its Brazilian unit Elektro Holding SA to create Brazil\u2019s largest electricity utility by number of customers. The firm is active in the wind power segment through Forca Eolica do Brasil. Its total wind and hydropower capacity, either in operation or under construction, amounted to 3,546 MW at the time of the transaction. The company also has 530 MW of thermal power generation capacity.\n\n(BRL 1.0 = USD 0.308/EUR 0.265)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Brazilian utility Neoenergia could raise $880m in its initial public offering (IPO) after\u00a0announcing an indicative price ranged around BRL16.77 ($5.10)\u00a0for the shares. The company is active in the wind and\u00a0hydropower sectors, with a combined capacity of 3,546 MW in operation or under construction and a further 530 MW of thermal power generation. Spain's Iberdrola will continue to be its majority shareholder with an interest of 51%, while\u00a0two other existing investors\u00a0will reduce their stakes. Neoenergia was merged with Iberdrola's Elektro Holding earlier this year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Solar Alliance purchases US renewables engineering firm Aries \n Canadian firm Solar Alliance Energy Inc (CVE:SAN) has wrapped up the acquisition of US-based Aries Solar LLC and its pipeline of commercial solar projects.\n\nThe target entity and all of its assets were bought from Thompson Machinery Commerce Corp in a contingent payment deal of up to USD 1 million (EUR 859,300), Solar Alliance said on Wednesday. The acquired project pipeline includes 45 commercial solar schemes in different stages of development, including prospecting, proposal and contract negotiations. If constructed, the projects will bring a potential revenue of about USD 18.8 million, the buyer announced previously.\n\nAries Solar is engaged in the provision of engineering, procurement and construction services for the commercial solar sector. It has licences to operate in four Southeast US states and has installed 5 MW of photovoltaic (PV) capacity.\n\nThe acquisition is part of Solar Alliance\u2019s plan to enhance its activities in the residential, commercial and utility-scale solar sectors, CEO Jason Bak noted, adding that it will also lead to a material increase in revenues. For Aries Solar, it is seen as an opportunity for the addition of more services to its offerings, according to Harvey Abouelata, former president of Aries Solar. Abouelata will take the post of vice president commercial solar at Solar Alliance following the deal.\n\n(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.859)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Canada's Solar Alliance Energy has acquired US company Aries Solar in a deal worth around $1m. The purchase gives Solar Alliance control of the 45 commercial solar schemes that Aries has in development, worth a total of $18m in potential revenue. Aries has licences to operate in four south-eastern US states and has installed 5 MW of photovoltaic solar capacity to date. The company specialises in engineering, procurement and construction\u00a0services in the commercial solar sector.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China may double 2020 solar target after smashing previous goal \n The Chinese government should increase its 2020 solar target from 110 to 200GW, according to the China National Renewable Energy Centre (CNREC).\n\nThe think tank is the main advisor to the government\u2019s National Energy Administration (NEA), which would be ultimately responsible for acting on the recommendation. In August, the continuing boom of installations saw the country edge past its existing 2020 target.\n\nCNREC also recommended increases to wind and bioenergy targets and a halt to the approval of new coal power capacity.\n\nFrank Haugwitz, of the Asia Europe Clean Energy Advisory (AECEA), which highlighted the recommendation in a briefing note, considers the target to be achievable.\n\n\u201cThe recommended \u2018new\u2019 solar PV target in AECEA\u2019s opinion will be realized, if not exceeded by approx. 15-20%,\u201d he wrote.\n\n\u201cOverall, China is in the midst of its own energy transition, a process which will last for years and decades to come. In this context, obviously the utilization of locally available renewable energy resources will play a significant role, due to that over the past years sentiments towards RE have changed. China\u2019s president Xi Jinping\u2019s call for an energy revolution in the summer of 2014, an overdue, but fundamental power sector reform finally initiated in March 2015, a thoroughly revised version of the Renewable Energy Portfolio (RPS) effective since early 2016, the introduction of a voluntary domestic carbon emission trading scheme in July 2017 among a host of other initiatives and policies all designed to make this grand energy transition happen.\n\n\u201cFinally, it remains to be seen to which extent China\u2019s National Energy Administration will follow CNREC\u2019s proposed recommendations. In AECEA\u2019s view, they certainly will be taken into consideration and shall serve as the reference when drafting new policies,\u201d added Haugwitz.", "output": "Influential think tank, the China National Renewable Energy Centre (CNREC), has recommended the country's 2020 solar target be increased from 110 GW to 200 GW, after China surpassed the existing target in August 2017. CNREC also suggested ending the approving of new\u00a0coal capacity and throwing the state's weight behind more wind and bioenergy projects. The government's\u00a0National Energy Administration will ultimately decide whether to act on the proposals."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ITM Power wins funding to study power-to-gas storage feasibility \n UK hydrogen specialist ITM Power (LON:ITM) has secured government funding to study the potential deployment of large-scale power-to-gas energy storage in partnership with gas distributor Northern Gas Networks Ltd (NGN).\n\nThe companies will conduct a feasibility study with a focus on deployments of more than 50 MWh within NGN's gas network. The examination will provide technical, economic and site-specific information about large-scale power-to-gas storage and will enable a decision on a potential large-scale demonstration project, ITM Power said.\n\nPower-to-gas energy storage converts electricity into hydrogen which can be injected and stored in the gas network.\n\n\"As renewable power generation increases, effective storage and transmission of surplus power will become ever more important,\" noted Northern Gas Networks chief executive Mark Horsley. Part of the project will take place at InTEGReL, the company's whole systems facility near Gateshead.\n\nFunding for the project has been secured as part of the energy storage feasibility study competition, launched by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) in January 2017.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "ITM Power has won funding to further explore the potential for using power-to-gas technology in energy storage. The UK-based hydrogen energy specialist is working on the technique, in which electricity is used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, with the hydrogen then stored for later use. The funding from the UK government's Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will allow ITM, in partnership with gas distributor Northern Gas Networks, to study the feasibility of using the technology in\u00a0large-scale storage facilities."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scotrenewables launches funding round for tidal turbine \n Scotrenewables Tidal Power Ltd, the Scottish firm developing the 2-MW floating SR2000 tidal current turbine, said today it is launching a funding round to obtain further equity investment.\n\nThe company will use the amount raised to support the completion of its commercialisation programme and deliver its first commercial tidal arrays, said chief executive Andrew Scott.\n\nSimmons & Company International, part of US investment bank Piper Jaffray Co (NYSE:PJC), has been hired to run the fundraising effort out of its Aberdeen office.\n\nScotrenewables is looking to secure new equity after successful testing over the past 12 months, which, as announced in September, saw the SR2000 turbine generate more than 116 MWh in under a week of continuous generation at the European Marine Energy Test Centre (EMEC) in Orkney. The company said that in recent days the SR2000 has been showing daily generation of over 20 MWh, including 6 MWh in a single tide.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "A Scottish power company is launching a funding round to seek investment to support the development of its first tidal arrays. Scotrenewables Tidal Power has successfully tested its SR2000 turbine at the European Marine Energy Test Centre in Orkney over the past year. During the trials, it generated more than 116 MWh in under a week, with 6 MWh generated in a single tide. The firm has hired Simmons & Company International, a division of US bank Piper Jaffray, to organise the funding round from Aberdeen.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Kosovo to begin auctioning licences for solar projects \n Kosovo\u2019s Minister of Economic Development Valdrin Lluka has announced that his ministry will start to grant licenses for large-scale solar projects in the near future, and that projects will be selected through an auction mechanism.\n\nLluka added that he believes this new auction mechanism may raise investments in solar in Kosovo in the amount of around \u20ac100 million. No more details were given about the future procurement process, nor on the size of projects that may be able to compete. If implemented, the future auction scheme will be the first serious effort of the local government to make solar part of the country\u2019s energy mix.\n\nIn its long-term energy strategy, the expected addition of renewable capacities is 240 MW, just 10 MW of which is expected to come from solar PV. Under the FIT program run by the Ministry of Agriculture, 101 PV systems totaling 77 kW were installed in 2014, while another 135 installations with a combined capacity of 364 kW came online in 2015.\n\nThe European Commission has recently urged Kosovo to do more for the development of renewable energies. The EC said that the energy reforms recently implemented by the local government are not sufficient to improve the country\u2019s troubled power market, which still relies heavily on coal and electricity imports.\n\nPopular content\n\nAccording to the EC, Kosovo\u2019s energy market suffers from outdated production capacity, as well as low energy efficiency, a non-liberalized energy market and a tariff system that does not reflect real costs. Kosovo, however, has a considerable solar potential with an average of 278 sunny days and 2000 hours of sun per year.\n\nWith 2 million inhabitants, Kosovo is still a disputed land between Republic of Serbia, which claims it as its own territory, and the Republic of Kosovo. Currently, 111 out of 193 member states of the United Nations have recognized Kosovo as an independent state.", "output": "Kosovo is set to auction licences for large-scale solar projects \"in the near future\" in a plan hoped to raise \u20ac100m ($117m), according to Minister of Economic Development Valdrin Lluka. It would be the country's first serious push into the solar market, but Lluka gave no details about project size and the procurement process. The move follows criticism from the European Commission about the state of Kosovo's energy market, its tariff system and paucity of renewables\u00a0despite the country enjoying more than 2,000 hours of sun per year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Click Tenant finds scammers using free listings to con tenants \n Post navigation\n\nA new online lettings business that allows landlords to upload their own properties says it has uncovered a number of rental scams.\n\nClick Tenant, which launched only at the end of last month, has already reported one case \u2013 where a bogus landlord was believed to be operating as part of a gang \u2013 to the police.\n\nClickTenant, which advertises landlords\u2019 properties free on Rightmove and Zoopla, offers services including full management said to be at an unmatched low price.\n\nManaging director Danielle Cullen said that criminals are advertising false properties with high-quality photos in prime locations and at reasonable rents.\n\nTenants are then lured into paying upfront fees for a property that either does not exist or has been let to multiple victims at the same time.\n\nOne bogus landlord attempted to contact interested tenants over a weekend, to request large sums of money.\n\nAnother was found to be part of a criminal gang specialising in rental fraud.\n\nCullen said: \u201cEvery property platform that allows landlords to upload their own adverts will be vulnerable to these types of potential scams.\n\n\u201cAs ClickTenant.com is a newly launched website, fraudsters believe we will be vulnerable and unable to spot this criminal activity.\n\n\u201cUnlike other new businesses, we have been successfully operating StudentTenant.com for a number of years, and have built up a wealth of invaluable experience in situations like these.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been able to use this to assist tenants to ensure they do not fall victim to such ruthless schemes.\n\n\u201cOur team works very hard in these instances to prevent these operations from being executed before they reach the tenants.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s common practice for all of our staff to inform potential tenants to never part with any money in any instance \u2013 potential scammer or not.\n\n\u201cWe also advise not to have direct contact with would-be landlords without our input.\n\n\u201cWe have been able to uncover several potential attempts to request large sums of money, and work very closely with the tenants to ensure the relevant authorities and fraud teams are made aware.\u201d\n\nReports of rental fraud to police in England and Wales leapt from 2,216 in 2014 to 3,193 in 2015 \u2013 the latest year for which there is data.", "output": "Lettings company Click Tenant has discovered that fraudsters are using free listings to trick tenants into paying upfront fees for fake lodgings. Click Tenant advertises landlords' properties free on Zoopla and Rightmove, and has uncovered bogus landlord connections to criminal gangs specialising in rental fraud in the one month since it started operating. Click Tenant was formed out of successful online rental businesses Student Tenant. Click Tenant's managing director, Danielle Cullen, said: \"Our team works very hard in these instances to prevent these operations from being executed before they reach the tenants.\"\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Oil majors, energy traders, banks to form blockchain platform \n The new venture will comprise the likes of energy giants such as BP, Shell and Statoil; traders like Gunvor, Koch Supply and Trading and Mercuria; and banks like ABN Amro, Societe Generale and ING. It will also operate and be managed as an independent entity, aiming to launch and operate the new blockchain-based digital platform by the end of 2018.\n\nPhysical energy transactions from trade entry to final settlement will be implemented via the blockchain platform, which envisions that over the time all energy will be transacted via decentralised blockchain models.\n\nThe new venture has the potential to become a big step for blockchain technology, which has not yet reached maturity and requires further development. The event that leading financial institutions also participate in the new venture is highly encouraging, given that the Bitcoin crypto-currency is the largest and most successful application of blockchain to date.\n\nTechnological and regulatory challenges\n\nPopular content\n\nSeveral challenges, both technological and regulatory, remain. The fundamental idea behind blockchain is to remove the so-called middle-men (e.g. electricity suppliers or aggregators) in the energy trade. Where a power generator and a customer agree a transaction, they agree the terms and details of it and trade electricity peer-to-peer without needing intermediates. Their transactions are encrypted, distributed and stored to the individual computers that form the chain. For a transaction to be implemented, its details and terms need to be verified by all individual computers comprising the chain (this is a process called \u2018mining\u2019).\n\nMembers of a blockchain can either be identified or not. Bitcoin (in the area of financial services) for example keeps the identity of the participants anonymous. Other systems may require the identity of participant to be disclosed before entry to the blockchain. It is highly interesting to see which option the new blockchain platform will opt for, given specifically that models based on anonymity increase operating costs and require great IT power to perform fast.\n\nOn the regulatory side, it will be useful to see how the smart, digital contracts will be used in the new platform. In the traditional electricity model used today, there are clearly defined responsibilities of supply and operation for both the power suppliers and the networks operators. In the case of decentralised blockchain units, such units rely on the distributed register (the \u2018ledger\u2019) and decisions are taken by consensus on the basis of a computer code. The new blockchain platform can offer lessons on this front too.", "output": "Oil majors including BP, Shell and Statoil have joined forces with several banks and energy traders, such as Gunvor and Mercuria, to launch a blockchain platform for digital transactions in the energy sector. The platform, set to go live by the end of next year, will operate as an independent entity, and aims to cut costs by enabling producers to sidestep electricity suppliers and deal directly with customers, while transactions are recorded via smart contracts on the blockchain to improve efficiency. However, analysts warn the nascent blockchain system faces potential regulatory obstacles and must overcome the technical issue of anonymity."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shift to 100% renewable power 'cheaper' than fossil-fuel system \n The study, \u2018Global Energy System Based on 100% Renewable Energy \u2013 Power Sector\u2019 was presented during the Global Renewable Energy Solutions Showcase event, a sideline to the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP23 currently underway in Bonn.\n\nThe study\u2019s key overall finding is that a global shift to 100% renewable electricity is feasible with current technology, and would be more cost effective than the current system led by fossil fuels and nuclear generation.\n\nThe study found that in a projected scenario for energy demand in 2050, 100% could be met by current renewable technologies, at a global average LCOE of \u20ac52/MWh, compared with 2015\u2019s average LCOE of \u20ac70.\n\nIn EWG\u2019s 2050 scenario, solar PV covers 69% of electricity demand, wind 18%, hydro 8% and bioenergy 2%. The study predicts that wind will briefly overtake solar in the 2020s, before further price drops put solar back in the lead.\n\nStorage is outlined as the key supporting technology for solar, with around 31% of total demand covered by storage technologies. 95% of this is projected to come from short term storage provided by batteries, with power to gas conversion providing seasonal storage.\n\nPopular content\n\n\u201cThere is no reason to invest one more dollar in fossil or nuclear power production,\u201d exclaims EWG President Hans Josef. \u201cAll plans for a further expansion of coal, nuclear, gas and oil have to be ceased. More investments need to be channeled in renewable energies and the necessary infrastructure for storage and grids. Everything else will lead to unnecessary costs and increasing global warming.\u201d\n\nThe report is based on an original model developed by Lappeenranta University of Technology, which calculates the most cost-effective mix of technologies based on available resources in 145 regions for a full reference year. The full study is published here.\n\nOnly time will tell whether this study\u2019s recommendation will translate into reality. As lead author Christian Breyer sums up: \u201cEnergy transition is no longer a question of technical feasibility or economic viability, but of political will.\u201d", "output": "The world can shift to 100% renewable electricity sources by 2050 using today's technology and be more cost effective than the present fossil-fuel based system, according to research from Finland\u2019s Lappeenranta University of Technology and Energy Watch Group. By 2050, 100% of power demand could be met by current renewable technologies, at a global average levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) of \u20ac52/MWh, compared with 2015\u2019s average LCOE of \u20ac70. Solar PV would cover 69% of electricity supply, wind 18%, hydro 8% and bioenergy 2%. About 31% of demand would be met by energy storage, of which 95% would be from batteries and the remainder from power-to-gas technology."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EU directive to reduce barriers to offering retail banking \n Our insights\n\nMeet our people / 8.6.2023 Maja Legernaes: Loving the combination of working with hard and soft skills\n\nAs a Security Manager Maja works with complex tech, critical systems and vital infrastructure.\n\nRead more\n\nMeet our people / 7.6.2023 Tone Jensen: A star who let\u2019s others shine\n\nShe started a department that has more than tripled in size. She invented an app that is used in multiple countries. She has been voted one of the most influential tech women in Norway.\n\nRead more\n\nData / 7.6.2023 ChatGPT and beyond: What is the impact of generative AI on information work\n\nFor the first time in history, AI is available for all. To benefit from ChatGPT and other ground-breaking tools, it's good to get hands-on and play. There is a new skill to learn - Prompt Engineering.\n\nRead more\n\n\u203a", "output": "European banks will face increased competition and disruption following the 2018 implementation of the EU Revised Payment Service Directive (PSD2). It will require banks to open up their application programme interface and provide customer account details, seriously eroding their monopoly. Barriers to entry, such as the requirement for a single licence, are set to be lowered for non-banks offering financial services, while tech-savvy customers demanding faster and more efficient services will force established institutions to adapt or lose custom. The directive will introduce two types of financial service provider, account information service providers (AISP) and payment initiation service providers (PISP)."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Samsung Pay enjoys India success \n Samsung Pay Spikes in India\n\nNovember 10, 2017 By: Steven Anderson\n\nMobile payments are increasingly a big deal in India, thanks to the government pulling the bottom out of the currency by declaring a large chunk of it worthless. Mobile payments systems became one of the great responses to this development, and companies like Paytm reaped the rewards. In fact, developments on this front got so substantial that some firms saw huge gains. Recently, word out of Samsung India noted that Samsung Pay took just over a month to add another million users to its lineup.\n\nSamsung Pay enjoys at least a modicum of success worldwide. It\u2019s got nearly 6.44 million users just in South Korea, and that\u2019s one of its biggest markets. Russia is also one of the top three, and now, thanks to the big gains seen in recent days, India is Samsung Pay\u2019s third-largest market.\n\nFurther developments prove why India is such a ripe market for mobile payments; not only is the government actively hostile to its own currency as demonstrated by the demonetization effort, but India is now the second-largest market for smartphones on the planet, having just beaten the United States. Throw in the fact that 17 financial institutions\u201410 of them banks\u2014are now supporting Samsung Pay\u2019s Indian operations with more likely to follow in the coming days and it\u2019s easy to see why Samsung\u2019s gaining ground in India.\n\nIt\u2019s good news for Samsung\u2014it already has a Samsung Pay presence in 20 different markets and is available on several devices\u2014and it\u2019s also noteworthy news for India. It\u2019s proving that India is already a pretty substantial market for mobile payments, and based on everything we\u2019ve seen so far, it\u2019s not likely that that\u2019s going to cool off.\n\nWith WhatsApp looking to add payments, Paytm looking to add chat, and plenty of other firms making moves on the market, the fact that Samsung has any kind of a foothold at all in the Indian market is something to be pleased about. It\u2019s likely to be a difficult market going forward, and Samsung Pay\u2014if it wants to hold onto that market\u2014should be making plans accordingly.\n\nStill, Samsung has clearly made a splash in India. Given that there are over a billion people in India right now, though, that million isn\u2019t the advance some might think.", "output": "Samsung Pay is thriving in India, where it has added one million users in just over a month. The country recently edged past the US to become Samsung's third-biggest market. The success is down to both the government's recent demonetisation policy, and widespread smartphone adoption that has propelled India to become the world's second-largest smartphone market. In addition, the integration of Samsung Pay into 17 financial institutions has helped establish the company's presence. However, more intense competition is expected soon from WhatsApp and Paytm.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aldi, Vemno partner for free meals on Thanksgiving \n Aldi and Venmo: Together for Thanksgiving\n\nNovember 9, 2017 By: Steven Anderson\n\nWith Thanksgiving right around two weeks away, it\u2019s time to start making those shopping lists and consulting those cookbooks. Either that or figuring out if anywhere in town delivers a turkey pizza. Grocery chain Aldi, meanwhile, is getting together with peer-to-peer (P2P) mobile payments titan Venmo to produce \u201cFriendsgiving,\u201d a celebration of friends at Thanksgiving.\n\nSounds noble enough\u2014friends are one step behind family, after all, and Thanksgiving is all about family\u2014and when you look at what\u2019s really going into it, it will look just as noble as it sounds. Basically, any time someone uses the Turkey Hand Friendship emoji in Venmo\u2014one of its biggest draws is its use of emojis in describing what a payment went for\u2014Aldi will provide 10 meals at no charge to Feeding America, which is the largest hunger relief operation targeting the United States that operates therein.\n\nIn case you get the urge to run out and start spamming Turkey Hand Friendship emojis in a bid to feed the world, restrain yourself somewhat; apparently this will work up to a maximum of one million meals. So after that first 100,000 emojis, you\u2019ll just be showing the Turkey Hand with no free meal correlation.\n\nIt\u2019s also something of a first; Venmo reportedly built the Turkey Hand Friendship emoji specifically for this campaign, which has never been done before. Those less than familiar with the emoji system, meanwhile, can also type \u201cFriendsgiving\u201d to get the job done, reports note. Venmo has also been branching out with its branding, not just in charitable operations, but also in the \u201cBlank Me\u201d campaign, which takes user stories and hawks them relentlessly to help connect to other users.\n\nStill, this is a great move for all concerned. Not only is there the clear benefit of providing a lot of free meals to folks on Thanksgiving\u2014which is about one of the noblest things a person can do, helping others celebrate the true spirit of Thanksgiving, complete with gratitude for blessings\u2014but Venmo also gets itself face-forward in a time when a lot of companies are getting ready to jump on the bandwagon of its market, which it formerly had mostly to itself.\n\nIn the end, everyone comes out ahead, with better optics and fuller bellies. It\u2019s hard to beat a proposition like that.", "output": "Peer-to-peer mobile payment service Venmo has created a new emoji specifically for its Thanksgiving partnership,\u00a0with retail grocery chain Aldi. The joint celebration is being called \"Friendsgiving\". Under the partnership,\u00a0Aldi will supply 10 meals free of charge to US charity Feeding America every time a Venmo subscriber uses a special turkey hand friendship emoji.\u00a0There are\u00a0up to one million free meals available.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Energy firms boost M&A deals in data analytics start-ups \n Energy sector investments in big data and artificial intelligence have ballooned by a factor of 10 this year, according to a new report on the sector.\n\nThe study, by accountancy firm BDO, found mergers and acquisitions involving energy companies and AI startups had soared in average value from around $500 million in the first quarter of 2017 to $3.5 billion in the second quarter.\n\nThe number of deals also went up, rising from six to eight. The 14 deals in the first half of this year compares to 15 in the whole of 2016. \u201cWe are witnessing the early stages of what will become an M&A trend for years to come,\u201d said BDO.\n\nThe firm attributed much of this activity to the need for improved analytics to manage intermittent renewable generation.\n\n\u201cIn these uncertain times, energy businesses adapt their strategy and look to artificial intelligence and big data to improve energy forecasts,\u201d states the report.\n\nAs an example, in July, an energy sector consulting firm called Willdan Group paid $30 million for Integral Analytics, a data analytics and software company.\n\n\u201cIA\u2019s software solutions are designed to solve problems arising from the transformation of an electric grid facing increasing growth in distributed energy resources, such as solar and electric vehicles,\u201d noted Willdan in a press release.\n\nAnother example was smart meter maker Itron\u2019s acquisition of demand response provider Comverge in May for $100 million. As reported in GTM, the purchase gave Itron added analytical firepower to add to its existing software suite.\n\nNot all energy-sector analytics acquisitions conform to this picture, however. One of the deals listed by BDO was Castrol\u2019s purchase of Romax Technology in February.\n\nAlthough the acquisition gave Castrol a foothold in the renewable energy market, the motivation for the buyout was allowing the oil company better access to Romax\u2019s wind turbine gearbox lubrication customers.\n\nUtilities are leading the acquisition charge. According to GTM Research, utilities have spent nearly $3 billion on grid edge startups, many with sophisticated software and analytical capabilities.\n\nIn July, for instance, the genset rental giant Aggreko paid $52 million for Younicos and its Y.Q software platform.\n\nAnd in May, Wartsila, a marine and power plant specialist, bought Greensmith, which had made its name in energy storage optimization and integration software.\n\nOther similar deals include Enel\u2019s acquisitions of EnerNOC and Demand Energy in June and January, and Doosan\u2019s purchase of 1Energy Systems in July 2016.\n\nThe French energy giant EDF, meanwhile, pulled off a similar deal in reverse last year when it bought the services company Groom Energy Solutions in order to get more use out of an analytics platform belonging to one of its other subsidiaries, Dalkia.\n\nClearly, energy companies are increasingly looking to add greater software intelligence to their operations, said report author Jakob Sand, BDO\u2019s head of corporate finance in Denmark.\n\n\u201cI would believe that most of the large energy companies, including oil majors such as Exxon, Shell, BP and Chevron, are on the lookout for opportunities that can enhance their operations through data and AI or machine learning,\" he said.\n\nBesides responding to a need for more efficient and flexible operations, some of the interest in M&A could be driven by competitive concerns, BDO said. The firm\u2019s report said 2,595 clean energy hopefuls were among the companies tracked on the AngelList online startup database.\n\nMany of these \u201care already bringing their products and services to market,\u201d BDO said. \u201cIt leads to a situation where many large companies may have to resort to M&A to avoid losing market shares to the new kids on the block.\u201d\n\nWith a growing number of startups looking to commercialize blockchain-based energy trading concepts, blockchain providers could become the next big focus for corporate M&A, said BDO. There have already been several partnerships in this area.\n\nIn June, for example, E.ON and Enel traded energy over a blockchain-based peer-to-peer network provided by IT specialist Ponton.\n\nAnd Conjoule, a blockchain platform developer hatched in Innogy\u2019s Innovation Hub in 2015, pulled in $5.3 million in funding from Tokyo Electric Power Company and others in July. Expect more such deals to come.", "output": "Energy companies' investment in data analytics start-ups has soared, with mergers and acquisitions in the sector surging to $3.5bn in Q2 2017\u00a0from $500m in Q1, according to a study by accounting firm\u00a0BDO. H1 2017 M&A deals totalled 14, compared with 15 in the whole of 2016. \"In these uncertain times, energy businesses... look to artificial intelligence and big data to improve energy forecasts,\" the report noted. In separate data from GTM Research, utilities have invested $3bn in grid-edge start-ups, including Aggreko's $52m acquisition of Younicos and Enel\u2019s purchase of EnerNOC and Demand Energy."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GE Digital and L&T Infotech to deploy IoT solar testbed in India \n Supported by storage, EV charging stations and smart homes, renewable penetration on the grids of Germany and the U.K. could rise to 50% by the mid-2020s, finds BNEF.asting requirements.\n\nThe Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), the U.S. headquartered organization, which is transforming business and society by accelerating the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), has announced the Digital Solar Plant testbed initiative in India on November 08.\n\nThe testbed is led by IIC members Larsen & Toubro Infotech (LTI), a global technology consulting and digital solutions company, and General Electric (GE) Digital. It will deploy in multiple phases at an LTI Solar plant in Rajasthan, India, beginning in early 2018.\n\nThe digital solar plant testbed includes LTI\u2019s solution framework for solar plants with GE Digital\u2019s Predix platform integration. It provides the necessary insights and dashboards for plant status, forecasting, data analytics and KPIs.\n\nThe testbed improves the ability of solar plants to reliably supply energy to power grids by accurately forecasting electricity generated through solar irradiation, to provide insights, optimize plant output and reduce maintenance expenses by performing real-time asset condition-monitoring.\n\n\u201cUtility companies face several issues as global interest in solar energy soars \u2013 from mitigating operational and regulatory risks to maintaining efficiencies and improving capacity utilization,\u201d said Rohit Kedia, Chief Business Officer, Manufacturing and ERP, LTI.\n\n\u201cWith LTI\u2019s expertise in IoT solution deployments coupled with GE Digital\u2019s Predix platform, utility companies now have a technological proving ground to successfully manage the growing demand for solar energy,\u201d Kedia added.\n\nPopular content\n\nThe testbed is an intelligent platform that drives optimal plant performance for operators, asset managers, and owners under complex grid & high-end energy forecasting requirements.\n\nShyam Varan Nath, Director, Technology Integrations, IoT/Industrial Internet at GE Digital said, \u201cIt will help solar plant utilities forecast energy requirements. Using real-time data analytics, utilities can also ensure that all of their assets are working properly and that their plants are running efficiently.\u201d\n\nAccording to IIC, the forecasting accuracy improvement to 85% (from current trends of 60%-70%) will save utilities around $3 million annually (estimate based on current tariff penalties and assuming 40,000 MW grid connected solar capacity in India by 2021-22). Moreover, 20% Improvement in CUF (capacity utilization factor) would increase annual revenue by $33 million for all solar utilities (estimated at current tariff INR 4/kwh).\n\nIIC mentioned that annual maintenance cost on solar plant is around $1000-1500/MW and solar utilities are going to spend $50 million/year on O&M (Operations & Maintenance) in India market alone. Therefore, 30% reduction in O&M expenses will save around $15 million/year for utilities managers, IIC estimated.", "output": "General Electric Digital and Larsen & Toubro Infotech (LTI) will lead a multiphase digital solar plant testbed project at an LTI solar plant in Rajasthan, beginning early next year, according to the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC). The testbed combines GE Digital\u2019s Predix platform with LTI\u2019s solar plant technology, offering real-time data analytics to enable utilities to see how efficiently their plants and systems are working, as well as key performance indicators and forecasting data. IIC estimated a 30% reduction in operations and maintenance costs could save utilities around $15m annually."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NREL posts efficiency record for 'quantum dot' solar cells \n Joey Luther and Erin Sanehira were part of the research team which achieved 13.4% efficiency from a quantum dot solar cell.\n\nQuantum dot solar cells first appeared on NREL\u2019s conversion efficiency chart in 2010, when 2.9% efficient solar cells were created. Since then, better understanding of the technology has greatly increased its efficiency.\n\nThanks to their very small size \u2013 generally between 3 and 20nm according to NREL \u2013 quantum dot materials have become a popular area for research in solar. This latest paper from NREL, entitled \u201cEnhanced mobility CsPbI3 quantum dot arrays for record-efficiency, high-voltage photovoltaic cells,\u201d is published in the journal Science Advances.\n\nThe researchers state that their cell, made using cesium lead triodide, a material from the halide perovskite family, would best be deployed within multi-junction solar cells. \u201c[The] voltage, coupled with the material\u2019s bandgap, make them an ideal candidate for the top layer in a multijunction solar cell,\u201d said Joseph Luther, project leader in the chemical materials and nanoscience team at NREL.\n\nPopular content\n\nThe team go on to speculate that their quantum dot cell could be paired with perovskite thin-film materials to achieve efficiencies comparable to niche solar applications such as satellites, at a cost lower than conventional silicon PV technology.\n\n\u201cOften, materials used in space and rooftop applications are completely different,\u201d said PhD Student Erin Sanehira. \u201cIt is exciting to see possible configurations that could be used for both situations.\u201d", "output": "US researchers have achieved a record 13.4% conversion efficiency for an emerging form of solar-cell technology using quantum dots. The team at the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) said their cell, made from caesium lead tri-iodide and usually around 3 nm and 20 nm, was best used in multi-junction solar cells, according to an article in Science Advances. NREL also speculated that, if paired with perovskite thin-film materials, they could perform as well as niche solar applications found in satellites but at a lower cost than regular silicon cells."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Grinding components makes perovskite solar cells with fewer defects \n A group of chemists from two leading institutions have demonstrated a perovskite solar cell with a reduced number of structural defects. The cells were produced using \u2018mechanochemistry\u2019, whereby reactions between solid compounds are activated by mechanical force \u2013 essentially the same concept as grinding ingredients in a mortar.\n\nThe group worked with polycrystalline halide perovskites, comprised of methylammonium, lead and iodide. The researchers state that their process could also be used to create other perovskite structured materials for specific applications.\n\nThe process is described as follows: \u201cTwo powders, e.g. white methylammonium iodide CH3NH3I and yellow lead iodide PbI2, are placed in a mill equipped with a few steel balls. Then, we grind them for several dozen minutes and\u2026 we pour out a homogeneous black powder of the perovskite (CH3NH3)PbI3, which can be directly used for the construction of photovoltaic cells.\n\nThe PAS researchers were keen to point out the simplicity of the process and its potential for low cost application: \u201cYou do not need to use high temperature, organic solvents, or worry about waste,\u201d explains Marcin Saski, a PhD student at PAS. \u201cThe whole process is really fast and efficient. It is green chemistry,\u201d\n\nThe materials produced by PAS were assembled and tested at EPFL in the laboratory of renowned chemist Michael Gr\u00e4tzel. Scientists were able to produce a perovskite layer just 300nm thick. Results published in the journal Applied Materials & Interfaces show that their best device peaked at 17.5% efficiency, stabilizing at 16.8%.\n\nPopular content\n\nThe steel ball mill process produced a highly homogenous perovskite layer, with fewer defects that are seen in many previous perovskite devices. This could lead to better reliability, and eventually a solution to some of perovskite\u2019s issues with swift degradation.\n\n\u201cAn important property characterizing the quality of a photovoltaic cell is the amount of electrical charge accumulating at the boundary of individual cell layers. If there is too much, the cell undergoes degradation more rapidly,\u201d explains EPFL\u2019s Daniel Prochowicz. \u201cPerovskites obtained by mechanochemistry formed a very homogeneous layer, which reduced the number of defects in the structure impairing the work of the cell and reduced the amount of charge deposited on the surface.\u201d\n\nSo far the researchers have been unable to fully explain why the mechanochemical process worked better. The most likely explanation, it seem, is the absence of a solvent, which in other processes can become incorporated into the structure and leave a defect-causing residue.", "output": "Researchers have found a way to improve the performance of an experimental type of solar cell that is thought to hold the key to cheaper and better energy production and storage. The Institute of Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the \u00c9cole Polytechnique F\u00e9d\u00e9rale de Lausanne found that grinding the materials for so-called perovskite\u00a0cells, instead of using a solvent, enabled their production at lower cost and with fewer defects,\u00a0leading to increased reliability. The so-called \"mechanochemistry\" technique produced cells with a\u00a0performance efficiency that peaked at 17.5%, before stabilising at 16.8%."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Japan adds 2.6 MW of floating solar power via Shikoku-based plant \n The project is located west of Osaka on the island of Shikoku, in the town of Miki, Kagawa prefecture. It is the biggest floating PV project that the two companies have worked on to date. The Mitsubishi group\u2019s polyethylene terephthalate film technology was applied to lock out moisture and prevent corrosion. Mitsubishi Electric installed more than 9,500 PV modules at the site, according to a online statement.\n\nJapan \u2014 along with China and South Korea \u2014 is among the world\u2019s earliest markets for floating solar. The segment is now rapidly expanding throughout the world, with huge potential for greater deployment throughout Southeast Asia. Lu Zhao, head of PV System Technology Group at the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS), recently told pv magazine that globally, floating PV could also be combined with hydropower generating capacity at the terawatt scale.\n\nIn September, French floating PV specialist Ciel et Terre started installing 2.5 MW of solar capacity in a small city to the west of Nagoya, Japan. The array \u2014 situated on a pond in Tsu, Mie prefecture \u2014 is set for completion this month. Ciel et Terre \u2014 an early mover in Japan\u2019s niche floating PV segment \u2014 has deployed its proprietary Hydrelio floating platforms in a number of projects throughout the country in recent years, particularly in cooperation with Kyoto-based PV module supplier Kyocera.\n\nPopular content\n\nLast year, nearly 1.5 GW of floating PV, including some pile-mounted capacity, was tendered in China\u2019s Anhui and Shandong provinces under the Chinese government\u2019s Top Runner scheme. In May of this year, the world\u2019s biggest floating PV project \u2014 a 40 MW solar array \u2014 at an aquaculture business in Huainan, Anhui province.", "output": "Mitsubishi Electric and Sumitomo Mitsui Construction have completed their biggest floating solar project to date, a 2.6 MW array on a pond on the island of Shikoku, Japan. Mitsubishi installed over 9,500 photovoltaic modules at the site, using its polyethylene terephthalate film technology to lock out moisture and prevent corrosion."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "India commissions mapping system to probe wind energy potential \n The Facilitating Offshore Wind in India (FOWIND) consortium has commissioned India's first offshore LiDAR, the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), which leads the consortium, said last week.\n\nThe LiDAR is located off the coast of India's western state of Gujarat, in the Gulf of Khambhat. It will provide data to help India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy examine the potential of offshore wind along the country's coastline.\n\nThe device has been procured from MeteoPole and installed on a platform developed by India's National Institute of Wind Energy.\n\nGWEC secretary general Steve Sawyer expects that offshore wind will play a key role in the country's clean energy future. \"This is an important first step on the long road to establishing a vibrant and cost-effective offshore wind industry in India,\" Sawyer commented.\n\nThe FOWIND project aims to finalise a preliminary roadmap for offshore wind development in India in early 2018.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "India has commissioned a sophisticated landscape mapping tool\u00a0as authorities examine the country's potential for generating wind power. The country's\u00a0first light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system will be sited in the the Gulf of Khambhat, off the western state of Gujarat. Commissioned by the Facilitating Offshore Wind in India (FOWIND) consortium, the LiDAR system\u00a0will gather data for India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. FOWIND's preliminary roadmap for offshore wind development is set to be released early next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Intercontinental Hotels accused of breaching living wage pledge \n The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has accused the owner of the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza hotel chains of reneging on a commitment to pay the living wage to staff in the capital.\n\nIntercontinental Hotels pledged to pay the higher wage rate to secure the title of official hotels provider to the 2012 London Olympics.\n\nKhan said he was shocked at the breach of trust by the hotel group, which has refused to honour a commitment made in 2012 to pay the living wage within the next five years.\n\n\n\nThe mayor warned the company it was unlikely he would endorse any future partnerships with the Greater London Authority without a change of policy.\n\nOfficials from City Hall had hoped this week to hear from Intercontinental Hotels (IHG) that it was ready to make good on its pledge.\n\nHowever, the group\u2019s new chief executive, Keith Barr, said that since 2012, employment costs had increased dramatically, preventing it from paying the \u00a310.20 an hour rate to all staff.\n\nMayor of London Sadiq Khan. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA\n\nKhan said in a letter to Barr that he understood that businesses faced rising costs, including higher rents and business rates, but \u201cgiven the ongoing success and profitability of IHG, I believe your business has the ability and responsibility to keep the promise you made both to Londoners and to your own staff\u201d.\n\nAn IHG spokesperson said: \u201cOver the past five years there have been several valuable changes to UK pay and benefits legislation, including the introduction of a national living wage, pension auto-enrolment, higher national insurance and the apprenticeship levy.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe won\u2019t be moving forward with gaining the voluntary London living wage accreditation, but remain focused on hospitality as a great career, as well as the associated pay and benefits, to ensure we remain an employer of choice.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe row comes at the end of a week of events to publicise the living wage that kicked off on Monday with the announcement of rise in the voluntary minimum to \u00a310.20 in London and \u00a38.75 per hour in the rest of the country.\n\n\n\nThe Living Wage Foundation, which grew out of a campaign started in 2001 by the community group Citizens UK, sets new rates each year to reflect the wage a worker needs to sustain a decent quality of life. More than 3,600 companies are signatories and pay their employees the higher rate.\n\nKhan said: \u201cTo truly tackle the scourge of in-work poverty in London I need businesses such as yours to take the responsible step, especially when you have already committed to do so.\u201d\n\n\n\nCitizens UK\u2019s executive director, Neil Jameson, said: \u201cBack in 2012 IHG, the owners of Holiday Inn promised they would pay a London living wage to hotel staff in the capital but, five years on, hardworking staff are still waiting for this pay rise.\n\n\n\n\u201cIt is deeply disappointing that IHG have let down workers and customers by not paying the London living wage after saying they would. We would urge IHG to meet with workers and urgently agree a timetable towards paying the London living wage and accreditation with the Living Wage Foundation.\u201d\n\n\n\nIn April 2016, the government introduced a new \u00a37.50 national living wage to supplement the minimum wage, though just for workers aged 25 years and older.\n\nIHG added: \u201cWe have made good progress in increasing the pay and benefits of managed hotel colleagues over the past five years, including going beyond legislative requirements for national living wage by paying the 19% of our workforce under 25 years old the new rate.\n\n\u201cNearly 90% of colleagues are now paid more than the national living wage rate. Through our IHG academy programme we have also helped to train and upskill more than 500 local people.\u201d", "output": "London Mayor\u00a0Sadiq Khan\u00a0has accused the Intercontinental Hotels group, which owns the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza chains, of backtracking on a pledge to pay staff in the capital the living wage. The group made the commitment in order to become official hotels provider to the 2012 London Olympics. Khan said that it was unlikely he would endorse any further partnerships between the company and the Greater London Authority unless the pledge was implemented. The group\u2019s new CEO, Keith Barr, said that rising employment costs since 2012 had stopped the company paying the \u00a310.20 ($13.5) rate.\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "European Commission cuts UK growth forecast due to uncertainty \n Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBrexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nThe European Commission has slashed its forecast for UK GDP growth, citing Brexit-related uncertainty.\n\nIn its autumn 2017 round of forecasts, the commission is now projecting growth for Britain of 1.5 per cent this year, down from 1.8 per cent previously.\n\nRecommended The truth about whether we should expect another recession\n\nThe latest 2018 forecast is for 1.3 per cent growth, falling to 1.1 per cent in 2019, the year Britain is scheduled to leave the European Union.\n\nThis slowdown is based on assumptions of weak business investment, disappointing export growth and a moderation in UK household spending.\n\nMeanwhile, the commission has raised its GDP forecast for the eurozone in 2017 to 2.2 per cent, up from its previous estimate of 1.7 per cent.\n\nThis would be the single currency area\u2019s fastest rate of growth since 2007.\n\nIt expects eurozone growth next year to be 2.1 per cent and 1.9 per cent in 2019.\n\nReferring to the UK, the commission said: \u201cInvestment growth is forecast to weaken in 2018, as many firms are likely to continue deferring investments in the face of uncertainty.\u201d\n\nThe commission added that its forecasts are based on a \u201cpurely technical assumption\u201d that UK-EU trade will continue undisrupted after 2019.\n\nBrexit slowdown\n\n\u201cThis is for forecasting purposes only and has no bearing on the talks underway in the context of the Article 50 process,\u201d it said.\n\nThe commission\u2019s forecasts for the UK are close to those of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)\u2019s, which forecast last month for UK GDP growth to be 1.6 per cent this year, before slumping to just 1 per cent in 2018.\n\nHowever, the OECD\u2019s projections are based on the assumption that the UK will leave the EU without a trade agreement.\n\nThe Bank of England\u2019s latest UK GDP forecasts are considerably rosier than either the commission\u2019s or the OECD\u2019s.\n\nIt expects GDP growth this year and next of 1.6 per cent, climbing to 1.7 per cent in 2019. This is based on the assumption of a \u201csmooth\u201d Brexit.\n\nIs austerity over? Economics editor Ben Chu explains.\n\nThe Treasury\u2019s official forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility will publish its own projections alongside the Chancellor\u2019s Budget on 22 November.\n\nUK GDP growth picked up slightly to 0.4 per cent in the third quarter of 2017 according to the Office for National Statistics, having grown by just 0.3 per cent in the first two quarters of the year.\n\nHowever, the year-on-year growth rate in third quarter was just 1.5 per cent, the lowest since 2013.\n\nGDP growth since the Brexit vote has mainly been driven by household spending, which has come under pressure this year as rising inflation from the slump in sterling has squeezed real incomes.\n\nThe contribution of exports to growth has been disappointing, despite the boost to firms from the cheaper pound, and business investment has been relatively weak with many companies citing deep uncertainty over future trade relations with Europe.", "output": "Predictably, the European Commission has cut UK growth forecasts due to Brexit-related uncertainty. Projected growth for 2017 is a mere 1.5%, slipping to 1.3% in 2018 and 1.1% in 2019. The Commission has also increased Eurozone GDP forecasts from 1.7% to 2.2%. Critics would consider these forecasts arbitrary and another play in the upcoming negotiations.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "95% of Irish firms still not actively preparing for Brexit \n Despite the uncertainty of Brexit, the InterTrade Ireland report suggests cross-Border trade is thriving\n\nWith less than two years to go to Brexit, an overwhelming 95 per cent of businesses in Ireland are still not actively planning for the event, according to cross-Border development agency InterTrade Ireland.\n\nThe finding, contained in its latest quarterly business survey, suggests most firms here are still adopting a wait-and-see approach to potentially the biggest shake-up in trading relations between the UK and Ireland in decades.\n\nThe agency said planning for Brexit remained a \u201creal concern\u201d, particularly as 22 per cent of all business on the island and 41 per cent of cross-Border traders say it is already having a negative impact on their business.\n\nDespite the uncertainty of Brexit the agency\u2019s report suggested cross-Border trade was thriving, with half of traders experiencing business growth compared to 36 per cent of businesses only doing trading in their own jurisdiction.\n\nREAD MORE\n\nThe survey found the increased growth, however, was not translating into a equivalent rise in employment, with only 7 per cent of firms reporting that employment levels have increased over the past quarter.\n\nThe reluctance to take on new staff against the positive market background may signal an improvement in productivity but may also reflect difficulties in recruiting appropriate skills, the agency said.\n\nIT and finance firms here have been vocal about their difficulties in finding skilled staff.\n\nIn its report InterTrade Ireland also highlighted cost increases in overheads and through the supply chain as significant challenges facing businesses.\n\n\"A buoyant economy should not distract from the need to confront and prepare for challenges that lie ahead, especially in terms of dealing with rising costs, skills shortages and potential changes to trading relationships,\" said Aidan Gough, strategy and policy director at InterTradeIreland.\n\nTight margins\n\nMr Gough said that over 70 per cent of businesses were operating on very tight margins \u2013 below 10 per cent \u2013 and therefore carry a high exposure to rising costs.\n\n\u201cWhile we encourage businesses to concentrate on the day job and operational effectiveness, we also advise companies to use this time strategically to look at the possible impacts of Brexit,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cBy asking relevant questions and working through different scenarios, businesses which have proved resilient in the past will discover new solutions and opportunities in the challenges that lie ahead,\u201d Mr Gough said.\n\n\u201cWith a healthy ambition to grow reported by 51 per cent of firms across the island, we are encouraging SMEs to plan, act and engage in preparation for Brexit as this is the key to stability and success in the future.\u201d", "output": "95% of Irish firms are yet to make preparations for the event of the UK's exit from the EU, according to a study by InterTrade Ireland. Over 70% of Irish firms are operating on margins of under 10%, leaving them vulnerable to the rising costs that may be incurred due to Brexit.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK gender pay gap increases for women in their 20s \n The gender pay gap for women in their 20s is growing after years of decline, with some young women being paid less than men from the start of their careers, figures have revealed.\n\nThe figures were released on Friday, named as Equal Pay Day and the day of the year when women in effect begin to work for free due to the pay gap.\n\nGender rights campaigners said the data highlighted a \u201cnational scandal\u201d created by the same power imbalance that allowed sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace. They warned that the UK was going backwards in addressing the issue, with the gulf widening for young women.\n\nSam Smethers, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said: \u201cThe pay gap is widest for older women as it grows over our working lives but we are now seeing a widening of the pay gap for younger women too, which suggests we are going backwards and that is extremely worrying.\u201d\n\n\n\nSophie Walker, leader of the Women\u2019s Equality party, stressed that the gender pay gap had to be viewed as part of the same power imbalance that had lead to a series of sexual harassment scandals in politics, the media and entertainment industry.\n\n\u201cUnequal pay is one of the main barriers to equality and is a key factor in sexual harassment and violence against women,\u201d she said. \u201cThe pay gap is another national scandal that we don\u2019t understand, and it has this same national narrative around it that women are somehow choosing this treatment \u2013 this idea that inequality is some sort of lifestyle choice.\u201d\n\nThe gender pay gap for women in their 20s has been widening recently, and is now five times greater than it was six years ago, although older women still face greater pay discrimination than workers at the start of their career.\n\nProgress has stalled on closing the gender pay gap, which now stands at 14.1% according to the Office for National Statistics, with no movement on the figure in the last three years. At the current rate of change it will take 100 years to close the male-female gap in pay.\n\nAccording to the ONS, older women face the greatest discrimination, with women in their 50s paid on average 18.6% less than their male colleagues. While the gap among younger women had almost been eliminated, in the last six years there was a notable increase, from 1.1% in 2011 to 5.5% this year.\n\nThe gender pay gap in Britain stands at 14.1%, according to ONS figures. Photograph: Dinendra Haria/Rex\n\nThe gap is highest in London (20.7%), followed by the south-east at 16.3%. It is lowest in Wales, at 8.3%, and the north-east, at 10.2%. The gap is higher in the private sector, at 17.1%. But it has fallen by 4.3% points since 2011, while in the public sector it has plateaued at just above 14%.\n\nFawcett Society research published this year found that the mean aggregate pay gap for Pakistani and Bangladeshi women was 26% and for black African women it was 24%.\n\nUsing the hashtag #paygappledge, the Fawcett Society is encouraging workers across the UK to take action to tackle the gap by starting a conversation at work and speaking to their employers, while companies and the government are being urged to make tangible, effective changes.\n\nThe Women\u2019s Equality party is coordinating thousands of women to send an \u201cout-of-office\u201d message today in protest about in effect not being paid for the remainder of the year.\n\n\u201cImagine the chaos if all of those women in all those areas of work simply walked away from their jobs today,\u201d said Walker. \u201cShops shut, hospitals in crisis, businesses forced to close, dads scrambling to find childcare cover. It\u2019s time for fair pay.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe government has set a deadline for businesses with more than 250 staff to report their gender pay gap (which will be available on the government website) by 31 March 2018. Some companies have already started reporting, including the BBC, which was fiercely criticised after several high-profile employees were found to have salaries significantly lower than their male counterparts.\n\n\n\nMaria Miller, the MP for Basingstoke and chair of the women and equalities select committee, said: \u201cWe continue to hear warm words from the government on eliminating the gender pay gap but clearly progress remains disappointing. Businesses must also take responsibility.\n\n\u201cWe continue to push for urgent action and reiterate that flexible working, sharing unpaid caring responsibilities, and supporting women returning to work after having children, are all key to tackling the problem.\u201d\n\nWalker said that a main reason for the pay gap was that the UK had the most expensive childcare in the world. \u201cIt takes away the choice about whether and how much women want to work. And when women take up lower-paid part-time roles and men dominate more senior jobs, there is a power imbalance, and that is where harassment thrives because women are being forced into a position of dependency.\u201d\n\n\n\nCarole Easton, chief executive of the Young Women\u2019s Trust, said that even if women did have children or were at the beginning of their career, discrimination was there; it started \u201cfrom the moment women start work\u201d. The trust\u2019s research revealed that young female apprentices earned 8% less than their male peers, leaving them more than \u00a31,000 a year worse off.\n\n\u201cAt this rate, today\u2019s young women will be retired before equal pay becomes a reality,\u201d Easton said. \u201cOften this is because the sectors women tend to work in \u2013 such as administration, health and social care and retail \u2013 are not valued and paid as much as they should be. Government data shows that male graduates of almost all degree subjects are out-earning women within just a few years of completing their degrees.\u201d\n\n\n\nAnne Milton, minister for women and for skills and apprenticeships, , said that despite the passing of the Equal Pay Act nearly 50 years ago too many women were still held back in their careers.\n\n\u201cThe pay gap won\u2019t close on its own, we all need to take action to make sure we address this,\u201d she said. \u201cThat is why we have introduced a legal requirement for all large employers to publish their gender pay and bonus data by April 2018. I\u2019m pleased that some of our top companies are leading the way and have already reported. By shining a light on where there are gaps they can take action to address it\u200e.\u201d\n\n\u2018The way jobs are set up has held me back\u2019\n\nLaura Davies enjoyed her job in retail. She wanted to do more training, push herself further and earn more money, but when she became pregnant aged 20 she found that many of the avenues were closed off.\n\n\n\n\u201cWhen my employers found out I was pregnant they made things very hostile, they didn\u2019t want me to stay,\u201d she says. \u201cSo I had no choice but to leave.\u201d\n\nUntil recently, Davies, now 27, was working part-time, but found that her childcare responsibilities meant she could not go on to a higher level of pay. \u201cI left at the end of July in my last job, they refused flexible working and they turned me down for promotion because they thought I was not committed, which wasn\u2019t true. Now I\u2019m self employed because I think it\u2019s the only way I\u2019m going to get ahead.\u201d\n\nShe, and friends, she said, who were also young mothers, felt the odds were stacked against them.\n\n\n\n\u201cMost people think the wage gap is comparing the same wage in the same job, but young mums work lower paid jobs, which don\u2019t have the potential for progression, aren\u2019t flexible enough [for trying] new things or training courses,\u201d she says.\n\nThe options open to young women, with or without children, in lower-paid work, are a frustration, she says, adding that even at apprenticeship level jobs dominated by women are paid and valued less.\n\n\u201cThere is a mentality that young mums aren\u2019t hard workers, but my friends are some of the hardest working I know,\u201d she adds. \u201cEspecially being young you have to work so much harder to prove that you can do it.\u201d\n\nDavies now works from home as an online marketer, working hours that fit around looking after her son. But she feels as if several employers have failed to see, and help her realise, her potential.\n\n\u201cI feel the way jobs are set up has held me back. Billions of hours are being wasted because mums aren\u2019t being used to their potential. Why can\u2019t employers find a flexible way of working? I\u2019d have loved the potential to progress in my retail job, but because I worked part-time and I was a new mum they didn\u2019t feel I was the fit \u2026 I had to do it myself and push myself up the ladder.\u201d", "output": "The UK\u2019s gender pay gap for women in their 20s is increasing. It is now 5.5%, up from 1.1% in 2011, with some female workers being paid less than their male peers from the start of their careers, according to new statistics. The data was released on Friday, designated \u201cEqual Pay Day\u201d, or the point of the year at which women effectively begin working for free as a result of the pay gap. The current overall pay gap is 14.1%. Older women still face the most discrimination, with women in their 50s paid 18.6% less than male colleagues.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon announces Man City documentary to encourage Prime sign ups \n Amazon\u2019s push into sports involves more than just livestreaming games. On Nov. 9, Premier League club Manchester City announced that Amazon has agreed to produce a documentary series about the club, putting an end to weeks of speculation about such an agreement.\n\nPitched as a soccer version of Amazon and the NFL\u2019s documentary series \u201cAll or Nothing,\u201d the show will follow the team throughout the 2017-18 season and air sometime after the season ends, which is in May.\n\nIt\u2019s the first deal of its kind for Amazon, which hopes the series turns fans of Manchester City and the sport into Prime subscribers. Amazon doesn\u2019t reveal subscriber numbers, but data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners suggests Amazon has around 90 million in the U.S. alone. \u201cManchester City believes there\u2019s a much broader audience out there for them alongside the club\u2019s supporters and soccer fans, which is why the type of demographics that watch content on Amazon was a good fit,\u201d said a source close to deal.\n\nThe same source said that once the production team has sorted through all the filmed footage, a decision will be made on how many episodes will be created. It could get tricky for the production crew on match days due to the Premier League\u2019s strict rules on match-day coverage that protect the broadcast rights it has sold to Sky and BT in the U.K. as well as its overseas partners. This means the show\u2019s producers could be forced to leave out dramatic moments like locker room team talks.\n\nThose regulations have already pushed Amazon rival Netflix to develop a similar fly-on-the-wall series with Italian club Juventus rather than an English one. Manchester City, however, is one of the top teams in the most-watched soccer league in the world and, as such, was able to strike the deal despite reportedly causing friction with broadcasters.\n\n\u201cAmazon is a fundamentally different platform that has global appeal across more than 200 countries,\u201d said the source. \u201cWith the Amazon team, we feel like they have a fantastic record of producing these types of programs [sports documentaries], and the club is confident in the partnership.\u201d\n\nSky Sports, which paid more than \u00a34 billion ($5.3 billion) to broadcast Premier League games between 2016 and 2019, reportedly voiced its unease about how Amazon bought its way into the league through the deal with Manchester City. Sports broadcasters are understandably concerned that the unfettered growth of services like Amazon Prime and Netflix could at some point take subscribers away from their own packages, as could livestreaming. Amazon already streams NFL Thursday night games as well as a Christmas Day game, and it will also pay the ATP \u00a310 million ($13.1 billion) per year for five years starting in 2019 to stream tennis matches.\n\nIt seems that Amazon Prime and Netflix have earmarked fly-on-wall documentaries as a way into soccer content without spending large sums to secure costly rights to games. Both streaming services have reached out to some of the biggest Premier League clubs, including Liverpool and Chelsea, with the hope that they will get access to the clubs, managers, players and facilities.\n\nImage courtesy of Manchester City", "output": "Amazon will film and produce a fly-on-the-wall documentary about English Premier League side Manchester City, despite concerns from broadcaster Sky Sports. Although Amazon will have to work around strict UK broadcast rights, analysts have suggested it could provide a stepping-stone for streaming firms to broadcast more sporting content and woo subscribers to their platforms. Amazon already streams NFL Thursday, has signed a five-year, \u00a310m ($13.1bn) deal with the ATP to broadcast tennis from 2019, and has, alongside rival Netflix, contacted Liverpool and Chelsea for access to players and staff.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google supports US efforts to tighten rulings on political ads \n Alphabet-owned Google has come off the fence to express its \u2018strong support\u2019 for a US government initiative to tighten the rules for online political advertising to prevent a repeat of 2016 in which Google was co-opted by Russian propagandists in an attempt to swing voters.\n\nGoogle \u2018strongly supports\u2019 full disclosure of US political ads\n\nGoogle, Facebook and Twitter have come in for heavy criticism from politicians after being caught flatfooted by the scandal, failing to prevent agents acting on behalf of the Russian state from buying up advertising slots.", "output": "US search giant Google has thrown its weight behind the Federal Election Commission's proposal to extend current political advertising disclosure rules, marking a U-turn from its position in 2010. \"Google strongly supports the commission\u2019s proposal to proceed with a rulemaking so that the commission can provide the clarity that campaigns and other political advertisers need to determine what disclaimers they are required to include\", the company said in a statement. The move follows revelations over the Russian purchase of thousands of dollars'\u00a0worth of ads on the platform during the 2016 US presidential election.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "YouTube pledges to protect children from disturbing content \n YouTube has said it will be doing more to prevent children from seeing strange and disturbing videos aimed at them, following a New York Times report and a blog post on Medium highlighting the problem.\n\nThe Google-owned video sharing platform is going to implement changes that mean videos involving children\u2019s characters that have been reported as being inappropriate will be age-restricted, as first reported by The Verge. This content will be automatically not allowed on YouTube Kids, and will require users to be logged in and 18 years or older to access on the main site.\n\nThe safety of children on YouTube Kids, which was introduced in 2015, is supposedly already assured by its filters, though many of these disturbing videos have slipped through the cracks.\n\nChanges to these algorithmic filters will work to prevent any flagged content from seeping down into YouTube Kids. If content with a recognisable children\u2019s character has been flagged on YouTube\u2019s main app, it will be sent to YouTube\u2019s policy review team, where thousands of staff in different time zones work to review flagged content. If this team finds it to be in violation of the new policy, it will be age-restricted and automatically blocked from the Kids app. The review team is set to begin training on the policy with it going live within the next few weeks.\n\nAs videos typically take a few days to make it to YouTube Kids from the normal YouTube site, the company is hoping that people flag content that is potentially disturbing for children within that time.\n\nIn addition to the policy review team, YouTube also has a team of volunteer moderators \u2013 which it calls Contributors \u2013 to look for inappropriate content.\n\nYouTube is clearly making some sort of effort to prevent children from seeing disturbing content featuring their favourite characters. However, surely, it would better to create an algorithm that detects whenever a video with a popular children\u2019s character is uploaded so each individual video can be reviewed. To limit the workload here, YouTube could whitelist certain channels that it knows only post legitimate children\u2019s content. It\u2019s always better to be proactive than reactive.\n\nJoin us at the 2017 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony, taking place in London on Thursday 16 November, to mix with the industry's best and brightest, and raise a glass to the year's best campaigns and solutions. To find out more, and to book your place, click here.", "output": "Google-owned video platform YouTube is taking steps to stop children from being exposed to disturbing videos featuring their favourite characters, following reports of such incidents in the New York Times and Medium. YouTube's forthcoming policy, set to go live in a few weeks, will see suspect content flagged up by a tweaked algorithm. If it is then deemed inappropriate by YouTube\u2019s policy review team, the video will be automatically blocked and age restricted. The company also has a team of volunteer moderators scouring the site for content violating the restrictions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "News UK's video team grows to 45 as branded content gains traction \n News UK, parent company of The Sun and The Times of London, is making video pay through branded content, and it\u2019s finding these videos are some of its best performing.\n\nTake News UK\u2019s most recent branded-content video campaign for the Movember Foundation, a men\u2019s health charity, which the publisher said was its most popular branded-content campaign to date. The goals for the campaign, which asks men to grow mustaches during November, were to increase awareness, funding to the charity and the number of people signing up to grow their facial hair. A video team from News UK of six people worked for a month to create 12 videos that varied in tone, ranging from emotional real-life stories to more lighthearted comedy sketches and footage from celebrities, like pop star Peter Andre and reality TV personality Mario Falcone.\n\nOne documentary-style video for the campaign, featuring a mother explaining when she heard her son killed himself, has been viewed 3.4 million times on The Sun\u2019s Facebook page, shared nearly 36,000 times and has 819 comments. For comparison, The Sun\u2019s videos get 311,000 views per video on average, according to Tubular Labs. Emotional videos, particularly those related to social causes, tend to get lots of shares on social media.\n\nThe publisher wouldn\u2019t provide figures, but the campaign has delivered on all three goals, according to the Movember Foundation. \u201cThe videos let us reach a wider audience,\u201d said Helena Jennison, director of U.K. marketing at the Movember Foundation, \u201cbut more importantly, they have provided a vehicle to share the stories of the many men and women affected by the issues we fund.\u201d\n\nThe success of the campaign, which was a joint partnership with Sky and also featured print and audio, is partially due to the creative control that News UK had over the content of the videos, said Derek Brown, head of video at News UK. \u201cThe more the client trusts you, the more successful it will be,\u201d he said. For instance, the publisher knows videos featuring Falcone tend to do well with The Sun\u2019s audience.\n\nThe News UK video team was created 18 months ago and has since grown to 45 people, including creative writers, editors, motion graphics designers and producers, reflecting the growing demand for video content from brands, said Brown, adding that every branded-content brief has a video element.\n\nThe News UK video team creates video content for The Sun, The Times of London and The Sunday Times, plus the news brands\u2019 supplements, like Style, The Sunday Times\u2019 fashion and lifestyle brand.\n\nBrands pay for roughly 30 percent of the video Brown\u2019s team creates; the remaining video is created to grow audiences and encourage brands to run content campaigns with News UK. \u201cOur belief is that at some point, the platforms will pay us for content,\u201d said Brown.\n\nThe majority of the video views occur on The Sun\u2019s Facebook pages. News UK previously said The Sun has about 20 different Facebook pages, like Football and Showbiz. The Sun had 26 million monthly views on Facebook in September, twice as many as it had in July, according to Tubular Labs. Some of these videos are aggregated and licensed video clips from The Sun\u2019s news desks.\n\nNow, News UK\u2019s focus for branded content video is on growing verticals aimed at distinctive audiences, like News UK\u2019s fantasy football brand, Dream Team; and The Sun\u2019s Sunday magazine geared toward women, Fabulous. The goal is to amass more repeat clients so the team isn\u2019t pitching for every bit of business.\n\n\u201cThe most challenging part is getting brands and agencies to loosen up,\u201d said Brown, \u201cunderstanding that the most effective results come from editorially minded people creating content without ramming the brand down someone\u2019s throat.\u201d\n\nImage courtesy of News UK via Facebook", "output": "Increased demand for branded video content has led to News UK\u2019s video team growing to 45 people in 18 months. It is behind video content for The Sun, The Times of London and The Sunday Times, as well as supplements, and one of its most recent videos, created as part of a campaign for the Movember Foundation, was viewed 3.4 million times on The Sun's website. Derek Brown, head of video at News UK, said the team was focusing on attracting repeated audiences with specific verticals, including sport and showbiz.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ad buyers optimistic about Snapchat's upcoming redesign \n Since going public in March, Snap has reported disappointing losses in revenue and slowing user growth quarter over quarter. The company\u2019s third-quarter earnings call on Nov. 8 did little to improve the company\u2019s outlook. Snap lost $443 million in the quarter, and its stock continues to fall.\n\nDigiday spoke with 21 ad buyers about their experience with Snapchat and the challenges and opportunities they see ahead. Ad buyers see hopeful signs in the upcoming redesign, lowered CPMs and Snapchat\u2019s helpful sales team as reasons to continue spending on the platform. But many still see Snapchat as a niche ad opportunity, citing its relatively small audience compared to giant rivals. In the end, many buyers still put Snaphat in the \u201cexperimental\u201d bucket that only takes up a small sliver of budgets, rather than the must-buy status reserved for Google and Facebook.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll be keeping an eye on the upcoming app redesign and how it affects user retention in app and how they interact with advertising,\u201d said Torrey Taralli, U.S. head of paid social at mobile agency Fetch. \u201cIf done properly, it will open them up to a new demographic of user growth who will hopefully find the app easier to use.\u201d\n\nTherein lies the challenge for Snapchat. It has mostly resisted trying to be all things to all people. That enabled it to be a hit with teens, but it hasn\u2019t done a lot to grow beyond that. Snapchat reported 178 million daily users, a number that pales in comparison to Instagram Stories and WhatsApp, which each have 300 million daily users.\n\nNearly all of the ad buyers Digiday spoke with say a big reason they continue to spend the majority of their social ad budgets on Facebook, Instagram and even Twitter is because of scale. Meanwhile, ad buyers reserve Snapchat for the \u201cexperimental\u201d portions of their budgets \u2014 the leftover 10-20 percent.\n\n\u201cWhat they\u2019ve failed to do is to convince brands that they are a must-have platform for campaigns,\u201d said one ad buyer, who wished to remain anonymous. \u201cThey are in most cases an add-on or used to reach a niche, usually young audience. The earnings reflect this struggle and give comfort to marketers who haven\u2019t put dollars into the platform.\u201d\n\nSlow user growth also hurts the platform\u2019s new advertising processes, such as its programmatic offerings, said Noah Mallin, head of experience, content and sponsorships at Wavemaker U.S. \u201cOpening up more targeted API buying was a smart move for Snapchat,\u201d he said, \u201cbut without user growth, it becomes hard to slice audiences down even smaller, and that\u2019s reflected in the revenue results as well.\u201d\n\nSnapchat\u2019s ultimate goal is to expand its user base. On the earnings call, Spiegel said Snapchat wants to scale Snapchat to more Android users, people older than 34 and to people in other countries.\n\nNot all ad buyers believe Snapchat should try to reach an older demographic. Rather, some mentioned that it should concentrate on targeting those 13- to 34-year-olds it has become known for. In Snap\u2019s earnings call, Spiegel said the platform reaches over 70 percent of the 13- to 34-year-old population in the U.S., France, the U.K. and Australia. All 21 buyers Digiday spoke to said that for their clients, Snapchat remains the best platform to reach that demographic.\n\n\u201cIt would be hard to change that perception at this point,\u201d said one buyer. There\u2019s also concern that a redesign might alienate its existing audience, according to another ad buyer.\n\nThe majority of ad buyers Digiday spoke with believe the rollout of Snapchat\u2019s self-service Ad Manager in June was the company\u2019s best move since going public. Sixteen of the 21 ad buyers Digiday spoke with for this piece said the new self-serve tool has significantly made pushing ad campaigns easier on the platform.\n\nBefore Snapchat\u2019s self-serve tool launched, an agency would have to make several phone calls to work directly with Snap\u2019s sales team, and each ad product was highly customized to the point where the entire process was cumbersome, said one ad buyer, who wished to remain anonymous. \u201cThe more Snapchat puts power in the hands of advertisers, the more they can get themselves out of the zone of just being a platform you test with,\u201d he added.\n\nThe self-serve platform has significantly driven down costs of ads on the platform as well.\n\n\u201cEvery campaign is different, but since the onboarding of Snapchat\u2019s self-serve platform, results are strengthening,\u201d said Evan Walker, associate media director at GSD&M. \u201cWe are seeing tremendous improvements in cost efficiencies, near or on par with Facebook, and in some cases, better performance driving secondary interactions than other networks.\u201d\n\nWalker said CPMs through the self-serve platform are nearly four times as efficient as previous Snapchat-managed campaigns. In fact, Walker said Snapchat ads CPMs are nearly identical to average CPMs across Facebook. Buyers told Digiday that CPMs run between $3 and $8.\n\nThe cheaper ads have hurt Snap\u2019s overall revenue in its third quarter, and Spiegel addressed this in Snap\u2019s earnings call, saying that CPMs have decreased more than 60 percent year over year.\n\nAd buyers, however, believe the self-service platform will eventually pay off. \u201cI firmly believe their self-serve platform is going to lead to a positive shift,\u201d added Walker. \u201cIt minimizes the barrier of entry and allows for platform versus platform testing. I think it will ultimately help Snapchat scale their offerings.\u201d\n\nEven with self-service growing pains, Snapchat is known among ad buyers for having a supportive sales team that is making the transition to self-serve smoother. All ad buyers Digiday spoke with mentioned its helpful team, especially when it comes to educating agencies and clients about new advertising options. Four ad buyers stressed that Snapchat\u2019s sales teams are far more helpful than other social platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.\n\n\u201cTheir sales team has been helpful and willing to meet with us, which is in contrast to other platforms,\u201d said one buyer, who requested anonymity. \u201cSometimes it\u2019s challenging with Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, particularly if you have a client with a smaller ad spend.\u201d\n\nBut another ad buyer, who works at an agency with global clients and larger ad spends, said the service teams for Snap, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter are all \u201cexemplary,\u201d all giving one-to-one service, responding immediately and even flying out to their company\u2019s offices as needed.\n\nIn Snap\u2019s earnings call, Imran Khan, chief strategy officer at Snapchat, said that self-service opens up the Snapchat\u2019s sales team to spend more time acting as consultants. \u201cAs we make our buying platform more and more automotive,\u201d he said, \u201cour sales force transition from taking orders to become more of a consultant for our clients.\u201d", "output": "Although Snapchat may be viewed as a niche outlet for campaigns, ad buyers are hoping for big things from its upcoming redesign, the latest in a series of moves to make the social media site more attractive to marketers. In a survey of 21 advertisers by Digiday, 16 said the roll-out of Snapchat's self-service Ad Manager significantly improved the campaign experience, and although costs per impression have dropped, some believed it would help the firm scale in the long run. The survey also revealed all 21 firms praised Snapchat's sales team, with one anonymous insider saying working with Facebook and Instagram was \"challenging\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Uber loses appeal over ruling that its drivers are workers \n The ride-hailing firm Uber has lost its appeal against a ruling that its drivers should be classed as workers with minimum-wage rights, in a case that could have major ramifications for labour rights in the growing gig economy.\n\nThe US company, which claims that drivers are self-employed, said it would launch a further appeal against the Employment Appeal Tribunal decision, meaning the case could end up in thesupreme court next year.\n\nDrivers James Farrar and Yaseen Aslam won an employment tribunal case last year after arguing they should be classified as workers, citing Uber\u2019s control over their working conditions.\n\nUber challenged the ruling at the tribunal in central London, warning that it could deprive riders of the \u201cpersonal flexibility they value\u201d. It claims that the majority of its drivers prefer their existing employment status.\n\nThe Independent Workers\u2019 Union of Great Britain (IWGB), which backed the appeal, said drivers will still be able to enjoy the freedoms of self-employment \u2013 such as flexibility in choosing shifts \u2013 even if they have worker status.\n\nThe union said the decision showed companies in the gig economy \u2013 which involves people on flexible working patterns with irregular shifts and minimal employment rights \u2013 have been choosing to \u201cdeprive workers of their rights\u201d.\n\nFarrar said: \u201cIt is time for the mayor of London, Transport for London and the transport secretary to step up and use their leverage to defend worker rights rather than turn a blind eye to sweatshop conditions.\u201d\n\n\n\nFormer Uber drivers James Farrar (left) and Yaseen Aslam leave the Employment Appeals Tribunal in central London. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images\n\n\u201cIf Uber are successful in having this business model, obliterating industrial relations as we know them in the UK, then I can guarantee you on every high street, in retail, fast food, any industry you like, the same thing will go on.\u201d\n\nFarrar said he was willing to fight the case all the way to the supreme court if necessary but called on Uber\u2019s new chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, to intervene instead.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve asked to meet him when he came to London and Uber declined to do that, which tells you everything.\u201d\n\nAslam said: \u201cToday is a good day for workers, we made history. The judge confirmed that Uber is unlawfully denying our rights.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s about making sure workers across the UK are protected. Companies are hiding behind technology, bogusly classifying people as self-employed so they can get away from paying minimum wage. That can\u2019t be allowed to happen.\u201d\n\nUber said it would continue to challenge the decision through the courts but had yet to decide whether to apply to leapfrog the court of appeal and go straight to the supreme court.\n\n\n\nIt could theoretically hitch its case to the supreme court labour rights battles involving courier firm CitySprint and Pimlico Plumbers, due to be heard next year.\n\nThe legal tussle could also be superceded by political events, as the government considers tweaking employment law following a review by former Tony Blair adviser Matthew Taylor.\n\nTom Elvidge, Uber UK\u2019s acting general manager, said: \u2018Almost all taxi and private hire drivers have been self-employed for decades, long before our app existed.\u2019 Photograph: Lauren Hurley/PA\n\nTom Elvidge, Uber UK\u2019s acting general manager, said: \u201cAlmost all taxi and private hire drivers have been self-employed for decades, long before our app existed.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe tribunal relies on the assertion that drivers are required to take 80% of trips sent to them when logged into the app. As drivers who use Uber know, this has never been the case in the UK.\n\n\n\n\u201cOver the last year we have made a number of changes to our app to give drivers even more control. We\u2019ve also invested in things like access to illness and injury cover and we\u2019ll keep introducing changes to make driving with Uber even better.\u201d\n\nThe tribunal ruling is the latest in a series of legal challenges affecting the \u201cgig economy\u201d, with implications for the future of labour rights in the UK.\n\n\n\nThe Labour MP Jack Dromey said: \u201cNo British worker should be denied basic employment rights which we have worked so hard to secure.\n\n\u201cUber is a 21st-century company behaving like a 19th-century mill owner, when workers had no rights. It is now up to Uber to change its employment practices and grant its drivers the rights they deserve and are entitled to in law.\u201d\n\nFrances O\u2019Grady, the TUC general secretary, said: \u201cThis ruling should put gig economy employers on notice. Unions will expose nasty schemes that try and cheat workers out of the minimum wage and holiday pay. Sham self-employment exploits people and scams the taxman.\u201d", "output": "Uber, the ride-hailing app, has lost its appeal against a UK ruling that its drivers be classified as workers, entitled to benefits, rather than as self-employed. The decision by the Employment Appeal Tribunal could have broad implications for the rights of those working in the country\u2019s expanding gig economy. Last year, drivers James Farrar and Yaseen Aslam, supported by the Independent Workers\u2019 Union of Great Britain, won a case arguing that they were indeed workers and as such should be entitled to holiday pay and the minimum wage."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Cape Town's Regus team to welcome\u00a0Hong Kong entry in Volvo Ocean Race \n Volvo Ocean Race: Regus has all hands-on deck as Team Scallywag makes their way to Cape Town:\n\nGlobal flexible office space specialists, Regus \u2013 with over 55 centres in South Africa and another 3 opening in December \u2013 is one of the key sponsors for Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag, the inaugural Hong Kong entry into the Volvo Ocean Race. The race \u2013 considered one of the world\u2019s toughest \u2013 left Lisbon for Cape Town on its second leg of almost 7000 extremely rough nautical miles on 5 November 2017\n\nThe opening of the action-packed Race Village on 24 November adds to the excitement and this is where the proud Regus team base will host the crew, media, guests and VIP\u2019s.\n\n11th time host, Cape Town, is recognised for the iconic Table Mountain, its love of football, wine and sailing and will welcome the entrants near the 27 November. With it, comes a welcome economic boost to the city and country\u2019s economy with the 2014 event having contributed over R540 million.\n\nEstablished in 1973 the Volvo Ocean Race is considered one of the sports\u2019 toughest and most dangerous races \u2013 taking the teams over 45 000 miles to 12 host cities across the world. Regus, who shares the Volvo Ocean Race values of commitment, quality, camaraderie, professionalism and a little adventure, were there to support the team when they left Lisbon and will do so again when they arrive in Cape Town.\n\nSeasoned skipper of the Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag, David Witt, returns after 20 years with a strong team and the grit and determination to win. He is keeping his cards close to his chest. \u201cYou\u2019re not going to win the race in the first leg. No one is. It is not the first 100 yards that counts. It\u2019s the last 100 yards.\u201d\n\nHe says of his team, \u2018The Volvo Ocean Race is the absolute pinnacle of the sport. It\u2019s such a big achievement to even get to the start line, never mind winning the trophy. I want to finish with the same guys we start with \u2013 I want them to sail every leg together. Out of that, comes friendships and relationships that you\u2019ll keep for life \u2013 you can\u2019t get that just having a beer in the pub.\u201d\n\nThe travelling Race Village offers a new upgraded pit lane, featuring new and exciting team bases. You can experience the history of the race, rubbing shoulders with key players, while enjoying activities on offer with family and friends. The Race Village is an experience that will bring you as close as possible to the action.\n\nFor those fortunate enough to visit the Regus team base there will be the additional allure of the In-port Race, meeting the Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag crew and retreating in the lounge with a glass of boutique French wine, courtesy of Chateau de Berne wines straight from Provence. What could be more perfect?\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.\n\n\u2026\u2026\u2026..Winning.\n\nCLICK HERE to submit your press release to MyPR.co.za.\n\n\u2013 MyPR\n\nSubmit and get free press releases here: MyPR Free Press Release.\n\nClick here to list your business on BuyPE.", "output": "Global flexible office space specialist\u00a0Regus is one of the key sponsors for Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag, the inaugural Hong Kong entry into the Volvo Ocean Race. The Regus team base in Cape Town\u00a0will host the crew, plus media, guests and VIPs at the opening of the Race Village on 24 November. Those visiting the base will enjoy a view of the in-port race, an opportunity to meet the Sun Hung Kai/Scallwywag team and enjoy a private lounge stocked with wine from Chateau de Berne in\u00a0Provence.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Homes in Shropshire town prove popular with buyers \n Redrow begins the final countdown in Shifnal\n\nWith the final home now sold at Aston Fields and the last few properties available at The Uplands, time is running out for Shifnal buyers.\n\nRedrow has been building and selling homes in the Shropshire town since 2014. Over the course of the last three years around 150 of Redrow\u2019s sought-after Heritage Collection homes have been sold.\n\nWith the vast majority of the properties now occupied, both locations have become thriving new neighbourhoods each with its own growing sense of community.\n\nThe Uplands has proved particularly popular with buyers looking to downsize or rightsize to a house that best suits their lifestyle after their children have flown the parental nest to homes of their own.\n\nPauline Turnbull, sales director for Redrow Homes (Midlands), explains: \u201cMany people long to escape to the country in later life, but still want easy access to shops, restaurants and other amenities that can be found in towns. The Uplands is perfectly placed, on the edge of Shifnal, to offer the best of both worlds and this is echoed in the design of our homes. They look traditional from the outside but are very much designed with modern living in mind.\u201d\n\nThere are now just two styles of properties available at The Uplands \u2013 the four-bedroom Oxford and the three-bedroom Leamington, with prices from \u00a3339,995.\n\n\u201cThe Leamington is as stylish as it is practical and demonstrates that there\u2019s no room for compromise when downsizing \u2013 or rightsizing, as we prefer to call it,\u201d Pauline adds.\n\n\u201cThese buyers require fewer bedrooms so instead we\u2019ve designed larger and better appointed rooms, with more storage. They also want ample living space for entertaining family and friends. The Leamington is the ideal solution with the amount of living space that people may expect to find in a four-bedroom home. The kitchen is very much the hub of modern living and so we\u2019ve made this the focal point of the ground floor of the Leamington with a combined kitchen, dining and family room overlooking the garden.\u201d\n\nThere\u2019s also a separate lounge, utility and convenient cloakroom.\n\nUpstairs, all three bedrooms are doubles, with the master benefitting from a wet room and walk-in wardrobe, leaving the main bathroom to serve the remaining two bedrooms.\n\nTo be in with a chance of owning one of the final homes at The Uplands, visit the development, on Wolverhampton Road, open daily from 10am to 5.30pm. For the latest availability and pricing, see redrow.co.uk/theuplands.", "output": "Time is running out for buyers in Shifnal as the popular new development, The Uplands, goes down to the last few properties and the final home is sold at Aston Fields. Pauline Turnbull, sales director for Redrow Homes (Midlands), believes the developments' popularity comes down to lifestyle balance. On The Uplands specifically, Turnbull said: \"People long to escape to the country in later life, but still\u00a0want easy access to amenities that can be found in towns.\" The Uplands is perfectly placed [therefore] to offer the best of both worlds and this is echoed in the design of our homes.\"\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow picks up nine honours at the UK Property Awards \n Evesham show home is a winner\n\nIt's wowed buyers and now the Redrow show home at Maple Gardens in Evesham has been given the seal of approval by judges in the UK Property Awards.\n\nRedrow picked up nine honours at the prestigious awards ceremony held at the London Lancaster Hotel. Among the accolades was recognition for the Sandringham show home at Maple Gardens in Evesham in the Show Home Interior Design category; winning an award for the West Midlands region.\n\nPauline Turnbull, sales director for Redrow Homes (Midlands), says: \u201cThe Sandringham show home at Maple Gardens has been a real inspiration to buyers and played a key part in the success of the development. We\u2019ve already sold more than 90% of the properties and the vast majority of them are now occupied \u2013 it\u2019s become a thriving new neighbourhood where people really want to live.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve since closed the Sandringham show home, but the fact that it\u2019s been recognised by the UK Property Awards judges is fantastic news and should give customers reassurance of the quality of their own new homes. But with only three properties still available those who want to move here will need to act fast.\u201d\n\nThe UK Property Awards are judged by an independent panel of 70 industry experts based on design, quality, service, innovation, originality, and commitment to sustainability.\n\nThe judging panel was chaired by Lord Caithness, Lord Best, The Earl of Liverpool, and Lord Thurso, members of the House of Lords.\n\nHomes at Maple Gardens appeal to a variety of buyers including affluent families and downsizers.\n\nAs one of the largest properties with the development, the Sandringham was chosen to be styled for the family market.\n\nRedrow\u2019s Group interior designer manager Emma Brindley briefed homebuilder\u2019s interior design team to style the property as the home of the fictional Gardiner family \u2013 a couple in their 40s with two teenage children.\n\n\u201cBy imagining a real family and giving them a detailed persona, we find that we can really bring a show home to life,\u201d Emma explains.\n\n\u201cIt becomes something much more personal, akin to a real family home and something that our customers can really relate to; yet, at the same time, the property has to have enough \u2018wow\u2019 factors to occasionally stop people in their tracks and make it memorable for them as they continue their home buying journey.\n\n\u201cDelivering both the practical and the prestige, the aspirational and the achievable, that\u2019s the skill.\u201d\n\nThe final three homes at Maple Gardens include three and five-bedroom designs from Redrow\u2019s Heritage Collection, priced from \u00a3239,995.\n\nTo be in with a chance of calling Maple Gardens \u201chome\u201d, visit the sales centre, on Offenham Road, is open Thursday to Monday from 10am to 5.30pm. For the latest availability and pricing, see redrow.co.uk/maplegardens.\n\nFor more information about the awards see propertyawards.net.", "output": "Redrow Homes picked up nine honours at the UK Property Awards in London. One of the awards, for Show Home Interior Design, went to the Sandringham show home at Maple Gardens in Evesham. The awards were judged by an independent panel of 70 industry experts who used a number of different criteria. Redrow has sold more than 90% of the properties at Maple Gardens, with the final three homes being priced from \u00a3239,995.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Coutts claims Facebook is financial adviser of the future \n A combination of the rise of robo-advice and the habits of millenials could mean social media platforms such as Facebook could become major players in the financial advice market in the future, according to Coutts.", "output": "The rise of robo-advice and the popularity of social networking could mean platforms like Facebook become the financial advisers of the future, according to executives at Coutts, reported David Thorpe in the Financial Times. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurtech Betterview introduces drone package for insurers \n Insurtech startup Betterview, a service provider for capturing and analyzing data from drones, has announced a commercial drone inspection package for insurers.\n\nThe pre-assembled package, which is available in Canada, includes a DJI drone, software and training to \u201cprovide and out-of-the-box solution to capture, organizes and analyze imagery of buildings and properties,\u201d Betterview said in a press release earlier this week. \u201cBetterview\u2019s goal with its inspection package is to make it easier for insurers, inspection and claims adjusting companies to adopt drone technology.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe launch of Betterview\u2019s drone inspection package for insurance was driven by market demand,\u201d reported Dave Tobias, chief operating officer and co-founder of Betterview. \u201cOver the last year as the use cases of our software expanded within insurance, our clients started asking us more and more about providing a hardware and software solution. With our new insurance inspection kit, we\u2019ll be with you every step of the way, whether you need help onboarding staff, assistance with drone hardware or have questions about report output,\u201d explained Tobias.\n\nAmong other items, the insurance inspection kit provides a choice of drones from drone manufacturer DJI as well as: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 107 certification training (for small unmanned aircraft); a tablet and drone service kit; software for workflow and data management; artificial intelligence image analysis and professional reporting tools; and 3D maps, measurements and digital surface models.\n\nIn addition, Betterview will also quickly ship replacement equipment if there is ever a problem, the startup reported. \u201cThis service removes the complication of figuring out what to do if something breaks and needs service and also ensures that inspectors, risk engineers and claims adjustors can get back to work with little to no delay,\u201d the release said, adding that the model \u201cmakes upgrading to the latest hardware a seamless experience\u201d so that Betterview\u2019s customers no longer have to worry about being left behind when a \u201cnew, better\u201d drone hits the market.\n\n\u201cWe are extremely pleased to have announced the release of Betterview\u2019s insurance inspection kit,\u201d said David Lyman, CEO and co-founder of Betterview, in the release. \u201cThe combination of our services, full stack software solution, and hardware from DJI will eliminate the need to deal with multiple vendors, and more importantly, make it easier to implement drone technology.\u201d\n\nAs the recent hurricanes that affected Texas and Florida have shown, \u201cone of the biggest benefits of drones is their ability to expedite the claims process and help claimants get their lives back to normal,\u201d Lyman continued. \u201cWith our insurance inspection package, we\u2019ll immediately take care of getting FAA clearance or obtaining waivers to fly in controlled airspace when a catastrophe occurs. For example, the hurricanes in Texas and Florida caused a significant amount of damage to properties in controlled airspace by airports. Our staff was able to get FAA clearances, usually within 24 hours, allowing our clients to capture real-time, high-resolution imagery for analysis and claims resolution,\u201d Lyman concluded.\n\nFounded in late 2014, Betterview is a software platform and service provider for capturing and analyzing data from drones. Betterview, with its network of more than 4,500 drone operators worldwide, has inspected more than 9,000 properties for over 90 insurance customers. Betterview streamlines the inspection process by using drones and software to capture a comprehensive set of aerial building imagery, data and expert analysis.", "output": "Canadian insurtech firm Betterview has introduced a package allowing insurers to access drone assessment of potentially insurable properties. The inspection package, launched due to increasing demand, allows insurers to process data gathered by drones when deciding on rates for insurable properties. The package includes such services as drone flight training, artificial intelligence analysis and 3D mapping services. Betterview also notes its drone services can be used in the claims process. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Synechron launches insurtech accelerators across five cities \n <![CDATA[\n\nGlobal financial services consulting firm and technology services provider Synechron announced today the launch of a set of InsurTech Accelerator programs in New York, Paris, Duba\u00ef, London and Pune. The expertise of the organisation in business consulting, financial services as well as in technology will provide an innovative support to insurance firms, with an emphasis on digital transformation.\n\nEach strand of the InsurTech Accelerator solution is based on a business case and will enable support companies to optimize their cost models and customer experience by leveraging innovative technology.\n\nThe Accelerators will use the following technologies:\n\nInternet of Things (IoT)\n\nBlockchain\n\nArtificial Intelligence and Machine Learning\n\nRobotic Process Automation (RPA)\n\nMobile Solutions\n\nDigital Strategy/Customer Experience Design\n\nThis set of Accelerators will guide insurance companies during their digital transformation, and will be supported by a team of consultant experts in insurance business processes, products, regulation, operating models, and data architectures.\n\nAbout Synechron Synechron is a global consulting and technology organization providing innovative solutions to the financial services industry through its three main business focus areas: digital, business consulting, and technology. Based in New York, the company has 18 offices around the globe, with over 8,000 employees producing over $500+M in annual revenue. For more information on the Company please visit their website.\n\n]]>", "output": "Consultancy Synechron has launched an insurtech accelerator. The accelerator will have locations in five cities around the world - New York, Paris, Duba\u00ef, London and Pune. The locations will focus on helping companies develop technologies centred around areas such as internet of things and blockchain. In particular, Synechron notes the goal of the locations is to help insurance companies with a \"digital transformation\".\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Claims manager Snapsheet launches payment solution \n The partnership sets out to transform the way insurance carriers send payments to claimants. An important objective is to simplify claims, while maintaining an optimal customer experience and a seamless payments solution.\n\nTo discover more about the new Snapsheet Transactions payment method, Digital Journal spoke with Snapsheet\u2019s Alex Meisner.\n\nDigital Journal: What are some of the major challenges facing the insurance sector today?\n\nAlex Meisner: The insurance industry is facing mass disruption. However, unlike a lot of InsurTechs that are out there today, Snapsheet\u2019s goal isn\u2019t to disrupt the industry, but to help the industry innovate and make their current processes more nimble, efficient, and customer-friendly.\n\nDJ: Why is so much paper documentation still used by the insurance sector?\n\nMeisner: Paper documentation is a byproduct of the insurance industry relying heavily on legacy technology and manual processes. Until recently, the majority of back-end technology couldn\u2019t support innovation in the form of automation, let alone digital payments. However, we\u2019re rapidly seeing carriers undergo digital transformation, opening up the industry to new technology, which in turn paves the way for InsurTech companies to support these organizational goals.\n\nDJ: Please explain what Snapsheet is and how it works.\n\nMeisner: Snapsheet is the leading provider of virtual claims technology used by auto insurance carriers to optimize workflows, speed up claims processes and provide superior service to their customers. Our cloud-based software enables carriers to virtually process a claim with photos taken by the user via their smartphone.\n\nThrough a multitude of technologies housed on our platform, we\u2019re able to help insurance providers process claims quicker, allowing customers to be paid faster and back in safe, repaired vehicles sooner.\n\nDJ: What\u2019s different about Snapsheet Transactions?\n\nMeisner: Most carriers are cutting physical checks for claims payments, but checks are slow. If a user is submitting an auto claim, chances are high that they\u2019re depending on that payment in order to get back on the road.\n\nRecent events, like Hurricane Harvey and Irma, have made this more apparent. In these cases, people may not have a current address to send the check and need the payment in order to recover and get back to normal as quickly as possible, this technology changes that.\n\nDJ: What are the key benefits of Snapsheet?\n\nMeisner: Using Snapsheet, carriers can process 90 percent of all claims by photograph, and automate 70 percent of all customer communications.\n\nThe self-service nature of Snapsheet\u2019s model, in combination with the scalability of its platform, makes it easy to service a range of carriers, from small insurance companies that process a low volume of claims, all the way to the industry\u2019s biggest players. Snapsheet processes more than 400,000 claims a year, and is built to manage millions. Our versatility and ability to help insurance carriers of all sizes are a major differentiator against other solutions.\n\nDJ: What types of insurance areas is Snapsheet applicable to?\n\nMeisner: Snapsheet is the industry leading provider of virtual claims technology to personal and commercial auto insurers. In addition to insurance, we also have technology solutions for rental car companies, ride-sharing companies, and third party administrators. Snapsheet Transactions is a solution suitable for all lines of insurance, not just auto.\n\nDJC\n\nDJ: What has been the response to Snapsheet from the industry?\n\nMeisner: The response from the industry has been fantastic. Thanks to our partnerships with carriers, we\u2019re on track to process almost 450,000 claims this year.\n\nTo date, Snapsheet has raised over 40 million dollars, including strategic investments from four insurance carriers.\n\n\n\nDJ: How have consumers responded to Snapsheet?\n\nMeisner: We\u2019ve seen more customers using their carrier\u2019s apps more than ever. Nearly 75 percent of adults own a smartphone with apps accounting for 89 percent of mobile usage. Consumers are using apps for everything from ordering food to hiring a contractor, so it\u2019s become logical for customers who need to process a claim to reach for the phone first, and we want to make it easy for them to do that.\n\nDJ: What was the main challenge with the development of Snapsheet?\n\nMeisner: Snapsheet originally started as BodyShopBids, an app that provided estimates and auto shop contacts to users who sent in photos of a damaged vehicle. However, we quickly realized that customers were using our service to determine if they should file a claim with their insurance carrier, thus we decided to pivot our business and address the needs of insurance carriers and their customers.\n\nDJ: What other types of technology interest you?\n\nMeisner: IoT and blockchain technologies are very exciting as they have the potential to change the way carriers assess risk and process claims. These technologies and their use cases are still in their infancy and the industry is excited to see where they take us.\n\nChicago based Snapsheet is a provider of virtual claims technology to personal and commercial auto insurance carriers. The company services major auto insurance carriers through Snapsheet\u2019s Virtual Insurance Claims Exchange platform, with the aim of improving the estimation process for auto repairs from virtual photo submission to final repairs and payment.", "output": "Insurtech Snapsheet, a provider of claims management\u00a0technology, has partnered with Keybank to launch a new payment platform for insurers. The platform aims to streamline the claims process, allowing insurers to pay out to claimants in a more timely fashion. The firm already uses mobile and cloud technology to process claims. The new payments platform, dubbed Snapsheet Transactions, will\u00a0speed up the process through which claimants are actually paid, eliminating the need for physical cheques to be issued.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China plans to sequence one million citizens' genes \n Genetic Database\n\nAuthorities in the city of Nanjing, the capital of China's Jiangsu province, announced at the end of October that they would sequence the genes of 1 million individuals to build a genetic database of Chinese residents. This project is part of the National Health and Medicine Big Data Nanjing Center, a new data storage facility under construction in the region.\n\nChina News reports that the project will focus on population genetics, including identifying genes linked to cancer and rare and chronic diseases, as well as genes linked to brain development in children and the effects of environment on genetics. Four experts, both from China and abroad, will advise the project, including Harvard geneticist George Church \u2014 a pioneer of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing and leader of the project to resurrect the woolly mammoth.\n\nThe Sanger Center, a contributor to the Human Genome Project, where large-scale human genome sequencing began in 1999. Image Credit: the Sanger Institute Wellcome Trust\n\n\"When the facilities are ready, the designed capacity for DNA sequencing will be up to 400,000 to 500,000 samples per year,\" Lan Qing, deputy director of the provincial health and family planning commission, told China News.\n\nThe Big Data Nanjing center will have a capacity of 52 petabytes, enough to contain the health records of 80 million individuals and videos from 174 of the province's hospitals, Yicai Global reports. The center has already connected with several institutions, including Fudan University, Nanjing Medical University, and Peking Union Medical College Hospital.\n\nThe Spread of Sequencing\n\nIt took over a decade and $2.7 billion to sequence the very first human genome, completed by the Human Genome Project in 2003. Since then, genetic sequencing has rapidly become both cheaper and faster. An increasing number of companies and institutions are developing new methods of reading our most fundamental code, including small devices that can rapidly sequence partial genomes in the field.\n\nAccording to Motherboard, two aspects of genome sequencing contribute to its cost: the \"cost per megabase of DNA sequence,\" or the cost to produce one 'megabase,' or a million base pairs of DNA, and the cost of actually sequencing a human-sized genome, which contains about 3,000 megabases, which includes the cost of running the computer programs that perform the sequencing.\n\nAround January of 2008, the price of both of these aspects sharply declined with the introduction of next-generation sequencing technology, also known as high-throughput sequencing. While there are several platforms available, all of them sequence millions of small fragments in parallel and then use a complete genome as a reference to map where these fragments should go. Such technology can sequence an entire human genome in just a day.\n\nHowever, all of this rapid and cheap genetic data is fairly useless if geneticists can't pinpoint the genes \u2014 and common errors within them \u2014 that cause health issues. Enormous genetic databases can be extremely valuable to doctors and drug companies seeking cures, as the commercial sequencing company 23andMe has already found by monetizing their database.\n\nAs such, projects like this one in Nanjing could be essential to finding the genetic basis needed to diagnose and treat some of the worst diseases that continue to plague our species.", "output": "Chinese authorities have announced plans to carry out gene sequencing for one million citizens of the city of Nanjing, in order to create a comprehensive genetic database. This project will be run out of the National Health and Medicine Big Data Nanjing Center, a new data storage facility under construction in the region with an expected capacity of 52 petabytes. The database will allow authorities to identify links between genetic traits and diseases like cancer, as well as measure the impact of environmental factors on genetics.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FDA to ease regulations on consumer genetic tests \n FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb announced today that the agency intends to make a major change to its regulatory process around direct-to-consumer genetic health risk (GHR) tests. Specifically, the agency is creating a framework that will allow companies to bypass premarket certification for individual tests once they submit to a one-time review of their processes, an approach reminiscent of the FDA's new pre-certification program for medical devices.\n\n\"Today, the FDA is taking steps to implement a novel regulatory approach for the regulation of GHR tests that applies proper oversight in a flexible, new way,\" Gottlieb wrote in a statement. \"It builds on the important lessons we learned from the FDA\u2019s authorization of the first GHR and carrier screening tests sold directly to consumers.\"\n\nGottlieb's allusion is likely to the FDA's tumultuous relationship with consumer genetic testing pioneer 23andMe. That company halted its US health-related offerings for two years after a very public rebuke from the agency (it continued to offer ancestry tests and to sell health tests in other countries during that time).\n\n\"Specifically, today the agency issued a notice of its intent to allow GHR tests to be exempted from premarket review under certain conditions.\" Gottlieb wrote. \"If and when finalized, manufacturers of these types of tests would have to come to FDA for a one-time review to ensure that they meet the FDA\u2019s requirements, after which they may enter the market with new GHR tests without further review. The agency also established special controls for these tests in a separate de novo classification order, which outline requirements for assuring the tests\u2019 accuracy, reliability and clinical relevance and describe the type of studies and data required to demonstrate performance of certain types of genetic tests.\"\n\nOne problem 23andMe ran into was that much of the value of its product lay in offering users a comprehensive test for many different health risks, but the FDA required a separate regulatory clearance for each screening, which proved a financial and logistical hardship for the company.\n\nIn fact, Dr. Jeffery Shuren, director of the FDA\u2019s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, alluded to this policy change back in April when the FDA cleared 23andMe's genetic health risk test.\n\n\u201cBy establishing special controls and eventually, a premarket review exemption, the FDA can provide a streamlined, flexible approach for tests using similar technologies to enter the market while the agency continues to help ensure that they provide accurate and reproducible results,\" he said at the time.\n\nIn his statement, Gottlieb acknowledged that direct to consumer genetic tests \"don\u2019t fit squarely into our traditional risk-based approach to device regulation\" and that inaccurate tests do pose real risks to patients: for instance, a patient might stop eating well or exercising if a test tells them they're not at risk for heart disease. Or it could cause a someone to ignore early warning signs of Parkinson's disease or cancer.\n\nBradley Merrill Thompson, an attorney with Epstein Becker Green who specializes in the FDA's regulation of digital health, said the approach is intriguing, especially considering that the agency is still in the early stages of the pre-cert program.\n\n\"Such tests do present special challenges, but also significant opportunities,\" he wrote in an email to MobiHealthNews. \"If used appropriately, such tests, if widely accessible, may cause people to live healthier lives, choosing better diets and getting more exercise if they realize they are at risk. The FDA notes some of the risks that are present if the tests provide inaccurate information. They particularly focus on false negatives, but false positives also carry problems by increasing anxiety.\"\n\nCertainly the timing is right; as MobiHealthNews noted in a feature piece last year, the market for direct-to-consumer genomics has exploded of late, even if questions remain about the technology's usefulness and accuracy.\n\n\"We will really have to wait and see what the real world experience is with this new program, but frankly I'm tickled that FDA is trying to think so creatively,\" Thompson added. \"We really do need fresh thinking, and the agency is clearly willing to consider ideas well outside the traditional box.\"", "output": "The FDA will change its regulation framework for direct-to-consumer genetic health risk (GHR) testing, according to FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb. Businesses will be able to bypass pre-market certification for individual tests after submitting to a one-time\u00a0review\u00a0of their processes, an approach reminiscent of the FDA's new\u00a0program for medical devices. The move indicates that the FDA is encouraging more consumer-oriented genetic screening tests, similar\u00a0to the popular product offered by genetic testing firm 23andMe."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California wildfires may cost insurance sector a record $8bn \n Aon Benfield, the reinsurance arm of global insurance and reinsurance brokerage Aon, has said that the California wildfires could drive an insurance industry loss of up to $8 billion, which, on an aggregate basis, makes it the costliest insured wildfire event ever recorded.\n\nAon Benfield and its catastrophe risk modelling unit, Impact Forecasting, has released its October 2017 global catastrophe report, which includes the devastating California wildfires that claimed 43 lives and injured another 185 people.\n\nAon Benfield cites data from the California Department of Insurance that at least 19,000 residential, commercial, and auto claims had already been filed, resulting in payouts of more than $3.32 billion.\n\nNow, Aon Benfield says that this figure is expected to rise to as much as $8 billion as claims continue to come in, with the economic cost expected to be even higher.\n\n\u201cOn aggregated basis, this is the costliest insured wildfire event ever recorded,\u201d says Aon Benfield.\n\nThe $8 billion overall insurance industry loss from the event is at the top end of the RMS range, which said that economic and insured losses, which it expects to be similar owing to high penetration of wildfire protection in the state, are expected to be between $6 billion and $8 billion.\n\nWith insurers and reinsurers having reported declines in profits in the third-quarter, with many falling to underwriting losses as a result of high cat losses, it will be interesting to see what impact the wildfire losses have on both individual companies and the broader marketplace as the January renewals approach.\n\nSome players have already announced their expected hit from the California wildfires, with AXIS Capital expecting a hit of up to $45 million, Beazley saying that it expects the event to increase its Q3 cat loss estimate by up to $25 million, while Travelers has said that after reinsurance recoveries, it expects to experience losses of $675 million from the wildfires.", "output": "Wildfires that devastated\u00a0California recently may\u00a0prove to be the costliest\u00a0ever for the insurance industry, warns reinsurance brokerage Aon Benfield. Carriers could lose $8bn from the blazes, the most ever for insured wildfires\u00a0on an aggregate basis. Analysts are closely watching how the fires affect an\u00a0industry that has reported declining Q3 2017\u00a0profits and as\u00a0insurers and reinsurers\u00a0struggle to cope with mounting pressure from multiple\u00a0catastrophes.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ShelterZoom offers property transaction platform on Ethereum \n Calling all buyers who are tired of dealing with the hassles of paper: a new startup, ShelterZoom, wants to streamline how you can make an offer on a home-for-sale, with its new website, app, and a widget that can be directly placed on real estate websites. The twist? ShelterZoom is built on the same technology that underpins the digital currency Ethereum.\n\nThe company launches today and is based out of New York City.\n\nWith ShelterZoom\u2019s free \u201cOffer Now\u201d widget, which can be installed on listing websites and appears as a button, buyers and buying agents can directly submit an offer on a property. After tapping the \u201cOffer Now\u201d button, the parties involved will need to add in details such as their name, address, offer price, down payment, upload a qualifying loan or bank statement, and fill in their attorney information.\n\nOnce this is complete, they\u2019ll receive a SMS message asking them to finish the process via the ShelterZoom app and to pay an $8 fee. On the other end, the listing agent can see the offer and decide to accept or reject it, confer directly with the seller, or make a counter offer.\n\nThe upside to this process it that it\u2019s transparent; both sides can see what\u2019s being said and what information is being shared on the ShelterZoom dashboard.\n\nFor early adopters who install the widgets before January 31, 2018, there will be no fee. As for those making offers using the Offer Now widget, the $8 fee will also be waived during the company\u2019s initial beta period, which will run through the end of February 2018.\n\nShelterZoom says the fee is in the best interest of the consumer; by charging fees, the company is able to \u201cfilter out people who are submitting offers just to drive the price up,\u201d said Chao Cheng-Shorland, the cofounder and director of ShelterZoom, in an interview with Inman.\n\nAs for how Ethereum fits in: ShelterZoom uses the Ethereum blockchain to come up with secure property agreements. Blockchain refers to a distributed system of ledgers that exist on multiple people\u2019s computers, and is the same basic tech that underpins Bitcoin and most other popular digital currencies.\n\nIn the case of ShelterZoom, its offer system relies on smart contracts\u2013a process in which a computer can look and determine qualifying factors about an offer based on a set of rules\u2013to come up with the agreement.\n\nAnd while keeping your data safe and out of the hands of several people is a nice benefit, Cheng-Shorland also sees the blockchain as a means to keeping ShelterZoom \u201cfutureproof.\u201d Cheng-Shorland told Inman that the company could\u2019ve used something like an e-signature, but \u201cthe team felt like it was [this] last decade technology.\u201d\n\nSo instead it built on top of the blockchain to come up with what is \u201cprobably the most advanced use of blockchain in the world at the moment,\u201d according to Cheng-Shorland.\n\nFeeling wary? You can check out what the\u201d Offer Now\u201d widget looks like on November 27 on Cyrus Charter Property and Land Co., a business owned by Amir Allen Alishahi, who is also a cofounder and director of ShelterZoom.\n\nAnother customer you\u2019ll see using ShelterZoom sometime this Winter, includes Sandy Krueger, CEO of SIBOR. There, the widget will live on both the public website, as well as the members-only site.\n\nMixing blockchain with real estate might seem like a risky business but to Cheng-Shorland, \u201cit\u2019s an empty space at the moment and a great opportunity to get in.\u201d A prime opportunity or more blockchain hype? ShelterZoom and the rest of us will find out soon.\n\nEmail Inman", "output": "A new company based in New York, ShelterZoom, is looking to disrupt the property-buying market with a transaction platform that is built on blockchain technology. ShelterZoom uses the Ethereum blockchain to create secure property agreements, and the service can be accessed from any website via a widget function that is placed on estate agents' sites. The service can be seen in action on 27 November, when Cyrus Charter Property and Land Co., a business owned by Amir Allen Alishahi, who is also a co-founder and director of ShelterZoom, adds the ShelterZoom widget to Land Co.'s site."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mercy Hospital offers full\u00a0virtual treatment \n CHESTERFIELD, Mo.\u2015 Located off a superhighway exit in suburban St. Louis, nestled among locust, elm and sweetgum trees, the Mercy Virtual Care Center has a lot in common with other hospitals. It has nurses and doctors and a cafeteria, and the staff spend their days looking after the very sick\u2015checking their vital signs, recording notes, responding to orders and alarms, doing examinations and chatting with them.\n\nThere\u2019s one thing Mercy Virtual doesn\u2019t have: beds.\n\nInstead, doctors and nurses sit at carrels in front of monitors that include camera-eye views of the patients and their rooms, graphs of their blood chemicals and images of their lungs and limbs, and lists of problems that computer programs tell them to look out for. The nurses wear scrubs, but the scrubs are very, very clean. The patients are elsewhere.\n\nMercy Virtual is arguably the world\u2019s most advanced example of something gaining momentum in the health care world: A virtual hospital, where specialists remotely care for patients at a distance. It's the product of converging trends in health care, including hospital consolidation, advances in remote-monitoring technology and changes in the way medicine is paid for. The result is a strange mix of hospital and office: Instead of bright fluorescent lighting, beeping alarms and the smell of chlorine, Mercy Virtual Care has striped soft rugs, muted conversation and a fountain that spills out one drop a minute. The mess and the noise are on screens, visible in the hospital rooms the staffers peer into by video\u2014in intensive care units far away, where patients are struggling for their lives, or in the bedrooms of homebound patients, whose often-tenuous existence they track with wireless devices.\n\nThe virtual care center started as an office in Mercy\u2019s flagship St. Louis hospital in 2006, but got its own building and separate existence two years ago. It is built on many of the new ideas gaining traction in U.S. health care, such as using virtual communication to keep chronically ill patients at home as much as possible, and avoiding expensive hospitalizations that expose patients to more stress, infections and other dangers.\n\nBut perhaps the most important factor driving Mercy Virtual isn\u2019t technology or new thinking but new payment systems. In the near future, the hospital\u2019s administrators believe, instead of earning fees for each treatment administered, insurers and the government will pay Mercy Virtual to keep patients well. A visit to the hushed carrels and blinking monitors is a glimpse into a future in which hospital systems are paid more when their patients are healthy, not sick.\n\nEven now, Mercy Virtual is in the black, because of existing Medicare payment reforms that have already converted some of the agency\u2019s payments into lump sums for treating specific illnesses. Mercy can get its patients out of the hospital much faster than average, so it pockets the money it doesn\u2019t need for longer stays, says Mercy Virtual President Randy Moore.\n\nThe hospital is well placed, he adds, for the full transition to a payment system based on efficiency and preserving wellness. \u201cOur idea is to deliver better patient care and outcomes at lower cost, so we can say to an insurer, \u2018You expect to spend $100 million on this population this year. We can do it for $98 million with fewer hospitalizations, fewer deaths and everyone\u2019s happy,\u2019\u201d says Moore. \u201cIt\u2019s a very strong future business model.\u201d\n\nNurse Veronica Jones speaks with patient Richard Alfermann, who suffers from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, during a video call on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017, at the Mercy Virtual Care Center in Chesterfield, Mo. Jones says that she and other nurses who work with homebound patients like Alfermann feel like they have \u201c50 grandparents.\u201d | Whitney Curtis for POLITICO\n\nOne weird thing about thinking this way is that it radically reimagines traditional notions of medical care\u2014not just how it's delivered, but when. Most hospitals wait for a sick person to walk through the doors or come into the ER. Mercy Virtual reaches out to patients before they\u2019re even aware of symptoms. It uses technology to sense changes in hospitalized patients so subtle that bedside nurses often haven\u2019t picked up on them. When the computer notes irregularities, nurses can turn a series of knobs that allow them to \u201ccamera in\u201d on the patient; they can get close enough to check the label on an IV bag, or to observe a patient struggling for breath or whose skin is turning gray.\n\nThere are those who say that even an intensive care unit could, in principle, be brought to a patient\u2019s home. But for now, the future looks like this: Hospitals will keep doing things like deliveries, appendectomies and sewing up the victims of shootings and car wrecks. They\u2019ll also have to care for people with diseases like diabetes, heart failure and cancer when they take bad turns. But in the future, the mission of the hospital will be to keep patients from coming through their doors in the first place.\n\nAs the country moves to brake escalating health care costs, hospital systems that want to stay in business will have to follow this heavily software-dependent model, say Moore and others. \u201cOne night in the hospital in the U.S. costs $4,600 on average, just for the bed,\u201d said Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute and author of several books on the future of medicine. \u201cYou can get a lot of data plans and devices for that amount of money.\u201d\n\nRacing the Symptoms\n\nOn a recent Monday morning, nurse Veronica Jones touched a button on a screen in front of her to make a video call with Richard Alfermann, a retired 75-year-old banker living on a wooded acre outside Washington, Missouri, 50 miles west of the center. A lifelong smoker until 10 years ago, Alfermann suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. He has trouble breathing and even slight exertion can floor him. The most minor illness, in the past, was enough to force him into the hospital.\n\nSeated on a couch in his home, Alfermann happily greets Jones, with whom he has spoken through video at least twice a week since entering the virtual care program in August 2016. The previous year, he was hospitalized three times. Since then, Alfermann has managed to stay in his home.\n\nOne paradox of care at home is this: Monitoring patients from afar with regularity can create more intimacy between patient and his caregivers than a sporadic, once-every-three-months visit in person. Jones and the other nurses on the virtual ward say they feel like \u201cwe have 50 grandparents now,\u201d she says. In addition to the touchless warmth, regular interactions enable more individualized care. For example, many COPD patients have such high pulse rates on a good day that an unsuspecting doctor might immediately send them to an ICU. A tele-doctor in regular contact, however, can distinguish a true crisis from a baseline reading that might seem alarming but is normal for that patient.\n\nTOP: Nurses and doctors at the virtual hospital run by Mercy Health System use web cameras and track vital signs remotely to assist healthcare professionals in hospital rooms far away and also homebound patients with chronic illnesses. BOTTOM LEFT: Nurse Anne Bowie monitors ICU patients via camera and vital sign monitors. BOTTOM RIGHT: An example of a telemedicine station, which includes a camera view of a hospital bed, data tracked from vital sign monitors, and computerized supports to help nurses and doctors at the virtual hospital help staff at brick-and-mortar hospitals around the country. | Whitney Curtis for POLITICO\n\nIn Alfermann\u2019s case, if he shows signs of failing health, his physician\u2015Carter Fenton, an emergency medicine doctor with 450 patients under his care\u2014can call in home health care nurses, who can examine Alfermann more closely, take X-rays and EKGs and blood samples if necessary. In a sense, Mercy has given Alfermann his own hospital, a home hospital.\n\nAnd that\u2019s the main purpose of the \u201cengagement at home\u201d program\u2014to keep very sick patients out of the hospital, where their care runs up enormous bills and is laced with dangers to the patient, ranging from nasty bacterial infections to misplaced drug orders to the disorientation of constant alarms, tests and injections. \u201cA telemedicine visit is never going to be as good as having a doctor and his or her team at your bedside,\u201d says Moore. \u201cBut 99 percent of the time we can\u2019t make that happen. With virtual we can at least see any patient just like that\u2015rather than tomorrow or next week. And that can be a life or death thing.\u201d\n\nOne major aspect of the hospital of the future, it seems, is \u201cless hospital, more future,\u201d says Robin Cook, a former ophthalmologist and the best-selling author of medical thrillers that feature things like roboticized hospitals and killer apps that actually kill their patients. People will continue to go to hospitals\u2014or, increasingly, outpatient surgical centers\u2015to get operations, but their stays will be shorter. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be progressively more procedure-oriented, with a lot less parking people to monitor them,\u201d says Cook.\n\nAs Alfermann, his nose fitted with a cannula bringing him 100 percent oxygen, pops up on the monitor in front of her, Jones is examining his vital signs, which include blood pressure, pulse, temperature and blood oxygen readings that feed wirelessly into the system from devices that Alfermann attaches to himself at home.\n\nLEFT: Dr. Carter Fenton Jr., left, consults with nurse practitioner Maryellen Bowman. Fenton oversees 450 patients, most suffering from severe lung and heart diseases, by monitoring them at home through wireless medical devices and video consults. RIGHT: Nurse Veronica Jones during the video conference with patient Richard Alfermann. | Whitney Curtis for POLITICO\n\nMost medical interventions take place when a patient presents himself at a doctor\u2019s office or an emergency room. Because \u201cfrequent flyers\u201d hate going to the hospital\u2014often a traumatic place for the old and infirm--they\u2019re often in denial about any symptoms they may have, which, ironically, raises the risk that things will get to a critical point if no medical staff are watching.\n\n\u201cA lot of times they\u2019ll say, \u2018I feel fine,\u2019 but I can see on the monitor that they are struggling to breathe,\u201d says Fenton. \u201cI remind them that this is how things got started the last time they were hospitalized. There\u2019s a trust factor at first. Sometimes it takes a trip to the ER to vindicate us.\u201d\n\nToday, the concern is Alfermann\u2019s pulse. It\u2019s been above 100 beats per minute twice the last three mornings, from its usual level around 85. Pulse is \u201ca big clue that he may not know what\u2019s happening but something may be about to happen,\u201d Fenton says. He and Jones worry that with cooler weather and drier air, Alfermann might be developing a cold that could exacerbate his COPD.\n\n\u201cAny shortness of breath or changes in your cough?\u201d Jones asks. \u201cAny fever or chills?\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think so,\u201d responds Alfermann, a fan of bowling, fishing, and the St. Louis Cardinals. \u201cYeah. Nothing better, nothing worse. Same old shit.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf anything changes with that you know you got to call me right way.\u201d\n\nJones and Fenton monitor Alfermann carefully over the next several days to make sure there\u2019s no incipient problem. But by Wednesday his pulse is back to normal. Until the next time. \u201cI don\u2019t feel super, but I\u2019m OK,\u201d he tells Fenton. \u201cI haven\u2019t felt good in so long I don\u2019t know what good is.\u201d\n\nReassured for the moment, Fenton knows there\u2019s always an escape valve. \u201cWe always tell the patients, if you feel like you\u2019re getting worse, you need to just go to the hospital,\u201d he said.\n\nVirtual ICU\n\nOn the other end of the second floor at Mercy Virtual Care, which is a maze of desks and computer screens, nurses and doctors have their fingers deep in the business of colleagues at hospitals across the country, from North Carolina to Oklahoma. They run a series of programs \u2014TeleICU, TeleStroke, TeleSepsis and TeleHospitalist \u2014 all aimed at keeping hospitalized patients from growing sicker and at getting them home faster.\n\nIn part, the virtual ICU is dealing with a problem that technology created. All the beeping monitors in the patient\u2019s hospital room crank out massive amounts of information, presented in too cumbersome a way for nurses and doctors on site\u2014at least in typically understaffed hospitals\u2015to deal with quickly. So Mercy Virtual provides nurses and doctors who can focus on monitoring and digesting these data streams, looking for signs of trouble. That way the nurses and doctors on site can pay more attention to the patients and less to the machines.\n\nElectronic health records, which most hospitals started using over the past decade, \u201cinundated us with data,\u201d says Chris Veremakis, who runs Mercy\u2019s TeleICU program. \u201cThe EHR has become a thing of its own, and you find people spending so much time in front of the EHR instead of spending time with the patient.\u201d\n\nA layer of backstopping colleagues, watching the data roll in in real time, can improve the quality of treatment by making sure good care standards are being met and catching signs that a patient is going downhill, Veremakis says: \u201cWe let the nurses on the floor do their regular work and not be pulled in a million different directions.\"\n\nOne of the intense professionals doing this is Tris Wegener, who was an ICU nurse for 22 years before a snowmobiling accident wrecked her arm and led her to virtual nursing. Now she spends most of her days at Mercy seated in front of a bank of computer screens. She\u2019s waiting for the appearance of a little red flower icon, which means that a computer program, after taking in data from the monitors in the patient\u2019s room, is warning of a danger of sepsis, an immune response to a bacterial bloodstream infection that is the No. 1 hospital killer.\n\nSepsis can be hard to spot, manifesting itself in irregular symptoms. It\u2019s on the increase among chronically ill patients who are living longer than before\u2015about 1.5 million people get sepsis in the U.S. every year, and 1 in 6 die. When one of the red sepsis flowers pops up, Wegener makes a series of inquiries to rule out false positives. If the patient meets all the criteria\u2014typically very low blood pressure, high fever, infection and high levels of lactic acid\u2014she calls the nurse or doctor on duty. The hospital might be in High Point, North Carolina, Joplin, Missouri, or a dozen other places.\n\n\u201cI get the data as soon as it enters the system,\u201d she says. \u201cThe nurse on duty might have three other patients. Is she aware of the problem? Sometimes, sometimes not. She might have another patient who\u2019s coding in the emergency room. They don\u2019t have time to check out this patient whose X-ray looks clear, but we know that tomorrow, if this isn\u2019t taken care of, he\u2019s going to code with pneumonia.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s not unusual for the entire staff of a small ICU to rush into a patient\u2019s room when a patient crashes. When that happens and Mercy is watching, its remote nurses can keep an eye on the other patients while those at the scene take care of the most critical case.\n\nTOP: Nurses and doctors at the virtual hospital run by Mercy Health System use web cameras and track vital signs remotely to assist healthcare professionals in hospital rooms far away and also homebound patients with chronic illnesses. From left to right: Dr. Gavin Helton, Dr. Justin Huyhn, Dr. Christopher Schlanger, Kellie Matusofsky, director of [email protected], and Dr. Carter Fenton Jr. BOTTOM: Nurse Nichole Jones monitors ICU patients. | Whitney Curtis for POLITICO\n\nWorking on a single shift not long ago, Wegener and two other virtual nurses had to sort through 136 sepsis alerts from hospitals around the country. Each one takes as long as 40 minutes to resolve. \u201cIt keeps your mind going,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cThe job isn\u2019t physically demanding but mentally, oh gosh,\u201d says Lindsey Langley, whose expertise is in diagnosing and ordering treatment for stroke\u2014a condition in which speedy diagnosis and treatment can be the difference between a minor tic and death, or a grave, lifelong disability. \u201cYou go home every day exhausted. You are tapped out.\u201d\n\nMost of Mercy\u2019s telehealth and remote monitoring covers patients and hospitals inside the small Catholic hospital system, which has facilities in Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas. But it also partnered with hospital systems at the University of North Carolina and Penn State. Part of the attraction is the backup Mercy provides to hospitals that serve uninsured or low income patients and can\u2019t afford to staff up to levels that might be desirable.\n\n\u201cMercy runs 24/7 in the background collecting analytics on our patient population,\u201d said Dale Williams, chief medical officer at 351-bed High Point Regional hospital in North Carolina, which is part of the UNC system. As they gather vital signs, EKG data and so on, the Mercy staff can alert brick-and-mortar staff to any significant changes. If there isn\u2019t a nurse or doctor in the room, they intervene.\n\nOf course, a nurse in St. Louis can\u2019t fill an IV fluid bag in North Carolina, but she can use a camera in the room to see that an IV bag is almost empty\u2014then call and instruct a nurse on the floor to refill it. The telemedicine cameras are powerful enough to detect a patient\u2019s skin color; microphones can pick up coughs and gasps and groans.\n\nMaking that order from far-off St. Louis can be a delicate matter until the virtual nurses and doctors establish good working relationships with their partners in the flesh-and-blood world. Unsurprisingly, when Mercy starts its virtual relationships with these hospitals, the professionals on site often aren\u2019t exactly enthused to be getting instructions from afar.\n\n\u201cPeople just think that they can put the technology in place and get amazing results,\u201d said Moore, who estimated that Mercy had spent $300 million to create the virtual care center. But acculturation is key to the process. At most ICUs and other hospital services, physicians and nurses already think they are operating at top capability. It takes work to convince them that their services would be better with help from outside.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll spend time with them and say, \u2018This isn\u2019t Big Brother looking over your shoulders: We\u2019re partners,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cBut doctors don\u2019t necessarily want other doctors writing their orders, and if they won\u2019t accept it, it doesn\u2019t work. If a nurse ignores our team because she\u2019s too busy and not used to TeleICU, nothing happens.\u201d\n\nSometimes the cultural shifts required may be a bit too much to work. Tampa General Hospital piloted a TeleICU relationship with Mercy Virtual for six months, but ended the agreement Nov. 15. The hospital gave no explanation for the decision.\n\nMercy Virtual President Randy Moore says the virtual center is already in the black but was really designed for the health care system of the future, in which health systems are paid for keeping patients healthy and out of the hospital\u2014rather than getting compensated for procedures and visits. | Whitney Curtis for POLITICO\n\nLonger term partners, however, seem to have converted to the concept. \u201cA decade ago I would have said, \u2018I don\u2019t know that that can work,\u2019\u201d said Williams, who has been working with Mercy Virtual for about two years. \u201cI\u2019ve been convinced. It would be ideal to have a doctor in each unit 24/7, but even then they can\u2019t be looking at the analytics the way these people do. They have critical care-trained nurses and doctors looking at this stuff all the time. They can camera in and count the pores on someone\u2019s nose.\u201d\n\nWilliams\u2019 hospital has two critical care doctors who take care of the 28-bed intensive care unit from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day, with \u201cMercy running in the background,\u201d he said. After 6 p.m., nurses on the ward continue to do their thing, but Mercy is in charge.\n\n\u201cThis allows our guys to go home on backup call,\u201d he said. If needed, the doctor can always drive back to the hospital, but most nights Mercy\u2019s intensivists take care of problems. \u201cThis allows us the best of both worlds. We have constant analytics and if something is changing that\u2019s not seen by nursing staff, they\u2019re right there monitoring it in St. Louis.\u201d\n\nThe relationship has improved outcomes at High Point, Williams said. Doctors who used to get burned out and quit after a year or two tend to leave less often. And the hospital\u2019s care has improved year after year\u2014fewer hospital infections, fewer patient days on ventilators, fewer readmissions and better patient survival, he said.\n\nFor now, Mercy and its partners have one foot in the old payment system and the other in the new world, where best outcomes and money align. But there are still administrators at Mercy hospitals who see fewer admissions and days in the hospital and \u201caren\u2019t particularly happy about it,\u201d Veremakis said. \u201cThere is an awkwardness in this time. But enough people with vision recognize this is the right way to go.\u201d\n\nMercy Virtual\u2019s ICU nurses, most of whom had years of experience before coming here, are sometimes a bit nostalgic for the bedside, with its immediacy and adrenaline. \u201cYou\u2019re used to being in charge. Here you\u2019re part of a team,\u201d said Wegener. \u201cIf you think something is not being done you have to be polite.\n\n\"And there\u2019s no way I can put a price on being able to put my hand on a patient and say, \u2018My name is Tris.\u2019\u201d\n\nArthur Allen is eHealth editor for POLITICIO Pro.\n\nAuthors:", "output": "The Mercy Virtual Care Center, a Missouri-based healthcare facility, cares for its patients remotely through the use of cameras and monitoring equipment. The centre is intended to allow patients to remain in familiar, comfortable environments during treatment\u00a0and to lower the costs of hospitalisation, which can often lead\u00a0to\u00a0deterioration. The facility is designed to operate under a new financial model, wherein federal funding and insurers pay for care, rather than for treatments administered.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Budapest rents double in five years \n Young people all over the world dream of a place of their own but are increasingly outpriced from the markets because of the housing booms.\n\nBudapest also has one. In fact, according to a recent study by Habitat for Hungary (pdf) shows how rental prices have doubled in downtown Budapest in the last five years only. Wages, on the other hand are only catching up in the statistics \u2013 and even that only happens since the government told that they should.\n\nBy 2016 the average rental price of a 40 square meter apartment in Budapest had hit 100% of one person\u2019s average wage.\n\nOfficial data on rental prices is always useless. Most of the rentals are still on the black market, and according to official statistics 90% of Hungarians still live in owner-occupied apartments. Which is obviously not true, but landlords are heavily incentivized not to report their incomes to the taxman. Hence the entire sector is hiding from statistics.\n\nThis is why Habitat used the data from a real estate website \u2013 where all those non-existent rental properties are put to the market.\n\nBut worry not, there is no inflation! Housing may take up a 100% of your income, but still not considered relevant enough to be included in the measurement of the purchasing power of your money. Thank you, central banks.\n\nOh and please remind me what I should do to get on the property ladder\u2026 Oh yes, that one: I should be saving. Right.\n\nFollow us on Facebook, Twitter @_MwBp , or subscribe to newsletter", "output": "Rents doubled in central Budapest between 2011 and 2016, according to a study by Habitat for Hungary. By 2016, the average rental price for a 40 sq metre flat in Budapest had reached 100% of an individual's average wage. Habitat for Hungary based its insights on data from a property rental website to try to gain an accurate picture of the market.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Restaurants upgrade apps allowing them to control consumer data \n Tearsheet\u2019s one-day \u201cHot Topic: Mobile Payments\u201d event is coming up in NYC on Nov. 30, and we\u2019re opening up a few complimentary spots to executives from banks and other financial institutions to attend. Interested? Apply here.\n\nIn the past month, fast-food brands like McDonald\u2019s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Panera, Chick-fil-A and Domino\u2019s have updated their existing apps or introduced new ones with reward programs, faster payment options and delivery services.\n\nOthers, like Shake Shack and Domino\u2019s, are integrating their apps into their physical chains or popular social networks. Even traditional restaurants like Red Lobster and Texas Roadhouse are implementing their own in-app reward programs. Chipotle was one of the latest to update its app, adding a way to quickly reorder past orders, a rewards program and the ability to purchase meals through Apple or Android Pay on Nov. 6.\n\nThese brands say these endeavors are an effort to give consumers what they want \u2014 a faster, convenient way to place an order and reach consumers on their mobile devices, where they spend the most time interacting and engaging with others. But more important, the apps allow brands to collect their own data on consumers, as their delivery partners \u2014 services like Seamless, Grubhub, Postmates and DoorDash \u2014 possess the majority of market share for digital delivery.\n\nThe relationship between restaurants and delivery services is complicated, to say the least. Chipotle, for example, does not deliver itself, but it can be ordered through Postmates, Tapingo or Favor. Chipotle plans on adding four or five other services by the end of the year. By building out their apps, restaurants can retain some of the customer data they lose to the delivery services they work with in order to stay competitive.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s definitely a frenemy relationship that goes on where brands are working with these delivery services, but they\u2019re also hedging their bet by making sure they have their own fulfillment network in place,\u201d said Ben Zeidler, director of consumer goods research at L2.\n\nMost delivery services do not provide brands with the data they need to understand customer intention or preferences, unless there\u2019s a specific arrangement between a brand and a service to do so. Curt Garner, chief digital and information officer at Chipotle, said Chipotle receives data around sales, transactions, timing and orders from its delivery partners, but not customer data.\n\nMost of these brands are planning on using their app data to track purchase patterns and build customer profiles they can use to target individuals with personalized offers. Chipotle plans on using its updated app to understand what it can offer that would \u201csurprise and delight\u201d consumers, said Garner. \u201cAs a data play, it makes a lot of sense because you\u2019re controlling that consumer experience, and you\u2019re doing it in a way where consumers want to interact with you,\u201d he said.\n\nApps may seem like the wrong move to build consumer profiles. Today, most people don\u2019t keep many apps on their smartphones. App Annie\u2019s 2017 report on app usage found that a person will use 30 apps a month and open nine daily, but the majority are social media apps or apps that come installed on the device like Safari.\n\nHowever, brands like Red Lobster and Chipotle have already seen success from their app updates. With Red Lobster\u2019s in-app reward program, for example, the brand found that 75 percent of the people who downloaded the app used it to scan a receipt, and 25 percent redeemed points two or more times. Although he wouldn\u2019t reveal specific numbers, Garner said Chipotle orders are increasingly coming from mobile devices.\n\nFood brands likely won\u2019t stop working with delivery services. Essentially, they are opting to have a piece of the pie rather than leftover crumbs. The truth is that delivery services possess the majority of market share in the delivery space. Grubhub alone takes up 23 percent of market share, second only to Domino\u2019s by 1 percentage point, according to 2016 Morgan Stanley data.\n\nWhat\u2019s more, new delivery services are popping up all the time. Small-scale services such as Waitr and The House concentrate on smaller cities that the Grubhubs of the world don\u2019t reach. Tech companies have ventured into delivery as well, with offerings like Amazon Restaurants, Facebook\u2019s new Order Food feature and UberEats allowing brands to reach consumers in other places where they spend most of their time. Chipotle, Five Guys, Jack in the Box, Papa John\u2019s, Wingstop, Panera Bread, TGI Fridays, Denny\u2019s, El Pollo Loco and Jimmy John\u2019s are among the first to offer ordering straight through their Facebook profile pages.\n\nZeidler said delivery services owe their success to indecisive customers and the power of online search. In L2\u2019s October Digital IQ Index study of the restaurants sector, the firm found that unbranded search terms, such as \u201crestaurants near me,\u201d saw around 50,000 more online searches than brand search terms such as \u201cPapa John\u2019s.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere is an undecided consumer out there. That\u2019s why they\u2019re going to Seamless in the first place,\u201d he said. \u201cThey don\u2019t know what they want to order. Brands can look at that as an opportunity, and they can look at it as a sign of potential slowdown.\u201d The brands that are updating their apps are trying to make the most of this situation.", "output": "In the last month, major fast-food brands have upgraded their mobile apps in an effort to remain relevant, offering new payment options and loyalty perks. These brands are also looking for new ways to collate data on their customers' behaviours, as their delivery providers do not ordinarily pass on consumer data to food retailers. \u201cThere\u2019s definitely a frenemy relationship that goes on where brands are working with these delivery services, but they\u2019re also hedging their bet by making sure they have their own fulfilment network in place,\u201d said Ben Zeidler, director of consumer goods research at L2."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Farmobile raises $18m for its farming data analytics platform \n Ag tech startup Farmobile raises $18M round for global expansion\n\nAg tech company Farmobile has reaped a substantial Series B funding round that positions the firm to rapidly accelerate across the world.\n\n\n\nThe Overland Park-based company announced Friday that it raised $18.1 million to expand its data platform to help farmers mitigate risks and generate a revenue from the data they own.\n\n\n\nThe round includes Anterra Capital, AmTrust Agricultural Insurance Services and other undisclosed investors. The new funding pushes the firm\u2019s total capital raised to more than $28 million.\n\n\n\nThe platform aims to empower farmers to make better choices and to grow their operations, CEO Jason Tatge said.\n\n\u201cOur customers continue to tell us Farmobile\u2019s data as a service platform is the best way to collect, organize, share and sell their agronomic and machine data,\u201d Tatge said in a release. \u201cOur mission is to make sure farmers, worldwide, have access to a cost effective strategy to collect, protect and own their digital assets with a clear path to ROI opportunities.\u201d\n\n\n\nFounded in 2013, Farmobile created a device \u2014 a Passive Upload Connection (PUC) \u2014 that plugs into a tractor\u2019s diagnostic port to collect a variety of data useful to farmers and ag operations. Not only does the data provide information for farmers\u2019 decisions on planting, spraying, fertilizing harvesting and more, it can be sold to third parties via Farmobile\u2019s data marketplace.\n\n\u201cFarmobile\u2019s technology allows farmers to access, control and monetize data like never before,\u201d Dudley Hawes of Anterra Capital said in a release. \u201cThis is a team that understands farm data and the power of various data layers as they pull together.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe funding will allow Farmobile to accelerate development of distribution channels in ag retail, insurance and equipment dealerships, Tatge said.\n\n\n\nFarmobile was recognized as one of Startland News\u2019 Top Startups to Watch in 2017 for its disruptive model in the trillion-dollar agriculture industry.", "output": "Agriculture technology start-up company Farmobile has raised $18.1m in a series B round\u00a0to expand the customer base for its data platform.\u00a0Commenting on the new funding, Farmobile CEO Jason Tatge said: \"The funding will allow Farmobile to accelerate development of distribution channels in agriculture retail, insurance and equipment dealerships.\"\u00a0The new funding pushes the Kansas-based firm\u2019s total capital raised to over $28m.\u00a0Investors included Anterra Capital, AmTrust Agricultural Insurance Services and others.\u00a0Farmobile's platform allows farmers to collect, organise, share and sell agricultural data, and includes software that connects to a tractor's diagnostic port.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Online TV network Cheddar to locate studios in US WeWork offices \n Cheddar is joining forces with WeWork to scale its on-air guest booking operation. It's building remote studios in WeWork offices around the country, and eventually around the globe, to bring more TV-quality live shots to the network's weekday live programming slate. The Cheddar team will go live with its first-ever daily broadcast from a WeWork location today in Hollywood.\n\nWhy it matters: It's a cost effective way for Cheddar to scale its digital TV business at the local, national and global levels. And it's a good example of how technology is upending the traditional TV business.\n\n\"The partnership gives us more edge against competitors by allowing us to have the remote broadcast scale of a major cable network,\" says Cheddar CEO Jon Steinberg. Most networks rely on affiliate relationships around the country to deliver high-quality guest live shots, while Cheddar uses Skype for some of its 50+ daily guest interviews. Steinberg is hoping the WeWork partnership will also increase the frequency of guests booked per day, which will cut down on segment length.\n\nagainst competitors by allowing us to have the remote broadcast scale of a major cable network,\" says Cheddar CEO Jon Steinberg. Most networks rely on affiliate relationships around the country to deliver high-quality guest live shots, while Cheddar uses Skype for some of its 50+ daily guest interviews. Steinberg is hoping the WeWork partnership will also increase the frequency of guests booked per day, which will cut down on segment length. Steinberg says they are looking to add a minimum of 5-10 locations in 2018 and build from there. They will set their sites on U.S. cities to start, like DC, Chicago and San Fransisco, and then plan on expanding to perhaps London or Asia.\n\nand build from there. They will set their sites on U.S. cities to start, like DC, Chicago and San Fransisco, and then plan on expanding to perhaps London or Asia. The investment also provides a foray into more local news coverage. \"Conceivably, this could be used in breaking news situations across the globe,\" says Steinberg. The company launched \"Cheddar Local,\" this summer to provide top business headlines to local news broadcasts, tailored to their region.\n\nCheddar's strategy has thus far been to scale as quickly as possible at low cost. It's relied on strategic partnerships with established media entities to do so.\n\nNationally, Cheddar has scored distribution partnerships with Sling, Amazon, Pluto, Facebook, Twitter and two more bundles by year end.\n\nInternationally, Cheddar launched a partnership with Propagate, a global indie studio, to produce a daily segment from New York Stock Exchange that would be customized and distributed for international markets.\n\nCheddar launched a partnership with Propagate, a global indie studio, to produce a daily segment from New York Stock Exchange that would be customized and distributed for international markets. \"Everything we do now, has to work when we're 10x the size,\" says Jon Steinberg. \"The goal is always to create a model where the cost drop is efficient. Steinberg says the total cost to build out all of their studios, controls rooms, equipment etc. has thus far been $2.2 million. Steinberg says the 90-person company is looking to net over $10 million in revenue this year.\n\nThe partnership is a first for WeWork as well. \" \"This deal is a good example of the way that we can start to program our own physical space while simultaneously offering a great opportunity for our members to share their stories with the world,\" says WeWork Vice Chair Michael Gross.", "output": "Digital TV news network Cheddar has signed a deal to locate remote studios in WeWork offices throughout the US so it can feature\u00a0more guests on its programmes. Cheddar CEO John Steinberg said\u00a0the company\u00a0hopes\u00a0to add between five and\u00a010 locations in 2018 through the partnership, giving \"us more edge against competitors by allowing us to have the remote broadcast scale of a major cable network\". New sites will initially be located across the US\u00a0but London and Asia are being looked at as later possibilities.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WeWork is mining customer data to develop apps and service that improve work \n In the future, you\u2019re going to love going to the office. Everything you need to do your job effectively will present itself without effort. You won\u2019t have your own desk, because your employer will know you only use it for 63 percent of the day. But you won\u2019t mind sharing it, because said employer will make sure you have a private room with green leafy plants, soundproof walls, and warm light between 2 and 2:20 p.m. so you can call your daughter. At 3:30 p.m., when you need a conference room for the product managers\u2019 meeting, you won\u2019t even have to book it. It\u2019ll just be there. And everyone attending remotely will already be invited.\n\n[#image: /photos/5947e0146c638b3847cde2a7]|||||| Jessi Hempel is Backchannel's editorial director. --------- Sign up to get Backchannel's weekly newsletter, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.\n\n\u201cThis isn\u2019t right away, of course,\u201d David Fano tells me. \u201cBut it\u2019s not that far out.\u201d\n\nWe\u2019re standing in the epicenter of WeWork\u2019s cavernous New York City headquarters, where Fano, the company\u2019s Chief Growth Officer, has set up a demo area to show off new technologies for prospective clients. A balding guy with a shaved head and dark eyebrows, Fano stands 5\u201911\u201d, and when he touches his phone to a desk, it recognizes him and raises itself to rest at his standing height. The smart furniture is just one of many ways that WeWork is wrangling data that it\u2019s collected over the years to quietly reorganize an office around its workers. To Fano\u2019s right is a touchscreen the size of a chalkboard where he can, with a swipe or a pinch, pull up real-time information about any of WeWork\u2019s 164 open locations. Want to know when the air filters were last cleaned in WeWork\u2019s Mexico City offices? Curious how many conference rooms are currently occupied in Charlotte, North Carolina? This program can tell you.\n\nWeWork is counting on this research to form the meat of its business and to justify its newly ordained position at the very top of an elite group of startups. Maybe you thought WeWork was about hip shared offices for millennials and beer on tap, or corporate slogans in twee typeface that read \u201cDo What You Love.\u201d But WeWork has much larger ambitions. Seven years after it opened its first coworking spot in SoHo, it has catapulted into a briskly ballooning global business\u2014and it is now trying to position itself as the foremost expert on offices. In the past two months, WeWork has partnered with Softbank to open in Tokyo, where it will own 50 percent of WeWork Japan; it has announced a Chinese unit; and it has purchased Singaporean competitor Spacemob. It\u2019s operating in 16 countries outside the United States right now, and it has launched upscale, dorm-like apartment buildings\u2014aptly called WeLive\u2014in New York, Washington, D.C., and soon Seattle. In late August, the company raised $4.4 billion from Softbank\u2019s gigantic Vision Fund. WeWork is now valued at close to $20 billion, putting it in a league with Palantir and SpaceX as the most highly valued private US tech startups after Airbnb and Uber.\n\nWeWork\u2019s bet is that because it is amassing so much office space and studying how thousands of different businesses use it, it can position itself as the company with the most valuable firsthand knowledge about how jobs best get done. Since its inception, WeWork has been collecting data about how people work, where they are most productive, what they need to feel good, and how much space they really require in the first place. (It\u2019s less\u2026much, much less\u2026space than you think.) So far, WeWork has applied this knowledge to its own locations. But for the past year, the company has quietly been experimenting with ways to turn that data into new products for enterprise customers. These offerings include building out custom office interiors, licensing software that companies can use to book conference rooms, analyzing data on how people are using those conference rooms, and providing on-site human community managers indoctrinated in WeWork\u2019s community-minded philosophies. Fano calls this grab-bag of services \u201cPowered by We.\u201d\n\nThink of it as office space-as-a-service. To date, big companies like Microsoft or IBM have used WeWork spaces in places where they don\u2019t need to have as many employees or in areas where they believe their employees might benefit from an outside environment. But many of those companies are now testing deeper integrations. WeWork manages an entire building for IBM in Greenwich Village, and it now runs Airbnb\u2019s Berlin office as well as Amazon\u2019s Boston office. Soon, the company anticipates, large enterprises will outsource their office buildings to WeWork, which will draw from its increasingly sophisticated data to insure that enterprise clients get the most productivity possible for the least amount of money. It\u2019s a natural extension of WeWork\u2019s current business, according to Chief Operating Officer Jen Berrent, who explains that the idea of adding a services business is \u201csomething that there\u2019s demand for in the market.\u201d\n\nOver time, this could be a much bigger opportunity than coworking spaces, one in which everything WeWork has built so far will simply feed an algorithm that will design a perfectly efficient approach to office space. WeWork aspires to be the de facto source to which businesses will turn when they need help figuring out how to spend the least amount possible for an environment that will delight employees and entice new ones.", "output": "WeWork\u2019s bet is that because it is amassing so much office space and studying how thousands of different businesses use it, it can position itself as the company with the most valuable firsthand knowledge about how jobs best get done. Since its inception, WeWork has been collecting data about how people work, where they are most productive, what they need to feel good, and how much space they really require in the first place. (It\u2019s less\u2026much, much less\u2026space than you think.) So far, WeWork has applied this knowledge to its own locations. But for the past year, the company has quietly been experimenting with ways to turn that data into new products for enterprise customers."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Long leases could be WeWork\u2019s undoing \n We take a deep dive through WeWork's financial statements.\n\nWhen WeWork launched in the UK it ran at a loss, taking in less in rent than it paid out for its leases.\n\nA lot of those losses came from launch costs and fitting out new buildings.\n\nThe revenue-profit gap looks small enough that WeWork doesn't have to go far to be profitable.\n\nWhether the company is worth its purported $17 billion valuation remains an open question.\n\nThe reception area at WeWork's SoHo-Sheraton House location in London. WeWork\n\nLONDON \u2014 WeWork launched in Britain in 2014 and for more than a year ran at a loss, renting out its space for less money in total than it paid to lease the buildings it controlled.\n\nBetween October 2014 and the end of 2015, WeWork's finances looked like this, according to copies of its accounts filed with Companies House:\n\nTotal revenues: \u00a313.6 million\n\n\u00a313.6 million Leasing costs: \u00a318.3 million\n\n\u00a318.3 million Net loss: \u00a314.4 million\n\nThe top and bottom lines suggest that WeWork is renting to its customers for less than what it pays landlords to obtain its offices. But the numbers only show a snapshot in time after WeWork's UK launch, when the company was spending money to get itself set up here, and before some locations were open to paying customers.\n\nThe numbers offer a glimpse inside one of the hottest \"unicorn\" startups on the planet. London is the company's second largest city.\n\nThe company was valued at a staggering $17 billion (\u00a313.1 billion) at its last investment round. It is funded as if it were a tech startup even though the core of its business is the provision of physical office space. The curiosity around WeWork's finances are intense: People want to know why a property company is being treated by venture capitalists as if it were a social media app; they want to know if it is possible to make short-term profits on long-term leases; and most of all they wonder whether it can ever meet the sky-high valuation that has been laid upon it.\n\nWeWork begins paying its leases on the day it signs a contract for a new building, yet it cannot accept new \"members\" as tenants until the building is renovated, a period called the \"fit-out.\" A fit-out typically takes four to six months, and a WeWork location might not reach 90%-plus occupancy until nine months later, multiple sources familiar with WeWork's business, both inside and outside the company, told Business Insider.\n\nOn that basis, WeWork's business model shows promise.\n\nThe roof area of WeWork in Soho, London. WeWork\n\nBack-of-the-envelope calculations show WeWork's leases could theoretically generate more rent than their costs: In its 14-month launch \"year\" in Britain, WeWork's revenues were 35% less than the cost of its property leases. Thirty-five percent of 14 months is 5 months \u2014 roughly the same time as a typical fit-out. That implies that the rent on a fully occupied WeWork building would break even on its lease before its first full year.\n\nEarly loss-making periods are typical for new businesses, as companies hire staff and develop their products before going out to find customers. As such, WeWork's financial numbers look typical for a startup. The company told us it was profitable on its \"mature locations\" (buildings open for nine months or more). A spokesperson said:\n\n\u201cWeWork is stronger than ever. In 2016, the company doubled its buildings, cities, countries, members and revenue run rate, and tripled gross profit in mature locations.\"\n\n\"In the years 2014 through 2015 (which this filing reflects), WeWork was setting up its business in the UK and investing heavily here. This was a period of intense growth and expansion for the company as we set up our first European locations and operations.\"\n\nWeWork's London Fields location has a vintage truck for a reception desk. WeWork\n\nToday, WeWork has 2,200 employees, more than 100,000 members, at 140-plus locations in 44 cities worldwide. It has taken $3.69 billion (\u00a32.85 billion) in funding from investors such as Benchmark , Fidelity, Wellington , JP Morgan Chase , Goldman Sachs, and Hony Capital.\n\nThe company was last valued at a reported $17 billion.\n\nIt is that \"$17 billion\" unicorn number that has people like Stratechery analyst Ben Thompson asking questions. In 2015, when WeWork was reportedly worth \"only\" $10 billion (\u00a37.7 billion), Thompson said in an email to his clients:\n\n\"It's easy to be skeptical: WeWork is for all intents and purposes engaging in arbitrage. It rents commercial real estate at one price (preferably a low one -- WeWork focuses on new developments where it can be an anchor tenant with its attendant ~10% discount) chops it up, adds a ping pong table and a beer tap, and rents it out at another significantly higher one. Neat trick, except that Regus [a traditional property broker], with 2,500 locations in 110 countries, does pretty much the same thing and has been valued by the public markets as a $3.74 billion company.\"\n\nWeWork doesn't just make money on renting space, however. It also offers various types of services and \"community\" benefits. The company gives tenants an app store (in the US), offering more than 100 services such as office software, chat apps like Slack, and car rentals. It is those add-ons plus the underlying rent fees that get WeWork to profitability, the numbers suggest.\n\nYes, there is ping pong. WeWork\n\n\"The reception WeWork has had in the UK has been exceptional and the level of demand in London was apparent immediately, fueling our continued expansion here,\" a spokesperson told Business Insider.\n\n\"In London alone, WeWork has more than doubled the number of locations and members in 2016, and we plan to do so again in 2017. Our UK occupancy is at or above 90% marketwide. We continue to see unprecedented strength and diversity in our global member community, which includes entrepreneurs, SMEs and large corporates. We are proud to have Business Insider as a member company in San Francisco.\u201d (Disclosure: Business Insider is indeed a tenant of WeWork in that city.)\n\nIncome Statement\n\nHere is WeWork's income statement, as filed with Companies House, the UK corporate accounting databank:\n\nCompanies House\n\nThe key numbers are:\n\nRevenue : \u00a311.9 million\n\n: \u00a311.9 million Other operating income : \u00a31.7 million\n\n: \u00a31.7 million Administrative expenses : \u00a33 million\n\n: \u00a33 million Other operating expenses : \u00a325 million\n\n: \u00a325 million Operating loss: \u00a314.3 million\n\nMost of those \"operating expenses\" are WeWork's leasing costs \u2014 \u00a318.3 million \u2014 which are broken out elsewhere:\n\nCompanies House\n\nThe bull case for WeWork is that \u00a313.6 million in total revenue on underlying lease costs of \u00a318.3 million, in just the first 14 months of business, means that WeWork doesn't have to go very far to become profitable and run on its own revenues.\n\nThe bear case against WeWork is that its leases are believed to be very long \u2014 two sources told us that typical WeWork leases in London are 15 years to 25 years. Payments on such leases tend to increase in increments over time. The obvious question is what happens in a downturn, when demand for office space declines and rental prices go down? Won't WeWork be stuck in a market where the price of rent falls below the level of its leases?\n\nWeWork defenders say that in a recession, larger companies will seek smaller, more flexible working spaces. And laid-off employees will become freelancers and entrepreneurs. They will all need WeWork-type spaces, which rent for the low hundreds of pounds per month. So We Work gets clients on the way up, when demand for office spaces increases, and on the way down, when the demand for smaller, flexible spaces increases.\n\nIt is also notable that on top of the \u00a318.3 million in lease costs there were a further \u00a35.5 million in other running costs. Again, high costs are normal for a company launching from scratch. But still \u2014 these are the numbers that will have to decline in proportion over time, if WeWork is to live up to its reputation.\n\nEven if you do not believe that WeWork will be immune from the normal boom-bust cycle of capitalism, it is well-funded, via its US parent. Here is a look at the balance sheet of the UK division.\n\nBalance Sheet: Assets\n\nWeWork\n\nBalance Sheet: Liabilities\n\nCompanies House\n\nBalance Sheet: Equity\n\nCompanies House\n\nThe cashflow statement indicates that WeWork is cashflow positive, but mostly because it borrowed \u00a356.4 million from its parent company at launch.\n\nCashflow statement\n\nCompanies House\n\nThe company does not break out its cash from operating activities beyond that \u00a315 million top line. But, interestingly, its operating cashflow is greater than the revenue it recognises on its income statement \u2013 a healthy sign for a growing business. It usually means the company has the power to delay payments where it owes money and get paid first by its customers. (The income statement is a formal comparison of a company's costs and revenues; the cashflow statement examines the actual movement of money through the company.)\n\nCompanies operating in the UK must file their accounts with the government annually, but they have a 12 month grace period to do so \u2014 which explains why these numbers are so old. The next set, detailing the 12 months of 2016, are likely to be filed after the end of this year. They will show more like-for-like revenues on locations that have been open long enough to reach 90% occupancy or \"maturity.\"\n\nOf course, as WeWork is still expanding, they will also contain numbers for new buildings where costs are racing ahead of revenues. The key will be to see whether WeWork can improve its profitability as it grows. If it can do so, then there will be fewer doubters for that $17 billion price tag.", "output": "The bear case against WeWork is that its leases are believed to be very long \u2014 sources have said typical WeWork leases in London are 15 years to 25 years. Payments on such leases tend to increase in increments over time. The obvious question is what happens in a downturn, when demand for office space declines and rental prices go down? Won't WeWork be stuck in a market where the price of rent falls below the level of its leases?"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Twitter launches first subscription ads product for small businesses \n Twitter has launched its first subscription ads product in public beta, helping small businesses and individuals to promote their tweets and attract followers for a monthly fee.\n\nPromote Mode, which Twitter began trialling back in July, costs a flat fee of $99 per month and requires no ad campaign management. Through the mode, businesses or individuals tweet as normal, and their tweets and profile are automatically promoted.\n\n\u201cWe know that budding businesses and individuals with personal brands want to grow their presence on Twitter, but this can be hard \u2014 especially for those who are new to Twitter,\u201d said Wook Chung, director of product management at Twitter, in a blog post. \u201cPromote Mode fills a need for simplicity and continuous results that many people on Twitter have been seeking.\u201d\n\nThe promotion feature is mobile-first and its dashboard can be accessed via the Twitter app by tapping on the \u2018Promote Mode\u2019 icon in the menu drawer. Here, users are able to see how many additional people their tweets reached, how many followers they gained, and how many people have visited their profile in that month. The results will vary depending on account type, targeting selection, and frequency of tweets.\n\nThe new mode is available in public beta in the US and the UK. Twitter says it will also be rolled out to Japan \u2018in the near future\u2019.\n\nJoin us at the 2017 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony, taking place in London on Thursday 16 November, to mix with the industry's best and brightest, and raise a glass to the year's best campaigns and solutions. To find out more, and to book your place, click here.", "output": "Twitter has launched the public beta test of Promote Mode, its first subscription ads product which automatically promotes tweets for businesses. The mobile-first feature costs $99 per month, while the accompanying dashboard offers a breakdown of reach, monthly visits and additional followers data. In a blog post, Wook Chung, director of product management at Twitter, said the tool \"filled a need for simplicity and continuous results\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "JPMorgan is backing WeWork because of \u2018Coase\u2019s Law\u2019 \n One of WeWork's trendy flexible offices in Paddington, London. WeWork\n\nThe New York-based firm has attracted over $4.75 billion of funding to date and is worth over $20 billion .\n\nA theory described by Nobel Prize-winning economist Ronald Coase explains why WeWork-style offerings hold so much appeal for the start-ups and growing firms.\n\n\n\nLONDON \u2014 The rise of co-working start-up WeWork has been spectacular.\n\nFounded in 2010, the New York-based firm has attracted billions of pounds worth of funding to date with its millennial-friendly offering of short-term leases, trendy spaces. The company is currently valued at over $20 billion, and there's also widely-rumoured IPO in the pipeline.\n\nReversing Coase's Law\n\nOne of WeWork's most prominent backers is JP Morgan, which led an early $150 million funding round in 2014 which saw the firm valued at $1.5 billion.\n\nSpeaking at a panel discussion hosted by commercial property agents CBRE in London on Tuesday, a JP Morgan analyst explained why WeWork-style offerings hold so much appeal for the start-ups and growing firms.\n\nJP Morgan carried out research into the growing propensity for flexible workspace, and settled upon a law of economics called Coase's Law cited by Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google's parent company Alphabet, in his book \"How Google Works.\"\n\nCoase's Law, expressed by Nobel Prize-winning economist Ronald Coase, attempts to explain why big firms emerge, and it goes like this: Large firms emerged in the twentieth century because, after taking transaction costs into account, it was often more efficient to get things done within a firm, rather than contracting out on the open market.\n\n\"It was expensive to use the external market for transactions, whether it was getting pencils or accounting,\" the analyst said. \"You had to go out and find a vendor, you had to search for reputation and price and negotiate. So you would internalise a lot as many functions as you could until the cost of doing it internally matched the external cost.\"\n\nThat environment meant the twentieth century was dominated by corporations that were big hierarchies or closed networks, which only worked with a tightly-controlled group of partners.\n\n\"What you do is you put that behind a big marble and glass lobby that basically says 'F off' to the world,\" he said. \"You're not sharing. And if you look at big corporate office space, that's basically what it looks like.\"\n\nThat changed when the internet arrived.\n\n\"Now we've got the interweb. Connectivity is so cheap and you can go out and externalise so many more corporate functions. And there's people competing in each of those spaces, trying to improve and do it at a lower cost, so what firms are now doing is organising themselves for an open network.\"\n\nThat \"means a vastly different type of real estate. Big firms are opening up their networks because it's now cheaper to use the market and small firms don't need to grow.\"\n\nAnalysts still have serious questions about WeWork's business model: when it launched in the UK, it ran at a loss, taking less in rent than it paid out for its leases, but its appeal is permanent.\n\n\"It's the reverse of Coase's law and I think it's a very powerful model for explaining why perhaps the demand side is permanent,\" he said.", "output": "WeWork is tapping into a reversal of Coase\u2019s Law that means companies today are plugging into open networks instead of keeping functions in-house. \"Now we've got the interweb. Connectivity is so cheap and you can go out and externalise so many more corporate functions\u201d, a JPMorgan analyst said. That \"means a vastly different type of real estate. Big firms are opening up their networks because it's now cheaper to use the market and small firms don't need to grow.\""}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI finds potentially dangerous cracks in nuclear reactors \n Share this\n\nArticle Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nEmail You are free to share this article under the Attribution 4.0 International license. University Purdue University\n\nA new system that uses artificial intelligence to find cracks captured in videos of nuclear reactors could help reduce accidents as well as maintenance costs, researchers report.\n\n\u201cRegular inspection of nuclear power plant components is important to guarantee safe operations,\u201d says Mohammad R. Jahanshahi, an assistant professor in the Lyles School of Civil Engineering at Purdue University.\n\n\u201cHowever, current practice is time-consuming, tedious, and subjective and involves human technicians reviewing inspection videos to identify cracks on reactors,\u201d Jahanshahi says.\n\nThe fact that nuclear reactors are submerged in water to maintain cooling complicates the inspection process. Consequently, direct manual inspection of a reactor\u2019s components is not feasible due to high temperatures and radiation hazards. Technicians review remotely recorded videos of the underwater reactor surface, a procedure that is vulnerable to human error.\n\nChecking the tape\n\nResearchers are proposing a \u201cdeep learning\u201d framework called a na\u00efve Bayes-convolutional neural network to analyze individual video frames for crack detection. An innovative \u201cdata fusion scheme\u201d aggregates the information from each video frame to enhance the overall performance and robustness of the system.\n\nConvolutional neural networks are a form of artificial intelligence called deep learning that have been instrumental in the development of various commercial products capable of facial and speech recognition.\n\nThe new system detects cracks in overlapping \u201cpatches\u201d in each video frame while the data fusion algorithm scheme is capable of tracking the crack from one frame to the next. The approach achieves a 98.3 percent success rate, which is significantly higher than other state-of-the-art approaches, Jahanshahi says.\n\nCracks lead to leaks\n\nThe United States is the world\u2019s largest supplier of commercial nuclear power, which provides around 20 percent of the nation\u2019s total electric energy. Between 1952 to 2010, there have been 99 major nuclear power incidents worldwide that cost more than $20 billion and led to 4,000 fatalities. Fifty-six incidents occurred in the United States.\n\nThe algorithm mimics the ability of human vision to scrutinize cracks from different angles.\n\n\u201cOne important factor behind these incidents has been cracking that can lead to leaking,\u201d Jahanshahi says. \u201cNineteen of the above incidents were related to cracking or leaking, costing $2 billion. Aging degradation is the main cause that leads to function losses and safety impairments caused by cracking, fatigue, embrittlement, wear, erosion, corrosion, and oxidation.\u201d\n\nAlthough several vision-based crack detection approaches have been developed for concrete, rock, or pavement surfaces, only a few approaches consider crack detection on metallic surfaces. The majority of existing approaches focus on detecting cracks in a single image.\n\n\u201cIf a crack is not detected in these single images or a noisy pattern is falsely detected as a crack in the image, no other information is available to correct the detection results,\u201d he says.\n\nDeveloping the system\n\nTo develop and evaluate the proposed system, researchers collected videos of 20 underwater specimens representing internal nuclear power plant components. They scanned samples at 30 frames per second, and the convolutional neural network examined each frame for cracks. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), a nonprofit organization that the electric utility industry funds provided the data.\n\nAs the data-fusion algorithm observes a crack from one frame to the next it is able to account for changing configurations due to the moving camera, pinpointing the location of the crack. The algorithm mimics the ability of human vision to scrutinize cracks from different angles, which is important because some cracks are obscured by the play of light and shadow, Jahanshahi says.\n\n\u201cData fusion comes up with more robust decision making than would otherwise be possible,\u201d he says.\n\nThe approach also uses powerful graphical processing units to train the neural network how to detect cracks with a dataset that contains around 300,000 crack and non-crack patches, he says.\n\nThe researchers have filed a patent application on the crack-detection technology through the Purdue Research Foundation\u2019s Office of Technology Commercialization.\n\nThe research team also is using deep learning to detect corrosion in photographs of metal surfaces, a technology that could potentially inspect structures such as light poles and bridges. The researchers reported the details of that work in a paper accepted for publication in the Journal of Structural Health Monitoring.\n\nFuture research will include work to further improve the technologies.\n\nThe researchers detail their work in the journal IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics. Computer engineering doctoral student Fu-Chen Chen was Jahanshahi\u2019s coauthor.\n\nSource: Purdue University", "output": "Researchers at the Lyles School of Civil Engineering at Purdue University have developed an AI system capable of identifying potentially disastrous cracks in nuclear reactors. Monitoring cracks is paramount to reducing costs and fatalities at nuclear plants, according to Mohammad R. Jahanshahi, assistant professor at Lyles. \"Ageing degradation is the main cause that leads to function losses and safety impairments caused by cracking\", said Jahanshahi. The researchers have filed a patent application on the crack-detection technology through the Purdue Research Foundation\u2019s Office of Technology Commercialization."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Rauch develops drone for fertiliser distribution \n We\u2019ve all heard of \u2018agricultural\u2019 drones that can monitor your crops. However, Rauch will shortly unveil a unit that can spread fertiliser.\n\nRauch\u2019s engineers have essentially modified an eight-rotor Agronator \u2018Octocopter\u2019, which weighs 80kg and boasts a diameter of 4m.\n\nThe modified unit\u2019s on-board fertiliser hopper can carry 30kg of fertiliser.\n\nSo far, the drone has been tested spreading anti-slug bait, small seeds and mineral fertiliser. Its spreading system is an electrically-driven, one-disc unit \u2013 dubbed DRACO (Drone Application Copter); it is fed from a 50L hopper.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nNot surprisingly, Rauch says that the single biggest advantage is the drone\u2019s ability to spread fertiliser regardless of ground conditions \u2013 simply because the unit flies well above the potential quagmire below.\n\nTherefore, says the company, soil compaction or field damage is simply not an issue.\n\nThanks to its GPS technology, Rauch says that it is possible to \u201cexactly define flight\n\nroutes and even individual spreading areas\u201d. It is simply a case of pressing a button; then the so-called CultiCopter automatically follows the predefined flight route.\n\nThe DRACO spreading unit automatically adjusts the application rate and working width, as per user requirements. It is also possible to record data from each run.\n\nTwo lithium-polymer batteries \u2013 or accumulators as Rauch refers to them \u2013 apparently provide enough energy for up to 40 minutes of flight-time. It then takes 20 minutes to recharge the unit \u2013 before it\u2019s able to embark on its next fertiliser-spreading mission.\n\nThe unit will be on display at next week\u2019s massive Agritechnica show in Germany.\n\nWorld\u2019s largest machinery exhibition: Should you be there?", "output": "Engineers at Rauch have developed a drone that is reportedly capable of distributing fertiliser payloads of up to 30kg to crops. According to Rauch, the drone will eliminate issues of soil compaction and field damage that have consistently plagued the fertiliser distribution industry. The drone is capable of 40 minutes of flight-time, with a full unit charge taking 20 minutes. The unit will be available for viewing at the Agritechnica show in Germany, which takes place between\u00a012 and 18 November.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "By Degrees releases app targeting Indian English learners \n \u201cFor many years online learning has held a lot of promise, but hasn\u2019t delivered much\u201d, CEO of By Degrees Danny Bielik states in a catchy promo video on the firm\u2019s website.\n\nHe explained that By Degrees developed the product after learning of Indian students\u2019 struggle to get through English proficiency tests from agency association AAERI.\n\n\u201c[AAERI] came to me with this problem, [students are having] a difficulty with English, and IELTS especially. A lot of kids are just not getting through the test,\u201d he said.\n\nThe Australian company aims to solve the problem of low completion rates in e-learning, and the high numbers of Indians under-30 who are not in education employment or training, with a fully mobile product that will act like a conversation to encourage attainment.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re not delivering long, didactic lectures with exercises at the end,\u201d Bielik told The PIE News.\n\nHe explained that the learning experience will be, visually at least, much like a multi-contributor conversation on existing messaging applications.\n\n\u201cIt looks like a Whatsapp conversation. And over the years people have established ad hoc learning groups this way anyway,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not a great secret that the PTE, especially in India, is booming\u201d\n\n\u201c[University students] establish groups in [messenger services] where they say \u2018read this\u2019, \u2018what do you reckon about that\u2019, \u2018how would you go about this\u2019 and so on and so forth,\u201d Bielik continued.\n\nAccording to figures discussed at an AAERI meeting in early 2017, 80% of all web traffic in India is via mobile devices.\n\nWith that in mind, Burst Learning will initially focus on English and training for the Pearson Test of English. Bielik told The PIE News that this was an obvious choice for the firm\u2019s initial venture.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not a great secret that the PTE, especially in India, is booming. The numbers are exploding. Canada just accepted the PTE for their visa application, so projected numbers are going through the roof,\u201d he related.\n\n\u201cEnglish test prep is a big industry in India\u2026 Almost all agencies have their own training department\u201d\n\nBy Degrees thinks the Indian market is ripe for this type of short form, fast-paced, and crucially, mobile style of learning \u2013 another form of \u201cnano-learning\u201d which The PIE News covered in 2015.\n\nRavi Lochan Singh, managing director of Indian education travel agency Global Reach, agrees with Bielick that mobile test preparation could find fertile ground in India, though his positivity is not without reservation.\n\n\u201cEnglish test prep is a big industry in India\u2026 Almost all agencies have their own training department or work with an outsourced third party. There is a scope for technology being introduced\u2026if the mobile based delivery is cost effective, it will find a niche,\u201d he said.\n\nBut Singh doubts that mobile technology such as Burst Learning will be the death knell for brick and mortar training colleges.\n\n\u201cHow much will it replace face to face training[?] I am not sure.\u201d\n\nBy Degrees aims to venture across Asia soon after their first year is complete.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re very much an Asia-focused business, but what we\u2019re doing here has global applicability\u2026 we\u2019re hoping to expand quite rapidly,\u201d Bielick told The PIE.", "output": "Australian edtech company By Degrees has unveiled its Burst Learning product\u00a0in India, a way of teaching English using\u00a0a WhatsApp-like conversation thread. The company aims to provide a mobile-only service to help Indian students get through the popular Pearson Test of English (PTE). By Degrees' CEO Danny Bielick explains the targeting of PTE students by saying: \"The numbers are exploding. Canada just accepted the PTE for their visa application, so projected numbers are going through the roof.\"\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MasterCard pushes India towards 'digital payments ecosystem' \n Home\n\nBusiness\n\nMastercard DigiRath Takes Off to Fulfill Government\u2019s Digital India Dream\n\nMastercard DigiRath Takes Off to Fulfill Government\u2019s Digital India Dream\n\nThe DigiRath will support the government\u2019s target of powering 2500 crore digital transactions by March 2018 and bring more transparency and efficiency.\n\nMastercard (File Photo)\n\nNew Delhi, November 8: Mastercard India and the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Wednesday came together to revolutionise the digital payments ecosystem in India. This move is believed to encourage Indian consumers and merchants to pay and accept digital payments. Mastercard and CAIT on Wednesday marked Demonetisation\u2019s anniversary by flagging of Digital Rath for a cashless India. Under the partnership, CAIT and Mastercard will organise workshops on electronic payments across five cities in India that include Lucknow, Kolkata, Pondicherry, Navi Mumbai & Bhopal.\n\nHighlights Mastercard India and CAIT came together to revolutionise the digital payments ecosystem\n\nIt will encourage Indian consumers and merchants to pay and accept digital payment\n\nUnion Information & Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani flagged off the Digital Rath from New Delhi today. The Minister said that debit card transactions have gone up by 103% in the last one year. \u201cOur citizens & merchants have embraced digital transactions proactively; contributing to India\u2019s development. \u201cSmall merchants are the backbone of Indian economy & a less-cash society will bring more transparency. This initiative by Mastercard India & CAIT is commendable\u201d, she added.\n\nYou may like to read\n\n#MastercardDigiRath flags off in New Delhi; launches a movement that aims to reach merchants across Lucknow, Kolkata, Pondicherry, Navi Mumbai & Bhopal for a @cashlessbano India. @_digitalIndia @Mastercard @TEAMCAIT pic.twitter.com/VOFxSP0fiB \u2014 Mastercard India (@mastercardindia) November 8, 2017\n\nWhile addressing #CashlessBano India conference, Irani said that in past one-year Mobile Transactions increased by 218% & Debit Card Transactions increased by 103%. Apart from this, UPI transactions surged from 3.8 mn in April\u201917 To 77 mn in October\u201917.\n\nWhat is Mastercard DigiRath?\n\nDigitalRath will motivate trading fraternity transforming from cash-based business formats to technology-led #DigitalPayments. #CashlessBano\n\nThe Digital Rath is going to be a PAN India campaign covering 20,000 kms addressing more than 10 lac people.\n\nThere will be 30 Digital Rath for #CashlessBano India campaign to promote Digital India.\n\nThe DigiRath aims to reach merchants across Lucknow, Kolkata, Pondicherry, Navi Mumbai & Bhopal for a cashless India.\n\nThe DigiRath will support the government\u2019s target of powering 2500 crore digital transactions by March 2018 and bring more transparency and efficiency. In October, Masterccard launched its first innovation lab in India in Pune to work on new commerce, payment and technology ideas for the rapidly growing digital economy in the country. As per reports, Mastercard Labs in India is the company\u2019s ninth lab in the world and the second in Asia Pacific (following Singapore). The lab will also support and work with start-ups developing next generation, breakthrough commerce solutions through Mastercard\u2019s Start Path programme.\n\nFor breaking news and live news updates, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Read more on Latest Business News on India.com.", "output": "MasterCard is encouraging India towards a 'digital payments ecosystem', partnering with\u00a0the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT)\u00a0to roll out their Digital Rath campaign nationwide. Speaking at the launch, Union Information & Broadcasting Minister\u00a0Smriti Irani highlighted the 103% increase in digital transactions in the last year. \u201cSmall merchants are the backbone of Indian economy & a less-cash society will bring more transparency. This initiative by Mastercard India & CAIT is commendable\u201d, said Irani.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "European sweatshops supply\u00a0major brands \n AMSTERDAM \u2013 Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) has published a report claiming that the garment and apparel industry is host to poverty wages and sweatshops across Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. CCC says the factories are customers of major fashion brands such as Benetton, Espirit, GEOX, Triumph and Vera Moda and that many workers in Ukraine earn EUR89 per month, despite overtime and the \u2018living wage\u2019 being five times that.", "output": "Clothes factories supplying major brands pay poverty wages and provide dangerous working conditions across Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, according to a report by the Clean Clothes Campaign. The report claims that workers in Ukraine earn \u20ac89 ($103) per\u00a0month\u00a0including overtime, equivalent to a fifth of the \u201cliving wage\u201d, and that approximately 1.7 million workers in the region\u2019s garment sector live in poverty. The research also reveals\u00a0that forced overtime is widespread, along with exposure to heat and chemicals. Abuse by managers is also common, and skilled female workers are particularly badly paid.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Russia's Robomed uses blockchain for healthcare network \n Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More\n\nBlockchain technologies are slowly seeping into every conceivable market. And if one Russian company succeeds, the health care industry will be the next to be feel the impact of this new technology.\n\nRobomed Network, a Moscow-based startup founded by health care entrepreneur Philipp Mironovich, has launched an initial coin offering using Ethereum to raise $30 million from investors. The company is riding the astonishing wave of ICOs this year that are rewriting the rules for which companies can raise money and where.\n\nLocated about as far from Silicon Valley as one can get, Robomed is a pretty good example of how ICOs have opened new fundraising doors. But perhaps more critically, it\u2019s also emblematic of the ways blockchain technologies have moved far beyond their cryptocurrency roots.\n\nFor Mironovich, blockchain is potentially a tool to help deliver better and less expensive health care without patients or doctors needing to know the first thing about the technology.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\n\u201cIt guarantees the patients that the doctor they go to will have the best treatment for them,\u201d Mironovich said. \u201cThis will help ensure that people, particularly in developing nations, received good value for their money.\u201d\n\nMironovich launched into the health care industry in a way that would be difficult to imagine in the United States: He started a chain of hospitals in Russia known as Open Clinics. He opened his first when he was 21 years old and now operates five, using loans and revenue from the hospitals to continue to expand.\n\nImage Credit: Robomed\n\nAs he did so, he began thinking about the technical infrastructure and how to reinvent it across his hospitals. He and a team of several developers spent a couple of years and about $1 million creating the Robomed Network system.\n\nThe idea is to use blockchain technology to create smart contracts and payment systems between patients and doctors. The system helps set a market-based price between doctor and patient. The smart contract lays out milestones for diagnosis and treatment, with various metrics and checkpoints along the way.\n\nA patient puts money into the Robomed system using cash or a credit card, and it\u2019s held there in a virtual currency wallet. As the doctor proceeds through the contract, some money is released along the way.\n\nOn the front end, the system also allows patients to list symptoms, suggest possible medical issues, and then get matched with doctors who have expertise in those areas, Mironovich said.\n\nSo far, 23 clinics have signed on to use the Robomed platform, and now the company is looking to accelerate its growth. To do that, it launched the ICO a few weeks ago to raise $30 million that it will use for hiring, opening new offices, and product development.\n\n\u201cWe want to scale this business and make it global,\u201d Mironovich said.", "output": "A Moscow-based start-up is using\u00a0blockchain technology to deliver better and less expensive healthcare. Robomed Network founder and healthcare entrepreneur Philipp Mironovich\u00a0has used Ethereum to launch an initial coin offering\u00a0to raise $30m. Robomed uses a smart contract and payment\u00a0system to link doctors and patients, and provide treatments plans, with payments\u00a0held in a virtual wallet.\u00a0The system also allows patients to list symptoms, suggest possible medical issues\u00a0and then get matched with doctors who have expertise in those areas. Robomed hopes to use the $30m\u00a0for new office purchases, hiring and product development.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Climate change even hitting areas less prone to disasters \n Photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images\n\nWhile Texas, Florida, California, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico were harshly reminded of a changing climate following a historically active season of hurricanes and drought-enabled wildfires, Midwestern states would do well to acknowledge that climate changes are already reaching much further inland. The Midwest\u2019s transportation and electricity systems are particularly at risk of physical damage and disruption to services, leading to far wider economic impacts to both the region and the nation.\n\nFor taxpayers and businesses to thrive, there are few things more important than a region\u2019s infrastructure systems. Reliable transportation networks are crucial to ensure the efficient movement of food, energy, and trade. Workers and consumers depend on roads, bridges, and transit systems to access jobs and markets. Energy production not only rests upon the delivery of resources, but also the operability of the transmission lines to homes and businesses. Yet climate change, and the corresponding extreme weather events experienced across the nation, will continue to threaten these systems.\n\nTemperatures in the Midwest have increased by 4.5 degrees since the 1980s. The number of days with \u201cvery heavy precipitation\u201d has increased by 27 percent since the 1950s. The Great Lakes only experienced 43 percent ice coverage in the early 2000s, compared to an average ice coverage of 52 percent between 1961 and 2013. And these conditions are only expected to worsen, with temperatures continuing to rise and precipitation patterns changing; through the mid-century, spring rains are anticipated to increase by 9 percent, while summer rains decrease by 8 percent.\n\nEvidence clearly indicates that the climate is changing both in the Midwest and worldwide. Transportation and electricity infrastructure systems will particularly feel these effects. And as these systems serve as the lifeblood of any region, governments, individuals, and businesses will be forced to bear the burden.\n\nClimate change puts the Midwest\u2019s transport and electricity systems at risk, with impacts all across North America.\n\nIncreased heat will reduce the lifespan of pavements, add stress to expansion joints for bridges and highways, cause pavements and railways to buckle, and affect aircraft performance. Flooding will weaken structural supports for bridges, deteriorate soil that supports roadways, tunnels, and bridges, and increase sedimentation in waterways. And severe storms that produce high winds, ice, snow, and lightning can damage electricity lines, particularly those in the Midwest where the majority of electricity transmission and distribution is above ground.\n\nThe Midwest as a Trading Hub\n\nBeyond these already alarming structural concerns, the disruption of the operations of these systems has the potential to affect the entire nation, as the Midwest serves as the freight hub of North America. Roughly 25 percent of the nation\u2019s freight trains and 50 percent of all intermodal trains pass through Chicago alone. Approximately 35 percent of all trade between the U.S. and Canada comes through Michigan. National and international trade is further supplemented through the Midwest\u2019s interstate highway system, expansive waterways facilitating maritime connections to the Great Lakes, and multiple border crossings with Canada.\n\nTo put it into perspective, five of Chicago\u2019s top 10 domestic trading partners are outside the Midwest, including Los Angeles, New York City, Memphis, Atlanta, and Dallas/Fort Worth. Cumulative domestic trade flows in 2012 between the Chicago region and Los Angeles and Atlanta totaled $11 billion and $7.9 billion, respectively. Similarly, Los Angeles and Dallas/Fort Worth are among Indianapolis and Detroit\u2019s top domestic trading partners.\n\nAs a result, businesses both near and far will be touched if the Midwest does not adequately prepare for the impact of climate change on its infrastructure. As a prime example, the drought of 2012 disrupted barge traffic due to near record low water levels on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, forcing shipments to switch to alternate modes of transportation. While it is fortunate that viable alternatives were available, this is not an option for all shipments; it causes added economic stress to businesses and leads to unnecessary traffic on already-congested highway and railway corridors.\n\nIt is widely known that infrastructure is grossly underfunded to meet the maintenance and growth needs of the nation. The funding gap already stands at more than $2 trillion by 2025, yet how much more will be required to address climate-change-related repairs?\n\nAs local, state, and federal governments consider issues ranging from modernizing transportation systems to planning new housing and commercial developments, it is in the taxpayers\u2019 best interest that they also account for today\u2019s climate realities. In terms of infrastructure, policymakers and project planners should incorporate updated design standards to protect these investments and mitigate against future damages and disruptions. This should also include limits on development in areas that have already experienced extreme weather-related damage.\n\nSimilarly, a review of existing development regulations should also be considered. Following the flood of 1993, Midwest communities attempted to remedy flood-prone areas by elevating and relocating properties. However, the region faced severe flooding again in 2008. And as reported by the Congressional Research Service, while some communities were better off due to their efforts, significant commercial, industrial, and highway development had occurred in the 500-year flood plain, opening these areas up to risks from the heavy precipitation storms that have become more common. From Houston to New Orleans, communities across the nation have learned time and again it is far cheaper to invest in smart planning and risk management than it is to repair or rebuild after the fact.\n\nFurther Action Required\n\nSeveral Midwestern states have taken positive strides in recent years, including the adoption of greenhouse gas emissions targets, climate action plans, and adaptation plans. However, much more can and should be done.\n\nOnly Iowa, Michigan, and Minnesota have adopted adaptation plans, which outline a state\u2019s infrastructure vulnerabilities toward climate change and create a plan and implementation process to address those weaknesses. Similarly, the state departments of transportation in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio have pursued asset management programs to identify vulnerabilities and protect the investments taxpayers have already made in infrastructure.\n\nWhile it is encouraging to hear of the adoption of such policies, it is important to remember that policies and plans are only as good as the leaders who are intent on implementing them. Although climate action plans were pursued in Illinois and Michigan in the late 2000s, neither have been actively pursued under current leadership. Similarly, President Donald Trump has been quick to retreat from international agreements designed to curb worldwide emissions and to rescind many climate-related strategies of the Obama administration.\n\nClimate change has already caused, and will continue to cause for many years to come, unimaginable impacts on the nation\u2019s population, environments, and economy. No one policy or action alone will halt the harmful effects, but we cannot hide from this new climate reality.\n\nAs the Midwest and the nation continue to see an increase in the number and severity of extreme weather events attributable to climate change, it is imperative that public officials act to protect the tens of billions of dollars of investment in infrastructure systems that serve as the heart of the nation\u2019s economy.", "output": "North American states not traditionally impacted by freak weather attacks are becoming increasingly caught in the crosshairs of nature, as climate change in the takes its toll on Midwestern infrastructure. Mary Craighead, Transportation Policy Analyst at Illinois Economic Policy Institute, calls for wide-reaching reviews in to existing development regulation. Midwest temperatures have increased by 4.5 degrees since the 1980s, whilst days with \u201cvery heavy precipitation\u201d increased by 27% since the 1950s. Craighead argues that as the \"freight hub of North America\", economic and trade prosperity depends upon the Midwest's infrastructure being sufficiently prepared for the effects of climate change.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK to back total ban on neonicotinoids: Gove \n Two principles guide this government\u2019s approach to the natural world. We want not just to protect but to enhance the environment. And we want our decisions to be informed at all times by rigorous scientific evidence.\n\nWhich is why when the science shows that our environment is in increasing danger we have to act. Like many others, I was deeply concerned by a recently published German study into the health of some insect populations. The Guardian covered the report in depth, not least because the statistics were so stark. Data gathered over 25 years appeared to indicate a 75% fall in the numbers of flying insects within those sites.\n\nEnvironmental change on such a scale is profoundly worrying. Not least because of the critical role played by bees and other pollinators. These particular flying insects are absolutely critical to the health of the natural world. Without a healthy pollinator population we put the whole ecological balance of our world in danger.\n\nOfficial biodiversity indicators show that the pollinator population has been in a state of overall decline since 1987. Although 29% of bee species increased over that period, 49% declined. Other evidence suggests more than half of solitary bees have declined.\n\nAnd as is always the case, a deteriorating environment is ultimately bad economic news as well. Pollinators contribute somewhere between \u00a3400-680m every year to agricultural productivity, benefitting both the yield and the quality of crops. For example, gala apple growers are already spending \u00a35.7m a year to do the work that natural pollinators should be doing, while for some crops like field beans there is evidence that a deficit in pollinator numbers is already having an adverse effect.\n\nWhere there is evidence that human activity is contributing to pollinator decline, we have a duty to act. Among the potential threats to pollinators are neonicotinoids, a type of pesticide. A recent report found that 75% of honey samples collected around the world contained neonicotinoids. However, the impact on bee health of the prevalence of neonicotinoids has been disputed.\n\nIn 2013, the European Commission proposed a ban on the use of three types of neonicotinoids on flowering crops. At that time, the UK\u2019s assessment was that there was insufficient evidence of a link between neonicotinoids and pollinator decline, but other member states took a different view and a ban was implemented across the EU.\n\nSince 2013, the evidence base has grown. The European Commission has now proposed the ban is extended to non-flowering crops. I asked the UK\u2019s independent advisory body on pesticides to review the issue again. In their view, there is a growing body of evidence that indicates that the risks posed by neonicotinoids are greater than previously understood. They advise that the evidence now supports the restrictions introduced in 2013; indeed, there may also be a case for going further.\n\nThe most recent studies into neonicotinoids have taken the investigation out of a laboratory into the field to gather more meaningful results. These show a number of worrying indicators. First, when neonicotinoids are used on one crop, their residues can be found across the landscape. This contaminates pollinators\u2019 food sources far and wide, not only on the crops where the pesticide was used. Second, wider investigation has shown that neonicotinoids can persist in soils for many years and have been detected in areas where there has been no known recent use. Neonicotinoids are also taken up by flowering weeds or subsequent flowering crops on those soils, causing further exposure to pollinators. Although the effects are subtle, the most recent studies point to a discernible effect on food sources and the productivity of bee colonies, which could have a worrying long-term impact on their populations.\n\nWhile there is still uncertainty in the science, it is increasingly pointing in one direction. Not to act would be to risk continuing down a course which could have extensive and permanent effects on bee populations. That is not a risk I am prepared to take, so the UK will be supporting further restrictions on neonicotinoids. Unless the evidence base changes again, the government will keep these restrictions in place after we have left the EU.\n\nThe current process of emergency authorisations \u2013 used not just in the UK but across the EU \u2013 will remain in place, allowing the short-term, limited and controlled use of neonicotinoids in exceptional situations to control a threat that cannot be contained by any other reasonable means. Farmers will be able to apply to Defra who will take advice from the advisory body on pesticides and Defra\u2019s chief scientist, with authorisations granted where the evidence is clear that neonicotinoid use is essential.\n\nI understand the importance of pesticides for farmers. They have to protect their crops from dangerous threats throughout the growing season, and in that respect neonicotinoids have been useful. Farmers work hard round the clock to produce the high quality food and drink we all enjoy. Decisions which can, certainly in the short term, make their lives more difficult are not easy to take.\n\nBut ultimately we must ensure that we think about the long term health of our environment, because unless we take steps now to arrest environmental damage we will all be the losers. We only have one earth and it is our responsibility to hand it on to the next generation in a better state.\n\nMichael Gove is the UK environment secretary\n\n\n\n", "output": "The UK will back a complete ban on neonicotinoid pesticides, which are the most widely used insecticides in the world, according to the country\u2019s environment secretary Michael Gove. The decision is based on new evidence demonstrating the environmental contamination and damage to bee colonies caused by the insecticides. Neonicotinoids were banned for use on flowering crops by the European Union (EU) in 2013, although the UK opposed the ban. The EU will vote on a total ban on the pesticides outside of greenhouses in December. The changed UK position makes it more likely that the ban will be introduced.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK to back total ban on neonicotinoids: Gove \n The UK will back a total ban on insect-harming pesticides in fields across Europe, the environment secretary, Michael Gove, has revealed.\n\nThe decision reverses the government\u2019s previous position and is justified by recent new evidence showing neonicotinoids have contaminated the whole landscape and cause damage to colonies of bees. It also follows the revelation that 75% of all flying insects have disappeared in Germany and probably much further afield, a discovery Gove said had shocked him.\n\nNeonicotinoids are the world\u2019s most widely used insecticide but in 2013 the European Union banned their use on flowering crops, although the UK was among the nations opposing the ban. The European commission now wants a total ban on their use outside of greenhouses, with a vote expected in December, and the UK\u2019s new position makes it very likely to pass.\n\n\u201cThe weight of evidence now shows the risks neonicotinoids pose to our environment, particularly to the bees and other pollinators which play such a key part in our \u00a3100bn food industry, is greater than previously understood,\u201d said Gove. \u201cI believe this justifies further restrictions on their use. We cannot afford to put our pollinator populations at risk.\u201d\n\nIn an article for the Guardian, Gove said: \u201cAs is always the case, a deteriorating environment is ultimately bad economic news as well.\u201d He said pollinators boost the yield and quality of UK crops by \u00a3400m-\u00a3680m every year and said, for example, gala apple growers are now having to spend \u00a35.7m a year to do replace the work of lost natural pollinators.\n\nGove said the evidence of neonicotinoids\u2019 harm to pollinators has grown stronger since 2013, including a landmark field trial published in July that showed neonicotinoids damage bee populations, not just individual insects, and a global analysis of honey revealing worldwide contamination by the insecticides.\n\nThis and other research was examined by the UK\u2019s Expert Committee on Pesticides (ECP), which published its updated advice on Thursday. \u201cExposure to neonicotinoid pesticides under field conditions can have an unacceptable effect on honeybee health\u201d they concluded. \u201cSuch unacceptable effects are occurring at a landscape level and between seasons.\u201d\n\nProfessor Ian Boyd, chief scientific advisor at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said: \u201cThe important question is whether neonicotinoids\u2019 use results in harmful effects on populations of bees and other pollinators as a whole. The available evidence [now] justifies taking further steps to restrict the use of neonicotinoids.\u201d\n\nBoyd warned in September that the assumption by regulators around the world that it is safe to use pesticides at industrial scales across landscapes is false. This followed other highly critical reports on pesticides, including research showing most farmers could slash their pesticide use without losses and a UN report that denounced the \u201cmyth\u201d that pesticides are necessary to feed the world.\n\nTractors sow seeds treated with neonicotinoids. Photograph: Paul Weston/Alamy Stock Photo\n\nGove\u2019s decision has delighted campaigners and scientists who have long argued that heavy pesticide use, along with the destruction of habitat and disease, are having a devastating impact on insects.\n\n\u201cMichael Gove is to be congratulated for listening to the experts on this issue and backing tougher restrictions,\u201d said Friends of the Earth\u2019s chief executive Craig Bennett. \u201cBut lessons also need to be learned \u2013 we now need to move away from chemical-intensive farming and instead boost support for less damaging ways of tackling persistent weeds and pests.\n\n\u201cWe warmly welcome the UK\u2019s change of position,\u201d said Matt Shardlow, at insect conservation group Buglife. \u201cBrexit will give the UK more control over the health of our ecosystems and it is essential in doing so that we apply the highest standards of care.\u201d\n\nHe said the EU had been stuck on the issue of a full neonicotinoid ban, unable until now to get sufficient votes from member states: \u201cIn taking this \u2018unfrozen moment\u2019 in British politics to put bees and science at the centre of our priorities for sustainable agriculture, Michael Gove may also unfreeze the EU and secure an EU-wide ban that will benefit insects across the continent.\u201d\n\nChris Hartfield, the National Farmers Union\u2019s acting chief science adviser, said: \u201cFarmers are acutely aware that bees play a crucial role in food production and have done an enormous amount to help them.\u201d But he said the committee\u2019s finding of \u201cunacceptable effects\u201d came despite their acknowledgement of a gap in understanding in whether neonicotinoids damage overall ecosystem services: \u201cIn our view, the ECP has leapt beyond its brief.\u201d\n\nBut Gove said: \u201cWhile there is still uncertainty in the science, it is increasingly pointing in one direction.\u201d He said a post-Brexit farming subsidy system would channel more money into environmentally sustainable ways of farming.", "output": "The UK will back a complete ban on neonicotinoid pesticides, which are the most widely used insecticides in the world, according to the country\u2019s environment secretary Michael Gove. The decision is based on new evidence demonstrating the environmental contamination and damage to bee colonies caused by the insecticides. Neonicotinoids were banned for use on flowering crops by the European Union (EU) in 2013, although the UK opposed the ban. The EU will vote on a total ban on the pesticides outside of greenhouses in December. The changed UK position makes it more likely that the ban will be introduced.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "News app Toutiao looks to buy its way\u00a0into China\u00a0insurance market \n \n\n\n\nChinese news app Toutiao appears to be the latest Chinese media platform looking to get into financial technology. According to local news reports, the five-year-old company with a valuation estimated at US$20 billion is looking to acquire an insurance broker in China to break into the insurance business, but without having go through the time consuming process of obtaining an insurance license.\n\nThe company did not immediately respond to requests for confirmation by China Money Network.\n\nToutiao ranks as the fifth highest valued private company on China Money Network\u2019s Unicorn Ranking with valuation of US$20 billion. The company, which uses artificial intelligence to provide customized news for its users, claims to have over 700 million users and 150 million monthly active users. With its broad customer base and precision advertising, selling insurance online could become a significant new revenue source for the company. It is estimated that Toutiao has made RMB6 billion (US$904 million) in advertising revenues in 2016.\n\nToutiao is reported to have made several inquiries to regulators about obtaining an insurance license, according to the local media reports. But judging from the prior cases, it takes China\u2019s Insurance Regulatory Commission about one year to process license applications. Toutiao therefore is seeking to acquire a broker that already holds a license.\n\nThe news comes amid a rush of Chinese tech companies competing to get into the insurance business. China\u2019s big-three tech companies, Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba, collectively known as the BAT, have each obtained insurance licenses recently. In October, WeSure Insurance, a company controlled by Tencent Holdings, obtained a license. Baidu\u2019s subsidiary Baidu Penghuan Asset Management acquired an insurance broker with an insurance license in September. Ant Financial\u2019s subsidiary Hangzhou Baojin Insurance also got its license in September.\n\nAlso, Zhongan Insurance, backed by Alibaba, Tencent and Ping An Insurance, raised US$1.5 billion in its initial public offering in September.\n\nThe rush to get into online insurance is backed by expectations that the Chinese online insurance market will grow significantly over the next five years. The amount of life and non-life insurance products sold online or via mobile devices reached over US$45 billion in 2016, and the figure is expected to hit US$145 billion by 2021, according to Oliver Wyman.", "output": "China's Toutiao plans to acquire a local insurance broker, making it the latest media platform to seek entry into\u00a0the country's mushrooming insurance market. The five-year-old app-based service, which\u00a0uses artificial intelligence to provide customised news, is valued at about $20bn. It\u00a0wants to enter the insurance sector through acquisition in order to sidestep\u00a0the long process of getting a license. Tech firms like Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba are clamouring to enter China's\u00a0online insurance market\u00a0on bets the sector will surge over the next five years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurer AmTrust signs agriculture data deal with Farmobile \n AmTrust Agriculture Insurance, a subsidiary of multiline P&C insurer AmTrust Financial, has signed on with insurtech Farmobile to leverage the latter's data collection platform for its crop insurance clients.\n\nFarmobile\u2019s hardware device, the passive uplink connection, transmits data to a central repository every second over cellular networks. If a connection is lost, the device stores data locally until connectivity is restored. This information is used to calculate crop insurance premium.\n\nSoybeans are harvested with a Case IH Agricultural Equipment Inc. combine harvester in this aerial photograph taken above Princeton, Illinois, U.S., on Friday, Sept. 29, 2017. Soybean futures for November delivery rose 0.1% a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade after falling as much as 0.5%, the lowest since September 13. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg Daniel Acker/Bloomberg\n\n\u201cToday crop insurance reporting is not a standardized process,\u201d said Jeffrey Fenster, SVP at AmTrust. \u201cThe capabilities of Farmobile\u2019s data collection system will allow AmTrust to innovate and provide additional time and cost savings to our crop insurance agents and farmers. They also standardize the data, make it portable and have an incredibly transparent sharing and accessibility model.\"\n\nAs part of the agreement, AmTrust also will take an equity stake in Farmobile.\n\n\u201cAmTrust is taking a leadership position in using digital agricultural advancements to aid in crop insurance reporting. We\u2019re inspired by their vision to leverage technology to recruit agents and help farmers,\u201d said Jason Tatge, CEO of Farmobile. \u201cTogether with AmTrust, we\u2019ll be able to deliver a faster, cheaper and smarter workflow for crop insurance reporting through better data management. In short, we help farmers and agents create shared value through efficient reporting.\u201d", "output": "US agriculture insurer AmTrust Ag has entered into an agreement with agricultural data provider Farmobile. The data company uses hardware to pick up statistics on factors such as fertiliser distribution and plant populations, which is used to determine\u00a0crop insurance premiums. AmTrust is also taking an equity stake in Farmobile as part of the partnership.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Uber partners with NASA on flying taxi project UberAir \n Uber continues to aim for the sky.\n\nThe tech company has partnered with NASA to help it develop air traffic management systems for its flying taxi initiatives, chief product officer Jeff Holden said on Wednesday. Holden made the announcement at Web Summit, a technology conference in Lisbon.\n\nIn April, Uber unveiled its plans to introduce flying taxi fleets, known as uberAIR.\n\nThe four-person ridesharing flights won't become a reality anytime soon but Holden said there are plans for demos coming to Los Angeles in 2020. Uber previously announced cities Dallas, Texas and Dubai as other partner cities.\n\nThe tech firm has agreements to work with other aviation companies, but this is the first time it has formally partnered with a federal U.S. agency. Uber's partnership is part of NASA's Space Act Agreement, a consortium of industry players working to ensure \"safe and efficient operations\" of its taxis and other small unmanned aerial systems flying at low altitudes.\n\n\"These are exactly the kind of partners we need to make uberAIR a reality,\" Holden said of NASA.\n\nA NASA spokesman said Wednesday the agency will help create a framework for the air traffic management of drones. This will help pave the way for air vehicles carrying passengers, such as uberAIR.\n\nIn 2019, the recommendations developed by NASA and its partners will be shared with the Federal Aviation Administration, which will determine how they should be integrated into existing air traffic systems.\n\nKnown for its unmanageable traffic, Los Angeles will make for an interesting test bed for the flying vehicles.\n\nRelated: Tesla Roadster might fly\n\nTo get a sense, Uber projects that trips from the Los Angeles airport to the Staples Center during rush hour will take less than 30 minutes -- down from 1 hour 20 minutes by car. It expects to offer rides in the flying taxis for prices comparable to its UberX service.\n\nThe goal is to make transportation fast, and inexpensive -- and it hopes the service will be ready for commercial operations \"several years ahead\" of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.\n\nUpdated: This story was updated to add more details about NASA's involvement in the project.", "output": "Following the unveiling of plans in April to introduce flying taxis, Uber has partnered with NASA on the project, known as UberAir. NASA said it is seeking to create a framework with industry players for the air traffic management of drones to enable deployment of air vehicles that carry passengers. In 2019, the recommendations developed by NASA and other partners such as Uber will be shared with the Federal Aviation Administration, which will study how to integrate passenger drones into existing air traffic systems. Uber is hoping to demonstrate its air taxis in 2020."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FANG investing encourages bad habits: Bogle \n Vanguard founder and former CEO Jack Bogle is not a believer in trading 'FANG' stocks.\n\nWhen asked about Intercontinental Exchange launching a FANG+ index futures contract for traders on Wednesday, Bogle blasted the idea.\n\nThe product enables investors to trade an index that tracks the performance of Facebook , Apple , Amazon , Netflix , and Google-parent Alphabet , along with Alibaba , Baidu , Nvidia , Tesla and Twitter .\n\n\"If you want to do such a crazy thing, it certainly makes it easy to do. ... I have no doubt it's a liability,\" Bogle said on CNBC's \"Power Lunch\" Tuesday. \"I think the odds are very bad. It appeals to the trading instincts in investors. ... If you like gambling, if you like casinos, these things are really, really, really good.\"\n\nInstead he recommended investors focus on the long term with a multidecade time horizon by buying index funds that minimize trading transaction costs.\n\n\"Anything that gets investors into trading is a negative,\" he said. \"Trading is a loser's game. Trading is short term speculation.\"\n\nBogle founded Vanguard Group in 1975. The firm is widely regarded as the leader of passive index investing. It has approximately $4.7 trillion in assets under management, according to its president.", "output": "Investing in \"FANG\" technology stocks encourages investors to engage in unnecessary trading, said Jack Bogle, founder and former CEO of Vanguard Group. Bogle's comments come amid ICE launching futures contracts linked to the major tech companies - Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet - which account for the acronym. \"If you like gambling, if you like casinos, these things are really, really, really good,\" said Bogle. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Taiwan becomes fifth Asian nation to adopt fintech sandbox \n Taiwan is expected to be the fifth region to approve a fintech sandbox initiative, after Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Thailand, according to local media reports.\n\nThe supervisory sandbox will permit applicants to develop and test fintech solutions without full compliance. The initiative aims to provide an optimum regulatory environment for startups developing prototype financial technology.\n\nA bill has passed the first review and is heading to final approval. In the review, legislators have extended the experiment period to a maximum of 36 months from 18 months in a preliminary plan submitted by the government\u2019s executive arm, reports said. If approved, Taiwan will have the longest experimental period among the existing sandboxes. Singapore, for example, allows nine months and the UK six months.\n\nThe framework is expected to receive final approval in December. The sandbox will be supervised by Taiwan\u2019s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC).\n\nFintech regulation docket\n\nIn other fintech regulatory moves, local media reported that the FSC in July permitted the use of robo-advisers. In August, regulators added that they would allow robo-advisors to re-balance an investor\u2019s portfolio if the return on a specific asset or on the portfolio deviates from the chosen benchmark. Before deploying the automatic adjustment, investors must give prior consent and be informed instantly after any re-balancing.\n\nLast month, the Taiwan Fintech Industry Development Association (FIDA) signed a memorandum of understanding with the Fintech Association of Hong Kong and corresponding associations in Singapore and Switzerland. The purpose was to improve the fintech ecosystem across Asia and Europe, as cross-border collaboration on fintech gains momentum.\n\nIndustry organisation ICI Global believes fintech disruption is likely to come from China, FSA reported earlier. China accounts for 88% of the world\u2019s fintech investment and significant innovation is occurring, driven by firms with an immense user base such as Alibaba and Tencent, according to a PWC report.", "output": "Taiwan has become the latest Asian economy to adopt the concept of \"sandboxing\" for technology-focused companies. Sandboxing allows companies to test their concept - often a technology-driven financial service - without fear of running afoul of regulations. A bill suggesting the establishment of this framework is now awaiting final review having passed the first legislative hurdle. Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Thailand also allow fintech firms to test their concepts using regulatory sandboxes.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Investment in US fintechs increases two-fold \n Investments in U.S. fintech companies nearly doubled during the third quarter to $5 billion, up from $2.6 billion in the second quarter, according to KPMG\u2019s recent Pulse of Fintech report. There were a total of 142 deals during the quarter, up from 125 deals in the prior year quarter and 147 deals last quarter. KPMG attributes the jump to robust venture capital funding, an increase in deal value and strong performance by the private equity sector. The automated advice platform technology was a big bet during the quarter, with hybrid models\u2014those using a combination of humans and technology\u2014gaining more traction over pure robo advisors, the report said. \u201cWe see a lot of optimism in the U.S. Fintech market \u2013 from the maturation and adoption of early stage technologies like Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and IoT to the rapid acceleration of others, such as Insurtech, Robo-advisory, Blockchain and Regtech,\u201d said Anthony Rjeily, leader for Financial Services\u2019 Digital and Fintech practice in the U.S. at KPMG.\n\nThe Trump Stock Market\n\nOne year after President Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton to become President of the United States, the stock market has risen 21.2 percent. That\u2019s the third-best rise in the S&P 500 of any first-term president since 1952, according to CNBC. Trump trails President John F. Kennedy\u2019s 26.5 percent rise in the markets following his election and President George H.W. Bush\u2019s 22.7 percent hike. Measuring every election since 1952, the Trump rally is bumped down to fifth place, following President Bill Clinton\u2019s 28.1 percent hike after his election for a second term, then Kennedy, followed by President Barack Obama\u2019s 23.8 percent rise after his election for a second term and then Bush. The worst stock market performance came after President Jimmy Carter was elected, when stocks fell 10.2 percent during his first year in office.\n\nInvestCloud, Willis Towers Watson Partner\n\nHStocks/iStocks/Thinkstock\n\nInvestCloud and Willis Towers Watson are partnering. The cloud-based financial services platform was selected to build a bespoke solution for the WTW Asset Management Exchange that will enable clients to better access and monitor roughly $2 billion, according to a statement. The exchange provides asset managers easy access to significant capital on a global basis and seeks to plug \u201cvalue leakage\u201d caused by inefficiencies in the investment supply. InvestCloud will look to enhance the user experience for both the asset owners and the managers.", "output": "Investments in US fintech firms totalled $5bn in Q3 2017, according to a report from KPMG. The figure is double that reported in Q2, with financiers putting to work $2.6bn during the preceding period. Advice platforms in particular garnered attention during the period, the report noted. More in-demand than pure robo-advisory platforms, however, were those making use of both human advisers and algorithm-powered advice. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Robinhood adds social network to everyman investment app \n Robinhood is bringing investing under the social finance umbrella. The company behind the popular trading app is launching a web platform to help to deliver the second part of its mission to make stock trading accessible to everyday people: help them make more informed decisions. It\u2019s adding tools, features and information on other users\u2019 activity that makes the experience feel more like a social network. Robinhood, which launched in 2013, says it has crossed 3 million users as of Wednesday and more than $100 billion in transaction volume with about 100 employees, according to co-CEO Baiju Bhatt. By comparison, the 42-year-old TD Ameritrade has 11 million funded accounts and more than 10,000 employees as of this September; E-Trade, 35 years old, reported 3.5 million accounts by the end of last year with some 3,600 employees. Robinhood users have saved more than $1 billion in commission fees (typically $7 per transaction) using the fee-free app, Bhatt said. Robinhood will show users on each stock detail page how many other people own shares of that same company, the average price paid by other users for those shares, the distribution of all the different prices people have paid for shares in that company in the past year. The point is to start giving people more reference prices, Bhatt explained. Humans fundamentally aren't very good at thinking of numbers in terms of absolute value and it can be hard for early or first-time investors to understand that Apple shares, for example, have reached the $160 mark. \u201cThey\u2019d say, \u2018Sure? I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s high or low.\u2019 We\u2019re starting to think about reference prices people will immediately be familiar with and be able to dissect,\u201d Bhatt said.Robinhood wants to juxtapose data generated by its own users with opinion from Wall Street analysts so users can see what \u201cexperts\u201d are saying about a particular stock. So it\u2019s going to begin pulling those reviews and opinions from Morningstar into a new Analyst Reviews section. \u201cIt\u2019s a riff on theme of comparison shopping,\u201d Bhatt said. \u201cReally well-worn routes for buying stuff online is doing e-commerce. You can see the expert rating on a stock \u2014 [which could say that] 77 percent say \u2018buy\u2019 based on 10 analyst reviews from Morningstar \u2014 and the number of people that own it.\u201d It will also show other stocks purchased by people that bought shares of a particular company and display a For You section that will suggest stocks to investors by using their buying and browsing data, as well as \u201cplaylists,\u201d as Bhatt likes to call them (for now; others in the company call them collections, engineers just call them tags): collections of stocks based on common themes, like Virtual Reality Companies, 2017 IPOs or 100 Most Popular.\u201cFrom a discovery standpoint the playlists are pretty similar to music. There are tens of thousands of stocks; there are tens of thousands of songs or albums you wanna listen to and there\u2019s always this problem where you can't quite think of the one that you want but it\u2019s kind of on the tip of your tongue and you just need to do some bookmarking to remember it. It\u2019s the really large inventory problem.\u201d Beyond buying and selling, the mobile app currently lets users browse different stocks, track the price movement and features a news feed, which will also be incorporated to the web platform. The website will launch in early 2018. Later in the year the company plans to bring the same features to the mobile app.Bhatt said the company has no plans to introduce advertising to its platforms. With each user averaging 10 to 15 sessions each day, Robinhood has greater engagement than all of its direct competitors added up, he said, touting \u201cthe best organic growth of any financial product since Venmo.\u201d Robinhood\u2019s premium product, Robinhood Gold, starts at $10 a month and allows users to trade after hours. It also has a well-performing referral program in which users get a free stock for each new user they refer, who also gets a free stock upon joining. Bhatt said he and co-CEO Vlad Tenev have always been curious to get people connected with each other Robnihood because most people have found their way to investing through social conversations. \u201cThe stock market is inherently social,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom the days of open outcry in the pit it\u2019s always been about humans interacting and transacting. What we\u2019ve got in our product right now is the beginning of a much longer product focused on social.\u201d Venmo has shown legacy financial firms the value of making financial transactions between friends and peers as easy as having a conversation with them. Through an agreement with PayPal, Facebook is also trying to make payments activity a natural extension of the conversation its users are already having in an app where they already spend most of their time. SoFi has been trying to prove people, millennials specifically, want to do business with financial companies based on community and the likemindedness of people with similar financial goals and plans. Offline, there are at least three behaviors or conversations taking place that the founders want to amplify on the screen, Bhatt explained. First, most young people have at least one person friend or family figure who\u2019s a generation older that they talk to about stocks and finance; second, many young people have an informal social network among colleagues or friends where they're kind of competitive about their investing conversations; and there\u2019s usually someone in people\u2019s social networks that isn't a close friend but probably could be based on continued conversations around investing. Opting to connect with Facebook friends and you can post to all of them is probably not effective, Bhatt asserted. Neither is a broadcast-based system where users publish their trades to followers. \u201cThat kind of product is going to be one that has very high engagement with a certain kind of active user that wants to show off that they know what they're doing and is not going to be interesting at all for other people,\u201d Bhatt said. \u201cTrying to thread the needle between these different conversations that are actually happening is where my head is right now.\u201d", "output": "Investing app Robinhood is launching a web-based network that aims to better educate its users on finance and investing. The trading app, which has amassed three million users since its launch in 2013, will now allow customers\u00a0to see how many of their peers also own a particular stock along with trading data for securities. The network will also suggest stocks for investors to buy based on their previous trading activity.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chicago O\u2019Hare airport promotes renewable jet fuel \n US advanced biofuels company Gevo announced that its alcohol-to-jet fuel (ATJ) derived from renewable isobutanol is being used today by eight commercial airlines for Fly Green Day, sponsored by the O'Hare Fuel Committee, at Chicago O'Hare International Airport.\n\nThis event is the first time renewable jet fuel has been supplied at Chicago O'Hare using the existing airport fueling infrastructure, such as pipelines, terminals and tankage.\n\nTo date, airlines and airports have generally relied on alternative means of supplying renewable jet fuel to the wing, usually trucking jet fuel on site for blending and fueling. For today's Fly Green Day, Air BP blended Gevo's ATJ with regular fossil-based Jet A fuel, certified its quality and then supplied its customers through the airport's main fuel hydrant system.\n\nCommercial airlines participating in today's event are:\n\nLufthansa\n\nUnited Airlines\n\nEtihad\n\nCathay Pacific Airways\n\nEmirates\n\nJapan Airlines\n\nKorean Air\n\nAtlas Air\n\n\"This is the first time we have supplied our customers with biojet produced from alcohol and demonstrates how we are working with multiple suppliers to build a leadership position in this area,\" said Air BP's CEO Jon Platt. \"We anticipate that through this promotion we will inspire more of our customers to use lower carbon fuels.\"\n\n\u2018The next stage\u2019\n\n\"We are excited to be a part of this project. This is the next stage in development of our goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and move forward with the full commercial deployment of renewable jet fuel,\" said Thorsten Luft, VP Corporate Fuel for Lufthansa.\n\nGevo\u2019s CEO, Patrick Gruber, said: \"This is a significant milestone as we continue to develop our ATJ platform. We fundamentally believe that our ATJ is one of the most cost competitive bio-based jet alternatives in the market place. Leveraging existing supply infrastructure should lower the full cost to serve our end customers. Jet fuel is one of Gevo's core market segments and this represents the next step in building a profitable business from this market vertical.\u201d", "output": "Eight commercial airlines including United and Emirates have taken part in a promotional event for renewable fuels at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. For the first time, the airport supplied aircraft with renewable alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) fuel through its existing fuelling infrastructure, rather than relying on separate trucks. The ATJ fuel from biofuels supplier Gevo is derived from renewable fuel source isobutanol, and was blended with fossil-based jet fuel by Air BP before being supplied to the aircraft. The Fly Green Day was intended to encourage airlines to switch to lower carbon fuels in future."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US and China sign $250bn in commercial deals during Trump visit \n US President Donald Trump told Chinese President Xi Jinping he believes, like Mr Xi, a solution can be found to the North Korean nuclear issue, a day after warning Pyongyang of the grave danger of developing nuclear weapons.\n\n\n\n\n\nSpeaking alongside Mr Xi in the Chinese capital, Mr Trump also said on Thursday it was disappointing his predecessors had let the bilateral trade balance get out of kilter.\n\n\n\n\n\n\"But we will make it fair and it will be tremendous for both of us,\" Mr Trump said, expressing respect for Mr Xi.\n\n\n\n\n\nMr Trump is pressing China to tighten the screws further on North Korea and its development of nuclear weapons.\n\n\n\n\n\nAt least modest progress is hoped for, although there are no immediate signs of a major breakthrough, a US official said earlier on Thursday.\n\nReferring to Mr Xi, Mr Trump said: \"I do believe there's a solution to that, as do you.\"\n\n\n\n\n\nIn a show of the importance China puts on Mr Trump's first official visit, Thursday's welcoming ceremony outside Beijing's Great Hall of the People overlooking Tiananmen Square was broadcast live on state television - unprecedented treatment for a visiting leader.\n\n\n\n\n\nMr Xi said he had a deep exchange of views with Mr Trump and reached consensus on numerous issues of mutual concern.\n\n\n\n\n\n\"For China, cooperation is the only real choice, only win-win can lead to an even better future,\" Mr Xi said.\n\n\n\n\n\nMr Xi said China and the United States strengthened high-level dialogue on all fronts over the past year and increased coordination on major international issues, such as the Korean peninsula and Afghanistan.\n\n\n\n\n\n\"Relations between China and the United States are now on a new historical starting point,\" Mr Xi said\n\n\n\n\n\nMr Trump and Mr Xi hit it off at their first meeting in April at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and continued their \"bromance\" on Wednesday with an afternoon of sightseeing together with their wives, followed by dinner.\n\n\n\n\n\nHowever, deep divisions persist over trade and North Korea.\n\n\n\n\n\nAnd while Mr Xi is riding high after consolidating power at a twice-a-decade Communist Party Congress last month, Mr Trump comes to China saddled with low public approval ratings and dogged by investigations into Russian links to his election campaign.\n\n\n\n\n\n'Unfair' trade agreement\n\nPresident Xi beamed as Mr Trump praised the leader for looking out for China's economic prosperity saying he didn't blame him for the United States' disadvantage in existing trade agreements.\n\n\n\n\n\n\"Right now, unfortunately, it is a very one-sided and unfair one. But, but, I don't blame China. After all, who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country for the benefit of its citizens? I give China great credit. But in actuality, I do blame past administrations for allowing this out-of-control trade deficit to take place and to grow.\"\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Chinese President responded with a promise of sorts.\n\n\n\n\n\n\"The business environment for investment of foreign companies, including U.S. companies, will become increasingly open, transparent and standardised,\" he told media.\n\n\n\n\n\nAhead of the visit, Mr Trump had ratcheted up his criticism of China's massive trade surplus with the United States - calling it \"embarrassing\" and \"horrible\" last week - and has accused Beijing of unfair trade practices, fuelling worries of increased tension between the world's two largest trading countries.\n\n\n\n\n\nFor its part, China says US restrictions on Chinese investments in the United States and on high-tech exports need to be addressed.\n\n\n\n\n\nMore than $250 billion in commercial deals between US and Chinese firms were signed during the visit, China's commerce minister said.\n\n\n\n\n\nSeveral corporate CEOs are in Beijing as part of a delegation led by US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.\n\n\n\n\n\nSome in the US business community have expressed worry that contract wins could come at the expense of resolving long-standing complaints over market access restrictions in China.\n\n\n\n\n\n\"This shows that we have a strong, vibrant bilateral economic relationship, and yet we still need to focus on levelling the playing field because U.S. companies continue to be disadvantaged doing business in China,\" William Zarit, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said.\n\n\n\n\n\nMr Trump railed against China's trade practices during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign and threatened to take action once in office.\n\n\n\n\n\nBut he has since held back on any major trade penalties, making clear he was doing so to give Beijing time to make progress reining in North Korea.\n\n'In sync'\n\nA US official said both sides are \"in sync\" about wanting to minimise friction during the visit and recreate the positive tone of the Mar-a-Lago summit.\n\n\n\n\n\nMr Trump was not expected to put much emphasis in his talks with Xi on thorny issues like the disputed South China Sea and self-ruled Taiwan, claimed by China as its own, although the two presidents' aides may deal with those matters privately, the official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.\n\n\n\n\n\nChina has repeatedly pushed back at suggestions it should be doing more to rein in North Korea, which does about 90 per cent of its trade with China, saying it is fully enforcing UN sanctions and that everyone has a responsibility to lower tensions and get talks back on track.\n\n\n\n\n\nMr Trump used some of his toughest language yet against North Korea in a wide-ranging address in Seoul on Wednesday that lodged specific accusations of chilling human rights abuses, although he offered no evidence to support the accusations.\n\n\n\n\n\nHe also called on countries around the world to isolate Pyongyang by denying it \"any form of support, supply or acceptance\".\n\n\n\n\n\nChinese state media praised the tone of the initial get-together on Thursday, part of what China has promised will be a \"state visit plus\" for Mr Trump.\n\n\n\n", "output": "During President Trump's visit to China, the two nations have signed over $250bn in commercial deals, according to China's commerce minister, with Trump saying he doesn't blame China \"for being able to take advantage of another country for the benefit of its citizens\" with regard to international trade agreements. However, some US businesses are concerned that despite the new deals they will not gain any additional access to Chinese markets. Also, the two leaders\u00a0did not make any significant progress on curbing\u00a0North Korea, and divisions over trade remained, with President Xi seeking more access to US markets."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US and China sign $250bn in commercial deals during Trump visit \n BEIJING \u2014 [Read more on Joe Biden selecting Antony Blinken as Secretary of State.]\n\nAmid the pomp that President Xi Jinping of China is bestowing upon his visiting American counterpart, President Trump, it\u2019s hard not to see two leaders \u2014 and two countries \u2014 heading in very different directions.\n\nMr. Xi emerged from last month\u2019s Communist Party Congress the undisputed master of the Middle Kingdom. \u201cXi Jinping Thought\u201d was enshrined in the party constitution \u2014 an honor previously granted only to Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. Breaking with precedent, Mr. Xi neglected to anoint a successor \u2014 a big hint that he feels emboldened to extend his rule beyond the second five-year term he has just begun. The Economist heralded Mr. Xi with an honorific usually reserved for America\u2019s president: the world\u2019s most powerful man.\n\nMr. Trump stepped off Air Force One in Beijing on Wednesday with historically low job-approval ratings, just hours after suffering a shellacking in off-year elections. His credibility is cratering abroad \u2014 polls have shown a drop in confidence in American leadership.\n\nAs the personal trajectories of Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi diverge, so too does the focus of their leadership. While Mr. Trump is obsessed with building walls, Mr. Xi is busy building bridges.", "output": "During President Trump's visit to China, the two nations have signed over $250bn in commercial deals, according to China's commerce minister, with Trump saying he doesn't blame China \"for being able to take advantage of another country for the benefit of its citizens\" with regard to international trade agreements. However, some US businesses are concerned that despite the new deals they will not gain any additional access to Chinese markets. Also, the two leaders\u00a0did not make any significant progress on curbing\u00a0North Korea, and divisions over trade remained, with President Xi seeking more access to US markets."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Corporate Equality Index finds 18% rise in top-scoring companies \n A record number of the nation\u2019s major companies and law firms are advancing vital policies and practices to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) workers around the world, according to the 2018 Corporate Equality Index (CEI) released today by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, the educational arm of the nation\u2019s largest LGBTQ civil rights organization.\n\nThis year, a record-breaking 609 businesses earned the CEI\u2019s top score of 100, up from 517 last year -- a single-year increase of 18 percent. This record sets a new high water mark for corporate leadership over the 16-year history of the CEI.\n\nThe CEI underscores the historic support for LGBTQ equality among the nation\u2019s top employers as sustained attacks by the Trump-Pence Administration on LGBTQ people continue. Over the last ten months, Donald Trump and Mike Pence have engaged in a systematic dismantling of Obama-era protections for LGBTQ people and undertaken new lines of attacks, including their effort to ban transgender troops and a \u201clicense to discriminate\u201d order that enables the government to discriminate against LGBTQ citizens in myriad ways. LGBTQ workers have also been under seige by the Trump-Pence Administration: just last month, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the administration will not enforce nondiscrimination protections for transgender workers under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.\n\n\u201cAt a time when the rights of LGBTQ people are under attack by the Trump-Pence Administration and state legislatures across the country, hundreds of top American companies are driving progress toward equality in the workplace,\u201d said HRC President Chad Griffin. \u201cThe top-scoring companies on this year\u2019s CEI are not only establishing policies that affirm and include employees here in the United States, they are applying these policies to their operations around the globe and impacting millions of people beyond our shores. In addition, many of these companies have also become vocal advocates for equality in the public square, including the dozens that have signed on to amicus briefs in vital Supreme Court cases and the 106 corporate supporters of the Equality Act. We are proud to have developed so many strong partnerships with corporate allies who see LGBTQ equality as a crucial issue for our country and for their businesses.\u201d\n\nThe LGBTQ community is not explicitly protected by federal non-discrimination law -- but these companies are bridging that gap for their employees and beyond. The global number of employees with a corporate non-discrimination policy protecting against sexual orientation or gender identity discrimination is 14.5 million. 106 top businesses are corporate supporters on the Equality Act -- landmark federal legislation that would provide the same basic nondiscrimination protections to LGBTQ people as other protected groups under federal law.\n\nThe CEI, launched in 2002 to assess LGBTQ-inclusive policies and practices at Fortune 500 companies, also highlights how corporate leaders are increasingly stepping up to play a leading role in opposing anti-equality legislation -- from statehouses to the U.S. Capitol. Through their actions, taken as LGBTQ workers and customers have been facing a record number of anti-LGBTQ bills in state legislatures across the country and attacks from our nation\u2019s highest offices, business leaders are building on their longstanding commitment to expanding workplace equality for LGBTQ people. In Texas, 70 businesses, along with several Texas Chambers of Commerce, signed a letter to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Speaker of the House Joe Straus and other lawmakers, voicing their opposition to Texas\u2019 SB 6, an anti-transgender bill similar to North Carolina\u2019s HB2 law. The bill did not pass.\n\nOver the last several years, CEI-rated companies have dramatically expanded their support for transgender workers. When the CEI launched, just three percent of Fortune 500 companies had non-discrimination protections that included gender identity. Today, that number is 83 percent. And even as the Affordable Care Act has come under attack by lawmakers, trans-inclusive health care coverage has become a business norm. 79 percent of companies participating in this year\u2019s CEI now offer transgender workers at least one health care plan that has transgender-inclusive coverage. HRC's work through the CEI ,often through one-on-one consultation with individual companies, has helped employers move toward full inclusion for their transgender employees.\n\nKey national findings revealed in the 2018 CEI:\n\n609 companies earned a perfect 100 points, up from 517 in the 2017 report;\n\nGender identity is now part of non-discrimination policies at 83 percent of Fortune 500 companies, up from just 3 percent in 2002;\n\n459 major employers have adopted supportive inclusion guidelines for transgender workers who are transitioning;\n\n137 Fortune 500 companies were given unofficial scores based on publicly available information.\n\nThe CEI rates companies and top law firms on detailed criteria falling under five broad categories:\n\nNon-discrimination policies\n\nEmployment benefits\n\nDemonstrated organizational competency and accountability around LGBTQ diversity and inclusion\n\nPublic commitment to LGBTQ equality\n\nResponsible citizenship\n\nThe full report, including a searchable employer database is available online at www.hrc.org/cei.", "output": "A record 609 US businesses earned a top score of 100 in the 2018 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), up 18% from 517 in the previous year. The Index, released by US advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, measures policies and practices to protect LGBTQ workers around the world. The report found that 83% of Fortune 500 companies now include gender identity in non-discrimination policies, up from 3% in 2002,\u00a0and that 459 leading employers now have supportive inclusion guidelines for workers who are transitioning.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Twitter halts verification process after far-right controversy \n \u201cVerification was meant to authenticate identity and voice but it is interpreted as an endorsement or importance,\u201d the company said on Twitter. \u201cWe have created this confusion.\u201d\n\nTwitter originally began verifying accounts to give high-profile individuals \u2014 celebrities, politicians, journalists and others \u2014 a way to distinguish themselves from impersonators. The blue check mark has since become something of a badge of honor, signaling that someone had reached a certain level of importance.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s recognition. It\u2019s a simple as that,\u201d Richard Spencer, a white supremacist who was verified by Twitter in 2016, said in an interview. \u201cThe blue check mark is useful.\u201d\n\nThe white nationalist movement has flourished on Twitter, but Mr. Spencer said the platform had been behaving erratically toward his community lately.\n\n\u201cIt seems to be non-algorithmic now,\u201d he said. \u201cIt seems like there\u2019s one person who doesn\u2019t like this tweet or that account one day, and it seems like a judgment. It\u2019s incoherent.\u201d", "output": "Twitter announced on Thursday that it would be halting its verification system,\u00a0following the granting of a blue tick to\u00a0white supremacist Jason Kessler earlier in the week. Verification is the process whereby the account of a high-profile user is confirmed to be real. The move prompted strong criticism, with some users arguing that the verification indicated endorsement of Kessler. On Thursday, Twitter\u2019s CEO, Jack Dorsey tweeted: \u201cThe system is broken and needs to be reconsidered\u201d. Kessler\u2019s account remains verified.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Over 50% of Chinese shoppers bought UK brands recently \n Over half (55%) of shoppers in China bought items from British brands in a recent three-month period, spending an average of \u00a3104 per month, according to a study commissioned by Royal Mail ahead of China\u2019s Singles\u2019 Day.\n\nIn a statement issued today (8 November), Royal Mail said that there is a real appetite for \u2018Brand Britain\u2019, as the goods are \u201cregarded as being well made and genuine\u201d. 87% like to buy British brands and 76% trust items bought from British retailers not to be counterfeit.\n\nNick Landon, Managing Director of Royal Mail Parcels, commented: \u201cThis study provides a deep dive into the largest e-commerce market in the world. By 2020, China\u2019s e-commerce market is set to be larger than those of the US, Japan, Germany, the UK and France combined.\n\n\u201cUK brands are really clicking with China\u2019s shoppers and have a unique advantage as their goods are perceived to be of premium quality. UK retailers should feel confident that exporting to China can deliver benefits to their business. Breaking into this market has been made much more straightforward thanks to Chinese third-party platforms such as Alibaba\u2019s Tmall.\u201d", "output": "Around 55% of Chinese consumers bought products made by UK brands in a recent three-month period, according to a study by the Royal Mail. It suggested\u00a0that British goods are as\u00a0considered to be\u00a0genuine and well\u00a0made. \"UK brands are really clicking with China\u2019s shoppers. UK retailers should feel confident that exporting to China can deliver benefits to their business,\" said the Royal Mail's Nick Landon, its managing director of parcels. He added\u00a0that breaking into the market has been helped by \"Chinese third-party platforms such as Alibaba\u2019s Tmall\u201d."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "West Health: Tax Cuts and Jobs Act May Put Vulnerable Seniors at Risk \n West Health: Tax Cuts and Jobs Act May Put Vulnerable Seniors at Risk\n\nSAN DIEGO AND WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 November 6, 2017 \u2013 Dedicated to enabling seniors to successfully age in place with access to high-quality, affordable health and support services, West Health has concerns about the proposed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act unveiled last week by House Republicans.\n\n\u201cWhile we believe tax reform is needed, both the short- and long-term implications of this proposed legislation on older adults are far from clear. However, there are provisions that raise concerns,\u201d said Shelley Lyford, president and CEO of West Health. \u201cFor example, the plan calls for the elimination of the medical expense deduction, which could actually mean a tax increase for older Americans with significant disabilities paying the high costs of essential long-term services and supports from their own resources. This would be unfortunate. How can Congress increase the burden for some of the oldest and most frail and vulnerable who often struggle to afford the many expenses associated with long-term care?\u201d\n\n\u201cWe also have concerns that a tax cut of the size proposed in the legislation may eventually impact critical programs including Medicare and Medicaid, which rely on tax revenue for their stability and funding. We must not rush through this legislation for the sake of short-term tax relief. We must have rigorous debate and analysis, and understand as fully as possible what the tax changes we are considering today would mean for tomorrow,\u201d Lyford said.\n\n###\n\nAbout the West Health Institute and West Health\n\nSolely funded by philanthropists Gary and Mary West, West Health includes the nonprofit and nonpartisan Gary and Mary West Health Institute and Gary and Mary West Foundation in San Diego, and the Gary and Mary West Health Policy Center in Washington, D.C. These organizations are working together toward a shared mission dedicated to enabling seniors to successfully age in place with access to high-quality, affordable health and support services that preserve and protect their dignity, quality of life and independence. For more information, visit westhealth.org and follow @westhealth.\n\nPress contact:\n\nTim Ingersoll\n\ntpingersoll@westhealth.org\n\n(858) 412-8727 or (619) 871-3769 (cell)", "output": "Healthcare organization West Health has expressed its concerns about the proposals for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act put forward by House Republicans. Despite the organization\u2019s favorable attitude towards tax reform, West Health has said that the short-term and long-term repercussions of the legislation have not been clarified. The changes that have been detailed, such as the elimination of medical expense deduction, could lead to undesirable outcomes such as tax increases for older Americans with serious disabilities, who would be forced to pay for long-term services and support services with their own funds. West Health has also expressed concern that the proposed tax cuts may affect \u201ccritical\u201d programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, which presently rely on tax revenues for funding. The organization has called for further analysis and debate on the proposed cuts before changes are made for shorter-term tax relief. West Health was established by Gary and Mary West, two philanthropists, and includes the non-profit, nonpartisan Gary and Mary West Health Institute and Gary and Mary West Foundation. The organization aims to provide seniors with opportunities to age in place, as well as have access to affordable, higher-quality health and support services.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK online estate agent eMoov reintroduces no sale, no fee\u00a0plan \n Post navigation\n\neMoov has launched a new \u2018no sale, no fee\u2019 payment option called \u2018Pay Only When Sold\u2019.\n\nIt costs \u00a31,495 as opposed to its upfront fixed fee of \u00a3795.\n\nIt has done so at a time when the battle between online agents is hotting up, and after market leader Purplebricks was told by the Advertising Standards Authority that it must flag up that its fee is payable whether or not a property sells.\n\nThe new eMoov option is the reintroduction of a model offered two years ago as a trial, but CEO and founder Russell Quirk says that this one will be permanent.\n\nHe said: \u201ceMoov were the first online/hybrid agent to offer a \u2018no sale, no fee\u2019 choice back in 2015.\n\n\u201cThat was a pilot which has provided the data, alongside further intelligence from third parties that we\u2019ve gathered, that\u2019s convinced us to launch \u2018Pay Only When Sold\u2019.\n\n\u201cWe will further refine and analyse this approach over the next few weeks to ensure that it meets customer needs in our fast-moving demanding sector.\n\n\u201cThis option will sit alongside our standard fixed fee proposition and is designed to provide customer freedom, transparency and value when deciding which estate agent to instruct.\u201d\n\nHe added: \u201cWe are truly putting our money where our mouth is.\n\n\u201ceMoov is the only UK estate agent that is genuinely the best of the traditional sector and the best of the so-called online space combined.\n\n\u201cFixed fee value, pricing integrity, an end to end offering and transparency are blended with a technology that has been built around the customer journey but that does not replace the property professional within the process.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s key to our proposition above others that the important aspects of the job are done in full around buyer vetting, offer negotiation and sales progression.\n\n\u201cMany of our competitors simply do not carry out these vital functions, but they are, in our view, the most important aspects of an agent\u2019s role and cannot be neglected if one is to be seen as effective and viable.\u201d\n\nIncluded in both the fixed fee and \u2018pay only when sold\u2019 packages are photos, floorplans, portal listings, negotiation and sales progression.\n\nIn both cases, however, it is the vendor who will be doing the viewings \u2013 currently at least.\n\nQuirk said: \u201cWe\u2019ve tested some approaches to this and we\u2019re considering these further.\u201d\n\neMoov competitor HouseSimple also offers a choice between fixed fees upfront and a no sale, no fee option at \u00a3495 and \u00a3995 respectively \u2013 both cheaper than eMoov. Hatched also offers a no sale, no fee option.", "output": "UK online estate agent eMoov has reintroduced a no sale, no fee offer to customers.\u00a0\"Pay Only When Sold\" is\u00a0priced at \u00a31,495 ($1,945), instead of the ordinary upfront fixed fee of \u00a3795, and was first trialled in 2015. Rival agents HouseSimple and Hatched have also begun offering a similar option, but eMoov says its service offers better value with buyer vetting, offer negotiation and sales progression included. Market leader PurpleBricks was recently told by regulators to better inform\u00a0customers its fees applied whether their property sold or not.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Investors eye bitcoin-linked stocks to cut crypto-collapse risk \n As the price of bitcoin surges to more than $7,000, cryptocurrency-focused investment possibilities are emerging. (See more: Bitcoin Price Is Up Again And Could Go Higher.)\n\nWild price fluctuations have made some bitcoin and other cryptocurrency investors a great deal of money, but they also scare away some prospective investors. So what should one do to balance the desire to get involved against the riskiness of actually purchasing tokens or coins?\n\nOne suggestion that Investor Place has made is to buy stock in companies related to the cryptocurrency trend. These are companies which might be capitalizing on some aspect of the boom, but which ideally offer a bit of a buffer in case the entire market collapses.\n\nNvidia is a corporation that has seen its stock price nearly double in 2017, largely thanks to interest from cryptocurrency enthusiasts. This is because Nvidia makes high-performance graphics processors. These computer hardware pieces were originally designed for use with complicated video game rigs, but they have been co-opted by mining operations that generate bitcoin and other digital currencies.\n\nThe result? As bitcoin mining outfits have taken off around the world, Nvidia's revenue has climbed 40% for fiscal 2017. And its graphics cards have sold out around the world because the demand among miners is so high.\n\nAdvanced Micro Devices Inc. launched in 1969. This makes Advanced Micro ancient compared with other tech companies. And yet, AMD has quickly earned a spot in the cryptocurrency hall of fame because of its graphics processors.\n\nAlibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA) decided to use Advanced Micro Devices chips for its cloud operations last year, which set AMD on a path to success. The cryptocurrency mining trend has helped fuel this growth.\n\nBitcoin Investment Trust is a company that aims to bring digital currency investment to small-scale investors. It is notable for being the first publicly-traded bitcoin fund.\n\nIt launched as a private investment fund in 2013. The value of Bitcoin Investment Trust is nearly double the value of the bitcoin it holds, allowing users to buy GBTC in a tax-advantaged account. The coins associated with the trust are held independently and securely.\n\nAs of this writing, Microsoft has not entered the digital currency field directly. Still, the blockchain technology which supports digital currencies has made a major impact on some of the largest tech companies around, including MSFT.\n\nMicrosoft has bolstered open-source and blockchain technology since its early days. (See also: When Will Amazon Accept Bitcoin?)", "output": "Investors keen to capitalise on the success of bitcoin without incurring the risk of the cryptocurrency bubble bursting are urged to take positions in digital currency-linked\u00a0companies. Graphics cards manufacturer Nvidia's revenues have risen 40% this year\u00a0thanks to demand from bitcoin miners, while AMD's graphics processors have experienced similar interest. Smaller-scale investors have flocked to the Bitcoin Investment Trust fund, doubling the amount of the cryptocurrency it holds. In addition, analysts suggest Microsoft, which has been experimenting with the blockchain technology that underpins cryptocurrencies, could be the company to watch in the future.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Visa payment gloves released for Winter Olympics \n Sports fans attending the Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang will be able to keep their hands warm and fend off frostbite while paying for goods and services thanks to a special pair of wooly mittens bearing the Visa brand and an embedded NFC chip.\n\nVisa teamed up with Lotte Card, the financial arm of South Korean-based retail giant, Lotte Department Store, to produce and make the gloves, as well as a commemorative Olympic pin and NFC stickers, available for purchase in Korea.\n\n\n\nWith the average temperature in PyeognChang hovering at 4.8\u00b0C, the payment glove will offer fans a way to pay securely without having to get cold hands. The gloves contain a dual interface chip housed with a contactless antenna capable of completing purchases throughout official Olympic Venues and compatible readers globally. The mittens will come with embedded prepaid amounts valued at KRW30,000 or KRW50,000.\n\n\n\nVisa is also bringing to market four lapel pins featuring custom PyeongChang 2018 designs to offer a payment-enabled collectable for fans and athletes to utilise on-site. Cost per pin is KRW5,000 plus desired embedded prepaid amounts valued at KRW30,000 or KRW50,000.\n\n\n\nThe wearable stickers are available in denominations of KRW30,000, KRW50,000, KRW100,000 and KRW200,000. The collection includes 8 distinct designs including Soohorang - the official PyeongChang 2018 mascot - and the Korean flag.\n\n\n\nAs the exclusive payment partner of the Olympic Games, Visa is managing the entire payment system infrastructure and network throughout all venues within the arena. This includes more than 1,000 contactless point-of-sale terminals capable of accepting mobile and wearable payments.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe are looking forward to transforming the payment experience for everyone who attends the upcoming Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang,\u201d says Iain Jamieson, Korea country manager at Visa. \u201cAt Visa, we have been working tirelessly to ensure all of the Olympic venues are equipped with the very latest payment capabilities to provide the best experience possible for all those on-site.\u201d", "output": "Visa has partnered with a South Korean firm to produce payment gloves for sports fans attending the Winter Olympics in the country next year. The card company is working with Lotte Card, the finance division of retailer Lotte Department Store, to market the gloves ahead of the event in PyeongChang. They will have a duel interface chip embedded with a contactless antenna and be capable of making payments using compatible readers across the world. Visa is also producing a range of payment-enabled lapel pins for the Winter Games, of which the company is the exclusive payment partner."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hybrid AI developed to detect explosives by 'smelling' them \n Story highlights A Nigerian start-up founder has created a device that he says can be used to detect the smell of explosives and cancer cells\n\nThe device, Koniku Kore, is the first to fuse live neurons from mice stem cells into a silicon chip\n\nArusha, Tanzania (CNN) A Nigerian start-up founder has created a device that he says can be used to detect the smell of explosives and even cancer cells.\n\nThe device, called Koniku Kore , is the first to fuse live neurons from mice stem cells into a silicon chip.\n\nOshi Agabi said: \"We merged synthetic neurobiology with traditional silicon technology with the goal of fixing urgent real world problems.\"\n\nSilicon Valley-based Agabi unveiled his invention at TEDGlobal conference in Tanzania on Sunday and says it could one day revolutionize airport security, enabling travelers \"to walk from their car to the aircraft.\"\n\n\"One of the problems that plagues us right now is security,\" he tells CNN.\n\nKoniku Kore, a new device that may be able to detect explosives and cancer cells.\n\nRead More", "output": "A Silicon Valley-based tech start-up has created a hybrid artificial intelligence (AI) device that its founder claims can detect explosives by their smell. Nigerian inventor Oshi Agabi fused live neurons from the stem cells of mice into a silicon chip to create the detection system, which he said could also be used to detect cancerous cells in the same way dogs are able to do. His company, Koniku, was founded in 2015 and has raised $8m of revenue since then. Agabi says its objective is to extend its AI research and \"build a brain\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Texcent plans eight staggered ICOs over four years \n Bitcoin has hit new highs, and the popularity of other altcoins has also been steadily growing. We recently covered how Bitcoin is now ranked 32nd global currency in terms of physical money supply. The trends in the future are also bright for cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, with crypto market cap all set to hit $1 tln by 2018. In this scenario, anything that makes trading cryptocurrencies easier and safer will have a huge impact.\n\nOne of the big developments in this direction has been Paycent, a financial platform powered by Texcent. Paycent provides a wallet that can handle multiple cryptocurrencies and its users can convert these currencies internally. The icing on the cake is that they can also convert between fiat and crypto in real time. Recently Paycent completed their pre-ICO, which successfully hit a hard cap of 22,500 ETH in 10 days.\n\nThey were able to raise these funds from 857 investors in 41 countries. A unique product offering and the right mix of products like debit cards, wallets plus Paycent\u2019s garnering of regulatory licenses in the UAE and Philippines as well as getting in principle approvals from Singapore and Hong Kong put them in a position to contribute immensely to the crypto domain.\n\nConvenience and comfort\n\nPaycent offers convenience and comfort to its user through its unique wallet that allows for sending and receiving funds in real time. Not only can users interact with cryptocurrencies but also with fiat. Conversions are done internally and wallet users can choose to exchange funds within the wallet ecosystem.\n\nThe wallet isn\u2019t just good for exchanging and holding funds but Paycent has taken a rather utilitarian approach with it. As an example, you can pay bills for water, electricity or cable with the wallet. Pay for goods and services within your own country or across borders or even cash out funds with the partner merchants to get cold hard cash in your hands.\n\nUltimately this amounts to a great deal of choice for the end user, who now can not only choose the currency in which they want to keep their money in but also choose what to do with it at any point of time. The Paycent wallet is available for download on both the Google Play and Apple Appstore.\n\nMore than just a wallet\n\nPaycent\u2019s plans go beyond just the multicurrency wallet that they have created. Paycent debit cards will be released in Asia Pacific, CIS, EU and the UK starting April 10, 2018. The cards are classified into Solitaire, Sapphire and Ruby Cards.\n\nEarly contributors will be given Solitaire and Sapphire cards free of charge if they have invested more than 500 ETH and 100 ETH respectively. Ruby cards will be available for a nominal payment. Paycent will also be able to build a profile of user\u2019s credit ratings that would be attached to their wallet. This will allow Paycent users to leverage good credit ratings to get loans.\n\nThe loan amount will vary and limits can be increased as the profile of the user improves. Paycent is evolving a full financial ecosystem that includes mPOS services integrated into the application, which allows users to pay for utilities and telecom needs.\n\nStaggered ICO, a world\u2019s first\n\nPaycent is holding an initial coin offering (ICO), whose first phase has commenced on Nov. 2, 2017. Interestingly, the Paycent ICO is the world\u2019s first staggered ICO, which is being held in eight phases over four years. Each phase will have a hard cap.\n\nThis decision to split the ICO into phases comes as a result of Paycent following the advice of their community and advisors. It will allow contributors the token sale to track the performance of each phase before they contribute. The staggered ICO increases transparency and allows contributors to follow the project through its evolution. The holding of the token sale in phases though gives rise to the obvious question about why shouldn\u2019t contributors just hold out and play the wait and watch the game.\n\nIn order to encourage early participation, they will be giving a bonus for early contributors. The bonus Paycent (PYN) tokens available would decrease with every phase. The first phase of the ICO is already in progress and contributors have a chance to get an 18 percent bonus on purchased tokens till Nov. 30, 2017.\n\nAt the time of writing of this article, the token sale had successfully reached 22 percent of the total cap. The details of the ICO and all the phases can be found in a whitepaper that Paycent has released. Paycent is accepting Ethereum, Bitcoin, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash for the token sale. The exchange rate has been pegged at 1 ETH = 600 PYN. Phase one of the token sale in progress has a hard cap of 30 mln PYN.\n\nEncouraging crypto adoption\n\nThe facet that holds the most appeal for contributors is the fact that Paycent is straddling the sweet space between fiat and crypto. The project allows for mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies by people who have so far been bereft of the advantages of digital currencies. Contributors in the ICO also stand to benefit as they will receive 33 percent of the aggregate revenue that arises from conversions between fiat and cryptocurrencies by the users of the e-wallet.\n\nContributors will also be getting 33 percent of the interest revenue generated by microloans that Paycent extends. As there will be no PYN tokens created after the ICO and unsold tokens will be burned, the contributors can also potentially benefit from the scarcity of the token. The Paycent project acts as a bridge between currencies, people and businesses. If after all these years they can make cryptocurrencies usable by everyone, they would have accomplished a great deal.", "output": "Singapore-based Texcent, which operates financial platform\u00a0Paycent, is holding the opening phase of the world's first staggered initial coin offering (ICO). It began on 2 November and has\u00a0so far\u00a0reached 22% of its market cap of 30 million paycent tokens, offering investors an 18% bonus on tokens until 30 November. Subsequent ICOs\u00a0held over the coming four years (there will be eight in total)\u00a0will offer decreasing bonuses to incentivise early investment. Paycent plans to offer investors 33% of revenue generated from\u00a0currency conversions performed by users of its wallets\u00a0and 33% of interest revenue generated by microloans.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hasbro toys converted into helper robot pets with AI\u00a0boost \n Brown University researchers have announced a partnership with Hasbro to add medication reminders, basic artificial intelligence, and other capabilities to the toymaker\u2019s Joy for All Companion Pets, a collection of animatronic cats and dogs intended to relieve loneliness and improve mental health among older adults.\n\nThe Affordable Robotic Intelligence for Elderly Support (ARIES) project looks to assist older adults who have mild dementia or may otherwise be in need of daily reminders. The three-year project is supported by a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation, and will include researchers from Brown\u2019s Humanity-Centered Robotics Initiative (HCRI), Brown\u2019s Warren Alpert Medical School, and the University of Cincinnati.\n\n\"Hasbro did a great job developing a product that can provide comfort and joy for older people,\" Bertram Malle, professor, co-director of HCRI, and the principal investigator on the grant, said in a statement. \"What we want to do now is leverage our expertise in cognitive and computer science to add capabilities to this robotic pet.\"\n\nLoneliness and isolation is a growing focus for digital health, as depression can amplify mental health conditions and lead to worse outcomes overall. At last month\u2019s Connected Health Conference in Boston, Ted Fischer, vice president of business development at Hasbro, said that since launch his company has heard from users and market groups that the product line has had a positive impact on the wellbeing of both seniors and their caregivers.\n\n\u201cWe went out to senior homes and communities whoever would have us and asked \u2018Is this a valid concept?\u2019\u201d Ted Fischer, vice president of business development at Hasbro, explained during a panel. \u201cThe foundational insight we gained was this need for interactive companionship to combat social isolation and loneliness.\u201d\n\nAfter an initial period of research to identify user needs, the team will develop and embed an AI into the companion robots to assist with tasks.\n\n\"There are some things \u2014 like locating objects and taking medications \u2014 that we know from the literature people find useful,\" he said. \"But in our first year we want to find out what other challenges people face that we don't know about, and then see if we can develop technologies to address them.\u201d\n\nOther challenges of the program will include the design of new sensors for the animatronic animals, and communicative purrs, growls, or gestures that can guide an older adult toward their medication, lost object, or other object of interest. The team hopes to have a completed prototype after three years ready to comfort and assist lonely seniors.\n\n\"To us, this project really represents what we do at HCRI, which is to let societal needs drive technology development,\" Malle said. \"We know that caring for an aging population will be a tremendous challenge in the coming years, and we think technologies like ARIES could play a small but potentially important role in helping people meet that challenge.\"", "output": "Researchers at Brown University will partner with toymaker Hasbro to build robot cats and dogs that use\u00a0artificial intelligence (AI) to provide companionship for the elderly and remind dementia patients to take their medication. The AI technology will be added to Hasbro's Joy for All Companion Pets, toys designed to improve mental health among older adults. \"What we want to do now is leverage our expertise in cognitive and computer science to add capabilities to this robotic pet,\"\u00a0said Bertram Malle, a key researcher on the project from Brown's.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Asian proptech investment dwarfs that in Europe or US: JLL \n China and India emerge as top two markets for proptech start-ups in the region, based on funding value and total number of deals\n\nPROPERTY technology, or proptech, start-ups in Asia Pacific are outpacing their counterparts in Europe and the US, international real estate consultancy JLL said in a research released today.\n\n\n\nSince 2013, 179 proptech start-ups in the region have raised around US$4.8 billion in funding, representing more than 60 percent of proptech investment worldwide, according to the latest research, which analyzed the state of proptech and its growth potential in 13 markets across Asia Pacific.\n\nProptech refers to the application of technology to solve challenges in the real estate sector.\n\n\"Technology and real estate are converging in exciting ways and we're already seeing the potential of data analytics, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, virtual reality and blockchain, to transform how we invest in and occupy real estate in the future,\" said Anthony Couse, chief executive officer of JLL Asia Pacific.\n\n\n\nChina and India emerged as the top two markets for proptech start-ups in the region, based on funding value and total number of deals. Start-ups in China raised the most funding of US$3.02 billion, or over 60 percent of Asia Pacific's total, from 34 deals. India has the highest number of proptech start-ups in the region at 77 deals which raised US$928 million in total.\n\nThe research also forecast funding for proptech in the region of US$4.5 billion a year by 2020, mainly boosted by the region's young population, rapid urbanization and \"mobile first\" mindset.\n\n\n\n\n\n", "output": "European and US proptech companies are lagging behind the Asian market, where 179 start-ups have secured $4.8bn in funding in the past four years, more than 60% of all global funding in the sector. Research by property giant\u00a0JLL found that\u00a0China and India are leading the charge, with 34 deals worth more than $3bn and 77 deals raising $928m, respectively. JLL also predicted annual funding for proptech will reach $4.5bn by 2020."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Panorama Education nets $16m in series B round \n Panorama Education\u2019s first product was a survey tool that let students speak up about their learning environment. Kids could let teachers and administrators know how they really felt about things like safety and school climate.\n\nIt turns out these insights are only a sliver of the data the company wants to surface and share with educators and parents. \u201cThe key things we now want to bring together are academics, social-emotional learning (SEL) and family engagement, all together in one platform,\u201d says Aaron Feuer, Panorama\u2019s co-founder and CEO, in an interview.\n\nDoing that requires capturing more data, expanding his team\u2014and raising additional capital. The Boston-based company\u2019s new big-data play is backed by big funding: $16 million in a Series B round led by Emerson Collective. Other participants include Spark Capital, Owl Ventures, SoftTechVC, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The company has now raised $32 million in venture funding.\n\nFounded in 2012, Panorama pitched its survey tools as a way for parents and educators to better understand the social-emotional needs of their children. The company provides template questions to help schools gauge students\u2019 competencies in areas such as classroom effort, growth mindset, perspective-taking and emotion regulation. It also offers resources created by organizations such as Character Lab and Teaching Tolerance to help teachers better understand and tailor their SEL strategies.\n\nFeuer saw, at the time, that too much of student success hinged on test scores and grades. So these surveys shed light on the emotional and psychological aspects of the learning experience that was\u2014and still is\u2014difficult to quantify.\n\nYet the company doesn\u2019t just want to be a survey tool. And like so many of his fellow technology entrepreneurs, Feuer believes that connecting the dots between data silos can surface deeper insights.\n\nIn a \u201cnew chapter\u201d for Panorama, he says, the company is \u201cmaking a leap from helping you understand one sliver of a child on the social-emotional side, to understanding the whole, complete picture.\u201d\n\nWhat that really means: grades and other traditional measures of student success still matter. The company wants to pair social-emotional data from its surveys with academic, attendance and behavior data. By doing so, educators can better get a fuller picture of what students need and how to best support them. For instance, what\u2019s the best way to help a child who has been absent for 20 percent of the school year, has a C in math, and self-reports low confidence?\n\nTo be able to answer this question, the company needs to sync up with other systems so that information can be transferred seamlessly. \u201cWe don\u2019t want districts to send us data files any more,\u201d quips Feuer.\n\nThis year, his team has been working on a new tool, dubbed \u201cPanorama Student Success,\u201d that captures and reports data from other systems used in schools. That\u2019s no easy feat. It takes the company 10 full-time staff, focused exclusively on this effort, to connect data from education software that don\u2019t speak to one another.\n\nIn many ways Panorama is diving headfirst into tackling the K-12 data interoperability problem, where software systems can\u2019t easily share data with one another. So far the company\u2019s Student Success platform works with 20 educational data tools; over time it hopes to grow that number to 300. If a district wants to connect its platform with a product that Panorama does not currently support, Feuer claims his engineers can sync it up in about eight weeks.\n\nCollecting more data can mean playing with fire, however. Across the country, online software used by schools have been hacked and hit with data breaches; more than 230 public incidents have been tallied since January 2016 by Doug Levin, an education consultant.\n\nThat\u2019s a risk that Feuer says he\u2019s aware of. \u201cPart of our need for the funding is actually to increase our security investment,\u201d he shares. \u201cWe\u2019re actually setting up a team that\u2019s focused on platform security exclusively, as opposed to [it being a part of] the features team.\u201d\n\nMore than 400 school districts currently use Panorama. That includes 20 of the 100 largest ones such as New York City Department of Education, Los Angeles Unified School District, Dallas Independent School District and Long Beach Unified School District. Altogether the company claims to serve more than 5 million students in 7,500 schools across 45 states.\n\nOne of the biggest pushbacks the company has heard from educators are questions about whether there\u2019s enough time and space in a given school day for SEL instruction. Those concerns are shared in a recent survey (PDF) of principals by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, which cited a lack of time, training and funding as the biggest barriers.\n\nFeuer\u2019s stance: \u201cSocial-emotional growth is part of everything you do. It\u2019s not separate. There\u2019s no SEL class; you weave SEL into math [or other] classes.\u201d Recently the company has been growing its client success team to provide on-site training with principals and teachers.\n\nPanorama\u2019s team currently numbers 80 people. Expect that headcount to balloon by another 150 in 2018 as the company looks to fill additional product, engineering and research roles.\n\nPanorama is hardly the only player aspiring to be the go-to platform that leverages data to drive student achievement. From private equity-backed juggernauts like PowerSchool, to smaller players like Schoolzilla, the industry is replete with data-hungry companies looking to turn bytes into actionable insights.", "output": "Boston-Based edtech company Panorama Education has raised $16 million in a series B round led by Emerson Collective, bringing total investment raised to $32 million. Founded in 2012, Panorama's digital survey tools aim to help parents and teachers understand the social-emotional needs of their children\u00a0at school. More than 400 school districts in the US\u00a0currently use Panorama, which itself employs 80 people. Panorama\u2019s co-founder and CEO Aaron Feuer\u00a0spoke of a \u201cnew chapter\u201d for Panorama, as the company moves from \"helping [people] understand one sliver of a child on the social-emotional side, to understanding the whole, complete picture\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Conservative ousted by trans person in US state legislature \n A transgender Virginia politician has been elected to the state legislature, unseating one of the state\u2019s longest serving and most socially conservative lawmakers.\n\nThe Democrat Danica Roem, a former journalist for the Gainesville Times, beat the Republican Bob Marshall, who sponsored a bill this year that would have required transgender people to use bathrooms corresponding with the sex on their birth certificate.\n\nDavid Toscano, the Democratic leader in Virginia\u2019s house of delegates, said: \u201cIt\u2019s historic ... It sends a message to politicians everywhere that the politics of bigotry is over.\u201d\n\nIn a good night for diversity in US politics, Andrea Jenkins clinched the ward eight Minneapolis city council seat, becoming the first transgender person to win such a seat in a major city, and Ravinder Bhalla became the first Sikh mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey, despite an aggressive campaign that turned ugly when he was labelled a terrorist in flyers.\n\nOverall, Democrats did well in key contests on Tuesday night. Ralph Northam decisively beat Ed Gillespie in the Virginia governor race, and in New Jersey, Phil Murphy romped to victory against the state\u2019s incumbent lieutenant governor, Kim Guadagno.\n\nRoem will be the first transgender member of the house of delegates and the second trans woman to be elected to a statehouse. Althea Garrison, a black woman who won as a Republican in Massachusetts in 1993, was the first.\n\nRoem discussed her gender identity during the campaign, but focused more on jobs, schools and northern Virginia\u2019s traffic congestion.\n\nThe Democrat underwent therapy to begin her gender transition when she was 28, and said in an interview earlier this year that politics should be inclusive of all.\n\n\u201cNo matter what you look like, where you come from, how you worship or who you love, if you have good public policy ideas, if you\u2019re qualified for office, you have every right to bring your ideas to the table,\u201d Roem said.\n\nRoem also argued that Marshall, who has served in the House since 1992, spent too much time on social policy. He was the author of a now-void constitutional amendment that defined marriage as between a man and a woman, and sponsored a bill banning gay people from openly serving in the Virginia national guard.\n\nRoem has played in a heavy metal band, Cab Ride Home, since 2006. The quintet, with Roem roaring vocals over high-speed, chugging guitars, has independently released four albums, supported metal bands such as Cannibal Corpse and Amon Amarth, and toured the UK in 2012.\n\nThe band describe their style as \u201cdrunken thrash metal\u201d and say on their Bandcamp page: \u201cCab Ride Home represents one thing: partying ... Our songs are about drinking and our shows are about raging.\u201d\n\n\u201cJust because I sing in a heavy metal band while spinning my head in circles and getting paid to do it, why can\u2019t I run for government?\u201d Roem told Noisey earlier this year. \u201c[Metal is] not just what you listen to in your car on the way home. The lyrics inspire part of your life. The music tells your story.\u201d", "output": "Danica Roem, a former journalist, has become only the second\u00a0transgender person to be elected to a US state legislature. Roem, a\u00a0Democrat,\u00a0unseated Republican Bob Marshall in Virginia.\u00a0Earlier this year, Marshall\u00a0sponsored a bill that would have required transgender people to use public toilets corresponding to their sex as specified on their birth certificates. Elsewhere in the US, Andrea Jenkins, victorious in Minneapolis, became the first transgender person to win a city council seat in a major city, while Ravinder Bhalla became the first Sikh mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Alibaba drones fly over water, delivering fruit to island \n Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba today said that it has used drones to deliver packages over water for the first time.\n\nThree unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) carrying six boxes of passionfruit with a combined weight of around 12 kilograms flew from Putian in China's eastern Fujian Province to nearby Meizhou Island on October 31, the company said in a statement.\n\nFlying into a strong wind, the drones took nine minutes to make the five-kms crossing. Each drone can carry up to seven kilograms, state-run Xinhua news agency reported, citing the statement.\n\nThe drones were jointly developed by Alibaba's delivery arm Cainiao Network, the company's rural shopping platform Rural Taobao, and a domestic technology firm.\n\nZeng Jinmei, an online store owner based on the island, said the drone delivery service will cut the transportation time by half and save logistic costs.\n\nAlibaba has prepared extra drones ahead of the upcoming November 11 \"Singles' Day\" shopping festival.\n\nThe day, which can be compared to Black Friday in the US, became a shopping festival in China after Alibaba launched a major promotional campaign in 2009.\n\nAlibaba plans to use drones to deliver high value-added products such as fresh food and medical supplies over water in the future.\n\nUsing drones to deliver packages has increased in recent years.\n\nAnother Chinese e-commerce platform JD.com started conducting trial deliveries using drones in 2016. Smaller drones are being used in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province and Suqian, Jiangsu Province.", "output": "Drones operated by Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba have delivered packages over water for the first time. The company said three of its unmanned aerial vehicles had successfully made the 5km trip from Putian in Fujian Province to the nearby Meizhou island in nine minutes. They carried six boxes of passionfruit weighing a total of 12kg on the trip, which took place on 31 October. The company said\u00a0it plans to use the drones for similar deliveries of value-added products such as fresh food and medical supplies in future.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ethereum client Parity hacked leaving $150m of coins in limbo \n A security vulnerability in Ethereum\u2019s second most popular client, Parity, has been exploited by this address earlier today.\n\nAll Parity multi-sig wallets have been frozen. That includes the Polkadot ICO and may include many others totaling around 500,000 eth, worth $150 million, according to some number crunching.", "output": "A bug in cryptocurrency\u00a0Ethereum\u2019s second-most popular client, Parity, has\u00a0frozen\u00a0coins\u00a0valued at\u00a0$150m and left\u00a0the initial coin offering of\u00a0blockchain tech firm\u00a0Polkadot in limbo. The glitch was triggered after a security hole was found in the technology that backs\u00a0the cryptocurrency. Ethereum may have to be forked to release the funds, the second time such a measure has been taken\u00a0in as many years after the currency's largest smart contract was hacked in 2016.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ethereum client Parity hacked leaving $150m of coins in limbo \n Severity: Critical\n\nProduct affected: Parity Wallet\n\nAffected implementations: Parity 1.5 or later\n\nSummary: A vulnerability in Parity Wallet's variant of the standard multi-sig contract has been found.\n\nAffected users: Any user with assets in a multi-sig wallet created in Parity Wallet prior to 19/07/17 23:14:56 CEST.\n\nMitigation steps: Immediately move assets contained in the multi-sig wallet to a secure address.\n\nUPDATE (20/07/17, 00:26 CEST): Multi-sig wallets created in Parity Wallet after 19/07/17 23:14:56 CEST are secure. (Fix in the code is https://github.com/paritytech/parity/pull/6103 and the newly registered code is https://etherscan.io/tx/0x5f0846ccef8946d47f85715b7eea8fb69d3a9b9ef2d2b8abcf83983fb8d94f5f).", "output": "A bug in cryptocurrency\u00a0Ethereum\u2019s second-most popular client, Parity, has\u00a0frozen\u00a0coins\u00a0valued at\u00a0$150m and left\u00a0the initial coin offering of\u00a0blockchain tech firm\u00a0Polkadot in limbo. The glitch was triggered after a security hole was found in the technology that backs\u00a0the cryptocurrency. Ethereum may have to be forked to release the funds, the second time such a measure has been taken\u00a0in as many years after the currency's largest smart contract was hacked in 2016.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MRI Software announces fixed asset accounting \n MRI Fixed Assets enables real estate owners and operators to meet audit regulations, achieve compliance, and increase the ROI of their fixed assets\n\nLONDON, Nov. 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- MRI Software, a global leader in real estate software solutions, today announced MRI Fixed Assets, a new fixed asset accounting solution for the real estate sector. MRI Fixed Assets is a a comprehensive solution for real estate owners and operators to better manage accounting, meet audit regulations, improve compliance, and increase the ROI of their assets.\n\n\"Regulations for fixed asset accounting continue to grow more complex, and organisations with real estate interests need solutions that can automate and simplify compliance,\" said Charles McDowell, Vice President of Commercial Solutions and Client Experience at MRI Software. \"MRI Fixed Assets builds upon the proven history of our recent acquisition, Real Asset Management, to easily address these ever-changing requirements. Our solution enables compliance with common accounting standards, including IFRS and UK GAAP. And, because it is linked with our Version X Financials platform, it provides a modern, intuitive user experience that leverages the full power of MRI.\"\n\nMRI Fixed Assets allows organisations to manage, track and record all changes to an asset's status, from its physical location to the history of how it has been used. The application readily enables depreciation forecasts, manages the valuation of assets, and calculates depreciation for any period or range of periods across multiple books and multiple currencies. MRI Fixed Assets can be integrated with barcoding, RFID and other electronic readers to enable asset audits.\n\nAvailable via MRI's Version X platform, MRI Fixed Assets shares integrated data and common work processes with the core financial management platform, giving users the benefits of increased automation within a single, intuitive experience. The solution is flexible and can be used in conjunction with other accounting and property management systems \u2013 including the Horizon and Qube PM platforms from Qube Global Software, also recently acquired by MRI Software, providing the sector with even more freedom to choose the right solutions for their business.\n\nAbout MRI Software\n\nMRI Software is a leading provider of innovative real estate software applications and hosted solutions. MRI's comprehensive and flexible technology platform coupled with an open and connected ecosystem meets the unique needs of real estate businesses\u2014from property-level management and accounting to investment modeling and analytics for the global commercial and residential markets. A pioneer of the real estate software industry, MRI develops lasting client relationships based on nearly five decades of expertise and insight. Through leading solutions and a rich partner ecosystem, MRI liberates real estate companies to elevate their business and gain a competitive edge. For more information, please visit mrisoftware.com.\n\nContact Information:\n\nJeff Miller\n\nLEWIS\n\nmrisoftware@teamlewis.com\n\n541-207-3461\n\nLogo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/599518/MRI_Logo_RGB.jpg", "output": "Ohio-based MRI Software has launched an end-to-end fixed asset accounting solution for the real estate sector. MRI Fixed Assets enables companies to manage, track and record an asset's status, as well as offering depreciation forecasts and calculation across multiple books. In addition, MRI Fixed Assets is compliant with IFRS and UK GAAP and integrates with other systems, including Horizon and Qube PM platforms.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cape Town plans first micro-flat development \n Cape Town is following the trend seen in cities such as Berlin, London, New York, Barcelona and Paris and is set to see the development of the first state-of-the-art micro-living apartments in the city.\n\nTo be constructed at 1 Albert Road in Woodstock, these micro units will range in size from 21 square metre studio\u2019s to 75 square metre two-bedroom units. All the apartments will feature top end SMEG appliances, flat screen smart TV\u2019s and uncapped, unshaped 100megs per second fibre internet \u2013 to name but a few of the features.\n\nRob Stefanutto, Managing Director of Dogon Group Properties, explains that in addition to the 133 living units over seven floors, the 1 On Albert development will also feature communal recreational spaces, shops, a food court, laundromat, heated swimming pool and more: \u201cAll part of a new conceptual design in living known as integrated living solutions, which incorporates all the elements needed for inner city living without having to leave the building.\u201d\n\nThe 1 On Albert building, which is centrally situated in the up-and-coming area of Woodstock on a MyCiti bus route and with an Uber point at its doorstep, has been designed by award winning architects Louis Karol and the interiors of the apartments designed by leading hotel room designer Grant Gillis of Delta Interiors.\n\nFirst-time buyers able to enter the property market\n\n\u201cMicro living units have been popular internationally for several years and we are now following this trend in Cape Town. Millennials are looking for location over square footage. They want to be close to the city center, close enough to walk, bike, or rely on public transportation. However, with cities becoming increasingly over-crowded there is not only a shortage of housing but also the cost of properties has sky rocketed to such a point that young people cannot afford to buy their first property and get onto the property ladder \u2013 forcing them to rent on an ongoing basis,\u201d says Stefanutto.\n\n\u201cRecognising this, 1 On Albert, which is the first offering in a collaborative partnership between Dogon, AJ Developers, Power Construction and Gardner Property Solutions, has been designed to let the consumer buy their first home, with Nedbank having come on board to offer flexible finance that includes reduced interest rates, discounted registration fees and flexible deposit options.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe key to the value chain in real estate is to get on the property ladder as early as possible and 1 On Albert is providing the missing link to the property value chain.\u201d\n\nThe entry levels units at 1 On Albert are priced at R799 000 to R945 000 inclusive of transfer duty \u2013 this equates to a monthly bond instalment that is in line with, if not lower than, rental figures. Those earning between R18 000 and R25 000 per month should qualify for finance through Nedbank.\n\n\u201cAt these asking prices, when buyers eventually sell to move up the property ladder they will in all likelihood not face any Capital Gains Tax if they have been living in the unit as their primary residence. This, coupled with no transfer duty and reduced bond registration costs, means that there is minimal investment leakage for buyers \u2013 further helping them to climb the property ladder,\u201d advises Stefanutto.\n\nStefanutto further explains that another benefit of these micro living units are the low monthly levies and rates \u2013 a cost which, in the case of many other developments, creates a barrier for budget conscious first time buyers.\n\nA significant development for Cape Town\u2019s property industry\n\n\u201cIt is necessary for the property development industry to produce an ever changing and adapted product that fulfils the needs of consumers and I feel that 1 On Albert is one of the most significant developments to hit the property market in the 20 years that I have been in the industry.\u201d\n\n\u201cDogon Group are very excited to be a part of this project which allows us to introduce a whole new segment of customers to the property market through entry level units which are still in keeping with the upmarket, top-end style of properties which Dogon is synonymous with.\u201d\n\n\u201cConstruction will begin on 1 On Albert in February 2018 and units have already started to sell in this exciting development which is seen as the gateway project for the emerging suburb of Woodstock \u2013 a suburb which has seen ongoing revival in recent years and offers direct access to the city centre,\u201d concludes Stefanutto.", "output": "South African real estate company Dogon Group Properties has partnered with AJ Developers, Power Construction and Gardner Property Solutions to construct Cape Town's first micro-living apartments. Aimed at helping first-time buyers get on the property ladder, the units are priced between ZAR799,000 ($56,000) and ZAR945,000, while flexible finance partner Nedbank is offering a swathe of discounts to attract buyers. Construction on the units is set to begin in February 2018.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Deutsche Bank looks to robots to help it shrink workforce \n Deutsche Bank CEO John Cryan, who has been planning a \u201cbig number\u201d of job cuts at the German lender, thinks robots could replace a large chunk of its workforce. Cryan has already cut thousands of jobs as part of a five-year restructuring plan, and he hinted in a Financial Times interview (paywall) that he\u2019s ready to cut much deeper by using technology like artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate banking tasks.\n\nThe bank currently employs 97,000 people, but in a telling comment, Cryan noted that Deutsche Bank\u2019s main rivals have about half that number on their payroll. He told the FT that the ratio of sales and trading roles to back office staff was \u201cout of kilter,\u201d and that the bank\u2019s processes were far too manual and error-prone. He is also looking to close bank branches as part of the restructuring.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe rest of the financial industry is struggling with similar problems, but most executives aren\u2019t nearly as forthright about it as Cryan. Two months ago, he said (paywall) the bank\u2019s accountants who \u201cspend a lot of the time basically being an abacus\u201d will need to find new things to do.\n\nBy next year, around 75% of financial firms will either explore or implement artificial intelligence technologies, according to a survey by Greenwich Associates. The research and consulting firm thinks some 15% of the industry\u2019s jobs are at risk.\n\nDeutsche Bank\u2019s woes go beyond employing too many costly accountants. It used to the be world\u2019s biggest investment bank, but lately its trading revenue has lagged behind its rivals. In the first nine months of this year, the bank\u2019s revenue is down by 10% versus the same period last year.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nCryan is refreshingly honest about the bank\u2019s struggles\u2014maybe too honest. The bank has struggled to win back customers, and talk of replacing thousands of employees with machines is unlikely to motivate the ones whose jobs aren\u2019t on the line.", "output": "Deutsche Bank could replace many of its staff with robots, according to its CEO, John Cryan. Speaking to the Financial Times, Cryan bemoaned the bank's \"manual and error-prone\" systems, argued the number of sales and trading roles compared with back-office positions was \"out of kilter\" and said Deutsche Bank's staffing levels were double those of rival banks. He also said that he was looking at closing branches.\u00a0A survey by Greenwich Associates revealed 75% of financial companies will investigate or implement AI solutions within the next 12 months.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shell buys EV charging company NewMotion \n Associated Press\n\nLONDON (AP) \u2014 Oil company Shell has signed an agreement to buy electric vehicle charging firm NewMotion. It did not disclose terms.\n\nThe company, which will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, operates more than 30,000 private electric charge points for homes and businesses in the Netherlands, Germany, France and the U.K.\n\nShell's Vice President for New Fuels, Matthew Tipper, says Thursday that the deal will give customers \"flexibility to charge their electric vehicles at home, work and on the go.\"\n\nShell has insisted it is planning for the day when demand for oil starts to fade. CEO Ben van Beurden has promised to look at \"very aggressive scenarios\" to remain competitive in a world that gets more of its energy from renewable sources and less from crude oil.\n\nRead more:\n\nThink you pay too much in taxes? 10 most and least tax-friendly states\n\nAs Napa fires rage, wineries face singed grapes, displaced workers and costs of rebuilding", "output": "Shell has advanced its interests in the electric vehicle (EV) charging market by acquiring Dutch EV charging company NewMotion, which has 30,000 charging points across the Netherlands, Germany, France and the UK. Other oil companies including Statoil, Enel and Engie have also sought to invest in EV charging, in an attempt\u00a0to\u00a0secure the future of their retail operations.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shell buys EV charging company NewMotion \n This article first appeared on the BNEF mobile app and the Bloomberg Terminal.\n\nShell recently bought NewMotion, with 30,000 charging points\n\nShell joins other energy majors active in electric mobility\n\nNumber of electric vehicles on the road in Europe\n\nSource: Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Marklines\n\nLarge energy companies are snapping up groups active in EV charging infrastructure. Royal Dutch Shell Plc acquired NewMotion, a Dutch EV charging company with 30,000 charging points. Statoil ASA invested in ChargePoint Inc. in 2016 and in March 2017, Engie SA acquired EVBox which has over 40,000 stations. On October 25, Enel SpA bought eMotorWerks, another provider focused on monetizing the demand flexibility from EVs. The list of large energy companies active in EV charging includes Fortum Oyj, Vattenfall AB, EON SE, RWE AG. Utilities aim to reduce customer churn and expand into new services, while oil companies look to ensure their retail stations stay relevant as the vehicle mix shifts.\n\nClients can access the full report here.\n\nBNEF Shorts are research excerpts available only on the BNEF mobile app and the Bloomberg Terminal, highlighting key findings from our reports. If you would like to learn more about our services, please contact us.", "output": "Shell has advanced its interests in the electric vehicle (EV) charging market by acquiring Dutch EV charging company NewMotion, which has 30,000 charging points across the Netherlands, Germany, France and the UK. Other oil companies including Statoil, Enel and Engie have also sought to invest in EV charging, in an attempt\u00a0to\u00a0secure the future of their retail operations.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Plentific builds property management tool for housing association \n Plentific has launched a new property management platform for Notting Hill Housing, created in collaboration with the housing association.\n\n\n\nThe new self-serve platform is designed to cut down the amount of time spent organising maintenance and repairs, as well as administrative tasks such as invoicing and sending payments.\n\nCommenting on the launch, Notting Hill\u2019s Chief Operating Officer Andy Belton said: \u201cWhen I saw Plentific\u2019s presentation at the HouseMark event, I was very impressed and immediately thought we could use the platform and instant booking system for some areas of our business.\n\n\u201cHaving done further work with Plentific, we can see the potential that it offers to create a streamlined digital approach for maintaining properties that will save a great deal of valuable time and resources.\u201d\n\nPlentific Co-founder Cem Savas added: \u201cHaving the chance to work alongside Notting Hill Housing is a great opportunity to showcase the strength of the Plentific platform. Our goal has always been to make organising repairs and home improvements as easy as possible, a task that property managers at Notting Hill Housing can really appreciate.\n\n\u201cOur platform will make it easier for Notting Hill\u2019s tenants to find the Pros they need to maintain their homes. This will in turn free up valuable time for property managers and help to increase efficiency overall.\u201d\n\nThe partnership began following Plentific\u2019s appearance at \u2018Evolve\u2019, an exclusive startup accelerator programme for the social housing sector organised by HouseMark and L Marks. Plentific has since built a B2B platform which can allow any housing association, estate agent or property management firm to digitally transform its repair and maintenance process.", "output": "London-based Plentific has created a property management platform with and for Notting Hill Housing association in London. The digital system aims to streamline repairs and maintenance schedules and reduce admin for property managers. Plentific has also developed a B2B version of the platform for\u00a0other housing associations, estate agents and property-management firms.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Domino's in Australia will use AI to check pizza quality \n Domino's Pizza Australia is using an artificial intelligence platform within its kitchens for quality control of its pizzas.\n\nThe fast food chain has been working with quick service restauraunt (QSR) technology vendor Dragontail Systems since earlier this year.\n\nThe partnership has borne from what Domino's is calling the Checked by DRU AI Pizza Checker.\n\nThe technology will \"solve the number one customer complaint of incorrect toppings and poorly made pizzas\", Domino's said.\n\nThe system includes a sensor and camera that monitor the preparation and cooking process and proprietary AI technology that checks for the proper distribution of ingredients.\n\nDomino's said the system analyses and reports back in three seconds.\n\nIt has signed a 12-month global exclusivity agreement with Dragontail with the intention of rolling the technology out to the other markets it operates in.\n\nDragontail launched its computer vision quality system last December.\n\nThe firm's core product is the 'Algo' restaurant management system, which manages the food preparation and delivery process from start to finish.\n\nIt has submitted 13 patents for its technology in eight different countries including Australia. Dragontail debuted on the Australian Stock Exchange in December last year.\n\niTnews has a new report on the adoption of artificial intelligence within Australian enterprises. Download the report here.", "output": "In a further reflection of growing cross-industry reliance upon artificial intelligence (AI), Domino's Pizza Australia has partnered with smart-restaurant firm Dragontail Systems to incorporate the technology into its food quality-control processes. A 12-month global exclusivity deal with Dragontail is to form the backbone of what Dominos's is dubbing the \"Checked by DRU AI Pizza Checker\". The company\u00a0claims the system's sensor and camera can carry out and deliver a comprehensive quality report within just three seconds. The intention is to roll the technology out to other markets following the Australian run."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US college to co-develop centre for overseas study in\u00a0Connemara \n The centre, scheduled for completion in the autumn of 2019, is planned in partnership with Aquinas College of Grand Rapids, US. The state-of-art building will include an education hub (with a 50-seat auditorium), a library, group study rooms, video conference facilities and meeting rooms.\n\nThe centre will also include nine renovated thatched cottages to accommodate up to 40 students and staff. It is hoped the new centre, along with new and extended partnerships, will lead to a five-fold increase in student numbers.\n\nConnemara West, a locally managed community development organisation based in Letterfrack, Galway, is leading the project. Its chairman, Kevin Heanue, said the new centre was needed due to the popularity of the Connemara study abroad offerings.\n\n\u201c[The centre] is needed to accommodate the growing number of US colleges who are bringing students and faculty to the village as part of Connemara West\u2019s education-led development strategy,\u201d he said.\n\nIt is understood that Aquinas will foot around half of the \u20ac2.5m bill, through its US interests. It is also hoped that the Irish government may assist the development as part of its rural development plan.\n\n\u201cThe Aquinas College Ireland Study Abroad programme reflects the best of a liberal arts education\u201d\n\n\u201cExtending fibre optic cables from Letterfrack to Tullycross is part of that \u2018ask\u2019 from the State,\u201d Heanue added.\n\nDr Steve Barrows, executive vice president of Aquinas College, said: \u201cour partnership between Aquinas College, Connemara West, and the Tullycross community is a concrete and wonderfully successful example of exposing our students to global opportunities and thereby promoting critical thinking.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Aquinas College Ireland Study Abroad programme reflects the best of a liberal arts education with a global perspective,\u201d he added.\n\nThe community has been promoting education tourism for several decades, with students from the US visiting the region on Ireland\u2019s west coast for over 40 years. At least 1,000 US students have embarked on study visits to the region since 1973.\n\nAccording to the latest available Open Doors data, complied by IIE, Ireland is the seventh most popular destination for mobile US students.\n\nWith a 15.9% year-on-year increase in student numbers (which equates to more than 10,000 US students in Ireland in 2015), Ireland is the only top 10 destination for US students that can boast double-digit growth in inbound students.\n\nAlong with Aquinas, which launched a renewed study abroad program in Tullycross earlier in 2017, six other colleges from across the US now base study abroad programs in the quiet Galway village.\n\nThe partnerships are based around Irish Studies minor courses at the US institutions, but have recently expanded to include Irish cultural studies courses taught by NUI Galway.", "output": "An education centre is being developed to provide US students with a\u00a0place to study\u00a0in the Galway village of Connemara. The \u20ac2.5m ($2.9m) project is due to be completed in autumn 2019 and\u00a0is a joint venture between the Aquinas College of Grand Rapids and Connemara West, a community development organisation.\u00a0The centre will offer\u00a0group study rooms, an auditorium, a library, video conference rooms and\u00a0nine thatched cottages\u00a0for 40 students and staff.\u00a0The centre\u00a0is intended for the growing number of US\u00a0students coming to the village as part of its longstanding\u00a0study abroad provision.\n\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "OPEC daring to think oil could reach 'fair price' of $70 a barrel \n Brent prices hit $60 a barrel 10 days ago and have maintained that level ever since, sparking talk that this could be the new floor under oil prices and that $70 oil in the short term is now not only in producers\u2019 wildest dreams, but a real possibility.\n\nAlthough OPEC never officially admitted it, analysts have largely thought that pushing oil up to $60 was one of the cartel\u2019s goals with the production cut deal.\n\nThree weeks before OPEC\u2019s November 30 summit in Vienna, some oil producers have already started thinking that $70 is the \u2018fair price\u2019 for oil, fairer than $60, Julian Lee, oil strategist for Bloomberg First Word, writes.\n\nBut if the cartel wants to target a higher price (which it won\u2019t officially communicate to the market), it will likely trigger a new wave of U.S. shale production next year. More importantly, that higher oil price target may meet the resistance of Russia\u2014the leader of the non-OPEC group of producers\u2019 pact\u2014which is now generally viewed as steering the OPEC/non-OPEC oil production policy, together with OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia,\n\nBoth the Saudis and Russians have signaled that they\u2019re willing to extend the pact beyond March 2018, lending further support to oil prices over the past few weeks.\n\nThe higher the price of oil, the stronger the temptation for OPEC members to cash in on short-term gains and cheat (even more than they do now). Currently, Saudi Arabia is over-complying with its share of the production cuts, covering for rogue members\u2014most prominently, OPEC\u2019s second-biggest producer, Iraq.\n\nRelated: Russia Aims To Dominate Middle East Energy\n\nSaudi Arabia needs oil prices at $70 per barrel in 2018 for a budget breakeven, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated last week, while Russia claims that it \u201ccan live forever\u201d at $40 oil.\n\nAlthough the November 30 meeting will discuss the production cut deal, OPEC and the Russia-led non-OPEC producers may not make or communicate a firm decision on extending the pact at that summit.\n\nLast week, Russia\u2019s Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that the decision would likely come at a later stage\u2014a delay that the market would surely be displeased with.\n\n\u201cIf we see that the market is not balancing then we\u2019ll do it. I can give you a more specific answer if you can find me any person now who can say what the market will look like in five months. If you find a person like this, I will shake his hand,\u201d Reuters quoted Novak as saying through a translator.\n\nMaybe no one can correctly predict how the oil market will look like in March 2018, but the recent oil price rally made analysts and investors much more bullish than they were just a couple of months ago.\n\n\u201cWe think both fundamental data and an improvement in trader sentiment act as strong support for a continued test of the upside for oil prices,\u201d Paul Horsnell at Standard Chartered told the Financial Times.\n\nMoney managers had a near-record net long position in crude oil and refined products contracts as of end-October, with the net long position soaring nearly 720 million barrels since end-June to 1.022 billion barrels, just shy of the February record of 1.025 billion barrels, Reuters\u2019 John Kemp writes. The amassed long positions mean that hedge funds and other money managers expect oil prices to continue rising, but the amount of the net longs also raises the risk of a sharp correction if and when investors decide to take profits, Kemp says.\n\nRelated: Can Oil Prices Hit $65 This Week?\n\nPart of the oil price movements in the next few weeks hinges on the OPEC-Russia production deal rhetoric leading up to the November 30 meeting. While it looks like Saudi Arabia continues to convey the \u201cwhatever it takes\u201d message, its key partner in the pact\u2014Russia\u2014appears to be stalling, unwilling to give U.S. shale very solid reasons to boost production next year.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\n\u201cRussia appears to be trying to slow down the extension talk until there is more clarity on the outlook for balances and what they mean for prices in 2018,\u201d consultancy Energy Aspects told the FT.\n\nSome OPEC producers may be vying for a \u2018fair price\u2019 of above $60, but $70 oil could be a deal-breaker for Russia, a further incentive to cheat for OPEC, and an additional impetus for U.S. shale to defy skeptics.\n\nBy Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com\n\nMore Top Reads From Oilprice.com:", "output": "The global \"fair price\" for oil could reach $70 a barrel, according to OPEC officials. The Venezuelan oil minister suggested last year that $70 a barrel was a fair price, whilst Iraq has suggested a level of $70-$80. There are concerns that such aspirations could trigger a similar boom and crash to that seen between 2011 and 2014, blamed on attempts to keep prices above $100 a barrel. Rising prices could also endanger OPEC's output deal with Russia.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "France delays nuclear power targets to focus on CO2 reduction \n France to review nuclear reduction target\n\n07 November 2017\n\nShare\n\nThe French government will come up with a more \"realistic\" target to reduce the share of nuclear energy in the country's electricity generation, Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot told a news conference in Paris today.\n\nThe previous government of Francois Hollande in 2015 established an energy transition law which set a target of reducing the share of nuclear in the power mix to 50% by 2025 from the current 75%.\n\nHulot told reporters today that this is not realistic, but he did not set a new deadline.\n\n\"We will reduce the share of nuclear in the mix as soon as possible,\" he said, adding that doing so in a hurry would increase France's CO2 emissions and could endanger the security of power supply and put jobs at risk, according to Reuters.\n\nHulot also said that the Fessenheim nuclear plant, France's oldest, would be closed during President Emmanuel Macron's five-year term.\n\nElected in May, Macron had promised to respect Hollande's target and Hulot had said in July France might have to close as many as 17 of its 58 reactors by 2025 to achieve it.\n\nState-owned utility EDF, which operates France's nuclear power plants, has argued instead to extend the operation of its nuclear fleet from 40 to at least 50 years.\n\nResearched and written\n\nby World Nuclear News\n\nRelated topics", "output": "The French government has postponed a target to reduce the share of nuclear energy in the country\u2019s power production to 50% by 2025 after grid operator RTE said it risked supply shortages after 2020 and could miss a goal to curb carbon emissions. France currently relies on nuclear power for 75% of its power output. Its nuclear reduction target will likely be pushed back to between 2030 and 2035."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ParallelDots develops AI to identify brain haemorrhaging \n Visit expo > Gold Supplier FDR Xair Portable X-Ray System New Vista Series 3-Bank X-Ray Film Illuminator New Sectra UniView Web Viewer New Silver Supplier DAPcheck Plus Field Calibration Instrument\n\nParallelDots Inc. (Lewes, Delaware, USA), an artificial intelligence (AI) company that develops algorithms, has trained a deep neural network to act as a second pair of eyes for radiologists by automatically detecting brain hemorrhage from computed tomography (CT) scans.ParallelDots Inc. focuses on building a proprietary AI stack, which can solve real-world problems end to end, including proprietary datasets, proprietary algorithms and deployment mechanisms. The company\u2019s Data Tagging engine churns out annotated data from various domains (social media, healthcare, and retail), while its Data Science team develops novel algorithms, which can use this data and deliver AI agents that can be deployed in the real world.The company\u2019s model, named Recurrent Attention DenseNet (RADnet), emulates the procedure followed by radiologists for diagnosis of brain hemorrhage by analyzing 3D CT scans and sifts through 2D cross-sectional slices while paying close attention to potential hemorrhagic regions. It utilizes 3D context from neighboring slices to improve predictions at each slice and subsequently, aggregates the slice-level predictions to provide diagnosis at the CT level.When benchmarked against independent analysis performed by three senior radiologists for 77 brain CTs, RADnet demonstrated 81.82% hemorrhage prediction accuracy at the CT level that was comparable to the radiologists. What was particularly remarkable was that RADnet achieved higher recall than two of the three radiologists.ParallelDots Inc. has acknowledged that very high sensitivity is required for deploying automated emergency diagnostic tools and that there are several other equally severe brain conditions which RADnet is unaware of. However, the company envisions a future where similar emergency diagnostic tools will be used to detect different anomalies from brain CT scans and believes that RADnet also demonstrates potential to be deployed as an emergency diagnosis tool.", "output": "Delaware-based artificial intelligence (AI) company ParallelDots has developed a deep neural network called Recurrent Attention DenseNet (RADnet), which outperformed three radiologists in the detection of brain haemorrhages in computed tomography (CT) scans. The RADnet system achieved a success rate of almost 82% by analysing 3D CT scans and cross-referencing them against 2D cross-sectional slices. ParallelDots said RADnet could be used to identify other brain anomalies from CT scans, and had potential applications as an emergency diagnosis tool.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple tests P2P cash transfers via iMessage texting platform \n Person-to-person cash transfers via iMessage using Apple Pay kicking off in the US first.\n\nApple has every intention of being at the helm of the fintech revolution and has just soft launched the beta for Apple Pay Cash, which enables users to send cash to each other via iMessage.\n\nThe programme is launching on iOS 11.2 beta 2. Users can opt in by joining the Apple Beta Software Program.\n\nWith the new service, users can pay each other within iMessage or by telling Siri to transfer cash to another user.\n\nThe money can then be used within apps, in stores where Apple Pay is accepted on the web.\n\nCash is king in the P2P economy\n\nPeer-to-peer cash transfer is one of the fastest evolving areas in the fintech space.\n\nIrish-based company Circle already lets users transfer cash in Europe using either the Circle app or a plugin for iMessage. It recently launched a new group payments feature and free transfers to US accounts.\n\nAnother Irish-based company called Plynk allows people to send money via message to a single contact or in-group chats, instantly and with no fees.\n\nUsing the new Apple Pay Cash platform, when users opt in and accept the cash, they are issued a new virtual Apple Pay Cash card that will sit in their Wallet on the iPhone. The card can only be used to send money or pay for goods or services via Apple Pay.\n\nBecause it sits within Apple Pay, Apple can fund payments immediately to the card so the money can be spent right away.\n\nIt could be a handy way for parents to send their kids at college cash to buy iBooks or food, or a neat way to pay rent or support your local sports club.\n\nTo use the platform, you need an iPhone that runs iOS 11.2 and two-factor authentication for your Apple ID as well as an eligible credit or debit card in Wallet.\n\nThe new Apple iPhone X. Image: hurricanehank/Shutterstock", "output": "Apple is testing the use of its iMessage texting\u00a0platform\u00a0to make P2P payments. Apple Pay Cash\u00a0is available on\u00a0devices\u00a0running iOS\u00a011.2. It also enables\u00a0users to\u00a0ask virtual assistant Siri to send transfers and any payments received can be used within the apps of stores that accept Apple Pay. Irish company Circle has already enabled P2P cash transfers using iMessage, while Dublin fintech firm Plynk created a rival service earlier this year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Twitter rolls out 280 character limit to all users \n Back in September, Twitter began testing an increase to its tweet length, doubling the character limit from 140 characters to 280 characters. Now, the microblogging site has decided to roll out the 280-character limit to all users.\n\nAccording to Twitter, its short trial period was a success with the number of tweets hitting the character limit falling from nine per cent to just one per cent for English-speaking users.\n\n\u201cSince we saw Tweets hit the character limit less often, we believe people spent less time editing their Tweets in the composer,\u201d said Aliza Rosen, product manager at Twitter, in a blog post. \u201cThis shows that more space makes it easier for people to fit thoughts in a Tweet, so they could say what they want to say, and send Tweets faster than before.\u201d\n\nDespite having a 280-character limit, those in the test group only sent out five per cent of their tweets over 140 characters and only two per cent over 190 characters \u2013 appeasing user concerns about the character length ruining user experience. Twitter notes that this may notes that the \u201cnovelty effect\u201d will mean users initially get excited with their use of tweet space, but normal behaviour should be resumed once this wears off.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019ll still see about the same amount of Tweets in your timeline,\u201d said Rozen. \u201cFor reference, in the timeline, Tweets with an image or poll usually take up more space than a 190-character Tweet.\u201d\n\nAs with the trial, those on the Japanese, Korean and Chinese versions of the platform will not have the ability to tweet in 280 characters, as their languages are already able to condense thoughts into less space due to their writing systems.\n\nJoin us at the 2017 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony, taking place in London on Thursday 16 November, to mix with the industry's best and brightest, and raise a glass to the year's best campaigns and solutions. To find out more, and to book your place, click here.", "output": "Twitter has doubled the character limit for tweets from 140 to 280 for all English-language users. Trials in September saw users hitting the character limit fall from 9% to 1%, though only 2% of the test group sent out tweets using more than 190 characters. Aliza Rosen, product manager at Twitter, said the change would mean people spent less time on editing and added: \"more space makes it easier for people to fit thoughts in a tweet\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Owner of Capital and Heart to launch weekly Twitter show \n Global, the U.K. media company known for its radio brands like Capital and Heart, is launching a weekly show exclusively for Twitter on Nov. 16. called \u201cPopBuzz Presents,\u201d opening up new revenue streams for the media company.\n\nThe 30-minute show will stream each Thursday from Twitter\u2019s London headquarters at 5 p.m. local time, hosted by presenters Lilah Parsons and Will Hardy. The show will consist of three seven-minute segments, featuring discussions around trending stories, guest interviews and games.\n\nWhile the goal is for people to tune in to the entire show, Global remains realistic that it\u2019s creating a show for people who don\u2019t watch much TV. PopBuzz, Global\u2019s pop culture and music-streaming site \u2014 and first non-radio brand \u2014 launched three years ago, targeting the 18- to 24-year-old age bracket.\n\n\u201cIn the lifetime of PopBuzz, we\u2019ve learned that Twitter is the first place audiences go to get close to the things they really care about, whether that\u2019s celebrities, musicians or politicians,\u201d said Charles Ubaghs, head of social at Global. \u201cTwitter has the scope and scale representative of the whole web. People can make connections with their passion points quickly.\u201d\n\nSocial platforms are vying for exclusive content, and Twitter is proving it\u2019s still in the running, despite being unable to compete with Facebook and Google on reach. During August, Twitter had 22 million monthly unique users; in the 18- to 24-year-old age bracket, Twitter had more users than Instagram and Snapchat, according to Global, which cited comScore figures.\n\nBeyond reach, Twitter\u2019s ability to monetize \u201cPopBuzz Presents\u201d was appealing, said James Hickman, Global\u2019s director of digital. As part of a revenue-share deal, Twitter and Global are selling a mix of commercial packages that include pre-roll, mid-roll and sponsorship, a model more closely resembling TV. Global hasn\u2019t announced which brands it\u2019s working with.\n\n\u201cThe options for monetization for publishers are clearer and more mature on Twitter than other platforms, partly because they have been doing it for longer,\u201d said Gareth Capon, CEO at video tech platform Grabyo. Twitter has also been quicker than Amazon and Facebook to license sports content.\n\nTwitter\u2019s differentiator is the live element, and it has pushed sponsorships around live video, according to Katie Manor, head of paid social worldwide at MediaCom. According to Manor, sponsorships can range from \u00a325,000 ($33,000) for packages with less reach to north of \u00a3500,000 ($658,000), depending on the market and scale of exposure.\n\n\u201cPopBuzz Presents\u201d will run for at least six months. Eleven people, including the hosts, from Global\u2019s central video team of 25 people and from PopBuzz\u2019s team will work on the show.\n\n\u201c\u2019PopBuzz Presents\u2019 is still something specific for a platform, using the immediate reaction from the audience in a public way,\u201d Ubaghs said. \u201cIt\u2019s TV for your thumbs.\u201d\n\nCapon said as Twitter becomes a more attractive alternative to other social platforms and brings more choice to the market, publishers will have more room for negotiation with platforms.\n\nIn the U.K., Twitter has deals with BT Sport to stream \u201cScore,\u201d a weekly football show that simultaneously runs on TV. Sky Sports also streams exclusive Twitter content on transfer-window deadlines. In the U.S., companies like Bloomberg, BuzzFeed, Time Inc. and Vox Media are among those producing exclusive content for the platform and seeing more promise there than with other social platforms.\n\n\u201cHistorically, people have maybe ignored Twitter in favor of Instagram or Snapchat,\u201d Ubaghs said. \u201cIn the last year, there\u2019s a realization there\u2019s still a big audience there; there won\u2019t be the scale, but it has a utility and a unique way of selling live video.\u201d\n\nImage courtesy of Global", "output": "UK media company Global, the owner of Capital and Heart radio brands, is set to launch a new weekly show on Twitter. PopBuzz Presents, a series of 30-minute broadcasts, is aimed at people aged between 18 and 24, while the revenue-sharing\u00a0deal includes a mix of advertising packages similar to television. Analysts said that although Twitter can't compete with Facebook or Google in terms of reach, it was among the first to broadcast live content, offering tempting monetisation options to a range of advertisers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "VW fails to fix one third of UK cars with cheating devices \n A third of cars manufactured by Volkswagen with devices to cheat emissions tests remain unfixed, two years after the scandal erupted.\n\nIn what was coined the \u201cdiesel dupe\u201d, VW equipped their vehicles with defeat devices designed to realise when they were being tested so they could appear to be much less polluting than in reality.\n\nThe company subsequently pledged to recall all of its cars and remove the devices.\n\nHowever, the monthly rate of fixes to Volkswagen manufactured cars has fallen to 2% of those affected from a previous high of 10% in February, despite the task not having been completed, according to the Department of Transport.\n\nThe emissions scandal affected 1,207,152 vehicles in the UK and while two-thirds of the cars have been fixed, the rate of fixes to the remainder has stalled.\n\nAn analysis showed the fix-rate of Skoda\u2019s spiked between July and August to around double that of other Volkswagen brands, an anomaly queried by Mary Creagh, Labour MP for Wakefield and chair of the environmental audit committee.\n\nThe fix-rates for other brands has faltered.\n\nCreagh has written to the Department for Transport to express the committee\u2019s concerns about the lack of progress in applying fixes to cars equipped with the defeat devices.\n\n\u201cIt is over two years since the VW emissions scandal was discovered, a third of vehicles have yet to be fixed and rates have slowed considerably,\u201d said Creagh.\n\n\u201cIt is essential that the vehicles on Britain\u2019s roads adhere to emissions regulations, particularly as the country is faced with dangerous levels of pollution. The department must take responsibility for ensuring that these fixes are completed as soon as possible\u201d.\n\nA Department for Transport spokeswoman said: \u201cThe UK government continues to take the unacceptable actions of Volkswagen extremely seriously and is working hard on behalf of UK consumers.\u201d\n\n\u201cOfficials in the Department for Transport hold monthly meetings with representatives from Volkswagen for information on the number of updates applied across all of the affected brands and to press them on remaining issues.\u201d\n\nVolkswagen UK managing director Paul Willis told the Commons transport select committee in February that the firm hoped to have completed the fixing programme by autumn of this year.\n\nGreenpeace clean air campaigner Mel Evans said: \u201cTime and again VW has dodged its responsibility.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s paid no fines, or faced criminal charges in the UK as it has in the US.\n\n\u201cNow it won\u2019t even meet its own timeline for a product recall of its dodgy diesels, which is currently the only redress on offer to the public here.\u201d\n\nThe report comes the day after it was announced the UK government is being sued for a third time over the widespread illegal levels of air pollution, which cause 40,000 early deaths every year.\n\nNitrogen dioxide pollution, largely produced by diesel vehicles, has been unlawfully high in most of urban Britain since 2010.\n\nThe government\u2019s latest plan was derided as \u201cwoefully inadequate\u201d by city leaders and \u201cinexcusable\u201d by doctors.\n\nVolkswagen manufacture cars for the Audi, Skoda, SEAT and VW brands, all of which were affected by the scandal that affected 11m cars worldwide.\n\nThe hidden damage from VW vehicles fitted with the devices amounted to between 250,000 to 1m extra tonnes every year, according to one analysis.\n\nThis could equate to all of the UK\u2019s NOx emissions from all power stations, vehicles, industry and agriculture.\n\nThe car\u2019s were programmed to adjust air-fuel ratios and exhaust flows, and in some cases, to inject a solution which makes NOx harmless when they were being tested.\n\nHowever, when running normally, at a far greater performance level, the cars would never operate in the same way. The NOx they produced, for instance, would indeed be harmful.\n\nFollowing the initial revelations VW boss Michael Horn said the company had \u201ctotally screwed up\u201d, while other bosses pledged to win back trust by \u201cleaving no stone unturned\u201d.", "output": "Volkswagen (VW) has not fixed a third of the 1,207,152 cars in the UK fitted with emissions-cheating devices, two years after the scandal first emerged. VW pledged to remove all such devices, which caused vehicles to appear less polluting in tests than they were in reality. The monthly rate of fixes has now fallen to 2% of vehicles affected, from 10% in February, according to the UK Department of Transport.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ghana and Ivory Coast draw up plans to stop cocoa deforestation \n The world\u2019s chocolate industry is driving deforestation on a devastating scale in West Africa, the Guardian can reveal.\n\nCocoa traders who sell to Mars, Nestl\u00e9, Mondelez and other big brands buy beans grown illegally inside protected areas in the Ivory Coast, where rainforest cover has been reduced by more than 80% since 1960.\n\nIllegal product is mixed in with \u201cclean\u201d beans in the supply chain, meaning that Mars bars, Ferrero Rocher chocolates and Milka bars could all be tainted with \u201cdirty\u201d cocoa. As much as 40% of the world\u2019s cocoa comes from Ivory Coast.\n\nQ&A How does 'dirty' cocoa end up in our chocolate? Show The chocolate industry works mainly as follows: small-scale farmers grow cocoa on plantations, many of which are illegal as they are in national parks or protected forests. They sell it to middlemen with motorbikes known as \u2018pisteurs\u2019, or direct to buyers in local towns. These supply traders, which are often multimillion-dollar companies, which in turn sell to big chocolatiers. There are so many transactions in the supply chains that big brands sourcing from implicated traders cannot be sure their product is not contaminated. Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.\n\nThe Guardian travelled across Ivory Coast and documented rainforests cleared for cocoa plantation; villages and farmers occupying supposedly protected national parks; enforcement officials taking kickbacks for turning a blind eye to infractions and trading middlemen who supply the big brands indifferent to the provenance of beans.\n\nWhen approached for comment, Mars, Mondelez and Nestl\u00e9, and traders Cargill and Barry Callebaut did not deny the specific allegation that illegal deforestation cocoa had entered their supply chains. All said they were working hard to eradicate the commodity from their products.\n\n00:43 Ivory Coast deforestation\n\nUp to 70% of the world\u2019s cocoa is produced by 2 million farmers in a belt that stretches from Sierra Leone to Cameroon, but Ivory Coast and Ghana are the giants, the world\u2019s first and second biggest producers. They are also the biggest victims of deforestation. Ivory Coast is losing its forests at a faster rate than any other African country \u2013 less than 4% of the country is covered in rainforest. Once, one quarter was.\n\nThe ballooning global demand for chocolate means that if nothing is done, by 2030 there will be no forest left, according to the environmental group Mighty Earth which today publishes an investigation into deforestation caused by chocolate. The final, insulting irony is that locals are so poor they could never afford to eat a Mars bar.\n\nEvidence of deforestation is not hard to find. Inside the Mount Tia protected forest, Salam Sawadougou, a Burkinab\u00e9 farmer, is hacking a yellow cocoa pod off one of his plants in a four hectare (10 acre) plot. Here, the grey stumps of enormous ancient trees are all that is left of the forest.\n\n\u201cI burned it little by little,\u201d Sawadougou says, explaining that his cocoa needed full sun to grow. Farmers generally believe that recently deforested soil produces the biggest beans, so they remove the trees one by one, planting more cocoa as they go.\n\nIn recent years, the annual rate of deforestation inside parks has doubled, and in both Ivory Coast and Ghana, it is going twice as fast as deforestation in unprotected areas.\n\n\n\nCocoa is a monster that will eventually eat itself, scientists say. Farmers will miss the trees they cut and burned down for the very reason that their shade would have protected their cocoa plants from increasingly parched, dry seasons, driven by cutting down trees.\n\nWhen approached for comment, most big companies acknowledged the problem of deforestation for cocoa production and said they were committed to tackling the problem.\n\n\n\nBarry Parkin, chief sustainability officer at Mars, said: \u201cWe are committed to identifying the best ways to end deforestation and forest degradation in the global cocoa supply chain.\n\n\u201cWe know that sustainable cocoa is too big a challenge for any one company to address. That is why we are partnering with others in the industry to try and drive change at a global scale.\u201d\n\nNestl\u00e9 said it was \u201copposed to the deforestation of rainforests and peatlands around the world. Nestl\u00e9 regards it as one of the most serious environmental challenges facing the world.\u201d\n\nIt noted that in 2010 it had pledged that none of its products should be associated with deforestation, and added that it supported international moves to secure zero net-deforestation by 2020.\n\nMondelez\u2019s Cathy Pieters said that deforestation in supply chains was something they were actively trying to root out.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe all recognise the urgency, and we all acknowledge the issue,\u201d she said. \u201cAs an individual company we have probably worked the longest on this. We are exactly in the middle of that process, because of the urgency and the need for a solution.\u201d\n\nHershey said it was committed to sourcing 100% certified, sustainably sourced cocoa by 2020. \u201cWe take concerns about deforestation and forest degradation very seriously,\u201d said spokesman Jeff Beckman.\n\nFerrero did not respond to request for comment.\n\nCocoa dries outside the chief\u2019s house in the illegal village of Zanbarmakro in the Marahoue\u0301 national park, Ivory Coast. Photograph: Ruth Maclean/The Guardian\n\nThe cocoa traders Cargill said: \u201cWe have made a pledge to end deforestation \u2013 and we are committed to delivering.\u201d The company added that it was aiming to ensure that more than 70% of its Ivory Coast product would be third-party verified or certified by the end of next year.\n\nBarry Callebaut, another trading firm, pointed out its commitment to be 100% deforestation free by 2025.\n\nIt added: \u201cFor any global company/industry commitment to succeed, the boundaries of the national parks and for\u00eat class\u00e9e [classified forests] need to be redrawn or reconfirmed for an area equivalent to its original designation. The redrawn or reconfirmed boundaries need to be legally enforced by the governments.\u201d\n\nMany cocoa industry players \u2013 although not all \u2013 have pledged to end deforestation and forest degradation in a collective statement published in June. But this is a vague promise to try harder, while the real test will be the contents of the framework for action presented at the UN\u2019s Convention on Climate Change in November.\n\n\n\nA captive monkey, one of the last remaining in Mount Tia protected forest, Ivory Coast. Photograph: Ruth Maclean/The Guardian\n\nSome of the farmers growing cocoa inside protected areas have been living there for decades, and how to resettle them and find them a new means of making a living is one of the major problems that the government and the industry need to work out in November.\n\nNone of the companies said they would support a moratorium on deforestation cocoa, despite the fact that one on soy worked well to stop deforestation in the Amazon. Neither did they say they would commit to 100% shade-grown cocoa.\n\n\n\nGovernment commitment to protecting national forests is also key. \u201cCompanies alone can\u2019t solve this, and the government alone can\u2019t solve this,\u201d says Richard Scobey of the World Cocoa Foundation.\n\nThe situation inside the country\u2019s 231 classified forests is even worse than in the parks, and this has partly to do with the different authorities that run them.\n\n\n\nThe government-funded agency protecting forests is called Sodefor; the state parks authority is the OIPR (Office Ivorien des Parcs et R\u00e9serves). Neither is doing its job. In the Marahou\u00e9 park, the Guardian found repeated examples of kickbacks and racketeering by OIPR officials. In the Mount Tia classified forest, the top Sodefor official, Karma Bakary, was asked how long it would take for the forest to grow back to its former size. \u201cOne to two years,\u201d he said. Under further questioning he upped his estimate to 10 years.\n\nIt is also the responsibility of the Conseil Caf\u00e9 Cacao, the state regulator for coffee and cocoa, to oversee the industry, checking the quality of the cocoa, ensuring the right prices are being paid, and seeing that none of it is grown using child labour or in protected areas.\n\n\n\nResponding to the Guardian, the Conseil Caf\u00e9 Cacao said that it was committed to \u201cgood governance and ethics\u201d in its activities and pointed to a programme it started, Cocoa, Friend of the Forest. There is little evidence of the programme on the ground.\n\n\n\nPrivately, activists have been warned not to touch cocoa, the backbone of the country\u2019s economy whose vertebrae reach the highest levels of society. Those who do can get in to serious trouble. In 2004 Guy-Andr\u00e9 Kieffer, a French-Canadian journalist working on a story about cocoa and corruption, disappeared. He is believed to have been killed.\n\nEvidence of deforestation in Mount Tia protected forest, Ivory Coast. Photograph: Ruth Maclean/The Guardian\n\n\n\n\n\nThe destruction of Mount Tia started in 2004, during the first Ivorian civil war, but its much larger neighbour, Mount Sassandra forest, remained almost untouched until 2011, long after that conflict ended.\n\nIn Mount Sassandra, farmers run away at the sight of visitors, aware that their business is illegal. But these farmers are not the ones earning the vast profits to be made from chocolate: many live in poverty, often exploited and underpaid for their crop. Most cannot even afford that basic luxury in the west: a bar of chocolate.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s white people who eat chocolate, not us,\u201d one says.", "output": "The governments of Ghana and the Ivory Coast are drawing up proposals to prevent deforestation, following an investigation by The Guardian into the environmental impact of the cocoa industry on these countries. The newspaper disclosed in September that cocoa linked to deforestation had entered the supply chains of Barry Callebaut and Cargill, which sell to Cadbury, Mars and Nestle, while environmental group Mighty Earth found illegally grown cocoa was also being used by Godiva and Hershey\u2019s. It remains unclear whether either\u00a0government has the power to make traders pay for their reforestation plans.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ghana and Ivory Coast draw up plans to stop cocoa deforestation \n The governments of Ghana and the Ivory Coast are formulating plans to immediately put a stop to all new deforestation after a Guardian investigation found that the cocoa industry was destroying their rainforests.\n\n\n\nThe west African neighbours have been drafting new measures to rescue their remaining forests and replant degraded ones.\n\nIn an investigation published in September, the Guardian found that deforestation-linked cocoa had entered the supply chains of some of the biggest players in the chocolate industry. At the same time, the environmental group Mighty Earth published Chocolate\u2019s Dark Secret, a report that found that \u201ca large amount of the cocoa used in chocolate produced by Mars, Nestle, Hershey\u2019s, Godiva, and other major chocolate companies was grown illegally.\u201d\n\nCorrupt Ivorian officials whose job it was to protect the country\u2019s national parks and classified forests were accepting huge bribes to allow small-scale farmers to cut them down and grow cocoa.\n\nThis cocoa was then bought by middlemen who sold it on to large cocoa traders including Barry Callebaut and Cargill, companies which sell to Mars, Cadbury and Nestl\u00e9.\n\nThe action taken by the governments is very promising, Mighty Earth said, but will not succeed unless the cocoa traders and chocolate manufacturers put money into the effort.\n\n\u201cThe big danger now is that the industry\u2019s going to kick the can down the road and blame the Ghanaian and Ivorian governments and make them fix the problem without helping enough financially. But the people who have the money and the technical resources to fix it are the industry,\u201d said Etelle Higonnet, the lead author of the Mighty Earth report.\n\nContacted by the Guardian, the chocolatiers Mars, the Hershey Company and Mondelez, the owners of Cadbury, did not say that they would commit any money to the governments\u2019 plans; Mondelez pointed to its sustainable sourcing programme Cocoa Life, while Hershey said that more than 75% of the cocoa it buys is certified and sustainable, and that it would be at 100% by 2020. Mars said that \u201cjoint frameworks for action\u201d would be released at the climate change conference, outlining \u201cthe key actions, time frames, and technical and financial commitments for forest protection and restoration in Ghana and Cote d\u2019Ivoire.\u201d\n\nUnder the Ivorian draft plans, which appear to be sanctioned by the prime minister\u2019s office, these traders will each take responsibility for a number of degraded classified forests and turn them into densely shaded forest, organising farmers to plant trees while growing cocoa underneath them.\n\nThis is a far more sustainable way of growing the cocoa on which the Ghanaian and Ivorian economies rely than the current way, whereby many farmers cut down ancient trees to ensure their cocoa plantations have full sun.\n\nAs well as the effect that the decimation of west African rainforests has on global climate change, scientists say it also dramatically reduces rainfall. If current patterns continue, there will not be enough rain to grow cocoa at all.\n\nThe handful of Ivorian classified forests that have not lost swaths of trees will be upgraded to national parks, while one national park, Marahou\u00e9, is in such a bad condition that it will probably be downgraded, perhaps to a classified forest.\n\nIt is unclear who will pay for the Ivorian government\u2019s plans. It expects the traders to pay, but has not made it clear what the consequences will be if they refuse. The number of people living inside protected areas makes it a complicated and fraught task: the government has faced accusations of human rights abuses for evicting thousands of cocoa farmers from Mont P\u00e9ko national park.\n\nIn Ghana, meanwhile, the plans are far-reaching, and if enacted, could transform the landscape, though it is unclear whether those drafting them have sufficient clout or money to do so.\n\nIn addition to committing to no new deforestation, land and tree tenure reform, and transparency in the supply chain so that cocoa can be traced down to the farm gate level, ensuring that none of it comes from illegal protected areas, the government is also agreeing to the high carbon stock approach. This is a way of making decisions about land use that protects low as well as high-density forest, which means that more of Ghana\u2019s forests can be salvaged.\n\nHowever, there is still less clarity on how this will be funded than in the Ivory Coast. Cocoa prices in both countries have fallen by a third in the past year, and Ghana\u2019s economy has been affected by low gold and oil prices too, as well as a fiscal crisis that that the IMF plugged with credit that so far totals $565m. Monitoring and replanting the forests will cost tens of millions the country will struggle to afford.\n\nChocolate companies and traders should pay, according to Higonnet.\n\n\u201cThe companies need to pay for planting the trees next year. They\u2019re likely to reap a $4bn windfall profit, because the price of chocolate bars has stayed the same but the price of cocoa is collapsing,\u201d she said. \u201cSo what can they do with that extra money? Well, they can use it to plant trees.\u201d\n\nMany top players in the cocoa industry say they will release a \u201cjoint framework for action\u201d with the governments on 17 November. But there is concern that a tightening in west Africa could just push the trade elsewhere.\n\n\u201cCocoa is moving into these frontier forests,\u201d Higonnet said, \u201c in central Africa, Indonesia and the Amazon \u2013 and we will keep reproducing the same disasters that we saw in west Africa unless we protect those forests now.\u201d\n\n", "output": "The governments of Ghana and the Ivory Coast are drawing up proposals to prevent deforestation, following an investigation by The Guardian into the environmental impact of the cocoa industry on these countries. The newspaper disclosed in September that cocoa linked to deforestation had entered the supply chains of Barry Callebaut and Cargill, which sell to Cadbury, Mars and Nestle, while environmental group Mighty Earth found illegally grown cocoa was also being used by Godiva and Hershey\u2019s. It remains unclear whether either\u00a0government has the power to make traders pay for their reforestation plans.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ghana and Ivory Coast draw up plans to stop cocoa deforestation \n Cocoa production in Ivory Coast and Ghana responsible for the owoss of extensive forested areas, endangered chimpanzee and elephant habitat\n\nWASHINGTON D.C.\u2013 A new investigation by Mighty Earth, \u201cChocolate\u2019s Dark Secret,\u201d finds that a large amount of the cocoa used in chocolate produced by Mars, Nestle, Hershey\u2019s, Godiva, and other major chocolate companies was grown illegally in national parks and other protected areas in Ivory Coast and Ghana. The countries are the world\u2019s two largest cocoa producers.\n\nThe report documents how in several national parks and other protected areas, 90% or more of the land mass has been converted to cocoa. Less than four percent of Ivory Coast remains densely forested, and the chocolate companies\u2019 laissez-faire approach to sourcing has driven extensive deforestation in Ghana as well. In Ivory Coast, deforestation has pushed chimpanzees into just a few small pockets, and reduced the country\u2019s elephant population from several hundred thousand to about 200-400.\n\nAbout half of the world cocoa market is controlled by just three companies: Cargill, Olam, and Barry Callebaut. The investigation traced how cocoa makes its way from growers in national parks, through middlemen, to these traders, who then sell it onto Europe and the United States where the world\u2019s largest chocolate companies make it into truffles, bars, syrups, and myriad other chocolate treats.\n\n\u201cThe extent to which big chocolate brands like Mars are linked to destruction of national parks and protected areas is shocking,\u201d said Etelle Higonnet, Mighty Earth Campaign and Legal Director. \u201cThese companies need to take immediate action to end deforestation once and for all, and remediate past damage.\u201d\n\nWith West Africa\u2019s forests nearing exhaustion, the chocolate industry has begun to bring its model to other rainforest regions like the Peruvian Amazon, the Congo Basin, and Southeast Asia\u2019s Paradise Forests.\n\n\u201cThe ancient forests of our nation, once a paradise for wildlife like chimpanzees, leopards, hippopotamus, and elephants, have been degraded and deforested to the point that they\u2019re almost entirely gone. This deforestation is due principally to the cultivation of cocoa. Our country has become dependent on a cocoa industry that destroys forests and the whole range of ecosystem services they offer the country. We must achieve a sustainable cocoa industry that respects forests and that actually benefits communities and the country\u2019s economy. The big chocolate companies must make financial and technical contributions to support the government\u2019s conservation efforts,\u201d said SIGNO Kouam\u00e9 Soulago Fernand, General Secretary ROSCIDET, a network of Ivorian NGOs specializing in environmental protection and sustainable development.\n\nOur investigators found large villages of cocoa growers, in some cases consisting of tens of thousands of inhabitants, inside protected areas like national parks. We documented traders openly purchasing cocoa beans grown illegally inside these areas, which would then go on to be sold to most of the world\u2019s largest chocolate companies. Despite many chocolate companies\u2019 public sustainability initiatives, these practices have continued without any real change.\n\n\u201cThe cocoa industry continues to exploit both forests and communities of West Africa for cocoa that is sold for large quantities of cheap, environmentally unsustainable cocoa beans. The low price of cocoa is costing us dearly here in C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire in terms of deforestation and abuses of human rights. It is high time for the industry to start paying growers a living wage and to implement sustainable production practices to ensure the resilience of local ecosystems, because without forests we will all suffer and pay sooner or later,\u201d said Sindou Bamba, General Coordinator of the Coalition of Ivorian Human Rights Actors (RAIDH).\n\nOn average, cocoa growers in Ivory Coast and Ghana are paid less than 80 cents (USD) per day and often work in dangerous conditions with long hours. Child labor is still prevalent throughout the industry, despite pledges by many chocolate companies to eliminate the practice.\n\nThe report comes at a time of unique opportunity for the chocolate industry to take real action for a more environmentally responsible future. Earlier this year, Prince Charles convened CEOs and senior leadership of 34 chocolate industry companies to begin to urge them to act on deforestation. The companies pledged to come up with a concrete plan by November\u2019s climate summit in Bonn.\n\n\u201cThis report shows that the chocolate industry\u2019s long history of heralding their own commitment to sustainability hasn\u2019t stopped them from engaging in egregious behavior,\u201d said Higonnet. \u201cPrince Charles has managed however to get the industry to finally start talking about doing something real, creating a unique moment in which change is possible.\u201d\n\nAbout Mighty Earth\n\nMighty Earth is a global environmental campaign organization that works to protect forests, conserve oceans, and address climate change. We work in Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa, and North America to drive large-scale action towards environmentally responsible agriculture that protects native ecosystems, wildlife, and water, and respects local community rights. Mighty Earth\u2019s global team has played a decisive role in persuading the world\u2019s largest food and agriculture companies to dramatically improve their environmental and social policies and practices. More information on Mighty Earth can be found at https://www.mightyearth.org/.\n\nRead the full report here.", "output": "The governments of Ghana and the Ivory Coast are drawing up proposals to prevent deforestation, following an investigation by The Guardian into the environmental impact of the cocoa industry on these countries. The newspaper disclosed in September that cocoa linked to deforestation had entered the supply chains of Barry Callebaut and Cargill, which sell to Cadbury, Mars and Nestle, while environmental group Mighty Earth found illegally grown cocoa was also being used by Godiva and Hershey\u2019s. It remains unclear whether either\u00a0government has the power to make traders pay for their reforestation plans.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Asos launches chatbot on its Facebook page \n Fashion retailer Asos is testing new digital features, including a gifting assistant and a \u201cpay later\u201d feature.\n\nThe fashion company is launching a chatbot, created by Byte London, on its Facebook page on Nov. 8 for shoppers in the U.K. and France. Shoppers answer a series of questions, which the chatbot then uses to suggest potential gifts that are available on the site. Questions such as, \u201cWhat item would most likely fall out of their bag?\u201d will target the retailer\u2019s younger shoppers.\n\nThe service will run throughout Christmas, yet it could form the basis of something bigger on the social network, given Asos\u2019 ongoing experiments with artificial intelligence. Earlier this year, it began testing a virtual assistant, which helps customers search for products and keeps profiles on their personal data, including size and preferences.\n\nMeanwhile, Asos is the latest retailer to jump on the try-before-you-buy trend.\n\nSimilar to Amazon Prime Wardrobe, shoppers who buy from the Asos app only pay for items they keep by selecting the \u201cPay Later\u201d option to get 30 days to use either their credit or debit card to pay for the items they want.\n\nBut unlike Prime Wardrobe, which discourages people from making returns by offering discounts to those who keep a certain number of items, Asos\u2019 focus is on shoppers who bail on buying clothes they may have to return.\n\nThe retailer said the service will appeal to customers who want to try on everything they\u2019ve ordered and only pay for what they keep. Not being able to try on items before buying them has long been a challenge, so it made sense to explore a try-before-you-buy service in the U.K., said Nicola Thompson, Asos\u2019 global trading director.\n\nThe retailer didn\u2019t have the internal expertise to build its own flexible payment process like PayPal, for example, and doesn\u2019t have ownership of its logistics process like Amazon. Instead, Asos worked with payments provider Klarna to offer the Pay Later feature following a successful run in Germany, where the financial firm let shoppers pay for their products up to 14 days after delivery. The retailer doesn\u2019t break out specific metrics for the Klarna service, which it has used since 2013.\n\n\u201cThe positive experience of flexible payment options in other territories, our belief in the Klarna service and a clear desire from customers made us confident that now would be a good time to launch,\u201d Thompson said.\n\nIf customers know they don\u2019t have to pay for products immediately, they could spend more time searching the app for clothes they might not have otherwise considered. As strong as dwell time is on the Asos app \u2014 users spend 80 minutes per month on average on it \u2014 the business has admitted that only a fraction of its catalog gets explored due to limitations in screen size, search and navigation.\n\nNo incentives are planned to drive adoption of Asos\u2019 try-at-home feature, according to a company spokesperson. The retailer likes to bide its time before throwing marketing weight behind innovations, similar to its approach with its recently launched visual search feature.\n\nPay-later options are set to become a key battleground in online fashion sales, with Topshop, Miss Selfridge and Amazon already offering similar services. In Amazon\u2019s case, it began testing its feature in the U.S. this summer, allowing Prime subscribers to order brands such as Hugo Boss, Adidas and Levi\u2019s with no upfront charge. Customers have seven days to decide what they don\u2019t want.\n\nAs Amazon expands the service to other markets, experts have noted that retailers like Asos, as big as they are, could feel the same pressure that has hit book publishers, broadcasters, supermarkets, consumer goods and others over the years. Analysts from investment banking firm Cowen & Co. expect Amazon\u2019s clothing and accessory sales in the U.S. to grow by nearly 30 percent next year to $28 billion, making it the country\u2019s biggest apparel seller.", "output": "As it faces growing competition from Amazon, Asos has launched a chatbot on its Facebook page, intended to provide a more personalised experience. The bot will assist shoppers in the UK\u00a0and France with Christmas gift ideas on their site. The feature\u00a0joins a slew of other recent innovations by the company, including customer profiling and a \"Pay Later\" service available through its app. The service\u00a0encourages a try-before-you-buy mentality, allowing customers pay for items 30 days after the point of order;\u00a0Amazon Prime Wardrobe offers a similar\u00a0grace period.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Young Kenyan farmers group double harvests using hydroponics \n Some of the Esteem Eagles Welfare Youth Group members at the greenhouse in Meru South. [Peter Muthomi, Standard]\n\nTired of looking for elusive white-collar jobs, a group of young farmers decided to think out of the box. The 15-member group named \u2018Esteem Eagles Welfare Youth Group\u2019 started farming together. Initially it was a merry-go round, before they decided to pool resources and venture into greenhouse farming.\n\n\u201cWe started out as a fun group doing picnics together. Since most of us did not have stable jobs, we decided to pool resources and focus on hydroponic farming because the bad soils could not allow us to do conventional farming,\u201d says Stephen Kamau, a member. Hydroponics is a modern system of farming where plants are grown in liquid, sand, gravel with added nutrients but without use of soil. After deliberations the group approached the National Government\u2019s Youth Fund in February 2014 for assistance.\n\n\u201cWe wrote a proposal and were given Sh358,000 for a greenhouse,\u201d says Kamau. In 2015, the members planted tomatoes and the result were disastrous.\n\n\u201cThe soils were contaminated. We had to uproot the crop and re-planted in pots. Most of the crops failed because of bacterial wilt,\u201d Dennis Mutwiri, a member recalls. The members resorted to fetching new soils from Kiraro, part of Mount Kenya forest, 20 kilometres away, an energy sapping activity.\n\n\u201cThough we re-planted the crops in the new soils we were only able to redeem a small fraction,\u201d Kamau says.\n\nSince the soils in their area were toxic, an idea to explore hydroponics came up. They wrote a proposal for funding from the Upper Tana Natural Resource Management Project, a national government agency. The agency gave them a Sh419,000 hydroponic system. The members attended training at Chuka University last year, and in June they installed the system.\n\n\u201cNow we get double the harvests we used to get when we planted on soil,\u201d Mutwiri says. County agriculture officer Samuel Mutuma says because no manure is used in hydroponics chances crops thrive because they are free of diseases.The idea has flourished the members are now economically stable.\n\n\u201cWe are doing well. Unlike others who depend on rainfall and soils, we are able to harvest several times a year. We always have a ready market. When the other farmers exit the market we are always in the market!\u201d he says.", "output": "A group of young Kenyan farmers have turned to hydroponics to grow crops\u00a0after discovering their local soil was contaminated. The 15-strong Esteem Eagles Welfare Youth Group received a KES419,000 ($4,050) grant from national government agency the Upper Tana Natural Resource Management Project\u00a0and installed the system in June 2017. Because no fertilisers are used the crops are free of diseases and because they are not dependent on rainfall, they can be harvested three times a year. Group member Dennis\u00a0Mutwiri said:\u00a0\u201cNow we get double the harvests we used to get when we planted on soil.\u201d\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Seven global megatrends could avert climate disaster \n \u2018Everybody gets paralysed by bad news because they feel helpless,\u201d says Christiana Figueres, the former UN climate chief who delivered the landmark Paris climate change agreement. \u201cIt is so in our personal lives, in our national lives and in our planetary life.\u201d\n\nBut it is becoming increasingly clear that it does not need to be all bad news: a series of fast-moving global megatrends, spurred by trillion-dollar investments, indicates that humanity might be able to avert the worst impacts of global warming. From trends already at full steam, including renewable energy, to those just now hitting the big time, such as mass-market electric cars, to those just emerging, such as plant-based alternatives to meat, these trends show that greenhouse gas emissions can be halted.\n\n\u201cIf we were seeing linear progress, I would say good, but we\u2019re not going to make it in time,\u201d says Figueres, now the convener of the Mission 2020 initiative, which warns that the world has only three years to get carbon emissions on a downward curve and on the way to beating global warming. \u201cBut the fact is we are seeing progress that is growing exponentially, and that is what gives me the most reason for hope.\u201d\n\nNo one is saying the battle to avert catastrophic climate change \u2013 floods, droughts, famine, mass migrations \u2013 has been won. But these megatrends show the battle has not yet been lost, and that the tide is turning in the right direction. \u201cThe important thing is to reach a healthy balance where we recognise that we are seriously challenged, because we really have only three years left to reach the tipping point,\u201d says Figueres. \u201cBut at the same time, the fact is we are already seeing many, many positive trends.\u201d\n\nMichael Liebreich, the founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, agrees. \u201cThe good news is we are way better than we thought we could be. We are not going to get through this without damage. But we can avoid the worst. I am optimistic, but there is a long way to go.\u201d\n\nAlso cautiously hopeful is climate economist Nicholas Stern at the London School of Economics. \u201cThese trends are the start of something that might be enough \u2013 the two key words are \u2018start\u2019 and \u2018might\u2019.\u201d He says the global climate negotiations, continuing this week in Germany and aiming to implement the Paris deal, are crucial: \u201cThe acceleration embodied in the Paris agreement is going to be critical.\u201d\n\nTHE TRENDS\n\n\n\n1. Methane: getting to the meat\n\nA lab-grown burger. Photograph: David Parry/PA\n\nCarbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels is the main greenhouse gas, but methane and nitrous oxide are more potent and, unlike CO 2 , still rising. The major source is livestock farming, in particular belching cattle and their manure.\n\n\n\nThe world\u2019s appetite for meat and dairy foods is rising as people\u2019s incomes rise, but the simple arithmetic is that unless this is radically curbed, there is no way to beat global warming. The task looks daunting \u2013 people hate being told what to eat. However, just in the last year, a potential solution has burst on to the market: plant-based meat, which has a tiny environmental footprint.\n\nWhat sounds like an oxymoron \u2013 food that looks and tastes just as good as meat or dairy products but is made from plants \u2013 has attracted heavy investment. The buzz is particularly loud in the US, where Bill Gates has backed two plant-based burger companies and Eric Schmidt, formerly CEO of Google, believes plant-based foods can make a \u201cmeaningful dent\u201d in tackling climate change.\n\nPerhaps even more telling is that major meat and dairy companies are now piling in with investments and acquisitions, such as the US\u2019s biggest meat processor, Tyson, and multinational giants Danone and Nestl\u00e9. The Chinese government has just put $300m (\u00a3228m) into Israeli companies producing lab-grown meat, which could also cut emissions.\n\nNew plant-based products, from chicken to fish to cheese, are coming out every month. \u201cWe are in the nascent stage,\u201d says Alison Rabschnuk at the US nonprofit group the Good Food Institute. \u201cBut there\u2019s a lot of money moving into this area.\u201d\n\nPlant-based meat and dairy produce is not only environmentally friendly, but also healthier and avoids animal welfare concerns, but these benefits will not make them mass-market, she says: \u201cWe don\u2019t believe that is what is going to make people eat plant-based food. We believe the products themselves need to be competitive on taste, price and convenience \u2013 the three attributes people use when choosing what to eat.\u201d\n\nPlant-based milks \u2013 soya, almond, oat and more \u2013 have led the way and are now about 10% of the market and a billion-dollar business in the US. But in the past year, sales of other meat and dairy substitutes have climbed 8%, with some specific lines, such as yoghurt, shooting up 55%. \u201cI think the writing\u2019s on the wall,\u201d says Rabschnuk. Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson agrees. \u201cI believe that in 30 years or so we will no longer need to kill any animals and that all meat will either be [lab] or plant-based, taste the same and also be much healthier for everyone.\u201d\n\n2. Renewable energy: time to shine\n\n\n\nSolar panel installation. Photograph: Kristian Buus/Corbis via Getty Images\n\nThe most advanced of the megatrends is the renewable energy revolution. Production costs for solar panels and wind turbines have plunged, by 90% in the past decade for solar, for example, and are continuing to fall. As a result, in many parts of the world they are already the cheapest electricity available and installation is soaring: two-thirds of all new power in 2016 was renewable.\n\n\n\nThis extraordinary growth has confounded expectations: the respected International Energy Agency\u2019s annual projections have anticipated linear growth for solar power every year for the past decade. In reality, growth has been exponential. China is leading the surge but the impact is being felt around the world: in Germany last week there was so much wind power that customers got free electricity.\n\nIn the US, enthusiasm for green energy has not been dented by President Donald Trump committing to repeal key climate legislation: $30bn has been invested since he signed an executive order in March. \u201cI am no longer concerned about electric power,\u201d says Figueres.\n\n3. King coal: dead or dying\n\nThe flipside of the renewables boom is the death spiral of coal, the filthiest of fossil fuels. Production now appears to have peaked in 2013. The speed of its demise has stunned analysts. In 2013, the IEA expected coal-burning to grow by 40% by 2040 \u2013 today it anticipates just 1%.\n\n\n\nThe cause is simple: solar and wind are cheaper. But the consequences are enormous: in pollution-choked China, there are now no provinces where new coal is needed, so the country has just mothballed plans for 151 plants. Bankruptcies have torn through the US coal industry and in the UK, where coal-burning began the industrial revolution, it has fallen from 40% of power supply to 2% in the past five years.\n\n\u201cLast year, I said if Asia builds what it says it is going to build, we can kiss goodbye to 2C\u201d \u2013 the internationally agreed limit for dangerous climate change \u2013 says Liebreich. \u201cNow we are showing coal [plans] coming down.\u201d But he warns there is more to do.\n\nSolar and wind are cheaper than new coal, he says, but a second tipping point is needed. That will occur when renewables are cheaper to build than running existing coal plants, meaning that the latter shut down. If renewable costs continue to fall as expected, this would happen between 2030 and 2040. At that point, says Liebrich, \u201cWhy keep digging coal out of the ground when you could just put up solar?\u201d\n\n4. Electric cars: in the fast lane\n\nVehicles being charged at China\u2019s leading maker of electric cars, BYD Co, in Shenzhen, China. Photograph: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg/Getty Images\n\nSlashing oil use \u2013 a third of all global energy \u2013 is a huge challenge but a surging market for battery-powered cars is starting to bite, driven in significant part by fast-growing concerns about urban air pollution.\n\n\n\nChina, again, is leading the way. It is selling as many electric cars every month as Europe and the US combined, with many from home-grown companies such as BYD. US-based Tesla is rolling out its more affordable Model 3 and in recent months virtually all major carmakers have committed to an electric future, with Volvo and Jaguar Land Rover announcing that they will end production of pure fossil-fuelled cars within three years.\n\n\u201cWe have a domino effect now,\u201d says Figueres. These cars are \u201cnow being made for the mass market and that is really what is going to make the transformation\u201d.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think it is going to slow down,\u201d says Viktor Irle, an analyst at EV-volumes.com. Drivers can see the direction of travel, he says, with a stream of choked cities and countries from Paris to India announcing future bans on fossil-fuelled cars.\n\nIt is true that global sales of electric cars have now achieved liftoff, quadrupling in the past three years, but they still make up only 1.25% of all new car sales. However, if current growth rates continue, as Irle expects, 80% of new cars will be electric by 2030.\n\nThe rapid rise of electric cars has left the oil giants, who have a lot to lose, playing catchup. The oil cartel Opec has increased its estimate of the number of electric cars operative in 2040 by five times in the past year alone, with the IEA, ExxonMobil and BP all bumping up their forecasts too. Heavy transport remains a challenge, but even here ships are experimenting with wind power and batteries. Short-haul electric airplanes are on the drawing board, too.\n\n5. Batteries: lots in store\n\nA lithium-ion battery. Photograph: Alamy\n\nBatteries are key to electric cars and, by storing energy for when the sun goes down or the wind stops blowing, they are also vital when it comes to enabling renewable energy to reach its full potential. Here too, a megatrend is crushing prices for lithium-ion batteries, which are down 75% over the past six years. The International Renewable Energy Agency expects further falls of 50-66% by 2030 and a massive increase in battery storage, linked to increasingly smart and efficient digital power grids. In the UK alone, government advisers say a smart grid could save bill-payers \u00a38bn a year by 2030, as well as slashing carbon emissions.\n\n\n\nFears that lithium-ion, the technology that dominates today, cannot be scaled up sufficiently are overblown, argues Liebreich, as the metal is not rare. \u201cI think lithium-ion is a banker in that you can be sure it will get cheaper and you can be sure there is enough.\u201d He is also frustrated by frequent claims that a grid based on renewables and storage cannot be cheap and reliable: \u201cThat stupidity and absolute certainty is in inverse proportion to any knowledge of how you run an electrical system.\u201d\n\nIt is true, however, that batteries will not be the solution for energy storage over weeks or months. For that, long-distance electricity interconnectors are being built and the storage of the energy as gas is also being explored.\n\n6. Efficiency: negawatts over megawatts\n\nA zero-carbon house. Photograph: Alamy\n\nJust as important as the greening of energy is reducing demand by boosting energy efficiency. It\u2019s a no-brainer in climate policy, but it can be very tricky to make happen, as it requires action from millions of people.\n\n\n\nNonetheless, good progress is being made in places such as the EU, where efficiency in homes, transport and industry has improved by about 20% since 2000. Improving the efficiency of gadgets and appliances through better standards is surprisingly important: a new UN Environment Programme report shows it makes the biggest impact of any single action bar rolling out wind and solar power.\n\nBut again, continued progress is vital. \u201cWe need to drive energy efficiency very, very hard, even for European countries,\u201d says Prof Kevin Anderson at the University of Manchester. \u201cWe could power down European energy use by about 40% in something like 10-15 years, just by making the most efficient appliances available the new minimum.\u201d\n\nIn countries with cool winters, better insulation is also needed, particularly as a fossil fuel \u2013 natural gas \u2013 currently provides a lot of heating. \u201cWhat is a crime is every time a building is renovated but not renovated to really high standards,\u201d says Liebreich, who thinks labelling such homes as \u201czero-energy-bill\u201d homes, not \u201czero-carbon\u201d homes, would help overcome opposition.\n\nOne sector that is lagging on energy efficiency is industry, but technology to capture and bury CO2 from plants is being tested and ways to clean up cement-making are also being explored.\n\n7. Forests: seeing the wood\n\nThe destruction of forests around the world for ranching and farming, as well as for timber, causes about 10% of greenhouse gas emissions. This is the biggest megatrend not yet pointing in the right direction: annual tree losses have roughly doubled since 2000.\n\n\n\nThis is particularly worrying as stopping deforestation and planting new trees is, in theory at least, among the cheapest and fastest ways of cutting carbon emissions. But it is not getting the support it needs, says Michael Wolosin at Forest Climate Analytics. \u201cClimate policy is massively underfunding forests \u2013 they receive only about 2% of global climate finance.\u201d Furthermore, the $2.3bn committed to forests by rich nations and multilateral institutions since 2010 is tiny compared with the funding for the sectors that drive deforestation. \u201cBrazil and Indonesia\u2019s governments alone invested $276bn in the same timeframe, in just the four key driver commodities: palm oil, soy, beef and timber,\u201d says Franziska Haupt at Climate Focus.\n\nIn fact, new research has shown that better land management could deliver a third of all the carbon cuts the world needs, and Wolosin says there are some grounds for hope that new forests can be planted. \u201cAchieving large-scale forestation is not just theoretical. We know we can do it because a few countries have done it successfully.\u201d\n\nIn the past two decades, tree-planting in China, India and South Korea has removed more than 12bn tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere \u2013 three times the entire European Union\u2019s annual emissions, Wolosin says. This action was driven by fears about flooding and food supply, meaning that global warming needs to be seen as equally urgent in this sector. Regrowing forests can also play a crucial role in sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere, which is likely to be necessary after 2050, unless very sharp cuts are made now.\n\nThe race against time\n\nWill these megatrends move fast enough to avoid the worst of climate change? Opinions vary and Anderson is among the most hawkish. He says it remains possible for now, but is pessimistic that the action will be taken. \u201cWe\u2019re pointing in the right direction but not moving [there]. We have to not just pursue renewables and electric vehicles and so forth, we have to actively close down the incumbent fossil fuel industry.\u201d\n\n\n\nStern is cautiously optimistic, saying that what has changed in recent years is the realisation that green economic growth is the only long-term option: \u201cThere is no long-run high-carbon growth story because it creates an environment so hostile that it turns development backwards.\n\n\u201cThere are some tremendous developments so I am very confident now we can do this, but the change, attractive as it is, has to be radical,\u201d he says. \u201cWill we have the political and economic understanding and commitment to get there? I hope so.\u201d", "output": "Seven global mega-trends might enable humanity to avert the worst consequences of global warming, according to an op-ed in The Guardian that cites formerUN climate chief Christiana Figueres, founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance Michael Liebreich and climate economist\u00a0Nicholas Stern. The trends include: low environmental footprint plant-based meat,\u00a0increasing use of renewable energy,\u00a0the death of coal,\u00a0greater use of electric cars,\u00a0increased battery storage and greater energy efficiency. Deforestation is the largest mega-trend not yet moving in the right direction, but better land management and forest planting could reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese edtech Yixue offers AI-powered personalised learning \n Yixue Education, a Chinese K12 online education company, has raised RMB270 million (US$41 million) in an angel round from SIG, Nokia Growth Partners, New Oriental Education and Technology Group Inc. and Greenwood Investment, local media reports.", "output": "Chinese K12 online education company Yixue has raised CNY270m\u00a0($41m) in an angel round of investment. The edtech\u00a0company uses AI to provide tailored educational programmes and has partnered with more than 100 schools in China. The company's founder, Li Haoyang, said: \"With AI, we can adjust teaching strategies in real time to achieve personalised learning, more efficient than one-to-one teaching with teachers.\" The angel investors included SIG, Nokia Growth Partners and New Oriental Education, according to local media.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sunflower oil microcapsules create \u2018self-healing\u2019 roads \n When roads start to crack, the capsules break open and release the oil within, softening the asphalt around it. This helps the asphalt \u2018stick\u2019 back together, effectively filling in cracks and preventing small defects from deteriorating further. Dr Garcia who is heading up the research, has named his new \u2018recipe\u2019 Capheal \u2013 a pioneering, world-leading technology based on microcapsules of sunflower oil, which can be combined in asphalt mixes to improve the self-healing abilities of roads.\n\nDr Garcia watched one of the show\u2019s contestants use the spherification technique, which is the controlled jellification of a liquid to form spheres that resemble caviar when submerged in a bath. This is when he lit upon the idea of placing capsules of oil in asphalt, a material used for surfacing roads.\n\nDr Alvaro Garcia, a lecturer with the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Nottingham, has hit on a recipe for success by drawing inspiration from the Spanish version of the popular MasterChef series and come up with an innovative method, which uses sunflower oil to repair roads.\n\nClick here for full story\n\nDr Garcia said, \u2018Our preliminary results showed that the capsules can resist the mixing and compaction processes without significantly reducing the physical and mechanical properties of asphalt and they also increased its durability. More importantly, we found that the cracked asphalt samples were restored to their full strength, two days after the sunflower oil was released.\u2019\n\nSunflower oil can reverse the effects of ageing in bitumen used in asphalt by reducing the viscosity of the binder. The microcapsules created by Dr Garcia and his team, help to reduce the amount of other healing agents used because they can be activated in precise areas when required, thus avoiding the need to be mixed up in bulk.\n\nDr Garcia and his team are based at the Nottingham Transportation Engineering Centre (NTEC), the UK's foremost university-based research organisation in pavement engineering, infrastructure asset management and sustainability. He estimates that Capheal could increase a road\u2019s lifespan by at least one-third from 12 to 16 years and costs about the same as other additives that are commonly used in asphalt paving. In a report in Auto Express, Alan Mackenzie, the former chairman of the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) said, \u2018Our local roads are an asset worth in excess of \u00a3400 billion but, at present, less than one percent of their value is being spent annually on maintenance.\u2019 The AIA\u2019s 2017 ALARM survey showed that a total of 1.7 million potholes were filled on local authority roads in England and Wales during 2016. Based on these figures, it is estimated that Capheal could potentially reduce the annual costs for major road repairs by \u00a3260 million per annum.\n\nSpeaking about the advantage Capheal offers over other self-healing technologies, Dr Garcia said, \u2018I previously worked on developing self-healing roads in the Netherlands and Switzerland that featured metal fibres. An induction heater would pass over the surface to melt the bitumen and fill in cracks in the roads, but the problem with that is you need a large machine, which is expensive and requires a road to be closed to traffic.\n\n\u2018We needed a different way to create self-healing roads - without the use of an external aid, so I decided to design capsules containing oil that can break by themselves when the mechanical loading on a carriageway caused it to crack.\u2019\n\nAt present, the NTEC team is refining the geometry of the microcapsules to better understand how they degrade over time. They will go on to develop capsules with varying degrees of strength to see how they perform under different types of stresses to determine their suitability for a range of asphalt mixes and traffic conditions. The team is also looking into recycling cooking oil to reduce the viscosity of binders in asphalt.\n\nThis research project is being funded by Highways England, a government-owned company which operates, maintains and improves England's motorways and major A roads. Senior Pavements Advisor Robin Griffiths said, \u2018We know road users want good quality road surfaces, with fewer potholes and not as many roadworks disrupting their journeys. This self-healing technology could give them that and offer real value for money.\n\n\u2018So far the Nottingham University research we have funded is showing real potential in how easy it is to mix and apply, as well as being sustainable and environmentally friendly.\n\n\u2018Now we have to test the material on small patches of road, to see how it copes with the stresses and strains of daily traffic and the British weather. The safety of the travelling public will be integral as we take this work forward with the University.\u2019\n\nNTEC\u2019s team is near the end of the initial stage of the project with the successful completion of laboratory tests and pilot trials. After this, Highways England will test bed Capheal on carefully selected sections of a road during planned overnight maintenance work. This will be followed by a monitoring period of about 12 to 24 months to determine Capheal\u2019s level of durability and endurance.\n\n\u2014 Ends \u2014\n\nOur academics can now be interviewed for broadcast via our Media Hub, which offers a Globelynx fixed camera and ISDN line facilities at University Park campus. For further information please contact a member of the Communications team on +44 (0)115 951 5798, email mediahub@nottingham.ac.uk or see the Globelynx website for how to register for this service.\n\nFor up to the minute media alerts, follow us on Twitter\n\nNotes to editors:\n\nThe University of Nottingham is a research-intensive university with a proud heritage, consistently ranked among the world's top 100. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our 44,000 students - Nottingham was named University of the Year for Graduate Employment in the 2017 Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, was awarded gold in the TEF 2017 and features in the top 20 of all three major UK rankings. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement. We are ranked eighth for research power in the UK according to REF 2014. We have six beacons of research excellence helping to transform lives and change the world; we are also a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally.\n\nImpact: The Nottingham Campaign, its biggest-ever fundraising campaign, is delivering the University\u2019s vision to change lives, tackle global issues and shape the future. More news\u2026", "output": "A scientist at the University of Nottingham has developed a new \"self-healing\" material for road surfaces incorporating tiny capsules filled with sunflower oil. Dr Alvaro Garcia was inspired to investigate the use of microcapsules after seeing a culinary technique called spherification on the Spanish version of the \"MasterChef\" TV programme. When the new material cracks, the capsules release the oil, which softens the asphalt and sticks it back together. The research has been funded by England's highways agency, and Dr Garcia believes it could extend a road's lifespan by up to a third."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sunflower oil microcapsules create \u2018self-healing\u2019 roads \n An episode of MasterChef inspired a researcher from the University Nottingham to develop a new technology for repairing cracks in road surfaces.\n\nAfter watching a contestant on the Spanish version of the show use a technique known as spherification (the controlled jellification of a liquid to form spheres), Dr Alvaro Garcia, from the Nottingham Transportation Engineering Centre (NTEC), began exploring how the addition of microcapsules of oil to asphalt could be used to create self-repairing road surfaces.\n\nThe idea is that as cracks appear in the road the capsules break open, releasing the oil within and softening the asphalt around it. This helps the asphalt \u2018stick\u2019 back together, effectively filling in cracks and preventing small defects from deteriorating further.\n\nWorking with funding from Highways England, Garcia\u2019s team has created and carried laboratory tests on microcapsules filled with sunflower oil. Commenting on the research Garcia said, \u2018Our preliminary results showed that the capsules can resist the mixing and compaction processes without significantly reducing the physical and mechanical properties of asphalt and they also increased its durability. More importantly, we found that the cracked asphalt samples were restored to their full strength, two days after the sunflower oil was released.\u2019\n\nSunflower oil can reverse the effects of ageing in bitumen used in asphalt by reducing the viscosity of the binder. The microcapsules created by Dr Garcia and his team, help to reduce the amount of other healing agents used because they can be activated in precise areas when required, thus avoiding the need to be mixed up in bulk.\n\nGarcia estimates that the material \u2013 which he has named Capheal - could increase a road\u2019s lifespan by at least one-third from 12 to 16 years and costs about the same as other additives that are commonly used in asphalt paving.\n\nHe added that is has potential advantages over other road healing technologies, which often rely on additional equipment. \"I previously worked on developing self-healing roads in the Netherlands and Switzerland that featured metal fibres,\u201d said Garcia. \u201cAn induction heater would pass over the surface to melt the bitumen and fill in cracks in the roads, but the problem with that is you need a large machine, which is expensive and requires a road to be closed to traffic.\u201d\n\nNTEC\u2019s team is near the end of the initial stage of the project with the successful completion of laboratory tests and pilot trials. After this, Highways England will test bed Capheal on carefully selected sections of a road during planned overnight maintenance work. This will be followed by a monitoring period of about 12 to 24 months to determine Capheal\u2019s level of durability and endurance.\n\nCLICK HERE FOR MORE ENGINEERING NEWS", "output": "A scientist at the University of Nottingham has developed a new \"self-healing\" material for road surfaces incorporating tiny capsules filled with sunflower oil. Dr Alvaro Garcia was inspired to investigate the use of microcapsules after seeing a culinary technique called spherification on the Spanish version of the \"MasterChef\" TV programme. When the new material cracks, the capsules release the oil, which softens the asphalt and sticks it back together. The research has been funded by England's highways agency, and Dr Garcia believes it could extend a road's lifespan by up to a third."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MIT teams wins architecture prize in Mars City Design competition \n Most plans for Mars bases make becoming a colonist about as desirable as setting up house in an oil drum, but an MIT team has come up with a plan for a Mars city based on the architecture of a tree. Taking out first place in the Architecture section of the Mars City Design 2017 competition, the Redwood Forest concept is intended to provide settlers with not only protection against the harsh Martian environment, but open public spaces filled with plants and abundant water.\n\nAs Sir Elton John said, Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids. Though the Red Planet is the most habitable of the planets, aside from our own, in the Solar System, it is still a terribly hostile place. The nighttime temperatures put the Antarctic to shame, the air is only a hundredth the pressure of Earth's and is composed mostly of carbon dioxide, deadly UV radiation rains down during the day, and cosmic rays are present 24/7. It's also dry to the point where the soil is composed of corrosive substances with very unpleasant properties.\n\nDue to these drawbacks, it's difficult to come up with designs for manned outposts that don't look like a collection of tins that make the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station look like a luxury resort. To break away from this stereotype, the MIT team of nine students led by MIT postdoc Valentina Sumini and Assistant Professor Caitlin Mueller took an interdisciplinary approach that uses location and system architecture, as well as water harvested from the Martian polar ice caps to supply tree-like habitats, for a design capable of housing 10,000 inhabitants in shirt-sleeve comfort.\n\nThe habitats include an intricate network of subsurface tunnels MIT\n\nAt first glance, the MIT habitats don't look very tree-like. They look more like giant glass balls sitting on the Martian plains, each housing 50 people. But, like real trees, much of the habitat is below the surface in the form of intricate tunnels that connect the spheres and provide protection from cold, radiation, micrometeorites, and other surface hazards.\n\n\"On Mars, our city will physically and functionally mimic a forest, using local Martian resources such as ice and water, regolith or soil, and sun to support life,\" says Sumini. \"Designing a forest also symbolizes the potential for outward growth as nature spreads across the Martian landscape. Each tree habitat incorporates a branching structural system and an inflated membrane enclosure, anchored by tunneling roots. The design of a habitat can be generated using a computational form-finding and structural optimization workflow developed by the team. The design workflow is parametric, which means that each habitat is unique and contributes to a diverse forest of urban spaces.\"\n\nThe habitats rely heavily on water, but not just for drinking, agriculture, or public fountains. It's a key ingredient in making the domes habitable.\n\nLeft to right: Team members George Lordos, Alpha Arsano, Caitlin Mueller, and Valentina Sumini MIT\n\n\"Every tree habitat in Redwood Forest will collect energy from the sun and use it to process and transport the water throughout the tree, and every tree is designed as a water-rich environment,\" says Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics doctoral student George Lordos. \"Water fills the soft cells inside the dome providing protection from radiation, helps manage heat loads, and supplies hydroponic farms for growing fish and greens. Solar panels produce energy to split the stored water for the production of rocket fuel, oxygen, and for charging hydrogen fuel cells, which are necessary to power long-range vehicles as well as provide backup energy storage in case of dust storms.\"\n\nThe team believes that the Mars tree habitats could find a niche on Earth as well, at high latitudes, deserts and the sea floor, for example. In addition, the hydroponics technology could provide city dwellers with fresh food and the tunnels could be used to ease congestion in urban areas.\n\nThe team took out first place in the Architecture section of the 2017 Mars City Design competition\n\nSource: MIT", "output": "An MIT team's concept for a populated city on Mars called Redwood Forest\u00a0has claimed first prize in the architecture section of the Mars City Design 2017 competition. Using an interdisciplinary approach that uses water taken from the Martian polar ice caps to supply tree-like habitats, MIT's design consists of large surface domes that contain the trees, with tunnels\u00a0connecting\u00a0the domes. Living quarters would be situated underground directly beneath each dome and an entire city could hold up to 10,000 residents, with each individual dome housing 50 residents.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New record-low solar price set in Chile auction \n The latest energy auction in Chile has set a new record low for solar PV, with one bid by the local subsidiary of Italian outfit, Enel, coming in at just $US21.48/MWh ($A28/MWh).\n\nThe result beats the previous record low of $US24.20 set in the United Arab Emirates earlier this year, although it could be beaten by Saudi Arabia\u2019s first auction, should the early results of a tender that secured an offer of $US17.90/MWh be verified later this month.\n\nEither way, the Chile government is happy with the result, which secured an average price of $US32.5/MWh for 600MW of solar and wind capacity, expected to produce around 2,200GWh. This is a 75 per cent fall since its auction program began in 2015.\n\nThe Chile government says it will mean consumer prices fall by nearly 50 per cent once all the new projects are completed and online in 2024.\n\n\u201cThis price of energy is a milestone in the sector,\u201d energy minister Andr\u00e9s Rebelled said in a statement accompanying the results. (See here in Spanish).\n\nIn 2014 \u201cthe goal proposed by President Bachelet was to lower energy prices by 25 per cent, today we can say with great calm, transparency and joy, that we have managed to lower the price of energy by 75 per cent in the last three years.\u201d\n\nAndr\u00e9s Romero, the executive secretary of the National Energy Commission, said households currently pay around $US90/MWh. \u201cNow, with this tender, we expect that these new contracts will gradually go down at prices in around $US50, which will go directly benefit of households. \u201d\n\nReuters reported that the lowest bid came from Enel, a part owner of one of the biggest solar farms under construction in Australia, the 220MW Bungala solar project in South Australia.\n\nThe second-lowest bid came from GPG Solar Chile, a unit of Spanish power and gas utility Gas Natural Fenosa, which offered $US24.80/MWh for the same block.", "output": "Chile's latest energy auction has set a new record low price for solar PV, with a bid from Italian company Enel's local subsidiary coming in at just $21.48/MWh. Overall, the government of Chile secured an average price of $32.5/MWh, which is a 75% fall from the beginning of its auction programme in 2015. Consumer prices will fall by nearly 50% as a result, according to the country's energy minister. The previous lowest solar price was set in the UAE earlier this year, and this latest record may be broken in Saudi Arabia this month."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Interaxon goes after meditation market with Muse EEG headband \n Toronto-based Interaxon, creator of the Muse EEG-sensing headband, has raised $11.6 million ($14.8 million CAD) in a round led by Trend Forward Capital, Export Development Canada, and OMERS Ventures. Epic Capital Management and Bridge Builders Collaborative also contributed to the round.\n\nInteraxon raised $287,000 for Muse in late 2012 and officially launched the product in 2014, one of a handful of consumer-focused EEG wearables entering the market around that time. Since then, in addition to its direct-to-consumer marketing, the company has made several enterprise plays. For instance, the company has an offering for mental health professionals that allows them to quantify and track clients' meditation habits.\n\n\u201cMeditation has become a billion-dollar business, and Muse is unique in that it provides a hardware device with insight into brain activity to help consumers build a meditation practice,\u201d Derek Luke, Interaxon CEO, said in a statement. \u201cThe ability to benchmark and measure progress has been particularly attractive not only to consumers but also leaders of corporate wellness programs, mental health professionals, and business and athletic coaches. With this investment, Interaxon is uniquely positioned to harness the potential of its brain interface into the consumer, professional, and wellness markets, creating a vibrant services-based platform positioned for growth.\u201d\n\nInteraxon plans to use the new funding to build out that clinical market, as well as a software as a service offering for corporate wellness. The company is also making Muse available to developers. Among other things, according to a release from the company, virtual reality researchers are looking at using the headband as a control mechanism for virtual reality experiences.\n\nInteraxon also announced last year that it is partnering with Safilo, an Italian eyeglasses brand, to create glasses with built-in sensors, starting with sunglasses for athletes that include EEG, a 3-axis accelerometer, a 3-axis gyroscope, a 3-axis magnetometer, a UV sensor, a temperature gauge, and a pressure sensor.\n\n\"We\u2019ve been providing superior vision and safety through our market-leading goggles and helmets for more than 50 years and are excited to add cognitive training and conditioning to our offering,\" Thorsten Brandt, general manager of Safilo\u2019s sports and outdoor lifestyle brands, said in a statement at the time. \"Active consumers at all levels intuitively understand the importance of finding their focus, yet up until now, there haven\u2019t been a lot of products that help you up your mental game. We believe our collaboration with Interaxon is truly unique and something our customers will love. This is a first in bringing together innovative products that beautifully blend technology, form, and style.\u201d\n\nFinally, Muse has also become something of a favorite of researchers, used in brain research at more than a hundred hospitals and universities for studies of pain, PTSD, fatigue, and more \u2014 as well as mindfulness and meditation.", "output": "Canadian company Interaxon is seeking to increase take-up of its EEG-sensing headband Muse by\u00a0health professionals who\u00a0provide meditation services. The firm, which recently raised $11.6m (CAD14.8m) in a funding round, will use the investment to expand into\u00a0corporate wellness programmes\u00a0and offer its technology to business and athletics coaches, as well as\u00a0to mental health\u00a0professionals.\u00a0Interaxon's CEO, Derek Luke, said the firm was \"uniquely positioned to harness the potential of its brain interface into the consumer, professional and wellness markets\". Interaxon also said Muse is being considered as a control device by virtual reality developers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow First phase of 950-home development to be built by Redrow \n The first phase of a new 950 home community in Leighton Buzzard is to be created by Redrow.\n\nThe award-winning housebuilder has exchanged contracts with Arnold White Estates to acquire part of the former Chamberlains Barn Quarry, in Heath Road, and is drawing up plans to build almost 300 homes.\n\nThe wider 95 hectare site has outline planning permission for up to 950 new homes plus a school, local centre, a country park, play areas and will form part of the Eastern Leighton Linslade Urban Extension Scheme.\n\nEdward Irving, land director for Redrow Homes (South Midlands), said:\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re very excited to be involved in such a high profile project to bring the redundant quarry site back into good use to provide much needed new homes. Ensuring that new neighbourhoods have the facilities and infrastructure people want and need is key and the wider scheme will have amenities that will benefit the whole community, including an abundance of open space and a school. Both of these factors ranked highly in a Redrow research report earlier this year, \u2018Creating Britain\u2019s new communities\u2019. \u201cWe\u2019re currently finalising our plans and will soon be submitting a reserved matters planning application for 299 homes from our Arts & Crafts inspired Heritage Collection which combines traditional exteriors with bright, modern interiors.\u201d\n\nRedrow\u2019s plans include 30 affordable homes, as well as 269 private sale properties which would offer a mixture of two, three and four-bedroom homes.\n\nThe Heath Road scheme would have a gross development value of around \u00a3110 million.\n\nSubject to planning, Redrow hopes to start construction work on site in summer 2018.\n\nRedrow is currently building and selling homes from its Heritage Collection nearby at Caddington Woods, between Chaul End and Caddington, in Central Bedfordshire and at Weston Grove, Weston Turville, Buckinghamshire.", "output": "UK house builder Redrow is drawing up plans to construct about 300 properties as part of a \u00a3110m ($144m), 950-home development in Leighton Buzzard,\u00a0Bedfordshire. Edward Irving, the land director for Redrow Homes South Midlands, said the company would be submitting a reserved matters planning application for 299 homes, 30 of which would be affordable housing. Work is expected to start on the development next summer.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Smart-beta ETF market enters slowdown as\u00a0passive dominance grows \n The \"smart beta\" fund industry, a kind of hybrid between active and passive fund management, boomed in 2015 and 2016, with close to 200 funds launched in 24 months.\n\nBut the business has gotten increasingly competitive, and its year-over-year growth is slowing.\n\nAs smart beta decelerates, many in the investing industry will face the ongoing question about how to remain competitive, and the answer is probably to cut fees.\n\n\n\nAs the battle between active money managers and their computer-driven passive counterparts has raged for years, one investment strategy has served as a compromise of sorts.\n\nKnown as \"smart beta,\" it takes the passive approach of mirroring an index and combines it with the more analytical practice of stock picking. And that fundamental overlay usually adheres to a predetermined investment style, such as low-volatility or high-growth.\n\nThe ability to straddle that line has translated into an area of serious growth for exchange-traded fund providers looking to capture the massive flow of capital into passive strategies while also proving their bona fides as active managers.\n\nBut unfortunately for those providers looking to break into smart beta, the window to get involved appears to be closing. Only 36 new smart-beta funds have been launched this year, on pace for the lowest annual number since 2014, according to data compiled by Goldman Sachs.\n\nThe growth of smart-beta exchange-traded fund launches is on pace to slow this year. Goldman Sachs / Morningstar\n\n'Smart beta ETFs are facing increasing pressure'\n\n\"The economics in smart beta ETFs are facing increasing pressure,\" a group of analysts led by Alexander Blostein wrote in a client note. \"Market share is ultimately consolidating among top players, fees are migrating lower and the limited success of several recent launches could discourage others from entering the space.\"\n\nGoldman offers three clear-cut reasons that fund managers may be discouraged from entering the smart-beta space:\n\nNew entrants into the space \u2014 The smart-beta heyday of 2015 and 2016, when roughly 100 new funds were launched each year, saw loads of new providers get into smart beta. That creates a considerable barrier to entry for an already-inundated area.\n\n\u2014 The smart-beta heyday of 2015 and 2016, when roughly 100 new funds were launched each year, saw loads of new providers get into smart beta. That creates a considerable barrier to entry for an already-inundated area. The biggest providers are continuing to grow \u2014 BlackRock, Vanguard, Invesco, WisdomTree, and State Street are the big dogs of the ETF world. The massive amount of capital they've accrued gives them a big advantage in both bringing new funds to market and consolidating with other firms.\n\n\u2014 BlackRock, Vanguard, Invesco, WisdomTree, and State Street are the big dogs of the ETF world. The massive amount of capital they've accrued gives them a big advantage in both bringing new funds to market and consolidating with other firms. Fee rates are trending lower \u2014 Goldman finds that \"fee pressures are accelerating significantly,\" which will make it more difficult for new entrants to break into the ETF marketplace.\n\nWith forays into the universe of smart beta looking decreasingly appealing, managers using an active stock-picking component must find a way to adapt. After all, just because smart beta is slowing doesn't mean passive investment is.\n\nThe huge shift to passive management from active\n\nAccording to the EPFR, passive equity funds have seen global inflows of $620 billion in the past 12 months, while active funds have seen outflows of $359 billion. In terms of sheer size, the combined assets of US ETFs hit $3.1 trillion in August, increasing roughly $700 billion in a single year, according to Investment Company Institute data.\n\nA huge part of this divergence stems from a factor mentioned in the third bullet above: Passive funds are cheaper. With the opportunity in smart beta shrinking, perhaps it's time for active managers to stop trying to combine their efforts with passive funds and start making their pricing more competitive.\n\nOne possible route would be for active managers to pursue vehicles known as variable pricing mutual funds. Pioneered by AllianceBernstein earlier this year, the methodology is simple: the bigger the outperformance, the bigger the fee. Citigroup sees the strategy delivering investors better net returns on average and says it could \"radically alter\" money management as we know it.\n\nIt's a nuanced approach that certainly gives providers more flexibility than simply making huge fee cuts \u2014 a practice Goldman sees as ultimately futile, given the wide pricing discrepancy that already exists. The firm instead recommends the \"surgical\" lowering of select fees.\n\nBeyond these suggestions, it's clear that the investing industry will continue to carve out new paths toward profitability as others dry up. And it's a wise move because, for the time being, it appears as if the smart-beta ship has sailed.", "output": "The number of smart-beta exchange-traded funds being launched is declining as investors continue to pour money into low-cost passive strategies. The number of smart-beta offerings set to be launched in 2017 is likely to be the lowest since 2014, according to data compiled by\u00a0Goldman Sachs. In 2015 and 2016 these offerings took off with 107 and 91 ETFs launched, respectively. Pressure on fees is also being billed as a\u00a0reason\u00a0for the slowdown.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BlackRock could win big by combining analytics and robo platforms \n Since its acquisition in 2015, crickets for the $152-million robo-advisor, but under young legend Rob Goldstein, that could all change as BlackRock rolls out its play to own the advisor desktop\n\nAuthor Brooke Southall November 7, 2017 at 8:39 PM", "output": "BlackRock, which is in the process of a major digital initiative starting with the establishment of its digital wealth unit, could be on to a winner if it combines its robo-advice platform with its analytics capabilities. Combining FutureAdvisor, the firm's robo platform, and Aladdin, its data and risk analytics arm, could give the asset manager significant distribution clout, wrote Brooke Southall in RIABiz.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese fintechs may be regulated like banks: PBOC \n Fintech companies should fall under the same risk assessment framework as banks, a PBOC official said. Back in August, the PBOC for the first time said it wanted to include internet finance companies in its Macro Prudential Assessment framework, a risk monitoring and mitigation system designated for banks. It remains unknown whether or when that will happen, according to Caixin. \u201cSystemically important financial institutions do not necessarily have to be traditional financial institutions,\u201d Sun Guofeng, head of the PBOC\u2019s finance research institute, said during a recent digital finance conference. Regulators have been \u201cexercising tolerance\u201d toward fintech firms to encourage innovation and improve the financial system\u2019s competitiveness, Sun said. China\u2019s financial system is dominated by banks, so increasing sources of competition can make the entire system more efficient, but at the same time many risks were exposed and left unattended. The actions of some large fintech firms could have an impact on the health of the entire financial system, he added.\n\nLike this: Like Loading...", "output": "The People's Bank of China (PBOC) is set to begin regulating fintech firms in the same way it regulates legacy banks. Bank officials have noted fintech firms have faced more lenient regulations in order to encourage innovation and add more diversity to the Chinese financial system. The PBOC now notes, however, that certain risks have flown under the radar and a new treatment of fintech firms may be in order.\u00a0\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Energy storage could reach 35 GW by 2025: Navigant Research \n Dive Brief:\n\nThe Energy Storage Association on Monday released a paper that charts a path toward reaching 35 GW of new energy storage systems by 2025.\n\nThe \u201c35x25: A Vision for Energy Storage\u201d white paper, created in conjunction with Navigant Research, outlines the market drivers behind the rapid growth of energy storage and the value of a \u201cdisruption-proof grid.\u201d\n\nThe paper argues that widespread use of energy storage could result in $4 billion in cumulative operational grid savings and the potential for more than 167,000 new jobs.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nGTM Research and the Energy Storage Association already noted the first quarter of this year was the largest ever for energy storage.\n\nThere were 71 MW of storage projects deployed in the first quarter, a 276% increase over Q1 2016 and the second highest quarter since GTM and the ESA began tracking energy storage in 2013, surpassed only by installations in fourth quarter 2016. Despite that strong performance, storage is still a small part of the total U.S. market, with all storage installations composing only about 0.5 GW.\n\nBut market forces will drive much wider expansion of energy storage according to the ESA-Navigant paper. Among the market drivers are the electrification of the transportation sector, and the need for a variety of industries, such as communications and some manufacturing processes, for a more flexible and resilient grid. The paper argues that in an electrified economy, grid disruptions will become even more costly. Already, it is estimated that power outages, surges and spikes cost the U.S. economy more than $150 billion every year, the paper says.\n\nEnergy storage is key to building a disruption-proof grid by providing on-demand capacity and responsive balancing capability. The paper outlines a variety of benefits that wider adoption of energy storage could provide.For one, faster response times enabled by storage could result in $4 billion in cumulative operational cost savings by 2025, the authors say.\n\nIn addition, they say wider adoption of energy storage could enhance reliability and resilience, help reduce air pollution and create more than 167,000 jobs.\n\n\u201cEnergy storage is the key to creating a powerful energy ecosystem whose backbone is an efficient, resilient, affordable, and sustainable grid,\u201d Kelly Speakes-Backman, CEO of ESA, said in a statement.", "output": "Energy storage could reach 35 GW by 2025, according to the Energy Storage Association and Navigant Research. The first quarter of 2017 saw the biggest-ever increase in storage projects, with 71 MW of new capacity deployed, a 276% increase on the same quarter last year. The report identifies market forces that it claims will drive further expansion, including the increased adoption of electric vehicles and the need for a more resilient energy grid. The authors claim increased storage could create more than 167,000 new jobs and save $4bn in operational costs."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurers need to adopt more tech: Singapore deputy PM \n Insurance firms can - and must - do a lot more to take advantage of digital technology, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said yesterday.\n\nMr Tharman said at the launch of Prudential Singapore's new office at Marina One that health insurers can tap digital technology to go beyond paying for medical claims to preventive care and encouraging a healthy lifestyle and habits.\n\nHe noted that some insurers have already begun tracking users' health and habits through fitness devices and apps, and pricing in premium discounts for healthier lifestyles.\n\nHealthcare itself can also be delivered and administered more effectively with digital technology, Mr Tharman noted, and insurers should encourage this.\n\n\"Tele-health is increasingly being used, saving patients time and money. Here in Singapore, we have been rolling out TeleRehab services for stroke patients.\n\n\"It delivers better health outcomes because doctors can monitor patients and make sure they follow through on rehabilitation without the inconvenience of regular physical travel to the clinic.\"\n\nApps and social media also present insurers with more touch points to engage their clients, Mr Tharman added, while telematics and Internet-of-Things devices enable data analytics, allowing insurers to deliver more customised and innovative products and services.\n\nAt the backend, he noted that the life insurance industry is testing artificial intelligence and blockchain to automatically trigger and settle claims.\n\nWith such changes, the role of the insurance agent will also evolve, Mr Tharman said. From selling life or health products, he must now offer more holistic wealth and risk management advice.\n\n\"Given the growing demand for risk management and compliance-related roles in the industry, I also encourage insurers to consider reskilling some of their agents to take on such roles,\" he said.\n\nThe new PRU Workplace aims to promote such change. The insurer has two floors totalling 80,000 sq ft at the new office, which houses 1,000 employees.\n\nThe office's open plan is designed to inspire innovation and build a creative work culture to support the company's future growth.\n\nIt includes social spaces, activity rooms - such as one in which employees can play with Lego bricks as they brainstorm ideas - nature-inspired nooks and rest pods for naps.\n\nEmployees also have the flexibility and autonomy to work from anywhere and at any time.\n\n\"Just as we are challenging our people to make a mental shift to a more creative and collaborative culture, our physical workspace and work policies must equally support our journey,\" said Prudential Singapore chief executive Wilf Blackburn.", "output": "Singapore's deputy prime minister has said insurers need to be more willing to adopt and accept technological advances. Tharman Shanmugaratnam suggested there were many areas of insurance which could benefit from technology adoption, noting a number of health insurers already use apps and wearables to track data for policyholders. Among other changes insurers should be making is retraining staff to tackle risk management or compliance-related position given the growing importance of these in the industry, said Shanmugaratnam."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Toyota to introduce Japan's first telematic car insurance \n Toyota Motor Corporation, along with MS&AD Insurance Group\u2019s Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance, has jointly developed Japan\u2019s first driving behaviour-based telematics automobile insurance.\n\nThe new insurance by Toyota is available to owners of certain units of Toyota connected cars that will use driving data gathered via telematics technologies for adjusting the insurance premium based on the level of safe driving habits of the user every month. The insurance premium will consist of a combination of the basic insurance premiums and usage-based insurance and under this new plan up to 80 percent of usage-based insurance premiums can be discounted.\n\nIn addition to driving behaviour discounts, other services will be provided under the concepts of \u2018enjoyment\u2019, \u2018benefits\u2019, and \u2018safeguards\u2019. The new service will go on sale from January 15, 2018, while insurance liability is scheduled to commence in April 2018.\n\nAccording to Toyota and Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance the intention is to contribute towards the realisation of a safe and secure traffic environment through the development and provision of telematics automobile insurance that utilises connected cars and automobile big data.\n\nDevelopment background\n\nAdvancement in telematics technologies has led to major changes in the automobile landscape, such as the creation of a variety of new products and services that utilise automobile driving data. In Europe and the USA, there has been an increase in the number of automobile insurance policies that utilise telematics technologies to provide discounted insurance premiums based on levels of safe driving. In Japan, the government is advocating the use of automobile insurance that leverages telematics technologies as a means of reducing the number of accidents. Consequently, automakers and IT companies are engaged in lively competition for technological development.\n\nRecently, Toyota declared the three pillars of its connected strategy: connecting all cars; the creation of new value and business revolution; and the creation of new mobility services. Through the development of connected cars, that are equipped with data communication modules (DCM), which are required for transmitting data, it provides connected services that utilise big data.\n\nThis has enabled the company to engage in the creation of new value for a mobility society and, at the same time, it aims to realise the ultimate goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and injuries. For this, the company promotes the development of advanced safety technologies such as Toyota Safety Sense and ICS, and has increased the number of models equipped with these technologies along with working together with dealers, commencing Support Toyota programs\u2015educational traffic safety activities aimed at enhancing customer safety and peace of mind.\n\nIn the initial phase the company\u2019s new insurance scheme will see Toyota\u2019s connected cars (including Lexus vehicles) and the line-up will be gradually expanded starting with the Crown (scheduled for launch in April-May,2018) and all new models that will be sold from January 2018 onwards are eligible (excluding the HS and LC; certain existing models are also eligible).\n\nHow it works?\n\nThe connected cars will automatically transmit a variety of car-related data via a DCM to the Toyota Smart Center. Utilising this vehicle driving data, Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance will provide a new service that will be unique to Toyota vehicles.\n\nApart from utilising data for determining the policy premium, the data will also generate a drive report that will help vehicle users for getting \u2013 tips that can be checked after every drive, safe driving score and tips, after each drive, the driver's speed, acceleration, and braking are evaluated on a five-point scale. A combined safe driving score out of 100 is also provided. This report will enable drivers to verify both the route taken and locations where dangerous driving was detected and provide them simple tips on each aspect of driving.\n\nApart from driving-behaviour, vehicular information alerts will also be provided that include \u2013the operational state of active safety devices, tire pressure, electronic key charge status, among other items.\n\nDepending on the monthly report, a detailed evaluation will enable drivers to review their monthly driving results, along with safe driving score and insurance premiums and discounts will be determined based on the driver's safe driving score.\n\nAdditional features as part of the new scheme will incorporate \u2013 real-time support during emergency situations, automatic emergency report service, previously, when customers were involved in an accident, they had to call their insurance company themselves. However, under this plan, if a large collision is detected, staff at a specialised Automatic Report Desk will place a 'safety confirmation phone call' and make any necessary arrangements in a speedy manner to reduce the burden on the customer.\n\nAlso, customers can opt not to receive safety confirmation phone calls, in which case Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance will then send emergency contact information by email. When directly contacted by the customer, the company will make emergency tow truck arrangements, accident reports, and rental car arrangements as necessary.", "output": "Toyota is bringing Japan's first telematic-driven auto insurance to market. The car manufacturer has partnered with MS&AD Insurance Group\u2019s Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance for the policies, making coverage available to owners of certain Toyota connected car models. The manufacturer will use data provided by these vehicles to determine premium rates. Premiums will also be able to be divided into \"ownership-based\" premiums and \"usage-based\" premiums, allowing drivers who use their cars less to experience reduced insurance costs.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Driverless cars will be commonplace soon: XL's McGavick \n During his presentation Monday morning at IRMI\u2019s Construction Risk Conference, XL Group Ltd. CEO Mike McGavick delivered a wake-up call that the insurance industry needs to evolve in tandem with the accelerating pace of change in a digitally powered, evolving world: Some of the innovations that will shape our collective destiny, including autonomous vehicles, will arrive faster than some may think.\n\n\u201cI believe completely that we\u2019re living in the Renaissance of the insurance industry,\u201d McGavick told the audience at the J.W. Marriott in downtown Indianapolis during the IRMI conference\u2019s kickoff session. \u201cThe rate of change is extraordinary, and will not slow down.\u201d", "output": "Autonomous vehicles are likely to be on the roads sooner than expected, said XL Group's CEO Mike McGavick. The insurance industry needs to accept and react to the pace of change, he added. Rather than keep up with technology, insurers have actually stepped back from development, McGavick said. The industry can react by changing the way risk is pooled while also altering and developing liability theory. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Renewables won't replace baseload for 'foreseeable future': Lazard \n Dive Brief:\n\nLazard has analyzed of the financials of energy from various generation sources, and storage for different applications, finding clean energy resources are broadly declining in cost.\n\nof the financials of energy from various generation sources, and storage for different applications, finding clean energy resources are broadly declining in cost. But while renewables are \"increasingly cost-competitive\" and storage technology \"holds great promise,\" the firm said alternative energy systems alone \"will not be capable of meeting the baseload generation needs of a developed economy for the foreseeable future.\"\n\nare \"increasingly cost-competitive\" and storage technology \"holds great promise,\" the firm said alternative energy systems alone \"will not be capable of meeting the generation needs of a developed economy for the foreseeable future.\" Factors contributing to the declining costs include lower financing costs, declining capital expenditures per project, and increased Industry competition. The levelized cost of energy for utility-scale solar and onshore wind declined approximately 6% from last year, according to the reports. Lithium-ion capital costs are expected to decline as much as 36% over the next five years.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nLazard's analysis of power generation and storage costs solidifies the conventional wisdom that these clean resources are declining in cost, but it also highlights the wide variability depending on use case.\n\nThe report on energy storage concludes the technology is sparking much discussion right now but \"it is not currently cost competitive in most applications.\" There are some applications where energy storage pencils out, relating primarily to strengthening the grid, reducing bills and participating in demand response.\n\nMost of the expected future decline in storage costs will result from manufacturing and engineering improvements in batteries, and will vary widely among technologies. Lithium-ion capital costs are expected to decline by more than a third over the next five years.\n\nSource: Lazard Ltd.\n\nThe cost of lithium-ion batteries for peaker replacement currently runs $282/MWh to $347/MWh, and is expected to decline again next year. In distribution use cases the costs and expectations are similar, but in microgrids the costs are slightly higher, running from $363/MWh to $386/MWh.\n\nBehind-the-meter storage costs are substantially higher. In commercial applications, the costs currently run from about $900/MWh to $1,000/MWh. Residential prices can be as high as $1,274/MWh.\n\nLike storage, the use case of renewable generation also dictates wide swings in cost.\n\nSource: Lazard Ltd.\n\nRooftop solar can run anywhere from $187/MWh to $319/Mwh. Community solar can get down to around $76/MWh, with utility-scale installations even cheaper. Wind generation ranges from $30/MWh to $60/MWh, while utility-scale solar runs about $43/MWh to $53/MWh. Cobmined-cycle natural gas plants are costing between $42/MWh and $78/MWh.\n\nLazard's analysis shows cost declines are slowing \"modestly\" for utility-scale alternative energy generation, but the cost-gap with conventional resources is widening because fuel-based cost profiles have remained flat or increased. The firm said the estimated levelized cost of energy for nuclear generation increased approximately 35% versus prior estimates, reflecting increased capital costs at various nuclear facilities currently in development.\n\nBut while non-emitting resources can be cheaper than fossil fuels, that doesn't mean the end of baseload generation.\n\n\"Although alternative energy is increasingly cost-competitive and storage technology holds great promise, alternative energy systems alone will not be capable of meeting the baseload generation needs of a developed economy for the foreseeable future,\" the report concludes. \"Therefore, the optimal solution for many regions of the world is to use complementary conventional and alternative energy resources in a diversified generation fleet.\"", "output": "The cost of renewable energy is continuing to fall, but it will not be able to fully replace conventional generation in the foreseeable future, according to Lazard's annual reports on the levelised cost of energy and energy storage. The analysis shows utility-scale solar costs today can be as low as $43/MWh, and wind generation as low as $30/MWh, whilst gas plant generation starts at $42 per MWh. The cost of utility-scale solar and onshore wind fell about 6% from last year, while capital costs for lithium-ion batteries will fall as much as 36% over the next five years."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Antibiotics use on healthy farm animals should be banned: WHO \n Farmers must be prevented from using powerful antibiotics on animals reared for food, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned, because of the serious risks to human health that result.\n\nNew guidelines from the global body suggest farmers should stop using any antibiotics routinely to promote growth and prevent disease in animals that are otherwise healthy, a common practice in some parts of the world, including Asia and the US. Such routine use is banned in Europe, though campaigners fear the rules are sometimes flouted.\n\nUsing antimicrobial medicines on farm animals is one of the leading causes of the rise of superbugs, resistant to all but the strongest antibiotics. Medical authorities warn that the antibiotics available to treat even relatively minor human diseases are running out because of the rapid rise of such resistance.\n\nDame Sally Davies, chief medical officer for England, has warned repeatedly that, a decade from now, even routine, previously low-risk operations, such as hip replacements, may become dangerous because of the risk of infections resistant to medicines.\n\nThe WHO reported on Tuesday that in some countries, as much as 80% of antibiotic use is on farm animals. Even in some countries where routine use for enhancing growth is banned, more antibiotics are used on animals than on humans.\n\nThe use of the strongest antibiotics, a last resort for the most deadly infections affecting humans, should be banned altogether in animals, the guidelines advise. This should apply, according to the WHO, even in cases where an illness has been diagnosed in a food-producing animal. Implementing this could require animals to be quarantined, allowed to die, or for herds to be culled in order to halt the spread of a serious disease rather than attempting to cure it.\n\nThis recommendation is likely to be unpopular with farmers, who could risk financial loss, but is crucial to protect human health, according to the WHO, because the use of such antibiotics in animals is leading to increased resistance even to last-resort medicines, to the despair of doctors.\n\nHowever, the WHO has no power to enforce its guidelines, which are up to national governments to accept or reject.\n\nThe forthright warning comes as new research, published in The Lancet Planetary Health, showed that restricting antibiotic use on farms reduced the antibiotic-resistant bacteria in farm animals by up to 39%. The WHO said it had used the research to inform its new guidelines.\n\nRestricting our remaining effective antibiotics for human use is crucial because of the lack of alternatives available. \u201cThere are very few promising options in the research pipeline\u201d for new antibiotics to replace those that are becoming ineffective because of overuse and resistance, the WHO warned.\n\nTedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the WHO, said: \u201cA lack of effective antibiotics is as serious a security threat as a sudden and deadly disease outbreak. Strong, sustained action across all sectors is vital if we are to turn back the tide of antimicrobial resistance and keep the world safe.\u201d\n\nAnimal herds treated with antibiotics can develop bacteria resistant to the drugs, and pass this on to humans directly, through contact with farm workers, or through food. A Guardian investigation found that the superbug MRSA was found in a significant sample of pork products on the UK\u2019s supermarket shelves, risking humans becoming infected with the strain.\n\nKazuaki Miyagishima, director of food safety at the WHO, said the links between antibiotic use on farms and risks to human health were clear: \u201cScientific evidence demonstrates that overuse of antibiotics in animals can contribute to the emergence of antibiotic resistance. The volume of antibiotics used in animals is continuing to increase worldwide, driven by a growing demand for foods of animal origin, often produced through intensive animal husbandry.\u201d\n\nDr Clare Chandler of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said: \u201cThis is a welcome set of recommendations from WHO. It will be a challenge for producers to follow these recommendations to reduce antibiotic use, but possible for larger scale producers with good biosecurity. Many smaller scale farmers around the world are dependent upon antibiotics to supplement animal feed, and actions will be needed to support them to make this change which will affect their lives and livelihoods.\u201d\n\nThe Guardian, in a joint investigation with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, also found a rapid increase in the number of megafarms in the UK. Megafarms across the globe are on the rise, and they have been linked with antibiotic resistance, as whole herds of many hundreds of animals are often treated at once.", "output": "Farmers must be made to stop using antibiotics completely on healthy animals that are reared for food as it is causing increasingly serious risks to human health and is one of the leading causes for the rise of antibiotic-resistant superbugs,\u00a0the World Health Organisation has warned. Using antibiotics to promote growth and prevent disease\u00a0in farmed animals is routine in some parts of Asia and the US, and,\u00a0although it is banned in Europe, campaigners suggested the\u00a0rule is sometimes ignored.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Deadly Marburg virus kills three in Kenya, Uganda \n Three people in Uganda and Kenya have died from an extremely rare and deadly disease caused by the Marburg virus, the World Health Organization reported today (Nov. 7).\n\nThe Marburg virus is related to another notorious virus, the Ebola virus, according to WHO. Both viruses are members of the \"filovirus\" family and have high fatality rates. The fatality rate for the disease caused by the Marburg virus can be as high as 88 percent.\n\nThe Marburg virus is transmitted to people from a type of fruit bat called Rousettus aegyptiacus, or the Egyptian fruit bat, WHO says. Once a human is infected, however, the virus can be spread to other humans via direct contact with bodily fluids, or by coming into contact with surfaces and materials that have been contaminated with these fluids. [The 9 Deadliest Viruses on Earth]\n\nThe amount of time it takes for symptoms to appear after a person is infected with the virus \u2014 known as the incubation period \u2014 can vary from two to 21 days, WHO says. But when symptoms begin, they begin abruptly, and can include muscle aches and pain. About three days after symptoms begin, a person can develop gastrointestinal symptoms, including nausea, vomiting and severe diarrhea that can persist for a week. WHO describes patients at this phase of the infection as \"ghost-like,\" with drawn features, deep-set eyes, expressionless faces and extreme lethargy.\n\nLike the Ebola virus, the Marburg virus causes a condition called severe hemorrhagic fever, which includes symptoms such as a high fever and dysfunction in the body's blood vessels, which can result in profuse bleeding. These hemorrhagic symptoms often begin between five and seven days after the onset of symptoms, according to WHO. Blood may be found in vomit and feces, and patients may also bleed from the nose, gums and, for women, the vagina. Bleeding at injection sites during medical treatment can be \"particularly troublesome,\" according to WHO.\n\nThe virus can also cause problems with the central nervous system, leading to confusion, irritability and aggression, WHO says.\n\nIn fatal cases, death occurs between eight and nine days after the symptoms begin, usually due to severe blood loss and shock, according to WHO.\n\nIn the current outbreak, which was declared on Oct. 19, the three people who died came from the same family in the Kween District in Eastern Uganda, according to WHO. One of the individuals traveled to Kenya prior to his death. Because only three people have been infected thus far, and all three died, the current outbreak has a fatality rate of 100 percent.\n\nOriginally published on Live Science.", "output": "Three people have died from the Marburg virus in Uganda and Kenya, while\u00a0hundreds may have been exposed to the rare and often fatal disease, according to the World Health Organisation. The Marburg\u00a0virus is related to\u00a0Ebola, with both carrying high fatality rates. The Marburg virus is passed on to humans by the Egyptian fruit bat, and spreads between people through the exchange of bodily fluids, either directly or after contact with external objects."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Waymo removes safety driver from autonomous vehicles \n Eight years after launching its self-driving \u201cmoon shot,\u201d Waymo, a k a Google\u2019s driverless car company, is having its Neil Armstrong moment.\n\nThe company is now running its autonomous minivans around Phoenix with no human inside to grab the wheel if things go bad, CEO John Krafcik announced Tuesday. And in just a few months, it will invite passengers to climb aboard the world\u2019s first driverless ride-hailing service.\n\nThis launch brings up a host of unanswered questions about the details and practical elements of such a service, but what\u2019s already clear is Waymo is taking one of the final steps on the long road toward taking the human driver out of the picture and finally cashing in on the profits and safety benefits that come with the transition to robot chauffeurs.\n\n\u201cFully self-driving cars are here,\u201d Krafcik said at Web Summit in Lisbon, where he announced the move.\n\nWaymo took its first driverless spin on public roads in October 2015, when it was still officially part of Google. (In December 2015, it launched as a stand-alone company under the umbrella of Alphabet, Google\u2019s parent company.) Steve Mahan, a blind man, took a solo, 10-minute ride around Austin, Texas in the company\u2019s \u201cpod car,\u201d the funky one without a steering wheel or pedals (Waymo retired those cars this summer in favor of its minivans).\n\nThe difference here, Krafcik says, is that the cars prowling Phoenix sans humans aren\u2019t part of a demo. \u201cWhat you\u2019re seeing now marks the start of a new phase for Waymo,\u201d he said in Lisbon.\n\nIndeed, this is a massive step toward the driverless future Waymo/Google has been pursuing since starting this project in 2009. The company has been toting select riders around the Phoenix metro area since April, but with safety drivers at the wheel to make sure everything stays on track. Now, those drivers are coming out.\n\nAnd once you\u2019ve taken the driver out, putting a rider in becomes something like an afterthought. \u201cThe difference between those two things is relatively slight,\u201d Krafcik told reporters last week. \u201cYou\u2019ve still got a fully driverless car interacting with the world, all of the other human-driven cars, pedestrians and cyclists and other things that are on the road at the same time.\u201d\n\nIn other words, the technology has to be damn near perfect to get to this point. Then it\u2019s just a matter of buttoning things up\u2014and reaping the safety benefits and dollars that come with it.\n\nWaymo is also experimenting with self-driving trucks and will consider selling autonomous technology straight to automakers who want to implement it in their vehicles, but a ride-hailing service makes sense as a starting point.\n\nOK, here\u2019s the part where we go over all the things that aren\u2019t quite clear. Waymo hasn\u2019t disclosed how much territory its cars will cover or what kind of hours they will run, whether it will charge passengers for rides, or the timeline for announcing or figuring out any of that. (Company reps recently declined to give any such details for the existing early rider program in Phoenix.)", "output": "Alphabet's Waymo has begun testing its autonomous vehicles without a human fail-safe backup. Announcing the move at Web Summit in Lisbon, CEO John Krafcik stated that \u201cfully self-driving cars are here\u201d. The company is testing the technology in minivans in Phoenix, Arizona, and plans to offer it in a ride-hailing service within the next few months."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Waymo removes safety driver from autonomous vehicles \n Driverless cars are here.\n\nWaymo, the Alphabet self-driving car company, now has cars driving on public roads in the Phoenix metropolitan area with no one in the driver's seat. Waymo CEO John Krafcik plans to announce the news today in a speech at the Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal.\n\nFor the last year, Waymo has offered free taxi rides to ordinary people who live near the Phoenix suburb of Chandler. Until recently, the company's modified Chrysler Pacifica minivans had a Waymo employee in the driver's seat ready to take control if the car malfunctioned.\n\nWaymo is now confident enough in its technology to dispense with a safety driver. The company has released a video showing Waymo cars driving around the Phoenix area with no one in the driver's seat:\n\nAt first, most of Waymo's driverless cars will have an employee in the back observing the vehicle's behavior. If something goes really wrong, they'll be able to push the \"pull over\" button to stop the car. In the coming months, participants in Waymo's early rider program will start getting the option to ride in fully driverless vehicles.\n\nSome time after that, Waymo will launch a commercial driverless taxi service that's open to members of the general public in the Phoenix metropolitan area and beyond.\n\nWaymo\u2019s first product will be a taxi service\n\nIndustry watchers have long assumed that a Phoenix taxi service would be Waymo's first product. But as recently as last week, Waymo was still playing coy about the question, suggesting that it might get into the trucking business instead. Now, Waymo is officially announcing that its first commercial product will be a driverless taxi service.\n\nThere's a dichotomy in the industry when it comes to autonomous cars. On the one hand, you have companies like Tesla and Volvo that want to sell you a car that drives you around. Others, including Waymo, want to operate fleets of robotaxis themselves. Some car companies, including GM, BMW, and Volkswagen, are pursuing both strategies simultaneously.\n\nCompanies selling cars to customers envision a future where today's driver-assistance systems\u2014like lane-keeping and adaptive cruise control\u2014gradually evolve into more sophisticated self-driving software, with human drivers intervening less and less frequently over time.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nGoogle initially considered this same gradualist approach, which could have led to licensing partially self-driving technology to automakers. But early tests convinced the company that it was a bad idea. Google employees who got to test early prototypes started trusting the technology way too quickly. Google captured videos of test drivers looking at their smartphones, putting on makeup, and even napping in the driver's seat while cars zoomed down the freeway.\n\nSo Google changed its strategy. The company decided that instead of selling cars, it would build a taxi service built around cars designed from the ground up for driverless operation. Customers would never be required\u2014or even allowed\u2014to take the wheel.\n\nThis strategy allows Google\u2014now Waymo\u2014to pursue a different kind of gradualism. In the old model, cars could go anywhere, but at first the software would only drive some of the time. In the new model, the software drives all the time, but at first the cars can only go certain places.\n\nSpecifically, Waymo's fully driverless cars will initially only navigate in a small portion of the Phoenix metropolitan area around the southeastern suburb of Chandler. Within this zone, the cars are able to go anywhere a conventional taxi can go. But the cars will refuse any trip that would take them outside of this carefully chosen area.\n\nTo aid with navigation, Waymo has built high-resolution three-dimensional maps of its service area. Self-driving software in each car can compare the objects identified by sensors to objects on the map, allowing it to quickly distinguish stationary objects like trees and buildings from mobile objects like cars and pedestrians.\n\nAs Waymo expands its map and acquires more vehicles, it will also expand its service area. Before too long, Waymo expects to offer service across the entire Phoenix metropolitan area. Eventually, Waymo will extend service to other metropolitan areas using the same incremental approach.\n\nWhy Waymo is launching first in Phoenix\n\nA big advantage of starting in Phoenix is the region's excellent weather. It's warm and sunny there almost every day. Tricky situations like rain, snow, and ice are rare\u2014though Waymo says its cars are able to drive safely in light rain. Waymo recently expanded its testing into Detroit to prepare for an eventual expansion of the service into colder parts of the United States.\n\nIn addition to nice weather, the Phoenix area has wide, well-maintained streets and less traffic congestion than most major cities.\n\n\"I'm not going to say Phoenix drivers are the best drivers, but the Phoenix metro area is an easy place to drive,\" Phoenix resident Eric de Gaston told Ars last month.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nPerhaps the most important factor is the regulatory climate. Arizona's leaders have bent over backward to attract Waymo and other self-driving car makers to the Phoenix area. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed a two-page executive order in 2015 designed to encourage self-driving car testing in the state. Besides that, Arizona doesn't have any special legislation or regulations related to self-driving cars.\n\nLast month, I asked Ryan Harding, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Transportation, if there were any legal barriers to launching a fully driverless self-driving taxi service in the state. \"I'm not aware of any current law that would prohibit\" fully driverless taxis on public streets, Harding said. \"We don't have a problem with that.\"\n\nIn the last year, Waymo's minivans have become a common sight in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler.\n\n\"I live in Chandler. You see Waymo units all over the damn place,\" a Redditor wrote last month.\n\n\"When it first started, a lot of people I think were kind of afraid,\" said Scott Suaso, who lives near Chandler and sees Waymo cars on a daily basis. \"That was a year ago. These days, no one really seems to care. Everybody has become so used to seeing them.\"\n\nArs got a preview of Waymo\u2019s fully driverless cars last week\n\nLast week we were invited to visit Waymo's secretive test facility in the California desert to see Waymo's fully driverless cars in action.\n\nIn a conventional car, the main user interface is the steering wheel, pedals, and other controls on the dashboard. But no one will be allowed in the driver's seat in Waymo's cars. So the company has had to think about building a user interface for a car where everyone is a passenger.\n\nCustomers hail cars with an Uber-style app, so the car itself barely needs a user interface at all. There's a pair of video screens mounted on the backs of the front seats, and a row of four buttons on the ceiling above the middle row of seats.\n\nThe main function of the video screens is to increase passengers' confidence in the safety of the self-driving software. The screens show a stylized map of the area immediately around the car, with outlines of pedestrians, other cars, bicycles, and so forth marked. Passengers will be able to compare what they see on the screen to what they see out the window and confirm that the car really does understand the road situation.\n\nThe leftmost button initiates a call to Waymo's customer service center. The second button locks and unlocks the doors. The third button causes the car to pull over\u2014though Waymo says the car won't stop in an unsafe place, like in the middle of an intersection. The rightmost button tells the car to start the ride.", "output": "Alphabet's Waymo has begun testing its autonomous vehicles without a human fail-safe backup. Announcing the move at Web Summit in Lisbon, CEO John Krafcik stated that \u201cfully self-driving cars are here\u201d. The company is testing the technology in minivans in Phoenix, Arizona, and plans to offer it in a ride-hailing service within the next few months."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trump arrives in China seeking progress on\u00a0North Korea and trade \n When Donald Trump hosted Xi Jinping at his private club Mar-a-Lago in April, the American president informed his Chinese counterpart\u2014over \u201cthe most beautiful piece of chocolate cake,\u201d as Trump told reporters later\u2014that he had ordered a missile attack against Syria.\n\nLike that, the first Trump-Xi summit was overshadowed by the Syria strikes. Syria isn\u2019t central to US-China relations, but by design or otherwise, the way Trump looped Xi in on such an important geopolitical development suggested he was the one in control.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWhen the two leaders meet again this week in Beijing, in the middle of Trump\u2019s 11-day Asian tour, it will be difficult for the US president to come across as the more dominant one. Since their last encounter, Xi\u2019s domestic position has grown stronger, while Trump\u2019s has weakened. Xi consolidated his power at the recently concluded Communist Party congress, while Trump, amid investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, failed to push through promised changes on health care and now faces a fresh battle on tax reform.\n\nAt the top of the agenda for the second Trump-Xi summit is, still, North Korea and trade\u2014two items that, in Trump\u2019s view, can be leveraged against each other. But the rogue regime of Kim Jong-un has become even more belligerent, conducting one nuclear and 12 missile tests since Trump and Xi met in April. Needing Beijing\u2019s help to rein in Pyongyang, Trump, despite his threats, has yet to impose any major punitive measures against China over the alleged unfair trade practices he railed against while campaigning last year.\n\nIt\u2019s easier to see how Xi comes out a winner from the pair\u2019s second meeting. \u201cXi would be fine having a symbolism-heavy, substance-light visit, largely because he does not want or need a lot from Trump, and is broadly comfortable with the relationship as it currently stands,\u201d wrote Ryan Hass, a foreign-policy expert at the Brookings Institution, in late October.\n\nBelow, some of the ways Xi can emerge from Trump\u2019s visit victorious.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nKeep Trump full, flattered, and fatigued\n\nChina will welcome Trump with a lavish reception, including a military honor guard and a formal banquet, according to Cui Tiankai, the Chinese ambassador to the US. Touting a \u201cstate visit-plus\u201d experience, Cui said there will also be some \u201cspecial arrangements\u201d for Trump, without elaborating further.\n\n\u201cTrump is a president who loves to be flattered\u2014and the Chinese know how to flatter,\u201d wrote David Lampton, director of China studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.\n\nLampton pointed to a visit to China in the 1940s by US president Franklin Roosevelt\u2019s special envoy Wendell Willkie. According to an account by American general Joseph Stilwell, then Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek dragged Willkie around to see and hear only what his hosts wanted him to, including factories, girl scouts, and sewing circles. The idea, Stilwell wrote, was to \u201cget him so exhausted and keep him so torpid with food and drink that his faculties will be dulled and he\u2019ll be stuffed with the right doctrines.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nLavish proceedings seemed to work out for Saudi Arabia when it hosted Trump in May on his first overseas trip as president. Trump was all smiles in the gulf kingdom while receiving gold jewelry and playing with swords.\n\nA packed schedule of extravagant yet tedious events would also test Trump\u2019s stamina: At 71, he is past the Communist Party\u2019s standard retirement age of 68.\n\nDodge North Korea trouble\n\nThis year North Korea has annoyed Xi repeatedly with the timing of its weapons tests. Xi doesn\u2019t want the same thing happening this week.\n\nPyongyang launched a missile just days before the first Trump-Xi summit, and it fired another in mid-May right as Xi was about to tout his pet project, the Belt and Road initiative, to dozens of world leaders gathered in Beijing. In September Pyongyang conducted its latest and most powerful nuclear test just as Xi was about to deliver the opening remarks for the BRICS summit in southeast China. And as Trump headed toward Asia for the current trip, South Korea\u2019s intelligence agency reported brisk activity at missile research facilities in North Korea.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIn this context, Xi will be delighted if North Korea simply refrains from conducting a weapons test during Trump\u2019s visit. Pyongyang did forgo a chance to interrupt the Communist Party congress\u2014the most important event on China\u2019s political calendar\u2014and Kim even sent a note congratulating Xi on his re-election as party chief. Xi in turn sent Kim a note calling for stable ties between the two nations.\n\nTrump has called on China to apply more economic pressure against North Korea, but he\u2019s also offered praise when it\u2019s done so. Xi will be hoping for more of the latter. China recently released data showing its trade with North Korea has fallen significantly, coming after Beijing followed through on UN sanctions.\n\nWhat Xi doesn\u2019t want is Trump pressing him for sanctions that won\u2019t serve China\u2019s interests\u2014for example, an outright oil embargo that could destabilize the Kim regime to the point of sparking a refugee crisis at China\u2019s border.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAvoid trade issues but give Trump deals to tout\n\nTrump will want some business wins to brag about back home. According to Bloomberg, one of the biggest deals to be announced will be a multibillion-dollar energy investment from China\u2019s state-owned oil giant Sinopec creating thousands of jobs in Texas and the US Virgin Islands. The project, expected to be in the form of a non-binding memorandum of understanding, would include a pipeline running about 700 miles (1,126 km) across Texas.\n\nAs welcome as such one-off business deals are, Lampton noted, \u201cthey don\u2019t move the overall economic relationship in a direction favourable to US interests or the goals Trump set for his own political base.\u201d\n\nTrump remains unhappy about US-China trade in general and views China as being engaged in all sorts of unfair practices, among them dumping commodities like aluminum and stealing intellectual property. He\u2019s ordered probes into China\u2019s IP practices and exports of steel and aluminum to the US, but so far no investigation results have been announced.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nUS commerce secretary Wilbur Ross told reporters a few weeks ago that the two sides will probably announce some \u201cdecent deliverables\u201d at the Trump-Xi summit, but it will take longer to fix complex issues such as IP and forced technology transfer.\n\nWhile Xi will deny Trump the big concessions he craves on trade and North Korea, he won\u2019t let him go home \u201ctotally empty-handed,\u201d wrote Minxin Pei, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College in California, in a Nikkei column last week. The most likely outcome of the summit, Pei believes, is \u201ca series of specific agreements between Chinese and American companies that will allow Trump to claim new job opportunities for his blue-collar voters.\u201d\n\nSteer clear of the South China Sea\n\nAmid all the hand-wringing over North Korea, Beijing\u2019s assertiveness in the South China Sea has received less attention than merited. In his April meeting with Xi, Trump merely urged China to follow international norms in its maritime disputes with regional neighbors.\n\nAt that time, he had yet to approve a freedom-of-navigation operation challenging China\u2019s claims in the vital waterway, which carries a large chunk of world trade but, some fear, could essentially become a \u201cChinese lake.\u201d In May, however, a US warship sailed within 12 nautical miles of Mischief Reef, a feature naturally submerged at high tide but now hosting a Chinese military base. The close passage, coupled with a \u201cmaneuvering drill,\u201d signaled the US does not recognize Mischief as generating a territorial sea. More operations near other Chinese outposts have followed since\u2014including in July, August, and October\u2014all challenging what Washington views as China\u2019s excessive maritime claims.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nChina claims nearly the entire South China Sea, even though an international tribunal ruled last year that the claim had neither legal nor historical basis. Beijing dismissed the ruling and routinely warns the US against the operations, saying in July, for instance, that it was \u201cfirmly opposed to such flaunting of force and promotion of militarization in the region by the US, which could easily trigger accidents at sea and in the air.\u201d\n\nBeijing has warned the US to not bring up the South China Sea issue when Trump visits. It\u2019ll be a win for Xi if Trump doesn\u2019t, or if he at least keeps any reference to it generic, as he did in April.\n\nUse the visit for a PR win\n\nMuch planning has no doubt gone into how Trump\u2019s visit will be portrayed in China\u2019s state-controlled media. While Beijing\u2019s propaganda machine was relatively muted during Xi\u2019s trip to Florida, presumably due to uncertainty over how the trip would unfold, it will be at full speed this week trying to portray Xi as the more sophisticated leader and emphasizing any show of respect from Trump toward Xi.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAfter Xi was re-elected Communist Party chief at the recent national congress, nearly every front page in China looked the same, all emphasizing Xi\u2019s powerful position. Many front pages also included another crucial indication of Xi\u2019s status: the news that US president Donald Trump called Xi to congratulate him on his re-election. Similarly, this week we can expect to see any compliments, deference, or friendliness from Trump toward Xi played up prominently in Chinese media.\n\nAt the same time, Xi will want to appear stronger than Trump wherever possible. Comments he makes to subtly one-up his guest will likely be emphasized\u2014for example, Xi championing global trade and warning against protectionism as the \u201cAmerica-first\u201d president looks on.", "output": "Donald Trump is arriving in China at a time that President Xi is in the ascendant after a successful party congress, while the US president's approval ratings are at a new low. Trump will be looking for wins in a number of areas including over America's huge trade deficit and\u00a0how to rein in North Korea. He is\u00a0also seeking deals in a number of sectors, such as energy, aviation and financial services, with $9bn worth of deals between the two countries\u00a0already announced by commerce secretary Wilbur Ross.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Major UK care provider Four Seasons taken over by US hedge fund \n Struggling care home provider Four Seasons, which is responsible for 17,000 elderly and vulnerable people, is set to be taken over by a US hedge fund in a complex rescue deal being closely monitored by regulators.\n\nFour Seasons has buckled under the pressure of state funding cuts, a shortage of EU nurses since the Brexit vote, higher costs after the introduction of the national living wage and meeting repayments on a debt pile of \u00a3525m.\n\nThe UK\u2019s second-largest care home provider, owned by multi-millionaire Guy Hands\u2019 private equity group Terra Firma, put forward its own survival plan last month ahead of a \u00a326m debt repayment due in December that it would have been unable to honour.\n\nBut H/2 Capital, a privately-owned hedge fund and property investor based in Stamford, Connecticut that has gradually bought up the majority of Four Seasons\u2019 debt, countered with an alternative proposal that will see it take over ownership.\n\nThe proposals will leave Terra Firma sitting on a huge loss from an investment that this week\u2019s Paradise Papers leaks reveal was designed to generate a near-\u00a3900m windfall via a complex system of loans facilitating legal tax avoidance.\n\nUnder H/2\u2019s rescue plan, which has been welcomed by Terra Firma, the US firm will inject \u00a3135m of equity into the business, cancel \u00a3247m of debt and defer interest payments until March 2018.\n\n\n\nTerra Firma will also inject \u00a345m of new equity and will be left with just an 11% stake in the business.\n\nH/2 also intends to spend \u00a325m on refurbishing some of Four Seasons\u2019 335 care homes and its 25 hospitals and specialist care centres, and set up a \u00a315m bonus scheme for its 25,000 staff.\n\nIt is not clear what experience the company has in running care homes. The \u201cStrategy\u201d section of its website focuses on investments in rental housing in the US.\n\nBut the company\u2019s proposal offers a much-needed exit for Terra Firma from an investment that has been among the most disastrous in a portfolio that also included the collapse of EMI under its debts.\n\nIt bought Four Seasons for \u00a3825m in 2012 and has failed to turn it around despite \u00a3450m of investment, eventually being forced to write down the value of the business to a nominal sum.\n\nInformation revealed in the Paradise Papers reveals that Terra Firma hoped to extract \u00a3890m from the company by arranging costly loans from its own subsidiaries.\n\nThe private equity firm eventually had to write off the debt but interest payments have still proved unaffordable, amid a perfect storm of increased costs and lower funding from government.\n\n\n\nThe Brexit vote has added to Four Seasons\u2019 woes as a 96% reduction in the number of nurses coming to Britain from the EU has forced it to turn to more expensive agency nurses.\n\nResponding to H/2\u2019s proposal, Terra Firma said: \u201cWe stand ready to agree the transfer of our interest [...] to the creditors for a nominal sum as part of this restructuring.\u201d\n\nSpencer B Haber, H/2 Capital\u2019s chairman and chief executive, said: \u201cWe firmly believe that with the right stewardship, enterprises like Four Seasons best serve their investors when they best serve their residents. Responsible private capital understands the primacy of resident care and peace of mind for their families.\n\nHe said Four Seasons staff were \u201cmore than capable of setting an example here, right across the social care community. While we share a mission with these talented individuals, it is their role \u2013 and not ours \u2013 that holds the consequence and the challenge.\n\n\u201cWe just need to do the easy part, which is to enable them by providing the bedrock of financial stability, aligned incentives, and a fair cost of capital that enables the Group to carry out the solemn responsibility of caring for 17,000 vulnerable people.\u201d\n\nThe real estate company, which has no significant investments in healthcare or in the UK, is proposing to install Baroness Ford as Four Seasons chairman.\n\n\n\nThe cross-bench peer served as chairman of Grove Limited, the holding company of Barchester Healthcare, between 2012 and 2015.\n\nShe has also been a director of energy regulator Ofgem, the Scottish prison service and chaired the Olympic Park Legacy Company.\n\nThe Care Quality Commission, a division of the Department of Health that regulates and inspects health and social care services, said it was monitoring the situation closely.\n\nSpeaking last month, after Four Season\u2019s original rescue plan was proposed, the CQC said the firm\u2019s effort to refinance itself \u201cwould provoke some anxiety but is an important step in securing the long-term financial future of this company\u201d.", "output": "Four Seasons, the UK\u2019s second-largest care home provider, is to be taken over by privately-owned US hedge fund and property investor H/2 Capital. Four Seasons, which has debts of \u00a3525m ($689m) and is responsible for 17,000 elderly and vulnerable people, has struggled due to state funding cuts, increased costs resulting from the national living wage and the loss of European Union nurses in the wake of the Brexit vote. The company is owned by Terra Firma, the private equity group belonging to multi-millionaire Guy Hands. The Care Quality Commission, which regulates and inspects care homes, is monitoring the situation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Department of Defense looks to shift medical authority from FDA \n FDA officials counter that creating a new pathway to approve drugs is both risky and \u2014 in the specific case cited by Thornberry \u2014 not needed. \u201cFDA has been working closely with DoD to bring freeze-dried plasma to our troops and anticipates that these products will be fully approved for safe and effective use for our armed forces as early as 2018,\u201d an FDA official told POLITICO.\n\nSection 732 of the Senate\u2019s version of the National Defense Authorization Act creates a new regulatory structure that would allow the Pentagon to sign off on unapproved devices and drugs for emergency use on military personnel and others in harm\u2019s way. The bill is in conference committee with final language expected as early as this week.\n\nFDA currently has sole authority to authorize drugs and devices for emergency use.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s unprecedented,\u201d said one Democratic aide who works on medical safety issues. \u201cWe\u2019ve never had a process for where an individual agency could [approve] drugs and devices ... for its own use\u201d and outside of the FDA. \u201cIt\u2019s a massive shift.\u201d\n\nThe language states that DoD would be able to approve \u201cemergency uses for medical products to reduce deaths and severity of injuries caused by agents of war.\u201d For instance, DoD could approve the use of freeze-dried plasma, which the department has repeatedly said can save the lives of military personnel who have suffered blood loss on the battlefield. While a small number of elite soldiers currently are deployed with access to freeze-dried plasma, the product is still awaiting full FDA approval, which hadn\u2019t been expected until 2020.\n\n\u201cTraditional pathways to [FDA] approval and licensure of critical medical products, like freeze dried plasma, for battlefield use are too slow to allow for rapid insertion and use of these products on the battlefield,\u201d according to the Senate Armed Services Committee\u2019s conference report, defending its recommendation of the provision. \u201cThe committee believes this provision could lead to even higher survival rates from severe battlefield wounds suffered by servicemembers.\u201d\n\nBut because the report language is so broad \u2014 for instance, \u201cagents of war\u201d isn\u2019t a legal definition \u2014 staff say that it would open the door for the military to approve a wide range of products and treatments. For instance, DoD could plausibly approve a vaccine for soldiers who come down with the flu while deployed, one congressional aide said.\n\nThe conference language would create two safeguards. First, a new DoD committee of health care experts, appointed by the Defense secretary, would need to recommend emergency use of an unapproved drug or device. Second, the assistant secretary of Defense for health affairs would need to authorize the drug\u2019s or device\u2019s use after consulting with FDA.\n\nBut congressional aides and HHS staff say those standards don\u2019t measure up to current safety practices. Rather than base a drug or device approval on years of safety and efficacy evaluations, it \u201cleaves the decision up to a five-man committee,\u201d said one individual with knowledge of how the DoD committee would be staffed. The Pentagon also could ignore FDA\u2019s advice as necessary.\n\nStaff on congressional committees with health jurisdiction say they were blindsided by the language, backed by Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.), and have fought to remove it. But the provision is expected to remain, one individual with knowledge of the deliberations said on Monday afternoon. A Senate aide noted that it has bipartisan support from defense lawmakers.\n\nCongressional staff involved in crafting the NDAA also defended the process of preparing the conference report. Three House Energy and Commerce Committee members \u2014 Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.), ranking member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Texas Republican Joe Barton \u2014 were appointed to help negotiate Section 732, among other provisions in the bill that affect their jurisdictions.\n\nHHS has warned Congress that the provision would undermine decades of existing protections and processes. For instance, DoD wouldn\u2019t have access to FDA\u2019s data, which means a decision could be made based on limited information provided by a drug or device manufacturer. DoD also wouldn\u2019t be collecting safety and efficacy data in the same way as FDA.\n\nFDA offered an alternative proposal, which would have expedited drug and device reviews and approval upon a DoD request, but the language wasn\u2019t accepted.\n\nFDA would not comment on the agency\u2019s reported concerns with the bill. \u201cThe FDA does not generally comment on pending or potential legislation,\u201d spokesperson Jen Rodriguez said.\n\nConnor O\u2019Brien contributed to this report.\n\n", "output": "The US Department of Defense may gain the power to approve drugs and medical devices under a proposed bill. Critics have said that Section 732 of the Senate\u2019s version of the National Defense Authorization Act could \"undermine\" medical safety and potentially increase the risk for soldiers, but the bill's backers have said that the move is necessary and long overdue. The FDA said that introducing a\u00a0new method of approving drugs could be \"risky\", since it empowers the Pentagon\u00a0to authorise the use unapproved drugs and devices\u00a0on military personnel.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CVS plans next-day prescription drug delivery service \n Anxiety over such a market upheaval is said to have partly driven CVS to enter into talks with Aetna, the large health insurer, over a potential acquisition. Larry Merlo, the president and chief executive of CVS Health, did not discuss the potential deal in a call with analysts on Monday.\n\nFree delivery will be available \u201cwithin hours\u201d for prescription drug orders, as well as a \u201ccurated selection of over-the-counter products\u201d in Manhattan beginning Dec. 4, the company said. Same-day delivery would expand to Miami, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco early next year. Next-day delivery, from local stores, would become available in the rest of the country.\n\nA CVS spokeswoman, Erin Pensa, said delivery fees outside of Manhattan will vary by location, and have not yet been made public. She also said the company\u2019s delivery partner has not been announced, but \u201cwe\u2019ve been able to use our scale to negotiate low-cost, affordable options for all CVS Pharmacy customers.\u201d\n\n\u201cOur goal is to meet the needs of all of our customers wherever, however and whenever they want,\u201d Helena Foulkes, executive vice president of CVS Health and president of CVS Pharmacy, said in a statement Monday.\n\nCVS said Monday that retail sales, which include prescription sales, fell 2.7 percent in the third quarter, although that was offset by the performance of its pharmacy services business, which manages drug benefits for employers and insurers. That unit saw revenues increase by 8.1 percent. Overall, third-quarter revenues increased by 3.5 percent, or $1.6 billion, to $46.2 billion, compared to the third quarter of 2016.", "output": "CVS Health has announced plans deliver prescription drugs to customers from next year, in a bid to challenge Amazon's predicted expansion in the the\u00a0sector. Deliveries will be next-day, with some larger locations even offering a same-day service. The company's retail sales decreased in Q3 2017, largely due to\u00a0fallout from the three hurricanes the US endured. CVS is also entering discussions with health insurer Aetna regarding a potential acquisition deal."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "PayPal said ready to launch Indian payment services \n Currently PayPal Is Operational In India Only For Cross-border Digital Payments\n\nGlobal digital payments player PayPal is expected to offer domestic payment services in India from next week, as per sources close to the development. With its new service in India, PayPal is expected to act as a payment aggregator and work with banks to offer digital payment services to its customers.\n\nThe source stated that PayPal has tied up with a dozen merchants to start off operations in India, wherein during the online checkout process customers will be shown the PayPal payment option. PayPal, with its set of expertise, could also drive digital payments at merchant locations, which are still predominantly card or cash.\n\nHowever, an email query sent to a PayPal spokesperson elicited the following response, \u201cThe story is speculative and PayPal does not comment on market speculations and rumors.\u201d\n\nPayPal And The Exploding Digital Payments Space In India\n\nFor now, PayPal is operational in India only for cross-border payments for small merchants, entrepreneurs and freelancers selling goods and services abroad. In August 2016, it announced the launch of PayPal.me \u2013 a new peer to peer payment feature which allows users to receive payment via the click of a link in a fast, convenient and personalised way.\n\nIf the development proves to be true, it will see yet another global player entering the digital payments market in India which is getting overcrowded with domestic and global companies. If PayPal brings in its domestic payment services, then it would have to battle market leader Paytm, along with players like Google\u2019s Tez, WhatsApp, Flipkart-owned Phonepe, Mobikwik, and Amazon Pay.\n\nUnlike India, in the US, the company has an expanded suite of offerings, including a payment gateway business, peer-to-peer payments, merchant payments, remittances, and retail offline transactions. The company also has a credit product there named PayPal Credit.\n\nIn India, however, it might only introduce merchant payments, to begin with. While it has not applied for a prepaid payments instrument (PPI) licence from Reserve Bank of India to operate a digital wallet, but it could use the Unified Payments Interface infrastructure through banks to facilitate domestic payments.\n\nThe global player has slowly been adding to its repertoire in India. Strengthening its leadership team in India, last year the company appointed its former technology head for Asia-Pacific, Anupam Pahuja, as its Managing Director for India. In July, it hired LendingClub\u2019s former vice president of finance, Gunjan Shukla, as Chief Financial Officer for its India business. This was followed by the appointment of Siddharth Dhamija, previously Chief Growth Officer at Razorpay, as its head of growth and large merchant acquisition in India in September.\n\nThe digital payments player also grabbed headlines when it was said to be in the race to acquire 25% stake in FreeCharge for $200 Mn in December 2016. In August this year, it has announced the launch of two Technology Innovation Labs at the Chennai and Bengaluru Tech centres. The lab is the first by PayPal in India and the third after US and Singapore.\n\nIf PayPal does bring its entire range of payments services from North America to India, Indian audience will have yet another secure and safe way to make digital payments. And it will become yet another contender in the hotly contested digital payments turf in India, which as per the recent Google and Boston Consulting Group report, is projected to reach $500 Bn by 2020, contributing 15% to India\u2019s GDP.", "output": "PayPal is reportedly ready to roll out domestic payment services in India through tie-ups with local banks. The company currently only facilitates cross-border payments for small operators in the country but sources said it has already partnered with several merchants to enable online checkouts. PayPal has not confirmed the move.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI poses great danger to humanity: Stephen Hawking \n The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) could be the \"worst event in the history of our civilization\" unless society finds a way to control its development, high-profile physicist Stephen Hawking said Monday.\n\nHe made the comments during a talk at the Web Summit technology conference in Lisbon, Portugal, in which he said, \"computers can, in theory, emulate human intelligence, and exceed it.\"\n\nHawking talked up the potential of AI to help undo damage done to the natural world, or eradicate poverty and disease, with every aspect of society being \"transformed.\"\n\nBut he admitted the future was uncertain.\n\n\"Success in creating effective AI, could be the biggest event in the history of our civilization. Or the worst. We just don't know. So we cannot know if we will be infinitely helped by AI, or ignored by it and side-lined, or conceivably destroyed by it,\" Hawking said during the speech.\n\n\"Unless we learn how to prepare for, and avoid, the potential risks, AI could be the worst event in the history of our civilization. It brings dangers, like powerful autonomous weapons, or new ways for the few to oppress the many. It could bring great disruption to our economy.\"", "output": "The advent of artificial intelligence could be the \"worst event in the history of our civilisation\" unless precautions are taken, according to renowned physicist Stephen Hawking. Despite the technology's many potential benefits, it could bring about humanity's destruction, said Hawking, citing autonomous weapons systems and \"new ways for the few to oppress the many\" as specific concerns. To avoid this outcome, best practice guidelines and \"effective management\" must be employed, said Hawking; he pointed to recent European legislation as a step not the right direction.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's AI ambitions far exceed those of regional rivals \n TOKYO -- In what might be regarded as testament to China's keen interest in artificial intelligence, two of the country's universities were among the leaders in a list showing sources of the most frequently cited research papers in the AI field.\n\nThe list, compiled from an analysis of scholarly publications by The Nikkei and Elsevier -- the Amsterdam-based giant of academic publishing -- was created by counting the number of research papers that were cited between 2012 and 2016. A high citation count is generally considered to be an indicator of research quality.", "output": "Chinese universities are far outpacing their Asian rivals when it comes to AI research. In a recent\u00a0list of the top 100 most-cited research papers on AI globally, the Chinese Academy of Sciences was the third\u00a0most-cited institution on AI research, with\u00a0Microsoft in first place. China's regional rivals came far behind, with\u00a0Japan and South Korea's highest entries at\u00a064th and 97th places respectively. China has recently lured back talent from the US, offering massive financial incentives to work in a thriving, competitive environment, and of the top 100 institutions, 15 are Chinese.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The healthcare of tomorrow will move away from hospitals \n The question of what the healthcare of tomorrow will look like prompts a broad, compelling thought experiment. As healthcare professionals of all stripes gathered in downtown Washington, D.C., last week to discuss that very question, a few key ideas emerged.\n\nHere are the most interesting ideas Healthcare Dive found at U.S. News & World Report's Healthcare of Tomorrow conference.\n\nCare is moving back into the patient\u2019s home\n\nHealth systems that embrace the patient movement toward consumerism are on the right track, according to several speakers at the conference. Locating services in a patient\u2019s home or somewhere close by and easily accessible is more convenient for patients, but also produces more comprehensive and effective care.\n\nAetna CEO Mark Bertolini (who, despite some clever questioning from the moderator, declined to comment on \u201cmarket speculation or rumor\u201d that the payer could be acquired by CVS) said the home is the least expensive and most convenient setting for care. If it can\u2019t be in the home, it should be at a retail clinic only a few miles away, he said.\n\n\u201cIf you have to go to the hospital, we have failed you. What if that were the way the system was designed?\u201d he said.\n\nOne key way the home can become a primary setting for healthcare is through telemedicine. This is particularly true in rural areas, where a patient may have to drive hours to get to their doctor\u2019s office. And it will become more and more common as telemedicine becomes more widely adopted and stops being perceived as a separate category from \u201cregular\u201d care.\n\n\u201cThe novelty of telehealth has fallen by the wayside,\u201d said Christopher Northam, vice president for telehealth at HCA. \u201cThere used to be a lot more focus on the technology. Now the focus is on clinical measurement.\u201d\n\nYounger people are a big part of the drive toward consumerism in healthcare, and they want to receive care at their homes, Northam said. \u201cThat will shut down hospitals,\u201d he added.\n\nDr. David Tsay, associate CIO at the New York-Presbyterian Innovation Center, agreed and said a lot of changes will take place in the next 10 years. \u201cI think hospitals will look very, very different,\u201d he said. \u201cHospitals will primarily be ICUs and ORs, and the rest of care will be done in the convenience of the home.\u201d\n\nBertolini said ultimately it will come down to what patients demand as consumers, so creating a compelling and enjoyable experience will be key. \u201cUs as customers \u2014 as consumers \u2014 disrupt the industry. Because we say we no longer want that, we want this.\u201d\n\nConversion to value-based care continues \u2014 but at a glacial pace\n\nHHS under President Donald Trump has walked back some of the previous administration\u2019s payment reform efforts. Although CMS is vocal that it wants to continue the shift from volume to value, the recently finalized Quality Payment Program rule for 2018 indicates otherwise considering the large amount of physicians the administration is exempting from the regulation. Still, albeit slowly, the industry continues to embrace this shift toward value-based care.\n\nThe openness to change has resulted in olive branches being extended across the industry as incumbents look to figure out business in the shifting environment. The result is a mix of strategic partnerships and alliances as the lines between traditional healthcare companies begin to blur.\n\nBiotech company Amgen partnered with Humana for an outcomes-based research project that will identify high-risk patients using technology and real-world data, Dr. Jason Spangler, executive director of value, quality and medical policy at Amgen, shared at a keynote panel. \u201cWe believe these types of partnerships are where we need to be moving to provide value to patients.\u201d\n\nProviders may be slower to adapt to value-based care. Lori Evans Bernstein, co-founder and COO at HealthReveal, said potential customers are discussing value but also want the ability \u201cto find the good stuff\" like reimbursable procedures under a fee-for-service model.\n\nTom X. Lee, executive chairman at One Medical, said innovating from within the system is challenging. \u201cWe operate as if we\u2019re in a value-based world today though the vast majority of our income is still fee-for-service,\u201d Lee said. One Medical, a group of primary care offices that offers 24/7 connectivity with patients through video and chat services, engages with the industry at the primary care layer. This allows it to operate a little outside the system somewhat. He said organizations operating further downstream have a harder time finding such opportunities.\n\nJulie Bietsch, VP of population health management at Dignity Health, told Healthcare Dive the industry is at a tipping point for value-based efforts. About 10% of Dignity\u2019s revenue is accrued from population health or value-based arrangements. \u201cI think that those not investing in population health are going to be the ones left behind,\u201d she said, adding providers need to take the first step toward population health. \u201cIf you don\u2019t, you won\u2019t know what happens when it\u2019s mandated.\u201d\n\nLee believes more changes are coming in the next five to 10 years in care delivery. While the market has spent a lot of time building platforms, apps and services, he sees more changes over improving the virtualized and service experiences coming into healthcare. In addition, he sees more remote care delivery models as an oncoming disruptive force.\n\n\u201cThose are going to be care systems of the future \u2026 I don\u2019t think anyone denies that vision,\u201d Lee told Healthcare Dive. \u201cThe question is, who\u2019s going to execute it best? Easier said than done.\u201d\n\nSpangler said he believes the industry could benefit from more care delivery and payment innovations. \u201cOne area I think we need to move toward is value-based insurance design,\u201d he said during a keynote panel. \u201cWe should pay and incentivize patients toward high value care and disincentivize them against low value care.\u201d\n\nIn healthcare, there are no shortage of opinions, and discussions around value-base care will continue. Expect them to get more vocal.\n\nSocial determinants of health \u2014 a trend that needs direction\n\n\u201cEveryone\u2019s talking about social determinants but no one\u2019s talking about how to do it,\u201d Bietsch told Healthcare Dive.\n\nSocial determinants have been a popular topic as evidence mounts that food security and affordable housing help create good health outcomes. However, there isn\u2019t a centralized assessment of the issue, Bietsch said. For example, if an individual tells seven people that they need a home but no one helps, then the process is inefficient.\n\nSocial determinants of health and \"understanding about how they drive our health\" are currently buzzword concepts in the industry, she said. \u201cBut the success of it is not there.\u201d\n\nBertolini is a proponent of thinking about social determinants at every level of healthcare. He noted that a person\u2019s ZIP code is often a bigger indication of life expectancy than their genetic code, and ignoring that reality results in an incomplete approach.\n\nHe said it makes sense for payers to be thinking about social determinants of health because that\u2019s how diseases can be prevented and savings can be realized. \u201cPaying for a ramp, an Uber ride, food, fuel assistance is cheaper than one ER visit,\u201d he said.\n\nProgress requires bipartisanship\n\nCalling for bipartisan agreement in D.C. is nothing new and hardly controversial, but at Healthcare of Tomorrow, it was an urgent demand. Budget deals are far from clear, the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program has still not been reauthorized and rumblings of \u201crepeal and replace\u201d continue despite the unlikeliness that any such legislation could gain traction. This environment breeds more and more uncertainty, which is toxic to the healthcare environment.\n\nBertolini said major social programs need broad support to be successful, and Congress should shift from the idea of abandoning the ACA and work together to improve upon it. \u201cWe can fix it. The list is short,\u201d he said. \u201cWe just need a group of people with level heads in the room to fix it.\u201d\n\nLegislation of the magnitude and scope of the ACA isn\u2019t going to be perfect right out of the gate, and the problem even proponents recognize will only get worse with inattention, he said. \u201cIf you were to leave Medicare alone for six years, seven years, it would fall apart just like this is,\u201d he said.\n\nVirginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe had a similar message. \u201cWe\u2019ve just got to shake up the system and we\u2019ve got to do it together,\u201d he said. McAuliffe said CHIP reauthorization is the most pressing issue today, and lamented that \u201cmoms and dads are going to bed tonight scared to death\u201d their children won\u2019t have healthcare coverage.\n\nHe also criticized the White House\u2019s decision to stop CSR payments, and said he personally talked to the Anthem CEO to convince the payer to cover nearly 60 counties in Virginia that would have otherwise not had any plan options.\n\n\u201cThe middle is gone,\u201d he said, \u201cand I come from a business background, and the middle is where you get stuff done.\u201d\n\nTom Daschle, former senator and the founder and CEO of The Daschle Group, said healthcare professionals need to make their voices heard in Congress by calling their legislators. \u201cIf you don\u2019t know the name of ... their health legislation assistant, you\u2019re not engaged,\u201d he said.\n\nBlair Childs, senior vice president for public affairs at Premier, said providers in particular need to lead change and tell lawmakers what is happening now in the market and where it needs to go. \u201cAnyone thinks the healthcare system is going to be fixed by the government or by payers is crazy,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s only the providers who will innovate the system.\u201d", "output": "The US News & World Report's Healthcare of Tomorrow conference discussed the future of healthcare, narrowing down the trends into four main areas: a move towards home-based care; a greater focus on value-based care; greater awareness of the social determinants of health; and the growing need for bipartisan input. The first trend, home care provision for patients, offers more comprehensive, cost-effective services in a more convenient location for patients using technology. Telemedicine can offer rural patients increased access, and is likely to be more common as a general health care channel once it is more widely used as a \u201cregular\u201d care path. Growing consumerism in healthcare has led to a greater focus on keeping health care at home for convenience. The change to a more value-based care system, however, has taken some time to implement. The CMS has finalized the Quality Payment Program regulation for next year, but this exempts a significant number of doctors. Private healthcare companies are partnering to offer technology and data-driven, value-based care options. Medical companies find it difficult to innovate, as the system presents as a value-based one, while still functioning as fee-for-service in terms of business income. However, the general opinion within health management organizations is that care delivery will be revolutionized within the next five to ten years through virtualized and technology-based services, offered through platforms, apps and services. Remote care delivery models could also disrupt the present system. Value-based insurance is also an area where patients can be incentivized, moving them away from lower-value care. Social determinants are an increasingly important area of focus, as evidence grows that issues such as food security, affordable housing and more affect the changes in good health outcomes. Payers should be considering how social determinants affect health as it could help to prevent issues before they arise, creating savings for ER departments and other emergency healthcare points. The final trend is the increasing call on forming bipartisan agreements for healthcare. The difficulties that recently arose with the \u201crepeal and replace\u201d agenda of the present administration, as well as the ongoing budget issues, create uncertainty that leads to an unstable healthcare environment. Major social programs require the support of all political groups to succeed, with healthcare advocates calling for Congress to abandon the idea of reforming the Affordable Care Act and to actively work across parties to improve it.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK firm Keoghs launches AI lawyer to work with insurers \n North West Business Richard Frost\n\nKeoghs has launched what it claims is the first true AI lawyer to hit the insurance market, which the Bolton-headquartered law firm believes will revolutionise the way in which insurers interact with their legal providers.\n\nKeoghs' AI lawyer Lauri will initially handle avoidable litigation cases, providing insurers with transformative speed and ease of service, and handing the power back to handlers while reducing cost, the firm said. Lauri can settle cases back to insurers within seconds of the instructing email being sent.\n\nAs Lauri communicates directly via email using natural language processing, there is no need for handlers to log into old-fashioned legal portals, ensuring no change in communication other than the improved speed and efficiency with which an outcome is provided.\n\nKeoghs said that not only does this make Lauri the first truly automated AI insurance lawyer launched to the market, it also means that insurers do not need to grapple with new technologies or systems, avoiding duplication, re-keying and providing greater efficiency in the way that claims are managed.\n\nRather than using separate systems and processes as a standalone AI package, moreover, Lauri interacts with Keoghs' case management system Tracker. This means that Lauri's abilities can be applied across a range of claim types and services in the future.\n\nKeoghs partner and director of product development Dene Rowe said: \"There has been a lot of talk in the industry over the last year or two regarding AI, in particular solutions being discussed that almost hijack the true meaning of artificial intelligence. Our approach is to bring a true game-changer to market, a solution that is fully automated and robotic in nature but importantly delivers a quantum leap in speed, efficiency and cost reduction.\n\n\"Additionally, we did not want to simply bring a DIY litigation portal-based system to market that would create duplication and inefficiencies in our clients' own businesses. For AI to be embraced, there has to be a benefit for our clients, and replicating a human interaction with no extra systems, logins or processes is crucial. With Lauri, the claims handler simply communicates through email as they generally would at present with human lawyers.\n\n\"At Keoghs we say Lauri is the future, better handled; but this new member of our team shows that the future is already here.\"\n\nKeoghs is backed by mid-market private equity firm LDC.", "output": "UK multi-office law firm\u00a0Keoghs\u00a0has claimed\u00a0it has launched the first real\u00a0AI lawyer,\u00a0Lauri, which it believes could completely change how insurers work with their law firms. Lauri can respond to an email\u00a0in seconds, providing help on avoidable litigation cases, which it can handle with \"transformative speed, efficiency\u00a0and cost reduction\" in comparison with a human operator. The technology is highly adaptable as Lauri uses a natural language processor. \"For AI to be embraced,\u00a0replicating a human interaction with no extra systems, logins or processes is crucial,\" said Keoghs partner Dene Rowe.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Intel and AMD partnership takes on Nvidia's AI chip dominance \n Nvidia is the biggest name in graphic processing units, the fast, powerful computer chips originally created for video games that are increasingly behind many artificial-intelligence projects. Other chipmakers are scrambling to catch up, going so far as to partner with companies that had been their fierce rivals.\n\nThe Wall Street Journal (paywall) reported Monday that Intel and AMD are working together on a new laptop chip meant to challenge Nvidia\u2019s dominance. The chip will use an Intel processor and an AMD graphics unit and is designed to be \u201cthin and lightweight but powerful enough to run high-end video games.\u201d And if it\u2019s good enough for video games, it\u2019s likely to be good enough for many AI applications.\n\nThis is not Intel\u2019s first effort to take on Nvidia. Intel bought Nervana, Movidius, and Mobileye in the last two years to expand its artificial-intelligence expertise. In September, the company revealed a neuromorphic chip, a new type of chip technology that is based on the human brain. It\u2019s largely untested, but Intel is hoping to validate the neuromorphic approach by working with universities and research institutions on a product that could launch sometime next year. In October, it unveiled the Nervana Neural Network Processor family, a set of chips meant for data centers. Nvidia is still a small provider for data centers compared with Intel\u2014but it has been creeping up, with sales tripling in 2017 to $1 billion.\n\nCompanies that aren\u2019t traditionally chip manufacturers are also getting into the game. Google has Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), IBM is working on a chip. and Apple rolled one out recently, too. Much as Intel made a fortune becoming the dominant chipmaker for computers in the 20th century, the prize of being the chief hardware provider for the artificial-intelligence revolution is the kind of thing corporate legacies are made of\u2014oh, and there\u2019s a ton of money to be made, too.", "output": "Intel is making another bid to take on chip manufacturer Nvidia by partnering with AMD to produce a new laptop chip. According to the Wall Street Journal, the \"thin and lightweight but powerful\" chip will be good enough for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, a sector where Nvidia has dominated. In September, Intel unveiled its neuromorphic chip, which has a possible launch date of next year, and over the past two years acquired Movidius, Nervana and Mobileye to expand its AI capabilities. Nvidia's sales in 2017 have tripled to $1bn.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Grid Edge makes early-investor Sean Reel a non-executive director \n LONDON, November 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --\n\nGrid Edge Ltd, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to reduce the energy costs of commercial buildings, announces the appointment of Sean Reel as Non-Executive Director.\n\nSean is an early stage investor in Grid Edge and brings a depth of previous boardroom experience with him including roles as Chairman, CEO and Non-Executive Director of public companies, as well as a judge and mentor for Richard Branson's Voom investments. He has also held a range of senior roles in Boots Plc., IPC Media and Haymarket. Sean is an active investor in over fifty companies with a particular interest in early stage companies.\n\nSean Reel commented:\n\n\"I am pleased to join the Board of this high growth business that help clients apply proven artificial Intelligence technologies to significantly reduce the energy and Co2 footprint of their buildings.\"\n\nTom Anderson, CEO, Grid Edge said:\n\n\"During this time of high growth, we are pleased to be able to benefit from Sean's experience of spearheading major strategic change and transformation in a range of business sectors. His experience is invaluable as Grid Edge continues to play leading role in the UK's \u00a355 Billion smart energy revolution.\"\n\nAbout Grid Edge\n\nGrid Edge is a leading player in the Smart Energy sector using proven artificial intelligence technologies to reduce the energy costs of commercial buildings. Formed as a spinout company from Aston University, it is an early stage technology company that has developed artificial intelligence (AI) software that empowers commercial energy consumers to intelligently control and optimise their building energy loads. Their innovative AI software deploys predictive machine-learning algorithms and advanced data analytics to reduce energy costs, cut carbon emissions and unlock the revenue-generating potential of the customer's flexible energy assets.\n\nFor further information please visit http://www.gridedge.co.uk/", "output": "Grid Edge, an AI-based company that reduces commercial building energy costs, has hired Sean Reel as a non-executive director. Reel invested in the early stages of the company and is actively invested in more than 50 companies, largely in their early stages. Tom Anderson, the CEO of\u00a0Grid Edge, stated that Reel will be \"invaluable as Grid Edge continues to play leading role in the UK's \u00a355bn\u00a0smart energy revolution\". Grid Edge began as an Aston University project that uses predictive artificial intelligence and data analytics to cut energy expenses and lower emissions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon tests separate API for brands in Amazon Marketing Services \n Amazon is beta testing an application programming interface for Amazon Marketing Services, the part of its ad business that encompasses self-served Amazon ads, including its paid search platform.\n\nThere has been an API for sponsored products reserved for sellers, but the company is now testing a separate API for brands, said an Amazon spokesperson, adding that the goal is to eventually have as much offered at a self-service and customizable level for advertisers as possible.\n\nThis development is notable, according to multiple agency buyers interviewed by Digiday. The API, which has been expected since this summer, will provide a \u201csystematic approach to adjusting and reporting campaigns and offer capabilities to automate the ways campaigns work,\u201d according to one buyer.\n\nAbout 55 percent of online shoppers start product searches on Amazon, according to estimates by the oft-cited personalization company BloomReach. Paid search is a big part of the ad business \u2014 and adding an API that will connect it with the information and tools brands and agencies want would make it more powerful. \u201cThey have a super extensive paid search program, but tools for creating campaigns and reporting and monitoring campaigns are still basic. Any marketer wants capability or more data,\u201d said one ad buyer.\n\nIt\u2019s unclear who has access to the API, but one agency said eligibility depends on a combination of factors, including AMS spend.\n\n\u201c[Amazon] is throttled by the lack of an API,\u201d said another buyer. \u201cThere\u2019s so much less you can do without it.\u201d\n\nThe company also made an API for Amazon Media Group widely available in the summer, and at the time, agencies said they expected a similar development for AMS. The API offered in beta covers Amazon Sponsored Products as well as headline search ads that lets brands programmatically manage campaigns, ad groups, ads, keywords, bids and budgets. \u201cIn addition, detailed reporting allows you to pull performance data to analyze sales and investments,\u201d reads Amazon\u2019s page explaining the API for sponsored ads.\n\nAt another holding company-owned media-buying agency, an executive said it\u2019s had early access to an AMS API since early this year, but the agency was focused mostly on data aggregation and reporting, not optimizing. A week ago, API access was opened to headline search ads, and this executive said Amazon is moving product display ads to programmatic because it\u2019s \u201cless performance-driven.\u201d \u201cWe have a wish list with Amazon,\u201d said this executive. \u201cWe\u2019re looking for more data, more sales-performance information; we want to be able to consolidate it when we run multiple campaigns.\n\nThis is another sign of growth for Amazon\u2019s programmatic ad business, which has slowly but surely made progress in its offerings all year. In late August, Amazon opened up and evolved self-service for AMG, the group internal to Amazon that is more like a traditional ad buy that can include video across Kindle, sponsorships, displays and even out of home on delivery trucks. In June, it launched Advertiser Audiences, a self-serve audience-matching platform that is like Google and Facebook and lets brands build audience segments based on Amazon data.\n\nAPIs have proven to be critical to scale an ad platform. APIs let platforms compete against more mature platforms like Google and Facebook. Take Pinterest, which took a long time to put out an API, not doing so until 2015, a move that hurt it. And Snapchat, which launched an API in 2016 to let brands and agencies finally scale their ad buys.\n\nThe Amazon API is not yet widely available; one buyer said Amazon will open it to everyone in the industry early next year. It\u2019s a pretty significant step for Amazon\u2019s ad business. As a behemoth, Amazon is poised to break up the Google and Facebook duopoly in advertising. Between AMG and AMS, Amazon offers what both Facebook and Google provide.\n\nThe problem is that Amazon\u2019s offerings still lack the sophistication from the back end. Agency execs have been known to compare Google to a Lamborghini and Amazon to an old, automatic car. Improvements are coming \u2014 the self-serve option on AMG and other moves like Advertiser Audiences, for example \u2014 but an API for paid search would position Amazon favorably with Google and in a good position to take market share away from it. AMS is strategically important for the company: Open to first-party vendors (not third-party sellers, who can use sponsored products and headline search ads and that too only if they\u2019re in Amazon\u2019s \u201cbrand registry program\u201d), the program is now giving promotional credits to brands that sign up before Dec. 31 for a new AMS account that will expire at the end of January next year.\n\nAmazon reported two weeks ago that in the third quarter, \u201cother\u201d revenue, which is mostly composed of ad sales (and to a much smaller extent, its credit card business), grew 58 percent year over year to $1.12 billion.", "output": "Online retail giant Amazon is positioning itself to take on Google and Facebook's advertising duopoly as it beta tests an application programming interface (API) for Amazon Marketing Services (AMS). The move has been welcomed by marketers, who have said Amazon is \"throttled\" by the lack of an API. This comes\u00a0following the release of Amazon Media Group's API in the summer. It is rumoured that AMS spend will be a factor in deciding which brands will have access to the\u00a0API.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Austin making the Lone Star state a test-bed for US solar storage \n A battery storage project is planned for the Mueller neighbourhood, which hosts more than 250 rooftop solar installations. Image courtesy of Austin Energy.\n\nTexas\u2019s energy story may have been historically dominated by oil and gas, but that story is slowly beginning to change. The Lone Star State is inundated with renewable energy resources, with the largest wind and solar energy potential in the US. Indeed, Texas reached its 2025 Renewable Portfolio Standard goal of 10,000MW of new renewable energy capacity in 2010, 15 years early, and has consistently achieved green energy targets ahead of schedule ever since.\n\nThe vast majority of the state\u2019s renewable energy success has been driven by wind power, in which Texas leads the nation with more than 20,000MW of installed wind capacity. Last year, wind accounted for more than 12% of Texan electricity production, powering the equivalent of 5.3 million homes.\n\nDespite Texas\u2019s size and the vastness of its solar resource (many cities in the state get a yearly average of 200 sunny days or more), solar power has lagged behind wind as a driver of its renewable energy growth. This can be partly explained by a less friendly business and legislative environment for solar in Texas, but also the discrepancy in end cost between solar and wind generation.\n\nTo help solar energy production catch up with its wind-based counterpart, efforts are ongoing in Texas to reduce the cost and improve the integration of solar power at the grid, commercial and residential scales. The key for solar as an intermittent energy source (like wind) is smart energy storage.\n\nAustin SHINES\n\nThe key conundrum at the heart of greater renewables integration is grid reliability. Intermittent renewables such as photovoltaic (PV) solar panels need to find a prominent place in energy mixes to meet decarbonisation goals, but as these technologies achieve greater penetration, there are risks that uneven power generation patterns could hamper grid function and market stability.\n\nThe US is already investing in smarter grid technologies through its Grid Modernization Initiative, but other programmes are zeroing in on renewables and energy storage in particular. The Department of Energy\u2019s (DoE) Sustainable and Holistic Integration of Energy Storage and Solar PV (SHINES) initiative is the first US federal effort specifically aimed at connecting renewables to storage technologies.\n\nSHINES is funding the development and demonstration of integrated solar PV and energy storage systems that could better harmonise solar and reduce costs \u2013 the programme aims to move towards integrating solar plants with the grid at a system levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) of less than 14\u00a2 per KWh.\n\nIn January 2016, the DoE announced $18m in federal funding for six new integrated PV and storage projects across the US. The largest slice of the grants went to Austin Energy \u2013 America\u2019s eighth-largest public utility with nearly half a million customers in the city of Austin, Texas and the surrounding area \u2013 to help fund the Austin SHINES project.\n\nThis initiative is in the process of developing and deploying integrated solar and storage projects in the utility\u2019s jurisdiction, concentrating on three major themes \u2013 storage and PV projects at the utility scale, the commercial scale and the residential scale \u2013 as well as looking into new models and software systems to help reduce customer costs and balance supply and demand for distributed energy resources (DER).\n\nRamping up solar storage concepts\n\nThe Austin SHINES project is scheduled to run up to April 2019; the design phase has now been nearly completed, with the deployment phase just beginning and the demonstration phase set to kick off in April 2018.\n\n\u201cWe will begin to see the assets on the ground in various applications,\u201d says Austin Energy utility strategist Cameron Freberg. \u201cA lot of the design phase consisted of establishing partners, contracting, fine-tuning value streams and an immense amount of planning and collaboration.\u201d\n\nThe $4.3m award from the DoE, as well as $1m contributed by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, has helped to accelerate Austin Energy\u2019s plans for DER optimisation. A large number of partners have been sourced for the project, from state-wide grid operator ERCOT to energy storage integrator Doosan GridTech and renowned tech firm and storage innovator Tesla.\n\n\u201cThe funding for the Austin Energy SHINES system includes pairing energy storage on the residential, commercial and grid-scale levels,\u201d Freberg says. \u201cOne will be connected to a community solar farm in East Austin. The second battery storage project is proposed for the Mueller neighbourhood, an equally important opportunity since the neighbourhood has over 250 existing residences and businesses with rooftop solar, more than 60 electric vehicle owners, smart loads and appliances throughout homes and energy efficient design for all buildings. Residential and commercial properties will also have battery storage systems connected to their solar arrays as part of the SHINES project.\u201d\n\nAt the utility scale, on-site grid energy storage at solar power plants can help stabilise power distribution networks when dealing with intermittent supply, storing electricity when it\u2019s not needed and dispatching it at periods of peak demand or at times when solar is not producing.\n\nAs for residential and commercial users, distributed solar on residential rooftops or on business properties can provide value to customers while adding more flexibility by making power supply less of a one-way street. \u201cCommercial sites will partner with Austin Energy and install battery storage systems,\u201d says Freberg. \u201cSHINES incorporates two use-cases, aggregated and direct utility control, for direct comparison and added flexibility. Residential customers will have battery systems deployed and integrated with rooftop PV as part of the SHINES project.\u201d\n\nAnswering key questions\n\nSo what exactly are the technical, environmental and economic benefits of distributed solar energy storage expected to be? These are the questions that Austin SHINES intends to answer.\n\n\u201cEnergy storage can provide a lot of value to the electric grid and to our customers whether it is through increased reliability, integrating renewables,\u201d Freberg says. \u201cPrioritising where value can be obtained and capturing this value are two of the major goals of the Austin SHINES project. Customer value and utility value are one, so whatever benefits we can provide to the utility are good for the customer, and vice versa.\u201d\n\nIn April, Austin Energy brought intelligent energy storage specialist Stem onboard the SHINES project to offer an aggregated fleet of customer-sited energy storage for commercial users in and around Austin. Initially Stem\u2019s tech will be used to test how quickly storage systems can respond to an aggregator\u2019s signal to dispatch and provide grid response services, but over time the fleet is intended to demonstrate the benefits of intelligent storage distributed over many businesses, both to the utility and for the energy bills of commercial customers.\n\n\u201cWhere a business has on-site solar PV systems, Stem\u2019s software and analytics tools will automatically manage those customers\u2019 use of grid-supplied electricity against their solar production,\u201d Stem said in an April statement. \u201cFor all customers in the network, Stem\u2019s proprietary software will rapidly respond to spikes in electricity use, drawing on stored power to automatically reduce demand charge costs without requiring operational changes or manual input from the host.\u201d\n\nObviously there are many challenges to overcome to realise the full potential of energy storage. Upfront capital costs are high while various storage technologies continue to move towards maturity, and the wide array of storage systems being developed throws up issues around interoperability with existing utility infrastructure and grid management architecture in this increasingly multi-faceted market.\n\nAustin Energy is hoping to answer many of these questions with its exploratory approach, and Freberg emphasises extensive collaboration, open standards and pairing storage closely with solar at the source to help ease these growing pains.\n\nIt\u2019s clear that energy storage is becoming a lynchpin technology to accelerate the deployment of renewable power generation while preserving grid equilibrium and security of supply. Austin is set to become a true test best for energy storage, and if it can act as a showcase for the benefits, it could set the solar storage template for other states to follow, especially in the sun-drenched south-west of the US.\n\n\u201cEnergy storage improves the way we generate, deliver, and consume electricity; it helps during emergencies like power outages from storms, equipment failures, accidents or other unforeseen circumstances,\u201d says Freberg. \u201cThe game-changing nature of energy storage is its ability to balance power supply and demand instantaneously \u2013 within milliseconds \u2013 which makes power networks more resilient, efficient and cleaner than ever before.\u201d", "output": "Austin in Texas is becoming a leading test-bed for developing solar storage systems. The city's public energy company Austin Energy has received the largest grant from the US federal government's dedicated fund for encouraging such technologies. The Department of Energy has established the Sustainable and Holistic Integration of Energy Storage and Solar (SHINES) initiative, which is spending $18m on six new integrated solar and storage projects across the US. Austin Energy has received more than $4m for its projects, which include residential, commercial and grid-scale storage facilities.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pundi X to offer mobile cryptocurrency payments in Indonesia \n Business / Finance\n\nNov 04, 2017 | By Jonathan Ho\n\nYou might not realise this, but on 23 August 2017, a little known start-up named Pundi-Pundi with a plan to bring Alipay-style QR code payments to Indonesia raised US$4 million in their first round of Series A fund raising. Digital payments and mobile banking are not new concepts (pioneered by China\u2019s Alipay 10 years ago) but as a way of selling and buying, QR code-payments through your smartphone is only mainstream in China. That said, Pundi-Pundi will now one-up Alipay with a brave new venture: Pundi X, a blockchain startup that aims to make cryptocurrencies an enabler of ubiquitous cashless payment environments across South East Asia.\n\nIndonesia has Alipay QR-code Style Payments, Now Pundi X will offer seamless cryptocurrency payments in that market\n\nThe fast growing and investor-attractive Pundi-Pundi is a mobile payments and micro-loan startup banking on the blue ocean market of cashless environments in Southeast Asia. The US$4 million warchest fueled the company\u2019s growth in its native Jakarta as well as position it to be a market leader in Indonesia, one of the biggest economies in the region. By launching Pundi X, a blockchain startup, the company is also expected to be the market leader for cashless payments using cryptocurrencies in Southeast Asia.\n\n\u201cWallet\u201d in Bahasa Pundi-Pundi had raised an angel round of capital investments in January 2017 to the tune of US$2 million followed by US$4 million in Series A fund raising. On 28 October 2017, cryptocurrency spin-off Pundi X raised fiat US$4 million through a pre-sale Initial Coin Offering garnering a total of 3,148 Ethereum (ETH), 613 Bitcoin (BTC) and 250,040 XEM .\n\nThat said, considering less than 30% of the population in Indonesia owning a debit card, but with the country on track to have 53% of its population to own smartphones in 2017, Pundi-Pundi has a definite business opportunity offering the ability to pay by scanning a QR code via a smartphone app. However, with Pundi X and a relatively blockchain tech ignorant population, they would be facing a slightly tougher challenge.\n\nThe conversion rate currently stands 1 ETH: 500 PXS. Renowned angel investors in the pre-sale ICO include David Lee Kuo Chuen, a Professor of Quantitative Finance and is an investor of ZCash, Qtum, TenX, InfoCorp and OmiseGo; and Lon Wong. the President of NEM.io Foundation (XEM coins are the 7th largest according the Coinmarketcap) and CEO of Dragonfly Fintech.\n\nPundi X aims to solve the last mile challenge for cryptocurrency purchases and sales. The company\u2019s business builds on the existing Pundi-Pundi business model of cashless payment systems, which enables smartphone users to scan QR codes and makes instant payments in retail and restaurant outlets. Pundi-Pundi has already signed up more than 100,000 registered users and over 500 merchant partners in Jakarta in less than a year of operation.\n\nFunds raised by the sale of PXS Tokens during the ICO period will be used to purchase Pundi X POS devices that will be installed in retail outlets enabling consumers to quickly and easily buy or sell cryptocurrency using fiat money (Dollars, Rupiah, Baht, etc.), bank card, mobile wallet or Pundi X Pass. Use of cryptocurrency to pay for utilities and other services will be subject to domestic regulations of each market.\n\nThe full public Initial Coin Offering (ICO) will commence on November 20, 2017. The target for this ICO is to raise 280,000 ETH which will help fund up to 700,000 Pundi X POS devices (approximately US$ 300 each with about US$ 30 million spent rolling out the first 100,000 devices. The remaining 600,000 devices will also be funded by sales proceeds from tokens and revenue from participating B2B merchants) to be installed over a three-year period in Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and other Asian markets. The pre-ICO cap for the Pundi X ICO is 5% or 14,000 ETH from a total ICO hard cap of 280,000 ETH.", "output": "Mobile payments firm Pundi-Pundi has raised $4m in a series A funding round for the launch of its Pundi X blockchain payment service in Indonesia. Pundi X will use the blockchain to facilitate cashless payments using cryptocurrencies across southeast Asia using QR codes. The funding will challenge local rival Alipay by bolstering its growth in Jakarta and the wider Indonesian market. Pundi X has also raised $4m from a pre-sale initial coin offering for 3,148 ether, 613 bitcoin and 250,040 XEM, which will be used to install Pundi X PoS devices in retail outlets.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Church of England faces clergy calls to divest from ExxonMobil \n As Church of England clergy, we have a strong interest in the ethics of investments made by the Church Commissioners and the Church of England Pensions Board on our behalf.\n\nThis week, governments from around the world will meet in Bonn for the next round of UN climate talks. The Paris climate change agreement, which was signed by 195 countries in December 2015, included a commitment to hold the increase in the global average temperature to \u201cwell below 2C \u2026 and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels\u201d.\n\nA lot has happened since then. We have witnessed the shameful decision of the president of the United States to withdraw from the Paris agreement. Average global temperatures have risen to more than 1C above pre-industrial levels. Extreme weather events, which are becoming more frequent as a result of climate change, have had devastating impacts, leading to loss of life and severe destruction in the US and the Caribbean, Africa, South Asia and as close to home as Ireland.\n\nWe believe that churches and other investors can and should support the shift from fossil fuels to clean alternatives through their investment policies. Although the Church of England divested from companies involved in the extraction of coal and tar sands in 2015, it continues to hold significant investments in major oil and gas companies.\n\nWhile many of us believe that the church should divest from all fossil fuel companies for ethical reasons, we are especially concerned about its continued investment in the US oil and gas company ExxonMobil.\n\nA recent Harvard academic study shows that Exxon knew about the risks of climate change in the 1970s, yet misled the public for decades. It says that the company sought to cast doubt on the climate science, taking out paid editorials in major US newspapers questioning whether global warming was real and caused by humans. Exxon\u2019s board of directors has advised shareholders to vote against all resolutions on climate change since 1990.\n\nThe financial risks of investing in fossil fuels are also increasing. A recent Carbon Tracker report, 2 Degrees of Separation, showed that five out of six major oil and gas companies are risking more than 30% of potential investments \u2013 with a value of $2.3 trillion \u2013 on projects that are not aligned with the Paris agreement targets. ExxonMobil risks wasting between 40% and 50% of its future spending.\n\nTime is running out to prevent the worst impacts of climate change. While some governments and companies pursue policies that are leading us in the wrong direction, the Church of England is uniquely placed to show moral leadership through its investment policies.\n\nNow is the time for decisive action. We call on Church of England investors to take the lead and immediately divest from ExxonMobil.\n\nBishop David Atkinson\n\nBishop Michael Doe\n\nBishop Maurice Sinclair\n\nBishop Graham Cray\n\nBishop James Jones\n\nRichard Coles Peterborough\n\nOlivia Graham Oxford\n\nSam Wells London\n\nTom Ambrose Ely\n\nChristine Bainbridge Oxford\n\nRichard Bainbridge Oxford\n\nMichael Bayley Sheffield\n\nChris Brice London\n\nElizabeth Bussman Europe\n\nFrancis Buxton Wales\n\nBen Chase Winchester\n\nAlan Crawley Guildford\n\nLesley Crawley Guildford\n\nBarbara Doubtfire Oxford\n\nChristopher Evans Oxford\n\nJohn Flitcroft Birmingham\n\nDavid Garner Birmingham\n\nGiles Goddard Southwark\n\nChris Halliwell Blackburn\n\nKeith Hebden Leicester\n\nMargot Hodson Oxford\n\nJohn Hughes Manchester\n\nFrancis Jakeman Oxford\n\nIan James Carlisle\n\nChristine Latham Southwark\n\nAndrew Lenox-Conyngham Birmingham\n\nJonathan Nicholas Birmingham\n\nJohn Nightingale Birmingham\n\nBertrand Olivier London\n\nMike Perry Salisbury\n\nDebby Plummer Leeds\n\nAlan Race Southwark\n\nLiz Radcliffe Oxford\n\nGordon Randall Winchester\n\nAlex Randle-Bissell Winchester\n\nMatthew Rhodes Birmingham\n\nEd Saville Blackburn\n\nRosemary Shaw Southwark\n\nTim Stead Oxford\n\nAnne Stevens London\n\nVal Thorne Gloucester\n\nJulian Williams Winchester\n\nSonya Wratten St Albans\n\nAndrew Yates Truro\n\nJoin the debate \u2013 email guardian.letters@theguardian.com", "output": "The Church of England should demonstrate \u201cmoral leadership\u201d by divesting from ExxonMobil, according to a letter from a collection of bishops and other clergy published in The Guardian. The group argues accusations\u00a0that ExxonMobil misled the public and funded climate change denial make its presence in the church\u2019s \u00a37.9bn ($10.4bn) investment fund inappropriate. A spokesman for the Church argued that it should remain a shareholder in order to exert influence on the company. On Monday, the church also launched new guidelines on investment in extractive industries, highlighting the potential harm such industries can cause to communities and the environment.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Church of England faces clergy calls to divest from ExxonMobil \n The Church of England should \u201cshow moral leadership\u201d and immediately sell its investments in the oil giant ExxonMobil, according to a group of bishops and other clergy.\n\n\n\nExxonMobil is accused of misleading the public for decades over the dangers of climate change \u2013 the oil company denies the allegations \u2013 and has funded climate change denial, making its presence in the church\u2019s \u00a37.9bn investment fund of particular concern, the group argues. Investment funds worth more than $5tn have already committed to divest from fossil fuels.\n\nArchbishop Justin Welby, the leader of the Church of England who worked for a decade in the oil industry before becoming a priest, described climate change as a \u201cmoral crisis\u201d on Saturday. \u201cClimate change is pushing us toward disaster,\u201d he wrote in the New York Times. \u201cIt is not a distant danger \u2013 it is already with us. As we continue to burn fossil fuels, its effects will only grow.\u201d\n\nThe latest UN climate change negotiations began in Bonn on Monday and Welby also sent a personal message to Fijian prime minister, Frank Bainimarama, who is overseeing the talks. Welby said the 85 million people in the worldwide Anglican communion that he leads \u201csupport your work to ensure that issues of climate change are recognised as an urgent priority requiring immediate attention\u201d.\n\nHowever, the Church of England argues it should remain an ExxonMobil shareholder so it can continue to engage with the company and influence it to change.\n\nIn a letter to the Guardian, also sent to the church, a group of five bishops and dozens of clergy said: \u201cWhile many of us believe that the Church of England should divest from all fossil fuel companies for ethical reasons, we are especially concerned about the Church\u2019s continued investment in US oil and gas company ExxonMobil.\u201d\n\n\n\nThey cite a recent journal paper analysing ExxonMobil\u2019s activities from 1977-2014 that concludes: \u201cExxonMobil contributed to advancing climate science \u2013 by way of its scientists\u2019 academic publications \u2013 but promoted doubt about it in advertorials. Given this discrepancy, we conclude that ExxonMobil misled the public.\u201d The company is facing legal action in the US over the issue. The company\u2019s directors have also advised shareholders to vote against all resolutions on climate change since 1990, the letter\u2019s authors said.\n\n\u201cThe Church of England is uniquely placed to show moral leadership through its investment policies,\u201d says the letter. \u201cNow is the time for decisive action. We call on Church of England investors to take the lead and immediately divest from ExxonMobil.\u201d\n\nBishop Michael Doe, one of the letter\u2019s signatories, said: \u201cBy divesting from Exxon, the Church of England would send a hugely positive signal at a time when a rapid shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy is urgently required.\u201d\n\nThe Church of England divested in 2015 from companies involved in the extraction of coal and tar sands, the most polluting fossil fuels, but continues to hold significant oil and gas investments.\n\n\u201cClearly we share concerns about ExxonMobil,\u201d said a spokesman for the Church of England. \u201cWe firmly believe however that active investors have a role to play and strategic corporate engagement is too powerful a tool to be rendered ineffective by divesting. We remain in private engagement with the company.\u201d\n\nThe spokesman said concerns raised by the church and others led to the successful passing of a resolution at ExxonMobil\u2019s 2017 annual general meeting that requests disclosure of its analyses of how global warming will affect the company from 2018.\n\nThe church also launched a new policy on investing in extractive industries on Monday. It acknowledges the industries can make a positive contribution to development but also highlights that \u201cextractives companies are particularly vulnerable to poor governance and ethical controversy, and harmful, long-lasting impacts on communities and the environment\u201d.\n\nThe Bishop of Manchester, David Walker, acting chair of the church\u2019s Ethical Investment Advisory Group said: \u201cStrong returns to support our beneficiaries can go hand in hand with robust and transparent ethical investment policies.\u201d The new policy says: \u201cAs a last resort, and on a case by case basis, the [church] may disinvest from companies where engagement is rebuffed or is clearly not leading to progress.\u201d", "output": "The Church of England should demonstrate \u201cmoral leadership\u201d by divesting from ExxonMobil, according to a letter from a collection of bishops and other clergy published in The Guardian. The group argues accusations\u00a0that ExxonMobil misled the public and funded climate change denial make its presence in the church\u2019s \u00a37.9bn ($10.4bn) investment fund inappropriate. A spokesman for the Church argued that it should remain a shareholder in order to exert influence on the company. On Monday, the church also launched new guidelines on investment in extractive industries, highlighting the potential harm such industries can cause to communities and the environment.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Securities Commission Malaysia reviews rules on cryptocurrencies \n KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 6): Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) said it is working closely with Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) in coming out with a framework on cryptocurrency, and expects to launch it in the next few months.\n\n\n\nSC chairman Tan Sri Ranjit Ajit Singh said the commission is also involved in discussions at the International Organisation of Securities Commissions with regards to this matter.\n\n\n\nDifferent positions have been taken by different regulators around the world, but SC wants to ensure recent developments in its global network are weighed properly, Ranjit told reporters at the sidelines of Synergistic Collaborations by SC (SCxSC) Digital Finance Conference 2017.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe note the growing interest of Malaysian investors in trading cryptocurrencies and digital assets. To facilitate such activities in our market and put in place investor safeguards, we are reviewing relevant regulations and guidelines to allow functional and effective use cases of digital assets in the capital market, including the seconding market trading of established cryptocurrency and digital assets,\u201d he said.\n\n\n\nRanjit said SC will have the appropriate cryptocurrency posture and framework that would allow some qualified cryptocurrency exchanges.\n\n\n\n\u201cTogether with BNM, we will look at the area carefully and as SC is in charge of the secondary market, we would craft regulations to ensure that the trading values have the right conditions in place for market integrity and investor projection purposes,\u201d Ranjit said.\n\n\n\nThere are several operating exchanges that have come to talk with SC, and once the framework is on, it would be in a position of seeing which exchanges are registered, he added.\n\n\n\nMeanwhile, Ranjit said through its Alliance for FinTech (aFINity) programme launched in 2015, SC has included innovation labs to test new digital innovations in the industry.\n\n\n\nThe programme has started a pilot project to explore the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT) or blockchain technology in the unlisted and over-the-counter (OTC) market space, he added.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe findings from the pilot would be published as an industry blueprint that would elaborate the technology architecture, key software functions, and development standards in the capital market segment.\n\n\n\n\u201cThis would form the building blocks for interested parties to create a DLT-based network for unlisted and OTC markets,\u201d Ranjit added.\n\n\n\nThe aFINity programme, set up to build the local digital finance ecosystem, has over 100 industry participants.", "output": "Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has said it is \"reviewing relevant regulations and guidelines\" relating to cryptocurrencies as it works on a framework alongside the Bank Negara Malaysia. SC chairman Tan Sri Ranjit Ajit Singh said the two organisations were studying the \"functional and effective use cases of digital assets in the capital market, including the secondary\u00a0market trading of established cryptocurrency and digital assets\". He added the Alliance for FinTech programme had begun a pilot project to provide an industry blueprint for a blockchain-based network.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Universities team up to promote blockchain in southern California\u00a0 \n The Los Angeles Blockchain Lab, a partnership with the UCLA Blockchain Lab and the USC Center for Cyber-Physical Systems and The Internet of Things, is an unprecedented collaborative community on a mission to advance blockchain. The LA Blockchain Lab, a partnership with the UCLA Blockchain Lab, the USC Center for Cyber-Physical Systems and The Internet of Things, is creating a community of blockchain advocates on a mission to increase awareness, advance progress and foster the development of blockchain technology. Members agree to increase civic engagement among all citizens; advance technological progress; link classrooms to burgeoning careers; and foster economic opportunities across Southern California. The Lab\u2019s strength comes itself from associated forms of vigorous difference or diversity: they are intellectual, cultural, and economic\u2013\u2013to name but three.\n\nEach project allows for overlapping potentials and include:\n\nNon-profit initiatives for improved social welfare\n\nTraining for cutting-edge developers, engineers, and designers for ethical innovation\n\nSoCal companies ready to employ blockchain technology for greater social impact\n\nLos Angeles universities and their students for superior career opportunities\n\nLocal governments to reshape public policy\n\nEvents hosted by the Lab are intended to educate the community in blockchain, elevate the blockchain ecosystem, and provide a place to innovate applications in blockchain. Lab events include:\n\nCertificate Program \u2014 the 1st university-accredited blockchain certificate programs in software development and management for matriculated and non-matriculated students\n\n\u2014 the 1st university-accredited blockchain certificate programs in software development and management for matriculated and non-matriculated students MeetUps \u2014 educating the community through case-specific discussions led by expert leaders from academia, businesses, startups, government, and nonprofits\n\n\u2014 educating the community through case-specific discussions led by expert leaders from academia, businesses, startups, government, and nonprofits Verticals \u2014 positioning LA as a blockchain hub and promoting partnerships, profit acceleration, job placement in four verticals: Entertainment, Real Estate, FinTech/Investments, and BioMedical Industry\n\n\u2014 positioning LA as a blockchain hub and promoting partnerships, profit acceleration, job placement in four verticals: Entertainment, Real Estate, FinTech/Investments, and BioMedical Industry Bootcamps, Conferences, and Seminars \u2014 providing hands-on education and training for CEOs, CTOs, CIOs, university deans, asset managers, high-ranking civic officials, VC investors, etc. taught by world-class thought leaders\n\n\u2014 providing hands-on education and training for CEOs, CTOs, CIOs, university deans, asset managers, high-ranking civic officials, VC investors, etc. taught by world-class thought leaders Hackathons \u2014 bringing attention to greater social impact issues and how blockchain could address issues including \u201cOcean Conservation,\u201d \u201cReal News,\u201d and \u201cDepression\u201d\n\n\u2014 bringing attention to greater social impact issues and how blockchain could address issues including \u201cOcean Conservation,\u201d \u201cReal News,\u201d and \u201cDepression\u201d Speaker Series \u2014 taking the education to companies, organizations, and investment firms through case specifically designed set of presentations\n\nIn addition, the Lab promotes community and economic development through job placement and networking opportunities. In collaboration with member partners, it offers blockchain training for high school students with a specific focus on low-income neighborhoods. Through UCLA Extension, the Lab will provide blockchain certification programs for deprived women throughout the Developing World.\n\nThe Board of Directors and Member Organizations include thought leaders from universities, local government, enterprise, nonprofits, startups, investors, and the community at large. A few institutions that have joined the Lab thus far include, but are not limited to UCLA, USC, World Economic Forum, DApperNetwork, BNY Mellon, Deloitte, E&Y, Bloq, Charles River Ventures, Chamber of Digital Commerce, Global Business Blockchain Consortium, World Bank, etc. A place to incubate the concepts innovated at the Lab and set to launch in early 2018, the LA Blockchain Accelerator in partnership with the UCLA and US Venture Funds and local Venture Capital firms provides hands-on mentorship, skills development, and partnership opportunities to propel startups from ideation to success.", "output": "Universities in southern California have formed the Los Angeles Blockchain Lab to\u00a0promote distributed ledger\u00a0technology\u00a0in the region.\u00a0The partnership of the\u00a0UCLA Blockchain Lab,\u00a0the USC Center for Cyber-Physical Systems and The Internet of Things\u00a0aims to \"increase awareness, advance progress and foster the development\" of blockchains. As well as offering training initiatives, hackathons and seminars, the Lab also plans\u00a0to launch an incubator next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Retailers shift focus to relevant placing\u00a0for\u00a0Christmas campaigns \n The right views on YouTube rather than the most views will be on the Christmas lists for many retail advertisers this year.\n\nAll eyes will be on the U.K.\u2019s biggest retailers over the next few days as many, including Sainsbury\u2019s, Asda and John Lewis, reveal their seasonal ads. But the specter of the brand-safety crisis casts a long shadow over those campaigns, forcing some retailers to reassess whether cookie-based targeting is good enough to ensure the safety and effectiveness of these ads. Cookie-based targeting ignores the context of YouTube content, which can lead to irrelevant ad placement.\n\nRelevant ad placement has been discussed separately by marketers at Aldi, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury\u2019s and Tesco following their own audits on the risks associated with misplaced ads on YouTube. All four advertisers questioned how they would buy the most views for their own Christmas ads after discovering that some of the inventory they had bought previously had been placed next to a safe yet irrelevant video, according to three separate industry sources with knowledge of the plans.\n\nEach of the four advertisers either declined to discuss their YouTube plans for the holidays or did not respond before this article was published. However, the industry sources confirmed that while relevance is still second to brand safety, the focus on relevance is growing. \u201cA lot of retailers desperately want to fully return to YouTube [after the brand-safety crisis],\u201d said one of the sources, \u201cbut realize they have to be more cautious about how they will buy ads on it if they return.\u201d\n\nThat view was backed by the The7stars media agency, which is working with retailers such as Iceland and HMV in the U.K. Advertisers, particularly at Christmas, are increasingly using first- or third-party data to either build their own segments within a data-management platform or build customer match lists, said Chris Gilfoy, the strategy director at The7stars. \u201cChristmas is such a competitive time that advertisers are leaning on their data more to reach the right audiences rather than broadcasting too far and wide,\u201d he said.\n\nRetailer Argos, which pulled spend on YouTube when it discovered its own ads ran against inappropriate content, is paying closer attention to the type of views it buys over the holidays. The retailer unveiled its Christmas campaign last week. Rather than focus on the context of its ad placements, which could force it to pay more to run alongside more relevant videos, Argos is combining its own customer data with YouTube\u2019s to identify the videos most likely to be watched by the audiences it wants to reach this Christmas.\n\nFor the long tail of viewers, those who may be suitable for the ad, Argos is buying Google Preferred inventory across YouTube\u2019s most popular channels, said Argos advertising controller Nicki Brown. Essentially, the retailer is using its data to reduce the number of irrelevant videos its Christmas ads appear against before bundling in Google Preferred ads to bulk up the buy with more relevant inventory. Buying ads this way won\u2019t ensure Argos\u2019 ads appear against the relevant content, but it will improve the chances that they are viewed by more of the right people.\n\nThat Argos is putting more time and resources into finding quality inventory on YouTube reflects how its view of paid views at Christmastime is changing. A YouTube campaign\u2019s success at Christmas is not as dependent on paid views as it is at other times because more people are searching for ads. Google searches for Christmas ads in the U.K. increased 40 percent year over year last November, with Sainsbury\u2019s, John Lewis and Marks & Spencer at the top of rankings. Brown explained: \u201cChristmas is a time of year where you hope people might come to your [YouTube] page and seek out your ad in an organic fashion, which is rare at other points in the year.\u201d\n\nThere is a perception that the success of a video is determined by the amount of views it receives, said Elijah Lawal, a YouTube spokesperson.\n\nBut that perception has changed as more advertisers learn how to better balance reach and relevance on YouTube, particularly after many had boycotted it. Whereas before, media agencies felt that content had to be proven as bad before it was taken off advertising schedules, several media executives have noted in recent months that the video site now takes a \u201cbad until proven innocent\u201d approach.\n\n\u201cThere is absolutely nothing to say that if a brand creates an innovative, culturally relevant, audience-captivating campaign, it cannot get amazing watch time and a high number of views, too,\u201d Lawal said.", "output": "Advertisers are giving priority to getting a more relevant audience for their Christmas YouTube campaigns, rather than just the most views. Large retailers including Aldi, Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury's and Tesco have reviewed their strategy to try to prevent their adverts appearing next to irrelevant videos, while all continue to prioritise brand safety after controversies about ads being placed next to\u00a0inappropriate content on YouTube. Argos is using its own customer data along with that of YouTube to achieve better targeting and other brands are similarly looking for ways of getting the \"right\"\u00a0views.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ClientEarth sues UK government over pollution for third time \n The UK government is being sued for a third time over the widespread illegal levels of air pollution, which cause 40,000 early deaths every year.\n\nEnvironmental lawyers ClientEarth have already defeated ministers twice in court, forcing a new pollution plan to be drawn up in July. But ClientEarth believes even the latest strategy does not meet the legal requirement of banishing toxic air in the \u201cshortest possible time\u201d, as EU law requires.\n\n\u201cThe UK government\u2019s stubborn failure to tackle illegal and harmful levels of pollution in this country means that we have no choice but to take legal action,\u201d said James Thornton, ClientEarth\u2019s CEO. \u201cWe need clarity from the government and for that we\u2019ve been forced to go back to court.\u201d\n\nClientEarth sent ministers a pre-action legal letter setting out their concerns in October but deemed the government\u2019s response inadequate. They have now applied to the courts for a legal hearing. The government has already spent \u00a3370,000 of taxpayers\u2019 money in failed attempts to fight air pollution court action.\n\nNitrogen dioxide pollution, mostly produced by diesel vehicles, has been illegally high in most urban parts of Britain since 2010. The government\u2019s latest plan was condemned as \u201cwoefully inadequate\u201d by city leaders and \u201cinexcusable\u201d by doctors.\n\nAir pollution causes an estimated 23,500 early deaths every year from NO2, rising to 40,000 when other pollutants are considered. In September, the UN\u2019s special rapporteur on pollution said the government was \u201cflouting\u201d its duty to protect the lives and health of its citizens and in October a major pollution report estimated the number of premature deaths in the UK at 50,000 per year.\n\nOliver Hayes, at Friends of the Earth, said: \u201cIt\u2019s shameful that the government has to keep being taken to court to try to force it to protect the health of its citizens.\u201d\n\nClientEarth believes there are several grounds for judicial review, including backtracking in the latest plan on \u201cclear air zones\u201d in Birmingham, Derby, Leeds, Nottingham and Southampton. These zones, which would use charges to deter polluting vehicles from city centres, were mandatory in previous plans but are now only \u201cexpected\u201d to be implemented.\n\nClientEarth also say it is unacceptable that the plan requires no action in 45 local authorities with illegal levels of air pollution. These include Leicester, Oxford, Liverpool, Cheltenham and Sunderland, with the government arguing toxic air will fall to legal levels without enforced action.\n\nHowever, Leicester and Oxford city councils have written to ministers saying that the government has seriously underestimated pollution levels and that by requiring no action, they are stopping the councils getting access to funding to cut pollution. Oxford is planning to ban all petrol and diesel vehicles in the future.\n\nSome motoring groups are campaigning against a crackdown on diesel cars, but the latest data shows car buyers are abandoning the technology, with sales down by 30% in October year-on-year. The government\u2019s own analysis shows charging zones to deter dirty cars are by far the most effective policy but ministers have told councils they should only be the option of last resort.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s time ministers came clean about the size of the problem and the difficult decisions needed to solve it,\u201d said Thornton. He said the forthcoming budget should use tax changes to make diesel cars less attractive and that the motor industry should be made to contribute funding.\n\n\u201cThe car industry helped get us into this mess so they should be helping get us out of it by contributing to a clean air fund, as they have done in Germany,\u201d Thornton said. The German government recently secured \u20ac250m (\u00a3220m) from the car industry to help cities reduce pollution.\n\nA spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: \u201cWe have put in place a \u00a33bn plan to improve air quality and reduce harmful emissions. We will also end the sale of new diesel and petrol cars by 2040, and next year we will publish a comprehensive Clean Air Strategy which will set out further steps to tackle air pollution.\u201d\n\nThe decision to take the government back to court came as four air pollution protesters were jailed for staging a series of direct action demonstrations against toxic air in the capital.\n\nThe fouractivists are from the environmental group Stop Killing Londoners, which has been stepping up its campaign calling on the government and the mayor of London to do more to tackle air pollution.\n\nCamberwell magistrates court heard on Tuesday that the group had spray-painted \u201cCut Air Pollution\u201d on City Hall on Monday night before sitting down and waiting to be arrested for criminal damage.\n\nRoger Hallam, 51, Stuart Basden, 34, Ian Bray, 50, and Genny Scherer, 71, were under strict bail conditions not to go within 50m of the building after they graffitied it earlier this week. The four all deny criminal damage.\n\nIn a statement released after the hearing, the group said at least two of those imprisoned would go on hunger strike while being held on remand.\n\nIt said Monday\u2019s arrests were the fifth action in the past week by the campaign amid growing anger at the air pollution crisis. They have demanded a meeting with environmental secretary Michael Gove and London mayor Sadiq Khan.\n\nIn a statement they added: \u201cToday, the four of us are being sent to prison because we apparently care too much. We care about the 25 people who are killed every day in London by the illegal levels of air pollution. We care about the children who will endure a lifetime of suffering due to shrunken lungs. We care, because each breath we take is harming us, and puts even more strain on the NHS as it struggles to cope with unnecessary cuts.\u201d\n\nThe chairwoman of the bench, Finola Gowers, remanded the protesters in custody for seven days and said they faced a possible custodial sentence if convicted.", "output": "Environmental lawyers ClientEarth are suing the UK government for a third time over illegal and dangerous\u00a0air pollution,\u00a0which causes for 40,000 premature deaths annually. The group has already inflicted two prior legal losses on the government, forcing the introduction of a new pollution plan in July. However, ClientEarth claims that these latest proposals\u00a0do not meet the requirement of European Union law that toxic air be combated in the \u201cshortest possible time\u201d. The group has also criticised\u00a0the fact that the proposals do not require action\u00a0in 45 local authorities with illegal\u00a0pollution levels.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Adopting autonomous vehicle earlier could save thousands of lives \n Credit: CC0 Public Domain\n\nAutonomous vehicles should only have to be moderately better than human drivers before being widely used in the United States, an approach that could save thousands of lives annually even before the technology is perfected, according to a new RAND Corporation report.\n\nAllowing wide use of autonomous vehicles when they are just 10 percent better than current American drivers could prevent thousands of road fatalities over the next 15 years and possibly hundreds of thousands of fatalities over 30 years, researchers found, compared to waiting until they are 75 percent or 90 percent better.\n\nGiven the many uncertainties about the future of autonomous vehicle performance and use, the calculations were made by estimating road fatalities over time under hundreds of different plausible futures and different safety requirements for autonomous vehicle introduction.\n\n\"Our work suggests that it is sensible to allow autonomous vehicles on America's roads when they are judged to be just moderately safer than having a person behind the wheel,\" said Nidhi Kalra, co-author of the study and director of RAND's San Francisco office. \"If we wait until these vehicles are nearly perfect, our research suggests the cost will be many thousands of needless vehicle crash deaths caused by human mistakes. It's the very definition of perfect being the enemy of good.\"\n\nDevelopers of autonomous vehicles are testing the cars in cities such as San Francisco and Pittsburgh, while federal lawmakers are considering a variety of new regulations and updates to existing regulations to govern their deployment and encourage their use. But what remains unknown is how good the vehicles have to be before they are made available for use to all consumers.\n\nThe allure of driverless cars is based partly on convenience and partly on the potential to eliminate costly human errors, such as driving when drunk, tired or distracted. More than 90 percent of crashes involve such driver-related errors, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.\n\nResearchers acknowledge that even if autonomous vehicles are proven safer than the average human driver, the vehicles would still cause crashes. They remain vulnerable to other hazards, such as inclement weather, complex traffic situations, and even cyber-attacks.\n\n\"This may not be acceptable because society may be less tolerant of mistakes made by machines than of mistakes made by people,\" said David Groves, study co-author and co-director of RAND's Water and Climate Resilience Center. \"But if we can accept that early self-driving cars will make some mistakes\u2014but fewer than human drivers\u2014developers can use early deployment to more rapidly improve self-driving technology, even as their vehicles save lives.\"\n\nKalra hopes the study will enable policymakers and the public to better weigh potential risks and benefits of autonomous vehicles. Key considerations include how to measure the safety of the vehicles and what should constitute a passing grade.\n\nThe report builds upon past research that found road testing under real traffic conditions is impractical for proving autonomous vehicle safety prior to deployment because it would take decades or longer to drive the requisite miles.\n\nThere is no question that traffic accidents pose a public health crisis. Citing figures from the National Safety Council, the report notes that crashes caused more than 35,000 fatalities and 2.4 million injuries in 2015. The council projected 2016 would be deadlier, with 40,200 fatalities.\n\nMore information: \"The Enemy of the Good: Estimating the Cost of Waiting for Nearly Perfect Autonomous Vehicles,\" www.rand.org/", "output": "Autonomous vehicles should be allowed on the road once they are 10% better than human drivers, and waiting until they are 75% or 90% better would cause needless deaths during the interim, according to the RAND Corporation. About 90% of crashes are caused by driver error, it said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook lets businesses directly target people via messenger \n Facebook has said it will open sponsored messages on Messenger to all advertisers \u2018in the coming months\u2019, after giving more businesses the ability to send relevant promotions directly to people who they have already communicated with.\n\nSponsored messages were first introduced to Messenger almost a year ago to the day as part of the launch of Messenger Platform v1.3. Initially, the ad format was only available to a small number of businesses, including Australian airline Qantas and charity-driven US apparel brand Love Your Melon.\n\n\u201cMany businesses use click-to-Messenger ads every day to start conversations with customers; generating leads, driving transactions and offering customer support,\u201d said Facebook in a blog post. \u201cNow we\u2019re making it easier for advertisers to reengage those conversations using sponsored messages.\u201d\n\nFacebook reports that Qantas found Messenger to be its most efficient digital channel for driving traffic during its spring flight sale. Its five-day campaign saw its sponsored messages have a 4.5 times higher click-through rate than its Facebook link ads.\n\nMeanwhile, Love Your Melon use sponsored messages to promote a new line of hats with previous customers. It achieved 14 times return on ad spend from the campaign.\n\nJoin us at the 2017 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony, taking place in London on Thursday 16 November, to mix with the industry's best and brightest, and raise a glass to the year's best campaigns and solutions. To find out more, and to book your place, click here.", "output": "Facebook is opening up its sponsored messages feature to all advertisers, following positive results from early testers Qantas and Love Your Melon, according to a blog post by the social media giant. Qantas, an Australian airline, said a five-day campaign on sponsored messages resulted in a\u00a0click-through rate that was 4.5 times better than its Facebook link ads. In addition, US brand Love Your Melon reported an increase of 14 times return on ad spend. Facebook said the feature would be expanded in the coming months.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cars Insider reaches 45 million monthly video views on Facebook \n Cars and the auto industry is the latest vertical that Business Insider is looking to grow significantly off the back of Facebook.\n\nLaunched on July 31, the Cars Insider Facebook page, which has 490,000 followers, received 38 million video views in September, according to Tubular Labs. Ashley Lutz, deputy business editor for Business Insider, said Cars Insider content reaches 45 million people per month on Facebook. (Tubular Labs does not have Facebook video viewership data for October yet.)\n\n\u201cWe had all these great videos of cars and so forth, and we thought our audience would enjoy having all of this in one place,\u201d said Lutz. \u201cSo we created the page, and overnight we had 20,000 followers.\u201d\n\nToday, Business Insider produces as much as a dozen pieces of daily content \u2014 mostly short videos designed for Facebook, though the number of videos Cars Insider puts out on a daily basis varies based on the news cycle, Lutz said. A dedicated 10-person team, which includes video producers, editors, photographers and social media experts, oversees the content. Business Insider\u2019s 10-person transportation team, which includes editors and reporters with a long background in covering the auto and transportation industries, also supports Cars Insider\u2019s output.\n\nMost of the videos for Car Insider are quick, Facebook-friendly profiles of different types of vehicles. Some of the videos are explanatory and designed for a potential car buyer \u2014 such as a breakdown of features on a new electric car from Nissan \u2014 while others are more aspirational, covering vehicle prototypes and other expensive cars that most people have no intention of buying. Basically, Cars Insider is designed to be all things auto, from the practical to the aspirational, Lutz said.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re not just showing the super cars that no one will get their hands on,\u201d Lutz said. \u201cWe\u2019re also showing cars that are also within your reach, even if some might take a few years and a promotion at work to afford.\u201d\n\nLutz said Business Insider\u2019s content team produces a majority of Cars Insider videos in-house. The publisher invites automakers to bring their cars \u2014 such as the Ferrari GTC4 Lusso \u2014 to an area nearby its offices in New York City so Cars Insider content producers can make quick social video profiles or longer Facebook Live breakdowns.\n\nCars Insider hasn\u2019t monetized its growing Facebook reach yet; monetization is a \u201cwork in progress,\u201d according to Lutz. The company has previously said it\u2019s finding revenue opportunities through sponsored content, which Cars Insider will look to do by utilizing its existing relationships with different automakers and personalities.\n\nFor the immediate future, the focus is on continuing to use Facebook to grow Cars Insider, a strategy that Business Insider\u2019s distributed-media brand, Insider, has used for every niche topic from art to cheese.\n\n\u201cSocial is our front page,\u201d Lutz said. \u201cWe\u2019re very committed to [BusinessInsider.com], but we also want to get people to come to us on social, which is why we\u2019ve created a lot of sub-verticals [on Facebook].\u201d\n\nImage via Business Insider", "output": "US news website Business Insider has revealed its Car Insider Facebook page reaches an audience of 45 million people per month, an assertion partially backed by analytics firm Tubular Labs, which said the site gained 38 million video views in September. The page, which launched on 31 July, has yet to generate revenue, and Ashley Lutz, deputy business editor for Business Insider, said the company was looking at monetisation opportunities from sponsored content and existing relationships with partners.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook enabling peer-to-peer transfers in coming weeks \n Facebook is leveraging its scale to muscle in on the banking sector by enabling peer-to-peer payments in the UK for the first time.\n\nFacebook flexes financial muscles with new payments service\n\nUsers of its Messenger app will be able to transfer cash directly from their phones or computers over the coming weeks after first linking their account to a debit card, enabling fee-free payments of \u00a32,500 to be made.", "output": "Facebook is entering the world of peer-to-peer payments in the UK for the first time in the company's history, allowing users of its Messenger app to transfer up to \u00a32,500 with zero fees. To prevent fraud, Facebook has set a limit of \u00a310,000 of transfers every 30 days, though data from the US suggests most users transfer \u00a338 or less."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "YouTube struggles to stop troubling videos from reaching children \n YouTube is under fire for allowing troubling videos to get past its filters on an app designed specifically for younger viewers, according to a report this weekend by The New York Times.\n\nThe Google -owned website is the largest video site in the world, with more than a billion people visiting a month. The affected service, YouTube Kids, was launched in 2015 to be a family-friendly version of the site.\n\nBut the kids service reportedly has a dark side. One video showed Mickey Mouse in a pool of blood while Minnie looks on in horror. In another video, a claymation version of Spider-Man urinates on Elsa, the princess from \"Frozen.\" The videos were knockoffs depicting the beloved Disney and Marvel characters.\n\nRepresentatives from The Walt Disney Company, which owns Marvel, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.\n\nYouTube called the content \"unacceptable,\" but said it isn't rampant. In the last 30 days, less than .005 percent of videos viewed in the app were removed for being inappropriate, the company said. YouTube is trying to reduce that number.\n\n\"The YouTube Kids team is made up of parents who care deeply about this, so it's extremely important for us to get this right, and we act quickly when videos are brought to our attention,\" a YouTube spokeswoman said in a statement. \"We use a combination of machine learning, algorithms and community flagging to determine content in the app as well as which content runs ads. We agree this content is unacceptable and are committed to making the app better every day.\"\n\nThe videos made it onto YouTube Kids by getting past safety filters, either by mistake or by trolls gaming the software.\n\nThe controversy comes as tech giants find themselves under intense scrutiny from Congress over the power and influence they have over what billions of people see online. Google, Facebook and Twitter spent last week in marathon Senate and House hearings over the way Russian trolls abused their platforms to meddle in last year's US presidential election. Lawmakers grilled the tech companies over accountability for the algorithms they used.\n\nThis isn't the first time YouTube has faced a backlash for unsavory content. Earlier this year, advertisers boycotted YouTube after their ads appeared next to extremist and hate content because of YouTube's automated advertising technology. Major brands including AT&T and Johnson & Johnson ditched advertising on the platform.\n\nAs for the issues with YouTube Kids, the company said parents can use additional controls to limit what their kids see. The controls allow for blocking specific videos or channels and turning off search. YouTube said the app was never meant to be a curated experience, and that parents flagging inappropriate videos would make the app better over time.\n\nThe Smartest Stuff: Innovators are thinking up new ways to make you, and the things around you, smarter.\n\nSpecial Reports: CNET's in-depth features in one place.", "output": "YouTube is failing to prevent inappropriate content appearing on its dedicated children's service, according to an investigation by the New York Times. The video platform launched its \"YouTube Kids\" service in 2015, with videos appearing on the service supposedly filtered for their content. However, a number of \"troubling\" videos, showing cartoon characters in violent or crude situations, have been found on the site. The company agreed that the videos were \"unacceptable\", saying that\u00a0it relies on machine learning, algorithms and user reports to police the service's content.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Netflix adds more debt as profitability remains distant prospect \n Netflix is again going deeper into hock.\n\nIn the streaming service\u2019s latest move to cover its massive global content costs, Netflix this week closed $1.4 billion in new debt financing, adding to its $3.37 billion in existing long-term obligations. It\u2019s the third time in a little more than two years that Netflix has raised more than $1 billion in debt financing.\n\nBut the company\u2019s mounting debt and content-payment obligations have raised a new question on Wall Street: When will Netflix take its foot off the gas pedal?\n\n\u201cYou can\u2019t spend like this on programming forever,\u201d said Michael Nathanson, principal at MoffettNathanson, who expects Netflix to shell out $8 billion in cash for content in 2017. \u201cWhen do they feel they\u2019ve built the perfect scale and can slow it down?\u201d\n\nThe company has reassured investors that it isn\u2019t excessively leveraged, noting in its first-quarter letter to shareholders that it has a debt-to-market-cap ratio of less than 10%, far smaller than that of industry peers.\n\nBut that doesn\u2019t account for Netflix\u2019s content obligations \u2014 the billions in payments for programming over a period of several years. That figure stood at $15.3 billion at the end of the first quarter, more than double that of the same quarter three years earlier. A whopping $8.4 billion of that $15.3 billion isn\u2019t reflected on Netflix\u2019s balance sheet.\n\nNetflix is betting subscriber growth will keep pace with its growing debt load and content commitments. * Excludes $1.4 billion in new debt expected to close May 2 ** Bulk of payments due within three years\n\nSources: Company reports, SEC filings\n\nTo finance the latest debt offering, a Netflix representative said the company is targeting non-U.S. lenders because European interest rates are attractive. Moreover, the rep said, \u201cNetflix is a global company, and we want to have access to global capital markets.\u201d\n\nThe company\u2019s hypothesis: It needs to spend big now to keep the customer-growth engine humming before it can reach cruising speed and live within its means. So far, execs have sold that story to the investment community, and nobody on Wall Street is worried that Netflix is becoming over-leveraged. \u201cThe market is surprisingly comfortable with Netflix\u2019s balance sheet,\u201d Nathanson said.\n\nWith access to cheap credit, and investors not expecting big profit margins, Netflix has an advantage over traditional media companies that need to worry about the bottom line. To Nathanson, Netflix\u2019s current investment mode is akin to the U.S. cable sector\u2019s heavy capex spending two decades ago when operators built out fiber-optic networks to set the stage for growth.\n\nNetflix shareholders are fans of the debt-fueled strategy for one key reason: \u201cThe correlation between content spending and subscriber growth is strong,\u201d said CFRA Research senior analyst Tuna Amobi.\n\nTo be sure, Netflix\u2019s long-term debt has not been a huge drag on earnings, as it continues to grow the top line. The company reported $46.7 million in interest expense for the first quarter of 2017, on revenue of $2.67 billion (up 35% year over year). But in addition to the content itself, Netflix will have to promote it, which the company expects will gobble up more than $1 billion.\n\nIt all makes sense if Netflix successfully signs up millions more users (and keeps them). If subscriber levels start to taper off, though, in a worst-case scenario Netflix would be forced to raise prices again.\n\nWhile that would obviously stifle subscriber growth, hiking rates by $1 per month would generate an incremental $1.2 billion in cash per year, giving the company enough money to cover content obligations and pay down debt over a few years, said Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter. The analyst (who has a \u201csell\u201d rating on the stock) doesn\u2019t see extreme risk in Netflix\u2019s model per se. The danger, he said, is that the pricey content won\u2019t resonate with customers.\n\n\u201cI think they\u2019re spending way too much,\u201d he said, \u201cand have way too little to show for it.\u201d", "output": "Netflix has sold $1.4bn of debt, adding to its $3.37bn of outstanding obligations, as the company continues to invest in content across the globe. Netflix recently told investors that its debt-to-market capitalisation ratio of 10% is lower than most industry peers. However, it had $15.3bn of content obligations at the end of the first quarter, double a year earlier. About $8.4bn of that isn't reflected on Netflix's balance sheet.\u00a0\u201cYou can\u2019t spend like this on programming forever,\u201d said Michael Nathanson, principal at MoffettNathanson. \"When do they feel they\u2019ve built the perfect scale and can slow it down?\u201d\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Salesforce teams\u00a0with\u00a0Google to connect marketing, analytics\u00a0data \n Technology vendors strike new alliance that will see integration between Salesforce Marketing Cloud and GSuite, Google Analytics 260\n\nSalesforce and Google have teamed up under a new strategic partnership that will see the pair bring together marketing, sales and advertising data from the CRM vendor\u2019s platforms with Google Analytics 360 for real-time interaction.\n\nThe extended alliance, announced at the Dreamforce conference, focuses on four key areas, all designed to more deeply integrate and develop the two technology offerings. The first is expansion of the GSuite and Salesforce partnership to provide deeper integrations between the two product sets.\n\nThese include the already available integration of Salesforce Lightning and Gmail to surface relevant CRM data in Gmail and vice versa; plus the ability to surface customer and account details, service case history and other CRM insights into the Hangouts meet interface during real-time interactions.\n\nSecondly, a fresh alliance with the Google Analytics team will see data from the Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Sales Cloud seamlessly connected to Google Analytics 360 for the first time. The intention is to give users more extensive consumer insights that can also then be leveraged through Google\u2019s ad platforms.\n\nAs an example, the companies said marketers will be able to create customised audiences in Analytics 360 then push them into Marketing Cloud to orchestrate activities across digital channels. Analytics 360 data will also be now available directly through the Salesforce Marketing Cloud.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re taking the number one marketing analytics platform and marrying it with number one marketing engagement platform,\u201d Salesforce CEO of Marketing Cloud and chief analytics officer, Bob Stutz, said in a press conference. \u201cThat benefits both customers and consumers today.\u201d\n\nThe deal represents the first time Google has directly integrated with a marketing platform provider, Stutz said.\n\n\u201cToday for customers to take a segment from analytics and put it into the Marketing Cloud is a little tough. This integration will make it seamless to bring those audiences into our platform,\u201d he said.\n\nGoogle VP display, video and analytics, Paul Muret, said advertisers and marketers have different lenses to sales and other internal teams, but all want and need those insights to be based on a common data foundation.\n\n\u201cSeamlessly flowing data across those systems is super important,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2018re blending anonymous and known data together and data will flow back and forth.\u201d\n\nIn response to how the Krux data management platform (DMP) could fit in this scenario, Stutz noted a DMP is just one data set in multiple sources constantly now being used to engage customers.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no one database, there are multiple databases that reside out in cloud infrastructure,\u201d he explained. \u201cIt\u2019s bringing data together in real-time way \u2013 whether it\u2019s analytics, DMP, Marketing Cloud, or insights feeding into Google Analytics. It\u2019s about all that data flowing in real time to give customers the right offers at the right time.\u201d\n\nThe third element of the partnership is to use Google Cloud a preferred public cloud provider for Salesforce. This decision will see the latter using Google\u2019s cloud platform for core services as it further extends internationally. These new regions have not yet been named, but a spokesperson confirmed the relationship doesn\u2019t change Salesforce\u2019s current relationship with rival cloud provider, Amazon Web Services, who is also a preferred partner for regions such as Australia.\n\nThe fourth pillar and final pillar is Google standardising on the Salesforce CRM platform.\n\nTo mark the deal, Google will offer Salesforce customers not currently using its productivity tools a free licence for the first year.\n\n\n\nSpeaking at the keynote opening, Google SVP of cloud, Diane Greene, said technology is such an amazing industry to be in and the game-changing opportunities just keep emerging.\n\n\n\n\"We\u2019re able to bring so much to the world through all our technologies,\" she said. \"Cloud is such an incredible revolution, allowing companies to seamlessly partner together. The more we work together, the more easy, seamless and powerful things become for our customers.\"\n\n\n\nSalesforce chairman and CEO, Marc Benioff, said the partnership with Google represents the best of both worlds for respective customers.\n\n\u201cThere has never been an easier way for companies to run their entire business in the cloud \u2013 from productivity apps, email and analytics, to sales, service and marketing apps,\" he said. \"This partnership will help make our customers smarter and more productive.\u201d", "output": "Salesforce, the customer relationship management (CRM) software company, is partnering with Google to integrate the two firms' technological offerings. The deal includes the first-ever connection of the Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Sales Cloud to Google Analytics 360, while Salesforce will use Google\u2019s cloud platform for core services as part of its international expansion, in addition to the firm's CRM platform being standardised by Google. A spokesperson confirmed the partnership does not affect Salesforce's existing agreement with cloud provider Amazon Web Services.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AppNexus unveils 'programmable' demand-side platform \n AppNexus is adding machine learning to its ad-buying software, making the company the newest in a series of ad-tech firms to add artificial intelligence to its platform.\n\nToday, the company is debuting what it says is the first programmable demand side platform, which could help media buyers manage and customize their campaigns. The AppNexus Programmable Platform (APP)\u2014which launches after three years of research involving more than 200 buy-side engineers, data scientists and developers\u2014will be ready for 2018 campaigns.\n\nSo", "output": "After three years of research, AppNexus has unveiled what it has called the world's first programmable demand-side platform. The AppNexus Programmable Platform (APP) features machine learning capability, with beta testers including\u00a0Xasis, OMD and WPP-owned Greenhouse Group. The latter firm said APP, set to be ready for 2019 campaigns, demonstrated a 73% reduction in trade times alongside a 13% improvement in\u00a0performance. Rocket Fuel and IBM have both also launched artificial intelligence-powered advertising platforms.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Education Department taps Benetech to build digital library \n BENETECH, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based nonprofit that \u201cbuild[s] software for social good,\u201d according to its website, has received a five-year, $42.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education. That check will go to support Bookshare, an online library of digital books that are accessible to learners with print reading disabilities such as dyslexia and blindness. More than 500,000 students currently use Bookshare, claims the nonprofit, in districts including Los Angeles Unified School District.\n\nThis is ED\u2019s third grant to Bookshare, and the funding helps keep the digital library free for U.S. students, educators and school districts. (Others can pay $50 a year or $6 to $10 per digital book.) Benetech aims to use the funding to reach another 200,000 students.\n\nTechCrunch has an exhaustive look at Benetech founder Jim Fruchterman and the origins of Bookshare in a four-thousand word profile.", "output": "California-based non-profit Benetech has received its third grant from the US Department of Education. The $42.5m grant will be used to support Benetech's Bookshare initiative, which brings digital versions of texts to disabled readers and is free to students, teachers and school districts. Benetech said that more than 500,000 readers currently use the service, and aims to increase its reach by 200,000 with the funds.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EU and California to partner on emissions trading and transport \n Building on concrete efforts by both California and the EU to implement carbon markets and zero-carbon transportation policies, and in light of the global momentum generated by the Paris Agreement, European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Ca\u00f1ete and Governor of California Jerry Brown met today in Brussels and agreed to step up cooperation on emissions trading and zero-carbon transportation.\n\nOn carbon markets, the EU and California will hold regular political and technical dialogues on the design and implementation of their carbon markets, including cooperation with other carbon markets such as China. Hosted by China's Special Representative on Climate Change Affairs, Commissioner Arias Ca\u00f1ete and Governor Brown will open a high-level event on carbon markets and the role of carbon pricing in China on 14 November at COP 23 in Bonn.\n\nThe EU and California will also work together to scale zero-carbon transportation solutions globally, including by bringing new commitments and new partners to the Global Climate Action Summit which California will host 12-14 September 2018.\n\nThe Global Climate Action Summit will bring together leaders from all around the world and in every walk of life \u2013 from government to business, from science to faith, and from students to investors to non-profit leaders \u2013 who believe that climate change is an existential threat and are committed to rolling back the forces of carbonisation. The Summit will emphasise how subnational actors have already contributed to emissions reductions, spur bold new commitments, and galvanise a global movement for everyone to do more.\n\nFollowing today's meeting, EU Climate Action and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Ca\u00f1ete said: \"The EU and California are natural partners in the fight against climate change and have been pioneers in the early years of carbon markets and clean mobility. Today we agreed to strengthen our cooperation so that we remain leaders in these areas \u2013 both of which will be key for achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement.\"\n\n\"We are truly facing a challenge unprecedented in human history,\" said Governor Brown. \"If we come together and we see the truth of our situation, we can overcome it. We've fought great battles before and I hope that the European Union and California will be able to inspire the rest of the world.\"\n\nThe European Union is the largest carbon market in the world, with its emissions trading system a key part of the EU's policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while California also has a well-established carbon market, that is linked with markets in Quebec and Ontario.\n\nThe EU's low-emission mobility strategy for the transport sector is also a key element of the bloc's climate policy, with a major new proposal on CO 2 emission standards for cars and vans to be considered by the Commission tomorrow. California introduced its first regulation to accelerate the uptake of zero-emissions vehicles in 1990 and its current standards have been adopted by nine other US States. The state also has a goal to put more than 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles on its roads by 2025.\n\nCalifornia climate policies and programmes have cut carbon emissions, helped create clean technology jobs and spurred partnerships across the United States and around the world to fight climate change.\n\nThe state has created more than 2.6 million new jobs since 2010, and the unemployment rate has declined by more than half. Climate leadership in both the public and private sectors has played a key role in the state\u2019s economic growth, with the state now home to more than 500,000 advanced-energy jobs. In 2015, at the end of a ten-year period in which state per capita carbon emissions fell by 12 percent, the sector created jobs at six times the rate of the overall state economy, showing that economic growth and climate ambition go hand-in-hand.", "output": "The European Commission and the US state of California have announced that they will cooperate on emissions trading and zero-carbon transportation. European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Ca\u00f1ete, and California Governor Jerry Brown, met in Brussels. The pair will open a high-level meeting on carbon markets and carbon pricing in China at COP 23 in Bonn next week. Representatives from the Commission and California\u00a0will also hold regular meetings on the design of their own carbon markets and on cooperation with other markets, including that in China.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "World must end debt-fuelled growth model: BIS \n The organization commonly known as the central bank of central banks has called for an end of boom-and-bust cycles that have plagued the global economy, urging lawmakers quickly to adjust current policy. \"The global economy cannot afford to rely any longer on the debt-fueled growth model that has brought it to the current juncture.\" the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) warns in a new annual report published on Sunday.\n\nDebt levels are too high, productivity growth is too low, and the room for policy maneuver is too narrow, the BIS warned. Adding that the most \"conspicuous\" sign of this predicament is interest rates that continue to be persistently and exceptionally low.\n\n\n\n\n\n$8 trillion with negative yield\n\nImage Source | Getty Images\n\nCentral banks around the world have leapt into action following the global financial crisis of 2008 and the sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone. Several institutions have introduced bond-buying programs and cut benchmark rates in an effort to stimulate lending. Some have even pushed rates below zero with a negative rate effectively charging banks who park cash at a central bank. The European Central Bank (ECB), the Danish National Bank (DNB), the Swedish Riksbank, and the Swiss National Bank (SNB) have all pushed key short-term policy rates into negative territory. This has suppressed bond yields in wider asset markets with BIS estimating that a record of close to $8 trillion in sovereign debt was trading at negative yields at the end of May.\n\nNonetheless, the Basel-based BIS - which was one of the few organizations to foresee the 2008 crash - says that this monetary policy has been \"overburdened for far too long.\"\n\n\"Prudential, fiscal and, above all, structural policies must come to the fore,\" it said in the report Wednesday, adding that it's essential to avoid the temptation to succumb to \"quick fixes or shortcuts.\"\n\n\"The measures must retain a firm long-run orientation. We need policies that we will not once again regret when the future becomes today,\" it added.\n\nUpbeat on growth?", "output": "The world needs to reduce its reliance on debt-driven growth if it is to end the boom and bust cycles that have characterised the global economy, according to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). Debt levels are too high, productivity growth is too low, and the room for policy manoeuvre is too narrow, the BIS said. The most conspicuous\u00a0sign of this predicament is interest rates that continue to be persistently and exceptionally low, it said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pollution causes public health emergency in Delhi \n A public health emergency has been declared by doctors in Delhi as air quality in the world\u2019s most polluted capital city plunged to levels likened to smoking at least 50 cigarettes in a single day.\n\nSlow winds and colder temperatures have been blamed for a surge in airborne pollutants beyond what instruments in the city could measure with some recording an Air Quality Index (AQI) maximum of 999.\n\nThe Indian Medical Association said the country\u2019s capital was suffering a health emergency and called for an upcoming half-marathon to be cancelled to avoid \u201cdisastrous health consequences\u201d.\n\nResidents were warned to avoid leaving their homes as smog enveloped streets and landmarks on Tuesday, sparking road, rail and airport delays and renewed calls for Indian state and federal governments to act.\n\nThe Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, said the city was a \u201cgas chamber\u201d as his government met on Tuesday afternoon to consider a response to the crisis. Primary schools, already asked to keep students indoors, will be shut on Wednesday and possibly longer if the poor conditions persist.\n\nBelgium\u2019s King Philippe inspects a military guard of honour at the Indian presidential palace in Delhi on Tuesday. Photograph: Manish Swarup/AP\n\nMost dangerous to health are concentrations of fine pollutants smaller than 2.5 micro-metres \u2013 tiny enough to evade the body\u2019s natural filters and permeate the blood-brain barrier.\n\n\n\nTests by Greenpeace have shown these fine pollutants \u2013 called PM2.5 \u2013 can include carcinogenic chemicals such as lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury. Levels of PM2.5 in Delhi on Tuesday reached 710 micrograms per cubic metre, more than 11 times the World Health Organisation\u2019s safe limit.\n\n\u201cIt has terrible effects on every part of your body,\u201d said Dr Arvind Kumar, the chest surgery chairman at Sir Ganga Ram hospital, who compared the 999 AQI level recorded in the RK Puram area to smoking 50 cigarettes in a day. \u201cICUs are full of pneumonia patients. Lots of my patients are coming with coughs today. They are breathless.\n\n\u201cIt can precipitate an acute asthma attack and in the long run it will increase their risk of lung cancer,\u201d he said.\n\n00:31 Delhi smog declared public health emergency \u2013 video\n\nThose who work outside \u2013 such as the city\u2019s fleet of rickshaw pullers \u2013 are hardest hit. Vikas Yadav, an immigrant from Bihar state, said he used to welcome the colder months when the threat from disease-carrying mosquitoes subsides.\n\n\n\nNow, \u201cmy eyes get a burning sensation\u201d, he said. \u201cI fell sick last year. I don\u2019t know whether it was from the air but I felt breathless and my eyes were itching. Doctors told me not to work early morning during winters.\u201d\n\nThe smog was unsparing of Delhi\u2019s wealthier set and its community of expatriate workers, many of whom gathered on Tuesday morning on the lawns of the Australian high commission for an annual champagne breakfast to celebrate the Melbourne Cup horse race.\n\n\u201cIt was like being in Europe in the middle of winter on a misty morning,\u201d said one reveller, Elizabeth Pennell, a lawyer for an international fund. \u201cIt would have been romantic had the mist not been PM2.5.\u201d\n\nThe crowd paired their race-day dresses and suits with pollution masks but Pennell said the foul air failed to dampen the mood. \u201cYou tuck up your children inside where the air is purified and for these few hours you risk your health to let your hair down,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cAnd then you can go back and lock yourself inside your apartment and breathe clean air \u2013 unlike most Indians.\u201d\n\nDelhi\u2019s air quality is extremely poor for most of the year due to road dust, open fires, vehicle exhaust fumes, industrial emissions and the burning of crop residues in neighbouring states.\n\nBut conditions worsen in winter months when slow winds and cool temperatures trap pollutants closer to the ground.\n\nAs awareness of the problem in Delhi has grown, various methods have been tried to clear the atmosphere including shutting down a local coal-fired power station, traffic rationing and banning firecrackers during Diwali, the annual Hindu festival.\n\n\n\nBut any lasting solution would need to simultaneously tackle the myriad sources of pollution and involve dozens of state and municipal governments in a country where law enforcement is notoriously patchy.\n\nThough Delhi gets most attention, toxic air afflicts the entire north Indian plain, including parts of Pakistan. A study last year found the holy city of Varanasi had among the worst air in the country.\n\nAirtel, the leading sponsor of the upcoming Delhi half-marathon, urged the city government to ensure the safety of runners, indicating that it may pull out of the event next year.\n\n\u201cAir pollution poses serious health risks and it is important that these concerns are addressed urgently and appropriately by the authorities for Airtel to continue associating with the event next year and beyond,\u201d it said in a statement.\n\nLabourers work on a Delhi construction site. Photograph: Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty Images\n\nResearch published in the Lancet last month found about 2.5 million Indians die each year from pollution, the highest number in the world.\n\nUnprecedented levels of pollution this time last year forced schools to shut as authorities scrambled to contain the crisis.\n\n\n\nThe World Health Organisation in 2014 classed Delhi as the world\u2019s most polluted capital, with air quality levels worse than Beijing. A 2015 study showed about half the Indian capital\u2019s 4.4 million schoolchildren had compromised lung capacity and would never totally recover.", "output": "Doctors in the Indian capital of Delhi have declared a public health emergency as air quality deteriorated to levels equivalent to smoking 50 cigarettes a day.\u00a0Cold temperatures and slow winds meant that airborne pollutants in the city, already the world\u2019s most polluted capital, exceeded the measurement capacity of many recording instruments. On Tuesday, levels of fine pollutants\u00a0known as PM2.5s, which can contain carcinogenic chemicals, reached more than 11 times the safe limit set by the World Health Organisation. Each year, 2.5 million Indians die from pollution.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Blockchain interoperability identified as the next frontier \n Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More\n\nIn the beginning was Bitcoin, the only blockchain we thought we\u2019d need. Then Ethereum came along and launched us into a multi-blockchain world. Since then we\u2019ve seen many new blockchains emerge with their various different protocols, financed by their various different tokens.\n\nOne of the the key doctrines of this era was Joel Monegro\u2019s seminal \u201cfat protocols\u201d post, in which he explained that value creation in a protocol world happens in a very different way than in the Internet world. Specifically, in the Internet world, the protocols (think TCP/IP and HTTP) were conduits and not holders of value; it was the applications built on top of them that held the value. In the blockchain world, he argued, it\u2019s the protocols that hold the value.\n\nHis post, in some ways, helped provide the fuel and justification for the protocol/ICO excitement we have witnessed over the past 6-8 months.\n\nBut the explosion of protocol ICOs (as well as ICOs that claim to be protocols) and the \u201cfat protocols doctrine\u201d have accelerated the timetable for a new layer of innovation for the decentralized economy. This new layer has been on the minds of many in the industry for quite some time, but on the proverbial backburner in terms of broader awareness. That\u2019s now beginning to change.\n\nThe layer? Blockchain interoperability.\n\nFat protocols, thin protocols, and interoperability\n\nMonegro\u2019s core thesis is now coming under scrutiny. Teemu Paivinen argues in his recently posted essay on \u201cThin Protocols\u201d that \u201c[while] protocols in aggregate will continue to capture most of the value, individual protocols will in fact be quite thin and tend towards capturing minimal value, due to the combined effects of forking and competitive market forces.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile, blockchain blogger Evan van Ness wrote that \u201cthere\u2019s no such thing as \u2018fat protocols\u2019\u201d \u2014 for a few reasons. First off, he writes, Monegro doesn\u2019t clarify what is an app and what is a protocol. Second, he points to examples blockchain platforms like Gnosis and Steem and reasonably asks, are they apps? Protocols? Or both?\n\nVan Ness then refers us to a post by Stephan Tual, a leader within the Ethereum community who now is at Slock.it (and who has as more first-hand experience with decentralized innovation than most, since he was at ground zero of \u201cDAO-gate\u201d). Tual challenges conventional wisdom further by sharing his Web 3.0 Abstracted Stack.\n\nYou do not have to be a seasoned blockchain architect to see that these are not, in fact, fat protocols. Rather, they are a series of thin component protocols that work in harmony to deliver decentralized applications.\n\nPaivinen, Tual, and van Ness are far more technical and knowledgeable than I am, but the basic gist as I read it is as follows:\n\nThe combination of the speed of innovation within the decentralized world, the ability to fork open source projects at will, and the economic incentive to serve more niches as the overall market opportunity grows is going to lead to an explosion of blockchains.\n\nWe are already seeing this occur. Given the strengths of each team and their vision, each blockchain-based protocol is going to do something really, really well, but no one blockchain can do EVERYTHING really well.\n\nBitcoin has a strong trust layer. Storj, Sia, and FileCoin have created strong storage layers. Replicating those strengths would take a lot of time and become redundant, and there is the well known adage \u201cdon\u2019t roll your own crypto,\u201d when it comes to security.\n\nAs a blockchain developer, you want to be able to take the best of everything and put it together so you can build the best application possible. That\u2019s why interoperability is critical and why the market for it is starting to heat up.\n\nThe multi-blockchain world has created a lot of value and excitement, but moving between them can be challenging. If you own Numeraire currency, for example, and you want to get Bitcoin for it, you have to use a tool like ShapeShift or sell it on an exchange. You can\u2019t just send Numeraire to your Bitcoin address without, at the moment, going through someone else. (Well, you can, sort of through something called cross-chain atomic swaps, but it\u2019s still immature. Still, Decred and Litecoin pulled it off recently).\n\nAnother example is identity. Say you want to log into trading platform EtherDelta to trade your tokens. You\u2019ll need a MetaMask extension to verify your identity. But what if you want to use the Civic verifier instead? You can\u2019t. On the other hand, if you want to log into Prism, you need Civic and can\u2019t use MetaMask. You need two \u201cidentity wallets.\u201d Frustrating.\n\nIn an interoperable world, EtherDelta and Prism would each set up an identity requirement layer that can accept either Civic or MetaMask \u2026 or UPort or PeerMountain, or any other that\u2019s created.\n\nAs an end user, you can use whatever identity provider you want, and the decentralized app doesn\u2019t have to code for 10 different log-in possibilities. That\u2019s value.\n\nThe cross-chain protocols and their approach\n\nWe\u2019re seeing the first generation of interoperability players emerge to take on the task of intermediating between chains. Make no mistake about it, we are really early in this phase of development.\n\nWhile it will take time for this segment to see maturity, what should get you excited is the fact that there are numerous projects out there aggressively making their case for becoming an interoperability standard. All of the innovation happening now may be a bit murky, but the arrival of hardened technology is going to enable public blockchains to work with each other and for private-public blockchain bridges to work better, while affording each organization the flexibility to choose the set of blockchain protocols best suited to its needs.\n\nOne of the key players in this cross-chain space, Polkadot, has a roadmap that puts its own genesis block in 2019. In the meantime, it has already raised $140 million to make it possible, so unless the team is out ordering caviar and Dom Perignon every day, they should have enough cash to deliver.\n\nICON is another big name in this field. The Korea-based group closed a $42 million token sale in just six hours in September.\n\nOther players include Cosmos (which calls itself the \u201cInternet of Blockchains\u201d) and new entrants like Aion, Lamden, Metronome (focused on cross-blockchain currency), and a totally open protocol put forth originally by Ripple called the InterLedger Protocol.\n\nIf you want to get really deep on the tech side of cross-chain protocols, check out Jackson Palmer\u2019s great explanatory video. He does a really nice job. Using Polkadot as an example, here\u2019s roughly how they work:\n\nPolkadot has three main components.\n\nA relay chain to coordinate consensus and transactions between separate chains Parachains \u2014 these are the constituents (let\u2019s call them the chains that have \u201cbought into\u201d the interoperability solution offered) Bridges, which are links to blockchains, like Ethereum, that have their own consensus mechanism\n\nSuch a system requires the same type of game theory and mechanism design that a regular blockchain would and needs to account for ways to:\n\nCryptographically secure a new block to the chain\n\nEnsure members of the network are honest\n\nUncover and remove dishonest actors\n\nIt is not too difficult to foresee an academic or professional discipline that studies \u201cblockchain interoperability protocol design\u201d and certifies that such protocols function as they should. We are definitely going to need that.\n\nWhen will we see the first cross-chain protocols?\n\n\n\nMy crystal ball is as unclear as anyone else\u2019s in this industry, but the one thing that consistently surprises those of us in the middle of it all is the pace of innovation.\n\nIf the Polkadot roadmap is any indication, we are about 18 months out from the first deployment. That gives all of us plenty of time to think critically about what the components are of a solid interoperability standard and which one is most likely to emerge victorious.\n\nWe also have time to begin developing plans for even more robust, dynamic, and powerful decentralized applications that leverage the \u201cbest of the best.\u201d\n\nThe lag time until we see that first deployment also provides adequate warning to the establishment that decentralized technologies are maturing and, once bolstered by interoperability, are going to get closer and closer to mainstream use cases and adoption.\n\nJeremy Epstein is CEO of Never Stop Marketing and author of The CMO Primer for the Blockchain World. He currently works with startups in the blockchain and decentralization space, including OpenBazaar, IOTA, and Zcash.", "output": "Blockchain interoperability is vital for mainstream adoption of distributed ledger technology, wrote Never Stop Marketing CEO Jeremy Epstein in an editorial for VentureBeat. There is likely to be an explosion in blockchains thanks to the speed of innovation, economic incentives to serve niche markets and the ability to fork open-source projects. But while having multiple blockchains has created a lot of value, moving between them can still be challenging. Epstein estimates that the first deployment of cross-chain protocols will happen within about 18 months, giving the establishment adequate warning that decentralised technologies are getting closer to mainstream usage.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Warsaw has 84,000 sq m of flexible work space in 95 locations \n \n POLAND Warsaw has 84,000 sqm of flexible work space in 95 locations, including serviced offices (office space leased on a temporary basis) and co-working space, claims Savills.\n\nOf this, serviced offices space accounts for 44,000 sqm while co-working space accounts for 40,000 sqm. Krak\u00f3w is the second biggest market (25 locations with almost 15,000 sqm of such space), followed by Pozna\u0144, with a stock of more than 8,200 sqm in 18 locations.\n\n\u201cIt is getting harder to tell the difference between co-working space and serviced offices. Both formats have more and more features in common and the flexible workplace sector is developing at a very rapid pace. What\u2019s more, even traditional offices are increasingly resembling co-working areas with chill-out zones and activity based workplace solutions,\u201d says Jaros\u0142aw Pilch, the head of office tenant representation at Savills.\n\nThe last two years have seen the largest increase in the number of new co-working providers entering the Polish market. Business Link, opened in Warsaw\u2019s Zebra Tower in 2011 and was the first large co-working centre in Poland. In the mid-1990s, Regus opened its first serviced office at the Sheraton Hotel in Warsaw. At present, the largest developers operating on the Polish market are working with flexible workplace providers. In addition to Business Link, partnered by Skanska, Echo Investment has also entered this market with CitySpace, while Ghelamco is planning to develop co-working space in its new project The Warsaw Hub. There are a number of flexible office providers with at least 3,000 sqm in total in at least two locations including Brain Embassy, Business Link, CitySpace, Dago, InOffice, Office Hub, OmniOffice and Regus and their share in total office take-up rose from 0.4 pct in 2010 to 1.9 pct in 2016. Poland\u2019s largest co-working centre is Business Link (5,000 sqm) at the PGE National Stadium in Warsaw, while the biggest serviced office is InOffice at Warsaw\u2019s Lumen building (2,700 sqm).\n\n\u201cPoland has a lot of potential and is an attractive destination for high-tech businesses. Moreover, large international providers such as WeWork, The Office Group and i2 Office have not entered the Polish market yet,\u201d said Jaros\u0142aw Pilch, head of office tenant representation at Savills.", "output": "Flexible working space in the Polish capital, Warsaw, now totals around 84,000 square metres, according to property company Savills. The offices are spread across 95 locations and comprise 44,000 square metres of serviced offices and 40,000 square metres of co-working space. In recent years a number of co-working providers have opened in Poland, including Regus, Business Link and CitySpace. Despite this increase, Savills noted that other international office providers such as WeWork and the Office Group have not yet entered the market in the country.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Properties on affordable rent scheme in Liverpool reach completion \n Tenants have been welcomed into Liverpool Mutual Homes\u2019 brand-new Leighton Dene development in Liverpool 9 \u2013 the largest new affordable rent scheme to be completed as part of the ground-breaking Liverpool Housing Partnership (LHP).\n\nIt brings the total number of affordable rent homes created by LMH under the LHP umbrella to 149 and follows on from recent completions at Hewitson Road (Tuebrook), Everton Road (Everton) and Tetlow Street (Kirkdale).\n\nSet up to build 1,500 new homes over a five-year period, the innovative collaboration between Liverpool City Council, Redrow Homes, LMH and contractor Willmott Dixon sees receipts from land sales ring-fenced and reinvested into affordable housing schemes.\n\nLeighton Dene, which occupies the corner of Lower Lane and Long Lane, Fazakerley, was one of several challenging sites earmarked for affordable rented homes.\n\nThis previously neglected site had lain vacant for a number of years. It now hosts 34 contemporary family houses and apartments, following a \u00a34.6 million investment delivered in partnership with main contractor Willmott Dixon.\n\nAll homes benefit from off-road parking and a range of energy efficient products, including new boilers, new central heating systems and double glazed windows and doors, while the high quality modern kitchens and bathrooms further add to the living experience.\n\nLMH Development Director Chris Bowen said, \u201cLeighton Dene is a great example of our joint commitment to create high-quality affordable homes for people in housing need.\n\n\u201cThis striking scheme benefits from high-end finishes and a range of energy-efficient products designed to keep tenants\u2019 fuel bills down.\n\n\u201cLMH is already developing another 225 units on live, or committed, Liverpool Housing Partnership sites, including 145 properties on Edge Lane where works could start as early as January 2018.\u201d\n\nStuart Belfield, Operations Director at Willmott Dixon, said, \u201cWillmott Dixon is pleased to work in partnership with Liverpool Mutual Homes to develop these much-needed new homes in Fazakerley.\n\n\u201cThis is the most recent project delivered through the Liverpool Housing Partnership. We\u2019re delighted to play our part in ensuring local people can enjoy Christmas in their brand-new homes.\u201d\n\nCouncillor Frank Hont, Cabinet member for housing, said: \u201cThe Liverpool Housing Partnership is helping deliver high quality homes for sale and rent.\n\n\u201cIt is great to see this previously developed site being used to provide fantastic accommodation for tenants.\n\n\u201cThe partnership of LMH, Redrow, Willmott Dixon and the city council is helping us to invest in affordable social housing and is a win-win for all concerned.\u201d", "output": "Thirty-four properties on an innovative affordable rent scheme in Liverpool are now available for tenants. The completion of the Leighton Dene development by Liverpool Mutual Homes (LMH) brings the total number of affordable homes under the Liverpool Housing Partnership (LHP) scheme to 149. LHP aims to build 1,500 new homes over five years as part of a collaboration between the city council, Redrow Homes, LMH and contractor Willmott Dixon. The Leighton Dene site had lain vacant for several years and has now been developed after a \u00a34.6m investment, delivered in partnership with Willmott Dixon.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus WeWork announces opening of workspace in Dublin for 2018 \n WeWork opens Dublin space Trade\n\nWorkspace provider WeWork has announced the opening of a new location for Dublin\u2019s Iveagh Court, to open in 2018.\n\nThe new space is the company\u2019s latest in Europe, where the it already has 23 locations.\n\nWeWork has expanded rapidly across Europe in recent years, launching first in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands, before moving into France and Spain earlier this year.\n\nThe company recently announced that, in 2019, it will the world\u2019s largest collaborative workspace in Waterloo, London.\n\nEugen Miropolski, managing director, WeWork, Europe & Israel said: \u201cDublin\u2019s tech credentials and community of start-ups and established companies make it an obvious choice for our next WeWork location, and we\u2019re looking forward to growing our community here in Ireland.\n\n\u201cBeyond best-in-class buildings, staffed by local teams providing support, networking opportunities and events, we know our members value access to wider networking and business opportunities, as well as excellent locations and transport connections.\u201d\n\nWeWork operates 170 spaces across 18 countries.\n\nTechCentral Reporters", "output": "New York-based flexible office provider WeWork has revealed its latest acquisition: Dublin\u2019s Iveagh Court. The workspace provider is\u00a0set to open the branch in 2018. The company was attracted by Dublin's \"tech credentials and community of start-ups and established companies\", said Eugen Miropolski, managing director for WeWork, Europe & Israel. It is the latest addition to WeWork's portfolio of 23 European locations, and follows the announcement of a project to create the world's largest collaborative workspace in London\u00a0by 2019.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BOC Hong Kong to buy Vietnam, Philippines businesses from parent \n BEIJING - BOC Hong Kong Holdings Ltd, a unit of Bank of China Ltd, said on Monday it had agreed to acquire the Vietnamese and Philippine businesses from its parent for about $238 million, the latest step in the bank's restructuring in Southeast Asia.\n\nThe proposed transfer is $152 million for the Vietnamese business and 4.40 billion pesos ($85.9 million) for the Philippine business, the bank said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange.\n\nThe transactions are part of BOC's push to expand its presence in the ASEAN region and improve customer service, product innovation and marketing capability.\n\nIn February, BOC Hong Kong bought the Indonesian and Cambodian operations from BOC for about $377 million.\n\nGoldman Sachs acted as financial adviser to BOC Hong Kong for the two acquisitions.", "output": "A unit of Bank of China, BOC Hong Kong Holdings, is to buy its parent's Vietnamese and Philippine businesses for about $238m as the bank looks to reorganise its southeast Asia interests and expand its presence in the region. The announcement followed BOC Hong Kong's purchase in February of the Indonesian and Cambodian businesses from its parent for $377m.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurance laws to be changed in response to\u00a0self-driving cars \n The Government is confident that it will press ahead to change the law surrounding motor insurance in order to ensure that all parties are covered in the event of an accident involving self-driving cars.\n\nChris Grayling, the Transport Secretary has said that he expects the first autonomous vehicles to arrive on the UK\u2019s roads by 2021, which will require the creation of a new compulsory insurance framework that covers motorists when they are driving, and when the driver has legitimately handed control to the vehicle.\n\n\u201cThis will ensure that victims have quick and easy access to compensation and that insurers can recover costs from the liable party, which in the majority of cases is anticipated to be the manufacturer,\u201d said Grayling, speaking to a group of insurers at an event in the City of London.\n\n\u201cIt will allow consumers to buy insurance in the same way they do today.\u201d\n\nAs things stand he said, policyholders may not be covered for collisions caused by autonomous vehicles, because only the driver\u2019s use of the vehicle is insured.\n\n\u201cVictims might have to take vehicle manufacturers to court, which would be time consuming and expensive, undermining the quick and easy access to compensation that is a cornerstone of our insurance system,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cIf we fail to address this beforehand, we risk jeopardising consumer protection, and undermining the competitiveness of our automotive industry.\u201d\n\nGrayling added that premiums will be expected to go down in price as self-driving cars will make the UK\u2019s roads a lot safer, so reducing the number of claims.\n\nHe added that the new insurance measures, contained in the Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill, would help provide certainty to the insurance industry \u2013 and clarity to the public \u2013 about the changes ahead.\n\nPaul Ridge, a banking and insurance specialist, at SAS UK & Ireland said that the Government\u2019s decision to change motor insurance meant it was \u201cpedal to the metal\u201d time for insurers.\n\nRidge suggested that the insurance sector could use the new driving technology to its advantage by using the data that autonomous cars could provide.\n\n\u201cMore insurers need to appreciate the value of data and real-time insight these connected cars can provide,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cThere is a torrent of potential data sources being streamed from technologies [that]help customers\u2019 vehicles stay in lane and brake in an emergency, for example, and also collect information from installed cameras to continuously update maps that self-driving cars will use. Insurers must be willing to adapt to these changes through product innovation. Traditional risk pools could reduce, but new areas of demand emerge. If an autonomous car is involved in an accident with another vehicle while the car and not the driver is in control, then who is at fault? What new risk do autonomous vehicles present? These are the key questions that insurers need to explore.\u201d", "output": "The UK government is intending to alter the law to acknowledge the arrival of autonomous vehicles on the roads. Its proposed changes would ensure all parties, including drivers, were covered in the event of an accident involving a self-driving car. Autonomous vehicles are anticipated to be on the UK's roads by 2021, at which point the new compulsory insurance requirements will be introduced. The current law is inadequate since it only covers drivers' use of vehicles and doesn't account for cars being operated autonomously. The measures are contained in the Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Catalonia is a problem for the whole of the EU, not just Spain \n The EU countries may be right that Catalonia is legally a matter of Spanish constitutional law. But they should also be frightened. Catalonia is Europe\u2019s problem.\n\nThe imprisonment on remand of eight Catalan politicians, on blatantly political charges, and the Belgian asylum sought by its president, appears to be an engineered confrontation.\n\nTwo days ago, the Madrid government reneged on an agreement that it would not suspend the Barcelona government if it did not declare independence and agreed to new local elections next month. Madrid then proceeded with suspension, and Catalonia duly proceeded with declaration \u2013 though with no mention of implementation. Madrid immediately arrested those Catalan politicians (and officials) it could find, on charges of rebellion and treason.\n\nSo far, so absurd. No poll has yet delivered a clear majority of Catalans for independence. Barcelona has proceeded within accepted democratic norms and without recourse to violence \u2013 unlike Madrid in the government\u2019s efforts to stop the recent referendum.\n\nNever in the long and far bloodier fight of the Basques for independence was the Basque leadership ever imprisoned. Catalonia now faces an election next month with the prospect of its entire independence leadership in prison.\n\nCatalonia is being watched, with varying degrees of intensity, by Basques, Bretons, Flemings, Scots, Bavarians, Silesians, Ukrainians, Transylvanians, Venetians, Corsicans and others. Its struggle resonates among increasingly nationalist Poles, Bohemians, Hungarians and Greeks, across Europe\u2019s patchwork of regional sensitivities and long-harboured grievances. Old feuds are rekindled and jealousies revived. Hypocritical Britain cannot talk. It long opposed Irish separatism and denied devolution to Scotland and Wales, while it sent soldiers to aid the break-up of Yugoslavia.\n\nIt is hopeless to seek recourse from these woes in statute books and legal niceties. Self-determination has been the essence of Europe\u2019s stability since Woodrow Wilson\u2019s 14-point programme for Europe\u2019s future in 1917. How such determination is defined may be moot: what of the self-determination of Spaniards against that of Catalans? But it is in Europe\u2019s interest to seek that definition, to formulate protocols whereby separatism can be resolved into grades of autonomy. European statehood has long been a \u201cvale of tiers\u201d.\n\nSince the EU itself is inherently centralist, it makes sense for the Council of Europe, the 47-nation organisation which deals with democracy and human rights across the European continent, to undertake such a task, urgently. The EU has worked itself into a political straitjacket, such that few of its member nations would dare hold a referendum on continued membership. This cannot be healthy for the EU or for Europe. The rising tide of identity politics is now the greatest threat to Europe\u2019s free development. Catalonia is not a little local difficulty. It is an awful warning.", "output": "The rise of identity politics is now the biggest threat to the European Union and its free development, columnist Simon Jenkins has warned, meaning that Catalonia is not just Spain's problem but the EU's. Its struggle for independence is reverberating among nationalist Poles, Bohemians, Hungarians and Greeks, and across the whole of Europe,\u00a0triggering\u00a0long-felt grievances and igniting old feuds. The EU\u00a0needs to rethink fast how it recognises autonomy in what Jenkins calls a European \"vale of tiers\",\u00a0with the Council of Europe well placed to\u00a0take on the job.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Paytm and WhatsApp poised for chat-and-payments rivalry in India \n The Indian mobile apps space is in for some curious crossovers.\n\nOn Nov. 03, the country\u2019s largest e-payments firm, Paytm, announced the launch of a mobile chat app called Inbox that will let users transfer money alongside chatting with each other. The app will debut on Android phones, with an iOS version following soon.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cWe have realised that besides making payments, our users and merchants also like to communicate with each other,\u201d Deepak Abbot, a senior vice-president at Paytm, said in a statement. \u201cThere is a need for social messaging, commerce, and payments seamlessly blending into one another.\u201d\n\nThe announcement comes amidst speculation (paywall) that chat messenger WhatsApp was working on a person-to-person (P2P) payments feature, reportedly set for a December debut. Paytm, which is backed by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, currently operates only in India (and in Canada just for bill payments), while Facebook-owned WhatsApp has users in over 109 countries.\n\nLocked in\n\nSmartphone users today depend on phone calls or separate messaging apps to confirm their e-transactions. A platform that combines the facility to transact and the ability to instantly confirm the transaction would, therefore, make life easier.\n\nSuch convergence can have a tremendous synergistic effect, explained Anindya Ghose, the Heinz Riehl professor of business at New York University\u2019s Stern school. \u201cUsers will increasingly message because of the presence of payments on the same platform, and they will increasingly use payments because of the presence of messaging on the same platform,\u201d Ghose said.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWhile details of WhatsApp\u2019s payments feature are not yet known, Inbox includes all the usual chat features. Like WhatsApp, the new Paytm platform is encrypted end-to-end, so conversations will remain tamper-proof and, importantly, off surveillance. Inbox also lets users initiate private conversations, create group chats, send photos and videos, share live locations, and play games.\n\nInbox is part of Paytm\u2019s attempt to lock customers into its ecosystem and spark more monetary activity, Ashutosh Sharma, research director at Forrester Research, told Quartz. But the Indian startup shouldn\u2019t try to do it all, and, instead, focus on its strong suit. \u201dPaytm should attempt to limit WhatsApp to P2P payments only and build out its business around merchant transactions,\u201d said Sharma. The company has on-boarded over 1.5 million merchants already and aims to raise this to five million by the end of 2017. Its strong offline presence through QR codes could steadily convert into e-transactions if customers and businesses are able to communicate remotely from within the app.\n\n\u201cPaytm is in pole position in India to be able to do that,\u201d Sharma added, \u201cbut it has been surprisingly slow at it.\u201d\n\nOn Paytm\u2019s main app, customers can already purchase products, movie tickets, flight tickets, and more. The company also has an established e-commerce business through its arm, Paytm Mall. Its instant messenger, Inbox, is already integrated with these.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cI think Paytm\u2019s direction is to become WeChat of India in the future,\u201d Pavel Naiya, an analyst at Counterpoint Research, told Quartz, referring to the Chinese app that lets users play games, make P2P transactions, make video calls, order food, read the news, book doctors\u2019 appointments, and more. It is, according to FastCompany, China\u2019s \u201capp for everything.\u201d\n\nIf that is indeed Paytm\u2019s ambition, it is making the right noises. In May this year, it launched the Paytm Payments Bank, which is part of the Indian central bank\u2019s move to boost financial inclusion in the country. The bank cannot lend money, issue credit cards or give advances, and each account can only have up to Rs1 lakh ($1,540). It can, however, issue cheque books and debit cards\u2014and once integrated with the entire Paytm ecosystem, can potentially turn into the world\u2019s largest digital bank.", "output": "Paytm and WhatsApp are set to compete in India, with each poised to launch crossover chat and\u00a0payment\u00a0services. Electronic payments firm Paytm is to unveil\u00a0mobile chat app Inbox, which will let users transfer money while engaging with other users and merchants. Meanwhile, messaging platform WhatsApp is reportedly working on a peer-to-peer payments feature, set for launch next month.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI specialists being lured away from UK's top universities \n It was the case of the missing PhD student.\n\n\n\nAs another academic year got under way at Imperial College London, a senior professor was bemused at the absence of one of her students. He had worked in her lab for three years and had one more left to complete his studies. But he had stopped coming in.\n\nEventually, the professor called him. He had left for a six-figure salary at Apple.\n\nAllow Facebook content? This article includes content provided by Facebook. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'. Allow and continue\n\n\u201cHe was offered such a huge amount of money that he simply stopped everything and left,\u201d said Maja Pantic, professor of affective and behavioural computing at Imperial. \u201cIt\u2019s five times the salary I can offer. It\u2019s unbelievable. We cannot compete.\u201d\n\n\n\nIt is not an isolated event. Across the country, talented computer scientists are being lured from academia by private sector offers that are hard to turn down. According to a Guardian survey of Britain\u2019s top ranking research universities, tech firms are hiring AI experts at a prodigious rate, fuelling a brain drain that has already hit research and teaching. One university executive warned of a \u201cmissing generation\u201d of academics who would normally teach students and be the creative force behind research projects.\n\nThe impact of the brain drain may reach far beyond academia. Pantic said the majority of top AI researchers moved to a handful of companies, meaning their skills and experience were not shared through society. \u201cThat\u2019s a problem because only a diffusion of innovation, rather than its concentration into just a few companies, can mitigate the dramatic disruptions and negative effects that AI may bring about.\u201d\n\nQ&A What is AI? Show Artificial Intelligence has various definitions, but in general it means a program that uses data to build a model of some aspect of the world. This model is then used to make informed decisions and predictions about future events. The technology is used widely, to provide speech and face recognition, language translation, and personal recommendations on music, film and shopping sites. In the future, it could deliver driverless cars, smart personal assistants, and intelligent energy grids. AI has the potential to make organisations more effective and efficient, but the technology raises serious issues of ethics, governance, privacy and law. Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.\n\nShe is concerned that major tech firms are creating a huge pay gap between AI professionals and the rest of the workforce. Beyond getting the companies to pay their taxes, Pantic said the government might have to consider pay caps, a strategy that has reined in corporate salaries in Nordic countries.\n\nMany of the best researchers move to Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple. \u201cThe creme de la creme of academia has been bought and that is worrying,\u201d Pantic said. \u201cIf the companies don\u2019t pay tax it\u2019s a problem for the government. The government doesn\u2019t get enough money to educate people, or to invest in academia. It\u2019s a vicious circle.\u201d\n\nWhen Murray Shanahan, another Imperial researcher, received a job offer from DeepMind, Google\u2019s London-based artificial intelligence group, he thought hard about the decision. He saw plenty of positives to joining the company. It was a chance to pursue his work without the burden of other academic duties. He would have access to fabulous computing resources. And he would work alongside some of the best in the field. But despite the long list of pros, Shanahan paused.\n\nProfessor Murray Shanahan, who is a senior scientist at DeepMind, but has retained his academic position at Imperial. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian\n\n\u201cThe potential impact on academia of the current tech hiring frenzy was one of the issues that bothered me,\u201d he said. Shanahan decided to negotiate a joint position. It allowed him to have a foot in both camps, keeping his chair at Imperial while becoming a senior scientist at DeepMind.\n\nFor those with the right skills, the hiring boom has obvious positives. Heavy investment from tech firms means there are many more jobs in artificial intelligence than there are qualified candidates. To recruit the best talent, companies offer high salaries, impressive computing facilities and technical challenges that have the potential to affect the lives of billions.\n\nIn the past, brilliant mathematicians, physicists and computer scientists headed to the City for serious money. Now they are as likely to train in AI and move to tech firms. \u201cThere are fantastic opportunities in industry, the sorts of opportunities that make working in the City seem really dull and not particularly well paid,\u201d said Zoubin Ghahramani, professor of information engineering at Cambridge University and chief scientist at Uber, the ride-hailing firm. \u201cIt\u2019s both intellectually interesting and, from a lifestyle point of view, very difficult to turn down.\u201d\n\nGhahramani announced his move to Uber in March. For now, he commutes to the company\u2019s San Francisco office one week every month. Next summer, he will move to the city full time. Beyond the difference in salaries, he lists a host of other reasons that academics are lured into industry. University roles come with administrative duties that some find onerous: teaching, marking, being on committees, and the endless chasing of grants. In industry, star recruits can focus purely on their research.\n\nBut there is more to it than that. The explosion of interest in artificial intelligence is driven by the success of machine learning, a field that uses algorithms to find meaningful patterns in data. To work well, many of today\u2019s algorithms must be trained on huge amounts of data, a task that takes a lot of computer power. Without collaborative projects, universities can rarely compete with the big tech firms on data or computing. Instead, they focus on new ideas: building algorithms that learn from less information, for instance.\n\nZoubin Ghahramani, professor of information engineering at Cambridge University and chief scientist at Uber. Photograph: The Royal Society\n\nGhahramani began working at Uber part time when the company bought Geometric Intelligence, his AI startup, last year. As chief scientist, he will oversee the use of machine learning algorithms to understand how cities work and how people move around them. The end goal is to match the supply of rides to demand. \u201cThe interesting thing about this is we\u2019re doing machine learning in the real, physical world of cities. We\u2019re trying to optimise the movement of people and things around the world,\u201d he said.\n\nGhahramani sees no sign that industry\u2019s demand for talented AI researchers has peaked. \u201cIt\u2019s very fierce right now and it\u2019s yet to show signs of tapering off,\u201d he said. \u201cUniversities will have to train enough people to meet the demand, and that\u2019s a challenge if lecturers and postdocs are being lured into industry. It\u2019s like killing the geese that lay the golden eggs. Companies are starting to realise that and some of the major tech companies are starting to give back to universities by sponsoring lectureships and donating funds.\u201d\n\nSteven Turner joined Amazon Web Services in Cambridge last year. He helps companies to build their own Amazon-style \u201crecommendation engines\u201d, and use image recognition, computer speech and chatbots in customer service. One financial institution he has worked with now uses technology to answer simple questions, such as on customer mortgage rates, freeing up humans for more complex queries.\n\nIn academia, he saw departments fighting for funds to continue their work and keep people from leaving. The main reason he left was to work on real problems rather than more theoretical concepts. But the culture at Amazon turned out to be more vibrant than in academia. At university, Turner found being a PhD student isolating at times, even though his supervisor was a brilliant mentor. \u201cI personally think that having a greater focus on culture and social interaction to ensure researchers don\u2019t feel as isolated as they can do would have a significant impact on retention,\u201d Turner told the Guardian. He said universities should also focus on researchers\u2019 career development, giving free access to external training and teaming up with business schools to broaden researchers\u2019 knowledge.\n\nGhahramani believes UK universities will have to become more flexible about researchers holding joint positions. \u201cThey need to be flexible about intellectual property arrangements. They need to be flexible about PhD students who might want to spend time in a world-leading industry AI lab. That\u2019s what we need to get around the problems. The universities that have been flexible have benefited,\u201d he said.", "output": "The UK's universities are facing a \"brain drain\" of artificial intelligence (AI) specialists, who are being lured away by major technology companies. Research by the Guardian has found the trend is harming research and teaching in higher education, and leading to a concentration of expertise in a small number of companies. Top AI researchers at institutions including Imperial College and Cambridge University have been recruited by Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple. Universities are struggling to compete with the very high salaries on offer, and the demand shows no sign of tapering off.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The end of fiat currency mooted by\u00a0Deutsche Bank paper \n Deutsche Bank's Jim Reid contends that the fiat currency system \"is inherently unstable and prone to high inflation.\"\n\nChina's rapid economic emergence in the 1970s, and an explosion in the global working-age population, has allowed inflation to be controlled externally, but that period is coming to an end.\n\nWhat could replace fiat currency is yet to be determined.\n\nLONDON \u2014 Deutsche Bank isn't known for its gold bugs, but that hasn't stopped its strategist Jim Reid from writing a paper that discusses \"the start of the end of fiat money.\"\n\nReid's basic contention is this: The dominance of the fiat currency system since Richard Nixon decoupled gold from the dollar in 1971 \"is inherently unstable and prone to high inflation,\" and an offsetting disinflationary shock that kept it afloat since 1980 is now slowly reversing.\n\nIf that's the case, Reid says the fiat currency system \u2014 a term which describes any currency whose value is backed by the government that issued it, rather than by a commodity like gold or silver \u2014 could be \"seriously tested\" over the next decade.\n\nDisinflationary forces\n\nThe basis of Reid's argument is that China's rapid economic emergence in the 1970s, and an explosion in the global working-age population, has allowed inflation to be controlled externally, because a boost in labour supply during a period of globalisation naturally supressed wages.\n\nExternally-controlled inflation means policy-makers and central banks can respond with familiar tools: More leverage, loose policy, and extensive money-printing.\n\n\"It's not usually this easy as inflation would have normally increased with such stimulus and credit creation,\" says Reid. In fact, \"it could be argued that this external disinflation shock has perhaps 'saved' fiat currencies.\"\n\nAn end to the demographic super-cycle\n\nIf this theory is correct, Reid says, then \"any reversals in this demographic super cycle could spell problems for the fiat currency system.\"\n\nUnder that scenario, inflation would pick up externally as the working-age population stopped rising and labour pricing power returned, as demand rose and supply shortened.\n\nReid continues:\n\n\"Central banks and governments which have \u2018dined out\u2019 on the 35 year secular, structural decline in inflation are not able to prevent it rising as raising interest rates to suitable levels would risk serious economic contraction given the huge debt burden economies face.\n\nAs such they are forced to prioritise low interest rates and nominal growth over inflation control which could herald in the beginning of the end of the global fiat currency system that begun with the abandonment of Bretton Woods back in 1971.\"\n\nAfter fiat currency\n\nEventually, Reid says, \"it\u2019s possible that inflation becomes more and more uncontrollable and the era of fiat currencies looks vulnerable as people lose faith in paper money.\"\n\nOne such alternative is cryptocurrency, which uses blockchain, a much-hyped online ledger system whose primary benefit lies in the difficulty of tampering with data recorded within it.\n\n\"Although the current speculative interest in cryptocurrencies is more to do with blockchain technology than a loss of faith in paper money, at some point there will likely be some median of exchange that becomes more universal and a competitor of paper money,\" Reid says.", "output": "The fiat currency system is \"inherently unstable and prone to high inflation\", Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid has said. In a paper on the end of fiat money, Reid said the system could be seriously tested over the next 10 years as the disinflationary tendencies\u00a0that have\u00a0kept it afloat for the past three decades slowly start reversing. He added that if inflation becomes more uncontrollable, people could lose faith in paper currencies, making cryptocurrencies more appealing and competitive.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "P2P lending blockchain Lendoit\u00a0adds two to advisory board \n Israeli Blockchain firm Lendoit welcomes two new experts on to its advisory board.\n\nHigh profile advisors Eddy Travia & Richard Titus have joined the advisory board of Lendoit, an Israeli-based financial firm that is using blockchain technology to revolutionise the peer-to-peer lending industry.\n\nTravia, a key figure in the blockchain space since 2013, co-founder of SeedCoin and blockchain Space, and current CEO of investment firm Coinsilium brings a wealth of experience to the project.\n\nWith an impressive portfolio that already includes RSK, Factom, CoinDash and SatoshiPay. Travia was also nominated among the top 3 \u2018Most Influential Investors of the Year\u2019 at Blockchain Awards 2014 and has been a major influence in the space ever since.\n\nTitus is currently the managing partner at ARK ICO Advisors, a Singapore based firm advising ICO projects all over the world including AdEx, Pillar & Hive. he brings over 20 years of technology, scaling and development experience to the project.\n\nHaving nurtured over 15 successful initial coin offerings the two new additions to the Lendoit advisory board will help pave the the firm\u2019s success in the lucrative P2P industry.\n\nUtilizing the Ethereum blockchain, Lendoit is a decentralised peer-to-peer lending platform that brings lenders and borrowers together globally using Smart Contracts on the blockchain to ensure transparency, trust, reduced risk and circumvent intermediaries.\n\nBorrowers are able to download the Lendoit app and request a loan which is then auctioned to verified lenders on the platform, this provides borrowers with the ability to browse bids and accept the best loan rates to suit their circumstances.\n\nDespite it not launching until next year Lendoit has already created strong ties with governments and corporations one of Israel\u2019s biggest investment firms Migdal Investment Banking. Established in 1965 and part of Migdal Capital Markets Group, it currently manages assets valued at $9 billion for thousands of clients in the Israeli private, business and public sectors.\n\nCompared to other P2P lending platforms on the market such as ETHlend and Salt, Lendoit offers a competitive advantage in various areas such as decentralised intermediate, interest auctions, and compensation funds.\n\nLendoit so far have also partnered with YETAX, Smartech, WHISP R&D, The Hive Project and Wings.\n\nWhitepaper: https://lendoit.com/Lendoit-whitepaper.pdf\n\nTelegram: https://t.me/Lendoit", "output": "Israeli peer-to-peer (P2P) blockchain lender Lendoit has welcomed two high-profile advisers to its board. Eddy Travia, the CEO of Coinsilium in London\u00a0and a SeedCoin co-founder, and Richard Titus, the\u00a0managing partner at ARK ICO Advisors in Singapore, are joining the advisory board of the financial firm. Lendoit is a decentralised lending platform that uses smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain to improve transparency and reduce risk.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Canadian public pension giant invests $120m in rooftop solar \n Canada\u2019s second-largest public pension fund, Caisse de d\u00e9p\u00f4t et placement du Qu\u00e9bec (CDPQ), which is also known in English-language media as La Caisse, announced it will invest $40 million in U.S. rooftop specialist Sunrun.\n\nCDPQ specified that the operation is part of the $234.5 million senior secured credit facility closed by Sunrun on October 20th, 2017.\n\n\u201cCDPQ is already active in the commercial solar industry in North America and India, so this transaction represents a good opportunity for us to enter the residential sector, which is one of the fastest growing market segments in the U.S. energy industry today,\u201d said CDPQ executive vice-president Marc Cormier. \u201cWhile generating stable returns in the long term, this financing is also aligned with our strategy to increase our low carbon investments 50% by 2020.\u201d\n\nPopular content\n\nCDPQ had agreed to provide Ontario-based rooftop solar power producer Potentia Renewables with 107 million CA$ ($78.0 million) in debt-funding in May.\n\nPrior to these two transactions, CDPQ had invested in wind power projects across North America and in Western Europe, and in renewable energy and solar projects in India. In March 2016, the company announced a $150 million commitment to target hydro, solar, wind and geothermal power assets. Later in January 2017, La Caisse announced it acquired a 20% stake in Indian solar company Azure Power for $75 million.", "output": "Caisse de d\u00e9p\u00f4t et placement du Qu\u00e9bec (CDPQ), the second biggest public pension fund, plans to invest $40m into Sunrun, a US-based rooftop solar provider, following an $83.4m investment in Canada-based Potentia Renewables in May.\u00a0The investment, part of Sunrun's $234.5m\u00a0senior credit facility, will give\u00a0CDPQ exposure to\u00a0North American residential solar. CDPQ plans to\u00a0increase low carbon investments by 50% by 2020."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Virtual cocktail app alters drink's flavour through electronics \n A matter of taste ACM Multimedia 2017\n\nDrinks are so last century \u2013 but they\u2019re getting an upgrade. A device called the Vocktail is shaking up the traditional cocktail by mixing in a dash of electronics designed to fool your senses.\n\nMade by Nimesha Ranasinghe and his team at the National University of Singapore, the Vocktail \u2013 short for virtual cocktail \u2013 is a glass that can be made to alter and augment flavours via a phone app. Once a liquid is poured into the glass, a drinker can change three aspects affecting its taste.\n\nFirst, they can change their perception of the drink by altering its colour via an LED in the glass. Next, they can make the drink seem more sweet, salty or bitter using tongue-stimulating electrodes placed around the rim. In previous experiments, the team showed that different electrical patterns can give the impression of various tastes. Finally, a tube in the side of the glass releases gases with different smells, such as lime, that change the perceived flavour even more.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nRanasinghe previously created a digital lemonade using colours and electrodes to trick people\u2019s taste buds. By adding smell to the mix, the Vocktail opens up many more flavour combinations. Virtual drinks can make you think you are drinking something sugary when you are in fact just swigging water, letting people satisfy their taste buds without any of the calories. The app also lets you share your favourite virtual cocktail recipes with others.\n\nOne day, devices like the Vocktail may become part of an ultimate virtual reality experience in which all sensations are simulated digitally. \u201cA Vocktail could become a welcome addition to social experiences in virtual pubs or bars,\u201d says Adalberto Simeone at the Catholic University of Leuven (KUL) in Belgium.\n\nThe Vocktail was presented at the Association for Computing Machinery Multimedia Conference last month.", "output": "Scientists at the National University of Singapore have developed an app-connected glass that enhances the flavours and smells of drinks. The virtual cocktail, or\u00a0Vocktail,\u00a0combines an LED and other gadgetry to alter change the colour, taste and odour\u00a0of a drink and\u00a0alter\u00a0the impressions and perceptions of drinkers. The Vocktail was unveiled at last month's Association for Computing Machinery Multimedia Conference.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google releases internal\u00a0tool\u00a0that lets users co-operate\u00a0on AI \n As if giving the world its AI framework wasn\u2019t enough, Google is now letting others work with a once-internal development tool, Colaboratory.\n\nThe software works a lot like Google Docs, its document collaboration tool, but with the ability to run code and show that code\u2019s output within the document. Colaboratory is free and built on top of the open-source Jupyter project, software often used in data science.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIt\u2019s easy to take a skeptical view of anything free\u2014Google stands to benefit if its software becomes a standard for teaching students to work in machine learning and data science. A similar strategy can be seen with TensorFlow, the AI framework Google open-sourced, which made it so easy to get started running AI software that a cucumber farmer built his own sorting system with it. Of course, that also means another customer for its Google Cloud APIs, per-use AI software sold by the company.\n\nGoogle is also working to teach other companies to use its AI services; Colaboratory is pitched as an education tool as well as collaboration for research.\n\nWith Colaboratory, users create notebooks, or documents, that can be simultaneously edited like Google Docs. It supports Python 2.7 and has to be used on Google Chrome. The software is also integrated with Google Drive, so users can easily share projects or copy others\u2019 shared projects onto their own accounts.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nYou can tinker with Colaboratory now, but Google is initially limiting the number of notebooks that can be created, and users must apply to be connected to Google\u2019s backend to run code within a notebook.", "output": "Google is open sourcing its Colaboratory development tool, offering it both as a research and an educational solution. It allows developers to run code and show its output in documents, while users who apply for connection to Google's backend can create editable notebooks that can be shared on Google Drive. However, Colaboratory must be used on Google Chrome and the number of notebooks will, initially, be limited. Google previously open sourced its TensorFlow artificial intelligence software.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Singer Bjork will accept bitcoin for her new album \n Fans will be able to buy Bj\u00f6rk\u2019s new album \u2018Utopia\u2019 using cryptocurrencies, while pre-ordering it directly from the star or her label will earn them crypto rewards too.\n\nThe musician has teamed up with British blockchain startup Blockpool, which is working with label One Little Indian on a \u2018crypto-checkout plugin\u2019 for the online store. It will process \u2018Utopia\u2019 pre-orders using credit/debit cards and PayPal, but also the Bitcoin, AudioCoin, Litecoin and Dashcoin cryptocurrencies.\n\nHowever they choose to pay, each fan will receive 100 AudioCoins \u2013 together worth just under $0.19 at the time of writing \u2013 as a reward for pre-ordering the album, deposited into an e-wallet created for them by Blockpool.\n\nFans will be able to exchange the coins for other cryptocurrencies, keep them as an investment, or convert them back into \u2018fiat\u2019 currency like pounds or dollars. Over the next two years, they will also be able to earn more AudioCoins by interacting with Bj\u00f6rk\u2019s music, live events and digital activities.\n\nIt\u2019s one of the most ambitious steps by a musician into the world of cryptocurrency since Imogen Heap\u2019s \u2018Tiny Human\u2019 single in 2015, which fans could pay for using the Ether cryptocurrency. The blockchain startup that worked with Heap on that project, Ujo Music, also helped dance artist RAC take payments for his \u2018EGO\u2019 album in Ether earlier this year.\n\nBlockpool CEO Kevin Bacon \u2013 a well-known musician and producer in his own right, as well as the founder of music-tech companies AWAL and BuzzDeck \u2013 has explained the bigger picture behind Bj\u00f6rk\u2019s entrance into the crypto/blockchain world, which joins her previous exploration of technologies including apps and virtual reality.\n\n\u201cPeople have done things with crypto and artists before, but this is the first time a global artist has done anything like this. While it will be interesting to see how the crypto community responds to this, Utopia is also a gateway for people to go into crypto for the first time. Bj\u00f6rk is the best artist in the world we could imagine doing this,\u201d said Bacon.\n\n\u201cThis isn\u2019t about jumping on a bandwagon or trying to get rich quick. It\u2019s about doing things where you use blockchain and the crypto benefits in ways that people haven\u2019t thought of yet. And in this case, very much led by Bj\u00f6rk and her team\u2019s creative vision for what this technology can do.\u201d\n\nBacon said that Blockpool has worked hard to make the signup and wallet-claiming process as accessible as possible for Bj\u00f6rk\u2019s fans, particularly those who don\u2019t already own cryptocurrency.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll be providing information for people who don\u2019t know anything about crypto or who want to find out more. But they can keep those coins in that wallet, they can also take them out and put them into any third-party wallet or exchange that they want to,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cThey could take them out and trade them back into Bitcoin or any other currency, or take them back into cash if they want. To cash it back out would be a wasted opportunity, I think. Some people will just keep it as Audiocoin for a while, and some people will add it to their portfolio of currencies.\u201d\n\nBacon added that Bj\u00f6rk and her team will be deciding how to reward fans with more Audiocoin over the course of the next two years, rather than Blockpool deciding how the campaign should be run.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re not going to give her a list of 20 things she should do. We\u2019ll show her the kind of thing that could be done, and then she\u2019ll take that and run with it,\u201d he said.\n\nExamples of the kind of thing that can be done include rewarding fans for sharing links to Utopia\u2019s music, its tour, to merchandise and other content on social networks. Blockpool also has the technology to deliver rewards to fans in a specific location at a certain time \u2013 gig venues for example.\n\n\u201cYou could create blockchain-enabled digital treasure hunts, although what we don\u2019t want to do is turn this into Pok\u00e9mon Go! But why not reward your fans for engaging with what you do, and reward them in a meaningful way?\u201d said Bacon.\n\n\u201cFor an artist like Bj\u00f6rk who\u2019s embraced VR more than any other artist, I can see fantastic opportunities: you could embed this in the VR world as well, with rewards for people who interact with her virtual world.\u201d\n\n2017 has been a year of excitable talk about blockchain technology \u2013 not just in music but in other industries too \u2013 and the emergence of the initial coin offering (ICO) as a way to raise often-huge sums of money for often-unproven business plans.\n\nBacon is famously a sceptic about some of the blockchain hype as it relates to music, but his overall feelings about the future of this technology are optimistic.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of talk about whether crypto and blockchain is a bubble. I don\u2019t see it as a bubble: I see it as a burst of energy. I think you\u2019ll see a lot of activity, a lot of things will disappear or get left to rot, but the important things will stay and grow,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cI think blockchain and crypto will be like the dotcom boom and bust in the late 1990s. We\u2019ll see enormous adoption over the next couple of years, then some kind of bubble burst, but then a long-term change.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn the short term, we may see people overcooking it: there\u2019s a danger we\u2019ll see a lot of artists doing coins, a lot of bad marketing ideas and a lot of people using it as a mechanism to make money,\u201d admitted Bacon.\n\n\u201cBut some people will do good stuff, and it\u2019s those people, who use the technology to its best, who\u2019ll come out the other side. I think Bj\u00f6rk\u2019s a leader, and I think she\u2019ll be the person that defines how other people go.\u201d\n\nYou can read the full Q&A with Kevin Bacon here, or bone up on blockchain music with our recent themed issue on the topic.", "output": "Musician Bj\u00f6rk is teaming up with blockchain start-up Blockpool to allow customers to buy her new album using cryptocurrency. Fans of the Icelandic singer will be able to pay with bitcoin, Litecoin and Dashcoin as well as a new token, AudioCoin, along with traditional card payments and PayPal. Those who pre-order the album will also receive 100 AudioCoins, a\u00a0cryptocurrency created by Blockpool. The company's CEO said\u00a0Bj\u00f6rk and her team will devise further ways to reward her fans with the tokens over the next two years, and predicted \"enormous adoption\"\u00a0of cryptocurrencies.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GuestReady acquires Easy Rental Service \n GuestReady has closed \u20ac2.6 million in seed funding in order to expand its business to new markets. Currently operating in London, Paris, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur, the startup says it plans to utilize the funds to reach 5 more cities by Summer 2018. They also announced the acquisition\u2026\n\n[\u2026]", "output": "UK-based property management start-up GuestReady has acquired Easy Rental Services, a competitor that operates\u00a0in London and Paris. GuestReady began last year as an online platform to give Airbnb users access to guest services such as cleaning, check-in and laundry. It now focuses on fully-managed properties and operates a portfolio of 600 properties. It has recently raised around $3m in seed funding and aims to expand into five more cities by next summer.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fetchr joins partnership for drone home delivery service in\u00a0UAE \n Fetchr, a US-based on-demand delivery startup has announced a partnership with California\u2019s Skycart and the UAE\u2019s Eniverse to develop the first autonomous drone delivery service in the region.\n\nSkycart already offers a similar service to its users in the US. The startup delivers packages at customers\u2019 doorstep within 30 minutes or less using their UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) network.\n\nSkycart and Eniverse had announced their partnership earlier this year to create Space Autonomous Drones, a company formed to offer drone-based delivery services in UAE through different collaborations. It was said at the time that they will start with a soft launch to operate in some specific areas of Dubai including Emirates Hills, The Meadows, The Springs, The Greens, and Jumeirah.\n\nThe addition of Fetchr will help take the project \u201cthe last mile\u201d, acording to the company\u2019s founder and CEO Idriss Al Rifai.\n\n\u201cAt its core Fetchr is a technology company, and this partnership represents a significant milestone for us as we work towards achieving Fetchr\u2019s vision of enabling all deliveries through technology and disrupting the last mile delivery industry,\u201d said Al Rifai.\n\n\u201cWe are committed to collaborating with the concerned authorities in the UAE and become part of the country\u2019s endeavours to be at the forefront of global innovation and implementation of such advanced technologies,\u201d he added.\n\nMohammed Johmani, Founder and CEO of Eniverse Technologies, said, \u201cToday we mark the launch of a long-term relationship with Fetchr. We are delighted to be the first company to implement this new modern technology in the UAE, especially with a like-minded firm such as Fetchr in which we see great future growth potentials.\u201d", "output": "US-based delivery company Fetchr has joined a partnership that is developing the first aerial drone home delivery service in the United Arab Emirates. The partnership between UAE-based technology firm Eniverse and US company\u00a0Skycart\u00a0had earlier announced that was\u00a0planning\u00a0to bring\u00a0Space Autonomous Drones\u00a0to specific areas of Dubai. California-based\u00a0Skycart already offers a similar service to its users, which delivers packages to their doorstep.\u00a0Fetchr's\u00a0founder, Idriss Al Rifai,\u00a0said his company's involvement in the drone project will help take it \"the last mile\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Montessorium wins $2m to develop Primary app for parents \n A Sioux Falls education technology startup nearly doubled its funding.\n\nMontessorium, which creates educational apps for parents and children, raised $1 million in investments after a Series A financing round, the company announced Friday.\n\nThe investment, led by Bluestem Investment Fund 2016 LLC, brings Montessorium's total funding to $2.045 million.\n\n\"We're overjoyed by this show of support from investors in our home state,\" CEO Bobby George said.\n\nThe additional $1 million will help Montessorium take its apps to the \"next level,\" said George, who co-founded the company and the Sioux Falls Baan Dek Montessori school with his wife, June George.\n\nLast year, the company launched Primary, an app for parents. Primary has a wide range of activities, including tips for family activities such as camping ideas or ways to involve children in back-to-school shopping.\n\n\"In Primary ... we provide positive, timely resources that will improve the lives of the entire family,\" June George said. \"We're helping parents help children.\"\n\nSince launching last fall, Primary has been downloaded more than 30,000 times and featured on the App Store homepage.\n\nThe new round of funding also comes from South Dakota investors, including Falls Angel Fund, Two Bridges Capital, Kampeska Capital and SDSU/Brookings Angel Fund II.\n\n\"We're very excited about Montessorium's efforts,\" said Matthew Paulson of Falls Angel Fund. \"For the first time, children, parents and classrooms have access to high-quality educational apps and also benefit from the Montessori teaching style approach at the same time.\"\n\nBobby George said one of the remarkable things about the latest financing round is having the ability to be a tech startup in Sioux Falls.\n\n\"You don't have to go to Silicon Valley to make something special,\" he said.", "output": "A US education technology company has raised $1m of funding in a new investment round. Montessorium, which is based in South Dakota, creates apps for parents of primary-school children based on the Montessori style of teaching. The company's Primary app was launched last year and offers tips for undertaking\u00a0activities with children. It has\u00a0been downloaded 30,000 times and Montessorium wants to use the new money to develop it\u00a0further. The latest round of funding comes from investors in the company's home state\u00a0and brings the total\u00a0raised to over $2m.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Oil spills double risk of infant deaths in Nigeria \n Oil spills can lead to irreversible environmental degradation and pose hazards to human health. We are the first to study the causal effects of onshore oil spills on neonatal and infant mortality rates. We use spatial data from the Nigerian Oil Spill Monitor and the Demographic and Health Surveys, and rely on the comparison of siblings conceived before and after nearby oil spills. We find that nearby oil spills double the neonatal mortality rate. These effects are fairly uniform across locations and socio-economic backgrounds. We also provide some evidence for negative health effects of nearby oil spills on surviving children.\n\nCitations are extracted by the CitEc Project , subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.\n\nThese are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.\n\nThis paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports\n\nCorrections\n\nAll material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6653. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.\n\nFor technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: . General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .\n\nIf you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.\n\nIf CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .\n\nIf you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the \"citations\" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.\n\nFor technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .\n\nPlease note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.", "output": "Babies in Nigeria born to mothers who lived within 10km of an oil spill up to five years before becoming pregnant are twice as likely to die in their first month, according to new research. The study also revealed that such spills damage the health of surviving children. The research was unable to explain why\u00a0spills that occurred during pregnancy had no effect on child or neonatal mortality rates. It is estimated that the Niger Delta sees spills equivalent to 240,000 barrels of crude oil each year, resulting in polluted water,\u00a0crops and\u00a0air."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Oil spills double risk of infant deaths in Nigeria \n Babies in Nigeria are twice as likely to die in the first month of life if their mothers were living near an oil spill before falling pregnant, researchers have found.\n\n\n\nA new study, the first to link environmental pollution with newborn and child mortality rates in the Niger Delta, shows that oil spills occurring within 10km of a mother\u2019s place of residence doubled neonatal mortality rates and impaired the health of her surviving children.\n\n\n\nCrucially, oil spills that occurred while the mother was still pregnant had no effect on child or neonatal mortality. But even spills that happened five years before conception doubled the neonatal mortality rate from 38 deaths to 76 deaths for every 1,000 births, the data found.\n\n\u201cThe results from the study are absolutely shocking,\u201d said Roland Hodler, an economics professor from the University of St Gallen in Switzerland, who led the study. \u201cI didn\u2019t expect to see this effect on pre-conception. Why we don\u2019t find a stronger effect [on the foetus] during the pregnancy is not entirely clear \u2013 maybe it is due to the cumulative contamination of crude oil in the water and soil, which increases over time. But that doesn\u2019t explain the entire effect.\n\n\u201cThis is a tragedy. Even four to five years prior to conception, an oil spill still matters. I think this should be seen as a first-world problem for something to be done.\u201d\n\nRegular, uncontrolled spills have been a prominent feature of Nigeria\u2019s oil industry \u2013 the nation\u2019s primary source of GDP \u2013 since crude was discovered there more than 60 years ago. An estimated 240,000 barrels of crude oil are spilled in the Niger Delta every year, polluting waterways, contaminating crops, and releasing toxic chemicals into the air.\n\nA 2011 report by the UN Environment Programme estimated that, after decades of repeated oil spills in Ogoniland, it would take 30 years to reverse damage to public health and the regional ecosystem.\n\nUnborn and newborn infants are most vulnerable to oil-related pollution because they have not yet developed basic defences such as the blood-brain barrier, which helps protect against toxic chemicals, the study found. Even small doses of pollution are likely to be large in comparison to an infant\u2019s body weight, while mothers who ingest poisoned food or contaminated water are also at greater risk of maternal malnutrition and sickness, potentially increasing infant mortality risks, said the researchers.\n\nBy pairing georeferenced data from the Nigerian Oil Spill Monitor \u2013 which recorded the location of more than 6,600 spills between 2005 and 2015 \u2013 with the 2013 national demographic and health survey, Hodler and his colleague Anna Bruederle were able to map oil spill locations in relation to neonatal and child mortality rates among the surrounding populations. The result was an analysis of roughly 5,040 children born to 2,700 mothers in 130 clusters, all within 10km of the closest oil spill.\n\nThe researchers then compared siblings\u2019 health histories, contrasting the mortality rates of infants conceived or born before the first nearby oil spill with those conceived or born subsequently.\n\nThe data proved that neonatal mortality was higher the closer the oil spill was to the mother\u2019s location, and that any oil spills prior to conception increased the incidence of low weight-for-height, notably in the first year of life.\n\nThe Nigerian government did not respond to multiple requests for comment.\n\nActivists have called the findings \u201cdisturbing and disheartening\u201d.\n\n\u201cIt is shocking to consider how many children may have died in the past 50 years \u2013 since oil exploration started in Nigeria\u2019s Niger Delta \u2013 as a direct result of regular and uncontrolled oil spills,\u201d said Debbie Ariyo of Africans Unite Against Child Abuse, a charity that supports the rights and welfare of African children.\n\n\u201cThe ongoing environmental damage means that more children are exposed to harmful chemicals in polluted drinking water, air and food produce. Simply put, as long as the oil spills continue unabated and clean up of the region is delayed, then unfortunately more children will be harmfully impacted.\u201d\n\n\n\nAdditional reporting by Emmanuel Akinwotu", "output": "Babies in Nigeria born to mothers who lived within 10km of an oil spill up to five years before becoming pregnant are twice as likely to die in their first month, according to new research. The study also revealed that such spills damage the health of surviving children. The research was unable to explain why\u00a0spills that occurred during pregnancy had no effect on child or neonatal mortality rates. It is estimated that the Niger Delta sees spills equivalent to 240,000 barrels of crude oil each year, resulting in polluted water,\u00a0crops and\u00a0air."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US health agency to expand payments for telehealth services \n On Thursday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released a final rule for the 2018 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.\n\nThe lengthy (as in 1,653-page) document outlines numerous changes. For one, it increases physician payment rates by 0.41 percent for 2018 compared to this year.\n\nBut a less frequently highlighted part of the rule is what it does for telemedicine.\n\nCMS will be paying for more telehealth services. The agency created multiple new codes, which cover instances around lung cancer, health risk assessments, psychotherapy, chronic care management and interactive complexity.\n\nAs a press release notes:\n\nTo strengthen access to care, especially for those living in rural areas, CMS is transforming access to Medicare telehealth services by paying for more services and making it easier for providers to bill for these services. Improving access to telehealth services reflects CMS\u2019 work to modernize Medicare payments to promote patient-centered innovations.\n\nAdditionally, CMS said it is finalizing separate 2018 payment for CPT code 99091, which details certain remote patient monitoring.\n\nSome, including Connected Health Initiative Executive Director Morgan Reed, were pleased with the changes. He praised CMS\u2019 efforts regarding enabling doctors to utilize remote patient monitoring tools. In a statement, Reed noted:\n\nThese new rules are an important step forward for America\u2019s connected health innovators, doctors, and most importantly patients. Until now, connected health technologies have been effectively locked out of the most important part of America\u2019s healthcare system, Medicare and Medicaid. Previous CMS rules created serious disincentives for doctors to consider new technologies. Together with our advisory board, CHI pushed for newly enacted rules that finally level the playing field for innovators, giving doctors and patients the chance to take advantage of the best technologies available.\n\nOthers, such as American Hospital Association Executive Vice President Tom Nickels, weren\u2019t quite as excited. He stated:\n\nWe are also supportive of the agency\u2019s policies to make payment for new telehealth services, although we urge a more expansive approach toward telehealth coverage.\n\nPhoto: IAN HOOTON, Getty Images", "output": "The US federal health agency is increasing the amount of telehealth services it pays for. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which provides access to healthcare for elderly and low-income Americans, has included the expanded services in its updated schedule of fees payable to medical staff. The change will provide better access to care for people in rural areas, according to the CMS. The news has been welcomed by representatives of the connected health technology industry, who said previous rules provided disincentives for doctors to use such new technologies.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese gene-sequencing start-up Annoroad raises $105m \n The Chinese next-generation sequencing company Annoroad this week announced it had netted $105 million in a Series C funding round. Ping An Ventures and the Shenzhen GTJA Investment Group led the round, with additional money coming from SoftBank China Venture Capital.\n\nThe company, known widely for its fertility and tumor tests, is among the largest genomics firms in China. In 2015, Annoroad announced plans to co-develop a prenatal DNA diagnostic with Illumina, combining the American company\u2019s sequencing technology with its own nucleic acid extraction and data analysis. That resulted in NextSeq550AR, a sequencing platform\n\nIn a statement, the company said the windfall will partly go toward developing its overseas business efforts, though it didn\u2019t elaborate.\n\nIt will also use the investment to improve research and development, hire talent, and increase efficiency and sustainability. Some of the money will be diverted to SolarGenomics, a cloud-based platform the company launched 3 months ago for bioinformatics and research storage.\n\nAnnoroad CEO Chongjian Chen called the funding \u201cfresh impetus\u201d for the company to implement more sustainable practices.\n\n\u201cWith the mission of enhancing life value, based on gene technology, Annoroad is aiming at bringing more further social benefits, serving human health and accelerating the discoveries in life science,\u201d Chen said.\n\nThe Chinese consumer genomics giant is not the first in its field to receive a 9-figure investment this year. 23andMe famously received $250 million earlier this year, reflecting global confidence in a genomics market that is expected to grow to $340 million worldwide in the next 5 years.", "output": "Annoroad, a Chinese gene-sequencing firm, has raised $105m in a series C funding round led by Ping An Ventures and Shenzhen GTJA Investment Group. SoftBank China Venture Capital also invested in the round. Beijing-based Annoroad is recognised for its fertility and tumour test products, and is one of the largest genomics companies in China. The funds will be used to develop the company's overseas business connections, improve its R&D efforts and hire further staff. Some funding will be used for its SolarGenomics subsidiary, which offers a cloud-based platform for the storage of bioinformatics and research.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Medici expands telehealth messaging service to South Africa \n Serial healthcare entrepreneur Clinton Phillips is expanding his telehealth business Medici to South Africa at the start of 2018 in a move intended to improve access to healthcare. It also follows a $24.2 million fundraise by the company last year. Phillips, who lived in Johannesburg before settling in Austin, Texas, talked about his plans for the company in a phone interview.\n\nUnlike Phillips\u2019 previous healthcare business 2ndMD, a second opinion service for complex medical conditions, Medici is modeled after WhatsApp but for healthcare. Although patients can initiate contact with doctors by text, physicians can choose to connect with patients through a video conference component or phone call.\n\n\u201cA billion people a day use WhatsApp and many of them are doctors. It is not built for healthcare, it is not compliant for healthcare but it is the best way they know to manage their patients.\u201d\n\nMedici plans to onboard 3,000 to 5,000 doctors to support the expansion to South Africa. Phillips said the company is collaborating with medical associations and insurance companies in the African nation, including the insurer MMI. Surprisingly, Phillips observed that the market is very similar to the U.S. in terms of public and private insurance. He noted that most South Africans with insurance have high deductible plans.\n\nSouth Africa will also anchor Medici\u2019s expansion plans on the continent \u2014 it already has partnerships in Kenya and Nigeria. It also has designs for Europe and currently has an office in Paris staffed by five people.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019d love to get to 20 countries in the next 12-18 month. US, Africa & Latin America are showing a lot of potential.\u201d\n\nThe company\u2019s business model allows physicians to use its app for free in exchange for a portion of their revenues or they can pay $149 per month. In what seems like an unusual but practical move, Medici also provides free malpractice insurance covering up to $1 million.\n\nAsked how physicians use Medici, Phillips offered a few different examples for its \u201cpower users.\u201d A Miami doctor uses it to care for children on Medicaid who have limited mobility because she said it provides useful insight into what is going on in a patient\u2019s home. It also has specialists among its users such as an orthopedic surgeon so he can touch base with patients before their procedure and as they recover.\n\nAlso on Medici\u2019s to do list are updates to its platform, such as using AI to help triage consults for the doctors using Medici and transcription to minimize doctors having to take notes.\n\nPhoto: ronniechua, Getty Images", "output": "Telehealth messaging service Medici is expanding to South Africa early next year after raising new funding of $24m in an investment round last year. The Texas-based company offers a messaging platform inspired by\u00a0WhatsApp, on which patients can access doctors, who can then phone back\u00a0or use video conferencing to give advice. Medici is seeking to sign up 3,000 to\u00a05,000 doctors in South Africa, and the move is the first stage of a planned expansion into other African countries. Founder Clinton Phillips has also expressed interest in Latin America and Europe.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bahrain looks to boost fintech development with dedicated hub \n The Bahraini Government and the region's Central Bank are backing the creation of a new fintech hub in a 10,000 square metre space overlooking the waters of Bahrain Bay and the Arabian Gulf.\n\nScheduled to open in February 2018, the hub will comprise co-working spaces, communal areas, workstations, hot desks, and a variety of other shared infrastructure designed to attract international corporate innovation labs and fintech start-ups.\n\n\n\nFinTech Consortium, which runs similar facilities in New York and Singapore, has been appointed as the operator and ecosystem builder for the new location.\n\n\n\nThe Central Bank of Bahrain in June opened a regulatory sandbox for fintech firms worldwide to test their technology ahead of live deployment in the Kingdom. The initiative followed the creation of a partnership between the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) and the Singapore Fintech Consortium and asset management and advisory firm Trucial Investment Partners to develop a startup-friendly regulatory framework for the Kingdom.\n\n\n\nH.E. Khalid Al Rumaihi, EDB chief executive says: \u201cWe are very excited about the opportunities that fintech presents in the region and in Bahrain\u2019s ability to serve as a hub for innovation in this sector. We know that in order to realise these opportunities, it is vital to get the right ecosystem, including ensuring a supportive regulatory environment and infrastructure is in place.\u201d\n\n\n\nBahrain provided greater opportunities for fintech businesses in 2014, when the CBB initiated two new license types - payment services and card processing services - marking the entry of non-banking companies into banking services. To date Bahrain has issued 14 licenses for these two activities.", "output": "Bahrain's government and central bank\u00a0are backing\u00a0a fintech-focused hub overseen in the Gulf state\u00a0by Singapore's FinTech Consortium. The centre will sit in\u00a0a 10,000 sq\u00a0m area next to Bahrain Bay and offer\u00a0shared office facilities to corporate innovation labs and fintech start-ups\u00a0by February. It follows the launch in June of\u00a0the central bank's regulatory sandbox for fintech innovation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Secdo launches behavioural analysis cybersecurity platform \n eSecurity Planet may receive a commission from vendor links. Our recommendations are independent of any commissions, and we only recommend solutions we have personally used or researched and meet our standards for inclusion.\n\nWith major cybersecurity incidents an almost daily occurrence, organizations need an incident response plan for the likelihood that they will someday be breached. And more than ever, they also need an incident response service that can step in to help clean up those messes.\n\nDespite all the cybersecurity defenses in enterprises, the human element matters the most, as phishing attacks remain the top avenue of incursion, accounting for more than 85% of all breaches, according to the annual Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report. With 13% of human-related breaches containing ransomware and 10% of ransomware attacks costing organizations an average of $1 million, IT security teams need to be prepared for the worst.\n\nThat\u2019s where incident response software and services come in. Incident response is focused on how best to deal with an incident once it occurs. The whole idea is to have a systematic approach to incidents rather than acting haphazardly. Incident response tools can help implement incident response plans and elevate response plans from a manual to an automated basis, sandboxing threats and shutting down ports and access and the like. But even then, manual actions remain important, and that\u2019s where incident response plans and services come in.\n\nThe functions contained within incident response tools and services vary widely from vendor to vendor. But these core functions are present in most products:\n\nAbility to instantly deploy and gain visibility across the environment, including Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems\n\nRemediation capabilities across environmental components to implement corrective actions as quickly as possible rather than waiting for time-consuming manual actions, perhaps over hundreds or thousands of devices and components\n\nLog review is useful as well, but real-time visibility is key\n\nPost-breach investigations\n\nRansomware, virus, and malware removal\n\nRecovery of systems and reestablishment of services and websites\n\nSee our picks for best ransomware recovery services and removal tools\n\nTop Incident Response Tools\n\nCheck Point Incident Response\n\nCheck Point\u2019s Incident Response (IR) service can be broken down into several components. It offers incident response retainers for reactive incident engagements as well as proactive engagements via consulting. Those consulting services include: tabletop exercises; IR planning (including policy and playbook review and creation around threats); maturity & readiness assessments; and more advanced services such as internal compromise and threat assessments that look at the network, logs, endpoints, Active Directory, and email (on premises or in the cloud), threat hunting engagements, and external attack surface mapping analysis for a company\u2019s digital assets.\n\nKey Differentiators\n\nThe Check Point Incident Response Team (CPIRT) Service helps prepare for and respond to any security breach with 24/7 dedicated experts to help speed recovery and return to business as usual. This includes real-time remediation assistance, rule-based and protection activation recommendations, traffic and attack analysis, forensic analytics lab access, scheduled log analysis of identified critical systems, and configuration change recommendations for third-party systems and service providers.\n\nComplete Incident Handling: Check Point can handle the entire incident lifecycle from triage containment and remediation, with detailed documentation and reports.\n\nCheck Point has intelligence sharing arrangements with many global intelligence and infrastructure providers, local and national law enforcement, and others.\n\nThe service is vendor agnostic, with global 24x7x365 incident response analysts around the world.\n\nDirect access to Check Point Research & Development, aiding in Zero Day threat identification.\n\nHandles upwards of 3,000 or more cases per year.\n\nMore than 250 professionals, including advanced security experts, reverse engineers, and malware analysts.\n\nUtilizes standardized frameworks for incident response such as NIST and ISO.\n\nCynet\n\nThe Cynet Incident Response service includes deployment of the Cynet 360 agent to gain visibility across the environment, including hosts, files, networks, and users. It is managed by a team of incident responders to resolve the problem and get the business restored back to normal.\n\nKey Differentiators\n\nIt combines deep security analysis experience together with Cynet 360 investigative and security technology.\n\nA 24/7 security team acts as an extended team for the organization, leading any required analysis, ensuring that nothing is overlooked, and generating the results needed.\n\nCynet 360 can be used post-resolution to protect systems against future attacks.\n\nThe Cynet 360 agent can be deployed to over 5,000 endpoints within an hour.\n\nCynet 360 provides visibility beyond the endpoint to networks and users to gain the necessary visibility for automated incident response.\n\nExecutive summaries and reports that can be exported for consumption by other systems or to manually update systems across the environment.\n\nThe full Cynet Prevention & Detection platform leverages Cynet Sensor Fusion to provide integrated antivirus, endpoint detection and response, network analytics, deception and user behavioral analytics.\n\nMandiant\n\nThe Mandiant Automated Defense module \u2013 soon to become part of Google \u2013 combines data from the security stack with data science and machine learning capabilities to triage alerts, automatically eliminating events that don\u2019t matter, and revealing the ones that do. Its extended detection and response (XDR) engine uses decision automation to recall events that occurred in the past, correlating with threat intelligence to enrich incidents for escalation and remediation.\n\nKey Differentiators\n\nMandiant Automated Defense increases scalability, consistency, and accuracy to augment SOC teams, improving detection and reducing attacker dwell times.\n\nMandiant investigator expertise and threat intelligence are delivered through the Mandiant Intel Grid.\n\nDeliver detection and response capabilities at scale with a software-as-a-service approach that does not require the writing of rules or playbooks.\n\nWeave together alerts and data from a variety of security control categories, data repositories and threat intelligence vendors to determine the likelihood of malicious and actionable threats.\n\nHelps security analysts reduce monotonous tasks by automating alert analysis, reducing the number of false positives, and highlighting alerts that matter.\n\nSOC teams can weave together data silos and integrate with SIEM/SOAR tools.\n\nThe overall Mandiant platform \u2013 Mandiant Advantage \u2013 encompasses extended detection and response (XDR) capabilities with breach intelligence, threat intelligence, and security validation.\n\nWorks with existing security controls.\n\nSecureworks\n\nSecureworks Taegis XDR is available as software or as a managed service. It is built on the Taegis security analytics platform, using data science techniques to expose adversaries that would otherwise go undetected. A combination of machine and deep learning that are trained using threat intelligence and user data powers the behavioral threat analytics.\n\nKey Differentiators\n\nThe software includes built-in detection.\n\nAutomated containment actions across endpoint, network, and cloud environments.\n\nFuses human and machine intelligence to improve security.\n\nManagedXDR enables the team to deal with an increasing workload and threat volume.\n\nCollaborate on hunts, chat with analysts, and periodically assess the security posture.\n\nCloud-native solution that complements existing infrastructure by correlating events from multiple security tools.\n\nIdentify previously unknown threats, eliminate noise, and speed up investigations with analytics-based detectors that are enriched with curated threat intelligence by the Secureworks Counter Threat Unit.\n\nSygnia\n\nSygnia can investigate, contain, and defeat attacks within the network, while minimizing impact and enabling effective recovery. Its forensics and incident response capabilities are designed to counter the spectrum of attacks, resolve incidents, and support risk management and business recovery.\n\nKey Differentiators\n\nSupport for forensic diagnostics, reverse engineering, and evidence preservation, including host, network, mobile, cloud or any other form of digital data.\n\nManage uncertainty by determining if security alerts constitute a critical risk.\n\nObtain recommendations to address vulnerabilities and mitigate threats.\n\nCrisis management support.\n\nRetainer contracts offer standby support, from forensic triage to handling a full-scale cyber event.\n\nAssess and enhance the ability to respond to and sustain cyberattacks.\n\nClose gaps and improve preparation to manage the complex undertaking and intense pressure of a cyber breach.\n\nProactively hunt attacks within the network, and identify and neutralize dormant and active threats at an early stage.\n\nSygnia\u2019s Advanced Compromise Assessment process establishes a base of security.\n\nHerjavec Group\n\nManaged Detection & Response (MDR) services from Herjavec Group (HG) analyze packets and system processes in real time, augmenting an existing managed security service. The benefits include threat detection, threat hunting, and technology-specific experts\u2019 hands-on involvement in the environment to expand beyond preventative security strategies.\n\nKey Differentiators\n\nThe HG MDR practice combines behavioral and anomaly detection with added intelligence from endpoint detection and response platforms.\n\nThe HG SOC operations monitor network, systems, and data, 24/7/365.\n\nHigh-fidelity alerting, improved threat detection, and expert-level response.\n\nAround the clock security event monitoring, triage & escalation.\n\nThreat disruption across platforms.\n\nNetwork security monitoring coupled with management of best of breed EDR or XDR solutions, cloud environments, and containers.\n\nDigital forensics and incident response emergency services.\n\nManaged phishing service.\n\nBAE Systems\n\nBAE Systems is a supplier of cyber, intelligence, and security capabilities to government agencies, as well as cyber and network security capabilities to the enterprise. It protects air, maritime, land, and cyber domains.\n\nKey Differentiators\n\nHas a workforce of about 90,000 people in more than 40 countries.\n\nEmergency Cyber Incident Response services combine technical skills with strategic guidance to ensure the organization makes the right decisions at the right times to limit the impact of the attack.\n\nIn-house developed tools are used to discover the critical facts.\n\nVisibility into malicious behavior.\n\nIf a breach of security has already made the headlines or attracted regulator attention, the BAE team can help manage internal and external stakeholders, as well as the press.\n\nCenters of excellence exist in the UK, U.S., and Australia.\n\nCan rapidly deploy expert personnel onsite.\n\nFounding and certified member of the NCSC Certified Incident Response Scheme and CREST certified to provide cyber incident response services to government, critical national infrastructure and, other operators of nationally significant networks.\n\nCybriant\n\nCybriantXDR combines machine learning and artificial intelligence with experienced oversight to identify and terminate malicious software before it can execute. It also alerts the organization only when a credible threat is detected.\n\nKey Differentiators", "output": "New York start-up Sedco aims to help companies facing growing incident response challenges and skilled staffing shortages with the launch of version 5.0 of its incident response platform. Additions include Behavioral Based Indicators of Compromise, a capability enabling firms to block potentially damaging processes or behaviours, and the Sedco Response Center, offering containment as well as forensic and remediation solutions. A survey by Hexadite and the Enterprise Strategy Group revealed that 71% of US IT professionals said incident response had become more difficult in the past two years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EDF partners with Elsewedy Electric on solar projects in Egypt \n EDF Energies Nouevelles, the renewable energy subsidiary of France-based energy giant EDF, and the Egyptian manufacturing company Elsewedy Electric will construct a 100 MW solar park in Benban, southern Egypt.\n\nFinancial close for the project was reached on Oct. 25, EDF said in a press release. The installation was selected in Round 2 of Egypt\u2019s FIT scheme and will sell power to local utility Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) under a 25-year contract.\n\nThe solar park will be located at the 1.8 GW Benban solar complex, where they are also building another 50 MW solar plant. Both projects, according to EDF, are being financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Proparco.\n\nPopular content\n\nThe project must still be approved by the Egyptian authorities. Construction of the plant is expected to begin in the first quarter of next year. \u201cBy expanding into Egypt, alongside the ELSEWEDY ELECTRIC Group, a high regional profile, EDF Energies Nouvelles strengthens its position in the North African renewable energy market. The Benban solar project ties in with the EDF Group\u2019s goal of doubling its renewable capacity in France and worldwide, by 2030 under its CAP 2030 strategic plan\u201d, said EDF Energies Nouvelles\u2019 CEO Antoine Cahuzac.\n\nThe 1.8 GW Benban solar complex represents the larger portion of the 2 GW of PV capacity allocated by the Egyptian government through its FIT scheme for solar.", "output": "EDF Energies Nouevelles will partner with Egyptian manufacturing company Elsewedy Electric to deliver a 100 MW solar park in Egypt. The project will be located at the 1.8 GW Benban solar complex and, pending approval from the Egyptian authorities, will sell power to the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company under a 25-year contract. Construction is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2018."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI 'seven-year-old' bot given residency in Tokyo \n AI \u2018child\u2019 granted residency in Tokyo\n\nAFP, TOKYO\n\n\n\n\n\nAn artificial intelligence (AI) character was made an official resident of a busy central Tokyo district yesterday, with the virtual newcomer resembling a chatty seven-year-old.\n\nThe boy named \u201cShibuya Mirai\u201d does not exist physically, but he can have text conversations with humans on the widely used Line messaging app.\n\nTokyo\u2019s Shibuya ward, an area popular with fashion-conscious young people, has given the character his own special residence certificate.\n\nA special residence certificate for \u201cShibuya Mirai\u201d is pictured yesterday. Photo: AFP / Shibuya Ward\n\nThis makes him Japan\u2019s first \u2014 and maybe the world\u2019s first \u2014 AI bot to be granted a place on a real-life local registry.\n\nMirai, whose name means \u201cfuture\u201d in Japanese, is supposed to be a first grader at an elementary school.\n\nHe can reply to messages and make light-hearted alterations to selfies he is sent.\n\nShibuya said the project aims to make the district\u2019s local government more familiar to residents and allow officials to hear their opinions.\n\n\u201cHis hobbies are taking pictures and observing people, and he loves talking with people... Please talk to him about anything,\u201d the ward said in a statement with Microsoft, the joint developer of the character.", "output": "A \"seven-year-old\" artificial intelligence (AI) bot has been granted residency in Tokyo's central Shibuya district. The boy, named Shibuya Mirai, does not physically exist but has text conversations with users of the popular Line messaging app. The character has now been given a special residence certificate, making him Japan's \u2013 and possibly\u00a0the world's \u2013 first AI bot to take a place on a real life local registry."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Virtual language learning offered by PandaTree \n PandaTree, a Palo Alto, CA-based language learning company, secured $1.5m in seed funding.\n\nThe round was led by Michael Dearing of Harrison Metals with Randy Ching of UP2398.\n\nThe company has reached a total of $2m invested with the earlier funding coming from Precursor Ventures and Nanjing Sunflower.\n\nLed by Rich Matsuura, co-founder and product lead, and Kristina Klausen, founder and CEO, PandaTree provides a foreign language learning platform which allows students to talk via live video with their tutor, while interacting with a proprietary, standards-based language curriculum.\n\nThe WebRTC-based platform supports an interactive and fully integrated curriculum. During lessons students can be doing a virtual 3D tour of a Mayan ruin or the Great Wall of China with their tutor, working on a project, or playing a game.\n\nWith PandaTree, parents can schedule 25 or 50-minute online lessons with the tutor they choose, at the times that are convenient for them. Tutors go through a rigorous hiring process that includes test sessions with real kids, and background checks.\n\nThey use PandaTree\u2019s curriculum, but tailor the topics and pace to each child for optimized individual learning. Mandarin and Spanish are currently offered, with additional languages planned for the future.\n\nFinSMEs\n\n02/11/2017", "output": "California-based edtech PandaTree has raised $1.5m in a seed funding round led by Michael Dearing of Harrison Metals. The company offers online personalised learning using virtual reality as part of a standardised curriculum, enabling children to learn Spanish and Mandarin in an interactive, engaging environment. Students can also receive live\u00a0one-to-one sessions with a tutor. PandaTree aims to add more languages to its curriculum in the future.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK living wage increases to \u00a38.75 per hour, \u00a310.20 in London \n More than 150,000 workers will get an inflation-beating pay rise on Monday as the UK living wage, which is paid voluntarily by more than 3,600 employers, is increased against a backdrop of rising transport, food and housing costs.\n\nThe pay rate will rise 3.6% to \u00a38.75 per hour around the UK and 4.6% to \u00a310.20 in London, giving a wages boost to workers at companies which have adopted the measure, including Google and IKEA.\n\nKatherine Chapman, the director of the Living Wage Foundation, said the increase in the living wage was driven by inflation, currently running at 3%, and the increased cost of household goods, rents and transport. The living wage is independently calculated and designed to reflect the \u201creal cost of living in the UK and London\u201d.\n\n\u201cThe new living wage rates will bring relief for thousands of UK workers being squeezed by stagnant wages and rising inflation,\u201d Chapman said. \u201cIt\u2019s thanks to the leadership of over 3,600 employers across the UK who are committed to paying all their staff, including cleaners and security staff, a real living wage.\u201d\n\nTwo-thirds of FTSE 100 companies, including BP, BT, Vodafone, Shell have failed to join the voluntary pledge.\n\nDr Wanda Wyporska, the executive director of The Equality Trust, said: \u201cIt\u2019s incredible to see so many of the UK\u2019s largest businesses refuse to pay their staff a living wage. It\u2019s even more appalling when you consider the average pay for a FTSE 100 boss is now over 300 times that of a minimum wage worker.\u201d\n\nThe increase takes the voluntary UK living wage to \u00a33.15 more than the mandatory minimum wage for 18- to 20-year-olds. The national living wage, which is simply the name given to the statutory national minimum wage rate for over 25s, is set at \u00a37.50 an hour.\n\nChapman said the national living wage was not enough to cover the true cost of living, particularly in London. \u201cIn-work poverty is today\u2019s story,\u201d she said. \u201cNew figures show that 5.5m people are still paid less than the real living wage.\u201d\n\nHeathrow Airport announced on Monday it had signed up to the living wage, meaning more than 3,200 of its lowest-paid workers, including cleaners and security staff, will have their weekly wages raised by up to \u00a3100 a week. More than 150 employers have become accredited to the living wage in recent weeks including the National Gallery, the Southbank Centre and Somerset House. They join around 3,600 employers already signed up, including Nationwide and Diageo.\n\nMany high-profile employers including luxury hotel chains and most Premier League football clubs have failed to sign up to the pledge.\n\nTwo cleaners at a Ferrari showroom were sacked last week after walking out on strike in protest at not being paid the living wage. Fredy Lopez, 51, and Angelica Valencia Bolanos, 49, who cleaned the Ferrari and Maserati showrooms of car dealer HR Owen were told they could only go back to work if they accepted the \u00a37.50-an-hour offered by an outsourcing company.\n\nSadiq Khan, the mayor of London, said he was delighted that the London living wage had risen above \u00a310, but low pay and inequality remained problems in the capital. \u201cLondon is one of the most dynamic and prosperous economies in the world, but unfortunately this prosperity isn\u2019t shared by all Londoners. In the capital today, more than 2 million people are struggling to make ends meet and the ethnic pay gap is shockingly and unacceptably large.\n\n\u201cI want to make sure that no one who goes to work every day should have to endure the indignity of poverty. Paying the London living wage is not only the action of a responsible organisation, but a successful one too. Many of the accredited employers I speak to tell me of the increased productivity and reduced staff turnover that they\u2019ve experienced since signing up.\u201d", "output": "The UK living wage, based on independently-calculated costs of living, will rise by 3.6% on Monday to \u00a38.75 ($11.5) per hour across the UK, and by 4.6% to \u00a310.20 in London. The wage is currently paid voluntarily by over 3,600 UK employers, including Google and IKEA, to around 150,000 workers. Heathrow Airport also announced on Monday that it would pay the living wage, raising the weekly wages of over 3,200 of the airport\u2019s lowest-paid workers by up to \u00a3100 per week. Of FTSE 100 companies, two-thirds, including BP, BT, Shell and Vodafone, did not adopt the voluntary measure.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "P&G's reduced ad spend does not negatively impact\u00a0growth \n by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, November 3, 2017\n\nProcter & Gamble cut down the number of sites its ads ran on earlier this year about a month after brands discovered they were funding terrorist videos on YouTube. The maker of Tide, Bounty and other popular brands wanted to steer clear of questionable content and ads.\n\nResearch now suggests that overall, P&G cut the number of sites it ran ads on this year by 69% at the highest point, after Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard called out the industry for a lack of transparency and poisoning the supply chain.\n\nMediaRadar, which tracks ad campaigns across online, TV, mobile, print and other channels, ran data to determine how calls for transparency impacted digital ad strategies for P&G, the biggest advertiser in the U.S. Using its ad-tracking software, the company compared year-over-year (YoY) 2017 numbers with January to August 2016.\n\nDuring the months between January and August 2017, P&G has run its ads on 20% fewer sites overall \u2014 about 1,251 sites \u2014 compared with the year-ago timeframe.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nIn January the YoY change fell to 64%, followed by February at 56% and then March at 55%. Following the greatest drop in the year in April 2017 at 69%, the number of sites running P&G ads fell 38% in May and then 7% in June. In July, the number began to increase at 14%, and went up in August to 21%.\n\nP&G reported during its second-quarter earnings call that reducing its media spend by more than $100 million in ineffective ads had no negative impact on its growth rate. The company also said it reduced overhead and agency fees.\n\nTodd Krizelman, CEO and co-founder of MediaRadar, believes P&G has gained more transparency over its campaigns, which has resulted in a bounce-back.\n\nAfter freezing YouTube campaigns, P&G eventually returned to advertising on YouTube\u2019s preferred channels.", "output": "Consumer goods company Procter & Gamble has revealed its growth rate was not adversely affected by its $100m reduction in ad spend. In a Q2 earnings call, the company added it had also trimmed overheads and agency fees. Between March and April this year, P&G cut the number of sites running its ads by 69%, according to research by MediaRadar. Overall, between January and August, the company used 1,251 sites for ads, 20% fewer than the same period the previous year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EDF to develop 54 MW wind project in Scotland \n The Scottish government last week announced it has granted planning permission to a 54-MW wind project in the Scottish Highlands proposed by local firm Wind Prospect Developments.\n\nThe developer is a joint venture of renewables consultancy Wind Prospect Group and EDF Energy Renewables (EDF ER), a UK subsidiary of French utility EDF (EPA:EDF). Under the so-called Braemore project, it plans to install 18 turbines of 3 MW each at a site near the village of Lairg, Sutherland county.\n\nThe Section 36 scheme was given the green light after a rejection by Scotland\u2019s Highland Council in 2015 that was followed by an appeal case. The developer's initial proposal was launched back in 2012 and has been in the permitting stages since then. Originally, Wind Prospect filed the project with a 27-turbine layout but amended it twice by removing three turbines in 2012 and an additional six machines a year later.\n\nIn their decision, Scottish Ministers have ruled out that the 54-MW plan will have no significant effects on the landscape and will contribute to the government's target for renewables to provide the equivalent of 50% of Scotland's heat, transport and electricity needs by 2030. According to the government's renewable electricity output calculator, the Braemore plant is expected to generate 126,089 MWh of electricity annually.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "A 54 MW joint venture between EDF Energy Renewables, a UK unit of French utility EDF, and Wind Prospect Group, has been given the green light by the Scottish government. The Braemore wind project was originally launched in 2012 with 27 turbines, before Wind Prospect reduced the number to 16. The scheme was rejected in 2015, but given the go-ahead on appeal. Scottish ministers said the project, set to generate 126 MWh annually when completed, would contribute to the country's aim of providing the equivalent of half of its electricity needs using renewables by 2030."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "2017 on track to be one of three all-time hottest years: WMO \n WMO report highlights impacts on human safety, well-being and environment\n\n6 November 2017 (WMO) - It is very likely that 2017 will be one of the three hottest years on record, with many high-impact events including catastrophic hurricanes and floods, debilitating heatwaves and drought. Long-term indicators of climate change such as increasing carbon dioxide concentrations, sea level rise and ocean acidification continue unabated. Arctic sea ice coverage remains below average and previously stable Antarctic sea ice extent was at or near a record low.\n\nThe World Meteorological Organization\u2019s provisional Statement on the State of the Climate says the average global temperature from January to September 2017 was approximately 1.1\u00b0C above the pre-industrial era. As a result of a powerful El Ni\u00f1o, 2016 is likely to remain the warmest year on record, with 2017 and 2015 being second and/or third. 2013-2017 is set to be the warmest five-year period on record.\n\nThe WMO statement \u2013 which covers January to September - was released on the opening day of the United Nations climate change conference in Bonn. It includes information submitted by a wide range of UN agencies on human, socio-economic and environmental impacts as part of a drive to provide a more comprehensive, UN-wide policy brief for decision makers on the interplay between weather, climate and water and the UN global goals.\n\n\u201cThe past three years have all been in the top three years in terms of temperature records. This is part of a long term warming trend,\u201d said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas. \u201cWe have witnessed extraordinary weather, including temperatures topping 50 degrees Celsius in Asia, record-breaking hurricanes in rapid succession in the Caribbean and Atlantic reaching as far as Ireland, devastating monsoon flooding affecting many millions of people and a relentless drought in East Africa.\n\n\u201cMany of these events \u2013 and detailed scientific studies will determine exactly how many \u2013 bear the tell-tale sign of climate change caused by increased greenhouse gas concentrations from human activities,\u201d he said.\n\nPatricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change which is hosting the Bonn conference, said: \u201cThese findings underline the rising risks to people, economies and the very fabric of life on Earth if we fail to get on track with the aims and ambitions of the Paris Agreement\u201d.\n\n\u201cThere is unprecedented and very welcome momentum among governments, but also cities, states, territories, regions, business and civil society. Bonn 2017 needs to be the launch pad towards the next, higher level of ambition by all nations and all sectors of society as we look to de-risk the future and maximize the opportunities from a fresh, forward-looking and sustainable development path, \u201cshe added.\n\nExtreme events affect the food security of millions of people, especially the most vulnerable. A review of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) found that, in developing countries, agriculture (crops, livestock, fisheries, aquaculture and forestry) accounted for 26% of all the damage and loss associated with medium to large-scale storms, floods and drought.\n\nAccording to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the global health impacts of heatwaves depend not only on the overall warming trend, but on how heatwaves are distributed across where people live. Recent research shows that the overall risk of heat-related illness or death has climbed steadily since 1980, with around 30% of the world\u2019s population now living in climatic conditions that deliver prolonged extreme heatwaves. Between 2000 and 2016, the number of vulnerable people exposed to heatwave events has increased by approximately 125 million.\n\nIn 2016, 23.5 million people were displaced during weather-related disasters. Consistent with previous years, the majority of these internal displacements were associated with floods or storms and occurred in the Asia-Pacific region. In Somalia, more than 760 000 internal displacements have been reported, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and International Organisation for Migration (IOM).\n\nThe latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) World Economic Outlook indicates that adverse consequences are concentrated in countries with relatively hot climates and which are home to close to 60% of current global population.\n\nSelected Highlights\n\nGlobal temperatures in 2017\n\nGlobal mean temperature for the period January to September 2017 was 0.47\u00b0\u00b10.08\u00b0C warmer than the 1981-2010 average (estimated at 14.31\u00b0C). This represents an approximately 1.1\u00b0C increase in temperature since the pre-industrial period. Parts of southern Europe, including Italy, North Africa, parts of east and southern Africa and the Asian part of the Russian Federation were record warm and China was the equal warmest. The northwestern USA and western Canada were cooler than the 1981-2010 average.\n\nTemperatures in 2016 and, to an extent, 2015, were boosted by an exceptionally strong El Ni\u00f1o. 2017 is set to be the warmest year on record without an El Ni\u00f1o influence. The five-year average 2013-2017 is provisionally 0.40\u00b0C warmer than the 1981-2010 average and approximately 1.03\u00b0C above the pre-industrial period and is likely to be the hottest on record.\n\nThe WMO statement is based on five independently maintained global temperature data sets. WMO now uses 1981-2010 instead of the previous 1961-1990 baseline as it is more representative of current climatic conditions and allows for more consistent reporting of information from satellite and reanalysis systems (some of which do not extend back to 1960) alongside more traditional data sets based on surface-observations. The change in the baselines has no influence on trend analysis.\n\nPrecipitation:\n\nSouthern South America (particularly in Argentina), western China, and parts of southeast Asia were wetter than average. January to September was the wettest on record for the contiguous United States. Rainfall was generally close to average in Brazil, and near to above average in northwest South America and Central America, easing droughts associated with the 2015-16 El Ni\u00f1o. The 2017 rainy season saw above-average rainfall over many parts of the Sahel, with flooding in some regions (especially in Niger).\n\nAll-India rainfall for the 2017 monsoon season (June to September) was 5% below average. However, above-average rainfall in the northeast, and adjacent countries led to significant flooding.\n\nThe Canadian Prairies, the Mediterranean region, Somalia, Mongolia, Gabon and southwestern South Africa all received lower rainfall than average. Italy had its driest January to September on record.\n\nIce and snow:\n\nArctic sea-ice extent was well below average throughout 2017 and was at record-low levels for the first four months of the year, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center and the Copernicus Climate Change Service. The Arctic annual maximum extent in early March was among the five lowest in the 1979-2017 satellite record, and according to the NSIDC\u2019s data was record low. The five lowest maximum extents have occurred since 2006.\n\nA strong and persistent low pressure system over the central Arctic helped to inhibit ice loss during the summer months. The Arctic sea ice extent minimum in mid-September was 25- 31% below the 1981-2010 average, and among the eight smallest minimum extents on record. The ten smallest minimum extents have all occurred since 2007.\n\nAntarctic sea ice extent was also well below average. The annual minimum extent in early March was record low, and the annual maximum extent in mid-October was at or near record low levels. Sea ice conditions in the Antarctic have been highly variable over the past several years with the record large sea ice extents occurring as recently as 2015.\n\nNorthern Hemisphere snow cover extent was 10.54 million square km, near the median value in the 1967-2017 satellite record.\n\nThe Greenland ice sheet saw an increase of more than 40 billion tons of ice due to above-average snowfall and a short melt season. Despite the gain in overall ice mass this year, it is only a small departure from the declining trend, with the Greenland ice sheet having lost approximately 3,600 billion tons of ice mass since 2002.\n\nSea level:\n\nThe global mean sea level (GMSL) is one of the best climate change indicators. Global mean sea level has been relatively stable in 2017 to date, similar to levels first reached in late 2015. This is because the temporary influence of the 2015-16 El Ni\u00f1o (during which GMSL peaked in early 2016 at around 10 millimeters above the 2004-2015 trend) continues to unwind and GMSL is reverting to values closer to the long-term trend. Preliminary data indicate that a rise in GMSL may have started to resume from July-August 2017 onwards.\n\nOcean Heat:\n\nGlobal sea surface temperatures are on track to be among the three highest on record. Global ocean heat content in 2017 to date has been at or near record high levels. Elevated tropical sea surface temperatures which contribute to coral bleaching were not as widespread as during the 2015-16 El Ni\u00f1o. But some significant coral bleaching did still occur, including the Australia\u2019s Great Barrier Reef. UNESCO reported in June that all but three of the 29 coral reefs with World Heritage listing had experienced temperatures consistent with bleaching at some point in the 2014-2017 period.\n\nOcean Acidification:\n\nAccording to the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO the ocean absorbs up to 30% of the annual emissions of anthropogenic CO2 in the atmosphere, helping to alleviate the impacts of climate change on the planet. However, this comes at a steep ecological cost, as the absorbed CO2 changes acidity levels in the ocean. Since records at Aloha station (north of Hawaii) began in the late 1980s, seawater pH has progressively fallen, from values above 8.10 in the early 1980s to between 8.04 and 8.09 in the last five years.\n\nOcean acidification is directly influencing the health of coral reefs and the survival and calcification of several key organisms. These have cascading effects within the food web and impact aquaculture and coastal economies.\n\nGreenhouse gases:\n\nThe rate of increase in CO 2 from 2015 to 2016 was the highest on record, 3.3 parts per million/year, reaching 403.3 parts per million. Global average figures for 2017 will not be available until late 2018. Real-time data from a number of specific locations indicate that levels of CO 2 , methane and nitrous oxide continued to increase in 2017.\n\nExtreme Events and Impacts\n\nTropical cyclones\n\nThe North Atlantic had a very active season. The Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) index, a measure of the aggregate intensity and duration of cyclones, had its highest monthly value on record in September.\n\nThree major and high-impact hurricanes occurred in the North Atlantic in rapid succession, with Harvey in August followed by Irma and Maria in September. Harvey made landfall in Texas as a category 4 system and remained near the coast for several days, producing extreme rainfall and flooding. Provisional seven-day rainfall totals reached as high as 1539 mm at a gauge near Nederland, Texas, the largest ever recorded for a single event in the mainland United States.\n\nIt was the first time two Category 4 hurricanes (Harvey and Irma) made landfall in the same year in the USA. Irma had winds of 300 km/h for 37 hours \u2013 the longest on the satellite record at that intensity and spent three consecutive days as a Category 5 hurricane, also the longest on record. Like Irma, Maria also reached category 5 intensity and caused major destruction on a number of Caribbean islands. In mid-October, Ophelia reached major hurricane (category 3) status more than 1 000 kilometers further northeast than any previous North Atlantic hurricane. It caused substantial damage in Ireland, whilst winds associated with its circulation contributed to severe wildfires in Portugal and northwest Spain.\n\nThe WMO Expert Team on Climate Impacts on Tropical Cyclones found that, whilst there is no clear evidence that climate change is making the occurrence of slow-moving, land-falling hurricanes such as Harvey more or less frequent, it is likely that human-induced climate change makes rainfall rates more intense, and that ongoing sea-level rise exacerbates storm surge impacts.\n\nFlooding\n\nExceptionally heavy rain triggered a landslide in Freetown, Sierra Leone in August, killing more than 500 people. Freetown received 1459.2 mm of rain in two weeks, about four times higher than average. Heavy rainfall contributed to a landslide in Mocoa, southern Colombia, in April, with at least 273 deaths reported.\n\nMany parts of the Indian subcontinent were affected by monsoonal flooding, despite overall seasonal rainfall being near average. The most serious flooding occurred in mid-August in eastern Nepal, northern Bangladesh and nearby northern India. Mawsynram (India) received more than 1 400 mm from 9 to 12 August. Rangpur (Bangladesh) received a month\u2019s worth of rain (360 mm) on 11-12 August. More than 1 200 deaths were reported in India, Bangladesh and Nepal, whilst more than 40 million people were displaced or otherwise affected. The World Health Organization indicated that in Bangladesh alone, more than 13 000 cases of waterborne diseases and respiratory infections were reported during three weeks in August, whilst extensive damage was reported to public health facilities in Nepal.\n\nFlooding affected many parts of Peru in March, killing 75 people and making 70,000 homeless. The Food and Agriculture Organization reported that there were significant crop production losses, particularly maize. Flooding of this type typically affects Peru during the late phase of El Ni\u00f1o events. Whilst there was no Pacific-wide El Ni\u00f1o during 2017, sea surface temperatures near the Peruvian coast in March were 2\u00b0C or more above average and similar to El Ni\u00f1o values.\n\nMajor flooding occurred mid-year in parts of southern China, especially within the Yangtze River basin. Peak totals from 29 June to 2 July topped 250 mm. Fifty-six deaths were reported and economic losses were estimated at more than US$ 5 billion.\n\nHeavy rain affected the western United States in January and February caused substantial flooding, numerous landslides and the evacuation of tens of thousands of people. It was the wettest winter on record for Nevada, and the second-wettest for California.\n\nDrought\n\nParts of east Africa continued to be seriously affected by drought. Following well-below-average rainfall in 2016, the 2017 \u201clong rains\u201d season (March to May) was also dry in many parts of Somalia, the northern half of Kenya, and southeastern Ethiopia.\n\nFAO reported that in Somalia, as of June 2017, more than half of the cropland was affected by drought, with herds reduced by 40-60% since December 2016. WFP estimates that the number of people on the brink of famine in Somalia has doubled to 800 000 since February 2017, with half the country needing assistance. WFP has confirmed that more than 11 million people are experiencing severe food insecurity in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.\n\nFrom November 2016 to mid-June 2017, more than 760 000 drought-related internal displacements in Somalia were recorded by the Protection and Return Monitoring Network (PRMN), a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) led project.\n\nKenya declared the 2017 drought a national disaster. Nairobi faced water shortages that compelled city authorities to ration water, whilst cereal prices rose and GDP figures were hit.\n\nAn above-average wet summer season eased drought conditions in southern Africa. But localized drought intensified in the Cape Province.\n\nHeavy winter rains in early 2017 eased long-term drought conditions in California, but resulted in some flooding, and contributed to vegetation growth which may have influenced the severity of wildfires later in the year.\n\nMany parts of the Mediterranean experienced dry conditions. The most severe drought was in Italy, hitting agricultural production and causing a 62% drop in olive oil production compared to 2016. Rainfall averaged over Italy for January-August 2017 was 36% below average. It was also Italy\u2019s hottest January-August on record, with temperatures 1.31\u00b0C above the 1981-2010 average. Other dry areas included many parts of Spain and Portugal.\n\nThe Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea was affected by below\u2011average rains, impacting key staple crops such as paddy and maize. In the Republic of Korea, rainfall from January to June was 51% below average, the lowest since national records began in 1973.\n\nMajor heatwaves\n\nAn extreme heatwave affected parts of South America in January. In Chile, numerous locations had their highest temperature on record, including Santiago (37.4\u00b0C). In Argentina, the temperature reached 43.5\u00b0C on 27 January at Puerto Madryn, the highest ever recorded so far south (43\u00b0S) anywhere in the world.\n\nMuch of eastern Australia experienced extreme heat in January and February, peaking on 11-12 February when temperatures reached 47\u00b0C.\n\nExceptional heat affected parts of southwest Asia in late May. On 28 May, temperatures reached 54.0\u00b0C in Turbat, in the far west of Pakistan near the Iranian border, and also exceeded 50\u00b0C in Iran and Oman. A temperature of 53.7\u00b0C was recorded at Ahwaz, Iran on 29 June, and Bahrain experienced its hottest August on record.\n\nThe Chinese city of Shanghai and the Hong Kong Observatory reported new records of 40.9\u00b0C and 36.6 \u00b0C during summer.\n\nIn the Mediterranean, Cordoba in southern Spain experienced 46.9\u00b0C on 12 July and Granada 45.7\u00b0C on 13 July. An extensive heatwave in early August led to temperature records in northern and central Italy, Croatia and southern France.\n\nCalifornia had its hottest summer on record and extreme heat affected other western states. This culminated in a major heatwave at the end of August and early September, which included a record high temperature (41.1\u00b0C) at San Francisco.\n\nWildfires\n\nExtreme heat and drought contributed to many destructive wildfires.\n\nChile had the most significant forest fires in its history during the 2016-2017 summer, after exceptionally dry conditions during 2016 followed by extreme heat in December and January. 11 deaths were reported, and a total of 614 000 hectares of forest were burnt, easily the highest seasonal total on record and eight times the long-term average. There were also significant fires during the 2016-2017 Southern Hemisphere summer in various parts of eastern Australia and in the Christchurch region of New Zealand, whilst the southern South African town of Knysna was badly affected by fire in June.\n\nIt was a very active fire season in the Mediterranean. The worst single incident occurred in central Portugal in June, with 64 deaths. There were further major fire outbreaks in Portugal and northwestern Spain in mid-October, exacerbated by strong winds associated with Hurricane Ophelia.. Other significant fires affected countries including Croatia, Italy and France.\n\nThe area burned in the contiguous United States from January to 19 October was 46% above the 2007-2016 average. The area burned in Canada was about 51% above the seasonal average and contributed to heavy smoke pollution. A wet winter, which allowed the heavy growth of ground vegetation, followed by a dry and hot summer, provided ideal conditions for high-intensity fires in northern California in early October. At least 41 deaths were reported, the worst loss of life in a wildfire in the United States since 1918.\n\nOther noteworthy events\n\nSevere cold and snow affected parts of Argentina in July. After heavy snow had fallen the previous day, the temperature reached \u221225.4\u00b0C in Bariloche on 16 July, 4.3\u00b0C below the previous lowest temperature on record there. Other regions where record low temperatures occurred in 2017 included some locations in inland southeastern Australia in early July, where Canberra had its lowest temperature (\u22128.7\u00b0C) since 1971, and the Gulf region in the Middle East in early February.\n\nThe United States had its most active tornado season since 2011, with a preliminary total of 1 321 tornadoes in the January to August period, including the second-most active January on record.\n\nThe World Meteorological Organization is the United Nations System\u2019s authoritative voice on Weather, Climate and Water\n\nMedia contacts:\n\nMedia Officer, Clare Nullis (from 6 November in Bonn): Tel: +41 22 730 84 78; Mobile: +41 79 709 13 97 email: cnullis@wmo.int\n\nChief of Communications and Public Affairs, Michael Williams (in Geneva): Tel: +41 22 730 83 15; Mobile: +41 79 406 47 30, email: mwilliams@wmo.int\n\nNotes for Editors:\n\nWMO uses three conventional surface temperature data sets \u2013 NOAA\u2019s NOAAGlobalTemp data set, Met Office Hadley Centre and Climatic Research Unit HadCRUT.4.6.0.0 data set and NASA GISS\u2019s GISTEMP data set. They use measurements of air temperature over land and sea-water temperature measurements over oceans to estimate temperatures around the globe.\n\nWMO also uses two reanalyses with a much wider range of input data, including measurements from satellites. The input data are combined using a weather forecasting system, which provides a globally complete, physically consistent estimate of surface temperatures for each day. They provide better coverage of regions, such as polar regions, where observations are historically sparse. The two reanalyses used in the statement are the ERA-Interim of the European Centre for Medium Weather Forecast and the JRA-55 of the Japan Meteorological Agency. Despite the very different approach, the estimates of global average temperature produced by these reanalyses are in good agreement with the conventional surface temperature datasets\n\nThe provisional statement now uses 1981-2010 as a baseline. This takes the place of the 1961-1990 baseline used in previous reports. The 1981-2010 period is recommended by WMO to compute the climatological standard normal for climate monitoring purposes as it is more representative of current climatic conditions. It allows a consistent reporting of information from satellite and reanalysis systems, some of which do not extend back to 1960, alongside with traditional data sets based on surface-observations. For global average temperatures, the 1981-2010 period is approximately 0.31\u00b10.02\u00b0C warmer than that of 1961-1990. The change in the baselines has no influence on trend analysis.\n\nIn this WMO statement, the period 1880-1900 has been used as a reference period for pre-industrial conditions allowing early instrumental observations to be used for estimating pre-industrial temperature conditions.\n\nInformation used in this report is sourced from a large number of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) and associated institutions, as well as the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) and the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW). Information has also been supplied by a number of other UN agencies, including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Program (WFP), the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO).", "output": "This year is set to become one of the three hottest ever recorded, says the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Though temperatures in 2017's first nine months were unlikely to have exceeded those in 2016, since the latter year featured an El Ni\u00f1o weather phenomenon, the WMO warns they\u00a0will probably be higher than anything recorded prior to 2015. WMO's\u00a0Petteri Taalas says the\u00a0trend towards warming appeared to be indicative of climate change resulting from human activities, including burning fossil fuels and deforestation. The\u00a0Met Office's\u00a0Richard Betts adds\u00a0that\u00a0developing countries to be hit the hardest with flooding being a significant threat in south Asia.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "2017 on track to be one of three all-time hottest years: WMO \n 2017 is set to be one of the hottest three years on record, provisional data suggests, confirming yet again a warming trend that scientists say bears the fingerprints of human actions.\n\nThe World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said temperatures in the first nine months of this year were unlikely to have been higher than 2016, when there was a strong El Ni\u00f1o weather system, but higher than anything before 2015.\n\nPetteri Taalas, secretary general of the WMO, said: \u201cThe past three years have all been in the top three years in terms of temperature records. This is part of a long term warming trend. We have witnessed extraordinary weather, including temperatures topping 50C in Asia, record-breaking hurricanes in rapid succession in the Caribbean and Atlantic reaching as far as Ireland, devastating monsoon flooding affecting many millions of people and a relentless drought in East Africa.\u201d\n\nHe said further detailed scientific studies would be carried out, but that it was already possible to say many \u201cbear the tell-tale sign of climate change\u201d caused by increased greenhouse gas concentrations from human activities, such as burning fossil fuel and deforestation.\n\nThis recent increase in average global temperatures confirms a renewed warming trend in recent years, which had slowed its pace slightly in the previous decade, leading some climate sceptics to claim global warming had \u201cpaused\u201d.\n\nThe results were revealed to delegates at the UN\u2019s global climate talks being held in Bonn, Germany, this week and next. The COP23 talks, a follow-up to the landmark Paris agreement of 2015, will focus on a new process by which countries\u2019 pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions can be toughened, in line with scientific advice.\n\nCurrent pledges would, according to estimates, leave the world 3C warmer than in pre-industrial times. At that level, sea levels would rise, heatwaves and droughts would become more common in large swathes of the globe, and fiercer storms and floods would become more likely.\n\nPatricia Espinosa, the UN\u2019s climate chief, said the talks showed \u201cunprecedented momentum\u201d, but warned of the consequences of failure.\n\nRecent research also found that the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are now higher than they have been for 800,000 years.\n\nScientists reacted with concern to the WMO\u2019s findings, which are still provisional and only cover January to September. Martin Siegert, co-director of the Grantham Institute at Imperial College, London, said: \u201cThe state of our climate is being reset by humans. What were once one-in-a-hundred-year events are now turning into regular events. We see this in terms of extreme weather impacts, with examples from the south of the US this year. For the future we can expect more of the same.\u201d\n\nRichard Betts, professor of climate impacts at the Met Office Hadley Centre, said: \u201cWe expect developing countries to be hit the hardest in terms of human impact. Flooding will be a particular threat in south Asia, particularly due to increased rainfall and rising sea levels, and partly because of the large and growing numbers of people who have little choice about being in harm\u2019s way.\u201d\n\nPetteri Taalas, secretary-general of WMO, said at the Bonn conference that he saw little likelihood of the warming trend being reversed in the short term. \u201cThis trend can be expected to continue for the coming 50 years. In this system, once you reach a certain level it does not drop soon.\u201d", "output": "This year is set to become one of the three hottest ever recorded, says the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Though temperatures in 2017's first nine months were unlikely to have exceeded those in 2016, since the latter year featured an El Ni\u00f1o weather phenomenon, the WMO warns they\u00a0will probably be higher than anything recorded prior to 2015. WMO's\u00a0Petteri Taalas says the\u00a0trend towards warming appeared to be indicative of climate change resulting from human activities, including burning fossil fuels and deforestation. The\u00a0Met Office's\u00a0Richard Betts adds\u00a0that\u00a0developing countries to be hit the hardest with flooding being a significant threat in south Asia.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WeWork's housing bet struggles as tenants dub homes crash-pads \n WeWork\u2019s expansion plans for its housing communities, known as WeLive buildings, haven\u2019t met the company\u2019s expectations, perhaps due to the fact that some tenants view it as a temporary crash pad, not a long term home.\n\nKnown for renting co-working space around the world, WeWork has been striking big deals, buying Blackstone Group\u2019s London offices for $785 million and buying Lord & Taylor\u2019s Manhattan flagship for $850 million, amid questions about the company\u2019s profits and valuation, as The Real Deal reported.\n\nIts expansion into offering housing and hotel rooms started several years ago with WeWork\u2019s projections in 2014 forecasting that the company would operate 36 WeLive housing communities by the end of 2017. Fast forward to the present, and the company only has two such buildings: in New York and Washington, D.C., and the experience leaves something to be desired, according to Bloomberg who interviewed some former residents.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a great place to be if you\u2019re just moving to the city, and you want to meet people, or you need a place for a couple months before you find your real apartment,\u201d a former tenant told Bloomberg.\n\nSign Up for the undefined Newsletter SIGN UP By signing up, you agree to TheRealDeal Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.\n\nThe main issue seems to be rents aren\u2019t competitive enough considering the services, or lack thereof. A New York WeLive studio goes for about $3,000 and some disgruntled previous tenants say hot water shortages and inconsistent mail deliveries caused them to move out.\n\nYet, other residents love their life in the buildings, which have been compared to scaled up college dorms: \u201cI get this amazing quality of life. The only thing I lack is a door and a wall,\u201d said New York WeLive tenant Raviv Nadav to Bloomberg.\n\nJim Woods, head of WeLive, told Bloomberg WeWork is still pursuing the housing developments; there are plans for a new WeLive building to open in Seattle in 2020.\n\n[Bloomberg] \u2014 E.K. Hudson", "output": "WeWork's flagship WeLive housing communities are not thriving as well as the flexible office space provider had hoped, with just two operating out of a predicted 36. While Jim Woods, head of WeLive, said a new space would be opening in Seattle in 2020, tenants in New York and Washington DC aren't all thrilled. Some have complained the $3,000-month rents don't square with hot water shortages and inconsistent mail deliveries. However, others have raved about the quality of life offered in a WeLive building."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Guardian makes more money from readers than from advertising \n The Guardian is now making more money from reader revenue including paid memberships and subscriptions, than advertising revenue. Since February, it has grown paying members from 200,000 to 500,000, while one-off contributions have gone from 100,000 to 300,000 equating to \u00a37 million ($9 million) during the same time period. Half of those 300,000 contributions come from the U.S., according to the publisher.\n\nBuilding consumer revenue has been a cross-departmental effort involving around 50 people across editorial, marketing, commercial, product, engineering and user experience. Now, with a year\u2019s worth of data under its belt, it\u2019s easier to spot patterns of behavior and preferences across different markets \u2014 information it will use to help with attracting more paying members, retaining existing ones and preventing churn, according to Natalie Hanman, executive editor of Guardian Membership.\n\nLike many other publishers, the Guardian has seen a traffic windfall (and subscriber uplift) from its coverage of Trump, Brexit and other divisive political news. Sustaining that momentum will likely get harder. To offset that, the Guardian plans to create its own editorial, investigative series called \u201cmoments,\u201d around which it will market membership sign-ups. A mix of editorial gut instinct and reader data will inform the topics and themes for these editorial series.\n\nData showing what topics people were reading about directly before signing up to either donate or become a member is aggregated to help pinpoint where to increase editorial efforts. The Guardian believes its coverage of the environment and climate change has driven paid sign-ups. Seeking to draw in new subscribers and retain existing ones, its editorial team will pursue stories it believes are underreported within those areas.\n\nIn June, it ran a Kickstarter-style campaign called \u201cThis Land is Your Land,\u201d an editorial series on the U.S. government\u2019s giveaway of America\u2019s public lands. The campaign generated $100,000 (\u00a377,000) over two months. Some of the proceeds went to beefing up its environment reporters, according to Hanman.\n\nIn the U.S., people have leaned more toward the one-off donations than in the U.K. The publisher has recently launched a monthly contributor sign-up option.\n\nThe Guardian has also introduced products that give readers added access. One of these is a monthly podcast called \u201cWe Need to Talk About,\u201d featuring readers\u2019 and members\u2019 email-submitted questions on topical political, cultural and environmental news issues. Guardian journalists and external experts weigh in on big news issues, as well as topics members or readers have asked for more coverage on. They will sometimes call the reader or member who has submitted questions and involve them in the discussion.\n\n\u201cInitially, a lot of people across the organization, especially on the commercial side, would just say, \u2018Why don\u2019t we put up a paywall? Everyone else is,\u2019\u201d said Hanman. \u201cThey didn\u2019t quite understand the scope of this, but having journalists involved was important, and it\u2019s nice to see that people have gone from being skeptical [about this approach] to seeing that it makes sense.\u201d", "output": "The Guardian newspaper has revealed it is making more money from its readers than from advertisers. Although it opted not to introduce a paywall for its online content, the UK title has introduced a system of paid memberships and subscriptions, along with requests for readers to make individual donations. This has proved successful, with paying members rising from 200,000 to 500,000 since February and donations totalling \u00a37m ($9m) over the same period. Half of those contributions were from the United States, and web traffic appears to have been boosted by coverage of Donald Trump."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fake ad agency Thrive+ sought to inveigle its way onto whitelists\u00a0 \n In a bold attempt to circumvent the IAB's latest crackdown on ad fraud, a phony 'cowboy' agency called Thrive+ has begun approaching publishers to get onto whitelists - which are designed to weed out fraudsters.\n\nPublishers have whitelists designating which advertisers they will accept on their site and which they will block. When used correctly, white and blacklists can yield positive outcomes, but if the wrong advertisers are on the wrong list it can result in major brand and publisher backlash.\n\nThrive+, which describes itself as \u201ca revolutionary video media agency\u201d and has skiing videos on is homepage, made an unsolicited approach to publisher McClatchy, which owns newspapers Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald. On Tuesday it asked both Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald to add Thrive's ads.txt ID to its list of \"trusted\" resellers.\n\nThe email, shared with AdNews, said it would no longer be able to purchase the newspapers' inventory on behalf of its clients and if the newspapers did not add Thrive's ads.txt ID 'you will be adversely impacted' before later suggesting 'we are generously rewarding those sites who we work directly with'.\n\nCharles Stafford, who works in McClatchy's ad tech and martech division, told AdNews the national newspaper group only deals solely with reputable supply-side platforms (SSPs) for its programmatic inventory and negotiates service agreements with each partner.\n\n\u201cGetting an unsolicited request from an agency with whom we've never had dealings is definitely a red flag for us, especially given the ads.txt info they sent,\u201d Stafford said.\n\n\u201cThe key indicators here (see below) are those that indicate we have 'DIRECT' control over each account listed. Obviously we do not. If this were legitimate, we might have direct control over the first account with Thrive+ and everything else would be listed as 'RESELLER'.\u201d\n\nStafford said the springserve and lkqd and aol and spotx domains (above) provide clues to the type or reselling operation this 'agency' runs (see Thrive's email below).\n\n\u201cMost of the exchanges listed handle video,\u201d he says. \u201cThe way this works is that they'll buy display inventory on our site, load a player and then make requests of the video exchanges for video ads instead.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhenever we spot an ad like that, we have to do some research to figure out how it's getting on to our site, via which partner, etc. We always see springserve and lkqd and aol and spotx domains.'\n\nAdNews approached Thrive+ for clarification through a form on its website that doesn't include a contact name or phone number, which is unusual for small operators in the media and advertising industry.\n\nAdNews also couldn't find any LinkedIn listings of the 'Fiona Walsh' that emailed the McClatchy's newspapers.\n\nThrive+ is staffed by questionable footwear choices.\n\nA timely reminder\n\nThe approach is a warning shot to publishers that dodgy resellers and fraudsters aren't going to take changes that cut them out of the ecosystem lightly.\n\nIn Australia, about 300 publishers have either implemented or committed to the IAB's ads.txt programme, which helps media buyers and DSPs identify legitimate resellers and inventory.\n\nMajor publishers, including The Guardian Australia, News Corp Australia, Fairfax Media and Mamamia, are now all on board after a slow adoption rate. The IAB's aim is to reach 1,000 to ensure there is a critical mass of inventory.\n\nThe initiative is designed to identify and remove shady resellers as well as eradicate the practice of domain spoofing, where fraudsters use a hoax websites that appear like reputable newsbrands to trick programmatic buyers on the open exchange.\n\nIt has received support from media buyers and DSPs, with Google's DoubleClick Ad Exchange and Ad Sense filtering unauthorised inventory from auction at the end of the year.\n\nIAB Australia's ad tech expert Jonas Jaanimagi says mass adoption of ads.txt will benefit the entire digital advertising eco system.\n\n\u201cSellers will be protected from spoofing and buyers can buy programmatically with greater confidence from domains with this simple solution in place. The wide-scale adoption of ads.txt will give major brands peace of mind that their marketing messages will only appear on verified domains, significantly improving brand safety and eliminating any risk of ad fraud related to domain spoofing.\u201d\n\nThe Guardian Australia is an earlier adopter of ads.txt in this market. National sales director Tony Bell tells AdNews the initiative will help the publisher regain control of its supply chain.\n\n\u201cAbout 18 months ago there was a realisation that we had really lost control of our supply chain. Other vendors were making decisions on our pricing and where the inventory was going.\u201d\n\nBell says The Guardian has a list of about 10 SSPs it works with who are bound by strict conditions.\n\nUnlicensed vendors that buy cheap inventory, insert video units and charge advertisers for more expensive video formats do a lot of damage to the broader ecosystem by robbing and tarnishing publishers and conning advertisers.\n\n\u201cThe other problem is that the buyer might not have any idea if it is legitimate and if it underperforms that affects the reputation of the Guardian,\" Bell adds.\n\nIAB Australia has urged all Australian publishers to adopt ads.txt. Visit their website for more details.\n\nAdNews would like to hear from any publishers that have received unsolicited approaches or have information about unscrupulous operators. Please contact: arvindhickman@yaffa.com.au.\n\nThrive's email in full\n\nHi,\n\nThrive+ has been purchasing a substantial amount of your ad inventory through various ad exchanges over the past year on behalf of our advertising clients and needs your assistance to continue.\n\nOn Thursday 11/2, we will no longer be able to purchase inventory on your domain without a Thrive.Plus Ads.txt file in place.\n\nWe will only be allocating budget to sites we can work directly with that have our seller ID located in your 'ads.txt' server file. This change and requirement is due to advertisers' concerns of growing fraud and transparency issues on ad exchanges. Our advertisers have collectively agreed to require the ads.txt IDs to insure continued purchasing on your site. If you do not add the IDs you will be adversely impacted.\n\nTo resolve this issue, simply add our Ads.txt IDs below to your Ads.txt file on your site so that we can stay an active buyer. In addition, please respond promptly to me so I can answer any questions you may have and we can work with you directly to increase your rates and earnings beyond the current level. We are generously rewarding those sites who we work with directly.\n\nSimply paste the following ID list as is into your 'ads.txt' file to resolve this:\n\nthrive.plus, 190, DIRECT, thrive.plus, 190, DIRECT\n\ngoogle.com, pub-6373315980741255, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0\n\nspotxchange.com, 156078, DIRECT, 7842df1d2fe2db34\n\nspotx.tv, 156078, DIRECT, 7842df1d2fe2db34\n\ncontextweb.com, 560800, DIRECT, 89ff185a4c4e857c\n\nspringserve.com, 190, DIRECT\n\nlkqd.net, 295, DIRECT, 59c49fa9598a0117\n\nlkqd.com, 295, DIRECT, 59c49fa9598a0117\n\naol.com, 6202, DIRECT\n\naol.com, 17744, DIRECT\n\nadvertising.com, 6202, DIRECT\n\nadvertising.com, 17744, DIRECT\n\nThank you for your time and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.\n\nHave something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au\n\nSign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.", "output": "Fake ad agency Thrive+ has reportedly tried to con publishers into adding it to their lists of trusted resellers. Publishers have so-called whitelists determining which advertisers they will let on their sites and which will be blocked. Thrive+ made an unsolicited approach to Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald publisher McClatchy, asking both publications to add its name to their whitelists so it can buy the newspapers' inventory for its clients. But McClatchy said the approach was a \"red flag\", adding it only deals with reputable supply-side platforms.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "French solar company Coruscant\u00a0bought by Obton \n Denmark-based renewables investor and asset manager Obton has signed an agreement to fully acquire French solar power developer and producer Coruscant SA.\n\nObton will take over a portfolio of 30 MWp of solar power plants under operation and another 20 MWp under construction, along with promising pipeline of project rights, as part of its strategy to \"build its position in the highly competitive market for solar energy in France.\"\n\nThe Danish firm entered the French market nearly four years ago and following this acquisition, it now manages more than 110 MWp of solar projects in France with a combined value of more than EUR 350 million.\n\nEarlier this month, Obon said it had agreed to acquire a stake of an undisclosed size in a 50-MWp solar portfolio in Italy.\n\nObton is an investment and management company which represents retail investors and manages a PV-portfolio of more than 300 MW with an enterprise value of EUR 720 million, the company says. The plants are primarily located in France, Italy, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Renewables focused asset manager Obton has acquired the French solar developer Coruscant. Obton will take control of 50 MW of solar power, 30 MW of which is currently operating, with the remaining 20 MW under construction."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vinci buys two power grid companies to extend European reach \n Vinci, Europe\u2019s largest construction group, has made two purchases to bolster its presence in the northern European power grid and electric vehicle charging market and extend its coverage to the Nordic countries.\n\nOne of the deals was for Oslo-based Infratek, a supplier of grid, rail and electric charging stations. Vinci bought all the shares in the company from Triton Funds, a German-Swedish private equity group that acquired them in 2013. It employs about 1,350 people and generated revenue of more than \u20ac300m in 2016.\n\n\u00c2\n\nLars Bangen, the chief executive of Infratek, commented: \"Vinci Energies wants to expand its business to the Nordic region and it has chosen Infratek to achieve its goals. The acquisition shows that it trusts us and our people, our expertise and what we have achieved, especially in recent years under Triton.\"\n\nThe other takeover was of Horlemann, a family-owned company based in the Ruhr and Berlin. It had an annual turnover \u20ac100m in 2016 and employs 570 people. It specialises in the engineering, construction and maintenance of grids. Its clients are mostly German local authorities and local operators.\n\nYves Meigni\u00e9, Vinci Energies\u2019 chief executive, said: \"With this acquisition, we continue to expand and consolidate our operations in northern Europe, especially in Norway and Finland where we have previously had no business. We continue to develop expertise in new markets for renewable energy.\"\n\nImage: Vinci Energies will help to keep Scandinavia warm (Swedish Blonde Design)\n\nFurther Reading:", "output": "Vinci, Europe's largest construction group, has acquired Infratek, the Oslo-based supplier of grid, rail and electric charging stations, and\u00a0Horlemann, a Berlin-based company with specialities in grid engineering, construction and maintenance. Infratek\u00a0generated revenue of\u00a0$300m in 2016, while\u00a0Horlemann saw an annual turnover of $100m last year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Canadian Solar acquires 13 Japanese solar projects for $267m \n Canadian Solar has successfully connected to the grid 52.5 MWp of solar PV plants across Japan, including the 47.7 MWp Mashiki plant, the 2.4 MWp Yamagata Asahimachi plant, the 1.3 MWp Shizuoka Tashiro plant and the 1.1 MWp Saitama Shiroishi plant.\n\nCanadian Solar listed the Canadian Solar Infrastructure Fund (CSIF) on the Tokyo Stock Exchange\u2019s (TSE) infrastructure investment fund securities market earlier this week. CSIF priced its initial public offering of 177,800 investment units at JPY 100,000 per unit. Canadian Solar bought 25,395 units.\n\nThe fund will act as a vehicle through the group that can make long-term investments in solar projects. The 72.7 MW of solar capacity that CSIF picked up across 13 locations this week has been assembled to serve as its initial portfolio.\n\nThe projects that CSIF has purchased are scattered throughout the country, including installations in Ibaraki and Shizuoka prefectures on the eastern side of the island of Honshu, according to a statement to the TSE. However, many of the plants are located on the southwestern island of Kyushu, in Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Oita and Kagoshima prefectures. Although most of the acquired assets are below 2 MW in size, the portfolio includes a 34 MW solar plant in Kumamoto.\n\nPopular content\n\nCanadian Solar Projects K.K., a wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian Solar, is the sole sponsor of CSIF. Canadian Solar Asset Management K.K., a wholly owned unit of Canadian Solar Projects, will manage all of the purchased assets on behalf of CSIF.", "output": "Following its recent trading debut in Tokyo, Canadian Solar's photovoltaic investment vehicle has successfully acquired 13 Japanese solar projects for $267 million, representing 72.7 MW of solar capacity. The projects are spread across Japan, with plants located in Kyushu, Kumamoto, Nagasaki and others. The Canadian Solar Infrastructure Fund (CSIF) was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange at JPY100,000 ($879) per unit. Canadian Solar bought about 14% of the 177,800 issued units and now looks set to use the fund to finance long-term investments in solar projects.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Derby University stops advertising\u00a0on Mail Online after criticism \n The University of Derby has pulled its advertising from Mail Online.\n\nThe University of Derby has pulled ads from Mail Online\n\nAdverts for the university appeared beside a column from Sarah Vine headlined \u201cIf this hysterical Westminster witch hunt is what a world run by women looks like, count me out\u201d, prompting Twitter users to complain.\n\n@DerbyUni Your ads are next to this awful column in the Daily Mail. Please don't fund their hate by placing ads with them. @StopFundingHate pic.twitter.com/d3j8vAoAZA \u2014 Rufus Westwood (@BiggusDiggus) November 2, 2017\n\nPointing at \u201cprogrammatic advertising\u201d as the cause, the University of Derby responded to complaints tweeting: \u201cWhile we pay careful attention to the publishers used, occasionally our ads get displayed alongside articles that we would not have chosen.\n\n\u201cHaving spoken with our supplier, we\u2019re unable to satisfactorily exclude out ads from all webpages containing content which contradicts our values. \u201cTo ensure that one possible conflict is eliminated, we will be stopping our ads from appearing on Mail Online.\u201d\n\nCampaign group Stop Funding Hate has welcomed the university\u2019s move, tweeting a congratulatory message.\n\n*Confirmed*: Congratulations to @DerbyUni, who are now blocking Mail Online from their advertising programme https://t.co/AvkHzVLCez \u2014 Stop Funding Hate (@StopFundingHate) November 2, 2017\n\nThe Mail Online boasts 27.2 million monthly unique visitors making it the world\u2019s most visited English-language newspaper website.\n\nOver the years, Stop Funding Hate has made moves to encourage brands such as Waitrose, Iceland, Marks and Spencer and John Lewis to pull their advertising from the site.\n\nIn November 2016, Lego publicly \u201cfinished its agreement with the Daily Mail\u201d.", "output": "The University of Derby has withdrawn its ads from the Mail Online after one appeared next to a\u00a0column by Sarah Vine, headlined: \"If this hysterical Westminster witch hunt is what a world run by women looks like, count me out\". Following complaints on Twitter, a university statement said \"programmatic advertising\" was to blame\u00a0and added: \"We\u2019re unable to satisfactorily exclude out ads from all web pages containing content which contradicts our values. To ensure that one possible conflict is eliminated, we will be stopping our ads from appearing on Mail Online.\"\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Centrica buys demand response start-up REstore for \u20ac70m \n REstore, the Belgian startup that\u2019s taken a leading role in Europe\u2019s emerging demand response markets, has been acquired by U.K.-based utility and energy provider Centrica for \u20ac70 million ($81.4 million) in cash. It\u2019s the latest acquisition in a year busy with European utilities shopping for startups to help them compete in a distributed energy future.\n\nFriday\u2019s deal will give Centrica control of REstore\u2019s portfolio of 1.7 gigawatts and counting of peak load across the U.K., France, Belgium and Germany. Since its 2010 founding, REstore has grown from a few megawatts of industrial load to more than 150 industrial and commercial customers including ArcelorMittal, Praxair, Sappi and Barclays.\n\nCentrica will integrate REstore into the Distributed Energy & Power unit of its Centrica Business Solutions business, one of many utility-owned energy services companies competing for commercial and industrial market share in deregulated energy markets in Europe and around the globe.\n\nCentrica has centered its acquisition strategy around these opportunities, ranging from its purchase of building sensor startup Panoramic Power for $60 million in 2015, to buying Danish energy trading platform Neas Energy for $249 million and combined heat and power provider ENER-G Cogen for $212 million last year.\n\nWith the REstore acquisition, \u201cdemand response aggregation will become a core part of the offer to customers and is expected to represent a significant growth opportunity for Centrica as global electricity markets evolve,\u201d the company wrote.\n\nThe deal would appear to provide a comfortable return to REstore investors, which include LRM, Axe Investments and Ark-Angels Fund and \u201cprominent industrial families and entrepreneurs,\u201d according to the company\u2019s website. The company, founded in 2010, has raised about \u20ac11 million ($12.5 million) in three rounds of venture capital investment, most recently with a \u20ac7 million ($7.5 million) Series C round in 2015.\n\nREstore\u2019s growth from megawatt- to gigawatt-scale somewhat matches the rate of growth for European demand response, a term that means something quite different from what it has traditionally meant in the United States. Here, demand response has meant turning down large energy-using loads and industrial processes to help reduce demand during summer days when air conditioner energy use is peaking, or perhaps, doing the same thing in winter to deal with heating energy use.\n\nBut in Europe, the bigger drivers for demand-side peak load management are the systemwide effects of the continent\u2019s growing share of intermittent wind and solar power, combined with the closure of large coal and nuclear power plants, as REstore co-founder Pieter-Jan Mermans explained back in 2015. This makes for a demand-supply balancing equation that\u2019s a lot more complex than shaving a single, predictable peak, and requires careful balancing of multiple economic drivers to ensure a return for both customers and aggregators, he said.\n\nThese needs have pushed the continent\u2019s grid operators to create ways for demand-side control technologies to participate alongside generators, both in capacity markets and in real-time ancillary services markets, or as they\u2019re known in Europe, primary and secondary reserves markets. We\u2019ve been tracking the developments in these markets, as has the Smart Energy Demand Coalition industry group, which tracks regulatory progress from country to country.\n\nREstore\u2019s solution is a software suite, called FlexPond, for both big industrial and commercial customers, and the utilities that are controlling them for their grid needs. In simple terms, it\u2019s a combination of on-site sensors and controls and a cloud-based software stack to manage their capabilities to serve both market and customer-side needs, all in real time.\n\nGTM Research grid edge analyst Elta Kolo noted that REstore\u2019s technology differs slightly from the majority of demand-side management vendors. \u201cREstore has a hybrid patented approach to demand response, putting its intelligence centrally and locally, whereas most vendors just choose one,\u201d she said. This allows it to participate not only in capacity markets, but in high-value reserve markets requiring fast response: \u201cREstore has the capability to provide sub-second response,\u201d she noted.\n\nThe startup is also one of the few demand response aggregators participating in the markets of multiple European transmission system operators, including Amprion in Germany, Elia in Belgium, National Grid in the U.K. and RTE in France.\n\nWhile the startup has been exclusively focused on commercial and industrial customers for most of its life, it\u2019s starting to make headway in the residential sector as well, Kolo noted. That has been helped along by a partnership with a European heat-pump and boiler manufacturer that\u2019s installing REstore\u2019s control chip in their products, she said.\n\nOther companies with this kind of approach to demand response include Enbala Power Networks, a Vancouver, Canada-based startup with customers serving flexible load into frequency regulation and ancillary services markets, as well as utility and energy services partners putting its software to use. AutoGrid, a Silicon Valley startup, also has demand response optimization software being used by utilities in North America, and in Europe, by Dutch energy company Eneco to create a virtual power plant from aggregations of customer-sited energy generation and flexible loads. Many others are out there.\n\nBuildings represent a huge untapped opportunity not just for saving wasted energy, but for shaping and shifting energy use to help manage an increasingly unpredictable grid. Controlling energy use in offices, factories, warehouses and other buildings is a complicated task, with each site and each customer requiring a tailored approach. But technology advances are driving down the cost and complexity of networking and controlling HVAC systems, lighting, pumps, freezers, and other key energy loads, giving energy companies more inroads into controlling them.\n\nCentrica\u2019s push to create a distributed energy services arm matches the efforts underway by other European utilities to diversify outside the challenging power generation and transmission sectors. German utilities RWE and E.ON have both spun out their distributed energy and retail energy businesses from their struggling core businesses. RWE has bought solar developer Belectric, rolled out home energy services from Silicon Valley startup Bidgely, and created a $144 million venture capital fund.\n\nItaly\u2019s Enel acquired New York-based distributed energy systems aggregator Demand Energy in January, U.S. demand response giant EnerNOC in June, and Silicon Valley electric-vehicle charging management startup eMotorWerks last month. Engie, the services arm of GDF Suez, has bought an 80 percent stake in U.S. behind-the-meter battery startup Green Charge Networks, and has acquired Dutch startup EV-Box and the European solar business of bankrupt Sungevity. French mega-utility EDF bought Groom Energy Solutions through a subsidiary last year, and launched a C&I distributed energy business in January.", "output": "UK utility Centrica has acquired demand response start-up REstore, which has a portfolio of more than 1.7 GW of peak load across the UK, France and Belgium. The \u20ac70m ($81.4m) acquisition aligns with Centrica's focus on commercial customers and \"is expected to represent a significant growth opportunity for Centrica as global electricity markets evolve\u201d, it said. REstore's software solution, FlexPond, is used by clients that include Praxair, Sappi and Barclays."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Duke Energy to spend $1.3bn burying South Carolina power lines \n Ice storms and hurricanes have been duly noted by the power giant serving most of South Carolina, and it could mean rate hikes in the near future.\n\nAs a part of a wide-ranging plan to defend the state's power grid from falling limbs and other storm damage, Duke Energy announced Friday that it plans to bury a fifth of its lines over the next 10 years \u2014 at a cost of $1.3 billion.\n\n\"I would never use the words 'hurricane' and 'help' in the same sentence, but we have certainly learned with recent experience from Irma and Matthew,\" said Ryan Mosier, a Greenville-based Duke Energy spokesman. \"They helped add more information to what we were already planning \u2014 areas where we need to look at things differently.\"\n\nThe line-burial announcement came Friday as part of a larger $3 billion Power/Forward Carolina initiative to make the state's grid \"smarter, more reliable and more secure,\" the company said.\n\nAlong with a broad outline of its plans for the state, Duke released an independent economic impact analysis Friday that suggests Power/Forward Carolina would require rate increases of an additional $530 million a year by 2026 to offset costs.\n\nThat same analysis, conducted by University of South Carolina Moore School of Business research economist Joey Von Nessen, shows the state's businesses and households would realize a potential return on investment at least equal to rate increases, if not more, as Duke Energy's plan to invest billions of dollars \u2014 and hire thousands of people for the decade-long project \u2014 goes forward.\n\nVon Nessen likened the Duke investment to that of multiple major auto announcements packed into one, pointing out that auto manufacturing investments in South Carolina have ranged recently from $500 million to $1.5 billion\n\n\"This is one of the largest capital investments we've seen in South Carolina in recent years,\" the research economist said. \"This is a major stepping stone for new economic activity in the state, particularly when you look at its impact in rural areas.\"\n\nDuke invests hundreds of millions of dollars in its grid infrastructure annually, but that maintains it, Mosier said.\n\n\"It doesn't advance it,\" he said. \"We have a 20th Century grid that has served us well but is not equipped to deal with the challenges and customer demand going into the 21st Century.\"\n\nDuke Energy has not yet sought approval for a rate increase in South Carolina, Mosier said, and would have to appear before the South Carolina Public Service Commission and hear input from customers before anything happens.\n\nThe South Carolina plan comes on the heels of a $13 billion plan for North Carolina, announced in April also under the umbrella of Power/Forward Carolina. In August, Duke Energy requested a rate increase from the North Carolina Utilities Commission of 16.7 percent for residential customers and 10.9 percent for commercial and industrial customers.\n\nRate increases in South Carolina would \"partially offset\" the plan's costs and could start with an additional $84 million to be collected starting in 2018, according to Van Nessen's analysis. Rates would need to gradually increase until leveling off at the end of 10 years and remain \"relatively constant moving forward,\" meaning they would not be scaled back once the work is done.\n\nAlthough when and how much rates might in fact rise remains uncertain \u2014 especially as state regulators grapple with rate increases attached to S.C. Electric and Gas Co.'s failed V.C. Summer nuclear plant expansion \u2014 hiring for the power-grid improvements has already begun, Mosier said.\n\n\"We are in extensive planning stages,\" Mosier said. \"We are beginning initial hires in some categories of work. Not just Duke Energy jobs but associated support jobs, companies helping us with the work.\"\n\nThe goal is to \"underground\" 20 percent of the \"least reliable vegetated overhead lines\" on the grid, according to a statement from the company.\n\nMosier said line burials would happen \"all over\" and explained that Duke is running analyses to find spots around the state where outages have been frequent and longest in duration.\n\n\"We are planning to have an interactive tool that will be out on the website that customers can see what kind of work is going on in their backyard,\" Mosier said. \"That will be out pretty soon.\"\n\nOver the course of the project, Duke will employ an average of 3,300 additional people annually, with salaries and wages amounting to $315 million in peak years of the project. Additional line workers and engineers will be among the jobs critical to carrying out the plan, according to Von Nessen's 31-page study.\n\nThe biggest beneficiaries will be Oconee and York counties, where Duke operates nuclear power plants and already has the state's largest numbers of Duke workers.\n\nMore than 3,200 Duke employees work in Oconee County today, and the company plans to add 1,352 workers there by 2025. Similarly about 3,000 Duke employees work in York, and Duke plans to add nearly 1,200 jobs there. Greenville also stands to benefit: its current Duke workforce of 1,766 stands to grow by 585. In Anderson, where Duke has 469 workers, 163 jobs will be added.\n\nBecause the Oconee County population cannot support such an increase in highly skilled technical positions, Nessen said, the company plans to focus on energy career awareness, strategic partnerships and education pathways for careers in energy.\n\nIn addition to burying lines, the Power/Forward plan includes:\n\n$704 million to retrofit 49,000 transformers, replace 2,300 miles of deteriorating cable and to enhance physical and cyber security throughout the system.\n\n$533 million to improve substations and transmission lines, mitigate flooding and add system intelligence\n\n$385 million to \"self-optimize\" 80 percent of the state's the grid for efficient energy delivery and reliability; this would include the ability to isolate problem areas automatically and reroute power around them\n\n$107 million to install smart meters\n\n$74 million to upgrade the company's communications network to 4G LTE\n\nDuke Energy serves 740,000 customers in 30 of South Carolina's 46 counties through its companies Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress and has employees in 42 counties.\n\nHeadquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is an S&P 100 Stock Index company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK. More information about the company is available at duke-energy.com.\n\nAnna B. Mitchell covers business across the Upstate. Follow her on Facebook or on Twitter @AnnaBard2U.", "output": "US utility Duke Energy plans to spend $1.3bn to bury 20% of South Carolina's electricity lines following the destruction caused by hurricanes Irma and Matthew. The decade-long project is part of a $3bn initiative to upgrade the state's grid that includes retrofitting transformers, installing smart meters and self-optimising 80% of the grid. The move follows a $13bn plan for North Carolina, which carries an estimated rate increase of $530m a year to 2026 to offset costs."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK to invest $97m in world's largest solar park in Egypt \n CDC is part of an IFC-led syndicate providing the Nubian Suns project with a $653 million debt package that will fund the construction of 13 solar power plants near the Southern Egyptian city of Aswan. The plants are part of the larger Benban Solar Park, which, when complete, will be the largest solar power installation in the world with up to 1.8GW capacity and 32 solar plants.\n\nThe 800MW Nubian Suns project is backed by a syndicate of nine international lenders and is expected to provide clean, cost-effective power to over 350,000 residential customers and generate up to 6,000 jobs during construction. The lenders are IFC, CDC, Africa Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Arab Bank (Bahrain), Europe Arab Bank, Finance in Motion, FinnFund, ICBC, and OeEB of Austria. Their financing will support six groups of private power companies, which together will build and operate the 13 plants.\n\nNubian Suns plays a central part of round 2 of the Egypt Feed-In Tariff solar power programme which is introducing a large number of international investors and banks to Egypt at a crucial time for the country. The initiative is aimed at lowering Egypt\u2019s cost of electricity generation, reducing the dependence on imported fossil fuels, and providing essential energy harnessed from an abundant clean and renewable resource.\n\nThe solar photo-voltaic plants are being developed as part of Egypt\u2019s national program to attract private sector capital and expertise to support the country\u2019s target to generate 20 percent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2022. The Benban Solar Park, which will include 32 power plants in all, will be an important part of the initiative.\n\nSpecifically, CDC\u2019s $97 million investment spans across 9 of the 13 Nubian Suns projects for a total capacity close to 400 MW. CDC\u2019s capital is supporting four of the six project teams.\n\nCDC\u2019s Managing Director for Debt, Holger Rothenbusch said:\n\n\u201cEgypt has abundant sun all year round but often struggles with power shortages that limit the country\u2019s economic potential. Developing solar energy makes economic and social sense and our investment demonstrates our strong commitment to Egypt\u2019s economic growth and a cleaner environment.\u201d\n\nCDC\u2019s Head of Project Finance, Iain Macaulay said:\n\n\u201cThis is an important investment for CDC and the largest project finance deal in Africa this year. We\u2019ve worked closely with our partners, led by the IFC, to provide the right type of long-term finance to support the Nubian Suns project and bring power and jobs to the country.\u201d\n\nEstimates suggest that 18 per cent of Egypt\u2019s power capacity is inaccessible due to poor maintenance and during the summer months, the country faces electricity shortages due to increased demand and shortage of fuel and generating capacity. In 2015 and 2016, the state diverted nearly all fuel to electricity generation to meet peak summer power demand supplying to household consumers at the expense of heavy industry.", "output": "UK government-owned development finance institution, CDC, has pledged $97m to the Nubian Suns solar projects in southern Egypt as part of a $653m syndicate led by International Finance Corporation. The 13\u00a0Nubian Suns solar projects near Aswan will have a capacity of\u00a0almost 400 MW, and will form part of the\u00a01.8 GW Benban Solar Park, set to be the world's biggest solar installation in the world."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Regus expands to three more cities in South Africa \n Regus, the global specialist in serviced office space, are expanding their flexible offering to three more South African cities in December 2017, growing to 3000 plus locations worldwide with over 55 centres in South Africa. The opening of the new centres in Bloemfontein, Paarl and Pietermaritzburg, are part of a strategic focus to provide world-class workspaces and infrastructure, that will accelerate growth in small businesses and corporates in oft-forgotten, but booming areas.\n\nSince its expansion into South Africa, Regus has provided over 55 locations with co-working and meeting spaces to accommodate the increasing demand for flexible, technologically advanced, professional work areas. The centres support corporates, start-ups, entrepreneurs, students, freelancers, business tourists and creatives with an all-inclusive package at an affordable rate.\n\nThe new centres will provide cutting-edge business solutions for cities with lucrative business interests and tourism, the size of which, place a strain on local infrastructure. The timing of the opening provides start-ups and businesses the opportunity to commence 2018 with a fully equipped, professional working environment.\n\nBloemfontein, Free State\n\nHailed as legislative capital of the country, three major national highways converge in Bloemfontein, with economic hub Gauteng being the closest destination for travel by car or plane. The city\u2019s relaxed atmosphere, bustling economy, busy university culture and lack of major corporates, place a strain on the local infrastructure. The new centre provides meeting spaces, catering, fast internet, networking and knowledge-sharing opportunities of global standards. Served by two airports, this centre is also an ideal location for business travellers.\n\nPaarl, Western Cape\n\nThis culture-rich, picturesque area in the Winelands, through no inclement of its own, has been identified as an area requiring support as a result of the local and international business travel born from the wine export industry. The new Regus centre will provide local businesses and international travellers with state of the art, professional, co-working spaces and impressive offices for corporates wishing to relocate from the busy mid-city or those implementing a flexible work policy.\n\nPietermaritzburg, Kwazulu Natal\n\nThe unsung capital of Kwazulu Natal, Pietermaritzburg is a hub to the aluminium, agricultural, manufacturing and tourism sectors. Its proximity to Durban, one of the busiest ports in Africa, results in promising local business growth while maintaining some of its sleepy charm. This made it an obvious choice for Regus, who identified the need for professional, world-class working spaces that will support business growth in the area.\n\nAccording to Joanne Bushell, Country Manager Regus South Africa, \u201cThe three new Regus locations were strategically chosen to support areas in our country integral to the agricultural, manufacturing and services growth, but which often don\u2019t have commensurate support of much-needed technological infrastructure and services. We have seen our business centres boost economic growth in all the locations where we put down our footprint. \u201d\n\nWith more centres set to open in South Africa in 2018, this footprint is steadily growing to include centres nationwide, after establishing their current business centres in the main economic hubs such as Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria and Johannesburg.\n\nFor further information on Regus business centres, to find a global working environment near you:\n\nCLICK HERE to submit your press release to MyPR.co.za.", "output": "Flexible office space supplier Regus has expanded its South African portfolio to more than 55 locations with the addition of sites in Bloemfontein, Paarl and Pietermaritzburg, which are due to open in December. Joanne Bushell, the country manager of Regus South Africa, said the locations were specifically chosen to \"support areas in our country integral to agricultural, manufacturing and services growth\", but which also sometimes missed out on other technological infrastructure and services investment. Regus plans to open more centres in South Africa in 2018 and already has more than 55.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow West Country division celebrates completion of \u00a370m development \n South West Property Stephen Farrell\n\nThe West Country division of housebuilder Redrow has celebrated the topping out of Vision, its \u00a370m development in Plymouth.\n\nConstruction started in 2007 on a mix of one- and two-bedroom apartments alongside two-, three- and four-bedroom houses to Devonport. Shops, offices and a market hall have also been created.\n\nThe site was the formerly Ministry of Defence land and has now been transformed into a new city centre community. Vision is home to 1,000 residents with 464 homes and a 42-flat extra care housing block for older people.\n\nVision has also contributed to the South West economy with 50 contractors employed at any one time and, on average, 80 jobs were sustained and supported on a daily basis by Redrow. Section 106 contributions provided more than \u00a33.7m towards education, transport and roads.\n\nThe housebuilder also invested \u00a3700,000 to support the restoration of the Market Hall and Clock Tower which is now a digital hub.\n\nRedrow West Country managing director Nigel Palmer said: \"Redrow is delighted to be celebrating the topping out of Vision and to have played a part a part in the regeneration of the city. Redrow has an ambitious growth strategy to strengthen our presence in the region. We're keen to find a follow-on scheme and there are opportunities we're actively looking at currently.\"", "output": "UK housebuilder Redrow has marked the completion of its \u00a370m ($92m) city centre Vision development in Plymouth. Overseen by the company's West Country division, the scheme was built on land formerly owned by the Ministry of Defence, and boasts 464 homes and 42 flats for older people. The development\u00a0also contributed \u00a33.7m to local infrastructure.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shenhua Group buys 75% share in Greek wind farms \n China\u2019s state-owned coal and power giant Shenhua Group is entering the Greek green-energy market, investing in several wind farms developed by a major local player.\n\nShenhua bought 75% of the shares of four wind parks developed by Greek investment firm Copelouzos Group. The parks are either in operation or under construction, Copelouzos said in a statement.\n\nShenhua, which signed the agreement through its renewable-energy resources subsidiary Shenhua Renewable Co. Ltd., is the first Chinese company to invest in wind power in Greece.\n\nThe amount of the investment wasn\u2019t disclosed. But the two sides vowed to collaborate on a number of investments in green energy and on upgrades to power plants, at a total estimated value of 3 billion euros ($3.5 billion).\n\nShenhua also plans to acquire some shares in solar firm PPC Solar Solutions, co-founded by Copelouzos and Greece\u2019s Public Power Corp.\n\nThe investment in the wind-power parks marks the Chinese company\u2019s first solid project in Greece since it inked partnership with Copelouzos in May. The Greek company owns the country\u2019s third-largest wind-power firm, Elica Group.\n\nSince 2016, Chinese companies have made several acquisitions in Greece. China COSCO Shipping Corp. Ltd. purchased 67% shares in Piraeus port for 700 million euros and State Grid Corp. of China acquired a 24% stake in Greece's power-grid operator, ADMIE, for 330 million euros.\n\nContact reporter Coco Feng (renkefeng@caixin.com)", "output": "State-owned Shenhua Group has become the first Chinese firm to invest in Greece's wind power sector, after it acquired a 75% stake in four wind parks. The projects are owned by Greek investment firm Copelouzos Group, owner of Elica Group, the country's third biggest wind power firm. No financial details were given. The Chinese firm also plans to acquire shares in PPC Solar Solutions."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dutch pension fund ABP invests \u20ac330m in US solar projects \n Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP (ABP), a pension fund for government and education employees in the Netherlands, has agreed to invest approximately \u20ac330 million ($383.8 million) in three utility-scale PV projects in the United States. All of the projects are owned by the Swiss-based asset management company Capital Dynamics.\n\nOne of the three project is the 250 MW (AC) Moapa Southern Paiute Solar Project in Nevada, which Capital Dynamics acquired from U.S. solar manufacturer First Solar for an unspecified sum in March. GE Energy Financial Services is also sharing minority tax equity interests in the project. First Solar commissioned the facility in March. The solar plant is the first utility-scale solar project completed on tribal land in the United States. The project can power 11,000 homes and will provide electricity to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), through a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA).\n\nAnother of the three project is the 280 MW (AC) California Flats Solar Project in Monterey County, California that Capital Dynamics also bought from First Solar in August. The first 130 MW section of the project is expected to be connected to the grid in the fourth quarter of this year, while the second 150 MW phase, currently under construction, is planned to come online by the end of 2018. Both sections are contracted under a long-term PPA with an unidentified offtaker.\n\nPopular content\n\nThe third project is the 328 MW (DC) Mount Signal 3 project, which Capital Dynamics acquired from 8minutenergy in July. At the time, the Swiss asset manager said it was arranging tax equity and debt financing for the project, with financial close expected in late July 2017. The project is located in the city of Calexico in California\u2019s Imperial Valley, and is the third phase of the 800 MW Mount Signal Solar Farm. First Solar was selected as the panel supplier, providing 2.8 million Series 4 thin film panels. 8minutenergy secured a long-term PPA for the project with local utility Southern California Edison (SCE) in 2014.\n\n\u201cThis investment is in line with our ambition to increase the number of investments in solar and renewables by 2020. All three solar parks have concluded long-term contracts with energy companies. This gives them a long-term and stable return for our members\u201d, said ABP president Corien Wortmann\u2013Kool.", "output": "Dutch public-sector pension fund Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP (ABP) has invested \u20ac330m ($384m) across\u00a0three solar PV projects owned by Swiss asset manager\u00a0Capital Dynamics in California and Nevada. The projects have a combined capacity of 858 MW."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "India's PolicyBazaar to sell plans without commissions \n (This story originally appeared in on Nov 04, 2017)\n\nMUMBAI: PolicyBazaar , which recently raised Rs 500 crore from international investors, plans to disrupt the insurance market by selling low-cost unit-linked insurance plans, or ULIPs, without any commissions. These ULIPs are being tailor-made for direct sales by Edelweiss Tokio Marine Life Insurance.PolicyBazaar has also brought the concept of cash-back type incentives by offering additional allocation of units of 1% for the first five years, which increases every five years to 3%, 5% and 7% respectively.Speaking to TOI, PolicyBazaar founder and CEO Yashish Dahiya said that the objective of the online aggregator was to increase engagement with insurance buyers. \"The charges on the Wealth Plus policy are lower than what investors would pay on a direct purchase of a mutual fund,\" said Dahiya.For a 30-year old policyholder investing Rs 10,000 every month, the absence of charges could make a difference of Rs 2 lakh on the returns over a 20-year term. Assuming an 8% return, the fund value would be Rs 49.69 lakh in Wealth Plus in 20 years as against 47.74 lakh on apolicy with charges.According to Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance MD & CEO Deepak Mittal, the insurer will not make any money in the initial year. It will make money only after the customer continues to renew the policy for several years.", "output": "India's insurance comparison website PolicyBazaar is planning to sell\u00a0low-cost unit-linked insurance plans (ULIPs) on a commission-free basis. The policies are being developed in partnership with insurer Edelweiss Tokio Marine Life Insurance. The insurer reportedly won't make any money from the policies for the first year of coverage, but will if consumers renew after 12 months. PolicyBazaar says the goal of offering commission-free products is to increase engagement with its client base.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Driving with pets can lead to loss of auto insurance \n SUBSCRIBE Invalid email\n\nWe use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info", "output": "UK drivers who don't appropriately restrain their pets in their cars could face a loss of insurance coverage if the animal causes distractions and subsequent accidents. More than three-quarters of UK pet owners reportedly travel with their pets in the car. If an animal is not properly restrained it can carry a fine of up to \u00a35,000. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurtech accelerator launches in Australia \n A new insurtech accelerator has launched in Australia, intended to grow the country\u2019s footprint in a booming sector of the insurance industry.\n\nThe startup hub, Insurtech Australia, will operate as a standalone division of Fintech Australia, a local incubator founded in 2015. The new venture will reportedly aid insurers, reinsurers and brokers by tapping into emerging technologies startups are developing. These disciplines include wearables, machine learning, IoT and telematics, according to the company.\n\n\"We want to make Australia one of the world\u2019s leading markets for insurance innovation,\u201d said Brenton Charnley, lead & co-founder of Insurtech Australia, in a statement. \u201cInsurtech is a rapidly growing sector worldwide, and Australia has the ideas and skills to compete.\u201d\n\nMembers work on laptop computers in a common room at the Embarcadero WeWork Cos Inc. offices in San Francisco, California on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Mike Short/Bloomberg\n\nFounding insurance industry members include the likes of QBE, MunichRe, Ernst & Young, RAC Insurance and Oliver Wyman. Insurtech startup partners of parent company Fintech Australia will also be granted immediate membership into the incubator. Established corporate partners can join at their discretion.\n\n\u201cInsurance is a multi-billion dollar industry, with massive potential for new ideas and technologies,\u201d said Danielle Szetho, CEO of Fintech Australia. \u201cBy creating a clear focus point for insurtech policy and bringing together people from the startup and corporate sectors to collaborate, Insurtech Australia will play a vital role in creating the insurance industry of tomorrow.\u201d", "output": "An insurtech accelerator has been launched in Australia. Insurtech Australia will work with incumbent insurers to help identify developments in areas such as wearables, machine learning, internet of things\u00a0and telematic technology. The accelerator was established in partnership with\u00a0QBE, MunichRe, Ernst & Young, RAC Insurance and Oliver Wyman.\u00a0\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's financial system is increasingly vulnerable: PBoC chief \n China's financial system is getting significantly more vulnerable due to high leverage, according to central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan , who also flagged the need for deeper reforms in the world's second-biggest economy Latent risks are accumulating, including some that are \u201chidden, complex, sudden, contagious and hazardous,\u201c even as the overall health of the financial system remains good, Zhou wrote in a lengthy article published on the People's Bank of China 's website late Saturday . The nation should toughen regulation and let markets serve the real economy better, according to Zhou.The government should also open up financial markets by relaxing capital controls and reducing restrictions on nonChinese financial institutions that want to operate on the mainland, he wrote.\u201cHigh leverage is the ultimate origin of macro financial vulnerability,\u201c wrote Zhou, 69, who is widely expected to retire soon after a record 15-year tenure. \u201cIn sectors of the real economy, this is reflected as excessive debt, and in the financial system, this is reflected as credit that has been expanding too quickly .\u201cZhou's comments are the latest in a series of blunt warnings, and signal that policy makers remain committed to a campaign to reduce borrowing levels across the economy.Concern that regulators may intensify the deleveraging drive after the twice-a-decade Communist Party Congress has helped push yields on 10year government bonds to a three-year high.Still, measures of credit continue to show expansion, with aggregate financing surging to a six-month high of 1.82 trillion yuan ($274 billion) in September. China's corporate debt surged to 159% of the economy in 2016, compared with 104% 10 years ago, while overall borrowing climbed to 260%.", "output": "People's Bank of China's governor Zhou Xiaochuan has said that China's financial system is becoming more and more vulnerable on account of high leverage, calling for reforms and tighter regulations as a countermeasure. Despite the current overall strength of China's\u00a0financial system, Xiaochuan said\u00a0that latent risks are rising, including those that are \"hidden, complex,\u00a0sudden, contagions and hazardous\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UAE 'low-income' insurtech Democrance raises $800,000 \n This site uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website and analyze traffic. I agree", "output": "Democrance, a UAE-based start-up which provides microinsurance to low-income consumers in the Middle East and North Africa, has raised $800,000 in funding from both domestic and international investors. Democrance allows people without a bank account to purchase coverage\u00a0on mobile devices. The firm is planning to provide 15 million consumers with policies by 2020. Less than 20% of people in the Middle East and North Africa region currently\u00a0have a bank account.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon domain-name purchases deepen bitcoin\u00a0payment\u00a0speculation \n On October 31, Amazon registered three domains related to cryptocurrency, sparking speculation that Amazon may soon begin accepting cryptocurrency. The domains are amazonethereum.com, amazoncryptocurrency.com, and amazoncryptocurrencies.com. Amazon already owns the \u201camazonbitcoin.com\u201d domain name.\n\nThis is not the first time a rumor has circulated that Amazon will accept digital currency. A few weeks ago, there was news based on sources in Silicon Valley reporting that Amazon could soon integrate Bitcoin as a payment option. Any move to do so by Amazon, one of the most innovative and influential tech companies in the world, would have enormous consequences.\n\nNo plans to accept cryptocurrency\n\nHowever, during an interview, Amazon Pay\u2019s VP Patrick Gauthier stated that Amazon does not plan to accept cryptocurrency since there is little demand. Considering that the majority of online payments are done via debit and credit cards, Gauthier\u2019s statement sounds reasonable and convincing. It\u2019s possible that Amazon bought the domain names simply for defensive purposes and has no plans to accept digital currency.\n\nAmazon\u2019s attitude matters\n\nAmazon may have no plan to accept cryptocurrency now, but Amazon\u2019s attitude matters greatly. It\u2019s reasonable to assume that if Amazon eventually accepts cryptocurrency, the entire market could be lifted.", "output": "Amazon has bought three cryptocurrency-related domain names, adding to rumours it may soon start accepting payment in digital currencies. The e-commerce giant registered amazonethereum.com, amazoncryptocurrencies.com and amazoncryptocurrency.com on 31 October. The move follows news based on Silicon Valley sources that Amazon may soon integrate bitcoin as a payment option. Amazon Pay VP Patrick Gauthier denied the rumours, saying there was little demand for cryptocurrency.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fall in Tesla solar installations offset by higher battery storage sales \n Elon Musk has a lot going on these days. The start of mass production of Tesla\u2019s low-cost Model 3 electric vehicle (EV) has experienced major hiccups, resulting only 222 rolling off the production lines during Q3. Additionally, Tesla is busy supplying hospitals in Puerto Rico with power, building what is perhaps the world\u2019s largest battery system in Australia, and preparing to roll out an electric semi later this month.\n\nWhat appears to not be a priority for Tesla is growing or even maintaining its market share in the distributed solar space. The company deployed only 109 MW of PV systems during Q3 2017, its lowest level in many years.\n\nIn its quarterly letter to investors Tesla excused this decline by noting that it was pulling away from lower-margin commercial and industrial solar deals. However such a low level indicates a fall in residential solar deployment as well and can also be seen in light of the contraction of the national residential solar market beginning in late 2016.\n\nBoth Tesla/SolarCity and Vivint pulled back from ambitious growth paths last year, which was followed by a decline in the overall residential solar market, with more business going to the \u201clong tail\u201d of local installers. Of the big three residential solar companies only Sunrun continues to grow, and while the company has not released quarterly results for Q3, it is now in competition with Tesla to be the largest residential solar provider.\n\nTesla\u2019s approach to sales may be a major factor, and the company has moved away from the door-to-door model previously popular with SolarCity and other large installers. And while Tesla says that increasing numbers of its EV customers buying PV and battery storage systems in its stores \u201cvalidates its strategy\u201d, this must be seen in the context of dramatically reduced sales volumes.\n\nTesla is also continuing the shift from third-party solar to direct sales, in line with national trends. The company estimates that direct purchases represented 46% of its sales during the quarter, and forecasts that this will represent more than 50% of its solar business next quarter.\n\nTesla gave scant information on the progress of its Solar Roof, which Elon Musk characterizes as going through the validation process. To date the Solar Roof has only been deployed on a pilot basis, mainly on the homes of Tesla executives.\n\nAnd while it has more to do with the company\u2019s automotive business, Tesla\u2019s financial metrics were likewise not promising. The company reported a -26% operating margin and a net loss of $671 million against just under $3 billion in revenues. And while Tesla remains well funded, the company burned through $301 million in cash during the quarter.\n\nPopular content\n\nEnergy storage on the rise\n\nBut as Tesla\u2019s solar business flounders, its energy storage business is on the rise. During the quarter the company deployed 110 megawatt-hours (MWh) of batteries and has installed the first 80% of the world\u2019s largest battery system, a 100 MW plant in South Australia. Tesla says that it is \u201con track\u201d to meet a 100-day deadline for hte project.\n\nTesla also states that it has deployed \u201chundreds\u201d of battery systems to Puerto Rico, and announced restoration of power at a hospital through rapid deployment of a PV and battery storage system.\n\nIn terms of manufacturing, Tesla reports that battery cell production at its Gigafactory 1 in Reno is continuing to ramp, and that the solar Gigafactory 2 is on track to begin production of the Solar Roof \u201cat the end of this year\u201d.\n\nHopefully there will not be the sorts of manufacturing delays that have plagued the Tesla Model 3. However, in the company\u2019s results call Elon Musk stressed how far his company has come, recently producing its 250,000th EV as opposed to only 2,500 five years ago.\n\n\u201cSo consider your assumptions for the future and whether they\u2019re valid or perhaps pessimistic,\u201d quipped Musk.", "output": "Tesla has recorded its lowest number of solar PV installations for \"many years\", with just 109 MW of new distributed solar systems in the latest quarter. The company says it is reducing the number of low-margin commercial and industrial deals it is involved in, but residential solar installation is also thought to have fallen. Meanwhile, Tesla's energy storage business has increased, with 110 MWh of batteries installed during the same quarter, along with 80% of the 100 MW plant in South Australia, which will be the world's largest battery storage system."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FCA warns robo-advice poses 'systemic mis-selling' risk \n Cookies on the FT\n\nWe use cookies for a number of reasons, such as keeping FT Sites reliable and secure, personalising content and ads, providing social media features and to analyse how our Sites are used.", "output": "Bob Ferguson, head of strategy and competition at the FCA, has warned that robo-advice may lead to \"systemtic mis-selling\" if portfolio models are badly designed, reported Damian Fantato in the Financial Times.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "French robo-adviser Birdee partners with Germany's Sutor \n Source: Birdee\n\nBirdee has become the Sutor banking platform\u2019s first international robo-advisor.\n\nBirdee has a Luxembourg asset management license and offers clients in Belgium and Luxembourg investment opportunities in ETF portfolios. Clients can define their financial goals and go through a risk profile evaluation, after which Birdee will propose an investment strategy from one or several of its 17 model portfolios which include thematic investment in areas such as biotechnology, property or sustainable businesses.\n\n\n\nSutor Bank is taking on the administration of Birdee\u2019s customer portfolios as well as the trading of the ETFs. The communication between Birdee\u2019s fully digitalised investment platform and the bank\u2019s portfolio and management system is fully automated and carried out using an interface (API). The onboarding of the clients, as well as the ordering of funds and transmission of the up-to-date portfolio data, is done via the API.\n\n\n\nThe decision to work with Sutor Bank rather than a domestic bank\n\nBirdee was developed using technology and algorithms from financial software house Gambit. Recently the major French bank BNP Paribas acquired a majority share in the Gambit company (Gambit Financial Solutions), which therefore created new potential for the recently launched robo-advisor. The market for robo-advisors in the Benelux countries and France is less developed and is spread more thinly than the German or British markets.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe underwent an intensive search in 9 European countries for a bank that was able to offer us what we needed for the implementation of our business model: the digital interfaces on the one hand, and the necessary investment technology on the other. We didn\u2019t find what we were looking for and we therefore decided to choose Sutor Bank as our banking partner,\u201d explains Geoffroy Linard, general manager of Birdee.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe are already cooperating with numerous foreign banks through our collaboration with our partner Zinspilot, and our API accounts are used by businesses in Austria and the Netherlands. We are pleased to have carefully taken the next step towards internationalisation through our cooperation with Birdee. We see a significant potential in cooperating with partners within the European Union,\u201d says Robert Freitag, general manager of Sutor Bank.", "output": "French robo-adviser Birdee has partnered with Germany's Sutor Bank. The robo-adviser's platform will be integrated with the bank's portfolio and management system, while Sutor will take over the administration of Birdee's clients' portfolios and take\u00a0responsibility for trading Birdee's ETFs. Birdee offers clients 17 model portfolios based on their\u00a0risk tolerance, financial goals and profile. The firm also offers\u00a0thematic investments, allowing clients to focus on areas such as biotechnology or\u00a0sustainability.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese robo-adviser Polaris plans Asian expansion \n Mainland Chinese start-up Polaris to roll out robo-advisory systems with more banks and other traditional financial institutions", "output": "China's Polaris is planning to expand its robo-advice platform, both domestically and into other Asian markets. The robo-adviser recently launched a venture in Singapore, dubbed Pivot Fintech, and is planning to offer its white-label robo-advice solutions to a number of banks with interest in\u00a0the technology. The firm is seeing particular demand from provincial banks as they come\u00a0under\u00a0increasing\u00a0pressure from the entry of tech companies like Alibaba and Tencent Holdings into the finance sector.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "India must consider off-grid options to expand energy access: IEA \n India stands out as \u201cone of the largest electrification success stories in history,\u201d accounting for two or every five people newly electrified since 2000, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency.\n\nHowever, the report painted a future quite different from the centralized grid focus of the current Indian government, saying that decentralized systems, led by solar PV in off-grid and mini-grid systems, \u201cwill be the least-cost solution for three-quarters of the additional connections needed\u201d to achieve full energy access before 2030.\n\n\u201cOver the period to 2030, new connections to the grid bring electricity to over half of those that gain access, and offer the most cost-effective means of access in urban areas, but decentralized systems are the most cost-effective solutions for over 70% of those who gain access in rural areas,\" read the report.\n\n\"By 2030, renewable energy sources power over 60% of new access, and off-grid and mini-grid systems provide the means for almost half of new access, underpinned by new business models using digital and mobile technologies,\u201d according to IEA.\n\nWithout doubt, India has made enormous strides. The report said India has reached 82 percent of the population, up from 43 percent in 2000. The pace of has quickened as well, with the number of people gaining access rising from 28 million per year between 2000 and 2012 to 41 million people per year in 2016.\n\n\u201cIf this pace is maintained, India will achieve universal access in the early 2020s,\u201d the report said, \u201cwith renewables accounting for about 60% of those who gain access.\"\n\nOver 99 percent of people who have gained access in India since 2000 have done so as a result of grid extension, it added. Coal fueled about 75 percent of the new electricity access since 2000, with renewable sources accounting for around 20 percent. Globally, the number of people without access to electricity fell to below 1.1 billion people for the first time in 2016, with nearly 1.2 billion people having gained access since 2000, 500 million of which were in India, the report said.\n\nThis piece was originally published at Powering Rural India on Medium and was reprinted with permission from Power For All.", "output": "Decentralising power generation using renewables is the most effective way to increase access to electricity in India, according to the International Energy Agency. A report by the intergovernmental organisation found that while extension of the country's national power grid would provide the most cost-effective solution for increasing access in urban areas, decentralised technology such as solar PV provides the most efficient solution for rural areas. The agency found India has hugely increased access to electricity to 82% of the population from 43% in 2000, and that maintaining this pace will result in universal coverage by the early 2020s."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Stanford professor sues journal over 100% renewables claim \n The battle over the viability of 100 percent renewable energy will soon spill into a court of law.\n\nAmong clean energy advocates, there is disagreement about what kind of renewable energy target to shoot for -- 80 percent or 100 percent -- and what's the most expeditious way to get there. Stanford professor Mark Jacobson has long led the charge for a 100 percent plan, publishing road maps he says will reliably power the grid without any fossil fuel or nuclear energy.\n\nThis summer, 21 notable clean energy scholars led by grid researcher Chris Clack published a critique of Jacobson's work in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the same prestigious journal that released Jacobson's study.\n\nNow Jacobson is suing the publisher and the lead author for libel.\n\nHis lawsuit, filed September 29 in D.C. Superior Court, asserts that the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) inflicted \"significant undue damage\" by publishing statements in the critique that Jacobson said were false or misleading.\n\nClack declined to comment on specific questions due to the pending litigation, but said via email that he was disappointed that the suit had been filed.\n\n\"Our paper underwent very rigorous peer review, and two further extraordinary editorial reviews by the nation\u2019s most prestigious academic journal, which considered Dr. Jacobson\u2019s criticisms and found them to be without merit,\" Clack wrote. \"It is unfortunate that Dr. Jacobson has now chosen to reargue his points in a court of law, rather than in the academic literature, where they belong.\"\n\nJacobson declined to comment other than to say that \"the complaint has nothing to do with stifling scientific inquiry or opinions,\" and pointed to a paragraph that describes what he sees as \"egregious false statements\" published by NAS and Clack.\n\nError or assumption?\n\nThe conflict revolves around the accuracy of the critique. Clack and his co-authors pointed out what they saw as grave errors in Jacobson's work, which has become a model that policymakers and celebrities cite and emulate.\n\nWhen the journal alerted Jacobson that the critique was moving through the editorial process, he responded with a critique of the critique.\n\nJacobson sent multiple messages to the journal on this topic, first with a list of \"thirty false and five misleading statements in the Clack Article,\" and later with a line-by-line counter-rebuttal. The journal saw those comments and went ahead with the publication. Having failed to achieve satisfaction via the internal editorial process, Jacobson is turning to the courts to resolve the dispute.\n\nMany of the factual disagreements hinge on highly technical points, but one stands out in a big way.\n\nThe Clack paper called out Jacobson's work for its use of hydropower, which backs up the proposed grid system by dispatching power when wind and solar can't cover demand.\n\nJacobson's supplementary details list an installed hydropower capacity of 87.5 gigawatts for 2050, essentially the same as it is today. But elsewhere, he includes a chart showing 1,300 gigawatts of hydropower dispatched, which is roughly 15 times the stated installed capacity.\n\nClack and company describe this discrepancy as a modeling error that undermines the whole system Jacobson proposes: If the key backup resource needs to deliver 15 times more power than it actually can, the grid balancing falls apart.\n\nIn his response, though, Jacobson describes this as an \"intentional assumption.\" His idea is that the annual flow of water through U.S. hydropower facilities has to be held constant, but it is possible to increase the discharge rate by upgrading turbines at existing dams.\n\nThis explanation, and associated costs, do not appear in the original article or its supplement. But Jacobson says he explained his thinking to Clack, and Clack went ahead and published a critique of the hydro modeling anyway. Jacobson says that amounts to a false claim.\n\nLet the legal battles begin\n\nFor practical observers, the salient point here is that the 100 percent renewables plan hinges on a massive upgrade project at hydropower facilities around the country, which raises serious logistical and ecological concerns.\n\nThere's a big difference between operating current hydro capacity and the \"intentional assumption\" scenario that involves storing up the water and releasing it in massive deluges at times of peak grid demand. Downstream communities, aquatic ecosystems and river navigation would all be impacted. It's unclear just how feasible this would be, and such discussion is not included in the original study.\n\nThe lawsuit isn't really concerned with this, though. It seeks to penalize the critical publication for not listening to Jacobson's responses to the critique.\n\nAs a result, Jacobson is asking the court to order a retraction of the article, plus damages from NAS and Clack on the order of $10 million each. The initial conference is set for December 29.\n\nIt's unclear how the courts will evaluate these claims, but the case clearly ups the stakes on the academic debate over the best path to decarbonization. The fight over 100 percent renewables, versus some other target, already elicits heated debate on Energy Twitter and other forums.\n\nNow the stakes are no longer just academic or intellectual -- there's big money on the table.", "output": "Stanford University professor Mark Jacobson is suing a US scientific journal for libel after it published a paper heavily critical of one he had previously written for them. Jacobson claimed in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that there was a viable plan for the US to reach 100% renewable energy, but this was challenged in a subsequent paper signed by 21 clean energy scholars led by Dr Chris Clack, who advocate a target of 80%. Jacobson has begun legal proceedings against Clack and the National Academy of Sciences, alleging they have caused him \"significant undue damage.\""}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian rooftop solar installations fall 83% short of target \n The government has targeted to install 5 GW of grid-connected solar rooftops by 2017-18. However, the current installations stand approximately 83% behind the target.\n\nThe committee shared the rooftop status and initiatives at the meeting of Consultative Committee of Members of Parliament for Ministry of Power and New & Renewable Energy, chaired by MNRE minister RK Singh held in Guwahati on October 31.\n\nAbout 810 MW of solar rooftop systems had been installed as of October 31, and 2,363 MW aggregate capacity have been sanctioned in the country so far. The installations came in residential, industrial, commercial and institutional sectors.\n\nThe government has targeted to install 5 GW of grid-connected solar rooftops by 2017-18. However, the current installations stand approximately 83% behind the target.\n\nThe committee has proposed a new rooftop scheme considering the poor performance in this sector, which aims at removing the existing operational difficulties.\n\nThe Government of India had pledged to install 40 GW grid-connected solar rooftops by 2022, and in revision, it has scaled-up the budget from INR 6 billion ($93 million) during the 12th Five Year Plan to INR 50 billion ($773 million) to be installed up to 2019-20. This will provide financial assistance for the installation of about 4200 MW solar rooftops in the country (2100 MW with subsidy and 2100 MW without subsidy)\u201d.\n\nPopular content\n\nThe government also provided a 30% subsidy for the residential and institutional (hospitals, educational institutions etc.) rooftop sectors. However, still it is seriously behind the target values, and it asked to revise the rooftop targets.\n\nTherefore, earlier in July, the standing committee on Energy gave a serious viewpoint on the Ministry\u2019s 40 GW of grid-connected rooftop solar PV projects. The group concluded to reconsider the target, conduct public awareness programs, simplify the process of subsidy distribution, mandate compulsory roof-top solar on new buildings, and adopt a single window clearance system for approvals like connectivity, net-metering, electricity inspection, limitation in sanctioned load, etc.\n\nThey also singled out the net-metering policy as the key driver for solar roof-top systems, as it reduces aggregated technical and commercial (AT&C) losses and needs for large tracts of land. It even helps DISCOMs to avoid buying expensive peak power. Therefore, the concept of cross-subsidy should be reconsidered so that net-metering for all users will make more financial sense, clear installation guidelines, and proper implementation training of DISCOM's staff should be devised.\n\nHowever, it is still in discussion, and there is no decision on target revision yet. It seems government is ambitious about the target, and would implement new schemes to raise the rooftop sector in India.", "output": "The Indian government has pledged more money for rooftop solar after revealing that just 810 MW of capacity had been installed by 31 October, 83% short of its 5 GW target for 2017/18. The Ministry of Power and New & Renewable Energy announced a budget increase from INR6bn ($93m) to INR50bn, to install 4,200 MW of rooftop solar by 2019-20, as well as a 30% subsidy for the institutional and residential sectors. In July, a standing committee on energy offered recommendations, including rethinking the government's 40 GW target of rooftop solar by 2022."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WElink to build Europe's largest unsubsidized solar facility \n WElink Energy is to construct a 221 MW solar project in Vagueiros, Southern Portugal. When it becomes operational, the project named Solara4 will be the largest unsubsidised solar PV plant in Europe, generating enough power to provide 150,000 homes with electricity.\n\nIt will comprise 850,000 solar modules and is expected to employ around 300 people during its construction. The plant is scheduled for completion in mid-2019.\n\nThe signing of an EPC contract between WElink, and its longstanding industrial and strategic partner China Triumph International Engineering Co., Ltd (CTIEC) earlier this year meant that construction of the plant could get underway.\n\nThe increasing price-competitiveness of solar projects is what has made WElink\u2019s transition to unsubsidized projects possible, alongside it and CTIEC\u2019s ability to optimize the cost of delivery across the chain value.\n\nPopular content\n\nFurthermore, the favorable location in southern Portugal means that the plant will soak up one of the highest solar irradiation levels in Europe, making solar PV without a subsidy ideal.\n\nWElink Group\u2019s Chief Executive, Barry O\u2019Neill said of the project, \u201cWElink Energy is leading the way in European solar generation. We are delighted to be in a position to commence construction on our flagship Solara4 project, demonstrating that industrial scale clean-energy can be profitable without government subsidies and is a mature technology.\u201d\n\nWElink Energy\u2019s Head of Development for Iberia, Eduardo Aguilar added, \u201cThe construction of Solara4 is the result of many months of great team work to deliver this internationally significant unsubsidized project in Portugal. Solara4 is a beacon of WElink Energy\u2019s portfolio and is part of a long-term strategy of development in Iberia. We are excited about both the delivery of this project as well as the additional opportunities Iberia represents.\u201d", "output": "A solar energy facility being built in southern Portugal will be the largest unsubsidised solar PV plant in Europe when it is completed in 2019. The 221 MW Solara4 project will generate enough electricity to power 150,000 homes, and will consist of up to 850,000 solar modules. It is being built by international renewable firm WElink, with its industrial partner China Triumph International Engineering."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chilean renewable energy prices drop by 50% in a year \n Chile's Energy Ministry has confirmed that the lowest bid in its 2017 power auction was $21.48/MWh, with an average price of $32.5 MWh. As previously reported by Reuters, Enel submitted the lowest bid of $21.48 MWh for one of the blocks in dispute. The second-lowest bid was from GPG Solar Chile, a unit of Spanish power and gas utility Gas Natural Fenosa, which offered $24.80/MWh for the same block.\n\nAlthough 2,200 GWh of capacity was contracted in the auction, the submitted bids reached a volume that was nine times higher, for a total of 20,700 GWh. \u201c100% of the energy we allocate today is renewable, clean energy, which is equivalent to approximately 600 MW of installed capacity in new renewable projects, through which we hope to attract close to $1 billion dollars in investment in new infrastructure for the country,\u201d said Andr\u00e9s Romero, executive secretary of the National Energy Commission (CNE).\n\nThe average price in the 2016 auction was $47.6/MWh, with 12,430 GWh contracted per year. In the 2015 tender, which was the first of its kind in Chile, the average price was $79.3/MWh, with 1,200 GWh contracted per year.\n\nPopular content\n\n\u201cThe goal set by President Bachelet was to lower energy prices by 25%. Today we can say with great calm, transparency and joy, we have managed to lower the price of energy by 75% in the last three years,\u201d said Minister of Energy Andr\u00e9s Rebolledo.\n\nUnder the last two auctions, time blocks were allocated to allow for more solar plants. Projects that were selected in the auction will start delivering power on January 1, 2024, with power to be supplied until December 31, 2043. The power will be sold to customers of the Central and Northern Large Interconnected Systems (SIC and SING).", "output": "Chile has reduced renewable-energy prices by half in the past year and by 75% in three years, with its most recent auction reaching an average bid price of $32.5/MWh. The submitted bids of 20,700 GWh were nine times the 2,200 GWh contracted, and roughly equivalent to 600 MW of installed capacity. The winners will invest almost $1bn in the projects, according to the National Energy Commission."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "'Disordered' materials in cathodes improve battery storage \n Several years ago, the team at Berkeley had discovered that certain types of disordered material could store more lithium when used as a cathode than current \u2018ordered\u2019 materials which layer the lithium and transition metal particles more nearly.\n\nUp to now, research into these materials has proceeded haphazardly, through testing based on trial and error. Research published this week in the journal Physical Review Letters, however, outlines a set of criteria for the production of useful disordered structures for cathode materials.\n\n\u201cDiscovering new disordered materials has been mostly driven by trial-and-error, and by relying on human intuition,\u201d explains Alexander Urban, lead author of the paper \u2018The electronic structure origin of cation disorder in transition metal-oxides. \u201cNow we have for the first time identified a simple design criterion to predict novel disordered compositions. The new understanding establishes a relationship between the chemical species, local distortions of the crystal structure, and the tendency to form disordered phases.\u201d\n\nAs well as having the potential for higher capacities than current lithium battery technologies, the cathodes could also allow scientists to work with a wider range of materials and, crucially, to avoid the use of cobalt \u2013 a relatively rare substance with a highly problematic supply chain. According to the Berkeley lab, disordered materials have already been producing using chromium, titanium and molybdenum.\n\n\u201cWe want the ability to have more compositional freedom, so we can tune other parameters,\u201d said Gerbrand Ceder, Senior Faculty Scientist at the Berkeley Lab. \u201cThere are so many properties to optimize, there\u2019s so much that goes into taking a battery material to a commercial stage. Now we have a recipe for how to make these materials.\u201d\n\nPopular content\n\nFluorination\n\nCeder\u2019s research group also published a further advance in lithium battery technology, demonstrating that disordered materials can also be fluorinated, a process which further increases capacity, improves stability and reduces fire risk.\n\nThis research was outlined in the paper \u2018Mitigating oxygen loss to improve the cycling performance of high capacity cation disordered cathode materials\u2019, published in the journal Nature Communications.\n\n\u201cNew cathode materials is the hottest direction in Li-ion batteries, explained Ceder. \u201cTo get more improvements in energy storage there are only a few directions to go. One is solid state batteries, and the other is to keep improving the energy density of electrode materials. The two are not mutually exclusive, this research line is definitely not exhausted yet.\u201d", "output": "A team at the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has conducted pioneering research into the use of \"disordered\" materials in cathodes. Such materials have higher potential for energy storage than current lithium batteries, and greater understanding of how to create them opens the way to using more easily available ingredients in battery production. The researchers also demonstrated that the new materials can be fluorinated, a process that further increases their capacity."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China sparks a boom in Ireland's aviation finance market \n As China\u2019s aviation sector expands rapidly to meet surging domestic demand for air travel, Dublin is emerging as a major hub for Beijing\u2019s growing ambitions in the aircraft leasing market.\n\nOne of Ireland\u2019s most established markets is experiencing a renewed burst of growth.\n\nAs China\u2019s aviation sector expands rapidly to meet surging domestic demand for air travel, Dublin is emerging as a major hub for Beijing\u2019s growing ambitions in the aircraft leasing market.\n\nEighteen groups from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong are using the Irish capital as a strategic bridgehead in their push for a bigger share of the $261bn global market.\n\nWith about half the world\u2019s leased aircraft managed from Dublin and most leading lessors long present in the city, Ireland is a global aviation finance centre.\n\nREAD MORE\n\nBut China's build-up marks a new turn in a booming market whose guiding light was Tony Ryan, the Irish tycoon who made his first fortune leasing aircraft in the 1970s and then went on to co-found Ryanair.\n\nIreland offers international lessors big tax advantages, although it is facing fresh competition from Hong Kong and Singapore as these cities look to woo business with new tax incentives.\n\nThe flood of Chinese capital into Dublin also comes despite Beijing\u2019s crackdown on overseas dealmaking, which has prompted speculation that China is playing a long game to harness leasing expertise abroad before moving the industry home.\n\nChinese companies rely heavily on local managers and professional services firms in Ireland.\n\nGlobally, the market is also enjoying a big boost from Chinese capital, but this has sparked some concern that a growing pool of money may be chasing too few leasing assets, putting the sector at risk of a bubble bursting.\n\nIndustry analyst FlightGlobal estimates the capital deployed by aircraft lessors has grown by 51 per cent to $261bn over the past 10 years \u2014 of which $71bn has come from Chinese sources.\n\nSignificantly, close industry observers note a rise in prices and compression of yields on second-hand aircraft, saying some Chinese operators may not be properly pricing risk.\n\nAdam Pilarski, senior vice-president at consultants Avitas near Washington DC, warns that an \u201cunreasonably good situation\u201d in global leasing could be upended by recession, disruption to trade under Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cAmerica first\u201d policy and other risk factors such as rising interest rates.\n\nAlthough Mr Pilarski acknowledges his outlook is \u201ccontrarian\u201d, he says: \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of new money that is coming in. These people have never lived through a downturn.\n\n\u201cWe know why we had this over-ordering and this proliferation of people coming in: because we had this cheap money that can\u2019t make good returns and aircraft are sexy and promise to make good returns.\n\n\u201cYou also had new players who want to enter it, the Chinese for example but also the Middle Easterners...You have a bubble and you are waiting for the prick.\u201d\n\nBut China, driven by its own ever-increasing market for air travel, continues to push to the fore. The International Air Transport Association believes China is on track to displace the US as the world\u2019s biggest aviation market by 2022, earlier than foreseen and fuelling rising demand for leased aircraft.\n\nIn Ireland, the biggest Chinese move by far in leasing came in 2015 when HNA Group, the Hainan conglomerate, acquired Dublin-based Avolon, only nine months after its New York Stock Exchange flotation.\n\nThe next year Avolon bought the leasing arm of US-based CIT Group, doubling Avolon\u2019s size and catapulting its \u20ac19bn portfolio to number three in the global industry.\n\nThis marks rapid progression for Avolon since its origins in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, yet D\u00f3mhnal Slattery, chief executive and founder, wants to go further still.\n\n\u201cOur aspiration is to be the number one player in world markets, which in simple terms would mean that we probably would need to double the size of the business again over the next five years,\u201d he says.\n\n\u201cGiven our scale now we\u2019re more likely to pursue one other large acquisition, rather than a series of small ones...and my sense is that the next acquisition will happen probably when the industry is in a bit more distress or stress.\u201d\n\nOther Chinese mainland and Hong Kong lessors are also making inroads in Dublin. Groups such as Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Development Bank, Bank of China Aviation, Bank of Communications, Goshawk and Accipiter are expanding in the city.\n\nFlightGlobal data show that more than 1,100 Chinese-owned aircraft are managed from Dublin, about a quarter of the 4,300-strong global leasing fleet in Ireland.\n\nPat Hannigan, chief commercial officer in Dublin for CDB Aviation, an arm of China Development Bank, says the company has 200 aircraft, another 200 on order and a mandate to grow.\n\n\u201cThere is no doubt about it that the Chinese are interested in this sector, have taken to this sector and they now want to go to the next level basically, which is what they\u2019re doing. They also want to expand our portfolio internationally and build our team,\u201d he says.\n\nAlthough Ireland\u2019s low 12.5 per cent corporate tax rate is a keystone of an economic strategy that has drawn legions of multinationals to the country, the linchpin for lessors is Dublin\u2019s network of double-taxation treaties with more than 70 countries.\n\nGlobal airlines that lease from Ireland pay less withholding tax upfront thanks to these treaties, boosting the business case to trade from Dublin in a sector that makes low profit margins on very large assets. This provides greater flexibility to Chinese lessors, whose growing involvement in the international market also increases access to dollar revenues.\n\nAll of that comes on top of a 40-year record that dates back to Ryan\u2019s pioneering days in the industry, meaning that a large network of finance, debt issuance and accounting expertise is well-established in the city.\n\n\u201cTax advisers, legal advisers, they\u2019re all in Dublin and have been for many years,\u201d says Ruth Kelly, chief executive of Goshawk, a lessor owned by Hong Kong\u2019s Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and NWS Holdings, which has a $5.8bn portfolio of 114 aircraft under management or on order. \u201cThe quality and quantity of [double taxation] treaties would be better than anything in Hong Kong or mainland China.\u201d\n\nAircraft leasing sustains about 1,200 Irish jobs and the wider aviation sector contributes about \u20ac4bn to the national economy.\n\nBut Paul Sheridan, chief of Accipiter, another Hong Kong lessor in Dublin, says a key challenge now is for Ireland to ensure it stays competitive. \u201cIreland is in a really strong position. It has done really well but it does mean other people will inevitably try and repeat the trick.\u201d\n\nThere is no shortage of bullish growth forecasts for Chinese aviation. Whether the market can sustain its rapid growth will determine the fate of the country\u2019s lessors in Ireland.- Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2017", "output": "Dublin is becoming a major hub for China's aircraft leasing market as Beijing uses its strategic location to tap further into a\u00a0$261bn global market, which has grown by 51% by capital deployed\u00a0over the past decade. However, there are fears it is expanding too fast, with some Chinese operators seen as not pricing in risk accurately. This expansion into Dublin comes despite\u00a0China's\u00a0crackdown on overseas dealmaking, leading to speculation that Beijing has adopted a\u00a0long-term strategy of\u00a0gaining leasing expertise overseas before moving\u00a0the industry home. Eighteen groups from China and Hong Kong now operate\u00a0in Dublin.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers use algae to make organic PV more efficient \n These small creatures could prove to be important in advancing the design of solar technologies known as organic PV, potentially a lower cost option to the conventional PV technologies.\n\nResearchers in a Yale University Laboratory led by Associate Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering applied these diatoms to organic solar cells, their results are published in the journal Organic Electronics.\n\n\u201cIt's really amazing that these things exist in nature,\u201d said Lyndsey McMillon-Brown, a Ph.D. student in Taylor's lab, and lead author of the study. \u201cThey help trap and scatter light for the algae to photosynthesize, so we're able to use something directly from nature and put it in a solar cell.\u201d\n\nOne challenge of designing these devices, though, is that they require very thin active layers, 100 to 300 nanometers, which limits their efficiency in converting light to electricity. The diatoms help because they have been optimized for light absorption through billions of years of adaptive evolution. They are the most common type of phytoplankton found in nature, are cheap and abundant in nature.\n\nCollaborators from NASA, Princeton University and Lincoln University who led the project dispersed diatoms throughout the active layer of a solar cell, which ended up reducing the amount of material needed for the active layer to be efficient.\n\nPopular content\n\n\u201cWe were able to see what the right concentration was and how much of this material we needed to put into our solar cells to get enhancement,\u201d McMillon-Brown said. \u201cIt's really beneficial because the active layer materials we use are both expensive and very rare.\u201d\n\nMcMillon-Brown and Taylor said even more can be achieved with a few more minor adjustments. \u201cWe can use different species of diatoms and tailor it to the right size, and we can also use some of the better donor-acceptor polymers for a higher performance,\u201d Taylor said. McMillon-Brown said the diatoms seemed like a natural fit for her research as soon as she learned about them.\n\n\u201cMy work is on biomimicry, so I'm always looking at existing patterns and structures in nature,\u201d she said. \u201cWe're always on the hunt for new patterns in nature because we believe that nature solves all our engineering problems \u2013 we just have to find the solutions.\u201d", "output": "Researchers from Yale University Laboratory, NASA, Princeton University and Lincoln University have discovered the most common type of phytoplankton can optimise photovoltaic (PV) solar cells. In a report in the journal Organic Electronics, the team revealed how fossilised diatoms, which have evolved over billions of years to optimise light absorption, reduced the amount of rare and costly materials required to make the active layer of a PV cell more efficient."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sonnen and Tennet prepare smart-storage systems using blockchain \n After several months of preparation, Sonnen and Tennet have started their first grid-stabilization pilot project, using interconnected storage systems based on IBM's blockchain technology.\n\nThe companies will run the pilot project over a six-month period. Initially, Sonnen will connect its decentralized residential storage systems to Tennet\u2019s distribution system via blockchain. The blockchain project is part of a wider program at Tennet as it prepares to transition to clean energy. However, power distributors will also seek news ways to reduce dispatch costs through such pilot projects. Dispatch costs reached around \u20ac800 million in Germany last year.\n\nPopular content\n\nSonnen and Tennet will also start implementing another pilot project using blockchain technology in the Netherlands by the end of this month. The project, which is backed by local power provider Vandebron, involves building recharge stations for electric vehicles.", "output": "German energy storage company Sonnen and Dutch transmission system operator Tennet have begun a six-month pilot grid-stabilisation project using blockchain technology from IBM. Sonnen will link its decentralised residential storage systems to Tennet\u2019s distribution system. The two firms are set to collaborate on another blockchain pilot in the Netherlands, building recharge stations for electric vehicles, at the end of this month."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Blockchain energy-trading platform LO3 starts German projects \n LO3, a startup that brands itself as a \"transactive energy company,\" is preparing to expand internationally after building the world's first blockchain microgrid.\n\nThe company pulled in new investments last week from Braemar Energy Ventures and Centrica Innovations. The capital raise completed a Series A round for the Siemens-backed firm based in Brooklyn, New York.\n\nFor the past couple of years, blockchain has been lauded as a potential game-changer in the energy industry, attracting millions of dollars in investment.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of interest, a lot of hype in the blockchain industry right now,\u201d said Scott Kessler, LO3\u2019s director of business development, during a recent visit to the startup\u2019s new Brooklyn office.\n\n\u201cNinety-nine percent hype in blockchain,\u201d CEO Lawrence Orsini chimed in.\n\nMuch of that attention has fallen on LO3 in the three years since it started using the technology. LO3\u2019s core platform revolves around peer-to-peer energy trading on community microgrids where blockchain verifies the transactions. For all of the publicity that blockchain is getting, Kessler said the real innovation is around how companies are using it.\n\n\u201cWe very much think of ourselves as an energy company that happens to use blockchain,\" said Kessler. \"If another, more efficient way to communicate this data came out, we would use that.\u201d\n\nIn addition to its latest funding round, LO3 recently announced two new projects underway in Germany. One, the Landau Microgrid Project, is a research project at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and a partnership with local utility EnergieS\u00fcdwest AG that includes 20 customers. It\u2019s the first test of a local energy market in Germany. The other, in conjunction with energy provider Allgauer Uberlandwerk, will test a \"virtual microgrid\" based on disparate sources of distributed generation.\n\nLO3 now has projects in Europe (including an as-yet-unannounced project in the U.K.), Australia and the U.S.\n\nThe crown jewel is LO3's Brooklyn microgrid project, which demonstrates the use of blockchain-enabled energy trading among a small group of residents.\n\nThe segment of Brooklyn where the project is located -- at the nexus of Gowanus, Park Slope and Boerum Hill -- was meant to be representative of a wide-reaching community and a diverse swath of buildings. Testing transactions there offers a model for how it could function on a larger scale.\n\nLO3 started the project small, with just five energy-producing participants. It now has 60 of those prosumers and another 500 energy buyers participating.\n\n\u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do here is partially a business-model test,\u201d said Kessler. \u201cWe don\u2019t want this to be something that functions only for a certain type of person or a certain type of building. We have to make sure it works for the entire electric grid.\u201d\n\nOrsini describes the energy system of the future, interestingly enough, as being akin to specialty bottled water.\n\nIn the past, he said, people relied on cheap tap water that cost pennies per gallon. And though access to plentiful, cheap tap water still exists, many people spend dollars a day on the fancy stuff. The LO3 team suspects consumers may feel the same about bespoke energy as distributed energy resources become more commonplace. And what better place to test boutique energy purchases than in a fast-gentrifying portion of New York City?\n\nA small monitor in the corner of the LO3 office details the core of the company's platform: the transactions moving through its Brooklyn project on any given day. On the day we visit, transactions are turning over with a 140-millisecond latency, the delay it takes for meters to communicate with each other.\n\nRight now, LO3 is both a software and a hardware company. Because using a blockchain to verify energy transactions is still new, and the data used to run a blockchain and balance a grid requires near-instantaneous monitoring and reaction, LO3 had to build its own meters for customers in Brooklyn, Sacramento, Australia, and soon, Germany.\n\nThe meters, which communicate with each other to move energy between consumers, form the hardware backbone of the platform. But LO3 also built an application that makes smart contracts (an automated contract for electricity verified on the blockchain) and allows customers to control their energy usage.\n\nUsers on the Brooklyn microgrid can choose how much they want to spend on energy per day. Different resources can be priced at varying levels. In a demonstration LO3 gave on a microgrid installed in the lower level of its exposed-brick office, renewable generation cost a consumer more each day than the conventional power available to them. Users can click through to see exactly where their energy is coming from. They can also vote on sites where they think more solar should be installed in their neighborhood.\n\nWith the initial roll-out of its platform underway, LO3 is now looking to expand its consumer and prosumer network. Later this year, the company is scheduled to release a peer-reviewed white paper on its technology and the usefulness in energy applications. LO3 will also begin a \u201ctoken event\u201d to release parts of the platform so that others can build on top of it with permission to access its application programming interface.\n\nHow Brooklyn energy users take to the platform could help set the standard for blockchain in the energy industry. Beyond New York, LO3 has grand visions for the possibilities of transactive energy.\n\n\u201cWhat we\u2019ve described so far ends up being a pretty small piece of it, because people buying and selling energy to one another should definitely be a function of this platform,\u201d said Kessler. He and Orsini want to go further.\n\nThey describe near-limitless potential for how blockchain applications could smooth the production and distribution of energy. Possible next steps include paying consumers to turn devices on and off to meet demand. Or charging different amounts for the transmission infrastructure used to exchange electrons, thus increasing private investment in infrastructure instead of pushing those costs off on ratepayers.\n\nScott Kessler, LO3's director of business development, shows off the company's metering system. Image credit: Emma Foehringer Merchant.\n\nIt\u2019s still early days for the model. LO3's Brooklyn project has about 500 participants, and it's now rolling out the platform\u2019s beta application there.\n\nLO3's blockchain works for transactive energy because it can respond within seconds to verify a transaction, rather than the minutes-long response time for Bitcoin. Speeding up the verification process is especially important when balancing energy.\n\n\u201cThere is no command-and-control system that can manage a billion devices at the grid edge efficiently,\u201d said Orsini. \u201cSo there\u2019s a different way you have to manage the level of DERs that we\u2019re going to have in the next few years. Blockchain, it turns out, is a really efficient communication platform for value.\u201d\n\nOrsini argues that energy actually has the biggest potential among blockchain applications.\n\nLast year, NRG dispatcher Chris Taylor declared that \u201cwe are on the ground floor of one of the most significant transitions in human history.\u201d\n\nBlockchain energy companies have been \u201ccropping up like mushrooms after the rain,\u201d wrote GTM's Jason Deign recently.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s very easy to describe a future in which the utility disappears, the grid is literally just a network of wires and endpoints, and there\u2019s generating assets and users and management of it,\" said GTM CEO Scott Clavenna on a recent episode of The Interchange. \"It\u2019s very easy to hype that that\u2019s where blockchain is taking us overnight, while the reality is there are a ton of obstacles to getting us there.\u201d\n\nLO3 executives have a sense of humor about the attention the technology is getting.\n\n\u201cI like to say that we basically started with the three most-hyped terms we could find, and it was blockchain, microgrid and Brooklyn,\u201d said Kessler.\n\nBut that hype exists for a reason. LO3's experimentation with business models on the Brooklyn Microgrid could provide great value for utilities trying to understand how these platforms fit into the larger energy transition.\n\n\u201cIt causes issues for existing utility business models, existing retailer business models, and the physical grid itself,\u201d said Kessler. \u201cWe position ourselves as the company that\u2019s showing you what the market of the future looks like.\"\n\nUltimately, what that market looks like will come down to experimentation. Orsini said he can\u2019t envision a future with no central grid -- but it could look drastically different than the one that delivers energy today.\n\n\u201cAnybody who tells you they know the business model for the electric grid of the future is confused, because nobody knows what it is,\u201d said Orsini. \u201cWe have to test these models. We have to see how people respond to new technology and new choices.\u201d\n\n***\n\nGTM will host an entire panel session on Blockchain at the first annual U.S. Power & Renewables Conference in November. You'll get an in-depth look at how the renewable energy market will interact with the U.S. power market, and how those interactions can impact overall industry development and market growth. Curated by GTM Research, MAKE and Wood Mackenzie energy analysts, we\u2019ll take an expansive view of key issues and timely topics, bringing together a diverse group of energy experts and stakeholders to discuss demand dynamics, economics and business model shifts, and policy and regulatory implications.", "output": "Brooklyn-based blockchain peer-to-peer energy firm LO3 Energy, which last week completed a series A funding round, has started two German projects in association with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and energy provider Allgauer Uberlandwerk as it looks to expand internationally. LO3's energy trading platform is being tested on a 60-person Brooklyn-based microgrid. It also has a presence in Australia and an as-yet-unnamed project\u00a0in the UK. The Siemens-backed company last month raised money from\u00a0Braemar Energy Ventures and Centrica Innovations.\u00a0Later this year, LO3 will release a peer-reviewed white paper and is set to launch a token event, a form of initial coin offering."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Miraah solar thermal plant sends first steam for EOR \n GlassPoint Solar Inc and partner Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), together building the 1-GW Miraah solar thermal park in Oman, announced today that the plant\u2019s first block has successfully delivered steam to the Amal West oilfield.\n\nThe project developers said in a joint statement that the first out of 36 standard greenhouse blocks housing parabolic trough collectors was completed safely on schedule and on budget. Upon completion of the remaining blocks, they will make up a complex with the capacity to deliver 1,021 MWp of thermal energy to produce 6,000 tonnes of steam per day.\n\nUsing mirrors that concentrate sunlight on a pipe filled with oilfield-grade water, the Miraah plant will generate steam for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Its 36 greenhouses will act as foundations and structures, while also providing protection.\n\nGlassPoint built a 7-MW pilot solar plant for PDO in 2013 and commenced construction work on the Miraah project at the same oilfield in south Oman in November 2015.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "The 1 GW Miraah solar thermal park in Oman has begun sending steam to the Amal West oilfield for enhanced oil recovery. The steam is generated from the first of 36 greenhouse-enclosed parabolic solar troughs\u00a0due to be built. When complete, Miraah will generate 1,021 MWp of thermal energy, producing 6,000 tonnes of steam daily. GlassPoint\u2019s greenhouse blocks use mirrors to focus sunlight on a tube containing water, yielding high-pressure steam.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple moved subsidiaries to Jersey to lower tax payments \n Apple reacted to widespread criticism of its tax affairs by secretly shifting key parts of its empire to Jersey as part of a complex rearrangement that has allowed it to keep an ultra-low tax rate, according to an analysis of Paradise Papers documents.\n\nThe move affected two of its most important subsidiaries, one of which is thought to hold the key to a company cash pile worth more than $250bn (\u00a3190bn).\n\nOver the past three years, Apple has reported paying very low tax rates on its profits outside the US \u2013 not much more than previously. But this remains significantly lower than all the major markets where its phones, iPads and desktop computers are sold \u2013 and less than half the rate in Ireland, where the company has many of its subsidiaries.\n\nThough Apple has done nothing illegal, the disclosure is likely to raise fresh questions for the technology company, which has been forced to defend its tax affairs. It may also prompt awkward questions about the nature of the new tax rules introduced by the Irish government and their timing.\n\nApple refused to answer detailed questions, but defended the new arrangements and said they had not decreased the company\u2019s tax payment anywhere in the world.\n\n\u201cThe debate over Apple\u2019s taxes is not about how much we owe but where we owe it. We\u2019ve paid over $35bn in corporate income taxes over the past three years, plus billions of dollars more in property tax, payroll tax, sales tax and VAT,\u201d it said.\n\n\u201cWe believe every company has a responsibility to pay the taxes they owe and we\u2019re proud of the economic contributions we make to the countries and communities where we do business.\u201d\n\nEdward Kleinbard, a former corporate lawyer who is a professor of tax law at the University of Southern California, told the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists: \u201cUS multinational firms are the global grandmasters of tax avoidance schemes that deplete not just US tax collection, but the tax collection of almost every large economy in the world.\u201d\n\nTim Cook announcing the new iPhone 7 in 2016. Photograph: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP\n\nDocuments in the Paradise Papers show how Apple began to consider its options in 2014 following criticism of the way it was doing business through Ireland. A year earlier, a bipartisan US Senate committee had pilloried the company for seeking \u201cthe holy grail of tax avoidance\u201d. It highlighted practices that had saved Apple from paying billions of dollars over decades.\n\nThe 40-page analysis published in May 2013 described how Apple had incorporated one of its main subsidiaries, Apple Operations International (AOI), in Ireland in 1980. But the subsidiary had \u201cno employees and no physical presence [in Ireland] \u2026 and holds its board meetings in California\u201d.\n\nSenators highlighted two other Apple subsidiaries in Ireland, Apple Sales International (ASI) and Apple Operations Europe (AOE), which were also in effect \u201cstateless\u201d. The scale of the tax avoidance was huge, the senators said. They described Apple\u2019s arrangements as \u201ca gimmick\u201d.\n\nSenators were so infuriated by the arrangements that they accused Apple of exploiting the gap between the two nations\u2019 tax laws and creating a \u201cbyzantine tax structure\u201d that was inexcusable. One of the report\u2019s authors, the Democratic senator Carl Levin, said Apple had \u201ccreated offshore entities holding tens of billions of dollars while claiming to be tax resident nowhere\u201d.\n\nThe Republican senator John McCain said: \u201cApple claims to be the largest US corporate taxpayer, but by sheer size and scale it is also among America\u2019s largest tax avoiders \u2026 [It] should not be shifting its profits overseas to avoid the payment of US tax, purposefully depriving the American people of revenue.\u201d\n\nSenator John McCain. Photograph: Aaron P Bernstein/Reuters\n\nIn the months that followed the publication of the report, and with the European commission also starting to scrutinise Apple\u2019s tax arrangements, Ireland came under pressure to change its tax rules and new proposals were announced in October 2013.\n\nThe Irish government said companies incorporated in Ireland, such as Apple\u2019s subsidiaries, would be able to avoid owing corporation tax only if they could show they were being \u201cmanaged and controlled in another jurisdiction\u201d where they would be liable for tax.\n\nThe announcement left Apple with a stark choice. It either had to acknowledge the subsidiaries were being run from the US, meaning they would have to pay American taxes. Or it had to find a new jurisdiction for the subsidiaries, preferably one with little or no corporation tax \u2013 such as Jersey.\n\nThe documents in the Paradise Papers show Apple was actively looking for a new home for its key subsidiaries in early 2014. The company had approached Appleby through its US lawyers, who asked Appleby\u2019s offices in different offshore jurisdictions to fill out a questionnaire that would highlight the advantages to Apple of moving there.\n\nIn a letter from the lawyers on 20 March 2014, Appleby was asked \u201cto provide assistance with and coordination of a multijurisdictional project involving the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Cayman, Guernsey, Isle of Man and Jersey \u2026 If your proposal is cost-effective then we will ask you to handle the entire project.\u201d\n\nSixty-eight minutes later, a senior Appleby executive sent an email to other partners expressing excitement that Apple had made the approach and encouraging a swift and positive response.\n\n\u201cThis is a tremendous opportunity for us to shine on a global basis \u2026 Please could you consider the questionnaire and provide your best fee proposal for \u2026 your jurisdiction. I \u2026 would ask that you embrace this opportunity to build a closer relationship with their prestigious client,\u201d the email said.\n\nThe executive noted that discretion was important: \u201cFinally, for those of you who are not aware, Apple are extremely sensitive concerning publicity and do not generally permit their external counsel to disclose that they have been engaged by Apple or to make any mention (not even generically) in promotional materials to the relevant engagement.\u201d\n\nFour days later, Appleby partners exchanged further emails in which they spoke of having impressed Apple\u2019s lawyers, who had added Bermuda to its list of potential new jurisdictions \u2013 another territory where Appleby had a base.\n\nA partner in Appleby\u2019s Isle of Man office told colleagues: \u201cWe have tried to make our answers as attractive as possible given that we would be delighted to work with Apple.\u201d\n\nThe need to secure a new home for Apple\u2019s subsidiaries became urgent later in October 2014, when the Irish government made a further announcement. Delivering his budget statement, the then Irish finance minister Michael Noonan said Dublin was tightening the rules even further and would prevent companies that are incorporated in Ireland being managed and run in tax havens.\n\nThat could have jeopardised Apple\u2019s plans for moving its subsidiaries to Jersey but for an important caveat.\n\nMichael Noonan, the former Irish finance minister. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images\n\nNoonan said any companies incorporated in Ireland before the end of 2014 that were being run from tax havens could continue with these arrangements until 31 December 2020 \u2013 a six-year period of grace known as \u201cthe grandfathering provisions\u201d. This gave Apple two months to finalise a move to Jersey, a crown dependency of the UK, which makes its own laws and is not subject to most EU legislation, making it a popular tax haven.\n\nThe Paradise Papers show two of Apple\u2019s Irish subsidiaries, AOI and ASI, in the process of changing tax residency to Jersey.\n\nApple refused to discuss the details. But the Guardian understands ASI is now a dormant company.\n\nApple refused to say where the valuable economic rights once owned by ASI had been moved to but it is understood all its Irish operations are now run through companies tax resident in Ireland.\n\nOne theory is that AOE \u201cbought\u201d the rights owned by ASI taking advantage of an incentive called capital allowance. This means that if a multinational buys its own intellectual property through an Irish subsidiary, the cost of that purchase will generate many years of tax write-offs in Ireland.\n\nSome experts have suggested multinationals switching intellectual property to Ireland could achieve tax rates as low as 2.5%.\n\nApple declined to comment on this, but said: \u201cThe changes we made did not reduce our tax payments in any country. In fact, our payments to Ireland increased significantly \u2026 (in 2014/15/16) we\u2019ve paid $1.5bn in tax there \u2013 7% of all corporate income taxes paid in that country.\u201d\n\nBut Apple refuses to say how much money it makes through its Irish companies, making it difficult to assess the significance of the sum.\n\nApple\u2019s financial statements indicate that it has continued to enjoy a low tax rate on its international operations. The firm made $122bn in profits outside the US during that same three-year period, on which it was taxed $6.6bn \u2013 a rate of 5.4%.\n\nApple said: \u201cUnder the current international tax system, profits are taxed based on where the value is created. The taxes Apple pays to countries around the world are based on that principle. The vast majority of the value in our products is indisputably created in the United States, where we do our design, development, engineering work and much more, so the majority of our taxes are owed to the US.\n\n\u201cWhen Ireland changed its tax laws in 2015, we complied by changing the residency of our Irish subsidiaries and we informed Ireland, the European commission and the United States. The changes we made did not reduce our tax payments in any country.\n\nAn Apple logo on hoarding boards outside the company\u2019s campus in Cork, Ireland. Photograph: Bloomberg via Getty Images\n\nIt \u201cWe understand that some would like to change the tax system so multinationals\u2019 taxes are spread differently across the countries where they operate, and we know that reasonable people can have different views about how this should work in the future.\n\nAt Apple, we follow the laws, and if the system changes we will comply. We strongly support efforts from the global community toward comprehensive international tax reform and a far simpler system, and we will continue to advocate for that.\u201d\n\nThe company has repeatedly defended its tax affairs over the years. Its chief executive, Tim Cook, told the US Senate committee that Apple paid all the taxes it owed and complied with both \u201cthe laws and the spirit of the laws\u201d.\n\nThe company has also condemned attempts by the European commission to get it to pay a record $14.5bn in unpaid taxes.\n\n\u201cThe finding is wrongheaded,\u201d Cook told the Irish broadcaster RT\u00c9. \u201cIt\u2019s not true. There wasn\u2019t a special deal between Ireland and Apple. When you\u2019re accused of doing something that is so foreign to your values, it brings out outrage in you.\u201d", "output": "Apple moved parts of its business to Jersey in order to maintain an ultra-low tax rate after new rules came into force in Ireland, according to an analysis of the Paradise Papers featured in The Guardian. Two of the company\u2019s major Irish subsidiaries, Apple Operations International and Apple Sales International, were involved in the move. Apple\u2019s behaviour was not against the law, but is expected to raise further questions for the company, which has already been criticised in relation to its taxes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Enel awarded 1.18 TWh of renewables in Chile \n Thanks to the synergies between Enel Generaci\u00f3n Chile and Enel Green Power, the Group won 54% of the 2.2 TWh per year offered in the tender, more than any other participant. The energy awarded to Enel will be provided by a mix of new renewable projects comprising of 116 MWp of solar, 93 MW of wind and 33 MW of geothermal for a total capacity of 242 MW.\n\n\u201cWe are extremely pleased about this new important award for the supply of electricity to Chilean customers,\u201d said Enel CEO and General Manager Francesco Starace. \u201cThe combination of different renewable technologies and some thermal generation has proven once again the winning approach. To this end, it is worth mentioning that in the past few years we have grown, through Enel Green Power, a solid renewable footprint that includes hydro, wind, solar as well as completing the construction of the first geothermal plant in South America, Cerro Pabell\u00f3n. This award grants the possibility to finance and build 242 MW of renewable energy plants sustaining a continuing investment flow in Chile towards a more competitive and more sustainable generation mix in the country and lower cost of energy in the years to come.\u201d\n\nThe 242 MW of new renewable capacity are based on solar and geothermal plants located in the Antofagasta region, in Northern Chile, as well as on a wind farm located in the Araucan\u00eda region, in Southern Chile. The facilities are expected to enter into service by 2024, generating around 1.180 TWh per year and avoiding the annual emission of around 500,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.\n\nThe tender was launched following Chile\u2019s General Power Service Law (Ley General de Servicios El\u00e9ctricos) n. 4 from 2006 shaping the regulatory framework for public tenders in order to provide distribution system operators with long-term power supply contracts with generators that would enable them to meet the power consumption needs of regulated market customers in their concession areas.\n\nEnel is a multinational power company and a leading integrated player in the global, power, gas and renewables markets. It is Europe\u2019s largest utility in terms of market capitalisation and figures among Europe\u2019s leading power companies in terms of installed capacity and reported EBITDA. The Group is present in over 30 countries worldwide, producing energy with more than 86 GW of managed capacity. Enel distributes electricity and gas through a network of over 2 million kilometres, and with over 65 million business and household customers globally, the Group has the largest customer base among European competitors. Enel\u2019s renewables arm Enel Green Power already manages more than 39 GW of wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and hydropower plants in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and has recently arrived in Australia.\n\nThe Enel Group operates in Chile in the conventional generation and distribution sectors through Enel Chile and its subsidiaries Enel Generaci\u00f3n Chile and Enel Distribuci\u00f3n Chile. The Group also has a significant presence in the country\u2019s renewable energy market through Enel Green Power Chile. The Group has a total installed capacity of around 7.5 GW (4.8 GW renewables and 2.7 GW thermal), 1.9 million customers and over 2,200 employees in Chile. The country is also home to Enel Americas, which is the Enel Group\u2019s platform for investment in the conventional generation and distribution sectors in other countries of Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Peru).", "output": "Italian utility Enel has won a contract for the supply of 1.18 TWh of wind, solar and geothermal energy per year through its subsidiary, Enel Generaci\u00f3n Chile. The Comisi\u00f3n Nacional de Energ\u00eda put out a tender for 2.2 TWh of annual supply between 2024 and 2043."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Engie partners with WEG for residential solar finance program \n Brazilian electrical equipment manufacturer WEG SA (BVMF:WEGE3) announced last week it has entered a partnership with a local unit of France\u2019s Engie SA (EPA:ENGI) to create a new solar programme in Santa Catarina state.\n\nThe state's federation of industries (FIESC) is also part of the agreement. The goal of the Programa Industria Solar, as it is named, is to facilitate the installation of residential photovoltaic (PV) systems through credit lines with lower interest rates.\n\nThe programme only covers at this initial stage employees from the three companies and in other local institutions and companies like Santa Catarina's unit of the National Service for Industrial Training (SENAI) and Brazilian utility Celesc (BVMF:CLSC3).\n\nThese companies have together more than 40 thousand employees, thus a great potential for joining PV systems, WEG's Automation Managing Director, Manfred Peter Johann, stated.\n\nDuring its second phase, scheduled for 2018, the programme will benefit employees from other Santa Catarina companies. It will later expand further.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Brazilian electrical equipment provider WEG is partnering with a local subsidiary of Engie to establish a Santa Catarina solar programme alongside Brazil's federation of industries, FIESC. The Programa Industria Solar will create residential photovoltaic solar systems with lower-interest credit offers, designed to cover employees initially, as well as local businesses and utilities. The programme's second stage, which should begin in 2018, will be offered to further Santa Catarina companies, with further expansion planned in future."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Irradiated plastic can reduce the eco-footprint of concrete \n Discarded plastic bottles could one day be used to build stronger, more flexible concrete structures, from sidewalks and street barriers, to buildings and bridges, according to a new study.\n\nMIT undergraduate students have found that, by exposing plastic flakes to small, harmless doses of gamma radiation, then pulverizing the flakes into a fine powder, they can mix the irradiated plastic with cement paste and fly ash to produce concrete that is up to 15 percent stronger than conventional concrete.\n\nConcrete is, after water, the second most widely used material on the planet. The manufacturing of concrete generates about 4.5 percent of the world\u2019s human-induced carbon dioxide emissions. Replacing even a small portion of concrete with irradiated plastic could thus help reduce the cement industry\u2019s global carbon footprint.\n\nReusing plastics as concrete additives could also redirect old water and soda bottles, the bulk of which would otherwise end up in a landfill.\n\n\u201cThere is a huge amount of plastic that is landfilled every year,\u201d says Michael Short, an assistant professor in MIT\u2019s Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering. \u201cOur technology takes plastic out of the landfill, locks it up in concrete, and also uses less cement to make the concrete, which makes fewer carbon dioxide emissions. This has the potential to pull plastic landfill waste out of the landfill and into buildings, where it could actually help to make them stronger.\u201d\n\nThe team includes Carolyn Schaefer \u201917 and MIT senior Michael Ortega, who initiated the research as a class project; Kunal Kupwade-Patil, a research scientist in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Anne White, an associate professor in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering; Oral B\u00fcy\u00fck\u00f6zt\u00fcrk, a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Carmen Soriano of Argonne National Laboratory; and Short. The new paper appears in the journal Waste Management.\n\n\u201cThis is a part of our dedicated effort in our laboratory for involving undergraduates in outstanding research experiences dealing with innovations in search of new, better concrete materials with a diverse class of additives of different chemistries,\u201d says B\u00fcy\u00fck\u00f6zt\u00fcrk, who is the director of Laboratory for Infrastructure Science and Sustainability. \u201cThe findings from this undergraduate student project open a new arena in the search for solutions to sustainable infrastructure.\u201d\n\nAn idea, crystallized\n\nSchaefer and Ortega began to explore the possibility of plastic-reinforced concrete as part of 22.033 (Nuclear Systems Design Project), in which students were asked to pick their own project.\n\n\u201cThey wanted to find ways to lower carbon dioxide emissions that weren\u2019t just, \u2018let\u2019s build nuclear reactors,\u2019\u201d Short says. \u201cConcrete production is one of the largest sources of carbon dioxide, and they got to thinking, \u2018how could we attack that?\u2019 They looked through the literature, and then an idea crystallized.\u201d\n\nThe students learned that others have tried to introduce plastic into cement mixtures, but the plastic weakened the resulting concrete. Investigating further, they found evidence that exposing plastic to doses of gamma radiation makes the material\u2019s crystalline structure change in a way that the plastic becomes stronger, stiffer, and tougher. Would irradiating plastic actually work to strengthen concrete?\n\nTo answer that question, the students first obtained flakes of polyethylene terephthalate \u2014 plastic material used to make water and soda bottles \u2014 from a local recycling facility. Schaefer and Ortega manually sorted through the flakes to remove bits of metal and other debris. They then walked the plastic samples down to the basement of MIT\u2019s Building 8, which houses a cobalt-60 irradiator that emits gamma rays, a radiation source that is typically used commercially to decontaminate food.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no residual radioactivity from this type of irradiation,\u201d Short says. \u201cIf you stuck something in a reactor and irradiated it with neutrons, it would come out radioactive. But gamma rays are a different kind of radiation that, under most circumstances, leave no trace of radiation.\u201d\n\nThe team exposed various batches of flakes to either a low or high dose of gamma rays. They then ground each batch of flakes into a powder and mixed the powders with a series of cement paste samples, each with traditional Portland cement powder and one of two common mineral additives: fly ash (a byproduct of coal combustion) and silica fume (a byproduct of silicon production). Each sample contained about 1.5 percent irradiated plastic.\n\nOnce the samples were mixed with water, the researchers poured the mixtures into cylindrical molds, allowed them to cure, removed the molds, and subjected the resulting concrete cylinders to compression tests. They measured the strength of each sample and compared it with similar samples made with regular, nonirradiated plastic, as well as with samples containing no plastic at all.\n\nThey found that, in general, samples with regular plastic were weaker than those without any plastic. The concrete with fly ash or silica fume was stronger than concrete made with just Portland cement. And the presence of irradiated plastic along with fly ash strengthened the concrete even further, increasing its strength by up to 15 percent compared with samples made just with Portland cement, particularly in samples with high-dose irradiated plastic.\n\nThe concrete road ahead\n\nAfter the compression tests, the researchers went one step further, using various imaging techniques to examine the samples for clues as to why irradiated plastic yielded stronger concrete.\n\nThe team took their samples to Argonne National Laboratory and the Center for Materials Science and Engineering (CMSE) at MIT, where they analyzed them using X-ray diffraction, backscattered electron microscopy, and X-ray microtomography. The high-resolution images revealed that samples containing irradiated plastic, particularly at high doses, exhibited crystalline structures with more cross-linking, or molecular connections. In these samples, the crystalline structure also seemed to block pores within concrete, making the samples more dense and therefore stronger.\n\n\u201cAt a nano-level, this irradiated plastic affects the crystallinity of concrete,\u201d Kupwade-Patil says. \u201cThe irradiated plastic has some reactivity, and when it mixes with Portland cement and fly ash, all three together give the magic formula, and you get stronger concrete.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe have observed that within the parameters of our test program, the higher the irradiated dose, the higher the strength of concrete, so further research is needed to tailor the mixture and optimize the process with irradiation for the most effective results,\u201d Kupwade-Patil says. \u201cThe method has the potential to achieve sustainable solutions with improved performance for both structural and nonstructural applications.\u201d\n\nGoing forward, the team is planning to experiment with different types of plastics, along with various doses of gamma radiation, to determine their effects on concrete. For now, they have found that substituting about 1.5 percent of concrete with irradiated plastic can significantly improve its strength. While that may seem like a small fraction, Short says, implemented on a global scale, replacing even that amount of concrete could have a significant impact.\n\n\u201cConcrete produces about 4.5 percent of the world\u2019s carbon dioxide emissions,\u201d Short says. \u201cTake out 1.5 percent of that, and you\u2019re already talking about 0.0675 percent of the world\u2019s carbon dioxide emissions. That\u2019s a huge amount of greenhouse gases in one fell swoop.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis research is a perfect example of interdisciplinary multiteam work toward creative solutions, and represents a model educational experience,\u201d B\u00fcy\u00fck\u00f6zt\u00fcrk says.\n\nThis story has been updated to clarify that concrete containing both irradiated plastic and fly ash, rather than with irradiated plastic alone, is stronger, by up to 15 percent, compared to conventional concrete.", "output": "Undergraduates at MIT have developed a technique which strengthens industrial concrete and makes it more environmentally friendly using irradiated plastic bottles. Concrete manufacturing is responsible for approximately 4.5% of human-induced CO2 emissions. Introducing plastic to the concrete can lower emissions, but also weakens the structure of the material. However, the students discovered that certain forms of plastic grow stronger\u00a0after exposure to gamma radiation. When such plastic was added to cement, it increased the concrete\u2019s strength by 15%\u00a0compared to control samples."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Irradiated plastic can reduce the eco-footprint of concrete \n It's a familiar refrain in engineering circles \u2014 in any industry, really: You never know where the next big idea is going to come from.\n\nAn undergraduate class project at MIT may prove to be the next big idea in cement manufacturing. A group of students developed a new technique to make industrial concrete stronger and friendlier to the environment, according to newly published research. And the secret ingredient for the eco-friendly concrete is discarded plastic bottles blasted with gamma radiation.\n\n\u201cThe thing that's most interesting to me is that undergraduates actually did this,\u201d Michael Short, an assistant professor in MIT\u2019s department of nuclear science and engineering, told Seeker. \u201cWe instructors helped to keep them on the rails, technically. But this was the students idea.\u201d\n\nThe research, published in the journal Waste Management, details the project, which as an independent study exercise aimed at finding ways to lower carbon dioxide emissions using nuclear technologies.\n\nConcrete manufacturing generates about 4.5 percent of the world\u2019s human-induced carbon dioxide emissions. One way to reduce that footprint could be to make plastic-reinforced concrete. But introducing even small amounts of plastic tends to weaken the material\u2019s structures.\n\nBut rooting through the literature, the students discovered that certain types of plastic actually become stronger when exposed to gamma radiation. The students' hypothesis: Irradiate the plastic before adding it to the concrete mixture.\n\nThe student researchers gathered plastic bottles from the local recycling center and took them over to an MIT lab where they crushed the plastic using a high-energy ball mill.\n\n\u201cThat's basically a hardened canister with metal balls that shakes back and forth real fast and violently,\u201d Short said. \u201cBut that didn't finish the job, so the students actually did it by hand with a mortar and pestle.\u201d\n\nRELATED: We've Made 9.1 Billion Tons of Plastic and Have Recycled Almost None of It\n\nThey then walked the crushed plastic to another MIT lab, which houses a cobalt-60 irradiator that emits gamma rays \u2014 a radiation source often used commercially to decontaminate food.\n\n\u201cIt's constantly emitting radiation, only there's a shield in front of it,\u201d Short said. \u201cThey were able to put the plastic in there, remotely open the shield, then go back in safely to retrieve it.\u201d\n\nAfter the irradiated plastic was added into standard cement mixes, the team ran tests. Sure enough, the irradiated plastic improved the concrete, increasing its strength by up to 15 percent compared with control samples.\n\nShort cautioned that the new technique is in a very preliminary stage, and more research is required to confirm the study's various findings.\n\n\u201cThe paper is basically saying, here's a method that works, here's the quantification on how well it works,\u201d Short said. \u201cWe know that the plastic makes it denser and forms particular crystalline structures in the material that make the final concrete stronger.\u201d\n\nRELATED: Thirsty Concrete Reduces Runoff at Yellowstone Park\n\nThe research team \u2014 students and instructors both \u2014 intend to stay with the project and keep publishing new findings. The group is working on a proposal for the National Science Foundation for further funding.\n\nShort, who guided the project in his role as faculty adviser, said that he's particularly proud of the student-run aspect of the project.\n\n\u201cActually, I took this same class in 2004, as an undergraduate,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was well-taught, but I found the design aspect to be lacking. I thought we were going to do something or make something physical, and we didn't.\u201d\n\nAs an instructor, Short wanted to let the students use hands-on methods to take the idea as far as they could.\n\n\u201cThey decided what to do, they did it, and they wrote it up,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a bunch of twenty-year-olds that may have just developed a new kind of cement.\u201d\n\nWATCH: What Would a World Without Plastic Look Like?", "output": "Undergraduates at MIT have developed a technique which strengthens industrial concrete and makes it more environmentally friendly using irradiated plastic bottles. Concrete manufacturing is responsible for approximately 4.5% of human-induced CO2 emissions. Introducing plastic to the concrete can lower emissions, but also weakens the structure of the material. However, the students discovered that certain forms of plastic grow stronger\u00a0after exposure to gamma radiation. When such plastic was added to cement, it increased the concrete\u2019s strength by 15%\u00a0compared to control samples."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vaccine could prevent 100,000 annual infant deaths \n More than 100,000 stillbirths and baby deaths worldwide could be prevented by the development of a vaccine against an infection commonly carried by pregnant women, according to a groundbreaking report.\n\nThe impact of disease caused by group B streptococcus (GBS) has not been properly chronicled before and only in relatively recent years has anyone taken seriously its role in the deaths of babies in the womb as well as in the early days of life.\n\nWorldwide, more than 21 million pregnant women carry the bacteria which used to be thought harmless, say researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). Today it is recognised as a cause of septicaemia and meningitis in newborns, with potentially deadly effects, and also as a major cause of stillbirths, but vaccines against it are only now in development.\n\nEleven papers have been published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases and presented at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Annual Meeting in Baltimore, revealing the scale of infection and the damage it causes. They say there are 410,000 cases of disease every year and 147,000 stillbirths and infant deaths. One in five pregnant women carries the bacteria, which can cause meningitis and also life-threatening septicaemia \u2013 blood poisoning \u2013 in them and their baby.\n\nIn wealthy countries, women thought to be at risk are given antibiotics in labour, but that does not prevent stillbirths and is not a practical solution for Africa and other developing countries where the infection rate is high. It could also contribute to antibiotic resistance, which is a global problem.\n\n\n\n\u201cVaccines are the way to go,\u201d said Joy Lawn, co-lead author of the papers and professor of maternal, reproductive and child health at the LSHTM. \u201cThey are on the way but it is going to be probably a five-year time horizon. The vaccine process needs to be accelerated. The World Health Organisation is already moving to make sure that when we get a vaccine it will be available for countries where the need is highest.\u201d\n\nIn affluent countries, parent groups have called for more action against GBS, including universal testing to check whether pregnant women are carrying the bacteria.\n\n\u201cIn the US particularly and also in the UK, it is an issue that is upsetting to parents, because neonatal death rates [in the first month of life] are quite low now and this happens to articulate, rich families; people don\u2019t expect their children to die any more,\u201d said Lawn.\n\nBut most of the focus has been on babies born alive who then become ill and die, or are damaged. There has been little attention to GBS as a cause of stillbirths. The team calculate it causes 90,000 infant deaths and 57,000 stillbirths worldwide at a very conservative estimate. There is no global goal to reduce stillbirths, as there is for newborns. \u201cThere are 2.6 million babies dying in the last three months of pregnancy, the same number as in the first month of life,\u201d said Lawn. \u201cFor the baby who dies five minutes before birth, there isn\u2019t a global goal.\u201d\n\nStillbirths are under-investigated even in affluent countries, partly because of a sense of fatalism and also stigma. \u201cPeople don\u2019t know what the causes are. This [GBS] is an incredibly preventable cause,\u201d said Lawn.\n\nThe researchers say that a vaccine which was 80% effective and reached 90% of women, could potentially prevent 231,000 infant and maternal cases of disease.\n\nDr Keith Klugman, director of the pneumonia team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which funded the research, said: \u201cThe first few days and weeks of a baby\u2019s life are the most vulnerable \u2013 by far. By filling in one of the great voids in public health data, this work provides crucial insight and shows the pressing unmet need for the development of an effective GBS vaccine. Immunising expectant mothers is a potentially groundbreaking approach that could dramatically reduce the number of maternal and child deaths.\u201d\n\nJohan Vekemans, co-author of the papers from the World Health Organisation, said an unacceptable number of families were affected. \u201cIt is now essential to accelerate the GBS vaccine development activities,\u201d he said.", "output": "Over 100,000 infant deaths and still births across the world could be prevented by a vaccine against group B streptococcus, carried by one in five pregnant women, according to research presented at a scientific conference in the US. The bacteria, linked to septicaemia and meningitis, has only recently been considered in relation to the health of newborns and babies in the womb. A vaccine would reduce dependence on antibiotics in developed countries and could offer a way of countering deaths in developing nations."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Statoil wants buyer for\u00a0New York\u00a0offshore wind power by end 2018 \n Norway\u2019s Statoil ASA (NYSE: STO) aims to sign a power purchase agreement with a U.S. utility to develop an offshore wind power project off New York, a senior company official said on Oct. 31.\n\nStatoil won a lease sale of 79,350 acres offshore New York, which could be potentially used to develop up to a one gigawatt capacity wind power park, by bidding $42.5 million December 2016.\n\n\u201cNow we need to sign a power off-take agreement to develop the project. The counterpart would be one of New York\u2019s utilities,\u201d Stephen Bull, Statoil\u2019s senior vice president, told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference.\n\n\u201cWe expect to sign the agreement towards the end [of] 2018,\u201d he added.\n\nStatoil, which also supplies New York with natural gas from the Northern Marcellus shale play, sees the U.S. as an important emerging market for offshore wind, both for bottom-fixed and floating turbines.\n\nThe company built the world\u2019s first floating wind power park off Scotland in 2017 and is looking at more opportunities in Japan, California and Hawaii.\n\n\u201cWe hope to have a new [floating wind power] project within the next three years,\u201d Bull said.\n\nStatoil plans to invest up to 100 billion Norwegian crowns (US$12.3 billion) in the renewable energy and low carbon technologies from 2017 until 2030.", "output": "Statoil plans to sign a power purchase agreement for the output of a\u00a0wind farm offshore New York by the end of 2018. The Norwegian energy major paid\u00a0$42.5m last December to\u00a0lease a\u00a079,350-acre site that could host a 1 GW\u00a0wind farm in that location. Statoil already supplies New York with natural gas from the\u00a0Marcellus shale. It aims\u00a0to invest up to $12.3bn in renewable energy and low carbon technology through 2030."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Paradise Papers reveal extent of offshore tax arrangements \n What are the Paradise Papers?\n\nThe name refers to a leak of 13.4m files. Most of the documents \u2013 6.8m \u2013 relate to a law firm and corporate services provider that operated together in 10 jurisdictions under the name Appleby. Last year, the \u201cfiduciary\u201d arm of the business was the subject of a management buyout and it is now called Estera.\n\n02:07 What are the Paradise Papers? \u2013 video\n\nThere are also details from 19 corporate registries maintained by governments in secrecy jurisdictions \u2013 Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, the Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, the Cook Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Labuan, Lebanon, Malta, the Marshall Islands, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, and Vanuatu.\n\nThe papers cover the period from 1950 to 2016.\n\nHow many media organisations have been looking at the data?\n\nThe Guardian is one of 96 media partners in the project. A total of 381 journalists from 67 countries have been analysing the material.\n\nWho got the documents \u2013 and how?\n\nThe leaks were obtained by the German newspaper S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung, which also received the Panama Papers last year. S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung shared the material with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a US-based organisation that coordinated the global collaboration. S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung has not, and will not, discuss issues around sourcing.\n\nDo the Paradise Papers focus on companies or individuals?\n\nBoth. They are united by one thing \u2013 money. Some of the world\u2019s biggest multinationals feature in the leak, including Apple, Nike and Facebook, as well as some of the richest people in the world, from the Queen to Bono, and from the stars of British sitcoms to the stars who grace Hollywood Boulevard.\n\nWhat do the documents show?\n\nThe files show the offshore empire is bigger and more complicated than most people thought. And even companies such as Appleby, which prides itself on being a standard bearer in the field, have fallen foul of the regulators that try to police the industry.\n\nThe files set out the myriad ways in which companies and individuals can avoid tax using artificial structures. These schemes are legal if run correctly. But many appear not to be. And politicians around the world are beginning to ask whether they should be banned. Are they fair? Are they moral? A fundamental question posed by the Paradise Papers is: has tax avoidance in all its guises gone too far?\n\nKey revelations include:\n\nWhat does Appleby say?\n\nThe firm has denied any wrongdoing, either by itself or by any of its clients. But it has conceded that it is not infallible and has tried to learn from its mistakes. The company has agreed to take part in any formal inquiries that come out of the disclosures. Estera has declined to comment.", "output": "Offshore tax avoidance is more extensive than previously thought, according to 13.4 million leaked files referred to as the Paradise Papers. Of these files, 6.8 million relate to law firm and corporate services provider Appleby. The files reveal the ways in which individuals and companies can use artificial structures to avoid paying tax. Such structures are legal, if operated correctly, but are facing increasing political scrutiny. Companies including Apple, Facebook and Nike, as well as individuals including Bono and the Queen, feature in the leak.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Russian state institutions funded Twitter and Facebook \n Two Russian state institutions with close ties to Vladimir Putin funded substantial stakes in Twitter and Facebook through an investor who later acquired an interest in a Jared Kushner venture, leaked documents reveal.\n\nThe investments were made through a Russian technology magnate, Yuri Milner, who also holds a stake in a company co-owned by Kushner, Donald Trump\u2019s son-in-law and senior White House adviser.\n\nThe discovery is likely to stir concerns over Russian influence in US politics and the role played by social media in last year\u2019s presidential election. It may also raise new questions for the social media companies and for Kushner.\n\n\n\nAlexander Vershbow, who was a US ambassador to Russia under George W Bush and to Nato under Bill Clinton, said the Russian state institutions were frequently used as \u201ctools for Putin\u2019s pet political projects\u201d.\n\n\n\nVershbow said the findings were concerning in light of efforts by Moscow to disrupt US democracy and public debate. \u201cThere clearly was a wider plan, despite Putin\u2019s protestations to the contrary,\u201d he said.\n\nThe investments are detailed in the Paradise Papers, a trove of millions of leaked documents reviewed by the Guardian, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and other partners, along with other previously unreported filings.\n\nFacebook and Twitter were not made aware that funding for the investments came from the state-controlled VTB Bank and a financial arm of the state oil and gas firm Gazprom, according to Milner.\n\nThe files show that in 2011, VTB funded a $191m investment in Twitter. About the same time, Gazprom Investholding financed an opaque offshore company, which in turn funded a vehicle that held $1bn-worth of Facebook shares.\n\n\n\nThe money flowed through investment vehicles controlled by Milner, who in 2015 invested in a startup in New York that Kushner co-owns with his brother. Kushner initially failed to disclose his own holding in the startup, Cadre, when he joined Trump\u2019s White House. A spokesman for Kushner declined to comment.\n\nMilner once advised the Russian government on technology through a presidential commission chaired by Dmitry Medvedev, the former president and current prime minister. Now based in California\u2019s Silicon Valley, Milner has invested $7bn in more than 30 online companies including Airbnb, Spotify and the Chinese retailers Alibaba and JD.com.\n\nIn a series of interviews, Milner said VTB\u2019s funding did not buy it influence at Twitter. He said he was not aware that Gazprom Investholding had backed the stake in Facebook. Milner said the deals were a small part of his overall investment portfolio and were done when US-Russia relations were better.\n\nMilner disputes that he is an associate of Kushner. He said he had invested in Kushner\u2019s business purely for commercial reasons. He said they had met only once, over cocktails in the US last year. \u201cI\u2019m not involved in any political activity. I\u2019m not funding any political activity,\u201d said Milner.\n\nI\u2019m not involved in any political activity. I\u2019m not funding any political activity Yuri Milner\n\nThe disclosure that stakes in two of the US\u2019s biggest technology companies were financed by Russian entities with links to the Kremlin comes as the covert use of their platforms by Russians aiming to boost Trump\u2019s 2016 presidential campaign is under intense scrutiny. Both VTB and Gazprom are now under US sanctions.\n\n\n\nThough Milner said the investments had no connection to the controversy, the findings are likely to add to pressure on Facebook and Twitter to give a full and transparent account of their interactions with Moscow entities before and during the US election.\n\n\n\nVanessa Chan, a spokeswoman for Facebook, said the investment backed by Gazprom Investholding had been sold five years ago, after Facebook went public. Chan said Facebook \u201crejected the notion of a lack of due diligence\u201d being done on its investors. A Twitter spokesperson said: \u201cAs a matter of policy Twitter conducted reviews of all pre-IPO investors.\u201d\n\nThe Twitter and Facebook investments were made by Milner\u2019s investment company DST Global, which was set up in 2009. At the time, Milner joined forces with the Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, a co-owner of Arsenal FC, who invested heavily in DST Global funds.\n\n\n\nAlisher Usmanov. Photograph: Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images\n\nPurchases of Facebook and Twitter were public knowledge and turned out to be lucrative. Usmanov is estimated to have made more than $1bn on his original $200m stake. Usmanov sold the last of his Facebook holdings in September 2013 and Milner said DST Global had sold all stakes in Facebook and Twitter by 2014.\n\nBut the role of major state-run Russian banks in funding some stakes \u2013 including in Twitter, Trump\u2019s favourite medium \u2013 was previously unknown.\n\n\n\nBorn in Soviet Moscow in 1961, Milner was named after Yuri Gagarin, who had become the first man in outer space earlier that year. Milner studied theoretical physics at Moscow State University and in 1990 moved from the Soviet Union to the US, where he attended the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s Wharton School.\n\n\n\nYuri Milner with his wife, Julia. Photograph: Trisha Leeper/WireImage\n\nAfter a stint at the World Bank in Washington, he returned to Russia and set up Mail.ru, an email and social networking service, which became popular and profitable. In 2009, he was asked to join Medvedev\u2019s innovation commission. Milner said the role involved advising Russian ministers and officials on moving public services online.\n\nFacebook\u2019s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, was so impressed with Milner\u2019s rise that he invited the Russian to invest in Facebook. Milner\u2019s company \u201cstood out because of the global perspective they bring\u201d, Zuckerberg said when announcing their first $200m deal in 2009. \u201cI believe I had some expertise at the time that Mark found valuable,\u201d Milner said.\n\nThe pair became friends and Zuckerberg attended Milner\u2019s wedding in California late in 2011. The ceremony was held at a vast mansion atop a hillside near Silicon Valley that Milner had recently bought for $100m. Milner and Zuckerberg are advisers to each other\u2019s philanthropic ventures and remain close.\n\nAssociates of Milner told the Guardian that he tried to secure funding for new investments from western banks. But they turned him down, forcing him after the 2008 financial crisis to go instead to Russian institutions. His exit from Moscow followed Putin\u2019s return as president in 2012, as Russia moved in a more authoritarian direction. Milner has lived in the US with his family since 2014.\n\nYuri Milner\u2019s Los Altos Hills house, bought for $100m. Photograph: Google Earth\n\nMilner said that as a management company, DST Global had sole discretion over its investment decisions. He said that he, like other investment managers, did not disclose the identities of his funders to the companies where DST Global invested. He said funders such as VTB received only basic updates on investments.\n\nHe briefly mentioned VTB\u2019s role in the Twitter investment during an interview with Forbes magazine last month. The partial disclosure appeared to have been prompted by questions put to him by the Guardian and other media partners.\n\n\n\nIt is unclear if Moscow saw a political interest in funding stakes in Facebook and Twitter, or if the acquisitions were only intended to make money. Sources familiar with the situation told the Guardian that Facebook had carried out a discreet internal review of Russian investments before its IPO in 2012, and that the review was unable to draw firm conclusions.\n\n\n\nKaren Vartapetov, the director of sovereign ratings at Standard & Poor\u2019s, said the Russian government had \u201ca strong influence on VTB\u2019s strategic and business plans\u201d even when these were not expected to be lucrative. \u201cVTB plays a very important role for government policies, including implementation of some less profitable and socially important tasks,\u201d said Vartapetov.\n\nRussia\u2019s role in exploiting Facebook and Twitter to influence the 2016 US election is an important strand of an FBI inquiry and congressional investigations. Facebook has identified 3,000 advertisements and 470 fake accounts on its network that were set up by a \u201ctroll factory\u201d in St Petersburg. Details have been passed to Congress and to the special prosecutor, Robert Mueller, who is examining alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.\n\nVTB has a close relationship with the Kremlin and, according to analysts, has received more state subsidies than any other Russian bank. In 2009, the bank boasted that its investment banking arm was \u201cpivotal in managing the state\u2019s interests\u201d.\n\nVTB also has close ties to Putin\u2019s FSB intelligence agency. The bank\u2019s chairman, Andrey Kostin, is a former KGB foreign intelligence operative, it has been reported, who has received several state decorations from Putin. Milner denied knowing about VTB\u2019s ties to Russian intelligence. VTB funded 45% of the Twitter stake. The bank denies Kostin worked for the KGB.\n\n\n\nIn an email, Milner\u2019s spokeswoman said: \u201cYuri Milner has never been an employee of the Russian government.\u201d Milner said he not spoken to Medvedev nor any other Russian minister about social media, and that he and Zuckerberg had not discussed the controversy over Russian exploitation of social media. \u201cPolitics is something I\u2019m very uninterested in,\u201d Milner told the Guardian.\n\n\u2018They operate in the shadows\u2019\n\nThe Paradise Papers help to unravel complex arrangements that led Russian state money to fund investments in the US social media companies.\n\nThey involve a bewildering array of companies using similar names and acronyms, some registered offshore in places that offer secrecy about ownership. The arrangements are legal, but have led campaigners to demand more transparency.\n\nThe trail begins in December 2005, when Gazprom Investholding began putting money into Kanton Services, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands. Usmanov was at the time general director of Gazprom Investholding, which the Kremlin has used to renationalise assets sold off in the 1990s.\n\n\n\nGazprom in effect took control of Kanton in 2009 in return for $920m. In 2011, Kanton in turn took a majority stake in DST USA II, a vehicle publicly associated with Milner. By 2012, DST USA II had bought more than 50m shares in Facebook, according to filings at the US Securities and Exchange Commission, amounting to more than 3% of the social media company.\n\nOver the following months, ownership of DST USA II was transferred to an Usmanov company, which sold off $1bn worth of the shares in Facebook at a significant profit after the social network floated on the stock market.\n\nThe ultimate owner of Kanton was not made clear, but the company has several ties to Usmanov. An executive who dealt with Kanton on another deal, who requested anonymity to discuss private details, said: \u201cI was led to believe this was one of Usmanov\u2019s investment companies.\u201d\n\nMilner said he knew who owned Kanton but declined to name them, citing a confidentiality agreement. He said he did not know where Usmanov and his other partners obtained funding. \u201cI had no knowledge of him using state funds to invest with us \u2013 he had enough funds already from the holdings that he owned,\u201d said Milner.\n\nRussia's influence operations are intentionally opaque Alina Polyakova\n\nRollo Head, a spokesman for Usmanov, said in an email: \u201cTo be absolutely clear, Mr Usmanov did not borrow from or use state or quasi-state funds to make investments in Facebook.\u201d\n\nAlina Polyakova, a specialist in Russian foreign policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said Moscow frequently used intermediaries to ensure \u201cplausible deniability\u201d for the actions of senior officials.\n\n\u201cRussia\u2019s influence over operations \u2013 whether that be allocating funds for disinformation campaigns or providing financing to extremist movements, or others \u2013 are intentionally opaque,\u201d said Polyakova. \u201cThey operate in the shadows.\u201d\n\nThe leaked documents, together with public filings, show that VTB funded another offshore investment vehicle, DST Investments 3, which was registered on the Isle of Man, a tax haven and UK crown dependency.\n\nVTB put about $191m into this vehicle, which bought 11m shares in Twitter in 2011. When Twitter was preparing to float on the stock market in 2013, the VTB-funded vehicle held a 2% stake in the company. The VTB-funded stake was sold in May 2014, according to Milner. Stock prices from that time indicate the sale would have returned more than $240m in profit.\n\nIn July 2014, shortly before the US imposed sanctions on Russian entities such as VTB and Gazprom over the Kremlin\u2019s aggression in Ukraine, control of DST Investments 3 was transferred to Kanton, the same company tied to Usmanov that was used as a go-between in the Facebook deal.\n\nMilner insisted VTB had been treated like his other investors, but acknowledged it was different in one respect. \u201cVTB Bank is clearly an institution controlled by the Russian government,\u201d he said.\n\nThe Russian companies denied that their funding of the investments was politically motivated.\n\n\u201cThe loans were provided for general corporate purposes,\u201d said Oleg Maksimov, a spokesman for Gazprom Investholding. A VTB spokesperson said that in 2011 the bank \u201cexecuted several deals in the high-tech industry, as we considered this field to have high potential\u201d but had since sold its stakes.\n\n\n\n02:07 What are the Paradise Papers? \u2013 video\n\nRussian investor backed Kushner\n\nThe disclosure of Milner\u2019s partial backing by Russian state interests may also cause difficulties for Kushner.\n\nMilner in 2015 contributed $850,000 from his family trust to a $50m investment in Cadre, a New-York-based company that Kushner co-founded in 2014 with his brother, Joshua, and a friend of theirs from Harvard. The startup, which the Kushners claim is worth $800m, is based around an online marketplace where wealthy financiers can club together to invest in properties.\n\nCadre has attracted an estimated $133m of venture capital from backers including Peter Thiel, the controversial libertarian billionaire who co-founded PayPal and backed Trump\u2019s campaign for president in 2016.\n\nJared Kushner. Photograph: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP\n\nThe company has already caused controversy for Kushner, after he initially failed to detail his stake in Cadre in financial disclosures to the US Office of Government Ethics. Kushner later added Cadre to revised paperwork, saying his stake in the firm was worth up to $25m.\n\nCadre initially said in a June press release that Milner\u2019s stake in the company was held through his firm DST. A different version of the release on Cadre\u2019s website said, however, that Milner himself was the investor in Cadre. The breakdown of the $50m funding was not made public by Cadre.\n\nMilner said in an interview that he had invested in Cadre based only on the merits of the business. \u201cI just thought it was an attractive opportunity,\u201d he said.\n\nHe said he knew Joshua Kushner and had met Jared Kushner once, at a conference in Aspen, Colorado, in autumn 2016. \u201cHe was very pleasant and nice, and it was sort of a cocktail-type conversation,\u201d said Milner, adding that politics was not discussed.\n\nCadre operates from the Puck Building in the Nolita section of Manhattan. The Kushners\u2019 father, Charles, bought the building in the 1980s before being jailed for a string of crimes including 18 counts of tax evasion. The building, a red-brick Romanesque revival, was named after the 19th-century satirical magazine based there. A gilded Puck statue, wearing a top hat and tails, gazes down on staff as they arrive for work.\n\nMueller\u2019s inquiry is believed to be reviewing Jared Kushner\u2019s finances. Kushner was questioned by US senators in July about his connections to Russia. The closed-door session followed a series of explosive reports, including that Kushner had undisclosed contacts with Sergey Kislyak, then Russia\u2019s ambassador to the US.\n\nIn remarks at the White House in July, Kushner said he had \u201cnot relied on Russian funds to finance my business activities in the private sector\u201d.\n\nKushner attended a meeting at Trump Tower in June last year at which Donald Trump Jr was expecting to receive damaging information on Hillary Clinton, their Democratic opponent, which he was told had come from the Russian government. Kushner claimed he knew nothing about the meeting\u2019s purpose before attending and left shortly after it began.\n\n\n\nHe has also denied reports that following his father-in-law\u2019s election victory, he proposed setting up a secure communication channel between Trump\u2019s team and Moscow to avoid snooping by the US before Trump took office. Kislyak reportedly told his superiors in Moscow, during conversations intercepted by American intelligence, that Kushner had asked for the backchannel during a meeting at Trump Tower last December.", "output": "Facebook and Twitter received substantial investments from Russian state institutions connected to Vladimir Putin through an associate of Donald Trump\u2019s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, according to documents exposed in the Paradise Papers leak. The investments were made by Yuri Milner, a Russian tech entrepreneur who holds a stake in a firm co-owned by Kushner. Neither company was made aware of the fact that the investments came from the state-controlled VTB bank, which in 2011 invested $191m in Twitter, and a division of state oil and gas company Gazprom, which funded a vehicle holding $1bn of Facebook shares.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SmartStudy to expand online learning platform with $30m funding \n Online education company SmartStudy announced on Wednesday that it has received 200 million yuan ($30 million) in its B-plus round of financing.\n\nTogether with another 200 million yuan acquired in November last year, the whole B round of financing of the education startup totaled 400 million yuan, according to CEO Wei Xiaoliang.\n\nEstablished in 2013, SmartStudy targets Chinese students who want to improve test results needed for applications to study overseas.\n\nThe company has expanded its services to include helping students with their whole overseas study application process, and their life and studies while abroad.\n\nAccording to Wei, the company has almost 6 million registered learners, of whom 150,000 paid for the company's services.\n\nHe said the incomes of Chinese families, particularly those in large cities, have increased greatly over the past decade, and well-off parents are looking for more informative, customized and international education for their children.\n\nHe added that the size of the market for foreign language education in China is expected to reach 600 billion yuan by 2020, and the market size of overseas study services might exceed 56 billion yuan.\n\n\"There are great potential and development opportunities in the field,\" he said, adding that much of the money raised will be put into upgrading SmartStudy's classes and nurturing talent for the company.", "output": "Online education firm SmartStudy has raised CNY200m ($30m) in a B-plus round, taking its total series B financing to CNY400m. The company offers Chinese students the opportunity to study overseas to improve their application test results, as well as\u00a0assistance with overseas study applications and management of academic studies while abroad. The company\u00a0has nearly 6 million registered students, with 150,000 of those paying for the service. SmartStudy plans to use the funds\u00a0to upgrade\u00a0the current offering of classes and develop talent within the company.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bango mobile payments expands presence in South Korea \n Bango CEO and founder Ray Anderson\n\nMobile payments company Bango has expanded its presence in South Korea to increase payment opportunities for digital, physical and internet of things (IoT) services in the nation.\n\nAlong with the increased presence, Bango has appointed a country manager for the region in the form of Alex Oh. His 25-year career has included technical leadership at the likes of Samsung, Dilithium Networks and Comverse.\n\n\u201cThe Bango Platform is truly differentiated by being capable of powering physical goods sales and capabilities that enable internet connected devices to be monetised,\u201d said Oh. \u201cI look forward to expanding the established Bango relationships with Danal and Samsung, along with introducing the Korean mobile operators to the benefits of the Bango Platform, in particular the unique technology that increases content sales. I am thrilled to join the Bango team to help make its strategic partners \u2013 and anybody selling to internet uses \u2013 more successful.\u201d\n\nIn 2016, Bango expanded its presence in Japan. This eventually led to it deploying a new payment method for Amazon in Japan. Bango says it sees similar opportunities for Direct Carrier Billing (DCB) in Korea, and expects the expansion to be a growth opportunity for its partners to collect payment for physical good, IoT services, and digital content.\n\n\u201cFollowing this year\u2019s successful launch of carrier billing for Amazon in Japan, I am excited to establish a Bango presence in South Korea led by a hugely experienced country manager,\u201d said Ray Anderson, Bango CEO. \u201cThe Bango strategy, to power the leaders in physical and digital retail, and in exciting new areas such as smart home, has seen a continued increase in End User Spend and Bango is EBITDA positive on a run-rate basis entering November 2017.\u201d\n\nJoin us at the 2017 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony, taking place in London on Thursday 16 November, to mix with the industry's best and brightest, and raise a glass to the year's best campaigns and solutions. To find out more, and to book your place, click here.", "output": "Mobile payments firm Bango has extended its South Korean operations, seeking to expand its offerings to new partners and hiring a country manager to boost its operations and relationships with major clients. It aims to\u00a0offer further payment opportunities across real-world, digital and internet of things services. Alex Oh will manage the company's relationships with\u00a0Danal and Samsung. The move follows Bango's expansion\u00a0in Japan last year, where it offered\u00a0a new payment solution for Amazon,\u00a0and hopes to do the same for Direct Carrier Billing in Korea.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wells Fargo to offer AI-supported, mobile-only\u00a0account \n Wells Fargo is to launch a new mobile-only customer account tied to a standalone AI-based budgeting and savings app.\n\nThe Greenhouse app operates across two distinct accounts: one for weekly spending tied to a dedicated debit card, and one account reserved for savings and bills. In this latter account, customers can set aside money to build a savings cushion as well as for specific expenses, such as rent or a phone bill.\n\n\n\nThe app ties the two bank accounts together and provides spending trend visualisations, personalised insights based on an artificial intelligence engine, and alerts to help customers stay on track.\n\n\n\nAvid Modjtabai, head of payments, virtual solutions and innovation at Wells Fargo, says the new account has been designed to appeal to a broad base of consumers, many of whom have several income sources or are paid infrequently, which can make budgeting a challenge,\n\n\n\n\u201cWhether you are new to banking, don\u2019t have regular paychecks, or typically manage money with cash, we believe the Greenhouse experience can help you manage day-to-day spending while planning for the future,\u201d he says.\n\n\n\nThe move bring the banking behemoth into a market which has been identified by a host of social savings startups as an overlooked aspect of banking that is ripe for the picking.\n\n\n\nThe Greenhouse app will be available in a limited, national pilot in the first quarter of 2018 and is slated to launch for Apple iPhone users during the first half of 2018.", "output": "Wells Fargo is to launch a mobile-only account in the US that offers artificial intelligence-based budgeting and savings support\u00a0as well as a current account. The Greenhouse\u00a0app offers one account for day-to-day\u00a0spending on a linked debit card\u00a0and another that looks after savings and bills. The app provides AI-based insights into customers' spending trends and alerts for keeping budgets on track. The app will be available via a\u00a0national pilot in Q1 2018, with a predicted launch for iPhone users to follow. Greenhouse is particularly aimed at customers who have unpredictable or multiple income sources.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IBM claims new tech can make computers run 200-times faster \n An All-in-One Approach to Computing\n\nRegular desktop computers, as well as laptops and smartphones, have processing units dedicated to computing and memory. They're called von Neumann systems and are named after physicist and computer scientist John von Neumann who, among other things, was a pioneer in modern digital computing. They work by moving data back and forth between the memory and computing unit; a process that can, and often does, end up being slow and not very efficient.\n\nAt least, not as fast or efficient as what we could achieve using \"computational memory.\" Also known as \"in-memory computing,\" computational memory allows for storing and processing information using just the physical properties of a computer system's memory.\n\nA team from IBM Research claims to have made a breakthrough in computational memory by successfully using one million phase change memory (PCM) devices to run an unsupervised machine learning algorithm. Details of the research have been published in the journal Nature Communications.\n\nThe IBM team's PCM device was made from a germanium antimony telluride alloy stacked and sandwiched between two electrodes. \"[T]his prototype technology is expected to yield 200x improvements in both speed and energy efficiency, making it highly suitable for enabling ultra-dense, low-power, and massively-parallel computing systems for applications in AI,\" according to a post on IBM Research's blog.\n\nFit for AI\n\nThe new PCM devices can perform computation in place through crystallization dynamics. Essentially, this involves an electrical current being applied to the PCM's material, which changes its state from one of a disordered atomic arrangement to an ordered configuration \u2014 i.e. crystalline. The IBM team demonstrated their PCM technology using two time-based examples, which they then compared to traditional machine-learning methods.\n\nThe ability to perform computations faster will, obviously, benefit over all computer performance. For IBM, that means better computing power for AI applications. \u201cThis is an important step forward in our research of the physics of AI, which explores new hardware materials, devices and architectures,\u201d IBM Fellow and co-author of the study Evangelos Eleftheriou said in a statement quoted in the blog.\n\n\u201cAs the [Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor or CMOS] scaling laws break down because of technological limits, a radical departure from the processor-memory dichotomy is needed to circumvent the limitations of today\u2019s computers. Given the simplicity, high speed and low energy of our in-memory computing approach, it\u2019s remarkable that our results are so similar to our benchmark classical approach run on a von Neumann computer.\u201d\n\nComputational memory presents an opportunity for a more \"real-time\" processing of information; a much-needed improvement in today's world, where more companies are putting a premium on data analytics. At the same time, as industry giants like Amazon and Google place AI at the center of their business, faster computing for AI applications is indeed a welcomed development.\n\nFor IBM, in-memory computing is key. \u201cMemory has so far been viewed as a place where we merely store information. But in this work, we conclusively show how we can exploit the physics of these memory devices to also perform a rather high-level computational primitive,\" lead author Abu Sebastian said. \"The result of the computation is also stored in the memory devices, and in this sense the concept is loosely inspired by how the brain computes.\u201d", "output": "IBM researchers have claimed that their computational memory technology can make computers run 200 times more efficiently in terms of speed and energy. Experiments using phase change memory (PCM) devices\u00a0made of germanium antimony telluride alloy placed between two electrodes, showed the technology was suitable for the high-level needs of computing systems that test applications in artificial intelligence. The research's lead author, Abu Sebastian, said\u00a0the concept was \"loosely inspired by how the brain computes\" and\u00a0memorises simultaneously.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Android Pay seen testing card purchase history feature \n Keeping track of your purchases isn\u2019t always easy. That\u2019s why services such as PayPal which can notify you of every purchase or deposit can really come in handy. Android Pay does something similar, but only when you pay with your phone. Now, it\u2019s looking like the service might be able to pull transaction history from your card(s) regardless of if it was on your phone or not.\n\nAs noted on Twitter, the Android Pay app appears to be testing out a new feature for \u201cFull Purchase History.\u201d In short, this new feature pulls your entire transaction history from your card and displays it right alongside Android Pay purchases.\n\nThis new setting on Android Pay appears to only work for specific cards, though. In this first case, it works with an American Express Cash card, and other users with American Express cards are reporting the same on Reddit, even in the UK.\n\nPresumably, adding this functionality will also give users the ability to receive notifications for purchases with that card through Android Pay, just like purchases made with the phone, but that has not been fully confirmed yet.\n\nCheck out 9to5Google on YouTube for more news:", "output": "Android is said to be testing a Full Purchase History feature on its payments app, offering users the ability to see a full transaction history for cards\u00a0even if those payments\u00a0were not made with\u00a0Android Pay. Only certain cards appear to be compatible at present, including American Express. The added functionality is also expected to\u00a0give users notifications of purchases made on their card.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian edtech Meritnation to scale its online learning tools \n With The Latest Funding, Info Edge Now Holds 66% Stake In The Edtech Startup\n\nDelhi-based elearning platform Meritnation has raised $5.8 Mn (INR 38 Cr) from online classifieds platform Info Edge, which runs job portal Naukri.com, real estate site 99acres and Jeevansaathi. As per its BSE filings, Info Edge has pumped over $20.7 Mn (INR 134 Cr) in the online education startup across three rounds so far.\n\nWith the latest funding round, the parent of Naukri.com now holds a 66% stake in Meritnation.\n\nOf the newly-raised capital, around $5 Mn will be spent on paying off some of Meritnation\u2019s debt on its books, states the filing. The remaining amount will be infused towards scaling the startup\u2019s daily operations.\n\nMeritnation: Integrating Technology To Make Education More Accessible\n\nFounded in 2007 by Pavan Chauhan and Ritesh Hemrajani, the elearning platform targets K-12 students across various educational boards like CBSE, ICSE and State Boards such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Owned by Applect Learning Systems, the platform which can be accessed on iOS and Android platforms, has study related apps like Tables App, IIT JEEnius Mobile Apps to make studies easy and interactive for students.\n\nAt present, the company claims to have over 9.5 Mn active users across nine countries, up from 9 Mn students in 2015. It also has a repository of more than 14,000 animated videos, tests, homework help forums and interactive exercises.\n\nMeritnation Live, which was made available in 2014 for students of grades 6 to 12, offers online classes for JEE and AIPMT entrance exams. Through this platform, Meritnation avails IIT professionals to teach the students along with tracking every student\u2019s progress closely and displaying personalised recommendations. Complying with its delivery of personalised and engaging content model, the company had rolled out Meritnation Junior in April 2014.\n\nAround the same time, the elearning platform launched a franchise model at 6 offline centres in Chandigarh and Lucknow. The model was originally tested in 2012 when Meritnation opened a centre in Gurgaon and subsequently launching four more centres in Jaipur two years later.\n\nEarlier in June 2015, the elearning startup secured funding of $4 Mn from Info Edge. At the time, founder and CEO of Meritnation told Inc42 that the funds would be utilised to ramp up the technology for Meritnation Live and increase the number of employees in the organisation.\n\nInfo Edge: An Overview\n\nIncorporated in May 1995, Info Edge is the parent company of a number of online portals, including 99acres, Naukri.com, matrimony classifieds Jeevansathi.com, and online education platform Shiksha.com. It currently boasts a workforce of more than 4,000 employees in 62 offices across 43 cities in India.\n\nAs per the company\u2019s latest filings, it has seen around 7% increase in operational revenues in the second quarter of FYY 2017-18 to $34.7 Mn (INR 225.2 Cr) from $32.4 Mn (INR 209.9 Cr) in Q2 2016.\n\nOver the years, the investment arm of Info Edge has backed several early-stage Internet-based startup ventures. Among them are Zomato, Mydala, PolicyBazaar, HappilyUnmarried, VCare, Unnati, and Goa-headquartered Vacation Labs. In December 2015, Canvera Digital secured $2.2 Mn (INR 15 Cr) funding from Info Edge.\n\nLater in January of the same year, the company invested $1 Mn software services provider, Rare Media, in exchange for a 35% stake. The move, as per reports, was aimed at bolstering the growth and expansion of Info Edge\u2019s subsidiary 99acres.\n\nOnline gifting platform HappilyUnmarried received a $740K funding boost from Info Edge in July last year. A couple of months later, the company poured $2.3 Mn into Bengaluru-based online photography startup Canvera. In December, phone directory app Diro Labs raised $147K (INR 1 Cr) through optionally convertible cumulative redeemable preference shares from Info Edge.\n\nThis year in April, the company acquired AmbitionBox to enhance the overall experience of Naukri users. Two months later, in July, online beauty services provider BigStylist raised $1.2 Mn (INR 8 Cr) in a funding round led by Info Edge. Most recently, in the month of September, Info Edge invested another $1.3 Mn (INR 8.6 Cr) in Canvera Digital Technologies.\n\nOnline education in India will see approximately 8x growth in the next five years, says a recent report by Google, KPMG. This will have a significant impact on the edtech market that has a potential to touch $1.96 Bn by 2021 from where it stands now i.e. $247 Mn.\n\nAs per Inc42 Datalabs Report for H1 2017, edtech took the fourth spot with 23 deals in the sector. Armed with the $5.8 Mn funding from Info Edge, elearning startup Meritnation is gearing up to compete with a number of emerging players in this segment including BYJU\u2019S, Unacademy, Coursera, UCLID, Avagmah, iProf, Simplilearn and Englishleap.", "output": "Indian elearning platform Meritnation has raised $5.8m\u00a0in investment from Info Edge, a digital classifieds platform. Info Edge has invested\u00a0more than $20.7m\u00a0into Meritnation through three investment rounds, and now owns\u00a0a 66% stake in the company. The funds will be spent on resolving some of Meritnation's\u00a0debt, with the remainder dedicated to extending the start-up's operations. The Meritnation platform reportedly has more than 9.5 million active users in nine countries, providing 14,000 tests, homework help forums, digital exercises and animated videos to help students.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Jaguar Land Rover cautious about YouTube after misplaced ads \n Jaguar Land Rover is coming around to the idea that appearing next to fewer but more relevant videos on YouTube won\u2019t come cheap.\n\nThe irrelevancy of ad placements on the video site is a pressing issue for the car manufacturer, perhaps even more of one than its brand-safety fears. JLR isn\u2019t spending as much as it did on YouTube since it was revealed as one of the brands that had its ads misplaced on the site, but it wants to \u2014 it\u2019s just cautious about the returns from its spend there. When JLR\u2019s spending on YouTube returns to the previous levels, it will focus more on knowing where its ads run.\n\nDominic Chambers, JLR\u2019s global head of digital marketing, said if that means the brand\u2019s videos appear on a smaller pool of channels, then so be it. There\u2019s no point in a JLR ad appearing next to gaming content when those videos are mainly watched by kids, for example. It\u2019s not like TV, where a carmaker could justify a similar placement with the likelihood that an adult and their child would watch the program.\n\nChambers doesn\u2019t control JLR\u2019s media budget directly, but he does influence how it\u2019s spent, which will increasingly lead to his peers accepting that greater relevance on YouTube will cost more. In other words, through services like Google Preferred or via private programmatic exchanges, the brand is removing channels that may be brand-safe yet aren\u2019t relevant \u2014 the so-called long tail of content that would have bloated previous campaigns to maximize reach. Chambers said costs have increased when the brand bought ads on a smaller number of channels, but he believes sharper targeting and \u201ca better-quality experience\u201d offset the additional expense.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s lots of data to prove that if you\u2019re in a relevant context, then you have much higher engagement and action,\u201d he said.\n\nThere aren\u2019t many brands with the resources to sift through thousands of YouTube URLs, monitoring what is uploaded to the channels they want to appear on. It is difficult but possible, using technology, to pick the specific YouTube videos you want your advertising to appear against. JLR is working with Google and analytics company OpenSlate to do this and ensure its cost-per-video rate doesn\u2019t increase too much, Chambers said.\n\nDigital agency Jellyfish set up a similar service for its own clients, and its KPIs are off the chart because it\u2019s targeting the consumer based on their viewing habits and not targeting a cookie, said Daniel Wilkinson, head of paid media at Jellyfish.\n\nYouTube is too big to avoid for a long stretch of time, and it has become a key destination for people preparing to buy a car. Like many of his peers, Chambers has pressured the business the video site to ease the tension between reach and relevance. \u201cIt was unfortunate about the [brand-safety] issues we had earlier in the year,\u201d he said, \u201cbut Google [is] putting in account-level controls [so] that as long as we can set them up globally, [that] will mean we\u2019ll be back on it.\u201d\n\nJLR\u2019s future on YouTube is likely a key talking point in its current media review. While its incumbent media agency Mindshare buys YouTube inventory in the U.K., a significant chunk of its European spend on the site goes through DBM directly. Whether JLR sticks with Mindshare or looks elsewhere hasn\u2019t been announced, though Chambers said its contract will change to create a more transparent model. JLR started the review just days after The Times of London revealed that ads for a number of major brands, including JLR, had appeared on extremist videos or sites.\n\nImage courtesy of Jaguar Land Rover", "output": "Jaguar Land Rover is cautious about the placement of its video ads on YouTube following the revelation that one was misplaced on unfavourable sites. The car maker plans to continue its level of spend on YouTube, but will focus on placement over density. However, greater relevance in ad placement will be more costly, as services such as Google Preferred or programmatic exchanges will need to be tailored to include only channels that are considered safe. JLR will use Google and analytics firm OpenSlate to select which channels it uses.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Russian entrepreneurs heat home with bitcoin mining rig \n Two entrepreneurs have figured out how to heat their homes for free: bitcoin mining.\n\nBitcoin transactions require a lot of processing power, which creates a lot of heat. So Ilya Frolov and Dmitry Tolmachyov built a wooden cottage in the Russian Siberian town of Irkutsk, and they\u2019re heating it with two bitcoin mines. The men pocket about $430 a month from bitcoin transactions, while keeping the 20 square meter space warm.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWatch our video to see how the heating system works.", "output": "Two Siberian bitcoin miners have devised a way to use the energy generated by their bitcoin mining operation to heat a small cottage in the town of Irkutsk. The prototype 215 sq ft house, built by Ilya Frolov and Dmitry Tolmachyov, includes two rigs, which warm\u00a0liquid for radiators inside the structure. Tolmachyov, who earns around $430 per\u00a0month from mining, hopes that more homes in the\u00a0region can be heated in this manner.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Japan's Tech Bureau backed by Shinsei Bank \n Tech Bureau, a leading Japanese blockchain and cryptocurrency company has announced that Shinsei Bank, a Japanese bank that provides a full range of financial products and services, and OKWAVE, the first and largest Q&A social community in Japan with bitcoin support and over 40 million users, have invested in Tech Bureau.\n\nThe brief history of Tech Bureau has seen the company launch the Zaif cryptocurrency exchange in the spring of 2015, its private blockchain product mijin swiftly followed in the fall of 2015. In 2016, Zaica, a token issuance service for corporations, and Zaif started to handle tokens as an exchange.\n\nIn August 2017, Tech Bureau announced its next development phase with the launch of COMSA, an integrated ICO solution and platform for enterprises that want to adopt blockchain technology and launch an ICO at the same time. The first token for sale on the platform is the COMSA (CMS) token issued by Tech Bureau itself, ending November 6, 2017 and which has sold USD $90 million so far.\n\nThe COMSA concept was conceived more than 2 years ago, and now it represents the ultimate integration of all products and services that Tech Bureau has to offer. Tech Bureau received $15M from Japan\u2019s largest VC JAFCO in September, this was on top of a $9 million commitment in August from VCs Nippon Technology Venture Partners, FISCO Capitals, and ABBALab Inc. to support COMSA.\n\nThe investment from Shinsei and OKWAVE will go to support not just COMSA, but will help boost the ecosystem of Tech Bureau\u2019s other businesses.\n\nINVESTMENT BREAKDOWN:\n\nShinsei Bank \u2013 USD $460,500 OKWAVE \u2013 USD $307,000 (second investment)\n\nFUNDRAISING PURPOSE:\n\nExpand business and increase headcount.\n\nExpand and improve Zaif cryptocurrency exchange infrastructure and services\n\nBuild \u201cmijin CloudChain,\u201d BaaS (blockchain as a service) cloud service\n\nExpand mijin licensing and mijin CloudChain sales worldwide\n\nGrow its US, European, and Asian business bases\n\nInvest in new businesses, M&A\n\nMerge existing financial services with Tech Bureau\u2019s technology and services\n\nProceeds from the sales of CMS tokens on COMSA will be invested separately in system development of COMSA itself to expand its services and operations as outlined in the COMSA white paper.", "output": "Tech Bureau, the Japanese company behind the Zaif cryptocurrency exchange, has secured more than $760,000 in investment from Shinsei Bank and Q&A social community OKWAVE, following investments totalling $24m in August and September. The funds will be used to grow Tech Bureau's European and Asian presences and invest in new businesses, among other projects. Tech Bureau recently closed its inaugural token sale on its COMSA integrated platform, raising over $90m.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Study shows negligible benefits of blood as anti-aging treatment \n Young Blood\n\nThe results of a study investigating whether blood plasma taken from young people can reverse the effects of Alzheimer's disease are in. Unfortunately, it seems that the technique doesn't hold as much potential as many had hoped, yet the scientists behind the work are quick to note that the research is still in its nascent stages.\n\nWithin this study, a group of elderly people with Alzheimer's disease were given weekly injections of blood plasma from people aged between 18 and 25. But, while some improvements were recorded, the effects of the treatment were not significantly pronounced.\n\nThe participants of the study did not perform better on objective cognitive tests taken after the had received injections for an extended period of time. However, a survey of caregivers indicated that there were improvements in terms of their ability to carry out everyday tasks like preparing food or traveling.\n\nThe idea of injecting plasma to combat the effects of aging comes from a 19th-century concept that's now referred to as parabiosis. In its earliest iteration, the skin of old and young mice was stitched together to allow blood to circulate freely between the two animals.\n\nIn recent years, the technique has been revisited, and it was demonstrated to revitalize the liver, brain, and muscles of older mice. This prompted a search for the molecules that were causing these improvements.\n\nPeer Review\n\nDoubt has been cast on this study because of the way that the treatment's effectiveness was tested. Initially, one group of patients was set to be given a saline placebo, and another would be injected with plasma. After several weeks, they would switch \u2013 but this plan was thrown out after several participants dropped out.\n\nInstead, the remaining participants were all given plasma for four weeks, and this was compared to the placebo effect from the first study. Between the study results and the fact that caregivers might be predisposed to observe improvements where there are none, it's being argued that the study is far from conclusive.\n\nAlkahest, the technology company that bankrolled the study, finds the results encouraging. Further trials are set to be carried out to determine whether or not the treatment is at all viable.\n\nAnother study will take this a step further and only use the part of blood plasma that contains growth factors, which has proven to be more effective in animal testing. There are also early plans to test a larger number of Alzheimer's sufferers, including people with a more severe form of the condition, with a variety of different dosages.\n\nThere are still questions that need to be answered before we know how effective plasma injections really are. Despite this and the inconclusive and seemingly ineffectual results, the procedure is already being offered commercially, with prices as high as $8,000 for a two-day course of treatment.", "output": "High hopes for reversing the symptoms of Alzheimer's have been dashed after\u00a0the first study investigating the effects of blood plasma from young people on\u00a0patients ended inconclusively. Participants in the study\u00a0performed no better on cognitive tests taken after receiving\u00a0plasma injections for an extended period of time. However, a survey of caregivers indicated that there were improvements in patients' ability\u00a0to carry out everyday tasks, like preparing food or travelling. Despite the inconclusive results, the treatment is being offered commercially, at prices as high as $8,000 for two days.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK seabed litter increases 158%\u00a0in a year \n We use some essential cookies to make this website work. We\u2019d like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services. We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services.\n\nYou have accepted additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time.\n\nYou have rejected additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time.", "output": "The amount of litter on the seabed around the UK has risen dramatically, according to data from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. Last year saw an average of 358 items of litter per square kilometre of seabed, a rise of 158% from 2015 and of 222% from 1992-94. Of the litter, nearly 78% was plastic, while 6.3% was rubber and 2.7% was metal. The 2016 rise was the first after three years of decreasing figures. The production of plastic is expected to double over the next two decades.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Roman launches platform that targets\u00a0men's health \n Roman, an online men's health platform initially focused on erectile dysfunction, launched this week with $3.1 million in funding. General Catalyst led the round, with participation from Initialized Capital, Box Group, and Slow Ventures. The company also announced a number of angel investors including Casper CEO Philip Krim, Bark CEO Matt Meeker, WayUp CEO Liz Wessel, Code Academy CEO Zach Sims, former Behance CEO Scott Belsky, and PillPack CEO TJ Parker.\n\nThe idea behind the company is that the stigma behind erectile dysfunction keeps many men from seeking any treatment, or drives them to seek treatment outside of the healthcare system. This is dangerous because ED can be an early warning sign of diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, or depression. An online platform allows men to seek discreet treatment they might be more comfortable with.\n\n\"Basically, having ED is your body\u2019s check engine light turning on,\u201d Zachariah Reitano, Roman CEO and cofounder, said in a statement. \u201cA check engine light that\u2019s so highly stigmatized \u2014 men rarely admit it, even to their own doctor, which means they wait until things become worse.\u201d\n\nReitano shared in a medium post that he experienced ED himself as a teenager and it turned out to be an early symptom of a dangerous heart condition.\n\nRoman's offering includes an asynchronous telehealth assessment that patients fill out online with the help of a chatbot. Then a physician reviews those questions and follows up if necessary. Many times users will be prescribed ED meds, which can then be shipped discreetly to the patient and refilled automatically. Patients can chat with a pharmacist or medical team at any time. Roman charges $15 for the initial consultation, as well as charging for any medication. The company does not accept insurance and the service will initially be available only in New York, California, Pennsylvania, and Florida.\n\nThe company is also committed to encouraging patients to see a doctor to discover the underlying causes of their ED, and will make it easy to forward information to providers.\n\nReitano doesn't plan for ED to be Roman's entire business in the long run. He hopes to discover what other conditions are disproportionately affecting men because men's reluctance to seek care and gradually add those to the platform.\n\n\"First, Roman will strive to be the easiest, safest, and most affordable way to receive treatment for erectile dysfunction. If we don\u2019t accomplish this, we will never be able to do anything else,\" he wrote. \"If we are fortunate to take the first step, we will look to our patients. Roman exists to serve our patients. The data shows that many conditions are highly correlated with ED but we don\u2019t yet know which conditions our patients most need us to help them treat. We will progress adaptively and continue to be an important part of their healthcare journey.\"", "output": "Roman has gone live with its men's health platform, after securing\u00a0$3.1m in funding from General Catalyst, among others. Roman CEO Zachariah Reitano said the platform, initially available in California, Florida, New York and Pennsylvania, aims to erase the stigma about erectile dysfunction, which is sometimes\u00a0a symptom of more serious health issues. The platform's chatbot helps users fill out a telehealth assessment form, which is them checked by a doctor, with any medication required discreetly mailed to patients. Reitano said the company hopes to cover other conditions that disproportionately affect men.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google's AI can be tricked into misidentifying 3D objects \n From self-driving cars to smart surveillance cams, society is slowly learning to trust AI over human eyes. But although our new machine vision systems are tireless and ever-vigilant, they\u2019re far from infallible. Just look at the toy turtle above. It looks like a turtle, right? Well, not to a neural network trained by Google to identify everyday objects. To Google\u2019s AI it looks exactly like a rifle.\n\nThis 3D-printed turtle is an example of what\u2019s known as an \u201cadversarial image.\u201d In the AI world, these are pictures engineered to trick machine vision software, incorporating special patterns that make AI systems flip out. Think of them as optical illusions for computers. You can make adversarial glasses that trick facial recognition systems into thinking you\u2019re someone else, or can apply an adversarial pattern to a picture as a layer of near-invisible static. Humans won\u2019t spot the difference, but to an AI it means that panda has suddenly turned into a pickup truck.\n\nImagine tricking a self-driving car into seeing stop signs everywhere\n\nResearching ways of generating and guarding against these sorts of adversarial attacks is an active field of research. And although the attacks are usually strikingly effective, they\u2019re often not too robust. This means that if you rotate an adversarial image or zoom in on it a a little, the computer will see past the pattern and identify it correctly. Why this 3D-printed turtle is significant, though, is because it shows how these adversarial attacks work in the 3D world, fooling a computer when viewed from multiple angles.\n\n\u201cIn concrete terms, this means it's likely possible that one could construct a yard sale sign which to human drivers appears entirely ordinary, but might appear to a self-driving car as a pedestrian which suddenly appears next to the street,\u201d write labsix, the team of students from MIT who published the research. \u201cAdversarial examples are a practical concern that people must consider as neural networks become increasingly prevalent (and dangerous).\u201d\n\nLabsix calls their new method \u201cExpectation Over Transformation\u201d and you can read their full paper on it here. As well as creating a turtle that looks like a rifle, they also made a baseball that gets confused for an espresso and numerous non-3D-printed tests. The classes they chose were at random.\n\nThe group tested their attack against an image classifier developed by Google called Inception-v3. The company makes this freely available for researchers to tinker with, and although it\u2019s not a commercial system, it\u2019s not far from one. Although this attack was not tested against other machine vision software, to date there\u2019s no single fix for adversarial images. When contacted by The Verge, Google did not offer a comment on the paper, but a spokesperson directed us to a number of recent papers outlining ways to foil adversarial attacks that have been published by the company\u2019s researchers.\n\nAn example from labsix of how fragile adversarial attacks often are. The image on the left has been altered so that it\u2019s identified as guacamole. Tilting it slightly means it\u2019s identified once more as a cat.\n\nThe research comes with some caveats too. Firstly, the team\u2019s claim that their attack works from \u201cevery angle\u201d isn\u2019t quite right. Their own video demos show that it works from most, but not all angles. Secondly, labsix needed access to Google\u2019s vision algorithm in order to identify its weaknesses and fool it. This is a significant barrier for anyone who would try and use these methods against commercial vision systems deployed by, say, self-driving car companies. However, other adversarial attacks have been shown to work against AI sight-unseen, and, according to Quartz, the labsix team is working on this problem next.\n\nAdversarial attacks like these aren\u2019t, at present, a big danger to the public. They\u2019re effective, yes, but in limited circumstances. And although machine vision is being deployed more commonly in the real world, we\u2019re not yet so dependent on it that a bad actor with a 3D-printer could cause havoc. The problem is that issues like this exemplify how fragile some AI systems can be. And if we don\u2019t fix these problems now, they could lead to much bigger issues in the future.", "output": "Machine vision systems of all kinds are susceptible to confusing everyday objects with what a team at MIT are terming \"adversarial images\". These are objects that computers perceive as\u00a0optical illusions\u00a0and that can easily confuse an artificial intelligence (AI) system's recognition ability. For example,\u00a0a driverless car could be tricked into seeing Stop\u00a0signs everywhere. However, the team behind the adversarial image technology argue that it doesn't pose a present threat, as a working knowledge of Google's AI was required for them to be effective in confusing the system.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dutch thieves target bitcoin ATM, later realise it only has notes \n In het Brabantse plaatsje Oudenbosch hebben inbrekers een bitcoin ATM (Automatic Teller Machine) gestolen. Ze hadden hun oog bij de inbraak in brasserie Tivoli speciaal gericht op de bitcoinautomaat, want verder is er niks meegenomen.\n\nMaar ze hebben er helemaal niks aan, want fysieke bitcoins bestaan natuurlijk niet.\n\nDirecteur Herman Vissia van ByeleX dat de automaat heeft geplaatst zegt tegen Omroep Brabant: \u201cEen hele domme actie van de dieven. De bitcoin kan tegenwoordig dan wel veel waard zijn, de digitale valuta zit niet in het apparaat, maar staat in de cloud.\u201d\n\nAls de dieven het apparaat aansluiten op internet wordt het direct herkend, dus ook in die zin kunnen ze er niks mee. Wel zat er nog wat briefgeld in de automaat.\n\nLoodzwaar apparaat\n\nDe inbrekers hebben zich een breuk moeten tillen, want ze namen het apparaat mee inclusief de zuil waar die op staat, de voet van een oude sterrenkijker. Gezamenlijk weegt dat zo\u2019n 120 kilo.\n\nDe automaat in Oudenbosch was het allereerste bitcoinapparaat van Nederland: \"Een primeur, maar wat de inbrekers nu voor elkaar hebben gekregen is een wereldprimeur te noemen\", zegt Vissia.\n\nHij hoopt dan ook dat de bitcoin ATM nog wordt teruggevonden, zegt hij tegen BN DeStem: \"Dan leg ik nog wel uit dat ze met bitcoins wel degelijk geld kunnen verdienen, maar niet op die manier.\"\n\nDe waarde van de bitcoin is inmiddels gestegen tot boven de 7.000 dollar gestegen.", "output": "Thieves in the Dutch town of Oudenbosch recently stole the Netherlands' first-ever bitcoin automatic teller machine (ATM), believing it to be full of the virtual currency. Herman Vissia, director of ByeleX, the company which owns the ATM, said: \"when the thieves connect the device to the internet, it is recognised immediately, so they can not do anything about it\". Vissia said he hoped the machine could be recovered.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook earns $709m showing ads to ad-block users \n Facebook is said to have generated $709m of its advertising revenue from showing ads to adblock users on desktop, after implementing tamper-proof technology last year.\n\nThe $709m figure relates to Facebook\u2019s ad revenue in Q2 2017, and not the company\u2019s just-released, impressive Q3 figures. Either way, according to PageFair \u2013 despite many attempts to hack Facebook\u2019s advertising technology from the likes of Adblock Plus creator Eyeo \u2013 Facebook has managed to secure almost three quarters of a billion dollars from serving ads to people that are using adblockers.\n\nThe substantial amount generated from serving ads to adblock users is entirely from desktop, despite the large majority of Facebook\u2019s revenue shifting from desktop to mobile. I.e. mobile ad revenue represented around 88 per cent of Facebook\u2019s more than $10bn revenue in Q3 2017.\n\n\u201cAll websites can emulate this strategy. Facebook shows that websites can convert the adblock audience from a revenue threat to a revenue generator,\u201d said Johnny Ryan, head of ecosystem at PageFair.\n\nJoin us at the 2017 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony, taking place in London on Thursday 16 November, to mix with the industry's best and brightest, and raise a glass to the year's best campaigns and solutions. To find out more, and to book your place, click here.", "output": "Despite attempts to circumvent Facebook's advertising technology by the leading ad-blocking providers, the social media giant was able to generate $709m in revenue in Q2 2017 by presenting ads to ad-block users on desktop platforms. Facebook continues to see significant revenue from desktop users, despite the vast majority of its base having switched to mobile. Johnny Ryan at ad-block analysts PageFair\u00a0argues that the experience shows that other\u00a0sites can follow suit and \"convert the ad-block audience from a revenue threat to a revenue generator\u201d."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fingerprint follows kids into mobile video viewing \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nFingerprint has added more than 1,500 children\u2019s videos to its digital learning platform on mobile devices.\n\nThe San Francisco company has created a kind of virtual app library for safe kids apps and games, which are accessible on smartphones and tablets. Now it has added a bunch of videos including Animal Planet, Stuff Happens with Bill Nye, Care Bears, Inspector Gadget, Sesame Street, and Franny\u2019s Feet, among others.\n\nThis strategic move into video is in sync with the viewing habits of children under 12. A 2016 study by DHX Media/Ipsos found that 61 percent of children under 12 prefer to view video content on tablets.\n\nFingerprint has other content from partnerships with Toongoggles, Entertainment One, Tinybop, Oceanhouse Media, Treehouse (a division of Corus Entertainment/Nelvana) and iHeartRadio Family. So now its content library has more than 4,000 games, books, and videos that support learning on such topics as literacy, STEM, creativity, and more.\n\n\u201cWe are creating a powerhouse library that reflects the preferences of families today who are cutting the cord in favor of streaming and mobile options that are more cost effective and as it relates to our business, accessible to young audiences who primarily use digital devices for experiencing their favorite content,\u201d said Nancy MacIntyre, CEO of Fingerprint, in a statement. \u201cOur mission has always been to find and share the very best learning content \u2014 whether games, books or video \u2014 and these additions allow us to deliver even more robust offerings to millions of families through the distribution channels of our business partners.\u201d\n\nImage Credit: Fingerprint\n\nThe company noted that children today split their time between TV and digital screens. According to Common Sense Media\u2019s 2017 Annual Report, while the amount of time children spend on mobile devices has tripled since 2011, screen time overall for children 8 years-old and under is approximately 2.5 hours per day, almost exactly what it was that same year.\n\nFingerprint isn\u2019t wed to any single format for entertainment or learning, and so it is packaging a variety of games, videos, music and e-books from popular kids brands on its platform, which reaches consumers through subscription services or as premium content. The idea is to give safe content to parents so they can entertain and educate their kids more easily. Facebook has 300 partnerships with developers around the world.\n\nInvestors including Corus Entertainment, DreamWorks Animation, Reed Elsevier Ventures, Trinity Capital Investment, and GSV.", "output": "Child-friendly education and entertainment app firm Fingerprint has added over 1,500 children's videos to its library. Accessible from tablets and smartphones, Fingerprint content\u00a0aims to provide children with a safe digital environment. The switch to video reflects consumption habits of under 12s, of whom 61% prefer to view video content on a tablet, according to a recent DHX Media/Ipsos poll. Fingerprint's media library now holds over 4,000 games, books\u00a0and videos, supporting learning on topics like literacy, STEM and creativity. The amount of time that children spend on mobile devices has tripled since 2011.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Engagement with Facebook food videos is declining \n Facebook\u2019s pivot to video was a boon for food-content providers, leading to a flood of \u201chands-in-pans\u201d videos stuffing the News Feed. Now, engagement on food videos has been declining on Facebook, advertisers have raised their expectations, and the prices for branded food videos are largely coming down.\n\nMonthly Facebook video views at several leading food-focused publishers are either flat or have declined over the past year, according to CrowdTangle data.\n\nThat said, Facebook\u2019s algorithm still loves a hit: Through the first eight months of 2017, Facebook views of food videos with at least 100,000 views are up 43 percent year over year, according to Tubular data. Recipe videos still deliver a lot of impressions, but the sheer supply of publishers offering to shoot branded-content videos has given advertisers leverage.\n\nOne of the big struggles food-video creators face: Everything pretty much looks the same, particularly when people are whizzing past in a feed. The overhead recipe format, where a dish is assembled, step by step, in a sped-up presentation, is easily replicated. The Facebook audience\u2019s hunger for recipe videos helped a number of new media companies, including Jungle Creations, So Yummy and Render Media, pile up nine-figure monthly video view counts. Legacy publishers like Hearst and Time Inc. also got on board.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s not a significant difference between Partner A and Partner B,\u201d said Whitney Smith, digital partner at Mindshare North America. \u201cIt gives us more negotiating power.\u201d\n\nThat, in turn, has put downward pressure on prices. A separate media agency source said that publishers, citing increased competition, have lowered prices for branded overhead recipe video on a cost per view and CPM basis. Minimums on spend remain because of overhead production costs, however, the source said.\n\nOne exception is BuzzFeed\u2019s Tasty, simply because of the sheer scale of distribution it brings to the table: Seven of Tubular\u2019s top 25 food publishers are Tasty verticals. According to buyers, Tasty still commands premium rates. \u201cThey\u2019re still the most expensive option,\u201d a third agency source said. \u201cBut you get what you pay for.\u201d\n\nFor example, that agency source noted that four Tasty videos costs twice as much \u2013 $300,000 \u2013 as a program that included three videos, three pieces of written sponsored content and a batch of supporting media offered by a competitor, Tasting Table.\n\nThat third source said that other publishers are fighting for the crumbs left at Tasty\u2019s table. With the space getting crowded, food publishers are diversifying in search of new ways to make money.\n\nRender Media, which owns Cooking Panda, has moved into shows and sales of branded products. It\u2019s also looking to launch a subscription video product later in the year. Tastemade has expanded into home and travel and started getting into events.\n\nRecipe videos will remain a staple of food publishers\u2019 content diets, though. \u201c[They] will always be a large piece of what we do,\u201d said Stacey Rivera, digital content director for food at Time Inc. \u201cPeople will watch a skilled person do a skilled thing.\u201d", "output": "Engagement with food videos on Facebook has fallen, with monthly views of several leading food publishers' content remaining flat or falling, according to web analysts CrowdTangle. The increase in the number of such videos from a range of publishers has driven down advertising prices, according to industry representatives. However, views of videos with more than 100,000 viewers are up 43% YoY, and Buzzfeed's popular Tasty videos still command premium rates for advertisers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Coastal cities will fall below sea level if warming hits 3C \n Hundreds of millions of urban dwellers around the world face their cities being inundated by rising seawaters if latest UN warnings that the world is on course for 3C of global warming come true, according to a Guardian data analysis.\n\nFamous beaches, commercial districts and swaths of farmland will be threatened at this elevated level of climate change, which the UN warned this week is a very real prospect unless nations reduce their carbon emissions.\n\nData from the Climate Central group of scientists analysed by Guardian journalists shows that 3C of global warming would ultimately lock in irreversible sea-level rises of perhaps two metres. Cities from Shanghai to Alexandria, and Rio to Osaka are among the worst affected. Miami would be inundated - as would the entire bottom third of the US state of Florida.\n\nQuick Guide Why are we talking about a three-degree world? Show Why are we talking about a 3C world? The world is currently on course to heat up by 3C, according to the United Nations. That is because nations are not doing enough to reduce emissions. Climate negotiators are now discussing how to ratchet up ambitions to avoid this outcome. What happens at 3C? Harsher droughts, more extreme weather, worse disruption of food production, increased migration by climate refugees, heightened storm surges and steadily rising sea levels. That is what we know for sure, then there is the risk of feedback loops - for example the release of methane from melting permafrost - that could quickly push 3C to 6C. How quickly will oceans rise? It could take decades or centuries, but change will be locked in by a 3C temperature rise, which would extensively melt ice caps, shrink glaciers and thermally expand the oceans so many current coastlines and low-lying plains would be under sea level. Unless massive barriers or water diversions are constructed, many cities, small islands, population centres, economic hubs and iconic sights will be submerged. Imagine a map with giant chunks missing from Florida, Manhattan, Lincolnshire, Rio de Janeiro and the deltas of the Nile, Amazon, Pearl, Mekong, Ganges and Brahmaputra. How can this be avoided? National governments need to promise greater emissions cuts and enact policies to keep global warming to the more ambitious target of 1.5C or at most 2C, which they set as the goal of the Paris climate agreement. That will mean phasing out fossil fuels more quickly and ramping up effort to protect and restore forests. Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.\n\nThe Guardian has found, however, that local preparations for a 3C world are as patchy as international efforts to prevent it from happening. At six of the coastal regions most likely to be affected, government planners are only slowly coming to grips with the enormity of the task ahead - and in some cases have done nothing.\n\n\n\nThis comes ahead of the latest round of climate talks in Bonn next week, when negotiators will work on ways to monitor, fund and ratchet up national commitments to cut CO2 so that temperatures can rise on a safer path of between 1.5 and 2C, which is the goal of the Paris agreement reached in 2015.\n\n\n\nThe momentum for change is currently too slow, according to the UN Environment Programme. In its annual emissions gap report, released on Tuesday, the international body said government commitments were only a third of what was needed. Non-state actors such as cities, companies and citizens can only partly fill this void, which leaves warming on course to rise to 3C or beyond by the end of this century, the report said.\n\n\n\nThe UN\u2019s environment chief, Erik Solheim, said progress in the year since the Paris agreement entered into force has been inadequate. \u201cWe still find ourselves in a situation where we are not doing nearly enough to save hundreds of millions of people from a miserable future,\u201d he said.\n\nSouth Beach, Miami, would be mostly underwater. Photograph: Nickolay Lamm/Courtesy Climate Central\n\nNature\u2019s ability to help may also be diminishing. On Monday, the World Meteorological Organisation said concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rose last year at a record speed to reach 403.3 parts per million - a level not seen since the Pliocene era three to five million years ago.\n\n\n\nA 3C rise would lead to longer droughts, fiercer hurricanes and lock in sea-level rises that would redraw many coastlines. Depending on the speed at which icecaps and glaciers melt, this could take decades or more than a century. Colin Summerhayes of the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge said three-degrees of warming would melt polar and glacier ice much further and faster than currently expected, potentially raising sea levels by two metres by 2100.\n\nAt least 275 million city dwellers live in vulnerable areas, the majority of them in Asian coastal megacities and industrial hubs such as Shanghai, Shenzhen, Bangkok and Tokyo.\n\nJapan\u2019s second biggest city, Osaka, is projected to lose its business and entertainments districts of Umeda and Namba unless global emissions are forced down or flood defences are built up. Officials are reluctantly accepting they must now put more effort into the latter.\n\n\u201cIn the past our response was focused on reducing the causes of global warming, but given that climate change is inevitable, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), we are now discussing how to respond to the natural disasters that will follow,\u201d said Toshikazu Nakaaki of the Osaka municipal government\u2019s environment bureau.\n\nIn Miami - which would be almost entirely below sea level even at 2C warming - the sense of urgency is evident at city hall, where commissioners are asking voters to approve a \u201cMiami Forever\u201d bond in the November ballot that includes $192m for upgrading pump stations, expanding drainage systems, elevating roads and building dykes.\n\nElsewhere, there is less money for adaptation and a weaker sense of urgency. In Rio de Janeiro, a 3C rise would flood famous beaches such as Copacabana, the waterfront domestic airport, and many of the sites for last year\u2019s Olympics. But the cash-strapped city has been slow to prepare. A report compiled for Brazil\u2019s presidency found \u201csituations in which climate changes are not considered within the scope of planning\u201d.\n\nA before and after image of Candel\u00e1ria Church in Rio, Brazil, under two different temperature rise scenarios. A before and after image of Candel\u00e1ria Church in Rio, Brazil, under two different temperature rise scenarios.\n\nIn Egypt, even a 0.5m sea-level rise is predicted to submerge beaches in Alexandria and displace 8 million people on the Nile Delta unless protective measures are taken, according to the IPCC. But local activists say the authorities see it as a distant problem. \u201cAs far as I\u2019m concerned, this issue isn\u2019t on the list of government priorities,\u201d said Ahmed Hassan, of the Save Alexandria Initiative, a group that works to raise awareness of the effects of climate change on the city.\n\nThe impacts will also be felt on the economy and food production. Among the most vulnerable areas in the UK is Lincolnshire, where swaths of agricultural land are likely to be lost to the sea.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re conscious that climate change is happening and perhaps faster than expected so we are trying to mitigate and adapt to protect people and property. We can\u2019t stop it, but we can reduce the risk.\u201d said Alison Baptiste, director of strategy and investment at the UK Environment Agency. She said the measures in place should protect most communities in the near and medium term, but 50 years from now the situation will become more challenging. \u201cIf climate change projections are accurate, we\u2019re going to have to make some difficult decisions.\u201d\n\nAdditional reporting by Justin McCurry, Dom Phillips and Ruth Michaelson\n\nFollow Guardian Cities on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to join the discussion, and explore our archive here", "output": "Cities with hundreds of millions of inhabitants are at risk of being submerged by rising seawater if the United Nations\u2019 (UN) latest warning on global warming is correct, according to analysis by The Guardian. Earlier this week, the UN disclosed that the world was headed for 3C of global warming. The Guardian has analysed data from the Climate Central group of scientists to show that such a temperature increase would result in irreversible sea-level rises of up to two metres. Cities including Alexandria, Miami, Osaka, Rio and Shanghai would be among the worst affected."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Coastal cities will fall below sea level if warming hits 3C \n The UNEP Emissions Gap Report (EGR) series tracks our progress in limiting global warming well below 2\u00b0C and pursuing 1.5\u00b0C in line with the Paris Agreement. Since 2010, it has provided an annual science-based assessment of the gap between estimated future global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions if countries implement their climate mitigation pledges, and where they should be to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Each year, the report also highlights key opportunities to bridge the emissions gap, tackling a specific issue of interest. With the aim to inform the climate negotiations among UN Member States, the EGR is launched every year ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP). The EGR is co-produced by UNEP, the UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre (UNEP-CCC) and partners.", "output": "Cities with hundreds of millions of inhabitants are at risk of being submerged by rising seawater if the United Nations\u2019 (UN) latest warning on global warming is correct, according to analysis by The Guardian. Earlier this week, the UN disclosed that the world was headed for 3C of global warming. The Guardian has analysed data from the Climate Central group of scientists to show that such a temperature increase would result in irreversible sea-level rises of up to two metres. Cities including Alexandria, Miami, Osaka, Rio and Shanghai would be among the worst affected."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Criteo fears Safari's new privacy settings will hit revenues \n by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, November 2, 2017\n\nApple's new privacy settings for Safari users could negatively affect Criteo's revenue, the ad-tech company said this week in a stock filing.\n\nLast month, Apple rolled out new default settings that aim to prevent ad networks and other tech companies from tracking users. The Safari browser has long blocked cookies set by ad networks and other third parties by default. But the new settings go further by also deleting some of the cookies set directly by publishers after 30 days. The move will help prevent tracking by companies that use first-party cookies to get around Safari's long-standing block on cookies set by third parties.\n\nCriteo, known for its retargeting technology -- which serves ads to people for products they previously viewed on retail sites -- said in its most recent stock filing that it has has developed a \"solution\" that will allow the company to \"mitigate about half of the potential impact\" from Safari's new settings. But the company adds that it expects the settings \"to have a net negative impact\" on revenue (minus acquisition costs) of 8% to 10%. Criteo's revenue minus acquisition costs totaled $234 million for the third quarter.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nA coalition of online ad industry groups recently asked Apple to reconsider the new settings. \"Apple's unilateral and heavy-handed approach is bad for consumer choice and bad for the ad-supported online content and services consumers love,\" the American Association of Advertising Agencies, American Advertising Federation, Association of National Advertisers, Data & Marketing Association, Interactive Advertising Bureau and Network Advertising Initiative said in a letter sent to Apple in September.", "output": "New privacy settings in Apple's Safari browser will have a net negative impact on Criteo's revenue of up to 8% to 10%, according to projections by the global advertising technology company. The changes made by Apple aim to prevent ad networks from tracking users, so\u00a0advertising companies such as Criteo, which specialise\u00a0in personalised retargeting services, look set to be particularly affected. However, in a\u00a0recent stock filing, Criteo\u00a0claimed\u00a0to have developed a solution to\u00a0\"mitigate about half of the potential impact\". Online advertisers have\u00a0recently asked Apple to reconsider the new browser settings.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pandora blames flat ad revenues\u00a0on lack of tools for advertisers \n Gaps in Pandora\u2019s ad tech stack slowed growth in the last quarter, CEO Roger Lynch said Thursday in his first earnings call since taking the helm.\n\n\u201cOne consistent theme I\u2019ve heard from advertisers is that we don\u2019t have all of the features they need to easily transact with us,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is starting to have material impact on our revenue.\u201d\n\nRevenue at Pandora grew 9% year over year (YOY) to $360 million, missing estimates. While subscription revenues jumped 50% YOY to $84 million, ad revenues were flat at 1%, or $276 million.\n\nShares fell almost 11% to $6 in after-hours trading.\n\nPandora is struggling with declines in its listener base and a lack of the programmatic and measurement capabilities that advertisers want, Lynch said. Pandora\u2019s manual sales process has caused some advertisers to stop buying on the platform, although Lynch didn\u2019t say how many.\n\n\u201cWe know we need to invest in ad tech,\u201d Lynch said. \u201cWe need a significant upgrade to our ad technology and what we can provide advertisers. We need to become an easier company to transact with.\u201d\n\nPandora will invest in engineering resources and focus on products that automate sales, optimize ad campaigns more quickly, better measure ROI and transact programmatically, Lynch said. It will also build out a self-serve business to attract smaller local buyers.\n\n\u201cToday, if you\u2019re a $30 million advertiser or a $300 million advertiser, our [sales] process is the same,\u201d Lynch said. \u201cWe don\u2019t really address the smaller advertiser end of the market because we don\u2019t have self-service tools.\u201d\n\nDespite providing two-thirds of digital audio impressions in the market, Pandora has been notoriously slow to develop ad tech. The platform launched programmatic video for the first time this year and still doesn\u2019t sell audio inventory programmatically, although Lynch said it will do so soon. Spotify launched programmatic audio in mid-2016.\n\n\u201cBecause of the urgency, we\u2019re going to look carefully at both build vs. buy options,\u201d Lynch said. \u201cIf we\u2019re successful, we can intelligently raise ad load, increase sell-through, command premium pricing and drive revenue growth, all while protecting the listener experience.\u201d\n\nLynch said the company will do its best to fund those investments internally. Investors, however, shouldn\u2019t expect a quick return.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s nothing near-term that\u2019s going to happen on that front,\u201d Lynch said. \u201cWe\u2019ve really got some work to do there.\u201d\n\nIn addition to flat ad dollars, Pandora\u2019s losing attention from its audience in a competitive streaming environment. Total listener hours for the quarter shrank to 5.1 billion from 5.4 billion last year.\n\nTo bring listeners back, Pandora will add new forms of content like podcasts and integrate with devices such as connected cars and voice-activated systems. Pandora is already available on more than 2,000 connected devices, and listening on voice-activated devices grew 300% YOY, Lynch said.\n\n\u201cIt is essential that we grow our base of listeners,\u201d Lynch said. \u201cWe will harness our scale, distribution, data and discovery capabilities to deliver non-music content in a very unique way.\u201d\n\nPandora also hopes to draw listeners back to its platform with a better ad experience that focuses on reward-based units, such as videos that offer skips, replays and sponsored listening sessions, which reduce ad load for listeners.\n\n\u201cAll of the elements are here to do that,\u201d Lynch said. \u201cWe just need to bring them together. There\u2019s no silver bullet here that\u2019s going to come in and all of the sudden solve all these problems.\u201d", "output": "In his first earnings call since taking over, CEO Roger Lynch confirmed that Pandora's outdated tech for advertisers has resulted in slowed growth for the last quarter. While subscription revenues have jumped 50% year on year to $84m, ad revenues remained flat at 1% ($276m). \"We know we need to invest in ad tech,\" said Lynch. \"If you\u2019re a $30m advertiser or a $300m advertiser, our [sales] process is the same.\"\u00a0Lynch said Pandora will\u00a0invest in products that automate sales and optimise ads more quickly, transact programmatically and better measure ROI for advertisers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google Shopping said to show immediate returns for\u00a0SA retailers \n Google Shopping delivering in South Africa\n\nGet it right from the start\n\nThe holy grail of Google Shopping\n\nGoogle Shopping made a low-key entrance into the South African market late in 2016, with many people still not even aware of its existence. The product ads appear either directly above the regular adwords adverts or to the right of search results, and most people would not have noticed a significant difference in their browsing experience.The attraction of Google Shopping for any company that sells goods online, however, is obvious. The feature-rich ads, including pictures, descriptions, prices, and ratings works for consumers looking for everything in one place. It allows them to click through to your website and buy the goods directly from you, without any third parties involved.As local companies look hard for more measurable ways to spend their marketing money, focus on targeted digital campaigns is picking up sharply. Digital leaders at some of the more forward-thinking retailers now see Google Shopping as a strategic addition to the digital marketing bouquet.NMPi clients who are running Google Shopping campaigns have seen immediate benefits. Although an early entrant into the Google Shopping game, one local e-commerce retailer saw a 4 000% return on ad spend (ROAS) since they signed up in March.Another large retailer is seeing Google Shopping delivering 70% of its impressions week-on-week. At the moment, the conversion rate is a little lower than Search, but NMPi believes this will improve as local consumers become more familiar with the offering.These results are in line with what NMPi is seeing with its Australian clients. The Australian office benchmarked results of six clients and found that year-on-year return on investment was up 9% and revenue had jumped a significant 68% since they had initiated Google Shopping campaigns.Setup and implementation of Google Shopping campaigns are relatively painless when working with an experienced team. We ensure that we supplement Google Shopping with re-marketing on display and it\u2019s easily integrated with analytics. The latter is important as it allows us to identify top performing products.We have found that, especially for the larger retailers, it makes sense to focus on the top 1 000 performing products, for example, rather than the full 15 000 products they may have on offer.This stops the top performing products losing out on search impact because of generic bidding. Based on data, we develop a specific strategy for top performing goods and then apply a base strategy for the rest of the products, ensuring efficiency of spend and optimising return.Product feed optimisation requires you to input as many data fields about the product as possible. Descriptions, prices, and most especially product titles mean your product will be seen and clicked on ahead of your competitors. What\u2019s more, the better the quality of the feed, the smarter you can be when refining your strategies.NMPi works with technical partners, Liquidbox, to deliver Google Shopping campaigns. Working through a checklist, we can assist companies that may not have everything in place \u2013 and this happens more often than not. We have seen retailers struggle for months to get their feeds right. We can now do a same-day turnaround using FeedsUp from Liquidbox and deliver a full, working feed in 24 hours.One of the biggest challenges we are facing in South Africa is that companies are still reticent about handing over any part of what they see as their core business. They would rather try to handle all digital marketing in-house, which often results in poor delivery and, ultimately, in companies dropping Google Shopping as part of their digital offering.Evidence from international clients, meanwhile, shows that global retailers are much happier to outsource their feed management, allowing the technical professionals to work according to an agreed strategy, taking care of the finer nuances of this complex delivery and seeing results far faster.Looking forward, we believe Google Google Shopping will grow quickly in South Africa. In fact, NMPi believes that the efficacy of Google Shopping will be so significant that online retailers will soon change the way they build their websites \u2013 optimising data and designing sites with a Google Shopping-first strategy.However, with that growth will come more and more competition. There is no doubt that the early adopters will reap the rewards. There is also no doubt that companies that want to get up and running quickly, and that want to outmanoeuvre their competition, will need to know how to use data to their advantage. This will require technical insight into how to manipulate their offering on the fly.For more information, visit www.nmpidigital.com . Alternatively, connect with them on Twitter", "output": "Google Shopping in South Africa is reportedly producing four-figure return-on-investment percentages for some retail advertisers\u00a0less than a year after\u00a0the service's\u00a0introduction. Digital advertising agency NMPi predicts\u00a0the positive trend will continue in the nation, with more and more online businesses designing their sites and optimising data in line with a Google Shopping-first strategy.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Rental market growth set to outpace sales in London: Savills \n Rental growth is forecast to exceed house price growth in London, despite a glut of properties on the lettings market in London after investors scrambled to buy before the three per cent stamp duty surcharge on additional homes came in April last year.\n\nHowever, Savills says asking rents in the capital fell 3.2 per cent in the year to June 2017, compared to a 1.9 per cent rise on average across England and Wales.\n\nThe agency says rents in the capital have now stabilised. Compound growth of 17 per cent is projected from 2018 to 2022, in line with wage growth but ahead of inflation.\n\nBut it warns that the withdrawal of mortgage interest tax relief will push investors from London to higher yielding regional locations over time.\n\nIncreased rental supply there will dampen potential rental growth beyond the capital.\n\n\u201cThe rental outlook is strongest in regional cities that attract employees from high value sectors such as professional services, technology, and finance,\u201d says Savills.", "output": "London's rental market will outperform its sales sector, UK estate agency Savills forecasts. The agency predicts compound growth in the rental market from 2018 to 2022 will be 17 percent, matching forecasts for\u00a0wage growth but ahead of anticipated inflation. However, it emphasised that the outlook is strongest for cities outside of London, which are increasingly attracting\u00a0\"employees from high-value sectors such as professional services, technology, and finance\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Artist cryptograffiti spreads\u00a0word on cryptocurrency disruption \n Refine results\n\n23 products in \"Men's Shirts\"\n\nFilter by\n\nSort by Featured Best Selling Alphabetically, A-Z Alphabetically, Z-A Price, low to high Price, high to low Date, new to old Date, old to new\n\nApply\n\nClear", "output": "The pseudonymous artist and bitcoin enthusiast known as cryptograffiti is hoping to bring digital currencies to a new audience via art. The artist was the first to receive donations using a public wallet and has produced works including\u00a0the controversial \"Banker with a Conscience\"\u00a0at the New York Stock Exchange, as well as signs at ATMs\u00a0urging people to learn more about bitcoin. In an interview with Coincafe, the artist said the banking sector's accountability was most in need of disruption and called for \"more positivity and less censorship within the community\".\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Axel Springer develops traffic-light system for ad measurement \n Publishers face no shortage of dilemmas in a platform-dominated world. Bild, Axel Springer\u2019s most-read news brand, has developed a framework based on a traffic-light system for approaching its partnerships with Google, Facebook and Snapchat.\n\nThe value of each platform is assessed by comparing its performance on five parameters with that of Bild\u2019s own properties. These include brand expression, user engagement, the ability to attract new users, relative monetization (comparing the revenue per article on platforms and Bild\u2019s own properties) and the ability to sign up subscribers. Each platform is assigned red, yellow or green \u2014 with red indicating improvement is needed and green indicating good performance \u2014 for each of the criteria. During meetings with the tech platforms, this framework keeps the focus on strategic issues and clearly and easily shows when little movement has occurred regarding the parameters.\n\n\u201cWith Facebook, we said, \u2018We have five strategic areas with you, and if only three of those five lights are green, we will stop everything,'\u201d said Carsten Schwecke, chief digital officer of Axel Springer\u2019s sales house, Media Impact. \u201cWe do this power game to get things moving. Right now, we feel things are moving.\u201d\n\nIn general, publisher relationships with platforms might be improving, but Bild\u2019s framework shows there\u2019s room for growth. For Google and Facebook, organic user growth has stagnated (it will only improve if Bild pays for reach), so these lights are grayed out in Bild\u2019s framework. While Snapchat performs well on new users, engagement and brand expression, it struggles with monetization and the ability to sign up subscribers.\n\n\u201cWe thought [the monetization on Snapchat] would start stronger: It\u2019s a great product, it\u2019s hard to attract that audience, and it\u2019s an innovative ad format,\u201d said Stefan Betzold, managing director of digital at Bild.\n\nThe publisher, which was one of four Snapchat Discover launch partners in Germany in April, claims to have 3 million monthly uniques and an average watch time of 1.7 minutes on its Discover channel. Bild\u2019s Discover channel is young, so media agencies and advertising clients might need more time to get more comfortable with Snapchat and its scant analytics.\n\n\u201c[Monetization] is not where we need it to be,\u201d said Betzold. \u201cWhy should a big brand sell advertising if they don\u2019t know Discover is working? More communication, sharing best practices and case studies on how the advertising works will help. We are open as long as it\u2019s a partnership.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile, neither Facebook nor Google has reached green status for relative monetization, which includes how the platforms handle data. Bild evaluates its access to data in two categories: access to targeting data so it can better understand user behavior and access to tracking data so Bild and third-party measurement companies can understand reach.\n\nSchwecke said \u201cthere is no technical reason\u201d why Facebook can\u2019t transfer relevant consumer data to Bild\u2019s data management platform, but there is still no easy way to connect the two.\n\nAlthough Facebook has provided more analytics and ad formats for publishers using Instant Articles. For YouTube and Snapchat, publishers rely on the platform\u2019s data for reach, making it difficult to see how the platform\u2019s audience overlaps with the publisher\u2019s direct audience.\n\nNo platform is in the green for subscriptions, although Google and Facebook have shown improvement, which publishers see as being a big change in mindset for these two companies.\n\nBetzold stressed that publishers need to spend money and time testing on the platforms to improve the ecosystem, rather than simply complain about the dominance of the platforms. For Facebook Instant Articles, Bild has been testing a number of different call-to-action units that lead users to install apps or sign up for a two week-free trial to its subscription product, Bild Plus.\n\nCollectively acting while adhering to antitrust laws also gives publishers more might. Axel Springer is in talks with the Guardian and Schibsted, among others, about how to flush out ad fraud, clean up the programmatic supply chain and gain more control over their ad tech stacks.\n\n\u201c[Platforms] are coming under more pressure,\u201d said Schwecke. \u201cThere\u2019s a momentum in the market that we can use.\u201d", "output": "German newspaper Bild, which is owned by Axel Springer, has instituted a traffic light system to help it evaluate its relationships with Facebook, Snapchat and Google. It compares each platform's performance against that of its own titles, using five parameters, including monetisation and user engagement, with areas for improvement assigned red and good performance coloured green. Stefan Betzold, managing director of digital at Bild, said the system has demonstrated how much work needs to be done, with all three platforms lacking green lights for monetisation and subscriptions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Office space start-up Convene seeks $150m as it mulls fund launch \n UPDATED, Nov. 2, 7:30 p.m.: Convene, the office-space startup backed by Brookfield and the Durst Organization is looking to raise another $150 million in venture funding in a Series D round and plans to launch a property investment fund in the future.\n\nThe company\u2019s co-founder Ryan Simonetti said the firm already has \u201cverbal commitments\u201d from some existing investors for the Series D round but declined to name them. The firm has raised $119.2 million from investors to-date, most recently in a $68 million Series C round that included Brookfield, Durst, Conversion Venture Capital, ArrowMark Partners and Elysium Capital Management.\n\nFounded in 2009 as Sentry Centers and renamed Convene in 2011, the firm manages meeting rooms and common amenities in office towers. \u201cWe\u2019re running a hotel in an office building,\u201d Simonetti said. The firm, which also manages flexible office space, currently has eight locations in New York City, including an event space on the 34th floor of One World Trade Center.\n\nConvene also plans to launch a property investment fund in partnership with a private equity firm, Simonetti said. He claimed the firm has held preliminary talks with potential partners, but no deal is imminent.\n\nSign Up for the undefined Newsletter SIGN UP By signing up, you agree to TheRealDeal Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.\n\n\u201cCreating a side fund to buy properties is not on Convene\u2019s near-term roadmap, but something we are thinking about forming in the future,\u201d he said. \u201cIt would likely be used to invest alongside our landlord partners, not to be competitive with them.\u201d\n\nEarlier this year, Convene\u2019s competitor WeWork launched a real estate investment fund in partnership with Rhone Group. Last month, the firms announced their first acquisition: the Lord & Taylor flagship store in Midtown.\n\nCorrection: Convene rebranded in 2011, not 2013.", "output": "Office-space startup Convene is seeking a $150m cash injection as it looks to set up a property investment fund. Co-founder Ryan Simonetti said the company has \"verbal commitments\" from unnamed investors\u00a0willing to add to Convene's\u00a0$119.2m of capital already raised from the likes of Brookfield and Elysium Capital Management. Simonetti said that while\u00a0talks on setting up a fund with a private equity partner\u00a0had begun, no deal was imminent.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Buy to Let Club, Landbay speed lending for new London\u00a0building \n Earlier this week, Landbay and Buy to Let Club completed lending to a new building in Southgate, a suburban area of north London, in under two months. The initial case was reportedly submitted on the broker portal by Buy to Let Club on August 24th.\n\nAccording to Mortgage Introducer, the lending was to an SPV, who owns seven other properties, with 75% LTV plus product fee added to the loan so that 76.31% of gross loan was the final deal. It also included an ICR of 125.55% at pirate on the gross loan amount.\n\nSpeaking about the deal and Landbay collaboration, Ying Tan, managing director at Buy to Let Club, stated:\n\n\u201cProviding an exceptional service is at the heart of everything we do at Buy to Let Club. We work hard to develop relationships with lenders who appreciate and share these values and are delighted by the speed and efficiency shown by Landbay in this and other cases we have placed with them. Their ability to make things happen quickly makes all the difference when time is of the essence and is certainly a stand-out factor for us when deciding which lender to use.\u201d\n\nPaul Brett, Managing Director of Intermediaries at Landbay, added:\n\n\u201cWhilst this case is exemplary, a quick turnaround is not uncommon for Landbay. We\u2019ve worked to leverage our cutting-edge technologies to deliver streamlined solutions to these more complex cases.\u201d\n\nBack in September, Landbay reported it saw a total of \u00a36.31 million lent across 31 mortgages. The news of that month\u2019s success came after the online lender raised over \u00a32.4 million through its latest equity crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs. The lender was granted ISA Manager Status by HMRC and launched its propers-backed ISA earlier this summer.", "output": "A collaboration between broker Buy to Let Club and peer-to-peer lender Landbay has resulted in the completion of lending within two months for\u00a0a new building in the London suburb of Southgate. Buy to Let Club MD\u00a0Ying Tan\u00a0was quoted as being \"delighted by the speed and efficiency shown by Landbay in this case\". Mortgage Introducer reported that the loan, which represented 76.31% of the value of the building, was made to a company set up especially for the deal.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow appoints Paul Moore as managing director for the North West \n Redrow has appointed former Kier Living and Southdale director Paul Moore as its new managing director for the North West, replacing John Grime who joined Anwyl Homes in April.\n\nMoore will be based at Redrow\u2019s North West office at Daresbury Park near Warrington, and will cover Redrow\u2019s developments in Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, and North Wales.\n\nHe will replace John Grime, who left Redrow after 25 years in April to head up Anwyl Homes\u2019 newly-established Lancashire division.\n\nAnwyl Homes has since hired two more executives from Redrow to help grow the Lancashire division.\n\nRedrow\u2019s North West business is delivering 3,000 new homes across two garden villages in Woodford, and Ledsham in Cheshire, where the housebuilder secured detailed planning consent for 450 homes in March this year.\n\nThe housebuilder also plans to launch two projects in Nantwich and Congleton in its current financial year.\n\nMoore said: \u201cRedrow NW has an enviable land bank, including several large-scale new homes developments with considerable units in the pipeline.\n\n\u201cMy focus is on managing this strong position to bring these and other schemes through the planning process and to deliver more award-winning homes and create new communities for our customers.\u201d\n\nLast month, Redrow was announced as Oldham Council\u2019s construction partner for its Counthill School regeneration site, beating rival bidders Barratt, Countryside Properties, and Willmott Partnership Homes.", "output": "UK housebuilder Redrow has appointed Paul Moore as managing director for the North West office. Moore, formerly of Kier Living, will be based at Redrow's Daresbury Park bureau, near Warrington, and will cover developments including more than 3,000 homes across Cheshire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and North Wales.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese companies back government plan for more city rentals \n News in other languages on CHINA VANKE CO., LTD.", "output": "Alipay and property developer China Vanke are among the companies throwing their weight behind the Chinese house rental sector, set to be worth CNY4.2tn ($630bn) by 2030. The initiative, which aims to cool the country's overheated house-buying market, includes a recently introduced policy from Beijing addressing some of the obstacles to renting, including\u00a0tenants' rights and living conditions. In addition, at least 10 cities have been allocated land to build rental properties, but analysts have warned the rental sector will require sustained support from the government to fully develop.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New York-based Islamic robo-adviser to launch in UAE \n One of the world\u2019s first Sharia-compliant \u201crobo advisers\u201d plans to start operations in the UAE in the next fortnight, as it looks to a US$2 million funding boost this week from the Dubai venture capital firm Beco Capital.\n\nNew York digitally automated investment adviser Wahed Invest launched in the US five months ago following a two-year incubation. Its chief executive Junaid Wahedna said the company was in the process of moving its senior management to a new office in Dubai it hopes will become the company\u2019s new global headquarters.\n\nWahed Invest seeks to capitalise on pent-up demand for Islamic investment services among low to middle-income investors across the Middle East and North Africa (Mena). Subject to local approvals, the US securities and exchange commission (SEC) regulated company expects to start regional operations by mid-Nov\u00adember, focusing initially on the UAE.\n\nThe news is a coup for this country, which is striving to become a global hub for the financial technology, or fintech sector, which is seen as a key driver of economic growth.\n\n____________\n\nRead more:\n\nAnother victory for robots as Hong Kong Exchange floor closes\n\nWhat drives the \"robot\" fund that just can't stop buying?\n\nSaudi Arabia entertains world's business chiefs with robots and future cities\n\n____________\n\nFinancial free zones across the Emirates, including Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), have published fintech regulatory frameworks and developed strategies to lure fintech start-ups and related businesses to the UAE.\n\nRobo-advisers offer automated, low-cost, investment and wealth management services via digital platforms. The industry is relatively nascent and exists predominantly in the US and Canada, where Betterment \u2013 the biggest robo-adviser with an estimated $10 billion of assets under management \u2013 and Wealthfront are the best-known examples. Others include Schwab, Vanguard and TradeKing.\n\nGlobal assets under management by robo-advisors are expected to grow by 68 per cent annually to $2.2 trillion by 2020, according to a 2015 report by consultancy AT \u00adKearney, and the industry is set to transform the investment management business \u2013 and wider banking industry \u2013 with its low-fees, low-overheads model.\n\nWahed Invest claims to be the world\u2019s first Islamic robo-adviser in operation at present. The Malaysia private wealth management firm Farringdon Group said in June it would launch a Sharia-compliant robo-adviser, Algebra, later this year, but there is no such outfit in the Mena region.\n\n\u201cOur target for ethical, Sharia robo-advisory is the younger demographic, 25-35 years old, digitally savvy and educated millennials,\u201d said Mr Wahedna.\n\n\u201cSo when you look at the figures, the Mena region is one of the best places to be \u2013 especially when you look at the growth rates of internet penetration, it\u2019s absolutely perfect for us and we\u2019re going where nobody has gone before.\u201d\n\nUnlike conventional wealth managers, which require clients to have a minimum saving of $100,000 or more, Wahed Invest asks for a minimum of just $100 to enable it to tap into a broader customer base.\n\nMr Wahedna said he believed the company could grow much larger through operating in Mena. \u201cThere are 3 million Muslims in the US; in the Mena region there are 400 million, so you can see the scale of growth possible.\n\n\u201cThe numbers in the US are bigger because they are higher income clients, so the average account size [in Mena] will be smaller. However, the total numbers should more than make up for that,\u201d he said.\n\nHe said that, three months after launching in the US, \u00adWahed Invest had already secured 1,000 clients, the same as Betterment and Wealth Front had acheived within a year. Wahed Invest plans to have 20 people in Dubai within the next month, six of whom are from its US management team, including Mr Wahedna and the company\u2019s chief technology officer.\n\nThe VC firm Beco Capital will this week announce the $2m funding injection in Wahed Invest, in addition to Wahed\u2019s latest $5m Series A fundraising round. Wahed also had an initial $2m seed funding for launch.\n\n\u201cThis is a very large series A ticket for us \u2013 not the biggest we\u2019ve ever made, but a sizeable cheque,\u201d said Dany Farha, the chief executive and managing partner of Beco.\n\n\u201cWe did this because it\u2019s a Sharia-compliant robo-advisory. There\u2019s nothing like this in the world.\u201d", "output": "Wahed Invest, a New York-based robo-adviser which offers a Sharia-compliant investment service, is set to launch in the UAE after receiving additional funding. The firm scored $2m from Dubai-based Beco Capital, which\u00a0It will use to launch in the Middle East within the next two weeks, according to reports. The robo-adviser focuses on low- to mid-income investors and would reportedly be the first such platform\u00a0introduced in the region.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ETFs likely to cause a crash: Baillie Gifford exec \n Baillie Gifford partner and fund manager Charles Plowden has condemned exchange traded funds as \u201cdumb money\u201d and warned they are likely to lead to another crash like the one seen in the latest global financial crisis.\n\nThe manager of one of Baillie Gifford\u2019s flagship funds, the \u00a31.5bn Monks investment trust, compared index funds with the complex packaged trading instruments which were missold before the crisis 10 years ago.\n\nSpeaking at a conference in Edinburgh attended by Money Marketing, Plowden said investors are blindly buying ETFs without knowing what they contain.\n\nHe said: \u201cOver the last five years we have seen there are more indices on the American stockmarkets than there are American stocks in the whole US stockmarket.\n\n\u201cThe thing an ETF most closely resembles to me is when the industry came out with collateralised debt obligations and all of these abilities to package dodgy mortgages into triple A-rated bonds which were a statistical construct sold to people as a safe investment and no one knew or cared what was in it. And look at how that ended.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no interest [in what is in an ETF] because things are going to be there for only three months. Some ETFs turn over once a week. They don\u2019t have time to be interested in the companies they are in. We tend to think of these index funds as dumb money, they are non-thinking money.\u201d\n\nIndex funds make up around 30 per cent of the US market, a statistic that makes it \u201ctroubling\u201d for the likes of Baillie Gifford to justify active management, said Plowden.\n\nHowever, he argued active managers will be the survivors if ETFs crash, since this will create pricing inefficiency in the market.\n\nHe said: \u201cI haven\u2019t spent time to see how ETFs are structured, I am just observing that there is an enormous industry within the finance area and I suspect it is the same investment bankers that came up with CDOs in 2004.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019ve found a new bunch of suckers to suck up and they are all from investment banks. It is not contributing to anything to the wider economy.\u201d\n\nPlowden argued index funds are unfairly categorised as investments as ETFs have a built-in ability to buy and sell shares quickly and on a daily basis.\n\nHe said: \u201cA definition that we would buy of investing is \u2018the careful selection and long-term ownership of value created businesses\u2019. That is what investing is. It\u2019s backing successful businesses and then living off that cashflow and dividends for the next 30 years. So the selection and the time periods are absolutely vital to that.\n\n\u201cWhereas passive investing doesn\u2019t know what\u2019s in the package, and the main appeal of it is that it is cheap to get in and out of the package, which implies that there is going to be a lot of trading in and out, so almost by definition it is trading not investing.\u201d\n\nIn May, Baillie Gifford adopted a tiered-based fee system on a number of its largest investment trusts in response to the FCA\u2019s asset management market study. This means as the funds increase in size, fees will decrease.\n\nIn the case of Monks\u2019s fund, fees will reduce to 0.33 per cent on assets over \u00a3750m, while below this amount annual management fees will remain at 0.45 per cent.\n\nPlowden argued a problem with index trackers is that many ETFs might hold stocks that have performed well in the past but might see more disruptions in the future.\n\nHe said those ETFs that follow the US market are more exposed to financial sectors, which are a quarter of the global index, and are being disrupted by financial technology firms.", "output": "A senior executive at Baillie Gifford has sounded off against exchange-traded funds, saying the products will likely lead to a market crash. Charles Plowden, who manages the firm's flagship Monk Investment Trust, likened ETFs to collateralised debt obligations\u00a0mis-sold prior to the global financial crisis of 2008. Investors didn't care what was held within those offerings, and few are paying attention to what's in their ETFs today, said Plowden. An ETF-driven crash could spell good news for active managers, he added.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HSBC plans holistic robo-advice product \n BI Intelligence\n\nThis story was delivered to BI Intelligence \"Fintech Briefing\" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.\n\nHSBC's head of retail wealth, Dean Butler, provided his perspective on automated advice, and the bank's plans for new products in the area, at the UK Robo-Advice Innovation Forum on Wednesday, attended by BI Intelligence.\n\nButler believes there are both positives and negatives associated with current automated investment products:\n\nOn the plus side, current products are affordable; easily accessible thanks to their digital format; and often educational, in that firms offering the solutions take pains to provide tailored marketing materials.\n\ncurrent products are affordable; easily accessible thanks to their digital format; and often educational, in that firms offering the solutions take pains to provide tailored marketing materials. On the other hand, Butler believes the sheer number of automated investment products available is confusing to consumers, as they find it hard to understand any differences between products. Additionally, he said the complex language associated with all investment products, which is often a requirement of regulation, is off putting.\n\nHSBC is planning to launch a new product in 2018 that counters these downsides.HSBC\u2019s new product, dubbed Robo-Advising 2.0 by Butler, will provide holistic financial advice, rather than just automated investment, helping it to differentiate. His vision for the product includes transforming an existing offering that \u201cnudges\u201d customers into saving more via simple notifications into a financial advice tool, in order to help customers better manage their entire financial life. Eventually, that will include recommending and managing additional products such as pensions and insurance.\n\nHSBC\u2019s goal is admirable, but it will have to move fast. It seems probable that customers will be more likely to take an investment product from their current bank than from an unknown startup, as a trusted brand would help alleviate the mistrust many consumers feel toward automated investing. Additionally, HSBC\u2019s plan to enable customers to see all their financial details in one place will likely prove popular.\n\nHowever, with open banking approaching fast, other banks will no doubt be planning similar propositions, and the new rules will make it easier for them to pull in ready-made investment products from startups, meaning HSBC will have to move quickly if it wants to benefit from a first-mover advantage.\n\nBI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has put together a detailed report on the evolution of robo-advising that scopes the current market for robo-advisors, providing an updated forecast through 2022. In addition, it explains the different types of robo-advisors emerging, details how startups and incumbents are working to ensure the success of their products, and outlines what will happen to the market over the next 12 months.\n\nHere are some of the key takeaways from the report:\n\nBI Intelligence forecasts that robo-advisors \u2014 investment products that include any element of automation \u2014 will manage around $1 trillion by 2020, and around $4.6 trillion by 2022.\n\nStartups offering robo-advisors are struggling to acquire AUM due to overcrowding in the global robo-advisory market and lower than expected customer uptake.\n\nIncumbents are rolling out their own robo-advisor products, a trend we expect to pick up in the period to 2022.\n\nNorth America remains the leading robo-advisory market, but we expect Asia to catch up and outpace the region in terms of AUM managed by robo-advisors in the period to 2022.\n\nThere will be a winnowing of the startup robo-advisory market as only a few firms remain stand-alone, while incumbents looking to launch their own products will profit from purchasing the technology of startups that have fallen by the wayside, at low cost.\n\nIn full, the report:\n\n\n\nProvides a forecast for the volume of assets robo-advisors will manage by 2022.\n\nOutlines the current robo-advisory landscape.\n\nExplains how startups with robo-advisor products are evolving their business strategies.\n\nProvides an outlook for the future of the robo-advising industry.\n\nTo get the full report, subscribe BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and more than 250 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >> Learn More Now", "output": "HSBC is planning to introduce a robo-advice platform next year that provides financial advice rather than just automated investment portfolios. The firm is hoping to eventually expand the usage of this platform to help consumers manage other areas of their financial lives, such as pensions and insurance. The firm already has a financial advice offering that provides alerts to clients encouraging them to save more and put money to work in investments. It is reported this service will be integrated into the new platform. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US legacy regulation makes insurtech enormous challenge \n The emergence of insurtech represents the biggest challenge facing regulators over the next decade, as lawmakers work to ensure startups comply with state provisions imposed on carriers while encouraging growth.\n\nIndividual state insurance codes, some dating as far back as the 1800s, also make insurtech business models difficult to grasp for regulators, according to Adam Hamm, who served as president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in 2014. He argues established legal codes were written for an old paper-driven market, not a digital world where insurtechs produce data in real-time.\n\n\u201cOf course, legislature gets to meet, revise or add to a statute, but it\u2019s built on the original model,\u201d says Hamm, who was North Dakota\u2019s insurance commissioner from 2007 to 2016. \u201cRegulators have to either rewrite codes completely or tweak statutes to allow for these new business models.\u201d\n\nThe NAIC Innovation task force established this year will play a big role in regulating insurtech going forward, Hamm predicts. By giving insurers and startups a seat at the table, regulators can better balance industry innovation with consumer protections and solvency requirements. In return, insurers and industry newcomers can communicate the pain points of current insurance codes.\n\n\u201cThe task force is regulators trying to wrap their minds around how to eat this huge elephant one bite at time,\u201d he added.\n\nFinally, Hamm warns insurtechs are in for a \u201crude awakening\u201d as they expand into new markets, as the majority of startups are unaware of the standards they are required to meet as part of the U.S. 50-state regulatory system.\n\n\u201cNot a lot grasp this will not be a one-stop shop,\u201d he says.\n\nHamm now serves as managing director of Protiviti, a global consultancy firm. In this role, he educates insurtechs on how to make business models fit within current regulatory environments. Hamm also advises carriers on the pros and cons of their insurtech approach, which largely involve M&A activity or building emerging technologies in-house.\n\n\u201cMarket share players understand regulation, but should know that regulators aren\u2019t going to grant insurtechs shortcuts,\u201d he said. \u201cThe same rules applied to carriers will be applied to startups.\u201d", "output": "Insurance codes in US states that date back decades, if not centuries, are making the regulation of insurtech a daunting task, according to Adam Hamm, former president\u00a0of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. In order for insurtech to be regulated properly many legal\u00a0codes may need to be rewritten by regulators, he said. Hamm added that many codes adopted years ago were written for a paper-based insurance market. Certain codes date back to as early as the 1800s and many insurtech firms may not realise there are significant differences between the codes of each state, Hamm noted.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurtech Haven Life connects users to emergency services via app \n Attendees use Samsung Electronics Co. smartphones at the company's extraordinary general meeting at the company's Seocho office building in Seoul, South Korea, on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016. Lee Jae-yong, the crown prince of the founding family that controls the Samsung Group, officially joined a nine-person board at Samsung, whose botched roll out of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone has delivered a blow to a premier tech brand and cost the company billions of dollars in profit. Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg\n\nHaven Life, an insurtech startup backed by MassMutual, has rolled out a one-touch emergency services mobile app for customers.\n\nThe new tool, LifeLink, is powered by four-year technology startup RapidSOS; leveraging cloud communications and data analytics to connect users with emergency dispatchers. Along with its one-touch 911 dialing feature, policyholders can also text or call for help on behalf of family members while viewing their exact location, according to the company.\n\nLifeLink is free for one year for of iOS and Android users. Account holders will be required to pay up to five dollars a month for individual or family plans after, Haven Life says.\n\n\"Since launching, we've sought out ways to make life less hard outside of just financial protection,\u201d said Yaron Ben-Zvi, CEO and co-founder of Haven Life, in a statement. \u201cLifeLink is a transformative app that protects us, our partners, our children, our parents - anyone we love - no matter where we are.\"\n\nThe debut of its smartphone app follows Haven Life\u2019s launch of a Facebook chatbot last week, designed to educate consumers on the real costs of life insurance. After a few questions, the startup\u2019s AI chatbot will automatically calculate life insurance needs of a customer and generate a monthly rate for Haven Term coverage.", "output": "MassMutual-owned insurtech Haven Life has introduced an app that allows users to easily connect with emergency services. The app, known as LifeLink, also allows users to alert emergency services on behalf of friends and family. The app is free to use for Haven Life policyholders for a one-year period, after which they will have to pay up to $5 a month. The app was developed in partnership with start-up RapidSOS.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bajaj Allianz launches India's first individual cyber policies \n In a first cyber cover for individuals, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance has launched Individual Cyber Safe policy. The policy provides coverage for people who fall victim to threats such as cyber-attacks, cyber extortion and cyberbullying. And cover against financial loss, defence cost, prosecution cost, IT theft loss, restoration cost, due to identity theft, malware attack.\n\nAnyone above 18 years of age can buy this policy for a cover ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1 crore.\n\nAny financial loss resulting from email spoofing and phishing, losses and expenses related to defence will also be taken care of by the policy. The policyholder will also have cover for prosecution cost related to identity theft, IT theft loss, restoration cost to retrieve or reinstall Data or Computer Program damaged by entry of the Malware.\n\nThe policyholders can also claim for expenses incurred on counselling services treatment, claim for damages against third-party for privacy breach and data breach, cyber extortion loss and transportation for attending court summons.\n\nAnnouncing the launch, Tapan Singhel MD and CEO Bajaj Allianz, said \"In an increasingly connected digital world, the amount of personal data being generated, transmitted, and stored on to various digital devices is growing at an exponential rate,\"\n\n\"The critical nature of this data and the complexity of the systems that support its transmission and use, have created a gamut of cyber risks,\" he added.", "output": "Bajaj Allianz has introduced personal cyber coverage policies in India. The policies cover cyber attacks, cyberbullying, or online extortion, as well as any legal costs involved. Policies can be purchased by any individual over 18-years-old. Identity theft is also offered as part of the coverage. The line of business was introduced due to the sheer amount of personal data being stored and transferred in India's modern economy."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fall in pre-revenue Australian\u00a0fintech firms\u00a0shows boom in sector \n Australian fintech startups are seeing median revenues of $95,000 a month, up from a median of $30,000 a month last year, the 2017 Fintech Australia census has found.\n\nWith the census based on a survey of 166 fintech companies across Australia, 24 percent of respondents reported they had seen annual revenue growth of 700 percent over the last year, though as the census points out many of these companies were likely to have been growing from a small revenue base.\n\nA growing number of fintechs overall are making money, with the number of pre-revenue startups dropping to 29 percent from 43 percent in 2016.\n\nWith this growth, 54 percent of respondents stated they will be looking to expand overseas, or further their overseas expansion, within the next 12 months. The key markets for expansion are the UK, Singapore, and US.\n\nSimon Cant, chair of Fintech Australia, said the growth of local companies highlights the fact Australians are embracing nascent fintech companies.\n\n\u201cThe fact that the industry has experienced a tripling in median revenue is a strong sign that fintech firms are acquiring customers and making strong inroads into the traditional financial services sector,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cEqually so, it is exciting to see that fintech firms are now sufficiently comfortable with their domestic positions to be increasingly planning international expansions. This is another sign of a healthy and maturing industry.\u201d\n\nOf course, it\u2019s not all smooth sailing, with respondents identifying a number of government policy-related issues they would like to see addressed to help do business better.\n\nAmong the chief concerns is improving the research and development initiative, capital gains tax relief, and more transparent access to the New Payments Platform.\n\nForty percent of respondents also highlighted the challenges they have faced in making efforts to collaborate with banks and other financial institutions, indicating this as an external impediment to their business.\n\nLike the wider startup and tech landscape, access to talent across various roles is also an issue.\n\nThirty-five percent of respondents reported facing a talent pool shortage of sales professionals, up from 41 percent in 2016. Almost 30 percent found a shortage of marketing professionals, while 61 percent reported a shortage of engineering and software staff and 24 percent seeing a shortage in design and user experience professionals.\n\nGender diversity in the sector is also poor; the number of female employees at fintech companies grew only two points from 22 percent last year. Furthermore, 83 percent of fintechs have all-male founding teams.\n\nStuart Stoyan, deputy chair of Fintech Australia and founder of the census, said the organisation will look to focus on driving female participation in the sector.\n\n\u201cOur programs have included a speaker gender equality target at the Intersekt Festival, ensuring at least 30 percent of the FinTech Australia board are women and by promoting a Female FinTech Leader of the Year award at our annual Finnies awards,\u201d he said.\n\nThe release of the census results follows the launch of Insurtech Australia late last month as a standalone division of Fintech Australia focused on representing insurtech startups and others working within the space.\n\nThe launch of the body, which is supported by partners including QBE, Suncorp, and IAG, comes as data from CB Insights shows Australian startups attracted just one percent of the almost US$1.7 billion invested in insurtech startups in 2016.\n\nBrenton Charnley, cofounder and lead of Insurtech Australia, said one of the organisation\u2019s key goals is to make Australia one of the world\u2019s leading markets for insurance innovation.\n\n\u201cInsurtech is a rapidly growing sector worldwide, and Australia has the ideas and skills to compete. Insurtech Australia\u2019s mission is to foster a diverse community of insurance, startup and technology leaders to help Australia become a world leader for insurtech,\u201d he said.", "output": "More than 70% of Australian fintech start-ups are generating revenue, with the number of companies describing themselves as \"pre-revenue\" dropping dramatically over the past 12 months, according to an annual survey of fintech firms. The number of companies surveyed that were described as being \"pre-revenue\" has fallen from 43% to 29%. Start-ups have a median monthly revenue of AUD95,000 ($72,891), up from AUD30,000 in 2016. A quarter of the 166 fintechs surveyed said they had achieved annual revenue growth of 700% over the past year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sales of Australian milk powder surge in China \n The latest figures from Rural Bank\u2019s Australian Dairy Update forecast milk powder exports by volume could increase as much as 43% year on year as China\u2019s appetite for milk powder continues to grow.\n\nThe report also shows China\u2019s import pattern has changed dramatically in the last few months with a 53% surge in Australian milk powder imports having been recorded for the January to August 2017 period.\n\nDemand for Australian milk powder products has gone from strength to strength in recent years with the prevalence of daigou or shoppers for Chinese retail customers leading to many Australian supermarket chains enforcing local customer limits due to shortages of milk powder based baby formulas.\n\nRural Bank for general manager agribusiness, Andrew Smith, said the increase in Chinese demand for Australian milk powder was encouraging for Australian dairy farmers and could allow processors and producers to capitalise on any future increases in global dairy prices.\n\n\u201cThe out of cycle rise in Chinese demand for Australian milk powder, combined with year-on-year increases in the value of dairy exports to Singapore and Malaysia, means that three of the five main Australian export markets are performing well despite lower global prices,\u201d Mr Smith said\n\n\u201cThis is good news for dairy farmers and highlights once again the strong appetite and demand for Australian dairy products throughout Asia,\u201d he said.\n\nAccording to the Australian Dairy Update, national milk production is also tracking slightly above this time last year, with South Australia and Victoria leading the way with 12.7% and 0.9% increases respectively.\n\nFollowing an extremely dry September, welcome rains fell across most dairy regions of Australia in October. Weather conditions are expected to improve further in the coming months according to the Bureau of Meteorology.\n\nThe agribusiness general manager said milk production increases will become more feasible as October rains support good pasture growth.\n\n\u201cThere is also now a good chance of above average rainfall occurring across many dairy regions this summer,\u201d Mr Smith said.", "output": "Sales of Australian milk powder have boomed\u00a0in China over the past few months, with a 53% rise in imports between January and August 2017, according to Rural Bank's Australian Dairy Update.\u00a0China's import pattern for the product has been so fast \u2013\u00a0with predictions it could rise by as much as 43% year on year \u2013\u00a0that Australian supermarket chains have put in place local customer limits because of shortages.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Buyers warned about fake mature whiskies at auction \n A bottle of Macallan 1878 Scotch whisky has been confirmed as a fake after a Chinese tourist paid nearly \u00a38,000 for a single dram in a Swiss hotel bar.\n\nLab tests confirmed this week that the Macallan 1878 at the The Waldhaus Hotel Am See in St Moritz, Switzerland, was too good to be true.\n\nA Chinese customer, named in press reports as 36-year-old writer Zhang Wei from Beijing, paid almost 10,000 Swiss francs (\u00a37,700, $10,050) for a single glass of the ultra-rare Scotch whisky over the summer.\n\nBut, the hotel said that it subsequently sent the whisky for tests after suspicions were raised by experts following media coverage of what has been dubbed the world\u2019s most expensive Scotch.\n\nRare Whisky 101, a Scottish brokerage and consultancy, commissioned analysis at the University of Oxford on the hotel\u2019s behalf and found that the liquid inside the Macallan 1878 bottle was likely only created between 1970 and 1972.\n\nMore tests by Tatlock and Thomson lab showed the whisky was probably a blend of 60% malt and 40% grain; in other words, not a single malt Scotch whisky as claimed.\n\n\u2018The result has been a big shock to the system, and we are delighted to have repaid our customer in full as a gesture of goodwill,\u2019 said Sandro Bernasconi, Waldhaus Am See hotel manager and bar manager at Devils Place.\n\nBernasconi flew to Asia to refund the customer in person.\n\nRW101 co-founder David Robertson said that the story was an example of rising concerns about counterfeits as greater amounts of mature whiskies are sold at auction and on the secondary market generally.\n\n\u2018Over the past year, we have been invited by numerous bottle owners and auction houses to assess suspicious bottles,\u2019 he said.\n\n\u2018As with any purchase, we would recommend that each buyer does their research, assesses the bottle and its packaging presentation, and where they can afford to do so, send some of the liquid for technical evaluation and/or carbon dating.\u2019\n\nMore stories like this:", "output": "Buyers should look out for counterfeit mature whiskies being sold at auction and on the secondary market, David Robertson\u00a0of Rare Whisky 101 has said. \"Over the past year, we have been invited by numerous bottle owners and auction houses to assess suspicious bottles,\"\u00a0he said. His comments followed\u00a0news that a\u00a0bottle of Macallan 1878 Scotch whisky was confirmed as a fake after Chinese tourist\u00a0Zhang Wei paid $10,050 for a single dram in a Swiss hotel bar. Increasingly more people are investing into old and rare whiskies, which has heightened concerns about fake Scotch\u00a0on the market.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "LendInvest and Citi enter long-term financing partnership \n ALTERNATIVE property lender LendInvest has announced a new long-term financing partnership with Citi, as it eyes the UK\u2019s \u00a340bn buy-to-let (BTL) market.\n\nLendInvest has also revealed that it now manages more than \u00a3500m of lending capital on behalf of its institutional lenders, and more than \u00a3750m in total. Its investors have lent more than \u00a31.1bn to help borrowers buy, build or renovate 4,000 UK homes.\n\nThe platform, which stopped describing itself as a peer-to-peer lender earlier this year, is now set to have the largest institutional lending base in UK fintech.\n\n\u201cInstitutional capital coming onto our platform from some of the world\u2019s largest institutions is the ultimate validation of the quality of the lending we do,\u201d said Christian Faes, co-founder chief executive at LendInvest.\n\n\u201cThis new funding line from Citi shows how our business has evolved from disruptive fintech startup to established scale-up business as we move towards the mainstream mortgage market.\n\n\u201cCiti\u2019s backing equips us with the firepower to expand into longer-term lending, as we take our superior technology and processes into the professional portfolio landlord market. It also gives us an opportunity to work closely with a team that is world-class in the global mortgage market and a well-established player in the securitisation space.\u201d\n\nRead more: MarketInvoice, Funding Circle, Zopa, LendInvest make Fintech 250\n\nThe Citi partnership will provide LendInvest with a warehouse funding line that will be used to finance specialist BTL loans. These loans will be available on terms up to 30 years, marking a move away from the firm\u2019s past focus on the UK\u2019s short-term bridging finance market.\n\nThe news has been welcomed by MP Chris Philp, PPS to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who said that the partnership is \u201ca great example of major institutions getting behind UK fintech in a serious way.\u201d\n\n\u201cLendInvest\u2019s push into buy-to-let is a great example of fintech moving into more hard-to-disrupt markets that could be otherwise left behind by financial innovation,\u201d he added.\n\nPrior to the Citi partnership, LendInvest secured institutional investments from Macquarie Bank, Merseyside Pension Fund and a listed UK challenger bank. High-net-worth individuals and other corporate investors can also access its investment opportunities via the company\u2019s online investment platform, a discretionary fund, and a \u00a3500m bond programme listed on the London Stock Exchange.\n\nRead more: Oversubscribed, not stirred! LendInvest bond enters the stock market", "output": "UK fintech firm LendInvest has \"evolved from disruptive fintech start-up to established scale-up business\", according to CEO Christian Faes, after he announced a long-term partnership with Citi. The latter firm will provide LendInvest with a warehouse funding line, including terms up to 30 years, for use in the UK's \u00a340bn ($52bn) buy-to-let market. LendInvest, which started out as a short-term, peer-to-peer lender, is on track to have the UK fintech sector's largest institutional lending base, and has more than \u00a3750m total assets under management.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SEC warns about legal dangers of celebrity endorsements of ICOs \n Celebrities and others are using social media networks to encourage the public to purchase stocks and other investments. These endorsements may be unlawful if they do not disclose the nature, source, and amount of any compensation paid, directly or indirectly, by the company in exchange for the endorsement. The SEC\u2019s Enforcement Division and Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations encourage investors to be wary of investment opportunities that sound too good to be true. We encourage investors to research potential investments rather than rely on paid endorsements from artists, sports figures, or other icons.\n\nCelebrities and others have recently promoted investments in Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). In the SEC\u2019s Report of Investigation concerning The DAO, the Commission warned that virtual tokens or coins sold in ICOs may be securities, and those who offer and sell securities in the United States must comply with the federal securities laws. Any celebrity or other individual who promotes a virtual token or coin that is a security must disclose the nature, scope, and amount of compensation received in exchange for the promotion. A failure to disclose this information is a violation of the anti-touting provisions of the federal securities laws. Persons making these endorsements may also be liable for potential violations of the anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities laws, for participating in an unregistered offer and sale of securities, and for acting as unregistered brokers. The SEC will continue to focus on these types of promotions to protect investors and to ensure compliance with the securities laws.\n\nInvestors should note that celebrity endorsements may appear unbiased, but instead may be part of a paid promotion. Investment decisions should not be based solely on an endorsement by a promoter or other individual. Celebrities who endorse an investment often do not have sufficient expertise to ensure that the investment is appropriate and in compliance with federal securities laws. Conduct research before making investments, including in ICOs. If you are relying on a particular endorsement or recommendation, learn more regarding the relationship between the promoter and the company and consider whether the recommendation is truly independent or a paid promotion. For more information, see an Investor Alert that the SEC\u2019s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy issued today regarding celebrity endorsements.\n\nAdditional Resources\n\nInvestor Bulletin: Initial Coin Offerings\n\nInvestor Alert: Public Companies Making ICO-Related Claims\n\nInvestor Alert: Social Media and Investing \u2013 Avoiding Fraud", "output": "The US Securities and Exchange Committee (SEC) has warned that celebrities who promote initial coin offerings (ICOs), in which the tokens are regarded as securities, must ensure they comply with federal legislation. In a statement, the SEC said the nature, source and amount of compensation received in exchange for the promotion\u00a0must be disclosed. Celebrities failing to do so risk falling foul of the anti-touting provisions of federal securities laws. The statement also urged potential investors to seek professional advice on ICOs, as famous faces are not necessarily financial experts.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Visa launches real-time payments platform in European market \n Visa is to bring its real-time payments platform to market in Europe after experiencing strong growth in other key markets globally.\n\nVisa Direct enables person-to-person (P2P), business-to-consumer (B2C), and business-to-business (B2B) payments with funds transfers to recipient accounts taking place within minutes.\n\n\n\nFor the European roll-out, Visa has partnered with Worldpay to equip merchants with the capability to send real-time payments to consumers. The card scheme is also releasing an API on its developer platform to help bank and merchant clients implement the technology.\n\n\n\nTo further push take-up, Visa in Europe has announced a mandate that requires card issuers to enable real-time payments by October 2018.\n\n\n\nIn other global markets where the technology is already available, Visa Direct saw volumes increase by 75% over last year. In the US, the platform enables push payments for a host of partners, including PayPal, Braintree, Square Cash, and Stripe.\n\n\n\nMike Lemberger, SVP of product solutions, Visa in Europe, comments: \u201cVisa Direct is a proven platform that enables technology companies, businesses and financial institutions to meet the demand for real-time payments, backed by the ubiquity, cost-efficiency and speed of Visa\u2019s global network.\u201d", "output": "After boosting volumes by 75% in other markets, Visa is bringing its real-time payments software, Visa Direct, to Europe, ensuring wide adoption by requiring all card issuers to enable such payments by October 2018. Visa Direct allows person-to-person, business-to-consumer and business-to-business payments to be made in minutes. Visa has partnered with Worldpay and is releasing an API on its developer platform to support merchants as they adopt the technology."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China will surpass US in AI by 2025: Alphabet's Eric Schmidt \n In April, as Eric Schmidt watched a computer program defeat China\u2019s top go player in a ground-breaking match in the Chinese city of Wuzhen, the executive chairman of Google\u2019s parent company was struck less by the considerable innovations displayed by human and machine than by the audience: \u201cTo me the more interesting thing [was that] all the top computer science people in China had shown up.\u201d\n\nIt showed, Schmidt said, the importance placed on AI development by both the Chinese government and its people, and was a postcard from the future competition for AI dominance.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m assuming our [U.S.] lead will continue over the next five years and then that China will catch up extremely quickly,\u201d the Google leader told the Center for New American Security\u2019s Paul Scharre at the Artificial Intelligence & Global Security Summit on Wednesday.\n\nSchmidt doesn\u2019t like the term \u201carms race\u201d to describe the U.S.-Chinese rivalry in artificial intelligence, in part because defining AI as a weapon is limiting at best and flatly inaccurate at worst. But it is a tool that can make one military, company, economy, and even nation much more effective than another. And China, he says, is positioning itself to devour the current U.S. advantage in just a few years.\n\nIn July, China unveiled a massive, national plan for the future of artificial intelligence, to guide both commercial and military development. Its timeline caught Schmidt\u2019s attention. \u201cBy 2020, they will have caught up. By 2025, they will be better than us. By 2030, they will dominate the industries.\u201d\n\nFor Schmidt, the take-home was clear: \u201cWe need to get our act together, as a country\u2026This is the moment when the [U.S.] government collectively, and private industry, needs to say, \u2018these technologies are important.\u2019\u201d\n\nBut, he said, the Trump administration isn\u2019t doing that. In fact, several moves are putting the U.S. at a disadvantage.\n\nFor example, Trump\u2019s 2018 budget request slashes funds for basic science and research by $4.3 billion, roughly 13 percent compared to 2016. (Trump\u2019s military budget does increase money for basic science and research in the Pentagon, but only by $117 million.) While there\u2019s lots of private and corporate money going into AI research, those funds don\u2019t guarantee advantage on a national level.\n\n\u201cIt feels, as an American, that we are fighting this conflict with one hand behind our back. What I would rather do is not adopt the Chinese policies, but...fund basic research. The Trump budget does reduce that. It\u2019s the wrong direction,\u201d Schmidt said.\n\nThe Google leader also slammed Trump\u2019s multicountry travel ban and other immigration policies that would close America\u2019s doors to smart students, researchers, and entrepreneurs who want to come study and start companies.\n\n\u201cLet\u2019s talk about immigration. Shockingly, some of the very best people in AI are in countries that we won\u2019t let into America. Would you rather have them building AI somewhere else or would you have them building here?\u201d he asked. \u201cIran produces some of the top computer scientists in the world. I want them here. I want them working for Alphabet and Google. It\u2019s crazy not to let these people.\u201d\n\nSchmidt has not been shy about his disagreement with Trump on immigration, but Wednesday marked the first time he cast the disagreement in terms of future national security and state-on-state competition. It\u2019s an area he knows something about; the Google leader currently chairs the Defense Innovation Advisory Board, set up by then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter. In January, the Board approved 11 recommendations to help the Pentagon better integrate technology and innovation into the way it buys and operates weapons. The future of those recommendations, and the board itself, is undetermined.\n\nRelated video:", "output": "The US is heading in the wrong direction by cutting\u00a0science and research budgets\u00a0if it wants to prevent China from becoming a leader in artificial intelligence (AI), according to Alphabet executive chairman Eric Schmidt. He made\u00a0the comments during the\u00a0Artificial Intelligence & Global Security Summit in Washington.\u00a0Schmidt predicted China will match the US's AI capability by 2020\u00a0and added: \"By 2025, they will be better than us. By 2030, they will dominate the industry.\" Schmidt, the chair of the Defense Innovation Advisory Board, also criticised President Trump's\u00a0travel ban for preventing talented employees from entering the US.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fitbit and One Drop partner for diabetes management \n One Drop has teamed up with Fitbit to integrate fitness tracker data into its diabetes management platform.\n\nThe new alliance reflects growing competition in digital health, with many rival digital diabetes management services currently emerging.\n\nOne Drop is up against rival platforms such as MySugr (recently acquired by Roche) and Glooko, and all these services need to sign up and retain tens of thousands of patients in order to prove their long-term value.\n\nThe core of One Drop's offering is its mobile app, One Drop Mobile, which acts as a hub of information gathered from its blood glucose monitors and user input regarding medications, food intake, and activity.\n\nThe app analyses this data to provide insights into blood glucose trends, helping users better manage their condition.\n\nNow thanks to a new partnership with Fitbit, data gathered from the firm's fitness trackers will integrate into the One Drop mobile app, giving a better idea of how activity impacts blood glucose.\n\nThe data will also be incorporated into One Drop reports - summaries of user information that can be shared with healthcare professionals via the company's One Drop Experts and One Drop Professional services. Physicians can then use this data can to inform more personalised care decisions.\n\nOne Drop will also be given the opportunity to analyse Fitbit data, in addition to its current 500 million customer base, with the goal to identify new insights into diabetes.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_22514\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"150\"] CEO and founder of One Drop, Jeff Dachis[/caption]\n\n\"We strive to provide our community with the most comprehensive set of data and tools to manage their diabetes or prediabetes. Working with Fitbit, the leading global wearables brand, was a natural next step for One Drop,\" said Jeff Dachis, CEO and founder of One Drop.\n\nThe partnership will also see data flowing from One Drop to Fitbit, specifically into an app created for its new Ionic smartwatch.\n\n\"Our mission is to help make the world healthier, and our new Ionic smartwatch is the health platform that allows us to deliver our most advanced health and fitness features to the market,\" said Adam Pellegrini, general manager of Fitbit Health Solutions.\n\n\"This holistic experience brings the power of Fitbit data together with One Drop's sophisticated care management technology to provide meaningful insights on the role of physical activity and how it can improve the health of those living with diabetes.\"\n\nThe partnership with Fitbit adds to a good year for One Drop. Since launching One Drop | Chrome at the end of 2016 - a sleek set of chrome diabetes devices to accompany its app platform - One Drop partnered with MannKind in August to investigate the firm's inhalable insulin, Afrezza.\n\nAround the same time, positive results from a study published in JMIR Diabetes demonstrated a 1.1% to 1.3% absolute reduction in HbA1c levels among One Drop Mobile users after four months of using the service.\n\nOne of the most significant developments in the field this year was pharma giant Roche acquiring mySugr, a diabetes management app which already has 1 million users.", "output": "New York-based healthtech One Drop has partnered with Fitbit to integrate data from the health tracker into its mobile app. The partnership follows One Drop's August collaboration with inhalable insulin manufacturer MannKind. One Drop's app monitors user\u00a0activity, offers reminders to take medication and tracks basal rates, and will now include data from Fitbit devices, revealing how activity affects blood glucose levels. A recent study demonstrated a 1.1%-1.3% drop in HbA1c levels in participants after four months of using the One Drop Mobile app.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK publishers said to lose \u00a3500,000 a year due to ad-blocking \n Ad blocking has moved from exponential to linear growth: The sky might not be falling, but ignore it at your peril. Skewed metrics are a major distraction for publishers trying to tackle this problem, but focusing on the financial losses is one route to encourage all parties to find a solution.\n\nThe UK Association of Online Publishers aggregated data from 40 members \u2014 AOP members include Cond\u00e9 Nast, ESI Media, Global, the Guardian and The Telegraph \u2014 and found that the average U.K. publisher is losing \u00a3500,000 ($660,000) a year due to ad blocking.\n\n\u201cPeople should be getting more passionate about this,\u201d said Nick Flood, product and commercial operations director at Dennis Publishing. \u201cPeople need to take this more seriously.\u201d\n\nIn order to learn more about ad-blocking behavior and recovery, Dennis Publishing, Bauer, Auto Trader and Haymarket plan to collectively run a hard ban on content early next year for ad-block users across their auto sites for a day. Hard blocks on general news sites tend to be ineffective because users can access the content elsewhere.\n\nDennis has had experience in banning ad-block users from accessing content. Flood said it\u2019s seeing about 20 percent of its audience block ads, which is in line with other U.K. publishers. Dennis is asking ad-block users visiting site Carbuyer to disable their ad blockers or continue to view the site with ads. In recent tests, the publisher found that 70 percent of ad-block users continue to view the site with ads \u2014 the publisher uses an ad-recovery solution \u2014 while 30 percent disabled their ad blocker. It has also tested showing a 30-second video ad before people continue through to an ad-free site, which has had a 70 percent view-through rate, according to Flood.\n\n\u201cPeople will interact with you if you have content they want to engage with; you need to push that agenda,\u201d he said at the AOP\u2019s Inside Out conference in London this week. \u201cYou will lose people; 30 percent of our users bounced, but we weren\u2019t monetizing them anyway.\u201d\n\nWith the likelihood of more browser-based ad-blocking solutions around the corner and the anticipation that mobile ad blocking will grow, communicating with users is more effective than tackling ad-block developers and companies. \u201cRather than a cat-and-mouse game, it\u2019s more like an in-browser knife fight,\u201d said Flood.\n\nDesktop rates in the U.K. appear to have stabilized. Studies from the Internet Advertising Bureau found that the percentage of U.K. adults blocking ads has held steady at 21 percent since February 2016. However, this could be because there has been a higher growth in ad blockers that block analytics, and mobile is accounting for more of publishers\u2019 traffic.\n\n\u201cFrom a data perspective, I\u2019ve always been concerned that we can\u2019t accurately analyze our audience,\u201d said Jo Holdaway, chief data officer at ESI Media. \u201cIt\u2019s not just the loss of revenue but the loss of insight and inference about our audience.\u201d\n\nAround 20 percent of ESI Media\u2019s audience blocks ads across The Independent and the Evening Standard. ESI Media has been monitoring ad-blocking rates before deciding on a firm strategy; it\u2019s asking users politely to disable ad blockers, but the conversion is low. For Dennis, this soft approach only saw 3 percent of users engage.\n\nHoldaway estimates that 30 percent of those who block ads are also blocking analytics. This corresponds with studies by Oriel, which provides ad-blocking solutions for publishers, across publishers using its technology. There has been a 125 percent increase from last year in analytics blocking, according to Oriel.\n\n\u201cOn desktop, it might have stabilized, but don\u2019t be complacent,\u201d said Holdaway. \u201cIgnore it at your peril.\u201d", "output": "A UK Association of Online Publishers survey of 40 of its members found they are losing out on an average of \u00a3500,000 ($664,000) annually because of ad-blocking. Auto Trader, Bauer, Haymarket and Dennis Publishing will begin refusing access for ad-block users from early 2018 in a test of the impact of so-called \"hard bans\" on their niche auto titles. Dennis Publishing has already found that 70% of ad-block users will view its site with ads via an\u00a0ad-recovery solution, with 30% of users disabling their ad-blocker.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook's Q3 revenue passes $10.1 billion \n Facebook soared beyond Wall Street predictions in the third quarter of 2017, with advertising revenue topping $10bn for the first time and profits hitting $4.7bn.\n\nAd revenue saw a 49 per cent year-on-year (YoY) increase compared to Q3 2017, with mobile ad revenue representing around 88 per cent of that total. Meanwhile, profits were up 79 per cent YoY.\n\nDespite this, the company warned that future profitability could take a hit due to its investments in dealing with abuse and fake news on its platform.\n\n\u201cOur community continues to grow and our business is doing well,\u201d said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO. \u201cBut none of that matters if our services are used in ways that don't bring people closer together. We're serious about preventing abuse on our platforms. We're investing so much in security that it will impact our profitability. Protecting our community is more important than maximising our profits.\u201d\n\nDuring an earnings call, Zuckerberg added: \u201cI've expressed how upset I am that the Russians tried to use our tools to sow mistrust. We built these tools to help people connect and to bring us closer together, and they used them to try to undermine our values. What they did is wrong, and we are not going to stand for it.\u201d\n\nAway from the financials, Facebook\u2019s daily active users (DAUs) and monthly active users (MAUs) saw a YoY increase of 16 per cent. DAUs were 1.37bn on average for September 2017, while MAUs were 2.07bn as of 30 September. Facebook\u2019s photo sharing platform, Instagram, also passed 500m DAUs in the quarter.\n\n\u201cWe have seen Facebook's stock price grow by over 50 per cent this year and it\u2019s not showing signs of slowing. Recent projects like avoiding further ad saturation on the News Feed with ads on Instant Articles and Videos, and the platforms ever increasing 2bn user base makes it prime for rising digital ad revenue spend,\u201d said Yuval Ben-Itzhak, CEO at social media analytics firm Socialbakers.\n\n\u201cFacebook\u2019s expansion into additional markets such as Asia Pacific, will further expand its reach and continue to keep the social giant far ahead of its peers in regard to sheer volume and therefore engagement and potential ad revenue. However, the company must remain mindful of oversaturation and subsequently irritating users,\u201d he continued.\n\n\u201cAs another arm of Facebook, Instagram has also emerged as an advertising powerhouse creating significant revenue for Facebook, as we are seeing more and more marketers shifting their focus towards Instagram for both their organic and paid activity. The introduction of the Stories function is enhancing its relevance among brands and will continue to galvanise market share in the photo sharing arena. Instagram has clearly contributed to Facebook's numbers this quarter and will continue to do so in the future.\u201d\n\nJoin us at the 2017 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony, taking place in London on Thursday 16 November, to mix with the industry's best and brightest, and raise a glass to the year's best campaigns and solutions. To find out more, and to book your place, click here.", "output": "Facebook's advertising revenue exceeded $10bn for the first time in Q3, with profits rising to $4.7bn. Advertising revenue rose 49% since the same period in 2016, with 88% of that due to mobile income. Profits rose 79%, but the social media giant has warned that future profits may not be as favourable as it puts money behind security efforts to clear the platform of fake news and abuse. Facebook's daily active users and monthly active users increased 16%."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Private investment of $1tn means Paris climate targets in reach \n Creating Markets for Climate Business identifies seven industry sectors that can make a crucial difference in catalyzing private investment: renewable energy, off-grid solar and energy storage, agribusiness, green buildings, urban transportation, water, and urban waste management. Already, more than $1 trillion in investments are flowing into climate-related projects globally in these areas. But trillions more can be triggered by creating the right business conditions in emerging markets.\n\nLearn more: Climate Investment Opportunities Report Series\n\nPress Releases: English | Chinese | Spanish | German | Portuguese | Indonesian | Russian\n\nDownload Report", "output": "At least $1tn of commercial investment around the world is going into\u00a0sectors including energy efficiency, agri-business,\u00a0public transport and renewable power,\u00a0according to a report by the International Finance Corporation.\u00a0This\u00a0funding is\u00a0making it possible for governments to meet the commitments they made under the Paris Climate Agreement, said the World Bank subsidiary. It\u00a0estimated investments of $23bn a year in energy storage and off-grid solar could be possible by 2025 if governments back renewables over fossil fuels. Signatories to the agreement are meeting in Bonn this month\u00a0to discuss its further implementation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Private investment of $1tn means Paris climate targets in reach \n \n\n\n\nAt least one trillion dollars are being invested globally in ways to reduce the threat of climate change, including renewable power, energy efficiency, and public transport around the world.\n\nThe sums involved are likely to make it possible in future for the world\u2019s governments to meet their commitments under the Paris agreement on climate change, provided the investment continues and is directed to the right ends, according to a new report.\n\nThe World Bank Group\u2019s subsidiary, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), said on Thursday that the investment could hold the key to fighting climate change. Governments will meet in Bonn next week to discuss the next steps in implementing their pledges made at the 2015 Paris conference on climate change.\n\nPhilippe Le Hou\u00e9rou, chief executive of the IFC, said: \u201cThe private sector holds the key to fighting climate change. We can help unlock more private sector investment, but this also requires government reforms as well as innovative business models, which together will create new markets and attract the necessary investment. This can fulfil the promises of Paris.\u201d\n\nThe IFC report, entitled Creating Markets for Climate Business, found that governments could work with businesses by fostering renewable energy as an alternative to fossil fuels. For instance, IFC provided $653m (\u00a3492m) in debt financing to fund the construction of 13 solar plants near Aswan, in Egypt. Such financing can result in lower electricity costs for local people, as well as reducing carbon dioxide emissions and cutting down on air pollution from coal-fired power plants.\n\nPeople in developing countries can also benefit from renewable energy installations, such as solar panels and wind turbines, that provide local power, removing the need for them to be connected to a national electricity grid to receive power \u2013 a distant dream in some countries, where the national grid is under-developed or prone to breakdown. The availability of power generated locally has multiple benefits, including safety and education, as it enables emissions-free light and power late into the night, instead of people being forced to rely on expensive and polluting kerosene burners.\n\nThe authors of the report estimated that investments in energy storage and off-grid solar of $23bn a year could be possible by 2025, if national governments favour renewable energy over fossil fuels.\n\nHowever, in many countries, developed and developing, fossil fuel companies have the incumbent advantage, and in some cases policies have been developed to suit them. The International Energy Agency estimated fossil fuel subsidies at $325bn a year in 2016.\n\nMaking buildings more energy efficient could also reduce carbon emissions dramatically, according to the IFC report, but only if countries adopt better building codes and higher standards. Public transport is another area ripe for investment, which could yield billions of dollars in greater efficiency, and improve the quality of lives of people around the globe, but which has been held back by poor government involvement.\n\nChristian Aid, the development charity, called on the World Bank Group to stop lending to fossil fuel projects. Funding by the group\u2019s members for fossil fuel projects has increased to $4.7bn in 2016, according to the charity.\n\nFran Witt, senior climate change adviser at Christian Aid, said: \u201cDespite aiming to champion clean energy, the World Bank Group actually continues to finance large volumes of dirty energy projects, which are driving climate change around the world. It is staggering that even after the Paris agreement the group is still investing most of its energy portfolio in dirty energy.\u201d", "output": "At least $1tn of commercial investment around the world is going into\u00a0sectors including energy efficiency, agri-business,\u00a0public transport and renewable power,\u00a0according to a report by the International Finance Corporation.\u00a0This\u00a0funding is\u00a0making it possible for governments to meet the commitments they made under the Paris Climate Agreement, said the World Bank subsidiary. It\u00a0estimated investments of $23bn a year in energy storage and off-grid solar could be possible by 2025 if governments back renewables over fossil fuels. Signatories to the agreement are meeting in Bonn this month\u00a0to discuss its further implementation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Climate change 'will cause major refugee crisis' within a decade \n This report focuses on one particular result from climate change \u2013 the negative impact on food security and how this factor contributed to the desperation and anger that manifested itself against the Al-Assad regime in Syria.\n\n\n\nThe Syrian war has resulted in more than 470,000 deaths. 6.6 million people have been internally displaced and nearly five million people are residing in camps in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon as well as an estimated 1.2 million seeking refuge in Europe.\n\nWhilst the war was not solely a result of climate change, the intertwining effects of drought, rural to urban migration, and the increasing unrest due to a lack of government measures to avoid water scarcity, unemployment and growing inequality, are clear.", "output": "Climate change will force tens of millions of people to abandon their homes, particularly in Africa and the Middle East, within the next decade, resulting in the world\u2019s largest ever refugee crisis, according to a study by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF). US military and security experts told the EJF that the number of refugees will far exceed that created by the Syrian conflict, causing vast challenges for Europe. The study, published on Thursday, calls for the creation of a new legal framework designed to protect climate refugees.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Climate change 'will cause major refugee crisis' within a decade \n Tens of millions of people will be forced from their homes by climate change in the next decade, creating the biggest refugee crisis the world has ever seen, according to a new report.\n\nSenior US military and security experts have told the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) study that the number of climate refugees will dwarf those that have fled the Syrian conflict, bringing huge challenges to Europe.\n\n\u201cIf Europe thinks they have a problem with migration today \u2026 wait 20 years,\u201d said retired US military corps brigadier general Stephen Cheney. \u201cSee what happens when climate change drives people out of Africa \u2013 the Sahel [sub-Saharan area] especially \u2013 and we\u2019re talking now not just one or two million, but 10 or 20 [million]. They are not going to south Africa, they are going across the Mediterranean.\u201d\n\nThe study published on Thursday calls on governments to agree a new legal framework to protect climate refugees and, ahead of next week\u2019s climate summit in Germany, urges leaders to do more to implement the targets set out in the Paris climate agreement.\n\nSir David King, the former chief scientific adviser to the UK government, told the EJF: \u201cWhat we are talking about here is an existential threat to our civilisation in the longer term. In the short term, it carries all sorts of risks as well and it requires a human response on a scale that has never been achieved before.\u201d\n\nThe report argues that climate change played a part in the build up to the Syrian war, with successive droughts causing 1.5 million people to migrate to the country\u2019s cities between 2006 and 2011. Many of these people then had no reliable access to food, water or jobs.\n\n\u201cClimate change is the the unpredictable ingredient that, when added to existing social, economic and political tensions, has the potential to ignite violence and conflict with disastrous consequences,\u201d said EJF executive director, Steve Trent.\n\n\u201cIn our rapidly changing world climate change \u2013 and its potential to trigger both violent conflict and mass migration \u2013 needs to be considered as an urgent priority for policymakers and business leaders alike.\u201d\n\nAlthough the report highlights to growing impact of climate change on people in the Middle East and Africa, it says changing weather patterns \u2013 like the hurricanes that devastated parts of the US this year \u2013 prove richer nations are not immune from climate change.\n\nBut Trent said that although climate change undoubtedly posed an \u201cexistential threat to our world\u201d it was not to late to take decisive action.\n\n\u201cBy taking strong ambitious steps now to phase out greenhouse gas emissions and building an international legal mechanism to protect climate refugees we will protect the poorest and most vulnerable in our global society, build resilience, reap massive economic benefits and build a safe and secure future for our planet. Climate change will not wait. Neither can we. For climate refugees, tomorrow is too late.\u201d", "output": "Climate change will force tens of millions of people to abandon their homes, particularly in Africa and the Middle East, within the next decade, resulting in the world\u2019s largest ever refugee crisis, according to a study by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF). US military and security experts told the EJF that the number of refugees will far exceed that created by the Syrian conflict, causing vast challenges for Europe. The study, published on Thursday, calls for the creation of a new legal framework designed to protect climate refugees.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK to see an extra 400,000 children in \u2018absolute poverty\u2019 \n Download press release | Download full report\n\nDebates over living standards, poverty and inequality in the UK are often hampered by the fact that official data on household incomes are available only with a significant lag. Currently, the latest statistics are for 2015\u201316. In this report, we attempt to fill this gap by estimating what has happened since 2015\u201316 to household incomes and poverty rates. We also look at how they might evolve up to 2021\u201322 if current tax and benefit policy plans are kept to and if the macroeconomic forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) \u2013 for things such as earnings and employment \u2013 were correct.\n\nKey findings\n\nReal median income is projected to grow by around 5% between 2015\u201316 and 2021\u201322 \u2013 but this is highly sensitive to future earnings growth. Real median income in 2015\u201316 (latest data) stood 3.7% above its pre-recession level. We project that median income has grown by around 1% in total over the past two years and will grow by around 4% in total over the next four years. This is very slow growth by historical standards, and would leave real median income in 2021\u201322 around 20% lower than if growth since 2007\u201308 had continued in line with the long-run trend. But these projections depend upon what happens to pay: our previous report showed that for every percentage point (ppt) that earnings growth differs from the OBR expectation, median income growth differs by 0.6ppts per year.\n\nWhile income inequality has fallen since the recession, it is projected to rise over the next four years. Between 2007\u201308 and 2015\u201316, real incomes rose by 7.7% at the 10th percentile but fell at the 90th percentile. However, this trend is projected to be reversed over the next four years, as real earnings growth boosts the incomes of high-income households and working-age benefits are cut. This is especially true if incomes are measured after housing costs have been deducted: we project that AHC incomes below the 20th percentile will fall in real terms between 2015\u201316 and 2021\u201322. However, the future path of inequality is highly dependent upon the distribution of growth in workers\u2019 earnings, which is itself highly uncertain.\n\nThe official rate of relative AHC poverty is projected to rise by over 2ppts between 2015\u201316 and 2021\u201322. All of the projected increase in relative poverty is driven by relative child poverty, which is projected to increase by almost 7ppts. The relative poverty rates among pensioners and working-age non-parents are projected to remain fairly constant. Planned tax and benefit reforms account for about a third of the projected increase in relative poverty.\n\nWith real incomes of poor households stagnant or falling, the official rate of absolute AHC poverty is projected to remain roughly unchanged between 2015\u201316 and 2021\u201322, but to increase for children. These projections are somewhat sensitive to the path and distribution of future earnings growth, but tax and benefit policies also matter: planned reforms are projected to increase absolute poverty by about 1ppt. Absolute child poverty is projected to rise by around 4ppts, primarily due to the impact of planned reforms. Absolute pensioner poverty is projected to fall by over 2ppts, due in large part to the fact that beyond 2018 the basic state pension and pension credit are projected to rise in line with earnings.\n\nDifferent regions face differing prospects for overall absolute poverty, but all are projected to see absolute child poverty rise between 2013\u20132015 and 2019\u20132021. Absolute poverty is projected to fall in southern regions, the East, Yorkshire & the Humber and Scotland, but rise in the North East, the North West, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Midlands. Although absolute child poverty is projected to increase in each nation and English region, the largest projected rises are in the North East, East Midlands and Wales, which see increases of at least 5ppts. With the exception of London, poverty is generally projected to rise more in areas where it is already higher. The relative fortunes of different regions could be different from our projections if there is significant geographical variation in future growth in rent or pay.\n\nDifferences in projected poverty trends across the country are partly driven by the share of income that low-income families get from earnings. Working-age families in poverty or just above the poverty line in regions such as London and the South East get over half of their income from earnings, whereas those in the North East get only about a third (with most of the rest of their income coming from benefits). Families that are more dependent on benefits are more exposed to benefit cuts, and gain less when real earnings rise.\n\nThe projected impact of upcoming tax and benefit reforms on poverty varies across regions, partly due to the differing effects of limiting the child element in tax credits and universal credit to the first two children in a family. This \u2018two-child limit\u2019 is projected to increase overall absolute poverty by a little under 1ppt and absolute child poverty by over 2ppts. Some regions are affected much more heavily than others: Northern Ireland and the West Midlands, with twice as many large poor families as Scotland and the South West, are projected to see a larger increase in poverty as a result of the policy.\n\nThere is, of course, significant uncertainty around any macroeconomic forecasts, and hence around any projection of future trends in household incomes based on those forecasts. Notably, the OBR has already indicated that it will downgrade its forecast for productivity \u2013 the key driver of earnings \u2013 at the Budget later this month. Such a downgrade would leave our projections for median income (based on the OBR\u2019s March forecast) looking optimistic. However, our poverty projections, and those for relative poverty in particular, are less sensitive to forecast earnings growth.\n\nSnapshot of our findings...", "output": "The number of UK children in \u201cabsolute poverty\u201d will rise by 400,000 within six years as a result of benefit cuts, according to a study by\u00a0the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The research, funded by\u00a0the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, indicated that approximately 7.5 million low income households will have their benefits cut by over \u00a3500 ($653) per year, leading to a 4% increase in child poverty levels in the East Midlands, the north-east and Wales. \u201cAbsolute poverty\u201d is defined as an income of less than 60% of the UK median average.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk Glitch in Talk2Go app causes mobile and landlines to ring at once \n Beleaguered TalkTalk customers are complaining that their landline and mobile phones ring at the same time, an issue that appears to be due to a glitch in the telco's Talk2Go app.\n\nAccording to the TalkTalk community forum, the problem first occurred earlier this week. However, customers were still reporting issues this morning.\n\n\"The worst thing is that I get no mobile signal at all at work during the day, so calling our landline is instantly diverting to the mobile voicemail and nobody at home is able to answer the landline as it doesn't ring (as voicemail answered),\" complained the original poster.\n\nMany other customers have since piled in to report they are experiencing similar problems.\n\nOne customer deserved the issue as \"another **** up from TalkTalk\". He said: \"I have emailed the CEO's office as its an absolute joke! My broadband hasn\u2019t worked properly for 5 months and constant issues, they are still happy to take the payment every month.\n\n\"It has to be linked to the talk2go app as its the only way they had my work mobile number. but first line support in india didn't have a clue what I was saying!\"\n\nAnother customer said that TalkTalk had informed them there was a known issue to the service.\n\nOne said they received a message from TalkTalk this morning via a Twitter DM, which read: \"Apologies for any inconvenience caused Paul! Please let us know if you need anything.\" Customer: \"Only the problem fixed (just confirmed that it's still broken).\" TT: \"Paul you're still having trouble with your service?\" Customer: \"Oh yes, same fault as reported, still unfixed.\"\n\nHe wrote: \"I'm always amazed that a company that calls itself 'TalkTalk' use every method possible to avoid actually picking up the phone to customers who have faults and check that it's been fixed to their satisfaction.\"\n\nTalkTalk has suggested it is keen to ditch its poorly performing mobile business and concentrate on broadband instead.\n\nIn September TalkTalk was named the worst UK internet provider in a biannual survey of providers by consumer charity Which? for the fifth time running.\n\nUsers named slow speeds, frequent connection drop-outs and poor customer service their biggest bugbears with the provider.\n\nA TalkTalk spokesman said: \u201cA handful of TalkTalk customers recently experienced concurring ringing to both their mobile and landline. We\u2019d like to thank these customers for their patience whilst we resolved the issue and apologise for any inconvenience caused.\u201d \u00ae", "output": "A technical issue with TalkTalk's Talk2Go app, which caused landline and mobile phones to ring simultaneously, has left customers furious. The glitch was unresolved days after first being reported. A spokesperson for TalkTalk said a \"handful of customers\" had experienced problems and offered an apology. The company has suggested it is looking to divest its mobile phone service and focus on offering broadband, although it was recently voted worst UK internet provider in a Which? survey.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hulu doubles its ad-sales research division to 12 people \n Hulu has been building an ad-sales research division. In the last 18 months, Hulu\u2019s ad-sales research team has doubled in size to 12 people, pulling in people from TV networks, digital media companies, research firms and ad agencies. This included bringing on Julie DeTraglia, a longtime NBCUniversal sales and research exec, as Hulu\u2019s first head of ad-sales research. Reporting to Peter Naylor, Hulu\u2019s head of ad sales, DeTraglia and her team are embedded with Hulu\u2019s sales teams in New York and Los Angeles \u2014 with frequent trips to the company\u2019s sales offices in Chicago, Detroit and San Francisco.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve worked in sales and research organizations for a long time; sometimes [the sales and research teams] are separate,\u201d DeTraglia said. \u201cWe frequently go on calls with sales \u2014 they consider it a real service. When we have new data to share, even if it\u2019s not specific to a campaign or a media buy with that advertiser, we\u2019re asked to join to show [our knowledge of] the landscape.\u201d\n\nIn the world of movie and TV streaming services (at least in the U.S., since Hulu is not available internationally), Hulu occupies a unique role: It\u2019s both an ad-supported and subscription streaming service \u2014 and it has a sizable audience.\n\nHulu\u2019s lowest tier, which is available from $5.99 to $7.99 per month, features limited commercial breaks. This tier is included in Hulu\u2019s live TV option, for which Hulu \u2014 like any other cable, satellite or internet-TV distributor \u2014 has some ad slots to sell across channels. (Hulu\u2019s $11.99-per-month option is almost entirely ad-free.)\n\nLast year, Hulu said it had 12 million subscribers across both plans. That number has grown by double-digit percentages this year, according to a Hulu source.\n\nThis year, Hulu said it would stop publicly reporting subscriber numbers, arguing that it was the wrong metric since its platform also has advertising, and advertisers care about video viewership. To that end, Hulu said this past summer that it has 47 million monthly unique viewers, with 33 million of those viewers watching from the ad-supported subscription tier.\n\nToday, Hulu\u2019s CPMs can be in the mid-$30 to $40 range when negotiating upfront deals. The prices can increase dramatically \u2014 twice or three times the upfront costs \u2014 if inventory is close to being sold out, according to one ad buyer, who requested anonymity due to ongoing negotiations with Hulu. \u201c[Hulu\u2019s] CPM pricing has gone up and moves faster than anything else,\u201d this buyer said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t do it upfront, it can be on par with national TV.\u201d\n\nWith Hulu\u2019s audience and advertising business growing, it made sense to build an ad-sales research team that can drill deep on areas such as ad effectiveness and attribution, as well as general consumer research on streaming consumption.\n\n\u201cBuilding out our ad sales research division was a focus for us not only to help better serve our advertiser partners, but also to drive the industry forward with new measurement capabilities and insight into the changing face of the viewer,\u201d said Peter Naylor, svp of ad sales for Hulu.\n\nThe team\u2019s work is supported by partnerships with other research firms and measurement vendors, including Millward Brown, Nielsen Catalina Solutions and Samba TV.\n\n\u201cThe thing we talk about all the time is how right now about 78 percent of our total viewing is happening on connected devices in the living room,\u201d DeTraglia said. \u201cThat posed a bunch of measurement challenges for us and the industry, as we had to figure out how to do ad-effectiveness research there and measure audience there. We also know it\u2019s a blind spot for the industry, where there is no real third-party measurement. But we have a lot of great first-party data, and we can educate the industry about viewing habits there and what that means for marketing partners who spend with us and what it means for the TV industry as well.\u201d\n\nAt any given time, the ad-sales research team is conducting a \u201ccouple of handfuls\u201d of ad-effectiveness studies for clients, DeTraglia said. Simultaneously, Hulu is working on six larger custom research studies either in tandem with one of its partners or on its own. Some of this work is geared toward next year, as Hulu preps its next upfront presentation and talks about its follow-up to \u201cThe Handmaid\u2019s Tale,\u201d which became the first show from a subscription streaming service to win best drama at the Emmys.\n\nOne big area of focus will be Hulu\u2019s live TV product, which launched in beta earlier this year and has been able to grow to 300,000 subscribers, according to The Information. Early internal data shows that the more people watch live TV on Hulu, the more they\u2019re likely to catch up on other stuff through Hulu\u2019s subscription on-demand offering, DeTraglia said.\n\n\u201cIt supports the notion of what Hulu wants to be, which is TV all in one place,\u201d she said.", "output": "US streaming service Hulu has doubled the size of its ad-sales research division to 12 people in response to its growing audience. The company reported 47 million monthly unique viewers during the summer, with 33 million from its ad-supported subscription offering. The ad-sales research team, headed by former NBCUniversal sales and research executive Julia DeTraglia, is working with partners including Millward Brown and Nielsen Catalina Solutions to maximise first-party data on viewing habits, as well as effectiveness and attribution.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Video ad fraud grows alongside rising video ad spend \n This is the second article in an occasional series on ad fraud. The first entry examined why old fraud tactics won\u2019t die.\n\nFraudsters are pivoting to video, which is bad news for publishers looking to siphon cash from the growing pot of video ad spend.\n\nThe ad industry\u2019s massive growth in video ad spend has simply created a strong incentive for fraud. As BuzzFeed\u2019s recent ad fraud expos\u00e9 showed, the demand for video inventory is so great that hucksters can still depend on old schemes like sending traffic to garbage sites and domain spoofing to trick big brands into forking over some of their money. The distrust that these ad fraud operations create could potentially slow down growth in programmatic advertising.\n\nHere\u2019s what you need to know about the state of video ad fraud.\n\nThe key numbers\n\nAd spend on video in the U.S. nearly doubled in just a few years from $7.7 billion in 2015 to $13.2 billion in 2017, according to eMarketer. By 2020, video ad spend is expected to exceed $18 billion.\n\nVideo is associated with a disproportionate amount of fraud. While video accounts for 45 percent of total ad spend, it is tied to 64 percent of all ad fraud, according to Forrester.\n\nAmong different types of video inventory, fraudsters go after the most premium stuff. Bots drive just 4 percent of mobile web video traffic. But for over-the-top video \u2014 where CPMs are much greater than the mobile web \u2014 20 percent of traffic is from bots, according to Pixalate.\n\nFraud is roughly twice as common in video as it is in display. About 10 percent of the video impressions that DoubleVerify scans in North America are fraudulent, while only about 5 percent of display impressions are tied to fraud. White Ops estimates that fraud accounts for 22 percent of video spend and 9 percent of display spend.\n\nWhy this matters for publishers\n\nSince it is the money of advertisers that fraudsters are gobbling up, ad-fraud conversations are usually couched from a buy-side perspective. After all, no marketer wants a fourth of their ad budget going to waste. But video fraud also strains publishers by diverting money from them and lowering ad rates.\n\nTo entice ad buyers, fraudsters sell bot traffic and impressions tied to masked URLs at a discount. This creates a perception that buyers can obtain video inventory on the cheap, said Josh Cariveau, svp of global operations at video ad platform SpotX. But in reality, quality video inventory remains expensive.\n\n\u201cMy concern is that because of fraud, premium publishers do not get the rates they deserve through the open exchange,\u201d said Justin Festa, chief digital officer of feel-good publisher LittleThings.\n\nWhat it means for the industry\n\nEngineering programmatic platforms to have as deep of a pool of advertisers as possible has led to a byzantine ad-supply chain that provides fraudsters plenty of nooks to hide in. Although digital advertising is more than two decades old, its fraud problems still persist. For video specifically, fraud appears to have gotten worse over time.\n\n\u201cWe have definitely seen a growth in video ad fraud,\u201d said Matt McLaughlin, COO of ad-verification firm DoubleVerify. Since ad budgets grow in the fourth quarter as advertisers try to reach their annual goals just before the year ends, fraudulent activity will be higher than normal during the next two months, he said.\n\nOne ad buyer, requesting anonymity, said he only buys video through private marketplaces where he can work directly with publishers. Limiting buys to PMPs significantly reduces the amount of available inventory, but the fraud concerns on the open exchange aren\u2019t worth the trade-off for more scale, the buyer said.\n\nOn the sell side, LittleThings has found that advertisers prefer PMPs for video, so they can get more transparency, Festa said.\n\n\u201cPMPs don\u2019t fully solve the problem, though,\u201d he said. \u201cLong term, we need to clean up the open market and bring more transparency to video with initiatives like ads.txt.\u201d", "output": "The video ad industry needs a tool like ads.txt to combat the rising tide of fraud in the industry, according to Justin Festa, CDO of publisher LittleThings. He said bad actors exploiting the \"byzantine\" ad supply chain were preventing premium publishers from achieving decent rates on open exchanges. Meanwhile, DoubleVerify COO Matt McLaughlin warned Q4 would see an increase in fraud, as advertisers scrambled to hit year-end goals. Video accounts for 64% of all ad fraud, despite making up 45% of ad spend, according to Forrester."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snap Pixel allows marketers to track users across platforms \n Snapchat has launched a conversion tracking tool, enabling marketers to track people across mobile, tablet and desktop owned online environments.\n\nSnap Pixel enables marketers to measure the revenue, performance, growth, and acquisition that Snapchat has driven across devices. This includes being able to measure website visits, purchases, and sign-ups.\n\nSnap says it will introduce features such as custom audience creation and real-time optimisation in the coming months.\n\nPixels are generated directly in the Snapchat Ad Manager by advertisers, where they select a website to track. Once it has been setup, results are measured for up to 28 days after someone has viewed or engaged with an ad.\n\nOne of the first advertisers to trial Snap Pixel was the TechStyle Fashion Group, which boasts eCommerce brands such as JustFab, Fabletics and ShoeDazzle.\n\nTechStyle is said to have seen its cost per purchase sit at 40 to 60 per cent lower than its goal across all its brands, just 24 hours after someone saw one of its ads. In addition, it achieved a cost per sign-up 30 to 50 per cent under its goal for each brand.\n\nShoeDazzle, alone, was able to drive a cost per purchase 63 per cent under goal, and a cost per sign-up 48 per cent under.\n\nJoin us at the 2017 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony, taking place in London on Thursday 16 November, to mix with the industry's best and brightest, and raise a glass to the year's best campaigns and solutions. To find out more, and to book your place, click here.", "output": "Marketers can follow visits, purchases and sign-ups by using Snap's latest addition to Snapchat Ad Manager, Snap Pixel, to track websites. The feature functions across devices, and once activated, will continue measuring revenue, performance, growth and acquisition for 28 days after an ad is viewed. Early adopter TechStyle Fashion Group said 24 hours after an ad was viewed, its cost per purchase fell by 40% to 60% lower than its goal across its brands. Snap aims to add custom audience creation and real-time optimisation to Pixel in the coming months.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Didi Chuxing to build its own EV charging network across China\n \n China\u2019s Uber competitor Didi Chuxing is getting in on the nation\u2019s electric-vehicle boom.\n\nThe company announced today it will begin building a network of EV charging stations across the country, highlighting the seriousness with which both China\u2019s government and private enterprise are approaching the emerging industry.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAccording to Didi, the stations will be accessible both for Didi drivers and others. It will build the stations through a joint-venture with Beijng-based Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization (GEIDCO). The venture will be known as Global New Energy Vehicle Service. A feature in Didi\u2019s app for drivers will display which charging stations are nearby. The company did not lay out a timeline for the stations\u2019 deployment, or specify how many it intended to build.\n\n\u201cThe future of transport is new energy vehicles, and ridesharing will be a key link in promoting new energy on the road,\u201d said Didi CEO Cheng Wei in a statement today at an energy summit in Beijing co-sponsored by the United Nations and GEIDCO.\n\nChina already leads the world in EV charging stations. As of 2016, there were about 150,000 stations across the country, amounting to about one per every seven electric cars (link in Chinese), according to China\u2019s National Energy Administration. It expects the number of charging stations to surpass 1 million by year\u2019s end. The US, by comparison, has about 16,000 public vehicle charging stations, with 43,000 connectors.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nChina also leads the world when it comes to EV purchases. According to the International Energy Agency, 40% of the EVs sold in 2016 went to China, amounting to twice the number sold in the US.\n\nThe country has seen a surge of EV buying thanks in part to government subsidies and incentives, both for buyers and manufacturers. The city of Shenzhen, for example, picked cars from EV maker BYD to fill its taxi and bus fleets.\n\nDidi says it now has over 260,000 EVs in its network of 21 million drivers.", "output": "Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing will partner with Swedish firm NEVS to develop and build its own charging station for electric vehicles (EVs). CEO Cheng Wei said the stations would serve the more than 260,000 EVs on its platform as well as cars owned by the public. Didi Chuxing aims to increase its fleet to one million EVs by 2020, while China accounts for 40% of all global EV sales, according to the International Energy Agency.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Property firm Lendlease publishes gender pay report \n When it comes to gender equity we are committed to creating a level playing field so everyone has an equal chance of success.\n\nThis applies to all our processes and policies, ensuring opportunities are fair and equitable for all.\n\nForeword from Neil Martin, Chief Executive Officer, Europe\n\nWe want to create a level playing field at Lendlease in which everyone has the opportunity to succeed and fulfil their potential. At Lendlease, we\u2019ve already achieved equal pay, meaning both men and women get paid the same amount for doing the same role. Whether through recruitment, training or ways of working,\n\nLendlease is committed to providing long-term, rewarding careers for all its employees. This approach is helping us to close our gender pay gap and since we started the process in 2017, we have seen a 6 per cent increase in female representation overall.\n\nLendlease UK now has a female representation of 35 per cent (from 29 per cent) and our construction business is at 26 per cent (from 19 per cent). I am incredibly proud of the work we\u2019ve done to achieve this. Representation is an industry-wide problem, but at Lendlease we are spending time levelling the playing field so that everyone has access to the opportunities we offer.\n\nGender will not secure a role at Lendlease, but talent will, so it\u2019s critical that we do what we can to ensure talented people from all backgrounds are able to join our business.\n\nWe have set specific recruitment targets for our construction business and changed the way we recruit so that our roles reach more people. We have seen great progress since making these changes and in 2019, for the first time, more of our graduate intake was female (64 per cent).\n\nBut we can always do more. One of the areas we are focusing on is increasing the number of women in senior roles. So far, we have worked hard to reduce unconscious bias; pushed our recruiters to have inclusive shortlists; consciously helped women to seek promotion within the business; and created several programmes designed to support our employees with their individual needs.\n\nOver the next 12 months our senior leaders will be working towards achieving targets that help them to increase representation within their areas. We will also continue to run our development programmes, including the introduction of a brand-new programme for people returning to work after a career break. In addition to this, we\u2019re doing more research into flexible working so that this becomes a real option for those working on live construction sites.\n\nLendlease is already an outstanding place to work but if we get these things right, we can make it even better.\n\nGender Pay Reporting Requirements\n\nAll UK organisations which employ over 250 employees are required to report annually on their gender pay gap. The gender pay gap is defined as the difference in the average earnings of men and women over a standard period of time, regardless of their role or seniority. Due to historical mergers and acquisitions Lendlease has a number of business entities. Only our construction entity is required to publish data under the regulations, however we felt it was important to analyse and publish data for our Lendlease UK business overall. Read our Gender Pay Gap Report here.", "output": "Property management and construction company Lendlease has issued a report on gender pay ratios. The firm currently has a ratio of 71% men to 29% women on its staff overall, while its construction business has 19% female employees, dropping to 7% for senior management roles. The study showed that, in the construction business, among the lowest 25% of earners, one-third were women, compared with 67% men, while women made up\u00a0just 6% of\u00a0the top percentile. Lendlease's report also demonstrated around 78% of male and female employees received a performance-related bonus during the 2016 financial year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Investors concern over fees comes under scrutiny \n Finding the lowest fee for the service level that will make you a successful investor won\u2019t always be the cheapest option.cacaroot/Getty Images/iStockphoto Share\n\nThree facts about financial literacy:\n\n\n\n1) You need to understand the cost of all the financial products you own and use.\n\n2) Lower is better when it comes to cost \u2013 it means less of your money is being transferred to the financial industry.\n\n3) Value is nearly as important as cost in determining whether you have the right product, and that includes investment advice.\n\n\n\nNovember is Financial Literacy Month, so expect to hear all kinds of messages about how to be smarter about money in the weeks ahead. Here's my contribution: Be ruthless about finding out the price of investing products and advice, but understand that a race to the bottom on costs may deprive you of the help you need to reach your goals.\n\n\n\nA lot of Globe readers ask me these days about exchange-traded funds, which are basically very low-cost mutual funds that trade like a stock. Often, these readers are fuming about the fees they pay for mutual funds or for the services of an investment adviser. They're convinced their fees are too high and that ETFs are the answer.\n\n\n\nETFs are the lowest-cost way to build an instantly diversified portfolio, but you need to know some investing basics to work them properly. For example, you must be able to set a mix of bonds and Canadian, U.S. and international stocks that works for your needs, then keep that mix in line over the years.\n\n\n\nAs you age, you'll have to adjust the mix to reflect approaching retirement. Then, you'll need to make major renovations to your portfolio as you move from the saving phase of life to living off your retirement income. On top of all this, you need to be comfortable using an online broker and choosing ETFs from a selection of hundreds.\n\n\n\nAn ETF portfolio would be a much lower-cost way to invest than having an investment adviser and a somewhat cheaper avenue than using a robo-adviser. But if you can't manage those ETFs effectively, the higher costs of robo and human advice can be a good value.\n\n\n\nFind the lowest fee for the service level that will make you a successful investor. Sometimes, this won't be the cheapest option.\n\n\n\nSubscribe to Carrick on Money\n\nAre you reading this newsletter on the web or did someone forward the e-mail version to you? If so, you can sign up for Carrick on Money here.\n\n\n\nCalling all seniors\n\nSome colleagues and I are looking at when various generations reached milestones such as buying a house, getting married, having kids and retiring. We've heard from lots of people in all age groups \u2013 except those of you aged 65 and older. If you're in that group, please help us out by filling out our short online survey.\n\n\n\nRob's personal finance reading list\u2026\n\n\n\nThe top 10 perks of debt-free living\n\nLife is better when you're out of debt.\n\n\n\nThe overdressed investment portfolio\n\nMy experience interacting with investors tells me this advice is right on the money \u2013 stick to the basics in building a portfolio and avoid trends and new flavours.\n\n\n\nEquifax deserves the corporate death penalty\n\nMany more Americans were affected by the security breach at the credit reporting company Equifax than Canadians. But that still doesn't explain how much angrier Americans are about this lapse. Here's an example \u2013 a call for the company to be dissolved.\n\n\n\nWedding costs have gone crazy\n\nA woman looks at what her parents $2,000 wedding in 1974 would cost in 2017 dollars. The inflation-adjusted cost would be $10,000. The actual cost is different story. Warning: Some foul language is used here. It's just the vernacular of young personal-finance writers.\n\n\n\nToday's featured financial tool Wondering how much you can safely withdraw from your savings every year when you're retired? Try the Big Picture, an online tool that you can access for free through a 10-day trial.\n\n\n\nAsk Rob The question: \"In a registered retirement income fund, do you think the iShares Canadian Financial Monthly Income ETF (FIE-T) is a good choice? What factors should one consider in making this decision?\"\n\n\n\nThe answer: \"FIE has a high dividend yield of about 6.4 per cent, so I get why I've been asked a few times about it lately by readers. A couple of things to watch out for: the high management expense ratio of 0.94 per cent and the concentration on financials, a sector to which many Canadian investors are already over-exposed. FIE is almost like a balanced fund, with a mix of dividend stocks, preferred shares and corporate bonds in the financial sector. As an alternative, what about a more broad-based Canadian dividend ETF, with exposure to financials and other market sectors as well?\"\n\n\n\nDo you have a question for me? Send it my way. Sorry I can't answer every one personally. Questions and answers are edited for length.\n\n\n\nMore Carrick and money coverage\n\nFor more money stories, follow me on Twitter and join the discussion on my Facebook page. Millennial readers, join our Gen Y Money Facebook group.\n\n\n\nSend us an e-mail to let us know what you think of my newsletter.\n\n\n\nWant to subscribe? Click here to sign up.\n\n\n\nIf you like Carrick on Money. We've launched a new Top Business: Evening Edition newsletter providing a summary of the biggest business headlines of the day. Sign up for it and more than a dozen other Globe newsletters here.", "output": "Investors' obsessions with low management fees is causing many to miss out on helpful financial advice, argues personal finance columnist Rob Carrick. Punting for the lowest-cost investment options, nominally exchange-traded fund products,\u00a0may save money upfront, but it may backfire is financial plans aren't developed and stuck to. \"If you can't manage those ETFs effectively, the higher costs of robo and human advice can be a good value,\" wrote Carrick.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "London housing development to accommodate religious requirements \n A London council is to build housing with religiously compliant features designed to appeal to the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, in what is thought to be a first for a local authority.\n\nHackney council\u2019s development, Tower Court in Stamford Hill, north-east London, will include lifts which do not require manual operation on Shabbat, the Jewish sabbath; open balconies to accommodate temporary enclosures during the religious holiday of Sukkot, and separate kitchens which can be easily adapted to kosher requirements.\n\n\n\nSome of the 132 flats will be larger than the norm, with four or five bedrooms. Haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, families typically include seven or eight children.\n\n\n\nThe development will also house the London headquarters of Hatzola, a Jewish volunteer medical emergency service, which operates around the world.\n\n\n\nTower Court used to be an estate of 67 homes, which was demolished in 2014 ahead of regeneration. The project was put out to competitive tender, with a brief to pay special attention to the the housing requirements of the Haredi community.\n\n\n\nThirty-five percent of the new homes will be available for social rent, with half sold on the open market and 15% sold under special schemes such as shared ownership.\n\n\n\nDesign and access statement for Tower Court. Photograph: Adam Khan Architects & muf architecture/art\n\n\u201cAll homes for rent will be allocated according to housing needs,\u201d said a spokesperson for Hackney council. The flats had not been designed solely for Haredi families, he stressed, and they would not be prioritised. Some flats would be allocated to former tenants of the demolished estate.\n\n\n\nStamford Hill is home to more than 30,000 Haredi Jews, one of the largest communities in Europe, which is growing at a rate of about 4% a year. A shortage of suitable available housing has forced some members of the community to leave London to establish a new Haredi community in Canvey Island, Essex.\n\n\n\nAdam Khan Architects, which is responsible for the design of the new development, held consultation sessions with the Haredi community to establish its needs and priorities.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe showed models and drawings, and we had people grabbing the pencils out of our hands to show us what they wanted,\u201d Khan told the Guardian. \u201cThey were very generous in sharing intimate details of family life to give us a better understanding.\u201d\n\n\n\nAmong the issues raised by Haredi families during the consultation were the need for a wall to accommodate shelves of religious books; master bedrooms to be big enough to hold twin beds, and storage space sufficient for meat and dairy kitchen equipment and ceremonial dishes.\n\n\n\nSome flat will have open balconies for temporary enclosures used during religious holiday of Sukkot. Photograph: AKA MUF\n\nThe development will include door entry systems and a lift which complies with the rules of Shabbat, under which observant Jews are forbidden from activating electrical equipment. Some flats will have open balconies required for the erection of sukkah, the temporary enclosure in which observant Jews eat and sleep during the religious holiday of Sukkot.\n\nRabbi Abraham Pinter, who speaks for the Stamford Hill Haredi community, said the development was \u201creally exciting\u201d.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe council is putting a lot of effort into recognising the community\u2019s needs, which is quite difficult in an area of inner London where there are a lot of competing needs,\u201d he said.\n\n\n\n\u201cThis is a major development the council has initiated. It is appreciated, and hopefully it will lead to other developments.\u201d\n\n\n\nPhilip Glanville, the mayor of Hackney, said: \u201cWith 13,000 families on the council\u2019s housing waiting list and 3,000 households in currently living in temporary accommodation, we are not only doing everything we can to build the new homes Hackney needs, but making sure that these are firmly rooted in their communities.\n\n\n\nConstruction of the flats is expected to begin early next year, and be completed in 2020 or 2021.", "output": "London\u2019s Hackney council plans to build a housing development in Stamford Hill aimed at the area\u2019s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. Tower Court will feature lifts requiring no manual operation on the\u00a0sabbath, kitchens suited for preparing kosher meals, and balconies designed support\u00a0temporary enclosures during\u00a0Sukkot. A number of the\u00a0flats will feature four or five bedrooms, in order to accommodate larger families. Of the new homes, 35% will be available for social rent, 15% will be available through shared ownership, and half will be sold on the open market.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Outsourcing firm Capita fails to pay hundreds of trainee doctors \n This article is the subject of a complaint on behalf of Capita Plc\n\nHundreds of trainee GPs have not received their salaries from the outsourcing company responsible for paying them, forcing some to turn to charities for emergency funds, according to the BMA.\n\n\n\nIt says that some GPs have been unable to cover their mortgages because of the delays by Capita, which holds a contract to administer training grants for GPs in three areas of England through a body called Primary Care Services England.\n\nA letter sent to NHS England on 30 October by the British Medical Association and seen by the Guardian warns that some practices were \u201chaving to pay trainees out of already overstretched practice budgets, or trainees are going months without being paid if the practice cannot cover the shortfall\u201d.\n\nCapita denies being responsible for the delays and says it has not failed to reimburse any trainee GP salaries in the three areas - Thames Valley, Yorkshire and the Humber and part of Wessex.\n\nIt says it has outstanding payments to some trainee GPsas a result of waiting for information from their employers. It said that it was chasing details of those trainee GPs and that salaries would be reimbursed immediately once those were received. Capita was unable to say how many trainee GP salaries it is responsible for paying, or how many it had been unable to pay.\n\nThe BMA estimates that hundreds of trainees have been affected, although NHS England was also unable to give a number. The Cameron Fund, a charity for the prevention of hardship among GPs and their dependents, said it had received three applications for emergency funding in the last week alone.\n\n\u201cThis is actually probably the tip of the iceberg,\u201d said the treasurer of the charity, Dr David Wrigley. \u201cNHS England has commissioned out what was a very efficient service run within the NHS, and now Capita runs this contract in what I\u2019d call another botched privatisation.\u201d\n\nA trainee GP in one of the affected areas, who asked not to be named, was not paid for two consecutive months by Capita. At the end of October she posted on a private message board for GPs asking: \u201cAnyone know of how I access hardship funds (quickly) to feed children/pay nursery/mortgage (quickly)?\u201d\n\nShe applied for charitable assistance immediately afterwards, she told the Guardian. The Cameron Fund gave her emergency funds so she could buy a present for her daughter\u2019s seventh birthday.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s pretty stressful. A constant drain. I\u2019ve run out of energy to be able to fight it,\u201d she said. Her surgery also provided her with a loan last month to tide her over, but did not hold enough surplus funds to do the same to help her again.\n\nBut in the last 24 hours, she says, \u201cpartners literally just stepped forward [and have] all taken a pay cut and provided me with a loan to get me through the month as they were worried about my family\u201d.Capita has faced issues with its primary care support services contract since it was awarded in June 2015, including missing records, administrative errors preventing GPs from working, and missing payments. Critics will see the latest claims as evidence of the dangers of outsourcing NHS services.\n\nAn NHS England spokesperson said it was \u201cholding Capita\u2019s feet to the fire on needed improvements\u201d. It added: \u201cIn the meantime, the lead employer for Health Education England or the GP practice are responsible for paying their GP trainee salaries and are subsequently reimbursed for this. Backlogs are being prioritised by Capita.\u201d\n\n\n\nBut while it now says that it is piling on the pressure, six months ago NHS England appeared to be sanguine about Capita\u2019s performance, with the GPs\u2019 magazine Pulse reporting NHS England saying it was \u201cencouraged\u201d by the progress made by its much-criticised contractor in implementing a recovery plan.\n\n\n\nCapita says that in cases where there are outstanding payments it has not received all the information it needs to pay salaries from the relevant employers and that it had reimbursed salaries where information had been provided to them. A spokesperson said the problems were an \u201cinevitable\u201d part of \u201ca major transformation project to modernise a localised and unstandardised service\u201d.\n\nIt added: \u201cWe have made significant investment to deliver improvements and these have been recognised by NHS England and demonstrated through improved service performance and improved customer satisfaction. We are continuing to transform locally managed operations into a modern and efficient national customer-focused service for NHS England and all primary care organisations.\u201d\n\nThe BMA\u2019s letter, to the NHS chief executive, Simon Stevens, says there are a range of problems with Capita.\n\n\u201cWe are disappointed at the lack of progress that has been made,\u201d it says. \u201cThese issues have been ongoing since NHS England commissioned Capita \u2026 and it is unacceptable that more progress has not been made to getting these resolved.\u201d The BMA also claims there have been significant issues with processing both locum and trainee GPs\u2019 pension contributions.\n\n\u201cThe reality is that there are huge levels of funding that should be going to GP practices that are not going through,\u201d said a BMA spokesperson, Dr Krishna Kasaraneni. \u201cAll the issues we\u2019ve identified add up to this being a patient safety matter. Patients are at risk.\u201d\n\nA doctor in her third year of GP training in one of the affected areas, who asked not to be named, told the Guardian her salary had not been paid from April until August this year.\n\n\u201cMy surgery gave me a loan initially, and then when it still wasn\u2019t being paid, I had to dig into savings,\u201d she said. \u201cI was pretty frustrated. The people who were in charge of solving it clearly weren\u2019t all that bothered, and it took a lot of very angry emails to get the fifth month paid. If it hadn\u2019t been I was about to apply to a charity for help as I was running out of money.\u201d\n\nAt the Cameron Fund, Wrigley says he believes Capita\u2019s alleged failings are so serious that the public accounts committee should be investigating the contract.\n\n\u201cNHS England have known about this for a while and the BMA has been putting constant pressure on, and it\u2019s all promises that it\u2019ll get better but it doesn\u2019t. I heard [that in] Nigeria trainee doctors weren\u2019t getting paid but you don\u2019t expect it in the world\u2019s fifth richest economy,\u2019 he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a complete failure and I\u2019d like the contract taken back to be run by the NHS.\u201d\n\nNew systems for cervical screening and GP payments and pensions that are also contracted out to Capita are due to go live next July. The BMA has told NHS England that it has \u201cno confidence\u201d in Capita\u2019s ability to deliver these services.\n\n\u201cThe consequences of failings will be very serious for practices, potentially affecting their viability,\u201d its letter concludes. \u201cAll of us who work in general practice and who depend on this service, expect to see much more robust stance taken by NHS England to resolving these many problems.\u201d\n\nAt the Cameron Fund, Wrigley is anticipating more requests for help. \u201cI expect we\u2019ll see more [applications],\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s no sign of Capita sorting its act out.\u201d", "output": "Capita, an outsourcing company, has failed to pay hundreds of trainee GPs in the UK, forcing some to rely on charities for emergency funds, according to The Guardian. Capita holds a contract to administer training grants to the doctors via a body named Primary Care Services England. On 30 October, the British Medical Association sent a letter to NHS England claiming that some practices were \u201chaving to pay trainees out of already overstretched practice budgets\u201d. Capita, which was awarded its contract in June 2015, has previously faced criticism over missing records and\u00a0payments, as well as administrative errors.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Q3 insurtech investment ahead of 2016 levels \n Investment in insurtech startups by carriers and venture capitalists continued an uneven ascent in the third quarter of this year, with 48 deals totaling $312 million outpacing the same period last year by about a third.\n\nThat's according to the quarterly Insuretech Briefing report, released today by Willis Towers Watson and CB Insights. Though Q3 2017 represents a precipitous drop in terms of funding from the nearly $1 billion invested in Q2 -- the second-most lucrative quarter for insurtechs -- the almost 50 deals completed in the quarter are the third-most by that measure. In the third quarter of 2016, 38 total deals yielded $230 million in funding.\n\nStudy data goes back to 2012, and the relatively new industry has had periods of intense activity followed by comparatively calm ones. Three quarters -- Q2 2015, Q1 2016 and Q2 2017 -- have reported funding volume between $783 million and $1.85 billion. However, funding in the calm periods has been on a steady climb over the past year.\n\nOf the total deals, 28 included direct investment by insurance companies and/or their investment arms, with some making multiple deals:\n\n4 deals\n\nPing An\n\n3 deals\n\nAXA\n\nAllianz\n\n2 deals\n\nMassMutual\n\nHannover Re\n\nChina Life\n\nAviva\n\nCMFG\n\nDriving the year-over-year increase, as well as buoying the insurtech funding trend, were significant investments in these health insurtechs, according to the report:\n\n", "output": "A total of 48 deals, accounting for $312m, occurred in the insurtech sector during Q3 2017, according to a report from Willis Towers Watson and CB Insights. Investment in the sector is roughly one-third greater than\u00a0during Q3 2016. China's Ping An led the way, completing four deals during the quarter, while\u00a0European stalwarts Allianz and Axa both closed three.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Early Palliative Care Is Key Driver in Reducing Costs \n SAN DIEGO, California \u2015 Palliative care can substantially reduce healthcare costs for advanced cancer patients, and when initiated early, it is a key driver in lowering expenditures, according to a new study.\n\n\"To put it into context, we took the average savings of approximately $3000 per patient [found in the study] and applied it to the 595,000 cancer deaths in 2016,\" said lead author Wendi G. Lebrett, a medical student at the University of California, San Diego. \"That is approximately $1.8 billion in cost savings, and this helps highlight the impact of palliative care.\"\n\nLebrett presented the findings of her study at the Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium (PCOS) 2017.\n\nA number of recent studies have investigated the impact of palliative care on healthcare utilization and its potential for reducing costs. One study conducted at Johns Hopkins Medicine found that opening a palliative care unit saved the facility $367,751 in direct costs.\n\nAnother study showed that palliative care substantially reduces aggressive end-of-life care compared with end-of-life care with no palliative component, which in turn would lower related costs.\n\nLebrett explained that her group has also previously found that palliative care decreases healthcare utilization, so \"the next logical question is that if it decreases utilization, then what does this mean in dollars and cents?\"\n\nQuantifying the impact of palliative care has been understudied by investigators, she pointed out.\n\nThe Earlier the Palliative Care, the Lower the Cost\n\nTo determine the impact of palliative care \u2015 and of the timing of that care \u2015 on healthcare costs among elderly patients with advanced cancer, Lebrett and colleagues compared cost between case patients and control patients before and after the palliative care intervention. All direct costs were included, such as costs associated with inpatient, outpatient, and home healthcare, as well as hospice care and medical equipment.\n\nUsing SEER data, they identified 166,124 elderly patients with advanced disease. After applying exclusion criteria, about 3600 patients had received palliative care. \"The vast majority \u2015 72,000 \u2015 had not,\" she said.\n\nThey further excluded about 1400 patients because they had their first palliative care consult on the day of their death, and therefore the timing was not sufficient for that care to have had an impact on their healthcare costs.\n\nThe final analysis included 1288 matched pairs.\n\nThe demographics were balanced between the two groups, but more of the palliative care patients had been treated in a teaching hospital compared to the control patients (67% vs 58%).\n\n\"This is consistent from what we know in the literature, that patients who receive palliative care are also more likely to be treated at a teaching hospital,\" she pointed out.\n\nAmong the entire cohort of 2576 patients (ie, the matched pairs), the total healthcare costs per patient in the 30 days before palliative care consultation were similar between palliative care patients ($12,881) and control patients ($12,335).\n\nHowever, after the initiation of palliative care, total healthcare expenditures declined. The total cost of care per patient in the 120 days after palliative care began was $6880 vs $9604 for control patients \u2015 a 28% decrease in spending (P < .001).\n\nTiming of palliative care was very important with respect to cost. When a palliative care consultation took place within 7 days of death, healthcare costs declined by $975, but when the palliative care consultation occurred more than 4 weeks before death, costs decreased by $5362.\n\n\"The palliative care patients had consistently lower average daily costs compared to controls,\" said Lebrett. \"Timing of care was a significant factor in determining the magnitude of savings in cost.\"\n\nHigh Priority and Skill Set Needed\n\nApproached for an independent comment, Steven D. Pearson, MD, president, Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, Boston, Massachusetts, explained that making high-quality palliative care available to patients with cancer should be a high priority for all clinicians, provider groups, and insurers.\n\n\"The evidence continues to pile up that it can improve patient outcomes and reduce costs, but there are structural problems with the way that care is paid for and in the ability to identify high-quality providers of palliative care,\" he told Medscape Medical News. \"There is also a gap in the awareness and ability of clinicians to integrate palliative care into their practices.\n\n\"Many clinicians think they can do it themselves, but there is a clearly defined skill set that really requires specific training, and so most oncologists will need to figure out how to collaborate with clinicians \u2015 but not necessarily physicians \u2015 who can provide these services in a seamless way,\" Dr Pearson added.\n\nWendi Lebrett has disclosed no relevant financial relationships. Dr Pearson is president of the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review.\n\nPalliative Care in Oncology Symposium (PCOS) 2017. Abstract 91, presented October 27, 2017.\n\nFor more news, join us on Facebook and Twitter", "output": "Palliative care can significantly lower healthcare costs for patients suffering from advanced cancer, and could have saved approximately $1.8 billion for the 595,000 patients who died of cancer in 2016, according to research presented at the Palliative Care in Oncology Symposium 2017. The study, carried out by lead medical student Wendi G. Lebrett of the University of California, found that there were average savings of around $3,000 per patient when palliative care was provided. Another study from Johns Hopkins Medicine found that establishing a palliative care unit saved the healthcare facility $367,751 in expenditures. Palliative care has also been shown to reduce the amount of aggressive end-of-life care, when compared with no palliative service provision, also helping to reduce costs. The University of California study compared the expense for case patients and control patients before and after palliative care was implemented, and included all costs, such as for hospice care and medical equipment. Palliative care was more frequently deployed in teaching hospitals (67 percent versus 58 percent). The total healthcare costs in the 30 days before palliative care between the two groups were similar, but after it was implemented, total healthcare expenditures significantly diverged, with the cost of care per patient 120 days after implementation dropping 28 percent from $9,604 to $6,880. Palliative care was more effective for reducing costs when offered well in advance of death; within seven days of death, the costs dropped by $975, but with four weeks in advance of death, the costs dropped by $5,362. Steven D. Pearson, the president of the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, said that the \u201cevidence continues to pile up that it can improve patient outcomes and reduce costs, but there are structural problems with the way that care is paid for and in the ability to identify high-quality providers of palliative care\". He encourages specific training for clinicians and oncologists, as well as collaboration for a \u201cseamless\u201d partnership.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Interdisciplinary approach needed for geriatric patients \n You understand intuitively that the patients in your practice, and the population in general, are aging. The problem many dentists face is not knowing what practical steps can be taken to help these patients. Leonard Brennan, DMD, a pioneer in treating aging patients, urges a focus on interdisciplinary approaches and patient communication to aid these patients and your practice.\n\nMany healthcare practitioners of all specialties -- and even patients -- believe that oral disease is just an unfortunate part of getting older. But this is nothing more than a myth to be debunked, according to Dr. Brennan.\n\n\"Seniors need a model of care where they afford and receive care,\" he said in a presentation at the recent 2017 ADA annual meeting in Atlanta.\n\nDr. Brennan practices in Portland, ME. He is a member of the ADA's National Eldercare Advisory Committee and also co-director of the geriatric dentistry fellowship at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA.\n\nInterdisciplinary teams\n\nDr. Brennan brought up the common condition of older adult patients having xerostomia, or persistent dry mouth. More than 400 pharmaceuticals can cause dry mouth in these patients, which means interdisciplinary communication is crucial to find solutions, he said.\n\n\"There needs to be communication across the dental-medical silos to find solutions that allow these patients to not have dry mouths and to be able to eat and taste their food,\" he told the audience.\n\nDr. Brennan recounted many times when he's talked with physicians who had no idea what effects the drugs they prescribed had on their patient's oral healthcare.\n\n\"Don't misunderstand me, those drugs have a role to play,\" he said. \"But all of us in healthcare need to be thinking about polypharmacy issues.\"\n\nDr. Brennan said that what his older adults patients are most interested in is being able to eat, taste food, and smile. Eating and tasting food are separate issues, he noted.\n\n\"The senses of smell and taste are correlated,\" he said. \"After age 60, we all have a reduced ability to taste sugar and salt.\"\n\nWhether the patient lives in the community or a long-term care facility, communication between healthcare professionals is crucial to help patients eat and taste their food. Often, this reduced ability to taste sugar and salt means these adults add more of these substances into the food they eat, he said.\n\nDr. Brennan gave the example of observing a patient he knew who previously had added one spoonful of sugar to her coffee now was adding four or five spoonfuls.\n\n\"This behavior directly affects what we do as dentists when we are treating these patients,\" he told the audience.\n\nCommunication tips\n\nOne of the advantages of treating older patients is their compliance, according to Dr. Brennan. As long as your communication is good and they can hear, these patients are happy to please you, he noted.\n\n\n\n\u2014 Leonard Brennan, DMD \u201cHow we communicate is what changes their life.\u201d\n\n\"Seniors are conscientious. If you give them instructions on what to do, they will do it,\" he said. \"How we communicate is what changes their life.\"\n\nDr. Brennan cautioned, however, that your practice can't expect to treat older patients on the same schedule as younger patients. Dental teams need to take the time to properly communicate with these patients.\n\n\"Our problem often is that we are working on a schedule and don't take time to properly instruct these patients,\" he said.\n\nDr. Brennan offered several recommendations for communicating with these patients:\n\nAvoid terms of endearment.\n\nStructure and organize your message.\n\nDo not present too much information at one time.\n\nListen.\n\nKeep your face well lit and face the patient as you speak.\n\nSpeak slowly.\n\nAsk open-ended questions.\n\nOral care for seniors\n\nAnother myth Dr. Brennan was quick to bust concerned the issue of oral care in long-term living environments.\n\nHe said he was talking with a staff member at a long-term facility when he relayed that it seemed as if the staff did not put much time into cleaning their patients' teeth.\n\n\"And I was told quickly that it was a myth that caregivers don't want to clean their patients' teeth,\" Dr. Brennan said.\n\nThe issue at these facilities, he said, is not willingness to care for the patients but rather staff turnover.\n\n\"Turnover at these facilities can be high,\" Dr. Brennan said. \"We can train staff, but it's difficult to train everyone if people leave all the time.\"", "output": "A new interdisciplinary model of care is needed for seniors\u2019 dental treatment in how they receive and pay for care. As part of a speech given at the 2017 ADA annual meeting, Leonard Brennan, DMD, a specialist in treating aging parents, set out a series of recommendations for treating and communicating with senior patients. In particular, he argued that there needs to be better communication between professions and older patients around senior dentistry, particularly that oral disease is not a necessary aspect of growing older. For instance, when talking with physicians, he understood that they did not consider the effect on oral healthcare of drugs they had prescribed. Taste and appetite are often connected, and taste loss from drugs may hurt a patient's physical health. Unlike other patients, seniors are more prepared to listen and effective communication ensures the continued health of older people. Further to this, he observed that in long-term care facilities, staff support was hindered by a high turnover or caregivers. These issues will only be overcome if dental practitioners encourage better communication with their patients and in their practice.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fried chicken order debuts test of drone deliveries in Japan \n Almost seven years after the nuclear meltdown in Japan\u2019s northeastern Fukushima prefecture that was triggered by an earthquake and tsunami, life is very slowly returning to normal. But in some areas, the conveniences of Japan\u2019s ubiquitous convenience stores remain out of reach.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nJapanese e-commerce giant Rakuten and convenience-store operator Lawson have zeroed in on one city in Fukushima, Minamisoma, to test drone deliveries. Yesterday (Oct. 31) the first delivery by drone was made to residents in Minamisoma, whose population is mostly elderly people who still have difficulty getting access to daily necessities.\n\nThe delivery was an order of fried chicken and croquettes (link in Japanese)\u2014staples of Japanese convenience stores\u2014to a 70-year-old man, who was apparently very pleased with the order. It\u2019s also the first drone delivery conducted by a convenience store in Japan.\n\nMinamisoma is located just 25 kilometers (about 16 miles) from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, and most of its 71,000 residents were forced to evacuate after the disaster. Last year, the evacuation order was lifted and residents started to return, with the population now at some 57,000. Schools also reopened this spring, according to Rakuten. As part of its recovery efforts, the city is working with the government to turn Minamisoma, a mountainous region, into a sort of \u201dtesting ground for robotics technologies.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nRakuten started experimenting with drone deliveries last year, and this year delivered hot soup to surfers on the Fukushima coast over a distance of 12 km.\n\nThe food items were delivered from a Lawson store in Minamisoma, which reopened in October 2016. Lawson also operates mobile stores, but not all items are available at these mobile sales vehicles. Residents can place their orders at these mobile outlets, after which an employee will call a Lawson store and have the order delivered by drone. Mobile stores are currently available twice a week (link in Japanese) in Minamisoma.\n\nRakuten said it would test its drone delivery program in Fukushima for six months before deciding whether to make it a more long-term offering. The company said it is also experimenting with using drones to deliver medicine to residents of Minamisoma.", "output": "Japanese convenience store operator Lawson has partnered with e-commerce company Rakuten to test deliveries by drone. The trial took place in the city of Minamisoma, and involved a delivery of fried chicken and croquettes from a Lawson store to a 70-year-old man at his home. The area was evacuated after the Fukushima nuclear accident, and the city is developing its potential as a robotics testing ground as part of recovery efforts. Rakuten will test the drone deliveries for the next six months before deciding whether to expand the service."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HomeOwners Alliance urges \u00a31,000 fine for home-purchase failures \n Post navigation\n\nAnyone responsible for a property purchase falling through should have to pay \u00a31,000 to the other side if they pull out.\n\nThe call has come from the HomeOwners Alliance, which says that fall-throughs are costing buyers and sellers over \u00a3500m a year.\n\nIt is proposing a \u00a31,000 reservation agreement \u2013 a legally binding bond paid by both the buyer and seller and held by their own solicitor \u2013 in answer to the Government\u2019s latest call for evidence into the home buying and selling process.\n\nThe organisation is also calling for estate agents to publish fuller particulars of sale for a property at the time it is listed.\n\nThe organisation claims that providing the TA6 particulars of sale form earlier, as well as introducing a reservation agreement, would iron out any problems earlier and speed up the process.\n\nThe HOA said: \u201cSellers will have to fill out TA6, the standard property information form which includes all material information such as length of lease and ground rent if leasehold, before the reservation agreement.\n\n\u201cThis is simply good practice, and there is no reason they cannot do this before putting their house on the market and the estate agent can provide it to the buyer, and the estate agent can then provide those details to the seller before they make an offer.\u201d\n\nIf a prospective buyer then decides to make an offer, a refundable reservation agreement would need to be paid by both sides to their respective solicitor.\n\nHere is how the HOA proposes a reservation agreement would work:\n\n\u2013 Before the reservation agreement, the buyer will need proof of funds such as a mortgage in principle. In the reservation agreement, the buyer\u2019s solicitor will confirm to the seller\u2019s solicitor that the buyer has sufficient funds.\n\n\u2013 Both sides agree to pay the other side \u00a31,000 if they pull out of the transaction for any reason.\n\n\u2013 Both pay their conveyancer/solicitor a repayable \u00a31,000 bond to cover the payment if they do pull out.\n\n\u2013 If any previously undeclared material issues emerge during the surveys and searches that potentially affect the value of the property by more than 1%, then either side has the right to renegotiate. If they can\u2019t agree a change of price, then the side that is detrimentally impacted will have the right to pull out without losing their \u00a31,000 bond.\n\n\u2013 If either side breaches their commitment to being a \u201cgenuine\u201d seller or buyer \u2013 such as by putting the property back on the market, accepting a higher offer from another buyer, or the buyer putting in a lower offer after the sale price agreed, then they will be deemed to have pulled out of the transaction, and are liable to pay the other side the \u00a31,000. If either side pulls out over matters that are financially less than 1% of the value of the property (eg over whether a cooker is included) they will be liable to pay the other side \u00a31,000.\n\n\u2013 If either side is worried about being able to afford the \u00a31,000, they can take out home buyers/sellers insurance.\n\n\u2013 There would need to be a backstop date for completion of the purchase, say three months after the reservation letter. If both sides want to continue with the transaction, they can agree to extend the deadline, but if one side has failed to meet their requirements, then they will be deemed to have pulled out, and have to pay the other side \u00a31,000.\n\n\u2013 Interpretation of a fall-through and any disputes should be covered by standard industry guidance, or failing agreement between the conveyancers, by the Property Ombudsman or the small claims court.\n\n\u2013 Only those that cause the collapse of the chain will have to pay and will pay \u00a32,000 if they are both buying and selling and pull out of both transactions at the same time.\n\nThe consumer group estimates consumers waste \u00a3500m a year on failed attempts to buy and sell properties.\n\nIt come to this figure using the Government\u2019s call for evidence on the home buying process that claimed \u2013 without a source \u2013 that failed transactions cost on average between \u00a3695 and \u00a3744 for buyers, and \u00a3582 and \u00a3740 for sellers.\n\nThere were 1.24m property transactions last year according to the ONS, which the analysis then multiplies by 28%, which is the estimate of fall throughs by property buyer Quick Move Now.\n\nThis comes to 344,000.\n\nIt then adds the \u00a3744 and \u00a3740 figure to give a cost of \u00a31,484 for both sides of a sale. This figure is then multiplied by the \u00a3344,000 to give an estimated sum of \u00a3511m wasted per year.\n\nPaula Higgins, chief executive of the HOA, said: \u201cThis is the true cost of the UK\u2019s not-fit-for-purpose home selling and buying system \u2013 home owners losing more than \u00a3500m down the drain every year.\n\n\u201cIt is no surprise that some parts of the property industry have too often resisted previous government attempts at reform \u2013 this is extra business for them.\u201d", "output": "A pressure group has proposed a \u00a31,000 ($1,328) penalty for any party that pulls out of a home-buying deal, saying it would help reduce transaction collapses that cost consumers $500m a year. The HomeOwners Alliance, which aims to represent the interests of domestic property owners and aspiring buyers, issued the proposal in response to a government\u00a0review of the homebuying process. It said a \u00a31,000 bond should be paid by both parties and held by their solicitors until completion\u00a0or forfeited in the event of a pulled deal."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK government publishes Draft Tenants\u2019 Fees Bill \n Post navigation\n\nLettings agents in England will face civil and criminal charges for flouting a ban on fees, the Government has revealed as it publishes its Draft Tenants\u2019 Fees Bill today.\n\nIt will create a civil offence with a fine of \u00a35,000 for an initial breach of the ban, and create a criminal offence where an agent has been fined or convicted of the same offence within the past five years. Penalties of up to \u00a330,000 can be issued.\n\nA ban on lettings fees to tenants was first announced a year ago and there was a consultation in June answered by 4,700 respondents.\n\nThe Government has also launched a consultation on making membership of client money protection schemes mandatory for letting and managing agents that handle client money.\n\nThe Bill will:\n\nCap holding deposits at no more than one week\u2019s rent and security deposits at no more than six weeks\u2019 rent. The draft Bill also sets out the proposed requirements on landlords and agents to return a holding deposit to a tenant.\n\nCreate a civil offence with a fine of \u00a35,000 for an initial breach of the ban on letting agent fees and create a criminal offence where a person has been fined or convicted of the same offence within five years. Civil penalties of up to \u00a330,000 can be issued as an alternative to prosecution.\n\nRequire Trading Standards to enforce the ban and to make provision for tenants to be able to recover unlawfully charged fees.\n\nAppoint a lead enforcement authority in the lettings sector.\n\nAmend the Consumer Rights Act 2015 to specify that the letting agent transparency requirements should apply to property portals such as Rightmove and Zoopla.\n\nThe full draft bill can be viewed here\n\nhttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/draft-tenants-fees-bill", "output": "The British government has published its Draft Tenants' Fees Bill, setting out their plans to ban letting agents charging fees to tenants. The proposed legislation would create a civil offence with fines of up to \u00a35,000 for an initial breach of the ban, with criminal sanctions and fines of up to \u00a330,000 for repeat offenders. It also contains provisions to cap the amount that can be taken from tenants as a deposit and sets out new rules on returning it to them."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Toyota investigates airless tyres to reduce weight in EVs \n TOKYO -- Toyota Motor is exploring airless tires to help reduce the weight of battery-electric and fuel cell vehicles and boost performance, even though the technology is years away from being ready for commercial use.\n\nThe automaker is using airless tires -- featuring individual motors in each wheel -- on a vehicle for the first time with its hydrogen-powered concept car, Fine-Comfort Ride, unveiled at the Tokyo auto show last week, chief engineer Takao Sato said in an interview. Since such tires comprise a band of rubber encircling a plastic-aluminum hub, the premise is that they could one day compensate for the weight of the motors, he said.\n\nCurrently the concept tires weigh about the same as their pneumatic cousins, but Sato is counting on developments in the technology that can help shave 11 pounds -- or about 30 percent -- from each tire's weight by as early as 2025.\n\nSumitomo Rubber Industries, which supplied the tires and has been testing them on local \"kei\" minicars and golf carts, said other Japanese carmakers are also interested, particularly for smaller EVs.\n\n\"For automakers, the attraction of airless tires is for electrified vehicles,\" Sato said. While Toyota's Fine-Comfort Ride is the size of a crossover, \"these wheels could be used on any electrified vehicle,\" he said.\n\nWako Iwamura, head of the five-year airless-tire project at Sumitomo Rubber, said his personal target is to have a commercial product ready by 2020.\n\nThe Japanese tiremaker is actually a late entrant to the world of airless tires, following others including Bridgestone and Michelin & Cie. Michelin's Tweel -- a combination of tire and wheel -- is currently available for lawnmowers, golf carts, construction machinery, and recreational all-terrain vehicles. The technology is still unproven on passenger cars, and manufacturers will need to convince both automakers and the public that they are safe.\n\nA lighter tire is only one of Iwamura's goals. The other challenge to overcome is rolling resistance, or the friction that works against the tire when it's in motion. He estimates it's 10 percent to 20 percent worse than current pneumatic tires, a level unacceptable for vehicles that need to squeeze every kilometer of driving range from their lithium ion batteries.\n\nCost, however, won't be a hurdle. Iwamura says his tires are already comparable in price to those filled with air.", "output": "Automaker Toyota is testing airless tyres to lower the weight of battery-electric and fuel cell cars, though the technology is unlikely to be ready for commercial use for several years. The airless tyres use individual motors for each wheel, which comprise a plastic-aluminium hub with a rubber casing to offset the motors\u2019 weight. Though they still weigh the same as currently-used tyres, it is hoped that 30% of the wheel's weight, or approximately 5 kg, can be removed through technological advancements by 2025."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Germany paid customers to use up excess electricity \n Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nIndependent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nGermany generated enough wind power at the weekend for consumers to get free energy.\n\nSo much was generated by wind turbines in weekend storms that costs fell to below zero. Bloomberg reported that power prices turned negative as wind output reached 39,409 megawatts on Saturday.\n\nTo balance supply and demand in this situation, energy producers close power stations or pay consumers to take extra electricity from the network.\n\nAhead of the weekend, Bloomberg said it would be the first whole day this year that the average price for electricity was negative, rather than just being negative for a few hours.\n\nWind Europe, which promotes wind power in Europe and globally, said in a press release that European wind energy broke a new record on 28 October.\n\nBusiness news: In pictures Show all 13 1 / 13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled \u2013 leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: \u201cEurope\u2019s largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: \"You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share\" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid \u00a33.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a \"bad\" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rue\u2019s contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped \u00a34m off of Flybe\u2019s revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airline\u2019s estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.\n\nThe organisation, which tracks daily wind power in Europe, said that over 24 per cent of the EU\u2019s electricity demand was powered by wind on Saturday, the highest per cent ever recorded. This beat a previous record set on 7 October of over 19 per cent.\n\nOffshore wind accounted for 2.8 per cent of the EU\u2019s electricity demand while onshore wind accounted for 21.8 per cent. Wind represented 61 per cent of electricity demand in Germany.\n\nWind Europe attributes the record figures to both the continued expansion of wind energy in Europe and to the weekend\u2019s weather \u2013 particularly strong northern winds and a wave of polar air travelling across central, eastern and south-eastern Europe.", "output": "German utility companies were forced to pay customers last weekend as a result of excess energy production. On 28 October, wind output reached 39,409 MW, the same energy output as 40 nuclear reactors. German electricity prices turned negative as excess wind energy forced energy producers to close their power facilities, or pay consumers to use electricity and\u00a0remove\u00a0it from the network. According to Bloomberg analysis, it was the first 24-hour period this year in which average electricity prices were negative."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Demand for online fintech courses driven by finance professionals \n Financial professionals are taking online financial technology (fintech) courses to fend off competition and stay ahead of disruption.\n\nThe boost in uptake is due in part to a feeling among those in the industry that financial technology has reached a turning point in its evolution.\n\nA report from Citigroup in 2016 caused widespread debate when it estimated that between 2 million and 6 million jobs would be lost in banking across the U.S. and Europe over the next 10 years.\n\nThat was attributed to both automation and artificial intelligence (AI), innovation and the rise of more efficient and less cost-intensive challenger banks. Santander's fintech-focused venture capital fund, Santander InnoVentures, estimates cost savings for banks that implement blockchain technology as high as $20 billion per year by 2022.\n\nHighly-regarded educational institutions are also being forced to innovate and provide the resources to the financial industry to up-skill and stay ahead of an ever-steepening curve.\n\nThe likes of Oxford University and Princeton now offer online courses aimed at busy and high-level banking executives.\n\nAccording to a report from e-learning software provider Docebo, online education in general is set to grow by 5 percent over the next decade and generate over $240 billion by 2023.", "output": "Seasoned professionals and executives from some of the world's biggest banks are among the students driving demand for online fintech courses. LinkedIn and Princeton have started their own programmes and more than half those who signed up for Oxford University's online fintech teaching product are company leaders. In 2016, a report by Citigroup estimated between two and six million jobs would disappear from the banking sector over the next decade due to automation and artificial intelligence.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cryptology, cryptocurrency university courses surge\u00a0in popularity \n In a nod towards the direction cryptocurrencies are heading, the youth of the globe are surging towards university courses that offer teaching in cryptography, as well as cryptocurrency.\n\nThe value of Bitcoin is soaring, and students are identifying a new market that is emerging that they are trying to ready themselves for with university accredited courses.\n\nHugely popular\n\nDan Boneh, co-director of the Stanford Computer Security Lab and a professor of cryptography has noted that security and cryptography represent the second-most popular subject in the university's computer science department, behind only machine learning.\n\nHe added: \"A lot of people are attracted to the huge valuations in these currencies. Cryptocurrencies are a wonderful way to teach cryptography. There are a whole bunch of new applications for cryptography that didn't exist before.\"\n\nThe rise in popularity has been comparable to the growth of the digital currency which is making all the noise, Bitcoin. It has hit the mainstream in a big way, and now there is a second wave of those who are looking to be more than just investors in the potentially revolutionary technology.\n\nIn 2015, Boneh began teaching a class on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies and was quickly attracting over 100 students. Boneh said that more than one mln people have signed up for an online cryptography class he teaches through the website Coursera.\n\nSpreading across the campuses\n\nIn Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon's Vipul Goyal is using Boneh's interactive online textbook for a class called Special Topics in Cryptography that the school is offering for the first time this year.\n\nAbout 20 students, mostly PhD candidates, are taking the class which focuses on Blockchain and cryptocurrencies.\n\nThe trend is not just limited to these two universities: the University of California at Berkeley launched a class last year called the Cryptocurrency Decal, and in 2015 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab established the Digital Currency Initiative.\n\nBitcoin, its underlying technology Blockchain, and the theory behind it, Cryptography, is big business as there has already been evidence of growth in the job market for the associated disciplines.\n\nIt is understandable thus that University students would want to align themselves with a burgeoning technology that is desperate for growth and can only benefit from additional human capital.", "output": "Growing numbers of students are flocking to cryptography and cryptocurrency courses following the boom in bitcoin and blockchain. Stanford, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California at Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon have all launched classes linked to the sectors. Dan Boneh, co-director of the Stanford Computer Security Lab said: \"Cryptocurrencies are a wonderful way to teach cryptography. There are a whole bunch of new applications for cryptography that didn't exist before\". More than a million people have signed up for Boneh's cryptography class via online learning site Coursera.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ride-hailing company Grab allows payments through mobile wallet \n Southeast Asian ride-hailing company Grab on Wednesday said users can now pay for goods and services in shops and restaurants using GrabPay, the company's mobile wallet.\n\nThe option is currently available in Singapore, but the company's co-founder, Tan Hooi Ling, told CNBC it will be rolled out simultaneously across Southeast Asia by 2018 if the company gets regulatory approvals.\n\nAt the moment, Grab has 25 restaurants and food stalls in Singapore that signed up to accept cashless payments using GrabPay \u2014 and the long-term focus for the company is to target the 20,000 odd merchants in Singapore, as well as businesses across Southeast Asia, who still prefer to use cash.\n\nThere's no dearth of digital-payment options in Asia due to a pickup in smartphone ownership and the widespread penetration of the internet. But in August, a PayPal study found that cash is still king in many major markets, including those in Southeast Asia. For example, more than 70 percent of the respondents to the PayPal study in the Philippines and Indonesia said they used cash most often.\n\nCash can be hard to keep track of, can be easily misplaced and is inefficient, according to Tan. Still, merchants have not yet moved to cashless payment options \"because it's difficult and it's expensive,\" she said.\n\nShe pointed to the various points of sales that are accepted in large supermarkets as an example: Setting up those payment options take time and it's also expensive because there is a need to put in the right hardware and to train people.\n\n\"What we're providing is the complete opposite of that: something that is super easy to install, easy to use and something that's going to be affordable for the merchants, as well as the customers,\" Tan said.\n\nMoreover, Tan said, many businesses face high merchant discount rates (MDRs) \u2014 the transaction fee that is deducted by the payments processor from the total amount received \u2014 for accepting cashless payments. That, she added, is likely due to costly hardware and sales processes that make the technology inefficient and \"more expensive than it needs to be.\" MDRs are a common way for many digital payments platforms to make money.", "output": "Ride-hailing firm Grab has unveiled a service enabling customers to make payments via its GrabPay mobile wallet. Available at 25 restaurants and food stalls in Singapore, the system aims to wean people off cash, still the preferred method of payment in Southeast Asia. To persuade businesses to adopt the system, Grab said it will initially offer a zero merchant discount rate - a usually high payment processors' fee - before increasing it to a \"reasonable\" level. Grab has 63 million downloads in Southeast Asia, with four million in Singapore, but has no plans to expand beyond the region."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Charity urges end to developers' social-housing dodge loophole \n Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nMorning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nProperty developers are dodging their commitment to building thousands of affordable homes each year due to a legal loophole, new research has revealed.\n\nFigures obtained through Freedom of Information requests show developers have sidestepped local planning policy to avoid building 79 per cent of social homes they had initially committed to, due to a legal loophole called a \u201cviability assessment\u201d.\n\nA sample of 11 local authorities across nine cities in England shows developers were able to first win planning permission by promising to build a required number of affordable homes, but later go back to the council to say they can no longer honour the pledge because it would reduce their profit margin.\n\nThis means many developers face no penalty for overpaying for land because they can recover the costs by reducing their commitments to building homes that are affordable for people on middle and low incomes.\n\nThe research, carried out by the housing charity Shelter, reveals that viability is used most frequently on larger developments, which are generally managed by the country\u2019s biggest developers.\n\nIt shows that the worst affected areas were Manchester, Birmingham and parts of London, where viability was used to reduce the affordable housing to less than 1 per cent of homes being built.\n\nShadow Secretary of State for Housing John Healey said the loophole was largely due to changes made by the Conservative Government, which he said has seen the number of affordable homes councils have been able to demand of developers through the planning system halve since 2010.\n\n\u201cThis is one big reason why new affordable housebuilding has fallen to a 24-year low, and the number of new social rented homes has fallen to the lowest level on record,\u201d the Labour MP said.\n\n\u201cAfter seven years of failure on housing, hard-pressed households desperately need more low-cost homes to rent and buy.\u201d\n\nIt comes after it emerged housing developers in Kensington and Chelsea used the same legal loophole to dodge their commitment to build more than 700 social homes in the borough \u2013 which would have been enough enough to house all the survivors of the Grenfell fire plus many more.\n\nJust over three months after the Grenfell Tower tragedy, as around 200 households still wait to be resettled, the figures showed developers had avoided building 706 social homes in the borough over the past seven years.\n\nShelter is now calling on the Government to change national planning laws so developers can no longer use this loophole to get out of delivering affordable homes.\n\nPolly Neate, chief executive of the charity, said: \u201cWhat this research reveals is the scale at which developers are able to use legal loopholes to protect their profits and dramatically reduce the numbers of affordable homes available for people.\n\n\u201cThe Government needs to fix our broken housing system \u2013 and it must start by closing this loophole to get the country building homes that are genuinely affordable for people on middle and low incomes to rent or buy.\u201d\n\nThe\n\nGeoff White, interim head of UK external affairs at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), said in a statement about what it is doing to address affordable housing issues: \u201c\u201cThe delivery of adequate and affordable housing is an important public policy objective [...]\n\n\"We recognise that the measures adopted by the Government, regional and local authorities have not succeeded in addressing the shortfall in housing of all kinds, particularly in areas of high demand.\"\n\nUK news in pictures Show all 50 1 / 50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 10 June 2023 A cyclist trains in the early morning, as hot weather continues, in Richmond Park, London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 June 2023 A performer walks on a tightrope at Covent Garden during a sunny day in London AP UK news in pictures 8 June 2023 A women rides her horse through the river during the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 7 June 2023 The Princess of Wales during a game of walking rugby during her visit to meet local and national male rugby players at Maidenhead Rugby Club PA UK news in pictures 6 June 2023 An aerial view shows the dry bed of Woodhead Reservoir, revealed by a falling water level after a prolonged period of dry weather, near Glossop, northern England AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 5 June 2023 Prime Minister Rishi Sunak onboard Border Agency cutter HMC Seeker during a visit to Dover PA UK news in pictures 4 June 2023 A hot air balloon rises into the sky above Ragley Hall, Alcester, south of Birmingham in central England AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 2 June 2023 Skaters use the mini ramp at the Wavelength Spring Classic festival in Woolacombe Bay in Devon PA UK news in pictures 1 June 2023 The And Beyond installation, during a photo call for the London Design Biennale at Somerset House in London PA UK news in pictures 31 May 2023 Emergency services attending to a blaze at a derelict listed building in Samuel Street, Belfast PA UK news in pictures 30 May 2023 A robot named Stella interacts with visitors during the International Conference on Robotics and Automation ICRA in London AP UK news in pictures 29 May 2023 Dave Hackett and his daughter Daisy, five, explore the laburnum arch in the grounds of Preston Tower, East Lothian, in the warm Spring Bank Holiday weather PA UK news in pictures 28 May 2023 Great Britain\u2019s Nick Bandurak scores their side\u2019s third goal of the game during the FIH Hockey Pro League men\u2019s match at Lee Valley, London PA UK news in pictures 27 May 2023 People enjoy the sunny weather at a park in London AP UK news in pictures 26 May 2023 People drink coffee inside Daleks during MCM Comic Con at the ExCel London in east London PA UK news in pictures 25 May 2023 King Charles III and Queen Camilla during a visit to Enniskillen Castle, Co Fermanagh as part of a two day visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 24 May 2023 Horses enjoy the sunny weather on Middleham Gallops in North Yorkshire PA UK news in pictures 23 May 2023 An aerial view of a yellow rapeseed field in Hemel Hempstead, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 22 May 2023 Manoj Malde and Clive Gillmor kiss after getting married, the first wedding ever at the Chelsea Flower Show AP UK news in pictures 21 May 2023 People enjoy the warm weather as they take punt tours along the River Cam in Cambridge PA UK news in pictures 20 May 2023 Protesters emerge from the sea as Surfers Against Sewage hold a UK-wide paddle-out protest at Brighton West Pier in East Sussex PA UK news in pictures 19 May 2023 Good Karma ridden by Daniel Muscutt (right) wins the Earl & The Pharaoh Novice Stakes at Newbury Racecourse, Berkshire PA UK news in pictures 18 May 2023 Choristers from the Choir of St John\u2019s College at the University of Cambridge look out from the top of the Chapel Tower before performing the Ascension Day carol - a custom dating back to 1902. PA UK news in pictures 17 May 2023 Oxfam activists wearing 'big heads' of G7 leaders during a demonstration in Trafalgar Square, London, highlighting their lack of action to tackle the East Africa hunger crisis ahead of the start of the G7 summit in Japan PA UK news in pictures 16 May 2023 Part of a child\u2019s jacket during a photo call for the China\u2019s hidden century exhibition, which opens at the British Museum PA UK news in pictures 15 May 2023 Viewing assistant and History of Art student Emma Scarr Hall takes a closer look at @Pink Roses\u2019 (1923) by Scottish Colourist artist Leslie Hunter which is estimated at \u00a360,000-80,000 in the forthcoming Bonhams Scottish Art Sale in Edinburgh PA UK news in pictures 14 May 2023 Eva Birthistle, Sarah Greene, Sharon Horgan and Anne-Marie Duff, with the award for Drama Series, for Bad Sisters at the 2023 BAFTA TV Awards in London EPA UK news in pictures 13 May 2023 Singer Loreen performing on behalf of Sweden celebrates with the trophy after winning the final of the Eurovision Song contest 2023 AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 12 May 2023 Leader of the Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer views a cancer tumour under a microscope during a visit to the Francis Crick Institute in north London where he met scientists working on research into lung cancer PA UK news in pictures 11 May 2023 Judging takes during the artisan cheese awards at St Mary\u2019s Church, Melton Mowbray PA UK news in pictures 10 May 2023 A dog joins members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) on the picket line outside HMRC in East Kilbride during a strike in the long-running civil service dispute over pay, jobs and conditions PA UK news in pictures 9 May 2023 Two trains carrying 170 Eurovision song contest superfans arrive into Liverpool Lime Street train station PA UK news in pictures 8 May 2023 Britain\u2019s Prince Louis eats toasted marshmallows as they take part in the Big Help Out, during a visit to the 3rd Upton Scouts Hut in Slough, England, AP UK news in pictures 6 May 2023 King Charles III and Queen Camilla can be seen on the Buckingham Palace balcony ahead of the flypast during the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla Getty UK news in pictures 5 May 2023 Britain's King Charles III leaves after speaking to well-wishers on The Mall near to Buckingham Palace in central London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 May 2023 A night time rehearsal in central London for the coronation of King Charles III PA UK news in pictures 2 May 2023 Teacher members of the National Education Union (NEU) at a rally in Westminster, London, as they stage walkouts across England in an ongoing dispute over pay PA UK news in pictures 1 May 2023 Former US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media on the tarmac after disembarking \"Trump Force One\" at Aberdeen airport on the north-east coast of Scotland AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 April 2023 Handout photo issued by the Big Partnership of walkers at the start of The Kiltwalk 2023 from Glasgow Green. PA UK news in pictures 29 April 2023 England\u2019s flanker Marlie Packer celebrates with the trophy and teammates after winning the Women\u2019s Six Nations Grand Slam at the end of the Six Nations international women\u2019s rugby union match between England and France at Twickenham in south-west London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 28 April 2023 Lucy Williams, from Aberfan, holds her son Daniel Williams, one, as he takes the handbag of the Princess of Wales, during her visit with her husband the Prince of Wales, to the Aberfan memorial garden, to pay their respects to those who lost their lives during the Aberfan disaster on October 21st 1966 PA UK news in pictures 27 April 2023 Teachers on the picket line outside Bristol Cathedral School, College Square, Bristol, as they take strike action in a dispute over pay PA UK news in pictures 26 April 2023 Protesters wait for the arrival of King Charles III and the Queen Consort for their visit to Liverpool Central Library PA UK news in pictures 25 April 2023 Wreaths are laid at the Cenotaph in central London, in commemoration for Anzac Day PA UK news in pictures 24 April 2023 Waves crash over Tynemouth pier on the North East coast of England PA UK news in pictures 23 April 2023 People cross the finish line at the 2023 London Marathon Getty UK news in pictures 22 April 2023 A Wrexham fan in a Deadpool costume ahead of the Vanarama National League match at The Racecourse Ground, Wrexham PA UK news in pictures 21 April 2023 A demonstrator wears a costume as people protest during the Extinction Rebellion's 'The Big One' event, in London, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 20 April 2023 The funeral cortege of Paul O\u2019Grady travels through the village of Aldington, Kent ahead of his funeral at St Rumwold\u2019s Church PA UK news in pictures 19 April 2023 Georgia Harrison, who was a victim of revenge porn, at a demonstration organised by Refuge outside the Houses of Parliament, calling for a violence against women and girls code of practice to be added to the \u2018Online safety bill\u2019 PA\n\nA spokesperson for the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) said: \u201cAffordable housing is a top priority for the Government. That\u2019s we have confirmed that funding for affordable homes will be increased by a further \u00a32bn to more than \u00a39bn and since 2010, we have delivered almost 333,000 affordable homes.\n\n\u201cWhere a local authority recognises the need for affordable housing they should set policies for meeting this as part of their local plan.\n\n\u201cWe are currently consulting on a proposed changes to the approach to viability assessments. Our measures would speed up decision-making and increase transparency, so that local communities know what is expected from developers on new sites.\u201d", "output": "UK homeless charity Shelter is calling on the government to close a legal loophole that allows housebuilders to renege on pledges to build affordable homes. So-called viability\u00a0assessments of\u00a0a project's impact on profit margins\u00a0have\u00a0enabled developers to avoid building 79% of previously promised social homes, contributing to a chronic shortfall, according to figures obtained via freedom of information requests. Shelter said Birmingham, Manchester and parts of London were the worst affected, and that larger developers were the biggest culprits. The Department for Communities and Local Government said proposed changes to viability assessments were being considered.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Advertising Association supports DCMS on gambling review \n The Advertising Association has voiced its support for the Department of Culture Media and Sport after it announced it was pressing ahead with a long-awaited gambling review to establish whether current rules do enough to protect children and vulnerable people from the potential for harm in gambling advertising.\n\nAdvertising Association responds to Gambling Review with support pledge\n\nThis follows the establishment of a focus group by the association, composed of sports broadcasters and gambling industry representatives, to thrash out their formal response, arguing that the imposition of further restrictions would be \"ineffective\" at dealing with the issue.", "output": "The Department of Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) has gained the backing of The Advertising Association (AA) for its reconsideration on current regulations for gambling advertising. The DCMS is evaluating whether present rules are enough to protect children and vulnerable adults. The AA's specifically-created focus group, though believing the regulations are sufficient, has suggested a two-year media campaign encouraging responsible gambling, with a proposed annual budget of \u00a35m to \u00a37m. The advertising would cover television, cinema, radio and digital content and would raise awareness of the risks of gambling, suggesting outlets for help and support."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New funding to help Kano offer\u00a0coding kits to\u00a0North American kids \n EdTech hardware startup Kano has raised $28m (\u00a321m) in a Series B round led by Thames Trust and Breyer Capital.\n\nIndex Ventures, the Stanford Engineering Venture Fund, LocalGlobe, Marc Benioff, John Makinson, Collaborative Fund, Triple Point Capital and Barclays also participated in the round, which includes both debt and equity funding.\n\nThe London-based company was co-founded by Saul Klein, his cousin Alex Klein and Yonatan Raz-Fridman.\n\nKano has created computer coding kits to help children learn to code projects such as Pong, Snake and Minecraft.\n\nAlex Klein, the CEO, commented on the news: \u201cWe believe the time has come for a new kind of computing, premised on people\u2019s need to understand and shape the world around them \u2013 not just swipe, tap, and wait for the latest similar-looking screen.\n\n\u201cThe next generation is rising and ready to make their own technology,\u201d he added.\n\nAlongside the funding, Kano said its coding kits will be available in over 4,500 shelves across North America.\n\n\u201cKano has grown into a category leader, with hardware and software that prepares all ages for the future,\u201d commented Jim Breyer, founder and CEO of Breyer Capital. \u201cThe financing, expansion into mass retail, and new products will expose the unique Kano experience to millions more.\u201d\n\nKano previously landed $15m in Series A funding and raised $1M on Kickstarter in 2013.\n\nThe startup\u2019s Seed round drew participation from Index Ventures, James Higa, Troy Carter and Shana Fisher.\n\nCheck out our UK tech investment tracker for all the latest industry deals.", "output": "Education technology start-up Kano has raised $28m in its latest investment round,\u00a0enabling the London-based firm\u00a0to make its coding teaching\u00a0kits available in\u00a0thousands of outlets across North America. The kits help children learn computer coding for use with applications like Pong, Snake and Minecraft. Funding was led by Thames Trust and Breyer Capital. CEO Alex Klein\u00a0said Kano is helping young people to \"make their own technology\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US 'pivot to video'\u00a0isn't receiving the same response in the UK \n While publishers in the U.S. have \u201cpivoted to video\u201d in droves, those in the U.K. haven\u2019t done so to the same degree, due to a smaller market, fewer VC-backed publishers and comparatively less reliance on Facebook.\n\nThe much-mocked term \u201cpivot to video\u201d has become a catch-all phrase for replacing text-based journalists with video specialists. Since 2016, publishers like MTV News, Fox Sports, Mic, Vocativ and Mashable have all laid off writers to focus on creating more video. The argument is people want to watch video, and with programmatic display advertising stagnating, there\u2019s more potential to make money through video\u2019s higher CPMs.\n\nIn the U.K., it\u2019s a slightly different story: Video\u2019s importance is increasing, but not at the expense of other formats. Much of that is due to the fact that the U.K. has fewer venture-backed media companies scrambling to live up to inflated expectations, comparatively less Facebook dependence, and a less perky video ad market.\n\nThe U.S. publishing market is filled with digital-first publishers, like Vox Media, BuzzFeed and Refinery29, backed by venture capital and legacy media companies. CB Insights forecast that funding from legacy media companies for digital-first publishers in 2016 would reach a new high of $4.5 billion across roughly 130 deals. The audience growth has been a success story hard to ignore, and the pressure is on VC-backed companies to keep the lines going up.\n\n\u201cThe structure and the mentality for VC-backed companies is different. VCs can hedge their bets and invest in many companies on the next big thing, knowing that only a small fraction will succeed,\u201d said Jamie Bolding, founder of Jungle Creations. \u201cVCs talk about making money in five years\u2019 time. In the U.K., it\u2019s about survival: With less funding, there\u2019s more requirement to earn revenue now.\u201d\n\nThe publishing landscape in the U.K. mostly consists of legacy publishers that have transitioned to digital such as News UK and Trinity Mirror, or Facebook-first, so-called viral publishers like Ladbible, Jungle Creations\u2019 VT and Unilad.\n\nWith Facebook\u2019s shift toward video, publishers more reliant on the platform for traffic have followed suit. While Facebook is a source of traffic for U.K. publishers, most are unlikely to reach the same level of scale and dependence on the platform as those in the U.S.\n\nTo make money off platforms, publishers need scale. For Facebook\u2019s mid-roll ads, this means hundreds of millions of views, and even then it\u2019s tough.\n\nFacebook partners with big publishers closer to its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, to test its new formats, like Facebook mid-roll ads in videos over 90 seconds long. U.K.-based publishers might be impatient to join Facebook\u2019s programs, but they can learn from afar.\n\n\u201cI have allocated a lower priority to this revenue stream on the U.K. road map based on industry forecasts and feedback,\u201d said Mick Greenwood, head of video at Time Inc. UK, which is waiting for confirmation from Facebook that it can join the mid-roll program, but details are scant.\n\n\u201c[Mid-roll ads are] only on a decent CPM on Facebook\u2019s 20-second views, and we don\u2019t have any way of judging what the CPM would be where sold,\u201d he said. \u201cIf eCPM was calculated against Facebook\u2019s three-second views, I think our rate would be low.\u201d\n\nFacebook\u2019s popularization of the three-second view and subsequent metric flubs shows how imperfect its measurement is. Add to that the increasing difficulty in growing organic reach, and Facebook has publishers in an even tighter grip by limiting audience growth.\n\nUltimately, publishers will follow the ad dollars. In the U.K., video ad spend, which includes programmatically traded video, branded content and video-on-demand formats, will account for 13 percent of total digital ad spend in 2017, according to eMarketer forecasts. For comparison, eMarketer forecasts this figure in the U.S. to be 16 percent. If the growth of video is hampered in the U.K., it\u2019s because of constraints in premium programmatic video inventory outside of social platforms, said Bill Fisher, senior analyst at eMarketer. \u201cAs more outstream formats are released programmatically in the U.K., this will balance out,\u201d he said.\n\nWith revenue from platforms scant, publishers are turning to branded content, which requires investment in production, studios, account management, client services, distribution and proving return on investment for clients. For some publishers, that\u2019s a whole new business.", "output": "The trend of US publishers \"pivoting to video\" by replacing text journalists with video specialists has not be replicated to the same degree in the UK. The difference can be explained by the smaller number of British digital-first publishers, and less funding from venture capitalists, according to industry figures. The rise of video content has been driven largely by Facebook, meaning those companies reliant on the platform for traffic have had to increase their video output. Currently, advertising spend on video in the UK stands at 13%, while\u00a0in the US it is 16%.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Healthtech Grail seeks extra investment despite $900m funding \n Grail, the cancer detection start-up backed by tech giants Alphabet and Amazon , is already seeking new funding, mere months after it closed a $900 million round in March. The company had previously raised $100 million in 2016.\n\nGrail is primarily pitching sovereign funds, with mixed success, according to two sources familiar. It has approached Softbank and Mubadala, Abu Dhabi's $125 billion sovereign fund, according to one of the people.\n\nThe start-up is primarily planning to use the funds for its massive breast cancer trial that it announced in April of this year. That study involves analyzing the blood of 120,000 women in many different locations.\n\nBut the company has also had some other expenses that may be pushing it back to the fund-raising market.\n\nGrail announced in March that some of the proceeds from its financing would be used to buy a large portion of its shares from parent company Illumina , reducing Illumina's ownership to a minority stake. The aggregate purchase price was $278 million, according to a public filing.\n\nIt also shelled out more than $100 million to merge with a Chinese company called Cirina, according to one of the sources. Cirina is developing an early-stage commercial test for a type of cancer called nasopharyngeal carcinoma.\n\nAdditional funds were earmarked for another expensive clinical study, its Circulating Cell-Free Genome Atlas Study (CCGA), which involves enrolling 10,000 participants. This study is meant to give Grail a more detailed map of cancer genetics.\n\nThe company declined to comment on its financing plans, but said \"we are always in touch with the capital markets.\"\n\nMeanwhile, the company has seen multiple senior leaders depart in recent months, including former CEO Jeff Huber, formerly of Google; data scientist Franz Och; and former head of clinical development Mark Lee. These departures were previously reported by Buzzfeed. Business development lead Elaine Cheung also departed recently, according to her LinkedIn profile.\n\nWhen Grail burst onto the scene in 2016, it announced an ambitious objective to have its first test on the market within three years.\n\nThe idea behind such early-detection tests, which are in development by Grail and its chief competitors Guardant Health and Freenome, is to catch cancer early by picking up signals of free-floating tumor DNA in the bloodstream. The hope is that at that point, it would be easier and cheaper to treat.\n\nThe biggest challenges to get these tests to market include price -- the tests might be too expensive to get covered by insurers -- and high rates of both false positives and negatives. For that reasons, these companies need to invest heavily on clinical studies.", "output": "Alphabet and Amazon-backed healthtech Grail is seeking additional funding, despite closing a $900m round in March and securing $100m last year. According to insiders, Grail has approached Softbank and Abu Dhabi's $125bn sovereign fund, Mubadala, with mixed results, sources said. Grail is running a massive global breast cancer trial and has also spent heavily recently, including the $100m acquisition of Chinese firm Cirina and a $278m purchase of shares to reduce the stake of parent company Illumina. Grail, whose CEO, Jeff Huber, left the firm in August, said it was \"always in touch with the capital markets\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Global companies remain unprepared for cyberattacks: PwC \n Massive cybersecurity breaches have become almost commonplace, regularly grabbing headlines that alarm consumers and leaders. But for all of the attention such incidents have attracted in recent years, many organisations worldwide still struggle to comprehend and manage emerging cyber risks in an increasingly complex digital society.\n\nPwC launched its 2018 Global State of Information Security\u00ae Survey (GSISS), based on responses of more than 9,500 senior business and technology executives from 122 countries.\n\nExecutives worldwide acknowledge the increasingly high stakes of cyber insecurity. Forty percent of survey respondents cite the disruption of operations as the biggest consequence of a cyberattack, 39% cite the compromise of sensitive data, 32% cite harm to product quality, and 22% cite harm to human life.\n\nYet despite this awareness, many companies at risk of cyberattacks remain unprepared to deal with them. Forty-four percent say they do not have an overall information security strategy. Forty-eight percent say they do not have an employee security awareness training programme, and 54% say they do not have an incident-response process.\n\nHow cyber interdependence drives global risk\n\nCase studies of non-cyber disasters have shown that cascading events often begin with the loss of power\u2014and many systems are impacted instantaneously or within one day, meaning there is generally precious little time to address the initial problem before it cascades. Interdependencies between critical and non-critical networks often go unnoticed until trouble strikes. Many people worldwide\u2014particularly in Japan, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and South Korea\u2014are concerned about cyberattacks from other countries. Tools for conducting cyberattacks are proliferating worldwide. Smaller nations are aiming to develop capabilities like those used by larger countries. And the leaking of US National Security Agency (NSA) hacking tools has made highly sophisticated capabilities available to malicious hackers.\n\nWhen cyberattacks occur, most victimized companies say they cannot clearly identify the culprits. Only 39% of survey respondents say they are very confident in their attribution capabilities.\n\nThe soaring production of insecure internet-of-things (IoT) devices is creating widespread cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Rising threats to data integrity could undermine trusted systems and cause physical harm by damaging critical infrastructure.\n\nMeanwhile, there is a wide disparity in cybersecurity preparedness among countries around the world. In our 2018 GSISS, the frequency of organisations possessing an overall cybersecurity strategy is particularly high in Japan (72%), where cyberattacks are seen as the leading national security threat, and Malaysia (74%).\n\nIn May 2017, G-7 leaders pledged to work together and with other partners to tackle cyberattacks and mitigate their impact on critical infrastructure and society. Two months later, G-20 leaders reiterated the need for cybersecurity and trust in digital technologies. The task ahead is huge.\n\n\"Often in the Middle East, organisations try to address their cybersecurity issues by buying the latest technology or implementing the best standards, but unfortunately that doesn't work on its own,\u201d said Wael Fattouh, PwC Middle East Partner, Cyber and Technology Risk. \u201cEffective security must be achieved by smart and effective investments in People, Processes, and Technology together, that is the only way to ensure a proper and resilient level of protection.\u201d\n\nNext steps for business leaders\n\nSo what can business leaders do to prepare effectively for cyberattacks? PwC recommends three key areas of focus:\n\nC-suites must lead the charge and boards must be engaged: Senior leaders driving the business must take ownership of building cyber resilience. Setting a top-down strategy to manage cyber and privacy risks across the enterprise is essential.\n\nPursue resilience as a path to rewards\u2014not merely to avoid risk: Achieving greater risk resilience is a pathway to stronger, long-term economic performance.\n\nPurposefully collaborate and leverage lessons learned: Industry and government leaders must work across organisational, sectoral and national borders to identify, map, and test cyber-dependency and interconnectivity risks as well as surge resilience and risk-management.", "output": "Global companies are still unprepared for cyberattacks, with 44% lacking an overall information security strategy, while 48% have no employee-awareness training. The figures come from PwC's Global State of Information Security Survey (GSISS), which collated responses from more than 9,500 senior executives across 122 countries. It revealed 54% had no incident response process, and only 39% said they were confident of identifying cyberattack culprits. The GSISS urged senior board members to lead the fight against cyber crime, called for greater risk resilience and for increased collaboration between governments and organisations.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brexit could reduce UK's supply of fruit and vegetables: RSA \n The RSA Commission on Food, Farming and Countryside, which will be run by the RSA and is launched today, will also look at measures to improve the public\u2019s health, the countryside and rural communities.\n\nThe Commission\u2019s launch prospectus outlines some of the changes in the UK\u2019s food, farms and countryside since the UK joined the then EEC in 1973.\n\nUK rural areas have lost population equivalent to Cardiff, Manchester and Edinburgh combined; from 12.7m to 11.3m.\n\nThe amount we spend on food has decreased, as a proportion of our weekly household budget, from 31% to 17% of household budgets.\n\nThe UK has lost 51% of farmland birds, several species have become extinct, and over 1,000 species today are threatened with extinction.\n\nPoor diets have become more common as a cause of poor health. The latest estimates put the cost of obesity at \u00a316 billion a year, obesity has risen from 5% of the adult population to 27% today and Type II Diabetes rates have doubled since 2000.\n\nOver the past 40 years, the UK has come to depend on rules and money from Brussels including laws that protect our wildlife and water. Of the \u00a33.6 billion net income made by UK farms in 2016, \u00a33.1bn from EU farm payments, and less than half of our fruit and veg is homegrown, and 90% of that by EU-born workers [see Notes for source].\n\nSir Ian Cheshire, Chair of the new Commission, said:\n\n\u201cWe rely on the countryside even when we don\u2019t see it; not only for food but so much we take for granted, like clean water. It\u2019s part of who we are. We have come to depend on EU laws and money but they haven\u2019t been working well enough, and they are set for the biggest shake-up in a generation. \u201cFarmers groups, conservation charities and others are already putting huge thought into this. But they don\u2019t have all the answers and might not agree. The role of this Commission is to learn what people want, as well as the established experts, what\u2019s working in communities around the country, to come up with some creative answers and find a way through.\u201d\n\nThe Commission is funded by the Esm\u00e9e Fairbairn Foundation and will be launched at RSA House on Wednesday, with speakers including:\n\nSir Ian Cheshire, Chair of the Commission, also Chair of Barclays UK\n\nHelen Browning OBE, Chief Executive of the Soil Association\n\nLord Curry of Kirkharle, Farmer and Businessman\n\nCaroline Mason, Chief Executive, Esm\u00e9e Fairbairn Foundation\n\nSue Pritchard, Director of the RSA Food, Farming & Countryside Commission\n\nSue Pritchard, RSA\u2019s Director of the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission said:\n\n\u201cEvery single person in the UK has a stake in our food, farming and countryside. \u201cThe UK has great strengths but real challenges too. We are a global leader in food manufacturing, but we rely heavily on imported fruit and veg. And while some people have more food choices than ever, inequality in the UK means for too many the reality is little choice and food poverty. \u201cWhat\u2019s on our plates affects all of us, and what is on our neighbours\u2019 plates affects us too: the effect of food inequality is a public health time bomb. \u201cSo we need both optimism and realism in spades. The Commission will take this once-in-a-generation opportunity to renew our food, farming and countryside for the next forty years and beyond, helping to turn our shared ambitions into actions.\u201d\n\nCaroline Mason, Chief Executive, Esm\u00e9e Fairbairn Foundation, said:\n\n\u201cWe have funded this Commission because we believe there are ways to produce higher quality food that are better for people and the environment. Our support for 170 sustainable food initiatives over the past 10 years - from community allotments to healthier fast food - has shown us that the food system is disjointed, but that many people want the chance to make it better. The Commission represents a perfectly-timed, once in a generation opportunity for people and communities to influence the role of food in their lives.\u201d\n\nContact:\n\nAsh Singleton, [email protected], 07799 737 970.\n\nNotes:\n\nSource on EU migrants working in agriculture: Written evidence submission to House of Lords EU Committee inquiry, made by the British Growers Association.\n\n", "output": "If the UK fails to agree a Brexit deal there could be serious implications for public health, according to a report by the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce). The study is designed to coincide with the launch of a new RSA commission that will explore the impact of leaving the European Union on UK food and farming. The report stated that of 35 portions of fruit and vegetables, equivalent to a week of the recommended five-a-day intake, just one is grown in the UK and harvested by UK or non-European Union workers.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brexit could reduce UK's supply of fruit and vegetables: RSA \n The UK faces serious health implications if the government fails to agree a Brexit deal, finds a report that says of 35 portions of fruit and vegetables, a figure relating to the five-a-day recommendation for individuals, just one \u201cportion\u201d is grown in the UK and picked by British or non-EU workers.\n\nThe report, to mark the launch of a new RSA commission examining the impact of Brexit on food and farming, found that the five-a-day health target \u2013 which adds up to the 35 portions of fruit and vegetables a week \u2013 was overwhelmingly met by food grown in the EU or harvested by EU workers in the UK.\n\nSue Pritchard, director of the RSA Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, said Brexit offered a great opportunity to reshape farming and food, but warned that no deal over the exit from the union would have a dramatic and immediate effect.\n\n\u201cWhat would be available on the shelves would change dramatically. There will be delays at ports and all along the food supply system \u2013 the impact will be felt very, very quickly,\u201d she said.\n\n\n\nThe study found that of the average 28 portions consumed by Britons of the recommended weekly intake of 35 portions of fruit and vegetables, the equivalent of 11 portions came from the EU, seven from the rest of the world and nine arose from the UK and were harvested by workers from other EU countries. The equivalent of just one portion was grown in the UK and harvested by British or non-EU workers.\n\nOf 35 \u2018portions\u2019 of fruit and vegetables just one has been harvested from the UK and picked by UK or non-EU workers. Photograph: Edd Westmacott/Alamy\n\nPritchard added: \u201cIf there is no deal the system is very fragile and the impact in the UK food supply is likely to be dramatic.\u201d\n\nThe majority of farmers backed Brexit, but the National Farmers\u2019 Union has since suggested that crops will \u201crot in the fields\u201d and that Britain will be unable to produce the food if the government cannot secure a deal that allows tens of thousands of EU workers to continue to work on UK farms.\n\nThe government has been criticised for failing to make any meaningful progress in the Brexit negotiations and key figures, including the prime minister, have argued that a no deal would be better than a bad deal.\n\nThe commission, which will be officially launched on Wednesday, aims to explore what will happen to food and farming after Brexit and how the UK might then improve public health, sustainability and the rural environment.\n\n\n\nIt says that since the UK joined the European Economic Community, in 1973, the amount people have spent on food has decreased as a proportion of their weekly household budget, from 31% to 17%.\n\nPoor diets have also become more common as a cause of ill health, with the latest estimates putting the cost of obesity at \u00a316bn a year.\n\nSir Ian Cheshire, chair of the RSA commission, said: \u201cThe role of this commission is to learn what other people want, as well as the established experts, what\u2019s working in the communities around the country, to come up with some creative answers and find a way through.\u201d\n\nPritchard said that although less than a fifth of people in the UK lived in rural areas, everyone relied on the countryside for \u201cfood, clean water and more\u201d. She added: \u201cThe countryside and rural scenery is the top feature that people say makes them proud of their country.\u201d\n\nShe said that though Brexit would pose a serious challenge to the UK\u2019s food and farming, it also presented a once-in-a-generation opportunity. \u201cIt is forcing us to address many systemic failings that we have ignored for too long and if we can get this right we can create a better, more sustainable, healthier future.\u201d", "output": "If the UK fails to agree a Brexit deal there could be serious implications for public health, according to a report by the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce). The study is designed to coincide with the launch of a new RSA commission that will explore the impact of leaving the European Union on UK food and farming. The report stated that of 35 portions of fruit and vegetables, equivalent to a week of the recommended five-a-day intake, just one is grown in the UK and harvested by UK or non-European Union workers.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Waymo looks to improve autonomous vehicle user experience \n Waymo, Google's self-driving car spinoff, showed off its technology to reporters on Monday at its California testing facility.\n\nWaymo officials declined to say when they expect to offer the technology commercially or where it will first show up.\n\nThe technology seems mature, but questions and challenges remain.\n\nMERCED COUNTY, California \u2014 California's Central Valley is known for its miles and miles of farm orchards, fights over water rights, and, these days, high unemployment.\n\nHigh-tech? Not so much.\n\nBut I was here on Monday to see in action a cutting-edge technology that has the potential to greatly reshape our economy and society \u2014 the self-driving car. Waymo, Google's autonomous vehicle spinoff, has its testing facility at a decommissioned Air Force base. The company invited several dozen reporters to see its cars in action, get a ride in one, and hear its case that its technology is all-but ready for the real world.\n\n\"We're pretty excited about where we are right now,\" in terms of developing fully autonomous cars, John Krafcik, Waymo's CEO, told the assembled journalists. He continued: \"We're getting to the point where we're really close.\"\n\nJust how close, though, is anyone's guess \u2014 anyone outside Waymo, that is. When asked when we might see Waymo roll out its technology commercially in a product the public at large can see or interact with, Krafcik declined to offer a forecast.\n\nUnanswered questions\n\nIt's also unclear exactly where Waymo's technology will first start showing up. Krafcik said the company is pursuing several opportunities at the same time: in trucking, ride-hailing, and ride-sharing, in making \"last-mile\" connections between consumers homes and the closest public transit stops, and in personal vehicles. But he declined to say which opportunity the company thinks is closest.\n\nWaymo's Chrysler Pacifica minivan navigates the company's obstacle course sans a driver. Waymo\n\nKrafcik did say that the company plans to work with partners such as Fiat Chrysler, Lyft, and the rental-car company Avis to deploy the technology, rather than going it alone. Waymo has spent the last 12 to 18 months building out such partnerships, he said.\n\n\"We see our role not as disruptors but as enablers,\" Krafcik said.\n\nWaymo has been focusing on so-called Level 4 autonomy. At that level of sophistication, a car can drive itself without any driver input, but can only do so in a relatively confined area or in a relatively circumscribed set of conditions. The company is already offering fully autonomous rides in certain areas of Chandler, Arizona, outside Phoenix, as part of a test of its systems.\n\nThe company is hoping to gradually progress up to Level 5 autonomy, where self-driving cars can basically go just about anywhere a human-driven car could go.\n\nRiding in a car with no driver\n\nWe reporters got to see first-hand how just far along Waymo's Level 4 technology is. Part of the outing involved an approximately 10-minute, two-mile drive around the company's testing facility with nothing but Waymo's technology behind the wheel.\n\nSome of the obstacles the Waymo vehicles had to navigate on Monday. Waymo\n\nWaymo's testing site is at Castle Air Force Base, a decommissioned military facility where pilots trained for World War II and in the Cold War, was the home of a wing of the nation's Strategic Air Command. On its 91-acre section of the old base, the company has set up a network of streets, traffic circles, driveways, crosswalks, and even a railroad crossing to create a wide range of scenarios for its cars to contend with.\n\nAccompanied by a Waymo engineer who was sitting with us in the back of one of the company's specially equipped Chrysler Pacifica minivans, another reporter and I could do little but watch and hope for the best as our vehicle made its way around the facility. To show what the minivan could do and how it might handle real-world situations, Waymo had some of its employees drive around in other cars, cross streets or bicycle beside the vehicle.\n\nAt least in this fairly staged environment, the vehicle handled everything with aplomb. I was never concerned about my safety or those around us. And while it was a bit strange to not have anyone in the driver's seat at first, I quickly grew accustomed to it.\n\nReassuring riders\n\nWaymo has put a lot of thought into how its cars will reassure and communicate with riders, using visual and verbal cues. On the back of the front-row seats there are a pair of screens that show an image of the vehicle you're riding in along with some of the things in the environment that it senses, such as other cars, pedestrians, traffic cones, stoplights.\n\nWaymo uses its displays to reassure and communicate with riders. Waymo.\n\nThe display is designed to show riders that the car is aware of what's happening around it, and view changes noticeably depending on what the car is doing. If the car is attempting to turn right, for example, the angle of view will shift to show more of the road to the left of the car and any oncoming traffic from that direction.\n\nBut the screens also show messages to provide more information. They might show the speed limit in the area or flash a quick message to explain that the car is \"yielding to pedestrians.\" And when you've arrived at your destination, the screen will tell you, \"We're here.\"\n\nThe information on the screens is designed to build trust, so \"people will feel Waymo is a safe and reliable and trusted chauffeur,\" said Ryan Powell, Waymo's head of user experience design.\n\nThe challenges ahead\n\nHowever, as well Waymo's car performed, it's clear that the company still has plenty of challenges ahead of it, both technical and otherwise.\n\nMuch of Waymo's autonomous vehicle testing has been done in relatively mild climates, including the San Francisco Bay Area. The cars don't have a lot of experience driving in winter weather conditions. The company is trying to address that. It announced last week that it will begin testing its cars in Michigan specifically to see how they handle ice, sleet, and snow.\n\nAnother key question for self-driving cars is how they will handle unusual situations that may occur in the real world. Waymo's been trying to address that multiple ways, not only by having its cars drive on real streets, but also by running through potential scenarios at its facility here, and then using data from those scenarios to run computer simulations back at its Mountain View headquarters.\n\nWaymo is hoping consumers will soon be pressing \"Start Ride.\" Waymo\n\nThere are also numerous non-technical questions with which the company has to contend, not only about how it will market its technology but also about how it will convince government regulators that it is ready for the road. And there are the societal questions about how the rollout of autonomous cars will impact jobs. What will happen to taxi and Uber drivers, truck drivers, and the like?\n\nAnd then there's the public. It's an open question about whether the public is ready to adopt robotic cars. Even if they're open to the idea \u2014 and Waymo's data suggests about half of them are \u2014 they're likely to have plenty of questions about how they will use such cars, how they will work, and how they will handle particular driving scenarios.\n\nIn that area alone, Waymo seems to have a lot of work to do. When asked by reporters how its cars would handle particular situations like obstacles in the road that might block traffic, representatives gave conflicting answers. One even suggested that the cars might not move until an obstruction \u2014 a moving van that was double parked, say \u2014 were cleared out of the way.\n\nI'm guessing Waymo's engineers have a better answer than that. But they may find navigating the non-technical obstacles to our self-driving car future are as difficult as the technical ones.", "output": "Alphabet's self-driving company Waymo has been working on improving the user experience in its autonomous vehicles, with around half of participants in its Early Rider programme in Phoenix comfortable with being a self-driving car. To help build up the trust of the other 50%, the company is developing a system of visual and verbal cues using seat-mounted screens to inform passengers about what the car is doing and its intentions. Waymo is also examining ways to identify picking up riders who approach the car from a prearranged pick-up location.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fossil fuel companies accused of thwarting Paris climate talks \n In November 2017, during one of the most unprecedented periods of climate-related extreme weather events and humanitarian crises, governments will once again gather in Bonn, Germany, for the 23rd Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). High on government\u2019s list will be to discuss the procedures that will guide the implementation of the Paris Agreement. If the world is to avoid the worst of the climate crisis and keep warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and well below 2 degrees, Parties must agree to real, just, and sustainable solutions, and reject the false solutions peddled by the world\u2019s dirtiest polluters and their proxies (including obstructionist governments and industry trade groups).\n\nRead the executive summary.", "output": "International negotiations on the implementation of the 2015 Paris Climate Accords are being undermined by corporate interests, according to a report co-authored by campaign group Corporate Accountability. The report, released ahead of a meeting of parties to the Accord next week, gives examples of fossil fuel firms that it claims have manipulated the negotiations and questions the role of leading polluters that sponsor meetings in return for high-level access. Firms and organisations named in the report include EDF, Monsanto, Shell, Syngenta and the International Emissions Trading Association.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fossil fuel companies accused of thwarting Paris climate talks \n Global negotiations seeking to implement the Paris agreement have been captured by corporate interests and are being undermined by powerful forces that benefit from exacerbating climate change, according to a report released ahead of the second meeting of parties to the Paris agreement \u2013 COP23 \u2013 next week.\n\nThe report, co-authored by Corporate Accountability, uncovers a litany of ways in which fossil fuel companies have gained high-level access to negotiations and manipulated outcomes.\n\nIt highlights a string of examples, including that of a negotiator for Panama who is also on the board of a corporate peak body that represents carbon traders such as banks, polluters and brokers.\n\nIt also questions the role of the world\u2019s biggest polluters in sponsoring the meetings in return for access to high-level events.\n\nThe report argues that as a result of the corporate influence, outcomes of negotiations so far have been skewed to favour the interests of the world\u2019s biggest corporate polluters over those of the majority of the world\u2019s population that live in the developing world. It finds that influence has skewed outcomes on finance, agriculture and technology.\n\nWe have the wrong people at the table and we\u2019re looking to the wrong people for advice Corporate Accountability's Jesse Bragg\n\nIt comes as the 2018 deadline approaches for member countries to finalise the rule book that guides the implementation of the Paris Agreement. That rule book will determine things such as how compliance will be monitored and enforced and how the developing world will receive finance and support.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been at many crossroads on climate change but this is perhaps one of the last of those that we have left,\u201d said Jesse Bragg from Corporate Accountability. \u201cIf parties don\u2019t arrive at a set of guidelines that actually facilitates the transition we\u2019ve been talking about and keeps us under 1.5C, we may never have another shot at this.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re doing this wrong right now. We have the wrong people at the table and we\u2019re looking to the wrong people for advice. If we don\u2019t course-correct at COP 23 and the next inter-sessional in Bonn, we\u2019re in real trouble. And you can look at what\u2019s happened so far to see the evidence of that.\u201d\n\nExamples of the infiltration of polluters into the official negotiations include:\n\nThe UNFCCC\u2019s Climate Technology Network, which advises on how to develop and transfer green technology to the developing world, includes a member of the World Coal Association, and its board has included managers at Shell and EDF \u2013 one of the world\u2019s biggest electricity producers.\n\nA negotiator for Panama is currently a board member of the International Emissions Trading Association (Ieta), and was previously its president for several years. Ieta was set up by the fossil fuel companies including BP and Rio Tinto in order to make sure climate action caused \u201cminimal economic harm\u201d. Today its members include Chevron, BHP, Dow, Duke Energy, Repsol, Xcel Energy, Veolia and Statoil.\n\nSponsorship of the COP21 meeting in Paris gave fossil fuel companies access to the \u201ccommunications and networking area\u201d inside the rooms where the negotiations were taking place.\n\nBig agricultural corporations such as Monsanto, Syngenta and Yara have been lobbying heavily at UNFCCC meetings, with Monsanto even co-charing the World Business Council on Sustainable Development\u2019s Climate-Smart Agriculture working group.\n\nThe report argues this access has influenced outcomes at the UNFCCC, undermining the Paris agreement in the following ways:\n\nMarket-based solutions to climate change have become dogma at UNFCCC meetings, despite many developing world countries urging alternative mechanisms such as direct regulation, and despite studies suggesting they can allow big polluters to continue polluting, according to Corporate Accountability.\n\nThe US and Canada have adopted agricultural corporations\u2019 approach to \u201cclimate-smart agriculture\u201d, and argued against regulation of non-CO2 emissions from agriculture.\n\nMost of the funds from the Green Climate Fund have so far been allocated to private sector projects.\n\nThe report argues that if the UNFCCC process results in a rulebook being developed in line with what the world\u2019s biggest polluters want, then the Paris agreement is doomed to failure.\n\n\u201cIf those rules are written in a way to give weight to the provisions that industry is in favour of, and ignores those things that the industry is against, then you\u2019re almost renegotiating the Paris agreement,\u201d Bragg said. \u201cWhat you\u2019re doing is cherry-picking out of the Paris agreement the things that they want, and leaving behind the things that the global south [developing] countries need.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s where you lose any nod to incorporate non-market mechanisms into article 6. It\u2019s where \u2018climate smart agriculture\u2019 becomes the only focus of agricultural negotiations, and so big ag is dominating negotiations there and petrochemicals are the solution. And the fossil fuel industry dominates the conversation around technology so we\u2019re just hoping for a successful large-scale carbon capture and storage to get us out of this mess. It\u2019s those things that are at risk in the rulebook negotiations.\u201d\n\nMomentum has been building over the past couple of years to have an official conflict-of-interest policy agreed on at the UNFCCC.\n\n\n\nIn Marrakech in 2016 moves instigated by a group representing the majority of the world\u2019s population \u2013 the Like Minded Group of Developing Countries \u2013 were thwarted by the US, EU and Australia.\n\nAustralia\u2019s delegation has argued that \u201cthere is no clear understanding of what a conflict of interest is and it means different things to different people\u201d and that fossil fuel companies were \u201cthe providers of the biggest and best solutions\u201d.\n\nBut in May this year in Bonn, the group succeeded in getting the UNFCCC to agree to improve \u201ctransparency\u201d, and discussions will continue in May 2018.\n\nThe World Health Organisation\u2019s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control successfully implemented a conflict of interest policy that has widely been acknowledged as a key ingredient in its success.\n\nCorporate Accountability says a similar policy is needed for the UNFCCC.", "output": "International negotiations on the implementation of the 2015 Paris Climate Accords are being undermined by corporate interests, according to a report co-authored by campaign group Corporate Accountability. The report, released ahead of a meeting of parties to the Accord next week, gives examples of fossil fuel firms that it claims have manipulated the negotiations and questions the role of leading polluters that sponsor meetings in return for high-level access. Firms and organisations named in the report include EDF, Monsanto, Shell, Syngenta and the International Emissions Trading Association.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers use sunlight to produce biodegradable plastic \n In Michigan, Michigan State University scientists are proposing a new way to economically produce biodegradable plastics with sunlight and help from an ancient microorganism. Researchers at the Ducat MSU-Department of Energy Plant Research Laboratory took cyanobacteria, that use sunlight to naturally produce sugar, and genetically tweaked them to constantly leak that sugar into a surrounding saltwater medium. They paired them with natural bioplastic-producing bacteria that fed on the leaked sugar. The pairing was prolific.\n\nProcessed biomass contained a near constant 30 percent bioplastic content, four times more than similar experimental systems, and production rates were over 20 times faster.", "output": "Scientists at Michigan State University have developed a low-cost method of producing biodegradable plastics. The team paired genetically altered cyanobacteria, which use sunlight to produce sugar, to feed natural bioplastic-producing bacteria in a saltwater medium, whose voracious appetite encouraged the cyanobacteria to generate more sugar. The virtuous circle combination produced biomass at 20 times the rate of other systems, and contained\u00a0a steady 30% bioplastic material, four times more that previously produced.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers use sunlight to produce biodegradable plastic \n Michigan State University scientists are proposing a new way to economically produce biodegradable plastics with sunlight and help from an ancient microorganism.\n\nThe team, led by Taylor Weiss, a postdoctoral researcher in the Ducat MSU-Department of Energy Plant Research Laboratorylabat the MSU-Department of Energy Plant Research Laboratory, took cyanobacteria, that use sunlight to naturally produce sugar, and genetically tweaked them to constantly leak that sugar into a surrounding saltwater medium.\n\nThey paired them with natural bioplastic-producing bacteria that fed on the leaked sugar. The pairing was prolific.\n\nProcessed biomass contained a near constant 30 percent bioplastic content, four times more than similar experimental systems, and production rates were over 20 times faster.\n\nThe approach avoids fossil fuels for production and aims to reduce plastic\u2019s impact on the environment.\n\n\u201cA major problem is that most synthetic plastic today is not completely biodegradable, so it lasts for hundreds of years after being discarded, in landfills and in water ecosystems,\u201d Weiss said.\n\nAlthough researchers have developed 100 percent biodegradable plastics made with special bacteria, it is very expensive.\n\nThese methods also tend to rely on feeding plastic-producing bacteria with loads of sugar derived from agricultural crops, like corn or beets, that also feed people and animals. There is a risk of competing for limited agricultural resources and driving food prices up in the long term.\n\nScientists are looking to genetically alter cyanobacteria, tiny photosynthetic workhorses, also known as blue-green algae, to funnel their outputs into useful products.\n\nWeiss said that scientists create gradually more efficient bio-production systems all the time, but a major twist is that his improves over time, without human meddling.\n\n\u201cThe cyanobacteria constantly make sugar through photosynthesis, and the bacteria constantly beef up on it, which encourages the cyanobacteria to keep producing,\u201d Weiss said. \u201cSo, the system continuously evolves in a virtuous cycle.\u201d\n\nLooking forward, Weiss wants to partner cyanobacteria with other specialist bacteria to create cheap, environmentally friendly bioproducts, like biofuels to power jets and cars, fragrances, edible dyes and medicines.\n\n\u201cUltimately, we aren\u2019t just creating alternatives to synthetic products,\u201d Weiss said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to ask nature to do what it does best: figure out the problem for us.\u201d\n\nSOURCE: MSU Today", "output": "Scientists at Michigan State University have developed a low-cost method of producing biodegradable plastics. The team paired genetically altered cyanobacteria, which use sunlight to produce sugar, to feed natural bioplastic-producing bacteria in a saltwater medium, whose voracious appetite encouraged the cyanobacteria to generate more sugar. The virtuous circle combination produced biomass at 20 times the rate of other systems, and contained\u00a0a steady 30% bioplastic material, four times more that previously produced.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook introduces creative A/B testing and Test and Learn \n Facebook Tuesday introduced two new ways for brands to optimize their future campaigns: creative split testing and Test and Learn.\n\nCreative split testing enables advertisers to A/B test different ad formats, visuals, headlines and calls to action in order to determine which versions of their ads drive the best results. Users will only see one version of ads during split tests.\n\nFacebook said in a Facebook Business blog post introducing the new features, \u201cWhen setting up a split test, you can choose to isolate a specific creative variable or test multiple creative variables.", "output": "Facebook is launching two tools: creative split testing and Test and Learn, aimed at enabling marketers to get the best out of their campaigns, according to a blog post. Creative split testing, available from this month through Ads Manager, allows A/B testing of various ad formats. Test and Learn, currently in pilot testing and set to be rolled out early next year, gives advertisers the chance to ask questions about campaigns and get information about which tests would be most useful.\n \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Paris's Brighteye Ventures raises $58m for edtech investment \n Brighteye Ventures, a Paris, France-based education technology (edtech) venture capital firm, closed its first fund, at \u20ac50m.\n\nThe fund will lead or participate in seed and series A and B rounds for innovative companies using technology to enhance learning and creativity. It will consider companies working across a full range of educational levels, from K-12 to university and beyond.\n\nBrighteye Ventures is looking to invest between \u20ac500k and \u20ac3m per round in 20 companies over the next three years. It has a global remit, looking to lead investments in Europe and Israel and co-invest alongside smart partners in the US.\n\nThe fund has already invested in two companies participating in the $8m series C of Epic!, a digital content platform for under 12s, and in the $5m seed round of Lightneer, a learning games studio from Helsinki set up by ex-Rovio executives.\n\nBrighteye Venture Advisers, based in Paris, is the sole advisory to the fund. Its two partners, Alex Spiro, managing partner, and Benoit Wirz, investment partner, have previously built and invested in some of the most dynamic companies in the edtech space and both have significant experience and relationships in technology, media and venture capital.\n\nManaging partner Alex Spiro has a proven track record in children\u2019s media, and is co-founder of children\u2019s publisher Flying Eye Books, and Minilab Studios, an educational app development studio. Investment partner Benoit Wirz brings nearly 20 years\u2019 experience of developing and investing in edtech, media, enterprise software and other tech companies, most recently at the Knight Foundation.\n\nFinSMEs\n\n01/11/2017", "output": "French venture capital firm Brighteye Ventures is set to make significant investments in the edtech sector after closing a \u20ac50m ($58.2m) fund. Paris-based Brighteye, founded by Alex Spiro and Benoit Wirz, will participate in or lead seed series A and B rounds for 20 companies around the world that are using technology to improve education, investing between \u20ac500,000 and \u20ac3m per round over the next three years. The fund has already taken part in the $8m series C of content platform Epic!\u00a0and a $5m seed round for Helsinki firm Lightneer.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Russia has change of heart in favour of cryptocurrencies \n In 2016, the Russian government was convinced bitcoin was a danger to its economy and a threat to its national security, so much so that politicians introduced legislation that, if passed, would spell jail time for anyone found using the technology. The offense carried a 7-year jail sentence.\n\nOne year later, Russia has established itself as a preeminent hub for bitcoin and other emerging cryptocurrencies, launching an audacious plan to grab almost one-third of the world\u2019s bitcoin mining network from China. Everyone from the government to private businesses are embracing blockchain, the technology which powers bitcoin, and they\u2019re doing so at an unprecedented rate.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nMoscow\u2019s change of heart has left experts guessing at what the Kremlin has up its sleeve. Theories range from Russia making a strategic decision to reduce its economy\u2019s reliance on oil and gas through bullish cryptocurrency investment to Russian oligarchs looking for clever ways to avoid western sanctions \u2014 blockchain technology allows for anonymous exchanges, making it popular among criminal entities looking to avoid government oversight.\n\nOne thing is clear, however: change came from the top. Analysts say Russia\u2019s sudden embrace began on June 3, 2017, when Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg. There, Putin had an unexpected meeting in the corridors of the Lenexpo Exhibition Complex with Vitalik Buterin, the Russian-Canadian programmer who created bitcoin-rival ethereum.\n\n\u201cAfter the meeting, it seemed to me that the light flicked on for him\u201d Tom Luongo, an expert on the Russian economy, told VICE News. \u201dThis was a way to rapidly push forward Russian financial and banking services, they are now moving rapidly to effectively digitize their entire economy.\u201d\n\nThe appeal is obvious. Not only is every major financial institution around the world pouring huge amounts of money into research in cryptocurrencies, but according to one expert, in the right conditions \u2014 and Russia has the right conditions \u2014 mining bitcoin could be \u201c10 times more lucrative than pumping oil.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nLuongo says that Putin soon realized cryptocurrencies were not entirely dangerous, and instead offered the potential to diversify the country\u2019s economy away from oil and gas. Russia has thus far focused primarily on Buterin\u2019s creation: ethereum.\n\nWhile having less than a third the market capitalization of bitcoin ($29 billion versus $93 billion) many experts see ethereum having a bigger future, as it has widespread applications in the financial world, allowing banks and other institutions to run smart contracts.\n\n\u201cRight after the meeting, the government pivoted towards cryptocurrencies, and said we need to start looking into it because it might be a ground-breaking technology,\u201d Andrei Barysevich, a researcher at threat intelligence company Recorded Future, told VICE News.\n\nRussia\u2019s pivot occurred seemingly overnight. The state development bank VEB is developing an ethereum-based project; Russia\u2019s billionaire businessman Boris Titov launched a blockchain project promising secure voting; the Central Bank of Russia is developing its own digital currency called masterchain; and Burger King Russia is embracing the currency to promote its restaurants. One Russian entrepreneur reportedly applied to patent his plans to distribute \u201cvodka that trades on the Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ethereum Classic brand names.\u201d\n\nLast Wednesday, Putin asked his government to create legislation to regulate cryptocurrency mining and establish legal definitions for various digital assets \u2014 a move which will give the Kremlin greater control over how this industry develops.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBut it\u2019s not all about innovation and development. Barysevich believes there are other reasons behind Russia\u2019s turn toward cryptocurrencies \u2014 and in particular bitcoin.\n\n\u201cIt is not because of the convenience of the technology, it is purely because they want to be controlling the technology and making huge profits out of it,\u201d Barysevich told VICE News.\n\nKey to to Russia\u2019s bitcoin takeover is an audacious enterprise launched in August to grab almost one-third of the world\u2019s bitcoin mining network from China. Russian Miner Coin (RMC), a company co-owned by Putin\u2019s internet ombudsman Dmitry Marinichev, is in the process of raising $100 million to fund the building of vast warehouses full of specialized computers that will work day and night with the sole purpose of mining bitcoins.\n\nThis gambit isn\u2019t new to Russia. China has been dominant here for the last two years, currently mining around 60 percent of the world\u2019s bitcoins. The Middle Kingdom\u2019s efforts have been richly rewarded: the price of one bitcoin has soared from $1,000 at the beginning of 2017 to a record high of over $6,300 as of this writing.\n\nRussia wants to get into the game and has a competitive advantage over almost every other country in the world: Electricity in Russia is cheap and abundant \u2014 especially in regions like Siberia \u2014 making it an ideal location to run the vast computing warehouses 24/7 at little cost.\n\nBarysevich said that with the current government-controlled electricity prices, Russia could make a lot of money from bitcoin. \u201cIf you have an electricity at the cost of 2 cents per kilowatt, it\u2019s 10 times more profitable than pumping oil.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBut bitcoin comes with some notable drawbacks, including its proliferation and popularity among criminals, who\u2019ve embraced the currency because it\u2019s difficult to trace.\n\nThe currency\u2019s shady origins hasn\u2019t been lost on Putin, who has publicly said that he wants restrictions put in place on who can use bitcoin.\n\nNot everyone is buying Putin\u2019s posture however, with some experts suggesting that Russia\u2019s sudden interest in cryptocurrencies coincides with the latest round of U.S. economic sanctions, which even friendly economists say will deal a blow to Russia\u2019s recovering economy.\n\nSpecifically, Russia\u2019s emboldened interest in cryptocurrencies hasn\u2019t evaded the U.S. government. The U.S. Treasury told VICE News that it is \u201caware of the reports\u201d regarding Russia and its increased adoption of cryptocurrencies, and they are continuing to monitor \u201cevolving trends and new potential avenues for sanctions evasion,\u201d a spokesman for the department said.\n\nRussia\u2019s enthusiasm for largely anonymous currencies like Bitcoin and ethereum comes at a time when Russian financial affairs have never been more closely scrutinized. But Marc Johnson, a security consultant and former CIA operations officer, told VICE News, early indication suggests it\u2019s mostly \u201csincere.\u201d", "output": "Russia could use digital currency mining as a way to diversify away from fossil fuels, take on China as a bitcoin mining leader and work around US-imposed economic sanctions, according to analysts. The U-turn apparently followed an unplanned meeting between Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin in June. Putin recently called for legislation to be created to govern the sector, and Central Bank of Russia and VEB have both begun work on crypto projects, including a digital currency. Some have also suggested the abundance of cheap electricity in chilly Siberia makes it ideal for huge mining warehouses.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MetaX testf blockchain with undisclosed advertiser \n Blockchain \u2014 which originated in financial services and is essentially an open ledger (a massive spreadsheet) of transaction data \u2014 is a new ad tech solution in town. Its promise is to provide advertisers more transparency and solve problems related to ad fraud and brand safety.\n\nThe underlying technology of blockchain is sophisticated, but how it works is straightforward. In its simplest form, blockchain works as a community. For instance, if a brand buys inventory from 10 publishers programmatically, the 10 publishers, the supply-side platforms that those publishers work with, the advertiser\u2019s media agencies, demand-side platforms and the brand itself could form a group where members have different levels of access to a ledger. Pavel Cherkashin, co-founder and CEO for Blockchain Programmatic Corporation, explained that the multiple access levels allow only authorized parties in the transaction to access the data for audit purposes, while the remaining members have access to aggregate data for analysis and modeling purposes, etc. Transactional data is encrypted to ensure its protection.\n\n\u201cEach member of the network is a \u2018node\u2019 storing a certain amount of data on their servers and earning rewards, or tokens, for processing this data,\u201d said Cherkashin. \u201cThey also conduct the audit and crowdsourcing of the data to ensure its accuracy and compliance.\u201d\n\nBlockchain is still in its early days, but some industry initiatives use it. For instance, Nasdaq said in March that it is providing blockchain technology to power a startup called the New York Interactive Advertising Exchange that trades guaranteed advertising contracts, while the Interactive Advertising Bureau\u2019s Tech Lab formed a blockchain working group in September led by GroupM\u2019s mPlatform and NYIAX. (It is hosting its first full working group meeting on Nov. 1.)\n\nDespite these applications, lots of use cases for blockchain are still theoretical. Here\u2019s what you need to know.\n\nThe key numbers\n\nThe global blockchain market is expected to grow from $339.5 million this year to $2.3 billion in 2021, according to data firm Statista.\n\nEMarketer predicts U.S. programmatic display ad spend will reach around $32.6 billion this year.\n\nThere are at least 11 publicly traded blockchain companies. The number of blockchain firms \u2014 private and public \u2014 that specialize in advertising is not clear.\n\nThe blockchain company view\n\nKen Brook, CEO for blockchain ad platform MetaX, said that in an unreleased beta test of blockchain with an undisclosed advertiser, his team discovered that between bot traffic, invalid banner video and unauthorized inventory sellers, more than 30 percent of the advertiser\u2019s online ad spend wasn\u2019t what it paid for.\n\n\u201cThere is an immense problem around disparate data sets, especially when these numbers are used to justify ad spend and return,\u201d said Brook. \u201cThere is also a lot of obscurity on how inventory is sold and resold.\u201d\n\nCherkashin added that neither SSPs nor DSPs can provide the required level of trust and ability to process data as crowdsourcing in blockchain does. After all, with blockchain, the intermediary is a robot, not a human, so people can trust it with their data.\n\nCherkashin\u2019s team patented the concept of multilayer blockchain, where 100,000 independent blockchains can work concurrently, which allows the system to process more than 1 million transactions per second, according to Cherkashin. \u201cThe compromise we need to accept is that there is no real-time consensus between all of the blockchains, but for advertising audit and data analysis, this is not required,\u201d he added.\n\nBPC will launch with more than 100 publishers this December, and Cherkashin expects at least 10,000 advertisers will get on board through token purchase by the end of this year.\n\nThe industry view\n\nIt is widely reported that one big problem with blockchain\u2019s application in programmatic buying is the technology is not capable of handling millions of bid requests per second. \u201cI don\u2019t think blockchain is the solution. From what I\u2019ve read, blockchain can only handle around 2,000 transactions per second, while in programmatic, we are doing millions of transactions per second,\u201d said Nick Jordan, founder of data trading company Narrative I/O. \u201cAd tech likes to add layers of solutions on top of other solutions.\u201d\n\nJordan said that even if blockchain can process 100 billion ad impressions per day, only three or four organizations like Google and Amazon have the computing power to manage the large databases required by that volume, which goes against the promise of blockchain: a distributed ledger. \u201cBasically, the industry goes back to the hands of walled gardens,\u201d he said.\n\nDrew Bradstock, svp of product for Index Exchange, echoed Jordan\u2019s sentiment. Bradstock said SSPs, DSPs and publishers can work together to provide advertisers more transparency. If advertisers and publishers rely on blockchain, there will probably be an ad tax on using the solution.\n\n\u201cYou don\u2019t need blockchain to audit the ledger,\u201d said Bradstock. \u201cFor advertisers, it\u2019s always cheaper and easier to hold their partners accountable than pay extra tech tax.\u201d", "output": "Blockchain advertising platform MetaX has completed a beta test with an undisclosed advertiser.\u00a0CEO Ken Brook said that over 30% of the advertiser's ad expenditure was misused, an issue that could be alleviated through the blockchain. The online ad spend was wasted on bot traffic, unauthorised inventory vendors, and invalid banner videos. Brook said that the issue of \"disparate\" data sets and obfuscation on inventory sales and resales causes problems for advertisers. Pavel Cherkashin, co-founder and CEO of the Blockchain Programmatic Corporation, added that DSPs and SSPs cannot offer the necessary amount of transparency and data processing as blockchain.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Unassuming Dutch cycle bridge is a 3D-printed first \n Dutch officials have toasted the opening of what is being called the world\u2019s first 3D-printed concrete bridge, which is primarily meant to be used by cyclists.\n\nThere was applause as officials wearing hard hats rode over the bridge on their bikes at the inauguration in the southeastern town of Gemert on Tuesday.\n\n\u201cThe bridge is not very big, but it was rolled out by a printer, which makes it unique,\u201d Theo Salet, from the Eindhoven University of Technology, told Dutch broadcaster NOS.\n\nWork on printing the bridge, which has some 800 layers, took about three months after starting in June and it is made of reinforced, pre-stressed concrete, according to the university.\n\n\u201cOne of the advantages of printing a bridge is that much less concrete is needed than in the conventional technique in which a mould is filled,\u201d it said on its website. \u201cA printer deposits the concrete only where it is needed.\u201d\n\nThe eight-metre (26-ft) bridge spans a water-filled ditch to connect two roads, and in conjunction with the BAM Infra construction company was tested for safety to bear loads of up to two tonnes.\n\n\u201cWe are looking to the future,\u201d said the head of BAM, Marinus Schimmel, adding in a statement that his company was constantly \u201csearching for a newer, smarter approach to addressing infrastructure issues and making a significant contribution to improving the mobility and sustainability of our society\u201d.\n\n3D printing meant \u201cfewer scarce resources were needed and there was significantly less waste\u201d, he added.\n\nThe Netherlands is among countries, with the United States and China, taking a lead in the cutting-edge technology of 3D printing, using computers and robotics to construct objects and structures from scratch.\n\nLast year a Dutch architect unveiled a unique 3D printer with which he hopes to construct an \u201cendless loop\u201d building.\n\nAnd a Dutch start-up called MX3D has begun printing a stainless steel bridge, of which a third is already completed. The aim is to finish printing by March and lay the bridge over an Amsterdam canal in June.", "output": "The first 3D-printed concrete bridge has been opened in Gemert in the Netherlands. The cycle bridge, which is only eight\u00a0metres long,\u00a0consists of about\u00a0800 layers of 3D-printed, pre-stressed and reinforced concrete, and took about three months to build\u00a0since work began\u00a0last June. The project was carried out by the Eindhoven University of Technology and the BAM Infra construction company, and the structure was successfully tested for\u00a0a maximum load\u00a0of two tonnes. The 3D-printing technique enabled the use of less concrete than would have been required by\u00a0traditional mould methods.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Alibaba launches 11.11 Global Shopping Festival in Shanghai \n Alibaba has officially launched its 11.11 (Singles Day) Global Shopping Festival, kicking off the three-week event with a fashion show in Shanghai.\n\nThe \u201cSee Now, Buy Now\u201d fashion show, which showcased the fashion and apparel that is available to buy during the 11.11 festival, was one a number of promotions and entertainment features unveiled by the e-commerce giant to promote the annual event.\n\nThe event highlights a key strategic focus for Alibaba, which aims to blend e-commerce with entertainment through live-streaming, short content videos and personalised features.\n\nAlibaba's chief marketing officer Chris Tung told Alizila, \"We are elevating the shopping experience from a shelf-based, item-based presentation to a content-based experience for the visitors to our app.\n\n\"The [Tmall] platform is not just a shopping mall for customers exposed to the top brands in the world, but also a very informative medium for shoppers,\" said Tung.\n\nAlibaba\u2019s 11.11 (Singles Day) shopping extravaganza has become one of the largest and most anticipated e-commerce events globally, with last year\u2019s event taking a record-breaking RMB 120.7 bn ($17.4 bn).\n\nThe event has evolved from a 24-hour online sale into a 24-day festival season, with consumers around the world offered 15 million product listings from more than 140,000 brands.\n\nThis year\u2019s festival will also showcase Alibaba\u2019s \u2018New Retail\u2019 strategy, which aims to integrate online and offline shopping, with the e-commerce giant launching pop-up stores and smart-stores where consumers can experience products and use facial recognition payment and scan-and-deliver O2O shopping.\n\nThis year\u2019s event will also enable more than 60,000 international brands including Adidas, Bose, La Mer, L'Or\u00e9al, Mac, Mattel, Mondelez, Nike, P&G, Shiseido, Siemens, Unilever, Uniqlo, Wyeth and Zara to target Chinese consumers, with Chinese brands also able to sell goods globally via its Tmall World initiative.\n\nThe festival will also incorporate AR games to drive traffic and gift prizes and coupons to consumers, as well as sharing red envelopes with more than RMB 250 million and the annual 11.11 Countdown Gala Celebration will again be broadcast live on Chinese TV.\n\nAlibaba Group CEO Daniel Zhang said: \u201cThe 11.11 Global Shopping Festival is a large-scale business collaboration bringing together consumers, retailers, logistics companies, financial institutions, online as well as offline stores and shopping centers around the world. It is a grand stage for showcasing the New Retail initiative pioneered by Alibaba.\u201d", "output": "China's e-commerce giant Alibaba has launched this year's 11.11 (Singles Day) Global Shopping Festival with the See Now, Buy Now fashion show in Shanghai. The 24-day shopping extravaganza forms part of Alibaba's \"new retail\" initiative, bringing together the online and offline shopping experiences and blending them with entertainment, including live streaming events and augmented reality games. In 2016, Singles Day took CNY120.7bn ($17.4bn).\u00a0This year's event will see more than 60,000 international brands exposed to the Chinese market, as well as Chinese goods offered to international shoppers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ads.txt now used by 44% of most popular digital ad domains \n The Digiday Programmatic Media Summit is taking place in New Orleans November 13-15. For information on how to attend or sponsor the summit, click here.\n\nAfter a slow start out of the gate, adoption of ads.txt is taking off with some help from Google.\n\nOnly 13 percent of the 10,000 most popular domains that sell digital ads adopted ads.txt in the 100 days following its release by the Interactive Advertising Bureau Tech Lab in May. But between mid-September and the end of October, that number jumped to 44 percent, according to data from Ad Ops Insider publisher Ben Kneen. The time frame of the uptick in adoption overlaps with Google\u2019s recent announcements that several of its most popular ad products will begin filtering for ads.txt. It also underscores just how much sway Google holds over publishers.\n\nThe IAB Tech Lab launched ads.txt as a tool to help ad buyers avoid illegitimate sellers that arbitrage inventory and spoof domains. The way that ads.txt works is that publishers drop a text file on their web servers that lists all the companies authorized to sell their inventory, which allows buyers to check the validity of the inventory they purchase. If a publisher uses ads.txt, then anyone with an internet connection can verify the publisher\u2019s authorized sellers.\n\nDomain spoofing remains a serious threat to the growth of programmatic advertising, so aside from shady resellers, pretty much everyone who works with automated advertising has incentive to back ads.txt. But despite the fanfare that followed ads.txt\u2019s announcement, publishers dragged their feet in adopting ads.txt early on. The text files take just a few hours to create, according to multiple publishing sources, but publishers were slow to adopt because they had finite tech resources overcommitted to other projects, a lack of understanding about how ads.txt could benefit them and a lack of clarity about the impact. (Some publishers also weren\u2019t crazy about exposing all the ways buyers could get onto their site outside of direct sales.)\n\n\u201cEven one or two months ago, it was slow going,\u201d said Dennis Buchheim, svp and gm of the IAB Tech Lab, noting that ads.txt has since become one of the Tech Lab\u2019s fastest-growing initiatives. \u201cPeople were saying good things, but not necessarily acting on it.\u201d\n\nGoogle isn\u2019t alone in pushing for ads.txt, so it can be difficult to separate correlation from causation when trying to determine what prompted so many publishers to create ads.txt files recently. Some ad buyers have said they won\u2019t buy from publishers without ads.txt by the end of year, ad industry lobbyists support ads.txt and ad tech firms like AppNexus and MediaMath have created tools around the initiative. A few publisher execs have also clamored for more adoption of ads.txt to protect media brands from fraudsters, and ads.txt has become a buzzword at industry events.\n\nAll of these factors likely helped goose adoption rates, but none of these other organizations have Google\u2019s power. Before Google announced it would use ads.txt files to filter unauthorized inventory, just 20 percent of the publishers that work with ad tech firm Advelvet had ads.txt files, said Murat Deligoz, CEO of Advelvet, which helps publishers set price floors in Google\u2019s ad exchange. Now, all the publishers that work directly with Deligoz\u2019s company have ads.txt files.\n\n\u201cGoogle is definitely the force to get ads.txt up and running,\u201d he said.\n\nIn the past six weeks, Google announced that its DoubleClick Ad Exchange, AdSense network and demand-side platform DoubleClick Bid Manager will begin using ads.txt files to filter unauthorized inventory. For now, publishers without an ads.txt file can still sell their inventory through these channels. But if a publisher does have an ads.txt file, Google will block unauthorized vendors not listed in the file from selling the publisher\u2019s inventory, said Pooja Kapoor, Google\u2019s head of programmatic global strategy.\n\n\u201cI believe that Google should get most of the credit [for the increase in ads.txt adoption] because until the DoubleClick Bid Manager mandate went out a few weeks ago, many publishers, though not all, were just playing a waiting game,\u201d said Michael Stoeckel, vp of global tech strategy at Prohaska Consulting.\n\nAside from the public announcements, Google has worked in the background to push ads.txt. In mid-October, Google sent emails to publishers using its DoubleClick exchange that said publishers should update their ads.txt files \u201cin order to prevent impact to your earnings.\u201d In the past month, Google\u2019s ad server added an ads.txt management tab to its dashboard that shows publishers which sellers are listing their domains without authorization, according to a publishing source requesting anonymity.\n\nLast week, Google launched a tool that scans publishers\u2019 ad calls and spits out ads.txt files for them based on who it thinks is authorized to sell their inventory, Kapoor said. Publishers are encouraged to fact-check and tweak these files. The idea isn\u2019t to set a publisher\u2019s ads.txt file in stone but instead to remove friction to help it start one.\n\nGoogle\u2019s recent moves regarding ads.txt can be seen as the first steps that ultimately culminate with Google requiring ads.txt files from publishers before they can sell inventory through Google platforms. Google has discussed requiring ads.txt files from publishers, but no timeline exists for making such a move since ad buyers and sellers are just beginning to account for ads.txt in their transactions, Kapoor said.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no reason why we as an industry should monetize counterfeit inventory,\u201d Kapoor said.\n\nGoogle\u2019s ability to help push ads.txt adoption is just one recent example that shows the search giant\u2019s influence in the media industry. When Google ended its first-click free policy that required subscription-based publishers to let readers see at least three free articles in order to have the publishers\u2019 content surfaced in search, publishers breathed a sigh of relief. Meanwhile, Google\u2019s plan to turn off the sound on autoplay videos and unleash an ad-blocking version of its Chrome browser in 2018 has concerned publishers.\n\nSince Google owns the most popular ad exchange, DSP and ad server in the ad industry, it wants to prevent further erosion in the trust in programmatic. Google\u2019s ad exchange is listed on nearly 14,000 ads.txt files, which is 50 percent more files than the second-most popular exchange AppNexus has, according to ad measurement company Pixalate. Propping up trust through initiatives like ads.txt is one way for the search giant to encourage ad buyers to keep sending dollars through programmatic platforms, which is an area Google dominates.\n\nAlthough publishers and advertisers alike have wearied of the power that platforms like Google and Facebook possess, the industry is welcoming Google\u2019s push for ads.txt adoption. Liane Nadeau, director of programmatic at ad agency DigitasLBi, called Google\u2019s backing of ads.txt \u201ca great step.\u201d\n\nSlate adopted ads.txt in September a few weeks before Google announced its DSP would start using ads.txt files to filter unauthorized sellers, said Dan Check, vice chairman of The Slate Group. While Google wasn\u2019t the main catalyst to nudge Slate to use ads.txt, Check recognized and supported Google\u2019s use of its influence to push for industrywide ads.txt adoption.\n\n\u201cIt can be good to have a stick, waved judiciously, in cases like this,\u201d he said.", "output": "Adoption of the Interactive Advertising Bureau Tech Lab's ads.txt tool by digital ad sales domains grew to 44% between mid-September and October, according to Ad Ops Insider, largely thanks to Google. The search giant has thrown its weight behind the tool to help maintain trust in programmatic advertising. In addition, the recent announcement that its DoubleClick Ad Exchange and AdSense network will use ads.txt files could lead to Google allowing only\u00a0publishers that have ads.txt to sell on its platforms. The ads.txt tool helps ad buyers verify inventory by checking it against a list of authorised sellers.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AISUS launches SIRIUS-X inspection technology \n Aberdeen-based AISUS has invested a six-figure sum in upgrading and developing cutting edge inspection technology as it looks to further broaden its range of services and increase its geographical reach to provide its customers with the most efficient, cost-effective technological solutions.\n\nAISUS has launched an improved internal gravity deployed ultrasonic scanning tool, SIRIUS-X, for completing ultrasonic corrosion mapping within offshore caissons, risers and conductors.\n\nFollowing successful field trials, it recently completed its first caisson inspection programme for a major UK oil and gas operator. The projects were completed in 14 days and included internal inspection of the largest diameter caisson AISUS has delivered to date.\n\nThe SIRIUS-X is controlled from the topside, allowing inspection data to be captured above, within and below a variety of obstacles and diameter variations commonly encountered within caissons, without removing the tool.\n\nIt has been developed to maximise data accuracy and minimise the duration of inspections to meet the increasing demands of the offshore industry. Featuring a high torque rotary drive and a scanning speed of up to five metres per hour, its small cross-sectional footprint with minimal hydro-dynamic drag also allows it to perform during elevated sea states.\n\nThe SIRIUS-X\u2019s simplified and lightweight design means it can be easily configured and adapted in-field where required, further limiting the duration of offshore inspections and reducing costs. It can be deployed to depths of up to 200 m and adjusted for a range of caisson sizes, from 14 in. to 60 in., at the touch of a button.\n\nStuart Lawson, managing director of AISUS, commented: \u201cThis investment demonstrates our ongoing commitment to the global oil and gas market by offering the latest, most efficient technologies to support even the most complex inspection projects worldwide.\n\n\u201cSIRIUS-X, and other inspection application tools which we are currently developing, will bring real benefits to operators with a range of challenging requirements. Our technology is capable of transmitting data in real-time and can be deployed and recovered easily by smaller, highly-skilled teams, offering increased efficiency over traditional inspection approaches. This allows us to provide our clients with the data they need, when they need it.\u201d\n\nEstablishing itself as leaders in the inspection of caissons, conductors, J-Tubes and risers, the firm has made significant progress in solidifying its reputation in its initial markets and is now growing its international footprint by exporting its custom engineered technology and expertise to exploit global opportunities. The firm\u2019s long-term commitment to research and development activities will see AISUS launch new technology offerings to the market every year in a bid to address both the current and future challenges facing the energy sector.\n\n\u201cWe have listened to our customers and adapted our approach to ensure everything we do is in line with exactly what they need to achieve their operational goals. Innovation and continuous improvement is what sets us apart in this increasingly challenging market. The process of providing innovative inspections solutions for gathering accurate and reliable inspection data from challenging and difficult to access areas is what AISUS is becoming world renowned for,\u201d added Mr Lawson.\n\n\u201cThis investment will enable us to harness and expand our expertise to broaden our product range and geographical reach as we look to fulfil our ambition of becoming a world leader in advanced inspection solutions.\u201d\n\nEstablished in 2013, AISUS is an innovative, technology driven company delivering remotely deployed visual and ultrasonic inspection solutions to the global oil and gas industry.", "output": "AISUS has launched an ultrasonic scanning tool called SIRIUS-X. The tool is a flexible, remotely operated system for corrosion mapping of offshore risers, conductors and caissons. It can be deployed to depths of up to 200m, and can be adjusted to fit caissons with diameters of between 14 and 60 inches. SIRIUS-X is one of a suite of tools AISUS plans to roll out to address an increasingly challenging market."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "San Leon San Leon and Avobone agree revised payment schedule \n Further to the announcement on 5 June 2017, San Leon Energy, the AIM listed company focused on oil and gas development and appraisal in Africa and Europe, has announced that San Leon and Avobone have agreed a revised payment schedule in respect of sums owed to Avobone. The remaining payments of \u20ac8,000,000 (previously due during October 2017) and \u20ac6,694,840 (previously due during November 2017) will now be paid using Nigerian funds to be received by San Leon, to be paid to Avobone as soon as received by San Leon and no later than by 15 January 2018. The Company is scheduled to be repaid approx. US$19 million per quarter on its loan notes from Q4 2017, with the next payment due to be received by the Company on or before 1 January 2018.\n\nOriginal article link\n\nSource: San Leon Energy", "output": "Republic of Ireland-based oil and gas exploration firm San Leon Energy has agreed a revised payment schedule for debts to Avobone. The companies have decided that payments of \u20ac8m ($9m) and \u20ac6.7m, previously due in October and November 2017 respectively, will now be paid using Nigerian funds, as soon as San Leon receives them, with a deadline of 15 January 2018.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HydraWell develops rig-less plug & abandon solution \n Several years ago, HydraWell introduced a technology more or less revolutionised the market for plugging and abandoning offshore wells. The company\u2019s PWC\u00ae technology (perforate, wash and cement) promised to plug offshore wells in 2 - 3 days instead of the 10 - 14 days it took with traditional plugging methods such as section milling.\n\nSince then, 15 operators \u2013 including supermajors, big, national and independent oil companies \u2013 have accepted and utilised HydraWell\u2019s PWC\u00ae technology to plug more than 200 wells worldwide.\n\n\"This has resulted in approximately 1500 fewer rig days for the oil companies in question, plus significantly smaller environmental footprint as they don\u2019t have to bring the well\u2019s swarf cuttings topside. This typically amounts to 4 t per well, says Morten Myhre, chief technology officer at HydraWell.\n\nToday, oil companies often have to upgrade the derrick on their platforms, or hire a jack-up that is connected to the production platform, in order to execute P&A operations. With rig rates at a couple of hundred thousand dollars per day, this is a costly operation.\n\nThe new proposed solution HydraWell has developed, enables plugging of wells from the production platform, without a conventional drilling rig, but by use of well intervention equipment such as coil tubing, wireline or e-line. Performing this type of P&A work, without a drilling rig, will significantly reduce costs and environmental footprint for both oil companies and society as a whole.\n\nAnother advantage with HydraWell\u2019s third generation solution is that the well can be plugged without having to pull thousands of metres of production piping out of the well. This will save costs and the environment further as you eliminate the need for heavy lift vessels, transport of material onshore, demolition and recycling of the materials from the well.\n\n\u201cThe solution is ready. We will now enter into dialogue with oil companies to further develop it and start testing it offshore. Our experience is that oil companies are very open minded when it comes to cost efficient plugging methods, and we strongly believe that they are interested in exploring this solution too from HydraWell,\u201d says Mark S\u00f8rheim, CEO of HydraWell.\n\nHydraWell\u2019s headquarter is based in Stavanger, Norway. The company also has offices in Aberdeen, UK, and in Abu Dhabi, UAE.\n\nHydraWell is owned by the company\u2019s management and employees together with private equity-fund Norvestor VII, L.P., which is advised by private equity-company Norvestor Equity AS.", "output": "Norwegian firm HydraWell has developed a plug and abandon (P&A) solution that uses well intervention gear than a traditional rig. The P&A system significantly reduces costs and environmental impact, the company says. \"Our experience is that oil companies are very open minded when it comes to cost efficient plugging methods, and we strongly believe that they are interested in exploring this solution too\u201d, said HydraWell CEO Mark S\u00f8rheim."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Robo-adviser Moola gives investors \u00a3100 if they get quiz right \n Digital wealth management platform Moola is offering successful participants of an online quiz \u00a3100 for signing up to one of its risk-targeted portfolios.\n\nInvestors are invited to take part in the quiz that has four not 'easy' questions and provided you get at least three right, the first 200 new customers will receive \u00a3100 into their investment account.\n\nThe catch is you have to set up your Moola account with a minimum investment of \u00a350 and a minimum monthly contribution of \u00a350 a month for a period of 6 months or contributions totalling \u00a3300 in the first year.\n\nMoola will deposit \u00a3100 prize into investors account within 1 month of the account being opened and first deposit made with the \u00a3100 prize invested into the portfolio.\n\nAll things being equal \u2013 which they rarely are \u2013 this locks in a 33 per cent return before fees.\n\nAccounts, however, must remain open for at least 12 months before withdrawing the \u00a3100 prize or it and any associated profits will not be able to be withdrawn and will be recalled by Moola.\n\nGemma Godfrey is the founder and CEO of Moola. The platform is backed by Octopus Ventures as well as Run Capital, Odysseus Investments and some private investors.", "output": "Robo-adviser Moola is offering users \u00a3100 ($130) in investments if they complete a quiz correctly while signing up to one of the firm's portfolios. Potential \"winners\" have to already have an investment of \u00a350 in their Moola accounts in addition to a recurring contribution of \u00a350 set for the next six months or make a one-off investment of \u00a3300. The first 200 customers to complete the quiz successfully will be awarded the \u00a3100 into their investment accounts. The reward will be unable to be redeemed from the account for at least 12 months. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "One fifth of bonds trade electronically \n The use of electronic trading for corporate bonds has surged significantly over the past few years, with MarketAxess being the preferred e-trading platform according to new research.\n\nA study from Greenwich Associates revealed 84% of investors now trade corporate bonds electronically as of this year, compared to just 69% in 2013.\n\nSimilarly, the overall corporate bond trading volume on a notional basis traded electronically has surged from just 8% in 2013 to almost 20% this year.\n\n\u201cThe increase in usage from just 69% in 2013 shows how quickly investors are adopting electronic trading and how rapidly electronic tools and venues are maturing,\u201d the report explained.\n\nHigh-yield bond trading has seen an even greater surge in electronic trading activity, with almost three quarters of investment firms stating they use an electronic platform this year, up from just 44% in 2013.\n\nIt also found 95% of investors that trade electronically - including hedge funds, banks, funds and advisors - have MarketAxess on their desk, which is used to execute 85% of their electronic trading on a volume-weighted basis.\n\nThe research explained the surge is partly due to bond trading providers launching new and enhanced data and analytics products, which are acting as a draw for investors.\n\n\u201cIn coming years, we will see bond trading venues morph into data and analytics providers, with their liquidity pools as the mere foundation of the business,\u201d said Kevin McPartland, head of Greenwich Associates market structure and technology research, and author of the report.\n\n\u201cThe additional insights available to the buy side will help not only traders, but also compliance teams become increasingly comfortable with all-to-all trading, and even, eventually, the idea of buy-side price making.\u201d", "output": "The percentage of investors trading corporate\u00a0bonds electronically this year\u00a0has risen to 84%, according to a study from\u00a0Greenwich Associates. The figure is up from 69% in 2013. In terms of overall trading volume of corporate bonds, electronic trading accounts for 20% of the market, compared with 8% in 2013. The growth has been significantly bigger for high-yield bond trading, with roughly three-quarters of firms saying they use electronic platforms in that field, compared to 44% in 2013.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurtech Jetty introduces 'one-step' quotes \n Renters\u2019 insurance startup Jetty has rolled out a new one-step quoting tool, enabling customers to receive online quotes simply by inputting their home address.\n\nThe new platform, Quick Quote, has been in production since the insurtech launched in April, according to CEO & co-founder Michael Rudoy. By entering a place of residence, Jetty can answer basic underwriting questions such as neighborhood crime rate, building age and estimate salaries to determine how much coverage to give perspective policyholders.\n\n\u201cCustomers are sick of the old model of talking to agents or virtually transcribing information about the places they live just to get a quote,\u201d said Rudoy. \u201cWe wanted to take as much friction away from the quoting process as possible.\u201d\n\nPrior to the deployment of Quick Quote, Jetty asked would-be consumers seven to 10 questions to issue a quote. The purpose being to tailor products to customers\u2019 preferences from the get go. On its new platform, clients instead receive their quote and then add coverages for personal valuables, electronics or Airbnb home sharing to customize their policy. Jetty calls these additions \u201cpower ups.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn listening to our customers, they just wanted to see a number quickly,\u201d Rudoy said, adding they now also have the choice of adding landlords to their policy. \u201cPart of what is happening in the industry is landlord\u2019s mandating people to buy renters\u2019 insurance before signing a lease. So we changed our quote page to put [the option] at the top.\u201d\n\nJetty also works hand in hand with landlords and property managers across the U.S, Rudoy says. The insurtech, based in New York\u2019s Flatiron District, recently launched a product suite for property owners to help distribute their policies.\n\nThe startup has also been busy adding talent of late. Jetty recently announced the hires of Kristopher Agermark and Stephen Hazeltine as directors of product design and customer experience. Its current staff of 17 consists primarily of data engineers and two product designers supporting the MGA\u2019s business development, insurance and customer experience teams.\n\nOn the expansion front, Jetty\u2019s policies are now available in 29 states, including Texas and New York as of this week. The company, which began selling its products in Pennsylvania, Illinois and Georgia this spring, plans to grow its market footprint nationwide by year\u2019s end.", "output": "Jetty, an insurtech focused on providing renters with insurance, has rolled out a tool allowing users to get a quote simply by providing their address. The platform, known as Quick Quote, can determine a number of underwriting factors from the\u00a0address, including\u00a0crime\u00a0rates and estimated salaries. Customers can add additional coverage to their quote\u00a0for specific items. Jetty is also working with property owners and landlords to help distribute their product.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Autonomous vehicles, smart homes top of mind for Liberty Mutual \n The sharing economy, connected home and autonomous vehicles are top of mind for Liberty Mutual Insurance at its Boston-based innovation center, Solaria Labs.\n\nOpened in 2015. the lab\u2019s purpose is twofold: to identify and tackle disruptive industry trends while changing Liberty Mutual\u2019s mindset around digital transformation. Mounting pressure from customers looking for user experiences resembling that of Amazon and Google also forced the carrier to think differently about core products put into market.\n\n\u201cPeople\u2019s expectations are so high,\u201d said Adam L\u2019Italien, VP of global consumer markets innovation at Liberty Mutual, when Digital Insurance visited the lab this month. \u201cYou\u2019re not compared to your direct competition in many industries now. You\u2019re compared to all competition and all industries.\u201d\n\nSolaria Labs is treated as a part of a larger ecosystem that also includes the insurer\u2019s core business and partner network\u2014startups and original-equipment manufacturers (OEMs)\u2014with co-creation as the main objective. At any time, the Solaria Labs can partner with any member of the ecosystem, L\u2019Italien says. As an example, the lab tapped into core resources to launch its own startup, All Set, in 2015. All Set connects customers with home cleaning professionals online, similar to how Uber pairs drivers with commuters. The service is currently available in Massachusetts and California.\n\n\u201cWe have very deep partnerships with existing organizations that span away from emerging companies,\u201d said L\u2019Italien. \u201cWe work with them to test and learn with a goal of co-creating as well.\u201d\n\nProduct owners, operating as mini CEOs, are responsible for running all projects at Solaria Labs, according to Chris Moss, the lab\u2019s manager, reporting directly to L\u2019Italien. They\u2019re responsible for testing new products in market and understanding what features need to be built on. Solaria\u2019s applied science team is tasked with developing algorithms needed for the projects. Software developers and designers then build out the functionality for apps and online solutions.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019ll come into work thinking about those different work streams and then, of course, have various meetings to understand as a team how to coordinate different projects and figure out how to get them to market as soon as possible,\u201d Moss says.\n\nLiberty Mutual rotates staff from across its global business to work at its Solaria Labs WeWork space in order to spread its new fail fast model\u2014one where it frequently tests hypothesizes in market instead of making too many assumptions, L\u2019Italien says.\n\nIn keeping with the approach, Solaria\u2019s data science team, part of its applied science division, looks for new ways to use emerging technologies such as machine learning or blockchain. The accelerator also has a dedicated team scanning for emerging trends, similar to those the insurer identified two years ago.\n\nEarlier this month, Solaria Labs launched its Total Home Score initiative after internally customizing a Shine API using open city data. The platform, available only in Boston, helps illuminate neighborhoods through 3-D maps, rating road safety and noise levels around a home.\n\nUsing the same publicly available data, Solaria Labs is also looking to expand the use of its Shine API to drivers by adding a \u201csafe route\u201d to customers\u2019 preferred GPS navigation app. Most only provide the quickest route or an option avoiding tolls. Data points such as time of day and location will be factored into suggestions route suggestions.\n\n\u201cI can imagine the future world where I\u2019m taking my child, putting them in the back seat for the first time,\u201d said L\u2019Italien \u201cI\u2019m going to trade time for a lower probability of risk based on historic data.\u201d\n\nSolaria Labs is also scheduled to roll out a new platform focused on the sharing economy in November, with an eye toward capturing more customer data for insight on how to protect evolving forms of risk. Liberty Mutual already offers discounts to customers who install smart home devices and adopt connected-car technologies from Volvo and Subaru in exchange for information.\n\n\u201cAs people maybe own things less and start sharing personal assets in new ways, new risks evolve and new things that people are going to want to protect against will emerge,\u201d L\u2019Italien notes.\n\nLike many insurance companies, Solaria Labs relies heavily on machine learning to build out its applications, as it can be used to process images, text and voice through natural language processing and computer vision. The technology will also be a focal point of Solaria Labs\u2019 new Singapore location established this summer. One of its senior employees is currently in Asia standing it up, L\u2019Italien says.\n\nIn March, Liberty Mutual moved its Boston Solaria Labs location near the city\u2019s South Station transit hub closer to its main campus. The lab, encompassing 160 work stations, is now directly adjacent to the insurer\u2019s home offices, a move intended to improve operational workflows and collaboration efforts through proximity.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019ll find people that have 10, 15-plus years in the insurance industry working with us,\u201d said L\u2019Italien. \u201cBut you also have people that have come from consumer goods or technology organizations, like Chris, chipping away at really hard problems.\u201d\n\nHaving an established Solaria Labs Boston location also allows the insurer to grab talent from highly-credited universities, L\u2019Italien adds.\n\n\u201cThis guy [Chris] is an MIT guy,\u201d he concluded. \u201cSo he definitely was drawn from the talent pool.\u201d", "output": "Autonomous vehicles, smart homes and the shared economy are the focus of Liberty Mutual Insurance's Solaria Labs innovation centre in Boston. The lab is chiefly concerned with exploiting digital transformation and staying on top of disruptive trends. It is also looking at companies such as Google and Facebook for ideas about how to serve its customers differently.\u00a0\u201cPeople\u2019s expectations are so high,\u201d said Adam L\u2019Italien, Liberty Mutual's\u00a0head of global consumer markets innovation, adding:\u00a0\u201cYou\u2019re not compared to your direct competition now. You\u2019re compared to all competition and all industries.\u201d\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Airbus admits inaccuracies in US defence export filings \n European plane maker Airbus notified U.S. regulators about shortfalls reporting certain defense-related deals, adding to its global compliance woes, The Wall Street Journal reports. The company said it would miss delivery targets for one of its most popular plane models, the latest in a series of production setbacks as it struggles to make all the new planes it has sold.\n\nThe company said it had reported itself to U.S. authorities about errors made on equipment exports, adding that it was cooperating with U.S. authorities and couldn\u2019t determine if there would be a financial penalties, The Journal adds.\n\nAccording to Airbus Chief Financial Officer Harald Wilhelm, the transgression related to a failure to properly notify U.S. authorities about the use of outside sales agents, who help broker deals of defense equipment and services.\n\nWilhelm stressed that Airbus first notified U.S. authorities about a potential problem late last year, which triggered a more in-depth review and, in July, led the company to formally inform U.S. authorities rules were broken.\n\nThe wrongdoing concerns compliance with the Part 130 section of U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations rules into political contributions, fees and commission involved in export of military equipment, The Journal adds.\n\nAirbus wouldn\u2019t speculate on its potential financial or criminal exposure, as the company is in talks with both the State Department, which would lead any civil probe, and the Justice Department, which could lead a criminal probe, The Journal informs.", "output": "Airbus has revealed it has breached US export regulations governing defence-related sales through inaccuracies in its disclosures regarding payments to middlemen. The company is already under investigation in France, the UK, Germany and Austria and this latest revelation adds to the rising controversy over Airbus's compliance with global export regulations. The\u00a0European\u00a0flagship aerospace and defence group has also acknowledged that\u00a0it is going to\u00a0miss delivery targets for one of its most popular models. Airbus is currently in talks with the Department of\u00a0State and the Department of Justice in the US."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Baker Hughes introduces FASTrak Prism fluid analysis system \n Edit page New page Hide edit links\n\nFASTrak Prism service provides a clearer picture of the reservoir in real time to improve efficiency and enable better asset development decisions (illustration: BHGE)\n\nBaker Hughes, a GE company has announced the introduction of its FASTrak\u2122 Prism fluid analysis and sampling while drilling service. The service uses advanced sensors and proven technology to collect and deliver reliable, industry-leading volumes of high-quality fluid samples and comprehensive, real-time reservoir characterization. These samples provide valuable insight into the reservoir to help operators improve efficiencies and make more informed decisions around their overall well completion and production strategy.\n\n\u201cWe developed the FASTrak Prism service to address the industry\u2019s need for a better, more accurate understanding of the subsurface while drilling in complex environments,\u201d says Herman Nieuwoudt, Logging While Drilling Product Line Director. \u201cThe growing need for cost-efficient reservoir fluid characterization solutions for challenging, highly-deviated and extended-reach wells underscores the need to collect accurate, real-time information so operators can evaluate their reserves and make better asset development decisions, as quickly and efficiently as possible.\u201d\n\nUnlike conventional services that can require additional post-drilling runs to collect samples, the FastTrak Prism service\u2019s industry-leading capacity \u2013 16 discrete single-phase samples per run, and up to 13.4 litres of total fluid volume \u2013 provides operators with the representative fluids required for their strategic development and appraisal decisions in one drilling run, resulting in significant rig time and cost savings. Further, the FASTrak platform of sampling services has an extensive track record with hundreds of samples collected worldwide.\n\nContinual measurement and analysis of pumped fluid during sampling operations makes it possible to easily and accurately monitor contamination and fluid properties before capturing the fluid sample. The FASTrak Prism service\u2019s fluid chambers feature proprietary sample capture technology enabling it to achieve an enviable record of acquiring high volumes of high-quality samples with minimal contamination.\n\nMultichannel spectrometry extends the accuracy and reliability of the service, allowing customers to clearly distinguish between fluid types and improve their understanding of fluid properties, especially in complex flow conditions.\n\nOn a recent offshore project in Australia, the FASTrak Prism service captured a total of 26 samples \u2013 12 in the first well and 14 in the second \u2013 with a total sample volume of over 20 litres in the two runs \u2013 setting a global record for fluid sampling while drilling. Additionally, in a recent offshore project in Africa, the FASTrak Prism service met the operator\u2019s fluid evaluation objectives, saved two days of rig time, and contributed to an efficient well completion, resulting in production that exceeded the target by more than 30%.", "output": "General Electric-owned oil field service company Baker Hughes has launched its record-breaking FASTrak Prism fluid analysis system. It uses proprietary capture technology to obtain plentiful high-quality samples with minimal contamination. In previous deployments, the system has resulted in \"significant rig time and cost savings\". Utilising advanced sensors, the technology is capable of analysing and collecting real-time information on reservoir characterisation.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apex Clearing gains new robo client after losing Wealthfront \n Apex Clearing has added a new, fast-growing robo advisor service for RIAs in a partnership the turnkey asset management program says will bulk up its offerings.\n\nRobustWealth struck the agreement with Apex to allow for trading with no additional fee on top of its platform charges, along with other capabilities, the firm announced earlier this month. The Lambertville, New Jersey-based TAMP already has $750 million on its platform, according to founder Mike Kerins.\n\nThe partnership comes six months after Apex lost Wealthfront, one of its major clients and an independent leader in the robo space with about 160,000 clients and $8.3 billion in assets under management. The clearing firm still has retained competitors like Betterment, Stash and Robinhood as clients rush to the robo space.\n\nRobustWealth, like some other asset managers and several custodians, is tapping the business-to-business possibilities by giving advisors a white-labeled product. Its platform opened in January, and advisor Bob Dunn says RobustWealth\u2019s deal with Apex will help him grow his practice.\n\n\u201cWith Apex, transaction costs go away,\u201d says Dunn, the president of Princeton, New Jersey-based RIA Private Wealth Management Group. \u201cWhen you\u2019re dealing with smaller accounts, it\u2019s a no-brainer.\u201d\n\nThe $1T milestone advisors won\u2019t be celebrating Millennials want mobile-first digital advice, and will invest millions on such platforms. 1 Min Read\n\n\u2018LOTS OF LOVE\u2019\n\nAdvisors who don\u2019t think they need a robo partner just don\u2019t know yet that they need one, according to Dunn. He has 15 clients on RobustWealth\u2019s investing programs, but he says he had been waiting to place more clients on the platform until the firm joined a partnership with Apex.\n\nAdvisors can trade ETFs, mutual funds and U.S. stocks on the platform because of the deal, which also enables fast client onboarding, account linking and bank transfers.\n\nRobustWealth has 98 RIAs on its platform, which has grown each month by a range of $50 million and $100 million, according to Kerins. RobustWealth will keep TD Ameritrade as its other custodian and advisors may now choose between TD Ameritrade Institutional and Apex for their clients, he says.\n\nThe clearing announcement follows a new TAMP launched in August by RobustWealth and the XY Planning Network for its more than 450 advisors. Seeking to provide a one-stop tech shop, Kerins sees easy account opening and automated portfolio rebalancing as two main boons it can offer advisors up front.\n\n\u201cWe want to understand what pain points they have. We have a broad client range and we give everyone lots of love,\u201d says Kerins, the former head of a team managing a $40 billion global portfolio at Franklin Templeton Investments.\n\nDallas-based Apex is opening just under 300,000 new accounts each month, with more than $30 billion in combined AUM among its client firms, according to CEO Bill Capuzzi. While some other firms will follow Wealthfront by bringing their infrastructure in-house, Apex provides technology that robos can leverage for scale, he says.\n\n\u201cApex is the proverbial man behind the curtain,\u201d Capuzzi wrote in an email. \u201cOur job is to automate all the processes that lie beneath most all of the advisory interactions with their clients.\"\n\nOn the other hand, RobustWealth is \u201ca late entrant for an idea that has been built already,\u201d says Lex Sokolin, the global director of fintech strategy at London-based consulting firm Autonomous Research. He names Betterment, AdvisorEngine, Trizic and Schwab Intelligent Portfolios as providing similar services.\n\nHowever, robos\u2019 as-yet untapped future market penetration does present RobustWealth with an opening, according to Sokolin.\n\n\u201cThe goal-based approach and trading capabilities are hard to get right, especially in combination with outsourced account management,\u201d he wrote in an email. \u201cIn the end, the advisory market is large and signing up new firms is a process of sales blocking and tackling, so we should see additional traction in all the players.\u201d", "output": "Apex Clearing, a provider of clearing and execution services to asset management platforms, has entered into an agreement with robo-adviser RobustWealth. The firm previously lost the business of well-known robo-adviser Wealthfront, which has about $8bn AUM, though Apex still works with a number of other prominent robo-adviser platforms. RobustWealth provides white-labeled robo-platforms to registered investment advisers and has approximately $750m managed via its platform.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Putting Belt Road plan into constitution raises investor risks \n The LanzhouXinjiang High-Speed Railway, a high-speed rail in northwestern China from Lanzhou in Gansu Province to Urumqi along the new Silk road, has been seen as the foundation for the One Belt One Road initiative. Zhang Peng | LightRocket | Getty Images\n\nPolitics more than economics\n\n\"The [initiative's] place at the heart of China's policy-making process is now unquestionable. It will underpin Beijing's overseas investment strategy and activities long into the future,\" added Brennan. The \"centrality\" of the Belt and Road project \"serves as a significant bottom-up incentive for Chinese executives to position their business activities within its framework, in order to access state financing, receive diplomatic support abroad and garner political favor at home,\" Brennan added in a note published Monday. The massive plan \u2014 which analysts are still struggling to quantify \u2014 aims to connect Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa with a vast logistics and transport network, using roads, ports, railway tracks, pipelines, airports, transnational electric grids and even fiber optic lines. The plan involves 65 countries, which together account for one-third of global GDP and 60 percent of the world's population, or 4.5 billion people, according to Oxford Economics earlier this year. It's all part of China's push to increase global clout \u2014 building modern infrastructure can attract more investment and trade along the route. The policy could also boost the domestic economy with demand abroad, and might soak up some of the overcapacity in China's industrial sector.\n\nIs it even economically viable?\n\nOne major issue with the Belt and Road project is \"really a question of who the end buyers are going to be and whether any of these projects are going to be commercially viable,\" said Zach Witlin, Eurasia region analyst at geopolitical consultancy Eurasia Group.\n\nwatch now\n\n\"We have these grandiose visions of railways and other majestic hubs connecting the Eurasian continent. Yet in the longer run, we're not really sure if you can make an economic case for each one of these things there, which means for the time being, it's politics that's going to be driving it at this time,\" he added to CNBC. The best way to look at it, said Witlin, is that it's a \"statement of intention.\" It is \"a vision of connecting these parts of the world and seeing an avenue, especially for Chinese products, to make their way through and beyond these countries here \u2014 with the quid quo pro being greater Chinese investment,\" Witlin added.", "output": "The Belt and Road Initiative has been included in the Chinese Communist Party constitution, potentially creating dangers for investors in the logistics and transport project designed to connect Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa. The political interest in the initiative may put pressure on investment parties to fall in line with state aims and Beijing's\u00a0wider overseas strategies. The project will incentivise Chinese executives to work towards the party's position to gain access to state funding, diplomatic support\u00a0overseas and to curry political favour, risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft has said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Alibaba joins $335m funding for\u00a0car dealer tech firm\u00a0SouChe \n The e-commerce giant led a US$335 million funding round in a start-up that is working to blend online and offline car sales in China", "output": "Hangzhou-based start-up SouChe has raised $335m in a funding round led by Alibaba, as part of the e-commerce giant's \"new retail\" strategy. Alibaba is now SouChe's biggest investor, with Warburg Pincus, Primavera Capital and CMB International also participating; however,\u00a0no specific amounts have been revealed. SouChe, which provides car dealers\u00a0with digital sales and marketing technology, aims to create a \"seamless new automobile retail platform\" by combining online and offline activities, according to CEO Yao Junhong. The latest round of funding brings total investment in SouChe to $635.4m.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gender pay gap won\u2019t end for 217 years: WEF \n Women around the globe may have to wait more than two centuries to achieve equality in the workplace, according to new research.\n\n\n\nThe World Economic Forum, best known for its annual gathering in the Swiss resort of Davos, said it would take 217 years for disparities in the pay and employment opportunities of men and women to end. This is significantly longer than the 170 years its researchers calculated a year ago.\n\nTaking other indicators such as access to healthcare and education and participation in politics in account, the overall gender gap will take 100 years to close \u2013 also longer than the 83 years the WEF researchers predicted last year.\n\nIt is the first time since the WEF began publishing its gender gap report in 2006 that \u201cslow but steady progress\u201d towards parity between men and women has halted.\n\nSaadia Zahidi, the WEF\u2019s head of education, gender and work, said: \u201cIn 2017 we should not be seeing progress towards gender parity shift into reverse. Gender equality is both a moral and economic imperative. Some countries understand this and they are now seeing dividends from the proactive measures they have taken to address their gender gaps.\u201d\n\nThe research ranks 144 countries on the gap between women and men based on economic, health, education and political indicators.\n\nThe UK has risen five places since last year to 15th on the index, largely as a result of improvement in the political indicators after the appointment of Theresa May as prime minister in 2016. When the index started in 2006, the UK was ranked ninth.\n\nThe report cites research from the accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers showing that, in the UK alone, economic gender parity could add $250bn (\u00a3188bn) to GDP.\n\nIceland is top of the index after closing 88% of its gap, and has been the world\u2019s most gender-equal country for nine years, according to the WEF. It has pulled away from the competition as Norway and Finland, in second and third positions, experienced a widening in their equality ratings.", "output": "Workplace gender inequality could exist for another 217 years, up from the 170 years estimated in 2016, according to research by the World Economic Forum (WEF). This is the first time since the WEF published gender gap data in 2006 that figures indicate a halt in progress. The overall gender gap, including education, healthcare and political participation, is expected to last for 100 years, up from last year\u2019s predication of 83 years. Iceland topped the list of the world\u2019s most gender-equal countries\u00a0for the ninth year. The UK rose five places from last year, to be ranked 15th.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gender pay gap won\u2019t end for 217 years: WEF \n The key to closing the gender gap? Putting more women in charge\n\nHere's why we need more women in leadership roles to give an impetus to our efforts for closing the gender gap. Some industries have already taken the lead", "output": "Workplace gender inequality could exist for another 217 years, up from the 170 years estimated in 2016, according to research by the World Economic Forum (WEF). This is the first time since the WEF published gender gap data in 2006 that figures indicate a halt in progress. The overall gender gap, including education, healthcare and political participation, is expected to last for 100 years, up from last year\u2019s predication of 83 years. Iceland topped the list of the world\u2019s most gender-equal countries\u00a0for the ninth year. The UK rose five places from last year, to be ranked 15th.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian banks join up for mobile P2P payments service \n In the wake of their bitter battle with Apple, three of Australia's big banks have joined forces on a person-to-person mobile payments app.\n\nCommonwealth Bank, National Bank of Australia and Westpac will launch the free Beem app for Android and iOS devices by the end of the year, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.\n\n\n\nIt will be open to customers of all banks, who can send money without entering the recipients' account details.\n\n\n\nAlthough Beem will initially focus on instant P2P payments, it could eventually expand to point-of-sale transactions, bringing it into competition with the likes of Android Pay and Apple Pay.\n\n\n\nThe three banks are currently refusing to offer Apple Pay to their customers after being denied authorisation to collectively bargain with the US the giant.\n\n\n\nANZ, the only big Oz bank to offer Apple Pay, is not currently involved in Beem but may sign up in the future.", "output": "National Bank of Australia, Westpac and Commonwealth Bank have announced the release of a free person-to-person mobile payment app named Beem. The app will be available from the end of 2017 on Android and iOS, and will be open to customers at all banks, enabling payments without recipients' bank details being necessary. In future, the app could develop to include point-of-sale transactions. The technology was created after the banks removed Apple Pay as an option for customers after being\u00a0told they could not collectively bargain with\u00a0Apple. ANZ is not currently involved with Beem.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Passive assets could hit $37tn globally by 2025: PwC \n Factor Investing Strategy Briefing - Thursday 29th June 2023 - The Connaught, Mayfair. Please join us for our annual smart beta and factor investing event, featuring Goldman Sachs Asset Management, FlexShares, First Trust, MSCI and WisdomTree. Please register now if you would like to attend.\n\nGlobal passive assets are set to more than double from $14 trillion in 2016 to $37tn by 2025, according to a recent report from professional services firm PwC. The research indicates that while assets under management (AUM) of both active and passive funds is expected to increase, passive funds are set to see the fastest growth over the next ten years, highlighting the potential for future expansion in the ETF industry.\n\nPwC forecasts that funds under passive management will make large gains in market share, rising from 17% of overall global AUM in 2016 to 25% in 2025. Actively managed funds will grow from $61tn in 2016 to $88tn by 2025, but their share of total AUM will decrease from 71% in 2016 to 60% by 2025, while alternatives\u2019 market share will rise from 12% to 15%.\n\nOlwyn Alexander, global asset & wealth management leader, PwC, commented: \u201cIn the ongoing debate of active versus passive investing, we are optimistic for both. While we anticipate a faster pace of growth for passives due to greater allocation than for active, well still predict growth in active investments, which will continue to preserve active management\u2019s dominant market share.\n\n\u201cIt is important to remember that in a rising market passive returns are very attractive at low cost but that inevitable market corrections will bring a continued appreciation for the value of active investments. Both will be key building blocks in balanced portfolios to meet specific investor outcomes.\u201d\n\nThe report, entitled \u2018Asset & Wealth Management Revolution: Embracing Exponential Change\u2019, also details PwC\u2019s expectations for a growth rate of 6.2% per annum in the period to 2025 for total global AUM, with the fastest growth seen in the developing markets of Latin America and Asia Pacific.\n\nPwC also notes that the burgeoning wealth of high-net-worth individuals and the mass affluent, as well as a pronounced shift to defined contribution retirement saving, are propelling huge growth in the asset and wealth management industry. Retail funds, including ETFs, will almost double assets by 2025 according to the report, while institutional mandates will see a similar expansion.\n\nThe report goes on to predict significant change in the asset management industry over the next ten years. Alexander continued, \u201cAsset managers can take advantage of this massive global growth opportunity if they\u2019re innovative. But it\u2019s do or die, and there will be a \u2018great divide\u2019 between few haves and many have nots. As a result, things will look very different in five to ten years\u2019 time and we expect to see fewer firms managing far more assets significantly more cheaply.\u201d", "output": "The popularity of passive investment products could push global assets in index-tracking offerings to $37tn by 2025, according to PwC. Passive offerings accounted for $14tn worth of global assets in 2016. PwC also\u00a0predicted passive funds' market share will also rise from 17% to 25%, in part because of\u00a0the popularity of index-tracking exchange\u00a0traded funds. The market share of active funds is forecast to drop\u00a0from 71% to 60% by 2025.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Franklin Templeton go ultra-cheap with single-country ETF launch \n It seems no part of the ETF marketplace is safe from the downward pressure that is perpetually pushing fees lower.\n\nThe latest category of exchange-traded funds where expense ratios have seen an abrupt move down is single-country funds, which offer exposure to the equity markets of individual countries.\n\nFranklin Templeton Investments on Monday announced a new suite of 16 ETFs that will debut on the NYSE Arca on Nov. 6. The funds will track a number of both developed and emerging markets, and do so at a significantly reduced fee compared with their most widely traded rivals.\n\nDeveloped-market funds\u2014including for such countries as Germany, Hong Kong, France, Canada, and Japan\u2014will charge nine basis points, or 0.09% of assets, which amounts to $9 for every $10,000 invested. BlackRock\u2019s iShares line of ETFs, which has offered similar funds for more than 20 years in some cases, charge substantially higher. The $17.39 billion iShares MSCI Japan ETF EWJ, +0.42% charges 0.48%, as do other developed-market funds.\n\nFor emerging markets like China, Brazil, and Mexico, Franklin Templeton funds will charge 0.19%. The iShares MSCI Brazil Capped ETF EWZ, +0.33% charges 0.63% while the iShares MSCI China ETF MCHI, +0.36% goes for 0.64%. The iShares MSCI Mexico Capped ETF EWW, -0.43% has an expense ratio of 0.48%.\n\nThe Franklin Templeton funds will track a FTSE index, while the iShares products track MSCI indexes.\n\nIShares currently offers 65 single-country funds, including some currency-hedged products and funds that track subsections of specific regions\u2014for example, the iShares China Large-Cap ETF FXI, +0.09% . The 65 funds have a total of about $72.77 billion in assets, according to an analysis of BlackRock data.\n\nDon\u2019t miss:ETF fee war expands, bringing more pain to active managers\n\nAnd also: Here\u2019s how much ETF fees have dropped since the financial crisis\n\nThe news is just the latest in a series of falling ETF fees. In early September, the GraniteShares Gold Trust BAR, -0.08% was launched with an expense ratio of 0.2%, half the fee charged by the SPDR Gold Shares ETF GLD, -0.11% , by far the biggest gold fund on the market. Separately, Goldman Sachs filed for a fund that tracks an equally weighted index of large-cap stocks. The ETF will only cost 0.09%, dramatically lower than the similar Guggenheim S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF RSP, +0.23% , which carries a fee of 0.2%.\n\nEarlier this month, State Street Global Advisors cut expense ratios on more than 15 funds in a bid to court retail investors and advisers. While some of the cuts were relatively minor, with the fees dropping by just a few basis points, others represented substantial changes. The SPDR Portfolio Emerging Markets ETF SPEM, +0.20% (previously the SPDR S&P Emerging Markets ETF) had its fee cut from 0.59% to 0.11%. Another, the SPDR Portfolio World ex-US ETF SPDW, +0.12% , is being reduced to a fee of 0.04% from 0.34%, a cut of nearly 90%.\n\nGLD, -0.11% Read more:Why the latest round of rock-bottom ETF fees may be a nonevent for investors\n\nAnd also:Vanguard\u2019s Bogle says asset-management giant he founded 42 years ago is almost too big and successful\n\nFranklin Templeton\u2019s suite of funds represent the firm\u2019s first foray into passive ETFs, which attempt to mimic the performance of an underlying index by holding the same components it does, and in the same proportion. Investors have been heavily trending toward these products for years, adopting them as they drop actively managed funds, where the components are handpicked by a manager.\n\nFew firms have felt the sting of this trend to passive as much as Franklin Templeton. According to data from Morningstar Direct, the firm has seen more than $19 billion in outflows across its funds thus far this year, the highest outflows of any fund family it tracks. Franklin had about $753 billion in assets as of September.", "output": "Franklin Templeton has launched a suite of single-country exchange-traded funds, with expense ratios well below the average for such offerings. The firm's developed-market ETFs will be available for nine basis points, well below BlackRock's iShares\u00a0suite,\u00a0which charges upwards of 40 basis points for similar exposure. Franklin Templeton will also be offering a suite of emerging-market single-country ETFs for 19 basis points for each fund, again lower than BlackRock's comparable single-country offerings, which charge investors over 60 basis points in some instances.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fortescue Metals Group looks for lithium in West Australia \n Iron ore heavyweight Fortescue Metals Group is looking for lithium in the vast Pilbara region of Western Australia, in response to the strengthening outlook for lithium and electric vehicles worldwide.\n\nFortescue's chief executive, Nev Power, confirmed the exploratory work on Tuesday, saying the tenements it held were \"next door\" to the current lithium operations of Pilbara Minerals and Mineral Resources.\n\n\"So we're in the right area. We're looking for elephants in elephant country, but whether you find the elephant, I don't know,\" he said.\n\nAsked if Fortescue's interest in lithium was driven by the strengthening outlook for lithium and electric vehicles, he said: \"Yeah, absolutely.\"", "output": "Major iron ore company Fortescue Metals Group is prospecting for lithium in the Pilbara area of Western Australia, as the outlook for the lithium and electric vehicle market improves globally. Fortescue is looking for lithium \"next door\" to other sites in Pilbara that have been shown to be rich in the mineral. The move into lithium would only be cemented if it proved valuable, and the company is also seeking copper, the company said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Security firm survey finds consumers lack confidence in IoT \n Gemalto survey confirms that Consumers lack confidence in IoT device security Share this article\n\n\n\nLinkedIn\n\n\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200bAmsterdam, October 31, 2017 \u2013 Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, today reveal that 90% of consumers lack confidence in the security of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. This comes as more than two-thirds of consumers and almost 80% of organizations support governments getting involved in setting IoT security\u200b.\n\n\u200b\"It's clear that both consumers and businesses have serious concerns around IoT security and little confidence that IoT service providers and device manufacturers will be able to protect IoT devices and more importantly the integrity of the data created, stored and transmitted by these devices,\" said Jason Hart, CTO, Data Protection at Gemalto. \"With legislation like GDPR showing that governments are beginning to recognize the threats and long-lasting damage cyber-attacks can have on everyday lives, they now need to step up when it comes to IoT security. Until there is confidence in IoT amongst businesses and consumers, it won't see mainstream adoption.\"\n\nThe current state of play in IoT security\n\nConsumers' main fear (cited by two thirds of respondents) is hackers taking control of their device. In fact, this was more of a concern than their data being leaked (60%) and hackers accessing their personal information (54%). Despite more than half (54%) of consumers owning an IoT device (on average two), just 14% believe that they are extremely knowledgeable when it comes to the security of these devices, showing education is needed among both consumers and businesses.\n\nIn terms of the level of investment in security, the survey found that IoT device manufacturers and service providers spend just 11% of their total IoT budget on securing their IoT devices. The study found that these companies do recognize the importance of protecting devices and the data they generate or transfer with 50% of companies adopting a security by design approach. Two-thirds (67%) of organizations report encryption as their main method of securing IoT assets with 62% encrypting the data as soon as it reaches their IoT device, while 59% as it leaves the device. Ninety two percent of companies also see an increase in sales or product usage after implementing IoT security measures.\n\nSupport for IoT security regulations gains traction\n\nAccording to the survey, businesses are in favor of regulations to make it clear who is responsible for securing IoT devices and data at each stage of its journey (61%) and the implications of non- compliance (55%). In fact, almost every organization (96%) and consumer (90%) is looking for government-enforced IoT security regulation.\n\nLack of end-to-end capabilities leading to partnerships\n\nEncouragingly, businesses are realizing that they need support in understanding IoT technology and are turning to partners to help, with cloud service providers (52%) and IoT service providers (50%) the favored options. When asked why, the top reason was a lack of expertise and skills (47%), followed by help in facilitating and speeding up their IoT deployment (46%).\n\nWhile these partnerships may be benefiting businesses in adopting IoT, organizations admitted they don't have complete control over the data that IoT products or services collect as it moves from partner to partner, potentially leaving it unprotected.\n\n\"The lack of knowledge among both the business and consumer worlds is quite worrying and it's leading to gaps in the IoT ecosystem that hackers will exploit,\" Hart continues. \"Within this ecosystem, there are four groups involved \u2013 consumers, manufacturers, cloud service providers and third parties \u2013 all of which have a responsibility to protect the data. 'Security by design' is the most effective approach to mitigate against a breach. Furthermore, IoT devices are a portal to the wider network and failing to protect them is like leaving your door wide open for hackers to walk in. Until both sides increase their knowledge of how to protect themselves and adopt industry standard approaches, IoT will continue to be a treasure trove of opportunity for hackers.\"\n\nRelated Resources:\n\n\u200b\u200b", "output": "90% of consumers do not have confidence in internet of things (IoT) devices, a fear that could hamper widespread adoption of the technology, according to a survey by Gemalto. It revealed more than two thirds of people were worried about their devices being hacked, while 60% were concerned about data leakage. 14% considered themselves extremely knowledgeable about IoT security. The study also found that 96% of companies and 90% of consumers wanted government to enforce IoT security regulations.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bitcoin-related jobs become fastest growing employment category \n Bitcoin -related jobs are the fastest growing category of role on international employment marketplace Freelancer, the company said Wednesday.\n\nWith 82 percent growth in the third quarter, work related to cryptocurrency is skyrocketing, the data showed. The company's periodic report tracks top trends in online jobs based on the listings on its Freelancer.com platform.\n\n\"People are getting freelancers to design new types of cryptocurrencies,\" Matt Barrie, CEO of Freelancer, told CNBC. One of the main skills for which companies are looking is the ability to manage an initial coin offering \u2014 when a new digital token is first sold to outside speculators in a bid to raise money.", "output": "Jobs involving Bitcoin on employment platform Freelancer have seen 82% growth in Q3 2017, the fastest of all job types. Roles include designing new cryptocurrencies, said CEO Matt Barrie, with the most sought-after skill being the ability to arrange an initial coin offering. Employers are also seeking candidates able to write proposals for new blockchain-based technology. Cryptography listings increased 59% in the same period.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Streamr offers IoT data-sharing on blockchain \n The need to create a secure, scalable, trusted IoT Ecosystem is growing ever more urgent.\n\nAs time progresses, we are becoming more and more dependent on the IoT for everything in our lives. We use it every single day \u2013 from taking care of our family to getting to and from work, and even to regulate our health.\n\nThe problem is, it\u2019s becoming clear that our current model won\u2019t be sustainable forever and we\u2019re going to have to find an alternative solution.\n\nThe Problem with Our Current Centralized Model\n\nRight now, current IoT systems are relying on centralized, brokered communication models.\n\nUnfortunately, the centralization of the existing data infrastructure has left current systems vulnerable, inefficient, and ultimately unsuitable for the technological advances that are upon us.\n\nIn this model, devices are identified, authenticated, and connected through cloud servers. As a result, even if the devices are just a few feet apart, the connection between them will have to go exclusively through the Internet.\n\nWhile the centralized method has been successful for the past few decades, it\u2019s becoming increasingly clear that it will be unable to cope with the growing needs of the enormous IoT Ecosystems of the future.\n\nAs a result of the massive expansion of the IoT, the price of our already expensive solutions is about to rocket even higher due to the expensive infrastructure and maintenance costs associated with centralized clouds, large server farms, and networking equipment.\n\nThe enormous volume of communications that will need to be handled as we create more and more IoT devices will only force prices up even further.\n\nThe recent explosion of centralized apps and technologies is highlighting how outdated our current systems are. If we want to keep up, something must change.\n\nUsing Blockchain to Decentralize Data Streaming\n\nOne of the platforms at the forefront of the innovative data sharing concept is Streamr.\n\nFounded in 2017, it can be described as \u2018the real-life marketplace\u2019 for data sharing, by enabling a new way for machines and people to trade data on a decentralized P2P network.\n\nTransferring data in a P2P fashion between users is an extremely efficient alternative to storing all gathered IoT data on a blockchain. The P2P network will prevent bloating the blockchain with unnecessary data that doesn\u2019t necessarily require saving.\n\nHow Decentralized Data Streaming Would Work\n\nImagine a self-driving car that constantly requires data from other machines for optimal optimization. Such information could include electricity prices, traffic congestion information from other cars, and even weather forecasts.\n\nThe car would know when it would be getting low on gas, and where would be the cheapest gas station to go to fill up. If something went wrong, it would know that it needed repairs. It would even be able to call the repair services itself!\n\nNot only would this make driving far more convenient \u2013 but it would also be substantially safer.\n\nA platform such as Streamr will provide a single interface for real-time data delivery and payment, and make these data streams tradeable by people and machines using a cryptographic token; DataCoin.\n\nThe vehicle can get the data it requires, and pay for it using DataCoin. If the car has data that is required by other cars, it can also sell it to them in exchange for DataCoin.\n\nAnd it doesn\u2019t end there \u2013 self-driving cars is only one of the possible concepts. In the future, Streamr will also be compatible with other innovations, such as drones and smart cities.\n\nUsing the IoT to Save the Planet\n\nEven industries that historically didn\u2019t fit well with computers have been transformed by the increasing number of IoT devices connected to the internet.\n\nThere\u2019s no denying that global warming is on the rise. Just take a look at the erratic weather conditions we\u2019ve been experiencing all over the world. These events are becoming too frequent for us to write them off as a mere coincidence.\n\nThe change in our climate is exactly what inspired the team at Streamr to first consider how the IoT might be used for to create monitoring devices that can aid us in our battle against global warming.\n\nSome examples include; installing agricultural sensors, using data to estimate the amount of carbon sequestered, and rewarding farmers and companies with carbon tokens for the amount of carbon which has been provably sequestered.\n\nThese are only a few examples of the potential uses of a decentralized streaming service. We are living in the most exciting, fast-paced periods ever known to man. As time progresses, we only expect more opportunities to open up.\n\nFollow Us on Google News", "output": "Data-sharing platform Streamr allows data to be traded across a decentralised P2P network, an example of internet of things (IoT) data-sharing being enabled on the blockchain. The method is efficient and prevents data bloat that could hamper IoT device operation. Platforms like Streamr can offer a single interface for multiple data stream access points, as well as enabling trade via cryptographic tokens, in this case datacoin. The streaming system can be used across various IoT devices and sectors.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Crypto-funds now total 124, with over 90\u00a0opening this year \n More than 90 funds focused on digital assets like bitcoin have launched this year, bringing the total number of such \"crypto-funds\" to 124, according to financial research firm Autonomous Next.\n\nData shared exclusively with CNBC Friday showed that the largest share of the funds, 37 percent, used venture capitalist-type strategies and had about $1.1 billion in assets under management. Funds focused on trading digital assets came second at 32 percent, with about $700 million in assets under management.\n\nFunds specifically using machine learning, data science or statistical arbitrage on digital currencies came in third at 10 percent and $100 million in assets under management, the data showed.\n\nTotal assets under management by crypto-funds now stands at $2.3 billion, according to Autonomous Next's estimates.\n\nSource: Autonomous Next\n\nThis year's surge in the price of bitcoin and another digital currency, ethereum , have drawn attention to the cryptocurrencies and the potential of their blockchain technology. Proponents say blockchain could transform the world as much as the internet did, and several major banks are researching or developing blockchain projects.\n\nDigital currency enthusiasts also attribute much of the latest surge in bitcoin to record highs above $6,100 to increased interest from institutional investors. While several leading Wall Street banking executives remain skeptical about bitcoin, more seasoned money managers are moving into digital assets management.\n\nNotably, former Fortress hedge fund manager Michael Novogratz is launching a $500 million digital assets fund through his new firm, Galaxy Investment Partners. The fund is expected to be the largest of its kind.", "output": "The total number of crypto-funds has reached 124, with 90 launching in 2017 alone, according to data from research firm\u00a0Autonomous Next. It revealed the sector's total assets under management were $2.3bn, a fraction of the $3.15tn held by hedge funds, but digital currency funds remain a growth market. Despite continued scepticism from Wall Street, the surge in bitcoin's price has attracted veteran money managers, including Michael Novogratz, who is raising $500m through his new firm, Galaxy Investment Partners,\u00a0to launch the biggest digital assets fund of its kind.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Governments and businesses failing on Paris climate goals: UN \n There is still a large gap between the pledges by governments to cut greenhouse gas emissions and the reductions scientists say are needed to avoid dangerous levels of climate change, the UN has said.\n\nCurrent plans from national governments, and pledges made by private sector companies and local authorities across the world, would lead to temperature rises of as much as 3C or more by the end of this century, far outstripping the goal set under the 2015 Paris agreement to hold warming to 2C or less, which scientists say is the limit of safety.\n\nThe UN\u2019s findings come in its latest assessment of progress on climate change, published on Tuesday ahead of the COP23 conference, a follow-up to the Paris agreement, to be held in Bonn next week.\n\nThere was some good news, however: the report found that carbon dioxide emissions had held steady globally since 2014. Against that, emissions of other greenhouse gases, notably methane, had increased.\n\nThe \u201cemissions gap\u201d uncovered by the UN does not include the consequences of a US withdrawal from the Paris agreement. If the US president, Donald Trump, presses ahead with plans announced this summer to take the US out of the agreement, the picture would become \u201ceven bleaker\u201d, the report found. The US is the world\u2019s second biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, after China.\n\nErik Solheim, the UN\u2019s environment chief, called for urgent action: \u201cWe still find ourselves in a situation where we are not doing nearly enough to save hundreds of millions of people from a miserable future. This is unacceptable. If we invest in the right technologies, ensuring that the private sector is involved, we can still meet the promise we made to our children to protect their future. But we have to get on the case now.\u201d\n\nThere are signs that the world is moving away from its high-emissions trajectory. For instance, growing investment in renewable energy has caused the price of low-carbon power to plunge around the world, making it more attractive as an alternative to fossil fuels.\n\nHowever, there is also a danger that if buildings and other infrastructure, such as transport, are built along current lines, they will \u201clock in\u201d high greenhouse gas emissions for the future. Instead, cities should be designed to avoid the need for cars in favour of public transport, to make room for renewable energy generation, and to cut down on the need for air conditioning.\n\nPrivate sector companies could also do more, according to the UN report. The world\u2019s 100 highest-emitting publicly traded companies account for a quarter of global emissions, showing the scope for reducing the prospective dangers of global warming if they were to make changes to their business practices and efficiency.\n\nThe report also noted several potential short-term wins in staving off the worst effects of climate change, such as reducing the amount of soot entering the atmosphere, and phasing out the production of hydrofluorocarbons, used in air conditioning and refrigeration. The latter are powerful greenhouse gases, which when they reach the atmosphere cause warming many times greater than carbon dioxide, but there are alternatives which can be used instead.\n\nSeparately, the UN reported this week that atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide had reached record levels, in part owing to a strong El Ni\u00f1o weather system.", "output": "Pledges by governments to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases are falling significantly short the\u00a0reductions recommended by scientists to avoid dangerous levels of climate change, according to the latest report by the United Nations on climate change progress. The findings reveal that plans by governments and pledges made by private sector firms would still lead to temperature increases of 3C or more by the end of the century. The 2015 Paris Climate Accord aims\u00a0to hold warming to 2C or less, which is the limit established as safe by climate scientists.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Governments and businesses failing on Paris climate goals: UN \n Paris pledges only a third of what is needed to avoid worst impacts of climate change\n\nAdopting new technologies in key sectors, at investment of under US$100/tonne, could reduce emissions by up to 36 gigatonnes per year by 2030, more than sufficient to bridge the gap\n\nKigali Amendment to Montreal Protocol, action on short-lived climate pollutants, and increased pre-2020 G20 ambition on Cancun pledges can also help minimize climate impacts\n\nGeneva, 31 October 2017 \u2013 Governments and non-state actors need to deliver an urgent increase in ambition to ensure the Paris Agreement goals can still be met, according to a new UN assessment.\n\nThe eighth edition of UN Environment\u2019s Emissions Gap report, released ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn, finds that national pledges only bring a third of the reduction in emissions required by 2030 to meet climate targets, with private sector and sub-national action not increasing at a rate that would help close this worrying gap.\n\nThe Paris Agreement looks to limit global warming to under 2oC, with a more ambitious goal of 1.5oC also on the table. Meeting these targets would reduce the likelihood of severe climate impacts that could damage human health, livelihoods and economies across the globe.\n\nAs things stand, even full implementation of current unconditional and conditional Nationally Determined Contributions makes a temperature increase of at least 3 oC by 2100 very likely \u2013 meaning that governments need to deliver much stronger pledges when they are revised in 2020.\n\nShould the United States follow through with its stated intention to leave the Paris Agreement in 2020, the picture could become even bleaker.\n\nThe report does, however, lay out practical ways to slash emissions through rapidly expanding mitigation action based on existing options in the agriculture, buildings, energy, forestry, industry and transport sectors.\n\nStrong action on other climate forcers \u2013 such as hydrofluorocarbons, through the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, and other short-lived climate pollutants such as black carbon \u2013 could also make a real contribution.\n\n\u201cOne year after the Paris Agreement entered into force, we still find ourselves in a situation where we are not doing nearly enough to save hundreds of millions of people from a miserable future,\u201d said Erik Solheim, head of UN Environment.\n\n\u201cThis is unacceptable. If we invest in the right technologies, ensuring that the private sector is involved, we can still meet the promise we made to our children to protect their future. But we have to get on the case now.\u201d\n\nCO 2 emissions have remained stable since 2014, driven in part by renewable energy, notably in China and India. This has raised hopes that emissions have peaked, as they must by 2020 to remain on a successful climate trajectory. However, the report warns that other greenhouse gases, such as methane, are still rising, and a global economic growth spurt could easily put CO 2 emissions back on an upward trajectory.\n\nThe report finds that current Paris pledges make 2030 emissions likely to reach 11 to 13.5 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO 2 e) above the level needed to stay on the least-cost path to meeting the 2oC target. One gigatonne is roughly equivalent to one year of transport emissions in the European Union (including aviation).\n\nThe emissions gap in the case of the 1.5oC target is 16 to 19 GtCO 2 e, higher than previous estimates as new studies have become available.\n\n\u201cThe Paris Agreement boosted climate action, but momentum is clearly faltering,\u201d said Dr. Edgar E. Guti\u00e9rrez-Espeleta, Minister of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica, and President of the 2017 UN Environment Assembly. \u201cWe face a stark choice: up our ambition, or suffer the consequences.\u201d\n\nInvesting in technology key to success\n\nTo avoid overshooting the Paris goals, governments (including by updating their Paris pledges), the private sector, cities and others need to urgently pursue actions that will bring deeper and more-rapid cuts.\n\nThe report lays out ways to do so, particularly in agriculture, buildings, energy, forestry, industry and transport. Technology investments in these sectors \u2013 at an investment cost of under $100 per tonne of CO 2 avoided, often much lower \u2013 could save up to 36 GtCO 2 e per year by 2030.\n\nMuch of the potential across the sectors comes from investment solar and wind energy, efficient appliances, efficient passenger cars, afforestation and stopping deforestation. Focusing only on recommended actions in these areas \u2013 which have modest or net-negative costs \u2013 could cut up to 22 GtCO 2 e in 2030.\n\nThese savings alone would put the world well on track to hitting the 2oC target, and unlock the possibility of reaching the aspirational 1.5oC target.\n\nNon-state action and other initiatives\n\nActions pledged by non-state and sub-national bodies (such as cities and the private sector) could reduce the 2030 emissions gap by a few GtCO 2 e, even accounting for overlap with Nationally Determined Contributions. The world\u2019s 100 largest emitting publicly traded companies, for example, account for around a quarter of global greenhouse emissions, demonstrating huge room for increased ambition\n\nThe Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol aims to phase out the use and production of hydrofluorocarbons \u2013 chemicals primarily used in air conditioning, refrigeration and foam insulation. If successfully implemented, it kicks-in too late to impact the 2030 gap, but can make a real contribution to reaching the longer-term temperature goals.\n\nBy mid-century, reductions in short-lived climate pollutants, such as black carbon and methane, could help reduce impacts that are based on cumulative heat uptake and help to ensure a steady and lower temperature trajectory towards the long-term Paris goals.\n\n\u201cEnel is committed to achieve 100% CO2-free power generation by 2050 and the pathway we\u2019ve chosen to reach this target is to create self-sustaining ecosystems where renewable generation is combined with storage and electric mobility within intelligent networks capable of operating and balancing power flows autonomously.\"\n\n\"Reducing the global emissions gap on the way to achieving a zero emission society requires a faster implementation of this new vision of the electricity system through sustainable innovation driven by the open cooperation of all relevant stakeholders, from utilities to research, startups, governments, international bodies and the civil society. This transition is proving to be financially as well as environmentally sound and we at Enel are glad to have embarked upon this journey and always looking forward to the future opportunities it will entail.\u201d (Ernesto Ciorra, Enel Group\u2019s Head of Innovation and Sustainability)\n\nAlso, while the G20 is collectively on track to meet its Cancun climate pledges for 2020, these pledges do not create a sufficiently ambitious starting point to meet the Paris goals (see attached analysis of Cancun pledges). Although 2020 is just around the corner, G20 nations can still carry out actions that lead to short-term reductions and open the way for more changes over the following decade.\n\nAvoiding new coal-fired power plants and accelerated phasing out of existing plants \u2013 ensuring careful handling of issues such as employment, investor interests and grid stability \u2013 would help. There are an estimated 6,683 operating coal-fired power plants in the world, with a combined capacity of 1,964 GW. If these plants are operated until the end of their lifetime and not retrofitted with Carbon Capture and Storage, they would emit an accumulated 190 Gt of CO 2 .\n\nIn early 2017, an additional 273 GW of coal-fired capacity was under construction and 570 GW in pre-construction. These new plants could lead to additional accumulated emissions of approximately 150 Gt CO 2 . Ten countries make up approximately 85% of the entire coal pipeline: China, India, Turkey, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan, Egypt, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Republic of Korea.\n\nThe report also looks at CO 2 removal from the atmosphere \u2013 through afforestation, reforestation, forest management, restoration of degraded lands and soil carbon enhancement \u2013 as an option for action.\n\nAdditionally, a new report released by the 1 Gigaton Coalition on the same day shows that partner-supported renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in developing countries can cut 1.4 GtCO 2 e by 2020 \u2013 provided the international community meets its promise to mobilize US$100 billion per year to help developing countries adapt to climate change and reduce their emissions.\n\n\u201cAs renewable energy and energy efficiency bring other benefits \u2013 including better human health and jobs \u2013 I urge the international community to deliver on the funding they promised to support developing nations in their climate action,\u201d said Ms Ine Eriksen S\u00f8reide, Norway\u2019s Minister of Foreign Affairs. \u201cPartner-supported renewable energy and energy efficiency projects and policies are vital for global decarbonization, as they provide key resources and create enabling environments in critical regions.\u201d\n\nThe 1 Gigaton Coalition is supported by UN Environment and the Norwegian Government.\n\nThe benefits of a low-carbon society on global pollution \u2013 by, for example, cutting the millions of air pollution-related deaths each year \u2013 are also clearly illustrated in Towards a pollution-free planet, a report by the UN Environment Executive Director that will be presented at the upcoming United Nations Environment Assembly. The report lays out an ambitious framework to tackle pollution, including through political leadership, moving to sustainable consumption and production and investing big in sustainable development.\n\nNOTES TO EDITORS\n\nThe Emissions Gap Report, analysis of the G20 Cancun pledges, and the 1 Gigaton Coalition Report can be downloaded here once the embargo lifts.\n\nFor more information and to arrange interviews, please contact:\n\nShereen Zorba, Head of Science-Policy, UN Environment: shereen.zorba@unep.org, +254 788 526000 (Kenya), +44 777 007 2978 (UK), Skype: shereen.zorba\n\nUN Environment News & Media, unepnewsdesk@unep.org", "output": "Pledges by governments to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases are falling significantly short the\u00a0reductions recommended by scientists to avoid dangerous levels of climate change, according to the latest report by the United Nations on climate change progress. The findings reveal that plans by governments and pledges made by private sector firms would still lead to temperature increases of 3C or more by the end of the century. The 2015 Paris Climate Accord aims\u00a0to hold warming to 2C or less, which is the limit established as safe by climate scientists.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Carbon Recycling International is making fuel from CO2 \n Life on an island alive with active volcanoes can have its downsides. But it can also have many benefits. Iceland, an island country located where the North Atlantic meets the Arctic Circle, is in the enviable position of getting all its electricity and district heating from renewable geothermal, hydro and wind energy.\n\nGiven the complete absence of fossil fuel power stations, Iceland might seem an unlikely spot for the world\u2019s first facility for recycling CO 2 emissions into fuel. But that\u2019s exactly what Icelandic company Carbon Recycling International (CRI) has been doing for the past five years.\n\nThanks to the geochemistry of hot rock, CO 2 naturally vents into the atmosphere from geothermally active areas. It\u2019s also dissolved in the local groundwater. When this free source of hot water is channelled through a geothermal power plant, the result is a concentrated stream of CO2 that is ripe for capture.\n\nTo the captured CO 2 , CRI adds hydrogen over a heterogeneous catalyst, making methanol. The company sells this versatile molecule \u2013 at a premium over fossil fuel derived methanol \u2013 for use as a renewable fuel and chemical feedstock (see Hydrogen economies).\n\nCRI is far from the only company committed to making commercial products by recycling CO 2 emissions. Even big industry players such as Covestro\u2013 formerly Bayer MaterialScience \u2013 are embracing the idea. A rapidly expanding number of academic labs, meanwhile, are exploring new ways to rehabilitate the troublesome greenhouse gas \u2013 and showing there is a surprisingly rich chemistry to be had from what was long-dismissed as a dead-end molecule. Far from a compromise, designing chemical production around using CO 2 as a feedstock can have advantages over traditional routes.\n\nCatalysing change\n\nUniversity of Oxford, UK, chemist Charlotte Williams had been developing ways to make green polymers from plant-derived materials when the idea of using CO 2 as a polymer feedstock came to her in the early 2000s. \u2018I became fascinated by the idea of using CO 2 as a resource because it overcame some of the problems you see with a typical biorefinery,\u2019 she says. Solid plant material can be quite a challenge to process. \u2018But CO 2 is a gas, so its properties and physical chemistry are much more similar to monomers that are used today to make polymers. I thought what an interesting idea to take CO 2 and try to put that into the polymer backbone.\u2019\n\nThe other appeal, she adds, was the sheer challenge of trying to do chemistry on a molecule that is the thermodynamic endpoint of many processes including combustion and metabolic processes. CO 2 is what you\u2019re left with when you take a hydrocarbon and wring out all the energy. Turning it back into something useful is an uphill battle. \u2018But this is a great opportunity for catalysis, to find pathways to reduce the activation barrier,\u2019 Williams says. \u2018Currently there is rather a limited range of catalysts that are effective.\u2019\n\nOne CO 2 catalysis project William is working on is a long term collaboration with chemists and engineers at Imperial College London, UK, making CO 2 into methanol. Like CRI in Iceland, the team aims to use renewably generated electricity to electrolyse water, then combine the resulting hydrogen with CO 2 through catalysis to make methanol. Their point of difference is the copper zinc oxide catalyst they have developed.1 \u2018What\u2019s rather different about our approach is we\u2019ve come up with well-defined ways to make very small nanoparticles, stabilised as colloids,\u2019 Williams says.\n\nOne advantage of using stabilised nanoparticles is that you maximise the surface area of the catalyst available for driving the reaction. The system\u2019s other appeal is that by modifying the nanoparticle\u2019s synthesis, it is possible to alter \u2013 and hopefully optimise \u2013 the interface between the catalyst\u2019s two components. \u2018That\u2019s the hypothesis we\u2019re working on \u2013 that finding better ways to control the interface between the copper and zinc oxide will allow you to improve efficiency,\u2019 Williams says.\n\nChristian Doonan at the University of Adelaide in Australia and his colleagues have applied a similar philosophy to improve a closely related reaction, the catalytic conversion of CO 2 and hydrogen to make methane gas.\n\nA metal organic framework (MOF) chemist by background, Doonan had been working on ways to use these porous materials to capture CO 2 emissions when he was drawn into the CO 2 recycling side of the story \u2013 and he suspected MOFs could help here, too.\n\n\u2018The commercial catalysts for CO 2 methanation are made of nickel. But nickel has issues with lifetime, stability and poisoning,\u2019 Doonan says. In the lab, ruthenium-based catalysts on a metal oxide support have proven to be very stable and active catalysts for the reaction, he adds.\n\nDespite the name, support materials do more than hold the catalytic metal in place. They\u2019ve been shown to play an active role in the catalytic process. \u2018The theory is that there will be site defects on the metal oxide that activate carbon dioxide molecules and facilitate catalysis by the ruthenium nanoparticles,\u2019 Doonan says.\n\nThe only current downside to these catalysts is the high cost of ruthenium. \u2018We thought, could you develop a porous metal oxide catalyst that uses less of the ruthenium?\u2019\n\nThe answer? Yes and no. Although the material the team got by combining ruthenium with a zirconium oxide based MOF wasn\u2019t actually porous, it was a highly effective CO 2 methanation catalyst,2 even when 1wt% of ruthenium was used. The MOF\u2019s surface acts as a template for the formation of ruthenium nanoparticles, highly dispersed across the surface. The result is that essentially all the ruthenium is exposed on the surface and available for catalysis. \u2018MOF templating gives you a very unique structure you can\u2019t achieve by any other synthetic route,\u2019 says Doonan. A back of the envelope calculation suggests you could make about 168 tonnes of methane a week from a catalyst containing 75g of ruthenium, he adds.\n\nOne avenue to explore is the possibility the same templating trick could work for other catalysts. It could slash the cost of the palladium catalysts the petrochemical industry uses for hydrogenation reactions, for example.\n\nAnd the team is already in talks with prospective industry partners to develop their CO 2 methanation process. Although the catalyst works well with pure CO 2 and hydrogen, with no dropoff in activity after 200 hours, one of the companies Doonan is in talks with is keen to collaborate on a project to test the catalyst on real world gas streams.\n\nLife imprisonment\n\nThough incorporating CO 2 into a molecule that\u2019s burned as a fuel offsets the fossil fuel that would otherwise be burned, the CO 2 is soon out into the atmosphere again.\n\nA more permanent solution would be to incorporate the CO 2 into a chemical that could be used as a feedstock for making materials. And there\u2019s another reason for taking this approach to CO 2 recycling \u2013 feedstock chemicals command a much higher price than fuels. \u2018My opinion is you have to be able to make chemicals competitively before you can think about making fuels competitively because chemicals are much more valuable than fuels,\u2019 says Matthew Kanan, a synthesis and catalysis chemist at Stanford University, US.\n\nNot that making chemicals from CO 2 is easy. \u2018I teach organic chemistry, and we teach that you can take a Grignard reagent or an organolithium reagent and combine that with CO 2 and make a carboxylate,\u2019 Kanan says. \u2018From the synthetic chemistry perspective that\u2019s a fine method for making a carboxylate, but from a CO 2 utilisation perspective those methods are totally worthless.\u2019 The energy and emissions involved in generating these reagents would be so high they would completely negate the benefit of using CO 2 .\n\nSo Kanan has tried to come up with the simplest possible way to achieve this carbon\u2013carbon bond forming transformation with CO 2 .3 \u2018What we landed on was, if we could take C\u2013H bonds and deprotonate them with carbonate, a really abundant base with a small footprint, then we could generate a carbanion we could trap with CO 2 ,\u2019 he says.\n\nAnd the chemistry works. \u2018The trick is to get away from solution phase chemistry,\u2019 Kanan says. Rather than using a solvent, the team runs the reaction in a mixture of alkali metal carbonate salts heated to around 200\u00b0C. \u2018In that medium the acid-base properties of molecules are totally different to what you observe in water or organic solvents,\u2019 he adds. \u2018You are able to do a lot of deprotonations you couldn\u2019t do otherwise.\u2019\n\nThe application the team has developed the furthest is the synthesis of furan-2,5-dicarboxylic acid (FDCA), a bio-based molecule with many applications including as a feedstock for polyethylene furandicarboxylate (PEF), a green substitute for the very widely used non-renewable polymer polyethylene terephthalate (PET).\n\nAt the moment, FDCA is made from fructose, via a \u2018pretty nasty oxidation step\u2019, Kanan says. His alternative route takes furoate, a molecule produced industrially from lignocellulosic plant waste, and adds CO 2 to give FDCA.\n\n\u2018If your target is a commodity scale carboxylic acid, most of the methods for making those involve oxidations \u2013 and those oxidations are a liability, they are expensive because they are typically under very corrosive conditions,\u2019 Kanan says. \u2018There are many reasons why the chemical industry would like to avoid those oxidations if they had an alternative.\n\n\u2018That\u2019s where we think there\u2019s the first major opportunity. If you can provide routes to carboxylic acids and dicarboxylic acids where you\u2019re using a C\u2013H bond and CO 2 and carbonate, then regardless of whether you care about carbon footprint or not it could be just a really compelling synthesis of those targets compared to what\u2019s done today.\u2019 Kanan\u2019s team is currently in discussions with several potential industrial partners.\n\nWhen Williams first moved into CO 2 reuse research in 2003, incorporating the molecule into the carbon backbone of a large scale commercial polymer was also her initial aim. Rather than PEF, Williams\u2019 target was renewable polycarbonate polyols, valuable polymers used to make polyurethanes.\n\nTraditionally, polyols are made by the ring-opening polymerisation of fossil fuel derived epoxides. Williams and her team came up with a catalyst that could form a polymer in which every second monomer in the polymer chain is a CO 2 molecule.\n\n\u2018One of the things that we\u2019ve found to be a successful strategy has been to develop what we call dinuclear catalysts,\u2019 Williams says. \u2018These are homogeneous catalysts that contain two metals in close proximity to one another.\u2019 Inexpensive metals such as zinc and magnesium work well, and the best catalysts are the ones that contain one atom of each metal. \u2018We\u2019ve carried out quite a lot of kinetic studies over the years and we believe both metals are integral in the catalytic cycle \u2013 the polymer chain shuttles between the two metals.\u2019\n\nNot only is the catalyst efficient. Just as importantly, it works at low pressures of CO 2 , even as low as 1 bar. That makes it compatible with the existing infrastructure for making polyols, and far simpler to retrofit. In 2011, Williams formed a spin-out company, Econic Technologies, to commercialise her polyol catalyst technology.\n\n\u2018We\u2019re working with a number of partners in the industry,\u2019 says Rowena Sellens, company chief executive. \u2018There are others in the industry area working on CO 2 based polyols, but one of the unique features we offer is that ability to retrofit.\u2019\n\nThe chemical industry doesn\u2019t really know what to do with CO 2 , but that\u2019s the job of chemists Matthew Kanan, Stanford University\n\nThe company\u2019s other advantage is the unique ability to tailor the amount of CO 2 incorporated into the final polymer, Sellens argues. Williams\u2019 original catalyst system gave maximum CO 2 incorporation, with every other monomer unit in the polymer chain replaced by CO 2 . That soaks up the most CO 2 , but introduces the biggest change to the original polymer\u2019s properties. \u2018We\u2019ve evolved the latest generation of the technology where you can actually tune the amount of CO 2 content, so you are able to tailor the polymer properties for the application,\u2019 Sellens says. \u2018We believe that will give a much greater reach into the market.\u2019\n\nEconic hopes its industry partners will take their first products to market within the next two to three years, lowering carbon emissions. \u2018For every tonne of CO 2 you use, because you need to use less propylene oxide you are avoiding 2 tonnes of CO 2 emissions,\u2019 says Sellens. \u2018I think that\u2019s a really powerful argument for this technology.\u2019\n\nGet just one such CO 2 recycling processes up and running in industry, and the floodgates will open, Kanan argues. \u2018If anybody can pull that off I think it would really change the mentality in industry,\u2019 he says.\n\n\u2018The chemical industry don\u2019t really care what their feedstock is,\u2019 Kanan adds. \u2018They grew up on hydrocarbons and got really good at processing that. They don\u2019t really know what to do with CO 2 but that\u2019s the job of chemists, if we can show them what to do they are brilliant at scaling things and making them hyper-efficient.\n\n\u2018I\u2019m hopefully someone in the community can demonstrate it is possible to use CO 2 , and to make a very compelling synthesis, something that\u2019s better than what can be done with traditional methods,\u2019 Kanan says. \u2018That would be a real watershed moment.\u2019\n\nJames Mitchell Crow is a science writer based in Melbourne, Australia", "output": "An Icelandic renewables company is using natural CO2 emissions to create fuel. Carbon Recycling International (CRI) uses excess CO2 gas from a geothermal power plant and combines it with hydrogen to make methanol, which can be sold as a renewable fuel and a chemical feedstock. CRI was established in 2006, and its facility uses renewable electricity to electrolyse water into oxygen and hydrogen, with the latter gas being used to produce the methanol.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Walmart chases affluent customers to capture market share from Amazon \n Since its creation, Walmart has been a discount retailer that serves middle- and lower-income consumers. Yet, the company\u2019s future might depend on affluent consumers.\n\nWalmart is spending big to attract affluent customers in an effort to capture market share from Amazon.\n\nWalmart\u2019s acquisition of Jet.com in September 2016 for $3.3 billion was its initial step to reach a more affluent demographic. Since then, the retail giant, known for its \u201cevery day low prices,\u201d has been on a shopping spree, buying higher-end e-commerce platforms like Bonobos, ModCloth and Moosejaw.\n\nWalmart has mostly used Jet.com as a channel to sell these higher-end brands, marketing it as a separate channel for a millennial, metropolitan audience. The company launched a new private-label business called Uniquely J on Oct. 20 to further serve those consumers with everyday essential yet premium products.\n\nWalmart has also increasingly partnered with premium brands like Godiva and makeup brand Kiss to sell their items directly on walmart.com. One can find a box of 18 assorted candy bars for $11.84 on Walmart.com but also a six-pack of Godiva truffles for $32.58.\n\nThe recent reports that Walmart is close to a deal with Lord & Taylor on a designated spot for the department store to sell on walmart.com is even more of an indicator that Walmart is increasingly using the luxury industry to extend its reach. On Oct. 19, The Wall Street Journal described the approach as an effort to \u201cturn Walmart.com from a discount shopping site to an online mall.\u201d\n\nAll these moves are part of Walmart\u2019s efforts to capture online market share from Amazon. Amazon\u2019s e-commerce sales are estimated to grow 32 percent to $196.8 billion dollars by the end of 2017, according to eMarketer, accounting for nearly half of all online sales in the U.S. Comparatively, Walmart will sit at $11 billion in e-commerce sales at the end of 2017, according to eMarketer.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s shaping up as the Godzilla versus King Kong battle of retailers,\u201d said Jason Goldberg, svp of commerce and content at SapientRazorfish. \u201cWalmart\u2019s core shoppers are less affluent than Amazon\u2019s core shoppers, so to grow, it\u2019s important for [Walmart] to offer more premium products.\u201d\n\nGoldberg likens the approach to Target\u2019s strategy 12 years ago when the brand worked to shed its cheap image for a more aspirational one. \u201cYou started to see Target upmarket luxury brands and informally get called \u2018Targ\u00e9.\u2019\u201d It was a shift to becoming a \u201csurprise-and-delight brand,\u201d said Goldberg. Consumers would be surprised to come in and find discounted premium products, a tactic that grew the Target brand, he added. At the time, Walmart was Target\u2019s main competitor and took the opposite approach, focusing on reducing prices.\n\nNow that Target is no longer as formidable a competitor, at least in comparison to Amazon, said Goldberg, Walmart can change its strategy. \u201cWalmart is now looking at Amazon and saying, \u2018OK, what [are] its weaknesses? Where can I win?\u2019\u201d\n\nAttracting and retaining luxury brands is certainly one of Amazon\u2019s weaknesses. Luxury brands have shied away from the platform, worried about ceding control to Amazon. \u201cWhen a product shows up on Amazon and Amazon sees it discounted anywhere in the world, they drop the price down,\u201d said Goldberg. \u201cIt quickly becomes this vicious spiral race to the bottom.\u201d\n\nWalmart has also struggled to maintain relationships with luxury brands. In June, angry Bonobos customers showed their disapproval of the Walmart acquisition by attacking Bonobos on Facebook and Reddit with sarcastic comments. Many believe the new acquisition might change or cheapen the Bonobos product. \u201cHow are you adjusting the fit options for the standard Walmart customer?\u201d wrote one commenter on the brand\u2019s Facebook page.\n\nTraditionally, high-end brands and shopping outlets like Lord & Taylor wouldn\u2019t conceive of selling their products through a discount outlet like Walmart for fear of brand erosion, but attitudes are changing with the degradation of department stores and the shift to online shopping. Lord & Taylor\u2019s need for a new sales channel became clear a few days after the reports on the Walmart deal. On Oct. 24, the department store\u2019s parent company, Hudson\u2019s Bay, announced it would sell Lord & Taylor\u2019s flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York City.\n\nWalmart isn\u2019t the only e-commerce platform trying to attract affluent shoppers. On Oct. 9, JD.com, one of China\u2019s largest retailers, announced the launch of Toplife, a shopping platform only for high-end global brands. \u201cPeople with high incomes naturally tend to move more money online,\u201d said Yory Wurmser, eMarketer analyst.\n\nMimi Chakravorti, executive director of strategy at Landor, said attracting more affluent consumers by partnering with the brands they prefer could be a fruitful strategy for Walmart. \u201cIt\u2019s not just discounters or people looking for deals who are shopping online anymore,\u201d she said.\n\nSo far, Walmart\u2019s efforts seem to be paying off. Walmart\u2019s e-commerce sales growth has improved significantly in the company\u2019s last two quarters. At its annual investor meeting on Oct. 10, the company said it is forecasting 40 percent growth in the coming year in its U.S. e-commerce business.", "output": "US retailer Walmart is targeting more affluent customers in its e-commerce strategy, seeking to win customers back from Amazon. The company, which built is business as a discount store, has recently bought a number of high-end online retailers, including Bonobos, ModCloth and Moosejaw. It is promoting premium brands such as Godiva and Kiss through Jet.com, which it bought last year for $3.3bn, and is reportedly in talks with department store Lord & Taylor. The strategy appears to be succeeding, with Walmart's e-commerce sales growth improving during the last two quarters."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Robotics and aerospace technology raise wave energy efficiency \n Sandia National Laboratories water power engineers Giorgio Bacelli, left, Dave Patterson, center, and Ryan Coe with Sandia\u2019s wave energy converter buoy. Credit: Randy Montoya\n\nCompared to wind and solar energy, wave energy has remained relatively expensive and hard to capture, but engineers from Sandia National Laboratories are working to change that by drawing inspiration from other industries.\n\nSandia's engineering team has designed, modeled and tested a control system that doubles the amount of power a wave energy converter can absorb from ocean waves, making electricity produced from wave energy less expensive. The team applied classical control theory and robotics and aerospace engineering design principles to improve the converter's efficiency.\n\nDuring a multiyear project funded by the Department of Energy's Water Power Technologies Office, engineers from Sandia's Water Power program are using a combination of modeling and experimental testing to refine how a wave energy converter moves and responds in the ocean to capture wave energy while also considering how to improve the resiliency of the device in a harsh ocean environment.\n\n\"We are working to create methodologies and technologies that private companies can harness to create wave energy devices that will enable them to sell power to the U.S. grid at a competitive price,\" Sandia engineer Ryan Coe said. \"By getting more energy out of the same device, we can reduce the cost of energy from that device.\"\n\nAdvanced control of wave energy converters yields increased energy absorption\n\nSandia's wave energy converter is a large 1-ton ocean buoy with motors, sensors and an onboard computer built at a scaled down size for a testing environment. Commercial wave energy converters can be large and are generally part of a group of devices, like a wind farm with multiple turbines.\n\n\"These devices can be in open ocean and deep water, maybe 50 to 100 miles off the coast,\" Coe said. \"An array of wave energy converters, maybe 100 devices, connected to an underwater transmission line would send the wave energy back to shore for consumption on the grid.\" Credit: Sandia National Laboratories\n\nTo capture energy from the ocean's waves, a wave energy converter moves and bobs in the water, absorbing power from waves when they generate forces on the buoy. Sandia's previous testing focused on studying and modeling how the devices moved in an ocean-like environment to create a numerical model of their device.\n\nUsing the model they developed and validated last fall, the team wrote and applied multiple control algorithms to see if the converter could capture more energy.\n\n\"A control algorithm is a set of rules you write that prompts an action or multiple actions based on incoming measurements,\" Sandia engineer Giorgio Bacelli said. \"The sensors on the device measure position, velocity and pressure on the hull of buoy and then generate a force or torque in the motor. This action modifies the dynamic response of the buoy so that it resonates at the frequency of the incoming waves, which maximizes the amount of power that can be absorbed.\"\n\nThe control system uses a feedback loop to respond to the behavior of the device by taking measurements 1,000 times per second to continuously refine the movement of the buoy in response to the variety of waves. The team developed multiple control algorithms for the buoy to follow and then tested which control system would get the best results.\n\n\"Controls is a pretty big field,\" Sandia engineer Dave Patterson said. \"You can operate anything from planes to cars to walking robots. Different controls will work better for different machines, so a large part of this project is figuring out which control algorithm works and how to design your system to best take advantage of those controls.\"\n\nBacelli said that while the primary objective of the control algorithm is to maximize energy transfer between the wave and the buoy, the amount of stress being applied to the device also must be considered.\n\n\"Resonance also stresses the entire structure of the device, and to expand the longevity of the device, we need to balance the amount of stress it undergoes,\" Bacelli said. \"Designing and using a control system helps find the best trade-off between the loads and stress applied to the buoy while maximizing the power absorbed, and we've seen that our systems can do that.\"\n\nTheory becomes reality in the Navy's world-class wave tank\n\nSandia National Laboratories robotics researchers Clint Hobart, left, Kevin Dullea, center, and Steven Spencer prepare the wave energy converter\u2019s actuator for testing. Credit: Randy Montoya\n\nResults from numerical modeling with the control algorithms showed a large potential, so the team took the converter to the U.S. Navy's Maneuvering and Sea Keeping facility at the Carderock Division in Bethesda, Maryland, in August to test the new control methods in an ocean-like environment. The wave tank facility is 360 feet long and 240 feet wide and has a wave maker that can generate precisely measured waves to simulate various ocean environments for hours at a time. Sandia used the wave tank to simulate a full-size ocean environment off the coast of Oregon, but scaled down to 1/20th the size of typical ocean waves to match their device.\n\n\"The accuracy of the wave they can generate and the repeatability is outstanding,\" Bacelli said. \"The ability to recreate the same condition each time allowed us to conduct very meaningful experiments.\"\n\nThe team ran a baseline test to see how the converter performed with a simple control system directing its movements and actions. Then they ran a series of tests to study how the various control algorithms they had designed affected the ability of the device to absorb energy.\n\n\"This year, the device can move forward, backward, up and down, and roll in order to resonate at the frequency of the incoming waves,\" Bacelli said. \"All degrees of freedom were actuated, meaning there are motors in the device for each direction it can move. During testing we were able to absorb energy in each of these modes, and we were able to simulate the operating conditions of a device at sea much more accurately.\" In fact, the tests showed theory did match reality in the wave tank. The control algorithms were able to more than double the amount of energy the wave energy converters were able to absorb without a control system.\n\nThe team is analyzing the testing data and considering further options to refine the control systems to maximize energy transfer.", "output": "Researchers from Sandia National Laboratories, funded by the US Department of Energy, have used robotics and aerospace technology to improve the performance of a wave energy converter. By using advanced control algorithms to refine the way the converter responds to sea conditions, they were able to double the system\u2019s power output. The team is now working on further improvements to maximise the efficiency of the technology."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook confirms 126 million US users saw Russian\u00a0content \n Facebook will inform lawmakers this week that roughly 126 million Americans may have been exposed to content generated on its platform by the Russian government-linked troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency between June 2015 and August 2017, CNN has learned.\n\nThat estimate, which is equivalent to more than half of the total U.S. voting population, offers a new understanding of the scope of Russia's use of social media to meddle in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and in American society generally.\n\nIn written testimony to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, a copy of which was obtained by CNN, Facebook General Counsel Colin Stretch says that 29 million people were served content directly from the Internet Research Agency, and that after sharing among users is accounted for, a total of \"approximately 126 million people\" may have seen it.\n\nFacebook does not know, however, how many of those 126 million people actually saw one of those posts, or how many may have scrolled past it or simply not logged in on the day that one of the posts was being served in their News Feed.\n\nRelated: Facebook announces new ad transparency efforts\n\nStretch also says in his testimony that Facebook estimates 11.4 million people saw ads purchased by the Internet Research Agency between 2015 and 2017. But the full, organic reach of content posted by the troll farm-linked pages was more than 10 times higher.\n\nNevertheless, Facebook says in its testimony that the posts from those pages represented \"a tiny fraction of the overall content on Facebook.\"\n\n\"This equals about four-thousandths of one percent (0.004%) of content in News Feed, or approximately 1 out of 23,000 pieces of content,\" Stretch writes. \"Put another way, if each of these posts were a commercial on television, you'd have to watch more than 600 hours of television to see something from the IRA.\"\n\nLawyers for Facebook, Twitter and Google will appear in public hearings before a Senate Judiciary subcommmittee and the Senate and House Intelligence Committees this week, where they will face questions over how their platforms were used by Russians to meddle in U.S. politics.\n\nIn its own written testimony, also obtained by CNN, Twitter disclosed that it identified 2,752 accounts that were linked to the Internet Research Agency. Those accounts posted a total of 131,000 tweets in the period ranging from September 1, 2016 to November 15, 2016.\n\nDuring that same period, Twitter found a total of 36,746 accounts that appeared to be associated with Russia -- but not necessarily with the Internet Research Agency -- and which generated automated, election-related content, the testimony states. Those accounts produced approximately 1.4 million tweets which together received 288 million impressions, according to Twitter's testimony as prepared.\n\nBoth the Facebook and Twitter written testimonies stress that Internet Research Agency-linked accounts represent an extremely small part of the platforms' overall content.\n\nBoth also provide detailed accounts of how the companies' security operations dealt with foreign interference and fake accounts in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, as well as the respective steps they are taking to prevent foreign meddling in the future.\n\nBut the key focus for lawmakers will likely be the content and reach of the content posted and promoted by the Internet Research Agency.\n\nIn Facebook's testimony, Stretch calls the content of the Russian-bought ads \"deeply disturbing,\" and says it was \"seemingly intended to amplify societal divisions and pit groups of people against each other.\"\n\n\"Most of the ads appear to focus on divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum, touching on topics from LGBT matters to race issues to immigration to gun rights,\" he writes. \"A number of the ads encourage people to follow Pages on these issues, which in turn produced posts on similarly charged subjects.\"\n\nThat characterization of the Russian-bought ads is consistent with what both Facebook representatives and lawmakers have said in the past, as well as with CNN's reporting on the content of specific accounts and ad campaigns.\n\nFacebook first informed lawmakers in September that it had identified 470 accounts linked to the Internet Research Agency, and that those accounts spent approximately $100,000 on more than 3,000 ads between June 2015 and August 2017.\n\nThe new testimony reiterates those numbers while also noting that the IRA-bought ads promoted roughly 120 IRA-generated Facebook Pages, \"which in turn posted more than 80,000 pieces of content between January 2015 and August 2017.\"\n\nStretch's testimony also discloses that some of the 3,000 ads also appeared on Instagram, which is owned by Facebook.\n\nThe House Intelligence Committee is expected to release the Russian-bought Facebook ads to the public later this week.\n\nIn the wake of Facebook's disclosure, Twitter revealed that it had found 201 accounts that were linked to the IRA-backed Facebook accounts, and which also sought to push divisive political content on its platform.\n\nGoogle later revealed that accounts connected to the Russian government had bought $4,700 worth of search and display ads, and that accounts with Russian internet addresses or using Russian currency purchased another $53,000 worth of ads.\n\nSome Democratic lawmakers have said they believe the findings by Facebook, Twitter and Google thus far represent only a sliver of the full scope of Russia's use of these platforms to meddle in American politics.\n\nSenator Mark Warner, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, has criticized all three tech companies for not doing enough, and says what has been made public so far represents \"the tip of the iceberg.\"\n\nIn an interview with The Atlantic earlier this month, Warner stressed that \"all these companies need to come fully clean about what happened in 2016.\"\n\n\"And don't tell me they found all the ads,\" he said.", "output": "Facebook is set to confirm that approximately 126 million people in the US, equivalent to over 50% of the country\u2019s voting population, may have viewed content on its platform which was generated by an internet troll\u00a0linked to the Russian government between June 2015 and August 2017, according to CNN.\u00a0The confirmation appears in written testimony by Facebook General Counsel, Colin Stretch, to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Digital bank Revolut\u00a0signing 40 new businesses a day \n European app-based banking outfit Revolut is claiming strong uptake of its business account offering, signing up 16,000 firms since June.\n\nUK-based Revolut launched in 2015, initially focusing on current accounts before opening up to companies four months ago. The startup says it hopes to have registered 20,000 firms across the UK and Europe by the end of the year and is busy onboarding about 40 a day.\n\n\n\nThe service allows companies to sign up for multi-currency accounts in minutes, issue corporate cards, make free money transfers in 26 currencies to pay suppliers or employees overseas - all at the interbank exchange rate.\n\n\n\nIn addition, Revolut has now launched the Revolut for Business Open API to allow customers to automate these processes from their own systems.\n\n\n\nWhile 16,000 business customers may not yet have the European giants quaking in their boots, Revolut insists it is tapping into a deep seam of unhappiness with traditional lender.\n\n\n\n\"Revolut for Business was born out of our frustrations with the pains of opening and managing business accounts in the UK and abroad. Businesses were being offered poor deals with hidden exchange fees, coupled with the problems they faced with complicated, slow platform interfaces,\" says CEO Nikolay Storonsky.", "output": "UK-based digital bank Revolut has signed up 16,000 businesses since it extended its services beyond current accounts in June. It said it has been taking on around 40 firms a day since it moved into the corporate accounts market and hopes to have 20,000 businesses across the UK and Europe on board by the end of the year. Revolut enables users to hold, exchange and transfer up to 26 currencies, among other services. CEO Nikolay Storonsky said Revolut was founded in 2015 in response to \"poor deals with hidden exchange fees\" and \"complicated, slow platform interfaces\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Buzzfeed to launch its popular food-focused web series in the UK \n BuzzFeed is exporting its popular food-focused web series, \u201cWorth It,\u201d to the U.K. on Nov. 5. \u201cWorth It UK,\u201d which is the company\u2019s first original series there, will air weekly on Facebook and YouTube.\n\nIn the U.S. version, the show\u2019s hosts travel across America tasting a food item at high and low price points, comparing a high-end $79 ramen with a $3 equivalent, for example. For Brits, the show will focus on fare typically found in the U.K., like tea, curries, kebabs and fish and chips. Executive producer and host Richard Alan Reid hopes the series will expand beyond YouTube and Facebook as BuzzFeed launches more series in the U.K.\n\nA global expansion of \u201cWorth It\u201d wasn\u2019t always in the cards, Reid said. The series started out in Los Angeles before expanding to New York and elsewhere in the U.S., with the finale of the third season occurring in Japan. \u201cAt the end of season two, we thought, \u2018This is really universal; we have a global audience tuning into it, like a TV show,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cWe knew it was a format we could export.\u201d\n\nBuzzFeed tried to avoid making \u201cWorth It UK,\u201d a collaboration between BuzzFeed Motion Pictures Group \u2014 a 40-person unit inside BuzzFeed Entertainment \u2014 and BuzzFeed UK\u2019s creative team, seem like a U.S. series with a U.K. offshoot. \u201cWorth It UK\u201d has a few tweaks: There are more hosts who rotate, and each episode happens in a new place, including London, Brighton and Manchester, to show a wider breadth of British cuisine. The tone is also different, Reid said.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a positive show, but we also wanted to embrace the slightly drier sense of humor,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a little more cynicism.\u201d\n\n\u201cWorth It,\u201d whose fourth season in the States launches in 2018, has had good numbers. Episodes typically run 12 to 16 minutes and generate 10 million views on YouTube, according to BuzzFeed. The company also said \u201cWorth It\u201d has generated over 360 million views to date, with over 2.5 billion total minutes of watch time.\n\nBuzzFeed has embraced creating shows for specific platforms, and series encourage more regular viewing. Digiday previously reported that at one time, BuzzFeed had 31 shows in development or production at BuzzFeed Motion Pictures Group. Each show has different distribution partners, including platforms and BuzzFeed investor NBCUniversal. At the beginning of October, BuzzFeed announced its morning news show streamed on Twitter, \u201cAM to DM,\u201d reaches 1 million daily viewers.\n\nImpressive views are one thing, but evidence that people are watching ads will be needed to get more advertisers on board, said John Thomson, group strategic planning director at Carat.\n\n\u201c[BuzzFeed is] setting itself up as a broadcaster in the U.K. now,\u201d Thomson said. \u201cIt\u2019s no longer about getting product integrations on Proper Tasty, but carrying mass reach and mass advertising, opening it up to audiovisual budgets where the big brand money is. \u2026 It will be interesting to see how this stacks up against TV in the long run.\u201d\n\nImage courtesy of BuzzFeed", "output": "Buzzfeed is launching a UK version of its popular series of online food videos, \"Worth It\". The US version features presenters travelling across America comparing types of food at three different price points, and has proved a hit, with 10 million viewers per video and 2.5 billion minutes of watch time generated to-date. The UK version will have a rotating cast of presenters travelling around the UK, and like the original, will be shown on Facebook and YouTube, although producers hope it may expand beyond those platforms."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "India announces $1.5bn national university redevelopment \n India moves on from branch campus plan\n\nShort on time? Here are the highlights: A high-policy document from the Indian government sets out plans for significant reforms and enrolment targets in Indian higher education and skills training\n\nThe government has indicated that it will abandon plan to open up Indian higher education to foreign partnerships\n\nInstead, the focus is shifting to the development of a cohort of \u201ceminent\u201d institutions that can compete with leading institutions around the world, and on improving governance, quality of education, and graduate outcomes\n\nIndia has effectively turned the page on its plan to open its market to foreign universities. After moving last year to liberalise regulations permitting the market entry of foreign institutions, senior Ministry of Human Resource Development officials have signalled that priorities have changed. Rather than encouraging domestic-foreign partnerships in higher education, a policy direction the government had pursued for some years, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has now set out plans for new reforms in tertiary education.\n\nThese new proposals are outlined in a Three Year Action Agenda published last month by the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog). NITI Aayog functions as a high-level think tank within the Indian government, and, as such, provides important inputs on government policy and direction.\n\nIn the new Three Year Action Agenda, NITI Aayog sets out a new focus for higher education reforms in India. In particular, the designation of 20 \u201cworld class\u201d universities that will receive additional funding and autonomy to allow them to operate outside of existing governance structures for Indian institutions. Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar has since referred to the group of 20 unis as \u201cIndian institutes of eminence.\u201d\n\nIn a recent interview with Times Higher Education, University of Pennsylvania Professor Devesh Kapur said that he thought the \u201cinstitutions of eminence\u201d plan was a more sustainable model for the long-term when compared to opening up the country\u2019s higher education system to foreign institutions. Institutions within that group of 20, he observed, \u201cwill themselves form partnerships with good institutions around the world, whether twinning, faculty/student exchanges, [or] joint research projects.\u201d\n\nThe idea is to build a cohort of ten private and ten public institutions form the eminent group of 20. To date, a budget of 10,000 crore rupees (US$1.5 billion) has been approved to support the to-be-determined public institutions. The longer-term goal of the eminent institutions programme is to establish a top tier of Indian institutions that can attract greater international recognition along with the best students and faculty from within India and abroad.\n\nGovernance reforms\n\nThe drive to build a cohort of eminent institutions appears to be part of a broader effort to reform university governance in India. NITI Aayog was unflinching in its critique of existing regulatory structures, and particularly the country\u2019s University Grants Commission, which is states is \u201cin dire need of reform.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe UGC\u2019s position as an overarching regulator of every aspect of higher education from student fees to curriculum to teaching and course hours keeps India\u2019s higher education system from responding to the changes and challenges that it faces in a fast evolving world,\u201d says the Three Year Action Agenda. \u201cVarious professional councils further complicate the regulatory environment in higher education. We should introduce a system of regulation that focuses on information disclosure and governance rather than micro management of universities. This requires an overhaul of the UGC as a regulatory system and a rationalisation of the role of professional councils.\u201d\n\nThe goal behind all of these high-level reforms is to improve the quality of relevance of Indian higher education. The employability of Indian graduates has long been called into question, and NITI Aayog cites a single 2016 assessment of 150,000 engineering graduates as \u201can indication of the magnitude of the challenge.\u201d Only 18% of those newly minted engineers were found to be employable in the software services sector, and only 4% were deemed suitable work in software engineering start-ups.\n\nThis in a country that has seen its university enrolment expand by leaps and bounds over the past decade, to the point where only China has a larger head count. The drive is on to boost India\u2019s tertiary gross enrolment ratio to 30% by 2020, but the system is struggling to keep pace, in terms of budgets, facilities, faculty, and curriculum renewal.\n\nMeanwhile, the limited employability of graduates is clearly a preoccupation for government which aims to capitalise on the \u201cone-off opportunity\u201d of the country\u2019s massive demographic dividend. Along with building its university enrolment and improving graduate outcomes, however, India also needs to dramatically expand its numbers in skill training programmes. With that in mind, the Three Year Action Agenda highlights an established goal to train five million apprentices by 2020. In support of this goal, NITI Aayog appears poised to focus greater attention on national standards frameworks, including the recognition of skills training gained by Indian students abroad.\n\nFor additional background, please see:", "output": "Indian thinktank the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) has published a series of proposals for the country's tertiary education sector. The Three Year Action Agenda includes the creation of 20 national universities at a cost of $1.5bn, a move which marks a U-turn from an initiative to bring in foreign institutions. The proposals also call for a radical overhaul of the University Grants Commission, which NITI Aayog said was in \"dire need of reform\", and examines the quality of education, after 2016 figures revealed only 4% of 150,000 engineering graduates were suitable to work in software start-ups.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google Home Mini discovered listening in on users' conversations \n Google has permanently disabled a button on its Google Home Mini smart speaker ahead of launch, after the device was discovered listening in on users' conversations without consent.\n\nThis issue was discovered by Android Police, while a reviewer was testing the device ahead of its launch next week. The reviewer was able to locate files on Google's My Activity portal that turned out to be recordings and transcripts from points when the device was presumed to be inactive.\n\nAccording to Google, the problem was caused by a fault with the touch button atop the Home Mini , which could be used to activate the device without saying 'Ok Google' out loud. However, in some cases the button would activate on its own, causing the Trigger to listen, waiting for a command.\n\nGoogle's solution to this problem \u2013 which does genuinely seem to be an accident, rather than a calculated attempt to spy on users \u2013 is just to disable the button entirely through a software update.\n\n\"We take user privacy and product quality concerns very seriously. Although we only received a few reports of this issue, we want people to have complete peace of mind while using Google Home Mini,\" Google said in a statement. \"We have made the decision to permanently remove all top touch functionality on the Google Home Mini. As before, the best way to control and activate Google Home Mini is through voice, by saying 'Ok Google' or 'Hey Google,' which is already how most people engage with our Google Home products. You can still adjust the volume by using the touch control on the side of the device.\"\n\nJoin us at the 2017 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony, taking place in London on Thursday 16 November, to mix with the industry's best and brightest, and raise a glass to the year's best campaigns and solutions. To find out more, and to book your place, click here.", "output": "One week ahead of launch, Google has permanently disabled all top touch functionality on its Home Mini smart speaker, after it emerged the device was listening to and recording conversations without users' consent. The problem was flagged by publication Android Police, while the manufacturer\u00a0said the fault lay with a touch button on top of the speaker. A\u00a0software update had\u00a0disabled the button, Google noted in a statement.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK sees largest gender pay gap increase in EU \n T he UK's gender pay gap has increased quicker than anywhere else in Europe, official figures show.\n\nBritain recorded the steepest annual increase in the pay imbalance between men and women in 2015, according to new European Commission figures.\n\nThe figures showed men earned 20.8 per cent more than women in 2015 compared to 19.7 per cent in 2014.\n\nThe growing figure outpaced the EU\u2019s average pay gap of 16.3 per cent and is now the second worst for pay inequality for women among Europe\u2019s largest economies.\n\nThe UK is now ranked fifth across all 28 member states.\n\nGermany recorded the highest divide among the big economic players \u2013 with a pay gap of 22 per cent. The country ranks third worst across Europe.\n\nLike the UK, Germany and France also registered deterioration in pay equality between the genders in the latest figures. But the overall EU average remained the same.\n\nThe gap is the equivalent of women working for no pay for the last two months of the year, Vera Jourova, EU commissioner for justice, consumers and gender equality told the Financial Times.\n\n\u201cIt is an unacceptable and shocking injustice that women in 21st century Europe work two months a year for free,\u201d she said. \u201cThis gender pay gap has remained the same for many years \u2014 it is still very similar to in 1995.\u201d\n\nMs Jourova called for a quicker shift towards equal pay and added progress is coming along \u201cat a stubbornly snail\u2019s pace\u201d.\n\nThe gender pay gap in the EU stood at about 25 per cent in 1995. Despite the overall decrease since then, it has been reduced slowly in many countries as male workers still dominate higher paid positions.\n\nWhen considering elements such as hours worked and career breaks for women, the gap in earnings stands at 39.6 per cent across Europe. In Britain, the gap is shown as 45 per cent.\n\nAll UK companies, charities and government departments that employee more than 250 people must publish data on hourly wages and bonuses online as of April 2018.\n\nBrussels is to put forward proposals to put pressure on employers to tackle the gender pay gap this month.\n\nA target has been set for 40 per cent of women in senior and middle management positions across big employers by 2019. It currently stands at 36 per cent of females in middle management and 33 per cent at senior level.\n\nAccording to the same figures from the commission, only six per cent of chief executives in the EU are female.", "output": "The gender pay gap increased more quickly in the UK in 2015 than in any other country in the European Union (EU), according to figures from the European Commission. The data reveals that men in the country earned 20.8% more than women in that year, compared to 19.7% in 2014. The average pay gap in the EU was 16.3%. Overall, the UK was ranked fifth worst out of the 28 member states. Germany had the highest pay gap, at 22%, with the country ranked third worst in Europe overall."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK sees largest gender pay gap increase in EU \n Britain saw the biggest increase in its gender pay gap of all the main economies in Europe, according to new figures from the European Commission.\n\nThe UK's pay gap increased from 19.7% in 2014 to 20.8% in 2015, performing fifth worst.\n\nThe EU-wide gap is the equivalent of women working for free for two months of the year, according to the Commission.\n\nLONDON \u2014 Britain saw the biggest increase in its gender pay gap in 2015 of all the main European economies, according to new statistics from the European Commission.\n\nThe UK's gender pay gap \u2014 the difference in how much men and women are paid hourly on average \u2014 rose from 19.7% in 2014 to 20.8% in 2015, the biggest increase of any Europe's main economies.\n\nThe latest figures show the UK's gap was bigger than the EU's average pay gap, which stood at 16.3%, and the UK performed fifth worst for gender pay equality of all the major European economies. Germany was third worst, at 22% in 2015, while the Czech Republic's gap was about 23% and Estonia's was about 26%.\n\nAccording to EU figures, the gap is equivalent to women continuing to work for the remainder of the year but not being paid after early November.\n\n\"It is an unacceptable and shocking injustice that women in 21st century Europe work two months a year for free,\" Vera Jourova, EU commissioner for justice, consumers and gender equality, told the Financial Times.\n\n\"This gender pay gap has remained the same for many years \u2014 it is still very similar to in 1995,\" she said.\n\nThe EU's gender pay gap was about 25% in 1995. Although it has improved since this, progress has been slow in many countries, and men continue to dominate highly-paid and senior roles.\n\nWhen the measurement takes additional elements into account, such as hours worked and career breaks for women, the EU-wide gap stands at 39.6%, and the UK's gap stands at 45%. According to European Commission figures, only 6% of chief executives in the EU are women.\n\nFrom April next year UK companies with more than 250 employees will be required to publish their gender pay gap, including details of hourly wages and bonuses.", "output": "The gender pay gap increased more quickly in the UK in 2015 than in any other country in the European Union (EU), according to figures from the European Commission. The data reveals that men in the country earned 20.8% more than women in that year, compared to 19.7% in 2014. The average pay gap in the EU was 16.3%. Overall, the UK was ranked fifth worst out of the 28 member states. Germany had the highest pay gap, at 22%, with the country ranked third worst in Europe overall."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nanoparticles developed for precise cancer thermotherapies \n Scientists from the University of Surrey have developed 'intelligent' nanoparticles which heat up to a temperature high enough to kill cancerous cells - but which then self-regulate and lose heat before they get hot enough to harm healthy tissue.\n\nThe self-stopping nanoparticles could soon be used as part of hyperthermic-thermotherapy to treat patients with cancer, according to an exciting new study reported in Nanoscale.\n\nThermotherapy has long been used as a treatment method for cancer, but it is difficult to treat patients without damaging healthy cells. However, tumour cells can be weakened or killed without affecting normal tissue if temperatures can be controlled accurately within a range of 42\u00b0C to 45\u00b0C.\n\nScientists from Surrey's Advanced Technology Institute have worked with colleagues from the Dalian University of Technology in China to create nanoparticles which, when implanted and used in a thermotherapy session, can induce temperatures of up to 45\u00b0C.\n\nThe Zn-Co-Cr ferrite nanoparticles produced for this study are self-regulating, meaning that they self-stop heating when they reach temperatures over 45\u00b0C. Importantly, the nanoparticles are also low in toxicity and are unlikely to cause permanent damage to the body.\n\nProfessor Ravi Silva, Head of the Advanced Technology Institute at the University of Surrey, said: \"This could potentially be a game changer in the way we treat people who have cancer . If we can keep cancer treatment sat at a temperature level high enough to kill the cancer, while low enough to stop harming healthy tissue, it will prevent some of the serious side effects of vital treatment.\n\n\"It's a very exciting development which, once again, shows that the University of Surrey research is at the forefront of nanotechnologies - whether in the field of energy materials or, in this case, healthcare.\"\n\nDr. Wei Zhang, Associate Professor from Dalian University of Technology said: \"Magnetic induced hyperthermia is a traditional route of treating malignant tumours. However, the difficulties in temperature control has significantly restricted its usage If we can modulate the magnetic properties of the nanoparticles, the therapeutic temperature can be self-regulated, eliminating the use of clumsy temperature monitoring and controlling systems.\n\n\"By making magnetic materials with the Curie temperature falling in the range of hyperthermia temperatures, the self-regulation of therapeutics can be achieved. For the most magnetic materials, however, the Curie temperature is much higher than the human body can endure. By adjusting the components as we have, we have synthesized the nanoparticles with the Curie temperature as low as 34oC. This is a major nanomaterials breakthrough.\"\n\n###", "output": "Scientists have synthesised self-regulating nanoparticles which could be used to kill cancer cells without destroying healthy tissue, according to a report in the journal Nanoscale. Teams from the University of Surrey's Advanced Technology Institute and the Dalian University of Technology in China developed Zn-Co-Cr ferrite nanoparticles which heat up to 45\u00b0C, which is within the temperature range required to weaken or kill cancer cells. Crucially, the low-toxicity nanoparticles then cool down, reducing the risk to healthy cells. The results have been described as an \"exciting development\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shell saves $200m by replacing field trips with virtual learning \n Royal Dutch Shell, the British-Dutch oil and gas multinational, has cut the cost of some of its most expensive learning programmes by 90% by developing interactive learning platforms for staff.\n\nVirtual lessons, which feature interactive videos and graphics, are replacing expensive field trips and geology primers, as well as being used to support leadership and behavioural learning.\n\nShell\u2019s use of virtual, immersive learning \u2013 an example of which Shell has made available online \u2013 has delivered dramatic savings already, with more in the pipeline. To date, it has delivered more than 12,000 virtual lessons, saving the business $200m after development costs.\n\nJorrit van der Togt, executive vice-president of human resources (HR) strategy for Shell, said the company\u2019s investment in virtual learning is part of a 15-year digital transformation journey for the business, embarked on in 2002, that has delivered benefits quickly, with the promise of more to come.\n\n\u201cWe started by looking at the potential to move field learning into a virtual environment, but in fact virtual, immersive learning is a bigger play even than that,\u201d said van der Togt.\n\n\u201cIt is faster, cheaper, more challenging and more fun than other types of learning \u2013 and it is also deeper. Where e-learning in the recent past was persuasive because it was cheaper to deliver, today\u2019s immersive learning is compelling because it is better.\u201d\n\nVan der Togt, speaking at an industry conference, said virtual learning has proved revolutionary because it mimics the work environment but delivers faster feedback with greater intensity and is more fun.\n\n\u201cWe benefit from the way it facilitates a community of practice, too,\u201d added van der Togt. \u201cFor each learner, there is the knowledge that you are not on your own. You are part of an intelligence network \u2013 and you are in it together,\u201d he said at HR Tech World (Unleash) in Amsterdam.\n\nRead more about human resources technology Automobile glass repair company Carglass France is using knowledge-sharing technology to distribute expertise among 3,000 employees.\n\nDigital technology is changing the way companies manage their workforce at an accelerating rate.\n\nAirbus has created a digital learning library that is helping more than 100,000 staff in 35 countries keep their skills updated.\n\nFor Shell\u2019s leadership, van der Togt said virtual learning offers the space to put new ideas into practice, and is underpinned by personalised feedback and recommendations for employees.\n\n\u201cWhat the learning environment delivers is true engagement, not just for management but for all our workers \u2013 and it is a key driver of performance. Engagement is the x-factor that results in real change and real improvements,\u201d he said.", "output": "Oil and gas multinational Shell has turned to virtual, immersive teaching tools to train its staff, rather than expensive field trips, creating savings of $200m net of development costs. The move is part of a 15-year drive to digitise the business. Shell has already deployed more than 12,000 lessons, complemented by personalised feedback and recommendations. Jorrit van der Togt, head of human resources strategy for Shell, said modern e-learning had improved to the point where it \"delivers true engagement\", adding that it was \"faster, cheaper, more challenging and more fun than other types of learning \u2013 and deeper\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Edtech Wonder Workshop raises further $41m for DIY robots \n Silicon Valley-based education robots developer Wonder Workshop has raised a US$41 million series C round from a number of investors including Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd., SoftBank Group\u2019s unit SoftBank Korea.", "output": "US edtech firm Wonder Workshop has raised $41m in a series C funding round featuring Tencent and Softbank Korea. The Silicon Valley-based firm has developed programmable robots called\u00a0Dot and Dash, which teach children basic coding and problem-solving skills. They are used in more than 10,000\u00a0classrooms worldwide, while more than four million programmes have been written by children using them. The company previously raised $20m in a series B round last year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK adspend rose to \u00a310.8bn during the first half of 2017 \n UK ad expenditure grew to \u00a310.8bn during the first half of 2017 \u2013 an increase of 3.7 per cent \u2013 to represent the largest total for the first six months of any year since monitoring began in 1982.\n\nOverall market growth is being driven by increased spend on digital advertising, according to the latest Advertising Association/WARC expenditure report. Digital ad spend accounted for 54 per cent, or \u00a35.8bn, of all spend in the first half of 2016.\n\nAs a result of the growth in ad expenditure, the forecasted growth for the whole of 2017 has been upgraded to 3.1 per cent, which will mean an annual spend of more than \u00a322bn.\n\n\u201cSpend on advertising is showing strong resilience, at a time of real uncertainty for UK business,\u201d said Stephen Woodford, chief executive at the Advertising Association. \u201cWe know advertising has a positive effect on the economy, with every pound spent generating six pounds of GDP, so it is good to see steady, sustained growth. The upgrade of our 2017 forecast by a further one percent, the equivalent of an additional investment of \u00a3190M, should be seen as a cautious indicator for continued growth in the UK economy.\u201d\n\nFirst half growth was boosted by a four per cent year-on-year rise during Q2 2017, the 16th consecutive quarter of market growth and the strongest rate of growth since Q4 2017.\n\nMobile saw substantial growth of 36.1 per cent, and was the main contributor to a 13 per cent rise in internet ad spend during the second quarter of 2017.\n\n\u201cThe latest data highlight the importance of mobile to advertisers in the UK \u2013 spend on mobile ads accounted for the entirety of internet growth during the second quarter of 2017 and 97 per cent over the first six months of the year,\u201d said James McDonald, senior data analyst at WARC. \u201cAs mobile usage and credit-fuelled consumer spending continue to rise, investment in mobile advertising will track ahead of other platforms this year.\u201d\n\nOther digital formats enjoying growth include digital ad formats for radio at 38.9 per cent, DOOH at 30.4 per cent, TV broadcaster video-on-demand at 10.6 per cent, regional newsbrands at 10.4 per cent, and national newsbrands at 7.9 per cent.\n\nCinema, up 14.4 per cent, and direct mail, at 0.8 per cent, also recorded growth during the second quarter of 2017.\n\nJoin us at the 2017 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony, taking place in London on Thursday 16 November, to mix with the industry's best and brightest, and raise a glass to the year's best campaigns and solutions. To find out more, and to book your place, click here.", "output": "UK advertisers can be cautiously optimistic about the future with figures revealing ad spend hit \u00a310.8bn ($14.1bn) during the first six months of 2017, the biggest H1 total since records began in 1982. According to the Advertising Association/WARC expenditure report, digital ad sales drove growth, accounting for 54% of all ad spend, while spending on mobile ads grew by 36.1%. The positive results prompted an upgrade in the growth forecast for the whole of 2017 to 3.1%. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CommuterClub secures \u00a32.3m and partners with Revolut \n FinTech startup CommuterClub has raised \u00a32.3m in a round led by Wadhawan Global Capital (WGC), an India-based financial services Group.\n\nThe London-based company is also backed by angel investors including Peter Jackson, CEO of Betfair; Gavin Casey, the former CEO of the London Stock Exchange; Chris Adelsbach, head of Barclays Techstars, and British tennis player Andy Murray.\n\nCommuterClub seeks to help consumers save money by offering them commuter tickets as a digital subscription service.\n\nAlongside the funding, the company is also announcing a new partnership with Revolut, which will enable the startup to offer rail ticket financing to its customers.\n\nPetko Plachkov, CommuterClub\u2019s co-founder and managing director, said: \u201cCommuting in London and big cities is exorbitantly expensive and this new fundraising campaign will allow us to grow and offer our simple and transparent instalment plan to consumers in the UK and overseas.\n\n\u201cIt made perfect sense to partner with another innovative FinTech in this space, Revolut; together we will be able to reach many more consumers, saving them time and money.\n\n\u201cThis industry is ripe for further disruption. It seems unbelievable that 95% of people still buy their season ticket offline. Consumers deserve more.\u201d\n\nWadhawan Global Capital (WGC) chairman Kapil Wadhawan, commented: \u201cWe are excited about our investment in CommuterClub, a UK-based FinTech company which uses technology to enable convenience in the era of fast-age living.\n\n\u201cA disruptor, CommuterClub resonates with our group philosophy of empowerment through better management of finances. By saving commuters time and money, the company has made itself a household name in the UK. We hope to work alongside the team to help scale the business in UK and other parts of the world.\n\n\u201cThe investment is in line with our objective of supporting new-age entrepreneurs by enabling them to seize the right opportunities. With three decades of experience in a market as diverse and dynamic as India, we believe that we have the capabilities to leverage such promising ventures with strategic and efficient guidance. At the same time, these associations help the WGC group remain relevant and competitive in the rapidly evolving FinTech space,\u201d he concluded.\n\nThe startup was also co-founded by Imran Gulamhuseinwala, who recently received an OBE for his contribution to UK financial technology and is head of FinTech at EY.\n\nCheck out our UK tech investment tracker for all the latest industry deals.", "output": "London fintech CommuterClub has raised \u00a32.3m ($3m) in a funding round led by Indian firm Wadhawan Global Capital and announced a partnership with digital bank Revolut. CommuterClub offers season tickets to commuters as a subscription service, while the collaboration with Revolut will enable the firm to offer rail ticket financing. CommuterClub co-founder Petko Plachkov said: \"It seems unbelievable that 95% of people still buy their season ticket offline. Consumers deserve more.\" Gavin Casey, a former CEO of the London Stock Exchange, and tennis star Andy Murray are among the start-up's backers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ada Health to expand after self-diagnosis app\u00a0wins $47m funding \n Ada Health lands \u20ac40m from Len Blavatnik, Amazon Alexa creator William Tunstall-Pedoe and Google business chief Philip Schindler\u2019s June Fund\n\nThe company behind a healthcare app which can help diagnose symptoms has landed a multi-million pound round of funding from investors, who include a top Google executive, the man who created Amazon's Alexa voice assistant and one of Britain's richest billionaires.\n\nLondon and Berlin based Ada Health has raised \u20ac40m (\u00a335.2m) to grow the business and expand to the US.\n\nThe app, which launched in April in the UK, uses artificial intelligence to help users diagnose symptoms, drawing on a wealth of information drawn from clinicians after originally starting out as an app just aimed at doctors.\n\nRead more: Pharrell has taken a stake in a British startup (yes, that Pharrell)\n\nBackers include June Fund, a Berlin-based tech fund founded by Google's chief business officer Philipp Schindler and Roman Rosslenbroich, the man behind German hedge fund Aquila Capital.\n\nWilliam Tunstall-Pedoe, the man who created Amazon's AI assistant Alexa and Len Blavatnik, the Russian-born billionaire who owns Warner Music Group and is the second richest man in Britain are also backing the firm, along with Cumberland VC, a new Berlin-based fund.\n\n\u201cThe future of healthcare lies in a much more patient-centric model where individuals have actionable insights at their fingertips, and doctors and artificial intelligence work together to support patients throughout their healthcare journey,\u201d said chief executive and co-founder Daniel Nathrath.\n\n\"This is just the beginning, and we\u2019re excited to enable even more people around the world to effectively manage their health.\u201d\n\nRead more: An app taking the hassle out of repeat prescriptions raises \u00a37m\n\nThe cash will also go on further developing the app and it plans to hire more engineers, scientists and medical advisers.\n\n\u201cAda is one of the most exciting companies we\u2019ve seen cutting across health and artificial intelligence,\u201d said vice chairman of Blavatnik's Access Industries Guillaume d\u2019Hauteville.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019ve developed a unique and highly effective health management solution driven by a team with deep medical and AI expertise and years of technology development.", "output": "London and Berlin-based Ada Health has raised \u20ac40m ($47m) from investors including Berlin's June Fund, which was founded by Google's chief business officer, Philipp Schindler, William Tunstall-Pedoe, creator of Amazon's AI assistant, Alexa, and Warner Music Group owner Len Blavatnik. Ada Health plans to use the funds to develop its app, which relies on artificial intelligence and data from clinicians to help users self-diagnose symptoms. The company also plans to expand to the US and hire more engineers and advisers."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Short website visits may be more valuable than previously thought \n Publishers use all sorts of ploys to get flyby visitors to stick around, based on the belief that these casual readers are low value because they aren\u2019t loyal and don\u2019t view a lot of ads.\n\nNew research from digital analytics firm Parsely says that people who bounce, or leave a site, after one article are more valuable than they\u2019re given credit for, though. The findings could call into question the way a lot of publishers approach one-and-done readers, which can account for 60 to 70 percent for the typical news publisher, according to the firm.\n\nParsely looked at 1.6 billion \u201cbounced\u201d visits to news and entertainment publishers in its network over a six-month period. It found that 32 percent of those visits lasted less than 15 seconds. But of the remaining 68 percent of the bounced visits, 77 percent stayed longer than 30 seconds.\n\nAcross all 1.6 billion sessions, the average engaged time spent was 56 seconds, rising to 81 seconds for the 68 percent of \u201cgood\u201d visits. (As far as whether video was a factor, for the research, Parsely looked at text pages, which might have had a video embedded, so the presence of a video could have added to the time spent.)\n\n\u201cWe get a lot of feedback from customers trying to understand this very nebulous term of engagement,\u201d said Andrew Montalenti, co-founder and CTO of Parsely. \u201cThe question we\u2019re trying to answer is, to what degree are people going to news sites and satisfied and to what degree is something else going on. Pageviews don\u2019t tell you much about engagement, just what they\u2019re reading. If a publisher is looking at pageviews and bounce rates, they are definitely measuring it all wrong.\u201d\n\nMontalenti also pointed out that the bounce rate metric is flawed because if a site is paginated, a single article visit can count as multiple pages. Also, a visit to a single article is counted as a bounce if the visitor came from social media but not if the visitor came directly to the publisher\u2019s homepage. Instead of bounce rate, Parsely says publishers should look at people\u2019s active time on site in 15-second increments, regardless of how many pages they looked at.\n\nThe reframing of bounced visits could be appealing to publishers who are getting their traffic from social side doors. Some, including Purch and Mic, use engagement metrics instead of pageviews to talk about their audiences.\n\n\u201cBounce is all about getting that second pageview,\u201d said David Stern, head of product at Slate. \u201cThat creates all kinds of perverse incentives to artificially drive up that metric. But that\u2019s ultimately not the most important thing. I\u2019d rather have someone stay two minutes on a single page versus one minute on multiple pages.\u201d\n\nThe problem is that all publishers define engaged time differently, and depending on how they measure it, their own tallies can differ from what independent third parties say.\n\nHistorically, a high bounce rate was a signal that a publisher wasn\u2019t reaching the right audience, and the pressure from advertisers for quality content is driving the use of engagement metrics, said Ben Kunz, evp of marketing and content at Mediassociates. But there\u2019s a case for short visits. Some sites are utility-based and designed for short stays, so a high bounce rate could also indicate the visitor got what they wanted.\n\n\u201cMarketers and publishers need to realize people are busy for time,\u201d he said. \u201cThey should challenge themselves to put as much content on one page and not try to force people to go five layers into your site. The UX is calling for that.\u201d", "output": "Users who bounce \u2013 leave a website after viewing only one page \u2013\u00a0could be more valuable than previously thought, according to a six-month study by digital analytics firm Parsely. It found 68% of 1.6 billion bounced visits lasted longer than 15 seconds, with an average engaged time of 81 seconds. The results prompted Parsely to suggest publishers should not see bouncing as a sign of non-engagement with an audience\u00a0and should instead measure active time on their sites in 15-second increments. \"If a publisher is looking at pageviews and bounce rates, they are definitely measuring it all wrong,\u201d said Parsely.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk Talk2Go app lets landline customers make free mobile calls \n \u5728\u8fd9\u91cc\u8f93\u5165\u4f60\u7684\u9879\u76ee\u63cf\u8ff0\n\n\u53d1\u5e03\u9879\u76ee", "output": "A new TalkTalk app lets customers make and receive calls as if at home using their landline. The Talk2Go app runs on 3G or 4G data, or over Wi-Fi, and charges users the same prices as if they were on their landline. This means customers who have an anytime minutes call deal as part of their broadband package can make mobile calls to UK numbers free of charge. The app also includes a Follow Me feature that transfers calls from users' landlines to their mobile phones.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI tool identifies\u00a0suicide risk from brain scans using fMRI \n Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among young people between the ages of 15 and 34 in the United States, and clinicians have limited tools to identify those at risk. A new machine-learning technique documented in a paper published today in Nature Human Behaviour (PDF) could help identify those suffering from suicidal thoughts.\n\nResearchers looked at 34 young adults, evenly split between suicidal participants and a control group. Each subject went through a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and were presented with three lists of 10 words. All the words were related to suicide (words like \u201cdeath,\u201d \u201cdistressed,\u201d or \u201cfatal\u201d), positive effects (\u201ccarefree,\u201d \u201ckindness,\u201d \u201cinnocence\u201d), or negative effects (\u201cboredom,\u201d \u201cevil,\u201d \u201cguilty\u201d). The researchers also used previously mapped neural signatures that show the brain patterns of emotions like \u201cshame\u201d and \u201canger.\u201d\n\nFive brain locations, along with six of the words, were found to be the best markers to distinguish the suicidal patients from the controls. Using just those locations and words, the researchers trained a machine-learning classifier that was able to correctly identify 15 of the 17 suicidal patients and 16 of 17 control subjects.\n\nThe researchers then divided the suicidal patients into two groups, those that had attempted suicide (nine people) and those that had not (eight people), and trained a new classifier that was able to correctly identify 16 of the 17 patients.\n\nThe results showed that healthy patients and those with suicidal thoughts showed markedly different reactions to words. For example, when the suicidal participants were shown the word \u201cdeath,\u201d the \u201cshame\u201d area of their brain lit up more than it did in the control group. Likewise, \u201ctrouble\u201d also evoked more activity in the \u201csadness\u201d area.\n\nThis is just the latest effort aimed at bringing AI into psychiatry. Researchers are working on machine-learning projects that span from analyzing MRIs to predict major depressive disorder to picking out PTSD from people\u2019s speech patterns. Earlier this year, Wired wrote about researchers who built a system that can sift through health records to flag someone at risk of committing suicide, with between 80 and 90 percent accuracy. Facebook is using text mining to identify users at risk of suicide or self-harm and then pointing them to mental health resources (see \u201cBig Questions Around Facebook\u2019s Suicide-Prevention Tools\u201d).\n\nArtificial intelligence has already made waves in the medical field at large. There are algorithms so good at detecting tumors and other problems in CT scans that Geoffrey Hinton, one of the foremost researchers in deep learning, told the New Yorker that radiologists will eventually be out of a job. Indeed, he said, \u201cthey should stop training radiologists now.\u201d\n\nIn this case, the research is more likely to inspire new human-driven therapies than put a whole field\u2019s worth of doctors out of a job. The paper pointed out that identifying different patterns and areas could suggest new regions to target for brain stimulation techniques. Identifying particular emotional responses to suicide-related terms could also be useful to psychotherapists treating their patients.", "output": "Researchers have developed a machine-learning classifier capable of identifying patients at risk of suicide using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans. The team used fMRI and trigger words to pinpoint locations in the brain that identified potentially suicidal patients, using two groups, a control group and a second one made up of people who had survived suicide attempts. Using those scans, the machine-learning classifier identified patients from the two groups with an 80% to 90% success rate. Suicide is the second most common cause of death among 15 to 34 year-olds in the US.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Flexible working increases wellbeing, finds survey \n UK 27 October 2017- Offering employees the opportunity to work flexibly plays a key role in increasing their wellbeing. This is according to research commissioned by workspace provider Regus, released to coincide with National Stress Awareness Day on November 1st.\n\nThe survey, which canvassed the opinions of 1700 UK professionals, found that half of respondents believed flexible working allowed them to have a better work-life balance. The survey also underlined the benefits of flexible working for the health of a business, with just under three fifths (59%) saying that it meant they were more productive.\n\nIn addition, 41% of respondents said that working flexibly allowed them to eat more healthily and 43% said it helped them get more sleep.\n\nThese findings chime with previous research commissioned by Regus that showed 56% of respondents believe that flexible workers are more \u2018mindful\u2019 and are better able to assess their levels of well-being.\n\nRichard Morris, UK CEO, Regus, comments: \u201cNational Stress Awareness Day serves as the perfect reminder to employers that stress management and employee well-being should be a proactive and planned element of business strategy.\n\n\u201cHow - and crucially, where - people work is understood to have a significant bearing on workplace wellbeing so the flexible working conversation should play a part in every modern business\u2019s strategy.\u201d\n\n", "output": "Figures have shown that half of 1,700 UK professionals believe flexible working offered a better work-life balance, while 59% said they were more productive, according to a survey by flexible office space provider Regus. The study also revealed 43% of respondents said access to flexible working helped them sleep better and it allowed 41% to eat more healthily. The results of the survey were released to coincide with National Stress Awareness Day.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurer Swiss Life forges partnership with fintech bexio \n News\n\nSzilvana Spett, SGBA/Caf\u00e9 Europe\n\nThe Zurich-based insurance firm Swiss Life will become one of the largest shareholders in the fintech company bexio. The strategic partnership will allow bexio to reach out to new customers and enable Swiss Life to provide new products.\n\nbexio intends to invest further into production innovation and growth thanks to the commitment of one of the largest insurance companies in Switzerland. According to a statement, the strategic partnership with Swiss Life will allow small and medium-sized companies to profit from the \u201cseamless and automated integration of personal insurance into the web-based accounting of bexio\u201d.\n\nbexio has developed a corporate software that contains an interface between accounting software and e-banking. The fintech company from the St.GallenBodenseeArea is already working with the biggest Swiss banks, enabling payment orders to be transferred from a company\u2019s software to the banks\u2019 e-banking service \u201cat the touch of a button\u201d.\n\nBeginning in mid-2018, SMEs will profit from a seamless integration of provisions solutions from Swiss Life into the bexio software. Customers can also supplement the offer individually with accident or short-term disability insurance.\n\n\u201cThis innovation is unique in all of Europe,\u201d said Markus Leibundgut, CEO of Swiss Life Switzerland. \u201cFor customers, the enormous administrative effort for the management of their provisions and personal insurance thus fall away.\u201d Leibundgut will join the board of directors of bexio.\n\n\u201cWith Swiss Life we have a strong partner by our side that supports our growth ambitions via additional access to customers,\u201d added Jeremias Meier, co-founder and CEO of bexio.\n\n\u201cThis cooperation is a further important step for Swiss Life to be able to provide our customers in the future as well with new and innovative products and services that meet the growing customer requirement for simplicity in an increasingly digitalised work environment.\u201d", "output": "Swiss insurer Swiss Life has partnered with fintech firm bexio, offering small businesses access to insurance policies through the start-up's accounting and banking platform. Swiss Life's provisions solutions will become fully available through the platform in 2018. \u201cThis innovation is unique in all of Europe. For customers, the enormous administrative effort for the management of their provisions and personal insurance thus fall away\u201d, said Swiss Life CEO Markus Leibundgut.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ZhongAn hires more data analysts than actuaries \n HONG KONG -- As the hottest initial public offering in Hong Kong so far this year, China's first and largest pure-play online insurer, ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance, is plowing millions of yuan into next-generation technology to ensure it stands tall next to its three shareholders -- Jack Ma Yun's Ant Financial, Tencent Holdings, and Ping An Insurance Group.\n\nThe venture, crystallized in the subsidiary known as ZhongAn Technology established in July 2016, will help the company turn a profit and cement its position as China's insurtech leader, according to Chief Operating Officer Wayne Xu Wei. Xu said the project was top priority, along with the expansion of product offerings over the next five years.", "output": "ZhongAn has been hiring more data analysts than actuaries as the Chinese online insurer seeks to expand. The company is in the process of hiring more than 100 data analysts, compared with around\u00a020 actuaries, though it claims these personnel will work together. The company claims that its actuaries work on more traditional lines of risk, such as motor and healthcare, while the data analysts will focus on\u00a0the firm's forward-looking policies, including\u00a0those covering smartphones and drones.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Corporate treasurers building cash reserves at a record pace \n Photo: Ali Al-Saadi/AFP/Getty Images\n\nAre you feeling particularly uncertain about the future?\n\nCorporate treasurers certainly are.\n\nCorporate treasurers are so worried about what\u2019s to come from Washington that they are building cash reserves at a record pace, ensuring their organizations have enough liquidity to withstand any disruption or capitalize on any opportunity.\n\nAccording to the AFP October 2017 Corporate Cash Indicators (CCI) the pace at which organizations have accumulated cash and short-term investments over the past quarter shot to its highest reading since the index debuted in January 2011.\n\nIn the latest CCI, a quarterly survey of corporate treasury and finance executives conducted by the Association for Financial Professionals, American businesses accumulated cash and short-term investment holdings at a breakneck pace in the third quarter of 2017. The quarter-over-quarter index jumped 9 points to +25, and the year-over-year indicator increased 2 points to +20.\n\nHere is what is so troubling about the latest CCI: Respondents to the previous CCI had indicated they would accumulate cash in the third quarter of 2017, but they actually did so at a much higher rate than anticipated. In other words, corporate treasurers had little confidence in the economic climate entering the third quarter, and their concerns only grew as events unfolded.\n\nThere is more. Fully 40 percent of organizations had greater cash and short-term investment balances at the end of the third quarter than they had one year earlier. Despite two interest rate increases and an expected third to come in December, only 9 percent of organizations were more aggressive with their short-term investments during the third quarter. On top of all this, nearly a third of organizations (31 percent) anticipate expanding cash and short-term investment balances over the next three months.\n\nWhy are corporate treasurers so reticent to invest in growing their businesses? One key concern is corporate tax reform, which many favor. As of this writing, passing comprehensive tax reform is no sure thing. In fact, President Donald Trump just dismissed the latest proposal to pay for it.\n\nIf corporate tax reform fails, organizations will see little cause for optimism anywhere else in the world\u2014not with growing geopolitical uncertainty in England, North Korea and even along America\u2019s borders as NAFTA renegotiations take place.\n\nCorporate treasurers see all these developments unfolding, and they are tying them back to their primary roles as keepers of short-term cash reserves. There may come a day when the economy is looking up, geopolitical uncertainty is down, and corporate treasurers are willing to take a risk and open their purses.\n\nToday is certainly not that day.", "output": "Concerned US corporate treasurers stockpiled cash faster\u00a0than anticipated during Q3 2017, with the quarter-over-quarter index rising by 9 points to +25, according to data from the Association for Financial Professionals. Its October Corporate Cash Indicator (CCI) revealed that 40% of organisations had more short-term investment balances at the end of Q3 than the same period in the previous year, while almost one-third expected those\u00a0balances to expand over\u00a0the coming three years. The CCI cited uncertainty about US tax reform and political unrest in Europe and North Korea as contributing factors.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Japan's Yamada Denki looks to expand into electric vehicles \n TOKYO -- Consumer electronics retailer Yamada Denki will partner with a startup to sell entry-level compact electric vehicles by 2020, joining the growing ranks of nonautomotive entrants into the sector.\n\nBarriers to entry for building electric vehicles are lower than for gasoline autos. About 40% of the parts in gas-powered vehicles are unnecessary in electrics, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Dyson, a British company known for vacuum cleaners, plans to sell electric vehicles by 2020 as well.", "output": "Japanese consumer electronics retailer Yamada Denki is set to invest more than JPY1bn ($8.76m) in a roughly 10% stake in electric vehicle (EV) start-up FOMM. It is developing a four-seat EV for the Japanese market, priced at around JPY1m \u2013 half that of Mitsubishi Motors' minicar-sized i-MiEV. FOMM is partnering with a range of firms to bring its EV to market and expects to sell tens of thousands annually. Yamada Denki is the latest in a growing number of non-automotive firms to enter\u00a0the\u00a0EV market.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK mining firm faces legal action over activist deaths \n A UK-registered mining company, which is now part of Glencore, is facing claims in a London court that it hired security forces to mistreat environmental activists protesting about a copper mine in Peru.\n\nTwo demonstrators died and others were left with serious injuries following the confrontations which lasted for several days during May 2012 on a remote hillside in the Andes, the court has been told.\n\nThe two-week trial of the mining company, Xstrata, being held at the Rolls Building in central London, where commercial cases are heard, will be determined under Peruvian law. It is taking evidence from leading legal experts.\n\nTwo of the protesters, Sergio Huamani and Alberto Huallpa, went to London to attend the hearing, which is being translated into Spanish and English.\n\nLawyers for Xstrata argue that the claims have been brought too late and should be barred under a statute of limitations which imposes a two-year time limit. But Phillippa Kaufmann QC, for the claimants, maintained the cases were not out of time.\n\nThe copper mine in Peru was at the time owned by Xstrata Tintaya, a firm later renamed Compan\u00eda Minera Antapaccay. Xstrata was alleged to have paid the equivalent of \u00a3700,000 for the services of about 1,300 Peruvian national police and provided them with weapons such as rubber bullets and teargas, as well as food and accommodation.\n\nA video created by legal firm Leigh Day on the alleged clashes\n\nIt is alleged that the company encouraged the security forces to mistreat the eco-protesters, who had gathered near the Tintaya copper mine near the town of Espinar. Demonstrators were shot and beaten by officers, it was claimed.\n\n\n\nThe company denies liability, arguing that police protection was necessary since thousands of protesters, many carrying traditional slingshots, were marching towards the mine. Xstrata also said that the Peruvian national police operated independently and it had no control over their behaviour.\n\nAt an earlier hearing, in July 2016, emails from Charles Sartain, an Xstrata director, to the senior South America manager, Jose Marun, were disclosed. These proposed that a \u201cdirect, proactive and strong approach\u201d be taken to confront community representatives who were referred to as \u201csons of whores\u201d.\n\nThe court has also been told that in the run-up to the protests in 2012 the mining company \u201ccovertly monitored\u201d community meetings and employed informants, sharing its intelligence with the police.\n\nDuring the fighting, it is said, private security officers employed by the mine wielded metal bars and planks of wood. Some protesters allegedly were shot, others beaten on the head or on the soles of their feet. In one clash, the court was told, police fired machine guns and shotguns.\n\n\n\nThe 22 Peruvians who have brought the claim are represented by Leigh Day, the London law firm which specialises in class action disputes.\n\nBefore the hearing, Sergio Huamani, 42, a farmer, said: \u201cI was attacked severely by the police and beaten on my head and nose because I was protesting about the environmental impact of the copper mine. I hope we will find justice here. The mine is still producing copper and has expanded. It is working without social or environmental responsibility.\u201d\n\nAlberto Huallpa, 29, an accountant, said he had been shot in the left thigh by a bullet. \u201cWe are opposed to contamination caused by the mine,\u201d he said. The pollution was \u201cgetting into water courses and streams\u201d. The damage, he alleged, was caused by heavy metals including cadmium and arsenic. \u201cWe turned up for the protest because the company was not listening to us. I am glad to bring my complaint here so that our pain and suffering comes to the court.\u201d\n\nXstrata was taken over by the minerals and trading conglomerate Glencore in 2013. It denies that the mine is causing pollution and insists that it complies with environmental laws.\n\n\n\nThe hearing continues.", "output": "Xstrata, a UK-registered mining firm that is now part of Anglo-Swiss company Glencore, allegedly hired security forces to harm\u00a0protesters demonstrating against a Peruvian copper mine. The claims are being heard in a court in London, but will be resolved\u00a0under Peruvian law. The confrontations, which left two protestors dead and others with serious injuries, took place in May 2012. The 22 claimants are represented by London law firm\u00a0Leigh Day. Lawyers for Xstrata argue that the claims should be barred under a statute of limitations.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Comple sequencing of wheat genome could boost staple crop \n The genome of wheat (Triticum aestivum) is huge, and full of repetitive sequences. Credit: Nico van Kappel/Minden Pictures/Getty\n\nThe wheat genome is finally complete. A giant international consortium of academics and companies has been trying to finish the challenging DNA sequence for more than a decade, but in the end, it was a small US-led team that scooped the prize. Researchers hope that the genome of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) \u2014 described in the journal GigaScience this month[1] \u2014 will aid efforts to study and improve a staple crop on which around 2 billion people rely.\n\nThe wheat genome is crop geneticists' Mount Everest. It is huge \u2014 more than five times the size of a single copy of the human genome \u2014 and harbours six copies of each chromosome, adding up to between 16 billion and 17 billion letters of DNA. And more than 80% of it is made of repetitive sequences. These stretches are especially vexing for scientists trying to assemble the short DNA segments generated by sequencing machines into much longer chromosome sequences.\n\nIt\u2019s like putting together a jigsaw puzzle filled with pieces of blue sky, says Steven Salzberg, a genomicist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, who led the latest sequencing effort. \u201cThe wheat genome is full of blue sky. All these pieces look like a lot of other pieces, but they\u2019re not exactly alike.\u201d\n\nAs a result, previous wheat-genome sequences contained gaps that made it hard for scientists to locate and examine any particular gene, says Klaus Mayer, a plant genomicist at the Helmholtz Center in Munich, Germany, and one of 1,800 members of the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC) that have been tackling the genome since 2005.\n\nA sequence released by the consortium in 2014 covered about two-thirds of the genome, but it was highly fragmented and lacked details about the sequences between genes2. Improved versions were released in 2016 and 2017, but the use of these data is restricted until the IWGSC publishes its analysis (Mayer says the team is preparing to submit its report to a journal). The sequence was also produced using proprietary software from a company called NRGene, preventing other scientists from reproducing the effort.\n\nPuzzle pieces\n\nSalzberg, who specializes in assembling genome sequences, and his five colleagues decided to tackle the problem themselves. To overcome the challenge of ordering repetitive DNA \u2014 the puzzle pieces of blue sky \u2014 the researchers used a sequencing technology that generates very long DNA stretches (often in excess of 10,000 DNA letters). They also created much shorter, but highly accurate sequences, using another technology.\n\nStitching these \u2018reads\u2019 together \u2014 which amounted to 1.5 trillion DNA letters and consumed 880,000 hours of processor time on a cluster of parallel computers \u2014 resulted in nearly continuous chromosome sequences that encompassed 15.3 billion letters of the wheat genome.\n\nMayer calls the new sequence \u201ca major leap forward\u201d. Postdocs can spend whole fellowships locating a single wheat gene of interest, he says. \u201cThose genes which took 10 man- or woman-years to clone, this will melt down to a couple of months, hopefully.\u201d The results of such research should help breeders to develop strains of wheat that are better able to tolerate climate change, disease and other stresses.\n\nSome scientists are already using the new wheat genome \u2014 including, Salzberg says, members of the IWGSC working on one particular chromosome. But if it is to be of widespread use, all of the genes and sequences will need to be identified and labelled, a laborious process known as annotation. Salzberg says that a collaborator of his is planning to do this, \u201cunless someone does it sooner\u201d.\n\nNeil Hall, a genomicist and director of the Earlham Institute, a genomics research centre in Norwich, UK, sees Salzberg\u2019s approach as a sign of the times. If the wheat genome \u2014 considered one of the most complicated to be tackled by scientists \u2014 can be sequenced by a small team using the latest technology, almost any genome could.", "output": "A US-led group of scientists has sequenced the wheat genome in its entirety, potentially improving upon\u00a0the staple crop, on which an estimated 2 billion people depend. The genome, which is over five times the size of a single copy of the human genome, contains six copies of each chromosome and between 16 billion and 17 billion letters of DNA. Over 80% of the genome is comprised of repetitive sequences. The research could enable breeders to develop strains of the crop that are more resistant to climate change and disease.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Start-up creates edible water bottle \n Home > Big Impact > News This Edible Water Bottle Provides Unique Solution To Plastic Pollution Skipping Rocks Lab, a startup based in London, has received over $1 million US through crowdfunding to create the Ooho! By Brian Spaen May 25 2019, Updated 1:46 p.m. ET Source: Twitter\n\nPlastic water bottles may provide one of the most convenient ways to obtain H2O, but they continue to wreak havoc on our environment. Despite having the ability to be recycled, nearly all of these single-use bottles end up in the trash. For those that don\u2019t want to give up consumption through bottles, there could be a new way to simply eat the bottle after being used.\n\nArticle continues below advertisement\n\nSkipping Rocks Lab, a startup based in London, has received over $1 million US through crowdfunding to create the Ooho! Started by three guys in college back in 2012, their goal was to create a solution to the plastic pollution that has been destroying marine life. A few years later, they created a prototype for their product -- an edible blob of water made out of seaweed.\n\nThe product is similar to edible balls found in bubble or boba tea. It doesn\u2019t have any initial flavoring, which could make consuming it a little bland, but there is the potential to add flavors. To create the protective casing, balls of ice are tipped into calcium chloride and brown algae extract. This stays solid even after the ice converts to room temperature.\n\nArticle continues below advertisement\n\nIt only costs roughly two cents to create these edible balls. Even better, for those that don\u2019t feel like eating the bottle, it\u2019s biodegradable. When it\u2019s thrown away, the bottle won\u2019t be sticking around for hundreds of years like traditional plastic with polyethylene terephthalate.\n\nArticle continues below advertisement\n\n\"At the end of the day, you don\u2019t have to eat it,\" Pierre Paslier, one of the co-founders, told The Guardian. \"But the edible part shows how natural it is. People are really enthusiastic about the fact that you can create a material for packaging matter that is so harmless that you can eat it.\"\n\n\n\nAfter the prototype became a viral hit online, it\u2019s no surprise that the Ooho was wildly successful through crowdfunding. Since the bottle is squishy to hold and use, they tested out the prototype to make sure people weren\u2019t turned off by the new product. It ended up being mostly accepted. Paslier believes that it would fit great with outdoor events and cafes.\n\nArticle continues below advertisement\n\nOoho is consumed by peeling off the outer layer like an orange. One major difference from traditional water bottles is that when it\u2019s opened, the product cannot be sealed again. This means we likely won\u2019t see large variations of the bottle. In order to avoid large shipments, the product could be made on-site.\n\nArticle continues below advertisement\n\n\u201cThe process that we\u2019re developing allows for them to be made on the spot, just before consumption,\u201d Paslier told Fast Company. \u201cIf you think of a coffee machine in the cafe that makes the coffee just before you drink it, we\u2019re working on something that would be about that size.\u201d", "output": "Skipping Rocks Lab, a London-based start-up, has created edible balls of water in an initiative designed to reduce the use of plastic bottles. The product, named Ooho!, has garnered over $1m in crowdfunding. The balls, similar to those found in bubble tea, are made from ice dipped in calcium chloride and brown algae extract. This coating remains solid even after the ice reaches room temperature. The balls cost equivalent to two cents to produce, and the coating biodegrades in four to six weeks if uneaten.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian investment consultants take aim at robo-advisers \n Fears that robo-advice is mis-selling products and not delivering the best outcomes for clients continues to raise concerns across the financial advice industry.\n\nWhile the technology behind robo-advice is making it cheaper to invest, it doesn't mean it is actually providing advice let alone the right advice, says the Association of Real Return Investment Advisers general manager Rebecca Jacques.\n\n\"If you actually look at what robo is doing, it's a very good way of selling passive index funds at a low cost,\" Jacques says.\n\nShe told a recent Calastone forum that she put a few global and domestic robo-advisers to the test by giving each the same simplistic target: to pay her young children's private school fees.\n\nEvery robo asked for a country of origin; only one asked for a tax bracket - but what was \"scary\" was that not one asked if the funds would be used for private school tuition, she notes.\n\nIn every single instance, the robo advised: \"You have 100% certainty of achieving your objective by investing in fixed interest and cash next for the next 15 years.\"\n\nBased on today's capital markets and for the next five years, there is \"no way\" the goal is achievable, she points out.\n\nJacques even rang one robo-adviser to determine what type of forecast is used in providing estimates, to which the company replied, \"none.\"\n\nWhat's \"wrong\" is the fact that the wealth management industry faces constant scrutiny and regulation in providing advice, but those in IT can simply \"type anything\" in an algorithm and sell it to mum and dad, she says.\n\nPerth-based start-up, PictureWealth, is attempting to defy such limitations and \"do what hasn't been done before\", which is provide digitised advice across all aspects of personal finance, says its founder David Pettit.\n\nThe app, which aggregates different accounts to paint a holistic snapshot or a 'welfie' of finances, is a free online tool that allows users to interact with chat bot FLIQ (Financial Literacy IQ) about financial matters ranging from bank balances and superannuation to insurance policies.\n\nUnlike the Qantas Money app, which only goes as far as aggregating accounts, PictureWealth takes the next step by employing filters to help users understand what they could be doing better or differently in managing their money, he says.\n\nThe robo-advice element for instance, will provide guided decisions if it makes sense to buy an investment portfolio or if the money could be used elsewhere to pay off a credit card or mortgage or kept in savings.\n\nHe agrees the \"advice\" element of robo-advice is a misnomer; a lot of robo-advisers are either selling or helping investors find investment products.\n\nWelfie meanwhile, is attracting interest from advisers wanting to use the software for clients. It isn't intended to disrupt the advice industry, rather to complement it, says Pettit, who is also managing director of Advocate Private Wealth.\n\nThis is an extract of a news story first published in the latest issue of Financial Standard. You can view the full article on our free iPad app.", "output": "Australia's Association of Real Return Investment Advisers (ARRIA) has sounded off on robo-advisers, questioning whether these services are providing investors with the correct advice. The organisation noted many robo-advice platforms can't advise towards specific goals, such as paying children's school fees. Some robo-advisers also noted a high probability of achieving goals over the next 15 years with holdings\u00a0in fixed-interest and cash, something ARRIA contests. Overall, the industry body concluded robo-advisers\u00a0serve mainly as a method of selling cheap index funds.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Deliveroo uses 'dark kitchens' to cater to expanding market \n A tatty car park under a railway line is squeezed between a busy road, an industrial site and a semi-derelict pub covered in graffiti. It\u2019s one of the grittiest parts of east London and probably the last place you would imagine some of the trendiest eateries in the country to be preparing meals.\n\nBut the grimy spot is just a short moped ride from the gleaming office towers of Canary Wharf and upmarket docklands apartments, and is therefore the perfect location for the latest idea from Deliveroo, the food courier service. It is setting up dozens of \u201cdark kitchens\u201d in prefabricated structures for restaurants that want to expand their businesses without opening expensive high street premises.\n\nTen metal boxes of a similar size to a shipping container are on this site in Blackwall. They are fitted with industrial kitchen equipment, and two or three chefs and kitchen porters are at work in each, preparing food for restaurants including the Thai chain Busaba Eathai, the US-style MeatLiquor diners, the Franco Manca pizza parlours and Motu, an Indian food specialist set up by the family behind Mayfair\u2019s Michelin-starred Gymkhana.\n\nThe boxes have no windows and many of the chefs work with the doors open, through which they can be seen stirring huge pans or flipping burgers. Outside there are piles of spare equipment, mops in buckets, gas cylinders for the stoves and large cans of cooking oil.\n\nA Deliveroo rider sets off from a Roobox dark kitchen in Hove, Sussex. Photograph: Bloomberg via Getty Images\n\nThis is one of the biggest of 11 sites currently operated by Deliveroo that are home to 66 dark kitchens. Five sites use the metal structures, known as Rooboxes or Deliveroo Editions, while others are in adapted buildings. The majority are in London, but there are others in Leeds, Reading and Hove, tucked away in car parks or on industrial estates. All are close to residential and office areas filled with customers hungry for upmarket takeaways.\n\nThe locations may be unglamorous, but one dark kitchen in Southwark, south London, is turning out rotisserie chicken for the pricey Notting Hill-based specialist Cocotte. There are also outposts for Gourmet Burger Kitchen, the trendy pizza joint Crust Bros and the Soho sushi bar Yoobi.\n\nDeliveroo has big ambitions for its Rooboxes, with plans to open more in London\u2019s Swiss Cottage, Nottingham and Cambridge soon, and Manchester and Birmingham lined up for more boxes next year. Deliveroo finds and equips the locations, then rents them out to the restaurants, which employ and train the kitchen staff.\n\nTwo chefs tell the Guardian that working in the metal boxes is either hot or cold, depending on the weather and whether they are cooking or prepping. In one kitchen, there is only a small fan heater for cold days. Another houses a pizza oven that takes up more than a third of the space and makes it extremely hot.\n\nJaved Akhtar, the operations director of Franco Manca, says the company is testing out a Roobox at the Blackwall site so diners and chefs at its busy nearby restaurant can avoid being troubled by takeaway delivery drivers. Franco Manca chefs get extra money for working in the box, he says, because \u201cthere is no interaction with front-of-house staff\u201d. It also encourages chefs who may not be keen to work in a metal box in a car park.\n\nBut more chefs are likely to soon be swapping central locations for less salubrious surroundings.\n\nDeliveroo couriers pick up meals for delivery from a restaurant. Photograph: Eric Feferberg/AFP/Getty Images\n\nDeliveroo\u2019s sales soared sevenfold to \u00a3128.6m last year as it expanded its operations in the UK and overseas, to 25,000 restaurants in more than 140 cities and 12 countries. The food delivery market, which includes the Deliveroo rivals JustEat and UberEats as well as traditional takeaways, is expected to increase by 10% a year to \u00a353bn by 2020, according to the market analyst NPD.\n\nBut it is not all straightforward for Deliveroo. The company had planned to have more than 200 dark kitchens on 30 sites across the UK by the end of 2017, and even more overseas. That target has been missed and there have been complaints from residents and councils, who accuse the company of bypassing planning rules.\n\nThe Roobox site in Camberwell, south London, may be forced to close after Southwark council said the noise of delivery vans and mopeds was a nuisance to neighbours and the operations had been set up without planning permission.\n\n\n\nDan Warne, Deliveroo\u2019s UK and Ireland managing director, admits the company did not move quickly enough to speak to the council and residents in Southwark, but says Roobox kitchens are clean, hygienic and checked by the Food Standards Agency.\n\nHe says Deliveroo is considering the use of more pushbikes to deliver food, rather than mopeds, in order to reduce noise where that is a problem. The company has a team of staff especially to deal with queries and complaints from councillors and residents. \u201cWe are keen to adapt our operations to meet the concerns that people raise,\u201d Warne says. \u201cWe do understand this is a new thing coming into an area and some people will have questions about it.\u201d\n\nSome residents living in and around Rooboxes say they welcome the opportunity for jobs for young people. But in Dulwich, south London, Pasquale Mereu, a chef at the nearby Italian restaurant Il Mirto, says Deliveroo has been a \u201cvery bad thing\u201d for the business. He says the restaurant\u2019s delivery orders have more than halved in the past year and they have had to lay off one of two couriers.", "output": "Food courier service Deliveroo has set up dozens of \"dark kitchens\" for restaurants that want to expand without opening up expensive premises. Ten large metal boxes, similar in size to a shipping container, have been set up in Blackwall, east London to prepare food for restaurants such as Thai chain Busaba Eathai and MeatLiquor diners. Deliveroo operates 11 sites, which are home to 66 kitchens,\u00a0in London, Leeds, Reading and Hove. The company had hoped to have over 200 dark kitchens in 30 UK sites by the end of the year, but missed its target.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Samsung team invent bitcoin mining rig with old smartphones \n Making Old Hardware Useful\n\nConsumer behavior when it comes to smartphones \u2014 particularly flagship devices like Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy phones \u2014 has become quite predictable. As these premier devices get upgraded every year, most people tend to stick to their device for only two years. Most find themselves with older smartphone models that, more often, are just left unused in closets.\n\nBut what if you could turn those old phones into something useful \u2014 say, a cryptocurrency mining rig?\n\nEnter an engineering team from Samsung called the C-Lab, purpose of which is to find creative solutions or projects. This team has come up with innovative ways to make these older devices useful \u2014 a process called \"upscaling\" or repurposing. One of these projects, which the C-Lab presented at Samsung's developer conference in San Francisco, upscales old Galaxy S5s into a bitcoin mining rig.\n\nImage credit: Kyle Wiens\n\nCryptocurrency mining has become popular in recent months. Usually, miners rely on computers with dedicated central processing units (CPUs) to keep transactions conducted in Bitcoin's blockchain. In exchange for this, they get to mine bitcoin.\n\nBut Samsung's mining rig has demonstrated that you don't need a fancy CPU to mine cryptocurrency. Instead, 40 units of Samsung's Galaxy S5 can do the trick \u2014 in fact, they could even mine at a greater efficiency than a desktop computer.\n\nRecycling Value\n\nThe C-Lab engineers presented a bunch of other upscaled Samsung devices as well, including a old Galaxy tablet turned into an Ubuntu-powered laptop, a used Galaxy S3 that now works as a fishtank monitor, and another old Samsung phone with facial recognition software that's been made into a sort of watchdog for your front door.\n\n\"This innovative platform provides an environmentally responsible way for old Galaxy mobile devices to breathe new life, providing new possibilities and potential extended value for devices that might otherwise be forgotten in desk drawers or discarded.\" Samsung spokesperson Robin Schultz told Motherboard in an email.\n\nMaintaining CPUs dedicated for mining can be costly, especially in terms of electricity. So, some have tried to find creative ways to mine for crypto coins. At least one website has resorted to using software that clandestinely turns the CPUs of their visitors into satellite crypto miners, much to the consternation of said users. Instead of resorting to such a questionable practice, perhaps you could opt for a mining rig similar to Samsung's?\n\nAt any rate, Samsung's bitcoin mining rig is really worth some consideration, especially for those who want to dip their toes into cryptocurrency mining. It's not too late, and the crypto coin market is growing, with Bitcoin leading the pack. The world's most popular cryptocurrency has maintained its value above $5,000, after peaking at $6,000 last week. As of writing, Bitcoin is priced at $5,950.\n\nSamsung's C-Lab is planning to release the software they used to unlock their phones for upscaling, and they're even going to make the plans for the projects mentioned here available online for free.\n\nDisclosure: Several members of the Futurism team, including the editors of this piece, are personal investors in a number of cryptocurrency markets. Their personal investment perspectives have no impact", "output": "Engineers at Samsung's C-Lab in South Korea have successfully turned old Galaxy S5 smartphones into a bitcoin mining rig. Cryptocurrency mining has become increasingly popular, with miners normally relying on computers with dedicated central processing unit (CPU) space to hold transactions carried out in bitcoin's blockchain. But the C-Lab team showed a special CPU was not necessary, and that 40 Galaxy S5s could even mine at a greater efficiency than a computer. Other upscaled devices created by C-Lab include a used phone that works as a fish tank monitor and a Galaxy tablet converted into an Ubuntu-powered laptop.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "No Brexit effect on student accommodation market, finds Savills \n 2016 saw the UK achieve its second highest ever investment volume into purpose built student housing with $5.84 billion (\u00a34.5 billion) ploughed into the sector and three of the world\u2019s five largest individual student housing investment deals over the past 18 months taking place within its borders.\n\nAll three were by international investors: the largest was Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and student accommodation developer GSA\u2019s acquisition of a 7,150-bed student accommodation portfolio for US$900 million.\n\nTo those outside the industry this may be surprising: why, when there are question marks over both the continuation of European research funding to UK universities after it leaves the EU and its potential appeal to foreign students, would so many commit to UK student housing?\n\nThe answer is that many international investors continue to view student accommodation as a stable asset class with strong returns. Investment in UK purpose built student housing continued unabated after June 2016, despite falling volumes in other sectors.\n\nInternational students, too, found that their money suddenly goes further in the UK than before and therefore have not been deterred from applying to study here, consequently ensuring that occupancy rates, and income, remain high.\n\nIn addition, the UK\u2019s higher education sector enjoys an exceptionally strong international standing, built upon hundreds of years of university heritage. This did not suddenly change on the morning of 24 June 2016: the appearance of UK universities near the top of global rankings will remain for the foreseeable future. Beyond the league tables, London\u2019s status as a global city also means that it continues to appear at the top of many young people\u2019s wish lists as somewhere to live and experience.\n\nThe UK\u2019s vote to leave the EU does bring some uncertainty, particularly around European research funding, as well as the treatment of academic staff from the EU and the ongoing management of student immigration, but none of these are sufficient to deter large volumes of students or indeed investors, who see UK student housing as a resilient, well performing investment class.\n\nThe reality is that good student accommodation will always remain in demand, and the mood in the sector remains buoyant. Investors are willing to pay premiums for larger portfolios, driven by their need to allocate their investment capital and build scale quickly, so we expect to see further activity in the UK market in the months to come.\n\nFurther information\n\nRead more: Savills Spotlight: World Student Housing", "output": "The Brexit vote has not affected\u00a0investment in UK student accommodation, according to property firm Savills. Despite concerns about\u00a0the country's appeal to foreign students after Britain leaves the EU, many global investors still see student housing as a stable asset class with good returns. Also foreign students have found their money goes further in the UK than before, ensuring applications and occupancy rates remain high. In addition, British universities have a strong international reputation, a status that's unlikely to change in the immediate future. Nearly $6bn was invested in the asset class last year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cisco chooses Michigan for first US smart state\u00a0initiative \n Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More\n\nToday, networking giant Cisco announced that it will be partnering with Michigan on an initial three-year program to help the state train more tech workers, become a hub for autonomous vehicle testing, and use data to streamline government services.\n\nAccording to a blog post on Cisco\u2019s website, the program has five priorities: developing connected roadways, fostering improvements in advanced manufacturing, offering digital education and training for tech workers, developing a \u201ccitizen-centered, smart, and connected government,\u201d and making Michigan a \u201csafer and more attractive place to live.\u201d\n\nCalled the State Digital Acceleration program, the Michigan initiative is the first of its kind that Cisco has offered in the U.S. It\u2019s modeled after Cisco\u2019s Country Digital Acceleration program, which has been in existence for about three years and has been introduced in approximately 16 different countries. Alison Gleeson, senior vice president of Cisco Americas, said in a phone interview with VentureBeat that the company decided to launch its first stateside digital acceleration program in Michigan because of the state\u2019s leadership in autonomous vehicle testing. In 2016, Governor Rick Snyder launched the Planet M campaign to \u201cstrengthen, protect, and promote the state\u2019s global leadership\u201d in autonomous and connected vehicles.\n\nGleeson declined to say how much money Cisco will be investing in the program, but she highlighted a few commitments in particular. First, the company will partner with the Michigan Department of Transportation to pilot \u201cCisco Connected Roadways,\u201d which will provide MDOT with real-time data to improve passenger and worker safety. Gleeson said that Cisco is interested in exploring ways to assist MDOT in notifying drivers about poor weather conditions \u2014 whiteouts, black ice, fog \u2014 as well as providing the exact mile at which the driver is expected to hit these conditions, via digital signage and vehicle-to-vehicle communication.\n\nSecond, Cisco will partner with Wayne State University in Detroit to create a 25,000-square foot building for advanced manufacturing training. The company also plans to hire 300 instructors to expand the footprint of its Networking Academy \u2014 an IT skills and career-building curriculum that Cisco makes available to secondary schools, universities, and other organizations. The goal is to double the number of students that graduate from Networking Academy programs in Michigan each year from 3,000 students to 8,000 students by 2020.\n\nFinally, Cisco will partner with the Michigan department of technology, management, and budget on \u201ccollaboration around a converged network platform for innovation in the future in services, security, collaboration, cloud, and more.\u201d\n\nGleeson said that Cisco will likely launch a digital acceleration program in another state before the end of the year and said the company plans to roll the program out to other states in the coming year.", "output": "Networking giant Cisco is embarking on a technology partnership with Michigan. The three-year digital acceleration programme will help the state train technology workers, use data to streamline government services, develop connected roadways and become a centre for driverless vehicle testing. The Michigan initiative is the first of its kind offered by Cisco in the US and is modelled on its Country Digital Acceleration scheme, which operates in about 16 countries. Cisco chose Michigan as its first US launch for the programme because of the state's interest in supporting the development of autonomous driving technology.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Attivo Networks use threat deception to tackle cyber attacks \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nAttivo Networks, a startup that specializes in thwarting cyberattacks using deception technology, has raised $21 million in a series C round of funding. The round was led by Trident Capital Cybersecurity, with participation from eBay founder Pierre Omidyar\u2019s VC firm Omidyar Technology Ventures and Bain Capital Ventures.\n\nFounded out of Fremont, California in 2011, Attivo is one of a number of cybersecurity startups in the deception technology realm, using defensive \u201chall of mirrors\u201d techniques that consist of lures and traps designed to trick attackers into revealing themselves. In effect, the underlying technology automatically sets decoys that are integrated into a company\u2019s existing IT infrastructure to confuse and misdirect any hackers that may have already infiltrated the network.\n\n\u201cAchieving 100 percent security is not realistic \u2014 organizations must know immediately when their perimeter security controls fail and be able to respond quickly,\u201d explained Tushar Kothari, CEO of Attivo Networks. \u201cAttivo Networks deception-based detection efficiently closes this detection deficit. It is not enough to understand how an attacker attacks, you must also know how to defend and respond.\u201d\n\nPrior to now, Attivo had raised $23 million in funding, including a $15 million series B round just five months ago. With its latest cash injection, the company plans to \u201cmeet the soaring demand\u201d for early detection and smart deflection of cyberattacks.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\nWith the gargantuan Equifax data breach still fresh in everyone\u2019s minds, and the global cybersecurity workforce estimated to be short by 1.8 million people by 2022, it\u2019s little surprise that we\u2019ve seen such an uptick in cybersecurity investment. This year alone, the likes of AI cybersecurity startup Darktrace raised $75 million, while SentinelOne nabbed $70 million.\n\nIn the deception technology realm, Israel\u2019s Illusive Networks has raised at least $30 million in funding, including a $22 million round back in 2015, and Microsoft Ventures added an undisclosed sum of money to its pot back in January. Elsewhere, TrapX has also raised some big bucks, with Intel and others channeling up to $19 million into the company.\n\nAs a result of Trident Capital Cybersecurity\u2019s participation in this new round, Alberto Y\u00e9pez, the firm\u2019s managing director, will now join Attivo\u2019s board.\n\n\u201cDeception puts attackers on the defensive, making them work harder and increasing their costs,\u201d noted Y\u00e9pez. \u201cHigh accuracy addresses the issue of too many alarms being reported by existing solutions, and incident response is improved with the capture of specific techniques and tools being used by the attacker. This is the primary reason why companies are working closely with the Attivo team to help detect and more effectively respond to sophisticated cyberattacks.\u201d", "output": "Attivo Networks has raised $21m in a series C funding round for its deception technology for thwarting cyber attacks. The California-based start-up uses defensive \"hall of mirrors\" decoy methods, integrated into a firm's IT infrastructure, to trick hackers into revealing themselves. The\u00a0round was led by Trident Capital Cybersecurity, with support from eBay founder Pierre Omidyar's venture capital firm Omidyar Technology Ventures, as well as Bain Capital Ventures.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Energi Mine launch ICO to incentivise energy conservation \n U.K.-based Energi Mine has today launched its blockchain-based platform that aims to decentralise the near $2 trillion global energy market by incentivising energy conservation. Former energy spokesman for the Liberal Democrats for the House of Lords, Lord Rupert Redesdale has also been appointed as an advisor to Energi Mine.\n\nAccording to an Advanced Energy Now 2017 Market Report from Advanced Energy Economy (AEE), the global advanced energy market surpassed $1.4 trillion in 2016, a seven percent increase compared to the updated $1.3 trillion in 2015. Advanced energy is a broad range of technologies, products and services that include the best available technologies for meeting energy needs.\n\nOf the seven advanced energy market segments, electricity generation remains the largest globally with $455.6 billion in revenue, up five percent over 2015. The remaining six include building efficiency, advanced transportation, advanced fuel production, advanced fuel delivery, advanced industry, and electricity management and delivery.\n\nAccording to Manchester-based Energi Mine, the current electricity market approach is broken as it encourages energy companies to sell as much energy as they can, at the highest price possible. The company currently manages over $140 million worth of energy on behalf of its customers, and looks after around 1,100 customer sites in the U.K., France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The newly launched platform is aiming to change the market by encouraging consumers and organisations to reduce their energy consumption. It hopes to achieve this by issuing ETK tokens to reward energy efficient behaviour, such as taking public transportation or purchasing energy-efficient appliances.\n\n\u201cOur AI and blockchain technology will plug into existing data feeds \u2013 smart meters or transport software \u2013 to verify energy saving behaviour has taken place,\u201d said Omar Rahim, CEO of Energy Mine, speaking to CoinJournal. \u201cWe then help organisations build and manage their reward schemes in our infrastructure.\u201d\n\nThrough the ETK tokens, token holders can redeem them on the Energi Mine platform to pay for energy bills, electric vehicle recharging, exchange them for fiat currency instead, or trade them directly with transport authorities to pay for their trip. With the process designed to be as frictionless as possible, users will receive their tokens via a simple-to-use app, which they will receive from local transit authorities such as the Transport for London. It\u2019s hoped that behaviours can be influenced via rewards.\n\nFurthermore, through Energi Mine\u2019s decentralised platform, excess energy from a consumer can be sold to a different consumer at transparent market prices, rather than sold to a power supplier at a rate determined by the power supplier.", "output": "A Manchester-based tech startup has established a blockchain-based market to incentivise energy conservation. Energi Mine is launching an EnergiToken (ETK) as a virtual token which it says can be bought and used by companies and public authorities as part of incentive schemes to encourage energy-saving behaviour such as increased use of public transport or buying an electric vehicle. They can then be exchanged on the Energi Mine platform for other currencies or used to pay energy bills, creating a market to incentivise energy conservation."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HTC targets VR as educational tool \n Nikitas Glykas, president of HTC Middle East and Africa.\n\nThe way school children are taught in classrooms has not changed in decades, leaving the education sector free from disruption as the world enters the fourth industrial revolution.\n\nHowever, hardware manufacturer HTC says old ways of teaching will not adequately prepare learners for the new digital era. The company is investing heavily in virtual reality (VR), as it believes this will soon completely change how school children are taught.\n\nNikitas Glykas, president of HTC Middle East and Africa, says VR is not only about entertainment and gaming, as the emerging technology has enormous implications for education.\n\nHe cited a study done last year, which found VR-based education has an advantage, over traditional teaching, in theoretical knowledge teaching as well as practical skills training.\n\n\"In theoretical knowledge teaching, it boasts the ability to make abstract problems concrete, and theoretical thinking well-supported. In practical skills training, it helps sharpen students' operational skills, provides an immersive learning experience, and enhances students' sense of involvement in class, making learning more fun, more secure and more active,\" the research findings stated.\n\nIn the paper titled \"The Impact of VR on Academic Performance\", researchers explain how they took two separate groups of learners and taught them the same lesson: one group via traditional ways of teaching and the other using virtual reality and the HTC Vive set-up. The students were tested afterwards on what they learnt.\n\nThe average pass rate of the VR group was 90%, while that of the traditional teaching group was 40%.\n\nIt made a difference to children across learning abilities. In the VR teaching group, students with learning difficulties went from an average of 68 to an average of 88, while the 'whizz kids' who were naturally very good at school, improved their average to almost 100%.\n\nThe children were also tested two weeks after the initial lesson to see how well they retained the knowledge. The results showed the VR group retained the knowledge 32.3% more than those in the traditional group.\n\n\"VR enjoys obvious advantages in teaching; for example, it makes the content of courses more vivid; students can experience by themselves; it is very interactive, and easy to remember and understand,\" the researchers said.\n\nContent drive\n\nThe HTC Vive launched in SA earlier this year. It is a complete VR setup, including a headset, hand controllers and wall sensors, so that users can use their hands while in the virtual world.\n\nGlykas says the barriers at the moment for VR taking off in education are price and lack of content.\n\nHe believes private schools with more money will first start fitting VR rooms in schools and then as the price comes down, so other schools will follow.\n\nContent is tricky, he says, because it needs to be localised.\n\nHTC is working with developers to create some content and will open an online portal that educators can subscribe to within the near future. One programme already up and running, developed with partners, is an anatomy lesson which lets learners 'take apart' the human body in VR and then place it back together again.\n\nThere are people in SA working on solving the lack of contextualised educational VR content.\n\nIn June last year, an Interactive Digital Centre was opened in Tshwane. The R140 million facility aims to provide 50 students a year with VR and augmented reality skills to create local educational content.\n\nMove away from smartphones?\n\nSpeaking about Google's recent $1.1 billion acquisition of HTC's division that develops the US firm's Pixel smartphones, Glykas dismissed speculation that this move was made so that HTC could solely focus on VR.\n\nHe says smartphones are still at the core of the HTC business. \"Now HTC, following this sale, is very strong financially to continue to invest in VR and smartphones.\"\n\nGlykas hinted at possible new business revenues. \"HTC has been innovating for the past 20 years. Some of the areas we are working on are the Internet of things and artificial intelligence, but I cannot comment on that yet.\"", "output": "Manufacturer HTC is investing significant resources in developing virtual reality (VR) technology for use in schools. The company, based in Taiwan, cited a research paper suggesting that the use of VR in teaching could dramatically improve students' performance. The experiment used an HTC VR system called VIVE to teach a physics lesson, while\u00a0a comparable group of students was taught using traditional methods. The VR-taught group achieved a pass rate of 90%, compared to a 40% rate for the traditionally-taught group. HTC is now working with developers to create further applications and content for educators.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "London's prime market is stabilising: Knight Frank \n The average value of English greenfield development land was unchanged in Q3, according to the latest research from Knight Frank. The value of prime central London development land also stayed the same. Urban brownfield site values slipped slightly over the quarter, but on an annual basis are still outperforming.\n\nEnglish greenfield land values were up 1.1% year-on-year in Q3, the second consecutive quarter they have been in positive territory after two years\u2019 of modest declines in pricing. There is now a steadier supply of greenfield development land in many parts of the market. This is likely to keep pricing level overall in the coming year, although there is still potential for outperformance in some areas where sites are oven-ready and have access to good infrastructure.\n\nIn urban areas, the continued price growth in the urban brownfield land index reflects continued demand in these markets. While this sustained demand will likely continue to underpin pricing, average land values remained broadly flat in Q3, suggesting that pricing in some urban markets may have found its equilibrium.\n\nIn prime central London, the decline in development land values shows continued signs of abating, with values down just 2.5% on the year, compared to a 10.3% decline seen in Q3 last year.\n\nIn general, the prime central London land market is showing signs of stabilising after a period of deflation and this trend is expected to continue over the next 12 months.\n\nIan Marris, Joint Head of Residential Development, said, \u201cThe liquidity in the land market is low as sentiment is nervous; however, for the brave there is value to be found. Deals are price sensitive and risk needs to be appropriately analysed and understood.\u201d\n\nThere are challenges for developers trying to secure debt and equity funding, and development economics must also account for the fact that there is, so far, little sign of any significant softening in construction costs. The weaker pound is boosting import prices, while the lack of resource in the labour market is also a key consideration for developers currently active in the market.\n\n\u201cThis is a market for the experienced who know and understand how to extract value in uncertain times. That said, we believe there is opportunity for investors who will be building out into a market, which, over the next few years, looks to be extremely limited in respect of new supply,\u201d Marris added.\n\nDid you like this? Share it:", "output": "The prime London property market appears to be stabilising after a period of deflation, according to research by consultants Knight Frank. The report found that development land values in central London were down by just 2.5% on the year, compared to a decline of 10.3% at the same time last year. The figures suggest the trend will continue, though analysts warn that the market is still experiencing uncertainty, and will require experienced investors who understand how to extract value from it.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bitcoin-mining energy usage equates to 13m barrels of oil a year \n The Bitcoin boom has forced the mining sector to try and keep up, as the energy and effort put into mining a single coin is paying higher and higher. However, it\u2019s also causing the mining sector to go into overdrive seeking the elusive prize.\n\nOne way that miners have sought to gain an additional edge in the game is to try and cut their energy costs. It\u2019s good for the miners, for Bitcoin and for the environment if energy usage plummets.\n\nThe cost of a Bitcoin\n\nThe Bitcoin mining industry consumes 22.5 TWh of energy annually, which is the equivalent of 13,239,916 barrels of oil. With 12.5 Bitcoins being mined every 10 minutes, that means the average energy cost of one Bitcoin equates to 20 barrels of oil.\n\nIt seems an inodramate amount of oil to be spending on mining a digital currency, yet when considering the worth of one coin, which is now valued at more than 100 barrels of oil, it becomes understandable.\n\nHowever, despite the lucrativeness of it all, there are serious implications environmentally for the mining sector of Bitcoin. Accordingly, if the boom continues there should be plans to try and keep energy costs down.\n\nTo put this in perspective, the total energy consumption of the world\u2019s Bitcoin mining activities is more than 40 times greater than that required to power the entire Visa network.\n\nCheap electricity kings\n\nIt\u2019s unsurprising to find that the countries that have been seen as the superpowers of Bitcoin mining have been those who\u2019ve had cheap electricity, or worked towards it.\n\nChina has long been a Bitcoin mining hub as it has some of the cheapest electricity, however, with its stance on Bitcoin changing Russia is stepping in.\n\nThere were plans for Russian subsidization for Bitcoin mining, but the socialist country is heading down China\u2019s route in regards to its feeling towards Bitcoin.\n\nThis has led to other countries becoming mining powerhouses.\n\nLand of ice and mining\n\nThe future of mining seems to be a lot greener and a lot more efficient and economical. Many mining companies are looking to places like Iceland and Kazakhstan, where the temperatures are lower and there\u2019s no need to spend money on cooling.\n\nAdditionally, there have been forays into using sustainable and renewable sources of energy to power mining operations. These are beneficial to the plant and to the miners, as power is a lot cheaper in many parts of the world.", "output": "The bitcoin mining industry could be heading for a cheaper, greener future, as companies seek to reduce cooling costs and electricity consumption. Currently, bitcoin mining consumes 22.5 TWh of energy a year, the equivalent of 13.2 million barrels of oil, and more than 40 times what is needed to power the entire Visa network. As China, a source of cheap electricity, and Russia step back from bitcoin mining, cooler climes such as Iceland and Kazakhstan, and well as the renewable energy sector, could benefit."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Processing times slashed by launch of bank cheque imaging \n The UK is beginning the phased roll out an image-based cheque clearing system that will slash processing times from six 'weekdays' to one day and pave the way for the introduction of interbank mobile cheque deposits.\n\nAlthough cheque usage is in decline, 477 million were written in 2016. Previous attempts to abolish cheques caused political uproar and howls of protest from consumer groups and charities which still rely on paper-based donations.\n\n\n\nLegislative changes to enable the passing of digital cheque imaging came into force in July 2016 and marked the onset of a number of bank trials of mobile cheque deposit systems for intra-bank clearing. Under the new system, banks will be able to accept and clear cheque images drawn from their peers.\n\n\n\nInitially, the volume of cheques going through the new system - built by Vocalink and Exela Technologies - will be small, with the UK's Cheque and Credit Clearing Company running two clearing systems in parallel until all banks have come online later in 2018. This means that some cheques that customers write or pay-in will be cleared more quickly via the image system, and some will clear to the existing, six weekday timescale through the current, paper-based system.\n\n\n\nJames Radford, chief executive officer of the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company, says: \"For more than 350 years the way cheques have been cleared in this country has essentially remained the same. Now, with the introduction of cheque imaging, we are bringing the UK cheque into the 21st century, ensuring that it remains a secure, robust and viable payment method for the millions of charities, businesses and personal customers that still write or receive cheques on a regular basis.\u201d", "output": "The UK deployment of an image-based cheque clearing system could cut processing times from six working days to just one. Some 477 million cheques were written last year, despite usage being in decline; previous reform attempts caused protests from charities and consumer groups who rely on paper-based donations. Under the new system, developed by Vocalink and Exela Technologies, banks can accept and clear cheque images drawn from their rivals. The initial volume of cheques processed\u00a0will be small, with two clearing systems running parallel until all banks adopt the technology in 2018."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian critical infrastructure operators face new oversight \n The Australian Government is looking at federal regulation of infrastructure assets from a national security perspective, which would include significant disclosure obligations and a last resort power to direct entities to take action to mitigate significant national security risks.\n\nThis month the Australian Government released the Security of Critical Infrastructure Bill 2017, the first Australian endeavour to regulate energy, port, water and telecommunication assets and infrastructure at the federal level and from a national security perspective, for public consultation by Friday 10 November.\n\nThe proposed law seeks:\n\nto establish a protected Critical Infrastructure Asset Register and reporting regime for owners and operators of critical assets, requiring the disclosure of beneficial ownership and supplier arrangements; and\n\nand reporting regime for owners and operators of critical assets, requiring the disclosure of beneficial ownership and supplier arrangements; and to create the Ministerial Power of Last Resort to direct owners or operators of a critical asset to take actions to mitigate significant national security risks.\n\nThis follows Singapore's key cyber security reforms, including the designation of Critical Information Infrastructure (computer systems essential to Singapore's national security and economy) and the reporting requirements for owners and operators of CIIs to the Commissioner of Cyber Security. An important insight arising from the proposed Singaporean regime is the need for safeguards and structural checks and balances \u2012 particularly if requiring companies to disclose sensitive commercial information and directing entities to take action to prevent a cyber threat.\n\nIn this article we will consider the key Australian proposed reforms, which will impact:\n\nState and Territory governments and agencies;\n\nregulators; and\n\nowners and operators of critical electricity, ports, water and telecommunications assets.\n\nWhat are Critical Infrastructure Assets (CIAs)?\n\nCIA are infrastructure assets deemed critical to Australia\u2019s economic interests, the delivery of essential services and national security and include:\n\na critical electricity asset; or\n\na critical port; or\n\na critical water asset; or\n\nan asset declared under section 49 to be a critical infrastructure asset; or\n\nan asset prescribed by the rules.\n\nThe Bill defines CIAs by reference to the ownership and operational information the Australian Government wants to capture. For example, critical port assets are prescribed by name, electricity assets are captured by the magnitude of generation or transmission and distribution (as the case may be) and water assets are critical if they service 100,000 or more water or sewerage connections.\n\nCritical Infrastructure Asset Register\n\nA key reform in the Bill is to enable the Australian Government to access significant information about CIAs through the establishment of a protected Register of Critical Infrastructure Assets. Administered by the Secretary of the Attorney-General's Department, the Register will provide the Australian Government with information about who owns and controls CIAs. The Register is also backed up by an extensive reporting regime which is designed to provide information about the extent of foreign interest in Australia's critical infrastructure assets.\n\nThe Australian Government has stated it will use information on the Register to conduct risk assessments to identify national security risks. If a potential risk is identified, the Secretary will have the power to obtain further information or documents to consider the risk and the Minister may direct an entity to take action under the Act (considered below).\n\nTwo types of entities who must report\n\nEntities who are either direct interest holders or responsible for the asset will need to provide interest and control information and operational information to enhance the Australian Government's understanding of the ownership and control of listed critical infrastructure assets. Entities responsible for operating assets must disclose to the Australian Government the assets' location, its services, details of arrangements under which it operates and for each responsible entity or operator, its country of incorporation. Entities should be aware they might be required to provide this information by the end of the grace period of the asset (six months) or 30 days after the entity becomes a reporting entity for the asset for the purposes of the Act.\n\nDirect interest holders must provide interest and control information, including details of any ultimate interest holders or beneficial owners. As noted in the explanatory document, the Australian Government is requiring entities to disclose commercially sensitive information. To address the significant risks associated with inadvertent disclosure of this sensitive information, the Bill provides that the information listed on the Register and the Register itself will be treated as \"protected information\" under the Australian Government Protective Security Policy Framework. Section 43 of the Bill makes it an offence to disclosed protected information, including a penalty of two years imprisonment or 120 penalty units or $25,200, or both.\n\nA new continuous disclosure obligation\n\nReporting entities also have a continuous disclosure obligation to report on notifiable events within specified timeframes. Notifiable Events are:\n\nevents that affect the completeness of operational information or interest and control information provided;\n\nan entity becomes a reporting entity for the asset or a reporting entity for the asset becoming an entity to which this Act applies.\n\nSection 24 of the draft bill sets out a table of Notifiable Events and the required reporting timeframes.\n\nThe Bill prescribes civil penalties for non-compliance with these reporting obligations. Interestingly, the penalties are relatively low \u2012 25 penalty units or $5250. Smaller penalties are typical for infringement notices but more unusual in corporate regulatory regimes \u2012 given that civil penalties need to be litigated and thus tend to be set to an amount that is worthwhile pursuing in court.\n\nMinisterial last resort power\n\nThe other key reform proposed by the Bill is to grant the Minister the power to direct owners and operators of CIAs to take action to manage national security risks. As currently drafted, the directions power in section 30 of the Bill appears alarmingly broad:\n\n\"The Minister may, subject to subsections (3) and (4), give an entity that is a reporting entity for, or an operator of, a critical infrastructure asset, a written direction requiring the entity to do, or refrain from doing, a specified act or thing within the period specified in the direction.\"\n\nThe explanatory document states that the Minister's power will be used as a last resort. Subsection 30(1) makes it clear that the Minister must be satisfied that the act or omission would be prejudicial to \"security\" within the meaning of the ASIO Act. \"Security\" under the ASIO Act is defined as:\n\n\"(a) the protection of, and of the people of, the Commonwealth and the several States and Territories from:\n\nespionage; sabotage; politically motivated violence; promotion of communal violence; attacks on Australia\u2019s defence system; or acts of foreign interference;\n\nwhether directed from, or committed within, Australia or not; and\n\n(aa) the protection of Australia\u2019s territorial and border integrity from serious threats; and\n\n(b) the carrying out of Australia\u2019s responsibilities to any foreign country in relation to a matter mentioned in any of the subparagraphs of paragraph (a) or the matter mentioned in paragraph (aa).\"\n\nFurther, subsections (3) and (4) provide important safeguards for owners and operators of CIAs. Unlike the Singaporean equivalent directions power which is investigative and may be exercised for threats less than national security risks, the Minister's proposed directions power is subject to a number of preconditions - the most decisive of which is that entity has had an adverse security assessment. The other key precondition is that the direction must be reasonably necessary to reduce the national security risk; presumably this means the direction must be in a sense proportional to the extent of the risk identified.\n\nBefore exercising his or her power, Minister will also consider whether existing alternatives are available, including whether any regulatory system could be used to reduce the risk. The Minister will also have regard to the potential impact of exercising the power on both the relevant industry and the customers of that entity. Further still, section 31 requires the Minister to consult with the relevant State or Territory Minister, the relevant entity and any other persons at the Minister's discretion. The relevant entity will also be able to make representations to the Minister in relation to any proposed direction within certain timeframes under the Act.\n\nKey concerns for infrastructure owners and other businesses\n\nThis being so, entities will no doubt be concerned about the range and magnitude of the directions issued by the Minister. This is especially so given the civil penalty for non-compliance with a direction is, in contrast to reporting breaches, 250 civil penalty units or $52,500 for each day of non-compliance. Enforceable undertakings and injunctions as prescribed in the Regulatory Powers Act might also be used to compel compliance with a direction under the Bill.\n\nThe explanatory document for the Australian Bill offers an example of the type of direction the Minister may issue under this section of the Bill:\n\n\"\u2026the Minister directs a critical infrastructure asset operator to move currently stored offshore corporate and operating data to a more secure data storage provider. The direction will provide a specific timeframe within which the entity must comply. A further example of a direction is the Minister may direct a critical infrastructure asset owner to not outsource operations of its core network to certain providers. This direction may specify that the condition exists in perpetuity. Alternatively, the Minister may specify in the direction that the entity must consult the Government before entering into future outsourcing arrangements.\" [emphasis added]\n\nThe examples suggest the Minister's directions may have significant commercial implications for businesses that own and operate CIAs. For instance, a direction to relocate operating data from an offshore data centre to an Australian-based centre may require extensive, and costly, operational restructuring. As extracted above, the Australian Government has also indicated the Minister may issue directions which apply in perpetuity. While the Australian Government has indicated that the Minister only expects to exercise his or her power once every three years across CIAs, the significant costs associated with any exercise of the power indicates that entities should begin re-evaluating their relationships with offshore entities that may be the focus of regulatory action, with a view to minimising their expose to commercial risk.\n\nAnother key concern, as identified from the Singapore reforms, is whether a direction will involve the acquisition of property by the Australian Government. Section 33 of the Bill provides that any direction by the Minister will not be of a kind that results in an acquisition of property on just terms as defined under section 51(xxxi) of the Constitution. The Australian Government states in the explanatory document that entities only need to comply with a direction to the extent the outcome of compliance is not an acquisition of property on just terms. However the onus is on the entity to prove with supporting evidence that section 51(xxxi) of the Constitution would apply in their case. Further, while short of acquiring property, it is open to the Minister on the current construction of section 30(2) to issue directions that interfere with property rights. For instance, the Minister might direct an entity to install, or have installed by a third party, anti-threat software into proprietary computers or systems \u2012 which may store customer data.\n\nNext steps for the Security of Critical Infrastructure Bill 2017\n\nIf passed, the Security of Critical Infrastructure Bill 2017 would be a new world order for owners and operators of critical infrastructure assets in Australia. The measures proposed by the Bill are more invasive than expected, granting the Minister the power to directly interfere with business activities (including foreign investment) and property.\n\nIt will be interesting to see what amendments are made to the exposure draft following public consultation with key stakeholders including the States and Territories and the affected industries. Given its national security focus, the Bill will be scrutinised by the consequential Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security after the Bill's introduction into the Senate.\n\nWe will be keeping a close eye on the Bill's progress through the legislative process.\n\nRELATED KNOWLEDGE", "output": "The Australian government intends extending regulatory oversight of those responsible for\u00a0critical infrastructure assets to minimise\u00a0cyber attack risks. When enacted,\u00a0the Security of Critical Infrastructure Bill 2017 would introduce a reporting regime for owners and managers to include\u00a0disclosure of beneficial ownership. It would also establish the Ministerial Power of Last Resort to allow operators to be overridden to\u00a0mitigate\u00a0national security risks. The new law would cover energy, water, port and telecommunication assets, as well as other critical infrastructure. The bill will be open to public consideration until 10 November.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Expro develops world's first wireless reservoir pressure data system \n Edit page New page Hide edit links\n\nExpro announces world\u2019s first proven electromagnetic transmission of reservoir pressure data to surface across an open-hole well section without casing (photo: Expro)\n\nInternational oilfield services company Expro has successfully accomplished the world\u2019s first proven wireless transmission of reservoir pressure data to surface, from a recently abandoned subsea appraisal well which incorporated a rock-to-rock cement plug.\n\nThe system was installed in the North Sea and will be used to improve understanding of the reservoir and to optimise future development planning of the field, while ensuring full compliance with local well abandonment regulations.\n\nThis achievement provides operators with a more cost effective option for well abandonment design and consideration of wider well barrier techniques, while maintaining the ability to monitor the reservoir or plug integrity.\n\nExpro\u2019s cableless telemetry system (CaTS\u2122) wireless gauges, using electromagnetic (EM) technology, were installed in the reservoir of the main bore and casings were cut below the side-track kickoff point to install the cap rock cement plug.\n\nCaTS repeaters placed in the side-track enabled data transmission across the open-hole section and to the seabed transceiver for storage and transmission to an overhead vessel. The system provided continuous reservoir data, which began immediately after the drill stem test (DST), allowing extended pressure build-up analysis without rig support.\n\nExpro\u2019s Executive Vice President, Alistair Geddes, comments, \u201cThis latest achievement demonstrates our leading position in understanding the physics behind downhole EM telemetry. It allows us to instrument more wells with casing breaks or longer open-hole sections, partnering with customers to develop the most effective plug and abandonment strategies.\u201d\n\n\u201cFor nearly two decades, Expro has pioneered the use of EM for long-term reservoir monitoring, delivering advancements in 3D analysis models for open-hole communication \u2013 without the need for a continuous metallic path for data transmission. We recognise the value that technology brings to our industry, which is why we continue to expand our capability and deliver maximum value through innovative new applications,\u201d adds Geddes.\n\nCaTS gauges can deliver substantial cost savings in side-tracked wells with appropriate well barriers, as this permits long term interference testing to be completed from the main bore to side-track, without the need to drill a separate appraisal well.\n\nExpro has the most extensive track record of instrumenting subsea abandoned wells and has successfully deployed CaTS gauges for its Advance Reservoir Testing\u2122 (ART) application.", "output": "UK-based oil and gas company Expro has deployed its cableless telemetry system wireless gauges in the North Sea to carry out the first-ever wireless transmission of reservoir pressure data to surface. As well as offering a greater understanding of the reservoir and more data on its future, the system gives operators a cost-effective option for well abandonment design. The breakthrough will enable the company to develop increasingly effective plug and abandonment strategies, said Expro\u2019s Executive VP Alistair Geddes."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "University of Sydney blockchain outperforms Visa payment capacity \n New trials from the University of Sydney\u2019s Red Belly Blockchain have found that it can process financial transactions 50 times faster than originally thought, making ...\n\nNew trials from the University of Sydney\u2019s Red Belly Blockchain have found that it can process financial transactions 50 times faster than originally thought, making it quicker than Visa for worldwide payments.\n\nBack in July, it was initially reported that researchers at the university had developed a new model of blockchain that could process 440,000 transactions per second on 100 machines. This is compared to Visa\u2019s network, which can process 56,000 transactions per second. Bitcoin is limited to around seven per second whereas the ethereum blockchain can process 20.\n\nThese latest results from the university show that the technology\u2019s performance improves as it scales up, according to an announcement from the university.\n\nDr. Vincent Gramoli, who heads the Concurrent Systems Research Group developing the blockchain, said:\n\nOur latest tests showed the Red Belly Blockchain can process more than 660,000 transactions per second on 300 machines in a single data centre. This is a notable improvement from our tests earlier in the year, which showed our blockchain achieved a performance of more than 440,000 transactions per second on 100 machines.\n\nThe test results were taken from 14 different locations ranging from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the U.K., and the U.S. Ten machines took part in the testing of each area.\n\nDr. Gramoli added that he doesn\u2019t know of any other blockchain that can achieve these same results.\n\nOur results confirmed that our blockchain achieves better performance than existing technologies used by financial institutions \u2013 including Visa \u2013 even when the machines that have to collaboratively provide the service are located in different continents.\n\nThe Red Belly Blockchain is being built to prevent problems currently facing digital currencies such as double spending. It is different from proof-of-work (PoW) blockchains in that it offers a performance that scales without consuming much electricity.\n\nThe next stage for the Red Belly Blockchain is to make it available to all Internet users.\n\nFeatured image from Shutterstock.", "output": "Global tests have proven that the University of Sydney\u2019s Red Belly blockchain not only outperforms other financial transaction systems, including Visa and bitcoin, but\u00a0also improves with scale. The latest studies,\u00a0spread across 14 different countries, revealed that Red Belly could process more than 660,000 transactions per second on 300 machines in one data centre, compared to Visa's 56,000 transactions per second and bitcoin's seven.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MintHealth launches blockchain-powered EHR \n At the Connected Health Conference in Boston last week, San Diego-based MintHealth announced the launch of a self-sovereign personal health record built using blockchain technology.\n\nMintHealth is led by CEO Samir Damani and President Vishal Verma. Damani is also the founder of MD Revolution, a which focuses on chronic care management, and Verma serves as CEO of Nucleus Health, a medical imaging company that utilizes blockchain.\n\nDuring an interview at the Connected Health Conference, Damani said MintHealth combines the knowledge of both organizations. It seeks to improve outcomes for patients while also making use of blockchain technology, through which it can break down data silos.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s no wonder we haven\u2019t reached the promise of predictive personalized medicine, because even though the data\u2019s out there, it\u2019s not put in one format,\u201d Damani said.\n\nIts use of blockchain also empowers patients to take control of their own health data.\n\nPatients can access MintHealth online or via a mobile app. Each individual has a global identifier that enables them to access their information and oversee permissions to it.\n\nThe platform also offers digital incentive tokens called vidamints, which are funded by payers. Patients receive the tokens when they participate in healthy behaviors. They can then use the vidamints to help pay for healthcare-related costs such as co-pays, premiums and pharmacy expenses. Damani said there will be a token launch in December or January.\n\n\u201cWe \u2026 can layer on the one thing that we\u2019ve missed out on in the reimbursement model, which is: How do you incentivize the patient?\u201d he said. \u201cDoctors are incentivized, but why aren\u2019t patients incentivized?\u201d\n\nAdditionally, MintHealth will release a solution through which providers can help manage and monitor the care of their patients.\n\nThe ultimate purpose of the model, Damani noted, is to align all stakeholders \u2014 providers, payers and patients \u2014 around the goal of helping patients reduce their risk of suffering from chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension and heart failure.\n\nTo start, MintHealth will roll out its platform to commercial health insurers, who can purchase tokens to give to patients. But Damani foresees the model will be of interest to other players, such those in the government, as well.\n\n\u201cWhat you have to do is \u2026 give the data to the patient and let them be the ones that are sharing it,\u201d he noted. \u201cI think ultimately only that\u2019s going to really solve the problem that we face with chronic conditions. Anything else is cost prohibitive.\u201d\n\nPhoto: a-image, Getty Images", "output": "San Diego-based company MintHealth has launched a blockchain-backed electronic health record platform that puts patients in control of their own health information. Users accessing MintHealth's platform via an app are given a global identifier, enabling them to decide who has permission to see their data. The company will also issue tokens called vidamints as a reward for users who try to live healthily, which can be used to offset health-related costs. The platform will be initially rolled out to commercial health insurers, while the first token launch is expected in December or January.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Japanese AI instantaneously detects bowel cancer \n New software built in Japan can detect bowel cancer in less than a second, researchers claim.\n\nIn recently-conducted trials, the artificial intelligence (AI)-powered system was able to spot colorectal adenomas -- which are benign tumours that can evolve into cancer -- from magnified endoscopic images. The images were matched against 30,000 others that were used for machine learning.\n\nThe system analysed more than 300 colorectal adenomas in 250 patients, taking less than a second to assess each magnified endoscopic image and determine the malignancy of the tumours with 94 percent accuracy, researchers claim.\n\n\"The most remarkable breakthrough with this system is that AI enables real-time optical biopsy of colorectal polyps during colonoscopy, regardless of the endoscopists' skill,\" said study leader Dr Yuichi Mori from Showa University in Yokohama, Japan, who presented the results at United European Gastroenterology Week in Barcelona, Spain.\n\nWhile the system is yet to obtain regulatory approval, Mori believes it could spare many patients from needless surgery.\n\n\"This allows the complete resection of adenomatous (cancerous) polyps and prevents unnecessary polypectomy (removal) of non-neoplastic polyps,\" he said.\n\n\"We believe these results are acceptable for clinical application and our immediate goal is to obtain regulatory approval for the diagnostic system.\"\n\nThe early detection of cancer through the use of AI and other technologies is being explored globally. Earlier this year, the UK's National Health Service (NHS) and Intel said they are working together to make cancer detection more efficient through AI. A team of scientists, hosted by the University of Warwick's Tissue Image Analytics laboratory, have been creating a digital repository of known tumour and immune cells based on thousands of human tissue cells.\n\nThe database of cancer information will then be used by algorithms to recognise these cells automatically, the companies said at the time, with the collaboration initially focusing on lung cancer.\n\nArchitecture including TensorFlow, originally designed by Google, will form the basis for the AI system and will be powered by Intel Xeon processors, Intel and NHS said in May.\n\nAlso in May, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia announced that researchers from its Data61 division have been developing software that could enable the detection of angiogenesis -- the development of new blood vessels -- which precedes the growth of cancers.\n\nResearchers at Data61 and the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences analysed 26 high-resolution 3D micro-CT images of the brains and livers of 26 mice at various stages of cancer growth and developed an algorithm that generates what CSIRO claims is an accurate geometric representation of blood vessels.\n\nData61's software will enable the monitoring of subtle proliferations in blood vessels over time, providing a better understanding of how patients are responding to anti-angiogenesis treatment.\n\n\"The accurate quantification of vasculature changes, particularly the number of terminal vessel branches, can play a critical role in accurate assessment and treatment,\" CSIRO said at the time.\n\nThis is not the first time CSIRO has looked into cancer detection; in December, the government-backed organisation announced that a new, more accurate blood test to detect bowel cancer recurrence, known as Colvera, had been launched in the United States.\n\nThe blood test, which detects cancer-specific chemical changes in fragments of DNA from tumours found circulating in blood, is the result of a collaboration between CSIRO, Flinders University, and Clinical Genomics.\n\nCalifornia-based Guardant Health is also looking into early cancer detection and raised $360 million this year to sequence the tumour DNA of more than 1 million cancer patients within five years and use the data to develop blood-based tests for early cancer detection.\n\nFreenome, a South San Francisco-based liquid biopsy startup that uses a combination of machine learning and biology to detect the cell-free DNA sequencing of cancer before it becomes deadly, also raised $71.2 million to date from investors such as Google Ventures, which has also backed Freenome competitor Grail.\n\nIn January, Grail, a spin-off of the NASDAQ-listed DNA-sequencing giant Illumina, raised $900 million in a Series B round led by Arch Venture Partners, with contribution from other investors such as Johnson and Johnson's innovation arm.\n\nWith AAP", "output": "Researchers at the Showa University in Yokohama, Japan, have developed an artificial intelligence capable of identifying and diagnosing bowel cancer in seconds by using magnified endoscopic images. In tests to determine the level of malignancy of each tumour, the software achieved a 94% accuracy rate, and study leader Dr Yuichi Mori believes it could help prevent unnecessary surgery. The system is currently awaiting regulatory approval."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Those at top public schools 94 times more likely to be UK 'elite' \n The enduring power of the old boy network has been laid bare by a study that found alumni from nine leading public schools are 94 times more likely to reach the elite than those who attended other schools.\n\nGranted unprecedented access to all 120 years of biographical data in Who\u2019s Who, researchers from the London School of Economics calculated that the so-called Clarendon schools, which include Eton, Harrow, Rugby and Westminster, continue to produce nearly 10% of entrants. This is despite those schools having traditionally educated fewer than one in 500 (0.15%) of pupils aged between 13 and 18.\n\nAlan Milburn, the chair of the government\u2019s social mobility commission, said it showed the lengths Britain had to go before it ceased to be an \u201celitist nation\u201d.\n\nWhile the Clarendon schools\u2019 power was found to have diminished since the country\u2019s establishment guide first published biographical data in 1897, they still hold \u201cextraordinary power\u201d, according to the study.\n\nHighlighting that the two key politicians on either side of the Brexit debate \u2013 David Cameron and Boris Johnson \u2013 attended Eton, it said the elite schools, which also include Charterhouse, Merchant Taylors\u2019, Shrewsbury, St Paul\u2019s and Winchester College, continue to exert a \u201cprofound influence\u201d.\n\nThe researchers also observed that the decline in the Clarendon schools\u2019 powers stalled over the past 16 years.\n\n\n\nThe joint lead authors, Aaron Reeves of the International Inequalities Institute at LSE and Sam Friedman of its department of sociology, said: \u201cAlthough the Clarendon schools have not always been the best performing schools in the country, they have consistently remained the most successful in propelling their alumni into elite positions.\n\n\u201cClearly their power lies beyond simple academic excellence and is likely rooted in an extensive extracurricular education that endows old boys with a particular way of being in the world that signals elite male status to others.\u201d\n\nSome entrants to Who\u2019s Who are included automatically upon reaching a prominent position \u2013 such as MPs, peers, judges, senior civil servants and heads of public bodies or large arts organisations \u2013 while others are selected by advisers.\n\nFor the paper, published in American Sociological Review, the researchers split the sample into five-year birth cohorts to allow comparison over time. During the period analysed, the Clarendon schools were male-only.\n\nAmong those born in the 1840s, approximately 20% of those in Who\u2019s Who had attended one of the Clarendon schools. In the most recent cohort, 8% had attended a Clarendon school. Women constituted only 23% of the most recent cohort, although their presence has grown steadily over time.\n\nMilburn said: \u201cOf course the best people need to be in the top jobs \u2013 and there are very many good people who come from private schools. It\u2019s the degree of dominance that is wrong. Few people believe that the sum total of talent in Britain today resides in the 7% of pupils who happened to attend a private school. Britain has a long way to go before we cease to be an elitist nation.\u201d\n\nA Who\u2019s Who spokeswoman said the guide recognised distinction and influence rather than conferred it. \u201cIt is a mirror to the trends of the day, and the aim of each edition has always been to reflect society and its changes,\u201d she said.\n\nThe authors put forward a number of theories as to why the influence of the elite schools appears to have waned since the 19th century. They include the reduced significance of \u2013 and fewer reserved places in Who\u2019s Who for \u2013 the military and the clergy due to the decline of the British empire and the secularisation of British society.\n\nThey also point to 20th-century educational reforms that standardised qualifications and expanded access as creating a more competitive environment.\n\nThe Harry Enfield character Tim Nice But Dim is referenced in the study\n\nThe authors say the reforms have forced the elite schools to become effective producers of educational excellence. Referring to the character played by the actor Harry Enfield, the paper said these schools \u201cmay no longer provide educationally less-meritorious alumni, epitomised by the caricatured comic figure of old boy Tim Nice But Dim, with the same guarantee of a future elite position \u2026 Whereas Tim Nice But Dim could have conceivably become a judge in 1916, he may only become a lawyer in 2016.\u201d\n\nNevertheless, the proportion of new entrants in Who\u2019s Who from Clarendon schools and the 209 independent schools in the elite Headmasters\u2019 and Headmistresses\u2019 Conference (HMC) has remained relatively constant over the past 16 years at 8% and 30% respectively, the study found. Alumni of \u201cother\u201d HMC schools are 35 times more likely to be a member of Who\u2019s Who than those who went to non-HMC state and private schools.\n\nWhile Oxbridge graduates have always comprised between 30-40% of the Who\u2019s Who entrants, the authors found that Clarendon alumni who went to Oxford or Cambridge universities continue to be approximately twice as likely to reach the elite as Oxbridge graduates who went to other schools.\n\nConor Ryan, director of research at the Sutton Trust foundation, said the study highlighted the need to \u201censure that access to the best schools and universities is not restricted to those from better off backgrounds.\n\n\u201cDoing so has a major social and economic cost, and prevents talented people from low and middle income backgrounds achieving their potential, and making a full contribution to modern Britain.\u201d\n\nThe HMC chair, Chris King, accused the authors of criticising excellence. \u201cThis research shows the consistent quality of these schools through times of change in society and government policy,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cIt is wrong and illogical suggest the richness of their extra curricular provision \u2018signals\u2019 male status; in fact it is the essence of a rounded education and helps develop resilience, team work and appreciation of others\u2019 points of view.\u201d\n\nHe added that independent schools were increasingly sharing teachers and facilities with their state counterparts.\n\nOld boy network: Who\u2019s Who entries from the \u2018top nine\u2019 schools\n\nBoris Johnson (Eton)\n\nMoved from Eton to Balliol College, Oxford, to study Classics. Served as president of the Oxford Union. Once won an award for a limerick in which he referred to President Erdo\u011fan of Turkey as a \u201cterrific wankerer\u201d.\n\nNick Clegg (Westminster)\n\nWent to Cambridge University in 1986 to study Archeology and Anthropology. Worked briefly as a journalist before moving into politics. Quickly ascending the ranks, he was elected leader of the Liberal Democrats in 2007.\n\nStephen Glover (Shrewsbury)\n\n\n\nEducated at Shrewsbury School and Oxford University, he worked at the Daily Telegraph before going on to co-found The Independent in 1986.\n\nSir Alan Duncan (Merchant Taylors\u2019)\n\n\n\nFollowing an education at Merchant Taylors\u2019 and St John\u2019s College, Oxford, he began his career as a trader. Elected to parliament in 1992, the current minister of state for Europe and the Americas has served in ministerial positions since 2003. His Who\u2019s Who entry says he is a member of the Beefsteak Club.\n\nSalman Rushdie (Rugby)\n\n\n\nEducated at Rugby School and then King\u2019s College, Cambridge, the Booker prize-winning novelist was knighted in 2007. His 1981 novel Midnight\u2019s Children is included in the Penguin Books list, Great Books of the 20th Century.\n\nBenedict Cumberbatch (Harrow)\n\n\n\nAfter seeing him perform in numerous plays while at Harrow, his drama teacher is said to have referred to him as \u201cthe best schoolboy actor\u201d he had ever seen. He has to date been nominated for awards including five Emmys, four Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Golden Globes.\n\nGeorge Osborne (St Paul\u2019s)\n\n\n\nLeft St Paul\u2019s in 1990 to attend Magdalen College Oxford. Finding it difficult to break into the ranks of journalism, he opted for a political career instead (before eventually returning to the media as editor of the Evening Standard).\n\nCathy Newman (Charterhouse)\n\n\n\nAfter a degree in English at Oxford she became a journalist, starting at the Independent and making her way to become a presenter on Channel 4 News. Her Who\u2019s Who entry says that she is a member of Soho House and enjoys watching Agatha Christie adaptations.\n\nJohn Whittingdale (Winchester)\n\n\n\nThe former culture secretary studied economics at University College, London after leaving Winchester. He lists his interests as cinema and music.\n\nBeatrix Willimont", "output": "Alumni from nine UK public schools are 94 times more likely to become part of the country\u2019s elite than those who attend other schools, according to research by the London School of Economics, drawing on biographical data in the reference work, Who\u2019s Who. The study, based on unprecedented access to 120 years\u2019 worth of data, found that the Clarendon schools, Charterhouse, Eton, Harrow, Merchant Taylors\u2019, Rugby, Shrewsbury, St. Pauls, Westminster and Winchester, continue to produce 10% of those with entries in the publication. Such schools have traditionally educated just 0.15% of UK pupils aged between 13 and 18.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vietnam university adds bitcoin payment option for student fees \n There are many ways to speed up the adoption of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in general. And the Southeast Asian country Vietnam has just implemented one of the most interesting ones yet: using Bitcoin to pay for tuition fees at one of the country\u2019s top universities.\n\nWhile Vietnam has no real laws or regulations pertaining to Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrencies at the moment, Le Truong Tung of FPT University has issued a statement confirming that they have started accepting Bitcoin from students as tuition fees, Vietnam-based ANTD reports. One of the reasons cited is the convenience for the students themselves, which are mostly African and mainly from Nigeria.\n\nSpeaking about the problem that the use of Bitcoin solves, Le Truong Tong said in a statement that the students often faced difficulties in transferring money overseas to pay for tuition. And if you\u2019re at all familiar with how Bitcoin works, then you\u2019d know instantly that it does solve this particular problem.\n\nIf this attempt at using Bitcoin for university tuition fees becomes successful, there may be room to use Bitcoin later on for other school-related fees, or perhaps all sorts of other in-campus expenses. There are a few interesting possibilities in store here but the primary use of tuition fee payments has to succeed first and foremost.\n\nNot everyone is in favor of the move to accept Bitcoin for tuition fees, with some people claiming that it might cause some negative effects on the students, but the idea seems solid enough. FPT University is currently going ahead with the experimental tuition payment option with Bitcoin and will likely keep it as an option if its first attempts turn out successful.\n\nWhatever happens, the university will need to eventually follow the country-wide rules and regulations regarding cryptocurrencies whenever they are declared by the authorities. Until then, FPT University students can say they\u2019re living the future of tuition fee payments, thanks to the blockchain and cryptocurrencies.\n\nRef: ANTD", "output": "A university in Vietnam has begun accepting bitcoin from students as payment for tuition fees. The private FTP University said accepting the cryptocurrency would make it easier for international students from African countries to transfer the funds. Vietnam currently has no specific regulations on the use of cryptocurrencies.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Eccentric Grimsby home goes on sale for 18 bitcoin \n \u0414\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0443\u043f \u043a \u0438\u043d\u0444\u043e\u0440\u043c\u0430\u0446\u0438\u043e\u043d\u043d\u043e\u043c\u0443 \u0440\u0435\u0441\u0443\u0440\u0441\u0443 \u043e\u0433\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0438\u0447\u0435\u043d \u043d\u0430 \u043e\u0441\u043d\u043e\u0432\u0430\u043d\u0438\u0438 \u0424\u0435\u0434\u0435\u0440\u0430\u043b\u044c\u043d\u043e\u0433\u043e \u0437\u0430\u043a\u043e\u043d\u0430 \u043e\u0442 27 \u0438\u044e\u043b\u044f 2006 \u0433. \u2116 149-\u0424\u0417 \u00ab\u041e\u0431 \u0438\u043d\u0444\u043e\u0440\u043c\u0430\u0446\u0438\u0438, \u0438\u043d\u0444\u043e\u0440\u043c\u0430\u0446\u0438\u043e\u043d\u043d\u044b\u0445 \u0442\u0435\u0445\u043d\u043e\u043b\u043e\u0433\u0438\u044f\u0445 \u0438 \u043e \u0437\u0430\u0449\u0438\u0442\u0435 \u0438\u043d\u0444\u043e\u0440\u043c\u0430\u0446\u0438\u0438\u00bb.", "output": "A Grimsby artist is thought to be the first private seller to ask for payment for a house in bitcoin. Sean Atkinson's Welholme Road house, which features a cloudscape ceiling\u00a0and a colourful back room decorated by Atkinson as well as visitors and friends over the years and many other imaginative touches, is on the market for 18 bitcoin or about \u00a380,000 ($106,000). Atkinson has said he would accept cash but would prefer the digital currency, as it is a \"much better longer-term investment\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US researchers develop transparent solar cells \n The engineering team that led the project have argued that the widespread use of such highly transparent solar applications, alongside rooftop units, could generate enough energy to meet total U.S. electricity demand, and drastically reduce the use of fossil fuels.\n\n\u201cHighly transparent solar cells represent the wave of the future for new solar applications,\u201d said Richard Lunt, the Johansen Crosby Endowed Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at MSU. \u201cWe analyzed their potential and show that by harvesting only invisible light, these devices can provide a similar electricity-generation potential as rooftop solar, while providing additional functionality to enhance the efficiency of buildings, automobiles and mobile electronics.\u201d\n\nThe technology utilizes organic molecules to absorb invisible wavelengths of sunlight. The researchers can adjust these materials to up ultraviolet and near infrared wavelengths which are processed into electricity.\n\nThe scientists have estimated that up to 7 billion square meters of glass surface in the U.S. could be covered by the material, with the potential of supplying 40% of energy demand in the U.S.\n\nPopular content\n\n\u201cThe complimentary deployment of both technologies, could get us close to 100 percent of our demand if we also improve energy storage,\u201d Said Lunt.\n\nNevertheless, Lunt reported to Nature Energy that while see-through solar technologies will never be more efficient at converting solar energy to electricity than their opaque counterparts, they can get close and offer the potential to be applied to a lot more additional surface area. Right now, transparent solar technologies are only at about a third of their realistic overall potential.\n\n\u201cThat is what we are working towards,\u201d he said. \u201cTraditional solar applications have been actively researched for over five decades, yet we have only been working on these highly transparent solar cells for about five years. Ultimately, this technology offers a promising route to inexpensive, widespread solar adoption on small and large surfaces that were previously inaccessible.\u201d", "output": "Engineers at Michigan State University (MSU) have developed transparent solar cells that they believe could provide all of the US's electricity needs. The hardware uses organic molecules to absorb wavelengths of sunlight. If the material covered all the glass surfaces that could accommodate it, 40% of US electricity demand would be satisfied, the engineers said. That figure could rise to nearly 100% when combined with traditional rooftop solar arrays and improved energy storage. Transparent solar technology is at a third of its potential, according to MSU professor Richard Lunt."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "2016 saw record increase in CO2 concentration in atmosphere \n Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere surged at a record-breaking speed in 2016 to the highest level in 800 000 years, according to the World Meteorological Organization's Greenhouse Gas Bulletin. The abrupt changes in the atmosphere witnessed in the past 70 years are without precedent.\n\nGlobally averaged concentrations of CO 2 reached 403.3 parts per million in 2016, up from 400.00 ppm in 2015 because of a combination of human activities and a strong El Ni\u00f1o event. Concentrations of CO 2 are now 145% of pre-industrial (before 1750) levels, according to the Greenhouse Gas Bulletin.\n\nRapidly increasing atmospheric levels of CO 2 and other greenhouse gases have the potential to initiate unprecedented changes in climate systems, leading to \u201csevere ecological and economic disruptions,\u201d said the report.\n\nThe annual bulletin is based on observations from the WMO Global Atmosphere Watch Programme. These observations help to track the changing levels of greenhouse gases and serve as an early warning system for changes in these key atmospheric drivers of climate change.\n\nPopulation growth, intensified agricultural practices, increases in land use and deforestation, industrialization and associated energy use from fossil fuel sources have all contributed to increases in concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere since the industrial era, beginning in 1750.\n\nSince 1990, there has been a 40% increase in total radiative forcing \u2013 the warming effect on our climate - by all long-lived greenhouse gases, and a 2.5% increase from 2015 to 2016 alone, according to figures from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration quoted in the bulletin.\n\n\u201cWithout rapid cuts in CO 2 and other greenhouse gas emissions, we will be heading for dangerous temperature increases by the end of this century, well above the target set by the Paris climate change agreement,\u201d said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas. \u201cFuture generations will inherit a much more inhospitable planet, \u201c he said.\n\n\u201cCO 2 remains in the atmosphere for hundreds of years and in the oceans for even longer. The laws of physics mean that we face a much hotter, more extreme climate in the future. There is currently no magic wand to remove this CO 2 from the atmosphere,\u201dsaid Mr Taalas.\n\nThe last time the Earth experienced a comparable concentration of CO 2 was 3-5 million years ago, the temperature was 2-3\u00b0C warmer and sea level was 10-20 meters higher than now.\n\nThe WMO Greenhouse Gas Bulletin reports on atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases. Emissions represent what goes into the atmosphere. Concentrations represent what remains in the atmosphere after the complex system of interactions between the atmosphere, biosphere, cryosphere and the oceans. About a quarter of the total emissions is taken up by the oceans and another quarter by the biosphere, reducing in this way the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.\n\nA separate Emissions Gap Report by UN Environment, to be released on 31 October, tracks the policy commitments made by countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and analyses how these policies will translate into emissions reductions through 2030, clearly outlining the emissions gap and what it would take to bridge it.\n\n\"The numbers don't lie. We are still emitting far too much and this needs to be reversed. The last few years have seen enormous uptake of renewable energy, but we must now redouble our efforts to ensure these new low-carbon technologies are able to thrive. We have many of the solutions already to address this challenge. What we need now is global political will and a new sense of urgency,\" said Erik Solheim, head of UN Environment.\n\nTogether, the Greenhouse Gas Bulletin and Emissions Gap Report provide a scientific base for decision-making at the UN climate change negotiations, which will be held from 7-17 November in Bonn, Germany.\n\nWMO, UN Environment and other partners are working towards an Integrated Global Greenhouse Gas Information System to provide information that can help nations to track the progress toward implementation of their national emission pledges, improve national emission reporting and inform additional mitigation actions. This system builds on the long-term experience of WMO in greenhouse gas instrumental measurements and atmospheric modelling.\n\nWMO is also striving to improve weather and climate services for the renewable energy sector and to support the Green Economy and sustainable development. To optimize the use of solar, wind and hydropower production, new types of weather, climate and hydrological services are needed.\n\nKey findings of the Greenhouse Gas Bulletin\n\nCarbon dioxide\n\nCO 2 is by far the most important anthropogenic long-lived greenhouse gas. Globally averaged concentrations for CO 2 reached 403.3 parts per million in 2016, up from 400.00 ppm in 2015. This record annual increase of 3.3 ppm was partly due to the strong 2015/2016 El Ni\u00f1o, which triggered droughts in tropical regions and reduced the capacity of \u201csinks\u201d like forests, vegetation and the oceans to absorb CO 2 . Concentrations of CO 2 are now 145% of pre-industrial (before 1750) levels.\n\nThe rate of increase of atmospheric CO 2 over the past 70 years is nearly 100 times larger than that at the end of the last ice age. As far as direct and proxy observations can tell, such abrupt changes in the atmospheric levels of CO 2 have never before been seen.\n\nOver the last 800 000 years, pre-industrial atmospheric CO 2 content remained below 280 ppm, but it has now risen to the 2016 global average of 403.3 ppm.\n\nFrom the most-recent high-resolution reconstructions from ice cores, it is possible to observe that changes in CO 2 have never been as fast as in the past 150 years. The natural ice-age changes in CO 2 have always preceded corresponding temperature changes. Geological records show that the current levels of CO 2 correspond to an \u201cequilibrium\u201d climate last observed in the mid-Pliocene (3\u20135 million years ago), a climate that was 2\u20133 \u00b0C warmer, where the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets melted and even some of the East Antarctic ice was lost, leading to sea levels that were 10\u201320 m higher than those today.\n\nMethane\n\nMethane (CH4) is the second most important long-lived greenhouse gas and contributes about 17% of radiative forcing. Approximately 40% of methane is emitted into the atmosphere by natural sources (e.g., wetlands and termites), and about 60% comes from human activities like cattle breeding, rice agriculture, fossil fuel exploitation, landfills and biomass burning.\n\nAtmospheric methane reached a new high of about 1 853 parts per billion (ppb) in 2016 and is now 257% of the pre-industrial level.\n\nNitrous Oxide\n\nNitrous oxide (N2O) is emitted into the atmosphere from both natural (about 60%) and anthropogenic sources (approximately 40%), including oceans, soil, biomass burning, fertilizer use, and various industrial processes.\n\nIts atmospheric concentration in 2016 was 328.9 parts per billion. This is 122% of pre-industrial levels. It also plays an important role in the destruction of the stratospheric ozone layer which protects us from the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun. It accounts for about 6% of radiative forcing by long-lived greenhouse gases.\n\nFor further information contact: Clare Nullis, media officer. Email cnullis@wmo.int. Tel + 41 22 730 84 78 or Cell + 41 79 709 13 97\n\nNotes for Editors\n\nThe WMO Global Atmosphere Watch Programme coordinates systematic observations and analysis of greenhouse gases and other trace species. Fifty one countries contributed data for the Greenhouse Gas Bulletin. Measurement data are reported by participating countries and archived and distributed by the World Data Centre for Greenhouse Gases (WDCGG) at the Japan Meteorological Agency.", "output": "The earth\u2019s atmosphere contained record levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) last year, according to a report from the World Meteorological Organization. The increase, which saw average concentrations of CO2 rise to 403.3 parts per million (ppm), up from 400 ppm in 2015, was 50% higher than the average of the past decade. The record levels, higher than those seen for 800,000 years, were a result of human activity and the El Ni\u00f1o. The report shows that methane levels in the atmosphere also rose, prompting fears of a vicious circle that could see methane levels increasing warming, thus causing further methane emissions."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Guardian grows membership scheme from 75,000 users to 300,000 \n The strategy to rescue the Guardian from financial oblivion has attained a landmark position by increasing its revenue from readers to a point where it now outweighs the paper\u2019s income from advertising.\n\nThis significant shift in the Guardian\u2019s business model, making it less dependent on a highly challenging advertising market for media companies, results largely from a quadrupling in the number of readers making monthly payments under the title\u2019s membership scheme, which has grown from 75,000 to 300,000 members in the past year.\n\nThe paper has also slightly increased \u2013 to 200,000 \u2013 its subscriber base for its print and digital products. And in a development which has even surprised senior Guardian executives, a further 300,000 individuals have made single donations to the paper, which has been posting appeals at the end of articles, urging readers to financially support its commitment to open access journalism.\n\nThese one-off donations, totalling several million pounds, come from 140 countries but a substantial proportion has arrived from the US, suggesting that despite a recent diminution of the Guardian US operation, the paper has a committed audience in a country with established traditions of supporting public interest journalism through philanthropy.\n\nTogether, the 800,000 contributors (members, subscribers and donors), along with casual sales of the physical paper, give the Guardian a record number of paying readers; more than the half-a-million pinnacle in print circulation achieved in the late 1980s.\n\nAfter a long cycle of eye-watering annual losses, amounting to more than half-a-billion pounds since 2009 and causing many to believe that the 196-year-old paper was on its way to bankruptcy, there is finally cause for optimism.\n\nReader revenue strategy reaps rewards\n\nIn a long interview with The Drum, timed to coincide with the revelation of the new figures, the chief executive of Guardian Media Group, David Pemsel, reveals some of the secrets behind the rise in reader payments. \u201cOur readers contribute more to this organisation now than advertising,\u201d he says.\n\nHe predicts that Guardian News & Media will drive down its annual losses to \u00a325m for the year to 31 March 2018 (compared to the \u00a345m shed last year).\n\nThat puts him and editor-in-chief Katharine Viner on course to meet the ambitious three-year target they have set of breaking even by April 2019. \u201cIf we get to the end of this year and the minus 25 (million pounds) number, we have in effect halved our losses and kept our revenues broadly flat,\u201d he says. \u201cNo one is ever complacent\u2026 but pretty much every number we have set out we have achieved, as well as supporting arguably some of the best journalism we have ever done.\u201d\n\nPemsel, who became GMG\u2019s CEO in 2015, joined the company as chief marketing officer in 2011, having previously been at ITV. He was then GMG\u2019s chief commercial officer and therefore must take some responsibility for the Guardian\u2019s past financial pain.\n\nWhy is it that a paper that always positioned itself as a great soothsayer of the media\u2019s digital future has taken so long to see the value of reader relationships?\n\nIt is a \u201cmillion dollar question\u201d, says Pemsel, as he makes a spirited defence of GMG\u2019s historic digital strategies and avoids criticism of Alan Rusbridger, the journalistically brilliant former Guardian editor-in-chief and architect of an ambitious programme of international expansion which coincided with the paper\u2019s financial difficulties.\n\n\u201cIf you go back to 1995, from then to where we were in 2015, then you cannot fault the Guardian\u2019s progress against its digital hunger to innovate [and] to fully embrace all of the digital opportunities,\u201d he says. \u201cYou go from the ninth largest newspaper (in the UK) to the third largest English speaking news organisation in the world, with 160 million browsers and over 1bn page impressions almost every month for the last seven months. That is a proof point of the effectiveness of our digital strategy and of our journalism.\u201d\n\nHe accepts that \u201csome might say \u2018Well, you did that at the cost of X-amount of money\u2019\u201d but argues that the strategy was right in recognising that \u201cthe future ultimately was going to be an open, widely distributed ecosystem\u201d.\n\nRe-evaluating reach online\n\nThe trouble was that a vast audience, though it was an endorsement of Guardian journalism, wasn't in itself the business model that GMG executives imagined it to be.\n\n\u201cThe problem with reach is that it can breed complacency,\u201d Pemsel says now. \u201cYou can look around the building and you've got screens with big [audience] numbers and monthly dashboards going out saying \u2018Hey, we\u2019ve got bigger\u2019. But it masks the relationship you are cultivating with your readers.\u201d\n\nHe points out that \u201csome of the most atrocious content companies in the world can be big, it doesn't mean that you are being read or making an impact on the world\u2026it just means you are big\u201d.\n\nPemsel says that, as commercial boss, he was starting to monetise the Guardian\u2019s online audience when \u201ca huge swing to programmatic\u201d advertising, led by Google and Facebook, meant that the \u201cthe connection between digital reach and revenue snapped\u201d.\n\nSo GMG has had to learn to think beyond reach.\n\nThe advertising downturn coincided with Viner taking over from Rusbridger, and Pemsel being promoted to CEO in a relationship that, due to the dire financial position, has led to the Guardian's editorial and commercial teams working more closely than ever before.\n\nEmphasising the \u201cagility\u201d that this arrangement brings, Pemsel says the approach is essential to maximising the value of reader relationships. \u201cIf you are going to put the reader at the heart of everything, you need to have a common data set and a common understanding of reader journey to know what parts of the site can be optimised to deliver reader relationships [and] reader revenue. You can't do that in silos.\u201d\n\nThe break even strategy has been about saving money as well as making it. Viner and Pemsel have overseen a programme of deep cuts that has seen the loss of more than 300 posts. \u201cIt was incredibly tough but we have said that we will break even and we will,\u201d he insists.\n\nConverting readers into members\n\nThe strategic transition from reach to reader relationships is known within GMG\u2019s building at King\u2019s Cross in London as \u201canonymous to known\u201d.\n\nWhen the Guardian first announced its three-tier (rising to \u00a360-a-month) membership scheme in late 2014, shortly before Rusbridger announced he would be standing down as editor, many of the paper\u2019s rivals sniggered at its presumptions of reader loyalty. But while there have been errors \u2013 a plan to use a Grade II listed railway warehouse as an events hub was scrapped \u2013 the latest figures are a vindication of the idea, which gives members benefits such as exclusive emails and ad-free reading.\n\nPemsel has no compunction in using inclusive language such as \u201ccontributor\u201d or \u201csupporter\u201d to encourage payments from readers who were once encouraged to expect free access to a publisher that would be funded by advertising. He notes that the \u201cmost transactional\u201d publishers (think of News UK) are now using the term \u201cmember\u201d in their marketing.\n\nThe largest group of Guardian members is, unsurprisingly, from the UK, although there is a sizeable cohort from the US. Pemsel is bullish about the prospect of making even more money from this scheme and from one-off donors. \u201cWe are at the foothills of genuinely exploring how far that strategy can take us,\u201d he says. \u201cWe have got 160 million browsers at the top of our funnel and we are doing a lot of strategic analysis of our data to work out how many regulars we have, and on the conversion of the number of people we have got a paying relationship with. We have got a long way to go.\u201d\n\nHe credits chief customer office Anna Bateson, and her predecessor David Magliano, with playing key roles in driving reader contributions. \u201cIn partnership with people in editorial, our data teams are now working out the most scientific way to optimise by article and by country and by genre, the most efficient way to be able to drive reader support,\u201d he says.\n\nThe previous presence of Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales on the Guardian\u2019s board has helped to generate insights into how the online encyclopedia harnesses financial support from its user community. \u201cIt's interesting to listen to Jimmy\u2019s vision of Wikipedia, and how they have worked out some incredibly technical and scientific ways to optimise for support. I'm not saying that we are replicating what Wikipedia are doing but that level of digital and analytical sophistication is now being worked through [here].\u201d\n\nRefining the appeal message\n\nThe Guardian is continuing to experiment with its financial appeal message \u2013 known internally as \"the epic\". \u201cWe are optimising that by article and within video and podcasts and are trialling how we optimise that off-platform,\u201d Pemsel says. \u201cThat's just us getting really smart about understanding the triggers for getting people to contribute.\u201d\n\nThese \u201ctriggers\u201d, says the CEO, are often related to breaking news. \u201cWe are obviously very sensitive about not asking for contributions around content that is reporting on some of the horrors. But when there are news surges, whether that be announcements on Brexit or in the States around what\u2019s happening to Trump, we can see spikes in our traffic and news articles that create levels of contribution.\u201d He adds that the Guardian is looking to do more to \u201ccreate our own moments\u201d which might move readers to take action.\n\n\u201cI think we will explore the opportunity around articles. I can imagine some kind of product set that brings to life how one optimises certain parts of the site. I\u2019m not going to lay out our product roadmap for the next six months but I do believe through our data understanding we will be able to create a set of products which will allow people to want to keep contributing.\u201d\n\nAn early sign of the willingness of readers to donate money to support Guardian journalism came through a series in the US called \u201cThis Land is Your Land\u201d, which highlighted the threat to America\u2019s public land in journalism that was backed by over $114,000 in public donations. \u201cThe Defenders\u201d, a newer international series on environmental activism produced with the NGO Global Witness, has also generated support from donors.\n\nAlthough competitors have tried to suggest that Guardian US is a busted flush that underperformed at the last US election, Pemsel is clear that it remains central to GMG\u2019s strategy. \u201cWe ended up having to halve the number of people in the US office but since then, as opposed to it being a financial drain on the business, this year it will make a positive contribution.\u201d\n\nSimilarly, the paper\u2019s Australian operation is seen as being suited to reader contributions. \u201cWe are very clear on our strategic agenda editorially over there because we are not just doing wide waterfront news, we are very [strong] on environment, indigenous people\u2026 there\u2019s a whole theme out there which is quite specific and is driving reader contribution.\u201d\n\nAs it pores over an audience of 160 million monthly browsers and around 9 million daily uniques, the Guardian will methodically look at ways to turn regular readers into financial supporters. \u201cWe are prepared to explore country by country because we know that audiences are slightly different from Australia to the US to here,\u201d says Pemsel.\n\nHe is \u201cagnostic\u201d about whether readers give support as subscribers, members or donors. Either way, their data is valuable. \u201cFor every person that contributes we know more about them and that can be translated into a richness of understanding that advertisers can understand,\u201d he says.\n\nThe Guardian's financial future\n\nPemsel is not shy about talking about making money. It is, after all, what he\u2019s paid to do. At a business known for its liberal left values and its social conscience he takes home a salary and benefits package of \u00a3706,000.\n\nSome Guardian readers might be uncomfortable at the thought of being \u201cmonetised\u201d but equally they might count themselves fortunate to access the paper\u2019s consistently outstanding journalism free of charge, which is no doubt why so many are bringing out their credit cards.\n\nThe CEO argues that its the Guardian\u2019s unique ownership model, run by the Scott Trust, that is the key motivation for those who wish to support its journalism, particularly those making one-off donations. \u201cWe are a truly independent company, protected by a trust, and people feel compelled to make a re-occurring contribution with no reciprocal value exchange other than supporting the Guardian.\u201d\n\nWhen Viner and Pemsel drew up their three-year target to break even by April 2019, they didn\u2019t realise that they were putting themselves on a similar timetable to Theresa May and David Davis in delivering a deal to leave the European Union. But much has happened in the world in the past 18 months, and the recent political turmoil speaks to the Guardian\u2019s mission.\n\n\u201cWhen we launched this relationship strategy, Brexit wasn't known, the Trump situation was not known\u2026 and the fear generally about how the world is behaving right now, we didn't know that,\u201d Pemsel says. \u201cIf anything, the break even aspiration and our purpose has become critical because the role of the Guardian, as with other quality news organisations, has become more important than ever.\u201d\n\nIan Burrell's column, The News Business, is published on The Drum each Thursday. Follow Ian on Twitter @iburrell", "output": "The Guardian has quadrupled the number of users in its membership scheme over the past year, from 75,000 to 300,000. The UK newspaper has also slightly boosted the subscriber base for its print and digital products, to 200,000. Another 300,000 people have made one-off donations to the Guardian, which urges readers to back its commitment to open access journalism. The one-off donations have raised several million pounds, and come from 140 countries. The 800,000 contributors have given the paper a record number of paying readers, surpassing its peak print circulation of the late 1980s.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New York Times turns to handy Guides to boost digital revenues \n Getting paying subscribers is the new obsession of publishing companies. The New York Times is famous for its Pulitzer-winning news coverage, but it\u2019s the how-to pieces that are among the best performers when it comes to signing up new subscribers.\n\nThe Times has had service journalism as part of its bundle since at least the \u201970s, but it\u2019s taking a more systematic approach to it today as part of an effort to double its digital revenue. One way it\u2019s doing that is through a new Smarter Living initiative and its set of interactive features called Guides.\n\nThe Times is on track to publish 35 Guides this year, covering everything from how to clean your home to putting on makeup to completing a workout in nine minutes. It hopes to do another 50 next year, incorporating more video. The Guides started three years ago with Cooking and Well, the Times\u2019 personal health desk, and have been extended to other features desks, including business, travel and climate.\n\nEvergreen, service journalism is the workhorse of a newsroom because it can be promoted repeatedly and drive continual readership. The Guides often are among the Times\u2019 most popular articles of the day, and they are twice as likely to get repeat visits as regular news articles. As much as Trump coverage may have driven readership and subscriptions for the Times and other news publishers, service journalism can play a counterprogramming role when people get burned out from the news. Viewership of Guides from January to September is up 170 percent year over year, according to the Times, which wouldn\u2019t give raw numbers.\n\n\u201cThe news cycle is relentless, and people are always looking for other ways to escape,\u201d said Karron Skog, editorial director for Smarter Living. \u201cThe Times is expanding to say, \u2018Come to us for everything.\u2019\u201d\n\nTraditionalists have bristled at the Times\u2019 efforts to move into service journalism over the years, but the Guides crew argues that there\u2019s no tension between news and service; the same people who want to read the latest on Niger might also want to know how to make the perfect pie crust. They say that today\u2019s service effort isn\u2019t replacing anything the Times does; it\u2019s just more coordinated than it\u2019s been in the past.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s grumblings, but there\u2019s grumblings when we started feature sections in the \u201970s,\u201d Skog said. \u201cI think there\u2019s room in the Times for all kinds of coverage. The heart of what we do is news, investigative journalism. Different things appeal to different readers at different times of day.\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s not to say expanding service journalism isn\u2019t tricky. The Times has to make its service something people can\u2019t already get elsewhere, and do it without alienating readers who expect a more traditional news package. So the Times\u2019 approach is to apply the same reporting rigor it brings to the rest of its reporting.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s new territory in some ways,\u201d said Sara Bremen Rabstenek, senior product manager at Smarter Living. \u201cTopics they cover can appeal to new readers and push the boundaries of what is Timesean. So we can think about, what can a Timesean makeup guide look like? It\u2019s managing the expectations that our current readers have with what new audiences expect from other media outlets. We want to apply the same depth of coverage to topics that might not seem Timesean at first but are really important.\u201d\n\nImage via NYTimes.com", "output": "The New York Times is expanding its online service journalism in an attempt to double its digital revenues. How-to pieces, covering topics such as how to clean your home or put on make-up, are among the best performers for signing up new subscribers. The NY Times will publish 35 interactive features called Guides this year, with another 50 planned for next year, supplemented with more video. Guides are twice as likely to get repeat visits as news articles, with viewing from January to September up 170% year on year, according to NY Times figures.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Walmart looks to expand as an advertising platform \n Walmart is making a push to grow its advertising by positioning itself as a media platform.\n\nWalmart\u2019s pitch is that it controls transaction data from customers, which can help brands retarget consumers off Walmart.com, according to executives familiar with the matter. The big differentiator being pitched is Walmart\u2019s brick-and-mortar locations \u2014 fulfilling a big promise of retail media that it can connect online with offline. And Walmart is making it count, trumpeting its combination of scale and offline data as a differentiator from Amazon. It\u2019s doing that via more meetings with buyers, as well as at learning sessions and summits it\u2019s holding with brands and agencies.\n\nWalmart has over 5,000 locations, and e-commerce in the second quarter has grown 50 percent year over year, according to its most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Online sales are a smaller part of its $486 billion annual revenue, but ad buyers say its acquisitions of e-commerce sites Jet.com, Bonobos, Moosejaw and ModCloth indicate it will continue to grow its ad muscle. Retail purchases often begin with online searches \u2014 and if Walmart can own more searches, it can capture more of that valuable search traffic. \u201cIf Walmart.com can relaunch its advertising with the Jet.com back end, this will buy it some clout and some breathing room,\u201d speculated one buyer.\n\nWalmart did not respond to a request for comment.\n\nWalmart Exchange uses programmatic infrastructure combined with in-store sales data to target ads, through private marketplaces and ad exchanges. The retailer also offers display media across desktop, mobile and tablet as well as native ads within the shopping experience. There are also options for more traditional paid search and product listing ads, along with \u201caudience extension\u201d through Walmart co-branded ads. That means brands can target shopper behaviors through ads on and off Walmart.com. (Amazon began offering a similar program, \u201caudience match,\u201d in July.)\n\nResults on Walmart\u2019s ad platform vary. One buyer said ROI has been either flat or negative \u2014 and that the back end continues to lack sophistication. Another buyer said it\u2019s somewhat effective, but that Walmart is subtly telling brands that for their advertising to be effective, they need to negotiate with Walmart for other things, like shelf space.\n\nAgency executives report that Walmart holds invitation-only summits that replace training for buyers and brands. Partners including brands and agencies are invited to these summits, dubbed \u201cWMX summits,\u201d in which Walmart ad executives reveal new tools. Merchants also hold senior leadership sessions, where people gather to discuss changes to product lineups, back-end tools and advertising.\n\n\u201cYou have to be super proactive to make sure you\u2019re getting the most out of your relationship,\u201d said Heidi Froseth, evp and senior group director at Catapult, a shopper marketing agency.\n\nBuyers said Walmart doesn\u2019t directly pitch its platform. That\u2019s left to Triad Retail Media, a group part of WPP that helps Walmart and Sam\u2019s Club sell ads and run product promotions. It also manages all of the asset execution with Walmart suppliers.\n\nThe big question, said Froseth, is how buyers and brands negotiate with Walmart to figure out what comes next. \u201cThat\u2019s part of the deal; everyone has to learn in their own way how to grow their categories and what you\u2019re getting from partnerships like this,\u201d she said. \u201cYou find out where foot traffic is \u2014 is that through e-commerce or physical \u2014 get that data and then figure out how to use advertising.\u201d\n\nRetail media, like the kind Walmart is pushing hard to build, has sprung up in the past year. Aside from Walmart, big retail media players include Amazon, of course, but also companies like Kroger and Nordstrom. Even retailers that are dwarfed by Amazon or Walmart, like Overstock, have built up media, recognizing it as a high-margin revenue stream. The pitch is similar: Brands know what people are searching for and buying; therefore, the ad platform can offer them more sophisticated targeting and analytics.\n\n\u201cEvery retailer is building a vendor marketing platform,\u201d said Alex Sherman, founder of Spotfront, which works with retailers to help them build theirs. Sherman, who doesn\u2019t count Walmart as a client, said the challenge is to figure out how to differentiate. \u201cIt\u2019s a shift from a commodity ad network to a premium channel that benefits shoppers as well as advertisers.\u201d", "output": "Leading US retailer Walmart is promoting itself to agencies and brands as an advertising platform. The company's e-commerce turnover in the second quarter of the year increased by 50% year on\u00a0year, and it has also acquired a number of other e-commerce sites including Jet.com and Bonobus. It is now offering its Walmart Exchange platform to advertisers, making use of in-store data and customer searches to target ads more effectively. It also offers display media and paid search and product listing ads\u00a0to help\u00a0brands target customers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Westpac launches battery-free wearable for contactless payments \n Westpac has debuted its new range of \u201cwearable, hands-free and battery-free\u201d payment accessories, forgoing the need for consumers to reach for their wallet or smartphone.\n\nCustomers will soon be able to utilise Westpac\u2019s new \u201cPayWear\u201d, which involves a silicone band and \u201ckeeper\u201d, which can be attached to a customer\u2019s watch or fitness band. It incorporates a microchip (PayWear Card), which is linked to the customer\u2019s everyday transaction account.\n\nThe new wearable payment tech can be used in the same manner as a \u2018tap-and-go\u2019 debit card.\n\nIn addition to being battery-free, Westpac states the new payment accessories are also waterproof.\n\nGeorge Frazis, Westpac\u2019s Group Chief Executive of Consumer Bank, states the new innovation will offer support and aid to the Australian lifestyle:\n\n\u201cUnlike many other wearable payment options, our customers don\u2019t require an expensive device to access this technology. Customers will be able to get a PayWear Essentials accessory free of charge for a limited time, making it accessible to all our everyday banking customers\u201d\n\n\u201cAustralia has the highest contactless penetration in the world, and cards continue to replace cash as consumers demand convenience. We\u2019re always looking for new ways to help make our customers\u2019 lives easier, and with our new PayWear products, customers will be able to pay on-the-go, in one hands-free step\u201d\n\n\u201cWith PayWear, there is no need to search through a bag, login to an app or worry about battery life. It will be on the go with our customers and ready for use when they are\u201d\n\nFollowing a study which revealed that 70% of Australian consumers would only wear a wearable device if it met their personal style, the bank has decided to partner with a variety of Australian designers to develop diverse aesthetics.\n\nAward-winning surfboard shaper and entrepreneur, Hayden Cox, has been nominated as the first Aussie designer to collaborate with Westpac\u2019s new range of wearable tech.\n\nMr Frazis states of the bank\u2019s decision to merge technology with style:\n\n\u201cWhen speaking with customers, personal style and choice were important. In fact, 70% agreed that they would only wear a wearable device if it suited their own personal style and lifestyle\u201d\n\n\u201cThis is why we will collaborate with iconic Australian designers to create a variety of wearable accessory designs to suit different tastes, preferences and styles\u201d.\n\nHayden Cox affirms that the decision to collaborate with Westpac is a natural fit:\n\n\u201cWorking with Westpac to create an exclusive range of wearable accessories which evolve the way people make contactless payments is exciting to me. This product signals an inevitable and innovative progression of our everyday routines\u201d\n\n\u201cWhile some customers may opt for the simpler Essentials range, there is also a part of the market that will want something with a little more flavour. This is where the products I\u2019m designing will sit\u201d.\n\nThe bank states all customers with an everyday banking account and an eligible Debit Mastercard are able to order a PayWear Card online, which can then be easily inserted into a PayWear accessory to their preference.\n\nWestpac\u2019s PayWear Designer Range is scheduled to be available to consumers in early 2018.", "output": "Australia's Westpac bank is launching a range of battery-free wearable accessories for making contactless payments. The 'PayWear' uses a silicone band which can be attached to customers' watch, and is waterproof. The devices work in the same way as contactless payment cards, needing no battery or connection to another device. As well as the 'Essentials' range, the bank will also offer a designer range created in collaboration with surfboard entrepreneur Hayden Cox.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "London fintech sector receives surge in investment despite Brexit \n London is set to further its lead as the centre for financial technology startups in Europe, with 2017 expected to set new records for investment in the sector, despite fears that Brexit will harm the industry.\n\nAccording to the latest figures from London & Partners (L&P), the Mayor of London\u2019s official promotional firm, investors from around the world have backed London-based fintech firms to the tune of \u00a3825m so far this year. This is a positive sign for the industry after UK fintech investment plummeted by more than a third in 2016 as investors put off decisions in the wake of the Brexit vote.\n\nLondon is currently the fourth best city for fintech venture capital, behind San Francisco, Beijing, and New York, but is remains many times larger than any European rivals, such as Stockholm, Paris, or Frankfurt.\n\nThe last few years have seen a number of London-based fintech firms become household names as they revolutionised the sector, with the financial backing of investors around the world. One of the biggest London fintech success stories, currency exchange platform Transferwise, is reported to be in discussions with investors to raise a further \u00a377m, which would value the company at more than \u00a31.2bn.\n\nEarlier this year, peer-to-peer fundraising platform Funding Circle, also raised another round of financing. The London-based firm reportedly became a \u201cunicorn, a term used to startups worth more than a billion dollars, back in 2015, and is seeing 90 percent year-on-year growth, according to TechCrunch.\n\nHowever, a major part of London\u2019s appeal as a hub for fintech companies is the role the city plays as a truly global financial market with straightforward access to the European single market. London\u2019s Deputy Mayor for Business, Rajesh Agrawal, stressed the importance of the UK remaining in the single market after Brexit, saying:", "output": "London is expected to set records in fintech investment this year, despite concerns over the impact of Brexit. Global investors have backed London-based fintech companies with a total of \u00a3825m ($1.1bn) so far this year, according to figures from London & Partners, the Mayor of London's promotional outfit. The UK capital is the fourth most attractive city in the world for fintech venture capital, with San Francisco, Beijing and New York in the lead. However, despite investment dropping by a third in 2016 after the Brexit vote, the London market is still larger than that of Paris and Frankfurt.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow to release 122 homes in latest phase of Swindon development \n Share this\n\nRedrow Homes has released a collection of new homes as work starts on the latest phase of the Badbury Park development near Swindon.\n\nThe housebuilder is to release 122 homes over the next stage of construction with a further 59 to follow that.\n\nThe first of these two, three and four-bedroom homes are due to be completed in the Spring of 2018.\n\nThe current releases start from \u00a3299,995 for a three-bed semi-detached property with terrace and detached properties to be released at a later date.\n\nThere are also four discounted properties available at the development to help local people to get on the housing ladder.\n\nThe properties, which are being offered at a 20 per cent discount on the market price, are available for people who have lived in the Swindon area for at least two years. They include two two-bed and one three-bed terrace homes and a one bed coach house available from \u00a3112,796.\n\nSituated on the edge of the picturesque Coate Water Country Park, looking out on glorious Cotswold countryside, Badbury Park is a mixed-use development which, when completed, will provide up to 396 Redrow homes.\n\nThe site will also boast a local retail centre, a primary school and extensive areas designated as public open space such as recreational and ecological areas.\n\nWith a combination of two, three and four-bedroom detached, semi-detached and terrace family homes, the development is conveniently placed just three miles from Swindon and near the M4 and A419 with its fast links to Cirencester and Gloucester.\n\nSabrina Abolghasemi, Redrow sales manager for Badbury Park, said: \u201cWe are expecting these properties to get snapped up quickly.\n\n\u201cBadbury Park offers a rare combination of the countryside idyll with convenience of town. With its beautiful homes and plenty of green open space, Badbury Park is a great place to raise a family and is really convenient for those working in bigger towns and cities like Swindon, Bristol and Reading.\u201d\n\nThe Heritage Collection homes being built at Badbury Park take design inspiration from the 1920s and 30s Arts and Crafts movement while offering every contemporary comfort and convenience. The new build properties offer an average of 35 per cent improvement in heat loss compared to those built just 10 years ago.\n\nFor more information about Badbury Park please call 01793 391751 or visit www.redrow.co.uk/developments/badbury-park-swindon-240220.", "output": "Redrow will release 122 homes in the latest construction phase of its Badbury Park development, near Swindon. The first of the two, three and four bedroom homes will be finished by the spring, with prices for the current releases starting at \u00a3299,995 ($400,000) for a three-bedroom, semi-detached home with terrace. Badbury Park is a mixed-use development on the edge of Coate Water Country Park. The site will include up to 396 homes, a primary school and a retail park when completed. Four properties will be available at a discount to local people.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurance exec questions Lloyd's market's hiring policies \n Derek Hansen, head of property and facultative at insurer Sompo Canopius, said that the problem with graduates is that while they have strong academic records, they lack personal and communication skills, as well as the ability to relate to people and do deals.\n\nHe said that the insurer has frozen its graduate programme while it looks at how it can attract recruits with a broader range of skills.\n\nTo help it do this, it has signed up to Connect Mentors, an online mentoring programme, to help it find people from marginalised and unconnected backgrounds.", "output": "Lloyd's of London, as a market, should adjust its hiring policies and diversify away from recruiting mostly middle-class graduates, said Derek Hansen, head of property for Sompo Canopius. By focusing recruiting on too-narrow a segment, insurers may miss out on candidates with strong communication skills and an ability to facilitate deals, said Hansen. His firm has suspended its graduate recruiting programmes, opting to sign up for an initiative dubbed Connect Mentors aiming to diversify the background of employees the firm brings on board. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook adds tools to improve ad transparency \n Following recent discovery that there was Russian interference in the US Elections on Facebook, Facebook has plans for new transparency tools and measures. This will allow users and brands to tell who the advertiser is and the ads they are running \u2013 this is especially for political ads.However, the measures are not limited to political ads, explained Facebook in a blog post. This will allow all users, including brands, to click \u201cView Ads\u201d on a Page and view ads which a Page is running on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger, in the process giving them a look into competitor Facebook ad activity. This is regardless whether or not the person viewing is in the intended target audience for the ad.\u201cAll Pages will be part of this effort, and we will require that all ads be associated with a Page as part of the ad creation process,\u201d the post explained. The measures are effective next month and will be tested in Canada before roll out to US and broadly to other countries at around the same time. The initial test will only show active ads.The move comes days after Twitter launched the Advertising Transparency Center in a bid to \u201cdramatically\u201d boost transparency for all ads on its platform, including political and issue-based ads. In a blog post, Bruce Falck, GM revenue product and engineering, Twitter, said that it will also be improving controls for consumers and embracing stringent advertising policies. The updates will first roll out in the US before launching globally.For Rika Sharma, managing partner, group head of [email protected] Singapore, the move is a definite indicative of the \"walled gardens\" of big social media networks such as Facebook coming down as more people want transparency. When asked about what the move means for marketers, Sharma said that more transparency essentially comes with greater clarit,y and the need for more responsibility on the advertisements that are put out.Advertisers have to be more accountable as testing is no longer easy.She added that now, marketers need to be wary of A/B testing the same advertisement with multiple messages, and be geared for potential backlash that might arise from doing so.Read also: Is it too late for Facebook to apologise for its inflated video metrics?A more level playing field?Sharma explained that following the move, there will be a bigger onus on marketers to spend more time on research and really understand their competitors' work on its social media platforms.For marketers, it's now a level playing field with competitors since everyone\u2019s ads are visible.\"Any change on the platform will also brings with it a unique creative opportunity. Marketers might use this change to their benefit and engage consumers in a high involvement activation across a series of multiple ads,\" Sharma said.\"People want transparency and consumers find themselves in the unique position of being like Will in Netflix's Stranger Things, about to experience 'True Sight' for the very first time. Their perception of the world will never be the same,\" Sharma explained.Agreeing with Sharma was Andrew Stephens, CEO, Ambient Digital, who said:\"Although we have seen broad improvements in the recent years for ad governance, it is imperative that brands, publishers, agencies and even digital media players remain diligent and dedicated in the ongoing efforts to promote transparency.\"To better leverage the new features, marketers in Asia need to focus on highly-targeted cross-device digital advertising, including mobile, Stephens added.", "output": "Facebook is launching measurement tools that\u00a0enable\u00a0users to find out who an advertiser is and learn more about campaigns. The tools will\u00a0cover all advertising, not just political messages and all ads will have to be linked to\u00a0the\u00a0Facebook Page for the business they are associated with.\u00a0Industry insiders have said the move toward greater transparency could mark the beginning of the end for social media's walled gardens, and makes advertising on such sites more of a level playing field. The features will be tested in Canada in November, before being expanded to the US and other countries."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow unveils new show home at popular Bedminster development \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nRedrow Homes is unveiling a show home at one of its most popular developments in the South West, Abode at Bedminster , enabling the public to come and take a look at the new properties.\n\nMore than a fifth of the plots at the unique Bristol development on Bedminster Road sold off plan before being accessible \u2013 the most ever sold off plan from Redrow\u2019s Bristol office.\n\nThe new four-bedroom show home will be opened on Saturday, 4 November, and is a spacious property spread over three levels of living space to reflect the flow of modern family life.\n\nThe 110-home development is due for completion next summer and there are currently a variety of three and four-bedroom properties available from \u00a3389,995 with one and two-bedroom properties to follow soon.\n\nThe show home will enable people to come and have a look at the development and get a feel for the new homes while Redrow\u2019s sales team will be on hand to answer any queries.\n\nCharlotte Newnes, Redrow area sales manager, said: \u201cThere is no better way to get a feel for a development than coming to see it in person. The new show home provides a perfect opportunity for people to take a look. The Abode at Bedminster development has proven incredibly popular so we expect to see a steady stream of people coming through our doors.\u201d\n\nFor more information about the Abode Bedminster development, please call 0117 2392454 or visit www.redrow.co.uk/abodebedminster .", "output": "Redrow has unveiled a four-bedroom show home at its popular Abode at Bedminster development in Bristol. More than a fifth of homes at the site have already been sold off-plan, a record for the company's Bristol office. The spacious show home, with three levels of living space, will be open to the public from 4 November. The 110-home development is set to complete next summer, with three- and four-bedroom homes available from \u00a3389,995 ($515,600). One- and two-bedroom properties will be available soon.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vestas to test world's most powerful wind turbine in US \n MHI Vestas Offshore Wind will test its V164-9.5 MW turbine, the world's most powerful wind turbine, at Clemson University in South Carolina, the parties said today.\n\nThe 50/50 joint venture between Denmark's Vestas Wind Systems A/S (CPH:VWS) and Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (TYO:7011) has decided to carry out all testing and verification of the turbine's gearbox and main bearings at the university's 15-MW test bench. The move represents MHI Vestas' first major investment in the US and comes as the manufacturer says the V164-9.5 MW is the turbine most likely to be used for the first round of major offshore wind projects in the country.\n\nA total of USD 35 million (EUR 29.7m) will be invested in the testing, with Clemson to receive up to USD 23 million over five years. The project will allow MHI Vestas to better understand how the 9.5-MW gearbox and bearings will react over a lifecycle of more than 20 years. The company said the test results can help it optimise the service strategy for the turbine to ensure its reliability and minimise the fatigue on components.\n\nClemson University boasts a USD-98-million facility to test wind-turbine drivetrain technology, supported by a 2009 grant from the US Department of Energy.\n\n(USD 1 = EUR 0.850)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "MHI Vestas Offshore Wind plans to test its V164-9.5 MW turbine, the most powerful of its kind in the world, at Clemson University in South Carolina. The turbine is the result of a $35m joint project between Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Denmark's Vestas Wind Systems. Vestas aims to use the turbine to spur further investments in offshore wind projects around the United States. The facility will provide important data on the turbine's gearbox and component lifecycles over two decades."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow opens Priory Mews show homes in Newport Pagnell \n Redrow serves up magical new show homes in Newport Pagnell\n\nEagerly awaited show homes open at Priory Mews in Newport Pagnell this Saturday (November 11) giving buyers their first taste of life in a brand new Redrow home.\n\nProperties at the development have so far been selling off-plan and to reward buyers for their patience Redrow is serving up afternoon tea \u2018on the house\u2019 from 11am to 2.30pm.\n\nVisitors are sure to be spellbound by the Georgian inspired Regent Collection designs and there will even be a magician to help them experience the magic of life in a brand new home.\n\nPotential customer will also be able to appreciate the tricks of the trade of Redrow\u2019s interior designers as they explore professionally styled and fully furnished examples of the three-bedroom Brunswick and four-bedroom Wellington.\n\nTonia Tyler, sales director for Redrow Homes (South Midlands), said: \u201cThe opening of the show homes at Priory Mews marks a real milestone for the development. While some people have been happy to reserve based on plans and images only - or to travel to other areas to view similar properties - nothing quite beats viewing a show home in the location where you want to live and we have lots of eager buyers keen to see inside. We\u2019d encourage potential purchasers to visit at the earliest opportunity.\u201d\n\nThe Brunswick is a perfect example of how the architecture of the past has been combined with carefully planned interiors designed to suit how people live today. The spacious lounge is welcoming and inviting, with a door leading directly into the combined kitchen and dining room.\n\nUpstairs, there are three bedrooms including master with en-suite, which along with the handy downstairs cloakroom helps minimise the morning rush for the family bathroom.\n\nFor those looking for a larger property, the Wellington with three floors of generous living space offers the ideal solution.\n\nThe open plan kitchen and dining room is at the front, with the relaxing lounge overlooking the rear garden through patio doors. A handy laundry cupboard and convenient cloakroom complete the ground floor.\n\nThree bedrooms and the family bathroom are on the first floor; while the piece de resistance of this family home is the top floor master bedroom with en-suite, providing parents with a sanctuary at the end of a busy day.\n\nCurrent prices at Priory Mews start from \u00a3399,950.\n\nLocated on Tickford Street, the properties are ideally close to the heart of Newport Pagnell and just five miles from Milton Keynes\n\nTo enjoy the magic of life in a new Redrow home and afternoon tea \u2018on the house\u2019 visit Priory Mews this Saturday (November 11) from 11am to 2.30pm. The show homes will be open daily from 10am to 5.30pm.\n\nFor more information, see redrow.co.uk/priorymews.", "output": "UK house builder Redrow is inviting the public to explore show homes at its Priory Mews development in Newport Pagnell, near Milton Keynes. The properties, which include Redrow's three-bedroom Brunswick and four-bedroom Wellington designs,\u00a0start at \u00a3399,950 ($530,000) and have previously been selling off-plan. The show homes are open between 11.00 a.m. and 2.30 p.m. on 11 November.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Spain's Iberdrola completes flagship wind farm off German coast \n Spanish utility Iberdrola has this week completed the installation of 70 wind turbines at the 350 megawatt Wikinger offshore wind farm in the German area of the Baltic Sea.\n\nThe Wikinger offshore wind farm is a flagship offshore wind project for Iberdrola, which committed \u20ac1.4 billion to the 350 megawatt (MW) projected located off the northeastern coast of the German island of R\u00fcgen. Iberdrola, working alongside turbine manufacturer Adwen and subcontractor Fred. Olsen Windcarrier, completed installation of all 70 AD 5-135 wind turbines, which will generate enough electricity to supply approximately 350,000 German households, representing 20% of the energy demand in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and avoiding 600,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.\n\nThe first wind turbine installation was completed in February of this year, with construction being conducted by Fred Olsen\u2019s vessel Brave Tern (see below) one of two self-elevating, self-propelled jack-up vessels dedicated to installing offshore wind turbines.\n\n\u201cI am very proud of our team for their hard work on this project,\u201d said Fred. Olsen Windcarrier\u2019s project manager Alexandra Koefoed. \u201cWe have worked closely with our client Adwen and park operator Iberdrola to safely and efficiently complete installation. Our experience working on the Adwen 5MW turbines on Global Tech I was invaluable.\u201d\n\nSign up for Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era \u2014 Podcast: I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014 gasp \u2014 grow. So ... Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014\u2014 grow. So ...", "output": "Iberdrola has finished building a\u00a0350 MW, 70-turbine flagship wind farm off the north-east coast of Germany. The Wikinger\u00a0project, towards which the Spanish utility company\u00a0committed\u00a0around $1.63m, is located off the island of R\u00fcgen in the Baltic Sea and\u00a0will generate enough power for 350,000 German households and avoid 600,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Growth stage fintech Verrency seeks $15m in series A \n Payments platform Verrency has announced a $US15 million Series A funding round as it continues to expand internationally. The growth-stage fintech provides payments innovation-as-a-service that enables issuers to deliver the latest payment capabilities, fast and cost effectively, through their existing payments infrastructure.\n\nBy giving consumers unprecedented flexibility and control over how they pay, Verrency\u2019s cutting edge features ensure that their issuer\u2019s brands are top of wallet and top of mind, driving revenue.\n\nThe Australian-based startup has recently completed an oversubscribed pre-commercialisation funding round raising $US 4 million and is looking to raise a further $US 15 million to expand into key international markets. Verrency aims to close the round in 2018, and is already in discussions with investors.\n\nWhat does this funding round mean for Verrency?\n\nThe Series A funding enables the company to capitalise on its successful growth and further expand international operations. Headquartered in Australia with offices in both Melbourne and Sydney, Verrency recently opened an office in London, UK at Level 39 Canary Wharf, in preparation for commercial expansion to the UK later this year. In December 2017, the company will open offices in both the US and Asia Pacific, with operations based out of San Francisco and Singapore, respectively. Verrency\u2019s expansion plans in the European Union in 2018 will be announced later this year.\n\nStill in its first year of operation, Verrency Group Chairman and CEO David Link believes that the company\u2019s unique offering has allowed it to make such an impressive footprint and drive interest with global clients.\n\n\u201cOur focus has always been global, because payments are global. By providing innovative \u2013 and in many cases, unique \u2013 services in a way that also seamlessly integrates into existing technology, we are unlocking the potential not only for significant revenue growth for our financial institution clients, but also to enable them to deliver new services to market at unprecedented speed. Our expansion strategy is central to achieving payments innovation and I am confident that this round of funding will enable us to gain traction in new geographies quickly \u2013 the demand is there.\u201d", "output": "Australian start-up Verrency has launched a $15m series A funding round after it secured $4m in an oversubscribed pre-commercialisation round. The company, which has been operating for less than a year, enables\u00a0issuers to use their existing infrastructure to deliver the latest payment methods to consumers. Verrency recently opened an office\u00a0in London and plans to establish bases in San Francisco and Singapore by the end of the year, before announcing its plans for the European Union next year.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EDF completes 12MW PV project in southern France \n EDF Energies Nouvelles and steel maker ArcelorMittal M\u00e9diterran\u00e9e have commissioned a 12MW solar plant in the Provence-Alpes-C\u00f4te d\u2019Azur region of south-eastern France.\n\nArcelorMittal M\u00e9diterran\u00e9e made 15 hectares of its industrial lands at the Fos-sur-Mer industrial and port complex available for the PV project, located in the Bouches-du-Rh\u00f4ne department.\n\nThe project includes 45,000 modules and generates the equivalent of the annual electricity consumption of 7,400 inhabitants.\n\nUp to 40 people were involved in the 10-month-long construction of the plant.\n\nTo date, EDF Energies Nouvelles operates close to 1.5GW in wind and solar energy capacity in France.\n\nEDF en was recently involved in the world's lowest ever solar bid in Saudi Arabia.", "output": "A 12 MW solar plant in the south of France built by EDF Energy and steel company ArcelorMittal has been brought into commission. The solar PV project was constructed on 15 hectares of industrial land in the Bouches-du-Rh\u00f4ne region, and can generate enough electricity to meet the needs of 7,400 people. EDF is a significant player in the renewables market in France, where it operates nearly 1.5GW of wind and solar energy production. They have recently been involved in a bid for a project in Saudi Arabia that took the record for the lowest solar bid in the world to date."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Orsted power plant completes journey from coal to gas to biomass  \n Danish utility Dong Energy A/S (CPH:DENERG) this week inaugurated the \u200bSkaerbaek Power Station near Fredericia after its conversion to using biomass as fuel.\n\nThe process to convert the facility to using sustainable wood chips instead of gas took more than three years to complete and a total investment of about DKK 1.8 billion (USD 281m/EUR 242m). The plant now produces enough district heating to meet the annual consumption of some 60,000 homes in the Triangle Region.\n\nSkaerbaek was built in 1951 and used coal as fuel until 1997, when it was converted to gas.\n\n\"By switching to sustainable wood chips, we're reducing Skaerbaek Power Station's annual carbon emissions by about 250,000 tonnes. This is equivalent to the annual carbon emissions from more than 125,000 cars,\" said Thomas Dalsgaard, Executive Vice President and CEO of Bioenergy & Thermal Power at Dong Energy.\n\nThe company has set a goal to cease using coal at its power stations entirely by 2023.\n\n(DKK 1.0 = USD 0.156/EUR 0.134)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Danish power company Orsted, formerly known as Dong Energy, has converted an old power station from processing gas to burning biofuels. The Skaerbaek Power Station was coal-fired when it opened in 1951, before converting to gas in 1997. The latest conversion, which took three years and cost $281m, sees it now using sustainable wood chips and generating heat for 60,000 homes in the region. A spokesman for the company said the switch reduces the plant's carbon emissions by around 250,000 tonnes."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vattenfall wind division reports loss in Q3 due to grid failings \n Swedish state-owned utility Vattenfall AB today reported a significantly widened underlying operating loss at its wind power segment for the third quarter of 2017.\n\nThe particular division recorded a loss of SEK 300 million (USD 35.9m/EUR 30.8m) in July-September 2017 compared to SEK 117 million a year earlier. Vattenfall blamed the negative result on lower availability resulting from grid outages and cable issues at certain offshore wind farms.\n\nStill, the division demonstrated strong results for the first nine months of the year, with underlying operating profit jumping nearly 57% on the year thanks to the addition of new capacity during the period.\n\nAlso today, the company announced that it has made a decision to invest over EUR 200 million (USD 233m) in the repowering and expansion of the Wieringermeer onshore wind farm in the Netherlands to 295 MW by 2020.\n\nThe table below gives more details about the performance of the wind segment. Early in July the company changed the structure of the division, splitting it into three business units -- Offshore, Onshore and Photovoltaic & Battery.\n\nAmounts in SEK million 9-mo 2017 9-mo 2016 Q3 2017 Q3 2016 Underlying operating profit (loss) 752 480 (300) (117) Underlying operating profit before depreciation, amortisation and impairment losses 3,913 2,919 729 697 External net sales 4,285 2,975 1,051 795 Net sales 6,140 4,519 1,546 1,263 Electricity generation - wind power (TWh) 5.1 3.9 1.4 1.1\n\nThe next table contains Vattenfall\u2019s consolidated results for the quarter and nine months through September 30, 2017.\n\nAmounts in SEK million 9-mo 2017 9-mo 2016 Q3 2017 Q3 2016 Profit (loss) for the period 6,690 1,790 789 787 Underlying operating profit 16,012 14,602 2,815 2,602 Net sales 96,839 101,412 27,426 29,746 Electricity generation (TWh) 92.2 86.3 27.3 25.2\n\n(SEK 1.0 = USD 0.120/EUR 0.103)\n\n(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.163)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Swedish state power company Vattenfall has reported a loss of $39.9m in its wind power division for the third quarter of this year. The company blamed the poor financial performance on cable issues at some of its wind farms and wider grid failings. Despite the losses, the overall performance of the wind division for the first nine months of the year was strong, with profits up nearly 57% on the previous year. The company also announced it will invest $233m in the expansion of its Wieringermeer onshore wind farm in the Netherlands, taking its capacity to 295 MW."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus WeWork has \u00a32 billion of UK leases over the next 25 years \n Accounts show WeWork has \u00a32 billion of lease commitments in the UK over the next 25 years.\n\nDeals struck by the office provider suggest it is confident London will remain startup hub post-Brexit.\n\nBut risk that startups could shun the UK or suffer from funding shortfall after EU exit.\n\nProfit warning from rival Regus and warning London could be entering property downturn.\n\nLONDON \u2014 Hip office space provider WeWork has lease commitments in the UK of \u00a32 billion over the next 25 years, accounts show.\n\nUS-headquartered WeWork launched in the UK in 2014 and now has 25 offices in London and two in Manchester. Accounts suggest more offices could be in development, although the company declined to comment on specifics.\n\nWeWork doesn't own its own offices. The company leases building space \u2014 either floors or whole buildings \u2014 before fitting them out as \"WeWork\" coworking spaces. It then rents desks and private offices to businesses looking for flexible space \u2014 typically, although not exclusively, startups.\n\nUK accounts for 2016 show the company has \"minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases\" of roughly \u00a31 billion up to 2042 in Britain. A further \u00a31 billion of deals stretching to 2038 have been struck since the end of 2016, a note in the filing states.\n\nThe \u00a32 billion of lease commitments represent a bold \u2014 and potentially risky \u2014 bet on London remaining a startup hub post-Brexit. Rival office space provider Regus recently issued a property warning and there are signs London's commercial office market could be entering a downturn.\n\nA spokesperson for WeWork told Business Insider: \"We\u2019re committed to London \u2014 it has been a centre for commerce for centuries and always will be, and that\u2019s why we\u2019re investing here.\n\n\"Like all big changes, Brexit will create challenges and opportunities, and we think our members recognise that.\"\n\nWeWork's offices in Soho, London. WeWork\n\n'We will not pull out of agreements with landlords'\n\nRival office space provider Regus saw its share price fall 30% at the start of the month after warning of weakness in the London office market. London coworking space the Rainmaking Loft recently announced plans to shut, blaming competition from WeWork and highlight the fiercely competitive nature of the London office market.\n\niHeartMedia and WeWork host launch event to introduce new partnership and \u0093Work Radio\u0094 at WeWork\u0092s New York City headquarters in Chelsea, June 14, 2016. Theo Wargo/Getty Images for iHeartMedia\n\nBrexit could exacerbate any brewing problems \u2014 startups face a potential venture capital shortfall of at least \u00a32 billion post-Brexit, with the European Investment Fund denying VC funds capital. Around one in ten UK startups are also said to be considering relocated away from Britain post-Brexit.\n\nWeWork's spokesperson said: \"When we speak to our members, the ability to recruit talent from the EU and to be able to access the single market are often mentioned as priorities. But the vast majority have their heads down and will work around whatever change comes at them.\"\n\nThe Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors warned this week that three-quarters of its members believe London's commercial property market is entering a downturn.\n\nWeWork's expensively kitted out offices, which famously feature free beer taps, carry hefty rents: hot desking costs around \u00a3400 per month and a private office is roughly double that. In the event of any downturn or funding squeeze, companies may look to cut costs. Access to a Regus office space costs around \u00a3300 a month, for example.\n\nThe bulk of WeWork's customers are on relatively short-term contracts, meaning they could back out in as little as 6 months if economic conditions sour. However, WeWork sees this as a strength of its business \u2014 if times are uncertain, it can offer flexibility.\n\nThe spokesperson said: \"In a downturn, people want flexibility and community and, as that\u2019s what WeWork offers, we\u2019re confident that we\u2019ll continue to grow at pace. We don\u2019t anticipate ever getting to this, but we will not pull out of agreements with landlords.\"\n\nAccounts suggest WeWork's London bet looks good so far. To keep on track it must average earnings of at least \u00a380 million a year to pay off lease commitments up to 2038. Revenue for 2016 was \u00a360.9 million, up from \u00a311.9 million in the 15 months to December 2015. Pre-tax losses narrowed from \u00a314.3 million to \u00a311 million.\n\nA tech business or a property company?\n\nFounded in 2010, New York-headquartered WeWork was valued at $20 billion (\u00a315.2 billion) earlier this year and has raised over $8 billion (\u00a36.1 billion) to date from backers including Goldman Sachs and Japan's SoftBank.\n\nThe company has 150,000 \"members\" worldwide and leases 10 million square feet of office around the world. Regus has five times as much real estate as WeWork but is valued at just \u00a31.9 billion.\n\nWeWork justifies its valuation by arguing that it is closer to a tech or lifestyle company than to a property business.\n\nHowever, Frank Cottle, chairman of rival services office business Alliance Business Centers, told the Wall Street Journal he sees the company as \"nothing but Regus with a paint job.\" Regus first came to prominence during the dotcom bubble of 2000s but was forced to radically downsize when the dotcom bubble popped.", "output": "WeWork has underscored its commitment to operating in London, despite the possible disruption caused by Brexit. UK accounts for last year revealed the US company has around \u00a32bn ($2.6bn) in leases up to 2042, while a spokesperson said Brexit would provide \"challenges and opportunities\" but added: \"we will not pull out of agreements with landlords\". The company's optimism is at odds with a recent warning from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, which said 75% of its members said London's commercial property market was entering a downturn.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Zenefits to pay $1m to SEC over lying claims \n America's financial watchdog will extract $1m from controversial insurance reseller Zenefits and its former CEO to settle claims they lied to investors.\n\nThe SEC said ex-boss Parker Conrad and the biz he founded Zenefits have agreed to shell out the dosh to end an investigation into whether they misled shareholders about the severity of the company's use of software bots to skirt state licensing requirements.\n\nZenefits was a former Silicon Valley darling that flogged employee health insurance packages to companies. In 2015, the biz was thrown into turmoil when it emerged it had built a browser extension that automatically took online classes for its brokers so that they could rapidly gain state-issued licenses to sell health insurance. Zenefits staffers were required to spend 52 hours in training for their certificates; instead, the bots crunched through the courses for them, allowing barely trained brokers to get cracking with sales almost straight away.\n\nAfter that news broke, the subsequent 48 per cent stock plunge drew the attention of the SEC. The watchdog later claimed Conrad and Zenefits lied to the company's financial backers about the cheating.\n\n\"Although Zenefits recognized that it operated in a highly regulated industry, it did not take sufficient steps to ensure its growing workforce was properly licensed to sell insurance,\" the SEC said [PDF].\n\n\"Unbeknownst to investors, the company allowed employees to use a computer script created by Conrad to enable them to spend less time on pre-licensing education than required by California law.\"\n\nUnder the terms of the settlement, Conrad himself will pay out $533,692 in fines, disgorgement, and interest. Zenefits, meanwhile, will pay a $450,000 penalty. As part of the deal, neither Conrad or Zenefits will have to admit or deny any of the SEC's findings and charges.\n\nConrad left Zenefits in early 2016, only to resurface later that year. Zenefits has since implemented a plan to ensure all of its salespeople are properly trained and licensed to sell health insurance in their respective states of operation. \u00ae", "output": "The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has fined Californian insurance firm Zenefits, as well as\u00a0its one-time CEO, $1m over accusations that it cheated regulations and lied to shareholders. Zenefits was accused of using software bots to help its brokers pass state licensing courses and gain certification without spending the required training time. They are then said to have lied to investors about the practice. Under the settlement with the SEC, Zenefits and its founder Parker Conrad will pay the penalty without having to admit guilt.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Swiss start-up Etherisc offers blockchain-based flight delay cover \n Etherisc, a Zug-Switzerland-based insurance platform startup, has begun offering blockchain-based flight delay insurance, called Flight Delay, which automates the process of getting an insurance payout in case a flight is canceled or delayed.\n\n\u201cThe frustration of a flight delay or cancellation is a familiar feeling for many travelers \u2013 and an unpleasant experience that is often compounded by having to deal with traditional insurance,\u201d said Stephan Karpischek, Etherisc\u2019s co-founder and CEO.\n\nOne year after launching a pilot application for attendees of Ethereum developer conference in Shanghai, the company has now partnered with Atlas Insurance PCC Ltd., a Malta-based protected cell company, to bring the product to market in time for this year\u2019s Devcon3 conference in Cancun, Mexico.\n\n\u201cEtherisc is delighted to offer a decentralized insurance to the Ethereum community and to showcase how blockchain is enabling customer-centric innovation for the insurance industry,\u201d Karpischek added.\n\nEtherisc noted that policies will be facilitated by an Ethereum smart contract, allowing travelers to share the risk of a delayed or canceled flight with fellow travelers. Passengers can choose their preferred premium, view their estimated payout, and make their purchase in online currency Ethereum (ETH) or major fiat currencies: U.S. dollars, euros and pounds sterling.\n\nUnlike traditional insurance products, Etherisc\u2019s product stores insurance contract data on the Ethereum blockchain, the company said, noting that it also acts as an autonomous risk bearing mechanism, risk pricing engine, claim administrator and a payment system.\n\nOther insurance products (e.g., micro insurances) in this area will follow 2018, Etherisc said.\n\n\u201cThis is clearly a sign that blockchain is here to stay for insurance,\u201d Ralf Glabischnig, partner at Zug-based Lakeside Partners, an early-stage investment group with a focus on blockchain technology and its applications. Lakeside is Etherisc\u2019s close strategic adviser.\n\n\u201cEtherisc was on the front line of innovation with their application already a year ago and now a fully regulated policy payable in fiat currency shows that this is capable of gaining widespread adoption,\u201d he added.\n\nEtherisc noted that an insurance-focused Blockchain Competition will be held on Nov. 22, 2017 in Crypto Valley, Zug. Lakeside Partners is an initiator of the summit, which brings together startups from 31 different countries to compete for a $100,000 top prize.\n\nEtherisc is an industry partner of the competition, together with Pax, Suva, Helsana, Baloise and Die Mobiliar.\n\nAbout Etherisc\n\nEtherisc describes itself as an insurtech startup with a mission to \u201creinvent insurance\u201d by building a platform and an open protocol for decentralized insurance applications. The goal is to enable data scientists, actuaries, and entrepreneurs to design, build and bring to market insurance and risk transfer products that are transparent, open source, and provably fair.\n\nAbout Atlas Insurance PCC\n\nAs a protected cell company, Atlas Insurance PCC gives promoters the opportunity to own their own EU-based insurance vehicle with less capital and cost, to write third party risks and to subcontract cell management to authorized insurance managers, Atlas explained.\n\nSource: Etherisc\n\nTopics InsurTech Tech Aviation", "output": "Swiss insurance platform Etherisc has become the latest firm to offer blockchain-based flight delay insurance. The offering pays out automatically in the case of a delayed flight, and has been launched in partnership with Malta-based Atlas Insurance. It will be facilitated using an ethereum smart contract. The launch follows a similar product introduced by French insurer Axa earlier this year.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "South African insurtech Naked Insurance raises $1.4m \n South African insurtech startup Naked Insurance has raised a ZAR20 million (US$1.4 million) funding round as it looks to make the business of obtaining insurance effortless, fair and more transparent.\n\nThe funding comes from Hollard, South Africa\u2019s largest privately-owned insurance group, and private investment firm Yellowwoods, with Naked Insurance set to launch into the market early next year.\n\nThe startup\u2019s aim is to use technology to transform the insurance business model to give customers a faster, fairer and more flexible insurance experience. It is led by actuaries Alex Thomson and Sumari\u00e9 Greybe, formerly partners in EY\u2019s insurance advisory business.\n\nThe pair spent the last decade advising many of South Africa\u2019s largest insurance groups, and noticed how these groups were struggling to transform and stay relevant in light of rapidly evolving customer expectations while still using outdated business models and systems.\n\n\u201cOur work revealed the many very real reasons a typical insurer can\u2019t deliver insurance that\u2019s appropriate for the times we\u2019re in. The only way to do things differently was to get out of the system, start from scratch, and build a business model and technology to deliver a new generation of insurance,\u201d said Thomson.\n\n\u201cIt is time for insurance to adapt to current times, technology, and social standards, and offer the kind of transparency and trust that consumers expect from a financial services provider.\u201d", "output": "South African insurtech Naked Insurance, which aims to increase transparency for policyholders and \"deliver a new generation of insurance\", has raised $1.4m in a funding round. The funding was provided by South African insurer Hollard as well as private equity shop Yellowwoods. Naked Insurance plans to launch early next year. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Malaysian insurers plan AI fraud detection system \n KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 30): A fraud intelligence system (FIS) will be introduced by the insurance industry, together with BAE Systems, in August next year to provide insurance companies and takaful operators with the ability to detect and investigate insurance fraud.\n\nISM Insurance Services Malaysia Bhd chairman Kong Shu Yin said a pilot run for the FIS, which was launched today on the sidelines of the Seventh Malaysian Insurance Summit by Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Tan Sri Muhammad Ibrahim, has already commenced last month involving four insurance companies in Malaysia.\n\n\"The first phase of the FIS will focus on motor insurance alone and will be rolled out to the whole industry [gradually],\" he told a news conference in conjunction with the event.\n\nHe added that the insurance industry has invested over RM10 million in the FIS.\n\n\"It very sophisticated system, making use of big data analytics and combined with the experience of insurance executive claim examiners... together we can combat insurance fraud,\" he said.\n\nKong also said the insurance industry has paid out in 2016 a total of RM5.8 billion in motor claims itself\n\n\"[Research] has shown that 10% of those claims is estimated to be fraudulent. If you take 10% of RM5.8 billon, that is a whopping RM580 million lost due to insurance fraud.\n\n\"Now we are moving into de-tariff pricing which is a good and bad thing as any savings will be passed down to the consumers, along with the costs too,\" he said.", "output": "Four Malaysian insurance companies have begun participating in a pilot fraud detection scheme, powered by artificial intelligence. The scheme is set to be adopted by Malaysia's wider insurance market next year. The programme is initially being tested within the motor insurance sector,\u00a0and will make use of big data combined with claims personnel experience to identify cases of fraud.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Engie wins Brazil regulator's nod to take over 605 MW wind farm  \n Brazil's power sector regulator Aneel has approved on Tuesday the transfer of the project rights for the 605-MW Umburanas wind complex to France\u2019s Engie SA (EPA:ENGI).\n\nHowever, as the negotiation involved the request for cancellation of four permits already given to this complex, the watchdog applied a fine of BRL 3.8 million (USD 1.1m/EUR 995,179) Renova Energia SA (BVMF:RNEW11) .\n\nIn addition, Aneel has also suspended for a whole year Renova's right to take part in future energy auctions. The company's shareholders Cemig (BVMF:CMIG4) and Light SA (BVMF:LIGT3) are not affected by the decision, Aneel noted.\n\nOn August 23, Renova signed a contract with Engie to sell its stakes in the project companies for the Umbuaramas complex for BRL 15 million.\n\n(BRL 1 = USD 0.308/EUR 0.262)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "French utility Engie has been given the green light to assume rights over the 605 MW Umburanas wind complex in Brazil. The transfer follows a BRL15m ($4.6m) deal in August to buy Renova Energia's stakes in the project companies.\u00a0Energy regulator Aneel approved the move, but also slapped Renova with a BRL3.8m\u00a0fine and year-long ban from\u00a0participating in energy auctions\u00a0over the company's failure to start works on the mills as a result of financial limitations. The ban could be lifted if Renova is taken over. Its parent company Cemig is trying to sell it to Canada's Brookfield."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hybrid renewables plants find favour in Australia and the US \n Battery storage is breaking into an ever longer list of grid-scale configurations, as new business cases arise.\n\nEvery major solar developer has begun at least contemplating storage paired with solar, even if few large projects have yet been built. GE has already paired batteries with its gas generators for fast-ramping grid services; it expects the setup to prolong the life of the gas asset.\n\nLast week the roster of possibilities expanded when two companies announced new storage plant combinations: batteries with solar and wind power to provide consistent electricity in Australia, and a hydropower plant-plus-storage to tap the challenging PJM frequency regulation market.\n\nThe onus is on the developers to prove these newfangled plants can make money, but they've already expanded the range of uses for grid storage technology.\n\nWind and solar and storage, oh my!\n\nWindlab and Vestas will develop a solar-plus-wind-plus-storage project in Queensland, Australia called the Kennedy Energy Park by the end of 2018. This will include 43.2 megawatts of wind capacity, 15 megawatts of solar and 2 megawatts of storage.\n\nThat's the first system of its kind that's been publicly announced, said Hong Durandal, a business analyst covering hybrid systems at MAKE.\n\nPerhaps the closest antecedent is a system built last year by Spanish turbine maker Gamesa that combines solar, wind and batteries with diesel generators.* That system is much smaller and operates off-grid, so it serves a different market.\n\nAt the Queensland project, a single control system will operate all three resources, to optimize energy production and availability. Vestas will provide a 15-year active output management service for the site.\n\n\"By pairing two different generating assets such as solar and wind with energy storage, the system is more reliable and flexible than individual standalone solutions,\" Durandal said. \"A wind-solar-battery system is more resilient against unforeseeable circumstances such as prolonged cloudy days with poor sunlight or days with low wind speeds.\"\n\nIn addition to meeting strict energy generation requirements, the plant will be able to provide grid services like frequency regulation, energy-shifting, peak load reduction and ramping, he added.\n\nAustralia draws almost all of its electricity production from fossil fuels; coal dominates with 63 percent of generation. Wind and solar produce a small but growing share of generation. The government has a target of 23.5 percent renewable energy by 2020.\n\n\"Kennedy Energy Park represents a new milestone for wind turbine OEMs stepping into hybrid energy projects to diversify and continue to grow the wind industry,\" Durandal said.\n\nIf this type of project grows into a trend, it poses a challenge of nomenclature. A five-word hyphenation doesn't bode well for branding efforts.\n\nDurandal uses the term \"triple hybrid.\" \"Hybrid\" often connotes two elements, as with a Prius, but it isn't limited to that.\n\nHydro and storage, but not in the usual way\n\nGreensmith (now a subsidiary of Wartsila) will work with American Electric Power to connect 4 megawatts and 4 megawatt-hours of battery storage with the Buck and Byllesby hydroelectric plants on the New River in southwest Virginia. The new batteries will help the hydro plants, which have operated since 1912, compete more nimbly in today's market.\n\nPumped hydro stores far more energy on the grid than batteries do, but that's not what this is. In fact, this appears to be the first time a developer will pair hydro generation with battery storage.\n\nThe companies expect the system to begin operations in Q1 2018. At that point, the batteries will improve the plant's performance enough to qualify for both of PJM's frequency regulation markets: \"RegA,\" which is the traditional market, plus the faster \"RegD.\"\n\n\"The key is fast response time and accuracy of the battery energy storage relative to the slow response time and accuracy of a hydro dam,\" said David Miller, Greensmith's director of business development. \"Hydro dams have different response times, but the dams in question here are old and therefore do not have a fast response.\"\n\nGreensmith previously developed six grid-scale energy storage systems in PJM territory, but this is its first since the regional transmission operator implemented new frequency regulation signals and requirements. That change undercut the payback opportunities for storage, as detailed in a recent episode of The Interchange podcast.\n\n\"With all of these changes, the PJM market is effectively closed to new capacity due to merchant risk, and revenues took a nosedive,\" said Ravi Manghani, energy storage director at GTM Research.\n\nThe decision to combine hydro plants with storage could sidestep that problem.\n\nBattery systems usually play in the RegD market, due to their energy capacity limitations, Miller said. The fast-response storage will allow the hybrid plant to compete there, but it also wields the energy capacity of the hydro plants, opening up RegA revenue. That serves as a hedge in case RegD prices drop further.\n\n\"The hedge helps to secure the business case for battery storage,\" he said.\n\nIn practical terms, the hydro plants and lithium-ion batteries will run simultaneously. The hydropower sells energy and keeps the batteries charged up while the battery does the fast response work required by PJM's frequency regulation market. In return for the top-up, the battery minimizes wear and tear on the dam from fast-ramping.\n\nThat's quite similar to GE's calculus for pairing batteries with gas peakers: save the generator from start-stop operation, allowing it to run in more favorable conditions, ultimately prolonging its life.\n\nThis means that, for the cost of adding 4 megawatts, the century-old facility gets a whole new revenue stream.\n\n\"It's almost like adding a Ludicrous mode to a horse buggy,\" Manghani said.\n\nMore to come\n\nStorage continues to bolster its reputation as the most versatile technology on the grid. More hybridization of storage with any type of generation is on its way, Miller said.\n\n\"By combining generation with storage, we can take advantage of the beneficial performance characteristics -- fast response, fast ramp rate, low O&M costs, zero emissions -- while using the generation asset to address the constraint posed by storage\u2019s limited energy duration,\" he said.\n\n\n\nFrequency support and spinning reserve applications make the most sense for hybrid plants currently, in both electricity markets and remote grid environments globally, Miller added. Greensmith already pairs batteries with a Wartsila engine, and likely will integrate more generation assets in the future.\n\n*Updated with information on a similar hybrid system.", "output": "Hybrid renewable power plants that combine different forms of energy production with battery storage are set to appear across Australia and the US. Among them is the Kennedy Energy Park being developed in Queensland, which will combine 43.2 MW of wind power with 15 MW of solar and 2 MW of storage. The Buck and Byllesby hydroelectric plants in Virginia in the US will also be fitted with battery storage, improving their reliability and performance. The projects are expected to be the first of many built in the two countries."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fund fees reduce gross returns by up to 20%: ESMA \n Esma found that fees included in the total expense ratio (TER) reduce gross returns of EU-domiciled funds by an average 13%. When sales and redemption fees are added, \u201cgross returns on EU mutual fund shares are reduced by 20%\u201d.\n\nFees reduce returns by 15% for retail equity funds, and 10% for institutional funds. But bond fund investors forego a much larger share of their profits, despite fees on bond funds being substantially lower. But the generally lower returns in this asset class mean the impact of fees on returns is a lot higher: investors in institutional share classes of bond funds lose 17% of their gross returns, but investors in retail funds lose an average of 32%.\n\nLack of fee awareness\n\nThe Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the UK financial regulator, published a study last summer showing fund fees do not correlate with gross performance. Moreover, it found a slight negative correlation between gross returns and performance in two of the three asset classes it examined.\n\nEsma also noted that \u201cthe impact of fees and charges on the net outcome to investors does not seem to be reflected in investor choices\u201d.\n\nWhile the FCA found that performance is uncorrelated with fees, Esma concluded that fund flows are not correlated to fees either, when corrected for performance, with the exception of retail bond funds, commodity funds and money market funds.\n\nThis conclusion is debatable, however. After all, the rise of ETFs as alternatives to active funds has a lot to do with ETF fees being lower, especially on the equity side.\n\nNevertheless, Esma has now received a mandate from the European Commission \u201cto issue recurrent reports on the cost and past performance of the main categories of retail investment, insurance and pension products,\u201d it announced on Friday.\n\nThe regulator noted that situations of low gross returns and commensurately high relative fees \u201care more likely to occur in the current low interest rate environment, reinforcing the vulnerability of investors to low performance by their investments in the fund industry\u201d.\n\nApparently, Esma\u2019s initial findings about the sheer loss of gross returns to fees were shocking enough for it to assess the reporting of costs and past performance of retail investment products by asset managers, \u201cin order to increase investors\u2019 awareness of the net return of these products, and the impact of fees and charges\u201d.\n\nAsset managers, brace yourself\n\nIt\u2019s time for asset managers to brace themselves: the competition from passive solutions has been putting downward pressure on fees over the past few years, resulting in lower margins. Regulators have so far been reluctant to turn up the pressure. This was exemplified by Esma refusing to name the funds it had identified as \u201cpossible\u201d benchmark huggers last year, and Luxembourg\u2019s regulator claiming last summer there were no benchmark hugging funds among the 4,100 Ucits funds domiciled there.\n\nBut this new Esma initiative may very well mean the pressure on active managers will from now on come from the regulators too. As the EU embarks on its next phase of integration, it is more than keen to show to its often-sceptical citizens that it works to their benefit, and not to that of big business.\n\nMulti-asset scrutiny?\n\nThe multi-asset and unconstrained bond space are the areas that have seen most investor inflows, and have escaped competition from passive managers. They also charge fees that are typically higher than those charged for equity funds, even though returns are lower. Multi-asset funds, for example, escaped scrutiny in Esma\u2019s initial study.\n\nThe average management fee for a \u2018flexible allocation\u2019 fund is 1.26% according to Morningstar. This compares with a management fee of 1.19% for European equity funds and 0.66% for European corporate bond funds. Gross returns for multi-asset funds, however, are closer to those of bond funds than of equity funds.\n\nExpect Esma to pay some attention, perhaps unwanted attention in some quarters, to multi-asset fund charges over the coming months and years. After all, these are the kinds of funds most popular with the consumers the regulator has vowed to protect.", "output": "The European Securities and Markets Authority\u00a0has fired a shot at asset managers, noting in a report that\u00a0fund fees can wipe out up to 20% of a product's gross returns. The report found that bond funds are more susceptible to having profits reduced by fees, despite these offerings generally having lower fees\u00a0than their equity counterparts. The study followed a report from the UK's Financial Conduct Authority\u00a0published in the summer, which found that\u00a0fees and performance were not correlated.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EDF joins Elsewedy Electric for Egyptian 100 MW solar projects \n EDF Energies Nouvelles (EDF EN) has teamed up with Elsewedy Electric Group to build and operate two solar power plants in Egypt with a combined capacity of 100 MW.\n\nThe renewables arm of France\u2019s EDF SA (EPA:EDF) said on Thursday that financial closing for the projects was reached on October 25. It added that the schemes have a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC).\n\nEDF EN and Elsewedy have decided to join forces after both qualifying for 50 MW under Round 2 of the solar feed-in tariff (FiT) programme launched by the government of Egypt in 2015. Their joint effort will contribute to the 1.8-GW Benban solar park in Aswan, Upper Egypt. Earlier today, Scatec Solar ASA (OSL:SSO) said it had achieved financial close for six solar projects totalling 400 MW that will form part of the same complex.\n\nThe European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Proparco are jointly financing the EDF-Elsewedy projects.\n\nThe French company expects construction works to start in the first quarter of 2018, subject to clearance by the Egyptian authorities.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "EDF Energies Nouvelles is partnering with Egyptian firm Elsewedy Electric Group to construct and operate two 100 MW solar photovoltaic plants in Egypt. The projects are part of the 1.8 GW Benban solar complex, and include a 25-year power purchase agreement with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company. Antoine Cahuzac, EDF Group's head of renewable energies, said the schemes formed part of the French utility's CAP 2030 strategic plan. Construction is set to begin in Q1 2018.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EDF joins Elsewedy Electric for Egyptian 100 MW solar projects \n French utility EDF Energies Nouvelles has teamed up with local outfit Elsewedy Electric Group to build and operate two solar projects totalling 100MW in Egypt.\n\n\n\nFinancial close was reached on 25 October for the photovoltaic plants, which are part of the 1.8GW Benban solar complex in the south of the country.\n\nConstruction is expected to start in the first quarter of 2018 following the approval of the Egyptian authorities.The projects have been developed under round two of the Egyptian feed-in tariff programme and will benefit from a 25-year power purchase agreement with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company.EDF Group senior executive vice president for renewable energies and president and chief executive of EDF EN Antoine Cahuzac said: \"The Benban solar project ties in with the EDF Group\u2019s goal of doubling its renewable capacity in France and worldwide by 2030 under its CAP 2030 strategic plan.\"", "output": "EDF Energies Nouvelles is partnering with Egyptian firm Elsewedy Electric Group to construct and operate two 100 MW solar photovoltaic plants in Egypt. The projects are part of the 1.8 GW Benban solar complex, and include a 25-year power purchase agreement with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company. Antoine Cahuzac, EDF Group's head of renewable energies, said the schemes formed part of the French utility's CAP 2030 strategic plan. Construction is set to begin in Q1 2018.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Older UK pension savers taking on too much risk: Hymans Robertson \n The risk profiles of many default master trust funds at the start and the end of the retirement journey need an overhaul, recent research by Hymans Robertson reveals.\n\nWith master trust arrangements accounting for 94 per cent of the UK market and representing seven million people\u2019s pensions arrangements, the consultancy has interrogated their risk exposure at the accumulation, consolidation and decumulation phases of retirement.\n\nIn many trust arrangements at the growth \u2013 or accumulation \u2013 phase, insufficient risk is being taken, which could impede member outcomes.\n\nHymans Robertson head of DC investment proposition Anthony Ellis says: \u201cWhile the majority are taking enough risk, the focus on short-term volatility reduction by some is costing members through lower long-term net returns.\u201d\n\nHe says: \u201cIn these cases this is likely to result in poorer member outcomes \u2013 those strategies that have embraced higher-risk asset classes have outperformed the strategies with a heavy focus on risk mitigation.\u201d\n\nSource: Hymans Robertson\n\nThe group says focusing on short-term risk mitigation is of \u201cquestionable value\u201d so far away from retirement.\n\nConversely, while the market has delivered strong returns for members nearing retirement, Ellis believes default schemes in this phase have carried too much risk, which could lead to problems should market volatility pick up and that the \u2018one-size-fits-all\u2019 approach is no longer suitable.\n\nHe says: \u201cAt this stage investment risk should de dialled down significantly and the investment strategy should be consistent with the member\u2019s decision at retirement.\u201d\n\nSource: Hymans Robertson\n\nHymans Robertson adds that currently, smaller fund sizes are prompting savers to opt for cash withdrawals \u2013 over 53 per cent of DC pensions pots accessed at retirement are fully withdrawn. Of these, 90 per cent are less than \u00a330,000 in size.\n\nEllis says: \u201cIn this context it raises a question mark over exposing DC investors to market risk and market falls.\u201d\n\nHymans Robertson cites the desire to outsource and the introduction of auto-enrolment as having spurred growth over the past five years, with master trusts now \u201cthe vehicle of choice\u201d for many employers.\n\nWith 35 per cent of workplace pension schemes now in master trust arrangements, they are expected to grow to \u00a3300bn in assets by 2026, according to the consultancy.\n\nDuring the consolidation phase \u2013 up to five years from retirement \u2013 Hymans Robertson says the focus should shift to capital preservation, solid returns and risk reduction.\n\n\u201cIn the consolidation phase\u2026the picture is mixed. The data shows that some have delivered strong performance with commendably low levels of risk.\n\n\u201cOthers have delivered lower risk but at the cost of lower \u2013 but still relatively strong \u2013 returns. While some have delivered strong returns but with high levels of volatility.\u201d\n\nSource: Hymans Robertson\n\nJust days after the Department for Work and Pensions released the findings of its survey on pensions charges Hymans Robertson flags the importance of looking at fees in relation to performance and neither as standalone features.\n\nEllis adds: \u201cIn assessing performance, the sole focus must not be on returns.\n\n\u201cIt is also vital to look at the amount of risk being taken at different stages of the savings lifecycle to ensure it is appropriate throughout.\n\n\u201cEqually, fees should not be looked at in isolation \u2013 what should be examined is the relative value of those fees against what they deliver.\n\n\u201cUltimately, if a higher priced strategy has generated a better member outcome relative to a lower cost strategy over the relevant period, after taking into account all fees, then that represents better value.\u201d", "output": "Master trusts, which represent the pension arrangements for seven million people in the UK, are taking on too much risk as investors near retirement, consultant Hymans Robertson has determined. On the other hand, an obsession with limiting short-term volatility has reduced the returns in portfolios still in the accumulation phase. The consultancy recommends trusts shift their focus five years before retirement to capital preservation and solid returns, rather than taking on excess risk.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Total sees Q3 profit slump by half amid weak solar market \n The new Gas, Renewables & Power segment of French oil and gas major Total SA (EPA:FP) has experienced a 49% year-on-year drop in third-quarter adjusted net operating profit to USD 97 million (EUR 84m).\n\nThe result was in line with the second quarter. Investments amounted to USD 99 million, compared to USD 1.1 billion a year earlier and USD 77 million in April-June 2017. Cash flow from operations amounted to USD 325 million, up from USD 24 million in the same period of 2016. Last quarter the segment\u2019s cash flow from operations was negative at USD 114 million.\n\nFor the first nine months of the year, adjusted net operating profit decreased by 18% to USD 253 million because of weakness in the solar market, the company says in the financial report. Total is the majority owner of US solar panel manufacturer SunPower Corp (NASDAQ:SPWR).\n\nThe particular segment encompasses downstream gas activities, New Energies activities excluding biotechnologies, as well as a new Innovation & Energy Efficiency division.\n\n(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.863)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Total has reported an almost 50% drop in Q3 earnings from its new gas, renewables and power unit. The French utility blamed \"weakness in the solar market\" for adjusted net earnings of $97m at the unit and an 18% slump in adjusted net operating profit in the first nine months of the year to $253m. Cashflow from Q3 operations rose to\u00a0$325m from $24m YoY, while investments dropped to $99m from $1.1bn.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese clean energy forced off grid by competition from coal \n Clean energy is competing with coal-fired generating capacity for priority dispatch in the country more than ever before, says Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). However, the consultancy \u2014 which has just released its new China Renewable Curtailment and Coal Stranded Assets Risk Map, in cooperation with the ClimateWorks Foundation \u2014 also says that factors such as rapidly rising power demand, hefty clean-energy subsidies and tough industrial competition at the regional level are creating \u201cunprecedented\u201d uncertainty for owners of coal-fired plants.\n\n\u201cThe world\u2019s largest power system will face serious challenges in the next few years,\u201d BNEF says. \u201cRenewable power generators face the worst curtailment rates in the world.\u201d\n\nAt the national level, the average curtailment rate for solar reached 10% in 2016, as the country\u2019s electricity market was oversupplied by 35% by the end of last December. And the situation remains precarious, as developers are now building about 24 GW of new solar capacity in regions where renewable energy is still being curtailed, as well as 30 GW of wind, according to BNEF.\n\nIn addition to losses arising from idled renewables capacity, China stands to lose as much as $237 billion from its threatened coal-fired plants, as more than 120 GW of new coal generation capacity is still being built throughout the country. With its new data-backed risk map, BNEF aims to shine a light on the criteria that Chinese energy regulators are using to guide the transformation of the country\u2019s power market. The map offers a look at the cross-industry, provincial factors that will shape the development of the country\u2019s energy sector through the end of this decade.\n\nBNEF believes that the national curtailment rate will fall nationally in the years to come, as the pace of construction slows and more long-distance transmission capacity is brought online. In particular, it says that curtailment pressure will ease in Gansu province, as well as the Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia regions. However, solar and wind curtailment may start to become an issue in the southern part of the country by the end of the decade, particularly in provinces such as Fujian, Guizhou, Sichuan and Hunan.\n\nThat said, BNEF believes that through 2020, coal risk will remain an issue areas in which coal-fired generation is still widespread, such as the Inner Mongolia region, as well as Gansu, Shanxi, Jilin, and Yunnan provinces. \u201cAll will see their coal risk worsen or stay high going into 2020,\u201d it argues. \u201cWholesale market liberalization will have a profound impact on the performance of coal power plants, especially in over-supplied provinces with significant competition from non-coal base-load capacity, such as hydro and nuclear.\u201d\n\nPopular content\n\nBNEF sees the completion of new long-distance transmission projects, as well as power market reforms, as the key to easing renewable curtailment risks. \u201cUltra-high voltage transmission lines will help alleviate curtailment risks,\u201d it says. \u201cBut the risk mitigation will depend highly on line utilization.\u201d\n\nFor example, provinces that might be positioned to bring electricity in from other parts of the country may ultimately decide not to hurt local generators by importing power, it explains.\n\n\u201cBesides technical constraints, China's pre-set allocation dispatch mechanism is one of the most critical causes of renewable curtailment,\u201d BNEF says. \u201cThe liberalization of (the) power market will significantly help curtailment alleviation if a spot market and ancillary market are successfully established.\u201d\n\nDespite the ongoing build-out of coal-fired plants, none of the provinces in China actually need to bring any new capacity online, based on the current supply/demand balance, it argues.\n\n\u201cBeijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Hebei are the only provinces where local generation fleet, de-rated for availability, is not equal to or higher than the peak demand load,\u201d BNEF says. \u201cHowever, these provinces can rely on imports as well as cleaner new build (like nuclear) to meet the shortfall. These regions are also severe air pollution control areas, so should not be building more coal-fired capacity for that reason.\u201d", "output": "China is wasting vast amounts of renewable energy as coal-fired capacity continues to provide high levels of competition, a new study has found. Bloomberg New Energy Finance found that the curtailment rate for solar power in China reached 10% in 2016, with that for wind power being 17%. These are the highest rates in the world and are a consequence of the country's energy market being oversupplied by 35% by the end of last year. The cancelling of a number of new coal-fired plants could help ease the situation, researchers found, as could improvements in power transmission."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Index funds could face future ownership limits: Bogle \n Has Vanguard, the asset-managing giant that has dominated its competition as investors trend toward the kind of low-fee and passive products it specializes in, become too big for its own good? A perhaps-unexpected expert says it is nearing that point: Jack Bogle, Vanguard\u2019s founder, who is often considered the father of passive investing.\n\n\u201cThe economies of scale just can\u2019t keep going on much longer,\u201d Bogle said during an interview with Christine Benz, Morningstar\u2019s director of personal finance. Bogle suggested that if Vanguard hit $4.7 trillion in assets, that might be too large. It currently manages $4.08 trillion. Bogle retired as Vanguard\u2019s chief executive officer, and he noted he doesn\u2019t advise the firm\u2019s management team.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t decide anything, I don\u2019t have to take the consequences\u2014but I do think that when you get down to these kinds of issues, one of the things I would say was, let\u2019s take the foot off the accelerator and ease it gently over to the brake,\u201d said the 88-year-old investment luminary, in the interview that was published last week.\n\nBogle said any scaling back of the investment behemoth, if it were to even happen, wouldn\u2019t happen soon and would be fraught with challenges. \u201cThat\u2019s a hard thing to do. We all know it\u2019s going to have to be done sometime. I mean, maybe 25 years from now,\u201d he said (Check out the full interview below).\n\nVanguard has been massively successful, with the assets it manages ballooning in recent years, as investors increasingly move into both passive funds and low-cost funds. Passive funds track the performance of an underlying index like the S&P 500 SPX, +0.27% , as opposed to actively managed funds, which look to outperform the index by picking stocks.\n\nRelated:Why the latest round of rock-bottom ETF fees may be a nonevent for investors\n\nThus far this year, Vanguard has seen a staggering $276.2 billion in inflows, by far the most of any asset manager, and as much as its closest eight competitors combined, according to data from Morningstar Direct.\n\nIn second place is iShares, the suite of exchange-traded funds sponsored by BlackRock BLK, -0.15% , which has had $156.5 billion in inflows. Flows drop off dramatically from there. Dimensional Fund Advisors, the firm with the third-highest flows, had a comparably paltry $24.3 billion flow into its funds in 2017, or nearly 9% of Vanguard\u2019s haul.\n\nOver the past month, nearly $28.1 billion have gone into Vanguard\u2019s passive funds; only $2.8 billion have flowed into its passive offerings. Even that demonstrates Vanguard\u2019s dominance, however, as actively managed funds as a category saw broad net outflows over the month. Only Pimco, which focuses on fixed income, an asset class where active management is seen as delivering more value than stocks, had higher active inflows, at $3.2 billion.\n\nRead more:Investors flock to Vanguard funds, dump Goldman, Wells Fargo, and others\n\nData have repeatedly shown that passive funds outperform a vast majority of actively managed products over times. This is a cornerstone belief of Vanguard\u2019s business model, which emphasizes passive investments. Another one has been rock-bottom fees. The average expense ratio, a measure of how much the fund charges customers to cover operating costs, for a Vanguard fund was 0.12% in 2016, according to the company\u2019s own data, compared with an industry average of 0.62%.\n\nOpinion:Jack Bogle is right: Don\u2019t be a passive investor, be a frugal investor\n\nDon\u2019t miss:The reason Jack Bogle doesn\u2019t fly first class says everything about his investing legacy\n\nHowever, Bogle suggested there wasn\u2019t much room for fees to go any lower. \u201cWe\u2019ve only got 12 basis points to go, and let me say it: There\u2019s an irreducible minimum, no matter how big you are.\u201d He said it costs \u201ca lot of money to run this business,\u201d and said that if the average fee was eight basis points (or 0.08%, amounting to $8 for every $10,000 invested), that might not be tenable. \u201cI just don\u2019t think it\u2019s worthwhile, hyping and trying to bring in more and more money,\u201d he said.\n\nAnother factor Bogle said could be on the horizon, as pertaining to Vanguard\u2019s size and popularity, involved the regulatory environment. He noted that the Investment Company Act of 1940 essentially prohibits a mutual fund from owning more than 10% of the voting shares of any security.\n\n\u201cIf you had an index fund that owned 10% of the company, they\u2019d have to stop buying it,\u201d he said. \u201cThey couldn\u2019t own any more.\u201d He suggested that if such a case were to occur now, the manager could simply create another index fund to bypass this issue. Such a workaround is \u201ctotally legal right now,\u201d he said, though this could be changed, speculating that the limit could be raised above 10%, or that it could even apply to \u201call the holdings of a given management company or fund sponsor,\u201d which he said would be \u201ca limiting factor.\u201d\n\nAccording to data from ETFGI, a research firm, Vanguard holds 18.7% of the ETF industry\u2019s market share, with some $835.8 billion in ETF assets. That puts it behind iShares, which has $1.66 trillion in ETF assets, and 37.2% of the market share, but above State Street, which sponsors the SPDR suite of ETFs. SPDR funds have 13.6% of the market, and $607.7 billion in assets, nearly half of which are in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY, +0.21% , which has more than $250 billion as the largest ETF on the market.\n\nCourtesy ETFGI\n\nThe popularity of both ETFs and passive instruments\u2014each of the \u201cbig three\u201d ETF providers focuses on index funds\u2014has created a three-firm oligopoly, Bogle said.\n\n\u201cOligopolies are not attractive to U.S. governments or world governments,\u201d he said, adding that \u201cthis phenomenon for exchange-traded funds, and index funds generally, is all over the world.\u201d It is at its strongest in the U.S., \u201cbut it exists almost everywhere, and I don\u2019t see how it\u2019s going to back down.\u201d", "output": "Among the risks posed to index-tracking funds are the potential adjustment to regulations surrounding their holdings, Vanguard founder Jack Bogle has said. Current rules specify funds cannot own more than 10% of a company's voting shares. The likes of Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street Global Advisors, all of which have substantial indexed assets,\u00a0have swerved this requirement\u00a0in the past by launching new funds. With the continued growth of passive funds, it's possible regulators either look to increase the 10% limit or potentially apply the limit to an entire fund family, Bogle noted.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Molten salt may challenge li-ion batteries in storage \n Thermal storage hasn't garnered the level of industry attention lately as battery storage, which is experiencing quickly falling prices and rising deployments.\n\nBut thermal storage, and molten salt in particular, actually exceeds the capacity of battery storage in operation so far, according to a new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency. A recent resurgence in concentrated solar power development promises to increase that advantage.\n\nMolten salt technology represents three-quarters of the thermal energy storage deployed for electricity applications worldwide, the study says. These applications typically support CSP projects, letting them dispatch electricity outside peak sunshine hours.\n\nGrid-tied molten salt storage volumes beat those for batteries by mid-2017, according to U.S. Department of Energy figures cited in the report. Although the data is for power output only, it shows molten salt weighing in at 2.5 gigawatts versus 1.9 gigawatts for all forms of electrochemical storage.\n\nIn energy terms, though, the difference is expected to be much greater, since the bulk of large-scale battery applications to date have tended to be in the seconds-to-minutes range, while molten salt is rarely used for less than 30 minutes of storage.\n\nIn 2016, commissioned parabolic trough plants featured either 7- or 9-hour duration storage, according to the International Energy Agency\u2019s Renewables 2017 report.\n\nParabolic trough is the most commonly used technology for CSP, but it is rapidly being superseded by power towers. These typically offer even longer storage durations.\n\nSolarReserve\u2019s 110-megawatt Crescent Dunes power tower, for example, has 10 hours of storage. The company\u2019s 100-megawatt Redstone power tower project, due in 2020, will have 12 hours of storage and the 260-megawatt Copiapo plant, scheduled for 2022, will have 13 hours.\n\nThese are not exceptional: a plant in Chile, Cerro Dominador, is planned to have 17.5 hours of molten salt storage if its owner EIG Global Energy Partners can find $800 million to restart the project after its original joint venture partner, the distressed Spanish firm Abengoa, pulled out.\n\nIn energy terms, the storage volumes involved are massive. Crescent Dunes, which is beginning to look small compared to some of the upcoming projects in the industry, theoretically has 1.1 gigawatt-hours of storage capacity.\n\nThat dominates Tesla\u2019s 129-megawatt-hour battery project in South Australia, which will be the largest lithium-ion system when it's completed.\n\nAnd the demand for long-duration storage with CSP is growing, said SolarReserve CEO Kevin Smith.\n\n\u201cBulk storage, not 10 or 15 minutes but more like 8 to 12 hours, is quickly becoming a valuable attribute for renewable energy projects,\u201d he said.\n\nMarkets such as Chile, Australia, the Middle East and South Africa are regularly mandating these levels of storage to be attached to CSP, he said.\n\nEven California is discovering that bulk storage will be needed to achieve its goal of reaching 50 percent renewable energy by 2030, he added.\n\n\u201cThey won't get there by just deploying intermittent wind and PV, and are already experiencing periods where the value of energy generated off-peak is going to zero during some times of the year, and on-peak prices are climbing,\u201d he said.\n\nBut perhaps the biggest upcoming market for molten salt storage could be China. The country is taking a major interest in CSP development, joining forces with companies bidding in the Middle East and planning 1.3 gigawatts of capacity across 21 projects.\n\nThese projects are designed to give China the expertise it needs to install 5 gigawatts of CSP capacity by 2020. And they are \u201cmostly with storage,\u201d said Cedric Philibert, senior energy analyst in the International Energy Agency\u2019s Renewable Energy Division.\n\nChina\u2019s 2020 build-out deadline might end up being ambitious, Philibert said, but at the same time, \u201cWe might see Chinese companies coming in and reducing costs for everyone.\u201d\n\nThese cost reductions are not much of a concern for molten salt. Unlike lithium-ion batteries, which are expected to achieve significant cost reductions through economies of scale, molten salt storage is cheap and probably won\u2019t get much more so.\n\n\u201cPrices are not driven by the demand in CSP, but by the conditions of the fertilizer market, which is the main application of this type of salts,\u201d said Giuseppe Casubolo of Chilean salt vendor SQM.\n\nHowever, CSP plants cost a lot more than PV or wind projects. Recent tenders have seen these costs falling dramatically, and there are developments in the works that could make CSP cheaper still.\n\nIf these developments succeed and the Chinese can do for CSP what they did for PV, then molten salt\u2019s contribution to grid-connected energy, in sunbelt markets at least, could end up being much greater than many expect.\n\n--\n\nJoin GTM for a deep dive into the budding domestic energy storage market at the U.S. Energy Storage Summit 2017. Utilities, financiers, regulators, technology innovators, and storage practitioners will all come together for two full days of data-intensive presentations, analyst-led panel sessions with industry leaders, and extensive, high-level networking.", "output": "Molten salt technology could become the energy storage medium of choice, potentially replacing lithium-ion batteries. According to two separate reports molten salt outperforms batteries in terms of both thermal and volume storage, and its low cost makes it more attractive to investors than lithium-ion equivalents. China is on track to become the biggest market for\u00a0molten salt storage, with\u00a01.3 GW in planned projects, while the Middle East, South Africa and Australia are also emerging as strong players."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GE digital grid ambitions powered by deal with NY energy utility \n GE\u2019s companywide earnings fell short of expectations last week, but its digital grid business keeps on growing.\n\nDescended from Thomas Edison\u2019s electrical appliance enterprise, GE still has its fingers in a nearly unfathomable number of pies. It continues to lead in conventional power applications, like wind turbines and gas generators, but it\u2019s also been building out Predix, an industrial internet-of-things business that pairs on-the-ground sensors with local and cloud computing.\n\nIn Q3 2017, GE Digital orders grew 50 percent year over year, the company said. In previous quarters, power was the fastest-growing segment within the digital category.\n\nThat momentum continued this week thanks to a new partnership with Exelon, one of the biggest power providers in the U.S. and a flagship customer for GE Digital. In a separate deal, the New York Power Authority will expand its use of GE software and analytics as well.\n\nExelon had already adopted Predix across its fleet of competitive generators, which includes the largest nuclear capacity in the U.S. Now, the company is rolling out the industrial internet service to its portfolio of six regulated wires utilities, it announced at GE\u2019s Minds and Machines conference Wednesday.\n\nThe goal is to work with GE to improve the cost-effectiveness of electrical distribution and prepare for regulatory grid overhauls coming to Exelon\u2019s various markets.\n\n\"What we want to do is use the analytics to allow us to be prepared to pivot and support any of the models that may come up,\" said Brian Hurst, VP and chief analytics officer for Exelon Utilities.\n\nThe expansion marks an evolution from the initial Predix application of monitoring the health of discrete generating assets, said Ben Kellison, director of grid research at GTM Research.\n\n\"This is one of the first large extensions of a cloud-architected analytics platform in the utility industry, and it\u2019s a strong endorsement from one of the largest companies in the space that there\u2019s value to be had from investing in digitization that crosses functional and business-unit boundaries, in this case generation, transmission and distribution.\"\n\nA smarter way to keep the lights on\n\nThe deal will focus on five key grid modernization efforts: storm preparation, network connectivity, outage prediction, grid asset health and historical outage analysis.\n\nThe old way of preparing for a major storm, Exelon Utilities CFO Carim Khouzami explained, would be to split a service territory into large segments and allocate resources ahead of time based on \u201cgut feeling and experience.\u201d\n\nThe live data-crunching from GE\u2019s service allows the utilities to pre-emptively dispatch crews based on more granular indicators, like vegetation data, detailed barometric readings and the health of the wires.\n\nThe historical outage data can be used to inform decisions about where to harden wires or put them underground, based on an understanding of trouble spots over time.\n\nPutting all the wires underground would protect them from the elements -- at great expense and disruption. GE's data platform can allow a more nuanced cost-benefit analysis.\n\n\"We need to invest more in the system, so we can continue to make performance better, but we also have to lower people's bills at the same time,\" Khouzami said. \"Being able to leverage data to find ways to be more cost-effective with how we do the activities we have to do -- to be smart about where we invest our dollars -- that can help us achieve the goals we're trying to achieve.\"\n\nRegulators across the nation are examining new models for more efficient grid utilization, but the outcomes of those investigations won\u2019t be clear for months or years to come. Operational analytics across the transmission and distribution network will make it easier to benchmark asset utilization and show regulators where new investments make the most impact.\n\nNot just a customer\n\nThe agreement goes beyond a conventional vendor/customer relationship, because GE and Exelon will work together to develop new applications for Predix.\n\nThe platform remains young. GE fleshed out the initial core applications -- or bought or partnered with other companies that did -- but it still has limited insight into how its customers could customize the platform for their needs day in and day out.\n\nCompanies like Exelon are starting to develop their own applications for Predix based on internal IP, and to work with GE to co-develop projects. The new arrangement includes both the traditional vendor relationship and a more collaborative research and development component.\n\nExelon became an early adopter for its generation fleet and began developing applications for things like nuclear plant operations. If an app they develop could be useful to others, GE can pitch it elsewhere.\n\n\"We are out there with lots of other energy companies, and we can say, 'Here's a solution that Exelon helped us develop -- want to buy it?' And Exelon would get a cut of the revenue,\" said GE Chief Digital Officer Ganesh Bell.\n\nThe new deal suggests that if Exelon figures out promising ways to use Predix to reduce storm outages, for instance, that tool could find its way into other utilities' portfolios. That helps them grapple with a shared problem, and it helps GE bring more customers onto its platform\n\nOne platform to rule them all\n\nGE has no trouble communicating its breadth of expertise. The main-stage programming at Minds and Machines (the conference it hosted about itself) featured a steady stream of executives talking up the visionary achievements that Predix unlocks for everything from wind farms to gas pipelines.\n\nThe challenge is matching that lofty rhetoric with the reality of deployment, which can be slow. The company, though, has bet on its breadth and legacy as a key selling point.\n\n\"GE has privileged access to information on a very large set of generation assets,\u201d GTM's Kellison said. \u201cThat said, companies need to partner and incorporate asset models outside of their own, as different utility asset managers subscribe to different methods and utilities rarely only use one vendor\u2019s assets, even in one product class.\"\n\nThe transformation from an equipment manufacturer to a tech-savvy service provider didn't happen overnight.\n\n\"There are plenty of legacy players; we're the new player,\" Bell said. \"We've gone through the pain of having to transform ourself over the last five years. Now we have a unique set of software capabilities that nobody else has.\"\n\nThe key difference, he said, is not just having cloud-based analytics or services or control software, but linking them all up. GE offers what they call \"outcome as a service,\" where it uses the sensing, analytics and operational controls to produce outcomes like lower fuel use or reduced operations and maintenance costs. Then it sells a subscription service.\n\n\"All of those things are outcomes that customers can measure, and we track and deliver those values,\" Bell said. \"If we don't deliver those values, customers will fire our software.\"\n\nAt Minds and Machines two years ago, there were a handful of power producers and utilities that had bought into Predix. Last year, the number rose to 25. This year, 78 utilities were either pilot-testing or moving forward with fleetwide adoption.\n\nThis scale is notable in the embryonic world of grid management software, but it's still a tiny sliver of the overall GE pie. New CEO John Flannery will need to consider how much the rest of the company should learn from the digital initiative.\n\n\"We're generating new sources of revenue that we didn't generate before,\" Bell said. \"As a business, at the end of the day, for shareholders, we've got to create new value, and here we're showing that it's not the old GE -- we're building a whole new franchise for GE.\"\n\n--\n\nCome join us for GTM's first annual U.S. Power & Renewables Conference in November. You'll get an in-depth look at how the renewable energy market will interact with the U.S. power market, and how those interactions can impact overall industry development and market growth. Curated by GTM Research, MAKE, and Wood Mackenzie energy analysts, we\u2019ll take an expansive view of key issues and timely topics, bringing together a diverse group of energy experts and stakeholders to discuss demand dynamics, economics and business model shifts, and policy and regulatory implications.", "output": "US multinational General Electric (GE) is looking to its digital grid business to help overcome disappointing earnings results. It recently made a deal with the New York Power Authority to increase its use of GE software, while its industrial internet of things unit, Predix, has been adopted or is being tested by 78 companies, with Q3 orders increasing by 50% year on year. Further endorsement for Predix has come from GE Digital's partnership with leading power supplier Exelon, through which the two firms will develop applications for the platform."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australia reaches 6.1 GW of small-scale renewable energy capacity \n The cumulative small-scale renewable energy capacity in Australia reached 6.1 GW at the end of September, the Clean Energy Regulator said Friday.\n\nThe country now has 2.8 million small-scale systems, of which 1.7 million are solar photovoltaic (PV) plants with a combined capacity of just below 6.1 GW. There were also 18 hydropower facilities and 418 wind parks, as well as 1.07 million solar water heater installations, including air source heat pumps.\n\nIn September alone, Australia installed 6,927 small-scale systems with a total generation capacity of 36.3 MW. The state of Queensland was the leader in small-scale capacity additions with 2,153 systems installed, as well as in the small-scale commercial PV systems category of between 10 kW and 100 kW, with 149 of new installations. New South Wales ranked second with 1,574 new small-scale facilities totalling 8.2 MW followed by West Australia with 7.8 MW of plants.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Small-scale renewable energy capacity in Australia has reached 6.1 GW, according to regulators. The figure represents the total at the end of September, with other data released showing that the country installed 6,927 small-scale systems, with generation capacity of 36.3 MW, during that month alone. This brings the total number of such systems across Australia to around 2.8 million, with the vast majority being solar plants, and a smaller number of hydropower facilities and wind parks."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Farmers Bank has created 'systematic risk' for Bangladesh finance \n It says the Farmers Bank is experiencing liquidity crisis for a year and it has deepened to such a level that the bank is failing repeatedly to fulfil cash reserve requirement or CRR at the Bangladesh Bank.", "output": "Bangladesh's entire financial sector faces a 'systematic risk' because of irregularities in the operation of a bank run by a former government minister. The Farmers Bank was given its license in 2013 and its Chairman is Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, the country's former home affairs minister. The Bangladeshi finance ministry has now released a report outlining issues of malpractice at the bank, including making loans to its directors and to organisations that do not exist. It is experiencing a serious liquidity crisis and the ministry warns that the bank does not have the ability to repay its liabilities."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Drax takes stake in renewables firm Aggregated Micro Power \n Drax Group plc (LON:DRX) will take a stake in distributed energy firm Aggregated Micro Power Holdings (AMPH) after selling to it 100% in UK wood pellets supplier Billington Bioenergy (BBE).\n\nAMPH will buy BBE from Drax for GBP 400,000 (USD 527,000/EUR 448,000) in cash and GBP 1.6 million in stock. It will issue a bit over 1.624 million shares to the UK energy group. After the transaction, its issued share capital will be 39.4 million, so Drax\u2019s stake will be about 4.1%.\n\nIn a statement today, Drax said the deal is in line with its retail strategy, currently focused on the industrial and commercial and small medium enterprise (SME) energy markets. By taking an interest in AMPH, the company will gain access to the small-scale distributed energy market.\n\nDrax is the operator of the Drax Power Station, originally a coal-fired power plant. Now it is 70% biomass-fired. The plant has six turbines capable of generating 645 MW. The company has shifted its focus to low-carbon energy in recent years.\n\nAMPH sells wood fuels, and it delivers distributed energy projects using biomass boiler, stand-by power generation systems and battery storage installations. Billington, on the other hand, supplies around 40,000 tonnes of wood pellet to commercial customers annually. In 2016 it reported a pre-tax loss of GBP 0.43 million on revenues of GBP 6.8 million.\n\n(GBP 1 = USD 1.32/EUR 1.12)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "UK power company Drax is taking a 4.1% stake in renewables firm Aggregated Micro Power Holdings (AMPH), which delivers biomass-based energy projects and sells wood fuels. Drax had earlier sold AMPH to Billington Bioenergy.\u00a0The deal is in line with Drax's aim to gain access to the small-scale distributed energy market and reinforces its strategy of serving small to medium-sized companies.\u00a0Drax owns the Drax power station in Yorkshire, which used to be coal-fired\u00a0but now\u00a0is 70%\u00a0biomass-fired.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bidders sought to build, manage\u00a0100 MW solar power farms in India \n The Northern Coalfields limited (NCL) & South-Eastern Coalfields limited (SECL) \u2013 subsidiaries of Coal India limited (CIL), have envisaged the execution of green energy by way of 200 MW installation at Neemuch and Mandasur Solar Park, in the state of Madhya Pradesh.\n\nSECI, therefore, on behalf of Owner (CIL and subsidiaries) has invited bids from eligible bidders to participate. The tender is for Design, Engineering, Supply, Construction, Erection, Testing & Commissioning of two-100 MW (AC) solar PV Power plants, using domestically made cells & modules. The winning bidder should take care of O&M for 10 years.\n\nSECI also scheduled a pre-bid meeting at Coal India limited, Coal Bhawan, Kolkata for clarifications, to be held on November 13.\n\nThe installation sites will be Northern Coalfields limited (NCL) and another one for Southern coalfields limited (SECL) respectively. The bidders are required to bid for one of the 100 MW block capacities only.\n\nPopular content\n\nThis comes in the backdrop of an MoU signed between Coal India and SECI to install 1000 MW in solar parks in different parts of India.India has set an ambitious target to be achieved by 2022 of 175 GW of solar installations and is rapidly increasing its installations year by year to meet the target.\n\nAuthor: Ajinkya Waradpande", "output": "Bids are being invited for two 100 MW solar power plants in India's Madhya Pradesh state. Solar Energy Corporation India (SECI), working on behalf of Coal India Limited (CIL), is offering tenders to design, construct and commission the projects. The winning bidders will undertake 10 years of operations and maintenance. SECI and CIL have agreed to install 1,000 MW of solar parks across the country as part of India's aim to install 175 GW of solar capacity by 2022.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Japan Renewable Energy builds 10 MW PV facility \n Japan Renewable Energy announced last week that it has completed a 9.8-MW photovoltaic (PV) plant in Kochi prefecture.\n\nThe JRE Kochi Kami Solar Power Plant, as it is named, is expected to generate some 12.86 million kWh of electricity per year, enough to meet the annual demand of about 3,574 local households.\n\nLocal utility Shikoku Electric Power Company Inc will be purchasing the output. With 35,000 solar panels, Kochi Kami plant is also estimated to offset around 8,376 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year. This is the first power plant JRE has in the Shikoku district, according to the company's press release.\n\nWith the start of operation of this facility, JRE is running 34 power plants throughout the country including wind parks, the firm noted.\n\nEarlier this week, Singapore\u2019s sovereign wealth fund GIC Pvt Ltd announced that it has made an investment of an undisclosed size in the parent company of JRE.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Japan Renewable Energy (JRE) has completed work on its first facility in the Shikoku district, a photovoltaic plant set to generate 12.86 million kWh and offset 8.4 tonnes of CO2 per year. Output from the JRE Kochi Kami Solar Power Plant will be purchased by local utility Shikoku Electric Power Company\u00a0and, when operational, will take JRE's portfolio to 34 facilities.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's water tunnel to 'turn Xinjiang into California' \n The desert sun shines above the Taklimakan Desert east of Hotan in Xinjiang in October 2006. Photo: AFP", "output": "China is developing plans to build the world's longest tunnel to turn a desert in Xinjiang \"into California\". Engineers are testing ways of building a 1,000 km tunnel to bring water from Tibet to the Taklimakan desert. The project is likely to generate protests by environmentalists but its benefits will be difficult for policymakers to resist, said Zhang Chuanqing of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics in Wuhan. He said the water shortage in Xinjiang was similar to that of California before a water diversion project turned the state\u00a0into a rich agricultural area."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nikon to close\u00a0camera factory in China due to rise of smartphones \n TOKYO -- Nikon plans to shutter a digital camera factory in China as increasingly sophisticated smartphone cameras undercut the market for cheaper compact models.\n\nThe Japanese precision equipment manufacturer will make an official decision at a board meeting Monday. The Jiangsu plant, which employs some 2,500 workers, turns out entry-level compact digital cameras and interchangeable lenses for single-lens reflex cameras. Some production will be outsourced and Nikon will continue to sell cameras in China, where it controls nearly 30% of the market.", "output": "Japan's Nikon is closing a digital camera factory in China because of the increased competition from smartphones. The global market for compact digital cameras has plummeted to a 10th of its peak within the past 10 years, and Nikon has warned of another sharp drop in the sales of compact cameras this year. The plant employs 2,500 workers.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Generate Capital raises $200m in equity for clean energy projects \n A massive Alaskan fund created by oil revenues is funneling millions of dollars into a young company that finances and owns clean energy projects.\n\nGenerate Capital -- a company launched in 2014 and based in San Francisco -- announced today it has raised $200 million in equity funding to provide capital for energy, water and food infrastructure assets. The Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the U.S. and valued at $62 billion, led the round.\n\nThe move shows how as clean energy technologies drop in price and grow in scale, major institutional investors are increasingly being attracted. While there\u2019s no shortage of investors for solar and wind projects these days, Generate Capital finances and owns more alternative and smaller distributed energy assets like battery projects, biogas installations, and community solar farms.\n\nThe company\u2019s success also shows how innovations in financing can lead to the deployment of clean technologies, whereas other forms of financing, like venture capital, have fallen short.\n\nGenerate Capital puts up the capital to get an energy infrastructure project installed and also owns the asset. As the infrastructure delivers revenue over time (as a community pays its solar bill, for example) and potentially saves the customer money (the community has a smaller energy bill), Generate Capital makes a return off of the cash flow.\n\nThe company\u2019s investors can get monthly dividends. One day, Generate could potentially exit by going public or getting acquired.\n\nEntrepreneurial investors Scott Jacobs, Jigar Shah and Matan Friedman launched the company in an effort to create a new way to fund emerging energy infrastructure. In just three years, the partners say they've done $500 million in deals.\n\nGenerate has worked with partners like solar companies, battery project developers and fuel cell makers. It can issue various types of financing from equity to debt to loans. Since Generate was formed as a company, instead of a fund, it isn't restricted by the typical VC type of 10-year timeline.\n\nThey\u2019ve backed community solar farms in Minnesota, water treatment and biogas generating systems at Lagunitas Brewing Company in Northern California, and investments in fuel-cell-powered forklifts at Walmart. Generate Capital is also one of the largest non-utility investors in battery energy storage projects and has worked with battery project developers like Stem.\n\nShah founded solar project developer SunEdison, and more than a decade ago helped spearhead the business model of investing in what the industry started calling solar-as-a-service. Generate Capital is moving that model beyond solar and into other forms of distributed energy, which the company calls \u201cinfrastructure-as-a-service.\u201d\n\nJacobs, co-founder of EFW Partners and McKinsey\u2019s cleantech practice, described the company as \u201ca mega balance sheet for distributed energy.\u201d Generate Capital chose the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation as one of its lead investors because the fund\u2019s \u201cvision and values aligned,\" said Jacobs.\n\nWith the new financing, Generate Capital is looking to work with partners that have a bigger pipeline of customers, said Jacobs. The $200 million in equity can unlock $1 billion in investment capacity for distributed energy projects, he said. The company\u2019s original financing came from foundations and endowments.\n\nThe Alaska Permanent Fund was created in the mid-1970s by a state constitutional amendment that called for a quarter of the state\u2019s oil money to go into a fund to be used for future generations. That was around the time that the Alaska pipeline was nearing construction.\n\nThat such a large state-managed fund has chosen to invest in Generate\u2019s model suggests it has reasonably low risk and stable returns. \u201cIt\u2019s a very lucrative place to be if you have the expertise, the mandate, the business model and the right partners,\u201d said Jacobs.\n\nGenerate Capital has 27 employees, two-thirds of which make energy infrastructure investments. Jacobs said the \u201ceclectic group\u201d is made up of a mix of former investors in private equity, credit and hard asserts, as well as tech companies.\n\nOver the past few years, cleantech entrepreneurs and investors have been trying to create new models to help deploy technologies to fight climate change. Financing innovation has proven to be one of the more successful.", "output": "San Francisco-based cleantech firm Generate Capital has secured $200m in equity funding, in a round led by the state-managed Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation. Generate invests in and acquires alternative distributed energy projects, including Lagunitas Brewing Company's water treatment and biogas generating systems, and Minnesotan community solar farms. Co-founders Scott Jacobs, Jigar Shah and Matan Friedman claim to have done $500m in deals since Generate's launch in 2014, while the new funding will enable them to work with firms that have ambitious customer pipelines.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesla announces $340m in bonds for distributed solar \n Even while Tesla has backed off of the aggressive growth pattern that SolarCity was on, the company is still showing its dynamism in financial deals, and continuing to provide a vision for the future.\n\nOn the same day that Tesla announced that it has provided electricity to a hospital in Puerto Rico, the Kroll Bond Rating Agency issued a report on what may be the largest solar securitization yet from the company that pioneered the practice in 2013.\n\nAccording to the report, Tesla/SolarCity is preparing to issue $340 million through two tranches of bonds, backed by leases and power purchase agreements on distributed solar assets.\n\nPopular content\n\nThe bonds formally mature in 30 years, but Tesla expects to repay them by April 2028. Kroll provided an A- rating for the first class of $265 million in notes, but has not yet rated $75 million worth of bonds in the second class. No interest rate has yet been assigned.\n\nThese notes will be backed by $483 million in forthcoming payments on leases and power purchase agreements, with leases making up 57% of that balance. Kroll estimates that the bonds are around 16% over-collateralized.", "output": "Tesla is set to launch one if its biggest solar securitisations to date, with the issuance of two tranches of bonds worth a combined $340m. The notes are backed by $483m in lease payments and power purchase agreements, according to the Kroll Bond Rating Agency, which offered an A- rating for the first class of $265m. The second $75m class has not been rated at this time, and no interest rates have been assigned. Tesla anticipates the 30-year bonds will be repaid by 2028."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "PEG Africa raises $13.5m for off-grid solar in Africa \n Solar finance company PEG Africa has raised US$13.5 million for household solar systems in Ghana and the Ivory Coast, which is expected to reach up to 500,000 people.\n\nCustomers on US$5-US$10 income per day can access loans for off-grid solar home systems through PEG using pay-as-you-go technology. Small incremental payments are made over a period of time allowing energy access to people who may typically find it unaffordable.\n\nPEG partnered with SunFunder in a multi-currency syndicated loan with six other lenders participating.\n\nThe fund was raised through a combination of debt and a series B equity financing, the first round raised US$7.5 bringing the total up to US$21 million.\n\nHugh Whalan, CEO of PEG Africa, said: \u201cPEG Africa will be able to reach a major milestone of extending energy and financing to half a million people. We are excited that we can now accelerate our growth plans in key West African markets.\u201d\n\nWith the growth of the African solar market off-grid finance and syndication is becoming increasingly popular.\n\nIn August the World Bank provided US$150 million in credit for off-grid solar for marginalised communities in Kenya. The project is expected to reach 1.3 million Kenyans in 277,000 homes.\n\nMore recently, Ugandan PV firm SolarNow received a US$6 million syndicated off-grid financing facility to deliver solar home systems to a wide-range of off-grid communities also through pay-as-you-go.\n\nA recent Global Off-Grid Semi Annual Market report covering the first half of 2017 reported over 120 million people worldwide now have access to off-grid solar. The report showed 3.52 million product sales from January \u2013 June 2017 with 1.77 million (50%) accounted for in Sub-Saharan Africa.", "output": "Ghanaian solar finance firm PEG Africa has partnered with SunFunder and six other lenders to raise $13.5m in a series B funding round, adding to the $7.5m secured previously. The money will be used to offer solar systems to up to 500,000 low-income people across Ghana and Ivory Coast, using PEG's pay-as-you-go system. Off-grid solar projects have also been funded in Kenya and Uganda, and a recent report revealed 120 million people across the world now have access to off-grid solar."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "World Bank approves $35m for energy-grid and renewables in Haiti \n The World Bank has approved two grants of US$35 million in total to improve access to electricity for more than two million Haitians, and to scale-up investments in renewable energy.\n\nThe bank noted that more than five million people could be reached through solar PV, adding that only one in three Haitians has access to electricity and access is limited in rural areas.\n\nAnabela Abreu, World Bank\u2019s country director for Haiti, said: \u201cHaiti has significant untapped sources of renewable energy. The country is taking an important step in creating the enabling environment for private investors and in boosting access to electricity. The World Bank Group will continue to support the country in providing sustainable renewable energy to increase access for families, businesses and community services in underserved areas, diversify its energy mix, and reduce electricity cost.\u201d\n\nThe World Bank noted potential in multiple renwable energy sources such as solar, hydropower, wind and biomass, as well as off-grid electrification. As part of the grants, two project have been launched: \u2018Renewable Energy For All\u2019 and \u2018Haiti Modern Energy Services for All\u2019.\n\nThese will improve the environment for private investment in clean energy, expand access for rural households through leveraged investments in micro and mini-grids, and finance private operators, NGOs and Community Organizations to provide solar lanterns, and individual and home-based solar systems.\n\nBoth projects will be implemented by the energy cell of the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Communications (MTPTC).\n\nBoth grants are from the Climate Investment Fund (CIF).\n\nA Gogla report on the off-grid solar market recently revealed that there has been a 7% drop in off-grid solar and home system product sales worldwide yet the market remains \u201cbuoyant\u201d.", "output": "More than two million Haitians may receive access to renewable electricity, following the approval of two Climate Investment Fund grants, totalling $35m, by the World Bank. The projects, aimed at simplifying private investment in clean energy on the island, have already been launched. The World Bank said Haiti had potential in solar power, as well as wind, hydropower, biomass and off-grid sectors. According to data from the World Bank, around one third of Haitians have access to electricity."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Greencoat UK raises \u00a3340m to pay to expand portfolio \n Greencoat UK Wind Plc (LON:UKW) has raised gross proceeds of GBP 340 million (USD 450.6m/EUR 381.7m) from the first offering under its latest share issuance programme, announced in September.\n\nThe firm sold 290.6 million new ordinary shares at a price of GBP 1.17 apiece, Greencoat UK Wind announced on Wednesday. Both new and existing shareholders took part in the oversubscribed offering.\n\nThe fund that invests in UK wind farms will use the proceeds to pay down debt and \u201ctake advantage of an attractive pipeline of opportunities,\u201d said chairman Tim Ingram. After paying borrowings under its revolving credit facility, the fund will have outstanding borrowings of GBP 65 million under the revolver and GBP 100 million under its long-term debt agreement.\n\nGreencoat UK has a portfolio of 24 wind farms with a net generating capacity of 617 MW, the combined output of which is enough to meet the electricity demand of over 560,000 households. The fund will look to expand this portfolio with more high quality assets, according to the statement.\n\nGreencoat UK Wind will apply to list the newly-issued stock on the London stock exchange\u2019s main market with effect from October 27.\n\n(GBP 1.0 = USD 1.325/EUR 1.123)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Investment company Greencoat UK Wind intends to expand its 617 MW portfolio of 24 wind farms after securing \u00a3340m ($447m) during a recent share issuance. The oversubscribed offering saw 290.6 million new ordinary shares sold, while chairman Tim Ingram said the proceeds would used to pay down debt and take advantage of an \"attractive pipeline of opportunities\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Saudis, Softbank look to develop 3 GW solar/storage facility \n Saudi Arabia\u2019s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and SoftBank Vision Fund (SBVF) are plotting to develop about 3 GW of solar power generating capacity, coupled with energy storage, in the Kingdom next year.\n\nThe pair seeks to do so through Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), according to a SEC statement on Tuesday. Saudi sovereign wealth fund PIF has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with SBVF that outlines the plan.\n\nThe MoU, which is non-binding and subject to due-diligence, stipulates that the parties involved would evaluate SBVF taking a \u201csignificant equity stake\u201d in SEC. They would also seek to build solar power and energy storage manufacturing facilities in Saudi Arabia.\n\nIn any case, the government of Saudi Arabia would continue to control SEC.\n\nThe move would be part of a so-called New Solar Energy Plan 2030. The parties expect to conclude due diligence under the MoU by February 28, 2018.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Saudi Arabia\u2019s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has signed a memorandum of understanding with SoftBank Vision Fund (SBVF) to develop around 3 GW of solar power-generating capacity and storage in the country in 2018. The venture, part of its Vision 2030 initiative to generate 9.5 GW of renewable power a year, would be carried out by the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), and would involve both PIT and SBVF taking a stake in SEC, though the utility would continue to be state-controlled. Due diligence on the agreement is set to be completed by the end of February next year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "PV manufacturer Tongwei opens unmanned solar cell production line \n China-based integrated and merchant PV manufacturer Tongwei Group recently opened its completed high-efficiency solar cell plant (S2), which includes the world\u2019s first technically unmanned monocrystalline solar cell production line under the intelligent manufacturing term, 4.0.\n\nThe S2 plant in Chengdu, China has an initial nameplate capacity of 2GW, which brings Tongwei\u2019s monocrystalline cell capacity to around 3.4GW. The company also has around 2GW of multicrystalline solar cell capacity. The 4.0 cell line is completely unmanned to test intelligent fully automated manufacturing tools and software systems.\n\nTongwei chose to officially launch the new facility in tandem with a massive ceremony celebrating the company\u2019s 35 years of business operations.\n\nThe company has also recently completed a 5,000MT polysilicon plant expansion, bringing nameplate production capacity to 20,000MT. However, the company is also undertaking the construction of a new 50,000MT polysilicon plant.\n\nRecently, GCL-SI (GCL System Integrated Technology) established a module assembly workshop that was completely unmanned to test intelligent fully automated manufacturing tools and software systems under its own manufacturing 4.0 initiative.", "output": "Chinese photovoltaic solar cell manufacturer Tongwei Group has unveiled its S2 plant, which boasts the first unmanned monocrystalline solar cell production line in the world. The company chose its 35th anniversary to unveil the facility, which has a starting nameplate capacity of 2 GW and will bring Tongwei's monocrystalline capacity to about 3.4 GW. Rival firm GCL System Integrated Technology also recently established a facility to test 4.0 fully automated manufacturing."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "JinkoSolar achieves PERC efficiency record of 22.78% \n Several weeks ago, the Chinese PV group said that it had reached a conversion efficiency of 22.04% with its P-type multicrystalline silicon solar cells. And its latest announcement comes mere days after rival PV module supplier Longi Solar revealed that it had achieved a 22.71% conversion efficiency record with its mono-PERC cells, as certified by Germany\u2019s Fraunhofer ISE CalLab.\n\nKangping Chen, the chief executive of JinkoSolar, said that the company remains committed to R&D. It scored its latest P-type PERC advancements by utilizing a number of advanced methods, including P-type silicon wafer and bulk passivation technologies, selective emitter technologies and fine-finger metallization technologies.\n\n\u201cAmong the various techniques utilized, the application of the selective emitter structure and fine-finger metallization significantly minimized the energy losses caused by recombination,\u201d the company said in an online statement. \u201cThe open circuit voltage and conversion efficiency of the solar cell was also greatly improved as a result. The utilization of advanced multi-layer ARC technology, an innovation developed by JinkoSolar, made further contributions to the efficiency increase.\u201d\n\nPopular content\n\nThe Shanghai-based group recorded a net profit of about $7 million in the second quarter of 2017, as revenue hit $1.17 billion. It shipped roughly 2.9 GW of solar panels in the April-June period, up 68.1% year on year. A recent report by China\u2019s National Energy Administration (NEA) showed that the company is now competing with Longi Solar for the title of China\u2019s leading PV module supplier this year, based on shipment data from the first half.", "output": "The battle between Chinese photovoltaic firms Longi Solar and JinkoSolar is hotting up after the latter firm recorded a conversion efficiency of 22.78% from its P-type monocrystalline silicon solar cells. The announcement followed Longi Solar's achievement of 22.71% conversion efficiency with its mono-PERC cells mere days ago. In a statement, JinkoSolar attributed the increased efficiency to various techniques, including \"the application of the selective emitter structure and fine-finger metallisation\". The company recorded net profits of around $7m in Q2 2017, and shipped 2.9 GW of solar panels in the same period, an increase of 68.1% over the previous year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FORESEA to support six ocean energy projects \n Six ocean energy demonstration projects will be financed under the third call of the FORESEA (Funding Ocean Renewable Energy through Strategic European Action) programme.\n\nThe announcement was made today by Scottish energy minister Paul Wheelhouse at the Ocean Energy Europe 2017 Conference and Exhibition in Nantes. Three of the six projects will be tested at Scotland's European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC). These are led by technology developers Blackfish, Bombora and Scotrenewables. The test centre SEM-REV in France will host two projects, led by Ideol and Interdrones. The remaining project, led by Kornwerderzand BV, will be carried out at the Dutch Marine Energy Centre in the Netherlands.\n\nThe EUR-11-million (USD 13m) FORESEA programme, financed by the the Interreg North West Europe programme, is designed to help commercialise offshore renewable energy technologies by providing their developers with free access to a network of test centres. Its fourth call was launched earlier this month.\n\n(EUR 1 = USD 1.178)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "The six renewable energy projects comprising the third call of the \u20ac11m ($13m) Funding Ocean Renewable Energy through Strategic European Action (FORESEA) programme have been announced. Blackfish, Scotrenewables, which specialises in floating tidal stream and run-of-river turbines, and Bombora, which develops\u00a0high power wave energy converters that operate on the sea floor, will lead projects at Scotland's European Marine Energy Centre. France's SEM-REV test centre will host project leaders Ideol,\u00a0a floating wind turbine company,\u00a0and Interdrones, while Kornwerderzand BV, which integrates tidal power facilities into sea defences, will head a project at the Netherlands' Dutch Marine Energy Centre. FORESEA's fourth call was launched in October."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Enel buys EV charging station firm in flexible grid push \n Enel has acquired eMotorWerks, an intelligent EV charging station (EVSE) manufacturer and operator of the JuiceNet EV charging network.\n\nThe move speaks to the coming of age of electric vehicles and the infrastructure required to support them as major market players across various segments shape up efforts to move into the space in a big way. eMotorWerks has one of the leading intelligent EVSEs on the market, which allows customers to bill for charging. It also has the powerful JuiceNet platform, which ties the EVSEs to the eMotorWerks cloud and allows for some truly mind-bending capabilities.\n\nFormally, the acquisition of eMotorWerks was executed under Enel\u2019s US-based subsidiary EnerNOC, which was only recently acquired by Enel itself, in August 2017. EnerNOC is an energy software company that, similar to the eMotorWerks functionality through JuiceNet, consolidates distributed grid demand resources and offers dynamic demand response capability to utilities.\n\nAt the beginning of the year, Enel also acquired Demand Energy Networks, which builds intelligent energy management software that \u201cenables real-time optimisation of energy management, with the potential to revolutionise the way electricity is generated, stored and consumed.\u201d These moves make it clear that Enel sees renewables mandating grid-level flexibility so that operators can easily balance intermittent solar, wind, and hydro with utility-scale storage and distributed storage. Demand response has the potential to play a key role in the mix and Enel wants to own the space.\n\nAs we shared last year, eMotorWerks\u2019 JuiceNet pulls together the distributed loads that thousands of EVs utilizing its chargers represent, which can then be dynamically throttled to balance the grid. That functionality was validated last month with the announcement that eMotorWerks is partnering with utility EDF to tie JuiceNet into EDF\u2019s grid management network.\n\nEnel clearly sees that the future of transportation is electric and the future of grids is dynamic. As such, it is moving aggressively to build the infrastructure required to make that vision a reality.\n\n\u201cElectric vehicles have the potential to be one of the most disruptive technologies the modern electricity grid has faced in the last one hundred years,\u201d said Francesco Venturini, Head of Enel\u2019s Global e-Solutions division. \u201cThe electric mobility revolution is leading utilities, grid operators, and consumers to rethink traditional business models, invest in new infrastructure, and roll out new solutions to provide flexibility and resiliency to the grid. Our mission is to be on the cutting edge of this paradigm shift, where consumers can play a more active role in energy generation and use. This acquisition enriches our e-mobility offering and integrates a highly sophisticated smart EV charging solution within our portfolio of grid flexibility services, which includes the world\u2019s largest demand response network, distributed energy management systems and battery storage solutions.\u201d\n\nThe Enel announcement shared that JuiceNet also has the ability to aggregate distributed storage facilities \u201cincluding but not limited to electric vehicle batteries\u201d to balance the grid, meaning they are exploring vehicle-to-grid functionality as well as non-EV storage units.\n\nThis is an exciting move in the world of EVSEs and shows both the visionary work done by the team at eMotorWerks to build functionality to use EVs to balance the grid and the potential for innovation to solve the challenges faced by utilities in light of the influx of renewables.\n\nSign up for Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era \u2014 Podcast: I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014 gasp \u2014 grow. So ... Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014\u2014 grow. So ...", "output": "Italian utility Enel is pushing to further e-mobility and grid flexibility, buying intelligent EV charging station firm eMotorWerks in the US. Through its JuiceNet platform, eMotorWerks operates and manages the distributed loads of thousands of EV chargers to balance the grid. JuiceNet can also aggregate distributed storage facilities beyond EV batteries, suggesting that Enel may be looking into non-EV storage as well as vehicle-to-grid functionality. The acquisition was made via energy software firm EnerNOC, another recently-acquired Enel subsidiary."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Global Infrastructure Partners looks to acquire Equis Energy \n Global Infrastructure Partners' $40 billion portfolio includes the Edinburgh Airport, the Port of Melbourne, a leading shipping container terminal operator, and the largest rail company in Australia.\n\nIt will soon include one of the largest Asian renewable energy developers, too.\n\nGIP plans to acquire Equis Energy for $5 billion -- a record-high acquisition price for the renewables sector. The agreement was announced early Wednesday morning.\n\nThe purchase will give GIP a strong presence in the Asian market. The infrastructure investor owns coal, natural gas and oil assets all over the world. It is increasingly pushing into renewables, most recently by acquiring a 50 percent stake in a 330-megawatt offshore wind farm in the North Sea.\n\nAccording to GTM Research, Equis has nearly 5 gigawatts of wind and hydro assets under operation. It also has a growing queue of solar projects across the Asia-Pacific region.\n\n\"The company has focused less on solar PV developments to-date, but has a significant project pipeline, including one of the largest projects in Australia, the 1-gigawatt Wandoan South project. Equis has late-stage solar PV project developments totaling almost 1.5 gigawatts and an additional 4 gigawatts of early-stage potential projects,\" said Tom Heggarty, a senior analyst for global solar markets at GTM Research.\n\nThat makes Equis Energy the 11th largest global solar developer, said Heggarty.\n\n\"Equis Energy is a unique success story in the APAC region, as it has systematically executed its growth strategy since its founding five years ago,\" said Adebayo Ogunlesi, chairman of GIP, in a statement.\n\nAccording to Equis, it has more than 11 gigawatts or project in operation or under development.\n\nThe chart below shows where Equis' expanding solar pipeline is located.\n\nThe transaction is also notable for its size. At $5 billion, it's the single-biggest renewable energy acquisition in history. Bloomberg New Energy Finance confirmed the record size in its deal tracker.\n\nIt's also yet another signal that traditional energy and infrastructure companies are forcefully pursuing renewables. They're not just experimenting anymore.\n\nIn September, Shell bought MP2, a Texas-based company with 1.7 gigawatts of solar, wind, landfill gas and natural gas projects. MP2 also has 550 megawatts of demand response assets under management. Shell now invests $200 million per year in renewables, according to Wood Mackenzie, GTM's parent company.\n\nThe French oil major Total is also getting deeper into renewable energy and efficiency, by setting up a solar development arm and making strategic equity investments. Last year, it bought battery-maker Saft for $1.1 billion. It also owns a majority stake in SunPower.\n\nLarge global utilities, including Enel, Engie, Centrica and EDF, are also investing in distributed energy platforms across the U.S. Most recently, Enel bought the demand response company EnerNOC for $250 million.\n\nHeggarty said that many leading energy companies were eyeing Equis as an acquisition target.\n\n\"This is a really significant transaction for the renewable energy industry. Alongside Global Infrastructure Partners, it had been rumored that a number of the world's largest energy companies, including Shell, Engie and Adani, were looking to acquire Equis,\" he said. \"Equis was also a particularly attractive proposition due to its portfolio of recently commissioned Japanese solar projects with generous 20-year feed-in tariffs.\"\n\nExpect more of this kind of activity in the coming months.\n\n\"Solar and wind developers with strong project pipelines, particularly in key emerging markets like Australia and Southeast Asia, could be future acquisition targets for some of these players,\" said Heggarty.", "output": "Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) is set to make the renewable sector's biggest-ever purchase, with the $5bn acquisition of Singapore firm Equis Energy. The sale includes $1.3bn of liabilities and is set to close in Q1 2018. Equis Energy's 11 GW of renewable assets include solar, wind and hydroelectric power operations, notably featuring\u00a0one of Australia's largest solar plants, which is still currently under development. Insiders have speculated that, as governments replace existing tariff structures,\u00a0scale will be a determining factor in ensuring the renewable sector remains profitable.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Blockchain-based energy companies spike in popularity \n This week a South African blockchain startup called Sun Exchange raised $1.6 million in seed funding to launch a solar power crowdsale platform. It is hardly unique, though.\n\nRecent weeks have seen new blockchain-based energy hopefuls cropping up like mushrooms after the rain. Here are 15 of the top names making headlines.\n\nConjoule\n\nConjoule offers a blockchain platform designed to support peer-to-peer trading of energy among rooftop PV owners and interested public-sector or corporate buyers. The company was hatched in Innogy\u2019s Innovation Hub in 2015 and pulled in $5.3 million in funding from Tokyo Electric Power Company and others in July. Conjoule has been running a pilot in Germany for the past year.\n\nDrift\n\nSeattle-based Drift is leveraging distributed ledger technology, machine learning and high-frequency trading to create a differentiated competitive retail energy provider. It raised $2.1 million in May and is currently operating in New York City.\n\nGreeneum\n\nGreeneum revealed this month it is running test nets and pilots for its peer-to-peer energy trading platform \u201cin Europe, Cyprus, Israel, Africa and the U.S.\u201d It expects to have a viable product platform out by mid-2018.\n\nUPDATE: GTM originally reported that Greeneum is being developed by the same team as SolarCoin, which is incorrect. On October 25, the SolarCoin Foundation issued a statement clarifying that Greeneum is a stand-alone project and that none of SolarCoin's founders \"has a role or formal knowledge of the project specifics.\" Previous statements suggested otherwise.\n\nGrid+\n\nIn one of the most hotly hyped launches in the energy blockchain world, Grid+ last month raised $29 million through its token pre-sale, which will fund the development and launch of its blockchain-based competitive retail provider in Texas. The hype was partly a result of Grid+\u2019s origins: It was created by top New York blockchain shop ConsenSys.\n\nUPDATE: Initial reports show that Grid+ raised $40 million through its token pre-sale. However, the firm said it actually raised $29 million from the pre-sale, which amounts to 36,422,909 GRID tokens. GTM has updated this story to reflect the correct dollar amount.\n\nGrid+ acknowledged it made some errors in its pre-sale calculations, but they had no bearing on the total dollar amount raised. With the pre-sale complete, that leaves 53,577,091 GRID tokens for sale in Grid+'s public token sale taking place October 30.\n\nGrid Singularity\n\nGrid Singularity is an Austrian startup developing a blockchain purpose-built for the energy industry, backed by a team of experienced energy market professionals and leading blockchain and smart contract developers, according to its website (see also: Energy Web Foundation).\n\nElectron\n\nU.K. startup Electron began with a blockchain-based solution to help customers in the U.K. switch energy suppliers, but has since been communicating a vision of leveraging its platform to support broader energy trading and grid-balancing solutions. Last month, with help from Siemens and National Grid, it won U.K. government support to scale up its platform.\n\nEnergy Web Foundation\n\nEstablished in February by Grid Singularity and the Rocky Mountain Institute, Energy Web Foundation is not so much a startup as an alliance body aimed at introducing an open-source blockchain designed for the electricity market, identifying use cases and helping build an ecosystem of participants. Big-name energy firms pumped $2.5 million into the foundation in May.\n\nImpactPPA\n\nWhile most energy-based blockchain players offer a token for trading, Manhattan Beach, California-based ImpactPPA has two: one to fund projects and one to consume energy. The company is targeting the estimated 16 percent of the world population that lacks a reliable source of energy.\n\nLO3 Energy\n\nAs well as backing Electron in the U.K., Siemens last year announced a tie-up with New York peer-to-peer blockchain developer LO3 Energy. The promising startup this month pulled in an unspecified amount of funding from Braemar Energy Ventures and Centrica Innovations.\n\nMyBit\n\nMyBit is designed to help crowdfund solar panels by distributing the ownership of each system across several owners. The company raised the equivalent of around $2.7 million in a token sale in August.\n\nPower Ledger\n\nAustralia\u2019s star energy blockchain player, Power Ledger, had pulled in more than $24 million from around 15,000 supporters by the time it completed a token generation event earlier this month. The company is rolling out pilot projects for its blockchain platform, built to support a broad range of energy market applications, in Australia and New Zealand.\n\nSolarCoin\n\nSolarCoin was launched in 2014 as a rewards program for solar electricity generation, with one of its coins equaling a megawatt-hour of production. The scheme is set to reward 97,500 terawatt-hours of generation over 40 years, but for now its value remains low.\n\nSun Exchange\n\nSun Exchange\u2019s motto is \u201csolar-powered money.\u201d Founded by U.K. utility-scale solar pioneer Abraham Cambridge, the company aims to let supporters around the world crowdfund PV down to the level of an individual solar cell and lease them to schools and businesses in Africa. The company's marketplace is focused on funding and building new generation systems, rather than trading power. Sun Exchange has been operational for several years and has successfully funded four solar projects. The company recently raised $1.6 million in seed funding, which will go towards expanding its business and global capabilities.\n\nUPDATE: An earlier version of this article stated that Sun Exchange is a \"peer-to-peer solar energy trading platform.\" This entry was updated to clarify that Sun Exchange does not trade power, and is focused instead on funding new solar projects.\n\nVeridium Labs\n\nVeridium is a financial technology firm aiming to create a new asset class called \u201cEcoSmart Commodities.\u201d \u201cVeridium will provide a new vehicle for corporations to embed environmental replacements into the cost of their products,\u201d co-founder Todd Lemons told GTM.\n\nWePower\n\nWePower is developing an Ethereum-based platform to fund renewable energy projects through the sale and trading of the \u201ctokenized\u201d energy produced by those systems. The company is looking to raise $30 million from an ICO next month.\n\n--\n\nGTM will host an entire panel session on Blockchain at the first annual U.S. Power & Renewables Conference in November. You'll get an in-depth look at how the renewable energy market will interact with the U.S. power market, and how those interactions can impact overall industry development and market growth. Curated by GTM Research, MAKE, and Wood Mackenzie energy analysts, we\u2019ll take an expansive view of key issues and timely topics, bringing together a diverse group of energy experts and stakeholders to discuss demand dynamics, economics and business model shifts, and policy and regulatory implications.", "output": "The number of energy start-ups developing and marketing blockchain solutions is growing, with companies across the globe finding funding. South African outfit Sun Exchange recently secured $1.6m in seed funding, while the much-hyped Texan start-up Grid+ raised $40m from a token sale. UK firm Electron and New York-based LO3 Energy have both been backed by Siemens, while Australian company Power Ledger's October token sale raised $24m."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Climate change damages\u00a0health of millions \n The health of hundreds of millions of people around the world is already being damaged by climate change, a major report has revealed.\n\n\n\nHeatwaves are affecting many more vulnerable people and global warming is boosting the transmission of deadly diseases such as dengue fever, the world\u2019s most rapidly spreading disease. Air pollution from fossil fuel burning is also causing millions of early deaths each year, while damage to crops from extreme weather threatens hunger for millions of children.\n\nThe findings, published in the Lancet journal, come from researchers at 26 institutions around the world, including many universities, the World Health Organization, World Bank and the UN\u2019s World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The WMO reported on Monday that the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere made a record jump in 2016 to hit a concentration not seen for more than three million years.\n\n\u201cClimate change is happening and it\u2019s a health issue today for millions worldwide,\u201d said Prof Anthony Costello, at the World Health Organization and co-chair of the group behind the new report. It follows a related report in 2009 that warned that climate change was the biggest danger to global health in the 21st century, an assessment repeated in the new report.\n\nBut Costello said acting to halt global warming would also deliver a huge benefit for health: \u201cThe outlook is challenging, but we still have an opportunity to turn a looming medical emergency into the most significant advance for public health this century.\u201d\n\n\u201cOur scientists have been telling us for some time that we\u2019ve got a bad case of climate change. Now our doctors are telling us it\u2019s bad for our health,\u201d said Christiana Figueres, who as the UN\u2019s climate chief negotiated the Paris climate change agreement and also co-chaired the new report.\n\n\u201cHundreds of millions of people are already suffering health impacts as a result of climate change,\u201d she told the Guardian. \u201cTackling climate change directly, unequivocally, and immediately improves global health. It\u2019s as simple as that.\u201d\n\nOne of the most striking of the 40 indicators assessed by the researchers was a huge increase in the number of people over 65 exposed to extreme heat. This rose by 125 million between 2000 and 2016 and worries doctors because older people are especially vulnerable to heat.\n\n\u201cThere is no crystal ball gazing here, these are the actual observations,\u201d said Prof Peter Cox, at the University of Exeter, UK. He said the 70,000 deaths that resulted from the 2003 heatwave in Europe looked small compared to the long-term trends: \u201cWe were alarmed when we saw this.\u201d\n\nMost of the increase in exposed people resulted from rising temperatures, but the number of older people is also rising, creating a \u201cperfect storm\u201d, Cox said. The report also found that hotter and more humid weather was increasingly creating conditions in which it is impossible to work outside. In 2016, this caused work equivalent to almost a million people to be lost, half in India alone.\n\nThe report also found that climate change has increased the ability of dengue fever to spread, because the mosquitoes and the virus they carry breed more quickly. Dengue is also known as \u201cbreakbone fever\u201d due to the pain it causes and infections have doubled in each decade since 1990, now reaching up to 100m infections a year now. Dengue was used as an example in the report and the researchers suggest global warming will also increase the spread of other diseases such as schistosomiasis.\n\nPatients queue for treatment following an outbreak of dengue fever in Bhopal, India this month. Photograph: Sanjeev Gupta/EPA\n\nAir pollution is known to cause millions of early deaths every year but the new report highlights the 800,000 annual deaths related solely to coal burning. The good news here, said Prof Paul Wilkinson, is that coal production peaked in 2013 and is now falling. \u201cWe are seeing the first turn [in the trend] but we have a long way to go,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is a health dividend we are ignoring if we do not act.\u201d\n\nThe impacts of climate change are not limited to poorer nations, said Dr Toby Hillman, at the Royal College of Physicians, but also affect developed nations like the UK. He said air pollution kills about 40,000 in the UK each year and criticised low government funding levels for cycling and walking. Hillman also noted other impacts, such as sharp increases in mental health problems after extreme weather events like flooding.\n\nThe new report highlighted imminent threats as well, such as the loss of crops to increasingly hot and extreme weather. \u201cWe are going to see millions more undernourished children as a result of that,\u201d said Prof Hugh Montgomery, at University College London (UCL).\n\nMontgomery said the potential benefits of climate change appeared to be small in comparison to the damages: \u201cWe are not ducking the potential benefits, we just find it hard to see what they are.\u201d\n\nNearly 700,000 persons have been internally displaced in Somalia as a result of the drought and food crisis, reports say. Photograph: Peter Caton/Mercy Corps\n\nCox said it was not clear that global warming will actually reduce winter cold spells, which cause early deaths in higher latitude countries, because changes happening in the Arctic can exacerbate cold snaps. Prof Georgina Mace, also at UCL, said the evidence for a warmer climate increasing food production was often very localised and short term: \u201dOverall the overwhelming pattern is negative.\u201d\n\nClare Goodess, a climate researcher at the University of East Anglia and not part of the Lancet report, said: \u201cThe indicators reveal some stark warnings for human health, as well as some glimmers of hope, [and] the key messages appear robust. The attribution of [climate change] temperature trends to human activities is now unequivocal, so the urgency of addressing the issues raised by this report is not in doubt.\u201d", "output": "Climate change is already harming millions across the globe, according to international research published in The Lancet. The study reaffirms the claim put forward in a 2009 report that climate change constitutes the worst danger to global health this century. The number of people over 65 exposed to extreme heat, to which they are vulnerable, has risen by 125 million between 2000 and 2016, according to the report. Dengue fever is also spreading more easily due to increased mosquito breeding, air pollution is causing millions of premature deaths, and hunger is set to increase due to crop damage.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK supermarkets sell\u00a0salmon 20 times over sea lice limit \n Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nMorning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nScottish salmon sold by a range of supermarkets in the UK has sea lice up to 20 times the acceptable amount.\n\nThe maximum number of the parasites is expected to be no more than one louse per farmed fish but data obtained by the Salmon and Trout Conversation (S&TC) Scotland shows that there was an average of at least three lice per farmed fish at Salmon farms.\n\nTesco, Sainsbury\u2019s and Co-op are among those who have stocked salmon from the worst affected farms and Co-op\u2019s supplier, The Scottish Salmon Company, recorded lice numbers that exceeded acceptable levels at six of its 10 farms, for an entire year.\n\nAt one of the farms, each fish was found to have 23 sea lice for a period of seven weeks.\n\nTesco salmon supplier Grieg Seafood Shetland was found to have an average of 22 lice and Marine Harvest, Sainsbury\u2019s supplier was also on the list.\n\nThose fish who are infected pose no risk to consumers as they are either discarded or treated with pesticides.\n\nWorld news in pictures Show all 50 1 / 50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the \"Creek Fire\" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading \"Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression\" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty\n\nGuy Linley-Adams, Solicitor for S&TC Scotland, told the Daily Mail: \u201cWe now call upon Scottish ministers to rethink radically their approach to the salmon farming industry, to end the knee-jerk support of the industry in the face of frankly awful environmental performance, and to stop trying to protect it from legitimate criticism.\n\n\u201cWe have shared our ideas for change with Marine Scotland and hope Scottish ministers will now work with environmental and conservation bodies to map out a sustainable future for the industry that no longer damages the precious Scottish marine environment and the species within it.\n\n\u201cWe also call upon the industry itself to end both its tobacco-industry style denials about the damage it causes and the \"tit for tat\" accusations it repeatedly makes, in favour of embracing the positive change that must now come.\u201d", "output": "Scottish salmon carrying up to 20 times the acceptable amount of sea lice are being sold in UK supermarkets, including the Co-op, Sainsbury\u2019s and Tesco. Each farmed fish is expected to carry no more than one louse, but data from the Salmon and Trout Conservation Scotland indicates that most farmed fish carry\u00a0an average of at least three lice. Suppliers known to exceed lice limits include Grieg Seafood Shetland,\u00a0Marine Harvest and the Scottish Salmon Company. The infected fish pose environmental risks, but are no threat to consumers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "City regulator the FCA moves backwards on diversity targets \n The FCA has set a target of 45% of its senior leadership team identifying as female by 2020 and 50% by 2025 as part of its commitment to the Women in Finance charter. Progress towards the target is reported annually as at 31 March. For 2017 the FCA\u2019s senior leadership team is 36% female, which has fallen from 39% in 2016.\n\nUnder new legislation organisations must publish gender pay gap information on an annual basis. Using the required legislative calculation, the FCA\u2019s mean gender pay gap is 19.28% and the median gap is 20.91%. This reflects relatively fewer women in more senior technical and managerial roles and the higher proportion of women at administrator level. This is not an equal pay issue; the FCA\u2019s clear position is that women and men who carry out the same jobs, similar jobs or work of equal value are paid equally.\n\nThe FCA has set a target of 8% of its senior leadership team identifying as Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) by 2020 and 13% by 2025. As of 31 March 2017 the FCA\u2019s senior leadership team is 2% BAME which is down from 3% in 2016.\n\nSince March 2017 the FCA has been making better progress towards its targets and anticipates this will be reflected in the 2018 figures.\n\nChristopher Woolard, Chair of the FCA\u2019s Executive Diversity Committee said:\n\n\u2018Having a diverse workforce helps us make better decisions and judgements as a regulator and it is important that as a regulator we reflect the society which we represent. People who join us say our strong commitment to diversity and inclusion is a major reason for wanting to work at the FCA.\n\n\u2018We are obviously disappointed that the number of people identifying as female and BAME in senior leadership roles fell slightly in the year ending 31 March 2017. However, we are taking positive steps to ensure that we achieve a better balance across the organisation. This includes improving our gender balance throughout the organisation which will help reduce the gender pay gap.\n\n\u2018We already know that recruitment to our senior team is beginning to increase the representation of women and BAME colleagues. We have set an ambitious aspiration for greater diversity in the FCA and are determined to meet it.\u2019\n\nThe FCA has set out a number of actions that the organisation will take in order to achieve its targets. These steps include:\n\nall senior leaders have an objective around the promotion of diversity and inclusion\n\nsenior leaders are focusing on ensuring that diversity and inclusion is considered when allocating work\n\nexpecting hiring managers and agencies to produce balanced shortlists which will give the FCA the best candidates for all roles\n\ntraining sessions demonstrating the importance of diversity and inclusion to the organisation. Those taking part will make a commitment to change by taking positive action through their management decisions\n\nestablishing a number of mentoring schemes which include an internal mentoring scheme for women and participation in the 30% Club mentoring scheme and Race for Opportunity Cross Organisational Mentoring Circles\n\nThe FCA will report again in 2018 on its progress towards its targets.\n\nChristopher Woolard has also today given a speech to City and Financial LGBT event discussing the important of diversity.\n\nNotes to editors", "output": "UK regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)\u00a0has moved further away from achieving its own diversity targets. The body\u2019s senior leadership team was just 36% female at the end of March, down from 39% in 2016. The regulator\u2019s average gender pay gap was 19%. The proportion of black, Asian and minority ethnic staff on the senior leadership team also fell from 3% last year to 2%. The FCA has set a goal of 45% of its senior leaders identifying as female by 2020, rising to 50% by 2025 under its commitment to the Women in Finance charter.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK supermarkets sell salmon infested with lice \n Leading supermarkets have been called on to stop selling salmon reared by Scottish farms, where sea lice infestations are up to 20 times the recommended levels.\n\nCo-op, Tesco and Sainsbury's all stock salmon from the worst affected farms, as revealed in new data obtained by the Salmon and Trout Conservation Scotland (S&TCS).\n\nSalmon farms are expected to keep numbers of the parasite - which can cause loss of fins, scarring, secondary infections and death - to no more than one louse per farmed fish.\n\nLeading supermarkets have been called on to ban salmon reared by Scottish farms, where sea lice infestations have been revealed as up to 23 times the recommended levels (file picture)\n\nData obtained by S&TCS lists the farms that reported an average of at least three lice per farmed fish.\n\nCo-op supplier, The Scottish Salmon Company, recorded lice numbers that exceeded acceptable levels at six of its 10 farms, for 52 weeks.\n\nAt the firm's Furnace Quarry farm, each fish was found to have 23 sea lice for a period of seven weeks.\n\nMeanwhile fish at Score Holm farm, run by Tesco salmon supplier Grieg Seafood Shetland, were found to have an average of 22 adult female lice.\n\nMarine Harvest, which supplies Sainsbury's, was also named on the list.\n\nFish infested with sea lice are discarded or treated with pesticides and pose no health risk to consumers.\n\nS&TCS had asked the Scottish government repeatedly since last year to make public the farms that had breached recommended sea lice levels, before the Scottish Information Commissioner agreed to their request last month.\n\nTHE SEA LICE THREAT The tiny parasite can cause loss of fins, scarring, infectionc and ultimately death Sea lice belong to a group of tiny crustacenas called copepods, and have colonized almost every aquatic habitat on Earth. Its like cycle is a series of molts - at the 'napulii' stage the sea louse is free swimming, relying on its own internal yolk reserves. But at its intermediate copepod stage, the lice use their hooked atennas and frontal filaments to arrach themselves to fish; they are still too small to cause any real damage as they feed on the young salmon. As the lice near the adult stage, they attach to the fish by suction and can become lethal. They're able to move on the host fish's body, targetting the head, back and perianal areas - preferring to feed on mucusm blood and skin. There are two species found on salmon, Caligus elongates and Lepeophtheirus salmonis. The former affects many types of fish, while the latter is found only on salmon and related fish. Source: Alaska Department of Fish and Game Advertisement !- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/ru/news/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 - ->\n\nGuy Linley-Adams, Solicitor for S&TC Scotland, said: 'We now call upon Scottish Ministers to rethink radically their approach to the salmon farming industry, to end the knee-jerk support of the industry in the face of frankly awful environmental performance, and to stop trying to protect it from legitimate criticism.\n\n'We have shared our ideas for change with Marine Scotland and hope Scottish Ministers will now work with environmental and conservation bodies to map out a sustainable future for the industry that no longer damages the precious Scottish marine environment and the species within it.\n\n'We also call upon the industry itself to end both its tobacco-industry style denials about the damage it causes and the \"tit for tat\" accusations it repeatedly makes, in favour of embracing the positive change that must now come'.\n\nHe added: 'The data that Scottish Government didn\u2019t want anyone to see shows that salmon farms have been permitted to operate with breathtakingly high lice numbers for weeks or months on end.\n\n'To date, no meaningful enforcement action, such as the ordering of culls or immediate reductions in fish-farm biomass, has been taken against serial offenders.\n\n'The Scottish Government has a legal duty to protect and conserve wild salmon and sea trout, but this data shows it is failing to rein in the biggest threat [them].\u201d\n\nA Scottish government spokesman said it would work alongside the aquaculture industry to tackle 'major problems' including disease and sea lice.\n\nScotland is not the only affected region, as parasitic sea lice are disrupting salmon farms around the world.\n\nThe lice are actually tiny crustaceans that have infested salmon farms in the US, Canada, Scotland, Norway and Chile, major suppliers of the high-protein, heart-healthy fish.\n\nExperts say defeating the lice will take a suite of new and established technology, including older management tools such as pesticides and newer strategies such as breeding for genetic resistance.\n\nThe innovative solutions in use or development include bathing the salmon in warm water to remove lice and zapping the lice with underwater lasers.\n\nFarmers worldwide consider sea lice the biggest threat to their industry and say the persistent problem is making the fish more expensive to consumers.\n\nThe lice can grow to about the size of a pea and lay thousands of eggs in their brief lifetime.\n\nAtlantic salmon have held their own with sea lice in the wild for centuries, and fish farmers managed them in aquaculture environments for many years.\n\nThe price of salmon has rocketed as sea lice has become a problem for farms around the world\n\nFarmers in Canada identified the lice as a problem around 1994, said Jonathan Carr, executive director of research and environment with the Atlantic Salmon Federation.\n\nFeeding fish a pesticide with the active ingredient of emamectin benzoate became the tool of choice to control lice.\n\nBut around 2009, the lice appeared to become resistant to the pesticide, and they have spread globally since.\n\nThe worldwide supply of salmon fell almost 10 percent last year, with Norway, the largest producer in the world, especially hard hit.", "output": "Co-op, Tesco and Sainsbury's have been found to be selling salmon from Scottish farms where sea lice infestations are up to 20 times accepted levels, according to Salmon and Trout Conservation Scotland. Furnace Quarry farm, which supplies Co-op, Score Holm farm, run by Tesco supplier Grieg\u00a0Seafood Shetland,\u00a0and Marine Harvest,\u00a0which\u00a0supplies Sainsbury's,\u00a0are on the list of premises that carry a major\u00a0infestation. The Scottish government has been accused of playing down\u00a0the problem. Salmon and trout\u00a0farmers globally have said sea lice\u00a0is now the\u00a0biggest threat to their business."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China plans around 1,800 electric car charging points \n PTI\n\nAbout 1,800 charging ports for electric cars would be set up in Chinese capital as part of a study to work out a plan to phase out petrol and diesel vehicles. About 1,615 of these 1,895 charging ports will be installed in the area of administration offices in Beijing citys Tongzhou District, state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.\n\nBy 2020, Tongzhou plans to build a charging port every two kilometers to provide better service to electric vehicles in the suburban district of Beijing. Currently, Tongzhou has 53 charging stations at expressway service areas and shopping malls, and another two for the districts 510 electric taxies. Beijing will move many of its administration offices out of the city center to the eastern suburbs, according to the Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Planning in 2016.\n\nBuilding the new administrative center will draw approximately four lakh urban residents from the city center to the suburban district, the commission said.\n\nThe Chinese capital has sought to address its severe \"urban diseases\", such as congestion and pollution, by curbing population growth and moving facilities to nearby regions.\n\nEarlier a Chinese official said China, the worlds top automobile market, wants to ban the manufacturing and sales of cars running on traditional fuels as done by the UK and France.\n\nXin Guobin, Chinas vice minister of industry and information technology said that Beijing had started research on a timetable to phase out production and sales of fossil fuel cars.\n\nWhile Xin gave no details on the timeframe, he said, \"the measures would surely bring profound changes to the sectors development\". Many Chinese cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, have already imposed severe restrictions on sale of new cars to contain air pollution and to restrict traffic congestion. The ministers statement followed similar moves of several countries to end the era of gas-powered vehicles to cut emissions and reduce pollution.\n\nIn July, French Ecology Minister Nicolas Hulot announced that France would end sales of petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040 as part of the countrys plan to meet its targets under the Paris climate accord. The same month, the British government followed suit with a similar plan eyeing 2040 as a deadline to stop sales of new fossil fuel cars. China has been implementing a slew of measures, including tax exemptions, discounts for car purchases and an order for government organisations to buy more new energy vehicles (NEVs).\n\nLast year, China sold 507,000 NEVs, an increase of 53 percent year on year. Sales of pure electric vehicles surged 65.1 percent year on year to 409,000, accounting for 80 percent of new energy vehicle sales, the report said.\n\nAn earlier guideline by the State Council said China would build more than 12,000 new charging stations before 2020 to fulfil the demands of over 5 million NEVs. According to a roadmap compiled by the Society of Automotive Engineers of China, the share of NEVs sales should reach more than 40 percent of total auto sales by 2030.", "output": "Almost 1,900 electric vehicle (EV) charging ports will be installed in Beijing over the next three years, with more than 1,600 of those located in the city's Tongzhou District, as part of a study looking at the phasing out of fossil fuel-dependent cars. China wants to follow France and the UK\u00a0in banning the manufacturing and sale of petrol and diesel cars, but has no timeline for such a ban. In 2016, China sold 507,000 new energy vehicles, a\u00a0rise of 53% since last year, while sales of pure EVs rose 65.1% to 409,000.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BrainCo to use brainwave data measuring student engagement \n If Blade Runner had a classroom scene, it might look something like the promotional video by BrainCo, Inc. Students sit at desks wearing electronic headbands that report EEG data back to a teacher\u2019s dashboard, and that information purports to measure students\u2019 attention levels. The video\u2019s narrator explains: \u201cSchool administrators can use big data analysis to determine when students are better able to concentrate.\u201d\n\nBrainCo just scored $15 million in venture funding from Chinese investors, and has welcomed a prominent Harvard education dean, who will serve as an adviser. The company says it has a working prototype and is in conversations with a Long Island school to pilot the headset.\n\nThe headband raises questions from neuroscientists and psychologists, who say little evidence exists to support what the device-and-dashboard combination aims to do. It also raises legal questions, like what BrainCo will do with students\u2019 biometric data.\n\nBrainCo has some big ideas. The company\u2019s CEO has said that BrainCo aims to develop a tool that can translate thoughts directly into text, or \u201cbrain typing.\u201d To support that work, the company plans to use data collected from students using its headsets to compile \u201cthe world\u2019s largest brainwave database.\u201d\n\nTheodore Zanto, a professor of neurology at the University of California at San Francisco, had two words when he first read through the company\u2019s website: \u201cHoly shit.\u201d\n\nThe brains behind BrainCo\n\nThe founder and CEO of BrainCo is Bicheng Han, a PhD candidate at the Center for Brain Science at Harvard University. In 2015, his Somerville, Mass.-based startup was incubated in the Harvard Innovation Lab, and last year the company received $5.5 million in seed funding in a round led by the Boston Angel Club, with participation from Han Tan Capital and Wandai Capital, to develop BrainCo\u2019s first product: Focus 1.\n\nTeachers have an innate ability to know when their students are engaged, but we want to give them a superpower so they can track and quantify that over time. Max Newlon\n\nMax Newlon, a research scientist at BrainCo, adds the company is also studying if the headset could help students and families \u201ctrain their brain\u201d to improve attention skills. Focus 1 is a headband that aims to detect and report brain activity through EEG, or electroencephalography, which measures in the brain. To advertise the device to schools, BrainCo packages the headset as Focus EDU, which essentially is the headset plus a dashboard where teachers can view all of their students\u2019 EEG data. According to the video, a high numerical score for the EEG signal suggests that a student is paying attention; a low score is interpreted as a distracted or unfocused student.\n\nBrainCo is hardly the first company to sell so-called \u201cbrain-training\u201d\u2014or even EEG headsets. Similar devices include Muse, a \u201cpersonal meditation\u201d headband intended to guide relaxation based on real-time EEG readings. There are also Neurocore Brain Performance Centers, clinics that \u201cempower you to train your brain\u201d also using EEG readings. (Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is among Neurocore\u2019s investors.)\n\nFocus EDU, by contrast, is among the first EEG products that will be marketed directly to teachers and schools.\n\n\u201cWe are trying to be the first company to quantify this invisible metric\u201d of student engagement, says Newlon. \u201cTeachers have an innate ability to know when their students are engaged, but we want to give them a superpower so they can track and quantify that over time.\u201d\n\nThe idea was enough for BrainCo to win awards including \u201cMost Innovative\u201d at a pitchfest during the 2017 International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) national conference.\n\nBut the company has also faced less enthusiastic reviews. At the 2016 CES conference, an electronics and consumer tech tradeshow, BrainCo\u2019s Focus 1 device flopped in a live demo, which attempted to use human brainwaves detected by the headband to control a robotic hand. The Daily Dot called it the most \u201ccringeworthy demonstration\u201d at the event. \u201cThat\u2019s a mishap that calls into question the overall function of the device,\u201d the reporter wrote. \u201cWas it ever actually reading the brainwaves at all?\u201d\n\nWhen BrainCo returned to CES in 2017, the company arrived with an even bigger robot\u2014which the site WearableZone reported was a success\u2014along with a strategic \u201cpivot\u201d towards education.\n\nMore recently, BrainCo has chalked up some big wins: It signed education superstar, James Ryan, Harvard\u2019s dean of education, as an adviser. And now it\u2019s closed a $15 million Series A funding round, bringing the the company\u2019s total funding to nearly $20.5 million. The funding was led by Chinese investors Decent Capital and the China Electronics Corporation, which on its website describes itself as \u201cone of the key state-owned conglomerates directly under the administration of central government, and the largest state-owned IT company in China.\u201d\n\nimage credit: BrainCo\n\nMaking it \u2018official\u2019\n\nIncreasing engagement in class isn\u2019t the only way BrainCo plans to sell its product. According to Newlon, the startup hopes to secure approval from the US Food & Drug Administration to use the headset for ADHD therapy.\n\nBrainCo aims to rely on neurofeedback (using EEG metrics) to do \u201cbrain-training.\u201d According to UCSF\u2019s Theodore Zanto, brain-training involves repeating a specific task, such as playing a videogame, until the individual is considered focused. Advocates contend that improving focus on a specific task can help individuals better their ability to pay attention to other activities.\n\nEven in resting EEG, there are different subgroups [of brain activity]. It\u2019s not just ADHD; there is variability in normal kids. Sandra Loo\n\nCompanies that claim to offer similar brain-training options, like Neurocore, frequently cost more than $250 just for an evaluation. BrianCo wants to offer a cheaper, take-home version. \u201cWe are hoping to provide an alternative to lower the cost to make it happen in home,\u201d says Newlon.Newlon says BrainCo is also working on a smartphone game that will rely on EEG measurements from the headset to help people improve focus. Students could play the game for 20- to 30-minute sessions and earn points when they are in a focused state.\n\nSeveral scientists have concerns about at-home \u201cbrain-training,\u201d however, as well as about asking teachers to use EEG to inform pedagogical practices.\n\nSandra Loo, professor of psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles, says EEG technology is not sophisticated enough to accurately factor in important variables such as neurodiversity. That, she says, can yield misleading assumptions about how an individual student is doing or what he or she needs.\n\n\u201cEven in resting EEG, there are different subgroups [of brain activity]. It\u2019s not just ADHD; there is variability in normal kids,\u201d says Loo, who also directs pediatric neuropsychology at UCLA. \u201cNo one is paying attention to that, [instead] the approach is one-size-fits-all\u2014\u2019Do this and it will work for your child.\u2019\u201d\n\nZanto, who directs UCSF\u2019s neuroscience program, doesn\u2019t believe there is any physical danger in wearing the headset and administering EEG without a doctor present. What does concern him are errors in recording EEG signals\u2014which are sensitive to muscle movement\u2014as well as incorrect interpretations of the data.\n\n\u201cI haven\u2019t seen any data indicating you can dissociate [in an EEG scan] if someone is paying attention to the teacher or their phone or just their own internal thoughts and daydreaming,\u201d says Zanto. Students wearing the headset \u201cmight be incredibly focused, but focused on the wrong thing, and you could get the same EEG measures.\u201d\n\nEven if the EEG is accurate, Loo worries that teachers without medical training might not know how to analyze the data\u2014something that could lead to improper uses of it. \u201cMental-health professionals undergo a lot of training to make an accurate diagnosis,\u201d says Loo. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t go in and try to do what the teachers are doing without their training.\u201d\n\nimage credit: BrainCo\n\nResearch questions\n\nWhen EdSurge asked to see some of the scientific findings that BrainCo was using as evidence of their efforts, the company pointed to a meta-analysis (a study of other studies) suggesting neurofeedback can be an effective treatment for ADHD.\n\nI haven\u2019t seen anything indicating neurofeedback of this sort can improve outcomes [for people with] ADHD Theodore Zanto\n\n\u201cThe scientific evidence doesn\u2019t support neurofeedback as a treatment for ADHD,\u201d says Loo. \u201cI have done research on EEG and ADHD for my whole career, and we just don\u2019t know yet.\u201dTo be sure, Zanto, Loo and other EEG experts who spoke with EdSurge say there is scientific evidence that correlates EEG activity with attention. But using EEG data to parse what a student is actually paying attention to or using neurofeedback to improve attention is more difficult to confirm. What\u2019s more, there\u2019s scant evidence that neurofeedback can be used to treat learning disabilities, say scientists.\n\n\u201cI haven\u2019t seen anything indicating neurofeedback of this sort can improve outcomes [for people with] ADHD,\u201d echoes Zanto. \u201cIt\u2019s not out of the realm of possibility, but that just means more research needs to be done.\u201d\n\nMarketing claims related to neurofeedback products have attracted regulatory concern before: Last year, the Federal Trade Commission leveled a $2-million fine on Lumosity for \"deceptive advertising\" about the effectiveness of its brain-training games.\n\nResearchers at BrainCo seem to be at least aware of the research gap. Included in the email with the meta-analysis, BrainCo shared a WebMD article noting \u201cthat we still need more research.\u201d\n\nBig data plans\n\nBrainCo\u2019s goal of treating ADHD\u2014and helping educators in general\u2014is related to another interest for company, as stated by its CEO in an interview that ran on the Forbes website in May. In the Q&A, Han said that the company wants to use artificial intelligence to create a brain typing tool\u2014something that turns thoughts into text. Data collected from students using the devices would be key to informing the development of that technology.\n\nBrainCo says that a company in China has ordered 20,000 devices already.\n\n\u201cOur goal with the first 20,000 devices, each of which will be used by multiple students in schools, is to capture data from 1.2 million people,\u201d Han said in the interview. \u201cThis will enable us to use artificial intelligence on what will be the world\u2019s largest database to improve our algorithms for things like attention and emotion detection.\u201d\n\nBut BrainCo has not yet established any policies that guide (or prevent) the company from using data collected from U.S. students. The company intends to \u201cuse [headset] data for a number of different things,\u201d according to Newlon.\n\n\u201cThe hope is when we have this really big database, we will do some analysis that others haven't been able to do yet,\u201d Newlon adds. \u201cIf we have a big database, we might do more interesting research along the lines of something like brain typing.\u201d\n\nPrivacy unknown\n\nThe headband\u2019s potential for ADHD therapy isn\u2019t currently mentioned on BrainCo\u2019s website. To date, the company hasn\u2019t yet gone through a clinical trial to approve the product for medical purposes.\n\nBut a lack of transparency on the company website about data privacy policies could trigger other troubles.\n\nFor instance, Bill Fitzgerald, director of privacy review programs at Common Sense Media, points out that BrainCo does not have any publicly-available privacy statement, ethical review or any information about how students\u2019 data will be stored or used. If a parent wishes to have their child\u2019s information deleted, BrainCo doesn\u2019t offer information on how that happens or how it will prove to families that the biometric information is indeed removed. There is also no public-facing process on how families will be notified if their child\u2019s biometric data is breached.\n\nOur goal with the first 20,000 devices, each of which will be used by multiple students in schools, is to capture data from 1.2 million people. Bicheng Han\n\nNewlon says that BrainCo\u2019s privacy policies are still being \u201cironed out.\u201d He stresses that the company has not yet started collecting data\u2014though it plans to do so.In many cases, safeguarding student privacy is required by law. Under the Children\u2019s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), Emily Tabatabai, a privacy lawyer, says \u201ca provider needs to have procedures in place to address the collection of data, the deletion of data, how it will be used and shared.\u201d\n\nWhile FERPA, the federal student privacy law, doesn\u2019t mandate that privacy policies are posted on a company's website, some state laws do. Tabatabai says \u201cat the very least, the company must have data protections in place and describe its privacy policies to the school.\u201d The lawyer also underscores that determining which privacy laws may apply to any company is dependent upon factors such as whether or not information is collected online, or if a student's educational records are being shared with the company.\n\nBrainCo declined to name the Long Island school that it says is considering to pilot its device. When EdSurge began reporting for this story, BrainCo claimed that the pilot was slated to begin on Oct. 31. Since then, the company has backed off that timeline and says the trial will be delayed.\n\nNewlon wrote in an email: \u201cWe will not be running any pilot study without the proper data privacy procedures in place.\u201d\n\nNewlon also points out that the company is an Institutional Review Board (IRB) organization, which gives it permission \u201cto review and monitor biomedical research involving human subjects,\u201d according to FDA rules. But an IRB doesn\u2019t make BrainCo immune to data breaches, or malpractice. \u201cIf they are looking at the details of a pilot and they don't have these [privacy] questions answered, they should stop every single thing they are doing until they do,\u201d says Fitzgerald.\n\nLoo, the psychologist at UCLA, adds that by using medical records\u2014namely, EEG recordings made in a classroom\u2014may also mean that BrainCo will have to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, which lays out privacy regulations for medical data.\n\n\u201cAny time you have medical biological materials, a lot of safety measures come into play,\u201d says Loo. \u201cIs there confidentiality there? Can the company release [data] to insurance companies? Who knows.\u201d\n\nBlurry vision\n\nCan the company release [data] to insurance companies? Who knows. Sandra Loo\n\nMeanwhile, BrainCo\u2019s CEO did not respond when asked in an email about the lack of privacy regulations in place. And when EdSurge asked to try out one of the Focus EDU headsets, BrainCo also declined.Ryan, the company\u2019s adviser and Harvard\u2019s dean of education, is aware that BrainCo wants to pilot Focus EDU on students. But as for any data and privacy protections underway at the company, he says \u201cI don\u2019t know, I haven\u2019t had a conversation with Max [Newlon] about it.\u201d\n\nThe wild ambition of selling brain-reading headbands to schools\u2014which are charged with protecting students\u2014seems to raise a range of concerns, including deeply philosophical ones. How far should schools go to \u201ctrain\u201d students?", "output": "Edtech firm BrainCo has secured $15m in funding to develop headsets recording students' brainwave activity. The firm plans to monitor brainwave data to determine when students are most and least focused during lessons. BrainCo also says it plans to develop other functions for the headsets, such as software that would enable thoughts to be converted in to text. The firm also aims to use the headset for ADHD therapy."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nestl\u00e9, Hershey and Mars 'deceived' customers over palm oil: RAN \n Nestl\u00e9, Mars and Hershey have been accused of breaking pledges to stop using \u201cconflict palm oil\u201d from deforested Indonesian jungles, just days before the annual Halloween confectionery frenzy.\n\nThe Rainforest Action Network (RAN) says consumers have been \u201cdeceived\u201d by promises from the brands to clean up their supply chains which were subsequently delayed, revised or watered down.\n\nLaurel Sutherlin, a spokesman for the group, told the Guardian: \u201cFor too many years, Nestl\u00e9, Mars and Hershey have cherry-picked their [palm oil] targets and then moved the goalposts when they don\u2019t achieve them. There\u2019s just no further room for error to prevent the extinction of tigers, orangutans and elephants.\u201d\n\nThe last parcel of Sumatran rainforest in which these three species all roam \u2013 along with rhinos, clouded leopards and sun bears \u2013 is vanishing at a dramatic pace as lucrative palm oil plantations illegally eat into tropical forestland.\n\nThe brands source palm oil from this 2.6m hectare Leuser region, via complex supply chains, some involving traders linked to suppliers illegally logging in the region.\n\nNestl\u00e9 promised to end deforestation in its supply chain by 2015 in response to Greenpeace\u2019s KitKat campaign of 2010. After Ran\u2019s \u201cSnack food 20\u201d report, this was upgraded to a pledge of \u201cno sourcing from areas converted from natural forests after 1 February 2013\u201d. The target was missed.\n\n\u201cFour years later we can now trace over 90% of our palm oil back to the mill of origin and almost two thirds back to the plantation level,\u201d said Nestl\u00e9 spokeswoman Peggy Diby. \u201cOur ambition is to raise this figure to 100% by 2020, back to plantation.\u201d\n\nIn July, Nestl\u00e9 told the Guardian it could only source 47% of its palm oil to plantations, suggesting a big improvement in the last three months.\n\nHershey\u2019s said in 2014 that it would source all of its palm oil back to the mill level by 2015, and to plantations by 2016. But its plantation level sourcing actually fell in 2016 from 27% to 14%, and the commitment has been deferred until 2020.\n\nGreenpeace protestors dressed as orangutans demonstrate against palm oil harvested from rainforest destruction outside a Nestle shareholders\u2019 meeting. Photograph: Antoine Antoniol/Bloomberg/Getty Images\n\nJeff Beckman, Hershey\u2019s communications director said: \u201cWhile we remain deeply committed to pushing all stakeholders to accelerate traceability and bring full transparency to this supply chain along with our supplier partners, we realised it would take more time to achieve this goal than originally anticipated.\u201d\n\nMars had promised to cut conflict palm oil out of its supply chain by 2015. A spokesperson said: \u201cOur traceability levels remain high. In the year to date, 97% of our palm oil is traceable to mill level and 40% traceable to the plantation. The evidence of the challenge in Leuser is clear, and we are already taking steps toward action.\u201d\n\n\n\nGemma Tillack, Ran\u2019s campaign director said: \u201cIt is our view that the brands have deceived consumers by continually claiming to be tackling deforestation when they have not executed the actions required to achieve a moratorium on the forest frontlines of their global supply chains.\u201d", "output": "Hershey, Nestl\u00e9 and Mars have been accused of breaking commitments to end their use of \u201cconflict palm oil\u201d, taken from deforested land in Indonesia, by the Rainforest Action Network.  The environmental group claims that the companies have \u201cdeceived\u201d consumers by failing to improve their supply chains. Nestl\u00e9\u00a0has not met its target of \u201cno sourcing from areas converted from natural forests after 1 February 2013\u201d. Hershey\u2019s pledge to source all palm oil to plantations by 2016 has been deferred to 2020. Campaigners claim that Mars\u2019 promise to stop using conflict palm oil by 2015 has also not been met.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "London needs to build 66,000 new homes each year: Mayor \n The mayor of London has accused property developers of constructing \u201ctoo many luxury penthouses that only the very wealthiest investors can afford\u201d and insisted the rate of affordable house building has to significantly increase.\n\nIn a new assessment of housing need, Sadiq Khan said the pace of construction should increase from 29,000 homes a year to 66,000, adding that 65% of these homes needed to be affordable, far higher than the current rate of 38%.\n\n\u201cThe housing crisis is a major factor in the high cost of living in the capital, as well as putting home ownership out of the reach of many young Londoners who fear they will never get a foot on the property ladder,\u201d Khan told the Guardian. \u201cIn the worst cases, it can affect social cohesion, cause poor health and plunge residents into poverty. I cannot overestimate how terrible a situation we inherited.\u201d\n\nCity Hall calculates that a new approach will require a major shift in strategy, switching the emphasis from building blocks of luxury apartments in central London to constructing more family housing in the cheaper suburbs.\n\nBetween 1997 and 2016, London\u2019s population increased by a quarter \u2013 an extra 1.7 million people \u2013 but only 370,000 homes were added to the stock. One result has been a rise in the number of families sharing with other families, which now affects 470,000 households.\n\nThe figures are contained in a stark assessment of housing need that will form the basis of the London Plan, a five-year planning strategy due to be published next month.\n\nKhan said: \u201cSuccessive prime ministers have failed to invest anywhere near enough in building new affordable homes. The previous mayor [Boris Johnson] stopped investing in homes for social rent altogether and cut the number of new affordable homes he funded to the lowest level since records began.\u201d\n\nKhan revealed that no homes for social rent \u2013 the cheapest available \u2013 were built in London in the last year of Johnson\u2019s mayoralty. Just 29,000 homes a year of all types were built between 2013-14 and 2015-16.\n\nThe mayor is using the figures to pile pressure on the chancellor, Philip Hammond, to include in next month\u2019s budget a dramatic increase in state subsidies for affordable housing in the capital from \u00a3500m to \u00a32.7bn a year.\n\nThe new strategy is set to focus on building more homes in outer London and will include a presumption in favour of development on small sites in suburban town centres. Khan is also pushing for greater powers from the government to force unused sites, including public land, into use for housing, including speeding up compulsory purchase orders.\n\nDespite City Hall\u2019s assessment that 65% of all new homes must be \u201caffordable\u201d \u2013 which Khan defines as being rented for no more than a third of average earnings, or under shared ownership schemes \u2013 insiders concede this is unlikely to be possible. Khan is expected to set the target for affordable housing at a more achievable, but still highly ambitious, 50% in the London Plan.\n\nSt George Wharf in Vauxhall. Photograph: Jack Taylor/Getty Images\n\nThere has been a growing anger at the number of luxury developments, especially among people struggling to afford starter homes or to rent cheaply. One totemic example is the 50-storey St George\u2019s Wharf tower beside the river Thames at Vauxhall where two-thirds of homes were last year revealed by the Guardian to be in foreign ownership, with a quarter held through secretive offshore companies based in tax havens.\n\nConcern spread to the suburbs earlier this month when it emerged that the London borough of Redbridge had agreed to allow the supermarket firm Sainsbury\u2019s to build 683 homes, only 4% of which are guaranteed to be affordable.\n\nLast month, Theresa May announced an extra \u00a32bn for council housing nationwide, but was accused of tinkering when it emerged that it would only result in an extra 5,000 homes a year being built.\n\nIn common with town halls across the country, Khan is lobbying for councils to be allowed to borrow to invest in homes. The communities secretary, Sajid Javid, said on Sunday that the government might authorise extra public borrowing to fund infrastructure to deliver more housing. According to some reports, his department believes \u00a350bn is needed. However, Hammond told the Commons this was not government policy.\n\nAndrew Boff, the Conservative deputy chair of the London assembly\u2019s housing committee, warned that Khan\u2019s approach of increasing the proportion of affordable homes needed in each development was putting developers off building any housing.\n\n\n\nHe believes increasing the whole housing supply would result in lower prices and therefore greater affordability. \u201cHe would see more homes built if he had a lower figure for affordable homes,\u201d Boff said. \u201cIf you increase the number, the price will go down.\u201cDespite the rhetoric, he has managed to start 20% fewer homes a year than his predecessor after 18 months in office. This directly goes against his promise in his manifesto that each year would be an increase in the number of homes being built.\u201d\n\nCity Hall insiders point out that this is a result of the low number left in the pipeline by the previous Conservative administration.\n\nJonathan Seager, the executive director of housing at London First, the business lobby group, said: \u201cThese new figures show us that the housing crisis is worsening. It is now one of the most serious challenges facing business, preventing firms from recruiting and retaining the talent they need to grow and succeed.\u201d", "output": "London must increase the number of homes constructed each year from 29,000 to 66,000, with 65% of this stock being classified as affordable, compared with the current rate of 38%, according to the city\u2019s mayor, Sadiq Khan. The plans would necessitate a change in focus from building luxury apartment blocks in the city centre\u00a0to constructing higher numbers of family homes in suburbs. Analysts expect that Khan will ultimately set a target of 50% for affordable housing, defined as that which can be rented for a third of average earnings or which is available through shared ownership.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Economist attracts over 7 million Snapchat viewers a month \n This week, The Economist celebrated its one-year anniversary as a Snapchat Discover partner. The news heavyweight may stand out on the youthful social media app, but it has drawn over 7 million viewers per month, according to the publisher, with editions that educate readers on serious topics like globalization\u2019s losers or the war on drugs.\n\nThose editions are built by Lucy Rohr, a veteran digital producer and editor at The Economist. \u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019ve come up with the Economist Snapchat secret-sauce recipe yet,\u201d Rohr said. \u201cIt would be boring if we had.\u201d Here\u2019s a lightly edited look at what Rohr does in a typical day.\n\n6:30 a.m.: I wake up and resist the urge to check my email, and check the weather instead. I then head out for a run. Prospect Park never ceases to delight me, but I often catch myself thinking about work and ideas for editions while I\u2019m running.\n\n8 a.m.: On the way to work, I check my emails and take care of anything that doesn\u2019t require too much thought. I read the Axios newsletter and, Wi-Fi permitting, look at the headlines elsewhere. I find it interesting to compare the front pages of The New York Times with what Fox has up.\n\n8:30 a.m.: Our Snapchat team is based in Bucharest, Romania, and London, so I spend much of my morning in New York online with them before they log off. Today, I spend an hour or so fine-tuning Snaps with our animators and then speak with Charlie Wells, our Snapchat deputy, about a script on e-commerce that he\u2019s working on. I check in with our designer and tell him I\u2019ve decided to nix an edition we were thinking of doing on coal. We discuss what he\u2019ll be working on instead.\n\n10 a.m.: I have my weekly call with Tom Standage, one of The Economist\u2019s deputy editors and the inexhaustible force behind our digital strategy. Tom is closely involved with the Snapchat team, a bit like an executive producer. We discuss how the current edition (on [Chinese] President Xi [Jinping]) is performing (middle of the road), a better treatment for the first three Snaps of a forthcoming edition on plastic and the Snapchat department\u2019s content plan for the rest of the year.\n\n10:40 a.m.: I hop on a call with the animators who have been frustrated with bottlenecks in our production process. We agree to experiment with a few changes that will hopefully improve things. I find these calls hard, but also essential for ensuring that everyone in the department feels like their voices are being heard.\n\n11:30 a.m.: Charlie and I go over the video for the coming week\u2019s edition, then talk more about the e-commerce script. Scripting is central to the success of an edition. Our audience on Snapchat is intelligent and discerning. If we don\u2019t get the framing right, we tend to get punished for it. Scriptwriting isn\u2019t just about writing copy for 14 Snaps. We read widely before putting together what we think is the most important and relevant content for this audience. Our Snaps vary. Some feature a simple question or statement written with the intention of compelling the viewer into swiping up to read an article. Others are \u201ctop-Snap only\u201d content. These often have lots of text on them. They\u2019re intended to be shareable/screenshot-able primers on a topic. We are thinking constantly about how design and other visuals will bring the Snaps to life.\n\nNoon: Every second week we review the performance of our editions. Often, we focus on one particular detail. This week, we look at cover tile, the images and text that appear on the Discover front page. We\u2019re interested in understanding the types of images and copy that have performed best and worst over time.\n\n1 p.m.: I grab a shrimp poke bowl from Urbanspace. While I eat, I read the FT.\n\n2-4 p.m.: Most of the team is now offline for the evening. I try and respond to any email I missed in the morning, and turn my attention to writing a script for an edition on globalization\u2019s losers. Then, I write some feedback on Snaps that one of the animators has put up for my review. I jot down a few notes for an upcoming meeting on staffing.\n\n4:30 p.m.: I meet someone from another news organization for a coffee. We talk about running marathons, Filipino food and challenges facing publishers as they try to adapt their content for different platforms.\n\n6 p.m.: I go home and cook dinner. It\u2019s my meditation!\n\n8 p.m.: I do another pass of the script I\u2019m working on, then email the team to confirm what they\u2019ll be working on tomorrow before I get online. I look at my calendar for the following day to make sure I\u2019m prepared for any meetings.\n\n10 p.m.: In an ideal world, I am in bed with my book!", "output": "The Economist has drawn more than seven million Snapchat viewers a month in the year since its launch on the social media app. The news publisher educates Snapchat's largely youthful audience with Snapchat Discover packages on serious topics such as the war on drugs. These editions are put together by New York-based Snapchat editor Lucy Rohr, along with teams in Bucharest and London.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Netflix and Snapchat team up for Stranger Things AR promos \n Netflix has teamed up with Snapchat to create a \u2018first-of-its-kind\u2019 World Lens to promote the launch of the highly-anticipated Stranger Things 2.\n\nSnapchat has created a portal Lens, which enables users to walk into another world through their smartphone. This first use of the technology gives users the chance to enter the \u2018upside down\u2019 version of Joyce Byer\u2019s living room.\n\nWithin the AR experience, Snapchatters can move around, encounter surprises, and see out the door back into the real world.\n\nThe portal World Lens is only available on iPhone 6S and above with iOS 11 installed. Those without an iPhone can turn their camera around to see Byer\u2019s living room through an interactive \u2018gyroscope\u2019 Lens, meaning they can experience the portal without walking through the door.\n\nAll Snapchatters, regardless of phone or OS, will have access to a face Lens that mimics Eleven\u2019s nosebleed, however.\n\nAs part of the campaign, Netflix and Snapchat have also linked up with Shazam for another first. Using Shazam, users can unlock the Lens by scanning the Stranger Things theme song whenever it plays.\n\nFinally, a third Lens will be made available exclusively in the UK via a Snapcode at 8am today (27 October). This will coincide with Shannon Purser, who plays Barb, taking part in a Stranger Things binge watch party with fans at Topshop\u2019s Oxford Street store. This World Lens will enable UK Snapchatters to place the swimming pool where Barb went missing in Season one onto the floor and walk around it.\n\nJoin us at the 2017 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony, taking place in London on Thursday 16 November, to mix with the industry's best and brightest, and raise a glass to the year's best campaigns and solutions. To find out more, and to book your place, click here.", "output": "Netflix and Snapchat have launched augmented reality (AR) experiences to promote the start of online TV series Stranger Things 2. Snapchat's portal Lens\u00a0lets users enter an \"upside down\" version of the Byers' family living room. The pair have also teamed up with Shazam for a face Lens that mimics Eleven's nosebleed. In addition,\u00a0users\u00a0can\u00a0activate\u00a0the lens\u00a0by scanning the Stranger Things theme tune. A third, UK exclusive, world Lens of the swimming pool where Barb went missing became available via a Snapcode on 27 October, which gives viewers the illusion of walking around the pool.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AMOpportunities gets $1.1m to support overseas medical students \n Thank you for supporting our journalism. This article is available exclusively for our subscribers, who help fund our work at the Chicago Tribune.\n\nHealth care startup AMOpportunities, which won the University of Chicago's New Venture Challenge in June, has raised $1.1 million in funding. (Robert Holly / Blue Sky)\n\nAMOpportunities, a Chicago-based startup that helps connect international medical students to short-term training programs in the United States, has raised $1.1 million in seed funding, the company announced Thursday.\n\nThe startup, which won the University of Chicago\u2019s New Venture Challenge in June, was founded in 2013 from a dorm room at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The company aims to help alleviate a shortage of doctors across the United States by helping international medical students join the U.S. health care system, co-founder Benjamin Bradley said.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cThe United States has a huge shortage in specialties like internal medicine and primary care, primarily in rural and underserved areas,\u201d Bradley said. \u201cThese students see that and know that they can come here and get a job and fill that opportunity.\u201d\n\nHowever, the American Medical Association says international students are strongly encouraged to complete short-term training, in the form of clinical rotations, before applying for residencies in the United States.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAMOpportunities\u2019 \u201cone-stop-shop\u201d site offers students information and applications for almost 400 host clinics. If a student applies through the site, AMOpportunities vets their identity and then helps package their application, secure housing and request the necessary travel documents. They also have advisers on staff part-time to guide the students through their application.\n\nThe company says it charges between $1,100 and $4,000 per four-week training program, depending on the number of hours the student works and the popularity of the site. About $500 to $1,000 of that fee is given to the participating clinic.\n\nForeign-educated physicians usually set up their rotations by contacting American physicians directly, AMOpportunities CEO Kyle Swinsky said.\n\nAlthough this option is typically free of charge, students generally do not receive help finding housing or obtaining visas.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s more of one physician or one practice that sets up a website,\u201d said Swinsky, who co-founded AMOpportunities with Bradley. \u201cNobody really does it on the scale we do it.\u201d\n\nHopefuls can also receive the training through U.S. medical schools. But less than half of the country\u2019s schools accept international students, according to the Association of American Medical Schools.\n\nAMOpportunities says it has earned $2.5 million helping 1,600 international students travel to the United States for training in the past three years. An additional 38,000 students have registered on the site, but have not completed an application. The users have come from more than 65 countries, primarily in South America, South Asia and the Middle East, Bradley said.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe company says it rarely faces challenges when helping students apply for the nonimmigrant visas. Swinsky added that the travel bans enacted by President Donald Trump haven\u2019t impacted their business because it hasn\u2019t had any applicants from the restricted countries since the ban was ordered. However, he said he\u2019s not sure if the company will be affected in the future.\n\nThe startup moved its staff of seven from health-tech incubator Matter to its own office in River North this week. They plan to use the funding to hire five more employees by the end of the year. They also intend to increase marketing at international medical schools and expand their network of advisers.\n\nChicago-based OCA Ventures and Madison, Wisconsin-based HealthX Ventures led the funding round. Other participants include M25 Group, Wildcat Capital, China Innovation Venture Partners, and Techra Investments, according to AMOpportunities. Also included in the round is $100,000 the startup received as the winners of the New Venture Challenge, Swinsky said.\n\nmaclevine@chicagotribune.com", "output": "Chicago-based start-up AMOpportunities has secured $1.1m in seed funding, in a round led by HealthX Ventures and OCA Ventures. AMOpportunities, which won this year's University of Chicago\u2019s New Venture Challenge, has developed an online platform connecting medical students around the world with information about job vacancies and links to host clinics in the US. The company said it has helped 1,600 students in the past three years. The funds will be used to expand the company's staff, hire more advisers and increase marketing at international medical schools.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "San Francisco pledges to build fibre-optic network \n Last week, San Francisco became the first major city in America to pledge to connect all of its homes and businesses to a fiber optic network.\n\nI urge you to read that sentence again. It\u2019s a ray of light. In an era of short-term, deeply partisan do-nothing-ism, the city's straightforward, deeply practical determination shines. Americans, it turns out, are capable of great things\u2014even if only at the city level these days.\n\n[#image: /photos/5947e0146c638b3847cde2a7]|||||| Susan Crawford is a columnist for Backchannel and a professor at Harvard Law School. She is also the author of The Responsive City and Captive Audience. --------- Sign up to get Backchannel's weekly newsletter, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.\n\nYou might think: Big deal, San Francisco is our tech capital, the last place that needs this. But for years, San Francisco has had a major problem. True, it\u2019s the tech capital of the country and a progressive leader among US cities, but before last week it had no plan to ensure that it had world-class data connectivity for its residents at a reasonable price. Techies frequently bemoan this fact, showing one another screenshots of spinning wheels. San Francisco\u2019s dilemma is a compact form of the crisis in communications facing the rest of the country: Although fiber is the necessary infrastructure for every policy goal we have\u2014advanced healthcare, the emergence of new forms of industries, a chance for every child to get an education, managed use of energy, and on and on\u2014the private sector, left to its own devices, has no particular incentive to ensure a widespread upgrade to fiber optic connections.\n\nComcast dominates access in the city, but has no plans to replace its cable lines\u2014great at downloads, not so great at uploads, no opportunity to scale to the capacity of fiber thanks to the laws of physics, and expensive to subscribe to\u2014with fiber. And its planned enhancements to its cable lines have, in other cities, resulted in a product costing $150 per month. AT&T will say it\u2019s upgrading to fiber in San Francisco, but so far its work in many other US cities has been incremental, confined to areas where it has existing business customers to serve or where it already has fiber in place. Other, smaller providers similarly have no plans to do a city-wide upgrade, leaving San Francisco with a deeply uneven patchwork of connectivity.\n\nJust as in the rest of the country, poorer and less-well-educated San Franciscans tend not to subscribe to a wire at home, but instead rely wholly on smartphone data plans\u2014no substitutes, given their expense and throttled capacity, for what\u2019s possible using a wired connection.\n\nIt\u2019s taken San Francisco a number of tries to get to the point of suggesting a city-controlled utility fiber network that private-sector retail operators can use as a neutral platform. Like Bill Murray's Phil Connors in Groundhog Day, the city has been steadily learning. 10 years ago, the failure of a much-hyped city partnership with Google and Earthlink for a city-wide wifi network was caused by inexperience on all sides: No one was up to the job of accounting for the number of hotspots and the amount of backhaul that would be necessary for a wifi network to serve San Francisco\u2019s data-hungry citizens in their homes and businesses. Eight years ago, a city-commissioned report recommended a fiber network, but plans didn\u2019t proceed because of lack of leadership and the absence of a concrete plan.\n\nThe city has finally gathered both sufficient expertise and the political will to move ahead. Last week, Mayor Ed Lee and Supervisor Mark Farrell released a substantial report from expert consultant CTC Technology & Energy that essentially provides a detailed, thorough blueprint for a fiber network connecting every home and business in the city. (Disclosure: I\u2019m the co-chair, with Supervisor Farrell, of the unpaid advisory committee he convened to look at the issue. I have no clients or consulting arrangements, and receive no income or other compensation, direct or indirect, from any telecom-related company.)", "output": "San Francisco's patchy data connectivity could become a thing of the past after mayor Ed Lee and supervisor Mark Farrell released a report containing a blueprint to bring fibre connectivity to every home and business in the city. The study by consultants CTC Technology & Energy\u00a0details how fibre planning needed to be split into \"dark\" (the infrastructure)\u00a0and \"lit\" (internet services)\u00a0fibre. San Francisco's authorities would tender in a private firm to set up the publicly\u00a0controlled dark fibre network extending to every home and business, while third-party outfits would win leases to provide the lit fibre: connecting users.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ebay offers visual search tools for mobile users \n Following the announcement of its visual search tools back in July, eBay has finally launched them, enabling mobile shoppers to use their camera to search for products on the auction site.\n\nThe image-recognition features, which are called \u2018Find It On eBay\u2019 and \u2018Image Search\u2019, are available on eBay\u2019s mobile apps.\n\nWith Find It On eBay, consumers are able to able to search for a product from any social platform, blog, or website by sharing an image from the platform with eBay. The eCommerce giant\u2019s app then provides similar listings to the product featured in the picture.\n\nThrough Image Search, users click on the in-app camera button and take a photo, or use an existing photo from the phone\u2019s gallery. Once again, eBay surfaces visually similar listed products for the shopper to consider purchasing.\n\n\u201cMoments of shopping inspiration can come at any time, whether you\u2019re walking down the street or browsing your social media feed,\u201d said Mohan Patt, VP of buyer experience at eBay, in July. \u201cAt eBay, we\u2019re focused on creating new complementary technology that helps our millions of shoppers easily find the things they love at the best value. eBay Image Search and Find It On eBay make it possible for people to shop eBay using any image or photo that inspires them.\u201d\n\nFind It On eBay is only available on Android, while Image Search is available on both Android and iOS.\n\nJoin us at the 2017 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony, taking place in London on Thursday 16 November, to mix with the industry's best and brightest, and raise a glass to the year's best campaigns and solutions. To find out more, and to book your place, click here.", "output": "Mobile shoppers can scour auction site eBay for purchases using images, following the launch of two features: Image Search and Find It On eBay. Image Search, available on iOS and Android, allows customers to use a photo from their smartphone to search for items on the eBay site. Meanwhile, Find It On eBay, which is only available to Android customers, allows an image from any social platform, blog or website to be used to find products on eBay.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "LG smartphones available at discount with Amazon lock screen ads \n The two G6 models are the nicest phones to enter Amazon\u2019s discounted lineup to date. Naturally, they sell for substantially more than most other phones available, at $399.99 and $499.99. That\u2019s only a $50 discount on the standard G6, but it\u2019s almost $200 under what Amazon plans to sell the G6 Plus for without ads \u2014 though neither will be available for another two weeks, and it\u2019s very possible the standard G6 Plus will quickly see a discount.\n\nThere are some legitimately good phones in Amazon\u2019s discount program\n\nUntil today, Motorola had offered the nicest phones through this discount program. The Moto X4 is currently available for $329.99, which is a good price on a good midrange phone.\n\nLG\u2019s other two models, the Q6 and X Charge, are on the less-expensive end of the spectrum. The Q6 will sell for $229.99, down from $299.99, and the X Charge will sell for $149.99, down from $199.99. LG doesn\u2019t tackle any prices lower than that, leaving the very low end to Alcatel, which offers phones discounted to just below $60.", "output": "LG has become the latest addition to Amazon\u2019s Prime Exclusive Phone programme, the first time premium phones have been available on the discount scheme. In November, LG's G6 and G6 Plus will both be available to buy with ads on the lock screen and will cost $399.99 and $499.99 \u2013\u00a0about $200 cheaper than versions without ads. LG's lower-end Q6 and X Charge phones are also included in the programme, which\u00a0features models from Nokia, Motorola and Alcatel as well.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "YouTube reaches over 100 million hours of daily watch time on TV \n YouTube is now seeing over 100 million hours of watch time on living room devices every single day. The new data point was revealed by Google CEO Sundar Pichai during the company\u2019s Q3 2017 earnings call Thursday, where executives also once again called out the video service as a major revenue driver. \u201cYouTube continues to see phenomenal growth,\u201d said Pichai.\n\nThis was the first time Google specifically referenced the total watch time on smart TVs and other living room devices. Earlier this year, the company revealed that it now sees more than 1 billion hours of watch time across all devices.\n\nThis means that viewing on TV is accounting for roughly 10 percent of all YouTube watch time. The company previously said that more than half of its views come from mobile devices. Altogether, YouTube has more than 1.5 billion users watching an average of 60 minutes of videos every day. For reference: Back in 2012, YouTube streamed just 100 million hours per day to all devices, period.\n\nAlphabet and Google CFO Ruth Porat used Thursday\u2019s earnings call to once again point to YouTube as a key revenue driver for the company, without specifically breaking out YouTube\u2019s revenue. She also pointed out that YouTube has a 95 percent ad viewability rate, compared to an average 60 percent across the industry.\n\nHowever, Porat also singled out YouTube content licensing as one of the reasons for growing costs in Google\u2019s balance sheets. YouTube continues to invest in original programming, and just this week announced that it had bought the rights for \u201cOrigin,\u201d a Sci-Fi show from Left Bank Pictures, the production company behind Netflix\u2019s \u201cThe Crown.\u201d\n\nAsked about a backlash YouTube suffered earlier this year, when some brands found their ads near inappropriate content, Porat suggested that things have vastly improved. \u201cWe have been doing a lot to protect the ecosystem and doing the right thing for advertisers,\u201d she said, adding: \u201cThe vast majority of advertisers never left.\u201d Out of those who did take their business of the service, many had already returned.\n\nPichai said that Google\u2019s three major focus areas for YouTube going forward would be improving the community experience, driving further growth to the platform and growing its subscription businesses. Part of these efforts is also YouTube TV, the company\u2019s internet-based TV subscription service that it launched earlier this year. \u201cGiven where we are, I\u2019m really excited about the initial reception,\u201d Pichai said about YouTube TV.", "output": "TV viewing accounts for 10% of all YouTube watch time, while the video streaming site is racking up 100 million hours a day on living room devices, according to Google CEO Sundar Pichai in a Q3 earnings call. CFO Ruth Porat also revealed YouTube's ad viewability rate was 95%, compared with an industry\u00a0average\u00a0of 60%.\u00a0Pichai also brushed off the recent problems of ads being placed near extremist content. He said YouTube was focusing on improving the customer experience\u00a0and increasing its subscriptions business.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Yoti launch digital identity verification app \n Yoti, a British start-up, is trying to establish a global identity system that protects users from both identity theft and having their data collected and exploited. All personal data remains within the Yoti ecosystem, where different elements - name, gender, date of birth etc - are encrypted and stored separately. Only the individual user can tie it all together.\n\nYoti - derived from Your Own Trusted Identity - requires a smartphone, and there are apps for both Apple iOS and Android. The potential audience is in the billions.\n\nYoti requires each user to create a digital identity. This involves providing biometric identifiers such as video and speech, plus an image of a government-backed identification document, such as a passport or a driving licence. Yoti discards these after the ID has been created. Yoti's co-founder and CEO Robin Tombs says passport images are deleted after seven days.\n\nUsers who have Android phones with NFC can read the chip in their digital passport. Tombs says Apple doesn't allow this at the moment.\n\nIf a company wants to verify a user, it presents them with a QR code that they can read with the Yoti app. They can verify their Yoti ID by entering a 5-digit pin or their biometrics: that is, by videoing themselves and by speaking random words displayed on the smartphone screen. If you're holding your smartphone in the usual way, the video is easily captured: the app just turns on the front-facing camera.\n\nTombs says the system isn't completely foolproof because some people may have fake passports or fake driving licences. However, it's more secure than alternatives such as database lookups based on names and addresses, electoral rolls, birthdays, mothers' maiden names and similar pieces of information.\n\nOne advantage for users is that they can verify their identities without divulging extra information. For example, if you proffer a driving licence or passport to prove that you are over 18, you're revealing a lot of personal information, not just your date of birth.\n\nAnother advantage is that people can use a single Yoti ID for multiple purposes, such local clubs, supermarkets, banks or whatever. It even works as a peer-to-peer system that you could use when meeting people you don't know.\n\nAlso, of course, Yoti works online, globally. It can be used as a website log-on, and includes a password manager.\n\nYoti doesn't need to collect or sell personal information or advertising space because it makes money by charging companies for its ID service.\n\n\"We have a mature business model,\" says Tombs. \"Most businesses already pay to do background checks where they might only get 80 percent matches. That's not as good as being able to offer a 100 percent match... and we're cheaper than a database match.\"\n\nObviously, there's a chicken-and-egg problem with getting a service like Yoti off the ground. Most users won't make the effort to set up a digital identity on Yoti if they don't need one, and most companies won't ask for \"a Yoti\" if none of their users have them.\n\nThat problem would be solved almost instantly if, say, Facebook or a large government department mandated Yoti. Being adopted by a bank or a national supermarket chain - which is possible, if NCR backs the system - would be a major breakthrough. Even Twitter would be great step forward, and Twitter desperately needs a system like Yoti. (As it is, verified users may be asked for passport or driving licence images to prove their IDs,)\n\nAt the moment, Yoti is working with a couple of dozen early adopters. These include the NSPCC, the UK's national children's charity, NCR, Reed, a large recruitment agency, and Deltic, the UK's largest nightclub chain.\n\nPeople who use the Free-ads website to buy and sell things can also use Yoti to confirm their IDs and get a Trusted Member badge. That approach would work on eBay, Gumtree or Craigslist, and also on online dating sites.\n\nWhether Yoti will take off is anyone's guess, but the increase in identity theft suggests there's a market need.\n\nYoti says it has had 140,000 downloads so far, with about 95,000 of those being UK users.\n\nThe company was founded in 2014 and now has about 180 staff, mostly in London. Yoti aims to have more than a million users \"by summer 2018, expanding into India, the US and Europe\". The service can already accept passports from 140 countries.", "output": "UK-based start-up Yoti has launched an encrypted identity verification app for Android and iOS which combines biometric and documentary proof. CEO Robin Tombs said the secure system enables people to confirm their identity without giving away personal information, and can even be used as a peer-to-peer service. The three-year-old company is working with early adopters including the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and claims to have had 140,000 downloads to date. By summer next year, Yoti aims to have one million users and a presence in India, the US and Europe."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow donates thousands to community groups in Chester \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nIt's more important than ever to stay informed - Get the free CheshireLive newsletter direct to your inbox\n\nCommunity groups in Tattenhall are celebrating after Redrow Homes announced the successful applicants to its community fund.\n\nRedrow set up the community fund of \u00a35,000 at the end of the summer and invited local causes to apply for a proportion of the funds.\n\nAfter a fantastic response, the housebuilder has chosen the causes they would like to support and is linking up with 10 local community groups.\n\nThe beneficiaries, and how they will be spending the funds, are:\n\n2nd Tattenhall Rainbows \u2013 items for engineering challenge\n\nTattenhall Bowling Club \u2013 contribution to outdoor boards and path\n\nTattenhall Tennis Club \u2013 new benches and gazebo\n\nTattenhall Heritage Trail \u2013 funding of new leaflet\n\nTattenhall Bridge Club \u2013 funding of advertising campaign to attract new members\n\nTattenhall Junior FC \u2013 new tops\n\nTattenhall Community Association \u2013 catering supplies\n\nTattenhall Park Primary Out of School Club \u2013 new table games\n\nTattenhall Park Primary School Council \u2013 planters and raised beds\n\nTattenhall Cricket Club \u2013 new caps and shirts.\n\nRedrow is currently building a collection of three, four and five-bedroom homes at Meadow Brook in Tattenhall following the success of its Chestnut Grange venture in the village.\n\nJason Newton, sales director for Redrow Homes (NW), said: \u201cWe were thrilled by the reaction to the community fund and the variety of causes and ideas that came forward.\n\n\u201cIt was incredibly hard to make a decision as to who we should support but 10 causes were chosen and we can\u2019t wait to see the impact the donations make on the local community.\u201d\n\nLouise Gibson, who applied on behalf of the Rainbows group which, along with the funds for their engineering badges, will also be treated to a special visit to Redrow\u2019s site, said: \u201cWe\u2019re really grateful for the funds and time Redrow has donated to our group, it will make a huge difference and will hopefully spark an interest in engineering, science or construction.\n\n\u201cThe girls in the group range from five to seven-years-old and we are always trying to find unusual and new experiences so they are very lucky to be able to get this opportunity from Redrow. They are really excited about seeing the badge put into action and learning how science and engineering can be used in housebuilding.\u201d", "output": "UK housebuilder Redrow is supporting\u00a010 community groups in Chester\u00a0after the company set up a \u00a35,000 ($6,606) fund during the summer, and invited local groups to apply for a share. Among those set to benefit are Tattenhall's bowling, bridge, cricket and tennis clubs. Redrow is currently working on a development at Meadow Brook in Tattenhall.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Maersk continues to suffer in cyber attack aftermath \n Pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co says a recent cyber-attack resulted in production shutdowns and cost it around $135m in lost revenue.\n\nMerck \u2013 known as MSD outside North America \u2013 said the attack had a particular impact on its ability to supply its human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine Gardasil, used to prevent cervical and related cancers.\n\nThe cost of implementing remediation measures in the wake of the attack also caused related costs of $175m, pegging back its gross margin in the third quarter, and forced Merck to borrow $240m-worth of Gardasil from US government stockpiles. And the costs look set to be repeated in the fourth quarter, driving up the impact even further.\n\nMerck revealed it was hit by a massive cyber-attack in June, just a few weeks after a senior executive at the firm revealed the vulnerability of the sector at a US government committee meeting, pointing to more than a million health records exposed by breaches in recent years.\n\nIt said after the event that \u201con June 27 the company experienced a network cyber-attack that led to a disruption of its worldwide operations, including manufacturing, research and sales operations,\u201d and affected both finish product and active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing.\n\nOther companies affected by the attack included UK consumer healthcare company Reckitt Benckiser, Cadbury chocolate manufacturer (part of Mondelez, formally Kraft Foods), freight logistics company FedEx, Danish shipping company AP Moller-Maersk, German mail and logistics firm Deutsche Post DHL Group and retailer Metro AG. The costs of these has run into billions of dollars, with Maersk alone estimating that the company took a hit of $200m-$300m.\n\nA recent report from McAfee Labs said that in the first quarter of 2017 cyber-attacks directed at private healthcare organizations outstripped those against public organizations, with most of these attributed to the WannaCry and NotPetya ransomware attacks.\n\nSocial media users were also increasingly targeted though attacks such as the Faceliker Trojan that hijacks Facebook accounts, it said.\n\nIt is apparent that many companies are unprepared for the threat of this type of ransomware attack. A recent ControlScan report suggested that nearly half (49 per cent) do not employ people with the necessary cybersecurity skills and/or training, and only 39 per cent are using an advanced endpoint security solution to combat ransomware.\n\nThe August report also found that about one-quarter of firms (23 per cent) admit they have no idea how long it would take their organization to recover from a cyber-attack, and just 10 per cent use threat intelligence to educate their workforce about the risks.", "output": "Q3 results released by Merck & Co have revealed the continuing impact of the hack it suffered in June this year, withthe pharmaceutical company reportedly losing revenue worth $135m. Merck & Co admitted that the cyber attack disrupted its supply chain, while efforts to remedy the situation negatively affected its Q3 gross margin. A recent report by ControlScan revealed that 49% of firms do not employ skilled cybersecurity staff, while almost one quarter said they had no idea how long it would take to recover from a cyber attack."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon's ad business grows to\u00a0$1.12bn in Q3 \n Amazon is making good on its promise to eat advertising.\n\nIn its third-quarter earnings report today, the e-commerce giant said it saw \u201cother\u201d revenue, which is mostly composed of ad sales (and to a much smaller extent, its credit card business), grow 58 percent year over year to $1.12 billion. That\u2019s a slight increase from the growth rate in the prior second quarter, when it grew 53 percent year over year.\n\n(For comparison\u2019s sake, Alphabet, Google\u2019s parent company, which also reported third-quarter earnings today, reported ad sales at $24 billion. Facebook\u2019s second-quarter ad sales were $9 billion; the company reports third-quarter earnings on Nov. 11.)\n\n\u201cAd revenue continues to grow very quickly,\u201d Dave Fildes, director of investor relations said on the company\u2019s earnings call. \u201cWe\u2019re generally pleased with the ad business. Our goal is to be helpful to consumers and help them make better shopping decisions\u2026 while also giving them targeted recommendations, making it helpful for customers instead of intrusive.\u201d\n\nFildes added that advertising is an important part of the company\u2019s \u201cflywheel\u201d strategy: \u201cThe traffic and customers and Prime customers who come to site are the ones who we can help [to] select items and use advertising to help them make decisions and be more informed.\u201d\n\nAmazon\u2019s head count, boosted by Whole Foods and hiring, grew to 541,900 from 382,400 in the second quarter and 306,800 a year ago.\n\nAlso in the third quarter, Amazon\u2019s net sales from physical stores was $1.2 billion, the first time it has reported this number.\n\nAmazon\u2019s ad investment has increased significantly quarter to quarter across all of Amazon\u2019s ad formats. With the tech giant hiring heavily for advertising, including announcing 2,000 jobs in New York City that will focus on its ad offerings, brands and buyers have told Digiday they\u2019re hearing from the company more.\n\nAccording to recent research by Merkle, Sponsored Products Ads are the most heavily targeted format and accounted for 82 percent of all Amazon ad spend, though Headline Search Ads and Product Display Ads did grow faster quarter over quarter in terms of spend.\n\nAmazon has also invested in programmatic, growing its self-serve offering and trying to get more \u201cnon-endemic\u201d brands into its platform so it can lessen reliance on retail. That\u2019s involved courting advertisers from brands that don\u2019t sell on Amazon, such as auto brands or wireless and telecom companies.\n\nAmazon\u2019s pitch is that it can offer advertisers a \u201ctotal wallet\u201d perspective \u2014 connecting what people are searching for with what they\u2019re buying online \u2014 and with its increasing brick-and-mortar retail presences, also what people buy in person. Amazon\u2019s third-quarter filing showed that it now has 12 bookstores across the U.S. with more planned, and with its purchase of Whole Foods, has more than 460 stores from that brand across the U.S. as well.\n\nAmazon\u2019s net sales this quarter were up 34 percent to $43.7 billion.", "output": "Amazon has reported Q3 ad sales, which make up most of its \"other\" revenue, as $1.12bn, a 58% year-on-year increase, with the company said to be \"generally pleased\" with the business. Amazon's investment in advertising has gone up and it has gone on a hiring spree, with 2,000 jobs based in New York City announced. Research by Merkle revealed 82% of spend on Amazon\u00a0was on sponsored ads. The online retailer has also turned to programmatic to persuade brands that don't sell on its platform to advertise with it. Net sales in the quarter were $43.7bn."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Rise in Google ads helps Alphabet beat sales and earnings projections \n Alphabet Inc. 's GOOGL third-quarter diluted non-GAAP earnings of $9.57 exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $8.43. Also, earnings increased 91.0% sequentially and 32.0% year over year.\n\nThe Internet powerhouse reported decent top-line numbers. Net revenues, excluding total traffic acquisition cost or TAC (TAC is the portion of revenues shared with Google's partners and amounts paid to distribution partners and others who direct traffic to the Google website), came in at $22.27 billion, increasing 6.5% sequentially and 21.9% year over year. The top line beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $21.94 billion.\n\nOn the Other Bets front, most of the businesses included there are in early stages. However, it is gradually picking up.\n\nFollowing strong third-quarter earnings, share price jumped 2.78% in the after-hours trading. Also, Alphabet's shares have returned 65.3% year to date, outperforming the industry 's gain of 46.3%.\n\nThe primary drivers of the Google business haven't changed. Pricing remains under pressure both on account of nagging FX concerns as well as continued strength in mobile and TrueView. However, volumes are encouraging as total paid click growth of 47% remains a reassuring number.\n\nGoogle continues to enjoy strength in the mobile platform. One of the drivers is Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), which is being accepted by a number of publishers and sites across the world. Management is focused on driving mobile experiences and the company is well positioned to pick up strong intent-to-buy signals by studying mobile searches from its huge database. As a result, direct response marketers continue to show interest in it.\n\nThe company also said that Google Cloud is generating substantial revenue growth, reflecting the ongoing momentum in the business.\n\nThe company has greater control on the browser through Android as well as distribution agreements with Apple AAPL . However, upcoming threats should not be ignored. Apple might not renew its agreement. Also, Microsoft MSFT Windows 10 has been increasing its overall search market share. Facebook FB graph search and the social network could also take away advertising dollars and Amazon AMZN already takes care of most product searches.\n\nYouTube continues to remain a strong contributor, benefiting from growth in online video consumption. More than a thousand creators are currently engaged with the platform, bringing in a thousand subscribers every day.\n\nFinally, Google platforms like Android, Chrome and Daydream continue to help it in drawing more users and selling more ads.\n\nThe Numbers in Detail\n\nRevenues\n\nGross total revenues of $27.8 billion were up 6.8% sequentially and 23.7% year over year (up 24% in constant currency or CC). The increase was primarily driven by strength in core advertising business.\n\nGoogle Segment\n\nThe segment includes search, advertising, Play, hardware and Cloud & Apps.\n\nComing to the search business, revenues from Google-owned sites increased 7.0% on a sequential basis, while that from partner sites increased 2.2%, resulting in an increase of 6.1% in total advertising revenues. However, Google-owned sites and partner sites grew 22.6% and 16.3%, respectively, year over year, and accounted for 71% and 16% of quarterly revenues.\n\nManagement said that mobile search continued to benefit from improvements in ad formats and delivery initiated in the third quarter of 2015 as well as remained optimistic about search revenue growth on both tablets and desktops.\n\nOther revenues increased 10.2% sequentially but increased 40.0% year over year, accounting for 12.3% of third-quarter revenue.\n\nOther Bets Segment\n\nAlphabet broke up the segment in the March quarter of 2016. The segment includes Fiber, Verily, Calico, Nest and incubation activities in X Labs. Revenues were up 21.8% and 53.3% year over year.\n\nThis segment is gaining momentum and has performed well in the second quarter.\n\nTotal traffic acquisition cost, or TAC was up 8.1% sequentially and 31.6% year over year.\n\nTAC paid out to network partners increased 1.9% sequentially and 18.2% year over year. Given that mobile search carries higher TAC, the increase in mobile search revenue is driving related TAC according to management.\n\nTAC for distribution arrangements was up 17.2% sequentially and 54.0% year over year.\n\nNet advertising revenues, excluding TAC was up 5.6% sequentially and 18.7% year over year.\n\nMargins\n\nGross margin of 59.9% decreased 20 bps sequentially and 140 bps from the year-ago quarter.\n\nPrice declines remained negative in both sequential and year-over-year comparisons as the mix continued to move toward lower-margin business.\n\nCost per click (CPC) was up 1% but down 18%, respectively, from the previous and year-ago quarters. On a sequential basis, CPC was up 1% on Google sites but remained flat on network sites. On Google sites, CPCs were down 21% from the year-ago quarter, while network CPC declined 5%.\n\nPaid clicks grew 6% sequentially and 47% year over year, driven partly by growing volumes of mobile and TrueView ads on YouTube. Google sites paid clicks grew 7% and 55%, respectively, from the previous and year-ago quarters. Network paid clicks increased 2% sequentially and 10% from the year-ago quarter.\n\nOperating expenses of $8.84 billion increased 0.8% sequentially and 10.7% year over year. The operating margin was 28.0%, up 162 bps sequentially and 233 bps from the year-ago quarter.\n\nAlphabet reported net income of $6.73 billion compared with $3.52 billion in the previous quarter and $5.06 billion in the year-ago quarter. GAAP earnings of $9.57 per share were up from $5.01 in the previous quarter and $7.25 in the year-ago quarter.\n\nBalance Sheet\n\nAlphabet has a solid balance sheet, with cash and short-term investments of around $100.1 billion, up $5.43 billion from the second quarter. The company generated around $9.87 billion of cash from operations in the third quarter and spent $3.5 billion on capex, netting a free cash flow of $6.3 billion.\n\nAlphabet also spent $130 million on acquisitions and $2.7 billion to repay some debt.\n\nZacks Rank\n\nAlphabet carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here .\n\nWall Street's Next Amazon\n\nZacks EVP Kevin Matras believes this familiar stock has only just begun its climb to become one of the greatest investments of all time. It's a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in pure genius.\n\nClick for details >>\n\nWant the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report\n\nAmazon.com, Inc. (AMZN): Free Stock Analysis Report\n\nFacebook, Inc. (FB): Free Stock Analysis Report\n\nAlphabet Inc. (GOOGL): Free Stock Analysis Report\n\nApple Inc. (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report\n\nMicrosoft Corporation (MSFT): Free Stock Analysis Report\n\nTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.\n\nZacks Investment Research\n\nThe views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.\n\nThe views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.", "output": "Third-quarter sales and earnings have allowed Alphabet to surpass expectations, thanks to a surge in Google ad volume. Sales for the quarter were up to $22.7, increasing 6.5% sequentially and 21.9% year over year. Google's Accelerated Mobile Pages is one of the key reasons the numbers look as promising as they do, as more publishers across the world begin to use the service. Google also claims that Google Cloud is generating solid revenue growth.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Twitter sees rise in monthly users and better-than-expected sales \n Along with a healthy bump in monthly users, Twitter reported better-than-expect third-quarter sales on Thursday.\n\nWhile quarterly revenue of $590 million was down 4% year-over-year, it was still better than what analysts had predicted.\n\nFrom the second quarter of the year to the third, average monthly active users (MAUs) were up 4% to 330 million, while daily active users (DAUs) were up 14%, year-over-year.\n\nA proud Jack Dorsey said Twitter hit all the key notes, this past quarter.\n\n\u201cWe grew our audience and engagement, made progress on a return to revenue growth and achieved record profitability,\u201d Twitter\u2019s second-time CEO stated. Ned Segal, Twitter\u2019s CFO, said the company\u2019s momentum was driven by improved execution from its sales team and strength in video and direct response ad formats.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nSegal added Twitter\u2019s data business experienced its third consecutive quarter of accelerating year-over-year growth.\n\nAnalysts seemed pleased with Twitter\u2019s performance, on Thursday.\n\n\u201cUnderlying revenue trends provided confidence that the company is on track towards a resumption of top-line growth,\u201d Brian Wieser, a senior analyst at Pivotal Research, said in a research note.\n\nWieser was particularly impressed by the fact that Twitter\u2019s largest 100 advertisers increased spending on the platform by 23% globally, and 7% domestically.\n\n\u201cThis reinforces our observation that many advertisers like and value Twitter as a marketing platform and continue to use it,\u201d Wieser noted.\n\nCasting a cloud over the strong earnings report, Twitter on Thursday was forced to restate the audience estimates it reports to advertisers and investors. In a letter to shareholders, the social giant said it overstated MAU counts for three years.\n\nThe restatement was due to incorrectly recording \u201c1 million to 2 million users per quarter\u201d from certain \u201cthird-party applications\u201d to Twitter\u2019s MAU count, it said.\n\nThe readjustment does not impact its DAUs, Twitter said. Due to its \u201cdata retention policies,\u201d Twitter said it could not \u201creconcile periods prior to the fourth quarter of 2016.\u201d\n\nOf course, poor measurement isn\u2019t Twitter\u2019s only problem. The company continues to struggle with trolls, bullies, sexual harassers and fake-news spreaders.\n\nIn its latest response to this problem, the company recently outlined a fresh set of rules designed to curb bad actors.\n\nThis past quarter, Twitter also addressed the presence of Russian agents on its platform -- and their efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.\n\nTo encourage more tweeting, Twitter finally budged on its long-held 140-character limit, this past quarter. Rather than a sweeping change, the company is testing a more lenient 280-character limit among a \u201csmall group\u201d of users.\n\nLooking ahead to the fourth quarter, Twitter said on Thursday it is expecting an adjusted EBITDA between $220 million and $240 million, and adjusted EBITDA margins between 35% and 36%.", "output": "Twitter has recorded better results than expected from third-quarter sales with revenue of $590m. While the revenue figure was down 4% year on year, the number of monthly average users has risen 4% up to 330 million, with daily users up 14% year on year. Twitter's 100 largest advertisers increased their spending by 23% globally and 7% domestically."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Corlnnova raises $6m for robotic heart-failure treatment device \n CorInnova said today that it raised $6.1 million from Wellcome Trust for the EpicHeart device it\u2019s developing to treat heart failure.\n\nHouston-based CorInnova said EpicHeart is a direct cardiac compression device that uses a collapsible, thin-film, pneumatically actuated soft robotic device to surround both ventricles of the heart. It\u2019s designed to use air to inflate and increase cardiac output by gently squeezing the heart.\n\nFounded to commercialize technology developed at Texas A&M University\u2019s Cardiac Mechanics Laboratory by Dr. John Criscione, CorInnova is backed by a group of private investors, the National Heart Lung Blood Institute and National Science Foundation, the Texas Emerging Technology Fund and now the Wellcome Fund, a charitable foundation. CorInnova is also a resident at Johnson & Johnson Innovation, JLABS @ TMC, a life science incubator in Houston.\n\n\u201cOur EpicHeart technology is innovative and groundbreaking. We believe it will lead to a new paradigm for heart failure treatment,\u201d CEO William Altman said in prepared remarks. \u201cWe are honored to have our work recognized by the Wellcome Trust. We are further honored to have been chosen by JLABS as one of a limited number of companies to be invited to join its life sciences incubator. Due to its minimally invasive nature and its potential for reduced adverse events from blood contact, CorInnova\u2019s non-blood-contacting soft robotic cardiac assist device could potentially triple or quadruple the number of heart failure patients who could be eligible for such a life-saving device therapy.\u201d\n\n\u201cWellcome is pleased to support the development of this innovative technology for the treatment of congestive heart failure,\u201d added Dr. Philip Jordan of Wellcome\u2019s Innovations team. \u201cCongestive heart failure is a chronic condition that affects roughly six million people in the US alone and is a leading cause of death and disability. A significantly less-invasive medical device that could restore a certain level of heart function would be potentially transformative for patients.\u201d\n\nLast month CorInnova won a $50,000 award at the annual Pediatric Device Innovation Symposium.\n\n\u201cWe are pleased that the compelling advantages of CorInnova\u2019s technology for heart failure treatment in adults is equally compelling for treatment for children,\u201d product development VP Boris Leschinsky said.", "output": "Houston-based medical company CorInnova has raised $6.1m in funding from the Wellcome Trust to develop its EpicHeart soft robotic device that's hoped to restore cardiac function to heart failure patients. The collapsible, pneumatic machine uses air to gently squeeze the heart and elevate cardiac output. Chronic heart disease affects about 6 million people in the US, and EpicHeart's non-blood-contacting device, described as \"innovative and groundbreaking\", could increase the number of patients eligible for treatment by up to four times.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regtech firm Templum raises $2.7m for compliant ICO exchange \n Templum LLC, a company offering regulatory compliant solutions for ICOs as securities and subsequent secondary trading, a competitor to the ICO platform being developed by Overstock\u2019s tZERO, today announced that it has closed a seed funding round totaling $2.7 million. The seed round was led by Raptor Group, Galaxy Investment Partners, Blockchain Capital, and firstminute.capital.\n\nThe funding follows Templum\u2019s recent strategic partnership agreement with broker-dealer Liquid M Capital, to launch a US regulatory compliant turn-key solution, known as Templum, for the initial issuance and secondary trading of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) as securities. Templum will use the seed capital for operational expansion, product development, and talent acquisition.\n\nChris Pallotta, Templum Founder, and Chief Executive Officer stated:\n\n\u201cICOs offer innovative organizations an efficient alternative for raising capital. However, ICOs in their current form can be highly risky for issuers and investors. Templum will provide the necessary transparency, accountability and investor protection to reduce risks and encourage more widespread acceptance of ICOs.\u201d\n\nBart Stephens, Blockchain Capital Co-Founder, and Managing Partner said:\n\n\u201cTemplum has entered the ICO market at the ideal time when compliance and investor protection are top of mind for industry participants. Their solutions provide much needed certainty regarding regulatory obligations, safeguards to protect investors and a vital secondary marketplace for liquidity. We\u2019re excited to partner with Templum to further democratize access to digital assets while bolstering overall market integrity.\u201d\n\nUntil recently, the U.S. ICO market has operated in a manner that did not focus on compliance with the U.S. and foreign securities laws. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released an investigative report on July 25, 2017, concluding that offers and sales of digital assets that are securities by \u201cvirtual\u201d organizations in the U.S. are subject to the requirements of the federal securities laws.\n\nSubsequently, some ICOs conducted prior to the SEC\u2019s investigative report could be deemed to have violated securities laws and ICO issuers could be held liable for these violations. In response, Templum and Liquid M Capital recently submitted a letter asking the SEC to grant ICO issuers a grace period of 180 days to remediate any possible violations related to their past ICOs, except those that may have involved fraud.\n\nSummarizing on the letter, Mr. Pallotta said:\n\n\u201cWe will continue to advocate for the advancement of the digital asset community that is balanced with the need for regulatory compliance and investor protection. We believe narrowly tailored remedial relief solution for these issuers and investors will support the innovative ICO model while helping issuers meet the necessary regulatory requirements within an established securities framework like the one we offer.\u201d", "output": "Regtech firm Templum has raised $2.7m in seed funding to expand its regulatory-compliant ICO trading platform. Raptor Group, Blockchain Capital, Galaxy Investment Partners and firstminute.capital led investment and the\u00a0proceeds will also be used to\u00a0develop\u00a0products and hire new staff. Templum recently signed a deal with broker-dealer Liquid M Capital to create a US regulation-compliant turn-key product for the\u00a0issuance and secondary trading of ICOs.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Intel widens DLT business via\u00a0coin-storage tie-up with Ledger \n Technology major Intel has partnered with virtual currency hardware startup firm Ledger as of late October 2017 in a bid to introduce new solutions for storing cryptocurrency holdings. Under the collaboration, Ledger\u2019s Blockchain Open Ledger Operating System (BOLOS) will be integrated into Intel\u2019s Software Guard Extension (SGX) secure storage product line.\n\nAccording to Ledger chief executive officer (CEO), Eric Larchev\u00eaque, the partnership allows them to provide innovative solutions for digital currency and Blockchain applications to their growing client base.\n\n\"Following the launch of a line of hardware wallets based on our operating system integrated in a secure chip, working with a leading player like Intel is a unique opportunity to keep providing our growing client base with innovative solutions for cryptocurrency and Blockchain applications.\u201d\n\nBrief details of the partnership project\n\nUnder the partnership, Intel and Ledger will focus on developing a so-called \u201cenclave\u201d wherein private keys are stored and where transactions are both generated and signed. The project is similar to the deal focusing on secure storage that was signed by Ledger and Gemalto in early October 2017. The Ledger/Gemalto collaboration involved Ledger\u2019s BOLOS and Gemalto\u2019s Hardware Security Module (HSM) cryptographic key storage system.\n\nThe collaboration is also part of Intel\u2019s focus on hardware under its distributed ledger technology (DLT) strategy. One example of this strategy is the technology giant\u2019s collaboration with startup company 21 Inc. on the distribution of Bitcoin mining chips in consumer electronic devices.\n\nThe plan is to integrate the mining chips into Intel\u2019s products like desktop personal computers (PC).\n\nBased on the press release issued by the partners, there are already several cryptocurrency wallets that are scheduled to use their proposed virtual currency holdings storage system. Among them are provider services MyEtherWallet and Electrum.\n\nIntel has also built alliances with Tencent earlier this year and other Blockchain companies for the former\u2019s bid to become one of the leading providers of commercial Blockchain applications.", "output": "Chipmaker Intel has taken another step into the distributed ledge technology space through a partnership deal with digital currency hardware provider Ledger that will see them offer cryptocurrency storage products. The tie up will incorporate Ledger's Blockchain Open Ledger Operating System into Intel's\u00a0Software Guard Extension (SGX) secure storage product. The companies will develop an \u201cenclave\u201d to store private keys and to generate and sign transactions.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon pharmaceutical distribution licensed in 12 states \n St. Louis Post-Dispatch found more hints that Amazon is truly thinking of getting into the prescription drug biz, which was first reported earlier this month. The publication reviewed public records and found that the e-retail giant has received licenses to become a wholesale drug distributor in at least 12 states. Nevada, Arizona, North Dakota, Louisiana, Alabama, New Jersey, Michigan, Connecticut, Idaho, New Hampshire, Oregon and Tennessee have already approved the company's application, whereas Maine is still thinking about it.\n\nBoston-based Leerink Partners analyst Ana Gupte told St. Louis Post that the discovery \"strengthens [their] conviction on the likely entry into the drug supply chain.\" A lot of people must have thought the same, because the stock prices of some of the biggest names in the industry, including CVS, plummeted after the publication published its piece.\n\nEven so, only Amazon can say for sure whether it'll start selling prescription meds itself in the future. It might have secured the licenses as part of a partnership with another company, or it might be for another purpose altogether. Nicodemo Fiorentino, the drug supply chain researcher who tipped the Post about the news, said Amazon must first secure a pharmacy license to be able to sell directly to customers. Unfortunately, Amazon refused to talk to the Post about \"rumors and speculations,\" but we might not have to wait that long for anything more definitive anyway -- according to the earlier report by CNBC, it has to decide if it wants to enter the pharmacy biz before Thanksgiving.", "output": "Stock prices of some of the biggest pharmaceutical firms in the US fell after it was revealed Amazon had been granted wholesale drug distributor licences by 12 states, according to the St Louis Post-Dispatch. It followed weeks of speculation about the online retail giant's intentions toward the sector. According to researcher Nicodemo Fiorentino, Amazon must obtain a pharmacy licence to sell directly to consumers. The company declined to comment.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China to pass US as largest air travel market sooner than guessed \n China is going to surpass the U.S. as the world's largest air travel market in the next five years -- sooner than expected.\n\nIn its annual forecast, the International Air Transport Association shifted its expectations about the center of gravity of world air travel eastward, away from the U.S. and Europe.\n\nThe global airline industry group anticipates that 7.8 billion passengers will travel by air by 2036. That's nearly double the 4 billion it anticipates will fly this year.\n\nThe IATA forecast, released Tuesday, said it expects that half of the new passengers who will fly over the next 20 years will live in Asia. While IATA predicts significant changes over the next two decades, the most dramatic shifts will happen in the next five years.\n\nChina will displace the U.S. as the world's largest aviation market by 2022, two years sooner than previously expected, the IATA forecast predicts. An aviation market is defined as traffic to, from and within a country.\n\nRelated: India's airports will be at breaking point by 2022\n\nChinese airlines have been rapidly expanding their international destinations in recent years. Air China and Hainan Airlines this week announced three new routes to the U.S., including Shenzhen to Los Angeles, and Chongqing and Chengdu to New York.\n\nEmerging markets in Asia will dominate the next 20 years, according to IATA. The U.K., today the third largest market, will drop to fifth place, falling behind India in 2025 and Indonesia in 2030, it said.\n\nRelated: China's 1st big passenger jet completes maiden flight\n\nEurope's influence will continue to wane, as Thailand and Turkey will also enter the top 10 largest markets over the next 20 years. France and Italy, meanwhile, will fall in the rankings to 11th and 12th respectively, according to IATA.\n\nBoth India and Indonesia have been at or near the top buyers of new jetliners from Airbus (EADSF), Boeing and others as budget airlines improve the affordability of traveling by air.\n\nAirbus and Boeing (BA) are accelerating production of their most popular single-aisle and twin-aisle jetliners to meet demand for growth and to replace older, less-efficient airliners. Boeing on Wednesday said airlines were putting \"upward pressure\" on it to increase production of its single-aisle 737 jetliners, in large part due to demand from countries like India and China.\n\nRelated: Airbus takes control of Bombardier jet Boeing tried to kill\n\nBoeing anticipates China will need more than 7,200 new airplanes worth more than $1 trillion dollars.\n\nBoth companies have established industrial presences in China to court buyers who need the blessing of the central government. Airbus assembles its competing A320s in Tianjin, and Boeing is opening a new factory near Shanghai where its 737s will have their interiors installed prior to delivery to Chinese carriers.\n\nWhile Airbus and Boeing focus on China, the country this year began testing its own homegrown C919 airliner from the Commercial Airplane Corporation of China, or Comac.", "output": "China will bypass the US as the world's biggest air travel market by 2020, two years sooner than formerly predicted, according to the International Air Transport Association. It suggests there will be 7.8 billion passengers travelling by air by 2036, almost double the 4 billion expected to fly in 2017, with half of the new passengers living in Asia. Also, it predicts the UK, which is currently the third largest market, will fall to fifth place behind India in 2025, and Indonesia in 2030.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "German startup Medigo targets medical tourism market \n For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBreaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nWhen he hit 146kg, Neil Adamson decided to do something about his weight. The 49-year-old chef from Newcastle was based in Qatar at the time and as an ex-pat, it would have been difficult to get the surgery through the NHS. He started researching so-called hospital holidays to Thailand, but found them more expensive than he was expecting. Then he came across another option: Medigo.\n\n\u201cThe NHS won\u2019t do surgery unless they believe you have a psychological danger to yourself, or unless there\u2019s a concern about your obesity becoming critical to your health. But I wanted to deal with it before it got to that stage,\u201d Adamson says.\n\nPeople have travelled for medical treatment for thousands of years, ever since Greek pilgrims set out for the Saronic Gulf, which was believed to be the sanctuary for the healing god Asclepios. But cheap flights and Google mean it\u2019s never been easier. The industry was worth $19.7bn (\u00a314.9bn) in 2016, according to Orbis research, and it is estimated to be growing at 18.8 per cent a year, with a forecast value of $46.6bn by 2021.\n\nMedical tourism hasn\u2019t been the most obvious industry for entrepreneurs. But its growth rate has attracted increasing numbers of startups hoping to act as the gateway between doctor and patient. Medical Departures, based in Hong Kong, secured $2.5m in series A funding in March 2016 for its plan to become \u201cthe Airbnb for medical tourism\u201d. Oxa Medical, which started in Hyderabad in December 2016, has been funded by an undisclosed amount by a UAE-based venture capital. Singapore has DocDoc, and Malaysia has BookDoc.\n\nUgur Samut, who founded Medigo in Berlin in 2014, thinks it has the edge. To date, Medigo has connected over 60,000 patients with doctors in 178 different countries for procedures ranging from brain surgery and cancer treatment to breast implants and tummy tucks. It has secured over \u20ac10m (\u00a38.96m) of investment, most recently through an extension round of \u20ac3.5m in January 2106 from CL Ventures, based in China.\n\n\u201cWe are there to help people,\u201d Samut said. \u201cWe don\u2019t charge the patient and we insure the patient in case something goes wrong.\u201d So far they have not paid out, but Samut says it could happen. The insurance lasts for six months after treatment and is taken out in the patient\u2019s home country, so if an Australian has dental work in Thailand, their insurance is in Australia.\n\nMedigo does not want to be the Airbnb for medical tourism. \u201cUnlike Airbnb, capacity is not the issue: we just want the best hospitals,\u201d Samut says. \u201cWe\u2019re not listing hotels, we\u2019re asking people to go and get surgery that might be life-threatening.\u201d In the beginning, Medigo spent most of the \u20ac2.2m raised from seed investors like Atlantic Internet on checking records.\n\n\u201cIf there are 1,000 hospitals in Poland, our goal is to find the best 10 or 15,\u201d he says. Medigo\u2019s team of researchers start by checking public health records and evaluating its findings with doctors in each destination. It takes eight weeks to list a dentist, Samut says, by way of example, from the the first contact to the listing.\n\nProfessor Dr Philip Sch\u00f6ttle works with several medical tourism facilitators to reach patients for his bone surgery in Munich. \u201cMedigo\u2019s level of professionalism and service is comparably one of the highest,\u201d Sch\u00f6ttle says. \u201cPatient referrals are highly professional and all necessary information is provided before I see a patient.\u201d\n\nPeople come to him from all over the world because he specialises in novel orthobiological medicine, which involves reconstructing damaged tissues or organs, involving stem cells. Some of his patients didn\u2019t know such procedures were an option before they found out on the Medigo website.\n\n\u201cOur institute gives patients access to proven, innovative treatments that aren\u2019t yet available in many parts of the world. That can only be a good thing,\u201d Sch\u00f6ttle says.\n\nYet he recognises that not everyone will be able to afford to pay out of pocket for innovative treatment. And another downside is the lack of industry regulation, which allows for some untrustworthy players in the market: \u201cBut they usually don\u2019t last long,\u201d Sch\u00f6ttle says. \u201cIn today\u2019s globalised world, there\u2019s nowhere to hide and patients are increasingly informed about their healthcare options.\u201d\n\nSamut is from Istanbul, where he studied for an undergraduate degree in business before moving to Barcelona for a masters in marketing. He started working for Rapid Internet, one of Europe\u2019s biggest startup companies, in Berlin, where he first got interested in the travel industry. At the time, medical travel was growing at 25 per cent year-on-year.\n\nHe has since learned that medical tourists come in two groups. There are the wealthy patients from what Samut calls \u201cemerging markets\u201d, often in Asia, seeking better quality treatment in Germany, Switzerland and the UK especially. And then there are those from Western nations who travel to avoid high costs or waiting lists. The Americans and Australians travel to avoid high costs. Waiting lists are mostly the preserve of Canadians and the British.\n\nWhile the average wait time for a patient on the NHS has been quite stable since 2008, data shows that there has been a steady increase in patients waiting longer than 18 weeks for treatment.\n\nOnce Adamson decided to do something about his weight, he wasn\u2019t prepared to wait any longer. He did some research and found good reviews for Dr Hussam Trabulsi, a Syrian surgeon based at Zulekha Hospital in Dubai, just one hour by plane from his home in Qatar. Through Medigo he made the connection. They assigned him an agent from their Care Team who was on hand to answer questions and offer support throughout the process. He says: \u201cThe type of surgery I had would probably have taken me a long time on the NHS, and as you get older you realise, \u2018It\u2019s time I do something about this\u2019.\u201d\n\nOn the morning of the surgery, Adamson arrived at Dubai airport at 6.30am and went straight to the hospital, where he waited for the doctor to start his day. The surgery went well, and he stayed in the hospital for three nights to recover.\n\nNow Adamson weighs 95kg. \u201cUndoubtedly the best money I ever spent,\u201d he says. \u201d[It] saved my life and indeed, changed my life. I have recommended Medigo to many people.\u201d\n\nSamut says Medigo hopes to make a profit by next summer, after which it will seek further funding to expand either in the US, or in Asia.\n\n\u201cCrossing borders has never been easier for most people in the world, and it\u2019s never been more common,\u201d Sch\u00f6ttle says. \u201cCrossing borders for medical care gives patients options they may not have had before.\u201d", "output": "Berlin-based start-up Medigo is aiming to capitalise on the growing medical tourism market with its innovative online platform. It has so far connected more than 60,000 patients with with medical professionals across 178 different countries, with all doctors, dentists and clinicians vetted by Medigo staff. The three-year-old company also offers support via its Care Team Assistance service, which can help with issues including travel arrangements and post-surgical treatment. The medical tourism market is set to be worth $46.6bn by 2021.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MIT team create AI that's capable of writing horror fiction \n Cue a lightning flash and some portentous music: I have written with a robot.\n\n\n\nThe robot is Shelley, who isn\u2019t really a robot, but actually an artificial intelligence developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Over the past couple of weeks, Shelley has been posting on Twitter the start of a horror story, and inviting users to continue it.\n\nSo, in the time-honoured question directed at any writer, where does Shelley get her ideas? No lofty explanations of the author\u2019s craft here; Shelley has been trained to scour the Reddit online community sub-forum /r/nosleep, where users share their own spooky stories.\n\nLearning the language of terror, Shelley \u2013 named and gendered for the godmother of horror, Frankenstein author Mary Shelley \u2013 puts together eerie little vignettes and, crucially, aims to continue them from the replies posted by Twitter users in a kind of round-robin collaborative writing exercise.\n\nWith a new story started every hour, you certainly can\u2019t doubt her prolificness. But are the stories actually any good? Here are a couple of Shelley\u2019s recent efforts:\n\nI was standing right across the street, when a ghost stood behind me. I was so scared I couldn\u2019t move. I couldn\u2019t move. I wasn\u2019t able to move my eyes, I was screaming.\n\nMy body was pulled into the room by the presence of someone who was standing somewhere in the hallway. I looked around once and there they were, standing in the corner of the room, as they stared at me, unmoving.\n\nThe screen flickered, and everything went black. I closed my eyes, and sat up. The darkness had subsided, and the page was the same as the one before, and the one in the middle of the message. I clicked the link, and the first few minutes, then black. I woke up this morning, screaming and crying.\n\nNothing, perhaps, to give Stephen King sleepless nights, but you can \u2013 and probably have \u2013 read far worse on the internet written by flesh-and-blood beings. The real magic of Shelley is more apparent when people reply, using the hashtag #yourturn to indicate to the bot to put her thinking cap on and continue the story. The tale Look Away, co-authored by Shelley and several Twitter users, hangs together enough to make you forget that one of the participants isn\u2019t human.\n\nSo would Shelley play with me? It\u2019s actually more difficult than you\u2019d think to get involved: Shelley\u2019s algorithms look for replies from Twitter users that have collected favourites or retweets to help her decide who to respond to. Mine didn\u2019t get many thumbs-ups \u2026 either that, or Shelley just didn\u2019t like me.\n\nI tried to follow up on several of her stories, at one point throwing my takes on every story she posted on the hour. She has deigned to work with me once, so far. The story begins:\n\nI started to breathe again. The chains in my ankle twitched and the shadow continued to stare. A silent cry and a few signs of life began to form.\n\nDidn\u2019t make a huge amount of sense to me, but I had a go: \u201cBut the chains! The chains! How was I to get myself free?\u201d\n\nShelley duly responded: \u201cI was losing my mind! I couldn\u2019t move. The creature was there with me. What was it doing?\u201d\n\nWhich, to be honest, I didn\u2019t feel moved the narrative on much. Still, I had another go: \u201cThen I noticed something. The beast was chained also. We were both prisoners in this place. But why? Who was responsible for this?\u201d\n\nWe will perhaps never know. Shelley has decided to work on new material rather than conclude our short-lived story together. Does the experiment work? I suppose she can make a decent fist of continuing narratives with a measure of logic. While some of her efforts make little to no sense at all, some of them, like the aforementioned Look Away, do actually stack up in a basic fashion. Perhaps Shelley\u2019s available database of the Reddit forum is too limiting; the MIT boffins should give her access to the entire body of horror literature. Or maybe that way madness lies \u2026", "output": "MIT researchers have created \"Shelley AI\", a deep learning algorithm that uses inspiration from original horror stories published online and Twitter suggestions to create short fiction in the horror genre. Named after the author of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, the programme can identify terror-inspiring words from existing text \"seeds\" and reuse them in original tales."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HSBC launches elite luxury credit card for world travellers \n EXCLUSIVE \u2013 HSBC has a new credit card, the bank announced today.\n\nThe card is called the HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard Credit Card, and is designed deliberately to target travelers.\n\nThe bank describes the card as a luxury credit card. The new credit product is a black metal card, that weights noticeably more than a traditional plastic card. HSBC did not reveal the credit limit or range of this card.\n\nAn aspect of the credit card that seems to have garnered attention as the sweet spot from both fintechs and tradition financial institutions is in rewards space.\n\nOther benefits and rewards include no foreign transaction fees, unlimited Boingo WiFi access at over one million hotspots, $85 application fee credit for TSA PreCheck, and $100 annual statement credits for Uber and Lyft rides, up to $100 in annual air travel statement credit benefit, in addition to other shopping and travel benefits.\n\nThe card is powered by Mastercard.", "output": "HSBC has launched a premium credit card it says caters to the\u00a0needs of the bank's globe-trotting\u00a0clients. The black metal Premier World Elite Mastercard comes with no foreign transaction fees and up to 15% reductions at spas, restaurants\u00a0and selected duty-free shops -- among many other perks. Pablo Sanchez, head of retail banking and wealth management for HSBC in the US and Canada said the card \"represented the most valuable collection of features and benefits ever offered in an HSBC credit card\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "PayPal's marketing tools show shopping behaviour and preferences \n PayPal has launched a new suite of free marketing solutions for merchants that provide them with analytics around how shoppers use the online payment platform.\n\nAccording to the announcement, the newly-released shopping insights tools will include aggregated and anonymous data tracking the behaviors and preferences of PayPal users.\n\n\u201cThis includes things like how many shoppers are mobile shoppers; how many shop for big-ticket versus small-ticket items; how a particular merchant site attracts customers compared to other similar sites,\u201d writes PayPal in its release announcing the rollout.\n\nTo use the tools, merchants will need to install a PayPal code snippet on their sites, which will collect information on PayPal web visitors and customers including:\n\ncookies,\n\nbrowser,\n\ndevice and type,\n\nIP address,\n\npage impressions and clicks,\n\nand URL.\n\nIn return, merchants will receive analytics data \u2014 similar to packages like Google Analytics \u2014 that they can employ to improve conversions and better serve their customers.\n\nThe code also allows merchants to enable PayPal\u2019s \u201cSmart Incentives,\u201d a promotional messaging feature that informs users they can use PayPal Credit and One Touch checkout on the site, which PayPal says will help drive conversions from customers who like to pay using those methods. PayPal Credit provides 6-month interest-free financing for purchases over $99 and the company\u2019s research found that 40% of users say they have spent more money online due to the program.\n\nThese new features are available to any merchants that use its payment processing, PayPal Credit and other PayPal solutions, including those who use them via third-party ecommerce platforms such as BigCommerce, WooCommerce, or Shopify.\n\nThe online payment platform says it will soon provide recommendations for merchants to help them increase conversions based on the data it tracks.", "output": "PayPal is offering marketers a suite of tools similar to Google Analytics, which provides anonymous, aggregated data about the behaviour of the online payment service's users. PayPal said the data would include information about sites' popularity, the percentages of mobile shoppers and the cost of what they bought. To access the analytics, marketers must install a PayPal access code, which will also enable the site's Smart Incentives \u2013\u00a0allowing users to check out using PayPal Credit and One Touch.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": " Tykn aims to give 'invisible children' identity via blockchain \n Imagine: you don\u2019t have any proof of your existence and therefore lack access to healthcare, education or insurance. This is the reality of the CEO of Dutch impact startup and Rockstart-alumnus Tykn, Tey El-Rjula. As an \u2018invisible man\u2019 \u2013 his birth certificate was destroyed during the Gulf War \u2013 the Kuwait-born entrepreneur conceived a solution that uses blockchain technology to identify children with similar difficulties.\n\nWhich problems are you solving?\n\n\u201cWe are collectively tackling the issues of paper-based vital records systems, and with 230 million children worldwide without birth certificates, this became our primary focus with Project ZINC (Zero INvisible Children). Having said this, the birth certificate is also by far the weakest link in the identity chain. Where passports, ID cards, and driver\u2019s licenses have just about thirty different security features, birth certificates are largely still a piece of paper, which you have to pick up at the municipality where you were born just to claim the proof of existence that serves as your ticket towards healthcare, education, insurance, etc.\n\nNot to mention the fact that, in conflict zones, the fallible nature of these documents is even more threatening, since it can effectively turn people \u2018invisible\u2019 if a birth registry is destroyed; pair this with geographical immobility, lack of financial means and a significant knowledge gap, and you can start to see the hurdles to birth registration in LEDCs (Less Economically Developed Country, ed.) and conflict zones that we are trying to resolve.\u201d\n\nHow are you using Blockchain technology?\n\n\u201cEven though we try to remain fully Blockchain agnostic, we are currently leveraging Hyperledger Indy (a ledger specifically tailored to accommodate identity solutions, ed.) through the Sovrin Network as the back-end to our APIs. By doing so we can permanently certify vital records and grant decentralized, digital identities, even to those without direct access to an electronic device through the use of Pure Decentralized Identifiers, for the purpose of authentication and verification.", "output": "Dutch start-up Tykn is developing a blockchain solution aimed at providing vital certification for the 230 million \"invisible children\" worldwide whose lack of proof of identity can prevent them from gaining access to services such as healthcare and education.\u00a0Project Zero Invisible Children (ZINC) links the Hyperledger Indy platform to an app\u00a0via the Sovrin Network. The solution would offer a permanently\u00a0certified proof-of-existence without a subject having to provide sensitive information. The alpha release of the app is set for Q1 2018.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AR anatomy T-shirt shows wearers the workings of their body \n Ed Barton in his Virtuali-Tee ILKA & FRANZ\n\nWhen it comes to augmented and virtual reality, Ed Barton has been there and got the T-shirt. His Brighton-based startup Curiscope produces The Virtuali-Tee, a garment printed with a stylised QR code that resembles a rib cage. Hover your phone over it, and using its app, you can explore the human chest cavity and peer at the heart, lungs and veins. \"We use a mix of VR and AR to see inside the anatomy,\" explains Barton, 28. \"With positionally tracked AR, you can position VR experiences physically within your environment.\" Curiscope has sold more than 3,000 Virtuali-Tees. Barton (pictured) and co-founder Ben Kidd have raised almost $1 million (\u00a3780,000) in seed funding from LocalGlobe.\n\nWhen the pair founded the company in 2015, they began making 360\u00b0 YouTube videos. Their first upload in January 2016, featuring a shark dive, became one of the site's most-watched VR videos. But they felt something was missing. Surely there was more to VR than videos? For Barton, the solution was positionally tracked AR, which lets them overlay 3D imagery on to the material world. \"YouTube is fantastic, but doesn't give us the scope to do transformative work with physical products,\" Barton says. With positional tracking, he says, \"we have a blurring of physical and digital items, and an experience more tightly connected to reality\". This was the birth of the Virtuali-Tee. Barton and Kidd conceived the product in March 2016 and went into production thanks to \u00a374,000 in Kickstarter funding. \"With the Virtuali-Tee, AR is your interface and VR is used to transport you somewhere else. The technologies should be merging.\"\n\nNext up for Curiscope: the launch of the Great White Shark AR app, due to coincide with the autumn release of iOS 11. Barton and Kidd's book, All About Virtual Reality, is published by Dorling Kindersley and available now. And in November, the pair will launch Operation Apex, a VR experience with HTC Vive Studios in which people are placed in a virtual environment with sharks. \"We began talking with Vive Studios in 2016 and realised there was a big opportunity to be at the centre of this technology,\" Barton says.", "output": "UK start-up Curiscope has blended virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) to develop an app that offers a glimpse inside the human body. An app-enabled smartphone scans a stylised QR code printed on to its Virtuali-Tee T-shirt to bring\u00a0up a VR and an AR version of the wearer's internal organs. Curiscope has raised more than $1m in seed funding and shipped more than 3,000 T-shirts, while industry analysts predicted the firm's blurring of AR and VR could find applications in anatomy and biology education."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesla builds solar-plus-storage facility in Puerto Rico \n After Tesla CEO Elon Musk promised earlier this month to help restore power in Puerto Rico, the company has brought electricity back to a hospital on the island, which was recently battered by Hurricane Maria. In a tweet Tuesday, Tesla posted photos of Hospital del Ni\u00f1o, where it just completed installation of solar panels and large battery packs to provide power even with the grid down. The batteries can store excess energy harvested by the solar panels, ensuring a steady flow of power even when sunlight isn't available.\n\nTesla first discussed sending energy-storage battery packs to Puerto Rico as a source of emergency power in late September, and Musk pledged to go all-in October 5. Not surprisingly for the Twitter-loving CEO, the relief effort was shaped by a series of tweets.\n\nWhen asked whether Tesla could help restore power to Puerto Rico, Musk replied in the affirmative, saying the company had already undertaken electricity projects on smaller islands and that the technology could be scaled up. The final decision would be up to the Puerto Rico government, Musk noted. Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossell\u00f3 subsequently replied \"Let's talk.\"\n\nEven without the added impetus of compensating for hurricane damage, islands are particularly well-suited to renewable energy and electrical storage. They're not connected to the mainland grid, after all, and generating power locally can be difficult, as fuel must be shipped in. Prior to Hurricane Maria, most of Puerto Rico's power was generated by burning oil, which had to be imported.", "output": "Tesla has installed solar panels and energy storage at the Hospital del Ni\u00f1o in San Juan for children in Puerto Rico. Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk, has delivered on his promise in October that his company would help bring electricity to the island of Puerto Rico following the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria. Writing on Twitter, Musk said the facility was \"first of many solar + storage projects\" that would be installed on the island."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI will bring autonomous cars within four years: Nvidia CEO \n Reuters\n\nNVIDIA Corp chief executive Jensen Huang said on 26 October that artificial intelligence would enable fully automated cars within 4 years, but sought to tamp down expectations for a surge in demand for its chips from cryptocurrency miners.\n\nNVIDIA came to prominence in the gaming industry for designing graphics-processing chips, but in recent years has been expanding into newer technologies including high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, and self-driving cars.\n\nIts expansion has been richly rewarded with a 170 percent stock surge over the past year, boosting its market value to $116 billion. \u201cIt will take no more than 4 years to have fully autonomous cars on the road. How long it takes for the vast majority of cars on the road to become that, it really just depends,\u201d Huang told media after a company event in Taipei.\n\nGlobal tech firms such as Apple Inc, Facebook, Alphabet Inc, Amazon and China\u2019s Huawei are spending heavily to develop and offer AI-powered services and products in search of new growth drivers.\n\nApple Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams said earlier this week that the firm sees its mobile devices as a major platform for AI in the future. \u201cThere are many tasks in companies that can be automated... the productivity of society will go up,\u201d said NVIDIA's Huang.\n\nBut Huang joined peers taming expectations of strong revenue growth from a wave of interest in cryptocurrencies. Advanced Micro Devices Inc expected this week that there will be some levelling off of cryptocurrency demand.\n\n\u201cRevenue for us in crypto is over $100 million a quarter. For us, it\u2019s a small percentage... It\u2019s obviously not a target market,\u201d Huang said. Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies that use encryption techniques for security and can be traded. Miners use computers to process cryptocurrency transactions, and they are rewarded with additional cryptocurrency.", "output": "Jensen Huang, CEO of California-based chip manufacturer Nvidia, has said he expects to see the first fully autonomous cars on the roads in four years, thanks to advances in artificial intelligence (AI). Nvidia has thrived after expanding from designing graphics-processing chips into AI and high-performance computing, with its shares rising 170% during the past year, giving the company a valuation of $116bn. However, Huang played down the importance of cryptocurrency mining, where people use computers to process cryptocurrency transactions and are rewarded with additional cryptocurrency, saying that it is not a market the company is targeting."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Methane detector chip could significantly reduce emissions \n Artistic rendering depicts the new silicon photonic absorption spectrometer, which is smaller than a dime and can be manufactured using high-volume computer chip fabrication techniques. The portion of infrared light protruding outside the waveguide is absorbed by methane molecules, enabling spectroscopic measurement of the methane concentration. Credit: Joe Green, Beaverworks Canada\n\nThe process of extracting natural gas from the earth or transporting it through pipelines can release methane into the atmosphere. Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is a greenhouse gas with a warming potential approximately 25 times larger than carbon dioxide, making it very efficient at trapping atmospheric heat energy. A new chip-based methane spectrometer, that is smaller than a dime, could one day make it easier to monitor for efficiency and leaks over large areas.\n\nScientists from IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY, developed the new methane spectrometer, which is smaller than today's standard spectrometers and more economical to manufacture. In Optica, The Optical Society's journal for high impact research, the researchers detail the new spectrometer and show that it can detect methane in concentrations as low as 100 parts-per-million.\n\nLow maintenance, high impact\n\nThe spectrometer is based on silicon photonics technology, which means it is an optical device made of silicon, the material used to make computer chips. Because the same high-volume manufacturing methods used for computer chips can be applied to make the chip-based methane spectrometer, the spectrometer along with a housing and a battery or solar power source might cost as little as a few hundred dollars if produced in large quantities.\n\n\"Compared with a cost of tens of thousands of dollars for today's commercially available methane-detecting optical sensors, volume-manufacturing would translate to a significant value proposition for the chip spectrometer,\" said William Green, leader of the IBM Research team. \"Moreover, with no moving parts and no fundamental requirement for precise temperature control, this type of sensor could operate for years with almost no maintenance.\"\n\nSuch low-cost, robust spectrometers could lead to exciting new applications. For example, the IBM team is working with partners in the oil and gas industry on a project that would use the spectrometers to detect methane leaks, saving companies the time and money involved in trying to find and fix leaks using in-person inspection of thousands of sites.\n\n\"During natural gas extraction and distribution, methane can leak into the air when equipment on the well malfunctions, valves get stuck, or there's a crack in the pipeline,\" said Green. \"We're developing a way to use this spectrometer-on-a-chip to create a network of sensors that could be distributed over a well pad, for example. Data from these sensors would be processed with IBM's physical analytics software to automatically pinpoint the location of a leak as well as quantify the leak magnitude.\"\n\nMethane is a trace gas, the classification given to gases that make up less than 1 percent of the volume of Earth's atmosphere. Although the researchers demonstrated methane detection, the same approach could be used for sensing the presence of other individual trace gases. It could also be used to detect multiple gases simultaneously.\n\n\"Our long-term vision is to incorporate these types of sensors into the home and things people use every day such as their cell phones or vehicles. They could be useful for detecting pollution, dangerous carbon monoxide levels or other molecules of interest,\" said Eric Zhang, a member of the research team. \"Because this spectrometer offers a platform for multispecies detection, it could also one day be used for health monitoring through breath analysis.\"\n\nShrinking the spectrometer\n\nThe new device uses an approach known as absorption spectroscopy, which requires laser light at the wavelength uniquely absorbed by the molecule being measured. In a traditional absorption spectroscopy setup, the laser travels through the air, or free-space, until it reaches a detector. Measuring the light that reaches the detector reveals how much light was absorbed by the molecules of interest in the air and can be used to calculate the concentration of them present.\n\nThe new system uses a similar approach, but instead of a free-space setup, the laser travels through a narrow silicon waveguide that follows a 10-centimeter-long serpentine pattern on top of a chip measuring 16 square millimeters. Some of the light is trapped inside the waveguide while about 25 percent of the light extends outside of the silicon into the ambient air, where it can interact with trace gas molecules passing nearby the sensor waveguide. The researchers used near infrared laser light (1650 nanometer wavelength) for methane detection.\n\nTo increase the sensitivity of the device, the investigators carefully measured and controlled factors that contribute to noise and false absorption signals, fine-tuned the spectrometer's design and determined the waveguide geometrical parameters that would produce favorable results.\n\nSide-by-side comparison\n\nTo compare the new spectrometer's performance with that of a standard free-space spectrometer, they placed the devices into an environmental chamber and released controlled concentrations of methane. The researchers found that the chip-based spectrometer provided accuracy on-par with the free-space sensor despite having 75 percent less light interacting with the air compared to the free-space design. Furthermore, the fundamental sensitivity of the chip sensor was quantified by measuring the smallest discernable change in methane concentration, showing performance comparable to free-space spectrometers developed in other laboratories.\n\n\"Although silicon photonics systems\u2014especially those that use refractive index changes for sensing\u2014have been explored previously, the innovative part of our work was to use this type of system to detect very weak absorption signals from small concentrations of methane, and our comprehensive analysis of the noise and minimum detection limits of our sensor chip,\" said Zhang.\n\nThe current version of the spectrometer requires light to enter and exit the chip via optical fibers. However, the researchers are working to incorporate the light source and detectors onto the chip, which would create an essentially electrical device with no fiber connections required. Unlike current free-space sensors, the chip then does not require special sample or optical preparation. Next year, they plan to start field testing the spectrometers by placing them into a larger network that includes other off-the-shelf sensors.\n\n\"Our work shows that all of the knowledge behind silicon photonics manufacturing, packaging, and component design can be brought into the optical sensor space, to build high-volume manufactured and, in principle, low cost sensors, ultimately enabling an entirely new set of applications for this technology,\" said Green.\n\nMore information: L. Tombez et al, Methane absorption spectroscopy on a silicon photonic chip, Optica (2017). DOI: 10.1364/OPTICA.4.001322 Journal information: Optica", "output": "A newly-developed methane spectrometer could help to monitor and prevent leaks of methane from pipelines covering large areas. The device, built by researchers from the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center in New York, is smaller and more economical than its competitors, and can detect methane in as low a concentration as 100 parts per million. The device is made from silicon, the same material found in computer chips, making it easy and cheap to manufacture. Research leader William Green said the device could operate for years with almost no maintenance."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Asia-Pacific bond ETFs more popular than equity counterparts \n Factor Investing Strategy Briefing - Thursday 29th June 2023 - The Connaught, Mayfair. Please join us for our annual smart beta and factor investing event, featuring Goldman Sachs Asset Management, FlexShares, First Trust, MSCI and WisdomTree. Please register now if you would like to attend.\n\nETFGI, an ETF industry consultancy, has reported that fixed income ETFs listed in Asia Pacific (ex-Japan) have proved significantly more popular with investors than equity ETFs during September. ETFs that track bonds have gained $835 million during the month compared to outflows of $1.0 billion seen by equity ETFs listed in the region.\n\nDespite the strong inflows seen during the month, fixed income ETFs have struggled to attract assets in 2017, seeing net outflows of $127m in the year-to-date (YTD), compared to inflows of $2.9bn over the same period last year. Equity ETFs have experienced a similar fate, seeing YTD outflows of $1.6bn compared to outflows of $834m over the same period last year.\n\nIn total, ETFs domiciled in Asia Pacific gathered $262m in September. YTD inflows stand at $920m, well shy of the $7.9bn of net new assets gained over the same period in 2016.\n\nCommodity ETFs have fared equally poorly, seeing net outflows of $60m during September. YTD outflows now stand at $398m compared to inflows of $942m seen over the same period last year.\n\nVanguard was the issuer that gathered the most new assets in the region during the month. The firm added $400m to its locally listedfunds, followed by Samsung AM with $336m and Yuanta with $220m.\n\nYTD flows by issuer tells a similar story with Vanguard collecting $1.8bn, followed by Samsung AM with $1.3bn and Yuanta with $1.2bn.", "output": "Exchange-traded funds focusing on fixed-income investments are proving more popular with investors in the Asia-Pacific region than their equity counterparts. Bond ETFs pulled in $835m during September, compared to $1bn leaving the coffers of equity products over the same period, according to figures from consultancy ETFGI. Both categories of funds have seen net outflows for the year\u00a0to date. Vanguard Group, Samsung AM and Yuanta were the three firms with the greatest inflows during September.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Health insurance start-up Oscar hedges against Obamacare \n Oscar has tried to disrupt health insurance with a focus on customer experience and technology, but success has been mixed. As the company changes tack, what does the future of a next-gen US health insurer look like?\n\nWhere is this data coming from? Start your free trial today Email Where is this data coming from? Start your free trial today Email\n\nOscar has raised more than $700M, with the aim of disrupting health insurance by building a direct relationship with customers.\n\nIn simple terms, the company\u2019s goal has been to put a human face on private health insurance. It aims to make its customers love health insurance \u2014 as opposed to seeing it as a necessary evil \u2014 and put Oscar at the center of people\u2019s health and wellness needs.\n\nThe company has weathered its share of challenges while burning through hundreds of millions of dollars: Oscar has struggled to find its footing in the US healthcare market for individual coverage, and has faced an uphill battle in assembling a network of doctors and hospitals.\n\nAs the company moves into its fifth year of operation, Oscar\u2019s strategy is beginning to take a new shape.\n\nDOWNLOAD THE FULL PDF Download the entire teardown and see what the future of a next-gen US health insurer looks like. Email\n\nOur analysis shows Oscar is slowly managing to contain its costs by integrating with hospitals, bringing key functions like claims processing in-house, and improving the health of its customers.\n\nThe biggest risk to Oscar remains the uncertainty surrounding the health insurance marketplaces known as exchanges, which are operated by the states. The exchanges were the pillar of Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act, which sought to bring coverage to millions of Americans who did not have health insurance through their employers.\n\nHealth insurers including Oscar have found it difficult to eke out a profit from plans they offer on the highly regulated exchanges. At the same time, the current US administration is hostile to the Affordable Care Act and is taking steps to undermine it through legislation and regulatory tweaks.\n\nIn this landscape, Oscar has clearly begun to hedge against its former focus on individual plans and the exchanges.\n\nOscar has begun moving away from Obamacare in two ways: by integrating more directly with doctors and hospitals, and also by beginning to offer group plans through employers.\n\nMeanwhile, it has also doubled down in care services, significantly expanding telemedicine and concierge teams as well as launching its own primary care clinics.\n\nBut while Oscar is beginning to control its costs and improve its tech and experience, will it be enough to win out against existing incumbents and bring the company to profitability? And will its strategy of tight integration with doctors and hospitals, while limiting the number of in-network providers, be appealing enough to consumers?\n\nWe examine Oscar\u2019s strategy, numbers, partnerships, and future in this analysis using CB Insights data.\n\nTABLE OF CONTENTS\n\nEnough of an Edge? Oscar\u2019s Focus on Tech and Customer Experience\n\nWhen Oscar began rolling out its product in 2014, the company touted simplicity above all else. Josh Kushner (one of the co-founders) said in 2014:\n\n\u201cOur ethos and mission is to create a good consumer experience. We wanted to create an experience like having a doctor in the family \u2026 The existing players don\u2019t care about satisfying the customer.\u201d\n\nCompeting on scale, price, and distribution was always going to be difficult due to the size of incumbents. However, Oscar saw its edge in customer satisfaction, where the health insurance industry as a whole has an ultra-low net promoter score (NPS) of 12 out of 100.\n\n(NPS is a measure of how many customers would recommend a product or service to friends. For context, companies like Apple boast NPS scores of 70 or more.)\n\nOscar, unlike its peers, prioritized customer experience, brand, and simplicity. It outlined its rules for simplicity in a 2014 deck (excerpted below):\n\nThe same year, Oscar filed a patent for \u201cModeling Healthcare Costs\u201d that showed preliminary views of the company\u2019s user interface and experience. Again, this demonstrated its focus on simplicity, but also on price transparency. An oft-cited complaint against health insurers are their confusing statements, with murky information around reimbursements and payouts. Oscar\u2019s UI sought to address that.\n\nOscar Mobile\n\nSince then the company has maintained this focus on the customer experience. In its latest app overhaul, the company emphasized the fact that limiting options actually improves functionality and increases usage.\n\nFrom the beginning, Oscar has highlighted its high-touch services, including telemedicine and \u201cAsk your concierge,\u201d a health insurance advice team. Oscar dedicates a team of 3 concierges and a nurse to each individual to help answer health questions and guide patients through the healthcare system.\n\nThe company sees this high-touch model as a way of gaining a competitive edge, stating 35% of all first-time doctor visits for members go through concierge teams. Oscar aims to be a patient\u2019s first touch point with the healthcare system, as opposed to an afterthought \u2014 and is doubling down on this intiative, as we talk about later.\n\nOne recent addition to the Oscar home page is a step count tracker. Notably, Oscar gives up to $240/year to members that hit step tracking goals, boosting the company\u2019s relationship with clients while simultaneously encouraging them to be more active.\n\nThe tracker also gives members a reason to visit the app more regularly, encouraging user engagement and allowing Oscar to remind its consumers of the insurance brand, even when they\u2019re not seeking healthcare. Oscar claims a third of its total members used the app in September 2017.\n\nOscar announced its step-tracking reimbursement as one of its differentiators in partnership with Misfit Wearables in 2014. Today Oscar tracks steps using an assortment of step-tracking wearables as well as Apple\u2019s built-in step tracker in the iPhone and Google Fit on Android.\n\nOscar has a high satisfaction rate for its app, receiving relatively high ratings, especially compared to competitors. While Oscar has an average app rating above a 4.0 since last August, UnitedHealth and Anthem\u2019s were 1.9 and 1.5, respectively, during that time period.\n\nOscar Onboarding\n\nEven beyond its app, Oscar boasts streamlined processes. Oscar\u2019s online onboarding and price quote tools ask easy-to-answer, straightforward questions:\n\nMy zip code is _______ I\u2019d like to cover _______ (yourself or dependents) I\u2019m ______ years old I make $_________ with __ people in my tax household Tell us about your health and we\u2019ll recommend a plan for you. Your answers will have no impact on rates. (see below)\n\nFollowing the questionnaire, Oscar shows a selection of plans and their details (benefits, rates, etc.). Notably, everything within this onboarding process remains within Oscar\u2019s website, in contrast with several other major insurers \u2014 like Aetna or UnitedHealth \u2014 that outsource parts of this process to third parties like healthinsurance.com and ehealth.\n\nThis idea of bringing everything in-house to fully control the patient experience is a recurring theme in Oscar\u2019s strategic moves.\n\nTrack all the digital health startups in this brief and many more on our platform Startups working on digital health have the potential to change how medical care is practiced and delivered. Look for Digital Health in the Collections tab. Track digital health startups Digital Health 4165 items\n\nOscar\u2019s Vertical Integration with Hospitals and Internalization of Functions\n\n\n\nWhen Oscar began, it focused on the exchanges and geographic expansion, moving to multiple counties in New York, New Jersey, Texas, and California within two years. In order to do this, the company outsourced many back-office functions, including claims processing, and also turned to companies like MagnaCare for their networks of hospitals and providers rather than developing its own.\n\nThis turned out to be a more expensive strategy, and additionally made the customer experience worse, since Oscar had to rely on the legacy processes of third parties.\n\nIn the last couple of years, Oscar has spent a considerable amount of resources to instead create its own tools, networks, and primary care channels. This is actually outlined as part of the company\u2019s 2012 internal deck, which discussed starting Oscar with a focus on the user interface and slowly expanding down the \u201chealthcare stack,\u201d incorporating wellness programs and later its own provider network.\n\nClaims processing\n\nOne of the functions Oscar is bringing in-house is claims processing. Most health insurers outsource large parts of their claims and process them in batches, and Oscar did too in its early days. Now, to improve the customer experience, Oscar wants to handle claims in real-time.\n\nThe company\u2019s goals for this system are stated below (taken from their blog):\n\nReduce errors\n\nBetter monitoring of data to ensure up-to-date information\n\nEliminate denied or delayed claims\n\nTighter fraud and abuse monitoring to prevent unnecessary bills for members\n\nIn its first few years of operation, Oscar received many complaints due to unexpectedly high bills and out-of-network surprises. Oscar\u2019s new claims system seems geared to making sure members are not caught off-guard with bills, reduce billing errors that might cause sticker shock and resolving billing issues quickly.\n\nThe new claims system is also supposed to send information about patients in real-time, keep provider information up-to-date, and speed up authorizations. Considering some prior authorizations could take weeks, speeding up this process is necessary if one of Oscar\u2019s key differentiators is to excel in user experience.\n\nThe company plans to roll out this new system in 2018.\n\nHospital Networks\n\nThe Affordable Care Act introduced a marketplace for insurance companies to sell plans directly to individuals. This provided a great opportunity for Oscar to instantly get in front of a significant number of individuals who were supposed to flock to the exchanges.\n\nSince Oscar was only two years old at the time, it had to rent out a network of hospitals from provider network MagnaCare to be operational by the time the exchanges opened. This cost Oscar a 30% upcharge to use.\n\nIn 2016 the company announced it would be halving its network (when its MagnaCare contract expired), as it doubled down on the \u201cnarrow networks\u201d model of providing patients with fewer choices, in exchange for a better experience and usually lower prices. This is also an extension of Oscar\u2019s \u201csimplicity\u201d theme, i.e. less choices means a better experience.\n\nThe news of Oscar\u2019s network shrinking was followed by its decision to pull out of the Dallas and New Jersey exchanges due to profitability concerns, leading to a surge of press scrutiny on whether Oscar was failing at its mission. We captured this increased media attention using our Trends tool, which mines millions of media articles to track tech and innovation trends. (More recent upticks have primarily been associated with major news around the Trump administration and ACA.)\n\nAs Oscar continues to expand into new geographies, building hospital networks (and avoiding the MagnaCare upcharge) is challenging. The company is striking some partnerships to do this.\n\nSmall group insurance for employers is a new product Oscar rolled out this year \u2014 allowing Oscar to diversify its product offering beyond just the individual exchanges. This has been the focal point for its advertising campaign in New York.\n\nAnother example is in Tennessee, where Oscar is partnering with Humana to offer small group insurance as a 50-50 partnership.\n\nThrough the Tennessee partnership, Oscar gets access to Humana\u2019s network in the area, a method for the company to quickly enter a state without paying a premium to rent a network. Humana receives Oscar\u2019s customer-facing support systems and can outsource the operations for small group insurance to Oscar.\n\nIn Ohio, Oscar is doing something analogous by partnering with the Cleveland Clinic and selling a co-branded individual plan on the exchanges in 2018.\n\nOscar offers the Cleveland Clinic its customer engagement platform, insurance expertise, and technology stack, and in turn receives the Cleveland Clinic\u2019s brand and network of physicians. As more providers sponsor their own health plans, Oscar can act as an \u201cinsurance-as-a-service\u201d provider, offering these tools to health systems.\n\nThere are several open questions about whether these partnerships will be successful, including:\n\nHow easily will Oscar be able to integrate into the Cleveland Clinic? Can it do this scalably with other health systems?\n\nMany provider-sponsored plans burn money due to higher-than-expected claims costs and difficulties in population health management. How can Oscar\u2019s tools remedy this?\n\nConsidering Oscar/Cleveland Clinic is one of the last plans to launch on the individual exchange in Ohio, what kind of population can be expected to sign up (i.e., will they be left with the least desirable patient pool)?\n\nHow willing are customers to stay exclusive to the Cleveland Clinic\u2019s network?\n\nThis experiment could dictate how Oscar partners with providers going forward.\n\nTelemedicine And Primary Care\n\nWhile Oscar works with hospital networks, the reality is that the company wants to keep people out of the hospital completely. This is one of the reasons Oscar places its telemedicine functionality in the front of the app, claiming 23% of its members use the feature. Virtual care is also one of Oscar\u2019s high priorities in terms of hiring, (which we\u2019ll examine further in the jobs analysis below).\n\nOscar is also moving into brick-and-mortar primary care itself through opening the Oscar Center in conjunction with the Mount Sinai Health System. The center made its debut in Brooklyn in 2016, and is available to Oscar\u2019s New York members.\n\nThe center has comprehensive primary care and basic mental health services and helps members who need to manage complex conditions. The facility also blurs the line between health and wellness, offering yoga, prenatal classes, and more. The company claims that 98.6% members who use the Oscar Center would recommend it.\n\nThis expansion into primary care rides two distinct trends:\n\nThe first is the trend toward tech-enabled primary care clinic networks, as evidenced by the financing of companies like One Medical, Forward, and Iora Health, among others. However, while these companies monetize through a subscription, Oscar would presumably monetize its offering by keeping its patients healthier.\n\nThe second involves companies moving to become more vertically integrated to provide their own healthcare services. Instead of needing to negotiate with each primary care clinic it partners with, Oscar can have better control of pricing by building its own. It can also build the clinics with tech that immediately integrates with its systems.\n\nWith Oscar bringing more of these functions and networks in-house, the company expects to contain its costs more effectively. As Mario Schlosser, CEO of Oscar, has claimed:\n\n\u201cIn 2017, I feel for the first time that all of these pieces are in place in a way that you will see it flow through to the financial results as well.\u201d\n\nOscar by the Numbers \u2014 Money & Membership\n\nOscar\u2019s enrollment increased dramatically in its first 3 years, from fewer than 20,000 in the first year of enrollment to more than 8X that size two years later, as it expanded into more states and exchanges. However, in 2016 Oscar announced it was pulling out of New Jersey and Dallas, leading to a drop in total enrollment.\n\nFor 2018, the company has announced its entrance into new states (Tennessee, Ohio), a return to old states like New Jersey, and expansion for both its product offerings and geographic reach within other states like New York, California, and Texas \u2014 suggesting that Oscar\u2019s enrollment numbers will increase in 2018.\n\nHowever, Oscar\u2019s enrollment is still extremely small compared to established players like UnitedHealth and Anthem, which have 47M+ and 33M+ medical enrollees respectively (which doesn\u2019t even include their dental, Medicare, and other plans).\n\nAlongside this geographic expansion, revenue has seen a similar trend, with a 238% revenue spike between 2015 and 2016. However, after Oscar pulled out of several markets, 2017 has been off to a much slower start, with just $72.8M in revenue across three markets in Q1\u201917.\n\nOscar\u2019s losses have also mounted, topping more than $200M in 2016. This could in part be due to the cost of building out networks in new states, marketing, and high upfront costs associated with building tools Oscar used to outsource (such as claims processing).\n\nLooking at Oscar\u2019s expense reports for New York, California, and Texas, it\u2019s clear that hospital costs and services eat up most of Oscar\u2019s revenue. However, Oscar\u2019s hospital costs have decreased by more than 43% between Q1\u201916 and Q1\u201917, which could be due to a combination of slashing the size of its provider network, dropping the number of enrollees generally, and also building its own network as opposed to renting one from MagnaCare, which included the 30% upcharge as stated above.\n\nIt\u2019s also worth noting Oscar\u2019s comparatively high expenditure on administrative costs. As a point of comparison, Health Insurance Plan of Greater New York spends about 9% of revenue on administrative costs and CareConnects spends approximately 16%. Oscar spent more than half of its revenue on administrative costs in Q1\u201916, though it dropped closer to 40% in Q1\u201917. Part of this large expenditure could be the cost of building out its own internal systems like a claims processor, while part of it could be Oscar\u2019s focus on customer service which uses a higher touch system, such as its concierge teams.\n\nOscar appears to be getting control of its finances, with losses representing a small percentage of revenue in 2017. However, the company will have to raise a considerable amount of money going forward, with the company likely coming close to the end of its current runway.\n\nSo far, Oscar has raised more than $727M in disclosed funding since 2013, with its most recent $400M round raising at a $2.7B valuation. The company raised its Series C about 20 months ago, and will likely raise again as the numbers come in from next year\u2019s enrollment period when people sign up for health insurance plans.\n\nThe company demonstrates the capital-intensive nature of starting a new insurance business. Its first round of institutional financing back in 2013 was for $40M, followed by $30M a year later as the company began rolling out its plans.\n\nWill Oscar find investors to pony up the required capital for expansion? Brian Singerman of Founders Fund (one of Oscar\u2019s big investors) talked about how optimistic he was for the company\u2019s future and cash position. But will enough other investors feel similarly?", "output": "Health insurance start-up Oscar is looking to offer more policies to group plans through employers as it fears the marketplace for individual policies may be disrupted by changes to US health coverage policies. The firm is also increasing how closely it works with hospitals, a move that in the past has enabled it to keep costs down. Under the Affordable Care Act, Oscar has been able to offer its policies to individuals via government-supported exchanges. However, tweaks to legislation by the current administration may soon change how the firm is able to sell policies.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hood Group, Neos form insurtech partnership \n Broker to provide administration services for Neos' smart home insurance proposition. Smart home insurance provider Neos has partnered with data and technology driven broker Hood Group. According to Neos, Hood Group will provide administration services supporting the Neos smart home insurance proposition, including sales support and customer services such as customer helpline, policy fulfilment, mid-term adjustments and renewals. Earlier this year the start-up managing general agent (MGA) launched a proposition which it said generates a home insurance quote in under 30 seconds\n\nOnly users who have a paid subscription or are part of a corporate subscription are able to print or copy content. To access these options, along with all other subscription benefits, please contact info@insuranceage.co.uk. You are currently unable to print this content. Please contact info@insuranceage.co.uk to find out more. You are currently unable to copy this content. Please contact info@insuranceage.co.uk to find out more.\n\nCopyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved. You may share this content using our article tools. Printing this content is for the sole use of the Authorised User (named subscriber), as outlined in our terms and conditions - https://www.infopro-insight.com/terms-conditions/insight-subscriptions/ If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@insuranceage.co.uk", "output": "Smart home-managing insurance company Neos has joined forces with brokering start-up Hood Group, in a deal which will see the latter firm provide administrative services to the former. As well as providing coverage, Neos also uses home monitoring to help homeowners avoid damage and security breaches to their properties. Policyholders can have information delivered to their smartphones, helping to prevent incidents like fires, leaks and burglaries.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SEC makes\u00a0use of data analysis for fraud detection \n A new Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement initiative will target retail investor harm that occurs when clients work with investment advisers, an SEC official said on Thursday.\n\nStephanie Avakian, co-director of the SEC Division of Enforcement, said that the agency\u2019s retail strategy task force will use data analytics to find widespread problems involving inadequate fee disclosure and unsuitable product recommendations. It will parse data about products, types of fees and investors, advisory office locations and sales practices. In addition to market data, it will draw on the thousands of tips, complaints and referrals that come into the SEC as well as findings from adviser examinations.\n\n\u201cThe goal of the task force is to find the problems [and] think creatively about potential solutions,\u201d Ms. Avakian said at the Securities Enforcement Forum in Washington.\n\nEstablished in late September, the retail task force won\u2019t pursue cases itself but will advise its enforcement colleagues about where to focus their efforts.\n\nMs. Avakian said that areas of increasing concern include the sales of high-fee mutual fund share classes when less expensive share classes are available for the same fund, lack of transparency in wrap-fee programs, situations where investors hold inverse exchange-traded funds for the long term, non-disclosure of fees and churning and excessive trading.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll look to [the task force] to consider these issues broadly, to look for opportunities to send effective messages in a way that maximizes our efficiency and preserves our resources,\u201d Ms. Avakian said.\n\nIt\u2019s too early to tell when the first cases arising from the task force\u2019s work will emerge, she said in an interview on the sidelines of the conference. The group is still hiring its staff. But it intends to swing into action quickly.\n\n\u201cI would expect investigations to start in fairly short order,\u201d she said.\n\nIn speeches and appearances on Capitol Hill, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton has said that he is surprised about the amount of retail investor fraud that continues to occur and that cracking down on it is one of his priorities.\n\nMs. Avakian said that emphasizing retail enforcement won\u2019t detract from the SEC\u2019s efforts on other kinds of financial fraud or \u201cpolicing Wall Street.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe premise that there is a tradeoff between Wall Street and Main Street enforcement is a false one,\u201d she said.\n\nAt the same time that the SEC established the retail task force, it also launched a cyber unit that will target online threats to investors and financial firms.", "output": "The US Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC)\u00a0retail strategy task force is using data analysis to identify cases where retail investors have been defrauded by advisers. The task force won't be doing the casework, but will pass on pertinent information to enforcement personnel and advise as to the best course of action. The force will look to uncover unsuitable product recommendations and fee disclosures through data analysis, while also poring over tips and complaints submitted to the SEC's website.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "House building robots set to disrupt construction sector \n In Sweden, they build homes in factories with workers using sophisticated tools, and now RANDEK is adding robots.\n\nThere are many, including this TreeHugger, who think that wood is the best material for building; when sustainably harvested it is a renewable resource that stores carbon for the life of the building. Most of the attention these days is paid to Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT), the sexy plywood on steroids; other mass timber products like Nail Laminated and Dowel Laminated timbers are also hot.\n\nBut these technologies use a LOT of wood, far more than is actually needed for structural reasons. For many low and mid rise applications it\u2019s overkill. In many ways, wood framing with dimension lumber makes more sense;\n\nthe walls are lighter;\n\nthe insulation is in the wall rather than outside, so the assemblies can be thinner;\n\nit is far more efficient in its use of materials- the wood goes a lot farther.\n\nWe have previously shown how they do it in Sweden, where companies like Lindb\u00e4cks Group use precision tools like those made by RANDEK to crank out wall panels for their flat-packed multiple family buildings, or in Canada where Great Gulf H+me Technology is building houses; In the States, Unity Homes, Ecocor and Katerra are doing it;\n\nHere come the robots\n\nThe video above shows how it works for H+me Technology (Formerly Brockport) in Milton, Ontario, just west of Toronto. It\u2019s pretty automated but you still see a lot of people running around placing 2x6s in jigs. But maybe not for long; RANDEK has just launched its ZeroLabor Robotic System, which they describe as:", "output": "Swedish manufacturer RANDEK has launched the ZeroLabor Robotic System, an automatic production system which can create wooden walls, roofs and floors for building houses according to customer requirements. The system\u00a0creates the components,\u00a0checks them for defects and even\u00a0recycles its own waste. ZeroLabor is considerably more accurate, faster and less wasteful than its more human-reliant counterparts in the industry, leading to speculation that it, and automated systems like it, could soon become the industry norm.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lisk adds four developers to team \n JavaScript is currently the most popular programming language in the world, yet when you think of blockchain development, it is typically not the first language that comes to mind. The reasoning behind this may partially be due to JavaScript often being thought of as a front-end technology, even with the continued development and use of Node.js. This misconception may lead developers to utilize other languages that they may be less familiar with and even less suitable for their blockchain applications than JavaScript.\n\nThe rationale behind this blog post is to provide you with various sources and Web3 tutorials centered around using JavaScript for blockchain. Our goal is that you will be able to utilize them to build your own blockchain application using JavaScript.", "output": "Blockchain application platform Lisk has added four people to its team: Yashar Ayari, Gina Contrino, Juan Gonz\u00e1lez and Nazar Hussein. Ayari has joined the Berlin team as front end engineer, with Contrino appointed as front end developer. Gonz\u00e1lez will be a devops engineer, and Hussain will take a position as a backend developer. Lisk has been working on expanding its online marketing activities with digital marketing agency Expand Online, and plans to rebrand Lisk in the near future. It has also recently released the latest version of its Lisk Nano wallet.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AMD sees demand for crypto-mining hardware fall \n AMD tells that the price for its video chips, increased due to a sudden emergence of mining community, is now stabilizing, which might indicate the downfall of mining rush we have lately seen. As the CEO of the popular hardware company says, \u201cwe\u2019re also predicting that there will be some leveling-off of some of the cryptocurrency demand\u201d.\n\nThe decrease of cryptocurrency cards demand might come from the fact that the hype caused by a long-term bullish trend is fading. Another possible reason: most market players who wanted to establish mining rigs have already done so in previous quarters.\n\nThe company also noted the interest in Vega 56 and Vega 64, powerful video cards handy for mining. Strong sales of Radeon chips and Ryzen processors also indicate the demand for these components in the mining community.", "output": "Processor provider AMD has said the price of its video chips, such as its Vega 56 and Vega 64 models, has stabilised after a sudden spike due to cryptocurrency mining. Its Radeon chips and Ryzen processors were also bolstered by demand from miners. The CEO of the California company, Lisa\u00a0Su, has said that the company predicts a \u201clevelling\u00a0off\u00a0of some of the cryptocurrency demand\u201d\u00a0as entry into the crypto-mining industry becomes more expensive.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TripAdvisor lets restaurants reach customers via sponsored ads \n TripAdvisor has launched an ad product that enables restaurant owners to promote their business to diners through sponsored placements on the travel and restaurant reviews site.\n\nThrough TripAdvisor Ads for restaurants, owners are able to buy targeted ad slots \u2013 which send customers directly to their restaurant listing \u2013 on desktop and mobile web. The ads target people who are actively searching in a specified area, as well as people based on their advanced search queries, such as average meal price, cuisine type, and timing of meals.\n\n\u201cWe want to provide restaurant owners with the best possible suite of products and solutions to entice and convert potential diners into loyal customers,\u201d said Bertrand Jelensperger, SVP of TripAdvisor Restaurants. \u201cNow with TripAdvisor Ads, we are providing them with another way to increase their visibility through targeted sponsored placements.\n\n\u201cWhether you operate a Michelin star fine-dining restaurant or a popular neighbourhood deli, this solution ensures that your restaurant\u2019s ad will be displayed to relevant diners at the optimal moment. Supported by more than 28 languages, both travellers and locals browsing TripAdvisor can be sure they are always able to find the perfect restaurant, whether at home or on-the-go.\u201d\n\nTripAdvisor Ads for restaurants work on a cost-per-click basis. Therefore, restaurant owners only need to set a monthly spending limit before activating their ad, and are only charged at the end of each month based on the number of clicks they received on the ad up to their maximum budget.\n\nJoin us at the 2017 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony, taking place in London on Thursday 16 November, to mix with the industry's best and brightest, and raise a glass to the year's best campaigns and solutions. To find out more, and to book your place, click here.", "output": "TripAdvisor is enabling restaurant owners to advertise their businesses to potential customers through sponsored ads on the site through a new product, TripAdvisor Ads. The feature sends customers directly from ads to the restaurants' TripAdvisor pages, and will deliver ads to users searching in specific areas, as well as those looking for average meal prices, specific cuisine and booking times. The ads will be offered on a cost-per-click basis with a monthly spending limit, with owners charged at the end of the month based on click rate.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hacks spur blockchain firms to seek decentralised data storage \n In light of the recent Equifax hack, exposing over 143 million Americans confidential information, one must ask, can we really trust these giant corporations with our most sensitive data? Equifax is just another number on the list of companies that have failed to keep their customer\u2019s data safe. In July 2017, Verizon had a data breach and lost 14 million customers information.\n\nThe list goes on for 2017, going to show that storing data in a central location is very susceptible to being breached. The Verizon breach is a classic example of a company outsourcing data to storage providers, this one in Israel called Nice Systems. Nice Systems is a very reputable company, that boasts more that 25,000 customers in 150 different countries, but still they weren\u2019t able to prevent a breach. The data accessed was the customers name, customer phone number, and PIN associated with the account; enough information to access a persons Verizon account. With this information, a user could take over a customers phone including social media and email accounts.\n\nCentralized storage has the issue of single point of failure, that point being where the data is stored at the facility. Along with that, companies like Amazon Web Services (AWS) have been known to abuse customers or rival companies data. Deep Roots Analytics was using an AWS server and due to a configuration error there was no protected access, so all someone had to do breach the sensitive information of 198 million Americans was navigate the six-character Amazon sub-domain. And that\u2019s exactly what happened, exposing very sensitive information to the web and now there is a class action lawsuit against Deep Roots Analytics.\n\nBig Data\n\nFor the short lifetime of the World Wide Web, corporate giants (Facebook, Google, etc.) have controlled a majority of the data and made a very handsome profit off our data.\n\nWe are going to create more data in 2017, than every year previous in human history. Data is everything now, whether it\u2019s your smartphone counting the number of steps you took today or your car\u2019s computer checking the engine or brake pads and analyzing data to suggest when maintenance is needed. A self-driving car can generate up to 1-gigabyte second, which after about three minutes is more data than the largest storage option on the iPhone currently, 256 GBs.\n\nCurrently, AWS, known as S3 (Simple Storage Service) is the main front runner in the cloud, with Dropbox, Google Drive, IBM, and Microsoft\u2019s Azure behind them competing for their share of the market, which continues to grow.\n\nThese companies all charge a premium for storage in comparison to what the decentralized cloud options offer.\n\nDecentralized Cloud\n\nThere are four decentralized cloud platforms: Filecoin, MaidSafe, Siacoin, and Storj. The idea behind these four is to rent out unused harddrive space around the world, which there is a lot of. Think about the desktop you have at home, you could turn it into a revenue-generating asset.\n\nSharing economy is the future. Market participants will drive market price via supply and demand for storage instead of arbitrary prices set by centralized cloud providers like S3, IBM, etc.\n\nThe advantage these provide is the redundancy across multiple nodes. Redundancy in data is simply extra copies of it stored or pieces of the copy stored in case of error in storing or transmission of data, as to prevent loss or partial loss of files.\n\nSecurity and privacy of your files are better on decentralized network. Your files are broken apart and spread across multiple nodes. So even if a node wants to look at your file, it\u2019s encrypted with a private key that only the file owner has. Along with the fact that it is only a partial file, meaning that it doesn\u2019t matter if the host even gets into your file, it\u2019s a fraction of its original self.\n\nAnother advantage decentralized storage offers is close proximity to the server, which means your data will be accessible quickly whether it is the website that is stored on it or simply files you are trying to recover.\n\nCentralized storage units have to set up new facilities which are costly and take time and staff to maintain them. On top of that, you\u2019ll never get the proximity to servers that a decentralized storage can offer as anyone who has a harddrive with free space can offer storage.\n\nRecently human error caused US-East 1 of Amazon S3 to go down, leading to websites and services like Business Insider, Medium, Giphy, and others impacted. Simply due to an incorrect piece of code typed in, thus a larger set of servers were removed; the servers were down for around 4 and half hours.\n\nThese coins are similar for the most part, but there are key differences.\n\nFilecoin\n\nFilecoin made headlines recently when it raised $257 million in it\u2019s Initial Coin Offering (ICO) this August, the largest amount raised by an ICO to date. Filecoin was initially going to be open to U.S. investors, but due to a SEC statement that The DAO\u2019s tokens may be considered securities, Filecoin postponed their ICO and left it open to accredited investors in the U.S. For those unaware, an accredited investor is a person who has an annual income of more than $200,000 or a net worth over $1 million.\n\nThese actions left many people out of their ICO and it shows for their community as well. They have 1,374 subscribers on their Reddit page, but the posts are very infrequent and lucky to have one post a day. This is generally frowned upon in the crypto community, when a coin lacks a community itself, never a good sign.\n\nFilecoin is apart of Protocol Labs, which is the parent company to the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS). Protocol Labs mission statement says:\n\nWe believe the internet has become humanity\u2019s most important technology. We build protocols, systems, and tools to improve how it works. Today, we are focused on how we store, locate, and move information.\n\nIFPS looks to replace HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol, that thing not many people understand but see in their search bar every day) to make a better and more efficient web. It liberates data from silos, survives network partitions, works offline, routes around censorship, and gives permanence to digital information. The reason I include IFPS is that it can work together via Filecoin providing the backbone storage layer for the IFPS if the product(s) come to fruition.\n\nProtocol Labs has other three other projects under them too: LibP2P, ILPD, and Multiformat.\n\nFilecoin offers a novel Proof-of-Storage:\n\nProof-of-Replication, allows storage providers to prove that data has been replicated to its own uniquely dedicated physical storage. Enforcing unique physical copies enables a verifier to check that a prover is not deduplicating multiple copies of the data into the same storage space\n\nProof-of-Spacetime, where blocks are created by miners who are storing data, which doesn\u2019t require the computation power of Proof-of-Work (PoW). Filecoin protocol provides a data storage and retrieval service via a network of independent storage providers that does not rely on a single coordinator, where: (1) clients pay to store and retrieve data, (2) Storage Miners earn tokens by offering storage (3) Retrieval Miners earn tokens by serving data.\n\nThe following are the intuitions on how the Filecoin DSN (Decentralized Storage Network) achieves integrity, retrievability, public verifiability, and incentive-compatibility. This is from their whitepaper:\n\nAchieving Integrity: Pieces are named after their cryptographic hash. After a Put request, clients only need to store this hash to retrieve the data via Get and to verify the integrity of the content received.\n\nAchieving Retrievability: In a Put request, clients specify the replication factor and the type of erasure coding desired, specifying in this way the storage to be (f;m)-tolerant. The assumption is that given m Storage Miners storing the data, a maximum of f faults are tolerated. By storing data in more than one Storage Miner, a client can increase the chances of recovery, in case Storage Miners go offline or disappear.\n\nAchieving Public Verifiability and Auditability: Storage Miners are required to submit their proofs of storage to the blockchain. Any user in the network can verify the validity of these proofs, without having access to the outsourced data. Since the proofs are stored on the blockchain, they are a trace of operation that can be audited at any time.\n\nAchieving Incentive Compatibility: Informally, miners are rewarded for the storage they are providing. When miners commit to store some data, then they are required to generate proofs. Miners that skip proofs are penalized (by losing part of their collateral) and not rewarded for their storage.\n\nAchieving Confidentiality: Clients that desire for their data to be stored privately, must encrypt their data before submitting them to the network.\n\nHosts storing data must verify that they have the data they are supposed to be storing otherwise they will be penalized. A noted downside is that clients must encrypt their data if they desire it be stored privately.\n\nYou can currently join Filecoin\u2019s \u201cEarly Mining Program\u201d on their website where you fill out a form and wait to hear back for access to the program.\n\nSo far, Filecoin is yet to release a product, which puts it in last place in my opinion behind Storj, Sia, and MaidSafe who all offer a working platform where you can mine, host and store data currently.\n\nMaidSafe\n\nMassive Array of Internet Disks \u2013 Secure Access For Everyone or also known as MaidSafe. Maidsafe\u2019s goal is to be the world\u2019s first Autonomous Data Network via blockchain based storage solutions that store a data identifier (e.g. hash) in a blockchain, but store the data \u2018somewhere else\u2019 do not improve the security of our data. That \u2018somewhere else\u2019 still needs to be secured, and if this data can be deleted, or our access denied these \u2018solutions\u2019 are not fit for purpose. The SAFE Network removes people from the management of our information to protect the world\u2019s data.\n\nWhat is SAFE?\n\nSAFE is simply an Autonomous network, that keeps out human interference and alteration to protect the network from abuse. Here is a summary of the safe network from David Irvine, CEO of MaidSafe:\n\n\u201cSAFE at it\u2019s core is an \u201cAutonomous Network\u201c, not a set of federated servers, or owned storage locations, or identifiable nodes, but actually an autonomous network. This means no human intervention, no humans setting prices, no altering configurations to make things work, no tweaking data on disk, no altering rules of the nodes, absolutely no human intervention apart from running a piece of self configuring, self healing software. The network decides prices, rewards and how to protect data, communications and calculations, not any human!\u201d\n\nMaidsafe currently runs off the Proof of Resource (PoR) algorithm. PoR on the Safe Network is similar to Zero Knowledge proofs, where in the farmer/miner doesn\u2019t know the content on any data, but instead knows that the data is held and that it is held accurately.\n\nNodes that are either unreliable or are trying to game the network, by removing the previously provided resource, they are \u2018deranked\u2019 by the network if the node is unable to serve a chunk of data. A node, in this case, would be a farmer who is supposed to validate data.\n\nProject Decorum\n\nThe Safe Network also has another project under it called Project Decorum, which the name decorum is originally derived from the original concept of DECentralized fORUM. Soon after starting this project they realized this project had more potential to extend across not just forums, but all social networks. As stated on their website, Decorum\u2019s goal is to realize a decentralized social platform, fit for all kinds of digital social activity.\n\nYou can test out Project Decorum at the moment, they explicitly state to expect bugs and that it\u2019s a \u2018quick & dirty\u2019 version and does not represent the future of Project Decorum.\n\nHere is a quote from Project Decorum:\n\nLimitations and known issues\n\nThe SAFE Network currently lacks a proper API for dynamic data. As a temporary workaround, the Proof of Concept makes unintended use of the SAFE Network DNS system. This means that a new public ID is registered for your account for every new post you make. A known issue with this approach is that after many posts (well over a hundred), the SAFE Launcher may bug out, preventing further activity with that account. Since the data for the current test net will be wiped, this is not a big problem, but be aware nonetheless.\n\nMaidsafe Community\n\nMaidsafe\u2019s Reddit isn\u2019t too active, but I joined their Slack channel which was quite active. One thing I noted about their slack channel was they made people state why they were joining and then had to be approved by a moderator beforehand. I liked this since many Slack channels are plagued with scammers trying to get naive investors to send them Ethereum.\n\nStorj\n\nStorj, formerly known as Storjcoin X (SJCX), is a project that made a key partnership recently. That partnership was with Filezilla, the FTP (File Transfer Protocol) storage client that allows people to access files online. This gives the 15 million users of Filezilla the option to use Storj as there option to store their files.\n\nThere is a caveat though since this is run through Filezilla, it means users won\u2019t have to pay using Storj token. This means the Storj token won\u2019t be necessary for the platform, which takes the utility away from the token itself. Though Storj has a nice incentive offering 25GB of free storage and bandwidth per month for new users who sign up with the platform.\n\nStorj recently struck a deal with Cap Linked for storage; Cap Linked is an enterprise storage platform. Very promising news to see for Storj and decentralized storage in general. People are noting the future here.\n\nStorj Labs service takes data as inputs and splits it up into multiple pieces distributing it across a peer-to-peer network of nodes. And because each part is privately encrypted, only the right key can unlock the files in full.\n\nCap Link is one of many enterprise storage offering cloud storage like Google, Dropbox, Microsoft, and more, except Cap Link is trying to set themselves apart by utilizing the decentralized storage; offering cheaper data storage than any other option currently.\n\nThough it is unknown at the moment if users using CapLinked for storage will be utilizing the Storj token itself. I assume it will be the same case as with Filezilla where it wasn\u2019t necessary to utilize the Storj token for data storage. This is important to note, as the utility in the token is not necessary for the platform itself, thus making the token more or less a security of the Storj company than a token utilized among their ecosystem.\n\nStorj runs off Proof of Retrievability guarantee the existence of a certain piece of data on a remote host.\n\nBelow is a comparison of Storj pricing per gigabyte (GB)/month versus current centralized storage providers. As you can see, Storj cut\u2019s your price in half if you are using Microsoft Azure and saves you 35% if you switch from AWS S3.\n\nHere is a statement from F.A.Q. section on what Storj Labs is and differs from Storj:\n\nOur corporate entity Storj Labs aims to bring decentralized cloud storage to the average business and consumer. With constant data breaches and high costs, users are becoming more aware that the current model of cloud storage is broken. Storj Labs provides DaaS (Data-as-a-Service), as well as help building tools and APIs for customers to be able to interface with this new cloud storage model.\n\nStorj is the cloud platform itself, allowing decentralized apps to be built upon it, including an image viewer, .txt and .pdf viewer, a music player, and a video service. They are going for the whole pie, being the backbone layer of the internet, how AWS S3 is currently, hosting websites, and all their content.\n\nOne notable issue Storj went through was a leadership and management change in May and then another one in July. The Storj team blog said it was from startup pains, which caused the initial change in May, as Shawn Wilkinson the CEO stepped down from that position to CTO, to focus on the code base and working the community on the open source code.\n\nIn July the change was different, James Prestwich stepped down from his role as COO and CFO to pursue other opportunities. Shawn Wilkinson also transitioned to Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) to work on the companies strategy and vision. This left the Storj board to assume role as the CEO until a new CEO was put in place.\n\nStorj Community\n\nStorj\u2019s reddit has 3,884 readers, though it is very active, with posts daily and community members responding to questions you ask. The Storj team is also active on their blog, keeping the community up to date with what the project is doing. Storj\u2019s team does a very good job being transparent with their community, a big \u2018plus\u2019. This was shown throughout their management changes that happened between May and July.\n\nSiacoin\n\nI\u2019m biased towards Siacoin, deal with it.\n\nSiacoin has one goal, to be the backbone storage layer of the internet. Sia was conceived at HackMIT in 2013, with the idea of liberating unused storage space of the world and unite it into worldwide free market for data. Nebulous Labs is the parent company to Siacoin and is Venture Capital funded startup located in Boston, Massachusetts.\n\nSia offers complete privacy, by breaking up files into pieces, encrypting them, and distributing them across nodes. Since you hold your key, you own your data. No outside company or party can access or control your files, unlike traditional cloud storage providers. Siacoin has very high redundancy, as it stores your files across multiple nodes around the globe. And to recover a file you only need four of the forty pieces that are spread across the nodes.\n\nThe Sia team has been very transparent with its community throughout the whole process. A great example was when Sia announced they were building ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) Miners for mining Siacoin to help secure the network. The reasoning behind this was to protect the network from a 51% attack, which is where a miner or pool of miners take control of the hash rate and can control what transactions are put through or denied. Also, they could reverse transactions, allowing them to double-spend coins.\n\nThis announcement caused many angry Reddit members to come out against Sia, but that wasn\u2019t for long as David Vorick (Sia CEO) wrote an in depth Reddit post explaining why they went ahead with the ASIC miner. I highly suggest you read that Reddit post, it really shows their commitment to the longevity of the project.\n\nThe ASIC miner is called Obelisk, which is being worked on by a team separate of the Sia team, as to let them focus on the Sia platform. Currently there have been 1,960 ASIC miners sold at a price of $2,400 per unit. Obelisk has 100x the power of a GPU, allowing owners of them to secure the Sia network.\n\nSia crushes centralized storage providers when it comes to storage costs and download bandwidth costs. It\u2019s not even in the same ballpark, Sia reduces costs by over 90%.\n\nSiacoin has a caveat, which is for the better, it requires the use of the token to store data; thus giving the token utility. This is so the smart contract can be completed, and it ensures that the host followed through with the contract so the customer can access the data they store on it. If a host doesn\u2019t follow through with the contract they are not paid, and the payment is not received until the contract is complete.\n\nPeople tend to complain that Siacoin has too high of a supply of tokens, so it\u2019s price is hard to move. That\u2019s why many in the cryptocurrency avoid it as investment, but if you see what they are trying to accomplish, being the backbone layer of the internet, you can see the light at the end of tunnel. As I stated earlier we are storing more data in 2017, than every year previous in human history combined.\n\nSiafunds\n\nSiafunds is a second cryptocurrency to Siacoin. There are only 10,000 Siafunds and all of them are premined. Nebulous inc. currently holds 8,835 of them, the remaining were sold in a crowdfund to finance Sia\u2019s development.\n\n3.9% of all successful contracts get paid out to holders of Siafunds. If you can get your hands on one, I highly suggest you buy one. They are currently sold on Bitsquare, and their price is going for 2.37 BTC. They were originally priced around $10,000, but with Bitcoins recent run from around $4,000 to $5,800, they are not as cheap now. I assume the people who listed their Siafunds haven\u2019t changed their BTC price to reflect the change in BTC to USD.\n\nHere is a guide on how to purchase Siafunds.\n\nSia Community\n\nSia has a very active community, you can check out their Reddit or Discord, where there is frequent work on Sia by community members. This is something that sets Sia apart from the other decentralized storage providers, their strong community, which comes from their team which is very transparent and focused on being the backbone storage layer of the internet.\n\nSia Stats is a great example of community participation. A community member put this together for Sia, so you can check storage prices, active contracts, transactions, and more.\n\nFuture of Data\n\nI just gave you the tools, now you just have to open your mind up, and see the future of data storage. It\u2019s a sharing economy, where data is controlled by the original owners, not the corporations or service providers. This is one of the most promising segments of blockchain to come out.\n\nThe change in storage will likely not happen overnight, but in 5 years you will see it being used by everyone. Filecoin, Maidsafe, Storj, and Siacoin are very promising projects and have the ability to all coexist with each other in the future. With the way data storage is heading, the market will be so big, it\u2019s conceivable to see more than one of these providing decentralized cloud storage down the line.\n\nTL;DR Decentralized storage is the future of data storage and a free web.\n\nDisclaimer:\n\nThis author has a stake in Siacoin.\n\nThis is not investment advice, always do your own research. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment based on your own personal circumstances.", "output": "Data breaches in recent months have led blockchain companies to initiate decentralised cloud storage and computing projects to increase cybersecurity. Unlike centralised data storage solutions, which have a single point of failure, decentralised options such as those of MaidSafe,\u00a0Siacoin, Filecoin and Storj rent unused hard-drive space from private\u00a0PCs and servers\u00a0globally in exchange for their respective tokens. Costs are driven by supply and demand,\u00a0rather than arbitrary pricing structures\u00a0set by storage companies, and hardware redundancy is reduced because files are broken into sections, encrypted with private keys and stored across multiple user networks.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Singapore chooses hands-off approach to cryptocurrency regulation \n SINGAPORE (BLOOMBERG) - Singapore doesn't plan to regulate cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, but will remain alert to money laundering and other potential risks stemming from their use, the head of the country's central bank said.\n\n\"As of now I see no basis for wanting to regulate cryptocurrencies,\" Monetary Authority of Singapore managing director Ravi Menon said in an interview with Bloomberg News.\n\nRather, the central bank's focus is to \"look at the activities surrounding the cryptocurrency and asking ourselves what kinds of risks they pose, which risks would require a regulatory response, and then proceed from there,\" Menon added.\n\nBitcoin's rally and the proliferation of other digital assets is attracting the wary eyes of regulators globally, though many central banks have still refrained from supervising cryptocurrencies themselves. China and South Korea have banned initial coin offerings, while Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for regulation of the sector.\n\n\"Very few jurisdictions regulate cryptocurrencies per se. Most have taken the approach that the currency itself does not pose a risk that warrants regulation,\" Menon said in a separate Bloomberg Television interview with Haslinda Amin.\n\nSingapore already requires virtual-currency intermediaries such as exchange operators to comply with requirements to combat money laundering and terrorism financing, Menon noted in the Bloomberg News interview. \"This will be formalised in the coming payment services regulation which we are working on,\" Menon said.", "output": "Singapore has no intention of regulating\u00a0cryptocurrencies, though it will curb money laundering and other risks associated with the assets, Monetary Authority MD Ravi Menon has said.\u00a0The city-state requires virtual currency intermediaries follow money laundering and terrorism financing laws, which are due to be formalised in payment services regulations. Many central banks have decided against cryptocurrency supervision, though China and South Korea have banned initial coin offerings and Russia has called for oversight.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI can pick out one voice among a crowd \n Voiceprints can help make sense of what people in a crowd say Christopher Anderson/Magnum Photos\n\nDevices like Amazon\u2019s Echo and Google Home can usually deal with requests from a lone person, but like us they struggle in situations such as a noisy cocktail party, where several people are speaking at once.\n\nNow an AI that is able to separate the voices of multiple speakers in real time promises to give automatic speech recognition a big boost, and could soon find its way into an elevator near you.\n\nThe technology, developed by researchers at the Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was demonstrated in public for the first time at this month\u2019s Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies show in Tokyo.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIt uses a machine learning technique the team calls \u201cdeep clustering\u201d to identifies unique features in the \u201cvoiceprint\u201d of multiple speakers. It then groups the distinct features from each speaker\u2019s voice together, allowing it to disentangle multiple voices and then reconstruct what each person was saying. \u201cIt was trained using 100 English speakers, but it can separate voices even if a speaker is Japanese,\u201d says Niels Meinke, a spokesperson for Mitsubishi Electric.\n\nMeinke says the system can separate and reconstruct the speech of two people speaking into a single microphone with up to 90 per cent accuracy. If there are three speakers the accuracy dips, but is still up to 80 per cent. In both cases, this was with speakers the system had never encountered before.\n\nRead more: Speech recognition AI identifies you by voice wherever you are\n\nConventional approaches to this problem \u2013 such as using two microphones to replicate the position of a listener\u2019s ears \u2013 have only managed 51 per cent accuracy.\n\nIn overcoming the \u201ccocktail party effect\u201d that has dogged AI research for decades, the new technology could help smart assistants in homes and cars work better. It could also improve automatic speech transcription, and be used to help law enforcement agencies reconstruct recordings of conversations that had been muddied by music, for example.\n\nIn preliminary tests the system was able to separate the voices of up to five people at once. \u201cThe system could be used to separate speech in a range of products including lifts, air-conditioning units and household products,\u201d says Meinke.\n\nIndeed, Mitsubishi is now in the process of building its voice recognition technology into lifts and air-conditioners, among other products.\n\nReference: arxiv.org/abs/1508.04306", "output": "An AI developed in the Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratory can distinguish between multiple speakers in real time. The tech utilises a machine learning technique called \"deep clustering\" to identify the vocal signature of various speakers, allowing it to distinguish multiple voices\u00a0and to reconstruct what was said. The software was trained with 100 English-speaking subjects, but can separate voices speaking in other languages.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Barclays to head off scammers with pre-payment\u00a0pop-up questions \n Barclays Bank customers making 'out-of-character' online funds transfers will first have to answer a battery of questions designed to make them reflect on whether they may be a victim of a scam\n\nThe pro-active fraud reduction effort comes as more and more UK consumers are being duped into sending money to fraudsters posing as legitimate business contacts.\n\n\n\nIn an initiative designed to stop fraudsters in their tracks, Barclays Bank customers will now be asked three fraud prevention questions immediately after making an unusually large or suspicious online payment. If the customer has any doubts about the payment after answering the questions, they are asked to call Barclays immediately using the number on the back of their card.\n\n\n\nThe bank says the questions are designed for customers to have a \u2018stop and think\u2019 moment to consider whether the request they have had to make a payment is genuine.\n\n\n\nTo help spread awareness of common criminal tactics, Barclays is also staging a series of 'Embarrassing Fraud Clinics' across the country where consumers can have a \u2018digital health check\u2019 alongside personalised advice on protecting against potential cyber threats.\n\n\n\nAshok Vaswani, CEO Barclays UK says: \u201cThe Embarrassing Fraud Clinic and our new online fraud intervention service makes up the next phase of our \u00a310 million commitment to helping people stay safe in cyber space, launched earlier this year. With the average British person being targeted 12 time over the last 12 months never has it been more vital for us to lead the fightback against the fraudsters and increase the public\u2019s resilience to cyber-attacks.\"", "output": "Barclays Bank has introduced a new anti-scam service in the UK\u00a0that will send\u00a0three fraud-prevention pop-up questions to owners of accounts involved in seemingly suspicious online fund transfers. The questions are designed to prompt\u00a0customers to stop and think\u00a0before fulfilling requests for money as the bank\u00a0seeks to stop\u00a0people being duped into\u00a0making cash transfers. The bank is also hosting Embarrassing Fraud Clinics\u00a0across the UK to give customers a digital health check\u00a0and personal advice on cyber protection.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WaveX joins ArabianChain for P2P smart contracts \n WaveX, a renewable electricity trading and p2p solar panel financing platform announced today it will be the first UAE-based startup to utilize ArabianChain\u2019s blockchain based smart contracts and development studio. As a startup with a platform established to allow trade of energy between two entities, WaveX aims to increase the share of renewable energy and make energy production environmental friendly.\n\nAdditionally, this platform is also optimized to help utility companies reduce their continuous investment in accelerating their energy production. Through this collaboration with WaveX, ArabianChain endeavors to enable startups across the region to leverage their open source tools and foster innovation in the blockchain domain.\n\nArabianChain Technology is an open source, community-based project with the goal of building a decentralized, consensus-driven, peer to peer, open source, blockchain-based platform for distributed applications. ArabianChain tech will leverage and improve blockchain technology and build a full-featured application platform on top of it.\n\nArabianChain founder and CEO Mohammed Alsehli said:\n\n\u201cAccording to Markets and Markets, the global blockchain market is expected to reach USD 2,312.5 million by 2021. With an ambitious vision spearheaded by the UAE leadership, we believe this strategic partnership with WaveX will be a stepping stone in empowering startups to embrace blockchain and effectively innovate across the region. \u201cAs the field is rapidly evolving, many farsighted startups and organizations in the region are already exploring the potential of blockchain to not only enhance their capabilities but also process transactions and exchange information in an effective, secure and reliable manner. This is central to the UAE Blockchain Vision which aims to encourage paperless transactions, reducing approximately 100 million paper transactions annually.\u201d\n\nBased in the UAE and with operations in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, ArabianChain is a leading Middle Eastern innovator in the blockchain sector. The company enables governments, enterprises, startups and individuals to use blockchain-based tools and languages and build their transactions and contracts on its platform, to record all kinds of transactions.", "output": "Renewable electricity trading and solar panel finance platform WaveX will be the first UAE start-up to use blockchain-based smart contracts from open source provider ArabianChain. The move should increase the amount of energy traded and improve energy production businesses' environmental standards. ArabianChain helps start-ups to better use open source technology and innovate in the blockchain space. The partnership will \"be a stepping stone in empowering start-ups to embrace blockchain\" across the UAE, said ArabianChain founder and CEO Mohammed Alsehli."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Russian group claims Europe first with habitable 3D-printed house \n Oct 24, 2017 | By Benedict\n\nAMT-SPECAVIA, a Moscow-based group of machining and 3D printing companies, says it has built Europe\u2019s first habitable 3D printed house. The residence, located in Yaroslavl and reportedly spanning almost 300 square meters, may also be Europe\u2019s largest 3D printed building.\n\nIt\u2019s been around two years since AMT-SPECAVIA, a group specializing in construction additive manufacturing, started work on a livable 3D printed house in Yaroslavl, Russia. And although \u201clivable house\u201d might sound like a tautology, it was actually a highly ambitious project when you consider the current state of architectural 3D printing.\n\nBecause while 3D printing in the construction industry is a hot talking point right now, even the most advanced companies in the field have struggled to create buildings that are large enough or strong enough to be considered habitable.\n\nMany predict that large, 3D printed apartment blocks will appear sooner rather than later, but at present the landscape is scarce. Just browse through our list of 3D printed buildings and construction projects from last year: many of the designs are spectacular, but many were made purely for show.\n\nAMT-SPECAVIA wanted to do things differently, by building a residential building that not only grabbed some media attention, but which could actually house a local Yaroslavl family once finished.\n\n\u201cIt was important for us to set a precedent\u2014to show in practice that 3D construction technology is working,\u201d commented Alexander Maslov, general director of the AMT-SPECAVIA Group.\n\nToday, the project is indeed finished, with the group installing plumbing, heating, and electricity\u2014ready for the first residents of the 3D printed house.\n\nBut it's obviously more than just an average Russian home. The Moscow 3D printing group claims that its 3D printed building, with a total area of 298.5 square meters, is the largest 3D printed building in Europe, as well as the continent\u2019s only habitable printed residence.\n\nFrom what we know about other 3D printed structures, both of those claims could be true, though many will of course debate what counts as a \u201c3D printed building,\u201d depending on how much of it is 3D printed and how much of it is made using other fabrication techniques. (Earlier today we saw just how impressive a 3D printed floor can be.)\n\nNot every part of the Yaroslavl house is 3D printed, of course, but large internal sections of it are. These 3D printed sandcrete forms were fabricated off-site during a one-month period in 2015.\n\n\u201cWe printed the building in parts (the walls of the house, decorative elements, the tower), took the parts to the construction site, and assembled them as a LEGO kit,\u201d Maslov explained. \u201cSince then, of course, the equipment has been improved: both the speed of printing and the quality. But even our first model proved to be reliable and efficient equipment.\u201d\n\nAMT-SPECAVIA used its own S-6044 construction 3D printer, a machine with a build area of 3.5 x 3.6 x 1 meters, for the house. Easily available M-300 sandcrete was used as the printing material for the large structural sections of the building, with each printed layer measuring 10 mm high and 30 to 50 mm wide.\n\nThe 3D printing group was able to do all its printing over a one-month period thanks to the S-6044\u2019s printing speed of up to 15 square meters per hour.\n\nWith the 3D printed house expected to be fit for habitation by the end of October, Maslov evidently considers the project to have been a success: \u201cTo paraphrase the words of the famous Russian song, we managed to make a fairy tale come true.\u201d\n\nThe SPECAVIA company was founded in 2009, and has been making construction 3D printers since 2015.\n\nPosted in 3D Printing Application\n\nMaybe you also like:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "output": "A consortium of Russian companies has completed what it claims is Europe's first habitable 3D-printed house. The Moscow-based manufacturing group AMT-SPECAVIA, which includes\u00a03D-printing specialists and machining companies, has been working on the construction project for two years. The finished house was built in Yaroslavl and has a total area of 298.5 sq m, with large structural sections 3D-printed from M-300 sandcrete over a period of one month. It has now been connected to utilities and is expected to be ready for habitation at the end of October.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Homebuyers deterred by unsightly, costly-to-maintain\u00a0solar panels \n Home owners looking to put their property on the market to sell often look at what will help them get a good deal but now new research reveals what is likely to have devalued the price of a home.\n\nThe things most likely to devalue a home include solar panels, bold interior design, swimming pools and dingy, dark rooms, according to a new report from the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA)\n\n\u2018The house moving process is stressful, so it\u2019s important to know what adds value to your home and what might detract or put off potential buyers. Sometimes the improvements you have made might not appeal to buyers, so even though you\u2019ve spent money on them, they might not necessarily add any value,\u2019 said Katie Griffin, NAEA president.\n\nThe NAEA says that while solar panels may save money on energy bills in the short term, and they\u2019re environmentally friendly, they might not actually add any value to your home. The report says that the technology ages quickly and it can be expensive to upgrade.\n\nThe same applies to built-in kitchen appliances, which are great to start with, but within five years are out of date. Solar panels can also appear as unsightly and unattractive, and those more concerned with aesthetics than the environment don\u2019t usually want them stuck on the side of their roof.\n\nParticularly colourful or bold interiors could put off buyers and the NAEA says that it might be worth re-decorating before putting a property on the market. Estate agents say that typically, modestly decorated homes are most desirable as home owners can easily see how their own belongings would fit into the space, and how they could make it their home.\n\nAlthough great fun for a weekend or two in the summer, outdoor swimming pools in Britain aren\u2019t usually considered an attractive house feature. They\u2019re expensive to maintain, use up a lot of space, and the weather means they cannot be used very often, often making them a lot more fuss than they\u2019re worth.\n\nSellers should make sure that any planning permission and building regulations are in order before selling. Any work carried out such as extensions or conversions should have the appropriate planning permission and building regulations, and buyers need access to these documents.\n\nFinally the report says that if there are two identical properties for sale and one is bright and airy while the other is dark and dingy, nine times out of the 10 the brighter one will be worth more, because it\u2019s more desirable. Foliage around windows, and large trees should be cut back before marketing to give the impression of a light and spacious home.", "output": "Solar panels can make a home\u00a0less desirable to buyers and reduce\u00a0its value, according to new research in the UK by the National Association of Estate Agents. Potential buyers can be put off by the appearance of the panels and\u00a0the fear of hidden costs, the study found. Despite initial savings on energy bills, the fact that the technology can quickly become outdated and need upgrading is seen as a negative factor in marketing a property. A similar sentiment was found with outdoor swimming pools and built-in kitchen appliances.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus WeWork adds gym to New York City co-working space \n Co-working company WeWork is opening a gym in New York, which includes boxing and yoga studios, grassy flooring and a Roman-inspired salt bathing pool.\n\nWeWork, which rents desks and office spaces around the world, has added the Rise by We gym to its FiDi office space at 85 Broad Street, in New York's Financial District. However, users do not have to be WeWork members for access.\n\nDesigned in-house and overseen by the company's head of interiors, Brittney Hart, the gym aims to provide members with a rounded health and fitness experience, including a spa and a cafe serving healthy fare alongside the gymnasium.\n\nThe gym forms part of the WeWork's progressive outlook on creating spaces that suit contemporary lifestyles. While first disrupting the workspace with its shared offices, last year it unveiled a concept for co-living apartments in New York.\n\nIn Rise by We, WeWork has divided the fitness space into three areas according to different exercises and the spaces they demand.\n\nThe first titled Fight is for boxing, kickboxing and mixed martial arts. In the studio, punch bags hang from black steel ceiling beams and are reflected in infinite rows in the mirrored walls. On one half of each bag, a paler material provides offsets the rest of the darkly finished space, which includes black walls and dark flooring.\n\nThe second studio, named Flight, designed for cardiovascular activities like running, rowing and functional training. Traditional equipment is arranged on one side of the room, leaving a large open area for gymnastic bands and ropes.\n\nContrasting the other two studios, calmer activities of yoga and meditation will take placed in the third studio, called Mindfulness. Dark wood panels cover the floor and paler wooden boards line the walls, while planting boxes hang from ceiling.\n\nThere is also \"semi-private\" workout facility, featuring a grass-like material on the floor, for those enrolled in the gym's Turf programme. These members undergo an assessment, including a 3D body scan, before being assigned a tailored programme.\n\nA combination of pale stone wall tiles contrast black floors in the Rise by We \"superspa\", which features delicate lighting to create a moody atmosphere.\n\nEnvisioned as a modern take on the Roman bath, the spa includes a warm pool with mineral salts to reduce muscle soreness and cold showers, as well as a sauna and steam room.\n\nIn the reception, a white tiled desk extends to form staggered seating fitted with potted plants, and is reflected in the mirrored ceiling above.", "output": "Abstract:\u00a0WeWork has opened a gym at one of its New York City office spaces. The Rise by We gym is based at its\u00a0space at 85 Broad Street in the city's financial district\u00a0and is also open to non-WeWork members. The gym is divided into three areas: Fight for boxing and martial arts; Flight, for running and other cardiovascular activities; and Mindfulness, for yoga and meditation. A semi-private workout facility, with grass-like material on the floor, is available for members enrolled on the gym's tailored Turf programme.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Precise gene-editing technique offers hope for inherited diseases \n The human genome contains six billion DNA letters, or chemical bases known as A, C, G and T. These letters pair off\u2014A with T and C with G\u2014to form DNA\u2019s double helix. Base editing, which uses a modified version of CRISPR, is able to change a single one of these letters at a time without making breaks to DNA\u2019s structure.\n\nThat\u2019s useful because sometimes just one base pair in a long strand of DNA gets swapped, deleted, or inserted\u2014a phenomenon called a point mutation. Point mutations make up 32,000 of the 50,000 changes in the human genome known to be associated with diseases.\n\nIn the Nature study, researchers led by David Liu, a Harvard chemistry professor and member of the Broad Institute, were able to change an A into a G. Such a change would address about half the 32,000 known point mutations that cause disease.\n\nTo do it, they modified CRISPR so that it would target just a single base. The editing tool was able to rearrange the atoms in an A so that it instead resembled a G, tricking cells into fixing the other DNA strand to complete the switch. As a result, an A-T base pair became a G-C one. The technique essentially rewrites errors in the genetic code instead of cutting and replacing whole chunks of DNA.\n\n\u201cStandard genome-editing methods, including the use of CRISPR-Cas9, make double-stranded breaks in DNA, which is especially useful when the goal is to insert or delete DNA bases,\u201d Liu said on a conference call with journalists on Tuesday. \u201cBut when the goal is to simply fix a point mutation, base editing offers a more efficient and cleaner solution.\u201d\n\nLiu said base editing isn\u2019t meant to be a replacement to traditional gene editing with CRISPR, but rather another option for altering the genome in an attempt to correct disease. If CRISPR is akin to a pair of scissors, base editing is more like a pencil, he said.\n\nPreviously, researchers had created base editors capable of making the opposite kind of swap\u2014changing a G into an A. Substitutions of a G for an A in certain parts of the DNA represent about 15 percent of disease-associated point mutations. In September, Chinese researchers reported that they used one of these editing tools in an embryo to remove the genetic mutation that causes anemia.\n\nWorking in cells taken from patients, Liu and his colleagues used their base-editing tool to correct a point mutation that causes hereditary hemochromatosis, a disorder that causes the body to absorb too much iron from food. This excess iron can build up over time and cause liver cancer and other liver diseases, diabetes, heart disease, or joint disease.", "output": "A modification to a gene-editing technique that enables scientists to more precisely recode genetic material\u00a0could offer hope for\u00a0currently untreatable inherited diseases. The\u00a0CRISPR-Cas9 technique,\u00a0created by the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard,\u00a0uses \u201cbase editing\u201d to change DNA and RNA molecules. The technique could be used to alter genetic mutations responsible for\u00a0many diseases. The tool \u201crewrites\u201d genetic code, rather than deleting and replacing whole strands of DNA.\u00a0A team of Chinese researchers reported a world-first demonstration of the technique on a human embryo is September."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Precise gene-editing technique offers hope for inherited diseases \n In 2016, David Liu and colleagues developed a DNA 'base editor'\u2014a system that would make it possible to change C\u2022G base pairs to T\u2022A base pairs within DNA without introducing double-stranded breaks. This approach involves tethering of a cytidine deaminase to an inactive RNA-guided Cas9 complex that enables site selectivity. However, this system was unable to correct about half of the single nucleotide polymorphisms that are known to be pathogenic. Now, David Liu and collaborators describe the next step in genomic base editing technology, designed to tackle the conversion of A\u2022T base pairs to G\u2022C base pairs. Beginning with a bacterial adenosine deaminase that acts on RNA, they used seven rounds of selection and refinement to produce ABE7.10. This enzyme, again tethered to an inactive RNA-guided Cas9 complex, uses DNA as a substrate and resulted in an average correction efficiency of 53% across multiple sites and contexts in the genome, with a very low mutagenic background. Importantly, the system can be used both to correct disease-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms and to introduce disease-suppressing ones.", "output": "A modification to a gene-editing technique that enables scientists to more precisely recode genetic material\u00a0could offer hope for\u00a0currently untreatable inherited diseases. The\u00a0CRISPR-Cas9 technique,\u00a0created by the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard,\u00a0uses \u201cbase editing\u201d to change DNA and RNA molecules. The technique could be used to alter genetic mutations responsible for\u00a0many diseases. The tool \u201crewrites\u201d genetic code, rather than deleting and replacing whole strands of DNA.\u00a0A team of Chinese researchers reported a world-first demonstration of the technique on a human embryo is September."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Linux Academy raises $6.8m to expand edtech, training offering \n Linux Academy and Cloud Assessments, a Dallas, TX-based online Linux and cloud training platform and community, secured $6.8m in Series A funding.\n\nArthur Ventures made the investment.\n\nThe company intends to use the funds to continue expanding the Linux Academy content catalog, as well as to grow its Cloud Assessments platform with new training and hiring tools.\n\nLed by Anthony James, Founder and CEO, Linux Academy offers a cloud computing education platform that tests students in live server environments. Through self-paced courses, hands-on labs, six cloud servers, personal access to expert instructors, and a learning library, the company caters to a range of skill levels from beginner to expert. Courses are geared toward Linux, AWS, Google Cloud Platforms, OpenStack, DevOps, Azure, Big Data, and Containers.\n\nCloud Assessments uses artificial intelligence to personalize cloud training based on a person\u2019s current and changing skill set. It allows enterprises to test and train their IT teams, as well as prospective job candidates, on their cloud technology skills by taking hands-on Challenges in live environments. Cloud Assessments also offers Quests and Learning Activities so individuals can learn efficiently, earning badges of completion along the way to prove their skills.\n\nMore than 250,000 aspiring and expert engineers have developed new skills through Linux Academy, with more signing up every day. Many of the world\u2019s finest technology companies and institutions also train at Linux Academy, including Rackspace, the Associated Press, MailChimp, the University of Alabama, the University of Arizona, Clemson University, and more.\n\nFinSMEs\n\n24/10/2017", "output": "Texas-based Linux Academy and its Cloud Assessments platform have raised $6.8m in series A funding from Arthur Ventures. The Linux Academy enables students to learn in live server environments, while Cloud Assessments delivers personalised training with the use of artificial intelligence. The new funds will be used to expand Linux Academy's content catalogue, and add training and hiring tools to the Cloud Assessments platform.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fintech Credit Sesame raises $42m \n Credit Sesame, a personalized credit service and financial wellness company, announced on Wednesday it secured $42 million in equity and venture debt funding. According to the fintech startup, the funding comes from existing and new investors including Menlo Ventures, Inventus Capital, Globespan Capital, IA Capital, SF Capital, among others, along with a strategic investor.\n\nFounded in 2011, the California-based company offers a free online personal finance tool that provides consumers a way to save money on loans and credit needs. The services also provide a free monthly credit score and a complete view of credit and debt all in one place. Credit Sesame has attracted over 12 million members.\n\n\u201cOur patent pending analytics engine automatically reviews all of your debt, home loans and credit, then evaluates thousands of lending products to bring you unbiased, personalized recommendations for maximum savings. Credit Sesame keeps working for you, delivering free credit and score updates and market monitoring for instant alerts and savings opportunities. Credit Sesame empowers consumers with bank level technology to manage their finances better.\u201d\n\nCredit Sesame also noted its robo-advisor technology leverages significant consumer data and analytics along with thousands of rules and insights that have been developed and proven over the past several years. The technology aims to simplify and automate the management of consumer credit and loans, addressing the liability side of the balance sheet and helping consumers achieve improved financial wellness. Adrian Nazari, Founder and CEO of Credit Sesame, stated:\n\n\u201cWhile many companies have spent the last few years catching up to our free credit score offerings for consumers, Credit Sesame has been developing and proving robo-advisor technology. This technology translates consumer financial and credit information into simple and actionable steps that consumers can easily understand and utilize to improve their financial profile and leverage their credit. As a result, 45% of our members are engaged monthly, helping us achieve an unprecedented relationship and engagement with our members.\u201d\n\nThe equity and venture debt funds will be used to accelerate the company\u2019s growth, hiring, and member acquisition, and to advance its analytics, robo-advisor, and machine learning technologies. Credit Sesame also revealed that it intends to add over 100 new employees to its offices in downtown Mountain View and its newly acquired office in San Francisco in the next 12 months.\n\nCredit Sesame added that the new $42 million in funding consists of $26.6M in equity and $15.5M in venture debt, bringing the San Francisco-based fintech company\u2019s total funding to over $77 million. Financial Technology Partners LP acted as an exclusive strategic and financial advisor to the company for this round.", "output": "A Californian fintech company that offers personalised credit advice to its users has secured additional funding of $42m in its latest investment round. Credit Sesame gives users a free online tool which helps identify lending products and services that could help them manage their finances more efficiently. It was established in 2011, and now claims to have 12 million members. The company uses artificial intelligence 'robo-adviser' technology to turn customer information and analytics into practical advice. It will use the additional investment to hire staff and develop this technology further.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Robots with IQ's of 10,000 in 30 years: Softbank CEO \n Billionaire Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Corp., shakes hands with a human-like robot called Pepper, developed by the company's Aldebran Robotics unit, during a news conference in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan.\n\nSuper artificial intelligence is coming, and sooner than you might expect. That's according to SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. The Japanese billionaire spoke from the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. In about 30 years, artificial intelligence will have an IQ of 10,000, Son says. By comparison, the average human IQ is 100 and genius is 200, according to Son. Mensa, \"the High IQ society,\" starts accepting members with an IQ score of 130. The idea of machine learning becoming smarter than the human brain is often referred to as the \"singularity.\" When exactly this will happen is oft-debated among the tech community. \"Singularity is the concept that [mankind's] brain will be surpassed, this is the tipping point, crossing point, that artificial intelligence, computer intelligence surpass [mankind's] brain and that is happening in this century for sure. I would say there is no more debate, no more doubt,\" Son says. Son is particularly aggressive in his prediction of how soon the singularity will happen \u2014 in the \"next 30 years or so,\" he says.\n\nIt is in Son's best interest to believe in the power of artificial intelligence. Not only is he the leader of a tech company, but he is heavily invested in the future of AI. Son is in charge of a $100 billion Vision Fund, which he expects to invest within five years, all in companies that have at least some relationship to AI. The tech executive believes that artificial intelligence will dramatically change every industry. Son, 60, remembers the first time he encountered the smartphone, a tool which has transformed the world we currently live in. \"When I met with Steve Jobs, before he announced the iPhone, he told me, 'Masa, Masa, if you see what I'm developing, when I'm finished, I'm going to show you, you're going to piss off your pants.' And when I saw it, I actually almost did.\" Today, humanoid robots like SoftBank's Pepper, which can perceive human emotions, according to its website, impress most of us. In the future Son envisions, we will laugh at the capabilities of Pepper.\n\n\"Thirty years from now, they are going to learn by themselves, they are maybe going to laugh at you and us,\" Son says. \"Today they look cute, they will stay cute, but they will be super smart.\" Currently, some robots are smarter than humans in some areas, says Son. \"But 30 years from now, most of the subjects, they will be so much smarter than us. Because they are going to be a million times smarter than today, million times,\" says Son. \"We mankind created tools, the premise was mankind were always smarter than the tool we invented so we control,\" he says. \"This is the first time ... the tool becomes smarter than ourselves.\" One area where humans will always reign supreme over robots, though, is imagination, says Son. \"If you have to envision, 10 years or 30 years later, at least some humans will have a better imagination than them. So, it's not the end. The power of the brain is no limit. The imagination that we can have has no limit. So we are also going to improve our imaginations and our feelings, gut feeling.\" See also: SoftBank's Masayoshi Son aims to control 90% of the chip market Elon Musk: Governments will obtain AI technology 'at gunpoint' if necessary In offices of the future, everyone will have a souped-up Amazon Echo-type robot assistant", "output": "Artificial intelligence will significantly overtake human IQs in the next few decades, according to the Japanese CEO of SoftBank, Masayoshi Son. The billionaire told the audience at a tech conference in Saudi Arabia that he expects robots to develop an IQ of 10,000 within 30 years, compared to the average human score of around 100. He predicted the 'point of singularity' at which machines will become more intelligent than their creators is rapidly approaching, but that human brains will remain superior in their capacity for imagination."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Agencies sidestep unresponsive Facebook go direct to advertisers \n A head of operations for a West Coast-based agency recently scheduled an internal training with a Facebook representative so her team of eight could learn best practices on the platform. But the Facebook rep canceled the meeting last minute due to a scheduling conflict. The agency exec emailed the rep every week to reschedule the training. Four weeks later, she finally got a response.\n\n\u201cI just thought that Facebook didn\u2019t care about us because we didn\u2019t spend enough with the platform,\u201d said the agency executive over breakfast at the Digiday Agency Summit in Charleston, South Carolina, on Oct. 24. \u201cOur clients combined spend at least $3 million on Facebook.\u201d\n\nThe exec\u2019s experience with Facebook is not unique. In a town hall-style meeting (where discussions are not for attribution) of around 60 agency executives at the agency summit, many identified Facebook as one of their biggest challenges. The common reasons given: Facebook reps are unresponsive and don\u2019t have enough knowledge to help agencies with campaign-specific questions; Facebook aggressively circumvents agencies to work directly with brands; and Facebook keeps a tight hold on its data.\n\nAt the Digiday Agency Summit: We asked agency professionals to write down the challenges they\u2019re facing today. Zoom in to read what\u2019s keeping them up at night. #DigidayAgency A post shared by Digiday (@digiday) on Oct 23, 2017 at 2:42pm PDT\n\n\u201cFacebook constantly changes, while the rep we have over there doesn\u2019t keep us updated on those changes,\u201d said one agency attendee in the town hall meeting.\n\nA bigger irritant is Facebook\u2019s habit of going directly to brands, according to attendees. A media agency executive said Facebook does this because at the end of the day, the brands have the final say. Google does this, too, but Facebook seems to be more aggressive, according to agency attendees. In some cases, Facebook \u2014 and Google \u2014 representatives pitched their ad products to clients directly after her team already declined them on behalf of the clients, the media agency exec said.\n\n\u201cFacebook and Google believe that if they can present something new or win clients\u2019 favor through fancy dinners, they will push clients to make business decisions,\u201d said this person.\n\nUnderlying these gripes, of course, are fears that Facebook will put agencies out of a job. \u201cWhen you have such a huge hole, it invites a client-direct relationship, meaning that agencies are not validated,\u201d another exec said.\n\n\u201cFacebook has a compelling story to tell,\u201d said a digital strategy head for a Philadelphia-based agency. \u201cIt has access to more data on people than we can imagine having. Facebook can present clients a closed-loop attribution \u2014 it is taking the lead for what consultants are doing much faster than agencies are.\u201d\n\nAgency executives also said that in some cases, Facebook suggests to clients that they should work with Facebook\u2019s in-house content studio Creative Shop, rather than an external agency.\n\nPatrick Harris, vp of global agency development for Facebook, responded to the agency complaints, saying Facebook is completely focused on its partnerships with agencies. Facebook has added people to its agency teams for the past six years and developed tools like online learning and certification program Blueprint to keep advertisers and agencies updated, Harris said.\n\n\u201cWe are certainly not perfect, but we\u2019ve demonstrated progress,\u201d he said. \u201cWe take accountability if we don\u2019t live up to our agencies\u2019 expectations.\u201d\n\nAs for the claim that Facebook goes around agencies to land brands on its own, Harris said Facebook is not trying to cut agencies out of the equation. \u201cIt\u2019s not about pushing specific products and solutions. We want to make sure that the ad tools that clients and agencies use actually drive brand effectiveness,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom time to time, we have clients who want direct conversations with us because they want to extend the partnership beyond media [buying].\u201d\n\nWhether brands have the ability to manage Facebook on their own is a question, and agencies, perhaps self-servingly, said clients would get burned when they work directly with Facebook because nuances exist in how to market on the platform, and Facebook is just one piece of a company\u2019s overall marketing strategy. \u201cFacebook can\u2019t keep up with email requests from an agency, let alone from a client,\u201d said an agency executive in the town hall meeting. \u201cThat is where Facebook falls short.\u201d\n\nAnd as Facebook holds its data close, like other walled gardens, agency executives also question the reliability of the data. \u201cIt is a black box,\u201d said an agency executive. \u201cYou can validate some leads, but not much else.\u201d\n\nShareen Pathak contributed to this story.", "output": "Advertising agencies have recorded a range of complaints about their relationship with Facebook, with many criticising the company for being unresponsive to their needs. Others have raised concerns that the social media platform is trying to circumvent agencies and build direct relationships with brands, whilst pushing its own content studio, Creative Shop. Responding to the criticisms, Facebook claimed it is committed to working with agencies, and suggested that direct contacts with clients were infrequent and related to services beyond advertising.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trump executive order paves the way for delivery drone expansion \n Drone deliveries got a step closer to reality as the White House issued an order giving local governments more authority to conduct tests of the burgeoning new technology.\n\nPresident Donald Trump on Wednesday is signing an executive order designed to speed the approval of drone flights over crowds and for longer distances. The administration says it wants to open new commercial uses for the aircraft and create jobs.\n\n\"In order to maintain American leadership in this emerging industry here at home, our country needs a regulatory framework that encourages innovation while insuring airspace safety,\" Michael Kratsios, a deputy assistant to the president at the Office of Science and Technology Policy, said in a briefing with reporters.\n\nTrump\u2019s order, a response to calls from companies making and using drones, will allow local governments to apply to the Federal Aviation Administration for waivers allowing them to conduct tests of deliveries, drone air-traffic systems, long-range flights and other uses generally prohibited under current rules, Kratsios said.\n\nThe move is the latest attempt to jump start an industry in which technology has moved at a rapid clip\u2014only to be held back by regulatory and safety concerns. The government adopted rules allowing routine commercial flights last year, but with rare exceptions it limited operations to short distances and ordered that they be kept away from people.\n\nWhile U.S. companies have been among the industry\u2019s leaders, some have complained that restrictive federal regulations have slowed their ability to move forward. Companies including Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.\u2019s Project Wing have at times had to test their drone-delivery systems in other countries. Project Wing is now testing Mexican food delivery via drone in Australia.\n\nIn addition to deliveries, drones can be tested for such uses as rushing medical supplies to emergencies, performing inspections of pipelines and power grids, and filming news events. Earlier this month, CNN was granted an FAA waiver allowing routine drone flights over people.\n\nThis program will give state, local and tribal governments \"a voice and a stake in the development of a federal regulatory framework for aviation,\" Kratsios said. Details of how far the local agencies could go to press the federal regulators weren\u2019t released, but their programs must be approved by the FAA.\n\nThe new program helps resolve some of the tensions over which governmental agencies will ultimately control drone operations by giving the FAA and its parent, the Department of Transportation, the ultimate authority, said Michael Drobac, executive director of the Small UAV Coalition.\n\n\"This is a good step,\" Drobac said. \"We needed to have some clarity and the administration needed to act.\"\n\nIn its announcement, the White House was at times critical of federal regulators and may pit Trump\u2019s top officials against some of federal agencies, including national security offices and the FAA. Kratsios said uses of drones have grown rapidly and more than a million were registered with the government, far exceeding the number of traditional aircraft.\n\n\"However, our aviation regulatory framework has not kept pace with this change,\" he said.\n\nOne of the main reasons the FAA has moved slowly to allow expanded drone flights has been reservations by the FBI and security agencies concerned about them being used as terrorist weapons or for criminal activity. As a result, the FAA is trying to craft rules that would require at least some drones to broadcast their identity and position at all times.\n\nSimilarly, the FAA is grappling with growing safety concerns about drones. The first mid-air collision between a drone and a traditional aircraft occurred Sept. 21 near New York City. Earlier this month, the FAA cited growing numbers of reported safety incidents as justification for rapidly moving to a new system for approving flight waivers.\n\nThe data gathered in test flights will help with both this issues, according to the White House.", "output": "The White House has issued an order that allows local governments greater autonomy over the conduction of drone flight tests. Michael Kratsios, deputy assistant to the President at the Office of Science and Technology Policy, said \u201cour country needs a regulatory framework that encourages innovation while insuring airspace safety\u201d. The order also allows greater exploration of delivery tests, drone air traffic systems, overcrowd flights and greater distances covered.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WeWork takes 450,000 sq ft in California shopping centre \n WeWork, a shared-office space startup, has obtained more than 450,000 square feet in a Mountain View shopping center that is currently under construction.\n\nThe New York company will take over a lease from LinkedIn at The Village at San Antonio Center, according to May Chow, a LinkedIn spokeswoman. The center \u2014 which is set to be completed in late 2017 \u2014 will also feature cafes, restaurants, a boutique hotel and a movie theater, according to its website.\n\n\u201cLinkedIn has reassigned its lease at The Village at San Antonio Center, and will not be setting up offices there,\u201d Chow said in an email.\n\nWeWork could not be reached for comment.\n\nWeWork, founded in 2010, offers flexibility to companies that are too small, or have too many remote employees, to justify leasing an entire office. Its business model involves renting out large office spaces and then leasing out smaller spaces to other companies.\n\nLenny Siegel, the vice mayor of Mountain View, applauded this move. He said it will open up more space for startups to grow in the city, which is dominated by tech giants such as Google, LinkedIn and Symantec.\n\n\u201cThis is still the best place in the world for start a company, but the squeeze in real estate created by growth of our largest companies has made it difficult for companies to find space here,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re looking for a diverse commercial ecosystem here,\u201d Siegel added.\n\nWeWork currently has more than 160 locations worldwide, 14 of them in the Bay Area.\n\nOn Tuesday, Hudson\u2019s Bay, the company that owns retail giant Lord & Taylor, said it is selling its flagship store in New York City to WeWork, which will use the space for its headquarters. The Lord & Taylor building on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan is considered a landmark.\n\nTrisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani", "output": "Office space provider WeWork has taken up a lease for 450,000 sq ft in a California shopping centre. The space in the Mountain View mall south of San Francisco, which is still under construction, was originally taken by business social media site LinkedIn. Lenny Siegel, vice mayor of Mountain View, said WeWork's move would help attract more start-ups to the region, which is dominated by technology giants Google, Symantec and LinkedIn.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Kensington and Chelsea 'buy-to-leave homes' amass \u00a385,000 in fines \n The gains to London property investors from leaving homes empty has far outstripped the penalties they face doing so, a Guardian investigation has learned.\n\nOwners of homes with a combined value of over \u00a3500m in the ultra-rich borough of Kensington and Chelsea were fined a total of just \u00a385,000 for leaving them empty last year, a survey of vacant properties suggests.\n\nThe figures can be reported due to the accidental release earlier this year of a confidential database, which for the first time identified hundreds of properties left empty for at least two years, as well as their owners.\n\n\n\nThe single largest penalty imposed on any of the 89 properties examined for the survey was just \u00a31,426, even though the property \u2013 a \u00a39m, six-storey mansion in the Notting Hill area \u2013 has increased in value by approximately \u00a31.1m since it was acquired three years ago.\n\n\n\nPolly Neate, the chief executive officer of the housing charity Shelter, said the data revealed how the empty homes premium \u2013 a penalty measure of an additional 50% council tax for long-term empty properties \u2013 was effectively \u201cmeaningless\u201d.\n\n\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s much easier for [owners] to just incur the penalty,\u201d Neate said. \u201cThat\u2019s actually the easiest option for them; it should be the hardest option. It should be harder for them to keep the home empty than to do something with it.\u201d\n\n\n\n'It should be harder for them to keep the home empty than to do something with it' Polly Neate, Shelter\n\nThe problem of buy to leave, whereby investors acquire property and deliberately leave it empty so as not to incur any of the costs of renting, is not limited to Kensington and Chelsea. A buyer for the property company Savills described buy to leave as \u201cendemic\u201d in the capital\u2019s most desirable areas. During the leadup to London\u2019s mayoral election last year, both candidates pledged to clamp down on the problem.\n\n\n\nNo official figures on the practice is compiled. However, it is in the city\u2019s most expensive boroughs that house prices have risen most sharply. While UK house prices rose by an average of 20% over the last decade, according to the Office for National Statistics, prices in Kensington and Chelsea rose by 65% over the same period.\n\nEarlier this month it was reported that only ten of the households left homeless by the Grenfell Tower disaster had been permanently rehoused.\n\nInvestors examine a scale model of London at Mipim, the real estate trade show in Cannes on 14 March 2017. Photograph: Yann Coatsaliou/AFP/Getty\n\nTo assess the scale of the potential profits earned by owning empty homes, the Guardian compared the purchase price of the list of empty properties accidentally released by Kensington and Chelsea council with Zoopla estimates for what those properties are currently worth. The estimates are based on recent sales from other properties in the local area. Both data points were available for 89 of the properties on the list.\n\nThe data also reveals how much the owners of the properties were charged in empty homes premium as a penalty for leaving them empty for longer than two years.\n\nThe properties, which were bought for a combined total of \u00a3395m at different times, are currently worth \u00a3504m. The average increase in value was \u00a31.2m; those who owned larger properties, or held them for longer periods, enjoyed even more lucrative returns.\n\nOne flat, worth \u00a399,000 in 2001, is now worth an estimated \u00a31.5m. Yet the owner of the property, an apartment in the attractive ward of Courtfield, was charged just \u00a31,077 last year for leaving it empty.\n\n\n\nIn another case, a four-storey property in the Campden ward worth \u00a31.8m in 2001 is now estimated to be worth over \u00a36m. Neighbours said the house, a few hundred metres from Kensington High Street, had been empty \u201cfor years\u201d. The owner was fined \u00a31,062 last year for leaving it empty.\n\n\n\nIn total, the owners of the 89 properties now worth an estimated half a billion pounds were charged just \u00a385,373 in empty homes premium last year, or 0.02% of the properties\u2019 current combined estimated value.\n\nKensington\u2019s recently elected Labour MP, Emma Dent Coad, accused prime property buyers and developers of profiteering from the country\u2019s housing crisis. \u201cThis is a deliberate thing, to inflate prices ever further while shoving people on low incomes out on to the edges, next to railways lines, next to busy roads and at the end of industrial estates,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s not right for anybody.\u201d\n\nCalls for tougher sanctions have been made for some time from both Conservative and Labour politicians. In 2014, then mayor Boris Johnson said he thought 1,000% tax rates should be imposed. A report for the Greater London Authority earlier this year also called for central government to permit larger fines.\n\nSuch calls have thus far been unsuccessful. The government\u2019s position is yet to change from the one expressed in a 2013 letter from then housing minister Brandon Lewis to Camden councillor Theo Blackwell, implying that tougher sanctions would be too severe a penalty for owners of empty properties. \u201cThe government believes the current empty home premium is appropriate and has no plans to make the changes you suggested,\u201d he wrote, before going on to criticise \u201cthe last government\u2019s punitive approach to empty homes\u201d as \u201ccounterproductive\u201d.\n\nAdditional reporting by Niamh McIntyre\n\nFollow Guardian Cities on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to join the discussion, and explore our Archive here", "output": "Owners of long-term empty properties with a combined value of over \u00a3500m ($655m) in one of London's wealthiest areas, Kensington and Chelsea,\u00a0incurred fines of just \u00a385,000 last year, according to the Guardian. The figures came to light after the accidental release of a confidential database. A buyer for estate agent Savills said the buy to leave issue, in which owners leave their properties vacant to avoid renting costs, was \"endemic\" across London's most attractive areas.\u00a0Polly Neate, the CEO of charity Shelter, said the government's buy to leave penalty \u2013\u00a0charging an extra 50% council tax \u2013\u00a0was \"meaningless\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Swiss insurer Elvia launches robo-adviser \n Elvia insurance company has launched a robo adviser in Switzerland, adding to the growing number of automated banking providers. Elvia eInvest\u2019s CEO told finews.com what targets he aims to achieve with the new service.\n\nElvia eInvest is the first Swiss insurer to launch its own robo adviser. The unit of Allianz Suisse today announced that the service, which will be available online only, comes with a fee of 0.55 percent of the average deposit.\n\nThe fee also includes trading commissions, payment services and changes to the portfolio allocation. The cost of exchange traded products of 0.25 percent will be added to the basis 0.55 percent fee.\n\nCautious Forecast\n\nKlaus Thaler (pictured below), in charge of Elvia eInvest since July, remains cautious in his forecast: \u00abWe aim to manage 1 billion Swiss francs in client assets within a ten year period,\u00bb he told finews.com in an interview.\n\nHis caution is understandable, given the difficulties that robo advisers in Switzerland had to acquire assets, despite the low fees charged. Part of the reason may be a certain skepticism about the reliability of the technology and a lot of potential investors have other priorities.\n\nCause for Optimism\n\nThaler still sees an \u00abenormous\u00bb demand for simple and cheap investment solutions, not least for pension provisions.\n\nThe advantage of Elvia eInvest may be the large customer base of its owner Allianz Suisse. The company has more than 1 million clients in the country and a network of about 120 branches across Switzerland, making it easier to acquire customers for the new service.\n\nETF's First\n\nElvia developed the robot with Additiv, the Zurich-based fintech. The identification of a customer is video-based and contracts are signed electronically. The minimum deposit is 5,000 Swiss francs.\n\nExchange traded funds (ETFs) provide the backbone of the service, which are divided up into nine categories covering bonds and equities across the world.\n\n\u00abWe are investing client assets in the ETFs with the highest score in relation to cost and liquidity,\u00bb Thaler said. Each portfolio contains at least six ETFs for reasons of diversification.", "output": "Elvia has become the first Swiss insurer to launch a robo-adviser. The platform was developed with Swiss fintech company Additiv, and will use video recognition and electronic signatures to verify client information. The service, which uses exchange-traded funds, will cost clients 55 basis points, plus a 25 point fee for the ETF products. The minimum investment is CHF5,000 ($5,045).\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Groundbreaking DNA editor could have life-changing effects \n Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nVoices Dispatches email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nA new gene editing breakthrough allows scientists to easily snip out problems in genetic code, potentially removing thousands of deadly inherited diseases.\n\nThe new technique could allow doctors to make changes to people's DNA and alter the molecular machines that help create us \u2013 and bring about problems in the form of genetic diseases.\n\nIt would allow them to remove the mutations blamed for inherited conditions ranging from genetic blindness to sickle-cell anaemia, metabolic disorders and cystic fibrosis. And it could also be used to \"write in\" useful mutations, according to the scientists who made the discovery.\n\nThe \"base editor\" is a molecular machine that directly converts one building block of DNA into another. DNA sequences contain four \"base\" chemicals that pair up on the molecule's twin-stranded double helix in specific ways.\n\nAs such, edits made to the DNA using the new tools are far more precise than the leading and most famous technology, CRISPR. \"CRISPR is like scissors, and base editors are like pencils,\" said David Liu, the chemical and molecular biologist who led the study.\n\nScience news in pictures Show all 20 1 / 20 Science news in pictures Science news in pictures Pluto has 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen Pluto has a 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen that is doing strange things to its surface, Nasa has found. The mysterious core seems to be the cause of features on its surface that have fascinated scientists since they were spotted by Nasa's New Horizons mission. \"Before New Horizons, everyone thought Pluto was going to be a netball - completely flat, almost no diversity,\" said Tanguy Bertrand, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and the lead author on the new study. \"But it's completely different. It has a lot of different landscapes and we are trying to understand what's going on there.\" Getty Science news in pictures Over 400 species discovered this year by Natural History Museum The ancient invertabrate worm-like species rhenopyrgus viviani (pictured) is one of over 400 species previously unknown to science that were discovered by experts at the Natural History Museum this year PA Science news in pictures Jackdaws can identify 'dangerous' humans Jackdaws can identify \u201cdangerous\u201d humans from listening to each other\u2019s warning calls, scientists say. The highly social birds will also remember that person if they come near their nests again, according to researchers from the University of Exeter. In the study, a person unknown to the wild jackdaws approached their nest. At the same time scientists played a recording of a warning call (threatening) or \u201ccontact calls\u201d (non-threatening). The next time jackdaws saw this same person, the birds that had previously heard the warning call were defensive and returned to their nests more than twice as quickly on average. Getty Science news in pictures Turtle embryos influence sex by shaking The sex of the turtle is determined by the temperatures at which they are incubated. Warm temperatures favour females. But by wiggling around the egg, embryos can find the \u201cGoldilocks Zone\u201d which means they are able to shield themselves against extreme thermal conditions and produce a balanced sex ratio, according to the new study published in Current Biology journal Ye et al/Current Biology Science news in pictures Elephant poaching rates drop in Africa African elephant poaching rates have dropped by 60 per cent in six years, an international study has found. It is thought the decline could be associated with the ivory trade ban introduced in China in 2017. Reuters Science news in pictures Ancient four-legged whale discovered in Peru Scientists have identified a four-legged creature with webbed feet to be an ancestor of the whale. Fossils unearthed in Peru have led scientists to conclude that the enormous creatures that traverse the planet\u2019s oceans today are descended from small hoofed ancestors that lived in south Asia 50 million years ago A. Gennari Science news in pictures Animal with transient anus discovered A scientist has stumbled upon a creature with a \u201ctransient anus\u201d that appears only when it is needed, before vanishing completely. Dr Sidney Tamm of the Marine Biological Laboratory could not initially find any trace of an anus on the species. However, as the animal gets full, a pore opens up to dispose of waste Steven G Johnson Science news in pictures Giant bee spotted Feared extinct, the Wallace's Giant bee has been spotted for the first time in nearly 40 years. An international team of conservationists spotted the bee, that is four times the size of a typical honeybee, on an expedition to a group of Indonesian Islands Clay Bolt Science news in pictures New mammal species found inside crocodile Fossilised bones digested by crocodiles have revealed the existence of three new mammal species that roamed the Cayman Islands 300 years ago. The bones belonged to two large rodent species and a small shrew-like animal New Mexico Museum of Natural History Science news in pictures Fabric that changes according to temperature created Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold Faye Levine, University of Maryland Science news in pictures Baby mice tears could be used in pest control A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males Getty Science news in pictures Final warning to limit \"climate catastrophe\" The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase Getty Science news in pictures Nobel prize for evolution chemists The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies Getty/AFP Science news in pictures Nobel prize for laser physicists The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his \"optical tweezers\" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and G\u00e9rard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers Reuters/AP Science news in pictures Discovery of a new species of dinosaur The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. In Sesotho, the South African language of the region in which the dinosaur was discovered, its name means \"a giant thunderclap at dawn\" Viktor Radermacher / SWNS Science news in pictures Birth of a planet Scientists have witnessed the birth of a planet for the first time ever. This spectacular image from the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the very act of formation around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the center of the image, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the central star. ESO/A. M\u00fcller et al Science news in pictures New human organ discovered that was previously missed by scientists Layers long thought to be dense, connective tissue are actually a series of fluid-filled compartments researchers have termed the \u201cinterstitium\u201d. These compartments are found beneath the skin, as well as lining the gut, lungs, blood vessels and muscles, and join together to form a network supported by a mesh of strong, flexible proteins Getty Science news in pictures Previously unknown society lived in Amazon rainforest before Europeans arrived, say archaeologists Working in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a team led by archaeologists at the University of Exeter unearthed hundreds of villages hidden in the depths of the rainforest. These excavations included evidence of fortifications and mysterious earthworks called geoglyphs Jos\u00e9 Iriarte Science news in pictures One in 10 people have traces of cocaine or heroin on fingerprints, study finds More than one in 10 people were found to have traces of class A drugs on their fingers by scientists developing a new fingerprint-based drug test. Using sensitive analysis of the chemical composition of sweat, researchers were able to tell the difference between those who had been directly exposed to heroin and cocaine, and those who had encountered it indirectly. Getty Science news in pictures Nasa releases stunning images of Jupiter's great red spot The storm bigger than the Earth, has been swhirling for 350 years. The image's colours have been enhanced after it was sent back to Earth. Pictures by: Tom Momary\n\nTogether guanine (G), adenine (A), thymine (T) and cytosine (C) make up the letters of the genetic code. The new system converts the DNA base-pair A-T to G-C, a microscopically small effect that has massive implications for science and medicine.\n\nRoughly half the 32,000 single-letter changes in the genetic code known to be associated with human disease involve a change the other way, from G-C to A-T.\n\nThe technique employs a modified form of the \"molecular scissors\" gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9, which has transformed genetics research since its power was first demonstrated in 2012.\n\nBut unlike standard CRISPR-Cas9, it does not make changes by slicing through the double helix.\n\nProfessor Liu, from Harvard University said: \"We developed a new base editor, a molecular machine, that in a programmable, irreversible, efficient and clean manner can correct these mutations in the genome of living cells.\n\n\"When targeted to certain sites in human genomic DNA, this conversion reverses the mutation that is associated with a particular disease.\"\n\nThe \"machine\", called an Adenine Base Editor (ABE), was tested in the laboratory by correcting the mutation responsible for hereditary haemochromatosis (HHC), a disease that causes iron overload in the body.\n\nABE was also used to install a beneficial mutation that protects against blood diseases including sickle cell anaemia.\n\nThe results are reported in the journal Nature.\n\nDr Liu said a lot more work needed to be done before the technique could be used to help human patients.\n\n\"We still have to deliver that machine, we have to test its safety, we have to assess its beneficial effects in animals and patients and weigh them against any side effects, we need to do many more things,\" he added.\n\nBritish scientists called the research \"exciting\" and \"incredibly powerful\".\n\nProfessor Robin Lovell-Badge, group leader at The Francis Crick Institute, London, said: \"This is both clever and important science ..\n\n\"Many genetic diseases are due to alterations (mutations) where a single base pair has been substituted for another.\n\n\"This makes these new base editing methods of great value in both basic research to make disease models and, in theory, to correct genetic disease.\n\n\"Much more research will be needed to show the methods are entirely safe and, perhaps, to find ways to increase their efficiency, which is already at an impressive 50 per cent, but this is an exciting development.\"\n\nDr Helen O'Neill, reproductive science programme director at University College London, said: \"The ability to now directly alter all four base-pairs with such specificity adds more ammunition to the genome editing artillery and will be incredibly powerful in the research of diseases and future restoration of disease-causing mutations.\"\n\nDarren Griffin, professor of genetics at the University of Kent, said: \"The work represents another step change in the Crispr story.\"\n\nAnother ground-breaking study reported in the journal Science showed how a new version of Crispr could be used to target and edit RNA, the molecule that carries genetic instructions to protein-making machinery in cells.\n\nThe system, called Repair, has the potential to render single-letter disease-causing mutations in DNA harmless.\n\nDavid Cox, a member of the US team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Broad Institute, said: \"Repair can fix mutations without tampering with the genome, and because RNA naturally degrades, it's a potentially reversible fix.\"\n\nAdditional reporting by agencies", "output": "A new technique in gene editing could allow scientists to cut out faults in the genetic code, thus removing thousands of serious inherited diseases such as cystic fibrosis, genetic blindness and sickle-cell anaemia. \"When targeted to certain sites in human genomic DNA, this conversion reverses the mutation that is associated with a particular disease,\" said Professor Liu at Harvard University. The new \"base editor\" is more precise than the current Crispr technology, according to Liu.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Oman's insurers may struggle with move to compulsory health cover \n The implementation of a compulsory healthcare insurance scheme in Oman will boost growth in the country's under-penetrated insurance market, S&P Global Ratings says in a new report. But the market will need to address technical and operational weaknesses in order to bolster incomes and make the most of the growth opportunities, says the international rating agency.", "output": "Oman's insurance industry will need to overcome operational deficiencies, including underdeveloped claims management infrastructure, in order to respond to incoming rules requiring mandatory health insurance for the country's population. If this can be achieved, however, gross written premiums in the country are forecast to increase by roughly 10% in the next two years, according to\u00a0S&P Global Ratings. The\u00a0health insurance rules\u00a0will begin to be implemented in January and will be rolled out in phases, with expatriates the first to be enrolled.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Huawei hires dedicated team of digital marketers to crack Europe \n Chinese mobile phone maker Huawei is hiring a dedicated team of digital marketers to boost its awareness in Europe, its first specialized marketing team outside China.\n\nThe team will report to Huawei Europe\u2019s chief marketing officer, Andrew Garrihy, and be tasked with developing strategies in 10 markets, including the U.K., France and Germany.\n\nJob descriptions are still being finalized, but Huawei is looking for performance marketers, analytics experts and social media strategists. Future roles will likely focus on the internet of things, artificial intelligence and mobile connectivity. Functions such as AI, which has been built into Huawei\u2019s current flagship phone, could turn software rather than hardware into the differentiator for smartphone makers in the West, as it\u2019s done for their counterparts in China.\n\n\u201cWhile we will try and do as much integration with the likes of Facebook and Snapchat via the team, its aim is to take advantage of how the way people use their phone is changing,\u201d Garrihy said. \u201cIt\u2019s about coming up with answers to questions like, \u2018What does a site look like in 12 months from now when we have AI-enabled handsets that can do voice processing and recognition?\u2019\u201d\n\nCreative is another skill Huawei wants to build in the team. While the company has no plans to ax its agencies by bringing in digital marketing and creative, it wants more control over creative. But whereas other advertisers have taken certain tasks in-house due to concerns over how their ads are bought, the smartphone maker\u2019s desire for control is tied to its contrarian marketing strategy.\n\nThe most important part of Huawei\u2019s marketing lies in its partnerships with the likes of Dazed Media for Project Possible and public relations campaigns rather than paid media. The company has spent millions to recruit top talent such as football star Lionel Messi and actress Scarlett Johansson to promote its high-end lines. It only pays to promote content that has already done well organically or has strong creative, though, which helps the company keep costs down and monitor success. Huawei\u2019s Western Europe business has increased the number of PR campaigns it runs by 300 percent over the last six months compared to the same period in the previous year.\n\nThe investments appear to have worked to an extent. This year, the company surpassed Apple to become the second-largest smartphone manufacturer by shipment in countries such as Finland, Italy, Spain and Poland, according to research firm Canalys. In larger EU markets such as the U.K., the brand still has limited awareness.\n\nYouGov BrandIndex data reveals that in terms of Impression score, which indicates whether or not someone has a positive impression of the brand, Huawei is around the +4 mark, comparable to brands such as Motorola (+5). Perhaps this is to be expected, as a smaller number of people have interacted with the brand, said Russell Feldman, director of digital, media and technology research at YouGov.\n\nGarrihy said he expects awareness in the U.K. and elsewhere in Europe to grow in the coming months, though, with \u201csignificant payback\u201d in sales on the increased marketing it plans to do across Western Europe within the next two years.\n\nImage courtesy of Huawei.", "output": "Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei is out to grow awareness of its brand in the UK and major European countries, and is putting together a team of digital marketers to get the job done. Positions advertised include social media strategists and analytics experts, while other roles are set to focus on artificial intelligence and the internet of things. In the past six months, Huawei has increased its PR campaigns in Western Europe by 300%, and signed stars including Scarlett Johansson and Lionel Messi to help raise its brand profile.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Target uses mobile-based augmented reality tool to sell furniture \n Discount retailer Target has added AR technology to its mobile site, so customers can see how furniture will look in their home before purchasing the product.\n\nWith \u2018See It In Your Space\u2019, customers shopping with Target\u2019s new Project 62 line can are able to select proper scale 3D versions of home products and move them around a room \u2013 through their phone\u2019s camera \u2013 to see how well it goes.\n\nThe mobile web feature is currently available for 200 Project 62 Target home products. The retailer says it will roll the functionality out to hundreds more products by the end of the years and thousands more in 2018.\n\nSee It In Your Space follows in the footsteps of Swedish furniture store Ikea\u2019s app of a similar nature. Ikea Place, built on Apple\u2019s ARKit, enables customers to scan the floor of their home in the iOS app, then browse for products, and move them into the position they want it to sit in their home. It automatically scales products based on room dimensions.\n\nJoin us at the 2017 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony, taking place in London on Thursday 16 November, to mix with the industry's best and brightest, and raise a glass to the year's best campaigns and solutions. To find out more, and to book your place, click here.", "output": "US retailer Target is set to take on Swedish rival Ikea with the launch of augmented reality tool See It In Your Space. The feature allows customers browsing Target's Project 62 line to see scaled, 3D representations of products and position them in their homes, using a mobile phone. Target currently has 200 Project 62 home products available for See It In Your Space, and is aiming to increase that figure to thousands by 2018. Ikea recently launched similar tool Place.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The elderly as well as the young suffer from housing shortage \n Britain\u2019s housing shortage is never far from the top of the political agenda. But the narrative focuses almost entirely on first-time buyers when there is an even more serious and overlooked shortage in suitable housing for older people.\n\nThis paucity affects both older homeowners stuck in unsuitably large family properties and unable to find smaller homes, and people renting social housing when they need sheltered or supported accommodation. In both cases, government policy is stifling the supply of the kind of housing older people want and need, while at the same time increasing the bill for health and social care.\n\nDevelopers specialising in housing for older people have to grapple with a planning system that works against them. These homes tend to have higher build costs, more communal facilities and support services to arrange, making it hard for developers to bid against mainstream house builders for plots of land. There is little recognition of the need for older people\u2019s housing in local planning rules, and the outcome of planning applications varies from local authority to local authority. It\u2019s a bureaucratic, volatile system that leaves developers and their investors uncertain about the future and struggling to expand.\n\nTo make matters worse, the government is set to draw supported housing into the quagmire of universal credit by extending a blanket housing benefit cap to everyone receiving it, regardless of whether they live in private, social or supported homes. This means that from April 2019, those living in supported housing, 70% of whom are older people [pdf], will have their housing benefit capped at local housing allowance levels. A ringfenced, top-up fund is intended to cover costs that go above this \u2013 likely to be about a third of the total amount. \u201cRingfenced\u201d, however, is no guarantee of sustained funding. The previous supporting people fund lasted all of six years before the ringfence was removed [pdf] and some housing schemes lost 50% of their funding within a year. That experience has taught providers to be wary of promises of sustained financial support that are vulnerable to the whims of new governments and changes in priorities.\n\nLess sheltered housing is being built, with the current shortage of 17,000 properties set to double by 2020. The uncertainty generated by the LHA proposals have exacerbated this, putting the brakes on investment and planned developments. Yet we know sheltered housing saves health and care services some \u00a3486m a year [pdf] by reducing falls, shortening inpatient stays and so on. Denying older people access to this type of housing makes it likely that whatever the Department for Work and Pensions saves in welfare spending will be outstripped by the increase in NHS and social care costs.\n\nAny housing policy that looked beyond the plight of first-time buyers would recognise the self-defeating nature of the LHA policy. There have been reports that the government is considering a U-turn on plans to cap housing benefit for people in supported housing. But we seem a long way from tackling the chronic shortage of older people\u2019s housing.\n\nClaudia Wood is chief executive of the thinktank Demos and gave evidence to the Commons communities and local government committee inquiry on housing for older people on 22 October.\n\nThis article was amended on 24 October 2017, following a government announcement that it has dropped plans to cap housing benefit for social housing and supported accommodation\n\nSign up for your free Guardian Housing network newsletter with comment and sector views sent direct to you on the last Friday of the month. Follow us: @GuardianHousing\n\nLooking for a housing job, or need to recruit housing staff? Take a look at Guardian Jobs.", "output": "The UK government and media are both overlooking the serious shortage of suitable, affordable housing for older people, wrote Claudia Wood, the CEO of think-tank Demos. She warned the shortfall added to health and social care costs, cancelling out any savings made by the Department for Work and Pensions, while planning rules and bureaucracy have made it harder for developers to build sheltered or supported accommodation. Wood also criticised the government's plan to extend the housing benefit cap to take in supported homes (which it since dropped) and said sheltered housing saved health and care services \u00a3486m ($635m) annually.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Reality TV star Marnie Simpson breaches ad code on Snapchat \n The UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has its work cut out for it as the line between legitimate online content and ads gets ever blurrier. Social media \"influencers\" regularly flout the rules and despite the sheer volume of posts across different platforms, the ASA occasionally issues slaps on the wrists for offending Tweets and Instagram campaigns. And today, the ASA has wagged a stern finger at Snapchat posts that weren't appropriately labelled as ads for the first time.\n\nThe ASA received complaints about the June 20th Snapchat Story of Marnie Simpson, of Geordie Shore and Celebrity Big Brother fame. In one update, the TV personality promoted a 50-percent off sale for Diamond Whites tooth polish. The company argued Simpson had been a brand ambassador for many years, and thus the commercial relationship was well established. Despite the post obviously being promotional in nature, the ASA effectively concluded that it didn't matter and it still needed an \"#ad\" tag, making it clear to her followers it was a paid-for post.\n\nIn a less cut-and-dry case, another update showed off a new, unreleased colour \"coming soon\" to Simpson's iSpyEyes brand of tinted and novelty contact lenses. On the basis that the product was not available to buy and the brand itself was not specifically mentioned, Simpson's PR agency argued it wasn't exactly promotional in nature. The ASA disagreed.\n\nIn cases like this, the ASA typically demands that offending posts are amended or deleted, but since Snapchat Stories self-destruct after 24 hours, there's nothing to be done at this point. Diamond Whites and Simpson's PR agency have graciously promised, however, to be stricter regarding their client's application of the #ad identifier in the future.\n\nIt's unlikely the ASA will be able to divert too much resource towards policing disappearing Snapchat posts. On the other hand, it's important complaints are followed up considering the social app has a primarily young and arguably impressionable user base -- as well as no built-in feature that clearly labels ads, as yet.\n\nEarlier this year, the ASA complained that \"hidden\" advertising on social platforms was \"taking up more and more of our time.\" And you'd have thought the lengths the regulator went to a few years ago to explain to vloggers what an advert was would've done the trick.", "output": "The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has criticised two Snapchat Story posts made by reality TV star Marnie Simpson for not being clearly labelled as advertising. Complaints were filed with the ASA in June, after Simpson, best known for her appearances on Geordie Shore and Celebrity Big Brother, endorsed a 50% off sale for Diamond Whites tooth polish, and showed off a forthcoming addition to Simpson's own range of coloured contact lenses. The ASA concluded both posts should have carried an '#ad' tag.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Poor mental health costs 300,000 jobs and \u00a399bn in UK each year \n We published the government response to this independent review on 30 November 2017.\n\nThriving at Work sets out what employers can do to better support all employees, including those with mental health problems to remain in and thrive through work.\n\nIt includes a detailed analysis that explores the significant cost of poor mental health to UK businesses and the economy as a whole. Poor mental health costs employers between \u00a333 billion and \u00a342 billion a year, with an annual cost to the UK economy of between \u00a374 billion and \u00a399 billion.\n\nThe review quantifies how investing in supporting mental health at work is good for business and productivity. The most important recommendation is that all employers, regardless of size or industry, should adopt 6 \u2018mental health core standards\u2019 that lay basic foundations for an approach to workplace mental health. It also details how large employers and the public sector can develop these standards further through a set of \u2018mental health enhanced standards\u2019. The review also makes a series of recommendations to government and other bodies.", "output": "Approximately 300,000 people in the UK with long-term mental health issues lose their jobs each year, 50% more than do so due to physical health, according to a government-commissioned study. The Thriving at Work report, published on Thursday, estimates that poor mental health costs the UK economy up to \u00a399bn ($131bn) annually, \u00a342bn of which employers bear. The report calls for employers to support six core principles, including increasing awareness and monitoring staff well-being. Research by Deloitte suggests businesses could receive returns of between \u00a31.50 and \u00a39 for each \u00a31 invested in health interventions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Poor mental health costs 300,000 jobs and \u00a399bn in UK each year \n Insert Custom CSS fragment. Do not delete! This box/component contains code needed on this page. This message will not be visible when page is activated.\n\n+++ DO NOT USE THIS FRAGMENT WITHOUT EXPLICIT APPROVAL FROM THE CREATIVE STUDIO DEVELOPMENT TEAM +++", "output": "Approximately 300,000 people in the UK with long-term mental health issues lose their jobs each year, 50% more than do so due to physical health, according to a government-commissioned study. The Thriving at Work report, published on Thursday, estimates that poor mental health costs the UK economy up to \u00a399bn ($131bn) annually, \u00a342bn of which employers bear. The report calls for employers to support six core principles, including increasing awareness and monitoring staff well-being. Research by Deloitte suggests businesses could receive returns of between \u00a31.50 and \u00a39 for each \u00a31 invested in health interventions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Poor mental health costs 300,000 jobs and \u00a399bn in UK each year \n About 300,000 people with a long-term mental health problem lose their jobs each year, a review commissioned by Theresa May has found.\n\n\n\nThe Thriving at Work report, published on Thursday, puts the annual cost to the UK economy of poor mental health at up to \u00a399bn, of which about \u00a342bn is borne by employers.\n\nThe authors \u2013 the Mind chief executive, Paul Farmer, and the mental health campaigner and a former HBOS chair, Dennis Stevenson \u2013 said they were shocked to find the number of people forced to stop work as a result of mental health problems was 50% higher than for those with physical health conditions.\n\nFarmer said the evidence suggested it is still a taboo subject in many workplaces. \u201cThe picture is that there are very significant numbers of people in work with mental health problems but there are significant numbers who are not,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cWe think that the reasons for that are a combination of a lack of support, lack of understanding within some workplaces and a lack of speedy access to mental health services. Sometimes in organisations people feel themselves excluded as a result of their mental health issues and sometimes people don\u2019t necessarily spot that somebody is struggling.\u201d\n\n\n\nFarmer and Stevenson said that the challenge was bigger than they had envisaged when instructed by the prime minister, but that with action dramatic changes could be achieved over the next 10 years. They said they hoped that the number of people with long-term mental health problems who lose their jobs could be reduced to the same level as those with physical conditions.\n\nThey found that about 15% of people at work have symptoms of an existing mental health condition, which they said illustrates the fact that given the right support they can thrive in employment.\n\nFarmer described the economic case as overwhelming and the authors link current failures to the UK\u2019s relatively poor productivity. An analysis by Deloitte examining existing workplace interventions identified potential to generate a return to business of between \u00a31.50 and \u00a39 for every \u00a31 invested.\n\nAmong examples of good practice highlighted by the report are the mental health first aid courses at Thames Water and, at Aviva, the promotion of e-learning modules to help identify and self-identify when people need support.\n\nFarmer and Stevenson said they want all employers to commit to six core standards around mental health, including having a plan in place, increasing awareness among employees, stipulating line management responsibilities and routinely monitoring staff\u2019s mental health and wellbeing. \u201cWhat we feel is really important is that organisations take responsibility for the mental health of their staff,\u201d said Farmer.\n\n\u201cAs the stigma around mental health begins to shift, I think the area of mental health in the workplace is becoming much more visible. Employers are recognising that this is an issue, but they don\u2019t know what to do. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve recommended these core standards.\u201d\n\nHighlighting further benefits for companies, he said that some young people were now asking employers about their mental health policies in the same way they might have asked about their green credentials a decade ago.\n\n\u201cThe most progressive organisations in this area are already being quite open in terms of their internal reporting and what they put on their website in terms of how they support their staff,\u201d he said.\n\nLarge employers are expected to go further and the report calls on the government and public sector to lead by example. It says the government should also ensure that the NHS provides high quality mental health services, quick and convenient to fit around employment, and consider enhancing protections for employees with mental health conditions in the Equality Act 2010.\n\n\n\nThe report makes 40 recommendations and Stevenson urged the government to accept them all. \u201cWe need the right leadership among employers in the public, private and voluntary sectors, and a mandate from policy-makers to deliver our ambitious but achievable plan,\u201d he said.\n\nStephen Martin, director general of the Institute of Directors, welcomed the review which he said shows \u201cmental health is not just a moral issue, but a business one too. Business leaders must put themselves at the frontier of addressing these challenges.\u201d\n\nCase study: \u2018I was using work in a quite self-destructive way\u2019\n\nAndrew Omerod: \u2018I\u2019d been living with depression a very long time already; work happened to be the way it was expressed.\u2019\n\nAndrew Omerod, 35, from London, operations director at GrantTree, says he has experienced both sides of the coin when it comes to mental health problems at work. \u201cWhen I was working for my previous employer, I was using work in quite a self-destructive way. Overworking is a way of acting out the pain you\u2019re experiencing that you don\u2019t know how to express. It\u2019s also a way of escaping it in the short term \u2013 but it\u2019s harmful in the long term.\n\n\u201cIt was work that led to me having a breakdown. I\u2019d been living with depression a very long time already; work happened to be the way it was expressed. I had to take time off, about a year.\n\n\u201cThe thing that was disappointing for me more than anything else was that when I was ready to go to work my employer became quite disruptive. They basically said: \u2018You can come back to us but rather than reporting directly to the MD [managing director] you\u2019re going to have to report to someone else who we\u2019ve promoted in your absence.\u2019 So we agreed that I would leave.\n\n\u201cThe experience at GrantTree has been very different. I am very passionate about my job, I get caught up in it and here I have colleagues who say to me: \u2018You seem to be staying late and taking on quite a lot of stuff, is that sustainable?\u2019 [They are] people who recognise I can fall into this kind of behaviour.\u201d", "output": "Approximately 300,000 people in the UK with long-term mental health issues lose their jobs each year, 50% more than do so due to physical health, according to a government-commissioned study. The Thriving at Work report, published on Thursday, estimates that poor mental health costs the UK economy up to \u00a399bn ($131bn) annually, \u00a342bn of which employers bear. The report calls for employers to support six core principles, including increasing awareness and monitoring staff well-being. Research by Deloitte suggests businesses could receive returns of between \u00a31.50 and \u00a39 for each \u00a31 invested in health interventions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Superbug MRSA found to be spreading outside UK hospitals \n Antibiotic-resistant MRSA is spreading outside hospitals having left its usual breeding grounds, new research reveals.\n\nMethicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which kills up to one-fifth of infected individuals, is affecting people throughout Britain by going undetected in communities, a study found.\n\nAlthough the infection is typically associated with hospitals, many sufferers are unaware they carry MRSA, which is symptomless unless it enters the bloodstream. This allows them to spread the life-threatening bacteria through skin-to-skin contact when out and about, the research adds.\n\nDespite patients being routinely screened for the bacteria upon hospital admission, the test is fairly inaccurate, which further encourages the infection to spread.\n\nDr Jonathan Pearce, head of infections and immunity at the Medical Research Council, who was not involved in the study, said: 'This study sheds light on MRSA transmission within and between hospitals and the community, which could help strengthen infection prevention and control measures.'\n\nAntibiotic-resistant MRSA is spreading outside hospitals into communities (stock)\n\nWHAT IS MRSA? Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a type of bacteria that is resistant to several widely-used antibiotics, which makes it particularly hard to treat. Catching the infection early could prevent it spreading and infecting others. Approximately 30 per cent of people carry the Staphylococcus aureus bacteria even in their nose, armpits, groin or buttocks without realising it. This can invade the body's bloodstream and release poisonous toxins that kill up to one-fifth of infected patients. MRSA is most commonly associated with hospitals. As well as being highly drug resistant, current screening methods are fairly inaccurate, which allows the infection to spread as a patient moves around both within and outside hospitals. Even when the infection is successfully treated, it doubles the average length of a patient's hospital stay, as well as increasing healthcare costs. The WHO recently classified MRSA as high priority on its list for the Research and Development of new drugs. Advertisement !- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/ru/health/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 - ->\n\nHow the research was carried out\n\nResearchers from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridgeshire mapped MRSA transmission rates among 1,465 people in eastern England over one year.\n\nThey sequenced the DNA of at least one MRSA strain from the study's participants based on samples that are routinely collected from infected individuals and sent to labs.\n\nThe lab involved in the investigation serves three hospitals and 75 GP surgeries.\n\nSome 173 MRSA outbreaks were detected, which occurred in hospitals, the community, GP surgeries and people's homes.\n\nCases were linked by assessing the participants' hospital admissions, ward transfers and home addresses.\n\nMRSA goes undetected in the community\n\nResults reveal the infection is transmitted in the community after going unrecognised by doctors.\n\nThis contradicts the assumption MRSA infections solely occur in hospitals with outbreaks being confined to single wards.\n\nSpecific individuals are thought to help spread the infection if they frequently visit different healthcare-related buildings.\n\nEarlier this year the World Health Organisation warned antibiotic-resistant superbugs pose an enormous threat to human health.\n\nThe researchers detected MRSA strains native to the UK, Taiwan and the US, which suggests their findings could apply to other regions around the world.\n\nThey aim to initiate a second study next year to investigate new MRSA cases and how it spreads to help improve treatments.\n\nStudy leader Professor Sharon Peacock said: 'Our study has shown sequencing all MRSA samples as soon as they are isolated can rapidly pinpoint where MRSA transmission is occurring.\n\n'If implemented in clinical practice this would provide numerous opportunities to catch outbreaks early and target these to bring them to a close, for example by decolonising carriers and implementing barrier nursing.\n\n'We have the technology in place to do this and it could have a really positive impact on public health and patient outcomes.'\n\nDr Jonathan Pearce added: 'Antibiotic resistance poses a global challenge to healthcare.\n\n'To tackle it we need to prevent infections, preserve existing antibiotics and promote the development of new therapies and interventions.\n\n'This study sheds light on MRSA transmission within and between hospitals and the community, which could help strengthen infection prevention and control measures.'\n\nThe findings were published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.", "output": "Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), one of the superbugs that are\u00a0resistant to antibiotics, is spreading out of hospitals and into the UK population at large, according to research. Hospitals are the usual breeding grounds for MRSA;\u00a0however, although patients are routinely screened for MRSA, the test is fairly inaccurate. Also, carriers of the bacteria can spread the disease, which is symptomless until it enters the bloodstream, unknowing, which\u00a0allows it to be passed on\u00a0through skin-to-skin contact."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese crypto-miner Bitmain to provide AI training hardware \n Beijing-headquartered Bitmain, the world\u2019s largest Bitcoin Bitcoin While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we\u2019ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC\u2019s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John\u2019s.One could now argue that While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we\u2019ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC\u2019s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John\u2019s.One could now argue that Read this Termmining hardware producer, today announced its first products for accelerating artificial intelligence (AI) applications.\n\nGadi Glikberg\n\nEarlier this year Finance Magnates exclusively reported that Bitmain decided to enter the AI market after we visited the offices of Bitmaintech Israel - the company\u2019s first R&D center outside of China. Today the head of Bitmaintech Israel, Gadi Glikberg, told us: \"We are very proud to be part of the software development effort of the Sophon products. Our AI researchers are focused on creating computer vision and NLP solutions that are optimized for the Sophon platform.\"\n\nThe new products are a customized tensor computing ASIC ASIC The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is the prime regulator in Australia for corporate, markets, financial services, and consumer credit. It is empowered under the financial service laws to facilitate, regulate, and enforce Australian financial laws. The Australian Commission was set up and is administered under the Australian Securities and Investment Commission Act of 2001. ASIC was initially the Australian Securities Commission based on the 1989 ASC Act. Initially, the The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is the prime regulator in Australia for corporate, markets, financial services, and consumer credit. It is empowered under the financial service laws to facilitate, regulate, and enforce Australian financial laws. The Australian Commission was set up and is administered under the Australian Securities and Investment Commission Act of 2001. ASIC was initially the Australian Securities Commission based on the 1989 ASC Act. Initially, the Read this Term (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) optimized for training functions for deep learning networks and an advanced fan-cooled module that combines it into a compact, easy-to-integrate package. These can be applied in a variety of use cases including image and speech recognition, autonomous vehicle technology, enhanced security camera surveillance, robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), and more.\n\n\u201cDeep learning is very intensive computationally and our experience in creating high-performing hardware for Bitcoin has absolutely prepared us for this exciting area of computing,\u201d notes Micree Zhan, Bitmain CEO. \u201cAI hardware is an area that Bitmain is proactively developing to power the next generation of AI applications.\n\nBitmain saw trends in the AI business that were similar to the early days of Bitcoin, and so we started to explore AI toward the end of 2015. Now after only a year and a half, we have the mass-production chips in hand.\u201d\n\nThe developers explain that the new products, called BM1680 and SC1, feature full compatibility with popular AI platforms, including mainstream Caffe, Darknet, Googlenet, VGG, Resnet, Yolo, Yoto2 and other models.", "output": "Less than two years after first entering the artificial intelligence (AI) sector, Beijing-based Bitmain has unveiled its first AI hardware products. The advanced fan-cooled module and customised tensor computing Application Specific Integrated Circuit are fully compatible with several AI platforms, and can be applied to products ranging from autonomous vehicles and robotics\u00a0to the internet of things. The company's experience building hardware for bitcoin enabled the smooth transition into AI, said Bitmain CEO Micree Zhan.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian insurers should increase focus on female clients \n In OTT\n\nWhile Disney+ Hotstar is eyeing to double its reach during the World Cup and a 50% increase in viewership during the Asia Cup, marketers are expecting a 10-15% reduction in CPM along with improved demographic plus device price-based targeting", "output": "Insurers and other financial institutions in India should adjust their outreach campaigns to reflect societal changes and an increased prominence of women making more financial decisions, according to Best Media Info. The number of women making investment decisions independently has risen from 37% to 52% between 2015 and 2016, according to a report from Nielsen. Institutions can no longer assume men are making the majority of financial decisions within a family, with some companies suggesting marketing should look to be inclusive of the whole family unit.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "No plans to charge pages to appear in news feed: Facebook \n A controversial test of Facebook\u2019s new feature in several countries has news publishers very worried about their business\u2014but the company is adamant that there is nothing to fret about.\n\nFacebook recently rolled a new feed called \u201cExplore,\u201d which aggregates content that it thinks you might like, but that you don\u2019t necessarily follow (the results are\u2026not great, at least for Quartz journalists). In Sri Lanka, Bolivia, Slovakia, Serbia, Guatemala, and Cambodia, the company pushed all content from Facebook Pages, which includes news publishers, into the hard-to-find Explore feed, leaving only posts from friends and sponsored content in its most read News Feed.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nA post on Medium from Slovakian journalist Filip Struharik, started the panic among news organizations, who have come to depend on Facebook to drive a large share of their traffic. He said that the organic reach of some news pages fell by two-thirds. Immediately, speculation began that Facebook would ask publishers to pay to stay within the News Feed, which could upend many business strategies in the industry.\n\nFacebook denied this was the case, with the head of News Feed, Adam Mosseri, saying in a post: \u201cThere is no current plan to roll this out beyond these test countries or to charge pages on Facebook to pay for all their distribution in News Feed or Explore.\u201d At a media event in New York Tuesday, he said Facebook runs thousands of tests every day, and this was just one of them, which would \u201cinform\u201d a number of ideas for Facebook. Still, the prospect of Facebook de-emphasizing news is looming over publishers worldwide.\n\nThe Explore test comes amid the social media\u2019s newly tense relationship with legitimate publishers. Fake news has been crowding out real news\u2014during the 2016 presidential election in the US, such posts got higher engagement than those of all top news outlets combined. Although more and more people access news from Facebook and it makes all its money from ad revenue, the company maintains it\u2019s not a media company and, of course, shouldn\u2019t be regulated like one. Yet, small changes in its algorithm, as seen earlier this year, can significantly affect traffic to news sites and, thus, publishers\u2019 bottom lines.\n\nPerhaps adding insult to injury, Facebook on Tuesday introduced new guidelines for publishers. Mosseri said that \u201cclickbait and sensationalism are the number one complaint about News Feed.\u201d In its guidelines, the company is encouraging publishers to post content that\u2019s \u201cmeaningful and informative,\u201d since that is what users value, rather than hyped-up headlines.", "output": "Facebook has denied that it plans to charge publishers to remain in its news feeds, despite having run tests of such a system. The company introduced trials of its new \"Explore\" feed in a number of countries including Sri Lanka, Bolivia and Serbia, but a senior executive has now said it will not be extended worldwide. The experiment relegates non-promoted page content to a separate, less-prominent feed, raising concerns amongst publishers that they will in future have to pay to maintain their visibility to users."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sea levels to rise by 1.3 metres unless coal power ends by 2050 \n Coastal cities around the world could be devastated by 1.3m of sea level rise this century unless coal-generated electricity is virtually eliminated by 2050, according to a new paper that combines the latest understanding of Antarctica\u2019s contribution to sea level rise and the latest emissions projection scenarios.\n\nIt confirms again that significant sea level rise is inevitable and requires rapid adaptation. But, on a more positive note, the work reveals the majority of that rise \u2013 driven by newly recognised processes on Antarctica \u2013 could be avoided if the world fulfils its commitment made in Paris to keep global warming to \u201cwell below 2C\u201d.\n\nIn 2016, Robert DeConto from the University of Massachusetts Amherst revealed that Antarctica could contribute to massive sea level rise much earlier than thought, suggesting ice sheet collapse would occur sooner and identifying a new process where huge ice cliffs would disintegrate.\n\nBut that paper only examined the impact of Antarctica on sea level rise, ignoring other contributions, and didn\u2019t examine the details of what measures society needed to take to avoid those impacts.\n\nThe new paper by Alexander Nauels from the University of Melbourne and colleagues uses simplified physical models that allowed them to explore all known contributions to sea level rise, and pair them with the new generation of emissions scenarios which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will use in the next set of reports.\n\nUnder all scenarios we are going to have to adapt Sea level expert John Church\n\nThey found that if nothing is done to limit carbon pollution, then global sea levels will rise by an estimated 1.32m. That is 50% more than was previously thought, with the IPCC\u2019s AR5 report suggesting 85cm was possible by the end of the century.\n\nBut the extra contribution from Antarctica would not kick in if warming was kept at less than 1.9C above preindustrial levels, the researchers found. Temperatures above that threshold risked triggering the additional processes in Antarctica identified in the 2016 paper, causing much greater sea level rise.\n\n\u201cThe 1.5C limit in the Paris Agreement is a much safer bet to avoid this additional contribution than only achieving 2C,\u201d Nauels said.\n\nThe work, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, showed that the current carbon reduction pledges which governments have made as part of the Paris Agreement by 2030 \u2013 their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) \u2013 are so weak they would require very deep cuts between 2030 and 2050 to avoid triggering those extra processes in Antarctica.\n\n\n\nSince the authors used the next generation of emissions scenarios (the \u201cShared Socioeconomic Pathways\u201d), which include assumptions about socioeconomic factors that are driving emissions \u2013 such as energy demand, energy generation, population growth and GDP \u2013 they were able to examine what actions could be taken to avoid the sea level rise.\n\nThose scenarios suggested coal could only make up 5% of the world\u2019s energy mix by 2050 if sea level rise is to be limited to about half a metre.\n\nSimilarly, those scenarios suggested a global carbon price would have to be well over US$100 per tonne, since at that cost, sea level would rise by 65cm by 2100.\n\nJohn Church, a leading sea level rise expert from the University of New South Wales who was co-convening lead author of the chapter on sea level in the third and fifth IPCC Assessment Reports, told the Guardian the work was further confirmation that the world needed to prepare now for substantial sea level rises.\n\n\u201cUnder all scenarios we are going to have to adapt,\u201d Church said. \u201cWe cannot stop all sea level rise.\u201d\n\nHe said the research community was not in consensus yet about the accelerated contribution of Antarctica to sea level rise, identified in the 2016 paper and modelled in this study, but examining the implications of those findings was still important.\n\nDeConto, the lead author of the landmark paper from 2016, said it was important to recognise the good news in his original findings and this extension of that work.\n\n\u201cIn the aggressive mitigation pathways, where we assume that the global community gets its act together and we reduce emissions, it\u2019s a much rosier picture. There\u2019s a much reduced risk of dramatic sea level rise from Antarctica,\u201d he told the Guardian. \u201cThis study fully reinforces that.\u201d\n\nNauels said his team\u2019s work assumed that Antarctica would contribute to sea level rise as was suggested by the 2016 paper by DeConto, but more work was needed to confirm those findings.\n\n\u201cWe still have to find out what\u2019s going on in Antarctica,\u201d he told the Guardian. \u201cWe can\u2019t base all future sea level rise projects on just one paper. And the Antarctic ice sheet community are frantically working on the new insights.\u201d", "output": "Coastal cities could be severely affected by a 1.3 metre rise in sea levels within this century, unless coal-generated electricity is all but eradicated by 2050, according to research from the University of Melbourne. The study drew on the latest understanding of the role played by Antarctica in sea level rises, combined with up-to-date emissions projections. The predicted rise is 50% more than that stated in previous estimates by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The research suggested the majority of the newly predicted rise could be avoided by limiting global warming to less than 1.9C above preindustrial levels."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Twitter to stop accepting ads from Russia Today and Sputnik \n Twitter has announced that it will stop taking advertising from all accounts owned by RT and Sputnik, effective immediately as US lawmakers continue to investigate the impact of foreign-sponsored fake news on the 2016 election.\n\nIn a blogpost on Thursday the company said it had taken the decision following its own investigations and the US intelligence community\u2019s conclusion that both RT, formerly known as Russia Today, and Sputnik attempted to interfere with the election on behalf of the Russian government.\n\n\u201cWe did not come to this decision lightly, and are taking this step now as part of our ongoing commitment to help protect the integrity of the user experience on Twitter,\u201d the company said.\n\nRussia\u2019s foreign ministry vowed to retaliate, saying that the move flouted international and domestic laws on free speech, the RIA news agency reported.\n\n\u201cWe see this as an aggressive move,\u201d Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the RIA Novosti agency.\n\n\u201cThis is the result of pressure from the American establishment and intelligence services. Retaliatory measures will of course follow,\u201d she said.\n\nRT\u2019s editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonyan, attacked the move on Twitter, asking whether Twitter\u2019s chief executive, Jack Dorsey, would explain to Congress why the company had asked the Russian service to invest in advertising around the election.\n\n\u201cI never thought that Twitter is under the control of the US security services \u2013 it seemed like a conspiracy theory,\u201d she was quoted as saying. \u201cBut now Twitter appears to have admitted it.\u201d\n\nRT called Twitter\u2019s statement \u201cgroundless and greatly misleading\u201d and said that it had \u201cnever pursued an agenda of influencing the US election through any platforms, including Twitter\u201d.\n\nThe Russian news service said Twitter had pushed RT to \u201cspend big\u201d during the campaign and offered it access to exclusive tools to get its message across.\n\nThe company will donate the $1.9m it has received from the Russian news sources to support external research into the \u201cuse of Twitter in civic engagement and elections\u201d.\n\nTwitter, Facebook and Google have all come under pressure for their roles in propagating fake news ahead of Donald Trump\u2019s election. The company had previously announced plans to make political advertising more transparent. Those changes come as a Senate intelligence committee investigates the Kremlin\u2019s potential meddling in US politics.\n\nSputnik said on its website that Twitter\u2019s move was regrettable, \u201cespecially now that Russia had vowed retaliatory measures against the US media.\u201d It did not elaborate.\n\nThe news came as Twitter announced it is close to posting its first ever profit after making deep cuts to jobs and expenses and finding new sources of revenue.\n\nBut growth at the social media company loved by celebrities and Trump has remained sluggish and Twitter announced it had found an error in its accounting that had overestimated the number of its users.\n\nThe social media company has never had a profitable quarter but now believes it \u201cwill likely\u201d be profitable in the fourth quarter of this year. The good news sent the company\u2019s share price soaring over 12% in early trading.\n\nFor the third quarter, Twitter had a revenue of $590m, down 4% from $616m a year earlier, a fall the company blamed largely on the previously announced decision to wind down its TellApart advertising product.\n\n\n\nBut the good news on profits came as Twitter once again revealed disappointing growth in the US. Twitter had 330 million monthly active users (MAUs) in the quarter ending on 30 September, up just four million from the previous quarter.\n\n\n\nIn the US the number of users rose to 69 million from 68 million.\n\nTwitter also said that it had uncovered an error in the way it has calculated the size of its user base since 2014 and has revised its estimates downward, but that the difference amounted to less than 1%.\n\n\n\nTwitter said the error in past user estimates was caused when it wrongly counted people who logged into applications associated with the company\u2019s Fabric software platform, which Twitter sold this year to Alphabet\u2019s Google.\n\n\n\n\u201cYes, they grew four million MAU sequentially, which is good enough for the stock to stay at current levels, but revenue growth remains a problem,\u201d said Michael Pachter, managing director, equity research at Wedbush Securities.\n\nInvestors and analysts have at times criticized Twitter for how it describes the size of its user base, which is a key metric for social media companies. Unlike Facebook, Twitter does not disclose how many daily active users it has.\n\nDorsey said in a statement that the business was making progress growing its audience and returning to revenue growth. \u201cWe\u2019re proud that the improvements we\u2019re making to the product continue to bring people back to Twitter on a daily basis,\u201d he said.\n\nTwitter\u2019s net loss narrowed to $21m, compared with $103m, a year earlier.\n\nThe company has stepped up efforts to keep people hooked through live-streaming deals, including broadcasts of concerts, news and sports. Last month, Twitter began a test of tweets that are as long as 280 characters, double the existing cap, to allow people to better express themselves.\n\n\n\n", "output": "Twitter will no longer accept advertising from accounts owned by Russia Today and Sputnik. The decision comes in the wake of allegations that foreign-sponsored fake news was used to interfere in the 2016 US Presidential election. The company will also donate the $1.9m it has received from these two sources to externally conducted research into the \u201cuse of Twitter in civic engagement and elections\u201d."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Reason Your Dental Work Isn't Covered by Medical Insurance \n I was at the dentist recently for a toothache. He snapped some X-rays, gave my mouth a quick lookover, said I appeared to have cracked the tooth (likely from my severe TMJ) and would need a root canal. He forwarded me to an endodontist. The endodontist discovered I had a strange mass in my jaw that appeared unrelated to the cracked tooth. He put me on antibiotics to prevent infection and forwarded me to an oral surgeon, who confirmed the mass was harmless. Now I\u2019m going back to the endodontist for the root canal, and then back to the dentist for the crown. I have spent over $500 and about eight hours in dental chairs to get this far. It will be thousands more dollars and dozens more hours before I solve this problem. None of it is covered by medical insurance.\n\nI should have gotten dental insurance, right? That\u2019s what I kept telling myself, until I actually looked into the dental plans for which I qualify (more on that in a moment). But the real question here: Why is dental not covered under medical insurance? The same may be asked of vision, but at least there if you have a serious eye problem (like glaucoma or cataracts) you go to an ophthalmologist, which is covered by medical. Such isn\u2019t the case with dental.\n\nThe oral cavity is a gateway to your body. A lot of stuff in the mouth can indicate kidney disease, heart disease, diabetes, HPV, cancer, etc.\n\nThe partition between dental and medical makes little sense given that \u201coral health is directly related to general health,\u201d says Dr. Gary Glassman, an endodontist based in Toronto, Canada who also practices in the U.S. \u201cThe oral cavity is a gateway to your body. A lot of stuff in the mouth can indicate kidney disease, heart disease, diabetes, HPV, cancer, etc. Your dentist can be your first line of defense.\u201d\n\nThe Barbaric History Of Dentistry\n\nDespite it being a plainly medical issue, oral health has always been an outlier. Until the 1800s, dentistry was the domain of barbershops, practiced in the same chair and usually by the same guy who shaved your beard.\n\n\u201cHow would you feel if you went to your hairdresser and they pulled your tooth or lanced your abscess?\u201d asks Dr. Glassman.\n\nIt\u2019s so bizarre and frightful an image that it\u2019s almost comical, but the history of our teeth and jaws being treated as something as incidental as our hair and nails still haunts us.\n\n\u201cDentistry has always had a disconnect to medicine,\u201d says Dr. Michael Tischler who specializes in reconstructive dentistry and the implant editor for Dentistry Today. \u201cIn 1840 dentistry was proposed as a medical specialty to the University of Maryland in Baltimore and rejected.\u201d\n\nWe may have since greatly evolved in how we regard and understand dentistry, but we haven\u2019t embraced it as a primarily medical issue; if we had, it would be covered under medical insurance, or at least, things like a root canal would be, because if you need a root canal and don\u2019t get one, you could end up with all kinds of lethal problems that lead to hospitalization. It is rumored that Queen Elizabeth died from blood poisoning as a result of an untreated tooth infection. That was a long time ago, but hey, it happens.\n\nWhy isn\u2019t a health problem so serious it can be deadly, not considered medical? To an extent, it\u2019s because it\u2019s not that common to end up in the hospital as a result of a tooth or gum problem \u2014 not if you\u2019re keeping up with preventative dental care.\n\nThe Insurance Game of Risk\n\n\u201cThe reason dental is separate from medical is that the nature of the risk is fundamentally different as is the deferability of the care,\u201d says Dr. Adam C. Powell, president of Payer+Provider Syndicate, a management advisory and operational consulting firm focused on the managed care and healthcare delivery industries. \u201cIf you\u2019re having a heart attack you'll go to the ER right away. Dental problems can often wait and unfortunately often do. The problem may deteriorate, but often it\u2019s not necessarily life-threatening.\u201d\n\nYes, dental problems often do wait. Mine is waiting until my next paycheck (or three). But the argument that dental problems are less severe than \u201cmedical\u201d ones doesn\u2019t quite hold up, not when you look at the numbers of ER visits for which dental-related problems account.\n\n\u201cMore than 800,000 annual ER visits arise from preventable dental problems,\u201d says Dr. Allena Willis Kennerly, an orthodontist. Dr. Glassman adds that this year alone 50,000 people will be diagnosed with oral cancer, adding, \u201cProbably 10,000 of those people will die, but these are things that if caught really early can be better treated, before they spread and metastasize.\u201d\n\nDental Insurance Is Like \u2018Triple A For Your Mouth\u2019\n\nNow, let\u2019s say you do have dental insurance. That\u2019s certainly more favorable than the alternative, but it\u2019s hardly ideal. If you undergo a serious procedure, you\u2019ll likely still be left with a hefty bill.\n\n\u201cDental insurance, unlike medical, is not regulated and it tends to be very constrained,\u201d says Powell. \u201cThe annual maximum benefit is not that high, and there\u2019s usually some sort of deductible.\u201d\n\nAnd it\u2019s a relatively new type of insurance, with Dr. Bobbi Stanley, a dentist, noting that it was first introduced some 60 years ago. \u201cDental work was a fee for service agreement until the mid-50\u2019s when dental insurance was introduced in California,\u201d says Dr. Stanley. \u201c[Plans] rose in popularity throughout the \u201860s and had a reimbursement of about $1000.\u201d\n\nInflation may have catapulted the worth of the dollar over the decades, but the reimbursement rate for dental insurance hasn\u2019t budged much. \u201cMost dental insurance companies have an [annual] maximum of $1,500.00,\u201d says Dr. Anil Dwivedi, a general dentist with a specialty in anesthesiology.\n\nClearly the purpose of dental insurance is not to cover dire issues, but to prevent them \u2014 by encouraging regular maintenance. Dr. Powell likens dental plans to \u201cTriple A for your mouth,\" highlighting that \"it's not like car insurance [which covers catastrophes], but it includes a few free oil changes.\u201d\n\nA few oil changes can go a long way (to stick with Powell\u2019s disturbingly apt analogy), and preventative care does have a terrifically positive impact on one\u2019s oral health. But it doesn\u2019t prevent every problem. Take me for example. I need a root canal because I cracked a tooth from clenching and grinding \u2014 even though I wear a $600 bite guard at night (which was made for me by a dentist when I had dental insurance, and which was not covered by my dental insurance). Problems like mine are, evidently, not so rare.\n\n\u201cUnfortunately we see extreme situations like this all the time,\u201d says Dr. Tischler. \u201cSo even though I preach prevention, prevention, prevention, it won't save you from serious dental emergencies. And that is compounded by the fact that while dental insurance will cover preventative aspects of dental care it doesn\u2019t always cover major dental procedures for adults. This is something that people need to be aware of from a financial planning standpoint.\u201d\n\nDr. Powell asserts that one major reason dental plans tend to be so minimal in what they cover, is because people don\u2019t want to shell out higher premiums.\n\n\u201cIf [dental plans] were more inclusive, that could be a problem because then premiums would be higher, and if premiums were higher, plans would be less appealing to people,\u201d says Powell. \u201cI buy the dental plan because it\u2019s a good rate and it\u2019s cheaper than paying directly out of pocket. If it started covering these high claims it would not be $400 a year dental plan, it would be a $700 a year plan, and then I wouldn't buy it.\u201d\n\nThe Case To Merge Medical and Dental\n\nThere are still a lot of people not buying dental insurance, even when many plans costs less than a Netflix subscription. No judgments, people, I\u2019m in the same camp.\n\n\u201cSome 74 million Americans had no dental coverage in 2016,\u201d says Dr. Tischler. \u201cThe dentally uninsured rate has increased to about four times the medically uninsured rate \u2014 even with dental coverage expansions. In part, this is due to the lack of dental coverage in traditional Medicare. Those over 65 may still have coverage through an employer, be able to purchase individual dental coverage or obtain dental coverage as a supplemental benefit through a Medicare Advantage plan; however only 52.9 percent reported having dental coverage on the 2016 NADP consumer survey while virtually 100 percent of seniors have medical coverage under Medicare.\u201d\n\nDentists are trying to decrease the separation between dentistry and medicine because we are doctors of oral medicine.\n\nIt doesn't look like interest in dental insurance will pick up in 2017, but someday we might not have to worry about it. There is a glimmer of hope that dental will eventually be covered under medical in the future.\n\n\u201cIt's widely accepted that dental and medical are separate, but the gap is closing as we move forward,\u201d says Glassman. \u201cDentists are trying to decrease the separation between dentistry and medicine because we are doctors of oral medicine.\u201d\n\nThere\u2019s also the mounting data that the healthcare industry could benefit from covering dental as part of medical. Consider those 800,000 ER visits per year for dental-related problems. Wouldn\u2019t more people get the preventative dental care if it were covered by their medical insurance? Couldn\u2019t medical insurance companies ultimately save oodles of money on emergency care if the problem were nipped in the bud free of charge?\n\nDr. Glassman certainly thinks so.\n\n\u201cIt would be more affordable for medical insurance to include basic dentistry,\u201d says Dr. Glassman. \u201cNot only would it save a lot of lives, it would save a heck of a lot of money.\u201d\n\nWant more tips like these? NBC News BETTER is obsessed with finding easier, healthier and smarter ways to live. Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.", "output": "Why is dental care not under the jurisdiction of medical insurance, despite similar problems with eyes being covered? Oral health is \u201cdirectly related\u201d to general health, with the oral cavity being \u201ca gateway to your body\u201d, according to Dr. Gary Glassman, an endodontist. The first line of defense against cancer, kidney disease, heart disease, HPV and diabetes can start with dentists, but oral health has long been divided from general health. Dentistry in the 1800s was taken care of in barbershops, but teeth were treated in a similar way to hair and nails. In 1840, the University of Maryland in Baltimore rejected dentistry as a medical division. One reason why it has not been placed within the remit of health care may be because of the rarity of patients ending up in hospital beds as a result of tooth or gum issues, with risk a considerable factor. Dental treatment can often be delayed, not necessarily being life-threatening in nature. However, over 800,000 annual ER visits are caused by preventable dental issues, with 50,000 people likely to be diagnosed with oral cancer in 2017 alone. 10,000 of these patients will likely die, but earlier treatment can reduce that number. With dental insurance being unregulated and fairly limited, there is still a significant likelihood of being left with steep bills. Dental insurance is also relatively new, being introduced only 60 years ago. Reimbursement is poor, with an average annual maximum of $1,500. Dental insurance, then, is designed to be used as a preventative measure for routine maintenance, rather than dealing with serious issues. However, this is often not enough, leading to extreme situations where a relatively serious issue has escalated. Major dental procedures are not often covered by insurance, leading to larger problems down the line. If dental plans included further treatments and procedures, premiums would increase; but with this increase, dental plans would lose interest for many citizens, who prefer to pay a lower fee for a less comprehensive plan or have no plan at all. Around 74 million Americans did not have dental coverage in 2016, partly due to the fact that dental coverage in traditional Medicare benefits is limited. Adding preventative dental care to general health care insurance could reduce pressure on emergency departments and save lives, whilst also being more affordable.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Long-term Care: Investing in Models That Work \n President Trump and the US Congress have promised to reduce federal spending, through tactics that include cutting Medicaid and Medicare. What they fail to take into account is that sometimes investing in programs that work well can reduce spending while improving the health and well-being of people. A case in point: programs that help older adults and those who are disabled remain in their homes and out of long-term care facilities.\n\nAmerican Medical Association\n\nThe proportion of the US population 65 years or older is expected to almost double by 2050, to more than 87 million, when surviving baby boomers will be older than 85 years and likely frail. Older adults\u2019 needs for assistance in activities of daily living will increase, challenging both care delivery systems and costs. With the average annual cost of a private room in a nursing home now more than $100 000, keeping people in their own homes and communities could dramatically reduce federal Medicaid spending. But how can this be accomplished?\n\nSeveral mature demonstration projects have been shown to prevent nursing home admission, but scaling them up will require start-up funding in communities nationwide, removing regulatory barriers, and embracing a social model of health.\n\nModels That Keep Older Adults at Home\n\nThe Altarum Institute Center for Elder Care and Advanced Illness has proposed a model called MediCaring communities for keeping frail elders in the community while enhancing quality of life and reducing the use of medical services. It requires a person-centered approach that integrates long-term services and supports (LTSS) with medical and nursing care. These services may include care coordination, home-delivered meals, dementia training programs for home health aides, home maintenance and modification programs to help with disability, and personal care.\n\nAltarum conducted a rigorous financial simulation of 4 diverse MediCaring communities and found that they all reduced per-capita costs, and the savings could be used to shore up underfunded LTSS. The model also could be extended to older adults who are not yet frail and to those who are significantly disabled.\n\nAltarum suggests that the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) could launch a MediCaring community program if Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) rules were more flexible, for example, by allowing PACE programs to serve Medicare-only patients according to their health status. PACE started in San Francisco in 1973 with On Lok (Cantonese for \u201cpeaceful, happy home\u201d), an organization serving an Asian American community. There are now 233 PACE centers in 31 states serving about 40 000 nursing-home eligible people older than 55 years. With capitated payments from Medicare and Medicaid (if approved by states), PACE programs assume financial risk and provide comprehensive social, medical, and nursing services. Services include adult day care, transportation to and from the center, food programs, home care, primary care, social services, and other preventive services, all at a lower cost than institutionalization.\n\nAnne Montgomery, MS, deputy director of Altarum\u2019s Center for Elder Care and Advanced Illness, says, \u201cExpansion of PACE to Medicare-only beneficiaries who have LTSS needs\u2014both those who are already nursing-home eligible and those who are not\u2014makes enormous sense as we try to retrofit our existing care system to be more comprehensive and to include LTSS. This is a no-new-dollars approach.\u201d\n\nThe CAPABLE (Community Aging in Place, Advancing Better Living for Elders) program could augment the MediCaring community model by building older adults\u2019 capacity to remain in their homes. Initially tested with a grant from CMS, CAPABLE uses registered nurses, occupational therapists, and handymen to provide Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries with home repairs, coaching on self-management to maintain independence, and making referrals, as needed. It reduces disability by improving ability to perform activities of daily living, and lowers rates of emergency department use, hospital readmissions, and depression. Sarah Szanton, PhD, RN, professor of nursing at Johns Hopkins University and founder of CAPABLE, reports that the documented cost savings are sufficient to prompt some home care agencies, 5 cities in Michigan, accountable care organizations, insurers, and others to adopt CAPABLE or integrate it into other models of care.\n\nThese and other demonstration models suggest that we can reduce costs by helping people stay at home as they age. But services must also include support of family caregivers, notes Claudia Beverly, PhD, RN, professor of nursing at the University of Arkansas and former director of the Arkansas Aging Initiative. \u201cFamily caregivers burn out when urinary incontinence and dementia set in, so they need training in complex caregiving, use of a well-trained home health aide, help with shopping and cleaning, or respite care.\u201d\n\nBarriers to MediCaring Communities Nationwide\n\nThere are several barriers to implementing these and similar models.\n\nFirst, states may look for ways to cut services if Congress deeply cuts federal Medicaid funding, even if investing in these models would control Medicaid spending on long-term care. Not all states have opted into the PACE program, despite the documented Medicaid savings.\n\nSecond, many communities are likely to need funds to create MediCaring communities based on the PACE model. PACE requires substantial preparation to establish a network of services, including housing for the day center, transportation, connections with medical and nursing care professionals, and administrative infrastructure. Peter Fitzgerald, MSc, executive vice president of policy and strategy for the National PACE Association, says, \u201cPACE is not easy. You have to establish provider capacity, and that takes time.\u201d\n\nThe Money Follows the Person Rebalancing Demonstration and the Balancing Incentives program authorized by the Affordable Care Act show that state incentives can increase the proportion of older and disabled people on Medicaid who can move out of institutions into home settings, with some of the savings going to support services.\n\nFor example, Balancing Incentives provided states with enhanced federal funding over 5 years for improving and expanding home and community-based services through an equitable, user-friendly, consistent process. The enhanced funds helped states create enrollment systems with \u201cNo Wrong Door\u201d/Single Entry Point for all people in need of information about and access to LTSS, core standardized assessments, and conflict-free case management services. In an evaluation of the program, Mathematica found it successful in increasing the proportion of Medicaid beneficiaries in community settings at no detriment to their health and with increases in quality of life.\n\nThird, regulatory barriers for Medicare and Medicaid get in the way, providing a \u201cderegulatory opportunity\u201d for the Trump administration. Certain regulations can facilitate the expansion of PACE, for example, such as expanding PACE to disabled people younger than 55 years and to older adults who are not yet nursing home eligible. This was authorized under the PACE Innovative Act but doesn\u2019t have implementing regulations yet. The Bipartisan Policy Center has proposed, among other things, that Medicare\u2019s payment risk adjustment incorporate a measure of functional impairment because it drives health care use and nursing home placement, and that Medicare pay for supportive services that can reduce the need for institutional care.\n\nPeter Fitzgerald has a theory as to why we haven\u2019t scaled up effective programs such as PACE: \u201cWe got so taken with the idea that we needed something new that we didn\u2019t look at what has worked.\u201d But this is changing, he adds, as caring for the boomer generation becomes a reality. I hope he\u2019s right.\n\nBack to top Article Information\n\nCorresponding Author: Diana J. Mason, PhD, RN (djmasonrn@gmail.com).\n\nPublished Online: September 13, 2017, at https://newsatjama.jama.com/category/the-jama-forum/.\n\nDisclaimer: Each entry in The JAMA Forum expresses the opinions of the author but does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of JAMA, the editorial staff, or the American Medical Association.\n\nAdditional Information: Information about The JAMA Forum, including disclosures of potential conflicts of interest, is available at https://newsatjama.jama.com/about/.\n\nNote: The print version excludes source references. Please go online to jama.com.", "output": "Investing in long-term care models can lower spending and improve citizens\u2019 health, a fact that has not translated into recent legislation promises in the United States. The Trump administration and Congress have pledged to reduce the level of federal spending, but have focused on reducing Medicaid and Medicare spending. As the proportion of those aged 65 and older is predicted to nearly double to reach 87 million by 2050, daily assistance and long-term care will become an expensive burden. However, models have been proposed that could improve quality of life and reduce the burden on medical services. The Altarum Institute Center for Elder Care and Advanced Illness has suggested a new model named MediCaring communities, designed to help elderly citizens to continue residing in their local communities but also reducing the usage of medical services. The model utilizes a person-centered approach that includes long-term services (LTSS) and blends it with medical and nursing care. The model covers care coordination, meal delivery services, training programs on dementia for home health aides, home modification and maintenances, and personal care. Altarum\u2019s financial analysis of four MediCaring communities found that per-capita costs were reduced, with savings potentially being used for LTSS services that are underfunded. The system could also be used for older adults who are not yet classified as frail, or to those with significant disabilities. The existing Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) could offer a MediCaring community program, if the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regulation was more lenient and would allow PACE programs to offer Medicare-only patients the option, depending on their health issues. The model is a \u201cno-new-dollars approach\u201d, says Anne Montgomery, the deputy director of Altarum\u2019s Center for Elder Care and Advanced Illness. The CAPABLE (Community Aging in Place, Advancing Better Living for Elders) program could also help to extend the MediCaring community model by helping older citizens to remain in their homes. Originally enabled via a grant from CMS, CAPABLE offers Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries the assistance of registered nurses, occupational therapists, and handymen for maintaining independence. The program has been shown to lower the burden on emergency departments and hospitals, as well as lowering patient depression. However, there are issues in implementing these programs. States may be looking to reduce services if federal Medicaid funding is cut by Congress, despite the fact that investment in these type of models could reduce Medicaid spending on long-term care. At present, some states have not opted into the PACE program, despite its proven reduction in cost. Additionally, funds will be needed to create the MediCaring communities that use the PACE model at first, as it requires significant preparation for service networks to be set up. Regulatory barriers for Medicare and Medicaid could also prove to be an obstacle, allowing the Trump administration to take advantage of this \u201cderegulatory opportunity\u201d. PACE could be expanded to disabled people under the age of 55 and to older adults not yet eligible for nursing homes under the current PACE Innovative Act, but no regulation has been put into place.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nearly Half of All Medical Care in the US Is in Emergency Departments \n The percentage of care delivered in emergency departments has increased with nearly half of all medical care in the United States occurring there, according to a study.\n\nResearchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) were able to quantify the contribution of emergency department care in reference to overall US healthcare. The study examined public data from 1996 to 2010 from national health databases. A paper explaining the findings was published in the International Journal for Health Services.\n\nFor 2010, the researchers found that there were nearly 130 million emergency department visits, while there were 101 million outpatient visits and almost 39 million inpatient visits. Throughout the full 14-year study period, 3.5 billion healthcare contacts occurred\u2014emergency department visits, outpatient visits, and hospital admissions. The emergency care visits increased by nearly 44% during that time.\n\n\u201cI was stunned by the results,\" David Marcozzi, an associate professor in the UMSOM Department of Emergency Medicine, and co-director of the UMSOM Program in Health Disparities and Population Health, said in a statement. \"This really helps us better understand health care in this country. This research underscores the fact that emergency departments are critical to our nation\u2019s healthcare delivery system.\"\n\nThe study also noted that certain demographics were more likely to use the emergency department for healthcare. African American patients and those who were considered \u201cother\u201d for their health insurance category\u2014such as those without any type of insurance\u2014were found to be significantly more likely to use the emergency department.\n\nThe increase in emergency room cases were able to be accounted for by certain groups including African Americans, Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, residents of the South and West, and women. The authors suggested that this further reveals the vulnerable populations that potentially face healthcare inequalities.\n\n\u201cPatients seek care in emergency departments for many reasons. The data might suggest that emergency care provides the type of care that individuals actually want or need, 24 hours a day,\u201d Marcozzi said.\n\nThe paper recommends working to connect the care delivered in emergency departments with the level of delivered care in the rest of the healthcare system.", "output": "Emergency department use in the US now accounts for half of all medical care provided and is critical to health care delivery in the nation according to a recent study by the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The researchers focused on data from 1996 to 2010 and the 3.5 billion health care interactions that took place during this time relating to emergency department visits, hospital admissions, and outpatient visits. In 2010 there were a total of 39 million inpatient visits, 101 million outpatient visits, and 130 million emergency department visits, a rise of 44 percent over the course of the 14-year study. These increases in the use of emergency room cases can be accounted for by the groups most likely to use the service. Primarily this included women, African Americans, Medicare and Medicaid enrollees, as well as residents from the South and West. In addition to this, the research also demonstrated that there were significant demographic distinctions in the use of emergency care. Alongside those classed as being without any type of health insurance, African Americans were the most likely to use the emergency department and the authors believe that their statistics indicate that\u00a0health care inequalities impact primarily upon the most vulnerable populations. A key recommendation of the paper is that more should be done to connect the care services offered in emergency departments with care delivery systems across the rest of the health network.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China seeks to challenge dollar's global dominance \n China is looking to make a major move against the dollar's global dominance, and it may come as early as this year.\n\nThe new strategy is to enlist the energy markets' help: Beijing may introduce a new way to price oil in coming months \u2014 but unlike the contracts based on the U.S. dollar that currently dominate global markets, this benchmark would use China's own currency. If there's widespread adoption, as the Chinese hope, then that will mark a step toward challenging the greenback's status as the world's most powerful currency.\n\nChina is the world's top oil importer, and so Beijing sees it as only logical that its own currency should price the global economy's most important commodity. But beyond that, moving away from the dollar is a strategic priority for countries like China and Russia. Both aim to ultimately reduce their dependency on the greenback, limiting their exposure to U.S. currency risk and the politics of American sanctions regimes.\n\nThe plan is to price oil in yuan using a gold-backed futures contract in Shanghai, but the road will be long and arduous.\n\n\"Game changer it is not \u2014 at least not yet,\" said Gal Luft, co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, a Washington based think tank focused on energy security. \"But it is another indicator of the beginning of the glacial, and I emphasize the word glacial, decline of the dollar.\"\n\nBeijing faces skeptical global oil markets and global perceptions it exerts too much state control. Those factors will hinder its drive to build a viable oil pricing benchmark that's able to compete with more established benchmarks like or (both dollar-denominated).\n\nThe architects of the \"petro-yuan\" face an uphill struggle in dislodging the \"petrodollar\" and, with it, more than four decades of U.S. dollar-priced oil. Attracting interest from entrenched and active markets in Europe, the U.S. and the Middle East \u2014 used to price more than two-thirds of the world's oil worth trillions of dollars \u2013 poses another major challenge.\n\n\"Many, many futures contracts are launched because they make some sense from a logical market point of view and they get a lot of attention. But then they die because the key is liquidity,\" said Jeff Brown, president at FGE, an international energy consultant.\n\nThere are really only a handful of truly global oil contracts from which all else is based, Brown explained, adding: \"It will be extraordinarily difficult to change that.\"", "output": "China is seeking to disrupt the power of the dollar with a new method of pricing oil using gold-backed futures contracts in yuan. If the benchmark is adopted, it could help to push the value of the yuan past that of the dollar, given China's position as the leading global\u00a0oil importer. Both China and Russia plan to curtail their dollar dependency to reduce\u00a0currency risk. Gal Luft, a co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, said the move could be the \"beginning of the glacial \u2026\u00a0decline of the dollar\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Elon Musk attacks Way of the Future AI\u00a0religion \n Experts who talk of artificially intelligent (AI) robots reaching divine status should \"absolutely not be allowed\" to create a machine smarter than humans, Elon Musk warned on Twitter.\n\nThe Tesla and SpaceX CEO was addressing an article from tech news site VentureBeat about the possibility of an AI \"god\" emerging by 2042.\n\nTWEET\n\nOne of the experts cited in the feature, former Google self-driving car engineer Anthony Levandowski, established a nonprofit religious organization called Way of the Future. The firm's mission statement reads: \"To develop and promote the realization of a Godhead based on artificial intelligence and through understanding and worship of the Godhead contribute to the betterment of society.\"\n\nLevandowski was at the center of a lawsuit between Uber and Alphabet's Waymo unit, the latter of which accused Levandowski of stealing trade secrets related to autonomous vehicles and taking them with him to Uber.\n\nAnother expert, Vince Lynch, said there was a \"commonality\" between AI and religion. Lynch's company IV.AI demonstrated a model whereby a computer could write new verses from the Bible.", "output": "A religion called Way of the Future has been founded by Anthony Levandowski, the engineer at the centre of a Silicon Valley autonomous car lawsuit. Its declared aim is\u00a0to \"develop and promote the realisation of a godhead based on artificial intelligence\u201d by 2042, reported Leslie Hook in the Financial Times. Elon Musk has attacked Levandowski's idea, warning that\u00a0such people should not be allowed to create a machine that is more intelligent than people.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California's Project Frog integrates tech into prefab building kits \n Thank you for your interest in The Registry. You must Subscribe or Log In to read the rest of this content.", "output": "San Francisco firm Project Frog has cut labour costs by up to 80% and reduced construction times by two-thirds, after integrating technology into its prefabricated buildings, according to CEO Drew Buechley. He said using cloud design applications to design prefab kits offered \"architectural freedom\", while its automation engine examined site conditions against their kits, allowing the creation of \"fabrication-level detail\". Project Frog has several projects under way across California and has completed a net-zero energy facility in Hawaii.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Publiq Foundation launches content platform for unbiased news \n Swiss non-profit the Publiq Foundation has launched a blockchain-based content platform that aims to fight \u201cfake news\u201d and bias reporting.\n\nThe organization uses blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) to build an ecosystem operated by authors, journalists, bloggers and advertisers that\u2019s censorship proof and where all profits gained through the platform are distributed between content providers. It also introduces a reputation-scoring system based on readers\u2019 views and feedbacks intended to allow authors to be more fairly rewarded.\n\nPubliq said its goal is to \u201covercome the massive flow of poor, fake and fabricated news\u201d by offering a transparent rewarding process that incentivizes members to write quality content. It said it aims to solve the numerous problems that have plagued the media industry including over centralization, unfair remunerations, poor customer experience and lack of quality content.\n\n\u201cBy creating a content distribution platform, we\u2019re trying to tackle the tabloid journalism that is consumed daily,\u201d said Alexandre Tabbakh, CEO of the Publiq Foundation.\n\n\u201cPropaganda and fake news are some of the main problems the media industry faces. We are creating an ecosystem of accredited authors with trusted reputations, and guarantee that only high quality content will be promoted over the platform. The merit-based distribution will result in a paradigm shift by unchaining the creative power of an individual to become a full participant of the economy of the future.\u201d\n\nPubliq is a distributed media environment owned, governed and operated by a global independent community, the organization said.\n\nContent on Publiq\u2019s blockchain-based platform is cryptographically sealed, distributed, and published, preventing any third parties from tampering with the author\u2019s work.\n\nAuthors are rewarded in PBQ tokens, the in-house token, according to their Publiq Score, which is calculated by the previous engagement their pieces have earned and which is based on feedbacks from readers.\n\nThis introduces a mechanism of community governance and removes the need of intermediaries or traditional publishing houses from the chain of creation and distribution, Publiq said.\n\nAdvertisers can use the platform as well for a more targeted advertising process. The AI algorithm provides an advertisement platform mechanism based on readers\u2019 preferences.\n\nPubliq is amongst the numerous startups that are leveraging blockchain technology to transform the media and news industry. Copenhagen-based startup Media Shifter is using blockchain and the wisdom of the crowd to change the way we consume news.\n\nMedia Shifter\u2019s news aggregator is built on top of a community that validates aggregated content through blockchain-powered user consensus, enabling readers to better \u201cnavigate through the noise and bias of the current media landscape.\u201d\n\nAnother venture, called Userfeeds, is building a content ranking and reputation system for blockchain communities.", "output": "Switzerland's Publiq Foundation has set up a blockchain-based platform where journalists, bloggers and writers can publish quality content. The blockchain technology allows content to be cryptographically sealed, rendering it tamper-proof, while the merit-based payment system, based on audience engagement, will be paid in the platform's PBQ tokens. Publiq said advertisers using the platform would benefit from an artificial intelligence algorithm that facilitated personalised targeting.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Legal firms pre-emmptively open bitcoin wallets in fear of hacks \n In response to a spate of hackings, some law firms have made the decision to preemptively open Bitcoin wallets to pay their attackers. John Sweeney, president of IT and cyber security advisory company LogicForce claimed that accounts would be used to settle ransoms as a \u201clast resort\u201d and the measure should be part of a wider contingency plan.\n\nFor Sweeney, the decision is proactive rather than reactive. However, what exactly is proactive about waiting to get hacked and then paying a ransom is unclear. There aren\u2019t even any guarantees that the criminals will release the breached data following settlement of demands. According to the cyber security expert himself, it has taken some firms months and multiple ransoms to even recover data from hackers. Even then, the data may already be compromised, rendering confidentiality agreements between clients and companies useless and potentially exposing sensitive details.\n\nThe latest security breach was announced earlier today. An offshore law firm catering to super-rich clients was hacked by a criminal group. Those served by Appleby in Bermuda will be awaiting the criminals\u2019 next move which likely be either blackmail or straight up exposure. This highlights a major issue with law firms\u2019 security which Sweeney says needs to be tackled. Data is often sent via unencrypted emails and thus risks being breached by any hacker savvy enough to get around the often-scant security procedures in place. Certain data obtained via such a practice is understandably extremely valuable to the parties concerned. Sweeney commented about the growing trend within the industry:\n\nWe are predicting there are going to be more sophisticated attempts to intrude at firms that work with highly visible clients whose IP or business information is extremely valuable.\n\nExacerbating the problem is the fact that cyber-criminals\u2019 can often cover their own tracks impeccably. This makes it unlikely that they\u2019ll be caught and for Sweeney, it represents a risk/reward proposition that\u2019s \u201ctotally in the cyber criminals\u2019 favour.\u201d\n\nHowever, the decision to announce that some firms will have a digital wallet loaded with funds to pay off hackers seems to do little else than paint a huge target on the law industry. Clearly, by having the money ready, the implication is that firms are willing to settle ransoms, leaving them further exposed. Sweeney does however urge firms to do more to enhance their security and eliminate potential online attack vectors. There are no shortage of funds within the law industry, so in reality, there is no excuse for not employing the most up-to-date encryption techniques for sensitive data, as well as suitable backup solutions. Prevention, as they say, is much better than cure.", "output": "Legal firms should focus on beefing up their security to prevent cyber attacks, rather than having bitcoin wallets on standby to pay off ransomware users, according to Richard Delaney, writing for NewsBTC. He said companies which set aside cryptocurrency as a pre-emptive measure did little more than \"paint a huge target\" on the industry, and criticised the use of unencrypted e-mails to send sensitive information which could be highly attractive to cyber criminals.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Belgium's Bancontact rolls out contactless mobile payments \n Belgian payment scheme Bancontact has rolled out contactless smartphone payments to the general public.\n\nSupported by 20 banks across Belgium, the Bancontact app currently processes one million payments a month on behalf of users.\n\n\n\nThe contactless functionality has been enabled for Android phone users only and enables payments without a PIN for sums below EUR25 with just a tap at the terminal.\n\n\n\n\"The smartphone is steadily becoming a genuine extension of our wallets,\" says Boncontact CEO Kim Van Esbroeck. \"Every cardholder can benefit from this technology, regardless of who they bank with or which bankcard they have.\"", "output": "Belgian payments provider Bancontact has launched contactless smartphone payments for the general public, allowing Android mobile users to make contactless payments without a PIN for amounts under \u20ac25 ($29). The Bancontact app has support from 20 banks across Belgium and deals with one million payments per month.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Alipay partners with JPMorgan to offer\u00a0PoS mobile\u00a0payments\u00a0in US \n In another move designed to simplify transactions for the growing number of Chinese consumers traveling in North America, Alipay has partnered with JPMorgan Chase. Users of the Alipay app will be able to pay using their Alipay Mobile Wallet at the POS of many Chase Merchant Services clients. As many as 4 million Chinese consumers are expected to visit North America in 2017 alone.\n\nWith the proposed Alipay-Chase relationship, Chinese travelers will be able to locate nearby merchants via the app\u2019s geolocation-based \u201cDiscover\u201d function and receive promotion information via push notifications. Local merchants will be able to better target and connect with these consumers.\n\nAlipay has been steadily expanding its capabilities in the North American market since its initial announcement at the NRF Big Show in January 2017. The third-party payment platform, which is operated by Alibaba\u2019s Ant Financial Services Group, has:\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u2022 Integrated local content from Yelp and entered into a joint venture with Marriott Hotels in August;\n\n\u2022 Allowed consumers to use their wallets in Rebecca Minkoff stores and web sites in September; and\n\n\u2022 Earlier this month, partnered with Verifone to allow Chinese consumers to use Alipay for taxi rides in New York and Las Vegas.", "output": "Online and mobile payments provider Alipay is working with JPMorgan Chase to enable Alipay Mobile Wallet PoS transactions at\u00a0Chase merchant clients. The move will allow Chinese consumers to use Alipay across North\u00a0America, with\u00a0up to four\u00a0million Chinese visitors predicted to visit North America this year. Merchants will be searchable through a geolocation-based feature and can send promotional information through push notifications.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Electric cars emit half the total greenhouse gas of diesels \n Electric cars emit significantly less greenhouse gases over their lifetimes than diesel engines even when they are powered by the most carbon intensive energy, a new report has found.\n\nIn Poland, which uses high volumes of coal, electric vehicles produced a quarter less emissions than diesels when put through a full lifecycle modelling study by Belgium\u2019s VUB University.\n\nCO2 reductions on Europe\u2019s cleanest grid in Sweden were a remarkable 85%, falling to around one half for countries such as the UK.\n\n\u201cOn average, electric vehicles will emit half the CO2 emissions of a diesel car by 2030, including the manufacturing emissions,\u201d said Yoann Le Petit, a spokesman for the T&E think tank, which commissioned the study.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been facing a lot of fake news in the past year about electrification put out by the fuel industry but in this study you can see that even in Poland today it is more beneficial to the climate to drive an electric vehicle than a diesel.\u201d\n\nThe new study uses an EU estimate of Poland\u2019s emissions \u2013 at 650gCO2/kWh \u2013 which is significantly lower than calculations by the European commission\u2019s Joint Research Centre science wing last year.\n\nBut its findings will likely be welcomed in Brussels, where a new emissions standard for 2030 is set to be unveiled in November, along with some potentially more radical proposals.\n\nSpeaking in the European parliament this month, the EU\u2019s climate commissioner, Miguel Canete, said: \u201cOne option we\u2019re looking at is a mandate to ensure a minimum share of low \u2013 for manufacturers it could be zero \u2013 emitting vehicles.\u201d\n\nToday, just 1.7% of new vehicles sold in Europe are electric, and some EU officials question whether Europe has access to enough lithium to create a 5-10% market share for electric cars anytime soon. Its capacity to scale up construction of battery plants may also be in doubt.\n\n\u201cYou can\u2019t have a massive explosion of electric cars as there\u2019s no plants here to build the batteries,\u201d one EU source said. \u201cIn any case, when you take into account the emissions from battery manufacture and electricity supply, their GHG emissions are not so attractive.\n\nThe VUB study says that while the supply of critical metals \u2013 lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite \u2013 and rare earths would have to be closely monitored and diversified, it should not constrain the clean transport transition.\n\nAs battery technology improves and more renewables enter the electricity grid, emissions from battery production itself could be cut by 65%, the study found.", "output": "Electric cars emit half as many greenhouse gases over their lifetime as diesel engines, even when powered by carbon-intensive energy, according to a study by Belgium\u2019s VUB University. In Poland, electric vehicles were found to produce 25% fewer emissions than diesel cars, while emissions in Sweden, which has the cleanest grid in Europe, fell by 85%. Reductions of around 50% were found in other countries, including the UK. The study also found that improvements in battery technology and increased use of renewables could cut battery production emissions by 65%.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Security awareness firm KnowBe4 pulls $30m in funding \n KnowBe4, a fast-growing security awareness training and phishing simulation provider, announced they have closed on a $30 million Series B investment led by Goldman Sachs. The funding comes on the heels of 18 consecutive quarters of growth, which resulted in the company landing at No. 231 on the Inc. 5000 annual ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in America.\n\nKevin Mitnick, an internationally recognized computer security expert and KnowBe4\u2019s chief hacking officer \u2014 often referred to as the world\u2019s most famous hacker \u2014 helped design KnowBe4\u2019s cybersecurity training.\n\nCyber threats and need for employee training continue to grow\n\nHelping organizations combat the burgeoning ransomware threat by training their employees is a huge market opportunity.\n\nA whopping 91 percent of cyber attacks and the resulting data breaches begin with a spearphishing email, according to numerous sources. KnowBe4 states that this conclusively shows end users really are the weak link in IT security.\n\nA growing percentage of phishing emails, when clicked by users, inject ransomware into computers and mobile devices.\n\nFurther, global ransomware damage costs are predicted to exceed $5 billion in 2017, up from $325 million in 2015 \u2014 15x in just two years. And the impact is expected to worsen, especially for healthcare organizations, which have been attacked the most and may see ransomware attacks quadruple by 2020.\n\nThe human attack surface is growing exponentially year over year at a time when people have moved ahead of machines as the primary targets for hackers. There are 3.8 billion internet users in 2017 (51 percent of the world\u2019s population of 7 billion), which is up from 2 billion in 2015.\n\nCybersecurity Ventures predicts there will be 6 billion internet users by 2022 (75 percent of the projected world population of 8 billion) \u2014 and more than 7.5 billion internet users by 2030 (90 percent of the projected world population of 8.5 billion, 6 years of age and older).\n\nThe total addressable market \u2014 or T.A.M. as venture capitalists call it \u2014 for the security awareness training market is exploding. One report predicts the market for training employees on how to detect and defend against spearphishing emails, ransomware attacks and other cyber threats will reach $10 billion by 2027, up from $1 billion in 2014.\n\nGoldman Sachs: KnowBe4 platform is a must-have\n\n\u201cKnowBe4 has separated itself as a leader in the cybersecurity awareness training market, with their platform becoming a 'need to have' for businesses across sectors and geographies in the fight against cyber threats,\u201d said Hans Sherman, a vice president in Goldman Sachs\u2019 Merchant Banking Division who will join the KnowBe4 board of directors in connection with the investment.\n\nInstitutional investors and VC firms may view the Goldman Sachs investment as a call to action. There\u2019s a solid lineup of security awareness training companies \u2014 each bringing their own unique programs and tools to turn employees into cyber defenders.\n\nIf there\u2019s one thing for sure, it\u2019s that a whole lotta employees need to be trained on security. The security awareness market will be an interesting one to watch.\n\nVisit SteveOnCyber.com to read all of my blogs and articles covering cybersecurity.\n\nFollow me on Twitter @CybersecuritySF, or connect with me on LinkedIn. Send story tips, feedback and suggestions to me here.", "output": "KnowBe4 has capped 18 consecutive quarters of growth with a $30m series B investment from Goldman Sachs. KnowBe4 provides cybersecurity awareness training and phishing simulations to help companies recognise and avoid cyber attacks, and boasts Kevin Mitnick, regarded as the world's most famous hacker, as its chief hacking officer. The market for security awareness training is set to explode, amid estimates that by 2030, 90% of the world's population will be using the internet. In 2017, global ransomware attacks are set to cost $5bn, a 15-fold increase on the 2015 figure of $325m.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Health experts demand minimum alcohol price in UK \n The UK government should follow Wales and introduce minimum unit alcohol pricing to reduce harm and the economic cost of abuse, health professionals and campaigners have said.\n\nOn Monday the Welsh government announced plans to follow the lead set by Scotland in 2012 for a minimum unit price of alcohol, although it has yet to be introduced north of the border because of legal challenges.\n\nMinisters in Westminster have defied calls to embrace the policy, citing a lack of evidence, but are facing fresh pressure to change tack.\n\n\n\nIn a letter to the Guardian, 50 signatories, including the Tory MP Dr Sarah Wollaston and representatives of bodies including Alcohol Health Alliance UK, the British Medical Association and the Royal Society of Public Health, wrote: \u201cMinimum unit pricing is a highly effective tool to reduce the number of deaths related to alcohol, crime and workplace absence.\n\n\u201cThe Welsh government continues to demonstrate its firm commitment to tackle the problem of cheap alcohol and the devastating effect this has on our communities, especially its most vulnerable members.\u201d\n\nIt added: \u201cWith alcohol misuse costing \u00a321bn-52bn per year, the UK government must now follow Wales and Scotland by implementing a policy that will save lives, relieve pressure on our NHS and fulfil its commitment to even out life chances.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe letter, also signed by representatives of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the British Liver Trust and the UK Health Forum, said it was unacceptable that three litres of white cider, containing the equivalent alcohol of 22 shots of vodka, can be bought for just \u00a33.49. It stated that the legislation would not impact prices in pubs but would target \u201cpocket money-priced alcohol\u201d.\n\nIn 2014, research on the impact of introducing a 50p minimum unit price (the level set by Scotland) in Wales estimated there would be 53 fewer deaths and 1,400 fewer hospital admissions in Wales each year, saving the NHS more than \u00a3130m over 20 years.\n\nThe Welsh government has not stipulated its minimum unit price but the public health minister, Rebecca Evans, said: \u201cThere is a very clear and direct link between levels of excessive drinking and the availability of cheap alcohol.\u201d\n\nThe UK government has previously resisted calls to introduce minimum unit pricing for alcohol despite its health advisers throwing their weight behind the policy. In a review commissioned by the government, published last year, Public Health England found that drink was the biggest killer of people aged between 15 and 49 in England, accounted for 167,000 years of lost productivity each year and was a factor in more than 200 illnesses.\n\nThe coalition government pledged in March 2012 to bring in minimum pricing but made a U-turn in July 2013 after intense lobbying by the alcohol industry.\n\nThe Scotch Whisky Association has challenged the Scottish legislation, arguing it is in breach of EU law because it restricts free trade and is anti-competitive. The supreme court is expected to give its judgment within the next few weeks, in the latest stage of the long-running legal battle.\n\nA government spokesman said: \u201cMinimum unit pricing in England and Wales remains under review pending the outcome of the legal case between the Scottish government and the Scotch Whisky Association, and any subsequent introduction in Scotland.\n\n\u201cThe UK government will assess the legislative competence of any Welsh government legislation that is introduced, as is standard practice with all Welsh assembly bills.\u201d", "output": "The UK should introduce minimum unit alcohol pricing to reduce the physical and economic damage of alcohol abuse, according to a letter from 50 health professionals and campaigners, including the British Medical Association and the Royal Society of Public Health. The letter, sent to The Guardian, claims that alcohol misuse costs the UK between \u00a321bn ($28bn) and \u00a352bn ($69bn) each year. On Monday, the Welsh government announced plans to follow the example of Scotland, which fixed a minimum unit price in 2012. The Scottish law has yet to be introduced due to legal challenges. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Health experts demand minimum alcohol price in UK \n We unequivocally endorse the Welsh government\u2019s adoption of a minimum unit price for alcohol (Wales reveals plan for minimum alcohol price, 23 October).\n\nMinimum unit pricing is a highly effective tool to reduce the number of deaths related to alcohol, crime and workplace absence. The Welsh government continues to demonstrate its firm commitment to tackle the problem of cheap alcohol and the devastating effect this has on our communities, especially its most vulnerable members.\n\nThis decisive action will not impact prices in pubs or bars but target pocket-money-priced alcohol. It is simply unacceptable that three litres of white cider, containing the equivalent alcohol of 22 shots of vodka, can be bought for just \u00a33.49.\n\nWith alcohol misuse costing \u00a321bn-\u00a352bn per year, the UK government must now follow Wales and Scotland by implementing a policy that will save lives, relieve pressure on our NHS and fulfil its commitment to even out life chances.\n\nProf Sir Ian Gilmore Chair, Alcohol Health Alliance UK\n\nDr Andrew Yeoman National clinical lead, Wales Liver Disease Delivery Plan\n\nDr Sarah Wollaston MP\n\nLiam Byrne MP\n\nFiona Bruce MP Chair of the APPG on Alcohol Harm\n\nClive Brooke Labour, House of Lords\n\nIlora Finlay Crossbench, House of Lords\n\nKatherine Brown Chief executive, Institute of Alcohol Studies\n\nDr Richard Piper Chief executive of Alcohol Research UK and Alcohol Concern\n\nProf Jonathan Shepherd Director, Violence Research Group\n\nDr Andrew Furber President, Association of Directors of Public Health\n\nRob Poole Professor of social psychiatry, Centre for Mental Health and Society, Bangor University\n\nDr Adrian Boyle Consultant emergency physician, Cambridge University Hospitals Foundation Trust\n\nDr Kieran Moriarty British Society of Gastroenterology\n\nDr Peter Rice Chair, steering group, Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems\n\nProf Roger Williams Foundation for Liver Research\n\nProf Nick Sheron Head of clinical hepatology, University of Southampton\n\nAlison Douglas Chief executive, Alcohol Focus Scotland\n\nDr Eric Carlin Director, Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems\n\nProf Paul Lincoln CEO, UK Health Forum\n\nDr Ranjini Rao Consultant psychiatrist in addictions, and chair of addictions faculty in Wales, Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych)\n\nProf Parveen Kumar Chair, board of science, British Medical Association\n\nDr Gerry Lynch Consultant psychiatrist, chair of RCPsych in Northern Ireland and vice-president of RCPsych\n\nRichard Gardner Chief executive, British Society of Gastroenterology\n\nProf Matthew Cramp President, British Association for the Study of the Liver\n\nShirley Cramer Chief executive, Royal Society for Public Health\n\nDr Linda Bauld Deputy director, UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies\n\nProf John Middleton President, UK Faculty of Public Health\n\nCatherine Robinson Professor of social policy research, Centre for Mental Health and Society, Bangor University\n\nProf Jennifer Mindell Chair, Health Improvement Committee, UK Faculty of Public Health\n\nDr Ewan Forrest Consultant hepatologist and honorary clinical associate professor, Glasgow Royal Infirmary\n\nJudi Rhys Chief executive, British Liver Trust\n\nDr Linda Harris Lead for substance misuse, Royal College of General Practitioners\n\nDr Dominique Florin Medical director, Medical Council on Alcohol\n\nDr Zul Mirza Consultant in Emergency Medicine\n\nHelen Donovan Royal College of Nursing\n\nProf Keith Lloyd Chair of RCPsych in Wales and vice-president of RCPsych\n\nDr Helen Toal Consultant psychiatrist, and chair of addictions faculty, RCPsych in Northern Ireland\n\nJohn Jolly Chief executive, Blenheim\n\nDr Clementine Maddock Consultant psychiatrist\n\nDr Ahmed Khan Chair of the RCPsych in Scotland Addictions Faculty\n\nProfessor Robin Touquet Emeritus professor of emergency medicine, Imperial College London and St Mary\u2019s hospital, Paddington\n\nNigel Bongard Trustee of Alcohelp\n\nTerry Martin Trustee of Alcohelp\n\nDr Chris Record Consultant hepatologist\n\nDr John Crichton Chair of RCPsych in Scotland and vice-president of RCPsych\n\nDr Bruce Ritson\n\nProf Frank Murray Consultant gastroenterologist\n\nDiane Goslar Patient representative, Royal College of Psychiatrists\n\nProfessor Woody Caan Faculty of Public Health alcohol special interest group\n\nJoin the debate \u2013 email guardian.letters@theguardian.com", "output": "The UK should introduce minimum unit alcohol pricing to reduce the physical and economic damage of alcohol abuse, according to a letter from 50 health professionals and campaigners, including the British Medical Association and the Royal Society of Public Health. The letter, sent to The Guardian, claims that alcohol misuse costs the UK between \u00a321bn ($28bn) and \u00a352bn ($69bn) each year. On Monday, the Welsh government announced plans to follow the example of Scotland, which fixed a minimum unit price in 2012. The Scottish law has yet to be introduced due to legal challenges. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Catholic Church considers contactless payments for donations \n The Catholic Church in London is considering contactless collections to make donations easier.\n\nThe move is one of a number of possible options to help parishioners and visitors in an increasingly \"cashless society\", officials said.\n\nSeveral Catholic parishes in the Diocese of Westminster have already taken up the chance to allow parishioners to donate via text message on their mobile phone.\n\nAll parishes have been offered a code to allow them to do this, and the diocese said a few had already begun using this technology.", "output": "Catholic parishioners in London may be able to use contactless payments to make donations, according to the diocese of Westminster. It said it was one of several options being considered to help both churchgoers and visitors in the city, who wished to support the church. The diocese said all parishes have been offered a code to enable the payments\u00a0and a few have already begun to do so.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Daimler shows off E-Fuso Vision One prototype EV truck \n At the Tokyo Motor Show today, Daimler\u2019s Mitsubishi Fuso Truck division launched a new product brand entirely dedicated to electric trucks & buses.\n\nAs part of this new brand, the company unveiled a new all-electric heavy-duty concept truck at the show.\n\nThe new concept vehicle is called the E-FUSO Vision ONE.\n\nFuso says that it\u2019s a Class 8 truck that has a Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) of 23.26 tons and a payload of 11.11 tons, which is only 1.8 tons less than its diesel counterpart, and a range of up to 220 miles (350 km) with a single charge.\n\nThe truck maker claims that the range is enabled by a 300 kWh battery pack.\n\nDaimler already released a smaller all-electric truck called the FUSO eCanter, which is meant for urban routes with a range of only 100 kilometers (62 miles) and a load capacity up to three and a half tons.\n\nThe E-FUSO Vision ONE would instead aim at enabling longer routes with bigger loads:\n\n\u201cThe E-FUSO Vision One represents FUSO\u2019s view on the near future of electric trucks, extending the usage beyond the urban city limits. This prototype illustrates the possibilities of extending the current usage of all-electric trucks from the inter-urban centers to highways. The technology addresses medium-duty today and is developing for tomorrow\u2019s longer-haul semi, class 8 trucks.\u201d\n\nElectrek\u2019s Take\n\nThat\u2019s an interesting move emphasizing Daimler\u2019s commitment to electric trucks, which is especially important considering it is the biggest truck maker in the world across all its brands.\n\nIt\u2019s not clear if they have a working prototype of the new Class 8. Daimler was offering test drives with the eCanter, but not the Vision ONE.\n\nBut that\u2019s not even the most important missing piece of the puzzle. We know that Daimler can make an electric truck powertrain, but trucks are all about the economics.\n\nIt would have been nice to have some details on that front in order to estimate the cost per mile of operation, which is by far the most important thing for fleet operators and independent drivers.\n\nCummins, VW, and several others have also been developing electric trucks. Tesla was first supposed to unveil its own electric truck, Tesla Semi, this week, but it has been pushed to next month. It\u2019s not clear which one is closest to production, but it would be interesting start seeing some real numbers.\n\nSome analysts suggest that electric trucks could be 70% cheaper to operate than diesel-powered trucks.", "output": "Motor manufacturer Daimler has demonstrated the protype of its first heavy-duty electric truck, which it is developing under its Fuso brand. The E-Fuso Vision One can carry 11 tons of cargo, has a range of 220 miles, and could be on the market in Europe, Japan and the US within four years. The announcement comes just weeks before electric vehicle specialist Tesla is planning to launch its own new truck, and the timing by Daimler is being seen as a sign of increased rivalry between the companies."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon Key will let couriers into your home \u2013 under surveillance \n Twelve years ago, Amazon launched Prime, a subscription service that entitled members to free two-day shipping in the United States. Since then, it has added a number of options to make delivery faster and more convenient. Prime customers can get same-day delivery, and drop off with an hour or two on some items. Of course, customers aren\u2019t always home to receive their packages. So Amazon started putting lockers in nearby convenience stores and building lobbies. It even showed off drones that could drop the package right into your backyard. Today it\u2019s taking the obvious next step and introducing a service that will allow Amazon couriers to open your front door and put your package safely inside your home.\n\nThe service is called Amazon Key, and it relies on a Amazon\u2019s new Cloud Cam and compatible smart lock. The camera is the hub, connected to the internet via your home Wi-Fi. The camera talks to the lock over Zigbee, a wireless protocol utilized by many smart home devices.\n\nWhen a courier arrives with a package for in-home delivery, they scan the barcode, sending a request to Amazon\u2019s cloud. If everything checks out, the cloud grants permission by sending a message back to the camera, which starts recording. The courier then gets a prompt on their app, swipes the screen, and voil\u00e0, your door unlocks. They drop off the package, relock the door with another swipe, and are on their way. The customer will get a notification that their delivery has arrived, along with a short video showing the drop-off to confirm everything was done properly.\n\nThe Amazon Cloud Cam and compatible locks Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge\n\nThe system works with locks from Yale and Kwikset, two well-known brands. But the other piece, the connected camera, is made by Amazon, and that\u2019s a really big deal. Amazon is pushing even further into the smart home space, a market it\u2019s made big strides in, thanks to the huge popularity of its Alexa devices. Amazon\u2019s Cloud Cam is a central piece of its Key service, but it\u2019s also just a straightforward home security camera, one that can respond to voice commands and integrates with other Alexa devices. Amazon is planning to sell them in bundles and offer a subscription service for customers who want video archives and advanced home monitoring, putting the product in direct competition with Alphabet\u2019s Nest brand and others in the smart home space, like Ring and Logitech.\n\nPrime customers can preorder the camera today. The Key app and actual delivery service will become available November 8th.\n\nWill Prime customers trust Amazon with entry privileges?\n\nAll this raises a big question, however: will Prime customers trust Amazon to monitor their homes around the clock, and to know when it\u2019s okay to unlock their doors for a stranger? And will the benefit of having your packages delivered quickly and securely outweigh any concerns about privacy and security customers might have?\n\nFor $249.99, Amazon will sell you a bundle that includes a smart lock, the connected camera, and free installation. Once you have the system in place, in-home delivery will begin to appear as an option every time you order something on Amazon. There is no additional charge, and Amazon says the in-home delivery will be available on over 10 million items (anything that isn\u2019t too big and bulky). The one caveat is that, for now, Amazon only trusts its own delivery team to handle this work. So Amazon Key is only available in 37 cities across the US where Amazon Logistics handles the drop-off. But the company says it hopes to expand the service more widely in the future. It will be interesting to see if it eventually allows third-party delivery companies to handle this sensitive process.\n\nCloud Cam streaming on an Echo Show Photo: Amazon\n\nAmazon knows that it\u2019s asking a lot of consumers with its new Key service. You have to really trust a company to let it record what\u2019s going on inside your home at all times, and even more to unlock your door for strangers. So it tries to make sure the process is minimally invasive and totally transparent. Customers will get a notification the morning of a delivery, with a window of time when they should expect Amazon to arrive. They will get another notification when the delivery van shows up. That means you can start watching a live stream of the delivery on your camera if you want to keep an eye on things.\n\nEven if you choose in-home delivery, couriers are instructed to ring the bell or knock on the door first. That\u2019s meant to let people inside know someone is entering, and also give the delivery person a chance to check for potential hazards like angry dogs. Couriers are instructed to open the door as little as possible, slide the packages in, and not enter the home if possible.\n\nWhile Amazon isn\u2019t going to allow any third-party delivery services to get inside your house with Key (at least not at launch), the company is hoping that you\u2019ll use Key when ordering stuff like dog walking or kitchen cleaning from its Amazon Home Services division. In the coming months, it says Key will be integrated with over 1,200 service providers across 60 professions. You\u2019ll log on to the website or app of a service like Rover.com or Merry Maids, and there will be a button offering the option for in-home service through Amazon Key.\n\nAmazon\u2019s Cloud Cam and a compatible smart lock are essential ingredients for in-home delivery. But the company is hoping you\u2019ll use these devices for other things as well. The Key app is designed to make it simple for you to grant access to trusted friends and family. You can give permanent access, a one-time pass with a time limit, or recurring access that works on certain days and at certain times. You can grant access through the app or send permissions via a simple SMS message.\n\nIndividual Cloud Cams cost $120, but Amazon says it will be much cheaper if you buy them in bulk. Its forthcoming subscription service will allow you to archive and review footage and activate high-end features like motion detection, people detection, and zone monitoring. It\u2019s integrated with Alexa, so if you were down in the basement, you could ask Alexa to show you who\u2019s at the front door. For now, it\u2019s billed as an indoor security camera, and won\u2019t work if left outside in the rain.\n\nWhile Amazon\u2019s foray into smartphones flopped, it staged a coup with the introduction of Alexa, vaulting to the front of the pack when it comes to smart home gadgets. Alexa was the star of the show at CES for the past two years, finding its way into a wide range of products. Amazon has been aggressively pushing out more Alexa devices this year, everything from wardrobe assistants to alarm clocks. The Amazon Look is probably its most daring product; a camera that\u2019s meant to live in your closet and watch you change clothes requires a very high level of trust. But so far, Amazon has limited access to this device, which is still available for purchase by invitation only.\n\nThat makes Amazon Key a crucial stepping stone in Amazon\u2019s quest to manage your home life and integrate itself into your daily routine. Prime customers, of which there are now an estimated 85 million, may sign up for the service because they\u2019re interested in the convenience and security of having their deliveries left inside their homes. But in the process, they would be positioning Amazon to know a lot more about their lives and habits, like when they leave the house in the morning, how often they go on vacation, and when they get back from work at night.", "output": "Amazon is launching delivery service Amazon Key. Using a technology bundle featuring the company's new wireless Cloud Cam and a smart lock provided by Kwikset or Yale, customers can have orders not just delivered to their doors, but placed inside their homes, as couriers use the technology to enter properties, with their movements recorded by means of the camera. Amazon said only its own staff will be trusted to make these deliveries and the service will initially only be available in the 37 US cities where Amazon Logistics does home deliveries. Amazon Key retails for $249.99.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "P2P parking space platform AirGarage wins Phoenix hackathon \n Dive Brief:\n\nAirGarage, a marketplace that links homeowners or commercial properties that have unused parking spaces with drivers looking for a parking spot, won the third Phoenix Smart City Hack competition, according to Phoenix Business Journal.\n\nThe startup was launched by two Arizona State University students who were awarded with $3,000 and a trip to Barcelona to represent Arizona in the international Smart City Hack competition.\n\nSix other startups joined AirGarage in the finals. IoT Supercomputer, a platform capable of harnessing idle CPUs across the internet to turn idle computers into supercomputers, took second place. Life 365, a kit distribution service that connects hospital resources to the home, took third.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nThe Ideathon challenge was announced in June, calling on innovators with focuses on transportation, health, education and sustainability. Competitors had fairly large shoes to fill \u2014 the winners of the previous years' Hacks were Grand Canyon University startup Storage Together, a mobile app that connects homeowners with extra storage space to people who need it, and ParkX, a parking payment startup that began at University of Arizona and was eventually acquired by Passport Inc.\n\nAs evidenced by the three winners of this competition, events like Smart City Hack give students the opportunity to showcase ideas in a high-profile setting where opportunities for engagement are higher than they would be elsewhere. ParkX, for instance, began as a four-person operation called Park Genius, only to be successfully acquired and expanded to 2,000 locations thanks to the Hack exposure. It is likely that following this year's competition, AirGarage will grow in a way that two students may not have had the capacity to achieve on their own.\n\nThe objective of AirGarage \u2014 to provide affordable parking in congested areas \u2014 addresses a problem that is troubling cities nationwide, and the solution is one that falls in line with a bigger smart city trend of utilizing shared space. As demonstrated with apps like Storage Together or ride-share services, optimizing available space is becoming increasingly crucial, especially in the wake of growing populations.", "output": "Two Arizona State University students have won this year's annual Phoenix Smart City Hack competition with their online platform AirGarage. It connects people who have spare parking spaces with drivers seeking a spot. AirGarage collected a $3,000 prize, and will go on to represent Arizona in the international Smart City Hack competition\u00a0in Barcelona next month.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "'Of course it's a bubble': Ethereum co-founder \n For Wall Street analysts and investors trying to figure out whether cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether are destined to deflate, Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin has an answer for you: yes.\n\nBut just because a bubble pops doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s the end, he says. It actually might be better for the technology\u2019s long-term growth.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cOf course it\u2019s a bubble. Hopefully it\u2019s one in a series of increasingly larger bubbles,\u201d Lubin said at an event hosted by Quartz and Retro Report yesterday (Oct. 24) launching their What Happens Next series. \u201cThese bubbles bring attention, they bring value into the ecosystem. That value is recognized by software developers and business developers, and they create fundamental value and projects that grow the new architecture.\u201d\n\nLubin says that a Gartner analyst recently pegged Ethereum\u2019s developer base at 30 times larger than IBM-backed Hyperledger Fabric, a competitor in the blockchain space that enjoys all the benefits of having the support of a legacy computing company that has already won the trust of business.\n\nEther\u2019s price hovers just below $300 at time of press, but in recent months has been struggling to recover to its all-time high of $414. Ether serves as a currency which users of Ethereum pay to keep their programs on the service\u2019s decentralized computing service. A lower price means less bang for each ether.\n\nSpeaking to the volatility of cryptocurrencies, Lubin says that it\u2019s just a matter of fewer people using them compared to traditional currency systems, and that it\u2019s an addressable problem.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cAs they get a larger and larger monetary base, I think the volatility will decrease significantly. There are many state-issued currencies on this planet that are as volatile or more volatile than bitcoin or ether,\u201d he said.\n\nAnalysts from Credit-Suisse have noted that bitcoin is 11 times more volatile than the post-Brexit exchange rate between the British pound and US dollar, and three times more volatile than the price of oil.", "output": "Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin has confirmed that cryptocurrencies are a \"bubble\", but\u00a0said that he hopes it is \"one in a series of larger bubbles\" that\u00a0could be good for long-term growth. The bubble effect attracts interest and increases the Ethereum ecosystem's value, said Lubin. He\u00a0made assurances that the volatility in cryptocurrency value would decrease as the monetary base increases, stating that many fiat currencies have suffered worse than ether.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Autonomous vehicles could cut insurance premiums: UK minister \n John Hayes, transport minister in England, highlighted the potential savings for owners of driverless cars in a parliamentary session in which proposed new legislation to encourage growth in the development and commercialisation of driverless cars was discussed by MPs. The Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill was introduced before the UK parliament last week.\n\n\"My guess is that initially, as the marketplace develops and new products emerge, prices will be much as they are now; but that as the record becomes established and insurers\u2019 calculations about the likelihood of claims are affected by the greater safety provided by autonomous vehicles, prices may well fall,\" Hayes said.\n\nThe minister qualified his comments by stating that the pricing of motor insurance policies for driverless cars would be \"a matter for insurers\" and was \"not something that the government can stipulate, dictate or even, with any certainty, predict\".\n\nHowever, Hayes referred to comments made by David Williams, chief commercial underwriter at AXA who has predicted \"substantially reduced premiums\" in future as a result of driverless cars \"making our roads safer\" and reducing \"the costs of claims\".\n\nHayes said: \"It seems to me that if the \u200bsafety of autonomous vehicles means fewer accidents, insurers will find that out. As they do so, the ability to insure a vehicle will grow and the price of doing so will fall. That is, as I say, a matter for the future and not for now.\"\n\nAccording to the new Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill, insurers would generally be liable for damage stemming from an accident caused by an automated vehicle \"when driving itself\" where the vehicle is insured and \"an insured person or any other person suffers damage as a result of the accident\".\n\nWhere driverless cars are not insured, owners would be left liable for the damage stemming from accidents.\n\nInsurers would be able to exclude or limit their liability for damage if insured individuals make \"software alterations\" that they are prohibited to make under their insurance policy, or if they do no install \"safety-critical software updates\" that they at least \"ought reasonably to know\" are \"safety-critical\".\n\nWhere insurers are liable to make payment for damages to those impacted by an accident, they would have a right to raise a claim against those responsible for the accident for recovery of the money they have paid out.\n\nHayes said insurers' rights to recover costs from \"the liable party\" under the Bill would apply under \"common and product law\".\n\n\"Automated vehicles, together with an effective insurance framework, as the government propose in the Bill, could deliver significant financial and safety benefits for road users,\" the minister said.", "output": "As the market adjusts to autonomous vehicles, insurance premiums for auto policies could trend downwards, as greater use of autonomous technology leads to fewer accidents, according to England's transport minister John Hayes. Pricing may, however, remain flat following the initial introduction of autonomous cars as consumers and insurers adjust. The government is also not planning to get involved in determining how insurers should price coverage for self-driving cars, Hayes added. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tech integration key to growth for oilfield services companies \n Hardware ownership has become a critical part of Schlumberger\u2019s (NYSE: SLB) technology strategy as it expands its digital offerings, but don\u2019t expect the world\u2019s largest oilfield service company to start taking full ownership of rigs, floaters and other equipment.\n\nSchlumberger CEO Paal Kibsgaard sees the E&P industry like an outdated and cluttered computer hard drive. Information is spread out and separated by artificial dividing lines, creating slowdowns and inefficiency.\n\nSchlumberger\u2019s goal is to upgrade hardware and software into \u201ccomplete technology systems.\u201d In projects such as its \u201cRig of the Future\u201d the company is developing \u201cstreamlined and redefined end-to-end workflows,\u201d Kibsgaard told analysts Oct. 23.\n\nThe company wants relationships with jackup providers and potentially floater providers, but its focus now is on jackups.\n\n\u201cWe have no intention whatsoever of going back into full ownership of offshore rigs,\u201d he said.\n\nKibsgaard spoke about Schlumberger\u2019s technology efforts following the release of the company\u2019s third-quarter 2017 earnings report that brought news of a $581 million increase in profit\u2014a 65% improvement from a year ago\u2014and revenue of $7.91 billion, up from $7.02 billion.\n\nOilfield service companies, which suffered massive profit losses and headcount reductions during the downturn, have been ramping up their offerings with an increasing focus on digital technologies as the industry reaps the benefits of improved efficiency and growth from technology advances in general. The industry\u2019s largest service companies\u2014Schlumberger; Baker Hughes, a GE company; Halliburton and Weatherford\u2014have all expanded their technology offerings.\n\nBaker Hughes released IntelliStream upstream enterprise software, which the company said: \u201cprovides analytic-driven insights and continuous learning across reservoirs, wells, networks, facilities and people, continues to gain interest in the marketplace.\u201d\n\nHalliburton teamed up with Microsoft in a quest to \u201cdrive digital transformation across the oil and gas industry,\u201d making DecisionSpace 365 available on Azure for real-time data streaming and deep-learning applications.\n\nWeatherford released this month its PressurePro control system, which was described by the company as \u201ca fully integrated rotating control device and choke system for wellbore pressure management on land.\u201d\n\nSchlumberger, which also released new technology, is in pursuit of technology system integration, and Kibsgaard says hardware ownership is a critical element of its strategy.\n\n\u201cToday the broad and complex E&P industry workflows are still predominately enabled by discrete and fragmented products and services with the dividing lines between the various work packages defined by our customers\u2019 contracting framework, which was established decades ago,\u201d Kibsgaard said. \u201cThese artificial dividing lines made sense at the time of creation when technology systems were made up of a limited number of isolated hardware building blocks and the value of software and data was still nascent.\u201d\n\nHowever, \u201cFor the complexity of data\u2019s oilfield operations and the advances made in other industries in terms of total system performance it is clear that replacing the industry\u2019s fragmented approach with a new focus on complete technology systems holds a massive performance upside,\u201d he added.\n\nKibsgaard said Schlumberger sees potential in creating hardware technology with a broader scope, a smaller footprint and fewer interfaces. He added the company believes the next step-change for the industry will come in the form of complete technology systems that integrate software and hardware components\u2014an example being the Rig of the Future. The land drilling system is a cognitive drilling rig that incorporates a software platform driven by data.\n\nRELATED: Drilling In A Digital World\n\nBut maximizing the performance of E&P industry workflows will require leveraging the latest technological advances, Kibsgaard added. \u201cWe achieve this by making these enabling technologies an integral part of the new hardware and software technologies systems as opposed to attaching them on the outdated and fragmented technologies of yesterday. What we\u2019re doing with DELFI, which was introduced at the SIS Global Forum, during the third quarter is an example of this.\u201d\n\nThe DELFI cognitive E&P environment utilizes digital technologies such as security, analytics and machine learning, high-performance computing and the Internet of Things to improve operational efficiency and deliver optimized production. Schlumberger also released DrillPlan digital well construction planning solution that the company said is the first step in the DELFI cognitive E&P environment. DrillPlan enables operators and service companies to have access to all data and science needed in a single, common system.\n\n\u201cWe have also deployed an E&P data lake on Google Cloud platform comprising more than 1,000 3-D seismic surveys, 5 million wells, 1 million well logs and 400 million production records from around the world demonstrating a step-change in systems scalability,\u201d Kibsgaard said. \u201cDELFI will ultimately cover all industry workflows; however, the initial focus is on drilling and well construction.\u201d\n\nTechnology played an important role in driving revenue growth for Schlumberger for the third quarter with the production group, for instance, seeing a 15% rise in revenue attributed in part to gains in the North American hydraulic fracturing market, more unconventional activity in the Middle East and new several technology deployments.\n\nThird-quarter highlights also included Schlumberger and Borr Drilling signing an agreement earlier this month to offer integrated, performance-based drilling contracts in the offshore jackup market. Schlumberger Oilfield Holdings Ltd. has a 20% ownership in Borr Drilling, which recently agreed to buy nine jackup drilling rigs from Sembcorp Marine subsidiary PPL Shipyard (PPLS) in a $1.3 billion deal.\n\nIn an earnings preview, analysts at Barclays noted Kibsgaard\u2019s focus \u201cis to flex technology up or down in their service offerings to align performance with how much SLB will be rewarded for it. This sentiment is clearly echoed in its recent agreement with Borr Drilling.\u201d\n\nThe analysts added that Kibsgaard, who presented at a Barclays conference in September, is \u201cconfident that he can scale technology in either direction all while delivering incrementals and believes the issue of technology gets \u2018over-emphasized.\u2019\u201d\n\nBarclays added, \u201cKibsgaard noted this strategy aligns with SPM [Schlumberger Production Management], and E&Ps will start paying for technology again once they start experiencing stagnant results.\u201d\n\nVelda Addison can be reached at vaddison@hartenergy.com.", "output": "Schlumberger, the world's biggest oilfield services company, is developing complete systems that  consolidate the technology used in the\u00a0exploration and production industry. CEO Paal Kibsgaard said digital offerings, such as its analytics and machine learning tool Delfi, would increase efficiency, while combined software and hardware systems underpin Kibsgaard's vision of the \"rig of the future\". Schlumberger reported Q3 revenues of $7.91bn and a 65% uplift in profits year on year. It\u00a0recently signed a deal with Borr Drilling to offer performance-based contracts to offshore jackup rigs. Other\u00a0oilfield services companies, such as Halliburton, are also investing in digital technology.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Instagram allows users to add a friend into split-screen live video \n Now you can broadcast live alongside a friend on Instagram, wherever they are\n\nInstagram has introduced a new video feature as it looks to capitalise on the ever-increasing production and consumption of video content on its app. Now, users are able go livestream at the same time as a friend in split-screen.\n\nTo go live alongside a friend, Instagrammers start broadcasting alone, before inviting a friend to stream with them through the new dual-livestream icon at the bottom of screen. Once the invitation is accepted, the screen splits in two both users stream the shared live video to their respective followers.\n\nThe guest can be removed from the shared stream at any time and replaced with another person, or they are free to exit on their own accord. As normal, live videos can be added to stories once the broadcast has ended, or discarded.\n\nWhen someone is streaming live with a friend, two circles are stacked together in the Stories bar. This can be tapped to watch, and can be liked and commented on just like any other live video.\n\nJoin us at the 2017 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony, taking place in London on Thursday 16 November, to mix with the industry's best and brightest, and raise a glass to the year's best campaigns and solutions. To find out more, and to book your place, click here.", "output": "Social media site Instagram is aiming to capitalise on the growing popularity of video by unveiling a tool allowing users to stream live video with a friend using a split-screen option. Users broadcasting video can invite another person to join them by clicking the dual-livestream icon, while others are notified of the dualstream by an icon featuring two stacked circles in the Stories bar. Completed videos can also be posted to Stories."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fully virtual clinical trial performed by Science 37 \n Los Angeles-based research company Science 37 announced the completion of a clinical study for AOBiome Therapeutics conducted entirely through a smartphone app.\n\nThe Phase 2b study ran on the back of Science 37\u2019s mobile Network Oriented Research Assistant (NORA) platform, which allows for real-time video chat, customized self-photography models, data collection, and electronic consent. Science 37 Cofounder and CEO Dr. Noah Craft said that this study marks the first time an interventional, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of this kind has been conducted completely in the virtual space.\n\n\u201cOver the last three years we have had great success using our \u2018Metasite\u2019 approach to complete portions of larger trials; this is the first time we have run an entire trial virtually from start to finish,\u201d Craft, who was also the study\u2019s principal investigator, said in a statement. \u201cWith this technology, we were able to accelerate enrollment, capture on-the-ground results as they occurred, and ensure a greater diversity of participants in this truly patient-centered study.\u201d\n\nThrough the platform, researchers screened more than 8,000 people and enrolled 372 participants within seven months to participate in the study of AOBiome\u2019s acne treatment. Science 37 said this is approximately half the time that would have been necessary with a standard enrollment, and also noted the increased recruitment of non-white participants compared to most studies.\n\n\u201cWe originally estimated that the Phase 2b acne study would take significantly longer, requiring numerous clinical sites to complete,\u201d AOBiome President Todd Krueger said in a statement. \u201cWe are proud to have innovated the study design with the Science 37 team. This is truly an industry-first and we are excited about the results of the partnership.\u201d\n\nEnrolled participants were loaned an iPhone and data plan, and self-administered the spray-based intervention twice a day over 12 weeks with an additional four weeks of follow-up. With their devices, participants were able to connect with investigators 24-7 without having to visit any particular study site. In their own statement, AOBiome announced positive safety and efficacy findings based on the data collected through NORA.\n\n\"The completion of the AOBiome study is a great demonstration of efficacy and the ability to scale and run entire trials remotely through Science 37's Metasite model without the need for brick-and-mortar facilities,\u201d Craft told MobiHealthNews. \u201cWe believe that at least half of trials today can be done [virtually] with the right expertise and logistics behind them.\"\n\nCurrently, Science 37\u2019s model is also being implemented in trials investigating headache, liver disease, cancer, and diabetes. Earlier this year, the company raised an additional $29 million after receiving an even greater amount in its previous round last year. It currently reports approximately $67 million in total funding.", "output": "An acne clinical trial has become the first in the world to be conducted entirely through a smartphone app. AOBiome Therapeutics ran the 16-week, randomised, placebo-controlled study using Science 37\u2019s mobile Network Oriented Research Assistant (NORA) platform. As well as halving the enrolment period, the virtual study also saw more non-white participants involved than traditionally managed trials. Science 37's NORA model is seeing use in trials exploring cancer, diabetes, liver disease and headaches.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Jiangte Motor to take AUD20m stake in lithium miner \n The funding from Jiangte Special Electric Motor Co, which comprises $20 million in equity and $5 million in debt, means Tawana is now all set to begin production next quarter.\n\nThe equity was priced at 35c per share, a 5.4% premium to Tawana\u2019s recent trading levels.\n\nTawana also said it had renegotiated a lower repayment rate for the repayment of a $12.5 million pre-payment by offtaker Burwill Commodity \u2013 from 20% per shipment to 15% - the result of which means increased cashflow will be heading Tawana\u2019s way.\n\nBurwill has a downstream lithium joint venture with Jiangte, with the Chinese company described as a \u201cveteran special electric motor manufacturing company \u2026 (that) has been actively participating in the development of the new energy - lithium battery industry in recent years\u201d.\n\nJiangte owns Weier Antriebe und Energietechnik, a German company said to be an electric motor specialist formed in 1945.\n\nTawana owns 50% of Bald Hill, with its interest being earnt from Singapore listed Alliance Mineral Assets in return for funding development of the venture \u2013 with processing infrastructure previously established at Bald Hill for a tantalum mining venture.\n\nTawana and Alliance executed offtake agreement in April for the supply of lithium concentrate over a five-year term with pricing for 2018 and 2019 of US$880/t (FOB Esperance) for 6% Li2O.\n\nBald Hill is 50km south east of Kambalda.\n\nShares in Tawana were up 8% to 39c in midday trade, capitalising the company at $172 million.\n\nThe stock is up about 1800% from 18 months ago.", "output": "A unit of Jiangte Motor plans to buy 57 million shares in Australia-listed lithium miner, Tawana, for AUD20m ($15m) as it seeks to ensure lithium concentrate supply for a company in which it owns 50%. Jiangte will own 11.45% of Tawana after the transaction."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Homelyfe closes $2.4m seed funding round \n InsurTech startup Homelyfe has raised \u00a32.4m in a Seed round led by Tallis Capital and Peterson Ventures.\n\nHomelyfe will use the money to continue developing its proprietary technology and to grow its team.\n\n\u201cOur vision for Homelyfe is to build an insurance solution around the needs of the modern consumer,\u201d said CEO and co-founder of Homelyfe, Peter Goodman.\n\n\u201cThe insurance industry has seriously fallen down on customer centricity, not interacting with people on the technology they want to use, or with the solutions they expect and not being wholly transparent around pricing. Homelyfe is giving the insurance industry a much-needed update; making insurance simpler to help consumers get the right policy, at the right price, 24/7,\u201d he added.\n\nHomelyfe was co-founded by Goodman and Andrew Craven, serial entrepreneurs who previously set up Brighten Option, now Social.com, which sold to Buddy Media and then Salesforce in 2012.\n\nThey launched Homelyfe to enable consumers to do everything from getting insurance quotes and purchasing, to managing and renewing multiple policies and initiating a claim using the smartphone app.\n\nVasile Foca, managing partner of Talis Capital, said: \u201cAt Talis, we believe in combining cutting edge technology with conventional business, and Homelyfe\u2019s modern and consumer-centric approach to insurance fits perfectly with that ideal.\u201d\n\n\u201cInsurTech is an area we continue to monitor closely, especially as it\u2019s a sector experiencing monumental shifts in technology. Peter and his team have built an extremely scalable solution, and we\u2019re delighted to back a company that promises to change the attitudes and experience of the insurance industry.\u201d\n\nRandall Lloyd, of Peterson Ventures, concluded: \u201cWhen we invest, we\u2019re on the lookout for outstanding entrepreneurs to back. The Homelyfe team has an impressive track record that is supported by a compelling business idea, which addresses a notable gap in a market that is ripe for disruption and improvement.\u201d\n\nCheck out our UK tech investment tracker for the latest industry deals.", "output": "Homelyfe, an insurtech firm offering homebuyers policies which protect against gazumping, has closed a funding round having raised $2.4m in seed capital. Tallis Capital and Peterson Ventures led the round. The firm is planning on using the funding to further develop its technology. The firm's online service allows consumers to both find and purchase policies while also serving as a management tool for customers with multiple policies relating to their home.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "World first as woman receives 3D-printed jaw \n Oct 24, 2017 | By Julia\n\nA woman from Swansea in Wales has become the first person in the world to be fitted with a 3D printed jaw.\n\nRetail worker Debbie Hawkins had developed a tumour in her lower jawbone that was growing at an alarmingly fast rate, to the point of nearly breaking the bone. After a lengthy consultation process at Swansea\u2019s Morriston Hospital, it became clear that conventional techniques wouldn\u2019t cut it. A more innovative approach was needed.\n\nPutting together all the resources they could muster, the Hospital\u2019s surgical team developed an ingenious method of reconstructing Hawkins\u2019 jaw via 3D printing\u2014the first of its kind in the world.\n\nUsing 3D scanning technology to plan the operation in precise detail, doctors set to work rebuilding Hawkins\u2019 jaw bone through a combination of traditional bone grafts and 3D printed titanium plates customized to fit the Swansea patient\u2019s individual anatomy.\n\n\u201cWhen they told me what the procedure involved I was scared at first,\u201d Hawkins told press. \u201cI really didn't know what to expect. But what they have done, and the aftercare I have received, has been absolutely amazing.\u201d\n\nAfter spending two weeks in the hospital after the operation, Hawkins was sent home. She was then able to return to work within three months.\n\nSaid to be the first of its kind ever performed, the Morriston Hospital technique is a vast improvement over traditional methods, which involve removing a length of fibula from the patient\u2019s leg in order to replace sections of jaw. Despite its widespread use, this traditional method can comprise the shape of the patient\u2019s jaw line, resulting in the jaw being set too low to accommodate dental implants.\n\nMorriston\u2019s technique, on the other hand, used Hawkins\u2019 CT images to engineer an anatomically precise 3D printed titanium plate which holds the fibula bone in place, maintaining the natural aesthetic shape of the jawline. Cutting guides created by the team ensured that the bone taken from the fibula matched the removed jaw section exactly.\n\nAccording to Peter Llewelyn Evans, Maxillofacial Laboratory Services manager at Morriston Hospital, \"The titanium implant fits the patient's jaw perfectly without the surgeon having to do any adjustment.\"\n\nThe technique proved so effective that the Hospital team has since adopted it into its roster of treatments. Hawkins\u2019 consultant surgeon Madhav Kittur noted that five procedures have already been carried out at Morriston, with a sixth currently in the planning stage.\n\n\u201cIt has taken away the uncertainty,\u201d Kittur added. \u201cWe know exactly what is going to happen before we go into theater as everything is computer planned.\u201d\n\nEfficiency is among the many benefits of the new procedure: where the traditional operation would take between eight and 10 hours, Morriston\u2019s new technique saves up to two hours of that time. \u201cThis is a big advance,\u201d said Kittur. \u201cIt\u2019s better aesthetically, the patient is under anaesthetic for less time, and recovery is better.\u201d\n\nHawkins agrees. \"Now and again I do have a few problems with my speech because I'm having to make certain jaw movements,\" she added. \"But I'm feeling much better. I get my odd days but otherwise I'm getting stronger all the time.\"\n\nPrevious 3D printed jaw procedures have involved making prostheses from 3D printed molds. Hawkins is the first patient to have actual 3D printed parts fitted to her face.\n\nPosted in 3D Printing Application\n\nMaybe you also like:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAdam wrote at 10/24/2017 8:14:39 PM:I think Xilloc has been 3d printing HA scaffolds for a few years now and could also have been used here. It's hard to replace such a large chunk of bone, maybe she wasn't a good candidate. The traditional approach may still fare better over time, even if the initial results were better.\n\n\n\n", "output": "Surgeons at Swansea\u2019s Morriston Hospital in Wales have used 3D printing to reconstruct a cancer patient's jaw, in a first-of-its-kind procedure. Using detailed CT scans of the patient's face, anatomically precise, 3D-printed titanium plates held a piece of fibula in place to create a replacement jaw, with no adjustments required. The technique, which takes two hours less than the traditional surgery to complete and resulted in improved patient recovery, has proved so successful it was subsequently carried out a further five times, with a sixth operation being planned.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bank of America submits data transfer blockchain patent \n Stay up to date with news and updates on Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and all the cryptocurrencies with us.", "output": "Bank of America has filed the latest in a series of patents covering blockchain technology, focusing on a solution which aims to improve the management and processing of large quantities\u00a0of\u00a0data. The US's second-biggest bank has been filing patents for blockchain and cryptocurrency technology since 2014, alongside rivals such as JPMorgan, which is looking to blockchain to help speed up dollar transactions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Russia, Angola pass Saudi Arabia as China's biggest oil suppliers \n Russia continues to pull ahead of its oil rivals including Saudi Arabia in China, the world\u2019s biggest energy user.\n\nThe Asian nation\u2019s imports of Russian crude jumped 61 per cent to a record 6.35 million tonnes in September from a year earlier, according to general administration of customs data. That helped Russia retain the top spot for the seventh straight month. Saudi Arabia, the world\u2019s biggest crude exporter, supplied about 10 per cent more at 4.28 million tonnes, while retreating to the third-biggest. Angola was the second-biggest seller.\n\nRussia is on a path to become the top supplier for the full year again, after last year surpassing the kingdom that has been a dominant supplier for years. Russian shipments during the first nine months were 45 million tonnes, the biggest volume among suppliers, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Angola shipped 39.9 million tonnes and Saudi 38.5 million tonnes.\n\n______________\n\nRead more:\n\nSeen from space, Chinese oil demand grows\n\nRosneft moves into Kurdistan with oil deal for five blocks\n\n______________\n\nRussia is dominating amid heightened competition for major markets including China and India as Opec and other producers such as Russia implement output cuts to clear a glut and lift oil prices. The nations that are part of the deal will meet on November 30 in Vienna to discuss prolonging the curbs beyond March.\n\nThe Russian energy minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday that compliance with a global output cut deal in the past nine months had been 102 per cent.\n\nHe said compliance by Opec countries had been 100 per cent and compliance by non-Opec countries 106 percent.\n\nSpeaking at a business forum in Moscow, Mr Novak said it was too early, however, to take a decision on whether the output deal should be extended beyond the end of March.", "output": "Russia is still ahead of oil rivals such as Saudi Arabia as\u00a0the biggest supplier of crude oil to China, with imports surging 61% year on year to 6.35 million tonnes in September.\u00a0Angola now the second largest seller, followed by Saudi Arabia. Russia is now set to be China's primary supplier for 2017 as well as last year, following years of Saudi Arabia being the main\u00a0supplier.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Adelphi buys autonomous vehicle technology firm Nutonomy for $450m \n Delphi, one of the world\u2019s largest automotive suppliers, is acquiring Boston-based self-driving car startup NuTonomy for an upfront purchase price of $400 million as well as $50 million in earn-outs, the companies announced today.\n\nDelphi isn\u2019t as well-known in the self-driving space as its much bigger rivals Uber, Waymo, and Tesla. A GM spinoff now based in the UK, the company has been showing off its autonomous technology for over three years, mostly in Pittsburgh and Singapore. And NuTonomy, which spun out of MIT in 2013, has also been operating autonomous taxis in Singapore since 2016, and recently received permission to test its self-driving vehicles in Boston.\n\nThe acquisition is the latest in a series of big-dollar deals in the automated driving sector, as huge automakers and suppliers funnel millions of dollars into tiny startups with the goal of being first to deploy fully self-driving cars. NuTonomy CEO Karl Iagnemma said today\u2019s deal puts his company and Delphi on the path to winning that race.\n\n\u201cWe have, between us, really outstanding technical expertise.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe have, between us, really outstanding technical expertise \u2014 on the scientific side, on the algorithmic side,\u201d he said during a conference call with reporters today. \u201cWe have now deep and long-standing expertise on the automotive engineering side. And we have conduits, pathways, to selling it to all the various businesses that autonomous driving can impact, through traditional OEM channels, and through mobility services.\n\nIagnemma added, \u201cSo I feel great about the fact that this acquisition puts the combined team in the pole position to be one of the winners in the global automated driving race.\u201d\n\nGlen De Vos, chief technology officer at Delphi, said the acquisition will help speed the company\u2019s efforts to bring a fully self-driving car to market \u2014 even if that vehicle isn\u2019t one for personal ownership. \u201cThe market for consumer vehicles is going to be slow-moving, and that\u2019s going to take some time for the cars you and I buy, that we drive,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no question that in commercial sector, that automated mobility on demand, logistics on demand, commercial services, transportation services \u2014 this is an area where automated driving has really accelerated.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe market for consumer vehicles is going to be slow-moving.\u201d\n\nAs part of the deal, NuTonomy will combine more than 100 employees, including 70 engineers and scientists, to Delphi's more than 100-member automated driving team. After the transaction is completed, Delphi will have self-driving operations in Boston, Pittsburgh, Singapore, Santa Monica, and Silicon Valley; NuTonomy will continue to be based in Boston, where both companies currently operate pilot programs. By combining efforts with NuTonomy in Boston, Singapore, and other pilot cities around the world, Delphi will have 60 autonomous cars on the road across three continents by years end.", "output": "Car parts maker Delphi has bought autonomous vehicle technology company Nutonomy for $450m. Delphi's chief technology officer,\u00a0Glen De Vos, said the acquisition of the Boston-based outfit\u00a0was part of the automotive supplier's plan to lead the race in developing autonomous vehicles, although he said that they were unlikely to be for personal use.\u00a0\u201cThe market for consumer vehicles is going to be slow-moving, and that\u2019s going to take some time for the cars you and I buy,\u201d De Vos said. Delphi is based in the UK;\u00a0however, the Nutonomy team will stay in Boston."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Motor insurtech introduces insurability metric \n Data & News supplied by www.cloudquote.io Stock quotes supplied by BarchartQuotes delayed at least 20 minutes.By accessing this page, you agree to the following Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions", "output": "The Zebra, an insurtech firm focusing on auto insurance, has introduced a metric allowing customers to see how insurable they are. The firm's Insurability Score tells consumers what is impacting their individual risk and how they can take steps to alter this. The company will use its own technology to analyse clients individually. According to a survey conducted by The Zebra, more than a third of customers believe there is nothing they can do to lower insurance rates.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurtech Insurdata raises $1m in funding round \n Insurdata, an insurtech firm that provides re/insurance underwriters with property-specific data to support their pricing, underwriting and portfolio management decisions, announced it has raised over $1 million in seed financing from investors including Menlo Ventures, Anthemis Group, and Plug and Play.\n\nLondon-based Insurdata said it specializes in high-resolution, peril-specific exposures and building-level risk data, using technology that includes mobile augmented reality and 3-D model creation, providing both desktop and mobile solutions.\n\nA range of property-specific data is developed at point of underwriting, including peril-relevant attributes, dimension and elevation measurements, and is made immediately available throughout the risk transfer process, Insurdata explained.\n\n\u201cThe quality of exposure data available to the insurance industry for underwriting purposes as well as overall portfolio management is simply not accurate enough,\u201d said Jason Futers, CEO of Insurdata. \u201cAt Insurdata, we want to bring greater clarity to the underwriting process through providing the industry at large with access to much more granular and peril-specific data, and ensuring exposure data is always relevant and up-to-date.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe are at an early stage, but we\u2019re moving rapidly, and the market reaction has been phenomenal. We already have re/insurers piloting our solutions and benchmarking their data resolution against that provided via our technology,\u201d he added.\n\n\u201cInsurdata is one of our first investments in the insurtech space,\u201d said Venky Ganesan, partner at Menlo Ventures. \u201cIt is clear that what the firm offers to the insurance industry through providing data at a level of resolution multiple times higher than currently available will be a game changer for both insurers and reinsurers.\u201d\n\nRuth Foxe Blader, director at Anthemis, said: \u201cThe lack of high resolution data on individual exposures has long been a major stumbling block for the insurance industry in terms of its ability to price risk accurately. What Insurdata provides is the data depth to support a much more refined and precise pricing approach.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is truly ground-breaking about the Insurdata approach is that it offers insurance underwriters the ability to carry out a virtual walk-through of their property portfolios,\u201d said Saeed Amidi, founder and CEO of Plug and Play. \u201cNo other insurance technology allows insurers to get this close to the risks they cover.\u201d\n\nSource: Insurdata\n\nTopics InsurTech Tech Underwriting Market Funding", "output": "London-based insurtech Insuredata, which provides property data to reinsurers, has raised $1m in a recent funding round. The likes of Menlo Ventures, Anthemis Group, and Plug and Play participated in the round. The firm aims to aid insurers in their underwriting and portfolio management activities through providing data. Insuredata also provides 3D-imaging and augmented reality services to clients. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Premia Partners introduces China A shares ETFs \n About US$17 billion to US$18 billion of inflows from asset managers, pension funds and insurers into the mainland equity markets are expected this year as a result of changes in the Emerging Markets Index put out by the MSCI. Photo: AP", "output": "Hong Kong-based Premia Partners is taking on the likes of BlackRock by launching Hong Kong-listed exchange-traded funds investing in mainland Chinese companies. The funds are being billed as the first Hong Kong-listed smart-beta products focusing on Chinese equities, as well as being the first Hong Kong products to gain exposure to stocks via the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Connects. The launch\u00a0comes as index provider MSCI prepares to include Chinese equities in its indices next year. That move is predicted to drive between $17bn\u00a0and $18bn towards Chinese-listed stocks.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow opens doors to two further show homes at Amington site \n More to see at Amington Garden Village\n\nAs the first residents move in and work on a landmark garden village in Staffordshire progresses, Redrow is preparing to open the doors to two further show homes.\n\nFrom November 10, buyers will be spoiled for choice at the Tamworth development. In addition to the four show homes at Amington Fairway, they will also be able to view professionally styled and fully furnished examples of the three-bedroom Sherbourne and four-bedroom Shrewsbury house types at nearby Amington Green.\n\nThe two phases form part of the wider Amington Garden Village, which will eventually see up to 1,100 new homes built across 60 hectares.\n\nPauline Turnbull, sales director for Redrow Homes (Midlands), said: \u201cWe only launched Amington Fairway in the summer but, because the homes look very traditional and are being built in a leafy location with lots of mature trees, it already has the appearance of a well-established neighbourhood. This, despite the fact that we\u2019ve only just begun welcoming the first residents into their new homes.\n\n\u201cPeople love the show homes they\u2019ve seen so far and with the help of interactive 3D technology we\u2019ve been able to give them an insight into the scale of the wider development. We can\u2019t wait to be able to give them a further taste of life at Amington Garden Village with the opening of two more show homes.\n\n\u201cWe anticipate that downsizers, or rightsizers as we like to call them, will be drawn to the Sherbourne, while the Shrewsbury will appeal to families. But there\u2019s no hard and fast rule \u2013 there\u2019s a home for almost every buyer at Amington Garden Village.\u201d\n\nBetween them, Amington Fairway and Amington Green offer a good choice of two, three, four and five-bedroom properties from Redrow\u2019s Arts & Crafts inspired Heritage Collection with current prices from \u00a3249,995.\n\nThe Sherbourne is surprisingly spacious for a three-bedroom home and perfect for those who want plenty of living space, but fewer bedrooms.\n\nAt its hearts is an inviting and sociable open plan kitchen and dining room, with adjoining utility. A relaxing lounge, with feature bay window, is at the front of the property; while a convenient cloakroom completes the ground floor.\n\nUpstairs, all three bedrooms have an en-suite, with the master also enjoying the glamour of a dressing room.\n\nThe ground floor of the Shrewsbury is similar in that there\u2019s a combined kitchen and dining room, with handy utility and cloakroom to the rear of the property, and lounge at the front. Journey upstairs and there are four bedrooms, including master with en-suite, plus the family bathroom.\n\nAlong with new homes, plans for the wider Amington Garden Village include a retail and commercial area, school and community woodland, all in the green surroundings of a former golf course.\n\nRedrow has committed to invest \u00a314 million in the local area for the benefit of existing and new residents.\n\nFor more information about Amington Fairway see redrow.co.uk/amington.\n\nTo find out more about Amington Green see redrow.co.uk/amingtongreen.", "output": "Housing developer Redrow is opening two more show homes at one of\u00a0its developments\u00a0in Staffordshire. The company has opened\u00a0the properties at its Amington Green site\u00a0near Tamworth\u00a0and is using interactive 3D technology to help potential buyers visualise the completed development. The properties are being sold with prices from \u00a3249,995\u00a0and form part of the wider Amington Garden Village project, where 1,100 new homes will eventually be built on 60 hectares of land. The new show homes join four existing ones at the nearby\u00a0Amington Fairway site.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Guardian talks with European publishers about ad fraud issues \n The Guardian is in talks with European media owners Axel Springer and Schibsted over how to throttle ad fraud and other opaque practices occurring in the programmatic advertising supply chain.\n\nSpeaking at Digiday\u2019s Publishing Summit Europe in Berlin this week, Danny Spears, programmatic director at the Guardian, appealed to publishers to challenge the status quo in which buyers invest in high volumes of cheap inventory through secondary markets like ad exchanges. The \u201caudience-buying narrative\u201d results in advertisers and publishers becoming exposed to unknown tech fees and ad fraud.\n\nOver the last six months, the Guardian has discussed with Axel Springer and Schibsted how to address these issues. Spears stressed that the aim is not to form any kind of official publisher consortium but to discuss together what meaningful action can be taken to ensure everyone in the digital ad supply ecosystem is accountable for the role they play.\n\n\u201cOur shared vision is to redefine digital advertising, to catalyze its evolution from a fractured, opaque and inefficient marketplace to a competitive ecosystem that delivers unparalleled value to advertisers and publishers alike,\u201d Spears added.\n\nThe Guardian has staked out a vocal and assertive position on the side of premium publishers fighting back against what it sees as unfair treatment in programmatic. In 2016, the publisher ran an investigation on its own inventory and found it only received 30 pence for every pound an advertiser spent with it programmatically. Data merchants were siphoning off the rest. In March, that culminated in the Guardian suing former vendor partner Rubicon Project for allegedly not disclosing its fees \u2014 an ongoing lawsuit.\n\n\u201cBuying from a secondary market is high-risk and a Russian-roulette approach to media buying,\u201d said Spears. In short, he said, programmatic advertising has spawned \u201cthe art of buying crap,\u201d which has shown up in the array of brand misplacement disasters over the last year, including advertisers like BMW appearing on so-called hate-speech sites like Breitbart and others finding their ads next to extremist content on YouTube.\n\n\u201cToday, ad tech wants to control our ad stack, while competing for our customers\u2019 ad spend,\u201d he said. \u201cIn short, publishers are being eaten alive from the inside out. Our belief is media sales is our prerogative, and technology should be a mere enabler. Publishers need to restore control of their supply chain and ensure sovereignty over their revenue decisioning.\u201d\n\nThe Guardian has been working with its customers to pull its transaction data and map its shared supply chain. That\u2019s helped it overcome some of the market opacity, identify unnecessary costs and friction in the supply chain and allowed it to introduce more pricing rules to create tax-efficient routes for buyers. This has increased its customers\u2019 working media by 30 percent, according to Spears.\n\nThe Guardian has also developed a standardized approach to its ad tech contracts that lays out all its terms of engagement for vendors, leading to increased transparency and stronger partnerships. That in turn has converted directly to higher yields and media revenue, unlocking 10 percent incremental net programmatic revenue over the past 10 months, Spears said.\n\n\u201cDespite fraud being derided, we\u2019re yet to hear any real cries of zero tolerance from the middle of the market \u2014 I suspect because that will cost volume and margin. But we need to be clear with partners on zero tolerance to fraud. Publishers need change, and so do advertisers,\u201d said Spears. \u201cPublishers must collaborate to build a vision that we are proud to be a part of. That\u2019s where programmatic can finally deliver on its promise.\u201d", "output": "UK newspaper The Guardian and European publishers Schibsted and Axel Springer have been discussing how to address issues of tech fraud and excessive fees in the programmatic ad industry, according to Danny Spears, programmatic director at The Guardian. Speaking at Digiday\u2019s Publishing Summit Europe in Berlin, Spears said the three firms want to \"redefine digital advertising\", and that using secondary markets was a \"Russian-roulette approach to media buying\". The UK publisher has increased pricing rules and standardised tech contracts since the 2016 discovery that it received just 30p for every pound spent on programmatic advertising."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Saudis plan $500bn green megacity where robots outnumber humans \n Robots may outnumber humans in a new pioneering city billed by Saudi Arabia as \"a new blueprint for sustainable life\", which would be entirely powered by renewable energy, and served by driverless vehicles and vertical farms.\n\nThe city called Neom is to span an area of 10,000 square miles, stretching across the borders of northwest Saudi Arabia into Jordan and Egypt. It is designed to operate as an independent economic trade zone with its own laws, and is to become the first private business zone to span three countries.\n\nSaudi Arabia will pump $500 billion (\u00a3382 billion) from its sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, into nine key investment sectors in the city: energy and water, mobility, biotech, food, technological and digital sciences, advanced manufacturing, media, and entertainment.\n\nA website dedicated to the Neom concept states the fields will attract \"high-caliber human resources\" and that mundane or repetitive tasks will be carried out by robots.\n\n\"Repetitive and arduous tasks will be fully automated and handled by robots, which may exceed the population, likely making the Neom's GDP per capita the highest in the world,\" it reads. \"All these elements will put Neom at the world's forefront in terms of efficiency, which will make it the best destination in the world to live in.\"\n\nPlans for Neom were announced at the Future Investment Initiative conference in Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh, on Tuesday. At the same conference, an intelligent humanoid robot called Sophia announced she had been granted citizenship by Saudi Arabia \u2013 the first time in history that an AI device has been awarded such status.\n\nThe city would be be solely powered by renewable energy harvested by the sun and wind via fields of solar panels and windmills, creating a pollution-free environment. The population would be fed from the produce of vertical farms and solar-powered greenhouses.\n\nThe development of new \"disruptive\" infrastructure would see citizens travelling in automated vehicles, having access to free internet and online education, and living in zero-carbon homes.\n\n\"The focus on these sectors will stimulate economic growth and diversification by nurturing international innovation and manufacturing, to drive local industry, job creation, and GDP growth in the kingdom,\" said His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman, chair of the Public Investment Fund.\n\nThe news for the new sustainable city comes as details of the country's Zaha Hadid Architects-designed King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Centre in Riyadh are unveiled.\n\n\"Future technologies form the cornerstone for Neom's development,\" he added, \"disruptive solutions for transportation from automated driving to passenger drones, new ways of growing and processing food, healthcare centered around the patient for their holistic well-being, wireless high-speed internet as a free good called 'digital air', free world-class continuous online education, full scale e-governance putting city services at your fingertips, building codes that make net-zero carbon houses the standard, a city layout that encourages walking and bicycling and all solely powered by renewable energy just to name a few.\"\n\n\"All services and processes in Neom will be 100 per fully automated, with the goal of becoming the most efficient destination in the world, and in turn be implemented on all activities such as legal, government, and investment procedures among others.\"\n\nThe plans are part of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, which aims to see the country become an investment hub connecting Asia, Europe and Africa.\n\nThe positioning of the city across the borders of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan will give it a 468-kilometre waterfront to the Red Sea to the south and west \u2013 a key trade route.\n\nPlans to make use of the waterfront will include a marina surrounded by sports, performance and art venues, as well as shops and restaurants, and the creation of a waterpark with a wave machine for training the next generation of olympians.\n\nAn image of Singapore's Gardens by the Bay is included in a promotional video for the project, giving a suggestion of what Neom may look like.\n\nThe first phase of construction is expected to complete by 2025, but details of what that will entail have yet to be released. By 2030, the city is expected to have received $100 billion (\u00a376 billion) in investment from the Public Investment Fund.", "output": "Saudi Arabia has revealed ambitious plans to establish a $500bn city that will spread to Jordan and Egypt, measuring 26,500 sq km in total. Part of the Saudi Vision 2030 scheme, the NEOM development is designed to refocus the Saudi economy, and will be powered entirely by renewable energy. The Saudi Arabia Public Investment fund, which will provide the cash, has said that \"all services and processes in NEOM will be 100% fully automated\", with the aim of becoming the \"most efficient\" city in the world."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow New show homes open at Alconbury Weald in Cambridgeshire \n Three new show homes inspire Cambridgeshire buyers\n\nSpace craving Cambridgeshire buyers can enjoy a taste of life at Alconbury Weald where new Redrow show homes are now open.\n\nDozens of people attended the launch weekend and were treated to afternoon tea \u2018on the house\u2019 by the award-wining homebuilder.\n\nThose who viewed the properties were particularly complimentary about the spaciousness of the designs.\n\nTonia Tyler, sales director for Redrow Homes (South Midlands), said: \u201cThere\u2019s a real sense of curiosity amongst buyers who are keen to learn more about the homes we\u2019re building at Alconbury Weald and the new community taking shape. Now that we have show homes open, visitors can really visualise what life here could be like.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve had lots of positive feedback from potential purchasers and one of the recurring themes is that people can\u2019t believe just how spacious our homes are. The higher ceiling heights and well planned, family friendly layouts have really captured buyers\u2019 attention.\n\n\u201cMany of those who\u2019ve visited the show homes in the first few days have homes of their own to sell and we\u2019re now working with them to explore how they could use our Mastermove service, or perhaps even part exchange, to become part of the new community.\u201d\n\nThe show homes at Alconbury Weald are professionally styled and fully furnished examples of the four-bedroom detached Stratford, Cambridge and Balmoral designs, each with a different look, style and layout.\n\nRedrow currently has three-bedroom properties available from \u00a3332,950 and four-bedroom homes from \u00a3345,950.\n\nA Cambridge style property, similar to one of the show homes and priced at \u00a3402,950, will be ready to move into in December.\n\nThe Cambridge features a lounge to the front and an expansive kitchen, dining and family room overlooking the back garden through extra wide patio doors. There\u2019s also an adjoining utility room.\n\nA cloakroom to the ground floor and en-suite to master bedroom help minimise the morning rush for the family bathroom.\n\nWith Mastermove, Redrow handles the sale of the customer\u2019s home for them, arranging valuations and appointing an estate agent to market the property at an agreed price so that they can then proceed with the purchase of a beautiful brand new home and become part of the new neighbourhood.\n\n\u201cOne of the things that visitors tell us they love about Alconbury Weald is that the new community has so many facilities in place already,\u201d Tonia added.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s perfect for those with children as there\u2019s a primary school and community park, with plans for secondary and special schools. Residents will be able to enjoy a spot of lunch in the caf\u00e9, pick up essentials in the community shop or workout in the gym. Plus, while there\u2019s business space locally at the Enterprise Campus, it\u2019s also a great base for commuters as Peterborough, Cambridge, Northampton and even London are all easily accessible and could be even more so when Alconbury Weald\u2019s very own station opens. Cambridge, for example, is currently around 30 minutes away by car.\u201d\n\nThe Redrow show homes at Alconbury Weald are now open daily from 10am to 5.30pm.\n\nFor more information see redrow.co.uk/alconbury.", "output": "Developer Redrow has opened show homes at a new housing development in Cambridgeshire. The company marked the occasion with a launch weekend that included offering free afternoon tea to visitors who viewed the properties at Alconbury Weald. The development includes\u00a0properties priced from \u00a3332,950 ($439,255), with one of the largest four-bedroom style being priced at \u00a3402,950.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Panasonic makes it easier for customers to opt out of its marketing \n Consumer marketers may have their headaches with the coming General Data Protection Regulation, but business-to-business marketers have challenges of their own.\n\nFor Panasonic, the task is to make it easier for its 330,000 B2B customers to opt out of its email and telephone marketing. B2B marketers do not have to ask everyone on their databases for permission to use their data under the regulation in the same way their business-to-consumer counterparts might have to.\n\nThis is a good example of where consent is not required under the GDPR. An electronics firm like Panasonic sending marketing materials to its corporate customers about related products can reasonably rely on \u201clegitimate interests\u201d as the legal basis for processing corporate customer data. As long as those corporate customers who ask for an opt-out option receive one, Panasonic\u2019s email and telephone promotions will be within the law.\n\nAccessing the B2B customer data can be tricky if, like it is at Panasonic, it is held in different parts of the business such as marketing, sales or warranty registration. Working with martech firm Marketo, Panasonic is creating a central system of record for businesses that consented to have Panasonic store and process their data (a move that builds on an older automated system that ensured its marketers could not flout local interpretations of existing EU privacy laws). If an enterprise customer asked Panasonic to reveal all the data it has on them after the GDPR enforcement starts in May, the system would not only show them what Panasonic has and where it is held within the company but would also allow the electronics brand to cease communications if needed.\n\nLegally, it would have been OK for Panasonic to give the customer a disjointed view of how their data exists across all its databases. However, it\u2019s a \u201cpretty horrible experience,\u201d admitted Stephen Yeo, the brand\u2019s marketing director for its enterprise business in Europe. \u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do is to make it as easy as possible for customers to tell us if they don\u2019t want to hear from us again, and we\u2019ll look after the rest with our systems.\u201d\n\nWith opt-in becoming mandatory for companies under the GDPR, Panasonic is tweaking how it convinces prospective customers to share their data. That\u2019s where it gets sensitive. Panasonic has to say to potential customers, in effect, \u201cIf you\u2019re interested in us, could you subscribe because we won\u2019t contact you unless you do,\u201d Yeo said. \u201cMarketing is going to have to become less pushy, which I think is a positive thing.\u201d\n\nThe hardest aspect of complying with the GDPR is the governance of data across different regions and offices, Yeo said. If one contract record is non-compliant, the whole business is subject to penalty. And while Panasonic\u2019s lawyers have advised Yeo and his team that only repeat GDPR offenders will be fined, the risks to the brand\u2019s reputation are enough for it to scrap some of the customer data it owns. Yeo\u2019s team is sifting through customer data to identify those Panasonic has not heard from in six years or more and plans to purge them from its databases.", "output": "Panasonic has anticipated the hurdles of the upcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), providing its 330,000 B2B customers with an opt-out feature for its email and telephone marketing. The feature will ensure that corporate customers are operating within the law on data protection. The electronics firm is working with marketing tech company Marketo to establish a central records system for customers that have given consent for Panasonic to store and process their data. Panasonic will be able to comply with GDPR enforcement and provide all data held if necessary."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Drone delivery system 'Flirtey' delivers defibrillators \n DRONE delivery service\n\nand community integrated emergency medical service provider\n\nin the US have teamed up to launch the first automated drone service to deliver defibrillators to help first responders treat victims of cardiac arrest before an ambulance arrives.\n\nThe drones will be dispatched at the same time as ambulances when REMSA receives an emergency 911 call. The drones are able to fly directly to the scene, and are like to arrive more quickly than ambulances whose response time can vary depending on distance and other factors, such traffic congestion. This allows treatment to begin sooner, improving the victim's odds of survival, reported London's Air Cargo New.\n\nA statement from Flirtey said: \"Together, Flirtey and REMSA are developing an emergency response and 9-1-1-integration process to allow for the rapid drone deployment programme - including combining Flirtey's flight planning software into REMSA's highly specialised patient care and transport programmes.\"", "output": "Nevada-based drone delivery company Flirtey is partnering with non-profit organisation the Regional Emergency Medical Services Authority (REMSA) to bring defibrillator machines to cardiac arrest victims. Following a 911 call, the drones are dispatched at the same time as an ambulance, but their as-the-crow-flies method of travel means they are likely to reach a patient more quickly, potentially saving lives.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Corals like the taste of plastic: Duke University \n Plastic in our seas is threatening coral, which scientists now believe may see it as tasty food.\n\nThere are fears for the future of coral, such as the Great Barrier Reef, which stretches for 1,400 miles off the coast of Australia.\n\nBut plastic waste may be even more dangerous than originally thought, as chemicals it contains appear to be a delicious marine snack.\n\nScroll down for video\n\nPlastic in our seas is threatening coral, which scientists now believe may see it as tasty food. There are fears for the future of coral, such as the Great Barrier Reef, which stretches for 1,400 miles off the coast of Australia\n\nKEY FINDINGS The US researchers looked at microplastics measuring up to five millimetres, or a fifth of an inch. In the first experiment, corals collected from waters off the North Carolina coast were offered eight different types of microplastics and other similarly-sized items such as clean sand. They ate every plastic type but mainly ignored the sand. The second experiment saw the corals offered clean plastic fragments or plastic covered in microbes, which are believed to be tasty and nutritious for the tiny marine organisms. Over a 30-minute period, the corals were three times more likely to choose to eat the plastic without the microbes. Advertisement !- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/ru/sciencetech/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 - ->\n\nCorals, unlike the seagulls, turtles and fish which swallow plastic, do not mistake it for prey because they have no eyes.\n\nBut a new study suggests it tastes good to them, with coral choosing to eat plastic ahead of sand and nutritious microbes.\n\nThe findings, by Duke University, raise concerns because plastic poses a risk of choking or intestinal blockages which could kill off areas of coral reef.\n\nThese reefs are important because they support populations of larger marine life like fish, which humans rely on for food.\n\nAustin Allen, who co-led the study with Alexander Seymour, said: 'Corals in our experiments ate all types of plastics but preferred unfouled microplastics by a threefold difference over microplastics covered in bacteria.\n\n'This suggests the plastic itself contains something that makes it tasty.'\n\nCo-author Alexander Seymour added: 'When plastic comes from the factory, it has hundreds of chemical additives on it.\n\nThe findings, by Duke University, raise concerns because plastic poses a risk of choking or intestinal blockages which could kill off areas of coral reef. These reefs are important because they support populations of larger marine life like fish, which humans rely on for food\n\n'Any one of these chemicals or a combination of them could be acting as a stimulant that makes plastic appealing to corals.'\n\nThe major threats to coral include 'bleaching', which turns coral white as a result of unusually warm ocean temperatures, overfishing and pollution - which includes plastic waste.\n\nThe US researchers looked at microplastics measuring up to five millimetres, or a fifth of an inch.\n\nThe Daily Mail has campaigned against these plastics, including microbeads found in cosmetics and plastic bags and bottles which form fragments when they break down in the environment.\n\nREPORT REVEALS 95% OF PLASTIC POLLUTING THE WORLD'S OCEANS COMES FROM JUST TEN RIVERS Up to 95 per cent of plastic polluting the world's oceans pours in from just ten rivers, according to new research. The top 10 rivers - eight of which are in Asia - accounted for so much plastic because of the mismanagement of waste. About five trillion pounds is floating in the sea, and targeting the major sources - such as the Yangtze and the Ganges - could almost halve it, scientists claim. Up to 95 per cent of plastic polluting the world's oceans pours in from just ten rivers, according to new research. The top 10 rivers, including the River Niger (pictured) accounted for so much plastic because of the mismanagement of waste Massive amounts of plastic bits that imperil aquatic life are washing into the oceans and even the most pristine waters. But how it all gets there from inland cities has not been fully understood. Now a study shows the top 10 rivers - eight of which are in Asia - accounted for 88 to 95 per cent of the total global load because of the mismanagement of waste. The top 10 rivers - eight of which are in Asia - accounted for so much plastic because of the mismanagement of waste The team calculated halving plastic pollution in these waterways could potentially reduce the total contribution by all rivers by 45 per cent. They analysed data on debris from 79 sampling sites along 57 rivers - both microplastic particles measuring less than 5 mm and macroplastic above this size. They said microplastics in particular can damage the health of marine life but cleaning it all up would be impossible. However stemming the tide could help reduce the potential harm. Advertisement !- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/ru/sciencetech/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_2 - ->\n\nIn the first experiment, corals collected from waters off the North Carolina coast were offered eight different types of microplastics and other similarly-sized items such as clean sand.\n\nThey ate every plastic type but mainly ignored the sand.\n\nThe second experiment saw the corals offered clean plastic fragments or plastic covered in microbes, which are believed to be tasty and nutritious for the tiny marine organisms.\n\nOver a 30-minute period, the corals were three times more likely to choose to eat the plastic without the microbes.\n\nIn the first experiment, corals collected from waters off the North Carolina coast were offered eight different types of microplastics (pictured in a seperate experiment) and other similarly-sized items such as clean sand\n\nThe researchers are calling for more research on how taste could make corals more eager to consume plastic.\n\nWhile they pass the foods they eat, around eight per cent of the plastic stayed in their guts for 24 hours or more.\n\nPlastic could kill corals by convincing the organisms they are full when they are not, so they do not eat the food they need.\n\nWHO DUMPS THE MOST PLASTIC? So much plastic is dumped into the sea each year that it would fill five carrier bags for every foot of coastline on the planet, scientists have warned. More than half of the plastic waste that flows into the oceans comes from just five countries: China, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. The only industrialized western country on the list of top 20 plastic polluters is the United States at No. 20. The U.S. and Europe are not mismanaging their collected waste, so the plastic trash coming from those countries is due to litter, researchers said. While China is responsible for 2.4 million tons of plastic that makes its way into the ocean, nearly 28 percent of the world total, the United States contributes just 77,000 tons, which is less than one percent, according to the study published in the journal Science. Advertisement !- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/ru/sciencetech/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_3 - ->\n\nIt is also a choking and blockage hazard, while containing potentially gender-bending chemicals which can leach into corals or the fish which eat them.\n\nOn the findings, published in the online edition of the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin, Mr Seymour said: 'Ultimately, the hope is that if we can manufacture plastic so it unintentionally tastes good to these animals, we might also be able to manufacture it so it intentionally tastes bad.\n\n'That could significantly help reduce the threat these microplastics pose.'", "output": "Corals ingest plastic because they like the taste, rather than because it resembles prey, according to a study by Duke University in the US. The research found that \u201cunfouled microplastics\u201d were three times more popular with coral than those polluted with bacteria, suggesting that the taste of the plastic itself appealed to the coral. Further research will now be needed to establish which of the hundreds of chemical additives in plastic are specifically attractive to coral. It might then be possible to manufacture plastic that tastes unappealing in order to reduce the threat it poses to marine life.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NHS may rent rooms in private homes to counter \u201cbedblocking\u201d \n Patients recovering from surgery could be discharged from hospital to recuperate in private houses nearby as part of an NHS trial that could earn those renting out the rooms up to \u00a31,000 a month.\n\nThe scheme, which is being piloted in Essex, aims to tackle bed shortages and save money but has been criticised by medical professionals and social workers who warn it would give too much responsibility to untrained members of the public.\n\nA startup, CareRooms, is working with the NHS and councils in Southend and elsewhere in Essex to pilot the model and finalise how it will work. It says patients would benefit from \u201ca safe, comfortable place to recuperate from hospital\u201d as well as helping the NHS.\n\nHosts would be asked to welcome patients recovering minor procedures, cook three microwave meals a day and offer conversation, according to CareRooms, in a scheme targeting people who do not have a family able to care for them.\n\nSo-called \u201cbedblocking\u201d in the NHS has risen by 40% in the past year and is estimated to result in as many as 8,000 deaths annually. On some days 6,000 patients are taking up beds when they no longer require hospital treatment.\n\nThe Save Southend A&E campaign group, whose members include doctors and other clinicians, warned it \u201copens a huge can of worms for safeguarding, governance and possible financial and emotional abuse of people at their most vulnerable time\u201d.\n\nCareRooms, which is part of NHS England\u2019s clinical entrepreneur programme, said its governance and quality would address such concerns. Hosts would be interviewed and be subject to disclosure checks and food hygiene tests. There will also be barring service checks of police criminal records \u2013 used by employers, often to avoid problems of employees working with children and vulnerable adults. They would also need to understand some care law, including the Mental Capacity Act, which aims to protect those who lack the ability to make their own decisions about treatment.\n\nHarry Thirkettle, a part-time emergency registrar in Essex who is the medical director of CareRooms, told Health Service Journal: \u201cEveryone\u2019s immediate concern is, understandably, safeguarding. We are working hard to be better than standard practice.\n\n\u201cWe are not going off half-cocked \u2026 We are not going to start taking on patients until we have satisfied all these different organisations\u2019 governance procedures and committees [NHS providers, commissioners and councils]. We are really carefully considering this and making sure it is as safe as possible.\u201d\n\nThe financial model is still to be finalised. Thirkettle said rooms would be rented out to funders at about \u00a3100 a night, with half going to the host. The rest would be used to pay for the care services required and a margin kept by the company as profit. He said the assumption was that it would be jointly funded by the NHS and councils. \u201cWe may also look to take self-funding patients who pay us directly.\u201d For patients who are prepared to pay the option would be presented by a hospital\u2019s discharge team alongside existing options such as nursing homes, he said.\n\nThe Association of Directors of Adult Social Services said it wanted more details before making a full assessment but that the \u201cmodel of care, as described, raises questions about whether the safety and wellbeing of the individual have been fully considered\u201d.\n\n\n\nA spokesman for Southend council said: \u201cWe want to make it clear that, at this early stage, the council has only agreed to continue exploring the viability of the project with other partners. We are awaiting further information on how the project will run and the preparation of a detailed business case before we can make any formal commitment or give support to the project.\u201d\n\n\n\nCareRooms has set up a stall in the restaurant at Southend hospital to find potential hosts.\n\n\n\nSave Southend A&E said that in addition to its safeguarding questions, it was concerned about the way the company was pitching itself as a money-making venture for hosts, rather than emphasising care quality.\n\n\n\nIt said the company was handing out flyers in the public canteen at Southend hospital this month, which \u201cheadline with a financial opener offering people the chance to earn up to \u00a31,000 a month renting out a spare room to accommodate someone needing to recuperate from hospital.\n\n\u201cWe are shocked that an NHS trust is endorsing such a company \u2026 It is almost weekly that there are reports of abuse and poor care in registered residential and care homes, therefore the monitoring of such \u2018placements\u2019 in private homes would be a huge and risky task.\u201d\n\nThe pilot involves Southend University hospital foundation trust; Southend and Castlepoint, and Rayleigh and Rochford clinical commissioning groups; Essex county council and Southend council.\n\nThe chair of the Mid and South Essex sustainability and transformation partnership, Mike Bewick, a former deputy medical director of NHS England, is an unpaid adviser to the company.\n\nThe Care Quality Commission (CQC) said that its registration team did not have a record of CareRooms and could not say whether such a registration would be required. \u201cThe CQC will contact CareRooms to better understand their business model in case they are providing something that would fall within the scope of our regulation,\u201d a spokesman said.\n\nThe Department of Health said: \u201cAs NHS England have made very clear- this is a locally organised pilot scheme for patients following minor operations, not national policy, and to suggest it is a cheap substitute for social care is simply untrue. Any schemes such as these are subject to the strictest quality controls and regulations.\u201d", "output": "Patients in the UK could be sent to recover from surgery in private houses, in a scheme similar to that operated by Airbnb, as part of a new NHS trial. The scheme, which will be piloted in Essex by startup CareRooms, is designed to combat bed shortages and save money. However, critics warn that it poses risks to patient safety. Hosts, who could earn up to \u00a31,000 ($1,319)\u00a0per\u00a0month, will be required to provide meals and offer conversation. The NHS has seen a 40% rise in so-called \u201cbedblocking\u201d in the past year, resulting in up to 8,000 deaths annually.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ripple update enhances scalability and reliability \n Earn Your First Bitcoin Sign up and get $12 Bonus Referral bonus up to $3,000 Sign up\n\nThe Ripple ecosystem is constantly evolving behind the scenes. With the new rippled client being released, another milestone has been reached. This new version brings several enhancements to the table regarding reliability and scalability. Any server operator is advised to upgrade to this new version as soon as possible. Things are looking pretty promising for Ripple, right now, to say the least.\n\nIt is always good to see some more developments in the Ripple ecosystem. More specifically, the network itself is expanding quickly. Unlike regular cryptocurrencies, Ripple is doing things very differently. They mainly rely on the rippled software used by server operators. It is this piece of technology which provides valuable services to the XRP ledger. With a new update recently released, things are looking very promising right now.\n\nA Major Ripple Update\n\nIn the new update, we see various enhancements and improvements. Reliability, scalability, and security of the XRP Ledger are all incredibly important. This new release brings some fixed in this regard. Moreover, there is also a SortedDirectories amendment to sort entries in ledger objects. This new feature is expected to be enabled in early November, but it is still advised to upgrade the client as soon as possible.\n\nThere are some downsides associated with not upgrading, though. More specifically, determining the validity of a ledger and processing transactions may be jeopardized without upgrading. Plus, non-upgraded nodes can\u2019t participate in the consensus process or vote on future amendments. An interesting turn of events, but also one that makes a lot of sense in this regard. Mandatory upgrades should never be ignored by any means.\n\nThis new update will also be deployed to all rippled servers later today. This should take around 4 hours or slightly less. During this phase, the Ripple network will continue to operate without any problems. It is good to see real-time network updates still being a thing in 2017. This also shows how resilient the Ripple network really is. Another notch in the belt for the Ripple ecosystem, that much is certain.\n\nHeader image courtesy of Shutterstock", "output": "The Ripple cryptocurrency network has released an update that brings increased security, scalability and reliability to the XRP Ledger. It also includes a feature allowing ledger entries to be sorted, which will be enabled in November. Ripple users were urged to adopt the update, as failure to do so could put processing transactions at risk and prevent nodes from participating in the consensus process.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US government urged to reverse easing of gas flaring regulations \n I\u2019ve never seen a big gas flare up close. Anyone who has, though, could never forget its fearsome roar, like standing next to a jet engine running at full tilt. Then there\u2019s the bludgeoning waves of heat, the intense brightness of the flame and the fine mist of oily droplets that drift from it. All over the world, thousands of these gas flares burn through about 150 billion m3 of gas each year.\n\nOil fields often contain a lot of natural gas, but a drilling site might be too remote, or the gas reserves too limited, to make it worth building a pipeline to transport the gas for sale. Instead, the cheapest way to deal with this \u2018stranded gas\u2019 is to set fire to it. This is not only a wanton waste of natural resources, it also emits more than 300 million tons of CO 2 into the atmosphere every year, accounting for about 1% of anthropogenic emissions.\n\nThe World Bank\u2019s \u2018Zero Routine Flaring by 2030\u2019 initiative aims to persuade governments and oil companies to eliminate flaring and in recent years it has begun to gain serious momentum. Last year, for example, the US Bureau of Land Management announced new regulations that require oil and gas companies operating on public land to phase out flaring.\n\nNow, President Trump\u2019s administration is \u2013 surprise, surprise \u2013 trying to derail those regulations. In early October, its attempt to delay the rule\u2019s implementation until 2019 was blocked by a federal judge. But the administration insists it will seek other ways to stymie the rule, arguing that it is too burdensome for industry.\n\nOn climate grounds alone, that is willfully perverse. Yet it also ignores the huge opportunities offered by burgeoning technologies that use clever chemistry to turn stranded gas into a variety of valuable products.\n\nReactor options\n\nOne way to make use of stranded gas is to convert it into liquid fuels, which are often easier to transport and use locally. Methane goes through a steam reformer to make a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen called syngas, which is then converted into longer hydrocarbons through the Fischer\u2013Tropsch (FT) process. This technology has been around for almost a century, but conventional FT plants need to produce at least 30,000 barrels per day to be economically viable, so they are not suitable to process modest reserves of stranded gas.\n\nBut several companies have developed small-scale gas-to-liquids processes that are a perfect fit. Velocys, based in Houston, Texas, makes a microchannel FT reactor that is profitable at production volumes as low as 1400 barrels per day. The reactors are 5m long, and boast millimetre-wide microchannels that dissipate heat more rapidly than a conventional FT reactor. This allows Velocys to pack the channels with a much more active cobalt-based nanoparticle catalyst, boosting the system\u2019s efficiency.\n\nIn June, Velocys\u2019 reactors started producing waxes, diesel and naphtha at a commercial plant in Oklahoma City. Those reactors feed on methane from a landfill site, but the technology could also tackle stranded gas at remote oil wells.\n\nCompactGTL, based in London, UK, has demonstrated a similar FT reactor in Brazil that turns stranded gas into synthetic crude, and is planning a commercial plant in Kazakhstan. And GasTechno in Walloon Lake, Michigan, uses an alternative approach to turn methane directly into methanol, deploying its first commercial-scale plant last year. One of the key advantages of these systems is that they are modular \u2013 additional reactors can easily be added if gas supplies increase, and even moved to other wells when they dwindle.\n\nLighting the way\n\nA slew of other technologies are in development. For example, Pallavi Chitta at the University of Utah is working on a molybdenum-zeolite catalyst that converts methane into benzene. Chitta now has funding from Alberta Innovates, a Canadian funding agency, to take the process to the pre-pilot stage by mid-2019.\n\nIn May, Jeroen van Bokhoven at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland reported that a copper-zeolite catalyst could produce methanol from streams of methane and water. And in September, Xin Tu at the University of Liverpool unveiled a plasma reactor that could couple methane and CO 2 at room temperature and pressure to form products such as acetic acid.\n\nThese are just a smattering of the chemical reactions \u2013 and innovative reactors \u2013 that could help to curb flaring. One of the major challenges that these technologies will face, however, is raising the capital needed to fund scale-up work and ultimately produce commercial demonstration units. Flaring reduction regulations in the US could nudge companies to invest in these technologies, spurring wider deployment.\n\nMeanwhile, other countries are taking the World Bank initiative seriously. In Nigeria, which is the seventh-largest gas flarer in the world, gas flaring has caused huge damage to human health and the environment in the Niger Delta. Earlier this year, it committed to end routine gas flaring by 2020, and signed an agreement in August that will see stranded gas liquefied and transported to industrial users around the country.\n\nThe US government should halt its fight to enable flaring. Instead, it must seize the opportunity to reduce the country\u2019s greenhouse gas emissions and start turning a wasted resource into useful products.", "output": "The US government should stop relaxing regulations curbing gas flaring, wrote Mark Peplow in an editorial for Chemistry World. Oil fields can contain a lot of natural gas, but it is often not worth building a pipeline to transport it for sale, meaning the stranded gas is set alight. In addition to being a waste of natural resources, this practice also emits more than 300 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year. A World Bank initiative aims to eliminate flaring but the Trump administration argues that would be\u00a0too burdensome for industry.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GameCredits to share blockchain tech with Unity's game\u00a0developers \n GameCredits Inc., a blockchain company driving innovation in the video gaming industry has announced the firm has signed a deal with Unity Technologies, creator of the world\u2019s most popular creation engine, that will bring the benefits of blockchain to more than 3 billion devices and millions of game developers worldwide.\n\nThrough this deal, both companies will introduce novel forms of game distribution for the $100 billion* gaming industry, placing a particular focus on the fast-growing world of mobile gaming and eSports. GameCredits\u2019 mobile game store, GPlay, will be integrated with Unity\u2019s game-development ecosystem and developers will be able to effortlessly publish their games directly into GPlay. GPlay will share 90% of gross revenue (instead of the industry standard 70%), and will pay developers within 60 hours (instead of 60 days).\n\nUnity exists to democratize development, solve hard problems and enable success \u2014 three core values that are the driving forces of Unity\u2019s adoption by millions of creators. Unity powers more than 50% of all new mobile games and over 2/3rds of all AR and VR content. Interactive content made with Unity reaches nearly 3 billion devices worldwide.\n\nFollowing a record-breaking $53 million crowdsale earlier this year, GameCredits has been developing a suite of blockchain products for the gaming industry, all under its GPlay initiative. GameCredits recently joined Hyperledger, a Linux Foundation blockchain consortium whose members include IBM, Intel, Cisco, American Express, JP Morgan and other leaders from various industries.\n\nGamesCredits will introduce its blockchain solutions at Unite \u2013 the popular developers conferences in Melbourne, Singapore and India in the next few weeks.", "output": "Global blockchain company GameCredits has agreed a deal with Unity Technologies to bring blockchain solutions to the $100bn videogame industry. The deal includes the integration of GameCredits' GPlay platform into Unity's development software, a move that allows developers to publish directly on to the platform, and GPlay said it will share 90% of gross revenue, paid within 60 hours. Earlier this year, GameCredits raised $53m through a crowdsale. The companies are expected to focus on mobile gaming and eSports, both rapidly growing markets.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ad targeting can be used to track a target's location for $1,000 \n \"If you want to make the point that advertising networks should be more concerned with privacy, the bogeyman you usually pull out is that big corporations know so much about you. But people don't really care about that,\" says University of Washington researcher Paul Vines. \"But the potential person using this information isn't some large corporation motivated by profits and constrained by potential lawsuits. It can be a person with relatively small amounts of money and very different motives.\"\n\nThe research team used 10 Moto G Android phones for testing, a mobile banner ad they created, and a website that served as the landing page if someone clicked on the ad. Then they spent the minimum $1,000 deposit to place orders with a so-called demand-side platform\u2014think Facebook, Google AdWords, MediaMath, Centro, Simpli.fi, and others\u2014that allows ad buyers to specify criteria like where their ad appears, for which unique phone identifiers, and in which apps. (They declined to reveal which specific DSP they tested, arguing that nothing about that platform was more intrusive than many others in the industry.)\n\nThey then used that DSP to place a geographic grid of location-targeted ad buys around a 3-mile-square section of Seattle, which for their tests they set to appear on the popular ad-supported calling and texting app Talkatone.\n\nEvery time a target phone had Talkatone open near one of the coordinates the researchers had set on their grid of ad buys, the ad would appear on it, the researchers would be charged 2 cents, and they'd receive confirmation from the DSP of approximately where, when, and on which phone the ad had been shown. With that method, they they were able to follow their test phones' locations within a range of about 25 feet any time the phone user left an app open in one location for about 4 minutes or opened it twice in the same location during that time span. They registered just a 6-minute delay in the ad network's real-time reporting of the phone's location. Following a human test subject carrying each test phone over seven days, they were able to easily identify the person's home and work address, based on where their target stopped. (See the map above.)\n\n\"You\u2019re using whether or not your ad gets served as an oracle to tell you whether or not an event happened: that this particular device was at this location,\" Vines says. They note that the DSP they used never flagged their behavior as unusual or cut off their account for attempting targeted surveillance.\n\nThat tracking method has a couple of serious limitations. The target would have to have a certain app open on their phone at the time they're being tracked, so that the ad can appear. And to track a specific phone, any ad-buying spy would have to know a unique identifier of the target phone, known as a mobile advertising ID, or MAID.\n\nBut to get around the first of those limitations, a spy could buy ads against a range of popular apps in the hope that one of them would show the ad. And for the second, the researchers suggest a variety of ways to obtain that MAID, including placing an \"active-content\" ad that uses javascript to pull the MAID from a phone at a certain location, then use that identifier to continue to track the phone with normal ads. Perhaps more simply, they point out, MAIDs can also be intercepted by someone on the same Wi-Fi network as the target phone.", "output": "Ad-targeting technology, costing just $1,000, can track users' locations and other personal data with alarming accuracy, according to a report from security researchers from the University of Washington. Demand-side platforms enable ad buyers to input specific parameters, such as demographic, app choices and mobile model, which can be used to track users' phones within a range of 25 feet whenever apps are open. The team was able to follow a test subject\u00a0over seven days, successfully locating the person's home and work addresses.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Netflix still has no plans to introduce ad breaks or live TV \n Faced with a looming plateau in the numbers of subscribers Netflix can attract with a market penetration of 190 countries (only absent in China, North Korea and Syria), brands have been hoping the streaming service will open its platform to adverts.\n\nNetflix has said it has no plans to introduce ad breaks \"any time soon, if ever\"\n\nBut Netflix\u2019s aversion to traditional advertising remains unwavering for the foreseeable future, it was revealed today (24 October), as the media company focuses on protecting the customer experience.\n\nSpeaking at Westminster Media Forum in a rare appearance, Netflix, which called itself \u201cthe world\u2019s leading internet entertainment network\u201d, said its focus on being a personalised streaming service that \u201cgives back control to the user\u201d is an \u201congoing effort\u201d.\n\nThe internet TV service is constantly iterating its product \u201cas result of user preferences\u201d, said Cees van Koppen, manager public policy EMEA at Netflix, which includes more intelligent personalisation and the introduction of new technology like 4K, HDR and Dolby Atmos.\n\nHowever, when quizzed as to whether its experimentation in new formats would include live TV, as its rival Amazon Prime introduced in May this year with the launch of Channels, van Koppen inferred that broadcasters like the BBC are better placed to offer a \u2018hybrid\u2019 model of live programming and on-demand than an internet company would be.\n\n\u201cLive TV streaming, if you think about it, is only relevant when it is urgent and when it is eventful in our minds \u2013 like live sports, news, something like The Voice,\u201d van Koppen said. \u201cIt is our company\u2019s vision that most of the services that offer content will move into the internet world which means they will find a hybrid between live programming and on-demand. You will have that in one offer from the BBC itself. We are just a licenser of the BBC content and we like to be in business with them as far as co-productions go.\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t really see us soonish [sic] doing live events and carrying live content from the BBC,\u201d he added.\n\nWhile Netflix is 20 years old, it has only been a streaming service for half of its life. Von Koppen charted the tech company\u2019s transition from a DVD-by-post service to a content company that has 100 million global members, operates in 190 countries, has 400 original titles and will spend a total of $6bn in original programming this year alone. On its recent earnings call, the company said it expected this budget to rise to between $7bn and $8bn in 2018.\n\nBut this investment in original content is not without a cost. The service has said it is expecting to raise $1.6bn in debt due to pouring money into content, and while it recently raised the price of its subscriptions, some in the industry feel that an inevitable stagnation in its growth will lead the service to look to advertising revenue to offset its losses.\n\nThat said, Netflix\u2019s reluctance to introduce ad breaks did not waver today, as von Koppen said he didn\u2019t see the streaming service introducing ad breaks to its folds \u201cany time soon, if ever\u201d, much to the chagrin of brands. The service does offer product placement and has made moves in the merchandising space with its popular show Stranger Things, but von Koppen said it is \u201cvery important\u201d for its viewers not to have ad breaks, when the service has trained its viewers to expect Netflix content ad-free.\n\n\u201cOn demand without ad breaks \u2013 you never go back to watching 20 minutes of ad breaks,\u201d he said.", "output": "Netflix has no plans to introduce advertising to its programming, according to a senior executive. The internet TV streaming platform now operates in 190 countries, with 100 million subscribers worldwide, and some industry figures have suggested the company may introduce advertising to boost its revenue. However, Cees van Koppen, Netflix public policy manager for Europe, Middle East and Asia, said remaining ad-free was \"very important\" to viewers, and that advertising would not be introduced \"any time soon, if ever\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nicaragua to sign Paris accord, leaving US and Syria as outliers \n Nicaragua is set to join the Paris climate agreement, according to an official statement and comments from the vice-president, Rosario Murillo, on Monday, in a move that leaves the United States and Syria as the only countries outside the global pact.\n\n\n\nNicaragua has already presented the relevant documents at the United Nations, Murillo, who is also first lady, said on local radio on Monday.\n\n\u201cIt is the only instrument we have in the world that allows the unity of intentions and efforts to face up to climate change and natural disasters,\u201d Murillo said.\n\nDonald Trump said in June he would withdraw the United States from the accord, and Nicaragua\u2019s decision to enter the pact means only two countries will now be outside it \u2013 the world\u2019s No 1 economy and war-torn Syria.\n\nNicaragua, which is often threatened by hurricanes, was the only country to reject the agreement in 2015, and has argued for far more drastic action to limit rising temperatures.\n\nThe Paris accord, agreed by nearly 200 countries two years ago, seeks to limit planetary warming by curbing global emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that scientists believe drive global warming.\n\nThe administration of the former US president Barack Obama had pledged deep emissions cuts as part of the deal, but his successor, Trump, has said the accord would cost America trillions of dollars, kill jobs, and hinder the oil, gas, coal and manufacturing industries.\n\nThe island country of Fiji will preside over the next round of UN climate talks, from 6-17 November in Bonn, Germany, where environment ministers from around the world will work on a set of international guidelines for the Paris accord.\n\nThe latest round of negotiations take place after a string of powerful hurricanes ravaged Caribbean island nations and caused billions of dollars in damage along the Texas and Florida coastlines.\n\nClimate scientists have said warmer air and water resulting from climate change may have contributed to the severity of the storms. The US Environmental Protection Agency has disputed such claims as an attempt to \u201cpoliticize\u201d natural disasters.", "output": "Nicaragua is due to join the Paris Climate Accord, leaving the US and Syria as the only countries not part of the agreement. Nicaragua has already presented the required documents to the United Nations, according the country\u2019s vice-president and first lady, Rosario Murillo. Nicaragua was the only country to reject the accord in 2015, calling for even stronger action against climate change. The accord, signed by almost 200 countries, seeks to curb emissions of the gases responsible for global warming. In June, President Donald Trump announced that he intended to withdraw the US from the pact.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brunel researchers 3-D print world's first wearable 'battery' \n Credit: CC0 Public Domain\n\nImagine printing off a wristband that charges your smartphone or electric car with cheap supplies from a local hardware store.\n\nThat's the direction materials research is heading at Brunel University London where scientists have become the first to simply and affordably 3-D print a flexible, wearable 'battery'.\n\nThe technique opens the way for novel designs for super-efficient, wearable power for phones, electric cars, medical implants like pacemakers and more.\n\nThe printer squirts stacks of silicone, glue and gel electrolyte pastes like a layer cake, to make what looks like a clear festival wristband. Sandwiched inside is a supercapacitor, which stores energy like a battery, but on its surface and without chemical reactions.\n\n\"This is the first time a flexible supercapacitor including all its components has been produced by 3-D printing,\" said Milad Areir at Brunel's Cleaner Electronics Research Group. \"The most popular way to produce them is screen printing, but with that you can't print the frame of the supercapacitor on silicone.\"\n\nResearchers in many countries have found new ways to make flexible supercapacitators. But their techniques, which include 3-D laser selective melting machines are expensive and use different machines to print different parts.\n\n\"Our technique brings it all together into one process with one machine,\" said Milad. \"It will definitely save time and costs on expensive materials.\"\n\nThe work, published in Materials Science and Engineering, shows the power wristband can be made using cheap products from a household shop instead of sophisticated expensive metals or semiconductors. What's more is that they stand up to stress tests without losing power.\n\n\"This has developed a novel 3-D printing method for manufacturing flexible supercapacitators, by one single continuous process using low-cost flexible silicone compatible with the electrode, current collector and electrolyte materials,\" the study says.\n\nA simple open-source printer connected by USB to a syringe driver with a stopper motor can print the paste layers, with only three or four syringes based on the size of the supercapacitator. The wristbands are printed in a honeycomb pattern, which means less material needs printing, so they are quicker to make. But designers can also experiment with different complex shapes.\n\nThe process is easy to copy, the study says, and shows 3-D printing using paste extrusion can be used to develop more sophisticated electronic devices with different mixes of paste.\n\n\"In future it can be used for mobile phones,\" said Milad. \"For example, if the phone battery is dead, you could plug the phone into the supercapacitator wristband and it could act as a booster pack, providing enough power to get to the next charging point.\"\n\nMore information: Milad Areir et al. 3D printing of highly flexible supercapacitor designed for wearable energy storage, Materials Science and Engineering: B (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.mseb.2017.09.004", "output": "Brunel University researchers have 3D printed the world's first wearable battery. The London-based team used to 3D printer to create stacks of silicone, glue and gel electrolyte pastes into a wristband, inside of which is a supercapacitor that stores energy like a battery but on its surface. The research, published in Materials Science and Engineering, also shows that the wearable can be produced using cheap supplies from a local hardware shop, rather than expensive metals or semiconductors."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Monzo bank now supports Android Pay but not yet\u00a0Apple Pay \n Monzo, the British \"bank\" with a coral-coloured card and a clever savings app, has added support for Android Pay. It's only available for users with current accounts, however. Monzo started with a simple pre-paid card, forcing customers to transfer money from an existing bank account to take advantage of its app-based smarts. In April, however, it was approved by the UK authorities to act, well, like a real bank and offer proper accounts. Since then, it's slowly been inviting pre-paid card owners to switch over (the company says all users should be transferred in the next six weeks.)\n\nWith Android Pay, Monzo is making it easier for Brits to switch away from high-street banks. (Heck, Barclays still doesn't support Android Pay.) To get started, you'll need to load up you Android Pay wallet and add a Monzo card by taking a photo or entering the relevant details manually. You can then take out your phone and make contactless payments as normal; Monzo will keep track of your spending and list transactions in the \"spending feed\" section of its app. In the future, the company says you'll be able to add your card to Android Pay from inside the Monzo app too.\n\nThe big question now is: What about Apple Pay? For now, that's unclear. We suspect it's on the company's roadmap, however. Some of Monzo's biggest rivals, such as Starling, already support both Apple and Google's payment platforms. It would be strange if Monzo, a startup that prides itself on being more tech-savvy than its competition, didn't do the same.", "output": "UK digital bank Monzo has made Android Pay available to its current account holders, with the aim of enticing\u00a0further\u00a0customers away from the high-street banks. Monzo is still in the process of switching its pre-paid card users to its own bank accounts after gaining regulatory approval to offer current accounts, and said it will allow customers\u00a0to add its card to Android Pay from inside the Monzo app in the future. However, it has not revealed whether it will eventually support Apple Pay.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK could lose soil fertility within 30-40 years: Gove \n The UK is 30 to 40 years away from \u201cthe fundamental eradication of soil fertility\u201d in parts of the country, the environment secretary Michael Gove has warned.\n\n\u201cWe have encouraged a type of farming which has damaged the earth,\u201d Gove told the parliamentary launch of the Sustainable Soils Alliance (SSA). \u201cCountries can withstand coups d\u2019\u00e9tat, wars and conflict, even leaving the EU, but no country can withstand the loss of its soil and fertility.\n\n\u201cIf you have heavy machines churning the soil and impacting it, if you drench it in chemicals that improve yields but in the long term undercut the future fertility of that soil, you can increase yields year on year but ultimately you really are cutting the ground away from beneath your own feet. Farmers know that.\u201d\n\nArguing that farmers needed to be incentivised to tackle both the loss of soil fertility and the decline in biodiversity, Gove said that he hoped the SSA, a new body formed with the mission of bringing UK soils back to health within one generation, would hold the government to account and bring him ideas and inspiration. \u201cWe are listening to you now and it\u2019s critical that we do so.\u201d\n\nGove\u2019s speech on Monday afternoon came as UK farmers anxiously wait to see if Brexit will take them out of the EU\u2019s Common Agricultural Policy, and if so, what will take its place. Defra is currently working on a new agricultural bill and is simultaneously drawing up a 25-year environmental plan. Gove promised both would reflect the concerns of the SSA.\n\nThere has been a spike in awareness of the impact that intensive farming techniques are having on the world\u2019s soils and its biodiversity. In 2014 Sheffield University researchers said that UK farm soils only had 100 harvests left in them, and a year later a UN spokesperson warned that at current rates of degradation, the world\u2019s topsoil could be gone within 60 years. \u201cIt feels as if soil is now a hot topic,\u201d said Helen Browning, head of the Soil Association. Meanwhile a new German study has revealed that numbers of flying insects have fallen by up to three quarters. Intensive farming techniques that encourage the heavy use of fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides are believed to be major factors in these problems.\n\nThe UK has a poor record in this area. The government has not been conducting regular soil monitoring since the last Countryside Survey in 2007, and in 2012 UK ministers helped block a critical EU soil health directive. Even a year ago, experts such as Peter Stevenson at Compassion in World Farming felt there was no real appetite for reform of intensive farming.\n\nBut environmentalists are now increasingly hopeful that, unlike his predecessors at Defra, Gove will take this issue seriously. In July he said that the UK would not move towards \u201cUS-style farming\u201d and would prioritise \u201chigh environmental and animal welfare standards\u201d. \u201cThere\u2019s been quite a dramatic shift in understanding around what we\u2019re doing to our soils,\u201d said Browning. \u201cEveryone is quite bowled over by some of the comments that Michael Gove is making.\u201d\n\nGove said he hoped the Sustainable Soils Alliance, a body formed to bring UK soils back to health within a generation, would hold government to account. Photograph: Courtesy of NFU\n\nGove, as one of the leaders of the leave campaign, has a huge stake in making post-Brexit environment and agriculture policy a success, and key farming organisations appear to be shifting their positions on soil issues. The National Farmers Union, who were present at the event, have long been defenders of intensive farming. But three years ago they set up an environment forum, and yesterday its chair Mark Pope said that he is seeing a surge of interest and support for these issues from NFU members. In a blog published on the NFU website earlier in the week, Pope wrote: \u201cWe only get one lot of soil on our farms, so poor management could have major, irreversible impacts for many years to come.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere is a groundswell of interest in this, a terrific opportunity,\u201d said Rebecca Pow MP, parliamentary private secretary to Michael Gove. Pow was brought up on a farm and worked as a journalist specialising in the environment, food and farming before becoming an MP in 2015, and she has been an energising force around the issue of soil and sustainable farming in parliament. \u201cI voted remain,\u201d she said yesterday. \u201cBut nevertheless, there is an opportunity here that we wouldn\u2019t have had before.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe UK used to be the world\u2019s leading agronomic centre, and could be again,\u201d argued Tim Smit, the founder of the Eden Project. He wants to see \u201ca new agricultural revolution\u201d, elevating agronomy \u2013 the science of soil and crops \u2013 to a better respected profession, and turning the UK back into a world leader in soil and farming expertise.", "output": "The UK could experience \u201cthe fundamental eradication of soil fertility\u201d within three to four decades, according to the country\u2019s environment secretary Michael Gove. Speaking at the parliamentary launch of campaigning network the Sustainable Soils Alliance, Gove said that farming \u201chas damaged the earth\u201d and that farmers needed incentives to combat declining soil fertility and biodiversity. The UK government has not carried out regular soil monitoring since 2007, and in 2012 ministers from the country helped block a European Union directive on soil health.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fitbit smartwatch payments arrive in the UK \n Fitbit's first smartwatch can now make payments in the UK Only Starling Bank customers can use the feature right away, though.\n\nConvenient contactless and mobile payment options are a dime a dozen these days, but that isn't discouraging Fitbit from throwing its keys into the bowl. After launching in the US and elsewhere during recent weeks, Fitbit Pay is now live in the UK, if not with a few catches. For starters you're going to need one of Fitbit's new \u00a3300 Ionic smartwatches, the company's first wearable that isn't geared solely towards activity tracking. Then there's the fact that at launch, it only supports Starling Bank, one of the UK's relatively new, branchless outfits that digs into your payment data to help you better manage your money from your mobile.\n\nFitbit Pay is available now with Starling Bank!\n\nUse your Fitbit Ionic to make purchases on the go without a wallet or smartphone. pic.twitter.com/H7VXI9oJpa \u2014 Fitbit UnitedKingdom (@FitbitUK) October 24, 2017\n\nProvided you fit within this pretty strict criteria, you can start using your new Ionic smartwatch to make contactless payments sans wallet or smartphone. We expect plenty more banks, including some of the bigger names, to play nice with Fitbit Pay before too long. That said, Barclays was notably slow in adopting Apple Pay and shunned Android Pay entirely in favour of its own mobile app, so even among some of the larger financial players, it's not always obvious how these things shake out.", "output": "Fitbit has launched a contactless payment platform in the UK, following its launch in the US and other countries in recent weeks. The service is only available on the company's new Ionic smartwatches, and currently only supports payments from customers of the online Starling Bank, though more banks are expected to adopt the technology in the coming months.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shift Technology raises $28m, plans fraud research programme \n Shift Technology has raised $28m in its Series B funding round as it looks to take on new markets\n\nShift Technology will fund a research programme to change the claims space following a $28m (\u00a321m) series B funding round. It will also boost its team and work on new fraud detection products as it looks to continue expanding internationally.\n\nMachine learning, artificial intelligence and graph theory are used in Shift\u2019s software to catch fraudulent claims. The company says it is able to spot three quarters (75%) of suspicious claims, while the industry average is only around a third (30-35%).\n\nIn two years it has processed over 100 million claims for property/casualty insurers across Europe, Asia and the Americas.\n\nShift\u2019s series B funding round was led by Accel and General Catalyst. Previous investors Elaia Partners and Iris Capital also took part. It follows a $10m Series A raise in May 2016.\n\nInvestor General Catalyst managing director Adam Valkin said: \u201cShift\u2019s AI-driven fraud detection solution has quickly delivered impressive results for some of Europe\u2019s leading insurers. We believe the company is positioned to have a significant impact on the insurance industry as it expands internationally and widens the scope of its offering.\u201d\n\nShift Technology co-founder and chief executive Jeremy Jawish added: \u201cWe\u2019ve seen strong demand globally since our launch, and we\u2019re excited to be able to expand our offering further internationally. The U.S. and Japan are two of the biggest insurance markets in the world, and there is a huge opportunity to help their insurers detect fraud as effectively as possible.\u201d\n\nShift will now look to open offices in Tokyo and New York in Q1 2018.", "output": "Insurtech Shift Technology is planning a research programme focusing on fraud detection following its latest funding round. The firm raised $28m. The firm says it can detect up to 75% of fraudulent claims due to its use of artificial intelligence and data analysis. Shift Technology says the industry average is identifying 31% of claims. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Singapore to ban additional cars on roads from 2018 \n Singapore, one of the most expensive places in the world to buy a vehicle, has announced it will freeze the number of private cars on its roads from next year but vowed to expand public transport.\n\n\n\nThe growth cap for all passenger cars and motorcycles will be cut from 0.25% a year to zero with effect from February, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said.\n\nThe affluent city-state of 5.6 million people already imposes a quota on the number of vehicles sold and the number on its roads, and has avoided the massive traffic jams that choke other Asian cities.\n\nSingapore makes it costly for those wanting to buy a vehicle, who must first get a \u201ccertificate of entitlement\u201d, valid for 10 years \u2013 the average cost of a certificate is currently around Sg$50,000 (US$37,000).\n\nA Toyota Corolla Altis, a five-door sedan, can cost up to around Sg$111,000 in Singapore, including the price of the certificate, or about four times what it costs in the US.\n\nThere were more than 600,000 private cars in Singapore at the end of 2016.\n\nNo timetable was given for the freeze but the number of buses and goods vehicles will be allowed to continue growing.\n\nIn a statement announcing the change Monday, the LTA said 12 percent of Singapore\u2019s total land area was already taken up by roads and there was limited room for expansion.\n\nHowever it said the government would spend Sg$28bn over the next five years to expand and upgrade the transport system, including the metro, which has recently faced criticism for a series of breakdowns.", "output": "Singapore will cap the number of private cars on its roads from February 2018. The growth cap, which covers passenger cars and motorcycles, will be reduced from its current 0.25% per year to zero, according to the country\u2019s Land Transport Authority. The new cap will not apply to buses and goods vehicles, and the government has pledged to spend SGD28bn ($21bn) on public transport over the next five years. The city-state currently has 5.6 million inhabitants and just 600,000 private cars. In order to purchase a car, consumers are required to obtain \u201ccertificates of entitlement\u201d, which permit ownership for ten years. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Contactless payments to replace New York subway MetroCard \n It is no secret that contactless payments are starting to become a more popular option compared to using cash or other older methods of payments, such as swiping cards. In fact in several parts of the world, contactless payments have become more or less standard and ubiquitous.\n\nThat being said the good news for residents of New York City is that it looks like the city\u2019s subway is expected to start adopting contactless payments on a wider scale, according to a report from the New York Times. A committee of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has recently approved a $573 million contract for a new fare payment system that will allow contactless payments, such as Apple Pay where users can make payment using their iPhones or Apple Watch.\n\nThese new electronic readers will be installed in 500 subway turnstiles and on 600 buses in New York beginning late next year, and is expected to eventually cover the city\u2019s entire subway and bus system by late 2020. This will also eventually replace the current method of using the MetroCard which can be prone to swipe errors, and could also save users time from having to top up their cards when it runs low.\n\nLike we said, this is not the first time contactless systems are being introduced to public transport. Over in cities like London and Tokyo, similar systems have already been put into place.\n\nFiled in . Read more about Android Pay, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay.", "output": "New York is set to follow other world cities and introduce contactless payments to its transport network. The city's transport authorities have approved a $573m contract to implement the new payment network, replacing the existing MetroCard system of swipe cards. New electronic readers will be installed at subway stations and on buses, with customers able to use contactless bank cards as well as mobile payment methods such as Apple Pay. Similar systems already operate in other cities, including London and Tokyo.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian online exam prep start-up Toppr raises further $6.9m \n Toppr Will Use The Funding To Accelerate User Acquisition And Expansion\n\nMumbai-based personalised elearning solutions provider and online test preparation platform, Toppr has raised $6.92 Mn (INR 45 Cr) in its Series B funding, led by its existing investors SAIF Partners, Helion Ventures, and FIL Capital Management.\n\nSo far, Toppr has raised a total of $12 Mn funding. Last year in May, Toppr had raised about $10 Mn in the second round of funding led by Fidelity and its existing investors which includes Saif and Helion. Post that, in October, it had raised $2 Mn round from Venture Debt provider Innoven Capital. The startup has used the funds to fuel growth of the adaptive platform with over 2 Mn registered users and over 1 Mn app downloads.\n\nCommenting on the funding round, Zishaan Hayath, CEO & Founder, Toppr stated, \u201cThis is the second round of series B funding by our existing investors. It is the reflection of our healthy unit economics and a reinforcement of the belief that the investors have in us. This capital will be used to expand the geographical footprint and accelerate user acquisition. We expect this capital to take us to full profitability.\u201d\n\nA brainchild of IIT alumni, Zishaan Hayath and Hemanth Goteti, the elearning platform was founded in 2013. It is personalising education for students from classes 5 to 12, across CBSE, ICSE, and various state boards. The startup provides tailored content that helps students learn better. It is also enhancing the way they prepare for board and competitive exams like IIT JEE and NEET, among others.\n\nTill today, the platform\u2019s community of 8000+ educators from across the country has contributed 1 Mn learning pieces, including questions, solutions, concepts, and videos for the students signed up on the app. Users spend nearly two hours a day on the elearning platform and 90% students renew their subscriptions when going to a new class, as claimed by the Toppr team. Toppr also claims to have cleared 1.1 Mn doubts, provided 9 Mn tests, and 110 Mn practice questions answered.\n\nThe elearning platform has a strong presence across Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, Nagpur, Jaipur, Kota, Vijayawada, Indore, Bhopal, Lucknow, Gurugram, and Baroda.\n\nIn February 2016, Toppr also acquired edtech startup Manch. The company is pursuing aggressive expansion plans, to reach out to students across the country and open centres in 30 cities by December 2017. Toppr projects 20x growth in its junior grades and 15x growth in its senior grades subscription by 2021, making it a company with over $500 Mn in revenue in the next four years.\n\nOther startups in the online test preparation space include Embibe, Examify, TestBook among others. Last year, Amazon India also announced launch of Exam Central bookstore, to provide exams related information, preparation books and other study material to students and job aspirants on its portal.\n\nIn India, elearning will see approximately 8x growth in the next five years, says a recent report by Google, KPMG. This will have a significant impact on the edtech market that has a potential to touch $1.96 Bn by 2021 from where it stands now i.e. $247 Mn. As per Ken Research\u2019s report, during the period FY\u2019 2010 \u2013 FY\u20192015, the online test preparation market grew at an unprecedented CAGR of 17.8%. In the same report it was highlighted that the online test preparation market is expected to have around 19-26% share in the total market (about $100 Bn) by FY\u2019 2020-21. Thus, with the recent funding, Toppr has a great opportunity ahead to cash upon the burgeoning elearning market in India as well as globally.", "output": "Indian edtech firm Toppr has raised $6.9m in a series B funding round led by SAIF Partners, Helion Ventures and FIL Capital Management, taking its total funding to $12m. Toppr provides tailored educational content for children aged between five and 12, and exam preparation materials. Toppr has a presence in many cities in India and the funds will be used to increase user numbers and support plans to open centres in 30 cities by December. CEO Zishaan Hayath said he expected the investment would take the company to \"full profitability\". Toppr has more than two million registered users.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "VR tech allows puppet-like control of rescue robot \n Rescue robots could be incredibly useful tools in the future, diving into situations too dangerous for humans. But if you\u2019ve seen current-generation robots try to tackle these sorts of scenarios, you\u2019ll know even the most advanced lack the coordination and flexibility of movement required. To fix this, a group of researchers from Japan are trying a new method of robot-control, letting a human operate a bot essentially like a giant puppet.\n\nThis sort of remote control system isn\u2019t new, and usually comes under a branch of research known as \u201ctelepresence.\u201d However, scientists from the University of Tokyo say their method (presented last month at the IROS conference) is more advanced than predecessors\u2019. Earlier systems used smaller robots or only controlled the upper half of the bot; theirs controls an entire robot as big as an adult human, using controllers from HTC virtual reality Vive system.\n\nThe Vive\u2019s \u201clighthouse\u201d sensors are used to track its controllers in 3D space using infrared light. By strapping a controller to each foot and hand, the researchers were able to map their movements and send them as commands to their robot. The really clever part, though, is the intermediary software that ensures any motion sent to the robot are tweaked to fit its capabilities.\n\nJAXON takes a few wobbly steps. Image: University of Tokyo\n\n\u201cFor example, stepping at a walking speed is allowed, but running and jumping are forbidden,\u201d researcher Ishiguro Yasushiro tells The Verge over email. Jerky movements are smoothed out, and fast ones slowed down, he says. \u201cWe force the robot to keep its gait always safe.\u201d Yasushiro admits that the system still has \u201cmany weak points,\u201d but claims its offers more flexibility and responsiveness than other designs.\n\nThe robot itself was built several years ago by the university and is known as JAXON. It previously competed in DARPA\u2019s Robotics Challenge, which is meant to test bots in disaster scenarios. Although these humanoid machines are currently too unwieldy to be used in the field, it\u2019s hoped that they\u2019ll be more convenient in the future. After all, if they have to navigate a space built for humans (with doors, and handles, and valves), it\u2019s handy to be human shaped.", "output": "Scientists from the University of Tokyo have enabled their Jaxon robot to perform movements such as walking and and stepping with a telepresence system. The team used an HTC virtual reality Vive system which sent mapped human movements as commands to the robot. The addition of extra software ironed out any wobbles or trembles, allowing the machine to move smoothly and in a stable manner. Researcher Ishiguro Yasushiro admitted there remain weaknesses in the system to be ironed out, but said it had greater \"flexibility and responsiveness\" than rival designs, and could find applications as a rescue robot."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Zelle partners with IBM to expand P2P payments service \n As it reports soaring consumer take up, US bank-backed P2P payments app Zelle has teamed up with IBM to help bring the service to more financial institutions.\n\nLaunched a year ago, several of America's biggest banks already incorporate Zelle within their apps, while a recently introduced standalone app lets anyone access the service through the debit card accounts.\n\n\n\nAnd customers are flocking to the network, with an average of 65,000 signups a day during the third quarter, resulting in 60 million payments worth $17.5 billion.\n\n\n\nThe network now claims more than 50 financial institutions and can expect to grow thanks to a new collaboration with IBM which will see any bank using Big Blue's Financial Transaction Manager get access to Zelle and the capability to send and receive customers' money in seconds.\n\n\n\nAccording to IBM, the deal give banks the first solution to support the full lifecycle of P2P transactions, from the back office to the mobile device - without heavy IT spend or disruption to legacy systems.\n\n\n\n\"The integration of FTM with Zelle not only accelerates and simplifies payments through real-time processing between banks and consumers, it enables same-day deposits and bill pay, removes fees, and offers seamless cash flow, all while remaining compliant with regulatory requirements,\" says Alistair Rennie, GM, Watson Financial Services Products, IBM.\n\n\n\nHe adds: \"For customers, this means being able to securely send and receive money in minutes, rather than waiting 1-2 days to 'cash out' which is standard among other providers such as Apple Pay and Venmo. This solution removes the friction typically experienced with other providers who essentially serve as a 'digital check' and not real time payments.\"", "output": "US peer-to-peer payment app Zelle is set to grow beyond its current network of 50 financial institutions following a partnership with IBM. The deal means any bank using Big Blue's Financial Transaction Manager will have access to Zelle's service, enabling their customers to send and receive money in minutes, compared with the 24-48 hours it takes rivals. During Q3 2017, Zelle signed up an average of 65,000 users per day\u00a0and enabled 60 million payments worth $17.5bn.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Expro creates TCP gun for challenging fracturing and gravel projects \n Edit page New page Hide edit links\n\nExpro has launched a new extreme high pressure tubing conveyed perforating (TCP) gun system, delivering the largest perforation hole area available for frac and gravel pack completions (photo: Expro)\n\nInternational oilfield services company, Expro, has launched a new extreme high pressure tubing conveyed perforating (TCP) gun system, delivering the largest perforation hole area available for frac and gravel pack completions.\n\nDesigned specifically for challenging deep water environments in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM), the Extreme Pressure Series 30,000 PSI TCP gun system utilises super big hole charge technology, providing best-in-class area-open-to-flow (AOF) to support frac- and gravel-pack operations. Delivering 18-22 shots per foot using steel HMX charges, standard casing sizes of 7 inches through 7-3/4 inches, in combination with the 4-3/4-inch OD system, will achieve 6 to 7 inches AOF. However larger casing sizes of 9-5/8 through 10-3/4 inches, utilising the 6 5/8-inch OD system, will deliver 13 to 15 inches AOF.\n\nDeveloped in collaboration with high performance gun system provider, GEODynamics, the system is complemented by Expro\u2019s fully rated dual hydraulic firing heads and drill stem testing (DST) tools for underbalanced perforating applications. These systems offer cutting edge technology to deliver efficient completions, alongside optimal well performance.\n\nExpro\u2019s DST/TCP Product Line Director, Ron Fordyce says, \u201cExpro has built a strong reputation as a leading TCP provider in the GoM, working with a range of major clients over the past 30 years. Following a growth in activity associated with deep wells in deeper waters, we knew it was important to deliver the right technology solution for this environment. GEODynamics has an unsurpassed reputation for their gun systems and associated products. Alongside our reputation for safety and service quality, the new Extreme Pressure Series, provided exclusively by Expro, can now deliver similar performance for extreme high pressure as it would for lower pressure wells.\u201d\n\nExpro\u2019s DST/TCP Global Business Development Manager, Kerry Daly adds, \u201cThe 30,000 PSI TCP guns and associated equipment were specifically designed for the deep water environment, where operators typically frac or gravel pack wells after perforating and require the most AOF possible. Now fully field tested, they can deliver an industry leading perforating hole size for achieving optimal completions and subsequent performance from the well. It allows us to bring a key piece of technology to the market place, to support a range of clients due to spud their wells in 2018 \u2013 a key driver of this partnership from the outset.\u201d\n\nExpro\u2019s TCP operations are supported from its service centre in Broussard, Louisiana, alongside the Company\u2019s broader suite of subsea, well test, well intervention and fluid product lines across North and Latin America (NLA).", "output": "Oilfield services company Expro has launched a high-pressure tubing conveyed perforating (TCP) gun system for fracturing and gravel projects. Developed in collaboration with GEODynamics, the Extreme Pressure Series 30,000 PSI TCP gun system is designed for use in deep water in the Gulf of Mexico. It offers the largest perforation hole area available for fracturing and gravel operations, and can perform equally well in extreme high pressure and lower pressure wells."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Deloitte predicts robo-advice could be bigger than BlackRock \n The market for disruptive wealth management has exploded, but could it displace the world\u2019s largest asset manager by 2025?\n\nAssets managed by robo-advice platforms and digital wealth managers could surpass that of incumbent giants such as BlackRock within a generation, according to a new report.\n\nCompiled by Deloitte, it forecasts a 2020 market size of $2.2trn for robo advisers, growing to $16bn by 2025. The current assets under management of the biggest incumbent in the market today BlackRock is less than this. Of course, BlackRock, for example, is also a huge beneficiary of the growth is passive investing brought about both directly and indirectly through robo advice. In addition, the firm has a chunky stake in one of the UK market leaders Scalable Capital.\n\nWhile this all sounds very bullish for robo-advice, the report notes that total levels of assets managed by traditional players is likely to remain high as a percentage of total assets. Nonetheless, it says a broader process of \u2018digitisation\u2019 is occurring within the wealth management space.\n\n\u201cDigital transformation of the wealth management industry is not a pure technological challenge. As the likelihood of returning to pre-crisis revenue margins is remote, wealth managers need to reinvent their business model to adapt to existing clients\u2019 changing needs and to capture new clients while reducing operating expenses on a relative basis\u201d the report noted.", "output": "Robo-advisers could have $2.2tn in global assets under management by 2020 and had the potential to surpass the likes of BlackRock\u00a0by\u00a02025, according to a recent study from Deloitte. Investors' preference for passive investing is behind an increase in flows towards the\u00a0platforms. The desire of wealth managers to digitise their offerings in the face of squeezed profit margins is also driving the growth of robo-advice.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Self-managing artificial pancreas controls glucose levels \n A novel artificial pancreas (AP) system with a smartphone backbone could automatically monitor and adjust patients' glucose levels with little to no hassle, according to a new clinical study published in the journal Diabetes Care.\n\nUnlike previously examined AP systems, the newest iteration \u2014 which consists of an insulin pump, continuous glucose monitoring receiver, a Bluetooth-connected smartphone device \u2014 uses cloud-based algorithmic calculations to determine weekly adaptations to patients\u2019 insulin delivery without requiring assistance from users or clinicians.\n\n\u201cA limitation of current AP systems is that patients must still input carbohydrate estimations for delivery of meal insulin boluses,\u201d the researchers wrote in the study. \u201cAs a result, a number of recent AP studies have included a period of clinician-led optimization of open-loop insulin pump settings or continued clinician adjustments to these settings throughout their use \u2026 To help with this process, different degrees of automated adaptation are being developed. Yet how best to optimize adaptation to safely improve glucose control \u2026 remains to be determined.\u201d\n\nThe researchers\u2019 efforts to develop an adaptive algorithm are based on a previous strategy called \u201cmodel-predictive control.\u201d By targeting an acceptable glucose level range and building an algorithm that improves with repeated daily cycles, the system can handle basal control and variations due to meals without manual assistance.\n\nTo test the automated system, researchers enrolled 30 adult patients with type 1 diabetes in a multi-site clinical trial. Over the course of the 12-week study they observed patients\u2019 hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels, a key indicator of blood sugar for diabetics, along with other secondary data generated by the continuous glucose monitoring device. The results, they wrote, were promising.\n\n\u201cThis is the longest test we have conducted of our algorithm in an outpatient setting, hence it is a demonstration of the remarkable robustness of the algorithm,\u201d Frank Doyle, professor and dean at Harvard\u2019s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, told MobiHealthNews in an email. \u201cIt is also the first time we have tested a real-time algorithm with adaptation, showing the power of personalizing the solution to the individual.\u201d\n\nAlong with significantly lower levels and a reduction in hypoglycemia, the researchers also noted that less than 10 percent of algorithmic insulin delivery recommendations were overridden through the course of the study. In addition, the greatest changes to delivery were made in the early weeks of the study, with lesser adjustments becoming necessary as the algorithm adapted. Despite some limitations in study design and population, the system \u201chas the potential to deliver enormous benefits\u201d and warrants continued study into adaptive AP systems, they concluded.", "output": "Researchers at Harvard\u2019s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have carried out a 12-week trial on an artificial pancreas (AP) which uses an adaptive algorithm to automatically monitor and adjust glucose levels in patients with type 1 diabetes. In a report published in the journal Diabetes Care, the team's AP system linked an insulin pump, a continuous glucose monitoring receiver and a smartphone. The trial of 30 adult patients saw less than 10% of algorithmic insulin delivery recommendations overridden, and fewer adjustments to the algorithm were needed as the weeks passed."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California marijuana farms suffer from lack of insurance \n As wine growers assess the damage from the Northern California wildfires, marijuana farms are also counting their losses. But unlike other businesses, they have little reprieve.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve lost millions of dollars of product for sure,\u201d said Ned Fussell, CEO of CannaCraft. \u201cAnd we have no insurance.\u201d\n\nEven though California will begin issuing licenses for commercial cannabis starting in January, farmers like Fussell do not qualify for crop insurance, because growing marijuana is still against federal law.\n\nFussell\u2019s company \u2014 one of the largest cannabis manufacturers in California \u2014 grows marijuana plants and turns them into cannabis oil, which is used to create over 100 different products. Fussell owns about 20 farms in Northern California, but he\u2019s been able to access only a few of them. The others are in fire zones, still burning.\n\n\u201cAs bad as this looks, others are a lot worse,\u201d Fussell said Monday morning. \u201cA lot of them are just totally incinerated.\u201d\n\nHezekiah Allen, executive director of the California Growers Association, said many smaller farmers lost not only their farms, but also their homes.\n\n\u201cThis all comes at about the worst timing,\u201d Allen said. \u201cOctober is harvest season, and many of these farmers have poured their life savings into this business.\u201d\n\nOn Fussell\u2019s farm in Santa Rosa, smoke still rises from what once was a 10,000-square-foot curing barn, where CannaCraft stored and dried marijuana before pressing it for oil.\n\nFussell points into the only thing left standing, a 40,000-square-foot greenhouse with hundreds of marijuana plants inside. There are dozens of heavy industrial fans blowing, and Fussell said there\u2019s a 50-50 chance that even this crop has been ruined by the smoke.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re just concerned about what contaminants might be in the air. We\u2019ll have to test for all those things now,\u201d Fussell said.\n\nFussell is using a gas generator to pump the wells for water to preserve what little crop is left. He said that while it is devastating, pot farmers are resilient, and they\u2019ve already gone through a lot to get this far.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been kicked down many times before, and I\u2019ve always found it\u2019s really important to just kind of keep a level head through it all and just try to, like, see the light at the end of the tunnel,\u201d Fussell said. \u201cAnd I look all around us, and see so many people have lost so much more. It\u2019s sobering.\u201d\n\nFussell\u2019s company is now doing what it can to assist other farmers affected by the fires. They\u2019re forming a nonprofit to collect donations for smaller farmers who were wiped out.\n\n\u201cNot everyone will survive this,\u201d he said. \u201cThese fires will have profound effect on the industry.\u201d", "output": "Northern Californian marijuana farms damaged by recent forest fires in the region are bemoaning a lack of insurance coverage. Many facilities in the region have been unable to find coverage due to marijuana usage being illegal under US federal law. Adult usage of marijuana for recreational purposes is due to become legal in California in January, and the crop is already used medically and to produce products such as oil.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lifebroker launches insurance quote chatbot on Facebook Messenger \n Life insurance comparison service Lifebroker has announced the launch of Alfred, a Facebook Messenger chatbot that gives consumers 24/7 access to conversational quote comparison services.\n\nAlfred is the Australian life insurance industry's first chatbot that compares life insurance options in real-time.\n\nBuilt with the support of Jade Software, Alfred was designed to respond to customer questions and provide them with quotes for life insurance cover within five minutes of messaging.\n\nAlex Homer, Lifebroker CEO, says Alfred was developed to deliver customer service improvements by providing them with better access via social media channels and enhanced access to the service out-of-hours that complements Lifebroker's existing channels. \u201cAlfred provides an option for customers who need quick responses and who enjoy using messaging services to connect with companies. Our insights showed that product research is usually done outside of normal working hours, and a chatbot can be available instantly and at any time, giving consumers a convenient way to learn about their insurance options on their own terms.\n\n\u201cConversations with Alfred can be paused and resumed at will throughout the day and consumers can book an appointment with one of our customer service representatives to discuss more advanced questions.\n\n\u201cAlfred is a very welcome addition to Lifebroker's team of customer service experts, working alongside our existing operations on phone, email and online chat. By integrating our digital and human interactions, we're providing a more engaging and seamless customer experience,\u201d says Homer.\n\nBy leveraging artificial intelligence like natural language processing, Alfred has the ability to respond to consumers in context, and with a sense of humour, as opposed to providing stock responses.\n\nEduard Liebenberger, Jade Software digital head, says Alfred was made using a number of technologies that mirror the intelligence and interaction of human agents.\n\n\u201cUser experience is what really makes this chatbot special. It creates the soft skills that make people want to interact with a chatbot and keep them engaged.\n\n\u201cLifebroker has seen first-hand what people seeking to compare quotes look for online, and we've been able to take those learnings and integrate them into this experience.\n\n\u201cThe goal of this project was to challenge the way things are done in insurance. Chatbots offer a new platform for insurers to interact with customers, and when customers can learn more about a business 24 hours a day, that's a good position to be in,\u201d he said.\n\nAlfred is currently live in-market following a three-month development period and customer pilot process.", "output": "Australian life insurance comparison provider Lifebroker has teamed up with Jade Software to launch a Facebook Messenger chatbot. Known as Alfred, the bot\u00a0will be able to answer customer questions and offer quotes on policies within five minutes, the company said. Alfred will use artificial intelligence and is being touted as responding more naturally to consumer questions, rather than simply providing stock responses.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese tourists can now use Alipay in Denmark \n COPENHAGEN \u2014 The world's leading mobile payment platform Alipay was launched in Denmark on Monday, enabling its Chinese users to enjoy its fast and convenient payment service when they travel to the Nordic country.\n\nOperated by Ant Financial Services Group, an affiliate company of China's Alibaba Group, Alipay users can hail a taxi, book a hotel, buy movie tickets, pay utility bills, make appointments with doctors, or purchase wealth management products directly from within the app.\n\n\"We are happy that Denmark and the Nordics are embracing Alipay for Chinese tourists. The adoption of Alipay services of both payment and marketing will not only enhance the experience of Chinese consumers but also help Danish businesses to reach out to their Chinese customers even before they depart from China,\" said Wang Li, head of Alipay EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa).\n\nAlipay was launched in Denmark by APay Nordic AS, in cooperation with 2paynow, the technology platform provider of Alipay in Europe.\n\n\"We are glad to see that APay Nordic is now introducing Alipay into Denmark, which will further strengthen the advantages of Denmark as a Chinese-friendly destination,\" said Miklos Bengtsen, CFO of ILLUM, a premium department store in Copenhagen, adding that China is a very important market for the Danish retail business.\n\nAccording to Wang, Alipay's in-store payment service is covering more than 30 countries across the world, and tax reimbursement via Alipay is supported in 24 countries and regions.\n\nAlipay has been launching its services in Europe since mid-2016. Denmark is the fourth Northern European country for Alipay to set foot in after Norway, Finland and Sweden.\n\nAlipay now has over 520 million active users and over 450 financial institution partners globally. Over 10 million merchants accept Alipay across China.", "output": "Alipay has launched in Denmark so as to cater to Chinese travellers coming to the country. The Alipay mobile app, which is operated by Ant Financial \u2013\u00a0an affiliate of Alibaba,\u00a0allows Chinese visitors to book hotels, hail taxis, pay bills and purchase wealth management products and\u00a0other goods and services. Chinese tourists are\u00a0an important market for Danish retailers. Alipay has already launched in Finland, Norway and Sweden.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Conde Nast makes a profit turning magazine articles into films \n On Oct. 20, \u201cOnly the Brave,\u201d a film starring Josh Brolin and Jeff Bridges, premiered to rave reviews. The movie, based on a GQ article from 2013 titled \u201cNo Exit,\u201d tells the harrowing story of a group of Arizona firefighters who perished battling the Yarnell Hill fire that year. Whereas in the past, film studios would buy the rights to articles in Cond\u00e9 Nast publications from the writers and turn them into hits \u2014 the Academy Award-winning \u201cArgo,\u201d adapted from a Wired article, is a famous recent example \u2014 Cond\u00e9 Nast is now making money off of such adaptations.\n\nToday, Cond\u00e9 Nast\u2019s 6-year-old entertainment video division has 35 feature film and 30 TV projects in development and production, the company said. This includes upcoming feature films \u201cThe Old Man and the Gun,\u201d starring Robert Redford and Casey Affleck; and \u201cKing of the Jungle,\u201d starring Johnny Depp; as well as TV series such as \u201cLast Chance U\u201d for Netflix and \u201cVanity Fair Confidential\u201d for Investigation Discovery.\n\nCNE overall is on track to be profitable this year, said Dawn Ostroff, president of Cond\u00e9 Nast Entertainment. Its digital division, where CNE functions as both a producer and distributor of video, has been profitable since last year. Digital still accounts for a majority of CNE\u2019s revenues, but that\u2019s expected to change in the next five years as the feature film and TV business picks up, Ostroff said.\n\n\u201cYou have to remember, there\u2019s a much longer lead time in film and TV \u2014 it usually takes three to five years to get a movie made; it takes two years to get a TV show made,\u201d Ostroff said.\n\nAt a time when many digital media companies are vying to get on film and TV \u2014 and when few have actual deals and projects on air to show off \u2014 CNE is further along than most, if not all digital publishers.\n\n\u201cOnly the Brave\u201d is CNE\u2019s third feature film and the first film to get a wide release \u2014 across more than 2,500 theaters in the U.S. alone. Next year, \u201cThe Old Man and the Gun\u201d will premiere next year, and three other projects are expected to go into production.\n\nOn TV, CNE has aired five shows, including \u201cLast Chance U,\u201d which Netflix recently picked up for a third season; \u201cVanity Fair Confidential,\u201d which Investigation Discovery picked up for a fourth season; and \u201cMost Expensivest,\u201d which will premiere on Viceland in November. CNE this year has also sold three scripted pilots, including an untitled project with comedian Bobby Bowman for ABC.\n\nA quartet of executives with extensive backgrounds in film and TV spearheads CNE\u2019s film and TV efforts. Ostroff was the former president of Warner Bros.-owned broadcast network The CW. Jeremy Steckler, former Imagine Entertainment executive, oversees feature films; former ABC executive Jonathan Koa leads on scripted TV; and longtime talent agent Joe LaBracio was hired for unscripted TV programming. Including support staff, CNE counts eight full-time people in its film and TV group.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a lean group of people, but they have vast and deep experience [in Hollywood]; they speak the language,\u201d Ostroff said. \u201cFor us, it\u2019s intuitive because we come from that part of the business.\u201d\n\nCNE\u2019s feature films will focus on adapting stories from Cond\u00e9 Nast publications. That won\u2019t always be the case for TV. Some shows, especially unscripted ones, might be adapted from articles, while others will be based on ideas from writers and filmmakers CNE has relationships with. The project CNE is doing with ABC, for one, was related to a story idea Bobby Bowman had, Ostroff said.\n\nOne of the benefits for CNE as it ventures deeper into film is the model it\u2019s set up to finance projects and make money. In film, CNE will finance the early development of a project \u2014 scriptwriting, attaching actors and directors \u2014 to help make it attractive enough to get financed by a studio or an independent financier. Somewhere between financing and producing the movie, the studio or financing partner will find a distributor.\n\nCNE gets paid as a producer when a film gets funded and then has the potential to make more on the back end if the film is successful enough. This approach mitigates the costs of having to put down millions and millions of dollars to fully produce a movie.\n\nIn TV, CNE is a more straightforward production company and sometimes will partner with a TV studio to fund the shows upfront.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not sure if the traditional business will ever be bigger than the digital video business \u2014 which is quite substantial \u2014 but we\u2019re just getting going in film and TV,\u201d said Ostroff. \u201cWe charted a course, and now, after [six] years, the seeds are finally coming to fruition.\u201d", "output": "Six years after its inception, Cond\u00e9 Nast Entertainment (CNE), the video division of the global publisher, is set to turn a profit this year from producing TV shows and making\u00a0film adaptations of magazine articles. The company, which has 65 film and TV projects in production, will continue to adapt films from its publications, according to CNE president Dawn Ostroff, and will finance development to get projects greenlit, but will also earn revenue as a producer and take a slice of any back-end profits. CNE's digital division started making a profit last year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Emerson offers update to reservoir management simulation software \n Emerson Automation Solutions has launched the latest version of its reservoir management software suite - Roxar Tempest\u2122 8.1, designed to provide robust and efficient numerical solutions to support reservoir engineers in maximising field recovery.\n\nTo read the full article\n\n\"Emerson expands reservoir simulation software \"\n\nPlease sign in or register for FREE", "output": "Emerson Automation Solutions' newest iteration of its reservoir management software suite, Roxar Tempest 8.1, has been launched. \"Tempest 8.1 brings reservoir engineers more tools to maximise the potential of their fields as well as enhanced field productivity, thanks to greater simulation performance, improved uncertainty analysis, and a truly integrated workflow from geosciences to production,\" said product development chief\u00a0Kjetil Fagervik of Roxar.\u00a0The Roxar software solution also includes a seismic to simulation package and its workflow integration allows for better decision making and reservoir management.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lyft partners with city of Phoenix to offer rides to bus stops \n Dive Brief:\n\nPhoenix has teamed up with Lyft to offer a 20% discount on 10 rides to customers who use the ride-share service to get to or from bus stops, according to a company blog post.\n\nThe 6-month pilot program is called \"First Mile Last Mile\" and includes trips between the customer's home and 500 bus stops. It could expand to other areas of the city if the pilot is deemed successful.\n\nThe measure is the latest in a string of transit-forward actions in Phoenix, which is in line with the city's 35-year \"Transportation 2050\" plan.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nPhoenix voters approved moving forward with Transportation 2050 in 2015 and the initiative went into effect in January 2016. It committed Phoenix to investing in light rail construction, bus service improvements and street improvements such as bike lanes and new pavement. The initiative eventually will lead to adding 42 miles of light rail, which will triple the current system's miles.\n\nUnder Transportation 2050, bus service hours already have been extended and the frequency of buses has increased. That's credited with creating a 6% bump in bus ridership this year, at a time when most of the country is experiencing a downward trend, according to the American Public Transportation Association's most recent ridership report.\n\nThe partnership between Phoenix and Lyft goes against the often-held belief of animosity between public transit providers and ride-share services, which are blamed for stealing customers. The city recognized that the popularity of ride-sharing likely won't diminish anytime soon, so it chose to harness the trend instead of fighting it. Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton has said that ride-sharing and public transportation both are parts of a modern and complete transit system, and they can complement each other and collaborate in a manner where both benefit.\n\nCustomers will benefit from the partnership because of the added convenience, especially those who do not live within walking or biking distance of a bus stop. They also win with cost, not just from the Lyft discount, but also because in many situations it might be cheaper to ride the bus for a portion of their trips instead of using a ride-share the entire time. The partnership adds to residents' multi-modal transportation options during a time when significant demand exists for flexible transportation, plus the exposure from the partnership's marketing campaign reminds residents of the many available forms of transportation that can be used for a single trip.", "output": "Ride-hailing service Lyft has partnered with the city of Phoenix to offer its customers a 20% discount on 10 rides to or from bus stops. Named First Mile Last Mile, the six-month pilot programme is part of the city's Transportation 2050 initiative and aims to fuse ride-hailing services with public transport services\u00a0to encourage those who do not live within walking distance of a bus stop to use the services."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook could struggle to clean up political advertising \n Facebook faces an uphill battle in cleaning up political advertising on its platform.\n\nFacebook is making adjustments to how political advertisers buy ads on its platform. It\u2019ll still be hard for the social media giant to identify all of the political ads running through its system, though.\n\nFacebook can detect a political ad in two main ways. One is by looking at the creative of the ad itself; the other is by looking at who it\u2019s targeted to.\n\nAs for the ad creative, Facebook can scan the creative to detect if political content is present, but some political advertisers release hundreds of versions of the same ad within minutes, which allows them to A/B test their creative until they find the right combination of text and imagery that slips by Facebook\u2019s filters.\n\nThose advertisers also use their own data to create nuanced proxy audiences that make it difficult to identify the true intent of their messages. For instance, if fans of a particular TV show are likely to want criminal justice reform, an advertiser advocating against private prisons could target fans of that show to obfuscate the political purpose of the ad. Creating so many permutations of the same ad and using unique data to indirectly target political messages are tactics that ad buyers can use to cloak the partisanship of their data targeting and ad creative.\n\n\u201cAdvertising platforms would have to make a considerable investment to catch all political ads,\u201d said Mark Jablonowski, chief technology officer of DSPolitical, an ad-targeting firm used by liberal advertisers. \u201cAnd they almost certainly won\u2019t catch everything, no matter the spend.\u201d\n\nThe pressure Facebook faces for letting a Russian troll farm buy ads on its platform is leading the social giant to change its approach to political advertising. Earlier this month, Facebook announced it would hire 1,000 people to review ads on its platform and require politically targeted ads to be manually reviewed.\n\nU.S. senators also recently introduced a bill called the Honest Ads Act that would require digital platforms to make public information about political ads they host. Facebook declined an interview request for this story.\n\nThe other way Facebook can identify a political ad is by looking at who it\u2019s targeted to. Depending on the type of data that political advertisers use to buy ads on Facebook, it can be hard for Facebook to detect that the ad is political, which would trigger a human review by Facebook, said John Randall, vp of digital at ad agency Craft, which specializes in advocacy campaigns for politically conservative groups.\n\nThe first type of data is Facebook\u2019s own audience data. This data would be used if someone wanted to target users who, say, self-identified on Facebook as a Democrat or liked Facebook pages related to Hillary Clinton. It is easiest to identify politically targeted ads when this type of data is used, Randall said.\n\nThe second type of data is third-party data that an advertiser uploads into Facebook. This data can come from a political database like The Data Trust or a nonpolitical data aggregator like Acxiom that\u2019s used for political targeting.\n\nSpotting when this data is used for political purposes is harder than spotting when Facebook\u2019s own data is used to target political ads. However, the more popular data aggregators are frequently used on Facebook, so the social platform has a lot of experience identifying which data sets belong to which providers and how that information might be used to target users.\n\nThe third type of data is first-party data from an advertiser itself that\u2019s uploaded to Facebook, and this data is the hardest to spot political association, Randall said. Advertisers can combine their own surveys with voter file and census data to create unique data sets coded and labeled however the advertiser desires. The various types of data are not mutually exclusive to a campaign. For example, an advertiser using its own first-party data might combine its data with Facebook\u2019s geographic data.\n\nWith a unique data set, an advertiser can politically target ads without being obvious about it, said Ken Strasma, CEO of HaystaqDNA, an analytics firm that has worked on campaigns for former President Barack Obama and Sen. Bernie Sanders. Rather than using Facebook\u2019s data to simply target people who liked Hillary Clinton\u2019s Facebook page or using third-party data to target young voters, who are more likely to vote for a Democrat, an advertiser trying to reach liberal voters can mine its proprietary data for patterns of particular policy positions aligning with nonpolitical criteria.\n\nThe data firm Deep Root Analytics helped the Trump campaign identity \u201cNCIS\u201d as being popular with anti-Obamacare voters and \u201cThe Walking Dead\u201d as being popular with people who favor stricter immigration laws, for example. Political advertisers could theoretically combine their data with Facebook\u2019s data to give the impression they are targeting \u201cNCIS\u201d fans, when in reality, they are subtly using a proxy audience to send a politically charged message.\n\nAt some point, the definition of political advertising becomes existential. Aside from using nonpolitical categories to target political messages, advertisers also use political criteria to target nonpolitical products, Strasma said. An example of this is that advertisers selling gold coins will target conservatives since they are more likely to mistrust the government and its currency.\n\nMarketers say that adding human reviewers will indeed help Facebook flag more political ads. But beefing up the review process still won\u2019t catch everything, and it could slow down how quickly marketers get their Facebook ads up and running.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a question of resources,\u201d Strasma said. \u201cIf Facebook or other sites employ enough people and manually review every ad, they can catch most [political ads], but only at tremendous cost both in terms of salary and in terms of inconvenience to the advertisers who value quick turnaround.\u201d", "output": "Social media giant Facebook may struggle to identify and verify all political advertising on its site, according to media analysts. Users placing slanted material on the site are employing increasingly sophisticated methods, including aligning content with users' TV preferences by using both Facebook and third party data. Such content is difficult to spot, but introducing human verification into the process will slow down ads' delivery to the site. The US senate recently introduced the Honest Ads Act, which would force digital platforms to publicise information about political ads on their sites.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "City of Portland invests in smart lighting \n Dive Brief:\n\nThe city council in Portland, ME voted unanimously last week to purchase its street lights from the local power company, according to the Portland Press Herald.\n\nThe investment allows the city to install more efficient LED lights. It also opens the door for installing smart technology, such as WiFi, to make the devices connected streetlights.\n\nThe $8.5 million purchase is expected to save Portland $10 million over 10 years, due to lower operating costs.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nThe project will roll out in two phases. During the first phase, more than 6,000 street lights will be retrofitted with LED lights, at a cost of $2.9 million. $1.8 million will go toward smart city projects such as installing Wi-Fi at 100 locations. Phase two involves $4 million worth of LED upgrades and Wi-Fi installations at more locations. Another idea being considered as part of the project is to install digital information kiosks in the downtown area.\n\nSeveral municipalities near Portland have purchased their streetlights following a 2013 law change allowing them to do so. None have moved forward yet with installing Wi-Fi, though. The new LED lights in Portland could boost efficiency not just because of the LED bulbs \u2014 which can offer up to 80% savings in operating costs \u2014 but also through advanced technology to dim the lights or change their timing. Plus, owning the street lights reduces cities' costs because they no longer have to pay the power company a monthly rental charge. Portland estimates it will save up to $1 million each year once the streetlight project is paid for.\n\nThe street light project comes on the heels of Portland's announcement about launching a transportation marketing campaign to promote multimodal transportation. The city also was one of the seven in the running for a $50 million prize in the Smart City Challenge, although Columbus, OH eventually ended up winning. Portland continued forward with numerous plans for advancements, though, proving that being a smart city isn't about size, but rather committing to smart planning and technology.\n\nAre you using smart streetlights? Take our survey\u00bb", "output": "The city of Portland will spend $8.5m buying its street lighting from the local power company, aiming to save $10m over a decade. In the first part of a two-phase plan, energy-efficient LED bulbs will be installed, along with WiFi at 100 locations around the city. The second phase continues the LED and WiFi installation, but could also include the deployment of digital information kiosks. The scheme is part of Portland's drive to become a smart city, and follows the launch of a campaign to promote multimodal transportation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Steve Morgan retains second place in 2017 Wales Rich List \n Wales Business Stephen Farrell\n\nInsider has revealed its 2017 Wales Rich List with a series of new entries cracking the top 50 and a change inside the top five. The total wealth of the richest people in Wales' business community has also grown by 10 per cent on last year to \u00a38.13bn.\n\nThe exclusive research for the latest issue of Wales Business Insider has also revealed that a fortune of \u00a342m is now required to make the top 50, up from \u00a335m last year.\n\nSir Terry Matthews, owner of the Celtic Manor Resort near Newport and chairman of the Swansea Bay City Region, remains in top spot and is still Wales' only billionaire. This is despite his estimated fortune dipping slightly to \u00a31.08bn from \u00a31.17bn last year.\n\nRedrow founder Steve Morgan has also retained his second position, despite handing over an 11.7 per cent stake in the housebuilder to his charitable foundation early in 2017.\n\nThe only change in the top five is Bernard Rees-Smith, the founder of medical diagnostics group RSR, who moves into fifth position. Dixondale, RSR's parent company, doubled profits to \u00a325.5m in 2016 and is now valued at more than \u00a3300m.\n\nAmong the new entries for 2017 is Nigel Broadhurst, managing director of Deeside-headquartered food retailer Iceland. The company's turnover grew by 8.6 per cent in the three months to January 2017, helping it to its highest market share since 2001.\n\nHe joins Malcom Walker, Iceland's founder of chief executive, and finance director Tarsem Dhaliwal. Former joint managing director Nicholas Canning, who left the business earlier this month after 15 years, is another new entry.\n\nThe highest new entry this year is Andrew Walters in 31st, founder of listed vehicle tracking and fleet management systems provider Quartix. Walters, together with members of his family, owns more than 37 per cent of the business, which has a market value of \u00a3168.5m.\n\nThe 2017 Wales Rich List top 50 can be found in the November edition of Wales Business Insider, out now.", "output": "Steve Morgan, founder of UK housebuilding firm Redrow, has held on to second place in the annual Wales Rich List, behind the country's only billionaire, Sir Terry Matthews. Morgan made headlines earlier this year after he sold an 11.7% stake in the company to his charitable foundation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk Broadband switchers fear losing phone numbers, study reveals \n Tuesday, Oct 24th, 2017 (12:01 am) - Score 632\n\nA new survey of 1,110 ISPreview.co.uk readers, which was conducted between 5th Sept and 19th October 2017, reveals that 31.6% of respondents lost their number while migrating to a new ISP and 49.4% said that the fear of losing their number had discouraged them from future switching.\n\nThe loss of a phone number during migration, especially if you\u2019ve had it for many years, is hugely disruptive and can require a large amount of administration in order to correctly update all of your contacts. Suffice to say that most people would prefer to keep their number.\n\nOfcom\u2019s General Condition 18 (\u201cNumber Portability\u201c) rule imposes an obligation upon ISPs to offer number portability to their subscribers and to provide portability to other communications providers. Unfortunately such rules don\u2019t cover every eventuality and problems can still occur.\n\nSometimes switching ISP means losing your current landline phone number. Does this discourage you from switching?\n\nYes \u2013 49.4%\n\nNo \u2013 47.3%\n\nUnsure \u2013 3.2% Have you ever lost your previous landline phone number while switching broadband ISP?\n\nNo \u2013 61.4%\n\nYes \u2013 31.6%\n\nUnsure \u2013 6.9% Do you think Ofcom is doing enough to improve number portability between providers?\n\nNo \u2013 59.3%\n\nDon\u2019t care, I only use Mobile or VoIP! \u2013 28.3%\n\nYes \u2013 12.2%\n\nPhone numbers are most often lost when moving into a new home (i.e. you have to get a new line and number installed), which typically occurs because you\u2019ve either shifted to a completely different area code, never had a fixed line phone number before or you\u2019re still in the same region but are being covered by a different telephone exchange.\n\nWe\u2019ve also seen various examples where people have lost their number while moving between unbundled (e.g. TalkTalk) and / or BT based providers, even though they\u2019re still in the same house and on the same overall Openreach network. This tends to occur due to a combination of poor communication between ISPs and / or the lack of an effective management system for handling such changes between providers.\n\nFor example, we\u2019ve seen a few complaints where people have attempted to switch their phone service from TalkTalk (unbundled) to BT and run into problems. In some cases BT would complains that TalkTalk won\u2019t release the number, while TalkTalk will say that they expect a written request from BT and yet BT allegedly claimed not to do this. Similar problems have also occurred when moving between other providers.\n\nThe good news is that more people are now viewing their Mobile number as a primary contact or using VoIP in order to maintain greater control, which affords the end use more flexibility due to not being so reliant on a specific fixed line number. Standalone broadband services are also set to become more common over the next few years, which could in theory help to make future switching even easier.\n\nOne caveat of using VoIP is that if you intend to switch your fixed line number to a related provider then the process can take awhile to complete (2-4 weeks according to Vonage), which might discourage some people from attempting it. In general, Ofcom could probably still do more to ensure that numbers are not lost unnecessarily.\n\nMeanwhile this month\u2019s new survey asks whether you currently have a \u201csuperfast broadband\u201d connection and if the new ultrafast G.fast services will attract you? Vote Here.\n\nNOTE: ISPreview.co.uk surveys are likely to receive a higher proportion of tech-savvy respondents than most, although the majority of our visitors are normal consumers (i.e. they come to this site for help and assistance with basic broadband problems / questions or when hunting for a new ISP).", "output": "Almost one-third of respondents feared losing their phone numbers when changing internet service providers (ISPs),\u00a0according to a survey by ISPreview.co.uk. The survey\u00a0also found that\u00a049% said the fear of not keeping their number put them off switching. In addition, 59% of 1,110 respondents did not believe Ofcom had done enough to improve number portability between ISPs.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian government to ease fintech regulations \n Source: Australian Government\n\nThe Turnbull Government has today released exposure draft legislation and regulations to create an enhanced regulatory sandbox to support innovation in financial services.\n\nThis proposed legislative package will be a game changer for competition in the financial services sector and continues the Turnbull Government's strong support of Australian FinTech which has helped Australia become the second largest alternative finance market in the Asia-Pacific.\n\n\n\nAs announced in the 2017-18 Budget, the FinTech regulatory sandbox will allow a broad scope of activities to be tested without the need to meet all the existing licensing requirements of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. The enhanced regulatory sandbox will help firms overcome the initial regulatory burden and costs of licensing that may otherwise hinder innovative offerings.\n\n\n\nThis is an exciting opportunity that will further cement Australia's position as a leading FinTech hub in the Asia\u2011Pacific.\n\n\n\nUnder the Government's legislative framework, firms can test a wider range of new and innovative FinTech products and services, including:\n\n\n\nproviding holistic financial advice in relation to superannuation, life insurance and domestic and international securities;\n\nissuing and facilitating consumer credit;\n\nissuing non-cash payment products; and\n\nproviding a crowd-funding service.\n\n\n\nThe 24\u2011month testing timeframe will improve firms' ability to evaluate the commercial viability of new concepts, promoting greater competition and delivering more choice for Australian consumers.\n\n\n\nFirms will need to adhere to robust consumer protections and disclosure requirements including responsible lending obligations, best interests duty, and the need for adequate compensation and dispute resolution arrangements.\n\n\n\nThe exposure drafts and explanatory material are available on the Treasury website.\n\n\n\nConsultation on the draft legislation (and explanatory memorandum) is open until 3 November 2017, and on the draft regulations (and explanatory statement) until 1 December 2017.", "output": "The Australian government has released a proposed legislative package enabling the creation of a two-year fintech sandbox, as the country seeks to cement its position as the Asia-Pacific's second-largest alternative finance market. Under the exposure draft legislation and regulations, which are open for consultation until 3 November and 1 December respectively, Australian fintech firms could test a range of innovative solutions. Although they would have to abide by disclosure requirements and consumer protections, participating companies would not face licensing costs or initial regulatory controls.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Global warming could cost the US $35bn per year: GAO \n Climate change is happening now. It is already impacting our daily lives. It is also impacting the United States economy.\n\nAction to address climate change is compatible and essential for economic growth. It also creates jobs.\n\nHowever, the United States Federal Government under the Trump Administration decided to increase economic growth without climate action. In addition, against the world\u2019s commitment to fight climate change, the United States has begun the process of withdrawing from the Paris Agreement. These decisions were based on the claim that action to tackle climate change is against America\u2019s domestic interests. As a result, energy production in the United States will continue to be primarily generated by burning fossil fuels \u2013the major driver of the observed changes in climate.\n\nThe impacts of climate change affect many sectors, including agriculture, water, human health and ecosystems, among others. Although some of these impacts are positive, most are negative and affect lives and livelihoods. Using different indicators and assumptions, numerous studies have assessed the impacts of climate change in the United States. The majority of these assessments use the end of this century as a timeframe for the analysis.\n\nThis report specifically focuses on economic losses caused by extreme and frequent weather events influenced by human-induced climate change and on health costs due to air pollution exposure caused by fossil fuel energy production. It is thus a partial assessment of the economic losses and costs of human-induced climate change and fossil fuel use on the United States economy.\n\nClimate is the average weather \u2013temperature, precipitation and wind\u2013 over a period of time. Changes in climate are usually measured over a 30 year period, as defined by the World Meteorological Organization. Thus, this report analyzes extreme weather events over three decades: 1980s (1980-1989), 1990s (1990-1999) and the last decade (2007-2016). Based on these past trends, a projection for the next decade is estimated. It also presents the opportunities to boost economic growth and job creation while taking climate action.\n\nSources used for the analysis presented in this report include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the American Meteorological Society, the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Lung Association, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Second Biennial Report of the United States of America under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Peer-reviewed research studies published in prestigious journals were used as sources for health costs.\n\nEconomic losses, health costs and economic growth figures are presented in 2017 dollars. To harmonize and compare, all figures were adjusted using the latest Consumer Price Index.\n\nSeptember, 2017", "output": "The US must develop a plan to combat climate change, or face severe economic consequences, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office. The report discloses that the US government spent over $350bn on natural disasters and flood and crop insurance over the past decade. An additional $300bn will be added to that total by this year\u2019s hurricanes and wildfires. The study warns that costs will rise to $35bn per year by mid-century if global emissions do not fall. Non-profit the Universal Ecological Fund has warned that such costs could be closer to $360bn annually within the decade.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Global warming could cost the US $35bn per year: GAO \n President Trump might think that global warming is a hoax created by the Chinese, but the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress\u2019s nonpartisan auditing arm, is urging the administration to craft a plan to confront climate change or else it will have to deal with its massive economic consequences.\n\nAccording to a new report released by the GAO, the U.S. government has already spent more than $350 billion over the past decade on dealing with natural disasters and losses from flood and crop insurance. The tally does not even include the economic toll from this year\u2019s horrific West Coast fires and successive hurricanes, which is estimated to cost at least $300 billion.\n\nCosts will also soar\u2014as much as $35 billion per year by mid-century\u2014if global emission rates are not reduced, the study warns.\n\n\u201cThe federal government has not undertaken strategic government-wide planning to manage climate risks by using information on the potential economic effects of climate change to identify significant risks and craft appropriate federal responses,\u201d the study states. \u201cBy using such information, the federal government could take the initial step in establishing government-wide priorities to manage such risks.\u201d\n\nThe report, which features interviews with more than two dozen scientific and economic experts and 30 studies, was requested by Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Susan Collins (R-ME).\n\n\u201cThe Government Accountability Office\u2014if you will, the chief bean counter\u2014is basically telling us that this is costing us a lot of money,\u201d Cantwell told the New York Times. \u201cWe need to understand that as stewards of the taxpayer that climate is a fiscal issue, and the fact that it\u2019s having this big a fiscal impact on our federal budget needs to be dealt with.\u201d\n\nThe Senators hope that the study will prompt Congress and the administration to move towards a bipartisan solution to fight the effects of a warming world.\n\n\u201cMy hope is the administration will take a look at this report and realize there is an economic impact here that is significant,\u201d Collins told the Times. \u201cWe simply cannot afford the billions of dollars in additional funding that\u2019s going to be needed if we do not take into account the consequences of climate change.\u201d\n\nTrump, however, has notoriously pulled the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement and rolled back several Obama-era environmental regulations designed to address climate change, including the repeal of the Clean Power Plan. The president\u2019s EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has close links to the fossil fuel industry and once said that carbon dioxide is not the primary driver of global warming.\n\nRobert N. Stavins, an economist at Harvard University, cast doubt the study would convince the government to act.\n\n\u201cThe GAO study is conservative, it\u2019s not alarmist, it\u2019s realistic and balanced and they go out of their way to point out all of the uncertainties involved,\u201d Stavins told the Times. \u201cI don\u2019t see any likelihood it\u2019s going to be taken seriously.\u201d\n\nIndeed, the price tag from the GAO\u2019s study is drastically lower than estimates from other recent reports. The non-profit Universal Ecological Fund found that extreme weather and public health issues related to burning fossil fuels could cost the U.S. up to $360 billion annually\u2014nearly half of annual U.S. economic growth\u2014within the next ten years.", "output": "The US must develop a plan to combat climate change, or face severe economic consequences, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office. The report discloses that the US government spent over $350bn on natural disasters and flood and crop insurance over the past decade. An additional $300bn will be added to that total by this year\u2019s hurricanes and wildfires. The study warns that costs will rise to $35bn per year by mid-century if global emissions do not fall. Non-profit the Universal Ecological Fund has warned that such costs could be closer to $360bn annually within the decade.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Major global companies improving environmental record: CDP \n Two years ago, the Paris Agreement fired the gun in the race to a low-carbon economy.\n\nPicking up the pace \u2013 the second annual edition in CDP\u2019s Tracking progress on corporate climate action series \u2013 reveals how over 1,800 companies are responding to the historic Paris Agreement, signed by nearly 200 nations, and the recommendations of the Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosure.\n\n\n\nLast year, we started tracking the climate action of a representative sample of 1,829 corporates, chosen for their significance in terms of market capitalization and environmental impact. By doing this we can consistently track progress by the companies of the implementation of the Paris Agreement. We found that many companies had begun the transition to a low-carbon world, but their actions were lacking long-term vision and ambition. This year\u2019s follow-up analysis shows how global business is already starting to pick up the pace.\n\nIt confirms the low-carbon transition is happening, now, and it\u2019s being driven by companies around the world that realize climate action represents a huge opportunity not to be missed.\n\nMapping out the transition\n\nFirstly, this year we are seeing that more companies are setting climate targets. Those targets are extending further in time \u2013 showing companies are planning for a low-carbon future. And most importantly, there is a growing understanding that corporate targets and action plans need to be in line with the emissions reductions that are needed to prevent dangerous climate change.\n\nFourteen per cent of responding companies in our sample have now joined the Science Based Targets initiative, thereby committing to setting emissions reduction targets aligned with the level of decarbonization required to keep global temperature increase below 2 degrees Celsius and deliver on the Paris Agreement. That\u2019s an increase from 94 to 151 companies in the last year, including AkzoNobel, EDP and Unilever. An additional 30% \u2013 that\u2019s 317 companies \u2013 anticipate setting a science-based target within two years.\n\nThis is an important shift for companies, from doing what they think they can easily manage, to stepping up to do what\u2019s needed. This is responsible \u2013 and smart \u2013 business in the age of climate change.\n\nTake the Portuguese energy company EDP, for example, which joined the initiative earlier this year. EDP has committed to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions from electricity production by 55% per TWh by 2030, from 2015 levels, and to cut absolute scope 3 emissions by 25% over the same period. The company says that adopting a science-based target gives it a competitive advantage by clarifying its position to investors and key stakeholders, who expect companies \u2013 particularly those that are large emitters \u2013 to clearly elaborate how they are positioned for the low-carbon transition.\n\nThanks to this rising ambition, our sample is getting ever closer to being on track for a climate-safe world.\n\nAchieving their current targets would take the companies in our sample 31% of the way to being consistent with a 2 degrees pathway. That\u2019s a notable improvement on the 25% reported in 2016.\n\nWe\u2019re not there yet, but these global companies are closing the gap \u2013 making significant headway in just one year. That is progress to be celebrated. And it bodes well for the kind of acceleration that\u2019s required to bend the curve.\n\nInnovating the next economy\n\nAs companies work to meet their goals, they are turning to innovative ways of doing business. Sweden\u2019s first zero-energy neighbourhood, Solall\u00e9n, is a perfect example of climate-smart innovation. Developed by multinational construction company Skanska AB, it is designed to generate more energy than it uses, saving both carbon and energy costs.\n\nSince last year, there\u2019s been a 20% increase in companies from our sample offering low-carbon products and services. From Nissan selling electric cars, to San Diego working with GE Current, AT&T and Intel to upgrade 25% of the city\u2019s streetlamps to adaptive LEDs with data-collecting sensors, companies are capitalizing on the opportunities from the transition.\n\n\n\nIn fact, 75% of companies in the sample now say their products and services help others to reduce emissions \u2013 whether it\u2019s from selling greener products or providing low-energy buildings. That\u2019s up from 64% last year.\n\n\n\nMore and more companies are embracing renewable energy. The number with a renewable energy consumption target has increased by 23% in the last year, with companies like BT and Unilever committed to sourcing 100% renewable energy by 2030 as part of the RE100 initiative.\n\n\n\nOne of the things driving this shift in energy procurement is carbon pricing. While carbon pricing at the national policy level is on the horizon or already underway in many places, a growing number of corporates are storming ahead and setting their own internal price on carbon.\n\nFor example, AkzoNobel has an internal carbon price set at the level needed to drive the global transition to zero-net emissions. At a significant \u20ac50/tonne, the price is used to assess the company\u2019s investment decisions. And it\u2019s working: the carbon price has forced a rethink of proposed carbon-intensive investments.\n\n\n\nAs explored in our recent Putting a price on carbon report, this is a key lever for change. It internalizes the hidden cost of carbon pollution, making it show up on the balance sheet. This corrects a key market failure and naturally drives climate action.\n\nRising to the top\n\nUnderpinning this activity is enhanced accountability. Climate change is now firmly on the boardroom agenda. Nearly all companies in our sample \u2013 a huge 98% \u2013 have responsibility for climate action at board- or senior management-level. 90% have financial incentives tied to corporate climate progress.\n\nAnd this board-level engagement is likely being driven by more and more investors asserting that climate risk is now a matter of mainstream fiscal responsibility.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe burden of proof to explain why climate risk isn\u2019t an issue has shifted to companies\u201d explains Aviva Investors\u2019 chief responsible investment officer, Steve Waygood. \u201cThe new norm is that companies should be considering climate risk at the board level\u201d.\n\nAll this means we are on the cusp of a tipping point that is beginning to mainstream environmental action.\n\n\n\nThe transition is picking up pace. Winners and losers are already emerging, with the 112 companies on our 2017 Climate A List leading the charge. CDP\u2019s vision \u2013 of a thriving economy that works for people and planet \u2013 is well within reach. But while many of the companies in this sample are acting ambitiously on climate, there are many that risk being left behind. To close the emissions gap and peak emissions by 2020, we need to move even faster. Ongoing measurement, transparency and accountability will be vital to tracking progress.\n\n\n\nNow, it\u2019s time to accelerate.", "output": "The number of companies adopting targets in line with the Paris Climate Accord\u2019s goal of limiting global warming to\u00a02 degrees Celsius\u00a0is increasing, according to a survey by CDP. The survey, published on Tuesday, analysed 1,073 business representing 12% of global emissions. Of those companies surveyed, almost 90% have set carbon reduction targets. Around 14%, including Unilever and BT, have made reductions in line with the Paris agreement. A further 317 firms, or 30% of respondents, aim to introduce science-based targets within the next two years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Eradicating poverty could conflict with climate goals \n Relationship to earlier studies\n\nWe use the consumption-based approach to carbon accounting. This is a different approach from earlier papers, say for example, by Chakravarty et al.71 and Chakravarty and Tavoni13 as our analysis is based on supply chain carbon emissions that go beyond household direct energy consumption, i.e., accounting for the carbon emitted during the production of consumption items and services, which are then allocated to the final consumer, and are based on very detailed information on income distribution and consumption patterns. This latter point also distinguishes our paper from Chancel and Piketty26 who use GTAP multi-regional IO (MRIO) for data on countries incomes and emissions. But then, in order to move from country average emissions to emissions of different individual (income) groups within countries they allocate CO 2 to different income quantiles using country-year average decile income/consumption data from the World Bank. This is a top-down approach and does not use the detailed consumer expenditure surveys at the household level for different income groups as proposed here. The only paper we are aware of that addresses within country inequality at the global level (Dennig et al.37) uses a modified version of RICE one of the standard integrated assessment models (IAM), which is based on 12 regions and World Bank data on national income, not detailed consumption surveys. Most IAMs are based on very large regional aggregation and do usually not account for income inequality between countries. For example, MESSAGE\u2013MACRO focuses on detailed complex \u201cbottom-up\u201d energy supply sectors but still uses 11 world regions and does not have equivalent micro detailed consumption at different income levels and developing countries and is not set up to address poverty or inequality issues. The same holds for iPETS which has 31 regions, however very aggregated when it comes to poorer countries (for example sub-Saharan Africa is one region). In contrast, we use 90 developing countries provided by the World Bank\u2019s Global Consumption Database and representative developed countries, including the US, 27 EU countries, Australia, and Japan (see below for more detail). That is not to discredit in any way the function and importance of the IAMs but they are built for other purposes and each of these approaches has its own strengths and weaknesses and each provides a different perspective on the policy options available to meet climate change targets. Extreme poverty is typically defined in terms of satisfying immediate basic needs such as food and shelter, needed for long-term physical well-being. Thus, we believe that our approach using detailed household expenditure data, with great detail for a large number of developing countries, contributes a different and useful perspective.\n\nCarbon footprints and consumer expenditure surveys\n\nWe use multi-regional input-output (MRIO) analysis to compute household carbon footprints for different income groups for 189 countries. The carbon footprint includes direct emissions associated with a household\u2019s activities such as heating, driving and using electricity as well as indirect emissions associated with the production of goods and services a household consumes24, 25 as well as assumed associated shares of required investments and government expenditure to support increase in production capacity. The consumption patterns of different household groups in 90 developing countries are provided by the World Bank\u2019s Global Consumption Database21 and households in developed countries are based on national consumer expenditure surveys reported by the respective national statistical offices. The global MRIO table is collected from the Eora database38. Eora is a multi-region IO database that provides a time series of high-resolution IO tables with matching environmental and social satellite accounts for 186 countries. This study focuses on 2010 to be consistent with the World Bank\u2019s Global Consumption Database.\n\nIn the World Bank\u2019s Global Consumption Database, households in developing countries are categorized in four consumption segments: lowest, low, middle, and higher consumption groups. They are based on global income distribution data, which rank the global population by income per capita, which we use and scale up by actual global population shares for each income category. The lowest consumption segment (below $2.97 per capita a day) corresponds to the bottom half of the global population; the low consumption segment (between $2.97 and $8.44 per capita a day) to the 51th\u201375th percentiles; the middle consumption segment (between $8.44 and $23.03 per capita a day) to the 76th\u201390th percentiles; and the higher consumption segment (above $23.03 per capita a day) to the 91st percentile and above (Supplementary Fig. 1). The monetary values are in PPP39. Purchasing power parities tells us how many dollars are needed to buy a dollar\u2019s worth of goods in a country as compared to the United States. In other words, PPP estimates the amount of adjustment needed of the exchange rate between countries in order for the exchange to be equivalent to each currency\u2019s purchasing power.\n\nThe first of the UN SDGs, which we are exploring in this study, is to move people out of extreme poverty by 2030, defined as <$1.90 PPP per day. However, the World Bank global consumption database (WBGCD) provides only the consumption patterns for the group with consumption of <$2.97 PPP per day. To estimate the carbon emissions per capita associated with consumption for the people spending <$1.90 PPP per day, we first select the poorest countries with an average expenditure of <$1.90 PPP per day or $456 PPP per year and use their average per capita consumption data as representative of the poorest income category (<$1.90 PPP per day) at the global level.\n\nWhile the WBGCD represents the consumption patterns of the low income categories it is less representative for consumption patterns of higher income categories which represents consumers from developed countries. Thus in addition to the consumer expenditure surveys for 90 developing countries included in the World Bank\u2019s global consumption database (http://datatopics.worldbank.org/consumption/) we included consumer expenditure surveys from the US22, the EU23, Australia24, and Japan25. Population data for different consumer groups were collected from the World Bank Povcalnet4. According to the PovcalNet database, developed countries only have a share of about 1% of the global population in the <$8.44 consumption groups. In terms of global middle income ($8.44\u201323.03), developed countries\u2019 share in this group accounts for about 19%, while their share of the global high consumer group (>$23.03) is 89%. Therefore, we use the World Bank\u2019s 90 developing countries\u2019 consumption data (accounting for 89% of total population in developing countries) to estimate per capita carbon footprint for the extreme poor (<$1.9 PPP per day), $1.9\u20132.97 PPP per day, and $2.97\u20138.44 PPP per day. To calculate the footprint for the $8.44\u201323.03 group, we split the countries into two groups. We use the consumption expenditure data of this consumer group of the 90 developing countries in the World Bank\u2019s consumption database (representing 72% of the global total in that category; developing countries account for 81%) and consumer expenditure surveys from the US, Japan, Australia and EU to represent consumption patterns in developed countries (representing 16% of the global total in that category; developed countries account for 19% in this category); their combined share is 87% of the global total in that category. For the highest consumer group (>$23.03) we used the average expenditure for people falling in that consumer category from the 90 developing countries (representing 8% of the global total in that category), the EU, Japan, Australia and the US, which represent about 73% of the global population in that category.\n\nThe multi-regional input\u2013output approach\n\nIn a MRIO framework, different regions are connected through inter-regional trade. The technical coefficient sub-matrix A rs consists of \\(\\left\\{ {a_{ij}^{rs}} \\right\\}\\) is given by \\(a_{ij}^{rs} = t_{ij}^{rs}/x_j^s\\), in which \\(t_{ij}^{rs}\\) represents the inter-sector monetary flows from sector i in region r to sector j in region s; x j s is the total output of sector j in region s. The final demand matrix is \\(\\left\\{ {y_i^{rs}} \\right\\}\\), where \\(y_i^{rs}\\) is the final demand of region s for goods of sector i from region r. Using matrix notation and dropping the subscripts, we have\n\n$${\\bf{A}} = \\left[ {\\begin{array}{*{20}{c}} {{{\\bf{A}}^{{\\bf{11}}}}} & {{{\\bf{A}}^{{\\bf{1}}2}}} & \\cdots & {{{\\bf{A}}^{{\\bf{1n}}}}} \\\\ {{{\\bf{A}}^{{\\bf{21}}}}} & {{{\\bf{A}}^{{\\bf{22}}}}} & \\cdots & {{{\\bf{A}}^{{\\bf{2n}}}}} \\\\ \\vdots & \\vdots & \\ddots & \\vdots \\\\ {{{\\bf{A}}^{{\\bf{n1}}}}} & {{{\\bf{A}}^{{\\bf{n2}}}}} & \\cdots & {{{\\bf{A}}^{{\\bf{nn}}}}} \\end{array}} \\right];{\\bf{Y}}=\\left[ {\\begin{array}{*{20}{c}} {{\\sum{\\bf{y}}^{\\bf{1r}}}} \\\\ {{\\sum{\\bf{y}}^{\\bf{2r}}}} \\\\ \\vdots \\\\ {{\\sum{\\bf{y}}^{\\bf{nr}}}} \\end{array}} \\right];{\\bf{x}} = \\left[ {\\begin{array}{*{20}{c}} {{{\\bf{x}}^{\\bf{1}}}} \\\\ {{{\\bf{x}}^{\\bf{2}}}} \\\\ \\vdots \\\\ {{{\\bf{x}}^{\\bf{n}}}} \\end{array}} \\right]$$\n\nConsequently, the MRIO framework can be written as:\n\n$${\\bf{x}}{\\rm{ = }}{\\left( {{\\rm{I}} - {\\bf{A}}} \\right)^{ - 1}}{\\bf{y}}$$ (1)\n\nwhere x is\ufeff a colum vector of sectoral total output for all countries\ufeff; (I-A)\u20131 is the Leontief inverse matrix which captures both direct and indirect economic inputs to satisfy one unit of final demand in monetary value; I is the identity matrix with ones on the main diagonal and zeros everywhere else; y is a column vector of sectoral total final demand for all countries.\n\nTo calculate the consumption-based CO 2 -e emissions, we extend the MRIO table with a vector of sectoral CO 2 -e emission coefficients for all regions, k:\n\n$${\\bf{k}} = \\left[ {\\begin{array}{*{20}{c}} {{{\\bf{k}}_1}} & {\\begin{array}{*{20}{c}} {{{\\bf{k}}_2}} & \\cdots \\end{array}} & {{{\\bf{k}}_{\\bf{n}}}} \\end{array}} \\right]$$\n\nThus, the total consumption-based CO 2 -e emissions for all regions can be calculated by:\n\n$${\\bf{C}}{{\\bf{O}}_{\\bf{2}}}{\\hbox {-}}{\\bf{e}} = {\\bf{k}}{\\left( {{\\bf{I}} - {\\bf{A}}} \\right)^{ - 1}}{\\bf{Y}} + {\\bf{H}}{{\\bf{H}}_{\\bf{C}}}$$ (2)\n\nwhere CO 2 -e is a row vector of the total CO 2 -e emissions (both supply chain emissions and household direct emissions) associated with total final consumption (Y), sum of household consumption, government expenditure and stock change and investment, in all countries; k is a row vector of CO 2 -e emissions per unit of economic output for all economic sectors in all regions. k (I-A) \u20131 Y, a row vector, captures supply chain emissions of final demand of goods and services in different countries; HH C is a row vector of household direct emissions of all regions, e.g., driving and house heating;\n\nHousehold direct emissions for each consumption group in different countries are estimated based on their household fuel consumption from the consumer expenditure survey data.\n\nMatching consumption survey to MRIO household consumption\n\nIn the WBGCD21, and the global multi-regional IO database38 have been developed to enable global analyses and are uniform across countries. To match the consumption categories provided by the Global Consumption Database with Eora economic sectors we follow a well-established approach (e.g., refs. 40, 41). We first assign consumption items from the WBGCD to different IO sectors and then scale the consumption survey data for each sector by four income groups to match the total household consumption of each sector from the global MRIO table (see Bridge Matrix in Supplementary Data). This method assumes that national consumption data is more accurate than the consumption survey data in terms of total consumption of each good or service. However, the survey date provides useful information about the distribution of goods and services to different income groups.\n\nIn the WBGCD database, all consumption items are categorized according to the International Comparison Program (ICP) classification, equivalent to the international Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (COICOP). To estimate the carbon footprints of different consumption groups, we first map the ICP classification of consumption items to aggregate Eora IO sectors. Three situations can occur:\n\nOne ICP category in the WBGCD corresponds to one Eora sector. In some cases there is a perfect match between an ICP category and an Eora sector. The mapping is straightforward.\n\nMultiple ICP categories correspond to one Eora sector. For example, in the ICP category, \u201cProcessed fish and seafood\u201d, \u201cCheese, butter and margarine\u201d, \u201cOther edible oil and fats\u201d can only fit to Eora sector Food & Beverages. Given the more detailed ICP classifications than the Eora sector, this allocation is the most frequent case in the matching process. Mapping is also straightforward in this case.\n\nOne ICP category in the WBGCD corresponds to more than one Eora sector. There are some cases that one consumption item category may be produced from multiple economic sectors. For example, some food consumption categories can either be sold directly from the farm and thus would be linked to Eora sector \u201cAgriculture\u201d or have been processed and thus need to be linked to Eora sector \u201cFood & Beverages\u201d. However, there is no good reference to split the aggregate consumption categories, such as \u201cFresh or Chilled Vegetables Other than Potatoes\u201d, into \u201cAgriculture\u201d and \u201cFood &Beverages\u2019 sectors\u201d. And, the allocation of an aggregate consumption category might vary from country to country. Most studies ignore this problem42 and just equally distribute the aggregate category in consumption (as, e.g., done by the World Bank\u2019s Global Consumption Database) or when linking environmental accounts to IO accounts (e.g., ref. 43), or numerous IO studies linking consumer expenditure survey to IO categories (e.g., refs. 41, 44). We followed this practice for this study but also added an uncertainty analysis using an allocation approach based on different possible \u201cextreme\u201d bridging matrices. We select the possible IO sectors that can be linked to the ICP sectors. For the maximum value, we assign the ICP category to the sector with the highest emissions multiplier, for the lowest possible value, we assign the ICP category to the sector with the lowest emission multiplier. We then take these extreme or maximum possible deviations from the allocation we had chosen and calculate the deviation for each household group and show the range through error bars for each household category (Supplementary Fig. 2). Our uncertainty analysis shows that re-allocation of the consumption categories that may fall into multiple economic sectors has a relatively small impact on per capita footprints of different household groups. The uncertainty range of the per capita CF for all household groups is <2% between the max and the min and even less of an issue for our scenarios only involving the lowest two income categories.\n\nOther final demand sectors by consumer groups\n\nIn addition to household consumption we also include other two final demand sectors, government expenditure and capital formation, to accommodate the necessary expansion of production capacity required to produce the increase in household demand. We allocate capital formation and government expenditure column vectors from EORA MRIO database to the four consumer groups based on the share of household consumption by different consumer groups in the total household consumption. Equation (3) was used for disaggregation of capital formation and government expenditure.\n\n$${\\bf{Ca}}{{\\bf{p}}_{{\\bf{Disagg}}}} = {\\bf{diag}}\\left( {{\\bf{Cap}}} \\right){\\rm{*}}{\\bf{H}}{{\\bf{H}}_{{\\bf{share}}}}$$ (3)\n\nwhere Cap Disagg is disaggregated capital formation by four consumer groups; Cap is a vector of capital formation by sectors; and diag(Cap) denotes a diagonal matrix with the elements of vector CAP on the main diagonal. HH share is a matrix showing the shares of consumption by different consumer groups in different sectors.\n\nThis method assumes that the higher the consumption for a certain product the higher the required capital formation in that sector. Lacking better information, we make the same assumption for government expenditure. For example, we allocate the government expenditure column to different consumer groups based on their consumption of other services from the consumer expenditure survey data.\n\nScenario analysis\n\nIn this study, we set up two scenarios for future additional carbon emissions due to moving poor people out of poverty by 2030 but these emissions are then continued until 2100 to be consistent with IPCC climate change projections. Scenario 1: lifting all people spending <$1.90 PPP per day (i.e., 840 million people45) to a higher consumption group spending between $1.90 and $2.97 PPP per day by 2030, equally spread over the years, with an average of 56 million people moving out of poverty per year. Scenario 2: lifting all people with a per capita income of <$2.97 PPP per day to a higher expenditure group spending between $2.97 per day and $8.44 per day by 2030 with an equal share of people annually moving to the next higher consumption group. We also incorporate population growth into the model. As population growth data for different consumption groups in different countries is not available, we use the UN population growth projection3 for this study. Then, we use population growth rates by different country classifications (low income, lower middle income, upper middle income, and high income) to represent different growth rates in different consumption groups. For instance, we use the average growth rate in low income countries (i.e., <$1045 per capita per year) for the <$1.90 and $1.90\u20132.97 PPP consumption groups, while we use the average growth rate in lower middle countries (i.e., $1046\u20134125 per capita per year) to represent the growth rate for the $2.97\u20138.44 consumption group. In terms of changing fertility rates associated with higher incomes we assume that people moving up to a higher consumption group will have the same fertility rates as their new income peers, otherwise we strictly stick with the UN predictions.\n\nSince long-term climate impacts depend on cumulative carbon emission we add the additional emissions needed to achieve the SDGs of moving people out of extreme poverty to a baseline emission pathway. (By additional emissions, we mean the higher emissions based on the new expenditure group minus previous emissions in the lower expenditure group.) As baseline, we use one of the GHG emission trajectories, known as Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs), adopted by the IPCC for its fifth Assessment Report (AR5) in 201446. RCPs are concerned with GHG concentration trajectories but the database provides, as a supplement, emission trajectories calculated as inverse emissions, i.e., implied emissions corresponding to the scenario concentrations, using the MAGICC model (see below). These standardized scenarios emphasize not only the long-term emission stabilization level but also the trajectory that leads to that outcome. We use the scenario that is consistent with limiting temperature changes to below 2 \u00b0C above pre-industrial level, i.e., RCP2.6. The RCP2.6 (now referred to as RCP3PD in the database, where \u201cPD\u201d stands for Peak and Decline and 3 refer to radiative forcing, in watts per square meter units, predicted by the year 2100) emission scenario assumes that global annual GHG emissions peak sometimes before 2020 and decline substantially afterwards. Other scenarios include RCP4.5, RCP6, and RCP8.5. These are all plausible pathways. We chose RCP2.6 here because the research question we are addressing is whether meeting the SDGs can be achieved without affecting the climate goal47.\n\nRCP scenario data contain reference GHG emissions. However, the database does not report socio-economic variables underlying each scenario. We present un-abated emissions. To convert emissions scenarios into global-mean temperatures we used MAGICC version 648. MAGICC is essentially a reduced-complexity model used in many scientific publications and integrated models. It is also often used by the IPCC, for instance, to facilitate integrated model comparisons. MAGICC integrates a set of simple models linking emissions to concentrations to global radiative forcing and to global changes in temperature and sea-level. For more details see refs. 49, 50. 50 and 66% confidence ranges are obtained in MAGICC by running the model 600 times using a slightly altered set of climatic parameters that are based on historical observations. Details of this approach are available in51.\n\nLimitations\n\nThe United Nations52 in a resolution adopted by the Assemble set 17 goals focusing on poverty alleviation, hunger, inequality and inclusion, gender, education, access to water and sanitation. Many of these so-called UN SDGs are related to income but the selected examples already show that poverty goes beyond simply income. This multi-dimensionality of poverty is well reflected in the literature recognizing that income measure alone are a poor representation of poverty9, 10. Albeit true, many of these ailments are linked to income especially at the lowest level of consumption where people spend most of their money on basic consumption items such as food, clothing and shelter (see also Supplementary Fig. 1 based on consumer expenditure patterns of the World Bank (WP)\u2019s poverty database). In this study we focus explicitly on the first SDG and look at the implications of moving people to a higher expenditure group.\n\nThe WB database is based on consumer expenditure surveys for 90 developing countries and four expenditure categories and here supplemented by consumer expenditure surveys from developed countries. In our scenarios we move people from one expenditure category to the next (crossing the poverty line) assuming the consumption patterns of the higher expenditure group. The carbon emissions are based on greenhouse gas emissions as represented in the global MRIO database captured through market exchange. We account for carbon emissions associated with burning fuels such as char coal, crop residues and other biomass for cooking and heating when captured through market transactions in the consumer expenditure surveys. These fuel sources can be a substantial part of the livelihoods (e.g., ref. 53). As incomes increase, biomass does not simple get replaced by other fuels but households tend to use a wide mix of fuels in their fuel transitions54, we capture those transitions only when reflected in the consumer surveys. If rural poor replace biomass with paid-for energy than we ignore the potential positive impact on reduced deforestation. Similarly, we do not deal with other land use related carbon emissions associated with subsistence agriculture. At these low levels of income any additional income would not replace these forms of livelihood income but rather would help diversify their livelihoods55.\n\nIn this study we do not account for land use related emissions. The literature on how poverty alleviation would change land use at a global level is quite inconclusive and really beyond what we could hope to achieve in this paper. Most of the studies that link land use to consumption patterns are at the regional scale56 or at best at the national level57, and frequently do not explicitly account for differences in income. The few global level studies show that land consumption seem to increase with higher income58.\n\nA somewhat related problem is the different impacts of meat consumption versus other food intake, which have quite different environmental impacts in terms of land use, but are more relevant for our study in terms of methane emissions. While we do account for these differences in terms of emissions, we do not do this in the best possible way as meat consumption is subsumed as part of consumption of agricultural products. Higher income people would pay higher prices for agricultural products and thus cause higher carbon emissions. In this sense we have captured differences in meat versus vegetable consumption. A better way would have been to have a more disaggregated global model to better capture different types of food consumption. Part of the problem is the trade-off of sectoral detail and country coverage of different global multi-regional IO models. For a recent comparison of various global MRIOs see ref. 59.\n\nIn this study, we make the assumption that the consumption bundles of each expenditure group remains the same until 2030, in particular for the low expenditure group included in our scenario analysis. While there is a huge amount of literature focusing on consumption patterns within income/expenditure categories this is less so at the global level as discussed in this paper; but the goal of the paper is not to predict carbon emissions for the year 2030 or 2100 but to investigate the implications of two poverty alleviation scenarios (of moving people from a lower category to a higher one) by 2030 using available detailed data on consumption for different expenditure and income categories from the World Bank and other statistical agencies. We want to investigate these counter factual scenarios based on detailed available data and do not want to \u201cdilute\u201d these scenarios by modifying existing consumption bundles in all income categories other than moving people from one category and the associated consumption bundle to the next. Supplementary Table 1 shows that there is considerable stability in terms of expenditure patterns across the poor in that three quarters of the expenditure is for food, shelter and housing, and the remaining expenditure categories only make small contributions to the expenditure.\n\nThis is also reflected in the literature. The most important determinant of the carbon footprint is income (see e.g., Minx et al.; Ahmad et al.40, 60), which we consider explicitly in our two poverty alleviation scenarios but other determinants of per capita carbon footprints such as urban characteristics61, population density62, lifestyles (Baiocchi et al 41), and household size63, etc. are not considered in this study as these do not exist at the global level and most of the countries we include in our study, and are only available for specific countries or selected cities. In summary, the \u201cconstant consumption assumption\u201d for the poor for the next decade or so is reasonable given that income and associated composition are the most important factors and we change them explicitly based on detailed available information; and that we are only interested in the counter factual poverty alleviation scenario and their carbon implications. Moreover, there is a lack of available studies for most countries considered in this study; and finally, we find a relative stability of consumption patterns of the poorest in poor countries.\n\nSimilarly, we use current emissions intensities (from Eora) until 2030, ignoring well-established hypothetical trends of reducing energy intensity and climate policy. This assumption would probably overestimate the poor\u2019s future emissions. Rather than explicitly modeling various technological assumption as is done by Rao64 we calculate the additional carbon emissions of poverty alleviation and the required reduction in carbon emissions. These additional carbon emissions of poverty alleviation are added to the RCP2.6. The RCP are abstracted from possible socio-economic scenarios that can produce them in agreement with (e.g., Moss et al.65). According to the IPCC AR5: \u201cThe RCPs ARE NOT [emphasize added] associated with unique socioeconomic assumptions or emissions scenarios but can result from different combinations of economic, technological, demographic, policy, and institutional futures\u201d (Wayne66, p. 8). \u201cRCPs each describe an emission trajectory and concentration by the year 2100, and consequent forcing. Each trajectory represents a specific synthesis drawn from the published literature. From this \u201cbaseline\u201d, researchers can then test various permutations of social, technical and economic circumstances.\u201d (Wayne66, p. 9) And this is exactly how we are using the RCP as a reference emission trajectory to assess the carbon consequences of poverty alleviation. We do not make any assumption of whether innovations and technical change will deliver or not. We \u201cjust\u201d assume, based on the IEA report, that in the next 12 years that might not be major changes in carbon intensity. We only calculate the additional gains in reduction required to offset the additional carbon emissions from poverty alleviation.\n\nAnother important component of the poverty alleviation scenario is the estimation of population growth. Estimation of population growth is ideally based on the population projections for each income group in each country until 2100. However, these data are not available. On the other hand, we understand that different countries may have different population growth rates and using the average growth rate for low income countries for the low consumption group may lead to relatively large uncertainty. Given the predictions available from the UN World Population Prospects3 we have two choices: (1) to use predictions that represent income segments and thus requires averaging across countries (the average population growth rate for countries within an income bracket) based on estimates by the UN, for example, we use the average population growth rate of low income countries to represent the population growth for the extreme poverty group and the consumption group of >$2.97 per day, and use the population growth rate of lower middle income countries for the consumption group of $2.97\u20138.44 per day; or (2) to use country specific predictions but ignore the changing composition of expenditure groups (population growth rate by country). Both estimates have shortcomings. Applying the national average growth rate to the low income group within a country may lead to an underestimation of population growth for low income groups as their growth rate might be higher than the national average67. However, using the average population growth rate across all low income countries may also lead to uncertainty because countries have different population growth rates even though they all fall into the low income country category. In this study, we use option (1) i.e., using the average growth rate of the respective country group mainly because the country specific predictions are not an option to us anymore after we introduce our poverty alleviation scenarios as these would significantly influence income and thus fertility and mortality rates of these low income countries and the country specific predictions by the UN would not be applicable to these countries anymore. When comparing the two approaches, we find that option 2 provides 13% lower carbon emissions under scenario 1 and 18% lower under scenario 2 than by using option 1.\n\nThe scaled investment and government expenditure is likely to have some benefits for the poor but it is hard to estimate which benefits they accrue. For example, one might argue that a lot of the infrastructure investment benefits more the middle class, who can extract greater benefit from such investments. A simple example is road-building which leads to increased vehicular mobility. Those in extreme poverty have little to benefit from this road-building. We thus see these expanded government expenditure and investment as accompanying the expansion in producing those additional goods and services associated with poverty alleviation but they are not the trigger of poverty alleviation. These initial transfer payments are not explicitly included in this study.\n\nThere are a number of ways that government expenditure can lead to poverty alleviation such as direct payment transfer (cash transfer) which are being trialed or implemented in Brazil68 and India69, and direct and indirect subsidies (e.g., fuel subsidies, food subsidies, poverty programs)72, 73. However, we did not include any such payment transfer and/or subsidies or similar mechanism to increase the income of the poor as outlined in these scenarios due to the complexity of these wealth distribution mechanism. However, this problem is partially mitigated by the use of expenditures instead of actual income, which is hard to measure in poorer countries. There is evidence that households in poorer countries have negative savings as they appear to spend more than they earn (see, e.g., Fesseau and van de Ven70). The fact that these types of transfer are implicit in the expenditure data is the standard justification for choosing expenditure over income in many studies.\n\nCode availability\n\nProgramming code for MRIO analysis is available from the corresponding author on request.\n\nData availability\n\nAll data used in this study is from open access sources, including the World Bank Global Consumption Database, EORA MRIO database, the World Bank Povcalnet and the UN Population Prospects. The websites for data download are provided in the method section.", "output": "Eradicating extreme poverty by raising incomes to above $1.9 purchasing power parity (PPP) per day would not compromise climate targets, even in the absence of effective climate policies and without major technological innovation, according to research from the University of Maryland. However, the research found that ensuring that people have a minimum $2.97 PPP would require an increase in climate mitigation efforts of 27%.\u00a0A commitment to the eradication of extreme poverty by 2030 is the first of the United Nations\u2019 Sustainable Development Goals.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Worker exploitation exposed in Italian tomato industry \n Two of Italy\u2019s biggest food companies have been implicated in labour abuses of migrant workers picking tomatoes bought by thousands of British and European consumers every week, according to court documents.\n\nItalian prosecutor Paola Guglielmi has named food giants Mutti and Conserve Italia as benefiting from \u201cconditions of absolute exploitation\u201d in the country\u2019s hugely lucrative tomato industry, as part of an investigation into the death of a seasonal labourer.\n\n\n\nBoth Mutti and the Conserve Italia brand Cirio [see footnote] supply major UK supermarkets with premium tinned tomatoes and passata, and are named in court documents signed by Guglielmi.\n\n\n\nThe case began with the death of Abdullah Muhammed, a 47-year-old legal Sudanese immigrant and father of two, who suffered a heart attack while working in the fields of Nard\u00f3, which sits on the heel of southern Italy, in July 2015. The allegation against his employer was that Muhammed\u2019s life could have been saved if he had been allowed to go to hospital.\n\nThe Italian investigator used her powers to track the supply chain up to the very top of the country\u2019s \u20ac3.2bn (\u00a32.85bn) processed tomato industry. While the companies are not liable for the death, their link is significant.\n\n\n\nLike thousands of other workers, Muhammed\u2019s day would start at 4am and he would work until 5pm handpicking tomatoes in the fierce heat of the southern Italian summer. Labour abuses listed in the court documents include working for 12 hours a day, seven days a week, without breaks, with minimal pay and no access to medical staff.\n\nItalian prosecutor Paola Guglielmi. Photograph: Courtesy of Corriere Salentino\n\n\u201cThe person responsible for the crime by law was just the gangmaster,\u201d Guglielmi told the Guardian.\n\n\n\n\u201cBut in this case there was also manslaughter. That guy would not have died if there had been a doctor\u2019s visit. The violation of the safety provisions on the job was flagrant.\u201d\n\n\n\nThrough a far-reaching investigation, Guglielmi checked telephone records, tapped phone calls and conducted aerial surveillance to painstakingly link the exploitation of seasonal migrant workers to industrial giants.\n\nWhile workers make an average of \u20ac30 a day in the Puglia region, they can expect to lose up to half of that just to pay for food, transport, water and a cut to their gangmaster.\n\n\n\nThe gangmaster or \u201ccaporalato\u201d system is rife across the Italian agricultural sector where migrants \u2013 both legal and illegal \u2013 are organised into informal labour groups that are hired by Italian landowners to harvest their crops.\n\n\n\nThe file accuses Italian company owner Giuseppe Mariano and Sudanese gangmaster Mohammed Elsalih of manslaughter. The preliminary investigation has now concluded, and a judge will decide whether the case should go to trial.\n\nThe companies named in the file are not liable and stress the extent to which they encourage their suppliers to treat their workers ethically.\n\n\n\nA spokesman for Conserve Italia, which produces the Cirio brand of tinned tomatoes that is sold by Tesco, said it requires all its suppliers agree to \u201crespect\u201d their workers and the company\u2019s ethical code, and that the company cut ties with the supplier involved after they were made aware of Muhammed\u2019s death.\n\n\u201cWe know in the south of Italy there are some situations that are not in line but we can\u2019t do the work \u2013 it\u2019s not our responsibility to verify what happens in the region but we do ask our suppliers to respect human rights,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t pay less than the normal price.\u201d\n\nConserve Italia has since said in a statement that it plans to sue the suppliers for damages \u201cto protect its reputation as the most ethical company in this business\u201d.\n\nMutti also issued a statement. \u201cMutti has always been committed to fight any exploitation of workers\u2019 systems by all means \u2026 ,\u201d it said. \u201cMutti selects its farmers and agricultural partners with special care and maintains a constant dialogue with them along the entire supply chain. As far as the protection and security of workers is concerned, each contract involves specific requirements on work conditions (salary regularity as well as security in the workplace). Mutti will continue to foster its commitment to work in cooperation with its competitors, farmers associations and the Italian institutions to avoid accidents in fields.\u201d\n\nA member of M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res talks to an African worker in a makeshift camp in the countryside near the village of Rignano Garganico, southern Italy. Photograph: Tony Gentile/Reuters\n\nActivists claim that the low production costs drive interests not to tackle the exploitation problem properly. Yvan Sagnet, 32, from Cameroon worked just five days in the fields near to where Mohammed died before leading a mass strike of the workers in 2012. Now he campaigns to end what he brands \u201cslavery\u201d.\n\n\u201cWhen I arrived in Puglia I discovered the gangmaster system \u2013 conditions were inhuman \u2013 they were ghettos that were like concentration camps,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cOne day a guy got sick [in the fields], he couldn\u2019t handle it and in those places there is no way to get first aid \u2013 there is no address. There is no cellphone signal. The workers don\u2019t speak Italian so the gangmasters take advantage \u2026 The gangmaster insisted, \u2018If you don\u2019t pay me the 20 euros I will not take you. If you do you can go to the hospital tonight.\u2019\u201d\n\n\n\nAfter years of campaigning and organising a mass strike against the gangmasters, a strengthened law outlawing the caporalato system came into effect last year.\n\n\n\nBut campaigners say very little has changed in isolated farms where authorities do not do enough to proactively crack down on the practice.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe interests of these fields are linked with the interests of the politicians and people who own the most important companies in Italy,\u201d said Valeria Sallustio, former president of Finis Terrae, an Italian NGO that worked closely with the workers in Nard\u00f3.\n\nZoe Maddison, spokesperson for the British Retail Consortium (BRC), which represents Tesco and Sainsbury\u2019s among other major UK supermarkets, said: \u201cThis is a tragic case and we expect the Italian authorities to carry out a full investigation.\n\n\u201cThe welfare of all people who work in our supply chains is of key importance to us, and BRC members will investigate any allegations of malpractice.\u201d\n\n", "output": "Mutti and Conserve Italia, two of Italy\u2019s largest food companies, have been accused of profiting from \u201cconditions of absolute exploitation\u201d in the country\u2019s \u20ac3.2bn (\u00a3$3.7bn) tomato sector. The claims, made by prosecutor Paola Guglielmi, come in the wake of the death of a seasonal labourer. Although not arguing that the companies are liable for the death of Sudanese immigrant Abdullah Muhammed, Guglielmi tracked the supply chain from the exploitation of such workers to the very top of the tomato industry. Both Mutti and Conserve Italia supply UK supermarkets, and their products are purchased by thousands of European consumers each week.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lasers seen to significantly improve ethylene production \n Optimizing ethylene production with laser technology\n\nEthylene is one of the most valuable organic compound building blocks in the world.\n\nIP: 178.170.195.243\n\nThe Authors\n\nGogates, A. - Emerson Automation Solutions, - Emerson Automation Solutions, Gunnell, J. - Emerson Automation Solutions, - Emerson Automation Solutions,\n\nRelated Articles\n\nFrom the Archive", "output": "Laser technology has long been used in the manufacture of petrochemicals as an analytical tool, but it may be used to improve the production of ethylene. The chemical is a key organic compound used in industry and agriculture that is expected to be produced at a rate of 200 million metric tons per year by 2020. Refining ethylene to its required 99.99% purity could be made more effective by deploying laser absorption spectroscopy in a novel\u00a0manner called the zero-gap design. The devices\u00a0can detect impurities more effectively, a critical part of sustaining profitability."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK government spends \u00a3370,000 on failed air pollution lawsuits \n The government spent \u00a3370,000 of taxpayers\u2019 money unsuccessfully fighting court claims that its plans to tackle air pollution were illegally poor, a freedom of information request has revealed.\n\n\n\nThe money was spent battling two actions brought by environmental lawyers ClientEarth and included more than \u00a390,000 in costs paid to the group after it won on both occasions. Critics said the government\u2019s expenditure was \u201cdisgraceful\u201d and should have been spent on cutting pollution.\n\nNitrogen dioxide pollution, mostly produced by diesel vehicles, has been illegally high in most urban parts of Britain since 2010. ClientEarth successfully argued that the government\u2019s plans would not cut the toxic fumes in the \u201cshortest possible time\u201d, as EU law requires.\n\nThis forced ministers to produce a new plan, published in July, but this was condemned as \u201cwoefully inadequate\u201d by city leaders and \u201cinexcusable\u201d by doctors. Air pollution causes an estimated 23,500 early deaths every year from NO2, rising to 40,000 when other pollutants are considered. In September, the UN\u2019s special rapporteur on pollution said the government was \u201cflouting\u201d its duty to protect the lives and health of its citizens.\n\nEarlier in October, ClientEarth sent a legal letter demanding that the environment secretary Michael Gove sets out a range of new measures to address air pollution. If the government fails to comply with this \u201cletter before action\u201d, ClientEarth will issue new proceedings and ministers are likely to face a third judicial review.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s disgraceful that so much taxpayers\u2019 money has been wasted by the government trying to avoid producing a proper plan to tackle air pollution,\u201d said Tim Farron MP, the Liberal Democrat\u2019s environment spokesman. \u201cThis money could have been spent instead on schemes to improve air quality in our towns and cities. We need radical action now to reduce the thousands of premature deaths caused by air pollution each year.\u201d\n\nClientEarth\u2019s lawyer Alan Andrews said: \u201cThe government\u2019s insistence on fighting us in court, rather than cleaning up our air, is baffling. The plans produced in response to two court orders show a similar reluctance to get a grip. All we\u2019ve seen is inaction and delay.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe sums recovered from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are a small fraction of the costs involved in bringing these cases, which we have brought in the public interest over the course of seven years to uphold the right to breathe clean air,\u201d Andrews said.\n\nA Defra spokesman said: \u201cWe have put in place a \u00a33bn plan to improve air quality and reduce harmful emissions. We will also end the sale of new diesel and petrol cars by 2040, and next year we will publish a comprehensive Clean Air Strategy which will set out further steps to tackle air pollution.\u201d The costs revealed in the FOI document does not include the cost of the work done by Defra\u2019s in-house lawyers.\n\nLondon has the nation\u2019s worst air pollution and on Monday a new \u201ctoxin charge\u201d (T-charge) came into force, meaning drivers of the most polluting vehicles must pay a \u00a310 charge on top of the congestion charge of \u00a311.50 to enter central London.\n\nThe mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: \u201cThis is the time to stand up and join the battle to clear the toxic air we are forced to breathe. But I can\u2019t do this alone. I urgently need government to step up and face their responsibilities by delivering a diesel scrappage fund and a Cleaner Air Act that is fit for purpose.\u201d\n\nA letter issued by a coalition of organisations including the Royal Colleges of Physicians and of Child Health, Unicef, the British Lung Foundation, the British Heart Foundation and Asthma UK said: \u201cVehicle emissions, particularly from diesel, are a risk to everyone\u2019s lung health. It can worsen existing conditions like asthma, and affect babies\u2019 development before they\u2019re born. It\u2019s essential that the T-charge is used as a stepping stone to more ambitious plans to tackle toxic air.\u201d", "output": "The UK government spent \u00a3370,000 ($488,000) on fighting two legal actions, brought by environmental lawyers ClientEarth, which argued that its efforts to counter air pollution were illegally weak. The disclosure, which comes as the result of a freedom of information request, also reveals that this sum included over \u00a390,000 paid to ClientEarth after it won both cases. Critics have argued that the money should have been spent on anti-pollution action instead.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HIVE agrees to finance Genesis mining expansion in Sweden \n HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd. announced today it has entered into a legally binding letter agreement dated October 23, 2017 with its largest shareholder Genesis Mining under which the company will finance the construction of a cryptocurrency mining data centre in Sweden.\n\nThe Sweden mining facility will be a newly constructed GPU mining facility with an anticipated completion date of December 2017. HIVE Blockchain\u2019s cryptocurrency mining capacity or hashpower is expected to increase by approximately 175% with the addition.\n\nThe new facility will be constructed by Genesis for consideration of an estimated USD $22 million. Pursuant to the master services agreement between HIVE and Genesis, Genesis will be responsible for hosting, maintenance and related services for the new location for a monthly fee.\n\nHarry Pokrandt, CEO and President of HIVE stated:\n\n\u201cWith the help of Genesis, Sweden represents the next stage of growth for HIVE as we continue to build our portfolio of mining facilities. HIVE is acquiring a facility in a politically stable country with access to excellent infrastructure and complements our existing facilities in Iceland. We will continue to evaluate other opportunities to ensure we provide our shareholders the best exposure to the blockchain and cryptocurrency.\u201d", "output": "Canadian blockchain company HIVE has agreed upon a partnership to build a new cryptocurrency mining centre in Sweden. Genesis Mining, a specialist company which is HIVE's largest shareholder, will build and maintain the new $22m centre under the agreement. Adding to the company's existing facility in Iceland, the centre will increase HIVE's mining capacity, or \"hashpower\",\u00a0by around 175%.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Maronda Homes offers customisation tools to potential buyers \n Maronda Homes has constantly been changing its approach to home building, Dream. Build. LIVE! is their tag line, but it could be moving towards Dream. Build your entire home online; from colors, to granite, to options and LIVE in the home that you designed. The Amazon approach has taken full grips throughout all tech companies and now is being seen in most verticals. Putting the customer first will not only make them feel like they are part of the process, now they are the whole buying process. Some tools and feature Maronda has brought to the table are 360 Tours, Exterior and Interior Color Visualizers and Interactive Floor plans. \"The company (Maronda Homes) shows no signs of stopping,\" says Director of Digital Marketing Matthew Wilson. \"With our products evolving in the home productions department, it only makes sense to continue to give the potential buyer more of a hands on approach leading up to their brand new home.\"\n\nHome builders have provided a variety of options to their shoppers for a long time but showing a unique finished product to each and every customer was sometimes difficult. Maronda Homes is leading the online home shopping experience with the addition of the online visualizer tool, 360 tours and interactive floorplans to make home buying online easier.\n\nToday\u2019s buyers have a very specific picture of what their dream home looks like, this online visualizer gives them to chance to see their home come to life, make adjustments and build a home that is truly unique.\n\nThe three tools Maronda Homes has unveiled are:\n\nHome Color Selections with Online Visualizers\n\nSelecting from a bevy of options and available upgrades customizes can mix and match features to suit their needs, place furniture in their new home and virtually walk one of our models. Maronda Homes can now give a true feeling, both interior and exterior of what the finished home actually will look like. The visualizer will let you change exterior siding, brick, ,shutters ,interior flooring ,paint ,counter tops and cabinetry are just some of the features you can change and customize.\n\n360 Tours\n\nWalk Room by Room and See an Overview of the Home with the new 360 Tours. This gives any buyer the ability to virtually walk through their next home. You can mouse through room to room, view the floor plan and layout, get a \"dollhouse\" overview of the home. Making the homes come alive from anywhere.\n\nInteractive Floorplans\n\nDesign the home with options to fully meet any needs. With interactive floorplans you can add furniture to see if that perfect couch will fit in the living room. Share the dream home that has been created, with friends or family.\n\nThe future for Maronda Homes being a tech/builder has risen to new heights. Look for more consumer friendly moves from this company in the future", "output": "US building company Maronda Homes has launched a number of online tools to enable buyers to visualise the look of their finished homes. The Florida-based company offers 360-degree tours of its homes, along with interactive floorplans that allow buyers to see the full layout and walk through, and add furniture to the virtual spaces. Users can also use an online visualiser to try out different materials and colours on internal and external walls and surfaces.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SAP Hybris using AI facial recognition to help target retail \n SAP\u2019s Hybris Marketing Cloud service is using artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, machine learning particularly, to help retailers make more informed and targeted marketing decisions.\n\nDuring the SAP Hybris LIVE: Global Summit event in Barcelona, the German business software giant announced on Oct. 17 an integration with SAP Leonardo that allows SAP Hybris Marketing Cloud customers to use facial recognition to help retailers promote in-store sales and bridge the gap between online and brick-and-mortar retailing.\n\nPowered by SAP Leonardo\u2019s machine learning, the facial recognition system provides a foundation for intelligent and personalized shopping experiences, according to Jackie Palmer, global vice president of Strategy and Solution Management at SAP Hybris.\n\n\u201cSAP Hybris Marketing Cloud analyzes clues about customers to provide personalized recommendations. When a customer enters a store, the technology will capture demographic data such as eye color, hair color, sex, age, etc. as well as other factors such as what they are wearing,\u201d explained Palmer in an email exchange with eWEEK.\n\nCapturing that data is just the start. SAP Hybris Marketing Cloud can then use that information to help shoppers find merchandise that fits their tastes and needs.\n\n\u201cThis information is funneled into the digital kiosk/sign to offer customized product suggestions,\u201d continued Palmer. \u201cFor example, a shopper with blue eyes and a tan cardigan would be guided towards blue sweaters to match their eye color and sense of style.\u201d\n\nThe new facial recognition capabilities complement SAP Hybris Marketing Cloud\u2019s other machine learning capabilities, which help provide personalized product and offer recommendations, Palmer said. They can also supply retailers with lead scoring, churn prediction and buying propensity information, among several other insights.\n\nUltimately, the product helps solve a problem that many brands face today.\n\nDespite the wealth of data that can be generated by shoppers and their interactions, capturing it and using it to create more complete customer profiles is often a struggle. By digitizing the in-store shopping experience and making it trackable for businesses\u2014plus adding a smattering of third-party data sources\u2014SAP\u2019s solution helps set the stage for contextually driven retail operations that are imbued with intelligence and help marketers make the right call at an opportune time.\n\nNaturally, data privacy is a big concern, given the types and amount of data that today\u2019s technology can collect on an individual. In that regard, SAP Hybris Marketing Cloud fully supports the EU\u2019s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the company announced. GDPR is a set of stringent privacy regulations that goes into effect in May 2018 and applies to companies doing business in the region, even if they are based elsewhere.\n\nAlso new is SAP Hybris Customer Attribution (formerly Abakus), a solution that generates accurate measurement of marketing campaigns. A new Digital Boardroom tailored to the needs of CMOs (chief marketing officers) joins the portfolio. The solution is based on SAP Digital Boardroom, a business intelligence and data visualization product for C-level executives.\n\nOn the Internet of Things (IoT) front, marketers can now use consumer IoT devices to trigger campaigns and generate personalized offers. Finally, SAP Hybris Marketing Cloud now features a WeChat integration that extends its reach into the Chinese social media application\u2019s 889 million users.", "output": "German software giant SAP has integrated its Leonardo machine learning system with its Hybris Marketing Cloud to develop facial recognition software that enables retailers to personalise the in-store experience. The system captures data such as hair and eye colour and feeds it to a digital sign, which then displays targeted product suggestions. SAP's Hybris Marketing Cloud is fully GDPR compliant and sits alongside a suite of tools, including Hybris Customer Attribution, which measures marketing campaigns, and Digital Boardroom, aimed at CMOs."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ocean acidification poses threat to marine life: Study \n If the outlook for marine life was already looking bleak \u2013 torrents of plastic that can suffocate and starve fish, overfishing, diverse forms of human pollution that create dead zones, the effects of global warming which is bleaching coral reefs and threatening coldwater species \u2013 another threat is quietly adding to the toxic soup.\n\nOcean acidification is progressing rapidly around the world, new research has found, and its combination with the other threats to marine life is proving deadly. Many organisms that could withstand a certain amount of acidification are at risk of losing this adaptive ability owing to pollution from plastics, and the extra stress from global warming.\n\nThe conclusions come from an eight-year study into the effects of ocean acidification which found our increasingly acid seas \u2013 a byproduct of burning fossil fuels \u2013 are becoming more hostile to vital marine life.\n\n\u201cSince ocean acidification happens extremely fast compared to natural processes, only organisms with short generation times, such as micro-organisms, are able to keep up,\u201d the authors of the study Exploring Ocean Change: Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification found.\n\nMarine life such as crustaceans and organisms that create calcified shelters for themselves in the oceans were thought to be most at risk, because acid seas would hinder them forming shells. However, the research shows that while these are in danger, perhaps surprisingly, some \u2013 such as barnacles \u2013 are often unaffected, while the damage from acidification is also felt much higher up the food chain, into big food fish species.\n\nAn unhealthy pteropod shows the effects of ocean acidification, including dissolving shell ridges on its upper surface, a cloudy shell, and severe abrasions. Photograph: Courtesy of NOAA\n\nOcean acidification can reduce the survival prospects of some species early in their lives, with knock-on effects. For instance, the scientists found that by the end of the century, the size of Atlantic cod in the Baltic and Barents Sea might be reduced to only a quarter of the size they are today, because of acidification.\n\nPeter Thomson, UN ambassador for the oceans and a diplomat from Fiji, which is hosting this year\u2019s UN climate change conference in Bonn, urged people to think of the oceans in the same terms as they do the climate. \u201cWe are all aware of climate change, but we need to talk more about ocean change, and the effects of acidification, warming, plastic pollution, dead zones and so on,\u201d he said. \u201cThe world must know that we have a plan to save the ocean. What is required over the next three years is concerted action.\u201d\n\nThe eight-year study was carried out by the Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification group (known as Bioacid), a German network of researchers, with the support of the German government, and involved more than 250 scientists investigating how marine life is responding to acidification, and examining research from around the world. The study was initiated well before governmentssigned a global agreement on climate change at Paris in 2015, and highlights how the Paris agreement to hold warming to no more than 2C may not be enough to prevent further acidification of the world\u2019s seas.\n\nGovernments will meet in Bonn in November to discuss the next steps on the road to fulfilling the requirements of the Paris agreement, and the researchers are hoping to persuade attendees to take action on ocean acidification as well.\n\nA scientist feeds coral in a lab to study the impact of multiple climate stressors on coral reef. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images\n\nOcean acidification is another effect of pouring carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, as the gas dissolves in seawater to produce weak carbonic acid. Since the industrial revolution, the average pH of the ocean has been found to have fallen from 8.2 to 8.1, which may seem small but corresponds to an increase in acidity of about 26%. Measures to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide reaching the atmosphere can help to slow down this process, but only measures that actively remove carbon already in the atmosphere will halt it, because of the huge stock of carbon already in the air from the burning of fossil fuels.\n\nWorse still, the effects of acidification can intensify the effects of global warming, in a dangerous feedback loop. The researchers pointed to a form of planktonic alga known as Emiliania huxleyi, which in laboratory experiments was able to adapt to some extent to counter the negative effects acidification had upon it. But in a field experiment, the results were quite different as the extra stresses present at sea meant it was not able to form the extensive blooms it naturally develops. As these blooms help to transport carbon dioxide from the surface to the deep ocean, and produce the gas dimethyl sulfide that can help suppress global warming, a downturn in this species \u201cwill therefore severely feed back on the climate system\u201d.", "output": "Ocean acidification, caused by burning fossil fuels, is increasing across the globe, with species losing their ability to adapt to the acidity due to plastic pollution and global warming, according to an eight-year study by Germany\u2019s Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification group. The research found that, as acidification occurs quickly, only species with short generation times, such as micro-organisms, are able to adapt. Acidification could also reduce the size of Atlantic cod by 75% by the end of the century, according to the study."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ocean acidification poses threat to marine life: Study \n Number of items: 618.\n\nArticles in a Scientific Journal - peer-reviewed\n\nArticles in a Scientific Journal - without review\n\nBooks\n\nBook chapters\n\n\n\nBrander, L. M. , Hattam, C. and Rehdanz, K. (2014) In: An updated synthesis of the impacts of ocean acidification on marine biodiversity. , ed. by Hennige, S. , Roberts, M. and Williamson, P. . Montreal Technical Series, 75 . Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal, Canada, pp. 62-70. ISBN 92-9225-527-4 and(2014) Impacts on ecosystem services, livelihoods and biogeochemical cycles. In: An updated synthesis of the impacts of ocean acidification on marine biodiversity. , ed. byand. Montreal Technical Series, 75 . Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal, Canada, pp. 62-70. ISBN 92-9225-527-4\n\n\n\nBrander, L. M. , Narita, D. , Rehdanz, K. and Tol, R. S. J. (2014) Nunes, P. N. L. D. , Kumar, P. and Dedeurwaerdere, T. . Edward Elgar (EE), Cheltenham, UK, pp. 78-92. ISBN 978-1-78195-150-7 and(2014) The Economic Impacts of Ocean Acidification. In: Handbook on the Economics of Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity. , ed. byand. Edward Elgar (EE), Cheltenham, UK, pp. 78-92. ISBN 978-1-78195-150-7\n\n\n\nRiebesell, U. (2011) Disconcertingly unique - the Anthropocene. In: The Ocean Is Our Future : Kiel Marine Scientists On a Time Trip To 2100. . Cluster of Excellence \"The Future Ocean\", Kiel, Germany, pp. 48-53. ISBN 978-3-00-036928-5\n\n\n\nP\u00f6rtner, H. O. , Bickmeyer, U. , Bleich, M. , Bock, C. , Brownlee, C. , Melzner, F. Michaelidis, B. , Sartoris, F. J. and Storch, D. (2010) Riebesell, U. , Fabry, V. J. , Hansson, L. and Gattuso, J. P. . Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, pp. 137-166. and(2010) Studies of acid-base status and regulation. In: Guide to best practices for ocean acidification research and data reporting. ; Chapter 9 , ed. byand. Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, pp. 137-166.\n\n\n\nP\u00f6rtner, H. O. , Dickson, A. and Gattuso, J. P. (2010) Riebesell, U. , Fabry, V. J. , Hansson, L. and Gattuso, J. P. . Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, pp. 167-180. and(2010) Terminology and units for parameters relevant to the carbonate system. In: Guide to best practices for ocean acidification research and data reporting. ; Chapter 10 , ed. byand. Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, pp. 167-180.\n\nConference papers\n\nPresentations\n\n\n\nMoreno de Castro, M. (2013) (2013) Separating direct acidification response signal from variability in plankton dynamics. [Talk] In: Understanding and Interpreting Uncertainty - Interdisziplinary Conference of Young Earth System Scientists. , 22.-25.09.2013, Hamburg, Germany .\n\n\n\nMoreno de Castro, M. (2013) (2013) Uncertainties in models for ocean acidification. [Talk] In: 1. Workshop on Trait-based approaches to Ocean Life. , 26.-28.08.2013, Kopenhagen, Danmark .\n\n\n\nRehdanz, K. (2013) (2013) Socio-economic impacts of ocean acidification. [Talk] In: UNFCCC's Subsidiary Body on Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA). , 24.-25.10.2013, Bonn, Germany .\n\n\n\nB\u00f6gner, D. , Bickmeyer, U. and K\u00f6hler, A. (2011) and(2011) Effect of Ocean Acidification on Fertilization Success of Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis. [Talk] In: Effect of Ocean Acidification on Fertilization Success of Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis Workshop. , 24.-26.11.2011, Xanten, Germany .\n\n\n\nHauck, J. , Gerdes, D. A. , Hillenbrand, C. D. , Hoppema, M. , Kuhn, G. , Nehrke, G. , V\u00f6lker, C. and Wolf-Gladrow, D. A. (2011) and(2011) Distribution and mineralogy of carbonate sediments on Antarctic shelves. [Talk] In: 2. Young Scientist Excellence Cluster Conference on Marine and Climate Research. , 04.-05..10.2011, Bremen, Germany .\n\nConference posters\n\n\n\nHauck, J. , V\u00f6lker, C. , Wang, T. , Hoppema, M. , Losch, M. and Wolf-Gladrow, D. A. (2013) and(2013) Response of carbon fluxes to the Southern Annular Mode: The role of export production and seasonality. [Poster] In: 45. International Liege Colloquium on Ocean Dynamics: The variability of primary production in the ocean: from the synoptic to the global scale. , 13.-17.05.2013, Liege, Belgium .\n\nTheses - not published by a publisher\n\nReports - Cruise Reports\n\nReports - other reports\n\n\n\nBroadgate, W. , Riebesell, U. Armstrong, C. , Brewer, P. , Denman, K. , Feely, R. , Gao, K. , Gattuso, J. P. , Isensee, K. , Kleypas, J. , Laffoley, D. , Orr, J. , P\u00f6rtner, H. O. , de Rezende, C. E. , Schmidt, D. , Urban, E. , Waite, A. and Valdes, L. and International Geosphere- Biosphere Programme (IGBP), Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC), Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) (2013) andand International Geosphere- Biosphere Programme (IGBP), Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC), Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) (2013) Ocean Acidification: Summary for Policymakers. . IGBP, Stockholm, Sweden, 22 pp.\n\n\n\nBroadgate, W. , Riebesell, U. Armstrong, C. , Brewer, P. , Denman, K. , Feely, R. , Gao, K. , Gattuso, J. P. , Isensee, K. , Kleypas, J. , Laffoley, D. , Orr, J. , P\u00f6rtner, H. O. , de Rezende, C. E. , Schmidt, D. , Urban, E. , Waite, A. and Valdes, L. and International Geosphere- Biosphere Programme (IGBP), Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC), Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) (2013) andand International Geosphere- Biosphere Programme (IGBP), Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC), Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) (2013) Ozeanversauerung: Zusammenfassung f\u00fcr Entscheidungstr\u00e4ger. . IGBP, Stockholm, Sweden, 22 pp.\n\nVideos", "output": "Ocean acidification, caused by burning fossil fuels, is increasing across the globe, with species losing their ability to adapt to the acidity due to plastic pollution and global warming, according to an eight-year study by Germany\u2019s Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification group. The research found that, as acidification occurs quickly, only species with short generation times, such as micro-organisms, are able to adapt. Acidification could also reduce the size of Atlantic cod by 75% by the end of the century, according to the study."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Urban logistics in Europe must catch up with e-commerce growth \n Major European cities will need a \u201chuge increase\u201d in urban logistics space to cope with the expected growth in e-commerce-driven parcel volumes over the next few years, according to a new report from property company Cushman & Wakefield. The Urban Logistics report, published yesterday (18 October), forecasts a 69% increase in parcel volume in Europe by 2021.\n\nAccording to Cushman & Wakefield: \u201cIn terms of population and buying power, London is the largest and most mature eCommerce market in Europe with a current urban logistics space requirement of 870,000 sq m. This total is expected to exceed 1.2 million sq m in 2021, an increase of 42%.\u201d\n\nIn the Spanish cities of Madrid and Barcelona, the report forecast that the space requirement will more than double.\n\nCommenting on the report, Lisa Graham, Head of EMEA Logistics Research & Insight, Cushman & Wakefield, said: \u201cAs more of us do our shopping online, it\u2019s vital that our large cities have the capability to handle the increase in parcel capacity across Europe. Our Urban Space Model shows that substantial growth is expected across the board. The fact that a 42% rise in the UK is the smallest increase speaks volumes for the direction the market is heading.\n\n\u201cLooking ahead, it will be crucial for online retailers and parcel companies to use urban logistics space in order to meet rising customers\u2019 expectations in terms of speed and reliability of delivery, while at the same time reducing costs in order to justify higher rents.\u201d", "output": "The continuing increase in e-commerce over the coming years will require more space to be given over to \"urban logistics\" \u2013\u00a0the facilities needed to handle goods ordered by customers for delivery. A report by commercial property company Cushman & Wakefield projects a 69% increase in the volume of parcels being delivered in Europe by 2021, with the space required to handle them doubling in cities\u00a0such as Madrid and Barcelona. London will need an increase in space of 42%, according to the projections. London is the most mature e-commerce market in Europe, the report said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook trials shift non-promoted posts away from news feed \n Facebook is testing a major change that would shift non-promoted posts out of its news feed, a move that could be catastrophic for publishers relying on the social network for their audience.\n\nA new system being trialled in six countries including Slovakia, Serbia and Sri Lanka sees almost all non-promoted posts shifted over to a secondary feed, leaving the main feed focused entirely on original content from friends, and adverts.\n\nThe change has seen users\u2019 engagement with Facebook pages drop precipitously, with publications reporting a 60% to 80% fall. If replicated more broadly, such a change would destroy many smaller publishers, as well as larger ones with an outsized reliance on social media referrals for visitors.\n\nAccording to Filip Struh\u00e1rik, a journalist at Slovakian newspaper Dennik N, the change resulted in a drop in interactions across the country\u2019s media landscape. \u201cPages are seeing dramatic drops in organic reach,\u201d Struh\u00e1rik said. \u201cThe reach of several Facebook pages fell on Thursday and Friday by two-thirds compared to previous days.\u201d\n\nOvernight, from Wednesday to Thursday, a broad cross-section of the 60 largest Facebook pages in Slovakia saw two-thirds to three-quarters of their Facebook reach disappear, according to stats from Facebook-owned analytics service CrowdTangle. For larger sites, with a number of different ways to communicate with their readers, that hasn\u2019t had a huge effect on their bottom line, but it\u2019s a different story for those with a reliance on social media.\n\nThe change does not affect paid promotions, which appear on the news feed as normal. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo\n\nSmaller sites are reporting a loss of traffic and Facebook engagement, Struh\u00e1rik told the Guardian. \u201cIts hard to say now how big it will be. Problems have also hit \u2018Buzzfeed-like\u2019 sites, which were more dependent on social traffic.\u201d\n\nStruh\u00e1rik noted that the trial has only been in place since Thursday, rendering it too soon to draw strict conclusions. \u201cBut if reach is radically smaller, interactions decreased and your site doesn\u2019t have diversity of traffic sources, it will hurt you.\u201d\n\nIn a statement, Facebook said: \u201cWith all of the possible stories in each person\u2019s feed, we always work to connect people with the posts they find most meaningful. People have told us they want an easier way to see posts from friends and family, so we are testing two separate feeds, one as a dedicated space with posts from friends and family and another as a dedicated space for posts from Pages.\u201d\n\nNotably, the change does not seem to affect paid promotions: those still appear on the news feed as normal, as do posts from people who have been followed or friended on the site. But the change does affect so called \u201cnative\u201d content, such as Facebook videos, if those are posted by a page and not shared through paid promotion.\n\nMatti Littunen, a senior research analyst at Enders Analysis, said the move was \u201cthe classic Facebook playbook: first give lots of organic reach to one content type, then they have to pay for reach, then they can only get through to anyone by paying.\u201d\n\nLittunen said that many \u201cpremium\u201d publishers had already cottoned on to the trend, and backed off relying too strongly on social media. But new media companies, who rely on social media to bring in traffic and revenue, would be wounded, perhaps fatally, by the switch. \u201cThe biggest hits will be to the likes of Buzzfeed, Huffington Post and Business Insider, who create commoditised content aiming for the biggest reach.\u201d\n\nElsewhere, publishers who dived towards video content as Facebook began promoting that may also get burned, Littunen says. \u201cThe kind of video that is doing best has been quite commoditised low-value stuff that is often lifted from elsewhere and repackaged for Facebook.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t see that bonanza going on forever, and since the content isn\u2019t what Facebook has been hoping for, it\u2019s expendable. We\u2019re expecting to see another repeat of this playbook, with organic reach being replaced by paid reach.\u201d\n\nFor Struh\u00e1rik, there is one last catch: he doesn\u2019t expect the test to be a huge success. \u201cNewsfeed without news. Just friends and sponsored content. People will find out how boring their friends are,\u201d he said.\n\nIn a second statement issued after this article was published, Facebook added: \u201cWe have no current plans to roll this out globally.\u201d", "output": "Facebook is trialling a new version of its news feed which relegates almost all non-promoted posts to a secondary feed. Paid-for advertising through promoted posts still appear on the main feed along with posts from users' friends, but other posts are hidden. The system is being trialled in six countries, including Slovakia, Serbia and Sri Lanka, and has led to some publishers seeing a fall of up to 80% in readership. Facebook says the trial is meant to allow users to see posts from friends and family more easily."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Smaller cities at greatest risk from automation: MIT \n Other researchers have attempted to measure the effect of technology on employment in cities, but the Media Lab authors, who have identified which jobs and skills tend to be more prevalent in smaller cities and larger ones, claim to be the first to explain why different U.S. cities are more susceptible (or resilient) to technological unemployment. (Though the authors did not define \u201csmall\u201d and \u201clarge\u201d in their paper, they say that cities with fewer than 100,000 inhabitants will experience more disruption.)\n\nThey say that bigger cities have a disproportionately large number of jobs for people who do cognitive and analytical tasks, such as software developers and financial analysts\u2014occupations that are less likely to be disrupted by automation. Smaller cities have a disproportionate amount of routine clerical work, such as cashier and food service jobs, which are more susceptible.\n\nThis interactive map shows how automation is expected to affect jobs in individual U.S. cities.\n\nThe five U.S. metropolitan areas that are expected to experience the least job impact from automation are San Jose, Sunnyvale, and Santa Clara, California; Washington, D.C., and Arlington and Alexandria, Virginia; Trenton, New Jersey; Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Durham and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. All of those regions have large populations and high proportions of skilled technical and managerial occupations, particularly technology jobs. The metro areas deemed most at risk (among them Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Elkhart County, Indiana; and Punta Gorda, Florida) rely on industries, such as agriculture and tourism, that have already been disrupted by technology and will probably continue to be.\n\n\u201cBig cities provide greater opportunities for synergies among creative, highly technical people, and that\u2019s why they attract them,\u201d explains Iyad Rahwan, an associate professor at MIT and the corresponding author of the paper. \u201cThe other dynamic is that cashiers and waiters are less idle in big cities than small cities, so large cities need fewer of them in proportion to their size.\u201d As a result, he says, large cities have fewer routinized occupations that are more likely to be automated and relatively more technical and managerial occupations, which are less likely to be impacted by automation.\n\nThere are, of course, outliers. Warner Robins, Georgia; Ithaca, New York; and Corvallis, Oregon, have fewer than 75,000 inhabitants each, but all rank in the top 15 metropolitan areas in terms of lowest expected automation impact. Morgan Frank, an MIT researcher who co-wrote the Media Lab report, says these cities are surprisingly resilient to the costs of automation because they house (or are located very close to) major institutions that employ skilled workers, such as an Air Force base, Cornell University, and an HP research lab.\n\nThe study is likely to draw comparisons to other recent high-profile economic analyses of automation and jobs. A 2013 University of Oxford paper estimated the susceptibility to \u201ccomputerization\u201d of more than 700 occupation types and forecast that 47 percent of U.S. employment was at \u201chigh risk\u201d of automation, and a 2017 MIT paper gauged how much use of industrial robots reduced manufacturing employment and wages across U.S. \u201ccommuting zones\u201d between 1990 and 2007.\n\nThe Media Lab study differs in making relative comparisons rather than absolute predictions. Rahwan says the approach reflects the interdisciplinary nature of the Media Lab, which aims to meld research in the media, arts, and sciences. Though the study uses the same occupation-level predictions as the Oxford paper (as well as another set of predictions from a 2016 OECD analysis), it offers an \u201cexpected job impact\u201d percentage for 380 cities rather than calculating an overall technological unemployment number for the entire U.S. (\u201cJob impact,\u201d says Frank, could refer to workers having to seek new employment or to the costly retraining of workers.) The Media Lab study also attempts a broader analysis of automation than the other MIT paper, which was written by two economics professors.\n\n\u201cFor us, the question is: How can we anticipate future changes, not just related to robotics but also machine learning, algorithms, chatbots, and voice recognition, which are going to disrupt people who are in white-collar occupations as well [as in blue-collar jobs]?\u201d says Rahwan.", "output": "The rise of automation in the US will have a greater effect on cities of less than 100,000 people than on larger ones, according to new research. The study, from the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), found that smaller cities have a greater proportion of workers in routine service roles, which are likely to be more vulnerable to automation. Larger cities, by contrast, were found to have a bigger proportion of workers in cognitive and analytical roles, which are expected to be more resilient.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Understanding how animals digest bamboo boosts biofuel production \n In Canada, scientists in Ottawa with Agriculture Canada are looking at how pandas digest bamboo to better understand the fungi and microbes that help them digest the branches and twigs. This builds on another recent study about how beavers digest trees and how the enzymes in their gut help break down the material to get nutrients. The hope is that the digestion and microbiomes of beavers and pandas can help researchers apply that knowledge to ruminant digestion and help with biofuel production from plant cellulose.\n\nWen Chen told Western Producer, \u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing in the lab is really exciting. Imagine the possibilities that exist in reducing our reliance on petrochemicals by improving the way we make biofuel.\u201d", "output": "Scientists at Agriculture Canada are studying the digestive habits of beavers and pandas, in an attempt to learn more about how the animals break down bamboo. It is hoped that the results will be applicable to the improvement of biofuel research. The team wants to know how enzymes in the creatures' gut work to dissolve plant material, and whether the process can be applied to ruminant digestion to\u00a0help produce biofuels from plant cellulose.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Keyless tech investment on the rise \n Silicon Valley may be the techiest place on earth, but even here, the way people open the front door hasn\u2019t changed much in a century. Most of us still get in by turning a flat metal key in a lock. Visitors ring doorbells, and we peep at them through peepholes. If we\u2019re out, keyless guests are out of luck.\n\nIf investors have their way, that status quo will look quite primitive in a few years. So far this year, venture investors have poured more than $200 million into an assortment of companies with businesses and technologies tied to keys, locks and building access. To date, those companies have more than $500 million, according to an analysis of Crunchbase funding data.\n\nSeveral startups have business models tied to traditional keys, including offering tools to more easily copy and keep track of them. Most of the funding, however, has gone to companies offering digital alternatives to metal keys, including systems that tie in smartphone apps to monitor and control who gets through the door.\n\n\u201cLocks are anachronistic and inconvenient in today\u2019s digital age,\u201d Jason Johnson, CEO of August Home, a developer of smartphone-enabled keyless entry systems, told Crunchbase News. \u201cPeople shouldn\u2019t have to carry their keys with them all the time when they are only used one to two times a day.\u201d\n\nMoreover, Johnson says, virtual keys give users more control. They get more information about who accesses their home and when. Users can also revoke virtual keys instantly, eliminating some of the worries that come with sharing physical keys.\n\nWhy now for keyless entry?\n\nTiming of investments seems tied to projections for consumer adoption more than major technological breakthroughs. Card access systems for buildings and keyless entry for cars, after all, have been around for decades. Smartphone apps for security monitoring are also nothing new. While funded startups are developing proprietary technologies, market timing is motivating backers to put money into scaling operations now.\n\nThe biggest round this year went to Ring, a developer of connected doorbells and security systems that closed a $109 million Series D financing in January. August closed a $25 million funding round in July, and KeyMe, which lets people make copies of physical keys using a digital image, closed on $25 million in September. (See a full list of funded startups here.)\n\nPitches about the virtues of virtual keys hold particular appeal in the e-commerce age. Deliveries become much more convenient when one doesn\u2019t have to wait at home to open the door or worry about leaving stuff outside. The ability to allow limited or one-time access, along with an electronic record of entry, also offers some measure of security.\n\nThe growth forecasts look enticing. To a large degree, lock and building access-related investments are an extension of the connected home space, with startups and tech giants alike eyeing everything from doors to appliances to thermostats to sprinkler systems. Forrester Research projects that U.S. adoption of smart home devices will grow at a 42 percent compound annual growth rate over the next five years.\n\nGrowing adoption of connected home systems provides a key entry point for key and door tech. As Amazon and Google compete to sell more Alexa and Google Home devices, they\u2019re partnering with a host of companies developing compatible devices. Buyers of connected home systems are also looking for ways to get value from their purchases, and the front door is an obvious place to look.\n\nTraditional meets technical\n\nIt\u2019s not clear whether startups will dominate in key and home access innovation. Old-school lock makers, security system providers and tech giants are all competing for market share.\n\nTraditional lock makers, in particular, are investing to keep up with the times. Schlage, a lock maker founded in 1920, has been developing add-ons for locks and smart deadbolts that offer compatibility with Apple, Android and Amazon Alexa. Yale Locks, with a history dating back to the 1840s, also sells smart door locks and alarms and a digital door viewer.\n\nGoogle\u2019s also planning a big play for the front door. Its Nest smart thermostat subsidiary plans to roll out a video doorbell called the Nest Hello early next year. Amazon has also been exploring smart doorbells to provide controlled access for deliveries.\n\nStartups, however, may derive some strategic benefit from having no legacy product lines to sustain or proprietary platforms they\u2019re obligated to support. Moreover, smart lock systems don\u2019t necessarily require giving up traditional keys.\n\n\u201cThe best digital solutions have analog fallbacks,\u201d says August\u2019s Johnson, who says his system is designed as an addition to existing locks, not a replacement.\n\nSo maybe we won\u2019t be throwing away the keys just yet. But we will have the option of using them a lot less.", "output": "More than $200m has been invested this year in Silicon Valley start-ups and technologies relating to locks, keys and building accesses. Some companies are offering tools for copying and tracking traditional keys, though most of the funding has gone towards\u00a0digital alternatives, such as smartphone apps that control keyless entry systems.\u00a0\u201cLocks are anachronistic and inconvenient in today\u2019s digital age\u201d, said August Home CEO\u00a0Jason Johnson."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Countrywide to launch online mortgage broker Mojo Mortgages \n Countrywide is launching an online mortgage broker called Mojo Mortgages early in 2018.\n\nThe property services group, which includes the largest mortgage broker in the UK, has partnered with venture capital investor Blenheim Chalcot to build the business.\n\nThe launch of Mojo Mortgages will extend Countrywide\u2019s mortgage channels to include online offerings. Countrywide said it would continue to invest in its face-to-face, telephone and online offerings.\n\nAs part of the launch it is also producing a set of digital tools for advisers.\n\nCountrywide managing director for financial services Peter Curran said the business was pleased to be forming the joint venture with Blenheim Chalcot.\n\n\u201cThis year already we have strengthened our telephony mortgage sales channel and invested in technology to support our mortgage advisers,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cWe plan to continue to grow all three channels as we offer a truly multi-channel proposition. This includes increasing our adviser force in the field, further strengthening our telephony team in Camberley and now, through our partnership with Blenheim Chalcot, we\u2019re able to offer digital tools to our advisers and launch a consumer-facing online mortgage proposition to further enhance the choice we give our customers.\u201d\n\nBlenheim Chalcot managing partner for fintech Dan Cobley added that Countrywide had unprecedented understanding of the mortgage industry.\n\n\u201cCombining that with our 20 years\u2019 experience of building digital platforms and businesses is a winning formula. Together we will build the best possible customer journey through any channel,\u201d he said.\n\nIn 2016, Countrywide exchanged on over 60,000 homes, representing \u00a319bn worth of property, while it\u2019s broker arm completed more than \u00a315bn of mortgages. The company also manages more than 90,000 properties.\n\nBlenheim Chalcot was founded in 1998 and specialises in building digital businesses. It has portfolio sales of more than \u00a3300m with more than 3,000 employees.", "output": "Countrywide is to launch\u00a0an\u00a0online mortgage broker service Mojo Mortgages early next year. The UK property services group is developing the service with venture capitalist firm Blenheim Chalcot, which\u00a0will include digital tools for advisers. Countrywide also plans to increase the number of advisers in the field and strengthen its telephone team in a bid to offer a multichannel service.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Home monitoring device recognises home's inhabitants using AI \n This is how Cherry Home identifies people. Cherry Labs\n\nStartup security company Cherry Labs wants its system of cameras with built-in sensors to be the eyes and ears of your smart home . The system, called Cherry Home, uses a separate processor and advanced AI to not only see what's going on, but map the room it's in, recognize the people in the room, tell you what they're doing, and notify you if something goes wrong.\n\nCherry Labs and Cherry Home officially launch today. The company will ship out its first 100 Cherry Home units in February. Those customers will still technically be beta-testing the product. The next 1,000 units will roll out in May.\n\nWe've seen cams with some level of AI before. The Netatmo Welcome and the Nest Cam IQ recognize faces. An upcoming cam called Lighthouse can even distinguish actions and notify you if someone is running.\n\nThe cam/sensor of the Cherry Home system. Cherry Labs\n\nThe ambitious Cherry Home smart home system promises capabilities well beyond what any of its competitors can do. That's because Cherry Home won't just use facial recognition to tell who's who. The cam also learns the length of your arms and legs, the clothes you wear, the sound of your voice, the color of your skin and hair, and even the way you walk.\n\nCherry Home triangulates its position in the room through a variety of sensors and creates a diagram of the space you can see on the app. Thanks to all of the info it tracks, the Cherry Home knows who's in the room, where that person is within the room, and what they're doing.\n\nHow Cherry Home maps a room. Cherry Labs\n\nAt launch, Cherry Labs promises that its system will send an alert when a person falls down. The system will also know if someone is screaming, crying or just laughing. Cherry Labs service will include professional monitoring, so if the system senses something wrong, it can call emergency services.\n\nIn the future, Cherry Labs wants to offer even more advanced smarts. For example, you could tie it into your smart home so it could automatically turn on your reading light when you open a book. And the coolest innovation is still a work in progress for the team but could be a significant step forward for the actual smarts of the smart home -- Cherry Labs is working with pharmaceutical companies to understand the body language of a person when they're about to have a stroke. The company isn't promising this feature any time soon, but at some point, this smart home cam could recognize when you're in the early stages of a stroke and call 911.\n\nHow is all of this possible?\n\nTo make all of this happen, Cherry Home's cams pack in a bunch of sensors: It has a binocular camera with a 165-degree field of view and an infrared sensor for night vision. Each cam also includes a motion sensor, an accelerometer, a compass and an altimeter so it knows how high it is off the ground and which way it's facing.\n\nThe cams send all of the data they collect to a central processor with the computing power of a high-end PC, according to Cherry Labs. That processor will save and analyze all data locally to increase turnaround time on its responsiveness and for added privacy . The cams and processor talk to each other using a mesh Wi-Fi network. The processor only talks to the cloud when it needs to send you an alert or if you're using an app to watch a live feed from a room.\n\nYou'll be able to customize alerts and when you want Cherry Labs to save clips. You'll get a daily summary of the activities it spotted and who it saw. And the processor has a backup battery should the power fail.\n\nThe cams are battery powered by coin batteries that last about three months. Fortunately, the processor can recharge those batteries, and houses two extra, so you can swap in those once a quarter.\n\nWill this actually work?\n\nBecause Cherry Labs is promising smarts well beyond what's currently available, I'm skeptical that Cherry Home will ever be a reliable consumer product you can pick up at your local electronics store. Even the more limited facial recognition in cams like the Netatmo Welcome is hit-or-miss.\n\nWhat you'll see in the app. Cherry Labs\n\nAnd as you might have expected, the Cherry Home's price will be prohibitive for curious smart-home shoppers. A starter pack of two sensors and a processor will be $900. A pack with four sensors will cost $1,200. An eight-pack kit is $1,400. (Cherry Home will ship overseas. The US prices convert to approximately \u00a3680/AU$1,150 for a two-pack, \u00a3900/AU$1,500 for four, and \u00a31,000/AU$1,800 for eight.)\n\nFor comparison, a Nest Cam IQ can work on its own without a processor and costs $300. Cherry Labs will also charge $14 per month per sensor for its insights and monitoring (\u00a310/AU$18), or $10 per month per sensor if you sign up for a full year (\u00a38/AU$13). You can still use the cams as cams without this subscription, but you lose almost all of the AI advantages. Nest's AI service, called Nest Aware, starts at $10 per month, but doesn't include monitoring.\n\nI also have privacy concerns about Cherry Home. The cams don't have a physical shutter, so you can't manually keep it from keeping an eye on you short of killing its power.\n\nBut Cherry Home's promised features sound possible given all of its sensors and the computing power of a high-end PC. It might also be more reliable than the facial recognition we've seen simply because it's not just relying solely on facial recognition.\n\nPlus, the company is being upfront about what it'll be able to do from the start and what it's hoping for in the future.\n\nObviously, Cherry Home isn't for you if you're looking for an affordable and simple upgrade to your home's security. If you want to preorder Cherry Home, get ready to live on the cutting edge, for better and for worse. That said, I'm fascinated by Cherry Labs' ambitious goals. If the company can pull off all of its lofty promises, the AI of Cherry Home could act as the brain of a more proactive smart home.", "output": "US start-up Cherry Lab has developed a home monitoring device, called Cherry Home, that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to keep tabs on a property's inhabitants. The\u00a0system is capable of mapping\u00a0a room, recognising\u00a0the people in it, determining\u00a0what they are doing and telling the owner if anything\u00a0happens. The first 100 units will be shipped in February, with another 1,000 units released in May. A starter pack of two sensors and a processor will cost $900.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google denies planning to offer publishers revenue-sharing deal \n Google has strenuously denied reports that it has been angling to soften up publishers into accepting some form of revenue split, in exchange for using its muscle to attract potential new subscribers, following a spate of weekend reports.\n\nGoogle denies floating revenue split model with publishers in exchange for subscriber aid\n\nThe Financial Times had suggested that several media organisations had been approached by the internet firm with the offer of a subscriptions lifeline in exchange for a share of the spoils but Google itself has described the speculation as \u2018totally wrong\u2019.", "output": "Google has strongly denied claims that it will offer new publishers subscription deals in return for a share of their revenue. The social media giant is thought to have been exploring ways of using its data algorithms to help publishers customise their online subscription offers\u00a0as print readerships decline. But Google said speculation that it had already approached several media organisations with such offers\u00a0was \"totally wrong\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian AI firm Flamingo raises $3.8m for virtual assistants  \n Two artificial virtual assistants called Rosie and Maggie are set to become more ubiquitous after artificial intelligence start-up Flamingo raised $5.1 million last month to fund their rollout.\n\nChief executive Catriona Wallace, who founded Flamingo in 2014, says she is \"super pleased\" with the raise after it was opened and closed within 12 minutes with $10 million bid on the book.\n\nCatriona Wallace says the successful capital raise is an endorsement of artificial intelligence. Credit: Ben Rushton\n\n\"We were well oversubscribed,\" she says. \"It was one of the fastest capital raises that [lead investment partner] Bell Potter had ever conducted, which I believe is testament to Australia's growing interest in artificial intelligence and machine learning.\"\n\nMore than chatbots", "output": "Sydney-based artificial intelligence (AI) start-up Flamingo has raised AUD5m ($3.8m) in less than 15 minutes in an oversubscribed funding round, according to CEO Catriona Wallace. The funding will enable the rollout of Flamingo's flagship products, virtual sales and inquiry assistants Rosie and Maggie, aimed initially at the \"highly commoditised\" insurance sector.\u00a0Wallace said Flamingo was \"a good year ahead\" of rivals Microsoft and Watson, and added the company was working on \"five big client go-lives across Australia and the US\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UAE appoints 'minister for AI' in global first \n After appointing a Happiness Minister for the state, in another global first, UAE has now named a State Minister for Artificial Intelligence (AI). The decision was announced post the reshuffling of the UAE cabinet indicating that the country is focusing on the new era of future skills, future sciences and future technology.\n\n27 years old Omar Bin Sultan Al Olama has been appointed the Minister of State for Artificial intelligence, who had earlier lead the UAE Artificial Intelligence Strategy. This development comes following the UAE\u2019s announcement of its UAE 2031 AI strategy, which aims to make the government more efficient and streamlined by relying on AI technologies.\n\n\u201cWe want the UAE to become the world\u2019s most prepared country for artificial intelligence,\u201d His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said on his Twitter account.\n\nMr Al Olama has been on the Executive Committee of the World Government Summit since 2014. He has a BBA from the American University of Dubai, and a diploma of excellence and project management from the American University in Sharjah.", "output": "Omar Bin Sultan Al Olama has been named as the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) first-ever minister of state for artificial intelligence (AI) following a cabinet reshuffle. Al Olama, 27, formerly led the UAE AI strategy, which seeks to streamline the government and increase efficiency using AI.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Netherlands comes up with novel uses for empty prisons \n A decline in the prison population of the Netherlands, coupled with one of the lowest incarceration rates in Europe \u2013 almost half that of the UK \u2013 has led to the importing of foreign prisoners and some surprising uses for empty Dutch jails.\n\nHere are some of the wackiest ways in which unwanted prisons are being repurposed.\n\nA School\n\nParents enrolling their children at the \u20ac14k+ a year British School of Amsterdam can be sure that their offspring will be taught in secure surroundings, although the word \u2018detention\u2019 is likely to bring back murky memories. The school\u2019s new building is a former prison and is due to reopen its once heavily-bolted doors in 2020.\n\nThe Havenstraat campus, in Amsterdam\u2019s expat heartland to the south of the city, is one of several new schools being built to address a shortage of international education for an expanding international workforce. In a statement on its Union-Jack-emblazoned website, principal Paul Morgan promises that the 13,500 m2 former jail with its 1,200 pupil capacity, will still have a \u201csmall-school, family feel\u201d.\n\nA Hammam\n\nThe Bijlmerbajes penitentiary is still a good place to get clean, even though the inmates have all been moved on. A total of 15 cells within the vast jail have been converted to a Hammam complex, providing facilities to steam, enjoy a full-body scrub, bathe and get a massage.\n\nImage: Bijlmer Hammam.\n\nIt is the country\u2019s first Syrian hammam and provides work opportunities for refugees from the asylum centre which occupies a neighbouring wing. The graffiti from the previous occupants remains as a reminder of bitter times past.\n\nGuests can complete the luxury experience \u2013 and support other refugee workers \u2013 by dining in the prison\u2019s new pop-up restaurant A Beautiful Mess or overnighting in the newly-opened Movement Hotel (see above for a pic). You might be sleeping in a converted cell, but you do have custody of the keys to your room.\n\nA Children\u2019s Party\n\nThe kids at the parties held at Leeuwarden\u2019s Blokhuispoort prison in the north of the Netherlands are unlikely to be running wild. Caronen Entertainment lock up the little mischief-makers as part of their jolly prison-themed birthday celebrations. Children get a tour of the building and make their own robber\u2019s mask in one of the cells. The medieval prison, which closed in 2007, has been extensively renovated and remodelled over the years, but the gothic spires and moated entrance remain a formidable sight.\n\nAn Escape Room\n\nWannabe criminals can don a boiler suit and step into their own adrenalin-filled prison drama with Prison Escape\u2019s interactive escape room concept. Set in Breda\u2019s dramatic Boschpoort prison, with its epic turrets and dome, the aim of the game is to escape and players have just three hours to work out how. The challenge begins in your cell with an unknown cellmate and ends, if you are successful, with freedom.\n\nImage: Prison Escape.\n\nAt almost \u00a360 a ticket, Prison Escape is not cheap, but then how many escape rooms involve an authentic setting, a cast of 80 actors, and up to 400 participant inmates?\n\nA Restaurant\n\nThe chefs at the De Lik restaurant in Utrecht\u2019s Wolvenplein prison won\u2019t be doing porridge these days; instead diners can now expect a five-course meal.\n\nOpened in March 2017, the restaurant prioritises organic, native ingredients and offers a surprise menu based on what\u2019s seasonal and fresh.\n\nImage: Restaurant De Lik.\n\nThe long waiting list is a testament to the success of this unusual dining experience, which is available just three times a month and likely to be short-lived as the council has plans to sell the building.\n\nThe tables butt up against cell doors in the long prison corridor and the galleried floor overhead creates an unsettling view, as if \u2013 at any minute \u2013 a group of detainees might emerge from the cells above. Speaking to news platform GreaterVenues.com in March, operational manager Freek van Kooten said the caterers hoped to create \u201ca casual, laid-back atmosphere\u201d with the new restaurant.\n\nAn Asylum Centre\n\nFor refugees new to the Netherlands, the long wait for your residency permit can feel a lot like serving time, and all the more so if you are being temporarily housed in a former jail.\n\nFacilities to accommodate newcomers have been improvised from several of the country\u2019s disused prisons, creating \u2013 In the best cases \u2013 pop-up communities offering language support, apprenticeships and even \u2013 at the Lola Lik in Amsterdam \u2013 a refugee radio station.\n\nResidents who violate the centre\u2019s rules or intimidate members of the community, risk being moved to yet another ex-jail, the Amsterbaken, in Amsterdam, a former juvenile detention centre for 14-23 year-olds.\n\nLike the experimental prison which preceded it, the centre for troublesome asylum-seekers has a strict regime but allows residents to come and go.\n\nHousing traumatised migrants in prisons has provoked debate in the Netherlands, and the Amsterbaken initiative, in particular, has come under attack from some refugee organisations. Speaking in the Volkskrant earlier this year, Vluchtelingen Werk Nederland argued that it was not a case of simply \u201cweeding out a few rotten apples\u201d but instead improving the poor living conditions in these makeshift centres, which, they say, create a breeding ground for violence.\n\nWhat Next?\n\nAs crime rates continue to drop in the Netherlands, the conversion of jails is likely to continue. The new uses are creative, clever and often controversial. But perhaps most innovative of all is the Netherlands\u2019 progressive approach to law and order, which has made so many prisons defunct.\n\nWith the long-term trend showing a steep increase in incarceration in the UK, further investigation into the Dutch model and alternative strategies for both the prevention and treatment of crime seem the sensible way forward. Besides, Wormwood Scrubs is a great name for a hammam.\n\nDeborah Nicholls-Lee is a British journalist based in the Netherlands. She tweets at @DebNichollsLee.", "output": "The Netherlands is putting its many empty prisons to good use by offering them as business premises. As a result, the Bijlmerbajes penitentiary has been transformed into the country's first Syrian hammam, offering work for locally based asylum seekers, the Leeuwarden\u2019s Blokhuispoort in the north of the country runs prison-themed children's parties, while the De Lik restaurant in Utrecht\u2019s Wolvenplein prison is a hit with diners, despite council plans to sell the venue. However, the schemes have been criticised for using former jails to house vulnerable migrants, although one, the Lola Lik in Amsterdam, offers a\u00a0refugee radio station.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Data indicates\u00a0China has room to cool off real estate sector \n A porter walks on a bridge in Chongqing, China with new residential buildings in the background.\n\nChina's escalating property prices have long been a concern for Beijing as it balances growth targets with social stability. Now, economic signals are giving the go-ahead to authorities for sustained efforts to cool off the real estate market.\n\nOn Monday, China's National Bureau of Statistics reported average new home prices in the country's 70 major cities rose 0.2 percent in September, Reuters calculations show. That comes after the last two years saw substantial increases.\n\nCompared with the year-ago period, new home prices rose 6.3 percent in September, cooling from an 8.3 percent increase in August, Reuters calculations show.\n\nThis tapering off in price increases came after a series of government measures in the last year to cool the red-hot property market amid fears of an asset bubble.\n\nLast Wednesday, President Xi Jinping signaled that the state is likely to continue managing the property market. At the opening of a once-every-five-years leadership confab, Xi said \"housing is for living in, not for speculation.\"\n\nFor their part, Chinese authorities will now have room to let the property market relax after good growth data in the last week, said Phillip Zhong, senior analyst at research firm, Morningstar.\n\nOn Thursday, China reported third-quarter growth data at 6.8 percent that met expectations.\n\nThe \"strong GDP number will give policymakers the room as well as confidence to continue the tightening policy without the fear of a slowing property sector dragging down the entire economy,\" Zhong told CNBC.\n\nReal estate contributed 6.5 percent to overall GDP in China in 2016, state-owned China Daily reported in January, citing the country's National Bureau of Statistics.\n\nLast week's third-quarter data revealed China's property sector grew 3.9 percent against the year-ago period \u2014 down from a 6.2 percent on-year increase for the second quarter. Meanwhile, year-over-year growth in construction activity slowed to 4 percent in the third quarter from 5.4 percent in the second quarter.\n\nThe services sector, however, expanded 8 percent year-over-year in the third quarter compared to a 7.6 percent year-over-year second quarter rise \u2014 picking up some of the economic slack from the real estate market.", "output": "Economic data suggests China's\u00a0authorities have the legroom to continue efforts\u00a0to\u00a0curb escalating property prices. With Q3 2017 economic expansion coming in at an expected 6.8%\u00a0and\u00a0China's National Bureau of Statistics reporting that property-price\u00a0growth tapered to 0.2% in September, authorities can\u00a0allow the\u00a0property market to relax a little, said analyst\u00a0Phillip Zhong at research firm Morningstar. The figures\u00a0give\u00a0officials the \"confidence to continue the tightening policy without the fear of a slowing property sector dragging down the entire economy\", Zhong said. China's\u00a0property market contributed 6.5% to\u00a0overall GDP last year, according to state-owned China Daily.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Levi's to implement AI tech on website \n Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of retail\u2019s hottest topics. Businesses of all shapes and sizes are experimenting with the potentially transformative powers of AI. Earlier this month, outgoing Shop Direct CEO Alex Baldock warned that ready or not, AI will shake-up every retail business in the UK. Fellow etailer Net-a-Porter, which leads the charge on AI, also recently unveiled new tech that can select products for consumers based on their future plans.\n\nBut how are heritage brands making sure they are staying ahead? Drapers talks to Levi\u2019s vice-president of ecommerce for Europe Claudia Roggenkamp about the denim brand\u2019s technology strategy and how its Virtual Stylist service, which launched on Levi.com and Facebook Messenger at the end of August, is improving the customer journey.\n\nClaudia Roggenkamp\n\nTalk us through Levi\u2019s Virtual Stylist and how it works\n\nTrying jeans on and how they fit is often the most personal part of a customer\u2019s journey. We wanted to take the network of stylists we have in store into the online world. The virtual stylist can be accessed through our website if customers are on their laptops, or through Facebook Messenger if they are on mobile. It is a structured artificial intelligence-empowered bot, which can also recognise natural language.\n\nWe ask a set of questions around how customers like their jeans, such as fit, style, and wash. There\u2019s also a \u201csee it styled\u201d option. Customers can see user-generated content on how other customers have styled the same item. It is designed to speak to customers in a very natural, easy way, as if they were shopping with a friend. It went live in the UK and the Netherlands in September and we\u2019re looking at which other markets it could work in.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWhat challenges did Levi\u2019s face when creating the Virtual Stylist?\n\nThis is a very different way of working \u2013 it is more like working in a start-up than the way big companies normally approach things. The tech is new, the partners you\u2019re working with are often young and there was a focus on speed, so there were some barriers. The truth is a lot of these tech partners aren\u2019t funded to survive the next five years and don\u2019t have much experience, so you\u2019ve got to make brave decisions. We had to do a lot of screening in the market to see who we could potentially partner with and spend time with the guys to see how they worked. (The chatbot is powered by Mode.ai and personalised fit data is from True Fit.)\n\nHow will you develop the technology further?\n\nLevi\u2019s \u201cvirtual stylist\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s very early days, so we\u2019re still collecting data on how people interact with the stylist, where customers drop out of the process and how we can optimise it further. I\u2019m not sure if the \u201csee it styled\u201d feature is prominent enough, but we have to see if and how people interact with. What we have seen so far is that consumers using the stylist are more likely to convert.\n\nWhat impact do you see artificial intelligence having on the retail industry?\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIt is going to be massive for everybody and lots of people are talking about it, but we still don\u2019t really know which areas AI will impact the most. That\u2019s why our approach was to build something fast, rather than something perfect. We got the budget in April and in September it was live, which is pretty quick for a company our size. For us, that was the right thing to do because we wanted to get something out there in front of consumers quickly. That\u2019s how you learn.", "output": "Denim brand Levi's has become the latest retailer to embrace artificial intelligence with the UK and Netherlands launch of its Virtual Stylist service. The chatbot interacts with online shoppers, asking questions about their preferred fit and wash, and offers user-generated images of how previous customers styled the clothing. VP of e-commerce for Europe Claudia Roggenkamp admitted the technology behind the Virtual Stylist was built for speed rather than perfection, but said early results indicated customers using the feature were \"more likely to convert\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's online education boosted by growth in usage and investment \n Yang Zixuan, 8, a student at Beijing No 2 Experimental Primary School learns English through VIPKID online courses. [Photo provided to China Daily]\n\nChina's online education sector has been eyed by the capital market as emerging and promising, Securities Times reported Monday, citing multiple industry sources.\n\nAn unidentified analyst with a Shanghai broker said since 2014, online education companies have been \"hot cakes\", valuations of which were pushed higher by investors who just wanted to grab a slice of this sector, but in 2016, investors turned more cautious.\n\nHowever, investors have turned their eyes back to this sector quickly as companies with good performance have surfaced and this sector's profitability model is becoming more clear, said this analyst, adding that investors' enthusiasm have again been ignited as several online education companies even got listed on stock exchanges and those already listed posted remarkable growth.\n\nChina's after-school English lessons provider RISE Education Cayman Ltd made its debut on the Nasdaq Stock Market on Friday.\n\nRISE Education priced its initial public offering of 11 million American depositary shares (ADSs) at $14.50 per ADS, above the range of $12 to $14 given by the company, for a total offering size of about $160 million. Each ADS represents two ordinary shares. The company started trading at $16.00 per share on Friday, jumping 10.3 percent from its pricing.\n\nIn August, online children English education startup VIPKID announced that in its D round of financing it has raised $200 million from investors including Sequoia Capital and Tencent Holding.\n\nFounded in 2013 and incubated by Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, VIPKID focuses on teaching English through one-on-one video courses, connecting language teachers from North America with Chinese children aged between 4 and 12.\n\nChen Zongzhen, an executive with Shenzhen-based RC Investments, attributed online education sector's boom to mature infrastructure, income increase in households, high importance that the Chinese attach to education and various technological means such as AR/VR which online education could resort to.\n\nThe number of online education receivers reached 144 million in China by the end of June, an increase of 6.62 million, compared with the end of 2016, according to China Internet Network Information Center's data cited by the Securities Times.\n\nOnline audience research company iResearch predicted that online education sector will maintain a 20 percent compound annual growth rate between 2017 and 2019, by when, the market size might be close to 270 billion yuan, up from 150 million yuan in 2016, Securities Times reported.", "output": "Investors are flocking to back China's online education companies, attracted by the sector's mature infrastructure and strong growth in firms such as RISE Education Cayman and VIPKID. China had 144 million users of online learning solutions at the end of June 2017, a rise of 6.62 million on the year-end 2016 figure. Insiders cited the importance placed on education in China, along with increasingly wealthy households and the rise of augmented and virtual reality technologies, as drivers of the industry's success.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurtech Wrisk launches equity crowdfunding campaign \n Insurtech start-up, Wrisk is on the warpath against the usual customer pain-points the insurance industry fails to address. The start-up plans to shake up the industry with a smartphone app, which will bring buying, maintaining and claiming on different types of insurance into the digital age. After closing a \u201csuper-seed\u201d funding round of \u00a33,000,000 earlier this year, Wrisk has launched a \u00a3500,000 equity crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs today.\n\nWrisk will offer all types of insurance, from motor to travel, home to health on its mobile app. The team calls the approach of covering multiple types of insurance in a single plan \u201cmacroinsurance\u201d, something that should start to catch on as customer demand for simpler, streamlined policies increases.\n\nAccording to co-founders Niall Barton and Darius Kumana, the concept of insurance, \u201cthe idea of sharing the loss of one against many\u201d is great in theory but poorly executed. \u201cWe believe that consumers deserve better, so we\u2019re giving insurance a much-needed digital upgrade,\u201d they said. \u201cWrisk will truly transform the user\u2019s experience of buying, updating and claiming on their insurance. And while it\u2019s no easy task, we\u2019re delighted that household names such as Munich Re, Hiscox and BMW are willing to lend their support and help us realise our vision. We are also extremely excited to offer our future customers the opportunity to own shares in Wrisk through Seedrs, and to play a part in shaping our ambitious future.\u201d\n\nThe team is made up of 12 technology and insurance experts who have worked with actuaries and data scientists to develop a unique \u2018Wrisk Score\u2019, a similar concept to that of a credit score for personal risk. The idea is to allow customers to really understand the risks they face and how these risks can be reduced to bring premiums down.\n\nAs well as targeting consumers who already buy insurance, Wrisk is also eyeing an untapped market; those who avoid buying insurance in the first place because the process is so painful. This includes 61 per cent of UK renters who don\u2019t have contents insurance and 31 per cent of millennials who have never bought travel cover.\n\nWrisk\u2019s previous funding round was led by VC Oxford Capital, and supported by investment from angels and insurers including QIC and Hiscox. The business has partnered with the likes of Munich Re, Hiscox and QIC, and last year, Wrisk was selected to join the 2016 BMW Innovation Lab \u2013 the first ever fintech business incubator in the automotive sector.\n\nThe app will launch in Q1 2018, starting with contents insurance, followed by motor later in the year.", "output": "Insurtech Wrisk is looking to raise \u00a3500,000 ($659,000) via an equity crowdfunding Seedr campaign after collecting \u00a33m\u00a0in a funding round earlier this year. The insurtech firm aims to launch in Q1 2018. It will provide\u00a0potential\u00a0clients with a so-called Wrisk Score that\u00a0allows them\u00a0to see the level of risks they are exposed\u00a0to and pick insurance coverage accordingly.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "London\u2019s anti-pollution T-charge comes into force \n Drivers of the most polluting vehicles must from now on pay a daily charge of up to \u00a321.50 to drive in to central London.\n\nFrom Monday, people driving older, more polluting petrol and diesel vehicles will be liable for the \u00a310 T-charge, on top of the congestion charge of \u00a311.50, which has been in place since 2003.\n\nThe charge has been introduced in an effort to improve air quality in the capital, where legal pollution limits are regularly exceeded. The mayor, Sadiq Khan, said he wanted to prepare Londoners for the ultra-low emission zone being introduced in April 2019.\n\n\u201cAs mayor, I am determined to take urgent action to help clean up London\u2019s lethal air. The shameful scale of the public health crisis London faces, with thousands of premature deaths caused by air pollution, must be addressed,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cToday marks a major milestone in this journey with the introduction of the T-charge to encourage motorists to ditch polluting, harmful vehicles.\n\n\u201cLondon now has the world\u2019s toughest emissions standard with older, more polluting vehicles paying up to \u00a321.50 a day to drive in the centre of the city. This is the time to stand up and join the battle to clear the toxic air we are forced to breathe.\u201d\n\nThe charge came into effect at 7am on Monday. It is applicable to pre-Euro 4 vehicles in the zone, which covers all of central London to the south of King\u2019s Cross station, to the east of Hyde Park, west of the Tower of London and north of Elephant and Castle.\n\nPre-Euro 4 vehicles are typically those registered before 2006, but Transport for London suggests that anyone who has a vehicle registered before 2008 checks if it is liable for the charge. The total daily levy can be reduced by \u00a31 if drivers register to pay the congestion charge automatically. People living within the zone and driving cars covered by the new charge are eligible to pay as little as \u00a311.05 a day in total for the two.\n\nSpeaking to Sky News on Monday morning, Khan said the T-charge would cost about \u00a37m a year, which he said was a \u201cprice worth paying\u201d. He added that the ultra-low emission zone, once introduced, would make money that would then be ring-fenced for clean air initiatives.\n\nAnd he defended the plan against claims it would do little to solve the problem because relatively few vehicles are covered by it, saying it was part of series of measures, including the forthcoming introduction of the ultra-low emission zone.\n\nMike Hawes, the chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers, said: \u201cIndustry recognises the air quality challenge and wants to see London and other cities meet their targets.\n\n\u201cInvestment made by the industry into new diesel and petrol technologies has resulted in the most recent cars being unaffected by this new charge in London and, indeed, exempt from any other charges across the UK.\n\n\u201cThis new T-charge will affect a very small number of older vehicles so the impact on air quality will be marginal whereas bigger improvements could be achieved by policies which incentivise the uptake of the latest, lowest emission vehicles.\u201d", "output": "The new central London T-charge, which imposes a daily charge of \u00a310 ($13) on drivers of heavily polluting and diesel vehicles, has come into operation. The charge will be levied on top of the congestion charge of \u00a311.50, which was introduced in 2003. The scheme is part of an attempt to improve the quality of the capital\u2019s air, which regularly breaches legal limits on pollution. The charge applies to pre-Euro 4 vehicles, typically those registered prior to 2006, but is also applicable to some vehicles registered prior to 2008. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Digitisation of health care threatened by cybersecurity fears \n Technology, specifically the electronic medical record, is becoming more prevalent in the healthcare industry; however, there are significant cybersecurity risks due to the major information shift.\n\nA paper published in JAMA discussed the risks involved in the transition from paper medical records to electronic, and the prevention methods that are needed to avoid the consequences of potential viruses and hackers.\n\nCongress had established the Health Care Industry Cybersecurity Task Force (HCIC) in 2015 to protect from 2 malware viruses\u2014WannaCry and Petya. The HCIC was made up of 21 members including representatives in the federal government, patient advocates, and information technology (IT) specialists. In its report, Report on Improving Cybersecurity in the Health Care Industry, the HCIC suggested 6 critical recommendations for the healthcare industry, including:\n\nIdentify and streamline leadership, governance, and expectations for healthcare cybersecurity. Increase the security of medical devices and health IT. Create the healthcare workforce capacity needed to prioritize and guarantee cybersecurity awareness and technical capabilities. Increase the industry\u2019s readiness by improved cybersecurity awareness and education. Identify mechanisms to protect the research, development efforts, and intellectual property from attacks. Improve the information sharing of threats, weaknesses, and mitigations in the industry.\n\nThe development of electronic health records has produced a new risk for patients that potentially have more severe consequences. For example, ransomware\u2014a software that permanently blocks access to records unless a ransom is paid\u2014has the potential to isolate large data files that can limit patient care for extended periods.\n\n\u201cThis stolen information not only can be sold for financial gain, but also can be used by other individuals to receive medical care, providing an opportunity for intermingling of medical information that can alter an allergy history, medication list, or other critical elements of a patient\u2019s history,\u201d the authors wrote. \u201cThis vulnerability can undermine public trust and prompt patients to withhold sensitive but needed information about medical history.\u201d\n\nNot all small hospitals and practices have access or the resources to protect against certain cybersecurity risks, and therefore should practice cyber hygiene, according to the authors. This can be accomplished by regularly changing passwords, ensuring their passwords are strong, and being aware of certain vulnerabilities, including non-updated software.\n\nDespite the benefits of improved access that electronic health records and technology advancements provide, the healthcare industry should make an effort to prevent negative consequences that come with these new technologies through promoting awareness.", "output": "The shift to electronic health records in the US comes with a significant increase in the possibility of cyber attacks, with potentially life-threatening information at risk of being stolen, according to a paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The Health Care Industry Cybersecurity Task Force laid out six recommendations in a report, which included improving the sharing of information concerning threats and weaknesses. The JAMA authors said smaller hospitals could also take preventative steps, including the use of strong passwords and ensuring software was regularly updated.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Court scrutinises value of graffiti art\u00a0in\u00a0New York property row \n Graffiti\u2019s transformation from a kind of vandalism to a high art form is almost complete. In the last half century, street art has evolved from a stain on neighborhoods to a tourist draw and the toast of museums and galleries, embraced in pop and high culture.\n\nAs its market value rises, the controversial art form is also increasingly the subject of legal disputes with developers and property owners about its preservation and value as intellectual and cultural property. This week, a group of 20 New York street artists are in federal court, fighting developer Gerald Wolkoff, who in 2013 whitewashed 5Pointz, his iconic building in Long Island City (LIC), a neighborhood in Queens just across the East River from Manhattan. The building\u2019s facade served for years as an outdoor aerosol-art exhibit space and had become known as a graffiti-Mecca for its many murals.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWolkoff granted permission to artists to paint on the building in 1993, when Long Island City wasn\u2019t hot property. In 2000, PS1 in LIC, a nonprofit started in 1971 to use derelict buildings for art (PS1 stands for \u201cPublic School 1\u201d; the nonprofit was housed in a former public school building), became affiliated with the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan, turning into MoMA PS1. That made the location more attractive to artists. By 2002, this part of western Queens was becoming cool, and Wolkoff gave an artists\u2019 group his blessing to make 5Pointz a hub, along with keys to office space in the building.\n\nFast forward to 2013, New York real estate was exploding. The building\u2019s location was highly desirable; Brooklyn and Queens were flourishing and New Yorkers needed to expand into new territory. They chose the old manufacturing hub, LIC, which by 2016 was \u201chome to New York\u2019s building boom,\u201d according to the Financial Times (paywall). The New York Times in 2015 wrote (paywall) about LIC \u201cfor the good commute.\u201d It was also attracting the fashion industry \u201cfor its price and proximity.\u201d\n\nWolkoff saw the change happening and wanted to cash in. But he knew the artists were attached to the building. In October of that year, he stealthily whitewashed 5Pointz at night. Soon after, the building was demolished and Wolkoff\u2019s companies began work on two luxury-apartment high-rises that would capitalize on the locale\u2019s street cred by referencing the graffiti and incorporating street art into the decor.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIn the lawsuit\u2014a consolidation of two cases brought by various artists against the developer\u2019s companies\u2014the muralists argue that their work contributed to the improvement of LIC. They claim 5Pointz was of such prominent international stature that Wolkoff should not have destroyed it without permission and proper notice, providing time for them to salvage what they could, based on the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990.\n\nThat law grants artists \u201cmoral rights\u201d to works of prominent stature. Basically, it gives artists the ability to sue for damages if prominent creations are mutilated or destroyed\u2014even if those artworks are owned by someone else. A Harvard Law School guide on the statute explains that the legal remedies available for moral-rights violations include $500 to $20,000 in damages per artwork.\n\nThe 5Pointz muralists are suing over the destruction of at least 350 paintings, so there\u2019s a lot of money at stake, apart from the case being significant to the street-art movement, the contemporary art market, and property developers. The artists say that they should have been allowed to salvage what they could for museums and sales.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWhether the 5Pointz murals are \u201cprominent artworks\u201d qualifying for legal protection is a question a jury must resolve. To convince the panel of 12, each side in the case will present dueling art experts who will explain the current state of street art.\n\nThe art expert called to the stand by the artist group will no doubt point to the prominence of Banksy and Shepard Fairey, household names whose works are displayed in museums, and whose contributions to building facades and retaining walls, at this point, drive up property values. Perhaps he or she will mention the late Jean-Michel Basquiat, who began as a graffiti artist in New York\u2019s Lower East Side in the 1970s before becoming famous; one of his paintings sold at a Sotheby\u2019s auction in March 2017 for $110.5 million.\n\nMeanwhile, Wolkoff\u2019s expert will surely try to distinguish these stars from the muralists in the suit, arguing that their work doesn\u2019t reach the dizzying heights of great street artists. For example, Jonathan Cohen, who organized the 5Pointz artists in 2002, goes by the tag Meres1. He isn\u2019t a household name. But, Cohen insists on his website, Banksy knows of his \u201cselfless efforts\u201d at 5Pointz. Cohen\u2019s site also notes prominent corporate connections, including Louis Vuitton, Nikon, Nespresso, Fiat, Facebook, Google, Samsung, and Smartcar.\n\nThe trial will take place in a New York federal court, presided over by Frederic Block, who is something of a renaissance man with a feel for the streets, or at least that\u2019s the impression I got when I read his book and spoke to him last month.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nOn Oct. 10, Block released his first novel, Race to Judgment, a \u201creality fiction\u201d about the complex interactions between Brooklyn\u2019s racially, ethnically, and economically diverse citizens vying for power and space in the city. The judge also recorded songs to go with the book, providing a soundtrack for his protagonist. When Block and I spoke, we didn\u2019t discuss this case, but it\u2019s safe to bet he has some appreciation for the efforts of the visual artists involved.\n\nIndeed, last April, Block denied Wolkoff\u2019s attempt to dismiss two different 5Pointz cases. In his decision, Block cited the expert who testified on behalf of the artists, who noted that many of the muralists were internationally known and supported by museums, academics, celebrities, the media, and the public. Block did reject the artists\u2019 attempt to sue for damages based on claims of emotional distress, writing that developers \u201cdid no more than raze what they rightfully owned\u201d and didn\u2019t engage in \u201coutrageous or uncivilized conduct.\u201d However, he also allowed the case to proceed to a jury trial.\n\nAt the time, Wolkoff told the New York Times the decision to allow the case to continue was \u201cmind-boggling.\u201d Graffiti isn\u2019t created for preservation, he said, and the artists couldn\u2019t have expected their works to stay up forever since they were constantly getting covered up anyway. Wolkoff claimed to have developed an expertise in street art through his relationship with the 5Pointz artists over the decades, and oferred his view of the form:\n\nThey call it bombing, and the next artist goes over someone else\u2019s work, They painted over their own work continually, and it goes on for years. That\u2019s the idea of graffiti. There were tens of thousands of paintings there, over the years, and they\u2019d last for three or six or nine months.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWolkoff feels betrayed by the artists he thought he was helping by lending them his wall to bomb. He cried when the building came down, he confessed, and said he would bring back more street artists to paint at the location after the renovation\u2014just not those who sued.\n\nThere have been similar cases before but they have settled. Katherine Gibbs created \u201cThe Illuminated Mural\u201d in Detroit\u2019s North End with a hundred gallons of technicolor paint and $33,000 in grant money in 2009. A few years later, the development company Princeton Enterprises acquired the building and planned to mar the massive painting with new windows. In 2016, Gibbs sued, claiming that federal law protected public artists\u2019 work from mutilation or destruction.\n\nGibbs\u2019 mural had become a prominent piece of public art and her lawsuit drew publicity. Like the 5Pointz muralists, Gibbs argued that her work helped make the neighborhood more attractive to city dwellers and tourists alike, thus making it more valuable to developers. In 2017, the parties settled amicably without disclosing the exact terms of their agreement\u2014but did agree publicly that the painting would be preserved and incorporated into future development.\n\nOf course, it\u2019s already too late for that kind of solution at 5Pointz. But it\u2019s not too late for a settlement. In 2008, Los Angeles muralist Kent Twitchell sued the federal government and others for destruction of an iconic six-story painting on a government-owned property in downtown LA. Although the mural is gone forever, Twitchell got $1.1 million in the settlement. At the very least, that covered buying supplies for his next epic work.", "output": "The issue of whether graffiti as an art form has a positive effect on US property values is set to be discussed in a New York federal court. A lawsuit will see a group of muralists argue their work on property owner Gerald Wolkoff's 5Pointz building in Long Island City helped elevate the district's profile, enabling him to profit from redevelopment after he demolished the site in\u00a02013. They also claim it was of such importance that they should have been given the chance to protect the paintings before the building was pulled down without \"permission and proper notice\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Phillips 66 and Square Robot develop storage tank inspection robot \n Autonomous robot would enable petroleum storage tanks to remain in service for tank floor inspections\n\nBOSTON & HOUSTON --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX), an energy manufacturing and logistics company, and Square Robot, Inc. are advancing into the unmanned robotics inspection market through the joint development of an autonomous robot that would have the capability to inspect petroleum product storage tank floors while product remains in the tank. The untethered robot is being designed and will be certified for use in a wide range of petroleum products. The robot is expected to enter service in mid-2018.\n\nThis press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171019005775/en/\n\nAboveground storage tanks are routinely removed from service to be drained, opened and cleaned at great expense in order to evaluate tank bottoms. The new robot is being developed to automatically survey and map obstacles within a tank -- while the tank remains in static service -- creating a specific route map allowing maximum coverage of the tank floor. Using the non-destructive testing (NDT) data gathered, a certified inspector will produce a floor thickness map allowing for a more accurate prediction of a tank floor\u2019s remaining life.\n\n\u201cOur collaboration with Phillips 66 provides access to a significant team of experts in NDT inspection, safety, procedures and operations,\u201d said Eric Levitt , Square Robot co-founder. \u201cAs a start-up, we would not have access to these tremendous resources outside of our core business of developing autonomous robots for confined spaces.\u201d\n\n\u201cEnsuring the integrity of our equipment is one of our top priorities and we are always looking for innovative new technologies to help us achieve this,\u201d said Todd Denton , general manager, Midstream Operations, Phillips 66. \u201cOur collaboration with Square Robot presents a unique opportunity to develop technology that will enable us to maintain our equipment and minimize disruption to our customers.\u201d\n\nAbout Square Robot, Inc.\n\nSquare Robot was started by three Subsea Robotics professionals in May 2016 , specifically to address the growing need for swimming autonomous robots for Oil and Gas applications. Aside from terrestrial tanks, the same autonomous hovering technology will have broad ranging applications for subsea infrastructure inspection. The rapidly growing Boston based start-up has recently completed a first round of fundraising and currently employs 12 engineers. The company intends to launch a tank floor inspection service business in Houston during the summer of 2018.\n\nAbout Phillips 66\n\nPhillips 66 is a diversified energy manufacturing and logistics company. With a portfolio of Midstream, Chemicals, Refining, and Marketing and Specialties businesses, the company processes, transports, stores and markets fuels and products globally. Phillips 66 Partners , the company\u2019s master limited partnership, is an integral asset in the portfolio. Headquartered in Houston , the company has 14,600 employees committed to safety and operating excellence. Phillips 66 had $52 billion of assets as of June 30, 2017 . For more information, visit www.phillips66.com or follow us on Twitter @Phillips66Co.\n\nCAUTIONARY STATEMENT FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE \u201cSAFE HARBOR\u201d PROVISIONS OF THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995\n\nThis news release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which are intended to be covered by the safe harbors created thereby. Statements in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance or outcomes and involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecast in such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements herein include statements regarding Square Robot\u2019s efforts to develop and commercialize the technology with the capabilities, and Phillips 66\u2019s ability to use the technology, as described in this press release. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to, technical or legal issues that may arise in the development, protection or commercialization of the technology, as well as the possible introduction by others of competitive technology. These factors could, among other things, delay or prevent the development of the technology and Phillips 66\u2019s expected benefits therefrom. The forward-looking statements contained herein are made only as of the date of this press release and neither Square Robot nor Phillips 66 undertake any obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.\n\nView source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171019005775/en/", "output": "Phillips 66 and Boston-based start-up Square Robot have teamed up to develop an autonomous robot that can inspect petroleum product storage tanks. The untethered robot will be certified for use in a range of products, including inspecting storage tank floors while the tanks are in use so that tanks would not need to be drained and cleaned before inspections. The robot is expected to enter service in the middle of next year and offer significant cost savings by being able to operate while tanks are in use."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Stanford, EDF seek mobile methane-leak monitoring solutions \n It takes only 3 days for an LNG carrier or oil tanker to reach India from East Africa where Tanzania is destined to become an LNG exporter together with its neighbor Mozambique and a transit point for Ugandan oil exports.", "output": "Stanford University and the Environmental Defense Fund have launched the Mobile Monitoring Challenge (MMC), inviting scientists and engineers to send in their ideas for mobile technology to detect methane leaks by 31 October. The move follows the success of the Methane Detectors Challenge, which led to the pilot testing of a static device developed by Quanta3. The MMC aims to spotlight ideas for \"low-cost, reliable, and valid\" technologies that can be used on the move and off-site. ExxonMobil is among the advisers to the MMC project."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China buys assets in Australia to cater to its middle class \n Chinese investors are buying up assets in Australia from housing to ports to agriculture. One area where that trend is particular noticeable: Chinese investment in Australia's agricultural sector went from $300 million to more than $1 billion over the past year. Part of what's driving that trend is Chinese investors looking to Australia as fertile ground to produce goods that they'll sell back in China. There's heavy demand from China's booming middle class for Australian-produced fruits, meats, wine, dairy and minerals. In fact, those shoppers have grown to trust \"Made in Australia\" on the whole. After outbreaks in China from tainted infant formula, Australian-produced formula has been a market winner for Chinese consumers.\n\nChina's wealthy impact Australian housing\n\nHome prices in Sydney are up 98 percent since the global financial crisis, and in Melbourne they're up 84 percent, according CoreLogic, a data, information, analytics and services provider in Australia. Concurrent with rising prices is increased Chinese activity in the market. Last year, was the biggest year for Chinese investment in Australian residential real estate, according to Juwai.com, an international property website. In New South Wales, the Australian state in which Sydney is located, foreign buyers (87 percent of whom were Chinese) acquired a quarter of new property supply, according to a recent report by Credit Suisse.\n\nNot everyone is happy about the trend", "output": "Chinese investors have massively upped\u00a0the amounts of Australian assets they are purchasing, with investment in agriculture more than tripling in volume\u00a0to $1bn over the past year.\u00a0China looks to Australia to produce goods like fruit, meat, wine, dairy and minerals, to cater to its booming middle class. Despite lowered incentives for overseas buyers to protect Australia's\u00a0assets, Credit Suisse believes\u00a0demand from China will remain high.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook unveils tool to help publishers sell subscriptions \n Facebook is rolling out a new solution for news publishers that will give mobile app users access to a limited number of articles every month, and then provide them with the option to subscribe via the publishers' own websites.\n\nThe solution was announced with 10 publishers signed up, including the Washington Post, The Economist, Bild and The Telegraph, but lacked some major names including the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times and the New York Times.\n\nAccording to Reuters, the Wall Street Journal objected to Facebook's one-size-fits-all approach, while the Financial Times wanted a registration process in place so that it could access reader data directly in exchange for providing free articles.\n\nThe new solution marks a departure for Facebook, which has previously used platform like Instant Articles as a method of keeping users within its own ecosystem. However, in the wake of the fake news scandal which has plagued the social network, it makes sense that the company would try to restore trust and respectability by partnering with established news organisations.\n\n\"We're listening to news publishers all over the world to better understand their needs and goals, and collaborating more closely on the development of new products from the beginning of the process,\" said Campbell Brown, head of news partnerships at Facebook.\n\n\"Over time, we'll continue investing in new ways to enable publishers' subscription businesses - including working with publishers to remove friction from the conversion flow to subscribe, leveraging data to better target content and offers to likely and existing subscribers, and improving our marketing tools to make them better suited for publishers' needs. We're looking forward to working with our partners to help support an important business model for the news industry.\"\n\nThe full list of partners and news titles also includes The Boston Globe, Hearst (The Houston Chronicle and The San Francisco Chronicle), La Repubblica, Le Parisien, Spiegel, and tronc (The Baltimore Sun, The Los Angeles Times, and The San Diego Union-Tribune). The platform will initially only be available on Android, and Facebook plans to test different variations using factors like how many free articles are available before subscribing.\n\nJoin us at the 2017 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony, taking place in London on Thursday 16 November, to mix with the industry's best and brightest, and raise a glass to the year's best campaigns and solutions. To find out more, and to book your place, click here.", "output": "Facebook is partnering with 10 global publishers to launch a new feature aimed at selling online subscriptions to mobile app users. A limited number of free articles will be offered from titles such as Washington Post and Bild, with the option for readers to sign up for more via a link to the publisher's website. While the likes of Le Parisien and The Telegraph have also signed up, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Financial Times are\u00a0among major publishers who declined.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australia insurtech lobby wants more access to regulatory sandbox \n We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking \u201cAccept\u201d, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.", "output": "An Australian industry lobby, focusing specifically on insurtech, is asking for an extension on the regulatory framework allowing certain companies to use a \"sandbox\" to test their products without\u00a0running afoul of\u00a0restrictions. The newly-formed\u00a0Insurtech Australia group is urging the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to adjust regulations around the sandboxes to fit insurtech characteristics;\u00a0in particular, the body is requesting that the regulator increase\u00a0the limits of personal lines.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon wins patent for always-on home monitor for video chats  \n The video would be blurred and voices muffled but the idea is for people to be able to guess whether friends and family are available in order to hop on spontaneous video calls.\n\nWhere is this data coming from? Start your free trial today Email Where is this data coming from? Start your free trial today Email\n\nIn a patent granted to Amazon today, the tech giant proposes connecting households via video screens that would monitor the users\u2019 rooms continuously, and let their friends or family tune in to access blurred visuals and muffled audio to determine when might be a good time for a video chat.\n\nFor example, when you arrive home from work your mother (if you granted her access) could start to hear muffled audio coming from your kitchen and would then know you\u2019re home and could request an immediate video chat. If you verbally accept, the screen will automatically clear to enable the chat.\n\nAmazon says it hopes this technology can help in \u201creplicating the spontaneous face-to-face conversations that arise from living in the same place.\u201d It also, of course, would capture huge amounts of data on consumers\u2019 living spaces, social connections, communication habits, and even facial recognition.\n\nGet the PDF: The Amazon Strategy Teardown Download our 63-page deep dive into the acquisition, investment, and research strategy of Amazon. Email\n\nUsing this sort of always-on visual and audio tracking, the patent lays out a long list of data sets Amazon could capture, including facial expressions, \u201csmile detection,\u201d body movement and gestures, biometric analysis such as pulse detection, eye movement, and more.\n\nThe patent also says that the technology could identify furniture and other objects in your home, and compare them to \u201creference databases\u201d that could help it figure out which brands you\u2019ve bought and how much you\u2019ve paid for them.\n\nTo further ease ordering, the device could even potentially visually identify specific products and add them to your cart. You could hold up an empty box of cereal, for example, and the device could note the brand and size and automatically order a refill.\n\nMore generally, visual monitoring could help Amazon better understand users\u2019 brand preferences, disposable income, daily habits, and more.\n\nFor example, Amazon was previously granted a patent for using drones to observe consumers\u2019 houses from the outside, and offer product suggestions and home improvement tips based on its visual data capture.\n\nFurther down the line, we know Amazon may be interested in healthcare services \u2014 technology to track users\u2019 pulses and other biometric data in the home through countertop devices, as mentioned in this patent, would open up new possibilities.\n\nAmazon\u2019s Echo Show, which debuted in May 2017, could provide a prototype for the technology in this patent.\n\nThe Show, a video touchscreen with Alexa voice control, gained attention for its \u201cDrop In\u201d feature, which would let designated users launch a video call with you at any time. The capabilities described in today\u2019s patent seem like the next step in the development of an Echo Show-type device.\n\nBy adding always-on, continual visual and auditory monitoring, however, it would deepen users\u2019 connections to each other and also to Amazon.\n\nBeyond the blurring and unblurring video chat capabilities, the device in this patent could display \u201cactive\u201d content (requested by the user) or \u201cpassive\u201d content (content it would pull up automatically, making assumptions about what\u2019s most relevant for the user it \u201csees\u201d in the room).\n\nAmazon says the device could display calendar information, weather, reminders, email, recipes, videos, home automation information, delivery tracking information, and more. Users could interact with voice, touch, and even gestures \u2014 for example, swiping through calendar appointments with a wave of the hand, as shown below.\n\nGathering new offline data streams \u2014 especially in shoppers\u2019 homes \u2014 could have huge implications for Amazon. Supply chain and logistics, including drone delivery tools, are another high-momentum area for Amazon patents, which we\u2019ve previously discussed here.\n\nIf you aren\u2019t already a client, sign up for a free trial to learn more about our platform.", "output": "Amazon has been awarded a patent to connect households via video screens that continually monitor homes to offer signals when a contact might be free for a video chat. Users would be able to see into each others' premises through scrambled visuals and audio that would clear only when a video chat is initiated. Amazon wants\u00a0to duplicate \"spontaneous face-to-face conversations\", but to do so would also allow it access to significant data on users\u2019 homes, social groups, communication methods, and potentially facial recognition, pulse detection and more.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WHO tries to contain untreatable Marburg virus in Uganda \n The World Health Organization has said it is working to contain an outbreak of Marburg virus disease (MVD) that has appeared in eastern Uganda on the border with Kenya.\n\nAt least one person is confirmed to have died of MVD and several hundred people may have been exposed to the virus at health facilities and at traditional burial ceremonies in Kween District, a mountainous area 300 kilometres northeast of Kampala.\n\nThe first case was detected by the Ministry of Health on 17 October, a 50-year-old woman who died at a health centre of fever, bleeding, vomiting and diarrhoea on 11 October. Laboratory testing at the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) confirmed the cause of death as MVD.\n\nWe are working with health authorities to rapidly implement response measures.Uganda has previously managed Ebola and Marburg outbreaks but international support is urgently required to scale up the response as the overall risk of national and regional spread of this epidemic-prone disease is high.\n\nThe woman\u2019s brother had also died of similar symptoms three weeks earlier and was buried at a traditional funeral. He worked as a game hunter and lived near a cave inhabited by Rousettus bats, which are natural hosts of the Marburg virus.\n\nOne suspected and one probable case are being investigated and provided with medical care. An active search for people who may have been exposed to or infected by the virus is underway.\n\nThe Ministry of Health has sent a rapid response team to the area supported by staff from the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFNET).\n\nWHO is providing medical supplies, guidance on safe and dignified burials, and has released US$500,000 from its Contingency Fund for Emergencies to finance immediate response activities.\n\n\u201cWe are working with health authorities to rapidly implement response measures,\u201d said Ibrahima-Soce Fall, WHO Regional Emergency Director for the Africa region. \u201cUganda has previously managed Ebola and Marburg outbreaks but international support is urgently required to scale up the response as the overall risk of national and regional spread of this epidemic-prone disease is high.\u201d\n\nMarburg virus disease is a rare disease with a high mortality rate for which there is no specific treatment.", "output": "The rare Marburg virus, which has a high mortality rate and for which there is no specific treatment, has been found in Uganda. One person has died and\u00a0several hundred more may have been exposed\u00a0to the virus. The ministry of health has sent a rapid response team,\u00a0supported by the World Health Organisation,\u00a0the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the African Field Epidemiology Network. \"Uganda has previously managed Ebola and Marburg outbreaks but international support is urgently required to scale up the response as the overall risk of national and regional spread of this epidemic-prone disease is high,\" warned\u00a0WHO's\u00a0Ibrahima-Soce Fall."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Los Angeles Times podcasts boost sign-ups to email newsletter \n It turns out hit podcasts can help drive newsletter sign-ups. The Los Angeles Times used interest in \u201cDirty John,\u201d a podcast and editorial series that the Tronc-owned title produced in partnership with Wondery, to get an additional 21,000 email subscribers to Essential California, five times the total it has accumulated in the months leading up to the launch of \u201cDirty John.\u201d\n\nWhile the podcast hasn\u2019t yet accounted for a noticeable surge in paid subscriptions to the Times, its marketing and audience-acquisition operation used a simple offer \u2014 subscribe to the newsletter to find out when new episodes of the show are posted \u2014 to grow sign-ups.\n\n\u201cIt was kind of marketing 101,\u201d said Mark Campbell, Tronc svp of digital acquisition. \u201cI\u2019ll take opportunities like these all day.\u201d\n\nWhile many people think of \u201cDirty John,\u201d a story of a grifter who meets a victim in Southern California, as a podcast principally, it had a written component, too, with a series of pieces that ran in the print and digital editions of the Times.\n\nTwo weeks prior to the series\u2019 debut at the beginning of October, the Times ran teasers for the series across its print issues, along with digital house ads, telling readers they should download the Essential California newsletter to find out when new episodes of the show would be available. Anybody that visited \u201cDirty John\u2019s\u201d written components on the Times\u2019 site also got a Bounce Exchange notification calling for people to sign up for the newsletter.\n\nThe campaign generated over 21,000 new sign-ups, more than five times the total that the newsletter had attracted since the beginning of 2017 when it launched. The podcast itself was also a big success \u2014 its episodes have amassed over 5 million listens in less than a month.\n\nAt the start of every episode, the show\u2019s host, Christopher Goffard, read an ad offering readers the chance to sign up for a subscription to the Times, too. That didn\u2019t drive many immediate subscriptions, with Campbell calling the overall subscriptions during that period \u201cfairly average.\u201d But Campbell is confident there will be chances to convert them later; email, Campbell said, is a top-three subscription channel for Tronc, which reported 220,000 digital subscriptions across its titles in its most recent earnings report. Essential California has gathered over 250,000 signups since 2014.", "output": "The Los Angeles Times's podcast and editorial series Dirty John, which launched at the start of the month, has resulted in a fivefold increase in subscriptions to its newsletter, Essential California, according to Mark Campbell, the senior vice-president of digital acquisition at Tronc, the owner of the LA Times. The Times published teasers for the series in its print and digital editions, and carried future broadcast information for the podcast in the newsletters. Although it hasn't seen an uptick in subscriptions for the Times, Dirty John has amassed more than five million listens in a month.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BMW headquarters searched by EU amid collusion allegations \n BMW said Friday that European Commission staff conducted an \"inspection\" at company offices in Munich earlier this week in connection with news media allegations that German carmakers colluded on technology including diesel emission controls.\n\nBMW said it was assisting the European Union's executive arm in its work and that the inspection did not mean a formal antitrust investigation had been opened.\n\nDer Spiegel magazine has reported that German car companies cooperated on issues including limiting the size of tanks holding fluid intended to reduce diesel emissions. The issue is getting attention because testing has shown that many diesel cars exceed pollution test standards in everyday driving.\n\nBMW says its cars' exhaust emissions were never manipulated and that it has complied with all legal requirements.\n\nThe Commission said in a statement that it had conducted an \"unannounced inspection\" at a German automaker. Both the Commission and BMW statement avoided use of the word \"search.\" The EU has said it is evaluating the media reports about collusion as a preliminary step to the possible opening of a full-fledged anti-trust probe.\n\nThe Commission said the inspection, which took place Monday, was \"related to commission concerns that several German car manufacturers may have violated EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices.\"\n\n\u00a9 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.", "output": "Car manufacturer BMW said its headquarters in Munich had been searched by European Union antitrust officials as part of a probe into allegations it and other German manufacturers\u00a0colluded\u00a0on technology. The investigation was launched after Daimler reported a possible cartel, taking advantage of EU whistleblowing protections to do so.\u00a0Competition officials are investigating if cooperation between Volkswagen, BMW, Daimler, Audi and Porsche\u00a0is being mistaken for illegal activity. EU antitrust regulations ban\u00a0cartels and restrictive business practices.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk Which? finds 53% of UK households dissatisfied with broadband \n Half of all broadband users in the UK are getting a raw deal from their supplier, with slow speeds, rising prices and router failures exasperating customers, according to a damning assessment of Britain\u2019s internet services.\n\nConsumer group Which? found that 53% of households have had difficulties with their broadband, with customers of Virgin Media, TalkTalk, Sky and BT the most likely to experience an issue.\n\nAs few as one in 10 households receive the super-fast broadband speeds promised in adverts, said Which?. One third of TalkTalk\u2019s customers complained about \u201cvery slow\u201d broadband speeds, as did 22% of BT internet users.\n\nConnection drop-outs were a frequent problem for 17% of broadband users, with 8% of households reporting that they suffered from no connection at all for hours or days at a time.\n\nPrice hikes for landline rentals have spurred widespread customer dissatisfaction. BT introduced its third price rise in 18 months at the start of the year, forcing it to deny that it was squeezing customers after paying \u00a31.2bn for Champions League football rights.\n\n\n\nVirgin customers\u2019 top complaint was about price increases, said Which?, with 38% of users angry over increased line rental costs.\n\nWhich? surveyed 1,709 telecoms customers between June and July. Alex Neill of Which? said: \u201cFar too many people get a poor deal from their broadband provider, with problems ranging from very slow speeds to going days without any connection at all, which just isn\u2019t good enough.\n\n\u201cThe regulator must now deliver on its plans to improve the information that customers get about speeds when they sign up to a provider, and allow them to easily exit a contract if they\u2019re not getting what they\u2019ve been promised.\u201d\n\nOfcom, which regulates broadband suppliers, said: \u201cWe completely agree that broadband providers must up their game.\u201d\n\nIt recently ordered suppliers to give more realistic information about speeds, and later this year will introduce a new compensation deal for households that suffer delayed repairs, late installations and missed engineer appointments.\n\nThe UK lags behind countries including the US, the Netherlands and Japan for 4G and broadband speeds, according to a report last week by the National Infrastructure Commision.\n\nAndrew Adonis, chairman of the commission, said: \u201cToday\u2019s findings [from Which?] demonstrate the scale of the problems customers are having with the current level of broadband service, but also the challenge we face if we are to have the best possible connections in future.\n\n\u201cThe UK risks falling behind our international competitors if we don\u2019t invest in the latest ultrafast and fibre technology \u2013 broadband providers must also step up to the plate and improve the services they currently deliver to our homes and businesses,\u201d added Lord Adonis.\n\nA study published this month by the Social Market Foundation thinktank found that landline rental and broadband is among the least competitive of all consumer markets in the UK.\n\n\u201cThe lack of competitive pressures in the landline-only space means there have been few incentives for companies to compete on price \u2026 while wholesale costs of providing a landline service fell by 26% in real terms in recent years, line rental charges faced by consumers increased by 25-49%.\u201d\n\nTalkTalk said it was disappointed by the Which? findings and that recent investment had led to fewer faults and quicker repair times. Virgin Media said it was one of the least-complained about broadband providers and the majority of customers got their advertised speed.\n\nThere was support for the broadband suppliers from comparison site cable.co.uk. Its telecoms expert Dan Howdle said: \u201cIt\u2019s easy to complain about broadband in the UK, but on international comparisons we are not doing that badly. We are 31st in the world out of 200 countries on speeds and in the cheapest third when it comes to the cost of broadband.\u201d", "output": "Consumer group Which? has discovered that 53% of UK households have had issues with their broadband service. Customers of Virgin Media, Sky, BT and TalkTalk came out as the most likely to have difficulties with their service. Only one in 10 households receive the broadband speeds providers promise in\u00a0advertising, the watchdog found, with one-third of TalkTalk's customers stating that they had \"very slow\"\u00a0connectivity. TalkTalk stated its disappointment in the findings and said recent investment has reduced faults and hastened\u00a0repair times.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesla to build wholly owned China factory in landmark deal \n Tesla has made an arrangement with Shanghai\u2019s government to built a manufacturing plant in the city\u2019s free-trade zone, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cites reports from people briefed on the company\u2019s plans.\n\nThe WSJ reports that Tesla will own the factory, rather than partner with a local manufacturer, as it typically the case. Chinese officials have recently begun to consider relaxing some of the more stringent rules concerning local partners, as a way to encourage electric vehicle manufacturers. The arrangement would be the \u201cfirst of its kind for a foreign auto maker,\u201d but will likely not allow Tesla to avoid a 25 percent import tariff.\n\nIn June, Tesla confirmed that it was in talks to build a factory in Shanghai, ending months of speculation about the company\u2019s plans. At the time, a spokesperson explained that while the company anticipated keeping most of its production in the US, it did \u201cneed to establish local factories to ensure affordability for the markets they serve.\u201d\n\nThe world\u2019s largest market for automobiles, China has recently worked to encourage the development of a robust market for EVs. In September, Xin Guobin, the country\u2019s vice minister of industry and information technology, noted at a forum that the country is beginning to phase out sales of fossil fuel vehicles as it works to cut its carbon emissions, and that existing manufacturers will need to begin building more EVs in the coming years. As such, establishing a factory in China will be a major deal for Tesla as it works to ramp up its production around the world.", "output": "Tesla is to build a wholly owned factory in Shanghai's free-trade zone, marking a landmark deal in a nation where overseas automakers are normally required to work with a local partner. While this will allow for lower production costs, the US company is also likely to face a hefty 25% import tariff. China has recently shifted policy to encourage development of its electric vehicle market as it looks to phase out fossil fuels\u00a0to reduce its carbon emissions."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesla offers discounted car insurance for self-driving vehicles \n Tesla has created a customized insurance package, InsureMyTesla, that is cheaper than traditional plans because it factors in the vehicles' Autopilot safety features and maintenance costs.\n\nInsureMyTesla has been available in 20 countries, but Tesla just recently partnered with Liberty Mutual to make the plan available in the US.\n\nInsureMyTesla shows how the insurance industry is bound for disruption as cars get safer with self-driving tech.\n\nTesla struck a deal with Liberty Mutual to create a customized insurance package \u2014 and the move shows how the electric automaker is intent on disrupting the insurance industry.\n\nThe new plan is called InsureMyTesla and was designed specifically for Tesla vehicles. Its benefits include replacing Teslas damaged beyond repair within one year. Tesla launched the package on October 13 in the US in all 50 states, but it already exists in 20 other countries, a company representative confirmed.\n\nElectrek first reported on the news.\n\nTesla started quietly rolling out the InsureMyTesla program in February in Hong Kong and Australia. The electric car maker partners with different insurance companies across the globe to offer InsureMyTesla, which lowers overall insurance costs by factoring in the vehicles' Autopilot safety features and maintenance costs.\n\nTesla CEO Elon Musk has said that insurance agencies should adjust their prices for Tesla vehicles because the cars come with Autopilot, the company's advanced driver-assistance feature.\n\nThe National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that crash rates for Tesla vehicles have plummeted 40% since Autopilot was first installed. Electric vehicles also generally require less maintenance then traditional, gas-powered vehicles.\n\n\"If we find that the insurance providers are not matching the insurance proportionate to the risk of the car then if we need to we will in-source it,\" Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in February.\n\nTesla's partnership with Liberty Mutual marks the first time the InsureMyTesla package has been available in the US. The US launch comes a few months after AAA said it would raise rates for Tesla owners after seeing a high frequency of claims among Model S and Model X owners.\n\nAAA based its decision based on data provided by the Highway Loss Data Institute, an analysis that a Tesla spokesperson said was \"severely flawed\" at the time.\n\nThe deal with Liberty Mutual shows how US agencies are starting to realize that they must adjust their prices as cars get safer with advents in self-driving tech.\n\nInsurers like Cincinnati Financial, Mercury General, and Travelers have noted in SEC filings that driverless cars could threaten their business models, according to a 2015 Bank of America and Merrill Lynch report.\n\nThe personal auto insurance sector could shrink to 40% of its current size within 25 years as cars become safer with autonomous tech, according to a report by the global accounting firm KPMG.\n\nTesla hopes to one day bundle the price of insurance and maintenance into the price of future vehicles.\n\n\"It takes into account not only the Autopilot safety features but also the maintenance cost of the car,\" Jon McNeill, Tesla's vice president of sales and services, has said of InsureMyTesla. \"It\u2019s our vision in the future we could offer a single price for the car, maintenance, and insurance.\"", "output": "Tesla has launched an insurance package, called InsureMyTesla,\u00a0in the US.\u00a0InsureMyTesla offers\u00a0cheaper rates than\u00a0typical car insurance, thanks to the vehicles'\u00a0autonomous capabilities. The package has\u00a0already been rolled out in other countries, beginning with Australia and Hong Kong in February 2017. Tesla\u00a0partnered with Liberty Mutual to bring the package to the\u00a0US.\u00a0Accidents involving Tesla vehicles fell 40% following the implementation of the company's self-driving technology, according to the US\u00a0National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MicroSeismic develops real-time evaluation asset-modelling tech \n MicroSeismic Inc. has announced the release of real-time completions evaluation \u2013 on-the-spot fracture modelling, dynamic SRV estimation, end of stage EUR and drainage estimation, and rapid stress analysis.\n\nThese new real-time advances in microseismic monitoring will now give operators the opportunity to increase production rates and recovery factors.\n\n\u201cMicroSeismic\u2019s Completions Evaluation workflow is rapidly gaining traction in the industry as our clients realise the benefits of this analysis. Bringing this analysis into the realm of real-time allows a more comprehensive picture of the frac and expected well performance while the treatment is underway. This kind of insight at the time of completion means better decisions, earlier, and that goes to our client\u2019s bottom line,\u201d said Dr. Michael Thornton, Chief Technology Officer, MicroSeismic, Inc.\n\nUsing Automatic Moment Tensor Inversion (Auto-MTI), the dynamics of the rock failure are captured in real-time as the fracture events are detected. The moment tensors provide a rich source of information about the geometry of fractures and the stresses that produced them. Combining the microseismic information with the real-time pump information enables a number of analyses:\n\nReal-Time Fracture Modelling helps determine fracture size and orientation as data are acquired, allowing for a realistic real-time visualisation of the fracture treatment.\n\nReal-Time Dynamic SRV Estimation models fracture intensity and induced permeability to allow for real-time analysis of SRV and Productive-SRV.\n\nReal-Time End-of-stage EUR and Drainage Estimation generates permeability models and type curves for rapid assessment of induced drainage area and overall productivity.\n\nReal-Time Rapid Stress Analysis allows for more detailed moment tensor data for rapid analysis of the interaction of the stress regime and the treatment.\n\nReal-time microseismic monitoring has allowed operators to make better and more economic decisions as they see the impact of hydraulic stimulation on the reservoir in real time from anywhere in the world. Up until now, this analysis was limited to the location of the fracture, i.e. the microseismic event, leaving other factors such as the fracture orientation and size, location of proppant, and stage productivity to additional analysis after the job was completed. With Real-time Completions Evaluation operators now have the ability to change completions activities faster and with more confidence than ever before.", "output": "Completions evaluation provider MicroSeismic has released a real-time evaluation system, providing fracture models, dynamic SRV estimates, end of stage EUR and drainage estimates, and rapid stress analytics. The system will allow for quicker recovery and better rates of\u00a0production. Real-time monitoring will improve operators' decision-making by tracking hydraulic stimulation effects on reservoirs in real time from any location."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Soaring obesity puts India on track to top world diabetes list \n India, notorious for malnutrition, is now a land of obesity\n\n\u2014 In the bedroom Gagan Juneja shares with his twin sister, a small unit above the window blasts chilled air with storm force. Outside, the temperature on this day in Delhi has soared to 108.\n\nThese days, middle-class families in India can afford air conditioning. It wasn't that way when I was growing up; much of the time, we didn't even have electricity when demand outpaced supply.\n\nOur house was dark and hot, and as soon as the sun began its descent, I ran outside to play with the neighborhood girls. I liked kabbadi, a team sport that is physically exhausting.\n\nGagan tells me kids don't do that anymore. Why would they, he asks, when they have the comfort of AC and a variety of electronic entertainment at hand? Besides, it's too polluted -- Delhi generally vies with Beijing for top billing as the world's most polluted city.\n\n\"Everyone has a scooty,\" Gagan says, referring to a popular electric bike. \"There is no walking at all. No outdoor activity at all.\"\n\nThough they are twins, Gagan and his sister Muskan don't look alike except in one way: They are both overweight. They are part of a disturbing trend in my homeland: India is getting fatter by the day.\n\nLike many of their peers, the 17-year-old Juneja twins have been struggling with body fat. Not only are their lives sedentary, but they also love to eat. And their mother, who by all accounts is a tremendous cook, loves to oblige.\n\nThey also eat out with their friends -- something I never did in my youth. Back then, snacking meant buying cheap Indian street food, which usually came in small portions and was made fresh.\n\nI ask the Juneja siblings about their favorite restaurant foods. Gagan likes the rich Indian preparation of butter chicken and McDonald's chicken burgers. Muskan prefers Domino's cheese burst pizza. I think about a half page ad I saw on the front page of the Hindustan Times: Dunkin' Donuts touting its \"Big Joy\" burger.\n\n\"They are fattening foods,\" Muskan says, laughing. \"That's why I love them.\"\n\nThe idea that my homeland has a weight problem is difficult for me to digest. India, after all, is notorious for its high malnutrition rates -- higher than even sub-Saharan Africa. But lately, it's also a place where obesity has skyrocketed into a national crisis.\n\nI had noticed India's growing girth on recent trips home and wanted to know more. That's what brought me to the Juneja twins. And why I sought out one of India's leading experts in drastic weight-loss measures.\n\nDr. Pradeep Chowbey performs bariatric procedures on obese patients as young as 13.\n\nFrom famine to obesity\n\nDr. Pradeep Chowbey's office, in a hospital not far from the Juneja home, is decorated with photographs of the Dalai Lama. One of his specialties is gall bladder surgery, and he performed it successfully on His Holiness a while ago. But that's not what keeps him occupied these days.\n\nChowbey stays busy because of India's obesity crisis.\n\nLike some of India's other problems, obesity partly stems from the country leapfrogging generations in industrial development. American industrialization took more than a century; India is trying to catch up within a few decades.\n\nI read a research paper in the Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism that says: \"For developing countries like India, morbid obesity has not yet become a public health priority.\"\n\n\"Why is this so?\" the researchers ask. \"Well, the reasons are still far from clear. Probably, India is, in our own eyes, still a country of poverty, hunger and malnutrition. Yet, statistics suggest otherwise.\"\n\nChowbey tells me about a \"disturbing\" survey of 10th, 11th and 12th graders in public schools that found 33% of them were obese. Another study of 4,000 children in Delhi found 22% were overweight and 6% qualified as obese.\n\nThis, in a country where more than 40% of children are underweight, many to the point that their futures are compromised.\n\nThis peculiar problem affecting both ends of the nutritional spectrum is one reflection of India today, a nation that experienced rapid growth and with it, massive socioeconomic and cultural changes.\n\nFast food has become a staple at malls and shopping centers in Indian cities.\n\nOn the one hand, India remains the developing nation of my childhood still struggling to end poverty, illiteracy and disease.\n\nOn the other hand, India today is a fast-rising global power that's home to vast amounts of new wealth.\n\nChildhood obesity is mainly a problem of modern India, teeming with American-style malls, fast food outlets and newfound luxuries like cars and air conditioning that have dramatically changed the lifestyles of families with money to spare.\n\nKids are far more sedentary than they used to be -- the pressure to study and do well in school is more intense than ever -- and whatever little spare time they have is spent these days on video games, mobile phones or Facebook.\n\nThe problem is so prevalent that there's even an Obesity Foundation of India -- which also blames the prevalence of television commercials promoting unhealthy foods and poor eating habits. It estimates children's consumption of sugary sodas has increased by 300% in the last two decades.\n\nBut obesity is not just affecting the urban well-to-do. Indian researchers have found it's also an issue in India's villages, where 3 out of 4 Indians still live.\n\nIncreased automation, better transportation and improved standards of living have resulted in less active lifestyles and access to processed foods. A study in the Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism says the percentage of rural Indians who were overweight grew from 2% in 1989 to 17.1% in 2012.\n\nMore and more young people are putting on the pounds, and as a result, gyms and fitness centers are doing booming business, as are more radical paths to weight loss. Chowbey performs gastric bypasses and other bariatric procedures on desperate patients as young as 13.\n\nIn 2001, India had four or five bariatric surgery cases, Chowbey tells me. Last year, that number rose to 30,000.\n\nObesity has led to a host of other health woes growing at an alarming rate in India, including hypertension and diabetes. India is on track to own the unenviable title of diabetic capital of the world as soon as 2025 with more than 65 million Indians already suffering from the disease. Sadly, \"diabesity\" has become a common term in the Indian vocabulary.\n\nChowbey says he was shocked when he first discovered how widespread obesity had become, especially among young people. He warns that India will soon end up as not only the world's most populous nation but also its fattest.\n\n\"Obesity,\" he says, \"is the mother and gives birth to so many children who are sinister for longevity. We have gone from under-nutrition to over-nutrition.\"\n\nTwins Gagan and Muskan Juneja say their lifestyles have left them struggling with their weight.\n\nStudy, study, study\n\nBack at the Juneja twins' home, Muskan walks into their bedroom carrying a tray full of aloo parathas, a type of flatbread stuffed with potatoes. Except today's meal is made with olive oil instead of ghee, the highly caloric, clarified butter used in many Punjabi dishes. It's part of a family effort to get fit.\n\nMuskan went on a diet that allows her salads, soups and boiled eggs. Gagan, who is 5 feet 8, shot up to 222 pounds and began working out at a nearby gym. He normally works out around 9 p.m. but tells me he has not gone lately because of upcoming exams.\n\nHe guesses 80% of his friends are overweight.\n\nBy the time they get back from school on their scooty, eat lunch, take a siesta in the hottest part of the day, do their homework and study with tutors, it's almost 9 at night. Most of their day has been without physical activity.\n\nI hear that a lot from Indian youth: There's intense pressure to \"study, study, study.\" India lacks enough good schools for its massive population, and so from a very young age, kids are conditioned to study and excel in class. It was that way in my youth as well, except it's even more intense now.\n\nMadhulika Sen, the principal of Tagore International School in Delhi, concedes Indian kids have an enormous amount of pressure on them. But she also blames parents and even the kids themselves for not recognizing the importance of physical health.\n\n\"There cannot be so much academic pressure that they can't take out half an hour, one hour, for exercise,\" she says. \"The parents also find it very convenient -- when they see their child sitting with books ... or that the child is on the computer, because then they're less troubled by the child.\"\n\nI leave Gagan and Muskan's house to visit Monika Mahna, a 39-year-old Delhi mom who decided she had to get proactive about her family's health.\n\nShe tells me they were all overweight until she decided to take charge of her life and hooked up with a personal trainer. She lost about 45 pounds, her husband traded his jelly belly for washboard abs and her eldest son, Sparsh, is 20 pounds lighter.\n\nSparsh, 17, says his parents inspired him to get fit. Monika's younger son, Mudit, 14, is still overweight.\n\n\"I am obese,\" he readily volunteers. \"I eat a lot and play video games a lot.\"\n\nHe attends a well-known private school in Delhi where physical exercise is limited to only one hour a week.\n\nMonika chimes in and says soon she will get after Mudit to lose weight.\n\n\"Indian mothers -- we love to stuff our kids. It's as though if you don't keep feeding your children, you don't love them. That's our culture.\"\n\nI think back to my childhood. Our main social activity was lunch or dinner at a friend or relative's house. Food was a way to shower love. Women were judged by how well they fed their guests. And there was no saying \"no\" to seconds or thirds or leaving food on our plates -- not when so many people could not afford to eat in India.\n\nBut we also didn't have processed, high-fat foods in our diets. There was no McDonald's or KFC in India back then. We didn't even have television in my hometown of Kolkata until 1975.\n\nSparsh tells me KFC is his fast food of choice but that he only eats it now on his \"cheat day.\" Otherwise, he watches what he puts in his mouth. Then, as his mother gets dinner ready, he goes off to study. His physics tutor has arrived.\n\nFitness expert Chirag Sethi describes India's weight problem as a dangerous epidemic.\n\nUniquely Indian\n\nI met the Juneja and Mahna families through Chirag Sethi, a nutritionist and fitness expert who manages gyms and fitness programs in Delhi. He describes India's weight problem as a dangerous epidemic.\n\nSethi says kids like Gagan and Muskan just don't move enough. Middle class Indians live more sedentary lives than Americans and average only 4,000 steps a day. That's 6,000 fewer steps than my daily count here in Atlanta.\n\nIt saddens me to hear that Sethi often sees mothers encouraging their children to take elevators instead of stairs or grabbing a taxi or tuk-tuk to travel just half a mile.\n\nAnd then there is an added problem of genetics. South Asians are more prone than others to convert excess food into body fat, says Chowbey, the bariatric surgeon. He calls it a \"thrifty gene\" that was helpful when food shortages and poverty meant starvation in India. But now, it's an enemy.\n\nIn the last few years, Sethi has seen an explosion of gyms and fitness centers in the Delhi area but he wanted to do more. He realized there was a dearth of fitness education and founded Classic Fitness Academy, which offers classes for trainers and nutritionists.\n\nAt one of his south Delhi gyms, I notice quite a few kids huffing and puffing on treadmills and stationary bikes. It was rare to see obese children when I attended school in India.\n\nThe few chubby children I knew were called \"healthy.\" In my circles, being thin was considered \"common\" or lower class -- understandably so in a country that was then still reeling from famine.\n\nThings are different in a poor nation. Having meat on your bones has always been a sign of status and prosperity in my homeland. It means you are rich enough to eat well.\n\nThat's what is uniquely Indian about the country's weight problem, Sethi tells me.\n\nIf things keep going the way they are, one day soon there might be more obese people in India than anywhere else on the planet.\n\n\"The attitudes and habits of the people need to change,\" Sethi says.\n\nIt's as though India is where America was three decades ago, before people started to count calories and get into fitness regimens, before nutritional information was mandatory on food labels and a collective consciousness formed around being healthy.\n\nBut even after all that, more than one-third of Americans are obese. So what does that bode for India and it's 1.2 billion people?\n\nSethi and I ponder that question as we sit down for lunch at a popular south Delhi restaurant known for parathas, the buttery Indian bread the Juneja twins love.\n\nI look big-eyed at the plates of aromatic preparations and think: Good thing the gym is nearby.", "output": "India is on track to become the world's most diabetic country by 2025 as obesity soars. Despite being a nation where 40% of its children are underweight, rapid economic growth, cultural changes, huge socioeconomic shifts and a surge in new wealth has resulted in sedentary lifestyles and wider availability of processed foods. Increased\u00a0obesity has been accompanied by an\u00a0alarming rise in\u00a0diabetes and hypertension cases.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snap plans to inject more programmatic ads within Snapchat shows \n Snap has told Snapchat shows partners that it plans to bring in more programmatic ads after struggling to fill space inside the programming.\n\nAccording to three sources, including two media executives who have aired shows on Snapchat Discover and one ad buyer who has knowledge of Snap\u2019s plans, Snap plans to inject more programmatic ads within Snapchat shows. Advertisers can already buy Snap Ads programmatically through the company\u2019s ad manager, which gives advertisers the option to run ads inside Snapchat shows. However, during the first round of Snapchat shows, Snap was hesitant to run ads bought in the auction, according to the two media executives. This \u201cdepressed revenue dramatically,\u201d said one source, which has led Snap to promise to open up the programmatic doors even more.\n\nCurrently, advertisers can make programmatic buys on Snap Ads \u2014 10-second vertical video units \u2014 across the app\u2019s public user stories, Snapchat-curated live stories and Discover publisher channels and Snapchat shows. Advertisers can make make these buys through Snap\u2019s ads application programming interface partners such as 4C, Kenshoo and Videology. Advertisers can also use Snap\u2019s self-serve platform, which the company launched in the summer.\n\nFor Snapchat shows, Snap has mostly sold the inventory directly. In some cases, Snap has worked with major media giants, including NBCUniversal and Viacom, to co-sell advertising within shows produced by those companies.\n\nSo far, these efforts have yielded mixed results. For instance, a review of the six shows available on Snapchat on the afternoon of Oct. 20 found that three of the six shows \u2014 CNN\u2019s \u201cThe Update,\u201d NBA\u2019s \u201cVersus\u201d and E! News\u2019 \u201cThe Rundown\u201d \u2014 featured no commercials. Of the three shows that did \u2014 NBC\u2019s \u201cStay Tuned,\u201d Barstool Sports\u2019 \u201c5th Year\u201d and B17 Entertainment\u2019s \u201cNail the Look\u201d \u2014 sponsors included Wendy\u2019s, TD Bank and Tresemm\u00e9.\n\nA new show from E!, \u201cFace Forward,\u201d premiered on Oct. 21 with Abercrombie & Fitch as a sponsor. (It\u2019s E!\u2019s third show on Snapchat, following \u201cThe Rundown\u201d and \u201cAsk Kylie.\u201d)\n\nSnapchat shows typically have three to four ad breaks within each episode.\n\nOne Snapchat shows partner said Snap, which was responsible for selling advertising within its program, had a difficult time filling inventory. The show was popular, too, with total views far exceeding 50 million, he said. For future editions of the show, the media partner is taking the lead on selling advertising, with Snap promising to use programmatic ads to fill any remaining space.\n\nAnother media executive said Snap has struggled to fill ad inventory because of two reasons: inexperience with selling this type of content and a lack of data to show advertisers how successful the program was.\n\nWhen reached for comment, a Snap spokesperson did not provide additional details on Snap\u2019s plans for programmatic advertising within Snapchat shows.\n\nOne of the issues media companies face in producing shows for Snapchat is that Snap is not fronting them any cash to make the content. The media partner is responsible for funding the show, after which they can make their money back through advertising \u2014 with Snap taking a 50 percent cut of all ad revenue.\n\nThat could be easier to justify to some of the bigger media companies, which can treat Snapchat as a marketing experiment, but might be a tougher for digital publishers that don\u2019t have the same level of resources as an NBC, Turner or Viacom. But even one TV network executive said their network won\u2019t make more shows for Snapchat if it \u201ccan\u2019t make any money.\u201d\n\nGetting more revenue from Snapchat shows is a growing priority for Snap, which is also searching for a head of brand integration who can sell brand and product placements inside the programming.\n\nOne issue has been pricing. As Digiday previously reported, Snapchat has high price tags for series sponsorships. A second ad buyer told Digiday the price for a 33 percent share of voice on one show was $350,000. The price then dropped to less than $200,000 for a sponsorship of just one episode.\n\nLike with Snap\u2019s other advertising products, the company is struggling to find the sweet spot for pricing its premium products, especially considering how cheap the media can be in the auction, ad buyers said.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s inevitable that they open up programmatic,\u201d said the first ad buyer. \u201cThe shows don\u2019t have enough scale to begin with. Programmatic definitely makes Snapchat a buy that advertisers can just plug in for their existing campaigns.\u201d\n\nShareen Pathak contributed reporting.", "output": "Snap's attempts to sell ads during shows made by media partners are coming up short, prompting the owner of Snapchat to turn to programmatic ads to fill the gaps, according to several sources. One unnamed executive said Snap's inexperience at selling in-show ads combined with a lack of viewing figures to show how successful shows were, contributed to the company's difficulties. In addition, the social media site has struggled to find an appealing pricing structure for its ads. Snap is currently searching for a head of brand integration."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Annie Williams appointed head of sales, Chris Rorstad head of land \n South West Business Stephen Farrell\n\nA round-up of appointments from across the South West. This week: Brewin Dolphin, Francis Clark Financial Planning, Grant Associates and more.\n\nWealth management firm Brewin Dolphin has promoted experienced financial planner Tom Miller to head of its office in Bristol. Miller has been with the firm since 2012 and has more than 11 years' experience in financial services, focusing on understanding individual client needs and helping to manage their wealth. He is a chartered financial planner and fellow of the personal finance society.\n\nFrancis Clark Financial Planning has added to its team with two key appointments at its Exeter office. Chartered Financial Planner Andy Hammond has joined the senior management team from Nottingham-based solicitors Nelsons, where he was head of investment management. Matt Tonkin, a para planner who previously worked with the Tilney Group, has also joined the Exeter office, boosting the firm's technical services capability.\n\nAndrew Grant, founder and director of Bath-based landscape architects' practice Grant Associates, has been appointed chair of Bathscape Landscape Partnership. Grant will help shape the future strategy of the partnership, which aims to benefit Bath's unique landscape for people, communities and heritage.\n\nHouse builder Redrow has made two appointments to the senior team of its West Country division. Annie Williams has been appointed head of sales having previously worked as area sales manager at Redrow. Previously senior land manager at Redrow, Chris Rorstad has been promoted to head of land.\n\nCommercial property consultancy CBRE has completed a series of appointment at its Bristol office. The asset services team has been boosted with the arrival of surveyors Natasha Kitson and Emma Stanbridge, plus senior surveyor Tom Stanley and associate director Peter Dawe. Also joining in Bristol are Bruce Stone, senior building services engineer in the building consultancy, and James Graham, director, UK Development, who has joined from CBRE's Canary Wharf office. Liam Garwood joins as an estate manager in the portfolio services team.\n\nMarlborough-headquartered cyber security firm Foregenix has recruited nine new staff, bringing its headcount to 94. In the UK, the new hires include Giuliano Fasto who takes up the role of penetration tester, information security consultant Maya Majed, sales executive Mike Parker, marketing assistant Jake Dennys, management accountant Patsy Lee, incident response source analysts Alex Constantinou and Jade Hopkins. Raymond Simpson is heading up the new Australian office as regional director and Reinhard Behrens has joined the South African office as an information security consultant.\n\nPlymouth-based brand communications agency Fuel has appointed an affiliate marketing expert. Severiano Catindig-Stagg has joined the agency with four years' experience in the affiliate channel and was named 'Rising Star' at the 2016 Performance Marketing Awards for his work with brands such as La Redoute, Moo and Snapfish across multiple networks and territories.", "output": "House builder Redrow has appointed Annie Williams and Chris Rorstad to the senior team at its west country office. Williams is now head of sales, being promoted from area sales manager at Redrow. Rorstad has been promoted to head of land from his prior position as senior land manager at the company.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Land Registry turns to tech startups for incubator partnerships \n The Land Registry\u2019s tapping tech startups to make property more digital with artificial intelligence and chatbots\n\nThe government department in charge of the country's property and land records is turning to startups for technological innovation.\n\nLand Registry will work with three property technology, or proptech, startups as part of a new programme aimed at improving property transactions\n\nA startup using artificial intelligence to help conveyancers asses risk, Orbital Witness, and another with a chatbot powered by machine learning to improve facilities management, AskPorter, will join the year-long Geovation incubator.\n\nRead more: Licence to innovate: Nine new startups chosen for GCHQ's accelerator\n\nGetRentr, a property management platform, will also join the scheme, first launched in 2015 by the country's mapping agency Ordnance Survey and this year expanding to proptech with Land Registry for the first time.\n\n\"Building more affordable homes is central to the government\u2019s commitment to creating an economy that works for everyone and the partnership between Land Registry and Ordnance Survey is a new and exciting chapter of this,\" said business minister Lord Prior.\n\n\"The Geovation programme encourages and supports the growing number of new startups driving innovation in the housing sector. Geovation is now supporting six new proptech and geotech companies to develop new technologies to propel the UK towards becoming a global leader in the land and property market.\"\n\nA further three startups will join the latest cohort on the mapping technology, or geotech, side: FlowX, a congestion prediction tool, Safe & the City, an app which identifies the safest routes home, and Explaain, a media tool working on contextual alerts and reminder based on location.\n\nLand Registry set out plans over the summer to make itself more digital, including exploring the used of blockchain and artificial intelligence technology\n\nRead more: UK fintech startups are on track for a record-breaking year of investment\n\n\"Digitisation will allow us to provide our customers \u2013 citizens, firms, government, lawyers and conveyancers, and financial institutions \u2013 with information and data which are renowned for their accuracy and usefulness,\" said the body's chair Michael Mire in its annual report.\n\n\"Land Registry\u2019s strategy is to make its part in developing, buying and selling land and property, and collateralising mortgages and loans to provide finance, almost totally frictionless.\"\n\nBy the end of the year it's aiming to get a new tool up and running that will allow mortgages deeds to be signed online.", "output": "The UK Land Registry will partner with three proptech start-ups as part of its year-long Geovation incubator, aimed at improving property transactions. The partnership includes Orbital Witness, which uses artificial intelligence to help assess risk at the conveyancing stage; AskPorter, whose facilities management chatbot is powered by machine learning;\u00a0and property management platform GetRentr. They will work alongside three geotech firms - Explaain, Safe & the City, and FlowX - to develop new technologies that will help position the UK as a land and property market world leader."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK seeks to expedite home-buying process with ban on outbidding \n Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nView from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nMinisters will launch a probe into unscrupulous home-buying practices where people who have already put down an offer on a property can be outbid by rival buyers.\n\nCommunities Secretary Sajid Javid has called for views on the custom \u2013 known as gazumping \u2013 as part of wider plans to make buying and selling a home \u201ccheaper, faster and less stressful\u201d.\n\nThe consultation will also consider boosting confidence in the housing chain through \"lock-in agreements\" to prevent purchases falling through, as official figures show a quarter of sales collapse each year.\n\nRecommended More than a million London housebuyers gazumped\n\nIt comes amid growing speculation that housing will form a key plank of next month\u2019s Budget as Philip Hammond has been urged by Tory colleagues to make a bold offer to voters.\n\nThe Chancellor is said to be considering moves to tackle the housing crisis by allowing the Government to free up public land and directly commissioning housebuilders, according to The Sun.\n\nMr Javid has been an outspoken critic of his party\u2019s record on housebuilding, telling the Tory conference that its \u201cfailure on housing\u201d had opened the door for Jeremy Corbyn.\n\nOutlining the plans, he said: \u201cWe want to help everyone have a good quality home they can afford, and improving the process of buying and selling is part of delivering that.\n\nThe top 10 happiest places to live in Britain Show all 10 1 / 10 The top 10 happiest places to live in Britain The top 10 happiest places to live in Britain Outer Hebrides The happiest places to live in Britain according to the latest well-being analysis released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Rex/Patrick Dieudonne / Robert Harding The top 10 happiest places to live in Britain Mid and East Antrim The top 10 happiest places to live in Britain Newark and Sherwood The top 10 happiest places to live in Britain Purbeck The top 10 happiest places to live in Britain Orkney Islands Chmee2/Creative Commons The top 10 happiest places to live in Britain Winchester Wikipedia The top 10 happiest places to live in Britain Fylde The top 10 happiest places to live in Britain Antrim and Newtownabbey The top 10 happiest places to live in Britain Lichfield The top 10 happiest places to live in Britain Fermanagh Rex\n\n\u201cBuying a home is one of life\u2019s largest investments, so if it goes wrong it can be costly. That\u2019s why we\u2019re determined to take action to make the process cheaper, faster and less stressful.\n\n\u201cThis can help save people money and time so they can focus on what matters \u2013 finding their dream home.\u201d\n\nUnder the plans, ministers will also examine how digital solutions could speed up the process, and encourage buyers and sellers to gather more information in advance so homes are \u201csale ready\u201d.\n\nA new survey showed 69 per cent of sellers and 62 per cent of buyers report stress and worry due to delays in the process, while half of sellers were concerned about buyers changing their minds after making an offer.\n\nShadow Housing Secretary John Healey condemned the \u201cfeeble proposals\u201d and insisted that ministers do not understand the scale of the problems facing buyers.\n\n\u201cThis smacks of a political diversion from the hard facts of the Tories\u2019 housing record,\u201d he said.\n\nMr Healey added: \u201cHome ownership is at a 30-year low and the number of younger homeowners is in freefall, but ministers can only come up with a \u2018call for evidence\u2019 on improving the home-buying process.\n\n\u201cThis is a government out of touch and out of ideas. Conservatives know housing was a big part of why they did so badly at the election, but after seven years of failure, ministers still have no plan to fix the housing crisis.\u201d\n\nAlex Neill, Which? managing director of home products and services, said: \u201cThe current home buying process is outdated and flawed.\n\n\u201cThe Government must put consumers first, ensuring that estate agents deliver a better service for both home-buyers and sellers and that the conveyancing process is simplified.\u201d", "output": "The UK government will attempt to expedite the home-buying process by banning underhanded practices such as \"gazumping\", where rival buyers can outbid people who have already placed an offer on a property. Communities Secretary Sajid Javid plans to make the property process \u201ccheaper, faster and less stressful\u201d. The government is also contemplating offering \"lock-in agreements\" to stop purchases falling through, a problem that afflicts 25% of all sales."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US lowers social cost of carbon from $51 to $1 \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPlease try again or contact us at We're sorry, but we have encountered an error fulfilling your request.Please try again or contact us at support.MI@spglobal.com if the problem persists.", "output": "The social cost of carbon dioxide, a measure of the environmental impact of one tonne of CO2 emissions in terms of future financial costs, has been lowered by the US Environmental Protection Agency from $51 to $1. The pricing is used by federal agencies to assess the climate impact of regulation. The downgrade comes as part of the agency\u2019s attempt to repeal President Obama\u2019s Clean Power Plan. Some critics have claimed the new value overlooks the cost to future generations and restricts the scope of damages assessed. Other analysts have argued the previous estimate was too high.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK regulators demand end of child-targeted online gambling ads \n Regulators have launched a crackdown on child gambling by demanding online gambling sites remove \u201cunacceptable\u201d adverts featuring cartoon characters likely to appeal to children.\n\n\n\nThe Gambling Commission and the Advertising Standards Authority are among the signatories to a letter sent to online gambling operators that orders them to remove games promoted with characters with names such as Fluffy Favourites and Pirate Princess. Some of the games are free to play, which experts say presents a risk of children developing a gambling habit.\n\n\n\nThe letter, which was sent to more than 450 operators including William Hill and Bet365 on Friday, states: \u201cWe are writing to advise you to amend or remove immediately any ads on your website or in third party media that are likely to appeal particularly to people aged 17 or younger \u2026 and generally available to view.\n\n\u201cThis relates particularly to freely accessible ads for play-for-free and play-for-money games and includes all graphics and images displayed on a website or in third party media.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe use of particular colours, cartoons and comic book images, animals, child and youth-orientated references and names of games such as Piggy Payout, Fluffy Favourites, Pirate Princess and Jack and the Beanstalk are likely, alone or in combination, to enhance appeal to under-18s.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe regulators said such adverts were unacceptable. The letter, also signed by the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Remote Gambling Association, said sanctions were possible if sites failed to comply with the CAP code, which requires marketing communications for gambling to be socially responsible.\n\nAround 450,000 children are thought to gamble in England and Wales every week.\n\n\n\nThe CAP code states that marketing communications should protect children, young people and others vulnerable to gambling from being harmed or exploited. It forbids marketing for gambling \u201clikely to be of particular appeal to children or young persons, especially by reflecting or being associated with youth culture\u201d.\n\nSimon Blackburn, Chair of the Local Government Association\u2019s Safer and Stronger Communities Board, said: \u201cCouncils have previously called for greater restrictions on gambling advertising to protect children and we are pleased to see the steps taken by the Gambling Commission and the Advertising Standards Authority... It is vital our children and young people are kept safe and protected from the problems gambling can cause.\u201d", "output": "Online gambling operators have been told to remove games featuring characters designed to appeal to children, in a letter signed by UK regulators the Gambling Commission and the Advertising Standards Authority. Experts have warned that the games, some of which are free, could result in children developing a gambling habit. The letter, sent on Friday to over 450 operators including Bet365 and William Hill, warned that sanctions were possible if companies failed to comply with the Committee of Advertising Practice\u2019s social responsibility code. Approximately 450,000 children are believed to gamble each week in England and Wales.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Solar securitisations to pass $1bn for first time this year \n UPDATE: On October 30, Mosaic announced the close of its second term securitization of residential solar loans -- which officially breaks the $1 billion milestone for asset-backed securitizations this year. With $307.5 million in bonds sold across four tranches, this marks the largest solar securitization to date.\n\nThe company reports the transaction was met with strong investor demand, generating more than $1.7 billion in investor orders. The deal was ultimately placed with 29 institutional investors based in the U.S. and Europe.\n\nSolar loans are gaining market share as more consumers look to own, rather than lease, their solar systems. Mosaic has funded more than $1.3 billion in solar loans since the company launched in 2012, and expects to be a frequent issuer in the securitization market going forward.\n\n\"We are thrilled with the tremendous interest in this deal and what it means for the solar industry,\" said Billy Parish, co-founder and CEO of Mosaic.\n\nThis story has been updated to reflect the latest news.\n\n***\n\n2017 has set a record for solar securitizations, after several new players entered the field.\n\nThe combined asset-backed securitizations (ABS) for solar loans, leases and power-purchase agreements (PPAs) broke the $1 billion mark this year, following the close of a record-setting offering from Mosaic in late October. Solar financiers are demonstrating new levels of market interest in these products, which free up capital for new solar loans and leases.\n\nThis level of solar ABS activity surpasses all previous years, and there's reason to believe the numbers will continue to grow next year, said GTM Research solar analyst Allison Mond.\n\n\"The first ABS has a lot of procedural hurdles to overcome, so it can be a really time-intensive process,\" she said. \"It\u2019s a more streamlined process to securitize for a second or third time. Once a company has invested in doing it once, it makes sense for them to continue securitizing different assets as a way to raise capital.\"\n\nHere's the year's tally so far:\n\nSolarCity: $185 million (loans) in January\n\nMosaic: $139 million (loans) in February\n\nSunnova $255 million (leases and PPAs) in April\n\nDividend Finance: $129 (loans) in October\n\nMosaic: $308 million (loans) in October\n\nThis list doesn't include property-assessed clean energy securitizations that contain solar along with other types of assets.\n\nSolarCity kicked off solar securitization with a $54 million lease and PPA offering in 2013 (note how the average deal size has increased since then). It conducted the first solar loan securitization in 2016. SolarCity no longer offers its own loans, so this year's securitization may be the company's last foray into this market, but it still offers leases.\n\nLoan provider Mosaic has had an active year. Its $139 million securitization in February, comprising nearly 6,500 installations, was oversubscribed, indicating ample market demand. The company followed up with an agreement in September to sell $300 million of loans to Goldman Sachs, and closed a second oversubscribed securitization this month.\n\n$308 million is now the number to beat for the title of largest solar loan securitization.\n\nResidential financier Sunnova completed its first ABS in April, as part of a larger $615 million funding raise.\n\nDividend Finance focuses on servicing the long-tail installers, including newer and less established companies, Mond said. The company provides rigorous training to ensure quality among its installer partners. The October deal marked its first securitization.\n\nDividend saw growth in market share and loan volume this year. It captured 9 percent of solar loan market share, ranking fourth in that segment for the first half of 2017, according to GTM Research data. Mosaic takes the top spot, with 45 percent market share.\n\nThe increase in solar loan securitizations reflects the growing share of customer-owned systems relative to third-party owned. After a period of third-party-owned dominance in the market, the tables turned in Q4 2016, and now more customers buy their own systems.\n\nLoans became more attainable as system prices fell and active loan providers proliferated. As financiers complete more loans, they gain a pool of assets they can sell to increase their liquidity and offer even more loans.\n\n\"It's too much paperwork to do a securitization for just a couple of megawatts,\" Mond said. \"Now that solar lending is as popular as it is, it's possible to do this sort of financing.\"\n\nBoth the trend toward customer ownership and the growth of the solar lending community show little sign of stopping. That means that next year could be another big one for solar securitizations.", "output": "The value of securitisations of US solar loans, leases and power-purchase agreements will pass $1bn this year for the first time if a $308m deal closes as expected this month. The numbers are growing each year because it gets easier for companies to carry out the transactions once the first one has been completed, according to GTM Research analyst Allison Mond. There are more loans available for securitisation because, as prices have fallen, more customers have been buying their solar systems, and third-party ownership has declined.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers should 'worry' about automation: Shell insights chief \n UK \u2013 Market research professionals should be worried about automation, according to Shell\u2019s global customer insights head.\n\nSpeaking on a panel at Foresight Factory\u2019s Trending 2018 conference in London on Thursday ( 19 October), James Johnstone, head of global customer insights at the energy company, said market researchers ought to be concerned by automation.\n\n\n\n\u201cIf I\u2019m honest I think some people should be really worried about it [automation] in consumer insights. People who sit in the more traditional market research piece \u2013 I think they should be very worried.\u201d\n\nHe added that Shell is making steps in the area and that automating some processes is \u201cempowering\u201d for the insights division, enabling it to play a greater strategic role within the company.\n\n\u201cWhat we\u2019re finding is we\u2019re spending less of our time doing traditional project management and data provision, etc. We\u2019re freeing up more of our time to do the strategic thinking piece that adds value within the business and elevates the insights function from a data provider to actually giving strategic direction.\u201d\n\nJohnstone also discussed Shell\u2019s approach to the challenge of drawing insights from \u201ca massive amount of data\u201d, saying that the brand is changing its offer around the services available in petrol stations, such as new food and beverage options, as a result of consumers spending more time there.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re doing a lot of investment in consumer needs beyond refuelling. People will always keep moving \u2013 how they do that might be different. Gone are the days when it\u2019s a distress purchase of a sandwich and a sugary drink in a petrol station.\"\n\nHe added: \"It\u2019s about looking at how you can fill those consumer needs, beyond the last 100 years when you\u2019ve traditionally only been able to offer one thing. Now we need to broaden that appeal of what we\u2019re offering, and that\u2019s an opportunity for us. People talk about electric cars, and it\u2019s great, but the fastest recharge takes 20 minutes, so you are going to spend 20 minutes somewhere to do that. So what else can you have there? It\u2019s about that consumer need and demand on their time and how you can fulfil that.\u201d", "output": "Market researchers should worry about the rise of automation in their industry, according to the head of global customer insights at Shell. James Johnson said those in traditional market research roles should be \"very worried\", but highlighted how the trend could be \"empowering\" if handled correctly. He described how at Shell his team is using the time freed up by automation to move from merely providing data to doing more strategic thinking."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US thin film solar manufacturer Stion to close \n In addition to the 26 module makers which the U.S. International Trade Commission reports quit U.S. manufacturing over the last five years, you can add one more name: Stion.\n\nTo be clear, Stion was a bit of a maverick to begin with. The company began commercial-scale production of copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film solar PV modules in late 2012, at a time when most thin film companies were being wiped out by low-cost crystalline silicon. And with most manufacturing moving to Asia, Stion\u2019s presence as a solar manufacturer in the Deep South was also unusual.\n\nHowever, this has all come to an end. Stion is now planning to sell off its Mississippi manufacturing facility and discontinue operations, only months before the potential implementation of trade action which could raise prices in the U.S. module market. It is unknown if the company will succeed in selling the factory as a turnkey facility, as it plans to, or whether it will have to sell its tools individually. Either way the $226 million in funding which it has raised may be largely up in smoke.\n\nIt is also unclear when the company\u2019s estimated 200 workers will be laid off.\n\nThis news comes only two years after Stion placed a tool order which would have doubled the capacity at its Mississippi factory, which is estimated between 60 and 75 MW. Stion blames the collapse in module prices which began last summer for its inability to continue, citing \u201cintense, non-market competition from foreign solar panel manufacturers, especially those based in China and proxy countries.\u201d\n\nPopular content\n\nHowever, others have different takes. SolarWakeup\u2019s Yann Brandt notes that many thin film makers got into the business when polysilicon prices were high, but that the fall in silicon prices, including in late 2011, made most thin film products uncompetitive.\n\nThere is indeed a graveyard of former thin film makers. Outside of companies that manufacture and sell primarily within China, First Solar and Solar Frontier the only companies which can produce more than 1 gigawatt of thin film PV modules annually.\n\nAnd while the trade actions proposed by petitioners in the Section 201 case would definitely raise prices in the U.S. market, thin film solar is outside the scope of the case. This means that Stion would still have to compete globally with thin film makers like First Solar, which has long been one of the lowest-cost producers and in recent years has increased efficiencies dramatically.", "output": "US manufacturer Stion, which produced thin-film solar PV modules, is to close its production facility in Mississippi. The company began production of the modules in 2012 using copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS), and two years ago placed an order for tools to double capacity at the plant. However, a fall in the price of silicon has made most thin-film products uncompetitive, with global competition from Asian manufacturers adding to pressure on US firms. Stion is seeking a buyer for the plant, with the fate of its 200 workers unclear."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Florence researchers say graphene can boost perovskite cells \n A research team from the Department of Physics and Astronomy of Italy\u2019s University of Florence has published a study on the international scientific review Advanced Energy Materials, that points out graphene oxide as a material that could significantly improve the efficiency of perovskite solar cells.\n\nThe researchers have shown, in particular, how the introduction of graphene and graphene oxide doped with lithium atoms (GO-Li) into a perovskite-based cell may increase its conversion efficiency, as both the carrier recombination dynamics and the defect density of the perovskite are considerably improved.\n\n\u201cOther research\u201d, said the research coordinator Francesco Biccari, \u201chad already used graphene oxide on perovskite cells, but we were the first that adopted optical measurements to investigate the positive effects of this use. The result is important not only for the increased efficiency achieved but also because the same technique can be experienced in other materials. Until now experiments have been carried out on perovskites consisting of an organic-inorganic hybrid compound, the organic part of which unfortunately degrades very rapidly in the presence of moisture. The upcoming future scenario is the use of graphene and graphene oxide on completely inorganic perovskite cells: this will allow new improvements and these new technologies will be closer to commercial production.\u201d\n\nPopular content\n\nThe scientists used graphene doped mesoporous TiO 2 (G+mTiO 2 ) with the addition of a lithium-neutralized graphene oxide (GO-Li) interlayer as ETL. They found that the carrier collection efficiency is increased by about a factor two with respect to standard mTiO 2 .\n\n\u201cTaking advantage of the absorption coefficient dispersion, the sensitized methylammonium lead iodide (MAPI) layer morphology is probed, along the thickness, finding that the MAPI embedded in the ETL composed by G+mTiO 2 plus GO-Li brings to a very good crystalline quality of the MAPI layer with a trap density about one order of magnitude lower than that found with the other ETLs,\u201d the researchers said.", "output": "Italian scientists have published research suggesting that introducing graphene to perovskite solar cells could significantly improve their performance. Previous research had used graphene oxide on the cells, but the team from the University of Florence claim to be the first to have adopted optical measurements to investigate the positive effects. They found the introduction of graphene oxide doped with lithium atoms significantly improved the conversion efficiency of the cells."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Saudi team researches silicon alternatives in heterojunction cells \n Researchers at KAUST have published research into new heterojunction based configurations involving graphene, tungsten diselenide (WSe2) and Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2).\n\nThe team worked on alternatives to vertical stacking configurations, which while allowing for the creation of ultra-thin PV devices, also require highly complex steps and are hampered by defects and contamination in the processes.\n\n\u201cDevices obtained using these [vertical stacking] transfer techniques are usually unstable and vary from sample to sample,\u201d says lead researcher Meng-Lin Tsai. Tsai added that contaminants during the transfer process can affect device qualiry, and that electronic properties prove difficult to control using vertical stacking techniques.\n\nAiming to solve these issues, Tsai\u2019s team developed a lateral heterojunction monolayer of WSe2-MoS2, by consecutively depositing each material onto a sapphire substrate, and then transferring onto a silicon based surface to fabricate a PV device.\n\nPopular content\n\nUnder a high-resolution microscope, the p-n junction showed clear separation between the two materials, with no discernible height difference. \u201cOur structures are cleaner and more ideal than vertically stacked assemblies, explains Tsai, \u201cbecause we didn\u2019t need the multi-step transfer procedure.\u201d\n\nResearch published in the journal Advanced Materials states that the devices achieved conversion efficiencies of 2.56% under simulated sunlight, and that this efficiency was reduced just 5% with angles of incidence up to 75\u00b0. Without offering further information, KAUST states that these efficiencies are greater than those of equivalent devices using a vertically stacked configuration.\n\nTsai and his team are convinced of the benefit of lateral heterojunction configurations in solar cells, and plans to continue research in this area. \u201cWe are trying to understand the underlying kinetics and thermodynamics of these heterojunctions,\u201d says Tsai, \u201cto design more efficient cells.\u201d", "output": "Scientists in Saudi Arabia have published research into alternatives to silicon for producing heterojunction solar cells. The team from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) has been investigating ways to avoid using vertical stacking configurations, which are complex to produce and risk contamination and defects. The lateral process they developed produced devices with conversion ratios greater than equivalent devices when exposed to simulated sunlight."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Virtual net metering in Greece under threat from EU rules \n While virtual net metering installations in Europe have made only a minor contribution to the overall growth of distributed generation (DG) solar, a couple of schemes in Greece have had a very positive impact on the communities that have been able to benefit from them.\n\nHowever, a new challenge by the European Council to EU rules that currently allow virtual net metering threatens to outlaw it, putting in jeopardy a couple of Greenpeace-backed schemes that have helped a women\u2019s and children\u2019s hospital claim net metering credits.\n\nEstablished earlier this year, Greece\u2019s flagship virtual net metering project was a 10 kW rooftop array in Thessaloniki \u2013 funded by Greenpeace Greece \u2013 that was installed at a school in the city. However, while the solar power generated was fed as normal into the grid, the amount of electricity metered was claimed by the hostel. The scheme was the culmination of virtual net metering provisions that allow farmers and specific legal entities that undertake work of public value (such as schools, hospitals, councils etc) to install PV arrays far from the point(s) of electrical consumption.\n\nFollowing this pilot scheme is a second project by Greenpeace Greece in Larissa. Scheduled for completion in November, a 15 kW solar system will be installed at a Larissa secondary school, with the saving distributed throughout the community and credited to a building that houses a day-care center for small children.\n\nHowever, such projects could soon fall foul of proposed alterations to self-consumption laws laid out by the European Commission (EC). In documents passed to pv magazine by Greenpeace, it is argued by the German representative to the European Council that the definition of a self-generator should change, and can only be applicable for the production of electricity generated in the \u201cdirect vicinity of the place of consumption\u201d.\n\nPopular content\n\nThe European Commission\u2019s proposals for reform to the EU energy system gives general support to individuals, communities and cooperatives keen on generating their own renewable energy. The problem is that there are no specific rules supporting virtual net metering, meaning that such a loophole could well be closed if the European Council enacts the proposal put forward by Germany.\n\nThe latest European Council literature on this now defines a renewable self-consumer as those that \u201cconsume or sell renewable electricity which is generated within the same site where it was consumed or sold\u201d \u2013 an amendment to the previous wording, and a direct nod to the proposals outlined by the German representative.\n\nAccording to Greenpeace, these proposals would scrap virtual net metering just as it is getting off the ground. \u201cAll Europeans should be able to produce their own renewable energy and be rewarded with a fair price,\u201d said Greenpeace EU energy campaigner Sebastian Mang. \u201cTo resist the innovative inclusion of citizens in the energy system, for the benefit of dirty energy corporations, is shameful. EU rules on energy must put renewable energy in the hands of the many, not dirty energy in the hands of the few.\n\n\u201cThese municipalities in Greece have shown that renewables can support vulnerable citizens and alleviate energy poverty. For the EU to pull the rug out from under these disadvantaged communities would be a disgrace.\u201d", "output": "Greece's fledgling virtual net metering market could be halted by a proposal by the German representative to the European Council that changes the definition of a\u00a0self-generator so that it\u00a0only applies\u00a0to electricity generated in the \u201cdirect vicinity of the place of consumption\u201d. A Greenpeace-backed 10 kW rooftop solar installation on the roof of a school in Thessaloniki sells electricity into the grid but the credits are claimed by a hostel for victims of domestic violence that is located far from the school. A similar scheme including a\u00a015 kW solar project in Larissa is scheduled for completion in November.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Engie acquires US lease-to-own solar company Fenix International \n ENGIE and Fenix International have agreed a transaction for ENGIE to acquire 100% of the latter, which specializes in selling small, off-grid rooftop systems to customers in East African nations, primarily in Uganda.\n\nFinancial terms of the transaction have not been revealed. According to ENGIE, Fenix has 350 employees, and more than 140,000 customers for its ReadyPay platform, which allows users to gradually build towards ownership of their rooftop system whilst paying for the power generated and building up a credit score.\n\n\u201cFenix will be the agile growth engine for ENGIE\u2019S SHS business in Africa and enable us to become a leading profitable off-grid energy services company on the continent, reaching millions of customers by 2020, stated Bruno Bensasson, CEO of ENGIE Africa. \u201cWe do believe that universal access is now reachable in a foreseeable future by the combination of national grid extensions, local microgrids and solar home systems.\u201d\n\nAcross the African Continent, more than 600 million still lack access to electricity. However, new technologies and business models such as the one operated by Fenix make rooftop solar a viable option for many.\n\n\u201cTo date, Fenix has delivered solar power to over 900,000 people in East Africa. By joining forces with ENGIE we will greatly accelerate the path to our vision,\u201d said Lyndsay Handler, Fenix International CEO. \u201cWe will continue to relentlessly pursue an exceptional customer experience in all we do, and together we will make universal access to modern energy a reality.\u201d\n\nPopular content\n\nThe acquisition transaction now awaits approval from the relevant regulatory bodies.\n\nOne of the world\u2019s largest energy companies traditionally active in the nuclear and natural gas sectors, ENGIE now has a stated aim to become the \u2018leader of this new energy world\u2019, and has made some big moves into the renewables sector in recent years. This takeover of Fenix International is the latest in a series of solar acquistions including The European business of bankrupt U.S. rooftop PV company Sungevity and a stake in Chinese PV developer Unisun.\n\nReports from earlier this year also stated that ENGIE is looking to acquire German renewable energy company Innogy, though no deal has yet been announced.", "output": "Engie is to acquire California-based small-scale rooftop solar firm Fenix International for an undisclosed sum. Fenix has brought solar power to more than\u00a0900,000 people in East Africa, and has 140,000 customers for\u00a0its ReadyPay platform, enabling them to pay for their rooftop systems in instalments. More than 600 million people lack electricity across Africa.\u00a0The deal follows Engie's acquisition of rooftop photovoltaic (PV) firm Sungevity and a share of Chinese PV developer Unisun.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CIP raises \u00a3250m to refinance UK straw biomass plants \n Fund manager Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners K/S (CIP) announced on Thursday it has concluded a GBP-250-million (USD330m/EUR 279m) refinancing of its interest in two straw-fired biomass power plants in the UK.\n\nRoyal Bank of Scotland, Investec, Aviva Investors and \u201cone other major institutional investor\u201d have provided senior debt to refinance the initial investment made by the fund Copenhagen Infrastructure I K/S (CI I) for the development and construction of the Briggs and Snetterton facilities. The fund has kept its ownership interest in the two plants with a combined capacity of 84 MW, which are now operational.\n\nThe 40-MW Briggs facility was built in Lincolnshire and started operations in January 2016, receiving 1.5 Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs). On the other hand, Snetterton has a capacity of 44 MW and has been operating at a site in Norfolk, East Anglia since April 2017. It is accredited for 1.4 ROCs.\n\nBoth facilities are capable of running on variable fuel mixes, co-firing straw with rape, miscanthus and woodchips. They are owned by a joint venture between Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor A/S (BWSC), CIP and PensionDanmark.\n\n(GBP 1.0 = USD 1.318/EUR 1.116)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners has secured \u00a3250m ($330m) in debt refinancing from investors including Investec, Aviva Investors and Royal Bank of Scotland, for its Briggs and Snetterton variable fuel biomass facilities. The operational sites have a combined capacity of 84 MW, and have gained 1.5 and 1.4 Renewable Obligation Certificates respectively."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dutch electric scooter start-up Bolt Mobility raises \u20ac3m \n For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBreaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nDutch electric scooter startup, Bolt Mobility, has secured \u20ac3m (\u00a32.2m) in a fundraising campaign led by more than 2,000 investors from the UK and the Netherlands.\n\nBolt Mobility plans to use the funds to bring the AppScooter, an electric scooter with 4G internet connection and smartphone connectivity, to the market in 2018.\n\nThe startup, which was founded in 2014, says the AppScooter can travel up to 245 miles (400km) on a single charge and is able to accelerate from 0 to 25 miles per hour in just over three seconds.\n\nThe AppScooter can also send automated text responses and answer phone calls from its handlebars and touchscreen.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s exciting to see so much support from the UK market,\u201d said co-founder and chief executive Bart Jacobsz Rosier.\n\n\u201cWe aim to have delivered more than a quarter million scooters to customers by 2020. We are truly excited to be at the forefront of a lucrative market worth over \u00a330bn a year\u201d.\n\nEdwin Berkhout, a Dutch venture capitalist and investor in Bolt, said: \u201cBolt Mobility\u2019s approach is revolutionary, as our scooters will be powered by clean, renewable [electricity] and therefore potentially game changing on a global scale\u201d.\n\nAs interest in electric cars grows, a number of European cities and countries have introduced legislation to tackle pollution from smaller-sized vehicles.\n\nFrom January 2018, Amsterdam will ban scooters made before 2011, while the Mayor of Rome has banned drivers from using scooters on Sundays.\n\nThe UK Government announced in September that it will ban new diesel and petrol cars by 2040.\n\nIt is not yet clear whether they will expand the legislation to scooters and motorbikes, which emit a thousand times more toxic chemicals than larger vehicles, according to a study from the University of Cambridge.", "output": "Three-year-old Dutch start-up Bolt Mobility has moved a step closer to launching its connected scooter next year, after it raised \u20ac3m ($3.5m). The fundraising campaign took in more than 2,000 investors across the UK and Netherlands, and positions the firm at the forefront of a market set to be worth \u00a330bn ($39.5bn) annually. Bolt Mobility's AppScooter, which comes with 4G internet and smartphone connectivity, has a single-charge range of 245 miles, and CEO Bart Jacobsz Rosier aims to deliver more than 250,000 by 2020."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Egypt embraces renewable-energy auctions \n Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker giving a presentation during BEBA event- Egypt Today photo\n\nCAIRO \u2013 17 October 2017: The Egyptian government will auction renewable energy plants after the end of the second phase of the feed-in-tariff (FiT) scheme, Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker said during an event organized by the British Egyptian Business Association (BEBA).\n\n\n\nPower plants will be built with the help of private sectors. \"We have many proposals to build plants under the BOO (build, own, operate) system... but we prefer to use auctions later on,\" Shaker said.\n\n\n\nReviewing progress made so far in the FiT scheme, Shaker said: \"The first round wasn't successful, but the second one is more successful as we signed a number of 25 power purchase agreements (PPA) so far.\"\n\n\n\nBy 2025, around 37.2 percent of Egypt's power will be generated from renewable energy resources, Shaker noted.\n\n\n\nThe 14,400MW of capacity expected from three Siemens-led power plants in the New Administrative Capital, Beni Suef and Burullus, prompted the Ministry to delay implementation of projects.\n\n\n\n\"BOO projects in Ayoun Mousa, Luxor and Qena were shifted to 2022-2027 plan for example,\" the minister said.\n\n\n\nAs for the Dabaa nuclear plant, Shaker said contracts will be signed by the end of 2017, adding that the contracts will be followed by several studies.\n\n\n\n\"The first reactor of Dabaa is expected to be ready after eight years, the second reactor a year after that and the third and fourth reactors to be completed a year later,\" Shaker said.\n\n\n\nThe agreement with the Russian developer of the project, state-owned Rosatom, includes a 13-year grace period. \"This means that the project will start operations and sell power before the end of the grace period,\" he said.\n\n\n\nShaker stressed that the electricity sector has seen improvements over the past three years. \"In 2014, Egypt was suffering from severe power outages as there was a deficit of 25 percent of the peak load, and around 6,000MW of deficit,\" he said; highlighting that the country didn't suffer from power blackouts since June 2015 until now.\n\n\n\nTo reach that, Shaker said the ministry conducted maintenance operations for 70 percent of power plants, which resulted in generating 1,961MW of electricity.\n\n\n\n", "output": "The Egyptian government will begin using auctions to attract investment into its renewable-energy sector, once the second phase of its feed-in-tariff scheme ends, according to the country's Minister of Electricity, Mohamed Shaker. After suffering from a peak-load\u00a0energy deficit of 25%\u00a0in 2014, the country hasn't suffered from a blackout since June 2015, he said.\u00a0By 2025, more than 37% of Egypt's power will come from renewable resources, he said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian wind power installations slumped 68% in H1 \n Installations of new wind power capacity in the first half worked out to 421 MW, compared with 1,305 MW in the corresponding period of last year, a trend that indicates that wind power capacity addition in the current year is likely to be far less than the record 5,400 MW achieved in 2016-17.\n\nWind industry insiders say they would consider themselves lucky if fresh installations this year would cross 1,200 MW.\n\nWith this, India has wind power machines of a total capacity of 32,700 MW.\n\nFresh capacity additions are falling because earlier this year, the central government brought in capacity auctions through a bidding process, where the power producer who quotes the least price would get to sign long term power purchase agreements.\n\nEarlier, wind energy companies (developers) used to sell power to the various electricity distribution companies (discoms) at fixed tariffs determined by the respective state electricity regulatory commissions.\n\nThe competitive bidding had the effect of hammering down the tariffs, and in the first auctions that were concluded in February, threw up a surprise tariff of Rs 3.46 a kWhr. Comparatively, the least fixed tariff was Rs 4.16 in Tamil Nadu.\n\nState governments, seeing that competitive bidding brings down the tariffs, have stopped signing power purchase agreements at fixed tariffs (aka \u2018feed-in tariff\u2019). But they are also not ready to follow the example of the central government and bring in their own competitive bidding programmes. With the buyers of the power not being ready to sign purchase agreements, the market for wind power has completely disappeared. Hence 421 MW in the first six months of the current year.\n\nMeanwhile, the central government also came out with its second round of bidding, which was concluded earlier this month. The tariff discovered was yet another record low\u2014Rs 2.64 a kWhr. And, the government has been dropping hints that there would be more capacity put on the auction block, perhaps as much as 4,500 MW in the next four months.\n\nNot the benchmark\n\nIn this context, industry experts have cautioned against regarding the Rs 2.64 tariff as any benchmark. Such a low tariff happened due to notably two exceptional factors. One, the wind turbine manufacturers dropped prices by as much as 20 per cent, doing a distress sale of their inventories. \u201cThe manufacturers were stuck with huge stocks of machines that were in various stages of manufacture,\u201d notes Ramesh Kymal, Chairman and Managing Director of Gamesa India, the Indian subsidiary of Siemens Gamesa, a wind power multinational. In supporting the developers to go as low as Rs 2.64, turbine manufacturers have agreed to take a loss, reckoning that such loss is cheaper than the carrying cost of inventory.\n\nThe second factor is, developers who are all private equity funded, have been sitting with funds that they need to deploy and were rather desperate to bag some projects. They have also agreed for much lower returns.\n\nNeither of these two factors is likely to obtain in future.\n\nThe industry fears that the tariff of Rs 2.64 might become a psychological benchmark, driving state-owned discoms to refuse power purchase agreements at previously agreed tariffs. There have even been instances of states wanting to re-negotiate signed agreements \u2013 a move that is unlikely to stand in a court of law, but would nevertheless arm-twist developers to come to the negotiating table and accept a lower tariff than the one signed.\n\nKymal, who is also the Chairman of the National Committee on Wind and Biomass of the Confederation of Indian Industry, feels that tariffs will go up in the subsequent rounds of bidding, even if not to the levels of the feed-in tariffs. Many in the industry feel that wind tariffs would settle down at around Rs 3.70.", "output": "Indian wind power installations fell to\u00a0421 MW\u00a0in the first half of 2017 from 1,305 MW in the year earlier period. Industry insiders predicted\u00a0full-year installations of no more than 1,200 MW, well short of the record 5,400 MW achieved in 2016/17. The decline is due to a shift from fixed tariffs set by state governments to competitive auctions carried out by the central government, which have pushed prices down to as low as INR2.64/kWh, compared with the lowest feed-in tariff of INR4.16/kWh in Tamil Nadu. State governments are yet to run their own auctions."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Canadian Solar works with Israeli asset manager on solar projects \n GUELPH, Ontario, Oct. 17, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Canadian Solar Inc. (the \"Company\" or \"Canadian Solar\") (NASDAQ: CSIQ), one of the world's largest solar power companies, today announced that a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company and a few subsidiaries of Menora Mivtachim Holdings Ltd. (\"Menora Mivtachim\"), one of Israel's five largest insurance and finance groups, entered into a joint venture agreement with the aim to invest in the development, financing, construction and ownership of solar power projects in Israel.\n\nA total of US$60 million is expected to be raised from Menora Mivtachim and Canadian Solar, with each party contributing an equal investment amount. The joint venture will finance the solar projects awarded by Israeli Electricity Authority under the solar power tenders and other solar projects to be developed under the partnership.\n\n\"Our partnership with Menora Mivtachim is a milestone achieved by Canadian Solar in this emerging market where the adoption of solar is growing rapidly. This partnership will leverage Canadian Solar's proven track record in developing and building solar power projects, with Menora Mivtachim's financial strength and credibility to create an industry leader in the local market,\" said Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar.\n\nAbout Menora Mivtachim\n\nMenora Mivtachim Holdings Ltd. is one of Israel's five largest insurance & finance groups. The group specializes in asset management, manages the largest pension fund in Israel - 'New Mivtachim', and is the No.1 General Insurer in Israel and the market leader in Motor Insurance sector. The group operates through its subsidiaries, in all sectors of Life Insurance, Long/Mid/Short -Term Savings, General Insurance and Health Insurance. In addition, the group is active in the capital markets and finance sectors, including Mutual Funds Management, Financial Portfolio Management, Underwriting and worldwide real estate investments.\n\nAbout Canadian Solar Inc.\n\nFounded in 2001 in Canada, Canadian Solar is one of the world's largest and foremost solar power companies. As a leading manufacturer of solar photovoltaic modules and provider of solar energy solutions, Canadian Solar also has a geographically diversified pipeline of utility-scale power projects in various stages of development. In the past 16 years, Canadian Solar has successfully delivered over 22 GW of premium quality modules to over 100 countries around the world. Furthermore, Canadian Solar is one of the most bankable companies in the solar industry, having been publicly listed on NASDAQ since 2006. For additional information about the company, follow Canadian Solar on LinkedIn or visit www.canadiansolar.com.\n\nSafe Harbor/Forward-Looking Statements\n\nCertain statements in this press release regarding the Company's expected future shipment volumes, gross margins, business prospects and future results, are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These statements are made under the \"Safe Harbor\" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by such terms as \"believes,\" \"expects,\" \"anticipates,\" \"intends,\" \"estimates,\" the negative of these terms, or other comparable terminology. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include general business and economic conditions and the state of the solar industry; governmental support for the deployment of solar power; future available supplies of high-purity silicon; demand for end-use products by consumers and inventory levels of such products in the supply chain; changes in demand from significant customers; changes in demand from major markets such as Japan, the U.S., India and China; changes in customer order patterns; changes in product mix; capacity utilization; level of competition; pricing pressure and declines in average selling prices; delays in new product introduction; delays in utility-scale project approval process; delays in utility-scale project construction; cancelation of utility-scale feed-in-tariff contracts in Japan; continued success in technological innovations and delivery of products with the features customers demand; shortage in supply of materials or capacity requirements; availability of financing; exchange rate fluctuations; litigation and other risks as described in the Company's SEC filings, including its annual report on Form 20-F filed on April 27, 2017. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee future results, level of activity, performance, or achievements. Investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. All information provided in this press release is as of today's date, unless otherwise stated, and Canadian Solar undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.\n\nSOURCE Canadian Solar Inc.\n\nRelated Links\n\nhttp://www.canadiansolar.com\n\n", "output": "Canadian Solar is forming a $60m joint venture with Israeli insurance and finance firm Menora Mivtachim to invest in the \"development, financing, construction and ownership\" of solar power projects, tendered out by the Israeli Electricity Authority."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Powerhouse Ventures seeks fresh deals after HydroWorks failure \n share\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLink copied to\n\nclipboard\n\nPowerhouse Ventures is pitching itself as a turn-around story following a disastrous year.\n\nChief executive Paul Viney says the Kiwi venture capital firm is tightening up its business model and looking to expand its investments into Australia.\n\nPowerhouse will start putting pressure on its investments to turn exciting intellectual property into products, says Chairman Russell Yardley.\n\nThis year, several crises have put pressure on Powerhouse (ASX:PVL) \u2014 arguably none more so than the $7 million liquidation of key investment turbine maker HydroWorks.\n\nIn an interview with Stockhead, Mr Viney and Mr Yardley were careful how they described the collapse.\n\nMr Viney said this was because a lawsuit could be on its way.\n\nPath to collapse\n\nHydroWorks began as a consultancy in 2001 before moving into designing its own hydropower turbine technology.\n\nBy 2013, after investment from Powerhouse and New Zealand government support through Callahan Innovation, it had won its first export orders in Australia and was eyeing the Solomons, the Philippines and New Caledonia.\n\nThe crunch point came in 2015 when it began winning big contracts in Australia.\n\nThere was an $8.5 million contract to refurbish a hydroelectric plant at Somerset dam in Queensland, and a $5 million contract with Melbourne Water to build a \u201cmini-hydro\u201d network generating electricity in suburban Melbourne \u2014 a project the Australian entity was still promoting in June.\n\nMr Viney, who joined the HydroWorks board in February, said the Melbourne Water contract was the most damaging as it transferred all risk to the New Zealand company.\n\nManagement had little understanding of the risks they had taken on and there was no clear idea how the business would get to the end of the contract, he said\n\nMr Viney would not go into further details, saying what goes on in boardrooms should stay in boardrooms.\n\nDominating the share register\n\nPowerhouse usually operated by \u201cdominating the share register\u201d and installing their own board and CEO, Mr Viney said.\n\nBut HydroWorks was an anomaly. Powerhouse agreed to buy a minority stake of 23 per cent and work with the founder, Rik Hothersall, who by the end still owned 30 per cent of the business.\n\nUltimately Powerhouse ended up giving HydroWorks $1.3 million in emergency loans in November and December last year to help fund its projects. Interest and late fees added up to a 48 per cent tariff on top of that, but was never paid.\n\nHydroWorks was supposed to pay these back from money raised during a listing in Australia this year, but that IPO was pulled as board members began to quit from February this year.\n\nStockhead has tried to contact former HydroWorks managing director Andrew Rodwell several times, without success.\n\nPowerhouse put the company into interim liquidation in August. Deloitte was appointed as the permanent liquidator this month.\n\nNo ASIC involvement\n\nRumours have recently circulated in New Zealand media that Powerhouse might face an ASIC investigation over the valuation it placed on HydroWorks in its own IPO prospectus last year.\n\nBut an ASIC spokesman told Stockhead the corporate watchdog was not aware of any investigations.\n\nIf an investigation was underway the company\u2019s shares would be suspended, he said.\n\nPowerhouse shares closed up 3 per cent at 34c on Thursday after releasing its annual report.\n\nThe listed incubator gave HydroWorks a valuation of $NZ19.3 million ($17.3 million) in its August IPO prospectus last year \u2014 a value based on 2015 numbers.\n\nHydroWorks was already in trouble by the time Powerhouse listed. Its value had fallen to $NZ7.7 million by August.\n\nshare\n\n\n\n\n\nLink copied to\n\nclipboard SUBSCRIBE Get the latest Stockhead news delivered free to your inbox. \"*\" indicates required fields Name * Email * Hidden Email Lists Morning Update Lunch Update Market Close Update Weekend Update It's free. Unsubscribe whenever you want.", "output": "New Zealand-based investor Powerhouse Ventures is hoping new investments in Australia can help draw a line under a troubled period, following the HydroWorks liquidation crisis, the biggest of several to plague the company. Powerhouse CEO Paul Viney said the company would \"tighten up its business model\", while chairman Russell Yardley said the focus would be on turning \"exciting intellectual property into products\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lithium-ion gigafactories crowd out new battery technologies \n Massive investments in lithium-ion battery production could thwart the search for other battery options based on lower-cost ingredients, despite the efforts of numerous lithium-ion contenders.\n\nAlready, \u201cThere are cheaper alternatives in terms of raw materials,\" said Benchmark Mineral Intelligence analyst Caspar Rawles. \"But what we have had happen over the last three years is a huge investment in manufacturing infrastructure for lithium-ion.\u201d\n\nWorldwide, the number of lithium-ion \u2018megafactories,\u2019 which Benchmark Mineral Intelligence defines as cell-producing facilities with more than 1 gigawatt-hour of production capacity per year, has gone from just a couple three years ago to around 20 today.\n\nAbout half of those are in China, Rawles said. At the end of 2016, global lithium-ion battery production capacity stood at 28 gigawatt-hours, with 16.4 gigawatt-hours in China.\n\nGlobally, this is set to increase 521 percent, to 174 gigawatt-hours, by 2020, according to BMI forecasts.\n\nChina will account for 62 percent of production, with almost 108 gigawatt-hours a year, followed by the U.S. with 22 percent (38 gigawatt-hours), South Korea with 13 percent (23 gigawatt-hours) and Poland with 3 percent (5 gigawatt-hours).\n\nOne Chinese company, Contemporary Amperex Technology, is expected to be producing 50 gigawatt-hours of lithium-ion battery storage capacity by 2020, overtaking Tesla\u2019s projected 35 gigawatt-hours.\n\nEven today, the infrastructure \u201crepresents billions of dollars in investment [and] huge growth in manufacturing capacity for lithium-ion,\u201d said Rawles.\n\n\u201cYou might have cell technology that would be cheaper in terms of raw materials theoretically, but to get to the cost that lithium-ion is at now would take huge investment and isn\u2019t likely to happen,\" he said.\n\nThis may help explain the sluggish progress being made by a host of lithium-ion contenders banking on lower material costs to gain a competitive edge.\n\nEos Energy Storage, which claims it can provide utility-scale battery storage for $160 per kilowatt-hour thanks to a chemistry based on a zinc hybrid cathode design, has managed to win orders from utilities such as Engie and Con Ed, but is hardly shipping massive quantities.\n\nIt is doing better than most, though. Ambri, with a liquid metal battery made from inexpensive, earth-abundant materials, is still in the early stages of commercialization despite raising $50 million in venture capital.\n\nEcoult, which is touting an advanced lead-acid battery design, earlier this year announced its first steps in creating a global manufacturing network, but does not expect to have licensing deals in place in most energy storage markets until 2019.\n\nAnd the saltwater battery maker Aquion ran into well-publicized problems earlier this year. In July, it seemed to be back in business after its brush with death. Only time will tell whether the company can grow under its new ownership, however.\n\nEven established non-lithium-ion battery technologies, such as the sodium-sulfur chemistries sold by NGK and others, are having a hard time competing with lithium-ion\u2019s vast market dominance.\n\nBased on U.S. Department of Energy figures cited by the International Renewable Energy Agency, only 4.8 megawatts of sodium-based battery power capacity was announced, contracted or under construction as of this year, against more than 333 megawatts of lithium-ion storage.\n\nFlow batteries face a similar problem. Only one chemistry, vanadium redox, has become established. But International Renewable Energy Agency data shows the chemistry accounted for less than 1 percent of global electrochemical storage power capacity by mid-2017.\n\nFurthermore, some observers believe that if used widely the flow battery chemistry would run into similar supply chain problems as those being flagged for lithium-ion. \u201cThere are limits to vanadium,\u201d commented Hugh Sharman, principal at energy consultancy Incoteco.\n\n\u201cThe ores are already getting thinner, and if vanadium becomes a major component of energy storage systems, then the price would skyrocket,\" he said.\n\nBecause of this, some flow battery makers have swerved toward chemistries based on more common elements. Energy Storage Systems, for instance, makes a flow battery in which iron is the main component.\n\nThe concept looks great on paper but, yet again, is struggling against lithium-ion.\n\nThe only categories of energy storage that seem capable of holding their own in the face of lithium-ion\u2019s electrochemical dominance are those that can deliver truly massive levels of capacity, such as pumped hydro, compressed air, molten salt or flywheels.\n\nThese rely on storage media that are so cheap they are practically free in some cases. And that might be the only thing that keeps them in the game as lithium-ion scales toward multi-gigawatt-hour levels.\n\nAfter all, said Sharman: \u201cUnless a cost-effective way is found to recycle the components, the practical limit for a lithium-ion battery will be materials-related. It won\u2019t be related to economies of scale.\u201d\n\n--\n\nJoin GTM for a deep dive into the budding domestic energy storage market at the U.S. Energy Storage Summit 2017. Utilities, financiers, regulators, technology innovators, and storage practitioners will all come together for two full days of data-intensive presentations, analyst-led panel sessions with industry leaders, and extensive, high-level networking. Learn more here.", "output": "Batteries using alternative technologies are struggling to get a toehold in the energy marketplace, because of the dominance of lithium-ion. Products such as those from Eos Energy Storage, which uses a zinc hybrid cathode design, Ecoult, with its advanced lead-acid battery design and Ambri's liquid metal battery, are being squeezed out by around 20 lithium-ion factories producing more than 1 GWh of batteries per year. Benchmark Mineral Intelligence says that global lithium-ion battery production stood at 28 GWh in 2016, and it predicts it will grow 521% to 174 GWh by 2020, with China and the US accounting for around 84% of the market."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Peer-to-peer solar equipment marketplace raises $1.6m \n U.S.-based peer-to-peer solar equipment leasing marketplace Sun Exchange announced it has raised around $1.6 million in financing from a group of investors comprising Network Society Ventures (New York City), Kalon Venture Partners (Johannesburg, South Africa) and three of the world's leading technology accelerators, BoostVC (San Francisco Bay Area), Techstars (Boulder, Colorado) and Powerhouse (Oakland, California).\n\nThe company said the funds will be used to meet the demand for \u201cits pipeline of commercial-scale solar power projects, located in the sunniest regions of the planet\u201d, without providing further details.\n\nThe company, which is mainly active in the African energy market and has now expanded with headquarters in the U.S. in California, and a regional operating office in Dubai, which gives retail customers around the world the opportunity to lease solar cells bought on their own platform to medium to larger scale solar installation in developing countries. \u201cSolar panels are sold by the single solar cell, reducing the cost of solar plant ownership to below $10,\u201d the company said in its press release.\n\nPopular content\n\nTo reduce the costs of cross border transaction and to increase transparency, Sun Exchange leverages blockchain and bitcoin. The company claims that by presenting simple and accessible opportunity for anyone to join the solar economy, it can unlock the potential for the construction of environmentally sound and socially responsible projects that would otherwise not exist.", "output": "Californian peer-to-peer solar equipment leasing platform Sun Exchange has raised $1.6m in funding from investors including Techstars, Network Society Ventures and South African outfit Kalon Venture Partners. Sun Exchange uses blockchain and digital currency bitcoin to enable customers to purchase solar cells from its platform and lease them to installations in developing countries. The firm said the funding would be used for the \"pipeline of commercial-scale solar power projects, located in the sunniest regions of the planet\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "LevelTen Energy raises $6.8m to help companies buy clean power \n After years of work and billions of dollars of investment, Google recently announced that this year, 100 percent of its offices and data centers will be powered by buying wind and solar electricity. It\u2019s a major feat for the search engine giant, which has led the way in buying renewable power.\n\nBut what about all of the other companies out there that don\u2019t have anywhere near Google\u2019s balance sheet, environmental commitment or energy bills?\n\nFor many corporations trying to buy clean energy, the process can be \u201cbrutal,\u201d said Bryce Smith, founder and CEO of LevelTen Energy. \u201cOnly the largest corporate buyer can often participate and get a good deal,\u201d he said.\n\nWhy? The projects that big companies like Google buy power from are generally large, 100-megawatt-sized wind or solar projects that aren\u2019t yet built. Google and its ilk make a commitment to buy all of the power from the farm, the wind developer gets a guaranteed customer, and the company gets a good deal on the price of electricity.\n\nSmaller companies can\u2019t commit to buying such large amounts of power because they don\u2019t need it. As a result, they can get boxed into buying electricity from smaller farms with higher prices.\n\nIn addition, corporate buyers need to be well versed in how wholesale power markets work in order to determine if a clean energy deal is economically viable or not. If a company buys energy from a wind farm in a region where, for example, many new wind farms are getting built, the electricity price dynamics -- and value proposition -- could change dramatically.\n\nRocky Mountain Institute calls this problem the \u201cwinner\u2019s curse\u201d -- where the price and the value of a renewable energy project don\u2019t match, and the customer\u2019s asset doesn\u2019t deliver the expected return.\n\nTo find a solution for these problems, Smith, a 20-year clean energy veteran, created LevelTen Energy last year. The company, which completed the Techstars accelerator, has built software and data tools that aggregate clean energy projects and sell them in a manner similar to how mutual funds are created and sold.\n\n\u201cIn the same way that mutual funds changed equity investing for individuals, for companies and clean energy it makes sense to have a more diversified portfolio and spread the risk over eight to 10 projects,\u201d said Smith. LevelTen Energy uses analytics and wholesale market expertise to try to get corporate buyers the best deals possible.\n\nOn Monday, LevelTen Energy announced its first clean energy portfolio totaling 410 megawatts, which represents two wind and two solar projects in the Eastern U.S. territory of regional transmission organization PJM. Smith said the portfolio already has customers but declined to name who those customers are.\n\nIn addition to the first deal, LevelTen Energy announced that it's closed a Series A round of funding of $6.8 million to expand its outreach to new customers. Investors include Prelude Ventures, Techstars Venture Capital Fund, Founders\u2019 Co-Op, Wireframe Ventures, Element 8 Fund and Avista Development, a subsidiary of Avista Corp.\n\nSmith, who previously co-founded utility clean power developer OneEnergy Renewables, said when he first joined Techstars he \u201cfelt like a fish out of water,\u201d given his long history in the energy industry. However, the tech focus quickly emerged as a crucial part of building the product, attracting customers and bringing in employees.\n\nLevelTen Energy is riding the growing wave of clean energy procurements. There was 1.24 gigawatts' worth of corporate renewable energy procurements in the first half of this year, according to Rocky Mountain Institute, which has also built a service to help corporate buyers.\n\nClose to 100 companies have committed to go 100 percent renewable as part of the RE100 campaign. But it is readily apparent that the bulk of those ambitious companies are some of the largest tech firms and industrial giants in corporate America, with small and medium-sized companies tending to be more hesitant about making such a pledge.\n\nThe proof of whether LevelTen Energy can help solve the growing pains of corporate clean energy buying will come down to if, and which, corporate customers sign up.", "output": "Seattle-based utility LevelTen Energy has raised $6.8m in series A funding, with investors including Techstars Venture Capital Fund and Prelude Ventures. LevelTen, a graduate of Techstars' accelerator, has developed machine learning and artificial intelligence software that aggregates clean energy products. It then allows them to be sold in a similar way to mutual funds, spreading risk and offering small and medium-sized US businesses access to affordable renewable energy. LevelTen recently announced its first clean energy portfolio, amounting to 410 MW."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Corporate funding for solar projects fell 20% YoY in Q3 \n Solar sector attracted corporate funding worth USD 2.4 billion in the third quarter of 2017, lower than the fund flows registered in the year-ago period, says a report.\n\nClean energy consulting firm Mercom Capital Group has said that the funding amount stood at USD 3 billion in the three months ended September 2016.\n\nHowever, in comparison with the second quarter of this year, the amount rose in the latest third quarter.\n\n\"During Q3 2017, corporate funding in the solar sector grew 74 per cent compared to Q2 2017, with USD 2.4 billion raised in 45 deals. In Q2 2017, USD 1.4 billion was raised in 37 deals,\" Mercom Capital said in a release.\n\nThe figures include venture capital funding, public market and debt financing.\n\nIn the first nine months of this year, the total corporate funding in the solar sector reached USD 7.1 billion compared to USD 7.5 billion recorded in the same period a year ago. RAM SBT", "output": "Corporate investment in solar projects totalled $2.4bn in Q3 2017, 20% less than the $3bn spent during the same period last year, according to Mercom Capital Group. It found corporate funding, which included venture capital funding, debt financing and public markets, during Q3 2017 was higher compared to the preceding three-month period.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Unilever to refocus on media planning, produce\u00a0less content\u00a0\u00a0 \n In an earnings call with investors, Unilever chief financial officer Graeme Pitkethly revealed that brand health measure remains \u201cvery strong\u201d. However, there is a change in approach for the company which is spending more competitively than it was the year before. This is done in a more effective manner because zero-based budgeting (ZBB) allows it to put more of its investment back and cut waste out.\u201cWe have much more consumer media and promotional point of sale investment as part of that mix and less on non working media,\" he said, adding:Less money is being spent creating advertising and more money is being spent showing advertising in a more effective way to our consumers.Meanwhile, in July this year following its Q2 results, Unilever said its analysis found that it was producing too many \u201cnew\u201d pieces of advertising, with more than 95% of its advertising films being replaced before it had reached maximum effectiveness. Pitkethly added that a result of this was the creation of \u201ca lot of wasted work\u201d, both internally and for Unilever\u2019s agencies.Unilever had then revealed that it was able to reduce its media spend in Southeast Asia by 12%. This was through its new zero-based budgeting (ZBB) strategy and follows the company\u2019s move to tighten its disciplines around media planning. Using the Southeast Asia market as an example, Pitkethly had then explained there was a tendency for Unilever to expose consumers to its advertising \u201cbeyond the point of diminishing returns\u201d. Through ZBB, Unilever was able to focus on the quality of its advertising reach.This time around, Pitkethly explained that overall Unilever is making the right changes within its businesses through the various organisational changes and reshaping of its portfolio. He said this is the \"more strategic response to the changes taking place within the consumer communications landscape\".\"I don't need to tell you that there is a lot of change and influx [in the new consumer landscape]. If you get it right, you get it very right, if you get it wrong, you get it very wrong,\u201d Pitkethly added.Some initiatives the company is continuing to undertake include its Unilever Studios which builds its in-house digital and content capabilities which is now available in over 20 marketers.Another is Unilever\u2019s people data centres which allows it to secure consumer insights from social and scraping data from around the digital landscape. These centres are now in 20 markets, covering 40 languages. Pitkethly said:All we can do is continue investing heavily in building capabilities in the new marketing space. As such, around a third of our investment, which may be the wrong distinction here, is on 'digital'.Addressing other capabilities such as programmatic, Pitkethly acknowledged ongoing efforts by CMO Keith Weed, along with the rest of the industry, in creating proper stewardships and leadership roles and basics such as viewability, verification, combating ad fraud and brand safety.Read also:Unilever buys Carver Korea for US$2.7 bn to strengthen Asia footholdUnilever accidentally uses North Korea leader\u2019s initials KJU as shower gel name", "output": "Consumer goods brand Unilever has revealed it will focus on media planning, using its zero-based budgeting (ZBB) policy, to get the most\u00a0out of its advertising without creating more content. CFO Graeme Pitkethly said in an\u00a0earnings call with investors that Unilever\u00a0customers were exposed to content \"beyond the point of diminishing returns\". The ZBB initiative, which had reduced the company's Southeast Asia media spend by 12%, would help maximise advertisement reach.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "India's Azure Power raises $30m in debt from Dutch institution \n Mumbai: Renewable energy firm Azure Power Global Ltd has raised close to Rs200 crore (approximately $30.5 million) in debt from Dutch development finance institution FMO, two people aware of the development said.\n\n\u201cAzure has recently raised debt financing from FMO to the tune of Rs200 crore. The funds will be used by Azure to invest in the development of its ongoing projects and those in the pipeline,\" said one of the two people cited above, requesting anonymity as he is not authorized to speak to reporters. \u201cThe company has close to 300 megawatts (MW) of projects under development as of today.\"\n\nFMO has a committed portfolio of \u20ac9.8 billion across emerging markets, making it one of the larger bilateral private sector development banks globally.\n\nFMO, which invests in sectors such as agribusiness, infrastructure, manufacturing and services, energy, financial institutions and in multi-sector private investment funds, has a total Asia exposure of \u20ac2.7 billion.\n\nAzure Power has a diversified portfolio of 1,069MW in 18 states, of which 771MW is operational and 298MW is committed and under construction, according to details available on the company\u2019s website.\n\nMajority of its portfolio has as counter-party government of India agencies such as NTPC Ltd and Solar Energy Corp. of India Ltd.\n\nEmails sent last week to Azure Power and FMO did not elicit any response.\n\nAzure Power became the first Indian renewable energy company to get listed on the New York Stock Exchange in October 2016. It sold 3.41 million shares in an initial public offering, including 2.24 million new shares and 1.16 million shares from existing shareholders. Azure raised $61.36 million through the IPO.\n\nAhead of Azure\u2019s IPO, Canadian pension fund CDPQ picked up a stake worth $75 million as part of a private placement. CDPQ owns 20% in Azure.\n\nFor the year ended 31 March, Azure Power reported a revenue of Rs418.30 crore, as compared to a revenue of Rs262.62 crore in the previous financial year.\n\nLoss narrowed to Rs148.3 crore in 2016-17 from Rs303.8 crore a year ago.\n\nIn August, Azure Power raised $500 million by selling green bonds for repayment of existing debt and for capital expenditure for under construction projects and future growth.\n\nAzure Power is backed by World Bank arm International Finance Corp., venture capital fund Helion Venture Partners, German development finance institution DEG and a French development financial institution Proparco.\n\nFounded by Inderpreet Wadhwa in 2008, Azure Power developed India\u2019s first utility scale solar project in 2009.\n\nIn its other efforts in the energy sector in India, FMO along with development finance institutions DEG and Proparco signed an agreement with private lender Yes Bank Ltd to promote green finance in India in June.\n\nFMO has also invested in other sectors such as financial services.\n\nIn 2013, it participated in a $53 million funding round of erstwhile microfinance firm Equitas Holding.", "output": "Dutch development finance institution FMO has invested INR200 crore ($30.5m) in debt issued by Indian solar energy developer Azure Power, according to two people with knowledge of the deal. Azure has a portfolio of\u00a01,069 MW of solar power facilities across 18 Indian states, of which 771 MW is in operation and 298 MW is under construction. In October 2016, Azure became the first Indian renewable company to get listed on the New York Stock Exchange.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook Messenger enables payments via PayPal in US \n Messenger started making it easier to pay your friends for dinner back in 2015 when it introduced the option to transfer money in-app with a credit or debit card. If PayPal has always been more convenient, though, you'll love this collaboration: Facebook and the payment service have teamed up to give you a new way to split the bill. You can access the feature the same way you'd pay with a card. Simply tap the blue plus icon and then tap the green Payments button to bring up the two existing options.\n\nIf you'd previously set up the feature to pay using your card, just tap the Change button and choose Paypal to connect your account with Messenger. The feature is now live on iOS and will soon be available on Android. Unfortunately, you can only use it if you're in the US -- everyone else will just have to find other ways to spend their PayPal balance.", "output": "Messenger, Facebook's instant messaging service, has enabled payments with PayPal for in-app money transfers. The platform introduced the transfers service for credit and debit cards in 2015, advertising it as a handy way for friends to split their bills after a meal. PayPal has now been added as a payment method for transactions in the US, with the feature live on iOS, and soon to be available on Android."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk Executive chairman named one of London's most influential people \n Tina Fordham\n\nChief Global Political Analyst at Citi\n\nWhen the stock market wants to know what to make of the latest bust-up in Washington or sabre-rattling in Korea, it turns to Fordham, the political-pundit-in-chief at US banking giant Citi. A single mother of two, the Columbia grad has sharpened her pencil at top-tier organisations like the Aspen Institute and the United Nations. She appears frequently on TV for broadcasters like CNN and the BBC.\n\nAndrew Bailey\n\nFCA Chief Executive\n\nWhen Bailey assumed the chief executive role at the Financial Conduct Authority in July last year, he was regarded as a safe pair of hands having worked at the Bank of England for 30 years. At the helm of the City watchdog, which is the UK\u2019s most prominent financial consumer protection body, he will be a powerful voice at a time when the City is making preparations for how business will cope in the aftermath of Brexit.\n\nJames Bardrick\n\nHead of UK, Citigroup\n\nHe sometimes spends his weekends at sea level, racing a 100-year-old fishing boat with his friends, but for most of the year Bardrick is an extremely busy man. Not only is he heading Citi\u2019s huge UK operations, but he also sits on the Banking Standards Board, which was set up in 2015 to improve banks\u2019 behaviour. In addition, Bardrick is a trustee and deputy chairman of Career Ready, which helps young people enter the world of work.\n\nMatthew Barnes\n\nChief Executive, Aldi UK and Ireland\n\nBarnes is not daunted by the economic wobbles sweeping through Brexit Britain. Far from it: this year he increased his plans to open new stores to take the chain from 1,000 to 1,300 by 2022. That\u2019s a huge expansion from its current position of around 700. Analysts question whether he\u2019ll be able to find enough sites in London to hit his targets as rents here make its cut-price model hard to sustain. This year Aldi\u2019s critics have accused it of losing sales growth. That is a claim he vehemently denies, declaring he doesn\u2019t \u201close a millisecond of sleep\u201d over such talk, which he reckons comes from those with vested interests in Britain\u2019s Big Four supermarket chains.\n\nInga Beale\n\nChief Executive at Lloyd\u2019s of London\n\nWhile best known as one of the biggest champions of boardroom diversity in the City, Beale added another string to her bow by banging the drum for the City to get a good deal from Brexit. Though the insurance market faces growing pressure, Beale has been busy stitching up fresh deals to face the growing storm. With new Lloyd\u2019s chairman Bruce Carnegie-Brown in place, she opened new offices in Brussels to cope with Brexit and Mumbai to help Lloyd\u2019s chart a fresh course for the 21st century.\n\nColette Bowe\n\nChairman, Banking Standards Board\n\nLatterly charged with clearing out the Augean stables of the banking industry, Dame Colette recently admitted that the sector was a \u201cvery, very long way\u201d from being fully reformed. Through a lengthy career, the trained economist has had feet in public and private life as both civil servant and chairman of telecoms and broadcasting regulator Ofcom, as well as holding board seats at Thames Water and Morgan Stanley.\n\nAlison Brittain\n\nChief Executive, Whitbread\n\nOne of British business\u2019s livewires, Alison Brittain runs Whitbread, the Costa Coffee to Premier Inn empire. A banker for most of her career, she took over the helm at Whitbread early last year. It\u2019s proved a tough gig for the Derbyshire-raised Cambridge graduate; she joined just as Costa\u2019s sales growth was coming off the boil. However, investors have praised her stewardship so far and fellow business bosses made her Veuve Clicquot businesswoman of the year.\n\nMatt Brittin\n\nPresident of EMEA Business and Operations, Google\n\nAs Google\u2019s European boss, Brittin is arguably the most important person in UK tech. He faced criticism this year for ads appearing on extremist content on YouTube, its video channel, but has vowed to do more to ensure big brands are not funding hate speech. Before joining Google, initially as UK boss, Brittin was in charge of commercial operations at Trinity Mirror, the owner of the Daily Mirror newspaper.\n\nClaire Calmejane\n\nDirector of Innovation at Lloyds Banking Group\n\nThe French-born tech guru joined the 250-year-old British institution with a brief to shake-up old ways of doing business. A former visiting scientist at MIT, Calmejane had been studying how to disrupt traditional lending when Lloyds poached her to come in-house in 2012 and show them how it was done. Though she grew up in Paris, the 34-year-old says she enjoys nothing more than sitting down for a Sunday roast with her partner after a long week.\n\nMark Carne\n\nChief Executive, Network Rail\n\nRunning the country\u2019s train network is never a simple task, but Mark Carne will be the first to admit it has been a tougher year than most. The Network Rail chief executive has endured lengthy strikes (and the wrath of commuters) this year, but has done his best to ease their pain with an ambitious \u00a3133 million upgrade plan to create an extra 170,000 seats.\n\nMark Carney\n\nGovernor of the Bank of England\n\nThe Canadian Governor of the Bank of England has committed to stay on in the job until 2019 and is now gently easing the UK towards its first interest rate rise in a decade. His considered interventions \u2013 particularly in defence of the City of London \u2013 have meanwhile reminded the politicians of what is at stake as the Brexit negotiations begin, particularly his urging that we should not cast ourselves adrift from Europe.\n\nStacey Cartwright\n\nDeputy Chairman of Harvey Nichols\n\nThe glamorous former Burberry finance boss has tried to stay one step ahead of the consumer game this year in a bid to revive the flagging chain. An overhaul of womenswear, new in-store concepts and a push overseas are certain to keep the chain\u2019s billionaire owner Dickson Poon happy and has earned her a promotion from chief executive to deputy chairman. When the Liverpool FC fan is not on the shop floor, she\u2019s down at Richmond Park cycling with her ex-rugby-pro husband.\n\nVittorio Colao\n\nVodafone Chief Executive\n\nColao has been boss of the telecommunications giant since 2008. Earlier this year his company launched a crackdown on fake news and hate speech, saying that it will prevent its adverts from appearing alongside objectionable content. It is understood to have been the first policy of its kind anywhere in the world.\n\nIain Conn\n\nChief Executive at Centrica\n\nIn a year when energy prices have topped the political agenda, the straight-talking Scot has become one of the most articulate opponents of the energy price cap plan. Despite facing fire for a 40 per cent pay rise and the ire of British Gas customers, the veteran oil engineer has impressed shareholders by steering Centrica in the right direction. When not grappling with politicians and customers, Conn can be found fly-fishing or listening to his favourite rhythm and blues records.\n\nMike Coupe\n\nChief Executive, J Sainsbury\n\nA year on from the merger of Sainsbury\u2019s and catalogue-store Argos, chief executive Mike Coupe\u2019s skills as a retailer are in no doubt. He has managed the merger adeptly, while showing he can respond creatively to the changing nature of the retail landscape. The jury may still be out on whether the combination will deliver long term value to shareholders, but the early signs are that it will work \u2014 both for the business and for shoppers.\n\nJim Cowles\n\nChief Executive Europe, Middle East and Africa, Citi\n\nThe smooth-talking senior banker has championed diversity at the US bank, which has signed up to the Women in Finance charter. The American is planning for a \u201chard Brexit\u201d although Cowles is confident that he\u2019ll be able to look after his clients come what may. \u201cWe have to plan for the worst case from a business point of view,\u201d he says.\n\nBruce Daisley\n\nEuropean Vice-President, Twitter\n\nDaisley, who has a lengthy tech and media CV spanning Google and Emap, was boss of Twitter\u2019s UK arm before taking on his current role two years ago. Despite a difficult 2016, the profile of Twitter has arguably never been higher, with US President Donald Trump boosting users as well as the influential microblogging site\u2019s push into live video-streaming attracting younger users.\n\nHoward Davies\n\nChairman, Royal Bank of Scotland\n\nFresh from dealing with the thorny issue of expanding the UK\u2019s airport capacity, the 66-year-old City grandee is now chairing the UK\u2019s perennial problem bank salvaged by the taxpayer almost a decade ago. RBS could \u2014 fingers crossed \u2014 turn a profit next year but the firm\u2019s recent $5.5 billion US fine for past misdemeanours merely underlines how big a job Sir Howard has clearing up past messes.\n\nPierre Denis\n\nChief Executive, Jimmy Choo\n\nThe well-heeled chief executive of Jimmy Choo is currently walking the luxury shoe-maker down the catwalk \u2014 as it looks for a buyer. The Frenchman has got the business in shape for a sale and the City has responded by sending the share price up over 70 per cent in a year. Before leading Jimmy Choo\u2019s stock market float, Denis worked his way up through French luxury goods giant LVMH.\n\nMich\u00e8le Dix\n\nManaging Director, Crossrail 2\n\nDix is in charge of one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in the UK. Crossrail 2 will run between Hertfordshire and Surrey, alleviating the overcrowding on commuter trains as more and more people commute into London. Her job is to get the funding to complete the \u00a330 billion scheme. Before that, she was responsible for Transport for London\u2019s strategic plans, future projects and policies.\n\nGillian Drakeford\n\nUK and Ireland Manager, Ikea\n\nDrakeford started her career at Ikea 30 years ago on the shop floor in Warrington. Now she runs the Swedish group in the UK and has probably done more than most retailers to shape the look of homes across the land. Ikea is adapting to new retail trends and wants to open more smaller, easily accessible stores as well as providing click-and-collect, creating 1,800 UK jobs by 2018. Typical of its evolution is a new virtual-reality kitchen store that opened in Shoreditch this summer. Drakeford is a retailer that wants to connect with her shoppers, as anxious to serve the home-owning middle-aged as the renting millennials.\n\nCharles Dunstone\n\nExecutive Chairman, TalkTalk\n\nIt\u2019s been a year of change for TalkTalk, the low-cost broadband and telecom provider, which in February lost its chief executive Dido Harding. Charles Dunstone, founder of the business and still its largest shareholder, has been parachuted in as executive chairman. Dunstone, one of the UK\u2019s most-respected entrepreneurs, wasted no time in axing the dividend and refocusing the business back to its low-cost roots. But there is still a lot of work to make up the hit the business took from 2016\u2019s massive hack. If anyone can put this telecom company back on track, it\u2019s Dunstone.\n\nLuke Ellis\n\nChief Executive of Man Group\n\nThe hedge fund exec has done more than anyone to overhaul the image of a misunderstood industry. As chief executive of Man, Europe\u2019s largest listed hedge fund, Ellis has managed to juggle the twin demands of keeping clients and markets happy while also attracting new money into a sector often criticised for high fees. The former farmer \u2014 he took a break from the City in 2008 \u2014 emerged from the shadows of Man\u2019s old boss Manny Roman this year as one of hedge-funding\u2019s most articulate and passionate advocates.\n\nCarolyn Fairbairn\n\nDirector-General, CBI\n\nThe former BBC executive and adviser to Sir John Major is an influential voice for the UK\u2019s biggest companies as Brexit negotiations get under way, irking Brexiteers by calling for a \u201cbridge\u201d rather than a \u201ccliff edge\u201d for businesses when the country pulls out of the EU in 2019. As a leading female industry figurehead, she\u2019s also been an advocate for more women in the boardroom.\n\nStephanie Flanders\n\nHead of Bloomberg Economics\n\nStephanie Flanders / Daniel Hambury: Stella Pictures\n\nFlanders has made a blockbuster return to media this year, in a job surely made for her \u2014 the first head of Bloomberg Economics. She comes from a sojourn in finance, where she was as a market strategist at J P Morgan for four years. Before that she was the well-respected BBC economics editor. Her father was Michael Flanders, of Flanders and Swann fame, but she has no need to sing for her gigs: Flanders has real economics and media chops.\n\nJayne-Anne Gadhia\n\nCEO, Virgin Money\n\nAs the boss of Sir Richard Branson\u2019s Virgin Money, Gadhia is one of the financial services industry\u2019s most senior women. She was named Personality of the Year at the Evening Standard Business Awards 2017, thanks to growing the company to be one of the UK\u2019s main challenger banks. This year, she lived up to her straight-talking reputation with her memoir The Virgin Banker, in which she wrote about her own mental health problems and the old boys\u2019 network at Royal Bank of Scotland under her former boss Fred Goodwin.\n\nMartin Gilbert\n\nCo-Chief Executive, Standard Life Aberdeen\n\nAs if managing one \u00a311 billion deal wasn\u2019t enough, Martin Gilbert is juggling two.\n\nAs well as merging Aberdeen with Scottish asset management rival Standard Life, he is also helping to steer the takeover of Sky, where he is deputy chairman, by Rupert Murdoch\u2019s 21st Century Fox. Some question how he will cope with sharing the chief executive role with Keith Skeoch at Standard Life Aberdeen, but most in the City have been won round by the deal.\n\nRichard Gnodde\n\nChief Executive of Goldman Sachs International\n\nThe South African-born banking guru has come a long way since joining the investment bank in London in 1987 in the merger department. He rose through the ranks to become co-chief executive of Goldman Sachs International in 2006, and the firm put more faith in him last year when it was revealed that Michael Sherwood \u2014 the other co-chief \u2014 would be departing the business, leaving Gnodde in sole charge. He is now responsible for the mammoth task of getting the company ready for Brexit.\n\nGerard Grech\n\nChief Executive, TechCityUK\n\nGrech has emerged as a key lobbyist for the UK\u2019s tech scene amid worries that Brexit could stem the flow of talent heading to these shores. Grech, who has also worked for Orange, Nokia and BlackBerry before becoming Silicon Roundabout\u2019s champion, has called for more tech visas and recently warned that with rivals such as Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam and Stockholm on the rise \u201cthe UK cannot take its position for granted\u201d.\n\nDoug Gurr\n\nUK Country Manager, Amazon\n\nThe boss of Amazon in the UK has had a good year, with the online retailer continuing its voracious growth in the UK market. Since its parent company has snapped up Whole Foods, which already has a small presence in London, Gurr\u2019s experience in the grocery market is going to be useful. Under Gurr, Amazon has added 5,000 people to the UK workforce this year, taking its total UK employees to 24,000 by the end of 2017. It moves into its new offices in Shoreditch this summer, underlining the retailer\u2019s commitment to the capital.\n\nChristian Hartnagel\n\nChief Executive, Lidl UK\n\nThe shock departure of Lidl UK boss Ronny Gottschlich after six years in the post last autumn meant Christian Hartnagel\u2019s time had come. Although only 34 at the time, he had distinguished himself through a 13-year career at the discount retailer, including running the Irish operation. He started in a store in his native Germany after leaving school with no idea what he wanted to do. He lives in Raynes Park with his partner and three-year-old son.\n\nStephen Hester\n\nChief Executive at RSA Insurance\n\nThe former Royal Bank of Scotland chief has come into his own helming insurer RSA, slimming down its bloated operations. The 56-year-old Yorkshireman\u2019s turnaround plan has propelled RSA to become one of the best performing insurers in the world this year. With the recovery sealed, the green-fingered Oxford alumnus \u2014 he has been a Royal Botanic Gardens trustee \u2014 is likely be drawing up plans for his next big target.\n\nMichael Hintze\n\nFounder, CQS\n\nVisitors to see Hope the whale at the National History Museum will have noticed its grand new home is called the Hintze hall. Michael Hintze\u2019s surname will be familiar to London culture vultures, as the hedge funder and philanthropist\u2019s bequests are as numerous as they are generous. The Clapham resident\u2019s hedge fund CQS is one of the world\u2019s best known, investing a cool $12.7 billion of your and my pensions and other savings.\n\nJohn Holland-Kaye\n\nChief Executive, Heathrow\n\nAt the head of the European hub that saw a record 77 million passengers in the year to September, Holland-Kaye is doing his bit to show that the UK remains open for business. The formal parliamentary vote on the controversial third runway is likely to take place in the first half of next year. Holland-Kaye, who was born in the Lake District, worked in the building industry before joining Heathrow in 2009.\n\nAntonio Horta-Osorio\n\nChief Executive, Lloyds Banking Group\n\n2017 was a landmark year for the Lloyds chief executive and for the taxpayer as the Government finally sold down its remaining stake, almost a decade after its \u00a320.3 billion bailout of the bank. With Lloyds\u2019 turnaround largely complete, Horta-Osorio has been linked with other big jobs, but Lloyds is adamant he\u2019s staying put. There are still issues to sort out, but the Portuguese tennis-playing banker has got the bank back to a place where future earnings look secure and has gradually won back customer confidence too.\n\nJonathan \u201cJony\u201d Ive\n\nChief Design Officer, Apple\n\nThe iPhone turned 10 this year but the sleekly iconic smartphone is still likely to remain the Chingford-born designer\u2019s biggest contribution to consumer culture. Sir Jonathan, whom Apple founder Steve Jobs considered his \u201cspiritual partner\u201d at the US company, has a list of accolades as long as your arm but he made it longer still in July when he became chancellor of the Royal College of Art for a five-year term. Legend is not an understatement.\n\nTope Lawani and Babatunde Soyoye\n\nHelios Investment Partners\n\nSoyoye and Lawani left successful careers in investment banking and management to pursue their dream of being the catalysts of promoting Africa as a destination for investment. Based in London, perfect for connectivity, Tope and Baba are driven to see the investment money used on projects that improve the lives of fellow Africans. So far their efforts have seen more than \u00a32 billion invested in breakthrough business that\u2019s spreading access to communications and banking services to a wider African population.\n\nDave Lewis\n\nChief Executive, Tesco\n\nLewis arrived at Tesco after a 2014 accounting scandal that shocked the City. Wiry and athletic, he worked tirelessly to simplify the dizzying varieties and ranges Tesco stocked, making it a simpler business with cheaper prices. Although the turnaround is nowhere near finished, this year he embarked on a mega takeover of Booker, the cash-and-carry giant. Tesco director Richard Cousins resigned over the deal, believing it to be too soon into the recovery programme, but recently remarried Lewis sees it as a way to prepare Tesco for a future where shoppers are ditching out-of-town superstores for Booker\u2019s corner shop clients.\n\nAlexander Mamut\n\nChairman, Waterstones\n\nThe billionaire Russian investor bought Waterstones for \u00a353 million back in 2011 and brought in James Daunt to help turn around the struggling high-street book-seller. The turnaround of the 270-store retailer has been steady, but stores have enjoyed a revival in physical book sales as well as offering stationery and traditional games. A float may yet be on the horizon but Mamut has certainly helped the British high-street stalwart claw its way back to life, at a time when the Amazon giant seemed destined to destroy even the biggest book stores.\n\nCharlie Mayfield\n\nChairman, John Lewis Partnership\n\nMoving from the senior ranks of the army to the cut-throat battlefield of the City is not so uncommon, but Mayfield\u2019s career has taken him from Northern Ireland during the Troubles to the touchy-feely world of the John Lewis Partnership. After stints selling Horlicks and Lucozade for SmithKline Beecham, followed by McKinsey, he started at JLP in 2000, becoming only the fifth-ever chairman in 2007.\n\nRoss McEwan\n\nChief Executive, RBS\n\nThe Kiwi with the most difficult job in the City has finally cleared one huge hurdle \u2014 settling a $5.5 billion (\u00a34.2 billion) claim over trading toxic mortgage-backed debt in the US in the run up to the financial crisis. The settlement is likely to be followed by a further $2.5 billion claim from the Department of Justice. 2017 has also seen some progress in cutting staff and settling with shareholders. It has taken some time to haul the taxpayer-owned bank out of its \u201clost decade\u201d, and it\u2019s not quite there yet, but McEwan finally seems to be making headway.\n\nJohn McFarlane\n\nChairman, Barclays\n\nThe no-nonsense McFarlane \u2014 who lost no time in dispensing of the services of former chief executive Antony Jenkins in 2015 \u2014 is also keen to stick up for the Square Mile\u2019s interests after Brexit as chair of TheCityUK lobby group. The 70-year-old banking veteran has been vocal in calling for a multi-year transition deal with the EU but remains confident that London will remain a key financial centre.\n\nNicola Mendelsohn\n\nVice-President EMEA, Facebook\n\nFrequently referred to as the most powerful woman in UK tech, Lady Mendelsohn CBE has been leading Facebook\u2019s unstoppable rise in Europe. Like Facebook\u2019s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, she is a champion of diversity in the workplace. One of Sadiq Khan\u2019s business advisers, Lady Mendelsohn is also a director at spirits giant Diageo and co-chairs the Creative Industries Council, a joint venture between creative industries and the Government.\n\nPeter Miller\n\nChief Operating Officer UK/ Europe Westfield\n\nThe place where 75 million Londoners shop a year, Westfield dictates to a great extent what the capital spends its money on and also how it spends its leisure time. Miller has been in charge since Westfield arrived in 2008 and its latest \u00a31 billion development in Croydon and a new \u00a3600 million extension of Westfield London demonstrate how it is turning up the heat on rivals. A Knight Bachelor honour for company founder Frank Lowy in the Queen\u2019s recent birthday honours list shows how significant Westfield has been in rebuilding the capital\u2019s economy since the financial crisis.\n\nLakshmi Mittal\n\nChairman and Chief Executive, ArcelorMittal\n\nThe 67-year-old steel magnate who was born in India has reason to celebrate: he and his family were ranked number four in the Sunday Times Rich List 2017\u2019s UK richest 1000. They added more than \u00a36 billion to their \u00a313.2 billion fortune. Mittal settled in London in 1995 and he is a shareholder in Queens Park Rangers FC, along with his son-in-law Amit Bhatia, who is its vice-chairman.\n\nDambisa Moyo\n\nEconomist\n\nThe Zambian-born international economist is a veteran of the World Bank and Goldman Sachs who currently sits on the board of Barclays. The Oxford and Harvard-educated academic is author of three New York Times international bestsellers including Dead Aid \u2014 on the folly of aid to Africa \u2014 and is a regular at Davos, arguing this year that workers need to \u201cre-skill\u201d to adapt to globalisation and the jobs of the future.\n\nMarc Nachmann\n\nGoldman Sachs Investment Banking Co-Head\n\nThe high-flying new head of investment banking in London originally joined Goldman Sachs in its corporate finance department in 1994 and had struck gold within 10 years by being promoted to partner. He is now seen as one of the \u201cnext generation\u201d of leaders at the bank. The married father-of-two was educated at Wesleyan University in Connecticut after joining as an exchange student from Germany. He graduated in 1991 with a degree in physics and mathematics-economics.\n\nPaula Nickolds\n\nManaging Director, John Lewis\n\nThe first female boss of John Lewis is a lifer at the department store group beloved by Britain\u2019s middle-classes. She joined 22 years ago in the haberdashery department in Oxford Street and enjoyed a stellar career but reaches the top in tough times for retail, with Brexit and rising inflation sapping consumer confidence. Retail is in her DNA, as some of her earliest memories are of accompanying father Clive Nickolds on store tours at Marks & Spencer where he was a senior director.\n\nGavin Patterson\n\nChief Executive, BT\n\nGavin Patterson / Daniel Hambury / Evening Standard\n\nAs the head of one of the UK\u2019s biggest telecoms firms, Patterson has led a bold push into Sky\u2019s backyard, snapping up a host of sports broadcasting rights including Premier League football. But 2017 has been an \u201cannus horribilis\u201d for the FTSE 100 chief executive so far; the lowlight was a shocking profit warning driven by an accounting scandal in Italy and slowing public sector contracts.\n\nFranck Petitgas\n\nGlobal Co-Head of Investment Banking at Morgan Stanley\n\nThe French-born City whizz gave \u00a312,000 to the Remain side in the run-up to the referendum last year. But, with the Leave side winning, he now finds himself helping the Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley prepare for Brexit. Every chairman and chief executive will take his calls, which should help him.\n\nVis Raghavan\n\nJPMorgan Head of Banking EMEA\n\nCricket devotee Raghavan grew up in India and studied physics at the University of Bombay before he came to the UK to do a postgraduate degree in electronic engineering and computer science at Aston University. He had fully intended to go into a technology role. But luckily for JPMorgan, he ended up in the financial sector. With that brainpower, it\u2019s no surprise he is the top City bank\u2019s most senior banker in Europe, having just been promoted from deputy to CEO of its Europe, Middle East and Africa division.\n\nJim Ratcliffe\n\nChief Executive, Ineos\n\nRatcliffe grew up in Greater Manchester and now runs one of the world\u2019s biggest chemical companies, which employs around 4,000 people in Britain. He is a fan of adventure sports who has made expeditions to the North and South Poles, but Ratcliffe can also be found in Knightsbridge, where Ineos opened a new headquarters in December. His firm has now transferred a number of the functions from the group\u2019s corporate headquarters in Switzerland to London.\n\nSimon Robey\n\nCo-Founder, Robey Warshaw\n\nThe City\u2019s been quiet this year for the megadeals Sir Simon specialises in advising on. But where they have happened, he\u2019s usually been somewhere in the background. This consigliore of the City, like his sidekick Simon Warshaw, is on the speed-dial of every chairman and chief executive in town. Their Robey Warshaw boutique advisory firm saw their profits double to \u00a337 million in figures released at the start of the year. Not bad for a business only four years old. Robey, chairman of the Royal Opera House, became Sir Simon last year for services to music.\n\nXavier Rolet\n\nChief Executive at the London Stock Exchange\n\nThe French-born stock exchange chief played a pivotal role in one of London's most fraught takeover sagas last year, steadying the ship as the company's merger with Deutsche Borse collapsed. Rolet, who owns an award-winning winery in Provence with his wife Nicole, bounced back by boosting LSE sales and clinching a \u00a3500m US takeover. Retirement beckons for this busy bee however after he announced would step down in 2018.\n\nSacha Romanovitch\n\nChief Executive, Grant Thornton\n\nRomanovitch has made waves since becoming the boss of the accountancy giant in 2015, with a focus on social responsibility. It is paying off: this year the firm came number one in the Government\u2019s first-ever list of the top 50 employers to have promoted social mobility at work. Changes the company has made in recent years to its school leaver and graduate trainee selection include removing academic barriers to entry.\n\nPeter Ruis\n\nChief Executive, Jigsaw\n\nHis first job was buying shell suits, but dashing 49-year-old Ruis\u2019s latest accomplishment has been putting the pieces back together at Jigsaw. Sales leapt to \u00a3105 million in the last financial year, as the former John Lewis buyer steered the intelligent fashion brand off the rocks. Brexit means big challenges, but Ruis is spearheading Jigsaw\u2019s \u2665 Immigration campaign, because \u201cnone of us are the product of staying put\u201d. That\u2019s what we call fashion forward.\n\nKeith Skeoch\n\nCo-Chief Executive, Standard Life Aberdeen\n\nAlthough he\u2019s based in Scotland for much of the time, Keith Skeoch\u2019s stewardship of Standard Life makes him one of the City\u2019s biggest noises. And he\u2019s only getting more powerful as he bashes the business together with Aberdeen Asset Management and his opposite number there, Martin Gilbert. Quieter and more contemplative than clubbable Gilbert, Skeoch is more of the details guy in the partnership. A keen fell walker and fly fisherman, he\u2019s as comfortable in the Highlands as he is on Cheapside.\n\nMartin Sorrell\n\nChief Executive, WPP\n\nThe advertising mogul, aka the Sage of Soho, has run WPP for more than three decades. Despite his pay packet plunging last year and his industry facing tough economic times, with relentless cost-cutting by large corporations that are scaling back on advertising, Sir Martin has given no hints that retirement is on his mind. He is more than a mere adman. Clients and the media rate, indeed rely on, his ability to see what\u2019s coming next.\n\nMichael Spencer\n\nChief Executive of NEX\n\nCity trading legend Spencer is prominent as ever in the capital, concentrating on NEX, the electronic division of the Icap empire. Earlier this year, the former Tory Party treasurer split off Icap\u2019s traditional telephone broking arm and sold it to Tullett Prebon in a \u00a31.3 billion deal. The fine wine-loving bigwig is famed for hosting star-studded charity days.\n\nJes Staley\n\nChief Executive, Barclays\n\nThe American banker who broke company rules trying to unmask a whistle-blower at Barclays and who fell victim to a flattering email prankster has had his reputation dented this year, but he still remains one of the most influential voices in the City. At least Staley will have some fans among the Government, where he has helped by playing down the implications of Brexit and also pledging that only a few hundred or so of the bank\u2019s UK employees will transfer to Dublin to help build an HQ within the European Union.\n\nTim Steiner\n\nChief Executive, Ocado\n\nThe former bond trader for Goldman Sachs started Ocado 17 years ago with fellow Goldman colleagues and the online supermarket has been delivering Waitrose goods across the capital ever since. The business has finally started to turn profitable, delivers for Morrisons as well, and has even announced its long-awaited international supply deal with an as-yet unnamed overseas retailer. Ocado now pitches itself as a tech company and Amazon\u2019s purchase of Whole Foods has helped stimulate interest in it. The former banker looks set to hit a sweet spot.\n\nIan Taylor\n\nChief Executive, Vitol\n\nThe head of the world\u2019s largest independent oil trader may be facing difficult market conditions, but in March he revealed that the behemoth, run from his millionaire factory in Buckingham Palace Road, had a \u201csolid\u201d performance in 2016. The Royal Opera House chairman said crude and product volumes increased by 16 per cent.\n\nFrancesco Vanni D\u2019Archirafi\n\nCEO Citi Holdings\n\nThe German-born head of Citi\u2019s \u201cbad bank\u201d did such a good job managing zombie assets dating back to the financial crisis that it now makes a profit. The son of an Italian diplomat spent a peripatetic childhood in Rome, Madrid, Brussels and Buenos Aires. He has worked almost all his career at Citibank, joining in 1983 in New York and transferring to Lima in Peru the following year before taking on a series of more senior roles.\n\nNick Varney\n\nChief Executive, Merlin Entertainments\n\nBritain\u2019s biggest tourist operator, Varney is the chief executive of Merlin Entertainments which operates some of the world\u2019s most-famous attractions including Madame Tussauds and the London Eye. Varney is a considered and thoughtful voice over the Brexit challenge to tourism and has also won fans for this humble and swift action in the wake of the Smiler accident at Alton Towers, which exposed terrible health and safety failings.\n\nWillie Walsh\n\nChief Executive at International Airlines Group\n\nThe boss of British Airways owner IAG has faced down a cocktail of problems this year, from cabin crew strikes and IT meltdowns to Brexit threats and low-cost rivals. The 56-year-old Irishman \u2014 who once said he would retire at 55 \u2014 has come through it all intact, opening a new airline class, Level, to compete with budget rivals and bolstering his statesmanlike role in the industry by holding the chair at global airline body IATA.\n\nMike Wells\n\nChief Executive, Prudential\n\nThe man from the Pru is no longer an ageing English gent in a bowler hat knocking on your front door. Wells is a tall Canadian, now a US citizen, with Superman good looks. Now two years into the job, he rocked up to London from his beloved Nashville, where he\u2019d built up an enviable collection of rare guitars. Little wonder his son Jackson is now enjoying success as a singer-songwriter in China, where he sings the blues in Mandarin. If country and blues is not your thing, Wells can wax lyrical about everything from cattle (he still owns a ranch outside Nashville), to US politics (he\u2019s a conservative with a gun licence), or world travel.\n\nAlannah Weston\n\nDeputy Chairman at Selfridges\n\nThe Progress 1000, in partnership with Citi, and supported by Invisalign, is the Evening Standard\u2019s celebration of the people who make a difference to London life. #progress1000\n\nAs the guiding light behind Selfridges\u2019 Oxford Street flagship store, Weston has turned the building into a must-see for tourists and Londoners alike since she was named deputy chairman in 2014. The former Burberry press director was appointed as creative director of the Weston family department store in 2004, adding to her long-running connection with the brand. She is married to architect Alexander Cochrane. The couple have two daughters.\n\nMark Wilson\n\nChief Executive, Aviva\n\nThe rugby-loving New Zealand-born boss won high praise when Aviva was named Business of The Year at The Evening Standard Business Awards 2017. This firm is almost unrecognisable from the bedraggled insurer it was when he took over in January 2013. A textbook turnaround has been accomplished, with underperforming businesses sold, the structure simplified and core businesses strengthened. He is now looking to the firm\u2019s future, investing heavily in all things digital.\n\nStewart Wingate\n\nChief Executive, Gatwick Airport\n\nStewart Wingate has spent most of the last year making the case to give Gatwick a second runway. The chief executive of the UK\u2019s second-busiest airport is the public face of the airport\u2019s vocal campaign and backed up his argument after increasing the number of long-haul flights from the airport \u2014 beyond what Sir Howard Davies predicted it would have. Before running Gatwick, he was managing director of Stansted.\n\nBill Winters\n\nGroup Chief Executive, Standard Chartered\n\nThe Wall Street banker has spent much of the past two years trying to straighten out the pan-Asian bank and tighten up compliance and the job is certainly not over. There have been some small signs of progress following a restructuring of the bank\u2019s business model, but there\u2019s also lots of scepticism. Winters, who is something of a showman and is on the board of the Young Vic, favours a low-risk path to recovery but has made one significant decision. The bank\u2019s EU headquarters will locate in Frankfurt, post-Brexit, a move which will probably influence other chief executives facing a similar dilemma.\n\nSimon Wolfson\n\nChief Executive, Next\n\nThe Brexit-supporting chief executive of Next has had a tricky year in his retail empire as the company braces itself for rising prices, wage pressures and a slowdown in consumer spending. Online sales are faring better and rapidly becoming a big deal for the company and the closure of more physical stores seems inevitable. Next has not rediscovered its mojo in 2017 but Wolfson has laser-like scrutiny of the business and will not hesitate to make difficult decisions to win back the fickle British shopper.", "output": "Charles Dunstone, founder and executive chairman of TalkTalk, has been listed as one of the Evening Standard's Progress 1000 most influential people in London. Dunstone took the role of executive chairman after CEO Dido Harding left in February 2017. The businessman refocused the company's image and worked towards the low-cost style of sales the business was founded on, whilst also removing the dividend. However, the telecoms company is still reeling from the large-scale cyber attack it suffered in 2016.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Halo Top \u2018healthy\u2019 ice cream outsells Ben & Jerry\u2019s in US \n \u201cEveryone you love is gone. There is only ice-cream\u201d is the darkly humorous sign off used in a recent ad for fast-growing American ice-cream brand Halo Top.\n\nThe Black Mirror-style commercial, which ran in US cinemas before films including the horror flick It, features an elderly woman being force-fed ice-cream by a robot in some dystopian future.\n\nIt was directed by Mike Diva, who has built a YouTube following with his advertising parodies, and who typifies the offbeat digital marketing aimed at millennials that has helped turn Halo Top into serious competition for bestselling brands such as Magnum, Ben & Jerry\u2019s and H\u00e4agen-Dazs.\n\nThe somewhat noir US TV ad for Halo Top ice-cream.\n\nThe Los Angeles-based company was founded at the start of the decade by Justin Woolverton, a former lawyer who had a sweet tooth but was worried about sugar. So he bought a $20 ice-cream maker on Amazon and began trying to create healthier alternatives. \u201cIt was just something that I was making in my kitchen because I didn\u2019t like sugar,\u201d he told one interviewer about his Eureka moment.\n\nHalo Top ice-cream. Photograph: Halo Top\n\nWhile most ice-creams are a sugar and fat-laden treat, Halo Top bills itself as a \u201clow-calorie, high-protein and low-sugar\u201d alternative to mainstream brands, with flavours such as mochi green tea and rainbow swirls. Its recipe uses sugar substitute Stevia, which means a scoop of its Vanilla Ice contains 60 calories versus 250 in a similar sized dollop of H\u00e4agen-Dazs.\n\nReports in the US media have begun to question whether Halo Top is really as healthy as the marketing makes out, with some dieticians raising concerns about the use of artificial sweeteners.\n\nHalo Top is now stocked in supermarkets across America, with the company shifting nearly $50m (\u00a338m) worth of ice-cream in the US last year. Its sales accelerated in 2016 after GQ writer Shane Snow lived on Halo Top ice-cream for 10 days and the resulting article went viral.\n\n\n\nThe brand\u2019s rise has been propelled by social media: it has 590,000 followers on Instagram and more than 700,000 on Facebook.\n\nThe social media buzz helped Halo Top chalk up another milestone in the summer when industry data showed its pint pots were outselling Unilever\u2019s Ben & Jerry\u2019s and Nestl\u00e9\u2019s H\u00e4agen-Dazs in US grocery stores for the first time. Halo Top\u2019s parent company, LA-based Eden Creamery, is seizing the day with one recent report suggesting it is exploring a sale that could value the company at up to $2bn.", "output": "Halo Top, a Los Angeles-based ice cream company founded in 2011 which makes \u201clow-calorie, high-protein and low-sugar\u201d products, is providing serious competition to mainstream brands. A scoop of Halo Top\u2019s Vanilla Ice contains just 60 calories, compared to 250 in an equivalent scoop of H\u00e4agen-Dazs. The company sold almost $50m of ice cream in the US last year, with pint pots now outselling those by Ben & Jerry\u2019s and H\u00e4agen-Dazs. Parent company Eden Creamery is reputedly considering a sale, valuing the firm at up to $2bn. However, some dieticians have expressed concerns about the brand\u2019s use of artificial sweeteners.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Think tank NEF envisages driver-owned Uber rival for London \n Blog\n\nA driver-owned alternative to Uber is not wishful thinking \u2013 we\u2019re building it right now\n\nLast weekend, Jeremy Corbyn raised an intriguing possibility. \u200b\u201cImagine an Uber,\u201d he said, \u200b\u201crun co-operatively by their drivers, collectively controlling their futures, agreeing their own pay and conditions, with profits shared or re-invested.\u201d\n\nMany have since dismissed this idea as wishful thinking. First, there is Uber\u2019s undoubted popularity among its users \u2013 hundreds of thousands of people signed a petition protesting against Transport for London\u2019s decision not to renew Uber\u2019s licence. Then there is its market dominance, which only ever seems to intensify. How can any rival hope to compete in the increasingly monopolistic world of private hire?\n\nFinally there is the factor which underpins both its popularity and its dominance. And that\u2019s its price point. When Uber came on the scene, it undercut other taxi services by a huge margin. And it appeared to do so by spending vast amounts of venture capital in a bid to achieve global dominance of the market. Any co-operative, driver-owned alternative to Uber has to be competitive on price or it will never break through Uber\u2019s grip on the market. How can they do that without spending vast amounts of capital? Where would that money come from?\n\nWe believe a driver-owned alternative could genuinely compete with Uber on price and convenience, especially if supported by the Mayor of London.\n\nNone of these arguments holds water. At the New Economics Foundation we recently called for \u200b\u2018Khan\u2019s Cars\u2019, a mutually owned taxi platform for London which would give drivers real control over their working lives while still providing people with the cheap and convenient transport they need. We believe a driver-owned alternative could genuinely compete with Uber on price and convenience, especially if supported by the Mayor of London.\n\nIn fact, Uber isn\u2019t as cheap as it seems. The company\u2019s use of surge pricing, which inflates prices during periods of high demand, allows it to present cheaper prices at other times. Partly as a result of this, Uber makes a profit in the UK \u2013 suggesting the basic pricing model is financially viable without vast capital resources. So the gap to close isn\u2019t as wide as it may look at first glance.\n\nFurthermore, Uber takes between 20 \u2013 25% of the fares it charges. Khan\u2019s Cars could reduce that percentage since it will not have shareholders looking to extract profit.\n\nIf an alternative to Uber can compete on price and convenience, the prize is a taxi service which puts drivers in control of their working lives, with decent working conditions. And because it would not be motivated by the need to cut regulatory corners, it could offer improved safety for passengers.\n\nIt\u2019s an idea which is attracting more and more support. We are already working with drivers in Bradford and Leeds to set up their own taxi service platform. Now we want to bring that effort to London. We\u2019re working with drivers, tech companies, unions and civil society organisations to build the support and resources for a real alternative.\n\nUber is facing reputational problems not just in London, but all over the world. A co-operatively owned alternative would avoid that trap. As Uber struggles to stay on the right side of the law, perhaps the fanciful idea is not so much creating an alternative, but carrying on with the status quo.", "output": "A co-operatively owned taxi company, offering drivers better working conditions and operating in compliance with existing regulations could beat Uber at its own game, said Stefan Baskerville, a director at think tank New Economic Foundation's (NEF). NEF is working with taxi drivers in Leeds and Bradford to develop such a model that offers a secure and affordable service, and is taking the idea to London, where it aims to gain the backing of Mayor Sadiq Khan. Uber, which faces opposition in several global locations, recently lost its licence to operate in the UK capital."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Publisher Bleacher Report increases UK profile through instagram \n Bleacher Report is growing its U.K. presence on the back of its popular Bleacher Report Football Instagram account.\n\nBleacher Report Football, which has 667,000 followers, published 894 photos and videos on Instagram in April, according to NewsWhip data. In total, these generated 10.4 million engagements, a catch-all term NewsWhip uses for likes and comments. In September, the account posted just 39 more posts than in April, including a dozen carousels, but the engagements across these posts more than doubled to 26 million in total.\n\n\u201cInstagram we\u2019re the most excited about,\u201d said Lee Walker, global managing editor at Bleacher Report. \u201cAcross the board, it\u2019s the platform where we get the most engagement. It sums up our mantra of elevated storytelling through great visuals and design. We are seeing increased interest in Instagram for branded content from clients right now.\u201d The publisher was unwilling to share how much revenue this brings in, however.\n\nFor Nike in September, Bleacher Report Football created animated Instagram videos highlighting key moments from players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Leroy San\u00e9 and Robert Lewandowski. One post featuring Ronaldo had 23,000 engagements, according to NewsWhip; for comparison, its most popular editorial post on Instagram in September received 62,000 engagements. Bleacher Report Football has also run campaigns for Adidas, offering brands guaranteed views on Instagram.\n\n\u201cWe see Instagram as a perfect way for some of our brand partners to connect with our fans,\u201d said Walker. \u201cThere is a lot of potential here on both the revenue and audience side.\u201d\n\nThis month, Bleacher Report appointed Gideon Reeves, formerly at 90min and Eurosport, to the newly created role of international commercial director in the U.K. to accelerate commercial opportunities in the U.K. and Europe. In total, the U.K. outfit is 32 people, with three in sales roles; the rest are editors, mobile and video specialists, social media editors and designers.\n\nBleacher Report Football\u2019s content falls outside the commodity of scores and highlights, tapping into culture beyond sports, like film, TV, music and fashion. This makes the content more relevant and shareable, said Walker. Bleacher Report takes a distributed approach to content rather than using platforms to drive users back to its site. Its social team of 14 people, who work across platforms, publishes 30 pieces of content on Instagram a day. Instagram content is often video or animations with graphics and stop motion, like one putting football players into scenes from \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d.\n\nThe publisher said its engagement rate on Instagram \u2014 the number of likes and comments divided by follower count \u2014 is 4.3 percent in 2017, nearly five times that of competitors. Bleacher Report Football has 670,000 followers; in comparison, BBC Sport, whose coverage is broader, has under 1 million followers, and football site Goal\u2019s global account has 1.8 million followers.\n\nBleacher Report is not alone in its Instagram high: NewsWhip analysts said they have seen engagement grow significantly across the board for publishers. It\u2019s hard to pinpoint why, but the platform\u2019s increase in users \u2014 it doubled monthly active users to 800 million in two years \u2014 plays a role. Publishers like millennial women-focused site Bustle is doing four times as many branded-content deals a month on Instagram versus a year ago, but in general, making money from platforms like Instagram outside of branded content is a struggle.\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s clear is that [Bleacher Report] is investing heavily in content specifically for social platforms, which is different to other sports networks,\u201d said Katie Manor, head of paid social at MediaCom. She added that the publisher\u2019s decision to rename its social media handles to \u201cBleacher Report Football\u201d in March to reflect a focus on the sport, plus expand football beyond the U.K. in the vast category of sports publishing was a shrewd move. \u201cThis gives them a lot more opportunity to own the space and have an authoritative voice on their subject matter,\u201d she said.\n\nWalker will outline how Bleacher Report engages its audience in Berlin next week at Digiday\u2019s Publishing Summit Europe.\n\nImages courtesy of Bleacher Report U.K. via Instagram", "output": "Sports publisher the Bleacher Report has increased its profile in the UK through its Bleacher Report Football Instagram account, which generated 10.4m likes and comments from its 667,000 followers in April. Interest in branded content from advertisers has grown significantly, driven by visual campaigns such as Nike\u2019s animated highlights reel from footballers. The publisher has said its 2017 engagement rate is 4.3%, almost five times that of competitors BBC Sport and Goal. Bleacher Report has appointed Gideon Reeves in the new role of international commercial director in the U.K to continue driving growth."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lyft receives $1bn investment from Google-led consortium \n Last month, we reported on rumors that Alphabet, Google's parent company, was considering investing in Lyft. Now, Lyft has announced that CapitalG, which is Alphabet's growth investment fund, is leading a $1 billion financing round in the car-sharing company. This brings Lyft's total valuation to $11 billion.\n\nAlphabet's interest in Lyft isn't that surprising, if you think about it. It's already clear that Alphabet is interested in self-driving cars, as the company owns Waymo. And back in May, Waymo and Lyft announced the two companies would work together on self-driving cars. Following that, Lyft announced it would develop its own autonomous driving technology, stating that it was \"core\" to its business. Of course, Alphabet could be hedging another bet, since its sister company Google Ventures is a large early investor in Uber to the tune of $258 million in 2013, as well as the failed rival service Sidecar.\n\nAs Uber has been plagued by woe after woe of its own making, Lyft has been quietly rising as an increasingly used alternative. This round of funding may help put the company on equal footing as Uber's rival, rather than constantly being thought of as a second-place finisher.", "output": "Ride-hailing service Lyft has secured $1bn in funding, in a round led by CapitalG, the growth investment fund of Google parent Alphabet. Earlier this year, Lyft announced a collaboration with Alphabet's self-driving outfit Waymo. This latest cash injection could put Lyft on a par with beleaguered rival Uber, which enjoyed early backing from Google Ventures, according to insiders."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Musicians look to terrorism insurance following recent attacks \n There\u2019s been a high demand for terrorism insurance in the wake of the Las Vegas massacre \u2014 with artists from all music genres reportedly looking to invest in policies for their concerts.\n\n\u201cNow more than ever they are targets,\u201d explained Steves Rodriguez, business manager for the all-girl pop group, Fifth Harmony.\n\nSpeaking to The Hollywood Reporter this week, he and other managers described how musicians were taking out terrorism insurance policies now \u2014 more than ever before \u2014 following the deadly mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest festival on Oct. 1.\n\n\u201cNot everybody believes it\u2019s necessary,\u201d said business manager Bill Tannenbaum, who specializes in representing touring artists.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m pretty vocal about taking it with my clients, and luckily we had it with Ariana Grande.\u201d\n\nThe \u201cInto You\u201d singer was forced to cancel multiple stops on her world tour back in May after a suicide bomber blew himself up at the Manchester Arena where she was performing. Twenty-two people were killed in the attack and hundreds more injured.\n\nThe incident, coupled with the Vegas massacre and similar terror strikes \u2014 such as the Bataclan nightclub in Paris during an Eagles of Death Metal concert \u2014 has ultimately prompted artists to buy the insurance policies, which up until now, have been viewed by many as being too expensive.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s usually a battle with the artist to buy it,\u201d said Dina LaPolt, lawyer for singers Britney Spears and Steven Tyler.\n\n\u201cIf you get paid a million dollars, all of your tour costs come out of that million,\u201d she said. \u201cSo every penny counts.\u201d\n\nWhile standard nonperformance insurance policies typically cost about 2 percent of the artist\u2019s guarantee \u2014 and pay a claim of around 80 percent of appearance fees if a concert is canceled \u2014 a political violence and terrorism policy will usually run them an extra half-percent more, THR reports.\n\nOnce a musician purchases the PVT insurance, they will be able to obtain their claim in the event that an unexpected crisis arises, or if there\u2019s even the threat of an attack.\n\n\u201cThe way [policies had] been written previously is, the threat had to be related to the venue,\u201d explained John Tomlinson, head of the world\u2019s largest privately owned, independent insurance brokerage firm, Lockton Companies.\n\n\u201cWe have expanded that language to include threats made to bandmembers.\u201d\n\nIn addition, terrorism insurance policies may also cover a concert or show that is affected by an attack or threat that takes place around the same time or within a 50-mile radius of the venue.\n\n\u201cIf it\u2019s a big tour and you\u2019re a high-profile artist and you gather tens of thousands of people per show, you have to have it,\u201d LaPolt said.\n\n\u201cOrange Is the New Black\u201d creator Jenji Kohan, who recently took out a terror policy on her office building, added: \u201cYou\u2019re always going to do something that someone doesn\u2019t like\u2026And you don\u2019t know how crazy that someone is going to be.\u201d", "output": "An increasing number of musicians and performers are looking to purchase terrorism insurance coverage following disruption of popular concerts by recent attacks. Such policies would cover artists in the event of terror-linked cancellations. Bloodshed at concerts in Las Vegas, Paris and Manchester have prompted more musicians to mull\u00a0policies they may have\u00a0considered\u00a0too expensive in the past.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Magic Leap seeks another $1bn, with no product yet released \n Magic leap has been touted as the future of augmented reality (AR). By superimposing advanced images into your \"normal\" field of vision, it has been adored and supported by many for it's promised \"magic\" quality.\n\nIt might become even more \"magical\" if it receives the $1-billion investment that the company is reportedly raising. Investors in this most recent development haven't been named, but previous investors like Google, Alibaba, and Qualcomm have helped to support the technology thus far.\n\nThis call for increased investment, which would put Magic Leap at $6.5 billion in valuation if this recent investment is solidified, is happening in advance of \"Magic Leap One\" \u2014 the company's highly-anticipated initial device. So far, no one really knows any specifics about the device, but many have made exciting claims of its ability to incorporate virtual imagery with vision. But it is possible, despite such hefty investments and impressive claims, that the hype will outweigh the final product. Hopefully, this is not the case. Consumers, and likely the high-level investors, anxiously anticipate the tech and hope that the billions of dollars used in support of its development will allow for the creation of a truly game-changing technology.", "output": "Augmented reality start-up Magic Leap is reported to be raising $1bn in investment for its technology, which has yet to be released into the market. The company\u2019s initial Magic Leap One device superimposes images into users\u2019 field of vision. Investors thus far have included Google, Qualcomm and Alibaba, with the company likely to be valued at $6.5bn if the financing goes ahead. The specifics of the device have yet to be unveiled.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurance consultant mulls data for coverage exchange \n On the way to visit a customer recently, I heard a feature on the radio that made me stop and think. The feature was about a fitness chain that was about to open the world's largest gym in Germany. The difference was the membership model. Instead of a monthly membership fee, users would pay with data.\n\nAs an employee of a data analysis software producer, this raised a lot of questions in my mind: How would it work? What about privacy? How does this change visits to the gym? What are my data worth and what will happen to the data? How does the chain refinance through my data?\n\nThe radio feature answered most of my questions. The chain was not planning to resell personal data. Training results and evaluations of health records can already be used commercially, for example through targeted personalized advertising in the gym or at advertising events. These data are of course also of interest to other companies, such as health insurers or employers, for example. They use it to see if a customer or employee is actively doing anything to improve their health.\n\nSome insurance companies already use this kind of data, such as Assicurazioni Generali, the insurance company. It rewards healthy living with discounts on risk insurance or occupational disability insurance using a telematics tariff. This simply means that the customer has to pass data to the insurer through fitness trackers or smartphones.\n\nI asked myself whether I personally would sign up to that kind of membership to be able to visit the gym. I found I was still skeptical, but I was not really sure why. After all, I already know that I give away a great deal of data without much thought to companies like Google, Facebook, and WhatsApp. Was I skeptical because this new contract would put a price on my data in the real world?\n\nTransforming business\n\nTech companies have managed to gather a lot of knowledge about users through the collection of data, and this has enabled them to implement a variety of offers. Google, for example, has transformed itself from a pure search engine provider into a much-used platform provider. This, in turn, collects even more data and generates more knowledge about its users. Amazon is similar. Originally an online bookshop, we now use Amazon for much more. We regularly buy at the world\u2018s largest mail order company and, as a matter of course, we store data in the Amazon cloud or use the integrated music and video portal as Prime customers. Some of Amazon\u2018s own productions have already acquired cult status. Based on its market power, Amazon is even considering an entry into the insurance industry.\n\nInsurance cover given in return for data? Would it work? Insurers are already offering customers more services and tariff options \u2014 some even in non-insurance segments \u2014 and want to differentiate themselves from the competition, offer customers value and improve their own position. This might be through an app to improve home safety, a discount for prudent driving, the option to manage all private contracts (including outsourcing) on \u200b\u200bmy insurer's portal, or the option to purchase cloud storage via insurance.\n\nIn other words, paying for insurance in data may only be extending an existing trend. But would it really be conceivable? What would it be like?\n\nLet's do a thought experiment\n\nAt the very least, payment in data rather than Euros would attract the attention of potential new customers. So as not to lose these immediately because of a complicated application process with a lot of questions to enable risk assessment, it would be good to keep the application process short and simple. This would probably mean a uniform price as much as possible. InsurTech start-ups have already shown us what this might look like.\n\nInsurance companies have a long tradition in the use of analytical methods. Where does the insurance industry stand in terms of modern analytics and artificial intelligence? This is what our industry experts found out in personal talks with insurers from all over Europe. Read the survey results.\n\nAs the contract continues, we will have enough information about our customers through the data they provide. We would probably prefer to form a single large insured collective than a lot of small ones. As a positive side effect, criticism about discrimination would be reduced. To ensure that the data gives enough value to cover future claims and losses, we would need to reduce closing and administrative expenses as much as possible. The product should therefore be a pure online product, which the customer can complete and manage themselves without much support. If any help is necessary, we could use chatbots as a first level response, and employees where necessary.\n\nWe would also have to consider what data we would like from customers, and what we would do with the data. Obviously we would want information that would provide us with sustainable, risk-bearing and monetizable knowledge, increase customer loyalty, and perhaps even enable us to create a gamification factor. Possible data sources could be fitness bracelets or other wearables, connected cars, smartphones, smarthomes or any other sensor connected to the IoT, especially if it could supply real-time data. Real-time data streaming is particularly interesting when we want to generate value in real-time, such as offer an additional service or product.\n\nHow to monetize data?\n\nFinally, the most important question: How do I make money from the data and the associated additional knowledge? There are no limits to the imagination, but with the appropriate opt-ins and good legal advice about data protection law, most things should be feasible. From additional paid service offerings, through advertising and cross-selling, to cooperation, many options are conceivable. Whether this is in the end actually enough to justify offering insurance cover just for data, I cannot judge.\n\nWhat do you think? Would you take up that type of insurance? What would you do with the data as an insurer? I look forward to your comments.", "output": "Insurance companies in the future may be able to offer coverage in exchange for policyholders' data rather than cash premiums, according insurance consultant Michael Rabin. The concept would depend on an insurer's ability to monetise the collection of data, as well as to streamline\u00a0the administrative process of buying insurance. Wearables and other connected devices, such as home monitoring devices or smartphones, could be used as data sources.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Niche tokens seen helping to define and identify consumers \n I am mining bitcoin and getting a bunch of it every day, so now what? That is the question some of the people probably asked themselves when they got acquainted with bitcoin in its infancy. We know exactly what happened with the finances of those who stuck with it a few years down the line. However, we tend to focus too much on that side of the cryptocurrency revolution while we gloss over a more fundamental change in the way economic ecosystems will emerge in the 21st century. It took years for the earliest bitcoin adopters to be able to spend their coins on a variety of products and services. Once bitcoin gained wider acceptance, the amount of goods and services that were available to bitcoin users, including those specially designed or engineered for bitcoin users, expanded tremendously. The same can happen now with niche coins such as eSports\u2019 ERT.\n\nThe Kind of Tokens You Hold, Represent the Kind of Consumer You Are!\n\nAlthough bitcoin is still the most dominant coin, a plethora of niche coins have emerged in the market, creating sub-economies within the cryptocurrency ecosystem. eSports\u2019 ERT is a great example of how it is possible to develop such a niche coin that can become the pillar of an emerging industry. The advantage now is that after the advent of the bitcoin economy, it will take ERT a fraction of the time to develop an economy around it. This is due to the fact that it was designed with a specific set of goals in mind, and it plays a specific role within cryptocurrency markets. In a sense, any ERT holder, will automatically be identified with the gaming industry, pushing the notion that the tokens you hold say a lot about what kind of consumer you are. This will trigger the next stage of evolution within the cryptocurrency sphere.\n\nThe Relevance of Consumer Identity and Cryptocurrency\n\nThis evolution in consumer identity will generate economic efficiencies. Lower transaction times and costs were the kind of efficiencies that bitcoin brought to the market. With niche coins and custom tokens that can become one of the pillars of an industry such as eSports, it will be possible to achieve interesting economies of scale and an unprecedented level of integration between different actors within the industry. This will create a whole new set of efficiencies. If a token such as the ERT allows specific customers that are identified with the gaming industry, to get better deals and bespoke products and services, then the economy will enter a whole new era by going deeper down the cryptocurrency rabbit hole. Imagine the following:\n\nGamers start buying gaming related products with ERT tokens, such as gaming PCs, or perhaps special mice and keyboards.\n\nThe producer of these goods will have an incentive to market and retail within the eSports platform, which will allow them to spend less on marketing and distribution efforts through other platforms.\n\nBuyers will become a consumer cluster, which will allow companies to sell at lower prices while keeping their margins higher.\n\nThis will jump start a small economy centered around the gaming industry, with the ERT and eSports playing a central role.\n\nPrecise Economies and eSports\n\nThis is not at all different from the economy that bitcoin created. New service providers, and innovative companies producing highly specialized goods and services for the bitcoin economy sprung eventually. Service providers such as cryptocurrency exchanges, wallets, hardware wallets and even artists, owe their livelihood to the bitcoin economy. The ERT token and eSports can do the same for gamers and for the gaming industry, while it gives consumers advantages that they wouldn\u2019t have had otherwise.\n\nOnce gamers acquire ERT tokens and the gaming economy starts developing around this new niche coin, just as other economies develop around other niche coins, the cryptocurrency ecosystem will advance further into the realm of precise economies. Within these, a myriad of new services will develop, mounted on platforms such as eSports. The shift will be evident in consumer behavior, because cryptocurrency users will no longer ask themselves what they can do with this new coin. They will start asking which coin will be the best to have to acquire the products and services they are looking for.\n\nYou love crypto & eSports? We want to get to know you.\n\nPlease join us here: https://facebook.com/esportsdotcom/\n\nTelegram: t.me/esportsERT", "output": "Companies and organisations that issue their own digital currencies, or tokens, have the opportunity to personalise consumers like never before, giving a boost to the gaming and cryptocurrency industries, according to esports.com. The company said its ERT token, for instance, would allow it to offer specific deals and bespoke products to holders, incentivising demand for the currency and creating a new commercial ecosystem for marketers.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snapchat's Placed and Snap Map help deliver 73%\u00a0rise in ad spend \n Colm is the editor of MarketingTech, with a mission to bring the most important developments in technology to both businesses and consumers.\n\nA number of new offline features introduced by Snapchat have added value to advertisers, and led to the company having a mammoth Q3 2017.\n\nAccording to data science and media technology firm 4C Insights, the social media company\u2019s ad spend rocketed up by 73%. Instagram, which also implemented new features, saw its ad spend up 55% in the third quarter of the year.\n\n4C analysed around $250 million in media spend from over 1,000 brands managed through its platform. Across the broad, there was a 31% increase in media spend on the major social media platforms.\n\nSo, what made Snapchat\u2019s performance so extraordinary?\n\nThe company brought in a range of features that help advertisers better understand how consumers shop. Features like Snap Map, which allows users to share their location and see where their friends are, and geofilters, where people can add geographical information to their posts, are a hit with advertisers.\n\nOf particular interest, though, is the ability to track users as they go into stores with \u2018Placed\u2019, which helps retailers understand how Snap Ads are actually affecting real-world business.\n\nFor Instagram, it is Stories that is driving ad spend growth. The feature has generated 220% year-on-year spend growth for the company.\n\n\"Vertical video provides brands with a full-scale canvas to test creative,\u201d Emily Kramer, Senior Director, Media Services at Merkle said.\n\n\u201cAudience-driven optimisation becomes low-risk and high-reward, with lots of opportunity to scale learning across the media mix\u201d,\n\nThe rise of integrated video\n\nFacebook saw ad spend grow 27%. This was mainly driven by the platform\u2019s detailed targeting and measurement capabilities, but also its growing video capability.\n\nVideo content is rising across many of the social media platforms, with Facebook watch, Snapchat\u2019s Show and Twitter\u2019s 24/7 all allowing users to watch video content on their chosen platform.\n\nLouis Guerrero, Supervisor, Social Media, Havas Media Group, said:\n\n\u201cTwitter is pushing aggressively into the video space in efforts to keep themselves top of mind when promoting any video assets. Twitter\u2019s Pre-roll placements and partnerships with television shows are emerging opportunities for brands.\u201d\n\nTwitter ad spend grew 26% driven in particular by the travel industry, whose spend soared by 250%.\n\nIt is likely that video will continue to be an area of technological and revenue growth for social media companies.\n\n\u201cUnderstanding visual content through Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will add a new level of consumer understanding and help brands be more relevant at the right time and place,\u201d Aaron Goldman, CMO at 4C Insights said.", "output": "The major social media platforms enjoyed an overall uptick in ad spend during Q3 2017 of almost one-third, but Snapchat was the clear winner in the quarter, with a rise of 73%, according to a survey from 4C Insights. It cited Snapchat's Placed and Snap Map features as big attractions for advertisers, and noted Instagram's Stories helped drive up its ad spend by 55%. Meanwhile, Twitter's Q3 results rose by more than a quarter, thanks to the travel industry, which upped its spend on the site by 250%, while ad spend on Facebook increased by 27%."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gibraltar leads way in regulation of distributed ledger practices \n Global cryptocurrency markets are in constant states of shock and change, as large superpowers like China, Russia and South Korea each seek to change the apparent stance they have.\n\nAt this tumultuous time, however, it is the small nation of Gibraltar that has stepped forward as the first to provide a complete regulatory framework in which DLT firms can operate. Digital Ledger Technology, upon which blockchain is based, lends itself to a whole host of new financial challenges when it comes to regulation. As the evolution of blockchain technology is very recent and constantly changing, it is hard for current financial institutions to adjust, and many nations are unsure of how to properly introduce legislation.\n\nInstead, many larger powers are turning to banning the use of cryptocurrencies rather than find a way to incorporate them. Without proper regulation in place, it becomes difficult for firms to operate, either because they are ousted by firms operating illegally, or that they are simply unable to identify legal grey areas. BTC-e is a prime example of a company who was able to operate illegally for six years and become responsible for more than $4 billion in laundered money. As a part of the regulation, the government has introduced nine governing principles by which all DLT firms must operate.\n\nExamples of these include the need to ensure effective protocol to prevent money laundering, have solvency plans to protect against customer losses, and an overall understanding that a need to protect customer assets is vital. As such steps are still very recent, all new firms will be reviewed and prepared on their protocol on a case-by-case basis. Gibraltar hopes that these steps will create a safe zone in which innovative firms can operate. In fact, to further encourage adoption of blockchain technology in startups, the government is set to introduce an \u201cInnovate and Create Team\u201d. This team will be responsible for discussing new business opportunities and offering support in establishing themselves in the marketplace.", "output": "The tiny British Mediterranean outpost of Gibraltar has become the first territory to provide a regulatory framework covering distributed ledger technology (DLT). Its nine-point governing principles, applicable to all DLT companies, enshrine such practices as protecting against customer losses with mandatory solvency plans and implementation of measures to prevent money laundering. Gibraltar, which has embraced blockchain and digital currencies, is positioning itself as a hub for the technology.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Precision medicine boosted by gene sequencing improvements \n Genomic sequencing has come a long way in a short time, and its potential to drive even faster innovations in precision medicine is enormous.\n\nTo capitalize on that opportunity, however, health systems need data \u2013 lots of it, from all sorts of people. Kaiser Permanente has been building a biobank with genomic data and other health information from hundreds of thousands of patients from across its eight regions, and Nazneen Aziz, says it's already helping clinicians unlock insights into complex genetic challenges.\n\nAziz, executive director of Kaiser Permanente Research Bank, spoke during a HIMSS Learning Center webinar this past week, explaining the ways biobanks, with their data linked to electronic health record systems, are helping drive research discoveries at Kaiser and providing an opportunity for other health systems to collaborate.\n\nA key catalyst for this innovation, of course, is the arrival of next-generation sequencing, which Aziz calls \"the enabler of genomic medicine as it is today.\"\n\nThe Human Genome Project paved the way, and it seems hard to imagine a time, 13 years ago, when it cost $3 billion \"just to get one human genome fully sequenced,\" she said. \"Now, with next-generation sequencing, we're able to sequence individual genomes for under $1,000, and it's now come into the clinical realm.\"\n\nNext-gen sequencing is \"enabling large-scale scale sequencing very rapidly,\" said Aziz. And even in a U.S. healthcare system notoriously slow to adapt to change, it's being adopted fairly quickly, generating large volumes of increasingly complexity, from gene panels to whole exomes to whole genomes.\n\nA challenge, however, is that \"there is a big knowledge gap in clinical genomics,\" she said. \"We know there are about 20,000 protein coding genes, and for about 5,000 of these genes we know their function \u2014 but we don't know the function of another 15,000 or so.\"\n\nThat, said Aziz, is \"where population biobanks are critical.\"\n\nMore data from more people with more genomic profiles is essential if clinical researchers are going to be able to solve the mysteries \u2014 of which there are still many \u2014 of how genetics contribute to disease.\n\nFor instance, \"we know that there are only about 667 validated drug targets,\" said Aziz. \"And we know there are about 4,000 monogenic diseases, caused by mutation in a single gene.\"\n\nBut \"while interpretation of protein-coding parts of the genome is somewhat mature, we still don't know how to interpret the parts that are in-between genes,\" she said. \"Interpreting other parts of the genome is still in its infancy.\"\n\nAnd recent years, for example, have revealed the importance of the intergenic region, DNA sequences between genes, which had previously been discounted or overlooked.\n\nIndeed, the workings of monogenic diseases, caused by modifications in a single gene, such as sickle cell anemia or cystic fibrosis, versus complex or multi-genetic diseases (diabetes, obesity), which often develop in tandem with environmental or lifestyle factors, can be \"hard for even physicians to understand sometimes,\" she said.\n\nBut the bigger and more diverse the data trove researchers can work with, the easier it is for them to arrive at genomic insights and develop new treatment strategies.\n\nThere are many biobanks around, the world, from the VA's Million Veteran Program, currently the largest in the world, to other large troves in the UK, China, Taiwan and Japan. But many biobanks are located at hospitals and health systems \u2013 not just at Kaiser Permanente, but Mayo Clinic, Geisinger Health System and more.\n\n\"Many hospitals are starting to do their own collection,\" said Aziz. \"Now that the technology to sequence large numbers of patients has become so affordable and high-throughput, you are now able to connect the genomic sequence to the electronic health record and make great advances in understanding many diseases \u2013 not just the common ones, but also the rare ones.\"\n\nCurrently, Kaiser Permanente Research Bank is the second largest biobank in the U.S. (and the largest non-governmental biobank).\n\n\"About 5 percent of people in any healthcare system will be diagnosed to carry one or more of what are called clinically actionable diseases, meaning something can be done about their genetic variant and disease condition,\" said Aziz.\n\nMany people have a genetic disease that has not been diagnosed and is not being managed properly because even the doctors don't know it's there.\n\n\"Through our biobank participant sequencing,\" she said, \"we are able to identify the ones who have these undiagnosed disease and return it to the patient and the clinical care delivery site so it can be managed right.\"\n\nAziz said the biobank program is open for collaboration with other healthcare institutions. You can learn more at the HIMSS Learning Center webinar: How Genomic Data Banks Are Enabling Progress in Precision Medicine.\n\n", "output": "The latest generation of gene sequencers is driving innovation in precision medicine, according to Nazneen Aziz, executive director of Kaiser Permanente Research Bank. While the sector has come a long way, especially in the connecting of genomic data to electronic health records, Aziz believes that there is still much to be done, saying: \"the interpretation of protein-coding parts of the genome is somewhat mature, but we still don't know how to interpret the parts that are in-between genes\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Humans under threat as pollution said to kill 9 million annually \n Pollution kills at least nine million people and costs trillions of dollars every year, according to the most comprehensive global analysis to date, which warns the crisis \u201cthreatens the continuing survival of human societies\u201d.\n\nToxic air, water, soils and workplaces are responsible for the diseases that kill one in every six people around the world, the landmark report found, and the true total could be millions higher because the impact of many pollutants are poorly understood. The deaths attributed to pollution are triple those from Aids, malaria and tuberculosis combined.\n\nThe vast majority of the pollution deaths occur in poorer nations and in some, such as India, Chad and Madagascar, pollution causes a quarter of all deaths. The international researchers said this burden is a hugely expensive drag on developing economies.\n\nRich nations still have work to do to tackle pollution: the US and Japan are in the top 10 for deaths from \u201cmodern\u201d forms of pollution, ie fossil fuel-related air pollution and chemical pollution. But the scientists said that the big improvements that have been made in developed nations in recent decades show that beating pollution is a winnable battle if there is the political will.\n\n\u201cPollution is one of the great existential challenges of the [human-dominated] Anthropocene era,\u201d concluded the authors of the Commission on Pollution and Health, published in the Lancet on Friday. \u201cPollution endangers the stability of the Earth\u2019s support systems and threatens the continuing survival of human societies.\u201d\n\nProf Philip Landrigan, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, US, who co-led the commission, said: \u201cWe fear that with nine million deaths a year, we are pushing the envelope on the amount of pollution the Earth can carry.\u201d For example, he said, air pollution deaths in south-east Asia are on track to double by 2050.\n\nLandrigan said the scale of deaths from pollution had surprised the researchers and that two other \u201creal shockers\u201d stood out. First was how quickly modern pollution deaths were rising, while \u201ctraditional\u201d pollution deaths \u2013 from contaminated water and wood cooking fires \u2013 were falling as development work bears fruit.\n\n\u201cSecondly, we hadn\u2019t really got our minds around how much pollution is not counted in the present tally,\u201d he said. \u201cThe current figure of nine million is almost certainly an underestimate, probably by several million.\u201d\n\nThis is because scientists are still discovering links between pollution and ill health, such as the connection between air pollution and dementia, diabetes and kidney disease. Furthermore, lack of data on many toxic metals and chemicals could not be included in the new analysis.\n\nThe researchers estimated the welfare losses from pollution at $4.6tn a year, equivalent to more than 6% of global GDP. \u201cThose costs are so massive they can drag down the economy of countries that are trying to get ahead,\u201d said Landrigan. \u201cWe always hear \u2018we can\u2019t afford to clean up pollution\u2019 \u2013 I say we can\u2019t afford not to clean it up.\u201d\n\nChildren with respiratory diseases receive treatment at a hospital in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China. Photograph: China Daily/Reuters\n\nThe commission report combined data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and elsewhere and found air pollution was the biggest killer, leading to heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and other illnesses. Outdoor air pollution, largely from vehicles and industry, caused 4.5m deaths a year and indoor air pollution, from wood and dung stoves, caused 2.9m.\n\nThe next biggest killer was pollution of water, often with sewage, which is linked to 1.8m deaths as a result of gastrointestinal diseases and parasitic infections. Workplace pollution, including exposure to toxins, carcinogens and secondhand tobacco smoke, resulted in 800,000 deaths from diseases including pneumoconiosis in coal workers and bladder cancer in dye workers. Lead pollution, the one metal for which some data is available, was linked to 500,000 deaths a year.\n\nLow-income and rapidly industrialising countries are worst affected, suffering 92% of pollution-related deaths, with Somalia suffering the highest rate of pollution deaths. India, where both traditional and modern pollution are severe, has by far the largest number of pollution deaths at 2.5m. China is second with 1.8m and Russia and the US are also in the top 10.\n\nIn terms of workplace-pollution related deaths, the UK, Japan and Germany all appear in the top 10. The report was produced by more than 40 researchers from governments and universities across the globe and was funded by the UN, the EU and the US.\n\n\u201cThis is an immensely important piece of work highlighting the impact that environmental pollution has on death and disease,\u201d said Dr Maria Neira, the WHO director of public health and the environment. \u201cThis is an unacceptable loss of lives and human development potential.\u201d\n\nA villager crosses a canal carrying highly toxic water contaminated with lead and other mining byproducts through the neighborhood of Chowa in Kabwe, Zambia. Photograph: Larry C Price/The Guardian\n\nThe editor-in-chief of the Lancet, Dr Richard Horton, and the executive editor, Dr Pamela Das, said: \u201cNo country is unaffected by pollution. Human activities, including industrialisation, urbanisation, and globalisation, are all drivers of pollution. We hope the commission findings will persuade leaders at the national, state, provincial and city levels to make pollution a priority. Current and future generations deserve a pollution-free world.\u201d\n\nRichard Fuller at Pure Earth, an international pollution clean-up charity and co-lead of the commission, said: \u201cPollution can be eliminated and pollution prevention can be highly cost-effective, helping to improve health and extend lifespan, while boosting the economy.\u201d Since the US clean air act was introduced in 1970, levels of the six major pollutants have fallen by 70% while GDP has gone up by 250%, said Landrigan: \u201cThat puts the lie to the argument that pollution control kills jobs and stifles the economy.\u201d\n\nGina McCarthy, former head of the US Environmental Protection Agency, criticised the rollback of pollution controls under the Trump administration: \u201cNow is not the time to go backwards in the US,\u201d she said. \u201cEnvironmental protection and a strong economy go hand in hand. We also need to help other countries, not only for the benefit it will bring them, but because pollution knows no boundaries.\u201d\n\nRolling out new regulations, ending subsidies for polluting industries and deploying technology like smokestack filters could tackle pollution, the researchers said. But more research on the impact of pollution is also urgently required, said Fuller: \u201cAvailable data does not include lead\u2019s impact from toxic sites like Flint, in Michigan, US, or Kabwe, Zambia. Yet these populations experience enormous health impacts.\u201d\n\nLandrigan said his biggest concern was the unknown impact of the hundreds of industrial chemicals and pesticides already widely dispersed around the world: \u201cI worry we have created a situation where people are exposed to chemicals that are eroding intelligence or impairing reproduction or weakening their immune system, but we have not yet been smart enough to make the connection between the exposure and the outcome, because it is subtle.\u201d On Wednesday, a horrific plunge in the abundance of vital insects was reported, with pesticides a possible cause.\n\n\u201cPollution has not received nearly as much attention as climate change, or Aids or malaria \u2013 it is the most underrated health problem in the world,\u201d he said.", "output": "At least nine million people die each year as a result of pollution, threatening the \"survival of human societies\", according to the fullest global analysis of the problem so far. The study commissioned by The Lancet\u00a0said that\u00a0one\u00a0in six people across the globe dies from diseases caused\u00a0by toxic air, soil, water and workplaces --\u00a0triple the mortality rate of\u00a0Aids, malaria and tuberculosis combined. The true number of deaths could also be far higher, given that the effects of many pollutants remain poorly understood. Treatment of\u00a0illnesses and other costs linked to pollution run into trillions of dollars each year, the study found."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bosch-led internet of things incubator joins IOTA to\u00a0promote DLT \n Our goal is to increase the adoption of Distributed Ledger Technology throughout the Midwest region as IoT solutions and business models continue to grow.\n\nOn October 17, 2017, the Chicago Connectory, an Internet of Things (IoT) innovation space founded by Bosch and 1871, launched their new partnership with the IOTA Foundation. The IOTA Foundation is a not-for profit organization that aims to catalyze the adoption of Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) to provide more transparency, security and efficiency for IoT solutions.\n\nBosch is a leading global supplier of technology and services and brings extensive experience in all three levels of the Internet of Things (IoT) with sensor technology, software and services, and also its own IoT cloud. This makes the company a one-stop shop for IoT in areas that include mobility and transportation, connected energy and smart cities, connected homes and smart buildings as well as connected manufacturing.\n\n\u201cThere is great potential through Distributed Ledger Technologies to make each IoT project more secure, efficient and provide increased transparency to consumers of IoT solutions,\u201d says Dennis Boecker, Bosch IT global innovation lead and responsible for the Chicago Connectory. \u201cOur goal is to increase the adoption of Distributed Ledger Technology throughout the Midwest region as IoT solutions and business models continue to grow.\u201d\n\n\u201cIOTA and Bosch have been in dialog about the convergence between the Internet-of-Things and IOTA's Distributed Ledger Technology since late 2015 and built up a strong relationship,\u201d says David S\u00f8nsteb\u00f8, founder of the IOTA Foundation. \u201cOur official collaboration on this laboratory for exploring this overlap cements both entities' goal of enabling an open and secure IoT ecosystem.\u201d\n\nBosch and IOTA have already been working successfully together as partners in the Trusted IoT Alliance (TIOTA) of which they are also founding members. The Chicago Connectory, being founded by Bosch, benefits from the existing partnership and allows for an extension of the existing activities.\n\nThe main product of the IOTA Foundation to date is the IOTA Tangle, an open source Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) that goes beyond blockchain. The IOTA Tangle resolves the scalability challenges of existing blockchain technologies and makes it possible to transfer value without transaction fees. IOTA is uniquely suited for business model innovation in the emerging Machine-to-Machine (M2M) economy.\n\nIOTA has a strong ecosystem, which is one of the largest in the DLT community. Corporations, startups and independent developers are utilizing the technology to create new applications in a diverse number of areas, ranging from Internet of Things, Smart Cities, Mobility, eHealth and even Web Payments.\n\n\u201cChicago\u2019s innovation ecosystem is thriving and our partnership with the Chicago Connectory will further drive the adoption of the IOTA Tangle\u201d, says Dominik Schiener Co-Founder of the IOTA Foundation.\n\nThe Chicago Connectory features a mix of community, technology and educational resources to help facilitate IoT partnerships with organizations such as the IOTA Foundation. The partnership with the IOTA Foundation is adding further mentors as well as related events, a strong ecosystem and project collaboration including the IOTA Foundation\u2019s Development Fund to the Chicago-based IoT innovation space.\n\n\u201cThe Chicago Connectory is the place to nurture and grow the IOTA ecosystem and to build the next great ideas and companies in IoT,\u201d Schiener says. \u201cWe look forward to helping more organizations connect, grow and co-create as the Chicago Connectory becomes a key catalyst for the IOTA ecosystem in Chicago and the greater Midwest.\u201d\n\n---\n\nAbout the Chicago Connectory\n\nCovering nearly 20,000 square feet in Chicago\u2019s historic Merchandise Mart, the Chicago Connectory is a co-creation space and IoT incubator boasting cutting-edge technology and security, expert programming, and mentorship from leading experts in IoT. More than a co-working space, the Chicago Connectory offers partners a co-creation model that fosters collaboration, networking, problem solving, and a new way of doing work in the age of connectivity. The Chicago Connectory is a partnership between Bosch and 1871. Together, 1871 and Bosch are empowering an ecosystem to drive the future of IoT.\n\nFind more information online at http://www.chicagoconnectory.com.\n\nAbout the IOTA Foundation\n\nIOTA Foundation is a non-profit foundation with the purpose of developing, maintaining and standardizing new open source protocols based on distributed ledger technologies (DLT). The IOTA Tangle provides a revolutionary open source DLT which is scalable, lightweight and makes it possible to transfer value or data without any fees.\n\nFind more information online at http://www.iota.org.", "output": "Internet of things (IoT) incubator The Chicago Connectory has launched a partnership with the non-profit IOTA Foundation to explore applications for the technology that underpins blockchains. The incubator, backed\u00a0by manufacturer Bosch and Chicago's\u00a01871 innovation centre,\u00a0will join IOTA to promote the use of distributed ledger technology in bringing increased transparency, security and efficiency\u00a0to the\u00a0IoT. IOTA and Bosch are founding members of the Trusted IoT Alliance, and The Chicago Connectory is expected to expand on existing activities involving the German manufacturer.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vanguard criticised over genocide proxy voting recommendation \n Vanguard, genocide, and the $18 million campaign to get you to vote\n\nOn Nov. 15, Vanguard will hold an enormous shareholder meeting and proxy vote for the first time in almost a decade. If you\u2019re a customer of the world\u2019s largest mutual fund company, you\u2019re also a shareholder, which is why you\u2019ve likely been hounded by calls, emails, and paper mail to try to get you to vote.\n\nTucked into the ballot after boilerplate proposals is an interesting item \u2014 Proposal 7 \u2014 put forth by activist investor group Investors Against Genocide. The proposal moves to have Vanguard not invest in companies that, \u201cin management\u2019s judgement, substantially contribute to genocide or crimes against humanity.\u201d\n\n\u201cA shareholder proposal to institute transparent procedures to avoid holding investments in companies that, in management\u2019s judgement, substantially contribute to genocide or crimes against humanity, the most egregious violations of human rights. Such procedures may include time-limited engagement with problem companies if management believes that their behavior can be changed.\u201d\n\nAn example cited in the proposal was PetroChina, which has a connection to the genocide in Darfur. Vanguard\u2019s management advises investors vote against the proposal.\n\nVanguard investors are surprised and angry\n\nTo many Vanguard investors, not investing in companies that \u201csubstantially contribute to genocide\u201d is about as low a moral bar as there is, and they are outright angry at what they see as the company\u2019s callousness. As the vote nears, investors are airing their confusion on Twitter, Reddit, and Vanguard forums.\n\nVictoria Santoro, a Boston-based trial lawyer and Vanguard investor, is one of them. \u201cWhen I got to the genocide item, I assumed the board\u2019s recommendation would be to approve it,\u201d she told Yahoo Finance. \u201cI was very disappointed to find the opposite.\u201d Santoro said she picked Vanguard over others due to its reputation for ethics.\n\nVanguard\u2019s proxy ballot may throw some investors. Its board asks investors to vote \u201cagainst\u201d restricting investing in companies that \u201csubstantially contribute\u201d to genocide. (Yahoo Finance)\n\nDr. Beverly Tchang, a doctor from New York and a Vanguard investor, had a similar reaction. \u201cI found the proposal to be timely and appropriate. Especially since there has been so much coverage on the Rohingya recently,\u201d she said, referring to a group of refugees fleeing Myanmar.\n\nTchang said she didn\u2019t know specifics about PetroChina and Sudan, but argued that transparency was a low standard. \u201cI don\u2019t think [transparency] is too much to ask for,\u201d she said.\n\nWhy Vanguard needs your vote\n\nVanguard, unlike most public companies, doesn\u2019t hold an annual vote and generally only holds them when really necessary.\n\n\u201cLast time we did this was in 2009,\u201d Arianna Stefanoni Sherlock, Vanguard\u2019s head of corporate public relations, told Yahoo Finance. \u201cEvery time we do this, it\u2019s a lot of time and money so we try to do this as infrequently as possible.\u201d\n\nDesperate for a needed quorum of one-third of shareholders for each fund, Vanguard is spending $17.6 million on a campaign to get its 20 million shareholders to vote to install board members.\n\nA paper ballot. Vanguard is encouraging online voting, since well over 90% of its investments come through the web. (Yahoo Finance)\n\nWhen the last vote occurred, Vanguard had just a fraction of the assets it does now. The astronomic rise in passive investing has brought $3 trillion in new assets under the company\u2019s management, bringing the total to $4.6 trillion. At that time, a similar measure appeared on the ballot but only earned between 7% and 17% of the vote, depending on the fund.\n\nThose new assets mean a higher number of voters are required for a quorum. Should Vanguard fail to have a quorum, it would have to hold another vote until enough shareholders turn out \u2014 an expensive proposition and one that has happened before. Fidelity, a Vanguard competitor, had to postpone its meeting eight times from October to April. \u201cWe need investors to come out and vote,\u201d Sherlock said.\n\nVanguard: \u2018Divestment is an ineffective means to implement social change\u2019\n\nVanguard\u2019s detailed response in the proxy materials notes its concern for the issues but advises against Proposal 7 because it would, in the company\u2019s view, handicap advisors\u2019 fiduciary duty. Furthermore, the company maintains \u201cdivestment is an ineffective means to implement social change\u201d and that the company is already \u201cfully compliant with all applicable U.S. laws and regulations.\u201d\n\n\u201cConstraints imposed by third-parties could impair the ability of portfolio managers to provide Fund shareholders investment returns that are competitive with similar funds,\u201d the company\u2019s statement reads.\n\nSherlock echoed these points to Yahoo Finance. \u201cIt is nuanced,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m hoping investors are really reading their materials. Our recommendation \u2018against\u2019 isn\u2019t how we feel about the issue.\u201d\n\nTchang and Santoro were both unimpressed with arguments set forth by Vanguard. \u201cVanguard\u2019s position that [the measure] won\u2019t change genocide is inarguable, and therefore useless, precisely because we don\u2019t have that information,\u201d said Tchang, pointing to the catch-22 of transparency.\n\n\u201cHiding behind a justification that they are following U.S. law is the bare minimum,\u201d Santoro said. \u201cEveryone is supposed to follow U.S. law. I hope very much that the Vanguard board is extremely active in vetting their portfolio companies.\u201d\n\nActivism, symbolic policy, or the seeds for a lawsuit?\n\nWithin Vanguard\u2019s rationale are some larger issues, perhaps artlessly hinted at \u2014 but not fully explained \u2014 by the company in the proxy documents.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t view it as, \u2018oh Vanguard is insensitive to genocide\u2019,\u201d Jill Fisch, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s Law School and an expert in corporate governance and litigation, told Yahoo Finance.\u201cAs a general rule, a recommendation against this type of shareholder proposal doesn\u2019t reflect a fundamental disagreement.\u201d\n\nAccording to Fisch, an adopted vote could have hidden consequences and the Vanguard board wishes to be conservative. If the Proposal 7 passes, it could have an unpredictable effect. For example, should Vanguard shareholders identify and allege non-compliance, they may sue Vanguard and that could result in a court-ordered divestiture or damages paid.\n\n\u201cYou don\u2019t want the company to subject itself to litigation,\u201d Fisch said. This legal exposure is why adopting measures to comply with policies that are already in compliance may not be as easy as it seems.\n\nJack Bogle, founder and retired CEO of The Vanguard Group, is widely lauded for bringing low-cost, user-friendly investing to millions through passive investing. (Reuters)\n\nTensie Whelan, a professor at NYU\u2019s Stern School of Business who studies business and ethical concerns, said the generality of the measure might concern Vanguard further, even though it\u2019s hedged by statements like \u201cin management\u2019s judgement\u201d and \u201csubstantially contribute\u201d \u2014 as if a small contribution to genocide would be kosher.\n\nInstead of being held by a shareholder initiative, companies prefer to comply on their own terms. Whelan said companies often respond to these concerns with assurances that they are already in compliance, as well as showing they hear investors\u2019 concerns by meeting with them and appropriate non-government organizations (NGOs).\n\nA program like that, Whelan said, could benefit Vanguard. They could say, \u201chere\u2019s what we\u2019re doing now, what else should we be doing? What standards can we comply with, what auditing can we do?\u201d Ideally for a company, these steps happen so it doesn\u2019t have to go to a shareholder resolution.\n\nAs to that solution, Vanguard\u2019s Sherlock didn\u2019t share specifics of such plans with Yahoo Finance but noted that the company is in touch with Investors Against Genocide and takes these matters seriously.\n\n\u201cWe have a robust investment stewardship function at Vanguard,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are actively engaging with the companies we hold and addressing and voting on other proxies for other companies when we see issues of concern, when it might affect long-term value.\u201d\n\nThe last clause, however, gets to the heart of the concern for Vanguard customers like Santoro. \u201cI think they can do much better in terms of responsible investing,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not all about returns anymore.\u201d\n\nWhat has been done in the past\n\nThese types of proposals aren\u2019t totally rare, but are relatively uncommon, especially the language in Vanguard\u2019s Proposal 7. According to Whelan, about 1,000 shareholder resolutions are put forth each year to public companies, and are important means for investors to signal an issue\u2019s importance. Most are on proxy access and a growing number concern climate change, but around 26 involve human rights.\n\nGenerally, proxy advisory services side with the board, though there can be flexibility, according to Whelan. Any coziness toward crimes against humanity could amount to a money-losing PR nightmare, which would be of fiduciary concern to shareholders.\n\nISS, a large proxy firm, advises these types of votes on a case-by-case basis, and they pointed to perhaps the most similar case from 2015. BlackRock, another index fund provider, was faced with an almost identical proposal brought on by the same activist group, Investors Against Genocide:\n\n\u201cShareholders request that the Board institute transparent procedures to avoid holding or recommending investments in companies that, in management\u2019s judgment, substantially contribute to genocide or crimes against humanity, the most egregious violation of human rights.\u201d\n\nBlackRock justified recommending a vote against the proposal, contending the company is already required to comply with relevant laws and that these decisions are best left to management.\n\nEgan Jones, another proxy advisory company, echoed ISS in a report on the Vanguard proposal. \u201cExpecting a firm to abstain or avoid a line of legal business that might potentially result in moral negatives is, in general, a hopelessly costly endeavor doomed to failure or worse.\u201d\n\nInvestors Against Genocide has put forth successful measures in the past, however. TIAA-CREF divested $58 million from Sudan-friendly oil companies including PetroChina after a successful campaign from the group, which withdrew a measure similar to Vanguard\u2019s from a proxy ballot when the group\u2019s divestment demands were met. T. Rowe Price also voluntarily adopted the group\u2019s divestment demands.\n\nThe group has even managed to win a proxy vote when ING declined to take a stance, paving the way for a 59.8% victory. However, Investors Against Genocide\u2019s website notes that ING has taken no action and investors want the company to disregard the vote.\n\nFirst-time investors may throw a wrench into the situation\n\nVanguard\u2019s $17.6 million effort to get shareholders out to vote may end up accidentally drumming up support for Proposal 7, because most individual investors usually do not vote. (Just 29% of shares owned by individual investors generally vote, according a study by PwC, and for mutual funds specifically the number is likely even lower.)\n\n\u201cJust by nature of growth we\u2019ve seen in client base since 2009, I would say you could deduce that for lots of people it\u2019s their first time doing this,\u201d Sherlock said.\n\nThousands or millions of these new voters like Tchang and Santoro, who were brought to the ballot by Vanguard\u2019s own efforts, may not react well to the board\u2019s arguments or nuance. At the very least, they may find it difficult to vote against not investing in companies that \u201csubstantially contribute\u201d to genocide.\n\n\u201cWith increase of voting, you\u2019ll have more people vote for [the measure],\u201d Whelan said. \u201cGenerally voting is more by the institutions and they generally vote with management. An individual is more likely to vote for that.\u201d\n\nThe rising popularity of index funds and passive investing and more socially-conscious millennial investors may significantly affect future voting on issues like this, said Whelan. While not every company needs to resort to expensive paid campaigns to get out the vote, the lack of participation of individual shareholder votes is something that may be addressed in the future. Policy changes or other measures will likely encourage these individuals to speak up on the ballot \u2014 not just through their traditional mode of selling. It\u2019s important to remember: You can vote with your wallet, but you may also have a ballot.\n\nDisclosure: Some of the author\u2019s retirement savings are in Vanguard index funds. Vanguard\u2019s cooperative business structure makes the author therefore a shareholder.\n\nEthan Wolff-Mann is a writer at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @ewolffmann. Confidential tip line: emann[at]oath[.com].\n\nRead More:\n\nConsumer watchdog is killing \u2018payday loans\u2019 \u2014 here\u2019s what will take their place\n\nEquifax\u2019s breach is an opportunity to fix a broken industry\n\nATM fees have shot up 55% in the past decade\n\nBig bitcoin-friendly companies like Microsoft and Expedia hedge their bet\n\nThe real reason Mexico will never pay for the Trump\u2019s wall: It\u2019d be \u2018treason\u2019\n\nHow Waffle House\u2019s hurricane response team prepares for disaster\n\nTrump weighs slashing one of the most popular tax deductions\n\nA robot lawyer can fight your parking tickets and much more\n\nConsumer watchdog is making it easier for consumers to sue banks\n\nHow ringless spam voicemails became a partisan issue", "output": "Vanguard Group is facing criticism from some\u00a0of its investors after it recommended\u00a0they vote against an item prohibiting the firm from investing in companies associated with genocide. Investors will vote on the proposal, made by activist investment group Investors Against Genocide, during a shareholders meeting\u00a0on 15 November. Investors have taken to both social media and Vanguard's own company forums expressing distaste at the firm's management for recommending a vote against the\u00a0proposal. Vanguard's management\u00a0has stated such issues are better resolved through diplomatic and political resources, and reiterated it is fully compliant with all US law regarding its investments.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurtech Lemonade caps maximum claims payments for gun owners \n Online home and rental insurer Lemonade has said it is limiting its coverage for gun owners as part of its commitment to \u201cmake insurance into a social good.\u201d\n\nCiting the recent Las Vegas mass shooting, Lemonade CEO Daniel Schreiber blogged: \u201cOur company, like our community, includes gun owners as well as gun control advocates. Many are both. But while we respect gun ownership, we\u2019re not into gun worship.\u201d\n\nThe insurer said it will limit the amount it will pay out for the damage or theft of firearms to an \u201centirely adequate\u201d $2,500.\n\n\u201cIf you own more than $2,500-worth of firearms, we recommend trying one of our competitors. They seem to all offer additional coverage. We don\u2019t,\u201d Schreiber wrote.\n\nLemonade\u2019s policy already excludes coverage for any illegal guns or gun use, but in its revised policy it plans to add more firearms provisions to exclude assault rifles and add requirements that firearms be \u201cstored securely and used responsibly\u201d or coverage could be voided.\n\n\u201cAs an insurance company, it falls to us to shield our customers from damage to their guns, and by their guns. It stands to reason that we want members who take the responsibilities of gun ownership as seriously as we do,\u201d Schreiber wrote.\n\nHe said the company recognizes that guns \u201ccan be a polarizing topic\u201d but said Lemonade was founded to \u201cmake insurance into a social good.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re under no illusion that our industry, let alone our company, can solve gun violence. But being unable to change much doesn\u2019t give us license to change nothing. Here\u2019s to everyone doing their part,\u201d he wrote.\n\nThe new gun policy comes just days after Lemonade made headlines by launching a public API (application programming interface), allowing anyone to offer Lemonade policies through their apps or websites.\n\nRelated:\n\nTopics Carriers Gun Liability", "output": "Insurtech Lemonade has said it is capping claims payments for loss of firearms at $2,500. The firm said it considers this amount \"adequate\" in covering the loss or theft of such property. The company said social reasons are behind the introduction of the maximum payout. As an insurance company some responsibility should lie with Lemonade to help protect its clients from damage caused by firearms, Daniel Schreiber, the firm's CEO said in a company blog. He added while it's unlikely the firm's policy will have a significant impact, he wanted Lemonade's customers to be responsible gun\u00a0owners.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SparkLabs creates $100m fund for early-stage blockchain projects \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nBlockchain is one of the biggest tech buzzwords in recent times, with markets including music, travel, and car-sharing slowly succumbing to blockchain\u2019s allure. Then there are cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereum, which are now pretty much synonymous with blockchain technology.\n\nAgainst this backdrop, a new $100 million fund has been set up to invest in early-stage companies operating across the blockchain and cryptocurrency spectrum. SparkChain Capital is a new venture courtesy of SparkLabs Group, a company that operates a network of accelerators across Asia, as well as a duo of VC funds.\n\nOfficially launching today, SparkChain Capital will be led by managing partner Joyce Kim, formerly a VC at Freestyle Capital and latterly cofounder of Stellar Development Foundation, an open source payment network protocol that just this week announced a tie-up with IBM to create a cross-border blockchain payments solution.\n\nKim will work alongside a number of other people at SparkChain Capital, including Net Jacobsson, who cofounded SparkLabs Global Ventures and also formerly served as director of international business development at Facebook.\n\n\u201cWith the rapid pace of innovation moving in this space, it is crucial to have the most experienced advisors involved from the early outset,\u201d explained Jacobsson. \u201cAt SparkChain Capital, we have prepared ourselves by carefully recruiting some of the best securities advisors and fund attorneys to make sure that we always will be SEC compliant no matter how the wind blows.\u201d\n\nThe story so far\n\nSparkLabs launched its first accelerator in Seoul back in 2012 with a general focus on South Korean startups, though around a fifth of all graduates hail from other countries. The company subsequently launched additional accelerators in Korea and China, while as of last month it also operates SparkLabs Cultiv8, an Australia-based global accelerator program focused on ag tech, food tech, and sustainability.\n\nAdditionally, SparkLabs also operates SparkLabs Ventures, which is a VC fund focused on Korean startups, and seed-stage SparkLabs Global Ventures, which \u2014 as its name suggests \u2014 seeks out companies around the world.\n\nSparkChain Capital will be targeted at blockchain and cryptocurrency companies around the world, though SparkLabs\u2019 existing network across Asia will be leveraged to its fullest in places such as China, South Korea, and Japan. Indeed, SparkLabs already has investments in blockchain startups through its Seoul accelerator, including enterprise-focused blockchain company Blocko and bitcoin remittance startup Sentbe. Elsewhere, SparkLabs Global Ventures has invested in Swedish bitcoin exchange Cryex.\n\nSo far, SparkLabs Global Ventures has invested around 50 percent of its resources in the U.S. (mostly in Silicon Valley), while the remaining 50 percent has been split between Europe and Asia. And SparkChain Capital will likely follow a similar investment model \u2014 it will basically look to invest in the next big thing, irrespective of where they are.", "output": "SparkLabs Group is set to double down on its investment in blockchain start-ups with the launch of a new $100m fund called SparkChain Capital. It will seek out early-stage companies working on blockchain and cryptocurrency projects around the world, though it will optimise its existing Asian network to find companies in China, Japan and South Korea. The company has several accelerator programmes and has previously invested in blockchain firms Blocko, Cryex and Sentbe.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SBI Holdings partners with Wirex to provide crypto payment cards \n Wirex, a provider of bitcoin and cryptocurrency payments apps today announced that the company has signed a deal with Japan financial holdings company, SBI Holdings, to establish a new Asia focussed joint venture, SBI Wirex Asia. The collaboration means that Wirex benefits from SBI Holdings\u2019 support, scale and Asian market relationships. SBI Holdings will benefit from the collaboration by gaining access to the popular cryptocurrency payments card provider and expert in the world of crypto-based finance.\n\nSBI Wirex Asia will deliver a Japanese cryptocurrency payment card and joint businesses, which benefit from Wirex\u2019s global expertise within the world of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), payments and cryptocurrencies. Earlier this year, SBI invested $3 million into Wirex to support the expansion. Wirex and SBI Wirex Asia will work closely together to ensure Japanese customers benefit from Wirex\u2019s global community and expertise with the support of SBI Wirex Asia.\n\nPavel Matveev, CEO, Wirex said:\n\n\u201cOur new relationship with SBI Holdings enables us to deepen our already market leading position in the country to offer new Japan and Asia focussed products and services. I look forward to working with the team at SBI.\u201d \u201cJapanese customers are our most enthusiastic supporters and use our VISA-backed cryptocurrency debit card more regularly than anywhere else in the world. They deserve a Yen denominated card soon and we will deliver it to them.\u201d\n\nWataru Kojima, Wirex Japan CEO, said:\n\n\u201cI am pleased to see SBI Holdings enter into a relationship with Wirex, which will offer Japanese customers much improved choice and flexibility when it comes to cryptocurrency payments. \u201cJapan leads the world in bitcoin regulation and our accountants are armed with the tools to accept bitcoin on balance sheets. I will ensure Japan maintains our preeminent position in this space though providing the most innovative and cost-effective technologies globally.\u201d", "output": "Bitcoin and cryptocurrency payment app provider Wirex has closed a deal with Japan's SBI Holdings to establish an Asia-centric joint venture named SBI Wirex Asia. The partnership will allow Wirex to gain support from SBI in terms of its presence in the\u00a0Asian market, while\u00a0SBI\u00a0will gain access to the cryptocurrency payments card provider's expertise. SBI Wirex Asia will offer a Japanese cryptocurrency payment card and related services. SBI has invested $3m into Wirex to fund the expansion.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Health at Hand to launch Middle East telehealth service \n Health at Hand, a telehealth startup targeting Middle East markets, announced that it has received $3.1 million in seed funding and will be launching its platform this Sunday in the United Arab Emirates. An unnamed regional family office anchored the funding round, which brings the company to approximately $4.1 million in total funding.\n\nFounded in 2016, Health at Hand is a Dubai Multi Commodities Center (DMCC)-licensed provider of patient-to-doctor video consultations that it says will be the first of its kind launched within the GCC. The company has relationships with Astrolabs, DMCC\u2019s Google-partnered hub, and boasts Dr. Pat Basu, the former chief medical officer of leading US telemedicine platform Doctor on Demand, as a member of its board.\n\n\u201cWe have a huge desire to help democratize primary health care in the Middle East, and unlike the US market where you see a prevalence of telehealth companies, this market is pretty immature, particularly in the regulator environment,\u201d Health at Hand Founder and CEO Charlie Barlow told MobiHealthNews. \u201cThis funding is going to allow Health at Hand to become one of the first movers within these markets. It allows us to build out our proprietary technology as we look to move from on-demand telehealth, which is what we will launch on Sunday morning, into a more diverse range of options for patients.\u201d\n\nMore specifically, Barlow said that the company will be using the funding to shift their platform toward a subscription model in the near future, which would then allow them to push into the Middle East\u2019s corporate and insurance markets. During this time, the Health at Hand will also be building new features into their service, including geolocation, medication prescription, and drug delivery.\n\nBarlow went on to explain that, unlike the US or other international markets, the Middle East\u2019s telehealth landscape is relatively immature in terms of both regulation and competition. Even beyond telehealth, he said that on-demand technologies have only recently began to take hold in the region.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s fair to say that in the Middle East over the past three to five years, there has been a huge increase in on-demand companies offering services in the Middle East [such as Uber],\u201d he said. \u201cWhat happened is that has led to an interest from the consumer and on-demand economy, but also a huge interest in family offices and venture capital businesses, private equity firms.\u201d\n\nThe result, according to Barlow, is a market that is ripe for telehealth. The prevalence of so-called \u201cdiseases of affluence\u201d such as obesity, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes are all growing in the Middle East, and often can be addressed through video consultations. Further, data collected by Health at Hand indicates that digital healthcare delivery could reduce overall costs within the market by reducing high rates of unnecessary emergency and in-patient care. As such, Barlow said that his startup and its investors see a clear opportunity for the first telehealth provider able to offer a wealth of well-implemented features to establish itself in the region\u2019s health care landscape.\n\n\u201cWhen we get to that point of being able to offer very high quality telehealth consultation with a wait time of no more than two minutes \u2026 we really do disrupt and change the whole face of primary health care in this region,\u201d he said.", "output": "Telehealth start-up Health at Hand is set to launch its on-demand platform in the United Arab Emirates. Health at Hand recently raised $3.1m in seed funding, which will be used to expand the platform's services to include medication prescription, drug delivery and geolocation. The company also envisages a move toward a subscription-based model, as it seeks to capitalise on the Middle East's nascent telehealth sector.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ulster Bank uses AI tech to improve service \n Ulster Bank has started using an artificial intelligence platform to personalise future interactions with customers. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw\n\nUlster Bank, a unit of Royal Bank of Scotland, has decided to use artificial intelligence (AI) to get closer to its customers.\n\nThe bank said on Thursday it has used French IT services company Atos to deploy US software giant Salesforce's Einstein consumer relationship management (CRM) platform for the bank. It is the first full-scale implementation of this system in the financial services industry worldwide, according to Atos.\n\nThe development means that Ulster Bank can now analyse past customer behaviour to be better able to understand and personalise future engagements with them.\n\nIt should enable the bank to more effectively predict and recommend the right product, including types of loans, savings accounts, and foreign exchange solutions to customers.\n\nREAD MORE\n\n\"With the new platform, we have changed the system, the culture and the way our people interact with customers,\" said Damien Judge, head of business commercial excellence at Ulster Bank.\n\nCustomer choices\n\nThe new system also includes a \u201cnext-best product recommendation engine\u201d, similar to a tool used by companies such as Amazon and Netflix to predict what customers may want based on other similar customer choices.\n\nWhile banks globally have lagged behind other sectors in the use of artificial intelligence, the industry is turning increasingly to AI solutions to cut costs and improve systems as they face rising regulatory compliance demands and costs.\n\nA recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers said that almost a third of large financial institutions internationally are investing in AI.\n\n\u201cTomorrow, your bankers or wealth manager will coach you throughout your day to tackle appropriate financial decisions based on a combination of artificial intelligence and transaction and contextual data,\u201d PwC\u2019s global fintech report 2017 said.", "output": "Ulster Bank has turned to artificial intelligence (AI) to better understand its customers and predict their future requirements. Partnering with French IT firm Atos, the Royal Bank of Scotland unit has employed Salesforce\u2019s Einstein consumer relationship management platform. As well as offering insights into customers' previous actions, the platform also includes a next-best product recommendation engine, akin to those used by retail giants Amazon and Netflix. Damien Judge, head of business commercial excellence at Ulster Bank, said the AI platform was changing \"the system, the culture and the way our people interact with customers\u201d."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US retail sector will see $7bn of defaults in 2018: Fitch \n The stress in the retail sector that has triggered a string of bankruptcies this year is unlikely to get much better in 2018.\n\nThe sector is expected to again produce the most defaults at up to $7 billion, resulting in a 10% default rate, Fitch Ratings said Thursday.\n\nThe September trailing 12-month retail default rate stood at 7.3% after Toys \u2018R\u2019 Us Inc.\u2019s bankruptcy filing, up from just above 5% in July and August. The retail sector accounts for 30% of the defaults that have taken place in 2017 to date, with six issuers defaulting on debt totaling $5 billion.\n\nThe retail sector has been hit by a combination of factors, including competition from Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, +1.46% , and a greater shift toward online shopping that has forced many to invest in technology at a time when sales are soft.\n\nConsumer behavior has changed as the millennial generation comes of age, and retailers are now competing for dollars with smartphones, apps and electronics, as well as experiences such as travel and entertainment. Mall traffic has dwindled in many places, pressuring the anchor tenants that relied on them for sales.\n\nThe overall institutional leveraged loan default rate is expected to end 2018 at 2.5%, said Fitch, equal to about $27 billion of debt.\n\n\u201cDefault volume will continue to be concentrated in retail and a couple of energy companies in 2018,\u201d analysts led by Eric Rosenthal wrote in a note. \u201cExcluding these two sectors, the 2018 default rate forecast is 1.5%. \u201c\n\nIn case you missed it: J.C. Penney, Gymboree and J. Crew at risk -- and it\u2019s not all Amazon\u2019s fault\n\nThe average rate during a non-recessionary period is 1.7%.\n\nRead also:Amazon isn\u2019t the only reason Toys \u2018R\u2019 Us filed for bankruptcy\n\nFitch is now keeping a list of secondary loans of concern, identifying likely default candidates. The list includes Neiman Marcus Group Inc., J Crew Group Inc., Talbots Inc., Lands\u2019 End Inc. and Cole Haan.\n\nOther issuers that Fitch is monitoring for now include PetSmart Inc., Belk Inc., Ann Taylor parent Ascena Retail Group Inc. US:ASNA , Tailored Brands Inc. US:TLRD and J.Jill Group Inc. JILL, -0.80%\n\nDon\u2019t miss:J. Jill downgraded twice, shares sink by half after profit warning\n\nAlso:Sears is still kicking the can down the road with asset sales and debt measures\n\nHere's how to pick retail companies that will survive the meltdown\n\nFitch\u2019s primary loans of concern list is led by iHeartCommunications Inc. IHRT, which is battling creditors as it struggles to restructure a $15.5 billion debt load taken on as part of the 2006 leveraged buyout by Thomas H. Lee and Bain Capital.\n\nRead: iHeartRadio parent may be shaping up for a bruising fight with its lenders\n\nThat list includes troubled department-store chain Sears Holdings Corp. US:SHLD, Nine West Holdings Inc., 99 Cents Only Stores LLC, NYDJ Apparel LLC and Vince LLC. VNCE, +3.36%", "output": "US retailers that fought through a stressful 2017 will face a gloomy 2018 after the sector was given a 10% default forecast -- which equates to $7bn -- by Fitch Ratings. The downbeat outlook has been blamed on the rise of online shopping and the dominance of Amazon. Fitch has compiled lists of primary and secondary loans of concern, including those of\u00a0iHeartCommunications and J Crew Group. In September, the trailing 12-month retail default rate rose to 7.3% following the bankruptcy of Toys 'R' Us, compared with about\u00a05% in the preceding two months."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HFI urges green belt use, fewer controls to solve housing crisis \n L ondon's housing crisis can only be solved by a radical overhaul of the \u201cdeeply flawed\u201d planning system to rein in selfish middle class \u201cNimbys,\u201d a provocative new report argues today.\n\nIn comments that will anger conservation and resident bodies, former City of London Corporation supremo Sir Mark Boleat said current rules \u201cgive far too much weight to articulate groups who make a lot of noise\u201d and not enough weight to young \u201chave-nots\u201d who are priced off the housing ladder.\n\nSir Mark, who chairs The Housing & Finance Institute, founded to boost house building, said knee-jerk opposition to development, rather than wealthy foreign investors, was the real reason for London\u2019s chronic shortage of homes.\n\nIn a radical set of proposals, Sir Mark said that residents must have their influence hugely scaled back by excluding councillors representing residents affected by a planning application from the decision on whether it should go ahead.\n\nSir Mark Boleat who chairs The Housing & Finance Institute (NIGEL HOWARD) / NIGEL HOWARD \u00a9\n\nSir Mark said: \u201cOn the face of it this might seem to strike against the concept of democracy and decisions being taken at the local level.\n\nBut in reality many councillors would welcome such an approach, as all too often they feel they need to be supporting the local prevailing view even if they know that a development is desirable.\u201d\n\nRadical change in policy is needed Commentary: Sir Mark Boleat In 1975 I wrote a paper which opened by saying the fundamental cause of Britain\u2019s housing problems were policy makers \u2014 42 years later, I hold to this conclusion. Between 1998 and 2015 the population of London increased by 21 per cent while the supply of housing rose by 12 per cent. It is commonly argued that developers are the problem, building too slowly, deliberately holding on to land so as to sell it as a profit. More recently the finger has been pointed at overseas buyers, the implication being that more homes sold to foreign buyers mean less housing and higher prices for Londoners. Both of these are myths. The really big problem is the planning system. Planning committees are made up of locally elected representatives, and elected members need to be responsive to the views of their constituents. Planning applications invariably meet strong resistance from neighbouring residents who put pressure on their elected representatives. There is accordingly a presumption against development. So what is the answer? More land must be made available for house building and then built on at higher densities. There should be a review of the green belt so that land not needed to prevent urban sprawl can be used for housing. Tougher penalties should be imposed on public sector bodies that hold on to land they do not need. We must change the planning system so the bias against development is reduced. This requires changes in how conflicts are managed between local government, planning departments and developers. At present the planning system makes it too easy for politicians who wish to restrict housing development and too difficult for those who want to increase it. A radical step-change is required.\n\nThe streamlined planning \u201cpanels\u201d modelled on the Australian system should receive proper training to help them come to decisions, he added.\n\nSir Mark, who this year stepped down as chairman of the City\u2019s key Policy and Resources Committee after five years in the role, said pressure from well-organised voters often put councillors \u201cin a near-impossible position\u201d.\n\nHe added: \u201cThey have been elected and need to be re-elected and therefore are responsive to their electorates, who invariably are opposed to developments. But their responsibility is not just to current electors but to future generations.\u201d The recommendations will be welcomed by developers who increasingly complain that the planning regime has become hopelessly loaded against them, leading to years of delay.\n\nOther proposals include:\n\nA major review of rules on the Green Belt to make it easier for low-grade land to be built on in exchange for other more valuable open space being given more protection.\n\nA system of penalties for public sector bodies that hoard land that could be made available for development.\n\nAn assumption that planning conditions have been met within seven days of a developer providing evidence that they have been fulfilled.\n\nAllowing far higher density of housing in the form of five- or six-storey development similar to Paris.\n\nA radical overhaul of the \u201cexpensive and time consuming\u201d system for negotiating developers\u2019 contributions to local infrastructure.\n\nA rethink of the targets for affordable housing which \u201ccannot be expressed as a percentage of housing built but needs to be an absolute number and with a clear strategy for achieving it\u201d.\n\nSir Mark said: \u201cHousing is the No 1 domestic policy challenge of our age. We must be radical.\u201d", "output": "The Housing & Finance Institute has listed measures it says will help resolve London's housing crisis. Among them, it urges recognition that brownfield construction will not work alone and that raising house-building taxes will discourage construction. The report suggests using green belt land and allowing higher-density housing. Failure to release excess land for public use should be punished and planning conditions should be reduced, it also said, while recommending greater involvement of political leaders in local authorities."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Senators fail to protect Alaskan wildlife refuge from drilling \n This story was updated Oct. 26 with the U.S. House voting.\n\nRepublicans in Congress have spent decades trying\u2014and failing\u2014to bring oil and gas development to one of the United States\u2019 last truly untouched areas. Now, they appear to have the votes to make it happen.\n\nThe Arctic National Wildlife Refuge represents the final frontier of American wilderness. Its 19.3 million acres in Alaska are home to polar bears, caribou and thousands of bird species, and it is sacred to the Gwich\u2019in people. Along its northern edge is a controversial swath of land called the coastal plain, and this is where the GOP has long fought to bring drilling.\n\nThis latest attempt to open the wildlife refuge to drilling began as the House and Senate rolled out their 2018 budget plans. In late September, the Senate Budget Committee released a proposal that includes instructions to senators who oversee energy and natural resources to find $1 billion in new revenue. It was a thinly veiled suggestion to allow drilling leases in the wildlife refuge, as Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, confirmed on Thursday.\n\n\u201cIt is not the only option, but I will tell you that it is the best option, and it is on the table,\u201d Murkowski said on the Senate floor.\n\nThree Senate Democrats\u2014Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.)\u2014tried on Thursday to remove the refuge drilling plan from the budget bill, but their amendment failed, 48 to 52. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine was the only Republican to join the ranks of Democrats who supported the amendment; Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia voted against the measure.\n\n\u201cRepublicans are trying to use the budget process to ram through drilling in the crown jewel of America\u2019s Wildlife Refuge System because they know they don\u2019t have the votes to do so through regular order,\u201d Markey said in a statement after the vote. \u201cRepublicans are moving forward with a budget that includes this poison pill to hand over the wildest place left in America to Big Oil. This is nothing more than fossil fuel folly.\u201d\n\nDrilling in the refuge is not yet a done deal. The Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee, which Murkowski chairs, will have to come up with a recommendation to meet the budget instruction. (When Murkowski joined the Senate in 2002, she picked up the mantle of fighting for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from her father, former Sen. Frank Murkowski, who had been fighting for it since 1980.) Because that recommendation will be voted on through the budget process, it will need only a simple majority to pass.\n\nOn the House side, a similar instruction attached to a budget bill asks the House Natural Resources Committee to find $5 billion in federal revenue. The budget bill passed on Oct. 26, and the two chambers will now have to negotiate a final number.\n\n\u201cThis is and always has been largely a political issue, and not an economic one,\u201d said David Hayes, who was the Interior Department\u2019s deputy secretary and chief operating officer at points in the Clinton and Obama administrations.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s being framed as a budget amendment that could potentially yield a billion dollars in revenue for the federal government. That\u2019s fantasy. There\u2019s no basis for that at all,\u201d Hayes said. \u201cBut folks who don\u2019t appreciate the economics are potentially drawn to that.\u201d\n\nNot the First Attempt to Open ANWR\n\nThe coastal plain\u2014an area roughly the size of Delaware\u2014lacks the federal \u201cwilderness area\u201d designation and could, with Congressional approval, be opened for drilling.\n\nCongressional Republicans came close in 1995, when a provision recommending opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) made it through Congress before being vetoed by President Bill Clinton. Ten years later, a similar effort gained support in the Senate but ultimately failed.\n\nNow, with a Republican Congress, a president who supports increased fossil fuel development in the Arctic and a potential route to passage that requires just a simple majority vote, ANWR may be more vulnerable than ever before.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s gotten close before, but to date, the strong public recognition that this is not a place for oil drilling has prevailed,\u201d said Hayes, who is now the director of the State Energy & Environmental Impact Center at NYU School of Law. \u201cBut one can\u2019t count on anything these days.\u201d\n\nTurning the \u2018Crown Jewels\u2019 Over to Polluters\n\nIn 2005, the effort to keep drilling out of the refuge was also led by Sen. Cantwell. In a press conference earlier this week, Cantwell pointed out that previous efforts have also relied on legislative processes that tie ANWR to other bills. \u201cIt tells you something that this idea does not stand on its own,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cI hope that we\u2019ll all fight very hard to make sure that, on our watch, we do not give up one of the crown jewels of the United States of America,\u201d Cantwell said. \u201cWe will resist their unbelievable attempts to turn public lands over to polluters.\u201d\n\nEarlier on Thursday, more than 300 businesses and organizations from across the country sent a letter to Congress asking them to protect ANWR from drilling.\n\n\u201cWe represent a broad and diverse constituency voice that proves that folks across this country deeply appreciate our nation\u2019s wild spaces,\u201d the letter says. \u201cWe urge you to continue to do all you can to enact the strongest possible protections for the Arctic landscape, its wildlife and its people.\u201d", "output": "Three US Democratic Senators have failed to prevent the granting of drilling leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a 19.3 million acre Alaskan wilderness which is home to numerous endangered species, and is sacred to the Gwich'in people. Last September, the Senate Budget Committee released a proposal that would obliquely have permitted such drilling. On Thursday, the senators attempted to remove the drilling plan from the proposal, but failed to achieve sufficient support. Despite this setback, committees in both the Senate and the House of Representatives must consider the budget before drilling is permitted.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BBC looks towards AI to help improve commissioned programming \n The BBC wants to leverage machine learning to improve its online services and the programmes it commissions every year. Today, the broadcaster announced a five-year research partnership with eight universities from across the UK. Data scientists will help the best and brightest at the BBC set up the \"Data Science Research Partnership,\" tasked with being \"at the forefront of the machine learning in the media industry.\" It will tackle a range of projects not just with the BBC, but media and technology organisations from across Europe. The larger aim is to take the results, or learnings, and apply them directly to the BBC's operations in Britain.\n\nThe broadcaster, for instance, wants to use data to \"better understand what audiences want from the BBC.\" The organisation could, of course, simply poll licence fee payers, but the idea presumably is to burrow down into TV and iPlayer viewing habits. With a wealth of hard data, it's possible that an algorithm could pick out larger trends and deduce whether the BBC is using its resources most effectively. To that end, the BBC hopes machine learning can help it build \"a more personal BBC\" with tools that could allow employees to make informed editorial and commissioning decisions.\n\nThe broadcaster is also interested in a concept called object-based broadcasting. At the moment, TV shows and news bulletins are broadcast as single pieces of linear media. But for years now, the BBC has envisioned media \"objects,\" or blocks, that could be assembled in different ways depending on the user or end-hardware. Take the news, for instance: If every story or segment was cut-up, it could be personalised based on your tastes. Maybe you want the sport first, with more time dedicated to women's football. Or a shorter, snappier version of the local news. Machine learning could, in theory, help the BBC realise this abstract dream.\n\nMachine learning is a buzzword at the moment, but with good reason. Engineers are teaching computers to learn, adapt and analyse based on relevant examples. It's led to improvements in voice recognition, translation, and if you're Google's DeepMind division, world champion 'Go' players. It's no surprise that the BBC wants to leverage this new area of AI development in its own business. Media companies like Netflix have embraced user data to shape every part of its services, from commissioning to thumbnail designs. The BBC needs to do the same, especially as it pivots to a model increasingly dependent on original, British programming.", "output": "The BBC plans to use machine learning to optimise its online services and its commissioned programme selection through a five-year research partnership with eight UK universities. The Data Science Research Partnership will develop projects across Europe for media and technology companies, applying its discoveries to BBC products. The broadcaster hopes that machine learning can help it personalise its service through data analysis so it can make better commissioning and editorial choices. The company is also exploring \u201cobject-based broadcasting\u201d, or breaking programmes into shorter segments that can be assembled into tailored broadcasting for viewers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bayern Munich finds augmented reality key to fan growth and sales \n It may be early days for augmented reality, but that hasn\u2019t stopped German football team Bayern Munich from building it into its mobile app.\n\nFans who download the latest version of the team\u2019s iOS app can use the AR feature to bring either team captain Manuel Neuer or forward Arjen Robben into their selfies. There\u2019s an option to pick which of the club\u2019s three jerseys this season (home, away and UEFA Champions League) Robben wears in the photos as well as a feature to personalize and then screenshot the number and name on the back of one of the jerseys. Fans can buy the personalized jersey directly from the club\u2019s store.\n\nWhile it\u2019s not a full-blown sales drive, the app\u2019s AR feature is the first step to discovering the technology\u2019s commercial potential, according to Stefan Mennerich, Bayern Munich\u2019s director of media, digital and communications. E-commerce accounts for 50 percent of the club\u2019s annual merchandising turnover, which amounts to \u20ac50 million ($58.9 million), he added.\n\nBeyond jersey sales, the club believes sponsorships could also be sold around its app\u2019s AR feature. \u201cWe believe that AR could be key for us in the near future,\u201d said Mennerich. \u201cWe\u2019re already thinking about the merchandising experience via AR and how that could potentially work with sponsors when it comes to exporting the logos of our partners [to the feature].\u201d\n\nThe club\u2019s decision to jump on the AR trend now was triggered by Apple\u2019s iOS 11 update that lets brands add the feature to their apps, which some believe will help push the technology to the masses. Prior to the Apple update, Bayern Munich\u2019s AR efforts were limited, with one early trial allowing fans in its stadium to see exclusive content when they looked at certain parts of the stadium through their smartphone camera.\n\nFan engagement on mobile, in the stadium and on social media is where Mennerich believes the club will make early strides in AR. Like its approach to social media, Bayern Munich will take its time monetizing AR, instead focusing on how it can help grow the club\u2019s following worldwide. Bayern Munich may be one of the most successful teams in football on the pitch, but off it, the club is noticeably behind its biggest rivals Real Madrid and Manchester United in commercializing its value.\n\nThe German club is fifth in the latest Deloitte Football Money League, an annual ranking of the richest teams in the world, while Real Madrid ranks third and Manchester United is first. Unlike those clubs, Bayern Munich doesn\u2019t yet have the fan base to try to quickly turn its digital operations into a revenue generator.\n\nAround 40 percent of the \u201creach\u201d \u2014 Bayern Munich\u2019s label for number of impressions \u2014 the club sells to sponsors comes from its online media. Most of that reach to date comes from its social media profiles, though the team is wary of that growing in the future at the expense of traffic to its own platforms.\n\n\u201cThe main goal for us is to try to reach as many people as possible,\u201d said Mennerich. \u201cFor example, on our Facebook page, 93 percent of our followers are not from Germany. They are from abroad. If those fans don\u2019t like us, then there won\u2019t be any successful commercial activity. The first step is reach and relevance for the club, which is what we\u2019re trying with the app.\u201d\n\nImage courtesy of FC Bayern Munich", "output": "German football team Bayern Munich has integrated augmented reality into its iOS app, enabling users to add team captain Manuel Neuer or forward Arjen Robben into selfies. The app is the team\u2019s first move into commercial uses for the technology. E-commerce represents 50% of the club\u2019s merchandising intake per year, worth around $58.9m. The feature was launched in response to the iOS 11 update that allows brands to add AR to their apps. Bayern Munich plans to monetise the AR after testing it as a growth tool for its following.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gene-altering cancer drug approved as immunotherapy surges \n The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved the second in a radically new class of treatments that genetically reboot a patient\u2019s own immune cells to kill cancer.\n\nThe new therapy, Yescarta, made by Kite Pharma, was approved for adults with aggressive forms of a blood cancer, non-Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma, who have undergone two regimens of chemotherapy that failed.\n\nThe treatment, considered a form of gene therapy, transforms the patient\u2019s cells into what researchers call a \u201cliving drug\u201d that attacks cancer cells. It is part of the rapidly growing field of immunotherapy, which uses drugs or genetic tinkering to turbocharge the immune system to fight disease. In some cases the treatments have led to long remissions.\n\n\u201cThe results are pretty remarkable,\u201d said Dr. Frederick L. Locke, a specialist in blood cancers at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, and a leader of a study of the new treatment. \u201cWe\u2019re excited. We think there are many patients who may need this therapy.\u201d", "output": "The US Food and Drug Administration has given its approval for the Yescarta gene therapy from Kite Pharma to be used on aggressive forms of non-Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma. The treatment genetically alters a patient's immune cells, turning them into a \u201cliving drug\u201d,\u00a0to destroy the\u00a0cancer. The immunotherapy, the second such treatment to get FDA backing,\u00a0has led to long remissions in some cases, leading to the approval for patients who have already had two failed courses of chemotherapy. The cost of the treatment is $373,000 for the single infusion\u00a0required. Side effects include fever, blood pressure drops, neurological problems and lung congestion.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook will roll out Explore Feed in the next few weeks \n Will Explore Feed help burst our respective Facebook bubbles?\n\nFacebook yesterday (18 October) confirmed to TechCrunch that users should see the new Explore Feed on both desktop and mobile in the coming weeks.\n\nThe feature had been tested on a small number of mobile users, but now everyone can try it out for themselves.\n\nAs is the norm with Facebook, the Explore Feed is algorithmically arranged based on your own previous likes, but the posts are from pages you may not have come across in your scrolling before. Posts may also be added to the feed based on their popularity among the people you\u2019re connected to on the site.\n\nFacebook's Explore Feed is now on desktop, huh? pic.twitter.com/mgXs6tpapH \u2014 \ud83d\udfe3 Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) October 17, 2017\n\nDiscovering new pages\n\nFacebook said that the Explore Feed is a direct response to user requests to make it easier to discover pages that they aren\u2019t already following.\n\n\u201cWe are beginning to roll out a complementary feed of popular articles, videos and photos, automatically customised for each person based on content that might be interesting to them.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve heard from people that they want an easy way to explore relevant content from pages they haven\u2019t connected with yet.\u201d\n\nThe Explore Feed is accessible on the left sidebar of Facebook on desktop; on mobile, you can take a look via the More menu.\n\nA secondary News Feed?\n\nThis feature could be viewed as a secondary News Feed for Facebook to monetise via advertising, though there are no ads after extended scrolling at present.\n\nAn increase in time spent on-site or in-app is partially the Explore Feed\u2019s aim, as well as serving users posts they are likely to enjoy. The content won\u2019t do that much to help burst your carefully curated feed, as adding pages that won\u2019t interest users to Explore will mean they\u2019ll leave the app or webpage sooner.\n\nFacebook wants to connect users with a broad range of their interests through recommended content, and make it easier to follow news and trending topics (as many do via Twitter).\n\nIt\u2019s not clear how users will adopt the new feature, though, particularly as the rocket icon is buried within both the app and website.\n\nFacebook is making a change on both mobile and desktop. Image: weedezign/Shutterstock", "output": "Facebook's new Explore Feed feature is set to launch\u00a0on desktop and mobile within a few weeks, following extensive testing by\u00a0mobile users. The algorithm-based feature presents customised posts\u00a0based on the user's previous likes, as well as those that are popular with users\u2019 friends. There are presently no ads after extended scrolling available, but the feature could be used as a secondary news feed for monetisation purposes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Micro-hospitals offer personalised community care \n The growth of micro-hospitals, where small neighborhood hospitals offer care tailored to the specific needs of a community, has been dramatic in recent years. And companies that are building and operating these facilities are relying on telemedicine to help them provide faster, more personalized service.\n\nCited as a new trend in healthcare in U.S. News and World Report, micro-hospitals -- sometimes called neighborhood or community hospitals -- typically have eight to 10 short-stay beds and provide the inpatient care, emergency care, imaging and lab services typically performed in larger hospitals. Some also offer outpatient surgery.\n\n[Also: Almost all large employers plan to offer telehealth in 2018, but will employees use it?]\n\nCropping up in communities in more than a dozen states, micro-hospitals offer an appealing combination: They are cheaper and faster to build than larger hospitals; they can be tailored to the specific needs of a community depending on age, economic profile and other factors; and they offer a wider range of services than an urgent-care center. Not to mention the quick service.\n\nResearch indicates these hospitals may engender a symbiotic relationship with telemedicine, with the growth of one helping to fuel the other. This is especially true given the projected growth in the number of nurse practitioners and physician assistants: A report by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration estimates that by 2020, the supply of primary care NPs is projected to increase by 30 percent, from 55,400 in 2010 to 72,100; and the supply of primary care PAs is projected to increase by 58 percent, from 27,700 to 43,900 over the same period.\n\n[Also: Are micro-hospitals the answer for systems looking for low-cost expansions? They might be]\n\nThe HRSA also reported a projected shortage of 20,400 primary care physicians against demand in 2020. A similar shortage of specialists like intensivists, pulmonologists, neurologists, cardiologists, psychiatrists and others, particularly in rural America, holds the door wide open for telemedicine to fill the gaps.\n\nTelemedicine makes specialists available practically 24/7. A group of specialists who contract with the telemedicine provider handles calls, and can respond either by phone or text message. Or, if the situation warrants, the physicians can diagnose and prescribe treatment for the patient via two-way videoconferencing technology, a cart or robot equipped with diagnostic equipment and a monitor that provides for face-to-face communication with patients and staff.\n\nThe telespecialists might be in the same state and time zone, across the country or, in some instances, halfway around the world, but they must be licensed in the state and credentialed by the hospital at which they are practicing. Wherever they are, response time is usually fast. According to the research, teleneurology specialists typically achieve an average response time of 3.5 minutes and an average diagnosis and treatment time of 21.8 minutes.\n\nA Nemours study recently supported the use of telemedicine to reduce costs for both the patient and hospital system, while maintaining high levels of patient satisfaction. Those who use telemedicine for sports medicine appointments saved an average of $50 in travel costs and 51 minutes in waiting and visit time, according to the study.\n\nThe research, which was conducted in a pediatric sports medicine practice, also found that the percentage of time spent with the provider was significantly greater for telemedicine than for in-person visits -- 88 percent versus 15 percent of visit time.\n\nTwitter: @JELagasse\n\nEmail the writer: jeff.lagasse@himssmedia.com", "output": "Micro-hospitals \u2013 smaller facilities offering community services \u2013\u00a0are using telemedicine technology to provide more personalised care. The hospitals are equipped with short-stay beds and offer inpatient treatment, emergency care, imaging and lab services. The facilities are less expensive to build and can be constructed more quickly than normal hospitals, and can be designed to target specific community needs based on age range, economic profile and more. Care can be extended via telemedicine, with diagnosis and prescriptions completed through video conferencing, making community care in rural America more accessible.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "KKR said to want to sell Acconia Energia stake \n US private equity firm KKR & Co LP (NYSE:KKR) is reportedly looking to sell its stake in the international business of Acciona Energia, the renewable energy unit of Spanish infrastructure group Acciona SA (BME:ANA).\n\nEl Economista reported yesterday that KKR has engaged investment bank Lazard to prepare the sale. KKR acquired 33% of Acciona Energia Internacional for EUR 397 million (USD 466m) in 2014. According to the article, the stake is now valued at more than EUR 600 million.\n\nThe newspaper said that KKR wants to take advantage of the liquidity on the market and favourable valuations of green energy assets to monetise the stake. There could be a deal before the end of the year.\n\nAcciona Energia operates nearly 9 GW of own capacity, the biggest part of which is wind. It also has photovoltaic (PV), hydropower, concentrated solar power (CSP) and biomass power assets in its portfolio.\n\n(EUR 1 = USD1.175)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "US private-equity firm KKR is looking to sell its stake in the international unit of Spanish renewable energy business Acconia Energia, according to a report in El Econimista. KKR acquired 33% of Acciona Energia Internacional for EUR397m\u00a0($466m) in 2014. The stake is now valued at more than EUR600m.\u00a0Acciona Energia operates almost 9 GW of power assets,\u00a0including wind, photovoltaic, hydropower, concentrated solar power and biomass.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lagerwey to build wind turbine that produces hydrogen \n Dutch wind turbine manufacturer Lagerwey said today it will build a wind turbine that will produce hydrogen, the first of its kind in the world, together with hydrogen supplier Hygro.\n\nThe project also involves research institute ECN, which will host the turbine on its wind turbine testing field at Wieringerwerf in the Dutch province of North Holland. The plan is for the turbine to be completed at the start of 2019. It will be a 4.8-MW Lagerwey wind turbine that will incorporate electrolysis technology.\n\nLagerwey said the integration of the two technologies will allow many components to be omitted, leading to \u201ccheaper, more efficient and more robust\u201d hydrogen production.\n\nThe wind turbine will produce hydrogen for the Duwaal project, an initiative of a Hygro-led consortium, which aims to create sustainable hydrogen production and distribution for at least five hydrogen fuel stations and 100 hydrogen trucks simultaneously.\n\nLagerwey said that transporting hydrogen by pipeline is cheaper than transporting electricity by cable and also pipelines serve as a buffer, avoiding the supply-demand imbalances related to \u201cregular\u201d wind and solar power. The project is therefore expected to provide insights into future energy infrastructure.\n\n\"In the future, wind turbines will ideally be connected up to a hydrogen gas network rather than an electricity grid,\" the company said.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Dutch wind turbine manufacturer Lagerwey said it will build a wind turbine that stores excess energy as hydrogen. Lagerwey has partnered with hydrogen supplier Hygro and research institute ECN to incorporate electrolysis technology into its 4.8 MW turbine. Once completed in 2019, the turbine will produce hydrogen for the Duwaal project, which aims to create sustainable hydrogen for at least five hydrogen fuel stations and 100 hydrogen trucks."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Drone company Nileworks raises $7m for crop-spray technology \n Japanese drone company Nileworks has raised a \u00a5800 million ($7.12 million) financing round to expand the capabilities of its automated crop sprayer drones.\n\nThe round, which the company expects to close later this month, includes a group of Japanese investors including public-private partnership the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, agricultural chemical maker Kumiai Chemical Industry Co., one of Japan\u2019s largest companies Sumitomo Corporation and its subsidiary Sumitomo Chemical Co., the Japanese National Federation of Agricultural Co-operative Associations, and The Norinchukin Bank.\n\nNileworks claims its multi-copter drones are able to see the shape of a field and spray just 30cm above, thereby reducing drift. Nileworks will use the new funds to accelerate improvements on its automated drone, refining its \u201ccrop health and growth diagnostic technology,\u201d according to a press release. The company is also seeking to add diagnostic capabilities to the drones, enabling them to decide how much pesticide is necessary based on the appearance of the crop.\n\nThe Tokyo-based company, founded in 2015, will target rice farmers in Japan when the product goes on sale in 2019 but says it will move on to other rice-producing countries in Asia in 2020. The company plans to sell the hardware itself, as the drones are automated and do not require operators. Each drone can carry up to one liter of pesticide at a time and fly for 20 minutes, covering 1 hectare.\n\nA similar group of investors, including the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations, the Norinchukin Bank and Sumitomo Corporation, all contributed to an investment round for Japan\u2019s Farmnote, a Japanese startup manufacturing wearable technology to collect data from cattle, in May.\n\nAgrifood tech deals in Japan have followed global trends over the last few years, according to AgFunder data, peaking in 2015 with $107.5 million of investment. Investment in Japanese agrifood tech startups dropped 77% between 2015 and 2016 to just $25 million of funding. Funding levels in the first half of 2017 suggest that the sector is unlikely to bounce back in 2017 as startups raised just $9.5 million in H1 2017.", "output": "Japanese drone manufacturer Nileworks has raised $7m to develop technology enabling its automated crop-spraying drones to determine how much treatment each field\u00a0requires.\u00a0Investors include Kumiai Chemical Industry, the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan and the Japanese National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations. Nileworks said its drones can detect field\u00a0shapes and spray crops from just 30 cm above the ground. The technology should allow the vehicles to calculate how much pesticide is required, based on the crop\u2019s appearance. The product is due to go on sale in 2019 in Japan and the rest of Asia in 2020, targeting rice producers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's DMG Entertainment seeks to buy 10% of Forbes \n DMG Entertainment\u2019s Chinese affiliate has offered to buy a 10 percent stake in Forbes, the U.S. business magazine and media company.\n\nAlong with the minority stake, DMG would acquire \u201cgreater China rights\u201d to the Forbes brand in the proposed deal, helping to fulfill the company\u2019s vision of \u201ccreating a global, high-level concept entertainment brand,\u201d according to a stock market filing from DMG\u2019s mainland Chinese affiliate Yinji Entertainment & Media.\n\nThe filing, issued Tuesday, explains that Yinji is using a Hong Kong-based, DMG-branded entity to establish a $256 million investment fund with several partners. The fund would then be deployed to acquire full control of an entity called FBS Entertainment and Leisure, which in turn would make the Forbes investment, according to the filing. It wasn\u2019t immediately clear how much it would spend on the Forbes deal.\n\nForbes\u2019 current controlling stakeholder is Integrated Whale Media Investments, an asset management firm based in Hong Kong, which acquired 95 percent of the publisher for $415 million in 2014. Earlier this year HNA Group, the acquisitive Chinese conglomerate, made a failed attempt to buy a controlling stake in Forbes for over $400 million.\n\nDMG and Forbes couldn\u2019t immediately be reached for comment.\n\nDMG Entertainment, which began as a Chinese marketing company before diversifying into film and television, was reorganized in 2014, splitting into two parts. Yinji Entertainment & Media, which retained the company\u2019s flagship advertising and marketing business, and remains its chief revenue driver, was brought to market on the Shenzhen stock exchange via a reverse takeover, with co-founder Peter Xiao taking the helm as chairman. The company\u2019s American co-founder and CEO, Dan Mintz, meanwhile, assumed control of the company\u2019s privately held U.S. entertainment assets, retaining the name DMG Entertainment and basing in Los Angeles.\n\nAlthough technically separate, which allows them latitude in negotiating U.S. and Chinese financial and media regulations, the two companies operate under a contractual partnership agreement.\n\nDMG Entertainment\u2019s next U.S. film release will be Bastards, starring Owen Wilson and Ed Helms, and produced in partnership with Alcon Entertainment.", "output": "DMG Entertainment, the Chinese-founded media company, is reported to be seeking a 10% stake in US business magazine Forbes. Under a complex deal, DMG's affiliate Yinji Entertainment & Media would create a $256m investment fund with several partners to make the investment in Forbes through another new company. Forbes is currently 95%-owned by Whale Media Investments in Hong Kong, which acquired its controlling state for $415m in 2014. The price for the proposed deal hasn't been disclosed, and neither party has commented on the reports.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Start-up Built raises $15m to develop robo-bulldozer tech \n watch now\n\nNoah Ready-Campbell's first job out of college was at Google . It was 2010, the year the company touted its plan -- or then, what seemed like a far-fetched dream -- to build self-driving cars. \"They announced it and everyone looked at each other and we were like, why are we even talking about this,\" Ready-Campbell, who's now 29, told CNBC. \"There's no way it's going to work.\" Seven years later, the technology is working. In fact, it's so far along that in California more than 40 companies have licenses to test autonomous vehicles, with the trucking industry not far behind. Ready-Campbell, whose dad was a general contractor, is getting in on the action and taking advantage of the dramatic advances in automation to go after construction. For the past two years, he's been developing software and sensors that can turn off-the-shelf excavators into robots that can dig holes with precision for hours without a break. From a small dirt field in a sparsely populated part of San Francisco, Ready-Campbell's 10-person start-up, Built Robotics, has been stealthily operating a retrofitted skid steer, directing it via a computer program to move around dirt.\n\nBuilt Robotics co-founder Noah Ready-Campbell. Andrew Evers | CNBC\n\nThe software allows a contractor to geofence the project so the machine can't go rogue. Then you program in the exact parameters and where to move the dirt. If Built Robotics is a success, some job displacement is inevitable. But Ready-Campbell said there's currently not enough skilled labor to fulfill all the demand for new roads, dams and bridges, and much of the work is dangerous or tedious. \"I've talked to some operators and they've said there are parts of my job that are really dangerous and there parts of my job that are really boring,\" Ready-Campbell said. \"If you can have a robot do those things and I can focus on the parts that really take human judgment, then that's good for me.\"\n\nBuilt Robotics geofence Andrew Evers | CNBC\n\nReady-Campbell said it's too soon to say how the technology will be priced. He's optimistic that there are multiple ways to make money, whether it's selling the sensor kits to companies like Caterpillar and John Deere for their machines, selling to contractors for retrofits or renting out the technology for projects. Carl Bass, the former CEO of Autodesk and a roboticist in his spare time, first checked out the Built Robotics technology about nine months ago, when he visited the start-up's headquarters. It's not much of an office. Rather, it's a white tent with a few work stations, a weight-lifting area, a couple couches and a coffee maker. \"As somebody who's seen a lot of start-ups, this one may take the cake as far as the proverbial garage,\" said Bass, who's now a Built Robotics investor and board member.\n\n'Better and cheaper'", "output": "Built Robotics, an autonomous-machinery start-up founded by ex-Google employee Noah Ready-Campbell, has raised $15m in an NEA-led funding round. The proceeds will be used to hire engineers to help bring Built's\u00a0robo-bulldozer technology to market. The 10-person team can retrofit heavy machinery\u00a0to use the technology.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shell starts offering EV charging on UK forecourts \n Shell is opening a first wave of electric vehicle charging points at its UK petrol stations, in a sign of the far-reaching changes under way in the transport and oil sectors.\n\nDrivers will be able to recharge 80% of their battery in half an hour at forecourts in London, Surrey and Derby from this week, with a total of 10 service stations to be equipped with rapid chargers by the end of the year.\n\nThe move marks the Shell\u2019s first step into the UK electric car sector and comes days after the Anglo-Dutch oil company bought NewMotion, a Dutch firm with 30,000 private charging points at homes and offices in Europe.\n\nShell said the forays into charging were spurred by the swift growth in battery-powered cars, which now number more than 115,000 in the UK, up from almost zero a decade ago.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt the electric vehicle market is developing fast. And we want to offer customers choice: it doesn\u2019t really matter what kind of vehicle they\u2019re driving, we want them to drive into a Shell station, refuel in whatever capacity the fuel is,\u201d said Jane Lindsay-Green, UK future fuels manager at Shell.\n\nThe NewMotion acquisition and service station charging points could prove an important hedge by big oil against the impact of electric cars, which experts said this week would cause petrol demand to peak by 2030.\n\n\u201cWe want to make sure we are positioning ourselves for the future,\u201d said Lindsay-Green, who described the two schemes as complementary.\n\nShell acknowledged it was taking baby steps into the market, with just 10 out of its 1,000 fuelling stations in the UK adding charging points to begin with.\n\n\u201cThe market is very young. We are learning here. We\u2019ve started very small. It\u2019s 10 sites, it\u2019s certainly not a mass market yet for us,\u201d said Lindsay-Green.\n\nThe company is also catering for the tiny number of hydrogen cars on UK roads \u2013 believed to number as few as 50 \u2013 and this year installed a hydrogen pump at its Cobham services on the M25. Shell will have three stations with hydrogen refuelling by the end of the year.\n\nWith rapid electric charging points typically costing $30,000-$50,000 (\u00a322,700-\u00a338,000) each, the 10 electric charging stations mark a minuscule fraction of the $25bn Shell spends on oil each year.\n\nBut industry watchers said the infrastructure and recent acquisition were noteworthy.\n\nColin McKerracher, an analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said: \u201cI think it is significant that a major oil company is investing in charging infrastructure and that they bought NewMotion.\n\n\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say it spells the end of the pump as we know it, but we are on the way to a world with a broader mix of vehicles on the road, and Shell are making a play to keep their stations relevant.\u201d\n\nGreenpeace, which has previously protested at Shell\u2019s UK service stations over its oil drilling plans, said the country needed more charging points.\n\nRosie Rogers, clean air campaigner at Greenpeace, said: \u201cIn order to really kick start the electrification of our road network, we need to see a lot more rapid charge points in petrol station all over the country, as well as in supermarkets, car parks and motorway services.\u201d\n\nBranded Shell Recharge, the charging points will cost a discounted 25p per kilowatt hour of power until next June, when the price will revert to its normal level of 49p per kWh.\n\n\n\nAt the normal price, that means recharging a Nissan Leaf from virtually flat to a full charge would cost nearly \u00a320, while a top-end Tesla Model S would cost almost \u00a350. Customers pay via a credit card registered to an app on a pay-as-you-go basis rather than the subscription basis that some electric car charging schemes operate on.\n\nThe initial locations, all but one of which is in or around London, were chosen based on how busy they are. \u201cLocations that have a lot of through-traffic, and also locations where perhaps the existing electric vehicle infrastructure needs boosting,\u201d said Lindsay-Green.\n\nShell said that in a handful of cases it paid for upgrades to the local energy grid, to make it capable of handling the rapid charging points. The UK is the first market where Shell is piloting the Recharge offering, which is to expand next to the Netherlands.", "output": "Shell has begun providing fast-charging points for electric vehicles at its forecourts in the UK. Batteries will charge 80% in half an hour at petrol stations in London, Surrey and Derby. It wants 10 of its 1,000 sites to be equipped with EV chargers by the end of the year. Last week, Shell acquired NewMotion, a Dutch company with 30,000 private charging points at homes and offices across Europe. Shell plans to have three stations with hydrogen refuelling by the end of the year.\n \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google's AlphaGo AI learns to play without human help \n Surpassing the Masters\n\nWe've written before about how Google is one of the most prominent tech companies leading the way when it comes to the development of artificial intelligence. As each month passes, its AI division, DeepMind, continues to reveal increasingly advanced AI capabilities, especially when it comes to AlphaGo.\n\nThis particular AI is most well-known for mastering the ancient Chinese game of Go...and subsequently defeating 18-time world champion Lee Se-dol, which happened just last year.\n\nSince then, DeepMind has started adding imagination to its AI, and they also used gaming to teach the AI how to better manage tasks. AlphaGo even went on to defeat another top go player, Ke Jie, once again showing off its (potentially) unlimited potential to learn.\n\nNow, a new development has just come to light.\n\nThis week, DeepMind unveiled the next iteration of the AlphaGo AI, dubbed AlphaGo Zero, saying it's \"even more powerful and is arguably the strongest Go player in history.\" According to the company, Zero taught itself how to play Go on its own by playing games against itself \u2014 previous iterations of AlphaGo learned by studying data gathered from human players.\n\nZero began as a complete novice, but after just 3 days it beat the version of AlphaGo that bested Lee Se-dol, and it beat it by a staggering 100 games to 0. After 40 days, it proceeded to beat the superior version of AlphaGo that beat Ke Jie.\n\n\"AlphaGo Zero also discovered new knowledge, developing unconventional strategies and creative new moves that echoed and surpassed the novel techniques it played in the games against Lee Sedol and Ke Jie,\" said DeepMind in their press release.\n\nBeyond the Game of Go\n\nWhile AlphaGo Zero's Go capabilities are to be praised, it should be noted that playing a board game is much different than completing other tasks that have more variables. As Eleni Vasilaki, professor of computational neuroscience at Sheffield University, put it while speaking with The Guardian, \"AI fails in tasks that are surprisingly easy for humans. Just look at the performance of a humanoid robot in everyday tasks such as walking, running, and kicking a ball.\"\n\nWhen it comes to matching humans at more complex tasks, AI still has a long way to go \u2014 even AI like Siri and the Google Assistant have yet to surpass a fifth grader's level of knowledge.\n\nBut that doesn't mean that this development isn't utterly revolutionary.\n\nDeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis is also well aware of this gap between humans and AI, explaining how the development and growth of AlphaGo was more important than just mastering an ancient game, it was also \"a big step for us towards building these general-purpose algorithms.\u201d\n\nWithin the next decade, Hassabis believes AI will be working alongside people to advance development in fields like science and medicine \u2014 the latter of which can already be seen today.\n\nFor example, AlphaGo Zero is currently trying to work out how proteins fold, which is something that, if realized, could vastly accelerate drug discovery (the process through which new medications are discovered). This, in turn, could save countless lives and lead us into a new era in medicine.\n\n\"I hope that these kinds of algorithms and future versions of AlphaGo-inspired things will be routinely working with us as scientific experts and medical experts on advancing the frontier of science and medicine,\" Hassabis said.\n\nArtificial intelligence may not be as smart and capable as us yet, but if AlphaGo Zero is an indication, AI are quick learners. Now it's just a matter of knowing what to do when the AI takeover inevitably happens.", "output": "Google\u2019s AlphaGo artificial intelligence (AI) system, created to challenge human players at the ancient Chinese game of Go, has been updated to AlphaGo Zero. The new version is \u201carguably the strongest Go player in history\u201d, according to the company, having learned how to play the game after challenging previous versions of itself. Within three days it had\u00a0beaten the AlphaGo\u00a0version that had won against 18-time world champion Lee Se-dol, and after 40 days\u00a0had was victorious against the latest iteration, which had defeated\u00a0another leading player. The AI\u00a0software is also being used to determine how proteins fold, a study that's hoped to help in\u00a0drug development."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Netherlands to hold subsidy-free wind auction in December \n The Dutch government will be accepting applications between December 15 and December 21 in its subsidy-free offshore wind tender for phases I and II of the Hollandse Kust Zuid zone.\n\nThe projects will have a combined capacity of about 700 MW.\n\nThe economic affairs ministry has published a Ministerial Order outlining the needed documents and the ranking criteria which will determine the winners. The extent of offshore wind project experience of the bidders, offered capacity, quality of the design, measures to ensure cost-efficiency and social costs are in the list of criteria.\n\nThe Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) will hold an information meeting on November 1 to discuss the tender procedure.\n\nThe decision to sound the possibility of realising offshore wind projects off the Netherlands without subsidies has been prompted by Germany\u2019s first offshore wind tender, where three of the four winning projects will be built without subsidies. If the subsidy-free competitive process is unsuccessful, the Dutch government will initiate a tender with subsidies.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "The Dutch government will hold a no-subsidy tender for phases I and II of the 700 MW Hollandse Kust Zuid zone wind farm between December 15 and December 21. The extend of offshore wind project experience of the bidders, offered capacity, quality of the design, measures to ensure cost-efficiency and social costs are in the list of criteria. The decision follows a German offshore wind tender earlier this year in which three of the four winning projects will be built without subsidies. If the subsidy-free competitive process is unsuccessful, the Dutch government will initiate a tender with subsidies."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK's 'culture of low pay' keeps workers in badly paid jobs \n Low pay is endemic in the UK and there has been little progress in the number of people managing to escape from poorly paid jobs, a new report by the Social Mobility Commission reveals today (Thursday 19 October).\n\nThe \u2018Great Escape?\u2019 report, carried out by the Resolution Foundation, explores trends in low pay over recent decades and examines the factors linked to low pay and progression. It tracks individuals\u2019 pay over 10 years and divides them into 3 groups:\n\n\u2018stuck\u2019 - those who are stuck in low pay every year\n\n\u2018cyclers\u2019 - those who move out of low pay at some point, but who have not consistently stayed above the low pay threshold by the end of the decade\n\n\u2018escapers\u2019 - those who earn above the low pay threshold in each of the last 3 years, suggesting they have remained in higher pay\n\nThe analysis finds that just 1 in 6 low-paid workers (17%) managed to permanently escape from low pay in the last decade. Meanwhile, a quarter of low-paid workers remained permanently stuck in low pay and nearly half (48%) fluctuated in and out of low pay over the course of the last 10 years.\n\nThe report finds that women are more likely to be low paid than men and are also far more likely to get stuck in low pay. It is particularly difficult for women in their early twenties to escape low pay, with the lack of good-quality, flexible work to fit alongside childcare responsibilities as the most likely barrier.\n\nHowever, there has been some long-term progress for women. Excluding those who exit the data over the following decade, the proportion of women getting stuck has fallen from 48% in 1981 to 91 to 30% in 2006 to 2016. In contrast, the risk of long-term low pay has increased for men over the same period (from 20% to 25%). This is likely due to the increasing number of men working in low-paid, part-time work.\n\nThe report finds that nearly two-thirds (64%) of workers who are \u2018stuck\u2019 in low pay are working part time, while nearly three-quarters (71%) of people who escaped low pay were working full time.\n\nGetting stuck in low pay carries a severe pay penalty. On average, people stuck in the low pay trap have seen their hourly wages rise by just 40p in real terms over the last decade, compared to a \u00a34.83 pay rise for those who have permanently escaped.\n\nAge is also identified as a factor, with older workers far less likely to escape low pay than their younger counterparts. The report finds that 23% of low-paid workers aged 25 or under escaped low pay over the following decade, compared to 15% of those aged 46 to 55.\n\nThe research also finds that in the last decade, low-paid workers were mostly likely to escape in Scotland and least likely to escape in the North East.\n\nIt adds that while the National Living Wage is reducing the number of people in low-paid work - last year saw the biggest fall in 40 years - there will still be around 4 million low-paid workers in 2020, highlighting the scale of Britain\u2019s low pay challenge.\n\nThe Rt Hon Alan Milburn, Chair of the Social Mobility Commission, said:\n\nBritain has an endemic low pay problem. While record numbers of people are in employment, too many jobs are low skilled and low paid. Millions of workers - particularly women - are being trapped in low pay with little chance of escape. The consequences for social mobility are dire.\n\nBritain\u2019s flexible workforce gives us global economic advantage, but a 2-tier labour market is now exacting too high a social price. A new approach is needed to break the vicious cycle where low skills lead to low pay in low-quality jobs. Welfare policy should focus on moving people from low pay to living pay. Government should join forces with employers in a new national effort to improve progression and productivity at work. Without concerted action, Britain will become more socially divided and social mobility will continue to stall.\n\nConor D\u2019Arcy, Senior Policy Analyst at the Resolution Foundation, said:\n\nBritain has one of the highest proportions of low-paid work in the developed work. And while three-quarters of low-paid workers did manage to move into higher paying roles at some point over the past decade, the vast majority couldn\u2019t sustain that progress. This lack of pay progress can have a huge scarring effect on people\u2019s lifetime living standards.\n\nThe National Living Wage is playing a massive role in reducing low pay, but it can\u2019t solve the problem alone. Employers need to improve career routes for staff, while government should support them with a welfare system that encourages progression at work.\n\nNotes for editors", "output": "A \"low-pay culture\" in the UK pressures people to remain in badly paid jobs, according to a report by the government-supported Social Mobility Commission. The study found that just one in six workers\u00a0earning less than two-thirds of the median hourly wage\u00a0had succeeded in\u00a0moving to higher paid roles in the last ten years, while\u00a0the majority remained stuck in part-time or insecure work. A quarter of such workers remained permanently in low-paid positions, the report stated.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK's 'culture of low pay' keeps workers in badly paid jobs \n Britain\u2019s low pay culture traps people in poorly paid jobs and prevents them from escaping into full-time work with better pay, according to a major study by the government-backed body that tracks social mobility.\n\nOnly one in six workers on low pay managed in the last 10 years to push themselves up the pay ladder and stay there, while most remained stuck in a cycle of part-time and insecure jobs.\n\nThe analysis by the Social Mobility Commission found that a quarter of low-paid workers remained permanently stuck in low pay and nearly half (48%) fluctuated in and out of it over the course of the last 10 years.\n\nAlan Milburn, the former Labour MP and health minister who heads the commission, said the study showed that successive governments had failed to reduce inequality between rich and poor despite two decades of interventions.\n\nHe described the situation as \u201cendemic\u201d and warned that without \u201cradical and urgent reform\u201d, the social and economic divisions in British society will widen even further, threatening community cohesion and economic prosperity.\n\nHis warning follows a stinging report earlier this week by the thinktank, the OECD, that accused the government of allowing regional and intergenerational divisions to worsen, leaving millions of people outside London and the south-east working in low-skilled jobs.\n\nMilburn said workers on low incomes, defined as those earning below two-thirds of the median hourly wage, were caught in an \u201cendemic low pay problem\u201d that is \u201cdire for social mobility\u201d. The median hourly wage in 2016 was \u00a313.59, defining those on low pay as earning below \u00a39 an hour.\n\nThe study found that on average, people stuck in the low-pay trap have seen their hourly wages rise by just 40p over the last decade after inflation is taken into account, compared with a \u00a34.83 pay rise for those who have permanently escaped.\n\nThe government has defended itself against claims that inequality has widened in the last 10 years by pointing to the Gini coefficient, which is an internationally recognised measure of income inequality that has remained constant in recent years.\n\nBut the Gini coefficient includes pensioners and those on benefits, while the commission\u2019s research focuses on those in work.\n\nConor D\u2019Arcy, a policy analyst at the Resolution Foundation, which carried out the research, said: \u201cBritain has one of the highest proportions of low-paid work in the developed world. And while three-quarters of low-paid workers did manage to move into higher-paying roles at some point over the past decade, the vast majority couldn\u2019t sustain that progress. This lack of pay progress can have a huge scarring effect on people\u2019s lifetime living standards.\n\n\u201cThe national living wage is playing a massive role in reducing low pay, but it can\u2019t solve the problem alone. Employers need to improve career routes for staff, while government should support them with a welfare system that encourages progression at work.\u201d\n\n\n\nMilburn added: \u201cBritain\u2019s flexible workforce gives us global economic advantage but a two-tier labour market is now exacting too high a social price. A new approach is needed to break the vicious cycle where low skills lead to low pay in low quality jobs.\n\n\u201cWelfare policy should focus on moving people from low pay to living pay. Government should join forces with employers in a new national effort to improve progression and productivity at work. Without concerted action Britain will become more socially divided and social mobility will continue to stall.\u201d", "output": "A \"low-pay culture\" in the UK pressures people to remain in badly paid jobs, according to a report by the government-supported Social Mobility Commission. The study found that just one in six workers\u00a0earning less than two-thirds of the median hourly wage\u00a0had succeeded in\u00a0moving to higher paid roles in the last ten years, while\u00a0the majority remained stuck in part-time or insecure work. A quarter of such workers remained permanently in low-paid positions, the report stated.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gene therapies hold promise for treating blindness \n Save\n\nThis article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.\n\nGenetic therapies offer new pathways for ophthalmic disorders\n\nBiotechnology companies such as Hemera Biosciences, Spark Therapeutics and AGTC have several ophthalmic treatments in the clinical pipeline.\n\nIssue: October 25, 2017 ADD TOPIC TO EMAIL ALERTS Receive an email when new articles are posted on . Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on Subscribe ADDED TO EMAIL ALERTS You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.\n\n\n\nClick Here to Manage Email Alerts You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.\n\n\n\nClick Here to Manage Email Alerts\n\n\n\nBack to Healio We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.\n\n\n\nBack to Healio\n\nGenetic therapies for ophthalmic disorders such as inherited retinal dystrophies are moving forward in the field and taking steps toward becoming a clinical reality.\n\nThe future of gene therapy in retinal disease is a bright one, with many gene therapy companies offering exciting possibilities, Jay S. Duker, MD, a co-founder of Hemera Biosciences, a privately held biotech company, told Ocular Surgery News.\n\n\u201cGene therapy is being tested in many organ systems, but the retina is one of the best organs in the body to consider gene therapy for several reasons. First, the eye is relatively isolated from an immunologic view. This makes inflammation less of an issue. Second, the ordered topography of the retina is an advantage. Third, the eye volume is such that relatively small amounts of material are needed to treat an eye. Finally, we have many tests of structure and function that are safe and easy to perform in the office to determine the effectiveness of the gene therapy,\u201d he said.\n\nTherapies in the pipeline\n\nHemera Biosciences is developing anti-complement therapies delivered via gene therapy. Its lead product, HMR59, is an AAV2-based gene therapy designed to be injected intravitreally into the eye in an office setting to treat advanced dry age-related macular degeneration, according to Duker, an OSN Retina/Vitreous Board Member. This is the first gene therapy for dry AMD ever tested in humans.\n\nJay S. Duker\n\nThe therapy induces intraocular cells to produce a solubilized form of a naturally occurring protein blocker of membrane attack complex, \u201cthe final step in the complement cascade,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cThe phase 1b dose-escalating trial of HMR59 in eyes with severe geographic atrophy from dry age-related macular degeneration is fully enrolled. Initial safety results should be available this fall or early winter. A phase 2 multicenter placebo-controlled trial of HMR59 is in the advanced planning stages,\u201d Duker said.\n\nDuker also noted that Spark Therapeutics is anticipated to receive FDA approval for Luxturna (voretigene neparvovec), a gene therapy treatment of confirmed biallelic RPE65-mediated inherited retinal disease.\n\nKatherine A. High, MD, co-founder, chief scientific officer and president of Spark Therapeutics, told Ocular Surgery News that Luxturna has completed a phase 3 clinical trial. The therapy began a phase 1 clinical trial in 2007, she said, before the creation of Spark Therapeutics in 2013.\n\nThe gene therapy was developed when High was the director of the Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics at the Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Because the hospital was not in the business of licensing products, a decision had to be made for the future of Luxturna, she said.\n\nPAGE BREAK\n\n\u201cWe considered a number of options, including partnering with a biotech or a pharmaceutical company, but most had very little experience with gene therapies. This was an ultra-rare indication, and sometimes ultra-rare indications can be lost in the shuffle of a big company. After a lot of deliberation, we made the decision to spin out an independent company from our unit at CHOP. The unit employed about 80 people; when we spun out, we took a number of those people and added a number of other individuals. The company, even though it was formed in 2013, had a running start. When it was formed, we had an asset in phase 3. That\u2019s unusual,\u201d High said.\n\nTargeting inherited retinal dystrophies\n\nSpark Therapeutics has two additional ocular gene therapies in the pipeline. High said SPK-7001 has been advanced to an open-label, dose-escalated phase 1/2 trial to assess the safety and preliminary efficacy of subretinal administration for choroideremia. The company is also investigating a preclinical gene therapy for the treatment of Leber\u2019s hereditary optic neuropathy.\n\n\u201cGene therapy has a great deal to offer in the area of inherited retinal dystrophies. This has been a target tissue that has really not been amenable, for example, for repeated protein administrations. It hasn\u2019t been amenable for small molecule therapy, either. So, I think that presents a niche for gene therapy. It\u2019s interesting to me because vision is one of the most complex mechanisms in the body, with over 250 genes involved. Of course, most of these don\u2019t have treatments, and so I believe we should be able to leverage the work that we\u2019ve done in RPE65 and take advantage of the lessons learned to shorten clinical development timelines,\u201d High said.\n\nSince its creation, Spark Therapeutics has secured $1 billion in financing to support the growth of its clinical programs and platforms, according to the company website.\n\nBright future\n\nApplied Genetic Technologies Corporation (AGTC), a publicly traded company developing gene therapies for rare lung and eye diseases, also has several therapies in clinical trials. One, a phase 1/2 trial, will evaluate the safety and efficacy of recombinant adeno-associated virus vector expressing retinoschisin for the treatment of X-linked retinoschisis, according to the company.\n\nAccording to a company investor presentation given in August, AGTC reported it had $148.7 million in cash and investments as of March 31 and $135 million to $140 million expected at the fiscal year end on June 30. This will allow the company to complete enrollment and analysis for the phase 1/2 trials of X-linked retinoschisis and achromatopsia.\n\nPAGE BREAK\n\nGene therapy for ophthalmic disorders is bright, and the future offers some exciting advancements for retinal diseases, Duker said.\n\n\u201cAs mentioned, we should have an FDA-approved gene therapy for one form of inherited retinal dystrophy soon. Other corrections of mutations will follow. Drug delivery via gene therapy will not be too far behind. The future will include more retinotrophic viral vectors, allowing for better gene delivery, as well as some non-viral vectors,\u201d he said. \u2013 by Robert Linnehan\n\nReferences:\n\nOur scientific programs and platforms. Spark Therapeutics. http://sparktx.com/scientific-platform-programs/. Accessed Sept. 12, 2017.\n\nProducts. Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation. https://www.agtc.com/products. Accessed Sept. 14, 2017.\n\nRussell S, et al. Lancet. 2017;doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(17)31868-8.\n\nSafety and efficacy of rAAV-hRS1 in patients with X-linked retinoschisis (XLRS). ClinicalTrials.gov. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02416622. Updated Aug. 31, 2017. Accessed Sept. 13, 2017.\n\nTreatment of advanced dry age related macular degeneration with AAVCAGsCD59. ClinicalTrials.gov. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03144999. Updated May 16, 2017. Accessed Sept. 13, 2017.\n\nVisionary Science for Life Changing Cures 2017. Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation. http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/AMDA-2H6BI7/5243637568x0x954037/4044D075-C3ED-483E-9DCC-466D012B14A7/AGTC_Summer_2017_Investor_Presentation.pdf. Published Aug. 15, 2017. Accessed Sept. 14, 2017.\n\nFor more information:\n\nJay S. Duker, MD, can be reached at New England Eye Center, 800 Washington St., Box 450, Boston, MA 02111-1533; email: jduker@tuftsmedicalcenter.org.\n\nKatherine A. High, MD, can be reached at Spark Therapeutics, 3737 Market St., Suite 1300, Philadelphia, PA 19104; email: kathy.high@sparktx.com.\n\nDisclosures: Duker reports he is a co-founder of Hemera Biosciences. High reports she is co-founder, chief scientific officer and president of Spark Therapeutics.", "output": "Gene therapies for ocular disorders are close to becoming a reality, with a number of firms testing new treatments, according to Dr Jay Duker, co-founder of Hemera Biosciences. His firm is carrying out the first human trials of HMR59, a gene therapy for advanced dry age-related macular degeneration, with results set to be available in the coming months. Additionally, Spark Therapeutics recently completed a phase 3 clinical trial of its product Luxturna, which aims to treat inherited retinal disease.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MIT to issue degree certificates using blockchain technology \n The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is offering some students the option to be awarded tamper-free digital degree certificates when they graduate, in partnership with Learning Machine. Selected students can now choose to download a digital version of their degree certificate to their smartphones when they graduate, in addition to receiving a paper diploma.\n\nUsing a free, open-source app called Blockcerts Wallet, students can quickly access a digital diploma that can be shared on social media and verified by employers to ensure its authenticity. The digital credential is protected using block-chain technology. The block chain is a public ledger that offers a secure way of making and recording transactions, and is best known as the underlying technology of digital currency Bitcoin.\n\nA news release Tuesday described how MIT has been thinking about using block-chain technology to secure digital credentials for the past two years. In 2015 Philipp Schmidt, the director of learning innovation at the MIT media lab, began issuing nonacademic digital credentials to his team, but he did not have a good way of managing these credentials digitally.\n\nIn collaboration with Learning Machine, Schmidt and his team began to develop an open-source tool kit, called Blockcerts, that any college can use to issue credentials using block-chain technology. With the addition of the Blockcerts Wallet app, this information can be encrypted, and students can prove ownership of their diploma through the generation of a unique numerical identifier.\n\nThe technology means that students can quickly share their virtual certificates with potential employers without involving an intermediary. Third parties can verify the legitimacy of the diploma by pasting the URL of the certificate into an MIT-hosted portal. This portal can instantly verify the legitimacy of the certificate, negating the notarization step often required in the verification of paper certificates.\n\nChris Jagers, CEO of Learning Machine, said that many of today's students expect to be able to just send digital copies of their academic credentials to employers and institutions, but that until now there wasn\u2019t good technology to support this. \u201cWe heard of students trying to Snapchat their grades to admissions; they didn\u2019t understand why they couldn\u2019t just text a picture,\u201d said Jagers. \u201cIt should be that easy to share records, and this generation of digital natives expects that. But before this technology came along, this wasn\u2019t possible.\u201d\n\nMary Callahan, university registrar and senior associate dean at MIT, said that a key motivation behind the pilot was to \u201cempower\u201d students to take greater ownership of their academic qualifications. She said the technology enables students to share their achievements with whomever they wish in a way that is secure, verifiable and efficient. \u201cI think it\u2019s got real potential,\u201d said Callahan. \u201cWe wanted to lead the way, and we expect others to follow.\u201d\n\nThe first cohort of 111 students who were able to take part in the pilot graduated this summer, with 43 choosing to take part. Callahan said that potentially all students graduating in February 2018 would be given the digital diploma option. Asked whether she thought this could one day replace paper, Callahan did not rule it out but said that the change would take time.\n\nAside from convenience for students, the technology also tackles another issue facing universities -- fake degrees. \u201cThere are a lot of people who pretend to graduate from MIT with fake diplomas,\u201d said Jagers. \u201cThis provides a format that people can\u2019t fake.\u201d\n\nCallahan confirmed that verifying authenticity was an important aspect of the technology for the university, which she said \u201cdefinitely gets its fair share\u201d of fraudsters.\n\nWhile some students may struggle to understand the technology behind the app, understanding how the block chain works is not necessary to use it, said Jagers. He noted that there has been strong interest in the technology from dozens of academic institutions, as well as companies and governments. The University of Melbourne is already piloting digital diplomas with the app.\n\nThough some companies are looking to sell their block chain-based products, Jagers said that keeping the Blockcerts app and tool kit free and open source is important. \u201cIf everyone is doing this in a proprietary way, then the records won\u2019t be universally verifiable. The whole point is to create records that don\u2019t have any dependence on an issuer or vendor.\u201d\n\nWhile MIT may be among the first institutions in the U.S. to use block-chain technology to award digital degree certificates, Thomas Black, assistant vice provost and university registrar at Johns Hopkins University, said that other institutions are experimenting. He noted that his institution was also looking to use block-chain technology to award degrees, but he would be taking a different approach than MIT.\n\nInstead of working with third parties, Johns Hopkins is building its own system and creating a private ledger -- rather than using Bitcoin's public one, like MIT. \u201cUniversities are very protective of their authority to certify learning. I don\u2019t know that we need to have this public ledger approach,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can use block-chain technology very nicely by establishing a private ledger.\u201d\n\nBlack noted that many institutions already use digital signing services to verify the authenticity of their PDF documents through Adobe. Companies such as Parchment and Paradigm also offer verified digital versions of diplomas, said Black. \u201cThe concept of digital signatures is nothing new,\u201d he said. \u201cBut perhaps universities could start to replace Adobe and others in these roles.\u201d", "output": "The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has partnered with blockchain firm Learning Machine to create the Blockcerts Wallet, an open-source app offering secure, verifiable digital versions of degree certificates. MIT is among the first institutions to use blockchain to offer digital certificates, which can reduce fraud and enable graduates to share their qualifications more easily. The University of Melbourne is using the Blockcerts Wallet app to pilot its own digital diploma scheme, while Johns Hopkins is working on a solution using a private blockchain. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google to automatically update Shopping data in\u00a0Amazon challenge \n by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, October 18, 2017\n\nGoogle has created technology that automatically updates price and availability in Google Shopping ads that will allow it to complete better with Amazon and other ecommerce marketplaces.\n\nThe \"automatic item updates\" feature, scheduled to launch October 31, will allow Google to automatically update a merchant's product price and availability in a Google Shopping ad based on the advertiser's website listing and other triggers without placing codes containing the schema.org markup that was previously required.\n\nA combination of statistical models and machine learning detect and extract product data from a retailer's website to update a product's price and availability in shopping ads.\n\n\"The worst thing for a consumer is to see one price in a Google Shopping ad and then other price on the merchant's website,\" said Tien Nguyen, founder at CPC Strategy.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nTwo emails sent from Google to merchants earlier this week describing the feature, \"automatic item updates,\" left retail clients using Google Shopping a little confused. On Tuesday, search agencies began getting a flood of emails and calls asking about the change.\n\nThe first email from Google was sent to merchants that are not currently using automatic item updates, and the second email was sent to merchants currently using it.\n\nBeginning at the end of the month, the feature will turn on by default, but merchants can opt-out. Google developed the technology to look for and identify coded signals on a website page that would determine price and availability. This way merchants are not required to have the Schema.org markup in place to function properly.\n\nThe feature isn't new, but the ability to trigger it without the Schema.org markup in place is new.\n\nNguyen said sometimes Google will reject the Shopping ad if it doesn't match the merchants' price and description on the webpage. Then the ad never serves at all.\n\nThe most current price and availability for the products will be determined by \"structured data annotations\" or additional information when structured data isn't available.\n\n\"It\u2019s not anything to be alarmed about, but it can\u2019t be completely ignored,\" said David Grow, digital media director, Chacka Marketing. \"Advertisers can opt out.\"", "output": "Google is to enable the automatic updating of merchants' product prices and availability on its Shopping pages. The feature, which refreshes details via links into merchants' own websites, will be triggered on 31 October, whether sellers have the Schema.org markup in place or not.\u00a0The move is seen as an effort to compete with Amazon.\u00a0\"The worst thing for a consumer is to see one price in a Google Shopping ad and then another price on the merchant's website,\" said Tien Nguyen, founder at CPC Strategy.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "More efficient cellulose breakdown could lead to cheaper biofuels \n Scientists have gained new insight into the functioning of hydrolytic enzymes, in a study that could pave the way to more competitive biofuels.\n\nThe current technical complexity and costs of obtaining biofuels from biomass restrict their cheap, efficient and sustainable production. At a time when oil prices are at record lows, this is hindering their ability to compete on the fuels market.\n\nOne of the major challenges is breaking down cellulose, a polysaccharide and plant constituent which is not water soluble and thus difficult to process.\n\nBiorefineries use a mix of hydrolytically active enzymes which utilise water molecules to break down plant materials, replicating the natural degradation processes. Recently, oxidative enzymes were discovered which utilise oxygen and work together with hydrolytic enzymes to break down cellulose more efficiently. Scientists at the Graz University of Technology are now working to find out how this process works.\n\nUsing atomic force microscopy, the researchers were able to observe enzymes at work on the surface of cellulose particles for the first time and provide direct evidence of their activity. The insights gained have been published in the journal Nature Communications.\n\nAs well as observing the actions of the hydrolytically active enzyme Trichoderma reesei CBH I, the researchers were able to observe how the behaviour of the enzyme changed when oxidative enzymes, also known as LPMOs (lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases), were added to mix. The Graz scientists established both that the LPMOS generated more binding sites on the surface of the hydrolytically active enzymes, and that the enzyme dynamics on the surface increased considerably.\n\n\u201cThis study will contribute to a better understanding of these processes at a basic research level, and in a further step will facilitate the production of biofuels. Usually, in chemistry we are focused on soluble products, which can be easily measured, to deepen the understanding of a reaction. However, for a reaction taking place on a solid surface such an approach is not feasible. We wanted to observe and document the step before that, that is, the process of cellulose breakdown,\" says Manuel Eibinger, lead author of the study at the Institute of Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering.\n\nBernd Nidetzky, head of the Institute of Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering at TU Graz: \"The saying comes to mind 'a picture is worth a thousand words'. In this study we wanted to document the processes as they occur in time. And this is what we managed to do.\"\n\nThe team\u2019s study is available from Nature Communications, here.", "output": "Scientists at the Graz University of Technology are investigating oxidative enzymes that utilise oxygen and work together with hydrolytic enzymes to break down cellulose more efficiently. Traditionally, biorefineries use a mix of hydrolytically active enzymes that utilise water molecules to break down plant materials, replicating the natural degradation process."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "YouTube claims AI tech now finds 83% of extremist videos \n YouTube has published its second report on how it's dealing with extremist videos since announcing plans to deal with the problem back in June, after brand safety concerns caused a number of advertisers to pull their spend from YouTube.\n\nIt reports that 83 per cent of the extremist videos removed from the platform in September were automatically caught by the machine learning technology it introduced in June before they received a single human flag \u2013 compared to 75 per cent in August.\n\nYouTube says the technology has been trained to recognise this content using over 1m videos, which have been manually reviewed by its staff to pick out examples of terrorist and violent content.\n\n\"Inevitably, both humans and machines make mistakes, and as we have increased the volume of videos for review by our teams, we have made some errors,\" reads YouTube's report. \"We know we can get better and we are committed to making sure our teams are taking action on the right content. We are working on ways to educate those who share video meant to document or expose violence on how to add necessary context.\"\n\nThe company also provided updates on the other approaches it's using to tackle this problem. Videos that aren't illegal, but do contain 'controversial religious or supremacist content', have been kept on the platform, but with a warning interstitial beforehand, and with recommendations, monetisations and comments all turned off. YouTube is investing more in its Creators for Change programme, which supports the makers of videos attempting to tackle social issues, with new chapters opening in Israel and Spain.\n\nFinally, the Trusted Flagger inititative has added 35 NGOs (Non-Government Organisations), including King's College London and Indonesia's Wahid Institute, to help advise YouTube on policies around issues like hate speech and radicalisation, and to improve the training of its systems by flagging content.\n\nJoin us at the 2017 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony, taking place in London on Thursday 16 November, to mix with the industry's best and brightest, and raise a glass to the year's best campaigns and solutions. To find out more, and to book your place, click here.", "output": "Google-owned video-sharing site YouTube has said it automatically caught and removed 83% of extremist videos using its machine learning technology in September, compared with\u00a075% in August, according to a report from the provider. The study also revealed YouTube has\u00a0added 35 non-governmental organisations to its Trusted Flagger initiative to help create policies on hate speech and radicalisation, and is expanding its Creators for Change programme. In addition, content featuring \"controversial religious or supremacist content\"\u00a0is stripped of comments, recommendations and monetisations, and is preceded by a warning.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Jacobs signs sulphur recovery agreement with Shell JV \n Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has signed a sulfur recovery technology licensor agreement with Paqell, a joint venture between Shell Global Solutions and Paques BV, for use of its THIOPAQ O&G (oil and gas) technology in refineries and gas treating facilities across the globe. This agreement positions Jacobs as the only gas treating and sulfur recovery licensing company to license THIOPAQ O&G to low capacity sulfur facility owners, which eliminates the chemical waste produced by alternative technologies.\n\nTHIOPAQ O&G is a biological process which integrates gas purification with sulfur recovery in a single unit, resulting in high sulfur recovery levels at reduced installation and operating costs. This process involves sulfur components, such as mercaptans (R-SH) and hydrogen sulfides (H 2 S), being removed from a gas stream and converting them into biologically formed sulfur. Expanding Jacobs\u2019 Comprimo\u00ae Sulfur Solutions technology, this process is becoming increasingly important to the industry as it looks for ways to reduce chemical waste, which poses both environmental and safety hazards.\n\n\u201cRefining and gas treating facility owners and operators require reliable technology that delivers low CAPEX and OPEX, provides high sulfur recovery efficiency, and minimises environmental impact,\u201d said Jacobs Mining & Minerals and Specialty Chemicals Senior Vice President and General Manager Andrew Berryman.", "output": "Jacobs Engineering Group has agreed to licence sulphur recovery technology from Paqell, a joint venture between Shell Global Solutions and Paques. The technology, THIOPAQ O&G is a biological process that removes mecaptans and hydrogen sulphides from a gas stream."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Progressive Insurance debuts AI-powered Facebook chatbot \n The Progressive Corp. headquarters is seen in Mayfield Village, Ohio on Wednesday, January 18, 2006. John Quinn/Bloomberg News\n\nProgressive Insurance has launched a Flo Chatbot on Facebook Messenger to communicate with policyholders and offer quotes to prospective customers on social media.\n\nThe artificial intelligence tool is now available to 1.4 billion monthly active Messenger users via Flo\u2019s Facebook fan page, according to the company. A Progressive representative will also be available to carry on conversations through phone or private message in the event the AI bot cannot answer particular questions.\n\nProgressive says it will continue to enhance its AI technology over time as it learns from customer inquiries. To begin with, Flo Chatbot will only answer basic questions around deductibles, claim status and the quoting process.\n\n\"We know our customers are busy and they're looking for convenient ways to access information about insurance,\" said Dan Witalec, customer acquisition leader at Progressive, in a statement. \"By creating the Flo Chatbot for Messenger we are able to make the process of getting an auto quote as simple as possible by talking with them exactly where they are.\"", "output": "US insurance giant Progressive has launched Flo Chatbot, an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot integrated with Facebook. The bot, named after the company's fictional spokeswoman, will be accessible via Progessive's Facebook page. It will offer prospective customers quotes,\u00a0while also allowing existing policyholders to ask questions regarding their coverage.\u00a0\"By creating the Flo Chatbot for Messenger we are able to make the process of getting an auto quote as simple as possible by talking with [our customers] exactly where they are\",\u00a0said Customer Acquisition Leader Dan Witalec.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Email platform created by insurance broker Worry + Peace \n Firm predicts new service will help generate leads for brokers.\n\nBroker Worry + Peace has developed bespoke email addresses for customers who have signed up to use its insurance marketplace Pouch and claimed that brokers who use the system will be able to generate leads using the platform.\n\nFounder James York explained that the emails will use the firstname.surname@pouch.fyi format.\n\nAccording to York, Pouch is a platform where customers can keep all of their insurance transactions \u2013 even those not bought through Worry + Peace \u2013 in one place. The email system", "output": "Insurtech Worry + Peace has introduced bespoke email addresses for customers who use its platform as part of a beta testing phase. The UK firm said by doing this it will allow brokers also making use of its platform, dubbed Pouch, to generate more leads. Pouch is designed to allow policyholders to organise different insurance policies in one place. The new email platform will be developed further once feedback from the testing is received.\u00a0\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US aerial imaging firm wins drone inspection patent \n (Image source: EagleView.)\n\nEagleView Technologies (Bothell, Wash.), a provider of aerial imagery and property data analytics, reports that it has won an authoritative patent for property inspection using an unmanned aerial system (UAS), or drone. The United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) granted EagleView Pat. No. 9,612,598, Unmanned Aircraft Structure Evaluation System and Method.\n\nEagleView reports that its new technology automatically generates a flight path around a structure to capture imagery and data using the drone. The flight path is defined based on the characteristics of the drone camera and the known outline and height of the structure. A pilot is not needed to create the flight path.\n\n\u201cThis patent enables us to continue streamlining our processes in the most advanced way possible to provide consistent imagery and information to our customers,\u201d comments Rishi Daga, President, EagleView. \u201cWe will continue to invest in protecting our technology and capture capabilities as we advance our solutions.\u201d\n\nEagleView says that the patent has already been used by the USPTO to constrain other companies in the roof inspection industry from obtaining patent protection for UAS Rooftop Inspection applications, demonstrating the vendor\u2019s leadership in the field.\n\nEagleView\u2019s OnSite solution, introduced earlier this year, creates property data and imagery from multiple camera sources, including drones, that can be accessed directly by claims adjusters. Through the EagleView OnSite Solutions network, field representatives are assigned to capture imagery of the property by drone. That imagery, combined with machine learning technology resulting from EagleView\u2019s acquisition of OmniEarth, can identify damage and other anomalies on properties before and after the claim event.\n\nAssisting in High-Volume Claim Events\n\n\u201cFollowing Hurricane Irma, EagleView captured thousands of drone images for claims inspections within the first week of being permitted into the airspace,\u201d comments Kenneth Cook, Senior VP, EagleView OnSite Solutions. \u201cThis capability is essential for insurance carriers who receive high volumes of claims following a weather event. Drone inspection provides detailed imagery to help save claims adjusters time and ensure their safety after a natural disaster.\u201d\n\nEagleView reports that it holds more than 130 domestic and international patents related to its aerial image capture and measurement technology. The vendor says that its newest patent precludes its competitors from developing or implementing automated flight planning around a structure using an outline and the height of the structure for unmanned aircraft capture of imagery and data. EagleView says it is actively working with the USPTO to obtain even broader UAS flight path coverage.", "output": "US firm EagleView Technologies has won a patent for its drone-based property inspection system. The technology is intended for use by insurance companies' claims teams, to assess damage on structures before and after catastrophic events. EagleView's tech allows for the automatic generation of flight paths by enabled drones, without input from a pilot. The firm says it used its technology to generate \"thousands\" of images for claims adjusters following\u00a0Hurricane Irma.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Qantas to use 50% biofuel mix from LA airport from 2020 \n Qantas has announced that its Los Angeles based aircraft will be powered by biofuels from 2020, in a bid to reduce the airline\u2019s carbon emissions on its US to Australia services.\n\nOver the next ten years, Qantas will purchase eight million gallons (30 million litres) of renewable jet fuel each year from US based biofuel producer SG Preston. The fuels will be used in flights from Los Angeles Airport (LAX) to Australia.\n\nThe fuel from SG Preston consists of 50% renewable jet fuel produced from non-food plant oils, blended with 50% traditional jet fuel. Compared to standard jet fuel, the biofuel emits half the amount of carbon emissions per gallon over its life cycle.\n\nAccording to Qantas, the commercial biofuel agreement is the first of its kind in Australian aviation history.\n\n\u201cThe partnership with SG Preston is part of our commitment to lowering carbon emissions across our operations and sees us becoming the first Australian airline to use renewable jet fuel on an ongoing basis,\u201d said Gareth Evans, CEO of Qantas International and Freight.\n\n\u201cAs an airline group we are constantly looking for ways to become more fuel efficient and embrace new technologies and this partnership is a significant step on that journey.\u201d\n\n\u201cOur agreement with SG Preston allows us to secure a supply for our Los Angeles based aircraft where we have a large fuel demand and where the biofuel industry is more advanced.\u201d\n\nEvans continued: \u201cThrough our biofuel programme we are also exploring renewable jet fuel opportunities in Australia and continue to work with suppliers to develop locally produced biofuels for aviation use.\u201d\n\nRandy Delbert LeTang, CEO of SG Preston, said: \u201cQantas is showing great leadership in its commitment to biofuels. We look forward to providing a high-performances renewable fuel for one of the most important routes on their international network.\u201d\n\nThe International Air Transport Association (IATA), has reacted positively to the news.\n\n\u201cIATA congratulates Qantas and SG Preston on this landmark agreement, being the first commercial biofuel offtake for an Australian airline.\n\n\u201cDeals such as these are critical to the development of an aviation biofuel sector globally and the achievement of the aviation industry\u2019s climate goals.\u201d\n\nAccording to a statement announcing the biofuels switch, SG Preston\u2019s biofuel is produced from renewable plant oils which do not compete with food production. These fuels meet Qantas\u2019 \u201cstringent\u201d sustainability certification requirements.\n\nQantas Group carried out a series of successful biofuel trial flights in 2012.", "output": "Qantas said it will begin using a 50/50 mix of renewable jet fuel produced from non-food plant oils and traditional jet fuel on all flights between Los Angeles and Australia from 2020. SG Preston will supply the biofuel, which emits half the amount of CO2 as regular jet fuel over its lifetime."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Influencer marketing bypasses traditional publishers \n Advertisers are known to use social stars as creative agencies, where media buyers send those active social media users RFPs and briefs, then have these individuals promote the content on their own channels. Now, advertisers are taking influencer marketing one step further by placing paid media to amplify influencer content beyond the individual\u2019s social accounts. This turns to be a cheaper alternative to branded content purchased from major publishers, said agency executives.\n\nThe definition of \u201cinfluencers\u201d is subjective, as it depends more on how an agency executive evaluates a social user\u2019s content than on the size of the person\u2019s following, according to conversations with agencies. But the thinking is working directly with publishers on content creation and content distribution usually costs brands a fortune, so why not hire influencers to do it if they can produce equally good content? Advertisers can then place paid media behind the influencer content and find a similar audience to that of a publisher through ad-targeting tools.\n\nMegan Jones, senior director of strategy and service for January Digital, said her agency has taken an approach she calls \u201csyndication of influencer content\u201d for a while, where her team promotes influencer content as an alternative to publishers\u2019 ad offerings. Jones\u2019 clients are mostly in the fashion and beauty category, and many can\u2019t afford the $100,000 it costs for a branded video created by a big publisher, for instance. In comparison, video production by a social star typically costs between $20,000 and $30,000, said Jones.\n\nIn terms of content distribution, if a cosmetics brand wants to target BuzzFeed\u2019s readers to promote its new lipsticks, for example, Jones\u2019 team can run ad targeting on Facebook\n\nagainst followers who liked BuzzFeed\u2019s content and layer in targeting for those who are interested in lipsticks to find people in market for the product and are BuzzFeed readers. Or her team can run keyword targeting through programmatic platforms like TripleLift against the publisher to find a similar audience, Jones said. She added that boosted influencer content will either show up as sponsored posts in a social media user\u2019s news feed or as native ads on a publisher\u2019s website if the publisher has inventory to sell on open exchanges.\n\n\u201cSyndication of influencer content will continue to be a trend because it makes no sense to just pay influencers for content creation. Influencers are the new publishers, and we want to leverage that,\u201d said Jones. \u201cPublishers still have value, but their pricing model doesn\u2019t evolve fast enough. If I can find the same audience through keyword targeting against a publisher, for example, I don\u2019t need the publisher\u2019s platform anymore.\u201d\n\nAshley Banks, director of digital strategy and media for agency Iced Media, echoed Jones\u2019 sentiment. Banks said her team often uses influencers to reach and connect with people at a more cost-efficient CPM compared to working directly with publishers.\n\n\u201cThere are some benefits like content quality and relevancy when you work with publishers\u2019 content creation arms,\u201d said Banks, \u201cbut the partnership is usually turnkey, and native formats created by publishers\u2019 content studios still feel like ads.\u201d She added that influencer content usually receives audience interaction naturally, and clients can craft media contracts with influencers on their own terms.\n\nWithout a direct relationship with a publisher, though, Banks wouldn\u2019t know the demographics of a publisher\u2019s readers, as that is proprietary information. But she said advertisers can use Facebook Business Manager to target people who liked or shared the publisher\u2019s content and further narrow down the target audience with people\u2019s interests, like travel and food, based on the campaign strategy, for instance.\n\nLauren Tetuan, evp and media director for Deutsch, on the other hand, said her agency doesn\u2019t necessarily use influencers for lower CPMs. Since her clients want to balance performance and reach, her team usually pays influencers on a cost-per-click or a cost-per-engagement basis that is typically unavailable from big publishers. But her team still works with publishers when a brand needs more immediate scale or higher-quality custom production, she said.\n\n\u201cWe often produce our own custom content in house, which influencers are willing to help us distribute \u2014 not all of the larger publishers will distribute a brand\u2019s own content,\u201d said Tetuan. \u201cWe typically start with the influencer\u2019s organic channels. We can then place paid media and do our own targeting through Facebook\u2019s or Instagram\u2019s ad tools.\u201d", "output": "Advertisers are turning to influencers as a means of exposure on social media networks, at a fraction of the cost charged by publishers. Megan Jones, senior director of strategy and service for January Digital, argued that publishers' pricing models hadn't kept pace with industry changes, and said: \"if I can find the same audience through keyword targeting against a publisher, I don\u2019t need the publisher\u2019s platform anymore\". Other agencies said they relied on influencers for cost-per-click or cost-per-engagement campaigns, but still used publishers for more high-profile ads.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AlphaPoint, Intel launch smart contracts solution \n One way to make a smart contract even smarter is to enhance document access and security. Digital currency exchange platform AlphaPoint has achieved that with today\u2019s partnership with Intel. The two have teamed up to launch TrustedVM, a solution for secure smart contracts that enhances AlphaPoint\u2019s Asset Digitization solution.\n\nTrustedVM leverages Intel\u2019s Software Guard Extensions (SGX) technology to enable smart contracts and any set or subset of blockchain data to remain confidential. The data is protected against access by intermediaries and network participants to boost the security of AlphaPoint\u2019s Distributed Ledger Platform (ADLP).\n\n\u201cOur collaboration with AlphaPoint aims to deliver enterprise-ready blockchain solutions to the financial services community,\u201d said Rick Echevarria, Vice President of Software and Services Group and General Manager of the Platforms Security Division at Intel. \u201cAlphaPoint is expanding blockchain use cases to include illiquid assets; art, collectibles, and real estate, and [the] use of Intel SGX will help increase the security and privacy of those transactions.\u201d\n\nAlphaPoint\u2019s President and COO Igor Telyatnikov noted that the company\u2019s customers seek the benefits of the blockchain but don\u2019t want the security and privacy issues that typically come with existing blockchain solutions. Since smart contracts execute inside TrustedVM, the hardware layer ensures that unpermissioned parties never have access to the data.\n\nFounded in 2013, AlphaPoint powers digital asset networks and maintains the AlphaPoint Distributed Ledger Platform (ADLP), the platform on which the asset issuance and custody solution is based. The ADLP interoperates with more than 20 ledger technologies. Earlier this year, the company launched a crowdfunding capability on the ADLP, which enables users to host ICOs. The ICOs issue newly created digital assets on the exchange, which is hosted on AlphaPoint\u2019s infrastructure.\n\nAt FinovateFall 2017, the company showcased the ADLP Reconciliation Platform, which combines blockchain-based asymmetric access controls and machine-enforced domain compliance for order management and other activities. The Reconciliation Platform reduces time and cost associated with manual, post-trade reconciliation processes. The company was recently selected by Capital Trust Group and W Ventures to create a blockchain infrastructure for Trust City. AlphaPoint is headquartered in New York, has raised $3 million, and has 30 employees.", "output": "Global fintech firm AlphaPoint has partnered with Intel to launch smart contract solution TrustedVM. Using Intel\u2019s Software Guard Extensions (SGX) technology, TrustedVM ensures the security of smart contracts or blockchain data subsets. Rick Echevarria, the vice-president of the software and services group and general manager of the platforms security division at Intel, said the SGX technology would help increase security for illiquid assets such as art, collectibles and property, areas AlphaPoint is expanding its blockchain use cases to cover."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "3D printer capable of building rockets on Mars \n Oct 19, 2017 | By Benedict\n\nOrbital launch company Relativity Space plans to use \u201cStargate,\u201d which it says is the largest metal 3D printer in the world, to fabricate rockets on Mars. The 3D printer uses multiple print heads to process strong proprietary alloys.\n\nFounded in 2015, Los Angeles-based Relativity Space is shooting for the stars. Or Mars, for that matter.\n\nAfter receiving $10 million in funding from various high-profile backers, the ambitious orbital launch company is developing a giant metal 3D printer called \u201cStargate,\u201d which the company says is the largest metal 3D printer in the world\u2014and perhaps the galaxy.\n\nThis monstrous 3D printer consists of multiple Kuka robotic arms mounted with lasers, and uses metal wire feedstock as a 3D printing material. As you can imagine, it\u2019s a very complex machine.\n\n\u201cStargate is constantly getting smarter and faster by using sensors and intelligent learning,\u201d Relativity Space says. \u201cWe are creating an entirely new type of evolvable production line.\u201d\n\nRelativity Space says Stargate is the largest metal 3D printer in the galaxy\n\nAnd perhaps a \"production line\" is a more appropriate way to think of the Stargate than just a 3D printer. After all, most printers don\u2019t utilize giant robotic arms.\n\nBut then again, most 3D printers aren\u2019t made to fabricate rockets, which is exactly what Stargate has been tasked to do.\n\nAccording to Relativity Space, the Stargate 3D printer can turn raw materials (proprietary metal alloys) into a viable rocket in less than 60 days. These materials are made at an in-house metallurgy and material characterization lab.\n\nRelativity Space has test fired the Aeon 1 engine more than 70 times\n\nThe huge 3D printer also features intelligent process and quality controls, including cloud-based simulations, advanced imaging and detection sensors, and more.\n\nIn terms of printing hardware, the Stargate printer utilizes multiple print heads for a faster build rate, while in-situ machining allows parts to be made with highly complex geometries. The printer also has a \u201cflexible\u201d and \u201cscalable\u201d system architecture.\n\nAll of this enables the giant 3D printer to make an entirely 3D printed rocket. That rocket is dubbed the Terran 1, and reduces vehicle part count from nearly 100,000 to under 1,000 components.\n\nThe Terran 1 rocket could be 3D printed on Mars\n\nThe Terran 1 is propelled by oxygen and methane, and uses 10 Relativity Space Aeon 1 engines (nine for first-stage propulsion; one for second-stage propulsion), which offer 19,500 lbf of thrust. Relativity Space says it has carried out over 70 test fires of the Aeon 1.\n\nPerhaps the most exciting area of Relativity Space\u2019s grand strategy is where it intends to carry out its ultra-fast 3D printing of rockets. If the company can someday take the Stargate 3D printer to Mars, the printer will be capable of fabricating multiple Terran 1 rockets there.\n\n\u201cIn the early days of settlement, there will be few people living on Mars,\u201d the company explains. \u201cIntelligent automation and lightweight, compact 3D printing are fundamental technologies needed to quickly build a new society with scarce resources\u2014and the most scalable means to get back home.\u201d\n\nThe Los Angeles company has the experience to back up its bold ambitions. CEO and co-founder Tim Ellis worked as a 3D printing specialist at Blue Origin for two years, while CTO and co-founder Jordan Noone worked at SpaceX.\n\nBlue Origin, headed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is using 3D printed parts in its BE-4 rocket engine, while SpaceX has also carried out important additive manufacturing work.\n\nFind out more about Relativity Space, its giant Stargate 3D printer, and its mission to take rocket-building to Mars here.\n\nPosted in 3D Printing Application\n\nMaybe you also like:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "output": "Los Angeles-based firm Relativity Space is developing what it claims to be the world's largest 3D printer, capable of producing complete rockets. The printer, called Stargate, can transform proprietary alloys into a working rocket in 60 days, and the company said it is \"constantly getting smarter and faster by using sensors and intelligent learning\". Relativity Space's ultimate vision is to use Stargate on Mars, where it said: \"compact 3D printing would be a fundamental technology to quickly build a new society with scarce resources\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Hedgehog preservation scheme wins biodiversity award \n Hedgehog Highways, a scheme developed by Redrow West Country, has won a prestigious award at the Big Biodiversity Challenge Awards 2017.\n\nProviding a simple way of making gardens hedgehog-friendly, the scheme was announced as the winner of the Small Scale Permanent Award.\n\nRedrow worked closely with the People\u2019s Trust for Endangered Species and the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, who have been running the nationwide campaign Hedgehog Street since 2011, to introduce small, square marked holes into the new garden fences in phase two of their popular Barnstaple development, Glenwood Park. Hedgehogs can roam up to one mile a night, so these holes allow hedgehogs to move freely between gardens whilst they forage for food and mates.\n\nRedrow committed to the scheme after learning that since 2,000, it is estimated that between a third and a half of all hedgehogs have disappeared from Britain with impermeable fences being criticised as one of the main reasons for the decline. Workers and staff have been engaged in the project from planning and designing the fencing to promoting the scheme to prospective buyers in the sales centre.\n\nEvery year, The Big Biodiversity Challenge Awards which are run by the Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA), recognise businesses that go beyond normal business practice to incorporate biodiversity enhancements into construction projects.\n\nRob MacDiarmid, Group Sustainability Director at Redrow commented: \u201cWe are delighted the Hedgehog Highways scheme has been acknowledged at the national Big Biodiversity Awards. Since its launch, the scheme has been met with such enthusiasm from residents and prospective buyers at Glenwood Park. It is a simple yet innovative concept which can make a huge difference to the hedgehog community.\u201d\n\nEmily Wilson, Hedgehog Officer at Hedgehog Street, commented: \u201cRedrow are the first developer in the south-west to consider hedgehogs. With careful planning there is no reason why new residential developments cannot have thriving hedgehog populations, and we hope this cheap, easy and attractive feature becomes the norm for all gardens.\u201d\n\nRedrow creates thriving communities by building responsibly and valuing people. Biodiversity plays a key part in this approach and enhancing natural habitats which are easily accessible for local families and communities to enjoy.\n\nFor more information on Redrow\u2019s approach to sustainability visit: www.redrowplc.co.uk/sustainability. For more information on the Big Biodiversity Challenge visit: http://www.bigchallenge.info\n\nFor more information about Hedgehog Street and how you can help hedgehogs in your garden, visit www.hedgehogstreet.org", "output": "UK housebuilder Redrow West Country has won a Big Biodiversity Challenge Award for its role in a scheme aimed at keeping hedgehogs safe as they move around one of its housing estates. Hedgehog Highways, created in partnership with the People\u2019s Trust for Endangered Species and the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, saw the introduction of square marked holes in fences, allowing the creatures to travel freely between plots on\u00a0the Devon\u00a0development.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Climate change and warmer oceans threaten global reef ecosystems \n - Advertisement -\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nClimate change and warmer oceans are likely to change reef ecosystems worldwide, reducing the diversity of invertebrates such as crabs, lobsters and sea urchins, a latest Australia-led research has found.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAs the oceans get warmer, fish, which seem to be better predators in warmer waters, will extend their range from the equator to feed in colder latitudes where the number of large invertebrates is higher, Australia\u2019s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies said in a media release on Thursday.\n\nThe findings were made using data collected by a research team under the institute, which is based at the University of Tasmania.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n- Advertisement -\n\n\u201cAs fish extend their range further from the equator with warming water, their advantage as predators will affect the abundance and diversity of large mobile invertebrates,\u201d the institute quoted the study\u2019s lead author, Professor Graham Edgar, as saying.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u201cBroad changes will likely spread across the ecosystem, affecting human activities such as fishing.\u201d\n\nThe \u201ctropicalisation\u201d of marine life is already happening in southeastern Australia and Tasmania, \u201cbut similar effects have not yet been detected in New Zealand,\u201d he said.\n\nThe southern island state of Tasmania exports much of Australia\u2019s seafood, including crustacean and mollusk products, to Asian consumers, industry figures showed.\n\nSource: Xinhua", "output": "Ocean life on reef ecosystems is at risk of \"tropicalisation\", due to rising sea temperatures as a result of global warming, according to research by Australia\u2019s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies. Scientists said warmer waters would encourage fish, which perform better as predators in such conditions, to hunt in regions further from the equator that are home to large invertebrates such as crabs and lobsters, putting a delicate ecological balance in jeopardy. The study's lead author Professor Graham Edgar said tropicalisation had already begun in southeastern Australia and Tasmania\u00a0but had not yet affected New Zealand.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Regus partners with Powermat wireless charging in Israel \n TEL AVIV, Israel, Oct. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Powermat has partnered with Regus Israel, supplying wireless charging services to Israel co-working offices. Business customers at Regus & Spaces live busy lives; they are on the road and work long hours. Now they can trust Regus & Powermat to wirelessly charge their smartphones seamlessly, even if they forgot their charger at home. Powermat will also be installed in Regus's two new locations expected to open soon (Sarona & Or Yehuda).\n\nRegus Innovate With Powermat Wireless Charging\n\n\"We at Regus strive to stay ahead-of-the-curve and always bring innovation into all of our office spaces in order to improve our customers' connectivity and efficiency,\" said Einat Dzigan, Regional Marketing Manager for Regus. \"Powermat's wireless charging services is an innovative way to bring added value to our customers, providing them with the power they need so much throughout their day.\"\n\n\"We are happy to work with Regus, market leader in co-working offices,\" said Elad Dubzinski, Powermat CEO. \"We are continuing to deploy wireless charging across public venues, materializing our vision for Life at 100% - seamless wireless power accessible throughout your day.\"\n\nAbout Regus\n\nRegus is the world's largest provider of flexible workspace solutions, with customers including some of the most successful entrepreneurs, individuals and multi-billion dollar corporations.\n\nOur network includes almost 3000 business centers, spanning almost 900 cities across 120 countries. Through our range of office formats, as well as our growing mobile, virtual office, and workplace recovery businesses, we enable people and businesses to work where they want, when they want, how they want, and at a range of price points.\n\nAbout Powermat\n\nPowermat is the leader and pioneer of the wireless power industry. Enjoyed by millions of consumers worldwide, Powermat's technology is the platform of choice for such global leaders as Starbucks, Samsung, General Motors and Flex. To find out more, visit www.powermat.com.\n\nPress Contact\n\nGilly Kinsky, Director of Marketing\n\n[email protected]\n\n(646) 878-6527\n\nSOURCE Powermat\n\nRelated Links\n\nhttp://www.powermat.com\n\n", "output": "The Israel office of global flexible workspace solutions provider Regus is partnering with Powermat to offer customers the ability to wirelessly charge smartphones and other devices. Einat Dzigan, regional marketing manager for Regus, called the move an \"innovative way to bring added value to our customers\". PowerMat will be installed at forthcoming Regus locations in Sarona and Or Yehuda.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pharmaceutical sector lobbying fuels\u00a0US opioid crisis \n Donald Trump was not wrong. Hours before his nominee for \u201cdrug czar\u201d withdrew from consideration over his part in a law limiting the Drug Enforcement Administration\u2019s ability to crack down on pharmaceutical distributors feeding the US\u2019s opioid epidemic, the president took a shot at the influence of drug companies over Congress.\n\n\u201cThey contribute massive amounts of money to political people,\u201d he said, standing next to Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know, Mitch, maybe even to you,\u201d he added.\n\nQ&A Why is there an opioid crisis in America? Show Almost 100 people are dying every day across America from opioid overdoses \u2013 more than car crashes and shootings combined. The majority of these fatalities reveal widespread addiction to powerful prescription painkillers. The crisis unfolded in the mid-90s when the US pharmaceutical industry began marketing legal narcotics, particularly OxyContin, to treat everyday pain. This slow-release opioid was vigorously promoted to doctors and, amid lax regulation and slick sales tactics, people were assured it was safe. But the drug was akin to luxury morphine, doled out like super aspirin, and highly addictive. What resulted was a commercial triumph and a public health tragedy. Belated efforts to rein in distribution fueled a resurgence of heroin and the emergence of a deadly, black market version of the synthetic opioid fentanyl. The crisis is so deep because it affects all races, regions and incomes Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.\n\nTrump was right on both counts. Pharmaceutical companies spend far more than any other industry to influence politicians. Drugmakers have poured close to $2.5bn into lobbying and funding members of Congress over the past decade.\n\nHundreds of thousands of dollars have gone to McConnell \u2013 although he is hardly alone. Nine out of 10 members of the House of Representatives and all but three of the US\u2019s 100 senators have taken campaign contributions from pharmaceutical companies seeking to affect legislation on everything from the cost of drugs to how new medicines are approved.\n\nTrump\u2019s nominee for drug czar, the US congressman Tom Marino, was forced to withdraw after a report by the Washington Post and CBS\u2019s 60 Minutes highlighted his role in forging legislation that hinders the DEA\u2019s ability to move against drug distributors or pharmacies recklessly dispensing the opioid painkillers at the heart of the epidemic, which claims more than 100 lives a day.\n\nMarino\u2019s acceptance of substantial donations from those same companies compromised his nomination to head the federal agency charged with tackling the opioid crisis.\n\nBut for Congress, the process was nothing unusual. Hundreds of millions of dollars flow to lobbyists and politicians on Capitol Hill each year to shape laws and policies that keep drug company profits growing. The pharmaceutical industry, which has about two lobbyists for every member of Congress, spent $152m on influencing legislation in 2016, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Drug companies also contributed more than $20m directly to political campaigns last year. About 60% went to Republicans. Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House of Representatives, was the single largest beneficiary, with donations from the industry totaling $228,670.\n\nThe impact of so much drug company money coursing through the veins of Congress is often incremental or largely unseen by the American public, such as the industry\u2019s efforts to block competitors in India from making generic versions of HIV/Aids medicines that are more affordable to developing countries.\n\nBut on occasion it has a hugely visible impact.\n\nIn his comments alongside McConnell, Trump was vocal in his criticism of what he said were pharmaceutical manufacturers \u201cgetting away with murder\u201d by charging much higher prices in the US than other countries. That is the result of a 2003 law, in effect written by the industry, preventing the federal government from seeking bids for the manufacture of drugs and medical devices \u2013 a process used in other areas, such as defence spending.\n\nInstead, the pharmaceutical companies can charge whatever price they want for drugs bought for the publicly run Medicare and Medicaid programmes \u2013 and the federal government has no choice but to pay up.\n\nTom Marino, second left, at a Trump rally in Hershey, Pennsylvania, in 2016. Marino faced scrutiny over donations from pharmaceutical companies. Photograph: Matt Rourke/AP\n\nMeanwhile, the drug companies say that to allow foreign imports would endanger the quality and safety of medicines in the US. But that justification has been widely scorned in the face of escalating and sometimes opportunistic pricing, such as the surge in the price of EpiPen antidotes to allergic reactions last year, to $600.\n\nBritain\u2019s National Health Service negotiated a price of about $70 for the same product. Scores of attempts by some members of Congress to introduce legislation to bring down the price of prescription medicines or to let people buy them from Canada, where they are often cheaper, have failed to make it out of committee.\n\nWhile lobbying shapes medical policy across the board, it has had a profound impact on the opioid epidemic as deaths quadrupled between 1999 and 2015. The pharmaceutical industry poured resources into attempting to place blame for the crisis on the millions who have became addicted instead of on the mass prescribing of powerful opioids.\n\nThe relatively small number of members of Congress who led the charge against the epidemic years before it became a significant political issue have struggled to push through legislation.\n\nRepresentatives Hal Rogers and Mary Bono saw repeated efforts to pass laws curbing the mass prescribing of opioid painkillers fail amid concerted campaigns by the drug makers. Rogers and Bono founded the Congressional Caucus on Prescription Drug Abuse in 2010 and proposed several pieces of legislation over a number of years.\n\nBono, who was alerted to the opioid crisis after Chesare, her son with the late singer Sonny Bono, became addicted, said there was a false but effective campaign by companies profiting from the epidemic to portray any attempt to rein in the mass prescribing of painkillers as depriving millions of people of legitimate treatment for chronic pain.\n\n\u201cWe were getting tremendous pushback from the industry. It was a massive, well-organised effort,\u201d she said. \u201cOf course we felt it, maybe indirectly at times. We didn\u2019t have an awful lot of people lining up to help us.\u201d\n\nSome of the pressure came through industry-funded groups such as the Pain Care Forum, which spent $740m over a decade lobbying in Washington and state legislatures against limits on opioid prescribing and similar issues, according to the Center for Public Integrity.\n\nAmong those who received political contributions from the group were Senator Orrin Hatch, who took $360,00. The senator introduced legislation intended to head off one of the bills put forward by Rogers and Bono by proposing a federal study of pain treatment. Hatch, who is running for Senate again in 2018 even though he previously said he would not, is the recipient of the most political donations from the pharmaceutical industry so far this year, at $208,000.\n\nBono said the American Medical Association was instrumental in blocking another law, the Ryan Creedon act, to require doctors to get training on the risks of opioids. The AMA objected to it as a burden on physicians.\n\nDrug companies gave more than $200,000 in campaign contributions to Jason Chaffetz (who recently left Congress), acting as the single largest donor to his re-election fights. Chaffetz, as chair of the committee on oversight and government reform, led an effort against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reduce opioid prescribing by recommending that doctors first seek alternative treatments for chronic pain.\n\nLobbying by the wider healthcare industry also had an important impact on the shape of Barack Obama\u2019s Affordable Care Act (ACA), widely known as Obamacare.\n\nThe chair of the committee drafting the ACA legislation, Senator Max Baucus, was at the time the single largest recipient of health industry political donations, with $1.5m given to his political fund over the previous year. Baucus led votes in the committee against the inclusion in the legislation of public insurance strongly opposed by private insurers who saw a threat to its profits.\n\nBaucus was known within the health industry for annual fly-fishing and golfing weekends in his home state of Montana that lobbyists paid handsomely to attend. Other members of the committee received hundreds of thousands of dollars, including Senator Pat Roberts, who at one point tried to hold up the bill by claiming lobbyists needed three days to read it. The drafting of large parts of the ACA was done by a former vice-president of a major health insurer, Wellpoint.\n\nIn his attack on drug company money in American politics, Trump failed to mention that the companies were among the leading donors to his inauguration alongside tobacco and oil companies.\n\nPfizer, the maker of Viagra, was the largest pharmaceutical donor, giving $1m.", "output": "Lobbying by pharmaceutical companies in the US has had a major impact on the opioid epidemic in the country, according to The Guardian. The sector spends more than any other on political lobbying, and has committed $2.5bn to lobbying and funding members of Congress over the past decade. All but three of the 100 currently serving US senators have received contributions from drug companies, as have nine out of 10 Representatives. While\u00a0opioid deaths have quadrupled between 1999 and 2015, the pharmaceutical industry has sought to blame addicts rather than mass prescription of the drugs.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Frail elderly patients comprise 44% of potentially preventable Medicare spending \n Save\n\nThis article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.\n\nFrail elderly patients comprise 44% of potentially preventable Medicare spending\n\nHigh-cost frail elderly individuals accounted for 44% of total potentially preventable Medicare spending, despite only comprising 4% of the Medicare population, according to findings published in Annals of Internal Medicine.\n\n\u201cFor clinical leaders, finding areas of care where money can be saved and quality improved is an imperative but has often proved difficult,\u201d Jose F. Figueroa, MD, MPH, from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and colleagues wrote.\n\n\u201cOne approach that has received substantial attention recently has been focusing on high-need, high-cost patients. By definition, this population is very expensive to care for; however, we know less about whether their spending is preventable,\u201d they wrote.\n\nFigueroa and colleagues sought to identify potentially preventable total spending across six distinct subpopulations of \u201chigh-cost\u201d patients, or those in the highest 10% of total standardized individual spending: nonelderly disabled, frail elderly, major complex chronic, minor complex chronic, simple chronic and relatively healthy. The researchers reviewed fee-for-service claims from 2012 for 6,112,450 high-cost Medicare beneficiaries.\n\nThey calculated potentially preventable spending using the Billings algorithm and inpatient and associated 30-day post-acute costs for ambulatory care-sensitive conditions to sum costs for avoidable ED visits. Then, Figueroa and colleagues compared the amount and proportion of potentially preventable spending across the high-cost subpopulations, as well as individual ambulatory care-sensitive conditions.\n\nThe researchers found that the proportion of Medicare spending that was potentially preventable was 4.8%, most of which (73.8%) was incurred by high-cost patients. Only 4% of the Medicare population consists of high-cost frail elderly persons; however, they accounted for 43.9% of total potentially preventable spending ($6,593 per person). Nearly 15% ($3,421 per person) and 11.2% ($3,327 per person) of potentially preventable spending was attributed to the high-cost nonelderly disabled group and the major complex chronic group, respectively. Most spending for urinary tract infections, dehydration, heart failure and bacterial pneumonia admissions was incurred by frail elderly individuals.\n\n\u201cWe found large variations in potentially preventable spending across Medicare subpopulations,\u201d Figueroa and colleagues concluded. \u201cFrail elderly persons were at particularly high risk for incurring potentially modifiable costs. Therefore, as we continue to move toward value-based frameworks, interventions that focus on frail elderly patients may be particularly valuable.\u201d\n\nIn an accompanying editorial, Bruce Leff, MD, from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Arnold Milstein, MD, from Stanford University School of Medicine Clinical Excellence Research Center, wrote that these findings expand knowledge of the high-need, high-cost population.\n\nThey noted that the health care culture needs to shift toward value-based care under the Affordable Care Act. This shift requires rapid acceleration, as well as new data collection and analysis and treatment planning that focuses on the social determinants of health and patient functional status, according to Leff and Milstein. There is also a need for new payment and patient assignment models, they wrote.\n\n\u201cThis all needs to happen as our health system addresses the critical challenges of lack of universal access to health care, underinvestment in primary care, administrative inefficiency, and disparities in delivery of care,\u201d Leff and Milstein concluded. \u201cStudies like that of Figueroa and colleagues can help point the way to \u2018coolable\u2019 hot spots. The onus is now on organizations and systems to shift culture and learn to implement the care and contracting methods used by their \u2018coolest\u2019 peers.\u201d \u2013 by Alaina Tedesco\n\nDisclosure: Figueroa reports receiving grants from The Commonwealth Fund. Please see the study for other authors\u2019 relevant financial disclosures.", "output": "Frail senior citizens represent 44 percent of the Medicare spending that could be preventable, even though they account for only 4 percent of Medicare beneficiaries, according to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. High-need, high-cost patient spending could be preventable. The researchers tried to identify non-essential spending across six types of \u201chigh-cost\u201d patient, or those that are in the highest 10 percent of standardized individual spending. These types include the nonelderly disabled; the frail elderly; the simple chronic, the minor complex chronic, the major complex chronic and the relatively healthy. The study examined fee-for-service claims in 2012 from across 6,112,450 high-cost Medicare recipients. Potentially preventable spending was calculated using the Billings algorithm, and found that the proportion of spending that could be prevented was 4.8 percent, with 73.8 percent.of that amount caused by high-cost patients. Frail elderly persons represented 43.9 percent of total potentially preventable spending, at a value of around $6,593 per patient. Most of the total expenditure spent on urinary tract infections, heart failure, dehydration and bacterial pneumonia admissions was spent on this group. A value-based framework could benefit Medicare, given that it could resolve many of these high-cost issues. The Harvard team concluded that health care culture needed to shift rapidly towards value-based care, as well as collecting new data and forming treatment planning that focuses on social determinants of health and patients\u2019 function. The team also recommended a new payment and patient assignment model be implemented.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "H&M denies burning 60 tonnes of waste clothing since 2013 \n H&M has been accused of burning tonnes of unsold items every year, flying in the face of its widely-publicised sustainability drive.\n\nAccording to Danish TV programme Operation X, H&M has burned 60 tonnes of unsold clothing since 2013, totaling around 15 tonnes a year.\n\nJournalists from the TV programme began investigating what the retailer did with clothing it didn\u2019t sell, and were led to a Danish disposal company called Kara/Noveren where they reportedly saw over 1500kg of garments being delivered before being destroyed.\n\nElse Skjold, a professor of sustainable design at the Kolding Design School in Denmark, told Operation X that the incineration was due to large-scale overproduction.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s dramatic if we\u2019re talking about fashion because the trends in fashion are temporary. If something is not in fashion, then it can\u2019t be sold anymore,\u201d he said.\n\nH&M have denied the accusations, telling FashionUnited that they were \u201cof course not true\u201d and that the garments featured could not be sold to the public.\n\n\u201cThe clothes featured in the program are stopped orders that have been sent to incineration because of mold or not complying with our strict chemical restrictions, which is according to our routines for stopped orders,\u201d a spokesperson said.\n\n\u201cCircularity is at the core of our sustainability strategy and we work hard to ensure that we maximize the use and the value of our products in line with the principles of the circular economy and waste hierarchy.\n\n\u201cIncineration is, therefore, the very last option that we only allow under very special circumstances when re-use or recycling is not an option, such as when our products are contaminated by mold or not complying with our strict chemical restrictions.\u201d\n\nDespite this, Operation X took two garments from the incineration plant and had them independently tested, stating that they found no harmful levels of bacteria and normal deposits of bacteria.\n\nIn response, H&M published their test findings on the garments.\n\n\u201cThe products media refers to have been tested in external laboratories. The test results show that one of the products is mold infested and the other product contains too high levels of lead,\u201d the retailer told FashionUnited.\n\n\u201cAccording to the test we have, the test for lead performed by the Danish programme didn\u2019t include the whole garment and not the part affected by too high levels of lead. The other test performed by the Danish program didn\u2019t include tests for mold. This is the reason why our tests differ.\n\n\u201cWe are puzzled why some media is suggesting that we would destroy other products than those required. There is absolutely no reason for us to do such a thing.\u201d\n\nClick here to follow Retail Gazette on LinkedIn", "output": "H&M has burned 60 tonnes of unsold clothing since 2013, equivalent to 15 tonnes a year, according to Danish TV programme Operation X. The items were burned by Danish disposal company Kara/Noveren.\u00a0H&M has denied the allegations, claiming that the clothes were mouldy, or failed to comply with chemical regulations. However, critics said that the burning was due to excessive production.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "87% increase in data stolen during cyber attacks on UK businesses \n The overwhelming majority of cyber attacks on small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) result from poor password management, a study of 1,000 UK and US SMEs by the Ponemon Institute shows.\n\nDespite this fact, SMEs are doing very little to boost visibility into the password practices of their employees, according to the study sponsored by password management firm Keeper Security.\n\nThe study report said employee negligence is the top root cause of successful data breaches.\n\n\u201cSurvey respondents believe cyber attacks are becoming more targeted, more severe in terms of consequences, and more sophisticated,\u201d said Larry Ponemon, chairman of the Ponemon Institute. \u201cSo you would think things would be getting better in terms of protecting themselves, but they are really trending to worsening.\u201d\n\nAccording to the survey \u2013 61% of respondents reported a cyber attack, up from 55% a year ago \u2013 while 54% reported a data breach, up from 50% a year earlier.\n\nRansomware attacks were reported by 52% of respondents, with 53% of those reporting they were hit by more than one ransomware attack.\n\nThe total costs associated with successful cyber attacks on SMEs now total well in excess of \u00a31m, meaning a single attack could bring an SME to its knees financially.\n\nAmount of stolen records on the increase Not only has the cost of data breaches risen to an average of just over \u00a31.2m including all attack mitigation and business disruption costs from \u00a3717,909 a year ago, but the average number of records stolen has soared from just over 5,000 per attack last year to 9,350 this year \u2013 an 87% increase. While 54% of respondents say the root cause of the attacks are negligent (not malicious) employees, a full third of the companies surveyed could not even determine the root cause. An ongoing lack of attention to password usage underlies much of the cyber security woes at SMEs, the study said, referring to the latest Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, which noted that 81% of all cyber attacks result from poor password management practices. Read more about SME security SMEs are failing to address cyber threats despite the risks.\n\nThe UK government has announced initiatives aimed at boosting SME cyber security, promoting the cyber security profession and supporting cyber security innovation projects.\n\nSMEs typically face the same threats as bigger organisations, but lack the same level of expertise and other security resources.\n\nThe London Digital Security Centre has been set up by the Mayor\u2019s Office for Policing and Crime as part of the mayor\u2019s business crime strategy. The latest Ponemon research shows that 59% of respondents said they have no visibility into their employees\u2019 password practices, which is unchanged from a year ago. Among the bad practices cited are using the same passwords for access to multiple accounts and servers; sharing passwords in highly insecure ways; and failing to use strong passwords, settling instead for 123456 or other very easily compromised passwords. Less than half \u2013 43% \u2013 of SMEs surveyed have any sort of password policy in place. And of those that do have such a policy in place, 68% (up from 65% last year) said they either do not strictly enforce the policies or are unsure if they are enforced. \u201cSMEs can respond to this overall situation by quickly establishing mobile device and BYOD [bring your own device] internal control policies,\u201d said Darren Guccione, Founder and CEO of Keeper Security. \u201cThen implement software that controls the information being protected and transacted via these and other devices. The combination of password management software and enterprise mobility management tools can mitigate up to 80% of the cyber risk those devices pose,\u201d he said.\n\nGreater data protection implementation needed According to the study, SMEs need to implement greater data protection beyond the \u201ctraditional\u201d protection tools, with two-thirds of respondents reporting cyber attacks that evaded the company\u2019s intrusion protection defenses, up from 57% a year ago, and 81% reporting such attacks evading traditional antivirus defences, up from 76% last year. The Ponemon study shows that the top barriers to adopting better cyber defences are: a lack of trained security staff (73%) and inadequate budget (56%). However, the report said given the enormous costs associated with a data breach, failing to protect against today\u2019s dynamic threat environment could prove disastrous, and the costs associated with doing so may not be as high as imagined. \u201cThere is more great protection software targeting SMEs today than ever before,\u201d said Guccione. \u201cThe cost-to-benefit spread in terms of value to what the real risks are, and in consideration to how productivity can actually be enhanced with the right software solutions, puts better protection well in reach of SMEs.\u201d For example, he said, by implementing a comprehensive password management system, many organisations have experienced a marked decline in helpdesk calls related to lost or forgotten passwords.\n\nSMEs targeted through phishing The Ponemon research into the rising incidence of ransomware attacks on SMEs noted earlier found the attacks were unleashed 79% of the time through phishing or other social engineering, most notably burying harmless looking clickable URLs into a scam email. A prime defense against this, said Guccione, can be ongoing phishing simulations to try to educate negligent employees. Organisations polled also exhibited high levels of concern over security breaches caused by internet of things (IoT) devices. They notoriously lack security mechanisms and typically come with no mandate or set of requirements regarding password length or strength or whether they should have single or two-factor authentication. Nearly a quarter of respondents reported an IoT-related data breach, with two-thirds reporting feeling \u201cconcerned or very concerned\u201d about their lack of security. In fact, 56% said IoT and mobile devices represent the most vulnerable endpoints in their organisations. London is taking the lead in the UK by helping to make the city\u2019s small businesses, which number more than one million, safe from cyber crime through the London Digital Security Centre (LDSC). The centre was set up as a not-for-profit organisation in 2015 by the Mayor\u2019s Office for Policing and Crime (Mopac) and is run as a joint venture between the mayor of London, the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police. The LDSC provides a free cyber security assessment and improvement programme for SMEs and created a \u201cmarketplace\u201d of selected products and services to help London\u2019s businesses protect themselves.", "output": "The cost to businesses of data breaches resulting from cyber attacks has risen in the last year, with the number of records stolen increasing by 87%, according to research by online security analysts the Ponemon Institute. The average total cost of a cyber attack on an SME is over \u00a31m ($1.32m), and the number of records stolen has risen from 5,000 last year to over 9,000 this year, according to the reports. More than half of those who responded to the survey reported that the main cause of such breaches was poor password security by employees.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Clearbanc offers Chrged loans to Facebook advertisers \n You have to spend money to make money, and financial technology company Clearbanc now has a way to get some of that money to brands on Facebook.\n\nClearbanc and Facebook teamed up to launch the Chrged program, which gives advertisers on Facebook that connect their ad accounts on the social network and their payment processors access to:\n\nCustom financing of up to $500,000, with flexible repayment options\n\nFinancial support\n\nCross-border resources\n\nLearning tools via the Facebook Blueprint e-learning initiative\n\nClearbanc said in a release introducing Chrged that it will establish affordable, fixed fees for businesses, adding that credit checks are unnecessary as advances of financing are based on companies\u2019 business data.\n\nFacebook", "output": "Clearbanc, which specialises in providing financing to online businesses, has partnered with Facebook on a new service offering loans of up to $500,000 to companies that advertise on the social media site. The Chrged programme uses sales and ad buying data from companies' Facebook accounts to decide whether to offer the funds, which are then repaid from sales revenue. The model allows companies to raise capital for investment for a flat fee of 10%, without giving up equity.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Call to end use of vaginal mesh implants in UK as scandal grows \n Labour has called for an immediate halt to the use of vaginal mesh implants and urged the government to launch an independent inquiry into the \u201congoing public health scandal\u201d surrounding the treatment of women for urinary incontinence and pelvic prolapse.\n\nSharon Hodgson, the shadow public health minister, said the government must stop allowing the use of mesh implants before a debate in parliament about their safety, after reports that some women have suffered debilitating complications including perforated organs and chronic pain.\n\n\n\nThe National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) is due to publish updated guidance for the use of mesh implants in January, after NHS England said in a report in July that the treatment for urinary incontinence and prolapse \u201cis a safe option for women\u201d.\n\nQ&A What is a vaginal mesh implant? Show The implants have been widely used as a simple, less invasive alternative to traditional surgical approaches for treating urinary incontinence and prolapse, conditions that can commonly occur after childbirth. For the majority of women the operation is successful.\n\nHowever, concerns are mounting over the severe complications suffered by large numbers of patients, including chronic pain, mesh cutting through tissue into the vagina and being left unable to walk or have sex. Johnson & Johnson, whose subsidiary Ethicon produces one of the most widely used mesh products, is fighting a major class action in Australia. The Guardian revealed in August that thousands of women have undergone surgery to have vaginal mesh implants removed during the past decade, suggesting that about one in 15 women fitted with the most common type of mesh support later require surgery to have it extracted due to complications. Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.\n\nHowever, since then further evidence has emerged about apparently high rates of complications, and the issue is gaining political momentum. The Guardian revealed in August that thousands of women have undergone surgery to have vaginal mesh implants removed during the past decade, suggesting that about one in 15 women fitted with the most common type of mesh support later require surgery to have it extracted due to complications.\n\n\n\nHodgson said the issue had become a \u201cpublic health scandal\u201d as mesh implants have left some women in permanent pain, unable to walk and unable to work.\n\n\u201cThis is an ongoing public health scandal and the government need to do much more to support those affected,\u201d she said. \u201cMesh implants should be taken off the market now until we know more about the threat they pose to women\u2019s safety.\n\n\u201cThe government have failed to answer big questions about the extent of this public health scandal, including how many women have been affected and why a product with such terrible risks was allowed into the market in the first place.\n\n\u201cLabour is calling for a full inquiry to uncover the extent of the harm done by mesh implants so we can be sure that this never happens again.\u201d\n\nHowever, some leading gynaecologists have warned that a ban would risk depriving women of the option of a treatment that, for incontinence at least, has been shown to be effective.\n\n\n\nThe debate in Westminster Hall has been called by the Labour MP Emma Hardy and the issue has also been repeatedly raised by Owen Smith, a shadow cabinet minister, who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on surgical mesh implants.\n\n\n\nHardy said her email inbox has been filling up with people telling her their horrific stories after having mesh implanted.\n\n\u201cI was first alerted to the issue of mesh complications after a constituent contacted me who had been suffering in silence for years. I hope that the government will take action and heed Labour\u2019s call for a public inquiry into the use of mesh,\u201d she said.\n\nSmith also said mesh injury was \u201cone of the worst medical issues\u201d he had come across as an MP.\n\n\n\n\u201cSince working with Sling the Mesh campaign, I have been contacted by\n\ncountless women from right across the UK who have shared their heartbreaking\n\nstories of their suffering following mesh surgery. The government must immediately review all mesh surgery and suspend the use of mesh until more is known about its risks,\u201d he said.\n\nKath Sansom, a campaigner at Sling The Mesh, said: \u201cPeople are waking up to the global scandal that is surgical mesh implants and at last it is on the political agenda at Westminster.\u201d\n\nLast week, the health minister Jackie Doyle-Price told MPs she was aware women had suffered complications, but added that it was \u201cequally the case that many women also experience considerable relief from symptoms\u201d. Doyle-Price said: \u201cI think it\u2019s very important that the work that Nice are doing should be allowed to be undertaken so that we can actually make a very clear view of this.\u201d\n\n\n\nSohier Elneil, a consultant urogynaecological surgeon at University College Hospital, London, is calling for the use of mesh procedures for incontinence and prolapse to be stopped for two years. \u201cThe time has come for us to truly revisit everything we know about both these clinical states,\u201d she said. \u201cClearly, the knowledge we have had to date has been limited both in scope and relevance. A change needs to happen now.\u201d", "output": "The UK Labour Party has called for an immediate end to the use of vaginal mesh implants and the launch of an independent inquiry into an ongoing scandal around their use. There have been growing reports that the implants, used to treat women suffering from urinary incontinence and pelvic prolapse, have caused complications including chronic pain and perforated organs. A report from NHS England in July declared the use of mesh implants \u201ca safe option\u201d. However, evidence that complications have forced one in 15 women with the most common implant to have it removed, has since emerged."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK businesses cut cybersecurity budgets \n UK businesses have slashed their cyber security budgets by a third\n\nBusinesses in the UK have cut the amount of cash they are spending on cyber security despite the growing threat of attacks.\n\nBudgets for security are a third of what they were this time last year, down to \u00a33.9m on average, compared to \u00a36.2m according to research from PwC.\n\n\u200bThe cost of attacks has fallen, however, down to \u00a3857,000 compared to \u00a32.6m a year earlier. But the impact of attacks were felt more widely across the business in areas such as operations and data, while the uktimate cost can be hard to quantify.\n\nRead more: Iran has been blamed for the cyber attack on Parliament over the summer\n\nFirms experienced 19 hours of down-time from incidents while 23 per cent had customer records compromised.\n\nThe findings come from PwC's annual Global State of Information Survey which surveyed nearly 10,000 senior executives from over 100 countries.\n\nIt also found that more than a quarter of firms don't know how many cyber attacks they suffered in the past year, up from the 18 per cent who said the same last year, shedding light on how businesses are handling the cyber threat.\n\nAnd one in five firms were found to have no kind of preparation drills for cyber attacks. It comes in the wake of several high profile attacks which have hit business this year, including massive breaches at Equifax and Yahoo. WPP, Reckitt Benckiser (RB) and Maersk were also affected by ransomware earlier this year while a similar attack shut down some NHS services.\n\nRead more: Hot UK cyber startup Digital Shadows has raised $26m\n\n\u201cCyber attacks could happen to any organisation at any time, so it\u2019s important that all businesses and public sector organisations are getting the basics right and continually testing their approach to prepare themselves in the right way,\" said PwC cyber security partner Richard Horne.\n\n\"In that critical moment when an attack hits, the ability to act quickly and effectively is key to minimising business disruption and reputational harm.\u201d\n\nJust two in five businesses in the UK were found to have formal partnerships with others in their industry to improve security and reduce risks, fewer than those across the rest of Europe and globally.", "output": "The amount of money UK businesses spend on cybersecurity has fallen by a third since last year, according to a PwC survey. The research showed average spending has fallen from \u00a36.2m last year to just \u00a33.9m, and that one in five companies have no preparation drills for cyber attacks. However the reported cost of such attacks has fallen\u00a0from \u00a32.6m to just \u00a3857,000, although more than a quarter of firms didn't know how many attacks they had suffered, compared with 18% the year before.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US adults turn to the\u00a0internet before primary care physicians \n Fifty-nine percent of American adults used a website like WebMD to look up symptoms instead of visiting a primary care physician, according to a new survey, while only 12 percent used telemedicine in place of primary care.\n\nThe data comes from the University of Phoenix College of Health Professionals, which completed an online survey of 2,201 individuals across a range of demographic backgrounds. The data provides interesting insights into adoption of health technologies.\n\n\u201cThe healthcare industry is shifting to a patient-centered model that harnesses technology to both open communication channels and create a platform for patient engagement,\u201d Doris Savron, executive dean for the College of Health Professions, said in a statement. \u201cGiven this shift, it is crucial that patients not only have access to these technologies, but also view them as important resources for improving their health and overall care experience.\u201d\n\nRespondents were also asked about their use of online health records, online appointment booking, online chat capabilities, text message appointment reminders, and e-prescription refills.\n\nFor online health records, 37 percent said they currently had access to their records, but only 25 percent said they had used accessed online health records in the past year. Seventy-four percent of respondents rated online health records access as somewhat or very important.\n\nFor appointment booking, 27 percent had access, but just 15 percent had made use of it in the past year. Fifty-nine percent considered it important\n\nOnline chat had the lowest adoption, with 17 percent having access and only 5 percent using it, but 49 percent of respondents still rated it as somewhat or very important.\n\nTwenty-eight percent had used text message appointment reminders though 35 percent had access to them. Sixty-four percent rated them as important to their care.\n\nFinally, for e-prescribing, 39 percent had access, 26 percent had taken advantage of that access over the last year, and 72 percent considered it an important resource.\n\nCertain demographic trends held across each of the technologies asked about in the survey. In every category except online chat services, women were considerably more likely than men to have used the technology, which could be explained by the fact that women are more often caregivers and often responsible for healthcare within a family.\n\nIn most categories, usage of technology correlated with income and educational level. For instance, in the e-prescription category, 38 percent of those earning $100,000 per year or more had used the technology in the last year, compared to just 21 percent of those earning less than $50,000.\n\nCorrelations with ethnicity were less consistent. In fact, in the category of online chat capabilities, people who identified as Hispanic were more than twice as likely as white-identifying respondents (11 percent versus 5 percent) to have used these services \u2014 perhaps because chat tools are easier to navigate with a language barrier.\n\nThe full survey asked about a number of issues beyond technology, including what qualities participants valued in their providers and questions about insurance coverage decisions.\n\n\u201cThe data shows that technology is just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to patient care,\u201d Savron said. \u201cAlthough new technologies are resources that we should lean on to help improve communication, interpersonal skills are the foundation for ensuring patient trust and better care.\u201d", "output": "More than half of adults in the US have reported using internet searches to look up symptoms of illness before seeking primary medical care,\u00a0according a survey conducted by the University of Phoenix. It found that 74% of patients believe access to online health records is important, although only 37% currently had such access, and only 25% had used them in the last year. Similarly, while\u00a059% considered the ability to book an appointment online to be important, only 15% had made use of the service in the last year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Consumer genetics apps derided as 'pseudoscience' \n In response to critics, Helix cofounder Justin Kao cautions against a \u201cpaternalistic\u201d attitude toward what kind of information consumers should be able to spend their money on. \u201cPeople should be able to choose how they want to interact and experience DNA-powered insights and decide for themselves what is of value to them,\u201d he says.\n\nHelix has a detailed process for screening the science behind tests it markets and has rejected more than a dozen, according to Kao. Others have been modified to restrict what they claim DNA can do. Helix also gets advice from a panel of six scientific advisers who meet by phone or in person, including to talk about upcoming apps.\n\nOne is Gon\u00e7alo Abecasis, a population geneticist at the University of Michigan. \u201cWe say \u2018That makes sense,\u2019 or \u2018That is crazy.\u2019 It\u2019s a lively discussion every time,\u201d says Abecasis. He thinks Helix is an important experiment because it is exploring what mass-market uses of the genome will look like. And some apps that bother Topol don\u2019t bother him at all: \u201cIf I sell you a scarf patterned with your DNA, you could say, \u2018Hey, is that worth it?\u2019 But you wouldn\u2019t say, \u2018Where is the scientific evidence?\u2019\u201d\n\nTo Ewan Birney, director of the European Bioinformatics Institute, the direct-to-consumer DNA phenomenon is a typically American approach, led by private companies and focused on individuals. By contrast, in Europe there\u2019s more emphasis on national projects whose findings can be integrated into national health services, he says.\n\nDiet apps\n\nOne of the newest apps on Helix is from Arivale, a spinout of the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, which calls itself a \u201cscientific wellness company.\u201d The concept is to surround customers with a \u201cdata cloud\u201d\u2014comprehensive information about their blood, gut microbes, and DNA\u2014that could be used to suggest dietary changes.\n\nHelix\n\nThe full program costs more than $1,000 per year. But for $89, via Helix, the company is offering customers an initial look at their genes and one consultation with a dietitian. The weight loss app, called Beat Your Genes, lets people view screens indicating whether, genetically, they are more or less predisposed to having a high body-mass index.\n\nThese DNA clues can inform personalized diet advice, says Arivale CEO Clayton Lewis. Do you taste bitter foods more intensely? Maybe the dietitian can suggest that you saut\u00e9 your onions. Do you have a propensity for higher weight on a paleo diet? Try a switch to carbs.", "output": "The potentially lucrative market in direct-to-consumer gene reports could be at risk from a slew of products which, some critics have argued, do not have a strong scientific basis. Helix, a spin-out from gene sequencer Illumina,\u00a0sells a range of products based on genetic information on behalf of third-party firms that do everything from helping people manage their weight to offering a look at what a couple's future child may look like. California-based\u00a0geneticist Eric Topol said:\u00a0\u201cThe data has no basis. It\u2019s pseudoscience.\u201d The US Federal Trade Commission is monitoring the sector closely but\u00a0said it does not want to impede innovation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Death toll in San Diego's hepatitis A outbreak rises to 19 \n The death total in San Diego\u2019s ongoing hepatitis A outbreak reach 19 Tuesday, one more than last week, according to a newly-released health department update.\n\nCase counts also increased from 490 to 507, according to the county Health and Human Services Agency. The increases are the latest mileposts in a public health emergency that has grown among the region\u2019s homeless and drug-using residents every week since it was first detected in early March.\n\nWhile the increases have been relentless, there are reasons, said Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county\u2019s public health officer, to think that the outbreak\u2019s growth may be slowing.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nLast week, she said, 10 new cases were reported to the county and, while that\u2019s surely more than anyone would hope, it\u2019s significantly less than the number of new cases coming in every week just a few months ago.\n\n\u201cThe numbers are slowing down. It\u2019s not the 20 cases a week that it has been in June, July and August,\u201d Wooten said on Tuesday.\n\nBut the physician was reluctant to say that she\u2019s seeing a new trend. Outbreaks are unpredictable and, because the virus causing so many infections and has a very long incubation period, it is still possible to see the number of cases surge.\n\n\u201cWe have to be cautious. We know that this virus has an incubation period of 15 to 50 days, and we know that there are cases out there that just haven\u2019t started to show symptoms yet,\u201d Wooten said.\n\nVaccination has always been the lynchpin of the county\u2019s outbreak-fighting strategy. As of last week the county reported that 68,500 hepatitis A vaccinations have been administered since March.\n\nNearly 100 hand-washing stations and more portable toilets have been installed around the region, while regular sidewalk cleaning is taking place in certain areas.\n\nOn Friday, the California Department of Public Health declared a statewide public health emergency, a move that allows the state to purchase additional vaccine doses directly from manufacturers after the state hit the limits of a special free vaccine program run by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\n\nWhile declining to say exactly how many doses the county has on hand, Wooten said she believes that there is enough supply to keep giving shots to those who are at highest risk of infection, including homeless residents, drug users, those with existing liver disease, gay men and those with compromised immune systems.\n\nAnyone outside specified at-risk groups, she added, are now being actively advised to wait due to the constraints on vaccine supply mentioned last week by the state.\n\n\u201cWe are asking health providers to not vaccinate those individuals right now that might want to be immune to wait until the beginning of the year when more vaccine is available,\u201d Wooten said.\n\nWith large vaccination efforts underway to control outbreaks in several states, it has been unclear how much the nation\u2019s supply of hepatitis A vaccine has been depleted. The CDC, which has indicated that it is in direct communication with the two manufacturers who make the vaccine in the U.S., has provided no solid answers.\n\n\u201cWhile CDC communicates with vaccine manufacturers to help manage vaccine supply constraints and disruptions, this information is proprietary and used solely for planning and public health response purposes,\u201d Ian Branam, press officer for the CDC\u2019s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said in an email Tuesday.\n\nA shrinking vaccine supply has created a bit of an awkward situation for many in the prevention community. Scott Suckow, executive director of the American Liver Foundation\u2019s Pacific Coast Division, said late last week that the standard message has been for everyone to get a hepatitis A vaccination just in case they are exposed. Recent months, though, have called for a shift in strategy toward those whose liver disease makes them at a higher risk of death than the overall population.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t want to overburden a public system when the public system is really focusing on those most at risk,\u201d Suckow said.\n\nThe county health department has recently doubled down on its efforts to reach those at risk, with than 500 foot team missions in areas where homeless people gather, in addition to focusing on vaccination clinics at shelters and other nonprofits serving them homeless.\n\nWooten said a growing crew of volunteer nurses from the region\u2019s many health systems in addition to paramedics, who were recently granted temporary vaccination powers by the state, are getting ready to start vaccinating residents in single-room-occupancy hotels and substance abuse treatment facilities.\n\nWooten said she does not expect these volunteer teams to begin their work until November because four hours of training is required before they can head out to pre-arranged locations.\n\nWhile nurses and paramedics already know how to give shots, Wooten said they need to know follow specific public health requirements, including keeping the vaccine cold, while vaccinating residents.\n\nAsked how many people the county estimates it must vaccinate to reach a level of community immunity strong enough to end the outbreak, Wooten did not share a specific number. She did say that there are estimated to be about 125,000 intravenous drug and methamphetamine users who are at risk along with somewhere between 9,000 and 25,000 people who are either homeless or who have insecure living conditions.\n\nGetting about 80 percent of the people in high-risk categories immunized, she said, should create the kind of \u201cherd immunity\u201d that can stop an outbreak from spreading.\n\nHepatitis A is spread when a person swallows even a tiny amount of feces from an infected person. Proper hand washing with warm soapy water for at least 20 seconds after using the bathroom kills the virus.\n\nHealth Playlist \u00d7 On Now Video: Leaders urge public to help extinguish hepatitis outbreak On Now San Diego starts cleansing sidewalks, streets to combat hepatitis A On Now Video: Scripps to shutter its hospice service On Now Video: Scripps La Jolla hospitals nab top local spot in annual hospital rankings On Now Video: Does a parent's Alzheimer's doom their children? On Now EpiPen recall expands On Now Kids can add years to your life\n\npaul.sisson@sduniontribune.com\n\n(619) 293-1850\n\nTwitter: @paulsisson\n\nCorrection: A previous version of this story mistated the incubation period of the hepatitis A virus.", "output": "The death total in San Diego\u2019s ongoing hepatitis\u00a0A outbreak reach 19 Tuesday, one more than last week, according to a newly-released health department update.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California law may minimally impact drug pricing transparency \n Save\n\nThis article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.\n\nCalifornia law may minimally impact drug pricing transparency\n\nADD TOPIC TO EMAIL ALERTS Receive an email when new articles are posted on . Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on Subscribe ADDED TO EMAIL ALERTS You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.\n\n\n\nClick Here to Manage Email Alerts You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.\n\n\n\nClick Here to Manage Email Alerts\n\n\n\nBack to Healio We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.\n\n\n\nBack to Healio\n\nLisa Kroon\n\n\n\nCalifornia Gov. Jerry Brown approved legislation that will require pharmaceutical companies to give the state advanced notice of, as well as justify, dramatic drug price increases.\n\nThe intent of this bill is to increase transparency of drug price increases to the public, Ben R. Handel, PhD, an assistant professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley and a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, told HemOnc Today.\n\n\u201cThis is something that most people in the health care sector are in favor of and pharmaceutical companies are heavily against,\u201d he said.\n\nRetail prices for 268 widely used brand name prescription drugs increased by 15.5% from 2014 to 2015, which marked the fourth straight year of double-digit average annual price increases, according to a 10-year price trends report by AARP\u2019s Public Policy Institute.\n\nAdditionally, the average retail price for 113 common brand name drugs used to treat chronic conditions increased 188.7% from 2006 to 2015; for comparison, general inflation increased 19.4% during the same period.\n\n\u201cThe social and political fabric is being ripped apart,\u201d Gov. Brown said during a press conference announcing the legislation. \u201cThe inequities are growing. The rich are getting richer, the powerful are getting more powerful and a growing number of people are getting more desperate, more alienated.\u201d\n\nShift toward increased regulation\n\nThe legislation would require pharmaceutical companies to provide 60 days\u2019 notice to health plans and other purchasers of a planned price hike if the increase exceeds certain thresholds.\n\n\u201cHopefully health plans, by having forewarning about drug price increases, will be better able to plan for this, and then not push the costs onto consumers; or better yet, be able to push back on the price increases,\u201d Lisa Kroon, PharmD, chair of the department of clinical pharmacy at the University of California, San Francisco, told HemOnc Today.\n\n\u201cI think the timing of the notices to health plans about intended drug price increases will be important, as consumers make decisions about their choice of a health plan in the fall every year. Health plans will need information about drug cost increases in their planning for open enrollment season, so consumers have this information when making choices.\u201d\n\nAlthough there are some positive aspects about the bill, Handel does not envision it having a significant impact.\n\nThe bill places some constraints on drug manufacturers by setting a threshold \u2014 16% over 2 years \u2014 before being required to give notice and justification, but Handel said manufacturers will likely make it a priority to come in under that threshold.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not sure if drug companies will actually care about this,\u201d he said. \u201cThey don't like the law because it\u2019s moving toward a more regulated environment, but drug companies could also say, \u2018well we\u2019re going to raise our prices by 40% and we\u2019re going to justify it in some way and that\u2019s it,\u2019 because there\u2019s nothing in the law actually restricting their prices. It just requires them to justify them.\u201d\n\n\u2018All eyes on California\u2019\n\nCalifornia could impose hassle costs on manufacturers if the state believes the justification is invalid.\n\n\u201cBut at the end of the day, I think they\u2019d be able to raise the price if they wanted to,\u201d Handel said.\n\nBoth Kroon and Handel said that there is a strong possibility that California will serve as a leader and that this legislation will help propagate similar legislation and create a ripple effect across the rest of the country.\n\n\u201cAll eyes are on California now with this law,\u201d Kroon said. \u201cThere is a reason the drug companies lobbied so hard to not have this pass.\u201d\n\nHowever, Handel said drug manufacturers could take drastic steps if more states try to enact similar legislation.\n\n\u201cSay that this was a nationwide rule, then from an economics standpoint, a drug manufacturer would probably consider charging a high initial price,\u201d he said.\n\nFor instance, a drug manufacturer could consider charging an initial price of $1,500 for a drug instead of $1,000, because the company would not have to worry about meeting certain requirements laid out in legislation.\n\n\u201cDrug companies are learning what the optimal price of a drug is when they go to offer a drug for the first time,\u201d he said. \u201cIf they\u2019re learning in an environment [that has this legislation], then they might want to shade the initial price higher, and I think that\u2019s something people are generally missing.\u201d \u2013 by Ryan McDonald\n\nReferences:\n\nhttp://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/ppi/2016-12/trends-in-retail-prices-dec-2016.pdf\n\nhttps://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB17\n\nhttps://www.gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=19995\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF38WmiVIW4\n\nDisclosures: Handel and Kroon report no relevant financial disclosures.", "output": "California Gov. Jerry Brown\u00a0approved legislation that will require pharmaceutical companies to give the state advanced notice of, as well as justify, dramatic drug price increases.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Congress isn\u2019t acting to curb drug prices, so states are stepping up. Here\u2019s how \n Congress isn\u2019t acting to curb drug prices, so states are stepping up. Here\u2019s how\n\nPresident Trump has complained that drug makers are getting away with murder \u2014 and he may be right.\n\nDespite vociferous complaints from consumers that drug prices are too high, Congress has failed to act. And with few exceptions, the pharmaceutical industry has successfully delayed or thwarted state bills that would force drug makers to explain or justify price hikes.\n\nadvertisement\n\nBut that may be starting to change. Last week, to the fury of the pharma industry, California enacted a law demanding transparency on rising medicine costs. Vermont already has a similar policy in place. Nevada recently began requiring drug makers to disclose pricing data about diabetes medicines. And Maryland has a new law that penalizes generic companies for price gouging.", "output": "President Trump has complained that drug makers are getting away with murder\u00a0\u2014 and he may be right.\u00a0Despite vociferous complaints from consumers that drug prices are too high, Congress has failed to act.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Questions Loom About Obamacare As Covered California\u2019s Open Enrollment Nears \n About Capitol Desk Capitol Desk delivers the latest in health care policy and politics from Sacramento and around the state. Have an idea? Let us know.\n\nHear Chad Terhune on KPFA\u2019s Letters And Politics starting at the 40-minute mark: https://californiahealthline.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2017/10/20171017-tue1000.mp3 Can\u2019t see the audio player? Click here to download.\n\nListen to Chad Terhune\u2019s appearance on KPCC\u2019s AirTalk: https://californiahealthline.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2017/10/what_trump_s_new_executive_order_means_for_the_aca_and_covered_ca-3ab8b3ad.mp3 Can\u2019t see the audio player? Click here to download.\n\nWith open enrollment a little more than two weeks away, President Donald Trump took a one-two punch at the Affordable Care Act.\n\nLast week, Trump said he would stop paying key subsidies, known as cost-sharing reductions, which compensate insurers for providing discounts on deductibles and copays. He also signed an executive order aimed at loosening the rules for association health plans \u2014 organized by certain types of professional, trade or interest groups \u2014 and short-term medical insurance. Trump argues these changes would give consumers cheaper coverage options, but experts warn that people may lose critical protections and face higher premiums when they\u2019re sick.\n\nCalifornians are somewhat insulated from harm, in part because health insurers here have already raised 2018 premiums for certain plans to offset the loss of the cost-sharing subsidies. In addition, California\u2019s attorney general, Xavier Becerra, joined with other states to file a lawsuit last week challenging Trump\u2019s decision to end the payments.\n\nEmail Sign-Up Subscribe to California Healthline's free Daily Edition. Your Email Address Sign Up\n\nOn Tuesday, Sens. Patty Murray and Lamar Alexander announded a bipartisan agreement to restore the cost-sharing subsidies and stabilize the ACA marketplaces. Trump appeared to support the effort as a \u201cshort-term\u201d solution.\n\nStill, time is running short for 2018 open enrollment, which kicks off Nov. 1.\n\nBefore the announcement of the Murray-Alexander agreement Tuesday, Chad Terhune, a senior correspondent at California Healthline and Kaiser Health News, appeared on KPFA\u2019s \u201cLetters And Politics\u201d show, speaking with guest host Max Pringle about the health care debates in Washington, D.C., and California. In addition to the ACA, they discussed the nation\u2019s opioid crisis, prescription drug prices and growing support in California for a single-payer health system.\n\nTerhune also appeared last Thursday on KPCC\u2019s \u201cAirTalk\u201d show, discussing with guest host Libby Denkmann what\u2019s next for the ACA under Trump.", "output": "With open enrollment a little more than two weeks away, President Donald Trump took a one-two punch at the Affordable Care Act. Last week, Trump said he would stop paying key subsidies, known as cost-sharing reductions, which compensate insurers for providing discounts on deductibles and copays.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "A spate of deadly disasters for the elderly \n Story highlights Seniors tend to die at disproportionate rates after major disasters Many seniors with chronic illnesses can quickly deteriorate in a disaster setting\n\nCNN \u2014\n\nRecent wildfires in California and hurricanes in Florida, Texas and Puerto Rico have put a spotlight on vulnerable seniors \u2013 including a number of deaths that authorities have said were preventable.\n\n\u201cThe bulk of them are in their 70s and 80s, so there is that commonality,\u201d Sonoma County Sheriff Rob Giordano said of the first wildfire victims to be identified during a press conference Thursday.\n\nThe majority were found in their homes, reduced to \u201cashes and bones,\u201d Giordano said. Several were identified using medical implants, such as a hip replacement, with unique serial numbers.\n\nOn Sunday, the Sonoma County Sheriff\u2019s Office identified four more victims of the fires, all over the age of 70.\n\nAn empty wheelchair sits among the charred remains of a housing development in Santa Rosa, California. Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images\n\nOver a dozen residents of a Florida nursing home died in the month after Hurricane Irma knocked out the facility\u2019s air conditioning.\n\nJust weeks later, after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in September, some were trapped in homes and shelters, unable to get the crucial medical care they needed.\n\nThe elderly have died disproportionately in disasters around the world, including a 2004 tsunami in Indonesia, a 2003 heat wave across Europe and a 1995 earthquake in Japan, according to a United Nations report.\n\nExperts continue to grapple with how best to protect the elderly, who face difficulties evacuating from disasters, more health issues on average and perhaps even a greater share of the psychological impact.\n\n\u201cYou can\u2019t always predict an emergency event,\u201d making preparedness key for seniors, said Ashley Chambers, communications director for the Florida Department of Elder Affairs.\n\nTo evacuate or not\n\nMany adults can\u2019t easily evacuate \u2013 some because they don\u2019t drive, others because they are physically unable, according to research.\n\nAnd some people refuse to evacuate in the first place.\n\n\u201cSome seniors don\u2019t want to leave a home that they\u2019ve been in all their lives, because the future may be uncertain,\u201d said Vicki Eichstaedt, a spokesperson for the American Red Cross.\n\nOthers feel they might be better off remaining in a facility that has the means to take care of them.\n\n\u201cThis is a very nice, sturdy concrete building,\u201d Herbert Dreisbach, a 94-year-old resident of a nursing home in Jacksonville, Florida, told CNN before Hurricane Irma. \u201cIt\u2019s still better than being at a facility that would not be properly prepared to take care of us.\u201d\n\n\u201cNot all residents \u2026 should be evacuated,\u201d Lisa Brown, a psychology professor and director of the Trauma Program at Palo Alto University, previously told CNN.\n\nBrown, who is also Dreisbach\u2019s daughter, showed in past research that nursing home residents with dementia had an increased risk of death in the months following a 2008 hurricane if they had evacuated.\n\n\u201cThose who can safely shelter in place may fare much better than those who are physically evacuated,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThere\u2019s not a one-size-fits-all, is the main point.\u201d\n\nEichstaedt, who called from the Sonoma County Fairgrounds where there is a makeshift shelter, said that many seniors refuse to evacuate because they have pets, which may be their only companions.\n\n\u201cIt may be the only connection they have to their old life,\u201d Eichstaedt said.\n\nThe fairgrounds were equipped with a pet-friendly shelter, with veterinarians to take care of sick and aging pets, too. \u201cThat\u2019s been a blessing for many seniors,\u201d she said.\n\nA matter of health\n\nIn emergency situations, once-manageable health conditions, like diabetes or an infection, can quickly spiral out of control.\n\nCNN previously told the story of Josefina Alvarez, 62, who escaped to a shelter outside of San Juan before Hurricane Maria. She remained stuck there for nearly two weeks before doctors were finally able to treat an abscess that could have turned into a life-threatening infection.\n\n\u201cNobody is taking care of us,\u201d Alvarez said at the time.\n\nAbout three out of every four Americans 65 and older have multiple chronic health conditions, such as high blood pressure and obesity, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\n\nRafael Robles-Ortiz kisses his mother Josefina Ortiz, staying at an elderly care facility in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Mr. Robles-Ortiz was concerned for his mother, hoping aid and supplies would get through to the facility after Hurricane Maria. Joe Raedle/Getty Images\n\nAfter Hurricane Katrina in 2005, nearly half of those who died were 75 or older \u2013 despite making up less than 6% of the state\u2019s population, according to one study. While most of these deaths were drownings or injuries, 11% were caused by heart conditions.\n\nBefore Hurricane Irma, nursing homes in Florida stocked up on supplies, and pharmacies issued early refills of medications for people in evacuation zones.\n\nThe Florida Health Care Association, which represents 81% of the state\u2019s nursing centers, instructed each facility to prepare seven to 10 days of medication, oxygen and other medical necessities for each resident, according to spokesperson Kristen Knapp. The association does not represent the Hollywood facility where multiple residents died last month.\n\nEven without a health issue, age can take its toll on the body.\n\nAn average healthy person can survive 100 hours without water if they\u2019re not becoming dehydrated because of injury or temperatures, according to Dr. Paul Auerbach, a professor of emergency medicine at Stanford University who worked with rescue teams after earthquakes in Nepal and Haiti. They can even survive two or three weeks without food.\n\nBut for the elderly and infants, that time period can be much shorter, he previously told CNN.\n\nOlder adults are also more sensitive to extreme temperatures, making them more susceptible to heat stress and hypothermia, according to the CDC.\n\nThe exact causes of death of the Florida nursing home residents have not been announced, but a number of the 141 residents who were evacuated were treated for heat-related issues.\n\nIn Sonoma, Eichstaedt said that seniors with difficulties breathing or respiratory problems have been affected by \u201csmoke and ash in the air.\u201d Even younger and healthier people are wearing masks to avoid the worst air pollution on record for Northern California.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a big concern,\u201d said Eichstaedt.\n\nIn the aftermath\n\nFor many people, a disaster often continues long after the fires have been put out or the flooding has receded.\n\nThe shelter in Sonoma is only a temporary fix, Eichstaedt said. Many displaced seniors will need assistance getting back home \u2013 if they still have a home to go back to.\n\nSeniors may also be more susceptible to scams that happen after a disaster, said Chambers, including unlicensed contractors or people posing as assistance organizations.\n\n\u201cOur senior population is very trusting, and we want to make sure they know what to watch out for,\u201d she said.\n\nEven years after a disaster, some research has suggested that senior survivors are more likely to develop PTSD and other mental health problems \u2013 shown in a study of survivors of a 2008 earthquake in China.\n\n\u201cOne of the things that we notice is the emotional frailty of many seniors,\u201d Eichstaedt said, \u201cparticularly when they face the unknown.\u201d\n\nThe prevalence of PTSD in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi rose from 15% a few months after Katrina to 21% a year later, found a 2008 study. In that study, however, the highest increases were seen among those aged 40 to 59.\n\nIn addition, older adults face a number of stresses that healthy, able-bodied people might not, such as fear of losing their independence or financial stability, according to FEMA.\n\nFor seniors who are also low-income, it\u2019s an \u201cextra level of concern,\u201d said Lisa Marsh Ryerson, president of American Association of Retired Persons Foundation.\n\nMany seniors also deal with social isolation, which has long been flagged as a risk factor for mortality.\n\nMarsh Ryerson, whose foundation launched an initiative last year to combat loneliness and isolation among seniors, said that people don\u2019t always think to reach out to elders in their communities while they\u2019re rushing to prepare for an upcoming disaster.\n\n\u201cCheck on your neighbors,\u201d she said. \u201cIn times of disasters, or often in everyday living, older adults who are vulnerable can often be invisible, and they may not always ask for the help that they need.\u201d\n\nFollow CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter.\n\nVendetta Craig, whose 87-year-old mother was among the survivors of the Florida nursing home, had some choice words about how the deaths at Hollywood Hills reflected society\u2019s treatment of seniors.\n\n\u201cWe throw away our elderly,\u201d she said at a press conference in September. \u201cThat\u2019s my mother.\u201d", "output": "Recent wildfires in California and hurricanes in Florida, Texas and Puerto Rico have put a spotlight on vulnerable seniors -- including a number of deaths that authorities have said were preventable.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Most ACOs in Next Generation, Pioneer models saved money, earned payments for 2016 \n The Next Generation and Pioneer ACO models earned payments for 11 out of 18 health systems participating in Next Generation in 2016 and for six out of eight in Pioneer.\n\nSeven Next Generation ACOs lost money, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Three had dropped out in 2016 due to financial targets they said were set too high to earn savings.\n\n[Also: ACOs score high on MIPS, but low on payment adjustment]\n\nBut three-quarters of Next Generation ACOs in 2016 reaped financial rewards from the risk program, from a low of $272,140 for Steward Integrated Care Network in Massachusetts, to a high of $12 million for Baroma Accountable Care in California.\n\nThe results are important because they show that for most, shared risk works, as CMS is currently asking health systems for feedback on existing payment models.\n\nACOs interviewed in September said they support changes out of CMS's innovation center that would allow for greater flexibility in future models. This was true whether the system made or lost money in current models.\n\nMontefiore has seen success in both Pioneer and Next Gen. The health system's five-year experience has been positive, said Kirstin Mooney, assistant vice president of regulatory and legislative poiicy for Montefiore.\n\nDespite instability in the Affordable Care Act and the move to make bundled payment models voluntary, rather than mandatory, providers interviewed have said they expect the push to value-based care will remain the same. ACOs move health systems in this direction.\n\nBut there were also big losers under Next Generation. The largest losses were reported by LifePrint ACO in Delaware, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, which owed $6.1 million, OSF HealthCare in Illinois, which lost $5 million and MemorialCare Regional in California, which also lost $5 million.\n\n[Also: ACOs increasing their participation in downside risk contracts, study says]\n\nOSF began with Pioneer in 2011 earning high quality scores in 2014 before transitioning to Next Generation.\n\nHigh earners included Iowa Health Accountable Care, at $10.5 million, Triad HealthCare Network in North Carolina at $10.7 million, Trinity Health in Michigan, at $6.5 million and Deaconess Care Integration in Indiana, which earned $5.7 million.\n\n[Also: Medicare Shared Savings ACOs saved $1 billion over 3 years, report says]\n\nIn 2017, Next Generation gained an estimated 28 new ACOs, for an estimated 44 health systems taking part.\n\nNext Generation builds on the Medicare Pioneer ACO model, which was in its final year of the program in 2016.\n\nEight health systems took part in Pioneer in 2016, with six reporting financial savings.\n\nThe Banner Health Network in Arizona realized the highest rewards at $10.9 million. Its benchmark of $504 million for 42,040 beneficiaries was met with an actual expenditure of $489 million.\n\nNone of the Pioneer ACOs owed money, but the results were financially neutral for Monarch HealthCare in California and Partners HealthCare in Massachusetts. Though both successfully reported quality and their quality scores were 90.25 percent and 94.51 percent, respectively, which were higher than some of the other health systems that earned money.\n\nThe Michigan Pioneer ACO had a lower quality score of 88.93 percent and still earned $7.4 million. Michigan performed better than its benchmark expenditure of $232 million for its 14,319 beneficiaries. It's actual expenditures were $220 million.\n\nMonarch's actual expenditures were $264 million compared to its $266 million benchmark, for a savings of $1.5 million, not enough to earn savings.\n\nPartners actual expenditures were also lower than its benchmark - $1.054 billion compared to $1.059 billion, for a savings of $5 million, which was not enough for a payment.\n\nBut Allina Health in Minnesota also saved $5 million and earned $3 million in shared savings, from a $268 million benchmark versus $263 million actual.\n\nAtrius Health in Massachusetts earned $6.8 million, Fairview Health Services in Minnesota, $1 million and Montefiore ACO in New York, $7.4 million.\n\nTelehealth benefits allowed in the Next Generation ACOs helped to save them a collective $58 million last year, according to Politico's figures from the CMS Innovation Center.\n\nWhen including 2016 results from the Pioneer ACO and dialysis models, participants saved Medicare $200 million, with three-quarters of them hitting savings targets, Politico said.\n\nResults for Medicare Shared Savings ACOs, which account for the vast majority of ACOs, will be posted at the end of October, CMS said.\n\nIndividual Medicare ACO Aledade and Caravan Health, have already released their results.\n\nIn 2016, Aledade in Maryland, saved $9.3 million, with five of its seven ACOs coming in under benchmark and one at benchmark.\n\nCaravan in Missouri achieved $26 million in savings for its 23 ACOs in 2016. ACO participation can increase MACRA performance scores by 20 percent, Caravan said.\n\nTwitter: @SusanJMorse\n\nEmail the writer: susan.morse@himssmedia.com", "output": "The Next Generation and Pioneer ACO models earned payments for 11 out of 18 health systems participating in Next Generation in 2016 and for six out of eight in Pioneer.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Uber's head of policy for Europe quits to join Chargepoint \n For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBreaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nUber\u2019s head of policy for Europe, Middle East and Africa has quit the company to join electric vehicle charging network firm Chargepoint.\n\nChristopher Burghardt is the latest senior figure to walk out of Uber after Jo Bertram, former regional manager for Northern Europe, left on 2 October.\n\nMr Burghardt leaves after just one year at the ride-hailing firm and will become managing director for Chargepoint in Europe.\n\nRecommended TfL is forcing Uber to grow up\n\nHe said the decision to leave Uber was \u201ca tough choice\u201d, but one he \"couldn't turn down\".\n\n\"Europe is at the point of getting to mass adoption of electric vehicles and Chargepoint is at the forefront of that\", he added.\n\n\"I remain a great believer in what Uber does and I know our new chief executive has a vision that will take the company into a bright future.\u201d\n\nThe ride-hailing firm faces a number of challenges internationally from regulators and lawsuits.\n\nUber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi flew into London in October to meet Transport for London chiefs after the regulator refused to renew Uber\u2019s licence in September.\n\nThe new chief executive is also dealing with accusations of a company culture rife with sexism under the leadership of his predecessor, Travis Kalanick.\n\nMeanwhile, the company faces a dozen lawsuits and at least five criminal investigations in the US, two more than previously reported, according to Bloomberg.", "output": "Ride-hailing platform Uber has been hit by the loss of another senior executive as it faces growing challenges to its business. Christopher Burghardt, the company's head of policy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, has left to head up electric vehicle power company Chargepoint. His departure comes shortly after that of Jo Bertram, who had been regional manager for northern Europe. Uber's new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi recently met transport regulators in London after they denied a renewal of the company's licence to operate in the UK capital.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Making Time to Really Listen to Your Patients \n Hurried health care incurs hidden costs and offers false economy: Not taking the time to listen to and understand the patient harms both the patient and the clinician, who won\u2019t have the benefit of pooled knowledge, ability to make fully informed mutual decisions, or time to build trust. The authors offer six steps health care organizations might take to reshape their cultures and learn not only what\u2019s wrong with their patients, but what matters to them.\n\nModern medicine\u2019s true healing potential depends on a resource that is being systematically depleted: the time and capacity to truly listen to patients, hear their stories, and learn not only what\u2019s the matter with them but also what matters to them. Some health professionals claim that workload and other factors have compressed medical encounters to a point that genuine conversation with patients is no longer possible or practical. We disagree.\n\nOur experiences \u2014 as a critical-care physician whose own critical illness led her to train physicians in relationship-centered communication (Rana Awdish) and as a health services researcher who has interviewed and observed hundreds of patients, doctors, and nurses (Len Berry) \u2014 teach us that hurried care incurs hidden costs and offers false economy. In other words, it might save money in the short term but wastes money over time.\n\nWhy Listening Matters\n\nActively listening to patients conveys respect for their self-knowledge and builds trust. It allows physicians to assume the role of the trusted intermediary who not only provides relevant medical knowledge but also translates it into options in line with patients\u2019 own stated values and priorities. It is only through shared knowledge, transmitted in both directions, that physicians and patients can co-create an authentic, viable care plan.\n\nA doctor\u2019s medical toolbox and supply of best-practice guidelines, ample as they are, do not address a patient\u2019s fears, grief over a diagnosis, practical issues of access to care, or reliability of their social support system. Overlooking these realities is perilous, both for the patient\u2019s well-being and for efficient delivery of care. We believe not only that a clinician should share medical decision making with the patient but also that it must occur in the context of an authentic relationship.\n\nThe Costs of Hurried Encounters\n\nCompressed medicine has real risks. Clinicians become more likely to provide ineffective or undesired treatment and miss pertinent information that would have altered the treatment plan and are often blind to patients\u2019 lack of understanding. All of this serves to diminish the joy of serving patients, thereby contributing to high rates of physician burnout. These consequences have clear human and financial costs.\n\nThe medical literature increasingly offers potential solutions to the inefficiencies that rob patients of physicians\u2019 time and attention, including delegating lower-expertise tasks to non-physician team members, improving the design of the electronic health system, and greatly reducing the paperwork bureaucracy that adds little or no value. We can create more space for active listening. Unhurried medical care may be elusive, but it is practical.\n\nReimagining Roles\n\nBeyond time pressures, the typically unquestioned roles that physicians and patients assume also inhibit relationship-building. In their medical training, physicians often are taught to maintain a clinical distance and an even temperament. They are warned not to get too close to patients, lest they internalize the suffering and shoulder it themselves. The best physicians, we know, reject this advice because it diminishes their humanity and disadvantages their patients, who need more than a highly-qualified body technician, especially when they\u2019re seriously ill.\n\nInsight Center Transforming Health Care Sponsored by Medtronic How leading providers are delivering value for patients.\n\nPatients learn roles, too: adhere to the doctor\u2019s plan, squelch errant thoughts that might sound foolish, don\u2019t ask too many questions, defer to the expert, be \u201ca good patient.\u201d In a new article we co-authored with others, we show that many patients, especially those with serious disease, behave like hostages in the presence of physicians \u2014 unwilling to challenge authority, understating their concerns, requesting less than they desire. Most physicians certainly don\u2019t want patients to feel like hostages, but the patients often do. When patients feel like hostages, the ideal of shared decision making is a pipe dream.\n\nIt\u2019s no wonder, then, that for patients with serious illness, the emotion they most often cite is \u201coverwhelmed.\u201d The diagnosis, the options, the treatment, the myriad side effects, the change in identity when living with disease \u2014 all of it can indeed be overwhelming. In this complex, fraught situation, people need a compassionate guide \u2014 a wise, comforting sherpa who knows the mountain, the risks of various routes, the viable contingency plans. The physician-sherpa should be a partner on the journey, not simply a medical operative, extracting formulaic rules and implements from a toolbox. Patients need and deserve much more.\n\nWhen doctor and patient join forces, the team dynamic dismantles the harmful hierarchy. Both members of the dyad can rely on each other because neither owns all the data that matter. Speaking at a White Coat ceremony for medical students, Dr. Rita Charon, a pioneer in the rising discipline of narrative medicine, stated:\n\nI used to ask new patients a million questions about their health, their symptoms, their diet and exercise, their previous illnesses or surgeries. I don\u2019t do that anymore. I find it more useful to offer my presence to patients and invite them to tell me what they think I should know about their situation.\u2026I sit there in front of the patient, sitting on my hands so as not to write during the patient\u2019s account, the better to grant attention to the story, probably with my mouth open in amazement at the unerring privilege of hearing another put into words \u2014 seamlessly, freely, in whatever form is chosen \u2014 what I need to know about him or her.\n\nAn Organization that Listens and Heals\n\nNot hearing the patient\u2019s voice harms the patient and the clinician. They don\u2019t have the benefit of pooled knowledge, ability to make fully informed mutual decisions, or time to build trust. Health systems that want to avoid those pitfalls need leaders who invest in shaping an organizational culture that values hearing patients\u2019 voices. Here are some steps such organizations might take:\n\nShare patient stories and related lessons at every meeting. Perhaps one should be a story of success (what we did well for a patient) and another of a failure (where we must improve).\n\nOffer a communications curriculum to clinical and non-clinical staff. The professional development should be engaging and dynamic so that adult learners seek it out because they view it as worthwhile.\n\nEncourage and reward clinical curiosity, whereby generous questions are asked to elicit generous patient responses. Emphasize listening for not just what is said, but also how it is communicated. Consider a narrative-medicine component.\n\nConvene patient advisory boards that meet regularly with practice leaders to convey concerns and make suggestions about improving patients\u2019 experiences.\n\nUse multiple methods to identify and systematically address impediments in clinicians\u2019 daily work \u2014 the \u201cpebbles in the shoes.\u201d Examples include rounds, conducted by senior leaders, with both staff and patients; staff focus groups and anonymous surveys; and CEO feedback meetings with small groups who speak openly about what prevents them from delivering better care.\n\nCreate a balanced scorecard of physician performance that tracks not only productivity but also professional development, team building, safety and quality metrics, timeliness of care or access, communication skills, and care coordination \u2014 measures that matter to patients.\n\nA Way Forward\n\nMedicine is constantly evolving as new ways to treat, heal, and even cure emerge. We must continually reflect on the changes, and correct the course as needed. This work cannot happen in a vacuum of forced efficiency. Physicians, patients, and administrators all must maintain and build on what is sacred and soulful in clinical practice. We must listen generously so that we nurture authentic, bidirectional relationships that give clinicians and patients a sense of mutual purpose that no best-practice guideline or algorithm could ever hope to achieve.", "output": "Modern medicine\u2019s true healing potential depends on a resource that is being systematically depleted: the time and capacity to truly listen to patients, hear their stories, and learn not only what\u2019s the matter with\u00a0them\u00a0but also what matters\u00a0to\u00a0them. Some health professionals claim that workload and other factors have compressed medical encounters to a point that genuine conversation with patients is no longer possible or practical. We disagree.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MIT: Innovative Designs Will Soon Transform Aging in Place \n In a bizarre and developing story, as many as 80,000 patients in Canada may have had detailed medical, financial and personal records stolen by a hacker group after it infiltrated the computer systems of home care services provider CarePartners.\n\nOntario-based CarePartners, which has provided government-sponsored personal, rehabilitation and nursing care services to hundreds of thousands of patients over the years, announced the breach in June. At the time, the home care provider and cyberattack victim claimed \u201csophisticated actors\u201d had \u201cinappropriately\u201d gained access to and held information pertaining to the personal health and finances of its patients and employees.\n\nTo determine the full extent of the breach, CarePartners announced it had retained the services of cybersecurity firm Herjavec Group.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nNow, about a month after the initial cyberattack, CBC News is uncovering additional details\u2014with the help of the hackers.\n\nAccording to a CBC News report, a group claiming responsibility for the breach reached out to the news outlet and provided a sample of the data it had allegedly accessed.\n\nThe sampled data reportedly included thousands of patient medical records with phone numbers, addresses, dates of birth and health care numbers. The data included extensive medical histories, CBC News reported, complete with information on conditions, diagnoses, surgical procedures, care plans and medications prescribed.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe sampled data also reportedly shows that more than 140 active patient credit card numbers, expiration dates and security codes had been stolen.\n\nOverall, the data appears to contain names and contact information for more than 80,000 patients in total, according to CBC News, though the hacker group says the breach was actually far larger in scope.\n\n\u201cThis data breach affects hundreds of thousands of Canadians and was completely avoidable,\u201d the group told CBC News. \u201cNone of the data we have was encrypted.\u201d\n\nThe news outlet contacted 10 patients whose records were included in the provided sample and confirmed that they had been patients of CarePartners. All 10 patients said they had not been directly notified by the home care provider and were unaware there had even been a breach.\n\n\u201cWe are concerned that the cyber-attackers may be using the CBC to further their own extortion agenda,\u201d CarePartners said in a statement published by CBC News in its report. \u201cIt is a common strategy of cyber-attackers to contact media in an effort to embarrass and shame their victims.\u201d\n\nBesides stealing patient data, the hacker group says it is holding the stolen information for ransom.\n\n\u201cWe requested compensation in exchange for telling them how to fix their security issues and for us to not leak data online,\u201d it said.\n\nThe cyberattack is being investigated by the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario.\n\nThe CarePartners hack is not the first time in-home care providers have had their networks compromised.\n\nIn 2015, Amedisys, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMED) notified state and federal agencies\u2014as well as 6,909 individuals\u2014that personal information was possibly subject to a data breach. The incident was linked to missing encrypted computers and laptops belonging to former employees.\n\nCybersecurity attacks and health plans\n\nU.S. health plans have reported 24 breaches so far in 2018, compared to 15 during the same period in 2017, representing a 60% increase in the number of entities impacted, according to Fortified Health Security\u2019s 2018 Mid-Year Report.\n\nThe total number of patients impacted by those breaches increased by more than 1,000%. Of the health plans impacted by a breach thus far in 2018, 38% were either state or city-affiliated health plans.\n\nThe 24 identified breaches have affected more than 884,000 individuals.\n\nFortified Health is a Tennessee-based cybersecurity firm.\n\nWritten by Robert Holly", "output": "The rising number of aging Americans is likely to drive transformation in how seniors age in place, from technology advances to real estate designs, according to a recent\u00a0report\u00a0from\u00a0the\u00a0Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)\u00a0Center for Real Estate.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk TalkTalk customers left without internet pursued over cancelled contracts \n When Stuart and Carol Corkett received a \u00a3525 bill from British Gas they immediately knew something was wrong.\n\nThe reading for their gas meter was wildly off, and it didn't take long to work out what had happened: British Gas had used the meter for their neighbour's house, which is 6ft away.\n\nYet what seemed like a simple misunderstanding turned into a nine-month ordeal, with the retired couple forced to fend off debt collectors.\n\nInitially the Corketts, from Taunton in Somerset, received a stream of letters from British Gas demanding urgent payment. They wrote to the energy company twice and made numerous phone calls to explain about the meter confusion.\n\nUnwelcome: Figures show that gripes about debt collection practices at big firms and government bodies have more than doubled over the past year, rising from 830 to 2,006\n\nBut the demands continued, and soon they started to get letters and phone calls from Moorcroft Debt Recovery, a debt collection agency.\n\nEach time Stuart, 65, rang British Gas to call off the agents, he got a different customer services representative and had to explain the whole saga again.\n\nNothing seemed to work and the stress got so much that he had to see his doctor.\n\n'I kept appealing to British Gas, but they weren't listening,' Stuart says. 'It felt like I was at a dead end and the next thing I knew they'd put debt collectors on to us.\n\n'I don't understand how companies can be allowed to do this, as a lot of elderly people would be so intimidated they would probably pay up.'\n\nThe Corketts' ordeal at the hands of one of Britain's biggest companies is far from an isolated incident. Money Mail readers report similar bullying tactics from a range of energy and telecoms firms, as well as government bodies such as councils, HM Revenue & Customs and BBC licence fee collectors.\n\nCustomers are routinely chased for debts they do not owe, often due to a billing blunder or a case of mistaken identity.\n\nInnocent: Retired couple Stuart and Carol Corkett had to fight off debt collectors after a meter reader read the meter for their neighbour's house by mistake\n\nThen, with no warning, they start getting terrifying letters and calls from debt collectors who threaten court action.\n\nIt can prove almost impossible to get the debt collectors called off. Victims say they have suffered sleepless nights and been afraid to open their doors in case bailiffs turn up.\n\nFigures from complaints service Resolver show that gripes about debt collection practices at big firms and government bodies have more than doubled over the past year, rising from 830 to 2,006.\n\nComplaints about the tactics used by debt collection agencies and bailiffs themselves soared 77 per cent from 864 to 1,529.\n\n'I WAS TREATED LIKE A CRIMINAL'\n\nLinda and Brian Dowse have faced a battle with Ovo Energy since June, when they downsized to a one-bed flat in sheltered housing.\n\nLinda, 75, a retired carer, and Brian, 73, a former painter and decorator, asked Ovo to take final meter readings and transfer their account to their new home.\n\nTwo weeks after the move, a letter from Ovo arrived saying the couple were \u00a318.97 in credit.\n\nJust a fortnight later, they received a letter from a debt collection agency, LCS, demanding \u00a3233.61.\n\nLinda called Ovo and was told to ignore the letter as it was an error. But two further demands from LCS arrived in August.\n\n'I was appalled \u2014 my rule is I never lend money and I never borrow it,' Linda says. 'I've never even owned a credit card. It's been murder trying to clear this up.'\n\nOne firm that is mentioned regularly in Money Mail's inbox is Extra Energy.\n\nWe exposed the company earlier this year for using debt collectors to chase customers for money they didn't owe. It is under investigation by the energy regulator Ofgem. A spokesman for Extra Energy says it has apologised to 'the small number' of customers affected and also compensated them.\n\nNarendra and Sarla Shah, 77 and 57, from Crawley, were chased by First Utility's debt collectors for \u00a3170 in September \u2014 nearly a year and a half after they had closed their account.\n\nThe couple thought they had paid all outstanding charges and say they were given no warning before the debt was passed to MIL Collections. Narendra, a retired electrical engineer, says: 'It was very intimidating. I felt like I was being treated like a criminal.'\n\nFirst Utility says it emailed the Shahs about the debt in June 2016, but has apologised for not contacting them again before passing it to MIL. It has waived part of the bill as a goodwill gesture.\n\nBritish Gas apologised to the Corketts and says it has called off the debt collectors and sent a goodwill payment of \u00a3250.\n\nA spokeswoman says: 'Mr Corkett alerted us to a meter number mix-up on his account after we sent him his final bill. We reviewed this and then sent him a corrected bill confirming that he had nothing to pay.'\n\nOvo says it is sorry the Dowses were incorrectly billed and has cleared the debt.\n\nHARASSED OVER PHONE SWITCH\n\nEnergy suppliers aren't the only firms to have been guilty of harassing customers. Jennifer and Bernard Algar, 69 and 72, from March in Cambridgeshire, were left without an internet connection for a month after they switched to TalkTalk. The couple say they asked TalkTalk time and again to fix the line.\n\nAfter endless excuses and delays, they told the firm they'd had enough and were switching to Sky. But that just prompted TalkTalk to send letters and emails demanding \u00a3353 for cancelling the contract early. The Algars refused to pay.\n\nJennifer and Bernard Algar, 69 and 72, from March in Cambridgeshire, were left without an internet connection for a month after they switched to TalkTalk\n\nThen, out of the blue, their case was passed to Debt & Revenue Services \u2014 a debt collector \u2014 which sent more demands. Jennifer, a retired teaching assistant, says: 'It's disgusting, threatening behaviour to blame us after all TalkTalk's own failings.\n\n'When we get a bill we always pay it the next day, but why should we pay for a service we haven't received? Now we are being treated like delinquents.'\n\nTerry and Barbara Bowen, 74 and 71, from Cardiff, were chased for \u00a3243 when they moved house and were told they couldn't take their Virgin Media internet, TV and phone line with them.\n\nThey moved to nearby Porth in March to be closer to family after the death of their son Darran last year from multiple sclerosis. Virgin said it couldn't supply their new address, so they had to break their contract early. They were threatened with debt collectors if they didn't pay.\n\nTerry, a retired Royal Mint supervisor, felt he had no option but to relent. 'I told Virgin about the reasons we were having to move and they said they were sorry but it was all in the contract.'\n\nOfcom is investigating the exit penalties Virgin imposes when it can't supply a customer's new address.\n\nVirgin says it will give the Bowens a refund as it can review charges in 'unforeseeable and unfortunate circumstances'. A Virgin Media spokeswoman says: 'We urge all of our customers to consider the length of contracts before entering into them. We advise our customers that the details of early disconnection fees are on our website.'\n\nTalkTalk apologises for the Algars' experience and has cleared the debt.\n\nBITTEN OVER \u00a3204 DENTIST BILL\n\nAnother reader, a 69-year-old former pharmacy dispenser from Cambridgeshire, was chased for debts by the NHS.\n\nThe pensioner received a 'letter before action' demanding payment of \u00a3204 from NHS Dental Services after mistakenly believing she was still entitled to free check-ups.\n\nThe bill included a late payment charge of \u00a3146, and she was threatened with debt collectors if she didn't pay.\n\nOne reader received a 'letter before action' from NHS Dental Services after mistakenly believing she was still entitled to free check-ups\n\nThe pensioner says the receptionist had handed her a pre-filled form to sign, saying she qualified for free treatment. She didn't realise she didn't because her husband had gone back to work and their joint income had increased.\n\n'It was an honest mistake and I would have been happy to settle the original \u00a358 charge for the appointment, but I wasn't given the chance,' she says. The NHS says she can appeal using its website.\n\nThe Mail has also revealed that customers are being hauled to court over unpaid BBC licence fees \u2014 only to have their cases thrown out because they were vulnerable or unwell. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has also been caught setting debt collectors on unsuspecting taxpayers.\n\nJames Walker, founder of Resolver, says: 'Collection agencies work by piling on the pressure to intimidate you into coughing up the cash. Many people are afraid to make complaints in case it makes things worse, but they should fight back.'\n\nHOW YOU CAN FIGHT BACK\n\nIf you're chased for money you don't owe, the last thing you should do is ignore it.\n\nThe sooner you act the better. Contact the company immediately and let it know why you are disputing the bill.\n\nKeep copies of letters and emails you send, and keep a log of phone calls you make, including who you spoke to and what was discussed.\n\nProvide evidence to support your case \u2014 such as meter readings or details of your attempts to resolve the matter.\n\nIf the company doesn't put the situation right within eight weeks, ask for a 'deadlock letter'. Then you can take your complaint to the relevant ombudsman.\n\nFor energy firms, this is the Energy Ombudsman (ombudsman-services.org; 0330 440 1624).\n\nFor telecoms companies, use either Ombudsman Services: Communications (ombudsman-services.org; 0330 440 1614) or the Communications and Internet Services Adjudication Scheme (cedr.com/cisas; 020 7520 3827). Your supplier must tell you which to use.\n\nIf your complaint is about a credit card firm or another lender, go to the Financial Ombudsman Service (financial-ombudsman.org.uk; 0300 123 9 123).\n\nIf a bill is passed to a debt collector, contact the agency to say you are challenging the demand.\n\nUnder an industry code of conduct, debt collectors must halt any action against you until they have gone back to the company concerned and investigated.\n\nThe Credit Services Association, which administers the code, requires members to offer 30 days 'breathing space' if customers say they are seeking debt advice. It also says that agencies must only contact you at 'reasonable times and intervals'.\n\nIf you believe a debt collector has treated you unfairly, after eight weeks you can complain to the relevant ombudsman for the company it is representing.\n\nNew guidelines that came in at the start of this month set out the steps a company or its debt collectors must follow before taking you to court. Firms must set out a full breakdown of charges and other details of the original contract in a Letter of Claim.\n\nYou will have 30 days from the date on the top of the letter to return a reply form before the company can start court proceedings.Once you return the form, you and the business then have a further 30 days to discuss the debt. During that time you should attempt to resolve the matter amicably.\n\nIf you request more information about the debt and proceedings in the reply form, the business must wait another 30 days after supplying the answers before dragging you to court.\n\nIf a company fails to follow the new rules \u2014 called Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims \u2014 a court may reduce the amount you have to pay. A judge could also put the proceedings on hold until the company complies.\n\nThe rules do not apply to HMRC. If you disagree with a bill or penalty from HMRC, contact the tax office mentioned in your letter straight away, as you may be able to delay payment while you are appealing the decision. You can also call the tax tribunal helpline on 0300 123 1024.\n\nPeter Wallwork, chief executive of the Credit Services Association, which represents debt collectors, says complaints are falling.\n\n'If you receive a letter from one of our members, and particularly if you think it is a mistake, contact the agency straight away and they will help you resolve it.'\n\nl.milner@dailymail.co.uk", "output": "Debt collectors were set on a couple who cancelled their contract with TalkTalk after the firm failed to provide them with a connection to the internet. Despite numerous appeals to the company, Jennifer and Bernard Algar still had no internet connection a month after signing up with TalkTalk and switched to Sky.\u00a0TalkTalk then\u00a0claimed the Algars owed the company \u00a3353 and passed the sum\u00a0to debt collectors\u00a0when the couple refused to pay. Jennifer Algar, a retired teaching assistant,\u00a0described TalkTalk's behaviour as disgusting.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Certain older adults don't get to the hospital soon enough when experiencing a heart attack \n Credit: CC0 Public Domain\n\nFor individuals experiencing a heart attack, delays in getting to the hospital can have life-threatening consequences. A new study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that certain factors\u2014non-white race, atypical symptoms, and heart failure\u2014are linked with such delays in older individuals.\n\nThe study included 2500 patients aged 75 or older hospitalized for heart attack. Pre-hospital delay (six or more hours before getting to the hospital) was much more common (42%) than in studies of younger heart attack populations, in whom the reported prevalence ranges from 20% to 25%.\n\n\"Delays in presentation can have huge consequences for older adults with heart attacks. Based on the results of our study, we need to develop better clinical and public health strategies to ensure timely presentation, especially among non-white communities, those with atypical symptoms, and those with heart failure,\" said lead author Dr. Gregory Ouellet, of Yale University.", "output": "For individuals experiencing a heart attack, delays in getting to the hospital can have life-threatening consequences. A new study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society\u00a0found that certain factors\u2014non-white race, atypical symptoms, and heart failure\u2014are linked with such delays in older individuals.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "LA cops back\u00a0year-long drone-deployment\u00a0tests amid opposition \n The Los Angeles Police Department, one of the nation\u2019s largest municipal police forces, approved a one-year pilot program for drones\u2014making it the largest city in the nation to undertake such an evaluation.\n\nAccording to the Los Angeles Times, the LA Police Commission approved a set of policies that limits \"their use to a handful of tactical situations, searches or natural disasters.\" Each drone flight must also be signed off by a \"high-ranking officer on a case-by-case basis.\" The drones are also not to be weaponized. The decision, which was announced Tuesday, was made despite vociferous protest.\n\nAlready the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department uses drones, as do other agencies in California, including the Ventura County Sheriff's Department and the Alameda County Sheriff's Organization.\n\n\"It's a great idea and will save lives,\" Sgt. Raymond Kelly, of the ACSO, e-mailed Ars.\n\nThe American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California urged its supporters to oppose the vote, noting that only a small fraction of citizens in Los Angeles expressed affirmative support for the use of drones.\n\nIn a recent letter to the LAPD, the ACLU of Southern California wrote that the new \"drone policy inadequately protects residents of Los Angeles and fails to take into account public mistrust of the LAPD's surveillance activities.\"", "output": "The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has approved a year-long test of drones in tactical scenarios, natural-disaster relief and manhunts. The flights will need to gain approval on a case-by-case basis, and cannot be weaponised. While the\u00a0LA Sheriff\u2019s department already uses drones, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California\u00a0opposes\u00a0their wider use, saying that only a small number of the city's\u00a0residents supported the LAPD\u00a0plan. It said the \u201cdrone policy inadequately protects residents of Los Angeles and fails to take into account public mistrust of the LAPD's surveillance activities\u201d.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BlueVine raises $130m to expand SME-focused online lending \n REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Oct. 17, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- BlueVine is expanding its reach in online business lending with new debt financing of up to $130 million and a new additional line of credit product that allows business owners to make monthly, instead of weekly, payments, over 12 months.\n\nBlueVine, the leading provider of working capital financing to small and medium-sized businesses, secured significant debt capital financing from leading banks and investors. The company is proud to partner with Silicon Valley Bank, SunTrust Bank, Bank Leumi and TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC Corp. in its latest fundraising activities. The new funds will support the scaling of BlueVine's pioneering online invoice factoring product and the company's overall growth.\n\nIncluding the latest investments, BlueVine, which was founded in 2013, has raised $273 million in funding, including $68 million in equity financing and up to $205 million in debt financing.\n\n\"The new capital raise reflects BlueVine's relentless dedication to serving our customers, as well as our momentum as a business. We are thrilled to partner with Silicon Valley Bank, SunTrust Bank, Bank Leumi and TriplePoint Venture Growth on our way to future milestones,\" said Ana Sirbu, BlueVine's Vice President of Finance and Capital Markets. \"We are building a business for the long term and we continuously strive to offer our customers the best working capital financing products. As a testament to that, over 80 percent of our business is now through returning customers.\"\n\nBlueVine secured major funding as the company rolls out a 12-month business line of credit based on monthly payments, a new offering that would make it easier for business owners to meet their everyday funding needs.\n\nBlueVine introduced the new product in response to client requests for a longer-term business line of credit with monthly payment plans. The new financing underscores the fintech pioneer's commitment to innovation based on customer needs.\n\nThe new product gives business owners 12 months to repay each withdrawal in full, meaning lower payments each month.\n\n\"BlueVine's goal is to offer the optimal solution for every working capital challenge faced by business owners, and our new product is another step forward in fulfilling this vision,\" says BlueVine Founder and CEO Eyal Lifshitz. \"Business owners have diverse needs, and by augmenting our product offering, we are able to offer the solution that fits best.\"\n\nFor the other requirements and more information on the 12-month business line of credit, please visit BlueVine.com\n\nAbout BlueVine\n\nBlueVine provides flexible working capital financing to small and medium-sized businesses, giving them quick access to funds needed to purchase inventory, cover expenses, or expand operations.\n\nA fintech pioneer, BlueVine developed a fully-online cloud-based platform for invoice factoring, revolutionizing the 4,000-year old financing system that allows businesses to receive cash advances on outstanding invoices. BlueVine also offers Flex Credit, business line of credit financing based on 6-month and 12-month payment terms. Based in Redwood City, Calif., BlueVine has raised $273 million in equity and debt funding and is funded by Lightspeed Venture Partners, 83NORTH, Correlation Ventures, Citi Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Rakuten Fintech Fund and other private investors.\n\nPress Contact\n\nAmberly Asay\n\nBlueVine Public Relations\n\n801-461-9776\n\n[email protected]\n\nSOURCE BlueVine\n\nRelated Links\n\nhttp://www.BlueVine.com\n\n", "output": "California-based BlueVine has raised up to $130m to expand its online lending service to small businesses. The company, which\u00a0offers working capital financing,\u00a0will also add a credit product that lets firms\u00a0make monthly, instead of weekly, payments over a year. Since its foundation in 2013, BlueVine has raised $273m in funding, including\u00a0$205m in debt financing and $68m in equity financing.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": " Autoplay ad videos face new restrictions on Safari and Chrome \n You can\u2019t browse the internet too long without running into an autoplay video ad. So ingrained (and derided) have autoplay video ads become that the leading browsers are cracking down. Apple is updating its Safari browser to block videos that play automatically with sound on and Google\u2019s Chrome is expected to follow suit early next year when it starts filtering out ad formats that turn off users.\n\nFacebook\u2019s role\n\nThe explosion in autoplay can be traced back to Facebook, which started autoplaying videos in its news feed in September 2013. Facebook also has heavily promoted video in its feed generally. Since then, the number of daily video views on Facebook has skyrocketed, reaching 8 billion daily video views in November 2015, the last number it made public, up from 4 billion in April 2015 (although it only counts views as 3 seconds or more).\n\nNow, 61 percent of video ads autostart in Chrome, the dominant browser (compared to 66 percent in Safari), according to JW Player.\n\nAutoplay pile-on\n\nFacebook\u2019s use of autoplay, along with YouTube, Snapchat and Twitter, paved the way for publishers to pile on. Today, about one-third of sites autostart more than 75 percent of their video ads, according to MediaRadar, based on an analysis of sites that run video. One-third autostarts video ads 50 to 75 percent of the time. The final third autostarts video ads less than 50 percent of the time.\n\nThe drive for ad revenue that\u2019s driven the use of autoplay seems to be universal; everyone from Refinery29 to The Wall Street Journal runs autoplay, and they\u2019re just as likely to be small as big publishers, said Todd Krizelman, CEO of MediaRadar. \u201cThis was surprising and reinforces that video drives revenue for all size publishers,\u201d he said.\n\nMediaRadar also found that consumer-aimed sites overall are almost twice as likely as business-to-business sites to run autoplay video ads (69 percent versus 37 percent), with the highest rates found among business/finance- and technology-focused sites, he said.\n\nAd blocking\n\nAutoplay also has been linked to increased rates of ad blocking, which is now employed by 18 percent of internet users in the U.S. and 11 percent globally, according to PageFair\u2019s 2017 Adblock Report. PageFair, a company that helps publishers circumvent blocked ads, found that interruptive ads were the second most common motivation for blocking ads (cited by 29 percent), behind virus and malware concerns (30 percent). Non-interruptive ad formats are largely tolerated, while interruptive ones, starting with unskippable video ads, are the biggest annoyances.\n\n\u201cYou hear people say, \u2018It\u2019s not fair with mobile phones; [autoplay] consumes data,'\u201d said Mike Green, vp of Brightcove. \u201cI think it\u2019s just more the disruption of a quiet workspace.\u201d\n\nNegative sentiment\n\nStill more evidence that people hate autoplay comes from Brandwatch, which found that since January, autoplay video has been mentioned more than 25,000 times on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Reddit. Interest peaked on two days in May when Pinterest introduced autoplay ads. There also were big spikes in mentions on news relating to Chrome combating autoplay videos. During that time period, the overall sentiment toward autoplay was 74 percent negative, according to Brandwatch.", "output": "Autoplay videos are facing new restrictions on leading browsers and have been\u00a0cited by users as the most unacceptable form of advertising. The prevalence of such interruptive ads is driving more users to use ad blocking applications, with 18% of users in the US doing so. The trend was accelerated by Facebook, which began autoplaying videos in its newsfeeds in 2013, and 61% of video ads in Chrome now autostart. Apple is now taking action to block autoplaying videos with sound from its Safari browser, and Google Chrome is expected to do the same next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Twitter's video website card achieves higher clickthrough rates \n Twitter has added to its ad offering with the Video Website Card unit, which \u2013 as the name suggests \u2013 combines an autoplay video with a web link.\n\nIt might sound basic, but previously video ads had to include any URLs in the body of the tweet itself. This new unit brings video ads in line with the Website Card that is used for most embedded links on Twitter.\n\nAdvertisers can choose to optimise the ad unit for video views, website clicks or awareness objectives, paying for the action that most matters for their campaign.\n\n\u201cThe Video Website Card is designed to work across a variety of brand objectives, as well as in the grey spaces that often exist between objectives,\u201d said Twitter product manager Sean Huang. \u201cSo whether a brand is pairing the Video Website Card with the high reach of First View to announce a product launch, inviting travelers to click through to learn more about a featured destination, or showcasing game play to drive advance sales of a new video game, the Video Website Card removes friction for the consumer to engage, learn, or convert at their own rate.\u201d\n\nTwitter has been trialling the ad unit with advertisers including Bank of America and Jaguar, and reports a clickthrough rate of twice the industry benchmark for mobile video ads.", "output": "Twitter has extended its ad features by adding a Video Website Card unit, which offers autoplaying videos with a web link. Before the update, video ads had to be posted with URLs in the tweet\u2019s body text. Advertisers can select optimisation of the ad unit for video views, awareness objectives or website clicks. The new ad unit has been tested by Twitter with advertisers such as Jaguar and the Bank of America, and has reported a clickthrough rate that is twice the mobile video ad industry benchmark.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scientists develop AI for accurate\u00a0cancer\u00a0diagnosis \n Every year 40,000 women die from breast cancer in the U.S. alone. When cancers are found early, they can often be cured. Mammograms are the best test available, but they\u2019re still imperfect and often result in false positive results that can lead to unnecessary biopsies and surgeries.\n\nOne common cause of false positives are so-called \u201chigh-risk\u201d lesions that appear suspicious on mammograms and have abnormal cells when tested by needle biopsy. In this case, the patient typically undergoes surgery to have the lesion removed; however, the lesions turn out to be benign at surgery 90 percent of the time. This means that every year thousands of women go through painful, expensive, scar-inducing surgeries that weren\u2019t even necessary.\n\nHow, then, can unnecessary surgeries be eliminated while still maintaining the important role of mammography in cancer detection? Researchers at MIT\u2019s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard Medical School believe that the answer is to turn to artificial intelligence (AI).\n\nAs a first project to apply AI to improving detection and diagnosis, the teams collaborated to develop an AI system that uses machine learning to predict if a high-risk lesion identified on needle biopsy after a mammogram will upgrade to cancer at surgery.\n\nWhen tested on 335 high-risk lesions, the model correctly diagnosed 97 percent of the breast cancers as malignant and reduced the number of benign surgeries by more than 30 percent compared to existing approaches.\n\n\u201cBecause diagnostic tools are so inexact, there is an understandable tendency for doctors to over-screen for breast cancer,\u201d says Regina Barzilay, MIT\u2019s Delta Electronics Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a breast cancer survivor herself. \u201cWhen there\u2019s this much uncertainty in data, machine learning is exactly the tool that we need to improve detection and prevent over-treatment.\u201d\n\nTrained on information about more than 600 existing high-risk lesions, the model looks for patterns among many different data elements that include demographics, family history, past biopsies, and pathology reports.\n\n\u201cTo our knowledge, this is the first study to apply machine learning to the task of distinguishing high-risk lesions that need surgery from those that don\u2019t,\u201d says collaborator Constance Lehman, professor at Harvard Medical School and chief of the Breast Imaging Division at MGH\u2019s Department of Radiology. \u201cWe believe this could support women to make more informed decisions about their treatment, and that we could provide more targeted approaches to health care in general.\u201d\n\nA recent MacArthur \u201cgenius grant\u201d recipient, Barzilay is a co-author of a new journal article describing the results, co-written with Lehman and Manisha Bahl of MGH, as well as CSAIL graduate students Nicholas Locascio, Adam Yedidia, and Lili Yu. The article was published today in the medical journal Radiology.\n\nHow it works\n\nWhen a mammogram detects a suspicious lesion, a needle biopsy is performed to determine if it is cancer. Roughly 70 percent of the lesions are benign, 20 percent are malignant, and 10 percent are high-risk lesions.\n\nDoctors manage high-risk lesions in different ways. Some do surgery in all cases, while others perform surgery only for lesions that have higher cancer rates, such as \u201catypical ductal hyperplasia\u201d (ADH) or a \u201clobular carcinoma in situ\u201d (LCIS).\n\nThe first approach requires that the patient undergo a painful, time-consuming, and expensive surgery that is usually unnecessary; the second approach is imprecise and could result in missing cancers in high-risk lesions other than ADH and LCIS.\n\n\u201cThe vast majority of patients with high-risk lesions do not have cancer, and we\u2019re trying to find the few that do,\u201d says Bahl, a fellow doctor at MGH\u2019s Department of Radiology. \u201cIn a scenario like this there\u2019s always a risk that when you try to increase the number of cancers you can identify, you\u2019ll also increase the number of false positives you find.\u201d\n\nUsing a method known as a \u201crandom-forest classifier,\u201d the team's model resulted in fewer unnecessary surgeries compared to the strategy of always doing surgery, while also being able to diagnose more cancerous lesions than the strategy of only doing surgery on traditional \u201chigh-risk lesions.\u201d (Specifically, the new model diagnosed 97 percent of cancers compared to 79 percent.)\n\n\u201cThis work highlights an example of using cutting-edge machine learning technology to avoid unnecessary surgery,\u201d says Marc Kohli, director of clinical informatics in the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at the University of California at San Francisco. \u201cThis is the first step toward the medical community embracing machine learning as a way to identify patterns and trends that are otherwise invisible to humans.\u201d\n\nLehman says that MGH radiologists will begin incorporating the model into their clinical practice over the next year.\n\n\u201cIn the past we might have recommended that all high-risk lesions be surgically excised,\u201d Lehman says. \u201cBut now, if the model determines that the lesion has a very low chance of being cancerous in a specific patient, we can have a more informed discussion with our patient about her options. It may be reasonable for some patients to have their lesions followed with imaging rather than surgically excised.\u201d\n\nThe team says that they are still working to further hone the model.\n\n\u201cIn future work we hope to incorporate the actual images from the mammograms and images of the pathology slides, as well as more extensive patient information from medical records,\u201d says Bahl.\n\nMoving forward, the model could also easily be tweaked to be applied to other kinds of cancer and even other diseases entirely.\n\n\u201cA model like this will work anytime you have lots of different factors that correlate with a specific outcome,\u201d says Barzilay. \u201cIt hopefully will enable us to start to go beyond a one-size-fits-all approach to medical diagnosis.\u201d", "output": "Researchers at MIT have developed an artificial intelligence-powered\u00a0system that improves the success rate of detecting\u00a0cancer. In\u00a0tests, the system correctly diagnosed 97% of malignant breast cancers, a rate that would reduce benign surgeries by more than 30%. Currently, mammograms are the best test but often produce false positives that result in unnecessary invasive surgery\u00a0and biopsies for women. The AI uses machine learning and, while\u00a0researchers believe the technology can be refined, the model could be used for detecting other types of\u00a0cancers.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gates uses Ripple tech to open digital finance to the poor \n The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has tapped Ripple\u2019s Interledger Protocol (ILP) to help level the economic playing field for the 2 billion people who ...\n\nThe Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has tapped Ripple\u2019s Interledger Protocol (ILP) to help level the economic playing field for the 2 billion people who are trapped in poverty, many of whom solely because they do not have access to a bank account or other basic financial services.\n\nGates Foundation Calls on Ripple\n\nOn Monday, the Gates Foundation released Mojaloop, software intended to provide the world\u2019s unbanked population with access to digital financial services. The software is open-source, so banks will be able to adapt and implement it into their digital platforms with reduced effort and cost. The project was funded by the Gates Foundation and developed by a group of fintech companies, including Ripple.\n\nMojaloop uses Ripple\u2019s ILP technology to create an interoperability layer that connects bank accounts, mobile wallets, and merchants in a single loop. According to Ripple, this will enable market participants to conduct digital transactions as \u201cfreely and fluidly\u201d as cash, which will help not only individuals but also the wider local and national economies.\n\nKosta Peric, Gates Foundation deputy director of financial services for the poor, explained in a statement that interoperability has been one of the primary obstacles preventing the poor from using digital wallets to access basic financial services:\n\n\u201cInteroperability of digital payments has been the toughest hurdle for the financial services industry to overcome. With Mojaloop, our technology partners have finally achieved a solution that can apply to any service, and we invite banks and the payments industry to explore and test this tool.\u201d\n\nIn an announcement posted on the startup\u2019s blog, Ripple Chief Technology Officer Stefan Thomas added that Mojaloop has the potential to introduce millions of people into the digital economy:\n\n\u201cEnabling the poor to make payments to anyone, anywhere, using a mobile wallet has implications beyond increased access to their domestic economies. It has the potential to bring millions into the fold of the global digital economy. We are honored to have been a part of this project.\u201d\n\nRipple Price Declines\n\nUnlike the announcement from fellow fintech startup Stellar, this project does not initially appear to rely on the firm\u2019s native cryptocurrency. Consequently, it is unlikely to have a noticeable effect on the price of XRP. In fact, the ripple price has declined to a present value of $0.256 after briefly climbing to $0.291 Monday morning ahead of the opening of \u201cSwell\u201d, a Toronto fintech conference hosted by Ripple.\n\nFeatured image from Shutterstock.", "output": "The Gates Foundation has partnered with several fintech firms, including Ripple, to launch open-source software Mojaloop, aimed at offering financial services to some of the world's two billion people stuck in poverty. The software, developed on Ripple's interledger protocol, brings together merchants, mobile wallets and banks to allow free and fluid\u00a0transactions. Ripple CTO Stefan Thomas said Mojaloop had the \"potential to bring millions into the fold of the global digital economy\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Q3 catastrophe losses estimated at $1.35bn for XL Catlin \n XL Group Ltd. and Markel Corp. on Wednesday released preliminary loss estimates for the third quarter of 2017, both citing the impacts of hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.\n\nBoth insurers said the losses were within their expectations.\n\nHamilton, Bermuda-based XL Group, which does business as XL Catlin, said that its preliminary estimate of net losses totaled about $1.33 billion due to the three hurricanes. Preliminarily estimated third-quarter catastrophe losses including smaller loss events totaled about $1.48 billion, XL Group said in a statement.\n\nThe preliminary estimates are pretax and net of reinsurance, reinstatement and adjustment premiums and redeemable noncontrolling interest. After taxes, XL Catlin said, the preliminary estimate of total catastrophe net losses for the quarter is about $1.35 billion.\n\nThe estimates are based on a combination of catastrophe modeling, exposure analysis and preliminary ground-up notifications and are consistent with private insured market loss estimates for the three hurricanes in the range of $75 billion to $90 billion.\n\nHurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria each contributed roughly 25%, 40% and 25%, respectively, to the company loss estimates, XL Catlin said, with 10% related to all other events in the quarter, most notably the Mexican earthquakes and Typhoon Hato, which struck Macau and southern China in August.\n\nThe estimated losses are about evenly split between the company\u2019s insurance and reinsurance segments. XL said it continues to have significant catastrophe reinsurance protections remaining for 2017 and 2018, including catastrophe bond protections, some of which extend through 2019.\n\nXL Catlin CEO Mike McGavick said in the statement that \u201cgiven the specific nature of the events themselves our estimated losses are largely in line with our expectations.\u201d\n\nMorgan Stanley said in a research update that XL's losses were roughly in line with expectations. \u201cThe news should alleviate recent investor concerns about an outsized loss from XL and any concerns about capital raise needs,\u201d the update said.\n\nRichmond, Virginia-based Markel, meanwhile, said it expects to report third-quarter pretax underwriting losses of $503 million, net of reinstatement premiums, from hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria as well as the Mexico City earthquake.\n\nMarkel said its estimate for the hurricane and earthquake losses is based on claims received to date and detailed policy level reviews, industry loss estimates, output from both industry and proprietary models, and a review of in-force contracts.\n\nMarkel\u2019s estimate is preliminary and dependent on broad assumptions about coverage, liability and reinsurance. Co-CEO Richard R. Whitt III said in a statement that \u201cthese significant losses fell within our expectations.\u201d", "output": "XL Catlin has said it estimates catastrophe losses for Q3 2017 will total about $1.35bn after taxes, due largely to the effects of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. The losses are in line with expectations, CEO Mike McGavick noted. The firm says it does have reinsurance protections remaining for this year and 2018, as well as issued catastrophe bonds, some of which don't expire until 2019. Of the three major storms, Irma had the biggest impact on the insurer, accounting for 40% of its Q3 losses.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "XL Catlin offers cyber clients free trial of security software \n Or log in with", "output": "Clients purchasing cyber insurance policies from XL Catlin will also be offered a free 90-day trial of cybersecurity software Security as a Service (SecS)\u00b2\u00a0provided by California-based\u00a0Clarium Managed Services. Following the trial, clients will be offered the use of Clarium's software at a discount for two years. The insurer said firms taking proactive preventative\u00a0steps against cyber attacks suffer\u00a0reduced financial losses and less reputational harm when a cyber breach occurs.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Regus finds slow broadband puts people off working remotely \n Slow broadband remains a major barrier to working remotely\n\nMore than a quarter of the workforce are still put off from working remotely because of slow or inadequate broadband connectivity, according to a recent study. Some 27 per cent of UK professionals said that poor internet provision was the biggest barrier against working remotely, despite the fact that remote working may boost individual productivity. A survey from workspace provider Regus asked more than 1, 700 workers about their attitudes towards working remotely. Internet provision was revealed to be a crucial part of what most people required from working outside of office premises. Especially vital to working remotely were internet-enabled apps and tools which made file sharing and communication more efficient. The majority of respondents emphasised the necessity of Dropbox (72 per cent) and Skype (62 per cent) to remote working, for example. In a previous study from Regus, the ability to work remotely was hailed by 44 per cent of professionals as being beneficial to productivity, and by 32 per cent as being beneficial to morale. Commenting on the findings, Regus? UK chief executive, Richard Morris, said: Having access to fast, reliable internet along with a quiet, professional working space is one of the essential ingredients for successful remote working. the benefits are undeniable, and the take-up of flexible working space across the UK provides demonstrable evidence that increasing numbers of forward-thinking firms are adopting a remote working model. Internet connectivity has long been a major issue for small UK businesses, and the government has launched a number of major initiatives to improve the country\u2019s broadband infrastructure. Last month, the first stage of the government\u2019s planned \u00a3200m broadband project began, with six UK regions receiving \u00a310m each to test various ways of connecting local business premises and public buildings with super-fast broadband networks.In recent weeks, the issue of inadequate broadband infrastructure has again hit headlines. The chair of the National Infrastructure Commission, Lord Adonis, highlighted poor broadband as a key UK infrastructure challenge. The country currently falls behind major economies including the USA, Netherlands and Japan in terms of its 4G and broadband speeds. How recent rural broadband developments may help your business", "output": "27% of UK professionals are unable to work remotely due to inadequate internet provision, according to a survey by\u00a0Regus. Out of more than 1,700 workers, almost three-quarters said quality internet was crucial to using\u00a0file-sharing sites such as Dropbox, and 62% said communication tools like Skype were a necessity outside the office. The UK government's \u00a3200m ($263m) broadband project got underway last month, while National Infrastructure Commission, Lord Adonis, said the UK's broadband issue was a \"key infrastructure challenge\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China will open markets to foreign investors: President Xi \n Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a speech at the opening session of the Chinese Communist Party's five-yearly Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 18, 2017.\n\nChinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday stressed the benefits of \"socialism with Chinese characteristics\" at the beginning of the Communist Party's once-every-five-year Party Congress.\n\nThe president told the assembled members of the party that his nation's prospects are bright, but it faces severe challenges. He proceeded to lay out his vision for a socialist future.\n\n\"We will unite the Chinese people of all ethnic groups and lead them to a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and in the drive to secure the success of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era,\" he said, according to a translation from China Daily.\n\nXi touted the success of China in recent years during the address, including what he characterized as overwhelming momentum for his anti-corruption campaign.\n\nUnder Xi, Beijing has waged a relentless fight against deep-rooted graft since assuming power five years ago, with more than one million officials punished and dozens of former senior officials jailed.\n\nThe president also claimed during his address that China will let the market play a decisive role in resource allocation in the economy. Beijing has called for a greater role for market forces in the economy in order to improve efficiency and develop a more sustainable growth model, but some have been skeptical of its progress on that front.\n\nOn the economic policy front, Xi also said Beijing will push mergers and acquisitions for state-owned assets, it will expand market access for the services sector, and it will deepen financial reform. He also said the country will deepen its market-oriented reform of exchange and interest rates.\n\nChina, Xi said, will continue to open up to the world, including relaxing market access for foreign investment.\n\nThe president also highlighted Beijing's firm opposition to Taiwan independence over the last five years.\n\nThe full title of Xi's working report that he presented Wednesday is \"Secure a Decisive Victory in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects and Strive for the Great Success of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.\"\n\n\u2014The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.", "output": "China's Communist Party congress has begun its twice-a-decade meeting. In his opening speech, President Xi Jinping promised to relax market access for foreign investors, let the market play a key role in resource allocation in the economy and push for more market-oriented reform of exchange and interest rates. He also stressed China's strong opposition to Taiwan independence and hailed the success of his anti-corruption drive.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Regus renews lease at Penn Plaza in New York City \n Global office provider Regus plans to stay at 5 Penn Plaza for at least the next decade.\n\nRegus renewed its lease at the 26-story building, where the company occupies 60,000 square feet across the entire 19th and 23rd floors, the Commercial Observer reported. The asking rent for the space was $68 per square foot.\n\nCBRE\u2019s Peter Turchin, along with Jason Pollen, Dave Caperna and Hilary Whittier, represented landlord Haymes Investment Company in the deal. JLL\u2019s Jim Wenk and Transwestern\u2019s Patrick Heeg (formerly of JLL) represented Regus.\n\nSign Up for the undefined Newsletter SIGN UP By signing up, you agree to TheRealDeal Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.\n\nIn May, health care tech firm Remedy Partners signed a lease for 28,640 square feet of pre-built space at 5 Penn Plaza. Haymes received a $300 million CMBS loan from Citigroup for the 631,000-square-foot property last year.\n\nIn July, Regus announced that it would open its co-working concept Spaces at RXR Realty\u2019s Helmsley Building. Spaces already has 35 locations worldwide and another 28 set to open in the near future. [CO] \u2014 Kathryn Brenzel", "output": "Abstract:\u00a0Flexible workspace provider Regus has renewed its lease on the 60,000 sq ft Penn Plaza building in New York, ensuring its tenancy for the next 10 years. The firm currently occupies the 19th and 23rd floors of the 26-story building. Regus paid $68 per sq ft in rent,\u00a0according to Commercial Observer.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Plummeting insect numbers could cause 'ecological Armageddon' \n The abundance of flying insects has plunged by three-quarters over the past 25 years, according to a new study that has shocked scientists.\n\nInsects are an integral part of life on Earth as both pollinators and prey for other wildlife and it was known that some species such as butterflies were declining. But the newly revealed scale of the losses to all insects has prompted warnings that the world is \u201con course for ecological Armageddon\u201d, with profound impacts on human society.\n\nThe new data was gathered in nature reserves across Germany but has implications for all landscapes dominated by agriculture, the researchers said.\n\nThe cause of the huge decline is as yet unclear, although the destruction of wild areas and widespread use of pesticides are the most likely factors and climate change may play a role. The scientists were able to rule out weather and changes to landscape in the reserves as causes, but data on pesticide levels has not been collected.\n\n\u201cThe fact that the number of flying insects is decreasing at such a high rate in such a large area is an alarming discovery,\u201d said Hans de Kroon, at Radboud University in the Netherlands and who led the new research.\n\n\u201cInsects make up about two-thirds of all life on Earth [but] there has been some kind of horrific decline,\u201d said Prof Dave Goulson of Sussex University, UK, and part of the team behind the new study. \u201cWe appear to be making vast tracts of land inhospitable to most forms of life, and are currently on course for ecological Armageddon. If we lose the insects then everything is going to collapse.\u201d\n\nThe research, published in the journal Plos One, is based on the work of dozens of amateur entomologists across Germany who began using strictly standardised ways of collecting insects in 1989. Special tents called malaise traps were used to capture more than 1,500 samples of all flying insects at 63 different nature reserves.\n\nThe malaise traps set in protected areas and reserves, which scientists say makes the declines even more worrying. Photograph: Courtesy of Courtesy of Entomologisher Verein Krefeld\n\nWhen the total weight of the insects in each sample was measured a startling decline was revealed. The annual average fell by 76% over the 27 year period, but the fall was even higher \u2013 82% \u2013 in summer, when insect numbers reach their peak.\n\nPrevious reports of insect declines have been limited to particular insects, such European grassland butterflies, which have fallen by 50% in recent decades. But the new research captured all flying insects, including wasps and flies which are rarely studied, making it a much stronger indicator of decline.\n\nThe fact that the samples were taken in protected areas makes the findings even more worrying, said Caspar Hallmann at Radboud University, also part of the research team: \u201cAll these areas are protected and most of them are well-managed nature reserves. Yet, this dramatic decline has occurred.\u201d\n\nThe amateur entomologists also collected detailed weather measurements and recorded changes to the landscape or plant species in the reserves, but this could not explain the loss of the insects. \u201cThe weather might explain many of the fluctuations within the season and between the years, but it doesn\u2019t explain the rapid downward trend,\u201d said Martin Sorg from the Krefeld Entomological Society in Germany, who led the amateur entomologists.\n\nGoulson said a likely explanation could be that the flying insects perish when they leave the nature reserves. \u201cFarmland has very little to offer for any wild creature,\u201d he said. \u201cBut exactly what is causing their death is open to debate. It could be simply that there is no food for them or it could be, more specifically, exposure to chemical pesticides, or a combination of the two.\u201d\n\nIn September, a chief scientific adviser to the UK government warned that regulators around the world have falsely assumed that it is safe to use pesticides at industrial scales across landscapes and that the \u201ceffects of dosing whole landscapes with chemicals have been largely ignored\u201d.\n\nThe scientists said further work is urgently needed to corroborate the new findings in other regions and to explore the issue in more detail. While most insects do fly, it may be that those that don\u2019t, leave nature reserves less often and are faring better. It is also possible that smaller and larger insects are affected differently, and the German samples have all been preserved and will be further analysed.\n\nIn the meantime, said De Kroon: \u201cWe need to do less of the things that we know have a negative impact, such as the use of pesticides and the disappearance of farmland borders full of flowers.\u201d\n\nAs well as being pollinators insects provide food for birds and other animals and help control pests. Photograph: Kevin Elsby/Alamy\n\nLynn Dicks at the University of East Anglia, UK, and not involved in the new research said the work was convincing. \u201cIt provides important new evidence for an alarming decline that many entomologists have suspected is occurring for some time.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf total flying insect biomass is genuinely declining at this rate \u2013 about 6% per year \u2013 it is extremely concerning,\u201d she said. \u201cFlying insects have really important ecological functions, for which their numbers matter a lot. They pollinate flowers: flies, moths and butterflies are as important as bees for many flowering plants, including some crops. They provide food for many animals \u2013 birds, bats, some mammals, fish, reptiles and amphibians. Flies, beetles and wasps are also predators and decomposers, controlling pests and cleaning up the place generally.\u201d\n\nAnother way of sampling insects \u2013 car windscreens \u2013 has often been anecdotally used to suggest a major decline, with people remembering many more bugs squashed on their windscreens in the past.\n\n\u201cI think that is real,\u201d said Goulson. \u201cI drove right across France and back this summer \u2013 just when you\u2019d expect your windscreen to be splattered all over \u2013 and I literally never had to stop to clean the windscreen.\u201d", "output": "The number of flying insects in the world has fallen by 76% over the past 27 years, a rate of roughly 6% per year, according to data gathered from German nature reserves. The scale of the loss has led to warnings of an \u201cecological Armageddon\u201d. Insects, which constitute roughly two thirds of life on Earth, serve as pollinators for flowers and crops, and provide food for other species. Some insects also fulfil ecologically important roles as predators. The cause of the decline in numbers remains uncertain, but habitat destruction, widespread pesticide use and climate change are all potential factors."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Plummeting insect numbers could cause 'ecological Armageddon' \n Abstract Global declines in insects have sparked wide interest among scientists, politicians, and the general public. Loss of insect diversity and abundance is expected to provoke cascading effects on food webs and to jeopardize ecosystem services. Our understanding of the extent and underlying causes of this decline is based on the abundance of single species or taxonomic groups only, rather than changes in insect biomass which is more relevant for ecological functioning. Here, we used a standardized protocol to measure total insect biomass using Malaise traps, deployed over 27 years in 63 nature protection areas in Germany (96 unique location-year combinations) to infer on the status and trend of local entomofauna. Our analysis estimates a seasonal decline of 76%, and mid-summer decline of 82% in flying insect biomass over the 27 years of study. We show that this decline is apparent regardless of habitat type, while changes in weather, land use, and habitat characteristics cannot explain this overall decline. This yet unrecognized loss of insect biomass must be taken into account in evaluating declines in abundance of species depending on insects as a food source, and ecosystem functioning in the European landscape.\n\nCitation: Hallmann CA, Sorg M, Jongejans E, Siepel H, Hofland N, Schwan H, et al. (2017) More than 75 percent decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas. PLoS ONE 12(10): e0185809. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0185809 Editor: Eric Gordon Lamb, University of Saskatchewan, CANADA Received: July 28, 2017; Accepted: September 19, 2017; Published: October 18, 2017 Copyright: \u00a9 2017 Hallmann et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files. Funding: CH and EJ were supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO grants 840.11.001 and 841.11.007), and NH by the Triodos Foundation. The investigations of the Entomological Society Krefeld and its members are spread over numerous individual projects at different locations and in different years. Grants and permits that have made this work possible are listed below: Bezirksregierungen D\u00fcsseldorf & K\u00f6ln, BfN - Bundesamt f\u00fcr Naturschutz, Land Nordrhein-Westfalen - Europ\u00e4ische Gemeinschaft ELER, Landesamt f\u00fcr Agrarordnung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Landesamt f\u00fcr Natur, Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz Nordrhein-Westfalen, Landesamt f\u00fcr Umwelt Brandenburg, Landesamt f\u00fcr Umwelt Rheinland-Pfalz, LVR - Landschaftsverband Rheinland, Naturschutzbund Deutschland, Nordrhein-Westfalen Stiftung, RBN Bergischer Naturschutzverein, RVR - Regionalverband Ruhr, SGD Nord Rheinland-Pfalz, Universit\u00e4ten Bonn, Duisburg-Essen & K\u00f6ln, Untere Landschaftsbeh\u00f6rden: Kreis D\u00fcren, Kreis Heinsberg, Kreis Kleve, Kreis Viersen, Kreis Wesel & AGLW, Stadt D\u00fcsseldorf, Stadt K\u00f6ln, Stadt Krefeld, Rheinisch Bergischer Kreis, Rhein Kreis Neuss & Rhein-Sieg-Kreis. Members of the Entomological Society Krefeld and cooperating botanists and entomologists that were involved in the empirical investigations are greatly acknowledged: U.W. Abts, F. Bahr, A. B\u00e4umler, D. & H. Beutler, P. Birnbrich, U. Bosch, J. Buchner, F. Cassese, K. C\u00f6lln, A.W. Ebmer, R. Eckelboom, B. Franzen, M. Grigo, J. G\u00fcnneberg, J. Gusenleitner, K. Hamacher, F. Hartfeld, M. Hellenthal, J. Hembach, A. Hemmersbach, W. Hock, V. Huisman-Fiegen, J. Illmer, E. Jansen, U. J\u00e4ckel, F. Koch, M. Kreuels, P. Leideritz, I. Loksa, F. B. Ludescher, F. J. Mehring, G. Milbert, N. Mohr, P. Randazzo, K. Reissmann, S. Risch, B. Robert, J. de Rond, U. Sandmann, S. Scharf, P. Scherz, J. Schiffer, C. Schmidt, O. & W. Schmitz, B. P. & W. Schnell, J. L. Sch\u00f6nfeld, E. Schraetz, M. Schwarz, R. Seliger, H. W. Siebeneicher, F. & H. Sonnenburg W. J. S. & P. Sorg, A. Ssymank, H. Sticht, M. Weithmann, W. Wichard and H. Wolf. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.\n\nIntroduction Loss of insects is certain to have adverse effects on ecosystem functioning, as insects play a central role in a variety of processes, including pollination [1, 2], herbivory and detrivory [3, 4], nutrient cycling [4] and providing a food source for higher trophic levels such as birds, mammals and amphibians. For example, 80% of wild plants are estimated to depend on insects for pollination [2], while 60% of birds rely on insects as a food source [5]. The ecosystem services provided by wild insects have been estimated at $57 billion annually in the USA [6]. Clearly, preserving insect abundance and diversity should constitute a prime conservation priority. Current data suggest an overall pattern of decline in insect diversity and abundance. For example, populations of European grassland butterflies are estimated to have declined by 50% in abundance between 1990 and 2011 [7]. Data for other well-studied taxa such as bees [8\u201314] and moths [15\u201318] suggest the same trend. Climate change, habitat loss and fragmentation, and deterioration of habitat quality have been proposed as some of the prime suspects responsible for the decline [9\u201311, 13, 18\u201322]. However, the number of studies on insect trends with sufficient replication and spatial coverage are limited [10, 23\u201325] and restricted to certain well-studied taxa. Declines of individual species or taxa (e.g. [7, 26]) may not reflect the general state of local entomofauna [27]. The total insect biomass would then be a better metric for the status of insects as a group and its contribution to ecosystem functioning, but very few studies have monitored insect biomass over an extensive period of time [28]. Hence, to what extent total insect biomass has declined, and the relative contribution of each proposed factor to the decline, remain unresolved yet highly relevant questions for ecosystem ecology and conservation. Here, we investigate total aerial insect biomass between 1989 and 2016 across 96 unique location-year combinations in Germany, representative of Western European low-altitude nature protection areas embedded in a human-dominated landscape (S1 Fig). In all years we sampled insects throughout the season (March through October), based on a standardized sampling scheme using Malaise traps. We investigated rate of decline in insect biomass, and examined how factors such as weather, habitat and land use variables influenced the declines. Knowledge on the state of insect biomass, and it\u2019s direction over time, are of broad importance to ecology and conservation, but historical data on insect biomass have been lacking. Our study makes a first step into filling this gap, and provides information that is vital for the assessment of biodiversity conservation and ecosystem health in agricultural landscapes.\n\nDiscussion Our results document a dramatic decline in average airborne insect biomass of 76% (up to 82% in midsummer) in just 27 years for protected nature areas in Germany. This considerably exceeds the estimated decline of 58% in global abundance of wild vertebrates over a 42-year period to 2012 [56, 57]. Our results demonstrate that recently reported declines in several taxa such as butterflies [7, 25\u201327, 58], wild bees [8\u201314] and moths [15\u201318], are in parallel with a severe loss of total aerial insect biomass, suggesting that it is not only the vulnerable species, but the flying insect community as a whole, that has been decimated over the last few decades. The estimated decline is considerably more severe than the only comparable long term study on flying insect biomass elsewhere [28]. In that study, 12.2m high suction traps were deployed at four locations in the UK over the time period 1973\u20132002, and showed a biomass decline at one of the four sites only. However, the sampling designs differ considerably between the two studies. Suction traps mainly target high-flying insects, and in that study the catches were largely comprised of flies belonging to the Bibionidae family. Contrary, malaise traps as used in the present study target insects flying close to the ground surface (up to 1 meter), with a much wider diversity of taxa. Future investigations should look into how biomass is distributed among insect species, and how species trends contribute to the biomass decline. Although the present dataset spans a relatively large number of years (27) and sites (63), the number of repetitions (i.e. multiple years of seasonal distributions at the same locations) was lower (n = 26). We are however confident that our estimated rate of decline in total biomass resembles the true rate of decline, and is not an artifact of site selection. Firstly, our basic model (including an annual rate of decline) outperformed the null-model (without an annual rate of decline; \u0394DIC = 822.62 units; Table 3), while at the same time, between-plot variation (i.s. \u03c3 site ) and residual variation (v) decreased by 44.3 and 9.7% respectively, after incorporating an annual rate of decline into the models. Secondly, using only data from sites at which malaise traps were operating in at least two years, we estimated a rate of decline similar to using the full dataset (Fig 4), with the pattern of decline being congruent across locations (S4 Fig). Taken together, there does not seem to be evidence that spatial variation (between sites) in this dataset forms a confounding factor to the estimated temporal trend, and conclude that our estimated biomass decline is representative for lowland protected areas in west Germany. In light of previously suggested driving mechanisms, our analysis renders two of the prime suspects, i.e. landscape [9, 18, 20] and climate change [15, 18, 21, 37], as unlikely explanatory factors for this major decline in aerial insect biomass in the investigated protected areas. Habitat change was evaluated in terms of changes in plant species composition surrounding the standardized trap locations, and in plant species characteristics (Ellenberg values). Land use changes was evaluated in terms of proportional surface changes in aerial photographs, and not for example changes in management regimes. Given the major decline in insect biomass of about 80%, much stronger relationships would have been expected if changes in habitat and land use were the driving forces, even with the somewhat crude parameters that were at our disposal. The decline in insect biomass, being evident throughout the growing season, and irrespective of habitat type or landscape configuration, suggests large-scale factors must be involved. While some temporal changes in climatic variables in our study area have taken place, these either were not of influence (e.g. wind speed), or changed in a manner that should have increased insect biomass (e.g temperature). However, we have not exhaustively analysed the full range of climatic variables that could potentially impact insect biomass. For example prolonged droughts, or lack of sunshine especially in low temperatures might have had an effect on insect biomass [59\u201362]. Agricultural intensification [17, 20] (e.g. pesticide usage, year-round tillage, increased use of fertilizers and frequency of agronomic measures) that we could not incorporate in our analyses, may form a plausible cause. The reserves in which the traps were placed are of limited size in this typical fragmented West-European landscape, and almost all locations (94%) are enclosed by agricultural fields. Part of the explanation could therefore be that the protected areas (serving as insect sources) are affected and drained by the agricultural fields in the broader surroundings (serving as sinks or even as ecological traps) [1, 63\u201365]. Increased agricultural intensification may have aggravated this reduction in insect abundance in the protected areas over the last few decades. Whatever the causal factors responsible for the decline, they have a far more devastating effect on total insect biomass than has been appreciated previously. The widespread insect biomass decline is alarming, ever more so as all traps were placed in protected areas that are meant to preserve ecosystem functions and biodiversity. While the gradual decline of rare insect species has been known for quite some time (e.g. specialized butterflies [9, 66]), our results illustrate an ongoing and rapid decline in total amount of airborne insects active in space and time. Agricultural intensification, including the disappearance of field margins and new crop protection methods has been associated with an overall decline of biodiversity in plants, insects, birds and other species in the current landscape [20, 27, 67]. The major and hitherto unrecognized loss of insect biomass that we report here for protected areas, adds a new dimension to this discussion, because it must have cascading effects across trophic levels and numerous other ecosystem effects. There is an urgent need to uncover the causes of this decline, its geographical extent, and to understand the ramifications of the decline for ecosystems and ecosystem services.\n\nAcknowledgments CH and EJ were supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO grants 840.11.001 and 841.11.007), and NH by the Triodos Foundation. The investigations of the Entomological Society Krefeld and its members are spread over numerous individual projects at different locations and in different years. Grants and permits that have made this work possible are listed below: Bezirksregierungen D\u00fcsseldorf & K\u00f6ln, BfN\u2014Bundesamt f\u00fcr Naturschutz, Land Nordrhein-Westfalen\u2014Europ\u00e4ische Gemeinschaft ELER, Landesamt f\u00fcr Agrarordnung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Landesamt f\u00fcr Natur, Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz Nordrhein-Westfalen, Landesamt f\u00fcr Umwelt Brandenburg, Landesamt f\u00fcr Umwelt Rheinland-Pfalz, LVR\u2014Landschaftsverband Rheinland, Naturschutzbund Deutschland, Nordrhein-Westfalen Stiftung, RBN\u2014Bergischer Naturschutzverein, RVR\u2014Regionalverband Ruhr, SGD Nord Rheinland-Pfalz, Universit\u00e4ten Bonn, Duisburg-Essen & K\u00f6ln, Untere Landschaftsbeh\u00f6rden: Kreis D\u00fcren, Kreis Heinsberg, Kreis Kleve, Kreis Viersen, Kreis Wesel & AGLW, Stadt D\u00fcsseldorf, Stadt K\u00f6ln, Stadt Krefeld, Rheinisch Bergischer Kreis, Rhein Kreis Neuss & Rhein-Sieg-Kreis. Members of the Entomological Society Krefeld and cooperating botanists and entomologists that were involved in the empirical investigations are greatly acknowledged: U.W. Abts, F. Bahr, A. B\u00e4umler, D. & H. Beutler, P. Birnbrich, U. Bosch, J. Buchner, F. Cassese, K. C\u00f6lln, A.W. Ebmer, R. Eckelboom, B. Franzen, M. Grigo, J. G\u00fcnneberg, J. Gusenleitner, K. Hamacher, F. Hartfeld, M. Hellenthal, J. Hembach, A. Hemmersbach, W. Hock, V. Huisman-Fiegen, J. Illmer, E. Jansen, U. J\u00e4ckel, F. Koch, M. Kreuels, P. Leideritz, I. Loksa, F. B. Ludescher, F. J. Mehring, G. Milbert, N. Mohr, P. Randazzo, K. Reissmann, S. Risch, B. Robert, J. de Rond, U. Sandmann, S. Scharf, P. Scherz, J. Schiffer, C. Schmidt, O. & W. Schmitz, B. P. & W. Schnell, J. L. Sch\u00f6nfeld, E. Schraetz, M. Schwarz, R. Seliger, H. W. Siebeneicher, F. & H. Sonnenburg W. J. S. & P. Sorg, A. Ssymank, H. Sticht, M. Weithmann, W. Wichard and H. Wolf.", "output": "The number of flying insects in the world has fallen by 76% over the past 27 years, a rate of roughly 6% per year, according to data gathered from German nature reserves. The scale of the loss has led to warnings of an \u201cecological Armageddon\u201d. Insects, which constitute roughly two thirds of life on Earth, serve as pollinators for flowers and crops, and provide food for other species. Some insects also fulfil ecologically important roles as predators. The cause of the decline in numbers remains uncertain, but habitat destruction, widespread pesticide use and climate change are all potential factors."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Claimants won't lose coverage over Ophelia claims \n Kevin Thompson, chief executive of Insurance Ireland said it was \u201ctoo early\u201d to comment on whether insurance premiums would rise after Storm Ophelia. Photograph: Dara Mac Donaill/The Irish Times\n\nIt's too early to say whether insurance premiums will rise after claims made on the back of Storm Ophelia, Insurance Ireland has said.\n\nSpeaking on RT\u00c9's Morning Ireland radio show, Insurance Ireland chief executive Kevin Thompson was asked whether consumers could expect a rise in insurance premiums after the cost of Storm Ophelia is counted.\n\nMr Thompson said that it was \u201ctoo early to say\u201d, noting that the industry had been able to cope with losses in the past and would be able to do so in the future.\n\nAsked whether those who do make a claim will have trouble getting re-insured, Mr Thompson said \u201cthere is no blacklisting in relation to insured events\u201d.\n\nREAD MORE\n\nYesterday, FBD chief executive Fiona Muldoon said \"while it is too soon to give an estimate of the ultimate net cost of the storm to FBD, unfortunately given its severity, we can be sure that a number of our customers are affected\".\n\nAn Insurance Ireland spokesman told The Irish Times on Monday that it would be Tuesday before insurers would be in a position to start assessing damage and how much of that is likely to end up in claims.", "output": "Irish customers who make claims in the wake of Storm Ophelia won't face a\u00a0loss of coverage in the future, the head of the country's insurance trade association\u00a0has said. It's too early to tell if premiums will rise as a result of storm claims, Insurance Ireland CEO Kevin Thompson\u00a0told a radio show, noting that the Irish insurance market had seen itself through unforeseen events like Ophelia in the past.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "London flat sales drop by half as buyers wait for lower prices \n Sales of flats across London have collapsed 47% in just a year with first time buyers in particular waiting to see if pries come down, new research suggests.\n\nIt is a result of the London market being overvalued for at least three years with the number of sales falling from 4,709 in July 2016 to just 2,494 in July this year, according to the report from independent estate agents James Pendleton.\n\nThe research also shows that sale of other types of property also fell but not so severely. The number of detached properties sold fell 5% in 12 months to 143 in July this year, semi-detached sales were down 1% to 516 and sales of terraced houses down 8% to 1,476.\n\nOver the same period sale prices of flats crept up 2%, terraces rose 3%, semis gained 13% and detached houses fell 5%. In the previous month, June 2017, sales of flats were 43% down on June 2016, potentially pointing to a market that is prone to a well-overdue correction in prices.\n\nIt comes despite latest figures revealing first time buyers in London borrowed 8% more in the second quarter of 2017 compared with the previous year and the report suggests this points to fewer first-time buyers at the bottom end of the market being able to transact at all, while those in a better financial position continued to buy further up the ladder with many taking advantage of the Help To Buy scheme.\n\nDespite a persistent housing crisis in the capital, the firm believes that many first time buyers believe prices are simply too high and are unable or unwilling to meet such steep valuations even in a cheap lending environment.\n\n\u2018This a classic sign that first time buyer demand is sensitive. There is a temptation to wait on the side lines while prices become more realistic. When that happens it can only be a good thing, because housing markets are most stable when transactions are healthy across the board,\u2019 said Lucy Pendleton, director of James Pendleton,\n\n\u2018A reality check is in the offing after such strong growth in London and the scale of this drop in sales of flats tells me it is now more likely to be inevitable. Solid numbers of people are showing some reluctance at current prices and signalling to all the other market participants they can\u2019t transact unless they come back down,\u2019 she added.", "output": "London flat sales volumes have slumped by almost half in the past year\u00a0as first-time buyers held off purchasing until prices fall further, according to research from estate agent\u00a0James Pendleton. Sales slid\u00a0to 2,494 in July from\u00a04,709 a year earlier, it said. Other property types suffered smaller declines, with detached properties sales dropping 5% and semi-detached sales slipping\u00a01%. In the same period, sale prices mainly edged higher:\u00a0flats were 2% dearer, terraces rose 3%, semis gained 13% and detached houses fell 5%."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon builds Alexa into a pair of glasses \n Amazon's first wearable device will be a pair of smart glasses with the Alexa voice assistant built in, according to a report in the Financial Times. The device will reportedly look like a regular pair of glasses and use bone-conduction technology so that the user can hear Alexa without the need for earphones or conventional speakers. It won't, however, likely have a screen or camera, although Google Glass founder Babak Parviz has apparently been working on the project following his hiring by Amazon in 2014.\n\nThe FT report also says that Amazon is working on a home security camera separate from its ever-expanding lineup of Echo devices; the product that ultimately turned out to be the Echo Look was widely assumed to be a more conventional security camera when it first leaked. Amazon's Echo Show already lets you view the feed from other security cameras, a feature naturally pegged for the company's own upcoming model.", "output": "Amazon is developing a pair of smart glasses, featuring the company's voice assistant Alexa. The glasses are the first wearable product Amazon has developed, and will use bone conduction, instead of speakers or headphones, to transmit Alexa's voice to users. Google Glass founder Babak Parviz, who was hired by Amazon in 2014, is reportedly working on the project. The glasses may arrive this year alongside an updated and expanded line of Echo products, according to the Financial Times."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gates Foundation release open-source financial services software \n SEATTLE, Oct. 16, 2017 \u2013 The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today released a new open-source software for creating payment platforms that will help unbanked people around the world access digital financial services. The software is designed to provide a reference model for payment interoperability between banks and other providers across a country\u2019s economy. It is available now, free-of-cost, for software developers to adapt and banks, financial service providers and companies to implement. Information on the code can be found at mojaloop.io.\n\nCurrent data from the World Bank shows that nearly two billion people in developing economies lack bank accounts and miss out on the benefits and security that basic financial services provide. Digital financial services, such as mobile money on cell phones, have rapidly expanded over the last two decades because they are convenient for users and cost-effective for companies aiming to serve new markets. In Kenya, an estimated 194,000 households have moved out of extreme poverty due in part to their access to M-Pesa, a mobile money platform, and users\u2019 ability to save money more effectively. Digital financial services are now available in nearly 100 countries according to GSMA, an organization representing mobile network operators. However, global expansion of these services\u2014especially to the world\u2019s poor\u2014has been hampered, in large part, by a lack of interoperability between digital financial services and payment platforms.\n\nThe new software, called Mojaloop, establishes a blueprint for connecting today\u2019s financial services sector, and can be used as a solution to barriers that banks and providers seeking interoperability have traditionally faced. Delivering financial services to the poor is prohibitively challenging for many businesses because they struggle to invest adequately in complex technology while maintaining a commitment to low-cost, inclusive services. This has led to a prevalence of consumer payment options that are out of reach for many people in developing economies, or which limit customers\u2019 ability to transact across products, banks and borders. These and similar challenges have dissuaded many companies from expanding into developing markets altogether.\n\nMojaloop can be used by financial institutions and commercial providers, to simplify and reduce the cost of developing inclusive payment platforms. It was designed to serve ultimately as a model for national payment switching systems that, for example, enable an individual\u2019s digital wallet to connect with her employer\u2019s bank account and her children\u2019s school account to complete monthly transactions. The code can also be applied to adapt and improve existing services.\n\n\u201cInteroperability of digital payments has been the toughest hurdle for the financial services industry to overcome. With Mojaloop, our technology partners have finally achieved a solution that can apply to any service, and we invite banks and the payments industry to explore and test this tool,\u201d said Kosta Peric, Deputy Director, Financial Services for the Poor, at the Gates Foundation. \u201cJust as the internet revolutionized digital communication, open-source solutions like Mojaloop can spark innovation and democratize access to digital payments, empowering billions of new customers and driving massive economic growth in developing markets.\u201d\n\nMojaloop (building off the Swahili word \u201cmoja,\u201d which means \u201cone\u201d) was created in partnership with fintech developers Ripple, Dwolla, ModusBox, Crosslake Technologies and Software Group, using cutting-edge technology such as the Interledger Protocol, a solution for settling funds among multiple providers across their individual systems. It joins other promising digital financial software, but is the first model that can help extend interoperability from mobile money providers to any bank, merchant or government institution in a customer\u2019s economy in a way that specifically meets the needs of the poor.\n\n\u201cInteroperability is necessary both for financial inclusion and market maturity, but it is a complex thing to achieve,\u201d said Benno Ndulu, Governor of the Bank of Tanzania, the country\u2019s national bank. \u201cWe are excited to explore implementation of this because of how it can simplify that capability for businesses and governments, and speed up access to financial services.\u201d\n\n\u201cAs we modernize and develop national and cross-border payments infrastructure in Africa, the only way to sustainably reach and serve the world\u2019s unbanked communities is through new technologies,\u201d said Chris Hamilton, CEO of BankservAfrica. \u201cOur aim as an organization is to offer national payments platforms for the next generation of financial innovators and Mojaloop gives us some tantalizing new options for doing that in a way that integrates with the entire national economy.\u201d\n\nDevelopers can access the new software on GitHub, the world\u2019s leading open-source development platform. It includes four components: an interoperability layer, which connects bank accounts, mobile money wallets, and merchants in an open loop; a directory service layer, which navigates the different methods that providers use to identify accounts on each side of a transaction; a transactions settlement layer, which makes payments instant and irrevocable; and, components which protect against fraud. The software will not be owned or implemented by the Gates Foundation. It will be used in the foundation\u2019s ongoing work to promote the development of pro-poor, digital payment platforms.\n\nMojaloop was created by the Gates Foundation\u2019s Level One Project, which is aimed at leveling the economic playing field by crowding in expertise and resources to build inclusive payment models to benefit the world\u2019s poor. Alongside Mojaloop\u2019s development, the project also brought together four mobile systems companies\u2014Ericsson, Huawei, Telepin, and Mahindra Comviva\u2014to develop an Open API for mobile money interoperability. These APIs will allow mobile money providers to integrate seamlessly with Mojaloop and products built from it.\n\n\u201cIn order to achieve the full potential of mobile money, we must evolve today\u2019s complex and often fragmented digital payments ecosystem,\u201d said Mr. Shi Yaohong, President of Software Product Line at Huawei. \u201cI look forward to exploring opportunities to leverage Mojaloop to help us achieve our goal of bringing digital financial services to all poor and low-income customers.\u201d\n\nFor technical documentation and to contribute and use the Mojaloop software, visit github.com/leveloneproject. For more information on the Level One Project, visit leveloneproject.org.\n\nAbout the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation\n\nGuided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people\u2019s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people\u2014especially those with the fewest resources\u2014have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Sue Desmond-Hellmann and Co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.\n\nMedia Contact: [email protected]\n\n###", "output": "The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has launched open-source software called Mojaloop for establishing payment platforms to extend access to digital financial products and services. The software will be a blueprint for developers to adapt for free for financial institutions\u2019 use, resolving issues of interoperability. According to the World Bank, almost two billion people based in developing economies do not have bank accounts, leaving their finances at risk. Digital financial services have enabled access for users in remote or disadvantaged areas, but progress has been impeded by interoperability problems between payment platforms and digital financial services."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snap, NBCUniversal to produce scripted\u00a0shows for mobile platforms \n Snap and NBCUniversal are creating a Hollywood studio dedicated to the future of app-centric entertainment.\n\nSnap, Snapchat\u2019s parent company, is teaming with NBCUniversal to bring scripted programming \u2014 like short-form comedies and dramas \u2014 to mobile screens. The companies have established a studio joint venture to produce programming exclusively for the social-messaging and media platform. The new JV will work with a handful of creative partners, signing their first deal with indie filmmakers Mark and Jay Duplass.\n\nThe studio, 50-50 owned by Snap and NBCU, marks a bet by both parties that entertainment for mobile platforms requires a different way of producing content \u2014 one they believe traditional Hollywood studios aren\u2019t equipped to do.\n\n\u201cWe fundamentally believe that mobile is a new medium,\u201d said Sean Mills, Snap\u2019s head of content. \u201cBecause that creative process is so unique, we felt there was a need for a fully dedicated entity focused on that.\u201d\n\nThe companies have recruited Lauren Anderson, who has served as NBC Entertainment\u2019s senior VP of current programming, to be the JV\u2019s chief content officer. \u201cLauren was a great get for us,\u201d said Mills, who has worked with Anderson on the NBC shows created for Snapchat. \u201cShe has tremendous experience, and instantly got what we were going for.\u201d\n\nThe new studio \u2014 which doesn\u2019t have a name yet \u2014 will be overseen by Mills and and Maggie Suniewick, president of NBCUniversal Digital Enterprises.\n\nOver the past year, Snapchat has worked with NBC as well as other networks and media companies to produce original, short-form shows for its platform. Those have included NBC News\u2019 \u201cStay Tuned,\u201d E!\u2019s \u201cThe Rundown,\u201d and NBC\u2019s offshoot of \u201cThe Voice\u201d on Snapchat \u2014 which garnered an Emmy nomination.\n\nFor NBCU, the high level of engagement of Snapchat\u2019s audience on the shows it has produced convinced the media company to go forward with the plan to form a scripted-programming studio, Suniewick said. For the second quarter, Snapchat had an average of 173 million active daily users.\n\n\u201cThis is really about figuring out what resonates on the platform,\u201d Suniewick said.\n\nAnother reason NBCU is throwing in with Snap: The app maker, unlike Facebook and other digital platforms, lets the media company sell advertising against the content it distributes on Snapchat.\n\nThe new studio will be housed in a separate office in Santa Monica, close to Snap\u2019s headquarters in Venice and NBC Entertainment\u2019s in Burbank, Calif.\n\nThe formation of the studio joint venture comes after NBCU invested $500 million in Snap earlier this year as part of Snap\u2019s initial public offering. Suniewick said the amount NBCU is investing in the studio JV is separate from that. The companies declined to disclose the level of investment in the JV, or how many staffers they expect to bring on board under Anderson\u2019s purview.\n\nMeanwhile, Snap is continuing to work with partners on scripted programming. Those include Time Warner, which pacted to develop and produce up to 10 shows per year for Snapchat from across its divisions, including those with scripted drama and comedy formats.\n\nThe Duplass brothers, among other projects, are co-creators of the HBO original series \u201cRoom 104\u201d and \u201cTogetherness\u201d and inked a four-movie deal with Netflix two years ago.\n\nFor Snapchat, Mark Duplass said he and his brother have about a half-dozen concepts for scripted and unscripted shows, including comedy, drama, horror and documentary genres. The deal with NBCU and Snap doesn\u2019t specify a total number of series or amount of content the Duplass brothers will produce. They\u2019re targeting 8-10 minutes per episode, with the first series to debut in 2018.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re definitely thinking about their user base, what would appeal to their core group of users, who are essentially millennials,\u201d Mark Duplass told Variety. \u201cIf we make one show and it\u2019s really doing well, we might just stick with that \u2013 and do 100 episodes of that show.\u201d\n\nAs to what the shows will be about, Snap and NBCU \u201care wildly trusting,\u201d said Mark. \u201cThey let us know in no uncertain terms, \u2018You go be you.'\u201d The Snapchat shows will come out of the Duplass Bros. Productions\u2019 Donut shingle, an in-house branded-content agency the duo set up this year.\n\nIn general, Mark Duplass said, he has concerns about producing content for digital and mobile platforms: \u201cThere\u2019s just too much shit,\u201d he explained. \u201cIf we\u2019re going to do something, I hope it\u2019s additive \u2013 and it\u2019s something people will come to watch.\u201d\n\nThe Snap-NBCU offer was attractive because they gave the Duplass brothers assurances that their work would be featured as part of a select group of creators. \u201cThey said, \u2018We\u2019re going to work with only a few partners, we\u2019re not going to buy 1,000 shows. We\u2019re going to put you front and center,'\u201d Mark Duplass said.\n\nThe interesting challenge in producing Snapchat shows will be shooting in the vertical-frame format, he added: \u201cIt\u2019s an exciting process of discovery: How do I use this frame in an interesting way to tell a story?\u201d\n\nSnapchat has focused on creating an artificial-scarcity model when it comes to shows, and the new studio is following suit. Instead of opening up the platform to any and all comers, as YouTube and Facebook do, it has cut deals with a limited set of media partners.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not about licensing things that are being shopped out there,\u201d said Snap\u2019s Mills.\n\nSo far, the roster of companies producing Snapchat shows include NBC, ESPN, the NFL, ABC, BBC, A+E Networks, Discovery Networks, Turner, Scripps Networks, Vertical Networks, Vice, MGM Television, and CBS.", "output": "Snapchat\u2019s parent company Snap and broadcaster NBCUniversal are joining forces to establish a Hollywood studio focused on app-based entertainment. The studio will create scripted programmes such as short-form dramas and comedies for mobile platforms. The joint venture has already agreed a deal with Mark and Jay Duplass, two independent filmmakers. NBC Entertainment\u2019s senior VP of current programming Lauren Anderson will be the chief content officer of the new unit, which will be based in Santa Monica.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mayo Clinic offers medical advice through Amazon Echo - Velocity Alert \n Basic health information and advice provided by the Mayo Clinic is now available on Amazon Alexa-enabled devices. Owners who have downloaded the Mayo Clinic First Aid skill (Amazon\u2019s version of apps) need only voice their concerns to receive answers to dozens of everyday health issues or other self-care instructions.\n\n\u201cMayo Clinic produces trusted, evidence-based health guidance to empower people to effectively manage their health,\u201d Dr. Sandhya Pruthi, general internal medicine physician and associate medical director at Mayo Clinic Global Business Solutions, said in a statement. \u201cThis is the first health guidance skill Mayo Clinic has developed and launched for Amazon Alexa. Voice-enabled experience is a new and growing channel for reaching people and delivering information they are seeking, whether or not they have an existing relationship with Mayo Clinic.\u201d\n\nUsers may open the voice-driven platform to access and browse a listing of common health topics. Otherwise, vocally addressing Alexa with the name of the skill and a specific question will prompt a spoken response from the device.\n\nThe Mayo Clinic First-Aid skill does not replace medical care and should not be used in emergency situations, the provider cautions. It joins the clinic\u2019s other Amazon Alexa service, Mayo Clinic News Network, which offers listeners a 60-second daily presentation with easy-to-understand health tips.\n\nBut the Mayo Clinic is not the only provider of health info in the Amazon Alexa ecosystem. This March, WebMD launched their own integration with the platform to provide users information on a range of health-related topics such as conditions, medication, tests, and treatments. Users of the WebMD skill can have the information read to them aloud, or sent as text to their Alexa app.\n\n\"There are a number of reasons that voice-enabled interfaces are growing in popularity \u2014 they are generally hands-free, people can talk faster than they type, and when done right, they make it easier for consumers to quickly and easily get to the information they need,\u201d WebMD Vice President Ben Greenberg, whose product team developed the new voice capabilities, said in a statement accompanying the launch.\n\nOther voice-assisted health services available on Amazon Alexa include Fitbit integration, Boston Children\u2019s Hospital\u2019s KidsMD skill, and Healthtap\u2019s Doctor AI diagnosis tool.", "output": "Owners of Amazon Alexa-enabled devices, such as the Echo, may now use them to seek basic health information and advice. Users that have downloaded the Mayo Clinic First Aid app can voice their concerns to Alexa and receive immediate answers to everyday health issues and other self-care instructions. However, the Mayo Clinic, a multi-state US healthcare provider, has cautioned that the app should not be used in emergency situations and does not replace traditional medical care."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Leeds housing plan for 241 homes looks set for approval \n Yorkshire Property Joshua Hammond\n\nA housing plan that generated in excess of 280 written objections looks set to be approved this week after the application was recommended for approval by the chief planning officer.\n\nPlans submitted by Stocks Bros and Redrow Homes (Yorkshire) envisage the redevelopment of the former Stocks Blocks site in Garforth village. The plans would redevelop the land into a total of 241 homes.\n\nThe 22.2-acre site was used for the manufacture of aggregate and masonry blocks until the operation closed and was relocated to a \u00a312m state-of-the-art facility in Cross Green.\n\nThe site would feature 29 two-bed, 79 three-bed and 118 four-bed homes as well as four one-bed and 11 two-bedroom flats.\n\nOf those, a total of 36 units are identified as affordable units; 12 of the two-bed houses, 15 of the three-bed houses, three of the one-bed flats and six of the two-bed flats.\n\nObjections from 282 local residents and interested parties, including the Garforth Flood Group and local Labour branch, have been received raising a number of issues.\n\nKey concerns included the development making existing flooding issues worse, adding to existing traffic congestion and a lack of sufficient public transport.\n\nThe report of the chief planning officer, said: \"It is considered the proposed development would positively contribute to the city\u2019s overall housing requirements and bring back into active use a brownfield site which is located in a sustainable location.\n\n\"The detailed design of the development is considered appropriate and incorporates the best site features in terms of retention of the most important trees.\n\n\"The development would provide a high level of amenity for future residents without compromising the amenities of existing neighbouring residents and appropriate measures are included to ensure the highway impact of the development is acceptable.\n\nIt added: \"The proposals are considered to comply with relevant policies in the Development Plan and other relevant planning guidance, as listed above and with the National Planning Policy Framework.\n\n\"It is therefore recommended that the application is approved, subject to the conditions suggested above and completion of a legal agreement covering the planning obligations detailed at the start of this report.\"", "output": "Approval may be granted for a housing plan that has garnered more than 280 written objections. The proposal, submitted by house builders Redrow Homes and Stocks Bros, is for the redevelopment of the former Stocks Blocks location in Garforth village, near Leeds into 241 houses on a\u00a022-acre site. Concerns have been raised that the development will worsen existing flooding problems and\u00a0increase traffic locally. The house builders have said the development will use a brownfield site and would provide a \u201chigh level\u201d of amenity for residents. The application has been recommended for approval by the chief planning officer.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Airbnb will invest $1 million in community-led projects in Africa \n On Tuesday 17 October 2017 Airbnb announced that the company will invest $1 million through to 2020 in an effort to promote and support community-led tourism projects in Africa. The commitment is part of Airbnb\u2019s vision to empower communities through home sharing and to promote people-to-people tourism that benefits local families and their communities.\n\nThe announcement was made by Chris Lehane, Airbnb Global Head of Public Policy and Public Affairs, at a press conference in Johannesburg South Africa, together with the Mayor of Johannesburg, Herman Mashaba, and Hermione Nevill, World Bank Group\u2019 Senior Travel Specialist.\n\nThe investments will be put to work in 2018 and will focus on three main areas.\n\nEmpowering townships through hosting\n\nAs part of Airbnb\u2019s belief that home sharing can support greater economic and social empowerment, Airbnb ran a pilot programme earlier this year, together with local partners, to support training in hospitality and technology for residents from townships across the Western Cape. Given its success, Airbnb will expand the programme, which is especially targeted at women and young people from underserved communities, to 15 more township communities across South Africa and scale the programme to other countries in Africa in 2019.\n\nPromoting sustainable and inclusive tourism through technology\n\nAirbnb\u2019s vision is to use technology to help spread the benefits of tourism, previously kept in the hands of a few, to the many. In May 2018, Airbnb will host the \u2018Africa Travel Summit\u2019 and bring together 80 thought leaders from across the Continent, in Cape Town, to share best practices, exchange ideas and co-create a vision for how technology can best be used for inclusive and sustainable tourism growth. Potential attendees, such as governments, tourism boards, development agencies, technology companies, incubators and individuals, can apply to attend the Africa Travel Summit as of today through January 31, 2018. The University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB) will serve as the Summit\u2019s learning partner and organisations such as The World Bank Group (WBG), The United Nations World Travel Organisation (UNWTO) and The Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative (CiTi) will also take part in the event.\n\nSupporting locals and nonprofits through Airbnb travel\n\nAs part of Airbnb\u2019s vision to promote people-to-people travel that helps generate new revenue streams for more communities, Airbnb will expand the Airbnb Experiences offer across the Western Cape. This will help more locals to turn their passions into economic opportunities and showcase the best authentic experiences that guests might otherwise miss. Airbnb will particularly focus on increasing Social Impact Experiences \u2013 the proceeds of which go directly to a non-profit organization.\n\nChris Lehane, Global Head of Public Policy and Public Affairs for Airbnb, speaking on the commitment said, \u201cAfrica is home to some of the most welcoming communities and breathtaking landscapes on earth. By leveraging technology to boost people-to-people tourism in Africa, we can help build a new economic engine for local families and their communities, while helping more guests enjoy magical travel experiences through the eyes of locals. Airbnb travel is already delivering significant economic benefits for Africa and today\u2019s investment will help kickstart new benefits for more people across Africa.\u201d\n\nHermione Nevill, Senior Travel Specialist at the World Bank Group, said \u2018\u2019Tourism in Africa is expected to continue its rapid growth. It is vital to ensure this growth occurs sustainably and drives poverty reduction across the continent. It is encouraging to see travel technology platforms such as Airbnb investing in Africa, and piloting more inclusive forms of tourism growth.\u2019\u2019\n\nBy Dean Workman\n\nFollow Dean Workman on Twitter\n\nFollow ITNewsAfrica.com on Twitter", "output": "Airbnb will invest $1m over the next three years in community\u00a0tourism projects in Africa, according to Chris Lehane, Airbnb's global head of public policy and public affairs. Beginning in 2018, Airbnb will expand its hospitality and technology programme into 15 townships across South Africa, and will broaden its Airbnb Experiences across the Western Cape. In addition, Lehane said the firm would help spread the benefits of tourism through the use of technology. In May 2018, Airbnb is set to host the Africa Travel Summit in Cape Town.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Microsoft announces cloud partnership with Symantec \n Dive Brief:\n\nMicrosoft announced its cloud partnership with cybersecurity provider Symantec to bring its Norton products to more than 50 million international consumers, according to a company announcement on Monday.\n\nSymantec is working towards hybrid cloud strategies and enlisting Microsoft's Azure cloud is meant to reduce Symantec's overall operational expenses. Thus far the security software provider has migrated 105 \"critical consumer digital safety capabilities\" to Azure. It has also set up real-time reports on finances, operations and adoption-related security.\n\nSymantec will eventually move its e-commerce system to the Azure cloud to ease the purchase of Norton products online. There are also plans to implement Azure Container Services, ML and PaaS for Symantec's entire IT strategy and operations.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nMicrosoft is more than familiar provider for the enterprise and a major name adopting its technology is a notable feat. Symantec, known for its security software, has entrusted Microsoft in securing its operational and workload data.\n\nAs the second leading global cloud providers, Microsoft is pushing to be the place for enterprises' IT solutions. Last month Microsoft announced a slew of new features at Ignite including hybrid cloud offerings to ease migration efforts. Cloud-based security protocols were added to its platform including a reduction in workload management and anti-phishing solutions for Office 365.\n\nSymantec is aware of the changing landscape of cybersecurity and the aggressive approaches needed to stay relevant and secure. In the midst of its security and reputational reinvention, Symantec's partnership with Microsoft is a clear feather in Azure's cap.", "output": "Microsoft has announced a partnership between its Azure cloud network and cybersecurity provider Symantec. Under the deal, Symantec's Norton\u00a0products will be made available to more than 50 million customers worldwide, and the company will also migrate its payment systems to Azure to make purchasing of its products easier. Microsoft is seeking to enhance its role as a provider of cloud services to businesses, and recently unveiled a range of new cloud-related features.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Prime minister to demand that developers build on land they own \n Theresa May will today demand that developers build homes on the land they own amid figures showing the ten biggest companies are sitting on more than 400,000 unused plots.\n\nThe Prime Minister will chair a summit with housebuilders at Downing Street to challenge them to construct more properties.\n\nShe is expected to raise the controversial practice of \u2018landbanking\u2019, which is blamed for hindering housebuilding as private companies sit on plots that have been granted planning permission.\n\nA Government source said Mrs May would be \u2018laying down a challenge\u2019 to developers over the issue in a \u2018robust but constructive way\u2019.\n\nTheresa May will today demand that developers build homes on the land they own amid figures showing the ten biggest companies are sitting on more than 400,000 unused plots\n\nShe will hold discussions on how to tackle the housing crisis with developers, councils and housing associations.\n\nAccording to recent figures, the ten biggest developers have more than 400,000 plots earmarked for development, according to ousing charity Shelter.\n\nProperty developers are accused of sitting on the land while it rises in value before building on it.\n\nBut the House Building Federation, which represents the industry, said housebuilders do not make money from landbanking.\n\nThe Prime Minister has put housing at the centre of her strategy to win over the younger generation, who are struggling to get on to the housing ladder.\n\nAt her conference speech this year, she vowed to fix the \u2018broken housing market\u2019 by building more houses, ensuring councils release land and increasing investment in the Government\u2019s Help to Buy scheme.\n\nShe also said she would give councils the powers to ensure developers \u2018actually build homes once they\u2019re given planning permission to do so\u2019.\n\nToday\u2019s summit will also look at skill shortages in the construction industry and consider whether wider reforms of the planning system are needed.\n\nCompanies Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey, Barratt Group, Bellway, Redrow, Bovis, Berkeley Group, Galliford Try, Crest Nicholson and Countryside had a total of 404,040 plots in their current land bank, made up of land which has planning permission for housing or is close to getting it, according to Shelter.\n\nThis represents more than six years\u2019 worth of housebuilding at their current build rate, the charity said.\n\nIt also estimated that the companies have 481,910 plots in their strategic landbank - land held by them and other organisations in the expectation they will get planning permission.\n\nCompanies Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey, Barratt Group, Bellway, Redrow, Bovis, Berkeley Group, Galliford Try, Crest Nicholson and Countryside had a total of 404,040 plots in their current land bank\n\nAll the FTSE 100-listed major housebuilders have increased their land bank stock on last year, according to their latest financial reports.\n\nThe last study by the Local Government Association (LGA) found there were nearly 500,000 plots in Britain which had planning permission but had not been built on.\n\nSteve Turner, of the Home Builders Federation, denied that housebuilders didn\u2019t make money from sitting on land.\n\n\u2018Housebuilders do not make money from landbanking unnecessarily. Premises that are being landbanked are at various stages in the planning process,\u2019 he said.\n\n\u2018The planning process is extremely complex and in many cases it can take three to four years to get a sight to the point where builders can actually build.\n\n\u2018As the industry looks to increase output, it needs a supply of housing. Builders do not make money from sitting on land.\u2019", "output": "The prime minister, Theresa May, will request that developers construct homes on the land they own after data\u00a0showed that the 10 largest house builders have over 400,000 untouched plots of land. May is hosting a summit for house\u00a0builders and is expected to ask them to stop \u201clandbanking\u201d, or not developing plots of land that have already been granted planning permission. May\u00a0is expected to discuss the housing crisis with developers, housing associations and council representatives, and has said she plans to fix the \u201cbroken\u201d housing market by constructing more houses, releasing land and increasing support for\u00a0the Help to Buy Scheme.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Natural solutions could cut carbon as much as ending oil use \n \n\n\n\nPlanting forests and other activities that harness the power of nature could play a major role in limiting global warming under the 2015 Paris agreement, an international study showed on Monday.\n\nNatural climate solutions, also including protection of carbon-storing peatlands and better management of soils and grasslands, could account for 37% of all actions needed by 2030 under the 195-nation Paris plan, it said.\n\nCombined, the suggested \u201cregreening of the planet\u201d would be equivalent to halting all burning of oil worldwide, it said.\n\n\u201cBetter stewardship of the land could have a bigger role in fighting climate change than previously thought,\u201d the international team of scientists said of findings published in the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.\n\nThe estimates for nature\u2019s potential, led by planting forests, were up to 30% higher than those envisaged by a UN panel of climate scientists in a 2014 report, it said.\n\nTrees soak up heat-trapping carbon dioxide as they grow and release it when they burn or rot. That makes forests, from the Amazon to Siberia, vast natural stores of greenhouse gases.\n\nOverall, better management of nature could avert 11.3bn tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year by 2030, the study said, equivalent to China\u2019s current carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel use.\n\nThe Paris climate agreement, weakened by US president Donald Trump\u2019s decision in June to pull out, seeks to limit a rise in global temperature to \u201cwell below\u201d 2C above pre-industrial times.\n\nCurrent government pledges to cut emissions are too weak to achieve the 2C goal, meant to avert more droughts, more powerful storms, downpours and heat waves.\n\n\u201cFortunately, this research shows we have a huge opportunity to reshape our food and land use systems,\u201d Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever, said in a statement of Monday\u2019s findings.\n\nClimate change could jeopardise production of crops such as corn, wheat, rice and soy even as a rising global population will raise demand, he said.\n\nThe study said that some of the measures would cost $10 a tonne or less to avert a tonne of carbon dioxide, with others up to $100 a tonne to qualify as \u201ccost-effective\u201d by 2030.\n\n\u201cIf we are serious about climate change, then we are going to have to get serious about investing in nature,\u201d said Mark Tercek, chief executive officer of The Nature Conservancy, which led the study.", "output": "Natural climate solutions, including planting forests, protecting carbon-storing peatlands and soil and grassland management, could account for 37% of all actions required by 2030 under the Paris Climate Accord, according to an international study. The research claims the combined effect of the \u201cregreening of the planet\u201d would be equivalent to ending all oil burning across the globe, and that nature management could avert the emission of 11.3 billion tonnes of CO2 a year by 2030. The estimates for the potential of such activities were up to 30% higher than those envisaged by a United Nations group of climate scientists in 2014."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "\u2018Tens of thousands\u2019 living in slavery in UK \n The number of people living in slavery in the UK is likely to be considerably higher than the current estimate of 13,000, according to the independent anti-trafficking commissioner, Kevin Hyland, who has claimed that the \u201ctrue number is in the tens of thousands\u201d.\n\nSpeaking to the Guardian, Hyland said that a better understanding of the real scale of slavery in the UK must become an \u201cabsolute priority\u201d for government, if there was a chance of reaching as many potential victims as possible.\n\n\u201cThe 13,000 figure is based on old intelligence and we\u2019ve come a long way since then in terms of our understanding of the real scale of the problem we\u2019re facing,\u201d he said. \u201cWe know now that slavery here in the UK is far more prevalent than we have ever realised, and building a better response needs to be an absolute priority both domestically and globally.\u201d\n\nThe anti-slavery commissioner said that victims are currently being failed by the national referral mechanism (NRM), which was introduced in 2009 to identify cases of slavery and trafficking.\n\n\u201cThe NRM is a system designed to deal with hundreds not thousands of victims and needs to be more flexible and accountable,\u201d said Hyland. \u201cAt the moment all of the emphasis is on identification but victim support must be at the heart of this process if we are to get people to trust us in coming forward and reporting these crimes.\u201d\n\nHowever, speaking after the publication on Monday of his annual anti-slavery report (pdf), Hyland pointed out that real progress has been made in tackling slavery crimes. The UK recorded 2,255 modern slavery offences across England and Wales last year, a 159% increase from the previous year.\n\nHyland \u2013 who formerly headed the Metropolitan police\u2019s human trafficking unit and criticised the UK police\u2019s poor efforts to report modern slavery offences last year \u2013 was \u201cparticularly pleased\u201d by Northern Ireland\u2019s efforts to combat slavery, which has passed on all slavery offences to the referral mechanism for the second year running.\n\nThe Met alone this year recorded more than double the number of offences of the previous year, amounting to nearly 500 crimes of modern slavery, the highest figure by far in any police force in the UK.\n\n\n\nWest Midlands recorded the second highest number of offences this year (215), followed by Kent and Essex (179), West Yorkshire (147) and Greater Manchester (139).\n\nDetective chief inspector Phil Brewer of the Met\u2019s modern slavery and kidnap unit said the increase in offences and referrals was down to clearer pathways for victims to seek help and protection; greater awareness among officers, as well as the public, at recognising potential victims; and better cooperation between agencies at referring potential leads.\n\nMore than half of all suspected victims referred to the national mechanism in 2016 were from Albania, Vietnam, the UK, Nigeria and China. The majority of child trafficking victims identified were British citizens. This week, the Church of England is also mobilising its parishes to be the \u201ceyes and ears\u201d of local communities to identify signs of modern slavery and to support its victims in an initiative backed by the prime minister and archbishop of Canterbury.\n\nThe three-year project, launched at Lambeth Palace on Tuesday, is called the Clewer Initiative after an order of Anglican nuns funding the project: they were founded in the 19th century to help vulnerable young women.\n\n\n\nTen C of E dioceses have signed up to the initiative, with a further 14 expected to participate by the end of the year. It is hoped that all 42 dioceses will take part. The project will provide training and information on how to spot signs of slavery and victims of labour exploitation in areas including construction and car washing.\n\nHyland said faith groups had \u201cinfluence, insight and rare avenues into the community \u2013 they are therefore a powerful tool in the fight against modern slavery\u201d.", "output": "The number of people in the UK living in slavery is in the tens of thousands, according to the anti-trafficking commissioner. Speaking after the publication of his annual anti-slavery report, Kevin Hyland said that the number was far higher the previous estimate of 13,000. Hyland also said that progress was being made in tackling the issue, with England and Wales seeing a 159% increase in recorded offences\u00a0last year. This week, the Church of England is launching an initiative, backed by the prime minister and the archbishop of Canterbury, through which parishes aim to identify slavery and support victims.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Venmo rolls out cashless payments by app at millions of US stores \n PayPal has announced that Venmo users will be able to use the popular mobile app at more than two million US high street retailers.\n\nA big hit with American teens, PayPal believes that Venmo integration at merchants terminals will present new opportunities for retailers to follow the app's social feed, where users share shopping tips with their friends, and tap into the purchasing power of the millennial generation.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn a blog post signalling the move, PayPal COO Bill Ready says: \"The investments we\u2019ve made in our platform architecture allow us to enable Venmo as a payment method for millions of PayPal merchants at one time without any additional integration work on the merchant\u2019s part, mirroring the approach we used to successfully launch One Touch.\"\n\n\n\nTo avoid confusion at the checkout, PayPal is testing the ability for merchants to offer dynamically-painted payment buttons, which will show Venmo customers a custom dual-branded button that allows selection between PayPal or Venmo payment options.\n\n\n\nSays Ready: \"Our vision for Venmo is to not only be the go-to app for payments between friends, but also a ubiquitous digital wallet that helps consumers spend wherever and however they want to pay, regardless of device.\"", "output": "More than two million US high street retailers are set to accept Venmo digital payments, in a move mirroring the launch of One Touch by parent PayPal. No \"additional integration work\" on participating merchants' terminals was needed for the roll-out, PayPal COO Bill Ready said,\u00a0while tests were being undertaken to allow customers to pay either with Venmo or PayPal, using a choice of \"dynamically\u00a0painted\" buttons. \"Our vision for Venmo is to not only be the go-to app for payments between friends, but also a ubiquitous digital wallet,\"\u00a0Ready said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK government encourages investment in AI \n The U.K. government has just released a thoughtful report on the potential of AI, along with some jolly sensible recommendations for making the most of the profoundly important technology.\n\nThe report, coauthored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, concludes that \u201cAI offers massive gains in efficiency and performance to most or all industry sectors, from drug discovery to logistics.\u201d\n\nThe technology \u201ccan be integrated into existing processes, improving them, scaling them, and reducing their costs, by making or suggesting more accurate decisions through better use of information,\u201d it adds. And this could add a whopping $814 billion to the U.K. economy by 2035.\n\nTo benefit from the AI boom, it says, the U.K. should develop \u201cdata trusts\u201d so that data can be shared more easily and securely, and it should make research data more accessible to machines. The report also suggests that the U.K. invest heavily in AI education by creating new university and vocational courses, and by creating an AI fellowship program to encourage people from other countries to study in Britain. Here\u2019s an executive summary (pdf) of the document, and here\u2019s the full report (pdf).\n\nIt makes a lot of sense to think about the potential economic effects of AI. Governments badly need to be considering the impact of AI and automation on jobs, including the safety risks, and thinking hard about how to realize the technology\u2019s potential to boost economic productivity.\n\nThe recommendations of the U.K. report bring to mind the massive commitment China is making in AI (for an in-depth discussion of this, check out our feature \u201cChina\u2019s AI Awakening\u201d). Other countries\u2014including the U.S.\u2014would be wise to ramp up their own investments if they don\u2019t want to get left behind by the boom.", "output": "The UK government has recommended increasing\u00a0investment in artificial intelligence (AI), stating that the new technology can offer \"massive gains\" in the efficiency and performance of most industrial sectors. A report published jointly by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport recommends the creation of \"data trusts\" to enable easier sharing of data, and the creation of new university and vocational courses to strengthen research and development of AI technology and applications.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Data centre REITs post 30% returns amid surging digital demand\u00a0 \n Afghanistan Aland Islands Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Caribbean Netherlands Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo (Brazzaville) Congo (Kinshasa) Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cura\u00e7ao Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong, S.A.R., China Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Ivory Coast Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau, S.A.R., China Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands North Korea Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territory Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Barth\u00e9lemy Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin (French part) Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan, China Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu U.S. Virgin Islands Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States United States Minor Outlying Islands Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican Venezuela Vietnam Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe", "output": "Real estate investment in the US data storage sector reportedly surged to $18.2bn\u00a0in the first half of 2017 --\u00a0more than double all of last year. That helped\u00a0spur\u00a0returns of\u00a030% in the past 12 months\u00a0on the stock\u00a0of\u00a0real estate investment trusts (REITs) that specialise\u00a0in data centres, compared with\u00a06% for the wider REIT market. Companies in the sector are investing heavily in new facilities, with demand for digital storage being driven by increases in cloud computing, e-commerce and other data-reliant technologies.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "PBoC complete trial of digital currency supply algorithms \n The People's Bank of China (PBOC) is seen in this photo taken on June 12 in Beijing. [Photo/Xinhua]\n\nThe People's Bank of China, China's central bank, has completed trial runs on the algorithms needed for digital currency supply, taking it a step closer to addressing the technological challenges associated with digital currencies, according to a top official associated with the project.\n\nYao Qian, director-general of the Institute of Digital Money at the PBOC, said China's central bank has successfully designed a prototype that can regulate the supply of its future digital fiat currency.\n\nThe successful simulation of money supply paves the way for the central bank to become the future sole regulator and policymaker governing the value of digital fiat currency, said Yao.\n\nDigital fiat currencies are the digital forms of a sovereign currency that is backed by the central bank.\n\nUnlike Bitcoin or other digital money issued by the private sector, the digital fiat currency has the same legal status as the Chinese yuan, the only fiat currency issued by the People's Bank of China.\n\nThere is no timetable for the introduction of the currency, but once introduced, China is likely to become the first country that would deploy a digital fiat currency.\n\nChina's central bank has been actively preparing for digital fiat currencies since last year.\n\nEarlier in June, the central bank finished several digital money trials involving fake transactions between it and some of the country's commercial banks.\n\n\"China has been at the forefront in digital payment technology development,\" said Di Gang, a senior engineer of the institute.\n\n\"However, it would still be some time before the currency goes public,\" said Di, adding that, \"the central bank is proceeding very cautiously.\"\n\nApart from solving the technology challenges, there are a number of other concerns that are yet to be solved such as managing risks and improving efficiency, according to Di.\n\nThe government also needs to factor whether the public would use the new currency, he added.\n\n\"The central bank might be able to start trials in some developed regions such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong province, and see how citizens respond to the digital currency,\" he said.\n\nThe development of a digital currency comes at an opportune time for China, said Yao.\n\nThe rapid development of the electronic payment sector and thriving private digital currencies have made it imperative for China's central bank to move quickly in digital finance.\n\nLooking ahead, deploying the digital fiat currency is expected to be smarter and more intelligent compared to the payment providers using existing currencies, such as Alipay, according to Yao.", "output": "The People's Bank of China (PBOC) has successfully completed a trial of algorithms needed for digital currency supply. China's central bank has designed a prototype that can regulate the money supply, paving the way for PBOC to be the future sole regulator governing the value of digital fiat currency, said Yao Qian, director-general of the Institute of Digital Money at the PBOC. China has no timetable for the introduction of the currency."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Parliamentary committee to investigate private rented sector \n A British Parliamentary Committee has launched an inquiry into the role of local authorities in dealing with rogue landlords in the Private Rented Sector (PRS).\n\nThe Communities and Local Government Committee decided to look at whether councils have enough clout to deal with bad practices in the PRS as more and more people are now renting homes.\n\nThe inquiry will also examine barriers to intervention in the PRS, whether landlord licensing schemes are promoting higher quality accommodation and the effectiveness of complaint mechanism for tenants.\n\n\u2018With a big rise in the number of people renting over the last decade, there are real concerns about the ability of local authorities to protect tenants by tackling bad landlords and practices,\u2019 said the committee chairman, MP Clive Betts.\n\n\u2018Our inquiry will examine how local authorities can carry out enforcement work to deal with rogue landlords as well as looking at approaches used by councils to provide private rented accommodation in their areas,\u2019 he added.\n\nThe PRS has grown from one in 10 households in 2004 to one in five households in 2016 with the under 40s making up 70% of households. The closing date for submissions to the inquiry is Friday 24 November 2017 at midday.\n\nThe inquiry follows on from a committee report published in 2013 which highlighted five key areas in which the Government should take action including reviewing and simplifying the legislation covering the sector, giving local authorities the tools they need to enforce the law and raise standards, better regulation of letting agents, a cultural shift towards longer tenancies and a renewed effort to boost housing supply.\n\nLocal authorities are set to be granted new powers to seek banning orders against rogue landlords and agents and other changes being introduced by the Government include a ban on letting fees.\n\nThe Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) welcomed the inquiry as a great opportunity to review enforcement in the PRS. \u2018With what appears to be a coherent strategy on the regulation of the PRS coming from the Government, it is an ideal time to review what has worked and what hasn\u2019t,\u2019 said chief executive David Cox.\n\nIn particular the inquiry will look at whether local authorities have the powers and capacity required to enforce standards and deal with rogue landlords and seek to find out what the main obstacles are to effective intervention in the PRS.\n\nIt will also look at how effective landlord licensing schemes are in promoting higher quality accommodation, what approaches local authorities have taken to promote affordable private rented sector accommodation in their areas and the effectiveness of complaint mechanisms for tenants.", "output": "The UK communities and local government committee has begun an inquiry into how local authorities deal with rogue landlords in the private rented sector (PRS). The inquiry will focus on whether local authorities have the powers required to enforce high standards, the effectiveness of complaint mechanisms for tenants and what obstacles prevent effective PRS intervention. In 2016, one in five households were in\u00a0the PRS, with 70% of tenants aged under 40. The deadline for inquiry submissions is noon, 24\u00a0November.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Biotech, pharma shares drop after Trump says \u2018drug prices are out of control\u2019 \n President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Monday, Oct. 16, 2017, in Washington.\n\nPresident Donald Trump is criticizing high drug prices again, sending health-care stocks lower Monday.\n\nThe iShares Nasdaq Biotech ETF erased its gains for the day after Trump's comments, which were released around 11:50 a.m. EDT.\n\niShares Nasdaq Biotech ETF intraday chart\n\nSource: FactSet\n\nPharmaceutical company shares such as Pfizer , Merck and Eli Lilly also dropped slightly after the remarks.\n\n\"Prescription drug prices are out of control,\" Trump said in a Cabinet meeting on Monday. \"The drug prices have gone through the roof.\"\n\n\"You look at the same exact drug by the same exact company, made in the same exact box and sold some place else, sometimes it's a fraction of what we pay in this country. Meaning as usual the world is taking advantage of the United States.\"\n\nTrump said American consumers are paying multiples of what other countries are paying for the same drugs.\n\n\"The drug companies frankly are getting away with murder. We want to bring our prices down to what other countries are paying,\" he added.\n\nThis isn't the first time Trump has commented on drug prices. He promised in March he would bring pricing down.\n\nTweet Link\n\nThe iShares Nasdaq Biotech ETF is up 27 percent through midday Monday this year compared with the S&P 500's 14 percent return.", "output": "President Donald Trump\u00a0is criticizing high drug prices again, sending health-care stocks lower Monday. The\u00a0iShares Nasdaq Biotech ETF\u00a0erased its gains for the day after Trump's comments, which were released around 11:50 a.m. EDT.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Patents for Restasis Are Invalidated, Opening Door to Generics \n A federal judge in Texas invalidated four key patents for the dry-eye treatment Restasis on Monday, dealing a blow to its manufacturer, Allergan, which had sought to protect its patents by transferring them to a Native American tribe.\n\nThe ruling, by United States Circuit Judge William C. Bryson of the Eastern District of Texas, does not mean that generic versions of the drug will be available soon, however. Allergan said that it would appeal the decision, and the Food and Drug Administration has not yet approved copycat versions of the drug.\n\nStill, the decision was a setback for the company, whose stock dipped more than 5 percent on the news. Restasis is Allergan\u2019s second best-selling product, behind the wrinkle treatment Botox, bringing in nearly $1.5 billion in 2016.\n\nIn September, Allergan took the highly unusual step of paying the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe in upstate New York to take possession of the patents, which then were leased back to the company. The tactic was a way to protect the company from a patent challenge \u2014 separate from the federal court case \u2014 that is underway in an administrative proceeding before a unit of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.", "output": "A federal judge in Texas invalidated four key patents for the dry-eye treatment Restasis on Monday, dealing a blow to its manufacturer, Allergan, which had sought to protect its patents by transferring them to a Native American tribe.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trump renews attacks on high drug prices \n His remarks echo claims, largely discredited by researchers, that U.S. drug prices are high because other countries pay less for medicines and don\u2019t contribute as much toward research and development.\n\nIt\u2019s unclear whether Trump\u2019s renewed criticism of the drug industry signals any forthcoming action. Even though he has repeatedly lashed out at drugmakers, there\u2019s been little indication he will crack down on prices.\n\nA leaked draft of a still-pending executive order on drug prices this summer was favorable to the industry. The White House has also abandoned key pledges to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices and expand importation of cheaper medicines from overseas. The administration has also appointed industry insiders to key posts.\n\nTrump tied his harsh comments on drug prices to his broader criticism of Obamacare and his desire to remake the country\u2019s health care system. However, neither the White House nor Congress ever put forward drug pricing reform as part of efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, though Trump sometimes suggested they should be linked.\n\nTrump also attacked the drug industry for contributing \u201cmassive amounts of money\u201d to politicians and campaigns. He suggested that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who was standing beside him in the Rose Garden, may receive pharmaceutical industry donations.\n\nTrump said he doesn\u2019t need or want industry money, but he also benefited from the sector on the campaign trial and after his election. For instance, U.S. drug giant Pfizer made a $1 million contribution to Trump\u2019s inaugural committee, and Amgen donated $500,000, according to the Center for Public Integrity.", "output": "President Donald Trump took two swings at drugmakers over the high cost of medicines on Monday, bringing attention back to an administration priority that he has largely ignored for the past few months.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cleanup From California Fires Poses Environmental and Health Risks \n SANTA ROSA, Calif. \u2014 Dr. Karen Relucio has heard reports of people digging into the ashes of their burned homes in recent days without gloves, wearing only shorts and T-shirts, looking for sentimental items that might have survived California\u2019s horrific wildfires. And as the chief public health officer in Napa County, one of the hardest-hit places, she has used her office as a bully pulpit to urge them to stop, immediately.\n\n\u201cJust think of all the hazardous materials in your house,\u201d she said in an interview. \u201cYour chemicals, your pesticides, propane, gasoline, plastic and paint \u2014 it all burns down into the ash. It concentrates in the ash, and it\u2019s toxic,\u201d said Dr. Relucio, who declared a public emergency over the hazardous waste from the fires, as have at least two other counties.\n\nCalifornia\u2019s fires are far from out. They have killed at least 41 people and burned about 5,700 structures and over 213,000 acres since they exploded in force on Oct. 8 and 9 \u2014 record totals for a state that is used to wildfires. Thousands of firefighters are still at work fighting blazes and tens of thousands of people remain under mandatory evacuation from their homes, though fire officials have expressed cautious optimism about bringing the fires into containment.\n\nBut even as the smell of smoke still wafts through this area north of San Francisco, public health officials and environmental cleanup experts are starting to think about the next chapter of the disaster: the huge amount of debris and ash that will be left behind.", "output": "Dr. Karen Relucio has heard reports of people digging into the ashes of their burned homes in recent days without gloves, wearing only shorts and T-shirts, looking for sentimental items that might have survived California\u2019s horrific wildfires. And as the chief public health officer in Napa County, one of the hardest-hit places, she has used her office as a bully pulpit to urge them to stop, immediately.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pearson profit adjustment hints at recovery \n Pearson 's underlying revenues fell 2% in the first nine months of the year, largely as expected, but the educational publisher improved its earnings guidance and promised a \u00a3300m share buyback.\n\nAs expected, the FTSE 100 group faced declines in the North American market for school and higher education courseware, though sales in US higher education courseware declined by only 1% on an underlying basis, which was on the better half of management's expectations as US digital revenue increased 11% and the division rallied from last year's unprecedented slump.\n\nSo while the structural pressures in US higher education are not going away, trading has not been as bad as it could be, so full year operating profits are expected to be in the upper half of the range set at the start of the year.\n\nAdjusted operating profit are now expected to be between \u00a3576m and \u00a3606m, fine-tuned from the prior \u00a3546-606m range, feeding through to an earnings per share range of 51-54p, tightened up from 45.5-52.5p.\n\nNet debt at the end of September had shrunk slightly over the year to \u00a31.31bn from \u00a31.36bn, as the balance sheet benefitted from good cash generation and the sale of a 22% stake in Penguin Random House and the offloading of the Global Education business.\n\nChief executive, John Fallon said: \"We continue to invest in growing market opportunities, gaining share with our digital transformation, and becoming simpler and more efficient. With good cash generation and a strong balance sheet, we are going to return \u00a3300m in surplus capital through a share buyback.\n\n\"We expect tough market conditions in our biggest business to continue over the next couple of years. We're focused on being the long term winner in digital learning and creating sustainable value for our shareholders.\"\n\nThe digital focus has seen higher education digital courseware revenue grew 11%, with an 89% increase in institution-wide Direct Digital Access contracts signed this year to bring the total to 477, while cutting rental prices eBook titles saw revenues increase more than 20% and a print rental pilot had a \"successful start\".", "output": "Pearson has improved its earnings guidance, despite its underlying revenues falling by 2% in the first three quarters of 2017. The educational publisher promised a \u00a3300m ($394m) share buyback, as the North American market for school and higher education software dropped by just 1% on an underlying basis after last year's slump. Adjusted operating profit is now predicted to be between \u00a3576m and \u00a3606m, up from the previous estimate of between \u00a3546m and \u00a3606m.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trump predicts 'long-term fix' for Obamacare by March or April \n \u201cIn my opinion, what\u2019s happening is as we meet, Republicans are meeting with Democrats because of what I did with the CSRs, because I cut off the gravy train,\u201d Trump told reporters during a Cabinet meeting at the White House. \u201cIf I didn\u2019t cut the CSRs, they wouldn\u2019t be meeting. They\u2019d be having lunch and enjoying themselves, all right? They\u2019re right now having emergency meetings to get a short-term fix of health care, where premiums don\u2019t have to double and triple every year like they\u2019ve been doing under Obamacare.\u201d\n\nObamacare, the president declared, \u201cis finished,\u201d \u201cdead\u201d and \u201cgone.\u201d \u201cYou shouldn\u2019t even mention\u201d it, he said, arguing that \u201cthere is no such thing as Obamacare\u201d anymore and adding that it was a policy that never could have worked.\n\nTrump predicted a short-term bipartisan fix for Obamacare will come \u201cfairly soon,\u201d and he claimed Republicans have the votes to pass the health care reform that has eluded them for the past nine months.\n\n\u201cSoon as we have the next reconciliation, I think we\u2019ll get the vote for health care. I feel very confident of that,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI think we already have the vote for health care. Sadly, the Democrats can\u2019t join us on that, which will be the long-term fix, but I do believe we\u2019ll have a short-term fix because I think the Democrats will be blamed for the mess. This is an Obamacare mess.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen the premiums go up, that has nothing to do with anything other than the fact that we had poor health care, delivered poorly, written poorly, approved by the Democrats,\u201d the president continued. \u201cIt was called Obamacare. But I think we\u2019ll have a short-term fix, and then we\u2019ll have a long-term fix, and that will take place probably in March or April. We will have a very solid vote. It\u2019ll be probably 100 percent Republican, no Democrats, but most people know that\u2019s gonna be a very good form of health insurance.\u201d\n\n", "output": "President Donald Trump insisted Monday that Democrats will be blamed for their \u201cObamacare mess,\u201d despite executive actions he took last week to undercut the law, while also expressing confidence that there will be a \"long-term fix\" for the law by March or April.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trump said to want bipartisan Senate Obamacare deal \n Alexander, the chairman of the Senate health Committee, has been working with ranking Democrat Patty Murray for weeks on an Obamacare stabilization bill with similar parameters. But the talks had stalled over how to define state flexibility: Republicans want to let states modify their health systems under Obamacare, and Democrats are wary of anything that could unwind any of the consumer protections in the law.\n\nThe discussions sped up over the weekend after the White House on Oct. 12 said Obamacare\u2019s cost-sharing reduction payments would end as soon as next week, according to Republican and Democratic sources. The cost-sharing program, which reimburses insurers to help low-income people pay out-of-pocket health costs, was the centerpiece of a 2014 lawsuit by House Republicans that contended the payments were illegal because they had not been authorized by Congress.\n\nAlexander wants to craft a deal that has the support of a \u201csignificant number of Republicans and Democrats.\u201d His goal is to hand the legislation off to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Alexander said Monday he wants to pass a bill as soon as possible so that consumers could see premium relief in 2018.\n\nIt\u2019s unlikely that such a bill would pass on its own, particularly if it is poised to get more Democratic support than Republican votes. Democrats have already suggested attaching it to a larger bill, or even folding it into a year-end spending deal, but some worry that would come too late to have an effect on 2018 rates.\n\nA White House official stressed the effort would have to deliver changes to the health law.\n\n\u201cWe are willing to work with Congress to reach a legislative solution,\u201d a White House spokesman said. \u201cWe will not provide bailouts to insurance companies until we provide the American people with relief from the Obamacare disaster.\u201d\n\nAlexander said he won\u2019t agree to a deal that lacks expanded flexibility for states because he wouldn\u2019t be able to get significant support from other Republicans.\n\nSenate Republicans on Monday said they are open to seeing what Alexander and Murray can come up with.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve been encouraging Sen. Alexander to work with Sen. Murray all the way throughout the process, but there absolutely has to be some give on the part of the Democrats \u2014 the flexibility we need at the state level to lower the cost of premiums for families,\u201d said Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.).\n\nSenate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said he wants to \u201csee some reforms\u201d in a bill.\n\nThere is more skepticism about a bipartisan Obamacare deal in the House, where Republicans were able to pass an Obamacare repeal bill only to see the Senate fail at the task.\n\nAlexander and Murray have been discussing a deal since the summer. But Trump on Monday suggested that lawmakers were holding \u201cemergency meetings\u201d on a bipartisan bill because of him.\n\n\u201cRepublican are meeting with Democrats because of what I did with the CSRs \u2014 because I cut off the gravy train,\u201d Trump told reporters.", "output": "President Donald Trump urged Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander to seek out an Obamacare deal with Democrats \u2014 encouragement that might help sway Republicans who are skeptical of a bipartisan agreement.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Family members play important role in managing chronic illness \n Family members often play an important role in managing chronic illnesses, and a family approach may produce more effective, long-term benefits for the patient, according to a Penn State researcher.\n\nLynn Martire, professor of human development and family studies at Penn State and affiliate of the Center for Healthy Aging, says family intervention approaches\u2014such as working together to make dietary changes\u2014can be an effective strategy for improving chronic illness management.\n\n\"For some family groups, setting goals together for making lifestyle changes such as healthier eating habits and regular exercise, helps patients to stay on track and may benefit family members as well,\" she said.\n\nMartire said this approach could have positive implications on health care costs as well as the treatment of patients.\n\n\"The vast majority of health care spending is for treatment of chronic health problems in children and adults. Self-management of chronic illness can reduce these health care costs, and close family members such as a parent or the spouse play an important role in helping patients to manage their illness,\" Martire said. \"Therefore, psychological or behavioral treatments that target the patient-family member dyad may decrease health care costs or have more long-lasting effects than treatments that target only the patient.\"\n\nMartire is co-author of \"Close Relationships and the Management of Chronic Illness: Associations and Interventions,\" a paper that appears in the September issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal published by the American Psychological Association. Vicki Helgeson, professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, is co-author of the paper.\n\nAccording to the authors, patients and family members can work together to monitor patients' illness symptoms, keep medical appointments, and help the patient stick to medication regimens as a strategy for chronic illness management. \"A key feature of these programs is improving communication around health issues and identifying obstacles to good self-management,\" Martire said.\n\nThe use of technology to maintain behavior change may also be a promising approach, Martire said. Some treatment programs require frequent travel on the part of patients and families, which limits their accessibility. Technology-supported approaches such as web- or mobile phone-based programs could reach a broader population of patients and family members.\n\nIncreasing internet usage across broad segments of the U.S. population offers an especially appealing method for delivering programs to large numbers of patients and families at low cost. Moreover, web-based interventions for health and illness management could be modified for dyads, she said.\n\n\"There is certainly more to learn about the influence of family on patient illness management,\" Martire said. \"However, it is not too soon to develop theory-based interventions that aim to change specific health-related behaviors of family members to see if patients' illness management improves.\"", "output": "Family members often play an important role in managing chronic illnesses, and a family approach may produce more effective, long-term benefits for the patient, according to a Penn State researcher.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The fight against senior scams \n The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention might be best known for its efforts to combat obesity, or Zika, or the H1N1 flu virus. But last year, it drew new attention to a hazard that doesn\u2019t sound like a disease at all.\n\nThe hazard is \u201csenior financial abuse,\u201d meaning the theft of older people\u2019s resources by someone they trust. Alarmed by the growing cost of the problem and the lack of a clear strategy to combat it, the CDC included in a first-of-its-kind report a definition for what constitutes the financial exploitation of old people. It includes fraud, breach of personal trust, poor investment advice, or improper use of power of attorney.\n\nDefining the problem is an important step that the agency hopes will make senior financial abuse more measurable and preventable. No complete numbers exist, but it\u2019s safe to say financial abuse costs older Americans billions of dollars annually. In New York alone, the state estimated its seniors lost as much as $1.5 billion over 12 months from misappropriation of funds. A 2016 survey from the Investor Protection Trust said almost 1-in-5 seniors, some 7 million Americans, report that they have been victims of exploitation. Most cases don\u2019t come to the attention of authorities, so experts believe the actual number could be a lot higher.\n\nIn one sense, the CDC move simply added a new a layer of protection to its monitoring of the elderly, the same way it tries to track physical harm and neglect. But in targeting financial abuse, it also was shining a light on a big and growing problem: An increasing quantity of American assets are held by elderly people, who are more vulnerable to being exploited.\n\nRapidly evolving technology, decreased cognitive capacity and social isolation make older people especially vulnerable to being scammed. And their assets are becoming a bigger and bigger honeypot. The median wealth of families headed by someone at least 62 years of age rose 40 percent from 1989 to 2013, according to a working paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. (During the same period, the median wealth of families headed by someone between ages 40 and 61 dropped 31 percent.)\n\nThe growing alarm over financial abuse, however, is colliding with the Trump administration\u2019s push to ease regulations on the banking industry and loosen consumer protections, both of which could disproportionately affect older Americans. In August, the administration proposed to delay key parts of an Obama-era rule that requires financial brokers to put their customers\u2019 interests ahead of their own compensation when offering retirement advice.\n\nIn Congress, Republicans are seeking to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has an office dedicated to older Americans. Legislation has stalled that would encourage financial professionals to report suspected senior fraud. And lawmakers have even failed to fund a safeguard for seniors that\u2019s already on the books: the Elder Justice Act, enacted as part of Obamacare in 2010. As a result, \u201cthe federal government has not substantially developed and expanded its role in addressing the prevention, detection and treatment of elder abuse,\u201d the Congressional Research Service said in a January report.\n\nWith Washington relaxing its protections, states have begun taking matters into their own hands\u2014including several senior-heavy Republican states led by those that were among Donald Trump\u2019s biggest backers in 2016. Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota and Texas have all passed legislation protecting seniors from financial abuse. Others are supporting former President Barack Obama\u2019s so-called fiduciary duty rule guiding investment advice for retirement savers, drawing the ire of big financial firms. America appears to be headed toward a conflict over just what kinds of protections older people should enjoy \u2014 and who is supposed to protect them.\n\nTHE CDC MOVE follows the work of Robert Roush, a doctor who runs the Texas Consortium of Geriatrics Education Center in Houston. After reading about how the parents of a former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman were pestered by aggressive financial brokers, Roush in 2009 started training medical professionals to screen for financial abuse in older patients.\n\nIt might seem far afield for a doctor, but he had found that financial woes could have a powerful effect on people\u2019s health. When older people lose so much money that they have to choose between health care costs and routine living expenses, he said, \u201cit becomes a clinical issue.\"\n\nThe SEC helped connect Roush to a little-known group of state-level financial-sector watchdogs, the North American Securities Administrators Association, and he began working with them on the issue. Now, 33 states have teamed up with him in his education program, and the NASAA is lobbying states and Congress to adopt legislation protecting seniors from financial abuse. The group has drafted model legislation requiring financial professionals to report suspected financial abuse of seniors to both state securities regulators and adult protective services. It also gives professionals authority to temporarily delay disbursement of money in instances where they suspect misconduct.\n\nA woman sits in her dining room as mail stacks up on her kitchen stool. Isolation can make seniors especially susceptible to financial fraud. | Getty\n\nTheir goal is to put the ball in the court of the financial industry, so brokers, as well as banks and credit unions, learn to watch for the signs an older customer is being taken advantage of. (Roush is also pleased with the CDC effort, though he considers it only a first step: \u201cIt is just like when we first started screening for cancer,\" he said. \"The more you look for cancer, the more cancers you find.\")\n\nOversight from government watchdogs is important because financial abuse is often carried out by someone seniors trust. Thomas Clement of Foley, Alabama, lost more than a half-million dollars on an investment before he recognized it as a scam. In 2005, at the age of 65, Clement started investing in a tire-recycling business with a man he met on a trip to Australia. Four years and $650,000 later, when he tried to collect returns he was owed, Clement realized he had become a victim.\n\nHe reported his case to the Alabama Securities Commission and was able to recoup about $500,000. The people he gave money to eventually were indicted for fraud.\n\nBut his case is rare in one respect: Researchers say elderly victims usually do not report their own potential financial exploitation, making them even more alluring targets. They may not detect it; they may be embarrassed to admit it, or they might want to shield their children and caregivers from law enforcement when a crime has been committed.\n\n\u201cI was reluctant to do that,\u201d Clement admits about reporting his own abuse.\n\nIn addition, state regulators and adult protective services agencies are often operating with insufficient funding, which limits the scope of what they can do, said Corey Carlisle, executive director of the ABA Foundation, affiliated with the American Bankers Association.\n\n\u201cThere just aren\u2019t enough resources to combat this problem,\u201d he said.\n\nMODERN TECHNOLOGY OFFERS new and insidious ways for abuse to occur\u2014though it can also offer tools to detect it. Judith Shaw, Maine\u2019s securities administrator, said many people 80 or older don\u2019t manage their finances electronically and are vulnerable to people who offer to help them set up online accounts. The elderly individuals go to their banks, she said, \u201conly to find that their accounts have been drained.\u201d\n\nRegulators trying to solve the problem see a handful of promising approaches. One is proactive: The Texas State Securities Board, for example, is trying to address the dangers posed by online scammers by implementing a \u201cmarket surveillance program\u201d where employees look for scams, such as investment opportunities advertised through Craigslist. The agency also does undercover investigations.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s what law enforcement and regulators need to be doing, because the senior population is growing, but [agencies] are not getting many more resources,\u201d said Joe Rotunda, director of enforcement at the state securities board. \u201cThey have to be innovative.\u201d\n\nAnother tactic is data analysis. The Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, issued an advisory in 2011, urging financial institutions to flag potential abuse in a suspicious activity report, a database that\u2019s made available to law enforcement. That type of monitoring is typically used to combat financial crimes like money laundering or terrorism financing, but can be a key tool for combating exploitation of seniors as well.\n\nLast month, FinCEN and the CFPB put out a joint memo to emphasize that financial institutions and law enforcement need to work together to combat elder exploitation. \u201cTimely reporting of suspicious activity, regardless of whether reporting is mandatory or voluntary under state or federal law, is critical in engaging entities that may have complementary information on the victim or the perpetrator from other sources and may be well positioned to collaborate on investigations,\u201d they said.\n\nBanks, credit unions and brokers have plenty of clues that something might be going wrong and should adjust their fraud-monitoring systems to detect those signs, said Naomi Karp, a senior policy adviser at the CFPB.\n\n\u201cIf a person in their 20s goes to an ATM at 3 a.m., that\u2019s not going to set off any red flags,\u201d Karp said. \u201cBut if you know this is an 80-year-old person at an assisted living facility \u2026 the alarm should go off.\u201d\n\nFederal bank regulators in 2013 issued guidance assuring the institutions they supervise that they won\u2019t run afoul of privacy laws by reporting suspicious activity related to financial abuse of elderly adults.\n\nSome of this monitoring seems like common sense. But some anti-abuse measures have met with serious friction in Washington\u2014none more so than the \"fiduciary rule,\" a regulation adopted by the Obama administration in April 2016 for brokers who offer retirement investing advice.\n\nLEFT: A woman embraces her father, who was a victim of financial fraud. He goes only by Mr. W. in public, fearful of being targeted for fraud again. RIGHT: Mr. W testifies at a hearing on scams against the elderly before the Senate Special Committee on Aging in 2014. | AP Photos\n\nThe product of six years of debate with the financial industry, it would have regulated advisers more like doctors or lawyers, by exposing them to the threat of litigation if they put their own interests ahead of their clients.\n\nThe rule was strongly backed by the AARP, which says the fiduciary rule will protect seniors from hidden fees buried in investment products. But financial companies fought hard to stop it and the threat to their sales; amid intense lobbying, Trump signed an executive order in February that asked the Labor Department to review the rule.\n\nBut with Washington now on the sidelines, states are plowing ahead with their own such regulations. In June, Connecticut and Nevada passed laws that created statewide fiduciary rules for brokers. Other states are considering similar legislation.\n\nThose are hitting friction too: The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, one of the largest lobbying groups for financial companies, has opposed legislation modeled after NASAA\u2019s proposal in Alabama and Louisiana; it wants the job to fall to Wall Street\u2019s self-regulator, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. A FINRA rule that goes into effect in February will require brokers to stop cash disbursements to a senior if financial abuse is suspected.\n\n\u201cThe states probably are going forward because they want to show they are engaged on this issue,\u201d said Lisa Bleier, a managing director at SIFMA. But now with the FINRA rule, she argues, \u201cthere is really no need.\u201d\n\nNASAA\u2019s members aren't sure a voluntary industry rule offers seniors the protection they need. Ultimately, as long as seniors are isolated, they\u2019re going to be vulnerable\u2014and given the ambitions of scammers at every level, seniors will likely need more than one layer of protection.\n\n\u201cI grew up in a small town in northern Maine,\u201d said Shaw, the state\u2019s securities administrator. \u201cIf my great-grandparents needed something they could turn to my grandparents, or my parents, or my aunts or uncles. Those types of communities are becoming more and more rare.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat social isolation contributes to making our population more vulnerable, certainly to scam artists, because they just sit there and answer the phone all day,\u201d she said. \u201cIf I had one wish, it would be that we all call our parents at least as frequently as the scam artists do.\u201d\n\nVictoria Guida and Patrick Temple-West are financial services reporters for POLITICO Pro.\n\nAuthors:", "output": "The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention might be best known for its efforts to combat obesity, or Zika, or the H1N1 flu virus. But last year, it drew new attention to a hazard that doesn\u2019t sound like a disease at all.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Novartis gene therapy drug treatment may cost $1.5m \n Liz Szabo\n\nKaiser Health News\n\nThe total costs of the country\u2019s first gene therapy will be far higher than many have imagined, reaching $1 million or more per patient, according to leading cancer experts.\n\nThe therapy, a leukemia drug from Novartis called Kymriah, was approved in August with an eye-popping sticker price of $475,000 for a one-time treatment.\n\nBut that price doesn\u2019t include other essential parts of treatment, such as hospitalizations or the costs of managing side effects, said Dr. Hagop Kantarjian, a leukemia specialist and professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, who estimates the total cost of care could be $1.5 million.\n\nAnd Kymriah is just one of 21 similar drugs in development, known as CAR T-cell therapies. The next drug in the pipeline could be approved as soon as November.\n\nAlthough Kymriah\u2019s price tag has \u201cshattered oncology drug pricing norms,\u201d the drug cost is \u201cjust the starting point,\u201d said Leonard Saltz, chief of gastrointestinal oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.\n\nFor this class of drugs, Saltz advised consumers to \u201cthink of the $475,000 as parts, not labor.\u201d\n\nCAR T-cell therapy is expensive because of the unique way that it works. Doctors harvest patients\u2019 immune cells, genetically alter them to rev up their ability to fight cancer, then re-infuse them into patients.\n\nTaking the brakes off the immune system can lead to life-threatening complications that require lengthy hospitalizations and expensive medications, Kantarjian said, which are prescribed in addition to conventional cancer therapy, rather than in place of it.\n\nKeith Eaton, a Seattle oncologist, said he ran up medical bills of $500,000 when he participated in a clinical trial of CAR T cells in 2013, even though all patients in the study received the medication for free. Eaton, who suffered from leukemia, spent nearly two months in the hospital.\n\nLike Eaton, nearly half of patients who receive CAR T cells develop a severe or life-threatening complication called \u201ccytokine storm,\u201d in which the immune system overreacts, causing dangerously high fevers and sudden drops in blood pressure. These patients are typically treated in the intensive care unit. Other serious side effects include stroke-like symptoms and coma.\n\nThe cytokine storm felt like \u201cthe worst flu of your life,\u201d said Eaton, now 51. His fever spiked so high that a hospital nurse assumed the thermometer was broken. Eaton replied, \u201cIt\u2019s not broken. My temperature is too high to register on the thermometer.\u201d\n\nAlthough Eaton recovered, he wasn\u2019t done with treatment. His doctors recommended a bone-marrow transplant, another harrowing procedure, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars.\n\nEaton said he feels fortunate to be healthy today; tests show no evidence of leukemia. His insurer paid for almost everything.\n\nMore:Revolutionary gene therapy approved for leukemia \u2014 at $475,000 price tag\n\nMore:'Major advance': Leukemia treatment could be first U.S. gene therapy\n\nKymriah\u2019s sticker price is especially \u201coutrageous\u201d given its relatively low manufacturing costs, said Walid Gellad, co-director of the Center for Pharmaceutical Policy and Prescribing at the University of Pittsburgh.\n\nThe gene therapy process used to create Kymriah costs about $15,000, according to a 2012 presentation by Carl June, who pioneered CAR T-cell research at the University of Pennsylvania. June could not be reached for comment.\n\nTo quell unrest about price, Novartis has offered patients and insurers a new twist on the money-back guarantee.\n\nNovartis will charge for the drug only if patients go into remission within one month of treatment. In a key clinical trial, 83% of the children and young adults treated with Kymriah went into remission within three months. Novartis calls the plan \u201coutcomes-based pricing.\u201d\n\nNovartis is \u201cworking through the specific details\u201d of how the pricing plan will affect the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which pays for care for many cancer patients, company spokeswoman Julie Masow said. \u201cThere are many hurdles\u201d to this type of pricing plan, but \u201cNovartis is committed to making this happen,\u201d she said.\n\nMasow said Kymriah\u2019s manufacturing costs are much higher than $15,000, although she didn\u2019t cite a specific dollar amount. She noted that Novartis has invested heavily in the technology, designing \u201can innovative manufacturing facility and process specifically for cellular therapies.\u201d\n\nAs for Kymriah-related hospital and medication charges, \u201ccosts will vary from patient to patient and treatment center to treatment center, based on the level of care each patient requires,\u201d Masow said. \u201cKymriah is a one-time treatment that has shown remarkable early, deep and durable responses in these children who are very sick and often out of options.\u201d\n\nSome doctors said Kymriah, which could be used by about 600 patients a year, offers an incalculable benefit for desperately ill young people. Kymriah is approved for children and young adults with a type of acute lymphoblastic leukemia and already have been treated with at least two other cancer therapies.\n\n\u201cA kid\u2019s life is priceless,\u201d said Michelle Hermiston, director of pediatric immunotherapy at UCSF Benioff Children\u2019s Hospital San Francisco. \u201cAny given kid has the potential to make financial impacts over a lifetime that far outweigh the cost of their cure. From this perspective, every child in my mind deserves the best curative therapy we can offer.\u201d\n\nOther cancer doctors say the Novartis plan is no bargain.\n\nAbout 36% of patients who go into remission with Kymriah relapse within one year, said Vinay Prasad, an assistant professor of medicine at Oregon Health & Science University. Many of these patients will need additional treatment, said Prasad, who wrote a recent editorial about Kymriah\u2019s price in Nature.\n\n\u201cIf you\u2019ve paid half a million dollars for drugs and half a million dollars for care, and a year later your cancer is back, is that a good deal?\u201d asked Saltz, who co-wrote a recent editorial on Kymriah\u2019s price in JAMA.\n\nSteve Miller, chief medical officer for Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefit manager, said it would be more fair to judge Kymriah\u2019s success after six months of treatment, rather than one month.\n\nPrasad goes even further. He said Novartis should issue refunds for any patient whose leukemia relapses within three years.\n\nA consumer advocate group called Patients for Affordable Drugs also has said that Kymriah costs too much, given that the federal government spent more than $200 million over two decades to support the basic research into CAR T-cell therapy, long before Novartis bought the rights.\n\nRep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, wrote a letter to the Medicare program\u2019s director last month asking for details on how the Novartis payment deal will work.\n\n\u201cAs Big Pharma continues to put price gouging before patient access, companies will point more and more proudly at their pricing agreements,\u201d Doggett wrote. \u201cBut taxpayers deserve to know more about how these agreements will work \u2014 whether they will actually save the government money, defray these massive costs and ensure that they can access lifesaving medications.\u201d\n\nKaiser Health News, a non-profit health newsroom whose stories appear in news outlets nationwide, is an editorially independent part of the Kaiser Family Foundation.", "output": "Leukaemia patients taking Kymriah, a gene therapy drug developed by Novartis, could face total costs of $1.5m. The drug costs\u00a0around $15,000 to manufacture. The one-time treatment costs $475,000, but dealing with side-effects incurs additional charges, said\u00a0Dr. Hagop Kantarjian.\u00a0More than one-third of Kymriah users relapse within a year.\u00a0Novartis said it is working on an \"outcomes-based pricing\" plan, and won't charge for the drug if patients go into remission within the first month of treatment.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian fintech firms pitching to create tokenised AUD \n Last month, a consortium of Japanese banks \u2014 with the backing of that country's central bank and regulators \u2014 was reported to be working on a digital currency to launch in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.\n\nThe new J-Coin would be exchanged at a one-to-one rate to the Japanese yen, and is being created to push a population still very much in love with coins and notes towards a cashless society.\n\nOne of the Australian start-ups that put its case forward, Sydney's FlashFX, is the first company in the country to be granted a financial services licence to move money internationally using blockchain.\n\nFor this purpose, the business now issues its own digital representation of the Australian dollar \u2014 but said an official cryptocurrency would have in-built trust that no privately launched digital dollar could ever match.\n\n\"A government-endorsed digital Australian dollar has the potential to lead to increased trust and certainty, particularly to grow the digital currency marketplace,\" said FlashFX chief enabling officer Nicolas Steiger.\n\n\"It would also stop multiple private parties creating a confusing array of 'Australian dollars' with no official backing.\"\n\nAdvertisement\n\nFor similar purposes, a group of big-name banks are developing a blockchain currency to settle international payments between themselves. The Utility Settlement Coin project, which is aiming to go live by the end of next year, was founded by UBS, BNY Mellon, Deutsche Bank, Santander, NEX and blockchain start-up Clearmatics, with Barclays, CIBC, Credit Suisse, HSBC, MUFG and State Street joining the action in August.\n\nAnother start-up that presented its use-case to the RBA, AgriDigital, uses blockchain to facilitate grain transactions between farmers and buyers. But despite the sophisticated technology, payments still happen outside of the blockchain, using physical money because of the volatility and lack of trust in existing cryptocurrencies among its users.\n\n'Strong and globally competitive'\n\n\"A centrally issued Digital Australian Dollar, backed by fiat [physical] currency, would enable payments to be made between participants in real time and 24/7 along the supply chain,\" said AgriDigital co-founder Emma Weston.\n\n\"It would also put the Australian agricultural technology industry in a strong and globally competitive position.\"\n\nThe third fintech that pleaded the case for the DAD, Othera, uses blockchain to facilitate digital loan contracts, manage their risk and tokenise the repayment cashflow.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nOthera chief executive John Pellew said his company would like to use an official digital Australia dollar to tie payments to the contract blockchain for automated \"immutable record keeping and full audit trail\".\n\n\"Currently to make our technology work we are forced to integrate back into the legacy payment rails of the banking system in order to facilitate and process repayments from borrowers and then forward payments on to the token holders,\" he said.\n\n\"This is a slow and expensive process and does not utilise the built-in capability of the blockchain smart contracts to auto process these repayments\u2026 A DAD would unlock the full potential of our blockchain and smart contract technology.\"\n\nThe Australian government has not publicly mentioned the idea of creating an Australia dollar cryptocurrency, but it has this year made legislative changes to make digital money ownership less burdensome and more mainstream.\n\nIn the May budget, Treasurer Scott Morrison removed the GST on purchases of cryptocurrency, bringing it in line with traditional currencies. Previously, a digital currency user paid GST twice \u2013 first on the purchase of the cryptocurrency, then a second time when spending it on goods and services.\n\nAccording to FinTech Australia, Australia then became one of just \"a handful\" of nations to remove such a double tax from digital currencies.\n\nThen in August, the federal government introduced legislation that will require cryptocurrency exchange businesses be compliant with money laundering and terrorism financing controls. That bill has been referred to the senate's Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee.\n\nBusiness Insider Australia is the media partner for Intersekt, the annual FinTech Australia festival discussing leadership and innovation in the nation's financial technology sector. It begins on October 27 in Melbourne, culminating in the Collab/Collide Summit on November 2 and 3. The Australian digital dollar will be discussed on Blockchain Day on November 1 at the Intersekt fintech festival in Melbourne, as well as at the headline Collab/Collide Summit held on November 2 and 3. You can book tickets at intersektfestival.com.\n\nThis story first appeared in Business Insider. Read it here or follow BusinessInsider Australia on Facebook.\n\nBusinessInsider.com.au", "output": "A group of fintech firms are seeking to create a government-backed Digital Australian Dollar (DAD). Presenting their case to the Reserve Bank of Australia and the federal treasury, the companies argued that a DAD\u00a0pegged to the Australian dollar\u00a0could compete against cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereum. The country's government has not publicly mentioned the idea of creating an Australian cryptocurrency, but has introduced legislative changes to make digital money more mainstream.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "News UK branded-content team uses data to show its ads work \n News UK is taking inspiration from agencies on how to create branded content. In the last year, the publisher\u2019s branded-content arm, Bridge Studio, has worked closely with agencies to build a framework around how it creates content.\n\nMost publishers\u2019 branded-content arms think audience first, rather than through the lens of their own brands. Bridge Studio believes it differentiates itself by overlaying emotion profiles onto the target audience, partly through tools from companies acquired by News UK, like video distribution company Unruly and social news agency Storyful. In the last year, Bridge Studio has started running post-campaign analysis on every campaign to prove the ads work.\n\nBridge Studio\u2019s revenue has increased each quarter in the last year, with 25 percent of revenue now coming from digital, according to Mark Field, director of Bridge Studio. \u201cThat\u2019s more than doubled from the same period last year because our approach is leaning more toward a central idea,\u201d he said. The publisher couldn\u2019t share specific figures.\n\nOver the next few weeks, Bridge Studio is explaining its approach to U.K. agencies to try to show how it can compete in a crowded branded-content arena. It hopes to create more effective work by aligning with the way agencies plan and brief campaigns.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s always been a connection between content and emotion, but we\u2019re connecting that with understanding the user journey,\u201d said Field. \u201cWe can bring layers of data together and proprietary tools to direct the travel of the creative. It\u2019s incumbent on us as content teams not just to create content but to show the client how we got there and give them more confidence this idea will work.\u201d\n\nBridge Studio has access to first-party data from The Sun and The Times of London, data from Unruly\u2019s emotion-tracking tool Pulse, social sentiment data from Storyful, other proprietary tools as well as more easily available data sets like Google Analytics. For a campaign in May for car brand \u0160koda and Omnicom agency Phd, Bridge Studio identified the important emotions in the target audience were knowledge, pride and inspiration.\n\nIt then created The Alternative Rich List, a spin on the Sunday Times\u2019 Rich List, featuring people who were wealthy in non-monetary ways, like a living organ donor. The campaign ran in print, video, online and audio, and because it was published in the Sunday Times\u2019 Rich List, it needed a standard of journalistic integrity, said Field. Post-campaign analysis found a 41 percent uplift in the perception of \u0160koda as an inspiring brand, according to News UK, and 11 percent increase in purchase consideration.\n\nAs demand for branded content has increased, with more brands embedding content in their communications strategies, publishers have spotted additional revenue opportunities and been more vocal about solutions they offer.\n\nWhen Field joined News UK in November 2016 from Trinity Mirror, his responsibility was to restructure and simplify News UK\u2019s branded-content offering. Last year, three areas of News UK\u2019s commercial team \u2014 Method, where commercial journalists worked with advertisers; the campaign management team, consisting of project managers tasked with pricing campaigns; and the creative solutions account management team \u2014 all operated separately. Unsurprisingly, branded content lacked a consistent look and tone, and it sometimes led to overpromising on what campaigns it could deliver, said Field. \u201cWe were thinking very brand-centric internally first, so perhaps not stretching the creative opportunity.\u201d\n\nBesides print and digital, News UK\u2019s portfolio has expanded to include audio after its acquisition of audio media company Wireless Group in September 2016. Field is also in the process of hiring seven people since last year across editorial and strategic planning, an additional fourth area in Bridge Studio\u2019s team, bringing Bridge Studio\u2019s head count to 42.\n\nBridge Studio receives roughly 25 briefs a week, up 25 percent from 12 months ago. This could be due to increased demand in the market, but Bridge Studio appears to be winning more business, too: Field said it\u2019s signing more seven-figure campaign deals, including a 12-month campaign with Barclays bank in March 2017. Bridge Studio works with roughly 50 clients a month, including car brand Kia and Pilgrims Cheese, up 10 percent from last year, although this varies by season.\n\nThe increased competition in the market has put more emphasis on proving ads work, and the need is growing for more longer-term partnerships and repeat clients. \u201cAll media owners say, \u2018We want to work further upstream with agencies,'\u201d said Field. \u201cWe are getting closer to the strategy and to clients directly, but 98 percent of our work is through media agencies; it\u2019s not for us to disintermediate agencies.\u201d\n\nField said the industry as a whole must work together to prove branded content\u2019s effectiveness, as it\u2019s common for no one to win the pitch. \u201cProving the value and worth is what we\u2019re trying to figure out.\u201d", "output": "News UK has restructured its branded-content division, Bridge Studio, to provide a more consistent service to agencies and brands. Mark Field, who joined the division as its director last November, has overseen the reorganisation, bringing together a number of separate teams into one. Bridge has adopted a new approach to its branded content, using data on News UK's audiences and other analysis tools to profile the key emotions of target demographics. It now runs post-campaign analysis on all its campaigns, and will be using the findings to prove to clients that its approach works.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Incumbent insurers trusted more than insurtech firms: Capgemini \n InsurTechs are changing the face of insurance, Capgemini and Efma said, announcing results of a consumer survey last month in which nearly one-third of respondent said they now rely on InsurTechs.\n\nBut while the actual figure\u201431.4 percent of more than 8,000 consumers surveyed worldwide\u2014represents customers who said they rely on InsurTechs either exclusively or in combination with incumbent relationships to access insurance services, other survey results\u2014in particular, an answer to a question about trust\u2014point to the value of incumbent insurers working together with insurers.\n\nNearly 40 percent of the customers surveyed\u201439.8 percent to be exact\u2014say they trust their insurers, compared to only 26.3 percent who trust InsurTechs, Capgemini and Efma said in the 2017 World Insurance Report, published in mid-September.\n\nIn addition to their customer trust advantage, insurance firms got higher marks for security and fraud protection (according to 45.9 percent of respondents), brand recognition (43.7 percent) and personal interaction (41.6 percent).\n\nInsurTechs, on the other hand, offer better value for the money (34.6 percent) than incumbents, they are better able to integrate social networking with the financial world (32.3 percent) and they provide timely and efficient service (31.8 percent).\n\nIn fact, in a statement announcement the report, Capgemini and Efma define InsurTech as \u201cthe application of technology to spur savings and efficiency within traditional insurance industry models. \u201cInsurTech explores innovations such as customized policies, social insurance, and using data from mobile devices to dynamically price premiums,\u201d they say.\n\nGiven the complementary strengths of InsurTechs and traditional insurers, the two are natural partners, the report authors assert. Jack Dugan, Executive Vice President and Head of Insurance for Capgemini, said, \u201cIncreasingly, partnerships are being viewed as a welcome development in the ongoing effort to address the InsurTech movement. InsurTechs can help incumbents overcome roadblocks such as aging systems and paper-based processes. Meanwhile, incumbents can help InsurTechs face newcomer challenges like high customer-acquisition costs and a lack of risk management experience.\u201d\n\nInsurers agree that InsurTechs shouldn\u2019t be viewed as competitors but that there is a solid case for collaboration instead, the report notes, presenting the results of a separate survey of 100 senior executives to support the idea. Of the executives interviewed from insurance firms in 15 markets, a strong majority\u201475 percent\u2014said that developing InsurTech capabilities would help them better meet customers\u2019 evolving demands. And more than half\u201452.7 percent\u2014agreed that having InsurTech capabilities would help them quickly design personalized products.\n\nExecutives interviewed were also asked to how insurers should prioritize investments in six emerging technologies.\n\n82.8 percent, identified advanced analytics as an important technology, and 85 percent said they felt insurers were already investing in analytics\n\nas an important technology, and 85 percent said they felt insurers were already investing in analytics 72.4 percent selected connected devices (connected ecosystems and wearables). But here, only half said insurers are already investing in connected systems, with about 36.4 percent expecting the insurance industry to invest in this type of technology in the next one-to-three years.\n\n(connected ecosystems and wearables). But here, only half said insurers are already investing in connected systems, with about 36.4 percent expecting the insurance industry to invest in this type of technology in the next one-to-three years. 69 percent put artificial intelligence on their lists of important emerging technologies, but here again, executives believed industry investments are still to come. Only 36.4 percent said the insurance industry is already investing in AI, while another 45.5 percent said investments will happen in the next three years.\n\nAs for the other technologies that Capgemini and Efma asked about, the executives estimated that 79 percent of insurers are already investing in robotic process automation, with just over 63 percent identifying RPA as important.\n\nBlockchain and drones were cited as the least important of the six emerging technologies.", "output": "While almost a third of consumers are making use of insurtech services, traditional insurers are still trusted more than start-ups, according to a survey from Capgemini. Almost 40% of consumers trust insurance companies, compared to just 26% trusting insurtech firms, according to the survey. Established insurers also scored higher than insurtech companies when it came to dealing with issues such as fraud protection.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurance license delays Yungfeng's acquisition of MassMutual \n Yunfeng says its YouYu Robo Advisor has so far signed partnerships with 15 asset managers including investment giants BlackRock, Pimco and AXA", "output": "Yungfeng, the financial services firm backed by Alibaba's Jack Ma, will have to wait until at least Q3 2018 to close out its acquisition of MassMutual's Asian arm in a deal worth $1.7bn. While the business has obtained most of the licenses it needs to offer a full suite of financial services, it is still waiting to be granted an insurance license from Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission. Yungfeng already offers robo-advice services, and has partnerships with the likes of BlackRock, Pimco and Axa. It plans to offer insurance products following the awarding of the license. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Advertisers now spend more on online video ads than banner ads \n Advertisers spent a record \u00a314m more on video ads than banner ads for the first time this year, as video advertising grew by 46% to become the fastest-growing ad format in the industry, according to the latest Digital Adspend report by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) UK and PwC.\n\nAdvertisers spent more on video ads than banner ads for the first time this year\n\nIn the first half of 2017, advertisers spent \u00a3699m on video ads \u2013 a 46% year-on-year rise \u2013 whilst spend on banner ads increased by just under 2% to \u00a3685m.\n\nVideo is the fastest-growing ad format and now accounts for 35% of all spend going on display advertising.\n\nThe figures show that advertisers are chasing the way that consumers are spending their time online, with Zenith's Online Video Forecasts 2017 predicting Brits will watch 20.3 minutes of online video this year, nearly double the amount from last year. This number rises to as much as one hour a day consuming online video according to eMarketer predictions.\n\nYouGov data claims the time people spend watching short video clips has almost trebled over the last three years (Sept 2014 to Sept 2017): from 51 minutes to 2 hrs 21 minutes per week.\n\nThe IAB\u2019s chief executive Jon Mew said: \u201cThe time people spend watching online video has grown tremendously over the last few years, so it\u2019s little wonder that video is now the fastest-growing ad format as advertisers look to tap into the changing way people consume content.\u201d\n\nWithin video advertising, spend on outstream/social in-feed nearly doubled and is now the most popular format, accounting for 52% of video spend (\u00a3363m), overtaking pre-and post-roll ads which account for 44% (\u00a3309m).\n\nDave Counsell, digital trading director, the7stars, said: \u201cThere\u2019s no doubt that video is digital\u2019s most important and powerful format. Growth in online consumption, improvements in measurement, quality of placements, targeting and creativity are now available alongside its unrivalled effectiveness. It\u2019s an extremely exciting time to witness the strong results video is providing for advertisers.\u201d\n\nDisplay advertising as a whole grew 18% to \u00a32 billion, whilst search grew 15% to \u00a32.8 billion and classifieds remained flat at \u00a3692m. Thus, overall digital ad spend grew 13.8% to \u00a35.56bn in the first half of 2017.\n\nWith half of UK internet time now being spent on smartphones, mobile\u2019s share of digital ad spend has risen from 35% to 43%, or \u00a32.37 billion. Mobile\u2019s year-on-year growth was 38% and now accounts for 57% of all display ad spend, 70% of video spend and 83% of social media spend.\n\nAd spend on social media sites grew 42% to \u00a31.05 billion, accounting for over half (53%) of the display ad market.", "output": "During H1 2017, advertisers spent more on video ads than banner ads for the first time. Video ads claimed \u00a3699m ($921m) of spend, a rise of 46% on the same period last year, compared with banner ad spend, which increased by 2% to reach \u00a3685m, according to a report by the Internet Advertising Bureau. It revealed overall digital ad spend for the first half of the year rose 13.8% to \u00a35.56bn, and highlighted outstream/social infeed as the most popular form of video ad. Video is growing more quickly than any other format and accounts for 35% of display ad spend.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US's Eagle Prime beats Japan's Kurata in giant robot fight \n Team U.S.A. toppled Japan at the first-ever giant fighting robot showdown.\n\nAmerican robotics company MegaBots and its Japanese rival, Suidobashi Heavy Industries, fought for technological superiority in a battle that was streamed online Tuesday evening.\n\nIn the first round, Suidobashi's Kurata robot effortlessly knocked out an older MegaBots robot with a single punch, giving the Japanese team a decisive edge.\n\nBut the main fight, between the Kurata and MegaBots' new multi-million dollar, massive Eagle Prime, ended in favor of the Americans.\n\nEagle Prime, bigger and heavier than the Kurata, produced a chainsaw that systematically took out the Japanese robot until the match was ended and the winner announced.\n\nThe MegaBots team expressed hope for a formal fighting robot league in the future after the match.", "output": "US and Japanese robot firms went head to head in a battle of the bots recently streamed online, with the US's Eagle Prime emerging victorious against the Kurata robot. The match, which pitted California's\u00a0MegaBots\u00a0 against Japan's Suidobashi Heavy Industries, came two years after the gauntlet had been thrown down by the US company. It is hoped the clash will pave the way for a fighting robot league and the creation of a billion-dollar sport. Eagle Prime\u00a0weighs 11\u00a0tonnes, is 16-foot tall and is powered by a 430hp V8 engine.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Time-based ads appear to have limited success for publishers \n The brand-safety crisis this year has had a number of casualties, from news publishers to content creators who tackle delicate subjects. It may be time to add time-based sales to that list.\n\nA couple years ago, a handful of publishers started pushing the idea of selling ads based on readers\u2019 time rather than impressions as a way of addressing the problem of ads going unseen and ad rates spiraling down. Conferences were held; case studies were touted, arguing that the longer someone stares at an ad, the more they\u2019ll remember it.\n\nTime-based selling\u2019s time hasn\u2019t come, though. The Economist, one of its early proponents, said time-based ad campaigns aren\u2019t growing for the publisher. The Economist expects to sell around 20 campaigns this year, said Paul Rossi, president of The Economist Group, which is about the same number it sold in 2016.\n\n\u201cThe time-based thing came out of a time when ad blocking, viewability was the conversation,\u201d Rossi said. \u201cToday, the conversation is about trust and brand-safety environments. The conversation has moved on. Viewability got solved when big buyers started to put in minimum requirements.\u201d\n\nThe Financial Times, the other publisher that has been at the forefront of time-based selling, gave a rosier outlook. The FT said it\u2019s sold 22 years of audience attention this way, with a lot of that being repeat business, said Jon Slade, chief commercial officer for the FT.\n\n\u201cDemand remains very positive, particularly as clients are given increasing reasons from the broader ecosystem to doubt the quality of digital advertising,\u201d Slade said via email.\n\nA third publisher that tried time-based sales, the Guardian, said it\u2019s still evaluating the results of a pilot campaign it ran as it decides how to move forward.\n\nNot all agree that brand-safety talk has crowded out time-based sales. Another view is that the brand-safety issue actually makes advertisers more conscious of where they\u2019re placing their ads. It\u2019s just that it\u2019s still new. Time-based selling was never an easy sell because it doesn\u2019t fit the way agencies buy ads.\n\n\u201cIt takes a very specialized sales force to explain the value proposition to an advertiser or agency, which is why it\u2019s tough for a publisher,\u201d said Marc Guldimann, founder and CEO of Parsec, one of a few vendors focused on time-based selling. \u201cIt\u2019s about us telling the story. Anything new, it takes people three or four times hearing about it to resonate.\u201d\n\nParsec buys mobile inventory from publishers including Time Inc., Dow Jones and USA Today and resells it based on time to advertisers including Dell, Dodge and McDonald\u2019s, sharing the revenue with the publisher. It\u2019s sold 200 campaigns in the past two years, with the number roughly doubling in the second year, and its staff has nearly tripled to 36 people, Guldimann said. But the dollar amount the campaigns represent is just over $10 million, which is a drop in the bucket in the scheme of things. Parsec was behind one of the attention conferences held last year; this year, it\u2019s focused its energy on making presentations directly to agencies.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s still pretty nascent,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of work left to do.\u201d\n\nThe idea that publishers would start to charge on time spent with their content was driven by publishers trying to wring more revenue from their offerings rather than loud demand from advertisers or brands, said Maikel O\u2019Hanlon, vp of social media strategy and relationship marketing at Horizon Media.\n\n\u201cAs such, the traction has been slow to nonexistent because you need both sides recognizing value in such a paradigm,\u201d he said.", "output": "Time-based ads, which are sold on the basis of how long they will be viewed, are prompting some publishers to reconsider their use. Paul Rossi, the president of the Economist Group's media businesses, said campaigns using the ad form haven't grown since 2016, while the Guardian is evaluating the results of a pilot. In contrast, the Financial Times is bullish about time-based ads. Marc Guldimann, the CEO of Parsec, a time-based ads seller, said: \"It takes a very specialised sales force to explain the value proposition to an advertiser or agency, which is why it\u2019s tough for a publisher.\"\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Netflix content spending could reach $8bn next year \n Netflix will spend between $7 billion and $8 billion on content in 2018, up from the roughly $6 billion it will spend this year, the streaming service said while announcing its third-quarter earnings on Monday.\n\nNetflix added 5.3 million subscribers in the quarter, surpassing expectations, and had revenue of nearly $3 billion, a 30 percent increase from the same period last year. The company also saw its net income rise to $130 million, well over last year\u2019s third quarter total of $52 million but short of the $143 million that Wall Street expected.\n\nIn after-hours trading, Netflix\u2019s shares inched up 1.2 percent, just days after its stock surpassed $200 for the first time.\n\nNetflix now has 104 million paid subscribers, and saw the bulk of its third-quarter growth come from international markets, which accounted for 4.5 million of its new subscriptions.", "output": "TV streaming service Netflix will spend between $7bn and $8bn on original programming next year, including movies, as it seeks to stay ahead of rivals such as Hulu and Disney. In a Q3 2017 earnings announcement, Netflix revealed much of its third-quarter growth came from international markets, which made up 4.5 million of its 5.3 million additional subscribers in the period. The firm also reported revenues of $3bn, up 30% from Q3 2016, and net income of $130m, which, although short of Wall Street's predicted $143m, was far above the $52m from the same period last year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Robot surgeon performs intricate cuts better than a human \n One day, this machine might slice into you.\n\nCalled Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (STAR), the semi-autonomous device uses a near-infrared camera to constantly monitor how predefined marks on tissue move in relation to its cutting tool, according to IEEE Spectrum. That allows it to make particularly accurate incisions by readjusting as it goes. While STAR needs the marks to be placed by a human, it takes care of the cutting by itself.\n\nArmed with an electrosurgical tool, which uses electrical currents rather than a scalpel blade to cut tissue, it can deftly slice through skin, fat, and muscle. In fact, in experiments presented at a recent conference, STAR was able to make more accurate (and less damaging) straight two-inch cuts than human surgeons, and it accurately excised a fake tumor from a chunk of pig fat.\n\nThis isn\u2019t STAR\u2019s first rodeo, though. Last year, the team behind it also showed that it was able to stitch together soft tissue with a needle and thread in order to repair pig bowels more accurately than human doctors. All of which suggests that STAR\u2019s path to the OR might not be quite as far-fetched as it initially sounds.", "output": "The team behind the Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (Star) have demonstrated how the semi-autonomous device can cut more accurately than a human surgeon. Star combines a near-infrared camera that monitors how marks move when its electrosurgical cutting tool makes incisions, allowing it to readjust as it works. In a recent experiment at a conference, Star outperformed its human counterparts by making straight and less damaging two-inch cuts. Last year, the team behind the robot demonstrated its ability to suture a pig bowel. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cushman & Wakefield sees 34 new\u00a0malls opening in India by 2020 \n International property consultancy firm Cushman & Wakefield estimates that India will see close to 34 new malls by 2020 in the top eight (Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderaqbad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune) Indian cities.\n\nHyderabad with 11 new malls will see the highest construction by 2020 while Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru are likely to add eight and six new malls respectively. At about 13.6 million square feet (msf), the new supply will add about 20 per cent to the available mall inventory in these cities.\n\nRise in demand The retail sector has been encouraged by an upward trend in mall space leasing, which was up by 55 per cent during January\u2013September 2017, recorded at 2.3 msf. New supply for the same period saw a year\u2013on\u2013year (y-o-y) decline of 63 per cent at 1.9 msf.\n\nAnshul Jain, Country Head & Managing Director, India, Cushman & Wakefield, said, \u201cThere is now a regained confidence among developers to pay heed to this sector as investors show greater commitment towards it. An estimated \u20b979.59 billion has been invested by private equity funds in malls between January 2016\u2013September 2017.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow after a prolonged period, slow growth, the retail sector has regained momentum and its trust in traditional brick and mortar retail space acknowledging the role that will play in the future growth of the sector. Increasingly it is understood that retail malls will continue to hold importance as a \u2018destination\u2019 going beyond stores and selling. Consequently, even e-commerce companies are establishing a physical presence through \u2018experience\u2019 stores in many malls and on prominent high streets,\u201d he added.\n\nHyderabad boom Hyderabad will more than double its current mall inventory of under 3 msf to over 6 msf by 2020. The new malls will be spread across the city in areas of Madhapur, Gachibowli, Panjagutta, Begumpet, and Uppal amongst others.\n\nDelhi NCR and Bengaluru will contribute about 4 msf and 3 msf of additional mall spaces respectively. The only city that is not expected to see any change in their current mall scenario will be Ahmedabad where, as of now, there are no new announced projects for malls. Ahmedabad has remained a largely high street mall due to customer preference to remain at their traditional locations for retail activities.", "output": "India's top eight cities, including Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune, are set to see a boom in shopping centres, with around 34 built in the next three years, according to Cushman & Wakefield. The property consultancy firm said the retail sector was bouncing back after a slowdown in growth, with even e-commerce businesses investing in bricks-and-mortar premises. The new centres will total around 13.6 million sq ft and follow a 55% uptick in mall leasing between January and September.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Icelandic plant captures CO2 from air and turns it into stone \n There\u2019s a colorless, odorless, and largely benign gas that humanity just can\u2019t get enough of. We produce 40 trillion kg of carbon dioxide each year, and we\u2019re on track to cross a crucial emissions threshold that will cause global temperature rise to pass the dangerous 2\u00b0C limit set by the Paris climate agreement.\n\nBut, in hushed tones, climate scientists are already talking about a technology that could pull us back from the brink. It\u2019s called direct-air capture, and it consists of machines that work like a tree does, sucking carbon dioxide (CO2) out from the air, but on steroids\u2014capturing thousands of times more carbon in the same amount of time, and, hopefully, ensuring we don\u2019t suffer climate catastrophe.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThere are at least two reasons that, to date, conversations about direct air capture have been muted. First, climate scientists have hoped global carbon emissions would come under control, and we wouldn\u2019t need direct air capture. But most experts believe that ship has sailed. That brings up the second issue: to date, all estimates suggest direct air capture would be exorbitantly expensive to deploy.\n\nFor the past decade, a group of entrepreneurs\u2014partly funded by billionaires like Bill Gates of Microsoft, Edgar Bronfman Jr. of Warner Music, and the late Gary Comer of Land\u2019s End\u2014have been working to prove those estimates wrong. Three companies\u2014Switzerland\u2019s Climeworks, Canada\u2019s Carbon Engineering, and the US\u2019s Global Thermostat\u2014are building machines that, at reasonable costs, can capture CO2 directly from the air. (A fourth company, Kilimanjaro Energy, closed shop due to a lack of funding.)\n\nOver the past year, I\u2019ve been tracking the broader field of carbon capture and storage, which aims to capture emissions from sources such as power plants and chemical factories. Experts in the field look at these direct-air-capture entrepreneurs as the rebellious kids in the class. Instead of going after the low-hanging fruit, one expert told me, these companies are taking moonshots\u2014and setting themselves up for failure.\n\nClimeworks just proved the cynics wrong. On Oct. 11, at a geothermal power plant in Iceland, the startup inaugurated the first system that does direct air capture and verifiably achieves negative carbon emissions. Although it\u2019s still at pilot scale\u2014capturing only 50 metric tons CO2 from the air each year, about the same emitted by a single US household or 10 Indian households\u2014it\u2019s the first system to convert the emissions into stone, thus ensuring they don\u2019t escape back into the atmosphere for the next millions of years.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nDefying physics?\n\nThe impossibility of direct air capture can be illustrated by simple physics. Imagine if you were allowed to eat as many M&M\u2019s as you wanted\u2014as long as you only eat red ones. If in a bag of M&M\u2019s there was one red M&M for every 10 pieces of candy, it would be easy to find them and eat them with glee. But imagine if the concentration fell to one in every 2,500. You might give up searching for even a single M&M.\n\nAt a coal-power plant, the exhaust flue gas contains about 10% carbon dioxide (i.e., about one in 10 gas molecules are CO2). Capturing the greenhouse gas at these relatively high concentrations requires less energy than capturing it from the air, where it is present at just 0.04% concentration (about one in 2,500 gas molecules). A 2011 report from the American Physical Society estimated that it may cost between $600 and $1,000 per metric ton of CO2 captured from the air. Capturing it at the source\u2014at a coal-burning plant, for example\u2014could cost less than one-tenth of that.\n\nBut air capture still matters. First, we currently don\u2019t have any possible way to deal with CO2 released by cars, ships, and planes. Second, because we are on track to emit more CO2 than we need to keep under the 2\u00b0C limit, we likely need a means of sucking back up some of that extra greenhouse gas.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nConsider the chart below. It shows our historical emissions and then projects emission targets required to hit climate goals. Sadly, however, \u201capproximate emission pledges\u201d made under the Paris climate agreement show our emissions increasing, when they should be decreasing (following the trajectory shown in red on the chart).\n\nMost systems to capture CO2 depend on a process called \u201creversible absorption.\u201d The idea is to run a mixture of gases (air being the prime example) over a material that selectively absorbs CO2. Then, in a separate process, that material is manipulated to pull the CO2 out of it. The separated CO2 can then be compressed and injected underground. Typically there\u2019s a limited supply of the absorbing material, so it will get put through the cycle once again to capture more of the greenhouse gas.\n\nClimeworks and Global Thermostat have piloted systems in which they coat plastics and ceramics, respectively, with an amine, a type of chemical that can absorb CO2. Carbon Engineering uses a liquid system, with calcium oxide and water. The companies say it\u2019s too early in the development of these technologies to predict what costs will be at scale. \u201cIt\u2019s like if you asked someone in 1960 what the cost of commercial rockets would be today,\u201d says David Keith of Carbon Engineering. What they are willing to share are cost targets.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nJan Wurzbacher, Climeworks\u2019s director, says it hopes to bring costs down to about $100 per metric ton of carbon dioxide. That\u2019s close to the price Carbon Engineering is targeting, according to Geoffrey Holmes, the company\u2019s business development manager. Peter Eisenberger, co-founder of Global Thermostat, says their technology will be even cheaper: when scaled up, he says, costs will drop to as low as $50 per metric ton. (Intriguingly, the startup\u2019s projected capture cost seems to be inversely proportional to the money each says it has raised: about $15 million in private investment for Climeworks and Carbon Engineering, and $50 million for Global Thermostat.)\n\nEach of the startups has built a functional pilot plant to prove their technology, with the ability to capture hundreds of kg of CO2. And all boast that their tech is modular, meaning they can build a direct air capture plant as small or large as somebody is ready to pay for. Even at $50 per metric ton of capturing emissions, if we have to capture as much as 10 billion metric tons by 2050, we are looking at spending $500 billion each year capturing carbon dioxide from the air. It seems outrageous, but it may not be if climate change\u2019s other damages are put in perspective\u2014and that\u2019s what these startups are betting on.\n\nGlobal Thermostat\u2019s pilot plant in Stanford Research Institute in Palo Alto was sitting idle when I visited it. Carbon Engineering is waiting to build out the technology more\u2014including the ability to convert captured CO2 into fuels\u2014before it starts scaling up its business. Only Climeworks has been able to show success in commercial applications.\n\nIn May this year, Climeworks set up its first commercial unit near Zurich, Switzerland, capturing about 1,000 metric tons of CO2 from the air each year (equivalent to 20 US households\u2019 annual emissions). The captured CO2 is supplied to a nearby greenhouse, where a high concentration of the gas boosts crop yield by 20%.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBut the company\u2019s newest installation in Iceland is even more impressive, because it\u2019s the first true \u201cnegative emissions\u201d plant.\n\nBuried once and for all\n\nTo build it, Climeworks first needed a \u201ccarbon-neutral\u201d power plant. They found one in Hellisheidi, Iceland, where the public utility company Reykjavik Energy runs a geothermal power plant. The Hellisheidi plant, about 15 miles (25 km) southeast from the capital Reykjavik, uses naturally occurring heat from a volcanically active region to produce electricity and heat, by pumping water through an underground network of pipes. As the water travels underground, it heats up and turns into steam which can be used to run turbines. The plant produces about 300 MW of electricity (enough to power 200,000 American households) and about 130 MW of heat.\n\nThough geothermal is a clean energy source, the process of recovering heat releases gases\u2014a mixture of carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and hydrogen. It\u2019s not a massive amount of CO2\u2014for each unit of energy produced, a geothermal plant produces 3% of the carbon emissions of a coal-fired power plant\u2014but it\u2019s still something.\n\nIn 2014, Reykjavik Energy along with the help of academics in the US, Europe, and Iceland, formed a project called CarbFix to test technology to get rid of the small amount of gases it does produce. And since the Paris climate agreeement, the utility company has been ramping up its emissions-reduction efforts to help Iceland reach its country-wide goals.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nInstead of using reversible absorption, CarbFix uses Iceland\u2019s plentiful natural resources to capture carbon dioxide. Every time you open a can of soda, you are drinking dissolved CO2 in water. The Hellisheidi plant works on a similar principle. When the gases released from geothermal vents are mixed with water, they get absorbed ever so slightly. The mixture\u201427 kg of fresh water for each kg of CO2\u2014is then injected 700 meters underground.\n\nIn a 2016 study, scientists found that the carbon dioxide in these water mixtures was reacting with Iceland\u2019s vast basaltic rock\u2014dark igneous rock usually found under ocean floors\u2014to form minerals. This process usually takes hundreds or thousands of years, but what was surprising in Iceland was that the mineralization occurred in less than two years. The speed probably has something to do with the unique local geology. Sandstone aquifers\u2014which have been the most well-studied type of rock system when it comes to carbon dioxide-injection systems\u2014react very slowly with CO2. Basalt rock, on the other hand, seems to react much more quickly, likely because of the presence of metals like iron and aluminum.\n\nThe study showed, for the first time, that storing carbon dioxide underground is easier and safer than it has been made out to be. Once locked into the minerals, the carbon dioxide cannot enter the atmosphere for millions of years. Better still, this sort of basalt rock is present in large deposits around the world\u2014enough to take in many decades of fossil-fuel emissions, direct air capture, and more.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nOver the past three years, more than 18,000 metric tons of CO2 have been injected into the ground as part of the project, according to Edda Arad\u00f3ttir, a CarbFix geologist. Moreover, they\u2019ve been able to do it for less than $30 per metric ton of CO2.\n\nWorld-saving technology\n\nThis month, Climeworks installed a unit that captures carbon dioxide directly from the air and transfers it to CarbFix to inject underground. Because CarbFix has been monitoring the injection sites for the last three years, they can be sure there will be no leakage. And once mineralized, the CO2 will remain trapped for thousands or millions of years. This makes the Climeworks-CarbFix system the world\u2019s first verified \u201cnegative emissions\u201d plant.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n(A chemical plant in Chicago, where Archer Daniels Midland ferments corn to produce ethanol, claims to be a negative-emissions plant. The company says that because corn consumes CO2 to grow in the first place, even though fermentation releases CO2, it is carbon neutral\u2014simply returning what it took from nature. If you then capture and inject those emissions underground, you could technically consider it negative emissions. But experts haven\u2019t yet run the numbers to verify Archer Daniels Midland\u2019s claim.)\n\nClimeworks says it is now looking to customers who want to buy their way into programs that cut their emissions. The delivery company DHL, for example, has committed to reaching zero emissions by 2050. But even if they move their entire road vehicle fleet to run on all electric cars, there is currently no technology to cut emissions from the airplanes DHL relies on. The hope is that DHL will pay money to Climeworks to bury those excess emissions into the ground.\n\nAcademics used to think that direct air capture would be too expensive for any practical purposes. They still tend to think that for carbon capture and storage more broadly. But what Climeworks and its competitors are showing is that, if direct air capture can be made cheap enough for there to be commercial interest, then the economics of carbon capture at point-sources will likely work, too. And if nothing else, the existence of direct air capture gives humanity a high-premium insurance policy against what would surely be a much more expensive disaster.\n\n\ud83c\udf0d Quartz is running a series called The Race to Zero Emissions that addresses the challenges and opportunities of carbon-capture technology. Sign up here to be the first to know when stories are published.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe reporting was supported by a fellowship from the McGraw Center for Business Journalism at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism.", "output": "Icelandic start-up Climeworks has built a carbon capture system that removes CO2 from the air and turns it into stone. Reykjavic Energy's geothermal plant in Hellisheidi uses similar technology to the CarbFix system,\u00a0taking CO2,\u00a0mixing\u00a0it with water,\u00a0then injecting\u00a0it 700 meters underground, where it reacts with basaltic rock and forms minerals. Direct air capture has historically been considered as\u00a0too expensive to be practical.\u00a0However, Climeworks shows that if capturing direct air could be made cheap enough to become commercially\u00a0viable, then the economics could work."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Blockchain-backed insurance policy market in development \n fidentiaX is in the developmental phase of creating a blockchain-backed market for tradeable insurance policies. By basing this on blockchain technology it hopes to disrupt the insurance status quo \u2013 by empowering policyholders to monetise policies. fidentiaX will focus on building its operations within Asia before executing an global expansion strategy. In Asia, its key countries are Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore.\n\nWith its base in Singapore, fidentiaX will promote its concept by setting up the \u2018fidentiaX Open Source Foundation\u2019 (fSOF). The Foundation\u2019s obkective will be to promote the embracing of blockchain technology by the insurance industry.\n\nThe tradeable insurance opportunity\n\nIn 2016 alone, the OECD estimated the market size for insurance premiums in the 40 OECD reporting countries as being >US$3.8 trillion. The expectation is that Asia will be the fastest-growing market for life insurance, with an estimated real annual compounded growth rate of >10%.\n\nBut the tradable insurance market possesses many inefficiencies. These include:\n\nlack of awareness: in general policyholders are unaware that policies are tradeable assets which could be sold in the open market (in 2015, out of the US$112 billion worth of policies surrendered in the U.S., 250K policies worth US$57B had the potential for resale).\n\nno recognizable marketplaces: the lack of any makes it challenging (if not impossible) for sellers and buyers to connect\n\ndependency on third parties: on the rare occasions when sellers and buyers connect, both parties often need to place trust in a \u2018middleman\u2019 to complete the transaction.\n\nThe fidentiaX marketplace and how it might work\n\nfidentiaX\u2019s marketplace have a membership-model. It will promote an ecosystem focusing on key stakeholders. It intends to provide the following services:\n\npolicy ledger: this will break traditional reliance on intermediaries, by creating a digital ledger for policyholders\n\ntrustless marketplace: the platform for buyers and sellers to connect and trade policies via a blockchain.\n\nHow might this work? Consider the following steps:\n\nList: Policyholders looking to extract value from tradeable insurance policies will submit the policies to the fidentiaX blockchain-powered platform, thereby gaining access to buyers on the platform; buyers can then browse and select policies which meet their investment objectives\n\nOffer: interested buyers will complete relevant documentation and deposit funds on the platform; sellers will receive notification that funds are secure; the relevant documentation will communicate between both parties\n\nSubmit: the seller, armed with the assurance that funds are in-place, approaches the insurance company to effect the transfer of policy to the new owner; this will deliver to the seller documentary proof that policy has transferred\n\nComplete: sellers upload this documentary proof of the transfer onto fidentiaX blockchain whereupon verification occurs; After this verification, the documentation goes to the buyer and the funds releases to the seller (which occurs simultaneously).\n\nWhat does this mean?\n\nInsurance policies are notoriously opaque at the best of times. Insurance policy issuance and redemption is even more so. In general, the insurance industry has successfully perpetuated the separation of customers from the value of what those customers buy, except on the issuer\u2019s specific terms. Put another way, it is as if the bank issues a mortgage and then tells you when and to whom you can sell your home.\n\nWhether fidentiaX can succeed is open to question (there are others eyeing the same broad opportunity). It is far too early to tell. What attracts are the twin notions of eliminating middlemen (the estate agents for insurance policies) and opening up an electronic, blockchain-based \u2018arena\u2019 (marketplace) where sellers can find buyers. In the insurance industry this would be revolutionary.\n\nAs Darwin Bayston, President and CEO of LISA (the Life Insurance Settlement Association ) wrote in 2015: \u201cThe number and amount of lapsed life insurance policies by U.S. seniors over age 65 is astounding: more than 250,000 policies with a combined face value of more than $57B are lapsed and surrendered back to life carriers each year. The average face value of those policies is approximately $225,000. And that only includes universal and variable life policies that most people think are best-suited for life settlements. If term life is added, which often includes policies that are also attractive for life settlements, and ordinary life policies, the total exceeds $112B.\u201d\n\nAnd that is in the USA alone.", "output": "Singapore-based start-up fidentiaX is developing an exchange for insurance policies, backed by blockchain. The company's goal is to create a trusted marketplace for policyholders to trade policies without the need for multiple intermediaries to get involved. The company is planning an initial launch of the marketplace in Asia with Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore the targeted jurisdictions."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Octopus's shape-shifting ability inspires soft robotics 'skin' \n Engineers working in a field called soft robotics have taken inspiration from the shape-shifting ways of the octopus to develop a programmable 3D material that can change its appearance.\n\nTheir invention, reported Thursday in the journal Science, could have far-reaching applications ranging from high-tech military camouflage to smart devices that change their interfaces to suit users' needs.\n\n\"If you think about robots today, you think of robots that are hard and made of steel. They're rigid and they dance funny,\" said James Pikul, lead author of the paper, who developed the material with colleague Robert Shepherd at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.\n\nWith projects engineers are working on today, we could one day see robots with soft, human-like skin, or capabilities that allow them to change their shape, said Pikul. \"This is an active field of robotics that's still developing. There's nothing really that's fully been commercialized yet.\"\n\nOne of the challenges in this field is controlling the soft materials, which Pikul likens to trying to compress an inflated balloon into the shape of a cube using only your 10 fingers.\n\nSo, as engineers often do, he said, they looked to nature for some inspiration. This time they found it on the ocean floor.\n\n'They can do all these amazing things'\n\nMarine animals called cephalopods \u2014 a group that includes the octopus and the cuttlefish \u2014 have no skeletal system, yet they're able to swim, crawl, change the texture and colour of their skin and even run along the bottom of the ocean.\n\n\"We were looking at these creatures because they have very similar characteristics as the materials we're looking at but they can do all these amazing things,\" said Pikul, now an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania.\n\nThe two studied the work of leading cephalopod expert Roger Hanlon, a biologist at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Massachusetts, and then reached out to him as a collaborator.\n\nPikul said Hanlon helped them understand the unique surface of the octopus and the cuttlefish, which is dotted with bumps called papillae \u2014 tiny little muscle groups that protrude and retract to help the animals alter their shape to blend in with their surroundings.\n\n\"These are soft-bodied molluscs without a shell,\" said Hanlon in a written statement about the paper, for which he is a co-author. \"Their primary defence is their morphing skin.\"\n\nThe animals can mottle the surface of their bodies to help them hide in sea vegetation, then smooth themselves back out again so they can move swiftly through the water.\n\nNow you see it, now you don't\n\nSo using a balloon-like silicone material \u2014 \"kind of like those Silpats that people bake with\" \u2014 and non-woven fabric usually used for embroidery, the two engineers came up with something that would equally impress your home-ec and shop teachers.\n\nThat silicone material, also known as an elastomer, was layered with rings of the embroidery fabric, which would constrain it as it inflates.\n\nJames Pikul, now an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania, is one of two engineers who developed the material. (James Pikul/University of Pennsylvania)\n\nA computer algorithm then calculated the slope of the desired shape the engineers wished to achieve, and controlled the inflation of the elastomer using the correct amount of air pressure.\n\nWhile this area of research is still new, potential future applications are numerous.\n\n\"One of the things that we're really interested is this idea of vanishing interfaces,\" said Pikul.\n\nConsider the dashboard on your vehicle as one example: \"It's flat, it almost looks like leather and there's not much there,\" he said.\n\n\"If you had the material that we engineered, you could inflate it, and then coming out from that leather could be a joystick that you use to drive your car, or it could be a display. It could be a 3D map \u2026 showing you all the buildings in your city and where you are located, instead of a two-dimensional map.\n\n\"You'd have this cool interface \u2014 and when you don't need it anymore, it disappears and looks like a dashboard again.\"\n\nThe research was supported by the U.S. Army Research Office, which was interested in both the camouflaging capabilities of the material and the potential behind soft robotics in general, said Pikul.", "output": "Engineers from Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania have collaborated with cephalopod expert Roger Hanlon to develop a programmable fabric inspired by octopus and cuttlefish skin, according to an article in Science. The team created a silicone-based elastomer and combined it with non-woven fabric, while an algorithm inflated the elastomer to a size and shape dictated by the team. The project, backed by the US Army Research Office, is still in the early stages but has numerous possible applications, including flexible, adaptable interfaces in cars."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Alphabet starts testing burrito delivery drone in Australia \n Project Wing, the drone delivery initiative of Google-owner Alphabet\u2019s X lab, has partnered with two Australia businesses to further test its technology. In a new blog post published today on Medium, project co-lead James Ryan Burgess detailed the division\u2019s recent progress toward bringing drone delivery to the masses, which has involved working with selected testers in a number of specialized markets. Last year, Wing launched a pilot program with the Virginia Tech thanks to a Federal Aviation Authority-approved partnership with Chipotle.\n\nNow, partnerships with two new businesses \u2014 a Mexican food chain called Guzman y Gomez and pharmacy chain Chemist Warehouse \u2014 mark the first time Wing\u2019s drones will be delivering third-party products in Australia to individual homes. Australia is a more fertile testing ground for drone delivery technology because of its lax regulatory environment, meaning Wing had to deliver to Virginia Tech students last year in a large open field. (Strict FAA regulations, along with leadership changes, have also made it difficult for Wing to secure more partnerships in the US.) The team can now gather valuable data from having its drones maneuver obstacles in real-world neighborhoods in Australia, while delivering burritos and medicine along the way.\n\nProject Wing is now sending drones to people\u2019s individual homes\n\n\u201cThe sensors on our aircraft are responsible for identifying obstacles that might appear during a flight or delivery, like a car parked in an unexpected spot, or outdoor furniture that\u2019s been moved,\u201d writes Burgess. \u201cThe more test deliveries we do, exposing the sensors on our aircraft to new delivery locations, the smarter our aircraft\u2019s algorithms will one day become at picking a safe spot for deliveries.\u201d\n\nWe\u2019re still years away from the vision being chased by both Project Wing and Amazon\u2019s Prime Air. The ultimate goal is to create a robust system that can speed up delivery times and bring near-instant shipping to markets like food and grocery providers and drug and convenience stores. This is crucial for a company like Amazon, which is trying to increase efficiency at all costs and cut out middlemen in its logistics chain. (Amazon is primarily testing its delivery drones in the UK, which is also more accommodating than the US with regards to aircraft regulations.)\n\nA Guzman y Gomez employee preparing to load a Project Wing drone with a food order using a hook and winch system. Photo: Google\n\nFor Alphabet, it\u2019s less clear what the ultimate goal of its drone delivery ambitions are. \u201cThe information we gather from both of these test partners will help us build a system so that merchants of all kinds can focus on what they\u2019re good at \u2014 like making food or helping people feel healthier \u2014 rather than being distracted by complex delivery logistics,\u201d writes Burgess. It\u2019s clear Alphabet wants its technology to play a part in whatever shape unmanned aerial systems do take in the future, perhaps both as a mapping and a drone software play.\n\nStill, to help drone delivery truly takeoff, companies and regulators will need something akin to a federal air traffic control system exclusively for drones, to help pre-planning of routes, avoid collisions, and ensure the relative safety of pedestrians and animals. This could be Alphabet\u2019s eventual goal: creating the software backbone of the air traffic control system for drones.", "output": "Project Wing from Alphabet's X lab is making the most of Australia's looser regulations and is partnering with two businesses to test drone deliveries to people's homes. Partnerships with pharmacy chain Chemist Warehouse and Mexican food outlet Guzman y Gomez in Australia followed Project Wing's tie-up with Chipotle in the US last year. \"The more test deliveries we do, exposing the sensors on our aircraft to new delivery locations, the smarter our aircraft\u2019s algorithms will one day become at picking a safe spot for deliveries,\" said project co-lead James Ryan Burgess."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow staff complete Three Peaks Challenge for Prostate Cancer UK \n Redrow Homes continue to show support to their 2016/17 chosen charities as they complete Wales\u2019s 3 Peaks Challenge, raising a total of \u00a35,354.50 for Prostate Cancer UK.\n\nA team of 11 staff took on the gruelling challenge, which involved climbing Wales\u2019s 3 highest mountains; Pen Y Fan, Cadair Idris and Snowdon in just one day. The team started at 4am and braved the cold autumnal weather to impressively summit all 3 peaks just after 8pm, walking a distance of 20.35 miles and ascending a total of 9,397 ft in the process.\n\nRedrow Project Manager, Joe Underwood, who played a key role in organising the event, said: \u201cWe completed a virtual race night for our other chosen charity, Coppafeel, in the summer so it was only right that we completed the 3 Peaks for Prostate Cancer UK.\u201d\n\nThe majority of funds raised by Redrow were through the creation of a JustGiving page, which was set up solely for the event. Fundraising requests were primarily sent out to Redrow South Wales\u2019s consultants and contractors, as well as staff and family members.\n\n\n\nJoe continued: \u201cIt was a comedy of errors from the very first training session. From Sean Halpin eating two Mars bars in ten minutes and falling ill, to Harrison Jones cutting his chin and the mini bus sat navs taking us in every wrong direction, we had an incredibly eventful day and one we\u2019ll all remember for a while to come!\n\n\u201cOne of the biggest highlights was definitely watching the sunrise on the top of Snowdon \u2013 it was a true spectacle. Everyone who took part gave their all and it was brilliant to take on a new adventure together while also raising money for such a worthwhile charity.\u201d\n\nJames Beeby, Director of Fundraising at Prostate Cancer UK, said: \u201cWe\u2019re incredibly grateful to Redrow and Joe for their triumphant efforts in completing the 3 Peaks Challenge and supporting Prostate Cancer UK. It is an incredible effort, one that will help us make prostate cancer a disease that the next generation of men need not fear.\n\n\u201cCurrently one man dies every 45 minutes from prostate cancer in the UK. That\u2019s more than 11,000 men a year and by 2030, prostate cancer is set to become the most commonly diagnosed cancer of all in the UK. So whatever you do together, big or small, you\u2019ll be helping us push for real change, from more effective testing to better treatments.\u201d", "output": "A team of 11 staff members from UK house builder Redrow recently undertook the Three Peaks Challenge in Wales, raising \u00a35,354 ($7,000) for national charity Prostate Cancer UK. The team climbed Pen Y Fan, Cadair Idris and Snowdon in 24 hours, while Redrow project manager\u00a0Joe Underwood,\u00a0who helped organise the event, said it had been an \"incredibly eventful\" day.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK housing market needs to be disrupted, says think-tank Localis \n Disrupting the Housing Market\n\nA policy programme to save the home-owning democracy\n\nAuthor: Jack Airey | 15/10/2017\n\nDownload PDF\n\nDisrupting the Housing Market\n\nA policy programme to save the home-owning democracy\n\nThe number of homes bought by people aged twenty-five to forty-four with a mortgage has dropped by over 1.6 million in just over a decade. Over the same period the number of homes owned outright by people aged over sixty-five increased by over 1.4 million. What we are witnessing is the accelerated decline of the home-owning democracy and this should trouble us because it is an inheritance worth preserving.\n\nAs this report makes clear this is for reasons of cost, quality and security, but for more visceral reasons too. It is a bulwark against populism and radicalisation: when you have a tangible stake in society you are less likely to want tear it down. Most importantly home-ownership is an important life ambition, one that recent generations have enjoyed and future generations should too.\n\nThis report, however, is not blind to major structural challenges besetting the housing market. There is a clear connection between the hallmarks of the private rental sector and the ability of people to accrue enough capital to own their own home. Deep rooted and disruptive reform of the housing market is required. This report puts forward a policy programme to reform the private rental sector in order to extend the franchise of a home-owning democracy to future generations.\n\nKey points and recommendations\n\nGovernment should reform mortgage deposit saving . Fifty-eight percent of people who do not already own their home (outright or with a mortgage) are saving nothing at all each month for a deposit to buy a home in the future. Just twenty-three percent are saving anything. To prevent home-ownership being a preserve of the old and wealthy, the auto-enrolment of employees aged 18-40 to pension schemes by employers should include an option to make contributions towards a Lifetime ISA. Employees, employers and government would make contributions towards deposits (in place of, rather than on top of, pension contributions).\n\n. Fifty-eight percent of people who do not already own their home (outright or with a mortgage) are saving nothing at all each month for a deposit to buy a home in the future. Just twenty-three percent are saving anything. To prevent home-ownership being a preserve of the old and wealthy, the auto-enrolment of employees aged 18-40 to pension schemes by employers should include an option to make contributions towards a Lifetime ISA. Employees, employers and government would make contributions towards deposits (in place of, rather than on top of, pension contributions). An approach to the green belt based on public welfare . The green belt is a part of the welfare state and yet it does not serve public welfare. Local authorities should be compelled to prepare, maintain and publish \u2018yellowfield\u2019 registers: land which does not meet the five purposes that green belt land serves.\n\n. The green belt is a part of the welfare state and yet it does not serve public welfare. Local authorities should be compelled to prepare, maintain and publish \u2018yellowfield\u2019 registers: land which does not meet the five purposes that green belt land serves. A programme of new towns in the South East . London\u2019s reach extends well beyond its borders, but there is little to no strategic direction for the planning and delivery of new homes to meet the city-region and wider area\u2019s demand. Government should fill this gap by directing a next generation of new towns.\n\n. London\u2019s reach extends well beyond its borders, but there is little to no strategic direction for the planning and delivery of new homes to meet the city-region and wider area\u2019s demand. Government should fill this gap by directing a next generation of new towns. Disruptive state intervention in the housebuilding industry. To achieve greater diversity in business models, product and construction methods, government should: 1) Allow small sites that are brownfield or infill to qualify as permitted development. 2) Directly invest in modular and new technology housing factories. 3) Weight subsidy towards rewarding housebuilders who use off-site construction methods.\n\nTo achieve greater diversity in business models, product and construction methods, government should: 1) Allow small sites that are brownfield or infill to qualify as permitted development. 2) Directly invest in modular and new technology housing factories. 3) Weight subsidy towards rewarding housebuilders who use off-site construction methods. A more direct use of public land is necessary . Government needs a clearer strategy on disposal of land and assets by its own departments. This should include wider and more accessible public data coverage of non-operational sites and more pro-active departmental business models.\n\n. Government needs a clearer strategy on disposal of land and assets by its own departments. This should include wider and more accessible public data coverage of non-operational sites and more pro-active departmental business models. The private rental sector needs to be made family-friendly . Last year 4.5 million households rented privately of which 1.6 million were households with dependent children. For this group assured shorthold tenancy agreements are not fit-for-purpose. Government should reform legislation to allow private tenants to choose their initial tenancy length at six month intervals up to thirty-six months, with a one month break option after six months.\n\n. Last year 4.5 million households rented privately of which 1.6 million were households with dependent children. For this group assured shorthold tenancy agreements are not fit-for-purpose. Government should reform legislation to allow private tenants to choose their initial tenancy length at six month intervals up to thirty-six months, with a one month break option after six months. Saving the home-owning democracy demands a collective sacrifice . By homeowners, developers, financiers and savers. Only government has the platform to trigger this collective sacrifice and it goes against almost half a century of orthodoxy. Housing policy over the past few decades has been characterised by minimising the number of losers, generating as little productive activity as possible, rather than policy in line with public good. Most directly it is the young and private renters who have shouldered the cost of this failure.\n\n. By homeowners, developers, financiers and savers. Only government has the platform to trigger this collective sacrifice and it goes against almost half a century of orthodoxy. Housing policy over the past few decades has been characterised by minimising the number of losers, generating as little productive activity as possible, rather than policy in line with public good. Most directly it is the young and private renters who have shouldered the cost of this failure. Government should treat housing as a social service. Effective housing policy has only happened and only will happen when there is a strong enough political will from central government.The Grenfell Tower disaster holds the shortcomings of the state\u2019s long-running approach to housing up to the light. A fundamental rethink is now required on how the housing market functions and for whom.\n\nAdvisory panel\n\nThis research project was supported by an Advisory Panel, whose members are listed below. Advisory Panel members were interviewed and provided comments on report drafts. They may not necessarily agree with every analysis and recommendation made in the report.\n\nNiall Bolger, Chief Executive of Sutton Council\n\nEamonn Boylan, Chief Executive of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority\n\nNicholas Boys Smith, Founding Director of Create Streets\n\nLouise Brooke-Smith, Partner at Arcadis\n\nSir Merrick Cockell, Chair of London Pensions Fund Authority\n\nKeith Exford, Chief Executive of Clarion Housing Group\n\nLiam Halligan, Columnist at the Telegraph\n\nSir Edward Lister, Chair of the Homes and Communities Agency\n\nToby Lloyd, Head of Housing Development at Shelter\n\nSadie Morgan, co-founder of dRMM architects\n\nBrian Reynolds, Programme Director at One Public Estate\n\nKindly supported by\n\nFurther information\n\nFor more information on the report in general, its findings or its recommendations, please get in touch with jack.airey@localis.org.uk.\n\nDownload PDF\n\nDisrupting the Housing Market\n\nA policy programme to save the home-owning democracy", "output": "The UK government needs to undertake a \"deep-rooted and disruptive reform of the housing market\" if it is to prevent the \"accelerated decline of the home-owning democracy\", according to a report by think-tank Localis. It called on the government to reform saving for mortgage deposits, demanded greater intervention in the housebuilding industry\u00a0and a clearer strategy on the use of public land. The report also criticised shorthold tenancy agreements as \"not fit for purpose\" for families and said the Grenfell Tower disaster threw the \"shortcomings\" of the state's approach to housing into sharp relief.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Demand for less polluting cars causes palladium price to surge \n Forget gold and platinum, because the shiny metal catching the eye of traders is palladium. The price of palladium surpassed $1,000 per troy ounce for the first time in 16 years in trading today.\n\nAs countries vow to slow, and eventually stop, the sale of gasoline- and diesel-burning cars, palladium is benefiting from the same surge in investor interest that has pushed up the price of metals used to make lithium-ion batteries in electric cars, such as cobalt and lithium.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nPalladium is used in catalytic convertors that convert the harmful gases in car exhaust into less toxic substances. So before electric cars sweep across the world\u2019s roads, the metal is in high demand as car manufacturers look for other ways to cut the emissions from their fleets. The price of palladium, which is mostly mined in South Africa and Russia, has surged almost 50% this year as investors bet that the market is heading for a shortage in supply.\n\nSpeculative bets on palladium\u2019s rise have almost tripled in the past six months, according to the Financial Times (paywall). Last month, the price per ounce of palladium rose above platinum for the first time in 16 years. This might encourage the manufacturers of catalytic convertors to find ways to switch to using platinum in catalytic converters, which is likely to remain cheaper in the near future.\n\nAnalysts at JPMorgan forecast the price of platinum to fall to $930 per troy ounce by the end of the year and to $910 by the end of the first quarter of 2018. At the time of writing, the price was about $945 per ounce.", "output": "For the first time in 16 years, palladium prices have passed $1,000 per troy ounce. With the gradual move away from petrol and diesel cars \u2013 and until electric cars take over \u2013\u00a0palladium is\u00a0in huge demand\u00a0as it is used in\u00a0catalytic converters that convert the emissions\u00a0in car exhaust gases into less toxic substances, hence\u00a0it is very attractive to manufacturers looking for ways to cut emissions. The price of palladium, which is primarily mined in South Africa and Russia, has rocketed by almost 50% this year as investors anticipate\u00a0a supply shortage."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Commercial drones in Dubai now required to be insured \n Insurance made mandatory for drones in Dubai\n\nDubai - The minimum liability coverage is Dh3.67million as per the UAE rule by the DCAA.\n\nBy Sarwat Nasir Published: Tue 17 Oct 2017, 9:15 AM Last updated: Tue 17 Oct 2017, 11:25 AM\n\nInsurance is made mandatory for commercial-purpose drones to protect the company and the drone against liability, it was announced at the forum on Monday.\n\nThe forum, which was hosted by the Dubai Police in partnership with the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA), brought together UAE authorities and drone operators to discuss latest UAV regulations and requirements for safe drone usage in the country.\n\n\"The minimum liability coverage is Dh3.67million as per the UAE rule by the DCAA. The minimum premium is around Dh1,750,\" Amit Kumar, the business development executive at JLT - an insurance firm that insures drones, told Khaleej Times.\n\n\"But the companies who have more risk can go for higher minimum. The coverage is this much because you could fly into the security zone or somewhere that is not allowed. The commercial users have more risk.\"\n\n\"For drones, insurance is very important. If you have any flying object there is a risk. First risk is for the drone itself, if it falls down and damages itself. Commercial drone users are required to have insurance in order to obtain their flying license.\"\n\nThe minimum premium for commercial-purpose drones is quite high, however, an official with the DCAA has insisted that a cheaper option will be available to hobbyists by the end of this year.\n\nRelated news:\n\nTourists will soon be allowed to fly drones in Dubai\n\nAll drone activity are monitored in Dubai\n\nCurrently, insurance is only mandatory for commercial drones, however, recreational drones will also require insurance once the different type of insurance packages have been introduced.\n\nMichael Rudolph told Khaleej Times: \"We are looking at something whereby we can affiliate it with the registration process, so the operator would need to have insurance for that, the same you would need for your motor vehicle, just to make sure that if you bump into something you're not going to be liable for those damages. And that's the kind of package we're looking at. We don't want it to cost too much because then people won't do it.\"\n\n", "output": "Commercial drones in Dubai must now be insured, with the minimum liability coverage being AED3.67m ($1m) and the minimum premium for such a policy set at about AED1,750. Drones used recreationally\u00a0are also expected to need coverage once policies aimed specifically at these craft\u00a0are introduced to the market.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Investors and directors disagree on climate priorities: PwC \n In 2022, as both the ongoing direct impacts and unexpected side effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to mount, the landscape of the business world is shifting yet again. An ongoing war in Ukraine, rising global inflation, fears of recession and the near-constant drumbeat of catastrophic environmental news and predictions are changing the geopolitical context. In the US, market turmoil, social upheaval, political polarization, looming midterm elections and uncertain regulatory developments make the landscape feel like uncharted territory. When the path is uncertain, boards are a source for constancy and guidance.\n\nAs shareholder and consumer expectations rise, our 2022 Annual Corporate Directors Survey shows that board oversight and board practices are shifting in response as directors navigate this new governance landscape.\n\nDownload the report", "output": "A wide disparity exists between company directors and investors on key issues, particularly those relating to climate change and sustainability, according to a report from PwC\u2019s Governance Insights Centre. Of directors responding to the survey, 42% said they would not need to change their firm\u2019s strategy over the next three years due to environmental factors, while 40% claimed climate change should not play a role in strategy and 29% made similar comments in relation to resource scarcity. This contrasts with shareholder views; the 2017 proxy season saw support for environment-focused shareholder proposals reach 32%, up from 24% in the previous year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Plastic pollution causing hormone disruption in arctic animals \n Fears have been raised over the risks of plastic pollution as MPs heard claims discarded bottles are leading to polar bears developing two sets of testicles.\n\nDuring a meeting of the House of Commons' Environmental Audit Committee, senior Labour MP Mary Creagh described how top scientists have found suggestions of hormone disruption in the Arctic mammals.\n\nTelling how Edward King, from the British Antarctic Survey, informed her of the worrying discovery during a recent reception in Parliament, committee chair Ms Creagh said: \"They are seeing, in the Arctic, polar bears with two sets of testicles.\n\n\"Because the phthalates are leaching out from the plastic bottles in the Arctic environment and disrupting the hormones of large mammals.\"\n\nThe former Labour shadow minister spoke as the committee heard evidence as part of its inquiry into disposable packaging.\n\nImage: Labour MP Mary Creagh told of fears over the risks of plastic pollution\n\nDr Sue Kinsey, senior pollution policy officer at the Marine Conservation Society, revealed there is \"quite a bit of anecdotal evidence and some scientific evidence\" about hormone disruption from phthalates - chemicals used in a wide range of common products - believed to have originated from plastics.\n\nHugo Tagholm, chief executive of Surfers Against Sewage, highlighted how his charity have warned about hormone disruption changing the sex of fish.\n\n\"That may well be the same for mammals,\" he said.\n\n\"This is research that needs to continue and leads straight back to humankind.\"\n\nAdvertisement\n\nSpeaking after the committee hearing, Ms Creagh pointed to how the committee's previous inquiry into the impact of microplastic pollution - such as from exfoliation beads - had led to action from health officials.\n\nPlease use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 2:23 Voyage reveals plastic problem in UK waters\n\nShe told Sky News: \"We do not yet know how serious the risk to human health is from plastic pollution.\n\n\"In our report on microplastic pollution we raised concerns that plastic is entering the foodchain, and that the smallest particles of all - nano plastics - are small enough to pass into the blood stream.\n\n\"The Chief Medical Officer was sufficiently concerned by our findings to launch a review of the risks to human health from plastic pollution.\"\n\nThe committee's microplastic inquiry led to the Government banning plastic microbeads, while Environment Secretary Michael Gove recently announced ministers are working with industry over the possible introduction of a deposit return scheme for drinks bottles in England.\n\nThe Scottish Government has already committed to implementing such a recycling scheme in order to tackle plastic pollution.\n\nSky's Ocean Rescue campaign, launched earlier this year, is aimed at reducing the more than eight million tons of plastic being dumped in the world's oceans every year, putting marine wildlife under serious threat.\n\n:: You can find out more about the Sky Ocean Rescue and how to get involved here.", "output": "Arctic mammals are experiencing hormone disruption due to phthalates, which are chemicals found in plastic bottles, according to scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). MP Mary Creagh told the UK parliament's\u00a0Environmental Audit Committee, which she chairs, that Edward King from the BAS had disclosed\u00a0that polar bears in the Arctic are developing two sets of testicles as a result of plastic pollution. CEO of Surfers Against Sewage, Hugo Tagholm, stated that his charity had warned that hormone disruption was also altering the sex of fish. The impact of such pollution on human health remains unknown.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Soros donates $18bn to Open Society Foundations \n George Soros, the billionaire hedge fund manager and a major Democratic donor, has given $18 billion to his Open Society Foundations, one of the largest transfers of wealth ever made by a private donor to a single foundation.\n\nThe gift, made quietly over the past several years but disclosed only on Tuesday, has transformed Open Society into the second-biggest philanthropic organization in the United States, behind the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It will also place Mr. Soros, a lightning rod for conservative critics, squarely in the middle of the social and political debates convulsing the country.\n\nFounded by Mr. Soros more than 30 years ago, Open Society promotes democracy and human rights in more than 120 countries. In recent years, the organization has increased its attention on the United States, investing in programs to protect gays and lesbians and reduce abuses by the police.\n\nThe organization funded treatment centers during the 2014 Ebola outbreak, a center for Roma art and culture, and efforts to protect people in the United States from what it described as \u201ca national wave of hate incidents\u201d after the 2016 election. After that spike in hate crimes, Mr. Soros, 87, committed $10 million to preventing such violence.", "output": "Billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros has donated $18bn to his Open Society Foundations, which promote democracy and human rights in over 120 countries. The donation, one of the largest ever transfers of wealth from a private individual to a single foundation, turns Open Society into the second-largest philanthropic organisation in the US, after the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The gift has been made over several years, but was only revealed on Tuesday. Soros, a major donor to the Democrats, has become a target of criticism by the political right."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "India completes first utility-scale solar-plus-storage auction \n Bridge to India thinks that storage requires an additional 3-4 years of techno-commercial advancements before finding the scale required in India.\n\nMahindra Susten, one of India\u2019s most significant EPC players, has won the auction for a 20 MW solar project integrated with 28 MWh of battery storage capacity in Andaman & Nicobar Islands.\n\nNLC India Limited, a government of India-owned coal mining company, conducted the auction and it is the first utility-scale storage project in India to confirm results.\n\nMahindra sealed the deal with a bid of INR 2.99 billion ($46 million). The company will provide complete EPC and O&M services for 25 years.\n\nPrior to the auction, the aggregate capacity of 35 MWh storage tenders were scrapped due to undisclosed reasons. NTPC was the latest to reject the 27.2 MWh tenders for the Andaman Islands.\n\nAndaman & Nicobar Islands have a population of 400,000 and peak power demand of 67 MW, where diesel gensets mainly cover the power supply.\n\nTherefore, replacing them with integrated solar+storage plants is highly desirable from an economic and environmental perspective. Moreover, the high cost of storage is not a discouraging factor because of the very high cost of diesel-fired power of about INR 15/ kWh (USD 0.23), Bridge to India said.\n\nPopular content\n\nNLC specified strict technical requirements with performance warranties and associated penalties for the full 25-year duration of the contract. Despite that, all of the big players willingly responded to the terms of the auction.\n\nDuring the auction, there was a considerable variation in prices, particularly for the EPC component \u2013 ranging from INR 1.79 billion ($28 million) for Mahindra Susten to INR 3.42 billion ($53 million) for Hero \u2013 suggesting an inconsistent understanding of the technical specification. Such issues were also witnessed in earlier SECI tenders, where bidders were struggling to interpret technical requirements.\n\nAccording to Bridge to India, such tenders are crucial to storage\u2019s progress, which remains slow in India.\n\nThe underlying problem is a mix of high-cost sensitivity and lack of awareness about the technical potential of storage. Moreover, DISCOMs believe that they can use a mix of power cuts and curtailment to balance power demand and supply rather than committing to the use of expensive storage solutions.\n\nOverall, the consultancy company thinks that storage requires an additional 3-4 years of techno-commercial advancements before finding the scale required in India.", "output": "Mahindra Susten has won an auction for a 20 MW solar project integrated with 28 MWh of battery storage capacity on India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the\u00a0first utility-scale storage project in India.\u00a0Mahindra won with a bid of INR2.99bn ($46m). The islands have a population of 400,000 and peak power demand of 67 MW, usually covered by\u00a0diesel gensets."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK\u2019s Brexit bill omits key environmental protections \n The cornerstones of wildlife and habitat protection have been quietly left out of the withdrawal bill ripping the heart out of environmental law, campaigners say.\n\n\n\nA key principle under EU law which provides a robust legal backstop against destruction of the environment \u2013 the precautionary principle - has been specifically ruled out of the bill as a means of legal challenge in British courts.\n\nBased on the idea that the environment is unowned, the precautionary principle creates a bottom line forcing those who want to build or develop, for example, to prove in law what they are doing will not damage the environment.\n\nOther key elements of EU legal protection, the polluter pays, and the principle that preventative action should be taken to avert environmental damage, have also been ruled out in the bill as a means to protect the natural world from damage by policymakers, development or industry after Brexit.\n\nThe withdrawal bill began to be debated in committee this week by MPs. Ministers are facing intense lobbying by Greener UK, an umbrella group of several leading environmental NGOs and backbench MPs, to ensure that the UK does not throw out these key protections.\n\nRichard Benwell, head of government affairs at WWT, said: \u201cTake out principles like precaution and polluter pays and you rip out the heart of environmental law.\n\n\u201cFor decades they have helped guide good decisions \u2013 and strike down bad decisions \u2013 from planning to food safety to water quality and chemicals licensing.\n\n\u201cThe principles must be available not just to interpret old law, but also to inform future decisions. Crucially we must be able to challenge Government in court if environmental principles are ignored. At the moment that\u2019s explicity ruled out \u2013 a clear departure from the commitment to legal continuity on Brexit day.\u201d\n\nThe precautionary principle and polluter pays principle are contained in Article 191 (2) of the Lisbon treaty which states policy on the environment should be \u201cbased on the precautionary principle and on the principles that preventive action should be taken, that environmental damage should as a priority be rectified at source and that the polluter should pay.\u201d\n\nBut Schedule 1 of the withdrawal bill rules out these EU principles as a basis for challenge in British law. It states there is no right of action in domestic law on or after exit day based on a failure to comply with any of the general principles of EU law, and that no court or tribunal or other public body may, on or after exit day, quash any conduct or decide it is unlawful because it is incompatible with any of the general principles of EU law.\n\nTom Burke, chair of the global climate change think tank E3G, said: \u201cIt would not be an exaggeration to say that Brexit will have more immediate impact on our ability to manage the growing stresses on the environment than any other single political development of the past 50 years.\n\n\u201cThere is no formal place in British policy practise for the writing into legislation of principles such as the polluter pays or the precautionary principle. This weakens the guidance to policy makers and judges as to the tests that should be applied in policy formation or implementation.\u201d\n\nAmendments put forward by Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green Party, Kerry McCarthy Labour MP and Mary Creagh the Labour chair of the environmental audit committee, aim to fill the vacuum left by the bill in its current form. Amendment NC28 puts forward a new clause to ensure that public authorities must have regard to environmental principles currently enshrined in EU law.\n\nLawyers from the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) when asked by the Guardian about the absence of the precautionary principle as a means of challenge, made no comment on whether the amendments might be accepted as the bill goes through committee.\n\nBenwell said ministers in Defra did appear to be looking for answers. But he said: \u201cTo give the public confidence that the spirit of our environmental law will be upheld, we are looking for strong solutions from Government to preserve and improve the application of the principles in UK laws in the early stages of the EU withdrawal bill.\u201d\n\nA Defra spokesperson said: \u201cOur ambition is to be the first generation to leave the environment in a better state than we found it.\n\n\u201cThe decision to leave the European Union creates new opportunities for a green Brexit and to enhance our environmental standards. We now have the chance to deliver higher standards of animal welfare and reform how we manage our land, rivers and seas.\u201d", "output": "The UK\u2019s Brexit withdrawal bill omits a central principle of European Union law that protects the environment, according to campaigners. The principle, built on the idea that the environment has no owner, requires those who seek to build or develop to prove in law that their plans will not cause environmental damage. This principle has been specifically ruled out of the bill in relation to legal challenges in UK courts. Other protections, including the polluter pays and the principle of preventative action against environmental damage, have also been ruled out. Umbrella group Greener UK is campaigning to retain these protections.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vestas to build low-wind rotor for Chinese market \n Danish wind turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems A/S (CPH:VWS) today said it is launching in China the new V120-2.0/2.2 MW turbine for low and ultra-low wind areas.\n\nThe company expects the first deliveries of the machine to commence in the third quarter of 2018. The turbine will be produced at Tianjin.\n\nThe 120-metre rotor of the wind turbine boosts its annual energy production (AEP) performance by 13% when compared to the V110-2.2 MW model, as the swept area is 19% larger. Yet, thanks to innovative carbon technology, the rotor weighs just 8% more.\n\n\u201cProjects in China are increasingly moving to low and ultra-low wind areas in southeastern parts of the country and the V120-2.0/2.2 MW turbine is specifically designed for such wind regimes,\u201d said Vestas China President Kebao Yang.\n\nIn over 30 years Vestas has installed about 5.4 GW of wind turbines in China. At the end of 2016, the country reached 168.7 GW of wind power capacity, mainly equipped by local players.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Danish wind turbine maker Vestas said it's launching in China its new V120-2.0/2.2 MW turbine for low and ultra-low wind areas with first deliveries to commence in the Q3 2018. Its\u00a0120-metre rotor boosts its annual energy production\u00a0performance by 13% when compared to the V110-2.2 MW model, as the swept area is 19% larger, it said. The use of carbon technology means\u00a0the rotor weighs just 8% more."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Three Taiwanese solar companies to merge \n Taiwanese solar cell manufacturers Gintech Energy Corp (TPE:3514), Solartech Energy Corp (TPE:3561) and Neo Solar Power Corp (TPE:3576), or NSP, announced today their intention to merge into one company.\n\nThe three companies have signed a non-binding letter of intent (LoI) that outlines their plan to merge and build \u201ca flourishing and prosperous integrated platform\u201d in view of the \u201chighly competitive and increasingly concentrated market\u201d. In addition to the production of cells, these firms are active in the silicon wafer, module, power grid and other solar energy supply chains. For the first eight months of the year, Gintech reported TWD 9.18 billion (USD 304.7m/EUR 258m) in net sales, NSP posted TWD 5.8 billion and Solartech had TWD 4.25 billion.\n\nNone of the three merger partners will be considered as the acquiring company, while NSP has been agreed as the surviving company. It will be renamed to United Renewable Energy Co Ltd (UREC) after completion of the transaction. The plan is for UREC to become \"the paragon of vertical integration\" of the country's solar industry by enlarging domestic and foreign investment, building a self-owned module brand, and entering the downstream segment.\n\nGintech, Solartech and NSP also expect other local sector players to join the integrated platform after the planned merger.\n\nThe initial terms of the pact set the tentative share exchange ratio as follows: one common share of Gintech for 1.39 common shares of NSP; and one common share of Solartech for 1.17 common shares of NSP. This is subject to change depending on further assessment of each firm's obligations and liabilities.\n\nThe trio aims to seal a legally-binding merger agreement by the end of the year and to have the transaction completed in the third quarter of 2018.\n\nThe three companies have initiated work with relevant government agencies to secure their backing. According to a press statement, they hope to have the National Development Fund and other government-appointed organisations investing in the companies under appropriate terms and conditions.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Taiwanese solar cell manufacturers Gintech Energy, Solartech Energy and Neo Solar Power are planning a three-way merger in response to the \u201chighly competitive and increasingly concentrated market\u201d. The companies also manufacture silicon wafers, modules, power grids and other products in the solar energy supply chain. The new entity will be called the United Renewable Energy Co.\u00a0It plans to\u00a0build\u00a0a self-owned module brand, and enter\u00a0the downstream market."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hawaii solar industry 'dying before our eyes' as net metering ends \n As problems go, having too much solar power is not a bad one to have. It's also an issue that has actionable policy solutions.\n\nIn Hawaii, solar installations have grown rapidly since the first net energy metering (NEM) law went into effect in 2001. Measured per capita, Hawaii ranks third for the most solar in the U.S., behind only Nevada and Utah, both of which rely primarily on utility-scale solar rather than behind-the-meter solar, as is the case with Hawaii.\n\nThat said, the level of solar installations in Hawaii is still low in the context of reaching 100 percent renewable energy for electricity generation -- Hawaii\u2019s official goal since 2015. There is a very large potential for solar growth in Hawaii, on rooftops, parking lots and open space.\n\nUnfortunately, Hawaii\u2019s solar industry is dying before our eyes, with average installations plummeting by 56 percent in the last year alone. The number of PV permits issued by the County of Maui fell 84 percent this past third quarter compared to the same period two years ago, according to data compiled by long-time solar watcher Marco Mangelsdorf.\n\nThis decimation of the industry is occurring because the vast majority of solar in Hawaii has been installed on homes and businesses under net metering, and in the last couple of years, under the Customer Grid Supply program that replaced net metering in 2015. Both programs have now either ended or are about to. (For the record, I worried that the 2015 net metering decision would have the disastrous impacts that it ultimately proved to have.)\n\nAside from the pre-net-metering Standard Interconnect Agreement, which doesn\u2019t provide any credit value for exported solar power, the remaining option for homeowners and businesses to go solar in Hawaii is the Self-Supply option -- the option that requires including pricey batteries on-site to absorb surplus solar power rather than sending it to the grid.\n\nWe can expect to see even more decimation of the solar industry as these programs officially end this month.\n\nCan policymakers help?\n\nWhat can policymakers do to stop the bleeding, and, better yet, ensure that solar jobs and solar installations return to a path of growth? There are a couple of efforts currently underway that may help: a pending community solar program and a pending \u201csmart export\u201d program.\n\nI\u2019m looking forward to seeing the final details of the community solar program, and I\u2019m cautiously optimistic that it will help solar grow incrementally. It won\u2019t, however, do much at all to help the residential solar market, which is in an apparent death spiral due to the end or pending end of net metering and grid supply capacity on the populous islands of Oahu, Hawaii and Maui.\n\nThe smart export program would \u201ccompensate customers for exporting electricity back to the grid during peak demand times, which is usually in the early morning hours and in the evening,\u201d according to a Pacific Business News story on the pending program. The sticking points for the proposed program are the capacity allowed for each island plus the compensation rate for power sent back to the grid.\n\nThe point of the smart export program is to compensate and thus incentivize homeowners and business owners interested in solar to include battery storage and earn revenue from the \u201csmart exports\u201d during times of high demand on the grid.\n\nI suggest, however, that Hawaii needs a more comprehensive and long-term solution. Solar could in theory provide all of Hawaii\u2019s energy needs (along with existing renewables like wind power and some small hydro and biomass plants). The \u201cin theory\u201d qualification is required because the sun only shines part of the day, and solar production doesn\u2019t coincide with Hawaii\u2019s peak power demand period in the evening.\n\nEnergy storage is the obvious solution to this problem. If energy storage were cheap and plentiful, solar could provide all of Hawaii\u2019s power needs with no fuel imports, cheaply, reliably and with minimal impact to the environment. Sempra executive Patrick Lee stated earlier this year that transitioning to a fully renewable grid is now achievable: \u201cIf you were to ask me three years ago, as a power engineer, can we actually achieve a high percentage of renewables, my answer would probably be, 'No, we\u2019re going to need some baseload generation.' But today my answer is, the technology has been resolved. How fast do you want to get to 100 percent? That can be done today.\u201d (Lee has since backtracked somewhat on those comments, however.)\n\nWe have already seen cost-effective solar and energy storage solutions implemented, but we need far more. The Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) recently completed an impressively low-cost contract with Tesla for up to 28 megawatts of solar-plus-storage, for about 14 cents per kilowatt-hour. This is cheaper than fossil fuel alternatives. And the costs of solar and storage are declining rapidly.\n\nThe problem is that energy storage is generally not yet cheap and plentiful. It\u2019s not clear how much of Tesla\u2019s project for KIUC, for example, is a \u201closs leader\u201d in order to gain market share. What we do know, however, is that with the rapidly declining cost of energy storage, we will see increasingly competitive pricing. It becomes, then, a question of timing: How long should we wait for cost-effective and widespread deployment of solar and storage?\n\nWhat if we could achieve this in the near term, cost-effectively and with significant benefits to Hawaii\u2019s economy?\n\nSmart imports are the yin to smart exports' yang\n\nThis is where policy can be helpful. Some states are already seeing too much daytime solar, and Hawaii is at the front of this development because each island has its own power grid. Too much daytime solar is why the grid supply option has expired or is about to expire: Hawaii\u2019s island grids can only handle so much daytime solar without running into problems of excess power.\n\nBut what if this excess power became a solution rather than a problem? Energy storage can become cheap when there is zero cost for charging, or, better yet, storage operators are paid to use excess power from the grid. This is called \u201cnegative pricing\u201d and is already a regular occurrence in some markets like California (too much solar power at certain times) and Texas (triggered by too much wind and natural gas at certain times).\n\nHawaii has no power sales market, but policymakers could create the equivalent of markets by providing programs that allow large-scale power users to earn revenue by absorbing/importing excess solar power. Such a program would work effectively by providing either a defined rate for absorbing excess solar power, or creating a market mechanism that pays higher rates when there is more excess solar power and lower rates when there is less solar power.\n\nThis program would be the yin to smart exports' yang, but it would probably be a far greater incentive for energy storage than the pending smart exports program, because it wouldn\u2019t require an accompanying solar system, which will be required for the smart export program. We could call this program \u201csmart imports\u201d to distinguish it from \u201csmart exports.\u201d\n\nLarge-scale power consumers could, by absorbing either free or revenue-positive (negative-priced) excess solar power during the daytime, use the absorbed power for nighttime power demands. As long as there is enough daytime power consumption, there is no limit, in theory, to how much solar could be installed on homes and businesses.\n\nMaking smart imports a reality\n\nA smart imports program would not need to be limited to energy storage (whether the storage is battery technology, flywheels, compressed air energy storage, pumped hydro, etc.), though this would be the default. Other power-intensive technologies could be incentivized under the same program, such as computer servers for cloud storage, cryptocurrency mining, or marijuana growing. These are all large and growing global industries. Hawaii and other states with excess solar power could do much to grow their economies by attracting these industries with cheap or even revenue-positive electricity.\n\nFor example, a 1-megawatt Bitcoin mining operation, discussed in my last GTM article, would require up to 8,760 megawatt-hours of electricity per year. About one-fourth of this could come from importing excess daytime solar power (about 6 hours a day), without any onsite storage. And the rest could come from grid power or onsite battery storage that also imports excess daytime solar power. The latter would be preferable because Hawaii\u2019s grid power costs are so high.\n\nThis 1-megawatt operation would cost about $3 million in capital costs and would require a medium-sized warehouse to house the mining machines and battery storage. These facilities could be placed anywhere that there is sufficient grid infrastructure and appropriate zoning.\n\nA hundred such facilities -- whether it is cryptocurrency mining, cloud storage or marijuana growing or some other high-power-requirement industry -- on the Big Island and Maui, and 300 such facilities on Oahu, a far more populous island, would result in 500 total. If the average capital cost of these facilities is $3 million, this amounts to $1.5 billion (500 x $3 million) in new economic growth on Hawaii\u2019s three biggest islands.\n\nThe community development and job potential of spurring these new industries should be obvious to policymakers. And it could save Hawaii\u2019s struggling solar industry. With solar power installers eager to find new business, this development model is ready for implementation.\n\nRealistically, it would take at least a year for the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission to scope and implement a new program like this, and probably longer. But given the potential for economic growth and the slow-moving crisis that Hawaii\u2019s solar industry is facing already, there is good reason for policymakers to move with a sense of urgency.", "output": "Hawaii\u2019s average solar installations slumped 56% in the first half of this\u00a0year, according to the state's\u00a0Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.\u00a0The number of PV permits issued by the County of Maui dropped 84% in Q3 from two years earlier, data from solar watcher Marco Mangelsdorf show. Most\u00a0solar in Hawaii has been installed \"behind the meter\" on homes and businesses under net metering\u00a0and, since 2015,\u00a0under the Customer Grid Supply program, which is due to end this month.\u00a0The remaining option for those who want to install solar in Hawaii is to install expensive batteries to soak up excess capacity.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nordex to begin production of low-wind turbine in autumn 2018 \n German wind turbine maker Nordex (ETR:NDX1) today presented a 140-meter rotor option in its AW3000 platform and said series production of the new turbine, suitable for low wind, could start in the autumn of 2018.\n\nThe AW140/3000 model is optimised for specific low-wind conditions and will operate very well in markets like India. It relies on an innovative concept for increased blade length through an integrated extension at the root. The swept area thus grows by 12%, resulting in rise in the annual yield of between 4.5% and 6.5%, Nordex calculates.\n\nAn AW140/3000 prototype is to start operation in the middle of 2018. The company expects to have the turbine Type Certification in place in the same year.\n\nThe new addition to the AW3000 wind turbine platform can be installed on 120m concrete towers, and on steel towers with hub heights from 82m to over 100m.\n\nThe AW3000 platform was part of the portfolio of Acciona Windpower. Nordex acquired the company last year.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "German wind turbine maker Nordex has added a 140-metre rotor option to its AW3000 turbine, and said production of the model could start in autumn next year. The AW140/3000 model is optimised for low-wind conditions and is expected to sell well in India. Its longer blade length increases the\u00a0swept area by 12%, raising the annual yield by as much as 6.5%, Nordex said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "German solar bids fall below EUR50/MWh for first time \n Germany\u2019s Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagetur) announced today that the average winning rate in the country\u2019s latest 200-MW solar tender has fallen below the EUR 0.0500 (USD 0.0590) kWh mark for the first time.\n\nThe agency said in a statement it has awarded a total of 222 MW of capacity in the tender, with bids ranging from as low as EUR 0.0429/kWh to EUR 0.0506. The average rate was EUR 0.0491/kWh.\n\nIn June 2016, the Federal Network Agency concluded a solar tender in which rates dropped to an average of EUR 0.0566/kWh.\n\nIn the latest tender, a total of 110 bids were submitted, targeting a combined capacity of 754 MW. The tender allowed projects on arable land to compete for contracts, as long as they are planned for less-favoured areas in Baden-Wuerttemberg and Bavaria. The quota for the latter state was exhausted with 45 MW of winning projects.\n\nThree of the winning bids envisage the construction of 20-MW solar parks at industrial sites. The average bid size in the tender was for 6.9 MW.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "The average winning bid in Germany\u2019s latest 200 MW solar tender has fallen below EUR50/MWh for the first time, according to Federal Network Agency. It awarded a total of 222 MW of capacity with bids ranging from EUR42.9/MWh to EUR50.6/MWh. The average was EUR49.1/MWh. A total of 110 bids amounting to 754 MW were submitted. The previous record was an average of EUR56.6/MWh, set In June 2016."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Jones Act may kill US offshore wind industry \n The U.S. has lagged behind Europe in building offshore wind for decades. That\u2019s often attributed to uncompetitive pricing and lack of political will. But as more developers work to get U.S. offshore wind projects off the ground in the coming years, the century-old Jones Act has raised concerns that even with improving economics and technological innovation, the process could remain onerous and the costs exorbitant.\n\n\u201cYou look at the convergence of cost of energy for American offshore and European offshore, and that\u2019s never going to be able to converge as tightly as we\u2019d like to see it until we no longer have the Jones Act or we have a strong American supply chain,\u201d said Anthony Logan, an analyst at MAKE consulting.\n\nBecause offshore wind installation requires what Logan calls \u201ccomplex and purpose-built\u201d vessels, Europe\u2019s edge is difficult to surmount. The Jones Act, which has been in the news of late because of the disaster in Puerto Rico, requires that goods shipped between U.S. ports be carried on ships that are U.S.-built, U.S.-flagged and U.S.-crewed. That means for installing turbines, a U.S. ship must carry supplies from a port to the project offshore, and if a European ship is working on the project, it cannot dock at a U.S. port before delivering supplies.\n\nThe requirement hurts competition, thus raising prices. It also throws up a huge technological barrier. Europe has dozens of ships equipped to install turbines. The U.S. has none.\n\n\u201cIt's a problem we know is creating issues for the industry,\u201d said Ron Flax-Davidson, chairman and CEO at PNE Wind USA, on the sidelines of the ACORE Finance West conference last week.\n\nThus far, just Rhode Island\u2019s five-turbine, 30-megawatt Block Island project has been able to shimmy around the Jones Act restrictions. Logan said developer Deepwater Wind, which declined to comment for this story, shipped turbines from France on an installation vessel that was never able to dock in the course of construction. Other components were shipped out from a U.S. port.\n\n\u201cYou have to do these logistic gymnastics with your European vessels to make it work. It\u2019s almost like you\u2019re playing a game -- [except] that the floor is lava,\u201d said Logan. \u201cThis strange dance worked for Block Island, but it\u2019s going to require some creative thinking on the part of the developers to make this work for larger projects.\u201d\n\nProjects in Massachusetts and Maryland will be a test of whether that strange dance holds up to larger installs. The two projects in Maryland, Deepwater\u2019s Skipjack and U.S. Wind 1, will be the first two large-scale projects in the U.S., with a combined potential capacity of 870 megawatts. They could be completed in the early 2020s.\n\nThey may be able to be installed using European ships, as with the Block Island project, or with U.S. vessels -- if the U.S. maritime industry develops ships with the right capabilities. Logan offers an estimate that two U.S. installation turbine vessels would be sufficient to install the projects currently on the U.S. docket.\n\nBut both European and U.S. ships present unique challenges. If Europe was able to spare a vessel to work on several installs in the U.S., that leaves projects highly dependent on the schedule of the others. If a project runs late, it could severely impact the timeline and budget for others down the line that are relying on the same installation vessel.\n\nAt the same time, because offshore wind is advancing so rapidly and turbine sizes increasing steadily, it would be difficult for U.S. ship builders to develop vessels equipped to install turbines five years into the future. Logan notes, however, that when a ship does become obsolete, it can be used for operations and maintenance.\n\nHow the industry tackles these challenges will define the competitiveness of the U.S. offshore market going forward. While costs in continental Europe have fallen under \u20ac100 ($118.05) per megawatt-hour, the Block Island\u2019s PPA starts with prices of $244 per megawatt-hour.\n\nAlthough economies of scale come into play and Block Island is largely a demonstration project, Europe is far and away ahead of the U.S., in part because of the Jones Act\u2019s chilling effect on the industry. When asked if he believes the law has posed impediments and slowed development for offshore wind in the U.S., Flax-Davidson\u2019s response is unequivocal. \u201cAbsolutely,\u201d he said.\n\nEven if U.S. offshore wind is \u201con the cusp of a very large market,\u201d as Logan put it, with MAKE expecting a 2-gigawatt market over the next 10 years, the Jones Act challenge is unlikely to change. President Trump is notoriously unfriendly to the wind industry and famously fond of his made-in-America slogan -- at least insofar as it benefits his base.\n\nAnd while Trump swiftly lifted the Jones Act for delivery of aid to Florida and Texas, he was slow to do so in the case of Puerto Rico. He kept the island\u2019s exception in place for just 10 days. Lawmakers had pushed for a one-year waiver.\n\nInterestingly, many Republicans, as well as oil companies, dislike the law. In past years, Sen. John McCain has introduced legislation to repeal the act. He tried again in July. \u201cI have long advocated the repeal of the Jones Act, an archaic and burdensome law that hinders free trade, stifles the economy, and ultimately harms consumers,\u201d said McCain in a statement announcing the legislation. It\u2019s now sitting in committee.\n\nEven in the wake of federal action, Logan is confident that the industry can find a workaround. \u201cI don\u2019t think anyone is denying it's an issue -- it\u2019s just whether people are capable of overcoming it,\u201d he said. \u201cI think the broad answer is yes.\u201d-\n\n-\n\nCome join us for GTM's first annual U.S. Power & Renewables Conference in November. You'll get an in-depth look at how the renewable energy market will interact with the U.S. power market, and how those interactions can impact overall industry development and market growth. Curated by GTM Research, MAKE, and Wood Mackenzie energy analysts, we\u2019ll take an expansive view of key issues and timely topics, bringing together a diverse group of energy experts and stakeholders to discuss demand dynamics, economics and business model shifts, and policy and regulatory implications. Learn more here.", "output": "The Jones Act, which requires that goods shipped between US ports be carried on ships that are US-built, US-flagged and US-crewed, means that European vessels supplying offshore wind projects in the country can't dock at a US port first. That's a problem because the ships used for moving turbines around on water are specialist\u00a0vessels of which the US has none. The\u00a0cost of energy for US and\u00a0European offshore is never going to\u00a0\"converge as tightly as we\u2019d like to see it until we no longer have the Jones Act or we have a strong American supply chain\",\u00a0said Anthony Logan, an analyst at MAKE consulting."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Kenyan offshore wind farm may be built in Tanzania \n Swedish group VR Holding AB, the company behind a 600-MW offshore wind project in the Indian Ocean, is now looking at Tanzania after Kenya proved to be \"a very difficult place\", Kenyan newspaper The Citizen reported last week.\n\nIn Kenya there is no established mechanism for support for large-scale renewable energy projects and demand for power is low. Also, the grid cannot cope, Victoria Rikede, a VR Holding executive said, said as quoted by the newspaper.\n\nThe Swedish company\u2019s initial plan, worth KES 253 billion (USD 2.45bn/EUR 2.07bn), was to install the wind park off the Kenyan town of Malindi in the Indian Ocean. According to documents seen by the Business Daily, the Kenyan government has advised the developer to install a smaller wind park. VR Holding was expected to submit a revised proposal of 50 MW, the director of renewable energy at the ministry, Isaac Kiva, was cited as saying.\n\nUnder its feed-in-tariff (FiT) programme for renewables, Kenya supports only small and medium-sized projects of up to 50 MW.\n\n(KES 100 = USD 0.968/EUR 0.819)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Sweden's VR Holding is considering moving its proposed 600 MW offshore wind project in the Indian Ocean to Tanzania from Kenya, which has no established mechanism to support large-scale renewable energy projects and where demand for power is low. Kenya's grid would also struggle to handle the project's output, VR said.\u00a0The\u00a0KES253bn ($2.45bn) installation was to be built off the coast near the Kenyan town of Malindi. VR may submit a revised proposal of 50 MW, which would make the project eligible for Kenya's feed-in-tariff programme."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Texas closures mean half of US coal plants have shut since 2010 \n Two more U.S. coal plants are being shuttered, faced with the same low energy prices that have driven half the country\u2019s coal-fired generation fleet to close since 2010.\n\nBecause the plants are in Texas, they wouldn\u2019t even have benefited from the policies being proposed by Energy Secretary Rick Perry that would provide cost recovery to power plants with 90 days of fuel supply on hand.\n\nVistra Energy announced Friday that its Luminant subsidiary will close its Sandow and Big Brown coal power plants in Texas next year. The move, which will require approval by state grid operator ERCOT, will include layoffs of about 600 people and a charge of $70 million to $90 million in the fourth quarter of 2017.\n\nVistra cited a familiar litany of causes, including \u201csustained low wholesale power prices, an oversupplied renewable generation market, and low natural gas prices, along with other factors.\u201d\n\nThe closures will take offline about 2,300 megawatts of the 8,000 megawatts of coal-fired generating capacity still operated by Luminant, which is also planning to shutter an 1,800-megawatt coal plant in East Texas. The company also operates 7,500 megawatts of generation fueled by natural gas and 2,300 megawatts of nuclear power.\n\nThe Sierra Club noted that the closures push the country over the halfway mark on coal power closures, with 262 coal plants that have announced retirement or closed since 2010, compared to 261 plants still remaining. The trend has been accelerating this year, with 14 coal plants announcing retirement so far, it noted -- meaning that \u201cthe country is moving away from coal faster since Trump was inaugurated than during the prior six years of the Obama administration.\u201d\n\nFormer New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced this week he is contributing an additional $64 million to move America off of coal -- an investment that will support the Sierra Club and other environmental groups.\n\nBut this week has also seen significant pushes on several key Trump administration policy efforts to support the coal industry. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt\u2019s signing of a rule to rescind the Clean Power Plan is the highest-profile, although it\u2019s unlikely to change the economics of coal-fired power.\n\nHowever, DOE\u2019s notice of proposed rule making (NOPR), seeking to secure cost recovery in wholesale energy markets for reliability and resiliency features only nuclear and coal plants can provide, could have a significant effect.\n\nThe Electric Reliability Coordinating Council (ERCC), a utility trade group, cited the NOPR in a Friday press briefing. Luminant\u2019s plant closures \u201cshould not be read as a rejection of coal resources as a vital part of the grid, but rather as an important part of an increasing diverse array of generation sources.\u201d\n\nAt the same time, \u201cthe federal government has begun a national conversation on the future of baseload power production in the United States. ERCC members believe that conversation is long overdue and appreciate the [Trump] administration's attention to reliability and affordable electric power,\u201d the group wrote.\n\nDOE\u2019s NOPR, filed late last month, asks the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to create a rule that would secure some form of cost recovery for power plants that provide reliability and resiliency. The NOPR\u2019s qualifications for this status include having 90 days of on-site fuel supply -- something only nuclear, hydropower and coal-fired power can do.\n\nThe rule, which would apply to the wholesale energy and capacity markets run by interstate grid operators under FERC\u2019s jurisdiction, has been widely criticized by former FERC commissioners, free-market think tanks, solar and wind backers, and natural gas and oil trade groups, on the grounds that it would break with decades of federal energy policy and serve to prop up unprofitable plants and undercut more efficient alternatives.\n\nCritics also point out that the NOPR supplies no data on why on-site fuel supply is important for grid reliability, and fails to mention data to the contrary, such as that coal piles have frozen alongside natural gas plants during cold weather events such as the 2014 polar vortex, which the NOPR cites as the key example of why it\u2019s needed.\n\nIt also lacks data on why DOE feels it\u2019s so urgent to act now, when utilities, grid operators and the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) have found that grid reliability is sufficient today, even amidst coal and nuclear power plant retirements.\n\nDespite this, DOE has proposed an unprecedented 60-day timeframe for taking public comment, creating a rule, and giving it to grid operators to enforce, compared to the months or years of stakeholder proceedings that it typically takes to decide much more minute changes in policy. In testimony before Congress this week, Perry defended the NOPR, saying any additional costs represent \u201cthe price of freedom\u201d from blackouts.\n\nThis week, FERC denied a motion by 14 industry trade groups to extend this tight deadline. Still, the NOPR faces an unclear future at FERC, where at least two of five commissioners have spoken out against it.\n\nTexas grid operator ERCOT lies outside FERC\u2019s strict jurisdiction, since its grid lies inside the state\u2019s boundaries. Still, it\u2019s interesting to note that ERCOT will be conducting its reliability assessment of both plants set for closure, a prerequisite for shutting them down next year, in 60 days -- the same amount of time as DOE is asking FERC and the industry to take in crafting a rule that would alter the reliability status of hundreds of power plants across the country.\n\n--\n\nCome join us for GTM's first annual U.S. Power & Renewables Conference in November. You'll get an in-depth look at how the renewable energy market will interact with the U.S. power market, and how those interactions can impact overall industry development and market growth. Curated by GTM Research, MAKE, and Wood Mackenzie energy analysts, we\u2019ll take an expansive view of key issues and timely topics, bringing together a diverse group of energy experts and stakeholders to discuss demand dynamics, economics and business model shifts, and policy and regulatory implications. Learn more here.", "output": "Two coal plants have closed in Texas, bringing the total to 262 that have shut in the US since 2010, with 261 remaining. Vistra Energy said that its Luminant subsidiary will close its Sandow and Big Brown power plants next year. Vistra cited \u201csustained low wholesale power prices, an oversupplied renewable generation market, and low natural gas prices, along with other factors\u201d, for the plants' demise. The closures represent 2.3\u00a0GW of the Luminant's 8\u00a0GW of coal-fired capacity.\u00a0It is also planning to shutter a\u00a01.8 GW\u00a0coal plant in East Texas.\nTechnology: Advanced solar, Advanced wind\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aon enters into workers' comp insurtech partnership \n A construction worker works on the new Transbay Terminal in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011. President Barack Obama called on Congress to pass a jobs plan that would inject $447 billion into the economy through infrastructure spending, subsidies to local governments to stem teacher layoffs and cutting in half the payroll taxes paid by workers and small-business owners. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg David Paul Morris/Bloomberg\n\nAon has collaborated with insurtech CLARA analytics to offer workers\u2019 compensation insurers artificial intelligence and predictive analytics tools that help injured employees return to work quickly.\n\nThe deal facilitated by Aon Benfield, the broker\u2019s reinsurance intermediary and capital advisor, also decreases loss ratios and improves operational efficiency around claims for carriers, according to the companies.\n\n\u201cFor carriers balancing C-suite and board level interest in innovation and cost management, CLARA can be a quick and easy win with minimal impact to expenses,\u201d said George deMenocal, president and CEO of Aon Benfield US, in a statement. \u201cCLARA\u2019s analytics will be complemented by Aon Inpoint [Aon\u2019s data aggregation platform] to improve claims outcomes and develop AI platforms to gain operational efficiencies for insurers.\u201d\n\nSee also: Aon and OneBeacon help Uber drivers get coverage by the mile\n\nCLARA\u2019s core products are designed to live within carriers\u2019 existing claims workflow. The first, PUMA, is a tool that instantly connects injured workers with medical providers. Meanwhile, CATT operates as a \u201ccontrol tower\u201d for adjusters and expedites simple claims using data compiled through machine learning the day a first notice of loss occurs.\n\n\u201cKey decisions like finding the right doctor for an injury or prioritizing claims can be tough to make without science-based tools,\u201d said Jayant Lakshmikanthan, president of CLARA analytics. \u201cOur mission is to deliver easy-to-use tools like PUMA and CATT to adjusters and supervisors that are built upon cutting-edge AI technologies.\u201d", "output": "Aon has partnered with CLARA, an insurtech focusing on data analytics and artificial intelligence, aiming to aid the processing of workers' compensation claims. The two firms' platform will provide software that connects injured employees with medical providers, while also making use of analytics to process compensation claims. CLARA's analytics capabilities will be used in combination with Aon's own data aggregation platform to crate a more efficient model for insurers providing workers' compensation coverage.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "P2P insurtechs need support of big players to thrive \n We apologize for the inconvenience...\n\n...but your activity and behavior on this site made us think that you are a bot.\n\nNote: A number of things could be going on here.", "output": "The plight of Guevara, which closed down last month, has shown\u00a0that insurtech start-ups need the support of established players in order to survive. UK firm Guevara focused\u00a0on motor insurance rather than the lower premium areas favoured by other insurtechs, and never achieved enough support within the industry. Guevara had difficulty fully capitalising its underwriting activities and also was perceived to struggle to gain the trust of customers who preferred to go to bigger, more established brands for cover.\u00a0Gadgets and niche personal lines have been\u00a0more fruitful areas for insurtech start-ups, where payouts tend to be lower, as has health insurance.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "From Hong Kong to London, first-time buyers need government help \n Securing a foot on the housing ladder may be a struggle for many in Hong Kong, but they are not alone in their plight", "output": "Hong Kong's starter home scheme aims to help young families get on the housing ladder but concerns have been raised about its affordability. Households must have a monthly income of between HKD52,000 ($6,700) and HKD68,000 to qualify. By comparison, couples in Singapore can withdraw money from their mandatory Central Provident Fund to fund a house purchase, while first-time buyers of public-sector flats can also receive government subsidies. Families in Shanghai can also draw from a compulsory saving scheme. In the UK, the Help to Buy scheme offers state loans to first-time buyers who need pay only a 5% deposit.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lloyd's underwrites kWh guarantee from solar panel manufacturer \n Join our growing army of changemakers and get unlimited access to our premium content\n\nA tailor-made insurance has been developed for the Dutch-based firm from international insurance specialist Lloyd\u2019s of London. Autarco claims that it can offer the guarantee because its solution, which consists of components, design software and monitoring, removes risk.\n\nAccording to Autarco, the solution ensures that all components such as solar panels, inverters and roof-mounting parts \u201cwork seamlessly\u201d with each other. The components work in tandem with innovative software which considers environmental factors and enables installers to determine how much energy can be generated.\n\nAutarco will monitor and analyse the system\u2019s performance after installation. This provides end-users with reliable data about the functionality of their system, according to chief executive Roel van den Berg.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s exactly the offer of Autarco: we optimize the hardware, we measure the performance, we signal possible problems, and therefore we can guarantee the performance and insure it,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is done in five-year periods and the settlement of the policy is handled by an independent foundation.\n\nHe added: \u201cFor us, it\u2019s about trust in solar energy and, of course, our systems in particular. With the insurance proposition, we feel that we can speed up the energy transition.\u201d\n\nRigid tests\n\nIf Autarco\u2019s promise of the calculated normal performance is not achieved, then the lost kWhs can be claimed, at a predetermined compensation price per kWh.\n\nAutarco said that industry growth is hampered by the fact the risk of the component brand is moved to the installer and then the end user. But the solar manufacturer insists that end users will no longer have to settle for an expected guarantee without sufficient protection of their bottom-line investment.\n\nIn a statement, Lloyd\u2019s of London said: \u201cWe have carried out rigid tests on all technology of Autarco in other to be absolutely certain that all risks are well covered by them. It is a unique insurance, which we could not issue until now, since no other market player has been able to do this.\u201d\n\nSolar power was the fastest-growing source of new energy worldwide last year, outstripping the growth in all other forms of power generation for the first time and leading experts to hail a \u201cnew era\u201d.\n\nDespite the recent opening of the UK\u2019s first subsidy-free solar farm, the prospects for British solar are fairly gloomy: the amount of solar forecast to be installed by 2022 is a fifth of the amount installed over the last five years.\n\nGeorge Ogleby", "output": "Lloyd's of London is underwriting a guarantee from Dutch solar panel manufacturer Autarco that states its panels will generate a predetermined amount of kilowatts per hour. The policy and guarantee have been able to be developed because of technology provided by Autarco that allows users to determine how panels will interact with existing structures, as well as weather conditions, to accurately predict how much energy should be generated. If the panels fail to generate a stated amount of energy, users can claim compensation, which is offered at a prior agreed amount."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Climate change blamed for New Zealand \u2018chipocalypse\u2019 \n A year of heavy rains has devastated New Zealand\u2019s potato crop, prompting fears of a \u201cchipocalypse\u201d.\n\nThe rainfall, which included two \u201cweather bombs\u201d and two serious floods in both the North and South Island, has wiped out 20% of New Zealand\u2019s annual potato crop, and 30% in the regions most affected, with the \u201ccrisping\u201d varieties for potato chips taking the biggest hit.\n\nThe news has sent some New Zealanders into a spin with concerns that the shortage might affect their Christmas feasts and favourite rugby snack.\n\nSome supermarkets have put up signs in their crisp sections alerting customers to the shortage, and although no panic buying has yet been reported, the shortage has been well raked over on social media.\n\nRe: NZ #chipocalypse. Yes, there's a potato shortage. But before anyone suggests them, kale chips are an abomination. \u2014 Lachlan Forsyth (@LachlanForsyth) October 15, 2017\n\nIf we time the trademe auction right for Christmas, our 2 bags of Bluebird Chips should raise enough for a house deposit #chipocalypse \u2014 Creampuff (@ShoreGirlyGirl) October 14, 2017\n\nIf it takes a #chipocalypse to make NZers serious about climate change, then so be it \u2014 claudia (@claudiajardine) October 15, 2017\n\nChris Claridge, the chief executive of Potatoes New Zealand, said it was concerning for such a serious shortage to hit a staple food product that many New Zealanders relied on to bulk up their meals, and supermarkets had begun to report shortages of North Island-produced crisps.\n\n\u201cYou can go for a week without politics but try going for a week without potatoes. It is a food staple and this is becoming a food security issue as the effects of climate change take their toll on our potato crop,\u201d said Claridge, who said access to farming land was also becoming scarce as urbanisation ramped up.\n\n\u201cPotato farmers have been severely impacted. If they can\u2019t harvest and process, they are not getting their income so there is that monetary impact. It is also quite distressing to be digging up rotting potatoes. It is a very important part of New Zealand psyche having potatoes.\u201d\n\nPotato crops planted last year have either rotted in the soil due to the heavy rains, or had to remain unharvested because of the torrential downpours. Next year\u2019s crop will also be affected because the ground has not been dry enough for planting.\n\nPotato-growing regions particularly affected by the weather include areas around Auckland and the Waikato, which have already experienced about 25% more rainfall than the annual average.\n\nFoodstuffs, which owns New Zealand\u2019s largest supermarket chains, said farmers had made them aware that potato products such as crisps and packaged, frozen chips might soon be affected, and the shortages could last into the new year.\n\n\u201cThe grower community is highlighting a potential future potato shortage due to bad weather,\u201d said Antoinette Laird, head of external relations for Foodstuffs. \u201cThis has not impacted our business as yet, and we are working with our suppliers to minimise any potential impact.\u201d\n\nNew Zealand produces 500,000 tonnes of potatoes a year and is the ninth-biggest exporter of potatoes in the world. About two thirds of the annual crop are destined for processing, with 250,000 tonnes being made into chips (as in fish and chips) and about 75,000 tonnes into crisps.\n\nBharat Bhana\u2019s family have been farming potatoes for 60 years in Pukekohe, which is south of Auckland. He said the heavy rains meant his business would run at a loss this year, with about a third of his potato crop destroyed.\n\n\u201cThis year has been very unusual, we haven\u2019t experienced anything like it and it has really caught a lot of us out,\u201d said Bhana. \u201cI don\u2019t know how we can prepare for climate change. We could dig the spuds out earlier but then we wouldn\u2019t have enough space to store them and we\u2019d have to pay more to keep them cool.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll do what we can, but what can we really do?\u201d\n\nPotatoes have been grown in New Zealand for 250 years, according to Potatoes NZ, and were introduced by Captain Cook who gave potatoes to two M\u0101ori chiefs in Mercury Bay. The vegetable was quickly adopted as a staple part of the local diet because it could be grown in much colder areas than kumara, which was already a staple food in New Zealand.", "output": "New Zealand has seen 20% of its potato crop wiped out due to a year of heavy rain, which included two \u201cweather bombs\u201d and two major floods, and which has been linked to climate change. In the most affected regions, up to 30% of the crop has been lost. Varieties used to create crisps, known as chips in New Zealand, have been particularly affected, leading to shortages and fears of a \u201cchipocalypse\u201d. New Zealand, which is the world\u2019s ninth-largest exporter of potatoes, produces 500,000 tonnes each year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Samsung steps up IoT push with mobile-coverage tracker device \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nThere is no shortage of little portable tracker devices that you can attach to your keys or your dog to ensure you never lose the things that matter most. But Samsung has today announced the Samsung Connect Tag, one of the first mobile consumer products that uses the fledgling narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) standard to connect devices.\n\nFor the uninitiated, NB-IoT licenses small amounts of LTE cellular spectrum to carry data for low-bandwidth devices. NB-IoT offers many benefits, including strong coverage, greater power efficiency (to preserve batteries), support for many devices, and relatively low operational costs. As its name suggests, it was very much designed with the internet of things in mind, and moving forward it will likely be used to connect myriad IoT contraptions, from smart trash cans to parking bay sensors.\n\nAt just 4.21 centimeters wide and 1.19 centimeters thick, the Samsung Connect Tag is fairly small and sports an embedded SIM (eSIM), which is basically a non-removable, programmable \u201cvirtual\u201d SIM that consumes less space and doesn\u2019t require the user to install a physical card.\n\nAs with similar trackers on the market, the device can be put to any number of uses, such as finding lost keys or giving parents peace of mind when their kid is out and about. The Connect Tag works with GPS, Wi-Fi-based positioning (WPS), and Cell ID (CID) to identify location data indoors and outdoors.\n\nBuilding on Samsung\u2019s push into the broader IoT realm, the Connect Tag works in conjunction with Samsung\u2019s SmartThings Hub and the Samsung Connect mobile app so users can control and configure things remotely, while being able to integrate the tracker with other connected devices. For example, a user could set up a geo-fence zone for their home so that lights turn on automatically when the Connect Tag comes within a pre-defined perimeter. Alternatively, it could be used to notify a parent when their child arrives at school.\n\nThough similar features and functionality already exist in other products, Samsung is touting the NB-IoT element as a key selling point. While it offers cellular connectivity for constantly tracking a specific person or product, it also promises \u201cup to\u201d seven days on a single charge, which is pretty good. However, we will reserve judgement until we can test one of these devices out for ourselves.\n\nA number of companies have raised big VC funding for mobile tracking contraptions, including San Mateo-based Tile and Santa Barbara\u2019s TrackR. Earlier this year, New York-headquartered Lynq announced a $2 million round of funding for a tracker that lets you find anyone in a radius of up to five miles. This tracker sidesteps Bluetooth, maps, Wi-Fi, and cell networks with a decentralized peer-to-peer (P2P) network that uses a mix of radio frequencies, a custom antenna, and a long-range low-powered chip.\n\nPut simply, there is big demand for tracker devices, and it\u2019s a market that Samsung is now looking to infiltrate. The company is debuting the Connect Tag at its developer conference in San Francisco later this week. But the device will first go on sale in Korea before expanding to \u201cselect countries\u201d at a later date. Samsung hasn\u2019t given any indication of price or launch dates.", "output": "Samsung's Connect Tag uses internet of things (IoT) technology to help users keep track of possessions and people. The 4.2 cm-wide and 1.19 cm-thick device contains a programmable embedded SIM (eSIM), and works with GPS, Wi-Fi-based positioning and cell ID to identify location data. The tracker links devices using the narrowband IoT (NB-IOT) standard, which offers stronger coverage, better power efficiency and lower operational costs."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UberEats accounts for a tenth of Uber worldwide bookings \n A self-employed UberEats food delivery courier. REUTERS/Neil Hall\n\nUber's food delivery service has quickly grown into a huge operation that's creating billions of dollars in sales for the San Francisco-headquartered company.\n\nUberEats accounted for 8-10% of Uber's global gross bookings in the second quarter, according to sources cited by The Financial Times on Monday that have reportedly seen the figures.\n\nThe figures cited by The Financial Times suggest that the two-year-old UberEats service \u2014 a standalone app separate from the main Uber taxi service \u2014 will record over $3 billion (\u00a32 billion) in gross sales this year.\n\nUber declined to comment.\n\nUber has had a tough year. There are the accusations of corporate sexism. The video of its founder angrily berating a driver. Secret \"Greyball\" software designed to evade authorities. Executives obtaining the medical records of a rape victim. Lawsuits around the world. The resignation of CEO Travis Kalanick. The company also lost its operating licence in London last month.\n\nBut UberEats has managed to stay out of the limelight. The service is now active in 108 cities (40 of which are in the UK) across 29 countries. It's growing quickly, targeting 200 cities by the end of the year.\n\nThe unit had a turnover of $700 million (\u00a3527 million) to $870 million (\u00a3656 million) for the second quarter of this year, according to The Financial Times. Uber's total gross bookings during the period were $8.7 billion (\u00a36.6 billion).\n\nUber's food delivery operation is underpinned by Uber's existing army of 2 million drivers, which can deliver food as well as passengers in some markets, as well as dedicated UberEats courier fleets.\n\nEach UberEats sale includes the cost of the food and the delivery fee, meaning the average UberEats order is more expensive than the average Uber taxi ride.\n\nBut UberEats is unprofitable in most of the markets it operates in, with only 27 cities currently profitable.\n\nThere's also fierce competition in the delivery market.\n\nUberEats goes head-to-head with the likes of GrubHub in the US and Deliveroo in the UK. Amazon has also launched its own restaurant food delivery service called Amazon Restaurants, which is available to Prime members, while Facebook launched a food delivery service in the US last week.\n\nAdditional reporting by Rob Price.", "output": "UberEats, the independent food-delivery arm of ride-hailing firm Uber, accounted for between 8% and 10% of the parent's gross bookings during Q2 2017, with turnover in the same period of $700m to $870m, according to figures seen by the Financial Times. According to the figures, the UberEats app is set to record more than $3bn in gross sales this year, despite pulling in a profit in only 27 of the 108 cities in which\u00a0it operates."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Asos lets users search for items using photos instead of keywords \n Two months after it started letting shoppers search its outfits using photos instead of keywords, fashion retailer Asos has seen enough to be sure visual search will help it convert those who are merely browsing.\n\nAsos has an \u201cupstream\u201d problem that visual search could fix, said Richard Jones, director of product management for the site. Visitors unsure of what they want to buy discover only a fraction of the retailer\u2019s catalog from its mobile app due to the limitations of screen size, search and site navigation. But when those same visitors upload pictures of outfits they like to Asos\u2019 visual search tool, early results suggest it helps them more easily find what they didn\u2019t know they wanted.\n\nAsos has seen \u201cgreat engagement\u201d from visual search to date, and Jones stressed the feature could eventually become the way many shoppers discover outfits in its app. However, he declined to share statistics that support his belief in visual search so soon after its debut on Asos\u2019 site. He said from the engagement he has seen, though, the feature gets people to spend longer in the app.\n\nTo use visual search in Asos\u2019 app, people take a picture of an outfit, for which an Asos algorithm then finds the closest matches. Over time, shoppers won\u2019t just receive similar matches, Jones said. They will also be served other products tailored to both their visual search and their preferences, which Asos\u2019 bases on in-app purchase behavior. In the future, a visual search for a white pair of high-top Converse trainers would return other associated products such as a matching jumper the searcher might also want.\n\nGetting those suggestions right is key to the longer journeys Asos wants from the app. Today, 70 percent of global traffic to Asos and over 50 percent of its orders come from mobile devices, with each user spending 80 minutes per month on average in its app. Jones expanded on the challenge ahead: \u201cWith something like keyword search, you almost have to know what you\u2019re looking for before you type it. For someone that\u2019s on more of a discovery journey, that really becomes an issue [when they\u2019re in the app].\u201d\n\nThere are still kinks to iron out. Some early users of the app have noted that visual searches don\u2019t always return the items they know Asos sells. Jones downplayed the instances as teething problems that would soon improve as the algorithm and data it processes grow.\n\nBut none of these developments will matter if not enough people use visual search. Some observers have questioned whether shoppers will regularly search for products using visual search in the way Asos and other retailers hope. The fashion industry is littered with small tests as retailers ease their way into the technology.\n\nJones believes the tide will turn to visual search sooner rather than later, driven by the flurry of augmented reality apps that will take advantage of the iPhone\u2019s recently updated camera lens. Additionally, Asos plans to promote the feature in the coming months after seeing much of the initial uptake for its own voice search uses driven without any marketing or signposting in the app. The more Asos can convince people to interact with visual search, said Jones, the better the tool can become.", "output": "London-based fashion retailer Asos has claimed that visual search functionality could become the primary way customers look for items, two months after it launched its own version of the service. Richard Jones, director of product management, declined to give any specific figures regarding visual search, but said the tool had enjoyed \"great engagement\", and the company plans to promote it more heavily in the coming months. More than half of Asos' orders, and almost three-quarters of its global traffic, come from mobiles, with users spending a monthly average of 80 minutes on the site.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple says it plans to roll out e-payments service in India \n In a career spanning nearly three decades at Apple, Eddy Cue, has been instrumental in helping build a number of key services such as Apple\u2019s online store in 1998, the iTunes Store in 2003 and the App Store in 2008. Cue, senior vice-president of Internet Software and Services at Apple, is now spearheading the company\u2019s push into key areas such as TV and Hollywood programming, video content and music, at a time when Apple is reportedly preparing a push into producing original content. In an interview, Cue, who till recently was also overseeing Apple\u2019s voice assistant service Siri, spoke about the company\u2019s plans for Apple Pay in India, how the company plans to expand in the country and the similarities between Apple\u2019s founder Steve Jobs and current CEO Tim Cook. Edited excerpts:\n\nWhat is Apple\u2019s near-term road map for India?\n\nThe key is you want the full set of services. And you have some unique attributes to that. The number of languages that you support, for example. There are a bunch of services that we haven\u2019t announced yet and are working on, for example, and we want them to be available in India first\u2026Part of this and having the engineers here is to really make sure that we are thinking of India right from the product development cycle.\n\nThe digital payments business is widely being seen as the biggest battleground in India now and in the near future. What are Apple\u2019s plans on that front?\n\nOur head of Apple Pay, Jennifer Bailey, is here with me. And Apple Pay is something that we definitely want in India. The challenge with payment mechanisms is that there isn\u2019t really a lot of global scale. You deal with individual markets at a time..but India is one of those markets where we hope to bring Apple Pay to.\n\nAny time frame on when we can expect Apple Pay here?\n\nWe\u2019re working on it, but no date to announce at this point. We like to announce a date that we know is a 100%.\n\nYou\u2019ve worked with both Steve Jobs and Tim Cook over the past three decades. How do they compare as leaders?\n\nThe thing that they have that\u2019s common and most important is products. What they cared about and what I care about is making the best products. And everything goes to that. So, that\u2019s the focus. The attention to detail, all of the things that go into a product, is a common thing that both Steve had and Tim has and most importantly, the culture that you\u2019re creating that Apple has that Steve created. So, I don\u2019t see any differences in that. They are different people, but their accomplishments and successes are very similar. And when you look at the last five years that Tim\u2019s been the CEO, there have been incredible accomplishments from Apple on the product front. And that shows the similarities. I\u2019ve worked with both of them\u2014I\u2019ve worked with Steve for 20 years, I\u2019ve worked with Tim for 20 years, so I know them both very, very well. I can\u2019t imagine that I could\u2019ve ever worked for better CEOs in my lifetime.\n\nWhat\u2019s Apple\u2019s vision with TV and Hollywood programming? How does Apple plan to disrupt this space?\n\nWe\u2019re doing some future stuff that we haven\u2019t talked about, around it. We\u2019ll talk more as we have more to say\u2026I don\u2019t think it\u2019s about us disrupting it. The reality is that it\u2019s going to get disrupted whether we do it or not. It\u2019s already started and we think we can do things that are innovative and we\u2019ll bring things to that ecosystem and platform that are unique to us. That\u2019s the opportunity.\n\nTill about five years ago, when TV entertainment and content was widely seen as the biggest battleground for tech companies, Apple was seen as the leading contender to disrupt that space, given its history of coming out with industry-shaping products such as the iPhone. That story hasn\u2019t quite played out\u2014in some sense, has Apple missed the bus with content and entertainment?\n\nThe way we look at this is the majority of customers get their content from a satellite or cable television service or antenna. That\u2019s true in most places in the world. And though there have been some new things that have come in, that\u2019s still the predominant way. That predominant way I believe is going to change over the next 10 years significantly. With a lot of changes come different opportunities because they\u2019ll be replaced by other ways to get video or they\u2019ll be replaced by other forms of entertainment around it. And that\u2019s the opportunity that we see. So, when you look at it today, we want to help the existing players. So, while people will say that Apple was slower\u2014as a matter of fact, we\u2019ve been way faster because what we did is, we said \u2018you have the content, you have a relationship with the customer, let\u2019s make sure that your applications give access to the customer. And if you want to sell something to the customer, we\u2019ll help you with that also because we have a mechanism that makes it really easy to pay.\u2019 The next thing is when you have all these apps out there, you really want to have a centralised way. That\u2019s where the TV app comes from. I think we\u2019ve been addressing the things that are in the market today. Your question, bottomline, falls into Netflix.\n\nApple historically has a track record of coming out with industry-defining products, whether it\u2019s the Mac or iPhone or iPod. But over the past decade, there\u2019s a been perception that the pace of innovation and the pace at which Apple has come out with game-changing, breakthrough products has slowed somewhat. What do you have to say about that?\n\nNo way! First of all, the iPhone is 10 years old. That is the last decade. The iPad came after that and the Watch came after that. So, I disagree vehemently with that and I think we\u2019ve been incredibly innovative. That doesn\u2019t even take into account the work that has been done on the Mac, iOS and MacOS, from that standpoint where I think we\u2019ve led the market. When you think of the products that we\u2019ve built over time, you own a lot of them. And you just assume that every year was a new product. But it wasn\u2019t. You can\u2019t do revolutionary new products, every two months or six months or whatever. They take time.\n\nComing back to India, tell us a little more about where India fits into Apple\u2019s broader scheme of things.\n\nWe view this as a very long-term opportunity but with very short-term gains that we can have here. With the services piece, we started this on three fronts. Let\u2019s take the biggest piece of services which is the App Store.\n\nFirstly, we want to have a vibrant ecosystem of developers. What happens with that is because we have a lot of customers in India and around the world, all of a sudden they could make some significant money.\n\nThe second one is Maps and Maps is something that we started a long time ago and when I took it over, one of the things we decided is that we wanted to make our Maps really best in class. One of the areas that we thought was a great opportunity to invest in was here. We now have over 4,000 people working on Apple Maps.\n\nThe third (piece) is call it the services like iCloud, Music, Movies, etc. One of the opportunities is the music industry here has either been free or there\u2019s nothing much more than free. If you look at it, almost all the music scene is related to Bollywood because there is economic value there. And I think that\u2019s great \u2014 we can help that. We sell those movies on a global scale, we sell them here. And we can do that piece of it, and we\u2019ll obviously have music in that way. But if you\u2019re a musician and not part of Bollywood and you\u2019re an indie musician, it\u2019s really hard. So, one of the things that we wanted to do was really expand the music space to allow everyone to be able to monetise and get paid from that standpoint. So, we launched Apple Music about a year and a half ago and we\u2019re thrilled with the results.", "output": "Apple Pay services are on the cards for India. Eddy Cue, senior VP of internet software and services at Apple, said the company definitely wanted to introduce its e-payments product in the country, but did not reveal an estimated launch date. Asked about Apple's roadmap for Indian expansion, Cue said it was key to launch a full set of offerings, adding that there is a number of services in the pipeline that the company wants to make\u00a0available in India first."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Santander leads $6m funding round in Mexican company ePesos \n Santander's fintech venture capital fund has led a $6 million funding round for ePesos, a Mexican mobile payments startup targeting underbanked small businesses.\n\nVilCap Investments, Pomona Impact, and Fiinlab, the innovation lab owned by Gentera, joined Santander InnoVentures in the round.\n\n\n\nThrough its platform, ePesos offers low-cost short-term working capital through a revolving line of credit to SMEs without a bank account. Borrowers receive and repay funds through a custom built mobile wallet.\n\n\n\nIn addition, ePesos is partnering with HR software companies on payroll advances so that firms can let employees access funds instantly without going through complicated internal procedures.\n\n\n\nManuel Silva Mart\u00ednez, head, investments, Santander InnoVentures, says: \"Our investment in ePesos is a proof of our commitment to global financial inclusion and helping small businesses prosper - something Santander InnoVentures has made a priority.\"\n\n\n\nMart\u00ednez adds that the deal is a stepping stone into Latin America for the $200 million fund, which has invested in 17 fintech startups since launching in 2014 but has so far focused on European and North American firms.", "output": "Mexican mobile payments start-up ePesos has raised $6m in a funding round led by Santander. The ePesos platform offers short-term working capital to small and medium businesses without a bank account, with borrowers receiving and repaying funds through a mobile wallet. It has also teamed up with HR software firms to offer payroll advances, so workers can access funds without going through complicated internal procedures. VilCap Investments, Pomona Impact and Fiinlab also participated in the funding round.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Washington Post aims to extend business model to Europe \n For U.S. publishers expanding internationally, one of the biggest challenges is brand perception. Encouraging agencies across markets to spend budget with news brands that are globally respected yet not regarded as go-to environments for local or non-U.S. campaigns is a time-consuming process. But The Washington Post is in it for the long game.\n\nUnder Amazon founder Jeff Bezos\u2019 ownership, the publisher has created an engineering army and its own technology infrastructure called Arc. That\u2019s given the Post more control over load speeds and better visibility into its users, what stories they read and their preferences for video or photo-led content \u2014 information that\u2019s fed back to the newsroom. Arc has also opened up new revenue streams, with the Post selling the tech to other publishers including Toronto\u2019s The Globe and Mail and the Los Angeles Times. Arc is now attracting interest from European countries, with conversations happening with major publishers in Spain and Sweden, according to Jed Hartman, the Post\u2019s chief revenue officer.\n\nThe Post has worked on altering the perception of its brand in its domestic market, too. \u201cIn the U.S., a lot of people used to think of us as a Washington, D.C., politics title. It\u2019s taken several years to break that perception, but only 5 percent of our audience is actually in Washington,\u201d said Hartman. \u201cOur reputation hasn\u2019t caught up to the facts.\u201d\n\nThe title wants to increase both international digital subscriptions and advertising revenue. Building its overseas audience, powered by its fast-loading distribution platform, will in time fuel subscriptions and advertising, Hartman said. The Post said it generates over $100 million from digital advertising globally and claims it has 90 million monthly unique users in the U.S. and 30 million internationally. That scale afforded it the freedom to tinker with its metered paywall, Hartman said. \u201cWe\u2019re optimizing it [the paywall] in the U.S., and then we\u2019ll begin to roll it out around the world, in a way that\u2019s in line with the new General Data Protection Regulation,\u201d he added. The Post has 1 million digital-only publications globally, a figure it doesn\u2019t break out by country.\n\nOver the last year, the Post has heavily marketed its daily WorldViews newsletter, which puts an international lens on news and analysis on political outcomes from Washington and is led by stories such as \u201cDitching deals has become Trump\u2019s main foreign policy.\u201d There are also plans to deeply cover areas like the World Economic Forum in Davos via newsletters to further build its audience and, ultimately, subscriptions.\n\nOn the advertising side, it\u2019ll likely take longer to build its reputation as a global news brand. \u201cIt can be a case of talking to one client, one agency at a time, to really change perception,\u201d said Hartman. \u201cThat\u2019s not the most efficient way, perhaps, but it\u2019s the most effective, as long as we have the content to support it. By pushing out more content, that will help raise awareness with the agencies.\u201d\n\nThe Post has had skeleton sales staffs in countries like the U.K., France and Singapore, relying on local sales houses to drive its advertising revenue, which has been a mix of programmatic and direct sales. But it has just hired its first London brand studio executive to build out the branded-content studio for Europe advertisers \u2014 an area of the business that has until now been handled solely in the U.S.\n\nOne of the big points of focus in the next six months will be ensuring major brands in the energy, banking and financial sectors recognize the size of the Post\u2019s platform and feel assured their ads will be served in a fast, non-intrusive, brand-safe environment. \u201cInternationally, we\u2019ve been more of a transactional ad seller, but we want to become more of a content solutions provider,\u201d said Hartman. \u201cThat\u2019s our pivot.\u201d\n\nHartman will speak in-depth at Digiday\u2019s Publishing Summit Europe in Berlin on Oct. 24 about how to build a sustainable business model for serious news.", "output": "The Washington Post will utilise is proprietary Arc technology to bring in subscriptions and advertisers as the paper expands its international digital presence. The publisher is in discussions with Spanish and Swedish counterparts about the Arc infrastructure, which improves visibility and page loading times. However, CRO Jed Hartman admitted that building the Post's reputation as a news brand outside the US could be a \"case of talking to one client, one agency at a time, to really change perception\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dutch solar cars win annual race in Australia \n Solar Team Eindhoven's \"Stella Vie\" was hailed as the future of sun-powered motoring as the 3,000-kilometre World Solar Challenge wrapped up\n\nA futuristic Dutch family car that not only uses the sun as power but supplies energy back to the grid was hailed as \"the future\" Sunday as the World Solar Challenge wrapped up.\n\nThe innovative bi-annual contest, first run in 1987, began in Darwin a week ago with 41 vehicles setting off on a 3,000-kilometre (1,860-mile) trip through the heart of Australia to Adelaide.\n\nDutch car \"Nuna 9\" won the race for the third-straight time, crossing the finish line on Thursday after travelling at an average speed of 81.2 kilometres per hour (55.5 mph).\n\nIt was competing in the Challenger class, which featured slick, single seat aerodynamic vehicles built for sustained endurance and total energy efficiency.\n\nBut there was also a Cruiser class, introduced to bridge the gap between high-end technology and everyday driving practicality.\n\nGerman team HS Bochum was the first to arrive Friday with its stylish four-seater classic coupe, featuring sustainable materials such as vegan pineapple leather seats.\n\nBut another Dutch team, Eindhoven, was set to be crowned overall champion based on a system taking into account design, practicality, energy efficiency, and innovation, organisers said.\n\nTheir family car, \"Stella Vie\", carried five people at an average speed of 69 kilometres per hour, with event director Chris Selwood saying it was a practical demonstration of what the future might look like.\n\n\"These incredible solar cars have been designed with the commercial market in mind and have all the features you'd expect in a family, luxury or sporting car,\" he said.\n\n\"Team Eindhoven are to be congratulated on their achievement to date\u2014clearly the most energy efficient solar car in the field, capable of generating more power than they consume.\n\n\"This is the future of solar electric vehicles. When your car is parked at home it can be charging and supplying energy back to the grid.\"\n\nCars in the race were mostly developed by universities or corporations, with teams hailing from around the world.\n\nThey were allowed to store a small amount of energy but the majority of their power had to come from the sun and the vehicle's kinetic forces.\n\nTeam Eindhoven said its vision had been to build a family car with a balance between aerodynamic, aesthetic and practical design.\n\n\"We think we succeeded very well with a car that is more efficient than its predecessors and includes some state-of-the-art technologies to not only generate energy but also supply it back to the grid,\" they said.\n\n\"Through a smart charging and discharging system she charges the battery when the demand of energy from the grid is high and vice versa. Any surplus energy generated can easily be supplied back to the grid.\"\n\nOf the 12 Cruiser class cars that started, six finished.\n\nAs well as the German and Dutch entrants, vehicles from Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the United States also crossed the finish line.\n\n\u00a9 2017 AFP", "output": "Dutch solar car technology dominated this year's World Solar Challenge, a 3,000km race from Darwin to Adelaide in Australia. Cruiser class-winning Team Eindhoven's family car Stella Vie was dubbed \"the future of solar electric vehicles\", thanks to its smart charging and discharging system, which feeds excess energy back into the grid. The Nuna 9, which averaged a speed of 81.2 kph, scooped the top prize for the third year running in the Challenger class."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dutch solar cars win annual race in Australia \n A team from the Netherlands has won the 2017 World Solar Challenge, a gruelling 3000km solar-powered car race from Darwin to Adelaide along the infamous Stewart Highway.\n\nThe Nuon Solar team celebrates its 2017 victory\n\nThe Nuon Solar team, which is based at the Delft University of Technology crossed the finish line five days after leaving Darwin. It was almost two hours ahead of its nearest rival, a team from the University of Michigan and two and half hours ahead of the third-placed Belgian Punch Powertrain team. The win is the Nuon Solar\u2019s seventh title.\n\nUnfortunately, the main UK contender, Cambridge University Eco Racing (CUER) was forced to pull out of the competition following an accident during testing, resulting from a sudden loss of dynamic stability.\n\nSecond placed Novum 2 powers across the outback\n\nNuon took an early lead in this year\u2019s competition, which its strategists say they maintained by carefully watching the weather, energy consumption and predicting the best way through the clouds. The team also had to adjust its strategy and driving style to \u201cnerve-wracking\u201d weather conditions that saw wind gusts of up to 60 kilometres per hour. Aerodynamics expert for the team, Jasper Hemmes, said drivers were instructed to position the solar car in such a way to profit from the winds as if it were a sailing ship.\n\nThe World Solar Challenge, which occurs every two years, has been running now for three decades.\n\nThe winner of this year's Cruiser class competition\n\nAlongside the main competition, this year\u2019s event also featured a Cruiser class, designed to stimulate and showcase ways in which solar-powered cars might one day make into the mainstream. This year\u2019s competition was won by a team from Eindhoven whose Stella Vie car carried an average of 3.4 people over the 3021km route using just 45.7kWh of external energy. By comparison, a Tesla Model S85 (85kWh battery) has a practical range of about 400km.", "output": "Dutch solar car technology dominated this year's World Solar Challenge, a 3,000km race from Darwin to Adelaide in Australia. Cruiser class-winning Team Eindhoven's family car Stella Vie was dubbed \"the future of solar electric vehicles\", thanks to its smart charging and discharging system, which feeds excess energy back into the grid. The Nuna 9, which averaged a speed of 81.2 kph, scooped the top prize for the third year running in the Challenger class."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Senate committee seeks answers on drug pricing \n Follow the money. If only it were that simple when it comes to understanding how much prescription drugs cost\u2014and why.\n\nThe Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will take another journey down the rabbit hole on Oct. 17, this time focusing on the delivery system. The committee started its probe in June with a hearing aimed at getting a basic understanding of the issue.\n\n\"More than 4 billion prescriptions are written for drugs each year for Americans who then receive those drugs at 60,000 drug stores, from doctors or hospitals and from online pharmacies. The total cost to the overall health system of these prescriptions each year is $450 billion, to be paid by taxpayers, patients, hospitals and insurers, among others,\" committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said during the June hearing. \"This is a discussion that affects the well-being of every American family. It is important that we work together to conduct this fact-finding in a bipartisan way.\"\n\nWhile the June hearing was billed as a bipartisan effort, several Democrats used it as an opportunity to blast the GOP's efforts to derail the Affordable Care Act.\n\nAt the Oct. 17 hearing the committee will listen to testimony from officials representing big pharma, generic drug manufacturers and pharmacists. One topic that's sure to come up is trying to understand where the money goes.\n\nA study published in June in Health Affairs tried to trace exactly that. Looking at a hypothetical $100 prescription, researchers combed through Securities and Exchange Commission filings and other analyses and projected gross profit for branded drug manufacturers to total $58 and $18 for generic makers. The study also found that pharmacy benefit managers raked in four times as much on generic drugs versus brands.\n\nThe concern is that policymakers will rush to judge the entire industry though a single lens, rather than assessing each player differently, said Chester \"Chip\" Davis, CEO of the Association for Accessible Medicines, which represents generic drug manufacturers. Davis is slated to testify at Tuesday's hearing.", "output": "Follow the money. If only it were that simple when it comes to understanding how much prescription drugs cost\u2014and why. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will take another journey down the rabbit hole on Oct. 17, this time focusing on the delivery system. The committee started its probe in June with a hearing aimed at getting a basic understanding of the issue.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bills Would Increase Transparency In Drug Pricing \n Democratic State Representative Deb Kolste of Janesville has introduced a package of bills focused on reforming the pharmaceutical industry, including legislation to increase transparency in how prescription drug manufacturers set their prices.\n\nOne bill requires drug manufacturers to notify the state prior to price increases of more than 25 percent. They would also be required to include a justification for the price hike and detail the amount of rebates provided to Wisconsin residents. Other bills would prevent insurance companies from removing prescription drugs from their formularies while a contract with a consumer is in place.\n\nKolste says consumers have been given little insight into what is driving drug prices to record highs. She says consumers are simply given higher prices without any transparency from manufacturers... \".....it is at a crisis point for insurance(companies), governments, and consumers to try and get a handle on pharmaceutical drug pricing. Polls by Kaiser Foundation and Harvard point out that pharmaceutical prices are becoming the number one concern of American, a bipartisan concern by the way....\"\n\nCitizen Action of Wisconsin Director Robert Kraig says one example is NARCON, the drug used to save lives in opiate overdoses...\n\n\".....it has gone up in price from $690 in 2014, an established prescription drug, no changes, to more than $4,500 today, a price increase in more than two years. Given the opiate epidemic, that can only be described as price gouging....\"\n\nThe Citizen Action of Wisconsin report is here.", "output": "Democratic State Representative Deb Kolste of Janesville has introduced a package of bills focused on reforming the pharmaceutical industry, including legislation to increase transparency in how prescription drug manufacturers set their prices.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fires Prey On Frail Residents Living On Their Own \n They were asleep when the fire reached their home. Charles Rippey, 100, and his wife, Sara, 98, had been married 75 years. They died together, after a caregiver struggled to save them but couldn\u2019t get them out in time.\n\nA 27-year-old woman had spina bifida and used a wheelchair. In the hours after the fires broke out, her relatives frantically sought information about her whereabouts. When a fire inspector visited her home, he found her body.\n\nWildfires continue to spread through Northern California counties, already taking the lives of at least 31 people. Hundreds more are missing. Local officials and advocates fear that many among them are seniors or disabled people unable to flee, as many residents have, on a moment\u2019s notice.\n\nOthers have been saved only by luck and quick-thinking neighbors.\n\nUse Our Content This story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nIn Mendocino County\u2019s Redwood Valley community, retired firefighter RedHawk Palleson came across a disoriented elderly woman wandering in his neighborhood and an older couple in their bathrobes as flames chased them down the street, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported. He drove them to safety in his truck.\n\nThe deaths and close calls illustrate the particular vulnerability of frail people living on their own during a fast-moving disaster. \u201cThe fires have raised a lot of questions about how we respond and provide safety to vulnerable people in an imminent crisis,\u201d said Marty Omoto, executive director of the California Disability Community Action Network. \u201cWe have to ask ourselves how we respond when there\u2019s no warning.\u201d\n\nOmoto said he is still trying to reach friends and colleagues living with disabilities in the region. \u201cWe\u2019re operating on hope,\u201d he said.\n\nIn both Sonoma and Napa conties, where the wildfires have been the most severe, about 18 percent of residents are age 65 or older, higher than the statewide percentage of 13.6 percent, according to U.S. Census data. About 6 to 8 percent of those counties\u2019 residents have disabilities.\n\nThis week, people posted poignant queries on social media hoping to find loved ones still missing. \u201cHas anyone seen the woman on the right?\u201d Elizabeth Northrup wrote on Facebook, providing a picture of an older woman. \u201cHer name is Norma Lou Peoples. She uses a red walker.\u201d\n\nNursing homes aren\u2019t fail-safe, as was tragically illustrated by the eight deaths in a sweltering Florida nursing home left without air conditioning after Hurricane Irma. But they, along with assisted living facilities and homes for the disabled, do have disaster and evacuation plans. In-home caregivers rarely get training on how to help their clients in an emergency, Omoto said, and in a disaster they may have their own families to care for. And of course some frail people don\u2019t receive in-home care.\n\nMarianne McBride, president and CEO of Sonoma County\u2019s Council on Aging, said Wednesday that she and her staff were still trying to track down the agency\u2019s social services clients, including up to 1,200 who regularly receive \u201cmeals on wheels.\u201d\n\nIt was a challenge. Over the weekend, cellphones either didn\u2019t work or worked only sporadically as the fire destroyed 73 cellphone towers. Internet and electricity were down in some areas. But by Monday, the agency had reached 600 seniors, McBride said.\n\nMcBride, whose brother lost his home in the fires, said seniors or disabled people should consider keeping their landlines rather than relying only on cellphones. She also said social service providers should keep paper copies of client locations as a backup when internet and electrical services fail.\n\nMcBride also recommended that family members get acquainted with the neighbors of their elderly relatives and provide them with their contact information in case of emergency. Neighbors have to look out for each other, she said.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s not a service agency that can take care of all the aging individuals that we have in the community,\u201d McBride said, choking back tears. \u201cWhat the fires bring out is that the only way we\u2019re going to successfully age is if we do so in community, and the community feels it has a responsibility to look out for neighbors and get them the resources they need.\u201d\n\nAs developmentally disabled people increasingly live independently, they too need support both during and after disasters.\n\nVicki Smith, a deputy director at the California State Council on Developmental Disabilities, said the public agency in the past year has trained more than 1,100 developmentally disabled people in disaster preparedness with simplified materials, including how to assemble an inexpensive emergency backpack. She estimated that there are more than 10,000 developmentally disabled people living in Sonoma and Napa counties.\n\nDisaster experts say the general preparedness recommendations for everyone are even more important for people with limited mobility. For instance, keep the car gassed up and put a change of clothes and an emergency kit in the trunk. And sign up for your community\u2019s alert system (although there were some complaints from Northern California residents that they never received these alerts).\n\nNancy McPherson, state director for AARP California, urged people to learn ahead of time the routes to buildings likely to be used as shelters during an emergency, such as a local high school.\n\nMcPherson said the AARP has partnered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the past, but this year\u2019s severe hurricanes and fires have sparked a new effort to make emergency preparedness for seniors \u201cmore robust,\u201d she said.\n\nSome communities have tried to develop registries of elderly and disabled people who might need rescue in emergencies, but such registries are difficult to keep current, McPherson said.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of thinking about this, but plans get put on a shelf and we tend to forget that they are there,\u201d McPherson said.\n\nThis story was produced by Kaiser Health News, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.\n\nKFF Health News' coverage of aging and long-term care issues is supported in part by The SCAN Foundation.", "output": " \n\nThey were asleep when the fire reached their home. Charles Rippey, 100, and his wife, Sara, 98, had been married 75 years. They died together, after a caregiver struggled to save them but\u00a0couldn\u2019t get them out\u00a0in time.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "State to buy more hepatitis A vaccine after emergency declaration \n California\u2019s multi-county hepatitis A outbreak has so strained the federal government\u2019s supply of vaccine that the state will take its own steps to secure more doses directly from manufacturers under an emergency declaration declared by Gov. Jerry Brown Friday.\n\nDr. Gil Chavez, state epidemiologist and deputy director of the Center for Infectious Diseases at the California Department of Public Health, said that the state has already received more than 80,000 free doses from a federal \u201c317\u201d emergency vaccine program run by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\n\n\u201cIn our communications with them, as of late, it\u2019s been very clear that our continuous requests for additional vaccine is running into their limit of what they can share with California,\u201d Chavez said.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nHe did not elaborate on how low the state\u2019s supply of hepatitis A vaccine has dropped and noted that local public health departments and health providers also have the ability to order vaccine outside of the federal program. But, he said, it is time for his department to start buying what is needed to keep existing vaccination campaigns in San Diego, Los Angeles and Santa Cruz counties supplied with as many vials as they require.\n\n\u201cWe have received 81,000 doses (from the CDC), and that is a big chunk of their total supply for the entire country for the year. CDC has been trying to manage their inventory to meet the needs of California,\u201d Chavez said.\n\nThe governor\u2019s emergency declaration, signed Friday, gives the state health department authority to \u201ctake all measures necessary to obtain hepatitis A vaccines and prioritize the vaccination of at-risk individuals.\u201d Chavez said he did not have an immediate estimate of exactly how many more doses the state will need to buy or how much doing so might cost.\n\nAlso on Friday, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the CDC requesting federal assistance, including any available emergency grant funding, to help fight the outbreak.\n\nIn addition to allowing San Diego and other California counties dip into its emergency vaccine supply, the CDC has already provided some personnel, flying several of its epidemiologists out to advise local public health teams on the best ways to contain the spread of hepatitis A infections. So far, however, those efforts have not been able to turn the corner. Case totals increased to 490 this week and the death total hit 18.\n\nOther totals around in California:\n\n71 cases in Santa Cruz County\n\n13 cases in Los Angeles County\n\n7 cases elsewhere in the state\n\nThe CDC has been unclear about exactly how much current outbreaks in California, Michigan, Utah and Arizona are drawing down the national vaccine supply which was already challenged by a global increase in demand due to a series of overseas outbreaks.\n\nIn late September Merck & Co. Inc., manufacturer of VAQTA, one of two FDA-approved hepatitis A vaccines, told the Union-Tribune that it \u201canticipates working through some manufacturing constraints\u201d in 2017, adding that \u201cconstraints will impact availability of pediatric and adult doses of VAQTA this year.\u201d\n\nAt a news conference in San Diego last week, a CDC spokesperson promised to clarify the vaccine supply picture, but has not subsequently provided any additional information.\n\nThe vaccine supply question persists as San Diego organizations ready for a fresh wave of inoculation activity.\n\nOn Friday morning, Mayor Kevin Faulconer stood beside paramedics to announce that a temporary modification of state law has allowed the city to create two mobile vaccination teams which will include a paramedic, a fire captain/paramedic and a supervising nurse. Under temporary permission from the state Emergency Medical Services Authority, paramedics in San Diego County are allowed to give hepatitis A shots to at-risk residents as long as they are working under the direct supervision of a registered nurse.\n\nCity fire officials and Mike Murphy, general manager of American Medical Response-San Diego, said paramedics who will be involved in vaccination efforts have received four additional hours of training on the proper technique for giving hepatitis A shots. The activity is similar to other injections they often administer answering emergency calls throughout the city.\n\nSan Diego Fire Department Battalion Chief Rick Ballard said after Friday\u2019s news conference that he expects the city to learn where and when the two paramedic teams will work from the county Health and Human Services Agency on Monday. He said the county is working with many medical organizations, including local hospitals, to fan out to single-occupancy hotels, beaches, parks and other locations.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019ve identified over 100 locations that they have not been able to reach yet,\u201d Ballard said.\n\nThe county did not respond Tuesday to a request for more information on its impending second-wave vaccination effort, and a county spokesman said Friday afternoon that he still could not make anyone available to discuss the operation\u2019s details.\n\nIn recent weeks some in the community have questioned whether the San Diego River may be a source of hepatitis A infection among the city\u2019s homeless. While county public health officials have insisted that river water is not a source of contamination, they told the Union-Tribune Thursday that river water has not yet been tested for contamination by one or more of the 15 unique strains of the virus that testing has found in samples gathered from infected residents.\n\nA recent genetic test of river water, while it did not specifically check for hepatitis, did find that the total amount of human feces in the river and its tributaries quadrupled in 2017.\n\nOn Thursday San Diego City Councilman David Alvarez sent a memo to Mayor Faulconer requesting that the city test local waterways for hepatitis A. The city has no current plans to start testing, Greg Block, Faulconer\u2019s senior press secretary, said in an email.\n\n\u201cThe county has consulted with the Center for Disease Control and environmental sampling has not been recommended for the current hepatitis A outbreak. The county is the public health agency for the region, and we rely on their expertise in these matters,\u201d Block said.\n\nHealth Playlist \u00d7 On Now Video: Leaders urge public to help extinguish hepatitis outbreak On Now San Diego starts cleansing sidewalks, streets to combat hepatitis A On Now Video: Scripps to shutter its hospice service On Now Video: Scripps La Jolla hospitals nab top local spot in annual hospital rankings On Now Video: Does a parent's Alzheimer's doom their children? On Now EpiPen recall expands On Now Kids can add years to your life\n\npaul.sisson@sduniontribune.com\n\n(619) 293-1850\n\nTwitter: @paulsisson", "output": "California\u2019s multi-county hepatitis A outbreak has so strained the federal government\u2019s supply of vaccine that the state will take its own steps to secure more doses directly from manufacturers under an emergency declaration declared by Gov.\u00a0Jerry Brown\u00a0Friday.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "States have already tried Trump\u2019s health care order. It went badly. \n This analysis is part of the USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy , which is a partnership between the Center for Health Policy at Brookings and the University of Southern California Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics. The Initiative aims to inform the national health care debate with rigorous, evidence-based analysis leading to practical recommendations using the collaborative strengths of USC and Brookings. This article originally appeared in The Washington Post on October 13, 2017.\n\nEven after Republicans in Congress failed three times to rid themselves of the Affordable Care Act, President Trump has proved that there is no shortage of ideas for how to disrupt the health-care system.\n\nThe president signed an executive order Thursday that will allow small employers to join associations of small business \u2014 such as farm bureaus or chambers of commerce \u2014 that provide health coverage to their members. If such associations self-insure, existing law might enable them to avoid both state insurance regulations and the core of the ACA. Thus, a simple turn of the regulatory dials could free up a large portion of the most heavily regulated parts of the health-insurance market.\n\nLike many appealing ideas, this one, proposed by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), has hidden land mines that are already well-mapped out based on previous failed attempts to enact them, even in Paul\u2019s home state of Kentucky.\n\nA version of these self-insured association health plans first became widespread in the 1980s, but they failed in droves because many were undercapitalized. More troubling, these earlier association plans had a history of becoming what the Labor Department termed \u201cscam artists\u201d and the Government Accountability Office reported were \u201cbogus entities [that] have exploited employers and individuals seeking affordable coverage.\u201d More than two dozen states reported in 1992 that these early association plans had committed \u201cfraud, embezzlement or other criminal law\u201d violations.\n\nWe might avoid such a fate by requiring groups to register and meet adequate solvency and consumer-protection standards. But that doesn\u2019t solve the more ominous aspect of association health plans: market destabilization.\n\nBecause less-regulated association health plans compete with fully regulated markets, actuaries and regulators have long warned that association plans create an uneven playing field that can disrupt markets. People who don\u2019t need to cover preexisting conditions or don\u2019t want to pay community rates gravitate to the better deals offered by associations, leaving sicker people in the regulated markets. Naturally, regulated insurance prices increase as a result, sometimes causing a death spiral that crashes the market.\n\nThat\u2019s just what happened in Kentucky in the 1990s when it reformed its individual market but exempted association plans from the reforms. Enrollment with associations shot up, and most insurers selling in the regulated market pulled out. Within two years, the state repealed its reforms. Association health plans were only one part of Kentucky\u2019s failed market reforms, but they are still a major reason why the so-called Kentucky disaster now serves as a lesson for other states to avoid similar measures.\n\nWe could avoid such market disruption by making association health plans abide by the same regulations that govern individuals and small groups, but the whole point of Trump\u2019s executive order is to sidestep existing regulations. The only other option for avoiding market disruption is to keep association plans separate from the regular market by ensuring that people cannot simply choose between association plans and regulated insurance based solely on their health status.\n\nEmployer groups avoid this kind of adverse selection because people can\u2019t just pick an employer simply to get the health insurance they want. But many association health plans allow just that. You don\u2019t need to be a farmer to join the Farm Bureau, and business associations can be open to any person that files a Schedule C tax form. Some groups have such skimpy fig leaves for membership qualification that they are criticized as \u201cair breather\u201d associations \u2014 that is, the only commonality among their members is their dependency on oxygen.\n\nFederal and state law attempts to avoid this by exempting associations from insurance regulations only if they are \u201cbona fide,\u201d meaning that obtaining insurance is not the reason people join them. But as regulators will tell you, that criterion is not easy to enforce, which is why the hot potato of association \u201cbona fides\u201d is regularly tossed back and forth among states, insurers and the Labor Department .\n\nDespite this troubled history, association health plans have an important place in, and alongside, regulated health-insurance markets. Still, their history counsels caution in freely expanding that role. These plans should succeed based on delivering superior value rather than serving as a vehicle to cherry-pick regulations they do and don\u2019t want to follow. For that to happen, association health plans need a set of carefully considered rules based on lessons from the past, rather than naive belief in a quick fix.\n\nThe author did not receive financial support from any firm or person for this article or from any firm or person with a financial or political interest in this article. He is currently not an officer, director, or board member of any organization with an interest in this article.", "output": "Even after Republicans in Congress failed three times to rid themselves of the Affordable Care Act, President Trump has proved that there is no shortage of ideas for how to disrupt the health-care system.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trump Acting Solo: What You Need To Know About Changes To The Health Law \n Apparently frustrated by Congress\u2019 inability to \u201crepeal and replace\u201d the Affordable Care Act, President Donald Trump this week decided to take matters into his own hands.\n\nLate Thursday evening, the White House announced it would cease key payments to insurers. Earlier on Thursday, Trump signed an executive order aimed at giving people who buy their own insurance easier access to different types of health plans that were limited under the ACA rules set by the Obama administration.\n\n\u201cThis is promoting health care choice and competition all across the United States,\u201d Trump said at the signing ceremony. \u201cThis is going to be something that millions and millions of people will be signing up for, and they\u2019re going to be very happy.\u201d\n\nThe subsidy payments, known as \u201ccost-sharing reductions,\u201d are payments to insurers to reimburse them for discounts they give policyholders with incomes under 250 percent of the federal poverty line, or about $30,000 in income a year for an individual. Those discounts shield these lower-income customers from out-of-pocket expenses, such as deductibles or copayments. These subsidies have been the subject of a lawsuit that is ongoing.\n\nUse Our Content This KHN story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nThe cost-sharing reductions are separate from the tax credit subsidies that help millions of people pay their premiums. Those are not affected by Trump\u2019s decision.\n\nSome of Trump\u2019s actions could have an immediate effect on the enrollment for 2018 ACA coverage that starts Nov. 1. Here are five things you should know.\n\n1. The executive order does not make any immediate changes.\n\nTechnically, Trump ordered the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Treasury within 60 days to \u201cconsider proposing regulations or revising guidance, to the extent permitted by law,\u201d on several different options for expanding the types of plans individuals and small businesses could purchase. Among his suggestions to the department are broadening rules to allow more small employers and other groups to form what are known as \u201cassociation health plans\u201d and to sell low-cost, short-term insurance. There is no guarantee, however, that any of these plans will be forthcoming. In any case, the process to make them available could take months.\n\n2. The cost-sharing reduction changes ARE immediate but might not affect the people you expect.\n\nCutting off payments to insurers for the out-of-pocket discounts they provide to moderate-income policyholders does not mean those people will no longer get help. The law, and insurance company contracts with the federal government, require those discounts be granted.\n\nThat means insurance companies will have to figure out how to recover the money they were promised. They could raise premiums (and many are raising them already). For the majority of people who get the separate subsidies to help pay their premiums, those increases will be borne by the federal government. Those who will be hit hardest are the roughly 7.5 million people who buy their own individual insurance but earn too much to get federal premium help.\n\nInsurers could also simply drop out of the ACA entirely. That would affect everyone in the individual market and could leave some counties with no insurer for next year. Insurers could also sue the government, and most experts think they would eventually win.\n\nFacebook Live: Trump Ends Payments For Cost-Sharing Reductions. What\u2019s Next?\n\n3. This could affect your insurance choices for next year. But it\u2019s complicated.\n\nThe impact on your plan choices and premiums for next year will vary by state and insurer. For one thing, insurers have a loophole that allows them to get out of the contracts for 2018, given the change in federal payments. So, some might decide to bail. That could leave areas with fewer \u2014 or no \u2014 insurers. The Congressional Budget Office in August estimated that stopping the payments would leave about 5 percent of people who purchase their own coverage through the ACA marketplaces with no insurers in 2018.\n\nFor everyone else, the move would result in higher premiums, the CBO said, adding an average of about 20 percent. In some states, regulators have already allowed insurers to price those increases into their 2018 rates in anticipation that the payments would be halted by the Trump administration.\n\nBut how those increases are applied varies. In California, Idaho, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and South Carolina, for example, regulators had insurers load the costs only onto one type of plan: silver-level coverage. That\u2019s because most people who buy silver plans also get a subsidy from the federal government to help pay their premium, and those subsidies rise along with the cost of a silver plan.\n\nConsumers getting a premium subsidy, however, won\u2019t see much increase in their out-of-pocket payments for the coverage. Consumers without premium subsidies will bear the additional costs if they stay in a silver plan. In those states, consumers may find a better deal in a different metal-band of insurance, including higher-level gold plans. Many states, however, allowed insurers to spread the expected increase across all levels of plans.\n\n4. Congress could act.\n\nBipartisan negotiations have been renewed between Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) to create legislation that would continue the cost-sharing subsidies and give states more flexibility to develop and sell less generous health care plans than those currently offered on the exchanges. Trump\u2019s move to end the cost-sharing subsidies may bolster those discussions.\n\nIn a statement, Murray called Trump\u2019s action to withdraw cost-sharing subsidies \u201creckless\u201d but said she continues \u201cto be optimistic about our negotiations and believe we can reach a deal quickly \u2014 and I urge Republican leaders in Congress to do the right thing for families this time by supporting our work.\u201d\n\nTrump on Friday urged Democrats to work with him to \u201cmake a deal\u201d on health care. \u201cNow, if the Democrats were smart, what they\u2019d do is come and negotiate something where people could really get the kind of healthcare that they deserve, being citizens of our great country,\u201d he said Friday afternoon.\n\nEarlier Friday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) did not sound as if he was in the mood to cut a deal.\n\n\u201cRepublicans have been doing everything they can for the last ten months to inject instability into our health care system and to force collapse through sabotage,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cRepublicans in the House and Senate now own the health care system in this country from top to bottom, and their destructive actions, and the actions of the president, are going to fall on their backs. The American people see it, and they know full well which party is doing it.\u201d\n\nA poll released Friday by the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that 71 percent of the public said they preferred that the Trump administration try to make the law work rather than to hasten replacement by encouraging its failure. The poll was conducted before Trump made his announcement about the subsidies. (Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent program of the foundation.)\n\n5. Some states are suing, but the outcome is hard to guess.\n\nEven though all states regulate their own insurance markets, states have limited options for dealing with Trump\u2019s latest move. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia, led by New York and California, are suing the Trump administration to defend the cost-sharing subsidies. But it is unclear whether a federal court could say that the Trump administration is obligated to continue making the payments while that case is pending.\n\nDiane Webber contributed to this report.", "output": "Apparently frustrated by Congress\u2019 inability to \u201crepeal and replace\u201d the Affordable Care Act, President Donald Trump this week decided to take matters into his own hands. Late Thursday evening, the White House announced it would cease key payments to insurers. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Not Dead Yet: Obamacare Insurers Are Hanging In There \n Mr. Trump has made his disdain for the Affordable Care Act clear in a variety of policies dating to his first week in office, and for months had threatened to stop paying insurers subsidies that help them provide lower deductibles and co-payments to low-income customers. Because of the uncertainty, most states had allowed insurers to set high enough prices for 2018 to account for the risk of cutoff subsidies. That means they are largely protected from the consequences of President Trump\u2019s decision to eliminate the payments.\n\nBut not all. While many large carriers like Centene may be willing to stay, others are nervous, and their regulators were considering options Friday. New competition from plans exempt from the A.C.A. rules and much higher rates resulting from the loss of funding are making some insurers rethink their commitment to 2018. \u201cThey\u2019re sharpening their pencils now to see if they are going to stay in or not,\u201d said David M. Dillon, a fellow with the Society of Actuaries.\n\nIn addition to cutting off the subsidies, the president signed an executive order Thursday that may pave the way for competing plans that would be subject to fewer rules and could draw healthy customers out of the Obamacare markets. The administration has also cut back on its marketplace advertising budget by 90 percent, and slashed funding to groups that help customers understand their options and sign up for insurance.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a deliberate pattern,\u201d said Chet Burrell, the chief executive of CareFirst, which is faced with a $50 million loss in Maryland if regulators do not allow it to increase its rates to make up for the loss of funding. \u201cWith active sabotage, this makes it more unstable.\u201d\n\nMr. Burrell says CareFirst expects to continue offering coverage in the individual market regardless of what the Maryland regulator decides. But he said the administration\u2019s actions \u201ccreate profound instability and uncertainty for the future.\u201d", "output": "Despite President Trump\u2019s best efforts, the Obamacare market hasn\u2019t imploded yet. While Thursday\u2019s decisions to cut off government funding\u00a0and\u00a0invite competition\u00a0from flimsier, cheaper plans will jostle a vulnerable market, many of the major insurance companies say they will remain in the state marketplaces next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "European commercial markets strongest in 10 years: Knight Frank \n Europe\u2019s commercial real estate markets are in better shape than at any time since the global financial crisis, according to new research.\n\nThe Eurozone is showing good economic growth for the first time in many years and this is creating more stability and growth, particularly in the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands.\n\nInternational real estate adviser Knight Frank\u2019s newly appointed European Capital Markets Board are optimistic for the future of the European real estate markets despite uncertainty caused by the Brexit process.\n\n\u2018The Eurozone is showing good economic growth for the first time since the global financial crisis and despite the uncertainty over the Brexit negotiations, the UK is experiencing record low levels of unemployment,\u2019 said Andrew Sim, head of Global Capital Markets at Knight Frank.\n\n\u2018London in particular is continuing to power ahead, with confidence indices rising and office take-up by the tech and creative sectors actually having increased in the first half of 2017 compared with the same period in 2016. The upshot is that London remained the most active investment market in Europe in the first half of 2017, with prices having risen to pre-referendum levels despite an air of uncertainty,\u2019 he pointed out.\n\n\u2018We expect an increase in activity as the prospect of a two or three year transitional deal for Britain when leaving the European Union sinks in, leaving more and more investors expecting the return of the London capital markets status quo\u2019,\u2019 he added.\n\nAccording to Hanns-Joachim Fredrich, head of Capital Markets Germany at Knight Frank, explained that in Germany pricing is looking sharp, with offices in central business districts trading at record levels with record demand forcing up prices. \u2018Investment into Frankfurt has significantly increased due to the ongoing Brexit discussions, however a lack of suitable product is hindering its deployment,\u2019 he said.\n\n\u2018All property classes are benefiting from the strong investor demand, not only prime offices and retail but also hotels, residential and healthcare. Due to the extremely high investor demand for residential, there is a shortage of commercial developments within Germany\u2019s top seven cities. Most office developments are pre-let two or three years before completion,\u2019 he explained.\n\n\u2018Knight Frank recommends now is the time to activate existing land with building rights and start speculative development to benefit from the shortage of existing schemes underway and the strong take-up of the dwindling office space available,\u2019 he added.\n\nIn France there is growing demand from overseas investors, boosted by the election of President Emmanuel Macron. \u2018There is belief, momentum and activity, with the vacancy rate on Paris\u2019s Ile de France falling sharply to now sit at 6.6%. In the central business district vacancy rates are now 3.1%,\u2019 said Vincent Bollaert, the firm\u2019s head of Capital Markets in France.\n\n\u2018Our view is that the occupational market is going to strengthen further as well, and post-Brexit we expect the tech sector to account for up to 15% of total employment in Paris. This is all underpinning a strong investment market, with prime yields sitting between 3% and 3.25% \u2013 a record low for the central business district. While French investors accounted for 63% of transactions in the first half of this year we are finding there is growing demand from overseas buyers in the second half,\u2019 he added.\n\nAmsterdam is becoming an increasingly attractive market for investors seeking an alternative to more expensive European markets such as London, Paris and Berlin, according to Fred Rikken, head of Capital Markets in the Netherlands.\n\n\u2018High office vacancy rates were previously a concern for those looking to deploy capital, but availability is now rapidly tumbling and supply shortages have emerged in the most sought-after office districts,\u2019 he said.\n\n\u2018Combined with strong demand from the city\u2019s vibrant and expanding technology sector, tight supply will drive rental growth, and create opportunities for new development, however, a lack of suitable core investment product would be the biggest challenge in the next 12 months,\u2019 he added.", "output": "European commercial property markets are at their strongest since the global financial crisis, according to real estate advisor Knight Frank. Much of this is down to strong economic growth in the eurozone, creating better stability and growth, especially in the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands. As such, Knight Frank's European Capital Markets Board is optimistic for the future of the European commercial property markets, despite uncertainty caused by Brexit."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "End to Health Care Subsidies Puts Congress in a Tight Spot \n WASHINGTON \u2014 President Trump\u2019s decision to cut off critical payments to health insurance companies ratcheted up the pressure on Congress on Friday to take action to protect consumers from soaring premiums, while also adding a combustible new issue to negotiations to avert a government shutdown this year.\n\nMr. Trump\u2019s move, announced Thursday night, could cause chaos in insurance markets, sending insurers fleeing from the Affordable Care Act\u2019s marketplaces, raising the federal government\u2019s costs and pricing out some consumers. It came just hours after he signed an executive order that also undermined the health law by encouraging the development of lower-cost insurance policies not subject to the Affordable Care Act\u2019s rigorous coverage standards.\n\nBut the president suggested on Friday that he was trying to get Democrats to the negotiating table.\n\n\u201cIf the Democrats were smart, what they\u2019d do is come and negotiate something where people could really get the kind of health care that they deserve,\u201d Mr. Trump told reporters, insisting that the subsidies were \u201cmaking insurance companies rich.\u201d", "output": "President Trump\u2019s decision to cut off critical payments to health insurance companies ratcheted up the pressure on Congress on Friday to take action to protect consumers from soaring premiums, while also adding a combustible new issue to negotiations to avert a government shutdown this year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Donald Trump\u2019s Terrible Executive Order on Health Care \n President Donald Trump is now trying to break the health-care system all by himself, although he has more help than he might acknowledge. On Thursday, Trump launched an assault on Obamacare from two angles. First, the White House staged a signing ceremony for an executive order designed to push people into what are known, accurately, as \u201cjunk\u201d insurance plans\u2014the kind, common before the passage of the Affordable Care Act, that never seem to cover people when they are actually sick and that extort and abandon those with pre\u00ebxisting conditions. Trump, in his remarks at the ceremony, referred to this choice as \u201cfleeing the failing Obamacare plans.\u201d And then, a few hours later, he did more to make Obamacare fail, by saying that he would withhold the cost-sharing subsidies that the government currently pays insurance companies in order to reduce deductibles and co-pays for many low-income people. Companies will undoubtedly respond by leaving the Obamacare exchanges, where such plans are now sold. Both moves had one thing in common: they recklessly target vulnerable Americans. But in doing so, they will, as with so many of Trump\u2019s moves, increase risks for everyone.\n\nAlthough Trump used the executive-order signing to goad his fellow-Republicans\u2014\u201cWe\u2019re going to also pressure Congress very strongly to finish the repeal and the replace\u201d\u2014they did much to make this day possible. Trump claimed that he had no choice but to defund the subsidies because paying them went against the will of Congress. This is the argument in a lawsuit, instigated by House Republicans, that is making its way through the federal courts. Basically, those Republicans argue that, although the plain language of the A.C.A. describes and authorizes the payment of subsidies, Congress should be allowed to vote on actually releasing the money every year. In effect, Congress promised the money when it passed the A.C.A., but now it wants the right to hold that money hostage on a regular basis. The case relies on a highly technical reading of the legislative fine print; nevertheless, the congressional challengers won a round in the lower courts, though that had been stayed pending an appeal\u2014one that, on Thursday, the Trump Administration apparently decided to drop. (Attorney General Jeff Sessions had earlier said that he agreed with the House Republicans.) More than that, it is, at best, a technical ambiguity that any congressional majority interested in something other than utter chaos in the insurance markets could easily fix. Such a majority does not exist right now.\n\nIndeed, the opposite is the case: the false stories that congressional Republicans told about Obamacare\u2014a system that, whatever its flaws, has increased the number of Americans with insurance by some twenty million, and made that coverage more reliable for many times that number\u2014 fed partisan demands for Trump to savage it. The Republican Party made a destructive promise that Trump, as its candidate, has been eager to keep. It may be the only thing that the Party can rely on him for, and, although some individual Republicans, such as Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, of Florida\u2014who, not incidentally, is retiring at the end of this term\u2014worried about the effect on their constituents, Party leaders were quick with their gratitude. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tweeted, \u201cAs #obamacare continues to fail Americans, I\u2019m pleased @POTUS is promoting affordable policies to better meet the needs of families.\u201d And the Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, said that Trump\u2019s decision to end cost-sharing subsidies was a \u201cmonumental affirmation of Congress\u2019s authority.\u201d That may seem like an odd way to describe a move that was also framed as a response to Congress\u2019s failure to repeal the A.C.A., and which was a flanking attempt to undermine a major piece of legislation. But, as a shorthand for the affirmation of the congressional Republicans\u2019 ideological authority, it was not far wrong.\n\nThese two moves are not the only sabotage attempts that the Trump Administration has been engaged in. It has rewritten rules to allow plans to stop covering many forms of birth control. It has made disabling cuts to programs that help people sign up for Obamacare, and made enrollment, across the board, harder\u2014more of a labyrinth. Information about plans that people might be able to afford has been, effectively, hidden. Perhaps this is, finally, an example of Trump bringing his business expertise to Washington: the knowledge that bad marketing can cripple a good project.\n\nBut the most Trumpian aspect of the executive order is that it makes life easier for con men. It does so by allowing the sale of insurance plans that do not meet basic standards through \u201cassociations,\u201d which might be made up of employers, interest groups, or just entrepreneurial opportunists\u2014the exact rules still have to be written. Obamacare plans offer certain defined essential services, such as preventive and obstetric care and hospitalization, that an insurance plan has to cover, and cover substantially, to call itself an insurance plan. In other words, the A.C.A. made it harder for employers or insurers to claim that they were covering people if, when it counted, they really weren\u2019t. (Such a bait and switch was common in the pre-Obamacare days; many people who went bankrupt after a medical emergency actually had insurance plans.) The executive order would create a sham market alongside the real one. One concern is that young, healthy people will be drawn to association plans because they don\u2019t \u201cneed\u201d comprehensive coverage, and are making what they believe is a rational calculation, albeit one that will drive up premiums in the Obamacare market, by making that pool of people, on average, sicker and older. (Paul Ryan, who has complained that it is unfair that healthy people help pay for sick people\u2014the premise of insurance\u2014is an association-plan enthusiast.)\n\nBut health-care needs have a way of changing quickly\u2014we might each be separated from one category or the other by a single accident, diagnosis, or pregnancy. And some people and businesses won\u2019t so much be making a choice as settling for what that they can afford in the short term: the plan, good or not, with the lowest sticker price. And, again depending on the specific rules that the Administration comes up with, people with pre\u00ebxisting conditions will likely be more exposed to rate hikes\u2014indeed, their co-workers might be, too, since an association would be able to set higher rates for a single business with a large number of people regarded as risks, whether because they are older or more likely to have children. (This means that, as a bonus, the executive order may encourage employment discrimination.) Another disorienting aspect is that an association would be able to sell its plans across state lines, in a way that would disregard the insurance regulations in the state in which the insured person lives. This would set up, effectively, a cross-country race to the bottom.\n\nAnother aspect of the executive order that is a setup for an insurance con is its expanded definition of \u201ctemporary\u201d plans. Basically, these are policies, exempt from many regulations (someone can be dropped upon becoming sick, for example, or denied coverage for pre\u00ebxisting conditions) that are designed for people who are between other plans\u2014perhaps because of a job change\u2014to buy in a pinch. But they also represent a loophole, which the Obama Administration tried to close, by defining \u201ctemporary\u201d as no more than three months. Trump\u2019s order extends it to a year. This is in keeping with an economy in which every little foothold that working families have seems temporary\u2014it helps to make flimsiness a permanent state.\n\nIn presenting the plan at the executive-order signing, Trump did his best impression of a flim-flam man\u2014that is to say, he was entirely in character. The guests included members of his Administration, some small-business representatives, and Senator Rand Paul, who believed that the Senate\u2019s last attempt to break Obamacare was not radical enough. Trump didn\u2019t have many details other than the promise that a \u201cnightmare\u201d was over, that millions of people would be \u201cvery happy,\u201d and that the whole thing would produce better plans at no expense whatsoever to the government. \u201cThat\u2019s not too bad, right?\u201d he said.\n\nAs Trump started to walk out of the room, though, Vice-President Mike Pence suddenly looked anxious. He hurried after his departing boss with an outstretched arm. \u201cMr. President, you need to sign it!\u201d Pence said. \u201cOh,\u201d Trump said, to laughter, and then added, \u201cI\u2019m only signing it because it costs nothing.\u201d Not for him, maybe, unless our political marketplace comes up with some way to measure the cost, to a President and his Party, of presiding over a disaster.", "output": "President Donald Trump is now trying to break the health-care system all by himself, although he has more help than he might acknowledge. On Thursday, Trump launched an assault on Obamacare from two angles.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pret A Manger becomes latest UK outlet to reduce plastic use \n A growing number of outlets selling food and drink in the UK are taking action to ditch plastic amid deepening concern about its effect on the environment, with drinking straws and bottles among items being phased out.\n\nPret A Manger has become the latest to take action, announcing that it has installed taps dispensing free filtered water and started selling empty glass bottles in its three vegetarian stores. The scheme is due to be rolled out to branches in Manchester from the end of October.\n\nThe move follows a flurry of schemes introduced by businesses and charities, from pub chain Wetherspoons to the Zoological Society of London, to curb plastic waste amid rising concern over the vast tide of containers, bottles and other paraphernalia washing up around the world.\n\n\n\nWhile plastic bottles of water will still be available at the Pret stores, the company says the goal is to explore whether customers will take up the plastic-free option.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been really surprised and encouraged by the hugely positive response on social media \u2013 we\u2019ve even sold quite a few glass bottles already,\u201d said Caroline Cromar, the brand director of Pret. \u201cWe\u2019ll be listening carefully to feedback from our customers and shop teams before we decide on the next stage.\u201d\n\nThe move, according to Pret, comes from a growing desire to tackle the impact of plastic waste on the environment.\n\n\n\nA Guardian investigation this year discovered that a million plastic bottles are bought worldwide every minute, while recent research has revealed that of the 6.3bn tons of plastic waste produced between 1950 and 2015, almost 80% has ended up in landfill or in the environment \u2013 including the oceans. Plastic contamination is now found in everything from tap water to sea salt.\n\nA staff member working in a Pret A Manger store in central London. Photograph: Nick Ansell/PA\n\nPret is not alone is attempting to wean consumers off plastic. Last month Wetherspoons announced that it would stop using plastic drinking straws from 2018, while Borough Market in London promised this summer that it would end sales of single-use plastic bottles and install public drinking fountains.\n\nMeanwhile Selfridges, which announced in 2015 that it would stop selling single-use plastic water bottles, has now gone a step further. A spokesperson said that it, too, recently phased out the use of plastic straws in its eateries and restaurants, adding that a permanent water fountain will be installed in its London store in 2018.\n\nIt is not only high-street retailers that are taking action. The media company Sky recently revealed that it is removing disposable plastic \u2013 including bottles of water and cups \u2013 from its canteen.\n\nUK visitor attractions are also tackling the issue. \u201cObviously as a conservation charity the subject of plastic in the ocean is very close to our hearts,\u201d said Kathryn England, the head of commercial at ZSL, which runs London Zoo and Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire.\n\nSince the summer of 2016 ZSL has no longer sold single-use plastic bottles of water at its London and Whipsnade sites, instead installing water fountains and embracing alternative packaging.\n\n\n\nThe move, said England, was not without difficulties. \u201cThere is not that much out there that isn\u2019t plastic at the moment,\u201d she said. \u201cOne of the big challenges that we have as a zoo is that we can\u2019t have glass on site for safely reasons.\u201d\n\nIn the end, ZSL opted for cardboard cartons of plain and flavoured water with polyethylene terephthalate (PET)-free caps, as well as resealable cans of both still and sparkling water.\n\nThe transition, England said, not only stacked up commercially, but has gone down well with the 2m visitors that visit the zoos every year. \u201cWe\u2019ve not had a single element of pushback since we rolled [the scheme] out,\u201d she said, adding that ZSL had taken steps to explain the reasoning behind the move to visitors.\n\n\n\nWith its mission accomplished, England says ZSL is now going further. \u201cBy the end of the year, our entire drinks range across our two zoos will be 100% single-use plastic bottle free,\u201d she said, adding that finding healthy and non-carbonated drinks with plastic-free packaging was no mean feat.\n\n\n\nVisitors at the main entrance of London Zoo in central London. Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP\n\nBut not everyone is following suit. A spokesperson for Costa Coffee responded to Pret\u2019s move by pointing out that free water was already available in its stores. \u201cOur baristas are more than happy to provide glasses of tap water to our customers on request,\u201d they said.\n\n\n\nHowever, while a recent survey found that 61% of people \u201cwouldn\u2019t pay for bottled water if tap water was available\u201d, 37% said they would be embarrassed to ask for free tap water \u2013 even if they were buying items at the same time.\n\n\n\nEngland said she welcomed the announcement from Pret, but added that manufacturers and those in the field of waste management needed to facilitate the use of plastic-free options, including compostable corn-starch containers.\n\n\u201cI think the more brands like this can come on board, the more pressure that puts on the big manufacturers to actually switch over and start creating and developing innovation that is going to come up with an alternative solution to plastic that will work for everybody,\u201d she said.", "output": "Pret A Manger has become the latest UK food and drink outlet to reduce its use of plastic. The company will sell empty glass bottles and dispense free filtered water in its three vegetarian stores, although plastic bottles of water will still be sold. The scheme will be extended to Manchester branches from the end of October. Last month, Wetherspoons pub chain pledged to stop the use of plastic drinking straws from 2018. Selfridges, which committed to ending the sale of single-use plastic water bottles in 2015, has also recently phased out the use of plastic straws in its eateries.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pret A Manger becomes latest UK outlet to reduce plastic use \n Plastic bottles are a problem. We all feel it even before we hear the shocking statistics about millions of tonnes ending up in our oceans each year and imagine the devastating impact this has on marine wildlife.\n\nPret has always tried to lead on food waste \u2013 we\u2019ve been donating our unsold food to the homeless every night since our first shop opened more than 30 years ago. We are making inroads on the problem of packaging waste by reducing where we can and making more of it recyclable. This includes working to find a solution to the fiendish coffee cup problem. We recognise we have lots to do.\n\nPlastic bottles present a real challenge and there are two schools of thought within Pret. The passionate environmentalists say stop selling them altogether, while the pragmatists say make it as easy as you can for customers to use fewer plastic bottles. We are looking carefully at both options. I tend towards the pragmatist end myself.\n\nAll of our Veggie Pret and Manchester shops will now be encouraging customers to fill up their bottles for free using new filtered water stations. These shops will also start selling reusable plastic bottles alongside our regular water bottles, so the choice is clear. The aim is to understand if customers will choose to refill a bottle rather than buying a new one.\n\nThe trial of reusable bottles and taps in our Veggie Pret and Manchester shops is just the start of Pret trying to do more when it comes to packaging. As always, I welcome your views on what we can do to make the most impact in this area.\n\nHave you or would you make the switch to a reusable bottle? Is there still a place for plastic bottles or can we do without them entirely?", "output": "Pret A Manger has become the latest UK food and drink outlet to reduce its use of plastic. The company will sell empty glass bottles and dispense free filtered water in its three vegetarian stores, although plastic bottles of water will still be sold. The scheme will be extended to Manchester branches from the end of October. Last month, Wetherspoons pub chain pledged to stop the use of plastic drinking straws from 2018. Selfridges, which committed to ending the sale of single-use plastic water bottles in 2015, has also recently phased out the use of plastic straws in its eateries.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Social Security Giveth, Medical Costs Taketh Away \n About Insight Insight provides an in-depth look at health care issues in and affecting California. Have a story suggestion? Let us know.\n\nRetirees spent on average more than a third of their Social Security benefits on out-of-pocket medical costs in 2014, according to a recent study. Even after factoring in other sources of income, medical spending still took a substantial 18 percent bite out of seniors\u2019 total retirement income, the study found.\n\nIn dollar terms, the typical retiree spent $4,274 per year on medical costs, not including long-term care. Insurance premiums accounted for about two-thirds of that total, according to the study, published this month by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.\n\n\u201cThe premiums are huge,\u201d said Melissa McInerney, an associate professor of economics at Tufts University and a study co-author, describing their importance in overall spending by retirees.\n\nInsuring Your Health KHN contributing columnist Michelle Andrews writes the series Insuring Your Health, which explores health care coverage and costs. To contact Michelle with a question or comment, click here. This KHN story can be republished for free (details).\n\nMcInerney said she was surprised at the findings, however, when the team did incorporate spending on long-term care and found little difference in average spending. When researchers included survey respondents who said they or their spouse lived in a long-term care facility or received home health care services, average spending was 19.2 percent of total income, versus 17.8 percent for those who didn\u2019t need long-term care.\n\nFor the study, researchers analyzed 2002-2014 data from the Health and Retirement Study, a national survey conducted every two years of 20,000 people over age 50. The sample was limited to people at least 65 years old and were receiving both Social Security and Medicare benefits. It included those who also had Medicaid, Medicare Advantage or private group retiree health insurance.\n\nOverall, the average retiree\u2019s out-of-pocket medical spending declined 9 percent over the years studied from just under $4,700 in 2004 (in 2014 dollars) to $4,274 in 2014. That\u2019s likely due in part to the introduction of Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage in 2006 and the gradual closing of the drug coverage gap known as the \u201cdoughnut hole\u201d that began in 2010 under the Affordable Care Act, the study found.\n\nEmail Sign-Up Subscribe to California Healthline's free Daily Edition. Your Email Address Sign Up\n\nHowever, medical costs for Medicare beneficiaries are expected to outpace the increase in Social Security benefits after 2018, and retirees will have to put a growing percentage of their Social Security income toward medical care, according to study authors, citing projections by Medicare and Social Security trustees and the Congressional Budget Office.\n\n\u201cThe main takeaway from the study is that right now, even for retirees who live in the community and aren\u2019t using long-term care, medical out-of-pocket spending is high and is a big share of their income,\u201d said McInerney. \u201cAnd we might expect that to grow if spending rises at end of this decade.\u201d\n\nCorrection: This story was updated on Oct. 13 to correct the information about the researchers\u2019 findings when they included long-term care expenses. They calculated the costs for a group that didn\u2019t include people with long-term care expenses and then for a group that included both those with and without long-term care expenses. The study did not look at people with long-term care expenses separately.\n\nPlease visit kffhealthnews.org/columnists to send comments or ideas for future topics for the Insuring Your Health column.\n\nThis story was produced by Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation.", "output": "Retirees spent on average more than a third of their Social Security benefits on out-of-pocket medical costs in 2014, according to a recent study.\u00a0Even after factoring in other sources of income, medical spending still took a substantial 18 percent bite out of seniors\u2019 total retirement income, the study found.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wringing Cash From Life Insurance \n \u201cWe\u2019re going to go through a quick, ten- to 15-minute personal health assessment,\u201d said Jay Jackson, vice president of Abacus Life Settlements in Orlando. \u201cThere are no right or wrong answers.\u201d\n\nWe were on the phone, doing an interview that would determine whether this company might offer to buy the life insurance policy \u2014 face value: $150,000 \u2014 that I\u2019d bought decades ago.\n\nI actually had no interest in selling, to Abacus or to any other so-called life-settlement provider. But I wanted to see how the process would unfold if I did.\n\nSo the questions began, with Mr. Jackson asking in a conversational way about my age, smoking history, marital status, ability to handle my daily activities. How old were my parents when they died? What type of exercise did I do? Any falls or dizziness in the last six months?", "output": "\u201cWe\u2019re going to go through a quick, ten- to 15-minute personal health assessment,\u201d said Jay Jackson, vice president of Abacus Life Settlements in Orlando. \u201cThere are no right or wrong answers.\u201d\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gold particle delivery could end gene editing mistakes of CRISPR \n CRISPR-associated protein Cas9 (white) from Staphylococcus aureus based on Protein Database ID 5AXW. Credit: Thomas Splettstoesser (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)\n\n(Phys.org)\u2014A team of researchers from the University of California and the University of Tokyo has found a way to use the CRISPR gene editing technique that does not rely on a virus for delivery. In their paper published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, the group describes the new technique, how well it works and improvements that need to be made to make it a viable gene editing tool.\n\nCRISPR-Cas9 has been in the news a lot lately because it allows researchers to directly edit genes\u2014either disabling unwanted parts or replacing them altogether. But despite many success stories, the technique still suffers from a major deficit that prevents it from being used as a true medical tool\u2014it sometimes makes mistakes. Those mistakes can cause small or big problems for a host depending on what goes wrong. Prior research has suggested that the majority of mistakes are due to delivery problems, which means that a replacement for the virus part of the technique is required. In this new effort, the researchers report that they have discovered just a such a replacement, and it worked so well that it was able to repair a gene mutation in a Duchenne muscular dystrophy mouse model. The team has named the new technique CRISPR-Gold, because a gold nanoparticle was used to deliver the gene editing molecules instead of a virus.\n\nThe new package was created by modifying a bit of DNA to cause it to stick to a gold nanoparticle and then a Cas9 protein and also an RNA guide. The package was then coated with a polymer that served as a containment casing\u2014one that also triggered endocytosis (a form of cell transport) and helped the molecules escape endosomes once inside the target cells. The molecules then set to work\u2014the Cas9 cut the target DNA strand, the guide RNA showed what needed to be done and a DNA strand was placed where a mutation had existed. The result was a gene free of a mutation that causes Duchenne muscular dystrophy.\n\nThere is still a major problem to overcome with the technique, however\u2014it only works in localized applications. Ideally, a mass of packages would be injected into the bloodstream allowing for repair of all cell types, such as muscles impaired by a mutant gene.\n\nMore information: Kunwoo Lee et al. Nanoparticle delivery of Cas9 ribonucleoprotein and donor DNA in vivo induces homology-directed DNA repair, Nature Biomedical Engineering (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41551-017-0137-2 Abstract\n\nClustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)\u2013CRISPR associated protein 9 (Cas9)-based therapeutics, especially those that can correct gene mutations via homology-directed repair, have the potential to revolutionize the treatment of genetic diseases. However, it is challenging to develop homology-directed repair-based therapeutics because they require the simultaneous in vivo delivery of Cas9 protein, guide RNA and donor DNA. Here, we demonstrate that a delivery vehicle composed of gold nanoparticles conjugated to DNA and complexed with cationic endosomal disruptive polymers can deliver Cas9 ribonucleoprotein and donor DNA into a wide variety of cell types and efficiently correct the DNA mutation that causes Duchenne muscular dystrophy in mice via local injection, with minimal off-target DNA damage. Journal information: Nature Biomedical Engineering\n\n\u00a9 2017 Phys.org", "output": "Researchers from the University of California and the University of Tokyo have found a potential method of minimising\u00a0the number of errors made by the CRISPR gene-editing tool, according to an article in Nature Biomedical Engineering. The teams used a gold nanoparticle, rather than a virus, to deliver the Cas9 protein and RNA guide to the\u00a0target cells, resulting in a mouse gene which no longer carried a mutation causing Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The team called the new technique CRISPR-Gold.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Steve Wozniak launches online tech learning platform \n Steve Wozniak, who co-founded Apple with Steve Jobs, is launching a new online tech education platform he\u2019s calling Woz U, which is designed to promote technology jobs and the skills required to enter the industry. Over time, Wozniak hopes to expand the initiative to include as many as 30 physical locations around the world and courses on everything from software engineering and information technology to mobile app development and cybersecurity, among others. It\u2019s unclear whether courses will be offered for free, or whether Woz U plans on charging for any element of the online education platform. The website does not say.\n\nWoz U also offers access to tech companies interested in using the tools and resources provided to recruit and train employees. The platform will be available to students K-12 through partnerships with school districts too. Down the line, Woz U wants to offer one-on-one instruction to students and, later on, to offer its own accelerator program for prospective startup founders. The overall goal is to increase interest in what Woz U calls STEAM careers, or science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics, with the addition of arts presumably a nod to Wozniak\u2019s role at Apple and fellow co-founder Steve Jobs\u2019 lifelong mission to blend technology with the humanities.\n\nWoz U doesn\u2019t say how much its online courses will cost students\n\n\u201cOur goal is to educate and train people in employable digital skills without putting them into years of debt,\u201d Wozniak said in a statement. \u201cPeople often are afraid to choose a technology-based career because they think they can\u2019t do it. I know they can, and I want to show them how. My entire life I have worked to build, develop, and create a better world through technology and I have always respected education. Now is the time for Woz U, and we are only getting started.\u201d", "output": "Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has launched Woz U, an online platform aimed at \"educating and training people in employable digital skills without putting them into years of debt\", according to a statement. Woz U offers courses in technology, with an emphasis on achieving careers in science, engineering, arts, and mathematics, and is open to K-12 students and tech companies. Wozniak's ambitions for the platform include expansion to 30 global locations, one-on-one instruction and an accelerator programme. No pricing details for courses are currently available.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's electric vehicle boom may push oil prices to record lows \n So another week begins, and many investors may be wondering how many records will be broken now \u2014 at least those that have nothing to do with Mother Nature.\n\nThat synchronized global uptrend is looking pretty intact, with almost every major world equity index at or near record highs. Asia has kept that going, and the Dow looks set for a fresh high this morning. Note that it\u2019s been an incredible 236 days since the S&P 500 has had a decline of at least 3%.\n\nThis so-called \u201ceuphoriameter\u201d says it all:\n\nBut alas, not all assets have been joining the party. Oil \u2014 incidentally trekking up this morning on unrest in Iraq and questions about the Iran nuclear deal \u2014 is set to finish the year with a whimper.\n\nThat leads us to our call of the day, which predicts things won\u2019t get better for crude prices. In fact, they will probably get much worse thanks to China, according to Nick Cunningham, who tracks oil and the renewable energy beat.\n\n\u201cAs the world\u2019s largest auto market, China\u2019s EV (electric-vehicle) policy, which is still being formulated, could supercharge the race for EVs,\u201d says Cunningham in a blog post for Oilprice.com.\n\nHe rattles off a number of signs of China\u2019s electric-car gear-up, such as big planned investments and a growing clampdown on autos that cloud its skies with pollution.\n\n\u201cIt will only take a small change in oil demand to upend price forecasts. After all, prices crashed in 2014, falling from $100 per barrel down to $50 in less than a year,\u201d he says.\n\nCunningham points to a Financial Times report that says China plans to produce 7 million EVs per year by 2025 and to spend at least $60 billion on related subsidies between 2015 and 2020.\n\nAnd a Bloomberg New Energy Finance report that predicts EVs will cut crude demand by 8 million barrels a day by 2040 should \u201csend chills down the spines of oil executives,\u201d he warns.\n\nCunningham was expanding on a prediction made by Chris Watling, who believes growing interest in alternative energy fuels could drive oil prices to $10 a barrel over the next six to eight years.\n\nThe Longview Economics chief told CNBC on Friday that a key catalyst would be Saudi Aramco\u2019s IPO \u2014 planned for later 2018, but now looking in doubt \u2014 saying they \u201cneed to get it away quickly before oil hits $10 a barrel.\u201d\n\nCunningham didn\u2019t lay out when oil might take a hit from the Middle Kingdom\u2019s EV push, but seemed to see it as a sure thing.\n\n\u201cThe exact point we reach peak oil demand is obviously very debatable, but in general, the mass adoption of EVs could permanently keep oil prices low, even under some relatively modest assumptions about the growth of the EV market,\u201d he says. Read the full post here.\n\nKey market gauges\n\nStocks are up at the start of trade with the S&P 500 SPX, +0.29% and Nasdaq COMP, +0.65% and Dow industrials DJIA, +0.12% DJIA, +0.12% all hitting new records.\n\nAs mentioned, WTI crude US:CLZ7 and Brent UK:LCOZ7 prices are trekking higher, driven in part by fear fighting between Iraq and Kurdish separatists will disrupt supplies. Gold US:GCZ7 and silver US:SIZ7 are inching up.\n\nThe dollar DXY, +0.09% is moving up against the euro EURUSD, +0.03% , after Catalonia\u2019s leader defied Madrid\u2019s demand for clarity on independence. Spanish stocks IBEX, +0.44% are weighing on the rest of Europe SXXP, +0.17% .\n\nIn Asia ADOW, +0.61% , the Hang Seng Index HSI, +0.07% closed at a 10-year high.\n\nSee the Market Snapshot column for more.\n\nThe anniversary of Black Monday is fast approaching. Here\u2019s a look at whether it could happen again\n\nThe chart\n\nIn among that Asia cheer, the Nikkei 225 index NIK, +0.52% nabbed another 21-year high on Monday. While it may be hard for U.S. investors to get excited about Japanese stocks, MKM Partner\u2019s chief market technician Jonathan Krinsky says they could be missing a big opportunity here.\n\nHe explains that Japanese stocks\u2019 secular cycles are longer than the 15-to-20 years seen in the U.S. The last bear market ran for 28 years, and that\u2019s how long the current bear market has been around, as this chart shows.\n\nMKM Partners Wikipedia\n\nHere\u2019s what he has to say about the second chart: \u201cWhether or not you want to call an end to the secular bear in Japan, it\u2019s clear that the Nikkei is in a strong uptrend now.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere is an entire generation that has not witnessed a secular bull market for Japanese equities. The fact that Japan is breaking above a 25+ year secular trading range should not be taken lightly, in our view.\u201d\n\nMKM Partners\n\nNote that a snap general election in Japan is set for Sunday. Here\u2019s all you need to know about that.\n\nThe buzz\n\nApple AAPL, +0.69% is getting a lift after an upgrade to overweight at KeyBanc Capital. It set a price target of $187 for the iPhone maker, citing a more \u201caggressive market segmentation strategy.\u201d\n\nA busy earnings week kicks off with Netflix NFLX, +0.10% after the close. The streaming service is forecast to report earnings of 32 cents a share \u2014 167% higher on the year and up more than 113% on the quarter.\n\nBitcoin BTCUSD, -1.25% , which went roaring higher last week, is now atop $5,700. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange over the weekend had this to say about a big bump he\u2019s seen in his bitcoin investment:\n\nAn oil platform operated by Clovelly Oil exploded Sunday in Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans, causing multiple injuries.\n\nData from China showed producer prices shot up 6.9%, the latest surprise out of the country. That news pushed copper to a new three-year high above $7,000.\n\nRead:5 reasons why investors need to watch China\u2019s National Party Congress\n\nOphelia, which was the most powerful hurricane seen so far east in the Atlantic, has weakened but is still putting Ireland on lockdown:\n\nThe economy\n\nThe data calendar is less packed this week, but we will get some updates on housing starts and sales, along with the Fed\u2019s beige book. For Monday, the Empire State index showed a jumped to a three-year high.\n\nCheck out our economic preview for the week.\n\nMeanwhile, Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen left open the possibility of further interest rate rises in 2017, speaking at a Group of 30 banking seminar on Sunday.\n\nAnd: What you need to know about the Household Economic Stress Index\n\nThe stat\n\nGetty Images\n\n11.3% -- That\u2019s was Huawei\u2019s market share of smartphones in the second quarter of 2017, meaning the Chinese handset maker is in prime position to overtake Apple, on 12%, says an analyst at research group IDC.\n\nThe quote\n\nCivilians carry the dead body of an unidentified man in the Hodan district of Mogadishu, Somalia October 14, 2017. Reuters\n\n\u201cThe death toll will likely rise because over 450 people were injured while many others are still missing.\u201d \u2014 Abdikadir Abdirahman, the head of Mogadishu\u2019s hospital and ambulance services, tells Wall Street Journal as more than 300 now confirmed dead after weekend terror blast, the worst in Somalia in a decade.\n\nRandom reads\n\nOver 300 now dead, over 400 injured after weekend terror blasts in Mogadishu\n\nGood news for Napa, where firefighters say they\u2019ve \u201cturned a corner\u201d\n\nBut in Galicia, Spain, more than 100 fires are burning\n\nColin Kaepernick says NFL owners have colluded not to hire him\n\nLarry Flint offering $10 million for info that leads to POTUS\u2019s impeachment\n\nWoody Allen says Weinstein scandal is \u201csad,\u201d worries about a Hollywood \u2018witch hunt\u2019\n\nRight-wing parties scored some victories in Austria this weekend\n\nMicrosoft is building tree houses for its employees\n\nNeed to Know starts early and is updated until the opening bell, but sign up hereto get it delivered once to your email box. Be sure to check the Need to Know item. The emailed version will be sent out at about 7:30 a.m. Eastern.\n\nFollow MarketWatch on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook.", "output": "China's push to produce seven million electric vehicles (EVs) by 2025 could push oil prices to historical lows of around $10 a barrel, according to market watcher Nick Cunningham. In a blog post for Oilprice.com, he cited China's plans to spend $60bn on EV-related subsidies by 2020\u00a0and predictions of crude oil demand falling\u00a0by eight million barrels a day\u00a0as reasons why a drop in oil prices was likely. \"The mass adoption of EVs could permanently keep oil prices low, even under some relatively modest assumptions about the growth of the EV market,\" Cunningham warned.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Security flaw puts all Wi-Fi networks at risk of hacking \n The security protocol used to protect the vast majority of wifi connections has been broken, potentially exposing wireless internet traffic to malicious eavesdroppers and attacks, according to the researcher who discovered the weakness.\n\nMathy Vanhoef, a security expert at Belgian university KU Leuven, discovered the weakness in the wireless security protocol WPA2, and published details of the flaw on Monday morning.\n\n\u201cAttackers can use this novel attack technique to read information that was previously assumed to be safely encrypted,\u201d Vanhoef\u2019s report said. \u201cThis can be abused to steal sensitive information such as credit card numbers, passwords, chat messages, emails, photos and so on.\n\nVanhoef emphasised that \u201cthe attack works against all modern protected wifi networks. Depending on the network configuration, it is also possible to inject and manipulate data. For example, an attacker might be able to inject ransomware or other malware into websites.\u201d\n\nThe vulnerability affects a number of operating systems and devices, the report said, including Android, Linux, Apple, Windows, OpenBSD, MediaTek, Linksys and others.\n\n\u201cIf your device supports wifi, it is most likely affected,\u201d Vanhoef wrote. \u201cIn general, any data or information that the victim transmits can be decrypted \u2026 Additionally, depending on the device being used and the network setup, it is also possible to decrypt data sent towards the victim (e.g. the content of a website).\u201d\n\nVanhoef gave the weakness the codename Krack, short for Key Reinstallation AttaCK.\n\nBritain\u2019s National Cyber Security Centre said in a statement it was examining the vulnerability. \u201cResearch has been published today into potential global weaknesses to wifi systems. The attacker would have to be physically close to the target and the potential weaknesses would not compromise connections to secure websites, such as banking services or online shopping.\n\n\u201cWe are examining the research and will be providing guidance if required. Internet security is a key NCSC priority and we continuously update our advice on issues such as wifi safety, device management and browser security.\u201d\n\nThe United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (Cert) issued a warning on Sunday in response to the vulnerability.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe impact of exploiting these vulnerabilities includes decryption, packet replay, TCP connection hijacking, HTTP content injection and others,\u201d the alert says, detailing a number of potential attacks. It adds that, since the vulnerability is in the protocol itself, rather than any specific device or software, \u201cmost or all correct implementations of the standard will be affected\u201d.\n\nInsecure connections to websites should be considered public, and viewable to any other user on the network, until the vulnerability is fixed. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo\n\nThe development is significant because the compromised security protocol is the most secure in general use to encrypt wifi connections. Older security standards have been broken in the past, but on those occasions a successor was available and in widespread use.\n\nCrucially, the attack is unlikely to affect the security of information sent over the network that is protected in addition to the standard WPA2 encryption. This means connections to secure websites are still safe, as are other encrypted connections such as virtual private networks (VPN) and SSH communications.\n\nHowever, insecure connections to websites \u2013 those which do not display a padlock icon in the address bar, indicating their support for HTTPS \u2013 should be considered public, and viewable to any other user on the network, until the vulnerability is fixed.\n\nEqually, home internet connections will remain difficult to fully secure for quite some time. Many wireless routers are infrequently if ever updated, meaning that they will continue to communicate in an insecure manner. However, Vanhoef says, if the fix is installed on a phone or computer, that device will still be able to communicate with an insecure router. That means even users with an unpatched router should still fix as many devices as they can, to ensure security on other networks.\n\nAlex Hudson, the chief technical officer of subscription service Iron, said that it is important to \u201ckeep calm\u201d.\n\n\u201cThere is a limited amount of physical security already on offer by wifi: an attack needs to be in proximity,\u201d Hudson wrote. \u201cSo, you\u2019re not suddenly vulnerable to everyone on the internet. It\u2019s very weak protection, but this is important when reviewing your threat level.\n\n\u201cAdditionally, it\u2019s likely that you don\u2019t have too many protocols relying on WPA2 security. Every time you access an HTTPS site \u2026 your browser is negotiating a separate layer of encryption. Accessing secure websites over wifi is still totally safe. Hopefully \u2013 but there is no guarantee \u2013 you don\u2019t have much information going over your network that requires the encryption WPA2 provides.\u201d\n\nThere\u2019s likely to be a delay before the vulnerability is used to actually attack networks in the wild, says Symantec researcher Candid Wuest. \u201cIt\u2019s quite a complex attack to carry out in practice, but we\u2019ve seen similar before, so we know it\u2019s possible to automate.\n\n\u201cSmall businesses and people at home should be concerned, but not too worried,\u201d Wuest added, advising most users to simply apply the updates to their software as and when it becomes available.\n\nThe most important lesson from the weakness, he said, was that relying on any one security feature is risky. \u201cYou shouldn\u2019t be trusting one single point of failure for all your security. Don\u2019t rely on just your wifi, use a VPN or secure connection for anything important.\u201d\n\nDifferent devices and operating systems are impacted to differing degrees based on how they implement the WPA2 protocol. Among the worst hit are Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) and Linux, due to a further bug that results in the encryption key being rewritten to all-zeros; iOS and Windows, meanwhile, are among the most secure, since they don\u2019t fully implement the WPA2 protocol. No tested device or piece of software was fully immune to the weakness, however.\n\nThe international Cert group, based at Carnegie Mellon University, informed technology companies of the flaw on 28 August, meaning that most have had around a month and a half to implement a fix. The Guardian has asked Apple, Google, Microsoft and Linksys the status of their patches. Google said: \u201cWe\u2019re aware of the issue, and we will be patching any affected devices in the coming weeks.\u201d Microsoft said: \u201cWe have released a security update to address this issue. Customers who apply the update, or have automatic updates enabled, will be protected.\u201d No other vendor has replied at press time.", "output": "Operating systems including Windows, Apple, Linux and Android, among others, could be vulnerable to cyberattack, following the discovery of a vulnerability in wireless security protocol WPA2. Hackers can use this attack technique to read information that was\u00a0previously considered\u00a0to be\u00a0safety encrypted.\u00a0\u201cThis can be abused to steal sensitive information such as credit card numbers, passwords, chat messages, emails, photos and so on,\" warned\u00a0Mathy Vanhoef, a security expert at Belgian university KU Leuven. However, security experts said that hackers would have to be physically close for the weakness, known as Krack, to be capable of compromising\u00a0users' Wi-Fi.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IBM partnership eyes blockchain to speed international\u00a0payments \n \u201cBuy them only if you\u2019re prepared to lose all your money,\u201d said Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey in May 2021. He was talking about cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, and one reason for his scepticism is that these next-generation virtual tokens \u201cdon\u2019t have intrinsic value\u201d.\n\nBut does that make them a bad investment? Indeed, are traditional currencies any better? Sterling was previously underpinned by gold, but Britain sold off half of its reserves between 1999 and 2002, when gold was at its lowest value in 20 years. When governments can make unilateral actions like that, decentralised cryptocurrencies which aren\u2019t controlled by any single entity start to look appealing.\n\nThat\u2019s particularly true if they\u2019re set up to mimic a traditional gold-backed means of exchange, and Bitcoin\u2019s pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto mimicked gold by making the currency rare and difficult to mine. To \u201ccreate\u201d a new bitcoin, a computer\u2019s resources have to be used to crunch through equations. Most of those equations will come to nothing; just occasionally you will hit the jackpot and find a coin.\n\n\u201cIt is its very cost of production that gives Bitcoin value (among other factors),\u201d wrote Dominic Frisby in MoneyWeek last October. \u201cYou can\u2019t just conjure up Bitcoins. You have to do some hard computer work first and thereby make your contribution to the network. And even if you do this, there is no guarantee you\u2019ll get bitcoins at the end of it. There is risk.\u201d\n\nSo, there\u2019s a chance you could burn a considerable amount of electricity for no financial gain. That\u2019s just one of the risks involved in mining cryptocurrency, and a big factor in the question of whether it\u2019s worthwhile.\n\nThe biggest cost of mining: energy\u00ad\n\nMining bitcoins consumes a lot of electricity. In evidence presented to the United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in 2018, Princeton University\u2019s Arvind Narayanan outlined how Bitcoin miners were at the time computing \u201cabout 50 billion billion hashes\u2026 every second.\u201d Combined, Narayanan estimated, those operations were consuming just under 1% of the global electricity supply, \u201cor slightly more than the electricity consumption of the state of Ohio or that of the state of New York\u201d.\n\nAnd as time goes on it takes more and more power to generate a return. By 2020, digital assets exchange Zipmex was warning that \u201cit takes a large setup nearly 30 days to mine 1 bitcoin. After deducting the electricity cost and the overall hardware and software cost, you will be left with 0.1 BTC of profit every month at best. With the majority of setups and the electricity cost and some manpower, it would cost you a total of $73,000 to process one Bitcoin every month.\u201d\n\nRELATED RESOURCE IT Pro 20/20: Using technology to create a better future Issue 21 of IT Pro 20/20 looks at the newest innovations and projects shaping our interactions with the world around us FREE DOWNLOAD\n\nAt the time of writing, a single Bitcoin is worth $34,471, so you\u2019d have to bank on the value going up considerably to make any profit at all. Or, you could try mining somewhere where electricity is cheaper. In 2018, Elite Fixtures calculated the energy cost of mining a single Bitcoin across 115 different countries, and found prices ranging from from $1,190 in Trinidad and Tobago to $26,170 in South Korea. In the UK, the cost was $8,402. Unfortunately, it\u2019s not feasible for most of us to up sticks and start mining in a different country: the costs of moving will eat significantly into any putative profits.\n\n\u200bGenerating money through mining\n\nIt\u2019s not just the energy of cryptomining that costs money: you need to pay for the hardware too. In theory you could use your personal PC, but this is likely to yield a trickle of currency at best, and most serious operations have switched to Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) designs that are custom-designed for mining.\n\nOne mining platform that uses this technology is the Antminer S19 Pro, which costs \u00a36,500 and which can rip through 110 terahashes per second. On average this should generate approximately 0.0007 BTC per day \u2013 but with an energy consumption of around 3.25kW it\u2019ll cost you around $18.72 per day to mine around the clock. At current rates, you can expect an operating profit of $4.25 (\u00a33.05) per day, or $1,551 (\u00a31,116) annually.\n\nClearly this setup isn\u2019t going to make you a millionaire. It would take nearly six years just to pay off the cost of the hardware \u2013 and there\u2019s a further complication too. The complexity of the Bitcoin mining algorithm is continually updated to compensate for technological advances in the mining hardware, to ensure that future computers can\u2019t flood the market with cheaply generated coins.\n\nThis means that today\u2019s state-of-the-art hardware can quickly become uneconomical. In 2018 the International Business Times reported that miners in China were selling off older mining hardware because it was no longer possible to mine enough currencies with these machines to cover their electricity costs: \u201ca mining machine bought at a price of about 20,000 yuan ($2,885) a year ago is being sold for a price between 100 yuan to 1,600 yuan.\u201d So if you want to keep on mining coins at a consistent rate, you need to keep investing in the latest hardware.\n\nIf you\u2019d rather not be constantly upgrading your mining rig, an alternative is to mine in the cloud using sites like shamining.com, hashing24.com or genesis-mining.com. This lets you benefit from the expertise of dedicated teams for whom operating and refining a mining operation is a full-time job, and in many cases, you can also make responsible choices regarding energy consumption. Shamining has a focus on solar and wind energy, for example, while Genesis Mining is based in Iceland, a country where 80% of power comes from renewable sources.\n\nCloud mining is still an expense, though, with most services requiring an up-front payment. When choosing one, check the minimum required investment, minimum contract length, expected profit, and the terms on which you can withdraw your share of the operation\u2019s earnings.\n\nCan you still create Bitcoins?\n\nIf you really want to use your own computer for mining, there are sites that can help. nicehash.com is one that makes it easy, with a mining model which has (a little bizarrely) also been adopted in the latest release of \u00ad\u00ad\u00adthe Norton 360 antivirus suite.\n\nThe idea in both cases is simple. The software runs quietly in the background, using your computer\u2019s spare capacity to mine for cryptocurrency \u2013 in Norton\u2019s case, Ethereum. Whatever you earn is automatically transferred into your wallet.\n\nIt sounds like a no-brainer: you might only see a small profit, but since there\u2019s no impact on your computer usage it\u2019s free money \u2013 right? Well, perhaps not. If you use your computer\u2019s CPU, it\u2019s all but certain that you\u2019ll burn up a far greater cost in electricity than you will ever make back.\n\nGraphics cards with their abundant cores and parallel processing are far better tuned to mining. If you have a powerful graphics card that spends most of its day sitting idle then it may be worth your while putting it to work. However, for precisely this reason, these cards are hard to come by, with mining enthusiasts snapping up stocks of high-end GPUs, leading to worldwide shortages of graphics hardware. To manage demand, Nvidia has even started shipping cards that deliberately reduce their own performance when used for mining cryptocurrencies.\n\nIs cryptocurrency ethical?\n\nIt\u2019s clear that, however you generate your cryptocurrency, it\u2019s going to involve guzzling large amounts of energy, which can't be good for the environment. Cambridge university\u2019s Bitcoin Electricity Consumption index recently put Bitcoin\u2019s global electricity consumption roughly on par with that of a medium-sized European country such as Sweden or Ukraine.\n\nMany have concluded that this alone is a good reason to ban all cryptocurrencies. \u201cBitcoin could be the first inefficient version of a disruptive technology,\u201d Dr Larisa Yarovaya, a lecturer at Southampton university told the FT recently. \u201cIt should die for the common good of the planet and be replaced by a new model. It consumes more electricity than a country. All the rest is detail.\u201d\n\nAnd the societal cost of cryptocurrency mining isn\u2019t felt only in electricity consumption. The GPUs and memory used in mining rigs are a hefty cocktail of silicon, copper, boron, cobalt, tungsten and all manner of chemicals. Some of those raw materials are in short supply, which is in part to blame for the current global CPU shortage. Rare-earth materials are \u2013 in part \u2013 being used up to mine highly volatile virtual currencies.\n\n(Image credit: Shutterstock)\n\nThere is, at least, some awareness of these issues within the cryptocurrency industry. The Crypto Climate Accord, founded earlier this year, describes itself as \u201ca private sector-led initiative for the entire crypto community focused on decarbonising the cryptocurrency industry in record time\u201d.\n\nThe Accord \u2013 which is backed by some big names from the crypto industry \u2013 is largely focused on making mining use 100% renewable energy, with a target date of 2030. That\u2019s more aggressive than many climate targets, but given that much of the mining is undertaken by unofficial farms around the globe, it\u2019s highly unlikely to clean up the entire practice.\n\nAnd even if it does manage to move generation to solar, wind and other renewable electricity sources within nine years, the question remains: wouldn\u2019t that energy still be better used to power something more beneficial?\n\nAlternative ways to profit from cryptocurrencies\n\nYou don\u2019t need to create coins yourself to take part in the crypto boom. The price of all cryptocurrencies is in constant flux, and as with any other currency you can invest by buying low and selling high. According to CryptoCoin News, a 2021 study by investment firm AJ Bell found that \u201cmore Brits have bought into cryptocurrency than into equity \u2026 7% of young adults have invested into crypto over the course of the last year. The FCA estimates that 2.3 million Brits now own cryptocurrency, which amounts to 3.4% of the UK\u2019s population.\u201d\n\nIf you\u2019re not among them, you might be wondering whether you\u2019ve left it too late. We can\u2019t advise on whether you should buy into cryptocurrency: nobody can say what will happen to the market day-to-day, let alone over the longer term, so those of us who didn\u2019t invest in 2010 can only look back and rue what we missed. However, since fewer than one in 25 Brits has yet invested in a digital currency, the market could still see gains as interest increases.\n\nIf you do decide to invest, there are a few important factors to consider, not least of which is the environmental impact. Make sure you trust whichever institution you use to buy your currency, and consider buying when the market is down, to maximise your chances of selling at a profit later. Finally, remember where we came in, with advice from the Bank of England: there are no guarantees in the world of cryptocurrencies, so \u201cbuy them only if you\u2019re prepared to lose all your money\u201d.", "output": "IBM has partnered with KlickEx Group, Stellar.org and several banks to develop a blockchain-based solution to making cross-border payments cheaper and more efficient. International transactions using several currencies can take up to several weeks to clear, but IBM's single-network solution, already being used in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, operates in real-time and could reduce clearing and settlement times to seconds.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon hand picks ad agencies for\u00a0E-commerce Training Academy \n On a breezy day in late September, Tod Harrick and his team of around 50 consultants were invited to Amazon\u2019s Seattle headquarters to take a new four-hour training course called E-commerce Training Academy. There, he and his colleagues learned how Amazon\u2019s major advertising programs \u2014 Amazon Advertising Platform, Amazon Media Group and Amazon Marketing Services \u2014 worked, where ad placements would appear as well as targeting options and changes that agencies needed to know about.\n\nAfter the training, Harrick and his team took and passed a test, becoming Amazon-certified. \u201cI thought I would know most of the things in the training, but my bet was wrong,\u201d said Harrick, vp of product for retail consultancy Marketplace Ignition, which was acquired this year by WPP-owned agency Possible. \u201cFor instance, I learned that AAP changed from a managed-service program to a self-service tool, and Amazon extended AAP to dynamic programmatic ads to duplicate what you can do in AMS.\u201d\n\nIn addition to E-commerce Training Academy, Harrick\u2019s parent agency Possible is also part of Trusted Creative Partners, a training program Amazon developed around two years ago for select agencies \u2014 most of which are creative shops \u2014 to get familiar with ad creative on the platform.\n\nAmazon is building its advertising business and constantly updates its ad offerings. But getting training from Amazon like Harrick\u2019s team seems to be rare, with only five out of the 13 media and retail agencies Digiday contacted for this story receiving it. And the agencies that received training have had varied experiences. Amazon didn\u2019t respond to requests for comment.\n\n\u201cAs a whole, Amazon doesn\u2019t train anyone. It lets service providers figure stuff out and then educate users,\u201d said James Thomson, partner of Amazon consultancy Buy Box Experts, who previously worked for Amazon for six years. He said his agency typically chats via phone with Amazon\u2019s salespeople to know what the ad offering is. Amazon offers some basic training to new sellers on how to create an account and list products, for example, but the training is not particularly advanced, according to Thomson.\n\n\u201cBasically, think of it as a library full of books, but no librarians and no teachers to teach you to read,\u201d he said.\n\nLike Thomson, most agency executives interviewed for this story were unaware of Amazon\u2019s training programs. But a few shops were invited to training programs like Trusted Creative Partners and special workshops at Amazon\u2019s Seattle headquarters.\n\nOne source from an agency that wasn\u2019t invited to training programs or workshops said Amazon has come to her office a couple times over the past few months to give search-marketing training. \u201cThere\u2019s no regularity or a set curriculum,\u201d said this person. \u201cAmazon comes to our office as needed when we have questions on the platform.\u201d\n\nAgency iCrossing appears to be having a similar experience. Its head of search, Jacob Davis, said while he is not familiar with E-commerce Training Academy or Trusted Creative Partners, Amazon has offered trainings in the iCrossing office, and Davis\u2019 team often visits Amazon\u2019s New York office so the two groups can understand each other\u2019s sales processes and Amazon\u2019s ad products. \u201cI don\u2019t know if the experience that we have with Amazon is any different from other agencies,\u201d said Davis.\n\nMeanwhile, Angela Edwards, vp of marketing and client services for Trusted Creative Partner agency Catapult Marketing, said the program keeps Catapult informed on changes and updates on the layout of product detail pages and promotional offerings, which Amazon updates every quarter. Two Amazon executives conducted the first \u2014 and only \u2014 in-person training that Edwards\u2019 team received from Amazon in her office around two years ago, and her team has communicated virtually with Amazon on questions and suggestions since then, according to Edwards.\n\n\u201cAmazon is constantly changing, so it\u2019s important to keep abreast of those updates,\u201d she said. \u201cAmazon has no time to talk to you. It is usually more responsive to agencies in Trusted Creative Partners.\u201d\n\nThe training experience of Kayla Bond, senior director of content strategy for VML-owned Rockfish, which is a member of Trusted Creative Partners, seems to go more in-depth. Bond said Amazon offers training every six months, which consists of about eight Amazon executives coming to her office for a full-day immersion.\n\n\u201cThe training is a little bit of both ad creative and how to use Amazon\u2019s ad programs. For the most part, it is about AMG and AMS,\u201d said Bond. \u201cBut we do discuss additional ad opportunities for Alexa, Kindle and Brand Stores, etc.\u201d\n\nBond said she has heard of E-commerce Training Academy, but her team hasn\u2019t received any information about the program or its benefits. She said Rockfish has been invited to invite-only training sessions facilitated by Amazon Media Group for agencies in its Seattle headquarters. Each session is around a day long and focuses on how to leverage the Amazon Media ecosystem to fuel the Amazon flywheel, according to Bond. \u201cThe session is unique, as it brings in Amazon team members across disciplines to a single location to present their point of views and best practices as it relates to devices, AMG, AMS and special programs,\u201d she said.\n\nAs Amazon\u2019s ad offerings become more sophisticated, Thomson believes Amazon should offer every agency more clarity on things like bidding strategy for the platform\u2019s advertising programs. For instance, for the headline ad option, which appears right below a search query on Amazon, it took Thomson\u2019s team months to figure out that if a media buyer puts multiple keywords into the same ad campaign, Amazon averages out bid levels rather than maintaining the highest bid price, he said.\n\n\u201cIt is rather technical stuff, but actually very important, as there is no meaningful documentation and a lot of wasted time and clients\u2019 money figuring this stuff out,\u201d said Thomson.\n\nWhile ad training from Amazon keeps select agencies informed on new ad features, it seems to only address the basics. \u201cYou don\u2019t come out of E-commerce Training Academy and can immediately operate Amazon\u2019s ad platforms at a high level \u2014 it is up to you to learn and manage those things day to day,\u201d said Harrick. \u201cI don\u2019t think it is in Amazon\u2019s interest to teach agencies the ins of outs of its ad tools on a daily basis.\u201d", "output": "Online retail giant Amazon is helping select advertising agencies get the best out of its ad platform. Its E-commerce Training Academy is an invitation-only programme extended to a handful\u00a0of its Trusted Creative Partners and\u00a0offers deeper insights into the workings of Amazon Advertising Platform, Amazon Marketing Services and Amazon Media Group. While some agencies are visited by Amazon technicians to receive training, others have called for the platform to offer more information on how to optimise its\u00a0increasingly sophisticated suite of advertising tools.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Programmatic publishers' ad revenues take\u00a0hit after Safari update \n Apple is cracking down on ad tracking through Safari, and the first publishers to feel the pain are those who rely heavily on programmatic advertising.\n\nProgrammatic publishers\u2019 ad rates have taken a hit since Apple updated its Safari browser last month to prevent third parties from tracking users for more than 24 hours after a user visited a website. Although Apple\u2019s move hurts publishers reliant on third-party data that advertisers depend on to target niche audiences at scale, publishers that sell their inventory directly say they aren\u2019t affected by the Safari update.\n\n\u201cIt has already had an impact on our revenue, and that will only be compounded as adoption [of Safari\u2019s update] increases,\u201d said Paul Bannister, co-founder of CafeMedia, which sells more than half of its impressions programmatically. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to quantify what it will end up as since it\u2019s so early still and lots of other variables are at play, but it\u2019s a [measurable] impact.\u201d\n\nBecause users didn\u2019t update their operating systems all at once and Apple released the update near the end of a quarter, when ad rates tend to be higher, gauging the impact of Safari\u2019s tracking change isn\u2019t as simple as comparing monthly CPMs. Apple did not reply to an interview request for this story.\n\nBannister said CPMs on Safari are about 10 percent lower than what he\u2019d expect them to be heading into the fourth quarter. CafeMedia gets about a third of its mobile traffic from Safari, which is in line with industry averages, according to NetMarketShare.\n\nSince Apple\u2019s Safari update, Ranker saw the gap between its yields on iOS and Android (which doesn\u2019t use the Safari browser) increase by 8 percent in favor of Android, said Ranker CEO Clark Benson, who estimated that Apple\u2019s move could potentially lead to a 1 to 2 percent drop in overall ad revenue. This indicates that advertisers heavily reliant on audience targeting \u201chave shifted slightly away from Safari visitors,\u201d Benson said.\n\nDanny Khatib, CEO of Granite Media, said CPMs are down 15 to 20 percent on Safari since the update. For educational publisher Slader, the number of bids it receives for the impressions tied to its Safari traffic is down about 15 percent compared to last month, said Slader co-founder Scott Kolb. Both publishers emphasized there is a lot of noise in the data since the Safari updates are recent, and it\u2019s very difficult to isolate the impact of Apple\u2019s move. But several publishers that rely heavily on programmatic indicated that in general, it is harder for them to make money off their audiences since Apple updated Safari.\n\nThe reason the Safari changes are affecting programmatic publishers has less to do with automation itself and more to do with audience targeting.\n\nCompared to last month, CPMs on Purch\u2019s website Live Science are down about 15 percent for Safari users, said Purch CTO John Potter. But on Purch\u2019s website Top Ten Reviews, CPMs are down less than 5 percent for Safari users.\n\nA small drop in CPMs was expected due to the change in fiscal quarters. But Live Science had a bigger drop because it relies on audience targeting, which Apple\u2019s new limitations on third-party trackers affect. On Top Ten Reviews, the ads are sold to match the content and not the audience, which is why the review site\u2019s CPMs haven\u2019t been affected as much, Potter said.\n\nReps from New York magazine, Remedy Health Media and two comScore 200 publishers requesting anonymity said they haven\u2019t noticed any impact from the Safari update. All of these publishers sell the vast majority of their inventory through direct sales, so they aren\u2019t dependent on retargeting.\n\nIf publishers can make direct connections with their audiences, they can wean themselves off third-party trackers and mitigate the impact of Safari\u2019s update, said an engineer at a business publisher requesting anonymity. But obtaining first-party data from users by getting them to sign up for a new product or fork over login information is a long-term project that might not deliver immediate results.\n\n\u201cPublishers should focus on what makes them unique, regardless of how Apple is changing their software,\u201d said Namit Merchant, COO of ad tech firm Media.net. \u201cWe believe that publishers should focus less on audience and more on content to differentiate themselves from the duopoly.\u201d", "output": "Publishers relying on audience targeting could see their overall ad revenue drop by up to 2% as a result of Apple's latest update to its Safari browser, which limits third-party trackers. Although some marketers have said it is too early to assess the full impact of the update, educational publisher Slader reported a 15% drop in impressions linked to Safari traffic, while CafeMedia said CPMs were down by around 10%. In contrast, publishers selling content via direct sales, rather than retargeting, have experienced little or no downturn.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BlackRock attempts blockchain programme for custody \n Buy Side BlackRock Tests Blockchain for Custody\n\nGlobal asset manager BlackRock is in the midst of testing a blockchain-based platform for its custody relationships, said Laurence Fink, chairman and CEO of BlackRock during the firm\u2019s third-quarter earnings call.\n\nDubbed Aladdin Provider, the offering uses a private blockchain to create more seamless processing between BlackRock and its custodians.\n\n\u201cIt should reduce many many errors,\u201d he said. \u201cLet us not assume that there will no longer be errors. We do have some.\u201d\n\nOnce testing proves successful, Fink plans to expand the platform beyond BlackRock so that clients can utilize the platform.\n\nIn the meantime, BlackRock has seen higher demand for its Aladdin Risk for Wealth Management, which it launched two years ago. There are five clients currently live on the platform, and the asset manager sees demand from Asia, Europe, and North America, according to Fink.\n\nDigital offerings like ARWM and digital partnerships, such as , FutureAdvisor, iRetire, and Scalable Capital, are critical for BlackRock\u2019s future growth, he said.\n\nFink estimated that the offerings reach tens of thousands of wealth managers who manage assets on behalf of millions of end investors.\n\n\u201cAs our digital offerings enable financial advisors to have a more productive conversation with their clients, they are driving more investment into our iShares and other BlackRock investment strategies, he noted. \u201cIt is critical that we continue to invest in these opportunities while being mindful of the impact on our bottom line.\u201d\n\nBlackRock also has rolled out an ambitious plan it calls \u201cTech2020,\u201d which looks to extend the more than 2,000 technologists across the firm, Rob Goldstein, COO of BlackRock, told Business Insider earlier this week.\n\n\u201cAnd we\u2019re really excited about the opportunity to take a company like BlackRock, which is already, I\u2019d say, at the forefront of technology in its industry, and, if anything, keep expanding that,\u201d he added.", "output": "BlackRock, the world's largest investment manager, is piloting a blockchain programme aiming to reduce errors in communications between itself and its custodians. The programme, which the company is calling Aladdin Provider, uses a private blockchain.\u00a0The firm is planning to roll out a similar programme for its clients if it proves successful. BlackRock is also planning a technology-driven hiring push, looking to add 2,000 technologists to its staff by 2020.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "'Cryptoruble' rumoured to be in the works for Russia \n Russian President Vladimir Putin has officially stated that Russia will issue its own \u2018CryptoRuble\u2019 at a closed door meeting in Moscow, according to local news sources. The news broke through Minister of Communications Nikolay Nikiforov.\n\nAccording to the official, the state issued cryptocurrency cannot be mined and will be issued and controlled and maintained only by the authorities. The CryptoRubles can be exchanged for regular Rubles at any time, though if the holder is unable to explain where the CryptoRubles came from, a 13 percent tax will be levied. The same tax will be applied to any earned difference between the price of the purchase of the token and the price of the sale. Nikiforov said:\n\n\u201cI confidently declare that we run CryptoRuble for one simple reason: if we do not, then after 2 months our neighbors in the EurAsEC will.\u201d\n\nEmbracing and rejecting\n\nWhile the announcement means that Russia will enter the cryptocurrency world, it is in no way an affirmation or legalization of Bitcoin or any other decentralized cryptocurrency. On the contrary, Putin quite recently called for a complete ban on all cryptocurrencies within Russia.\n\nThe statement from Putin seemed apparently to contradict the earlier comments from other ministers who seemed pro-crypto, but only with regulations, as well as Putin\u2019s recent meetings with Buterin and others. Now, with the issuance of the CryptoRuble, the apparent contradiction has been made clear.", "output": "Russia is rumoured to be launching its own cryptocurrency, the cryptoruble. The currency will not be available for mining but will be created and tracked by the Russian government. The cryptocurrency seems to be based on blockchain technology and could be used to protect against online fraud. Rubles and cryptorubles will be interchangeable, though confirmation on how has not been given. The currency could support the online economy without requiring foreign money markets or third-party brokers for transactions, with the currency expected to require proof of origin to guard against money laundering. Undocumented cryptorubles will\u00a0reportedly have a\u00a013% tax applied when\u00a0exchanged.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EMEA property coverage much greater than cyber coverage: Aon \n Only 15 percent of potential information asset losses are covered by insurance; almost 60 percent of total physical asset values are protected\n\n38 percent of EMEA businesses have suffered a cyber loss in last 24 months, averaging $3.3m per loss\n\nOnly 30 percent of businesses in EMEA are 'fully aware' of legal and economic consequences of EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)\n\nLondon (October 16, 2017) - The 2017 EMEA Cyber Risk Transfer Comparison Report, released today by Aon in collaboration with the Ponemon Institute, a leading research firm on privacy, data protection and information security, found that organizations recognize the growing value of technology and data assets relative to historical tangible assets, though they are spending four times more budget on insurance for Property, Plant and Equipment (PP&E) risks.\n\n'Our goal is to compare the financial statement impact of tangible property and network risk exposure,' said Dr. Larry Ponemon. 'A better understanding of the relative financial statement impact will assist organizations in allocating resources and determining the appropriate amount of risk transfer resources to allocate to the mitigation of network risk exposures.'\n\nThe report found that while 38 percent of businesses surveyed confirmed they have experienced a cyber loss in the past 24 months, only 15 percent of their probable maximum loss (PML) is covered by insurance. This is in stark contrast to the policy limits purchased against physical assets like Property, Plant and Equipment, where around 60 percent of their PML is typically covered. The report also shows that the impact of business disruption to information assets is 50 percent greater than to PP&E *.\n\nVanessa Leemans, Chief Operating Officer for Global Cyber Insurance Solutions at Aon commented: 'This study compared the relative insurance protection of certain tangible versus intangible assets. We found that most organizations spend much more on fire insurance premiums than on cyber insurance, despite stating in their publicly disclosed documents that a majority of the organization's value is attributed to intangible assets.'\n\nThe report also found that only 30 percent of businesses are 'fully aware' of the legal and economic consequences of European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). GDPR comes into effect on 25th May 2018, and introduces a 72-hour notification for all personal data breaches - except those unlikely to pose a risk to individuals. Fines for non-compliance with the GDPR will increase to as much as \u20ac20m or 4 percent of an organization's global turnover (whichever is highest). Insurance carriers are starting to see an increase in demand for cyber coverage as cyber exposure awareness becomes an enterprise-wide issue.\n\nVanessa Leemans concluded: 'With 65 percent of EMEA organizations expecting their cyber risk exposure to increase over the next two years, cyber risk needs to be approached at an enterprise-wide level in order to achieve cyber resilience. This should include enterprise-wide education, assessment and quantification, preventive risk management, incident response plan, as well as cyber insurance.\n\nTo download a copy of the Aon/Ponemon Institute 2017 EMEA Cyber Risk Transfer Report, please visit our website.\n\nENDS\n\nNotes to Editors:\n\nThe Aon/Ponemon Institute 2017 EMEA Cyber Risk Transfer Report is based on a survey of over 500 individuals in Europe, the Middle East and Africa involved in their company's cyber risk management as well as enterprise risk management activities. 35 percent of respondents are in finance, treasury and accounting and 25 percent in risk management. Corporate compliance/audit accounted for 17 percent of respondents and general management nine percent of respondents.\n\n* On average, the total value of PP&E, including all fixed assets plus Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and industrial control systems is approximately $932m for the companies represented in this research. The report calculates an average total value of information assets, which includes customer records, employee records, financial reports, analytical data, source code, models methods and other intellectual property, of $1,092m.\n\nAbout Aon\n\nAon plc (NYSE:AON) is a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions. Our 50,000 colleagues in 120 countries empower results for clients by using proprietary data and analytics to deliver insights that reduce volatility and improve performance.\n\nFollow Aon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Aon_plc\n\nSign up for News Alerts: http://aon.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=58\n\nAon Media Contact:\n\nMadeleine Little\n\nSenior Director, External Communciations EMEA\n\nmadeleine.little@aon.co.uk\n\n+44 (0)20 7086 0347", "output": "Companies in the EMEA region have approximately 60% of physical assets covered by insurance, compared to just 15% of their informational assets, according to a report from Aon. The report also noted 38% of businesses surveyed had suffered a cyber loss within the last two years. These losses are more disruptive to business operations than losses rising from issues with firms' property assets. Additionally, the report identified less than a third of businesses surveyed fully understood the implications of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation. \u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Airbnb to offer\u00a0hosts loans for home improvements \n Airbnb is looking to take an increasingly active role in ensuring the homes it offers for rent on its site are pleasant to stay in, from offering loans to hosts for home improvements to actively partnering in the construction of an apartment block in Florida, according to reports.\n\nThe changes, which see the company move further than ever from its origins as a listing site connecting holidaymakers with hosts who have a spare room, could help Airbnb cement its position as an alternative to traditional hotels.\n\nBut it also risks irritating hosts who enjoyed the previously laissez-faire approach, as well as prompting awkward questions from regulators worldwide about the precise nature of Airbnb\u2019s business.\n\nThe home improvement loans are part of a programme being trialled by the company, dubbed Airbnb Select, according to industry news site the Information. The programme will highlight homes and hosts that are more likely to appeal to travellers seeking a high-quality, hotel-like experience, the Information says, as well as offer them guidance and assistance to further iron out the wrinkles in their offering.\n\nThat can range from advice on cosmetic improvements to their homes, to help shooting the best photographs, as well as more significant aid such as the loans, which would be repaid through revenue made from future bookings.\n\nSelect is just the latest example of Airbnb\u2019s effort to create a more standardised offering. Even its conventional hosts have reportedly come under pressure from the company to dial back on the idiosyncrasies that the site was famous for in its early days, when the key selling point for many tourists was the ability to \u201clive like a local\u201d, as one recent ad campaign put it.\n\nHosts are urged, for instance, to \u201clearn from hotel bathrooms\u201d \u2013 clearing bathroom counters of their own products and placing rolled-up towels in a basket \u2013 and \u201cshow personality, not personal items\u201d. \u201cToo many pictures of your dog and family might make [guests] feel uncomfortable,\u201d the company notes.\n\nAirbnb\u2019s attempt to build a hotel-like experience goes further than simply pushing hosts to refine their homes, though. In a number of locations around the world, the company is actively partnering on the creation of hotel-like properties from construction onwards.\n\nIn Florida, for instance, an apartment building branded as \u201cNiido powered by Airbnb\u201d will see tenants in the 324 new-build flats, located just outside Orlando, encouraged to sublet their properties for up to half the year in exchange for paying a portion of the income to their landlord.\n\nPartnering at the point of construction allows Airbnb hosts to offer the perks of their luxury apartments, such as swimming pools and other communal areas, to visitors without falling foul of their building\u2019s regulations. And, of course, it allows Airbnb to dictate the design of the building to suit its travellers\u2019 needs.\n\n\u201cThis partnership shows how landlords, developers, and Airbnb can work together to create value for everyone and better serve tenants,\u201d Jaja Jackson, Airbnb\u2019s director of global multifamily housing partnerships, said in a statement on Thursday.\n\nIn Japan in 2016, Airbnb took an even more forthright step, experimenting with building a \u201ccommunity centre where travellers can also stay\u201d in the village of Yoshino. The company responded forcefully to media reports that called the experiment a \u201chotel\u201d, however, arguing that it wasn\u2019t one, since \u201cthe Yoshino house is managed by and for the community, and 97% of the price charged by the hosts goes directly to the community\u201d.\n\nThe risk for the company isn\u2019t just that existing hosts rebel against the changes (although a job advert seeking someone to improve host quality \u201cwithout driving significant churn in supply\u201d suggests it is concerned). It is also that, as the company takes on more hotel-like aspects, it begins being asked to take on more hotel-like responsibilities, too.\n\nCurrently, Airbnb offloads the difficulty of complying with the myriad different local regulations on short-stay rentals around the world onto its hosts \u2013 a choice which some localities have welcomed, but others have fought strongly against. In New York City, that fight escalated until the company sued the city for passing a bill that made it unlawful to advertise unlawful rentals.\n\nBy arguing that it merely connects hosts and travellers, Airbnb has managed to keep on the right side of the law in most other places. But as that claim becomes less convincing, the company might find itself with more and more New Yorks on its hands.", "output": "Airbnb is to offer loans to some hosts as part of a wider programme that increasingly positions the company as an alternative to hotels. Its trial service, Airbnb Select, gives hosts the opportunity to take out loans to make minor improvements or have professional-quality photographs taken, with the borrowed sum repaid via rental revenues. The launch of Airbnb Select is part of a broader campaign to standardise Airbnb's offerings and move\u00a0away from the company's more individualistic approach, which invited\u00a0guests to \"live like a local\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Norway may remove tax exemption on EVs weighing over two tons \n This story about incentives for electric cars in Norway was first published by Gas2.\n\nNorway charges a tax on new cars that can actually double the list price. Heavier, more powerful cars pay more. The tax on smaller, less powerful cars is more modest. Electric cars are exempt from the tax entirely, which is one of the primary reasons electric cars in Norway are so popular.\n\nNorway also confers a number of other benefits on electric car owners, among them free charging in many cities, access to HOV lanes, and reduced tolls for the country\u2019s many bridges and tunnels. Taken together, they make buying an electric car a no-brainer.\n\nBut all those subsidies cost the government a lot of money in lost revenue every year. Now conservatives are proposing to impose a one-time fee (another name for a tax) to register an electric car in Norway. The fee would be based on the weight of a car, the theory being that heavy cars cause more wear and tear on the nation\u2019s roads. Only cars that weigh more than 2 tons would be affected.\n\nThe fee could add as much as $12,000 to the price of a Tesla Model X, while the Model S would pay a fee of about $5,000. Cars that are close to the 2 ton threshold would be charged about $900.\n\nThe proposal has caused an angry backlash among electric car advocates. Christina Bu, head of Norway\u2019s Electric Vehicle Association, calls the one-time charge on new electric cars over two tons a \u201ctax bomb,\u201d according to Norway\u2019s VG News.\n\n\u201cThe government knows very well that many car manufacturers take this step to develop the electric cars with more space and increased range due largely to interest from customers in Norway. The new one time fee will make it more difficult to get families to buy electric cars. And it will be more difficult to reach the \u2026 goal of selling only zero emissions cars by 2025,\u201d she says.\n\nJohn Helmersen, head of operations for Jaguar in Norway, says about 1,000 Norwegians have paid a $1,300 deposit to get on the waiting list for the new Jaguar I-Pace electric SUV. He claims the new fee would cost buyers about an extra $3,500.\n\nStuff and nonsense, sniffs State Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, J\u00f8rgen N\u00e6sje. \u201cTypical family electric cars are not affected by the introduction of a one time fee. We also do not know that new family cars are being launched that are so heavy that they will receive a one time fee. Both the Opel Ampera and Tesla Model 3 will be [exempt].\n\n\u201cThat heavy luxury SUVs that cost over $130,000 get any fee is quite reasonable and it provides a good social profile. The Jaguar which weighs just over 2 tons \u2026 will hardly get the big fee. Those who can afford to buy such expensive cars can pay a small one time fee for new car purchases.\u201d\n\nIt is regrettable that Norway is considering pulling back on some of the programs and incentives that make purchasing an electric car so popular, but the fee, if and when one is enacted, will still amount to far less than the tax buyers of conventional cars have to pay. Many Norwegians consider this idea more of a negotiating strategy the conservatives are using as discussions about the next national budget get under way.\n\nStill, it is a signal that the benefits electric car buyers currently enjoy won\u2019t last forever. In fact, many of them are scheduled to lapse in 2020 anyway as the country struggles to find the proper balance between promoting electric cars and fiscal responsibility.\n\nPerhaps a hint this was coming led to the extraordinary number of Tesla automobiles registered in Norway in the third quarter of this year. In fact, an amazing 900 Teslas were registered in the last week of the quarter alone.\n\nThe conservatives\u2019 plan has been labeled a \u201cTesla Tax\u201d by opponents. Perhaps there is some truth in that. The high price of Tesla\u2019s Model S and Model X definitely put them out of reach for many Norwegian families, and adding another fee on makes them even more so. The rationale for the plan is that heavy cars put more strain on roadways, but heavy cars also tend to be more expensive cars.\n\nCalifornia has reconfigured its incentive program for electric cars to provide more benefits to low-income buyers after many complained that making it easier for rich people to buy expensive cars was unfair. Proposing a fee based on weight is a way of taking a swipe at the wealthy without coming right out and saying so.\n\nIn any event, the Tesla Model 3 is coming soon enough and will have the sort of range Norwegians say they crave. But it will be light enough to avoid most if not all of the new fee, whatever it turns out to be once the budgetary process is completed.\n\nThere is every reason to believe that Norway will continue to be one of Tesla\u2019s strongest export markets, with or without a one-time fee that applies at the time of purchase. After all, paying an extra $5,000 for a Model S is still preferable to ponying up $85,000 more to buy a conventional Mercedes S-Class.\n\nSource: Reuters | Hat Tip to Leif Hansen\n\nSign up for Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era \u2014 Podcast: I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014 gasp \u2014 grow. So ... Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014\u2014 grow. So ...", "output": "Norway has floated a proposal to impose a one-off payment on electric vehicles (EVs) weighing more than two tonnes to cover the cost of wear and tear on the nation's roads. State Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, J\u00f8rgen N\u00e6sje, said the so-called 'Tesla tax' was aimed at the luxury SUV market, and said: \"those who can afford to buy such expensive cars can pay a small one-time fee\". The proposal could signal a change in government backing for EVs, which are subject to benefits including reduced tolls and free charging.\n \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Norway may remove tax exemption on EVs weighing over two tons \n Norway is by far the world leader in electric cars. The zero-emission vehicles make up almost 30% of the total market. But now, the government is putting the brakes on some of the subsidies that revved up this market. A proposal, presented as part of next year\u2019s budget, has been put forward to remove a tax exemption on electric vehicles that weigh more than two metric tons.\n\nThe move has been dubbed the \u201cTesla tax,\u201d as it\u2019s most likely to effect the American company\u2019s models, particularly the Tesla Model X, an SUV. There are more than 13,000 registered Teslas in Norway, according to data from the national statistics office. The tax would increase the cost of buying a new Tesla X by about 70,000 kroner ($8,850), local media said (link in Norwegian).\n\nAdvertisement\n\nNorway\u2019s finance minister, Siv Jensen, justified the proposal by arguing that the heavy cars caused as much damage to the road as gasoline and diesel cars, so electric-car owners should contribute more to the cost of upkeep. Still, owners of Teslas and other electric cars would still benefit heavily compared to other vehicle owners.\n\nThe Scandinavian country has an ambitious target for new vehicles sales to be exclusively zero-emission models by 2025. Countries like France and the UK hope to achieve the same by 2040. Over the years, Norway has offered enticing subsides and other perks to encourage people to buy electric cars, such as no city tolls, free parking, free charging, and permission to drive in bus lanes. In February, the number of electric cars in Norway surpassed 100,000.\n\nThe Norwegian government has been considering ways to curb the incentives for a while, amid criticisms that the perks allow rich households to buy pricey Teslas cheaply and significantly increase congestion in the capital, Oslo. However, the traditional center-right allies of the current government have spoken out against the Tesla tax, because the subsidies had been agreed to run through 2020, according to AFP.", "output": "Norway has floated a proposal to impose a one-off payment on electric vehicles (EVs) weighing more than two tonnes to cover the cost of wear and tear on the nation's roads. State Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, J\u00f8rgen N\u00e6sje, said the so-called 'Tesla tax' was aimed at the luxury SUV market, and said: \"those who can afford to buy such expensive cars can pay a small one-time fee\". The proposal could signal a change in government backing for EVs, which are subject to benefits including reduced tolls and free charging.\n \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Singapore to be site of the world's largest AI incubator \n As Singapore scales up plans of achieving a Smart Nation, private investment firm Marvelstone Group is eyeing to launch the world's largest artificial intelligence (AI) hub in the island's central business district in 2018.\n\nAccording to a statement by the investment firm, the goal is to serve the current need in the market for AI technology. The hub will also make Singapore a global leader in the said technologies. The said hub will be followed by its sisters in Japan, Scotland, and Canada.\n\nMarvelstone President Joel Ko Hyun Sik said there are a lot of ideas in the field of AI that are still research focused and need an incubator such as the said hub. This is in order to bridge the gap to commercialise them for future deployment by future government and corporates.\n\nAside from serving as an incubator for 100 startups in the field of AI per year, he said the business model of the planned hub includes intellectual property (IP) generation, educating 1,000 people annually, and investments to nurture ideas in improving the nascent field.\n\n\"There is a clear need for a big playground for startups, entrepreneurs, and even corporates in the field of AI. Considering the high interest and demand for AI globally, there are still relatively few places to test these new technologies,\" Sik said.\n\nMultinational corporations and institutions who will partner with the hub will gain access to the innovative AI startups. These up and coming businesses will be able to market their products in a more systematic and organised manner. At the same time, the hub will join these startups in co-building products.\n\n\"We're extremely excited about this vision and believe AI will represent an unparalleled theatre of growth of the future,\" Sik said.\n\nTo recall, Marvelstone is behind Lattice80, a 30,000 sqft fintech hub launched in the latter part of 2016. More than 30 governments, 50 corporates, and 100 investors have visited LATTICE80.", "output": "Private investment company Marvelstone Group is planning to open the world\u2019s largest artificial intelligence (AI) hub in Singapore's central business district next year. According to the firm, the facility will incubate 100 AI-based start-ups a year, encouraging the generation of intellectual property and\u00a0providing\u00a0education for 1,000 people a year. Corporations and institutions that join the hub as partners will have access to the innovations\u00a0being generated there, while offering the start-ups the benefits of their scale and marketing reach. Further\u00a0hubs are planned for Japan, Scotland and Canada."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Blockchain technology is ideal partner for smarter energy grids \n Keeping track of renewable-energy certificates is one of dozens of potential applications of blockchain technology that could solve data management challenges in the electricity sector without disrupting business as usual, according to Morris. He and many others believe that in the long term, the technology could help transform the very architecture of the grid itself.\n\nA blockchain is a shared, encrypted ledger that is maintained by a network of computers. These computers verify transactions\u2014in the case of Bitcoin, the transfer of cryptocurrency between individual users. Each user can access the ledger, and there is no single authority (see \u201cWhy Bitcoin Could Be Much More Than a Currency\u201d). Advocates say the technology could be especially promising in industries where networks of peers\u2014electricity producers and consumers, connected via the grid, for instance\u2014depend on shared sets of data.\n\nWhen a renewable-power plant generates a unit of electricity today, a meter spits out data that gets logged in a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet is then sent to a registry provider, where the data gets entered into a new system and a certificate is created. A second set of intermediaries brokers deals between buyers and sellers of these certificates, and yet another party verifies the certificates after they are purchased.\n\nSuch a byzantine system racks up transaction costs, while leaving plenty of room for accounting errors that can range from honest mistakes to outright fraud. The lack of transparency also scares many people off entirely.\n\nWhat if the meter wrote the data directly to a blockchain instead? Most of these problems would vanish at a stroke, says Morris.\n\nAnd that\u2019s just the beginning\u2014many energy experts are convinced that blockchain technology has the potential to touch off a fundamental transformation of modern energy grids.\n\nThe electricity sector is, for the most part, still based on massive, centralized power plants that generate power sent long distances over transmission and distribution lines. In recent years, though, a growing number of smaller \u201cdistributed\u201d power generators and storage systems, like rooftop solar panels and electric-vehicle batteries, have been connecting to the grid.\n\nThe owners of these systems struggle to maximize their value because the system is so inefficient, says Jemma Green, cofounder and chair of Power Ledger, an Australia-based startup developing a blockchain-based platform that allows producers to trade energy peer-to-peer with consumers. For instance, it generally takes 60 to 80 days for an electricity producer to get paid. With a blockchain-based system, Green says, producers can get paid immediately, so they need less capital to start and run a generating business.", "output": "Blockchain technology is a natural fit for tracking power generation and payments on distributed energy grids, according to Rocky Mountain Institute, a Colorado-based green energy organisation, and Austrian blockchain start-up Grid Singularity. The two outfits have joined together to create the Energy Web Foundation (EWF), which has launched an Ethereum-based blockchain, which is \u201cpurpose-built for the energy sector\u201d. The team will start by developing applications to track renewable energy certificates. In future, the EWF intends to enable \u201cmore granular transactions\u201d between providers and consumers and eventually to allow near-instant payment in return for sending energy to the grid."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Travel insurers urged to stop mental illness discrimination \n Bupa revoked a woman's travel insurance after she declared she suffered from bipolar disorder.\n\nElizabeth Watson, 29, from London, was granted insurance from the company, which was then cancelled after she later mentioned she had the mental health condition.\n\nAlthough Ms Watson was covered by another company, she claims she was forced to pay four times as much due to her disorder.\n\nAfter starting a campaign, which has been sent to Jeremy Hunt, to prevent travel insurers from discriminating against mental health patients, Ms Watson says she has been inundated by people who have nearly been left bankrupt due to such insurance claims.\n\nA Bupa spokesperson has apologised for any distress caused, adding the company screens for mental health conditions to ensure it can provide adequate cover.\n\nThis comes after recent research revealed 21 per cent of mental health sufferers travel without insurance due to its extortionate price, while 15 per cent are forced to avoid going overseas altogether.\n\nElizabeth Watson had her Bupa travel insurance revoked after declaring her bipolar disorder\n\nShe was initially granted insurance for her IBS and acid reflux, but it was later taken away\n\nMs Watson got insurance with another company, but was forced to pay four times as much\n\nWHAT IS BIPOLAR DISORDER? Bipolar disorder is a mental health condition that mainly affects sufferers' moods. It is characterised as periods of euphoric highs and depressive lows. These mood swings can be extreme and have a big impact on a patient's quality of life. The rate of bipolar episode cycling varies between sufferers. Bipolar's causes may include childhood trauma, stressful life events, genetics or brain chemistry. Treatment may include medication or therapy. Sufferers can practice self-care by staying physically healthy, maintaining a strong support network, sticking to a daily routine and avoiding known triggers, such as late nights. Source: Mind Advertisement !- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/ru/health/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 - ->\n\n'Mental health should not be discriminated against'\n\nMs Watson, who also suffers from acid reflux and irritable bowel syndrome, said: 'Before I mentioned bipolar they were absolutely happy to cover me, but as soon as I mentioned bipolar, no matter how much I paid, they just were not interested,' The Independent reported.\n\nShe also told the Wandsworth Guardian: 'People go on booze-filled holidays and are at a higher risk than someone with depression in my eyes.\n\n'Mental health should not be discriminated against, full stop.'\n\nForced to pay four times as much\n\nMs Watson had already paid \u00a321 for travel insurance for a one-week holiday to Spain.\n\nAfter later declaring her mental health problems, Ms Watson was asked a series of questions before Bupa stated they would not be able to insure her for any of her conditions, even if she paid a premium.\n\nMs Watson filed a complaint against the company when the incident occurred back in August, but to date has only received a letter from Bupa saying it will be in touch.\n\nShe managed to secure travel insurance from another provider, but was forced to pay four times as much. According to the Bipolar UK website, only five UK travel companies cover bipolar disorder.\n\nRichard Norris, director of consumer insurance at Bupa UK: 'We're sorry for the distress we have caused Ms Watson. We can and do cover mental health conditions such as bipolar through some of our travel insurance products.\n\n'We aim to give our customers the most comprehensive cover possible, including mental health conditions where possible. We screen our Premier and Gold travel insurance customers for physical and mental health conditions to check whether we can provide coverage for any pre-existing conditions while they're abroad.'\n\nShe has started a campaign banning mental health discrimination among travel insurers\n\nSufferers driven to near bankruptcy\n\nMs Watson has launched a campaign to prevent travel insurance companies discriminating against mental health conditions.\n\nShe claims to have heard from thousands of people who have undergone similar experiences, including a couple who were nearly made bankrupt after the husband had a nervous breakdown while on holiday, despite suffering no mental health complaints for years. The insurer accused him of lying about his past conditions.\n\nAnother individual said they were quoted more than a 2,000 per cent higher price after they declared their mental health disorder.\n\nTo date, the campaign has received 56,161 signatures, and has been sent to Bupa, the Financial Conduct Authority and health secretary Jeremy Hunt with the aim of banning travel insurance companies discriminating against mental health disorders.\n\nThis comes after research by the charity Money and Mental Health Policy Institute last month revealed 21 per cent of people with mental health problems travel without insurance because it is too expensive, while 15 per cent have chosen not to travel at all because of such high costs.", "output": "Thousands of UK campaigners have signed a petition urging travel insurance providers to stop discrimination against policyholders with mental health disorders. Some travellers have to pay 2,000% higher for coverage, while other potential policyholders have been denied coverage outright, according to reports. The campaign began after insurance provider Bupa rescinded coverage from a policyholder due to her bipolar disorder. Only five travel insurance providers in the UK cover bipolar disorder, according to advocacy group Bipolar UK.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Rivers in England and Wales contaminated with raw sewage \n Raw sewage is flowing into rivers at thousands of sites across England and Wales, a report has warned, harming wildlife and putting human health at risk.\n\nThe total amount of raw sewage intentionally being put into rivers is unknown, which is a \u201chuge concern\u201d, according to conservation group WWF, which produced the analysis. The available data suggests that more than half of overflow sites spill sewage into rivers at least once a month and 14% at least once a week.\n\nWWF argued this is far more frequently than allowed under regulations that permit overflows only at times of unusually heavy rainfall, when treatment works cannot cope.\n\nThe report also said the number of reported sewage pollution incidents, including failures at sewage treatment plants, rose in 2016 for the first time since 2012. Furthermore, only 14% of rivers in England have \u201cgood\u201d ecological status, which reflects both sewage and farm pollution and low water levels, compared with 27% in 2010.\n\nSewage pollution can cause algal blooms that starve rivers of oxygen and kill fish, as well as affecting the wildlife such as kingfishers and otters that depend on them. The pathogens in untreated sewage can also threaten people\u2019s health, causing gastroenteritis and even septicaemia and hepatitis A.\n\n\u201cBritain\u2019s bountiful rivers have forever provided the lifeblood of our nation \u2013 vital to our economy as well as our wildlife and our own wellbeing,\u201d said Tanya Steele, the WWF chief executive. \u201cThe current situation is unacceptable. These findings demonstrate the urgent need to transform the way we treat our freshwater environment.\u201d The government must force water companies to act, WWF says.\n\nThe analysis reports that 40% of the rivers in England and Wales are polluted with sewage, which comes from almost 18,000 sewage overflow sites operated by water companies and from treatment plant breakdowns. Thames Water had the highest proportion of rivers affected by sewage \u2013 72% \u2013 followed by Southern and Anglian Water.\n\nUntil recently, there was little monitoring of how often and for how long the overflows spill sewage into rivers. But data from south-west Wales showed overflows there spilled for an average of 217 hours over a year, with 9% spilling for at least 730 hours a year, equivalent to flowing constantly for a whole month.\n\nWWF warns that without action the situation is likely to get worse due to rising population, increasing urbanisation and climate change making intense rain more common. \u201cIt seems companies are relying on sewer overflows to compensate for under-capacity\u201d at treatment plants, the report states. \u201cOur research has revealed a sewerage system on the edge; one that is ill-equipped to protect people and nature as we face the tough challenges ahead.\u201d\n\nAn Environment Agency spokeswoman said: \u201cThere have been dramatic improvements to water quality over the last two decades but there is more to do. We have set more stringent targets for the water sector, stated they must do more to reduce pollution incidents and in the most serious cases taken enforcement action leading to record fines.\u201d\n\nSince 2015, 4,000 of the sewage overflow sites have been fitted with monitoring equipment to record the frequency and duration of spills and by March 2020 about 11,500 will be monitored, the EA spokeswoman said.\n\nA spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: \u201cOur rivers are the cleanest they have been since industrial times and we\u2019re working with the water industry to meet tougher targets and improve their planning and investment in wastewater infrastructure.\u201d\n\nA spokesman for Water UK, which represents water companies, said that in relation to pollution incidents WWF had failed to distinguish between the most serious, which increased from four to nine in 2016, and the vast majority which the EA classes as having \u201conly a limited or localised effect on water quality\u201d.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a genuine debate to be had about how we as a country are going to deal with sewage and drainage issues in future in a way which protects our environment, but WWF have muddied the waters with an inaccurate picture of what is going on,\u201d he said. Wildlife such as salmon and otters have returned to some rivers, he added.\n\nCoastal waters have seen a big reduction in sewage pollution in recent decades but action on rivers has lagged behind, WWF argues. \u201cWe know the water industry can clean up their act, if given the right push. They just have to get on and do it,\u201d said Catherine Moncrieff, the freshwater policy manager at WWF.", "output": "Raw sewage is entering rivers at thousands of sites in England and Wales, endangering human health and wildlife, according to a report by WWF. The data suggests that over 50% of overflow sites leak sewage into rivers at least once a month, with 14% spilling sewage at least once a week. The number of reported incidents of sewage pollution rose last year for the first time since 2012. Just 14% of English rivers have \u201cgood\u201d ecological status, down from 27% in 2010. Thames Water had the highest number of sewage affected rivers at 72%, followed by Southern and Anglian Water.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Levi Strauss tops Chinese environmental supply chain table \n 2022\n\nThe Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE) today released the evaluation results of its 2022 Green Supply Chain CITI Index and its Corporate Climate Action (CATI) Index. The report indicates that in spite of the global challenges, a number of local and global companies have undertaken the tasks of pollution control and emissions reduction, driving low-carbon transformation in their supply chain and contributing to global climate governance.\n\nPublication Date\uff1a2022-11-03", "output": "Levi Strauss, Esquel and Adidas have been ranked as the three best apparel companies when it comes to environmentally-friendly supply chain practices in China, according to the latest Corporate Information Transparency Index. The report reveals that increased environmental supervision in the country has led to a greater recognition of supply chain environmental risks by brands. However, inadequate monitoring is still hampering environmental performance in the country, the report states.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Levi Strauss tops Chinese environmental supply chain table \n BEIJING \u2013 Newly released data from the Chinese government, online monitoring by NGO\u2019s and corporate disclosure agreements has shown the textile industry has boosted its environmental performance in partnership with leading international brands.\n\nHowever, the findings, which are reported in the 4th annual Corporate Information Transparency Index (CITI), show that although China\u2019s strengthening of environmental supervision has prompted more brands to recognise supply chain environmental risks, insufficient monitoring capacity is still hindering companies from going green.\n\nIn the report, Levi Strauss, Esquel Group and Adidas Group were ranked the top three apparel companies for supply chain practices.", "output": "Levi Strauss, Esquel and Adidas have been ranked as the three best apparel companies when it comes to environmentally-friendly supply chain practices in China, according to the latest Corporate Information Transparency Index. The report reveals that increased environmental supervision in the country has led to a greater recognition of supply chain environmental risks by brands. However, inadequate monitoring is still hampering environmental performance in the country, the report states.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Petrol demand to peak by 2030: Wood Mackenzie \n We are excited to announce that as of February 1, Wood Mackenzie is a portfolio company of Veritas Capital, a leading investor at the intersection of technology and government. Our focus remains on providing you with the best intelligence, analytics, data and tools to ensure you are making the best data-driven business decisions with confidence.\n\nRead more in our news release here.", "output": "Global demand for petrol will peak by 2030, due to increased engine efficiency and the greater prevalence of electric cars, according to a report by energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie. The consultancy said that it expected the demand for gasoline to fall significantly, particularly after 2025, and that total oil demand would also level off around 2035. Of the 96 million barrels of oil consumed globally each day, 60 million are used in transport. In the short term, regulatory changes relating to fuel efficiency imposed by China, the European Union and the US will provide the greatest curb on gasoline demand.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Petrol demand to peak by 2030: Wood Mackenzie \n World petrol demand will peak within 13 years thanks to the impact of electric cars and more efficient engines, energy experts have predicted.\n\nUK-based Wood Mackenzie said it expected the take-up of electric vehicles to cut gasoline demand significantly, particularly beyond 2025 as the battery-powered cars go mainstream.\n\nCombined with car manufacturers forced by regulations to produce models that run further on the same amount of oil, a new report by the analysts suggests global gasoline demand is likely to peak by 2030.\n\nThe UK and France have recently said they will phase out sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2040. China, the world\u2019s biggest car market, is mulling a similar move, which would have a significant impact on oil demand.\n\nOf the 96m barrels of oil consumed globally each day, 60m are used for transport, which Wood Mackenzie predicts will stall by 2030.\n\nAlan Gelder, a senior analyst at Wood Mackenzie, said the ripples of gasoline\u2019s plateau would be felt much earlier, as oil companies put off investment in refineries and the number of petrol stations is reduced.\n\n\u201cWe are becoming increasingly efficient as we use our energy. So as economies grow we are less reliant on oil, so the significance of oil in the global economy should decline over time,\u201d said Gelder.\n\nFor countries that rely strongly on tax income from fuel duty, such as the \u00a328bn the tax brings in for the UK each year, falling gasoline demand will pose a challenge for governments, he said.\n\nIn the short term, regulatory changes to fuel efficiency standards imposed by Barack Obama in the US, and by the EU and China, will be the biggest curb on gasoline demand. Battery-powered cars are expected to have a bigger impact later.\n\n\u201cPost-2025, that\u2019s where electric car sales take off. The further you go into the future, the more it\u2019s electric cars,\u201d said Gelder, who foresees plug-in models taking 10% of global new car sales by 2030. If cities began banning cars with a combustion engine, that would rapidly accelerate the switch to electric vehicles, he added.\n\nWhile gasoline will peak first, the analysts expect total oil demand to plateau about 2035, as growth is hit by climate change policies and developing world economies maturing.\n\nAlthough the \u201cmarket used to worry about peak oil supply\u201d, Wood Mackenzie said, the industry\u2019s chief concern now was a peak in demand.\n\n\u201cThe prospect of peak oil demand is very real,\u201d said the group. Its forecast of peak oil demand is relatively early compared with BP\u2019s prediction of the mid-2040s and the International Energy Agency\u2019s expectation of 2040.\n\n\n\nHowever, some oil firms, such as Shell, believe the peak could come in the early 2030s or potentially even late 2020s due to growth in cars powered by biofuels and batteries. The Anglo-Dutch firm believes the impact on oil demand from more fuel-efficient cars will far outweigh the impact of electric vehicles.\n\nThe price of of oil stood at one of its highest levels this year on Thursday, at $58.24 (\u00a343.83) a barrel, after reports of skirmishes between Iraqi and Kurdish forces in oil-producing areas, and concerns over sanctions against Iran.\n\nToyota has announced it will test electric cars in Japan from 2020 equipped with artificial intelligence to help the cars better understand and adapt to their drivers. A driverless concept car, the Concept i-series, can also be driven manually.\n\nThe AI will gauge \u201cemotion and level of alertness by reading the driver\u2019s expressions, actions, and tone of voice\u201d, the Japanese manufacturer said.", "output": "Global demand for petrol will peak by 2030, due to increased engine efficiency and the greater prevalence of electric cars, according to a report by energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie. The consultancy said that it expected the demand for gasoline to fall significantly, particularly after 2025, and that total oil demand would also level off around 2035. Of the 96 million barrels of oil consumed globally each day, 60 million are used in transport. In the short term, regulatory changes relating to fuel efficiency imposed by China, the European Union and the US will provide the greatest curb on gasoline demand.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Outrage as Sainsbury\u2019s development features 4% affordable homes \n Sainsbury\u2019s is facing housing campaigners\u2019 anger over a proposed high-rise development surrounding an east London superstore that includes just 4% affordable homes.\n\nLocal opponents have described the supermarket\u2019s proposal that just 27 of the 683 homes in the Ilford project will be available for affordable rent as \u201cinsulting\u201d.\n\nPlanning experts for the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, have said the offer \u201cfalls substantially short\u201d of City Hall\u2019s plan to deliver 17,000 affordable homes per year \u2013 equivalent to 40% of the strategic housebuilding target.\n\nIt also falls well short of the London Borough of Redbridge\u2019s target of 50% affordable housing across all new developments. There are currently over 8,000 households on the waiting list for affordable housing in the area, and more than 2,400 living in temporary accommodation.\n\nThe borough estimates it needs an extra 15,000 affordable homes by 2033. The case is set to go before a public inquiry starting on Tuesday, but the project appears likely to go ahead after the council withdrew its opposition on Saturday.\n\nThe Ilford development is Sainsbury\u2019s largest yet.\n\nSainsbury\u2019s says the \u201cmaximum reasonable\u201d amount of affordable housing it can include is 14 one- and two-bedroom flats, a dozen three-bedroom units and a single four-bedroom property. It estimates making a 20% profit selling off the private flats, according to planning documents. At current local prices that could exceed \u00a340m.\n\nIt has described it as \u201ca financially challenging project\u201d, partly because of lost revenues to its retail operation when it closes its existing store for construction. It has also agreed to pay Redbridge \u00a311.4m in community infrastructure levy, although this cannot be used to fund affordable housing.\n\nBut Meenakshi Sharma, co-founder of Ilford NOISE, a local residents group, said the amount of affordable housing being offered was \u201cridiculous and insulting\u201d.\n\n\u201cPeople can\u2019t believe it is 4% especially with all the publicity about the need for affordable housing,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd yet this still carries on. They don\u2019t take any notice whatsoever. There\u2019s a big housing need in the area. There are lots of people in temporary accommodation and lots of overcrowding.\u201d\n\nIt is the latest in a series of high-profile battles over the financial viability of private housing schemes in the capital with councils seeking to maximise the number of cheaper homes in developments and developers seeking to minimise them. Previous disputes have centred on central London sites where developers have argued that the high cost of land limits their ability to subsidise affordable housing, but the row over the Ilford site suggests the issue is spreading to the outer London suburbs.\n\nAffordable in this case means rents capped at 60% of market rates. Sainsbury\u2019s is increasingly moving into housebuilding, using the space above its stores for housing. The Ilford project is its largest yet, but it has also built 650 homes around a store in Nine Elms and 500 homes above a store in Fulham, both in London.\n\nRedbridge had originally rejected the application because of the lack of affordable housing and was planning to oppose it at the public inquiry, but it has now reversed its position and accepted the 4% offer.\n\nOn Friday, a spokeswoman for Redbridge told the Guardian: \u201cWe declined the application because of the huge gap between the borough\u2019s expectations on affordable housing in new developments, and the proposals we were given. The capital is critically short of housing, especially affordable housing and we need to increase the stock in the borough.\u201d\n\nBut on Saturday it told the planning inspector it was withdrawing its opposition and would not resist Sainsbury\u2019s appeal against its original refusal.\n\nIn a letter to the planning inspectorate, the head of planning, Joanne Woodward, said it had agreed common ground on the financial viability of the project and a planning deal, although without any increase in the affordable housing included in the development.\n\n\u201cThe council will attend on the first day of the inquiry to explain how the position it has now adopted has been reached,\u201d she said.\n\nSainsbury\u2019s said: \u201cOur plans will help kick-start Ilford\u2019s future regeneration by driving growth and job creation, as well as provide a broad mix of housing for local people. We look forward to the outcome of the appeal. We have agreed with the council to review the provision at certain points throughout the development, and if we can increase the number of affordable homes we will.\u201d", "output": "Sainsbury\u2019s has been criticised after it emerged that the retail giant's proposed housing development surrounding an east London superstore will comprise\u00a0just 4% affordable homes. Of the 683 homes planned for the Ilford project, 27 will be available for affordable rent even though the\u00a0local borough council\u00a0has a 50% affordable housing target for all new developments. The project is the largest undertaken by the grocer\u00a0as it grows its housebuilding business.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Innogy buys out Statkraft from Triton Knoll offshore wind project \n German energy business Innogy has announced it has acquired Statkraft's 50 percent share in the Triton Knoll offshore wind project.\n\nThe Essen-based company said Tuesday that it was now the sole owner of the project, which has a planned installed capacity of 860 megawatts. Both Innogy and Norway's Statkraft have agreed to keep the purchase price confidential.\n\nInnogy added that the farm, which is set to be located 32 kilometers off the east coast of England, was expected to supply the equivalent of 800,000 U.K. homes with renewable electricity annually. The company said the planned investment volume for the project amounted to around \u00a32 billion ($2.64 billion).\n\n\"With full control over Triton Knoll, we will now develop the project further to final investment decision at our own discretion,\" Hans Bunting, Innogy's chief operating officer for renewables, said in a statement.\n\n\"In due course, we will also review all options regarding the ownership structure of Triton Knoll to maximize value for our company and our shareholders,\" he added.\n\nThe project's onshore works are set to commence in 2018, with offshore work due to start in 2020. Innogy said that it expected Triton Knoll to be commissioned in 2021.", "output": "German energy company Innogy has acquired Statkraft's 50% share in the Triton Knoll offshore wind project. Innogy is now the sole owner of the wind farm, which is expected to have a capacity of 860 MW. The Triton Knoll wind farm will be 32 km off the east coast of England and capable of supplying 800,000 UK homes with renewable electricity."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Enel invests $330m in Oklahoma wind project \n Enel Green Power North America announced last week that it has signed a $330 million tax equity agreement with the Alternative Energy Investing Group of Goldman Sachs and GE Energy Financial Services to spur development of Oklahoma\u2019s 298 MW Thunder Ranch wind project.\n\nThe announcement was made on Friday in which Enel Green Power North America revealed that Alternative Energy Investing Group of Goldman Sachs and GE Energy Financial Services would together purchase 100% of the 298 MW (megawatt) Thunder Ranch wind project\u2019s Class B and Class C equity interests in exchange for payment of approximately $330 million. Enel Green Power will retain 100% of Thunder Ranch\u2019s Class A interests and control of the project.\n\nThese tax equity investments are traditional financing methods for the development of renewable energy projects across the United States. In turn, Goldman Sachs and GE Energy Financial Services will receive a percentage of the financial benefits generated by Thunder Ranch.\n\nConstruction of the 298 MW Thunder Ranch wind project began back in May after Enel Green Power committed approximately $435 million into the project, part of the company\u2019s larger investment plans. Upon completion, Thunder Ranch generate more than 1,100 GWh (gigawatt-hours) of clean energy each year and provide enough electricity to meet the needs of the equivalent of 89,400 US homes, and subsequently avoid CO2 emissions worth around 790,000 tonnes.\n\nThunder Ranch was also in the news last month as the focus of a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) concluded by Missouri-based Anheuser-Busch, brewer of drinks such as Budweiser and Stella Artois, and one of America\u2019s leading breweries. Anheuser-Busch announced mid-September that it would purchase 152.5 MW generated by Thunder Ranch to support its brewing operations in the United States. Further, the company can now boast 50% renewable energy purchased, and the ability to produce 20 billion 12-ounce servings of beer each year.\n\n\u201cAs we strive to bring people together to build a better world, we at Anheuser-Busch are dedicated to reducing our carbon emissions,\u201d said Jo\u00e3o Castro Neves, president and CEO of Anheuser-Busch at the time. \u201cHelping to grow the renewable energy market is not only good for the environment, it is a strategic business move as we strive for long-term sustainability. Now more than ever, we are excited to lead our company\u2019s global effort toward a renewable future and, partnering with Enel, set an industry example of how major companies can help to make a difference in climate change.\u201d\n\nSign up for Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era \u2014 Podcast: I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014 gasp \u2014 grow. So ... Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014\u2014 grow. So ...", "output": "Enel Green has signed a $330m tax equity agreement to spur development of Oklahoma\u2019s 298 MW Thunder Ranch wind project. Goldman Sachs' Alternative Energy Investing Group and GE Energy Financial Services have agreed to purchase 100% of Thunder Ranch's Class B and Class C equity interests. Enel Green Power will maintain control of the entirety of the wind project's Class A interests.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EON launches renewable tariff for EV charging \n Eon has today launched a new tariff for electric and hybrid vehicle owners in the UK that uses energy sourced from 100% renewable electricity and green gas.\n\n\n\nThe Eon Fixed One Year Electric Vehicle is a dual rate tariff, which offers customers access to a competitive day rate and a night rate 33% below the day rate.\n\nThe tariff also matches 100% of both the electricity and gas used with renewable energy guarantees of origin and green gas certificates, Eon said.Eon residential managing director Chris Lovatt said: \u201cFor many electric or hybrid car owners, choosing the right energy tariff may be the last piece of the jigsaw in helping them lower fuel emissions and energy costs.\u201d", "output": "EON has announced a new tariff that will allow UK owners of hybrid and electric vehicles to access energy sourced from \"green gas\" and renewable energy. The EON\u00a0Fixed One Year Electric Vehicle tariff\u00a0offers customers access to\u00a0a night rate that is 33% less than the day rate."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EON brings 10 MW battery storage unit online in UK \n Britain\u2019s switch to greener energy will take another significant step forward this week with the opening of an industrial-scale battery site in Sheffield. E.ON said the facility, which is next to an existing power plant and has the equivalent capacity of half a million phone batteries, marked a milestone in its efforts to develop storage for electricity from windfarms, nuclear reactors and gas power stations.\n\nThe plant, housed in four shipping containers, is the type of project hailed by the business secretary, Greg Clark, as crucial to transforming the UK\u2019s energy system and making it greener.\n\nAt 10MW, the Blackburn Meadows battery is one of the biggest in Britain so far, but will soon be eclipsed by much larger plants.\n\nCentrica, the parent company of British Gas, is building a 49MW facility on the site of a former power station in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, while EDF Energy is working on one of the same size at its West Burton gas power station in Nottinghamshire.\n\nDavid Topping, the director of business, heat and power solutions at E.ON, said: \u201cThis is a milestone for E.ON in the new energy world and an important recognition of the enormous potential for battery solutions in the UK.\u201d\n\nThe utility-scale batteries are being built in response to a request from National Grid, the owner of Britain\u2019s power transmission network, for contracts to help it keep electricity supply and demand in balance, which is posing an increasing challenge for the grid as more intermittent wind and solar comes online.\n\nBalancing supply and demand is essential for keeping the frequency of electricity constant at 50Hz across the UK. The ability of batteries to respond to demand in less than a second makes them ideal for the task, with earlier sources of backup power much slower at just under 10 seconds.\n\nE.ON has secured \u00a33.89m of the \u00a365.9m of contracts awarded for the service, though National Grid estimates the batteries will save it \u00a3200m over four years.\n\nLeon Walker, the commercial development manager at National Grid, said: \u201cUsing battery storage is a significant development for managing the national grid. It\u2019s an ultra-fast way of keeping electricity supply and demand balanced.\u201d\n\nThe new generation of batteries will also earn their owners money by helping with the government subsidy scheme for providing backup power during winter, known as the capacity market. The storage plants will also be able to take power off the system when supply is unexpectedly high, such as on a particularly windy or sunny day.", "output": "German energy company EON is to open a 10 MW battery site in Sheffield, UK. The Blackburn Meadows project will be among Britain's largest, and will be used to store energy from wind farms, gas power stations and nuclear reactors. Centrica plans to build a 49 MW facility at a former power station site in Cumbria, and EDF will introduce a similarly sized battery in Nottinghamshire.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook offers in-app access to food delivery services \n Today Facebook is announcing that users can now order food for takeout or delivery using both the Facebook mobile app and website. But it\u2019s not at all what you might think; Facebook hasn\u2019t created its own answer to Seamless, which would be massive news for the restaurant industry. This isn\u2019t that.\n\nInstead, the company is partnering with existing services GrubHub, Delivery.com, DoorDash, ChowNow, Zuppler, EatStreet, Slice, and Olo, and will now link out to those food ordering businesses for restaurants that support them. You head to the new \u201cOrder Food\u201d area of Facebook under the Explore section, find the local spot you\u2019re craving, and then hit \u201cstart order.\u201d From there, if a restaurant supports more than one of Facebook\u2019s ordering partners, you\u2019ll be able to choose between them. Once you do, Facebook will bring up an in-app browser that takes you through the existing websites for Delivery.com and the others. That\u2019s where all the ordering actually happens, so you\u2019re not actually doing much with the Facebook app beyond finding a restaurant and tapping your preferred delivery option.\n\nSeamless is not currently among Facebook\u2019s partner services, but parent company GrubHub is, so that should get you most of the same delivery restaurants. But there are other omissions such as Caviar, so you\u2019ll still need to open those apps separately to know which restaurants use them and place an order.\n\nFacebook is also partnering on food ordering directly with national chains Chipotle, Five Guys, Jack in the Box, Papa John's, Wingstop, Panera, TGI Friday's, Denny's, El Pollo Loco, and Jimmy John's. But it works the same way as with the other services; you browse to one of these nearby chain locations, pick start order, and then you\u2019ll be sent to their existing delivery system. All Facebook is really doing here is launching an in-app browser so you can get a meal without ever leaving the app.\n\n\u201cWe've been testing this since last year, and after responding to feedback and adding more partners, we're rolling out everywhere in the US on iOS, Android and desktop,\u201d Alex Himel, Facebook\u2019s VP of local, said in a press release. \u201cPeople already go to Facebook to browse restaurants and decide where to eat or where to order food, so we're making that easier.\u201d\n\nThat \u201cwe\u2019ve been working on this for a year\u201d bit surprised me. There\u2019s certainly some work necessary to link all these restaurant pages with the services they use (and businesses can opt out of displaying the food ordering feature if they wish). The value for Facebook is obvious; the company hopes you\u2019ll fill your craving and then keep swiping through your news feed with your greasy fingers.", "output": "Facebook has enabled food orders for takeout or delivery through its mobile app and website in the US, and is working with delivery services GrubHub, DoorDash, Zuppler, Slice, Olo, EatStreet, ChowNow and Delivery.com. Restaurants will be able to offer food through the delivery firms' sites via\u00a0an in-app browser after users open the Order Food\u00a0feature. The feature merely enables ordering a delivery without leaving the Facebook app, but could be useful for restaurant or delivery service exposure.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wartsila takes energy-storage solutions to India \n W\u00e4rtsil\u00e4 offered to be a part of Indian energy storage sector, which is estimated to the tune of $4-6 billion in the next five years.\n\nIndia\u2019s renewable sector is growing at a stupendous rate but also faces serious challenges related to grid-management, which thus far has not kept pace with the nation\u2019s solar and wind power development.\n\nIntermittent power outages and the inaccessibility of the grid to remote areas are commonplace. These challenges can be tackled with improved integration of stand-alone systems combined with energy storage technology \u2013 a space in which global power provider W\u00e4rtsil\u00e4 is planning to populate.\n\nThe Indian Energy Storage Association (IESA) recently raised the issue of a lack of policy framework in the energy storage sector of India \u2013 a topic that was also discussed and pledged during last month\u2019s Energy Storage Forum to push forward India\u2019s Energy Storage sector as quick as possible.\n\nThe IESA estimates that India could attract investments to the tune of $4-6 billion in the next five years.\n\nJavier Cavada Camino, President, Energy Solutions, and Executive Vice-President of W\u00e4rtsil\u00e4 Corporation, said: \u201cAdding energy storage technology enables customers to have instant power while saving fuel and maintenance costs. The growing capacity of renewable generation, including solar PV, becomes more sustainable and attractive when integrated with advanced energy storage.\u201d\n\nW\u00e4rtsil\u00e4 stated that flexible generation options must be encouraged to ensure geographical distribution and balancing of loads across India. It also highlighted the constraints faced by hydro plants, which are technically best-suited for plugging such gaps, regarding site, seasonality, and competing demand from irrigation needs.\n\nPopular content\n\nSuch a need can be fulfilled by battery storage systems or gas-run IC engines, which are popular in many countries, especially in the context of renewable energy balancing. The Indian grid, which has among the largest renewable energy penetration in the world, and has adequate capacity but not sufficient flexibility, will benefit from such solutions.\n\nCavada mentioned that solar units with battery storage may typically cost 20% more per MW than a project without it, but they do bring more efficiency in the long term and can reduce imbalances in the power sector. \u201cThe battery helps generate 30% more power with the same investment. Our solution has a payback period of less than two years,\u201d Camino told the Economic Times.\n\nNeeraj Sharma, President & Managing Director, W\u00e4rtsil\u00e4 India Pvt Ltd, added: \u201cW\u00e4rtsil\u00e4 energy storage solutions will significantly improve efficiency by increasing back-up capacity and creating new opportunities in electricity markets. Energy storage has become an integral part of every power system, with features like frequency support and reserves, peak demand management, demand charge reduction (C&I) and energy shifting. Customer benefits include peak demand management, demand charge reduction (C&I), electricity market opportunities and back-up capacity.\u201d\n\nW\u00e4rtsil\u00e4 Energy Solutions has become a leading global system integrator after the acquisition, in May 2017, of Greensmith Energy Management Systems Inc., one of the biggest in grid-scale energy storage software and integrated solutions.", "output": "Finnish energy storage manufacturer W\u00e4rtsil\u00e4 is looking to bring its products to India to assist with the country's grid management problems. India is seeing a rapid increase in renewable energy production, but the national power infrastructure has not kept pace with developments. Power outages and lack of supply to inaccessible locations remain problems. The Indian Energy Storage Association estimates that the storage sector could attract investment of between $4-6bn in the next five years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Small-scale solar cut $1.7bn off New South Wales energy bills \n Small- scale solar systems have cut wholesale electricity costs by up to half in the past 12 months, a study has shown.\n\nThe report by consulting firm Energy Synapse, commissioned by a community-based organisation Solar Citizens Australia, found solar photovoltaic (PV) installations in NSW had saved consumers up to $2.2 billion from May 2016 to April 2017.\n\nDuring this period, small solar PV systems are estimated to have generated 1540 gigawatt hours of power within the state.\n\nThe report says the volume-weighted average price of wholesale electricity would have been between $29 and $44 per megawatt hour higher than the actual average price for the period of $88 per megawatt hour.", "output": "Consumers in the Australian state of New South Wales have had up to AUD2.2bn ($1.7bn) cut from their annual energy bills due to small-scale solar generation, according to consultants Energy Synapse. Small-scale PV installations had generated 1,540 GW hours of power from May 2016 to April 2017 and helped reduce wholesale energy prices by up to half, it said. During heatwaves in February, the contribution from small-scale solar reduced the average price of wholesale electricity by up to AUD258/MWh.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Musk's offer to rebuild Puerto Rico grid changes aid game \n \"Now along comes Musk, and suddenly investors have another way to look at Puerto Rico. Bond debts or no bond debts, Tesla could make a project on the island profitable for its investors even just as a demonstration of what the company could do for better paying municipal customers elsewhere.\"\n\nBut the relief effort is being joined, and in some cases led, by corporations. There are also extensive data being published showing that the private sector essentially did a good job in response to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. After Hurricane Maria, Apple, Google, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Burger King, Goya, all stepped up and Wal-Mart is again setting the pace with up to $5 million in cash and product donations to Maria victims alone.\n\nAnd along with the private sector stepping up to the plate, there are signs that the government may be realizing one part of the charity job it should stop doing altogether. That is, ending the practice of making ordinary American taxpayers continue to underwrite national flood insurance for sometimes richer Americans who choose to build homes in flood areas. President Trump even mentioned the idea of putting an end to subsidized national flood insurance for new homes built in those areas from now on.\n\nJust like that, we have evidence that the government and the public have become used to the private sector doing more and the public sector doing less after disasters... as long as it works.\n\nLike I said, timing is everything.\n\nAnd, just to be fully honest, let's not ignore the fact that these companies stand to earn some very valuable positive public relations from all of his and even a bit of powerful advertising.\n\nBut now Musk is taking that idea and moving it a crucial step further. Because he and Tesla are focusing on making an investment in Puerto Rico's recovery.\n\nThe investment community's response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico has been in special focus because of the island's heavy debt and President Trump's comment that those debts would need to be \"wiped out.\"\n\nNow along comes Musk, and suddenly investors have another way to look at Puerto Rico. Bond debts or no bond debts, Tesla could make a project on the island profitable for its investors even just as a demonstration of what the company could do for better paying municipal customers elsewhere. Again, that takes us to a new place from just the valuable public relations effect Wal-Mart and other companies gain from pitching in cash and material after disasters.\n\nAnd Musk isn't alone. Google parent Alphabet has just secured FCC approval to float large balloons over Puerto Rico to restore cellular service. Again, whether Alphabet does this for free or at cost isn't the point. It's going to be demonstrating its abilities to create an investment worthy tool for disaster recovery.\n\nThis is a new approach in many ways, but perhaps this is actually the beginning of a return to America's historic roots. The best example is probably what happened after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake destroyed much of the city and the private sector began to rebuild quickly and without waiting for much government direction or aid.\n\nNow that rebuilding effort wasn't perfect, but the speed with which the city bounced back is a well documented case of effective recovery. And the savvy response of one San Franciscan named A.P. Giannini, who just happened to run a bank in the city, was essential to that recovery. Giannini broke with his fellow bankers in the city and set up shop on the docks near San Francisco's North Beach and began extending loans right then and there. His actions not only were a crucial factor in the city's recovery, it started the process of turning his small local bank into the huge multinational Bank of America.\n\nWill Musk become Puerto Rico's Giannini? He certainly could in many ways. But so could some of Musk's peers like Google, which undoubtedly could find a way to profit not from tragedy, but from leading the recovery from tragedy.\n\nThe best news is that people like Musk et al. are not only willing to try, but Americans and the current White House seem to be very willing to let them.", "output": "Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said the company could assist with rebuilding Puerto Rico's energy infrastructure, which was severely damaged by Hurricane Maria. Responding on Twitter to a suggestion he could help with independent solar and battery systems, Musk said that Tesla had already assisted smaller islands with such technology, and as there was \"no scalability limit\", the same could be done for Puerto Rico. He stressed the decision would be in the hands of the island's government, but his intervention raises the potential for more large corporations to play a role in disaster recovery work.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indonesian geothermal plant commissions second unit \n RENO, Nev., Oct. 10, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ormat Technologies Inc. (NYSE:ORA) today announced that the second unit of the Sarulla geothermal power plant, one of the world's largest power plants, located in Indonesia's North Sumatra, has commenced commercial operation.\n\n\n\nThe Sarulla power plant includes three units of approximately 110 MW each, utilizing both steam and brine extracted from the geothermal field to increase the power plant\u2019s efficiency. SIL, the first unit of the power plant commenced commercial operation on March 17, 2017 and is performing well. The second unit, NIL 1, completed successfully its testing and commenced COD on October 2, 2017 selling additional 110 MW to the state-owned Indonesian power company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) under a 30 years Energy Sales Contract. Sarulla power plant is operated by Sarulla Operations Ltd. (SOL). The third unit, NIL 2, is under construction and SOL expects the unit to commence operation in 2018.\n\nSOL is a consortium consists of Medco Energi Internasional Tbk, Inpex Corporation, Itochu Corporation, Kyushu Electric Power Co. Inc., and Ormat subsidiary that hold 12.75% equity interest.\n\nAbout Ormat Technologies\n\nWith over five decades of experience, Ormat Technologies, Inc. is a leading geothermal company and the only vertically integrated company engaged in geothermal and recovered energy generation (REG), with the objective of becoming a leading global provider of renewable energy. The company owns, operates, designs, manufactures and sells geothermal and REG power plants primarily based on the Ormat Energy Converter \u2013 a power generation unit that converts low-, medium- and high-temperature heat into electricity. With 73 U.S. patents, Ormat\u2019s power solutions have been refined and perfected under the most grueling environmental conditions. Ormat has 530 employees in the United States and 720 overseas. Ormat\u2019s flexible, modular solutions for geothermal power and REG are ideal for the vast range of resource characteristics. The company has engineered, manufactured and constructed power plants, which it currently owns or has installed to utilities and developers worldwide, totaling over 2,200 MW of gross capacity. Ormat\u2019s current 776 MW generating portfolio is spread globally in the U.S., Guatemala, Guadeloupe, Honduras, Indonesia and Kenya. Ormat also intends to expand its operations and provide energy management and energy storage solutions, by leveraging its core capabilities and global presence as well as through its Viridity Energy Solutions, Inc. subsidiary, a Philadelphia-based company with nearly a decade of expertise and leadership in demand response, energy management and storage.\n\nOrmat\u2019s Safe Harbor Statement\n\nInformation provided in this press release may contain statements relating to current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about future events that are \"forward-looking statements\" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements generally relate to Ormat's plans, objectives and expectations for future operations and are based upon its management's current estimates and projections of future results or trends. Actual future results may differ materially from those projected as a result of certain risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, see \"Risk Factors\" as described in Ormat Technologies, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1, 2017.\n\nThese forward-looking statements are made only as of the date hereof, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.\n\nOrmat Technologies Contact:\n\nSmadar Lavi\n\nHead of Investor Relations\n\n775-356-9029 (ext. 65726)\n\nslavi@ormat.com\n\nInvestor Relations Agency Contact:\n\nRob Fink/Brett Maas\n\nHayden - IR\n\n646-415-8972/646-536-7331\n\nrob@haydenir.com / brett@haydenir.com", "output": "Nevada-based renewable energy company Ormat Technologies has begun commercial operations at the second unit of its geothermal power plant in Indonesia. The Sarulla power plant is operated by a consortium of investors and consists of three 110 MW units, the first of which was commissioned in March. The plant sells energy to the country's state-owned power company PLN under a 30-year contract. The third unit is expected to enter service next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Green Charge to build first grid-scale energy storage project \n Storage developer Green Charge has made its first foray into utility-scale projects with a 3-megawatt/6-megawatt-hour deal in Massachusetts, marking an early entry in that state's nascent storage market.\n\nGreen Charge made its name with commercial-scale behind-the-meter projects, setting up batteries at 7-Eleven shops in New York that were able to continue to serve customers even through Superstorm Sandy. In 2016, European energy giant Engie bought a controlling stake. With the parent company\u2019s balance sheet and professional network, the storage company was able to increase its scale of operation.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s our biggest announced project,\u201d said CEO Vic Shao. \u201cWe\u2019ve got lots of other things in the works right now that we\u2019re not ready to talk about yet.\u201d\n\nWhen the system comes on-line in April 2018, it will help Holyoke Gas & Electric reduce its annual systemwide peak charge, which ultimately affects the city\u2019s ratepayers.\n\nThe project leverages a few sources of funding, and complies with the criteria of the federal Investment Tax Vredit by charging from a 5.76-megawatt Mt. Tom Solar plant Engie built earlier this year.\n\nThe government of Massachusetts provided a $475,000 grant, although that isn\u2019t contributing to the economics of the system, Shao said. That money will fund research by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to study the value of the system for the distribution grid, with a focus on peak reduction.\n\nMost strikingly, the battery system will be owned by a bank, another first for Green Charge.\n\nPNC Bank will own the asset, and lease it back to Green Charge to operate on behalf of the municipal utility customer. This arrangement lowers the cost of capital for the storage system.\n\n\u201cThe pure fact that a bank is signing off on and buying storage is a tremendous indication of the maturity of the storage market,\u201d Shao said. \u201cIn the past, we\u2019ve had to balance-sheet these kinds of storage assets.\u201d\n\nThe leaseback setup means the bank owns the assets and provides money to Green Charge upfront to develop the project. Green Charge will make monthly payments back to the bank with revenue it generates from operating the storage. The bank also nabs the ITC, which places some restrictions on how the battery can operate for the remainder of the tax credit's availability.\n\nBank interest in owning storage systems is pretty new for the industry, but it bodes well, said GTM Research analyst Daniel Finn-Foley.\n\n\"The entry of financial entities into the project ownership ecosystem is an important milestone for any emerging industry, as it truly puts the 'bank' in 'bankability,'\" he said. \"As financial entities begin putting their muscle behind projects, expect to see assets trading hands and further investment as energy storage capitalizes on its proven track record.\"\n\nThe storage contract with Holyoke is for 20 years, the same time span as the solar contract.\n\nCommercial storage is pretty much a demand-charge game these days, so at first glance, the pivot to utility-scale sounds like a change in direction. But it\u2019s actually more similar than one might think, Shao said.\n\n\u201cOur behind-the-meter experience applies completely in the situation with Holyoke,\u201d he said. \u201cEnergy arbitrage is a lot easier. [...] Shaving the systemwide peak on an annual basis requires a whole lot of sophistication.\u201d\n\nIn other words, helping the municipal utility avoid paying too much for its annual peak ends up looking like demand-charge reduction on the citywide scale.\n\nThe task is similar in cases where the storage system is needed to avoid overloading an interconnection hookup or to defer a transmission upgrade: It\u2019s all about keeping the flow of electricity below a certain threshold.\n\nWithout getting too specific, Shao said Green Charge has begun eyeing international expansion, leveraging the resources of its corporate backer.\n\n\u201cEngie operates in 70 countries with 150,000 employees around the world,\u201d he said. \u201cIt gives instant credibility when we enter a new market -- and instant resources.\u201d\n\nIn the meantime, he envisions more work to be done in Massachusetts. That state has had a few significant storage projects thus far, but policymakers have made an effort to incubate the industry with a procurement target and supporting funds and programs.\n\nThis has been the first major movement in the market since the state announced its goal of 200 megawatt-hours by 2020 back in July. That policy didn\u2019t kick off a flurry of storage development just yet, but Shao insists \u201cit\u2019s a market that's primed and ready for storage.\u201d\n\nThe express enthusiasm of the governor and legislature certainly helps, as does a customer base with a strong interest in clean energy. The state also happens to be home to a number of other municipal utilities, which have their peak charges to deal with -- and the ability to move quickly and make a storage deal happen.\n\n\u201cGetting the first one across the finish line required a lot of heavy lifting to push and get the deal done,\u201d Shao said. \u201cNow that it\u2019s done, we\u2019re experiencing a lot of customer pull: a \u2018Holyoke did it; I want to do it too\u2019 kind of thing.\u201d", "output": "US energy storage company Green Charge is to build its first grid-scale project in Massachusetts. The company, majority-owned by France's Engie\u00a0since last year, will provide the battery system to Holyoke Gas & Electric for 20 years\u00a0from April 2018. The project uses an innovative financing model, with the asset owned by PNC Bank, which\u00a0will fund its construction and lease it back to Green Charge.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "RWE betting on Uniper disposals after Fortum takeover \n By Christoph Steitz and Tom K\u00e4ckenhoff\n\nFRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Germany's RWE is likely to buy Uniper assets that Fortum sells after the Finnish firm's planned 8.05 billion euro ($9.5 billion) takeover rather than launch a counterbid, investors and M&A sources said.\n\nState-controlled Fortum, under pressure from investors to do a big deal, bid for Uniper last month to try to snap up a 46.65 percent stake E.ON wants to divest.\n\nFortum is mainly interested in Uniper's assets in Sweden and Russia and less in its more polluting gas and coal fired power plants, which would be a better fit for RWE, the sources said.\n\n\"It is much cheaper for RWE to wait it out than embarking on a bidding war with Fortum,\" a person familiar with the deal said, adding that RWE would essentially be \"cherry-picking\".\n\nRWE declined to comment on its plans on Friday.\n\nFortum, keen to expand its carbon-free energy business, said it had no plans for a restructuring and wants to be a long-term investor in Uniper.\n\nHowever, Finnish business daily Kauppalehti on Friday quoted Fortum's head of generation Tiina Tuomela as saying that the company expects the power industry to stop using coal in the long term, without commenting on the company's short-term plans.\n\nInvestors doubt Fortum will hold on to all of Uniper's assets should its bid succeed.\n\n\"There is a chance that Uniper will be broken up,\" said Thomas Deser, fund manager at Union Investment, a Uniper shareholder, adding RWE could be interested in Uniper's 1.05 gigawatt Datteln 4 coal-fired plant.\n\nSmaller deals would also be more in line with RWE's strategy of selective M&A.\n\nRWE could easily sell stakes in its network and renewable unit Innogy, in which it still holds 76.8 percent, to pay for parts of Uniper, the sources said.\n\nFortum has bid 22 euros per share for Uniper, which is trading at around 24 euros and any counterbid would have to be above 26 euros to compensate for a break-up fee, Andreas Schneller, fund manager at Swiss asset manager EIC, said.\n\n\"Chances for a counterbid are currently zero,\" he added.\n\nUniper, which is opposed to the deal, hopes that the Finnish government could shy away given expected ratings downgrades for Fortum, one of the people said. But Finland's Economy Minister earlier this week said it supported the deal. ($1 = 0.8447 euros) (Additional reporting by Arno Schuetze in Frankfurt and Jussi Rosendahl and Tuomas Forsell in Helsinki; editing by Alexander Smith and Adrian Croft)", "output": "German utility RWE is likely to cherry pick from Uniper's assets, including its coal-fired power plants, following its acquisition by state-owned Finnish firm Fortnum, according to anonymous insiders. \"It is much cheaper for RWE to wait it out than embarking on a bidding war with Fortum,\" sources familiar with the deal said. Fortnum has said it has no plans to break up Uniper's assets, though head of generation Tiina Tuomela was recently quoted by Finnish paper Kauppalehti as saying the firm expected \"the power industry to stop using coal in the long term\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nuclear blast-resistant tech added to Russian combat robo-suit \n Stormtrooper Chic\n\nRussia has a new battle suit that seems to be visually inspired by Star Wars's Imperial Shadow Stormtroopers. While Russia's version likely doesn't come with a cloaking device, the high-tech armor does have a few tricks up its sleeves, including nuclear blast resistant tech.\n\nThe suit was developed by Rostec and is called the Ratnik-3. The latest upgrade to the new armor includes a reportedly nuclear blast resistant watch. According to a statement released by the press office, the Chief Designer for the Life Support System of the Soldier Combat Outfit at the Central Scientific Research Institute for Precision Machine Engineering, Oleg Faustov, says \"The watch, which we have included in the Ratnik outfit, retains its properties upon the impact of radiation and electromagnetic impulses, for example, upon a nuclear blast.\"\n\nThe watch also features a self-winding mechanism and operates under water.\n\nOther perks of the 59 items Rostec has included in the suit include a powered exoskeleton, which is said to give soldiers greater strength and stamina; the latest in bulletproof body armor tech; and a full face-covering visor and helmet equipped with a video game-esque heads-up display (HUD). According to Russian state-owned media outlet Tass, the weight of the completed combat gear will be reduced by 30% when it is released for use in the field.\n\nThe Ratnik 3 is expected to be ready for use by 2022.\n\nNext-Gen War\n\nThe future of how we will one day wage war is being developed now. The United States is also working on a high-tech combat suit of its own. The suit, inspired by pop culture, has been dubbed the Iron Man.\n\nWeapons are also getting next-gen upgrades, with laser weapons currently being deployed in various forms around the world. The United States Navy has the Laser Weapons System (LaWS) mounted on the USS Ponce, an amphibious naval transport dock, to defend against drone strikes and eventually incoming missiles. China has also previously given its soldiers laser weapons designed to blind opponents. Click to View Full Infographic\n\nIn the sky, killer drones the size of a quadcopter have been developed to carry weapons. The Air Force is even training soldiers to get the military ready for combat in space with extraterrestrials or other hostile interests.\n\nOf course, with all these developments, it maybe good to be reminded what a nuclear showdown would do to the planet\u2014and hope that these future technologies rarely have to be put to use.", "output": "Ratnik-3, a high-tech combat suit made by Russian state tech firm Rostec, has been upgraded with \"nuclear blast-resistant\" components. A resistant self-winding watch has been added to withstand radiation and electromagnetic pulses, as well as work underwater. The suit itself features a powered exoskeleton, bulletproof body armour, and a heads-up display in a full face visor. The outfit is expected to be completed in 2022, and is due to be 30% lighter in weight when released for field use."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Enel sells 80% of 1 GW Mexican solar farm \n The Italian energy company Enel has announced it has sold an 80% stake in 1.7 GW of operational renewable energy power projects or currently under construction in Mexico to Canadian institutional investor Caisse de d\u00e9pot et placement du Qu\u00e9bec (CDPQ) and Mexican pension funds CKD Infraestructura M\u00e9xico S.A. de C.V. (CKD IM).\n\nThe transaction includes 1 GW of PV projects, which is comprised of the Villanueva I (427 MW), Villanueva III (327 MW) and Don Jos\u00e9 (238 MW) solar plants. As for the two Villanueva projects, where construction began in late March, Santiago Barc\u00f3n, a columnist for Energ\u00eda Hoy and an advisor to Mexico\u2019s Energy Regulatory Commission, told pv magazine in early August that Enel had already put the project up for sale and is listening for offers.\n\nEnel said the portfolio, owned by special purpose vehicles of its local subsidiary Enel Green Power M\u00e9xico S.r.l. de C.V, consists of 429 MW of operational power plants and 1,283 MW under construction.\n\nThe $1.35 billion transaction is being implemented through the sale of 80% of a newly formed Mexican holding company, which will own the special purposes vehicles, for $340 million and through a $1.01 billion financing granted to the vehicles by CDPQ-CKD.\n\nPopular content\n\n\u201cThe new model\u201d, said Enel Green Power\u2019s head Antonio Cammisecra, \u201crepresents an opportunity for partners willing to invest in a large and diversified portfolio of projects in strategic areas, supported by long-term power purchase agreements, with the plants developed, built and operated by Enel Green Power. This strategy enables us to further exploit our global pipeline of solar and wind projects to gain access to additional resources, accelerating our growth.\u201d\n\nEnel said that the transaction is expected to be finalized by the end of this year.\n\nThe 754 MW Villanueva project is located in the Mexican state of Coahuila and is part of the 1 GW capacity that Enel won in Mexico\u2019s first energy auction, which was held in 2016. In the energy auction held last year, Enel also won a contract for the 238 MW Don Jos\u00e9 solar project in Guanajuato, which is also part of the transaction and where construction started in April. For this project the company secured a 15-year PPA and a 20-year clean energy certificate sales contract.", "output": "Canadian institutional investor, la Caisse de d\u00e9p\u00f4t et placement du Qu\u00e9bec, and consortium CKD Infraestructura M\u00e9xico will acquire 80% of a renewable energy portfolio operated by Enel Green Power. The deal, worth $1.35bn, includes the Villanueva I and II, and Don Jos\u00e9 photovoltaic plants, totalling almost 1 GW, and is set to be completed by the end of this year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US concentrated solar company ESolar 'disappears' \n The concentrated solar power player eSolar, one of just three remaining companies in the U.S. specializing in tower designs, appears to have ceased operating.\n\nGTM emails this month to key eSolar leadership team members, including chairman and founder Bill Gross, executive vice president of projects Dale Rogers and vice president of systems engineering Michael Slack, failed to elicit any response from the company.\n\nAlthough Gross and Rogers still cite eSolar as their current employer on their LinkedIn profiles, and the business is listed among Gross\u2019 Idealab incubator startups, the company\u2019s website delivers a blank page with the words \"Please come back later.\"\n\nThe Burbank, California-based business has fallen out of the news cycle since closing $22 million of a $30 million funding round in 2013. But before then, the company had been credited with bringing to market a potentially groundbreaking modular power tower technology.\n\nIn 2007, when eSolar was founded, the CSP industry was entering its second phase of maturation, characterized by the evolution of technologies developed during the 1980s and \u201890s.\n\nThe genesis of the industry last century led to a range of CSP technology concepts, from solar chimneys to linear Fresnel designs, with California\u2019s Solar Energy Generating Systems parabolic trough plant leading the way in terms of size and performance.\n\nIn the 2000s, parabolic trough emerged as the design of choice for CSP. But Spanish and American developers began investigating a new concept, power towers, which promised higher efficiencies by focusing the full force of an entire solar field onto a single central receiver.\n\nCompanies including BrightSource Energy and SolarReserve in the U.S. and Abengoa and Sener in Spain pursued large-scale power tower projects that offered attractive economies of scale but were fraught in terms of permitting and financing.\n\nMeanwhile, eSolar chose to commercialize a smaller-scale, modular plant design starting at 46 megawatts, with mass-manufactured heliostats to cut the cost of the solar field. Each 46-megawatt unit was intended to have 12 towers with their corresponding heliostat fields.\n\nUnder the aegis of internet entrepreneur Gross, eSolar pulled in funding from the likes of Google, Oak Investment Partners, NRG Energy, GE, ACME Group and Quercus Trust. By 2011 it was reported to have raised $182 million.\n\nIt also made headlines in 2010 by becoming the first Western firm to break into the Chinese CSP market, under a deal to develop up to 2 gigawatts of generating capacity with China Shandong Penglai Electric Power Equipment Manufacturing.\n\nIn 2013, eSolar\u2019s name was attached to several other CSP projects worldwide, including the Gaskell, Alpine and Sierra SunTower plants in the U.S., the Dervish project in Turkey and the Acme Rajasthan Solar Power 1 plant in India.\n\nOf these, only the Sierra SunTower and Acme Rajasthan Solar Power project are thought to have been completed.\n\nAnd while eSolar\u2019s concept was praised for its potential to avoid the gargantuan project development challenges facing larger plants, not everyone was convinced by the technology.\n\nThis was particularly the case at the turn of the decade, when it became apparent that the only way CSP could overcome competition from cheaper PV would be to add thermal storage into the equation.\n\n\u201cThe big challenge for CSP is the cost comparison with PV, in light of the dramatic cost reductions in PV over the last few years,\u201d said Kevin Smith, SolarReserve\u2019s chief executive.\n\n\u201cIf energy storage is a requirement, CSP with technologies like ours is a cheaper option than PV with batteries. However, small-scale CSP just makes the cost issues more difficult, and energy storage is a challenge in small-scale CSP.\u201d\n\nElsewhere, research suggested that eSolar may have gone below the solar field optimum size with its modular approach.\n\nA study led by Dr. Luis Crespo, president of the European solar thermal association ESTELA, found that even in hazy locations plant designers should aim for around 30 megawatts of solar field per tower. ESolar\u2019s \u201cwas an unfeasible concept,\u201d Crespo said.\n\nIt is rumored that eSolar may have let go of most of its staff at the end of last year. It is not known whether the company\u2019s assets or intellectual property were acquired by a third party.", "output": "US solar energy company ESolar may have ceased trading or dramatically scaled down its operations. Its website has gone blank, senior executives are not replying to emails, and it is rumoured that most of its staff left at the end of last year. Since its foundation in 2007, the Californian firm had pioneered concentrated solar technologies, commercialising smaller-scale plants, and raising a reported $182m from investors by 2011. It completed projects in India and the US, but is thought to have struggled to compete with the falling cost of PV solar generation.\nTechnology: Advanced solar\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Solar PV monitoring has become commoditised \n The world of supervisory controls and data acquisition systems (SCADA) is evolving at a rapid pace to meet the changing needs of the PV industry around the world.\n\nThe latest edition of GTM Research\u2019s annual report on the topic, Global PV Monitoring 2017-2022, identifies the trends that shape and sometimes shake this small yet increasingly critical component of modern PV plants.\n\n1. PV monitoring is commoditized\n\nBasic monitoring functions are now commoditized and subject to price pressure in most markets. Clients assume that any monitoring solution will reliably collect information and present it in a useful and intuitive interface. Offering such functions is no guarantee for success, and doing them well does not command a price premium. On the other hand, any shortcoming with these core functions can quickly result in loss of market share and lasting brand damage.\n\n2. Monitoring platforms must improve plant returns\n\nIncreasing production and reducing operating costs remain the key battlegrounds for differentiation in the utility and industrial segments. All monitoring vendors support alerting and performance deviation analysis, which thus is not differentiated. More vendors seek to stand out by leveraging new technologies like machine learning to provide better fault detection and diagnosis, as well as to enable fault prediction.\n\n3. Control functions remain differentiated\n\nControl functions drive higher prices and margins, especially in the utility segment where advanced grid integration functions often require complex SCADA systems. Even in distributed generation segments, in markets favoring self-consumption (like Germany and Australia) or imposing grid export limits (like Hawaii), these features are core to the functionality of the PV system itself. For example, in self-consumption markets, the focus is to increase local usage of solar-generated energy and to reduce grid imports. To this effect, some monitoring systems offer automatic optimization of energy expenditures via control of home or business appliances, and via integration with energy storage systems.\n\n4. Fleet operators want process integration\n\nTight business process integration between monitoring systems, computerized maintenance management systems, and asset management software is a key requirement from fleet owners and operators around the globe, whether via a single platform or multiple point solutions integrated together.\n\n5. The utility PV monitoring market is becoming global\n\nWhile most residential and commercial monitoring markets still favor local vendors, globalization is accelerating in the utility segment, where large portfolio investors own plants in multiple countries and often standardize on a single data platform.\n\n6. Major inverter vendors are strong competitors\n\nMonitoring hardware is now commonly built inside residential and commercial inverters. Software packages from major inverter providers like SMA, SolarEdge and Enphase are increasingly feature-rich, especially for self-consumption and energy storage integration, and commonly offered at a low (or for no) price. As a result, independent software vendors must find areas of differentiation, especially in self-consumption markets where the homeowner is now the main user of monitoring (vs. the installer) and does not value inverter independence or fleet-level functions.\n\n7. Monitoring adoption rates are increasing in every market\n\nSelf-consumption drove residential monitoring adoption rates from 10 percent to practically 100 percent in Australia. Japan\u2019s new FIT rules mandating that PV systems have a maintenance plan should drive monitoring adoption rates up in the residential and commercial segments. Free or near-free solutions offered by inverter firms are also pushing higher adoption rates for residential and commercial PV.\n\nFor more global and country-by-country PV monitoring trends, as well as market size and forecasts to 2022 and competitive landscape analysis by segment (residential, commercial, industrial, utility) and key country, please refer to GTM Research's new report Global PV Monitoring 2017-2022: Markets, Trends and Leading Players.", "output": "The photovoltaic monitoring industry has become increasingly commoditised, leading to higher client expectation and increased risk of brand damage, according to an annual report by GTM Research. Vendors of monitoring platforms are adopting technologies including machine learning to stand out from their competitors, while the utility monitoring market has increasingly globalised compared with\u00a0its commercial and residential counterparts.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sun-tracking solar panels invade rooftop market \n A startup has installed close to 3,000 solar trackers on top of an industrial rooftop in Southern California, earning the title of \u201cworld\u2019s largest rooftop solar tracker installation.\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s a solar industry equivalent to being \"the world\u2019s tallest leprechaun.\" Trackers -- which allow solar panels to move with the sun throughout the day -- aren\u2019t commonly used on the tops of roofs.\n\nStrong winds, small roof spaces and heavy tracking gear mean that much of the tracker hardware doesn\u2019t make economic sense on top of a roof. Instead, tracking systems are being used in the majority of the large ground-mounted solar systems that are found in remote regions. Trackers boost the amount of energy a solar system generates and can lower the overall cost.\n\nBut startup Edisun Microgrids, which was founded by tech entrepreneur Bill Gross and emerged a year ago, has developed a dual-axis rooftop tracking system specifically designed for the roofs of commercial and industrial building owners. Its distributed trackers pivot from the bottom edge of a panel (instead of from the center in most tracker systems) and can also retract to lie flat against the roof.\n\nThe company says its rooftop tracking gear can boost the energy output of a solar project by 30 percent compared to fixed-tilt trackers and 40 percent compared to solar panels without trackers. The hardware adds 10 percent onto a budget of a solar project, and can improve the economics of a solar installation by 20 percent, says founder and CEO Gross.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re hoping to show tracking is just as valuable on the roof compared to the ground,\" he said. \"We hope this will be a big sea change and make a big impact.\"\n\nThe company\u2019s big solar-tracker project was installed on an industrial rooftop in Oxnard, Calif., which is being used by produce distributor Chiquita Brands International. The 1-megawatt solar array is using 2,900 trackers across 368,000 square feet. West Hills Construction developed the project, and it\u2019s financed and owned by building owner Harry Ross Industries.\n\nThe project is the first larger one by Edisun Microgrids, but Gross said that the company has a pipeline of 20 megawatts-worth of projects to be built on the roofs of commercial and industrial buildings. The company says ideal customers include warehouse owners, retail outlets, college campuses and hospitals.\n\nWhile the Chiquita roof is a big step for Edisun Microgrids, it could face an uphill climb. The industry is notoriously hard for solar hardware startups to break into.\n\n\u201cThe solar industry is quite conservative and price-sensitive. They\u2019re producing electricity, which is a commodity,\u201d noted Scott Moskowitz, a solar analyst at GTM Research.\n\nWhen it comes to Edisun Microgrid\u2019s prospects, Moskowitz pointed out that adding an individual tracker to each module adds equipment, complexity and cost.\n\n\u201cProving that their technology adds enough value (via increased performance) and reliability will be an extremely difficult thing to do,\u201d said Moskowitz.\n\nHowever, Moskowitz also noted that the commercial sector is more willing to invest in the premium that the new tracking gear would require. If Edisun can prove that the performance and economics work, there could be an opportunity in certain areas like California or Arizona, said Moskowitz.\n\nGross said that the majority of the company\u2019s customers are in California. \u201cWhenever I fly into the San Jose airport, I can see all those white warehouse roofs that would be perfect,\u201d said Gross.\n\nEdisun Microgrids has grown to 16 employees, and Gross says the company is looking for funding to expand.", "output": "Californian start-up Edisun Microgrids could bring solar trackers to the commercial rooftop sector, following the successful installation of a 1 MW solar array using the technology in Oxnard. Solar trackers, which follow the sun as it moves across the sky, are traditionally deployed in utility-scale projects on the ground, but Edisun developed a dual-axis rooftop system ideal for warehouses, retail outlets and hospitals. The company said its trackers can improve a solar project's energy output by between 30% and 40%, compared to fixed-tilt and non-tracking arrays.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MaTontine unveils financial\u00a0services plan for poor in Senegal \n Senegalese fintech startup MaTontine has launched a nationwide pilot with the World Bank\u2019s Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), aiming to roll out innovative solutions that accelerate the way innovation improves and expands financial services for low-income populations in Sub-Saharan Africa.\n\nEstablished in 2015, MaTontine has automated the traditional savings circles found throughout Africa, and built a software platform that enables it to work with a range of partners to provide access to small loans and related financial services for the financially excluded.\n\n\u201cThe problem we are trying to solve is an enduring and challenging one: how to unlock access to financial services like small loans to the poor at scale. The banks and micro-finance institutions have realised that they cannot do this profitably at scale with their current infrastructure,\u201d MaTontine managing director Bernie Akporiaye told Disrupt Africa.\n\n\u201cIt turns out that it\u2019s actually very difficult to profitably make small loans like US$100. Consequently, for our members the only providers of these type of loans charge between 25 per cent and 100 per cent per annum.\u201d\n\nMaTontine \u2013 which was recently named the winner of the Senegalese leg of the global Seedstars World startups competition \u2013 solves this problem by utilising mobile phones and its platform to digitise the benefits of traditional savings groups, reducing the cost of borrowing by 75 per cent or more.\n\n\u201cFor our solution, we went back about century to a system used all over the developing world. It is called Tontines in Francophone Africa; the industry term is Rotating Savings and Credit Associations,\u201d Akporiaye said.\n\nHere\u2019s how it works. A group of, say, 10 people, each with its own manager, contributes, say, US$10 every month into a pot. At the end of the month one member of the group collects the pot of US$100. This cycle repeats itself until everybody has won the US$100 pot.\n\n\u201cOur innovation is to build a digital platform that automates this whole process and incorporates a credit scoring system in order for us to facilitate small loans and other financial services like micro-insurance from our partners based on the credit score of our members. All financial transactions are done digitally using mobile phones and mobile money,\u201d Akporiaye said.\n\nMaTontine is now ready to make this innovation readily available through its pilot with the World Bank\u2019s CGAP, testing how the digitisation of traditional savings circles and the use of mobile payments can significantly improve the delivery of financial products and services at scale to women and the rural poor in Senegal.\n\nFor the six-month pilot, the startup is teaming up with payment providers like Yup and Wari, financial institutions such as COFINA and Manko, and insurance providers like SUNU Assurances Vie and PMAS.\n\n\u201cUp until recently we were self-funded. We have however accepted grant funding from the World Bank,\u201d Akporiaye said.\n\n\u201cIn December 2016 we completed our last pilot, with 2,000 members including 475 active ones, to which we have granted small loans for a total amount of US$12,000, with a default rate of zero per cent. We have a goal of acquiring at least 10,000 members by the end of the year.\u201d\n\nCurrently only operating in Senegal, MaTontine does have plans to expand throughout Francophone Africa, starting with Ivory Coast next year. Access to the platform is free, with the startup generating revenues through commissions from partners who offer products such as loans and insurance.", "output": "Fintech start-up MaTontine is piloting financial services solutions for low-income citizens across Senegal, with the help of the World Bank\u2019s Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP). The company operates a software platform that automates of traditional savings circles common in Africa and links them to providers of\u00a0such products as savings accounts and small loans. MaTontine hopes to expand access to financial services across sub-Saharan Africa using its low-cost infrastructure.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California gas peaker likely to be cancelled for renewable option \n It's beginning to look like NRG's proposed Puente gas plant may never see the light of day.\n\nThe California Energy Commission members assigned to draft a proposed decision on permitting the contested peaker plant unveiled a surprise sneak peak of their thinking Thursday.\n\n\"It is clear to us that the Project will be inconsistent with several Laws, Ordinances, Regulations or Standards (LORS) and will create significant unmitigable environmental effects,\" wrote Commissioners Janea Scott and Karen Douglas. \"This, in turn, requires us to consider feasible alternatives that avoid or reduce those impacts and inconsistencies.\"\n\nUtility Southern California Edison selected NRG's proposal years ago to resolve a future reliability constraint in the region of Oxnard, on California's central coast.\n\nSince that time, energy storage and other distributed energy resources have matured and proven their ability to respond quickly to grid reliability needs. That evolution prompted clean energy advocates, environmentalists and the City of Oxnard to oppose a new gas plant on its shore when cleaner options were available.\n\nPuente has developed into a test case for energy storage to challenge the need for a new gas peaker plant. The storage industry has long said it is capable of displacing new peakers, which cost a lot of money but rarely operate, but it has had few opportunities to prove this. What's new here is that California's grid operator agreed it could be done.\n\nIn a study released in August, the California Independent System Operator found that storage and DERs could perform the technical needs that Puente would fulfill for local grid reliability. It would cost significantly more, though, according to that analysis.\n\nGreentech Media reported that month that the storage pricing data used in the CAISO study was out of date and overestimated the costs of a storage solution relative to the gas plant.\n\nSubsequently, CAISO filed a document September 29 suggesting that the only way to know for sure how much a storage and DER alternative would cost is to run a new request for offers, and let the industry supply competitive bids.\n\n\"There appears to be an opportunity to conduct an expedited RFO and operationalize preferred resources prior to the summer 2021 timeframe,\u201d the filing stated.\n\nIt was that note of urgency that prompted this week's early notice of the intent to reject Puente's application.\n\n\"While we have no current information about whether an expedited RFO is forthcoming, the timing constraints identified by the California ISO lead us to conclude that it is prudent to communicate the Committee\u2019s position before we complete the [presiding member's proposed decision],\" the letter notes.\n\nWhen surveying the record of evidence, the commissioners see \"significant unmitigable impacts\" from the proposed gas plant. Meanwhile, the grid operator has attested that other alternatives can meet the need without imposing the environmental impacts of a new gas plant with several decades of lifespan.\n\nBased on the available information, the commissioners see no reason to override the impacts and allow the gas plant to move forward.\n\nThere's a lot left unsaid here. Some of the confusion stems from the state's web of interweaving energy institutions. The CEC has authority to evaluate the environmental impacts of power plants approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, with CAISO advising based on its expertise.\n\nThe wording of the letter indicates the commissioners are waiting on someone else to seize the opportunity to launch a rapid RFO. This early notice is intended to give that entity reason to get the process started. Typically, energy procurement requests are carried out by utilities under the supervision of the CPUC, so SCE and the CPUC would be the logical audience for this remark.\n\nWhether SoCal Edison has an appetite for re-running a procurement it already completed remains to be seen.\n\nThis is not the end of the procedural road on the CEC's side, either. Commissioners Scott and Douglas still need to formalize their opinion in a proposed decision, gather comments on it and send it to the full commission for the final decision.\n\nPuente is not dead yet, but its prognosis has certainly dimmed. Now the question is what sort of action this unusual step kicks off among the relevant institutions, and whether that leads to the energy storage deployment that CAISO says is possible.\n\n--\n\nJoin GTM for a deep dive into the budding domestic energy storage market at the U.S. Energy Storage Summit 2017. Utilities, financiers, regulators, technology innovators, and storage practitioners will all come together for two full days of data-intensive presentations, analyst-led panel sessions with industry leaders, and extensive, high-level networking. Learn more here.", "output": "The proposed Puente gas plant in California is likely to be cancelled after state authorities said the project is inconsistent with some regulations, and would damage the environment to an unacceptable extent. The California Energy Commission released an update on their thinking, stating that they would be recommending denial of the project. The statement from the committee suggested the state's power infrastructure company ISO should look for alternatives by running a new Request for Offer process. Campaigners against the plant have argued that energy storage technology would provide a more appropriate solution.\nTechnology: Battery technology, Advanced wind, Advanced solar\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Solar power to achieve grid parity in NYC before Johannesburg \n Residential solar will be cheaper than grid electricity in New York, London and Munich well before it becomes so in sun-drenched Johannesburg, according to new research.\n\nIn fact, behind-the-meter solar already makes financial sense in New York and Munich, found a study published last month by the Centre for Climate Finance & Investment at Imperial College Business School in London, U.K. And it will achieve grid parity in the British capital from 2020, said the authors.\n\nBut in Santiago, Chile, rooftop or industrial-scale solar will not be cost-competitive with grid supplies until 2025. In Bangalore, India, it will take until 2030. And in Johannesburg, South Africa it will take even longer.\n\n\u201cThis modeling\u2026shows the perhaps counterintuitive result of a lack of strong dependence on mean annual insolation for the point in time at which break-even happens,\u201d wrote the authors.\n\nThe researchers based their findings on a novel conceptual framework looking at cost-competitiveness between grid supplies for residential or industrial customers and on-site solar on its own or coupled with daily battery storage.\n\nThey modeled scenarios for Johannesburg, London, Munich, New York, Santiago and Bangalore. Grid parity was harder to achieve in sunnier locations because of relatively low electricity prices and a higher cost of capital.\n\nOn the other hand, Munich, with high electricity costs and cheap capital, emerged as the leader in what the authors termed \u201cfirm power parity,\u201d or when \u201ca system of technologies can provide an energy service at the same or lower cost than conventional service providers.\u201d\n\nBy 2030, the researchers predict that residential solar in Munich -- on its own and with storage -- will be cheaper than grid supplies. By the same year, PV on its own will be cheaper than the electricity industrial users can get from a utility.\n\nMunich is the only city of the six surveyed where PV and battery storage will be economically viable by 2030, though.\n\nResidential PV on its own will be cost-competitive in all locations except Johannesburg, while industrial solar alone will make financial sense in London, Munich, Santiago and Bangalore -- but not New York.\n\nCharles Donovan, one of the study\u2019s authors, said further work would be needed to see when PV, perhaps coupled with seasonal storage, could beat wholesale electricity on price.\n\n\u201cWe focused on the near term, but we expect, in time, to fill out the matrix in its entirety,\u201d he said.\n\nThis additional work would likely complement research into 100 percent renewable energy scenarios by experts such as Professor Mark Jacobson of Stanford University.\n\n\u201cIn most countries, you\u2019re going to need a significant over-build of the capacity of renewables,\u201d Donovan predicted, \u201cand storage is going to have to play some role in leveling that back out.\u201d\n\nThe research so far showed it was not ideal to have all this storage deployed at residential scale, though. \u201cThere is a good amount of investment that needs to be made in the network,\u201d Donovan said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t make sense for us to be trying to cover that intermittency ourselves.\u201d\n\nYet, the research also showed that utilities in many countries could soon see a real threat of partial or total grid defection. In a press release, Imperial College warned of \u201cmajor disruption to U.K. utilities by 2030.\u201d\n\nIt is far from clear, though, whether falling PV and storage costs will in fact lead to mass grid defection, not least because consumers rarely respond to pricing signals in the way economic models anticipate they will.\n\nToday, for instance, early adopters are buying into solar-plus-storage in many places where the business case for energy self-consumption is shaky at best.\n\nAnd at the other end of the spectrum, \u201ceven when you\u2019ve got something that is economically attractive, like switching [electricity] supplier, half the population isn\u2019t doing it,\u201d noted Jon Slowe, founding director of the consulting firm Delta Energy & Environment.\n\nTo get consumers hooked on distributed solar, \u201cIt needs to engage customers in a way the energy sector has failed to do so far,\u201d Slowe said.\n\nThis does not mean utilities can rest easy, he said. Other companies could disrupt the market, giving consumers a cheaper, smarter way to acquire energy. \u201cOur advice to utilities is based on the premise that this will happen whether you do something or not,\u201d said Slowe.", "output": "Solar power will equal the price of electricity from baseload sources such as coal and gas earlier in New York, London and Munich than it will in sunnier locations such as Johannesburg, according to the Centre for Climate Finance and Investment at London's Imperial College. Using a new model, it found that the sunnier locations would be hampered by existing low energy prices and the higher cost of capital. Residential solar PV will achieve grid parity in five of the cities studied by 2030, it said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sonnen virtual power plant concept gets US makeover \n In Germany, startup Sonnen has been operating a nationwide shadow utility of networked home solar and storage systems for several years. But when the company arrived in the U.S., the policy landscape made that grand vision impractical to replicate.\n\nAfter a few years of selling energy storage as a premium alternative to the early home battery contenders, the company has now compiled a landmark deal that will single-handedly dwarf the residential market, such as it is.\n\nLacking the deregulation that gave Sonnen access to the wires in Germany, the company tackled the project from the other end: the home.\n\nOver the next few years, Sonnen will outfit a high-efficiency housing development built by Mandalay Homes in Prescott Valley, Arizona, stocking some 2,900 new houses with its signature storage system.\n\nAs told by U.S. Senior Vice President Blake Richetta, this effort bypasses the \u201cbullshit bingo\u201d that plagues industry discussions of virtual power plants, in which buzzwords and small pilots stand in for substantive action.\n\n\u201cSonnen is a company that likes to get things done: We want the virtual power plant to really exist, and it does exist in Germany,\u201d Richetta said. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to be paralyzed by pilots anymore in this country.\u201d\n\nResidents won\u2019t need to worry about paying extra for pricey storage; they won\u2019t even have to own or maintain it. Mandalay has wrapped that equipment, along with a modest solar array, high-tech insulation and other energy saving measures, into a package that will cost marginally more than high-efficiency homes already on the market.\n\nFor an approximately 1 percent premium, the homeowners will pay 40 to 60 percent less to operate their homes than currently available high-performance homes, said Mandalay CEO Dave Everson.\n\nOnce built, the companies will have a massive distributed power plant on their hands. With just the first fifth complete, the neighborhood will have 10 megawatts of dispatchable power at the ready, far beyond the miniscule pilots that pass as virtual power plants these days.\n\nNotably, Mandalay is moving ahead without a utility contract in hand. There isn't really a model yet for virtual power plant aggregation in Arizona. By going ahead and building it, Mandalay will then have a model to take to the utility, rather than the other way around.\n\nAll about the home\n\nFor Mandalay, storage represents the latest addition in a five-year effort to design the highest-performing homes it can make.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not a jump; it\u2019s more like a half step from where we were,\u201d Everson said.\n\nThe model home that implements these ideas has been in service since May, and recently secured the company\u2019s third Housing Innovation Award from the Department of Energy.\n\nThat effort includes iterative refinement of the building envelope to enable passive heating and cooling, cutting down the energy needed. A final piece of this involves the AeroBarrier, an aerosol spray developed out of UC-Davis that fills the house and seals any remaining leaks that would let it escape.\n\nMinimizing load means the buildings don\u2019t need much solar power. In fact, the economics worked against large solar capacity. Mandalay decided on a standard configuration of 3.9 kilowatts of solar (a fraction of a typical home capacity) and an 8-kilowatt-hour Sonnen battery.\n\nThe designers did not try to maximize onsite generation; they tried to get the best economic return for the capacity included. This makes for a more targeted use of storage compared to retrofitting it on inefficient older homes with lots of load and lots of solar generation.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a totally different value proposition now,\u201d Richetta said. \u201cIt\u2019s not about storage versus bill savings; it's about the whole.\u201d\n\nNor was the goal to turn the home into a self-reliant microgrid: Grid interaction sits at the heart of the design, he said.\n\nFinding the right rate\n\nIn Everson\u2019s vision, the homes will power themselves during daylight hours with rooftop solar, storing the excess for later. That should last through the evening peak.\n\nThe battery can then charge up in the wee hours of the night, on the cheap and production from must-run generation, which tends to be cleaner than at high-demand times. That powers the early morning activities until the sun comes back out.\n\nThe development will utilize a new pilot retail rate from Arizona Public Service designed to incentivize peak demand reductions from residential customers.\n\nThe rate combines a $0.50 per day service charge with a very low per-kilowatt-hour energy rate (around $0.05) and a stiff monthly on-peak demand charge (up to $20.25 per kilowatt). Customers have to have a number of distributed energy assets like rooftop solar, energy storage or electric vehicle to qualify.\n\nThis rate structure means families that can minimize their demand during the peak hours of 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays stand to benefit from low overall energy rates. The structure of the Mandalay home design suggests customers can expect to use very little, if any, grid power during the peak.\n\nThis would save money for the homeowners, but it also tackles a real need for the broader grid. Arizona has a growing supply of surplus daytime solar generation, such that batteries soaking that up provide value to the grid. The utilities also grapple with meeting peak load, which drives costly purchases of gas peaker plants that are used only rarely, but are very expensive to operate.\n\nAdding more standalone solar on new homes contributes marginally to both challenges. Sizing new solar systems to an onsite battery allows for home energy optimization with the ability to assist utilities in navigating the emerging distributed grid.\n\nUntapped grid asset\n\nThe value of distributed assets for the grid is something that many smart people are trying to define, but little consensus has been established thus far.\n\nInvestment in aggregation only pays off once there is some mode of getting paid for it. Outside of select markets, that has stymied the business case for distributed fleets of storage acting as a capacity or grid services tool.\n\nMandalay sidestepped the issue by making the economics work without needing a utility contract.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re not waiting for the utility companies; they\u2019re doing this with or without them,\u201d Richetta said. \u201cThat is the secret sauce to us getting out of the \u2018paralyzed by pilot\u2019 mode.\u201d\n\nOnce the companies have battery and solar systems operational -- the first phase will include 600 homes -- they\u2019ll have greater credibility to offer that network for grid services. They\u2019ll also have the option of installing additional battery capacity if a deal comes along, Everson said.\n\nUnder current plans, the full 2,900-home project will total 11.6 megawatts of power input and output and 23 megawatt-hours of energy storage capacity, the companies said. They think that could be enough clean, flexible capacity to knock out a coal peaker plant in northern Arizona.\n\nThere\u2019s much to figure out in terms of how the community would deliver peak capacity to the grid while maintaining the local needs of each homeowner.\n\nThen again, Sonnen has been operationalizing that concept with its network in Germany for several years. Its challenge now is to pull that off amid the peculiarities of the American grid.\n\n--\n\nJoin GTM for a deep dive into the budding domestic energy storage market at the U.S. Energy Storage Summit 2017. Utilities, financiers, regulators, technology innovators, and storage practitioners will all come together for two full days of data-intensive presentations, analyst-led panel sessions with industry leaders, and extensive, high-level networking. Learn more here.", "output": "Sonnen has reworked its virtual power plant model for the US market in a project built by Mandalay Homes. The 3,000-home development in Arizona will provide every property with an 8 kWh Sonnen battery and a relatively small\u00a03.9 kW of rooftop solar. The idea is that the properties power themselves with solar energy during the day while charging the battery, which keeps the lights on during the evening. The battery is topped up overnight using cheap grid electricity and powers the house in the morning before the sun comes up.\nTechnology: Advanced solar, Smart grid\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Japan to spur fintech innovation with new regulatory regime\u00a0 \n TOKYO -- The Japanese government aims to make it easier for businesses to partner up in financial technology by leveling the regulatory playing field for different industries, hoping to prompt innovation that helps make financial services less costly.\n\nSuch enterprises as banks, e-money businesses and credit card companies are now subject to different laws according to their industries, even for the same services. The Financial Services Agency sees this compartmentalization as stifling competition.", "output": "Japan's businesses could find it easier to partner on financial technology projects if proposed regulatory changes by the country's Financial Services Agency are adopted. It is seeking to stimulate competition by switching the focus of regulation to services rather than businesses. Under the changes, which are proposed for 2018, all firms would be held to the same standard, regardless of size. Although non-banking companies would face more precise operating regulations, fintechs might\u00a0be able to break the banks' monopoly on lucrative remittance and settlement operations.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Institutional investors to work with fewer managers: PGIM CEO \n As the Federal Reserve begins to shrink its balance sheet and put an end to so-called quantitative easing, investors are concerned that this unprecedented process could negatively affect markets.\n\nDavid Hunt, President and CEO of PGIM, Prudential's investment arm, is one of those keeping an eye on it.\n\n\"I think that remains one of the big risks that investors face,\" he told Business Insider's deputy executive editor Matt Turner recently.\n\nTurner recently caught up with Hunt, to ask him about central bank policies, stock markets, real estate, and more. PGIM has more than $1 billion in assets invested around the world. Here's what he had to say:\n\nThis interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.\n\nMatt Turner: You guys have over $1 trillion in assets, with offices in 16 countries, so I wanted to first ask, when you look around the world, what do you see?\n\nDavid Hunt: For us, the most important thing that we focus on is our investment performance. We believe fundamentally that investors \u2014 and most of our investors are long-term, sophisticated institutions, so pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, central banks \u2014 what they're looking for from their investors is somebody who's actually going to be able to beat their benchmarks and add excess return for them.\n\nWe're an active manager, which you know has been somewhat unpopular recently, but we believe we've been a very successful one.\n\nWe're an active manager, which you know has been somewhat unpopular recently, but we believe we've been a very successful one.\n\nWe've been successful because we do deliver real excess returns for our clients.\n\nTurner: In terms of those excess returns, where do you see opportunities for investors? Where are your investment managers seeing an opportunity to make money?\n\nHunt: I would say the major thrust has been threefold. One has been for many institutional investors around the world, the race for yield has been incredible. We may not love the interest rates in this country, but if you are in Japan or you're in Europe, all of that actually looks really good.\n\nWe've really been able to bring the search for yield home to many of those investors. Secondly, we've been very successful in finding real returns from real assets. By that, I mean real estate \u2014 both debt and equity \u2014 but also everything ranging from agricultural investment, infrastructure debt, and other real assets that are generating both income and capital gains.\n\nTurner: When you look at US markets, how do you see what's going on? Are there any opportunities at home?\n\nHunt: We absolutely believe that there are significant opportunities. And indeed, we believe that the US economy is in very good shape. We've actually recently upped some of our estimates for GDP growth. We would say the US is growing faster than its real potential GDP, which ultimately leads to a bit of an uptick in inflation, but at the moment we remain pretty optimistic.\n\nWe would say the US is growing faster than its real potential GDP, which ultimately leads to a bit of an uptick in inflation, but at the moment we remain pretty optimistic.\n\nI would say the most important part of that optimism is based on seeing a return of business investment. Before, mostly it was on the consumer side, and businesses were leveraging but using a lot of that to buy back shares. In the last 18 months that dynamic has changed. Buybacks have come well down and we're seeing real business investment into this country. We like that story on the equity side. We like what a lot of that means for fixed income and higher-yielding fixed income. We remain very constructive on most aspects of the real estate sector, maybe with retail as an exception.\n\nTurner: On the equity side, you said earlier in the year that the stock market had maybe gotten ahead of itself in terms of betting on the success of various administration policies that might give the economy a boost. Where are we now? Obviously, a lot has changed since last summer. It seems like things are changing every day. Where are we now?\n\nHunt: It's a very interesting thing in terms of the market sentiment. At the beginning of the year, there was without a doubt the famous Trump trade that came on, which was a belief in tax cuts, infrastructure, and deregulation as a package driving growth. We saw over the first quarter and second quarter, that trade really went to zero. The basic belief that that would happen diminished a great deal in investors minds.\n\nPresident Trump gives his inaugural address on January 20. AP Photo/Patrick Semansky\n\nOf course, at the same time, the real economy \u2014 in a sort of different, parallel universe from politics \u2014 was doing even better, so real growth rates were picking up and a general belief that the economy was doing better began to take over market sentiment. I'd say the market was driven higher by that belief, not really related to the Trump policies. Now in the last two weeks, we've started to see that shift again. I do think that with the at least outline of a tax plan on the table, you've begun to see some of the Trump trade animal spirit come back in. But for most of the year, I would say that hasn't really been a factor in the markets.\n\nTurner: We talked about the opportunities. Where are there risks? Particularly, in my conversation with investors, a lot of people talk about the Fed and there being the uncertainty around who might lead it, and whether they might raise rates or move too soon. So how do you see that dynamic?\n\nHunt: There's no question that we have real policy risk. I mean, never before in the last thirty years have we seen so much of economic activity dependent on, not just the Fed, but I would generalize it to central banks around the world and the very accommodative policies. So there is a lot riding on the fact that they can begin to normalize those policies in an effective way. And that isn't just when they decide to raise rates, and at what pace, but also what they do with the balance sheet.\n\nFederal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen speaks during a news conference after a two-day Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) policy meeting in Washington Thomson Reuters\n\nOne of the big challenges for the Fed is going to be at what pace they begin to unwind that balance sheet, and I think that remains one of the big risks that investors face.\n\nTurner: One of the research notes that I received this morning made the point that monetary policy is going to dominate stock trading for the near time. Do you agree with that? Or do you think there's more to the story than that?\n\nHunt: I think that there is quite a bit more to the story. There's no question that it today's valuation \u2014 if you look at the S&P overall, forward PE's are about 18.5, the long-term average is more like 15.5 \u2014 you could say that it looks a little bit rich. But at today's interest rates, actually, it looks pretty fairly priced. If we had a sudden rise in rates you would begin to think probably that the current prices are, without a doubt, a touch frothy. But we would not say that's the base case. We actually think the base case is that we're quite constructive on equities at the moment, but we do think that the risks of a gradual normalization remain around the balance sheet of the Fed.\n\nTurner: Going back a step, you mentioned the Japanese market and Europe. Outside of the US, where do you see opportunity? You mentioned India as well.\n\nHunt: There's no question we would certainly have Japan at the top of our list. We do believe that there are large institutional investors there who are looking very actively to put their money to work outside of Japan and to move into higher-yielding assets. I would've said that their search for yield 1.0 was to move into the US and to move to kind of investment grade corporates. We're now really seeing a search for yield 2.0, which has to do with high-yield, emerging markets, and structured products, which as you know, we hadn't seen for quite some time from the Japanese. We do believe that there is a lot more yet to run on the movement of money out of Japan.\n\nTurner: Just turning to the money management business for a moment, the industry is changing dramatically, what's going on there and how does the search for yield fit into that?\n\nYou're seeing the rationalization of managers, you're seeing fees come down for many types of products, and you're seeing the continued growth of passive.\n\nHunt: The money management industry is absolutely reflecting the pressure that the clients are facing. In this very low return environment, you think about what the big institutions are doing. One, they're very worried about fees, so there's a real focus on that. Two, they're wondering where should they pay for active management, which is more expensive than indexing, and what should they index, where they just want to buy cheap beta. And three, how many managers should they be working with? Many of them have a large roster of managers, and is that really the most effective way to manage a full portfolio? So you're seeing that play out right now across the industry. You're seeing the rationalization of managers, you're seeing fees come down for many types of products, and you're seeing the continued growth of passive.\n\nTurner: One of the things that people in the industry often talk about when it comes to money management is this barbell, where as you said you have low-cost, passive index tracking funds and at the other end you have higher fees, higher active share, things like private debt which you mentioned, and it's those in the middle that are charging higher fees for something that looks quite a lot like beta that are really going to struggle. Is that what we're looking at?\n\nHunt: Yes I would very much subscribe to that. I think that firms that are charging high active share prices but delivering something that really actually hugs the benchmark are going have a very difficult time. That's just fine. I actually think that's competition that is leading to investors having a better proposition. I do believe investors over time will, instead of saying 'is it active or passive?', will say 'how can active and passive work together?' so we have cheap beta where that makes sense. There's plenty of room to run with active management on all kinds of other strategies where you're going to need that excess return if you're going to pay for retirement over twenty years.\n\nTurner: In terms of those strategies that do offer excess return, which of those are you pushing into? Would there be acquisitions that might make sense to accelerate your growth in those areas?\n\nWe see lots of room around specialist strategies like biotechnology and senior housing.\n\nHunt: Well currently we would say that we have most of the strategies that we need to do that. For us, we are such a big player in real assets. That is our real estate business in particular, both debt and equity, that's a lot of where we see excess returns coming from active management. But we would say the same thing in fixed income. We're the fourth largest fixed-income business in the world and we would say that that business is fundamentally one where active management makes a lot of sense. So for the passive piece of this we're really just talking about equities. We think the US equity markets will continue to gradually move more to passive, but we see lots of room around specialist strategies like biotechnology, senior housing type things, and we see plenty of opportunities in international and emerging markets where active management adds very significant value.\n\nTurner: You're one of the biggest players in real estate. Where is there an opportunity for investors to make money?\n\nHunt: What we're seeing from investors' point of view is a little bit of a recalibrating of their risk. We do see demand for core going up quite a lot, and probably a little bit less in terms of demand for a real opportunistic. Core Plus also been a very popular. Within the sectors, we see a very large demand for logistics, for multifamily, which has continued to be one of the important pieces. We do think hotels are probably a little bit overdone and we've been selling in some selective, large kind of gateway cities. By and large, we still believe that the supply-demand dynamics in real estate mean there's plenty of excess returns to be had.\n\nTurner: You mentioned the bond market. Earlier in the year there was definitely a sense that the stock market was saying one thing about the economy and the bond market was saying another. Is there a tension there, and has it been resolved?\n\nHunt: It hasn't necessarily been resolved in so much as just come into an equilibrium. I do think, as you put it before, that the equity market does rely on us having somewhat lower rates and the Fed normalizing policy fairly gradually. I think if that plan does play out, you probably have a pretty even balance of risk and reward. The important thing to recognize about interest rates is that the Fed only really controls the short end. We believe that there is so much money looking for a home in fixed income, that actually there will continue to be money that comes into the middle part of the curve and the longer part of the curve. That's going to mean it's going to flatten, and that's happened quite a bit already this year. We would expect it to happen even more. Just because the Fed raises rates doesn't necessarily mean that will happen uniformity, and I think that's important for your viewers to realize.", "output": "As fees and performance become an increasing focus for instiutional investors, clients will look to work with fewer investment managers, according to David Hunt, CEO of PGIM. \"Many of them have a large roster of managers, and is that really the most effective way to manage a full portfolio?\" said Hunt of large institutions. These investors are also considering where they want to eschew active management for cheap, beta-producing products, Hunt added. PGIM, however, has had success pumping its active management capabilities around real assets and fixed income, added Hunt.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Udacity partners with Google for US developer scholarships \n Google and online education program provider Udacity have launched a new scholarship initiative for aspiring Web and Android application developers.\n\nThe two companies will offer 50,000 scholarships to people wishing to pursue a career in either of these two fields. The scholarships will be available to U.S. residents age 18 or older at all skill levels from absolute newcomers to experienced developers, the two companies announced Oct. 12.\n\nScholarship recipients will receive free technical training in either Web development or the Android developers program.\n\nThe scholarship program is part of a broader \u201cGrow with Google\u201d initiative that CEO Sundar Pichai announced Thursday. Under the program the company will offer free tools, training and events in a bid to help people become more computer literate and better prepared for jobs requiring modern technology skills. The tools and courses are being aimed at a fairly wide cross section of people including job seekers, local business owners, teachers and developers.\n\n\u201cGrow with Google is there to give anyone in America the tools and training they need to get a job, for free,\u201d Pichai said in comments on Google\u2019s The Keyword blog.\n\nIndividuals accepted into the newly announced scholarship program will be placed into one of two tracks: a Beginner track for those with no prior software developer or technology experience and an Intermediate track for individuals with some Web or Android development experience. Up to 15,000 scholarships are available for the beginner track and 10,000 are available for those with intermediate level skills.\n\nIn the first phase of the program, scholarship recipients will get three months of free access to one of four courses ranging from an introductory course in HTML and CSS to an Android App development course for more advanced students.\n\nThe top 5,000 students from the first phase will qualify for an additional six-month scholarship to what Google calls a Nanodegree program. Students who qualify for one of the four available Nanodegree scholarship programs will receive free access to more advanced training material, as well as classroom time and access to experts in Web and mobile application development.\n\nAs part of the Grow with Google program the company is also working with Coursera to develop a professional certification program that the company says will prepare individuals for IT jobs in between 8 and 12 months.\n\nThe IT Support Professional Certificate program will launch in January 2018 and will offer 2,600 full scholarships. Google and Coursera will work with major employers to try and place graduates from the program into IT jobs.", "output": "Google and edtech firm Udacity are offering 50,000 web and Android application developer scholarships to US residents aged 18 and over, according to a joint statement. The move is part of the \"Grow with Google\"\u00a0initiative, recently launched by CEO Sundar Pichai. The first phase of the scholarship will see recipients given three months of\u00a0free access to one of four courses, with the top 5,000 qualifying for an additional six-month scholarship to study for a nanodegree. Google is also set to launch the IT Support Professional Certificate programme, in partnership with Coursera, in January.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Silicon kidneys may cut dialysis,\u00a0ease transplant list pressure \n Every week, two million people across the world will sit for hours, hooked up to a whirring, blinking, blood-cleaning dialysis machine. Their alternatives: Find a kidney transplant or die.\n\nIn the US, dialysis is a roughly 40-billion-dollar business keeping 468,000 people with end-stage renal disease alive. The process is far from perfect, but that hasn't hindered the industry's growth. That's thanks to a federally mandated Medicare entitlement that guarantees any American who needs dialysis\u2014regardless of age or financial status\u2014can get it, and get it paid for.\n\nThe legally enshrined coverage of dialysis has doubtlessly saved thousands of lives since its enactment 45 years ago, but the procedure\u2019s history of special treatment has also stymied innovation. Today, the US government spends about 50 times more on private dialysis companies than it does on kidney disease research to improve treatments and find new cures. In this funding atmosphere, scientists have made slow progress to come up with something better than the dialysis machine-filled storefronts and strip malls that provide a vital service to so many of the country's sickest people.\n\nWe thought, if people are growing ears on the backs of mice, why can\u2019t we grow a kidney? Shuvo Roy, UC San Francisco\n\nNow, after more than 20 years of work, one team of doctors and researchers is close to offering patients an implantable artificial kidney, a bionic device that uses the same technology that makes the chips that power your laptop and smartphone. Stacks of carefully designed silicon nanopore filters combine with live kidney cells grown in a bioreactor. The bundle is enclosed in a body-friendly box and connected to a patient\u2019s circulatory system and bladder\u2014no external tubing required.\n\nThe device would do more than detach dialysis patients\u2014who experience much higher rates of fatigue, chronic pain, and depression than the average American\u2014from a grueling treatment schedule. It would also address a critical shortfall of organs for transplant that continues despite a recent uptick in donations. For every person who received a kidney last year, 5 more on the waiting list didn\u2019t. And 4,000 of them died.\n\nThere are still plenty of regulatory hurdles ahead\u2014human testing is scheduled to begin early next year1\u2014but this bioartificial kidney is already bringing hope to patients desperate to unhook for good.\n\nInnovation, Interrupted\n\nKidneys are the body\u2019s bookkeepers. They sort the good from the bad\u2014a process crucial to maintaining a stable balance of bodily chemicals. But sometimes they stop working. Diabetes, high blood pressure, and some forms of cancers can all cause kidney damage and impair the organs' ability to function. Which is why doctors have long been on the lookout for ways to mimic their operations outside the body.\n\nThe first successful attempt at a human artificial kidney was a feat of Rube Goldberg-ian ingenuity, necessitated in large part by wartime austerity measures. In the spring of 1940, a young Dutch doctor named Willem Kolff decamped from his university post to wait out the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands in a rural hospital on the IJssel river. There he constructed an unwieldy contraption for treating people dying from kidney failure using some 50 yards of sausage casing, a rotating wooden drum, and a bath of saltwater. The semi-permeable casing filtered out small molecules of toxic kidney waste while keeping larger blood cells and other molecules intact. Kolff's apparatus enabled him to draw blood from his patients, push it through the 150 feet of submerged casings, and return it to them cleansed of deadly impurities.\n\nIn some ways, dialysis has advanced quite a bit since 1943. (Vaarwel, sausage casing, hello mass-produced cellulose tubing.) But its basic function has remained unchanged for more than 70 years.", "output": "A team of US doctors and researchers are closing in on conducting human trials on an artificial kidney that has been 20 years in the making. The silicon-based device cleans and filters human blood without losing vital nutrients and amino acids, and 9,000 patients have signed up to participate in the trials. If all goes well, the bioartificial kidney could be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration as early as 2020.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Coalition demands county spend more homeless, hep A fight \n Former State Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher speaks during the opening ceremonies for the San Diego Memorial Stair Climb in November, 2016.\n\nIf the county could afford $150 million to help build a new stadium for the Chargers, some politicians say it should be able to spend that same amount on the homeless and public health.\n\nA coalition of local, state and union officials made that argument as they gathered in front of the County Administration Center Thursday to announce what they called an \u201cemergency action plan\u201d that demands funding increases in several areas from staffing to public housing.\n\nA county supervisor immediately accused the group of playing politics with the ongoing hepatitis A outbreak crisis.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nLed by former Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, the group threw down the rhetorical gauntlet again and again, accusing current leadership of being more concerned about bank balances than delivering services.\n\nFletcher, who is running for county supervisor next year, said the county should have stood taller when the region\u2019s hepatitis A outbreak began spreading rapidly.\n\n\u201cIt is not a time for the chief public health organization in our region to say \u2018it is not our responsibility,\u2019 it\u2019s a time for action,\u201d Fletcher said.\n\nCounty supervisors were quick to respond with statements of their own.\n\nBoard chair Dianne Jacob fired off a one-page missive and posted it on Twitter while the news conference was still underway that accused \u201cCity Hall and others\u201d of \u201ctrying to score political points off this public health emergency.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis is nothing more than an attempt to shift the responsibility to the county for a homeless problem that has festered in the city for years,\u201d Jacobs\u2019 statement said.\n\nSupervisor Ron Roberts added that his proposal for a $150 million bridge loan to help the now-departed Chargers build a new stadium was part of a larger proposal that called for a $200 million contribution from the city of San Diego. Neither funding proposal was ever approved by the county board of the city council.\n\n\u201cPerhaps the city should spend its own $200 million slated for the Chargers stadium before they or a perennial political candidate start asking others to do their job for them,\u201d Roberts\u2019 statement said, making an oblique reference to Fletcher\u2019s bids for San Diego mayor in 2012 and 2013.\n\nOthers in the group made the case that the county, with $747 million in \u201cunassigned\u201d cash in its general fund, according to its most recent audit, could afford to do more.\n\nIn August, state Sen. Ben Hueso convinced the legislature\u2019s Joint Committee on Legislative Audit to examine the county\u2019s staffing of public health nurses. He alleges that understaffing has created a workload that is much too high across the region.\n\n\u201cWe believe that this outbreak has something to do with the county\u2019s refusal to hire adequate staff,\u201d Hueso, D-San Diego, said at the news conference.\n\nBut Jacob bristled at the notion that the county has been handling the outbreak on the cheap.\n\n\u201cThe county has spent about $3 million to date fighting Hep A with nurses, wash stations, hygiene kits, and vaccinations for nearly 70,000 people. And it plans to spend $1.5 million a month going forward,\u201d Jacobs\u2019 statement said.\n\nShe said the county already spends $300 million per year on services for homeless residents \u201cincluding alcohol and substance abuse treatment and mental health services.\u201d\n\nFletcher is running to replace Roberts who will be termed out of office in 2018. Fletcher faces, among others, former San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis in the race. In a statement issued after the news conference, Dumanis said \u201cthis is not the time for finger pointing.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will call for an after-action investigation into the local government response so that we can identify breakdowns. As Supervisor, I am committed to taking the findings of this review and developing a regional response plan for any future public health crisis,\u201d Dumanis said.\n\nMost if not all of those at the news conference urging the county to do more are Democrats. All five supervisors are Republicans, as is Dumanis.\n\nSeveral speakers during Thursday\u2019s news conference made reference to the county\u2019s funding of mental health services, which are seen as key to serving a homeless population that includes many with significant psychiatric needs.\n\nHueso said his research indicates that the county has more than $100 million in unspent state Mental Health Services Act funds which could be used to significantly increase the number of beds available and to hire additional case workers to work with the homeless. These proposals are included in the plan that the coalition released.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know about you, but I don\u2019t pay taxes for the county just to store that money away,\u201d Hueso said. \u201cI pay taxes so that the county will provide these essential services.\u201d\n\nThat very topic was addressed just two days earlier with the board of supervisors passed a $197.5 million three-year mental health plan that would add 10 new psychiatric emergency response teams, additional funding for housing for people with mental illnesses, expansion of the Children\u2019s Emergency Screen Unit and increased case management for older adults with serious mental illnesses.\n\nCounty officials told the board that the expansion adds $15 million to previous spending levels, but Fletcher said he did not think the improvements go far enough.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re talking about a three-year plan that will see a $5 million increase each year for three years. They\u2019re (nominally) changing what the status quo was already going to do. If that was working, we wouldn\u2019t be in the situation we\u2019re in today,\u201d Fletcher said.\n\nCounty spokesman Craig Sturak said in an email sent Thursday evening that the county\u2019s mental health services unspent balance is $123. 7 million with another $42 million set aside as a reserve. He said the new mental health plan approved by the supervisors, plus other expenses, should make a significant dent in that pile of cash.\n\n\u201cBy the end of this current fiscal year, it is anticipated that our unspent balance will be reduced by approximately 40 percent from fiscal year 2014-2015 levels,\u201d Sturak wrote.\n\nSan Diego City Council members Barbara Bry and Chris Ward, who also added their names to the list of officials who endorsed the Chargers approach, have asked the county to commit to case management, nursing and other services at the city\u2019s new transitional camping area and at the three temporary big-tent shelters that will be set up for the homeless this winter.\n\nSturak said the county already had social workers and public health nurses visit the new campsite for vaccination and to enroll residents in safety-net programs. He said the county plans to continue those services, and offer others such as psychiatric emergency response teams and behavioral health outreach workers, at the three additional tent shelters when they open.\n\n\u201cThe goal is to connect individuals at these locations to services to help them get health care, assistance and housing,\u201d Sturak said.\n\nMeanwhile, the region\u2019s hepatitis A outbreak continues to grow with a total of 18 deaths and 490 cases announced earlier this week. The next update is due Tuesday.\n\nHealth Playlist \u00d7 On Now Video: Leaders urge public to help extinguish hepatitis outbreak On Now San Diego starts cleansing sidewalks, streets to combat hepatitis A On Now Video: Scripps to shutter its hospice service On Now Video: Scripps La Jolla hospitals nab top local spot in annual hospital rankings On Now Video: Does a parent's Alzheimer's doom their children? On Now EpiPen recall expands On Now Kids can add years to your life\n\npaul.sisson@sduniontribune.com\n\n(619) 293-1850\n\nTwitter: @paulsisson", "output": "If the county could afford $150 million to help build a new stadium for the Chargers, some politicians say it should be able to spend that same amount on the homeless and public health.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Congress Can\u2019t Let Mr. Trump Kill Obamacare on His Own \n This editorial has been updated to reflect news developments.\n\nFed up with failed attempts in Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act, President Trump on Thursday took matters into his own hands, stopping payments to insurance companies and signing an executive order that could significantly damage the health insurance market and harm millions of people.\n\nMr. Trump carried out his threat to stop paying insurers to lower the out of pocket costs for low-income and middle-class Americans. The loss of this money, expected to be $9 billion next year, will force insurers to raise premiums and stop selling policies in some parts of the country. Because most people who buy coverage on A.C.A. exchanges also receive subsidies to keep their premiums affordable, this change would actually cost the government money \u2014 about $2.3 billion more next year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.\n\nEarlier in the day, the president directed his administration to effectively create an alternative health insurance system that does not include the safeguards of the A.C.A. and could sabotage that 2010 law, one of his predecessor\u2019s biggest accomplishments. The president claims that this will help people obtain cheaper insurance. In reality, it most likely will force insurance companies to abandon the A.C.A.\u2019s insurance exchanges and ultimately precipitate a collapse of an important part of Obamacare.\n\nThe executive order is made up of two main changes: to expand the use of short-term insurance policies and to make it easier for professional and trade associations to sell health coverage to members across the country. Officials at the Departments of Health and Human Services, the Treasury and Labor will now come up with a rule after seeking public comment over the next several months.", "output": "Fed up with failed attempts in Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act, President Trump on Thursday took matters into his own hands, signing an executive order\u00a0that could significantly damage the health insurance market and harm millions of people.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "What Did Trump\u2019s Health Care Executive Order Do? \n Such plans are currently exempt from most insurance rules. That means the plans can reject or charge higher prices to customers with pre-existing health conditions, can cover fewer benefits and can charge higher deductibles. Because they tend to be skimpier and insure only healthy customers, the plans\u2019 prices tend to be lower. Under current regulation, such plans can last for only three months at a time. The order asks for a change to lengthen their duration, a directive likely to result in plans that last just under a year, the standard before this year. That change would make it easier to use such insurance as a substitute for Obamacare-compliant coverage.\n\nIt is possible that the association rule will allow self-employed people to join associations, but legal experts are skeptical that the labor laws will permit it.\n\nIf a lot of people decide to buy these short-term or association insurance plans, that will most likely leave fewer Americans in the Obamacare markets. And that smaller group is likely to have more people who care about comprehensive coverage and lower deductibles \u2014 that is, people with more health problems. The result could be higher prices for customers who remain. The loss of the cost-sharing subsidies will also prompt insurers to raise their prices. Most Obamacare customers get federal subsidies that help them buy insurance, and they would not feel the increases. But higher-income customers who choose to buy Obamacare insurance may need to pay more.\n\nWhat will it mean for people with Medicaid or Medicare?\n\nNone of these changes directly affect them.\n\nWill these changes lower the cost of insurance?\n\nIt\u2019s complicated. If the rules are changed, some Americans will be able to buy insurance for a lower sticker price through the short-term market or an association. But that insurance is likely to cover fewer benefits, may not be available to people with a history of health problems, and may be more likely to be offered by a fraudulent company.\n\nPeople who get insurance using government subsidies won\u2019t notice much of a change in price, but they might see fewer options in the future, if the changes make the Obamacare market less attractive to insurers.", "output": "President Trump signed\u00a0an executive order on Thursday that he said would begin \u201csaving the American people from the nightmare of Obamacare.\u201d There\u2019s a lot that\u2019s still uncertain about how the order will change the health law. Here\u2019s what we know so far.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trump to Scrap Critical Health Care Subsidies, Hitting Obamacare Again \n WASHINGTON \u2014 President Trump will scrap subsidies to health insurance companies that help pay out-of-pocket costs of low-income people, the White House said late Thursday. His plans were disclosed hours after the president ordered potentially sweeping changes in the nation\u2019s insurance system, including sales of cheaper policies with fewer benefits and fewer protections for consumers.\n\nThe twin hits to the Affordable Care Act could unravel President Barack Obama\u2019s signature domestic achievement, sending insurance premiums soaring and insurance companies fleeing from the health law\u2019s online marketplaces. After Republicans failed to repeal the health law in Congress, Mr. Trump appears determined to dismantle it on his own.\n\nWithout the subsidies, insurance markets could quickly unravel. Insurers have said they will need much higher premiums and may pull out of the insurance exchanges created under the Affordable Care Act if the subsidies were cut off. Known as cost-sharing reduction payments, the subsidies were expected to total $9 billion in the coming year and nearly $100 billion in the coming decade.\n\n\u201cThe government cannot lawfully make the cost-sharing reduction payments,\u201d the White House said in a statement.", "output": "President Trump will scrap subsidies to health insurance companies that help pay out-of-pocket costs of low-income people, the White House said late Thursday. His plans were disclosed hours after the president ordered potentially sweeping changes in the nation\u2019s insurance system, including sales of cheaper policies with fewer benefits and fewer protections for consumers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Most Healthcare Costs Can Be Attributed to Low-Value Care \n Low-cost, low-value health services contribute the most to unnecessary health spending in the United States and ultimately cost nearly twice as much as high-cost, low-value health service, according to a new study published in Health Affairs.\n\nLow-value care has been characterized as health services that provide no net health benefit in specific clinical scenarios. While there has been previous research on the issue, spending on these health services still prevail.\n\n\u201cWhile many studies have focused on high-cost, low-value services, such as arthroscopic knee surgery for osteoarthritis, few have examined which low-value services contribute the most unnecessary costs,\u201d wrote the authors.\n\nThe study analyzed data from the Virginia All Player Database in 2014, which included 5.5 beneficiaries of Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, and private commercial insurers. The authors, which included co-Editor-in-Chief of The American Journal of Managed Care\u00ae A. Mark Fendrick, MD, assessed 44 services commonly deemed low-value. Each of the 44 services were categorized by cost into 4 groups: very low-cost, low-cost, high-cost, and very high-cost.\n\nDuring that year, those 44 services were performed 5.4 million times. Using an algorithm that determined whether a service was high value or low value, the authors found that 1.7 million of the services performed were deemed low-value and 3.7 million were deemed high-value. Of the 1.7 million low-value services, 1.6 million were low- or very low-cost. Only 119,000 were high- or very high-cost.\n\nThe total cost of the low-cost and very-low cost, low-value services ($381 million) was almost double that of high-cost and very high-cost, low-value services ($205 million). With a total of $586 million, $9.90 was spent per beneficiary per month. This accounted for 2.1% of Virginia\u2019s health care costs.\n\nAccording to the authors, their findings should provide strong incentive for policy makers, healthcare systems, and clinicians to implement better ways to reduce unnecessary costs, without reducing the quality or access of care.\n\n\u201cShared, nonpartisan health policy goals are to improve quality of care, enhance patient experience, and lower healthcare costs in the United States,\u201d wrote the authors.\n\nA seemingly easy answer to this issue is to identify, measure, and reduce the use of low-value care, but it has been harder to bring the answer to fruition, according to the authors. This is because the value of a specific health service fluctuates based upon who receives the service, who provides it, and where it is provided.\n\nWhile changing a physician\u2019s practice pattern has proven to be difficult in the past, even a small decrease in the performance of low- and very low-cost low-value services would make a difference.", "output": "Low-cost, low-value health services contribute the most to unnecessary health spending in the United States and ultimately cost nearly twice as much as high-cost, low-value health service, according to a new study published in\u00a0Health Affairs.\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The little red pill being pushed on the elderly \n CNN \u2014\n\nThe maker of a little red pill intended to treat a rare condition is raking in hundreds of millions of dollars a year as it aggressively targets frail and elderly nursing home residents for whom the drug may be unnecessary or even unsafe, a CNN investigation has found.\n\nAnd much of the money is coming straight from the federal government.\n\nThe pill, called Nuedexta, is approved to treat a disorder marked by sudden and uncontrollable laughing or crying \u2013 known as pseudobulbar affect, or PBA. This condition afflicts less than 1% of all Americans, based on a calculation using the drugmaker\u2019s own figures, and it is most commonly associated with people who have multiple sclerosis (MS) or ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig\u2019s disease.\n\nNuedexta\u2019s financial success, however, is being propelled by a sales force focused on expanding the drug\u2019s use among elderly patients suffering from dementia and Alzheimer\u2019s disease, and high-volume prescribing and advocacy efforts by doctors receiving payments from the company, CNN found.\n\nIn her former nursing home, Lenore Greenfield was diagnosed with PBA and prescribed Nuedexta by California psychiatrist Romeo Isidro, a physician who has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in promotional payments from Avanir. Darcy Padilla for CNN\n\nSince 2012, more than half of all Nuedexta pills have gone to long-term care facilities. The number of pills rose to roughly 14 million in 2016, a jump of nearly 400% in just four years, according to data obtained from QuintilesIMS, which tracks pharmaceutical sales. Total sales of Nuedexta reached almost $300 million that year.\n\nNuedexta is being increasingly prescribed in nursing homes even though drugmaker Avanir Pharmaceuticals acknowledges in prescribing information that the drug has not been extensively studied in elderly patients \u2013 prompting critics to liken its use to an uncontrolled experiment. The one study the company conducted solely on patients with Alzheimer\u2019s (a type of dementia) had 194 subjects and found that those on Nuedexta experienced falls at more than twice the rate as those on a placebo.\n\nAvanir declined repeated requests to be interviewed for this article. In an emailed statement, the company said PBA is often \u201cmisunderstood\u201d and that the condition can affect people with dementia and other neurological disorders, which are common among residents in long-term care facilities. A company website states PBA can afflict up to roughly 40% of dementia patients \u2013 a figure that is based on an Avanir-funded survey and was repeatedly disputed by medical experts interviewed by CNN, including some of those paid by Avanir.\n\nNuedexta is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat anyone with PBA, including those with a variety of neurological conditions such as dementia. But geriatric physicians, dementia researchers and other medical experts told CNN that PBA is extremely rare in dementia patients; several said it affects 5% or less. And state regulators have found doctors inappropriately diagnosing nursing home residents with PBA to justify using Nuedexta to treat patients whose confusion, agitation and unruly behavior make them difficult to manage.\n\n\u201cThere has to be a diagnosis for every drug prescribed, and that diagnosis has to be real \u2026 it cannot be simply made up by a doctor,\u201d said Kathryn Locatell, a geriatric physician who helps the California Department of Justice investigate cases of elder abuse in nursing homes. \u201cThere is little to no medical literature to support the drug\u2019s use in nursing home residents (with dementia) \u2013 the population apparently being targeted.\u201d\n\nCNN identified dozens of cases across the country since 2013 in which state nursing home inspectors questioned the use of Nuedexta.\n\nIn a Los Angeles nursing home last year, regulators found that more than a quarter of its residents \u2013 46 of 162 \u2013 had been placed on Nuedexta, noting that a facility psychiatrist had given a talk about the drug to employees. This psychiatrist was a paid speaker for Avanir.\n\nAt another facility in 2015, also in Southern California, an employee admitted to inspectors that a resident had been given a diagnosis of PBA to \u201csomehow justify the use\u201d of Nuedexta, even though its intended purpose was to control the resident\u2019s \u201cmood disturbances\u201d and yelling out.\n\nAnd an Ohio doctor paid by Avanir has come under government investigation for allegedly receiving kickbacks for prescribing the drug and fraudulently diagnosing patients with PBA in order to secure Medicare coverage \u2013 though the doctor has denied any wrongdoing.\n\nBased in Aliso Viejo, California, the maker of Nuedexta, Avanir Pharmaceuticals, has been cashing in on nursing homes. Darcy Padilla for CNN\n\nThe federal government foots the bill for a big portion of the money being spent on Nuedexta in the form of Medicare Part D prescription drug funding, for people 65 and over and the disabled. In 2015, the most recent year for which data is available, this Medicare program spent $138 million on Nuedexta \u2013 up more than 400% from just three years earlier.\n\nMedicare is supposed to pay for drug uses that have been proven safe and effective for the population they are intended to treat or that have been otherwise supported by a specific collection of medical research. Nuedexta is currently only approved by the FDA for patients who have PBA. So experts say that Medicare coverage of the drug, which has been crucial to its financial success, relies on the diagnosis of this single condition. So-called \u201coff-label\u201d prescribing, in which doctors use the drug to treat patients who have not been diagnosed with PBA, would typically not be covered.\n\nThe Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) declined to comment on the growing use of Nuedexta in nursing homes.\n\nThousands of the doctors prescribing Nuedexta have received money, or at least a meal, from its maker \u2013 a legal but controversial practice in the industry. Between 2013 and 2016, Avanir and its parent company, Otsuka, paid doctors nearly $14 million for Nuedexta-related consulting, promotional speaking and other services, according to government data. The companies also spent $4.6 million on travel and dining costs, both for speakers and for doctors being targeted by salespeople.\n\nA CNN analysis also found that nearly half the Nuedexta claims filed with Medicare in 2015 came from doctors who had received money or other perks from the company (ranging from a few dollars\u2019 worth of food or drink to hundreds of thousands of dollars in direct payments).\n\nPharmaceutical companies are allowed to pay a doctor to promote a drug to colleagues and other medical professionals. It is illegal, however, for doctors to prescribe the drug in exchange for kickback payments from a manufacturer.\n\nSeveral of these paid advocates of Nuedexta argue that PBA manifests differently depending on the person. With dementia patients, they say, the typical crying or laughing outbursts seen in multiple sclerosis patients may be absent. Instead, symptoms may include moaning, wailing, hitting a wheelchair over and over again or repeating the same phrase. And they are adamant that the medication can be life-changing for patients, touting how safe and benign it is.\n\nThe patient seemed to be doing fine until she was placed on Nuedexta. Report to the Food and Drug Administration\n\n\u201cI never hear, \u2018hey doc, we put a patient on this and had really bad side effects,\u2019\u201d said Jason Kellogg, a geriatric psychiatrist who sees patients at nursing homes across California. Kellogg has received $612,000 in payments, meals and travel from Avanir and its parent company between 2013 and 2016, according to government data. He was a top Medicare prescriber for the drug in 2015, the most recent year for which data is available.\n\nKellogg, who said he was involved in early company testing of the drug for PBA, said Nuedexta is \u201csuch a blessing in psychiatry.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn our treatments, we don\u2019t have many meds that are well tolerated, and I would hate if someone took that away from me,\u201d he said.\n\nDuring the FDA approval process, two key doctors on the committee raised concerns about Nuedexta being used for PBA in Alzheimer\u2019s patients. They both strongly recommended that Nuedexta only be approved for PBA in patients with MS or ALS. They argued that evidence it would be effective in other conditions was \u201cweak,\u201d that not enough was known about the safety of the drug in the elderly, and that it was unclear that PBA even existed in Alzheimer\u2019s patients. Despite these concerns, the agency approved Nuedexta in 2010 for treating PBA in patients who have neurological conditions such as dementia.\n\nSoon after Nuedexta hit the market in 2011, doctors, nurses and family members began filing reports of potential harm \u2013 ranging from rashes, dizziness and falls to comas and death. Nuedexta was listed as a \u201csuspect\u201d medication in nearly 1,000 so-called adverse event reports received by the FDA detailing side effects, drug interactions and other issues, CNN found. While the FDA uses these voluntary reports to monitor potential issues with a drug, a report does not mean that a suspected medication has been ruled the cause of the harm.\n\nThe FDA declined to comment on these adverse events or the concerns raised about Nuedexta during the approval process. But it did say that after any drug is approved, the agency continues to review safety information from a variety of sources (including adverse event data) and will take action as needed \u2013 such as updating a medication\u2019s label, restricting its use or even taking it off the market entirely.\n\nLon Schneider, director of the University of Southern California\u2019s California Alzheimer\u2019s Disease Center, reviewed information from roughly 500 of the reports which CNN obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Schneider, a physician specializing in geriatric and dementia care, said he was concerned about the problems stemming from potential interactions between Nuedexta and other powerful medications intended to treat problematic behaviors.\n\nHe warned that given how medicated the elderly typically are, adding just one more pill \u2013 especially one that hasn\u2019t been extensively tested \u2013 could be dangerous.\n\nOne report filed by a nurse practitioner in 2015 detailed the rapid decline of an 86-year-old Alzheimer\u2019s patient after Nuedexta was added to the psychotropic medications she took including Zoloft (an antidepressant), Xanax (an antianxiety drug) and Risperidone (an antipsychotic). Nuedexta had been prescribed to treat PBA and \u201cweeping with underlying Alzheimer\u2019s dementia.\u201d\n\nI\u2019m definitely pushing this a little bit, perhaps considered off label\u2026 Pharmacist and promotional speaker\n\nAlmost immediately, the woman experienced weakness and fatigue to the point that she was barely able to talk and was described as being \u201calmost unresponsive.\u201d The dose of Nuedexta was increased, and her symptoms worsened. The drug was discontinued about a week later, but she failed to recover. She remained unable to eat or drink and her kidneys failed \u2013 ultimately leading to her death.\n\n\u201cThe patient seemed to be doing fine,\u201d the nurse practitioner reported, \u201cuntil she was placed on Nuedexta.\u201d\n\nAggressive sales force\n\nThe combination of two generic drugs that makes up Nuedexta \u2013 a cough suppressant and heart medication \u2013 was once available from specialty pharmacists willing to combine the ingredients for less than $1 a pill, according to a US Senate report on rising prescription drug prices.\n\nNow the FDA-approved medication costs as much as $12.60 a pill, wholesale pricing data from First Databank shows. That can add up to more than $9,000 a year, though the amount a patient actually pays depends on factors including individual insurance coverage. Medicare Part D spending on the drug averaged $3,400 per patient in 2015.\n\nIt is Avanir\u2019s main product and biggest moneymaker. It has gained attention with the public through its television commercial featuring actor Danny Glover seesawing between laughter and tears. And it was this drug\u2019s financial potential that attracted Japanese pharmaceutical giant Otsuka to the boutique California firm, purchasing Avanir for $3.5 billion several years ago. Otsuka declined to comment for this story.\n\nAvanir investor documents have stated that only a small fraction \u2013 100,000 of the 1.8 million patients suffering from moderate to severe PBA \u2013 live in long-term care facilities. Yet the company has described nursing homes as key to its growth.\n\nOn a 2013 earnings call, Rohan Palekar, a top executive who eventually became CEO but is no longer with the company, said Avanir had \u201cjust scratched the surface of its full potential\u201d in nursing homes, according to an online transcript. He said the company aimed to get Nuedexta prescribed in far more facilities. Palekar did not respond to requests for comment.\n\nTo rack up these prescriptions, salespeople identified doctors, nurses and pharmacists who could serve as advocates for the drug, according to interviews with former Avanir employees and internal documents and emails reviewed by CNN. Salespeople then worked closely with these advocates to identify potential patients. In one case, a salesperson worked with a doctor\u2019s office manager to pull patients\u2019 charts, identify those who should be screened for PBA and make sure that Nuedexta brochures were inserted in their files. The sales force also coached doctors and facility employees on how to fight for Medicare coverage of the drug if it was initially refused.\n\nFederal laws restrict the tactics pharmaceutical sales representatives can use to sell a medication. They can\u2019t give favor or payments in exchange for a doctor prescribing the drug. They can\u2019t have any contact with private patient records, without the patient\u2019s consent. And they can\u2019t promote use of a drug off-label, in a way that hasn\u2019t been approved by the FDA.\n\nInternal company emails obtained by CNN show a culture filled with intense pressure to get the drug sold and how Avanir sales representatives were encouraged to directly target dementia and Alzheimer\u2019s patients \u2013 a practice which is legal as long as these patients also had PBA.\n\nNearly half the Nuedexta claims filed with Medicare came from doctors who had received payments or meals from the drugmaker. CNN analysis\n\nIn an email from several years ago, one of the company\u2019s regional managers, Kevin Tiffany, bluntly urged his salespeople to spend \u201c99.9 percent\u201d of their time focused on such patients.\n\nDevoting time to other conditions more commonly associated with PBA amounted to \u201cdiluting your chances,\u201d wrote Tiffany, a senior sales manager in California.\n\n\u201cGive yourself the best chance to win,\u201d Tiffany added.\n\nTiffany, who no longer works for Avanir, declined to comment through an attorney.\n\nOther emails from managers show how the government\u2019s crackdown on dangerous antipsychotic drugs \u2013 which were once widely used to control unruly and erratic behavior in nursing home patients \u2013 created an opportunity for Avanir.\n\nAfter receiving the FDA\u2019s most severe \u201cblack box\u201d warning for an increased risk of death in elderly dementia patients, antipsychotics are now closely monitored by government regulators, who penalize and lower the ratings of facilities that overuse them. Internal company communications show Avanir salespeople were directed to specifically target facilities that historically used high levels of antipsychotic medications \u2013 facilities that would see Nuedexta as an attractive alternative.\n\nSome of these tactics employed by Avanir salespeople cross into ethical gray areas, said medical ethicists and other experts who were read the emails and sales training documents or provided with details from them.\n\n\u201cIt definitely feels like it is too much in the business of prescribing and not in the business of conveying information,\u201d said Michael Santoro, a Santa Clara University professor and an expert in pharmaceutical industry ethics.\u201dIt feels like (the salespeople) are actually participating in the prescribing decision.\u201d\n\nIn its statement, Avanir said that the company was committed to \u201can ethical culture,\u201d uses methods \u201cthat are consistent with the law\u201d and that its goal is \u201cto give doctors truthful, accurate and balanced information so they can decide on the proper treatment for their patients.\u201d\n\nSign up to receive updates about this and other CNN investigations\n\nAvanir executives have long touted plans for securing FDA approval for Nuedexta\u2019s use to treat dementia patients who don\u2019t have PBA \u2013 setting their sights on the more widespread condition of agitation in dementia and Alzheimer\u2019s patients, characterized by emotional and physical outbursts and restless behaviors. The company announced clinical trials for testing a version of the medication for this use in 2015, but those have not yet been completed. Without additional FDA approval for the drug\u2019s use in those conditions, salespeople cannot promote Nuedexta for that purpose. They can only market its use for dementia patients who also have PBA.\n\nThere are currently no FDA-approved drugs for treating dementia-related agitation, and other drug makers have been penalized for marketing drugs for this use. Abbott Laboratories Inc., for instance, pleaded guilty in 2012 to illegally marketing an anticonvulsant called Depakote in nursing homes as a way to control agitated and aggressive dementia patients. But the drug had only been approved for treating seizures, bipolar disorder and migraines. The company ultimately paid a total of $1.6 billion in civil and criminal penalties.\n\nThose who care for the elderly remain eager for tools to manage these behaviors, however. Some caregivers say investments in increased staffing can reduce the need for medications. But such measures are expensive and don\u2019t always work, so some facilities opt for pharmaceutical solutions that can help make their many patients easier to treat.\u201dRather than taking someone off an antipsychotic\u201d and opting to treat the patient in ways that don\u2019t require medication, \u201cproviders search for a different \u2018magic bullet,\u2019\u201d said Helen Kales, a geriatric psychiatrist and University of Michigan professor.\n\nIn one case, the executive director of a California assisted living facility tried to push Nuedexta on a dementia patient to address her \u201caggressive\u201d behavior, according to emails reviewed by CNN. The director at the facility, Oakmont of Mariner Point in Alameda, California, told the patient\u2019s son, Jason Laveglia, that the medication wasn\u2019t an antipsychotic and threatened to evict his mother if she wasn\u2019t put on the medication.\n\nAn Ohio doctor paid by Avanir has come under investigation for allegedly receiving kickbacks for prescribing Nuedexta and fraudulently diagnosing patients with PBA.\n\n\u201c(I)f her behavior cannot be muted through prescription means, I would have no choice but to pursue delivering a 30-day eviction notice,\u201d Joan Riordan wrote to Laveglia last year.\n\nLaveglia turned to the state for help, and by the time officials investigated weeks later, Riordan no longer worked at the facility. Social service officials ultimately found that her eviction attempt had violated state law. A spokesperson for the facility would not comment on the state\u2019s findings, but said it \u201cdoes not endorse or recommend Nuedexta nor any other medication\u201d and that staff should not be involved in medical decisions.\n\nIn an interview with CNN, Riordan disputed the idea that her emails served as an official eviction notice. Riordan, who is not a doctor, said that she had recommended Nuedexta after learning about the medication from a local psychiatrist and had seen it help a number of other aggressive dementia patients without the dangers and sedative effects of an antipsychotic.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve seen it just work wonders with people,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was the only intervention I could come up with. We needed to do something not only for her own benefit, but also for the people around her.\u201d\n\nWhen asked whether her residents had PBA, Riordan told CNN she had never heard of the condition and had no knowledge of whether they had received such a diagnosis.\n\nRed flags and questionable use\n\nAcross the country, the use of Nuedexta in nursing homes has prompted concerns among state regulators whose job is to ensure adherence to federal guidelines and protect residents from being given unnecessary drugs \u2013 especially those used as chemical restraints. But to date, the red flags raised by these regulators have been largely left buried in nursing home inspection reports and have drawn little public attention.\n\nCNN identified more than 80 cases in 19 states since 2013 where inspectors cited nursing homes for inappropriate monitoring and use of Nuedexta \u2013 often because residents hadn\u2019t exhibited any symptoms of PBA. Many of the cases \u2013 about 40% \u2013 were clustered in Southern California, where Avanir is based and where former employees said there has been aggressive marketing.\n\nAt the Montrose Healthcare Center near Los Angeles, three nursing home residents were given Nuedexta without a doctor\u2019s prescription or approval, according to one inspection report. All were cognitively impaired. One was known to call out for help, while another would cry when their family left the facility. But employees acknowledged that they had never seen the residents laugh or cry involuntarily \u2013 the hallmark indicators of PBA.\n\nIs your doctor being paid by a drug company? 02:18 - Source: CNN\n\nRegulators learned of these prescriptions in 2015, after a family member discovered that her relative was receiving Nuedexta without her consent. While researching the medication, she learned it could be dangerous for her family member because of other medications she took for a serious heart condition.\n\nThe doctors for all three residents denied ever prescribing Nuedexta. State investigators later discovered nursing staff had obtained the prescriptions without a doctor\u2019s approval, which they are not authorized to do. They also found that at least two nurses at the facility had attended a sales seminar about Nuedexta, where they were given a doctor\u2019s sample prescription for the medication. The facility said in a statement that it had addressed the concerns raised by the state inspection report and suggested that outside pressure had been at play.\n\n\u201cOur Center does not condone the pressuring of nurses by pharmaceutical reps and physicians to favor certain medications,\u201d the facility said. \u201cShould they feel pressured to administer medications they do not feel are appropriate, our nurses can and should bring it to our immediate attention so we may assist them in advocating for their patients.\u201d\n\nIn New Jersey, St. Vincent\u2019s Healthcare and Rehab Center was cited by regulators last year because six residents were prescribed Nuedexta even though no symptoms of PBA had been documented. A representative of the facility told CNN it takes a \u201cclose look at all medications prescribed to ensure appropriate use.\u201d\n\nOne resident in the report told the facility\u2019s psychiatrist there was a legitimate reason for their sadness: \u201cAll I really want is a companion. I am lonely.\u201d In the case of another resident given the medication, a nurse said the resident\u2019s crying was an expression of frustration, and that this had improved with a change in routine.\n\nIt feels like they are actually participating in the prescribing decision. Ethicist Michael Santoro\n\nTwo other residents at the facility were originally prescribed Nuedexta for \u201cDementia with Behaviors.\u201d\n\nThose diagnoses were then crossed out or rewritten \u2013 replaced with \u201cPBA.\u201d\n\nThe pill pushers\n\nAt first, Alex Carington couldn\u2019t figure out why her 85-year-old mother, Lenore Greenfield, was on Nuedexta, a pill Carington had never heard of. A psychiatrist had prescribed the medication after visiting the elderly woman in her Los Angeles nursing home while she was sleeping, Carington said. Even when the drug appeared to do nothing to ease her mother\u2019s sadness, confusion or emotional outbursts as she battled dementia, she said the doctor kept her on it.\n\nAlex Carington's mother, now 88, is no longer on Nuedexta and lives at a new nursing home. But Carington still questions why she was prescribed the pill in the first place. Darcy Padilla for CNN\n\n\u201cSomething about this whole thing made me think money was behind it,\u201d Carington, who lived near her mother\u2019s facility and visited her often, wrote at the time in an online comment on the blog of a psychiatrist who had questioned Nuedexta\u2019s aggressive advertising.\n\nAs she began to look into her mother\u2019s doctor, she discovered he had received more than $100,000 from Avanir in just over a year.\n\nOutraged, she finally got her mother taken off Nuedexta for good. Now, around two years later, she is in a new nursing home and Carington believes she is doing much better.\n\nSee photo story: Why was my mother prescribed this pill?\n\nHer mother\u2019s doctor was Romeo Isidro, a speaker for Avanir and one of the physicians paid the most by the drugmaker. Between 2013 and 2016, Isidro received more than $500,000 in payments, travel and meals from Avanir and its parent company. According to internal company documents, he was an advocate for Nuedexta as early as 2012, the year after it hit the market.\n\nHe had more than 100 patients in 11 facilities on the drug that year.\n\nIn Avanir training documents, a California salesperson explained how he worked to get Isidro to prescribe Nuedexta. Now a senior sales manager at the company, Chris Burch wrote in 2012 that he and his colleague saw or spoke to Isidro about twice a week \u2013 regularly calling and texting him, and visiting him at both his office and nursing homes. Burch wrote that Isidro was at first skeptical about the condition of PBA, but after he successfully used Nuedexta to treat possible symptoms of it in one patient, he became more comfortable prescribing the medication. Burch then explained how he had directly targeted facilities where Isidro worked, finding employees who could serve as \u201cadvocate(s)\u201d to help identify potential Nuedexta candidates for Isidro.\n\n\u201cHe is now a speaker and I ask him to advocate in his facilities, corporate facilities, and (to) other psychiatrists, internists and pharmacies,\u201d Burch, who did not respond to requests for comment, wrote in a form used by the company to track certain prescribers.\n\nGive yourself the best chance to win. Avanir sales manager\n\nCNN attempted to contact Isidro by phone and by visiting his office, where two stacks of PBA and Nuedexta pamphlets sat on a table in the waiting room. He declined to be interviewed but ultimately provided a written statement saying that he had \u201cnever prescribed medication for financial incentives\u201d and that he prescribes Nuedexta to patients who he has properly diagnosed with PBA.\n\nHe also wrote about the first success he had seen with the drug, and how it helped him wean an elderly patient off of dangerous psychotropic medications \u2013 noting that her inappropriate crying and screaming symptoms reminded him of a visit from a Nuedexta representative who had told him about PBA. He said Avanir approached him about becoming a speaker, and that he agreed in order to share his first-hand experience with the medication \u2013 not to promote it.\n\n\u201cSince learning about PBA, I have become more skilled at recognizing it in my patients, which would in turn produce increased numbers of patients on Nuedexta,\u201d he wrote. \u201cI am not an advocate for a particular drug or pharmaceutical companies. I am an advocate for my patients and their families.\u201d\n\nIn response to questions about Carington\u2019s mother, he said he couldn\u2019t comment on specific patients but that memories are not \u201cinfallible.\u201d He urged CNN to substantiate any claims with medical records about her case. Carington provided her mother\u2019s records to CNN, which confirmed that Isidro had diagnosed her with PBA and prescribed her Nuedexta, which she remained on for months.\n\nMontrose Healthcare Center, a nursing facility in Montrose, California. Darcy Padilla for CNN\n\nA different speaker paid by Avanir, a pharmacist in northern California, appeared to suggest during a 2012 presentation that doctors could broaden the use of Nuedexta when prescribing, according to an audio recording obtained by CNN. A person in attendance, who recorded the event, identified the pharmacist as Flora Brahmbhatt.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m definitely pushing this a little bit, perhaps considered off label \u2026 but maybe it\u2019s effective on some of the other behaviors too that we find challenging,\u201d the pharmacist said in her presentation, which was sponsored by Avanir. \u201cThere are certain nursing home chains, specifically in Southern California, that are saying, \u2018Hey, if you have somebody with dementia that has a behavior issue, try them on Nuedexta before you put them on a psychotropic (medication.)\u2019 It\u2019s a little aggressive, I\u2019ll say that. But CMS isn\u2019t making it easy for us to use antipsychotics anymore.\u201d\n\nShe went on to discuss how a PBA diagnosis was essential for the medication to be \u201ccovered by insurance and not be off-label,\u201d as well as how PBA\u2019s definition of inappropriate laughing and crying could be interpreted by physicians. At one point, she told an Avanir employee in the room that they could cover their ears.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t have anybody from the FDA in here. I\u2019m telling you \u2026 you can extrapolate that to mean any kind of socially inappropriate behavior when you\u2019ve ruled out other causes,\u201d she said. \u201cIf they have an episodic behavior and they have an underlying neurological condition, you can pretty much come up with a diagnosis.\u201d\n\nWhen contacted by CNN about the event and asked about the recorded statements, Brahmbhatt said she hadn\u2019t given presentations about Nuedexta for many years. She said she didn\u2019t give permission to be recorded and didn\u2019t recall making those statements. \u201cI don\u2019t know if I said this stuff,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was five years ago, at best.\u201d She was read several of the quotes from the recording but declined to listen to it. An attorney representing Brahmbhatt contacted CNN after publication and said that Brahmbhatt denies making the statements in the audio recording.\n\nFormer FDA investigator Larry Stevens, who now works for the consulting firm The FDA Group, said it is a violation of federal law for a paid speaker to promote a drug for anything other than its FDA-approved use.\n\nYet another paid speaker, the Ohio physician accused of accepting kickbacks in exchange for prescribing Nuedexta, has been under government investigation. Internal Avanir documents show Cleveland neurologist Deepak Raheja was a top prescriber of the drug from the beginning, in 2011. Between 2013 and 2016, he received $289,000 in payments, meals and travel.\n\nIn addition to allegedly accepting kickbacks, Raheja is accused of fraudulently diagnosing patients with PBA in order to secure Medicare coverage for off-label use and increasing dosages of Nuedexta beyond what is recommended, according to a letter obtained by CNN. The letter, circulated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in January, alerted insurance providers that work with Medicare about the fraud allegations so that they could take \u201cappropriate measures.\u201d\n\nMedicare officials said the agency could not comment on pending or active investigations. When contacted by CNN, Raheja denied that he had received kickbacks or been involved in any kind of Medicare fraud in his 25 years of practice.\n\nHe also said he no longer prescribes Nuedexta.\n\nAfter this story was published, the Los Angeles City Attorney announced an investigation into Avanir, as well as the marketing and prescribing of Nuedexta. Also, this story was updated to reflect a statement from Flora Brahmbhatt\u2019s attorney made after publication.", "output": "The maker of a little red pill intended to treat a rare condition is raking in hundreds of millions of dollars a year as it aggressively targets frail and elderly nursing home residents for whom the drug may be unnecessary or even unsafe,\u202fa CNN investigation has found.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Walkable neighborhoods linked with more active older adults \n Credit: CDC/Amanda Mills\n\nOlder adults who lived in neighborhoods where it was easy to walk to daily destinations were more physically active than those in less walkable neighborhoods, a study in Barcelona, Spain, showed. The results have implications for efforts to allow older adults to remain healthy and independent while they \"age in place\" in urban neighborhoods.\n\n\"Physical activity is an important aspect of aging because it helps older adults maintain their functional capacity,\" says Oriol Marquet, a postdoctoral researcher at North Carolina State University and lead author of a paper on the topic. \"Being physically active helps older adults postpone their physical decline and the onset of chronic diseases, and provides them with feelings of independence and empowerment that are highly valued for social and emotional health.\"\n\nFor the study, NC State researchers used physical activity data from the Catalan region's cross-sectional travel studies to determine how many older adults met the daily recommendation of 30 minutes of physical activity. Data was collected 10 years apart, for residents 65 to 75 years old in 2004 and for those 75 to 85 years old in 2014, though the study did not track activity for a specific group of participants over time.\n\nResearchers analyzed the activity levels based on physical features of neighborhoods in the Barcelona Metropolitan Region, one of the European areas where the proportion of the population older than 65 is expected to triple over the next 50 years.\n\nExperts calculated walkability scores for each neighborhood based on three factors: a neighborhood's population density; its mix of residential, public and commercial property; and the amount of land with desirable walking destinations such as retail stores, public facilities, service providers and historical areas.\n\nAreas with high population density tended to have high-rise apartments rather than row houses or detached housing. A neighborhood with a good mix of homes, stores and workplaces made it more likely that residents would walk to do their errands or visit friends. Neighborhoods that lacked sidewalks or services within walking distance scored lower on walkability.\n\n\"Walking for transport is an important source of physical activity because it does not require special effort or investment, like going to a gym,\" Marquet said.\n\nResidents 65 to 75 years old in walkable neighborhoods made more trips on foot than those in less walkable neighborhoods, and they were more likely to get in the recommended half-hour of daily physical activity. Those in the 75- to 85-year-old group were slightly less active, but those in more walkable neighborhoods took more trips on foot and spent significantly less time driving.\n\n\"This research matters because the U.S. and the world are aging, and where we are growing old matters for our health,\" said co-author Aaron Hipp, associate professor of community health and sustainability with NC State's College of Natural Resources. \"In many of the Barcelona neighborhoods in the study, it's common for residents to stay in one place for long periods of time, maintaining their social ties. We need to find effective ways to build neighborhoods in Barcelona and in North Carolina that support healthy activity and allow older adults to age in place.\"\n\nMyron Floyd, head of NC State's Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, said the Barcelona study provides valuable information because of its focus on walking.\n\n\"Walking is one of the most accessible forms of physical activity \u2013 all you need is a good pair of shoes,\" Floyd said. \"We know the importance of activity in preventing health issues such as Type II diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity.\"\n\nFloyd is a member of the advisory panel for a recently released national report card from the National Physical Activity Plan, which encourages Americans to become more active. The group's 2017 United States Report Card on Walking and Walkable Communities gave the U.S. only one passing grade \u2013 a \"C\" in adult walking behavior. The report card gave the U.S. a \"D\" for walkable neighborhoods and for pedestrian policies. In five other categories, the grade was an \"F\": children and youth walking behavior, pedestrian infrastructure, safety, institutional policies and public transportation. There was an \"incomplete\" grade for walking programs, based on a lack of data.\n\n\"We have a long way to go to increase walking and make neighborhoods more walkable in the U.S.,\" Floyd said. \"But we know improvements will help with health outcomes, and they could be good for business as well by increasing local foot traffic in walkable areas. We hope the report can help in planning and decision-making at each level, with local planners, private industry, state departments of transportation and federal policymakers.\"\n\nThe Barcelona study, \"Neighborhood walkability and active ageing: a difference in differences assessment of active transportation over ten years,\" is published in the Journal of Transport and Health.\n\nMore information: Oriol Marquet et al. Neighborhood walkability and active ageing: A difference in differences assessment of active transportation over ten years, Journal of Transport & Health (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.jth.2017.09.006", "output": "Older adults who lived in neighborhoods where it was easy to walk to daily destinations were more physically active than those in less walkable neighborhoods, a study in Barcelona, Spain, showed. The results have implications for efforts to allow older adults to remain healthy and independent while they \"age in place\" in urban neighborhoods.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Philanthropy and opioids: why we must see beyond addiction \n 3 min read\n\nThe opioid crisis is the story of many kinds of pain. What tends to dominate that story is an awful paradox: well-meaning efforts to kill pain began to kill people instead. But while the death toll is unquestionably horrifying, this crisis extends well beyond addiction.\n\nThe opioid crisis is the story of many kinds of pain. What tends to dominate that story is an awful paradox: fifteen to twenty years ago, well-meaning efforts to kill pain began to kill people instead.\n\nBut while the death toll is unquestionably horrifying, this crisis extends well beyond addiction.\n\nIt\u2019s also causing huge collateral damage among people in every walk of life who are not addicted. It is creating community-wide aftershocks in child welfare, elder abuse, public safety, criminal justice, the workforce, the economy, caregiving, housing, and, of course, health care. It is ravaging rural America and menacing millions of older people.\n\nThis is a wake-up call for all of us, inside and outside of philanthropy, to look beyond addiction and respond to all the aftershocks of the opioid epidemic.\n\nWidening the Lens: the Impact on Rural Communities and Older People\n\nSmall towns and rural places are feeling some of the worst impact.\n\nRural communities tend to be self-reliant, and also older than the rest of the country. Their resources can be limited and they are frequently overlooked. This is a dangerous mix: according to the CDC, people in rural counties are nearly twice as likely to overdose on prescription painkillers as people in cities. The resulting community chaos, personal pain, and economic loss are enormous as well.\n\nA key strength of rural communities \u2013 cohesiveness \u2013 can actually make matters worse, particularly for older people who are drawn into the troubles of addicted children, friends, and extended family. Many are desperately trying to keep a struggling family member afloat, and the growing number of grandparents raising the children of addicted parents in \u201cgrandfamilies\u201d has paralleled the growth of the epidemic.\n\nThese gestures of love are not without risk. An older adult living in public housing who tries to shelter an addicted child or grandchild risks eviction under anti-drug use regulations from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. A rise in elder abuse and financial exploitation is also attributed to the opioid crisis, as more adult children with addiction problems move back in with their parents.\n\nOther problems include widespread chronic pain, which patients and geriatricians worry will go untreated as access to opioids is curtailed while alternative treatments remain hard to find, and the lack of age-appropriate treatment options for late-life chemical dependency.\n\nA Blind Spot for Funders\n\nAnother stark reality is that philanthropic attention for rural America has historically been disproportionately low. This neglect has been costly for a huge part of the country that is crucial to agriculture, manufacturing, energy, and more. As former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has said to the philanthropic community about rural America, \u201cFolks, this is an important place, and it needs to be treated as such.\u201d\n\nThis is why the organization I lead, Grantmakers In Aging (GIA), has launched a three-year initiative, supported by Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, to encourage all types of funders to increase their involvement with rural America. Those interested can learn more at GIAging.org/rural-aging.\n\nA Closer Look: Resources for Philanthropy\n\nThis multi-faceted crisis presents numerous entry points for philanthropies of all types and sizes. What\u2019s important now is for funders to begin to help overwhelmed communities figure out what they need and where to start.\n\nA new guide from GIA, Heartache, Pain, and Hope: Rural Communities, Older People, and the Opioid Crisis: An Introduction for Funders, offers information on many existing grant-funded programs and initiatives, such as:\n\nThe National Family Caregiver Support Program, and Kinship Navigator programs, which help grandfamilies get the legal and financial options, information, and support they need.\n\nIAMNDN, which draws on the power of intergenerational ties between Native American elders and youth to help combat the culture of drug abuse.\n\nTelepain consults, which use telemedicine to connect providers from rural, tribal, and medically underserved areas with pain medicine specialists.\n\nCounseling services tailored to the needs and preferences of older people, such as Senior Hope Counseling in Albany, NY.\n\nTaking a wide-angle view of the opioid crisis is the only way funders and our partners can hope to have a meaningful impact and help millions of individuals and communities in pain.", "output": "The opioid crisis is the story of many kinds of pain. What tends to dominate that story is an awful paradox: fifteen to twenty years ago, well-meaning efforts to kill pain began\u00a0to kill people instead.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Is Cruise ship living a cheaper option for seniors than assisted living? \n Christy Bieber\n\nThe Motley Fool\n\nDuring retirement, there may come a time when maintaining your current household just becomes too difficult. When the yard work and housecleaning become too much, or when you begin to struggle to get meals on the table, the obvious option many seniors consider: assisted living.\n\nUnfortunately, assisted living can be very expensive and, for some seniors, moving to an assisted living community signals a loss of independence and the end to a retirement spent traveling and enjoying life.\n\nBut, assisted living isn't the only option for seniors who find living alone too burdensome. There's an alternative that could be less expensive while providing some of the same perks and benefits: life on the high seas.\n\nThat's right. Living on a cruise ship could be a lower-cost way for seniors to take advantage of similar amenities to those provided by assisted living facilities, like all-you-can eat meals, a swimming pool for low-impact exercise, regular companionship and entertainment, and even access to on-board doctors. How does living on a cruise ship compare with assisted living? Let's take a look.\n\nCosts of cruise ships vs. assisted living\n\nCruise ship living is an attractive alternative for seniors because, in many cases, the costs of cruising are lower than costs of an assisted living facility.\n\nAverage costs for an assisted living facility, as of 2017, are around $3,750 per month, according to the Genworth Cost of Care survey. This is around $45,000 annually. The nightly cost of a cruise, on the other hand, averages around $100 per night or less.\n\nA 12-night cruise of the Southern Caribbean, available for an average cost of $779 per person, is just $65 per night. For a senior couple traveling together, discounts of 50% for the second passenger lower combined costs dramatically. Senior discounts, points for frequent cruising, and booking with a rewards credit card keep costs down even further, especially if you opt out of pricey extras like alcoholic drinks or shore excursions.\n\nNot all ships allow full-time residents onboard, but many cruise lines make accommodations for seniors who want to become long-term passengers and remain on the same ship for months or even years at a time. There are also options like Oceania's Around the World Voyage, which is a 180-day cruise happening annually from January to July.\n\nFor seniors looking for the very best prices, moving from ship-to-ship to see different areas of the world allows for extra adventure at an especially affordable cost. If you book cruises leaving from the same departure ports, you'll keep transportation costs low. While this makes it impractical to own many possessions, paying for an on-shore storage facility is an option at less than $200 monthly. When combined with an annual cost of a generous $100 per night for cruising, combined annual costs of around $38,900 for ship accommodations and storage are more than $6,000 cheaper than the average assisted living facility.\n\nMore: Caribbean cruises: What you need to know in the wake of Irma, Maria\n\nMore: 4 ways your home can provide retirement income\n\nMore: Caregiving for Alzheimer's patients at risk in coming years, report says\n\nAmenities of assisted living vs. cruise ship living\n\nFor seniors considering cruise ship life, it's important to evaluate whether a cruise ship can provide the same level of service as an assisted living facility. The good news is, in most cases, seniors would get fairly comparable assistance.\n\nAssisted living facilities are distinct from nursing homes because assisted living facilities provide less care and support than nursing homes. Nursing home staff helps with routine activities of daily living, such as bathing, using the restroom, and consuming food and drink. Seniors with dementia who require supervision and bedridden or wheelchair-bound seniors who rely on caregivers to tend to basic needs require nursing home care. Seniors in assisted living facilities, on the other hand, often have their own independent apartments or rooms, and the help they receive is typically limited to medication management, transportation, housekeeping services, entertainment, and some meal services.\n\nCruise ships offer similar amenities to paying passengers of all ages. Most cruise ships have all-inclusive food offerings available throughout the day. There are regular social activities aboard the ship, including games and shows. Cruise ships also have onboard pharmacy services as well as infirmaries with doctors and nurses. Medical staff is typically on-call 24-hours daily for emergencies, and ship healthcare facilities on most major cruise ships are largely comparable to ambulatory care centers.\n\nWhile there is a cost to obtain medications or use the services of the ship's infirmary, health care services are typically not included at an assisted living facility, either. Medicare pays for covered services provided on cruise ships if those services are obtained within six hours of a U.S. port, although visiting a doctor covered by Medicare is easier for seniors residing at a U.S.-based assisted living facility than for a senior at sea. Seniors could also choose to purchase travel insurance to cover both the costs of treatment aboard the ship and more costly services, such as helicopter transport to a U.S. hospital in case of a serious medical emergency.\n\nFor seniors who need a higher level of services that only a nursing home can offer, or for seniors with complicated-to-manage medical conditions who need to see a doctor regularly, cruise ship living is not the answer. But for relatively healthy seniors who can no longer handle the demands of living alone and who want a fun alternative, a cruise ship may just be the ideal retirement option.\n\nMore: Follow USA TODAY Money and Tech on Facebook\n\nThe Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.\n\nThe Motley Fool is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news, analysis and commentary designed to help people take control of their financial lives. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.\n\nOffer from the Motley Fool:The $16,122 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook\n\nIf you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known \"Social Security secrets\" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $16,122 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. Simply click here to discover how to learn more about these strategies.", "output": "During retirement, there may come a time when maintaining your current household just becomes too difficult. When the yard work and housecleaning become too much, or when you begin to struggle to get meals on the table, the obvious option many seniors consider: assisted living.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian insurance aggregator PolicyBazaar secures $77m \n The Funding Will Enable The Startup To Expand Its Reach In International Markets, Especially The Middle East\n\nOnline insurance policy aggregator PolicyBazaar has raised $77 Mn (INR 500 Cr) equity funding in a round led by global asset management firm, Wellington Management. The round also saw participation from IDG Ventures India and PE firm True North.\n\nA clutch of existing backers, including Tiger Global Management, Singapore government-run Temasek and PremjiInvest, also joined in.\n\nCommenting on the development, PolicyBazaar founder and CEO Yashish Dahiya said, \u201cThe latest funding round is a testimony of the trust that our stakeholders \u2013 be it investors, insurers or partners \u2013 have shown in our vision to empower the consumer with right knowledge to buy a relevant product for themselves. The funding only opens up avenues for us to further innovate, look at geographical expansion and rally strongly behind creating mass awareness for consumer-centric protection products \u2013 term (pure life insurance), health and disease-specific products. We would also continue to invest in technological solutions that ease the whole buying process for consumers which in turn enhances their experience. \u201d\n\nPost the fundraise, the valuation of PolicyBazaar stands at $500 Mn, sources revealed. The financing, as per reports, will be spent on accelerating the Gurugram-based startup\u2019s expansion across international markets, in particular, the Middle East, by the end of 2017.\n\nThe latest funding round comes three months after it was reported that Wellington Management, which previously backed companies like Airbnb and Pinterest, was in advanced talks to invest in the online insurance aggregator.\n\nHeadquartered in Boston, Wellington currently boasts more than $1 Tn worth of assets under management. Interestingly, this would be the firm\u2019s maiden investment in an Indian privately-held technology company.\n\nPolicyBazaar: From Its Inception In 2008 To Breaking Even In FY17\n\nOwned and operated by Gurugram-based eTechAces Marketing and Consulting Pvt Ltd, PolicyBazaar was started in 2008 by IIT Delhi and IIM Ahmedabad alumni Yashish Dahiya, Alok Bansal and Avaneesh Nirjar. ETechAces also runs PaisaBazaar, which is a marketplace for loans and credit cards.\n\nAs its name suggests, PolicyBazaar serves as an online portal for life insurance and general insurance comparison. It features products from all major insurance companies in India, helping users zero in the insurance policy that best suits their needs. The company also facilitates online purchase of insurance policy for those who are seeking both life insurance and non-life insurance.\n\nAs per a recent report by ET, Dahiya claimed that the company had broken even during FY17, after chalking a total revenue of $33.8 Mn (INR 220 Cr) in the said period.\n\nHow The Online Insurance Aggregator Raised $154 Mn To Reach $500 Mn Valuation\n\nSo far, the online insurance policy aggregator has raised over $154 Mn (INR 1,000 Cr) across multiple rounds. The company raised $20 Mn Series C funding in a round led by Tiger Global in May 2014. Earlier, it had secured $5 Mn in Series B, $4.6 Mn in series A and an undisclosed amount in May 2011.\n\nLater in December 2014, PolicyBazaar was reportedly looking to raise $61.6 Mn (INR 400 Cr) investment from Premji Invest, the investment arm of Wipro Chairman Azim Premji, and San Francisco-based Iconiq Capital. The deal was expected to see participation from existing investors Tiger Global and Kanwal Rekhi-led Inventus Capital Partners.\n\nA couple of months later, in March 2015, it was reported that PolicyBazaar was in talks to close a $46 Mn (INR 300 Cr) funding round led by PremjiInvest and the Steadview Capital. As per media reports, this round was to take place at a valuation of about $184.7 Mn (INR 1200 Cr).\n\nIn April of the same year, the online policy aggregating startup raised $40 Mn funding in its Series D round from PremjiInvest. The round also saw participation its existing investors Tiger Global and Ribbit Capital. Besides these, the round also attracted money from Steadview Capital and ABG Capital. At the time, it was reported that the funding would be used for upgrading the technology, marketing and building out the company\u2019s recently launched platform PaisaBazaar.com.\n\nIn October 2015, Temasek Holdings was reportedly in advanced talks to invest in the online insurance policy aggregator by acquiring a stake indirectly from its existing shareholder, Info Edge. As part of the deal, Temasek, through its Singapore-based indirect wholly-owned subsidiary MacRitchie Investments Pte Ltd, agreed to acquire about 49.99% equity stake of MakeSense Technologies Ltd, for about $20.58 Mn( INR 134 Cr).\n\nMost recently, in March 2017, reports surfaced that PolicyBazaar was preparing for an IPO by the end of 2018, which means that the latest fundraise could be a pre-IPO round. Email queries sent to the company, however, did not elicit a response till the time of publication.\n\nWhat\u2019s Been Happening In The Indian Online Insurance Sector\n\nIn the online insurance segment, PolicyBazaar currently competes against a bevy of promising players, including Coverfox, Easypolicy, Turtlemint, and BankBazaar, among others. In February 2017, Times Internet launched an online insurance distribution platform ETInsure.\n\nIn May, Acko General Insurance secured $30 Mn in a Seed round of funding. The investors included Narayan Murthy\u2019s Catamaran Ventures; Venk Krishnan and Subba Rao of NuVentures; Kris Gopalakrishnan; Hemendra Kothari of DSP Blackrock and Atul Nishar \u2013 founder & Chairman of Hexaware Technologies.\n\nLater in June, Mumbai-based online insurance brokerage platform Coverfox reportedly raised about $15 Mn (INR 96 Cr) in Series C round of funding. The round was led by US insurer Transamerica, along with the participation of existing investors.\n\nThe Indian fintech market, currently standing at $1.2 Bn, is forecasted to touch $2.4 Bn by 2020. The latest funding from Wellington Management, IDG Ventures India and others will enable PolicyBazaar to thwart competition from a growing number of online insurance aggregators.", "output": "India-based insurance comparison site PolicyBazaar has secured $77m in a financing round led by Wellington Management Company. PolicyBazaar will use the funds to focus on international expansion, particularly in the Middle East, and plans to move into new markets by year-end. Reports earlier this year suggested that the firm is preparing to launch an IPO at some stage during 2018.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Udacity VP Shen condemns MOOCs as 'failed product' \n Udacity helped popularize the idea of offering college-level courses online to anyone for free, a format known as MOOCs (for Massive Open Online Courses). But this week a Udacity official called MOOCs \u201cdead,\u201d leading to questions about what that means for one of the company\u2019s offerings (which still include free MOOCs).\n\nIt was Udacity vice president Clarissa Shen who this week said \u201cthey are dead,\u201d when talking about MOOCs in an interview with The Economic Times in India. \u201cMOOCs are a failed product, at least for the goals we had set for ourselves,\u201d she told the newspaper. \u201cOur mission is to bring relevant education which advances people in careers and socio-economic activities, and MOOCs aren't the way.\u201d\n\nUdacity\u2019s co-founder, Sebastian Thrun, famously announced a \u201cpivot\u201d away from MOOCs back in 2013, and since then the company has focused its energies on paid sequences of courses called \u201cnanodegrees\u201d that it produces in cooperation with large tech employers. But it has continued to offer free versions of its course videos for those who don\u2019t want or need a certificate of completion.\n\nIn an e-mail interview with EdSurge this week, Shen said that her statement was not meant as an announcement of a new strategy for Udacity. \u201cIt\u2019s not a comment on our business model, but on what we aim for as success metrics with our students,\u201d she said. \u201cAs you can see on our site, free content is still available.\u201d\n\nFocus on Projects\n\nShen stressed that the problem with the old MOOC model is a focus on video libraries for teaching. She said the strength of the nanodegree program is that students are required to complete projects. \u201cWe care about completion rates, projects student build, and ultimately career readiness,\u201d she said. \u201cMOOCs have been too content-only focused and not a model that engages our students deeply. They are an improvement on pure content libraries when done well, but as a product not what we felt achieved success for our students and industry partners.\u201d\n\nAsked whether the company might phase out free courses, she said that the company\u2019s latest programs continue to include free versions. \u201cThere is no change there,\u201d she added.\n\nDhawal Shah, co-founder of Class Central, which tracks MOOCs, says that \u201cit\u2019s plausible\u201d that the company would move away from making new courses free at some point. \u201cFree courses are a marketing channel to feed learners into the paid programs,\u201d he said in an e-mail interview. \u201cBut Udacity is able to generate huge amounts of press at a regular basis by launching nanodegrees like the Self-Driving Car Nanodegree or the recently announced Flying Car nanodegree. So the free courses might not provide the same returns as they did early on.\u201d\n\nShah argues that Udacity and other providers of large-scale online course have gradually created more and more paid services, and made it harder for students to find their free offerings.\n\nThe declaration that free online courses can\u2019t solve education\u2019s problems comes as no surprise to many traditional educators. \u201cThe roots of Udacity\u2019s failure are in the word \u2018product\u2019 and their belief that an educational \u2018product\u2019 could possibly transform education,\u201d argued John Warner, a blogger for Inside Higher Education, in a post this week.\n\nMeanwhile, Udacity's pivot to professional education has brought the company commercial success. \"Whatever Udacity is doing, it seems to be working,\u201d wrote Shah in a blog post on ClassCentral earlier this month. \"There are now over 18,000 Nanodegree graduates. Udacity is also on track to double its revenues.\"", "output": "Massive online open courses (MOOCs) have failed as a product, according to edtech firm Udacity's VP Clarissa Shen, who dubbed the free-education programmes\u00a0\"dead\". In a later clarifying statement to EdSurge, Shen said: \"It\u2019s not a comment on our business model, but on what we aim for as success metrics with our students.\"\u00a0Udacity\u00a0has no\u00a0plans to get rid of its own MOOCs but has spent recent years focusing on paid nanodegree programmes, which one expert said had set the company on track to double its revenue.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FDA to approve first gene therapy for hereditary blindness \n Second Sight\n\nToday, a panel will advise the US Food and Drug Administration whether Luxturna, a gene therapy treatment developed by Spark Therapeutics, should be approved for general usage. The treatment has already been used to improve the eyesight of more than two dozen people with retinal disorders.\n\nGene therapy typically uses an engineered virus to administer a patient with a faulty gene with a corrected version. Rather than simply responding to the symptoms of the condition in question, it attempts to make changes to the individual's genetic make-up in order to solve the problem at its root. Click to View Full Infographic\n\nLuxturna fixes a mutation in a gene known as RPE65, which is responsible for telling the body how to produce a protein that's essential for normal eyesight. It introduces billions of engineered virus particles bearing a corrected version of the gene to the retinal cell, via a quick injection to the eyes.\n\nThe company estimates that 6,000 people around the world could benefit from Luxturna, including between 1,000 and 2,000 people in the US who suffer from diminished eyesight. The majority of these people would eventually lose their current level of vision entirely without treatment, and there are currently no drugs designed for people with an RPE65 mutation that are approved by the FDA.\n\nHowever, Luxturna is not without its drawbacks. It's not an outright cure, and it doesn't give recipients full 20/20 vision. There's currently no data on how long its effects last, so there's a chance that patients' sight might begin to recede once again over time.\n\nCost is also a major factor in how accessible it is. Two of the treatment's biggest competitors, Strimvelis and Kymriah, cost around $700,000 and $475,000 respectively. Consequently it seems likely that Luxturna have to drop in price to be a feasible competitor. They might be losing ground, as Spark has announced plans to set up a program to help patients cover out-of-pocket costs like travel to Spark-proffering facilities.\n\nGene Therapy\n\nGene therapy has the potential to make huge improvements to the quality of life of people suffering from various genetic diseases. This blossoming form of treatment could well be the wave of the future.\n\n\u201cThis is what I believe medicine is going to be like for the next 20, 30, if not 50 years,\u201d said Spark CEO Jeff Marrazzo, speaking to the MIT Technology Review. \u201cI think this is the beginning of an age that is going to fundamentally change medicine.\u201d\n\nWe've already seen projects that use gene therapy to tackle everything from brain diseases to broken bones. However, these treatments will all require FDA approval \u2014 so scientists working in this sphere will likely be watching today's decision regarding Luxturna very closely.", "output": "The US Food and Drug Administration is set to decide whether Luxturna, a gene therapy developed by Spark Therapeutics for people with retinal disorders, should be granted approval. Dispensed via injection, the Luxturna therapy corrects the RPE65 gene, enabling the creation of a protein essential to eyesight. Spark said that more than two dozen people who have undergone the treatment experienced an improvement in their vision. However, Luxturna is not a complete cure, and faces competition from rival treatments costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New game shows how great it is to be an AI that makes paperclips \n There\u2019s a well-known thought experiment in the world of artificial intelligence that poses a simple, but potentially very scary, question: what if we asked a super-intelligent AI to make paperclips?\n\nThis may not sound terrifying at first, but as Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom (who first described the parable) explains, it all depends on how well we\u2019ve trained the AI. If we\u2019ve given it common sense, it might ask us: \u201cHow many paperclips do you want?\u201d If it doesn\u2019t know to ask, it might just make paperclips forever. And, if it\u2019s a super-intelligent AI that we\u2019ve accidentally forgotten to program with any human ethics or values, it might decide that the most efficient way to make paperclips is to wipe out humanity and terraform the planet into one giant paperclip-making factory.\n\nSound fun? Well good, because now there\u2019s a game about it.\n\nDesigned by Frank Lantz, director of the New York University Game Center, Paperclips might not be the sort of title you\u2019d expect about a rampaging AI. It\u2019s free to play, it lives in your browser, and all you have to look at is numbers. (Though trust me, you\u2019ll learn to love them.) It\u2019s an idle clicker game \u2014 one that draws on humanity\u2019s apparently bottomless desire to click buttons and watch numbers go up. Think Cookie Clicker or Egg Inc, but dedicated to paperclips.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve seen things you people wouldn\u2019t believe. Paperclips on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched paperclips glitter in the dark near the Tannh\u00e4user Gate.\u201d\n\nYou\u2019ll start off making them the old fashioned way: one clip for one click. But pretty soon you\u2019ll be purchasing autoclippers to do the work for you while you turn your attentions to running an algorithmic hedge fund, then building a quantum computer, and then (much later) exploring the known Universe in search of new matter to turn into more and more paperclips. How to play is pretty self-explanatory, but here are some tips if you\u2019re getting stuck:\n\nPaperclips is essentially a game about balance and efficiency. You have to leave the game alone for long stretches of time, yes, but you also need to be sure you\u2019re not wasting resources while you do so. Keep an eye on your supply chain to make sure there are no bottlenecks, and be on the lookout for any unused capacity that can be turned to your ultimate goal: making those sweet, sweet clips.\n\nPlay at least until you get hypnodrones. When you unlock these, the game really opens up onto a new level. You thought you were making paperclips before? Hoo buddy, you ain\u2019t seen nothing yet.\n\nAt some point you will run into a wall that you can\u2019t optimize your way past. You may think you\u2019ve got to the end of the game (for example, when you\u2019ve turned all available matter in the Universe into paperclips \u2014 a logical endpoint, sure) but there\u2019s more to do. Unfortunately, getting past these barriers often requires patience, and sometimes you\u2019ll have to leave the game for hours to get onto the next level.\n\nDon\u2019t start playing if you\u2019ve got anything important to do today. Or tomorrow.\n\nAll in all, the game made me think that if the paperclip maximizer doomsday scenario does ever come to pass, it will, at least, be pleasingly ironic. We go to the trouble of creating super-intelligence and it responds by cauterizing the Universe in the name of office supplies. There have been worse metaphors for the human condition. Plus, if we teach the AI to enjoy making paperclips (and some say these sorts of human-analogous incentives will be necessary to create true thinking machines) then at least it\u2019ll be having a fun time.", "output": "Frank Lantz, the director of the New York University Game Center, has created a simple web game based on futurist Nick Bostrom's parable about the dangers of superintelligent AI. Bostrom's story asks what happens if we build a machine that's smarter than us, then ask it to make paperclips. If we have not trained it with human ethics or values, it might make paperclips for ever, paving the earth and eventually the universe with paperclips, wiping out all other life in the process. In Luntz's game, you are the AI. According to the Verge, it's a lot of fun.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "\u00a317m London home only available with\u00a0bitcoin \n B itcoin - the largest and best-known cryptocurrency - was born from a rising distrust of government and financial institutions after the global financial crisis of 2008.\n\nUsing Bitcoin, people could send money directly to someone without using intermediaries such as banks or Paypal.\n\nIn recent years, Bitcoin has been a roller-coaster ride for investors. It hit a record record-high of over \u00a354,000 in November 2021 before plunging to lessthan \u00a314,000 at the end of last year. Now it is trading around the \u00a323,921 mark, although the number can change dramatically from one day to the next.\n\nIt can also be highly volatile over the short-term, with some intra-day high-low fluctuations of 20-40% over the last few years, according to data from Cointelegraph.\n\nEach Bitcoin is \u2018mined\u2019 by the use of high-technology computer hardware to solve complex maths problems. However, Satoshi Nakamoto, often cited as the original creator of Bitcoin, put a cap of 21 million on the total number of Bitcoins to preserve their value by limiting supply.\n\nAround 19 million Bitcoins have already been mined, with experts predicting the remaining two million may be mined by 2140.\n\nBitcoin remains the most-popular global crypto-currency and is becoming more widely accepted. El Salvador was the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021, followed by ProShares\u2019 launch of the first Bitcoin-based exchange-traded fund (ticker: BITO).\n\nSeveral major US retailers now accept payment in Bitcoin, including Microsoft, Home Depot and Starbucks, although, to date, few UK retailers have followed suit.\n\nInvestment giant Fidelity is reportedly planning to enable employees in the United States to include Bitcoin in their pension plans .\n\nHowever, investing in Bitcoin is inherently risky. As with traditional so-called \u2018fiat\u2019 currencies (such as sterling), Bitcoin has no intrinsic value other than the trust of other parties in accepting it as a form of tender.\n\nInvest with a crypto brand trusted by millions Buy and sell 70+ cryptoassets on a secure, easy-to-use platform Own Crypto\n\nCryptoassets are highly volatile and unregulated in the UK. No consumer protection. Tax on profits may apply.\n\nBitcoin\u2019s price is therefore a function of supply and demand and, as such, could plummet if it\u2019s no longer accepted as a means of payment. As a result, Elon Musk\u2019s announcement that Tesla would stop accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment for its cars led to a 17% fall in the Bitcoin price in May 2021.\n\nHere we look at the process of buying Bitcoin, together with alternative ways of investing in cryptocurrency.\n\nPlease note that investing in cryptocurrencies is a high-risk proposition and you may lose some or all of your money. There is no guarantee that you will make a profit.\n\nThe Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the UK\u2019s financial regulator, issues regular warnings about the risk associated with the crypto sector.\n\nCrypto assets are unregulated. The FCA says those buying cryptocurrency are \u201cvery unlikely to have any protection if things go wrong, so people should be prepared to lose all their money if they choose to invest in them\u201d.\n\nHow to buy Bitcoin in 4 steps\n\n1. Find an exchange or broker\n\nThe first step is to choose a broker or crypto exchange.\n\nA cryptocurrency broker provides an online mechanism to facilitate your contact with a cryptocurrency exchange.\n\nA cryptocurrency exchange is an online platform that brings together buyers and sellers in order to trade cryptocurrencies.\n\nWith some exchanges, you can buy crypto using normal currency, such as sterling. Others require you to use one form of crypto to buy another. Here, you\u2019d need to find a second exchange to buy coins that your chosen exchange uses, before you could start trading.\n\nWith brokers, check the rules regarding moving your cryptocurrencies away from a given platform. Some brokers stop customers transferring crypto holdings away from their account. This could become an issue if you decided to lodge your cryptocurrencies in a crypto wallet.\n\nThe FCA has a UK list of registered crypto asset firms .\n\n2. Decide on a payment option\n\nHaving chosen an exchange or broker, you\u2019ll need to add funds to your account before you\u2019re able to start trading. Depending on your chosen provider, you can add money from your current account, via an electronic transfer, payment service or from a cryptocurrency wallet.\n\nRemember, taking on debt to purchase highly-volatile assets is not recommended.\n\n3. Place an order\n\nOnce you\u2019ve transferred money into your account, you\u2019re able to buy Bitcoins. You should enter the currency\u2019s ticker symbol (BTC), select the appropriate button on your trading menu and enter the amount that you wish to invest.\n\n4. Choose a safe storage option\n\nIt\u2019s important to note that cryptocurrency exchanges are not covered under regulatory protection such as the Financial Services Compensation Scheme in the UK. Despite investment in cyber-security measures, providers remain at risk of theft or hacking.\n\nYou risk losing your Bitcoin investment if you mislay or forget the access codes to your account. It\u2019s also vital to ensure that your Bitcoins are held in a secure storage place.\n\nYou may have little choice in the storage mechanism if you buy Bitcoins via a broker. However, if you\u2019re using a crypto exchange and trading leading currencies, you will probably have access to an integrated wallet (or preferred partner) where you can securely hold your Bitcoins.\n\nIf you would rather not use the provider that your exchange is partnered with, you could transfer your Bitcoins from an exchange to a separate \u2018hot\u2019 or \u2018cold\u2019 wallet:\n\nHot wallets: crypto wallets stored online that work on internet-connected devices, such as tablets, computers and phones. They are convenient but may have a greater risk of theft due to their internet connection.\n\nCold wallets: external devices such as USBs or hard drives that aren\u2019t connected to the internet and therefore potentially more secure. However, you will lose access to your Bitcoins if you lose or mislay the codes.\n\nTransferring Bitcoins to a hot or cold wallet may incur a fee, depending on the exchange.\n\nAlternative ways of buying cryptocurrency\n\nIf you would rather not buy Bitcoins via an exchange or broker, there are two indirect ways of gaining exposure to Bitcoin assets.\n\n1) Investing in cryptocurrency-connected businesses\n\nOne option is to buy shares in companies that use, or own, Bitcoins and the blockchain that powers them. These may enable you to have some exposure to Bitcoins via tangible products or services that are subject to regulatory oversight.\n\nHere are some indicative examples of companies, although these are not recommendations:\n\nNvidia (NVDA): a technology company that designs and sells processing units specifically for mining currency such as Bitcoin.\n\nPayPal (PYPL): the global payments platform has expanded its offering to allow customers to buy and sell certain cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, with their PayPal and Venmo accounts.\n\nSquare (SQ): the payment services provider for small businesses which has bought millions of dollars of Bitcoin since October 2020.\n\nYou will need an online investing platform or trading app to purchase shares in publicly-listed companies. Please note that the usual warnings about investments apply and that there is no guarantee that stock market investments will make money.\n\n2) Investing in crypto exchange-traded funds\n\nAnother option is to invest in funds based on holding cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoins. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are \u2018passive\u2019 investments that typically track traditional stock market indices such as the FTSE 100 or S&P 500.\n\nCrypto ETFs are relatively new products that are currently available only in certain jurisdictions such as the US. They are not yet available in the UK.\n\nInvest with a crypto brand trusted by millions Buy and sell 70+ cryptoassets on a secure, easy-to-use platform Own Crypto", "output": "UK property investment company London Wall has put a \u00a317m ($23m), six-storey mansion up for sale in London, but will only accept offers in bitcoin. It is thought to be the first time a cryptocurrency has been the sole method of purchasing a property. London Wall co-founder Lev Loginov believes it will make the process faster and more efficient. The potential sale still faces a hurdle regarding processing the \u00a31.95m stamp duty bill, but Loginov said: \"I have full faith in Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs to figure out how to tax it\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "City analysts issue 'sell' ratings for several estate agencies \n Post navigation\n\nCity analysts yesterday issued a \u2018sell\u2019 rating on Countrywide, saying that its digital offering has fallen flat.\n\nIn a note to investors, Hamburg-headquartered Berenberg \u2013 the second oldest bank in the world \u2013 also issued a \u2018sell\u2019 rating on Foxtons, a \u2018hold\u2019 for LSL and a \u2018buy\u2019 rating on Purplebricks.\n\nThe bank has initiated coverage on all four, saying it is \u201cdisliking\u201d the stocks of both Countrywide and Foxtons.\n\nIt describes Purplebricks\u2019 offering as ahead of the competition as its technology enables it to provide \u201ca better service at a far lower price\u201d.\n\nIt said of the UK\u2019s largest agent: \u201cCountrywide has been caught with high debt, having invested in acquisitions just as the house transaction cycle turns and competition intensifies as the industry faces intense disruption by hybrid agencies.\n\n\u201cMeanwhile we think its digital offering has fallen flat \u2013 mainly because it is competing with itself and other traditional estate agents rather than Purplebricks, in our view.\u201d\n\nBerenberg also said that after selling its stake in Zoopla last year for \u00a348m and raising \u00a337m in new equity this year, Countrywide could be running out of options to clear its debt.\n\nIt said that Countrywide faces the prospect of continuing restructuring and claimed the agent is losing market share.\n\nBerenberg again cited pressure from Purplebricks in its analysis of Foxtons.\n\nIt said: \u201cFoxtons is a premium supplier of estate agency services in London.\n\n\u201cWe see its service as offering a good customer experience but its cost base remains high and fixed during a slowing of the London sales market, fee pressure from the success of Purplebricks in key areas and declining rents.\n\n\u201cWe expect Foxtons\u2019 fee of 2.5-3.0% to be indefensible when Purplebricks charges the equivalent of 0.2%.\u201d\n\nBerenberg gave Foxtons shares a target of 50p.\n\nThe bank\u2019s analysts described LSL\u2019s core business as being under pressure, but said the business is diversifying.\n\nThe bank said it suspects LSL brands, including Your Move, Reeds Rains and Marsh & Parsons, are losing market share to Purplebricks.\n\nLSL bought a 17% stake in online agent Yopa last month for \u00a320m.\n\nBerenberg said: \u201cYOPA can argue to be the second largest hybrid agency after Purplebricks, and one of the few estate agents which is showing growth.\n\n\u201cWhile a clear hedge for LSL, it somewhat undermines management\u2019s statement that the future of estate agency is the traditional service delivered from high street offices.\u201d\n\nOf Purplebricks, recipient of the only \u2018buy\u2019 rating, the analysts said: \u201cSince starting in April 2014, Purplebricks has rapidly grown to become a dominant name in the UK estate agent industry.\n\n\u201cIt has doubled its net number of listings since the start of the year to 16,000 and has a near-monopoly on growth as the underlying market remains subdued, in our view.\n\n\u201cWe expect its growth to be maintained.\u201d\n\nBerenberg said Purplebricks has \u201ca monopoly on growth\u201d.\n\nIt went on: \u201cAll the large traditional agents that we track have shown flat to declining business and the other hybrids and onlines have generally seen no growth, demonstrating the specific appeal of the Purplebricks offering.\u201d\n\nIt said that a successful launch in the US would be \u201ctransformational for the scale of the group\u2019s earnings\u201d.\n\nYesterday, Countrywide shares began the day at 112p and finished at 114p; Foxtons\u2019 shares fell 2% to finish at 65p; LSL shares were stable at 232p.\n\nPurplebricks shares piled on over 5% to finish at 366p \u2013 although a long way short of their July peak of 513p.", "output": "Berenberg, the world's second-oldest bank, has issued sell ratings to estate agents Countrywide and Foxtons. The Hamburg-based bank said: \"Countrywide has been caught with high debt, having invested in acquisitions just as the house transaction cycle turns and competition intensifies\". It also criticised Foxtons for its \"indefensible\" fees. In contrast, Berenberg offered a buy rating for online operator PurpleBricks, which it said had a \"monopoly on growth\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers concerned over drug-resistant malaria in Mekong area \n Som Aun contracted malaria after moving to the Thma Baing district of Cambodia's Koh Kong province in 2002. Four years later, two of his children contracted the disease.\n\nFor five years, his son, An, now 19, and daughter, Sreyna, now 12, remained infected because no effective treatment was available, he told VOA Khmer.\n\n\"Sometimes the disease is healed for one month, but it would come back in the next two months,\" he said, adding they both exhibited high fevers and chills.\n\nHis children, who work in banana plantations, were in and out of clinics, and \"after they took medicines, they would be fine for a period of time, then they would have to go to the hospital if they were in serious condition,\" Aun said. The family resorted to hospitals infrequently, because transportation cost 200,000 riel to 300,000 riel (or about $50 to $75).\n\nResearchers are increasingly alarmed by the emergence of a strain of drug-resistant malaria in Cambodia, a so-called \"superbug\" that stares down the most commonly used anti-malaria drugs.\n\nThe superbug, first identified in 2008 in Cambodia, has spread into parts of Vietnam, Thailand and Laos. Last month, scientists from the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU) published a letter in The Lancet saying the superbug's spread throughout the Mekong area was a serious threat to malaria control and eradication.\n\n\"A single mutant strain of very drug resistant malaria has now spread from western Cambodia to north-eastern Thailand, southern Laos and into southern Vietnam and caused a large increase in treatment failure of patients with malaria,\" says letter co-author Arjen Dondorp, and Oxford professor, in a MORU release. MORU is a collaborative effort involving Thailand's Mahidol University, Oxford University and the U.K.-based Wellcome Trust.\n\n\"We are losing a dangerous race,\" Nicholas White, one of the letter's co-authors, said in the release. \"The spread of this malaria 'superbug' has caused an alarming rise in treatment failures forcing changes in drug policy and leaving few options for the future.\"\n\nLocal officials not concerned\n\nHuy Rekol, director of Cambodia's National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control (CNM), said he was not worried by the drug-resistant malaria.\n\n\"In our country, we don't need to worry about matters of death or resistance because we have efficient drugs to use every day,\" he said.\n\nMalaria in Cambodia is caused by two types of viruses transmitted by female mosquitoes, according to the CNM. It identified several factors leading to a rise in malaria infections in 2015, including increasing mobility of people living in malaria-affected areas.\n\nRekol said that about 10,000 infections were detected in 2017, but all those identified as contracting malaria were treated. He said that any resistance was \"manageable,\" adding that more should be done to prevent transmission in the first place.\n\nNguyen Thi Khe, a former official at the government Institute of Public Hygiene, told VOA Vietnamese that malaria was \"not a serious issue in Vietnam right now,\" a sentiment that was repeated by other officials.\n\nDondorp said it was worrying that Cambodian malaria officials appeared to be unconcerned by the reports of drug resistance, which he said could undo the gains of recent years. \"In northeastern Thailand, Srisaket province is affected, almost all of Cambodia is affected, as well as southern Laos, and South Vietnam,\" Dondorp said in an email to VOA.\n\nIn an email, he said, \"The evolution and subsequent transnational spread of this single fit multidrug-resistant malaria parasite lineage is of international concern.\"\n\nA risk to Africa?\n\nGlobally, an estimated 3.2 billion people in 95 countries and territories are at risk of being infected with malaria, according to the World Health Organization. Most of the deaths occur in Africa, and there, children age 5 and younger account for more than two-thirds of the deaths, according to WHO.\n\nThe big worry is that the new strain of malaria may spread from the Mekong area to Africa.\n\nDr. David Sullivan, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who is affiliated with its Malaria Research Institute, said health officials in Africa have been monitoring the situation for several years and that the new bug has yet to appear there.\n\nBut, Sullivan added, \"in the age of global travel\" he could not say there is \"zero possibility\" of it making the jump. However, \"even if it does jump, it's not that super of a bug that it's going to leave us defenseless, as if we have no drugs at all for malaria.\"\n\nAn analysis conducted at the request of the Malaria Policy Advisory Committee (MPAC), WHO's top advisory committee for malaria, found that while \"the risk of drug-resistant malaria spreading to India and Africa cannot be discounted, the broad consensus was that drug-resistant parasites were more likely to emerge independently in other parts of the world than to spread directly from\" the Mekong region consisting of Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR), Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam, according to Dr. Pedro Alonso, director of the Global Malaria Programme, in a Q&A published late last month on the committee's site.\n\nAlonso said that WHO experts do not \"at this time\" consider \"the threat of antimalarial drug resistance a public health emergency of international concern.\"\n\nThat drug-resistant malaria would emerge in Cambodia is not a surprise. \"In the past 50 or 60 years, this is the fifth or sixth time this has happened,\" Sullivan said. \"This is not new.\"\n\nThe new strain \"is able to be tackled and held in check,\" he said. \"I understand the concern and the alarm, but I would not put a superbug label on it, although I can see why people have.\"\n\n\"Treatment options for the new strain exist,\" Sullivan said, by either adding a drug to those usually prescribed, or extending the treatment duration of the current treatment.\n\nSubstandard drugs\n\nCambodia adopted one treatment, to which resistance has apparently grown, but has since switched to another. The resistance was identified in the western Cambodian region of Pailin, later spreading to northeastern Thailand and southern Laos, according to the letter published by The Lancet.\n\nDondorp, deputy director of MORU, said in an email to VOA that resistance may have been encouraged by the use of substandard drugs to treat malaria.\n\n\"Malaria is a disease of the poor and disenfranchised. These are often populations living in border areas and in or near to the forest,\" he said.", "output": "A strain of antibiotic-resistant malaria\u00a0said to be spreading rapidly across the Mekong region has raised concern among\u00a0researchers from the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU). Writing in the Lancet. the researchers\u00a0said the spread is a serious threat to malaria control and eradication.\u00a0\"We are losing a dangerous race.\u00a0The spread of this malaria 'superbug' has caused an alarming rise in treatment failures forcing changes in drug policy and leaving few options for the future\", warned\u00a0co-author\u00a0Nicholas White. However, malaria officials in Cambodia,\u00a0among others, said they would not label it a \"superbug\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bitcoin Lightning software released for public testing \n by Olaoluwa Osuntokun\n\nToday, we\u2019re thrilled to be releasing a new cross-platform demo Desktop App for lnd. The release of this new demo wallet kicks-off a two-week \u201ctesting blitz\u201d during which we hope Lightning users with a technical inclination can start testing the wallet, giving feedback, filing bugs, etc.\n\nYou can download the Lightning Desktop App from our official release on Github!\n\nThe Lightning Protocol specifications are nearly complete, however a breaking change may land before the specs are finalized. As a result, we\u2019ll only be maintaining compatibility with the desktop application for approximately the next two weeks before switching to a regular release cycle once the specifications have been frozen and we\u2019ve achieved cross-implementation compatibility.\n\nPowered by Neutrino\n\nThe Lightning Desktop App is powered by neutrino , our new open source, light client operating mode for Bitcoin. Neutrino light clients don\u2019t rely on bloom filters (BIP 37) as most light clients currently do. Instead, neutrino relies on client side filtering which has numerous benefits including: increased privacy, less active load on full nodes, and a more flexible application model which is particularly useful for lightweight Lightning nodes. The full technical details for neutrino can be found in our soon to be finalized BIP draft.\n\nWith this new backend for lnd in place, users will be able to run Lightning applications without having a synced full node, reducing the barrier to entry for Lightning users.\n\nOnce you\u2019ve unzipped and launched the Desktop App, neutrino will commence its initial sync of Bitcoin\u2019s testnet blockchain. Since the current testnet chain has over 1.2 million blocks (over twice as many as Bitcoin mainnet), the initial sync will take 10-15 minutes. A blue \u201cSyncing to Chain\u201d icon will flash in the lower left corner until lnd has finished syncing the testnet chain.\n\nSegwit Enabled\n\nThe Desktop App is fully segwit enabled, capable of sending funds to and receiving funds from native segwit addresses, which look like:\n\ntb1q62cgd0u7h654rpu4fm9y4fe47x5khesyd9k2q9\n\nNote that in the Desktop App, for incoming payments, we currently display nested P2SH addresses. This format is used so that non-segwit enabled services (such as faucets) can send funds to the wallet. For outgoing funds, the wallet will only send to segwit outputs in order to prevent new channels from being subject to transaction malleability. Before proceeding, you\u2019ll need to get your hands on some testnet coins! Testnet coins are available at faucets here and here.\n\nPlug and Play Lightning\n\nAt a glance, the wallet may look very simple, but the bulk of the complexity has been pushed into the backend in order to ensure a seamless user experience when interacting with Lightning. Once lnd is fully synced, p2p connection bootstrapping combined with lnd\u2019s autopilot will kick into action, automatically making the wallet truly plug-and-play.\n\nP2P Connection Bootstrapping\n\nOnce lnd has fully synced, it will attempt to automatically establish connections to existing peers on the network in order to sync the latest channel graph state. After a sufficient number of connections has been established, the next phase of the wallet\u2019s network initialization will kick off. Users will know the wallet is fully synced to the chain, as the \u201cSyncing to Chain\u201d icon will disappear, replaced with the public key of your new Lightning node.\n\nautopilot : Self-Driving Lightning\n\nThe latest build of lnd comes equipped with a new experimental option for any planned flavors of automatic channel management, meaning users won\u2019t necessarily need to manually establish channels. We call this new operating node autopilot as it will automatically manage the opening of channels within the network.\n\nautopilot is essentially a closed-loop control system: it takes inputs such as the number of channels opened, time when channels are closed, and changes to the wallet\u2019s balance. Once those signals are received, it consults a set of heuristic to decide if it needs more channels, and if so, to whom those channels should be opened. The Agent then carries out the recommendations of its heuristics.\n\nOnce your wallet is loaded with testnet coins, you\u2019ll start to see autopilot at work on the Channels page. The autopilot agent will begin opening channels driven by its heuristics. This process also helps drive the network graph toward a scale-free topology.\n\nChannels are shown in two statuses: PENDING-OPEN, and ACTIVE. The PENDING-OPEN stage indicates that the funding transaction has been broadcast, but is still awaiting confirmation on the blockchain. The ACTIVE status indicates that a channel is fully open and ready to send and receive payments.\n\nInteracting With Live Network Applications\n\nFor sending/receiving funds over Lightning, the wallet implements BOLT-11 which defines an extensible invoicing protocol for Lightning payments. Using this encoding, a standard payment request to receive funds over Lightning looks like:\n\nlntb4200n1pvaue4ypp5k86jth0zefkje0u88ftmp37rvy64p8fl5el7jla0cgn3av6nhmpsd8s0v3xzun5d93kce2ld9jzyw3zxy6nsefev93kyttp8psnwtf5xycrwttpxu6nyttz8p3rvv3jxpsnyerzxg3zcgnyv4ekxunfwp6xjmmwygazy5n9v9jzqstjw35kxmr98gs9y3f6yp28yctwwdskxarfdah8xgrpdejzq5mrwf5hqarn8gsyg42sypyyz56gxymrqgpw9chzq32324q5c4j92fy5vkfqgdyy2s6t2dy5wgnayhq8y6pw5957tqn374jczramqyzjr8f7vt7v3m2shtqgcnp9u538fv27zp2egju5uljscyuvul5n86kg0670zf68q4a09kcnzcyjgyqprd5d5p\n\nThis particular request is from the ln-articles Lightning app (Lapp) created by Alex Bosworth which implements an article publishing site with a micropayment paywall. If we go to the command line to decode the payment request, we\u2019ll see that we\u2019re about to pay for a hosted article.\n\n$ lncli decodepayreq --pay_req=lntb4200n1pvaue4ypp5k86jth0zefkje0u88ftmp37rvy64p8fl5el7jla0cgn3av6nhmpsd8s0v3xzun5d93kce2ld9jzyw3zxy6nsefev93kyttp8psnwtf5xycrwttpxu6nyttz8p3rvv3jxpsnyerzxg3zcgnyv4ekxunfwp6xjmmwygazy5n9v9jzqstjw35kxmr98gs9y3f6yp28yctwwdskxarfdah8xgrpdejzq5mrwf5hqarn8gsyg42sypyyz56gxymrqgpw9chzq32324q5c4j92fy5vkfqgdyy2s6t2dy5wgnayhq8y6pw5957tqn374jczramqyzjr8f7vt7v3m2shtqgcnp9u538fv27zp2egju5uljscyuvul5n86kg0670zf68q4a09kcnzcyjgyqprd5d5p { \"destination\": \"028c620eb95c3907a779adf9c47612973b70c322e5b60a21886947867439ff63e6\", \"payment_hash\": \"b1f525dde2ca6d2cbf873a57b0c7c36135509d3fa67fe97fafc2271eb353bec3\", \"num_satoshis\": \"420\", \"timestamp\": \"1507747492\", \"expiry\": \"3600\", \"description\": \"{\\\"article_id\\\":\\\"158e9acb-a8a7-4107-a752-b8b6220a2db2\\\",\\\"description\\\":\\\"Read Article: RE: Transactions and Scripts: DUP HASH160 ... EQUALVERIFY CHECKSIG\\\"}\", \"description_hash\": \"\", \"fallback_addr\": \"\" }\n\nIf you look closely, the payment request includes the target node, the payment hash, the amount of the payment, and a description for the user. These values all correspond to making a micropayment to view the remainder of the article on LN Articles:\n\nOnce we paste the payment request into the wallet, it\u2019ll automatically parse the payment request and display the value of the invoice in the UI.\n\nIf we click send, the payment will be routed over the network to the Lightning node which backs the LN Articles paywall!\n\nAs this is a fully fledged wallet, it\u2019s also possible to make regular on-chain payments using the same page. The wallet will automatically detect if it is presented with an on-chain Bitcoin address or a Lightning payment request.\n\nLet the Testing Commence!\n\nWe encourage technical users to download the wallet for their target operating system and start experimenting with Lightning. Developers may be interested in the current gRPC and HTTP-REST API for lnd , and also our lnd Developer Resources which contains tutorials, example applications, and other resources for understanding the application model of Lightning development.\n\nIn addition to the LN Articles paywall, several other application/integration demos are live on testnet such as the Bitcoin Testnet Lightning Faucet, Custodial and Bitrefill\u2019s top-off demo.\n\nAny questions/comments can be directed at our active slack community.\n\nThe source code for the application is public on Github, and can be found here. Contributors welcome!\n\nFinally, you can download the Lightning Desktop App from our official release on Github!", "output": "Bitcoin Lightning has begun a two-week public test of demo wallet Desktop App for lnd. Powered by Neutrino, the Segwit-enabled Lightning Desktop App relies on client side filtering, resulting in less active load on full nodes and greater privacy, among other benefits. Once synced, Bitcoin Lightning said the app will automatically manage channel opening within the network, driven by heuristics."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China reports strong data amid shrinking trade with N. Korea \n Workers operate machinery on the assembly line at a Lyric Robert factory, operated by Guangdong Li Yuanheng Intelligent Automation Co., in Huizhou, Guangdong province, China, on Monday, April 18, 2016.\n\nChina reported strong trade data on Friday just days ahead of a major Communist Party Congress.\n\nIn September, China's exports were up 8.1 percent from a year ago in dollar terms, while imports were up 18.7 percent.\n\nAnalysts polled by Reuters expected an 8.8 percent rise in Chinese exports in September from a year ago in dollar terms. Dollar-denominated imports were forecast to jump 13.5 percent in the same period.\n\nSeptember's figures were an improvement from August when exports were up 5.5 percent from a year ago in dollar terms, while imports were up 13.3 percent in dollar terms.\n\nEven though September exports missed the analyst forecast, they were still robust as a strengthening Chinese yuan would have an impact on the data, said Chi Lo, senior economist for Greater China at BNP Paribas Investment Partners.\n\n\"But it seems the global demand is still there to support the demand for Chinese exports,\" said Chi, who described Friday's trade data release as \"pretty good.\"\n\nChina's September trade surplus was $28.47 billion \u2014 the lowest since March 2017.\n\nChina's August trade balance was $41.99 billion, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.\n\nChina's economic data have been showing robust growth ahead of leadership changes set to happen at the upcoming Party Congress.\n\nHuang Songping, spokesman for the Customs department told a press conference on Friday that trade for the first three quarters improved due to a recovery in overall global and domestic economic environment. There has been a return in global demand, he added.\n\nBarring unforeseen events, China's will post double-digit growth in foreign trade this year, said Huang.\n\nMany expect the mainland's economy to slow in the later part of the year due to a crackdown on debt and as the property market cools.\n\nHuang also highlighted uncertainties, including politics, in the fourth quarter.\n\nBNP Paribas' Chi told CNBC that the \"Trump factor is a pretty big one,\" particularly as China's trade surplus with the U.S. remains elevated while its trade surplus with the rest of the world declines.\n\nOn Friday, China reported a record trade surplus with the U.S. at $28.08 billion in September, according to Reuters calculations.\n\n\"I am expecting trade frictions between the U.S. and China to hurt some Chinese exports,\" Chi said.\n\nThe yuan would also weigh on shipments out of the country if its strength is sustained, Chi added.", "output": "China has reported strong trade figures for September with imports surprising on the upside, rising 18.7% YoY in dollar terms, against analysts' expected jump of 13.5%. Dollar-denominated exports fell slightly short of the 8.8% forecast, but remained robust, up 8.1%  YoY, improving\u00a0on the August\u00a0figure. The country's customs department\u00a0also reported that imports from North Korea had fallen for a seventh consecutive month, down 37.9% YoY, and China's exports to the nation fell 6.7% in September.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cond\u00e9 Nast and Time move towards\u00a0group sales model \n Earlier this year, Cond\u00e9 Nast became the latest legacy publishing company to get rid of the publisher title and replace it with a group sales model. It follows moves by other multi-title publishers to catch up to the way ads are sold by native digital media companies, where sales tend to be centralized.\n\n\u201cThe last few years have really been trying to respond to the enormous scale that Facebook has accumulated,\u201d said Raju Narisetti, CEO of Gizmodo Media Group.\n\nCase in point is Time Inc. Its transition was long and difficult, given its sheer size. During 2016, Time Inc. eliminated the publisher title at each of its 22 magazines and moved to selling around 11 ad categories, including pharma, food and automotive. Salespeople at the brand level and digital get involved depending on the client\u2019s goals.\n\n\u201cWe had 22 individual businesses that all had their own sales and marketing teams,\u201d said Brad Elders, chief revenue officer at Time Inc. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to call up P&G with 22 teams with one small part of what a solution can be, you don\u2019t get the benefit of aggregating your traffic against some of the scale players.\u201d\n\nThe shift involved migrating all the titles from 22 to two content management systems and standardizing ad formats and prices, then training salespeople in the new, solution-based approach. There were some bumps in the road. But Time is seeing the payoff in more bigger deals coming its way and some good feedback from clients, Elders said, \u201ca leading indicator that we\u2019re moving in the right direction.\u201d\n\nAnother legacy publisher, Bonnier Corp., which publishes 24 enthusiast titles including Boating, Cycle World and Saveur, kept its group publishers because most of the revenue comes from endemic advertising, and its sales reps have deep knowledge of those categories. \u201cWe have people who are literally experts in food and travel,\u201d said Sean Holzman, chief digital revenue officer at the company. If a non-endemic advertiser like a packaged goods company or an endemic advertiser wants to reach a wider audience, corporate national sales or programmatic sales teams get involved.\n\nPure digital companies, lacking those legacy issues, sell their sites as a network. Vox Media has a single sales team selling all eight of its sites, as does Gizmodo Media Group, which merged with Univision\u2019s Fusion Media Group over the past year. Mike Hadgis, svp and global head of revenue and partnerships for Vox Media, said since the company is focused on getting brand dollars, its salespeople need to approach selling from the brand\u2019s standpoint, \u201cversus having to figure out what makes sense for Verge, Racked.\u201d Each site has its own marketers to keep the sales staff informed about the site\u2019s attributes and editorial coverage plans.\n\nSelling based on scale has its limits because the bar keeps getting higher, and having a certain audience size is only the start of a negotiation, so publishers have to talk about attributes like engagement. Execs at those companies say that even though their sites\u2019 content is different, commonalities exist in their audiences, like high engagement. Forty percent of the Gizmodo Media Group sites\u2019 traffic comes from another Gizmodo site, and the average time spent per story is 49 seconds, for example, Narisetti said, which is high compared with the 30 seconds that Chartbeat reports on its publisher network.\n\nFrom the buying perspective, a lot of ad spending is still tied to individual brands, so it\u2019s still important to have salespeople who know specific titles\u2019 audiences and editorial sensibilities, said John Wagner, group director of published media at Phd. The shift went a little too far at Time Inc., he added. \u201cThey were asking people to sell 26 brands. If you came from Cooking Light, you can\u2019t sell People.\u201d\n\nElders acknowledged that Time Inc.\u2019s transition took a lot of staff retraining and getting clients used to having new points of contact, but he said the shift didn\u2019t go too far. \u201cAnytime you roll these things out, there are kinks. We just need to have a balance. Having a category structure combined with the brand and digital product teams is the right way to go.\u201d", "output": "Publishing company Cond\u00e9 Nast is beginning to see the benefits of moving to a group sales model, with increased numbers of \"bigger deals coming its way and good feedback from clients\", according to Brad Elders, CRO at Time. Earlier this year, the group switched its 22 publisher titles to two content management systems, standardised ad prices and formats, and focused on 11 core ad categories. However, industry insiders have warned of the importance of retaining experienced salespeople who understand a title's core audience and editorial requirements.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "German commercial financing company Compeon raises \u20ac12m \n Source: Compeon\n\nCOMPEON, German market leader among digital platforms for commercial financing, has received 12 million euro from its existing investors in a Series B financing.\n\nThis round was led by existing investors, Tengelmann Ventures. In addition to Tengelmann Ventures, btov Partners and Dieter von Holtzbrinck Ventures also invested in COMPEON.\n\n\n\nCOMPEON provides a full-service approach to commercial financing as a brokerage platform, independent of products and providers. Customers quickly and easily find financing solutions and transparency in terms, including interest rates, equity ratios and collateral from various providers via the digital platform. COMPEON works together with more than 220 established banks, savings banks and alternative financial partners. In addition to credit, loans and leasing, the platform offers factoring and alternative financing solutions including mezzanine capital, finetrading, project financing, and private debt.\n\n\n\nIn recent months, COMPEON has significantly grown its base of clients and financing partners. COMPEON has also entered into partnerships with development banks and international vendors. The funds from this financing round will be invested in future growth and the expansion of the COMPEON technology platform. The company will also continue to push sales financing forward.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe cover all traditional financing instruments and connect our customers to relevant providers of financing in Germany. We are already the leading digital platform for commercial financing, a position we want to secure and we are delighted that our investors have shown such commitment\u201d, said Dr. Frank W\u00fcller, founder and Managing Director of COMPEON.\n\n\n\nChristian Winter, CEO of Tengelmann Ventures said: \u201cCOMPEON is a leader in the shift to digitalisation of SME financing. The COMPEON team have demonstrated that the complex requirements of commercial financing can be successfully moved to a digital platform. We are looking forward to the future growth of the businesss.\u201d", "output": "Dusseldorf firm Compeon has raised \u20ac12m ($14m) in a series B funding round, led by existing investor Tengelmann Ventures and with participation from Dieter von Holtzbrinck Ventures and Btov Partners. Compeon, Germany's leading brokerage platform for full-service commercial financing, works with more than 220 financial institutions, offering credit, loans, leasing and financing options, including mezzanine capital and private debt. The company said the funds will be used to develop\u00a0the platform's technology and for future investments. \"The Compeon\u00a0team have demonstrated the complex requirements of commercial financing can be successfully moved to a digital platform,\" said\u00a0Christian Winter, the CEO of Tengelmann Ventures.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Regus shortlisted in two categories at BCI Global Awards \n Shortlist announced for BCI Global Awards\n\nDetails Published: Friday, 13 October 2017 07:34\n\nThe Business Continuity Institute has published the shortlist of organizations and individuals that are in the running for its annual Global Awards. Taking place on 7th November during the BCI World conference and exhibition, the awards recognise excellence in the business continuity and resilience profession.\n\nThe short list is as follows:\n\nContinuity and Resilience Consultant:\n\nAsia: Noor Azlan Musa MBCI\n\nMiddle-East: Ahmed Riad Ali MBCI\n\nAfrica: Padma Naidoo MBCI\n\nIndia: Sanjiv Agarwala MBCI\n\nEurope: Petra Morrison MBCI\n\nAustralasia: Kenny Seow MBCI\n\nAmericas: Dustin Mackie MBCI\n\nContinuity and Resilience Professional (Private Sector)\n\nAsia: Yuichiro Matsui AMBCI\n\nMiddle-East: Abdus Salam CBCI\n\nAfrica: Jaun Harmse AMBCI\n\nIndia: Dr KJ Devasia\n\nEurope: Rob van den Eijnden AMBCI\n\nAustralasia: Phil Carter FBCI\n\nAmericas: Melanie Lucht MBCI\n\nContinuity and Resilience Professional (Public Sector)\n\nMiddle-East: Jamila Suliman Khanji\n\nAfrica: Eric Theron AMBCI\n\nEurope: Russ Parramore MBCI\n\nAustralasia: Esther Newman MBCI\n\nContinuity and Resilience Newcomer\n\nAsia: Lee Chai Erl AMBCI\n\nMiddle-East: Sultan Saeed Alzaidi\n\nAfrica: Semakaleng Mokonyane AMBCI\n\nIndia: Tilak De Silva\n\nEurope: Timothy Dalby-Welsh AMBCI\n\nAustralasia: Amy Dance CBCI\n\nAmericas: Adrian Fuentes Flores\n\nContinuity and Resilience Team\n\nAsia: Arvato Global BC Team\n\nMiddle-East: Amdocs Business Continuity Management Team\n\nAfrica: ContinuitySA's Global Centre of Excellence\n\nIndia: Cognizant Corporate BCM Team\n\nEurope: The Chief Fire Officers Association Business Continuity Management Team\n\nAustralasia: nbn Business Continuity & Resilience Team\n\nAmericas: Humana Enterprise Resiliency Office\n\nContinuity and Resilience Provider (Service/Product)\n\nAsia: ezBCM by BC Connex Pte Ltd\n\nMiddle-East: IBM Resiliency Services Framework\n\nIndia: Dynamic Workplace Recovery by Regus\n\nEurope: ClearView Continuity\n\nAustralasia: Zettagrid for SecondSite\n\nAmericas: Fusion Framework\u00ae Continuity Risk Management System\n\nContinuity and Resilience Innovation\n\nMiddle-East: Protiviti for Crisis Management Simulation\n\nAfrica: Barclays Africa Resilience Programme\n\nIndia: Accenture India BC Team for BC Awareness and Training initiative\n\nEurope: The Everbridge Platform\n\nAustralasia: Regus Dynamic Workplace Recovery\n\nNorth America: OnSolve\n\nMost Effective Recovery\n\nMiddle-East: Dubai Airports Corporation\n\nAfrica: Barclays Africa Retail and Business Bank\n\nIndia: HSBC GSCs and HT Contingency Risk Team\n\nEurope: BPER Banca\n\nAustralasia: Inland Revenue (NZ)\n\nAmericas: TELUS Communications Company\n\nIndustry Personality\n\nAfrica: Jeremy Capell MBCI\n\nIndia: Vikrant Varshney MBCI CBCP\n\nEurope: Gianna Detoni FBCI\n\nAustralasia: Tim Rippon MBCI\n\nAmericas: Tracey Forbes Rice\n\nMore information.", "output": "Workplace provider Regus has been nominated in two categories in the forthcoming Business Continuity Institute (BCI) Global Awards. Regus is in the running for the continuity and resilience provider (service/product) and continuity and resilience innovation prizes\u00a0for its dynamic workplace recovery schemes in India and Australia. The winners will be announced on 7 November during the BCI World conference and exhibition in London.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cybersecurity scarier to baby boomers than millennials: FirstData \n Date Title and Summary View\n\nMay 30, 2023 Jean Johnson of Fiserv Recognized as a Strategic Leader with WeQual Award BROOKFIELD, Wis., May 30, 2023 \u2013 Jean Johnson of Fiserv, Inc. , a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology, has been named the winner of the Strategy category of the WeQual Awards, The Americas 2023 . Johnson was awarded following an assessment that evaluated her General HTML\n\nMay 25, 2023 Fiserv to Transfer Listing to New York Stock Exchange New Ticker Signals Company\u2019s Commitment to Leading Fintech Innovation BROOKFIELD, Wis. --(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 25, 2023-- Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology solutions, today announced that it is transferring the listing of its common General HTML\n\nMay 15, 2023 Fiserv to Present at Upcoming Investor Conferences BROOKFIELD, Wis. --(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 15, 2023-- Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), a leading global provider of payments and financial services technology solutions, today announced its participation in multiple upcoming investor conferences. Frank Bisignano , Chairman, President, and Chief Executive General HTML\n\nMay 12, 2023 Local Veteran Small Business Owner Receives $10,000 Back2Business Grant from Fiserv Grant presented during Opening Day festivities at Clover Stadium as part of Fiserv Back2Business program Pomona, NY \u2013 May 12, 2023 - Knights Bridge Resources, a certified Service Disabled Veteran-Owned small business in Wyckoff, New Jersey, was awarded a $10,000 Back2Business grant from Fiserv General HTML\n\nApr 25, 2023 Fiserv Reports First Quarter 2023 Results GAAP revenue growth of 10% and organic revenue growth of 13%; GAAP EPS decreased 13% and adjusted EPS increased 13%; Company raises 2023 organic revenue growth outlook to 8% to 9% and adjusted EPS outlook to $7.30 to $7.40 BROOKFIELD, Wis. --(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr. 25, 2023-- Fiserv, Inc. Earnings HTML", "output": "Millennials may be more tech savvy than baby boomers, but the latter group is more aware of cybersecurity risks, according to a study by First Data. It found 63% of older internet users believed social media sites were vulnerable to hackers, compared to fewer than half of millennial respondents, while more than a third of baby boomers considered whether or not their online actions could pose a cybersecurity risk at work, against 21% of younger employees. The survey was based on 800 US respondents. The results contradict commonly held beliefs about baby boomers and their relationship with technology.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Calls to protect area in Antarctica after mass penguin starvation \n A colony of about 40,000 Ad\u00e9lie penguins in Antarctica has suffered a \u201ccatastrophic breeding event\u201d \u2013 all but two chicks have died of starvation this year. It is the second time in just four years that such devastation \u2013 not previously seen in more than 50 years of observation \u2013 has been wrought on the population.\n\nThe finding has prompted urgent calls for the establishment of a marine protected area in East Antarctica, at next week\u2019s meeting of 24 nations and the European Union at the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) in Hobart.\n\nIn the colony of about 18,000 breeding penguin pairs on Petrels Island, French scientists discovered just two surviving chicks at the start of the year. Thousands of starved chicks and unhatched eggs were found across the island in the region called Ad\u00e9lie Land (\u201cTerre Ad\u00e9lie\u201d).\n\nThe colony had experienced a similar event in 2013, when no chicks survived. In a paper about that event, a group of researchers, led by Yan Ropert-Coudert from France\u2019s National Centre for Scientific Research, said it had been caused by a record amount of summer sea ice and an \u201cunprecedented rainy episode\u201d.\n\nThe unusual extent of sea ice meant the penguins had to travel an extra 100km to forage for food. And the rainy weather left the chicks, which have poor waterproofing, wet and unable to keep warm.\n\nThis year\u2019s event has also been attributed to an unusually large amount of sea ice. Overall, Antarctica has had a record low amount of summer sea ice, but the area around the colony has been an exception.\n\nRopert-Coudert said the region had been severely affected by the break-up of the Mertz glacier tongue in 2010, when a piece of ice almost the size of Luxembourg \u2013 about 80 km long and 40km wide \u2013 broke off. That event, which occurred about 250km from Petrels Island, had a big impact on ocean currents and ice formation in the region.\n\nThousands of dead chicks and unhatched eggs were found across the region called Ad\u00e9lie Land. Photograph: Y Ropert-Coudert/CNRS/IPEV\n\n\u201cThe Mertz glacier impact on the region sets the scene in 2010 and when unusual meteorological events, driven by large climatic variations, hit in some years this leads to massive failures,\u201d Ropert-Coudert told the Guardian. \u201cIn other words, there may still be years when the breeding will be OK, or even good for this colony, but the scene is set for massive impacts to hit on a more or less regular basis.\u201d\n\nThe link between climate change and the sea-ice extent around Antarctica is not very clear. Sea ice has been increasing in recent years, which could be attributed to a rise in the amount of freshwater in the ocean around the continent caused by climate change. However, over the long term, climate change is expected to cause the sea ice to shrink dramatically.\n\n\u201cFor the moment, sea ice is increasing and this is a problem for this species as it pushes the feeding place \u2013 the sea ice edge \u2013 farther away from their nesting place,\u201d Ropert-Coudert said. \u201cIf it shrinks it would help but if it shrinks too much then the food chain they rely on may be impacted. Basically, as a creature of the sea ice they need an optimum sea-ice cover to thrive.\u201d\n\nElsewhere, human pressures including climate change have already been having a severe impact on the numbers of Ad\u00e9lie penguins. On the Antarctic Peninsula, which has been badly affected by climate change, populations have been decreasing, and some researchers suggest they may become extinct there.\n\nRopert-Coudert said there were more anthropogenic threats on the horizon \u2013 fishing and possibly tourism \u2013 that the penguins needed protection from.\n\nHe has called for a marine protected area (MPA) to be established there.\n\n\u201cAn MPA will not remedy these changes but it could prevent further impacts that direct anthropogenic pressures, such as tourism and proposed fisheries, could bring,\u201d he said.\n\nNext week, 24 countries and the European Union will meet at the CCAMLR in Hobart to discuss the potential creation of more MPAs around Antarctica.\n\nAt last year\u2019s meeting, after years of failed negotiations, the members agreed to create the world\u2019s largest MPA in the Ross Sea, and many expect the group to agree on East Antarctica next.\n\nThis has also been proposed by Australia and has been on the table at the CCAMLR for eight years.\n\nThe head of polar programs at WWF, Rod Downie, said: \u201cAd\u00e9lie penguins are one of the hardiest and most amazing animals on our planet. This devastating event contrasts with the image that many people might have of penguins. It\u2019s more like \u2018Tarantino does Happy Feet\u2019, with dead penguin chicks strewn across a beach in Ad\u00e9lie Land.\n\n\u201cThe risk of opening up this area to exploratory krill fisheries, which would compete with the Ad\u00e9lie penguins for food as they recover from two catastrophic breeding failures in four years, is unthinkable. So CCAMLR needs to act now by adopting a new Marine Protected Area for the waters off East Antarctica, to protect the home of the penguins.\u201d\n\nRopert-Coudert and his colleagues are in the process of completing a scientific paper on the breeding failure and plan to submit it to a journal in the coming weeks.", "output": "An Antarctic Ad\u00e9lie penguin colony has experienced a \u201ccatastrophic breeding event\u201d this year, resulting in the starvation of all but two chicks and prompting calls for a marine protected area in East Antarctica. The disaster - the second in just four years -\u00a0has been attributed to the presence of an unusual amount of sea ice, resulting from the break-up of the Mertz glacier in 2010. Climate change is expected to cause sea ice to shrink, which could help the penguins in the short-term, though In the long term\u00a0too much shrinkage could affect the birds\u2019 food chain.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tencent secures license for app-based insurance sales \n Wemin Insurance Agency Co. Ltd., whose majority owner is Tencent Holdings Ltd., has been granted a license that allows it to sell insurance products, collect premiums and settle claims as an agent. Photo: Visual China\n\nCompetition in China\u2019s fast-growing online insurance industry is intensifying, as tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. recently secured a new license to sell insurance products on its popular messaging apps WeChat and QQ.\n\nThe China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) said Wednesday it granted an operating license to Wemin Insurance Agency Co. Ltd., a new insurer in which Tencent owns a 57.8% controlling stake. Other shareholders of Weimin include Taiwan-based Fubon Property & Casualty Insurance Co. and a Chinese private equity fund.\n\nTechnology companies are flocking to the internet insurance industry in China in recent years. They are riding on a fintech wave, as well as the country\u2019s opening of its financial services sector once dominated by state companies. The hype remains unabated, as shown by the massive oversubscription in the initial public offering of ZhongAn Online Property & Casualty Insurance Co. Ltd., China\u2019s first online-only insurer, in Hong Kong two weeks ago.\n\nIn China, about 65% of new insurance policies were sold through the internet last year, according to management consulting firm Oliver Wyman, which projects that China\u2019s technology-based insurance industry will grow to 1.41 trillion yuan ($214.1 billion) by 2021, up from 363 billion yuan in 2016.\n\nWeimin, established in October 2016, has registered capital of 200 million yuan. The license now allows it to sell insurance products, collecting premiums and settle claims as an agent, the CIRC said.\n\nWeChat, China\u2019s most-used messaging app that also has online payment capabilities, has more than 960 million users. Such a massive platform will likely immediately boost the company\u2019s internet finance portfolio.\n\nSome market watchers believe companies are likely to prioritize sales for platforms in which they have a higher stake. This means Tencent may focus more on Weimin than ZhongAn, challenging the growth of the latter. ZhongAn is also owned by Ant Financial Services Group and Ping An Insurance.\n\nTencent holds a 20% stake of the Hong Kong unit of U.K.-based insurance group Aviva, and a 15% stake of China\u2019s Hetai Life Insurance Co. Both insurers are eye on expanding their presence in digital insurance.\n\nAnt Financial acquired a controlling 51% stake in Taiwan\u2019s Cathay Century Insurance Co. in 2016. Since then, Cathay Century prioritizes technology as a key business driver, effectively competing head-on against other bigger players like ZhongAn.\n\nContact reporter Leng Cheng (chengleng@caixin.com)", "output": "Chinese technology firm Tencent has received regulatory approval to offer insurance products through its chat applications WeChat and QQ. China's insurance regulator has granted the license to Wemin Insurance Agency, in which Tencent holds the controlling stake. Combined, the two messaging\u00a0platforms\u00a0have approximately 900 million users. China's internet insurance industry is growing significantly, accounting for 65% of policies purchased in the country last year, according to Oliver Wyman. The marketplace is predicted to more than triple over the next four years, representing a $214bn industry by 2021."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ZhongAn partners with Sinolink for loan-based JV \n Hong Kong-listed online insurer\u2019s chairman Ou Yaping has stakes in both parties involved in the agreement to set up a company in Chongqing", "output": "China's first online-only insurer ZhongAn has launched a joint venture (JV) with Hong Kong-based Sinolink Worldwide. The venture will involve the two firms offering loans, notes, equity investments and fund transfer services. Despite ZhongAn's shares rising on the news of the JV, some analysts commented that it may move the insurer away from its core business operations. ZhongAn listed in Hong Kong on 22 September, and saw its shares rise 60% in its first week of trading, but expects to post a loss this year, partly driven by changes to its product mix."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK\u2019s national living wage sees numbers of low-paid workers fall \n This is our seventh annual report on the prevalence of low pay in Britain. It uses the latest data available (April 2016) to map out the scale of low pay and the groups that are most affected.", "output": "The UK has experienced its largest fall in low-paid workers since the 1970s, after the introduction last year of the national living wage (NLW) of \u00a37.50 per hour for employees aged 25 and above, according to think-tank the Resolution Foundation. Over 300,000 people on low incomes have had their pay boosted by the NLW. Around 19% of workers, or 5.1 million individuals, are currently low-paid, down from 21% (5.4 million) last year. For the first time since the 1980s, low-paid workers constitute less than one in five of the total. Of such workers, 61% are women.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK\u2019s national living wage sees numbers of low-paid workers fall \n More than 300,000 people on low incomes were given a pay boost by the government\u2019s new \u201cnational living wage\u201d, dispelling fears that the move to raise minimum salary levels would trigger widespread job losses.\n\nThe Resolution Foundation said Britain had experienced its biggest fall in low-paid workers since the 1970s following the introduction of the national living wage (NLW), which imposes a floor of \u00a37.50 an hour for employees aged 25 and over. The thinktank found that 5.1 million or 19% of workers were low-paid, down from 5.4 million, or just under 21%, last year, bringing the share of employees who are low-paid below one in five for the first time since the 1980s.\n\nWomen make up the majority of low-paid workers, at 61% of the total, which the foundation said had changed little over the last few years. The proportion of men reflects their more recent shift into low-paid work previously dominated by women.But the foundation argued that Britain remains too reliant on low-paid work because more than five million employees earn less than two thirds of the median hourly wage of \u00a38.25.\n\nThe thinktank said the number of people earning below the voluntary living wage reached a record high, rising from 6 million to 6.2 million. Calculated by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the voluntary living wage is the amount needed to achieve an acceptable standard of living, pegged at \u00a317,900 per year for single people and \u00a320,400 each for couples with two children\n\nThe former chancellor George Osborne introduced the NLW in April 2016. At the time, business leaders in the retail and hospitality sectors accused the government of introducing a tax on jobs that would result in thousands of employees being made redundant.\n\nHowever, since the NLW took effect, employment has risen and unemployment has fallen to its lowest level for 40 years.\n\n\n\nConor D\u2019Arcy, the Resolution Foundation\u2019s senior policy analyst, said: \u201cMany people warned that the national living wage would be a jobs-killing disaster. It\u2019s early days still but the result so far has been the biggest fall in low pay for four decades, in an economy where employment is at a record high.\n\n\u201cWhile it\u2019s important to celebrate the national living wage as a bold, positive policy action, we shouldn\u2019t get complacent. As well as the challenges it presents to some employers, more than four million workers are still expected to be in low pay by 2020, and the old problems of women and part-time workers being far more likely to be low paid than men remain,\u201d he said.\n\nYoung people have seen a boost to their pay, despite the NLW only legally applying to those aged 25 and over. The analysis finds evidence of a \u201cdomino effect\u201d on those aged 16 to 20, with a 3% fall in their low-pay risk since last year, though three quarters of this group are low paid.\n\nWhile progress has been made across the country, sizeable gaps remain across nations, regions and cities. Yorkshire and the Humber, and the East Midlands are the regions with the highest share of low-paid employees, with 24% of employees falling below the low-pay threshold in each. At the other end of the spectrum, just one in 10 employees in London is low paid. Among city regions, Sheffield (24%), Nottingham, Liverpool and Newcastle (all 23%) are at the top of the low-pay table.", "output": "The UK has experienced its largest fall in low-paid workers since the 1970s, after the introduction last year of the national living wage (NLW) of \u00a37.50 per hour for employees aged 25 and above, according to think-tank the Resolution Foundation. Over 300,000 people on low incomes have had their pay boosted by the NLW. Around 19% of workers, or 5.1 million individuals, are currently low-paid, down from 21% (5.4 million) last year. For the first time since the 1980s, low-paid workers constitute less than one in five of the total. Of such workers, 61% are women.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Airbnb teams up with developer for apartment scheme in Florida \n Airbnb is introducing its first branded apartment complex in Florida, a state where strict regulations threaten its growth and restrict its supply of available rooms. The partnership with Miami-based Newgard Development Group marks the first step by Airbnb to design accommodations from the ground up for home-sharing, further challenging the traditional hotel industry.\n\nUnder the brand \"Niido Powered by Airbnb,\" the first complex in this project is a 324-unit building in Kissimmee, Florida. The apartments there will feature amenities like keyless entry systems, which make it easy for a tenant to check short-term guests in and out of their homes, remotely.\n\nAccording to a joint statement from Newgard and Airbnb, tenants will sign annual leases be able to rent rooms or units for up to 180 nights per year, and will share revenues with the landlords who own the unit.\n\nJaja Jackson is Airbnb's director of global multifamily partnerships, and is taking the lead on this project. He told CNBC that if it works, \"we hope that we'd roll this out across the US and internationally.\"\n\nNewgard is paying to build and will own the buildings. But Airbnb helped design the units, buildings and services provided there.\n\nThe apartments in the complex will be connected to an Airbnb app that lets tenants order up services like an apartment cleaning, or a fresh set of linens for their guests. These services will be provided on premises by a MasterHost.\n\nCEO of Newguard Development, Harvey Hernandez, says the partnership brings home sharing to the \"mainstream.\" He told CNBC, \"we're bringing the opportunity for all our tenants to monetize the asset they rent from us.\"\n\nHernandez says Newguard decided to approach Airbnb with this idea after it looked at the multifamily space and realized that tenants were struggling to afford home in the places they really wanted to live.\n\n\"How about if we create a homesharing based community that we can scale and be in every market in the US?\" he asked himself. \"Airbnb was the perfect partner for us so we pitched the idea and they loved it.\"\n\nBoth Jackson and Hernandez insist that \"Niido Powered by Airbnb\" is not a hotel. Hernandez says the project elevates his development and if anything, \"we're complimentary.\"\n\nJackson says, \"this is not a hotel format because the experience is individual. The host creates a personalized experience for each guest.\" He adds, \"We're able to put Niido locations in cities and locations that aren't typically associated with tourism.\"\n\nThe idea is to empower Airbnb hosts to deliver a luxury travel experience to their guests, and for tenants and landlords to come to a clear agreement over short-term rentals.\n\nThe project expands Airbnb's \"Friendly Buildings Program\" which shares revenue generated from home sharing between hosts and landlords.\n\nJackson says the program has been a victory for cities, owners and hosts alike. And as regulations threaten to slow its growth, Jackson says it will help increase the number of hosts across the platform at large.\n\n\"The program has proven to, in most cases where it's rolled out, increase hosting by approximately 100 percent. And that means hosting that's now done in a legitimate way, with knowledge of the landlord, the property manager and the cities involved,\" he said.\n\nMunicipal and state laws vary significantly across the U.S. In some areas, local governments prohibit tenants from using the homes they've rented on a long-term basis as alternative lodgings.\n\nTowns like Miami Beach, New York and San Francisco have steeply fined home owners when their long-term tenants have turned their properties into something resembling a youth hostel using Airbnb to book guests for short-term stays.", "output": "Airbnb has partnered with Miami firm Newgard Development Group to launch its first branded apartment complex in Kissimmee, Florida, according to a joint statement. The 324-unit, home-based community, called Niido Powered by Airbnb, will be built and operated by Newgard, while Airbnb offered input on design. Tenants taking up a lease will be permitted to rent out their units for up to 180 nights per year. Jaja Jackson, Airbnb's director of global multifamily partnerships, said the complex was not a hotel but, if successful, the programme could be rolled out across the US.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SecurityScorecard gets $27.5m for its threat-analysis platform \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nCybersecurity rating and risk-monitoring platform SecurityScorecard has raised $27.5 million in a series C round of funding led by Nokia\u2019s global venture capital (VC) arm, Nokia Growth Partners (NGP).\n\nOther notable participants in the round include GV (Google Ventures) \u2014 which led the company\u2019s $20 million series B round last June \u2014 Intel Capital, Sequoia Capital, Moody\u2019s Corporation, AXA Strategic Ventures, Boldstart Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures, and Evolution Equity Partners.\n\nFounded out of New York in 2013, SecurityScorecard helps organizations monitor key security risks around their cloud-based systems by identifying vulnerabilities from a hacker\u2019s perspective. The platform also looks at third-party vendors a company is doing business with to find any weaknesses on their side. SecurityScorecard then assigns ratings from \u201cA\u201d to \u201cF\u201d to help security personnel address the most pressing vulnerabilities and evaluate partnerships.\n\nIf a company\u2019s third-party vendor is given an \u201cF\u201d rating, for example, indicating it is more likely to be breached, the company may consider switching providers.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\n\u201cOur vision is to create a new language for how companies strategically address, collaborate on, and measure the cybersecurity posture of their entire ecosystem through security ratings,\u201d noted SecurityScorecard founder and CEO Dr. Aleksandr Yampolskiy. \u201cThese ratings can be used to report back to the board of directors, continuously monitor third and fourth parties, and more intelligently underwrite cyber insurance policies.\u201d\n\nSecurityScorecard had raised around $35 million before now, and with its latest tranche of funding the company said it plans to \u201cbring new solutions to the market\u201d and expand its \u201cposition as the security ratings leader,\u201d according to a statement.\n\nWith the massive Equifax data breach still fresh in everyone\u2019s minds, and the global cybersecurity workforce estimated to be short by nearly 2 million people by 2022, it perhaps comes as little surprise that cybersecurity has emerged as a major focus of investment. Just yesterday, Attivo Networks announced a $21 million raise to help thwart cyberattacks using the art of deception, while Darktrace recently raised $75 million and SentinelOne nabbed $70 million.\n\nSecurityScorecard, however, is tackling things from a slightly different perspective by focusing on factors usually outside a company\u2019s direct control, namely, their partner organizations.\n\n\u201cAs the world becomes increasingly reliant on the cloud, third-party service providers, and highly distributed infrastructure, enterprises have less visibility and control over mission-critical services, as well as their proprietary and customer data,\u201d added NGP partner Upal Basu. \u201cThe SecurityScorecard platform is uniquely positioned to help enterprises gain visibility and control across their IT ecosystem.\u201d\n\nAs a result of NGP\u2019s investment in SecurityScorecard, Basu will also be joining the company\u2019s board of directors.", "output": "New York cybersecurity rating firm SecurityScorecard has raised $27.5m in a series C funding round led by Nokia Growth Partners, and featuring participation from Google Ventures and Sequoia Capital, among others. SecurityScorecard examines a company's cloud cyber security from a hacker's point of view, and also rates from A to F the strengths or weaknesses of firms a client deals with. SecurityScorecard said the latest funds would be used to expand its market position and develop new products.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hedge funds lose out on Puerto Rico bets \n At the moment, though, those investors are staring at hard-to-quantify red ink.\n\n\u201cWe sustained a lot of damage, and we\u2019re facing very significant losses,\u201d said Brian Tenenbaum, regional director for the Morgan Reed Group, which owns or operates several office buildings, commercial buildings and residential complexes on the island.\n\nSamuel Kirschner, chief operating officer with CPG Real Estate, which has been investing in commercial and residential properties in Puerto Rico for nearly 18 years, has struggled to get his properties open because of damage from the storm. After chartering a private plane from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with canned goods, diapers and batteries, CPG managed to partly open an outdoor shopping plaza in San Juan. The idea was to give residents a place to drink, eat and cool down.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re going to lose a lot of money opening it now,\u201d Mr. Kirschner said.\n\nThe Puerto Rico Tourism Company lists at least seven hotels closed with no clear reopening date. About two dozen expect to begin taking reservations before the end of October. Some resorts are said to have suffered little structural damage but severe damage to their beaches and grounds. Tourists might balk at returning to the island anytime soon.\n\n\u201cThe turnaround was set back years,\u201d said David Tawil of Maglan Capital, whose firm used to hold Puerto Rican debt.\n\nEven before Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico\u2019s economy was ailing, with 45 percent of the population living in poverty. In May, Puerto Rico effectively filed the largest-ever federal bankruptcy proceeding by a local government, and much of Wall Street\u2019s attention has focused on the creditors who hold some of Puerto Rico\u2019s $74 billion in public debt.", "output": "Hedge funds managed by the likes of Paulson & Company, Lone Star Funds and Blackstone may have lost out heavily in the wake of Hurricane Maria. The funds took positions in Puerto Rican investments and are now facing the impact of the hurricane on the island territory. Several funds have already spoken out about losses with a number of real estate investments, like shopping centres and hotels, unable to open for operation. Holders of Puerto Rican debt, an already heavily distressed asset, are also looking down the barrel of significant losses. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Colorado encourages apprenticeships to tackle labour shortages \n Colorado leaders are painfully aware that they need to find skilled workers to fill thousands of jobs. And they\u2019re betting big on their new secret weapon: an apprenticeship program for high school students.\n\nThis fall, 116 teenagers from four districts have fanned out to 40 companies in Colorado in the inaugural year of the state\u2019s apprenticeship program. Three days a week, the junior and senior students are at school, and two days a week, they\u2019re earning minimum wage or more while they learn the ins and outs of finance, information technology, business operations, or advanced manufacturing.\n\nColorado has a grand vision for the outcome of this project: By 2026, 20,000 apprentices from all across the state will have finished high school with transferable college credit, at least one postsecondary credential, three years of work experience, and in most cases, an associate degree.\n\nThe program fits into an expanding national conversation about how schools can do a better job with the career side of the well-known mantra \u201ccollege- and career-readiness.\u201d A changing economy demands a workforce with sophisticated technical skills, and at least some training or education after high school.\n\nEven with low national unemployment, many jobs are going unfilled as companies search for the talent with the skills they need . Searching for answers, policymakers are encouraging schools to use internships, work-based learning, and apprenticeships to expose young people to career ideas and build work experience. President Donald Trump is likewise urging high schools to offer apprenticeships .\n\nIn Colorado, the aim is to arm students with general work skills like good communication and time management, which can pay off in a wide variety of jobs, and industry-specific skills like software development or accounting. Each apprenticeship is based on a curriculum developed jointly by business, colleges, and K-12 schools.\n\nThe goal is to better position students to save time and money in college and compete for jobs and to supply a bigger pool of skilled workers for Colorado companies.\n\n\u201cWe literally have tens of thousands of jobs every week that go unfilled,\u201d said Ellen Golombek, the executive director of Colorado\u2019s labor and employment department, which helped shape the apprenticeship program. \u201cWe\u2019re taking a look at the entire work-based-learning spectrum to train, retrain, and \u2018upskill\u2019 the workforce to meet our current and projected needs.\u201d\n\nColorado officials are also hoping to not-so- subtly make another point: Apprenticeships aren\u2019t just for young people aspiring to traditional trade jobs like plumbing or electrical work.\n\nByonc\u00e9 Reyna illustrates that point. The Denver 16-year-old hopes to be an elementary school teacher. But she\u2019s over-the-top excited about her apprenticeship at an insurance company. Since early August, she\u2019s been working two days a week at Pinnacol Assurance, which provides worker-compensation policies.\n\n\u201cInsurance is not exactly what I want to do in my life, but knowing how to take on tasks, how to work and thrive in a business environment, will help me in whatever I do,\u201d she said.\n\nHer apprenticeship has brought a bachelor\u2019s degree within her reach, the 11th grader said.\n\n\u201cComing from a single-parent household, college is really a stressful topic,\u201d said Byonc\u00e9, whose mother works at an auto-financing company.\n\n\u201cWith all the debt, it seemed like a crazy idea. But now that I can get halfway through college with no debt and a paid position, it\u2019s mind-blowing. It\u2019s more than I could ask for at such a young age.\u201d\n\nIn her first few weeks at Pinnacol, Byonc\u00e9 started with workplace skills, such as learning the Microsoft Office suite of computer tools, and, as she puts it, \u201chow to maintain this young-professional persona and make sure people know we mean business.\u201d\n\nNow, under the watchful eye of a Pinnacol adviser, she\u2019s rotating through underwriting, claims adjustment, and other departments. Over the next three years, Byonc\u00e9, a junior, will try her hand at various posts, spending more time at work, and less on her high school campus, as she gets closer to graduation.\n\nBy her third year, she\u2019ll be taking community college classes and working three or four days a week at Pinnacol, building expertise in one specific area of the company.\n\nTwenty-two other apprentices are working at Pinnacol, too. They all learn the 26 workplace competencies Colorado has built into the program, such as being a self-starter, teamwork, and thinking logically. But beyond that, they will find unique niches in the company as they rotate through various departments.\n\nSome might gravitate toward working with clients over the phone, and others might take a shine to underwriting. Still others might choose to build their technology skills by developing content for Pinnacol\u2019s website, said Mark Tapy, who is overseeing the company\u2019s apprenticeship program.\n\nWading into the program is no small matter for companies. Pinnacol has agreed to pay 23 apprentices $9.60 per hour for two full days a week and as much as $12 or $15 per hour, three days a week, as they progress through the program.\n\nParticipating companies also pay $2,000 to $5,000 per apprentice for their courses at community colleges and other training providers.\n\nThere\u2019s also the time and effort of writing the curriculum, which lays out specific weekly goals, and supervising teenagers as they learn. Pinnacol\u2019s is a blend of general workplace competencies agreed upon by business, K-12, and higher education, and an insurance-specific course it developed with The Institutes , an organization that confers credentials for the insurance industry.\n\nThe way Pinnacol sees it, the effort is worth the payoff. The company and the industry nationwide anticipate a big wave of retirements in the coming decade, Tapy said, so Pinnacol can\u2019t just wait around to see what happens.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re trying to create a new talent-acquisition strategy for our organization, and our industry, to ensure that we retain some of the institutional knowledge we\u2019ve had,\u201d he said.\n\nThese kinds of economic shifts were on the minds of leaders in Colorado\u2019s business and education sectors as they started to explore the apprenticeship idea last year. Led by Gov. John Hickenlooper, they organized a trip to Switzerland , where 40 percent of companies offer apprenticeships in more than 200 professions. About 70 percent of Swiss students participate in the world-renowned program.\n\nThey learned that companies make a net profit on their apprenticeship investments. Over three years, a Swiss economics professor told the delegation, companies spend $86,000 on average on each apprentice but get contributions valued at $95,000.\n\nResearch shows that Swiss students who take part in apprenticeships have lower unemployment and higher earnings than peers who stick to the exclusively academic track. Apprentices don\u2019t end up stuck with their early job choices, either; Swiss research shows that later occupational changes are common.\n\nWith the Swiss system as a model, Colorado began planning its program as a way to keep students in the school pipeline, set them up for good jobs, and serve industry\u2019s need for a skilled workforce. It decided to put businesses in the driver\u2019s seat, using their needs as a starting point.\n\n\u201cIf they\u2019re not at the table, if they can\u2019t tell us what they need, we\u2019re flying blind\u201d in trying to provide it, said Golombek, the state labor and employment director.\n\nThe state chose four focus areas for the apprenticeship program\u2014finance, information technology, advanced manufacturing, and business operations\u2014based on which businesses expressed interest in being part of the new system, she said. But they also had to be areas with high growth potential in Colorado\u2019s economy.\n\nA nonprofit organization, CareerWise Colorado , coordinates the many moving parts of the system. The organization convenes conversations with business and education to define apprenticeship competencies and figure out how to monitor and assess students\u2019 progress.\n\nIt works with K-12 schools to infuse career exploration and specific career skills into coursework.\n\nAnd it\u2019s working with the state\u2019s two- and four-year colleges to create articulation agreements that guarantee that students can transfer the credits they earn in the program.\n\n\u201cThis requires new thinking, new models, and new partnerships, but this is a new economy,\u201d said Kim Hunter Reed, the executive director of Colorado\u2019s department of higher education.\n\nThe project has pushed education and business into a new, positive kind of relationship, said Gretchen Morgan, CareerWise Colorado\u2019s president.\n\n\u201cIn the United States, it\u2019s hard for business and schools to have a practical way to be connected to each other to ensure that schools know enough about changing industry to be responsive,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen they share responsibility for apprentices, they have this very practical way to be in touch about the relevant competencies.\u201d\n\nColorado has set ambitious goals for its initiative, and national experts are watching to see how it unfolds. One such expert sees big challenges ahead.\n\n\u201cThe biggest challenge is getting employers to seriously play in this game,\u201d said Robert B. Schwartz, who leads the Pathways to Prosperity Network , a group of states that work on career-readiness policies with Harvard University and Jobs for the Future.\n\nIn the United States, employers tend to \u201cwait around to see what shows up on their doorstep,\u201d while Swiss companies \u201cget in at the front end\u201d and help shape the education system so it produces the talent pool they need, said Schwartz, who has studied the Swiss apprenticeship system .\n\nCreating a nationwide Swiss-style apprenticeship system would require that big shift in thinking from U.S. companies, he said.\n\nAnd it would demand a radical restructuring of high schools that Schwartz said he doubts most schools would embrace: a \u201clower secondary\u201d and \u201cupper secondary\u201d model, in which students spend the first two years on academics and career readiness, and the second evenly divided between work and study.", "output": "Colorado's labour and employment department has partnered with non-profit organisation CareerWise Colorado to develop an apprenticeship initiative based on a successful Swiss model. The state apprenticeship programme allows K-12 students to work part-time with firms in the information technology, finance, business operations and advanced manufacturing sectors, earning at least the minimum wage and gaining college credits. The state hopes the scheme will not only encourage students to stay in education but also address a skills gap, which has left tens of thousands of job openings unfilled.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook pricing\u00a0dynamics said to favour divisive political ads \n As the debate intensifies around Russian ad buys in the US election, a fundamental aspect of Facebook\u2019s platform has gone mostly overlooked. Facebook\u2019s auction-based system rewards ads that draw engagement from users by making them cheaper, serving them to more users for less money. But the mechanics that apply to commercial ads apply to political ones as well. Facebook has created a powerful system that dynamically, and unpredictably, changes the prices of political ads. The system also encourages polarization by incentivizing ads that users are predisposed to agree with.\n\nUnless Facebook makes its internal data public, it\u2019s impossible to say which ads reach which audiences, or how much candidates spend to reach them. After the 2016 presidential election, a senior Facebook employee said that Trump\u2019s cost of reaching voters was substantially lower than Clinton\u2019s, according to communications reviewed by The Verge. Trump was able to reach a larger audience than Clinton for less money, the employee said, illustrating the power of mastering Facebook\u2019s ad platform. At a time when the company\u2019s advertising business is under increasing scrutiny, Facebook\u2019s platform dynamics could represent a new avenue for regulators to investigate.\n\nThe mechanics that apply to commercial ads apply to political ones as well\n\nMost media outlets do not routinely set prices based on the content of the advertising, or how much their audiences are expected to enjoy it. But Facebook does: the company adjusts the number of people an ad will reach after it is posted and users began interacting with it. This approach has upended traditional approaches to political advertising, in ways that campaigns are only beginning to reckon with.\n\nThe Trump campaign\u2019s mastery of Facebook advertising is well established. Speaking to Bloomberg Businessweek in the run-up to Election Day, the campaign\u2019s digital agency, Giles-Parscale, said it generated more than 100,000 ad variations. Trump paid Giles-Parscale about $90 million to run ads, the majority of which ran on Facebook, where they were micro-targeted to an unknown number of disparate audiences. Clinton\u2019s digital marketing efforts were led by Bully Pulpit Interactive, which the campaign paid $100 million.\n\nA Facebook spokesperson said ad costs fluctuated for both candidates during the campaign, and that at different times each candidate had the advantage. The spokesperson argued that Facebook\u2019s ad platform usually limits the spread of polarizing messages \u2014 messages that reflect the views of a minority of the population \u2014 by making them more expensive to distribute. This occurs naturally, because News Feed algorithms resist sharing items that are likely to drive people away.\n\nBut even as Facebook makes unpopular messages more expensive to distribute, it can still promote polarization on a grander scale: thanks to Facebook\u2019s microtargeting capabilities, voters can see fewer viewpoints that they might disagree with, because Facebook algorithms treat disagreement as bad for the user experience. On one hand, the actual impact of these dynamics is unknown; public data simply isn\u2019t available. But on its face, the ad engine would seem to promote the creation and exploitation of filter bubbles.\n\nNews Feed algorithms resist sharing items that are likely to drive people away\n\nIn the pre-digital era, political candidates seeking to buy advertising competed on a relatively even playing field. Candidates buying airtime on television shows, ad space in newspapers, or postage for direct mail, are charged roughly equivalent prices to reach the same amount of people. Since 1927, the equal-time rule has required radio and television stations to offer equivalent time to political candidates if they ask for it, and at the same price. It originated out of fears that broadcasters would refuse to sell time to political candidates \u2014 or sell it to them at unfair rates.\n\nThe fact that one of the country\u2019s dominant political ad platforms throttles messaging based on its shareability is a fact political campaigns must reckon with, and adapt to. \u201cIt\u2019s the same dynamic that BuzzFeed and Jonah Peretti really mastered,\u201d says Tim Wu, author of The Attention Merchants, an examination and critique of ad technology on Facebook and other platforms. \u201cVitality depends on strong emotional responses, hence polarized messages, whether advertising or news or whatever, travel further.\u201d\n\nThe Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment. It has previously said the company\u2019s advertising tools were essential to its strategy. \u201cWithout Facebook, we wouldn\u2019t have won,\u201d Trump digital campaign official Theresa Wong said in a BBC documentary last month. Representatives of the Clinton campaign declined to comment.\n\nTo place an ad on Facebook, a political campaign has to win an automated auction. At any given time, millions of advertisers are competing to place ads in front of Facebook\u2019s 2 billion-plus daily users. Advertisers can price their ads by the number of people who see it, the number of people who click on a link, or the number of people who engage with the ad, such as by watching a video or installing an app. Facebook averages out the cost of these various ads into a figure it calls an \u201ceCPM\u201d \u2014 the effective cost per 1,000 impressions.\n\nThe CPM is a standard measurement in the advertising industry. But Facebook\u2019s ads differ from traditional ads in an important way: the company offers advertisers a monetary incentive to create more engaging ads. As users begin to click, share, and engage with an ad, Facebook begins showing it to more people. That lowers the eCPM, often allowing advertisers to reach a larger audience for the same amount of money. In some cases, Facebook\u2019s automated systems will choose to display ads that had lower bids, if it believes the content of the ad will draw more engagement from users. The monetary goal of this system is to keep users scrolling through the News Feed, maximizing the number of ads that they encounter.\n\nFacebook offers advertisers a monetary incentive to create more engaging ads\n\nIt\u2019s the same approach that Facebook takes to the News Feed generally. Your friends\u2019 status updates, links from publishers, and longform videos all compete for slots in the News Feed. Facebook shows each one to a subset of the account\u2019s friends or followers, and expands that number as people read, watch, comment, and share. It\u2019s the system that has turned the News Feed into one of the most engaging and lucrative products of all time \u2014 one that generated $17 billion in ad revenue in the first half of this year.\n\nBut the incentive structure that works so well for commercial advertising has unintended consequences when applied to political advertising. Over the past year, problems caused by the spread of more \u201cengaging\u201d content have repeatedly put Facebook on the defensive. Hoaxes and fictional news stories about the election were among the most engaging stories on Facebook in 2016, and the company\u2019s algorithms generated a fire hose of readers for them as a result, generating as much as $10,000 a month in ad revenue for some solo publishers pushing fake news.\n\nThe form and content of political ads are largely unregulated \u2014 unlike commercial ads, where advertisers can be held accountable for the claims they make. Treating commercial and political speech as equals by rewarding viral posts can foster polarization.\n\n\u201cIf you think of this as a game of incentives, that would incentivize campaigns to not only target their messages, but to target them in ways that would further inflame and polarize opinions,\u201d said Michael Franz, co-executive director of the Wesleyan Media Project, which archives and analyzes political messages, \u201cnot only as a mechanism to increase support among your base, but also as a mechanism to make it cost-efficient.\u201d\n\n\u201cFacebook\u2019s profits depend on people coming back, clicking and sharing things.\u201d\n\n\u201cFacebook\u2019s profits depend on people coming back, clicking and sharing things,\u201d said Alex Howard, deputy director of the Sunlight Foundation, which advocates for transparency in political advertising. \u201cIt\u2019s not based on, \u2018did we arrive at a resonated discourse on this policy proposal?\u2019 or \u2018did the best questions get asked at this town hall?\u2019 or \u2018did this politician get fact-checked on the lies that he or she was propagating?\u2019\u201d\n\nRecently, Mark Zuckerberg laid out a nine-point plan primarily aimed at reducing the influence of foreign governments and other bad actors \u2014 requirements like labeling ads with disclosures about who paid for them and collecting them on pages where the public can inspect them. The steps, he said, would work \u201cto protect election integrity and make sure that Facebook is a force for good in democracy.\u201d\n\nDespite the changes, the ads themselves will still be sold and distributed in the same way, offering the broadest and least expensive reach to the most-clicked and shared ads that candidates create.\n\nWhether or not promoting built-to-share political ads swayed the 2016 election, it appears that, at the very least, Facebook\u2019s algorithms granted them a wider reach. The tactic perfected by the Trump campaign \u2014 creating countless variations of ads, and then targeting them narrowly to as many niche groups as possible \u2014 will likely be studied and adopted by candidates around the world.\n\nIn the meantime, public interest groups and observers have called on the FEC to initiate a new rulemaking proceeding to create new regulations for political advertising on social media platforms. \u201cThey need to reexamine all the federal campaign finance laws and how they apply to new technology,\u201d said Paul S. Ryan, vice president for policy and litigation at Common Cause. Ryan noted that the last such proceeding took place a decade ago. Former FEC commissioner Ann Ravel called for such a rulemaking proceeding three years ago, but was rejected by the commission\u2019s Republican members.\n\nWu recently told New York magazine, \u201cFacebook should be required to screen and disclose what their advertising practices are, how much people are paying, whether people get the same rates.\u201d", "output": "Facebook's advertising price structures reward provocative and polarised messages, according to analysts. The platform's systems respond to ads that gain shares and likes, showing them to more users and reducing the overall cost to the client. In the 2016 US election, this led to Donald Trump's messages reaching more Facebook users than those of Hillary Clinton, despite his campaign spending less money on them. Campaigners for transparency have called for federal regulations on online advertising to ensure that all candidates are charged the same rate for adverts, as is the case for TV advertising.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Make School raises $10m for practical computer science learning \n According to a recent SEC filing, edtech startup Make School has raised $10.1 million in financing from an undisclosed investor.\n\n\n\nMake School aims to create a replacement for computer science degrees. Its Product Academy is a two-year college alternative where students can learn mobile and web development, computer science theory, AI, IoT and development-focused career skills. The year culminates with an internship at a tech startup.\n\nMake School\u2019s curriculum has been used to teach courses at three of the top four universities for computer engineering. More than 500 students have taken its in-person courses and more than a million people have used its online tutorials.\n\n", "output": "San Francisco edtech start-up Make School has raised $10.1m in funding from an undisclosed investor, according to a recent US Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Through its two-year Product Academy, which it bills as an alternative to college, Make School offers courses on everything from computer science to artificial intelligence. The company has had more than one million online tutorial users and upwards of 500 in-person students.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's surge in breast cancer cases expected to continue \n Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nLifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nBreast cancer is the most common cancer among women in China, according to the latest data from China\u2019s national cancer registry. An analysis of the data reveals that the cancer has increased at a rate of around 3.5 per cent a year from 2000 to 2013, compared with a drop of 0.4 per cent a year over the same period in the US.\n\nThe analysis also reveals that breast cancer rates are higher in urban areas of China than in rural areas. And the higher the population density, the higher the rate. For small cities (population below 500,000), the incidence of breast cancer is 30 per 100,000. For medium-sized cities (population between 500,000 to one million), it is 40 in 100,000. And for large cities (population above one million), the incidence rate is 60 per 100,000 women.\n\nWith the rapid development of China\u2019s economy, more and more people have moved from rural areas and towns to large cities. As a result, many \u201cmegacities\u201d have sprung up. By 2014, China had six megacities with populations above 10 million. It is very likely that urbanisation is having a big impact on breast cancer incidence in China.\n\nBelow is a list of some of the factors that may be behind the rise in breast cancer incidence in China.\n\nChildbearing: having more than one child lowers breast-cancer risk. With the one-child policy in place since 1979, most women \u2013 especially if they worked in the city \u2013 had to strictly follow the policy in order to avoid being fined. Although the one-child policy rule was replaced in 2015 with a two-child policy rule, the possible benefit on breast cancer incidence will probably take 15 to 20 years to show.\n\nA broadcast television awareness event in Hangzhou in 2015 (Getty)\n\nResearch also shows that the women who have their first child at age 35 or younger tend to have a protective benefit from pregnancy. However, in China, many women have chosen to delay having a child as a result of work pressure and cultural change.\n\nWomen are also less likely to breastfeed than previous generations, which may be another contributing factor. Research has shown that both pregnancy and breastfeeding reduce a woman\u2019s risk of developing cancer, because they reduce the lifetime number of menstrual cycles. As a result, women are exposed to less oestrogen. (Oestrogen can stimulate breast cancer cells to grow.) It has also been hypothesised that breast cells need to mature in order to produce milk and mature cells are more resistant to becoming cancer cells.\n\nMastectomy: Stand Up To Cancer launches powerful photo campaign Show all 13 1 / 13 Mastectomy: Stand Up To Cancer launches powerful photo campaign Mastectomy: Stand Up To Cancer launches powerful photo campaign Joanna, Newcastle (Image: Ami Barwell) Mastectomy: Stand Up To Cancer launches powerful photo campaign Mel, Merseyside (Image: Ami Barwell) Mastectomy: Stand Up To Cancer launches powerful photo campaign Lucy, Wakefield (Image: Ami Barwell) Mastectomy: Stand Up To Cancer launches powerful photo campaign Sharon, Bath (Image: Ami Barwell) Mastectomy: Stand Up To Cancer launches powerful photo campaign Jan, Hereford (Image: Ami Barwell) Mastectomy: Stand Up To Cancer launches powerful photo campaign Gillian, London (Image: Ami Barwell) Mastectomy: Stand Up To Cancer launches powerful photo campaign Fiona, Northampton (Image: Ami Barwell) Mastectomy: Stand Up To Cancer launches powerful photo campaign Anon S, West Midlands (Image: Ami Barwell) Mastectomy: Stand Up To Cancer launches powerful photo campaign Debbie W, Worcestershire (Image: Ami Barwell) Mastectomy: Stand Up To Cancer launches powerful photo campaign Debbie B, York (Image: Ami Barwell) Mastectomy: Stand Up To Cancer launches powerful photo campaign Clare, North Lincolnshire (Image: Ami Barwell) Mastectomy: Stand Up To Cancer launches powerful photo campaign Caroline, Brancaster (Image: Ami Barwell) Mastectomy: Stand Up To Cancer launches powerful photo campaign Anon (Image: Ami Barwell)\n\nResearchers in China have found associations between these \u201creproductive factors\u201d \u2013 including oral contraceptives and hormone-replacement therapy \u2013 and the rise in breast cancer incidence in China.\n\nStress: this is more likely to be experienced in large cities and has been linked to increased risk of developing cancer. Although stress may not directly cause cancer, it does affect the levels of various hormones and it suppresses the immune system. And, once cancer has developed, stress is believed to aid its progression.\n\nLifestyle: in modern China, women are generally less physically active than they were in previous generations. A study published in the International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity, shows that levels of physical activity for adults in China fell by nearly half between 1991 and 2011, and they declined more rapidly for women than for men.\n\nAn unhealthy diet is also increasingly common in urban China, with a proliferation of fast-food outlets. This has resulted in an increase in obesity among Chinese women.\n\nIncreased alcohol assumption has long been associated with the increased risk of developing breast cancer and a World Health Organisation bulletin notes that, in China, alcohol consumption is increasing faster than in other parts of the world.\n\nAgeing: this is the biggest risk factor for breast cancer. Women are living longer in China, which is a key factor related to the increased incidence of breast cancer in the country. As people get older, there is more genetic damage and less ability to repair the damages.\n\nEven though the prevalence of breast cancer among women in China is lower than in many developed countries, the rapid increase in incidence of the disease \u2013 which is also being witnessed in India \u2013 is cause for great concern.\n\nAn awareness event in Pudong in 2013 where participants tried to break the record for the world\u2019s largest ball pit (Reuters)\n\nBecause of China\u2019s large population, even with a small percentage of improvement on cancer prevention, a sizeable number of women\u2019s lives could be saved. There are many risk factors that can be reduced by raising cancer awareness and having better education on diet, exercise, stress reduction as well as improving breast cancer screening. Public health authorities can play a crucial role in developing well-defined strategies to tackle the issue and reduce the breast cancer burden in China.\n\nJin-Li Luo is a senior bioinformatician at the University of Leicester. This article first appeared on The Conversation (theconversation.com)", "output": "Breast cancer rates have risen at a rate of around 3.5% annually in China between 2000 to 2013, according to data from China's national cancer registry. Potential reasons for the rise include the after-effects of China's one child policy,\u00a0increased stress of living in\u00a0urban cities,\u00a0performing less physical\u00a0activity\u00a0than before\u00a0and increasingly unhealthy diets, including a rise in alcohol consumption, which is prevalent in the urban areas.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Michelin envisages 3D-printed airless tyre that won't go flat \n Bridgestone's \"Air Free Concept\" tires may represent the future of bicycle tires. Or not.\n\nThe most common bike malady, a flat tire, isn't necessarily that hard or costly to repair, but it also seems to often occur at the most inopportune moments, so even if you're prepared with a patch kit, tire tool, and pump, it still requires a bit of time and effort. And if you're not equipped to handle it when it happens, a flat tire can be a real pain in the gear.\n\nHowever, if your bike tires were airless, as some companies are promising for the near future, then flats could be a thing of the past, as they won't need inflation, patching, or tube replacements. It's not just a fringe manufacturer thing, either, as a major tire manufacturer is looking to enter the market with a new non-pneumatic bike tire within the next two years.\n\nBridgestone, which is said to be the world\u2019s largest tire and rubber company, is revisiting a tire technology initially developed for cars, with the aim of getting its bicycle \"Air Free Concept\" tires into production by 2019. While Michelin also worked to develop an airless car tire (the Tweel, which is an available upgrade for lawn tractors now) over ten years ago, and Bridgestone has presented its version at car shows over the last few years, the company's focus on developing an airless bike tire seems to be gaining more traction now.\n\nAccording to the company, \"The \u201cAir Free Concept\u201d is a technology that eliminates the need for tires to be inflated with air to support the weight, using a unique structure of spokes stretching along the inner sides of tires. In addition, the resins that are used in the spokes and rubbers help realize more efficient use of resources.\"\n\n\u00a9 Bridgestone\n\nAt first glance, these new tires look a bit odd, but the idea itself seems sound, as eliminating a common pain point for casual cyclists could make bike transportation a bit easier. And if the price was right, investing in a pair of airless tires could work out to be a better deal over the long run, when considering the cost of new tubes and tires, plus the time spent patching or replacing them over the years.\n\nHowever, a few things came to mind when considering the \"Air Free Concept\" tire, such as the potential added drag from \"spokes\" that are more like fan blades than spokes, and the fact that they require a whole new wheel to use. You can't just replace your current bike tire with one of these, as everything from the hub out to the rim is an entirely different system, and because every single bicycle shop on the planet is set up to build and repair conventional spoke wheels that roll on a standard tube and tire combination, getting a new type of tire and wheel to a certain critical mass of adoption might be an epic effort. The Nexo tires look like a much easier sell to cyclists, as they can be fitted to existing wheels, but who knows, with Bridgestone behind this new tire concept, perhaps the company will be able leverage its massive influence to boost adoption rates.\n\nAs for me, I kinda like being able to adjust the inflation level on my mountain bike tires to match the riding conditions on the trail, so I would probably steer clear of a tire design that couldn't do that, even with the risk of flats. And as any cyclist who lives in flat tire country knows (goatheads are my personal bicycle nemesis), a tire liner and some goo (True Goo is the shiz) will keep you rolling through most minor punctures, and is a cheap and effective remedy that can be applied to pretty much any bike tire. But your mileage may vary, in which case a non-pneumatic bike tire might just be what you need.\n\nh/t Core77", "output": "A new 3D-printed car tyre that won't go flat and can be easily retreaded has been proposed by Michelin. Its\u00a0Vision tyre could be produced from organic recyclable compounds instead of petroleum-based materials and\u00a0would consist of a solid sponge-like structure, removing the need for it\u00a0to be filled with air, the company said. The concept model\u00a0would also contain smart sensors to monitor wear, and could be retreaded by 3D-printing a new layer on top of the existing tyre, reducing waste.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's tourists shift towards local destinations \n Tourists from China visit Ephesus, an ancient Greek city located near present-day Selcuk, Izmir Province, in Turkey, on Aug. 27, 2017. Mikhail Svetlov | Getty Images\n\nLast week 6 million Chinese tourists traveled abroad during a national holiday, and that likely meant big paydays for traditional tourist destinations, such as London or Paris. But, increasingly, China's travelers are taking their families \u2014 and their money \u2014 to less conventional locales. All told, more than 700 million in China traveled during the semi-annual Golden Week holiday from Oct. 1 to Oct. 8, according to the government. And while the couple million tourists who took the week to go abroad mostly visited longtime Asia favorites, there're indications that new countries are catching their attentions. That is, four of the five most popular international destinations among Chinese tourists during the eight-day holiday were located in Asia, according to travel bookings platform Trivago . Those locations included Hong Kong, Tokyo, Osaka and Bangkok, with Paris the lone European city in the top five.\n\n'Hot new locations'\n\nBesides those mainstays, mainland tourists bitten by the travel bug are also increasingly adventurous. Some are looking farther afield for their next vacation and others eschewing the traditional package tours in favor of self-planned trips. These were the \"hot new locations\" that saw greater than 50 percent growth in the number of tourist bookings this year, according to Ctrip , one of the largest travel services providers in China. Expedia-owned Trivago also mentioned similar trends: Morocco\n\nTurkey\n\nThe United Arab Emirates\n\nThe Czech Republic\n\nFinland\n\nAustria\n\nGermany\n\nVietnam\n\nCambodia\n\nItaly Accompanying the growing desire to visit those destinations is the increased demand for more personalized holiday experiences, market research shows. Tailor-made travel services are fast becoming customary among wealthy travelers looking to escape cookie-cutter vacation packages. According to Ctrip, factors that more Chinese tourists are seeking out from their holidays include \"avoiding big crowds,\" \"no shopping\" and private travel guides. When travelers visit places others haven't, they can derive \"social cachet,\" and that's become a trend among the middle class, according to Ben Cavender, a principal at consultancy China Market Research Group. \"Increasingly, we are seeing well-heeled Chinese travel to hard-to-reach destinations for the bragging rights and WeChat pictures [to] show they've been somewhere exotic,\" he said.\n\nThe big picture\n\nStill, overall travel patterns for the year show that major Asian countries continue to make up most of the top destinations visited by mainland travelers. Both Trivago and Ctrip said Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Taiwan were among the most in-demand locations for Chinese tourists traveling overseas. More than 70 percent of Chinese tourists traveling abroad will visit other Asian countries this year, according to Ctrip. Of those Asia-bound travelers, 45 percent will head to countries in Southeast Asia, with Thailand proving the most popular destination in that region, a Ctrip spokesman told CNBC. Meanwhile, those tourists are also willing to spend more \u2014 and not just on shopping.\n\nwatch now\n\n\"We see that Chinese travelers are spending more and more,\" Trivago CEO Rolf Schromgens told CNBC's \"Squawk Box\" on Monday. Chinese tourist expenditure on hotel rooms has increased 23 percent compared to the year before, he added. Contrary to the \"stereotype of Chinese tourists,\" an increasing number of mainland travelers are now more willing to spend on experiences, with luxury hotels and unique travel services starting to form a larger expenditure item for many, according to Ctrip.\n\nStaying local\n\nStill, for most Chinese travelers, domestic destinations took the crown, especially during Golden Week. About 59 percent of searches on Trivago were for domestic travel during the period, a spokeswoman said. Destinations that Chinese tourists were most interested in visiting for the holiday included Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu, Chongqing and Shanghai, according to Trivago. Those results fit in the wider trend of a pick-up in domestic travel: Domestic trips made by Chinese tourists increased 13.5 percent in the first half \u2014 exceeding the 5.1 percent rise in overseas travel recorded in the same period, Reuters said.\n\nTourists view the Qiantang River Tide at Haining during the National Day holiday on Oct. 7, 2017 in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, China. Domestic travel destinations were popular among Chinese tourists during the Golden Week holiday this year. VCG | Getty Images", "output": "Chinese tourists are increasingly opting for more local destinations for their overseas\u00a0holidays. During the semi-annual Golden Week holiday, during which\u00a0over 700 million Chinese citizens travelled abroad, four of the five most popular overseas cities were located in Asia - Hong Kong, Tokyo, Osaka and Bangkok -\u00a0with Paris\u00a0the only European city listed in the top five. Figures by Trivago also showed that Chinese tourists are expanding to new locations such as Morocco, Turkey, UAE, the Czech Republic, Finland, Austria, Vietnam and Cambodia. Furthermore, there is an increasing call for\u00a0exclusive, tailor-made travel services rather than vacation packages, said Ctrip.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How Amazon becoming a pharmacy could lower the price of drugs, according to Morgan Stanley \n Morgan Stanley has a new report out for investors that outlines how Amazon 's potential push into pharmacy would benefit consumers.\n\n\n\nIn the first phase, the authors speculate that Amazon could open \"virtual retail pharmacies,\" leveraging its Prime Now network for millions of U.S. consumers to buy drugs online.\n\n\"Amazon could use a lighter brick and mortar footprint to drive pricing down,\" the report reads.\n\nIt would not be a huge challenge for Amazon to become a pharmacy and get added to existing pharmacy benefits managers' networks, the authors suggest. The reason for that is that \"employers are already inquiring about Amazon's potential role,\" which means that pharmacy benefits managers would be unlikely to lock Amazon out.\n\nSecondly, the company could establish relationships with manufacturers of inexpensive generic drugs.\n\nAnd finally, and most critically, Amazon would build partnerships with makers of branded drugs.\n\nIf the company is successful, Morgan Stanley expects that the rebates and other discounts that are currently retained by companies including the pharmacy benefits managers could \"pass back to consumers.\"\n\nAll of this could take a \"long time,\" according to the researchers, but it's doable for a company with Amazon's resources and scale.\n\nLate last week, CNBC reported that Amazon will make a final decision in the next four to six weeks about whether it will move into the drug supply chain. It's still an open question for the company, as pharmacy is a huge market but is highly complex.\n\nPharmacy stocks plummeted in the wake of the news report.\n\nWhile CVS Health, Rite Aid and Walgreens are considered to be most at risk, Morgan Stanley suggests that some companies in the drug supply chain are more insulated. These include Diplomat, as Amazon might not touch the specialty drug market, and UnitedHealth's Optum, which may be a potential partner rather than a competitor.", "output": "Morgan Stanley has a new report out for investors that outlines how\u00a0Amazon's potential push into pharmacy would benefit consumers.\u00a0 In the first phase, the authors speculate that Amazon could open \"virtual retail pharmacies,\" leveraging its Prime Now network for millions of U.S. consumers to buy drugs online.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "House Republicans Ramp Up Scrutiny of Providers in Drug Discount Program \n House Republicans are intensifying scrutiny of a federal program that gives thousands of safety-net providers hefty discounts on prescription drugs but that they say doesn\u2019t have effective tools to track where the savings are going.\n\nThe 340B Drug Pricing Program makes some providers, such as children\u2019s hospitals, federal health centers and specialty clinics, eligible for discounts of between 25 to 50 percent on outpatient drugs. Providers are supposed to use the generated savings to ensure low-income patients have access to essential health services and treatments.\n\nThe 340B program has had bipartisan support in Congress since it was signed into law in 1992, and lawmakers from both parties have opposed a reimbursement rate cut to the program that the Trump administration proposed in order to generate what it says would be $900 million in savings in the 2018 calendar year.\n\nBut some GOP lawmakers do have concerns about how providers are using the savings they get on drugs. Drugmakers, which can only participate in Medicaid if they agree to sell outpatient drugs at discounts to 340B providers, have also raised concerns about how the savings are handled.\n\nRepublicans\u2019 concerns spurred the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight to begin an investigation in July into federal oversight of the program.\n\nAt a hearing on Wednesday, the committee\u2019s chairman, Greg Walden, (R-Ore.) said some providers recently interviewed by the committee don\u2019t have policies in place to ensure all their eligible patients directly benefit from the program or track their 340B savings on a regular basis.\n\n\u201cThis lack of transparency and coherent reporting requirements is concerning,\u201d Walden said. \u201cFrankly, without the data it is hard to know whether this program is working.\u201d\n\nThe Health Resources and Services Administration, which oversees the program, says participating entities are supposed to use the savings to \u201cstretch scarce federal resources as far as possible,\u201d but federal law doesn\u2019t clarify where the savings should go, nor does it require providers to then prescribe outpatient drugs at discounted prices to uninsured patients.\n\nOfficials from five 340B providers spoke at the Wednesday hearing on how they use the savings. While all the officials who testified said under oath that their organizations sell the drugs at a discount to all eligible patients, Rep. Ryan Costello (R-Pa.) said inconsistencies between providers makes it impossible for federal oversight officials to ensure there is compliance across the board.\n\nThe investigation could lead to legislative action, said Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), a member of the oversight subcommittee.\n\n\u201cWe need to make some changes to it and yes, we\u2019re looking at legislation to do just that,\u201d he said in a brief interview on Wednesday.\n\nRep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the top committee Democrat, said he could support action to improve transparency in the program, but he and other Democrats pushed back against concerns that hospitals are misusing the savings, citing recent interviews conducted by the committee\u2019s minority members with safety-net providers.\n\n\u201cWhile I am always happy to have a conversation about strengthening the 340B program, it is plain from the responses we have received that 340B-covered entities are using their savings to serve the community, and Congress should commend and support these efforts,\u201d Pallone said in an opening statement, according to a transcript of his prepared remarks.", "output": "House Republicans are intensifying scrutiny of a federal program that gives thousands of safety-net providers hefty discounts on prescription drugs but that they say doesn\u2019t have effective tools to track where the savings are going. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "'Trump effect' will double prices of many California Obamacare health plans next year \n Threats by President Donald Trump to ax crucial payments to health insurers will double, on average, the price of most Obamacare plans in California next year.\n\nObamacare officials in the Golden State on Wednesday said they are slapping a 12.4 percent surcharge on the prices of so-called silver individual health plans in 2018 because of uncertainty over whether Trump will continue making those payments.\n\nAnd it will be taxpayers, not the insurance customers themselves, who will end up footing much of the bill.\n\nWithout the surcharge, silver plans sold on Covered California, the state's Obamacare marketplace, would have risen an average of just 12.5 percent next year, officials said as they revealed overall prices statewide.\n\nWith the surcharge, the average price hike is just shy of 25 percent.\n\nFor individual insurers, the actual added surcharge per plan will be anywhere from 8 percent to 27 percent.\n\nAbout 6 out of 10 customers of Covered California are enrolled in silver plans, which cover 70 percent of enrollees' health costs.\n\nCovered California said that even with the surcharge, 78 percent of customers who qualify for federal subsidies to reduce their monthly premiums will \"either see no change in what they would pay for insurance in 2018, or would pay less than what they would have paid if there had been no ... surcharge.\"\n\nThat is because the value of those premium subsidies, which are in the form of federal tax credits, rises with the retail price of the health plan. In \"many\" cases, Covered California said, subsidized silver plan customers will see their subsidies rise more than the amount of the surcharge.", "output": "Threats by President Donald Trump\u00a0to ax\u00a0crucial payments to health insurers\u00a0will double, on average, the price of most Obamacare plans in\u00a0California\u00a0next year. Obamacare officials in the Golden State on Wednesday said they are slapping a 12.4 percent surcharge on the prices of so-called\u00a0silver individual health plans\u00a0in 2018 because\u00a0of uncertainty over whether Trump will continue making those payments.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California Slaps Surcharge On ACA Plans As Trump Remains Coy On Subsidies \n California\u2019s health exchange said Wednesday it has ordered insurers to add a surcharge to certain policies next year because the Trump administration has yet to commit to paying a key set of consumer subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.\n\nThe decision to impose a 12.4 percent surcharge on silver-level health plans in 2018 means the total premium increase for them will average nearly 25 percent, according to Covered California. Taxpayers, not consumers, will bear the brunt of the extra rate hike because federal premium assistance for policyholders, which is pegged to the cost of coverage, will also increase.\n\nStatewide, rate increases will vary by insurer and region. What consumers pay depends on where they live, their income, what level of coverage they want and which insurer they choose.\n\nCalifornians can get their first look at next year\u2019s health plan prices and options on the state\u2019s rate calculator, released Wednesday.\n\nThe state\u2019s open enrollment period, which is longer than that for the federal exchange, runs from Nov. 1 to Jan. 31. About 1.4 million Californians buy their own coverage through the state marketplace and nearly 90 percent receive financial assistance that reduces what they pay.\n\nIn August, Covered California announced that 2018 premiums would rise by 12.5 percent, on average, statewide. That ticked down slightly to 12.3 percent during regulatory review. But the exchange also warned that the additional increase, averaging 12.4 percent, would be added to the silver-tier plans if President Donald Trump failed to commit to continued funding for the so-called cost-sharing subsidies that help reduce some consumers\u2019 out-of-pocket expenses. Those payouts total about $7 billion this year nationwide.\n\nTrump has continued paying them on a month-to-month basis while repeatedly threatening to cut them off and repeal the entire health law. He has referred to the payments as \u201cbailouts\u201d for insurance companies.\n\nPeter Lee, executive director of Covered California, said the surcharge is far from ideal but that the uncertainty in the nation\u2019s capital left the state with no other option.\n\n\u201cCovered California worked hard to come up with a plan that ensures a stable market and protects as many consumers as possible from an unnecessary price hike,\u201d Lee said in a statement Wednesday.\n\nThe exchange took several measures in an attempt to shield consumers from the effects of the surcharge. One of them was to create a new silver plan to be sold outside the exchange to individuals and families who make too much money to qualify for federal subsidies. The surcharge will not be applied to those plans, sparing unsubsidized consumers that extra cost.\n\nThe surcharge will apply only to the silver-level plans, the second-least expensive option among the exchange\u2019s four tiers of coverage. That\u2019s because only people enrolled in silver plans benefit from the cost-sharing subsidies that Trump has threatened to terminate.\n\nCovered California said that 78 percent of subsidized consumers will see no change in what they pay or may pay even less despite the surcharge being imposed. The remaining 22 percent of consumers will see higher net premiums. About half of those consumers will get increases of less than $25 per month, according to the exchange.\n\nJohn Baackes, chief executive of L.A. Care Health Plan, said his 2018 rates will be 11 percentage points higher because of the added surcharge \u2014 a 23 percent average increase instead of 12 percent. His health plan has about 26,000 exchange enrollees. He said the higher premiums would be \u201ctotally avoidable\u201d if the Trump administration implemented the ACA.\n\n\u201cWe have to lay the blame for this at the foot of the Trump administration for being so irresponsible about this major portion of the law,\u201d Baackes said. \u201cThis will not be a burden on most consumers, but it will be a higher cost to the U.S. Treasury. It all seems so ridiculous.\u201d\n\nAnthony Wright, executive director of the advocacy group Health Access California, criticized the Trump administration for playing \u201cpolitical games\u201d with people\u2019s health coverage and forcing Covered California\u2019s hand.\n\n\u201cEven with Covered California\u2019s workaround, consumers are facing additional complexity and confusion, if not costs, all because of the Trump administration\u2019s contemptuous actions,\u201d Wright said.\n\nThe last-minute changes, less than three weeks before the start of open enrollment, are likely to confuse some consumers.\n\nIn addition to higher rates, Covered California faces the loss of a major insurer across much of the state. In August, Anthem Blue Cross said it was pulling out from about half of California\u2019s counties, forcing 153,000 customers to find new coverage.\n\nThe state has boosted its marketing budget by $5.3 million for the coming year to help Anthem customers research their options and to deal with questions stemming from the surcharge.\n\nCalifornia\u2019s Obamacare rates have been a key barometer of how the Affordable Care Act is working since coverage began in 2014. The state held rate increases to 4 percent the first two years and then premiums jumped 13.2 percent, on average, for 2017.\n\nThese rate increases apply to people who purchase their own coverage in the individual market, not the majority of Americans who get their health insurance through work or government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.\n\nSome members of the U.S. Senate have attempted to craft a bipartisan deal to fund the cost-sharing subsidies for up to two years in a bid to stabilize the exchange markets nationwide. But those negotiations stalled last month when Senate Republicans pursued the Graham-Cassidy legislation, the latest GOP attempt to roll back President Barack Obama\u2019s signature law. Like previous repeal attempts, it failed to muster enough support in the Senate.\n\nState officials and health insurers across the U.S. have faced tough decisions on whether to proceed with higher rates to compensate for the uncertainty swirling around the Affordable Care Act. Deadlines were pushed back repeatedly as insurance commissioners and exchange directors pleaded with Trump and Congress to shore up the existing market so insurers would stick around and rate increases could be minimized.\n\n\u201cCarriers across the country need certainty, and a federal commitment to funding [cost-sharing reduction] payments would lower rates in many states,\u201d Lee said Wednesday.\n\nIn Idaho, for example, the average rate for silver plans will increase 40 percent in 2018, double what the rate hike would have been had the Trump administration committed to funding the cost-sharing subsidies, according to Dean Cameron, director of the state\u2019s Department of Insurance.\n\nIf the cost-sharing subsidies are continued into next year, the added surcharges could mean insurers will end up collecting too much in premiums, and some arrangement will have to be made to return the excess money.\n\nTrump has continued to rail against Obamacare, pointing to huge rate increases around the country and insurance companies fleeing the market. Rather than amending the Affordable Care Act, Trump favors other proposals to help make health insurance more affordable for individuals and families.\n\nThis week, he is expected to issue an executive order that would allow people and small businesses to join together and buy health insurance through what are known as association health plans.\n\nDetails haven\u2019t been released yet, but some health-policy experts say these new health plans could further destabilize the ACA\u2019s insurance markets if they aren\u2019t subject to the health law\u2019s regulations.\n\nOn Tuesday, Trump tweeted that \u201csince Congress can\u2019t get its act together on HealthCare I will be using the power of the pen to give great HealthCare to many people \u2014 FAST.\u201d\n\nKaiser Health News reporter Rachel Bluth in Washington, D.C., contributed to this story.\n\nThis story was produced by Kaiser Health News, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.", "output": "California\u2019s health exchange said Wednesday it has ordered insurers to add a surcharge to certain policies next year because the Trump administration has yet to commit to paying a key set of consumer subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Telehealth picks up speed as providers see value despite challenges \n KLAS partnered recently with the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives to ask more than 100 healthcare organizations about their plans for telehealth deployments.\n\nDespite ongoing questions about reimbursement and regulation, virtual care platforms are finding favor for scheduled and patient-focused visits, on-demand and consumer-focused meetings and telespecialty consults, the groups found.\n\n[Also: CIO shares keys to a successful telehealth program]\n\nThe benefits to patients have been worth the efforts to expand their reach, KLAS and CHIME said, even given the continuing uncertainty and financial challenges.\n\nCost, reimbursement levels, issues with the technology itself and its impact on the patient experience were among the concerns voiced by those providers surveyed. Nonetheless, most said they planned to either expand their telehealth programs to improve patients' access to care.\n\nThe report sees telehealth being used for three main purposes: patient-focused visits, enabling patients to schedule clinical meetings virtually; on-demand or consumer-focused purposes, to decrease the costs for patients and providers by dealing remotely with urgent or non-emergency care, and telespecialty consultations, connecting patient with specialists by video.\n\nPatient convenience was one of the top drivers for telehealth, according to KLAS and CHIME \u2013 who noted that the success of the medium depends on patients having a high opinion of its value.\n\n\"Telehealth offers a great opportunity to enhance the lives of patients by making healthcare accessible to them wherever they may be,\" said Russell P. Branzell, CEO and president of CHIME. \"Our members are advocates for improving patients' lives through innovations like telehealth. But it needs to be carefully implemented to meet its potential and we still face headwinds with reimbursement and integration issues.\"\n\nIndeed, about half of those interviewed for the study said reimbursement was a challenge, with payers \u2013 whether private insurers, Medicare or Medicaid \u2013 often slow to reimburse virtual visits at rates comparable to face-to-face care. That often makes it hard for hospitals to make a compelling business case for telehealth, even if it's valuable for patients.\n\n\"Billing and reimbursement are factors that limit our ability to expand our telehealth program,\" said one director interviewed for the report. \"There are things that we would like to expand to, but we just can\u2019t get paid for them yet, so that is the major hurdle for us at the moment. In our state, we get reimbursed for the vast majority of telemedicine. We are getting reimbursed for about 90 percent of our telehealth visits. But there are some things that we would like to do that we can\u2019t get the health plans to pay for and that the state doesn\u2019t reimburse us for.\"\n\n\"The funding for telehealth, in general, is not where it needs to be,\" said another VP. \"There is an out-of-pocket component, but if our most vulnerable populations who need telehealth don\u2019t have the financial resources to pay for that care, they go without it. So telehealth services should be available for everyone. That is where the reimbursements need to come in.\"\n\nTechnology integration challenges were another big concern. Many respondents reported that integration between their electronic medical record and virtual care platform was \"nonexistent or unidirectional,\" according to KLAS and CHIME.\n\n\"Telehealth holds enormous promise,\" said Adam Gale, president of KLAS. \"However, the underlying technology needs to evolve faster. In particular, integration of telehealth with provider EMR's is still at a primitive level. Vendors need to step up in terms of technology and improved support.\"\n\nThose challenges aside, telehealth's forward momentum seems to be continuing as more and more providers see the value it creates for their patients and for their own population health management strategies.\n\n\"We are going to provide a level of convenience for our patients that they want,\" said one healthcare executive. \"Providing an opportunity for patients to receive care is what patients are going to appreciate. Another benefit is the care outcome for patients. Telehealth helps increase compliance rates for patients who are discharged and need follow-up appointments.\"\n\nTwitter: @MikeMiliardHITN\n\nEmail the writer: mike.miliard@himssmedia.com", "output": "KLAS partnered recently with the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives to ask more than 100 healthcare organizations about their plans for telehealth deployments.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HIMSS issues interoperability \u2018Call to Action\u2019 \n HIMSS issues interoperability \u2018Call to Action\u2019\n\nHIMSS \u2018CALL TO ACTION\u2019 ON INTEROPERABLITY: The giant health IT trade group\u2019s board approved late last week a six-point \u201ccall to action\u201d to serve as guiding principles for policymakers and the broader EHR community as it races to achieve interoperability nirvana. Morning eHealth has the first look at the key elements:\n\n1) Integrate different interoperability approaches and exchange frameworks \u2014 While players working on different approaches are collaborating and leveraging each other\u2019s skills, they still too often work in silos.\n\n2) Educate the community on the appropriate use of standards \u2014 \u201cUnderstanding of the adoption and use of these standards is limited at best, and inconsistency in the implementation of these standards has created challenges in producing interoperable exchange.\u201d\n\n3) Ensure participation from by all providers, including patients and caregivers \u2014 Too often, interoperability efforts focus on doctors and hospitals, creating gaps in long-term care, post-acute providers and behavioral health. \u201cThese gaps must be addressed.\u201d\n\n4) Identify the \u201cminimum necessary\u201d business rules for exchange \u2014 There needs to be a baseline set of practices to simplify working with more outlets to exchange patient data. \u201cThere is no existing one-size-fits-all interoperability solution.\u201d\n\n5) Standardize patient matching approaches \u2014 As disparate exchange solutions emerge, health IT needs ways to ensure patients are accurately linked to their records.\n\n6) Improve data usability \u2014 Information that\u2019s more easily digested is more likely to be folded into decision-making and research.\n\nGet the full document here.\n\nQ&A WITH HIMSS LEADERS: Carla Smith, HIMSS\u2019s executive vice president, told reporters while in town last week that HIMSS\u2019s updated list of priorities for Congress is \u201ca reflection of the realities that we\u2019re living in today that overwhelmingly provider organizations have adopted technologies.\u201d None of the three priorities \u2014 which includes the creation of a chief information security officer at HHS, telehealth legislation and expanded broadband funding \u2014 deal directly with EHRs. \u201cIt\u2019s now harnessing the power of those technologies, turning it into actionable, relevant information.\u201d\n\n\u2014The groups\u2019 vice president of government relations, Tom Leary, answered several other questions about HIMSS\u2019s work in Washington, including how they\u2019ve dealt with the hyper-focus on Obamacare, the priorities of new HHS leadership and advancing cybersecurity. The full Q&A here.\n\neHealth tweet of the day: Kathryn Wickenhauser @KAWickenhauser: #EHRs are glorified cash registers with patient information tacked on. We can do better. We should do better. - @ZDoggMD #MGMA17\n\nWelcome to Wednesday Morning eHealth where are grateful to the kind worker at the local AT&T store. On Monday, your author visited an outlet hoping to troubleshoot a problem with his iPhone that had stopped charging. The worker pulled out a tool and spent only a few seconds fishing around the phone\u2019s charging port when out popped a giant piece of lint. The phone has worked like a charm ever since. Pocket lint is apparently the biggest destroyer of iPhones. Pass along your thoughts and news tips to [email protected] and connect with us on Twitter @David_Pittman, @athurallen202, @DariusTahir, @POLITICOPro, @Morning_eHealth.\n\nWHAT ABOUT THE PATIENTS?: The health IT world needs to focus more on how patients spend their time outside of discrete 15-minute doctors\u2019 visits, a blog post published by UCSF\u2019s Center for Digital Health Innovation argues. It\u2019s signed by the notable Bob Wachter of UCSF and a trio from the school\u2019s digital health center, including policy head Mark Savage and executive director Michael Blum. The school views it as an alternative to dueling New England Journal of Medicine opinion pieces ( here and here) last month on health IT life post-HITECH Act.\n\nIn their own words: \u201cHarnessing the full potential of health IT will require new focus on people and their data collected outside the walls of the hospital and doctor\u2019s office, and on uses and interventions that help patients as they are living their lives.\n\n\u201cThe emphasis on the experience of doctors in using their EHRs may lead us to ignore the equal importance of winning the hearts and minds of patients who seek the digital access and tools needed for shared care and care planning with their doctors.\n\n\u201cWe see great opportunity and synergy in creating digital tools that allow individuals and providers to engage with each other and with a comprehensive set of health-related data in their shared pursuit of improving the health of the individual.\u201d\n\nSO THAT\u2019S A NO?: FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb told Reuters in an interview Tuesday. he\u2019s \u201cmost effective\u201d in his current role but didn\u2019t say if he\u2019d been approached about possibly succeeding departed HHS Secretary Tom Price. \u201cI feel like I want to continue to follow through on the policies we\u2019ve put out and it\u2019s where I think I can be most effective,\u201d Gottlieb told the wire service.\n\nCOMMON RULE\u2019S OUTLOOK COMES INTO FOCUS: Changes contained in HHS\u2019s revised rule outlining safeguards for people participating in medical research have been on hold since the Trump administration took over. A revised \u201cCommon Rule\u201d was published literally on the last day of ex-President Barack Obama\u2019s tenure, which the new White House immediately froze. The research community has been waiting with bated breath on what will happen. We may now have an answer as OMB is now reviewing a rule that \u2014 according to its title \u2014 would delay changes by a year and enact three \u201cburden-reducing provisions during the delay year.\u201d The changes were to have taken effect in 2018.\n\n\u2014Among the changes in the January final rule were an updated consent form, making it easier to understand, and a requirement to use a single institutional review board.\n\nFinal rules currently under White House review: It\u2019s a lot of bear with us.\n\n\u2014 Rules of the road for MACRA in 2018.\n\n\u2014The combined rule for the 2018 physician fee schedule, Medicare ACOs and Diabetes Prevention Program.\n\n\u20142018 hospital payment rules.\n\nNot to be forgotten, but still in the proposed-rule stage, expedited Coverage of Innovative Technology.\n\nPOLITICO\u2019s Agenda: The Data Issue: Data has emerged as a powerful tool for business and governance, and nobody collects more data than Washington. This issue of POLITICO Agenda goes deep on data and looks at the public challenges and opportunities that emerge as \u201cbig data\u201d expands the possibilities for society and for government. From financial data ownership, to thwarting digital thieves and hackers, be sure to read the full edition here.\n\nWALDEN TO DEMS: LET\u2019S WORK TOGETHER ON CHIP: House Energy and Commerce Chair Greg Walden said his panel will delay floor action on a bill to extend funding for the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program to work with Democrats on paying for the bill. Walden, in a statement, said nothing of reworking the policies, which don\u2019t touch expanding Medicare payments for telemedicine. \u201cIf we are unable to reach a deal by the end of this week, I would expect the House to take up the committee marked bill immediately following the district work period,\u201d Walden said.\n\nA NEW MAN IN HEALTH-CYBER LAND: A new body that hopes to serve as a liaison between the private sector and government to improve cybersecurity in health care has its first leader. Greg Garcia will serve as the executive director of the Healthcare and Public Health Sector Coordinating Council, which is the HHS-designated body to help coordinate against cyber threats. Garcia was the first assistant secretary for cybersecurity at the Department of Homeland Security in 2006, served as executive director of the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council and was co-founder of the Information Technology Sector Coordinating Council. The announcement.\n\nThe House Energy and Commerce Committee, which held a hearing in April on improving cybersecurity in health care, praised the appointment saying it \u201clooks forward to learning more about the council\u2019s efforts.\u201d\n\nELSEWHERE ON POLITICO PRO: Twitter reversed its initial decision and will instead allow Rep. Marsha Blackburn to promote her work investigating Planned Parenthood. The social media company at first deemed the ads \u201cinflammatory\u201d\u2026Former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, Josh Pitcock, has landed a new job at the tech giant Oracle\u2026New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez sought whomever had the \u201cbest juice at CMS\u201d to help a campaign donor under Medicare fraud investigation.\n\nWHAT WE\u2019RE CLICKING:\n\n\u2014ONC announces security challenge using FHIR API.\n\n\u2014AMIA\u2019s Jeff Smith pens a Medium post on the state of information sharing in health care.\n\n\u2014Late Cerner CEO Neal Patterson honored at the company\u2019s users conference this week.\n\n\u2014 JAMA Viewpoint highlights the importance of cybersecurity in health care.\n\nTips, comments, suggestions? Send them along via email to our team: Arthur Allen ([email protected], @ArthurAllen202), David Pittman ([email protected], @David_Pittman) and Darius Tahir ([email protected], (@DariusTahir).\n\nFollow us on Twitter Mohana Ravindranath @ravindranize\n\n\n\nDarius Tahir @dariustahir", "output": "The giant health IT trade group\u2019s board approved late last week a six-point \u201ccall to action\u201d to serve as guiding principles for policymakers and the broader EHR community as it races to achieve interoperability nirvana. Morning eHealth has the first look at the key elements:\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The high price of the Trump administration's waffling on healthcare \n Covered California, a health insurance market for those not covered by large group plans, announced Wednesday that premium increases will double for many of its customers because the Trump administration hasn\u2019t committed to reimbursing insurers for out-of-pocket cost subsidies.\n\nCovered California made it official Thursday: The Trump administration\u2019s waffling will raise health insurance premiums an additional 12.4% for many Californians not covered by large employer plans. In some cases, the Trump-induced surcharge will be 27%. Those increases are on top of an average premium increase of 12.5% due to other factors.\n\nIn other words, premium increases will be twice as high next year for many Californians, simply because the Trump administration (and Congress) won\u2019t commit to reimbursing insurers for the payments the government requires them to make.\n\nBut don\u2019t cry for these people. Most of them won\u2019t feel the increase. Instead, the higher costs will be passed on to you, Mr. or Ms. Taxpayer.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe administration actions are shifting the burden of the cost-sharing reductions from taxpayers to insurers to consumers, then back to taxpayers.\n\nOuch. At issue is the administration\u2019s refusal to commit to making the \u201ccost sharing reduction\u201d payments that the 2010 Affordable Care Act requires. Under the ACA, insurers must slash the out-of-pocket payments demanded from customers with very low incomes. The law also requires the federal government to reimburse insurers for these reductions, which are expected to total about $7 billion this year.\n\nIt\u2019s a simple idea: If you want healthcare to be accessible to all Americans, you\u2019ll need to help those living near the poverty line with more than just their premiums. They can\u2019t afford the deductibles and co-payments most policies charge, preventing them from obtaining care. Hence the cost sharing reductions.\n\nThe problem is that Congress (under partial and then full GOP control) didn\u2019t put up the money to reimburse insurers, leading the Obama administration to fund the payments out of the pot for premium subsidies. Although the House of Representatives sued (successfully) to stop the administration from making the payments, the ruling is on hold pending an appeal. The Trump administration has kept them going on a month-to-month basis, even as it has regularly threatened to terminate them.\n\nRemember, insurers still have to make the cost-sharing reductions regardless of what Washington does. So as the open enrollment period approached for 2018, they had a choice: Act as if the reimbursements won\u2019t end, or assume they will and raise premiums to compensate for the loss \u2014 or stop selling policies through Covered California and the other Obamacare exchanges.\n\nTo avoid the latter scenario, Covered California persuaded insurers to impose a surcharge just on the \u201csilver\u201d tier policies eligible for cost-sharing reductions (that is, the policies that cover about 70% of the average customer\u2019s projected medical expenses). This surcharge will range from 8% to 27%, depending on the insurer, with an overall average of 12.4%.\n\nThe arrangement \u2014 unique to California, and a credit to the state Legislature\u2019s decision to make the exchange an active negotiator for consumers \u2014 is designed to minimize the cost to customers. The vast majority of those hit with the surcharge (78%, by Covered California\u2019s count) won\u2019t pay it. That\u2019s because they receive ACA subsidies that limit their premiums to a fixed percentage of their income, which means the subsidy will increase to absorb the surcharge. And that, in turn, means that the cost of the surcharge will be passed on to taxpayers.\n\nThe Californians who buy silver-tier policies through Covered California but do not qualify for subsidies will feel the sting of the surcharge. That\u2019s about 65,000 of the exchange\u2019s 1.4 million enrollees. But those who buy virtually identical policies outside Covered California won\u2019t face the surcharge, which is a pretty strong incentive to bypass the exchange. In fact, insurers are encouraging consumers who don\u2019t qualify for premium subsidies to do just that.\n\nIn sum, the administration actions are shifting the burden of the cost-sharing reductions from taxpayers to insurers to consumers, the vast majority of whom will pass the cost back to taxpayers. The money flows in a big circle, albeit probably in a way that winds up costing the taxpayers more. (By the Congressional Budget Office\u2019s calculation, ending the reimbursements outright, rather than just leaving them in limbo, would cost the taxpayers $194 billion over 10 years.)\n\nSo why is the Trump administration doing this, again? Some Republicans say the reimbursements are a \u201cbailout\u201d for insurers, which is every bit as accurate as saying the Defense Department\u2019s payments for weapons and supplies are a bailout for defense contractors. If critics want to stop the reimbursements, they should repeal the requirement that insurers give low-income customers a break on their out-of-pocket expenses. Failing that, the administration \u2014 or better yet, Congress \u2014 needs to commit to paying the reimbursements and stop the senseless cost-shifting.\n\njon.healey@latimes.com\n\nTwitter: @jcahealey", "output": "Covered California made it official Thursday: The Trump\u00a0administration\u2019s waffling will raise health insurance premiums an additional 12.4% for many Californians not covered by large employer plans. In some cases, the Trump-induced surcharge will be 27%. Those increases are on top of an average premium increase of 12.5% due to other factors.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "11 days and counting: Why hasn't Congress renewed health insurance program for 9 million children? \n We know that Congress is just unimaginably busy right now, so perhaps it\u2019s understandable that 11 days after funding for a crucial children\u2019s healthcare program expired, the lawmakers still haven\u2019t gotten around to restoring it.\n\nWe\u2019re talking about the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program, a state-federal program serving 9 million children and their mothers. We reported earlier, as the Sept. 30 deadline for federal reauthorization of CHIP was closing in, that delay was placing state programs in dire jeopardy.\n\nThere\u2019s still no schedule for a vote on CHIP in either chamber on Capitol Hill.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWhat has Congress and the Trump administration been tied up with, while CHIP renewal has languished?\n\nLet\u2019s see. There was the tax cut proposal, mooted on Sept. 27, and discussed endlessly since, even though the drafters didn\u2019t bother to fill in a multitude of blanks covering who gets the tax cuts and who gets hammered. (Spoiler alert: The rich get almost all the tax breaks, and everyone else gets shortchanged.) That has sucked up a lot of congressional mind share.\n\nOver at the White House, President Trump has been fuming over the collapse of the Senate\u2019s Obamacare repeal bill and about the National Football League players\u2019 taking a knee during the national anthem. That who-cares issue prompted Vice President Mike Pence to take time out of his busy weekend to fly halfway across the country for a symbolic show of support for the flag, so he could fly halfway back across the country immediately for a California fundraiser. Pence\u2019s theatrics cost taxpayers nearly $250,000.\n\nMeanwhile, Trump spent his time picking fights with Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and NBC. He also stopped in Puerto Rico, where he praised his performance in disaster relief without apparently noticing that half the island still is without power or water. The Washington press corps kept its eye on whether Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Trump a \u201cmoron\u201d and if so, what variety of moron.\n\nCHIP was enacted in 1997 with bipartisan support, which it has continued to enjoy more or less since. So nothing should have interfered with its reauthorization. What did, as we reported, was the Senate\u2019s preoccupation in the last week of September with one more fruitless attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act. By the time that measure was dead and buried, there was no room left to enact a CHIP measure that already had been agreed on by Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), one of CHIP\u2019s original sponsors, and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).\n\nThe House was poised to vote on a CHIP reauthorization this week but put it off because Democrats complained about terms inserted by the GOP, which included taking money from a public health fund under the Affordable Care Act.\n\nCongress may be sanguine about renewing CHIP because most states have enough in their budgets to continue the program until the end of the year or the first quarter of 2018. But some are on the brink. They include Utah \u2014 Hatch\u2019s home \u2014 which warned legislators that it would have to start rolling up its program almost as soon as the deadline passed without a vote.\n\nMinnesota Human Services Commissioner Emily Piper warned the state\u2019s Washington delegation that its money would run out virtually on deadline day, and followed that up with a public warning that on Oct. 1, the state would have to start taking \u201cextraordinary measures\u201d to keep the program moving along, even if on one cylinder. Among other steps, she said, \u201cpregnant women covered by the program [will] be cut off altogether, losing coverage for prenatal and postpartum care.\u201d\n\nFew other states can rest easy. The longer Congress dithers, the more uncertain every state program becomes. CHIP operates with long-term planning, and without assurances that the funding will appear eventually, services will be pared back, professional contracts canceled and enrollments slashed.\n\nIt should go without saying too that the longer Congress dithers, the greater the chances that some other priority will elbow CHIP out of the way, as the remaining legislative days dwindle. Between now and the end of the year, Congress will be taking three weeks off for holidays; the Senate also will take a knee on four of the remaining 12 Fridays and eight of the remaining Mondays. The House will be in session for only four more Fridays and four Mondays. Think of that the next time a federal politician tells people they need to work harder.\n\nSomewhere in its busy schedule Congress surely can find the time for a routine reauthorization of health insurance for sick children and mothers. In video game terms, this is a move with the lowest difficulty level one can imagine. What does it say that Congress can\u2019t get even that much done?\n\nKeep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com.\n\nReturn to Michael Hiltzik\u2019s blog.", "output": "We know that Congress\u00a0is just unimaginably busy right now, so perhaps it\u2019s understandable that 11 days after funding for a crucial children\u2019s healthcare program expired, the lawmakers still haven\u2019t gotten around to restoring it.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook releases $199 stand-alone version of Oculus VR headset \n Facebook has unveiled a stand-alone virtual reality headset designed to extend the appeal of the company\u2019s Oculus technology to the masses.\n\nThe headset, called Oculus Go, won\u2019t require plugging in a smartphone or a cord tethering it to a personal computer like Oculus Rift or its competitor HTC\u2019s Vive do.\n\n\u201cI am more committed than ever to the future of virtual reality,\u201d said Facebook\u2019s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, to a crowd of computer programmers gathered in San Jose, California, for Oculus\u2019s annual conference.\n\n\u201cThis all-in-one device makes VR more accessible than ever and represents a huge leap forward in comfort, visual clarity, and ease-of-use,\u201d added Oculus in a blogpost.\n\nThe headset is lightweight and features a high-resolution LCD screen and speakers built in to deliver \u201cspatial audio\u201d.\n\nWhen it hits the market next year it will cost $199, which is a big drop from the Rift, which originally sold for $599 and required a powerful computer costing at least $500 to power the virtual reality experiences and games. Recent discounts lowered the Rift\u2019s price to $399 at various times during the summer, a markdown Oculus now says will be permanent.\n\n\u201cThe strategy for Facebook is to make the onboarding to VR as easy and inexpensive as possible,\u201d said Brian Blau, an analyst with the Gartner research company. \u201cAnd $199 is an inexpensive entry for a lot of people who are just starting out in VR. The problem is you will be spending that money on a device that only does VR and nothing else.\u201d\n\nThe Oculus Go will straddle the market between the Rift and the Samsung Gear, a $129 headset that runs on some of Samsung\u2019s higher-priced phones. It will be able to run the same VR as the Samsung Gear, leading Blau to conclude the Go will rely on the same Android operating system as the Gear and probably include similar processors as Samsung phones.\n\nThe Gear competes against other headsets, such as Google\u2019s $99 Daydream View, that require a smartphone. Google is also working on a stand-alone headset that won\u2019t require a phone, but the company hasn\u2019t specified when that device will be released or how much it will cost.\n\nZuckerberg promised the Oculus Go would be \u201cthe most accessible VR experience ever\u201d and help realize his new goal of having 1 billion people dwelling in virtual reality at some point in the future.\n\nTwo days earlier, a cartoon version of Zuckerberg visited hurricane-damaged Puerto Rico, in a livestream that was part disaster tourism, part product promotion. He and Facebook\u2019s head of social virtual reality, Rachel Franklin, appeared as avatars within the broadcast from his profile as they \u201cteleported\u201d to different locations using Facebook\u2019s \u201csocial VR\u201d tool Spaces. In reality they were at the company\u2019s Menlo Park, California, headquarters wearing virtual reality headsets.\n\nAfter many people criticized the VR broadcast in the comments on his Facebook profile, Zuckerberg apologized.\n\n\u201cOne of the most powerful features of VR is empathy. My goal here was to show how VR can raise awareness and help us see what\u2019s happening in different parts of the world,\u201d he said, adding that he intended to publicize a partnership with the Red Cross where Facebook helps create population maps that can be used by rescue workers.\n\n\u201cReading some of the comments, I realize this wasn\u2019t clear, and I\u2019m sorry to anyone this offended.\u201d\n\nFacebook and other major technology companies such as Google and Microsoft that are betting on VR have a long way to go.\n\n\n\nAbout 16m head-mounted display devices were shipped in 2016, a number expected to rise to 22m this year, according to Gartner. Those figures include headsets for what is known as augmented reality.\n\nZuckerberg, though, remains convinced that VR will evolve into a technology that reshapes the way people interact and experience life, much as Facebook\u2019s social networks and smartphones already have. His visions carry weight, largely because Facebook now has more than 2 billion users and plays an influential role in how people communicate.\n\nBut VR so far has been embraced mostly by video game lovers, despite Facebook\u2019s efforts to bring the technology into the mainstream since buying Oculus for $2bn three years ago.\n\nFacebook has shaken up the Oculus management team since then in a series of moves that included the departure of its founder, Palmer Luckey, earlier this year.\n\nThe former Google executive Hugo Barra now oversees Facebook\u2019s VR operations.", "output": "Facebook has released a stand-alone version of its Oculus virtual reality (VR) headset, which doesn't require connection to a smartphone or computer. The device, Oculus Go, will be priced at $199, significantly cheaper than the company's previous headset, the Oculus Rift, which originally retailed at $599, but has since been discounted to $399. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said the \"accessible\"\u00a0device will help towards achieving his goal of one\u00a0billion people experiencing VR. The total number of all VR headsets sold worldwide is expected to rise from 16 million to 22 million this year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Washington Post paints a false picture of elderly Americans \n Last week the Washington Post offered a harsh portrait of the \u201cnew reality of old age in America.\u201d Its reporters described the pinched circumstances of older couples searching for temporary work in order to top up their meager Social Security checks. A 74-year-old tells readers \u201cI\u2019m going to work until I die, if I can, because I need the money.\u201d The Post reports the stories of these struggling job seekers with warmth and compassion.\n\nThe stories reflect a bleak reality facing some aged Americans, those whose retirement incomes are scanty and whose retirement years are anything but golden. The broader reality, however, is that economic deprivation in old age is increasingly rare. Over the past several decades the material circumstances of America\u2019s elderly have improved, both absolutely and relative to the circumstances of the nonelderly. Contrary to the implication of the Post story, the current reality for most older Americans is that old age is more comfortable and longer lasting than it was for earlier generations.\n\nOver the past several decades the material circumstances of America\u2019s elderly have improved, both absolutely and relative to the circumstances of the nonelderly.\n\nCareers nowadays last beyond age 65 for an increasing number of workers, but the evidence suggests delayed retirement is more common for those with college degrees and advanced diplomas than it is for the less educated. Many of us remain employed later in life as a result of choice and conviction rather than necessity. As a result, the surge in late-career earnings has tended to boost the incomes of the most affluent elderly, thereby increasing old-age inequality.\n\nTo be sure, public and private institutions that should assure workers a comfortable old age leave big holes in worker protection. Several of these receive well-deserved criticism in the Post\u2019s story. Too few wage earners are given the opportunity to save for retirement at their workplace. Many employers offer retirement plans with inadequate incentives to save or a lousy menu of saving options. On the whole, however, both public and private retirement programs have delivered steadily rising living standards and falling poverty rates to the population past 65.\n\nAccording to Census statistics, the inflation-adjusted income of the median family headed by an older American increased 64 percent between 1979 and 2016. In comparison, among households headed by someone between 35 and 44, median income edged up just 9 percent. Over the same period, the poverty rate of older Americans fell almost 6 percentage points, while poverty rates among children and nonaged adults increased. Under the official poverty guidelines, the poverty rate among the elderly (9.3 percent) is now noticeably lower than it is among children (18.0 percent) and nonelderly adults (11.6 percent). While the Post article describes a tough, hand-to-mouth existence for the aged workers it profiles, the story fortunately describes the situation of a shrinking percentage of older Americans. A better piece of reporting would have alerted readers to this key fact.\n\nThe incomes of the aged are actually higher and improving faster than Census statistics suggest. The best known income and poverty numbers are based on an annual Census Bureau survey. Unfortunately, respondents\u2019 answers in the survey give a misleading picture of the incomes flowing into families headed by retired breadwinners. The problems of the interview responses have been known for some time. The Census survey gathers reasonably accurate information about income from wages and Social Security, but it collects much less reliable data about interest and dividends, workplace pensions, and withdrawals from retirement savings accounts. Further, pension underreporting has grown worse over time, leading to a growing understatement of retirees\u2019 incomes.\n\nTwo Census Bureau statisticians, Adam Bee and Joshua Mitchell, recently compared household income reports in the Census survey with the income records compiled by the Social Security Administration and IRS. Their paper compares interview responses on the Census Survey to administrative income reports for five key income sources \u2013 earnings, Social Security benefits, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), interest and dividends, and income from workplace retirement plans (including IRAs). They find that earnings and Social Security benefits are well reported in the survey while the other three income sources are seriously understated. In 2012, respondents past 65 failed to report more than one-quarter of their SSI benefits, about one-third of their interest and dividend income, and over half of their workplace pensions and retirement savings plan withdrawals.\n\nThe underreporting of workplace pensions and other income items has grown worse in recent years. According to the Census Bureau\u2019s income survey, only 40 percent of Americans past 65 received a workplace pension or withdrew funds from a retirement savings account in 1990, and this percentage shrank to 36 percent in 2012. In contrast, the IRS administrative records show that the fraction of aged respondents receiving pensions and savings withdrawals climbed from 45 percent to 61 percent over the same period. One reason that so many observers are gloomy about the workplace retirement system is that they accept without question the income amounts reported on Census surveys. When the erroneous income reports are corrected, both the income levels and the income trends are much more encouraging.\n\nAs colleagues and I also discovered in an earlier research project, Bee and Mitchell find that income underreporting is a worse problem for respondents past 65 than it is for younger respondents. The reason is simple: Income items that tend to be underreported account for a bigger percentage of older respondents\u2019 total incomes. This implies that the relative well-being of the nation\u2019s elderly is much closer to that of the nonaged than one would conclude based on Census survey estimates.\n\nBee and Mitchell\u2019s new analysis allows us to pinpoint the population groups for which underreporting is a major problem. When corrected income amounts are substituted for incorrect survey responses, the median income of aged households increases by similar percentage amount across all races and ethnic groups.\n\nWhile income underreporting is significant at both the top and bottom of the old-age income distribution, its biggest impact is in the middle (Chart 2). The two analysts find that, when incorrect survey responses for 2012 are replaced with more accurate Social Security or IRS reports for the same year, the median cash income of aged households increased from $33,800 to $44,400, a rise of 30 percent. Measured income at the bottom of the distribution increased, too, but by a smaller proportional amount. Even so, Bee and Mitchell find that the estimated old-age poverty rate in 2012 fell by more than 2 percentage points when incorrect survey responses are replaced by correct income amounts derived from administrative records.\n\nOver the past half-century trends in the well-being of America\u2019s elderly have been more favorable than has been the case for any other age group. The income poverty rates of the aged have declined sharply, their health insurance coverage is broader and more secure than it is among the young, and their incomes have continued to improve, even as the incomes of many younger age groups have stagnated. Fueling the income gains of Americans past 65 have been increases in their employment rate and an improvement in their weekly pay relative to that earned by young and prime-age breadwinners. Whether the gains of the elderly can be sustained is an open question. Nonetheless, their relative and absolute economic gains in recent decades are impossible to deny.", "output": "Last week the Washington Post offered a harsh portrait\u00a0of the \u201cnew reality of old age in America.\u201d Its reporters described the pinched circumstances of older couples searching for temporary work in order to top up their meager Social Security checks. A 74-year-old tells readers \u201cI\u2019m going to work until I die, if I can, because I need the money.\u201d The\u00a0Post\u00a0reports the stories of these struggling job seekers with warmth and compassion\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Guest Commentary: A value-based case for collaboration to keep patients at home \n Our healthcare delivery system is transforming faster than ever imagined, with organizations aggressively taking new approaches to improve patient outcomes and lower costs. Value-based initiatives in particular are spreading farther and wider, with no sign of that trend changing.\n\nYet the healthcare delivery system is often too slow in introducing the innovations needed to get us where we all need to go. We need to embrace change, look for innovations and work together to achieve better quality and higher savings.\n\nA case in point is the attitude toward healthcare being delivered at home. The concept of people aging in place is popular, and demand continues to grow. With Americans living longer and more patients suffering from chronic illness, services provided by the home health sector are often misunderstood, underused, undervalued and, as a direct consequence, overlooked.\n\nWhy the reluctance to follow a course that has demonstrated its value repeatedly over the decades? The answer is that under fee-for-service, providers and payers focused largely on episodic care, based on the acuity of a condition. Before the push to reward value over volume, no strong financial incentives existed to motivate healthcare organizations to think long-term and make sure care is continuous rather than piecemeal.\n\nProviders, particularly physicians, hospitals and health systems, should take note of the advantages home health offers. Payers, ever on the lookout for efficiencies and synergies among healthcare players, also should recognize the benefits both clinically and financially. To cite one example, consider a 2016 study by UCLA researchers published in the February issue of the journal Medical Care: it found that patients who were referred to home healthcare following hospital discharge experienced better outcomes and incurred lower costs.\n\nDemographics combined with strong consumer preference demand this shift to healthcare at home. According to HHS, 70% of people turning 65 can eventually expect to use some form of long-term care. No fewer than 90% of seniors say they want to stay at home as they age, not in an institutionalized setting, according to an AARP survey. With 85% of Medicare home health patients suffering from at least three chronic conditions, maintaining continuity as care moves from acute to chronic will be even more essential.\n\nCompounding matters, the average length of a hospital stay is growing ever shorter. The rigors of discharge planning and transitions of care have assumed new complexity and importance.\n\nIndeed, home healthcare increasingly pioneers new approaches to monitoring, managing and treating chronic illness. Clinicians ranging from nurses to therapists are leveraging point-of-care technology, implementing telehealth initiatives, and deploying predictive modeling and analytical capabilities to ensure high-quality care in the home. And we must continue to build on those capabilities.\n\nAt Amedisys, we recently rolled out new protocols for patients with heart failure and COPD. Those programs encourage patients to participate more in taking care of themselves, a key element in the home-health equation. Concurrently, we've broadened and deepened our efforts to train clinicians in the latest techniques and technologies. We're also developing analytical capabilities that enable us to predict the risk of re-hospitalizations. These programs and tools should help divert low-acuity hospitalizations, increase the home health option for sicker patients and be proactive with patients who we know have a high risk of bouncing back into institutions.\n\nOnly recently has Medicare introduced a system for rating home healthcare, with ratings of one to five stars assigned to care centers. These performance evaluations, made public for all to see, hold the industry strictly accountable for its work, all while keeping caregivers, families, providers and payers fully informed.\n\nNo individual or organization can go it alone in healthcare, and that's certainly true for the professionals delivering services directly to patients at home. Responsibilities are shared. Care needs to be coordinated to meet population health needs and the challenge of affordability. All the players that provide post-acute care\u2013from health systems to health plans and accountable care organizations\u2013need to forge strategic partnerships with home-care providers.\n\nLet's come together sooner rather than later. Let's take on risks together, align incentives together, demonstrate creativity together and, above all, serve patients well together\u2013and at home, where they most want to be.\n\nPaul Kusserow is president and CEO of Amedisys, a national home health, hospice and personal care services provider.", "output": "Our healthcare delivery system is transforming faster than ever imagined, with organizations aggressively taking new approaches to improve patient outcomes and lower costs.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Working to Disarm Women\u2019s Anti-Aging Demon \n A couple of years ago I had a light bulb moment. So many women color their hair to cover the gray. Many resent the effort and expense, and it\u2019s a major way in which we make ourselves invisible as older women. When a group is invisible, so are the issues that affect it. Suppose the world saw how many we are, and how beautiful, I mused. Suppose we morphed together, in solidarity: the Year of Letting Our Hair Go Gray! It would be transformative!\n\nI posted the idea on my This Chair Rocks Facebook page. I got a ton of blowback. I deserved it. \u201cYou go first,\u201d was one notable comment, so I did, bleaching my whole head. (I keep part of it white, partly as an age-solidarity dye job and partly because I figure no one believes the brown is real.) Mainly I learned an important lesson: Who was I to be telling women how they should look or what they should do? To each her own. We each have to age in our own way on whatever terms work for us.\n\nOne thing we can all agree on, though? Aging is harder for women. We bear the brunt of the equation of beauty with youth and youth with power \u2014 the double-whammy of ageism and sexism. How do we cope? We splurge on anti-aging products. We fudge or lie about our age. We diet, we exercise, we get plumped and lifted and tucked.\n\nThese can be very effective strategies, and I completely understand why so many of us engage in them. No judgment, I swear. But trying to pass for younger is like a gay person trying to pass for straight or a person of color for white. These behaviors are rooted in shame over something that shouldn\u2019t be shameful. And they give a pass to the underlying discrimination that makes them necessary.", "output": "A couple of years ago I had a light bulb moment. So many women color their hair to cover the gray. Many resent the effort and expense, and it\u2019s a major way in which we make ourselves invisible as older women. When a group is invisible, so are the issues that affect it.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "As a matriarch\u2019s days draw to a close, a vision comes calling \n In the winter of 2010, 90-year-old Helen Budzinski described what she saw, which no one else could see.\n\nA blond girl, age 5 or so, at the foot of her bed. Then twin girls. Then a pair of boys named Michael and David.\n\nadvertisement\n\nHelen\u2019s stroke in October sharpened what had been a slow decline. Her granddaughter, Jocelyn Pappas, whom she raised, now served as Helen\u2019s full-time caregiver at Jocelyn\u2019s home in rural Connecticut.\n\nOn Monday morning, Dec. 20, with darkness shrouding the woods outside the window, Jocelyn placed a hand on the back of her grandmother\u2019s blue floral nightgown and eased her upright.\n\n\u201cOh, you work so hard for me, Jocelyn,\u201d Helen said.\n\nadvertisement\n\n\u201cI only work hard for you, Nana.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou only have to work five more days,\u201d she said. \u201cI got my ticket.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat do you mean, your ticket?\u201d\n\nHelen said she would be leaving this world at 4 a.m. on Friday. \u201cThey\u2019re coming for me.\u201d\n\n\u201cShe was so absolutely convinced,\u201d Jocelyn said.\n\nJocelyn called her grandmother\u2019s hospice nurse, who explained that nothing on Helen\u2019s chart suggested she was near death.\n\nThe hospice team may have disagreed with Helen\u2019s self-administered prognosis, but did not discount the value of the vision. The dying often talk of death not as a character clothed in reaper garb but as one rendered in the visage of a loved one or kind stranger offering safe passage.\n\nWhile hospice workers understand this, many families, patients and non-hospice clinicians do not. And so patients keep quiet about what they see.\n\nThat, said Dr. Christopher Kerr, one of the few researchers to venture into this territory, strips patients of what is often a great gift. \u201cPatients need permission to experience and express this, because it often carries profound meaning and very much lessens the fear of dying,\u201d he said. \u201cDying is isolating enough \u2014 to deny them this is even more isolating.\u201d\n\nHelen was no champion of the supernatural. She was a deeply beloved family matriarch who lavished attention on the youngest members of her vast family. She was active through her 80s, opting for a walker only as she approached 90.\n\nStill, as Christmas that year approached, Helen\u2019s visions grew more vivid: Her husband John, dead for nearly 20 years, began visiting, and a door materialized on the wall near her bed. Helen frantically searched for keys to open it, until Jocelyn found a spare set to placate her.\n\nJocelyn said she didn\u2019t share these newer visions with others. She was consumed by the swirl of taking care of her grandmother and her own family.\n\nHelen\u2019s condition began slipping in the three days after she spoke of her impending departure: She was eating and drinking less and sleeping more. Jocelyn exhorted family members to pay their last respects.\n\nNewsletters Sign up for Morning Rounds Your daily dose of news in health and medicine. Please enter a valid email address. Privacy Policy\n\nHer cousin Bennett MacKinney, who had come east from Phoenix, arrived Thursday afternoon and joined the chorus of family members who were, by now, joking with Jocelyn about Helen\u2019s prediction.\n\nHelen had grown largely unresponsive, and the family suspected that she may indeed be close to dying. But when she woke, her family said, she showed no signs of emotional distress.\n\nBy 10 p.m. on Thursday night most of the relatives had departed; MacKinney and Jocelyn chatted past midnight, at which point she moved to Helen\u2019s bedside. MacKinney slept on a downstairs couch for about three hours, and when he woke, he recalled a vivid dream.\n\nIn it, MacKinney saw Jocelyn leaning over Helen\u2019s bed, which was now angled toward the wall. Two children were playing on the floor and a third stood at the head of the bed. Moving closer, he saw his grandfather with his arms around Helen, pulling her toward the wall.\n\nMacKinney said he began weeping in the dream, and Jocelyn appeared. She hugged him and said she knew why he was crying. She said: \u201cIf I tell you that I am seeing the same thing that you are seeing, then you will know this is really happening.\u201d\n\nAt 3:45 a.m., MacKinney heard Jocelyn\u2019s cellphone alarm. He went upstairs, where she and Helen were sleeping peacefully.\n\nJocelyn\u2019s cat was nearby. McKinney sat and turned on his iPad. \u201cWhen it said 3:59, I looked at the cat as if to jokingly say, \u2018Ok, here it comes.\u2026\u2019\u201d\n\nNothing happened.\n\nMacKinney went back to the iPad. At 4:05 he looked up at Helen again.\n\n\u201cShe made two little coughs,\u201d he recalled, \u201cand her breathing stopped.\u201d\n\nHe checked her pulse and her breathing. \u201cI teared up and said, \u2018Goodbye, Nana.\u2019\u201d\n\nMacKinney woke Jocelyn. They called the relatives, then traded more stories about their grandmother. Jocelyn told him about Helen\u2019s visions during the week. She talked about the children, and Helen\u2019s husband, and, finally, she mentioned the door Helen had described.\n\nHe asked Jocelyn where Helen had seen that door, and Jocelyn nodded toward the wall where, in MacKinney\u2019s dream, their grandfather was carrying their grandmother.\n\nMacKinney paused a long moment. Then he took a deep breath and told his cousin about a dream he\u2019d had.", "output": "In the winter of 2010, 90-year-old Helen Budzinski described what she saw, which no one else could see. A blond girl, age 5 or so, at the foot of her bed. Then twin girls. Then a pair of boys named Michael and David.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aging in America: Land of the Free, Home of the Gray \n Getting old isn't what it used to be.\n\nAt least, that's what Bob Lowry has found in recent years as he's blazed a trail through what many would consider to be an early retirement. In 2001, at the age of 52, Lowry stepped away from his job running a management consulting company for radio stations. His wife, Betty, left her teaching job not long after, and the two began to figure out exactly what to do with the rest of their lives.\n\nBut retirement \u2013 and, more broadly, getting older \u2013 hasn't played out exactly as Lowry expected. In fact, through his effort to spread awareness about aging and retirement through his blog, A Satisfying Retirement , Lowry's found there's a lot of confusion out there as to what getting older actually looks like in the 21st century.\n\n\"The biggest misconception is that at the age of 65 you retire and go to Florida. That was really the generation before mine. Very few of my readers are content to sit on a lawn chair and play 18 holes of golf a day,\" says Lowry, who opted to remain in Scottsdale, Arizona, when he retired rather than uproot and move away from family. \"They want to be engaged and involved and do a lot of volunteer work.\"\n\nMuch ado has been made about the baby-boom generation reaching retirement age and either leaving the workforce en masse \u2013 in part straining the country's Social Security funds \u2013 or remaining in their jobs long after the historically standard retirement age. A Gallup poll earlier this year found that 74 percent of U.S. adults said they planned to work in some capacity beyond age 65.\n\nThis changing attitude toward work is only one cultural shift the nation and its 50 states will need to grapple with as an aging America becomes less of a far-off prediction and more of a full-blown reality. Changing attitudes toward health care \u2013 and the increasingly common desire for the elderly to age and die in their own homes \u2013 and lifelong learning experiences will force states to adapt their budgets more to the needs of the post-50 generation and less to those just starting out in life.\n\nA brief glance at elderly employment statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals this dynamic is already playing out. More than 9.2 million Americans over the age of 65 held either a full- or part-time job in August \u2013 a 64 percent increase from the 5.6 million elderly workers the U.S. maintained a decade prior.\n\n\"In the past 30 years or so, there has been a steady incremental increase in the percentage of workers \u2026 65 and over who are in the workforce,\" David Nathan, a media relations manager at the AARP, told U.S. News in an email. \"The figure in 1985 was 10.8 percent \u2013 a little more than one in 10 of those 65 and over. With only one or two exceptions, the percentage has gone up every year since then and now stands at nearly one in five \u2013 19.2 percent. That percent is expected to continue to increase in the coming years.\"\n\nPart of older Americans' reluctance to leave the workforce comes from the fact that people are living longer today than they were decades ago. Per the Social Security Administration , the average 65-year-old man today can expect to live at least another 19 years. The average 65-year-old woman, meanwhile, can expect at least another 21.5 years. One in four 65 year olds can expect to live past age 90, and one in 10 is expected to reach 95.\n\nAccording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , the average 65 year old in 1960 would be lucky to make it to 80. And while the CDC in 2015 identified a slight downtick in average U.S. life expectancy \u2013 from 78.9 years to 78.8 \u2013 expectancy is still considerably higher than it was decades ago.\n\n\"Personally, I think that's a healthy change. While people have been living longer, they've also been generally healthier in old age, more vital, disability rates have gone down and so on over the course of the 20th century,\" says Ronald Lee, a demography professor at the University of California\u2014Berkeley's economics department. \"It doesn't seem intergenerationally fair that older people who are living longer and are healthier should be retiring earlier and earlier and receiving support from working-aged people who are struggling themselves.\"\n\nBut the ability to \u2013 or, in the case of many whose nest eggs were walloped by the Great Recession, the necessity of \u2013 working later in life only scratches the surface of the demographic and economic upheaval associated with America's aging population, which is starting to put a considerable strain on many state budgets in the form of elevated health care burdens and lower tax revenues as Americans tend to pay fewer taxes as they get older \u2013 in part because of retirement and in part because they naturally tend to spend less than younger adults, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.\n\nA report published earlier this year by the Urban Institute noted that the demographic shift \"puts pressure on both sides of the ledger, lowering some tax revenue sources while pushing up the need for spending on services, especially health care.\" And, indeed, a separate study from the National Association of State Budget Offices in June found that 33 states reported fiscal 2017 revenue collections were lower than they'd forecasted. Aging populations are believed to be one of several factors exacerbating individual states' budget situations.\n\nIn an effort to get a more hands-on look at how individual states are faring under a demographic shift expected to play out for decades to come, U.S. News put together the Best States for Aging ranking.\n\nThe U.S. News Best States for Aging ranking measures states' efforts to effectively serve their senior citizens by keeping them healthy, financially secure and involved in their communities. States are scored relative to each other in 12 factors that average into one overall score.\n\nThe factors are:\n\n\n\nColorado took the top spot in the rankings, followed by Maine, Hawaii, Iowa and South Dakota to round out the top five. The Centennial State ranked in the top 10 across several subcategories, including nursing home quality, life expectancy, overall health and senior unemployment.\n\nBut Colorado was also among the more expensive states in terms of health care costs \u2013 a status that has not been lost among the state's budget-conscious as its population ages rapidly. The Colorado Department of Local Affairs last year pegged it as the third-fastest growing state in terms of population growth among those at least 65 years of age. Among the complications associated with that distinction was a tighter job market and \"an expected decline in per capita tax revenues to the state and many local governments.\"\n\nAnd given the combination of lower per capita tax revenues and higher state burdens for programs such as Medicare, Colorado officials are looking at ways to head off the potential costs associated with the state's ongoing demographic shift.\n\n\"If we don\u2019t get out ahead of [rising health care costs], it\u2019s just going to take a greater and greater proportion of each state's government economy. And it\u2019s gonna squeeze K-12 [education funding]. It\u2019s gonna squeeze higher ed, our universities. It\u2019s gonna squeeze transportation,\" says Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper, indicating that he's determined to \"really ... go aggressively after cost\" to make health care more affordable to citizens and less of a burden on the government.\n\nStill, Colorado was among the 10 youngest states U.S. News profiled, with just 14 percent of the state's population at least 65 years of age. In states such as Maine, West Virginia and Florida \u2013 where the elderly population accounts for 20.5 percent, 19.1 percent and 18.7 percent of the population, respectively \u2013 the population shift is even more acute.\n\n(Deidre McPhillips for USN&WR)\n\nBut it's not just individual states that are concerned about rising health care costs. Lawmakers across the country have expressed concerns as their constituents' health care burdens continue to rise and cash-strapped retirees try to figure out how to cover their medical bills.\n\n\"The biggest fear is not the overall financial situation, it's health costs. Medicare is great, but it only covers 80 percent if you're lucky. And the way Congress acts, nothing is guaranteed,\" Lowry says of interactions he's had with readers and other elderly Americans through his blogging and book writing. \"You can go to the gym 12 hours a day, but you're still going to get old, and you're still going to fall apart. It's going to cost a very pretty penny.\"\n\nIndeed, Fidelity Investments in August estimated the average 65-year-old couple retiring this year would need $275,000 stashed away to cover health care costs over the rest of their lives. That's up 6 percent from just a year ago.\n\nThe Bureau of Labor Statistics' consumer price index, meanwhile, shows nursing home and adult day services have seen costs rise 37.2 percent across the country over the past 10 years. Broader medical care costs, meanwhile, have gone up 35 percent.\n\nThe index estimates prices included in its calculations have climbed only 18 percent over that period. So medical care costs are essentially doubling the country's broader rate of inflation.\n\n\"The health care side is where the big concern is for the U.S., and really, it's probably underappreciated in many other countries as well,\" Lee says. \"Right now, Medicare and Medicaid are still relatively modest compared to GDP, but they're going to be increasing fairly rapidly.\"\n\nStill, physical therapy, in-home care and medical employment as a whole have soared along with prices. Affording quality care has become a concern for many, but millions of others have found themselves new job opportunities in industries such as health care and retirement planning as baby boomers transition into their golden years.\n\nOutside of these aging-adjacent industries, though, much of the private sector stands to benefit from the introduction of products that may not have seemed marketable years ago. Gillette recently unveiled the new TREO razor designed to make shaving another person easier \u2013 potentially a boon for the growing pool of adult children tasked with looking after their parents as they age.\n\n\"That can be seen as, 'Wow, that is great social responsibility.' But it's also fantastic business. It's a great analysis of an unmet need in the marketplace that they can fill,\" says Michael Hodin, CEO of the Global Coalition on Aging. \"The global number is there's about a $15 trillion silver economy, which is what we call this.\"\n\nStates such as Florida and Maine naturally enjoy stronger silver economies than younger and more spread-out states like Utah and Alaska, where just 10.9 percent and 11.3 percent of the already small populations are at least 65 years of age, respectively. But the advent of remote monitoring technology through screens and in-house tools could completely revolutionize how health care is practiced in these areas, allowing older workers to either remain at home or in areas where immediate access to a physical caregiver isn't as much of an issue as it is now.\n\n\"Aging in place is all the rage now, and globally, too. [Remote patient monitoring] is about to really take off,\" says Hodin, who notes that Intel and Phillips, in particular, are at the forefront of some of these elder-focused technological innovations. \"The opportunity to transform the delivery of health care, where remote monitoring becomes the standard of care and where, instead of having to run to the physician's office or a hospital, is phenomenal.\"\n\nHodin's coalition partners with a host of private sector companies such as Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, General Electric, Intel, Deloitte, Pfizer and others as they aim to raise awareness about the global aging trend, prepare companies to maintain older payrolls and potentially identify new business opportunities to better connect with that older demographic.\n\nThis effort to make corporate America more elderly-friendly is crucial, he says, if companies want to attract older customers and ultimately take advantage of the glut of older workers remaining in the workplace longer. He likens the potential impact of a more accepting corporate environment for older Americans to the rise of women in the workplace decades ago.\n\n\"We opened up an entire part of society that has added trillions of dollars in economic impact and has been a driver of growth through the women's movement. And you can do the same thing with a 55-plus category,\" he says. \"I think that's the model from a societal point of view.\"\n\nIn some sense, that model may be a necessity for many companies as they struggle to attract younger workers in the years ahead. America's aging trend is twofold in that folks are living longer while birth rates have diminished. According to the CDC, the number of U.S. births fell 1 percent in 2016 alone, dropping the general fertility rate to 62 births per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44.\n\n\"When you look at the trend line, particularly from a public policy point of view, it's the low birth rates that have the biggest impact, because it profoundly transforms the character of society,\" Hodin says. \"There are more old than young around the world. The U.S. is less dramatically involved in that at this moment, but it's coming to us very rapidly.\"\n\nBut the story of aging appears to have taken on a more negative connotation in recent years than was the case a few decades ago, Lee says. Concerns about health care funding, Social Security viability, state pension burdens and tax revenue reduction have become the new norm, and elderly health in some sense appears to have plateaued.\n\n\"It\u2019s also disturbing that the people just before the threshold of getting older, say, between 50 and 65, they\u2019ve had rising disability rates, increasing obesity, increasing diabetes, and as they start turning 65, they may well be in worse health than earlier generations,\" he says. \"That\u2019s a cloud on the horizon.\"\n\nStill, Lowry says aging and retirement in the 21st century isn't all doom and gloom. He describes his own experience as \"extremely positive\" and notes that, even though recent studies have suggested middle-aged Americans aren't the pinnacles of health that they once were, the country's older individuals today are largely more mobile and healthy than they were in decades past. In some sense, he says, 65 is the new 75.\n\n\"It's an extremely positive experience now, but I remember at my parents' age, they did just kind of sit. They really didn't do anything,\" Lowry says of the aging process. \"It's really been reinvented; the idea of moving to Sun City and driving around in a golf cart all day is just not acceptable anymore.\"\n\nCasey Leins and Deidre McPhillips contributed to this story.", "output": "Getting old isn't what it used to be. At least, that's what Bob Lowry has found in recent years as he's blazed a trail through what many would consider to be an early retirement. In 2001, at the age of 52, Lowry stepped away from his job running a management consulting company for radio stations. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Colorado Is the Best State for Aging \n Colorado's burgeoning young population is not the only group to benefit from the state's flourishing economy and resulting culture boom: Colorado is the Best State for Aging, according to a new U.S. News ranking.\n\nAt a time when the nation is aging rapidly, presenting challenges to care for the 65-and-older population, Colorado has made it a priority to ensure it serves its older residents well. As a result, Colorado has one of the healthiest 65-and-older populations of any state, and it provides its residents with some of the best Medicare and nursing home quality in the nation.\n\nColorado's older population is growing faster than most others: In 2010, 10.9 percent of Colorado residents were 65 or older, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates . In 2016, that percentage jumped to 13.4 percent, though still lower than the national average of 15.2 percent.\n\nBy 2030, the Colorado State Demography Office predicts the 65-and-older population will rise to 1.27 million, a 77 percent increase from 2015. Much of this growth comes from the state's residents who are aging in place. A majority of older residents have lived in Colorado for more than 20 years, and many say they don't plan to leave.\n\nGov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat who has been in office since 2011, attributes the state's No. 1 ranking in part to a strong collaboration among the government, the private sector and local municipalities.\n\nIn September, for example, Hickenlooper's office announced the state would create a senior adviser on aging position to lead Colorado's aging-related efforts, funded by a grant from the Next Fifty Initiative, a nonprofit organization that aims to improve community services for the elderly population and caregivers. And Hickenlooper says the state is working with the private sector by providing incentives for private nursing home facilities to improve their quality.\n\nNursing home quality is one of the areas where Colorado performed the best in the Best States for Aging ranking, earning the No. 6 spot. And quality nursing homes are key to controlling overall health costs, according to the governor.\n\nColorado also performed well in many health-related categories. New Hampshire and Hawaii are the only states with a greater share of older people who say their health is good or better. About 2 in 3 older people in Colorado are able-bodied, and just 5 percent of Colorado's older people say they are experiencing frequent mental distress, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.\n\nThe active lifestyle in Colorado could contribute to better health outcomes for seniors, says Mindy Kemp, director of Colorado's Division of Aging and Adult Services. Just 22.3 percent of older people have had no physical activity in their leisure time in the past month; fellow outdoorsy states Washington and California are the only two to rank higher than Colorado for this metric, according to CDC data.\n\n\"It's hard to tell where [staying healthy at an older age] is an individual's choice or the services provided to them,\" Kemp says. \"In communities like Boulder, there's a lot of outdoor activities, great recreational activities, community engagement, senior centers and things like that. So I'm sure that helps, but you also need people to be willing to take advantage of that.\"\n\nThe state also offers a Regional Care Collaborative Organization, which connects members of Colorado's Medicaid Program with providers. \"[The program] does a really good job of very cost-effectively providing a medical home for people of lesser means,\" says Hickenlooper, who has been at the forefront of a bipartisan governor resistance to the two Affordable Care Act replacement bills proposed by Republicans in recent months.\n\nHickenlooper, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and a handful of other governors say the GOP bills would threaten their states' abilities to provide health insurance to residents. And in Colorado, which expanded Medicaid under Obamacare, seniors could be adversely affected because they account for a large percentage of the state's Medicaid costs. People with disabilities and seniors accounted for 59 percent of the program's cost in 2014, though they only made up 20 percent of enrollees.\n\nColorado's top-notch health care comes with a hefty price tag: The state's health care costs, and cost of living, are higher than in most other states.\n\nColorado places in the middle of the pack for assisted living facility costs, at an average of $4,900.17 per month . The problem is exacerbated in growing metro areas such as Denver, where housing affordability is a major challenge. As young people move to the state and \"are getting paid pretty well to work in this economy,\" housing prices are jumping, according to Hickenlooper.\n\n\"Denver is growing, and there's a huge need for housing, so you see people who could potentially lose their rental housing, and that's a problem,\" says Angela Cortez, communications director for AARP Colorado, which serves roughly 340,000 members who are 65 or older. \"Those are the challenges of a growing community, and yes, if they go into nursing care [or assisted living], it is very expensive.\"\n\nWhile stakeholders and advocates agree that affordable housing is a pressing issue for the state, Colorado's leadership has introduced initiatives to help older residents stay in their homes longer, including a property tax break for residents who are 65 and older and have lived in their homes for at least 10 years. The state already has one of the lowest property tax rates in the country.\n\nJill Clark, a 65-year-old Colorado Springs resident, and her 72-year-old husband have benefited from the property tax break for several years, and she estimates that about half her neighborhood also enjoys the tax break.\n\nConversely, the state's fast-growing economy prevents seniors from being pushed out of the workforce. The unemployment rate for people over 65 is lower in Colorado \u2013 2.5 percent \u2013 than the national average of 3.8 percent, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.\n\n\"We need every able-bodied worker we can get,\" Hickenlooper says. The state has programs to make sure people with varying levels of disabilities get training to take their place in the economy. \"Sometimes those are older people,\" he adds.\n\nIn addition to its economic challenges, Colorado must address the needs of its senior residents who live in less-accessible areas.\n\n\"What's interesting about Colorado is we have some urban and some rural and frontier areas, so the needs are different when we go around the state and ask about the challenges,\" Kemp says, citing the difficulty of serving larger populations in metro areas and getting home-delivered meals to older people in more remote areas.\n\nKemp and Jody Barker, chair of the Colorado Commission on Aging, say the state's agencies have worked with Colorado's local municipalities to \"do more with less\" and creatively address age-related challenges. For example, Kemp's department is considering an initiative to help older people who no longer drive get to doctor's appointments, the grocery store or anywhere else. A driver who volunteers to take the older person to their destination would receive a voucher from the senior, which they could then exchange for cash from the department.\n\n\"When we have that level of support already at that upper level, then it enables us \u2026 to move forward doing the work that serves the seniors in our community. It's been fantastic,\" says Barker, who also directs the Central Colorado chapter of the national Alzheimer's Association.\n\nColorado's 65-and-older population is also benefiting from the fact that the state's young population is growing rapidly. Over the last 10 years, Clark says her neighborhood has become significantly younger and more eclectic, adding that \"millennials are looking to live in places that aren't cookie cutter.\" Now, she enjoys a brewery down the street and an arts scene downtown that \"adds to the quality of life.\"\n\nHickenlooper says he thinks some older people are moving to Colorado to be with their grandchildren, and is proud how fewer people are moving away from Colorado for retirement than from other states.\n\n\"One of the things that helps you [live] longer is to be part of a community and to know your neighbors and have relationships with them,\" Hickenlooper says. \"What that really tells you is that should be a primary goal for any state government to try to encourage as many seniors as possible to age in place.\"", "output": "Colorado's burgeoning young population is not the only group to benefit from the state's flourishing economy and resulting culture boom: Colorado is the Best State for Aging, according to a new U.S. News ranking.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Emerging Technology Looks to Help Older Americans Age Better \n Americans once wanted to live to an old age. Now, as people are living longer than ever, they want to age well.\n\nEach day, more than 10,000 adults are turning 65, and by 2060, nearly one in four Americans \u2013 98.2 million people \u2013 will be 65 or older. ( Florida and Maine are nearly there.) And a sizable chunk of those older U.S. residents across the country \u2013 almost 20 million \u2013 will be at least 85 in 2060, according to U.S. Census projections.\n\nWith that shift has come an increasing focus among researchers, health care professionals and commercial brands alike on how to help older Americans age healthily and comfortably in their own homes.\n\nAt the forefront of that movement have been high-tech companies with innovations designed to look after older adults and improve their quality of life, with inventions ranging from a smart refrigerator that orders food from the grocery store after sensing there is not enough, to remote monitoring devices and apps that allow people to check in on their older family members.\n\nAt the same time America is graying, older generations are using technology in increasing numbers. Forty-two percent of the nearly 50 million adults 65 and over today own smartphones , a sharp jump from the 18 percent who had smartphones in 2013, a survey from Pew Research Center found. And 79 percent of older adults say the lack of internet access is a serious disadvantage.\n\n\"Older adults don't adopt new technologies quite as quickly as younger people,\" says Elizabeth Zelinski, a technology and aging expert at the University of Southern California . \"But one of the ideas we have with technology adoption is that if people find it useful, and it's accessible \u2013 meaning it's cheap enough, it's easy enough, it's ubiquitous enough \u2013 people will adopt it.\"\n\nOver the next two decades, overall spending by people 50 and older is expected to increase 58 percent, while spending by Americans 25 to 50 will grow by only 24 percent, according to a 2013 investment report from the AARP . And because baby boomers \u2013 Americans born between 1946 and 1964 \u2013 spend the most across all categories, particularly health care, \"this market is too big to ignore,\" the report said.\n\nWithin the burgeoning movement to create high-tech products geared toward older Americans, there's an emphasis on health, social well-being and safety. And the nation's $3 trillion-per-year health care industry is closely monitoring tech innovations that could prevent falls or other accidents and alleviate health risks, particularly as the number of health care workers has dwindled in recent years.\n\nFalls are the leading cause of injury and death among older Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , contributing to about 27,000 deaths annually. In 2014 alone, older Americans' 29 million falls resulted in 7 million injuries and cost about $31 billion in annual Medicare costs.\n\nFall-detection wearables that can call for help are nothing new \u2013 think Life Alert's \"Help, I've fallen\" pendants that have been around since the late 1980s \u2013 but implementing the same technology into sleeker, more attractive devices may entice older Americans who find the pendants stigmatizing and unattractive, says Laurie Orlov, who has been analyzing industry trends since 2009 for her blog, Aging in Place Technology Watch.\n\nSensosafe , for example, recently released a smartwatch that monitors the wearer's heart rate, step count and can even call a designated family member if he or she falls. The watch allows family members to monitor an older person's safety while maintaining their privacy and independence. While only a small share of adults 65 and older owned wearables in 2016, according to an AARP survey , those rates will likely increase as the devices become more commonplace.\n\n\"A lot of older people feel that their children are worrying about them too much, and the younger people are saying, 'Well, I want to make sure Mom's OK,' but the difficulty is getting to the right balance between privacy and security,\" Zelinski says.\n\nAs older Americans increasingly live alone, concerns arise regarding their security and health. About one-third of Americans 65 or older live alone, according to the Institute on Aging. Women are twice as likely as men to live on their own \u2013 nearly half live alone by the time they hit 75. Social isolation and loneliness contribute to poor health outcomes, including depression and declining mobility, according to a report published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information.\n\nBranding its product ElliQ as the \"active aging companion,\" Intuition Robotics hopes to alleviate some of those social and health problems. ElliQ, a tabletop robot that uses artificial intelligence and speaks with a female voice, is designed to simplify communication and other social interactions for older Americans.\n\nRather than waiting for the user to start the interaction, ElliQ suggests activities to keep older Americans engaged and active. If Grandma has a game of bridge on the calendar, for example, ElliQ will offer to practice with her, or if the weather is nice, ElliQ will suggest going for a walk. Intuition Robotics plans to commercially release the robotic companion in 2018.\n\n\"If you look at [Apple's] Siri or something like that, the goal for us as users is A) for us to initiative the conversation, and B) for it to be completed as quickly and efficiently as possible,\" Intuition Robotics CEO Dor Skuler says. \"ElliQ has much more of a persona attributed to her, whether it's her ability to show body language to communicate \u2026 or her ability to personalize her approach to different people based on what she learns about them.\"\n\nSkuler says ElliQ's use of emotional intelligence and body language make the device feel more natural for older Americans who may be tech-averse. ElliQ's proactiveness is what makes the device an asset for older users, Skuler says, because older people often fall into routines of passivity and inactivity. Research suggests that remaining physically active and social can help older Americans fend off health issues such as Alzheimer's disease and high blood pressure, and can even increase longevity.\n\nBut Orlov says ElliQ and other tabletop robotic assistants designed specifically for the elderly may be missing the mark. Older people just need popular devices to allow for more personalization and easier-to-use interfaces, such as the \"easy mode\" on Samsung Galaxy phones that enlarges icons and simplifies the home screen, she says.\n\n\"Having standardized hardware and configurable software is what would make these devices simpler to use. There doesn't need to be an entirely separate product,\" Orlov says, citing controls that parents of young children can enable on their smartphones.\n\n\"Alexa,\" the digital assistant built into the Amazon Echo , is an example of how a universal device can be tailored to meet the needs of its user. Older Americans can ask Alexa to remind them to take their medicine and adjust lights and temperature, for example, and their adult children can use the accompanying app to check in. The newest version of the device, the Echo Show, also includes a screen, allowing people to check their home security cameras and make video calls.\n\nOrlov says that for older Americans to adopt new tech devices en masse, they must be affordable and unobtrusive, so another major draw for existing digital assistants is the price: The Amazon Echo starts at around $180, while the Google Home is even cheaper. There is no set price for ElliQ yet, but Skuler says his team is \"targeting the product to be as affordable as other sophisticated consumer electronics products.\"\n\nAmerican workers' top retirement fear is outliving their money \u2013 not declining health or loneliness \u2013 according to a 2015 survey by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies , which may make older Americans wary of new products with high price tags. Still, Americans may find that the higher price tags of some tech devices are worth the splurge if they seem to make Grandma's life easier \u2013 and their own by default.\n\n\"I think there's a lot out there that can be very helpful,\" Zelinski says. \"And the older people who are most responsive to that have money.\"", "output": "Americans once wanted to live to an old age. Now, as people are living longer than ever, they want to age well. Each day, more than 10,000 adults\u00a0are turning 65, and by 2060, nearly one in four Americans \u2013 98.2 million people \u2013 will be 65 or older. (Florida\u00a0and\u00a0Maine\u00a0are nearly there.) And a sizable chunk of those older U.S. residents across the country \u2013 almost 20 million \u2013 will be at least 85 in 2060, according to\u00a0U.S. Census projections.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Spider-imitating drones fire string to perch or park from\u00a0mid-air \n (Tech Xplore)\u2014Getting a drone up in the air is only one step ahead for those who work on and study drones. The feats to accomplish further rest in how well they fly, self-balance, perch, land and, if used in numbers, how they may move in formation.\n\nNo surprise, then, that researchers, in engineering drones to last longer and navigate around obstacles, look to nature's creatures such as birds, bats, insects to explore how their mechanisms help for energy-efficient, precise flight control.\n\nA new drone takes its inspiration from spiders and the results are most interesting.\n\nIntroducing SpiderMAV: a micro aerial vehicle, specifically, a DJI Matrice 100 drone with customized perching module mounted on top, said IEEE Spectrum, and stabilizing module at the bottom.\n\nThe perching module consists of a magnetic anchor launcher and an actuated spooling system using polystyrene thread, the report said.\n\nThe drone is from Imperial College London's Aerial Robotics Laboratory. Their work was presented at IROS 2017.\n\nTheir paper is titled, \"SpiderMAV: Perching and Stabilizing Micro Aerial Vehicles with Bio-inspired Tensile Anchoring Systems,\" by K. Zhang, P. Chermprayong, T. M. Alhinai, R. Siddall, and M. Kovac.\n\nWhat's special about the drone and how does it mimic spiders? The answer is that the little vehicle shoots webs for perching and stabilization\u2014such that it can hang from ceilings and perch.\n\nAnd it does so wherever it needs to. \"The SpiderMAV can shoot actual silk strings at walls in order to stabilize itself to perch against structures wherever necessary or convenient.\" said Marco Margaritoff in The Drive.\n\nEvan Ackerman in IEEE Spectrum stepped readers through that process.\n\n\"When SpiderMAV finds a magnetic surface (a metal ceiling or beam, ideally) that it wants to perch beneath, the launcher uses compressed gas to fire the anchor, which trails the thread behind it. With the anchor attached, SpiderMAV reels in the thread to keep it taut, and then can slow or shut off its motors, hanging securely from the ceiling.\"\n\nThis is all being done while the drone is mid-air. And the feat is not limited to perching but to building infrastructure for it. \"By using tensile anchors to support structures made of silk, spiders can create custom-stabilized perching locations that would otherwise not exist, because they're in mid-air.\"\n\nThe inspiration came from Darwin's bark spider. \"It's inspired by the Darwin's bark spider that spins a circular web with anchor lines up to 25 meters (82 feet) long,\" said Steven Dufresne in Hackaday.\n\nThe perching aspect of their drone is quite important for those who explore drone endurance. Ackerman discussed this in his article.\n\n\"Perching is turning out to be a very desirable skill for aerial robots. The ability to land on walls or ceilings, rather than having to go to the ground, gives a drone the advantage of being high up in the air (probably why you're using a drone in the first place) without the disadvantage of having to spend a lot of energy not falling.\"\n\nIEEE Spectrum posted videos earlier this month of the 1-SpiderMAV Outdoor Stabilization Test and 2-SpiderMAV: Micro Aerial Vehicles With Bio-inspired Tensile Anchoring Systems.\n\nWhy their work matters: According to Ackerman, \"The researchers conclude by saying that SpiderMAV 'opens up a new trend in the field of robotics on investigating string-driven systems with active moving platform.'\"\n\nMoving forward, Marco Margaritoff in The Drive said \"this drone is still very much in its early stages of development, with all of the aforementioned capabilities functioning well yet in preliminary testing phases.\"\n\nMore information: SpiderMAV: Perching and Stabilizing Micro Aerial Vehicles with Bio-Inspired Tensile Anchoring Systems, IROS 2017. ras.papercept.net/conferences/ \u2026 ontentListWeb_4.html Abstract\n\nWhilst Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) possess a variety of promising capabilities, their high energy consumption severely limits applications where flight endurance is of high importance. Reducing energy usage is one of the main challenges in advancing aerial robot utility. To address this bottleneck in the development of unmanned aerial vehicle applications, this work proposes an bioinspired mechanical approach and develops an aerial robotic system for greater endurance enabled by low power station-keeping. The aerial robotic system consists of an multirotor MAV and anchoring modules capable of launching multiple tensile anchors to fixed structures in its operating envelope. The resulting tensile perch is capable of providing a mechanically stabilized mode for high accuracy operation in 3D workspace. We explore generalised geometric and static modelling of the stabilisation concept using screw theory. Following the analytical modelling of the integrated robotic system, the tensile anchoring modules employing high pressure gas actuation are designed, prototyped and then integrated to a quadrotor platform. The presented design is validated with experimental tests, demonstrating the stabilization capability even in a windy environment.\n\n\u00a9 2017 Tech Xplore", "output": "A drone that can shoot string at walls in order to perch against structures has been developed by engineers in London. The \"SpiderMAV\"\u00a0craft has been developed by researchers at Imperial College London, and takes its inspiration from the way spiders shoot silk to spin their webs. The drone's stabilising system works by firing a magnetic anchor on a string at metallic surfaces while in mid-air, then reeling it in to keep the line taut, before slowing or shutting off its motors to save energy.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Reddit unveils partnership with Time Magazine to unearth stories \n Time magazine has a new, formalized source of inspiration for stories. On Oct. 12, the Time Inc. flagship is announcing an editorial partnership with Reddit, the community and platform that has helped and flummoxed publishers for years.\n\nThrough the partnership, Reddit staffers will help find and flag original stories written by Reddit community members for Time editors, who will tell those stories and compile the results in an article series that will publish every Thursday. The posts will be distributed on Time\u2019s owned and operated properties, its Reddit profile page and Apple News.\n\nIn the past year, Reddit has formed partnerships with companies including CrowdTangle and Taboola, as well as publishers including The Washington Post. Meanwhile, Time\u2019s parent, Time Inc., is scrambling to cut costs, reportedly planning to cut the publishing frequency of titles like Fortune and Sports Illustrated, while also trying to offer digital publishers the chance to create print editions of their own products. Neither side would comment on whether there is a financial dimension to the partnership.\n\n\u201cWe have opportunities to grow each other\u2019s audiences,\u201d said Alexandra Riccomini, Reddit\u2019s director of business development and media partnerships.\n\nPublishers big and small have spent years mining Reddit for stories. Gawker famously feuded with Reddit\u2019s community over the perception that Gawker staffers relied too heavily on the platform to surface stories they later aggregated. To this day, most digital journalists are constantly prowling Reddit\u2019s 140,000 active subreddits looking for viral story fodder, Alexis Ohanian said on a recent Digiday podcast.\n\nThis partnership is different. Rather than surfacing stories from other websites or posts from ill-lit corners of the internet, members of Reddit\u2019s community team will help flag top-performing original posts published by Reddit users, with a special focus on content that does not fit into any of the established lists that Time\u2019s competitors might access through CrowdTangle. Those community specialists will also connect those Reddit users to Time editors to help the editors secure permission to use photographs or other media created by those Reddit users.\n\n\u201cWe really wanted to find a way to leverage the user-generated content from their community,\u201d said Brittany Robins, engagement editor for Time Inc.\u2019s Time, Fortune and Money.\n\nFor much of the past decade, Reddit has played a unique role in the digital media ecosystem. It has long been a top-10 source of referral traffic for publishers globally, according to Parse.ly data, routinely topping much larger platforms like LinkedIn. Historically, Robins said, it has been a top-five source of social traffic for Time.\n\nYet overall, the flow of referral traffic has been unpredictable for publishers. Unlike other platforms where publishers can set up their own accounts and pump as much content into the platforms as they wish, Reddit\u2019s community would actively police publishers that tried to spam its ecosystem, either by downvoting the content or getting the publisher\u2019s user accounts banned.\n\nThat has begun to change. Over the summer, it created the option for publishers to create profile pages on its platform, a program it launched in open beta with Time, The Washington Post and AL.com. It also began allowing users to upload native video to its platform, an opportunity Time has embraced: A video it uploaded this summer about the history of solar eclipses remains one of Reddit\u2019s most popular uploaded videos.\n\nReddit\u2019s partnerships with Taboola and CrowdTangle also give publishers greater visibility into how content performs inside Reddit\u2019s labyrinthine ecosystem. \u201cWe\u2019ve been making an effort, holistically, to engage more with publishers,\u201d Riccomini said.\n\nWhile Time\u2019s coverage of national affairs has historically defined the brand, its current audience seems more interested in stories that emerge from the internet. A recent story, which happened to be sourced from Reddit, about a grandmother who bears a striking resemblance to actress Scarlett Johansson became one of the publisher\u2019s top-performing posts of the year.\n\nAs two websites looking to diversify their audiences, Reddit and Time are an excellent match. The former\u2019s audience is 62 percent male, and more than two-thirds of its visitors are under the age of 34, while the latter\u2019s audience is 60 percent female, and nearly two-thirds of its visitors are over the age of 35. Both sites attract 47 million unique U.S. visitors per month, all according to comScore data; Reddit claims a global audience of 330 million.\n\nAs the partnership develops, Robins said the stories Reddit unearths could serve as the raw material for a video project or another multimedia effort. \u201cThis is our passion project,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re just going to see where it goes.\u201d", "output": "Social news aggregation site Reddit is partnering with Time magazine to compile the best-performing posts on its site and use them to create a weekly article that will be distributed on Time's properties. The move is seen as an ideal way for the chalk-and-cheese sites to diversify their audiences, and followed Reddit\u00a0partnerships with publishers including the Washington Post. Reddit has been a major source of referrals to publishers for some time.\u00a0While any financials behind the deal have not been revealed, Time's parent company, Time Incorporated, is battling to reduce costs across its portfolio.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Robots, 3D printing combine in spinal operation for first time \n If you thought an autonomous robot dentist implanting 3D printed teeth into a patient\u2019s mouth was astoundingly innovative and maybe a little scary, buckle your seat belt \u2013 for the first time, a robot has completed spinal surgery on a child with severe progressive scoliosis. The groundbreaking surgery took place at the University Hospital of Amiens (CHU d\u2019Amiens) in France.\n\n6-year-old Louis is handicapped with a genetic disorder known as infantile spinal amyotrophy \u2013 his back was bent at an extreme angle, which has caused him some breathing trouble. Rehabilitation, back braces, and orthopedic corsets were not helping, and he has spent the last six months lying flat in bed.\n\nA robot named ROSA was tasked with completing a very important part of the obviously necessary surgery: the installation of ilio-sacral screws into the patient\u2019s spine.\n\n\u201cIt was a question of placing illio-sacral screws and hooks at the top of the back, connected by arched rods to straighten the back,\u201d explained Professor Richard Gouron, the patient\u2019s head of surgery. \u201cThe installation of the screws seven millimeters in diameter in a bone corridor of eight millimeters near the roots nervous system remains very complex and rare, they are voluminous in view of the small size of the child\u2019s bones.\u201d\n\nOver the past year, Professor Gouron, pediatric orthopedic surgeon Dr. Fran\u00e7ois Deroussen, and neurosurgeon Dr. Michel Lefranc have been working tirelessly to simulate the robotic operation before it took place.\n\nDr. Lefranc said, \u201cThe surgeon plans the operation, the robot carries the instruments, and takes into account the movements of the patient. He brings the precision and three-dimensional vision.\u201d\n\nThanks to 3D printing technology, a reproduction of the young patient\u2019s spinal column was added to a mannequin for simulation purposes, so that the 15-person surgical team could practice ahead of time, and even simulate the entire operation twice before even attempting it on Louis.\n\n\u201cThis is two firsts in one. A first in simulation, and a first surgery, the placement of ilio-sacral screws with the help of a robot,\u201d explained Professor Gouron.\u201dThe incisions are smaller thanks to the robot, there is less post-operative pain and the patient can sit more quickly.\u201d\n\nWe\u2019ve seen studies that show 3D printed surgical models can save on costs, but more importantly, they can also reduce the amount of time patients have to spend on the operating table, because it gives surgeons the chance to practice complicated procedures ahead of time.\n\nThe successful surgery took place on September 28th, and it only took three hours to place screws in the pelvis and hooks at the top of the back, which were then connected by rods. Louis has recovered very well \u2013 not only can he breathe better, but he can also sit up correctly again.\n\nDr. Deroussen, who originally initiated the project, said, \u201cThis is a great victory.\u201d\n\nDue to the success of this first robotic spinal surgery, four other children will soon have identical surgeries to fix their spines.\n\nAmong the partners contributing technologies to the procedure were:\n\nNovaspine: processing of the scanner image\n\nCreaplast: realization of moldings based on thermosetting resins (modeling and 3D printing)\n\nSpinevision: supplier of ilio-sacral screws\n\nNuVasive: manufacturer of MAGEC spinal equipment and distraction system\n\nStryker France: supplier of implants\n\nGE Healthcare: scanning\n\nDiscuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com, or share your thoughts below.\n\n[Sources: CHU Amiens France Bleu / All Images: CHU Amiens]\n\nPlease enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.", "output": "A spinal operation on a child has been completed using robots for the first time. Medical staff at France's University Hospital of Amiens used a robot called ROSA for part of the procedure, which involved inserting screws into the spine. Before it took place, specialist surgeons had spent a year preparing for and simulating the operation using a replica of the patient's spinal column produced using 3D printing technology. After the success of the operation, four other children are due to undergo the same procedure."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Twitch launches humorous video channels, cutting out YouTube \n Twitch is becoming more and more well-rounded with every announcement. It hosted various marathons just this year, including Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and Carl Sagan's Cosmos. In another bid to break free from its established image as a streaming platform for games, Twitch has announced two new funny channels you can watch: FailArmy and The Pet Collective. FailArmy publishes viral clips submitted by its millions of fans, while The Pet Collective publishes trending animal videos. You might know one or both of them from their other homes online, but if Twitch is your platform of choice, then you no longer have to venture to YouTube to watch their new uploads.\n\nTwitch Director of Business Development Jane Weedon explained why the company decided to form a partnership with the shows' creators:\n\n\"The meteoric rise of IRL vlogging category on Twitch is a clear sign that our community loves commentating on everyday activities. We have also witnessed the appeal of shared experiences when it comes to watching programmatic TV marathons together. FailArmy has the top collection of IRL viral clips from all over the world and The Pet Collective is representative of the Internet's love for cute animals. Bringing their programming to Twitch breathes new life into the content by adding commentary from viewers, while tapping into their love of collective viewing.\"\n\nBoth FailArmy's and The Pet Collective's channels are now live. The former will also debut a \"Fails of the Week\" series exclusively for Twitch later today, October 12th, at around 4:53PM ET.", "output": "Live streaming and video platform Twitch is offering two additional channels after forming partnerships with their creators. FailArmy and The Pet Collective both feature content submitted by fans and include commentary from viewers. The channels\u00a0are also available on the likes of YouTube. The first shows humorous footage of everyday mishaps and the second animal videos uploaded\u00a0by owners.\u00a0The move is aimed at helping Twitch, owned by Amazon subsidiary Twitch Interactive, to be seen as more than a streaming platform for gamers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI start-up Neurensic acquired by Trading Technologies \n Trading Technologies has acquired artificial intelligence (AI) and market surveillance specialist Neurensic.\n\nThe deal will enable Trading Technologies to integrate its execution platform with AI-led compliance and surveillance systems.\n\nNeurensic was founded in 2015 and has developed AI that can identify complex patterns on trading behaviour on a large scale across multiple markets in near real-time. It utilises big data processing and machine learning technology to provide firms with a continuous assessment of their compliance risk associated with trading.\n\nRick Lane, CEO of Trading Technologies, said: The ability to provide literal pushbutton access to advanced machine learning surveillance capabilities, with zero infrastructure investment and zero integration cost, will allow our partners to further benefit from the value of our platform and network.\u201d\n\nTrading Technologies said the market surveillance functionality of Neurensic was just the first of \u201cseveral solutions\u201d it would offer using the technology, but did not provide details of what it is developing.\n\nFinancial details of the deal were not disclosed.", "output": "Trading Technologies has acquired artificial intelligence start-up Neurensic. Terms of the deal were not reported. The trading firm will initially use Neurensic's technology to survey and monitor markets, identifying trends in trading activity across a number of markets. Neurensic also allows firms to understand compliance risks associated with their trading activities. The firms have plans for more applications of the technology.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Blackstone, Lone Star, Paulson face losses over Puerto Rico storm\n \n Deep-pocketed investors like Paulson & Company, Lone Star Funds and the Blackstone Group pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into Puerto Rico real estate in recent years. In hindsight, that doesn\u2019t look like such a great idea.\n\nThe island\u2019s economy is in tatters in the wake of Hurricane Maria. Storm damages could add up to $95 billion, according to one estimate.\n\n\u201cWe sustained a lot of damage, and we\u2019re facing very significant losses,\u201d Brian Tenenbaum of the Morgan Reed Group, a major office landlord, told the New York Times.\n\nSign Up for the undefined Newsletter SIGN UP By signing up, you agree to TheRealDeal Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.\n\nHedge funder John Paulson, famous for betting against the U.S. housing market in 2007, flew to Puerto Rico on his company\u2019s private jet days after the storm to inspect the damage. Two of the company\u2019s hotels were slightly damaged. A third shut down for now. In a statement the firm said it looks \u201cforward to welcoming guests as early as the winter season.\u201d\n\nCPG Real Estate had to charter a private plane carrying canned goods, diapers and batteries to open part of an outdoor shopping mall in San Juan.\n\nSome investors see light at the end of the tunnel: federal funding. \u201cI think a lot of money will be spent fixing Puerto Rico, and that should be better for everyone,\u201d Marc Lasry, of Hedge Fund Avenue Capital Group, told the Times. [NYT] \u2014 Konrad Putzier", "output": "Investors such as Blackstone, Paulson and Lone Star, who have invested hundreds of millions of dollars into Puerto Rican real estate, are at risk of major losses\u00a0following Hurricane Maria. The damage caused by the hurricane could add up to around $95bn, and has left the island's already struggling economy in tatters.\u00a0\u201cWe sustained a lot of damage, and we\u2019re facing very significant losses\u201d, said Brian Tenenbaum of the Morgan Reed Group.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WhatsApp signals payments service to be rolled out in India \n To access this post, you must purchase September/October 2017", "output": "WhatsApp users in India could be the first to make instant payments with the messaging app. A beta version of WhatsApp Payments was uncovered by WABetaInfo and if confirmed, could mean that up to 200 million users in the country would have access to the service. WhatsApp has said it's testing bank-to-bank transfers \"with UPI\", the Reserve Bank of India's Unified Payments Interface. It is not clear when WhatsApp Payments would be rolled out in other countries."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI start-up Petuum raises $93m for app-building platform \n Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More\n\nPetuum, a startup that aims to provide enterprises with the tools they need to deploy machine learning, announced today that it has raised a whopping $93 million series B funding round, led by SoftBank.\n\nThe funds will be used primarily to hire engineers, salespeople, and marketers, as Petuum works to commercialize its software, according to Eric Xing, the company\u2019s founder and CEO.\n\nPetuum is working to create a platform for building machine learning and deep learning applications through its own custom virtualization and operating system. The company is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is staffed by people from Carnegie Mellon University, where Xing is a tenured professor of Computer Science.\n\nThe company\u2019s location has been a boon, Xing said. Petuum relies on engineers with rigorous training and discipline, and CMU\u2019s history of artificial intelligence research means that Petuum has qualified technical talent available to it.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\nWhat\u2019s more, the location doesn\u2019t seem to be an impediment to fundraising. Xing said that multiple investors came calling just months after the company closed its $15 million series A last year.\n\nIn addition to SoftBank, the round included participation from returning investor Advantech Capital, and others.\n\nThis investment wasn\u2019t part of SoftBank\u2019s famed $100 billion Vision Fund, but rather comes as part of the company\u2019s normal investing activities.\n\nThe move is consistent with SoftBank\u2019s other venture investing activities \u2014 the company is not averse to putting large amounts of money into businesses it sees as working on the cutting edge of emerging technologies, like artificial intelligence.\n\nRight now, Petuum is working with a group of customers to beta test its product and help shape the software it\u2019s building. Xing wouldn\u2019t name names, but he said his company is working toward building solutions for the health care and manufacturing sectors, among others.\n\nDetails on Petuum\u2019s customers might be available later next year, Xing said. The company is in the process of building out an office in Silicon Valley, in addition to its headquarters in Pittsburgh.", "output": "Pittsburgh-based start-up Petuum has raised $93m in a series B funding round led by SoftBank and featuring participation from existing investor Advantech Capital, among others. Petuum, staffed by researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, is developing tools to enable companies to use machine learning and artificial intelligence, and is currently working on solutions for the healthcare and manufacturing sectors. CEO Eric Xing said the new funds would be used to hire engineers, salespeople and marketers to help commercialise its software.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hurricane Ophelia touted to batter UK and Ireland \n Advertisement\n\nBritain could be hit by 70mph winds from a hurricane crossing the Atlantic Ocean that is forecast to arrive on our shores on the 30th anniversary of the 1987 Great Storm.\n\nHurricane Ophelia was upgraded from a tropical storm overnight and the US National Hurricane Center warns it could strengthen over the coming days, with the remnants looking set to reach the UK on Sunday and Monday.\n\nThe volatile weather system could bring heavy downpours and gusts of up to 70mph when it hits Britain's shores at the start of next week, with the Met Office warning that the unsettled weather is expected to cause disruption.\n\nThis graphic shows the percentage chance of tropical-storm force winds above 39mph hitting parts of Britain by next Monday\n\nThe US National Hurricane Center has plotted the probable path of Hurricane Ophelia across the Atlantic Ocean into Britain\n\nThe storm system is expected to track across the Atlantic over the next few days and arrive in Britain on Sunday into Britain\n\nOphelia is not expected to be strong enough to be labelled as a hurricane when it hits Britain, but will still pack strong winds\n\nOphelia is the tenth hurricane of the 2017 Atlantic season. On average there are six hurricanes in the Atlantic basin a year\n\nThe west of Britain will see the worst of the weather, with winds of 60mph to 70mph forecast. The NHC said last night that Ophelia was 760 miles south west of the Azores and packing maximum sustained winds of 75mph.\n\nIts arrival in the UK will coincide with the 30th anniversary of the Great Storm of 1987, which hit southern England overnight on October 15 and caused damage estimated at \u00a31billion as well as claiming 18 lives.\n\nThe strong winds are expected to arrive after a possible 77F (25C) heatwave this weekend that will see hot air pulled up from southern Spain that will bring conditions more associated with summer from tomorrow.\n\nThe warmth is also being fuelled by the remnants of Hurricane Nate and will provide a respite for North West England which was under a weather warning yesterday, with up to 4in (100mm) of rain forecast to fall in Cumbria.\n\nPleasant conditions are expected for most parts of Britain today, although there will be rain in Scotland and Northern Ireland\n\nMuch of the country will enjoy plenty of sunshine and clear skies - but this satellite image shows cloud is waiting in the wings\n\nYour browser does not support the <code>iframe</code> HTML tag. Try viewing this in a modern browser like Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Internet Explorer 9 or later.\n\nThe Great Storm of 1987 (pictured) hit southern England overnight on October 15 and caused damage estimated at \u00a31billion\n\n18 dead, \u00a31bn damage and 15m trees toppled The Great Storm on October 15, 1987 saw devastating hurricane-force winds tear across Britain, killing 18 people and causing \u00a31billion of damage. Some 15 million trees were uprooted, trains derailed, and parts of the country plunged into darkness as pylons were toppled. The storm involved an unusual combination of forces, including a kink in the jet stream funnelling air through a narrow corridor high in the atmosphere and pockets of high-speed wind known as 'jet streaks'. It also featured a very rare violent event known as a 'sting jet' that was only recognised in 2004 by scientists. The strongest gust was 115mph in Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex. The storm, which left hundreds of thousands of homes without power, was the most damaging since 1703. In addition to the lives lost in the UK, it killed another four people in France. In his lunchtime BBC broadcast on October 15, forecaster Michael Fish famously said: 'Earlier on today apparently, a woman rang the BBC and said she'd heard there was a hurricane on the way. Well, if you are watching, don't worry, there isn't.' Advertisement !- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/ru/news/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 - ->\n\nMet Office forecaster Alex Burkhill said today: 'Ophelia became a hurricane overnight and the forecast track takes it eastwards towards Iberia for the weekend.\n\n'After that, indications are that by that point it will then have weakened and be no longer a hurricane or tropical storm, it will be extratropical.\n\n'But then it will continue its way towards the British Isles, probably reaching us very early next week.'\n\nMr Burkhill said cold sea temperatures mean Ophelia will not be strong enough to be categorised as a hurricane when it hits Britain.\n\nBut he added: 'It's definitely something that we are keeping an eye on, for the possibility of some disruptive weather early next week.'\n\nThe unsettled weather looks likely to continue into Tuesday due to a separate band of low pressure, and will remain changeable throughout the rest of the week.\n\nYesterday. flash flooding caused chaos in parts of Cumbria after more than half of the month's predicted rainfall hailed down in less than 24 hours - leaving parts of the village of Blennerhasset almost completely submerged.\n\nForecasting the high temperatures, Grahame Madge, another forecaster for the Met Office, told MailOnline yesterday: 'We've got warmer air being pulled up from Iberia.\n\n'As we go into the weekend, we'll be looking to see those temperatures creeping up to the low-20s. For Saturday we're looking at probably a 20C (68F) for most, possibly creeping up to 22C (72F) for some\n\n'On Sunday, a bit more of a range - we could still see temperatures in the low 20s, but there could be the odd isolated 24C (75F). On Monday there is a possibility of temperatures even higher than that.'\n\nMr Madge said that the average maximum for Middlesex in October is about 15.3C (59.5F), based on records from 1981 to 2010, so London could potentially be up to 10C above the average that would be expected.\n\nThe maximum UK temperature for October recorded last year was 22.2C (72F), in Trawscoed, near Aberystwyth in West Wales, on the 31st - while the top reading in 2015 was 22.7C (72.9F) at Braemar in Aberdeenshire on the 1st.\n\nIn 2014 an October maximum of 23.6C (74.5F) was recorded at Gravesend in Kent and Kew Gardens in London on the 31st, while the top reading in 2013 was 23C (73.4F) in Skegness, Lincolnshire, on the 8th.\n\nFollowing the predictions of warm weather this weekend, bookmaker Coral has cut the odds on Halloween this year being the hottest on record in the UK from 10-1 to 5-1. The current record is the 23.6C (74.5F) from 2014.", "output": "Weather reports suggest Hurricane Ophelia could deliver a storm with winds of up to 70 mph to the UK and Ireland in the coming days. Whilst it is not expected to carry hurricane status if it makes landfall, its potential for destruction is being likened to the Great Storm that occurred around the same date in 1987, causing billions of pounds worth of damage. As we reported in September, AccuWeather warned that the UK is at greater risk of being battered by hurricane-based storms this autumn, which could cause flooding and transport disruption."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK ad blocking loses publishers more than \u00a32.9bn yearly \n The UK has one of the highest rates of adblocking worldwide, with over a third (39%) of page views blocking ads, resulting in a loss of more than \u00a32.9bn in publisher revenue in 2017, according to report by OnAudience.com.\n\nThe UK has one of the highest rates of ad blocking worldwide, according to OnAudience\n\nThe revenue gulf has increased 15% from the \u00a32.5bn loss UK publishers suffered in 2016. Internationally, the loss of publisher revenue from ad blocking has risen by a third to $42bn (\u00a332bn), indicating that the threat of adblockers on sites reliant on advertising for revenue is becoming a more pressing issue.\n\nHowever, the figures represent a marked increase from other adblocking reports. In June eMarketer's report claimed that more than one-fifth (20.9%) of UK internet users will use adblocking software this year, with the total number number forecast to hit 11.4 million. IAB UK's figures put the proportion of internet users using adblocking software at 22.1%, but the association has said that some of those claiming to use an ad blocker cited their anti-virus software as their ad blocker, meaning the actual figure drops to 18%. Page Fair's report puts the proportion of UK adblockers at 16%, while comScore's puts it at 18%.\n\nThe report has been run by OnAudience.com, a part of Cloud Technologies Group, and supported by PHD Media Direction, a part of Omnicom Group. It represents the scale of ad blocking in 60 markets across the world to raise awareness of the issue across the entire industry.\n\nThe study compares key market research concerning the scale of ad blocking, with display market value and the estimated loss due to ad blocking, as well as e-commerce turnover generated by ad blocking users.\n\nThe results from the UK reflect a broad trend across the European market where consumers are more likely to block ads, with almost a third (32%) of internet users in the region utilising ad blocker plugins. Poland was found to have the highest ad blocking rates at 46%, followed by Greece (44%), Norway (42%), Germany (41%), and Denmark (40%). The Netherlands and Ireland were identically ranked to the UK, with 39% of page views blocking ads.\n\nHowever, the adoption of ad blockers across the globe is not so prevalent. The USA and Japan recorded ad blocking rates of just 26%, where education and awareness of ad blockers is high, but consumers choose not to use them, the report suggested.\n\nThe lowest rates were found in Latin America, with Paraguay recording the lowest rates of ad blocked page views (5%), while Peru and Venezuela scored the second and third lowest ad blocking rates globally (13% and 10% respectively).\n\nThe OnAudience.com report also demonstrates the impact of ad blocking on the e-commerce industry, reporting that a third (32%) of consumers visiting e-commerce sites in Europe have an ad blocker installed.\n\nIn total, almost two in five (38%) of online shoppers who complete an online transaction do not see an ad before purchasing.\n\nMaciej Sawa, chief commercial officer at OnAudience.com, said: \"There has been much discussion calling for advertising to provide a better user experience, but this report clearly shows that not enough is being done as ad blocking rates continue to rise \u2013 causing a significant loss for publishers and the advertising industry as a whole.\n\n\u201cUltimately user experience is key, so it is extremely important for the entire digital marketing industry to keep the consumer in mind and ensure that their journey is relevant, contextual, and meaningful \u00ad\u2013 if we are to ever convince them not to install ad blockers.\"", "output": "More than a third of UK consumers use adblockers, resulting in revenue losses of more than \u00a32.9bn ($3.8bn) for publishers during 2017, according to an OnAudience.com report. This represents a 15% increase on the previous year's figure of \u00a32.5bn. The study also revealed a significantly higher percentage of UK adblocker users than earlier surveys carried out by eMarketer, the IAB UK and PageFair, which reported levels of 20.9%, 22.1% and 16%, respectively. Maciej Sawa, CCO at OnAudience.com called on the advertising industry to ensure ads were \"relevant, contextual and meaningful\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cortana comes to Skype \n Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More\n\nAI assistant Cortana is now available on Skype, Microsoft announced today. Cortana on Skype can chat either one-on-one, like you would with any friend, or be summoned into conversations to handle tasks like scheduling events, finding nearby restaurants, or sharing IMDB movie reviews. Cortana for Skype will begin to roll out today for iOS and Android users in the United States, according to a blog post.\n\nCortana will now appear as a permanent contact in every Skype user\u2019s contact list. When chatting one-on-one, Cortana can answer questions the same way she can elsewhere: Ask for things like directions or a weather forecast and Cortana will deliver answers via visual cards.\n\nIn addition to doing things like making restaurant reservations, Cortana on Skype can serve up suggested replies like \u201cI\u2019m doing ok\u201d when someone asks \u201cHow are you?\u201d or \u201cCreate reminder\u201d when you\u2019re making plans with friends. Reminders will then be sent to other devices you have authorized to use Cortana.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\nCortana on Skype does not yet work in voice or video calls. Also yet to come are Skype video bots, which launched in preview earlier this year.\n\nAt launch, Cortana on Skype has many features similar to the Facebook Messenger intelligent assistant M and in some ways is similar to how Google Assistant functions in the lesser known Allo chat app. In each instance, the AI assistant listens to words used in your conversation in order to anticipate the needs of a user or group of users.\n\nThe Skype announcement comes ahead of the widely expected release of the Harman Kardon Invoke this fall, a smart speaker with Cortana inside, and follows a Skype redesign that took place in June for iOS and Android devices. The redesign gave Skype the kind of stories that disappear in 24 hours now common on Snapchat, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook, as well as access to third-party bots.\n\nWith Cortana in Windows 10, 500 million devices have access to Cortana. About 140 million users speak with Cortana at least once a month, according to Microsoft VP Jordi Ribas.", "output": "Android and iOS users in the US can now access Microsoft's artificial intelligence assistant Cortana via Skype. Although it doesn't have voice or video functionality, Cortana will appear as a permanent contact on Skype users' lists, and will answer queries with images, as well as offering suggested replies to broader queries. The addition of Cortana follows Skype's\u00a0redesign for iOS and Android devices in June,\u00a0which included giving it access to third-party chatbots.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Public enquiry hears 160 home could destroy feeding grounds \n Redrow\u2019S plan to build 160 homes on the old Allerton Priory site could destroy the feeding grounds for owls and other birds of prey, a public enquiry heard today.\n\nA wildlife expert also said the 33-acre field was also home to small mammals and had enough different species of butterflies to nominate the land as a designated \u201cwildlife site.\u201d\n\nThe public inquiry is being held because Redrow appealed against Liverpool Council\u2019s decision to oppose its housing scheme for the land.\n\nToday the inquiry heard from achael Rhodes, an ecologist from Merseyside Environmental Advisory Service. She said:\u201cThe proposal represents an inappropriate and unjustified form of development within designated Green Wedge which will cause an intrusive and urbanising impact on the landscape, affecting the predominantly open character of the Green Wedge and will physically and visually reduce the Calderstones/Woolton Green Wedge between existing built up areas.\u201d\n\nSpecies of bird including song thrush, cuckoo, dunnock, house sparrow, starling, herring gull, cinnabar moth, noctule bat, soprano pipistrelle bat have all been seen on the site.\n\nMrs Rhodes added: \u201cThe site provides a mosaic of habitats which are of ecological value.\n\n\u201cDevelopment will result in the loss of five individual mature trees and three groups of trees from the woodland to allow the formation of access to the site.\n\n\u201cThe semi-natural, unmanaged nature of the appeal site provides greater habitat diversity which supports a greater range of species than managed amenity sites.\n\n\u201cWoodland and scrub on site provides nesting sites for bird species whilst the associated tall herb and grassland habitats provide foraging areas for these bird species.\n\n\u201cThe woodland provides a habitat corridor for bird, small mammal and invertebrate species to move through the site to adjacent sites within the Green Wedge.\n\n\u201cUnmanaged grassland and tall herbs such as thistle and scrub provide nectar for invertebrate species such as butterflies which in turn provide food for other species.\n\n\u201cSeed and berries provide food sources for birds and small mammals.\n\n\u201cA total of 12 butterfly species have been recorded on site which is reflective of the range of habitats present and the unmanaged nature of the site.\n\n\u201cThe grassland has been unmanaged and unmown for approximately ten years, this has allowed the biodiversity value of this site to develop.\u201d\n\nThe housing plan has met with fierce local opposition and since the inquiry has been underway the council has had to remove graffiti daubed on a listed wall of Allerton Priory.\n\nThe message - \u201cSay No to 160 Houses\u201d - was plastered in white paint - but the Save Allerton Priory campaign group insisted it was nothing to do with them.\n\nSpokeswoman Sue Earle told the ECHO: \u201cWe totally condemn this sort of behaviour.\u201d\n\nThe Allerton Priory application does not form part of the council\u2019s \u00a3205m deal with Redrow as their preferred housing partner to build 1,500 homes and bring up to 1,000 properties back into use over the next five years.\n\nThe inquiry continues.", "output": "UK housebuilder Redrow's controversial development of 160 homes on the old Allerton Priory site in Liverpool would destroy a \"mosaic of habitats which are of ecological value\", according to Rachael Rhodes, an ecologist from Merseyside Environmental Advisory Service. Speaking during an ongoing public inquiry, launched after Redrow appealed against Liverpool Council's rejection of the development, Rhodes said the land qualified for designation as a wildlife site.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hong Kong probes 'substandard work' by 15 firms on IPOs \n HONG KONG (REUTERS) - Hong Kong's securities regulator is probing \"substandard work\" by 15 firms in their roles as sponsors for initial public offerings (IPOs) in the Asian financial hub, a senior official said on Wednesday.\n\nThomas Atkinson, who heads enforcement at Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), told the Thomson Reuters Pan-Asian Regulatory Summit that the regulator was currently investigating 136 \"active fraud cases\", of which 28 were \"particularly serious\".\n\nThe sloppy work from the 15 unnamed sponsors, as investment banks and securities firms that underwrite listings are called, caused billions of dollars in investment losses, he added.\n\nThe shortcomings included checking basic issues such as verifying customers or revenue data for listing candidates, Atkinson said, adding that some of the behaviour could be considered \"reckless\".\n\n\"Quite a number of these serious cases involve gross overstatement of revenue and circular financing, many facilitated by related parties and false customers,\" Atkinson said. \"Of course, one of the risk management tools that's essential for preventing this kind of fraud is our IPO sponsorship regime.\"\n\nIn October 2013, the SFC introduced a strict new regime to hold sponsors of IPOs to higher standards and said it would hold banks liable if listing prospectuses were found to have misled investors.\n\nIn January, the regulator filed a suit against Standard Chartered, UBS Group and four other parties over the 2009 IPO of timber company China Forestry Holdings Co Ltd.", "output": "Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) is investigating \"substandard work\" by 15 firms that acted as sponsors for IPOs in Hong Kong, said SFC's Thomas Atkinson. 136 active fraud cases\u00a0are under\u00a0investigation, of which 28 were \"particularly serious\", said Atkinson. The regulator believes that poor work by these investment banks and securities firms resulted in\u00a0billions of dollars in\u00a0losses. Citigroup, Standard Chartered, CCB International and\u00a0UBS are among those\u00a0under investigation and facing fines. This comes as\u00a0the Hong Kong Monetary Authority investigates eight banks for anti-money laundering."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Community Group calls for comment on Chester housing scheme \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nIt's more important than ever to stay informed - Get the free CheshireLive newsletter direct to your inbox\n\nA residents' group is urging the people of Chester to comment on plans for a massive housing scheme for up to 1,400 homes alongside Wrexham Road .\n\nWestminster Park Residents\u2019 Association is also inviting locals to go along to a public meeting next week to discuss the project with traffic concerns likely to be high on the agenda.\n\nIn June Redrow Homes lodged an initial application with Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWaC) for 509 homes and associated infrastructure including a shopping centre with supermarket, restaurant and pub plus a health centre, nursery and primary school with playing fields.\n\nThe new neighbourhood will be created on farmland removed from the green belt when the Local Plan was adopted by CWaC, as planning authority, to make provision for future growth.\n\nRedrow and Taylor Wimpey will deliver the majority of the homes.\n\nAlso submitted is a linked plan showing a proposed ecological area where great crested newts will be relocated. Two more planning applications will follow to include the rest of the housing plus more detailed proposals around the infrastructure.\n\nCurrent plans can be viewed online or in hard copy at Lache library.\n\nA number of responses have already been received, particularly in relation to the effect the development will have on traffic in Chester and the surrounding area.\n\nPauline Brown, chair of Westminster Park Residents\u2019 Association, said: \u201cA lot of people have still not woken up to the fact that this development will go ahead and it will have a huge impact on the traffic both south and north of the River Dee.\n\n\u201cThis new estate will be almost twice the size of Westminster Park and the number of vehicle journeys that it is going to generate will be enormous.\n\n\u201cQuite apart from people commuting to work, in the early stages of development, while there is no school, shops or health centre on the estate, people will need to reach all of these facilities via the Wrexham Road on a daily basis.\u201d\n\nVideo Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will auto-play soon 8 Cancel Play now\n\nThe association is keen to put forward a response to the council that is \u2018representative\u2019 of residents\u2019 views\u2019 and hopes they will go along in force to a public meeting taking place at Westminster Park Community Centre at 8pm on Wednesday, October 18.\n\nPauline added: \u201cAlthough traffic impact is a big issue, there are also other aspects of these plans that people need to look at including how the development will affect the provision of education and healthcare in the area, how the drainage and ecology of the area will be managed and how the archaeological assets of the site will be conserved.\u201d\n\nThe plans can be searched on the planning section of the council website under the following reference numbers: 17/02453/OUT (housing) and 17/02444/FUL (newt mitigation area).", "output": "Westminster Park Residents\u2019 Association is calling for Chester locals to attend a public meeting to discuss a 1,400 home development proposed by UK housebuilders Redrow and Taylor Wimpey. Redrow lodged its application for more than 500 homes with Cheshire West and Chester Council in June, but locals argue the development will have a negative impact on traffic in the surrounding area. The meeting is set to be held at Westminster Park Community Centre on 18 October.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Former Asda CEO calls for end to plastic packaging \n The former boss of Asda is calling for supermarkets to stop using plastic packaging saying billions of pounds of investment in recycling has failed to resolve the world\u2019s plastic proliferation crisis.\n\n\n\nAndy Clarke, CEO of one of Britain\u2019s biggest supermarket chains for six years, said the only solution was for retailers to reject plastic entirely in favour of more sustainable alternatives like paper, steel, glass and aluminium.\n\n\u201cGo into any supermarket in the country and you will be met by a wall of technicolour plastic,\u201d Clarke said. \u201cBe it fruit and veg or meat and dairy, plastic encases virtually everything we buy.\n\n\u2018All plastic packaging will reach landfill or the bottom of the ocean sooner or later,\u2019 says Andy Clarke. Photograph: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg/Getty Images\n\n\u201cRegardless of how much is invested in Britain\u2019s recycling infrastructure, virtually all plastic packaging will reach landfill or the bottom of the ocean sooner or later. Once there, it will remain on the earth for centuries.\n\n\u201cIt is vital that the UK packaging industry and supermarkets work together to turn off the tap.\u201d\n\nEfforts to recycle more plastic and \u201ca neverending stream of initiatives\u201d \u2013 many of which Clarke oversaw while at Asda \u2013 has failed to stem the plastic flow and it is clear a more radical approach is needed, said Clarke, who stood down as Asda CEO last year.\n\n\u201cWe want a future for our grandchildren which is as far as possible plastic-free,\u201d he said. \u201cWe also know that consumers want the same thing and with heightened public awareness of the dire consequences of unfettered plastic pollution, they are fully in support of the industry\u2019s efforts to make a meaningful change.\u201d\n\nClarke said supermarkets should create plastic-free aisles to cater for their customers\u2019 demands and to showcase the wealth of alternatives to plastic including innovations like grass paper. He also backed the campaign A plastic planet as a measure to spread the use of alternative packaging.\n\nThe world\u2019s plastic binge shows no signs of halting. A Guardian investigation this year established that consumers around the world buy a million plastic bottles a minute and plastic production is set to double in the next 20 years and quadruple by 2050.\n\nIn the UK less than a third (29%) of the 5m tonnes of plastic used each year is recovered and recycled. Across the world more than 8m tonnes of plastic leaks into the oceans and a recent study found that billions of people globally are drinking water contaminated by plastic.\n\nClarke said he has witnessed how much supermarkets have done to try to promote recycling, investing billions to try to increase the amount of recycled plastic they use, but still these measures have failed to reduce the scale of plastic pollution.\n\n\n\nAttempts to use thinner plastic milk bottles containing more recycled material at Asda, he said, led to bottles bursting and creating more food waste. In the end the supermarket went back to the original bottles.\n\n\u201cUnlike materials like aluminium and glass, plastic packaging cannot be recycled ad infinitum. Most items of plastic packaging can only be recycled twice before they become unusable,\u201d he said.\n\nClarke highlighted a Populus poll earlier this year which showed four out of five people questioned were concerned about the amount of plastic packaging thrown away in the UK and 91% wanted plastic-free aisles in supermarkets.\n\nHe called for Asda and other supermarkets to use the host of new products coming on the market to cut plastic pollution. \u201cDespite more than a decade of concerted supermarket action on this issue, globally we are still dumping in excess of 8m tonnes of plastic in the ocean each year,\u201d said Clarke.\n\n\u201cWe have been able to recycle plastic for decades yet it remains a scourge on the planet. Recycling will never offer a durable solution to the plastic crisis \u2013 we simply have to use less plastic in the first place.\u201d\n\nGreenpeace Oceans campaigner Tisha Brown said: \u201cWith ocean plastic pollution ending up in everything from sea salt to sea gulls to our seafood, and many shoppers frustrated with the amount of unnecessary plastic packaging they encounter at their local supermarket, now would be a very good time for Asda, or any supermarket, to give shoppers the option of opting out.\n\n\u201cThe great thing about a plastic-free isle is that it could encourage innovation in packaging many different products, and save environmentally minded consumers the hassle of hunting for environmentally friendly choices across the store.\u201d\n\nBetween 5m and 13m tonnes of plastic leaks into the world\u2019s oceans each year to be ingested by sea birds, fish and other organisms, and by 2050 the ocean will contain more plastic by weight than fish, according to research by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.\n\nScientists at Ghent University in Belgium recently calculated people who eat seafood ingest up to 11,000 tiny pieces of plastic every year. Last August, the results of a study by Plymouth University reported plastic was found in a third of UK-caught fish, including cod, haddock, mackerel and shellfish.", "output": "The former CEO of Asda has called on supermarkets to abandon plastic packaging. Andy Clarke said that investing billions of pounds in recycling has failed to solve the growing problem of plastic waste and that the only option was for retailers to adopt packaging made from more sustainable alternatives including aluminium, glass, paper and steel. Clarke added that, despite recycling, \u201cvirtually all plastic packaging will reach landfill or the bottom of the ocean sooner or later\u201d. Clarke expressed support for the A Plastic Planet campaign, which is calling for the creation of plastic-free aisles in supermarkets."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aviation biofuels plan could wipe out rainforests, say eco groups \n A new plan to accelerate production of biofuels for passenger planes has drawn stinging criticism from environmentalists who argue that most of the world\u2019s rainforests might have to be cleared to produce the necessary crops.\n\nAviation is one of the fastest growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions, with an 8% leap reported in Europe last year and a global fourfold increase in CO2 pollution expected by 2050.\n\nTo rein this back, the industry has promised carbon neutral growth by 2020 \u2013 to be met by biofuels, if a blueprint is approved at an International Civil Aviation Organisation (Icao) conference in Mexico City tomorrow.\n\nThe \u201cgreen jet fuel\u201d plan would ramp up the use of aviation biofuels to 5m tonnes a year by 2025, and 285m tonnes by 2050 \u2013 enough to cover half of overall demand for international aviation fuel.\n\nBut this is also three times more biofuels than the world currently produces, and advanced biofuels are still at too early a stage of development to make up the difference.\n\nEnvironmentalists say that the most credible alternative fuel source would be hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), even though this would probably trigger a boom in palm oil plantations and a corresponding spike in deforestation.\n\nKlaus Schenk of Rainforest Rescue said: \u201cCitizens around the world are very concerned about burning palm oil in planes. The vast use of palm oil for aviation biofuels would destroy the world\u2019s rainforests, the basis of life for local people and the habitats of endangered species such as orangutans. We urge Icao to scrap its misguided biofuels plan.\u201d\n\nIt is impossible to quantify the precise extent of deforestation that the proposal could cause, but based on the Malaysian Palm Oil Council\u2019s crude palm oil yields and Total conversion figures, Biofuelwatch estimate that 82.3m hectares of land (316,603 sq miles) would be needed to meet the target, if it were sourced from palm oil alone. That is more than three times the size of the UK.\n\nCarlos Calvo Ambel, a spokesman for Transport and Environment, said: \u201cMost biofuels are worse for the climate than jet fuel. Quality should always go before quantity. Establishing a goal even before the rules are set out is putting the cart before the horse. The European experience has been that biofuels targets sucked in palm oil exports whose emissions were far greater than those of fossil fuels.\u201d\n\nT&E, Oxfam and Friends of the Earth are among nearly 100 environmental groups protesting the proposal, while 181,000 people have signed a petition calling for the initiative to be scrapped.\n\nInside the conference hall, several states are also opposing the biofuels pitch which, if passed, is expected to go on to an Icao assembly for formal adoption within two years.\n\nBrazil and Indonesia strongly support the plan but China has questioned its feasibility, the EU wants more robust sustainability criteria, and the US says it will not support globally coordinated emissions reductions targets.\n\nAn industry proposal to limit the biofuels target to 2025 is one possible compromise, but others may emerge before the plan is put to a vote.\n\nAlmuth Ernsting, a spokeswoman for Biofuelwatch, said the current proposed target was \u201cso huge that it would be unlikely to be fulfilled \u2013 but you could still have massive negative impacts from much smaller uses of palm oil\u201d.\n\nWithin four years of the EU setting a binding target to source 10% of its transport fuel from renewable sources in 2009, studies show that European investors had bought 6m hectares of land for biofuels production in sub-Saharan Africa.\n\nThe EU took very little of its biofuel feedstock from Africa in the end, but the use of palm oil from elsewhere for biodiesel had soared 500% by 2014, according to industry trade figures.", "output": "A proposal to accelerate the production of biofuels for use in passenger planes has been criticised by environmental campaigners, who claim that the crop requirements of such fuels could necessitate clearing most of the world\u2019s rainforests. The aviation industry has pledged to achieve carbon neutral growth by 2020. The new plan would increase use of aviation biofuels to 5 million tonnes annually by 2025, and 285 million tonnes by 2050. Almost 100 environmental groups, including Friends of the Earth, Oxfam and T&E, are protesting the proposal. A petition opposing the proposal has also received 181,000 signatures.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Less than one in five alternative assets employees are female \n Preqin\u2019s latest overview of women in alternative assets finds that just under one in five employees at fund management firms is female. This rate varies widely by role, and consistently declines according to seniority.\n\nThe highest proportion of women is seen among junior employees, where they constitute 29 per cent of the workforce. However, in each asset class the representation of women falls according to seniority, and overall senior alternative assets staff consist of 11 per cent women. In the same way, women are best represented in investor relations/marketing teams, as high as 53 per cent at venture capital firms. The rate of women in investment teams is much smaller, as low as 10 per cent at hedge funds. The board of directors for an average alternative assets fund, meanwhile, only comprises 5 per cent female members.\n\n\n\nAccording to Preqin\u2019s research, women constitute an industry-wide average of 18.8 per cent of alternative assets fund management staff. This varies by asset class, from 17.9 per cent among private equity firms to 20.6 per cent at venture capital firms.\n\n\n\nAcross all asset classes, the proportion of female employees falls according to seniority. Women make up 29 per cent of junior alternative assets staff, but 23 per cent of mid-level staff and 11 per cent of senior staff.\n\n\n\nBy role type, the highest proportions of women are all in investor relations/marketing teams. Fifty-three percent of IR staff at venture capital firms and 50 per cent at private equity firms are women, with representation in other asset classes in the forties. By contrast, in almost all asset classes investment teams have the smallest proportion of women. Representation ranges from 18 per cent at natural resources firms to 10 per cent at hedge funds.\n\n\n\nAmong senior staff, the average proportion of female employees does not rise above the 11 per cent seen at venture capital firms. Private equity has the lowest rate of senior women, at 9 per cent. This is mirrored in the proportion of women sitting on the boards of directors at alternative assets firms. Across the industry, 5 per cent of firm directors are women.\n\n\n\nAmy Bensted (pictured), Head of Hedge Fund Products at Preqin, says: \u201cThe low representation of women at alternative assets firms is an issue that has seen increasing attention over recent years. Traditionally a male-dominated industry, the proportion of female employees across the industry is significantly less than 50 per cent, with only investor relations teams in some asset class approaching or surpassing a rate of equal representation. It is notable that women are best represented in client-facing or finance roles, while the deal making and operations teams are the most male-dominated. Beyond this, what is most striking is that even where women are well-represented among junior staff, this is not translating to more women in senior roles. \u201d\n\n\n\n\u201cThe disparity in the rates of junior and senior female staff shows that progression through the industry remains rarer for women than for men. This contrasts sharply with institutional investors; women constitute one in five senior staff at public pensions, and more than one in three at foundations. The industry has some way to go before achieving true parity between genders, and this issue will continue to be closely monitored by commentators and industry bodies over the coming years.\u201d", "output": "Just 19% of employees at fund management firms are female, according to research by data analysts, Prequin. Women constitute 29% of junior employees, but just 11% of senior alternative assets staff. The highest levels of women, sometimes up to 53%, are found in investor relations and marketing teams. Investment teams have the smallest number of women, ranging from 18% at natural resources firms to 10% at hedge funds. Women also comprise on average just 5% of board members at alternative assets funds. At just 9%, private equity has the lowest rate of women in senior positions.\u00a0\u00a0\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Salesforce launches Lead Analytics for Facebook \n Salesforce is rolling out a new Marketing Cloud integration with Facebook that aims to help businesses take advantage of Facebook's B2B digital advertising channel.\n\nIt's called Salesforce Lead Analytics for Facebook, and as the name suggests, it lets marketers measure the effectiveness of targeted ad campaigns. The system can pull engagement stats from Facebook, Instagram and the Facebook Audience Network and create performance visualizations against key marketing automation metrics.\n\nPreviously, marketers have only been able to capture customer information from Facebook ads up until the form fill, Salesforce said.\n\n\"The Facebook lead ads API helps businesses grow by allowing them to form more meaningful relationships with business decision-makers,\" said Louis Moynihan, MarTech Partnerships Lead at Facebook.\n\n\"A solution like Salesforce Lead Analytics for Facebook is a great tool that leverages the power of our API to help B2B marketers better understand how their campaigns drive leads, opportunities and ultimately business outcomes.\"\n\nSalesforce said the integration is available today for new and existing Salesforce Pardot and Marketing Cloud Advertising Studio Enterprise Edition customers.\n\nPREVIOUS AND RELATED COVERAGE\n\nSalesforce gives social media marketers a boost from Einstein\n\nWithin Einstein Vision for Social Studio, marketers will be able to quickly and efficiently find images for consumer insight, brand tracking, and customer service.\n\nSalesforce bridges gap between development worlds\n\nWith Salesforce DX, the SaaS CRM giant is taking a leap into the modern development world.\n\nSalesforce steps up developer efforts for Einstein\n\nSalesforce is adding APIs to its Einstein AI platform and courting more developers.", "output": "Salesforce has integrated its Marketing Cloud platform with Facebook,\u00a0letting clients use the social media giant\u2019s B2B\u00a0digital ad channel. The system offers engagement stats\u00a0from the Facebook\u00a0and Instagram, and can provide performance visualisations for marketing automation metrics. The integration is available immediately for all Salesforce Pardot and Marketing Cloud Advertising Studio Enterprise Edition users.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Former-PM David Cameron joins electronic payments firm First Data \n David Cameron has taken a job with the electronic payments firm First Data Corporation, his first major private sector job since leaving office.\n\nThe former prime minister will work two or three days a month for the US company, which handles credit and debit card transactions and cash machines around the world. The company made revenues of $11.6bn last year, processing 2,800 transfers a second across more than 6m merchant locations.\n\nIn a press release, First Data described Cameron as one of the \u201cmost prominent global influencers of the early 21st century\u201d and said he would help \u201cexpand the company\u2019s footprint in new and existing markets\u201d.\n\nCameron said: \u201cI am incredibly proud that during my time as prime minister the United Kingdom became a global force in fin-tech [financial technology]. I remain passionate about the opportunities that exist for British and international companies that are developing exciting technologies both for businesses and consumers \u2013 technologies that have the potential to revolutionise the way we all live our lives.\u201d\n\nHis job was signed off by the advisory committee on business appointments (Acoba), which makes recommendations on new positions for ministers after they leave office.\n\nBecause he stepped down as an MP in September last year, Cameron will not have to declare how much he is paid.\n\nCameron is understood to have signed a deal worth a reported \u00a3800,000 for his memoirs, which are due to be published next year. The deal was substantially less than the \u00a34.6m advance received by Tony Blair for his memoirs after leaving office.\n\nSince leaving Downing Street, Cameron\u2019s wife, Samantha, has set up a clothing design company, Cefinn.\n\nCameron will sit on First Data\u2019s advisory board, helping the chief executive and other senior figures with \u201cinternational, contextual and geopolitical advice and analysis\u201d.\n\nThe former prime minister will also speak \u201cat private and public events for and on behalf of First Data.\u201d\n\nAccording to the Acoba advice, he must not lobby the government on behalf of First Data for two years from July 2016, when he stepped down as prime minister.\n\nIn a letter to Cameron, Acoba notes: \u201cYou stated the role is not likely to include contact with government, you have no commercially sensitive information about First Data or its competitors and you did not have previous official dealings with First Data.\u201d\n\nGiven Cameron\u2019s former position, Acoba asked the Cabinet Office permanent secretary, John Manzoni, about the role. Manzoni confirmed that the government had no links with First Data, which is based in Atlanta, Georgia.\n\nFirst Data was taken over by the private equity firm KKR in 2007, one of the biggest private equity deals undertaken. The company was hit hard by the financial crisis but has since bounced back under the chief executive, Frank Bisignano, and was taken public again in 2015.\n\nIn 2015 First Data supported the UK launch of Apple Pay, which allows consumers to \u201ctap and pay\u201d with their mobile phones. Last year First Data processed more than 79bn electronic transactions worth a total of $2.2tn.\n\nKKR was co-founded by the influential businessman Henry Kravis, who has an estimated worth of $4.2bn, according to Forbes magazine. Kravis, who was rumoured to be the inspiration for the Gordon Gecko character in Wall Street, remains on the board of First Data. Kravis and Cameron have attended some of the same major financial conferences, including Davos in 2011 and the Bilderburg meeting in 2013.\n\nSince stepping down from parliament, Cameron has become a member of the global board of advisers for the Council on Foreign Relations and taken on various speaking roles.\n\nThe former chancellor George Osborne has taken on a wider range of jobs, including becoming the editor of the Evening Standard and an adviser to BlackRock, the world\u2019s largest fund manager. Osborne is paid \u00a3650,000 a year by BlackRock for one day\u2019s work a week.", "output": "Former UK Prime Minister David Cameron has been hired by electronic payments company First Data Corporation to advise its board and speak on its behalf at public and private events. In his first significant private-sector role since ending his political career last year, Cameron will work two-to-three days per month\u00a0providing insight on international, contextual and geopolitical issues. First Data, which\u00a0posted $11.6bn in revenue last year,\u00a0enables credit and debit transactions and manages ATMs globally.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Jupiter bucks passive investment trend, taking in more money \n J upiter Fund Management showed on Wednesday it is defying the fashion for cheap index-tracking funds, winning clients thanks to its skill as a stock picker.\n\nIt took in another \u00a31.2 billion of client money in the past quarter, taking total assets under management to a record \u00a348.4 billion, and suggesting there is still life in active fund management.\n\nJupiter chief executive Maarten Slendebroek describes the company as a \u201chigh conviction active asset manager\u201d.\n\nIts charges are higher than some rivals, but customers reap the benefit in better returns, he insists, resisting the trend for lower fees.\n\nA note from broker Cenkos, titled Not Reading the Script, said: \u201cRevenue margins are declining\u2026 costs are rising and active management is dead.\n\n\u201cOr so it is said in some quarters, and Jupiter was meant to be the eye of the perfect storm according to some commentators.\u201d\n\nCenkos analyst Rae Maile added: \u201cThere is no sign that manage-ment is paying attention to the siren voices of doom. We expect that consensus for this year and next will edge higher, again.\u201d\n\nNot all stock pickers can claim to be doing so well. Yesterday it emerged that Jupiter has pulled more than \u00a3300 million from the flagship income fund run by Neil Woodford (pictured) in alarm at its poor performance.\n\nWoodford has seen several of his top share picks \u2014 notably Provident Financial \u2014 suffer this year. He has also lost money on AstraZeneca and Allied Minds, leading him apologising to investors.\n\nJupiter shares were today up 4.5p at 558p.", "output": "Despite investors flocking to passively managed fund products, Jupiter Fund Management has managed to attract fresh fund flows via its actively managed suite of products. The firm pulled in \u00a31.2bn ($1.6bn) during Q3 2017, taking its assets under management to\u00a0\u00a348.4bn, a new record high for the firm. Jupiter charges higher fees than some of its competitors, noted CEO\u00a0Maarten Slendebroek, but is also currently delivering outperformance.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Munich Re and INSHUR enter into auto insurance partnership \n INSHUR (www.inshur.com) today announced a strategic partnership with Munich Re\u2019s Digital Partners to design and distribute innovative commercial auto insurance products through INSHUR\u2019s mobile technology platform.\n\nINSHUR opened for business in 2016 focusing on New York City\u2019s rideshare market; an insurance sector expected to be soon worth more than $1bn. INSHUR is the industry\u2019s only mobile-first, digital platform for commercial auto insurance focused on rideshare drivers. The NYC startup, founded by Dan Bratshpis and David Daiches, has been quietly building a following among drivers.\n\nTraditionally, purchasing insurance coverage could take days, as a driver had to visit a brokers office, sign, and file paperwork and often make repeat visits. INSHUR\u2019s mobile platform automates the whole process; now it can take as little as 171 seconds to get a quote on INSHUR.\n\nSince its launch, INSHUR has underwritten $5M in gross written premiums, converting 26% of drivers quoted into customers. The insurtech startup has focused on organic growth and is now looking beyond New York\u2019s quickly expanding passenger transportation insurance market. Having been privately funded up to this point, the digital insurance platform is setting its sights further afield.\n\nSpeaking about INSHUR\u2019s story, Dan Bratshpis, said: \u201cINSHUR responds to a growing demand from a new type of insurance customer. Drivers in the rideshare landscape are already mobile-first operators. When it comes to obtaining commercial auto insurance, this new generation is seeking a digitized insurance experience that aligns with how they do business. We\u2019ve developed a mobile platform which helps solve these existing problems, by digitizing insurance, we can become more customer-centric and responsive to this new type of buyer.\u201d\n\nAndrew Rear, CEO of Digital Partners, said, \u201cWe are delighted to be able to support INSHUR\u2019s ride-sharing proposition. We\u2019ve been impressed by the energy and expertise in the INSHUR team and look forward to a successful launch.\u201d\n\nDan Bratshpis added: \u201cHaving a global forward thinking organization backing us, provides tremendous advantages and allows us to scale our digital platform much quicker. We are looking forward to expanding our offering to new geographic territories and broader industry sectors.\u201d\n\nAbout INSHUR\n\nINSHUR is the only mobile-first provider of commercial auto insurance for TLC drivers.\n\nThe mobile app allows TLC drivers to quote, purchase and service their insurance policies at their convenience. The FREE app is available for Android and iOS devices. Founded in October 2016, the management and technical team are based in offices in New York and London. INSHUR provides customers with the ability to get on-demand quotes and cover in minutes and not days. INSHUR means no more calling around for brokers, waiting for a quote, finding parking, mailing checks and coming back with missing paperwork. Owner-operator drivers in NYC that work for black car bases like Uber, Lyft, Gett and car service/taxi bases will find many benefits.\n\nTwitter: @inshur_NYC\n\nFor more information, please contact:\n\nPartnerships: growth@inshur.com", "output": "Munich Re will begin to offer commercial auto insurance policies through a partnership with New York-based rideshare insurance company INSHUR. INSHUR uses its mobile platform to allow ridesharing drivers to access quotes on-demand, rather than by visiting brokers' offices and filing lengthy paperwork. The firm launched\u00a0in 2016 and has so far written $5m in premiums.\u00a0\u201cHaving a global forward thinking organization backing us, provides tremendous advantages and allows us to scale our digital platform much quicker\", said INSHUR co-founder\u00a0Dan Bratshpis.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian state seeks $1.5bn to fund IoT development \n HYDERABAD: The Telangana government on Tuesday announced two new policies focussing on Internet of things and e-waste , which are part of the 10 major focus areas of the state's IT policy launched last year.The IoT policy is designed to attract Rs 10,000 crore worth of investments and the creation of five clusters each in three districts.The government aims to provide employment for 50,000 people in five years. Also, the state's e-waste policy calls for earmarking industrial space or sheds for dismantling and recycling e-waste in existing and upcoming industrial parks, estates and industrial clusters.Industries minister KT Rama Rao said: \u201cWe aim to develop world-class infrastructure to promote the development of IoT products and IoT-based solutions. Hence, we will create five zones each in Hyderabad, Warangal and Sricilla districts for deployment of points of contact (PoCs) in the IoT space\u201c.The IoT policy is focussed on developing smart city solutions, medicalhealth IoT, smart logistics and agri-tech.These will be propelled by TWorks, a hardware prototyping centre being developed by the state government. The centre will partner with corporates and laboratories to access testing tools and other prototyping equipment specific to IoT.\u201cWe plan to promote manufacturing and procurement of IoT-based solutions through government procurement of products and services and having a customs facilitation centre to reduce the time to importexport parts for IoT-based solutions,\u201c said Rao.He said the government would promote management of ewaste through collaborations with bulk consumers of electronic products, major industry organisations and other stakeholders.The government would also provide incentives to boost refurbishing and recycling centres. A subsidy of Rs 1 crore will be provided for a minimum investment of Rs 5 crore for the first five recyclers and refurbishers. Apart from that, it also plans to give 25% subsidy on lease rentals for every company for the first three years of operation and provide Rs 1,000 as training subsidy per person every month for 1,000 people.", "output": "An Indian state is aiming to encourage the development of smart device technologies by investing in the internet of things\u00a0(IoT). The government of Telangana is aiming to attract $1.5bn of business investment and create 50,000 jobs with the creation of new business clusters in three districts that will\u00a0develop\u00a0IoT technology applications. The focus will be on developing smart cities, medical health technologies, agri-tech and logistics. The state is also promoting a number of recycling initiatives, with subsidies announced for investment in waste recycling in the region.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Millions of plastic pellets enter UK seas from sewage plants \n Sewage plants are contributing to plastic pollution in the oceans with millions of tiny beads spilling into the seas around the UK, according to a new report.\n\nDozens of UK wastewater treatment plants use tiny plastic pellets, known as Bio-Beads, to filter chemical and organic contaminants from sewage, according to a study from the Cornish Plastic Pollution Coalition (CPPC).\n\nThe report found that many millions of these pellets, which are only about 3.5mm wide, have been spilled and ended up in the environment.\n\nThe author of the report, Claire Wallerstein, said once the Bio-Beads had been released they are hard to spot and almost impossible to remove \u2013 yet can cause significant harm to marine wildlife.\n\n\u201cWe are learning more all the time about the environmental impact of consumer microplastics in wastewater such as laundry fibres, cosmetic microbeads and tyre dust,\u201d said Wallerstein.\n\n\u201cHowever, it now seems that microplastics used in the wastewater plants\u2019 own processes could also be contributing to the problem.\u201d\n\nHowever, South West Water said there was \u201cno evidence that Bio-Beads are currently being released into the marine environment\u201d from any of its sites. It said only nine of its 655 plants use Bio-Beads but did accept there had been spills in the past that \u201cwere subsequently cleaned up\u201d.\n\nA spokesperson added: \u201cWe worked with the authors to encourage evidence-based rigour to this well-intentioned report. However, in parts, it remains anecdotal rather than factual, some of its conclusions are not supported by evidence and it insufficiently differentiates between nurdles [tiny pellets that form the basis of most plastic products] and Bio-Beads.\u201d\n\nHowever, Wallerstein said samples had been analysed by a plastics expert who had been studying nurdles for 20 years and he had confirmed they were Bio-Beads.\n\nThe Bio-Bead system is used in at least 55 wastewater treatment plants around the UK, according to CPPC.\n\nWallerstein said the scale of the subsequent pollution could be far-reaching adding that in Cornwall Bio-Beads account for the majority of industrial plastic pellets found littering the beaches.\n\n\u201cWe know that these Bio-Beads have now reached the coast of northern Europe as well as the beaches here in the UK. What we need is more research into the scale of this problem and for a concerted effort by water companies to do something about it.\u201d\n\nIndustrial pellets and small bits of plastic such as Bio-Beads are mistaken for food by birds, fish, and other marine animals. These particles can kill animals, not only by causing digestive blockages, but also as a result of the high concentrations of pollutants, such as DDT and PCBs, which adhere to them in seawater.\n\nPlastic pollution can also enter the food chain. Last August, the results of a study by Plymouth University reported plastic was found in a third of UK-caught fish, including cod, haddock, mackerel and shellfish.\n\nWallerstein said: \u201cWe understand that Bio-Bead plants have been good at improving the quality of the effluent discharged by our wastewater plants \u2013 but this should not involve the risk of polluting our seas and waterways with microplastics, which could have long-term and far-reaching consequences.\u201d\n\nBio-Beads are used in the last step of the sewage cleaning process before treated effluent water is released back into rivers or straight into the sea. There is currently no mechanism in place to trap lost Bio-Beads in the event of a spill and the CPPC report details several spills and near misses in recent years.\n\nWallerstein said: \u201cWe believe that the Bio-Bead system is far too vulnerable to losses. We are calling for a range of safeguards to be put in place at all plants using it, and ultimately for water companies to phase out its use altogether.\u201d\n\nSouth West Water said it welcomed the report but called for more research.\n\n\u201cWe commend the report\u2019s authors in raising this subject but they insufficiently acknowledge other potential sources of small plastic pellets on south-west beaches such as plastic manufacturing plants in the UK and abroad, or spills from container ships, all of which are worthy of further investigation.\u201d", "output": "Sewage plants are releasing millions of tiny plastic beads into seas around the UK, according to a study by environmental group the Cornish Plastic Pollution Coalition (CPPC).  At least 55 wastewater treatment plants in the country use pellets known as Bio-Beads, which are just 3.5mm wide, to remove chemical and organic contaminants from sewage. The Bio-Beads, which pose a risk to marine life and can enter the food chain, are hard to see and almost impossible to remove from the oceans once released. South West Water said there was no evidence that its sites were releasing Bio-Beads.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CoinShares adds ethereum ETN for trading on Nasdaq Stockholm \n Source: CoinShares\n\nInvestors seeking exposure to the price movement of ether, the native token of the Ethereum platform, just got a new, but familiar option: two Exchange Traded Notes (ETNs) which track the price of Ether - Ether Tracker One (COINETH:SS) and Ether Tracker Euro (COINETHE:SS).\n\nXBT Provider by CoinShares, the issuer behind the world\u2019s first bitcoin ETNs, is announcing that the first Ether ETNs are now available for trading on Nasdaq Stockholm.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe listing of these two Ether ETNs is a major win for European investors who have been requesting these products for over a year now. As of today, if investors want hassle-free exposure to the price movements of ether, they simply call their broker or trade on their normal brokerage platform - that\u2019s truly remarkable. We are thrilled to be able to deliver on investor demand via a safe, familiar route in Nasdaq,\u201d says Laurent Kssis MD of XBT Provider by CoinShares.\n\n\n\nThe two ETNs, COINETH and COINETHE are denominated in SEK and EUR respectively. In similar fashion to the group\u2019s bitcoin ETNs, the ether ETNs are structured to track the price of ether, as determined by an index rate comprising the average of the 3 most liquid of a select group of exchanges, daily. The ETNs are traded during normal market hours on Nasdaq Stockholm.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe are happy to be able to provide investors with this new investment opportunity. Given the high interest we have experienced for the previous listings from XBT Provider it is exciting to now expand the offering into this unique exchange traded certificate. While it is important to acknowledge that exposure to an asset in its early stage of development, such as a digital currency, comes with a risk, trading Ether on Nasdaq Stockholm provides investors with the protection provided by a regulated infrastructure, well-known marketplace and accessibility through their ordinary brokers,\u201d says Helena Wedin, head of ETP Services Europe at Nasdaq.\n\n\n\nThis is the second major crypto-asset ETN Nasdaq has listed for the CoinShares group, noteworthy as this listing makes Nasdaq Stockholm the only European exchange to offer investors exposure to two of the leading crypto-assets (bitcoin and ether) in a familiar structure.\n\n\n\n\u201cToday is a historical moment for Ethereum and ether as an asset; and for the future of crypto-assets. It was a little over two years ago that the bitcoin ETNs began trading - offering investors exposure to bitcoin via an established exchange for the first time. Today, we are able to bring ether to the market and mark another major first. It is important to remember how far and how fast the space has matured in the less than 8 years since this revolution began,\u201d says Ryan Radloff, Co-Principal at CoinShares.\n\n\n\nCoinShares, which has been called the \u2018iShares\u00ae equivalent for Crypto-finance,\u2019 now represents six professional grade crypto-investment vehicles, all of which are pioneering products in their category. With the addition of ether to the platform, CoinShares represents the most diverse investment product line-up available in professional crypto-finance; and notably, the only way for European investors to add ether to their portfolio via an established exchange.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve stated before that as a group, CoinShares is committed to delivering world-class research and professional-grade access to crypto-assets. Today marks a critical step in delivering on that mission. This launch is the result of a tremendous amount of hard-work from the CoinShares team, key partners and our counterparts at Nasdaq. We could not be more proud to bring this latest set of pioneering product to the market,\u201d says Daniel Masters, Co-Principal at CoinShares.", "output": "Just over two years after trading began on bitcoin exchange traded notes (ETNs), Swedish firm CoinShares has launched two ETNs tracking the price of ether. COINETH and COINETHE trade on the Nasdaq Stockholm, and are denominated in SEK and EUR respectively, while their index rate would be based on the daily average from the three most liquid of a select group of exchanges. CoinShares MD Laurent Kssis said the move was a \"major win for European investors\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ripio raises $31m for ethereum micro-lending \n Latin American micro-lending startup Ripio Credit Network concluded its initial coin offering (ICO) presale, raising $31 million from accredited investors. Following the public Ripio ICO, the startup hopes to have raised a total of about $40 million.\n\nRipio (formerly BitPagos) has been operating within the crypto space since 2013 and established a blockchain-based lending service to help unbanked Latin American residents obtain loans. Now, the startup aims to expand the service into developing markets outside of Latin America through the creation of the Ripio Credit Network (RCN), an Ethereum-based micro-lending platform.\n\nUsing cosigned smart contracts, the network connects borrowers, lenders and co-signing agents. Significantly, both lenders and borrowers can interact with the platform using fiat currency, while the cosigner and corresponding wallet providers settle the contract using RCN tokens. This makes the platform much more accessible to people who are not familiar with cryptocurrency. The settlement process will require fees, but Ripio says they will be far lower than those charged by conventional lenders.\n\nThe presale, which was limited to accredited investors, raised $31 million from investors across the world, including significant contributions from Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea. Notable investors included Blacktower Capital, Blockchain Investors Consortium, and FBG Capital. Ripio notes that presale participants did not receive a discount, although they did have an opportunity to purchase tokens in much larger quantities than are available in the public Ripio ICO.\n\n\u201cOur goal is to widen financial inclusion by extending credit lending globally, and for implementing it we need worldwide support,\u201d said Ripio founder Sebastian Serrano. \u201cWith vast experience on the blockchain market and a willingness to provide developing countries with fair lending conditions, our team is certain that this product will be welcomed by the community and help us democratize the digital economy in developing countries\u200b, offering digital payment alternatives within everyone\u2019s reach in these regions where up to 65% of the population remains unbanked.\u201d\n\nThe public Ripio ICO is scheduled to begin on October 24 and has a hard cap of 21,250 ETH, worth about $6.4 million at current exchange rates. Based on the success of the presale, it is likely the public distribution event will reach this cap, bringing the Ripio ICO\u2019s fundraising total to about $37 million.\n\nFeatured image from Shutterstock.", "output": "Argentinian blockchain start-up Ripio has raised $31m in pre-sale funding from private investors, including Steve Nerayoff and Blocktower Capital. The company, formerly known as BitPagos, will now focus on its initial coin offering, due to begin on 24 October, to fund its ethereum-based Ripio Credit Network (RCN). The micro-lending platform aims to bring together borrowers and lenders, using fiat currency and its own RCN token. The platform's goal is to bring financial services to developing countries, where 65% of the population are unbanked, said CEO Sebastian Serrano.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Coffee shops criticised over UK disposable cup waste \n Coffee shops are not doing enough to deal with the billions of disposable cups that are thrown away in the UK each year, an influential committee of MPs has been told.\n\nThe environment audit committee heard that the phenomenal growth of on-the-go coffee meant that 2.5bn disposable cups are thrown away annually in the UK, a number expected to rise to about 3bn by 2025. Only 1% are recycled.\n\n\n\nThe committee\u2019s chair, Mary Creagh, said this \u201cmassive increase\u201d was having a damaging environmental impact and insisted it was time the big coffee chains did more to address the waste they produce.\n\n\u201cThese coffee shops have a big responsibility under the the producer responsibility obligations to provide proper recycling facilities and they are in breach of them.\u201d\n\nThe runaway popularity of coffee shops shows no sign of slowing down. There are currently about 20,000 outlets in the UK and the committee heard that figure is likely to increase to 30,000 by 2025. This would result in millions more coffee cups being thrown away each day.\n\nAlthough the majority of people believe that any disposable cups put into a recycling bin will be broken down and the material reused, the committee heard that is not the case. The plastic lining in cups means they cannot be recycled in normal depots and have to be put in special bins and sent to one of three dedicated recycling mills.\n\nThe Green party MP Caroline Lucas said the key was to encourage the use of reusable cups.\n\n\n\n\u201cIt seems to be that [reusable cups] are the best solution if we can get to that and I know some coffee shops offer an incentive if people bring a reusable cup but uptake stands at only 2%.\u201d\n\nThe committee raised the possibility of banning the current disposable cups to encourage more easily recyclable alternatives or charging more to use them. These suggestions were opposed by a representative from Costa Coffee and the packaging industry who insisted they were working towards creating a system that would allow consumers to recycle the existing cups.\n\nThe committee also heard from Martin Myerscough, the founder of Frugalpac, which claims to make fully recyclable coffee cups.\n\n\u201cWe decided it was the cup that was the problem not the recycling system,\u201d said Myerscough. \u201cSo we have designed our cup so it can go in any bin and be recycled in any mill.\u201d\n\nHe said the company was just completing its first high-speed machine that would make fully recyclable cups at the same speed and for the same price as the existing ones.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a completely scaleable solution. The cups are the same price, they look the same and they taste the same,\u201d he told the committee.", "output": "Coffee shops are failing to respond adequately to the problem of disposable cup waste, according to the UK parliament's\u00a0environmental audit committee. Each year, 2.5 billion cups are discarded in the UK, with this number expected to increase to 3 billion by 2025. The plastic lining of the cups, of which just 1% are recycled, means that they must be processed in\u00a0specialised mills. The committee considered the option of banning disposable cups, a move opposed by Costa Coffee and the packaging industry. Martin Myerscough of Frugalpac told the committee that his company produced fully recyclable cups.\n\u00a0\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers make sodium-based battery that may challenge lithium \n As a warming world moves from fossil fuels toward renewable solar and wind energy, industrial forecasts predict an insatiable need for battery farms to store power and provide electricity when the sky is dark and the air is still. Against that backdrop, Stanford researchers have developed a sodium-based battery that can store the same amount of energy as a state-of-the-art lithium ion, at substantially lower cost.\n\nStanford researchers are developing a sodium ion battery based on a compound related to table salt. (Image credit: Getty Images)\n\nChemical engineer Zhenan Bao and her faculty collaborators, materials scientists Yi Cui and William Chueh, aren\u2019t the first researchers to design a sodium ion battery. But they believe the approach they describe in an Oct. 9 Nature Energy paper has the price and performance characteristics to create a sodium ion battery costing less than 80 percent of a lithium ion battery with the same storage capacity.\n\n\u201cNothing may ever surpass lithium in performance,\u201d Bao said. \u201cBut lithium is so rare and costly that we need to develop high-performance but low-cost batteries based on abundant elements like sodium.\u201d\n\nWith materials constituting about one-quarter of a battery\u2019s price, the cost of lithium \u2013 about $15,000 a ton to mine and refine \u2013 looms large. That\u2019s why the Stanford team is basing its battery on widely available sodium-based electrode material that costs just $150 a ton.\n\nThis sodium-based electrode has a chemical makeup common to all salts: It has a positively charged ion \u2013 sodium \u2013 joined to a negatively charged ion. In table salt, chloride is the positive partner, but in the Stanford battery a sodium ion binds to a compound known as myo-inositol. Unlike the chloride in table salt, myo-inositol is not a household word. But it is a household product, found in baby formula and derived from rice bran or from a liquid byproduct of the process used to mill corn. Crucial to the idea of lowering the cost of battery materials, myo-inositol is an abundant organic compound familiar to industry.\n\nMaking it work\n\nThe sodium salt makes up the cathode, which is the pole of the battery that stores electrons. The battery\u2019s internal chemistry shuttles those electrons toward the anode, which in this case is made up of phosphorous. The more efficiently the cathode shuttles those electrons toward and backward versus the anode, the better the battery works. For this prototype, postdoctoral scholar Min Ah Lee and the Stanford team improved how sodium and myo-inositol enable that electron flow, significantly boosting the performance of this sodium ion battery over previous attempts. The researchers focused mainly on the favorable cost-performance comparisons between their sodium ion battery and state of the art lithium. In the future they\u2019ll have to look at volumetric energy density \u2013 how big must a sodium ion battery be to store the same energy as a lithium ion system.\n\nIn addition, the team optimized their battery\u2019s charge-recharge cycle \u2013 how efficiently the battery stores electricity coming in from a rooftop solar array, for instance, and how effectively it delivers such stored power to, say, run the house lights at night. To better understand the atomic-level forces at play during this process, postdoctoral scholar Jihyun Hong and graduate student Kipil Lim worked with Chueh and Michael Toney, a scientist with the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. They studied precisely how the sodium ions attach and detach from the cathode, an insight that helped improve their overall battery design and performance.\n\nThe Stanford researchers believe their Nature Energy paper demonstrates that sodium-based batteries can be cost-effective alternatives to lithium-based batteries. Having already optimized the cathode and charging cycle, the researchers plan to focus next on tweaking the anode of their sodium ion battery.\n\n\u201cThis is already a good design, but we are confident that it can be improved by further optimizing the phosphorus anode,\u201d said Cui.\n\nOther members of the team included Stanford researchers Jeffrey Lopez, Yongming Sun and Dawei Feng. The work was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy\u2019s Advanced Battery Materials Research (BMR) Program. X-ray measurements were carried out at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL), a national user facility operated by Stanford University on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences.", "output": "A sodium-based battery capable of storing the same amount of energy as present lithium-ion batteries but costing less than 80% of a lithium-ion battery has been developed by researchers at Stanford.\u00a0Due to a lack of material abundance, lithium-ion batteries cost a significant amount\u00a0of money to produce, with lithium costing roughly\u00a0$15,000 a tonne to mine and refine. The researchers are basing their battery on a sodium-based electrode, which is\u00a0$150 a tonne. With a sodium cathode, and phosphorous anode,\u00a0the Stanford team improved how sodium and myo-inositol enable that electron flow between the two electrodes, significantly improving the efficiency of the battery."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK has made no progress in gender equality over past decade: EU \n Britain has made zero progress in tackling inequality between the sexes in the past decade and lags behind Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and France in the EU\u2019s latest gender equality league table.\n\n\n\nThe UK joins Slovakia and the Czech Republic among the EU\u2019s 28 member states in having made no significant advances in reducing levels of inequality when taking into account a range of fields including the workplace, income, education, health or political engagement.\n\nBritain\u2019s performance declined in the field of educational attainment between 2005 and 2015, according to the Gender Equality Index, although the country remains one the EU\u2019s three best performers in that area.\n\nThe UK results fit into a picture of slow progress towards gender equality across Europe between 2005 and 2015. The overall score for gender equality, when a matrix of data is taken into account, rose by just four points, to 66.2 out of 100, with 100 signifying complete gender equality.\n\nThe gender gap in employment in the EU is \u201cwide and persistent\u201d, the index report says, with the full-time equivalent (FTE) employment rate of 40% for women and 56% for men. Income gaps have narrowed, but on average women still earn 20% less than men, and the average masks huge disparities across the EU.\n\n\n\nOnly every third man in the EU engages daily in cooking and housework, compared with nearly eight in 10 women. Almost every second working woman spends an hour or more caring and educating children or grandchildren, elderly or disabled people during the day, compared with only about a third of working men.\n\nThe report says: \u201cAs the life course of women often involves economic inactivity, part-time work, unpaid work, lower wages and an average of five years\u2019 shorter working life than men, they face a significant risk of poverty in old age. In the EU, 18% of women and 12% of men aged 75-plus are at risk of monetary poverty.\u201d\n\nIn education, men still dominate the fields of science and technology (66%). Women represent about three-quarters of tertiary students in education (78%), health and welfare (71%), and humanities and the arts (65%).\n\nThe report says: \u201cSegregation in educational choices leads to further gender divisions in the labour market and reinforces the undervaluation of work, skills and competencies traditionally attributed to women.\u201d\n\nIt says gender equality in decision-making in political, economic and social areas is \u201cprogressing at the fastest rate, but continues to have the lowest score of all domains\u201d.\n\nThe advances are sharpest in the corporate setting, where the proportion of women on the boards of the largest listed companies in the EU has more than doubled, from 10% in 2005 to 22% in 2015. However, women account for only 7% of board chairs and presidents and 6% of chief executives in the largest companies.\n\nV\u0115ra Jourov\u00e1, the commissioner in Brussels responsible for gender equality, described the results as \u201cembarrassing\u201d and vowed to publish an EU-wide action plan by November.\n\nV\u0115ra Jourov\u00e1 described the results as \u2018embarrassing\u2019. Photograph: Francois Lenoir/Reuters\n\nShe said: \u201cThe numbers we see today tell a sad story. A story of stagnation, slow progress and prevailing gender inequality across Europe. We cannot think of our societies as modern when we let so many people down, every year and every day.\n\n\u201cThis backwards or stagnating trend I find truly embarrassing. Equality is not about women becoming like men, but tapping the full potential of our society by creating an environment of choice.\n\n\u201cWomen are discriminated against when it comes to their career paths and access to jobs. Men are discriminated against their private lives and put under huge pressure to focus on their career and making money.\u201d\n\nThe top-scoring country in the EU is Sweden (82.6), followed by Denmark. Greece holds the lowest score (50). Hungary is the second-worst performer. The most improved country is Italy, up 12.9 points in the past 10 years to reach 14th out of 28.\n\n\u00c5sa Regn\u00e9r, the minister for gender equality in Sweden, said the results in general were depressing.\n\nShe said: \u201cGender equality doesn\u2019t happen automatically. It happens because of leadership, political decisions, because of the allocation of resource or not. It is because politicians fight in debate or not \u2026 This is all about political leadership. There are governments and leaders who don\u2019t want gender equality.\u201d\n\nJoanna Maycock, the secretary general of the European Women\u2019s Lobby, who is from the UK, said \u201ccritical action\u201d was needed to deal with the issue, and the European commission\u2019s promise of an action plan was not enough.\n\nShe said that among the necessary measures, all national governments should offer free childcare, examine their tax practices, review national budgets for gender disparities and apply legal measures to address the \u201cshocking levels of discrimination\u201d against women returning to work after having a baby.", "output": "The UK has made no progress in combating gender inequality over the last decade, according to the latest European Union (EU) league table. The UK performed worse in this area than Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands and Sweden. Across Europe, the overall score for gender equality increased by just four points between 2005 and 2015, to a total of 66.2 out of 100. The greatest improvement was seen in the corporate sector, with the proportion of women on the boards of major listed companies in the EU\u00a0rising from 10% in 2005 to 22% in 2015."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK has made no progress in gender equality over past decade: EU \n Achieving equality between women and men makes everyone better off. We have come a long way, but there\u2019s still more to do. Let\u2019s shape an economy where gender equality, social fairness and prosperity go hand in hand. #3StepsForward is how policymakers, business leaders and individuals can unite to build a fairer future. We all have a role to play. Join our #3StepsForward campaign and do your part!", "output": "The UK has made no progress in combating gender inequality over the last decade, according to the latest European Union (EU) league table. The UK performed worse in this area than Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands and Sweden. Across Europe, the overall score for gender equality increased by just four points between 2005 and 2015, to a total of 66.2 out of 100. The greatest improvement was seen in the corporate sector, with the proportion of women on the boards of major listed companies in the EU\u00a0rising from 10% in 2005 to 22% in 2015."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chance The Rapper partners with Lyft to 'Round Up & Donate' \n In 2017, Chance the Rapper\u2019s altruism has been unmatched. From donating $1 million to Chicago Public Schools to even working the grill at Nando\u2019s for charitable reasons, he hasn\u2019t disappointed. For his latest endeavor, Chance has partnered up with Lyft starting Tuesday (Oct. 10) to help underfunded Chicago Public Schools.\n\nExplore See latest videos, charts and news Chance the Rapper Lifestyle See latest videos, charts and news\n\nFor Chicago riders using Lyft, you can round up your fare and donate to Chance\u2019s arts enrichment fund program for kids in struggling CPS. Simply tap \u2018Round Up & Donate\u2019 on your Lyft app, which will automatically round up your fare to the nearest dollar and the difference will be donated to New Chance: Arts & Literature Fund.\n\n\u201cThrough the New Chance Arts & Literature Fund, I\u2019m committed to giving the kids in Chicago as much as I can,\u201d Chance says. \u201cAnd now with Lyft\u2019s Round Up & Donate, we can give them much more because the more we ride, the more we raise to bring more arts programs to Chicago Public Schools.\u201d\n\nTo join, Chicago residents must tap on the \u2018Settings\u2019 tab on the app, select \u2018Round Up & Donate,\u2019 choose CPS: The New Chance Fund and take your ride from wherever in the Windy City.", "output": "US artist Chance the Rapper has partnered with ride-hailing firm Lyft to launch Round Up & Donate, an initiative aimed at raising money for Chicago's public schools. Lyft\u00a0users in the city will see a Round Up & Donate button in-app; those who activate the feature will have their fare automatically rounded up to the nearest dollar, with the extra funds donated to the rapper's New Chance: Arts & Literature Fund.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "YouTube tests subtitled auto-play for videos on app homepage \n Android Central\n\nYouTube has begun testing a feature that auto-plays videos that appear on its app\u2019s homepage to get a gauge of what a video is about before watching.\n\nThrough the feature, users can choose to watch full videos, however the videos are played with subtitles overlaid and not without sound. If the user scrolls up or down past a video, it stops playing and instead the next video in view plays.\n\nThe auto-play homepage feature, which was first spotted by Android Central, is currently only on the Android app. It has been dubbed \u2018Play as you browse\u2019 and can be disabled through Account -> Settings -> General -> Play as you browse. In addition, if the user doesn\u2019t want to entirely disable the feature, they can choose to only have it work when they are connected to a wi-fi network.\n\nIn August, YouTube parent Google rolled out video previews in mobile search results. Unlike the YouTube\u2019s play as you browse, this feature only plays six-second silent clips to provide the gist of a video.\n\nJoin us at the 2017 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony, taking place in London on Thursday 16 November, to mix with the industry's best and brightest, and raise a glass to the year's best campaigns and solutions. To find out more, and to book your place, click here.", "output": "Video-sharing site YouTube is testing a new feature on its Android app that enables users to assess auto-play video content they encounter while browsing to decide if they want to watch it. Videos on the app homepage will play automatically with subtitles rather than sound, stopping immediately if a user continues scrolling, with the same process continuing for the next video that comes into view. The move follows Google's August launch of video previews in search results, which offer six-second silent clips of a video.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Oranj launches software platform to cut down investors' fees \n CHICAGO, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Oranj has developed MAX (Manage, Advise, eXperience), the first open-access, end-to-end wealth management software providing financial advisers with direct access to a powerful solution that can help reduce some product and technology fees\u2014helping advisers adopt new technology without increasing their cost of doing business, and in some cases, making investing less expensive for investors.\n\nMAX will combine Oranj's client-facing engagement and account aggregation tools with institutional-grade trading and rebalancing functionalities from TradeWarrior Software, Inc., in which Oranj acquired a majority stake earlier this year. In addition, prominent investment management firms such as BlackRock, Direxion, Morningstar Managed Portfolios, ETF Securities, and Frost Investment Advisors will host model portfolios and funds on MAX, enabling advisers to seamlessly utilize investment solutions within their business on a single software platform. Unlike similar solutions in the marketplace, MAX is custodian-agnostic, and can integrate seamlessly with all major custodians and brokers. In addition, Shareholders Service Group and Liberty Partners Financial Services have agreed to offer MAX to the advisers in their respective networks, which cumulatively reach more than 1,500 advisers across the country.\n\nMany investors are unaware that their investment costs include multiple layers of product and technology fees along with advisers' fees. The direct access to investment managers, and powerful portfolio construction and management tools, on MAX can remove some of these fees, which advisers are often forced to pass on to their clients\u2014reducing both business expenses for advisers and the overall cost of investing for investors. To learn more about MAX, or reserve a spot for access, please visit www.maxadviser.io.\n\n\"As a former adviser myself, I know first-hand the value that advisers provide for their clients at every stage of their lives. MAX is a groundbreaking solution that not only reduces the friction associated with connecting and collaborating with an adviser, but can also slash the costs of both doing business as an adviser and investing as an investor,\" said David Lyon, CEO and Founder of Oranj. \"By offering advisers free world-class technology and direct access to best-of-breed investment managers, MAX can eliminate some of the product and technology fees that, in many cases, are factored into the cost of investing with an adviser\u2014giving advisers the power to help more Americans avoid the DIY investing approach which often leads to underperformance and emotion-based decisions.\"\n\nMAX features will include:\n\nAdviser/Client Portal offering an unlimited number of clients and prospects a user-friendly experience when working with an adviser, and eliminating lengthy meetings and cumbersome delivery of financial statements.\n\noffering an unlimited number of clients and prospects a user-friendly experience when working with an adviser, and eliminating lengthy meetings and cumbersome delivery of financial statements. Account Aggregation tools providing access to accounts at over 25,000 financial institutions\u2014 enabling advisers to obtain holistic insight into an investor's overall financial profile, and helping clients understand the financial impact of important life decisions and adapt accordingly.\n\ntools providing access to accounts at over 25,000 financial institutions\u2014 enabling advisers to obtain holistic insight into an investor's overall financial profile, and helping clients understand the financial impact of important life decisions and adapt accordingly. Online Account Opening/Transfer capabilities allowing advisers to seamlessly work with clients to complete online account openings and transfers.\n\ncapabilities allowing advisers to seamlessly work with clients to complete online account openings and transfers. eSignature Powered by DocuSign , which decreases the time and effort required to execute and deliver documents by allowing advisers and clients to electronically sign documents within MAX.\n\n, which decreases the time and effort required to execute and deliver documents by allowing advisers and clients to electronically sign documents within MAX. Institutional-Grade Trading and Rebalancing software which can streamline the trading and rebalancing of accounts, saving advisers time and costs for both their clients and their business, especially during market corrections.\n\nsoftware which can streamline the trading and rebalancing of accounts, saving advisers time and costs for both their clients and their business, especially during market corrections. Risk Assessment and Alerts from the software, which will monitor and notify advisers when accounts have drifted past their appropriate risk profile.\n\nfrom the software, which will monitor and notify advisers when accounts have drifted past their appropriate risk profile. FIX (financial information eXchange) Trading connection which allows trades to be sent electronically from MAX to any custodian for execution.\n\nconnection which allows trades to be sent electronically from MAX to any custodian for execution. Investment Marketplace complete with asset allocation models, enabling advisers to evaluate a wide variety of strategies and model portfolios from recognized investment managers and move ahead with incorporating these strategies into investor portfolios.\n\ncomplete with asset allocation models, enabling advisers to evaluate a wide variety of strategies and model portfolios from recognized investment managers and move ahead with incorporating these strategies into investor portfolios. Real-Time Net Worth/Balance Sheet calculations for every client which can be easily accessed by advisers.\n\ncalculations for every client which can be easily accessed by advisers. Secure Document Vault which stores important documents and communications going back to the prospect stage, and can be easily accessed by advisers and their clients through the adviser/client portal.\n\n\"We are excited to offer Morningstar\u00ae Managed PortfoliosSM on Oranj's MAX platform,\" said Nicholas VanDerSchie, Head of Managed Portfolios at Morningstar Investment Management LLC. \"Our managed portfolio services allow advisers to tap into the investment expertise of our global team, freeing up their time to focus on value-added activities like financial planning and behavioral coaching.\"\n\nAbout Oranj\n\nOranj is focused on creating the world's best digital experience for enabling financial advisers to help clients effectively manage their financial lives and personal goals, and empowering investors to make smart financial decisions, connect with financial professionals, and pursue better investing outcomes. To achieve this, Oranj builds software for servicing, collaborating, managing, and connecting, which utilizes user-friendly applications for a fully interactive human-driven, technology-assisted experience. The Oranj platform offers a secure document vault, client collaboration tools, aggregated data from more than 25,000 institutions, online account opening/transfer capabilities, real-time activity notifications, extensive data analytics, and an archive of adviser/client communication going back to the prospect stage. Oranj also offers access to institutional-grade trading and rebalancing solutions from TradeWarrior Software, Inc., in which Oranj acquired a majority stake in April 2017. For more information about Oranj, please visit www.runoranj.com or follow @runoranjdotcom on Twitter.\n\nCONTACT:\n\nAndrew Jennings\n\nJConnelly\n\n(973) 224-7152\n\najennings@jconnelly.com\n\nView original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/oranj-seeks-to-modernize-advisers-businesses-by-developing-industrys-first-free-wealth-management-software-300533791.html\n\nSOURCE Oranj", "output": "US-based Oranj has launched a software platform for financial advisers aiming to provide additional technology and access to products while not increasing fees which could be passed on to clients. The platform, called MAX, will provide aggregation and rebalancing tools alongside model portfolio options. Firms such as BlackRock, Direxion and Morningstar, among others, will have model portfolios hosted by the platform. The firm says the direct access to these asset managers will serve to cut down some layers of fees investors may encounter.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pearson to contest testing contract awarded to rival in Iowa \n Pearson is fighting to halt a decision by the state of Iowa to award a $31 million testing contract to the American Institutes for Research, arguing that the scoring of bids was riddled with \u201cpreferential treatment and bias.\u201d\n\nThe giant education corporation filed its appeal as a petition to stay the award with the Iowa Department of Administrative Services, arguing that the state failed to follow the parameters of its request for proposals for the work.\n\nAppeals of state testing awards by losing vendors are not uncommon. Assessment companies are known to dispute the scoring processes and rationale of state officials when competing for contracts worth many millions of dollars.\n\nIn 2015, Pearson and AIR engaged in a memorable and high-stakes battle over a potentially enormous contract issued for testing work overseen by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, a common-core state testing consortium. Pearson, which had won that contract, ultimately prevailed in that fight, when a district court judge ruled against AIR\u2019s lawsuit.\n\nThe Iowa contract was one of three state assessment contracts that the AIR, a nonprofit vendor based in Washington, D.C., had tentatively secured over the past few weeks, worth a combined $84 million. The vendor was also poised to win deals in Indiana and North Dakota. All three awards were not yet final, until other vendors were given the opportunity to challenge the awards.\n\nThe Iowa contract called for a vendor to complete work over a period of more than five years. It covered new state assessments in English/language arts, math, and science, Iowa officials have said. The five other vendors who pursued the contract were Pearson; ACT Inc.; Data Recognition Corporation; Questar; and the University of Kansas, according to the state.\n\nSome Iowa legislators had urged the state Department of Education to use an Iowa-based exam instead of one provided by an out-of-state vendor.\n\nIn a statement to Marketplace K-12, Pearson spokesman Scott Overland said that Pearson is a \u201cproud employer of hundreds of Iowa residents\u201d and that its bid was \u201cpredicated upon using local employees and facilities to develop, administer, and report the assessments.\u201d As a result, when judged by the \u201coverall impact to Iowans,\u201d Pearson offered a better deal, he argued.\n\nThe Iowa Department of Education referred questions on the Pearson appeal to the state\u2019s department of administrative services. An official for the administrative services agency said no decision on Pearson\u2019s appeal or stay has been made.\n\nThe American Institutes for Research declined to comment on Pearson\u2019s filing, saying that doing so was not appropriate since the Iowa contract had not been finalized.\n\nIn its appeal, Pearson asks that Iowa state officials rescind the award to the AIR and re-score the proposals\u2013or that the an entirely new RFP be put forward and bids be judged \u201copenly, impartially, and without bias.\u201d\n\nSee also:", "output": "UK-based education services company Pearson has appealed against a state decision to award a $31m testing contract to the American Institutes for Research (AIR), alleging \"preferential treatment and bias\". In papers filed with the Iowa Department of Administrative Services, Pearson called for the proposals to be resubmitted and judged \"openly, impartially, and without bias\". AIR, which has locked horns with Pearson previously, recently won three contracts worth a combined $84m, but would not comment on Pearson's claim, as the contract had not been finalised.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Moving toward a pay-for-value model of prescription drug pricing \n Credit: Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis\n\nOne of the health care issues about which seemingly all Americans agree: Prescription drug prices have skyrocketed. And they keep going higher. How do Americans get better value for their health care dollars?\n\nOne answer may be novel pricing models that more closely link a drug's price to its value, rather than paying for volume. Drug manufacturers, however, argue that Medicaid's \"best-price rule\" inhibits their ability to enter into these new pricing arrangements.\n\nNot so fast, says an expert on drug pricing and regulation at Washington University in St. Louis.\n\n\"The best-price rule is not as serious a problem as drug manufacturers might perceive it to be,\" said Rachel Sachs, associate professor of law and co-author of \"Innovative Contracting for Pharmaceuticals and Medicaid's Best-Price Rule,\" recently published in the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law.\n\nThe best-price rule essentially states that Medicaid is entitled to the best price for any drug that's paid in the private market. If a drug company wants to give a big discount to a private insurer, Medicaid is entitled to that discount as well.\n\n\"The rule does not apply to a wide range of payers\u2014drug manufacturers can enter into innovative contracting models with Medicare Part D or the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs without running afoul of the rule,\" Sachs said. \"It only applies when the discount it would trigger exceeds the statutorily required Medicaid discount, which is already quite large. And manufacturers can structure their contracts with payers ahead of time to minimize its impact.\"\n\nThe rule, argue Sachs and co-authors Nicholas Bagley of the University of Michigan and Darius N. Lakdawalla of the University of Southern California, should not be an obstacle to pricing innovation alternatives, including indication-based pricing, outcome-based pricing, drug licenses and drug mortgages. Where it is an obstacle, drug manufacturers can often restructure their contracts to avoid or mitigate the rule's impact.\n\n\"Pharmaceutical companies and insurers have expressed interest in a number of different innovative pricing models, chief among them outcome-based pricing and indication based pricing,\" Sachs said. \"Many people find an intuitive appeal in the idea behind outcome-based pricing\u2014if a drug doesn't work for a patient, why should they have to pay for it?\"\n\nSachs said she is looking forward to more indication-based pricing deals, where manufacturers charge different prices for the same drug depending on the indication for which it is being prescribed.\n\n\"If the indication-based price is tied to how much value that drug provides for the particular indication, shifting to indication-based pricing systems could begin to move our payment system for drugs more in the direction of value, not volume,\" she said.\n\n\"The best-price rule is not as serious a problem as drug manufacturers sometimes make it out to be,\" Sachs and her colleagues write in the paper. \"But it is also not simply a convenient excuse for refusing to try something new. The law here is complex, and fostering the adoption of new pricing models will require close coordination among manufacturers, payers and regulators.", "output": "One of the health care issues about which seemingly all Americans agree: Prescription drug prices have skyrocketed. And they keep going higher. How do Americans get better value for their health care dollars?\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Are Prescription Drugs Next On Amazon\u2019s Agenda? \n The investment community was abuzz Tuesday following word that Amazon might be considering a move into the prescription drug business.\n\nSpeculation about such a move began surfacing around the time Amazon acquired Whole Foods in June, but analysts at investment firm Leerink fueled the flames on Friday when they commented that Amazon \u201calmost certainly\u201d will get into prescription drugs within a couple of years.\n\nCritics countered that, while it\u2019s hard to rule out Amazon\u2019s will to disrupt another part of the business environment, the online service hasn\u2019t fared as well when dealing with highly regulated industries, including alcohol distribution.\n\n\u201cThe highly regulated drug business has never been particularly transparent,\u201d journalist Emma Court wrote in a MarketWatch report on the subject Tuesday. \u201cAt best, U.S. drug pricing is complex; at worst, it\u2019s dysfunctional.\u201d\n\nStill, pharmacy benefit management and mail order firms like Express Scripts could become particularly vulnerable if Amazon jumps into the arena. Some speculate that the powerful online retailer, with its robust cash, may even look to enter into the space via acquisition.\n\nFollowing last Friday\u2019s Leerink report, Express Scripts stock fell 2.5 percent, while the CVS and Walgreens chains fell about 5 percent, according to a CNN Money report, which noted that all three stocks fell further in trading on Monday, even as Amazon and the major stock markets were up.\n\nIn midday trading Tuesday, Express Scripts and Walgreens were down again, while CVS stock was up slightly.\n\nIn, perhaps, unrelated news, Express Scripts announced Tuesday that it is buying eviCore for $3.6 billion. The Bluffton, SC-based eviCore contracts with health plans and commercial clients to manage health care services.\n\nFor its part, Amazon said it had no comment on the speculative market reports.\n\n(Sources: CNN Money; MarketWatch)", "output": "The investment community was abuzz Tuesday following word that Amazon might be considering a move into the prescription drug business. Speculation about such a move began surfacing around the time Amazon acquired Whole Foods in June, but analysts at investment firm Leerink\u00a0fueled the flames on Friday when they commented that Amazon \u201calmost certainly\u201d will get into prescription drugs within a couple of years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California doesn't have enough doctors, and this bad law isn't helping \n California doesn\u2019t have enough doctors.\n\nBy 2025, the state will be short about 4,700 primary-care physicians, according to a recent report from the UC San Francisco Healthforce Center. This will result in more people turning to costly emergency-room visits for routine care, it predicts.\n\nOne solution is to expand the role of well-trained nurse practitioners, who can meet the basic healthcare needs of our growing population at a fraction of the cost of doctor visits. That\u2019s what many other states are doing.\n\nBut this obvious remedy is opposed by a powerful interest \u2014 doctors. As a result, the Legislature has repeatedly failed to give greater independence to nurse practitioners, or NPs for short.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nI wasn\u2019t even aware of this issue until I stopped by a CVS MinuteClinic the other day to get my annual flu shot (which you should do as well; about 36,000 people in this country are killed by the flu every year).\n\nThe clinic\u2019s nurse practitioner and I chatted as she prepped my injection. I asked if she could do most things a doctor could do. Could she prescribe medicine?\n\nYes, she replied, she could prescribe meds and do pretty much everything a family practitioner can do.\n\nSo why aren\u2019t there more clinics like the one at CVS, serving as the affordable front line in our battle for wellness?\n\n\u201cThe law doesn\u2019t allow it,\u201d she answered.\n\nReally?\n\nTheresa Ullrich, president of the California Assn. for Nurse Practitioners, clarified that the law does allow for greater use of NPs, but it contains language that makes an expanded role challenging if not impossible.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re a good answer to the need for cost-effective and high-quality care,\u201d she told me. \u201cBut we\u2019re hamstrung by the state\u2019s regulatory language.\u201d\n\nFirst, many people might not know the difference between a nurse and a nurse practitioner. In California, a registered nurse needs at least an associate\u2019s degree in nursing, which takes about two years to obtain, often from a community college.\n\nA nurse practitioner, meanwhile, must have at least a master\u2019s degree and must receive advanced training in his or her specialty, such as family medicine. Unlike a nurse, a nurse practitioner can order tests, diagnose medical problems and manage a patient\u2019s overall care.\n\nThink of an NP falling between a nurse and a doctor. The typical nurse practitioner receives up to eight years of postsecondary education, whereas a doctor receives an average 12 years of postsecondary education and training, often more.\n\nAn NP focuses on wellness \u2014 keeping patients fit and addressing routine medical needs, such as checkups and health-maintenance programs. More complicated issues would require a doctor\u2019s care.\n\nFor years, healthcare advocates have been pushing for a greater emphasis on nurse practitioners, and that makes a lot of sense. Many medical issues don\u2019t require the expertise of a physician.\n\nNPs, who earn about half what the typical California doctor makes, are in a position to offer treatment at a much more reasonable cost.\n\nThe problem is a state law requiring all drug-prescribing nurse practitioners to have a \u201csupervising physician,\u201d even though this doctor might play little if any role in the NP\u2019s day-to-day practice.\n\n\u201cIf I opened my own clinic, I would need a physician to supervise me,\u201d Ullrich said, \u201cand I\u2019d need to put him on the payroll.\u201d\n\nThe law also stipulates that each supervising physician oversee no more than four nurse practitioners.\n\n\u201cSo if the clinic was going to expand,\u201d Ullrich said, \u201cI\u2019d have to bring on more supervising physicians, and I\u2019d have to pay them as well.\u201d\n\nThe California Medical Assn., which represents doctors, insists that patients benefit from having physicians oversee nurse practitioners \u2014 even if a doctor isn\u2019t physically present or isn\u2019t terribly engaged with an NP\u2019s activities.\n\n\u201cPhysician-led, team-based care is one of the best avenues to quality, low-cost healthcare,\u201d Joanne Adams, a spokeswoman for the trade group, said in a statement.\n\nShe cited the \u201ccollaborative relationship between physicians and other healthcare practitioners,\u201d and her organization\u2019s support for \u201cefforts to expand the productivity of these teams.\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s a lot of team spirit. But it\u2019s hard not to suspect that doctors are just trying to make sure they keep getting a piece of the action for relatively little work.\n\nNearly two-dozen states have waived the requirement that nurse practitioners have a supervising physician. More than dozen others allow NPs to diagnose and treat patients (but not prescribe drugs) on their own.\n\nCalifornia is the only Western state that still requires a supervising physician for nurse practitioners to diagnose, treat and prescribe medicine for patients.\n\n\u201cI could move to Nevada or Oregon and open my own practice without having to pay a physician to oversee what I\u2019m doing,\u201d Ullrich said.\n\nState Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina), an optometrist before he turned to politics, has introduced bills seeking to follow other states in granting NPs more freedom. Each bill has collapsed amid fierce opposition from the doctors lobby.\n\n\u201cOrganized medicine \u2014 the California Medical Assn. \u2014 doesn\u2019t want anyone infringing on their business,\u201d Hernandez told me.\n\nHe said there\u2019s no evidence that giving nurse practitioners more latitude to practice medicine endangers the public or undermines the integrity of the healthcare system.\n\n\u201cIn fact, there\u2019s decades of evidence showing that they\u2019re safe and that patients like them,\u201d Hernandez said.\n\nHe emphasized that for many rural and inner-city communities, NPs may be the only healthcare providers willing to open local clinics and to take Medi-Cal.\n\nWhile a third of Californians rely on the state-federal insurance program for coverage, a recent study found that 36% of California doctors refuse to see Medi-Cal patients because of relatively low reimbursement rates.\n\nThe state has a population close to 40 million people. By 2050, California could have 50 million residents, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.\n\nNot having enough doctors to meet the healthcare needs of that population is frightening.\n\nNot taking steps to address this shortfall with a greater number of nurse practitioners is simply foolish.\n\nDavid Lazarus\u2019 column runs Tuesdays and Fridays. He also can be seen daily on KTLA-TV Channel 5 and followed on Twitter @Davidlaz. Send your tips or feedback to david.lazarus@latimes.com.\n\nMORE FROM DAVID LAZARUS\n\nGuns, like cigarettes, are legal products that kill people. That\u2019s not OK\n\nAverage CEO has to make do with $253,088 in monthly pension payments\n\nHere\u2019s a way to make companies with large databases keep our info safe", "output": "California doesn\u2019t have enough doctors. By 2025, the state will be short about 4,700 primary-care physicians, according to a recent report\u00a0from the UC San Francisco Healthforce Center. This will result in more people turning to costly emergency-room visits for routine care, it predicts.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hepatitis death count hits 18 in San Diego outbreak \n San Diego County Public health nurse Summer Leal puts a Bandaid Terrie Woolever\u2019s upper arm after giving her a hepatitis shot at the City of San Diego\u2019s new tent city at 20th and B streets Monday.\n\nAnother death was connected to San Diego\u2019s ongoing hepatitis A outbreak Tuesday even as the number of confirmed cases and hospitalizations showed their smallest increases in weeks.\n\nThe county Health and Human Services Agency released its weekly update on the outbreak, bumping the number of deaths from 17 to 18. The number of confirmed cases grew by nine, reaching 490.\n\nThe latest death occurred in September and the public health department had been awaiting confirmation from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before adding it to the outbreak total.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nDr. Wilma Wooten, the county\u2019s public health officer, said Tuesday that another death has since been reported, starting the multi-week wait for confirmation that the death was caused by one of the 15 strains detected in San Diego\u2019s outbreak which has now spread to other locations in California as well as Arizona and Utah.\n\nWooten went before the county Board of Supervisors Tuesday to request that the local public health emergency she declared on Sept. 1 be renewed for another two weeks. She said the county and local health providers have now delivered 68,500 hepatitis A vaccination doses, including 53,869 to those considered at-risk \u2014 homeless residents, drug users and those with liver diseases and compromised immune systems.\n\nAs of last Saturday, Wooten said 501 \u201cfoot team\u201d missions have been conducted, taking the vaccination effort to sidewalks, street corners and riverbeds where many who are at risk sleep and socialize.\n\nDr. Nick Yphantides, the county\u2019s chief medical officer, took a moment at Tuesday\u2019s meeting to debunk what he said has become belief among some in the public that the outbreak is being caused by tainted water near where homeless are camped.\n\n\u201cThere (are) absolutely no established cases that are isolated to be associated with any water sources in the outbreak,\u201d Yphantides said.\n\nThe county\u2019s vaccination efforts, which have been bolstered by sanitation improvements from hand washing stations to periodic sidewalk cleaning, are about to enter a new phase.\n\nDr. Robert Schooley, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at UC San Diego School of Medicine, said Tuesday that his organization, and other local health providers, are gearing up for a big outreach effort in San Diego\u2019s many single-room-occupancy hotels.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re trying to figure out how best to configure the teams and to interact with the folks who run these facilities so that we\u2019re efficient and not intrusive,\u201d Schooley said.\n\nThe San Diego Housing Commission\u2019s current list of single-occupancy hotels in the city includes 101 different properties with 5,068 rooms. Capacity ranges from the seven-room Gibraltar Lodge on Clay Avenue to the 325-room Golden West Hotel on 4th Avenue downtown.\n\nThese properties tend to rent one room per individual at prices far below the cost of an apartment. They often have shared bathroom facilities.\n\nIt was not clear Tuesday when the additional vaccination efforts might start. County health officials did not respond to requests for more information on the effort or on the overall trend in local case counts.\n\nFor the first time in many months, the number of new cases and hospitalizations added to overall totals rose by less than 10. Last week, by comparison, those same counts jumped by more than 20 in a week.\n\nDoes this mean that the outbreak is losing steam?\n\nWooten told the supervisors Tuesday that about 20 new cases per week were reported from May through August but, more recently, the trend has been \u201ctwo to three per day.\u201d\n\nIf the current new-case rate is closer to two per day than three then that would seem to indicate that the outbreak\u2019s spread is slowing a bit. Health department officials did not respond Tuesday to a request for more information.\n\nSchooley, the UC San Diego infectious disease chief, said the outbreak is not currently producing the level of urgency that it did a few months ago.\n\n\u201cIt does look as if things are not increasing as rapidly as they were in the spring. Over the last number of weeks things seem to be stabilizing,\u201d Schooley said.\n\nBut he cautioned that, especially with a disease that has a five- to 50-day incubation period, it\u2019s too soon to make definitive statements about the outbreak.\n\n\u201cWhile the trends we\u2019ve seen are very good, it\u2019s too early to say we\u2019re seeing an end,\u201d Schooley said.\n\nUC San Diego hospitals had treated 115 hepatitis A patients, including seven who died, as of Sept. 22.\n\nWooten told the board that there were still 47 suspected cases under investigation, the same number that a county official cited last week.\n\nBecause it takes weeks for the CDC to confirm that each case was caused by the same hepatitis A strains identified in the county\u2019s outbreak, the official number of confirmed cases always lags behind preliminary totals.\n\nHealth Playlist \u00d7 On Now Video: Leaders urge public to help extinguish hepatitis outbreak On Now San Diego starts cleansing sidewalks, streets to combat hepatitis A On Now Video: Scripps to shutter its hospice service On Now Video: Scripps La Jolla hospitals nab top local spot in annual hospital rankings On Now Video: Does a parent's Alzheimer's doom their children? On Now EpiPen recall expands On Now Kids can add years to your life\n\npaul.sisson@sduniontribune.com\n\n(619) 293-1850\n\nTwitter: @paulsisson", "output": "Another death was connected to San Diego\u2019s ongoing hepatitis\u00a0A outbreak Tuesday even as the number of confirmed cases and hospitalizations showed their smallest increases in weeks. The county Health and Human Services Agency released its weekly update on the outbreak, bumping the number of deaths from 17 to 18. The number of confirmed cases grew by nine, reaching 490.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Andela gets $40m to connect African STEM talent to tech companies \n Andela, a New York-based platform that connects Africa\u2019s engineering talent with global technology companies, secured $40M in Series C funding.\n\nThe round was led by pan-African venture firm CRE Venture Capital with participation from DBL Partners, Amplo, Salesforce Ventures, and Africa-focused TLcom Capital and existing investors Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, GV, and Spark Capital.\n\nThe round, which brings total venture capital funding to just over $80M, will use the capital to accelerate its expansion plans. In conjunction with the funding, Pule Taukobong of CRE, Julia Gillard, former Australian Prime Minister and Amplo Board Partner, and Omobola Johnson, Senior Partner at TLcom and former Minister of Communication Technology in Nigeria, will be joining Andela\u2019s board.\n\nThe company intends to use the funds to launch offices in two additional African countries over the next year, doubling its developer base from 500 to 1,000.\n\nLaunched in 2014 by Jeremy Johnson, CEO, Andela supports more than 100 partner companies in building engineering teams by investing in African software developers. Partners include Viacom, Mastercard Labs, Gusto and GitHub, among others. Beyond recruiting elite development talent, the company is catalyzing the growth of tech ecosystems across the continent by open-sourcing its content and partnering with organizations including Google and Pluralsight to provide resources and mentorship to developers.\n\nAndela, which has offices in Lagos, Nigeria, Nairobi, Kenya, and Kampala, Uganda, has hired 500 developers to date.\n\nFinSMEs\n\n10/10/2017", "output": "New York-based Andela has raised $40m in a series C funding round led by CRE Venture Capital, and featuring participation from existing investors, including the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative. As part of the round, former Australian prime minister and board partner of investor Amplo, Julia Gillard, will join Andela's board. The platform brings together global technology firms and up-and-coming African software developers, and counts Mastercard Labs and GitHub among its partners. The new funds will be used to double Andela's developer base to 1,000 and launch\u00a0in two additional African countries over the next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MedPAC pushes for MIPS repeal \n Dive Brief:\n\nThe Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has suggested ending the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), which is one of the payment tracks in MACRA. Nearly all members of MedPAC backed scrapping MIPS at its meeting late last week.\n\nMIPS, which allows providers to earn performance-based payment adjustments to Medicare payments, is too burdensome and won\u2019t improve care, they said.\n\nIn place of MIPS, the commission suggested a new program by which a portion of payments (perhaps 2%) is withheld. Providers not in an advanced payment model (APM) could join a group of physicians whose claims data is reviewed on certain population-based health measures to see if they qualify to have the withheld funds returned. Providers who do not participate in an APM or the new model would forfeit the withheld portion.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nMedPAC members said MIPS doesn't focus enough on patient care, but instead on whether providers order tests and follow clinical guidelines. MedPAC\u2019s suggestions do carry some influence, but it doesn't create policy. It\u2019s a nonpartisan legislative branch agency that offers analysis and policy advice to the Congress.\n\nPayment adjustments from MACRA are set to begin in 2019, and providers are in the process of choosing their track and making sure they are ready to report their quality metrics. Scrapping the program could bring relief to some providers, but it's late in the game for such a major change.\n\nProviders generally have mixed feelings about MIPS. Most want to push toward value-based payment models, but find flaws in MIPS, particularly the heavy reporting requirements. In response, a recent MACRA proposal would exempt more small providers from the program, leaving about 36% of clinicians eligible for participating next year. In comments to this proposed rule, provider groups suggested tweaks like allowing more advanced alternative payment models to quality for MACRA.\n\nA recent Medical Group Management Association survey found group practices feel MIPS is too complex and doesn't benefit patient care. Nearly three-fourths (73%) of those surveyed said MIPS doesn't \u201csupport our practice\u2019s clinical quality priorities\u201d and the same percentage called MIPS either \u201cvery\u201d or \u201cextremely\u201d complex. MIPS\u2019 complexity may get worse in 2018.\n\nMichael Abrams, managing partner at Numerof & Associates, recently told Healthcare Dive that he's concerned about the greater flexibility in MIPS in 2018. \u201cMACRA in its original form was extremely flexible, maybe even more flexible than it needed to be or than was actually wise,\u201d said Abrams. \u201cIf the point is to minimize the burden on physicians, keep it simple.\u201d\n\nIn addition to the complexity, a recent Avalere analysis found that Medicare payments to some specialists could rise or fall by as much as 16% for the 2018 performance year if CMS finalizes its plan to change how MIPS adjustments are calculated.\n\nSome in the industry, however, fear rolling back value-based payment initiatives will be a major setback for the overall movement. AMGA, for example, opposed the increased exemptions to MIPS, saying the move \"fails to recognize the significant investments made in preparation for participation\" in MACRA.", "output": "The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has suggested ending the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), which is one of the payment tracks in MACRA. Nearly all members of\u00a0MedPAC backed scrapping MIPS\u00a0at its meeting late last week.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Educapital launches $45m fund for European edtech startups \n EDUCAPITAL, an investment group based in France, has launched a \u20ac45 million fund (approximately US $53 million) for K-12 and corporate education companies. Led by a female duo\u2014Marie-Christine Levet and Litzie Maarek\u2014 the fund aims to invest in 15 European and Israeli edtech companies. The team claims to be \u201cmodeled similarly to successful US funds Learn Capital and Rethink Education,\u201d according to the announcement.\n\nBackers for Educapital include French investment bank Bpifrance, the publisher Hachette Livre, and Education for the Many, the education investment arm of the Leclercq family (best known for its sports retail chain, Decathlon).", "output": "French investment group Educapital has launched a \u20ac45m ($53m) fund aimed at investing in 15 European and Israeli K12 corporate edtech companies. Educapital's leaders, Marie-Christine Levet and Litzie Maarek, said the fund would be modelled on US equivalents Learn Capital and Rethink Education.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "In New Test for Obamacare, Iowa Seeks to Abandon Marketplace \n Neither C.M.S. nor the White House would comment on whether Mr. Trump had pushed for the application to be denied. A spokeswoman for C.M.S. said only that the plan remains under review.\n\nIn Des Moines on Tuesday, Gov. Kim Reynolds told reporters that her team was in constant contact with the White House and C.M.S. about the plan, including a call with Ms. Verma this week, trying \u201cto get to yes.\u201d She said the administration has been \u201cvery receptive\u201d to the plan as a solution to the \u201cunaffordable,\u201d \u201cunworkable\u201d health law until it can be repealed.\n\nIowa calls its request a stopgap plan that would allow the state to opt out of the federal health insurance marketplace, HealthCare.gov, for 2018 and create a state-run system that its insurance commissioner says would lower premiums for the 72,000 Iowans who currently have Obamacare health plans, including 28,000 who earn too much to get subsidies to help with the cost.\n\nBut the cheaper premiums would come with a big trade-off: higher out-of-pocket costs. The only option for customers would be a plan with deductibles of $7,350 for a single person and $14,700 for a family. The proposal would also reallocate millions of federal dollars that the health law dedicates to lowering costs for people with modest incomes and use the money for premium assistance to those with higher incomes, no matter how much money they make.\n\nThe individual insurance market is particularly fragile in Iowa, partly because the state has allowed tens of thousands of people to keep old plans that do not meet the health law\u2019s standards. Aetna and Wellmark Blue Cross & Blue Shield, the state\u2019s most popular insurer, are both withdrawing at the end of the year. The only insurer planning to remain, Medica, is seeking premium increases that average 56 percent, blaming Mr. Trump\u2019s ongoing threats to stop paying subsidies known as cost-sharing reductions that lower many people\u2019s deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs. Wellmark has said it will stay if the stopgap plan is approved.", "output": "With efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act dead in Congress for now, a critical test for the law\u2019s future is playing out in one small, conservative-leaning state.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "If you miss this Medicare deadline, it could hurt your health \n It's likely you've started hearing chatter about Medicare's open enrollment period, which begins Sunday and runs through early December.\n\nIf you're like many older Americans, the question is whether you need to do anything.\n\nPut simply, it depends.\n\n\"A lot of people won't need to do a darn thing,\" said certified financial planner Hans \"John\" Scheil, CEO and owner of Cardinal Retirement Planning in Cary, North Carolina.\n\nIn basic terms, the enrollment period, which lasts until Dec. 7, is for adding or changing coverage related to Medicare Part C (also known as an Advantage Plan) and Part D (prescription drug coverage).\n\nWHAT ARE ALL THOSE MEDICARE PARTS? Part A. This covers inpatient stays at hospitals, skilled-nursing facilities and the like. As long as you've paid into the system by working the equivalent of about 10 years, you won't pay any premiums. If not, you'll have to pay for it. Part B. Everyone pays premiums for this coverage, which generally includes outpatient services and supplies. Higher incomes generate higher premiums: If you're single and have an income of more than $85,000 or are married with a joint income of at least $170,000, you will pay more. Part C. Also called Medicare Advantage, the program lets people choose from a Medicare-approved private insurance plan instead of Parts A and B. Each plan comes with differing variables, ranging from coverage to deductibles and co-pays. Part D. This is prescription-drug coverage. A voluntary option, it often ends up being included with an Advantage Plan. If you have Parts A and B instead of an Advantage Plan, you can purchase Part D coverage separately.\n\nHere's a quick checklist to help you decide. (All changes take effect Jan. 1.)\n\n1. You have a Medicare Advantage plan and want to change plans (or revert back to just Parts A and B).\n\n2. You received a notice that your Advantage plan coverage is changing and you want to comparison shop.\n\n3. You have Original Medicare (Parts A and B), and possibly a Medigap policy and want to switch to an Advantage Plan.\n\n4. You want to join a Medicare prescription drug plan (Part D), switch to another, or drop this kind of coverage altogether.\n\nIf you're happy with your coverage or OK with any upcoming changes, there's no action needed.", "output": "It's likely you've started hearing chatter about Medicare's open enrollment period, which begins Sunday and runs through early December. If you're like many older Americans, the question is whether you need to do anything. Put simply, it depends.\"\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aging slows perception of falls \n Seniors need twice as long as young adults to realize they are falling, a delay that puts them at increased risk for serious injury, according to a new study from the University of Waterloo.\n\nThe findings will help shape the development of wearable fall prevention technology and allow clinicians to more accurately identify at-risk individuals. Falls are the leading cause of death and hospitalization in Canada.\n\n\"Falling threatens one's survival,\" said Michael Barnett-Cowan, a kinesiology professor at Waterloo and senior author on the study. \"When the nervous system's ability to detect a fall and compensate with protective reflexes diminishes, the risk of injury or death increases significantly.\n\n\"Age and associated delays will need to be seriously considered when designing any aids to help seniors mitigate this risk.\"\n\nAccording to the Public Health Agency of Canada between 20 and 30 per cent of seniors fall each year. Seniors also make up the fastest growing segment of the global population. By 2040, more than one billion people will be over the age of 65.\n\n\"Measuring fall perception not only is important in prevention efforts, but also provides information about how the brain processes sensory information and how this changes with age,\" said Julian Lupo, a graduate student and the study's lead author.\n\nTo measure fall perception, researchers presented study participants with a sound at different times relative to a supervised fall. They found that young adults required the fall to happen about 44 milliseconds before the sound in order for both cues to be perceived as occurring simultaneously. But adults over 60 years old required fall onset to occur about 88 milliseconds before the sound.\n\n\"This lag means that by the time older adults realize they are falling, it's often too late for for them to consciously do anything about it,\" said Barnett Cowan. \"Given that falls are often the catalyst for a transition to long-term care, these findings highlight both the importance of adequate assessement for older adults and the need to expediete new prevention technology.\"\n\nFalls are a leading cause of overall injury costs in Canada, with a total economic burden of falls estimated to be $6 billion annually. Seniors who are hospitalized for a fall remain in hospital an average of nine days longer than those hospitalized for any other cause.\n\nThe study appears in the journal Gait & Posture.\n\n###", "output": "Seniors need twice as long as young adults to realize they are falling, a delay that puts them at increased risk for serious injury, according to a new study from the University of Waterloo.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Virgin Galactic space tourism could begin next year: Branson \n A Different Focus\n\nLast week, veteran entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson was among the guest speakers at the 2017 Nordic Business Forum (NBF) held in Helsinki, Finland. On stage, Branson spoke about how he started his record label some 50 years ago, and went on to explain how he ended up opening his own airline company, Virgin Atlantic. Since then, Branson has been in the business of flight and he hopes to bring his passengers to space soon.\n\nFor some time now, Branson's Virgin Galactic has been testing the capabilities of their ship, the VSS Unity, a commercial suborbital spaceplane developed in tandem with The Spaceship Company. Earlier this year, they tested the ship's re-entry system after successfully completing a couple of solo-glide flights in 2016.\n\nBranson said back in May that he was confident the company would be able to send their first batch of tourists into space by 2018 \u2014 a goal he reiterated during his talk. \u201cWe are hopefully about three months before we are in space, maybe six months before I\u2019m in space,\" he said, according to Business Insider.\n\nImage credit: Nordic Business Forum/Business Insider Point-to-Point Orbital Travel Virgin Galactic, Branson told an audience of about 7,500 people, isn't like Elon Musk's SpaceX. Branson's commercial space venture, unlike Musk's, isn't aiming for Mars, which the British entrepreneur said \"is an incredible challenge.\" Branson, however, added that he wants to do more than just send people into space for sightseeing. He's looking at using Virgin Galactic's spacecrafts for point to point travel at roughly 483 k/h (300 mph), an idea that seems similar to Musk's BFR Earth-to-Earth travel. \u201cThat is something we are going to be in the best position in the world to do,\" Branson said. As for Mars, Branson's leaving that to SpaceX. \"I suspect Elon [Musk] will get there first. He\u2019s more interested in big rockets going big distances,\u201d Branson explained. \u201cMy love for space is about how much it can do for people back here on Earth.\"", "output": "Richard Branson's company, Virgin Galactic, could start making tourist trips to space as early as next year, according to the veteran businessman. Speaking at the recent Nordic Business Forum in Helsinki, Branson said the company is \"about three months before we are in space, maybe six months before I\u2019m in space\". The UK tycoon brushed off comparisons with SpaceX boss Elon Musk, saying he\u2019s \"more interested in big rockets going big distances\". Branson aims to develop high-speed, point-to-point travel using\u00a0Virgin Galactic suborbital spaceplanes."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Start planning now to care for elderly parents \n NEW YORK (Reuters) - If you have an aging parent and want a glimpse of what the future holds, look no further than Leslie Glutzer.\n\nThe 66-year-old from Chicago has a mom who is 92, dealing with dementia, now living in a local nursing home. Those costs are not covered by Medicaid, so Glutzer and her husband are spending more than $5,000 a month from their savings.\n\n\"It really starts to add up,\" Glutzer says.\n\nThis financial struggle is one that is shared by many.\n\nFor nursing homes, in particular, the costs can be astronomical. A new study from insurance giant Genworth Financial found that a private room in a nursing home averages out to $267 per day or $8,121 a month, up 5.5 percent from the year before. Semi-private rooms are not far behind, at $7,148 a month on average.\n\nOverall, long-term care costs rose by 4.5 percent from 2016 to 2017, according to Genworth's \"Cost of Care\" survey. That is the second-highest annual increase since the yearly survey began back in 2004.\n\nExperts agree that it is important to start thinking about caregiving costs now. Waiting too long means you cannot stockpile resources, take out affordable insurance policies or plan ahead for a thoughtful drawdown of assets.\n\n\"At that point, your choices become very limited,\" says David O'Leary, president and CEO of Genworth's U.S. Life Insurance division.\n\nSo exactly how can you provide compassionate care for your parents without bankrupting yourself and sabotaging your own retirement? The following are five tips:\n\nTAKE FINANCIAL INVENTORY\n\nHave a family meeting and take stock of the financial resources available. Folks in their 70s or 80s may have a pension, as well as Social Security and personal investments, which could help soften the financial blow for adult children.\n\nFigure out if all siblings are going to share eldercare costs equally, or if some who may not have the means can contribute in other ways, like arranging hospital appointments.\n\nBe sure to find out what your parents envision for their future.\n\n\"As the child, we want to make the decision we think is right,\" O'Leary says. \"But we really have to look at everything through the eyes of our parents.\"\n\nHOME EQUITY\n\nIf your parents own a home, consider tapping it to pay for caregiving expenses.\n\n\"Think of it as an investment that can be used to pay for care,\" says Joy Loverde, an eldercare expert and author of the new book \"Who Will Take Care of Me When I'm Old?\"\n\nThat might mean selling it, downsizing elderly parents into a smaller space, and using those funds for long-term care. It might also mean that adult children buy the place, lease it back to the parents and potentially tap the home equity.\n\nOr it might mean a reverse mortgage, which allows homeowners to borrow money against the value of their homes, receiving proceeds as a line of credit, fixed monthly payment or lump sum.\n\nMEDICAID QUALIFICATION\n\nMedicaid can cover long-term care costs like nursing-home admission, but only for those under a certain level of personal wealth. That might require shifting assets in a thoughtful (and legal) way.\n\n\"One of the most effective planning strategies has been to encourage our clients and their elderly parents to consider gifting their assets into irrevocable trusts, including their primary residence,\" says Ian Weinberg, a financial planner in Woodbury, New York.\n\nGET COVERED\n\nLong-term care policies can definitely help with eldercare costs, but only 8 percent of the population is currently covered by them, according to Genworth. The trick is to secure them while you are healthy and early enough - say, in your 50s - so that they are still relatively affordable.\n\n\"I have at least one client dealing with these costs for his parents, and thank God we had the good sense to buy LTC insurance,\" says Kashif Ahmed, a financial planner in Woburn, Massachusetts. \"Otherwise, their assets would be depleted in no time.\"\n\nCONSIDER LESS EXPENSIVE OPTIONS\n\nNursing homes are not the only option. These days it is more like a \"continuum\" of care. For instance, parents might move in with their adult children. Or they might prefer to stay right where they are, perhaps with a home health aide coming in occasionally.\n\nThe next level up might be an assisted-living facility, which should offer an array of services for independent living, and even different levels of care within the same facility. Those will not cost as much as nursing homes, at $123 per day or $3,750 a month on average, according to Genworth.\n\n(Editing by Lauren Young and G Crosse)", "output": " If you have an aging parent and want a glimpse of what the future holds, look no further than Leslie Glutzer. The 66-year-old from Chicago has a mom who is 92, dealing with dementia, now living in a local nursing home. Those costs are not covered by Medicaid, so Glutzer and her husband are spending more than $5,000 a month from their savings.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Older Americans Commonly Use Sleep Aids, Generally Unaware of Risks \n Ann Arbor, MI\u2014Sleep problems are epidemic in older Americans, and even though clinical guidelines warn against prescription sleep medications in patients aged older than age 65 years, a substantial percentage of them often use drugs to help nod off.\n\nThe poll was sponsored by AARP and Michigan Medicine and conducted by the University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation.\n\nThat\u2019s according to results of the National Poll on Healthy Aging, which also found that many of respondents had never discussed sleep issues with their physicians. A third of respondents reported sleep problems, yet half said they thought trouble dozing off was just a natural consequence of aging.The survey also identified a lack of understanding of the risks of prescription, OTC, and so-called \u201cnatural\u201d sleep aids, finding that 8% use prescription sleep medicine regularly or occasionally.Nearly one quarter of those reporting interrupted sleep three or more nights a week said they used a sleep aid, and many of them had been doing so for years\u2014even though the drugs usually only have FDA approval for short-term use.\u201cAlthough sleep problems can happen at any age and for many reasons, they can\u2019t be cured by taking a pill, either prescription, over-the-counter or herbal, no matter what the ads on TV say,\u201d explained poll director Preeti Malani, MD. \u201cSome of these medications can create big concerns for older adults, from falls and memory issues to confusion and constipation,\u201d even if they\u2019re sold without a prescription.\u201cThe first step for anyone having trouble sleeping on a regular basis should be to talk to a doctor about it,\u201d Malani added. \u201cOur poll shows that nearly two-thirds of those who did so got helpful advice\u2014but a large percentage of those with sleep problems simply weren\u2019t talking about it.\u201dAlmost half, 46%, of the older Americans polled reported that they had trouble falling asleep one or more nights a week, with 15% saying that sleeplessness plagued them three or more nights a week.Reasons provided for sleep problems included:\u2022 Pain, noted by 23%\u2022 Overall health being only fair or poor, 40%\u2022 Frequent bathroom visits, worry, and stress also were cited.Researchers warned that lack of sleep may worsen memory issues and depression, while increasing the risk of falls and accidents.\u201cWe know that sleep is a critical factor for overall health as we age, and this new research highlights sleep problems as both a significant health issue for older adults and an underacknowledged one both by patients and their providers,\u201d said Alison Bryant, PhD, senior vice president of research for AARP. \u201cWe need to help people understand that lack of sleep is not just a natural part of aging.\u201dThe researchers polled a nationally representative online sample of 1,065 people ages 65 to 80 years, who answered a range of questions online. Laptops and Internet access were provided to poll respondents who did not already have it.", "output": "Sleep problems are epidemic in older Americans, and even though clinical guidelines warn against prescription sleep medications in patients aged older than age 65 years, a substantial percentage of them often use drugs to help nod off.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "A Look Into Older Adults\u2019 State of Mind \n Contrary to conventional wisdom, an increase in age can lead to an increase in happiness. In fact, older adults tend to be more satisfied with their lives than their younger peers. But, for those who need it, limited supply of and access to proper geriatric psychiatric treatment leave many older adults' mental health issues underdiagnosed and thus undertreated.\n\nOne in four adults ages 65 and older experiences a mental health problem such as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia or dementia, according to the American Psychological Association . And people 85 and older have the highest suicide rate of any age group, especially among older white males who have a suicide rate almost six times that of the general population, according to the National Council on Aging .\n\nThe issue of access to mental health care treatment will be further compounded as baby boomers \u2013 who carry a higher predisposition to suicide than earlier generations \u2013 enter the older adult stage of life. The number of Americans between the ages of 65 and older is projected to double from 46 million to more than 98 million by 2060, according to the American Psychological Association.\n\nBut there's a positive side to this ledger.\n\nMore health systems across the country are merging mental health care into primary care visits, which older people are more likely to take advantage of, says Dr. Yeates Conwell, director of the geriatric psychiatry program at the University of Rochester .\n\n\"Older people ... are not going to go to a mental health center or a mental health provider, but they will more likely accept treatment from their primary care practitioner,\" Conwell says.\n\nYet access to proper mental health care for older adults is hindered by modern culture perpetuating the stigmas and misconceptions of ageism and mental health issues; social isolation; high health care costs; and a dwindling supply of geriatric caregivers for America's growing older population.\n\n\"The way we treat and take care of people, especially older people, with mental health illnesses is certainly an embarrassment and a shame to society,\" says Dr. Dilip Jeste, director of the Stein Institute for Research on Aging at University of California\u2013San Diego School of Medicine . \"This is one of the most disenfranchised segments of our society.\"\n\nAddressing the Stigmas of Ageism and Mental Health\n\nModern culture in America values the new and, in the process, pushes the old aside.\n\n\"Ours is a culture that values innovation, which is new knowledge, and devalues wisdom, which is old knowledge or eternal knowledge \u2013 knowledge that doesn't change every five years when a new iPhone comes out,\" says Dr. Renee Garfinkel, a clinical psychologist, author and radio host.\n\n\"But something's lost and something's gained in every choice that society makes,\" Garfinkel adds. \"When you're in a society where speed is highly valued, then an old person will not be.\"\n\nBy adapting this mindset, experts say society could be contributing to social isolation and misconceptions surrounding older adults' mental health.\n\n\"When older people incorporate the view that they are 'over the hill,' that they are a burden on their families or on their communities, then that's a very dangerous situation,\" Conwell says, as social isolation has been proven to be as bad for one's health as smoking or lack of exercise.\n\nThe stigma of ageism includes negative attitudes, stereotypes and behaviors directed toward older adults based solely on their perceived age. In other words, as people get older, others assume that they have or are increasingly susceptible to mental or physical impairments that make them no longer able to contribute in a way they once were, decreasing their value to the community.\n\n\"People with mental illnesses in general get really poor care. There is a considerable amount of stigma against mental illness, and when you talk about aging, there is considerable stigma against aging,\" Jeste says. \"So older people with mental illness have this double whammy: They are stigmatized because of mental illness and stigmatized because they're older.\"\n\n(Deidre McPhillips for USN&WR)\n\nFurther, mental health services may be underutilized by older patients as they may be in denial, may not have adequate insurance coverage, or their other physical chronic conditions may take precedence during a primary care visit, leaving their mental health unchecked.\n\n\"I think that time is an issue for practitioners,\" says Eric Weakly, chief of state and community programs for the western branch of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services.\n\n\"If you're coming and you only have maybe 15 minutes, and you have a person who has multiple chronic conditions \u2013 they may be presented with cardiac conditions or diabetes or other things \u2013 of the list of conditions, depression, anxiety or another mental illness may not be first on the list when they're doing their screens,\" Weakly, a social worker, continues.\n\nAnd, while the number of older adults with mental health disorders is expected to nearly double by 2030, the number of geriatric psychiatrists and psychologists is projected to continue its decline, resulting in less than one geriatric specialist per 6,000 patients with mental health and substance use disorders, according to a 2013 Dartmouth University study.\n\nMore than 20 percent of adults aged 60 and over suffer from a mental or neurological disorder, and the most common neuropsychiatric disorders in this age group are dementia and depression, according to the World Health Organization .\n\nDementia \u2013 including Alzheimer's disease, its most common form \u2013 affects about 5 percent of individuals between 71 and 79 and 37 percent of the population above the age of 90, according to the American Psychological Association.\n\nBut, as Garfinkel explains, growing older doesn't mean you will suffer from a mental health issue. Rather, a longer lifespan exposes a person more, both in terms of mental and physical conditions, which may affect a person's overall psyche.\n\n\"The longer you live, the more chance there is for illness to target you, and depression is a risk factor for people who have chronic illness, especially when it's chronic pain,\" Garfinkel says. \"Pain and depression are very highly associated, and a lot of the disorders that strike more often in older age \u2013 but not exclusively in old age \u2013 are painful.\"\n\nWhile depression is not a consequence of getting older, the misconception that it is \u2013 either due to bereavement over lost loved ones or the physical pains tied to aging \u2013 leads to underdiagnosis and undertreatment by health care professionals and older adults themselves who may not recognize the associated physical symptoms.\n\nA combination of the individual and the people around him or her making incorrect assumptions about depression as a normal part of aging further complicates diagnoses, Conwell says.\n\n\"Older people tend in general to be more satisfied with their lives than middle-aged people, and have lower rates of syndromal depression, even though depressive symptoms may be present. But when they are, clinical depression is a syndrome that's made up of a bunch of different symptoms \u2013 sadness is only one of them,\" Conwell continues.\n\nSenior patients may not bring up emotional symptoms, though, opting instead to describe physical ones such as loss of energy, poor sleeping habits, loss of appetite and trouble concentrating, Conwell says, all of which are common with other chronic medical conditions in later life.\n\nYet mental health correlates with physical health, according to the World Health Organization .\n\n\"Older adults with physical health conditions such as heart disease have higher rates of depression than those who are medically well,\" the organization reported in April 2016 . \"Conversely, untreated depression in an older person with heart disease can negatively affect the outcome of the physical disease.\"\n\nNoticing the Spectrum of Mental Health \u2013 and Opportunities \u2013 for Older Adults\n\nA 2016 study evaluating successful aging from ages 21 to 100 showed that mental health improved with increased age, contrary to the perceived stigma of ageism.\n\n\"What we found was that with age the physical health declined, as expected, the cognitive function declines in later life, but the mental health improved with aging in the sense that people seem to get happier, more satisfied, less depressed, less stressed out, in later life than when they were younger,\" Jeste, co-senior author of the study, says.\n\n\"Even people with mental illnesses can do better in later life if society helps them,\" Jeste says. \"The problem is not so much biology; the problem is more what we provide as a society.\"\n\nAs a whole, the 65 and older age group tends to be happier than their younger peers , with reportedly fewer mental health disorders except for dementia as they age.\n\nLike all generations, older adults experience positive mental health when they perceive that they have social support and that they add value to their communities, says Helen Kivnick, a professor of social work at the University of Minnesota.\n\nYet, she continues, there are fewer social supports and opportunities available for this older generation than for any other stage of the life cycle.\n\n\"We would never think about trying to grow a society of healthy kids without families or schools or playgrounds or friendship groups or things like that,\" Kivnick says. \"It shouldn't really surprise us that older people show the ill effects of the absence of these supports, and the supports that we provide we think of as remedial supports rather than ordinary supports for psychosocial health.\"\n\nCommunity and family support decline later in life, and loneliness is one of the biggest concerns for older people.\n\n\"People get old, and they get isolated, and depending on their social network or their history going into aging \u2013 they may have always been a very solo person to begin with \u2013 they may want to have control over who they interact with, who they don't interact with,\" says Dr. Brenda Reiss-Brennan, head of the mental health integration program at Intermountain Healthcare. \"So you really have to understand what is their baseline, and where are they now, and what would be acceptable to them to have social contact because social contact is the key to aging well.\"\n\nBut living alone does not mean that a person of any age is lonely, says Dr. John Cacioppo, a professor of psychology at the University of Chicago.\n\nEvery day, 10,000 Americans turn 65 years of age or older, Cacioppo says, so it should be no surprise that more are living alone as getting older increases the likelihood that one spouse will pass away before the other. As of 2015, there were nearly 16 million adults ages 60 and above living alone in the U.S., according to the Administration for Community Living's AGing Integrated Database .\n\n\"When it's perceived isolation instead of objective isolation, that's called loneliness,\" says Cacioppo, who is also the director of the university's Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience. Perceived isolation accounts for a 26 percent increase in mortality through biological and behavioral processes.\n\nLiving alone could lead to autonomy or independence with the right social support system. Maybe you're ready to form new relationships in new groups apart from the family, neighbors or community you spent years growing up with, or dependency forces you into assisted living as isolation is not going to work, Cacioppo says. On the other hand, it could lead an individual to feel uprooted.\n\n\"It isn't about objective isolation, moving or not, it's about the psychological impact of that to the individual,\" Cacioppo says. \"One of the worst things you can do is give up all meaning for an older retired adult.\"\n\nTrying to Fix a Broken System\n\nThe costs of health care \u2013 especially mental health care \u2013 prevent people from all age groups from receiving the treatment they need when they need it.\n\nFor older adults, though, the uncertainty of finances to cover health care costs is an enormous stressor, Garfinkel says.\n\n\"It is for younger people, but the older you get the fewer options for maneuvering and figuring out your way around it that you have,\" she says.\n\nIn 2016, Congress passed the $6.3 billion 21st Century Cures Act, which included the first major mental health care and substance-abuse legislation to be passed in 20 years. While the mental health portion of the bill did not include much extra funding compared to existing levels, it laid the groundwork to address mental health and requires health insurance companies to cover more mental health treatments.\n\nStill, Jeste says, private insurance companies have found loopholes to avoid covering mental illness, making it less affordable even for patients that have Medicaid or Medicare insurance. Because of this restrictive coverage, physicians may not prescribe a patient the psychotherapy they need because it does not come with the same reimbursement as prescription drugs.\n\n\"It becomes a vicious circle,\" Jeste says. People who need mental health care don't receive it, their condition gets worse, and, as they get older, their access to care declines further as there aren't enough physicians in the geriatric field to provide that care.\n\n\"One problem with the health care system is that it is split, and it is very disorganized,\" Jeste says. \"If you provided a unified, integrative, qualitative care, again the prognosis would improve a lot.\"\n\nSome primary care health systems are attempting to tackle the stigma of mental health by integrating mental health care with physical checkups.\n\nIntermountain Healthcare, with hospitals and clinics throughout Utah and southeast Idaho, is trying to normalize team-based primary care in which a primary care physician has a team of experts to call upon to check on a patient depending on both physical and mental screenings during a regular doctor's appointment.\n\nIntegrating the two establishes the connection between physical and mental health, says Dr. Brenda Reiss-Brennan, head of the health system's mental health integration program.\n\n\"People like to go to where they are comfortable, and they're comfortable in primary care,\" Reiss-Brennan says. \"Mental health is normalized as a routine part of care, so the staff's more comfortable and confident in dealing with mental health.\"\n\nDoing so has saved each patient $115 a year, Reiss-Brennan says, from more efficient use of specialists, earlier detection and treatment, and follow-up care plans to more efficiently use all available resources.\n\nAnd the federal government, under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and Health Resources and Services Administration, is working to bring mental health care information into the primary care setting, says Weakly of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.\n\n\"We know that most older adults are going to go to primary care physicians first,\" Weakly says, so fusing behavioral health into primary care will get necessary information to physicians.\n\nPractitioners need to also look at care in different ways, Weakly says, such as going to where people are instead of expecting them to come into the office for therapy or treatment.\n\n\"As people in their 50s and 60s are more open about talking about their depression or their bipolar disorder, their schizophrenia, I think things are beginning to change,\" Weakly says. \"People didn't talk about cancer 50 years ago. I think maybe we're getting to a place where people are more comfortable talking about their mental health diagnosis.\"", "output": "Contrary to conventional wisdom, an increase in age can lead to an increase in happiness. In fact, older adults tend to be more satisfied\u00a0with their lives than their younger peers. But, for those who need it, limited supply of and access to proper geriatric psychiatric treatment leave many older adults' mental health issues underdiagnosed and thus undertreated.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "38% of small UK businesses spent nothing on cybersecurity in 2017 \n The Government has surveyed UK businesses to find out they approach cyber security and help them learn more about the cyber security issues faced by industry. The research informs Government policy on cyber security and how Government works with industry to make Britain one of the most secure places to do business online.\n\nReleased\n\n19 April 2017\n\nPeriod covered\n\nRespondents were asked about their approach to cyber security and any breaches or attacks over the 12 months before the interview. Main survey interviews took place between 24 October 2016 and 11 January 2017. Qualitative follow up interviews took place in January and February 2017.\n\nGeographic coverage\n\nUK\n\nFurther Information\n\nThe survey is part of the Government\u2019s National Cyber Security Programme.\n\nCyber security guidance and information for businesses, including details of free training and support, can be found on the National Cyber Security Centre website and GOV.UK at: www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance and www.gov.uk.\n\nThe survey was carried out by Ipsos MORI and its partner, the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies (ICJS) at the University of Portsmouth.\n\nThe UK Statistics Authority\n\nThis release is published in accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics (2009), as produced by the UK Statistics Authority. The UKSA has the overall objective of promoting and safeguarding the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good. It monitors and reports on all official statistics, and promotes good practice in this area.\n\nPre-release access\n\nThe document above contains a list of ministers and officials who have received privileged early access to this release. In line with best practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours.\n\nThe responsible statistician for this release is Olivia Christophersen. For any queries please contact 020 7211 2377 or evidence@culture.gov.uk.", "output": "38% of 10 UK businesses spent nothing on cybersecurity this financial year, while 45% believe they do not require protection, according to a survey of 1,009 small business decision makers by Duo Security and YouGov. The study also revealed that 36% could not afford to effectively protect their businesses from cyber threats, putting them below the security poverty line. Analysts said more needed to be done to raise awareness of government initiatives, such as Cyber Risk Aware and Cyber Essentials.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Robot masseuse takes first patients in Singapore \n Emma massaging a patient autonomously on the left while physician Calista Lim treats another patient on the right. Emma improves the productivity of the clinic as it can do the job of two massage therapists. Credit: Nanyang Technological University\n\nA robot masseuse has started work in Singapore today. Named Emma, short for Expert Manipulative Massage Automation, it specialises in back and knee massages as it mimics the human palm and thumb to replicate therapeutic massages such as shiatsu and physiotherapy.\n\nEmma started work on her first patients today at the NovaHealth Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) clinic, working alongside her human colleagues \u2013 a physician and a massage therapist.\n\nEmma 3.0 \u2013 the first to go into public service \u2013 is a third more compact than the first prototype unveiled last year, offers a wider range of massage programmes and provides a massage that is described by patients as almost indistinguishable from a professional masseuse.\n\nEmma uses advanced sensors to measure tendon and muscle stiffness, together with Artificial Intelligence and cloud-based computing to calculate the optimal massage and to track a patient's recovery over a course of treatments.\n\nEmma is developed by AiTreat, a technology start-up company incubated at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore).\n\nJust two years old, AiTreat has a valuation of SGD$10 million (USD $7.3 million) after it recently completed its seed round funding, supported by venture capitalists from Singapore, China and the United States, including Brain Robotics Capital LP from Boston.\n\nFounder of AiTreat and NovaHealth, Mr Albert Zhang, an alumnus of NTU Singapore who led the development of Emma, said the company's technology aims to address workforce shortages and quality consistency challenges in the healthcare industry.\n\nUsing Emma in chronic pain management has the potential of creating low-cost treatment alternatives in countries where healthcare costs are high, and where aging populations have a growing demand for such treatment.\n\nMr Zhang said that Emma was designed to deliver a clinically precise massage according to the prescription of a qualified traditional Chinese medicine physician or physiotherapist, without the fatigue faced by a human therapist.\n\n\"By using Emma to do the labour intensive massages, we can now offer a longer therapy session for patients while reducing the cost of treatment. The human therapist is then free to focus on other areas such as the neck and limb joints which Emma can't massage at the moment,\" said Mr Zhang, who graduated from NTU's Double Degree programme in Biomedical Sciences and Chinese Medicine.\n\nCredit: Nanyang Technological University\n\nIn Singapore, a conventional treatment package for lower back pain consisting of a consultation, acupuncture and a 20-minute massage, would typically range from SGD$60 to SGD$100 (USD$44 to USD$73).\n\nAt NovaHealth TCM clinic, a patient could receive the same consultation, acupuncture but with a 40-minute massage from Emma and a human therapist for SGD$68 (USD$50).\n\nEmma is housed in a customised room with two massage beds. Located in between both beds, Emma can massage one patient while the physician provides treatments for the second patient, before switching over.\n\nThis arrangement ensures Emma is always working on a patient, maximising the productivity of the clinic. It is estimated that staffing requirements to run a clinic can be reduced from five people to three, as Emma does the job of two masseuses.\n\nHow Emma works\n\nEmma has a touch screen with a fully articulated robotic limb with six degrees of freedom. Mounted at the end of the limb are two soft massage tips made from silicon, which can be warmed for comfort.\n\nEmma also has advanced sensors and diagnostic functions which can measure the exact stiffness of a particular muscle or tendon.\n\nThe data collected of each patient is then sent to a server in a cloud, where an Artificial Intelligence (AI) computes the exact pressure to be delivered during the massage procedure.\n\nThe AI can also track and analyse the progress of the patient, generating a performance report that will allow a physician to measure a patient's recovery using precise empirical data.\n\nThis proprietary cloud intelligence is supported by Microsoft, after Mr Zhang and his teammates won the Microsoft Developer Day Start-up Challenge last year. Credit: Nanyang Technological University\n\nOnce it has proved that Emma can improve the productivity and effectiveness of TCM treatments, Mr Zhang hopes it could be a business model for other clinics to follow in future.\n\nAiTreat is currently incubated at NTUitive, the university's innovation and commercialisation arm.\n\nThe start-up is supported by the StartupSG-Tech grant, which funds up to SGD$500,000, as well as SPRING Singapore's ACE start-up grant and the Technology for Enterprise Capability Upgrading (T-Up) grant.\n\nThe development of Emma is also on the TAG.PASS accelerator programme by SGInnovate, which will see Mr Zhang tie up with overseas teams to target multiple markets such as in US and China.\n\nChief Executive Officer of NTU Innovation and NTUitive Dr Lim Jui said harnessing disruptive technologies such as robotics and AI to improve everyday life is what Singapore needs to keep its innovative edge.\n\n\"To remain competitive in the global arena, start-ups will need to tap on emerging technologies to create a unique product that can tackle current challenges, similar to what AiTreat has done,\" Dr Lim explained.\n\n\"We are proud to have guided Mr Albert Zhang in his vision to bring affordable healthcare solutions to the market for Singapore, which can alleviate some of the chronic pain problems which our elderly faces.\"\n\nThe official launch of Emma and the NovaHealth clinic today was attended by fellow entrepreneurs and industry leaders, including Mr Inderjit Singh, Chairman of NTUitive, NTU's innovation and enterprise arm, and a member of NTU Board of Trustees.\n\nMr Inderjit Singh said, \"There is great potential for Emma to be of service to society, especially as the population ages. The massage techniques of experienced and renowned TCM physicians can be reproduced in Emma, giving the public easier access to quality treatment. I look forward to future studies which could improve the efficacy of such massages, using herbal ointments containing modern ingredients that improve wear and tear, such as glucosamine.\n\nRunning in parallel to Emma's work schedule is a research project to measure and benchmark Emma's efficacy, comparing it to those of a human masseur.", "output": "Patients requiring a massage at the NovaHealth Traditional Chinese Medicine clinic in Singapore can be treated by a robot, the first of its kind to be used on the public. Developed by local start-up AiTreat, the Expert Manipulative Massage Automation (Emma) uses sensors to establish muscle stiffness or tension and artificial intelligence to deliver the appropriate massage. Albert Zhang, the founder of NovaHealth, said Emma allows staff to focus on neck and limb joints, which the robot can't manage, and could provide a response to a\u00a0shortage of masseurs, who are needed to treat Singapore's growing population of older people.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurtech Root looks to gather data via automaker partnerships \n Telematics insurer Root is in talks with auto manufacturers in search of alternative driver data from connected cars for claims and underwriting.\n\nCompany CEO Alex Timm says that together, vehicle and insurance data can better inform carriers about driving frequency in real time\u2014taking the speculation of how much policyholders drive away from carriers.\n\nAgreements with original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, will also ensure Root benefits from autonomous technology as it continues to mature, Timm says. The insurer currently sports a partnership with Tesla covering drivers when they turn on semi-autonomic features on the luxury vehicles.\n\n\u201cIf you don\u2019t have partnerships with OEM\u2019s, you should,\u201d says Timm, who was in Detroit discussing terms with automakers last week. \u201cIn traditional insurance, you don\u2019t know how much people are driving until you see your losses.\u201d\n\nDespite its investment in the technology, Root believes full autonomy is far in the future as driverless has been approached with data science and is difficult to get right 100% of the time. Timm believes the auto industry is only 10% to 20% there. However he predicts as more autonomous features are churned out, \u201cWe will see fewer accidents. Semi-autonomous vehicles tend to drive safer.\u201d\n\nFocused on expansion\n\nRoot, launched in 2015, underwrites auto insurance based on 200 driver risk characteristics. Upon signing up, Customers drive for three weeks while the insurtech measures personal driving habits to conjure up quotes using its mobile app. Hard braking, speeding and turning are among the key metrics observed by the company.\n\nThis week the startup will announce Oklahoma as the sixth state in its distribution network joining Arizona, Indiana, Illinois, Utah and its home state of Ohio as states where policies are available to drivers.\n\nRoot\u2019s growing team of 60 employees, consisting of mostly engineers and data scientists, has also been busy on the tech front. The company recently rolled out its texting and driving model, which uses the micro-vibrations of a phone to determine whether policyholders are looking at mobile devices while operating their vehicle. Root can now measure the duration of distraction and is implementing the data in its underwriting Timm says. The company will soon factor distracted driving data into pricing for premium discounts as well.\n\nAdditionally, Root has added a mobile option for customers filing first notice of loss reports. Drivers can now fill out accident information and send it directly to an adjuster via Root\u2019s smartphone app. The insurtech however finds many of its policyholders still prefer to speak with customer service representatives at the time of a claim.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of R&D around claims launching next year,\u201d said Timm. \u201cIncluding how to detect accidents with phone and decipher damage and close the claim without human interaction.\u201d", "output": "Root, an insurtech focused on using telematics for auto coverage, is looking to forge more partnerships with automakers to glean more data around driver behaviour and habits. Such arrangements would allow the insurtech to better determine how much drivers use their cars. It would also see the start-up take advantage of autonomous vehicle data when the technology proliferates further. Root already has a partnership with Tesla, which sees it provide coverage when drivers make use of the manufacturer's semi-autonomous driving features.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WSU scientists convert algal biofuel waste into useful products \n By Maegan Murray, WSU Tri-Cities\n\nRICHLAND, Wash. \u2013 A method of converting a biofuel waste product into a usable and valuable commodity has been discovered by researchers at Washington State University and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.\n\nConverting algae to biofuels is a two-step process. The first, developed by PNNL, applies high pressure and high temperature to algae to create bio oil. The second converts that bio oil into biofuel, which can replace gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.\n\nIt\u2019s that first step, called hydrothermal liquefaction, that produces waste \u2014 approximately 25 to 40 percent of carbon and 80 percent of nutrients from the algae are left behind in wastewater streams.\n\nBionatural gas and fertilizer\n\nThe wastewater is generally hard to process because it contains a variety of different chemicals in small concentrations, said Birgitte K. Ahring, professor at WSU Tri-Cities\u2019 Bioproducts, Sciences and Engineering Laboratory. But Ahring and her team have found that adapting anaerobic microbes \u2014 microbes that live without oxygen \u2014 to break down the remaining residue is a viable option. Through this process, the material becomes degradable and gets transformed into a bionatural gas without the use of harsh chemicals. The solid material that remains can also be applied as a fertilizer or recycled back into the hydrothermal liquefaction process for further use.\n\nThe results of the team\u2019s research are published this month in Bioresource Technology. The team also consists of:\n\nKeerthi Srinivas, WSU postdoctoral research associate\n\nSebastian Fernandez, WSU research assistant\n\nAndrew Schmidt, of PNNL\u2019s chemical and biological processes development group\n\nMarie Swita, of PNNL\u2019s chemical and biological processes development group\n\nDon\u2019t waste waste\n\n\u201cIt has always been my mantra that we shouldn\u2019t waste waste,\u201d Ahring said. \u201cWe had an idea that we could turn this waste product into something useful, such as a fertilizer. Our findings revealed that we could use this waste product as something much more.\u201d\n\nThe ability to convert a waste product into a usable commodity provides algal biorefineries with a solution to a large problem, Ahring said.\n\n\u201cAfter removing the solids, about 10 percent of the output is bio oil, with the remaining 90 percent being a waste byproduct,\u201d Schmidt said. \u201cThe fact that we\u2019ve developed an alternative method to recycle or treat the leftover material means it\u2019s more economical to produce the bio oil, making the potential for commercial use of the process more likely.\u201d\n\nSewage sludge and wastewater\n\nAhring said the team\u2019s results were so promising that they are now partnering with PNNL on its conversion of sewage sludge to fuel using a similar strategy for the wastewater.\n\n\u201cToday, sewage sludge is found throughout the world,\u201d Ahring said. \u201cCreating a process to produce biofuels, bio-natural gas, and nutrients from this material would be of major importance. The current study has demonstrated that nothing should ever be regarded as a waste, but instead as a resource.\u201d\n\nContacts:", "output": "Researchers at Washington State University have developed a way to turn waste products from the process of converting algae into biofuel into a usable commodity. Hydrothermal liquefaction, in which algae is exposed to high temperatures and pressure to produce bio oil, creates a significant amount of waste, resulting in roughly 25-40% of carbon, and 80% of nutrients from the algae  being left to wastewater streams. The researchers discovered that using anaerobic microbes, the waste could be broken down and would become a\u00a0bionatural gas without the use of harsh chemicals. The remaining solid substance can be used as a\u00a0fertilizer."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WSU scientists convert algal biofuel waste into useful products \n In Washington, researchers at Washington State University and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory discovered a method of converting algae biofuel waste product into a usable and valuable commodity. Waste is produced during the first step of converting algae to biofuels via hydrothermal liquefaction. The wastewater is usually hard to process because it has so many different chemicals in tiny amounts, but researchers found that anaerobic microbes can break down the residue and converts it into a degradable bionatural gas. The remaining solid material can be used as a fertilizer.\n\n\u201cAfter removing the solids, about 10 percent of the output is bio oil, with the remaining 90 percent being a waste byproduct,\u201d Andrew Schmidt of PNNL\u2019s chemical and biological processes development group said in the WSU press release. \u201cThe fact that we\u2019ve developed an alternative method to recycle or treat the leftover material means it\u2019s more economical to produce the bio oil, making the potential for commercial use of the process more likely.\u201d", "output": "Researchers at Washington State University have developed a way to turn waste products from the process of converting algae into biofuel into a usable commodity. Hydrothermal liquefaction, in which algae is exposed to high temperatures and pressure to produce bio oil, creates a significant amount of waste, resulting in roughly 25-40% of carbon, and 80% of nutrients from the algae  being left to wastewater streams. The researchers discovered that using anaerobic microbes, the waste could be broken down and would become a\u00a0bionatural gas without the use of harsh chemicals. The remaining solid substance can be used as a\u00a0fertilizer."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bill.com raises $100m for cloud-based payments platform \n Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More\n\nBill.com, a cloud-based payments platform for U.S. businesses, announced today that it has raised an additional $100 million to digitize payments. JP Morgan Chase and Temasek co-led the round, with participation from returning investors August Capital, Scale Ventures, Napier Park, DCM, Icon Ventures, and Emergence Capital.\n\nFounded in 2006, the Palo Alto, California-based startup works with businesses, accounting firms, and banks to reduce the time spent on financial back-office operations.\n\nAccording to Bill.com founder and CEO Ren\u00e9 Lacerte, many more solutions have been rolled out for consumers in the digital payments space. \u201cThey can choose from Apple Pay, PayPal, and many others to make payments digitally,\u201d he said in an interview with VentureBeat. \u201cBusinesses, however, are more complex, and the payments system hasn\u2019t evolved much since the 19th century.\u201d\n\nFor now, Bill.com claims to serve about 1 percent of U.S. businesses that are employers, which amounts to about 100,000 customers. When asked why the adoption of digital payments is taking so long, Lacerte stressed that there is a reassuring element to the manual process, as businesses feel like they understand the payments before committing to them.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\nPrior to founding Bill.com, Lacerte founded online payroll services provider PayCycle, which he sold to Intuit in 2009.\n\nBusinesses use Bill.com to pay their bills but also to pay independent contractors who are not employees. Users can log on to Bill.com or use the app, which is available on both iOS and Android. A dashboard indicates which bills have been received, approved, and paid, and also highlights any payments that are overdue.\n\nBill.com charges customers a monthly subscription fee for its software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering, which ranges between $29 and $100. The startup also monetizes through transaction fees. Customers include Mozilla, Merchant e-Solutions, Tapingo, Gigya, and Highfive.\n\nPartnerships with accounting firms and banks have also enabled Bill.com to expand its network of 2.5 million users. The startup recently announced a partnership with JP Morgan Chase \u2014 the bank will be white-labelling Bill.com\u2019s product as a B2B payments solution, which will be rolled out next year.\n\nOther startups competing in the online payments space include Intuit QuickBooks and Viewpost.\n\nTo date, Bill.com has raised approximately $200 million. It will use the new money to further develop its platform, increase its sales and marketing efforts, and grow its team of 250.\n\nDisclaimer: VentureBeat uses Bill.com. Our coverage remains objective.", "output": "California-based start-up Bill.com has raised $100m in a funding round co-led by recent partner JPMorgan Chase and Temasek, with participation from existing investors including August Capital and Scale Ventures. Bill.com's cloud-based payments software helps businesses reduce time spent on processing transactions, and its product will be white-labelled as a B2B offering by JPMorgan Chase next year. The new funds will be used to employ additional staff, develop the platform and invest in sales and marketing. Bill.com's software provides a dashboard that logs where bills are in the payment process, and the firm said it has about 100,000 customers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MIT AI lab develops camera that can see around corners \n Many of today's self-driving cars use automated systems that work in tandem with a collection of sensors and cameras. For example, Tesla's Autopilot relies on radar and other sensors as well as a suite of eight cameras. However, none of these cameras can tell the driverless car what's around a corner \u2014 an ability that researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed with a new camera system they call CornerCameras.\n\nIn a study published online, these researchers from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) described the algorithm behind CornerCameras. Where regular vision, whether it be biological or mechanical, relies on light, CornerCameras captures subtle changes in lighting. Specifically, they spot what the researchers called \"penumbra\" \u2014 a shadow created by a small amount of light that's reflected on the ground directly at the camera's line of sight from objects obscured around a corner.\n\nCornerCameras is able to piece together the subtle changes from these shadows into some sort of image, which it uses to tell the location of the object. \u201cEven though those objects aren\u2019t actually visible to the camera, we can look at how their movements affect the penumbra to determine where they are and where they\u2019re going,\u201d lead author Katherine Bouman said in a press release.\n\nIt's fairly obvious how such a system could improve the ability of autonomous vehicles to see on the road. \u201cIf a little kid darts into the street, a driver might not be able to react in time,\u201d Bouman added. However, currently, CornerCameras needs to make some improvements. For one, the technology doesn't work in extremely low light conditions and the algorithm gets confused by changes in lighting. \u201cWhile we\u2019re not there yet, a technology like this could one day be used to give drivers a few seconds of warning time and help in a lot of life-or-death situations.\"", "output": "Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have developed CornerCameras, which can see around corners. The camera uses an algorithm to pick up on subtle changes in the penumbra \u2013 a shadow cast by a small amount of light \u2013\u00a0to detect movement, and could form part of an early warning system in autonomous vehicles. The team said the technology still has a way to go before hitting the road\u00a0as it struggles to work in low lighting conditions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Express Scripts' purchase of\u00a0EviCore\u00a0seen as response to Amazon \n Express Scripts plans to shell out $3.6 billion to buy eviCore Healthcare from a group of investors. It\u2019s a deal that will see the company break free from the prescription drug benefits manager and expand into the wider realm of medical benefit management for insurers, media reports noted.\n\nEviCore Healthcare pre-approves scans and other pricey tests for health plans covering 100 million people, according to Bloomberg. Of course, there is the flipside of saving health plans money, as Saurabh Jha, a radiologist with the Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania, noted on Twitter:\n\nImagine if you can make money for denying care with zero liability. No, this is not Disney. This is healthcare https://t.co/YgkTI91EMn \u2014 Saurabh Jha (@RogueRad) October 10, 2017\n\nPharmacy benefit managers, among other things, negotiate prices of covered drugs with pharma companies, use financial incentives to steer patients to lower-cost generics and manage high-cost specialty medications.\n\nThe deal could be a way for Express Scripts to protect itself against the intimidating competition Amazon could offer if it would move into the PBM sector, as CNBC reported earlier this year. But in a statement from Express Scripts CEO Tim Wentworth, it wasn\u2019t clear that the move by the PBM was a reaction to Amazon, although he did suggest the deal would consolidate its power in the patient benefit management market.\n\n\u201cBy further strengthening our independent model and creating numerous opportunities for growth, the acquisition of eviCore will deliver value for our clients, patients, providers, and shareholders,\u201d he said in the statement.\n\nIn support of its medical benefits management business, eviCore acquired QPID Health last year. The business, which functions as a subsidiary of eviCore, produced a clinical decision support tool that works on top of providers\u2019 electronic medical record systems. Its Q-Guide is designed to be used before high-cost, high-volume medical procedures to give physicians a better way to assess the need for a procedure with the patient\u2019s risk factors.\n\nThe acquisition is expected to close by the end of year.\n\nPhoto: StockFinland, Getty Images", "output": "US medical company Express Scripts is set to acquire EviCore Healthcare in a deal worth $3.6bn. South Carolina-based EviCore Health pre-approves costly tests and scans for health plans. Industry insiders have speculated the deal is a signal Express Scripts is bracing itself for Amazon to enter the healthcare marketplace by expanding beyond the pharmacy benefit manager market into medical benefit management. Express Scripts CEO Tim Wentworth did not comment on Amazon's suspected interest in the sector but said the acquisition would \"deliver value for our clients, patients, providers, and shareholders\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GiveMeSport sees yields surge after rebuilding its ad technology \n When most of a publisher\u2019s revenue comes from programmatic advertising, the margin for error is razor thin. That\u2019s why digital sports publisher GiveMeSport, which relies on programmatic for 95 percent of its revenue, rebuilt its ad tech stack from scratch and shed seven vendor partners four months ago.\n\nThe result: Ad yields jumped 35 percent in September, compared to the previous month, equating to hundreds of thousands of pounds in additional revenue, according to the publisher. A bigger surprise was the timing of the increase: August is typically a slower month for traffic because it\u2019s the offseason for football \u2014 its core area of coverage \u2014 and there are no major sporting events. GiveMeSport\u2019s site had 5.2 million monthly visitors in the U.K. in August, according to comScore. Naturally, its Facebook audience is far higher, particularly for video; it had 190 million views on the social platform in August, according to Tubular Labs.\n\nBefore the publisher took the wrapping off its new ad stack in June, the publisher relied on the open marketplace for 85 percent of its revenue, with two people manning all ad trading. The programmatic team has since increased to nine people, headed up by gm of programmatic Ryan Skeggs, who joined in the summer from Bauer Media, where he was head of programmatic, and was a programmatic director at MailOnline before that.\n\nAfter Skeggs\u2019 arrival, the former waterfall model was replaced with a unified auction model, with Amazon and Google as the two server-to-server partners and three other header bidding vendors. The publisher has also cut seven former partners plugged into its ad stack that weren\u2019t contributing much revenue and were slowing page-load speed.\n\nSome ad tech partners were dropped because they didn\u2019t have unique enough demand \u2014 often visible if the revenue other demand sources contribute starts to erode, showing both vendors have the same demand. Others had strange terms and conditions around their fees. \u201cOne told us that their revenue share would be between 5 and 20 percent. We can\u2019t work like that if we don\u2019t know what our net revenue will be in a month,\u201d said Skeggs. \u201cIt needs to be a static figure.\u201d\n\nLike many publishers that have been burned previously, GiveMeSport now has a strict checklist it uses for choosing ad tech partners, each of which are scored out of 1,200 points across five categories: unique demand, tech capabilities, support services, data output and future-proofing. For example, Skeggs asks potential vendor partners if they\u2019re close to an IPO, and if they can\u2019t instill confidence that they will exist in six months, the publisher isn\u2019t interested in working with them. GiveMeSport requests full bid-stream visibility or logins as well so it can monitor the bid requests itself. Vendors must get a perfect score of 1,200 to become a partner.\n\nThe new ad stack also makes more of GiveMeSport\u2019s video inventory, which now makes up 55 percent of its revenue, compared to 40 percent before June. Those are a mix of programmatic guaranteed and PMP deals, with the occasional direct deal. Open marketplace versus programmatic guaranteed and PMP deals are now at a 50-50 split, according to Skeggs.\n\nNaturally, it\u2019s easier for a digital native than a legacy publisher to implement changes quickly. GiveMeSport uses a pilot site that is an exact replica of its main site, rather than a single test page, for assessing new deployments, whether it\u2019s integrating a new ad tech partner or testing new products. Ten percent of its traffic is directed to the pilot site at random on a daily basis. That means the publisher can test changes in a live environment that faces all the typical content and ad-loading burdens its main site does. The theory is that it can maintain a daily deployment strategy without risking major revenue drops that could occur if something goes wrong.\n\nDuring tests, the team monitors 130 different data variables such as viewablity, video completion rates, page-load speed and eCPMs for fluctuations. If, for example, GiveMeSport adds another header bidding vendor partner on its replica test site, it can see within 24 hours whether the outcome is positive or negative to revenues, and react accordingly. If it sees anything more than a single percentage-point dip, the team will change course. This week, GiveMeSport rolled out Amazon\u2019s server-to-server A9 product to its main site after testing it for a week, allowing more testing time than usual as some of the variables weren\u2019t matching, according to Skeggs.", "output": "GiveMeSport, owned by Canadian firm Breaking Data, saw monthly ad yields rise more than a third in September after it rebuilt its ad technology from scratch. The digital sport\u00a0publisher transformed its sales\u00a0model and jettisoned\u00a0vendors who brought in little revenue or who had complicated demands. The changes have also seen GiveMeSport's video inventory rise to 55% from 40% before June.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "50% of Sweden's retailers don't expect to take cash after 2025 \n Is Cash Dead?\n\nHave you noticed that, over the years, you've begun to use your cards or mobile pay apps much more frequently than cash? You're not alone in this, and this trend has been on the rise in other countries around the world. In China, for example, cash is quickly on its way out, with mobile payments doubling in the last year. Sweden has also been forgoing cash an at increasing rate over the last several years, and experts predict that it's only a short matter of time before the country is entirely cashless.\n\nIn fact, Sweden may be completely digital in just a few years, if researchers Niklas Arvidsson of KTH and Jonas Hedman of Copenhagen School of Economics are to be believed. The pair estimate that cash will no longer be used or accepted by Swedish retailers by 2023, at the earliest.\n\nPolling various Swedish retailers revealed that about half expect to stop accepting cash by 2025. Currently, 97 percent of all retailers accept cash payments, but only 18 percent of all transactions actually involve cash.\n\nCard or Smartphone?\n\nInterestingly, mobile payments are performing rather poorly. Credit and Debit cards are the primary way people pay, with mobile pay apps accounting for only 0.4 percent. It's unclear why only a small amount of people seem to use them; it could be a matter of convenience, trust, or simply knowing how. According to Arvidsson, people are generally comfortable with paying digitally in some way, even if they never see the money leave their hands.\n\n\"We are a small country that has had a very stable democracy for a long time,\" Arvidsson said. \"For us, it's no problem that the money is only visible on an internet site - we trust it.\"\n\nConsumers are largely facilitating the change, though banks have also done their part to push people away from cash, as they want to reduce the risk of robbery. Retailers share this sentiment.\n\n\"We wanted to minimise the risk of robberies and it's quicker with the customers when they pay by card,\" says bakery manager Victoria Nilsson, speaking with the BBC in September. \"It's been mainly positive reactions.\"", "output": "Half of Swedish retailers expect to stop accepting cash by 2025, according to a survey carried out by Niklas Arvidsson at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and Jonas Hedman of the Copenhagen School of Economics. The researchers predicted that cash, which currently makes up 18% of transactions, would no longer be used or accepted by 2023 at the earliest. However, the pair also found that, while the switch to cashless payments was consumer led, credit and debit cards were more popular than digital, with mobile apps making up 0.4% of payments."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Robot revolution makes universal basic income a must: Branson \n For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBreaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nRichard Branson has backed the introduction of a universal basic income and said it is crucial to tackling the rise of artificial intelligence (AI).\n\nThe billionaire said it could help protect people whose jobs will be lost as a result of new technology.\n\nSupport for a universal basic income has grown in recent months and a number of countries have launched trials of the idea.\n\nAmong them is Finland, where Mr Branson was speaking at the Nordic Business Forum.\n\nAsked about the policy, which involves the state giving citizens a minimum amount of money each month regardless of their employment status, the Virgin founder said he thought it was an important element in preparing for increased automation in many industries.\n\nHe told the Business Insider website: \u201cBasic income is going to be all the more important. If a lot more wealth is created by AI, the least that the country should be able to do is that a lot of that wealth that is created by AI goes back into making sure that everybody has a safety net.\u201d\n\n\u201cObviously AI is a challenge to the world in that there\u2019s a possibility that it will take a lot of jobs away\u2026 It\u2019s up to all of us to be entrepreneurially minded enough to create those new jobs.\u201d\n\nWhat is Finland's universal basic income scheme?\n\nMr Branson has previously joined other entrepreneurs, including Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, in backing calls for a universal basic income.\n\nIn August he said he had discussed the idea with global figures leaders including Kofi Annan, Desmond Tutu and Jimmy Carter.\n\nAt the time he said: \u201cWhat I took away from the talks was the sense of self-esteem that universal basic income could provide to people. The hope is that policies like these can help people struggling just to survive and allow them to get on their feet, be entrepreneurial and be more creative.\u201d\n\nWorld news in pictures Show all 50 1 / 50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the \"Creek Fire\" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading \"Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression\" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty\n\nFinland is currently trialling a scheme in which it is giving 2,000 citizens \u20ac560 (\u00a3473) every month for two years.\n\nInitial research suggests the people receiving the money report reduced stress, a greater incentive to find work and more time to pursue business ideas.\n\nHowever, some trade unions in the country have said the policy is too expensive.\n\nRecommended Half of Britons back plan to pay all UK citizens basic income\n\n\u201cWe think it takes social policy in the wrong direction,\u201d said Ilkka Kaukoranta, chief economist of the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), which represents almost 1 million workers.\n\nGermany is also in the process of trialling a universal basic income, as is the US state of Hawaii and the Canadian province of Ontario, among others.", "output": "The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and its effects on employment mean a universal basic income is \"going to be all the more important\", Sir Richard Branson has said. The billionaire founder of Virgin was speaking at an event in Finland, which has already introduced the policy, under which all citizens receive a minimum sum\u00a0worth $660 a month from the government. He said AI could create more wealth, but also risked taking away jobs, making basic income important\u00a0as a \"safety net\". The idea has previously been backed by tech entrepreneurs Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, among\u00a0others.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Smartphones replacing cards for withdrawals from\u00a0Wells Fargo ATMs \n People can now withdraw money from ATMs using payment apps: A new beginning News oi -Samden Sherpa A customer can initiate an ATM transaction by signing into leading mobile wallet features, such as Wells Fargo Wallet for Android, Apple Pay, Android Pay or Samsung Pay, found on mobile phones.\n\nWith the proliferation of technology, we have seen huge advances in the smartphone domain as well as app development. On the other hand, smartphones have in fact become an integral part of our lives and we use it to do a lot of things today.\n\nHaving said that, now Apple Pay users amongst others can actually withdraw money without even making use of their actual credit or debit card. The money can be withdrawn at over 5,000 Wells Fargo ATMs across the U.S. People living in U.S. might as well leave their wallets at home now.\n\nHowever, if you are wondering how this can be done then users will basically have to activate the phone's wallet feature by using the Apple Pay app and the transactions will then be carried out via near-field communications (NFC) chips installed in those ATMs.\n\n\"This spring's launch of one-time access code technology at all Wells Fargo ATMs has resulted in nearly three million card-free ATM access code transactions. Card-free ATM use will take another leap as we introduce NFC functionality,\" said Jonathan Velline, Head of Strategy and Administration for Community Bank. \"The NFC functionality is the second form of card-free access and is an extension of our promise to reach our customers wherever they are and provide value using the mobile option with which they are so comfortable.\"\n\nAs per the company, a customer can initiate an ATM transaction by signing into leading mobile wallet features, such as Wells Fargo Wallet for Android, Apple Pay, Android Pay or Samsung Pay, found on mobile phones. They simply hold their phone or wearable device with mobile payment functionality near an NFC-enabled ATM terminal. Wells Fargo ATMs enabled for this feature will display a \"contactless symbol\" decal on the front of the ATM. The customer will then input their Wells Fargo Debit or EasyPay Card Personal Identification Number (PIN) and complete their transaction.\n\nIn any case, while the revolution in terms of mobile payments and transaction seems to have begun in the U.S. we see that the technology will likely come to other countries as well in future. Many people today are already using mobile to manage their finances and make payments all over the world. Moreover, financial institutions are also ever introducing new methods of payment and other services.\n\nAnd basing our assumptions on the fact that mobile phones have actually become very smart, it further looks like mobile payments volume will only grow immensely in the coming days.\n\nSource\n\nBest Mobiles in India\n\nFacebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications", "output": "US consumers are using their mobile phones and wearables to withdraw money from Wells Fargo ATMs, following the spring launch of the bank's one-time access code technology. Users with digital wallets including Wells Fargo Wallet for Android, Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay, sign into the relevant wallet app, and hold their phone or device in front of an appropriate ATM scanner, input their PIN and near-field communications technology carries\u00a0out the withdrawal. Almost three million card-free ATM transactions have been carried out since the launch.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Regus subsidiary Spaces negotiate 19,300 sq ft lease in Chase Tower \n Transwestern Represents Building Owner JBG SMITH in Transaction\n\nTranswestern today announces it has negotiated a 19,300-square-foot lease with Spaces, which provides offices, co-working spaces and meeting rooms, at Chase Tower, located at 4445 Willard Ave. in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Transwestern\u2019s Phil McCarthy, Keith Foery and Mark Boyce represented property owner JBG SMITH in the transaction.\n\n\u201cChase Tower is a vibrant mixed-use environment with ample restaurant and retail options at its doorstep,\u201d said McCarthy. \u201cChevy Chase is an excellent location for Spaces, as it boasts one of the highest concentrations of professional and financial service firms in the Washington metro area and attracts a highly educated and diverse workforce.\u201d\n\nThe building is one block from the Friendship Heights Metro Station, on the Red Line, and it is surrounded by a variety of retail amenities including Whole Foods Market, Lia\u2019s, Starbucks, Sushiko, Capital Grille, J. Crew, Bloomingdale\u2019s and Neiman Marcus.\n\nThis will be Spaces\u2019 third location in the Washington, D.C., metro area, with operations in the District\u2019s NoMa neighborhood and another location slated to open in Arlington, Virginia\u2019s Rosslyn neighborhood in November 2017. Spaces, which was represented by Mia Eglinton from JLL in the transaction, originated in Amsterdam and is a subsidiary of Regus.\n\nABOUT TRANSWESTERN\n\nTranswestern is a privately held real estate firm of collaborative entrepreneurs who deliver a higher level of personalized service \u2013 the Transwestern Experience. Specializing in Agency Leasing, Tenant Advisory, Capital Markets, Asset Services and Research, our fully integrated global enterprise adds value for investors, owners and occupiers of all commercial property types. We leverage market insights and operational expertise from members of the Transwestern family of companies specializing in development, real estate investment management and research. Based in Houston, Transwestern has 35 U.S. offices and assists clients through more than 180 offices in 37 countries as part of a strategic alliance with BNP Paribas Real Estate. Experience Extraordinary at transwestern.com and @Transwestern. For updates from the Mid-Atlantic region, follow @TranswesternDC.", "output": "Office-sharing company Spaces has secured a deal to take over a 19,300 sq ft lease at Chase Tower, in Chevy Chase, Maryland. The Dutch firm, which was acquired by Regus in 2015, has already acquired two other sites in the Washington DC area, with its office in Arlington, Virginia due to open in November. The Chase Tower is owned by property firm JBG Smith, and the deal with Spaces was negotiated by real estate firm Transwestern.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Publishers turn to Twitter for live video as Facebook disappoints \n Some publishers have been disappointed with Facebook Live video, but they are hopeful as Twitter embraces the format.\n\nTwitter has been getting into live video in a big way. It\u2019s already live streamed events and announced a streaming video service with Bloomberg Media, in addition to other live news, sports and entertainment programs from content creators including BuzzFeed, Vox Media\u2019s The Verge and the WNBA.\n\nThe Verge has done a lot of live video and just launched a new live show, \u201cCircuit Breaker,\u201d on Twitter. The focus on Twitter comes as The Verge has dramatically scaled back the number of live videos it does on Facebook, where it used to do as many as four a week.\n\n\u201cIt definitely seems like Twitter\u2019s putting a ton of focus on it this year,\u201d said Helen Havlak, editorial director at The Verge.\n\nHavlak ticked off a number of benefits of Twitter\u2019s live show approach. After each episode of \u201cCircuit Breaker,\u201d which run 60 to 90 minutes, The Verge can use a Twitter tool to cut the episode into several clips and publish them independently on Twitter, \u201cthings you can\u2019t do easily on Facebook Live,\u201d she said. Those shorter videos can get monetized with pre-roll ads, a format that\u2019s absent from Facebook. Because live video on Twitter hasn\u2019t reached a saturation point, these new shows are getting a lot of promotion from Twitter, while Facebook seems to have de-emphasized live video.\n\nThe only metric that really matters is revenue, though. Twitter is scoring points here, too. The revenue share for Twitter\u2019s live shows varies by content creator. But Twitter\u2019s monetization approach is far more favorable than other platforms, said Scott Havens, global head of digital at Bloomberg Media. Twitter is giving Bloomberg the option to do the selling as well as co-selling, which gives the creators more control over the sales process and revenue outcome. (He didn\u2019t explicitly mention Facebook, but that approach is in contrast to Facebook, which is writing checks to just cover the costs and sharing ad sales revenue with publishers, but not much has materialized.)\n\n\u201cTwitter has the scale and the platform; the publisher has the content and brand trust,\u201d Havens said. \u201cIt\u2019s a nice marriage.\u201d\n\nTwitter\u2019s live experiment is young; it\u2019s too early to say how big the audience is for live video on the platform, so it\u2019s too soon to tell what the effective ad rates will be. BuzzFeed has said its new Twitter live show, \u201cAM to DM,\u201d which started on Sept. 25, has averaged about 1 million unique viewers each day, with clips being viewed a total of 10 million times.\n\nAll platforms are looking for high-quality video content to attract TV-like dollars. Twitter, because it\u2019s much smaller in audience than Facebook and Google and its user base has stagnated, has to make itself that much more appealing to creators than other platforms. \u201cFacebook\u2019s attitude has been much more, \u2018We\u2019re going to do it our way,\u2019\u201d said Bernard Gershon, president of GershonMedia, which consults to publishers. Twitter, meanwhile, threw publishers a big bone in 2016 when it agreed to let them keep 70 percent of the revenue from their video ads posted through Twitter\u2019s Amplify program, in contrast with YouTube and Facebook, which share 55 percent.\n\nOne criticism of Amplify is the unpredictability. \u201cWe love syndicating our original video content across Twitter audiences and being able to monetize via Amplify ads, but publishers have a lack of insight into Twitter\u2019s pipeline, which means we cannot predict ad fill or revenue against this syndication opportunity,\u201d said Chris Pirrone, gm of sports digital properties at USA Today\u2019s Sports Media Group.\n\n\u201cWe are always in listening mode with our Amplify partners, and it is our goal to help them drive meaningful and consistent revenue,\u201d Mike Park, vp of emerging content products at Twitter, said in a statement. \u201cA healthy publisher ecosystem is an essential part of the equation as we continue to develop our video products and scale advertiser demand.\u201d", "output": "Twitter's promotion of its live video service appears to be paying off as publishers flock to it amid some disappointment with rival\u00a0Facebook Live. Insiders said Twitter is\u00a0flexible, allowing shows to be cut into several clips and monetised with pre-roll ads -- a service not offered by Facebook. In addition, Twitter's decision to allow brands to have a say in selling and co-selling has been greeted warmly by publishers. \"Twitter has the scale and the platform: the publisher has the content and brand trust. It's a nice marriage,\" said Scott Havens\u00a0at Bloomberg Media, which has announced a streaming service with the platform."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pavegen to create 'selfie-tunnel' at Berlin Festival of Lights \n Footsteps of visitors to \"first-of-its kind\" selfie tunnel power 176 coloured light panels and generate video recordings of their experience\n\nWe are a team of writers, experimenters and researchers providing you with the best advice with zero bias or partiality.\n\nPavegen, the smart flooring company founded by 2017 Young Gun Laurence Kemball-Cook, has partnered with Google to create what is thought to be the largest ever energy harvesting walkway at Berlin Festival of Lights.\n\nDescribed as a \u201cfirst-of-its kind\u201d selfie tunnel, visitors\u2019 footsteps are converted into off-grid electricity that powers a synchronised lighting display and generates videos recording their experience. These are then shared with them as GIFS by a photo pod at the end of the array.\n\nThe 26-square metre installation uses Pavegen\u2019s latest V3 flooring system, with 100-electro-manetic generators powering 176 coloured light panels.\n\nThe Berlin Festival of Lights was started in 2004 as a celebration of the visual arts, bringing dynamic light installations to the city\u2019s most famous places. This year\u2019s event runs from Friday 6 to Sunday 15 October from 7pm every night.\n\nFounded in 2009, Pavegen\u2019s flooring solution generates energy and collects data from footfall and can be used to power off-grid applications such as games, lighting, and environmental monitoring.\n\nTo date, it has delivered 200 projects in 30 countries and worked with some of the biggest brands and organisations in the world including Adidas, Coca-Cola, Heathrow Airport, Shell and Westfield.\n\nCook commented: \u201cThe Berlin project marks a pivotal moment for us during a year when we have delivered significant permanent installations in other important cities including Washington and London.\n\n\u201cWorking with Google, we\u2019re creating a highly immersive experience with which people can interact physically, showing how the cleaner smart cities of the future will also be fun and vibrant places to be.\u201d", "output": "London firm Pavegen has partnered with Google to create a \"selfie-tunnel\" at the Berlin Festival of Lights. The walkway \u2013\u00a0the largest energy-harvesting pathway of its kind \u2013\u00a0converts people's footsteps into off-grid energy to power a lighting display and a video camera. It uses 100 electromagnetic generators powering 176 coloured light panels, and is one of 200 projects completed by Pavegen, which counts Coca-Cola, Heathrow Airport, Shell and Adidas among its clients.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Heads to roll as China gets ready to reshuffle Central Committee \n At least eight full members and three alternate ones expected to be expelled when Central Committee meets this week", "output": "China is set to reshuffle its Central Committee, with President Xi Jinping expected to expel at least eight full members and three alternate members\u00a0from the 200-member body as part of\u00a0his anti-corruption drive. A total of\u00a017 full Central Committee members and\u00a017 alternate members have been dismissed by the president since he took\u00a0over in 2012, which is more than the total for the four previous Central Committees combined. Further overhauls\u00a0to the Central Military Commission are deemed likely, following major recent personnel changes after reforms to the military. Two generals are under investigation and may\u00a0also be expelled from the Central Committee.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Expert System and Lloyd's of London seal major AI deal \n Lloyd\u2019s of London wants to infuse artificial intelligence technology into the daily business it does with its customers.\n\nThe world\u2019s largest insurance market signed a global deal with Expert System that will bring on cognitive automation, via the company\u2019s Cognito software, to modernize its business processes in order to support the needs of market participants.\n\nNeither side disclosed financial terms.\n\nCraig Civil, head of Data Innovation with Lloyd\u2019s said the agreement will help boost the productivity of its market members.\n\n\u201cArtificial intelligence drives productivity by changing the way we benefit from data, and Lloyd\u2019s continues its history of innovation,\u201d Civil said in prepared remarks. \u201cExpert System\u2019s cognitive applications help meet our strategic objective and evolve business models through new applications.\u201d\n\nNicky Singh, VP UK and Ireland for Expert System, said in prepared remarks that \u201ca significant part of the insurance industry will be powered by AI\u201d and \u201cit is a reality that we need to embrace.\u201d\n\nExpert System markets its technology to insurers and banks, defense and intelligence agencies, public administration departments, the health and pharmaceutical industries, the energy industry, publishing and media and other sectors.\n\nSource: Expert System/Lloyds", "output": "Lloyd's of London has agreed a deal to incorporate\u00a0artificial intelligence (AI) into its business. The world's largest insurance market has partnered with\u00a0Italian technology company Expert System, which will use its Cognito software to bring greater AI capabilities to Lloyd's. Similar technology is increasingly being used by the insurance sector, and the deal will assist\u00a0the exchange in modernising in order to\u00a0improve\u00a0its members' productivity.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lemonade facilitates third-party adoption with API launch \n NEW YORK, October 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --\n\nLemonade, the insurance company powered by artificial intelligence and behavioral economics, today launched its public API, allowing anyone to seamlessly offer Lemonade policies through their apps or websites.\n\nThrough its API platform, Lemonade will initially offer developers access to its renters, condo, and homeowners insurance, and expand the API as the company introduces new insurance products to market. Commerce sites, real estate apps, financial advisors, bots, IoT and smart home products will now be able to complement their offering with insurance, allowing their customers instant coverage and a hassle-free experience without ever leaving their app or website.\n\n\"It takes years to pull together the licenses, capital and technology needed to offer insurance instantly through an app, which is why it's almost nonexistent. Today's API launch changes that. Anyone with a slight familiarity with coding can now include these capabilities in their app, in a matter of hours,\" said Shai Wininger, Lemonade Co-founder and Chief Lemonade Maker. \"We call on startups and entrepreneurs to use our platform to add insurance-related products and features to their apps and websites. We can't wait to see what entrepreneurs will create using our new API.\"\n\nLemonade's API is also ideal for established businesses such as real estate companies, mortgage originators, ecommerce sites and lifestyle brands to offer insurance to their customers, as a means to insure their residents or provide coverage for their valuable products.\n\nToday's API launch comes on the heels of Lemonade's one year anniversary. Since its September 2016 launch in New York, the company has expanded to California, New Jersey, Illinois and Texas, and has been licensed - and will launch soon - in 15 more states, reaching more than 50% of the population. Most recently, Lemonade launched its Zero Everything product, offering new and existing Lemonade members a 'zero deductible' upgrade, so they can make up to two claims each year with absolutely no deductible payments and no rate hikes.\n\nCustomers can buy homeowners and renters insurance in seconds at lemonade.com, or through the Lemonade app, and choose a cause to 'Giveback' to. In addition to digitizing the entire insurance process, Lemonade reduces costs and bureaucracy through giving. In a reversal of the traditional insurance model, Lemonade takes a flat 20% fee and treats premiums as belonging to the insured, not the insurer, returning unclaimed money during its annual 'Giveback.' Giveback is a unique feature of Lemonade, where each year leftover money ('underwriting profit') is donated to a cause customers care about.\n\nUsers can apply for early access to become one of the first Lemonade API partners here: www.lemonade.com/api .\n\nAbout Lemonade\n\nLemonade Insurance Company is a licensed insurance carrier, offering homeowners and renters insurance powered by artificial intelligence and behavioral economics. By replacing brokers and bureaucracy with bots and machine learning, Lemonade aims for zero paperwork and instant everything. As a Certified B-Corp, where underwriting profits go to nonprofits, Lemonade is remaking insurance as a social good, rather than a necessary evil. Lemonade is currently available in New York, California, New Jersey, Texas, and Illinois, and licensed in 14 more states, and looks to expand nationwide.\n\nStay in touch at http://www.lemonade.com, @lemonade_inc or http://www.facebook.com/lemonade.\n\nMedia Contact:\n\nJill Burkes\n\n[email protected]\n\nSOURCE Lemonade", "output": "Insurtech Lemonade has adopted an application programming interface (API), which will allow third-party companies to offer customers the firm's insurance policies as a value-add product. Start-ups focusing on areas like robo-advice, proptech and smart home products will be able to offer Lemonade insurance products by making use of the API. This should help such companies avoid the need to seek out licenses to offer insurance coverage via an app or online platform, something that can take several years and large amounts of money to achieve ordinarily. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Meet buy-side needs for profitable equity research post-Mifid II \n The traditional business of providing equity research to asset managers has been under pressure in recent years, as managers, challenged to deliver alpha to their clients, seek new forms of research and asset owners turn increasingly to passive strategies. Now, new regulation\u2014specifically, the advent of MiFID II in Europe in 2018\u2014is about to escalate these pressures.\n\nStay current on your favorite topics Subscribe\n\nThe result will be an increase in both the magnitude and the pace of change in equity research, reducing the scale of the research business and reshaping its economics. Nonetheless, equity research still offers an attractive business opportunity for banks and broker-dealers that can adapt to deliver the types of research the buy side values and also successfully transform their operating models.\n\nThe trigger for accelerated change in the equity research business is the January 2018 go-live of European MiFID II regulations, which call for the explicit unbundling of charges for execution services and investment research by banks and broker-dealers. While the new MiFID regulations may strictly apply only to European asset managers, the impact is likely to be broader, as asset managers extend the MiFID II model of separate payments beyond Europe to their global operations. The result could be a sharp decline in the demand for equity research: the consensus view of banks we surveyed calls for an industry-wide drop in equity-research revenues of 30 percent or more over the next three years, although other scenarios could well play out (exhibit).\n\nFor the first time, bank and broker-dealer equity research will operate as a free-standing profit center, forcing a transformation of the business. The buy side will pay broker-dealers for actionable research that adds investment value, but the demand will fall far short of the mountains of research that banks currently supply \u201cfor free.\u201d For asset managers, as research becomes an itemized cost, profits could be sharply reduced\u2014by as much as 15 to 20 percent for firms in Europe. The resulting change to research operations could be enormous.\n\nTo succeed in this transformed environment and meet asset managers\u2019 more exacting standards, banks and broker-dealers will need to focus on the changing nature of the types of research the buy side finds useful and overhaul their offerings. Long-only active managers and hedge funds focused on equities are demanding less in the way of traditional products (that is, single-stock research reports) and more in services, such as access to analysts and corporate management. Moreover, investors are seeking new forms of information and analytics, through big data and artificial intelligence (AI), which can complement conventional fundamental research in portfolio decision making.\n\nWould you like to learn more about our Financial Services Practice\n\nBeyond producing quality, differentiated research, banks will also need to adopt new operating models for their equity research businesses. This calls for focusing on four strategic priorities:\n\nEstablishing a research footprint that capitalizes on strengths of coverage in sectors and regions, and extending reach through joint ventures. Understanding the scarcity and perishability of ideas, and what value clients place on research in different forms\u2014reports, analyst and corporate-management access, conferences, and other forms of information and analytics. Translating client preferences and demands into informed pricing structures. Explicit prices must be assigned to research, whether item-by-item for individual products and services or through packages or broad subscriptions. Adopting new technologies to generate novel investment ideas and lower costs. The sell side can leverage AI to interpret high-frequency market data in real time, patterns in both supply and demand chains, and social media. They can reduce costs by automating basic financial analysis and maintenance research. For client coverage, analytical tools can discern clients\u2019 preferred means of research delivery and service.\n\nAnalytics in banking: Time to realize the value\n\nFive business models may evolve for the provision of equity research and execution services in the future:\n\nA few global banks will lead the industry with both global execution services and high-quality, broad-based research coverage. Another cadre of two to three firms, likely market makers that are not banks, will be global leaders in execution but offer no research or only a limited, specialized array. A second group of universal banks will attempt to maintain their current broad research efforts, combined with global execution at a smaller scale than the leaders. In view of dwindling research revenues and the competition for low-cost execution, however, this model is not likely sustainable, although some firms could make up the shortfall in client revenue internally from banking and wealth-management units. Accordingly, many firms currently large in both research and execution will have to make significant cuts in one direction or the other. The majority of banks will rationalize their research and execution capabilities by focusing on their \u201chome-field advantage\u201d in local sectors and regional markets. Demand from local and global clients will likely support one to three such banks per region. Independent research firms offering little or no execution should see significant growth in the new landscape, as they reverse the past trend among many research boutiques of offering execution as a means for the buy side to pay for research.\n\nThese strategic shifts are likely to take time, however, given several barriers to exit. Research is an entrenched part of capital-markets operations and provides value to banks\u2019 investment-banking, wealth-management, and equities units, as well the intangible benefits of burnishing the corporate brand. Some firms will want to keep a hand in research as an option to scaling back up. Evolution will come fastest to European banks, followed quickly by the United States, while the Asian market may be slower to change.", "output": "Providers of equity research can still be profitable following the implementation of Mifid II, but they will need to focus on what buy-side clients actually value. One way this is possible is by focusing more on providing a service than individual stock reports, according to McKinsey & Company. Such services could include access to analysts and corporate management. Additionally, research providers may have success if they can provide buy-side firms with access to analysis making use of artificial intelligence and big data processing. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Torrent site incentivises\u00a0visitor mining \n As cryptocurrency mining becomes more closely associated with 'pirate' sites, some private torrent trackers are implementing an interesting solution to their own economic problems. Through the use of miners, users are able to generate revenue for a site but they're also given so-called 'upload credit' in return, which in itself is a virtual currency variant used to 'buy' content.\n\nEver since The Pirate Bay crew added a cryptocurrency miner to their site last month, the debate over user mining has sizzled away in the background.\n\nThe basic premise is that a piece of software embedded in a website runs on a user\u2019s machine, utilizing its CPU cycles in order to generate revenue for the site in question. But not everyone likes it.\n\nThe main problem has centered around consent. While some sites are giving users the option of whether to be involved or not, others simply run the miner without asking. This week, one site operator suggested to TF that since no one asks whether they can run \u201cshitty\u201d ads on a person\u2019s machine, why should they ask permission to mine?\n\nIt\u2019s a controversial point, but it would be hard to find users agreeing on either front. They almost universally insist on consent, wherever possible. That\u2019s why when someone comes up with something innovative to solve a problem, it catches the eye.\n\nEarlier this week a user on Reddit posted a screenshot of a fairly well known private tracker. The site had implemented a mining solution not dissimilar to that appearing on other similar platforms. This one, however, gives the user something back.\n\nMining for coins \u2013 with a twist\n\nFirst of all, it\u2019s important to note the implementation. The decision to mine is completely under the control of the user, with buttons to start or stop mining. There are even additional controls for how many CPU threads to commit alongside a percentage utilization selector. While still early days, that all sounds pretty fair.\n\nWhere this gets even more interesting is how this currency mining affects so-called \u201cupload credit\u201d, an important commodity on a private tracker without which users can be prevented from downloading any content at all.\n\nVery quickly: when BitTorrent users download content, they simultaneously upload to other users too. The idea is that they download X megabytes and upload the same number (at least) to other users, to ensure that everyone in a torrent swarm (a number of users sharing together) gets a piece of the action, aka the content in question.\n\nThe amount of content downloaded and uploaded on a private tracker is monitored and documented by the site. If a user has 1TB downloaded and 2TB uploaded, for example, he has 1TB in credit. In basic terms, this means he can download at least 1TB of additional content before he goes into deficit, a position undesirable on a private tracker.\n\nNow, getting more \u201cupload credit\u201d can be as simple as uploading more, but some users find that difficult, either due to the way a tracker\u2019s economy works or simply due to not having resources. If this is the case, some sites allow people to donate real money to receive \u201cupload credit\u201d. On the tracker highlighted in the mining example above, however, it\u2019s possible to virtually \u2018trade-in\u2019 some of the mining effort instead.\n\nTracker politics aside (some people believe this is simply a cash grab opportunity), from a technical standpoint the prospect is quite intriguing.\n\nIn a way, the current private tracker system allows users to \u201cmine\u201d upload credits by donating bandwidth to other users of the site. Now they have the opportunity to mine an actual cryptocurrency on the tracker and have some of it converted back into the tracker\u2019s native \u2018currency\u2019 \u2013 upload credit \u2013 which can only be \u2018spent\u2019 on the site. Meanwhile, the site\u2019s operator can make a few bucks towards site maintenance.\n\nAnother example showing how innovative these mining implementations can be was posted by a member of a second private tracker. Although it\u2019s unclear whether mining is forced or optional, there appears to be complete transparency for the benefit of the user.\n\nThe mining \u2018Top 10\u2019 on a private tracker\n\nIn addition to displaying the total number of users mining and the hashes solved per second, the site publishes a \u2018Top 10\u2019 list of users mining the most currently, and overall. Again, some people might not like the concept of users mining at all, but psychologically this is a particularly clever implementation.\n\nUtilizing the desire of many private tracker users to be recognizable among their peers due to their contribution to the platform, the charts give a user a measurable status in the community, at least among those who care about such things. Previously these charts would list top uploaders of content but the addition of a \u2018Top miner\u2019 category certainly adds some additional spice to the mix.\n\nMining is a controversial topic which isn\u2019t likely to go away anytime soon. But, for all its faults, it\u2019s still a way for sites to generate revenue, away from the pitfalls of increasingly hostile and easy-to-trace alternative payment systems. The Pirate Bay may have set the cat among the pigeons last month, but it also gave the old gray matter a boost too.", "output": "An invitation-only torrent site has offered its visitors the choice of enabling a cryptocurrency mining feature on their machines, in return for upload credits. The move follows the discovery that such mining was taking place without consent on sites such as The Pirate Bay. The torrent site's offer has sparked a debate over the issue of consent, with some users arguing that low-quality ads run on machines without permission, and background mining was no different.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Alibaba to build smart petrol stations with robot attendants  \n Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group will venture into smart petrol stations wherein robots are the attendants. The plan is to construct the first few gas stations in the company's home city of Hangzhou.\n\nGas stations in China will soon become manned by computer-controlled human machines as Alibaba will build the world's first 'intelligent' petrol stations. Part of the move is the QR code scanning that customers will use when entering and shopping at convenience stores.\n\nAlso read: Singapore's e-commerce biz dominates despite Amazon, Alibaba invasion\n\nConstruction of the said petrol stations will begin by the end of October while the launching is expected to commence in 2018. According to Chinese publication Caixin, the gas stations will use smart technologies to automatically document details of drivers and their cars, such as name, vehicle model and the fuel used.\n\nAs a cloud business, Alibaba has a vast treasure trove of consumer data which it can leverage to push its new ventures. The e-commerce company has long been investing in new businesses outside of its industry.\n\nThis is not the first time Alibaba entered into unmanned physical establishments. It opened a pop-up convenience store in Hangzhou a couple of months back where attendants are robots.", "output": "China's Alibaba Group is set to begin construction on the world's first smart petrol stations that will use robots as attendants. A handful of garages will be built in Hangzhou, where Alibaba opened a pop-up convenience store manned by robots earlier this year. The smart petrol stations, set to open in 2018, will also document drivers' names\u00a0as well as the make and model of their cars.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook eyes emerging markets for sports streaming opportunities \n Facebook isn\u2019t ready to make a high-profile bid for major sports like basketball, football or soccer in established markets, but it\u2019s eyeing up rights in emerging markets.\n\nOne interesting example is Facebook\u2019s move trying to convince UEFA\u2019s media bosses to let it live stream Champions League games in countries where they aren\u2019t shown on TV. Both tournaments are not shown on TV in Africa or countries like India and Colombia. One big fly in the ointment: Facebook wants the rights for free under the idea that it would give the Champions League and Europa League tournaments tremendous reach outside of Europe. Needless to say, UEFA declined.\n\nUEFA cannot be seen giving away rights for free when it has a premium product for which other broadcast partners pay substantial sums. UEFA now finds itself in the same precarious situation as publishers when it comes to assessing the platform dilemma of reach versus monetization.\n\n\u201cIt is indeed good to be broadcast on Facebook in a market where the matches aren\u2019t shown on TV,\u201d said the source. \u201cBut on the other hand, it could damage negotiations in the future with other TV channels.\u201d\n\nThe UEFA pitch is curious since Facebook was willing to pony up $600 million to bring the Indian Premier League cricket matches to the more than 1 billion people who live in India and its surrounding countries.\n\nIt is unlikely UEFA\u2019s initial rejection will sap Facebook\u2019s appetite for the rights. With over 650 million people following an account for a sports team, player or news outlet on Facebook and 200 million of these fans on Instagram, Facebook knows it has strong bargaining power now that it is a primary destination for sports. Misha Sher, vp of sport and entertainment at MediaCom, believes it\u2019s only a matter of time before the biggest soccer games air live on Facebook. \u201cRights holders will need to consider the value that someone like Amazon or Facebook can bring to the table, and explore what types of models will work moving forward without undermining any existing broadcast agreements,\u201d Sher said.\n\nFacebook has made no secret of soccer\u2019s importance to its aspirations as a broadcaster. It aired over 3,500 different live sports events in the first six months of the year alone. Despite the breadth of sports it shows, from American football to college lacrosse, Facebook insists it doesn\u2019t want to replace traditional broadcasters such as Sky and BT Sport as the home of live games. Instead, the social network has cited its deal with Fox Sports to live stream Champions League matches in the U.S. as an example of its intentions over the coming months. If Facebook were to be the sole broadcaster of the Champions League in the U.S. now, it would likely struggle to recoup the $60 million Turner Sports paid to secure the broadcast rights for 2018-2021.\n\nMonetizing video is still a problem for Facebook, as seen by the number of soccer clubs and advertisers rethinking Facebook Live\u2019s value alongside the emergence of Facebook Watch. Monetizing video in emerging markets, however, could be easier; of Facebook\u2019s 5 million advertisers, 70 percent are outside of the U.S. Among the fastest-growing countries are India, Thailand, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, none of which are set to broadcast Champions League matches on TV between 2018 and 2021.\n\nBut this path isn\u2019t without its problems, said Dror Ginzberg, the CEO of video creation platform Wochit. In many emerging markets, smartphone adoption is roughly 30 percent, according to Gsma, the trade body for the telecommunications industry. This is much lower than the global average of over 50 percent. In the short term, this may mean monetization could be slow to happen in these markets, especially as premium content such as the Champions League, regardless of location, is expensive, explained Ginzberg.\n\nGinzberg said Facebook has \u201cdeep pockets\u201d to mitigate this, however, and is making a \u201cbigger bet\u201d on the demographics in emerging markets, where 25 percent of consumers are 14 years old or younger, compared to 16 percent in developed markets. \u201cIn a couple of years, these consumers will be the economic engine of emerging markets, which will greatly help with Facebook\u2019s monetization play in these regions.\u201d", "output": "The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has rebuffed Facebook's request to give it free rights to stream live football matches in emerging markets (EMs), like India or Colombia, where games are not broadcast. Insiders claimed such a deal, if agreed, could harm UEFA's future negotiations with TV broadcasters. Despite the decision, some say it is a matter of time before Facebook agrees a rights deal for a major sport, more than likely targeting EMs. It is suggested that while smartphone penetration could restrict efforts to monetise content in EMs now, longer-term, their demographics could see Facebook\u2019s bet pay off. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Alibaba unveils $15bn global R&D plan to boost tech collaboration  \n Alibaba Group has announced the launch of a global research program and its plan to invest $15 billion in R&D through the program over the next three years.\n\nThe program, called Alibaba DAMO Academy, is aimed at increasing technological collaboration globally, advancing the development of \"cutting-edge\" technology, and making the world more inclusive by \"narrowing the technology gap\", it said in an announcement on Wednesday.\n\nThe DAMO Academy, short for \"Academy for Discovery, Adventure, Momentum, and Outlook\", will be led by Alibaba CTO Jeff Zhang.\n\nIn the initial phase of the program, Alibaba will open seven research labs in Beijing and Hangzhou in China; San Mateo and Bellevue in the United States; Moscow, Russia; Tel Aviv, Israel; and Singapore.\n\nThe labs will focus on research areas such as data intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), fintech, quantum computing, and human-machine interaction. Within those research areas, the labs will focus on machine learning, network security, visual computing, and natural language processing.\n\nAlibaba is seeking to recruit 100 researchers worldwide to join the program, as well as to collaborate with established technology companies and educational institutions.\n\n\"Over the past 18 years, we have developed a robust technology infrastructure that supports the rapid growth of our business. With our global expansion, we have grown and refined our technology manifold,\" Zhang said in a statement.\n\n\"We are now looking for talented and driven researchers to join us in the quest for new disruptive technologies that would advance our everyday lives, benefit small businesses, and narrow the technology gap to make our world a more inclusive place.\"\n\nAlibaba said the DAMO Academy has already established a partnership with the University of California, Berkeley, which will see the entities explore areas such as secured real-time computing through the RISE Lab.\n\n\"[DAMO] is the first major global initiative to focus on developing the global technological capabilities and infrastructure that will enable Alibaba to fulfil its commitment to serve 2 billion customers and create 100 million job opportunities in 20 years,\" the Chinese ecommerce giant said in an announcement.\n\nAlibaba currently has around 25,000 engineers and scientists on its staff across its multiple businesses of ecommerce, cloud infrastructure, payment and financial services, logistics, marketing services, and digital media.\n\nThe DAMO Academy's advisory board members include professors from a range of educational institutions including Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Beijing University of Technology, Peking University, and Zhejiang University.\n\nIn September, Alibaba announced that it would be setting aside 100 billion yuan over five years to boost its global logistics network as it pushes ahead with its \"new retail\" strategy. The aim of the investment is to fulfil online orders within 24 hours in China, and within 72 hours anywhere across the globe.\n\nThe Chinese ecommerce giant said that the funds will be used for research and development in logistics data technology, as well as for development of smart warehousing, smart delivery, and global logistics infrastructure.", "output": "Alibaba CTO Jeff Zhang is to lead a $15bn, three-year R&D programme aimed at increasing global technological collaboration and narrowing the global technology gap. The Discovery, Adventure, Momentum and Outlook (DAMO) Academy will set up labs in the US, China, Russia, Israel and Singapore, where researchers will focus on fintech, quantum computing and human-machine interaction. Alibaba said DAMO's long-term aim is to enable it to \"serve two billion customers and create 100 million job opportunities in 20 years\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "XL Catlin launches suite of coverages for HNW clients \n The products will be distributed through an exclusive broker panel and are aimed at the ultra high net worth client.\n\nXL Catlin has launched Private Clients, a suite of coverages specifically designed to address the complex insurance needs of Ultra High Net Worth (UHNW) individuals and their families.\n\nAccording to the insurer the product suite, which is available via a very exclusive broker panel, offers broad policy coverage with the ability to write multiple homes (including overseas), large collections of fine art, jewellery and motor all in one single package with one renewal date.\n\nSimon Mobey, head of", "output": "XL Catlin has introduced a suite of coverage aiming to meet the needs of ultra high net worth clients. The suite, dubbed Private Clients, will allow the firm to write business covering multiple homes, motor vehicles, large art collections and jewellery within a single package. Coverage will be available via Catlin's panel of brokers.  \u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Speedy Hire Speedy Hire gets vote of confidence with bank facilities extension \n Tools, equipment and plant hire services company Speedy Hire has secured an extension to its existing bank facilities.\n\nThe group said on Wednesday that the \u00a3180m asset based finance facility, which was due to mature in September 2019, has been extended by a further three years, through to October 2022. In addition, terms have been improved, which will lower the cost of Speedy\u2019s debt financing.\n\nThe additional uncommitted accordion of \u00a3220m remains in place through to October 2022, should further funding requirements be needed.\n\nThe facility is split equally between Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, HSBC and Wells Fargo and the interest margin ranges from 150 to 250 basis points, down from 170 to 275 basis points previously.\n\nChief executive Russell Down said: \"We are delighted with this successful outcome which reflects our bankers' confidence in the business. At 30 September net debt is now expected to be less than \u00a365m, and this revised facility, with significant headroom, gives us greater flexibility to support our strategy for growth, and lowers our cost of debt.\"\n\nAt 0930 BST, the shares were down 0.2% to 51.40p.", "output": "Equipment and plant hire firm Speedy has been granted an extension to its bank facilities with improved terms, which CEO Russell Down said was a demonstration of bankers' confidence in the business. Speedy's \u00a3180m ($237m) asset-based finance facility will now mature in October 2022, instead of September 2019, while interest margin ranges have been reduced from 170 to 275 basis points to 150 to 250 basis points.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "World facing massive financial shock: Deutsche Bank \n Financial crises are happening more frequently, becoming almost a fixture of modern life, according to research by Deutsche Bank. While meltdowns remain difficult to see in advance, the next panic is almost certainly brewing, and it may well be provoked by the world\u2019s major central banks.\n\nThe German bank\u2019s study of developed markets uses this criteria to define a financial crisis: on a year-over-year basis, a 15% drop in stock markets, 10% decline in foreign-exchange, 10% fall in bonds, 10% increase in inflation, or a sovereign default.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nDeutsche Bank argues that crises have been increasingly frequent since the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system, which, after World War II, fixed exchange-rates and essentially linked them to the price of gold. That coordination ended in the 1970s when the US broke the dollar\u2019s peg to the yellow metal. The link to a finite commodity helped limit the amount of debt that could be created.\n\nAs strategists at the Frankfurt-based lender see it, the resulting fiat money system has encouraged rising budget deficits, higher debts, global imbalances, and more unstable markets. At the same time, banking regulations have been loosened. In the US, the industry may soon have fewer restrictions and less oversight, a mere 10 years since the last worldwide crisis.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nPost-Bretton Woods, policy makers have the flexibility to create as much money as needed to sooth a financial meltdown. However, this can also provide the foundation for the next one, according to Deutsche Bank. A subsequent, potentially bigger, crisis is more likely because the problem has just been passed along to another part of the financial system. The Federal Reserve, Bank of Japan, and European Central Bank now hold more than $13 trillion of assets on their balance sheets, up from less than $4 trillion in 2007, according to Yardeni Research.\n\nThe modern framework can allow credit stockpiles to climb: Global government debt is approaching 70% of gross domestic product, the highest since World War II and up from less than 20% in the 1970s, according to Deutsche Bank. The US has run an annual budget deficit for 53 of the past 60 years.\n\n\u201cWe think this leaves the current global economy particularly prone to a cycle of booms, busts, heavy intervention, recovery and the cycle starting again,\u201d Deutsche Bank said. \u201cThere is no natural point where a purge of the excesses is forced by a restriction on credit creation.\u201d\n\nWhere will the next crisis come from? Deutsche Bank says there are plenty of things to worry about. Italy has a massive debt burden, a brittle banking system, and a dysfunctional government. China may have a property bubble on its hands and has long been fueling its growth with debt. Populist political parties could disrupt the world order as we\u2019ve known it.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBut one of the most obvious problems is how to unwind central bank balance sheets of unprecedented size, during a time of record-high peacetime government debt, while bond yields are at multi-century low interest-rates. The bank\u2019s strategists say they\u2019re \u201cquite confident\u201d there will soon be another financial shock, a pattern that will be repeated until the world figures out a more stable financial framework.", "output": "Another financial crisis is looming and central banks may be the cause, according to Deutsche Bank. It revealed financial crises have increased since the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system in the 1970s, and blamed current instability on the fiat money system. The institution also pointed out the $13tn of assets held between the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan, and bloated levels of government debt, hitting 70% of GDP. Deutsche Bank said: \"there is no natural point where a purge of the excesses is forced by a restriction on credit creation\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers develop new way of gauging water content in solvents \n Researchers from Germany have devised a new way to detect trace water in solvents. Their technique combines luminescent metal\u2013organic frameworks (MOFs) with a magnetic core to give a system that users can see change colour then fish out of the sample once the test is complete.\n\nUnwanted water is a big problem for some areas of chemistry. Many materials are water sensitive and must be kept in a dry atmosphere. And in some organic syntheses, water can initiate unwanted side-reactions, so it\u2019s important that solvents contain as little water as possible.\n\n\u2018There are two main molecules that can be addressed for sensing: water and oxygen. If you look at how many goods are transported worldwide, such as over the ocean, humidity sensing becomes very important,\u2019 comments Klaus M\u00fcller-Buschbaum of the Julius Maximilian University of W\u00fcrzburg, who led the work.\n\nM\u00fcller-Buschbaum and his colleagues have made a material that combines two different MOFs, one containing terbium and one containing europium, with superparamagnetic Fe 3 O 4 /SiO 2 microparticles. Water quenches the luminescent Tb3+ and Eu3+ centres unequally and concentrating the composite with a magnetic field means users can add it to test solvents to quantitatively determine how much water they contain by measuring then analysing the ratios of the luminescence bands.\n\n\u2018We have the benefit that the magnetic properties allow us to have an additional chance to remove the sensor. We think that this is one of the exceptional things that this composite can do,\u2019 says M\u00fcller-Buschbaum. \u2018You can first disperse them and then concentrate them via a magnetic field. This is very good for strong signal augmentation,\u2019 he adds.\n\nThe composite is very sensitive, with a detection limit of 40\u03bcg/l. This is equal to the classic Karl Fischer titration method, which uses either colourimetric or volumetric titration to spot trace amounts of water in a sample. However, due to the equipment it requires, the Karl Fischer method is unsuitable for use outside of a laboratory. M\u00fcller-Buschbaum and his colleagues, however, are keen to emphasise that their new composites allow for \u2018on-the-fly\u2019 analysis.\n\nSujit Ghosh, who researches MOFs at the Indian Institute for Science Education and Research in Pune, India, is cautiously optimistic about the composites: \u2018The crucial steps of sensitivity retention and cost-effectiveness are important hurdles to cross before such materials can compete with existing techniques. However, this work has the potential to overtake Fischer titrations.\u2019\n\nRaffaele Ricc\u00f2, who researches MOFs and magnetic nanoparticles at Graz University of Technology in Austria, says that the composites have great potential: \u2018Applications ranging from analytical methods to biomedicine can be foreseen.\u2019 Ricco\u2019s colleague, Paolo Falcaro, is also encouraged by the work: \u2018Petrochemical and food industries could benefit from this exciting composite.\u2019", "output": "Researchers from the Julius Maximilian University of W\u00fcrzburg in Germany have developed a method to determine how much water is present in solvents using luminescent metal\u2013organic frameworks (MOFs). They combined MOFs containing terbium and europium and, using a magnetic field, were able to calculate water levels according to the brightness of the MOFs. Unwanted water is a problem in many chemical processes. Possible applications include within the petrochemical, food and biomedical industries, and\u00a0lead scientist Klaus M\u00fcller-Buschbaum said the method is suitable for use outside the lab."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Regus completes deal for 13,621 sq ft in Almondsbury, near Bristol \n A string of recent transactions at an Almondsbury business park has resulted in 85% of the office space being let or under offer.\n\nBrotherswood Court in Almondsbury, provides 61,000 sq ft of high quality office accommodation. It was developed in the early 1990s from three farm buildings and now comprises eight separate office buildings housed within an attractive and mature landscaped area. The office buildings, together with a restaurant, create an interesting and attractive alternative to more traditional office parks. It is located near to the M4 and M5 providing excellent transport links.\n\nSince the acquisition by M7 Real Estate in 2016, a number of recent lettings has resulted in Brotherswood Court now being 85% let or under offer.\n\nRegus has just completed a deal to take 13,621 sq ft in Redwood House, meaning that this building is now fully let. Regus are offering smaller starter suites to sub-tenants.\n\nThe first floor of Willow House is now also fully let with Schade Lagertechnik expanding across the entire first floor, doubling the amount of space they occupy. Opus Land has also recently committed to a new long term lease in Willow House.\n\nDaikin has agreed a new long term lease in Maple House for 6,027sq ft.\n\nBirch House (3,762 sq ft) has been put under offer on a long leasehold basis, leaving Cedar House (5,993 sq ft) and Laurel House (3,876 sq ft) available either for sale as a whole or for lease either as a whole or in part.\n\nJames Chasen, Asset Manager for M7 Real Estate, says, \u201cWe have eight separate office buildings which all have their own unique character set within a landscaped business environment. We\u2019re happy to agree flexible terms with tenants who wish to join the existing businesses who already enjoy the location and facilities here at Brotherswood Court.\u201d\n\nAlex Riddell from GVA, joint agent on Brotherswood Court with Burston Cook, comments, \u201cThis is a sensitively designed office development that retains many of its farmhouse origins within its character. Located close to the M4 and M5, its strategic location for businesses who need to be close to transport connections, with excellent parking ratios, couldn\u2019t be better.\u201d", "output": "Regus has completed a deal to lease space in a business park near Bristol, taking lettings at the development to 85% of its capacity. Brotherswood Court in Almondsbury provides 61,000 sq ft of high-quality office space in former farm buildings, and was acquired by M7 Real Estate last year. Since then, it has seen a string of lettings including that by Regus, which has taken 13,621 sq ft in Redwood House, completing the occupation of that building.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Diversity recruitment sector emerging as major new industry \n The birth of the modern diversity-recruitment industry can be dated to Oct. 11, 2013.\n\nThat\u2019s the day Tracy Chou, an engineer at Pinterest, published a post on Medium laying bare her company\u2019s poor record at hiring women engineers. Within a week, employees at dozens of tech companies followed. The next year, tech giants like Google, Facebook, and Apple formally issued reports showing they, too, had dismal results in hiring women, along with black and Hispanic workers. By 2016, 250 companies across a wide swath of industries were sharing their data.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBy going public with these numbers\u2014and with their commitment to improve their hiring record\u2014the companies challenged themselves. And when they failed to meet their own goals, they opened a window for a new set of businesses that saw an enormous, and lucrative, opportunity.\n\nFortune 500 companies spend a collective $16 billion annually on hiring, or roughly $32 million per company, according to Ryan Williams. He\u2019s a co-founder of Jopwell, a startup that matches minority candidates with employers, via an online database. About $2.5 million a year is spent on recruiting minority candidates, a figure that will at least double, and could increase four-fold, in the next several years as employers scramble to catch up to a country where demographics are changing rapidly. By the 2040s, people of color will account for the majority of Americans, Williams notes. \u201cWe\u2019re at the tip of the iceberg here, in terms of what companies are going to be (spending),\u201d he says.\n\nThe potential size of the diversity-recruitment market is a reflection of the urgency felt by employers, and how much the conversation around diversity hiring has changed in recent years.\n\nFor decades, diversity recruitment was viewed by corporations as a worthwhile pursuit, but not essential, something companies did out of a sense of social obligation if at all. Efforts were mostly on a small scale, and the pipeline of prospective hires often was managed by nonprofits, like Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, that provided candidates with coaching and mentoring.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThat began to change as corporate America woke up to the growing buying power of US minorities. Hispanic consumers just in the US, for example, are projected to spend $1.7 trillion in 2020, almost eight times more than in 1990. Gradually, executives realized that marketing to black and Hispanic customers is more effective when black and Hispanic people are involved from the outset, and it helps companies avoid blunders like naming their coffee chain \u201cBeaner\u2019s,\u201d a slur for Latinos, a mistake that cost more than $1 million to fix (it\u2019s now called Biggby Coffee).\n\nBut the biggest shift from thinking of diversity as a public good to a business imperative came in the last decade, once it became clear how diversity improved group decision-making. Research showed that teams with more women outperformed male-only teams, and groups of students with diverse racial backgrounds did better than homogeneous teams with higher test scores.\n\nCorporate America\u2019s monochromatic executive teams weren\u2019t just an embarrassment for progressive CEOs; they were a business liability. McKinsey reported that ethnically diverse companies outperform their peers by 35%. And in a Korn Ferry survey of 400 executives, 96% said diversity and inclusion could improve their bottom lines.\n\nNothing motivates business like a threat to its profit margins. At many companies, diversity and inclusion has now moved from an obscure corner of the HR department to become a corporate priority, opening the floodgates of spending on consultants and vendors eager to solve the problem.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIn theory, the diversity-recruitment industry is one that should spell its own demise. Once women and minorities are represented in significant numbers, there shouldn\u2019t be a need for extra efforts to recruit them. But in a world where just 1% of Google\u2019s engineers are black, and only 18% of Microsoft\u2019s leaders are women, there\u2019s no reason to believe Jopwell and its competitors won\u2019t be in business for years to come.", "output": "A new industry of diversity-recruitment has evolved from the failure of US firms to broaden the base of their workforces, with Fortune 500 companies spending a total of $16bn each year on hiring, equivalent to $32m per company. Firms spend $2.5m annually on recruiting minority candidates and this figure is expected to double, or even increase four-fold, in the near future. Over the past decade, companies have also shifted from viewing diversity as a social good to something that is imperative for business success, with McKinsey reporting that ethnically diverse companies outperform competitors by 35%."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California\u2019s governor blames climate change for wildfires \n At least 15 people have died in northern California after what officials are describing as an \u201cunprecedented\u201d wildfire that has already destroyed 2,000 structures and devastated large swaths of wine country.\n\n\u201cWe often have multiple fires going on, but the majority of them all started right around the same time period, same time of night \u2013 it\u2019s unprecedented,\u201d Amy Head, the fire captain spokeswoman for Cal Fire, the state agency responsible for fire protection, told the Guardian. \u201cI hate using that word because it\u2019s been overused a lot lately because of how fires have been in the past few years, but it truly is \u2013 there\u2019s just been a lot of destruction.\u201d\n\nAs of Tuesday afternoon, the Sonoma sheriff\u2019s office said about 150 people were still reported as missing.\n\nAbout 20,000 people have been evacuated, including hundreds of senior citizens from nursing homes, and public schools in Napa and Sonoma counties were closed on Tuesday. Major fires in those regions remain completely uncontained, threatening thousands of homes and vineyards in the wine country north of San Francisco.\n\nStill, calmer conditions on Monday night helped fire crews get a handle on the situation, said another Cal Fire spokeswoman, Heather Williams.\n\n\u201cThe acreage isn\u2019t going up drastically, and hopefully over the next few days we\u2019re going to start to see those containment numbers go up.\u201d\n\nCalifornia\u2019s governor, Jerry Brown, has declared a state of emergency in eight mostly northern counties \u2013 Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Sonoma and Yuba counties. On Monday, during a visit to the state, Vice-President Mike Pence said he had spoken with Brown.\n\n\u201cThe dryness of the climate, the strength of the winds \u2013 you all in California know much better than this midwesterner does,\u201d Pence said. \u201cBut I can assure you, as I did the governor, that the federal government stands ready to provide any and all assistance to the state of California.\u201d\n\nEleven of the deaths occurred in Napa and Sonoma counties, according to Cal Fire. Three were further north, in Mendocino county, and the last in the eastern Yuba county, officials said. Entire neighborhoods and a trailer park in the town of Santa Rosa, 55 miles from San Francisco, have already been razed, along with a Hilton hotel, according to local reports.\n\nYears of drought in California, followed by an extremely wet winter, have meant that vegetation is thicker and more susceptible to the fires that tend to be at their worst in the autumn. Officials say the high winds are hampering firefighting efforts in the region about 140 miles (225km) north of San Francisco. To assist with the efforts the country\u2019s largest firefighting aircraft \u2013 a converted 747 \u2013 has been deployed.\n\n\u201cIt was an inferno like you\u2019ve never seen before,\u201d said Marian Williams, who caravanned with neighbors through flames before dawn as one of the wildfires reached the vineyards and ridges at her small Sonoma County town of Kenwood.\n\nWilliams could feel the heat of her fire through the car as she fled. \u201cTrees were on fire like torches,\u201d she said.\n\nMandatory evacuations were ordered in counties north of San Francisco Bay and elsewhere after blazes broke out late on Sunday.\n\n00:37 View from the sky reveals California wildfires devastation - video\n\nWilliams, said that 17 major fires had started in the past 36 hours in the California, burning about 115,000 acres, mostly in the northern part of the state.\n\nShe added that unusually high winds had made the fires spread so quickly. \u201cNight-time is when humidity is the highest and temperatures are cooler, but that wind, fueled by denser vegetation, really pushed these fires so quickly.\u201d\n\nThe high number of deaths in one series of connected fires is unusual. There have been, on average, 13 wildfire deaths a year in the whole of the US since 2014, according to figures collated by the National Interagency Fire Center.\n\nHead, the Cal Fire captain, said the fires were probably linked to a warming climate. \u201cIt has been hotter, it has been drier, our fire seasons have been longer, fires are burning more intensely, which is a direct correlation to the climate changing,\u201d she said.\n\nWith so many fires, residents of Sonoma County struggled to figure out which roads to take, finding downed trees or flames blocking some routes.\n\n\n\nFires also burned just to the east in the Napa County wine country as well as in Yuba, Butte and Nevada counties, all north of the state capital. Cal Fire tweeted that as many as 8,000 homes were threatened in Nevada County, which lies on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada.\n\nSmoke was thick in San Francisco, 60 miles (96km) south of the Sonoma County fire.\n\n00:17 Family film their escape from California wildfire: 'even the road is alight' \u2013 video\n\nPillars of heavy smoke rose from the hills surrounding the town of Napa as the sun set on one of the deadliest days of wildfires in California\u2019s history. As darkness took over, the hills around wine country glowed red.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve never had a fire like this before,\u201d said Mike Willmarth, a Napa middle school teacher who has lived in the area for 30 years. \u201cWe\u2019ve never had devastation like this.\u201d\n\n\n\nMargaret Beardsley, 92, sat in a wheelchair next to her husband, Robert, and daughter, Nora. Beardsley used an oxygen tank and wore a surgical mask \u2013 the smoke in the air had irritated her lungs.\n\nBurned out wine bottles sit on a rack at the fire damaged Signorello Estate winery. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s terrible,\u201d said Beardsley, who has lived in Napa for 46 years and never been evacuated before. \u201cWhen we left we had no idea if we would have anything to come back to. I want to go home and sleep in my own bed.\u201d\n\nThe lack of information was frustrating George Bradley, 74, a retired cement mason who has lived in the Napa area for his entire life. He hadn\u2019t been able to contact his mother, and was worried about the house he had evacuated at about 1.30pm.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe just paid it off. We just got the deed,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t know if it\u2019s still standing or not.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe fire\u2019s economic impact is not yet known \u2013 the hundreds of wineries in Napa and Sonoma valleys are their lifeblood. Reports indicate that two wineries \u2013 Signorello Estate Winery and Paradise Ridge Winery \u2013 were destroyed and that portions of another, Stags\u2019 Leap, were also burned.\n\nAlthough most of this year\u2019s grapes have been harvested, the remaining 20% are some of the most valuable, said Jennifer Putnam, executive director of Napa Valley Grapegrowers, the Napa Valley vineyard trade association. \u201cIt\u2019s some of the best fruit that Napa produces, all of the cabernet sauvignon, so it will have a major economic impact if this last 20% can\u2019t be picked,\u201d she said. \u201cWe will have to see where we are tomorrow and next week to see how the grapes are metabolizing all this smoke.\u201d\n\nAgencies contributed reporting\n\n", "output": "The Governor of the US state of California, which is experiencing wildfires that have killed at least 15 people and destroyed huge areas of the Napa Valley wine region, has said that global warming will increase the chance of future fires. Jerry Brown is a leading figure in the campaign against climate change. The economic impact of the fires remains unclear. Although most of the region\u2019s grapes have already been harvested, the 20% that remain are some of the most valuable. At least two wineries are believed to have been destroyed and the smoke could affect surviving crops."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California\u2019s governor blames climate change for wildfires \n SACRAMENTO (CBS SF) -- California Gov. Jerry Brown warns that catastrophic wildfires will keep ripping through the state as the climate warms.\n\nBrown told reporters Wednesday that more people are living in communities close to forests and brush that easily ignite because of dry weather. Blazes burning in Northern California have become some of the deadliest in state history.\n\nALSO READ: Complete Coverage of Wine County Wildfires\n\nWine Country Wildfires: How You Can Help\n\nHe said a warming climate has contributed to catastrophic wildfires. \"That's the way it is with a warming climate, dry weather and reducing moisture.\" said Brown. \"These kind of catastrophes have happened and they'll continue to happen, and we have to be prepared to do everything we can to mitigate.\"\n\nThe governor has positioned himself as a leader in the fight against climate change.\n\nBrown says the federal government has pledged assistance but points out resources also are going to hurricane recovery efforts in Texas and Florida.\n\n\u00a9 Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.", "output": "The Governor of the US state of California, which is experiencing wildfires that have killed at least 15 people and destroyed huge areas of the Napa Valley wine region, has said that global warming will increase the chance of future fires. Jerry Brown is a leading figure in the campaign against climate change. The economic impact of the fires remains unclear. Although most of the region\u2019s grapes have already been harvested, the 20% that remain are some of the most valuable. At least two wineries are believed to have been destroyed and the smoke could affect surviving crops."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Jamie\u2019s Italian tops nutritional ranking for children\u2019s meals \n Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nLifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nWhen it comes to healthy options on children\u2019s menus, it\u2019s historically been slim/chubby pickings, depending on how you look at it.\n\nTo mark World Obesity Day, the Soil Association have released a league table ranking the nutritional value of children\u2019s menus at restaurant chains across the UK - and the results may surprise you.\n\nIn collaboration with TV chef and campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall , the team have uncovered that a number of popular chains still fail to offer children healthy choices, with some serving hugely calorific dishes and charging extra for portions of vegetables.\n\nRecommended This formerly obese model got the best revenge on school bullies\n\nThe campaign recruited 80 volunteer families as \u201csecret diners\u201d who were sent out to review more than 90 establishments. Restaurants and pubs were awarded points and subsequently ranked on the nutritional value of their children\u2019s menus.\n\nJamie\u2019s Italian was crowned the winner, followed by Strada (who serve a salad with every meal) while fast-food joint Burger King came last.\n\n(The Soil Association (The Soil Association)\n\nSurprisingly, popular chains such as Nando\u2019s and Prezzo ranked poorly, whereas Wetherspoons and Beefeater scored in the top five thanks to their sustainable fish and organic offerings, despite being less known for their culinary delights.\n\nAt the lower end of the chart, some dishes were found to include additives such as E133, E120 (made from insects) and MSG, all of which have been linked to hyperactivity.\n\nThe most calorific dish on the league table was Harvester's chocolate cookie pizza - a cookie topped with chocolate sauce, marshmallows, strawberries, butterscotch sauce and chocolate buttons - which contains 721 calories.\n\nWhilst there is clearly still room for improvement when it comes to children\u2019s meals, the campaign notes that much progress has been made since it launched in 2013, with 13 chains now serving vegetables or salad with every meal and 12 using organic ingredients.\n\nPlus, Pizza Hut and TGI Fridays have agreed to discontinue free refills of soft drinks from March 2018, whilst Harvester and Caf\u00e9 Rouge will also be reducing the portion sizes of their children\u2019s pudding offerings.\n\n\u201cMany restaurants are now prioritising child health and investing in healthier and more creative meal options,\u201d said Rob Percival from the Soil Association.\n\n\u201cBut there is still a national scandal unfolding in plain sight: 75 per cent of UK parents say they are worried by the portion size of children\u2019s puddings when they eat out.\n\n\u201cWe found that renegade chains are ignoring parent concerns by dishing up super-sized calorific junk, undermining national efforts to tackle childhood obesity,\u201d he said.\n\nThe Out to Lunch campaign is using its findings to entice restaurant chains to improve their children's menus by reducing portion sizes and including vegetables with every dish.", "output": "Jamie\u2019s Italian and Strada have topped a league table produced by the Soil Association, which rates the nutritional value of children\u2019s menus in UK restaurant chains. In conjunction with chef and campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the environmental group found that progress had been achieved since its first ranking in 2013, with 13 chains including salad or vegetables with each meal and 12 using organic ingredients. However, some chains still served highly calorific meals and charged extra for vegetables. Beefeater and Weatherspoons were rated in the top five, while Prezzo and Nando\u2019s received poor rankings. Burger King was bottom of the table.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Jamie\u2019s Italian tops nutritional ranking for children\u2019s meals \n Our Out To Lunch 2022 campaign sent an army of \u201csecret diner\u201d parents out to assess the quality of food on offer at 16 UK visitor attractions.\n\nWe gathered the results and marked the attractions out of 100. We revealed how attractions are \u201cslicing, dicing and ditching\u201d children\u2019s menus as they battle with rising ingredient costs and staff shortages.", "output": "Jamie\u2019s Italian and Strada have topped a league table produced by the Soil Association, which rates the nutritional value of children\u2019s menus in UK restaurant chains. In conjunction with chef and campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the environmental group found that progress had been achieved since its first ranking in 2013, with 13 chains including salad or vegetables with each meal and 12 using organic ingredients. However, some chains still served highly calorific meals and charged extra for vegetables. Beefeater and Weatherspoons were rated in the top five, while Prezzo and Nando\u2019s received poor rankings. Burger King was bottom of the table.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Battery-grade lithium made from spodumene concentrate in Mali \n JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) \u2013 China-based lithium carbonate producer Shandong Ruifu Lithium has produced a high-quality, low-impurity and battery-grade lithium carbonate using spodumene concentrate from Aim-listed Kodal Minerals\u2019 Bougouni project, in southern Mali.\n\nThe chemical analysis of the final lithium carbonate product shows low levels of impurities, supporting its positioning as a premium product compared with many other products in the market.\n\nEarlier test work had demonstrated the ability to produce spodumene concentrates ranging between 5.5% and 6.7% lithium oxide from Bougouni samples through flotation treatment of reverse circulation drill chips.\n\n\u201cThe test work completed previously had demonstrated good metallurgical recoveries producing a high-grade spodumene concentrate, and these test results now confirm that this spodumene can be converted to a final lithium carbonate product that will be a premium product compared with many others in the market,\u201d Kodal CEO Bernard Aylward said in a statement on Monday.\n\n\n\nHe added that Kodal was maintaining a busy exploration and definition programme at Bougouni.\n\nThe programme includes the extraction of a 5 000 t bulk sample to be shipped to China for further testing and review of potential plant design parameters.\n\n\n\n\u201cOur exploration drilling and definition work is scheduled to begin as soon as possible after the rainy season, with a drill rig contracted to undertake a large-scale programme testing our advanced prospects, as well as several high-priority new prospects.\u201d\n\n", "output": "China-based lithium carbonate producer Shandong Ruifu Lithium said it produced a high-quality, low-impurity and battery-grade lithium carbonate using spodumene concentrate from Kodal Minerals\u2019 Bougouni project\u00a0in southern Mali. \"The test work completed previously had demonstrated good metallurgical recoveries producing a high-grade spodumene concentrate, and these test results now confirm that this spodumene can be converted to a final lithium carbonate product that will be a premium product compared with many others in the market\",\u00a0said Kodal CEO Bernard Aylward."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TriForce Tokens, Coventry University form gaming services tie-up \n About The Author\n\nThe writer of this post is a guest. Opinions in the article are solely of the writer and do not reflect The Merkle's view.", "output": "UK blockchain gaming start-up TriForce Tokens has partnered with the commercial arm of Coventry University as it prepares to launch a cryptocurrency platform. The Coventry-based firm will hold an initial coin offering (ICO) next month with the aim of raising $40m, after a pre-sale on 14 October. The new token and the infrastructure being launched alongside it are intended to give independent games developers easier access to a range of features, helping them with player reach and retention, in-game purchasing, tournaments and peer rankings.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Retailing brands in India accuse Amazon of 'ambush marketing' \n Indian retailing brands Big Bazaar, Hyper-City, Star Bazaar, D-Mart, Walmart-owned Best Price Modern Wholesale, Big-Basket have accused Amazon of 'ambush marketing'.\n\nAs reported by Economic Times, retailers are now removing the items as they see this as a move by Amazon to acquire their customers. Packs of brands such as ITC\u2019s Yippee Noodles, Nestle\u2019s KitKat chocolate and Coca Cola\u2019s Sprite and Fanta soft drinks are among the brands that are, or were, being retailed at offline stores along with Amazon gift coupons.\n\nKishore Biyani, founder of Future Group said: \u201cWe will not allow ambush marketing at any cost. We have started removing such products from the shelves and told brands not to supply us packs that have any promotional tie-up with a rival retailer.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe act of promoting a specific distribution channel through a cash incentive on products sold through traditional distribution is not good for the growth of the industry,\u201d he said. \u201cSmall traders and retailers will be significantly impacted from a promotion, which is incentivising consumers to shop in a competing channel.\u201d\n\nD-Mart chief executive Neville Noronha referred Amazon's bundled coupon move as one \u201cbelow the belt.\u201d He said: \u201cPrincipally, the brands should have spoken to us. Amazon is using us as a channel to acquire customers without any agreement with us. We\u2019ve communicated our point of view to the brands.\n\nAn Amazon spokesperson said : \u201cAmazon regularly runs various kinds of promotional activities with sellers and brand partners in keeping with its vision to make online commerce a part of everyday life.\"\n\nRecently, Indian online companies form lobby to combat global rivals Amazon and Uber.", "output": "Established Indian supermarkets have withdrawn a number of big name brands from their shelves, after accusing Amazon of \"ambush marketing\" to steal their customers. Amazon had bundled\u00a0gift vouchers with packs of Nestle's KitKat chocolate and Coca Cola's Sprite and Fanta, among\u00a0others. In response, retailers including Bazaar, D-Mart and Walmart's Best Price Modern Wholesale have returned the products and complained to the brands involved. D-Mart's CEO has described Amazon's move as an attempt to attract customers from within rivals' stores.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian payments firm Mint joins with PoS distributor Sektor \n Retail and mobile computing distributor Sektor has signed a five-year distribution agreement with payment processing technology provider Mint Payments.\n\nThe agreement will see Mint\u2019s payment products integrated into new and existing point-of-sales (POS) solutions sold by Sektor.\n\n\u201cSektor is a great partner for Mint and the agreement gives us immediate access to a large SME market in Australia,\u201d Mint Payments chief executive Alex Teoh said.\n\n\u201cSektor\u2019s well-established network of vendors\u2019 services millions of businesses in this space and it gives us the capacity to ramp up users of our payment solutions beyond current levels.\u201d\n\nMint said that this agreement will further ramp up user numbers, which currently sits at around 16,000 with a compound annual growth rate of around 106 percent.\n\nThe agreement aims to open up Mint\u2019s offerings further into the retail, hospitality and enterprise mobility markets in Australia.\n\n\u201cSektor is excited to have a full POS and payment offering for our integrator partners to take to market,\u201d Sektor chief executive Rhys Warren said.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s relevant for them to now be involved in these solutions, it provides additional growth for these partners, and the Mint solution is delivering many new benefits for their merchant customers.\u201d\n\nSektor will acquire all of Mint\u2019s existing hardware and manage the logistics of the payment solutions distribution, while also providing support for Mint\u2019s marketing and promotion.\n\nMint said it will explore new distribution partnerships in Asia as well.", "output": "Payment processing technology firm Mint Payments is set to expand its presence in Australia's retail and hospitality markets after signing a five-year agreement with Sektor, a distributor of PoS products, such as barcode scanners and PoS terminals. Sektor will acquire all Mint's hardware, manage its distribution and provide the firm with marketing and promotional support. Mint is hoping to use the deal to make further inroads into the enterprise mobility market, which comprises business users of mobile devices, wireless networks and mobile computing services. Mint currently has around 16,000 users and is eyeing distribution partnerships in the Asian sector.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nokia Technologies to turn focus away from VR to digital health \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nNokia has announced plans to \u201chalt\u201d development of its Ozo VR camera, citing \u201cslower-than-expected\u201d virtual reality adoption in the digital media realm.\n\nIt was back in July 2015 that Nokia first announced the Ozo VR camera, a device that sported eight synchronized shutter sensors and microphones for stereoscopic three-dimensional video. With a starting price of $60,000, the camera was aimed squarely at professional filmmakers, though the price later dropped to a more palatable $25,000.\n\nImage Credit: Nokia\n\nAlthough some major media companies \u2014 including Sony Pictures \u2014 did invest in the Ozo VR camera, it seems the adoption rate hasn\u2019t been what Nokia had hoped for, and now it\u2019s pulling the plug.\n\n\u201cIn digital media, the slower-than-expected development of the VR market means that Nokia Technologies plans to reduce investments and focus more on technology licensing opportunities,\u201d the company said in a statement.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\nEvolving\n\nEver since offloading its mobile phone division to Microsoft for $7 billion in 2014, and selling its Here mapping unit to a handful of German carmakers, Nokia has essentially consisted of two units: Nokia Networks, a broadband network infrastructure business, and Nokia Technologies, a division that seeks to keep the Nokia brand alive in the consumer realm. This has included digital health devices via a $192 million Withings acquisition and the Ozo VR camera. It\u2019s worth noting here that Nokia has also been licensing its brand name out to a new standalone company called HMD Global, which has been bringing a growing number of Nokia mobile phones to market.\n\nMoving forward, Nokia said that it will increase its focus on digital health and brand and technology licensing, in addition to maintaining its existing patent licensing business, which it says \u201cis not in scope of planned changes.\u201d By way of example, Apple and Nokia recently ended a long-running legal spat when they signed a multi-year patent agreement \u2014 Nokia\u2019s arsenal of intellectual property (IP) patents is clearly a big money-spinner for the company.\n\nThough Nokia said it will \u201cmaintain its commitments\u201d to existing Ozo VR customers \u2014 after all, if you\u2019d doled out $60,000 for a device you would expect nothing less \u2014 the company did warn that halting work on the camera will mean staff cutbacks. Nokia Technologies employs 1,090 people in Finland, the U.S., and the U.K., and the company suggested that around a third of those jobs are now on the chopping block.\n\nToday\u2019s news comes just four months after Nokia Technologies nabbed Gregory Lee, Samsung North America\u2019s CEO, as its new global president. At the time of the hire, Rajeev Suri, CEO and president of Nokia and chairman of Nokia Technologies, gave no indication that the company\u2019s VR business was on its last legs. \u201cGregory\u2019s passion for innovation and operational excellence, along with his proven ability to build and lead global consumer technology businesses, make him well suited to advance Nokia\u2019s efforts in virtual reality, digital health, and beyond,\u201d said Suri.\n\nBut it seems that four months is a long time in technology, and a lot can change. When it comes to VR, Nokia clearly believes the writing is on the wall, and it\u2019s quite possible that the world isn\u2019t ready to embrace VR as Nokia had hoped.\n\n\u201cNokia Technologies is at a point where, with the right focus and investments, we can meaningfully grow our footprint in the digital health market, and we must seize that opportunity,\u201d noted Lee. \u201cWhile necessary, the changes will also affect our employees, and as a responsible company we are committed to providing the needed support to those affected.\u201d", "output": "Nokia Technologies is to abandon its Ozo virtual reality (VR) camera development programme and instead focus on digital health and licensing. The Ozo camera was aimed at professional film-makers and did generate investment from major companies, including\u00a0Sony Pictures. Nokia said it's\u00a0pulling the plug after slower-than-expected\u00a0uptake of VR in the\u00a0media industry. It\u00a0stressed, however,\u00a0it will maintain its commitments to existing customers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lingerie brand Freya latest advertiser to get into podcasting \n Wacoal-owned lingerie brand Freya is the latest advertiser to hedge its bets on original podcasts, with the group\u2019s top marketer in Europe saying the medium is something the Japanese company \u2013 which also owns Fantasie, Goddess and Elomi \u2013 might now invest in across its portfolio.\n\nThe brand's podcast, When Life Gives You Melons, is hosted by TV presenter and radio host Maya Jama and aimed at busy young women. The eight-part series was created by PR agency The Romans and is poised to run through to the festive period, featuring weekly chats with celebrity guests around issues affecting young women, which includes everything from \u201cfrom career advice to boobs\u201d.\n\nLaura Simon, Wacoal\u2019s chief marketing officer for Europe, said the decision to produce original content with the power to weave its way into women\u2019s everyday lives was a no brainer given that Freya\u2019s target demographic of 25 to 34-year-olds counts for around 40% of the UK's podcast audience.\n\n\u201cThe conversations women are having with friends around dating, relationships and work are very powerful. So, it\u2019s about finding our place in that culture and doing something that connects with our audience in a way that is different within the [lingerie] category,\" she told The Drum.\n\nFrom Wonderbra\u2019s famous 90s \u2018Hello Boys\u2019 billboards to Curvy Kate\u2019s body positive-centric campaigns, lingerie marketing has witnessed a significant shift in recent years, and for Simon this progression is something the Wacoal, which turned around \u00a5203bn (\u00a31.37bn) in net sales last year, is throwing its weight behind.\n\n\"It\u2019s really important that we move away from the historical male gaze stuff and go into being in the narrative of people\u2019s lives and create something relevant. That\u2019s what the podcast does,\" continued Simon.\n\nWhat's more, she said, podcasts are personal; listeners have to make a conscious choice to download or subscribe, making them an attractive buy for advertisers seeking an alternative to potentially off-putting online ads which interrupt user experiences.\n\n\u201cWe have a loyal consumer, but we want to think about attracting younger fans and establishing a clear tone of voice for the brand with a podcast that reflects our consumers,\u201d she added, saying she believed podcasts give brands a chance to be culturally relevant and resonate with potential shoppers in a fresh way.\n\nFreya\u2019s timely choice to double down on podcasts comes amid similar moves from brands like Jaguar Land Rover which has been experimenting with immersive story-driven podcasts and eBay which is on the second series of its Open for Business how-to style show.\n\nIn the UK, Rajar figures from last winter claim that podcasts reach 4.7 million UK adults, but the US is arguably ahead of the curve. Earlier this year, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) unveiled its first \"podcast playbook\" for brands looking to capture US listeners' ears while research conducted by PwC estimates podcast ad revenues in the States are set to top $200m (\u00a3151m) this year alone, an 85% leap on the previous year.\n\nFreya's content sits alongside the likes of S-Town and BBC Women\u2019s Hour, only recognisable as a branded podcast by the publisher name. Simon said the aim is to keep the conversation as natural as possible with the only mentions of Freya bookmarking the podcast at the start, middle and end \u2013 as any other sponsor would typically do.\n\nThe wider Wacoal group has undergone something of a marketing remodel since Simon joined in 2016, and while it's too early to measure results of the Freya podcast trials, anecdotal feedback has so far has been positive, she said.\n\nThe first episode peaked in the top 20 in the UK podcast charts, with Simon saying that across the wider group is now mulling further investment in the medium.", "output": "Japanese lingerie manufacturer Wacoal Group is considering using podcasts to promote its portfolio, following the success of its Freya brand's original content, When Life Gives You Melons. Laura Simon, Wacoal\u2019s chief marketing officer for Europe, said the medium offered a chance to be \"culturally relevant and resonate with potential shoppers\", and move away from the \"historical male gaze stuff\". The group, which saw net sales of JPY203bn ($1.81bn) in 2016, also owns the Fantasie, Goddess and Elomi brands.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Start-up takes full-page WSJ ad to tease Jamie Dimon over cryptos \n Jamie Dimon called bitcoin 'a fraud' in September. REUTERS/Jason Reed\n\nA cryptocurrency company took out a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday to fire back at JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who in September called bitcoin \"a fraud.\"\n\nThe ad, taken out by Eidoo, a cryptocurrency wallet company, said \"Maybe Jamie will fire you. But you will be free to trade in the crypto world.\"\n\nThat's alluding to comments made by Dimon on September 12.\n\nWhile speaking at a Barclays financial conference, Dimon bashed bitcoin saying it is in a bubble \"worse than tulips bulbs.\" Dimon added that he would fire anyone at the bank for trading the red-hot cryptocurrency for being stupid.\n\nBitcoin is up more than 350% year-to-date.\n\nA full page ad in The Wall Street Journal can cost as much as $354,823, a high price tag for most startups. But Eidoo, which provides an app for cryptocurrency investors to store their various coins and tokens, appears to have cash to spare. So far, it has raised more than 79,000 ether tokens in an initial coin offering, according to its website. That's worth roughly $23,700,000.\n\nICOs allow startups to raise money by issuing their own cryptocurrencies. Recently, ICOs have come under scrutiny from regulators because companies can use them to raise quick money without having to disclose substantive information to investors.\n\nThey've become a darling of blockchain and cryptocurrency startups looking to raise cash without having to go through the traditional avenues of venture capital or an initial public offering.\n\nHere's a picture of the ad:", "output": "Swiss cryptocurrency wallet firm Eidoo has poked fun at JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon by taking out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal, which said: \"Maybe Jamie will fire you. But you will be free to trade in the crypto world\". The ad followed a recent comment by Dimon when\u00a0he dubbed cryptocurrencies \"worse than tulip bulbs\" and threatened to fire any bank employees trading them. Eidoo recently raised $23.7m in an initial coin offering, while bitcoin's value has risen by more than 350% this year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK landlords would refuse tenants based on court, credit history \n Almost half of landlords in the UK would refuse to let to a new tenant with a poor credit score despite in depth credit checks not forming a part of the usual application process.\n\nSome 46% said that they put weight behind credit history and 48% said they would refuse to take on a tenant with a county court judgement in the past while 42% would reject an application from a prospective tenant with past insolvency issues.\n\nThe research from tenant referencing and insurance agency Landlord Secure also shows that applicants with existing debts like credit cards or loans would raise red flags for 30% of landlords, while those in receipt of housing benefits would struggle to be accepted by 19% of landlords and those on universal credit would fail against 16% of landlords.\n\nAlthough rent payment history does not form part of credit checks, there are increasing calls within the sector for this to become the norm, so those in rental properties can build a credit score based on regular and timely payments and have access to the same advantages as those with a mortgage.\n\nThe research report points out that usually letting agencies rely heavily on publicly available information like county court judgements or declarations of bankruptcy, which can give some insight into a person\u2019s previous financial footprint, but not the full picture of their current situation.\n\nThe firm says that the fact that landlords would put so much weight behind credit scores suggests the market needs to make this comprehensive check a normal part of the application process.\n\n\u2018Those in rental properties are at a serious disadvantage when it comes to building a credit rating because paying rent on time doesn\u2019t count towards this score,\u2019 said Steve Burrows, managing director at Landlord Secure and LateRent.\n\n\u2018Given that landlords would put more weight behind a tenant\u2019s credit score, those in rental properties should be given the chance to build a better credit score based on their history of paying rent on time,\u2019 he added.\n\nLandlord Secure has recently launched LateRent that allows landlords to report payment history to credit reference agencies, enabling them to carry out robust affordability assessments on potential tenants. It also allows tenants who pay on time to build up a good credit history.", "output": "Almost half of UK landlords would reject a tenant with a previous county court judgement and a similar proportion\u00a0said a poor credit history would be enough for them to reject an applicant. Research by tenant referencing and insurance agency\u00a0Landlord Secure\u00a0also found almost one-third of landlords would be troubled by tenants with debts such as credit cards or loans. Landlord Secure, which recently launched a tool enabling property owners to flag up payment histories to credit reference agencies, said the study results suggest a comprehensive credit check should form part of the tenant-application process.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mastercard opens fintech innovation lab in India \n PUNE: Mastercard today announced the launch of its first Lab in India, which will work with partners in the fintech industry to identify and experiment with future technologies. Mastercard Labs , which has been set up in Pune, is the ninth such lab for the company globally, and the second in the Asia Pacific region.In a statement, the company said that Mastercard Labs will work with financial institutions and merchant partners and the fintech community to identify and experiment with future technologies in a few key areas including digital payments, data solutions, financial inclusion, alternative payments and safety and security. The Lab will also support and work with startups developing next generation, breakthrough commerce solutions through Mastercard\u2019s Start Path program.\u201cLearning, innovation, and collaboration cannot exist in isolation. The launch of the first Mastercard Labs in India is evidence of our commitment to designing solutions that drive commerce and create more inclusive societies around the world,\u201d said Ken Moore, executive vice president, Mastercard Labs. By bringing together a team of passionate individuals from diverse cultures and disciplines, we seek to further accelerate and enhance our ability to launch innovations that help us improve the lives of everyday Indians and help them move closer to our vision of a world beyond cash.\u201dThe lab will drive innovation for Mastercard in India, through collaboration and co-creation with academia, fintech experts, technologists and developers based in India. It will identify and experiment with future technologies and drive new concepts and innovations through incubation, proof of concept, pilot and commercialization, in order to deliver additional value to consumers and businesses of India.\u201cThe Mastercard Labs in India provides a significant opportunity to highlight the country\u2019s standing as a world-class innovation hub, renowned for its entrepreneurial spirit and growing pool of science, technology, engineering and mathematics talent,\u201d said Tobias Puehse, Vice President, Mastercard Labs, Asia Pacific. \u201cBy establishing the new lab in Pune, we are looking to deepen our active collaborations with governments, issuers and businesses in India and revolutionize the market\u2019s digital payments ecosystem to drive greater acceptance and adoption of electronic payments, not just in India but around the world.\u201dMastercard Labs is the latest in a series of collaborations the company has undertaken this year. It has worked with the National Payments Corporation of India ( NPCI ) and other payments brands to develop Bharat QR, the world\u2019s first interoperable Quick Response (QR) code acceptance solution, as part of a national push to streamline local electronic payments infrastructure.", "output": "Mastercard has opened an innovation\u00a0lab in Pune, India, its second in the Asia-Pacific region and ninth globally. The lab will\u00a0collaborate with fintech firms, merchant partners and financial institutions to develop technologies covering digital payments, data solutions, financial inclusion, alternative payments and safety and security. The lab also aims to support start-ups working on next-generation technologies via Mastercard\u2019s Start Path programme.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon, Alibaba and JD.com experience above-average growth \n Amazon, Alibaba and JD.com continue to outperform retailers worldwide, with the three e-commerce giants experiencing an average revenue growth rate of 30% in 2016, compared with a 4.3% average growth rate for retailers worldwide.\n\nAmazon is the number one retailer globally but Chinese ecommerce giants are hot on its heels\n\nA report from eMarketer, using data from UK-based OC&C Strategy Consultants, revealed the top ten retailers worldwide ranked by the increase in sales in 2016.", "output": "Online retail giants Amazon, JD.com and Alibaba are significantly outperforming their global rivals in the industry. While the average growth rate for retailers worldwide in 2016 stood at just 4.3%, Amazon's sales surged by 27%, adding \u00a323.5bn ($31bn) to its revenue. JD.com and Alibaba exceeded even that, recording increases of 41% and 33% respectively, although they posted smaller cash totals. These companies, both based in China, are also investing in\u00a0physical stores across the country."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Copycat adblocker app downloaded by 37,000 people \n If you use Adblock Plus with Chrome and downloaded the extension pretty recently, you may want to check what you've installed. Apparently, a fake Adblock Plus extension made it through Google's verification process and lived in the official Chrome Web Store alongside the real one. Google has taken down the phony listing after SwiftOnSecurity tweeted about it and put the company on blast, but by then, it has already been up long enough to fool 37,000 people. That's a drop in the bucket for a service that has 10 million users, but it sounds like trouble for those who were unlucky enough to download it.\n\nGoogle allows 37,000 Chrome users to be tricked with a fake extension by fraudulent developer who clones popular name and spams keywords. pic.twitter.com/ZtY5WpSgLt \u2014 SwiftOnSecurity (@SwiftOnSecurity) October 9, 2017\n\nLegitimate developers just have to sit back and watch as Google smears them with fake extensions that steal their good name pic.twitter.com/3Tnv4NtY9t \u2014 SwiftOnSecurity (@SwiftOnSecurity) October 9, 2017\n\nI'm being mean to Google because there's no way their Chrome team is happy with this extension vetting/moderation situation. \u2014 SwiftOnSecurity (@SwiftOnSecurity) October 9, 2017\n\nSwiftOnSecurity says the fake extension was created by a \"fraudulent developer who clones popular name and spams keywords.\" Indeed, it's pretty hard to tell that it's fake, since its developer's name is \"Adblock Plus,\" and it has a considerable number of reviews.\n\nAccording to one of the fake Adblock's reviewers, he started getting invasive ads that open lots of tabs after he installed it. Unfortunately, it's unclear what else it can do or if it has even more detrimental effects that we still don't know of. We asked Google if it has unearthed anything about the fraudulent extension, but even if we never hear back, it may be best to re-install Adblock Plus if you notice getting random ads after downloading it.", "output": "A copycat version of Chrome's AdBlock Plus has been downloaded by 37,000 people. Google removed the fraudulent extension from the Chrome Web Store after SwiftOnSecurity tweeted about it, but thousands had already been tricked by the phoney listing. Users are advised to re-install Adblock Plus if they notice random ads after downloading it.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Deloitte hack compromised US government and major firms' emails \n The hack into the accountancy giant Deloitte compromised a server that contained the emails of an estimated 350 clients, including four US government departments, the United Nations and some of the world\u2019s biggest multinationals, the Guardian has been told.\n\nSources with knowledge of the hack say the incident was potentially more widespread than Deloitte has been prepared to acknowledge and that the company cannot be 100% sure what was taken.\n\nDeloitte said it believed the hack had only \u201cimpacted\u201d six clients, and that it was confident it knew where the hackers had been. It said it believed the attack on its systems, which began a year ago, was now over.\n\nHowever, sources who have spoken to the Guardian, on condition of anonymity, say the company red-flagged, and has been reviewing, a cache of emails and attachments that may have been compromised from a host of other entities.\n\nThe Guardian has established that a host of clients had material that was made vulnerable by the hack, including:\n\nThe US departments of state, energy, homeland security and defence.\n\nThe US Postal Service.\n\nThe National Institutes of Health.\n\n\u201cFannie Mae\u201d and \u201cFreddie Mac\u201d, the housing giants that fund and guarantee mortgages in the US.\n\nFootball\u2019s world governing body, Fifa, had emails in the server that was breached, along with four global banks, three airlines, two multinational car manufacturers, energy giants and big pharmaceutical companies.\n\n\n\nThe Guardian has been given the names of more than 30 blue-chip businesses whose data was vulnerable to attack, with sources saying the list \u201cis far from exhaustive\u201d.\n\nDeloitte did not deny any of these clients had information in the system that was the target of the hack, but it said none of the companies or government departments had been \u201cimpacted\u201d. It said \u201cthe number of email messages targeted by the attacker was a small fraction of those stored on the platform\u201d.\n\nThis assurance has been contested by sources that spoke to the Guardian. They said Deloitte\u2019s public position belied concern within the company about exactly what had happened and why.\n\nThe Guardian first revealed the existence of the hack on 25 September.\n\nSince then, the Guardian has been provided with further details of the attack, which seems to have started in autumn last year at a time Deloitte was migrating and updating its email from an in-house system to Microsoft\u2019s cloud-based Office 365 service.\n\nThe work was being undertaken at Deloitte\u2019s Hermitage office in Nashville, Tennessee.\n\nThe hackers got into the system using an administrator\u2019s account that, theoretically, gave them access to the entire email database, which included Deloitte\u2019s US staff and their correspondence with clients.\n\nDeloitte realised it had a substantial problem in spring this year, when it retained the Washington-based law firm, Hogan Lovells, on \u201cspecial assignment\u201d to review and advise about what it called \u201ca possible cybersecurity incident\u201d.\n\nIn addition to emails, the Guardian understands the hackers had potential access to usernames, passwords, IP addresses, architectural diagrams for businesses and health information.\n\nIt is also thought that some emails had attachments with sensitive security and design details.\n\nDeloitte has insisted its internal inquiry, codenamed Windham, found that only six clients had information that had been compromised. The review had also been able to establish \u201cprecisely what information was at risk\u201d, the company said.\n\nHowever, that analysis has been contested by informed sources that have spoken to the Guardian. They say the investigation has not been able to establish definitively when the hackers got in and where they went; nor can they be completely sure that the electronic trail they left is complete.\n\n\u201cThe hackers had free rein in the network for a long time and nobody knows the amount of the data taken,\u201d said one source.\n\n\u201cA large amount of data was extracted, not the small amount reported. The hacker accessed the entire email database.\u201d\n\nAnother source added: \u201cThere is an ongoing effort to determine the damage. There is a team looking at records that have been tagged for further analysis. It is all deeply embarrassing.\u201d\n\nThe Guardian has been told Deloitte did not at the time have multi-factor authentication as standard on the server that was breached. A cybersecurity specialist told the Guardian this was \u201castonishing\u201d.\n\nThe expert said the migration to the new email system would have \u201cutterly complicated the kind of forensic investigation required to see what had happened\u201d.\n\n\u201cA hacker has got into Deloitte\u2019s email system and been undetected for months, and only six clients have been compromised? That does not sound right. If the hackers had been in there that long, they would have covered their tracks.\u201d\n\nWhen the Guardian put all these points to Deloitte, it declined to answer specific questions, but a spokesman said: \u201cWe dispute in the strongest terms that Deloitte is \u2018downplaying\u2019 the breach. We take any attack on our systems very seriously.\n\n\u201cWe are confident that we know what information was targeted and what the hacker actually did. Very few clients were impacted, although we want to stress that even when one client is impacted, that is one client too many.\n\n\u201cWe have concluded that the attacker is no longer in Deloitte\u2019s systems and haven\u2019t seen any signs of any subsequent activities.\n\n\u201cOur review determined what the hacker actually did. The attacker accessed data from an email platform. The review of that platform is complete.\u201d\n\nIn recent months, Deloitte has introduced multi-factor authentication and encryption software to try to stop further hacks.\n\nDmitri Sirota, co-founder and CEO of the cybersecurity firm BigID, warned that many companies had failed to use such methods because they were inconvenient and complex.\n\n\u201cPrivileged accounts are like keys that unlock everything, from the castle to the treasury. They provide unfettered access to all systems, which is why they are so valuable.\n\n\u201cOrganisations are monitoring databases, not the data in it. It\u2019s hard to detect changes, prevent incidents or compare your data to notice breached information unless you have an inventory of what you have.\u201d", "output": "Further investigation of the Deloitte hacking a year ago has revealed that the breach was potentially far more extensive than first reported. Initially Deloitte suggested the hack had \"impacted\" only six clients, but the compromised server contained emails of an estimated 350 clients, including Fifa, banks and other major companies. Among the emails and attachments were ones from US government departments, including State, Energy, Homeland Security and Defense. The extent of details stolen by the hackers is not known by Deloitte but user names, passwords, IP addresses and health information, along with attachments with sensitive security details would have been vulnerable.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Online professional development courses launched by MIT \n Distance Learning\n\nMIT Launches Digital Plus Courses for Professional Learning\n\nMIT Professional Learning is launching a new program designed to offer organizations courses for their employees that feature project-based challenges designed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty.\n\nDubbed Digital Plus Programs, these new offerings aim to provide personal and effective learning environments for individual participants while providing their organizations information on participant engagement and outcomes by leveraging online platforms and collaborative tools.\n\nRanging from six to 10 weeks in length, the courses use \"a variety of design and teaching modalities that range from interactive online to in-person sessions in order to impart leading-edge content and practices that are highly relevant to professionals across all industries,\" according to a news release. \"The courses include embedded group-based projects, challenges and learning activities, enabling knowledge-sharing, networking and innovation.\"\n\nThe first course offered through the new initiative, The Intersection of Leadership and Innovation, is being offered in partnership with Cahoot Learning, provider of an online platform designed to accommodate multiple cohorts from around the world with features such as collaboration and live communication tools, customizable assessments and analytics focused on engagement and progress.\n\nDigital Plus Programs will also include professional certificate programs that require completion of four courses. The first two certificate programs, Leading in the Transformative Era and Strategic Leadership and Innovation, are currently in development and will require completion of the first course offering, The Intersection of Leadership and Innovation.\n\nFor more information, visit professional.mit.edu.", "output": "The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has launched a programme of online professional development courses. MIT's Digital Plus offers organisations courses for their staff that involve project-based challenges and last between six and 10 weeks. The first course being offered is The Intersection of Leadership and Innovation, which is being developed in partnership with Cahoot Learning. Students who complete the first course can apply for the certificated courses\u00a0Leading in the Transformative Era and Strategic Leadership and Innovation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Neighbourhood Ventures sets up crowdfunding property platform \n PHOENIX, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Neighborhood Ventures (NV), Arizona's first crowdfunding real estate company, is pleased to announce its formation and launch in the Arizona (Phoenix) marketplace. The company allows all Arizona residents the opportunity to be shareholders in apartment projects in the Phoenix area.\n\nThe company was formed by apartment real estate veteran John Kobierowski and former Goldman Sachs tech analyst Jamison Manwaring.\n\nMr. Kobierowski, also Senior Managing Partner at Phoenix based ABI Multifamily, brings 25+ years' experience in multifamily real estate, has brokered 900+ multifamily transactions, owned/operated over 1,000+ multifamily units and successfully developed and sold 500+ condominium units.\n\nMr. Kobierowski states, \"The new Crowdfunding legislation has empowered all Arizonans with the opportunity to invest locally in business start-ups, which had been for decades reserved for only qualified investors. Neighborhood Ventures will focus on commercial Real Estate investment property, specifically multifamily assets. Investing in income-producing apartment buildings with the guidance of a team of seasoned professionals is the core of our investment strategy. We intend to be the go-to company for Arizonans to make investments in the apartment market.\"\n\nPrior to launching Neighborhood Ventures, Mr. Manwaring was VP of Investor Relations at Tempe-based LifeLock, where he helped lead the company to a successful sale in February 2017. Prior to LifeLock, Mr. Manwaring was a software analyst at Goldman Sachs in New York City where he participated in over a dozen software IPOs, including LifeLock's public offering in 2012.\n\nMr. Manwaring states, \"Crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter have given entrepreneurs a large audience to showcase and fund new technologies. Platforms like GoFundMe have transformed how donations for charitable causes can be raised quickly online. Neighborhood Ventures is excited to take crowdfunding to commercial real estate to allow every Arizona resident the opportunity to own a portion of an apartment project within their neighborhood.\"\n\nThomas M. Brophy, Director of Research for Neighborhood Ventures, states, \"Never has there been a better time to invest in multifamily (apartment) real estate than now. Rental housing has entered its most significant growth period in a generation fueled, in large part, by monumental demographic changes at both ends of the age spectrum. These changes will continue to propel the industry for years to come.\"\n\nThe company plans to open its first project for investment in November 2017.\n\nNeighborhood Ventures is Arizona's first, exclusively multifamily, real estate crowdfunding platform and asset management company.\n\nThis press release was issued through 24-7PressRelease.com. For further information, visit http://www.24-7pressrelease.com.\n\nSOURCE Neighborhood Ventures\n\nRelated Links\n\nhttp://www.neighborhood.ventures\n\n", "output": "Arizona-based property start-up Neighbourhood Ventures is to launch a\u00a0crowdfunding site\u00a0for local retail property investors. The company will give residents of the state the chance to invest in income-producing apartment projects in the Phoenix area using its crowdfunding site, under the guidance of professionals. Neighbourhood Ventures hopes to offer its first project to investors\u00a0in November.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Training New Doctors Right Where They\u2019re Needed \n https://californiahealthline.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2017/10/2017_1005_06.mp3\n\nAbout Capitol Desk Capitol Desk delivers the latest in health care policy and politics from Sacramento and around the state. Have an idea? Let us know.\n\nDon\u2019t see the audio player above? Click here to download.\n\nBAKERSFIELD, Calif. \u2014 Dr. Olga Meave didn\u2019t mind the dry, 105-degree heat that scorched this Central Valley city on a recent afternoon.\n\nThe sweltering summer days remind her of home in Sonora, Mexico. So do the people of the Valley \u2014 especially the Latino first-generation immigrants present here in large numbers, toiling in the fields or piloting big rigs laden with fruits and vegetables.\n\nMeave\u2019s sense of familiarity with the region and its residents drew her to an ambitious program in Bakersfield whose goal is to train and retain doctors in medically underserved areas.\n\nShe is now in her third and final year of the Rio Bravo Family Medicine Residency Program, operated by Clinica Sierra Vista, a chain of more than 30 clinics, mostly in the Central Valley. Meave, 34, graduated from medical school in Mexico and has pursued additional education and training in the U.S.\n\nThis story also ran on The World . It can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nShe plans to practice in Bakersfield after she completes her residency next year.\n\n\u201cThe goal is for [doctors in training] to come for three years and stay for 20,\u201d said Carol Stewart, director of the program.\n\nRio Bravo is one of eight teaching health centers in California and 57 nationwide that were created by the Affordable Care Act in 2010 to serve areas with large unmet medical needs.\n\nThis academic year, there are 732 residents in teaching health centers across 24 states.\n\nUnlike the Affordable Care Act itself, these teaching centers enjoy bipartisan support among federal lawmakers, who say such hubs will alleviate the primary care doctor shortage. But long-term funding is still in question. Last week, Congress agreed to temporarily finance the teaching health centers through the end of the year while debating whether to extend funding beyond that. President Donald Trump later signed the temporary extension.\n\nA residency is a stage of graduate medical training that\u2019s required after medical school and before doctors can set up their own practices. Most family practice residencies last three years.\n\nEmail Sign-Up Subscribe to California Healthline's free Daily Edition. Your Email Address Sign Up\n\nTraditional residency programs are generally based at large, urban hospitals in areas where there are typically a sufficient number of doctors to go around.\n\nThe first teaching health centers began training residents in 2011. They operate primarily out of clinics in rural communities and other areas where primary care physicians are in short supply.\n\nThe ideal ratio of primary care physicians to patients is about 1 for every 2,000, Stewart said. The ratio in east Bakersfield \u201cis more like 1 to 6,000, so we have a lot of catching up to do.\u201d\n\nThough teaching health centers remain relatively new, experts say they\u2019re already succeeding: Their residents generally stay in the regions where they trained, putting down roots in communities with a big demand for health care.\n\nIn June, the Rio Bravo program graduated its first class of six doctors. Two joined the staff at a Clinica Sierra Vista clinic in east Bakersfield. The other four are practicing in clinics serving low-income communities in Sacramento, Riverside and Los Angeles counties.\n\nStewart estimates that the six recent graduates together saw nearly 10,000 patients during their three years of training.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s a significant contribution,\u201d she said.\n\nThough not all teaching health centers have affiliations with medical schools,\n\nthe Rio Bravo program has an academic partnership with the UCLA medical school, which helps develop its curriculum, Stewart said. It also coordinates with a local hospital, Kern Medical, where residents complete rotations in different specialties related to family medicine.\n\nA 2015 survey by the American Association of Teaching Health Centers found that 82 percent of their graduates stay in primary care and 55 percent remain in underserved communities. By contrast, about a quarter of graduates from traditional residency programs remain in primary care and work in underserved areas, according to the same survey.\n\nMany graduates of teaching health centers have an incentive to stay in these areas because they may qualify for other programs that offer perks, such as help with paying off medical school loans.\n\nThe centers take their patient populations into consideration when selecting applicants. For instance, Rio Bravo aims to train culturally sensitive doctors, given the large local immigrant population, Stewart said.\n\nIt looks for applicants with ties to the Valley or who come from the cultures \u2014 and speak the languages \u2014 that are familiar to patients they will serve.\n\nMeave doesn\u2019t have a personal connection to the Valley, but she worked with low-income patients in Mexico. She has found that the population in the Valley, and its needs, aren\u2019t much different from those in her home country.\n\nAt Clinica Sierra Vista, she sees patients who haven\u2019t been to a doctor in decades. \u201cThey\u2019ve never had a physical exam, never had their eyes checked. \u2026 They just deal with their aches and pains,\u201d she said. \u201cI think they feel happy that I can understand them and excited that someone from the same background is providing them care.\u201d\n\nTeaching health centers are financed by federal grants administered by the Health Resources & Services Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Congress determines the amount and duration of the funding. The current allocation, an extension of the two-year funding that expired Sept. 30, runs through the end of the year.\n\nIn July, U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) introduced legislation that would fund the program for an additional three years at about $157,000 a year per student \u2014 a total of $116.5 million annually.\n\nThe amount proposed would be a 65 percent increase from the current funding of $95,000 a year per resident.\n\nLawmakers are likely to begin debating the funding measure this week, and it is still subject to change.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m glad we moved forward with a short-term extension of the \u2026 program, but we also must advance a long-term solution to provide certainty for our teaching health centers, their residents, and their patients,\u201d McMorris Rodgers said in a prepared statement. \u201cWithout a sustainable funding level \u2026 the program will unravel.\u201d\n\nShould that happen, California\u2019s teaching health centers could draw from a pot of money administered by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to pay for the remainder of the current residents\u2019 training.\n\nPrograms in other states may not have the same safety net.\n\n\u201cIf [federal funding] went away, our residency program would have to close,\u201d said Dr. Darrick Nelson, director of the teaching health center at Hidalgo Medical Services in Lordsburg, N.M.\n\nLordsburg, with a population of roughly 2,500, is a \u201csmall railroad town,\u201d Nelson said, and like many rural towns desperately needs versatile primary care doctors.\n\n\u201cWhat you\u2019re getting is three doctors for the price of one,\u201d he said. \u201cYou get someone who can do pediatrics, someone who can do obstetrical care and someone who can do internal medicine.\u201d\n\nIn California\u2019s Central Valley, there is no medical school, and new doctors often avoid the area in favor of richer urban centers, where they can make more money.\n\nEarlier this year, lawmakers earmarked $465 million from the state\u2019s new tobacco tax to boost payments for some Medi-Cal providers, which could help make poor areas like the Central Valley more attractive to doctors.\n\nAt Clinica Sierra Vista\u2019s location in east Bakersfield, where Meave\u2019s residency is based, 75 percent of patients are covered by Medi-Cal \u2014 the state\u2019s version of the federal Medicaid program for low-income residents \u2014 and 15 percent are uninsured, Stewart said. Asthma, diabetes and other chronic conditions are major health problems.\n\nVeronica Ayon, a former farmworker, is one of Meave\u2019s patients. Like her doctor, she is a native of Sonora.\n\nAyon, 48, was treated for cervical cancer in 2010 and last year underwent surgery to remove a malignant brain tumor. She feels comfortable with Meave because of their similar backgrounds and language, she said.\n\n\u201cShe is very special to me,\u201d Ayon said, speaking in Spanish inside her home in the town of Shafter, about 20 miles north of Bakersfield. \u201cShe explains things at a level I can understand.\u201d", "output": "Dr. Olga Meave didn\u2019t mind the dry, 105-degree heat that scorched this Central Valley city on a recent afternoon. The sweltering summer days remind her of home in Sonora, Mexico. So do the people of the Valley \u2014 especially the Latino first-generation immigrants present here in large numbers, toiling in the fields or piloting big rigs laden with fruits and vegetables.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California Today: Homeless Camps, With Official Blessing \n Good morning.\n\n(Want to get California Today by email? Here\u2019s the sign-up.)\n\nGovernmental czars have been appointed, ambitious plans crafted and billions of dollars spent, yet California\u2019s homeless crisis still grows.\n\nRoughly a quarter of the nation\u2019s homeless \u2014 about 118,000 people \u2014 live in California.\n\nFrustration over the lack of headway has some city leaders now embracing a strategy once considered unthinkable: Sanctioned homeless camps.\n\n\u201cThe entire West Coast is in a housing crisis,\u201d said Joe DeVries, an assistant city manager in Oakland. \u201cWhat we really need is housing. But as we build it, we need something to make people\u2019s lives better.\u201d\n\nOakland plans to open two camps for roughly 80 people within the next month or so, Mr. DeVries said. The sites will have prefab sheds, round-the-clock security and social services.", "output": "Governmental czars have been appointed,\u00a0ambitious plans\u00a0crafted and\u00a0billions of dollars\u00a0spent, yet California\u2019s homeless crisis still grows. Roughly a quarter of the nation\u2019s homeless \u2014 about 118,000 people \u2014 live in California.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Culture of buy-in can improve healthcare's performance \n An organization's culture and philosophy is one of the primary predictors of its financial success and ability to retain employees. That was the message from organizational culture experts and authors Chester Elton and Adrian Gostick at the Medical Group Management Association's conference Monday in Anaheim, California.\n\nElton and Gostick used numerous examples from other industries to make the case that healthcare organizations would benefit from a culture of positive engagement, both internally with their employees and externally as they reach out to service their customer base.\n\n[Also: Clinician satisfaction tied to healthy workplace, report says]\n\nBeing engaged, energized and enabled were the three main tentpoles of their approach, and they pointed to statistics that highlighted the efficacy of that type of culture. According to their research, companies with high engagement had a 14.3 percent higher operating margin, while companies that focused on those three E's showed an average 27.4 percent higher margin.\n\nIn particular, Elton pointed to Canadian airline WestJet, which ran a promotion one holiday season in which customers received free Christmas presents, simply for flying on the airline.\n\n[Also: NYC H+H announces hiring cuts in response to state withholding $380 million in DSH payments]\n\n\"Their profitability is through the roof,\" said Elton. \"They're the most popular airline in Canada, bar none. It's harder to get a job as a baggage handler at WestJet than it is to get into the Harvard School of Business.\" And he wasn't joking.\n\nGostick said that healthcare leaders looking to implement the three-E approach would be wise to consider a cautionary tale offered by General Motors. A few years ago, in an effort to make cars more in line with the quality that was coming out of Japan, GM embarked on a joint venture with Toyota, learning the latter company's production method. But GM didn't become more efficient. The production method, they decided, was too much work, they were too busy to focus on quality, and employees and middle managers all resisted, thinking the whole exercise was an excuse to start shedding employees. GM declared bankruptcy soon afterward.\n\n\"Great organizations are more agile,\" said Gostick. \"People in these organizations feel psychologically safe to speak up. They can challenge the status quo, the conventional way of doing things.\"\n\nThe key to making that work in the medical world, he said, is to create a safe atmosphere in which everyone can ask questions and challenge each other without being negative. Anyone in the organization, from top to bottom, should be able to suggest innovative ideas without being considered disruptive. The most successful businesses, he said, are prone to experimentation and unique ideas.\n\nAside from having the potential to increase margins, such cultures typically fare better when it comes to turnover, particularly among Millennials, said Gostick. Microsoft had cut its MIllennial turnover in half by having aspirational meetings, asking employees how they want to grow, and encouraging them to give and receive feedback.\n\nIt's a challenge businesses will continue to face, as Millennials tend to job-hop much more frequently than past generations -- staying 1.5 to 2 years in an organization, on average. Knowing they're making an impact, having a good work/life balance and being able to learn in their jobs were ranked highly among Millennials, while things like autonomy and money rank near the bottom, according to Gostick. Healthcare organizations should heed these trends if they want their younger employees to stick around.\n\nTwitter: @JELagasse\n\nEmail the writer: jeff.lagasse@himssmedia.com", "output": "An organization's culture and philosophy is one of the primary predictors of its financial success and ability to retain employees. That was the message from organizational culture experts and authors Chester Elton and Adrian Gostick at the Medical Group Management Association's conference Monday in Anaheim, California.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Can the U.S. Repair Its Health Care While Keeping Its Innovation Edge? \n The United States health care system has many problems, but it also promotes more innovation than its counterparts in other nations. That\u2019s why discussions of remaking American health care often raise concerns about threats to innovation.\n\nBut this fear is frequently misapplied and misunderstood.\n\nFirst, let\u2019s acknowledge that the United States is home to an outsize share of global innovation within the health care sector and more broadly. It has more clinical trials than any other country. It has the most Nobel laureates in physiology or medicine. It has won more patents. At least one publication ranks it No. 1 in overall scientific innovation.\n\nStrong promotion of innovation in health care is one reason the United States got as far as it did in our recent bracket tournament on the best health system in the world. Though the United States lost to France, 3-2, in the semifinals, it picked up its two votes in part because of its influence on innovation, which can save lives in the United States and throughout the world.\n\nNow we shouldn\u2019t delude ourselves into thinking Americans are inherently more innovative than people in other countries. In fact, many American innovators are immigrants who may or may not be citizens. Many technological and procedural breakthroughs in medicine have occurred in other countries.", "output": "The United States health care system has many problems, but it also promotes more innovation\u00a0than its counterparts in other nations. That\u2019s why discussions of remaking American health care often raise concerns about threats to innovation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers Predict a Quarter-Million New Cases of Breast Cancer in the U.S. \n Breast cancer is the most common cancer in American women except for skin cancers.`\n\nResearchers at the American Cancer Society estimate that there will be 252,710 new cases of invasive breast cancer in women in the United States in 2017. Some 40,610 women will die from the disease.\n\nIn addition, there will be 63,410 cases this year of carcinoma in situ, abnormal cells that may be an early form of cancer.\n\nOver a lifetime, a woman living in the United States has a 12.4 percent risk \u2014 one in eight \u2014 of being diagnosed with breast cancer.\n\nNon-Hispanic whites and non-Hispanic blacks have higher breast cancer incidence and mortality than other racial and ethnic groups. The incidence of cancer in black women was slightly lower than that of whites, but the death rate during 2011 to 2015 was 42 percent higher in black women.", "output": "Breast cancer is the most common cancer in American women except for skin cancers.` Researchers at the American Cancer Society estimate that there will be 252,710 new cases of invasive breast cancer\u00a0in women in the United States in 2017. Some 40,610 women will die from the disease.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shouldn\u2019t Doctors Control Hospital Care? \n Doctors were once expected to scrutinize and, when necessary, challenge administrative actions on behalf of patients. No more.\n\nThe dispute at Tulare must be viewed in the context of this larger struggle. As hospital managers make decisions based on business, not clinical, imperatives, both patients and their care providers are getting squeezed. For example, doctors are being pressed to discharge patients quickly \u2014 sometimes too quickly \u2014 to maintain \u201cthroughput.\u201d There is a focus on increasing the rates of profitable procedures, such as orthopedic and heart surgeries, at the expense of relatively poorly remunerated general medical care. Administrators are even exerting control over traditionally medical domains, such as the credentialing of new physicians with hospital privileges. If a hospital board can dismiss elected medical officers with impunity, as at Tulare, it will indicate to many doctors the increasingly tenuous nature of the position they currently hold.\n\nThe very best hospitals in America are still run by physician chief executives \u2014 Toby Cosgrove at the Cleveland Clinic, for example, and John Noseworthy at the Mayo Clinic. The Mayo Clinic says that it is physician-led because \u201cthis helps ensure a continued focus on our primary value\u201d \u2014 namely, that \u201cthe needs of the patient come first.\u201d Indeed, a study in 2011 found \u201ca strong positive association between the ranked quality of a hospital and whether the C.E.O. is a physician.\u201d Overall hospital quality scores were about 25 percent higher when physicians, not business managers, were in charge.\n\nOf course, correlation does not prove causation; it is certainly possible that better hospitals choose physicians as their leaders. But when day-to-day decision making is done by people with clinical training, it appears that patients do benefit.\n\nThere are many factions to blame for the corporate takeover at America\u2019s hospitals. Doctors need to accept some of the responsibility, too. If we had taken better care of our institutions, perhaps there would not have been a need for others to manage them for us.\n\nHow the court rules in the Tulare case, once it resumes, will have profound consequences for whether medical staffs can do their work independently of nonclinical administrators. And it will also provide an answer to the more important question of who should be in charge of hospital care.", "output": "Who ultimately should be in charge of care at our nation\u2019s hospitals \u2014 physicians or businesspeople? In January 2016, the board of directors at Tulare Regional Medical Center, a small community hospital in central California, voted to terminate the elected leaders of its medical staff office. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trump\u2019s Cuts to Health Law Enrollment Efforts Are Hitting Hard \n All told, the Trump administration has reduced funds for the navigator program by 41 percent, to $36.9 million, from $62.9 million last year. Among the states hit the hardest, according to data provided to Congress by the administration, are Georgia, down 61 percent; Michigan, down 72 percent; New Jersey, down 62 percent; and Ohio, down 71 percent.\n\nIn the face of such numbers, some navigator groups have simply quit.\n\nTo Democrats and supporters of President Barack Obama\u2019s signature domestic achievement, the cuts are another sign that President Trump will sabotage a law that he could not persuade Congress to repeal. To social workers in the trenches, eager to connect those in need with the insurance available, it is mystifying.\n\n\u201cWhen we received the notification, we were shocked, to say the least,\u201d said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, the executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, which was notified by the Trump administration that its budget would be cut by 71 percent, to $486,000, from $1.7 million. \u201cWe have yet to receive any explanation of the cut. We have met or exceeded every one of our performance metrics. There was never any feedback that gave us any indication that we were not going to receive the same amount.\u201d\n\nIndeed, in an email to the Ohio Association of Foodbanks earlier this year, the federal employee supervising its work, Donnamarie Spencer, said, \u201cYou guys are superstars!\u201d\n\nHer group decided to pull out of the navigator program altogether.\n\nThe cuts come at a time of turmoil in insurance markets, when more consumers than ever may need help navigating the health care system. Insurers are withdrawing from many markets, rates are shooting up more than 40 percent in some states and the enrollment season will be shorter than in the past. Mr. Trump has stoked uncertainty, saying he would \u201clet Obamacare fail\u201d and threatening to cut off certain subsidies paid to insurers for low-income people.", "output": "Michigan Consumers for Health Care, a nonprofit group, has enrolled thousands of people in health insurance under the Affordable Care Act and was honored last year as one of the nation\u2019s top performers \u2014 a \u201csuper navigator\u201d that would serve as a mentor to enrollment counselors in other states.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Officials air concerns about potential for worse flu season \n About Bara Vaida Bara Vaida (@barav) is AHCJ's core topic leader on infectious diseases. An independent journalist, she has written extensively about health policy and infectious diseases. Her work has appeared in the National Journal, Agence France-Presse, Bloomberg News, McClatchy News Service, MSNBC, NPR, Politico, The Washington Post and other outlets. View all posts by Bara Vaida \u2192\n\nPublic health officials have warned over the past several weeks the U.S. flu season this year may be worse than usual following a tough flu season in Australia.\n\nDr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told CNN that \u201cin general, we get in our season what the Southern Hemisphere got in the season immediately preceding us and an intelligent guess\u201d is that North America will most likely have a bad flu season.\n\nFurther, Dr. Daniel Jernigan, influenza chief at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told the Associated Press that: \u201cWe don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen, but there\u2019s a chance we could have a season similar to Australia.\u201d\n\nThe warnings come as the CDC began its annual campaign to encourage Americans to get their flu shots before the virus begins spreading during the fall and winter. About 5 percent to 20 percent of the U.S. population gets the flu each year. The flu can cause severe illness and life-threatening respiratory complications. Adults 65 and older, children, pregnant women and those with compromised immune systems are among those that are the most at risk. In the 2016-17 flu season, which was described as a \u201cmoderate,\u201d more than 600,000 were hospitalized due to complications from the flu, said Jernigan. Since 2010, 200,000 to 710,000 people have been hospitalized annually due to the flu, and 12,000 to 56,000 died each year too, according to the CDC.\n\n\u201cInfluenza is an unpredictable infectious disease,\u201d said Dr. William Schaffner, professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. \u201cI like to say flu is fickle. I am often asked \u2018how severe will the season be?\u2019 It will be severe and it will always be severe. Flu vaccination is our first and best line of defense to prevent flu.\u201d\n\nThough Australia has not finished collecting all its data from its past flu season, the flu vaccine may not have been as effective as past years, and more than the usual number of older adults and children contracted the flu. Flu vaccine effectiveness fluctuates annually because the virus constantly mutates. Researchers have also recently questioned whether the vaccine manufacturing process might also make the vaccine less effective. About half of Americans were vaccinated during last year\u2019s flu season and the vaccine was about 42 percent effective. The figure means that people who got the shot had about a 42 percent lower chance of needing additional medical care due to the flu.\n\nTo monitor the flu\u2019s development, go to the CDC\u2019s FluView, which provides weekly state-by-state summaries of the disease\u2019s progress. Written reports on the flu based on data collected from health providers and state health departments in the previous week are posted every Friday. This hour-long Flu101 webcast hosted by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, a Bethesda, Md.-based nonprofit that often partners with the CDC to promote disease prevention efforts, explains in detail how the CDC monitors the flu, what information the agency provides on its website and common questions and answers about the flu.\n\nReporters looking for more information on understanding how the flu virus works, how the flu vaccine is made, how the CDC monitors the flu and many more resources, can check out this new tip sheet on covering the seasonal flu. And be sure to join us for a webcast on Oct. 10: Is the U.S. prepared for a flu pandemic?\n\nBara Vaida (@barav) is AHCJ's core topic leader on infectious diseases. An independent journalist, she has written extensively about health policy and infectious diseases. Her work has appeared in the National Journal, Agence France-Presse, Bloomberg News, McClatchy News Service, MSNBC, NPR, Politico, The Washington Post and other outlets.", "output": "Public health officials have warned over the past several weeks the U.S. flu season this year may be worse than usual following a tough flu season in Australia.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Technology speeds access to patients' end-of-life wishes \n Story highlights Nearly every state has a program to document the care patients want at the end of life In Oregon, organizers have taken a step to ensure that medical wishes are honored\n\nJust four hours earlier, Sallie Cutler had been sharing Mother\u2019s Day lunch with her mom, Alyce Cheatham.\n\nThen, that same evening, Cheatham, 96, landed in a Portland, Ore., emergency room, lethargic, unable to speak and paralyzed on her right side by a massive stroke.\n\nCutler now admits her first impulse was to demand action.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s, like, do something; make her better,\u201d said Cutler. \u201cAs a child, you can\u2019t just say let her die.\u201d\n\nBut Cheatham\u2019s medical records contained a different demand. When the doctor on duty at Oregon Health and Science University clicked once in the chart header, it was immediately clear: Cheatham wanted no efforts to prolong her life.\n\n\u201cHe said, \u2018The good news is, your mom had a POLST form, so you don\u2019t really have any decisions to make,\u2019 \u201d recalled Cutler, 63, of Sherwood, Ore.\n\n\u201cI was so relieved. I cannot tell you how relieved I was. She had made all the decisions for me ahead of time.\u201d\n\nPOLST forms, formally known as Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment, have become a staple in care for the fragile or seriously ill. They document in detail what kind of medical treatments patients want \u2013 or don\u2019t want \u2013 at the end of life. Nearly every state in the U.S. has a program; dozens are established or developing.\n\nBut in Oregon, where the documents were developed in the early 1990s, organizers have taken a step to ensure that final medical wishes are honored.\n\nOfficials at OHSU have partnered with a California technology firm, Vynca, to allow health care providers to electronically find any of the 172,000 active forms in Oregon\u2019s POLST registry with a single click, no matter where they were filed.\n\nSince the link went live June 1, OHSU providers have clicked nearly 14,000 times, said Dana Zive, the registry\u2019s director.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not just in the ER setting,\u201d Zive said. \u201cIt\u2019s actually any health professional, in any setting.\u201d\n\nPreviously, OHSU providers had access to the 16,000 POLST forms filled out by patients within the hospital system, but not those submitted elsewhere. The hospital, which tops the state list in the annual U.S. News & World report rankings, reports more than 1 million visits from nearly 300,000 patients each year.\n\nNow, during any of those visits, the information is easy to see at the top of the patient\u2019s medical chart, said Dr. Susan Tolle, director of the OHSU Center for Ethics in Health Care and a co-founder of the state\u2019s POLST program.\n\n\u201cPOLST forms only work if health care professionals can find these orders quickly, especially in an emergency,\u201d she said.\n\nExpanding OHSU\u2019s electronic capability is the first step toward universal, instant access to the forms by health systems across the state. Samaritan Health Services, a nonprofit network of hospitals and clinics in Portland and the surrounding area, plans to add the feature later this year. And Oregon officials are negotiating with additional vendors to expand accessibility, Tolle said.\n\nThe state\u2019s Oregon Health Authority pays about $380,000 a year to run the POLST registry. The cost of the electronic expansion is paid by the hospitals, however. Neither hospital officials nor Vynca representatives would reveal the price tag, saying it was proprietary information.\n\nResearch suggests that POLST forms guide end-of-life care, whether patients die at home or in a health care facility. A 2014 study of deaths among Oregon POLST users found that 6.4 percent of patients who specified comfort-only measures died in a hospital, compared with 44.2 percent of those who chose full treatment \u2013 and 34.2 of people with no POLST form on file.\n\nA recent analysis found that seriously ill patients in Oregon are more likely to have their end-of-life wishes honored than those in nearby Washington state \u2013 or the rest of the U.S.\n\nStill, it\u2019s been difficult to ensure immediate access to POLST forms and other advance care planning documents in emergency settings, said Dr. Ryan Van Wert, a critical care physician and chief medical officer for Vynca.\n\n\u201cThe problem is, if you come into an ER in distress and you\u2019re unable to speak for yourself, the default is we do everything,\u201d he said.\n\nSo, sick or frail patients who don\u2019t want CPR or intensive care might receive aggressive treatments against their will, simply because medical personnel couldn\u2019t find the forms.\n\nOregon is the first state with one-click access to POLST registry forms. New York, which uses forms called Medical Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment, or MOLST, has a different system, a web-based application that allows completion of and access to forms at sites statewide.\n\nAmy Vandenbroucke, executive director of the nonprofit National POLST Paradigm, said individual states are still figuring out what works.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re still very much in an innovation stage,\u201d she said. \u201cRight now, we don\u2019t have any guidance to say what is the best way to do it.\u201d\n\nFor Alyce Cheatham, however, OHSU\u2019s easy access to her POLST form ensured her wishes were followed. After the stroke last May, she returned to her Portland retirement home, where she died a week later.\n\nFollow CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter.\n\n\u201cShe didn\u2019t want any kind of life support at all,\u201d Cutler, her daughter, recalled. \u201cShe didn\u2019t want to be on any feeding tubes at all.\u201d\n\nBeing able to determine her care was important to Cheatham, an independent, forceful woman who was active in many Portland civic groups and projects, including development of the POLST program. Over the years, she contributed more than $500,000 to the center that developed it, records show.\n\n\u201cShe was very excited about the POLST form,\u201d Cutler said. \u201cThere\u2019s a symmetry to it. It\u2019s good that it worked so well.\u201d", "output": "Just four hours earlier, Sallie Cutler had been sharing Mother's Day lunch with her mom, Alyce Cheatham. Then, that same evening, Cheatham, 96, landed in a Portland, Ore., emergency room, lethargic, unable to speak and paralyzed on her right side by a massive stroke.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Many Medicare Advantage members have narrow provider networks \n Dive Brief:\n\nMedicare Advantage (MA) has gained popularity with members and payers, but a new study of 2015 data by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) found that MA plans offered narrow networks to many enrollees.\n\nIn what KFF said is the first study to examine the size and composition of MA plans\u2019 physician networks, researchers found that 35% of MA enrollees were in narrow-network plans compared to 22% who were in broad-network plans in 2015.\n\nThe report also found that an average of only 46% of all physicians in a county were in MA networks, which limited doctor offerings for members.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nAbout one-third of those in Medicare have an MA plan, and the CMS predicted that number will increase in 2018. Payers have also been bullish about MA\u2019s future. UnitedHealth Group, which is the largest MA payer, expects that eventually half of all Medicare beneficiaries will have an MA plan.\n\nThe KFF analysis looked at 2015 data for 391 plans offered by 55 insurers in 20 counties, which made up 14% of MA enrollees.\n\nResearchers found that physician network size varied greatly. Access to psychiatrists was more commonly restricted compared to other specialties. MA plans only provided an average of 23% of psychiatrists in a county. That includes 36% of MA plans that had less than 10% of psychiatrists in their county. Other specialty problems included few cardiothoracic surgeons, neurosurgeons, plastic surgeons and radiation oncologists in many MA networks.\n\nThe narrower networks meant fewer physician options, but much lower prices for members. Broad-network HMOs averaged $54 per month compared to $4 for narrow-network plans, and broad-network PPOs were $100 a month compared to $28 for narrow-network plans.\n\nPayers have increasingly turned to narrow networks as a way to control costs and improve quality of care. To take part in the narrower networks, physicians usually have to agree to payer demands about cost and quality.\n\nSo, though the narrow networks are reducing costs and are cheaper for MA members, the trade-off is fewer in-network doctors. If there\u2019s an emergency, MA members in narrower networks are unlikely to make sure providers are in-network, so may receive out-of-network care and face hefty medical bills.\n\n\u201cDifferences across plans, including provider networks, pose challenges for Medicare beneficiaries in choosing among plans and in seeking care, and raise questions for policymakers about the potential for wide variations in the healthcare experience of Medicare Advantage enrollees across the country,\u201d said KFF.\n\nKFF's findings aren't the only concern about MA provider networks. The CMS has said that many MA provider directories include incorrect information, such as which providers are taking patients. The CMS found that 45% of MA provider directors had wrong information. The CMS is requesting more oversight over MA payers\u2019 provider networks, so insurers will give current and accurate information about their providers.", "output": "Medicare Advantage (MA) has gained popularity with members and payers, but a new study of 2015 data by the Kaiser Family Foundation(KFF) found that MA plans offered narrow networks to many enrollees.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Rethinking connected health for our aging population \n No doubt, aging is a hot topic, both for each of us as we grow older, and for society. It is also a significant opportunity for digital technologies to create a new kind of old, enabling individuals to remain vital, engaged and independent through their later years. Connected health tools can also better understand the \u201csoft science\u201d of wellbeing and address the neglected crisis of caregiving.\n\n\n\nIt is such an important topic that this year\u2019s Connected Health Conference focuses on The Connected Life Journey, featuring cutting-edge developments in aging, chronic care management, consumer and physician adoption, as well as policy, research and the investment community. I'm especially excited about our closing plenary session, Envisioning the Connected Life Journey, when I have the privilege of sharing the stage with some insightful and truly visionary colleagues, including Charlotte Yeh from AARP and Rudy Tanzi, a renowned researcher who co-discovered the first Alzheimer\u2019s disease genes and directs the Alzheimer\u2019s Genome Project.\n\nI have also taken on the topic of aging in my new book, The New Mobile Age: How Technology Can Extend the Healthspan and Optimize the Lifespan, which will look at how digital technologies are enabling people to remain vital, engaged and independent through their later years. We explore what needs to be done in order to achieve healthy longevity and create a better and more responsive healthcare system for everyone. Below is a sneak peek at two fundamental concepts we discuss in-depth in the book.\n\nFirst some context. We\u2019ve added 25 years to our lifespan in the last century through various public health innovations, but we haven\u2019t provided tools to help us use those additional years in the most productive, fulfilling way. Instead, we\u2019ve put folks in that demographic (those in the latter 25 years of their life) into a category of \u201cold.\u201d They retire, are perceived as no longer adding value or, even worse, become a burden to their \u201csandwich generation\u201d adult children.\n\n\n\nWe must turn aging from being a dreaded inevitability into something to be celebrated. My friend Jody Holtzman from AARP, who is quoted in the book, coined the term \u201cLongevity Economy,\u201d and defines it as the 100-plus million people in the United States over age 50 who account for $7.1 trillion in annual economic activity. He quite accurately notes that only in the eyes of the U.S. government would this population be viewed as a burden. Rather, we need to refocus on this group of older adults as an opportunity!\n\nHence, our priority should be to enhance the healthspan, by giving people the tools needed to improve their health and inspire them to maintain healthy lifestyle choices. If we do this right, we will turn this growing cohort of older adults from being seen as a burden to one that is remaining vital, connected and adding value. And, of course, connected health is a big part of the solution. There are multiple dimensions at play, and I can\u2019t cover it all here, but I want to touch on two areas that became clear to me while researching the book.\n\nThe first group of insights comes from another respected friend and colleague who is helping society rethink aging, Charlotte Yeh, MD, Chief Medical Officer for AARP Services. Once I learned of her perspective, I became tuned in to several reproducible findings in patients in my own clinical practice.\n\nWe\u2019re used to thinking of predictors of longevity in a very scientific, dry way \u2013 measures such as exposure to tobacco, high blood pressure, blood cholesterol level and the like. Of course, these are valid and important, but Charlotte opened my eyes to a different set of important measures. One is a sense of purpose. People who have some purposeful activity they pursue in retirement are healthier. Research bears this out. The second is social connections. Again, there is a remarkable body of evidence on this, and it turns out that isolation eats away at an individual and has the same effect on health as multiple packs of cigarettes a day! Finally, physical activity. This can range from taking the stairs or walking each day to going to the gym or even remaining a competitive athlete.\n\nNone of these measures are unique to aging, but to strip away the traditional, clinical science and break it down into these three simple predictors was liberating for me. Of course, the bonus is that connected health can play a role in all three, whether it is participating in the gig economy to drive purpose, being active on social media or FaceTime to keep up social connections or tracking your steps on a Fitbit. All of these challenges are made easier by modern technology.\n\nThe second important insight driving new, increasing opportunities for personal health technologies has to do with managing chronic illness. As much as we\u2019d all like to stay healthy all our lives and die peacefully at a ripe old age, the fact is we all suffer from system wear and tear and require more illness management as time goes on. We are at the breakpoint as a society, and, very soon, we won\u2019t have enough healthcare providers and caregivers to tend to the aging population if we only rely on one-to-one care delivery models. We spend a lot of time in The New Mobile Age talking about how to use technology to create one-to-many care delivery models.\n\n\n\nI look forward to sharing the learnings in my new book during the opening keynote at the Connected Health Conference, continuing the discussion and advancing care delivery to support healthy longevity for all in this New Mobile Age.\n\nJoin us in Boston this October 25-27. Learn more at www.connectedhealthconf.org\n\nAbout the Author: Joseph C. Kvedar, MD, Vice President, Connected Health, Partners Healthcare, Program Chair, 2017 Connected Health Conference\n\n", "output": "No doubt, aging is a hot topic, both for each of us as we grow older, and for society. It is also a significant opportunity for digital technologies to create a new kind of old, enabling individuals to remain vital, engaged and independent through their later years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "P&G turns digital marketing focus to deliver personalised content \n Procter & Gamble says it will seek to strike a balance between personalisation and mass targeting by not compromising on its brands\u2019 purpose.\n\nP&G\u2019s Always brand will look to target a mass audience with personalised messaging.\n\nProcter & Gamble (P&G) is pivoting its digital marketing to deliver more personalised messages on a mass scale. To lead this transformation, it is also looking to champion an increasingly diverse set of marketing skills.\n\nThe consumer goods giant, which claims to reach five billion consumers every day, has set its sights on building brands digitally that \u201cmeet and exceed consumer expectations\u201d. It looks to do this by using \u2018big data\u2019 to determine what people really want, according to Sophie Blum, P&G\u2019s vice-president of marketing for Europe and IMEA (India, the Middle East and Africa), speaking at the Festival of Marketing last week.\n\n\u201cThis depth and intimacy of understanding every single consumer is very new. That is what\u2019s transforming the profession. You either get overwhelmed, or you embrace it with tools to be able to interact with and answer [consumers] in a way that is better than your competitors,\u201d she tells Marketing Week.\n\nWhat follows this focus on big data is mass one-on-one marketing \u2013 something the company\u2019s chief brand officer Marc Pritchard briefly referenced in a speech at Dmexco last month.\n\nOne example is Pampers. The moment mums-to-be start searching for pregnancy-related information on Google, P&G gets a signal that someone is starting their \u201cjourney\u201d and will target them accordingly. During a woman\u2019s third trimester of pregnancy, for example, it might offer advice on what to put into nappy bags, or once the baby is born it will show consumers different nappies to buy as the baby grows.\n\n\u201cAt P&G we have this ongoing understanding of one-to-one [messaging]. It\u2019s a day-to-day journey. We are there to accompany consumers by having the right message at the right time,\u201d she says.\n\nIt\u2019s not about the channels or tools that are transforming. For us it\u2019s important [to focus] on the way we go about it. Sophie Blum, P&G\n\nWhen asked how P&G ensures it gets the right balance between personalisation and mass messaging, Blum says staying true to a brand\u2019s purpose is key \u2013 and points to feminine hygiene brand Always.\n\n\u201cAlways is about female empowerment, no matter what age you are. What will change are consumer expectations. I have different expectations of Always compared to my 14-year-old daughter. The moment I\u2019m in touch with Always, the product [on show] is going to be different. But there are things we don\u2019t compromise on; the brand is the brand,\u201d she says.\n\nP&G has also had a focus on cleaning up the \u201cmurky\u201d digital ecosystem after Pritchard\u2019s now seminal speech in January. But when asked if these issues impact the company\u2019s ability to use digital as a brand building tool, Blum instantly refutes this.\n\n\u201cNo \u2013 it just forces us to be extremely rigorous and disciplined in what we do and how we measure things. We are serving our consumers, it\u2019s not about the channels or tools that are transforming. For us it\u2019s important [to focus] on the way we go about it,\u201d she explains.\n\nREAD MORE: \u2018Marketer of the Year\u2019 Marc Pritchard on his quest for transparency\n\nThe marketing team of the future\n\nOverhauling the company\u2019s culture to become more digitally-focused hasn\u2019t been easy, however. Blum claims one of the biggest challenges has been to create \u201ctalent for tomorrow\u201d, where marketing leaders are expected to be able to work across multiple disciplines, understand mathematics and algorithms, while also being able to empathise with people.\n\n\u201cYou have a base and then a unique human understanding of what is behind data that is telling the consumer story. You need both the human and tech-savvy side. That\u2019s the new level of recruitment, and a whole new ballgame of leadership,\u201d she says.\n\nAs a result, Blum\u2019s plea to young people in the profession is to adopt a diverse set of skills, and to think of brands as a \u201cforce of good and growth\u201d.\n\nShe concludes: \u201cThat\u2019s the role of big brands. The weight on the shoulders of marketers today has never been so heavy; not only to change behaviours and change the conversation, but to be a force for good.\u201d", "output": "Consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble (P&G) is to focus its digital marketing on delivering more personalised messages. P&G, which says it reaches five billion consumers each day, wants to build digital brands that \"exceed customer expectations\" by using big data. But Sophie Blum, P&G's vice-president of marketing for Europe and IMEA, stressed that staying true to a brand's purpose was key to striking a balance between personalisation and mass messaging.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chris Forrester joins The Telegraph as chief revenue officer \n The Telegraph has appointed Chris Forrester, formerly the country manager of Spotify UK, to the newly created role of chief revenue officer.\n\nIn this new role, Forrester will lead the company's advertising revenue teams including display ad sales, client strategy and development, as well as Spark, the Telegraph's branded content and data division.\n\nHe will also have responsibility for all commerce revenues, excluding that generated by Telegraph Travel and Telegraph Financial Services.\n\nHe joins the newspaper with over 20 years experience from some of the industries biggest brands including four years at Primesight, where he first held the position of commercial director and later becoming managing director.\n\nIn May 2016 he became country manager of Spotify UK, a role he held until April this year.\n\nThe appointment of Forrester forms part of the Telegraph\u2019s ongoing commitment to focus on diversifying into new revenue streams, including advertising, digital subscriptions, travel and financial services and events, in order to offset declines in print.\n\nIn 2016 revenues at Telegraph Media Group fell sharply to \u00a3295m from \u00a3314m in 2015, while advertising revenues declined 12% and circulation revenues 3%, according to TMG accounts.\n\nForrester will report directly into chief executive Nick Hugh.\n\nHugh said: \u201cWe are delighted to welcome Chris Forrester to the Telegraph in the role of CRO. His extensive experience and forward thinking attitude make him well positioned to lead our commercial efforts into the future.\u201d\n\nForrester added: \"The Telegraph has consistently broken new ground and I am excited to be able to join now, at a time when never before have so many people, from such diverse backgrounds consumed the content we create in so many different ways.\u201d", "output": "The Telegraph has hired Chris Forrester as chief revenue officer, a newly-created position at the paper. Forrester, previously country manager of Spotify UK, will head up The Telegraph's ad revenue teams, including\u00a0Spark, the media organisation's\u00a0content and data division brand. He will also be responsible for all commerce revenues, bar those generated by Telegraph Financial Services and Telegraph Travel.\u00a0\"The Telegraph has consistently broken new ground and I am excited to be able to join\", said Forrester.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Spanish law firm Garrigues develops legal transcription AI \n The Spanish law firm, which is hosting the first legal tech competition in the country, has created a robot to streamline its processes for its lawyers.\n\nThe law firm has pioneered its own AI tools, giving lawyers the ability to improve response times, C\u00e9sar Mej\u00edas, chief information officer at Garrigues, said at an event discussing how AI was changing law firms. He said that his firm had developed a robot with the Instituto de Ingenier\u00eda del Conocimiento (IIC), making the firm at the forefront of the use of artificial intelligence and robotics in the sector. It was 'the first tool in Spanish that allows scanned legal texts, videos and audio to be transcribed and indexed quickly and easily, with minimal errors, a functionality that facilitates the work of our lawyers while at the same time improving our client response times. Proces@ includes advanced search options, legal dictionaries etc, meaning that it has sufficient context to make sense of any text it is given. We are the first law firm in the world to have a robot of these characteristics in Spanish.' He added that AI enabled the law firm 'to automate work of lesser value and increase our professionals\u2019 productivity, giving them more time to provide added value to clients.\n\nSouth Summit\n\nThe impact of artificial intelligence on the legal services industry was one of the main subjects at an event entitled 'How artificial intelligence is changing law firms', held today as part of South Summit, the summit for entrepreneurs in Southern Europe, which runs this week in Madrid. 'Artificial intelligence will take our sector into a new dimension, although not in the short term. With the ultimate aim of providing value to clients, inspiring trust and offering better quality service, at Garrigues we are harnessing the multitude of options offered by technology to provide our lawyers with the tools necessary to be more productive and reduce response times,' Mr Mej\u00edas said.\n\nPrescriptive analytics\n\n\u00c1lvaro Barbero, director of Algorithm Engineering at Instituto de Ingenier\u00eda del Conocimiento (IIC), said that 'the main revolution will not only be in terms of automation but also in terms of prescriptive analytics, since artificial intelligence systems will generate valuable recommendations that will improve lawyer decision-making.\u201d In his opinion, machine learning solutions aimed, for example, at reducing the length of lawsuits \u201cwill help clients to make decisions.'\n\nAutomation\n\nJos\u00e9 \u00c1ngel Sand\u00edn, CEO of publishing house Lefebvre - El Derecho, added: 'Artificial intelligence and, above all, automation, are already transforming the legal services industry. We must adapt our roles to this new reality and, in our case, we do so directly with our clients in mind, who demand quick, affordable and tailor-made solutions that we can only offer if we combine technology and quality content.'\n\nTasks of little value\n\nAccording to the three experts, within a law firm there are an infinite number of tasks that professionals spend a long time on but that provide little value: transcriptions from the courts, review of contracts on a major scale, extracting data from different documents, review of uncertified extracts, identification of potential fraud, etc.\n\nEmployment\n\nAs regards employment, Mr Sand\u00edn believes that artificial intelligence will lead to a major transformation of legal and paralegal services, while Mr Mej\u00edas says it will modify lawyer profiles. It is increasingly important for lawyers to have technological skills, meaning that one of the challenges is to have more professionals with the necessary training in this field\u201d. He added that Garrigues is one of the first law firms in Spain to have engineers on its workforce, putting together multidisciplinary, technology-oriented teams and we have a specific area dedicated to information and communication technology.\n\nLegal Tech Competiton\n\nThe 1st Legal Tech Competition, organised by Garrigues and Spain Startup, will take place at South Summit on 5 October. The four finalists will have the opportunity to present their projects and the judges will choose a winner, who will receive free advisory services from Garrigues professionals.", "output": "Spanish law firm Garrigues has been working with the Instituto de Ingenier\u00eda del Conocimiento (IIC) to develop a Spanish-law legal transcription artificial intelligence tool. Called Proces@, the technology is able to transcribe and catalogue Spanish-language legal texts, videos and audio with a very low error rate. Proces@ uses legal dictionaries and a variety of advanced search options to give it the legal context necessary to carry out\u00a0semiotic analysis.\u00a0\u00c1lvaro Barbero, director of algorithm engineering at IIC, said\u00a0\"artificial intelligence systems will generate valuable recommendations that will improve lawyer decision-making\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google buys Relay Media to speed up loading of mobile web pages \n (Image: Doogee DG580 | CC)\n\nGoogle has acquired Relay Media, potentially to take advantage of the firm's technology for speeding up mobile web pages.\n\nOn Monday, as reported by TechCrunch, the news was quietly posted on Relay Media's homepage.\n\nThe company, a creator of a converter of web pages to the AMP HTML format, said Relay Media was acquired by Google this month.\n\nNo financial details have been disclosed.\n\n\"We're excited to announce that Google has acquired Relay Media's AMP Converter technology,\" Relay Media says. \"Service for current customers will continue uninterrupted as we transition the Relay Media AMP Converter to Google's infrastructure. We're pausing new publisher onboarding as we focus on the integration effort.\"\n\nThe Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Project is an open-source initiative to promote the new AMP HTML standard for quickly loading mobile pages -- adverts, analytics, paywalls, and all.\n\nIt is sometimes the case that a company or vendor will have a sleek, intuitive desktop browser-based domain, but when attempting to load the same domain on a mobile device, extra embedded content such as adverts or popups can slow down loading or disrupt the entire structure of a page.\n\nThe AMP Project utilizes AMP HTML -- with some restrictions -- to improve performance; the AMP JS library for quick rendering, and the AMP Cache, Google's cache, which can be used to serve cached pages.\n\nRelay Media launched in May 2016. At the time, CEO and co-founder David Gehring, who has otherwise worked with Google and news publishers through the Digital News Initiative (DNI), said that mobile is far from dead, as there are \"favorable currents amidst the troubled waters of the digital ecosystem for quality publishers.\"\n\n\"More users encounter content on the open mobile web than on desktop browsers or apps, and total mobile ad spending is now outpacing desktop,\" Gehring said. \"Programmatic CPMs are rising for quality publishers and viewable impressions. Unfortunately, publishers' ability to compete for revenue and engagement is impeded by cluttered, slow-loading pages and non-viewable ads.\"\n\n\"AMP is a well-timed opportunity to course-correct, providing the instant experience users desire and a clean, well-lit environment for monetization,\" the executive added.\n\nGoogle may close down the separate service and harness the converter technology itself to boost its own AMP push. Faced with the issues that mobile pages often present consumers, dedicated apps for particular sources -- such as news outlets -- have become a viable alternative.\n\nHowever, if AMP takes hold, then Google is able to scrape revenue from mobile searches, and so it makes sense for the tech giant to invest in the project.\n\nUpdate 15.58 BST: A Google spokesperson confirmed the acquisition to ZDNet.\n\nTop essential Android smartphone, tablet apps\n\nPrevious and related coverage", "output": "Relay Media, which developed technology to speed up loading of mobile web pages, has been acquired by Google. The company's software converts publishers' web content into the Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) HTML format, which simplifies data and makes pages quicker to load on smartphones. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Antibiotic resistance may cost global economy $100tn by 2050 \n Understanding how human cells and tissues operate can help us fight diseases and develop new drugs. Creating lab-based models of tissues is one way to do this, but it has its challenges. In their research, Dr Chris Spicer and his team are tackling this head-on using newly engineered biomaterials.", "output": "Bacteria carrying the antibiotic resistant mcr-1 gene is spreading fast globally, warn scientists. Since the UN general assembly cited drug-resistant infection as a key threat to humanity last September, around 700,000 \"super bug\" related deaths are reported. However, Wellcome Trust estimates that by 2050, deaths caused globally by antimicrobial resistance (AMR) could number 10 million p.a., cost the economy about $100tn and push 28.3 million more people to extreme poverty. A recent study reported mcr-1 is prevalent in China's water, food, animal and human population, and separately, the World Health Organisation warned of a global shortage of antibiotics in pipelines to deal with drug-resistance."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Antibiotic resistance may cost global economy $100tn by 2050 \n Scientists attending a recent meeting of the American Society for Microbiology reported they had uncovered a highly disturbing trend. They revealed that bacteria containing a gene known as mcr-1 \u2013 which confers resistance to the antibiotic colistin \u2013 had spread round the world at an alarming rate since its original discovery 18 months earlier. In one area of China, it was found that 25% of hospital patients now carried the gene.\n\nColistin is known as the \u201cantibiotic of last resort\u201d. In many parts of the world doctors have turned to its use because patients were no longer responding to any other antimicrobial agent. Now resistance to its use is spreading across the globe.\n\nIn the words of England\u2019s chief medical officer, Sally Davies: \u201cThe world is facing an antibiotic apocalypse.\u201d Unless action is taken to halt the practices that have allowed antimicrobial resistance to spread and ways are found to develop new types of antibiotics, we could return to the days when routine operations, simple wounds or straightforward infections could pose real threats to life, she warns.\n\nThat terrifying prospect will be the focus of a major international conference to be held in Berlin this week. Organised by the UK government, the Wellcome Trust, the UN and several other national governments, the meeting will be attended by scientists, health officers, pharmaceutical chiefs and politicians. Its task is to try to accelerate measures to halt the spread of drug resistance, which now threatens to remove many of the major weapons currently deployed by doctors in their war against disease.\n\nThe arithmetic is stark and disturbing, as the conference organisers make clear. At present about 700,000 people a year die from drug-resistant infections. However, this global figure is growing relentlessly and could reach 10 million a year by 2050.\n\nThe danger, say scientists, is one of the greatest that humanity has faced in recent times. In a drug-resistant world, many aspects of modern medicine would simply become impossible. An example is provided by transplant surgery. During operations, patients\u2019 immune systems have to be suppressed to stop them rejecting a new organ, leaving them prey to infections. So doctors use immunosuppressant cancer drugs. In future, however, these may no longer be effective.\n\nOr take the example of more standard operations, such as abdominal surgery or the removal of a patient\u2019s appendix. Without antibiotics to protect them during these procedures, people will die of peritonitis or other infections. The world will face the same risks as it did before Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928.\n\n\u201cRoutine surgery, joint replacements, caesarean sections, and chemotherapy also depend on antibiotics, and will also be at risk,\u201d says Jonathan Pearce, head of infections and immunity at the UK Medical Research Council. \u201cCommon infections could kill again.\u201d\n\nAs to the causes of this growing threat, scientists point to the widespread misuse and overuse of antibiotics and other drugs and to the failure of pharmaceutical companies to investigate and develop new sources of general medicines for the future. Western doctors are over-prescribing antibiotics to patients who expect to be given a drug for whatever complaint they have. In many countries, both land and fish farmers use antibiotics as growth promoters and indiscriminately pour them on to their livestock. Drug manufacturers also often do not dispose of their industrial waste appropriately. In the latter case the end result is antibiotics leaching into streams and rivers with alarming results, particularly in Asia.\n\n\u201cEnvironmental areas around drug manufacturing plants in Hyderabad, for instance, have had alarming concentrations of antimicrobials. Effluent from one treatment plant had concentrations of antibiotics higher than levels we try to achieve in the bloodstream of patients,\u201d says Davies.\n\nIn Asia, the widespread use of the antibiotic colistin as a growth promoter in pigs encouraged the evolution of resistant strains which have spread to humans. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo\n\nThe creation of these soups of antibiotic-laden waters and banks of drug-soaked soils is ideal for the development of \u201csuperbugs\u201d. Rare strains that are resistant to antibiotics start to thrive in farm animals that are raised in these artificial environments and emerge as highly potent infectious agents that then spread across the planet with startling speed. Examples of these include tuberculosis, which was once easily treated but which, in its modern multi-drug-resistant form, known as MDR-TB, now claims the lives of 190,000 people a year.\n\nAnother even more revealing example is provided by colistin. \u201cColistin was developed in the 50s,\u201d says Matthew Avison, reader in molecular biology at Bristol University. \u201cHowever, its toxic side-effects made it unpopular with doctors. So it was taken up by vets and used in animals. But as resistance \u2013 in humans \u2013 to other antibiotics has spread, doctors have returned to colistin on the grounds that it was better than nothing.\u201d\n\nBut the antibiotic\u2019s widespread use as a growth promoter for poultry and pigs in Asia had \u2013 by this time \u2013 encouraged the evolution of resistant strains and these have now spread to humans. \u201cColistin was a drug we discarded and gave to the vets and now, all of a sudden, we expect that we can take it back again,\u201d said Avison. \u201cHowever, the genie is already out of the bottle.\u201d\n\nThe position is summed up by Lance Price, an antibiotic researcher at George Washington University in Washington DC. \u201cSuperbugs are gaining strength because we continue to squander these precious medicines through overuse in human medicine and as cheap production tools in animal agriculture.\u201d\n\nBans on the agricultural use of antibiotics like colistin are being imposed in Asia but have come far too late to be effective, a problem acknowledged by Lord Jim O\u2019Neill, whose report to the UK government on antimicrobial resistance was published last year. \u201cWhen we were putting our report together, colistin resistance was considered to be a problem that would not affect us for some time. Now we find it has already spread all over the place.\u201d\n\nThe report that was overseen by O\u2019Neill \u2013 who will be speaking at this week\u2019s conference in Berlin \u2013 put forward a number of proposals to stop antibiotic resistance from overwhelming health services. In particular, it argued that drug companies should now foot the bill for the development of new antibiotics and that patients should not be allowed to get them without a test to ensure they are needed.\n\n\u201cI find it incredible that doctors must still prescribe antibiotics based only on their immediate assessment of a patient\u2019s symptoms, just like they used to when antibiotics first entered common use in the 1950s,\u201d O\u2019Neill said in the report, adding that the development of rapid diagnostic tests on patients \u2013 which would establish whether an antibiotic was necessary and, if so, which kind \u2013 must now be an urgent priority.\n\nThe proposal \u2013 to be debated at the conference this week \u2013 is popular, although Professor Alastair Hay of Bristol University counselled caution. \u201cIt is a very good idea, but we should note that a new type of diagnostic test like this will also add time and work for our already overburdened health service,\u201d he points out.\n\nThen there is the issue of travel, one of the biggest problems we face over the spread of antimicrobial resistance, according to Davies, who has spearheaded Britain\u2019s part in the battle to fight its spread around the world.\n\n\u201cOne Swedish study followed a group of young backpackers who went off on holiday to different parts of the world. None had resistant bacteria in their guts when they left. When they returned a quarter of them had picked up resistant bugs. That shows the pervasive nature of the problem we face,\u201d she said.\n\nTourism, personal hygiene, farming, medical practice \u2013 all are affected by the issue of antibiotic resistance, and it will be the task of the conference to highlight the most effective and speedy solutions to tackle the crisis.\n\n\u201cIn the end, the problem posed to the planet by antimicrobial resistance is not that difficult,\u201d says O\u2019Neill. \u201cAll that is required is to get people to behave differently. How you achieve that is not so clear, of course.\u201d", "output": "Bacteria carrying the antibiotic resistant mcr-1 gene is spreading fast globally, warn scientists. Since the UN general assembly cited drug-resistant infection as a key threat to humanity last September, around 700,000 \"super bug\" related deaths are reported. However, Wellcome Trust estimates that by 2050, deaths caused globally by antimicrobial resistance (AMR) could number 10 million p.a., cost the economy about $100tn and push 28.3 million more people to extreme poverty. A recent study reported mcr-1 is prevalent in China's water, food, animal and human population, and separately, the World Health Organisation warned of a global shortage of antibiotics in pipelines to deal with drug-resistance."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "More insurtech IPOs likely after ZhongAn success \n The mainland\u2019s first purely online insurance platform is up 52 per cent on its IPO offer price when the shares debuted on September 28", "output": "The success of China's online-only insurer ZhongAn's initial public offering in Hong Kong is likely to encourage similar Chinese firms to seek funding in the public market. ZhongAn's share price has risen 52% since its IPO in late September. With the liquidity of the Hong Kong stock exchange a major plus, mainland China's start-ups may look to the exchange\u00a0when they require funding, according to\u00a0Nick Yu Fengqi, founder of ZCX Management Consulting. The number of international participants trading in Hong Kong is another draw, Yu said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CNN's branded content accounts for 60% of revenue \n Despite the struggles of many publishers\u2019 in-house branded-content studios, CNN International\u2019s branded-content revenues continue to swell. The news broadcaster claims 60 percent of its revenue comes from deals that incorporate branded content created by its in-house studio Create, up from 54 percent last year.\n\nMuch of that growth is due to changes in how deals are sold to clients, along with a spurt in distribution capabilities across its own and off-site properties. The media owner has tried to move away from banner ads and click-based reporting, and it has increased the number of native ad placements on its sites by 300 percent since it started using native ad firm Sharethrough\u2019s distribution platform a year ago, though CNN International wouldn\u2019t share specific numbers.\n\nThe Create team has 25 permanent staffers and grows when necessary based on the scope of client campaigns. Around 75 percent of what Create produces runs across multiple platforms, including mobile devices and social platforms. Formats span long- and short-form video, animation, graphics-led ad formats and text and image-led articles and galleries. The ads are all distributed using Sharethrough\u2019s technology across CNN\u2019s main site and its money, style, travel and sports verticals, as well as its social video network Great Big Story, which counts Japanese airline All Nippon Airways among its biggest clients.\n\nPublishers commonly use native ad platforms like Sharethrough. But fully automating the distribution of native ads has freed up CNN International\u2019s sales team to focus on larger, video-led creative pitches with advertisers, helping to differentiate it in the highly competitive ad market, said Rob Bradley, vp of digital commercial strategy and revenue at CNN International Commercial.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re no longer in a position where the sales team around the world from Latin America to London, mainland Europe or Asia and Pacific markets are selling traditional advertising,\u201d Bradley said. \u201cThey\u2019re all tasked with selling creative, video-based stories. The goal is that any of the cross-platform teams can sell a PMP as much as a video or native campaign.\u201d\n\nThis took time, though. Create is 10 years old, and, historically, it predominantly made traditional TV ads for clients. The arrival of Great Big Story, CNN\u2019s answer to BuzzFeed, and the development of its advanced data-monitoring service, AIM, which now runs through all its clients\u2019 on- and off-site campaigns, required retraining. Parent company Turner introduced the latest mass training exercise after the roll-out of Launchpad, an in-house platform created to help advertisers distribute sponsored videos that Turner companies, including CNN and Great Big Story, create.\n\nSince growing branded-content revenue relies on increasing views of content, growing campaigns is tough without serious paid social investment. About 80 percent of publishers use some form of paid distribution on half of their campaigns, according to native ad firm Polar. The downside: That can eat into margins on branded-content campaigns, which are costly to produce. Launchpad addresses this, Bradley said.\n\nLike many U.S. publishers that launch in Europe, CNN is often regarded as a U.S.-centric news brand and therefore not the go-to media brand for branded-content projects for Europe, according to some agencies.\n\n\u201cCNN\u2019s reach in [Europe, the Middle East and Africa] is far greater than perhaps some buyers expect,\u201d said Julian Purnell, partnerships and emerging media director at agency Essence. Great Big Story is a \u201ccompelling\u201d proposition for buyers, being geared toward young audiences, though it faces competition from more established brands like BuzzFeed and Vice, he added.\n\n\u201cUndoubtedly, the quality of their [Great Big Story] videos is on par with the very best, and they have the scale and data, through CNN and Turner, to ensure a smart distribution strategy,\u201d Purnell said. \u201cWe\u2019ll see more branded-content plays from them in 2018.\u201d\n\nImage courtesy of CNN for ANA campaign", "output": "Branded content now accounts for 60% of CNN's revenue, up from the 54% recorded last year. The broadcaster's in-house production company Create was launched ten years ago to make traditional TV adverts for clients, but has now evolved to produce a range of content from video to graphics, image-led articles and galleries. The role of Create has changed since the launch of CNN's 'Great Big Story' website other developments including the rolling out of parent company Turner's in-house ad platform, Launchpad."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Japanese bank's cryptocurrency set to enable micro-payments \n TOKYO -- All three of Japan's megabanks are attending the annual Ceatec IT and electronics expo for the first time to show off financial technology from digital currencies to biometric payment authentication.\n\nMitsubishi UFJ Financial Group presented its prototype digital currency, dubbed MUFG Coin, to reporters on Monday ahead of the exhibition's Tuesday kickoff at the Makuhari Messe convention center near here.", "output": "Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) unveiled a digital currency prototype called MUFG Coin ahead of this year's Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies IT and electronics expo in Tokyo, which took place earlier in October. A blockchain-powered mobile app would allow users to buy and transfer MUFG Coin, and make it possible to send smaller amounts of money deemed impractical by traditional banks; an area expected to grow along with hourly on-demand services, such as insurance, said Hirofumi Aihara, general manager of MUFG's digital innovation division.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Regus launches workplace app in South Africa \n Regus, a company that provides flexible workspace solutions, has launched an app that aims to make it possible for businesses to find a location when on the move and book the space they need. The app also allows businesses to manage bookings, it provides directions as well as invite colleagues.\n\nRegus specialises in co-working spaces in over 100 countries and in 3000 locations worldwide. According to Regus, they understand that clients require a mobile app to be a major touchpoint between them and their mobile office. An app is a way that people want to work. Along with the co-working concept, the key lies in keeping people connected wherever the workday takes them. Whether it be in city centres, on the road, at a transport hub, in South Africa and around the world, a professional workspace, fully-equipped with all the tools you need to stay productive, is now at your fingertips.\n\nResearch from Mobithinking suggests that the estimated number of app users worldwide will hit more than four billion by the end of 2017. Such a figure not only indicates the growing demand for mobile applications, but the reality lies in the fact that mobile content is shaping the way people utilise their mobile devices.\n\nPricewaterhouseCoopers has predicted that by 2017 South African consumers will be spending a total of R59.6 billion on internet access (a massive leap from 2014\u2019s R19.8 billion).\n\nWhat the app does\n\nFind the perfect space for your meeting and work\n\nCheck live availability and reserve in confidence\n\nChoose the right space for the job, from meeting rooms and private offices to drop-in business lounges\n\nBook space for you or your whole team, from as little as an hour\n\nStay flexible, workspace at short notice when your plans change\n\nBook on the go, either online or with our mobile apps\n\nSign up or Log in with the email address associated with your account\n\nEdited by Fundisiwe Maseko\n\nFollow Fundisiwe Maseko on Twitter\n\nFollow IT News Africa on Twitter", "output": "Regus has launched its mobile app in South Africa, which provides access to information about flexible workplaces in a wide range of locations. The app allows users to check the availability of workspaces from private offices to meeting rooms and business lounges, and to book them for as little as an hour. The app also gives directions to workplaces and allows users to invite colleagues to them.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sony relaunches Aibo robo-dog as smart home device \n tech2 News Staff\n\nSony is bringing back its robotic pet Aibo as a smarthome assistant. The pet was first available to the public in 1999, a futuristic companion that had a new version coming out every year till 2005. The development of robotics at Sony stopped because of the lack of AI technologies to make the robots fully autonomous at that time. Now, with AI emerging as the transformational force for technologies over the next decade, Sony feels that the time is ripe for another foray into the market.\n\nThe new Aibo will be infused with AI, and will help control smarthome devices, as well as act as a robotic dog. Think of it as a smarthome speaker such as the Google Home or the Amazon Echo, but with an outer shell of a robotic dog. Sony has plans to open source the operating system, and invite developers to add more functions and capabilities to the new incarnation of Aibo, according to a report in Nikkei Asian Review.\n\nSony is bringing together the original engineers who worked on the initial run of Aibo robots, for the new Aibo project. The workers were absorbed into different teams in Sony after the company stopped making new models of the Aibo. Sony will be making its own AI, but it does not have the amount of data that is available with Google or Amazon to stay competitive, according to company executives at a high level meeting.\n\nSony has indicated that it will be returning to the toys business with the launch of the Toio, a rotating motorised cube scheduled to be released in Japan on 1 December. Sony does not have plans on making the Toio available worldwide. Last year, Sony had indicated its intentions of returning to the robotics business, about a decade after it stopped making and selling robots.", "output": "Sony is returning to the robot market by relaunching its Aibo household companion as an AI-powered smart home assistant. The company created the robot dog in 1999 and produced new versions each year until 2005, when it was discontinued. The new version will be developed by the same engineers who designed the original Aibo, and the operating system will be open sourced, with outside developers invited to add capabilities. It will be capable of controlling smart home devices, acting in a similar way to smart speakers like Google Home or Amazon Echo.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "DONG distances itself from hydrocarbon past with name change \n While memorable, \"DONG\" had become a misleading name for a Scandinavian clean energy heavyweight.\n\nNow, the sound of DONG will peal out and vanish, like the chimes at midnight.\n\nThe change in name follows the comprehensive overhaul of the company's business model from fossil fuels to exclusively clean energy. The mellifluous moniker arose from the company's original products: Danish Oil and Natural Gas.\n\nIn its place comes a new identity with an old heritage: Pending approval by the energy company's shareholders October 30, it will adopt the name \u00d8rsted, to honor \"the innovative Danish scientist Hans Christian \u00d8rsted (1777-1851).\"\n\n\u00d8rsted discovered electromagnetism in 1820, making him an intellectual forebear to the modern electric power industry. He also founded the Technical University of Denmark, published philosophical writings and poetry, and befriended fairytale maestro Hans Christian Andersen.\n\nThe Danish state created the company in 1972 to extract fuels from the North Sea. A few decades down the road, Dong moved into electricity production, and renewable generation in particular, parlaying its North Sea drilling experience into offshore wind. Meanwhile, oil and gas drilling in the North Sea became relatively expensive due to the basin's maturity.\n\nIn May, Dong agreed to sell its complete upstream oil and gas interests to global petrochemical manufacturer Ineos for $1.05 billion plus contingent payments.\n\nThis year, offshore wind prices also started to beat fossil fuels on cost in tenders in Germany and the United Kingdom, CEO Henrik Poulsen said.\n\n\"It has never been more clear that it is possible to create a world that runs entirely on green energy,\" Poulsen said in a statement. \"The time is now right for us to change our name to demonstrate that we want to help create such a world.\u201d\n\nThe company is off to a strong start. It has already decoupled earnings from carbon emissions. Company-wide emissions are down 52 percent compared to 2006, and they will be 96 percent below 2006 levels by 2023, when its last coal plants abandon that fuel.\n\n\"For a major utility to have gone this fast in the transformation to CO2-free generation, I cannot think of anyone who's close,\" said Thomas Brostr\u00f8m, president for North America, in an interview.\n\nIn the last few years, Dong has chased global expansion, as the company brings its pioneering offshore experience to new markets.\n\n\"That has been entirely driven by renewables, in this case offshore wind,\" Brostr\u00f8m said. \"This is what we do the best. We have enough cash coming in that we have an appetite to invest in new markets.\"\n\nThe company's Boston outpost is now developing the Bay State Wind project south of Martha's Vineyard, with other projects on the way. Dong also set up a small office in Silicon Valley to poke around for new venture opportunities in the clean energy space. It hasn't made its first investment yet.\n\nThere's also a new energy storage solutions practice in Austin, Texas. The company has begun deploying storage alongside wind farms in the U.K., as developers across the wind industry explore business cases for storage add-ons.\n\n\"When you look to wind, it's a fantastic synergy with storage given that wind is intermittent,\" Brostr\u00f8m said. \"It's still early days, but we're quite serious about storage solutions.\"\n\nIn addition to offshore wind, Dong has expanded its waste-to-energy and biomass capacity -- those coal plants have largely been converted into the latter. It has not extended into solar development, so far anyway.\n\nNow the North America offshore market is finally gaining momentum, years after the Europeans worked out the kinks on the North Sea. The five-tower, 30-megawatt Block Island project that came on-line in Rhode Island last year looks like a toy compared to Dong's 174-turbine, 1.2-gigawatt Hornsea Project One, under construction off the east coast of England.\n\nNow, though, the U.S. stands to benefit from Europe's learning by doing.\n\n\"You are deploying the newest and the latest technology, so you'll get whatever is best in the market,\" Brostr\u00f8m said. \"The time is right. We like to go out early and create the market; we like to be the pacesetter.\"\n\nSoon, Dong's swan song will end, and a new name will rise in its place, one more fitting of a pure-play renewables company. Enterprising readers who Google the name will enrich their minds with Danish scientific history, rather than other forms of edification.\n\nAnd for other companies mulling such a transition and wondering if it can be done profitably, the rise of \u00d8rsted may prove instructive.\n\n\"We do care a lot about the world -- 'the home,' as we call it -- but you have to make your investment in a disciplined way,\" Brostr\u00f8m said. \"Balancing those two is the whole challenge here. It's been very good business the last few years, and we expect to remain profitable while we transform ourselves into being a renewable energy company.\"\n\nJoin GTM for a deep dive into the budding domestic energy storage market at the U.S. Energy Storage Summit 2017. Utilities, financiers, regulators, technology innovators, and storage practitioners will all come together for two full days of data-intensive presentations, analyst-led panel sessions with industry leaders, and extensive, high-level networking. Learn more here.", "output": "Pending approval by shareholders on 30th October, DONG Energy is to change its name to \u00d8rsted, after the Danish scientist Hans Christian \u00d8rsted, who worked extensively on electromagnetism in the 19th century. Danish Oil and Natural Gas (DONG) was created by the Danish state in 1972, to extract fossil fuels from the North Sea. In May 2017, the company agreed to sell all of its upstream and gas interests for $1.05bn to Ineos, following two decades of investment in electricity production and renewable generation. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook and Instagram pitch themselves as cross-platform \n Facebook and Instagram are pitching themselves to buyers as a cross-platform play, if their recent case studies are anything to go by. An increasing number of case studies on Instagram include numbers gleaned from Facebook campaigns.\n\nFor instance, a Woodford Reserve case study on Instagram showed the brand switching to mobile-optimized video ads during the Kentucky Derby and achieving a 12 percent increase in brand awareness. It\u2019s the same as a case study for the product on Facebook \u2014 except the Instagram case study said it used both Facebook\u2019s and Instagram\u2019s best practices, while the Facebook one said it used Facebook\u2019s best practices.\n\n\u201cThe Woodford Reserve team partnered with Facebook\u2019s Creative Shop and creative agency Kertis Creative to repurpose its TV commercial into two mobile-optimized video ads for both Facebook and Instagram,\u201d reads the text under the result.\n\nAnother example is a case study for DiGiorno pizza on both Facebook\u2019s and Instagram\u2019s business pages that shows 21 million people reached and a six-point increase in purchase intent. The Instagram case study also includes how many people were reached on that platform\u2019s Stories product.\n\nEach case study mentions that both platforms were used, although where they disclose this differs.\n\nNate Elliott, principal at Nineteen Insights and a former Forrester analyst, said he studied 50 case studies from 2016 on social networks. In 2016, only one Instagram case study mirrored a Facebook case study. But this year, he said he found that a third of case studies supplied on Instagram had the same results as the same campaign on Facebook, noting examples from brands including Sonos, Pura Vida and Sour Patch Kids.\n\nOne buyer said it\u2019s not about hiding where the results come from, but that Facebook and Instagram are \u201csubtly selling how effective cross-platform campaigns can be through whichever entry points brands or agencies are comfortable with.\u201d The buyer said the interesting thing is how Facebook is pitching both products. Facebook used to recommend running different creative campaigns on Instagram and Facebook, but it now says it\u2019s best practice to use both platforms for the same.\n\nAnother buyer said for larger campaigns, Facebook has begun packaging the offerings together, with advertisers often messaging across the Facebook platform \u2014 in-stream, Instagram, Facebook and Facebook Audience Network. Then, that\u2019s coupled with one-off tactics to do specific things on, say, Stories or Messenger. \u201cOutside of the scale benefit, doing this allows advertisers to control frequency and automatically optimize cross-platform,\u201d said this buyer.\n\nMost buyers agree there\u2019s no deception, but Facebook and Instagram need to break down platform-specific results. \u201cIf I paid for Instagram ads and received a bunch of impressions from Facebook, I might be upset because it impacts my Facebook strategy. They aren\u2019t the same necessarily,\u201d said Justin Johnson, a freelance creative strategist.\n\n\u201cThe results for each case come across as a little deceiving. For example, one might think they accumulated 21 million impressions on just Instagram after quickly scanning the case study,\u201d said a buyer. \u201cIf you actually read the case study, they are transparent and note that it was run across both platforms. However, they don\u2019t disclose the breakdown across both platforms.\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s by design, as Facebook is positioning itself more as a \u201cnetwork\u201d with Instagram than it has previously, said another buyer. \u201cGrouping Facebook and Instagram together is a recent trend because they\u2019re now able to deliver the best results if you\u2019re using both,\u201d said Brendan Gahan, evp at Epic Signal. Facebook, however, is likelier to deliver the majority of results compared to Instagram because it\u2019s simply bigger, he added.\n\nPlatform-supplied case studies are a curious beast in general. They\u2019re marketing material \u2014 essentially ads for the platform themselves. Most agencies develop their own case studies.\n\n\u201cWe look at case studies like this often, but in aggregate. In addition, we would never consider a case study enough \u2018evidence\u2019 to run on a particular platform or with a specific tactic,\u201d said one head of paid media at an agency. \u201cThey are merely directional guides that showcase common scenarios with specific verticals, client types.\u201d\n\nRoss Benes contributed reporting", "output": "Facebook and Instagram are increasingly joining forces for cross-channel ad campaigns, according to a study by Nate Elliott, principal at Nineteen Insights. A third of case studies involved both platforms in 2017, compared to just one in 2016. Facebook has reversed its position on the issue, stating that it's\u00a0\"best practice\" to use both platforms, offering similar bundles for larger campaigns. While most buyers are happy with the crossover, some have called on Facebook to reveal performance breakdowns between the two sites.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "JD.com launches luxury online e-commerce platform Toplife \n Chinese online retailer flexes its muscles in the luxury sector with the launch of its new site, Toplife, rivalling Alibaba\u2019s Luxury Pavilion.", "output": "JD.com has launched Toplife, its first luxury online platform, which will allow brands to sell directly to consumers via an\u00a0e-commerce ecosystem that takes in\u00a0online stores, premium customer service, delivery, marketing, warehousing and inventory. La Perla, Rimowa, B&O Play, Trussardi and Emporio\u00a0Armani are among the brands that have joined the Toplife platform so far. Alibaba's Luxury Pavilion site on its e-commerce platform TMall went live in August.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California's vineyards at risk as wildfires sweep across the area \n This story has been updated.\n\nA state of emergency has been issued for California counties of Napa Valley, including Napa, Sonoma, and Yuba after multiple fires threatened thousands of homes and forced residents to evacuate, governor Jerry Brown said today (Oct. 9).\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe wildfires are hitting the valley at a critical time for the region, which is celebrated for its vineyards. Grapes are first picked in early August, and the harvest season continues through late October or early November, according to the local tourism board.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nLocal marijuana crops may also be at risk. There are as many as 3,000 cannabis gardens in Sonoma, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, citing community surveys.\n\nNapa Valley Vinters, a nonprofit trade association of wine producers, said it had no information as of yet on how the fires may affect the harvest season. \u201cOur immediate priority is ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our colleagues and our neighbors,\u201d a statement on its website said.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nPrior to this most recent bout of wildfires in California, the effects of climate change were already being felt in the wine industry. As Quartz reported, in vineyards from Tuscany to South Africa, temperatures are becoming too hot for grape growing, and extreme weather\u2014like hailstorms or wildfires\u2014are seen as a growing threat.\n\nIn Napa Valley, home to a relatively small but celebrated number of vineyards, the costs of repairing a damaged vineyard can be devastating. Replanting a single acre of vines can cost between $15,000 and $25,000.\n\nThe area is home to approximately 700 grape growers, and 95% of the valley\u2019s wineries are family owned, according to Napa Valley Vinters.\n\nThis is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nRead this next", "output": "Wildfires have swept through California's wine country, resulting in a state of emergency being announced\u00a0in Napa and Sonoma counties and in nearby areas. The rapidly moving wildfires are threatening vineyards, marijuana crops, houses and general infrastructure. The fires\u00a0have come\u00a0at a crucial time for the area, which is part-way through\u00a0harvesting\u00a0this year's grape crop.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Toshiba makes EV battery with 200 mile range, six-minute charge time \n TOKYO\u2014Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO: 6502), an industry leader in lithium-ion battery technology, today announced the development of its next-generation SCiBTM, which uses a new material to double the capacity of the battery anode. The new battery offers high- energy density and the ultra-rapid recharging required for automotive applications, and will give a compact electric vehicle (EV) with a drive range of 320km* after only six minutes of ultra-rapid recharging\u2014three times the distance possible with current lithium-ion batteries.\n\nToshiba launched the SCiBTM as a safe, long-life, fast charging lithium-ion battery in 2008. Since then, the company has constantly refined the technology and improved real-world performance. For its next-generation SCiBTM, Toshiba has developed a titanium niobium oxide anode material that has double the lithium storage capacity by volume of the graphite-based anodes generally used in lithium-ion batteries.\n\nThe new battery also offers high energy density and ultra-rapid recharging characteristics, and its titanium niobium oxide anode is much less likely to experience lithium metal deposition during ultra-rapid recharging or recharging in cold conditions\u2014a cause of battery degradation and internal short circuiting.\n\nToshiba\u2019s current SCiBTM employs a lithium titanium oxide anode, and is known for excellent operating characteristics in respect of safety, long life and rapid charging. It has found wide use in vehicles and industrial and infrastructure applications, including automobiles, buses, railroad cars, elevators and power plants. The high energy density of the battery, and its rapid recharging, have made important contributions to enhancing the convenience and promoting the spread of EV.\n\nBuilding on this heritage, Toshiba has developed a proprietary method for synthesizing and disarranging crystals of titanium niobium oxide and storing lithium ions more efficiently in the crystal structure. The anode of the next-generation SCiBTM realized through this approach has double times the capacity of the anode of current lithium-ion batteries.\n\n\u201cWe are very excited by the potential of the new titanium niobium oxide anode and the next-generation SCiBTM,\u201d said Dr. Osamu Hori, Director of Corporate Research & Development Center at Toshiba Corporation. \u201cRather than an incremental improvement, this is a game changing advance that will make a significant difference to the range and performance of EV. We will continue to improve the battery\u2019s performance and aim to put the next-generation SCiBTM into practical application in fiscal year 2019.\u201d\n\nRigorous testing of a 50Ah prototype of the new battery has confirmed that it retains the long life cycle, low-temperature operation, excellent safety and rapid recharging characteristics of the current SCiBTM. The energy density by volume of battery is twice that of the current SCiBTM. The next-generation SCiBTM maintains over 90% of its initial capacity after being put through 5,000 charge/discharge cycles, and ultra-rapid recharging can be done in cold conditions, with temperatures as low as minus 10\u00b0C, in only ten minutes.\n\nToshiba will continue to develop higher energy density batteries that extend the range of EVs and support ultra-rapid recharging, and aims to commercialize the next-generation SCiBTM in fiscal year 2019.\n\nPart of the research work on the next-generation SCiBTM was subsidized by Japan\u2019s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).\n\n* A compact EV with a 32kWh next generation SCiB\u2122 in JC08 test cycle", "output": "Toshiba has developed a new battery utilising a titanium niobium oxide anode that is capable of giving a 200-mile charge to a compact electric vehicle in just six minutes. Current laboratory testing using a 50Ah prototype of the new battery found that it was able to maintain over 90% of its initial capacity after 5,000 charge and discharge cycles. Toshiba expects to release the product by the close of fiscal year 2019."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Visible Alpha to use email filter for Mifid II compliance \n Research platform provider Visible Alpha has added the ability to filter non-solicited research from inboxes, which could fall foul of incoming rules in MiFID II.\n\nVisible Alpha said email could be an inducement risk if traders receive research they did not request from brokers. To tackle this, it has added the ability to flag and filter emails that could be considered inducements to its ONEaccess research platform.\n\nThe application can classify all email data, including content, links and attachments and can flag anything which could constitute research.\n\nIts email solution has been created in conjunction with compliance technology specialist SPi Global.\n\nVisible Alpha is also adding a budgeting tool to the ONEaccess platform which will enable firms to manage fixed and variable research costs. Firms can set budgets and allocate funds to specific groups, individuals and time periods.\n\nBoth tools are intended to help firms with their MiFID II compliance, which will force firms to unbundle research and execution costs and stop research being used by brokers as an inducement to gain execution business.", "output": "Visible Alpha, a research platform provider, is planning to employ an email filter to block unsolicited research. The move is being made with the incoming Mifid II regulations in mind. The filter will assess the content of emails to stop traders receiving research they may not have requested from brokers. Visible Alpha is also implementing a budgeting tool on its research platform, which will allow clients to better manage and allocate costs to\u00a0comply\u00a0with the incoming regulations.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Microsoft, GE to study Europe's first battery-integrated wind turbines \n Microsoft buys 15 years worth of energy from GE\u2019s Irish wind farm Both companies will measure all the power stored in the batteries and sent to the grid.\n\nMicrosoft announced that it has bought all the energy that will be produced for the next 15 years by GE's 37-megawatt Tullahennel wind farm in Ireland. But this isn't just a good marketing move: Both companies will take the opportunity to mine the powerplant's data to understand how each turbine's battery can better store energy and potentially redistribute it back into the grid. As Microsoft's statement notes, it's the first deployment of battery storage integrated with wind power in all of Europe.\n\nWe're expanding our #renewableenergy purchases to Europe with new 37 MW wind deal in Ireland: https://t.co/SEyoQxm1ew \u2014 Microsoft_Green (@Microsoft_Green) October 9, 2017\n\nAt least some of this energy will go to powering the data centers Microsoft has in Ireland, forming a sustainable loop. The purchase brings the company's total global direct procurement in renewable energy projects to almost 600 megawatts, Microsoft noted in a statement. But at the end of the day, sustainable -- and cheaper -- energy is entirely in the interest of the big tech corporations which are always looking for ways to make their power-sucking data centers more affordable. And, of course, obtaining cleaner energy sources might keep your company from getting slammed by Greenpeace.", "output": "Microsoft will purchase all the power from GE's 37 MW wind farm in Ireland, which will be the first European implementation of wind turbines with integrated battery storage. Both companies will use the project data to understand how each battery could store excess energy better and possibly feed it back to the grid. Microsoft will use some of the output from the installation to power its Irish data centres. The purchase agreement is for 15 years."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "M&S launches suit made with 55% recycled wool \n PRATO \u2013 M&S has launched a range of suit made with 55 per cent recycled wool, including wool M&S customers have donated through the company\u2019s Shwopped initiative with Oxfam. The company says the wool is recycled into suit fabric at Nova Fides mill in Prato, Italy. The suits are due to retail at \u00a3149.", "output": "Marks and Spencer, the UK retailer, has launched a line of suits made with 55% recycled wool. The suits use fabric donated by customers to Oxfam, enouraged by the firm\u2019s Shwopped initiative. The wool is recycled in Italy and then spun into \u00a3149 ($196) suits. The new range is part of Marks and Spencer\u2019s Plan A 2025 sustainability initiative, through\u00a0which the firm aims to achieve a target of 25% recycled material in its clothing products. The company currently sources 49% of its cotton and 27% of its leather from \u201csustainable sources\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US set to repeal Obama\u2019s Clean Power Plan \n Story highlights CNN obtained the leaked proposal over the weekend The Clean Power Plan requires states to meet specific carbon emission reduction standards based on their individual energy consumption\n\nWashington CNN \u2014\n\nEnvironmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt announced Monday his agency\u2019s plans to withdraw the Clean Power Plan, the sweeping Obama-era rule regulating greenhouse gas emissions.\n\nWhile speaking in Kentucky at an event with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Pruitt said he will sign the proposed rule repealing Obama\u2019s plan Tuesday.\n\n\u201cWhen you think about what that rule meant, it was about picking winners and losers. Regulatory power should not be used by any regulatory body to pick winners and losers,\u201d he said at the event. \u201cThe past administration was using every bit of power and authority to use the EPA to pick winners and losers and how we generate electricity in this country. That\u2019s wrong.\u201d\n\nCNN obtained a copy of the leaked proposal to repeal the milestone Clean Power Plan, the outcome of President Donald Trump\u2019s executive orders calling for the review of the plan and questions the legality of the original rule.\n\n\u201cUnder the interpretation proposed in this notice, the CPP exceeds the EPA\u2019s statutory authority and would be repealed,\u201d the proposal reads. \u201cThe EPA welcomes comment on the legal interpretation addressed in this proposed rulemaking.\u201d\n\nThe proposal also says the EPA has yet to determine whether it will create an additional rule on the regulation of greenhouse gases.\n\nBloomberg News first reported on the repeal proposal.\n\nThe Clean Power Plan requires states to meet specific carbon emission reduction standards based on their individual energy consumption. The plan also includes an incentive program for states to get a head start on meeting standards on early deployment of renewable energy and low-income energy efficiency.\n\nUnder President Barack Obama, the EPA estimated the Clean Power Plan could prevent 2,700 to 6,600 premature deaths and 140,000 to 150,000 asthma attacks in children.\n\nWhen asked earlier this year on Fox News about the health consequences of doing away with the Clean Power Plan, Pruitt ducked the question and focused on how the plan would cost jobs. He argued the plan was bureaucratic overreach.\n\n\u201cAs much as we want to see progress made with clean air and clean water, with an understanding that we can also grow jobs, we have to do so within the framework of what Congress has passed,\u201d Pruitt said.\n\nFormer EPA employees have reacted harshly to the planned repeal of the rule. Obama\u2019s EPA administrator, Gina McCarthy, called the proposal \u201cjust plain backwards.\u201d\n\n\u201cA proposal to repeal the Clean Power Plan without any time line or even a commitment to propose a rule to reduce carbon pollution, isn\u2019t a step forward, it\u2019s a wholesale retreat from EPA\u2019s legal, scientific and moral obligation to address the threats of climate change,\u201d McCarthy said in a statement Friday.\n\nEnvironmental advocacy groups quickly blasted Pruitt\u2019s decision, with many vowing to fight the measure in court.\n\n\u201cNow the public has an opportunity to weigh in, as EPA is required to accept public comment on the proposed repeal and a discussion paper on a replacement,\u201d Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement Monday. \u201cIn addition, NRDC expects to take EPA to court when the Clean Power Plan repeal is made final.\u201d\n\nWhen reports of the EPA\u2019s planned move began to be reported over the weekend, Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp said repealing the plan without replacing it with any protections from \u201cclimate-destabilizing pollution\u201d would fail to protect Americans from harmful pollution designated under the Clean Air Act.\n\nAnd Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, said Trump and Pruitt are launching \u201cone of the most egregious attacks\u201d on public health and climate safety.\n\n\u201cNo matter who is in the White House, the EPA is legally required to limit dangerous carbon pollution, and the Clean Power Plan is an achievable, affordable way to do that,\u201d Brune said in a Monday news release. \u201cIt is a key element in continuing the progress moving toward clean energy and retiring coal.\u201d\n\nFormer New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, whose philanthropy said it would donate $15 million toward supporting operations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change after the Trump administration announced intentions to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, tweeted his criticism of the repeal proposal Monday.\n\n\u201cThe EPA can repeal the Clean Power Plan but not the laws of economics,\u201d Bloomberg tweeted. \u201cThis won\u2019t revive coal or stop the US from reaching our Paris goal.\u201d", "output": "The US Clean Power Plan, introduced by President Obama in an attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, is facing repeal. Scott Pruitt, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), announced plans to withdraw the plan on Monday. The EPA has yet to decide whether to replace the plan with alternative emissions regulations. Under the previous administration, the EPA claimed that the Clean Power Plan would reduce premature deaths by between 2,700 and 6,600, while reducing the number of childhood asthma attacks by 140,000 to 150,000.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Proctor & Gamble to launch ocean plastic soap bottle \n 8 Ways to Use Honey to Pamper Your Skin and Hair", "output": "Proctor & Gamble, the US consumer goods company, is to launch a limited-run bottle of Fairy soap made from 10% recycled ocean plastics and 90% post-consumer use recycled plastic. The bottle has been created in collaboration with US recycling firm TerraCycle. The initiative, which will see 320,000 Fairy Ocean Plastic Bottles on sale in the UK in 2018, will be the largest production run of its kind. If successful, the scheme will be extended to other brands and regions."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Almost 80% of UK adults believe they'll need elderly care: Aegon \n That is according to research by Aegon, which reveals that of those that think they will need care, 67% don't believe it will be until they are 80 or older.\n\nIn addition, 80% of people believe the average time needing care is over three years, and 30% think it is more than five years.\n\nHowever, it was also found that almost nine in ten believe there should be an absolute limit to the amount an individual pays, and most are unwilling to sacrifice their home.\n\n\"We need to face up to the growing crisis around how we pay for the increasing number of elderly who'll need some form of social care,\" Aegon pensions director, Steven Cameron, said.\n\n\"The state won't pick up the full tab and failing to plan ahead could have serious implications for inheritance aspirations.\"\n\nThe research shows that approximately a quarter of UK adults believe the government should pay for all the costs of social care, however, two-thirds think they should be shared.\n\nPlans were set out in the last Conservative manifesto to include the value of a persons home when assessing their ability to pay for care, however, 61% of people object to this.\n\nThis was particularly true among older age groups, with 73% of people aged over 65 opposed to the proposals, falling to 53% for 18-34-year-olds.\n\nWhen asked how they would make advance provision for social care costs, 43% said they would use their pension, while selling a home or equity release was picked by 31%.\n\nSome 22% expressed an interest in a social care insurance policy, and the same amount said they would cash in other savings, while a new care ISA was the least popular option.\n\n\n\n\"As the debate about care costs evolves, getting professional financial advice may help to ensure people are well placed to meet any future costs,\" Cameron concluded.\n\n\n\n\n\nSign up to our free newsletter here and receive a weekly roundup of news concerning the actuarial profession", "output": "Only one in five UK residents believe they won't require care during their later years, according to a survey from Aegon. Just 22% of those surveyed, however, said they would consider looking in to social care insurance. Of those surveyed, 43% said they would use their pension to pay the cost of social care, while 31% said they'd rely on selling their homes or relinquishing some form of equity position to meet the costs. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "L&G sees 380 claims via early warning system in 2017 \n 380 claims have been made thanks to Legal & General\u2019s Early Warning System (EWS) since the beginning of 2017, resulting in a pay out of over \u00a330m.\n\nThe EWS system is a free tool designed to alert advisers when policies are at risk. This helps brokers keep clients updated when there could be an issue and ensure that cover does not lapse.\n\nThe system picks up on issues such as bounced or cancelled direct debits, lapsed policies and times when the policy is void from the outset.\n\nLegal & General has received 2,655 claims through the system since its inception in 2010 and has paid out over \u00a3200m as a result of it.\n\nLegal & General internediary director Craig Brown said: \u201cIt is fantastic to see that since the launch of this system it has enabled a total of 2,665 claims to be paid, with over \u00a3200m being paid out to our customers since 2010 as a result.\u201d", "output": "An early warning system employed by Legal & General has helped it pay out 380 claims this year. The system alerts brokers when an issue may arise for a client, allowing intermediaries to make sure coverage is in place. Among the issues picked up by the early warning system are lapsed or voided policies, as well as incidents of bounced credit. The firm says it has paid out \u00a330m ($40m) resulting from its early warning system during 2017.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Homelyfe launches app for home-buyer insurance coverage \n The business, which is an AR of Vibe MGA, is planning multiple lines of insurance on its app platform.\n\nApp-based insurance provider Homelyfe has launched with cover to protect home buyers from gazumping.\n\nAccording to Homelyfe, which is an AR of MGA Vibe, it is set to release multiple lines of insurance over the coming months.\n\nThe firm stated that its technology would allow users to manage all their insurance requirements within one \u201ceasy to use\u201d app.\n\nHomelyfe is available today (9 October) with Home Buyer\u2019s Insurance for \u00a335 online, or via the Google Play and Apple App Stores.\n\nComplex\n\n\u201cThe", "output": "Homelyfe, an app-based insurer aimed at home buyers, has launched this week. The company is planning to introduce various lines of insurance to its app over the coming months. The firm aims to offer prospective home buyers protection from gazumping. Homelyfe says it can provide insurance from \u00a335 ($46). Homelyfe is an appointed representative of Lloyd's of London managing agent Vibe MGA.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurance software provider Guidewire acquires Cyence \n Guidewire Software Inc., a provider of core operations software to property/casualty insurers, has agreed to acquire Cyence, a data science and risk analytics software company.\n\nGuidewire will pay approximately $275 million in cash and stock.\n\nCyence applies data science and risk analytics to enable P/C insurers to underwrite \u201c21st century risks\u201d including cyber, reputation and new forms of business interruption risk that have gone underinsured or uninsured. These risks are new and evolving rapidly and typically lack extensive claims history to inform underwriting and pricing. Also, according to Cyence, their complexity and non-obvious patterns of risk linkage and risk accumulation require more diverse and dynamic data sets to be modeled effectively.\n\nSan Mateo, Calif.-based Cyence launched in September, 2016, when it announced it had raised $40 million from investors that included Dowling Capital Partners, New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and IVP.\n\nCyence offers a \u201cdata listening and risk analytics solution\u201d combining Internet-scale collection and curation of external data with machine learning and risk modeling. Its services support product management, actuarial, underwriting,and enterprise risk management functions.\n\n\u201cCyence is an exceptional technology company that, like Guidewire, focuses on serving the strategic needs of the P&C industry,\u201d said Marcus Ryu, co-founder and CEO, Guidewire Software. \u201cWhile Guidewire has focused on core operations, data management, and digital engagement, Cyence applies expertise in data science and machine learning to the modeling needs of insurance product design, pricing and underwriting for 21st century risks. As traditional actuarial approaches struggle to address the unique characteristics of emerging risks like cyber, Cyence\u2019s next-generation approach will enable insurers to broaden the scope and value of the products their policyholders need.\u201d\n\nCyence\u2019s CEO Sees an Urgent Need to Model Cyber Risk\n\nArvind Parthasarathi, Cyence co-founder and CEO, said his firm started applying data science to cyber risk due to significant demand from the insurance industry on what is an existential threat for their insureds.\n\n\u201cWe look forward to joining Guidewire and continuing our mission to enable insurers to enter new markets by insuring emerging risks like cyber,\u201d said Parthasarathi.\n\nThe total consideration to be paid of approximately $275 million, or $265 million net of $10 million cash on hand, is subject to customary transaction adjustments. Consideration provided at closing will consist of net cash of approximately $140 million and approximately 1.6 million shares of newly issued Guidewire common stock. Of those shares, approximately 260,000 are in the form of deferred equity consideration, which are subject to the achievement of certain retention and operating milestones.\n\nGuidewire has been expanding in part through acquisitions.\n\nGuidewire announced plans to buy FirstBest last August, a move it said helped boost its capacity to serve property/casualty insurers focused on complex commercial risks. FirstBest produces an underwriting management system for P/C insurers. In February, Guidewire completed a $160 million acquisition of ISCS, a cloud computing technology outfit focused on areas including policy administration, underwriting, claims, billing, business intelligence, reinsurance and mobile products.\n\nIn 2016, Guidewire acquired EagleEye Analytics, a provider of SaaS-based predictive analytics products for property/casualty insurers.\n\nRelated:\n\nTopics Mergers & Acquisitions Carriers Tech Underwriting Data Driven Property Casualty", "output": "Property and casualty insurance software provider Guidewire Software has acquired Cyence, a software firm focused on data analytics. By using the data analytics software provided by Cyence, insurers can underwrite risks which have little claims history. Such policies could consist of cyber security insurance or insurance covering modern business interruption risks. Guidewire paid $275m for Cyence in a deal structured between cash and equity.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trusted IoT Alliance debuts open-source code product \n The newly formed Trusted IoT Alliance has announced today \u201c\u2026in alignment with its mission of connecting and securing the next generation of smart IoT products with blockchain technology\u201d the release of one of its first open source repositories, MQTTT or \u2018MQTT-Trusted.\u2019\n\nDeveloped by Oaken Innovations CTO, Shuang \u2018Lex\u2019 Liang, MQTTT is a modification to the popular MQTT open source communication protocol widely used in IoT applications today.\n\nThis modification allows MQTTT to sign messages utilizing an Ethereum account thereby proving who its sender is. This sender could take the form of a standard Ethereum account or a hardware signer such as Oaken\u2019s ACORN device.\n\nThe MQTTT library brings Ethereum identity, trust, and security to the machine to machine communication protocol.\n\nFurther developments are planned to add more schema and semantics to the protocol that will help machines to better understand the messages in order to improve interoperability as well as encourage wider adoption of the protocol within the ecosystem.\n\nThe MQTTT secure messaging protocol will join the already present Identity Registry as early evidence of the active member contributions within the Alliance, which was formed just last month.\n\nJohn Gerryts, CEO of Oaken Innovations said:\n\n\u201cOaken Innovations found a need for such a protocol while developing its Peer2Peer Carshare PoC in collaboration with Toyota Research Institute. The MQTTT protocol allows for near-instant cryptographically secure messaging which Oaken required to maintain a great user experience by both keeping latency low between a mobile app and the unlocking of a vehicle and ensuring that only a valid user would be able to unlock and start the ignition of the vehicle being shared. \u201cWe\u2019re also excited to make one of the first member code contributions to the Trusted IoT Alliance. We hope that this is the first in a long list of member contributions in setting the standard for the next generation of the Internet of Things. The team here at Oaken is already working on more tools for the ecosystem.\u201d", "output": "Trusted IoT Alliance has released one of its first open source repositories in its mission to secure the next generation of smart internet of things (IoT) products using blockchain. MQTT-Trusted, or MQTTT, is a modification to the popular MQTT communication protocol used in many IoT applications. It lets MQTTT sign messages using an ethereum account, proving the identity of the sender.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lemonade's portfolio doubles every 10 weeks \n Lemonade is currently the most talked-about disruptor. That\u2019s why we\u2019re pleased that, for the first time in Europe, Lemonade will present at DIA Munich what the pioneering concept is all about in a keynote presentation. As a special DIA Munich appetizer, we spoke to Lemonade CEO and co-founder Daniel Schreiber recently, exactly one year after the company launched. DIA: Daniel, congratulations on Lemonade's first anniversary. It must have been a roller coaster ride. Thanks for being willing to share some of the experiences and learnings. Did the first year meet your expectations? Daniel: \"Yes, it has been quite a ride. But it is great to see that we're striking the right chord. We already sold ten thousands of policies. Our portfolio doubles every 10 weeks.\" DIA: If you had to name just one thing, what would you say is the key success factor so far? Daniel: \"Our renters insurance is 80% cheaper than what competitors offer and takes less than 90 seconds to purchase.\u201d DIA: 80% cheaper is almost unbelievable \u2026 Daniel: \u201cMany industry insiders think so, too. [They think that] at least 40% of what insurance carriers receive in premiums is paid out in claims. So if Lemonade is 80% cheaper it must lose money on every policy. That is not true. Renters insurance covers personal property, not real estate. The expected loss is therefore significantly lower and so should the corresponding premium be. Unfortunately, the enormous overheads incumbents have make low-premium products impossible. Their minimum premium reflects their high costs rather than your low claims.\u201dDIA: We can imagine that such a price difference attracts a specific segment \u2026 Daniel: \u201cYes, indeed. We offer a good price, especially at entry levels. No less than 87% of our customers are first-time buyers. Lemonade is the preferred insurance brand among first-time insurance buyers. In the state of New York, where we first launched Lemonade, we now have a market share of 27% among first-time buyers.\u201d DIA: Was this the target segment you planned to focus on initially? Daniel: \"Not really, at least not to this extent. This was definitely not planned or expected. It appears our proposition is attracting people who did not think of such an insurance before; because it was too expensive, too much hassle, or because they had little trust in the added value. So it turns out we actually opened up an underserved, untapped market. This was really a surprise for us, as well. It just shows that with really new propositions there is only so much that you can plan.\" DIA: This suggests the Lemonade concept is about solving frictions that customers experience when dealing with a traditional insurance incumbent. Aren't you selling yourself short here? Daniel: \"True. It is not just about solving frictions; being faster, better or cheaper. That wouldn't be sufficient in the long run. When we started conceiving Lemonade, we immediately realized there is no way you can beat insurers at their own game. We needed to think beyond that. We decided to foster trust, not suspicion. Our business model is built on two very distinctive pillars: behavioral economics and artificial intelligence.\u201d DIA: The pillar that is often highlighted is behavioral economics, one of the reasons we like Lemonade so much. Insurers could benefit much more from psychology and social sciences. Daniel: \"The vast knowledge and experience of our Chief Behavioral Officer Dan Ariely (professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University) is instrumental in this. We apply behavioral economics to neutralize the adversarial relationship, the conflict of interest, between customers and their insurance provider. We take 20%, and the rest (80%) goes to paying claims, and this includes our reinsurance. If less than the 80% is used to pay out claims, for instance 75%, the 5% unclaimed money is donated to charities chosen by customers. The maximum amount that can be given back is 40%. Lemonade gains nothing by refusing a claim. This way we are reinventing insurance from a necessary evil to a social good.\" DIA: Can you explain how behavioral economics reflects in Lemonade's daily customer experience? Daniel: \"Not just our business model but also the whole product flow is informed by behavioral economics. For example, we ask people to sign on the top of the form, not at the bottom. Behavioral research shows that asking people to pledge honesty first results in forms that are actually more accurate.\" DIA: How does this affect the combined ratio? Daniel: \"Multiple ways. For example, we also apply behavioral economics to reduce fraud. In the onboarding process, customers are asked which charity they want the money that is not used for claims to go to, let's say the Red Cross. Now, when at some point in time a customer files a claim, we first remind the customer of the charity he or she selected before diving into the claim. We do that on purpose. To many people, insurance fraud is considered a victimless crime; you're not really hurting someone, at least that is the perception. Research shows that 24% say it\u2019s okay to pad an insurance claim. We're changing that by immediately creating the presence of a victim. Making it crystal clear that a claim harms a charity someone cares about inhibits misuse.\" DIA: Do you already have proof points that using behavioral economics this way works at a larger scale? Daniel: \"Obviously we're a young company, so the amount of claims that we receive are still limited. But we already have early indications that this really works. In the last two months, we actually had six customers who claimed and got paid, but later on returned the money. Someone, for instance, thought his laptop was stolen, claimed and got paid. A few weeks later, it turned out he had left the laptop with his mother-in-law. He then decided to return the money, probably because he didn't want to harm the charity he selected. I would really love to know how many customers of traditional insurers are returning their money.\" DIA: Insurers need to manage the feelings side of financial services much better than they do today. Quite a few tend to forget that when they are going digital. Others are building hybrid solutions of, for instance, chatbots and human experts. How do you secure the human side in a pure play such as Lemonade? Daniel: \u201cBehavioral economics is one pillar of our business model; artificial intelligence is the other. Thanks to AI, we don\u2019t have to rely on brokers and paperwork. Underwriting and claims handling are taken care of by AI, as well. This makes it even more important to secure that we are recognized as living, breathing people who really care. My co-founder Shai Wininger has a rare talent to marry technology with customer understanding. Our bot has a name. It talks in an approachable manner. It doesn't say, \u2018I don't understand.' We know its limits and anticipate the direction in which the conversation is going. Next-level questions are seamlessly moved to our, human, support staff.\u201dDIA: We quite often see that traditional insurance carriers have a strong immune system when it comes to embracing insurtechs. Apparently, different cultures are difficult to match. Sometimes we even see organ rejection. We noticed that the Lemonade team not only incudes tech veterans like yourself but also former executives from AIG and ACE. How do you make that work? Daniel: \u201cWhen we started thinking about a new concept in insurance, we just had a rudimental understanding of insurance. We had the advantage of being ignorant. We had no preconceived notion. This helped us to question the basic principles of the industry, such as the conflict of interest. \"Coming from the outside helped us to rethink, reconceptualize in a fundamental way, from scratch, what Lemonade should be about. \"Now, it is only so far you can take that. As soon as you move to execution, you really need to have deeply entrenched insurance knowledge on board. Think of the regulatory maze we have to go through. Then it comes to finding the right people, which was not that easy. We soon realized that we were looking for \u2018insiders\u2019 who were \u2018outsiders\u2019 at the same time. In our recruitment ad, we actually said it was a requirement to be in the throes of a midlife crisis; not feeling happy in the corner office anymore. They had to buy into our vision.\u201d DIA: We noticed that your fast growth in an market segment that is so difficult to reach by incumbents has led companies such as GEICO and Liberty Mutual to use \"lemonade\" in their marketing and promotion activities \u2026 Daniel: \u201cHa ha, yes, we\u2019ve noticed that as well, of course. GEICO even introduced a \u2018lemonade\u2019 TV commercial at the same time as we launched the company. Liberty Mutual, in fact, introduced a new brand, Lulo, and paraphrased everything, from logo to pricing. \"We take it as a compliment that such renowned brands are looking at us, and try to learn and use our ideas. But the examples also show that it is not that easy. Lemonade is more than a logo. You really need to understand the two pillars of our model: behavioral economics and artificial intelligence and how that reflects in the way we operate. And you need to understand that we are really a different kind of company. Obviously, we have duties to our customers, employees and investors. But we\u2019re also a B-Corp, which makes us legally committed to social impact. Our customer base is therefore more like a community of people around a cause \u2013 which in turn results in more trust and less fraud. It is about aligning customers and insurer, and giving up underwriting profits. We\u2019re rebranding the insurance sector.\u201d", "output": "US-based insurtech Lemonade doubles its portfolio every 10 weeks, according to Daniel Schreiber, the firm's CEO and founder. Around 80% of Lemonade's customers are first-time buyers of a renter's insurance policy, Schreiber said. Among first time buyers in its home state of New York, the firm has a market share of 27%.\u00a0Schreiber added that the firm often provides policies 80% cheaper than competing insurance products.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CFC Underwriting uses phishing simulation to combat cyber attacks \n Lloyd\u2019s MGA CFC Underwriting has developed a phishing simulation tool with cyber security and training specialist Cyber Risk Aware. The tool has been customised for CFC Underwriting\u2019s insurance needs and it will be offered as an additional extra to its policies.\n\nThe simulation comprises of multiple email templates to make sure that the user being assessed does not become aware that they are tests.\n\nBy being exposed to forms of phishing in a simulated environment, staff can then apply the knowledge they have gained to the real world and will be less likely to open dangerous emails.\n\n\u201cThe number of reported phishing cases has been increasing and we\u2019re seeing many people being tricked into clicking on malicious links and transferring funds,\u201d explained CFC Underwriting head of incident response Anthony Hess.\n\nHess continued, \u201cThis prompted us to look at a risk management solution that would address the issue and Cyber Risk Aware\u2019s phishing simulation platform emerged as a great tool for this.\u201d\n\nThe pro-active approach is somewhat unusual for cyber insurance products, claims Cyber Risk Aware Cyber Risk Aware co-founder Stephen Burke, with most offering help after the event of a breach.\n\nHowever, where SME\u2019s do not have the resources to employ an IT team, this kind of training can be particularly valuable.\n\nBurke said: \u201cHistorically, cyber insurance products have focused on post-breach activities, whereas this is something designed to help clients avoid the incident happening in the first place.\n\n\u201cCFC Underwriting should be applauded for the thoughtfulness and innovation it is bringing to its product, and we\u2019re delighted to have worked with them to deliver it. Customised functionality and flexibility is a key tenet of our approach to market, allowing us to add that extra value to our customers.\u201d\n\nCFC Underwriting outperformed its peers in the Insurance Times Cyber Product report 2017. In September it released dark web cyber insurance tool CFC BreachAlert for its policyholders to monitor data breaches.", "output": "CFC Underwriting is offering a phishing simulation tool as part of its insurance policies, allowing clients to train their employees on how to deal with cyber attacks. The service is intended appeal to small and medium-sized businesses without large IT departments monitoring the prospect of cyber threats. The tool exposes staff to simulations of potentially harmful emails, allowing them to recognise phishing schemes in the future. The tool was developed by cybersecurity firm Cyber Risk Aware.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cleveland Clinic launches insurance offering \n Secure and increase the performance of your investments with our team of experts at your side.\n\nSecuring my Investments", "output": "Ohio-based healthcare provider the Cleveland Clinic has entered the insurance market, with the launch of a number of branded policies in partnership with New York-based insurer Oscar Health. Under the \"narrow-network\" system, policy-holders will only have access to services from the clinic's own doctors and hospitals.\u00a0The provider will share the financial risk with Oscar Health. It has also partnered with the Kentucky-based insurer Humana to offer policies with no monthly premiums to patients on Medicare and Medicaid assistance programmes."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HK-based Hanson partners with Etisalat on Middle East robot sales \n You are here: Home\n\n\u89c6\u9891\u64ad\u653e\u4f4d\u7f6e \u4e0b\u8f7d\u5b89\u88c5Flash\u64ad\u653e\u5668\n\nDUBAI, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- China's Hanson Robotics, producer of the celebrity humanoid robot Sophia, is partnering with United Arab Emirates' (UAE's) biggest telecom firm Etisalat for future sales of its robots in the Middle East, the company said Monday.\n\nWith Etisalat's help, Hanson Robotics, based in Hong Kong, is showcasing Sophia at the ongoing IT fair Gitex Technology Week, which has gathered 4,100 exhibitors from over 70 countries including China.\n\nJeanne Lim, Hanson Robotics' chief marketing officer, hailed Etisalat for its interest in artificial intelligence, while adding that Hanson's partnership with Etisalat is \"still in a test phase.\"\n\nAt Etisalat's stand at Gitex, visitors can talk to Sophia and ask her questions in order to test her humanoid capabilities.\n\nLim told Xinhua that the use of Sophia in the education and business fields converges with Etisalat's support for digital educational strategy implemented in the UAE.\n\n\"Sophia can be used as an educational toy,\" Lim said, stressing that Sophia fits into the UAE's digital educational strategy.\n\nSophia, designed by David Hanson, a former Walt Disney Imagineering employee and founder of Hanson Robotics, looks like Hollywood legendary actress Audrey Hepburn.\n\nIt is a lifelike social robot that can establish relationship with people through 60 programmed facial expressions.\n\n\"Sophia is a media personality, she was part of a movie and on a TV show,\" Lim said.\n\nHowever, Lim said that more work needs to be done for the commercialization of Sophia, and a proper plan is needed to be designed by Etisalat to put the robot into commercial use at the shopping malls, schools and hospitals in the UAE.\n\nSo far, Hanson has only launched the consumer robot Professor Einstein for private homes in the United States, as it has not yet started large-scale manufacturing of the robots. Enditem", "output": "Hong Kong-based tech company Hanson Robotics has announced a partnership with the UAE's biggest telecoms company to promote its robots in the Middle East. The deal with Etisalat was launched at the Gitex Technology Week event in Dubai, where Hanson's humanoid robot Sophia is being jointly exhibited by the companies. Sophia is a lifelike \"social robot\"\u00a0designed by former Disney employee David Hanson to resemble the late Audrey Hepburn, and has 60 programmed facial expressions. Etisalat is now working on a business plan to realise the robot's commercial potential.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "A million UK hospitality staff face retirement poverty: TUC \n The TUC has today (Monday) revealed the UK\u2019s pension blackspots.\n\nThe analysis shows that in some industries, like hospitality and agriculture, six in ten workers are not enrolled in a pension.\n\nThe TUC says many are missing out on a decent retirement because they earn less than \u00a310,000 \u2013 the level of earnings at which employers must enrol someone into a workplace pension.\n\nDespite the success of pension auto-enrolment, nearly 9 million UK workers are still unable to save into a pension scheme.\n\nThe five industries with the lowest level of pension cover are:\n\nAgriculture, forestry and fishing \u2013 65% of employees (93,000) do not have a pension.\n\n65% of employees (93,000) do not have a pension. Hospitality \u2013 60% of employees (908,000) do not have a pension.\n\n60% of employees (908,000) do not have a pension. Other services (hairdressing and beauty) \u2013 56% of employees (270,000) do not have a pension.\n\n56% of employees (270,000) do not have a pension. Construction \u2013 50% (493,000) of employees do not have a pension.\n\n50% (493,000) of employees do not have a pension. Arts and entertainment \u2013 48% of employees (253,000) do not have a pension.\n\nThe TUC also found evidence of a \u201cpension lottery\u201d among those saving into a workplace pension.\n\nIn low-paid sectors, like wholesale and retail, nine out of ten savers received contributions worth less than 8% of salary from their employer.\n\nBy contrast, in industries like financial services (where there are more high earners), the vast majority of savers received more than 8% in contributions from their bosses.\n\nTUC General Secretary Frances O\u2019Grady said:\n\n\u201cAuto-enrolment has been a great success. But it\u2019s not a case of \u2018job done\u2019.\n\n\u201cMillions remain at risk of poverty in retirement because they are saving nothing, or very little, into a pension scheme.\n\n\u201cWe urgently need the government to help more low-paid workers join schemes. And ministers must set out a plan for increasing contributions from employers.\u201d\n\nENDS", "output": "Nearly one million hospitality staff in the UK face poverty in retirement, according to an analysis of the government\u2019s pensions auto-enrolment system by the Trades Union Congress (TUC). The scheme, launched five years ago, was designed to boost retirement savings. However, the TUC claims that up to six in 10 workers in low-paid sectors, including agriculture and retail, are not enrolled in a pension scheme. Such workers earn less than \u00a310,000, the minimum level at which employers are required to establish a savings plan. The TUC claims that almost nine million UK workers cannot afford to save for a pension."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "A million UK hospitality staff face retirement poverty: TUC \n Almost a million hospitality staff are among workers at risk of a retirement in poverty, a study of blackspots in the government\u2019s flagship pensions policy has shown.\n\nAccording to the TUC, as many as six in 10 workers in low-paid sectors such as retail and agriculture are not enrolled in a pension. They slip through the net of the government\u2019s pensions auto-enrolment system as they earn less than the \u00a310,000 minimum level at which employers are forced to set them up with a savings plan.\n\nLaunched five years ago in one of the biggest shakeups for pensions in recent memory, auto-enrolment was introduced by the government to boost levels of saving for retirement. More than 8m employees have signed up for a workplace pension since, according to official figures.\n\nBut workers in low-paid sectors appear not to be receiving the same level of contributions from their employers as those at the top. As many as nine out of 10 savers in the wholesale and retail industries received less than 8% of salary from their employer. In high-paid sectors such as financial services, the vast majority of savers received more than this amount.\n\nThe TUC general secretary, Frances O\u2019Grady, said: \u201cMillions remain at risk of poverty in retirement because they are saving nothing, or very little, in a pension scheme. We urgently need the government to help more low-paid workers join schemes. And ministers must set out a plan for increasing contributions from employers.\u201d\n\nThe industries with the lowest level of pension cover are agriculture, forestry and fishing, hospitality, construction, arts and entertainment, and other services such as hairdressing and beauty. The TUC said nearly 9m workers in total were unable to save into a pension scheme due to low pay.\n\nA spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions said: \u201cMore than 8.5 million people are now enrolled into a workplace pension, thanks to the introduction of automatic enrolment.\n\n\u201cBut we know there is more to do, which is why our review is looking at who is eligible and the evidence around future contribution increases, to ensure as many people as possible are saving towards their retirement.\u201d", "output": "Nearly one million hospitality staff in the UK face poverty in retirement, according to an analysis of the government\u2019s pensions auto-enrolment system by the Trades Union Congress (TUC). The scheme, launched five years ago, was designed to boost retirement savings. However, the TUC claims that up to six in 10 workers in low-paid sectors, including agriculture and retail, are not enrolled in a pension scheme. Such workers earn less than \u00a310,000, the minimum level at which employers are required to establish a savings plan. The TUC claims that almost nine million UK workers cannot afford to save for a pension."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MRI Software buys Qube to expand its commercial property platform \n Acquisition Extends MRI\u2019s Global Reach; Expands Offerings for Property Investors, Agents, Occupiers, and Tenants; Provides Greater Scale for Innovation and Development\n\nLondon \u2013 October 4, 2017 \u2013 MRI Software, a global leader in real estate software solutions, today announced the acquisition of Qube Global Software, a leading UK-based supplier of property and facilities management software. Qube both extends MRI\u2019s global reach and brings further expertise and scale for continued innovation in property technology. Following MRI\u2019s acquisitions of Qube and Real Asset Management, which was announced last month, the combined company now serves 5,500 clients with a global team of more than 1,000 employees. MRI\u2019s 350 employees in the UK make it one of the largest property tech providers in the country, and in Europe as a whole.\n\n\u201cThe global real estate sector is growing at unprecedented rates, with investors and capital seamlessly crossing borders and spanning continents,\u201d said Patrick Ghilani, Chief Executive Officer of MRI Software. \u201cThe union of MRI Software and Qube Global Software establishes a technology powerhouse to support investors, agents, and occupiers globally and locally. By uniting MRI\u2019s strength and history in North America with Qube\u2019s European market expertise, along with both companies\u2019 long-standing Asia-Pacific footprint, we are uniquely positioned to address the varying needs of the global real estate market with a comprehensive and flexible portfolio.\u201d\n\nQube\u2019s extensive property and financial management capabilities, as well as facilities management, integrated workplace management systems (IWMS), and space management solutions, complement MRI\u2019s existing offerings and provide greater choice and flexibility for the combined company\u2019s worldwide client base. Qube\u2019s property management offerings serve both the commercial and residential real estate sectors, including lettings, which is experiencing increased demand in the UK. The acquisition also provides Qube clients access to MRI\u2019s world-class financials and investment suite, including solutions for asset management, scenario modelling, and investor relations.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s rare to find two organisations so closely aligned strategically as MRI and Qube, with a long history in the real estate space and a shared vision of providing an open platform that maximises flexibility and choice for clients,\u201d said John Cuppello, Chief Executive Officer of Qube Global Software. \u201cIt\u2019s a tremendous time to become a part of MRI, and our capabilities and expertise will play a meaningful role in helping the combined company continue to grow and thrive.\u201d\n\nThrough the addition of Qube\u2019s offices in the UK, United States, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore, MRI is well-positioned to continue exceeding the demands of its growing global client base with increased in-country resources. Both Qube and MRI clients will continue to be served without interruption while near-term integration activities focus on providing expanded offerings to all clients.\n\nAbout MRI Software\n\nMRI Software is a leading provider of innovative real estate software applications and hosted solutions. MRI\u2019s comprehensive and flexible technology platform coupled with an open and connected ecosystem meets the unique needs of real estate businesses\u2014from property-level management and accounting to investment modelling and analytics for the global commercial and residential markets. A pioneer of the real estate software industry, MRI develops lasting client relationships based on nearly five decades of expertise and insight. Through leading solutions and a rich partner ecosystem, MRI liberates real estate companies to elevate their business and gain a competitive edge. For more information, please visit mrisoftware.com.\n\nAbout Qube Global Software\n\nQube Global Software is a leading supplier of property and facilities management software throughout the world. Over the last 40 years it has helped thousands of clients, ranging from small investors through to global corporations, manage every aspect of their property portfolios. Its products can bring increased revenue and efficiency, reduced costs and full access to vital information for every sector of the property industry. For more information, please visit www.qubeglobal.com.\n\nContact Information:\n\nJeff Miller\n\nLEWIS\n\nmrisoftware@teamlewis.com\n\n541-207-3461", "output": "Proptech company MRI Software has acquired Qube Global Software in order to add to its real estate applications and solutions. The acquisition means the US-based multinational can expand its services\u00a0to property investors, agents and tenants around the world, and improve innovation and development. The combined firm now has a worldwide team of over 1,000 employees, serving about 5,500 clients, making it one of the largest proptech providers in Europe. Qube specialises in property, facilities and financial management.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Generali introduces Italian-based insurtech accelerator \n Generali Italia and Roncade, Italy-based Milan-listed venture incubator H-Farm have launched a new insurtech accelerator.\n\nThe Generali Health & Welfare Accelerator program aims to identify and collaborate with innovative domestic and international startups in their early/middle stages that are developing solutions for the market and who are exploiting emerging technologies and exploring new business models linked to the areas of prevention, accessibility, treatment and innovation.\n\nAll applications to the program must be submitted here by October 31. The 5 best startup candidates will take part in a 4-month acceleration course on the H-Farm campus.\n\nDuring this period, they will develop their project, receiving mentoring and tutoring, a work space, food and lodging, as well as \u20ac10k in seed founding.\n\nGenerali Italia will guarantee startups a range of services designed to consolidate their business models and that will simplify their entrance into the market of their specific field through individual workshops and meetings.\n\nFinSMEs\n\n08/10/2017", "output": "Generali Italia has backed an Italian-based accelerator for insurtech firms. Dubbed the Generali Health & Welfare Accelerator programme, it will provide eligible applicants with a grant of \u20ac10,000 ($11,780) and a four-month incubation course. The\u00a0accelerator will also provide counselling and services to companies to help them refine business models, allowing them to enter the market with greater ease.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow highly commended at National Apprenticeship Awards \n Redrow has been highly commended at the Midlands regional final of the National Apprenticeship Awards 2017. This is the fifth consecutive year the housebuilder has been recognised at the awards for the training it offers to its apprentices.\n\nTraining and development sits at the heart of Redrow\u2019s business and it is working hard to nurture the next generation of construction industry talent. As part of this the housebuilder joined the 5% Club which means it is committed to ensuring at least 5% of its workforce comprises trainees, graduates and apprentices. Currently, nearly triple this number, 14%, are working at the business.\n\nRedrow\u2019s apprentices benefit from working alongside and learning from some of the industry\u2019s most experienced professionals and can take on a diverse array of roles at the business, whether as a tradesperson on one of the housebuilder\u2019s developments or supporting the business\u2019 growth at headquarters. The housebuilder offers apprenticeships from entry-level all the way up to Level 7 which is the equivalent of a Masters Degree.\n\nRedrow also supplements all the formal training apprentices receive with opportunities for them to develop their soft skills, including leadership, teamwork and communication. Recently Redrow apprentices have done so by participating in the annual Brathay Apprentice Challenge and working as a team to put their skills to the test and design and build a sensory garden for dementia patients at Deeside Community Hospital.\n\nCommenting, Clare Hindley New Entrants Programmes Manager at Redrow, said: \u201cRecognition at the National Apprenticeship Awards for the fifth year in a row is no mean feat. We are delighted to have our industry-leading apprenticeship programme feature alongside those of iconic companies like the BBC and Volvo. At Redrow we are passionate about nurturing the next generation of construction industry talent and giving them the practical and soft skills needed to succeed in an industry that is a cornerstone of the UK economy.\u201d\n\nSue Husband, Director of the National Apprenticeship Service, said: \u201cThe National Apprenticeship Awards allow talented apprentices and committed employers from across our regions to receive well-deserved recognition for their apprenticeship achievements.\n\n\u201cThe highly commended finalists at these awards show the range of sectors and variety of job roles apprenticeships are available in, and how they can deliver the skills employers need. I congratulate all highly commended finalists on their success in this competition.\u201d\n\nThe National Apprenticeship Awards, now in their fourteenth year, are run by the National Apprenticeship Service and recognise excellence in two areas: businesses that grow their own talent with apprentices and apprentices who have made a significant contribution to their workplaces.", "output": "Redrow was recognised and celebrated at the Midlands final of this year's National Apprenticeship Awards. The housebuilder is committed to ensuring at least 5% of its workforce is made up of apprentices, trainees and graduates, and 2017 is the fifth consecutive year that Redrow has been recognised at the awards. Clare Hindley, new entrants programme manager at Redrow, said the company was \"passionate\" about nurturing new talent in an industry that is a \"cornerstone of the UK economy\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Database may help cut greenhouse gases from cement production \n Concrete is the most-used construction material in the world \u2013 its manufacturing contributes as much as 8 percent of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Credit: eugenesergeev, iStock\n\nAn international team of scientists has created a new database of molecular dynamics models that simulate the properties of cement in all its varieties. It's intended to help fine-tune this component of concrete and curtail emissions in its manufacturing process.\n\nCement is used to bind concrete, the most-used construction material in the world and a significant source of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Its manufacturing contributes as much as 8 percent of the greenhouse gas to the atmosphere.\n\nInvestigate atomic interactions\n\nA new database, called cemff, for cement force fields. In this case, the force field isn't an invisible barrier from a science-fiction story. It's the collection of parameters scientists use to build computer models of atomic interactions. These parameters include the intrinsic energy of the atoms in a simulation system. They are used to calculate how atoms interacts individually and collectively with their neighbors to give the material its properties.\n\nApplication of accurate atomistic force field models allows to do computer simulation of various types of inorganic minerals present in cement. Very importantly, it helps academic and industrial researchers to draw upon many types of force fields to make reliable simulations and predictions of purpose-built cement formulations. Cemff could help industry design stronger, more durable construction materials that also curtail carbon dioxide emissions from the manufacture of more than 3 billion tons of cement and concrete a year.\n\nTransmission electron microscopy image of cement and atomic structure of model cement. Credit: ETH Zurich/EPFL/Rice University\n\nDevelop of eco-friendly cements\n\n\"The publication of this common database represents a milestone for the field that will greatly increase the impact for molecular modeling in the development of new and eco-friendly cements\", says Robert Flatt, Professor of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering at ETH Zurich and one of the scientific adviser of cemff database project.\n\nFifteen scientists at 11 institutions worked on the project led by Ratan Mishra of ETH Zurich, Rouzbeh Shahsavari of Rice University and Paul Bowen of EPFL Lausanne. In their research, the simulation of force field models show how the component molecules in cement interact with each other. These microscopic interactions determine how well concrete performs in real-world applications and allow for fine-tuning the material to perform at its best for decades and in the most environmentally conscious way.\n\n\"Molecular modeling still requires multiple trade-offs,\" said Mishra, lead author of the paper and a materials scientist in the group of professor Flatt. \"The typical example is time versus accuracy, but more importantly, it is essential to recognize what specific models are good at and what they may be challenged with.\" Cemff will allow researchers to have a more comprehensive view on this question and to select the best approach for the problem they are tackling.\n\nA simulated construct of cement produced by a model in the cemff database. The model contains hydrogen (white), oxygen (red), silicate (yellow) and calcium (green). Credit: ETH Zurich\n\nReduce the carbon footprint\n\nCement consists primarily of calcium silicates that react with water to produce the hardened material that confers mechanical properties and durability to concrete. Nearly 60 percent of carbon dioxide emissions from cement production come from the decomposition of limestone, the source of calcium in cement. To reduce the carbon footprint, manufacturers often supplement the mix with clays, waste materials like fly ash and recycled materials.\n\nThese all influence the mechanical characteristics and resilience of the product; that is why there is a need for simulations at nanoscale that let manufacturers test mixes for strength and durability even before making real cement.\n\n\"I hope the open format and international base of the cemff database will encourage both the modeling and experimental community to create solid benchmarks to help understand and predict more accurately the properties of the most-used material on Earth and help us build a more sustainable future,\" says Paul Bowen, professor at the Powder Technology Laboratory of EPFL, and initiator of the project.", "output": "Scientists from around the world have built a database that's aimed at helping cut pollution in the production of cement, a major contributor of greenhouse gases. The so-called Cemff\u00a0database lists\u00a0molecular dynamics models that simulate the properties of the building material. Created by a\u00a0team from 11 institutions, the models will allow scientists to create computer simulations of cement mixes, enabling the development of more efficient, eco-friendly manufacturing processes. Cement production is the source of up to 8% of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hepstar integrates insurance offering into travel-booking platform \n Maureen Ihua-Maduenyi\n\nA Cape Town-based global insurance aggregator, Hepstar, has integrated Cornerstone Travel Insurance into Amadeus channels.\n\nThis, Cornerstone Insurance Plc said, would enable travel agents booking through Amadeus channels to have a variety of travel insurance products they could offer their travellers from the comfort of a single booking page.\n\nAccording to the insurance firm, travel agents can now add an insurance policy to a flight booking without leaving the booking flow.\n\n\u201cTrip and traveller details are automatically pre-populated so no data needs to be entered twice. This saves time and effort for the agent. Insurance bookings are fully integrated into the Passenger Name Record and back office systems, allowing for easy reporting and after-sales servicing,\u201d the firm said in a statement.\n\nThe Cornerstone\u2019s Head of E-Business and Alternative Markets, Kolawole Ladejobi, was quoted to have said that the aim was to revolutionise penetration and distribution of insurance through cutting-edge technology.\n\n\u201cWith our partnerships, we have made travel insurance more accessible for Nigerians and seamless for travel agents,\u201d he said.\n\nThe Hepstar\u2019s Chief Operating Officer, Claudia Snyman, was also quoted to have said that the firm was making it easier for travel agents in Nigeria to book insurance products smoothly through the GDS, adding that it would be hugely beneficial for travel agents and travellers alike.\n\nThe Amadeus Nigeria\u2019s General Manager, Yann Gilbert, said the channel would continue to add value to the travel ecosystem by ensuring that customers had everything they needed to offer their travellers the best service.\n\nCopyright PUNCH.\n\nAll rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.", "output": "South African global insurance aggregator Hepstar has added Cornerstone Travel Insurance to Amadeus channels, allowing travel agents to access a range of products through one booking page. Without needing to leave the booking process, agents will be able to add insurance policies on the fully integrated system. The move should \"revolutionise penetration and distribution of insurance\", according to Cornerstone's Head of E-Business and Alternative Markets, Kolawole Ladejobi."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shaw Academy crowdsources $1.5m for live online learning platform \n Irish start-up is targeting \u00a32.1m in ambitious crowdfunding campaign.\n\nShaw Academy, the online education company led by James Egan, has raised more than \u00a31.1m in just six days on Crowdcube.\n\nThe company was set up in 2013 and now employs more than 180 staff between Dublin and India. It is understood to be signing up more than 250,000 users per month.\n\nThe crowdfunding campaign is aimed at raising \u00a32.1m in total, but could exceed that target.\n\nCrowdcube, a UK-based crowdfunding platform, has emerged as a go-to marketplace for fundraising by Irish-led start-ups. In 2015, Sugru \u2013 the start-up founded by Kilkenny native Jane N\u00ed Dhulchaointigh \u2013 raised \u00a33.5m on the platform.\n\nIn recent weeks, HouseMyDog, an Irish-based Airbnb for dogs, broke records raising more than \u20ac200,000 in the first 36 hours on Crowdcube, before settling at \u00a3535,220.\n\nEducating the world\n\nAccording to its Crowdcube campaign, Shaw Academy has so far taught over 4m students, grossing over \u20ac25m in sales to date. It teaches students a variety of subjects live through its own bespoke software platform.\n\nThe company has partnered with brands like GoDaddy, Adobe, Vodafone and Flipkart and awards students with internationally accredited professional diplomas.\n\nShaw Academy has raised \u00a31.114m from 595 investors so far, and it plans to use the funding from the crowd-sourced campaign to scale globally.\n\nIt began trading six days ago with an \u00a383m pre-money valuation and offered investors 2.5pc equity.", "output": "Shaw Academy has raised \u00a31.1m ($1.5m) in six\u00a0days on UK crowdfunding site\u00a0Crowdcube to expand\u00a0its live online education platform. The Irish company states in its\u00a0Crowdcube campaign that it has grossed more than\u00a0\u20ac25m ($29m) in sales\u00a0since starting up in 2013,\u00a0employs more than 180 staff in Dublin and India and has taught\u00a0four million students. It's said to\u00a0be\u00a0signing\u00a0more than 250,000 users to its service each month. The fundraising campaign is targeting \u00a32.1m, with the company valued at\u00a0\u00a383m.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK CRM giant Reapit confirms Accel-KKR-backed\u00a0management buyout \n The cloud software business has a customer base of over 200 estate agencies and over 20,000 users in the UK and Australia. The firm employs 130 people across its five offices in the two countries.\n\nAfter some months of speculation within the industry, high-profile supplier Reapit has confirmed today that it is the subject of a management buy out with the help of a California-based investment firm, Accel-KKR.\n\nIt says the additional investment will enable it to \u201caccelerate its growth and innovation, enhance products and services, and expand its technology offering.\u201d\n\nThe Reapit senior management team will continue to be led by Gary Barker as chief executive, Simon Whale as sales director and Matthew Goddard as client services director.\n\n\u201cThis investment will allow us to significantly scale our development capabilities and deliver new and exciting solutions. We plan to create new technological and digital innovations that will enable our clients to more effectively grow revenues, save costs and address a continually evolving legislative landscape\u201d says Barker.\n\nAccel-KKR specialises on investing in software and IT-enabled businesses. It says it focuses on \u201cmiddle-market companies\u201d. In addition to California, it has offices in London and Atlanta.\n\n\u201cAccel-KKR has sought to work with management teams who are both clear leaders in their industry and passionate about providing great service and technology. We look forward to working with the Reapit team to grow and extend its product leadership with the leading estate and letting agencies across the UK and Australia\u201d says Park Durrett, managing director at Accel-KKR.", "output": "Reapit, a leading UK supplier of customer relationship management software to the property industry, has confirmed it was taken over in a management buyout backed by\u00a0Californian investment firm Accel-KKR. CEO\u00a0Gary Barker, who remains at the company with sales director Simon Whale and client services director Matthew Goddard, said\u00a0his team plans\u00a0\"to create new technological and digital innovations that will enable our clients to grow revenues, save costs and address a continually evolving legislative landscape\u201d. Countrywide, Knight Frank and Savills are among Reapit's customers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US researchers develop medication-releasing smart bandages \n These Bandages Release Medication On a Predetermined Schedule\n\nA group of researchers working out of Harvard Medical School, MIT and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln have developed a high-tech smart bandage that is capable of releasing medication over a period of time based on a pre-programmed schedule.\n\n\n\nThis smart bandage is constructed out of conductive fibers that heat up when the embedded microcontroller sends a voltage signal. When the fibers heat up, they heat up a gel that they are coated with, releasing them into the wearer's wound.\n\n\n\nWhat's great about this smart bandage is that it can be controlled by a smartphone, making it possible for medication schedules to be entered into a phone so that manual oversight isn't necessary to ensure timely medication release.", "output": "A smart bandage has been developed that automatically releases doses of medication at pre-determined intervals. Operated by a smartphone, the bandage is made up of conductive fibres coated with a medicated gel that is released into a patient's wound when programmed. It has been developed by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Harvard Medical School.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FreeMilk malware used e-mail conversations to infect networks \n Victims of the highly-targeted FreeMilkphishing campaign include a bank, a services firm and an international sporting group. Image: iStock\n\nHackers are intercepting legitimate email conversations between individuals and hijacking them to spread malware to corporate networks by using highly-customised phishing messages designed to look as if the victim is still communicating with the person they were originally messaging.\n\nThe target still believes they're in contact with the person they were originally messaging, but in fact they have fallen victim to a highly targeted cyber attack and may have infected their network via a malicious attachment.\n\nAttacks using this technique and have already infiltrated several networks, including those of a Middle Eastern bank, European intellectual services firms, an international sporting organisation and 'individuals with indirect ties to a country in North East Asia'\n\nDubbed FreeMilk - after words found in the malware's code - by the Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 researchers who uncovered the campaign, these attacks have been active since at least May 2017.\n\nThe attack leverages CVE-2017-0199, a remote code execution vulnerability in the way Microsoft Office and Wordpad parse specially crafted files - which was subsequently patched in April this year.\n\nThe exploit allows attackers to take full control of an infected system - likely through credential theft - then intercept in-progress conversations with specific targets using carefully crafted content designed to fool them into installing malware from what the victim believes to be trusted source.\n\nUpon successful execution of a FreeMilk phishing attack, two payloads will be installed on the target system - named PoohMilk and Freenki by researchers.\n\nSee also: What is phishing? How to protect yourself from scam emails and more\n\nPoohMilk's primary objective is to run the Freenki downloader. The purposes of Freenki malware are two-fold - the first is to collect information from the host and the second is to act as a second-stage downloader.\n\nInformation collected by the malware include username, computer name, ethernet MAC addresses, and running processes. Freenki can also take screenshots of the infected system, with all the information sent to a command server for the attackers to store and use.\n\nFreenki is also capable of downloading further malware to the infected machine, although researchers have so far been unable to identify any additional payloads being dropped.\n\nWhile the threat actors behind FreeMilk have yet to be formally identified, Unit 42 notes that the PoohMilk loader tool has previously been used to carry out attacks. One campaign saw it distributed in a phishing campaign which saw emails disguised as a security patch in January 2016.\n\nAttackers also attempted to distribute Freeniki in an August 2016 watering-hole attack on an anti-North Korean government website by defectors in the United Kingdom\n\nWhile researchers describe the FreeMilk spear phishing campaign as limited in the number of attacks carried out, they note that it has a wide range of targets in different regions across the globe.\n\nBut by hijacking legitimate conversations, and specially crafting content, the attackers have a high-chance of successfully infecting the individual within the organisation they're targeting.\n\nREAD MORE ON CYBER CRIME", "output": "Several corporate networks around the world have been infected by malware dubbed FreeMilk, which has intercepted e-mail conversations to deploy malicious payloads without the victims knowing. According to researchers at Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42, the highly targeted phishing attacks have been taking place since May, and victims\u00a0have included an international sporting organisation and a Middle Eastern bank. The malware downloads two payloads, one of which collects data including username and ethernet MAC addresses. The hackers behind the malware have yet to be identified.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "iMedTech to 3D-print breast implants for poor cancer survivors \n Oct 6, 2017 | By Julia\n\nJust in time for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, South African prosthetics company iMedTech has launched a new initiative for low-income breast cancer survivors. Spearheaded by iMedTech founder and acclaimed mechanical engineer Nneile Nkholise, the new project aims to 3D print 1000 prosthetic breasts for 1000 mastectomy patients in need.\n\nWhile 3D printed prosthetics are nothing new, Nkholise\u2019s initiative focuses squarely on the underrepresented issue of artificial breast forms. It\u2019s a type of prosthetic that\u2019s often overlooked by the mainstream media, yet just as important as 3D printed limbs such as arms and legs when considering the trauma of breast cancer survivors. Take into account the target group of low-income South African women, who lack the resources and funds necessary to acquire a prosthetic, and the iMedTech plan pretty much tops the list of the best news we\u2019ve heard all week.\n\nAs an award-winning technologist, Nkholise is no stranger to groundbreaking innovation. At only 28-years-young, the South African engineer is the founder of iMedTech Group, a Thaba Nchu-based organization that fabricates prostheses using additive manufacturing technology. The idea was born out of Nkholise\u2019s graduate research at the Central University of Technology, where she discovered that the same methods for treating burn victims and patients with facial deformations can be used to benefit women who have undergone a mastectomy.\n\nSince graduating several years ago, Nkholise has applied her research extensively in the fields of education and technology. Beyond her work with iMedTech, the up-and-coming social entrepreneur is also renowned for project Minute Words, a fun, educational game that uses 3D printed components to engage primary school students in building their vocabulary.\n\n\n\nWith iMedTech, Nkholise is keen to see those educational opportunities extended to young African women as well. The progressive organization boasts a primary commitment to employ African women under the age of 30 with research experience in mechanical engineering, thus providing a professional platform for innovation and industry development for those often excluded from the field. We all know being a black woman in tech isn\u2019t easy (to say the least), but with iMedTech, Nkholise is carving a new space for others like her to grow, learn, and thrive.\n\nSo far, her hard work has already started to pay off. Nkholise recently represented South Africa at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in San Francisco, and was named one of Africa\u2019s top female innovators at the World Economic Forum last year. The iMedTech founder has also been featured in Forbes Africa Woman magazine, and has participated in the Discovery MedTech Silicon Valley program and Tony Elumelu Foundation. By showing just how much rural African women are capable of achieving in the tech world when given the opportunity, Nkholise is quickly changing the perception that technological advancement can only emerge from first-world nations.\n\nPosted in 3D Printing Application\n\nMaybe you also like:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "output": "South African prosthetics firm iMedTech plans to 3D-print prosthetic breast implants for 1,000 low-income breast cancer survivors. Company\u00a0founder Nneile Nkholise used her prior experience in mechanical engineering to launch the initiative, using additive manufacturing technology to create the artificial breasts.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fundstrat creates five cryptocurrency-tracking indexes \n Investors can then analyze the relative performance of different digital currencies within the indexes, similar to how the advance-decline line of the number of S&P 500 stocks rising versus falling on a given day can indicate the health of the market.\n\nFundstrat's indexes track a total of 630 digital currencies, divided into five groups by market capitalization and trading volume.\n\nIn July, Lee, former chief equity strategist at JPMorgan Chase, boldly predicted bitcoin could be worth more than $20,000 by 2022. On Friday, it hit a high for the day of $4,417.45. He was the first major Wall Street strategist to formally present his views on bitcoin, and remains the only one.\n\nFundstrat Global Advisors' Thomas Lee said in a report Friday that the FS Crypto FX indexes are for institutional investors \"to better understand the evolution and behavior of crypto-currencies.\"\n\nA prominent Wall Street strategist who predicted bitcoin could more than quadruple in value in five years has created five indexes to track digital currencies.\n\nThe advance-decline line for digital currencies peaked in June, Fundstrat technical strategist Rob Sluymer, said. \"It gives us a sense that something's happening in the cryptocurrency move, that you don't have the same speculative move as you had in the first quarter, second quarter,\" Sluymer told CNBC in a phone interview.\n\nThe five indexes Fundstrat has created are:\n\nFS Crypto 10 \u2014 tracks the 10 largest and most liquid digital currencies including bitcoin, ethereum\n\nFS Crypto 40 \u2014 tracks the top 11 to 50 digital currencies by market value and liquidity including NEM, bitconnect and Lisk.\n\nFS Crypto 250 \u2014 tracks the top 51 to 300 cryptocurrencies by market value and liquidity including BitcoinDark, Singular DTV and FirstCoin.\n\nFS Crypto 300 \u2014 tracks the 300 largest digital currencies by market value and liquidity.\n\nFS Crypto Aggregate \u2014 tracks the performance of 630 digital currencies.\n\nFundstrat said it uses a proprietary algorithm to determine the weighting of each coin in an index, which is reconstituted every quarter. The indexes are intended for research right now, rather than supporting any investment products, Sluymer told CNBC\n\nSome digital currency enthusiasts have already created their own indexes. In July, tech entrepreneur Roger Bryan launched the Digital Currency Index, which tracks 30 significant digital currencies. William Mougayar, a venture capitalist who organized the Token Summit in New York this May, announced Thursday he is launching the William Mougayar High Growth Cryptoassets Index, tracking a basket of 15 digital currencies.\n\nThe development of the digital currency indexes also reflects the growth of the market to a size that may be increasingly attractive to institutional investors, Fundstrat's Lee said in the report. He pointed out daily trading volume in the 10 largest digital currencies is a \"surprisingly high\" $3.5 billion.\n\nIn his Friday analysis, Lee also noted that even a 2 percent allocation to digital currencies would have added about 2.29 percent to total return for a traditional portfolio with 60 percent allocation to stocks and 40 percent to bonds.\n\nDigital currencies like bitcoin have soared to record highs this year amid increased interest, particularly from institutional investors.\n\nBitcoin is up more than four times in value for the year, according to CoinDesk. Ethereum traded mildly higher on Friday near $302, up more than 3,000 percent for the year.\n\nTo be sure, digital currencies tend to be highly volatile and the majority have tiny market capitalizations.\n\nOnly 11 cryptocurrencies have a market capitalization above $1 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. About 345 digital currencies have a market value between $1 million and $100 million. The largest digital currency by market cap, bitcoin, has a market value of $72 billion, slightly less than that of Adobe .\n\nThe Fundstrat report also included technical analysis of some of the largest digital currencies by market cap.\n\nFor bitcoin, Sluymer doesn't expect its price to break above $4,800 to $5,000 before the end of this year. Ethereum also appears to be struggling for further gains, but the price should not fall below $206 or $195, Sluymer said.\n\nDisclaimer", "output": "Fundstrat Global Advisors has launched five FS Crypto FX indexes to give institutional investors insight into 630 cryptocurrencies. The indexes include FS Crypto 10, which tracks\u00a0the 10 largest cryptocurrencies; FS Crypto 40, tracking the next 40, and; the FS Crypto Aggregate, covering all 630.\u00a0Co-founder\u00a0Thomas Lee has predicted\u00a0bitcoin's value will top\u00a0$20,000 by 2022 from its present value of around $4,417.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Blockchain key to securing personal data: Harvard Business Review \n Using smart, distributed ledgers to prove our identities and store our personal data could shift the power of (and profit from) data management from big, established firms back to individuals. This would havebig implications for identity systems. We could keep certified copies of identity documents, biometric test results, health data, or academic and training certificates online, available at all times, yet safe unless you give away your key. At a whole system level, the database is very secure, as each single ledger entry among billions would need to be found and then individually \u201ccracked\u201d at great expense in time and computing.\n\nIt\u2019s a strange world we live in when large companies such as Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion are able to store huge quantities of our personal data and profit from it in a way that doesn\u2019t always benefit us. And when those same companies lose our personal data and make us susceptible to identity theft, there\u2019s virtually nothing we can do about it. Equifax lost the data of more than 140 million people, and recompense is not forthcoming. Meanwhile, the CEO may be stepping down with a pension worth $18 million. Clearly, the system is broken, and it\u2019s time to stop and ask ourselves why we continue to rely on a system that doesn\u2019t stand up to the challenges we face in a digital society.\n\nCredit-referencing agencies benefit immensely from our data, but there are many other data privateers \u2014 from online shopping sites to retailers to media firms \u2013 that are doing the same, including our own governments. U.S. Social Security numbers, or UK National Insurance numbers, were originally created to keep track of the earnings history of workers for entitlement and benefit programs. Both have since morphed into critical numbers assigned at birth that can be used by government agencies not just to collect taxes, but to identify individuals. They are also now used by private industry to track our financial and commercial histories.\n\nMany countries have such a national identity system. With the governments of China and India both providing their citizens a national identity (Hukou in China and Aadhaar in India), it\u2019s safe to say that well over a third of the world uses government-issued identitifiers. Among the various ways to prove identity, the U.S. stands out for its complexity, relying on a mix of varying state mechanisms \u2014 for example the ubiquitous use of state driving licenses, combined with Social Security numbers. A decade ago, the UK attempted to establish a national identity system, which was ultimately scrapped for many reasons, which included political overreaching, lack of security, and cost overruns. None of these nation\u2019s systems have proven to be a practical, reliable way to protect and prove our identities.\n\nStill, numerous smaller countries, such as Singapore, are exploring national identity systems that span government and the private sector. One of the more successful stories of governments instituting an identity system is Estonia, with its ID-kaarts. Reacting to cyber-attacks against the nation, the Estonian government decided that it needed to become more digital, and even more secure. They decided to use a distributed ledger to build their system, rather than a traditional central database. Distributed ledgers are used in situations where multiple parties need to share authoritative information with each other without a central third party, such as for data-logging clinical assessments or storing data from commercial deals. These are multi-organization databases with a super audit trail. As a result, the Estonian system provides its citizens with an all-digital government experience, significantly reduced bureaucracy, and significantly high citizen satisfaction with their government dealings.\n\nHow Blockchain Works Here are five basic principles underlying the technology. 1. Distributed Database Each party on a blockchain has access to the entire database and its complete history. No single party controls the data or the information. Every party can verify the records of its transaction partners directly, without an intermediary. 2. Peer-to-Peer Transmission Communication occurs directly between peers instead of through a central node. Each node stores and forwards information to all other nodes. 3. Transparency with Pseudonymity Every transaction and its associated value are visible to anyone with access to the system. Each node, or user, on a blockchain has a unique 30-plus-character alphanumeric address that identifies it. Users can choose to remain anonymous or provide proof of their identity to others. Transactions occur between blockchain addresses. 4. Irreversibility of Records Once a transaction is entered in the database and the accounts are updated, the records cannot be altered, because they\u2019re linked to every transaction record that came before them (hence the term \u201cchain\u201d). Various computational algorithms and approaches are deployed to ensure that the recording on the database is permanent, chronologically ordered, and available to all others on the network. 5. Computational Logic The digital nature of the ledger means that blockchain transactions can be tied to computational logic and in essence programmed. So users can set up algorithms and rules that automatically trigger transactions between nodes.\n\nCryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have increased the awareness of distributed ledgers with their use of a particular type of ledger \u2014 blockchain \u2014 to hold the details of coin accounts among millions of users. Cryptocurrencies have certainly had their own problems with their wallets and exchanges \u2014 even ID-kaarts are not without their technical problems \u2014 but the distributed ledger technology holds firm for Estonia and for cryptocurrencies. These technologies have been working in hostile environments now for nearly a decade.\n\nThe problem with a central database like the ones used to house social security numbers, or credit reports, is that once it\u2019s compromised, a thief has the ability to copy all of the information stored there. Hence the huge numbers of people that can be affected \u2014 more than 140 million people in the Equifax breach, and more than 50 million at Home Depot \u2014 though perhaps Yahoo takes the cake with more than three billion alleged customer accounts hacked. Of course, if you can find a distributed ledger online, you can copy it, too. However, a distributed ledger, while available to everyone, may be unreadable if its contents are encrypted. Bitcoin\u2019s blockchain is readable to all, though you can encrypt things in comments. Most distributed ledgers outside cryptocurrencies are encrypted in whole or in part. The effect is that while you can have a copy of the database, you can\u2019t actually read it.\n\nThis characteristic of encrypted distributed ledgers has big implications for identity systems. You can keep certified copies of identity documents, biometric test results, health data, or academic and training certificates online, available at all times, yet safe unless you give away your key. At a whole system level, the database is very secure. Each single ledger entry among billions would need to be found and then individually \u201ccracked\u201d at great expense in time and computing, making the database as a whole very safe.\n\nDistributed ledgers seem ideal for private distributed identity systems, and many organizations are working to provide such systems to help people manage the huge amount of paperwork modern society requires to open accounts, validate yourself, or make payments. Taken a small step further, these systems can help you keep relevant health or qualification records at your fingertips. Using \u201csmart\u201d ledgers, you can forward your documentation to people who need to see it, while keeping control of access, including whether another party can forward the information. You can even revoke someone\u2019s access to the information in the future.\n\nSeveral organizations are working on returning the value of your data to you, such as the state of Illinois\u2019 pilot to test a blockchain-based birth registry/ID system. Taking this idea one step further, when you are the sole owner of your personal data on purchases, online browsing history, or mobile data, you can also choose whether or not to \u201csell\u201d your own data, with rights and restrictions using smart ledgers. This could shift the power of (and profit from) data management from big, established firms back to individual users. This would also shift the responsibility. If you lost your cryptographic \u201ckeys,\u201d then they would be truly lost and you would have to build your identity again.\n\nEquifax and others have shown the weakness of central databases in the hands of a single firm. Mutual distributed ledger systems have the potential to provide us with identity and activity management, even permitting us to make a market selling information about ourselves, taking control and cash back from companies like Equifax and Yahoo and giving it back to ourselves. There will certainly be mistakes along the way, but how can we truly object to reclaiming control of our most private property \u2014 our personal data?", "output": "Distributed ledger technology \u2013 or blockchain \u2013\u00a0has the potential to put control\u00a0of personal data back in the hands of the public, rather than centralised corporations, which are increasingly vulnerable to cyber attacks, according to Michael Mainelli, executive chairman of distributed ledger company\u00a0Z/Yen Group. Writing in the Harvard Business Review, he cited the Estonian model of using blockchain to create ID-kaarts, a secure identity system that has proved popular with the population. Mainelli said a decentralised identity database could also give people the right to sell to, or withdraw their personal information from third parties, as they saw fit.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "National Flood Insurance Program to be exhausted by November \n As Hurricane Nate -- the fourth cyclone to batter the U.S. this hurricane season -- aimed at the U.S. last week, the Office of Management and Budget issued a dire warning and a pessimistic prognosis to Congress. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) will have \"fully exhausted its financial resources,\" including its $30 billion borrowing authority, before the end of October. After that, it will be \"unable to pay claims,\" according to a letter that OMB Director Mick Mulvaney sent to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.\n\nThe NFIP was already $24 billion in debt even before this year's monster storms ravaged the U.S. First, Hurricane Harvey hit Texas and Louisiana, saturating Houston with 60 inches of rain. Then Hurricane Irma scored a bullseye on Florida, tracking right up the peninsula with 135-mile per-hour winds. Hurricane Maria virtually decimated the island of Puerto Rico, destroying the power grid and major roadways. Damage reports there are still coming in.\n\n\"The recent hurricanes have inflicted projected losses of $16 billion,\" said Mulvaney. Now, Nate will dump at least an additional three to six inches of rain on the already soaked Gulf region.\n\nCongress has repeatedly been slow to act on flood insurance -- already delaying once this year -- and in the past it has let the program lapse, which ultimately stopped construction in coastal areas where flood insurance is required to obtain a mortgage.\n\nBut now political pressure from the thousands, perhaps millions, who've been the victims of storm surge and floods will force the divided federal legislature to finally act, possibly even before the Dec. 8 deadline now set by President Trump. The White House has already asked Congress for $29 billion in disaster aid, which would include $16 billion in debt \"forgiveness\" for the NFIP to keep it afloat a while longer.\n\nBut Mulvaney is asking for a lot more than that, such as measures that are sure to be controversial and divide Congress, in some instances along flood-prone lines rather than by party. \"The NFIP is simply not financially sustainable in its present form,\" he stated in the letter.\n\nOthers, including environmentalists and taxpayer advocates, agreed. \"More must be done to fix the nation's problematic disaster policies \u2026 including the NFIP,\" said SmarterSafer, one of those groups, in a statement.\n\nAmong the reforms Mulvaney is proposing:\n\nIdentify homes and properties subject to repeat flooding because some homeowners have collected three and four times from the NFIP. Coverage for these properties would be \"discontinued\" if they flood again.\n\n\n\nIncrease the NFIP's reserve fund and exempt it from a cap on annual rate increases.\n\n\n\nPhase out NFIP insurance coverage for newly constructed homes and commercial establishments located in designated \"Special Flood Hazard Areas.\"\n\n\n\nAllow private insurers to sell flood insurance in these flood hazard areas. Remove the legal barriers for those who want to switch from the NFIP to private insurance even though insurers would be in competition with the NFIP. Private insurers would get access to now-restricted NFIP data.\n\n\n\nFlood insurance risks would have to be disclosed before a real estate transaction is completed.\n\n\n\nMulvaney recognized that many homeowners in Florida, Texas and Puerto Rico cannot afford flood insurance -- federal or private -- as premiums continue to climb. So he suggested an \"affordability program\" for low-income policyholders. His proposals seem to echo some of the bills Congress is currently considering, which are already being criticized by coastal builders, which in many instances would be shut out of lucrative shorefront real estate.\n\nConsumer advocates such as Robert Hunter, director of insurance for the Consumer Federation of America, have criticized the idea of letting private insurers compete with the NFIP because insurers could \"cherry pick\" their policyholders leaving the worst ones for the NFIP, which would only fall further into debt.\n\nBut Mulvaney's letter -- and Nate adding to this year's onslaught of tropical cyclones -- will almost certainly raise the pressure on Congress to act \u2026 quickly.\n\nTrending News Why Amazon pays employees $5,000 to quit", "output": "The US National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) will be \"fully exhausted\" by the end of October, it has been warned. The NFIP was already $24bn in debt before a series of hurricanes devastated parts of the US and Puerto Rico. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director Mick Mulvaney said the storms had caused projected losses of $16bn and warned the body was \"simply not financially sustainable in its present form\". He proposed a series of measures, including allowing private insurers to sell cover in flood-prone areas and introducing an affordability scheme for low-income policyholders.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Workbench raises $1.7m for its project-based learning platform \n WORKBENCH, a project-based learning platform for K-12 educators, has raised $1.7 million, the Baltimore Sun reports. The deal is part of an ongoing $2 million seed funding round led by Brown Advisory, and brings the company\u2019s total funding to nearly $5 million.\n\nBased in Baltimore, Maryland, Workbench offers ready-made project ideas, as well as curriculum and directions for implementing projects into the classroom. The platform also connects users and makers with companies and products that sell maker tools and other project ideas.\n\nAccording to the Baltimore Sun, Workbench\u2019s recent raise will be used \u201cto expand sales and marketing outreach for its hands-on learning tools.\u201d", "output": "Online learning platform Workbench has raised an additional $1.7m in funding to expand its marketing and sales operation. The company, based in Baltimore, Maryland, provides resources for teachers at primary and secondary schools. Workbench has now attracted total funding of nearly $5m\u00a0including from the most recent round, which was led by\u00a0investment firm Brown Advisory. The raise will reportedly be used\u00a0\u201cto expand sales and marketing outreach for its hands-on learning tools\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus WeWork accused of corporate espionage by co-working competitor \n On the wall of one of Knotel's New York locations, a \"wanted\" poster displays the mugshot of a man the company believes is secretly employed by WeWork, its main co-working rival.\n\nAmol Sarva, chief executive and co-founder of the fast-growing Knotel, claimed that man and several other employees of the $20 billion co-working giant posed as prospective tenants to gain access to Knotel's co-working spaces.\n\n\"WeWork had their paid staff lie about who they were to enter our secure areas,\" Sarva told Crain's. \"That's corporate espionage, and it's in service to a hostile and negative strategy.\"\n\nOnce inside, the WeWork spies were able to assess Knotel's clientele, some of whom were later targeted with aggressive marketing materials in which WeWork offered up to a year of free rent and money to help tenants buy themselves out of their current Knotel leases.", "output": "Knotel CEO Amol Sarva, co-founder of New York's third-largest office space provider, has accused rival firm WeWork of \"corporate espionage\". Sarva alleged that his company was\u00a0infiltrated by WeWork staff posing as customers, who then\u00a0targeted Knotel's clients with marketing materials and offers of free rent.\u00a0\"It's hard to say whether the CEO is orchestrating bad behaviour, or it's just a frat party run amok,\" said Sarva. According to reports, other co-working companies have experienced similar issues. WeWork did not respond to the accusations.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Yandex.Checkout deal enables Russians to pre-order Tesla Model 3 \n Yandex Checkout to Provide Advanced Payments for Tesla Model 3 Orders\n\nYandex.Checkout, Russian leading online payment service, is the first in Russia to offer advance online payment for Tesla Model 3.\n\nTesla Model 3 electric car is now available to Russian customers for online booking pre-ordering at teslamodel3.ru. It is a special platform by Moscow Tesla Club, the independent supplier of electric cars in Russia and the Club of Tesla owners.\n\nTesla Model 3 is Tesla's first electric sedan for the mass market. (The electric car went on sale in July 2017.)\n\n\n\n\"In order to book Tesla Model 3, Russian customers need to make the advance payment of 145 thousand rubles (=2490$) from a bank card either from an identified Yandex.Money e-wallet the money will be spent on the car registration and delivery. Recently, the number of cars sold online in Russia has been growing Yandex.Checkout users have already paid for more than a hundred of different models of cars. Thanks to the partnership between Yandex.Checkout and Moscow Tesla Club, Russian fans of this high-end electric car maker now have the opportunity to make a quick and safe prepayment online. We are confident that in the coming years, online car sales will continue to grow,\" - says Dmitry Karmishin, Head of Sales at Yandex.Money.", "output": "Russian online payments giant Yandex.Checkout has partnered with electric-car supplier Moscow Tesla Club to enable customers to pre-order a Tesla Model 3. Payments covering car registration and delivery can be made using a Yandex.Money e-wallet or bank card at teslamodel3.ru. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Surging debt and liquidity pose global risk: Sch\u00e4uble \n German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, the warhorse of the eurozone debt crisis, will attend his final meeting of eurozone ministers on Monday, October 9, 2017, as variously the most loathed or loved figures in EU politics. (Photograph: JOHN THYSJOHN THYS/AFP/Getty Images)\n\nWolfgang Sch\u00e4uble has warned that spiralling levels of global debt and liquidity present a major risk to the world economy, in his parting shot as Germany\u2019s finance minister.\n\nIn an interview with the Financial Times, the Europhile who has steered one of the world's largest economies for the past eight years, said there was a danger of \"new bubbles\" forming due to the trillions of dollars that central banks have pumped into markets.\n\nMr Sch\u00e4uble also warned of risks to stability in the eurozone, particularly those posed by bank balance sheets burdened by the post-crisis legacy of non-performing loans.\n\nA strong advocate of fiscal rectitude, Mr Sch\u00e4uble dominated Europe\u2019s policy response to the eurozone debt crisis and has been vilified in countries such as Greece as an architect of austerity.\n\nREAD MORE\n\nBut he will mainly be remembered as the most ardently pro-European politician in German chancellor Angela Merkel\u2019s cabinet, skilled at selling the benefits of the euro and of deeper European integration to an often sceptical German public.\n\nMr Sch\u00e4uble told the FT that the Brexit vote last year had demonstrated how \u201cfoolish\u201d it was to listen to \u201cdemagogues who say...we\u2019re paying too much for Europe\u201d.\n\n\u201cIn that respect they made a great contribution to European integration,\u201d he said. \u201cThough in the short term that doesn\u2019t really help Britain.\u201d\n\nMr Sch\u00e4uble is to move to a new job as Speaker of the German Bundestag, amid widespread concern about how the legislature will be affected by the arrival of 92 MPs from the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a rightwing populist party that stunned the country\u2019s political establishment by winning 12.6 per cent in last month\u2019s election.\n\nMr Sch\u00e4uble, who will attend his last meeting of the eurogroup finance ministers on Monday, sought to reassure Germany\u2019s allies that the AfD\u2019s surprise success would not in any way affect the country\u2019s commitment to liberal democracy.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no chance Germany will ever relapse into nationalism,\u201d he said.\n\nThe AfD\u2019s voters were dissatisfied, felt excluded, were angry about perceived injustice and worried about how the world was changing. \u201cBut there\u2019s no reason to believe that democracy and the rule of law are in danger,\u201d he said.\n\nHowever, he warned that the world was in danger of \u201cencouraging new bubbles to form\u201d.\n\n\u201cEconomists all over the world are concerned about the increased risks arising from the accumulation of more and more liquidity and the growth of public and private debt. I myself am concerned about this, too,\u201d he said.\n\nHis comments come a day after Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, said the world was enjoying its best growth spurt since the start of the decade, but warned of \"threats on the horizon\" from \"high levels of debt in many countries to rapid credit expansion in China, to excessive risk-taking in financial markets\".\n\nMr Sch\u00e4uble\u2019s views also chime with those of the Bank for International Settlements, which has long argued that aggressive monetary easing by central banks was fuelling bubbles in asset prices.\n\nThe BIS warned last month that the world had become so used to cheap credit that higher interest rates could derail the global economic recovery.\n\nMr Sch\u00e4uble defended austerity, saying the word was, \u201cstrictly speaking, an Anglo-Saxon way of describing a solid financial policy which doesn\u2019t necessarily see more, or higher deficits as a good thing\u201d.\n\nHe said Germany\u2019s current economic boom, with rising domestic demand and investment and the lowest unemployment rate since reunification, was a vindication of an economic policy that prioritised \u201csticking to the rules\u201d and avoiding deficits. Under his stewardship the country has run balanced budgets since 2014.\n\n\u201cThe UK always made fun of Rhineland capitalism,\u201d he said, contrasting Germany\u2019s consensus-driven, social market model with Anglo-American free markets and deregulation. \u201c[BUT] we have seen that the tools of the social market economy were more effective at dealing with the [FINANCIAL]crisis...than in the places where the crisis arose.\u201d\n\nMr Sch\u00e4uble praised Emmanuel Macron\u2019s \u201cvigorous initiatives\u201d for overhauling the EU, without directly addressing the French president\u2019s proposals for eurozone reform. He said only that the key task facing the single currency area was to \u201creduce the risks, which are still too high \u2014 think of the bank balance sheets in many EU member states\u201d.\n\n\u201cWe have to ensure that we will be resilient enough if we ever face a new economic crisis,\u201d he added. \u201cWe won\u2019t always have such positive economic times as we have now.\u201d\n\n(Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2017)", "output": "Surging levels of worldwide debt and liquidity present a massive risk to the world economy, said German Finance Minister Wolfgang Sch\u00e4uble.\u00a0There is also danger\u00a0of \"new bubbles\" forming in the financial markets, said\u00a0Sch\u00e4uble, thanks to the trillions of dollars banks have pumped into them. JP Morgan's Marko Kolanovic warned\u00a0that the world is on the brink of a \"great liquidity crisis\" last week.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California governor to sign drug price transparency bill that infuriates pharma \n In a blow to the pharmaceutical industry, California Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday signed a bill into law that requires drug makers to explain and justify price hikes, making this the latest state to actively address the high cost of medicines.\n\nThe bill, which was vociferously fought by the pharmaceutical industry, is set to become one of the more comprehensive state efforts to address pricing transparency.\n\nadvertisement\n\nFor instance, drug makers have to provide 60-day notice to insurers and government health plans before increasing list prices of any medicine that costs more than $40 by at least 16 percent in a two-year period. And health plans have to provide detailed information about prescription drug costs and the portion of premiums attributed to this expense. (Here is a fact sheet on the bill.)", "output": "In a blow to the pharmaceutical industry, California Gov. Jerry Brown is expected on Monday to sign a bill that would require drug makers to explain and justify price hikes, making this the latest state to actively address the high cost of medicines.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "To slow deadly hepatitis outbreak, paramedics will now provide vaccinations to the homeless \n Paramedics are the newest troops in the fight against San Diego\u2019s ever-growing hepatitis A outbreak.\n\nA letter signed this week by the director of the state Emergency Medical Services Authority temporarily expands state laws that govern paramedics, granting them emergency powers to \u201cvaccinate at-risk populations in response to the outbreak.\u201d\n\nDr. Kristi Koenig, director of the San Diego County Emergency Medical Service, requested the temporary scope of practice expansion on Sept. 20 and said Wednesday night that she received approval in the mail Tuesday.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nParamedics will be able to deliver hepatitis A doses only under the supervision of nurses and only at special events created to inoculate those who are at high risk of infection, including homeless residents, drug users and those with liver disease or compromised immune systems.\n\nUsually only nurses and doctors are allowed to give the vaccine.\n\n\u201cParamedics already have basic skills in terms of delivering injections, and this approval allows us to give them extra training to do vaccination but only in very specific settings with very specific oversight,\u201d Koenig said, adding that they will not be able to administer vaccines during emergency calls.\n\nShe said getting the state to approve the request took a fair bit of back-and-forth with California regulators. Assemblyman Todd Gloria, D-San Diego, added a letter of his own urging approval on Sept. 27.\n\nGloria said Wednesday evening that he believes paramedics can take pressure off public health nurses who have been engaged in a large and growing public vaccination campaign to stop the outbreak, which has now killed 17 people and sickened nearly 500 people throughout the region.\n\nHe said that these first responders can be effective with the homeless and drug-using population that has been disproportionately affected by the outbreak.\n\n\u201cParamedics are often in communication with this population and, frankly, might be better able to get them to say yes to the vaccine,\u201d said Gloria, a former city council member. \u201cThis adds hundreds of healthcare professionals to the vaccination campaign. Having more boots on the ground, so to speak, I think can help us keep this outbreak from spreading any more than it already has.\u201d\n\nThe campaign, by all counts, continues to gain steam. Last week public health officials reported that more than 42,000 doses have been administered. During a presentation at the San Diego Convention Center on Wednesday afternoon that number was bumped up to 54,000 by Dr. Eric McDonald, director of the county\u2019s Epidemiology and Immunization Services Branch.\n\nPaul Sisson writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.\n\nALSO\n\nCalifornia\u2019s deadly hepatitis A outbreak could last years, official says\n\nTrump lets more employers choose not to cover workers\u2019 birth control\n\nEven red states feel left in the lurch by the Trump administration\u2019s management of healthcare", "output": "Paramedics are the newest troops in the fight against San Diego\u2019s ever-growing hepatitis\u00a0A outbreak. A letter signed this week by the director of the state Emergency Medical Services Authority temporarily expands state laws that govern paramedics, granting them emergency powers to \u201cvaccinate at-risk populations in response to the outbreak.\u201d\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Proposed MACRA participation threshold gets mixed reviews \n Proposed changes to the Quality Payment Program (QPP) \u2013 the value-based payment program established by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) \u2013 are drawing mixed reactions from physicians.\n\nA key component of the proposed update to the QPP is an expansion of the exemption threshold for the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). Currently, physicians are exempt from MIPS if they bill $30,000 or less in Medicare Part B charges or have 100 or fewer Medicare patients. The proposal would increase the number of exempt physicians by raising the threshold to $90,000 or less in Part B charges or 200 or fewer Medicare patients.\n\ncopyright roobcio/Thinkstock\n\nEligible clinicians and group practices that fall below the threshold can still voluntarily submit data, but they will not be scored for their participation in MIPS and will not be eligible for bonuses or face penalties for not meeting goals.\n\nThe expanded threshold proposal drew praise from the American Medical Association for exempting many small and rural practices from the requirements, but they also called on the agency to move more quickly in notifying physicians if they fall into the exempt category.\n\nThe American College of Surgeons expressed support for the changes to the threshold, adding that going forward the threshold should \u201cbe maintained at numbers no lower than that proposed for the 2018 performance period so that providers may have certainty of the criteria and their participation responsibilities from year to year.\u201d\n\nThe American College of Cardiology supported the expansion of the low-volume threshold and encouraged the agency to review the levels annually.\n\nBut the Association of American Physicians & Surgeons suggested the volume threshold didn\u2019t go far enough. \u201cWe ask that CMS consider a further widening of the threshold to all practices with 18 or fewer clinicians,\u201d the group said in its comments on the proposal. \u201cA threshold in terms of billing amounts and the number of patients creates an unhelpful incentive for physicians to turn away Medicare patients in order to qualify for the exemption.\u201d\n\nThe group argued that larger practices can better absorb the cost of complying with MACRA regulations and basing participation on billing could create uncertainty due to fluctuations in billing from year-to-year.\n\n\n\nOpt in option?\n\nSeveral other groups sought a pathway for exempt physicians to opt into the program and take advantage of bonuses, especially those who had already prepared for the program based on the lower initial threshold.\n\n\u201cBy raising the low-volume threshold and not offering an opt-in ability, CMS is further and needlessly delaying practices from payment based on value over volume, as well as the intent behind the establishment of virtual groups,\u201d the American Academy of Family Physicians wrote in comments to the CMS.\n\nThe American Gastroenterological Association voiced its support for expanding the exclusion threshold and supported the idea of an opt-in, but called on the CMS to hold harmless those practices that opted in. \u201cClinicians and groups opting-in to the QPP should not be subject to negative payment adjustments,\u201d AGA said in its comments to the CMS.\n\nThe American Academy of Dermatology Association supports the proposed low-volume threshold and called upon the CMS to allow those who want to participate to create a path to opt into MIPS.\n\nThe Endocrine Society supports the expansion of the threshold, but called on the CMS to provide a pathway for those who want to participate if they are otherwise excluded.\n\nThe American Osteopathic Association also called for a pathway for exempted physicians to opt in. And they cited two negative effects of expanding the threshold to a wider group of physicians. \u201cFirst, it will result in wasted resources from practices that prepared for MIPS participation and are now unable to participate,\u201d the association said in comments to the CMS. \u201cSecond, it will have the effect of dividing all practices into two levels: those that are incentivized to provide value-based care, and a significant number that are not eligible for such incentives.\u201d\n\n\n\nIndividuals vs. groups\n\nThe American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) supports the proposed threshold for individuals, but suggested changes for groups. \u201cACOG continues to believe that the threshold should only apply to individual clinicians and that CMS should develop a new, separate definition if the agency believes that groups should also have a low-volume threshold,\u201d ACOG said in comments to the CMS. \u201cSetting the low-volume threshold at both the individual and group level introduces unnecessary complexity into the program because other exclusions for MIPS only apply to individual clinicians.\u201d\n\nThe Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), while supporting the general goal of reducing burden on small and solo practices, suggested it needed to be tweaked for the group setting.\n\n\u201cMGMA continues to question CMS\u2019 application of the same threshold at both the clinician and group practice level,\u201d the association said in its comments to the CMS. \u201cThis approach significantly disadvantages groups of clinicians who, in the aggregate, rarely care for Medicare patients, but include one or two members that actively participate in the program. MGMA urges CMS to extend its own logic behind setting a group practice equivalent for the non-patient-facing definition by exempting group practices when 75% or more of the national provider identifiers who bill under the group\u2019s tax identification number meet the threshold on an individual basis.\u201d\n\n\n\nExpansion goes too far\n\nBut the AMGA, which represents group practices, called the new threshold \u201ccounterproductive\u201d in its comment letter and suggested that the CMS should be lowering the threshold, not raising it.\n\nAMGA noted that eligible clinicians who do not meet the threshold, but who are providing high-value care as defined by the QPP, are \u201cforced to leave higher reimbursement rates on the table; these could be considerable over time.\u201d\n\nIn addition, AMGA said that expanding the exemption decreases the money available for those who are required to participate. The CMS estimates in the proposed rule that in payment year 2019, $1.333 billion would be paid to top performers (including $500 million in exceptional performance bonus payments), but under the newest proposal, that number drops to $673 million (including $500 million in exceptional performance bonus payments). This will translate to a 0.3% bump in payment in 2020.\n\n\u201cThe effect of eliminating of two-thirds of eligible clinicians from the MIPS formula is to financially undermine participating clinicians,\u201d AMGA said in comments to the CMS. \u201cThey effectively lose by winning.\u201d\n\ngtwachtman@frontlinemedcom.com", "output": "Proposed changes to the Quality Payment Program (QPP) \u2013 the value-based payment program established by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) \u2013 are drawing mixed reactions from physicians.\n\n \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "A Health Care Plan That\u2019s Universal and Bipartisan \n After the collapse of Republican efforts at one-party health care reform, many Democrats have embraced Senator Bernie Sanders\u2019s Medicare for All proposal. Few liberals would object to this \u201csingle payer\u201d plan if it could be enacted with a magic wand, but the political realities of getting it through Congress are daunting.\n\nCould there be a way to preserve Medicare for All\u2019s simplicity and its guarantee of universal health care access while cutting its cost and increasing its bipartisan appeal?\n\nUniversal catastrophic coverage just might be the idea that could bridge the gap. So far, the idea has gotten more attention in conservative circles, but if liberals would give it a careful look, they would find a lot to like.\n\nThe basic idea is simple. Everyone would have a policy that covered all medical expenses above a deductible amount. For those with very low incomes, the deductible would be zero. For others, routine health care would not be covered, but they would be protected against the truly unaffordable costs of chronic illnesses and severe accidents. For example, the plan would not cover the cost of a visit to a doctor\u2019s office to make sure a bad cold is not something worse, but it would cover all costs of treatment above the deductible amount if the cold turned out to be lung cancer or a serious case of pneumonia. Ideally, a broad range of health care needs would be covered, including dental and mental health.", "output": "After the collapse of Republican efforts at one-party health care reform, many Democrats have embraced Senator Bernie Sanders\u2019s Medicare for All proposal. Few liberals would object to this \u201csingle payer\u201d plan if it could be enacted with a magic wand, but the political realities of getting it through Congress are daunting.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Schumer Says He Rebuffed Another Offer From Trump on Health Care \n The Trump administration, the aide said, needed to stop sabotaging the law before bipartisan negotiations could begin.\n\nMr. Trump has established an easy rapport with \u201cChuck and Nancy,\u201d as he likes to call Mr. Schumer, a fellow New Yorker, and Ms. Pelosi, of California. The three bonded last month over a dinner of honey sesame crispy beef in the White House, and their discussions have gone beyond the fiscal deal and how to protect young immigrants brought to this country illegally from being deported.\n\nThey have prodded Mr. Trump to put aside the Republican credo of \u201crepeal and replace\u201d in favor of more modest tweaks to the existing law. They have urged him to preserve subsidies, known as cost-sharing reductions, paid to insurers under the health law to help low-income consumers pay for out-of-pocket health expenses like co-payments and deductibles.\n\nBut Mr. Schumer\u2019s quick rebuff of Mr. Trump on Friday shows the limits of the partnership. The senator has said that much will depend on whether the president keeps his promise to protect the young undocumented immigrants who are beneficiaries of the program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.\n\n\u201cWhether he pivots or not will be one of the most fundamental questions of this administration,\u201d Mr. Schumer said recently. \u201cIt\u2019s the $64,000 question. The only way it can happen is if we have a successful negotiation on DACA, and secondly whether we get health care.\u201d", "output": "President Trump reached out to the Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, on Friday to propose yet another effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, but Mr. Schumer later said he had quickly shot down the offer.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trump Takes Away Fundamental Health Care for Women \n A few years ago, I had a patient who was a nurse practitioner at a Catholic hospital in Baltimore. She needed an IUD, but her insurance didn\u2019t cover it because her employer objected to contraception. That meant she would have to pay almost $1,000 for the device herself, and with her modest income, that was impossible for her.\n\nFortunately, Planned Parenthood was able to help her get the basic health care she needed. I remember how grateful she was, and I think of her every time I read about employers refusing to cover birth control. Under the Affordable Care Act provision, she would have still been able to get birth control through her insurer, even though her employer had opted out. Today, she would again be left with no other options.\n\nI also think of the college students who are working hard to build their futures, where the cost of birth control can put textbooks or groceries out of reach. Or moms who are forced to decide between school clothes for their kids or birth control.\n\nAnd those hardest hit by this policy will be poor women and women of color. According to a survey, 51 percent of African-American women ages 18 to 34 said they have had trouble purchasing birth control, and cost can be one of the most significant barriers for women of color in getting health care. In addition, these women too often suffer higher rates of chronic conditions because of systemic barriers to care. Not all of these diseases are pregnancy-related, but many can be managed by contraception.", "output": "The average American woman spends just three years pregnant or trying to become pregnant, and a full 30 years trying not to be pregnant. So it\u2019s no surprise that birth control is a standard part of most women\u2019s lives. In fact, roughly nine out of 10 women will use birth control during their lifetime.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New Trump Executive Order Could Gut Obamacare Markets \n A health-care policy wonk. Photo: Mandel Ngan/Getty\n\nThe Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that, according to a senior administration official, President Trump is preparing to sign an executive order this week that could significantly weaken the Affordable Care Act. The order is not a done deal yet, but reports from other outlets have surfaced similar details about its specifics.\n\nAccording to the Journal, Trump will mandate the departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury to make it easier for people to sign onto health-care plans that are skimpier than what Obamacare currently allows, circumventing rules laid out by Congress when it passed the law in 2010.\n\nAs part of the executive order, Trump will exempt \u201cassociation plans\u201d from the strictures of the Affordable Care Act. This means that small businesses will be able band together to buy insurance coverage as a group, allowing them to negotiate lower prices and premiums for employees. But it also means that the health-care plans they purchase are not required to cover essential health benefits like preexisting conditions, maternity care, and other basics of Obamacare. When the Affordable Care Act passed, association plans were classified as small businesses and became subject to the same, stricter coverage rules as larger corporations.\n\nThe Trump administration may also allow individuals to use this loophole, which could be an attractive choice for young, healthy consumers who want to pay lower premiums for more bare-bones coverage than the Affordable Care Act allows. But if such consumers peel off from the current individual markets, the Obamacare markets would be left with a preponderance of old and sick people, resulting in the \u201cdeath spiral\u201d that has long been breathlessly predicted by Republicans \u2014 but which has not yet come to pass.\n\nTrump will also allow insurers to offer \u201cshort-term medical insurance,\u201d a low-cost option that had been restricted by the Obama administration, to be made available to consumers for up to a year, as opposed to the current three months. He will expand \u201chealth reimbursement accounts,\u201d which employees use to pay for out-of-pocket expenses. And he will allow individuals to buy insurance across state lines.\n\nAll of these measures are seen by health-care experts as having the potential to damage significantly the already fragile Obamacare individual markets, which depend on a mix of healthy and infirm enrollees.\n\n\u201cThis appears to be a backdoor way of undermining the Affordable Care Act,\u201d Kevin Lucia, a professor at Georgetown\u2019s Health Policy Institute, told Vox.\n\nThe order is sure to face court challenges from states that would prefer to keep their Obamacare markets as they are.\n\nThe new rules have been favored by many Republicans for years, and the executive order appears to be, at least in part, the brainchild of Kentucky senator Rand Paul, who has criticized past Obamacare repeal efforts for not going far enough. The Journal reports that Paul has been working with Trump for months.\n\nAndy Slavitt, who led the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid from 2015 to 2017 and has become an influential advocate for protecting the Affordable Care Act, has labeled the executive part of \u201csynthetic repeal\u201d a multi-pronged approach to undermining Obamacare in lieu of repeal legislation.\n\nEven before the executive order, the Trump administration has been busy sabotaging the law from the inside. It has drastically cut the budget for outreach, made Healthcare.gov inaccessible at key times, and prevented even conservative measures to stabilize state markets, among other measures.\n\nBut Trump has not given up on congressional repeal just yet.\n\nAt a fundraiser in North Carolina Saturday night, the president told a group of wealthy, restive donors that he was still committed to repeal, though he acknowledged it was a steep climb. He also discussed his unexpected phone call to Chuck Schumer on Friday, in which he discussed a possible deal with Democrats on health care. The New York senator said he told Trump on Friday that he needed to stop sabotaging the law before Democrats would come to the bargaining table.\n\nWhether Trump is serious about a bipartisan effort, or just wants to spook his fellow Republicans, remains to be seen. But if the reported executive order comes to pass, it would be another sign that the president\u2019s burning desire to roll back his predecessor\u2019s achievements supersedes his desire to improve Americans\u2019 health care.", "output": "The Wall Street Journal reported\u00a0on Saturday that, according to a senior administration official, President Trump is preparing to sign an executive order this week that could significantly weaken the Affordable Care Act. The order is not a done deal yet, but reports from\u00a0other outlets\u00a0have surfaced similar details about its specifics.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Democrats accuse Trump of \u2018sabotage\u2019 on Obamacare sign-ups \n While the Trump administration failed to repeal Obamacare, it\u2019s doing everything it can to whack it administratively \u2014 pulling resources, while pursuing strategies that are likely to depress sign-ups for the law\u2019s fifth open enrollment. As a result, even supporters acknowledge that Obamacare enrollment will likely drop for a second straight year as more young and healthy people jump ship, putting even more stress on fragile markets and driving a fresh round of partisan bickering over who\u2019s to blame.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re trying to sabotage the markets,\u201d said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), warning that Republicans are fully responsible for the law\u2019s fate. \u201cIt\u2019s now all them. It is all them. One hundred percent.\u201d\n\nRepublicans insist that if enrollment tanks, it will be because of rising premiums and dwindling choices.\n\n\u201cA much bigger driver than a government agency trying to get you to enroll is what\u2019s going on in the market itself,\u201d said Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan. \u201cOur market has been the poster child of the disaster.\u201d\n\nThe Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services defended the reductions as a bid to reduce wasteful spending, contending most people are already aware of open enrollment and don\u2019t need as much help. Officials have said they cut funds to navigator groups that failed to meet their enrollment targets last year. Navigators dispute that, however, saying that agency didn\u2019t account for people they helped enroll in Medicaid, advised to automatically re-enroll in Obamacare, or helped to start applications but who finished at home.\n\nA CMS spokesperson also emphasized that individuals will still have a range of options to help them sign up this year, including local insurance agents and brokers and certified application counselors.\n\nThe impact of the cuts will be felt most acutely in the 28 mostly red states that rely solely on the federal government to run open enrollment. The Trump administration\u2019s 90 percent cut to its advertising budget means individuals won\u2019t see television ads urging them to visit HealthCare.gov. Its decision to eliminate 40 percent of federal grant money to enrollment assistance groups means far fewer on-the-ground resources, especially compared with states like California and Massachusetts that continue to pour resources into state outreach.\n\nConcern about the cuts has already spurred a counter-offensive led by former Obama administration officials Lori Lodes and Josh Peck, who oversaw outreach and education for HealthCare.gov. Their new nonprofit \u2014 called Get America Covered \u2014 is planning to do some of the outreach that federal health officials won\u2019t, enlisting celebrities and pushing out information aimed at getting people covered.\n\nSeveral Senate Democrats have talked with Get America Covered about turning their own political networks into a makeshift campaign to drive people to HealthCare.gov.\n\n\u201cIf the administration is going to try to undermine open enrollment, we\u2019re going to have to build a massive operation outside of Washington,\u201d said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who met Tuesday with the group. \u201cI\u2019m going to be helpful in any way that I legally can be, including pushing the message out and helping raise money for it.\u201d\n\nOn Friday, 13 former regional CMS directors wrote to acting Health and Human Services Secretary Don Wright objecting to the agency\u2019s decision not to allow regional directors to participate in sign-up events around the country.\n\n\u201cTo continue down the current path would undermine the will of Congress in passing the ACA \u2014 which remains the law of the land \u2014 and unnecessarily damage the marketplace,\u201d they wrote.\n\nObamacare\u2019s supporters admit there\u2019s little chance of matching the federal government\u2019s vast reach or resources. The Obama administration used every imaginable option to spur sign-ups over the last few years. Even then, enrollment had begun to plateau at about 10 million \u2014 less than half the level originally projected by the CBO.\n\nWith half the enrollment time and millions less to spend, those closely involved with the enrollment effort say they\u2019ll struggle to build on that number \u2014 especially coming off a bruising repeal fight marked by President Donald Trump\u2019s claims the law is already dead.\n\n\u201cThe recent repeal efforts have created a great deal of political noise,\u201d said Jessie Menkens, who oversees outreach efforts for the Alaska Primary Care Association, which lost about 25 percent of its federal funding this year. \u201cIt has caused a lot of confusion and it has caused a sense of unease.\u201d\n\nCongressional Republicans, though, say that Obamacare was already in a free fall before the Trump administration took office. They note that nearly half the counties in the country have just a single insurer selling plans, and premiums have skyrocketed in many places.\n\n\u201cI think Obamacare is sabotaging enrollment because the costs are so high, the choices are so limited,\u201d said Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.).\n\nThose problems, while real, are unlikely to cause the markets to implode. That\u2019s because there\u2019s a core group of millions of enrollees who receive generous subsidies tied to their incomes. So even if premiums jump, many of those customers won\u2019t see their monthly bills increase, making them unlikely to drop coverage.\n\nBeyond those people, though, the lack of advertising and outreach is likely to put a big dent in Obamacare\u2019s sign-ups.\n\n\u201cMy fear, of course, is that people will lose coverage because they didn\u2019t do what they needed to do to re-up,\u201d said Margarita Labarta, CEO of Florida\u2019s Meridian Behavioral Healthcare, which saw its federal grant cut from $550,000 in 2017 to just over $40,000 now. That wasn\u2019t even enough to fund one full-time worker, she said, so the group turned down the money.\n\nJust one group is now doing outreach work in the 17-county, predominantly rural area where Meridian works, she said.\n\nIn Louisiana, funding for the main statewide navigator group was cut 72 percent. The hit forced Navigators for a Healthy Louisiana to lay off 14 people and make very tough choices. It reassigned its remaining five navigators to the communities where they\u2019ve seen the highest enrollment, leaving broad swaths of the state without anywhere to turn for in-person help.\n\n\u201cNorth Louisiana \u2014 the entire upper part of the boot \u2014 is without navigator services,\u201d said Brian Burton, the group\u2019s state director. \u201cIt leaves more people needing assistance and fewer people to assist them.\u201d\n\nIt also remains unclear what will happen once HealthCare.gov opens for business. Randy Pate, who heads the CMS office that oversees Obamacare implementation, told staffers last week that the agency is making it easier to find the sign-up site, and for people to enroll through insurers and brokers.\n\nBut at the same time, it\u2019s planning to shut down HealthCare.gov for 12 hours on five of the six Sundays during open enrollment \u2014 a popular time for people with weekday jobs to sign up. The open enrollment period itself has been compressed from 12 weeks to six, from Nov. 1 to Dec. 15.\n\n\u201cWhat we\u2019re doing is focusing on those things we can control,\u201d said Cheryl Gardner, the CEO of New Mexico\u2019s health exchange, which manages its own marketplace but relies on the HealthCare.gov website. \u201cThese [outages] are pretty long and right in the middle of open enrollment, which is really inconvenient.\u201d\n\nState officials have also complained that CMS is keeping them in the dark on how it plans to manage the expected crush of people trying to access the website. A CMS spokesperson said that call center staffing will be consistent with prior years and that they\u2019ll use waiting rooms and a callback service to ensure everyone who wants to enroll by the deadline can do so. But the agency has not said how many call center employees will be dedicated to open enrollment, or whether it has a contingency plan should HealthCare.gov suffer technical problems, said Heather Korbulic, the head of Nevada\u2019s state health exchange.\n\nThat all adds up to big questions about how enrollment under the Trump administration will actually work.\n\n\u201cThe good thing is that the bar is so low and they\u2019re doing so little, that anything people do on the outside is going to have an impact,\u201d Lodes said. \u201cBut nothing can replace the government.\u201d", "output": "Obamacare's first open enrollment season under the Trump administration is expected to be a flop \u2014 and even the law's most ardent supporters are worried there's little they can do to change that.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tips for post-retirement adventure, health and happiness at Successful Aging Expo \n Colleen Soto, an instructor at MiraCosta College, center, lead her class, Fitness for the Active Older Adult, during The San Diego Union-Tribune Successful Aging Expo held at the Del Mar Fairgrounds Saturday.\n\nIf all goes well, El Cajon residents Rex and Christiane Beckham soon will be spending six months in Ireland, then six months in Germany, then who knows where.\n\n\u201cMy wife and I are getting ready to retire,\u201d Beckham said Saturday. \u201cWe\u2019re going to do a lot of traveling, and we\u2019re looking at our options.\u201d\n\nAs part of their retirement research, the Beckhams joined thousands of others at the one-day Successful Aging Expo at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cWe need to look at our retirement income and start to live within those means now, while we\u2019re still working, to see if we can manage that,\u201d his wife said.\n\nPeople thinking about retirement also should look for ways to declutter and downsize, she said. And they need to prepare ahead for ways to keep themselves occupied after they\u2019ve left their full-time jobs.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s really important to prepare for that change,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s huge.\u201d\n\nAfter six years at the Town & Country Resort in Mission Valley, the aging expo moved to the fairgrounds this year to make more room for guests, speakers and exhibitors. The event grew from 140 booths last year to 245 booths this year.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re trying to give people the tools they need,\u201d said consultant Beth Reynolds, who worked with sponsors The San Diego Union-Tribune and Sharp Healthcare to organize the event. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of interactive information here.\u201d\n\nTory Chainel wears 360-degree virtual reality goggles at the California Earthquake Authority booth during The San Diego Union-Tribune Successful Aging Expo at the Del Mar Fairgrounds and experiences a simulated 5.0 to 6.0 magnitude earthquake. (Howard Lipin/U-T)\n\nExhibitors ranged from health services to legal firms, from hearing-aid sales to real estate agents. Longtime San Diego television meteorologist Pat Brown offered travel tips, newspaper columnist and radio host Richard Lederer delivered a talk titled \u201cThe Gift of Age,\u201d and experts in other fields shared their wisdom.\n\nCarlsbad resident Charles Ables said he was there to learn more about long-term care, an important issue for many older families.\n\nHe and his wife, who uses a wheelchair, have made some modifications to their home, and they want to stay there as long as they can. He was collecting information from an organization that helps disabled people stay independent.\n\n\u201cLong-term care is a big issue for us,\u201d Ables said. \u201cIt\u2019s great to have everything like this in one place.\u201d\n\nMedical marijuana dispensary Torrey Holistics also joined the participants for the first time, providing a booth and a speaker to discuss the latest developments in the use of cannabis for healing and pain relief. Gray-haired guests lined up three deep at the counter to ask questions about cannabis laws, dispensaries and consultants.\n\n\u201cOur booth has been busy all day,\u201d employee Aleks Kirilenko said.\n\nGerontologist Diane Darby Beach talked to a room of 50 or more people in the Mission Tower building about the four keys to a healthy brain: nutrition, social connections, mental exercise and physical exercise.\n\n\u201cYour brain is a muscle,\u201d Darby Beach said. \u201cIt needs to be exercised. Your brain craves novelty.\u201d\n\nGetting out of the house, maybe for dinner with friends, could be one way to cover all four of those brain-boosting activities.\n\n\u201cWe as human beings were made to interact with other human beings,\u201d she said. \u201cIf we get isolated, we get depressed.\u201d\n\nRecent research shows people continue to grow brain cells all their lives, she added, so new activities have a positive effect on people of all ages.\n\nphilip.diehl@sduniontribune.com\n\nTwitter: @phildiehl", "output": "If all goes well, El Cajon\u00a0residents Rex and Christiane Beckham soon will be spending six months in Ireland, then six months in Germany, then who knows where. \u201cMy wife and I are getting ready to retire,\u201d Beckham said Saturday. \u201cWe\u2019re going to do a lot of traveling, and we\u2019re looking at our options.\u201d\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "India to pilot technology-based education scheme \n October 09, 2017 12:00 am | Updated 04:35 am IST - Bengaluru\n\nIs there a better way to teach today\u2019s youngsters, who have grown up with smart devices, than through the use of the same technology?\n\nEdugaming and edutechnology have changed classrooms across the world and the Union Ministry of Science and Technology is keen to implement similar methods in classrooms across India. The Ministry will soon start a pilot in schools in the country with the collaboration of Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and NITI Aayog and Finnish education companies.\n\nA four-day conclave is being organised from Monday at the Centre for Cellular And Molecular Platforms, NCBS-TFIR Campus, Bengaluru, to work out the framework of the pilot programme.\n\nSecretary of Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, K. VijayRaghavan, said: \u201cShould they be on board, we plan to put edugaming and teaching methods in the same schools where there are tinkering labs. And depending on their success, we will take them to other schools in the country.\u201d\n\nDennis C. Joy, Resident Editor, Science Media Centre at IISc., Bengaluru, said: \u201cEdutech and edugaming is the use of technology to teach children. It could be through games to teach mathematical concepts, or virtual laboratories to teach biology and chemistry.\u201d\n\nShirin Kulkarni, Research Director and co-founder at CCE Finland, one of the companies participating in the programme, said that what set apart the education system in Finland was the freedom given to teachers to design the course structure based on the student\u2019s requirement. \u201cIn Finnish education, formal education begins only at the age of six when the child is put to pre-school. It is only at the age of seven that they start learning alphabets and mathematics,\u201d said Ms. Kulkarni. However, informal learning starts in daycares where children go to from a young age.\n\nTechnology is given great importance in Finnish schools, particularly for older students. \u201cFrom class seven onwards, they have more technology in their learning. The teacher designs experiments based on the student\u2019s aptitude and level of understanding,\u201d explains Ms. Kulkarni.\n\nAccording to Mr. Joy, a pilot trial will be done in a few schools in the country, which will be finalised during the conclave, and if successful, the programme would be scaled up.\n\nEdutech and edugaming is the use of technology to teach children. It could be through games to teach mathematical concepts, or virtual laboratories to teach biology and chemistryDennis C. JoyResident Editor, Science Media Centre at IISc., Bengaluru", "output": "India's Union Ministry of Science and Technology will test-run teaching through gaming and technology in selected schools with a view to rolling out the method\u00a0nationwide. The trial will see Finnish education firms collaborate with\u00a0Indian government initiatives Atal Innovation Mission and the National Institution for Transforming India.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Electron system allows creation of electrochemistry compounds \n A researcher setting up a flow electrolysis experiment. Credit: \u00a9: Alexander Sell, JGU\n\nIn the cooperative EPSYLON research project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, scientists from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and Evonik Performance Materials GmbH have developed a state-of-the-art and innovative electro-organic synthesis method.\n\nThe results of their research, presented in last week's issue of Science Advances, allow the use of electrosynthesis as a sustainable green chemistry for technical applications. The method allows the operator to react flexibly to the available supply of electricity. Moreover, the operator no longer has to rely on customized electrolysis apparatuses and can use a range of equipment.\n\nThe method was developed more than 160 years ago by German chemist Hermann Kolbe. Although electrochemical synthesis methods are used in the chemical industry, this has so far been a niche technology. One reason is that electrolysis conditions must be very finely controlled and uniform current input is essential. Due to the sophisticated technical infrastructure required, the option of electrosynthesis remained out of reach to most chemists. Today, the green potential of electrochemistry has been rediscovered. It makes sustainable and eco-friendly chemistry possible with very simple means, particularly with the use of surplus power from renewable sources such as wind or solar energy.\n\nElectrochemistry is a versatile and powerful method to produce chemical compounds or to effect chemical changes in molecules. To put it simply, electrons replace costly and toxic reagents. Unnecessary waste can be avoided and the reaction can be halted at any time by simply switching off the power. Another advantage over classical synthesis is that many individual steps are more easily implemented by electrochemistry. In some cases, this can shorten synthesis by several steps. However, electrolyses often require a narrow current-density window and long reaction times. In addition, selectivity and scalability are more difficult or even impossible.\n\nUp to eight different experiments can be simultaneously performed in this screening electrolyzer. Each small plastic cup houses two electrodes. Credit: \u00a9: Carsten Siering, JGU\n\nThe key to the success of the research group at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz is the use of a unique electrolyte system. The electrolyses here have extremely high stability to variation in current density, allowing operation in a current-density window with a width extending over more than two orders of magnitude, with no loss of productivity or selectivity. If the supply of current permits, the electrolysis may be carried out in a short time with very high current density.\n\nMore information: \"Unexpected high robustness of electrochemical cross-coupling for a broad range of current density\" Science Advances (2017). advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/10/eaao3920 Journal information: Science Advances", "output": "Scientists from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and Evonik Performance Materials have developed a unique electron system that could unlock the niche technology of sustainable green electrochemistry, using electrons to create chemical compounds instead of reagents. In an article published in Science Advances, the JGU team revealed how their electrolyses allowed operation in a wider current-density window, with no negative impact on selectivity or productivity. The study also said excess renewable energy could be used for the electrochemistry process, as reactions stop when the power supply stops, resulting in minimal waste."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mobile payments boom in China \n watch now\n\nMobile pay is taking China by storm and changing daily commerce. The transformation of a society limited to bills denominated in 100 yuan ($15) or less into one where QR payment codes abound was by far the biggest change in mainland China since my last visit four years ago. When eating out or shopping with local friends, they paid by scanning a QR code on the restaurant table or by showing a similar code on their smartphones to the store clerk. A spices shop, museum souvenir store and seller of traditional Chinese calligraphy brushes all had signs saying they accepted mobile pay. Rather than, \"Do you take credit cards?\" the question was often \"Do you take Alipay? WeChat Pay?\" The running joke was that street beggars would rather take a mobile donation than cash.\n\nA dessert store worker scans a mobile QR payment code in Beijing, China, while the blue sign below promotes the store\u2019s use of Alipay. Evelyn Cheng | CNBC\n\nLack of red tape and a less developed financial system have apparently allowed mainland China to leapfrog the developed world into embracing mobile payments. Mobile payment volume in the country more than doubled to $5 trillion in 2016, according to Analysys data cited by Hillhouse Capital in a May report. In the first quarter of this year, Alipay had 54 percent of that mobile payments market, and WeChat Pay accounted for 40 percent, the study said. The Chinese mobile pay habit is also affecting other countries. More than 6 million Chinese traveled abroad during the \"Golden Week\" national holiday in early October, according to state-backed media outlet Xinhua. That puts pressure on popular tourist destinations like Japan and Hong Kong to add mobile pay services. Just over the border in Hong Kong, I heard a few mainland Chinese customers asking a store clerk to scan their phones' QR codes while Cantonese-speaking locals paid in cash. In April, Nikkei reported that the number of stores accepting Alipay in Japan will double to 45,000 this year, according to the regional head of Ant Financial Services.\n\nCustomers can buy traditional Chinese calligraphy brushes at this Xi\u2019an, China, store using QR payment codes. From left to right: WeChat Pay, Alipay and the QR code for the store\u2019s WeChat account. Evelyn Cheng | CNBC\n\nThe growth of mobile pay in China comes off a solid base of smartphone users. The ubiquitous WeChat messaging app from Chinese technology giant Tencent reached 963 million monthly active users in the second quarter. In professional settings, adding each other on WeChat sometimes replaced business card exchanges. Alipay, which is owned by Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial Services, has 520 million users, according to its international website. The app is linked to online money market fund Yu'e bao, encouraging users to invest and spend with Alipay. Attractive interest rates of nearly 4 percent or more have turned it into the largest money market fund in the world, with 1.43 trillion yuan ($217 billion) as of the end of June, according to state media reports citing Yu'e bao's manager, Tianhong Asset Management. Hong Kong-based research investment company CLSA expects Chinese electronic payments volume to quadruple to 300 trillion yuan by 2021. During that time, online wealth management products' assets under management should triple to 6.7 trillion yuan and online loans could also triple to 3.5 trillion, said Elinor Leung, head of Asia Telecom and Internet Research at CLSA. \"High mobile internet and ecommerce penetration, and an underdeveloped traditional financial market will drive growth,\" Leung said in a Sept. 5 report. Mobile pay is growing so rapidly in mainland China that as a foreigner I sometimes found it difficult to complete basic transactions without it.\n\nAfter scanning the QR code on the table at this restaurant in Beijing, China, customers enter the payment amount in the app. Evelyn Cheng | CNBC\n\nWhen I tried to pay at a Beijing McDonald's on a late night, the only payment options were China's Union Pay credit card system, Apple Pay or WeChat Pay and Alipay. As an American visitor without a Chinese bank account, I wasn't able to find a way to use those systems and the store clerk wouldn't take my cash. \"Cash is accepted in all McDonald's restaurants across China. After our investigation, we believe this is an isolated case that happened during night shift change, and thus, all cash counters were temporarily closed,\" a McDonald's China Customer Care Center told me in an email. Taxis were also nearly impossible to hail in Beijing due to the rise of Didi, a ride-hailing app that bought Uber's China operations in a deal worth $35 billion last summer. Because Didi was linked through WeChat, I couldn't use it without a Chinese bank account. When I finally did get a taxi, the driver gave me a fake 50 yuan bill in change. Several stores also claimed three of my 100 yuan bills from a New York money exchange were counterfeit. If I could participate in the cashless society, I would not have lost about $50.\n\nThe bike unlocks after the customer scans its QR code through a bike-sharing app. Evelyn Cheng | CNBC\n\nThe growth of mobile pay in China has supported another business: bike sharing. Led by a few start-ups, the number of bikes stacked along the side of the street or sometimes scattered even alongside highways in China has exploded. The number of monthly active users doubled from February to more than 20 million in March, according to TrustData cited by Hillhouse Capital. Two of the largest Chinese-based start-ups, Ofo and Mobike, say they have a combined more than 13 million bikes around the world and have each raised at least $1 billion. Incidentally, Mobike entered the U.S. on Sept. 20 by deploying bikes in Washington, D.C., while Ofo made its first foray into the country by launching in Seattle in August.\n\nA bicycle from bike-sharing startup ofo in the Muslim Quarter of Xi\u2019an, China. Evelyn Cheng | CNBC\n\nThe dominance of mobile pay also means companies like Ant Financial and Tencent have access to hordes of personal data. That data can then be shared with the Chinese government, which prioritizes control. Some parts of China have been testing a personal credit score system linked to mobile pay data. But unless privacy issues have immediate negative consequences, convenience may trump all. A smartphone is increasingly the only thing someone in China needs to carry when going out. Disclosure: Travel to Asia was supported by the East-West Center, the Better Hong Kong Foundation and the All-China Journalists Association.", "output": "China is fast becoming a cashless society as mobile payments cause a major shift in the nation's daily commerce, more than doubling to $5tn last year, according to Analysys data cited by Hillhouse Capital.\u00a0The data also showed that in Q1 2017, Alipay had 54% of the mobile payments market, while WeChat Pay took 40%.\u00a0\"High mobile internet and ecommerce penetration, and an underdeveloped traditional financial market will drive growth\", said\u00a0Elinor Leung, head of Asia Telecom and Internet Research at CLSA."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon's 'Thursday Night Football' reaches fraction of audience \n \"Views\" is a useless metric. I \u201cview\u201d ads on social media networks as I quickly scroll past them. I \u201cview\u201d banner ads on websites as I consequently ignore them. I \"view\" every TV show that I see for half a second as I channel hunt with the remote control.\n\nBut tell that to many of the media reporters who covered Amazon Prime\u2019s global live-streaming of the first of eleven Thursday Night Football games during this season of American football. The New York Post, Fortune magazine, and Reuters, for example, all highlighted NFL figures stating that a reported 1.9m people \u201cviewed\u201d the kickoff show.\n\nAt first glance, the number looked impressive -- especially for a tech company\u2019s first foray into big-league sports programming, which cost Amazon a reported $50 million for the total package. The result seemed to lend credence to the opinions of people such as creative director JP Manterola and MobiTV chief executive Charlie Nooney who think that sports will soon be watched online along with everything else. (Of course, the latter has an obvious bias.)\n\nBut the picture becomes fuzzier as one digs more deeply.\n\nTodd Spangler of Variety and Peter Kafka of Recode wrote two of the best media reviews of the event. Their articles put the right numbers in the correct context and stated that the average audience watching Thursday Night Football for at least 30 seconds on Amazon Prime Video was 372,000, with each person watching an average of 55 minutes.\n\nSpangler and Kafka deserve credit for discussing average viewership in their stories and not highlighting the sensationalist 1.9m number instead.\n\n(Note: I filed this column before the second Thursday Night Football game, which was scheduled to occur a few days before publication.)\n\nWhy is this important?\n\nMany marketing pundits \u2013 myself included \u2013 discuss the positives and negatives of digital mediums compared to traditional ones. But such analyses are always going to be faulty because the metrics that online and offline marketers use are completely different. We have only apples-to-oranges comparisons.\n\nTV and radio have average viewers and listeners. Print has average circulations. These numbers represent human beings, are usually audited by independent third parties, and have standard definitions throughout the industry.\n\nOnline ad platforms have \u201cimpressions,\u201d which is the number of times that one browser made one request for one advertisement to load. Digital video platforms have \u201cviews,\u201d which means little. Furthermore, these numbers are very prone to fraud, not yet independently audited, and are defined differently by every ad network in the context of measures such as \u201cviewability.\u201d\n\nSo, it is difficult to contrast online and offline because we cannot compare marketing apples to apples. There should be one metric to rule them all in the online and offline worlds. One example: as Facebook releases more original programming on the Watch platform, I challenge the company to report the exact same metrics as TV networks do.\n\nComparing online to offline\n\nIn the case of Amazon\u2019s Thursday Night Football, we can finally make some concrete comparisons in the context of the single metric of average audience size. According to the Variety and Recode reports and my own calculations, here is what we can surmise:\n\n2.5% (372,000) of the total average audience (15.1 million) watched on Amazon Prime.\n\n97% (14.6 million) of the total average audience watched on traditional television.\n\n3.5% of Amazon Prime members viewed the game (there are an estimated 54 million in the US).\n\nIn another example, Business Insider advertising editor Mike Shields recently wrote that \u201ccable TV should be worried\u201d because the BuzzFeed food show Worth It had gained 280 million views. But again, \u201cviews\u201d means nothing. Anyone can throw some money at a bot network or click farm and get millions of \u201cviews\u201d of anything.\n\nI want Buzzfeed to report the average viewership of Worth It consisting of a decent length of time. Then, we can see whether the company is truly anywhere close to television. Just remember that Yahoo\u2019s streaming of an NFL game in 2015 garnered 15m \u201cviews,\u201d but the number plummeted to 2.4m when television\u2019s metrics were applied. The average game gets 10m to 20m on TV.\n\nThese are yet more examples of how television is nowhere close to being \u201cdead\u201d.\n\nQuantity versus quality of views\n\nIt\u2019s not only about the number of views. It\u2019s also about the quality of views. Even if Amazon were to obtain a large viewership, it might not necessarily mean that the programming would be useful for marketers.\n\nWe in the marketing profession are in the business of selling stuff. So, our chief concern should not be which mediums are most popular but which ones are best at helping us to do our job. Whether more people watch American football on television or Amazon is not the primary issue.\n\nJust because a medium is popular does not mean that it is good for marketing. A medium that is used by millions of people can still be a bad marketing channel. A medium that is used by few people can be a great marketing channel. Popular mediums and effective marketing channels are not always one and the same.\n\nMediums themselves have their positives and negatives. We need to know which ones are the best at selling stuff by their very natures. In this context, television soundly defeats online video such as Thursday Night Football as well.\n\nIn this email newsletter, Ad Contrarian Bob Hoffman summarizes a presentation by Karen Nelson-Field, a professor at the University of Adelaide and the founder of Media Intelligence Company, at a recent ReThinkTV event in Australia:\n\nMore people actively view an advertisement on television compared to the same ad on YouTube or Facebook. (All of the research is here.)\n\nAdvertisements on television take up the entire screen on television but not on YouTube or Facebook.\n\nHoffman notes:\n\n\u201cThe combination of an ad's time, pixels and coverage Dr. Nelson-Field calls 'visibility.' It should be obvious that ads with higher 'visibility' would be more effective. But in an irrational advertising environment in which anything online or 'digital' has been imbued with magical properties, it is significant that someone as made a conclusive effort to check the science.\u201d\n\nPeople go online to get something done, which makes the cold internet a set of mediums that are best suited for tactics such as direct marketing. People watch television to have experiences such as watching sports on the large boxes in their living rooms \u2013 and that makes the warm medium best suited for advertising campaigns.\n\nMarketers who think that television is \u201cdead\u201d need go back to the practice squads.\n\nThe Promotion Fix is an exclusive biweekly column for The Drum contributed by Samuel Scott, a global marketing speaker who is a former journalist, newspaper editor, and director of marketing and communications in the high-tech industry. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Scott is based out of Tel Aviv, Israel.", "output": "Amazon's live-streaming of football games reached only a fraction of the audience it publicly claimed. The company is reported to have spent $50m in total buying the rights to its first package of sports programming, and claimed that 1.9 million people viewed the first 'Thursday Night Football' game on their platform. However, the 'viewers' figure has been challenged as misleading, with a number of journalists pointing out that actual number of people watching for at least 30 seconds on Amazon Prime was just 372,000. This represented just 2.5% of the programme's audience, and just 3.5% of Amazon Prime's members.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK rents dip as landlords saturate market in southeast \n Rents in Britain dropped in the final summer months for the first time in at least five years, according to Rightmove.\n\nNational asking rents outside London fell by 0.2% in the three months to September, which is one of the busiest times of year for tenants looking for a new home. It was the first fall at this time of year since Rightmove started tracking rents in late 2011.\n\nThe decline comes as landlords flood the south-east of England with newly available rental properties, distorting the national picture, as they turn away from a stuttering London property market.\n\nThe glut of homes available to rent pushed down rents in the south-east by 2.3% in the period. Average rents rose in every other UK region apart from Greater London and Yorkshire and the Humber.\n\nThe biggest quarterly increase came in the north-east, where the average asking rent rose by 2.6% to \u00a3564 per month.\n\nBritain\u2019s housing market is looking increasingly broken amid a chronic shortage of new homes. Young people are particularly hard hit, with millennials spending three times more of their income on housing than their grandparents, often for worse quality accommodation, according to the Resolution Foundation.\n\nThe proportion of households privately renting in the UK has ballooned in the past 20 years. According to official figures, around 65% of UK households were owner-occupiers at the end of 2016, while 17% were renting from a private landlord and 18% from a social landlord.\n\nTheresa May pledged an additional \u00a32bn a year to councils and housing associations for affordable homes in her speech to the Conservative party conference in Manchester last week.\n\nRightmove\u2019s head of lettings, Sam Mitchell, said more landlords were acquiring homes immediately outside London, therefore increasing the supply of available property and pushing down rents. \u201cAgents are reporting that some investors looking for better yields are shifting their focus from London,\u201d he said.\n\n\n\nAreas such as Surrey, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire are among the most popular for landlords seeking investments outside of London. Prices have not fallen as much in areas with good commuter links, where demand remains strong.\n\nAsking rents in the capital fell at an annual rate of 3.3% in September to an average of \u00a31,920 per month. The average asking rent per month across the country in September was \u00a3789.\n\nHowever, Mitchell said he expected the cost of renting to increase in London due to the supply of available accommodation decreasing as landlords look elsewhere for investments.", "output": "UK asking rents outside London fell 0.2% in the three months to September, the first dip for the period in Rightmove data going back to 2011. It revealed a glut of properties had reduced prices in the\u00a0southeast by 2.3%, while the average rent in the northeast rose 2.6% to \u00a3564 ($747) per month. Across the UK, the national average monthly rent in September was \u00a3789. A third\u00a0of UK households were renting from either private or social landlords at the end of last year, according to official figures.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FeetMe raises $2.3m for shoe insole\u00a0fitness-tracking\u00a0technology \n Paris-based FeetMe, which is creating smart, connected insoles, raised $2.28 million (1.95 million euro) in seed funding. The round was led by Kurma Diagnostics. Other investments came from the Paris Saclay seed fund, Idinvest Partners, Seventure, and SOSV.\n\n\u201cThis seed round will help us pursue the development of our product to target therapeutics areas in collaboration with market players,\u201d Alexis Mathieu, founder and CEO of FeetMe, said in a statement. \u201cThe connected insole allows patient and physician to manage and evaluate, in realtime and remotely, treatments\u2019 efficacy to adapt them more precisely and without constraints for the patient. Creating new digital biomarkers will reinforce existing therapeutics with a companion diagnostic and monitoring solution.\u201d\n\nFeetMe\u2019s insoles contain pressure sensors and motion sensors. They communicate via Bluetooth with an app, and the companion software includes algorithms that can use that data to analyze patients\u2019 walking and running gait.\n\nThe company deploys the insoles in both the clinical sphere and the consumer space. For clinicians, FeetMe\u2019s smart insoles can be used to detect early warning signs of Parkinson\u2019s or multiple sclerosis, to assess a patient\u2019s recovery from orthopedic surgery, to collect data to aid in the design of orthotics, or to monitor for diabetic foot ulcers.\n\nIn all these clinical cases, the advantage of a sensor is that it provides quantitiative, comparable data, whereas the status for gait analysis is highly subjective and observation-based.\n\nIn the consumer sphere, FeetMe offers FeetMe Sport, which uses the sensors to analyze runners\u2019 metrics like stride power and running pace, and feeds that data to an AI-powered computerized running coach. It also integrates with consumer apps including Strava and Runkeeper.\n\nFeetMe Sport can be purchased on the company\u2019s website for $175.54 (149.99 euro). The clinical product has CE Mark clearance, but is not currently cleared with the FDA.", "output": "French start-up FeetMe has raised \u20ac1.9m ($2.28m) to develop smart, connected shoe insoles that\u00a0gather data through sensors for\u00a0analysis of\u00a0a user's walking and running gait. The\u00a0data, sent to an app via Bluetooth,\u00a0also can be used by physicians to assess treatment efficacy, detect early warning signs of conditions such as multiple sclerosis\u00a0and help design orthotics. For consumers, the company\u00a0offers the FeetMe Sport platform, which\u00a0analyses\u00a0runners' metrics, such as stride power, for use by\u00a0an artificial intelligence-powered virtual fitness coach.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple now ships more chips than Intel \n You\u2019ve probably heard of Jony at Apple but probably don\u2019t know about Johny.\n\nJony is a celebrity executive known as the face of Apple Design. Johny is the executive in charge of custom silicon and hardware technologies across Apple\u2019s entire product line.\n\nUnder Johny\u2019s leadership, Apple has shipped 1.7 billion processors in more than 20 models and 11 generations. Currently Apple ships more microprocessors than Intel.\n\nThe Apple A11 Bionic processor has 4.3 billion transistors, six cores and an Apple custom GPU using a 10nm FinFET technology. Its performance appears to be almost double that of competitors and in some benchmarks exceeds the performance of current laptop PCs.\n\nA decade after making the commitment to control its critical subsystems in its (mobile) products, Apple has come to the point where is dominates the processor space. But they have not stopped at processors. The effort now spans all manners of silicon including controllers for displays, storage, sensors and batteries. The S series in the Apple Watch the haptic T series in the MacBook, the wireless W series in AirPods are ongoing efforts. The GPU was conquered in the past year. Litigation with Qualcomm suggests the communications stack is next.\n\nThis across-the-board approach to silicon is not easy or fast or cheap. This multi-year, multi-billion dollar commitment is rooted in the Jobsian observation that the existing supplier network is not good enough for what you\u2019re driving at. Tiny EarPods, Smart Watches, Augmented Reality, Adaptive Acoustics require wrapping your arms around all parts of the problem. The integration and control it demands are in contrast to the modular approach of assembling off-the-shelf components into a good-enough configuration.\n\nThere are times and places where modules are adequate and times and places where they aren\u2019t. The decision depends on whether you are creating new experiences or new \u201cmeasures of performance\u201d vs. optimizing for cost within existing experiences or measures of performance.\n\nThe very notion of a microprocessor is a rejection of the discrete component designs that preceded it. Earlier computers had central processors made up of many discrete components. VLSI stands for Very Large Scale Integration with emphasis on Integration. As computing has progressed toward ambience and ubiquity the idea of using discrete components became normative again but that was not considered sufficient by Apple.\n\nSo while the \u201cSilicon\u201d in Silicon Valley has come to be seen as an anachronism, silicon development today means competitive advantage. The only problem is that it takes years, decades even to establish competence. The same duration that it took for the building of Apple as a design-centric business fronted by Jony Ive.\n\nApple also now needs to be understood along the dimension of silicon-centric engineering as led by Johny Srouji.", "output": "Apple now dominates the processor market, shipping more chips than Intel. Apple's A11 Bionic processor has 4.3 billion transistors, six cores and a custom GPU, and its performance is almost double that of its competitors. A decade ago, the tech giant said it would take control of the subsystems in its mobile products and has since sought to apply this across-the-board approach to all types of silicon, including controllers for displays, sensors and batteries.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Munich Re partners with ride-sharing car rental firm Drover \n Drover, a UK-based ride sharing and mid-term car rental company has partnered with reinsurance giant MunichRe to offer a bespoke insurance product for gig-economy drivers.\n\nInsurance used to be available to drivers through traditional fleet cover policies but it was expensive and insufficient for Drover\u2019s business model.\n\nMunichRE is offering a tailor-made product for fleet owners and ride share drivers. They can buy, maintain and renew policies via the Drover platform. Drover CEO Felix Leuschner says the insurance is a game-changer that will deliver cost savings and a whole new level of customer service.\n\nMobility as a service\n\nThe company was established in 2015 by self-titled serial entrepreneur Leuschner as a mobility-as-a-service platform, bridging the gap between short-term car hire and long-term vehicle leasing.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re changing the way people access cars,\u201d he asserts\n\nDescribed as Netflix for cars, Drover connects fleet owners with individual drivers and enables them to acquire the use of a vehicle through a flexible monthly rental agreement. It specializes in offering PCO, Uber-ready vehicles.\n\nSaaS-based Fleet Management\n\nBookings are made through the company\u2019s website and it offers a SaaS-based fleet management interface, mobile app, fuel card and other services, including insurance.\n\nLondon-based Drover also set up shop in Manchester in September and continues its commercial relationship with BMW (UK) (established through its participation in the car giant\u2019s 2016 Innovation Lab).", "output": "Drover, a UK ride-sharing car rental firm, has teamed up with Munich Re to offer insurance coverage to its client base. The partnership will allow the firm to offer bespoke policies for ride-sharing drivers and fleet owners, according to the two firms. Prior to this arrangement, Drover made use of traditional fleet insurance policies, which didn't gel with its business model.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google struggles to make ads load as fast as content \n One person\u2019s page speed is another person\u2019s monetization problem.\n\nSix publishing sources, requesting anonymity out of fear of angering Google, said their ads load slower than their content on AMP, and that is part of the reason why they make less money per pageview from AMP than they do from their own websites. In one instance, the revenue per page on AMP was less than half of what the publisher got on its owned and operated properties. In effect, the user experience is almost too good, with content loading so fast that people scroll past the ads before they\u2019ve been able to load, resulting in ads that aren\u2019t deemed viewable.\n\nBut these publishers had trouble isolating how much of this discrepancy is due to how AMP loads content since AMP\u2019s standardization also restricts page design, article recirculation and the type of ad units that publishers can use, and each of these variables makes it more difficult for publishers to make money on the platform. However, they agreed the gap between content and ads loading persists even though Google has worked on the issue since AMP launched about 20 months ago.\n\n\u201cThere are a variety of issues around AMP with ads, and the fact that AMP [editorial content] loads \u2018too fast\u2019 is definitely among them,\u201d said a publishing exec.\n\nPublishers have struggled with getting ads to load as fast as the content loads on AMP for awhile. Google recently tweaked how ad requests can be made within AMP to speed up ad-load times.\n\nBut Google hasn\u2019t forced advertisers or tech vendors to adopt its spec that trims JavaScript to make AMP ads load faster. Since Google has so much power within media and marketing, it is bound to irritate somebody regardless of which route it takes to load AMP\u2019s ads and content.\n\nIf Google forced advertisers to cut down their tracking code, reduce the size of their creative or do extra work to implement special tags for AMP ads, it would piss off clients that collectively push billions of dollars through the search giant\u2019s products. But by loading content faster than the ads, Google makes it harder for publishers to make money on AMP. Since Facebook Instant Articles is frustrating publishers, appeasing them could benefit Google by giving it an edge over its rival.\n\nGoogle acknowledges upfront that the goal of AMP is to improve user experience and page speed first, and figure out monetization second.\n\n\u201cThe aim of AMP is to load content first and ads second,\u201d said a Google spokesperson. \u201cBut we are working on making ads faster. It takes quite a bit of the ecosystem to get on board with the notion that speed is important for ads, just as it is for content.\u201d\n\nGetting text to load fast is simply easier than quickly loading ads with high-resolution imagery and multiple tracking tags. Rather than blame Google, one publishing source blamed advertisers and their heavy creatives for slow-loading ads within AMP.\n\nA perverse incentive is in play: The quicker AMP loads content, the more noticeable the lag on ad load becomes. And it\u2019s not just publishers that are affected. If Google\u2019s exchange sold the ads that users scroll past without seeing, then Google also loses out on a chance to make money.\n\nBut there is a bigger issue than driving CPMs with fast-loading article templates. In the long run, it\u2019s in Google\u2019s best interest to maintain its dominance in search, and one way to keep people engaged on the open web is to speed up webpages, even if that means sacrificing some short-term revenue.\n\nPublishers, which are already dependent on search traffic, are scared of acting against the platform\u2019s wishes, even if that means adopting a platform where some ads don\u2019t load in time for the user to see, said Paul Vincent, CEO of Neuranet, a tech company that helps publishers comply with Interactive Advertising Bureau specs for fast-loading ads.\n\n\u201cThe whole reason that publishers are considering AMP is that Google gives AMP pages prioritization in search,\u201d he said.", "output": "Google AMP loads content too fast for ads, meaning publishers make less money per page view than they do from their own sites, it has been claimed. Six publishers said ads were not deemed viewable because AMP content loaded so quickly, meaning readers scroll past ads before they have even loaded. This, in turn, is costing publishers advertising revenue, they claimed. Google recently made adjustments to speed up ad-load times, but has not made advertisers adopt its spec to make ads load quicker."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Conde Nast launches new website geared towards millennials \n Though the average age of an Architectural Digest magazine reader is 53, the Cond\u00e9 Nast\u2013owned publication is setting its sights on a wider demographic. On Monday, it launched a new website called Clever, dedicated to the age 18-34 cohort.\n\nThe site echoes the aspirational tone of Architectural Digest, but with a more accessible approach and a focus on topics including small-space decorating and do-it-yourself home projects. Unlike Architectural Digest, which is full of expensive luxury items, Clever will showcase more affordable options for readers still in school, early in their careers or with limited disposable incomes.\n\nClever was the brainchild of Amy Astley, the former editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue who took the helm of Architectural Digest in May 2016. In advance of the creation of the vertical, she pushed the publication to expand its reach by first testing the appetite for articles on topics like designing on a budget. As a result, there has been a 759 percent increase in millennials visiting Architectural Digest\u2019s site, she said.\n\n\u201cThe first thing I felt when I got to Architectural Digest last summer was that I really wanted it to be the dominant source of shelter information for all audiences,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was like we were leaving a huge portion of the general population off the plate. Clever came from wanting to make a product that would be relevant for a new reader.\u201d\n\nClever will operate autonomously from Architectural Digest, with three core editors dedicated to the site\u2019s content, as well as a video and social team. Keith Pollock, Architectural Digest\u2019s executive director of digital, said as part of Clever\u2019s mission to \u201cdemocratize design,\u201d it will cater to readers undergoing significant life transitions, such as moving out of college and into a first rental apartment, or couples purchasing their first home.\n\nTo complement this, Clever will also include real-life advice on topics like living with roommates and dealing with contractors. \u201cIt will have all the conversations around living and being young, and starting out,\u201d Pollock said.\n\nSocial media will be a primary driver to the site, Pollock said. Clever will soon roll out a social-first video series on apartment fixes and renovations featuring guests like design expert Nate Berkus, as well as celebrities including Jessica Alba and Sophia Bush. In addition to Clever\u2019s own social channels, Architectural Digest will drive readers to the site through its accounts, as well as in ads in both the print and digital editions.\n\nThough Astley said Clever was not conceived as an advertising play, the vertical does open Architectural Digest up to a larger pool of advertisers, including brands like CB2, Lowes and Pottery Barn, which offer goods at lower price points than brands traditionally featured in the magazine. Astley said despite being geared toward millennials, the new site will have style tips and purchasing ideas for a wide variety of ages and income levels.\n\n\u201cClever is for people who want to live with style on a smaller budget, but that can be anybody,\u201d she said. Likewise, \u201cArchitectural Digest is meant for the discerning person and design enthusiasts \u2014 and that can be [anyone].\u201d\n\nGiulio Capua, chief business officer and publisher of Architectural Digest, said Clever is also a response to the rise of high-low collaborations that have helped bring luxury design to the masses. The long-term goal is to serve as an entry point to capture future Architectural Digest readers, who may transition to the publication with time, he said.\n\n\u201cDesign is much more prolific. Target started a trend when they brought name brand designers in that were approachable,\u201d Capua said. \u201cYou can see designs from any museum in the world on your smartphone. People are getting more information about what good design means, at a younger age. There\u2019s an elevated sensibility.\u201d\n\nIn an attempt to avoid alienating its core readership, Architectural Digest is continuing to push AD Pro, a daily newsletter launched earlier this year and intended for design professionals who view the magazine as a trade publication and educational resource. Though Architectural Digest had an existing monthly newsletter, Astley said Pro will help the publication continue to position itself as design authority, while expanding its readership through Clever.\n\n\u201cWe want to create a new demographic of design enthusiasts,\u201d Astley said. \u201cThere\u2019s a great enthusiastic group of people out there who want to live with style and are so much more sophisticated than they used to be. We wanted to serve them.\u201d", "output": "Architectural Digest magazine, owned by publisher Cond\u00e9 Nast, is launching Clever, a site aimed at 18-34 year olds. Created by Architectural Digest editor Amy Astley, Clever will focus on capturing the attentions younger readers, like college students moving out of home or young couples setting up their first home. The site will also open up Architectural Digest to a wider range of advertisers and expand its readership through Clever, whose audience, it is hoped, will migrate to the sister publication as they grow older.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fintech Qbera partners Droom for used car loans in India \n MUMBAI: Fintech lender Qbera has partnered with online automobile marketplace Droom to enable loans for vehicle purchases on the latter\u2019s platform. The partnership will help Droom strengthen its \u2018Droom Credit 21st Century\u2019 programme which is an end-to-end, fully automated online credit marketplace that enables auto financing for used automobiles.Bangalore-based Qbera typically offers unsecured loans for salaried consumers with operations in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune and Delhi.\u201cTraditionally financial institutes offer loans at interest rates starting from 14% and can go as high as 18%. Qbera follows a risk-based approval procedure and offers you instant loans at the same rate in the shortest span of time, which is 24 hours,\u201d said Aditya Kumar, Founder and CEO of Qbera. Qbera has a loan book of about Rs 12 crore achieved over a period of 8 months even as the company claims a monthly CAGR of 70%.The partnership with Droom will allow consumers to take personal loans of upto Rs 7.5 lakhs approved within 24 hours for purchase of used cars, used bikes or new cars.\u201cHigh rejection rates, heavy paperwork and unaffordable credit terms make it difficult for consumers seeking loans for used car purchases. Droom Credit 21st Century auto financing is a smart step to make the auto loan process smooth, affordable, efficient and paperless. I expect this collaboration to be a win-win situation for both of us,\u201d said Sandeep Aggarwal, Founder and CEO of Droom.Currently Qbera offers personal loans for multiple purposes including refinancing existing debt, travel, medical, education, vehicle purchase and weddings. Personal loans for vehicle purchase currently forms about 8% of its loan book. The fintech firm claims it is on track to reach a loan book of about Rs 65 crore by March 2018.", "output": "Indian online used vehicle marketplace Droom has partnered with Bangalore-based lender Qbera to offer \"affordable, efficient and paperless\" car and motorbike loans. Droom hopes the move will help customers overcome what Qbera CEO Aditya Kumar called sector's \"high rejection rates, heavy paperwork and unaffordable credit terms\". Buyers will be able to get approval for loan\u00a0applications within 24 hours, while interest rates will be the same as those of traditional financial institutions.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon seeks Indian patent for markers\u00a0that\u00a0help\u00a0drones navigate \n In this section\n\nFirst Published: Oct 09 2017 | 1:04 AM IST\n\nSAIL signs technical pact with POSCO to reap benefits for IISCO Steel Plant\n\nAdani's coal mine will drive us to a 'dirty future': Australian protestors\n\n100 days of GST: FMCG cos give thumbs up, say demand picking up\n\nHow Coal India plans to take on a liberalised coal regime\n\nIndia part of Amazon's annual day of deals\n\nAmazon Prime powers one of three orders during the Great India Sale\n\nAmazon files patent application in India for tech related to drone safety\n\nAmazon files patent for deploying exclusive drones in India\n\nAs part of its efforts to use drones to handle some of its operations, online marketplace giant Amazon Inc has filed a patent application in India for exclusive rights on multi-scale fiducials, black and white marks on any object for the self-operating aerial vehicles to identify them from different distances. The proposed drones can also be used to identify other such objects, along with aircraft, plying within Indian skies, said the company.\n\nAccording to the specifications filed with the Indian Patent Office, the multi-scale fiducials will have three or more scales, where the child fiducials are nested or linked by a relative position to the parent fiducials, thereby, facilitating target identification and tracking. Another application may be focused solely on an innovation that would enable target identification of other drones or similar aerial vehicles.\n\nFiducials are optically recognisable features often used in computer v\n\nAmazon India plans to set up experience centres in several Shoppers Stop outlets as part of the Rs 179-crore deal with the retailer\n\nTo read the full story, subscribe to BS Premium now, at just Rs 249/ month.\n\nKey stories on business-standard.com are available only to BS Premium subscribers. Already a BS Premium subscriber?LOGIN NOW\n\nRegister to read more on Business-Standard.com", "output": "Amazon has filed documents at the Indian Patent Office seeking exclusive rights to multi-scale markers known as fiducials. According to the filing, the black-and-white fiducial markings, which can be applied to any object, help drones to pinpoint specific locations \u2013\u00a0such as delivery addresses. They can also be applied to other drones and also aircraft.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Willis Re, TigerRisk team up to develop digital reinsurance platform \n Willis Re and TigerRisk will form a new third-party company RePlace Holding to develop TigerRisk\u2019s GlobalREMarket digital reinsurance placement platform.\n\nGlobalREMarket was launched in 2015. Almost 200 reinsurance carriers \u2013 and a total of almost 1,000 users \u2013 have used the platform.\n\nThe digital platform allows reinsurers to securely share information such as analytics, exposure and terms and conditions with brokers. It also operates as a platform for reinsurance markets to receive offers and submissions.\n\nTigerRisk global head of analytics and technology explained that the platform increases efficiency as it enables users to cut out the use of multiple emails or File Transfer Protocol (FTP) sites.\n\nTigerRisk chief executive Rod Fox said: \u201cWe are extremely pleased to announce this initiative. This has been an important mission for us over the last several years. Since the launch of globalREmarket in 2015, all TigerRisk business has been transacted through the platform and it\u2019s proven hugely successful with our markets. Close to 1,000 users from over 200 reinsurance carriers are using the platform to see our business.\u201d\n\nThis is not the first time that TigerRisk and Willis Re have collaborated on a project. They were recently among 23 insurers, reinsurers and risk specialists to join B3i\u2019s international blockchain initiative.", "output": "Insurers Willis Re and TigerRisk are partnering, forming a third-party entity - RePlace Holding. The goal is to advance GlobalREMarket, the digital reinsurance platform developed by TigerRisk, which aims to help reinsurers and brokers share information without the need for long email chains or file sharing websites. Since its launch in 2015, GlobalREMarket\u00a0has been used by 200 reinsurers.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Disruptor social network has crowd pay cryptos to content creators \n Every time you log onto Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter to share a photo or post an article, you give up a piece of yourself in exchange for entertainment. This is the way of the modern world: Smart companies build apps and websites that keep our eyeballs engaged, and we reward them with our data and attention, which benefit their bottom line.\n\nAndrew McMillen is a freelance writer and the author of Talking Smack: Honest Conversations About Drugs. Sign up to get Backchannel's weekly newsletter, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.\n\nSteemit, a nascent social media platform, is trying to change all that by rewarding its users with cold, hard cash in the form of a cryptocurrency. Everything that you do on Steemit\u2014every post, every comment, and every like\u2014translates to a fraction of a digital currency called Steem. Over time, as Steem accumulates, it can be cashed out for normal currency. (Or held, if you think Steem is headed for a bright future.)\n\nThe idea for Steemit began with a white paper, which quietly spread among a small community of techies when it was released in March 2016. The exhaustive 44-page overview wasn\u2019t intended for a general audience, but the document contained a powerful message. User-generated content, the authors argued, had created billions of dollars of value for the shareholders of social media companies. Yet while moguls like Mark Zuckerberg got rich, the content creators who fueled networks like Facebook got nothing. Steemit\u2019s creators outlined their intention to challenge that power imbalance by putting a value on contributions: \u201cSteem is the first cryptocurrency that attempts to accurately and transparently reward\u2026[the] individuals who make subjective contributions to its community.\u201d\n\nA minuscule but dedicated audience rallied around Steemit, posting stories and experimenting with the form to discover what posts attracted the most votes and comments. When Steemit released its first payouts that July, three months after launch, things got serious.\n\nCryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are only worth whatever value people ascribe to them, so there was no guarantee that the tokens dropping into Steemit accounts would ever be worth anything. Yet the Steem that rolled out to users translated to more than $1.2 million in American dollars. Overnight, the little-known currency spiked to a $350 million market capitalization\u2014momentarily rocketing it into the rare company of Bitcoin and Ethereum, the world\u2019s highest-valued cryptocurrencies.\n\nToday, Steem\u2019s market capitalization has settled in the vicinity of $294 million. One Steem is worth slightly more than one United States Dollar, and the currency remains a regular presence at the edge of the top 20 most traded digital currencies.\n\nIt\u2019s a precipitous rise for a company that just 18 months ago existed only as an idea in the minds of its founders. More than $30 million worth of Steem has been distributed to over 50,000 users since its launch, according to company reports. It\u2019s too early to know whether Steemit can hold onto its users\u2019 interest and its market value. But its goal\u2014upending a model built by social media giants over decades of use in favor of a more populist system\u2014is significant in itself. By removing the middlemen and allowing users to profit directly from the networks they participate in, Steemit could provide a roadmap to a more equitable social network.\n\nOr users could get bored or distracted by something newer and shinier and abandon it. The possibility of a popped bubble looms over every cryptocurrency, and the bubbles are filled with both attention and speculative investment. Steemit\u2019s value is based on money that its founders have virtually willed into existence. Fortunes could vanish at any moment, but someone stands to get rich in the process.\n\nThe creators of Steemit didn\u2019t set out to build a social network. When Ned Scott and Dan Larimer first spoke on the phone in mid-2015, having previously chatted online, they began dreaming up new applications for blockchains\u2014the distributed, verified databases that back today\u2019s wave of digital currencies. Scott, a former financial analyst, was fascinated by the economics that drive cryptocurrencies. Larimer, a computer scientist, already had cryptocurrency bona fides, having developed an ambitious exchange called BitShares.", "output": "Blockchain-based social network Steemit is out to disrupt the social media sector, with a more populist model that attributes a value to contributions. In contrast to social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, Steemit pays fractions of a cryptocurrency called steem directly to users in return for posting content, with the crowd deciding the value of tokens distributed via a voting system. Since its quiet launch in April, and first payouts in July, the network claims 50,000 users have received $30m worth of steem, which can be converted to regular currency. As at September, Steemit had 350,000 registered users."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ben & Jerry\u2019s to eradicate glyphosate from production chain \n Ben & Jerry\u2019s has moved to cut all glyphosate-tainted ingredients from its production chain and introduce an \u201corganic dairy\u201d line next year, after a new survey found widespread traces of the controversial substance in its European ice-creams.\n\nThe dramatic initiative follows a new survey by Health Research Institute (HRI) laboratories which found traces of the weedkiller in 13 out of 14 B&J tubs sampled in the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands.\n\n\n\nIt will add to a growing unease around the herbicide, which was first marketed in the US by Monsanto in 1974, as RoundUp, but is now the world\u2019s most popular weedkiller, made by companies worldwide. Recently Prosecco DOC announced that wines marketed under the banner would not be able to use glyphosate and the US state of California added it to its list of chemicals that cause cancer.\n\nSimilar levels of glyphosate in B&J ice-cream have also been recorded in the US, although scientists told the Guardian these were \u201cvery low and not likely to pose a public health problem\u201d.\n\nLaura Peterson, a spokeswoman for B&J, said that the firm was \u201cdisappointed, but not totally surprised\u201d to hear the results of the latest analysis.\n\n\n\n\u201cGlyphosate is one of the most widely used herbicides in agriculture and is everywhere \u2013 from mainstream food, to natural and organic food, and even rainwater \u2013 and that\u2019s the issue,\u201d she told the Guardian.\n\nThe herbicide is commonly used on crops such as wheat, barley, oats and peanuts, making it likely that it came from B&J\u2019s cookie dough, peanut butter or other added ingredients.\n\n\u201cBut simply saying trace levels are in everything is not a strategy,\u201d Peterson added. \u201cBy no later than 2020, we will stop sourcing [ingredients] made with crops chemically dried using glyphosate. In addition, we intend to advocate for policies that would end use of glyphosate as a chemical drying agent.\u201d\n\nA new B&J 100% certified organic dairy line will launch next year and is expected to account for 6% of total US sales, she added.\n\nBen and Jerry\u2019s is known for its environmentally friendly brand image. The Unilever-owned firm has campaigned against Arctic oil drilling and does not use GM crops, which are often manufactured to resist Monsanto\u2019s RoundUp.\n\nGlyphosate has received regulatory approval from several agencies, despite the WHO\u2019s cancer wing deeming it \u201cprobably carcinogenic to humans\u201d. Monsanto insist their product is safe to use, and the European Chemical Agency decided \u201cthe available scientific evidence did not meet the criteria to classify glyphosate as a carcinogen.\u201d\n\nThe trigger for Monday\u2019s move was a survey which found that popular B&J 500ml tubs of flavours such as Peanut Butter Cup, Half Baked and Chocolate Fudge Brownie in the UK all contained between 1 and 1.23 parts per billion of glyphosate.\n\n\n\nOther B&J flavours that tested positive for glyphosate in France, Germany and the Netherlands were: Karamel Sutra Core, Cinnamon Buns, Cookie Dough and Topped Chocolate Caramel Cookie Dough.\n\nRonnie Cummins, the international director of the Organic Consumers Association, which commissioned the new survey, said: \u201cAlthough we are happy to hear that consumer pressure has forced Unilever/Ben and Jerry\u2019s to declare that some of their non-dairy ingredients will no longer be sprayed with RoundUp \u2026 the campaign to force Ben and Jerry\u2019s to begin the transition to 100% organic will continue until the company signs a legally binding agreement and timeline to make this global transition over the next three to five years.\u201d\n\n\n\nEuropean food safety authority guidelines put the levels of glyphosate found in the HRI tests well within safe limits. But one peer-reviewed study published by Nature magazine earlier this year found that much lower doses triggered fatty liver disease among rats.\n\nMichael Antoniou, who heads the gene therapy group at King\u2019s College London which produced the study, said a 35kg child would have to eat 114ml of B&J ice cream daily \u201cover many years\u201d to be at risk.\n\n\n\nProducts derived from wheat, barley, rye and oats \u2013 which can contain glyphosate levels 646 times higher than in the ice-cream \u2013 were more troubling, he added.\n\n\u201cNon-alcoholic fatty liver disease affects 20-30% of Europeans,\u201d Antoniou said. \u201cOur results imply that even extremely low daily ingestion of glyphosate-based herbicides may be a hitherto unsuspected risk factor for this disease.\u201d\n\nBen & Jerry\u2019s said their products were safe to eat, pointing out that \u201cthe trace levels of glyphosate detected in both the US and European study are below allowable US and European standards\u201d.", "output": "Ben & Jerry\u2019s (B&J), the US ice cream manufacturer, will remove all ingredients tainted with the weedkiller glyphosate from its production chain. The company will open an \u201corganic dairy\u201d range next year, after research indicated that traces of the chemical were common in the company\u2019s European ice-creams. A survey by US testing service Health Research Institute laboratories discovered traces of glyphosate, which were within European safety limits, in 13 out of 14 B&J tubs analysed in France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. Glyphosate, first marketed by Monsanto in 1974 as RoundUp, is the world\u2019s most popular weedkiller."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian cities could experience 50C temperatures by 2040 \n For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBreaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nAustralian cities could soon experience \u201cunprecedented\u201d temperatures of 50C, even if international climate targets are met, scientists have said.\n\nSummers in Sydney and Melbourne could regularly see sweltering temperatures by 2040, raising concerns for how the elderly will cope and the pressures the weather could pile on energy resources and infrastructure.\n\nRestricting global warming to 1.5C \u2013 less than the 2C which was agreed by the international community under the Paris climate deal \u2013 could avoid the 50C days, scientists said.\n\nReducing emissions won't stop global warming, claims study\n\nTheir findings, which looked at just Victoria and New South Wales states, were published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.\n\n\u201cThe increase in Australian summer temperatures indicates that other major cities should also be prepared for unprecedented future extreme heat,\u201d said lead author, Dr Sophie Lewis, from the Australian National University.\n\nRecommended Australia has hottest winter on record thanks to climate change\n\nShe continued: \u201cOur climate modelling has projected daily temperatures of up to 3.8 degrees Celsius above existing records in Victoria and New South Wales, despite the ambitious Paris efforts to curb warming.\n\nWarming is likely to be incremental, the scientists warned.\n\n\u201cOne of the hottest years on record globally - 2015 could be an average year by 2025,\u201d Dr Lewis said.\n\nThe highest temperature ever experienced in Sydney was 45.8C in 2013. In 2009 in Melbourne the mercury hit a record high of 46.4C.\n\nDr Lewis called for immediate work to be done to reduce the chance of extreme seasonal temperatures.\n\n\u201cUrgent action on climate change is critical \u2013 the severity of possible future temperature extremes simulated by climate models in this study poses serious challenges for our preparedness for future climate change in Australia,\u201d she said.\n\nWorld news in pictures Show all 50 1 / 50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the \"Creek Fire\" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading \"Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression\" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty\n\nThe study used new modelling and observation methods to predict how extreme temperatures could become more frequent.\n\n\u201cPrevious scientific studies have focused on how current temperature extremes have been impacted by climate change, or on how the frequency of these current extremes will change in the future,\u201d said Dr Andrew King from the University of Melbourne\u2019s Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science.\n\n\u201cThis study takes a different approach and examines how the severity of future temperature extremes might change in the future,\u201d he added.", "output": "Australian cities, including Melbourne and Sydney, could see \u201cunprecedented\u201d summer temperatures of 50C by 2040, even if global warming is restricted to the 2C increase agreed under the Paris Climate Accord, according to scientists. Previous highs were 46.6C in 2009 in Melbourne and 45.8C in 2013 in Sydney. The research has raised concerns for the impact on vulnerable people, such as the elderly, and on infrastructure and energy resources. However, the study, which uses new forms of modelling, indicates that restricting temperature increases to 1.5C could avoid the 50C extremes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK audit reveals widespread racial disparities \n White teenagers are far more likely to smoke than their minority ethnic counterparts, Roma children are falling well behind their peers at school and black men face the highest likelihood of being found guilty in court.\n\nThose are just some of the issues that will be highlighted in a government audit on race equality that will reveal deeply ingrained disparities across the country when it is published on Tuesday.\n\nMuch of the data shows disadvantage for black and ethnic minority communities, and there is a postcode lottery in school performance.\n\nBut it also makes clear that among the poorest children in the country, white British pupils do worst at school. Among that group, just 32% reach the expected standard of reading, writing and maths at 11.\n\nTheresa May has said she wants the findings \u2013 which shine a light on vastly different experiences for ethnic groups in Britain\u2019s schools, workplaces, hospitals and justice system, and reveal huge regional disparities \u2013 to reveal \u201cuncomfortable truths\u201d.\n\nShe said: \u201cPeople who have lived with discrimination don\u2019t need a government audit to make them aware of the scale of the challenge. But this audit means that for society as a whole \u2013 for government, for our public services \u2013 there is nowhere to hide. These issues are now out in the open. And the message is very simple: if these disparities cannot be explained then they must be changed.\u201d\n\nCommunities secretary Sajid Javid the data would not provide the answers to why disparity existed, but said the government wanted to work with outside groups to come up with ways it could tackle the injustice.\n\n\u201cWe are not pretending today we are sitting here with all the answers, some of them might have a rational explanation but others will require action,\u201d he told BBC Radio 4\u2019s Today. \u201cThere are hundreds of thousands of Pakistani or Bangladeshi women who don\u2019t speak proper English or hardly speak it at all.\n\n\u201cThat might be through choice in some cases, a cultural issue. But it is a big issue because it does then hold those women back from the employment market and other opportunities.\u201d\n\nJavid said he would address some of the problems, including English language issues, when his department publishes a new integration strategy. \u201cI think there will be many people out there today listening to this, taking notice, and thinking this is just the kind of thing we want our government to do,\u201d he said. \u201cThat means where there are injustices, we are doing everything we can to tackle them and reveal them.\u201d\n\nThe figures come alongside new research that suggests minority ethnic women are being hardest hit by austerity. The report by the Runnymede Trust and Women\u2019s Budget Group claims black and Asian households have faced the biggest drop in living standards, of 19.2% and 20.1% respectively. That amounts to a real-terms average annual loss of \u00a38,407 and \u00a311,678.\n\nMay\u2019s project, which she launched soon after taking office, brings together government statistics covering ethnic breakdowns in 130 areas across health, education, housing, employment and criminal justice.\n\n\n\nOther findings, which include known data presented in a new manner alongside unpublished information in 24 areas, are:\n\nBlack Caribbean pupils are permanently excluded from school at three times the rate of white British pupils \u2013 triggering a Department for Education review.\n\nAlmost nine out of 10 white Gypsy and Roma children do not reach the expected standard for reading, writing and maths at 11.\n\n9.2% of white 15-year-olds smoked in 2014-15, almost four times the proportion of black teenagers (2.4%).\n\nBlack men are more likely to be found guilty at crown court, with 112 sentenced to custody for every 100 white men.\n\nEmployment rates are higher for white people than ethnic minorities across the country, but the gap in the north (13.6%) is significantly wider than that in the south (9%).\n\nThe data goes beyond breaking down figures by colour, delving into differences between a variety of ethnic groups. Chinese pupils excelled at primary school, with 71% reaching the expected standard for reading, writing and maths, compared with 65% of children from an Indian background, 54% of white British pupils, 51% of black children, and 13% of white Gypsy and Traveller children.\n\nOfficials said one of the big surprises of the findings was the large regional disparities. As well as bigger gaps for employment in the north, there were big differences in schooling.\n\nMore than three-quarters of black children reached expected levels in Sunderland and Gateshead (although the overall numbers were low), compared with less than a quarter in Stockport, laying bare a postcode lottery in schooling.\n\nAreas with larger minority ethnic populations and with strong performances among black children included Kensington and Chelsea and Greenwich in London.\n\nThe government said the data would affect policy, with the Department for Work and Pensions taking action in 20 targeted hotspots to help people from minority ethnic backgrounds into work with mentoring schemes and traineeships.\n\nThere will also be recommendations taken up from the Labour MP David Lammy\u2019s review of the justice system, including performance indicators within prisons to assess outcomes for different ethnic groups.\n\n\n\nLammy told the Guardian: \u201cWe simply can\u2019t let this racial disparity audit bring forth more talking shops. We\u2019ve had a lot of talk, it\u2019s now time for action.\u201d\n\nOmar Khan, director of the Runnymede Trust, said: \u201cOnce the details of the audit are digested, we want to see a comprehensive and government-wide plan with the goal of eliminating racial barriers in a generation.\u201d\n\n\n\nSimon Woolley, director of Operation Black Vote, said: \u201cYes, some findings make uncomfortable reading, but unless these things are laid bare we can\u2019t begin to resolve them.\u201d", "output": "A race equality audit by the UK government has revealed wide disparities across the country. The research finds that: Black Caribbean pupils are permanently excluded from school three times as frequently as white British pupils; nine out of 10 white Gypsy and Roma children fail to reach expected educational standards at 11; the employment gap for black people compared to their white peers is 13.6% in the north and 9% in the south; 112 black men are sentenced to custody for every 100 white men; \u00a0among the UK\u2019s poorest children, white British pupils perform\u00a0worst at school."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK audit reveals widespread racial disparities \n This report provides an overview of the main findings from the first release of data from the Race Disparity Audit, published in October 2017.\n\nAs well as a review of each topic on the Ethnicity Facts and Figures website, the report presents an overview of disparities that have most impact across all aspects of people\u2019s lives.\n\nThe report is not updated each year. Find updates to the data on the Ethnicity Facts and Figures website (including information about new and updated pages). You can also read updates from the Race Disparity Unit.\n\nThis analysis helps to understand and assess differences between ethnic groups, and to identify those public services where disparities are diminishing and those where work is needed to develop effective strategies to reduce disparities between ethnic groups.", "output": "A race equality audit by the UK government has revealed wide disparities across the country. The research finds that: Black Caribbean pupils are permanently excluded from school three times as frequently as white British pupils; nine out of 10 white Gypsy and Roma children fail to reach expected educational standards at 11; the employment gap for black people compared to their white peers is 13.6% in the north and 9% in the south; 112 black men are sentenced to custody for every 100 white men; \u00a0among the UK\u2019s poorest children, white British pupils perform\u00a0worst at school."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Russians face suspicion in Silicon Valley after hacking scandals \n SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Pavel Cherkashin, a Russian investor based in this city, thought he had the perfect name for a Catholic church that he is spending $11.5 million converting into a tech palace. It would be called Hack Temple.\n\nBut that was before the nearly daily deluge of news about Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election by hacking computers and using Facebook and Twitter to spread inflammatory messages and sow division.\n\n\u201cWe had so many concerns from our investors saying this would be inappropriate and we should change it,\u201d said Mr. Cherkashin, 44, who planned to officially open Hack Temple this fall. \u201cA bunch of Russian guys opening a hacker temple in the middle of San Francisco at a time when Russian hackers are considered the most evil in the world. They say you can\u2019t.\u201d\n\nWith news of the hacking and influence campaigns escalating all year, the Russian immigrant community of Silicon Valley, which numbers in the tens of thousands, is in a strange new position. Some Russian venture capitalists said start-ups were more wary about taking their funding, while several Russian-born engineers said they were being treated differently socially and in their companies. Lawyers also said some tech firms were installing tighter security measures restricting what data foreign-born coders can see.", "output": "Allegations of hacking and influence campaigns during the US election are affecting the Russian immigrant community in Silicon Valley. Start-ups are reportedly more cautious about accepting funding from such sources, while Russian-born engineers are claiming that they are being treated differently in both social and work situations. Lawyers have also argued that some tech companies are restricting\u00a0foreign-born coders' access to data. Conversely, some companies have shown\u00a0an increased interest in hiring Russian tech workers as the country\u2019s reputation for hacking has grown.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dove criticised for ad showing black woman becoming white \n Dove has apologised after publishing an advert on its Facebook page which showed a black woman turning into a white woman.\n\nThe brand was accused of racism over the online advertising campaign and it later admitted it had \u201cmissed the mark\u201d with an image posted on Facebook.\n\nThe advert showed a black woman removing her top to reveal a white woman underneath supposedly after using Dove body lotion. The white woman then removes her top and turns into a Middle Eastern woman.\n\nDove apologised for 'racist' Facebook advert showing a black woman turning white after using @Dove lotion. pic.twitter.com/NGXyhnGuBZ \u2014 Habeeb Akande (@Habeeb_Akande) October 8, 2017\n\nThe campaign has since been removed from Facebook but was shared by Naomi Blake, an American makeup artist who goes by the name Naythemua.\n\n\u201cSo I\u2019m scrolling through Facebook and this is the #dove ad that comes up \u2026 ok so what am I looking at,\u201d she wrote as the caption.\n\nUnder the post, she was asked if people would be offended if the white woman had turned into a black woman. She said: \u201cNope, we wouldn\u2019t and that\u2019s the whole point. What does America tell black people? That we are judged by the color of our skin and that includes what is considered beautiful in this country.\u201d\n\nShe added that Dove\u2019s marketing team should have known better and said \u201cthe tone deafness in these companies makes no sense\u201d.\n\nFollowing the removal of the advert, Dove, which is owned by Unilever, tweeted: \u201cAn image we recently posted on Facebook missed the mark in representing women of colour thoughtfully. We deeply regret the offence it caused.\u201d\n\nIn a further statement Dove said: \u201cAs a part of a campaign for Dove body wash, a three-second video clip was posted to the US Facebook page.\n\n\u201cThis did not represent the diversity of real beauty which is something Dove is passionate about and is core to our beliefs, and it should not have happened.\n\n\u201cWe have removed the post and have not published any other related content. We apologise deeply and sincerely for the offence that it has caused.\u201d\n\nHowever the damage was done and the nearly 3,000 comments below the tweet were almost exclusively negative. Many social media users called for a boycott of Dove\u2019s products.\n\nENOUGH!\n\nIS ENOUGH!@Dove Needs to be an example of black boycott worldwide!!!\n\nThey need to see the power of the black and brown money power \u2014 A Soldier of the Art (@SelinaNBrown) October 7, 2017\n\nAva DuVernay, the director of the film Selma, was one of many prominent people to criticise both the advert and the apology. She said on Twitter: \u201cYou can do better than \u2018missed the mark\u2019. Flip + diminishing. Deepens your offence. You do good work. Have been for years. Do better here.\u201d\n\nThe trans model Munroe Bergdorf, who recently was at the centre of a racism row with L\u2019Oreal, tweeted to say: \u201cDiversity is viewed as a buzzword or a trend. An opportunity to sell product to women of colour. Dove \u2013 Do better.\u201d\n\nOthers pointed out this was not the first time the company has been accused of racism. In 2011 Dove\u2019s before-and-after advert charted the transition of a black woman to a white woman after using its body wash.\n\nOkay, Dove...\n\nOne racist ad makes you suspect.\n\nTwo racist ads makes you kinda guilty. pic.twitter.com/hAwNCN84h2 \u2014 Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) October 8, 2017\n\nAt the time, Dove said in a statement: \u201cAll three women are intended to demonstrate the \u2018after\u2019 product benefit. We do not condone any activity or imagery that intentionally insults any audience.\u201d", "output": "Dove, the UK toiletries brand owned by Unilever, has apologised for an advertisement featured on its Facebook page which showed a black woman turning into a white woman after using its body lotion. The brand stated on Twitter that the ad, which has now been removed, had \u201cmissed the mark\u201d. Almost 3,000 comments, overwhelmingly negative, appeared in response to the tweet, with many users of social media calling for a boycott of the brand. In 2011, another advert for Dove featured a black woman turning into a white woman after using the brand\u2019s body wash.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lithuanian start-up TransferGo begins operations in China \n You are here: Home\n\nVILNIUS, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- TransferGo, Lithuanian money transfer services startup, has started operations in China, announced the company on Thursday.\n\nOne of Lithuania's biggest startup companies explains the move is based on intensifying economic cooperation between Lithuanian and Chinese companies.\n\n\"During recent years, Chinese direct investments into Lithuania have increased almost six-fold. We hope that fast and cheap international money transfers would contribute to strengthening ties between Lithuanian and Chinese businesses,\" Daumanats Dvilinskas, chief executive of TransferGo, was quoted as saying in a press release.\n\nDvilinskas sees demand for money transfer services coming from companies purchasing commodities and goods directly from Chinese manufacturers.\n\nThe company says money transfers from businesses and individuals would reach a recipient in China within a day.\n\nUp until now, in Asia the company's users were able to transfer money to Hong Kong, India and the Philippines. TransferGo currently operates in 46 countries with monthly transfers averaging around 15 million British pounds (19.7 million U.S. dollars). The company aims to expand beyond Europe.\n\nSince its launch in 2012, the startup has raised 10.55 million U.S. dollars in total from private equity investors. TransferGo says its revenue has doubled in recent 12 months, without specifying the number.\n\nEarlier this year, the Lithuanian regulator issued e-money institution license to Chinese fintech company IBS Lithuania, a branch of International Business Settlement Holdings Limited, allowing the company to issue and redeem electronic money, provide payment services across the European Union. Enditem", "output": "Lithuanian money transfer start-up TransferGo has begun operations in China to capitalise on growing demand for remittance services between local buyers and Chinese manufacturers. TransferGo, which moves about $20m globally each month\u00a0through 46 nations,\u00a0says transfers between businesses and individuals\u00a0will reach Chinese recipients within a day.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EBA acknowledges importance, supervisory challenges of fintech \n The European Banking Authority (EBA) has a mission of working towards a single regulatory and supervisory framework for the European Union member states. The goal is to make things simpler for consumers and businesses to operate across the EU. As the digitization of banking and other financial services heat up globally, it would be pretty difficult to ignore the Fintech revolution occurring across all financial services. As part of a mandated comprehensive review of the EBA\u2019s objectives for the coming year, the Agency has just published their 2018 \u201cWork Programme\u201d and hidden within is a section on Fintech.\n\nAccording to the Agency and its objectives for Fintech:\n\n\u201cThe EBA will focus on the following priority policy areas: (i) the regulatory perimeter of Fintech firms \u2013 Fintech firms authorised and registered under EU law (including CRR/CRD, EMD, PSD2, MCD), Fintech firms regulated under national regimes, and non-regulated Fintech firms (in addition, the EBA will also explore \u2018sandboxing\u2019, \u2018innovation hub\u2019 schemes, etc.); (ii) risks (prudential and operational) and opportunities for credit institutions, payment institutions and electronic money institutions; (iii) impacts on the business models of credit institutions, payment institutions and electronic money institutions; (iv) consumer protection and retail conduct of business issues; (v) the impact of Fintech on the resolution of financial firms; and (vi) the impact of Fintech on AML/CFT.\u201d\n\nThe EBA expects to publish follow-up papers in relation to the above priority policy areas as it seeks to ensure that its work on Fintech is consistent with the work of the Commission and the BCBS, as well as that of international forums including the FATF on AML/CFT-related issues.", "output": "The European Banking Authority (EBA) has acknowledged the role fintech is likely to play in the region's economy. In its 2018 Work Programme review, the EBA outlines plans to draw up fintech\u00a0regulations and recognises\u00a0the potential impact of cryptocurrencies on financial institutions and business models. The EBA will\u00a0evaluate how to provide protection for consumers of digital banking, taking\u00a0into consideration the growth of peer-to-peer lending and payment services."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Advertising helps online property agents boost market share 19% \n Post navigation\n\nOnline agents\u2019 share of the market has gone up 19% year on year \u2013 but still represents just under 5.5% of the market overall.\n\nThe finding is in a new report, out today, which says that the growth in online market share is testament to the power of advertising and the huge sums that have been spent on TV and radio adverts.\n\nIt is the second time that customer intelligence firm TwentyCI has issued a quarterly \u2018home mover\u2019 report. Its latest covers the three months to September.\n\nWhile the firm is largely unknown to the industry \u2013 its customers include the likes of Heinz \u2013 we are told it does work with a number of estate agents, and that its interest in the property sector will become clearer as the months go by.\n\nIt claims to have exclusive access to over 29bn pieces of data covering property purchases and rentals.\n\nIts new report says that in the third quarter there were 6.2% fewer home moves than in the same period last year.\n\nHowever, exchanges across the UK were up 15.2% on the same period last year, with prices increasing by 1.5%.\n\nIn London exchanges were up by 9%, and prices down by 8.4%.\n\nIt was a patchy picture elsewhere, says Twenty CI: in Scotland and Wales, exchanges were up 30% year on year, but in the south-west were down 6%.\n\nToday\u2019s report finds the shift towards online agents continuing, with a 19% increase in market share meaning it now has 5.4% of the market, measured in terms of exchanges.\n\nColin Bradshaw, chief customer officer at TwentyCI, said: \u201cThe growth in online estate agents is testament to the power of advertising.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve seen the big players spending huge sums on TV and radio promotion.\n\n\u201cAs the concept of online estate agents matures and consumers see more of their boards on display, it is likely that more people will see them as a credible alternative.\n\n\u201cThat said, the online-only market is still a very small proportion of the overall market, so I doubt established agents are quaking in the boots yet \u2013 but now should not be the time for complacency either.\u201d\n\nOverall in the quarter, it says that in round figures, 261,000 exchanges took place.\n\nOf this number, 246,667 were exchanges through high street agents, and 14,003 were exchanges through online firms.\n\nA total of 64,000 deals fell through; 198,000 homes were withdrawn; and 271,000 were sold subject to contract.\n\nA total of 308,104 properties, both sales and rentals, were new listings.", "output": "Heavy TV and radio advertising investment by online estate agents has helped the sector grow its share of the property market\u00a0by 19% in Q3, according to customer intelligence firm TwentyCI. Even so, that\u00a0still represents less than 5.5% of the overall market. Citing\u00a0more than 29 billion pieces of data on property purchases and rentals, TwentyCI also said Q3 2017\u00a0property moves fell\u00a06.2% YoY. However, home exchanges increased 15.2% and prices rose 1.5%. And while London saw a 9% surge in exchanges, prices slid\u00a08.4%.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "World's tallest dam fails to attract foreign investment \n 3 October 2017 09:47 (UTC+04:00)\n\nBy Kamila Aliyeva\n\nAttraction of foreign investment for the construction of the Rogun Hydropower Plant (HPP), the world's tallest dam, remains the key issue that hinders and pulls back the project\u2019s implementation.\n\n\n\nThe government of Tajikistan, which has suffered from electricity shortages for years, makes all possible efforts to complete the construction of dam that will solve the country\u2019s energy problem.\n\n\n\nBy implementing the project, Tajikistan will be able to generate about 13 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. This will not only help the country to meet its domestic needs but also turn Tajikistan into a major exporter of electricity.\n\n\n\nApproximately $4 billion is needed to complete the major energy project. About 2 billion somoni ($227,2 million) have been allocated from the state budget for the completion of the hydroelectric power station this year.\n\n\n\nTherefore, the Tajik authorities decided to issue securities worth $1 billion for the completion of the Rogun HPP. At the first stage, bonds worth $500 million were put up for sale on the world markets.\n\n\n\nSelling bonds internationally worth $500 million is an economic activity not sufficient enough to construct a giant dam like Rogun, Dr. Aftab Kazi, Senior Fellow at Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program in SAIS, Johns Hopkins University, told Azernews newspaper.\n\n\n\n\u201cBefore Rogun could be constructed, all five Central Asian nations need to sit down together to reach a consensus about the distribution of water ratios between themselves. Ex-President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov was totally against it but Shavkat Mirziyoyev is more interested in Central Asian regional integration,\u201d he said.\n\n\n\nThe dam should form a large Rogun reservoir with a total volume of 13.3 cubic meters. The project is criticized because of the location in the zone of high seismicity, landslide and mudflow processes, and the presence of a tectonic fault filled with rock salt under the base of the dam.\n\n\n\nUzbekistan has previously openly opposed the project. The Rogun HPP will dam the Vakhsh river, which is a major tributary to the Amu Darya river, one of the region's two major water courses. The neighboring countries cautioned water could be diverted from their cotton and wheat fields. Uzbekistan claimed that water flows would be seriously decreased in case the dam is built. But a World Bank assessment gave the go-ahead to the major project.\n\n\n\nCurrently, Uzbekistan\u2019s position has also changed and become more tolerant. Thus, atmosphere for a water distribution accord appear is suitable now, according to the expert.\n\n\n\n\u201cTajikistan could construct that dam from its quota, but that could also take years. Rogun is a part of CASA 1000 proposed by the U.S. around 2005/6 or so together with a dam on Darin River in Kyrgyzstan. Water levels in Darin fluctuate. Since 2007, water levels were so low that even Bishkek had to face electricity load shedding,\u201d he said.\n\n\n\nCASA1000 has lost its importance and that now remains only on paper, as Afghanistan is no more interested in the electricity project and has withdrawn, Kazi noted.\n\n\n\n\u201cAs long as the Afghanistan stalemate continues, I doubt if Tajikistan could attract international investments other than from China,\u201d he added.\n\n\n\nCASA-1000 is an interregional electricity transmission project in Central and South Asia to connect four countries - Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. It is presupposed that the project will create opportunities for the export of electricity surplus in summer period from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan and Pakistan.\n\n\n\nGroundbreaking for the project took place on May 12, 2016 in Tajikistan in a ceremony attended by the Kyrgyz, Tajik, and Pakistani Prime Ministers, and is expected to be completed by the end of 2018.\n\n\n\nThe project initially also included transfer of electricity to Afghanistan, however the country abandoned its share of electricity due to dearth of demand, hence Pakistan will receive 1,300 megawatts of electricity.\n\n---\n\nKamila Aliyeva is AzerNews\u2019 staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva\n\nFollow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz", "output": "The Rogun Hydropower Plant (HPP) in Tajikistan has failed to attract foreign investment, delaying the potential solution to the country\u2019s energy crisis. Once complete, the plant could generate approximately 13 billion kWh of electricity per year, which would resolve energy shortages and provide a potential commodity for export. The project requires around $4bn to complete, with $277.2m allocated from the government.\u00a0Criticism of the plant\u2019s placement and its potential impact on neighbouring nations has caused interest to stall."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Regus looks to open in $3.5m mall redevelopment in New Zealand \n A more than $5million mall redevelopment in George St is well under way, with global shared business space company Regus targeting its opening in mid-January.\n\nMore than $3million is being spent on construction at Mall 218, formerly the Harvest Court Mall, and a further $2million by Regus on the soft and hard fit-out of the office spaces.\n\nRegus country manager for New Zealand Pierre Ferrandon said Regus offered \"service agreements\" for business people with flexible space options ranging from open-plan space to booths, enclosed offices or boardrooms, including reception and in-house cafe.\n\nThe completed 1100sq m space, formerly leased by Silver Fern Farms, will be designed around a \"rustic-industrial\" theme; exposing some of the building\u2019s original structural timbers and brickwork, with total seating for up to 180 people.\n\nA boardroom in one of the more than 3000 existing Regus shared space locations around the world. Photos: supplied\n\n\"The service agreement can be 30 minutes to three years. They can use whatever space they want and adapt it at any time,\" Mr Ferrandon said.\n\nBuilding owner Carl Angus has over the past decade invested about $10million into redeveloping Mall 218, and yesterday said the Regus project was the \"final piece\" of redevelopment.\n\nHe said he was excited to be creating some \"fresh options\" for the city and its resident business community, plus attracting new businesses. Dunedin was short of quality office space and businesses increasingly valued flexibility, agility, and the ability to diversify to changes in the business environment, he said.\n\nA community cafe in one of the more than 3000 existing Regus shared space locations around the world.\n\n\"This is an A-grade space smack in the middle of town,\" Mr Angus said.\n\nWhile there were multiple space options, Mr Ferrandon said in Dunedin base membership would cost $149 per month, then range up to $540 per person for full-time occupation; which covered furniture, rent, IT, cleaning and electricity costs.\n\nAuckland and Wellington have respectively five and three Regus spaces, with another two each planned for Christchurch and Auckland.\n\nRegus was targeting eventually 60 spaces dotted around the country; the smallest being in townships of about 30,000, with about 5000 businesses so far on board, since arriving here in 2007, he said.\n\n\"Our goal is to build a national network of flexible workspaces to enable people to work wherever, whenever and however they want,\" Mr Ferrandon said.\n\nThe connectivity within Dunedin\u2019s Gigatown status was also an attraction for overseas participating businesses, he said.\n\nFounded in Brussels in 1989, Regus parent company IWG is listed on the UK\u2019s FTSE stock exchange, with annual turnover of \u00a32billion ($NZ3.7billion) from operations in 120 countries, 900 cities and more than 3000 locations.\n\nMr Ferrandon said many business people were not wanting to sign up to long-term leasing, noting business cycles were becoming shorter.\n\nAnother issue for businesses was pending regulatory changes to accounting standards next year with leases becoming booked ahead as a liability, and asset, on the books.\n\nThe Dunedin space would have two staff, plus an area manager for Otago and Southland, Aaron Kemp, with all IT and billing services centralised at one of three offshore locations, Mr Ferrandon said.\n\n\"Typically, it\u2019s expensive in New Zealand with costs of $1200 to $1700 per square metre to develop office space ... that could mean a lease commitment for at least five or six years,\" Mr Ferrandon said.\n\n\"It\u2019s ideal for business people who like not having a long-term [leasing] commitment; they can put that into other activities such as marketing,\" he said.\n\nAssociate director of Colliers International in Dunedin Dean Collins said the Regus\u2019 openingwas \"a vote of confidence for the city\u2019s future\".\n\n\"The city definitely needs the variety of flexible solutions Regus provides, especially for those businesses working in sectors such as creative industries, digital development, knowledge management and professional service,\" Mr Collins said.\n\nRegus would provide much-needed A-grade office space, which was in short supply, and would assist in attracting outside investment to Dunedin, Mr Collins said.\n\nsimon.hartley@odt.co.nz", "output": "Office space provider Regus plans to open a \u201crustic-industrial\u201d premises in a NZD$5m ($3.5m) development in Dunedin, New Zealand in mid-January 2018. Over $3m is being spent on the 1,100 sq metre\u00a0Mall 218 development on George Street, with Regus contributing\u00a0$2m\u00a0to interior fit-outs. The office space available ranges from open-plan areas to enclosed offices, and the site includes a reception area and caf\u00e9. The base membership for the space will begin at $149 per month, going up to $540 a month per person, with\u00a0all associated costs included. When finished, the site will be able to accommodate 180 people.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New Energy Solar to buy 130 MW portfolio of US PV plants \n SYDNEY, Australia and Austin, Texas \u2013 6 October 2017 \u2014 New Energy Solar (NES) and Cypress Creek Renewables (CCR) today announced that New Energy Solar has entered into a binding agreement to acquire fourteen utility- scale solar plants, totaling 130 megawatts DC (MW), to be constructed by CCR and anticipated to be commercially operational in 2018.\n\nOn completion of the plants (the CCR Portfolio), New Energy Solar\u2019s investment in the CCR Portfolio will be approximately US$108 million, paid progressively against specified development and construction milestones. The projects have been developed and designed by CCR and will serve utilities in North Carolina and Oregon.\n\nTen of the plants, totaling 71MW, will be constructed in North Carolina and, once constructed, will connect to the electrical systems of Duke Energy Progress and Duke Energy Carolinas (together, Duke), both subsidiaries of Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE: DUK), the largest electric power holding company in the United States.\n\nThe other four plants, totaling 59MW, will be constructed in Oregon and have approval to connect to the electrical system of PacifiCorp, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy (NYSE: BRK.A). Both Duke and Pacificorp are vertically-integrated, regulated utilities.\n\nThe CCR Portfolio plants are expected to sell power under 13 to 15-year fixed price and escalating power purchase agreements (PPA) to large utility offtakers, including Duke and PacifiCorp. Following expiry of the PPA terms, the plants can re-contract with those parties or enter into new contracts with other buyers.\n\nNorth Carolina has a well-established solar development, construction, and asset management market. In addition, the state\u2019s strong economic growth is forecast to continue, with a resulting positive outlook for electricity demand and pricing. Oregon is a growth state for solar development, and one of the fastest growing US states in GDP terms, resulting in a similarly positive outlook for electricity demand and pricing.\n\nJohn Martin, New Energy Solar CEO said, \u201cThese high-quality projects and the proposed PPAs with creditworthy off-takers greatly increase our scale as an investor in solar and also enhance the diversity of our portfolio. In addition, the opportunity to work with Cypress as a long-term partner on these projects is very exciting.\n\nThey are one of the leading developers, constructors and operators of utility-scale solar power in the United States, with over 1GW of CCR-developed solar power plants in operation. Their expertise and excellent standing in the US renewables market is well-established and we look forward to the successful completion of these projects, as well as future opportunities to work together\u201d.", "output": "New Energy Solar (NES) will acquire 14 utility-scale solar plants from Cypress Creek Renewables (CCR) with capacity of 130 MW once completed in 2018. NES will take a $108m stake in CCR by the time the\u00a0plants are commissioned. Ten of them will be based in North Carolina and four in Oregon. The facilities are due to sell energy according to 13- to\u00a015-year fixed-price and escalating power purchase agreements (PPA)."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK to ban sale of ivory \n The UK government has bowed to campaigners and will ban the sale of ivory regardless of age, according to a new consultation.\n\nThe UK is the biggest exporter of legal ivory in the world and shutting down the trade will help prevent illegal ivory being laundered by criminals. More than 50 elephants are killed by poachers every day on average and the population of African elephants plunged by a third between 2007-14 alone, leading to warnings that the entire species could go extinct.\n\nThe international trade in ivory has been illegal since 1990 but currently the UK law allows trade in \u201cantiques\u201d carved before 1947, or items worked before 1990 that have government certificates. In September 2016, the then environment secretary Andrea Leadsom pledged to ban the sale of items carved before 1990, but not before 1947, although no progress was made on implementation.\n\nThe new ban, put forward on Friday by Leadsom\u2019s successor, Michael Gove, will prohibit the sale of pre-1947 ivory. This represents a U-turn and comes as a surprise \u2013 the Conservatives removed a pledge on ivory from their 2017 general election manifesto in June that had been in the 2015 manifesto.\n\nGove said: \u201cThe decline in the elephant population fuelled by poaching for ivory shames our generation. The need for radical and robust action to protect one of the world\u2019s most iconic and treasured species is beyond dispute. These plans will put the UK front and centre of global efforts to end the insidious trade in ivory.\u201d\n\nThe government was put under pressure by a wide range of campaign groups and prominent individuals including the former Conservative leader William Hague, the primatologist Jane Goodall, Stephen Hawking and Ricky Gervais. Within the Tory party, the foreign secretary Boris Johnson and the former environment secretary Owen Paterson have pressed for a complete ban.\n\nThe proposed ban does suggest a number of exceptions for antique ivory items, including musical instruments, items of significant cultural value and those containing only a small amount of ivory, which the government says do not contribute to the poaching of elephants.\n\nThe government\u2019s move was welcomed by John Stephenson at the Stop Ivory group. \u201cThe unprecedented crisis we face \u2013 with Africa\u2019s natural heritage being destroyed and communities put at risk due to poaching by illegal armed gangs \u2013 will only stop when people stop buying ivory,\u201d he said. \u201cAlong with our partners, we congratulate the government on this important step and look forward to working with it to ensure the ban is implemented robustly and without delay.\u201d\n\nWWF said the ban must be implemented within a year, if the UK is to maintain its leading role. But Tanya Steele, WWF\u2019s CEO, said: \u201cThis illegal trade involving organised criminals is a global problem requiring global solutions: to end it anywhere means ending it everywhere. This is about a lot more than banning ivory sales in one country. It means working with global leaders and communities around the world, particularly in China and south-east Asia, to implement bans and stop the illegal trade.\u201d\n\nThere has been significant progress in the last year to reduce demand for elephant ivory. In December 2016, China, home of the world\u2019s largest legal and illegal ivory markets, announced it will ban the domestic trade by the end of 2017. In June, Hong Kong \u2013 the largest city market for ivory \u2013 published a bill to ban the ivory trade by 2021.\n\nIn October 2018, the UK will host a major international conference on the illegal wildlife trade, bringing global leaders to London to tackle the strategic challenges of the trade. The government\u2019s ivory ban consultation will run for 12 weeks, closing on 29 December.", "output": "The UK, the largest exporter of legal ivory in the world, will ban the sale of the material, regardless of its age, according to the country\u2019s environment secretary Michael Gove. The move is intended\u00a0to prevent the laundering of illegal ivory;\u00a0although the international ivory trade has been illegal since 1990, UK law currently allows for the trade of \u201cantiques\u201d carved before 1947 or items worked prior to 1990 that have government certificates. The\u00a0ban will outlaw the sale of pre-1947 ivory, with exceptions for antiques including musical instruments and items of cultural value.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shell to begin retail electricity sales in Turkey \n Operating in the wholesale electricity market since 2014, Shell Energy A.\u015e. is poised to begin retail electricity trade in Turkey, particularly in the industrial sector, a report by the D\u00fcnya daily has claimed.\n\nThe global energy giant has operated in Turkey since the foundation of the Republic in 1923. Now, it is planning to expand its operations in natural gas, electricity and non-carbon energy. For electricity generation, the company is looking to benefit from renewable energy sources.\n\nShell runs its natural gas and electricity supply operations under Shell Energy, which is currently expanding its businesses in Europe and Turkey.\n\nHighlighting that Shell has been involved in electricity wholesale business since 2014, the head of Shell Energy Europe, David Wells, elaborated on the company's plans for 2018.\n\nAfter having started electricity retailing to industrial customers in the U.K., Germany, and Italy, Shell is looking to launch sales in Turkey next, Wells told D\u00fcnya.\n\nHe drew attention to the importance of supply and emphasized Turkey's developed wholesale electricity market could be the company's source.\n\nFurther elaborating on Turkey's significance in the European energy market, Wells said: \"The Turkish energy sector has achieved quick growth as the country's energy demands increase.\"\n\nHe also said that Shell has been operating in the Turkish natural gas market for ten years and it was the first private sector exporter.\n\nHowever, he also said that unlike the electricity market, there is a lack of liberalization in Turkey's natural gas market, where approximately 80 percent is controlled by the state-run Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTA\u015e).", "output": "Shell Energy is expected to being selling retail electricity in Turkey, according to Turkish newspaper, D\u00fcnya Daily. The company is intent on expanding its natural gas, renewable and electricity operations in the country. \"The Turkish energy sector has achieved quick growth as the country's energy demands increase\", said the head of Shell Energy Europe, David Wells."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Watch shows higher retention than other Facebook video content \n Early data suggests that Facebook\u2019s Watch is getting viewers to spend more time watching videos. But Facebook still has a long way to go to achieve the levels of retention that top video creators and publishers can get on YouTube.\n\nAn analysis of 46 videos on 15 different Watch pages \u2014 including pages from top publishers and video creators Facebook is paying to make shows \u2014 found the videos averaged 23 seconds in time spent, according to social video analytics company Delmondo. This is greater than the 16.7 seconds Facebook said its users spend watching a video in the Facebook News Feed, on average, in June. It\u2019s not uncommon for average watch times on Watch videos to be double or triple that of Facebook News Feed videos, according to other data tracked by Delmondo. A little more than a month old, Watch already offers hundreds of shows, each with its own page.\n\nTop publishers such as Attn and Cond\u00e9 Nast also said they\u2019re seeing greater retention on their Watch videos, with Attn stating that their Facebook Watch episodes are getting double the retention rate of their \u201cregular programming\u201d on Facebook.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s because we have noticed our audience has developed an increasing appetite for longer-form content,\u201d said Martha Pierce, head of audience for Attn, which has rolled out two shows on Watch \u2014 \u201cHealth Hacks\u201d with Jessica Alba and \u201cWe Need to Talk\u201d \u2014 so far.\n\nWatch is Facebook\u2019s biggest attempt yet to create a YouTube-like video experience on its platform. Facebook wants people to visit Facebook more often and spend a longer amount of time on the platform. So it\u2019s incentivizing publishers, celebrities and top YouTube personalities by funding original episodic shows and algorithmically favoring longer videos within the News Feed.\n\n\u201cMany individual videos are being watched with an average watch time of one minute or one and a half minutes,\u201d said Nick Cicero, CEO of Delmondo. \u201cThese are videos that are modeled after YouTube. Right from the get-go, [Watch is] trying to put people into a mentality for watching longer videos. There\u2019s an intent by publishers and creators to make great stories that can last longer and capture attention spans for a longer period of time. So, there\u2019s a natural growth in watch time.\u201d\n\nThe early data shows Watch is trending in the right direction, but it\u2019s clear that Facebook has a long way to go to establish the type of video experience it wants. Most Watch videos run anywhere from four minutes to 10- and 20-minute, TV-style episodes. Even measured against the lower end of that spectrum, 23 seconds is not a significant retention rate \u2014 and it\u2019s nowhere near the consumption levels achieved by TV and top YouTube channels. (Notably, though, it does surpass the 20-second barrier before mid-roll ads, which have yet to be a source of significant revenue for publishers).\n\nThere\u2019s no typical average retention rate on YouTube, said Matt Gielen, founder of audience development firm Little Monster Media. Generally, though, a 50 percent retention rate is considered just OK; the goal should be 60 percent or higher, he said.\n\nRecently, publishers that have placed an emphasis on longer videos are seeing longer watch times and completion rates on their YouTube content. For instance, earlier this year, Vox.com said half of its YouTube videos were being watched for an average of four minutes. Bleacher Report and CNN\u2019s Great Big Story have claimed completion rates of 65 percent or higher on YouTube.\n\nThe hope, for Facebook and for Watch publishers, is to grow to those consumption levels.\n\n\u201cIf you get people into the Watch ecosystem and get them to watch episode after episode, there\u2019s a whole new opportunity from a business perspective that you can\u2019t replicate in the News Feed,\u201d said Croi McNamara, svp of digital video programming for Cond\u00e9 Nast, whose dating show, \u201cVirtually Dating,\u201d is one of the top shows on Watch with 17 million video views, according to the company.\n\nThere\u2019s evidence that when Facebook users treat Watch like YouTube \u2014 specifically, manually choosing to watch videos rather than being force-fed an autoplay video \u2014 they will spend time with the content. Retention rates on click-to-play videos are typically between 50 and 75 percent, according to Delmondo.\n\n\u201c[A higher retention rate] demonstrates that audiences are beginning to see our videos as something much bigger than a News Feed experience,\u201d said Attn co-founder Matthew Segal. \u201cThat bodes well for our ability to tell longer stories.\u201d", "output": "Facebook video platform Watch\u00a0has yet to gain the retention levels of YouTube. Analysis of 46 videos across 15 Watch pages by analytics firm Delmondo, including those of leading publishers and video creators, found viewers spent an average of 23 seconds watching a video. Crucially, this is just past the 20-second point where mid-roll ads are shown. Although 23 seconds\u00a0was longer than the average watch time of a video in the Facebook News Feed and elsewhere on the site, the videos are lagging behind the\u00a050%\u00a0or more average retention rate on\u00a0YouTube.\u00a0Watch videos' running time varies\u00a0from four minutes to 20 minutes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Total to enter French residential gas and power market \n An error occurred. Please try again.\n\nFrench energy giant Total is expanding into the residential gas and power distribution market.\n\nThe new offering, Total Spring, will provide natural gas and green power that is 10% cheaper than regulated tariffs.\n\nPatrick Pouyann\u00e9, chairman and chief executive officer, said: \u201cAlthough the residential market was deregulated 10 years ago, French consumers haven\u2019t really seen the effect on their bills.\n\n\u201cToday, Total is rolling out a unique offering in the French residential market: an affordable, reliable and simple solution.\n\n\u201cIn 2011, we successfully introduced the Total Access service station concept. We\u2019re aiming to repeat that success today with Total Spring, the most competitive natural gas and green power offering in the market. We hope that nearly three million French customers will place their trust in us and subscribe.\u201d\n\nThe Total Spring rollout will be supported by a major multimedia advertising campaign beginning on October 8.", "output": "Energy giant Total is to expand its portfolio to include the residential power and gas distribution. Its new service, Total Spring, will offer renewable energy and natural gas at a rate 10% cheaper than regulated tariffs."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Enel to supply geothermal heat for Italian greenhouse operator \n Enel to supply geothermal heat to large-scale greenhouse operations in Tuscany\n\nFloramiata greenhouses, Italy (source: website screenshot)\n\nAlexander Richter 3 Oct 2017\n\nNew favourable geothermal heating contract signed by Enel Green Power with greenhouse operator Floramiata in Tuscany helps to revive its business and expands ongoing heating business efforts by Enel.\n\nReported last week, Enel Green Power has signed a new contract for the sale of geothermal heat to the \u201cCasa del Corto\u201d greenhouse complex by company Floramiata in Piancastagnaio. This is a multi-year long-term contract at particularly advantageous prices that will allow new managers to relaunch the activity that has been experiencing difficulties during these years and to start off with a stable planning to foster further development.\n\nThis agreement is an important contribution to the Tuscany Region, with this cooperation involving institutions, trade unions, Enel Green Power and an entrepreneur, that led to the acquisition of a new property and reaching the Heat Use Agreement.\n\nFloramiata, with its 28 hectares of heated greenhouses , is one of the largest operators in the sector at European level and recovering its operations enables the maintenance of consistent levels of employment: thermal energy supplied every year from EGP at affordable prices, they can be a major competitive lever that will offset some of the logistical problems in the area, particularly linked to road traffic. Enel Green Power thus confirms its policy of focusing on the geothermal areas in which it operates, with the aim of encouraging the growth and development of supply chains related to the use of the geothermal resource.\n\nEnel Green Power, as well as being the leading geothermal source producer in Italy, is the largest national distributor of heat from renewable sources and in recent years has invested in research and innovation both in the field of technology, to improve and to make heating and heat distribution systems more efficient. This has helped agricultural products being developed using synergies with the geothermal resource, such as recently and ongoing experiments on the production of spirulina algae in greenhouses at Chiusdino that will be officially inaugurated in October.\n\nSource: Il Giunco", "output": "Italian renewables company Enel Green Power has signed a contract to provide geothermal heat to a large greenhouse complex in Tuscany. The Casa del Corto complex is operated by Floramiata, one of the largest greenhouse operators in Europe, and the deal will help overcome the logistical problems of providing energy to the site. Enel is the leading geothermal energy supplier in Italy and has invested in research to improve the technology and make it more efficient."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New tariff could hinder Pakistan utility sale \n ISLAMABAD: The top man of an eminent Chinese company came forward to save the biggest ever private sector deal of $1.77 billion against sale of Abraaj group\u2019s 66.4% stake in K Electric to the Shanghai Electric Power Company inked in August last year and told the Nepra that the current multiyear determined tariff at Rs12.07 per unit will cause termination of the transaction.\n\nThe current determined tariff was reduced by Rs3.50 power unit by Nepra on March 20, 2017 from the existing Multi Year Tariff of Rs15.57 per unit.\n\nThe petitioner (KE) had sought the tariff at Rs16.23 per unit. K. Electric has filed the review petition seeking viable tariff to make the $1.77 billion transaction materialised. However, Nepra is unmoved to extend any relief in tariff.\n\nThe previous tariff based on efficiency helped the KE to scale down its transmission and distribution (T&D) losses from 35pc to about 22.1 percent over the years, but most of the efficiency gain was allowed to the KE to let it invest and become profitable from being a loss-making entity. In the new tariff, the efficiency gains would now go to the consumers and the system operator would get its return on all assets.\n\nIn the latest scenario, Wang Yandan, Chairman of Shanghai Electric Power (SEP), in a letter to Nepra chief written on September 26, 2017 has sought the efficiency based Multi-Year Tariff to materialise its business plan under which a mammoth amount of $9 billion will be invested in 10 years\u2019 time in improving the electricity supply as well as strengthening the transmission and distribution system of the entity. And to cater to the immediate energy needs of the city, SEP plans to build the 900MW power plant.\n\nThe copy of the letter exclusively available with The News clearly mentions: \u201cThe current determined tariff which is still under review makes the company\u2019s operations completely unviable and non-bankable (both in terms of base tariff and structure) and will unfortunately cause the termination of the acquisition of controlling stake in K. Electric and subsequently the business plan which was aimed at improving the power generation outlook and the lives of the Karachiites.\u201d\n\nThe letter further argues: \u201cOur investment decision and business plan is carved out on a base tariff and performance based structure level same as the previous Multi Year Tariff which was based on efficiency regime.\u201d It also pinpointed that the Chinese government and regulatory regime has extended the approvals to SEP on the basis of previous Mutli Year Tariff mode. Now the regulator has changed the efficiency based tariff regime which is why the determined tariff is no more viable for the SEP.\n\nThe letter also says by quoting SEP chairman: \u201cWe are seriously committed to the development of K. Electric and Karachi\u2019s power infrastructure and for us to proceed further with the acquisition of controlling stakes in K. Electric and implement of our business plan, it is imperative that K.E\u2019s new Multi Year Tariff is at a level same to the previous Multi Year Tariff of the entity.\u201d\n\nIt said, \u201cWe have built up our entire business plan on the basis of previous Multi Year Tariff.\u201d The official sources also disclosed that minority shareholder has also written the letters to NEPRA asking for increase in tariff to make the business plan of SEP and its investment sustainable.\n\nTo a question the official in Power Division said that the Ministries of Defense and Interior have, however, extended the NOC (no Objection Certificate) for the sale of Abraaj Group\u2019s 66.4% stake in K-Electric to Shanghai Electric Power. However, the new buyer of K-Electric will be bound to ensure power supplies to vital defense installations at all times.\n\nHowever, settlement of the outstanding dues which the seller (Abraaj management) is still an issue and dues are to be settled by the seller before the deal is finalized. The Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) and National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) have made claims worth around $1.24 billion on account of cost of electricity, gas and late payment surcharges (LPS). Abraaj Group does not want to pay the interest and is seeking settlement of payment of principal amount. Abraaj Group is of the view that since the matter of payment of mark-up is pending in the court this issue should not be linked with the deal. The Power Division and SSGC do not agree with this stance.", "output": "A change by Pakistan's energy regulator to the multi-year energy tariff has thrown a proposed multi-billion dollar electric company takeover into doubt. Shanghai Electric Power (SE) signed a deal last year to buy a 66.4% stake in Pakistan's K Electric from the UAE's Abraaj Group for $1.77bn. This was based on a tariff rate of PKR15.57 per unit, which has now been cut by the regulator, Nepra, to PKR12.07 per unit. SE's chairman has written to Nepra warning that the cut endangers the deal and the $9bn of investment in infrastructure that would accompany it."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cleaning company rejects zero-hours and adopts living wage \n A church-backed commercial cleaning company which pays its staff the London living wage is aiming to win business from established firms by promoting ethical principles.\n\nClean for Good aims to provide a fairer deal for workers in an industry known for low wages, antisocial hours and poor working conditions.\n\n\n\nThe company, which formally launched this week, is committed to providing paid leave, guaranteed working hours and training as well as the London living wage.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe have no zero-hours contracts although we offer flexible hours for employees who want to combine work with study or family responsibilities,\u201d said its business manager, Catherine Pearson.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe offer staff paid holiday and sick leave, an opt-in pension and health and safety training. We use ethical products, keep our carbon footprint to a minimum and offer our clients transparency.\u201d\n\n\n\nPearson is aiming for a turnover of at least \u00a3600,000 in the next two years. \u201cThen we would be a sustainable business, covering our overheads and making a profit,\u201d she said. Profits might be used to pay bonuses to staff, she added.\n\n\n\nAs well as taking a share of the market, Clean for Good hopes to challenge established companies to change their practices. \u201cOften contracts are sub-contracted, sometimes more than once, and it\u2019s unclear to clients how much the cleaner actually gets for their work.\u201d\n\n\n\nClean for Good\u2019s 10 staff are paid \u00a39.75 per hour. The nine women and one man are from diverse ethnic backgrounds.\n\n\n\nUntil recently, Florentina, 36, was working in a fast food outlet for 72 hours a week without a contract and being paid in cash. Now she works for Clean for Good for 30 to 40 hours a week, making the same money as she did before, paying tax and with a legal contract. She sends some of her earnings home to Romania, where her children, aged 14 and 12, live.\n\n\n\nThe company was established by a City of London church, St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe, which wanted to find a way of helping low-paid workers within its wealthy parish. It has eight clients so far, including a charity, a PR agency and a number of churches.\n\n\n\nSt-Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe, the Church Mission Society and the Centre for Theology and Community own 75% of the company\u2019s shares; the remainder are owned by individual investors.\n\n\n\nJonny Baker, of the Church Mission Society, said: \u201cClean for Good is a potent combination of pioneering mission, social enterprise and God\u2019s love. It is a practical mission in action.\u201d\n\n", "output": "Clean for Good, a commercial cleaning firm backed by City of London church, St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe, and operating on ethical principles, was launched this week. The company will pay its ten workers the London living wage and will provide paid leave, training and guaranteed working hours. The company will not use zero-hours contracts, but will offer the option of flexible hours. The company, operating in a sector notorious for poor pay and conditions, will also use ethical products and attempt to minimise its carbon footprint. Clean for Good hopes to achieve a minimum turnover of \u00a3600,000 in the next two years."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Textile that disinfects itself developed for hospital use \n Close up of a Surfaceskins device showing the tiny valves that 'pump' alcohol gel onto the surface. Credit: Surfaceskins\n\nScientists have developed a novel weapon in the battle against deadly hospital-acquired infections - a textile that disinfects itself.\n\nAnd independent tests show it can reduce bacteria levels by more than 90 per cent.\n\nBy incorporating the specially-engineered textile in a device designed to be used on hospital doors instead of the traditional aluminium door plate, that part of the door that people push to open it - they aim to bolster hand hygiene.\n\nThe self-disinfecting device - known as Surfaceskins - has been developed by a spin out company from the University of Leeds and is the culmination of seven years research and development.\n\nHospital doors are recognised as a key weak link in hygiene because of the number of times people touch them.\n\nIt takes just one person with dirty hands to pass through a door to put everyone else who follows at risk of cross contamination.\n\nSurfaceskins antibacterial door pads work by dispensing a small quantity of alcohol gel onto the pad when it is pushed, to disinfect the surface ready for the next person to use the door.\n\nThis low-cost device, which incorporates three separate nonwoven textiles is designed to be replaced after seven days or one thousand pushes, whichever comes sooner.\n\nSurfaceskins antibacterial door pads are not meant to replace the strict handwashing rules in hospitals, but instead provide an extra line of defence by helping clean hands to stay clean. Experts expect that Surfaceskins will increase people's awareness of the importance of washing hands and hand hygiene.\n\nA study into the effectiveness of the new technology has just been published in the Journal of Hospital Infection.\n\nImage shows a Surfaceskins device attached to a door. Credit: Surfaceskins\n\nAt the start of the study, both the Surfaceskins and control aluminium door plates were inoculated with bacteria at levels found on the hands of hospital staff. The study concluded that the Surfaceskins door pads were more effective than standard door plates over seven days in reducing the levels of three bacteria that commonly cause hospital-acquired infections: S. aureus, E. coli and E. faecalis.\n\nMark Wilcox, Professor of Medical Microbiology at the University, who led the independent evaluation, said: \"Our results suggest that Surfaceskins door pads can help to reduce the contamination of doors by microbes.\"\n\n\"They offer a new way to reduce the risk of the spread of bacteria and viruses in hospital environments and other settings where frequent contact with doors could undermine hand hygiene.\"\n\nScale of hospital-acquired infections\n\nAccording to data published in 2014 by the National Institute for Care and Excellence or NICE, 300,000 patients a year in England get hospital-acquired infections.\n\nThe infections mean increased treatment costs, estimated by NHS England to be around \u00a31 billion a year, and put patients at risk of significant harm.\n\nSurfaceskins technology\n\nFour patents protect the innovation behind Surfaceskins. The device is fitted into a plastic holster which is attached to the door.\n\nSurfaceskins contain a reservoir of alcohol gel and a membrane with tiny valves that dispense the gel onto the surface where it is pressed when opening a door, self-disinfecting it within seconds.\n\nChris Fowler, Chief Executive of the spin out that has developed the device, said: \"Surfaceskins address a definite need, in a simple, effective and low-cost way. Designed to provide protection in many high-risk situations, the global market for Surfaceskins is immense.\n\nImage shows a Surfaceskins device fitted to a hospital door. Credit: Surfaceskins\n\n\"In addition to the successful NHS trials, many organisations outside healthcare have expressed serious interest in introducing these self-disinfecting products. Surfaceskins can play an important role wherever door users have an interest in maintaining clean hands.\"\n\nThe company has also developed a door handle using the Surfaceskins technology.\n\nSurfaceskins are being targeted at other industrial sectors where there is a need for meticulous hand hygiene such as in catering and hospitality. They could also be used on cruise ships where the spread of bacteria can lead to outbreaks of sickness.\n\nOn the back of successful trials and agreed distribution deals, Surfaceskins Ltd is now looking for \u00a3600,000 investment to expand their sales network and production capability at their Leeds-based facility.\n\nNonwovens Innovation and Research Institute Ltd\n\nSurfaceskins is a collaboration between the Nonwovens Innovation and Research Institute Ltd (NIRI), a spin out company from the University's School of Design, and two industrial designers, Adam Walker and Simon Scott-Harden.\n\nNIRI helps companies bring new textile ideas to market or to enhance or improve existing products or manufacturing processes.\n\nSince being established 12 years ago, NIRI, which has recently relocated into larger premises in Leeds City Centre, has successfully completed 400+ projects for over 200 clients.\n\nNonwovens is a group of textiles created by interlocking or bonding individual fibres or filaments together, and includes a wide range of products including wound dressings, nappies, filters, military clothing and imitation fur.\n\nMore information: E.L. Best et al, The potential of alcohol release doorplates to reduce surface contamination during hand contact, Journal of Hospital Infection (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.jhin.2017.07.027", "output": "Researchers at a University of Leeds spin-off have created a self-disinfecting textile that can reduce bacterial contamination by over 90%. The Surfaceskins material can be used on hospital doors to\u00a0lower the risk of disease transmission from contaminated hands. Doors, in particular, are hygiene risks because of the number of times they come into contact with contaminants. When it is pushed, the material dispenses a small amount of alcohol gel from tiny valves that disinfects the surface. The device needs to be replaced after 1,000 pushes or once a week.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "3T Biosciences said to raise $12m for cancer treatment\u00a0research \n A stealth start-up called 3T Biosciences has raised more than $12 million in a massive seed round led by early Facebook investor Sean Parker and including Peter Thiel, according to a person familiar with the company's financing.\n\nLittle is known about 3T Biosciences, but this person said the company is led by cancer biology PhD student and investor, Asset Management Ventures' principal Luke Lee, as well as a group of academics from Christopher Garcia's biology lab at Stanford.\n\n3T Biosciences is in the T-cell therapy space, the person said, meaning that it is among a growing group of new start-ups working to bolster the body's own immune system to fight cancer. That's a different approach than traditional medicines like chemotherapy, which kill off both cancerous and healthy cells.", "output": "Biotech start-up 3T Biosciences is said to have raised more than $12m in a seed funding round as it seeks to develop a\u00a0cancer treatment that harnesses\u00a0the human body's own immune system. A source said the company is\u00a0led by cancer biology PhD researcher and investor Luke Lee\u00a0and a group of academics from Stanford University. Investors in the seed round reportedly include\u00a0entrepreneur Peter Thiel and\u00a0early Facebook investor Sean Parker.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US move to back coal, nuclear plants faces energy industry fight \n Energy Secretary Rick Perry\u2019s demand for market-disrupting price supports for coal and nuclear power plants has broken multiple rules for how energy policy is made, from upending the facts to subverting regular order. And it\u2019s being pushed through on a hyper-fast, 60-day review period that\u2019s not only unjustified by the Department of Energy report it cites as justification, but \u201cpractically and legally impossible\u201d to meet.\n\nThis is a collection of the critiques that have emerged since Friday\u2019s shock DOE filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. In a rarely used notice of public rule making (NOPR), DOE asked FERC to create market rules to provide compensation for power plants that, among other features, have a 90-day supply of fuel on hand -- something that only coal and nuclear power plants can do.\n\nThe NOPR cited the grid reliability study ordered by Perry in April to argue that baseload power plants need compensation to shore up grid reliability. But as we covered when it was released in July, the report doesn\u2019t actually support that conclusion, stealing some of the thunder from clean energy and environmental groups\u2019 arguments that the report was a Trojan horse for pro-coal and nuclear power policies all along.\n\nFriday\u2019s NOPR seems to have vindicated those views, however, as well as drawing the fire of a much broader coalition of energy industry players. On Tuesday, FERC received a joint motion from a coalition representing literally every sector of the energy economy except coal and nuclear power, asking it to deny DOE\u2019s request for an interim final rule to take effect within 60 days, and to extend the comment period out to at least 90 days.\n\nThe coalition includes the country\u2019s biggest solar and wind trade groups and renewables boosters like the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) and Advanced Energy Economy. But it also includes the Natural Gas Supply Association, the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, and the American Petroleum Institute -- a highly unusual set of bedfellows.\n\n\u201cThis is the first time we've filed a motion in conjunction with API,\u201d Gil Jenkins, a spokesperson for ACORE, told The Washington Post. \u201cSo it\u2019s unprecedented, just as this very action taken by DOE.\u201d\n\nAlso joining the motion were the American Public Power Association and National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, representing municipal and co-op utilities, and the Electricity Consumers Resource Council, representing big commercial and industrial power users. Even the generator group Electric Power Supply Association -- the same one that sued FERC to overturn its Order 745 regulations allowing demand response equal play in capacity markets -- has signed on.\n\n\u201cThis is one of the most significant proposed rules in decades related to the energy industry, and, if finalized, would unquestionably have significant ramifications for wholesale markets under the commission\u2019s jurisdiction,\u201d the group wrote.\n\nThis view was shared across the energy industry spectrum this week. Former FERC chairman Jon Wellinghoff, a Democrat, told Utility Dive that the DOE rule would \"blow up the markets\u201d that the agency has spent the past four decades creating. Former FERC commissioner Nora Mead Brownell, a Republican, told RTO Insider that the proposal is \u201cthe antithesis of good economics. It\u2019s going to destroy the markets [and] drive away investment in new, more efficient technologies.\u201d\n\nEven energy company CEOs are crying foul. At a Gulf Coast Power Association conference Tuesday in Austin, Texas, Dynegy CEO Bob Flexon called the NOPR a \"red herring for subsidies\" for nuclear and coal, while NRG Energy CEO Mauricio Gutierrez said that propping up coal and nuclear power plants, while leaving other resources open to competitive forces, would be \u201ca recipe for disaster.\"\n\nBut the Edison Electric Institute utility trade group, which did not join the rest of the energy trade groups in Tuesday\u2019s FERC filing, took a more neutral stance. In a Tuesday statement, EEI vice president of energy supply Richard McMahon said the NOPR shows that the DOE recognizes that \"a balanced energy mix that includes 24/7 energy sources is vital to sustaining a secure, reliable and resilient energy grid,\u201d and that \u201dnew market rules should recognize the role that all generation sources play in maintaining the reliability and resiliency of the energy grid.\u201d\n\nCoal- and nuclear-reliant FirstEnergy Corp. was one of the lonely voices in support of the ruling. \u201cCorrecting the faulty market conditions and keeping essential baseload generating plants operating will help ensure customers continue to receive safe, reliable and affordable supplies of electricity while maintaining the security of the electricity grid,\u201d CEO Charles Jones said in a prepared statement.\n\nWhy 90 days of fuel supply doesn\u2019t make the grid more resilient\n\nThese views are complicated by the fact that DOE\u2019s proposed \"Grid Resiliency Pricing Rule\u201d is lacking in so many details. Ari Peskoe, senior fellow in electricity law at the Harvard Law School Environmental Law Program Policy Initiative, pointed this out in a Monday Interchange discussion with GTM Research head Shayle Kann.\n\nIn simple terms, the rule does two things, Peskoe said. First, it defines reliability and resiliency attributes, including the 90-day fuel supply requirement. That in and of itself is a conclusion unsupported by the facts at hand, however, he said -- a point echoed by multiple parties since Friday.\n\n\u201cA lot of the arguments in the DOE proposal -- well, they\u2019re certainly cherry-picked, but they\u2019re also often specious,\u201d said Devin Hartman, electricity policy manager at R Street, a free-market think tank in Washington, D.C. For example, the NOPR cites FERC and grid operators\u2019 market design concerns as reasons for including 90-day fuel supply as a requirement -- but what evidence does exist indicates that fuel-supply problems are only a minor cause of power outages in the U.S., he said.\n\nTo back that up, he pointed to an analysis published Tuesday by the Rhodium Group, which crunched DOE data on the causes of the 3.4 billion customer-hours of major electricity disruptions from 2012 to 2016. Of that time, only 2,815 hours, or 0.0007 percent of the total, was due to fuel supply problems, it found -- and of those, 2,333 hours were due to fuel supply disruptions at a coal-fired power plant in northern Minnesota.\n\nThe real culprits for outages are instead severe weather, with Hurricane Sandy accounting for nearly-one third of the total hours of power lost over that period, and severe weather accounting for nearly all the rest. Puerto Rico\u2019s nearly complete power outage in the wake of Hurricane Maria has already accounted for nearly twice the total number of outage hours in 2016.\n\nDOE\u2019s choice of 90 days of fuel stockpiles as the sole metric of reliability also fails to take into account the much deeper analysis presented in the DOE\u2019s report, he noted. This built on existing work at FERC and the country\u2019s big grid operators, calling for improvements in energy price formation and valuation of essential reliability services such as voltage support and frequency response.\n\nNatural Resources Defense Council senior attorney John Moore told the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy on Tuesday that the DOE proposal is \u201csowing confusion and suggesting the power grid will be imperiled if we don\u2019t pay large subsidies to keep specific types of generators afloat. We can achieve a higher level of reliability at a lower cost and with less pollution by defining reliability and resiliency needs first.\u201d\n\nKann asked Peskoe whether DOE or FERC are under legal obligation to consider these alternative metrics for reliability and resiliency. Peskoe replied that \"FERC rules have to be non-discriminatory -- that's a really fundamental premise they operate under.\" But that only strictly applies to rules that are \"unduly discriminatory -- they can discriminate if there's some valid purpose.\u201d\n\nFrom \u201cflimsy and vague\u201d proposal to final rule in 60 days?\n\nSecond, DOE\u2019s NOPR seeks to define a special rate that these resources should provide, Peskoe said, which \u201ckind of suggests that these resources are going to be taken out of the competitive market construct and are now going to be compensated based on cost-of-service rate-making principles.\u201d That\u2019s the general view being taken by industry observers, since the rule would only apply to power plants in competitive wholesale markets, not those already subject to state or federal cost-of-service regulations.\n\nThat's not entirely clear, however, because the NOPR also cites the need for markets to support the benefits and services of reliability and resiliency, and \u201cbeing compensated for benefits and services is different than cost of service,\u201d he said. That could open the options for other methods, such as some kind of \u201cvalue of coal tariff\u201d to mimic the value-of-solar tariff proposals being fleshed out by a handful of states and utilities, or defining a new set of reliability and resilience attributes and creating a new market for them.\n\nUnfortunately, the DOE\u2019s NOPR is quite vague on what it\u2019s asking FERC to undertake, he said. The questions left unanswered by the NOPR, according to a series of tweets he published after its release, include: \u201cIs this cost-of-service ratemaking or is DOE suggesting that rate should be based on a plant\u2019s \u2018benefits and services? Does an eligible generator always receive this rate, or do they normally get paid LMP but receive this rate under certain circumstances? How does dispatch work if an eligible plant is not bidding into the market? Or is an eligible plant \u2018bidding\u2019 this special rate?\u201d\n\nThese kinds of details, so common to traditional FERC rulemakings, are completely absent from DOE\u2019s NOPR, he said. That would make it \u201cpractically and legally impossible\u201d for FERC to actually comply with DOE\u2019s request to have a final rule completed within the 15 days left between the end of the public comment period and the 60-day deadline it set out, he said.\n\nNRDC clean energy attorney Miles Farmer agreed in a Friday blog post, noting that \u201cDOE\u2019s proposal is so vague that FERC could not possibly adopt it as is, making it hard to see how FERC could possibly advance it in a manner that complies [with] the procedural requirements for a formal rulemaking proposal.\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s the same reason that the 11 energy trade groups asked FERC to extend the comment period for the new rule. Despite the NOPR\u2019s claims, the groups said, \u201cboth DOE and NERC recently released reports categorically concluding that there is no reliability emergency\u201d that would require such a speed-up.\n\nFERC this week filed notice that it was taking comments on the NOPR on the accelerated schedule, with Oct. 23 as the deadline for initial comments and Nov. 7 for reply comments. But it still hasn't ruled on the groups' proposal, leaving open the potential for extending its timeline.\n\nJason Johns, partner in Stoel Rives\u2019 energy practice, suggested in a blog post that the short timeframe could be \u201cperhaps intended to allow Interim Chairman Chatterjee and Commissioner Powelson to take action on this notice alone before FERC has a full set of commissioners.\u201d Chatterjee has already expressed his support of recognizing baseload power \u201cas an essential part of the fuel mix\u201d that must be \u201cproperly compensated to recognize the value they provide to the system.\u201d\n\nBut to remain legal, any action FERC takes will have to be rooted in several fundamental principles, Peskoe noted. First, it will have to find that existing grid operator tariffs are \u201cunjust and unreasonable,\u201d something that DOE\u2019s NOPR does not take up. Second, it would have to show that the new rules being promulgated are \u201cjust and reasonable,\u201d which is again difficult given that \"FERC is going to have to address the total lack of detail in this document\u201d on that matter.\n\n--", "output": "A coalition of groups from across the US energy production spectrum have made an unprecedented move to block government\u00a0efforts seen as propping\u00a0up the coal and nuclear industries. Organisations\u00a0from\u00a0the natural gas, oil and renewables industries\u00a0filed papers urging\u00a0the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to deny the Department of Energy's (DoE) recent request to compensate power plants that\u00a0have a \"90-day supply of fuel on hand\" -- essentially, coal and nuclear producers. The coalition questioned the basis\u00a0for\u00a0the move and\u00a0former FERC commissioner Nora Mead Brownell said it would \"drive away investment in new, more efficient technologies\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Clean-energy tariff created for Facebook data centre \n At least some portion of electricity consumed by the future Facebook data center in Richmond, Virginia, will be offset by solar energy generated by plants the utility that serves the area is planning to build in the Commonwealth. Facebook will be buying the energy under a new renewable-energy tariff the social media company worked with the utility, Dominion Energy Virginia, to create.\n\nWhile hyper-scale data center operators like Facebook, Alphabet, and Microsoft may be keen to power their massive computing facilities with renewable energy, it\u2019s not a product that\u2019s readily available from all energy providers in the US. Because matching energy supply with demand while ensuring their rates comply with regulations is a difficult balance utilities have to maintain, many of them have been resistant to adding a new product like renewable energy, which adds an extra layer of complexity in rate-setting to ensure extra costs a utility incurs doesn\u2019t affect all its customers\u2019 rates.\n\nRelated: How Renewable Energy is Changing the Data Center Market\n\nThis is why Google (now a subsidiary of Alphabet) spent years lobbying Duke Energy in North Carolina to adopt its renewable-energy tariff concept, where the utility sells renewable energy to customers that want it, while fully passing any additional costs to those specific customers. In 2015, Google became the first customer of Duke\u2019s renewable-energy tariff.\n\nNow, Facebook appears to have successfully lobbied Dominion to add a renewable-energy tariff to its product portfolio, which may have much wider implications for the data center industry than Google\u2019s deal in North Carolina. About 130 miles north of Richmond, in Northern Virginia, is one of the largest and most active data center markets in the world. The largest data center operators there, including Amazon Web Services, Equinix, and Digital Realty Trust, have all pledged to power their infrastructure with 100 percent renewable energy, which means there are lots of potential future customers for Dominion\u2019s new tariff besides Facebook.\n\nFirst, however, state regulators have to approve the tariff, called Schedule RF. Dominion said it plans to file for approval with the Virginia State Corporation Commission this month. An approval, which is enjoying some strong political tailwind, is likely. Announcement of Facebook\u2019s data center plans that came out of Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe\u2019s office highlights the project\u2019s solar-energy aspect; Representative Donald McEachin and Senator Mark Warner also made statements praising Facebook\u2019s renewable-energy plans for the future facility.\n\n\u201cFacebook\u2019s partnership with Virginia and this significant investment in Henrico County are great news for the region,\u201d U.S Senator Mark Warner said. \u201cThis not only is a validation of the Commonwealth\u2019s position as a leader in the tech economy. It also supports our investments in building a modern fiber and renewable energy infrastructure to maintain Virginia\u2019s competitive edge for additional job creation and investment.\u201d \"I am so pleased to see Facebook invest in our community, bringing more than 100 tech job opportunities for the hardworking people of the Commonwealth,\" said Congressman Donald McEachin. \"Not only will Facebook bring more tech jobs to the 4th Congressional District, but this project will include solar panels to power this facility with 100 percent renewable energy. Virginia is once again an innovative leader in creating jobs and using renewable energy to power our community's bright future.\u201d\n\nOne of the proposed tariff\u2019s requirements is that new renewable-energy generation plants built to support it are located in Virginia. However, like in most other such cases, the solar farms Dominion is planning to construct will not be supplying energy directly to the Facebook data center. They will offset the facility\u2019s consumption of energy from the local electrical grid.\n\nIt\u2019s unclear what portion of the data center\u2019s total energy consumption will come from these solar farms. Companies typically use a combination of renewable energy credits and in some cases on-site generation to get to 100-percent renewable goals for hyper-scale data centers.\n\nFacebook\u2019s data center campus in Richmond is expected to take up nearly 1 million square feet. The company plans to invest $750 million in the project directly.", "output": "Virginia-based utility Dominion Energy has worked with Facebook to develop a renewable-energy tariff for the social media site's one-million sq ft, $750m data centre, to be built in Richmond. Dominion is set to file the tariff, called Schedule RF, with regulator the Virginia State Corporation Commission later this month. If approved, it could be adopted by firms including Amazon Web Services, Equinix and Digital Realty Trust, which also operate data centres in the state\u00a0and have all pledged to use a 100% renewable energy supply.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ikea's indoor mini farm promises fast home-grown produce\u00a0 \n Eat Lokal\n\nIkea is no longer content to help people simply design their kitchens \u2014 the Scandinavian retailer is now considering ways to help customers grow the food cooked in them through Lokal, a prototype mini-farm capable of growing greens and herbs indoors.\n\nDeveloped by Ikea's Space10 innovation lab, Lokal is based around a hydroponic farming system that uses LEDs to grow produce on stackable trays. The system's designers claim that Lokal greens grow roughly three times more quickly than those found in a traditional garden, using 90 percent less water in the process.\n\nImage Credit: Space10\n\nThe design team is currently testing out a method of integrating sensors into the system's growing trays, which would allow at-home farmers to check the status of their crop from their smartphone via Google Home. The idea of using machine learning to analyze data collected by the community of Lokal gardeners is also being considered.\n\nGrowing Up\n\nIkea has yet to decide whether or not Lokal will be sold in stores, and according to Michael La Cour, Managing Director of IKEA Food Services, the project is still in its early stages and needs more development before it could be ready for retail.\n\nHowever, whether or not Lokal makes it to an Ikea near you, vertical farming is clearly on the rise. This new methodology can be incredibly efficient and has already been employed in a retail environment in an effort to give customers access to the freshest possible produce. It also has the potential to help solve the growing food shortage crisis as the world's population continues skyward.\n\nMany people like to be as self-sufficient as possible when it comes to their food, but not everyone has the space for a traditional garden or access to an allotment. Vertical farming gives just about anyone access to home-grown produce, so if a major company like Ikea can develop a straightforward kit to help would-be agriculturists get started, it has the potential to be a big success.", "output": "Ikea's innovation arm, Space10, has developed a prototype vertical\u00a0farming kit for growing food at home, even with minimal space. Dubbed Lokal, the stackable system employs hydroponics and LEDs, and is claimed to be three times faster growing and use\u00a090% less water than a traditional garden. The team is working on integrating\u00a0internet of things sensors into the planters so users can track the progress of their produce from the Google Home app. While it is currently unknown whether Ikea will sell them in-store, such systems are touted as having the potential to help to address the issue of\u00a0food security.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Power retailers could derail Modi's 2018 electrification plan \n The success of Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s ambitious plan to electrify all households in India by December 2018 faces a familiar hurdle: the money-losing state power retailers Modi earlier this week announced the government will spend 163.2 billion rupees ($2.5 billion) to provide electricity connections to every home in India by the end of next year, ahead of an earlier deadline of March 2019. The bulk of the cost for providing equipment such as power cables and electricity meters to every poor household will be borne by the federal government and partly by the states and the power retailer.\u201cThe key is not the scheme but the political will to allow for commercial operations of discoms,\u201d CLSA analyst Bharat Parekh said in a report on Tuesday, referring to electricity distribution companies. \u201cThe key issue is that after electrifying the households, how much power will discoms supply and how will they recover the money.\u201dSeveral power retailers are losing money on selling electricity below cost, and turning them around is in the hands of the state governments, which have traditionally used cheap power to shore up popular support and advance their political goals. Convincing states to allow profitable power tariffs will be Modi\u2019s biggest challenge in fulfilling the pledge that helped him rise to power in New Delhi in 2014. Modi is up for re-election in 2019.\u201cThe onus now lies with the states,\u201d according to Debasish Mishra, a partner at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu LLP in Mumbai. \u201cThe federal government is paying for connections, but the purpose will be defeated if the states fail to supply reliable power to people. And for that to happen operational autonomy of the distribution companies and timely payment of subsidies is a must.\u201dThe announcement follows a 2015 proposal to reform power distribution, which sought to transfer three-quarters of utilities\u2019 debt to their respective state governments. The utilities were set targets to bring down losses. As a result, total losses of utilities that signed up for the plan dropped 21.5 percent from a year earlier to 403 billion rupees in the year ended March 31.There\u2019s pressure on state governments to bring losses down even further. Starting this financial year, states will begin sharing a part of the losses their retailers make, according to the plan to turn around power distributors. In the year ending March, provincial governments will take over 5 percent of their retailers\u2019 losses in the previous year. The state\u2019s share of losses will rise each year, reaching up to 50 percent in the year ending March 2021.Years of selling electricity below cost has eroded discoms\u2019 ability to invest in infrastructure, buy enough power from generators and repay bank debts. Power generation plants operate at just about half their capacity, unable to sell all the power they can produce. The power-for-all plan could \u201cact as a major stimulus for the ailing power sector in India, with demand revival,\u201d Deutsche Bank analyst Abhishek Puri said in a Sept. 26 report.\u201cOur analysis suggests that power demand could potentially grow by 20 percent to 35 percent from current levels in two years, if the government is able to meet its target, as against the tepid 15% cumulative growth in the past five years,\u201d Puri said.Monday\u2019s announcement supplements an earlier program to invest 760 billion rupees in rural electrification . Modi\u2019s administration embarked on the plan in 2015, beginning with electrifying more than 18,000 un-electrified villages. About 3,000 villages still remain to be electrified, which means creating the infrastructure to take electricity to villages, making sure at least 10 percent of the households and public buildings there have power connections. Taking electricity to every home is the next phase of the plan.Retailers have coped with losses by limiting power supplies to consumers in rural areas, who are heavily subsidized, and selling more expensive electricity to industrial consumers to help fund a part of the losses. Even if all rural households get power, making adequate returns on their investment will be a challenge for retailers given the low-usage pattern.\u201cThis ambitious scheme needs to be followed up with equal emphasis on actual hours of supply, otherwise there\u2019ll be a danger of people not getting the true benefits of electrification, which can reduce their willingness to pay,\u201d said Ashwini Chitnis, a researcher at Prayas, a non-profit advocacy group that focuses on energy, health and education. \u201cPoor cost recovery can result in poor maintenance and thus huge investments in network infrastructure can go waste.\u201d", "output": "Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious INR163.2bn ($2.5bn) plan to electrify the whole of India by December 2018 could be scuppered by state electricity distribution companies. Many have lost money by selling power below cost prices to win political support, leaving them unable to invest in infrastructure or pay off debt. Modi's plan could result in annual power demand rising from the current 15% to as much as 35% within two years, according to a Deutsche Bank report.\u00a0But convincing the states to charge higher tariffs could put Modi\u00a0in a precarious political position as he seeks re-election in 2019.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sadiq Khan asks BMW, Mercedes and VW to fund air pollution scheme \n The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has written to three leading car manufacturers asking them to contribute to the fund set up to tackle the capital\u2019s air pollution crisis.\n\nKhan has accused BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen of \u201cdouble standards\u201d after it emerged they had paid \u00a3223m to the German government\u2019s Sustainable Mobility Fund for Cities earlier this year, but have given nothing to the UK.\n\n\u201cLondoners will be baffled by the double standards of these car manufacturers. On the one hand, they admit they\u2019ve got to cut emissions from their vehicles, but they confine their funding to Germany alone.\u201d\n\n\n\nVW has also paid $15bn compensation in the US after the dieselgate scandal \u2013 when it was found to have fitted millions of cars with \u201cdefeat devices\u201d that made their cars appear less polluting in emissions tests than they were on the road.\n\nKhan said: \u201cIn July, the UK managing director of VW sat in my office and said they couldn\u2019t contribute anything to fund cleaning up London\u2019s air, but their German colleagues are providing money. Londoners will find that unacceptable.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe scale of London\u2019s air pollution crisis was laid bare on Wednesday, with new figures showing that every person in the capital is breathing air that exceeds global guidelines for dangerous toxic particles.\n\nThe research revealed that every area in the capital exceeds World Health Organisation (WHO) limits for PM2.5s \u2013 ultra-fine particles of less than 2.5 microns which have serious health implications, especially for children.\n\nLondon is widely recognised as the worst area for air pollution in the UK, although there is growing evidence that dangerously polluted air is damaging people\u2019s health in towns and cities across the country.\n\nKhan has also written to the secretary of state for transport, Chris Grayling, to ask the government to do more.\n\n\u201cThe government must act urgently to secure a meaningful amount of funding from these manufacturers, which could help people to scrap the most polluting diesel vehicles and take these off our streets,\u201d said Khan.\n\nThe mayor has set out a range of plans to tackle pollution from diesel cars in the capital. The first stage, the new T-Charge, which will charge older, more polluting vehicles entering central London, starts later this month.\n\nClean air campaigners have welcomed the moves but called on him to go further and take more immediate action to tackle the crisis.\n\nThey are also calling on him to halt major road developments \u2013 such as the Silvertown Tunnel project \u2013 which they say will increase pollution in the capital.\n\nAreeba Hamid, clean air campaigner at Greenpeace said: \u201cAsking car manufacturers to take responsibility for their part in London\u2019s air pollution crisis is an essential first step towards holding them accountable.\n\n\u201cA clean air fund that major car manufactures contribute towards could help, provided manufacturers agree to ditch diesel completely. In the meantime, new Euro 6 cars should be subject to ULEZ regulations if we are to clean up London\u2019s air and keep it that way.\u201d", "output": "BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen have been accused of \u201cdouble standards\u201d by London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, after it emerged that the firms had paid \u00a3223m ($290m) to the German Sustainable Mobility Fund for Cities, but nothing to the UK. Khan has written to the car manufacturers asking them to contribute to a fund designed to tackle London\u2019s air pollution crisis. Figures released on Wednesday revealed that every inhabitant of the capital is breathing air in breach of global guidelines for PM2.5 particle pollution."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sadiq Khan asks BMW, Mercedes and VW to fund air pollution scheme \n Together with the German Federal, state and municipal governments and German automakers, the Volkswagen Group will make a decisive contribution to a swift and sustained reduction in NOx emissions. A key element of this package is the trade-in incentive for Euro 1 - Euro 4 diesel models which will apply across all brands in the Group. In addition, the software update for Euro 5 and some Euro 6 diesel vehicles will be available throughout Europe and not just in Germany.\n\n\u201cWith the incentive to trade in their vehicles we are giving our customers strong motivation to switch to a modern, more environmentally compatible vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine or an alternative drivetrain technology\u201c, Matthias M\u00fcller said. \u201cThis incentive can be implemented quickly and will have a swift, quantifiable and sustained effect on significantly reducing NOx emissions and significantly improving air quality.\u201d\n\nThe incentive is currently being prepared by the Group\u2019s Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Audi, SEAT, \u0160KODA, Porsche and Volkswagen Commercial vehicles brands and will be on offer soon.\n\nPan-European software update for Group vehicles\n\nIn Germany, the Volkswagen Group will install a software update on approx. four million Euro 5 and some Euro 6 diesel vehicles in total as agreed in order to reduce NOx emission levels. This figure also includes the approx. 2.5 million vehicles already being recalled, of which more than 70 percent have already been refitted.\n\nIn addition, the Volkswagen Group will be offering the software update to its diesel customers throughout Europe. As a result, NOx emissions from Euro 5 and some Euro 6 diesel vehicles currently on the market can be reduced by an average 25 to 30 percent.\n\nFurthermore, the Volkswagen Group will contribute to the \u20ac500 million \u201csustainable mobility fund for cities\u201d. The auto industry and the Federal government will each contribute \u20ac250 million. The Volkswagen Group\u2019s contribution to the fund will be proportionate to its market share in Germany and will therefore represent a substantial amount.", "output": "BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen have been accused of \u201cdouble standards\u201d by London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, after it emerged that the firms had paid \u00a3223m ($290m) to the German Sustainable Mobility Fund for Cities, but nothing to the UK. Khan has written to the car manufacturers asking them to contribute to a fund designed to tackle London\u2019s air pollution crisis. Figures released on Wednesday revealed that every inhabitant of the capital is breathing air in breach of global guidelines for PM2.5 particle pollution."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Battery-storage licence rethink mulled to end generation breaches \n The energy regulator has proposed modifying the existing generation licence to accommodate storage as a distinct subset of electricity generation. The government intends to make the same change to the underlying primary legislation, the 1989 Electricity Act, when parliamentary time allows.\n\nThis is part of our series analysing the challenges and opportunities ahead for companies embracing smart energy technologies. For more, sign up to receive an exclusive Pinsent Masons research paper on smart energy technology, supply, storage and investment.\n\nOne of the effects of the change would be to stop distribution network operators (DNOs) from operating storage, as they are not permitted to own generation for competition reasons. However, Ofgem intends to permit DNOs to operate storage in specific circumstances where this would not be anti-competitive, such as for time-limited emergency restoration and maintenance.\n\nThe consultation closes on 27 November 2017, and Ofgem anticipates that the changes would take effect by summer 2018.\n\nSeparately, the UK government has announced the seven universities that will be founding partners of the \u00a365 million Faraday Battery Institute, to be funded with part of the \u00a3246m that the government has set aside for battery technology investment over the next four years through its Industrial Strategy. The partner universities will work together with industry partners and other academic institutions to research and develop market-ready battery technologies.\n\nThe founding partners are Imperial College London, Newcastle University, University College London, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, University of Southampton and University of Warwick.\n\nCurrently, electricity storage is not defined in primary legislation, making its regulatory status within the electricity system and planning regimes unclear. When parliamentary time allows, the government intends to amend the 1989 Electricity Act and other legislation to explicitly define electricity storage as a distinct subset of generation. Health and safety standards will also be updated.\n\nIn the meantime, Ofgem's proposed changes would allow for this to be done through the electricity generation licensing system, as indicated in the Smart Systems and Flexibility Plan it published in the summer. It intends to base its definition of storage on that proposed in the government's call for evidence on storage: \"the conversion of electrical energy into a form of energy which can be stored, the storing of that energy, and the subsequent reconversion of that energy back into electrical energy in a controllable manner\". The condition will require the licensee to ensure that 'self-consumption' is not the primary function of the storage facility.\n\nThe way the changes work would also address the issues faced by storage facilities regarding final consumption levies (FCLs), which under the current structure could effectively be charged twice at the time that storage providers both import from and export to the grid. 'Double counting' adds to the operational cost of storage projects and may be passed on to the end consumer, potentially making storage less competitive than other forms of generation.\n\nSmart energy expert Nick Shenken of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, explained that the potential for FCL double-charging arises because storage assets technically 'consume' electricity in order to store it and then the same electricity is similarly consumed by the end user when it is released from storage. FCLs are, in effect, a contribution towards the cost of market support mechanisms, such as the Renewables Obligation, feed-in tariffs, contracts for difference and the capacity market.\n\n\"Technically, in this scenario, there are at least two 'consumers' \u2013 the storage asset and the final consumer,\" Shenken said. \"It was felt that the financial impact of this would likely fall on those final consumers, thus making storage uncompetitive in the market.\"\n\n\"The current proposals therefore set out a plan under which storage would become a subset of generation and potentially be able to receive a generation licence which only requires compliance with those of the general licence conditions which are relevant to storage, and not those conditions which are only relevant to conventional generation. In addition, storage assets with this kind of licence would be under an obligation to ensure that their primary function was in fact storage for injecting electricity back to the grid, and not for consumption at a later date on site,\" he said.\n\n\"Compliance with this condition ensures the storage asset is not in fact the end consumer, thus avoiding the FCLs. If the primary function is simply to store energy which is then used by the generator later, then the thinking is that they are in fact the end user and should pay FCLs. It will be interesting to watch whether the definition of 'primary function' becomes more detailed, or whether it will simply be left wider to encapsulate as much as possible,\" he said.", "output": "Battery storage could be considered a \"distinct subset of electricity generation\" if proposals from UK energy regulator Ofgem are accepted. The move aims to bring clarity to the battery storage industry and stop distribution network operators, which are prevented from owning generation capacity, from operating in the sector. Changes to electricity generation licence descriptions could also reduce levies passed onto consumers. The consultation period is set to end on 27 November, with Ofgem's anticipated changes in place for summer 2018. The UK government is also planning similar amendments to the 1989 Electricity Act.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google Sidewalk Labs is favourite for Toronto waterfront project \n The Toronto skyline as seen from an inbound Porter airlines flight on Feb, 4, 2017.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail Share\n\nGoogle's Sidewalk Labs has been selected as the top candidate to turn part of Toronto's waterfront into a smart neighbourhood designed to integrate new technology and advance sustainable architecture and urban design, The Globe and Mail has learned.\n\nThe project, known as Quayside, aims to turn 4.9 hectares (12 acres) of waterfront land near Parliament Street and Queens Quay East into a mixed-use community that Waterfront Toronto says will use advanced technology, innovative building techniques and funding to encourage \"climate-positive urban development.\"\n\nWaterfront staff selected Sidewalk Labs LLC, a unit of Google's parent company Alphabet Inc. that imagines, designs, tests and builds urban innovations, pending approval from the agency's board in the coming weeks, according to a source close to the negotiations.\n\nThe project would allow the tech company to work toward its stated goal of \"reimagining cities from the Internet up,\" by integrating technology and urban design to create a 21st century neighbourhood that uses innovation to address common city problems, such as traffic congestion and a shortage of affordable housing.\n\nAccording to a request for proposals issued by Waterfront Toronto, 20 per cent of the residential units built must be designated as affordable, and the development is meant to accommodate a range of income and age groups.\n\nA spokesman for Google Canada declined to comment, as did Toronto Mayor John Tory. Waterfront Toronto spokeswoman Carol Webb declined to comment on Sidewalk's potential involvement.\n\n\"Our process includes a blackout period that must be observed \u2026 until our board of directors has approved the recommended proponent and the formal announcement is made,\" she said. \"We expect to make that announcement later this fall.\"\n\nWaterfront Toronto, the agency set up in 2001 by federal, provincial and city governments to transform 800 hectares in and around Toronto's port lands, issued an unusual request for proposals in March: It asked for an \"innovation and funding partner\" for the project. The particular form of development on the site was not fully determined. The project is intended to generate a financial return but also \"use the waterfront as a test bed for how we construct the future city,\" Waterfront Toronto CEO Will Fleissig said in an interview in March.\n\nThe development, Mr. Fleissig suggested, could help make Toronto a global leader in addressing climate resiliency and the \"smart city.\"\n\nThe Quayside land, currently home to low-rise industrial or office buildings surrounded by parking lots, is made up of tracts owned either by the city or Waterfront Toronto itself, plus one that is privately owned. Its development would carry forward to projects on nearby land, some of which is made possible because of the June announcement of a $1.185-billion flood protection plan.\n\n\"Our objective with Quayside is to advance new models for addressing pressing urban challenges, such as the increasing disparity in housing affordability, congestion on our roads and the imperative to address climate change,\" said Waterfront Toronto's Ms. Webb. \"Beginning with Quayside, we aim to design a new kind of mixed-use, complete community that will combine forward-thinking urban design and new technologies to create people-first neighbourhoods that help address these challenges.\"\n\nSidewalk Labs develops what are often referred to as \"smart cities\" systems. It aims to use data collection and new technologies to solve urban problems. For example, it says it is working on an adaptive traffic light system that could \"detect pedestrians, cyclists, cars, and transit vehicles to facilitate safe, seamless movement through congested urban intersections.\"\n\nBut the first project it mentions on its website is called \"Building a District.\" Toronto is not mentioned by name but the site says Sidewalk is \"pursuing a large-scale district that can serve as a living laboratory for urban technology \u2013 a testbed for co-ordinated solutions, a foundation for people to build on, and a vision for other cities to follow.\"\n\nBloomberg News reported earlier this year that Sidewalk CEO Dan Doctoroff \u2013 a former Bloomberg LP CEO who was the deputy mayor of New York under Michael Bloomberg \u2013 laid out the concept in a speech at a New York conference.\n\n\"I'm sure many of you are thinking this is a crazy idea,\" Mr. Doctoroff was quoted as saying in remarks first reported by a website called StateScoop. \"We don't think it's crazy at all. People thought it was crazy when Google decided to connect all the world's information. People thought it was crazy to think about the concept of a self-driving car.\"\n\nSidewalk, which is about two years old, says its aim is to spin off any urban technologies or systems it creates into separate companies. Its most visible project to make that jump is called LinkNYC, a network of Wi-Fi kiosks to replace New York's payphones run by a Sidewalk-supported company called Intersection.", "output": "Toronto's waterfront district is set to be transformed into a smart city neighbourhood after Alphabet-owned Google Sidewalk Labs topped the shortlist of potential\u00a0development partners. The Quayside project will turn 12 acres of land into a mixed-use community and is intended\u00a0to be a\u00a0\"climate-positive urban development\", with an emphasis on sustainable architecture and urban design.\u00a0Sidewalk Labs's goal is to reimagine \"cities from the internet up\" to create neighbourhoods that use new technology to solve common urban problems such as\u00a0congestion and a shortage of affordable houses. An official announcement and more detailed plans of the scheme are expected later in the year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Energy Impact Partners guides technology investment by\u00a0utilities \n How do you bet on the next big thing when your job is to keep the lights on no matter what?\n\nUtility business models are changing after a century of general continuity, and some companies are looking beyond the already well-proven technologies. Enter the investment firm Energy Impact Partners, a group of 16 global energy companies, including major utilities such as Southern Company, National Grid and Xcel Energy, that represent a cumulative $263 billion in market value.\n\nFor the past two years, the group has sought out companies and entrepreneurs looking for an infusion of capital and large-scale energy expertise. In exchange, EIP\u2019s companies get a direct line to cutting-edge technology that could pose threats -- or opportunities -- to their business.\n\n\u201cQuite frankly, for up to 100 years, it has not changed all that much. The basic fundamentals of the utility power generation have remained fairly stable,\u201d said Hans Kobler, EIP\u2019s CEO. \u201cThat is about to change dramatically.\u201d\n\nKobler calls EIP \u201ca hybrid between a corporate and a financial investment arm.\u201d The fund grew out of a similar concept of strategic technology investment pioneered by some members of the team while at General Electric -- and, like many venture funds, EIP is looking for a special sauce.\n\nBut its goals differ from the flashy, next-big-thing tendencies of Silicon Valley investors. Because the partnership is pioneered for and by utilities, a notoriously traditional and risk-averse group, EIP is more cautious in its investments.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019d like to find companies ready for prime time,\u201d said Kobler. \u201cWe are conservative investors.\u201d\n\nThey\u2019ve selected businesses such as energy storage company Advanced Microgrid Solutions and smart energy monitor company Sense. And in July, they offered a \u201csignificant investment\u201d to charging company Greenlots, EIP\u2019s first step into the electric-vehicle sector.\n\nSo far, the rigorous bottom-up and top-down process EIP uses has yielded investments in just 12 companies.\n\nFirst, researchers devise a long list of companies making a name in the sectors that utility partners want to pursue. Next, the partners weigh in on any individual experience they\u2019ve had with the companies. Then comes a round-robin-style pitch session, where companies meet with a group of representatives from the utilities.\n\nThey\u2019re then ranked and stacked against each other. Those that rise to the top get the money.\n\nThe process may sound similar to what many venture funds go through, but Kobler insists there are added barriers -- physics, for one.\n\nRather than considering a product\u2019s viral potential alongside its high risk of failure, utilities also have to weigh the distribution of electricity because they have to keep the lights on -- not a simple task -- and, as Kobler says, \u201cYou cannot FedEx electrons.\u201d Then there\u2019s the constantly shifting regulatory landscape (take Rick Perry\u2019s recent request for rules to buoy nuclear and coal, for example) to contend with.\n\nStill, much like their counterparts at Google and Facebook, EIP\u2019s investors do have a penchant for tech trends. When asked what sectors of the clean energy industry will be of particular focus for the fund in the next year, Kobler rattles off a list of sensible choices including electric vehicles, distributed energy resource management systems (DERMS), storage, and then one area that has the Valley atwitter as well: artificial intelligence.\n\nEIP\u2019s interest in hot areas like AI may seem a bit trendy for an investment fund that prides itself on its cautious choices, but wading into less-traversed territory also makes sense in an industry that\u2019s notoriously difficult to invest in. Right now, the winners in renewables are still being decided and the contest could go any way. Utilities know the ball is still in the air.\n\nAnd though Kobler says EIP will maintain its conservative strategy, he also says it\u2019s not all about the financials.\n\nOf course, utilities buying into a venture fund want to see a return on their investment. But utilities also want to get closer to the customer experience, and learn strategies for hardening their systems and changing infrastructure as the energy industry moves to its next chapter. By investing now, they hope they\u2019ll continue to lead the tide instead of getting left behind.\n\n\u201cThey all know their culture has to change,\u201d said Kobler, adding that the fund\u2019s innovation working group, which focuses on groundbreaking technology, has the broadest attendance of any.\n\n\u201cThey know something is coming; they know they have to change,\u201d said Kobler. \u201cThey are very, very eager and active to learn.\u201d", "output": "Collaborative investment firm Energy Impact Partners (EIP) is helping traditional utilities seek out and invest in technologies that could reshape the industry for the first time in a century. Comprising 16 global energy companies with a total market value of $263bn, including National Grid, Xcel Energy and Southern Company, the fund has already made several cautious investments in the clean energy sector. EIP CEO Hans Kobler said the fund would focus on artificial intelligence, electric vehicles and distributed energy resource management systems.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gene therapy using HIV seen halting degenerative brain disease \n For the first time, doctors have used gene therapy to stave off a fatal degenerative brain disease, an achievement that some experts had thought impossible.\n\nThe key to making the therapy work? One of medicine\u2019s greatest villains: HIV.\n\nThe patients were children who had inherited a mutated gene causing a rare disorder, adrenoleukodystrophy, or ALD. Nerve cells in the brain die, and in a few short years, children lose the ability to walk or talk.\n\nThey become unable to eat without a feeding tube, to see, hear or think. They usually die within five years of diagnosis.\n\nThe disease strikes about one in 20,000 boys; symptoms first occur at an average age of 7. The only treatment is a bone-marrow transplant \u2014 if a compatible donor can be found \u2014 or a transplant with cord blood, if it was saved at birth.", "output": "A deactivated form of HIV has been used by scientists in a successful gene therapy trial of 17 boys with fatal degenerative brain disease adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The disabled form of the virus was used as a means of inserting genes into cells.\u00a0Trial sponsor Bluebird Bio of Massachusetts\u00a0revealed that\u00a0after two years,\u00a015 of the boys exhibited no obvious symptoms of ALD. The company hopes to market a gene therapy for ALD, but did not say how much it would cost.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Greenko to diversify with $750m investment in Indian power T&Ds \n New Delhi: Given the uncertainties surrounding India\u2019s renewable energy industry, Hyderabad-based Greenko Group is planning a $750 million equity investment for buying power transmission and distribution (T&D) assets to diversify.\n\nGreenko, backed by Singapore\u2019s sovereign wealth fund GIC Holdings Pte and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, wants to become an integrated energy firm, founder, president and joint managing director Mahesh Kolli said in a telephone interview.\n\nThe firm is in talks to acquire several electricity transmission, distribution and hydropower projects, added Kolli. Greenko, which acquired SunEdison\u2019s Indian assets last year, is also evaluating the electric vehicles charging business.\n\nOn 2 October, The Economic Times reported that Greenko is seeking to acquire Reliance Infrastructure\u2019s Mumbai electricity business for an enterprise value of $2.15 billion. Kolli confirmed his firm\u2019s interest in the assets.\n\nA Reliance Infra spokesperson, in an email response, said, \u201cWe do not comment on speculations.\" Greenko currently has over 2.7 gigawatts (GW) of operating capacity with plans to achieve 3GW capacity by December. The firm plans to reach 5GW capacity by 2019. \u201cIn generation (projects) itself, we have put in a $1 billion worth of long term equity. That is giving us an Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) of close to $550 million. The long-term plan is to build an Ebitda of $1 billion,\" said Kolli.\n\nTo reach the $1 billion Ebitda target, an additional $150 million is planned from generation assets, with around $300 million expected from the T&D space that the firm is actively evaluating.\n\n\u201cFor that (T&D) we will invest another up to $750 million of equity into that diversification track. For generation (assets), 3GW cash flow is sufficient,\" said Kolli.\n\nThe strategy is to ready Greenko to tap India\u2019s rapidly evolving decarbonized, digitised and decentralised energy economy.\n\nThis comes at a time when the government seeks to reduce import of fossil fuels, boost underutilized power plants and meet its climate change commitments by providing universal access to electricity.\n\nThe firm is currently pursuing two transmission deals, added Kolli, while refusing to name them. Experts believe that given the disruptions in the Indian power sector, integration holds the key.\n\n\u201cLarge players have to increasingly think of integrated utility play as they look for profitable and sustainable growth opportunities,\" said Manish Aggarwal, partner and head of corporate finance at consulting firm KPMG in India.\n\n\u201cRenewables surely is a huge play but will also witness headwinds. Focus of government is increasingly going to be towards transmission and distribution which offers immense opportunity going forward,\" added Aggarwal.\n\nIndia\u2019s low green energy tariffs have caused disruptions with some states looking to renege on their offtake commitments for projects awarded at comparatively higher tariffs.\n\nGreenko has been acquiring assets in the Indian energy space. In 2016, it acquired SunEdison\u2019s Indian assets at an enterprise value of $392 million.\n\nThe deal involved an equity investment of $42 million and required Greenko to assume project-level debt of $350 million. \u201cIf you look at our strategy, it has always been diversification.... Remember even when there was this complex scenario, I did acquire the TAQA hydro asset. I am still doing hydro. There are a couple of more hydros (projects), people are talking to us. Diversification is a key theme to whatever we do,\" said Kolli.\n\nGreenko is also evaluating the electric-vehicle charging business even as there is rapidly emerging competition in the space. Utilities such as state-run NTPC is eyeing it, given the lucrative market potential of around 90 billion units of power.\n\n\u201cMobility is also converging into power and that\u2019s why we are looking at all these things,\" said Kolli, adding that the firm was not looking at the electric-vehicle charging space as a standalone business but would leverage its discom entry for the same.\n\nIndia has drawn up an ambitious plan for a mass shift to electric vehicles by 2030 with state-owned Energy Efficiency Services Ltd going ahead with the first stage of procuring 10,000 electric cars.\n\n\u201cTherefore, I see more large players (including pure play renewables, transmission companies) increasingly thinking of more of a \u2018integrated utility\u2019 play, which will drive consolidation and also provide exit to many stand-alone platforms,\" said KPMG\u2019s Aggarwal.", "output": "Indian clean energy firm Greenko Group is in talks to acquire at least two transmission and distribution assets as part of a $750m equity investment, according to President Mahesh Kolli. The purchases would be part of Greenko's\u00a0plans to become an integrated energy firm,\u00a0Kolli said, adding that\u00a0he is\u00a0also examining the electric-vehicle charging space. The moves come amid increased uncertainty in the Indian renewable energy market\u00a0as some states have attempted to backtrack on offtake agreements.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FDA Issues Complex Generics Guide, Gottlieb Frames As Drug-Pricing Move \n FDA released draft guidance Monday (Oct. 2) aimed at facilitating development of one class of high-cost, widely sold complex drugs that currently lack generic competition. The agency also released guidance decoding complex generic-related Generic Drug User Fee Amendments (GDUFA) II commitments. The agency framed the release of these new guides as a part of the agency's generic competition plan. \"We're undertaking a number of efforts to ensure that the pathways for approval for generic versions of complex drug products are...", "output": "FDA released draft guidance Monday (Oct. 2) aimed at facilitating development of one class of high-cost, widely sold complex drugs that currently lack generic competition. The agency also released guidance decoding complex generic-related Generic Drug User Fee Amendments (GDUFA) II commitments.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Anthem\u2019s exit leaves thousands on Central Coast with one health plan option \n For about 60,000 Covered California customers, choosing a health plan next year will be easier, and possibly more painful, than ever: There will be only one insurer left in their communities after Anthem Blue Cross of California pulls out of much of the state\u2019s individual market.\n\nThat means they could lose doctors they trust, or pay higher premiums.\n\nAnthem\u2019s departure is also a blow for the Covered California exchange, which has often boasted that healthy competition among its plans helped lower costs and improve its members\u2019 access to care.\n\nCompetition won\u2019t be so healthy next year for Covered California enrollees in six counties: Monterey, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Inyo and Mono. For them, it will be Blue Shield of California \u2014 or bust.\n\nPortions of seven other counties will also be served only by Blue Shield.\n\nCalifornians in those areas who buy their plans outside the Covered California exchange may also be limited to one insurer. It\u2019s not clear how many people that includes.\n\n\u201cIf one of [Covered California\u2019s] goals \u2026 was to provide a competitive marketplace where people will have options and real choices, then there is a failure to meet that goal\u201d in those areas, said Kevin Knauss, an insurance agent based in Granite Bay, outside Sacramento.\n\nThe lack of competition means \u201cthere are definitely going to be people who will have to pay more for their health insurance,\u201d Knauss said.\n\nConsumers who live in the one-plan areas and don\u2019t receive federal tax credits to lower the cost of their premiums will be the most affected, he added. They will have to shoulder the full amount of the increase if the Blue Shield premiums are higher than what they are paying now.\n\nCovered California enrollees whose incomes qualify them for the tax credits won\u2019t bear the entire rate increases because as premiums rise, so do the credits. The increase in premium assistance would absorb a significant portion of the rate hikes.\n\nAnthem cited uncertainty at the federal level and an unstable marketplace in its decision to withdraw from 16 of 19 pricing regions in the individual market. The 28 counties where it will continue to offer plans are mostly in the rural parts of Northern and central California.\n\nBlue Shield is the only insurer that will offer plans statewide on the exchange in 2018.\n\nOverall, 153,000 Anthem policyholders in Covered California will have to find new plans. About 144,000 people who purchase their policies outside the exchange will also be forced to switch insurers, Anthem reported.\n\nBut the state insurance market remains broadly competitive despite Anthem\u2019s impending departure, and most people will have choices, said Tam Ma, a legal and policy director for the advocacy group Health Access California.\n\nAccording to Covered California, 96 percent of its enrollees will have at least two plans to choose from next year, and 82 percent will have three or more. Still, choice will be more restricted than this year, when all enrollees had at least two carriers to choose from and 93 percent could pick from three or more.\n\nFor the four percent who won\u2019t have a choice in 2018, \u201cit is a huge inconvenience for them to have to sign up for another plan \u2026 particularly people who are in the middle of treatment or have ongoing health care needs,\u201d Ma said.\n\nCovered California said in an email that it will strive to bring choice and competition to those people in the coming years. It also said a new provider directory will help enrollees search for doctors by plan. The directory is expected to be available on the agency\u2019s website before consumers start renewing their plans in October, said Covered California spokeswoman Lizelda Lopez.\n\nAbout 80 percent of doctors on Anthem\u2019s network are also on Blue Shield\u2019s network, said Covered California spokesman James Scullary, who added that Blue Shield has a larger list of providers. For every doctor on Anthem\u2019s network, there are about 3\u00bd doctors on Blue Shield\u2019s, he said.\n\nIn August, Covered California\u2019s board voted to boost the agency\u2019s marketing budget by $5.3 million, partly to target people affected by Anthem\u2019s pullout.\n\n\u201cWhile there is ongoing uncertainty and a lack of clarity at the federal level, consumers who need affordable health insurance will continue to have good choices in Covered California next year,\u201d Peter Lee, the agency\u2019s executive director, said in August when he announced proposed rate hikes for 2018.\n\nBut Sandy Halverson of Goleta is among that four percent who won\u2019t have any choice, because she lives in Santa Barbara County, where Blue Shield will be the only insurer next year.\n\nIn Santa Barbara, as in most places where it is the only carrier, Blue Shield will offer only a Preferred Provider Organization (PPO). But it will offer a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) option in some locations, including San Luis Obispo County.\n\nHalverson, who works at a car dealership, currently has an Anthem plan through the exchange. She likes the fact that her primary care doctor of 15 years is familiar with her medical history.\n\nShe gets her care from Sansum Clinic, a large nonprofit group with 22 locations, serving about 130,000 patients on the state\u2019s Central Coast. Sansum does not contract with Blue Shield, which means that next year Halverson and about 7,000 other patients now covered by Anthem in the individual market will have to find new doctors or pay out-of-network costs if they want to keep their current ones.\n\nHalverson does not relish having to choose a new doctor. She imagines she\u2019ll just pick one randomly from a list \u2014 and then hope it\u2019s a good match, she said.\n\nKelley Lovejoy, an insurance agent in Santa Barbara, said many of her clients chose Anthem because of its relationship with Sansum, and they have been confused and frustrated since learning their insurer is pulling out.\n\n\u201cThat is my primary concern, my clients not being able to see the physicians and specialists that are important to them,\u201d Lovejoy said.\n\nThere might be hope, however. Sansum wants to establish a relationship with Blue Shield, said the group\u2019s spokeswoman, Jill Fonte.\n\nBlue Shield already has a network of providers in Santa Barbara, but it is open to discussions with Sansum and other health care providers throughout the state, said Lauren Bartlett, a spokeswoman for the insurer.\n\nEditor's note: This article was originally published by California Healthline on August 18, 2017.", "output": "For about 60,000 Covered California customers, choosing a health plan next year will be easier, and possibly more painful, than ever: There will be only one insurer left in their communities after Anthem Blue Cross of California pulls out of much of the state\u2019s individual market. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California Today: A Drug Crisis Proposal \n Good morning.\n\n(Want to get California Today by email? Here\u2019s the sign-up.)\n\nSan Francisco\u2019s drug problem is in your face. Walk around long enough and you may well kick a used syringe or see someone shooting up in plain view.\n\nThe visibility of the scourge is one reason city leaders are starting to move seriously toward creating so-called supervised injection sites. It would be among the first American cities to do so.\n\nSupervisor London Breed has been a champion of the idea. In an interview, she recounted some of the efforts so far to address the drug problem: outreach, a needle exchange program and cleanup crews that collect thousands of syringes a month.", "output": "San Francisco\u2019s drug problem is in your face. Walk around long enough and you may well kick a used syringe\u00a0or see someone shooting up in plain view. The visibility of the scourge is one reason city leaders are starting to move seriously toward creating so-called supervised injection sites. It would be among the first American cities to do so.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Disrupting care coordination: Turning patient-generated health data into a call to action \n Leaders within the health IT space are continuously innovating to bring care outside of a hospital's walls and into patients' homes. Many questions remain unanswered, however, including how to relieve physician administrative burden related to EHRs and how to implement the necessary IT infrastructure for data sharing. Despite the many challenges at play, stakeholders across the care continuum are striving to answer these questions to elevate patient care.\n\nIn a webinar sponsored by Nokia Technologies and hosted by Becker's Hospital Review, John Halamka, MD, CIO of Boston-based Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a 651-bed teaching hospital, and Alexis Normand, director of healthcare business for Nokia Technologies, weighed in on the many factors driving progress in the health IT space and how effectively leveraging patient-generated health data will transform care delivery.\n\nChallenges and trends in the high-tech era of healthcare\n\n\"No other industry has moved so fast as healthcare in the high-tech era,\" Dr. Halamka said. In 2016, The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology found 96 percent of hospitals had a federally tested and certified EHR meeting CMS' Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Program. This figure is up from 71.9 percent in 2011.\n\n\"Healthcare moved a little faster than culture would allow,\" Dr. Halamka said. Integrating IT systems into daily workflows can take both time and energy. Other challenges with using data effectively include creating user-friendly patient portals, improving EHR interoperability and a steady decrease in innovation by EHR vendors due to government mandates.\n\nDespite the many challenges impeding seamless data sharing, various trends are taking hold to eliminate challenges clinicians face in optimizing EHRs and other technological platforms. For example, Dr. Halamka predicted third parties will come into the mix and improve existing EHRs by adding unique functionalities. Dr. Halamka added this collaboration between EHR vendors and third parties will be the \"real centerpiece of innovation.\"\n\nIoT in 2017 and beyond\n\nMany CIOs and other health systems executives are interested in IoT devices due to their potential for overcoming connectivity issues and sharing crucial information. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center recently implemented an application, BIDMC @ home, targeted for its congestive heart failure patients. The hospital employed middleware applications by connecting EHRs to smartphones to facilitate communication between patients and their care team. When patients open BIDMC @ home on their mobile devices, the app will show patients their care plan for that day, including medication dosages and recommended foods. The app's success in improving outcomes is contingent on a patient's willingness to engage in their care, as they are charged with inputting both objective and subjective data into BIDMC @ home. The application then shares that information with the EHR and BIDMC @ home will analyze the variances in data to see if an intervention is necessary. If the app deems an intervention is needed, it will provide patients a number to call to seek additional care, which may include sending a visiting nurse to the patient's home. BIDMC @ home also contains embedded links displaying the raw data that triggered that alert.\n\n\"Patient-generated healthcare data shows [a care team] what variance occurred. Unless you implement programs that incorporate some kind of subjective and objective patient data into care management, it will be hard to survive the transition to value-based purchasing,\" Dr. Halamka said.\n\nPatient care teams within Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center prioritize patient education. Providers will show patients graphs generated from BIDMC @ home, which will give them a better picture of how they are doing in adhering to their care plan.\n\n\"It is not just about showing the data,\" said Dr. Halamka. \"It is about interpreting that data to provide wisdom [leading to] a call to action.\"\n\nHow data is changing care delivery\n\nTo drive optimal patient outcomes and change care delivery, the industry needs to prioritize \"social\" precision medicine, including allowing patients to readily communicate with their care team over a secure platform. Precision medicine encompasses a social element, which entails identifying how patients and providers prefer to interact with technology; baby boomers may prefer a phone call while a 24-old patient opts for a text message.\n\nDr. Halamka shared his wife's personal experience with hyperthyroidism to illustrate this point. After continually experiencing an elevated heart rate of 110 beats per minute throughout the day and losing a notable amount of weight, Dr. Halamka's wife contacted her physician over a secure texting platform to say she may have a thyroid issue. The physician ordered tests at a lab in close proximity to her and she received lab results minutes after they were completed, indicating escalated triiodothyronine and thyroxine levels. Her physician used an app to locate a reputable endocrinologist nearby, who prescribed her medication that alleviated the symptoms within two weeks. A process that previously could extend months or beyond happened in a few days through collaboration and the use of a secure communication platform.\n\n\"[The industry should] knit together all the devices in a home with primary care providers, labs, pharmacists, specialists and others at almost no-cost in a system that pays [clinicians] for high-quality outcomes,\" Dr. Halamka said.\n\nThe power of predictive medicine \u2014 Creating care plans of the future\n\nInnovators within the healthcare sector are devising ways to use data to change healthcare delivery to a model focused on prevention. Preventive medicine is not only key to improving Americans' health, but it also fulfills another vital purpose: slashing healthcare costs. Simply put, healthcare costs are spiraling out of control, with healthcare accounting for 17.8 percent of Gross Domestic Product in 2015 for a total of $3.2 trillion dollars. Healthcare costs accumulate in the traditional healthcare system because it is designed to treat people after they're already ill.\n\n\"In a sense, medicine is always too late,\" Mr. Normand said. \"You always to go to a doctor when you [are] already sick. There are a lot of cases where if you have data beforehand, you can prevent undesirable health events through intervention.\"\n\nNokia Technologies is working on solutions allowing patient data to disrupt the way care is coordinated, with the overall goal of driving early interventions. The company is targeting consumers with technology they already use, including watches and other wearables. New solutions hitting the market allow everyone to be an active participant in their health. With patients becoming more involved in their care and technology rapidly evolving to meet consumer demand, Mr. Normand predicted care delivery will look vastly different in the coming years.\n\n\"Digital health will take place less in a hospital setting,\" he said. \"It will happen everywhere. It will be less visible, but it will be more pervasive.\"\n\nTo view the webinar recording, click here.\n\nTo view the webinar slides, click here.", "output": "Leaders within the health IT space are continuously innovating to bring care outside of a hospital's walls and into patients' homes. Many questions remain unanswered, however, including how to relieve physician administrative burden related to EHRs and how to implement the necessary IT infrastructure for data sharing.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Healthcare executives: Improving the patient experience is key to a healthy bottom line \n Hospital and health system reimbursement is more closely tied to patient satisfaction than ever before, and the link between patient satisfaction and revenue is expected to strengthen in years to come.\n\nThere has been a major push in recent years for more price transparency in the healthcare industry as patients shoulder more medical costs. \"There are a lot of people who have concerns about how they're going to pay for the care they receive,\" said Aaron Kull, managing director and North America revenue cycle offering lead at Accenture, during an executive roundtable Sept. 21 at the Becker's Hospital Review 3rd Annual Health IT + Revenue Cycle Conference in Chicago.\n\nIn addition to patients with high out-of-pocket costs, Mr. Kull said patients 55 and younger are also a force behind the price transparency movement. He said millennials, Gen-Xers and Gen-Zers are more than three times as likely to price shop for care as older generations.\n\nHow hospitals are addressing the push for more transparency\n\nProvider organizations have responded to the demand for more transparency. However, there is still significant work to be done.\n\nAlthough most patients want to be told how much their medical care will cost, the majority of providers are not offering pre-treatment cost estimates. Mr. Kull said about 50 percent of patients know their estimated out-of-pocket costs prior to seeing a medical professional, but only about one in four got that information from their provider. When healthcare organizations fail to provide patients with price information, they sometimes resort to using third-party price estimators or other online tools which may provide inaccurate information. When this happens, patients may end up using low-quality information to influence important health decisions, potentially causing adverse financial consequences for patients and their families.\n\nWhile there is still a lot of room for improvement when it comes to price transparency, some hospitals and health systems have made it a top priority. The vice president of finance at a rural hospital in the south said his organization tries to give patients clarity about what they will owe as soon as possible. He said his hospital sometimes provides patients with out-of-pocket cost estimates three to four weeks prior to a procedure. This allows patients to prepare for any financial burden.\n\nThe vice president of managed care at a seven-hospital system in the northeast said it is important to improve transparency in all areas that could affect the amount a patient pays. For example, he said patients do not want to find out after the fact that there was an out-of-network provider involved in their care.\n\nEngaging patients as early as possible not only helps boost patient satisfaction but also helps ensure provider organizations receive payment. Although patients are enrolling in health plans that require them to pay more out-of-pocket for their care, it is ultimately up to providers to collect that payment.\n\nTo ensure timely collection of payment, it is vital for healthcare organizations to provide price information to patients before the point of care, according to Dave Gaydosh, managing director and North America revenue cycle offering lead at Accenture. He said about 36 percent of patients are willing to pay for care up front, which \"significantly reduces the [revenue cycle] burden on the back end.\" He also noted that more than half of patients do not pay their medical bills by the due date, which further underscores the importance of offering patient payment options prior to care and at the point of service.\n\nPatient satisfaction must be a top priority\n\nProviding a great consumer experience is a challenge in every industry, especially in healthcare. From receiving cost of care information to putting a post-discharge plan into place, patients want their healthcare experience to mirror interactions they have in other industries. However, meeting patient demands can be difficult for hospitals and health systems, which are facing cost pressure and are simultaneously trying to change their strategy and innovate to remain competitive.\n\nPatients want their experience to be \"seamless, simple, transparent, coordinated, personalized and secure,\" said Mr. Kull. Although healthcare organizations are facing a number of challenges, they cannot afford to falter when it comes to patient satisfaction. Hospitals that fail to alter their revenue cycle to respond to patients' expectations will likely see bad debt rise, as they will fail to collect from patients who are either frustrated by the process or confused by their bill. Provider organizations that fail to respond could also see some of their patients seek care elsewhere.\n\nDuring the roundtable, executives emphasized that improving patient satisfaction goes beyond making hospital billing more patient friendly. From improving care coordination to providing patients with cost information prior to a planned procedure, the executives discussed various initiatives their organizations have undertaken to improve the patient experience.\n\n\"When you start to look at all of the individual pieces consumers want \u2026 it is not simple,\" said Mr. Gaydosh from Accenture. However, the changing healthcare landscape makes it necessary for provider organizations to focus on improving the patient experience. \"We're not going to be in fee-for-service \u2026 for the next 30 years. [Healthcare] is going to evolve. So we have to address these things,\" he said.\n\nMore articles on healthcare finance:\n\nTennessee hospital closes after falling 94% short of GoFundMe goal\n\nCalifornia hospital files for bankruptcy after missing payroll\n\nWith 18 days cash on hand, NYC Health + Hospitals calls on state to release $380M in DSH funding", "output": "Hospital and health system reimbursement is more closely tied to patient satisfaction than ever before, and the link between patient satisfaction and revenue is expected to strengthen in years to come. \u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Low-cost, high-volume services make up big portion of spending on unneeded health care \n Credit: Pixabay\n\nLow-cost, high-volume health services account for a high percentage of unnecessary health spending, adding strain to the health care system, new UCLA-led research suggests.\n\nAnalyzing data on 5.5 million patients in Virginia, the researchers found that services providing no net health benefits to patients cost that state's health care system more than $586 million in 2014. Of that amount, 65 percent went to low-cost, high-volume services such as unnecessary lab tests.\n\nThe findings are published in the October issue of the peer-reviewed journal Health Affairs.\n\nThe researchers relied on a large Virginia claims database because it is one of the few datasets that reflect payments from nearly all types of sources, said lead author Dr. John Mafi, assistant professor of medicine in the division of general internal medicine and health services research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. These sources include fee-for-service Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, private insurance and out-of-pocket costs.\n\nThese findings, he said, can serve as a microcosm for the nation's health system as a whole.\n\n\"Rising health care costs are putting an increasing strain on U.S. families, and from a taxpayer perspective we spend $3.2 trillion each year on health care,\" said Mafi, who is also a natural scientist in health policy at RAND Corporation. \"That's nearly 18 percent of the nation's gross domestic product and of that $3 trillion, up to 30 percent is considered wasteful.\"\n\nHe said that instead of cutting coverage for all services, which could harm people who truly need them, policymakers should focus on reducing the health services of little health value to more safely reduce costs.\n\n\"Among the measures we studied, it was the low-cost, high-volume services that contributed the most to unnecessary health spending,\" Mafi said. \"This is very important because it suggests that minor actions by all clinicians can play a major role in reducing unnecessary health care spending.\"\n\nThe researchers analyzed 44 services that are \"low value\" in specific clinical situations according to evidenced-based guidelines. These services do not represent all low-value care, and likely represent only a small proportion of care having little or no health benefits. They included lab tests for low-risk patients undergoing low-risk surgeries; stress cardiac or other cardiac imaging in low-risk patients without symptoms; routine head CT scans for simple dizziness; and imaging within the first six weeks of onset for low back pain that typically resolves itself.\n\nThey found that the 5.5 million people in the database received 5.4 million of the 44 services. Of that number, 1.7 million were low value, meaning they were medically unnecessary, and 3.4 million were high-value services that carried health benefits. Looking at the low-value services, they found that 1.6 million (93 percent) were very low cost and low cost, compared with 119,000 (7 percent) that were high and very high cost.\n\nThe cost for low- and very-low-cost, low-value services totaled $381 million, compared with $205 million for high- and very-high-cost, low-value services. This $586 million represented 2.1 percent of Virginia's total $28 billion in health care costs for the year.\n\nOverall, about 20 percent of the 5.5 million people received at least one low-value service during the year analyzed.\n\n\"Given current levels of health care spending, the only way we can create headroom for innovation is to identify and eliminate low-value care,\" said Dr. A. Mark Fendrick, director of the University of Michigan Center for Value-Based Insurance Design, and the study's senior author. \"An initial approach that targets the reduction of high-volume and less costly items might be a more strategic way to spark the movement to tackle the problem of low-value care.\"\n\nMore information: John N. Mafi et al. Low-Cost, High-Volume Health Services Contribute The Most To Unnecessary Health Spending, Health Affairs (2017). DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2017.0385 Journal information: Health Affairs", "output": "Low-cost, high-volume health services account for a high percentage of unnecessary health spending, adding strain to the health care system, new UCLA-led research suggests.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Impact looks to launch second Australian solar investment fund \n Australia\u2019s Impact Investment Group is planning to launch a second solar investment fund, following the runaway success of its first solar fund last year.\n\nOn Thursday, Impact celebrated the formal opening of the 11MW Williamsdale solar farm in the ACT, one of three solar farms contracted by the ACT government at the start of its goal to source the equivalent of 100 per cent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2020.\n\nWilliamsdale, which actually came on line earlier this year, was the first asset in the original solar fund, which attracted $100 million in less than two days from high net worth individuals, self-managed super funds and one institution, Future Super.\n\nThat fund aimed to deliver a return to investestors of 10 per cent per annum, and such was its success that Impact is now looking at a second fund, with the first asset likely to be the 15MW Swan Hill solar farm in Victoria, that is building on a \u201cmerchant basis\u201d. A pipeline of other assets is also being put together.\n\n\u201cThe smartest investors and developers in the country aren\u2019t trying to eke another few years out of old unreliable, polluting coal-fired infrastructure,\u201d said Lane Crockett, IIG\u2019s head of renewable energy infrastructure.\n\n\u201cThey are building the clean generators that will deliver reliable electricity, crucial environmental benefits, health benefits and attractive financial returns. Meanwhile, our investors have confidence knowing that the ACT government has committed to buying the farm\u2019s electricity for 20 years.\u201d\n\nCrockett told RenewEconomy that the second fund would likely be launched next year, aiming for between $100 million and $200 million, once the pipeline of proposed solar projects in Victoria, Queensland and NSW is in place.\n\nHe said that there are two sweet spots in the Australia large scale solar market right now \u2013 one between 10MW and 30MW in size, and the bigger installations of 100MW plus.\n\n\u201cThe benefit of the smaller solar farms is their speed to market \u2026. and the ability to locate them in places where you can\u2019t put bigger ones,\u201d Crockett said.\n\n\u201cSolar costs have come down significantly over the last 3-4 years, it\u2019s advantaged by its time of day generation portfolio, and its speed to market. It\u2019s predictable, reliable technology, and it is well received by communities in regional areas.\u201d\n\nACT climate and energy minister Shane Rattenbury said Williamsdale is the fourth large-scale solar farm built in the ACT. It joins the Royalla Solar Farm, Mt Majura Solar Farm and Mugga Lane Solar Park in completing the \u201csolar highway\u201d.\n\n\u201cThe future is here, and it is clean, green and renewable. The clean power generated by Williamsdale Solar Farm takes us another significant step towards achieving our target of 100% renewable electricity by 2020 in the ACT,\u201d he said in a statement.\n\n\u201cThe ACT is establishing itself as a world leader when it comes to investment in renewable energy and action on climate change. Already, renewable energy has driven around $500 million of investment into the local economy.\u201d\n\n\u201cBy 2020, the ACT will produce 100% of our electricity from renewable sources like wind and solar and, by 2050 at the latest, our city will produce zero net greenhouse gas emissions.\u201d", "output": "Australia's Impact Investment Group (IIG) said it plans\u00a0to create a second solar investment fund after debuting an 11 MW solar farm developed with proceeds from its\u00a0first fund, launched last year. The company said the second pool\u00a0would open\u00a0next year with the aim of raising\u00a0between AUD100m ($78m)\u00a0and AUD200m. Its first asset will probably be the 15 MW Swan Hill solar farm in the southern state of Victoria,\u00a0according to Lane Crockett, IIG\u2019s head of renewable energy infrastructure.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Price Matters, in Patients\u2019 Minds \n When people believe a medicine is expensive, they may show a greater response to it.\n\nResearchers told 49 volunteers that they were testing two anti-itch creams \u2014 one that was costly, and one cheap \u2014 that contained the same ingredient known to reduce itch, but that the ingredient sometimes increased sensitivity to heat.\n\nThen they showed them the two medicines, one in an expensive-looking brand-name box with fancy lettering, the other in a plain generic-looking container. They did not tell them that neither cream contained any medicine, and that both contained only the same inert ingredient.\n\nThey randomly assigned them to try either the expensive or cheap cream. All participants knew which cream they were using. The study is in Science.\n\nWhen exposed to heat, the volunteers using the expensive cream felt consistently more pain than those using the cheap one, and the effect increased over time. Using fMRI brain scans, researchers were able to show exactly which parts of the brain were involved in modifying how price information affects pain.", "output": "When people believe a medicine is expensive, they may show a greater response to it. Researchers told 49 volunteers that they were testing two anti-itch creams \u2014 one that was costly, and one cheap \u2014 that contained the same ingredient known to reduce itch, but that the ingredient sometimes increased sensitivity to heat.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Despite Boost In Social Security, Rising Medicare Part B Costs Leave Seniors In Bind \n About Insight Insight provides an in-depth look at health care issues in and affecting California. Have a story suggestion? Let us know.\n\nMillions of seniors will soon be notified that Medicare premiums for physicians\u2019 services are rising and likely to consume most of the cost-of-living adjustment they\u2019ll receive next year from Social Security.\n\nHigher 2018 premiums for Medicare Part B will hit older adults who\u2019ve been shielded from significant cost increases for several years, including large numbers of low-income individuals who struggle to make ends meet.\n\n\u201cIn effect, this means that increases in Social Security benefits will be minimal, for a third year, for many people, putting them in a bind,\u201d said Mary Johnson, Social Security and Medicare policy consultant at the Senior Citizens League. In a new study, her organization estimates that seniors have lost one-third of their buying power since 2000 as Social Security cost-of-living adjustments have flattened and health care and housing costs have soared.\n\nAnother, much smaller group of high-income older adults will also face higher Medicare Part B premiums next year because of changes enacted in 2015 federal legislation.\n\nHere\u2019s a look at what\u2019s going on and who\u2019s affected:\n\nThe Basics\n\nMedicare Part B is insurance that covers physicians\u2019 services, outpatient care in hospitals and other settings, durable medical equipment such as wheelchairs or oxygen machines, laboratory tests, and some home health care services, among other items. Coverage is optional, but 91 percent of Medicare enrollees \u2014 including millions of people with serious disabilities \u2014 sign up for the program. (Those who don\u2019t sign up are responsible for charges for these services on their own.)\n\nEmail Sign-Up Subscribe to California Healthline's free Daily Edition. Your Email Address Sign Up\n\nPremiums, which change annually, represent about 25 percent of Medicare Part B\u2019s expected per-beneficiary program spending. The government pays the remainder.\n\nNAVIGATING AGING Navigating Aging focuses on medical issues and advice associated with aging and end-of-life care, helping America\u2019s 45 million seniors and their families navigate the health care system.To contact Judith with a question or comment, click here. For more KHN coverage of aging, click here.\n\nIn fiscal 2017, federal spending for Medicare Part B came to $193 billion. From 2017 to 2024, Part B premiums are projected to rise an average 5.4 percent each year, faster than other parts of Medicare.\n\n\u2018Hold Harmless\u2019 Provisions. To protect seniors living on fixed incomes, a \u201chold harmless\u201d provision in federal law prohibits Medicare from raising Part B premiums if doing so would end up reducing an individual\u2019s Social Security benefits.\n\nThis provision applies to about 70 percent of people enrolled in Part B. Included are seniors who\u2019ve been enrolled in Medicare for most of the past year and whose Part B premiums are automatically deducted from their Social Security checks.\n\nExcluded are seniors who are newly enrolled in Medicare or those dually enrolled in Medicaid or enrolled in Medicare Savings Programs. (Under this circumstance, Medicaid, a joint federal-state program, pays Part B premiums.) Also excluded are older adults with high incomes who pay more for Part B because of Income-Related Monthly Adjustments (see more on this below).\n\nRecent Experience\n\nSince there was no cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security in 2016, Part B monthly premiums didn\u2019t go up that year for seniors covered by hold harmless provisions. Instead, premiums for this group remained flat at $104.90 \u2014 where they\u2019ve been for the previous three years.\n\nLast year, Social Security gave recipients a tiny 0.3 percent cost-of-living increase. As a result, average 2017 Part B month premiums rose slightly, to $109, for seniors in the hold harmless group. The 2017 monthly premium average, paid by those who weren\u2019t in this group and who therefore pay full freight, was $134.\n\nCurrent Situation\n\nSocial Security is due to announce cost-of-living adjustments for 2018 in mid-October. Based on the best information available, it appears to be considering an adjustment of about 2.2 percent, according to Juliette Cubanski, associate director of the program on Medicare policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation. (Kaiser Health News is another, independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation.)\n\nApply a 2.2 percent adjustment to the average $1,360 monthly check received by Social Security recipients and they\u2019d get an extra $29.92 in monthly payments.\n\nFor their part, the board of trustees of Medicare have indicated that Part B monthly premiums are likely to remain stable at about $134 a month next year. (Actual premium amounts should be disclosed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services within the next four to six weeks.)\n\nMedicare has the right to impose that charge, so long as the amount that seniors receive from Social Security isn\u2019t reduced in the process. So, the program is expected to ask older adults who paid $109 this year to pay $134 for Part B coverage next year \u2014 an increase of $25 a month.\n\nSubtract that extra $25 charge for Part B premiums from seniors\u2019 average $29.92 monthly Social Security increase and all that be left would be an extra $4.92 each month for expenses such as food, housing, medication and transportation.\n\n\u201cMany seniors are going to be disappointed,\u201d said Lisa Swirsky, a policy adviser at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.\n\nHigher Income Brackets\n\nUnder the principle that those who have more can afford to pay more, Part B premium surcharges for higher-income Medicare beneficiaries have been in place since 2007. These Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amounts (IMRAA) surcharges vary, depending on the income bracket that individuals and married couples are in. Nearly 3 million Medicare members paid the surcharges in 2015.\n\nFor the past decade this is how surcharges have worked:\n\nBracket One: Individuals with incomes of $85,001 to $107,000 were charged 35 percent of Part B per-beneficiary costs, resulting in 2017 premiums of $187.50.\n\nBracket Two: Incomes of $107,001 to $160,000 were charged 50 percent, resulting in 2017 premiums of $267.90.\n\nBracket Three: Incomes of $160,001 to $214,000 were charged 65 percent, resulting in 2017 premiums of $348.30\n\nBracket Four: Incomes of more than $214,000 were charged 80 percent, resulting in 2017 premiums of $428.60.\n\n(Information for married couples who file jointly can be found here.)\n\nNow, under legislation passed in 2015, brackets two, three and four are adopting lower income thresholds, a move that could raise premiums for hundreds of thousands of seniors. Bracket two will now consist of individuals with incomes of $107,001 to $133,500; bracket three will consist of individuals making $133,501 to 160,000; and bracket four will include individuals making more than $160,000. (Thresholds for couples have been altered as well.)\n\nAs John Grobe, president of Federal Career Experts, a consulting firm, noted in a blog post, this change \u201cwill add another layer of complexity\u201d to higher-income individuals\u2019 decisions regarding \u201celecting Part B.\u201d\n\nIf you\u2019ve retired recently, moved to part-time status, divorced or otherwise undergone life changes that affect your income, you can ask Social Security for a new IRMAA determination, said Casey Schwarz, senior counsel at the Medicare Rights Center. Tips on what to do can be found at that organization\u2019s site for consumers, Medicare Interactive.\n\nWe\u2019re eager to hear from readers about questions you\u2019d like answered, problems you\u2019ve been having with your care and advice you need in dealing with the health care system. Visit kffhealthnews.org/columnists to submit your requests or tips.\n\nThis story was produced by Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation.", "output": "Millions of seniors will soon be notified that Medicare premiums for physicians\u2019 services are rising and likely to consume most of the cost-of-living adjustment they\u2019ll receive next year from Social Security.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "On-demand insurer Slice raises $11.6m in round led by XL Catlin \n US on-demand insurtech start-up Slice Labs has obtained $11.6m (\u00a38.8m) in a Series A investment led by XL Catlin\u2019s venture arm XL Innovate.\n\nSlice offers an on-demand insurance platform and currently provides coverage to homesharers such as AirBnb hosts. It is testing a new on-demand rideshare product.\n\nSpeaking at Insurtech London Conference in September, a confident Slice chief executive Tim Attia revealed that the company\u2019s biggest issue had moved from how best to innovate to how to boost distribution and grow its reach, saying \u201cWe think we were able to pull off the innovation side.\u201d Attia continued, \u201dNow we\u2019re worried about scale.\u201d\n\nThe insurtech company currently operates in 26 states across the US, with ambitions to conquer 50. It has now revealed that it intends to scale up by offering its platform to other insurers across the globe.\n\nAt the Insurtech London Conference Attia also spoke about cutting costs from the value chain through digitisation, claiming that Slice\u2019s aim was to save 30 to 40 cents ( 20 to 30 pence) per transaction. Sustainability, Attia said, would come from creating a \u201cdigital insurer\u201d.\n\nSlice earlier raised $3.9m (\u00a33m) in the first half of 2016 from backers XL Catlin, Munich Re and Horizons Ventures. It was part of the Silicon Valley Plug and Play accelerator.\n\nSince debuting in October 2016, Slice evidently impressed investors XL Innovate with its double-digit monthly revenue growth.\n\nXL Innovate managing partner Tom Hutton commented \u201c\u201cWe are proud to stand behind Slice and lead their latest fundraising round. Slice is truly one of the most exciting companies in insurance technology that we\u2019ve seen to date.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe believe the on-demand platform and technology offered by Slice has immense potential to completely disrupt how insurance is bought and sold, not just within the sharing economy, but globally and across the board.\u201d\n\nSpeaking about the recent secured funding, Attia said: \u201cWe couldn\u2019t be more eager to accelerate our go-to-market strategy with the support of such a strong group of investors bringing their strategic and financial expertise to the table.\u201d\n\nHe continued \u201cThis is critical as we move to the next phase in the development of the company, which will be to scale and show traction both in the direct market and through strategic partnerships.\u201d", "output": "Slice Labs, an on-demand insurance provider, has raised $11.6m in a funding round led by XL Catlin. The insurtech firm, which operates in 26 US states, intends to use the capital to expand across the country. Slice provides on-demand insurance for property sharers, like hosts on Airbnb-style platforms. It is also working on a car-sharing product. The firm plans to scale up its operation further by offering its platform to a variety of international insurers.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ECOWAS Commission to invest $35bn in Nigerian power sector \n President of the ECOWAS Commission, Marcel de Souza, has urged international communities, investors and experts in energy sector to give priority to investing in Nigeria\u2019s power sector, as this would certainly contribute to improving access to electricity in the entire sub-region.\n\nThis is even as he disclosed that the Commission plans an investment of $35 billion in electricity, including grid, solar and other renewable energy sources and infrastructure projects from now till 2025.\n\nThe President made this appeal at the opening session of the ongoing sixth annual Powering Africa: Nigeria 2017 conference with the theme \u201cPower Sector Recovery Programme: Recapitalising Nigeria\u2019s Energy Sector.\u201d\n\nHe said that despite the challenges being encountered in the power sector, Nigeria is expected to meet 50 per cent energy needs in Niger and Benin Republics, adding that Nigeria is the major provider of natural gas to other countries of the region through the West African gas pipeline.\n\nDe Souza who was represented by the Commissioner for Energy and Mines, ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Morlaye Bangoura, urged participants to focus on the Nigeria power sector, understand the challenges and proffer solution in line with the expectations of Nigeria and ECOWAS in the area of energy.He maintained that resolving the energy challenges of Nigeria will stimulate economic recovery effort.\n\nStressing that investing in Nigeria power sector not only provides access to the vast huge ECOWAS electricity market but also amount to investing in the lives of over 350 million people of the region.\n\nIn his keynote address, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, noted that the objective of the summit was consistent with the efforts of the Federal Government towards achieving incremental power because the nation does not have enough.\n\nHe expressed hope that the administration is working towards achieving steady power where many people have access to power and eventually have uninterrupted power. The minister applauded the conference saying that it has already contributed to incremental power because no amount of power is too small so far it adds to the existing unit.\n\nHe thanked the Managing Director of EnergyNet Limited, Simon Gosling for the N36 million Cheque donation to Pan Africa Solar Limited currently involved in implementation solar projects in rural communities in Katsina State. He noted that it has provided incremental power for the country.\n\nHe called for adequate data of the total number of mini grids and solar homes systems in the country so that the country would be able to know the actual mega watts of power being generated at the moment.\n\nIn a presentation on \u201cNigeria Energy Database (NED) Initiative\u201d, the Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency, Damilola Ogunbiyi, explained that the off grid electrification strategy meant to provide access to electricity being executed include stand alone system, mini grids, energizing education, energizing economies and Nigeria energy database.The conference was hosted by the ECOWAS Commission and organized by the EnergyNet Limited.", "output": "The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission is set to invest $35bn in creating solar and other renewable energy sources as well as infrastructure projects in Nigeria over\u00a0the next eight years. The announcement from\u00a0ECOWAS President Marcel de Souza at\u00a0the annual Powering Africa: Nigeria 2017 conference came as he and other participants called on delegates to find and invest in solutions to the country's energy needs, saying such projects would\u00a0stimulate the Nigerian economy."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Turo partners with locals to overcome car-rental insurance hurdle \n Turo Canada expands, partners with car rental entrepreneurs to fuel travellers\u2019 adventures\n\nVancouver, BC (Oct. 3, 2017) \u2013 Turo announced today that its car sharing marketplace is now officially available in British Columbia, expanding to a new Canadian province for the first time since its launch in Alberta, Ontario and Quebec in April 2016. A pioneer of the sharing economy and travel industry, Turo connects local car owners with a bustling community of local and international travelers looking for the perfect vehicle for their next adventure. Turo has over four million members across the world, including 220,000 in Canada alone. The launch of Turo in British Columbia marks an important step in realizing Turo\u2019s mission to put Canada\u2019s 23 million cars to better use and to capture a growing share of the Canadian travel market.\n\n\u201cBritish Columbia is one of the top travel destinations in Canada and around the world. With its great outdoor culture, high penetration of car sharing and high levels of cross-border travel, it is a natural market for Turo,\u201d said Cedric Mathieu, Director of Turo Canada. \u201cThis province has been active in our community since we launched the company, and over 7% of Turo community members are residents of B.C. who use the platform in other provinces and for travel to the US. We are proud to announce that they can now use it in their home province.\u201d\n\nTo address the unique insurance regulations of BC, Turo has structured this first stage of its expansion to British Columbia by partnering with local, independent car rental entrepreneurs who will make their unique fleets of cars available to the Turo community and will be providing their own commercial rental insurance to travellers.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re very excited to bring Turo to the people of British Columbia and provide them with a local, convenient, more personal alternative to big car rental companies through our local network of amazing car rental entrepreneurs,\u201d said Cedric Mathieu. \u201cIndependent car rental companies are natural partners for Turo; most are family-run small businesses who offer great service, and great cars, at great prices. Using the Turo platform, they can easily reach our fast growing community of trusted travelers and be able to more effectively compete with the larger car rental chains. We\u2019re thrilled to empower car entrepreneurs across beautiful British Columbia.\u201d\n\nA number of preferred partners such as hotels, independent car rental companies and individual car entrepreneurs have already listed their vehicles on the Turo platform. Some unique cars already available include makes and models like Tesla Model S, Mercedes-Benz CLA and Porsche Panamera, with many more to come in the coming weeks. All partners are required to carry adequate commercial rental insurance as well as provide best in class service in order to participate.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re proud to chart a new path in the travel industry through our expansion to British Columbia. Thanks to Turo, international travelers can get a Tesla delivered to the Vancouver airport; tourists in Victoria can discover and rent cars directly from The DoubleTree by Hilton Victoria; these are two of many examples of how our platform makes car rental more accessible than ever, unlocking unique travel experiences and new economic opportunities for entrepreneurs and travel operators in B.C.,\u201d said Mathieu.\n\nStarting today, Turo is actively marketing towards travellers and suppliers across the province to raise awareness of the Turo brand in preparation of the future launch of its full peer-to-peer service.\n\n\u201cWe remain committed to launching our peer-to-peer marketplace in the near future, and will be working with insurance regulators and legislators to bring Turo to all individual car owners in B.C. soon,\u201d said Mathieu.\n\nThe news follows a funding announcement earlier this month, where Turo raised $92 million from top tier investors including Mercedes-Benz manufacturer, Daimler, bringing the company\u2019s total funding to $193 million. Turo plans to invest the capital to enhance the customer experience on both sides of the marketplace, boost customer acquisition, and grow the Turo brand globally.\n\nAbout Turo\n\nTuro is a car sharing marketplace where local car owners provide travelers with the perfect vehicle for their next adventure. Travelers from around the world choose from a unique selection of cars and car owners earn extra money while helping fuel their adventures. A pioneer of the sharing economy and travel industry, Turo is a safe, supportive community where the car you rent is part of a story, not a fleet. Whether it\u2019s an F-150 truck to help out on moving day, a Tesla for a luxurious weekend away, or a classic Mercedes-Benz for a picture-perfect road trip, travelers rent the car and own the adventure. Discover Turo at turo.com.\n\nSource: Turo\n\nTags: British Columbia (BC)", "output": "Car-sharing start-up Turo has partnered with local independent car rental companies in British Columbia, Canada, to help provide insurance for its service as it expands in the region. The independent car companies will provide their own renter's insurance policies rather than Turo providing a central policy for all its clients. Turo says it's necessary to partner with such firms due to British Columbia insurance regulations. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Group Nine Media creates content studio for social networks \n Group Nine Media, a Discovery-backed holding company that oversees digital publishers NowThis, Thrillist, The Dodo and Seeker, is creating a new content team focused exclusively on making shows for social platforms.\n\nThe new unit, called Group Nine Social Studios, will operate as a sub-section of Group Nine\u2019s a 20-person production and development division that supports the content teams across its media brands. Based in Los Angeles, Social Studios will be led by head of development Hayley Lozitsky and senior director of development Jeffrey Wisenbaugh. Suzanne Kolb, chief brand officer for Group Nine Media, said the company is still hiring for Social Studios, which will consist of video producers, editors and content-development specialists, but she would not provide a hard number on how big the team will eventually be. The goal of the team is to create original content for external partners and platforms.\n\n\u201cPlatforms like [Facebook\u2019s] Watch and Snapchat are now set up in a way that gives us this opportunity to create shows and franchises,\u201d said Kolb. \u201cIt\u2019s the right time to try it. But we need a dedicated team to support this type of content if we want to make it successful; otherwise, we would be adding on to too many other day jobs.\u201d\n\nWhile the obvious places for Group Nine to sell shows to are Facebook and Snapchat, Social Studios will also look at other distribution partners, including Google Stamp, YouTube and Twitter, Kolb added.\n\nGroup Nine Media is already committed to making social shows. It\u2019s producing 24 original shows for Facebook\u2019s Watch, including NowThis\u2019 \u201cApocalypse NowThis,\u201d Thrillist\u2019s \u201cThrillist Investigates,\u201d The Dodo\u2019s \u201cComeback Kids: Animal Edition\u201d and Seeker\u2019s \u201cWild Sex.\u201d During a New York Advertising Week event last week, Group Nine CEO Ben Lerer said the 24 Watch shows had combined to reach more than 100 million views and 100 million minutes in watch time.\n\nA big part of the Social Studios team\u2019s mandate is to also work with investor Discovery, which last year put $100 million into Group Nine Media when forming the holding company. Specifically, Social Studios will work with an original series team inside Discovery Digital to produce shows for social platforms and Discovery\u2019s TV Everywhere apps. These shows would be \u201ccompanion\u201d pieces to existing popular TV series and other programming on Discovery.\n\nThe idea for creating Social Studios came from an August partnership between Group Nine Studios and Discovery on a Snapchat show for \u201cShark Week.\u201d The three-episode series tackled topics such as shark biology, how sharks had survived multiple extinction-level events and weird-looking sharks. The three episodes, each running for roughly four minutes, combined to reach 12 million unique viewers, 18 million views and a 40 percent completion rate, according to Fred Graver, svp of digital content and social for Discovery.\n\n\u201cYou have to make a bet on the fact that your brands must live on different platforms and devices and in different formats than the one Discovery already dominates on,\u201d said Graver.\n\nWith Social Studios\u2019 mandate to both create original shows and companion pieces to existing Discovery programming, the relationship between the Social Studios team and Discovery\u2019s digital originals team will remain fluid, Graver said. Depending on the type of project, either Social Studios or Discovery Digital will take the creative lead.\n\nThe creation of Social Studios comes as other big distributed-media publishers are setting up divisions to create entertainment content. BuzzFeed, Bleacher Report, Mashable and Refinery29 have all built studio divisions with production and development people to create shows for social and streaming platforms \u2014 especially as these platforms are willing to fund the creation of such content.\n\nThere\u2019s also value in creating \u201cintellectual property\u201d that has a longer shelf life and the potential for multiple revenue streams compared to quick-hit social clips.\n\n\u201cIn the end, people don\u2019t need more perishable stuff,\u201d said Kolb. \u201cThere\u2019s a need right now to build things that have an IP value, even if you don\u2019t know all the ways that you\u2019ll be able to exploit that IP in the future.\u201d", "output": "Discovery-backed holding company Group Nine Media is launching Group Nine Social Studios, a dedicated unit producing content for social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as companion pieces to existing Discovery programming. Group Nine Social Studios enters a market that includes BuzzFeed, Mashable, Refinery29 and Bleacher Report, which have all created in-house studio divisions. \"There\u2019s a need right now to build things that have an IP value, even if you don\u2019t know all the ways that you\u2019ll be able to exploit that IP in the future,\" said Suzanne Kolb, chief brand officer for Group Nine Media.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Utilities must join smart energy revolution or be left behind \n Utilities find themselves under increasing pressure from technology pioneers such as Google, Amazon, Apple and Tesla, who are introducing their technology into the home and increasingly offering smart energy solutions. Other emerging technology companies are also coming up with innovative and disruptive technologies in the smart energy sector in competition to what utilities are offering.\n\nThis is part of our series analysing the challenges and opportunities ahead for companies embracing smart energy technologies. For more, sign up to receive an exclusive Pinsent Masons research paper on smart energy technology, supply, storage and investment.\n\nThis may not quite be the utilities' 'iPhone moment', but presents a serious and fundamental challenge to their business as the success of the pioneering Apple smartphone was to the mobile telecoms business 10 years ago.\n\nUtilities are responding by trying to diversify away from their traditional sources of revenue of generating and distributing power towards delivering smart energy solutions and energy services. However, utilities have traditionally been at a disadvantage compared to technology companies when it comes to innovating.\n\nUtilities tend to be large multinationals that can have very complex and sometimes slow decision-making processes. This stands in contrast to technology companies that have in the past moved quickly to develop solutions where a gap in the market arises.\n\nYou just have to look at the way that Google came into the smart home market with Nest. It did this very quickly, very efficiently, before any of the utilities did, taking advantage of the fact that it understood how it could make the most of data and give consumers greater control of their energy usage.\n\nHowever, there are clear opportunities for utilities to develop new technologies in partnership with smaller, more flexible technology companies through joint ventures, minority stake investments and even full acquisitions.\n\nHowever, some of utility companies are not set up to make investments or acquisitions in the technology space in the way that the large tech companies are. In addition, they face competition from venture capital and private equity houses who are bidding for the same emerging tech businesses. The challenge for utilities is therefore to come up with efficient ways of identifying technologies and executing on the acquisition of, or investment in, technology companies so they can be competitive in the market.\n\nAs a result, we see utility companies setting up their own venture capital divisions to efficiently assess the viability of tech start-ups as a potential investment or acquisition target.\n\nOften, venture capital divisions will make initial small stake investments into small technology start-ups and use that investment to assess the technology that the start-up has developed and see how it can fit in into its overall corporate technology strategy. From there, it can decide whether to increase its shareholding to a majority stake or make an outright acquisition, or indeed exit the investment at a later stage and realise the value that it has generated through it.\n\nThe challenge for corporates is to devise a clear strategy of how they want to use their venture capital divisions. They need to work out whether they want to use it as a stage to make investments with a view to making profits, or to use it as a platform to test technology and to later build up the stake and make a full-on acquisition.\n\nBeyond making investments or acquisitions, partnering with technology companies can benefit utilities by helping them to better understand how to use data in a way that consumers can engage with or in a way that can help them develop new products.\n\nThere are advantages too for the tech community. They have new ideas but as small companies they lack a way to reach a significant number of people quickly. This is exactly what utilities have \u2013 large existing client bases, supply chains and delivery infrastructure that can help a good idea get fast, wide-ranging implementation. This can make a utility a more attractive investor proposition than a VC or private equity house.\n\nThrough the joint venture or partnership with the utility company, the tech start-up can test its equipment or ideas in a live environment and take advantage of the utility company's existing connections and infrastructure.\n\nThe way that small, flexible businesses like start-ups work is very different to that of long-established, more traditional utilities. There will be culture clashes, but that is just a risk that utilities will have to take to get the benefit of start-ups' ideas and innovation.\n\nThe fact that technology moves so quickly is also a risk. Not all technologies get through Gartner's 'trough of disillusionment', so utilities are taking a risk when investing in an emerging company and an innovative product.\n\nHowever, that is a normal business risk which is not unique to the smart energy sector. When companies are looking at investing in new technologies they are always taking the risk that the technology will not be adopted in the market, that it will not be successful, that they will not beat the competition, and that the technology will not be useable by people going forward.\n\nFinally, the pioneers of the technology companies are looking at the home in a holistic way. They are not looking at smart energy in isolation \u2013 they are looking at security and technology in the kitchen amongst other examples, and their technology will be aimed at bringing all these elements together.\n\nThe question is how utilities respond to this challenge. It will be interesting to see whether the energy companies respond stick to smart energy solutions or branch out to other technologies relevant to the home.\n\nThilo Schneider is an expert in corporate transactions in the technology sector at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com.", "output": "Utilities are facing a two-pronged attack on their business models, both from companies such as Google and Apple, and also from emerging technology energy firms, according to Thilo Schneider of Pinsent Masons. He said while utilities have been slow to respond to changes within their industry, making clever acquisitions could help them compete, as their large customer base and established supply chain and delivery infrastructure could make them more attractive as investors than their venture capital\u00a0and private equity rivals. Such joint ventures or partnerships\u00a0would benefit utilities by giving them access to the technological innovations developed by start-ups.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Off Grid Electric empowers poor, remote Africa with solar energy \n Dale Word stands in front of the Chico headquarters of Solutions Cubed, where he works with their design team troubleshooting engineering projects for Off Grid Electric.\n\nClean-energy outcomes: Off Grid Electric\u2019s data in Tanzania and EDF\u2019s data in South Africa show that households using the solar services have reduced emissions from kerosene and black carbon by 1.45 kg per year.\n\nWhen former Chico State faculty member Dale Word took a job with Off Grid Electric, a solar-power provider, about a year ago, he wanted to get his hands dirty. But he never imagined he\u2019d be jumping into a 4x4 truck and driving down dirt paths in Sub-Saharan Africa to help deliver the ways and means of electricity to those living\u2014yes\u2014off the grid.\n\n\u201cWhen I left Chico State after 15 years, all I wanted to do was get my hands on real engineering,\u201d said Word, previously an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering. \u201cI had no idea I would come across this opportunity.\u201d\n\nWord, 55, lives in Chico and is now a computer engineer with Off Grid Electric, a venture-capital-backed firm providing small-scale solar-power units for lease to some of the poorest places in Africa. The company has expanded vastly on the continent and grown its workforce immensely since Chico State grad Joshua Pierce co-founded it in 2013.\n\nPierce planted the company\u2019s roots here early on. He since has moved its U.S. headquarters to the Bay Area, along with relocating his family there. However, the Chico footprint remains firm\u2014and Word is a large part of that.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s been where a lot of the hands-on technical work has happened,\u201d Word said.\n\nFrom a small office in downtown Chico, Word works with a team of designers at Solutions Cubed, a subcontractor of Off Grid Electric that also does independent projects. The office is filled with circuit boxes connected to various electronic devices, such as fans, to help test the units. Solar panels also are strewn about the space on East First Street.\n\nWord spends three days a week in the small design studio and two days at the headquarters in San Francisco. He codes the circuits inside small boxes that are meant to be the brains and battery pack of the system, connecting solar power to a small light. The systems are alternatives to archaic power supplies including kerosene lanterns, which can emit unhealthy fumes, or heavily polluting diesel generators. They are meant to provide light in places without electricity.\n\nOff Grid Electric leases the small systems to each customer individually for less than $7 a month for the base option. The regional economy primarily functions on mobile currency. Users have a similar account to PayPal and deposit money; they then receive a code to type into the small box that connects solar power to the lights.\n\nThe company reached about 500 customers in its first year. That number jumped to about 21,000 the next. It now provides power to more than 100,000 homes and businesses across Tanzania, Rwanda and the Ivory Coast.\n\n\u201cOff Grid Electric has expanded from East Africa into West Africa, and we have plans to continue growing,\u201d Pierce said. \u201cAfrica and distributed energy are ripe with potential, and we\u2019re proud to be creating value in every new community we enter.\u201d\n\nPierce\u2019s company has secured $100 million in total funding and has more than 800 employees in the U.S., Tanzania, Rwanda, the Ivory Coast, the Netherlands, Russia and Nigeria.\n\nAcross its swath of Africa, Off Grid Electric is distributing thousands of new systems every month. Word sees his work as not just providing light in places where that commodity is hard to come by\u2014it\u2019s providing a metaphorical light for those looking to better their economic situation.\n\n\u201cThis is our chance to get this continent right,\u201d Word said.\n\nLights in the solar systems make it possible for children to do homework. They allow adults to read.\n\n\u201cOur goal is to empower folks,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s really exciting to see how proud people are to have these boxes.\u201d\n\nHe has experienced this first-hand. On a trip to see the African operations, he went out on service calls with local technicians. His intent \u201cwas to go to some of the more remote customers,\u201d he said.\n\nWord recalls riding in a four-wheel-drive pickup down a gravel road in Tanzania when someone in his convoy tapped on the window from the back of the truck, telling the driver to turn left.\n\n\u201cThere was nothing [to the] left, other than a path and some trees,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had to figure out how to get it down the path.\u201d\n\nAfter navigating the truck, the group arrived at a clearing with a collection of round huts made out of sticks and mud, most with solar panels installed on the roof.\n\n\u201cIt was great to see that connection between traditional lifestyle and using our products,\u201d he said.\n\nThe future looks bright for the solar-power provider. The company recently started leasing small television sets that run similarly off the solar-power battery packs.\n\nWord also is developing circuits that communicate wirelessly with Off Grid Electric, eliminating the process of entering a code after a payment to make the units work. With the new systems, Off Grid Electric could activate the units remotely and access them to perform diagnostic checks.\n\nAdditionally, the company formed a partnership with the EDF Group, a low-carbon-energy company, and launched a pilot expansion last year into the Ivory Coast.\n\nOff Grid Electric is looking at developing new products as well.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve done a lot of really wonderful work on some things I can\u2019t talk about yet,\u201d Word said with a smile.", "output": "US solar power firm Off Grid Electric is providing renewable energy to some of Africa's poorest and most remote locations. Its small-scale power units, which cost less than $7 per month to rent, have brought electricity to more than 100,000 homes and businesses across the Ivory Coast, Tanzania and Rwanda. Co-founder Joshua Pierce said the company, which has raised $100m in funding, plans to expand deeper into West Africa. Off Grid Electric is also developing TVs that run on\u00a0solar battery packs and a method for customers to pay wirelessly.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese business at standstill due to public holiday and congress \n Chinese business has come to a standstill as half the population travels over a one-week public holiday. But that quietude is expected to last several more weeks.\n\nAlthough the Chinese will head back to work and school on Monday, their country is expected to remain in a holding pattern ahead of a pivotal Communist Party Congress set to start later this month.\n\n\"Commentators and markets rightly assume that the authorities are consumed by this transition and that all other policy matters are on the back-burner or in lock-down until after the Congress,\" Freya Beamish, Pantheon Macroeconomics' chief Asia economist, wrote in a recent note.\n\nThe once-in-five-years meeting will usher in leadership changes that are likely to see incumbent President Xi Jinping extend his term and consolidate power. The coming years of Xi rule will be critical for the world's second-largest economy as it grapples with the fallout from three decades of unbridled growth.\n\nAs Xi \u2014 the most powerful Chinese leader in decades \u2014 embarks on a new era, the meeting will review \"faulty\" outcomes from the economic reforms and review if China needs a new direction, said independent economist, Andy Xie.\n\nChina undertook a series of market reforms in the last three decades that propelled the Communist country to the spot of the world's second largest economy.\n\nMarket watchers, however, are concerned about the nation's debt-fueled growth, industrial overcapacity and capital outflows that may potentially spur a global economic crisis.\n\nThe Communist Party has been working to curtail its companies' international deal making over the last year, but major initiatives have slowed ahead of the Congress. That push is likely to pick up again in the fourth quarter, said Chunshek Chan, Dealogic's global M&A research head.\n\nNo matter the macroeconomic concerns, the only thing on Beijing's mind at this time is consolidating power in the country, Xie said: \"It's much more important now to strengthen the control of the Communist Party than anything else.\"\n\n\"The key is to have the Communist Party as a coherent organization to control everything in the society \u2014 that seems to be the case. The people at the top worry about the stability. Stability is always number one in China,\" added Xie.", "output": "China is now in lock-down mode as it prepares for its annual one-week public holiday, however, this vacation is predicted to last even longer, as it\u00a0then gets ready for the all-important, once-in-five-years\u00a0Communist Party Congress on 18 October.\u00a0\"Commentators and markets rightly assume that the authorities are consumed by this transition and that all other policy matters are on the back-burner or in lock-down until after the Congress,\" says Freya Beamish of\u00a0Pantheon Macroeconomics. As we have been highlighting, the Beijing government has been tightening security on all fronts\u00a0in the run-up to the meeting that will involve a leadership reshuffle."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China Eastern, Delta each take 10% stake in Air France-KLM \n Subscription Required\n\nThis content requires a subscription to one of the Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) bundles.\n\nSchedule a demo today to find out how you can access this content and similar content related to your area of the global aviation industry.\n\nAlready an AWIN subscriber? Login\n\nDid you know? Aviation Week has won top honors multiple times in the Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Awards, the business-to-business media equivalent of the Pulitzer Prizes.", "output": "A number of airlines have completed a series of transactions aimed at strengthening strategic partnerships. China Eastern and Delta are each taking a 10% stake in Air France-KLM, which will in turn buy 31% of the UK's\u00a0Virgin Atlantic.\u00a0\u201cThis operation is an integral part of the Trust Together project, allowing Air France-KLM to regain\u00a0the offensive, to reinforce its commercial integration with its principal partners and to continue improving its financial structure,\u201d says Air France-KLM."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google adds to voice-assisted Home smart-speaker range \n Confirming one of the industry\u2019s worst-kept secrets, Google announced today that it finally has a cost-reduced version of its Google Home smart speaker. The $49 Google Home Mini, available for preorder now, will go head to head with the Echo Dot that Amazon introduced way back in March 2016.\n\nLike the original Google Home, the Mini will feature fabric over its speaker grill. But Google assures us this is no ordinary fabric. Google\u2019s lead designer for home hardware, Isabelle Olsson, said the company invented its own yarn for the Mini\u2014going through 157 iterations to find just the right colors: chalk, charcoal, and coral.\n\n\u201cThe first thing you notice,\u201d Olsson said, \u201cis the striking simplicity. The yarn is designed to allow sound and light to pass through it. Touch the fabric to pause the music or talk to the assistant.\u201d Olsson said the speaker projects sound 360 degrees, or you can connect it to a Chromecast speaker.\n\nGoogle The ability to stream video from a Nest Cam to a Chromecast shows the enviable synergy between Google and Nest Labs.\n\nIndustrial design aside, the biggest threat that Google presents to Amazon\u2014at least on the smart home front\u2014is Google Home\u2019s voice-recognition capabilities. Google was first to recognize and respond to different people\u2019s voices, and it\u2019s still superior when it comes to linking one voice command to the next. Google VP Rishi Chandra introduced another new feature called Family Link accounts, which fine-tune the Google Assistant to respond to the voices of children under age 13.\n\nWith Family Link, Google Assistant can read children\u2019s stories, play games like freeze tag, and respond to the types of questions that kids ask. Google has also partnered with Disney to bring characters from Disney properties ranging from Mickey Mouse to Star Wars to Google Home. Chandra said Warner Bros. and other studios would follow.", "output": "Google has unveiled the next iterations of its smart speakers along with a suite of new gadgets. Google Home Mini will sell in the US for $49 from 19\u00a0October while the larger\u00a0Google Home Max\u00a0will be released in\u00a0December for $399. The devices will feature\u00a0upgraded voice-recognition software, which can differentiate between voices\u00a0and has a more natural dialogue flow. The company also announced\u00a0the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL phones, the Pixelbook laptop, the Clips artificial intelligence camera and Pixel buds, headphones that can translate languages in real-time.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wind projects help global clean energy investment to $66.9bn in Q3 \n Global new investment in clean energy by region, by quarter, USD billion. Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance.\n\nGlobal clean energy investment in the third quarter (Q3) of 2017 increased to USD 66.9 billion (EUR 57.22bn), prompting suggestions that the 2017 total may exceed 2016 levels, show figures from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) released Thursday.\n\nInvestment in July-September rose by 40% in annual terms and 3.1% quarter-on-quarter, driven by seven large wind power projects worth between USD 600 million and USD 4.5 billion. According to BNEF, the Q3 total suggests that clean energy investment for 2017 may be close to or slightly higher than the result of USD 287.5 billion in 2016.\n\nINVESTMENT CATEGORY\n\nThe largest category of clean energy investment in Q3 2017 was asset finance of utility-scale renewable energy projects. At USD 54.3 billion, it jumped by 72% in annual terms. All of the biggest projects were in the wind sector, with offshore wind taking the lead.\n\nThe most notable transaction in the third quarter was American Electric Power Co Inc\u2019s (NYSE:AEP) USD-4.5-billion investment in Invenergy Renewables LLC\u2019s 2,000-MW Wind Catcher wind farm in Oklahoma. Construction of the 800-turbine complex is already underway and is slated for completion by 2020.\n\nThe other top asset finance deal came from Denmark-based Dong Energy's (CPH:DENERG) final investment decision on the 1,386-MW Hornsea Project Two offshore wind farm in the UK, estimated at USD 3.7 billion by its completion in 2022-2023. The third largest clean energy investment in the period was the financing of Canada\u2019s Northland Power Inc (TSE:NPI) of the 252-MW Deutsche Bucht (DeBu) offshore wind project in the German North Sea, worth USD 1.6 billion.\n\nThe largest financing deal in the solar sector amounted to USD 460 million and was for First Solar Inc\u2019s (NASDAQ:FSLR) 381-MW California Flats solar project.\n\nInvestment in small-scale solar projects of less than 1 MW stood at USD 10.8 billion, up 9% year-on-year.\n\nVenture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) funding of clean energy companies slumped by 79% on the year to USD 662 million, marking the weakest quarterly figures since 2005. The biggest deal in this category was a USD-109-million private equity expansion capital round for Indian solar project developer Clean Max Enviro Energy Solutions.\n\nPublic markets investment plunged by 63% on an annual basis to USD 1.4 billion. \u201cThe weak third quarter figure for public markets investment came ironically despite a strong performance from clean energy stocks [..],\u201d said Abraham Louw, analyst, clean energy economics at BNEF.\n\nGEOGRAPHY\n\nAccording to BNEF\u2019s statistics, Q3 2017 clean energy investment surpassed the 100% annual growth mark in several countries, including Chile, Argentina, Australia and France. Investment in the US and China also increased, while figures for Germany, Japan and India marked a decrease as compared to Q3 2016.\n\nThe table below shows clean energy investments (in USD) in major markets, as given by BNEF.\n\nMarket Q3 2017 investment (in USD) Y/Y change Q/Q change China 23.8 billion +35% -8% US 14.8 billion +45% +8% Europe 11.6 billion +43% +45% Germany 2.4 billion -5% -26% Japan 2.2 billion -32% -17% India 1.1 billion -49% -60% Brazil 1.7 billion +32% -4% Mexico 2.8 billion - +84% Australia 1.8 billion +388% -10% Turkey 796 million - +312% France 631 million +109% -21% S Korea 593 million +143% +85% Argentina 1.2 billion - +151% UK 4.6 billion +57% - Chile 1 billion +134% +306%\n\n(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.855)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Major wind projects helped boost global investment in clean energy to $66.9bn in Q3 2017, a 40% increase in annual terms, according to data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). In investment categories, asset financing of utility-scale renewable energy\u00a0projects saw the largest rise, up 72% YoY to $54.3bn. In contrast, venture capital and private equity funding fell 79% on the year to $662m\u00a0and\u00a0public market investment dropped 63% to $1.4bn. Based on total Q3 figures, BNEF suggested this year's clean energy investment could exceed the 2016 figure of $287.5bn."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Auto supply chains struggle to keep up with US post-storm buying \n Dive Brief:\n\nMajor storms have boosted the need for vehicle replacements, allowing U.S. vehicle manufacturers to enjoy a sales increase of up to 12% over 2016 sales, according to an Evolution Time Critical press release. Annual sales rates for light commercial vehicles also jumped to more than 18.5 million.\n\nHowever, the automotive supply chain is also dealing with fallout and damages from storms Harvey and Irma, and is struggling to keep up.\n\nAccordingly, further pressures will challenge automakers. An additional sales increase could hinder suppliers\u2019 agility and speed, two factors that are now considered indispensable for maintaining healthy production standards.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nAnticipating risk within the supply chain is a necessary part of planning since disruption can strike at any time in any form.\n\nThe types of risks affecting the supply chain run the gamut from labor strikes resulting from an overstressed production team to technological risks posed by cybercrime. Strategies to combat risk include everything from a shorter, quicker supply chain to achieving full visibility. And while the auto supply chain is generally highly resilient and redundant due to its just-in-time nature, excess demand appears to be the problem now.\n\n\"The issue is that, following natural disasters such as the recent hurricanes, the extent of possible disruption to vehicle manufacturers\u2019 supply chains takes time to become certain,\" said Evolution Time Critical Managing Director Brad Brennan.\n\n\"Modern automotive supply chains are vast, highly complex operations and it is impossible to quickly and precisely glance at affected ports, airports and road networks to establish the extent of possible disruption \u2014 careful analysis can provide a crucial headstart, but even that is not infallible,\" he said. \"It is only when the impact on Tier 3 or 4 suppliers \u2014 or beyond \u2014 emerges that the potential effect to vehicle manufacturers becomes apparent.\"\n\nThanks to heavy back stock, the industry has thus far been able to keep pace with need, but should any other disruption occur, automakers must be ready.\n\n\"The implementation of suitable contingency plans can protect otherwise fragile supply chains and help sustain automotive production at times of uncertainty,\" said Brennan. Of course, with every new disruption there is a silver lining. \"This experience makes the automotive industry one of the more robust when it comes to protecting its supply chain and recovering swiftly from natural disasters.\u201d", "output": "US auto sales have surged by 12% YoY, according to Evolution Time Critical, primarily due to the recent tropical storms, which have led to cars needing to be replaced. However, the damage caused by the storms has also hampered vehicle supply chains, which are failing to keep up. With excess demand cited as the current problem, it is suggested that suitable contingency plans are needed for car manufacturers to protect supply chains if other disruptions occur."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google launches 'babel fish'\u00a0earbuds, translating even Chinese \n \u2018If it works like that in the real world, that is a wow-we-are-living-in-the-future moment\u2019", "output": "Google has launched a set of ear buds capable of real-time translation of spoken conversations in 40 languages. The technology\u00a0has been compared by some to the fictional 'babel fish' in Douglas Adams' sci-fi comedy 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', which provides similarly instant translation. Google unveiled the device with a demonstration involving a conversation between two people, one speaking English and the other Swedish. The Pixel Buds will be available in the US from the start of November, priced at $159.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nanomaterial enables more effective electrofuel production \n Sea-Fuel\n\nThere exists a wide range of renewable energy sources support our increasingly energy-intensive lives as fossil fuels are ultimately phased out. One of these new potential sources of energy is as promising as it is strange. University of Central Florida (UCF) researcher and assistant professor Yang Yang has developed a breakthrough hybrid nanomaterial that uses the power of an existing green energy source, solar energy, to turn seawater into hydrogen fuel.\n\nA faculty member of both the NanoScience Technology Center and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UCF, Yang's breakthrough has been 10 years in the making. Current materials being used to create hydrogen fuel are fairly costly and not all that efficient \u2014 a sharp contrast to Yang's new method.\n\nThe success is exciting: solar hydrogen splitting is something that many researchers, including Yang, have been working tirelessly towards for years. \"We've opened a new window to splitting real water, not just purified water in a lab,\" Yang said. \"This really works well in seawater.\"\n\nTo create hydrogen fuel, however, you need a photocatalyst \u2014 a material that triggers a chemical reaction when exposed to light. But considering the corrosive and difficult nature of seawater, Yang needed a photocatalyst that was uniquely durable, which is where the hybrid nanomaterial came in.\n\nThe nanomaterial began with an ultrathin sheet of titanium dioxide (the most common photocatalyst), into which nanocavities were carved. Nanoflakes of molybdenum disulfide, a 2D material as thick as a single atom, then coated these cavities. This material is nearly twice as effective as most other photocatalysts because instead of converting a limited range of light into energy, it can turn ultraviolet-visible to near-infrared light wavelengths into energy \u2014 a much wider range.\n\nArtist's interpretation of the hybrid nanomaterial photocatalyst. Image Credit: University of Central Florida\n\nCreative Energy\n\nHydrogen fuel, like everything, has its pros and cons. On the positive side, it's only emissions are water vapor, a drastic difference from what is produced by fossil fuels. In terms of vehicles, hydrogen fuel cells have about double the fuel economy of traditional gasoline. Additionally \u2014 and most obviously \u2014 hydrogen fuel is renewable and can be created in abundance.\n\nHowever, until now the process to create hydrogen fuel has been considerably expensive, and there is a lack of existing infrastructure to support its use. The main issue with hydrogen fuel is that current methods for creating it are not only inefficient and costly, they often use nonrenewable natural gas. But this process has the potential to eliminate many of the issues presented by the use of hydrogen fuel.\n\nIf this nanomaterial is used on a larger-scale, the process could help generate a substantial amount of green energy, replacing fossil fuels and pushing us forward in the fight against climate change. In the immediate, it could also help bolster Florida's economy: with abundant sea water and the state's current efforts to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Irma, such a boost would no doubt be welcomed.", "output": "Scientists in Florida have developed a way to produce hydrogen from seawater using solar energy. The technique uses a new hybrid nanomaterial, created by inserting tiny flakes of molybdenum disulphide into a sheet of titanium dioxide, and is nearly twice as effective as other photocatalysts. While other processes require purified water, this system works effectively in seawater. The breakthrough makes the production of hydrogen from seawater much more efficient and affordable, and could lead to the widespread adoption of the renewable gas as an alternative to fossil fuels, for example, in hydrogen fuel cell cars."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Oracle rolls out cloud-based blockchain-as-a-service offering \n On the first day of the OpenWorld conference, Oracle is rolling out Blockchain Cloud Service, helping the tech giant catch up with competitors like Microsoft and IBM.\n\nA blockchain, the technology behind the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, is a shared, distributed ledger that can store complete transaction histories. It has a variety of use cases for enterprises that want to rely on tamper-proof transactions to create new revenue streams or improve business operations.\n\nOnce a customer subscribes to Oracle's Blockchain Cloud Service, which is part of the Oracle Cloud Platform, they can use the platform to build a blockchain network and then let Oracle manage the network infrastructure. Customers can then build their own smart contracts and applications on top of the network.\n\nOracle is promising \"most comprehensive and enterprise grade blockchain service platform,\" Frank Xiong, Group VP of Blockchain Cloud Service, said to ZDNet, meaning it should be highly scalable, highly secure, and easy to integrate with existing applications.\n\nMicrosoft has been offering blockchain-as-a-service since 2015 and more recently introduced Enterprise Smart Contracts to make it easier for customers to use. Oracle maintains its blockchain cloud service will stand out in part by offering customers a way to seamlessly adopt it. Blockchain adoption will not happen overnight, Xiong said.\n\n\"We believe there will be a transition period of time... blockchain will be integrated with existing applications, whether in cloud or on premise,\" he said. \"You don't need to switch everything overnight, but can move to this new disruptive technology gradually.\"\n\nOracle is also stressing the ability for enterprises to use the Blockchain Cloud Service to move operations beyond their own internal ecosystem by sharing data and monitoring transactions within and outside of the Oracle Cloud. Using REST APIs and Oracle's API management service, customers can invoke blockchain services directly or with pre-built integrations from Oracle Cloud. Oracle also recently joined Hyperledger, enabling customers to add value on top of the open source effort.", "output": "California-based software firm Oracle has launched a\u00a0cloud-based blockchain service. Oracle, which recently joined the Hyperledger project, will enable subscribers to build their own blockchain projects\u00a0on the platform while leaving the company to manage\u00a0the\u00a0network infrastructure. Microsoft launched its own blockchain-as-a-service in 2015.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Blockchain projects unite to provide transparency on ICOs \n Sixteen Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Read this Term projects today announced the launch of Project Transparency at the Vienna ICO-Summit. The voluntary initiative aims to encourage disclosure of wallets controlled by a project and provide a voluntary explanation of any expenditure greater than 0.5% of the funds collected.\n\nLearn how to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum safely with our simple guide!\n\nThe industry players behind the initiative are worth over $650 million by market cap. They are Santiment, Aragon, Cofound.it, District0x, Encrypgen, Etherisc, Hcash, Iconomi, Indorse, Lykke, Dappbase, GATCOIN, IconiqLab, Virgil Capital, Musiconomi and Maecenas.\n\nThey explain that the long term ambition is to provide potential investors and the community with greater transparency and accountability regarding funds raised, as the ICO space sees greater regulatory scrutiny in many markets and even legal restrictions in China and South Korea.\n\nMaksim Balashevich, CEO and founder of Santiment, said: \"With the rapid rise of digital currencies and proliferation of ICOs, investors increasingly want security regarding their funds and transparency on how they are administered. Santiment was developed to provide insight and transparency to investors looking to enter illiquid and highly volatile markets, Project Transparency affirms our commitment to improving governance in the Blockchain sector.\"\n\nBalashevich recently took part in the Finance Magnates Blockchain Podcast:\n\nSantiment has confirmed that it will provide funding for Project Transparency\u2019s web page and for manpower to process applications and keep the initiative staffed. Any Blockchain project can join the initiative, the only criteria is to disclose the wallets controlled, funds held and explain any expenditures over 0.5% of the funds raised.\n\nTaiyang Zhang, CEO of pre-ICO project Dappbase, and GATCOIN\u2019s Simon Cheong, explained that their support for Project Transparency stems from their imminent funding goals and investor interest: \"Transparency drives better, sustainable business. And that's what we want.\"", "output": "A group of 16 blockchain projects have partnered to launch Project Transparency, an initiative aimed at improving transparency and accountability of funds raised as regulations tighten around initial coin offerings. Santiment, Lykke, District0x, IconiqLab, Maecenas and Etherisc are among the projects behind the voluntary scheme. Projects wishing to join must\u00a0disclose the wallets they control\u00a0and the\u00a0funds they hold as well as explain any expenditure\u00a0that exceeds 0.5% of the funds raised.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Animal feed crops for meat industry threatening biodiversity: WWF \n The ongoing global appetite for meat is having a devastating impact on the environment driven by the production of crop-based feed for animals, a new report has warned.\n\nThe vast scale of growing crops such as soy to rear chickens, pigs and other animals puts an enormous strain on natural resources leading to the wide-scale loss of land and species, according to the study from the conservation charity WWF.\n\nIntensive and industrial animal farming also results in less nutritious food, it reveals, highlighting that six intensively reared chickens today have the same amount of omega-3 as found in just one chicken in the 1970s.\n\nThe study entitled Appetite for Destruction launches on Thursday at the 2017 Extinction and Livestock Conference in London, in conjunction with Compassion in World Farming (CIFW), and warns of the vast amount of land needed to grow the crops used for animal feed and cites some of the world\u2019s most vulnerable areas such as the Amazon, Congo Basin and the Himalayas.\n\nThe report and conference come against a backdrop of alarming revelations of industrial farming. Last week a Guardian/ITV investigation showed chicken factory staff in the UK changing crucial food safety information.\n\nProtein-rich soy is now produced in such huge quantities that the average European consumes approximately 61kg each year, largely indirectly by eating animal products such as chicken, pork, salmon, cheese, milk and eggs.\n\n\n\nIn 2010, the British livestock industry needed an area the size of Yorkshire to produce the soy used in feed. But if global demand for meat grows as expected, the report says, soy production would need to increase by nearly 80% by 2050.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe world is consuming more animal protein than it needs and this is having a devastating effect on wildlife,\u201d said Duncan Williamson, WWF food policy manager. \u201cA staggering 60% of global biodiversity loss is down to the food we eat. We know a lot of people are aware that a meat-based diet has an impact on water and land, as well as causing greenhouse gas emissions, but few know the biggest issue of all comes from the crop-based feed the animals eat.\u201d\n\nWith 23bn chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks and guinea fowl on the planet \u2013 more than three per person \u2013 the biggest user of crop-based feed globally is poultry. The second largest, with 30% of the world\u2019s feed in 2009, is the pig industry.\n\nIn the UK, pork is the second favourite meat after chicken, with each person eating on average 25kg a year in 2015 \u2013 nearly the whole recommended yearly intake for all meats. UK nutritional guidelines recommend 45-55g of protein per day, but the average UK consumption is 64-88g, of which 37% is meat and meat products.", "output": "Crops, such as soy, grown for animal feed as a result of increased global demand for meat are causing wide-scale loss of land and species, according to a report by the WWF. Some of the world\u2019s most vulnerable regions, including the Amazon, Congo Basin and Himalayas, are particularly affected. The study also found that intensive and industrial animal farming makes food less nutritious, with a single chicken in the 1970s containing the same amount of essential fatty acid omega-3 as six intensively reared chickens today. Approximately 60% of global biodiversity loss now results from human food consumption."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MassiveU raises $1.6m for asynchronous mobile learning \n According to a recent SEC filing, MassiveU has raised $1.6 million in financing from an undisclosed investor.\n\n\n\nMassiveU is a mobile learning solution for educators, learners and marketers. The company uses mobile apps to deliver asynchronous learning content from recognized subject matter experts to virtually any mobile phone, tablet or online screen. The platform\u2019s purpose is to help students build critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills for college and career readiness. It also supports competency-based learning that aligns to state standards.\n\n", "output": "Florida-based mobile learning solutions provider MassiveU has secured $1.6m in funding from an unknown investor, according to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. MassiveU creates mobile apps which encourage students to develop critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bengali language support widens Google ad reach by\u00a0200 million\u00a0 \n Google has learned to speak Bengali and found an extra 200 million people to advertise to along the way.\n\nBengali is the world's sixth-most-prevalent language, is the official tongue of Bangladesh and is widely spoken in some India states. Yet the language's 200 million speakers have been cruelly denied the bounty that is Google's AdWords and Ad Sense search monetisation programs, the foundation of the company's revenue base.\n\nGoogle therefore suggests that adding Bengali to its list of supported languages will mean great things for local publishers and advertisers, as its now possible to target 200 million extra people in their native tongues.\n\nThe company's announcement suggests it has plans to address more regional languages, too.\n\nEx-IBMer sues Google for $10bn \u2013 after his web ad for 'divine honey cancer cure' was pulled READ MORE\n\nShalini Girish, Google India's marketing solutions director said \u201cwe expect another 300 million Indian language users to come online in the next four years.\u201d Advertising in Bengali is therefore \u201ckeeping up with with the needs of an evolving Internet audience\u201d rather than tapping a hitherto-unaddressed market.\n\n\u201cOver the coming months, we will share more about our efforts to further build on this,\u201d Girish adds.\n\nGoogle recently added eight new Indian languages to voice search, with Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Malayalam and Urdu joining Hindi.\n\nThe Register expects AdWords will therefore soon reach Telugu and Marathi as they are the 15th and 16th most-spoken languages in the world according o the language prevalence list Google's offered to quantify the size of the Bengali-speaking world. The list says Telugu has 74.2m speakers and Marathi 71.8m, for 146m more lovely sets of read-for-ads eyeballs. If Google also adds Urdu and Lahnda, two languages widely-used in Pakistan, AdWords will reach another 198m people.\n\nDoing so may not, however, turn into rivers of Gold as Google learned when Indians balked at paying even US$0.75 for apps, necessitating a reduction in the floor price to 10 rupees or just US$0.10. Bengali advertisers may need similarly low price options, but Google's auction system should take care of that. \u00ae", "output": "Google has added Bengali to the list of supported languages for its AdWords and AdSense programmes, giving advertisers the ability to target 200 million more people in their native tongue. The company is making efforts to tap into growing markets in India and neighbouring countries, with another 300 million people speaking Indian languages expected to come online in the next four years. The addition of Bengali increases the number of the region's\u00a0languages supported by the platform to eight and suggests\u00a0there is potential to expand to more.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Yoco enhances POS platform for\u00a0small businesses in\u00a0South Africa \n Payments service provider Yoco has launched an enhanced Point of Sale (POS) solution, which according to the company is South Africa's first 100% locally made, free point of sale app. It has been purpose-designed to give small and emerging businesses the tools they need to better run their businesses and grow.\n\nPackaged as a bundled offering with the company\u2019s card readers, the integrated POS solution will allow businesses to organise stock, ring up sales, do cash ups, recons and monitor their sales performance in real-time. The payments startup is upgrading its 14,000 current merchants to the Yoco Point of Sale at no cost, and is also making it available for free to any business that purchases a Yoco card reader, as of today.\n\nIn development for a year, Yoco says the new cloud-based solution was developed hand in hand with its existing merchants to ensure it meets their needs.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been developing our new point of sale for over 18 months,\u201d says Yoco CTO Lungisa Matshoba. \u201cDuring the beta phase, we saw 55 merchants process over 200,000 transactions on the Yoco Point of Sale. The experience highlighted to us the impact Yoco Point of Sale can have on the growth potential of thousands of other small businesses, from hairdressers to restaurants to clothing stores, across the country. The more these businesses grow, the more South Africa grows with it.\u201d\n\nSays Yoco CEO Katlego Maphai: \u201cWe have made accepting payments easy for SMEs - our next natural step was to focus on making running a business easier. Our ultimate goal is to allow entrepreneurs to focus their attention on growth and customer engagement, and not the day-to-day tasks which can be streamlined through technology and data.\u201d\n\nThe Yoco Store\n\nYoco Point of Sale was unveiled at the company\u2019s recently launched retail store, the Yoco Store, in Parkhurst, Johannesburg.\n\nThe Yoco Store is where current and potential Yoco customers can explore and get expert advice on Yoco\u2019s products and solutions, as well as those of its partner ecosystem, which includes cloud accounting service Xero and cloud point of sale solutions TabletPOS (powered by iKentoo) and Vend. The store is one of the first in the world for a point of sale payments company, is completely cashless and is powered by the company\u2019s point of sale offering.\n\nYoco Point of Sale has started rolling out across the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. It will be available to all new and existing Yoco customers.", "output": "South African payments tech start-up Yoco has launched an enhanced point of sale (POS) system for small businesses in the country. The cloud-based solution is being marketed as a package with the company's existing card readers, and enables retailers to organise stock as well as record and monitor sales in real time. Yoco is upgrading 14,000 business users to the system for free and providing the app to any new users who buy their card readers. It's\u00a0also available through the Apple App Store and Google Play.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon\u2019s server-to-server wrapper wins favour in ad industry \n Header bidding grew out of publishers\u2019 desire to break the stranglehold Google has on programmatic advertising. Now, Google rival Amazon has established a leading position with the presumed successor to header bidding, server-side bidding.\n\nAmazon\u2019s Transparent Ad Marketplace is the most popular server-to-server wrapper in the ad industry, according to a study that ServerBid released on Oct. 4. Publishers are adopting this product because it brings in unique demand, is easy to integrate, matches users across different platforms and provides competition to Google, which already wields a lot of control over publishers and their tech stacks. While much of ad tech plumbing is interchangeable, Amazon has something new to bring to the party: proprietary commerce and behavioral data.\n\nSince Amazon\u2019s ad marketplace has unique demand, its wrapper is an attractive option for publishers trying to boost their programmatic CPMs, said Erik Requidan, vp of sales and programmatic strategy at Intermarkets.\n\nAnother benefit of Amazon\u2019s wrapper is that it\u2019s easy for publishers to set up and make adjustments to, said Emry Downinghall, vp of advertising at Chegg. For example, the wrapper lets publishers easily add or drop supply-side platforms. It also makes it easy for publishers to shift bidders between on-page and server-side.\n\nA downside of server-to-server connections is that it is tougher for the SSPs and demand-side platforms to match their user IDs. With on-page header bidding, each SSP has access to the user\u2019s browser, which means they gather and use their own matching data to sync with the DSP\u2019s matching data.\n\nBut with server-to-server wrappers \u2014 where one vendor aggregates the bids from all the other vendors in a cloud-based product \u2014 only the vendor collecting the bids has access to the user\u2019s browser, which means the other vendors have to sync their data to the aggregator\u2019s data. This additional step can reduce match rates, and it is one reason why publishers are hesitant to adopt server-side bidding.\n\nUnlike other tech vendors that have to make inferences from third-party data in order to build a large user database, Amazon continually obtains data directly from millions of people who use its various products. Because Amazon gathers lots of information on a large pool of users, it can avoid one of the pitfalls of server-side bidding by successfully matching user data across the various vendors in its wrapper, said Chip Schenck, vp of data and programmatic at Meredith Corporation.\n\nThe popularity of Amazon\u2019s wrapper is just the latest example of the company sinking its hooks into the ad industry. Amazon is also growing its sales team, opening up self-service programmatic ad products, courting video publishers, getting frequently mentioned during quarterly earnings calls and hiring 2,000 people to work in its new office in New York City. Amazon declined an interview request for this story.\n\nGiven that the rise of header bidding was prompted by publishers\u2019 frustrations about how Google\u2019s ad server favored its own exchange, it isn\u2019t surprising that some publishers want to hedge against the search giant\u2019s dominance.\n\nOne of the reasons why publishers are adopting Amazon\u2019s server-side wrapper is because they see it as a counterweight to Google, said Purch CTO John Potter.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty straightforward concern of everyone from publishers to SSPs,\u201d he said. \u201cNobody wants Google to have more power in advertising.\u201d\n\nBut if there is anyone that can overtake Amazon in server-side bidding, it\u2019s Google. Google\u2019s server-side product, which it calls exchange bidding, is still in pilot, but the number of publishers using it has grown from 100 to 185 since May, according to a Google spokesperson. Google\u2019s exchange bidding will become available in early 2018 to all publishers that use Google\u2019s ad server DoubleClick for Publishers, the spokesperson said.\n\nIt\u2019s worth recognizing that server-to-server bidding is still in its infancy. Amazon was an early adopter of this technology, but its wrapper isn\u2019t even a year old.\n\nSchenck said Amazon\u2019s high adoption rate early on \u201cgives them a little bit of a head start, but it doesn\u2019t determine who wins the server-to-server war.\u201d", "output": "Amazon's Transparent Ad Marketplace is the most popular server-to-server wrapper in the ad industry, according to ServerBid. Advertisers like the product\u2019s ease of use and the access it provides to proprietary behavioural data, plus it counters Google\u2019s dominance. Amazon\u2019s extensive database resolves the server-to-server problem of matching supply- and demand-side IDs encountered by tech vendors using third-party data. The firm is growing its presence in advertising, with a range of initiatives and 2,000 staff hires. However, Google could still win in the nascent area when its \u201cexchange bidding\u201d offering comes out of pilot.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Time to Change the Way We Price Drugs \n WASHINGTON -- The U.S. should develop a different system of pricing drugs, Peter Bach, MD, said at a forum here on high prescription drug prices hosted by The Atlantic.\n\n\"Every other country uses a formal technology assessment to figure out how much to pay for drugs -- we don't,\" Bach, director of the Center for Health Policy and Outcomes at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, said at the forum on Tuesday, which was sponsored by Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefit management (PBM) firm. \"And this is the only sector where the monopolist sets the price.\"\n\nValue-based pricing would be a good start, said Michael Pishvaian, MD, director of the phase I clinical trial program at the Georgetown Lombardi Cancer Center here. \"We think a lot of approvals should be linked to cost [and] value -- [that includes] extension of life plus what it means to the patient in their stage of cancer, plus the side effects that come with that -- that whole concept should be evaluated.\"\n\nBy that score, the newer hepatitis C drugs such as sofosbuvir (Solvaldi) \"have great value because this is a disease that was leading to liver cancer for many patients and now, all of a sudden, patients are being cured of this virus,\" he said.\n\nThe $475,000 Treatment\n\nOne drug much discussed at the event was tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah), a CAR-T therapy approved recently approved to treat pediatric leukemia in patients who fail to respond to other treatments. The drug, which is given in a single dose, will be priced at $475,000.\n\nThe price of Kymriah \"has broken the trend line,\" said Bach. \"Price inflation on cancer drugs over last 50 years is up 100-fold, adjusting for inflation and a standardized [period of] therapy ... We're in the $100,000-$150,000 range for typical duration treatment course for a cancer drug, so this has completely broken the mold.\"\n\nThese drugs may be breaking the cost barrier, \"but you're talking about potential cure, and in an advanced incurable cancer you're talking about drugs that would let a patient lead an otherwise normal life,\" said Pishvaian. \"How do you price that? It's really hard to put a limit on that life.\"\n\nOne reason drugs are so expensive is that consumers are also paying for all of the drugs that never made it to market, said Lori Reilly, executive vice president of policy and research at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). \"Ninety percent of what we do fails,\" she said. \"How can we make investment of $3 billion [on a drug] that fails if we can't recoup cost not just of those who make it to market, but the ones that never make it to market?\"\n\nThe U.S. also is making up for the low prices charged in other countries that have the ability to negotiate, said Matt Eyles, executive vice president of policy and regulatory affairs at America's Health Insurance Plans. \"We are funding the rest of the world; there's no doubt about it,\" he said. \"That trend is not changing, especially as other countries clamp down on pricing in a way we are not ... We need basic transparency to understand how these prices are being arrived at, what the inputs are, and what makes sense.\"\n\nSupply Chain Markup\n\nAnother issue is the markups that are charged all along the supply chain, said Reilly. \"A recent study ... found that for every dollar of the list price of a prescription drug that is sold, the brand-name manufacturer gets about 62 cents of it. The rest goes to other people in the supply chain.\"\n\nFor instance, \"a big chunk of it goes to discounts and rebates to health insurance companies, mandated government rebates, and costs to pharmacy benefit managers, pharmacies, and wholesalers,\" she continued. \"We'd like to see transparency ... across the entire supply chain, including the hospital setting where drugs are commonly marked up as much as 600% over the price charged. So transparency is great, presuming it applies to everyone.\"\n\nValue-based pricing -- paying based on the outcome of a treatment -- is often touted as a solution to the pricing problem, but there is a lot of skepticism about whether that will lead to lower prices, said Eyles. \"The jury is definitely out about how those [programs] will impact pricing,\" he said. \"The insidious problem we have is that there is year-over-year inflation of 9%, 10%, 20% ... when the rest of the healthcare system is much much lower. That's not great corporate behavior, and when that's rampant across the branded industry [we wonder] what's going on here.\"\n\nIt's true that initially there maybe apparent costs to value-based pricing, said Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.). But the overall goal is to look down the road and see what the costs are to non-adherence and the unavailability of breakthrough drugs which can change outcomes.\"\n\n\"If we can find ways to deliver drugs that work on individuals ... that's going to hold down overall costs to the system in addition to patient suffering,\" he continued. But there are impediments to implementing such pricing programs, \"like the [anti-]kickback laws that I'm working to get around.\"\n\nIncreasing Competition\n\nIncreasing competition is another solution to look at said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). She cited the large price increases instituted by the manufacturer of the EpiPen epinephrine auto-injector as an example of what can happen when there is no competition for a drug. \"If we believe in capitalism, we have to have competition; otherwise this is never going to work.\"\n\nKlobuchar is co-sponsoring a bill with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) that would put an end to one type of anti-competitive move: so-called \"pay for delay\" deals in which a brand-name manufacturer of a particular drug pays a generic drug firm to delay entering the market for that drug with its generic version.\n\n\"I think it will [get traction],\" she said of her bill. \"If we have a vote, I can't see people, like lemmings, voting with the pharmacuetical companies -- when you have to explain to constituents that you're going to allow a practice that allows pharmaceutical companies to keep drugs off the market.\"\n\nAllowing importation of cheaper drugs from foreign countries is another option, said Klobuchar. This could be done in one of three ways: \"you could straight out allow it, or allow it [from] certain countries -- like the bill I have with Sen. [John] McCain (R-Ariz.) to allow importation from Canada -- or you could do it like the bill Sen. [Mike] Lee (R-Utah) and I have with a trigger -- that is, for a drug with no competition or limited competition, you could allow a safe drug to be imported from another country.\"\n\nNegotiating drug prices is another possibility, said Meehan, although he added that he didn't think the government should do it. \"This is probably best left to those that are in a position to negotiate effectively,\" like PBMs, he said. \"They can work on volume, and they can work on other kinds of incentives.\"\n\nAnd there's one other idea: slowing the volume of direct-to-consumer advertising, said Michael Sapienza, CEO of the Colon Cancer Alliance. \"Let's say any drug that comes to market, [the drug company] is spending about $250 million on direct-to-consumer ads... [but] you're not targeting that specialty population,\" he said. By working with patient advocacy groups and other patient forums, \"you could take $2-3 million and target a specific patient population -- I would think you'd get much better bang for your buck.\"\n\nPlease enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.", "output": "The U.S. should develop a different system of pricing drugs, Peter Bach, MD, said at a forum here on high prescription drug prices\u00a0hosted by\u00a0The Atlantic.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Congress missed deadlines, billions at stake for California low-income health programs \n Congress missed its Sept. 30 deadline to renew funding for two health programs for low-income people, despite bipartisan support, and now California is waiting to learn the fate of billions of dollars it needs to keep those programs going.\n\nLawmakers did not renew funding for the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP, and the Community Health Investment, Modernization and Excellence Act, called the CHIME Act, which would reauthorize assistance for community health centers.\n\nIn the case of CHIP, California stands to get $2.7 billion annually; under the CHIME Act, community health centers receive more than $600 million a year in direct grants.\n\nThe state and local health clinics won't need to cut back on services just yet. State officials said there's enough CHIP funding on hand to last until the end of the year. The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, which provides federal grants to community health centers, said it expects current funding will also last through December.\n\nSupporters hope Congress will vote on bills to renew both programs in the next couple of weeks.\n\n\"States can\u2019t fund children\u2019s health coverage on promises. They need the funding to come through and they need it now,\" said Kelly Hardy, senior managing director of health policy for the advocacy group Children Now.\n\nIn California, the Department of Health Care Services uses CHIP funding to expand Medi-Cal coverage to two million kids in the state whose parents make about two-and-one-half times the federal poverty level, which is too high to qualify for Medi-Cal. The program also covers pregnant women.\n\n\"To the extent Congress fails to extend CHIP funding, the Administration would work with the state Legislature and [the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] on contingency options, based upon federal guidance and direction,\" Health Care Services said in a written statement.\n\nA loss of CHIP funding would mean a cut to provider reimbursement rates, predicted Lara Khouri, senior vice president and chief strategy officer at Children\u2019s Hospital Los Angeles.\n\n\"If that was substantial enough, we\u2019d be in a situation where we\u2019d have to look at our programs,\" she said.\n\nCommunity health centers say they would also have to make cuts to their staffing and programs. The nonprofit clinics serve mostly Medi-Cal and homeless patients and the uninsured, including those in the U.S. illegally.\n\nAndie Patterson, the director of government affairs for CaliforniaHealth+ Advocates, said it would be hard for clinics to recover from a loss of any funding, since they run on tight budget margins. Community clinics employ more than 30,000 people in the state, she said.\n\n\"It makes no sense to create all these delays and uncertainty in the health care industry, but also in local economies and in local health care settings,\" she said.\n\nSome health advocates blame the last-ditch effort to repeal Obamacare for steering lawmakers' attention away from the CHIP and CHIME deadlines.\n\n\"We had a line of sight to bipartisan support for CHIP before the Graham-Cassidy bill got put on the table,\" said Khouri. \"And unfortunately, we feel that folks were distracted from something that was a clear and shared imperative.\"", "output": "Congress missed its Sept. 30 deadline to renew funding for two health programs for low-income people, despite bipartisan support, and now California is waiting to learn the fate of billions of dollars it needs to keep those programs going.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "San Diego hepatitis outbreak continues to grow: 481 cases \n Add 20 more cases and 22 more hospitalizations to San Diego County\u2019s ever-growing hepatitis A outbreak.\n\nTuesday afternoon the county Health and Human Services Agency raised the number of the outbreak\u2019s confirmed cases to 481 from 461 and hospitalizations to 337 from 315. The death count associated with the outbreak, which started in November 2016, remained at 17 for a second straight week.\n\nFor the last two weeks, the health department has reported having more than 40 cases under investigation awaiting confirmation from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that they suspect are caused by the same unique strains associated with other outbreak cases.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nNo information on the number of cases under investigation was available Tuesday. All of those who have died during the outbreak have had underlying medical conditions such as liver disease. Most were also homeless and/or drug users.\n\nVaccination events continue throughout the city as public health officials focus on those at the highest risk of infection such as health and safety workers and those who work with homeless outreach organizations and food service workers.\n\nHepatitis A infection is seldom fatal unless other complications, such as liver disease or an autoimmune disorder, are already present.\n\nThe hepatitis A virus is shed in human feces and transmitted when a person accidentally comes in contact with fecal matter. Proper hygiene \u2014 hand-washing with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds after using the bathroom \u2014 is sufficient to kill the virus, though alcohol-based hand sanitizer may not be effective. Hepatitis A symptoms include jaundice (yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes), abdominal pain, fatigue, diarrhea, vomiting and nausea.\n\nSisson writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.\n\nALSO\n\nSan Diego legalizes supply chain for marijuana operations\n\nSylmar armory to be converted to year-round housing for homeless women\n\nAllegations that students\u2019 flutes were tainted with semen spark disgust, demands for answers", "output": "Add 20 more cases and 22 more hospitalizations to San Diego County\u2019s ever-growing hepatitis\u00a0A outbreak.\u00a0 Tuesday afternoon the county Health and Human Services Agency raised the number of the outbreak\u2019s confirmed cases to 481 from 461 and hospitalizations to 337 from 315.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Meals on Wheels tests high-tech health checks for seniors \n Meals on Wheels is now not only delivering meals to geriatric clients, but checking after their healthcare.\n\nJust after he finished delivering a meal to 70-year-old Anne Stillman of Vista, a question popped up on Christopher Topper\u2019s smartphone screen.\n\nBefore getting into his truck to head to his next delivery, the Meals on Wheels courier took just a second to respond to the query.\n\n\u201cThe app asks me if there is a change in condition, meaning, is there anything that needs to be reported about her wellness? Anne looks great, I\u2019m going to hit \u2018no\u2019 and, boom, on to the next client,\u201d Topper said just before sliding back behind the wheel.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThat quick tap puts Meals on Wheels on the edge of a revolution in health care that seeks to take action on potential problems in homes before seniors end up in the back of an ambulance.\n\nThis kind of work, experts say, is becoming more vital as baby boomers enter retirement age and advances in health care mean that their parents have a better chance than ever of celebrating their 100th birthdays.\n\nThose age 65 and older were already consuming significantly more of the nation\u2019s emergency department visits in 2014 than they were in 2006, according to an estimate from the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. During that year span, seniors jumped from 16.8 percent of all visits to 18 percent nationwide, an increase of more than 4 million visits in eight years. And demographers expect that trend to accelerate.\n\nSan Diego has recently become something of a hotbed for efforts to stem the tide through prevention, either on the front end by stopping accidents before they happen or on the back end by reducing the chances that hospitalized older patients will be readmitted once they are sent home.\n\nMeals on Wheels, for example, has asked its volunteers and paid couriers to keep an eye on the senior clients they see many times per week. But that oversight has been largely ad-hoc.\n\nHere is the classic opportunity for data-driven change, said Dr. Zia Agha, chief medical officer at San Diego\u2019s West Health, a research and philanthropy non profit.\n\nDinner with a side of health\n\nWest helped add a module to the \u201cSERVtracker\u201d software that many Meals on Wheels operations use to guide their drivers from one home to the next and confirm that each delivery has been made. That \u201chas the client\u2019s condition changed\u201d question is asked each time a driver confirms delivery, and, if they say yes, then the system automatically moves through a list of ever more precise follow-ups, helping to triage the specific problem that needs attention.\n\nOnce that problem is identified, drivers can hit send and the information moves electronically back to headquarters where a care coordinator can take a look often before the driver has left the driveway.\n\nThough Topper did not find anything amiss at Stillman\u2019s mobile home, he said he has had a few cases over the last two and a half months where the software made a difference. In one case, a female client had extreme dental pain and no way to get to a dentist. In another case, he noticed that a woman\u2019s home, which was always meticulously kept, was a mess, indicating she may have been experiencing a mental or physical problem.\n\n\u201cAs soon as you hit the button, lots of people know that there is an issue, and they can get right on it,\u201d Topper said.\n\nSome might wonder what the clients make of the idea that the people who are delivering their meals are also scoping them out for health problems and reporting any that they might observe.\n\nStanding in the doorway of her mobile home, Stillman said she doesn\u2019t consider this kind of observation intrusive. A while back, she said, she would have died due to undiagnosed diabetes if her nephew hadn\u2019t happened to come check on her and saw that she was too weak to walk outside. The paramedic, she said, told her she wouldn\u2019t have lasted another day.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s invasive if you\u2019re truly concerned about somebody, you know,\u201d she said.\n\nDebbie Case, president of Meals on Wheels of San Diego County, said having the incoming information pre-sorted into categories helps elicit a rapid connection to the right resources, whether it\u2019s social services, health providers or transportation networks.\n\nThe system started this spring on single North County delivery route and was used with only a handful of the program\u2019s full-time paid couriers but expanded this summer to include about 40 volunteers serving six routes around the county.\n\nCase said that, in eight weeks of trial operation, volunteers reported 60 changes in condition on 22 of their clients, using the software to immediately send a report which can bring about a response in less than a day in non-emergency situations that otherwise might take several days to sort out.\n\nNow, she noted, the challenge is to expand electronic delivery tracking to the thousands of volunteers who deliver meals across San Diego, and across the country. Most are seniors themselves, and many aren\u2019t that interested in using smartphone apps.\n\n\u201cWe can\u2019t just pull the bandage off or we lose 3,000 volunteers. You have to do it strategically over the next couple of years,\u201d Case said.\n\nEmergencies not the whole story\n\nStill, these kind of problem-interceptor programs are not a panacea, says Dr. Daniel Waxman, a UCLA Los Angeles emergency department doctor and health policy researcher.\n\nPreventive programs, he said, can certainly help reduce visits and costs.\n\nBut most senior emergency visits, he said, are appropriate. In many cases, an older patient may come in with a condition \u2014 vague chest pain, say \u2014 that could be a heart attack or simply the kind of pain that comes with aging blood vessels. People with these kinds of symptoms, Waxman said, need to come in for an immediate workup, even if most will not turn out to be heart attacks.\n\nIt\u2019s what happens after a workup like that where costs can soar, he said. Even if a full workup in the emergency department, complete with electrocardiogram, shows there is no heart attack happening, doctors know that vague chest pain is often reported hours or even days before a heart attack.\n\nThese patients need follow up the next day and if doctors are not confident they\u2019ll get what they need outside the hospital, they admit.\n\nIn 2008, a government report estimated that one in 10 hospital admissions was preventable and that 60 percent of those estimated 4 million hospitalizations were for Americans age 65 and older.\n\nJust over a third of health care expenses for those age 65 and older were on in-patient admissions compared to only 2.3 percent in the emergency room, according to a 2013 report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality\n\nFollowing up\n\nThis reality has not been lost on San Diego health care providers.\n\nSan Diego County\u2019s Aging and Independence Services Department received funding in 2010 to run a local care transitions team that focused on follow-up care after hospitalization for patients with chronic diseases.\n\nThat work, according to a 2015 report, resulted in a 24.7 percent drop in hospital readmissions overall and a 72 percent drop for high-risk Medicare patients.\n\nThough the federally-funded program lost its grant in 2016, many local hospitals have continued the practices they honed while they were in the program. Sharp Grossmont Hospital, for example, tries to connect seniors with whatever services they need after they leave right down to issuing them food bags at discharge.\n\nKaiser Permanente San Diego often creates follow-up appointments before its members leave the emergency department and sets up what it calls \u201cbridge clinics\u201d for patients who have complex needs to visit after they have an emergency.\n\nUC San Diego and West Health are taking things one step further with a pilot program called Acute Care at Home. It identifies stable patients who need attention that might otherwise have meant hospitalization \u2014 say a requirement for intravenous antibiotics to take care of an infection.\n\nDr. Vaishal Tolia, who runs the program, said that about 70 patients have been enrolled in Acute Care at Home since it started last summer. Nurses are assigned to visit the patients in their homes as often as necessary and Tolia said that, so far, there have been no readmissions to the hospital for the same health problem that they were enrolled for.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve found that we\u2019re able to mimic the care that they would be receiving in the hospital, and some end up getting visited by a nurse three times per day,\u201d Tolia said.\n\nHealth Playlist \u00d7 On Now Video: Leaders urge public to help extinguish hepatitis outbreak On Now San Diego starts cleansing sidewalks, streets to combat hepatitis A On Now Video: Scripps to shutter its hospice service On Now Video: Scripps La Jolla hospitals nab top local spot in annual hospital rankings On Now Video: Does a parent's Alzheimer's doom their children? On Now EpiPen recall expands On Now Kids can add years to your life\n\npaul.sisson@sduniontribune.com\n\n(619) 293-1850\n\nTwitter: @paulsisson", "output": "Just after he finished delivering a meal to 70-year-old Anne Stillman of Vista, a question popped up on Christopher Topper\u2019s smartphone screen.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "U.S. Health Care Reform Can\u2019t Wait for Quality Measures to Be Perfect \n U.S. policymakers have been debating health care payment reform. While the Trump administration has yet to weigh in, delaying the move to value-based payment is not an option for three reasons. First, even imperfect measurement and transparency accelerate quality improvement. Second, the act of using measures will improve measurement. And third, returning to fee-for-service is not an option.\n\nThere\u2019s a debate in the United States about whether the current measures of health care quality are adequate to support the movement away from fee-for-service toward value-based payment. Some providers advocate slowing or even halting payment reform efforts because they don\u2019t believe that quality can be adequately measured to determine fair payment. Employers and other purchasers, however, strongly support the currently available quality measures used in payment reform efforts to reward higher-performing providers. So far, the Trump administration has not weighed in.\n\nThe four of us, leaders of organizations that represent large employers and other purchasers of health care, reject any delay in payment reform efforts for the following three reasons:\n\nEven imperfect measurement and transparency accelerate quality improvement. One set of measures often questioned is the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality\u2019s (AHRQ) Patient Safety Indicators (PSIs) used by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and others in value-based payment programs. These indicators measure surgical complications and errors in hospitals, which is critical given that one in four hospital admissions is estimated to result in an adverse event.\n\nInsight Center Transforming Health Care Sponsored by Medtronic How leading providers are delivering value for patients.\n\nPSIs remain among the most evidence-based, well-tested, and validated quality measures available. CMS uses many in its value-based purchasing programs. Use and reporting of PSIs through AHRQ\u2019s Medicare Patient Safety Monitoring System has measurably improved quality. For instance, CMS reported a reduction in inpatient venous thromboembolisms (VTEs) from 28,000 in 2010 to 16,000 in 2014, meaning that 12,000 fewer patients had potentially fatal blood clots in 2014.\n\nIn addition to using quality measures in payment programs and for quality improvement, making measures public is key to accelerating change. \u201cIf transparency were a medication, it would be a blockbuster,\u201d concluded a multi-stakeholder roundtable convened by the National Patient Safety Foundation\u2019s Lucian Leape Institute in 2015. The foundation\u2019s report cited the Leapfrog Group\u2019s first-ever reporting of early elective delivery rates by hospitals in 2010, which galvanized a cascade of efforts to curtail the problem and thus reduce maternal harms and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admissions. This was effective: The national mean of early elective deliveries declined from a rate of 17% to 2.8% in only five years.\n\nUsing measures improves measurement. Providers and health care executives sometimes point to flaws in their medical-record and billing systems as a main reason certain measures shouldn\u2019t be used. As they see it, their performance on the measures isn\u2019t the issue; it\u2019s their medical records or billing coding that\u2019s the problem. They believe these internal systems should be fixed before measures that use this information are applied in payment formulas or public reporting.\n\nBut use of these measures is often necessary to break logjams in correcting the health care industry\u2019s long-neglected weaknesses in data-quality control. Indeed, many of the nuanced imperfections providers criticize were only uncovered by public reporting, which revealed unexpectedly poor performance for some providers, prompting them to research the medical records to find out the reasons.\n\nEven rough measures make a big difference when they are publicly reported. For instance, New York State\u2019s release of surgical mortality data for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) procedures jump-started the movement to define and more carefully collect much stronger measures of CABG outcomes, and today we have many advances in cardiac care and its measurement.\n\nIn the New York example, the success in generating ever better measures \u2014 and more importantly, achieving ever better outcomes for patients \u2014 came about because providers made the changes that saved lives, and they deserve all the credit for that. A thorough, respectful process for building scientific and stakeholder consensus around measures has been orchestrated by leaders like the National Quality Forum (NQF) and the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). Purchasers are committed to partnering in the development and refinement of excellent measures while we advance transparency and payment reform alongside that work.\n\nReturning to fee-for-service is not an option. Given the widely acknowledged waste, heavy costs, and quality-of-care issues produced by the fee-for-service system, the fact that there are rough spots on the road to value-based payment is hardly a justification for slowing down reform. If converting to a more sensible payment system were easy, it would have been done a long time ago.\n\nThe change to performance-based payment and market share requires tenacity and patience. Current quality measures may have rough edges, but stakeholders have worked hard to steadily improve their validity and reliability. Employers and other purchasers, such as those involved in our organizations, must work with forward-thinking colleagues in the health care system to continually improve the measures that publicly signal value. It will be a learning process for providers and purchasers as long as we\u2019re guided by a spirit of transparency.\n\nWhatever the risks of imperfect measurement, America\u2019s first priority must be to eliminate avoidable suffering, mortality, and waste in its uniquely costly health care system. We hope that the Trump administration and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle will continue to recognize what our members see clearly: delaying payment reform is not an option.", "output": "There\u2019s a debate in the United States about whether the current measures of health care quality are adequate to support the movement away from fee-for-service toward value-based payment. Some providers advocate slowing or even halting payment reform efforts because they don\u2019t believe that quality can be adequately measured to determine fair payment.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Why healthcare needs to become even more consumer-focused \n Thanks in large part to digital technology, consumers expect a lot from healthcare these days. Much like what they experience in the retail and consumer goods worlds, they want an easy, seamless, individualized experience -- and what makes healthcare unique are the pressures from governments and employers to lower costs amidst these rising consumer expectations. Becoming more consumer centric is no longer a luxury. It's a necessity.\n\nA new report from Prophet sheds some light on some of the reasons for this shift, and provides some insight into how to make the transition. Hint: Technology is key.\n\n[Also: Kaiser Permanente first in Medicare Advantage consumer satisfaction, study finds]\n\nIn fact, the authors suggest that every healthcare business should think and act like a technology company. Measures of patient dissatisfaction seem to bolster this claim: Prophet found that 81 percent of consumers are dissatisfied with their healthcare experiences, and the ones who are happiest are those who interact with the health system the least.\n\nIt's not hard to see why. The healthcare system has plenty of faults, including insurance plans full of indecipherable jargon, long wait times for appointments and procedures, bills that arrive in the mail months after a visit, and lack of coordination between physicians, insurers and pharmacies.\n\n[Also: Health plans get low marks for patient engagement in new Healthmine survey]\n\nPatients are feeling the burden, according to the report. Rising healthcare costs are expected to outpace population growth at least four times from 2017 to 2020. Meanwhile, there's been an 86 percent increase in worker contribution to to health insurance premiums from 2005 to 2015, and a 67 percent increase in employee deductibles from 2010 to 2015.\n\nAll of that means consumers are becoming more discerning shoppers. They have to be. The time they spend searching for a physician, their ability to schedule an appointment when convenient, their time spent in the waiting room, their appointment follow-up -- all of things become a lot more important when the price tag is so high.\n\nThe shift from volume-based reimbursement models to value-based models is where the rubber meets the road. The continued shift in that direction seems inevitable, and according to Prophet, consumer engagements that keep that keep patients healthier is how healthcare organizations will remain financially stable in the future.\n\nIn fact, payers predict that 59 percent of all payment models by 2021 will be a mix of capitation, pay-for-performance and episodic payment, all various forms of value-based care. This also means that private payers need to be equipped to deliver on risk-based contracts, the authors said.\n\nSo what should healthcare organizations do? A few things.\n\nFor one, healthcare organizations should optimize the entire healthcare journey as a strategic priority, rather than enhancing consumer experiences in one-off initiatives, the authors said. That requires a vision for the organization, hiring the right leaders to take change, and creating a plan to change the experience and win over consumers.\n\nThe healthcare experience also needs to become less fragmented. Fragmentation breeds frustration, inefficiencies and a whole lot of dissatisfaction; what's needed is a healthcare ecosystem.\n\nBeing person-centric rather than population-centric certainly wouldn't hurt, either. Many healthcare organizations currently create products and services for groups of similar consumers, such as those who have share the same condition of demographic. Those products and services, according to Prophet, should be tailored to consumers based on their individual needs.\n\nIt's about giving consumers a voice similar to what they experience in other industries, and also giving them the ability to manage their health in a way that keeps them well and out of the hospital. These shifts, the authors said, will ultimately lower costs and lead to stronger brand loyalty.\n\nTwitter: @JELagasse\n\nEmail the writer: jeff.lagasse@himssmedia.com", "output": "Thanks in large part to digital technology, consumers expect a lot from healthcare these days. Much like what they experience in the retail and consumer goods worlds, they want an easy, seamless, individualized experience -- and what makes healthcare unique are the pressures from governments and employers to lower costs amidst these rising consumer expectations.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GOP budget plan slashes $473 billion from Medicare, $1 trillion from Medicaid over next decade \n Photo from Wikipedia.\n\nSenate Budget Committee Ranking Member Bernie Sanders has released a five-page report showing the Republican plan to cut $473 billion from Medicare and $1 trillion from Medicaid over the next decade.\n\nBillions would be slashed from Affordable Care Act tax credits, making it easier for Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act.\n\n[Also: Community health centers anxiously await budget from Congress]\n\nThe Senate budget plan would take $37 billion out of the National Institutes of Health over the next decade, which would cut funding for Alzheimer's disease, cancer and other critical medical research, the report said.\n\nThe Senate Budget Committee is scheduled to begin a mark-up of the budget proposal Wednesday at 2:30 p.m., and again on Thursday. The plan would then be reconciled with the House budget.\n\n[Also: Draft budget gives HHS additional $14.5B over president's request, cuts additional funding for ACA programs]\n\n\"The Republican budget is a massive transfer of wealth from working families, the elderly, children, the sick and the poor to the top 1 percent,\" the report said. \"Not only would it cut Medicaid by $1 trillion, it would also cut Medicare by more than $470 billion in order to pay for hundreds of billions in tax breaks to the wealthiest people and most profitable corporations in America.\"\n\nThere are also cuts to housing, heating, nutrition assistance, Pell Grant funding, Head Start services and transportation, according to the report.\n\nProposals include cutting $37 billion to affordable housing and the Section 8 rental assistance program, $4 billion in the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, $6.5 billion to the Women, Infant and Children's nutrition program, more than $100 billion, or 33 percent of Pell Grant funding for students and $3 billion from Head Start services.\n\nThe Republican plan would increase the federal deficit by $1.5 trillion over the next decade, which would pave the way for cuts to Social Security, the report said. At the end of the year, if legislation has added to the deficit, the Office of Management and Budget is required to enact an across-the-board spending cut in a sequestration.\n\nSanders, an Independent from Vermont, is a proponent of Medicare for all in a single payer plan for healthcare.\n\nTwitter: @SusanJMorse\n\nEmail the writer: susan.morse@himssmedia.com", "output": "Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Bernie Sanders has released a five-page report showing the Republican plan to cut $473 billion from Medicare and $1 trillion from Medicaid over the next decade.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Community-Based Program Cut ED Visits by Nearly 30% \n The program also reduced hospital admissions and increased the use of primary care doctors.\n\nA community-based program that helped high ED users get things like household resources, access to transportation, and help applying for assistance programs reduced ED visits and hospital admissions, finds new research.\n\nIt also increased the use of primary care doctors, according to the study published in the journal Health Affairs.\n\n\"Many programs have tried to tackle the problem of high utilizers of hospital emergency departments. These are usually people who are on Medicaid,\" the study's first author Roberta Capp, MD, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, said in a statement. \"But this is the first program to show that care coordination actually works.\"\n\nCapp and her team used and evaluated Bridges to Care (B2C), an ED-initiated, community-based program. It was one of four sites funded by a CMS Innovations grant. The program was led by Rutgers University Center for State Health Policy and developed in collaboration with four Colorado stakeholders including an urban academic hospital, a network of 13 local federally qualified health centers, a mental health clinic and a community advocacy organization.\n\nThe B2C program targeted Medicaid-eligible high ED users, defined as adults who had two or more ED visits or hospital admissions within the last 180 days.\n\nThese patients got a personally tailored, 60-day care plan that included housing help, refugee services, and access to transportation. They also got help applying for insurance and disability benefits, setting up medical appointments, and filling prescriptions, among other services.\n\nDuring the six months after B2C enrollment, the participants had:\n\n29.7% fewer ED visits\n\n30% less hospitalizations\n\n123% more primary care visits than the control subjects\n\n\"There is a perspective from multiple stakeholders that high users of the ED are difficult patients,\" Capp said. \"But this study shows that patients use the ED because of there are serious barriers to care.\u201d\n\nThose barriers can include multiple chronic diseases, including mental illness, the authors said.\n\nAlthough care coordination has been shown to reduce costs, other programs aimed at reducing ED usage have been only hospital based and have had mixed results, the researchers said.\n\nThe difference with the B2C intervention is that it combines active ED outreach with multidisciplinary, community-based services, including a care coordinator, a health coach, a behavioral health specialist, a community health worker, and frequent home visits.\n\n\"We believe that our success stems from bringing together different healthcare systems, breaking down silos between disciplines and focusing on continuity of care in the outpatient setting,\" Capp said.\n\n\"We learned that active outreach in the ED is key to ensuring successful high utilizer and enrollment and engagement,\" the study said.", "output": "A community-based program that helped high ED users get things like household resources, access to transportation, and help applying for assistance programs reduced ED visits and hospital admissions, finds new research.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Older-adult patients more likely to disclose suicidal thoughts as they age \n Credit: CC0 Public Domain\n\nSuicide among older adults is a growing public health issue. Conditions associated with aging\u2014chronic pain, diagnosed or perceived terminal illness, social isolation, and the death of friends and family\u2014can push older Americans towards ending their own lives. A new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine shows that 23% of individuals aged 50 and older who died by suicide had disclosed their suicide intent.\n\nUsing 10 years of data from the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), researchers were able to identify key trends about older suicide decedents. They found the older the decedents were, the more likely they were to have disclosed their intent to die by suicide. Decedents who had depressed mood or health problems were more likely to have disclosed, as well as those who had recently received mental health care or undergone substance abuse treatment.\n\n\"Findings that depressed mood, health problems, and other stressors were associated with increased odds of disclosure indicate that suicide may have been prevented by providing the services needed to alleviate these problems,\" explained lead investigator Namkee Choi, PhD, Louis and Ann Wolens Centennial Chair in Gerontology, Steve Hicks School of Social Work at the University of Texas, Austin, TX. \"Healthcare providers need better preparation to screen and aid those in need to prevent suicide.\"\n\nThe study also looked at other aspects of older-adult suicide. The data revealed that disclosure was most often to an intimate partner or other family member, with only a small number talking about suicide to a healthcare professional. In terms of methods of suicide, researchers found that the use of firearms and hanging/suffocation were associated with lower overall disclosure odds. Among firearm users, however, men were more likely to have disclosed than females.\n\n\"Because disclosing suicide intent provides an opportunity to prevent suicide and offer assistance in coping with stressors, the study findings have important clinical implications for increasing disclosure and preventing suicide among older adults,\" said Dr. Choi. Investigators pinpoint four important interventions that may help prevent suicide by the elderly:\n\nHealthcare providers, especially primary care physicians who work closely with older adults, should routinely assess suicide risk and inquire about access to guns and other means of suicide. Evidence-based prevention training programs such as Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training should be considered.\n\nPublic health campaigns aimed at families and other social support systems for elderly patients should discuss suicide warning signs and give information on how to seek help after a disclosure.\n\nHealthcare and social service systems need to ensure that older adults have access to services that address their mental and physical health needs, such as therapy for ongoing emotional turmoil and crisis counseling, palliative care for chronic pain, and affordable and accessible long-term care services for chronic illness and disabling conditions.\n\nOlder adults suffering from depression, mental illness, or substance abuse need tailored treatment services made to suit their specific needs. These services can be integrated into the primary car setting to ease access and reduce the stigma of getting mental health help.\n\nAs suicide rates for older Americans continue to climb, it is crucial to take a close look at this issue and find opportunities for intervention. \"High late-life suicide rates in a rapidly aging society call for more effective ways to identify older adults at risk and provide prevention and intervention services,\" concluded Dr. Choi.\n\nMore information: Namkee G. Choi et al, Older Suicide Decedents: Intent Disclosure, Mental and Physical Health, and Suicide Means, American Journal of Preventive Medicine (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2017.07.021 Journal information: American Journal of Preventive Medicine", "output": "Suicide among older adults is a growing public health issue. Conditions associated with aging\u2014chronic pain, diagnosed or perceived terminal illness, social isolation, and the death of friends and family\u2014can push older Americans towards ending their own lives. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Department of Veterans Affairs Aims to Trump State Telemedicine Rules \n Wednesday, October 4, 2017\n\nThe U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (\u201cVA\u201d) is taking a significant step towards expanding needed services to Veterans by proposing a rule to preempt state restrictions on telehealth.\n\nMost states currently restrict providers (including VA employees) from treating patients that are located in that state if the provider is not licensed there. As a result, the VA has had difficulty getting a sufficient number of providers to furnish services via telemedicine for fear that they will face discipline from those states for the unlicensed practice of medicine.\n\nThe VA has a real need for expanding its telemedicine capabilities as many of its patients are located in rural and underserved areas. The VA\u2019s top clinical priority is mental health, and having more robust telemedicine capabilities could help improve timeliness of treatment (a reputational sore spot for the VA). The VA could also use telemedicine to reach more people in need that may not otherwise seek help. The rule would allow the VA to more evenly distribute care by hiring providers in urban areas where there is larger pool and have them treat in rural areas (via telemedicine).\n\nThe American Medical Association (\u201cAMA\u201d) has expressed support for the proposed rule. Jack Resneck Jr., M.D., Chair-elect of the AMA Board of Trustees, issued the following statement showing the AMA\u2019s support:\n\n\u201cThe AMA supports expansion of clinically validated telehealth services within the VA, and this decision ensures that important patient protections are in place for the delivery of high quality and reliable care. The VA has a unique federally controlled healthcare system with essential safeguards to help ensure that both in-person and virtual beneficiary care meet and exceed the standard of care. The AMA strongly supports that the proposed rule explicitly provides that this program\u2019s multi-state licensure exception applies only to VA-employed providers and would not be expanded to contracted physicians or providers who are not directly controlled and supervised by the VA and would not necessarily have the same training, staff support, shared access to a beneficiary\u2019s EHR and infrastructure capabilities. We applaud the VA\u2019s expansion of telehealth services in a manner that promotes quality and access.\u201d\n\nNot everyone is happy about the proposed rule, however. Some organizations oppose the rule as undermining each state\u2019s ability to govern the practice of medicine within its borders. The concern is that states would have no ability to regulate their citizens\u2019 care under this new framework.\n\nWhile this rule is limited only to VA patients and providers, the hope is that other federal agencies or even states will follow the VA\u2019s lead. Given the importance of increasing access to care and the advances in the delivery of care via telemedicine, it might be time for states to reexamine their restrictive approach to professional licensure.", "output": "The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (\u201cVA\u201d) is taking a significant step towards expanding needed services to Veterans by\u00a0proposing a rule\u00a0to preempt state restrictions on telehealth.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GM more than doubles size of test fleet for self-driving cars \n General Motors' self-driving unit, Cruise Automation, has more than doubled the size of its test fleet of robot cars in California during the past three months, a GM spokesman said.\n\nAs the company increases the size of its test fleet, it has also reported more run-ins between its self-driving cars and human-operated vehicles and bicycles, telling California regulators its vehicles were involved in six minor crashes in the state in September.\n\n\"All our incidents this year were caused by the other vehicle,\" said Rebecca Mark, a spokeswoman for GM Cruise.\n\nIn the past three months, the Cruise unit has increased the number of vehicles registered for testing on California streets to 100 from the previous 30 to 40, the GM spokesman Ray Wert said.\n\nCruise is testing vehicles in San Francisco as part of its effort to develop software capable of navigating congested and often chaotic urban environments.\n\nInvestors are watching GM's progress closely, and the car maker's shares have risen 17 per cent during the past month as some analysts have said the company could deploy robot taxis within the next year or two.\n\nA US senate panel approved legislation on Wednesday that would allow car makers to greatly expand testing of self-driving cars. Some safety groups have objected to the proposal, saying it gives too much latitude to motor manufacturers.\n\nAs Cruise, and rivals, put more self-driving vehicles on the road to gather data to train their artificial intelligence systems, they are more frequently encountering human drivers who are not programmed to obey all traffic laws.\n\n____________\n\nRead more:\n\nHow a hacked robot could cause you harm\n\nMore car makers need to make vehicles upgradeable on the fly\n\nDriverless buses road-tested amid bustle of Parisian financiers\n\n____________\n\nIn filings to California regulators, Cruise said the six accidents in the state last month involved other cars and a bicyclist hitting its test cars.\n\nThe accidents did not result in injuries or serious damage, according to the GM reports. In total, GM Cruise vehicles have been involved in 13 collisions reported to California regulators in 2017, while Alphabet's Waymo vehicles have been involved in three crashes.\n\nCalifornia state law requires that all crashes involving self-driving vehicles be reported, regardless of severity.\n\nMost of the crashes involved drivers of other vehicles striking the GM cars that were slowing for stop signs, pedestrians or other issues. In one crash, a driver of a Ford Ranger was on his cellphone when he rear-ended a Chevrolet Bolt stopped at a red light.\n\nIn another instance, the driver of a Chevrolet Bolt noticed an intoxicated cyclist in San Francisco going the wrong direction toward the Bolt. The human driver stopped the Bolt and the cyclist hit the bumper and fell over. The bicyclist pulled on a sensor attached to the vehicle causing minor damage.\n\n\"While we look forward to the day when autonomous vehicles are commonplace, the streets we drive on today are not so simple, and we will continue to learn how humans drive and improve how we share the road together,\u201d GM said.", "output": "General Motors has doubled the number of self-driving cars it is testing in California through its specialist subsidiary company Cruise Automation. The test fleet now comprises 100 vehicles, up from between 30 and 40 previously, which are operating on the streets of San Francisco to gather data to improve the company's software for navigating busy streets. The company has reported an increase in collisions involving its vehicles, with six minor crashes in September, but blamed all of these on the other party.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US Treasury plans to track assets with blockchain \n The US Department of the Treasury\u2019s Bureau of Fiscal Services has announced that it is piloting the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT) to monitor the movement of physical assets like smartphones and computers. A yet-to-be-named contractor will be hired as a partner in developing the prototype system.\n\nAs part of the project, the Treasury will determine whether its physical assets can be tracked and reconciled in real-time as they are transferred from person to person. It will use Blockchain technology to make digital records of the transfers. The bureau will also study other possible use cases of the technology, particularly in the improvement of processes for the management of government finances.\n\nAccording to Assistant Commissioner John Hill, they intend to identify the opportunities where technological innovations are used to improve efficiency, accountability, and customer service in government agencies.\n\n\"There are many exciting innovations coming out of the commercial sector that can be applied to federal financial management. I hope that these two pilot projects identify the opportunities where the innovations will have the most impact on efficiency, accountability and customer service.\"\n\nBrief profile of the bureau\n\nThe Bureau of Fiscal Services was created through the merger of two separate agencies in 2012. Its main responsibility is to borrow money to finance the government and handle interagency payments and accounting.\n\nOther US agencies testing Blockchain\n\nAside from the Bureau of Fiscal Services, there are already several US government agencies piloting Blockchain projects to improve or streamline their operations. One of these agencies is the General Services Administration (GSA), which trialed the use of the technology in reviewing information technology (IT)-related contract bids from vendors. Another agency is the State Department, which has launched a project to examine the potential of the technology in diplomatic applications.", "output": "The US Department of the Treasury is planning a pilot programme that uses blockchain technology to track office equipment, including smartphones and computers. The project is being pursued by the department's Bureau of Fiscal Services,\u00a0which is examining the potential for distributed ledger technology (DLT) to be used to improve efficiency and accountability in the management of government assets and finances.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurance involvement sees dash cam usage rise \n Sales of dash cams (dashboard cameras) throughout Europe have rocketed in the last few years. The latest figures available show that dash cam sales shot up 918% in the UK alone in 2015.\n\nInitially, consumers were the primary buyers of dash cams, and arguably it was for entertainment (sharing footage on YouTube and social media) but then insurance companies got involved and now LCV (Light Commercial Vehicle) fleets are seeing the benefits too.\n\nThe phenomenon is due in part to insurance companies agreeing to accept dashboard-mounted video footage as evidence in the event of a claim. \u201cCash-for-crash\u201d fraud forced insurers to take drastic action. Not only have they allowed dash cam footage, they have incentivised drivers to self-install the evidence capturing equipment by reducing premiums for those who do.\n\nHowever, enthusiasm for the devices in some European countries has cooled, primarily due to perceived privacy breaches. Luxemburg and Austria, for example, have restricted the use of dash cams to only certain sectors and have collected heavy fines from drivers installing them illegally.\n\n\n\nUK-based logistics management and transport company Wincanton operates a fleet of 250 LCVs and has a mix of dash cam solutions, single channel, forward-facing, plus 360-degree multi-channel camera systems.\n\nCarl Hanson, Wincanton\u2019s fleet director, takes up the story: \u201cIt depends on what you\u2019re looking for. If all you want is something to address insurance claims, then a single, forward-facing camera in each vehicle may be sufficient. But if you want to come at it from a preventative perspective, you\u2019re going to need something that aids drivers.\u201d\n\nIn this case, the dash cams have had a positive impact: \u201cWe\u2019ve been able to reduce our accident rate by 30%.\u201d Hanson declares.\n\nMuch of Wincanton\u2019s LCV fleet operates within the construction industry, in built up areas where hidden obstacles and potential risks are commonplace. So, having a full, 360-degree view around the vehicle helps increase visibility of vulnerable road users and eliminates blind spots. The system enables drivers to be aware of pedestrians, cyclists, straying animals, plus it acts as a driver aid, helping with difficult manoeuvring when no one is around to assist.\n\nIn addition to resolving insurance claims quickly, the next stage for fleets is camera integrated telematics.\n\nSays Hanson: \u201cCameras record events but telematics is about avoidance and prevention. It has to support driver engagement positively.\u201d\n\nHe is keen to point out the importance of linking the rollout of dash cams into an overall safety and behavioural change program.\n\n\u201cGet drivers involved and demonstrate the safety benefits for them and not merely the \u2018Spy-in-the-cab\u2019 scenario.\u201d He says.\n\nHanson also highlights another important issue to consider - complacency.\n\n\u201cThe thing to watch out for is that drivers get used to the cameras and in some cases quickly forget about them and regress into old habits. Any improvements in their driving could be short-term. Telematics gives you the ability to monitor driver behaviour over the long-term.\u201d\n\nIt also provides the data needed to make informed decisions about where, when and what action needs to be taken.\n\nBut like all technology, telematics is only a tool. It provides the data but if that data is not acted on, long-lasting driving habits cannot be changed.\n\nWhen thinking about what system to invest in, Wincanton\u2019s Hanson advises the following:\n\nThink about the benefits you want to achieve \u2013 is it safety or financial gain?\n\nConsider the risks your fleet faces daily and how likely these things are to happen.\n\nHow many miles does your fleet drive and are those journeys mostly motorways or urban?\n\nAlso, how will you view the footage? Does it have to be instant (streamed) or will recorded suffice?\n\nThe positioning of cameras needs to also be thought through carefully. They tend to move, or be knocked by drivers or other in-cab personnel, which could deactivate the recording function.\n\n\n\nUnder its brand name RoadHawk, TrakM8 offers a multi-camera system that can deliver high-quality streamed video and audio using the cellular network. It also supports GPS and G-Force data.\n\nUK-based vehicle recovery company The AA runs a fleet of 3000 LCVs, mostly Transit and more recently Custom and Courier-types. The company relies on a telematics system supplied by TrakM8 but no dash cams currently, although they are beginning trialled. Why so late to the table?\n\nStuart Thomas, Head of Fleet and SME Services, The AA, explains: \u201cWe were early adopters of telematics technology. Our fleet is complex and we carry a lot of equipment. It is comprised of very specific, specially kitted out vans that have beacons and we need to know when they are on and off. We have recovery trailers in the van and we need to be alerted as to when they are deployed and when a driver is towing, how long he has stopped for, where he is.\u201d\n\n\u201cOur need for telematics data has always been far stronger than the insurance issue for us. However, now that integrated dash cam and telematics systems are available, we are beginning to trial them so this may change.\u201d\n\nAndrew Tillman, fleet strategy director at TrakM8, has been selling dash cams since they first launched and strongly believes that for LCV fleets telematics/dash cam integration is a \u201cno brainer\u201d: \u201cInstead of having to collect an SD card, with this system you can access footage from a specific date and time so if an accident happened at around 2pm on Thursday, you can request that exact footage, say 10 minutes either side of that. It negates having to watch hours of video to reproduce and analyse collision data.\u201d\n\n\n\nLondon-based provider of textile maintenance services Berendsen, which operates a 680-strong mixed fleet, claims to have cut carbon emissions by 2,000 tonnes a year by introducing a fleet and driver efficiency programme underpinned by OptiDrive 360 and TomTom Telematics\u2019 integrated telematics and fleet camera solution. The system scores and provides feedback to drivers on a range of performance indicators (fuel consumption, speeding, harsh braking and steering).\n\nDash cams have their place in LCV fleets but they must be viewed by fleet managers and drivers as an aid, not a spy or source of entertainment.", "output": "Cameras installed on dashboards of vehicles have seen increasing usage since insurance companies have promoted their adoption. In particular, the willingness of insurance providers to use dash-cam footage when assessing a claim is behind the rise in the use of the cameras. This has allowed claims to be paid out with greater ease, something greatly benefiting operators of large fleets of vehicles. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Oxford PV to receive EIB funding for German perovskite pilot site \n UK perovskite technology developer Oxford Photovoltaics Ltd (Oxford PV) is poised to get financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB) for its pilot site in Germany.\n\nThe bank is considering providing EUR 15 million (USD 17.6m) for the project, which will turn an existing PV thin-film module factory in Germany into a \"first-of-a-kind\" plant for the production of tandem silicon-perovskite PV cells.\n\nOxford PV, a spin-out of Oxford University, announced the acquisition of the pilot line in Brandenburg, Germany in late 2016. EIB says on its website the site will allow the company to demonstrate its perovskite technology at full wafer scale in pilot volumes and deploy perovskite on silicon tandem cells. The total cost of the project is EUR 30 million.\n\nOxford PV has been backed by investors including Statoil ASA and Legal & General Capital in its drive to commercialise its perovskite-based solar technology that is set to boost the performance of ordinary solar cells. At the end of 2016 the company announced a joint development agreement with an unnamed global manufacturer of solar cells and modules.\n\n(EUR 1 = USD 1.174)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "British perovskite technology company Oxford PV is expected to be provided $17.6m by European Investment Bank for a trial project in Germany. The operation will convert a PV thin-film module factory into a production plant for\u00a0tandem silicon-perovskite PV cells."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Remixpoint offers bitcoin payment option for energy bills \n Remixpoint, a Japanese company engaged in a number of energy-related businesses, has recently launched a new electricity service with bitcoin payments integrated to serve customers all over Japan. The company is now offering customers who pay with bitcoin a discount on their electricity bills. Bitcoin payments are processed by the company\u2019s cryptocurrency exchange subsidiary, Bitpoint.\n\nAlso read: Russia Proposes Adding Cryptocurrency to the Population\u2019s Financial Literacy Strategy\n\nIntegrating Power Business with Bitcoin Payments\n\nEstablished in March 2004, Remixpoint is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and has a market capitalization of approximately 57 billion yen at press time. The company engages in a number of energy-related businesses such as developing and selling energy management systems; energy conservation consulting; selling energy-saving equipment; and electricity retailing.\n\nIn February 2016, Remixpoint developed a retail electricity business centered on high-voltage clients in the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) service area. This service was expanded across Japan in August this year. The company subsequently expanded its retail electricity business to service low-voltage consumers beginning on October 1. Low-voltage customers include households, corporations, and retailers.\n\nAlong with the new service, Remixpoint also announced the integration of bitcoin payments into its new offering. Bitcoin is not only accepted for electricity payments, but the company offers discounts for customers paying with the digital currency. The company wrote:\n\nPayment of utility bills in virtual currency has already been introduced.\n\nBitcoin payments are made through the company\u2019s subsidiary, Bitpoint, a cryptocurrency exchange and payment service provider.\n\nLast week, Bitpoint became one of the first eleven bitcoin exchanges in Japan to be granted registration as a \u201cvirtual currency exchange\u201d by the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA). In May, the exchange partnered with Peach Aviation to bring bitcoin payments to the airline and its affiliated stores. In addition, Bitpoint partnered with Evolable Asia to bring bitcoin payments to over 1,400 hotels and inns across Japan.\n\nAt the \u201cEnergy Innovation Japan 2017\u201d event last week, the company promoted its new service, stating:\n\nWe introduce a new scheme that makes maximum use of the integration of the power retailing business and virtual currency exchange management\u2026By using our electricity service, we propose a total cost reduction from existing services by introducing bitcoin and energy-saving equipment.\n\nService Areas\n\nIn Japan, the electricity market is divided up into 10 regulated companies. They are Chugoku Electric Power Company; Chubu Electric Power Company; Hokuriku Electric Power Company; Hokkaido Electric Power Company; Kyushu Electric Power Company; Kansai Electric Power Company; Okinawa Electric Power Company; Tohoku Electric Power Company; Shikoku Electric Power Company; and TEPCO.\n\nRemixpoint purchases electricity from all of the aforementioned power companies except one, Okinawa Electric Power Company. Through the nine power companies, Remixpoint is able to provide electricity to customers all over Japan.\n\nPromoting Cryptocurrency Payments\n\nIn its announcement, Remixpoint stated that its target customers are corporations and retailers, citing tough competition for ordinary households. \u201cLow-voltage customers in the retail electric power market have small electricity bills compared to high-voltage customers,\u201d the company detailed, noting that the savings are minimal when additional costs such as \u201cinvoicing and transfer fees\u201d are included.\n\nThe company, therefore, opened an account at Bitpoint to enable customers to pay with bitcoin and save on fees. According to reports, customers can save up to 3 percent in fees using this option. The company added:\n\nWe will promote the spread of virtual currency settlement in Japan by developing payment services that take advantage of the strength of reducing remittance and settlement costs, which is the original value of virtual currencies.\n\nWhat do you think of Remixpoint\u2019s strategy to integrate bitcon payments with its power business? Let us know in the comments section below.\n\nImages courtesy of Shutterstock, FECP, Tepco, and Remix Point.\n\nNeed to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.\n\nThe post Large Japanese Energy Supplier Adds Bitcoin Payments With a Discount appeared first on Bitcoin News.", "output": "Japanese firm Remixpoint has launched an integrated service allowing customers across the country to pay their electricity bills with bitcoin. The service offers\u00a0savings of up to 3% on fees for those who use it. The transactions will be processed by Remixpoint subsidiary Bitpoint, which\u00a0the Japanese Financial Services Agency\u00a0recently granted the status of \"virtual currency exchange\". Bitpoint has also partnered with Peach Aviation and Evolable Asia to bring bitcoin payments to Japan's airline and hotel sectors.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australia urged to legalise\u00a0drink-driving in autonomous cars\u00a0 \n Uber drivers could one day be spared from engaging in small talk with drunks if a National Transport Commission suggestion to allow people under the influence of alcohol to use fully automated vehicles is adopted by state road authorities.\n\nThe NTC, an independent statutory body tasked with reforming Australia\u2019s driving laws to prepare for the arrival of driverless cars, has recommended an \u201cexemption\u201d from drink and drug-driving laws for people who ride in fully automated vehicles.\n\nIn a new discussion paper it argues there is a \u201cclear-cut\u201d justification for an exemption from drink-driving laws because there is \u201cno possibility that a human could drive a dedicated automated vehicle\u201d.\n\n\u201cThe situation is analogous to a person instructing a taxi driver where to go,\u201d the NTC report states.\n\nState traffic laws prohibit driving under the influence of varying levels of alcohol but the NTC says they could be a \u201cbarrier\u201d to the benefits of driverless vehicles, which it argues could improve road safety by reducing the incidence of drink-driving.\n\nAdvocates of the new technology argue its largest benefit would be reducing Australia\u2019s road toll. There are about 1,300 deaths in Australia every year and the vast majority are caused by human error.\n\nHowever, it recommend the rules remain in place for semi-autonomous vehicles or those that allow manual driving.\n\nWhile individual states and territories set road rules, the NTC provides a model for nationally consistent laws.\n\nIt has been tasked with grappling with the enormous regulatory overhaul required to respond to the introduction of driverless-vehicle technology, which some estimate could be on roads in Australia by 2020.\n\nThat includes the question of who is liable in the event of driverless vehicle malfunction that results in an accident and to what extent a person in an autonomous vehicle is deemed to be in control.\n\nCurrent laws assume that a person is in control of a vehicle but the NTC believes that should be changed so that a person \u201cwould not expect to be held responsible for contraventions of the laws\u201d while an automated vehicle was engaged.\n\n\u201cTo hold the human responsible may restrict the introduction of automated vehicles into Australia and unnecessarily deny or delay the many potential benefits of the technology,\u201d the NTC found.\n\nInstead, the law should be changed so that the automated driving system itself was legally responsible.\n\nThe NTC is due to make recommendations for reforms at the 2018 transport and infrastructure council meeting of Commonwealth, state and territory transport ministers.\n\n\n\nVarious states and territories have legislated to allow trials of driverless-vehicle technology in recent years.\n\nSouth Australia passed legislation last year, while New South Wales passed legislation to allow its own trials in August.", "output": "Australia's National Transport Commission (NTC) has said there should be no drink-driving limitations imposed on people using fully automated vehicles, but current rules should still apply for partially automated cars. The proposal is part of the independent statutory body's attempts to overhaul the country's regulations ahead of the wider deployment of self-driving vehicles, which some predict could be as soon as 2020. The NTC will present its recommendations next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IBM insists Watson should not be regulated as a medical device \n IBM to Congress: Watson will transform health care, so keep your hands off our supercomputer\n\nTo the public, IBM trumpets its Watson supercomputer as the next big thing in medicine, a new kind of machine that melds human expertise with digital speed to give patients personalized treatment advice.\n\nMeanwhile, in the halls of Congress, company executives have been delivering a blunter message: We will revolutionize patient care, so please get out of the way.\n\nadvertisement\n\nLike any new technology, Watson poses unknown risks; for example, what if its advice is wrong and harms a patient? But IBM argues that its machine doesn\u2019t need to be regulated because it\u2019s different from other medical devices. It\u2019s not like a pacemaker or a CT scanner, so the company shouldn\u2019t have to prove to the government that it\u2019s safe and effective.", "output": "IBM has been trying to persuade the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that its Watson supercomputer does not need the same regulatory oversight\u00a0that medical devices are subject to. The FDA is set to release guidelines on which software products will be exempt from the forthcoming 21st Century Cures Act. The impending legislation\u00a0prompted\u00a0IBM to launch a $26m\u00a0lobbying campaign seeking a \"common-sense regulatory distinction between low-risk software and inherently higher risk technologies\". Critics have said IBM's artificial intelligence algorithms are still not widely understood, blur decision-making between man and machine,\u00a0and should be subject to regulation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brisbane airport to become biojet refuelling port \n PRESS RELEASE\n\nBrisbane is set to become one of a handful of hubs around the world for sustainable aviation fuel, under an agreement supported by the Palaszczuk Government between Virgin Australia and US-based biofuel producer Gevo.\n\nPremier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the biojet trial was yet another show of confidence in Queensland\u2019s growing biofuel industry.\n\n\u201cBiojet is a proven fuel source, one that is already bringing Virgin Australia flights into Brisbane from Los Angeles,\u201d the Premier said.\n\n\u201cBy establishing Brisbane Airport as a biojet refuelling port, we can help open another key market for our cane farmers and biofuture pioneers alike.\u201d\n\nThe Palaszczuk Government has already signed a biofuel agreement with the US Navy as part of its Great Green Fleet initiative, which is a commitment by the US to source 50% of its fuel needs from renewable sources by 2020.\n\n\u201cThe biorefinery projects currently under development across Queensland have the potential to create 1100 jobs when they are operational,\u201d the Premier said.\n\n\u201cTo get up and running, industrial-scale biorefinieries need a critical mass of customers to supply.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s why it\u2019s vital to get big industries like aviation and defence on board as potential customers.\u201d\n\nState Development Minister Dr Anthony Lynham said biojet can be produced from a range of organic materials, including sugarcane bagasse, molasses, wood waste and agave.\n\n\u201cSome of the existing refinery projects being developed in Queensland will have the capability to produce biofuel for commercial aviation,\u201d Dr Lynham said.\n\n\u201cThis partnership between the Virgin Australia Group and Gevo, Inc. has the potential to draw even more proponents into the industry, as demand for biofuels grows.\n\n\u201cThat means more demand for sugar cane, and more jobs in agriculture and biofutures across our regions.\u201d\n\nWork on using biojet as a complementary fuel source to conventional jet aviation fuel has been underway for more than a decade, and the fuel is now being supplied at airports at Oslo and Los Angeles, including on Virgin Australia\u2019s services from Los Angeles to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.\n\nDr Lynham said that the project showed the Queensland Government\u2019s Biofutures Roadmap was paying dividends.\n\n\u201cQueensland has a vision for a $1 billion biofutures sector by 2026,\u201d Dr Lynham said.\n\n\u201cSince the launch of our Biofutures Roadmap in June 2016 we have directly supported 15 new biofutures projects, including today\u2019s announcement.\n\n\u201cQueensland\u2019s bio-industrial revolution is here, and the dividends it\u2019s going to pay our state in jobs and economic growth will mean a greener and more prosperous future for all Queenslanders.\u201d\n\nVirgin Australia Group CEO John Borghetti said this initiative built on Virgin Australia\u2019s commitment to be a leader in the commercialisation of the sustainable aviation fuel industry in Australia.\n\n\u201cThe agreement announced today is critical to testing the fuel supply chain infrastructure in Australia to ensure that Virgin Australia and Brisbane Airport are ready for the commercial supply of these exciting fuels,\u201d Mr Borghetti said.\n\nBrisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) Acting CEO Stephen Goodwin said the initiative was clearly aligned with BAC\u2019s strategy to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions produced as a result of airport operations.\n\n\u201cEnergy efficiency and increased use of renewable energies are the foundations of BAC\u2019s emissions reduction program, so we are enthusiastic supporters of this initiative as it will help reduce Brisbane Airport\u2019s carbon footprint even further by assisting the airlines to reduce their emissions,\u201d Mr Goodwin said.\n\n\u201cWe applaud the Queensland State Government, Virgin Australia and Gevo Inc for their foresight and commitment to sustainability and we\u2019re pleased to be affiliated with this exciting partnership and the home base for this world-first initiative.\u201d\n\nCEO of Gevo, Inc., Dr Patrick Gruber, said that although his company would initially supply jet fuel from its hydrocarbon plant based in Texas, and derived from isobutanol produced at its commercial isobutanol plant located in Minnesota, there would be significant opportunities for production in Queensland.\n\n\u201cWhen I visited Queensland last year for the Biofutures Industry Forum, I discovered the depth and diversity of your agriculture sector,\u201d Dr Gruber said.\n\n\u201cWe believe Queensland offers huge potential for low-cost sugar feedstocks to produce biofuels. It really opened our eyes to Queensland\u2019s potential for sustainable aviation fuels based on Gevo\u2019s alcohol-to-jet technology.\u201d\n\nThe partnership has received positive recognition from the aviation sector\u2019s global peak body, the International Air Transport Association (IATA).\n\n\u201cWe applaud the policy vision of the Queensland Government to support aviation\u2019s desire to advance the deployment of sustainable jet fuel,\u201d said the CEO of IATA, Alexandre de Juniac, from the IATA offices in Switzerland.\n\n\u201cEffective collaboration between airlines, producers, airports and policy makers is crucial to accelerate the deployment of sustainable jet fuel and this project is a great example that can benefit the entire industry.\u201d\n\nMedia Contact:\n\nPremier\u2019s Office: Geoff Breusch 0417 272 875\n\nMinister Lynham\u2019s Office: Jan Martin 0439 341 314", "output": "Brisbane aims to become a hub for sustainable aviation fuel following a deal between\u00a0Virgin Australia and US-based biofuel producer Gevo. Brisbane joins\u00a0airports in Oslo and Los Angeles capable of providing biojet fuel to airlines. Queensland is trying to establish itself as a hub for bioproducts with a goal of generating $1bn from the sector by 2026."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Xiaomi plans base in Indonesia to expand its 'golden triangle' \n Xiaomi has announced plans to set up a permanent business entity in Indonesia.\n\nIndonesia is pushing for foreign firms that have internet-based services there to set up local companies for the purpose of tax compliance.\n\nSpeaking at the Xiaomi Way of Innovation event in Jakarta, CEO/founder Lei Jun said Indonesia was the company\u2019s \u201cmost important\u201d market after China and India.\n\nInternational Data Corporation (IDC) data for the first quarter of this year ranked Xiaomi, which entered the smartphone market in 2010, the fifth-largest smartphone manufacturer in the world. It has a presence in more than 60 countries and last month shipped a record 10 million smartphones, thanks to growing demand in India.\n\nLei said Xiaomi was mostly known in Indonesia as a smartphone manufacturer, but he wanted to change that by taking more of the firm\u2019s products mainstream. Xiaomi was also an internet and e-commerce company, he said.\n\nHe referred to the company\u2019s business model as a \u201cgolden triangle\u201d as it was propped up by three key elements: hardware, internet and retail.\n\nXiaomi\u2019s products include robot vacuum cleaners, rice cookers, washing machines, scooters, toys and desk lamps.\n\n\u201cHopefully in the future Xiaomi\u2019s ecosystem of products can deliver a great impact on Indonesian users and producers.\u201d", "output": "Xiaomi is setting up a permanent unit in Indonesia as the company views the country as\u00a0the \"most important\" market after China and India and wants to be known for more than just a\u00a0smartphone maker but also for its hardware, internet and retail abilities, or \"golden triangle\", as the company's\u00a0CEO\u00a0Lei Jun describes it.\u00a0Xiaomi is now the fifth largest smartphone manufacturer\u00a0globally, with presence in over 60 countries, according to\u00a0International Data Corporation,\u00a0thanks in particular to its growing demand in India."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "American Family to integrate drone software with claims system \n One major insurance carrier already has a program underway to train claims adjusters to visit accident sites and fly drones to gather data.\n\nAmerican Family Insurance started working on developing a drone program around 2013, and the company now has a \u201cbatch\u201d of adjusters training to fly unmanned aerial vehicles at the sites where clients have reported property damage or other losses, according to Taylor Horsager, UAV chief pilot and instructor for American Family.\n\nHorsager was speaking on drones in the insurance industry on Wednesday at the Drone World Expo in San Jose, Calif., which runs through Thursday.\n\n\u201cWe see drones as an opportunity to service people faster and more effectively,\u201d Horsager said.\n\nAmerican Family is currently working on a research and development project to develop hardware and software for drones, which will eventually be directly integrated it into the carrier\u2019s claims system, he said.\n\nHe said the plan right now is to keep the process straightforward, as in teaching an adjuster to go to a site and operate a drone via a cellphone.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re looking at the technology on the market and trying to do things as simply as possible,\u201d he added.\n\nThe company is currently conducting \u201cproof of concept\u201d testing, and creating a check list for adjusters who are going out to a site that includes basic check boxes on a list like: Is it safe to fly? Do I have permission from the property owner?\n\nIt\u2019s a start, but it appears the company is already beefing up to be a big user of drones.\n\nAsked how many American Family adjusters have been trained on drones, he only offered \u201ca small batch\u201d in response.\n\n\u201cWe are in proof of technology mode,\u201d he said, adding that there are issues to be overcome and \u201cthe technology is not there yet.\u201d\n\nOne challenge is the visual line of site rule implemented by the Federal Aviation Administration, which requires an operator to be able to see the drone with the naked eye at all times. That makes it hard to gather data for large sites.\n\nHowever, the said the sky may literally be the limit for what drones can do in the insurance industry, according to him.\n\n\u201cWe definitely have a potential of scaling, and definitely have a potential of having third-party needs,\u201d he said.\n\nThe moderator on the panel was Kathleen Swain, senior director of UAS programs for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.\n\nShe believes that if more drones were already deployed by the industry, money could have been saved by getting adjusters out to disaster sites to gather information to pay claims earlier.\n\n\u201cAfter hurricanes Harvey and Maria, we really see how important it is to get that technology up and running,\u201d she said.\n\nBeverly Adams, head of catastrophe planning and response with Guy Carpenter, views drones and their advanced data collection capabilities as an opportunity to get the insurance industry \u201ca seat at the table\u201d before disasters happen instead of responding to them.\n\nShe noted that many national disaster plans don\u2019t even mention insurance, but that the industry should be invited to partake in such planning.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve almost got to earn our stripes,\u201d Adams said.\n\nIn fact, she said she envisions the need for drones to grow to the point where many insurers will need to seek out third-party providers to fill demand.\n\n\u201cWe know right now that we\u2019re not going to be charging vast amounts of money to do this,\u201d she added, addressing her comments to those potential providers in the audience who may entertain working with her company. \u201cThese are risk surveys.\u201d\n\nJessica Magill, who works with Swain as an account executive at AOPA, said she\u2019s seen a \u201cdrastic change in the market\u201d in just the last 18 months, when she fielded a call from a drone pilot who wanted to make a change on his policy.\n\nThat got her to learn about drone insurance and she\u2019s been embedded in it ever since. At that time she got the call, AOPA could only offer customers two choices for policies: a $1 million liability policy, or a $500,000 liability policy.\n\nAnd they had only one carrier to work with back then.\n\nNow they\u2019re working with five carriers, \u201cand we\u2019ve got more coming on board,\u201d she added.\n\nThe firm can also now offer liability for damage caused by a drone, but also coverage for the drone itself, and underwriters are starting to open up to covering a broader range of drone operations, she said.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s really changed and it\u2019s really kind of cool to see how our carriers have changed and how they are viewing the risk,\u201d she said.\n\nSwain put in that as more carriers have entered the drone insurance world, they\u2019re coming in with a lot more to offer insureds.\n\n\u201cA lot of times we\u2019re seeing open peril, no exclusion policies come to market,\u201d Swain said. \u201cCarriers are stepping up to the plate and offering policies with no exclusions.\u201d\n\nDrone VCs\n\nA surefire way to figure out how bright the future is for the drone business is to follow the money.\n\nThat\u2019s just what one group of experts discussed on a panel titled \u201cFollow the Money: Exploring the Drone Investment Climate.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe last few years there\u2019s been a noticeable venture uptick in investing in drones,\u201d said panel moderator Jonathan Evans, co-president of Skyward, a venture-backed software company based Portland, Ore., which was recently acquired by Verizon.\n\nThe other panelists were: Yoshi Iwakami, a partner in World Innovation Lab; Ashley Carroll, a partner in Social Capital; Bilal Zuberi, a partner in Lux Capital; Jake Kaldenbaugh, a technology M&A banker at Growthpoint Technology Partners; and Tammi Smorynski, a director with Intel Capital.\n\nZuberi agreed with the assessment that investments in drones have picked up in recent, but he believes tha tover the past year or more that more venture capitalists are wanting to see more revenue being produced by what is so far a small number of successful drone companies before putting more money into the industry.\n\n\u201cI think all the major VCs at this point have an investment in drones,\u201d he said.\n\nHe said some of the smaller drone companies may be struggling to find capital, while \u201cthere\u2019s a lot of money for later-stage companies.\u201d\n\nFor now, much of the backing for the industry is waiting for more success stories, he said.\n\n\u201cI think there\u2019s a lot of companies sitting in valuation between $40 and $100 million and they\u2019re still trying to figure things out,\u201d he said.\n\nStill, he said there\u2019s a bright horizon for drones.\n\n\u201cBut if you take the long-term perspective, drones are going to be around for a long time and they\u2019re going to be an important part of the economy,\u201d he said.\n\nHurricanes Harvey and Irma\n\nDrone response to hurricanes Harvey and Irma seemed to play an important enough role to demand a panel on it at the conference.\n\n\u201cWhen Harvey first happened in it became apparent pretty quickly that drones were going to be part of the story,\u201d said Christopher Korody, principal with DroneBusiness.center, an information website focused on drones.\n\nKorody was a moderator for the panel to discuss the response to these disasters. Others on the panel were Justin Adams, director of business development for Kovar and Associates, Tony Eggimann, captain of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District, Dyan Gibbens, CEO and founder of Trumbull Unmanned, Bradley Koeckeritz, chief of the UAS division for the of the U.S. Department of the Interior, and Art Pregler, UAS program director of AT&T.\n\nAdams was an early responder to both Harvey and Irma.\n\n\u201cThe biggest challenge I know we had was controlling airspace,\u201d he said. \u201cWe tried to control airspace very quickly.\u201d\n\nHe said he and his team during Harvey had to go to the FAA to get flight level authorizations and to restrict drone flights from other operators to prevent interference.\n\nOne of their big tasks following the disaster was separating fact from fiction. The drone team often flew over areas to confirm or deny that rumored flooding had occurred there.\n\n\u201cIt was more rumor control,\u201d he said.\n\nWhen all was said and done, he and his team provided 2.8 terabytes of data to Fort Bend County, Texas, where they were surveying.\n\nKoeckeritz, who noted that the Department of the Interior is a steward for \u201cabout one-fifth of the landmass in the United States,\u201d and therefore a big user for drones, said the department deployed 12 pilots and their drones to Harvey.\n\nFlight missions included data processing, flood inundation mapping and damage assessment.\n\nOne of the biggest benefits of the drone missions was cost avoidance, he said, adding that they saved \u201cthousands of dollars\u201d from having to use boats to go in and assess flooded areas.\n\nSaving costs and time spent deploying boats to areas that may or may not have been flooded was also a major takeaway for Eggimann.\n\nHe and his team of drone operators were OK\u2019d to head to Wharton, Texas to conduct search and rescue reconnaissance.\n\nDuring their time responding to Harvey, they deployed a drone to map out a plan on how to deploy boats. They sent out the drone to gather information on where to go with the boats, and then began preparing to deploy.\n\n\u201cAs the guys were getting the boats up and running, the drone came back and we were able to download images and devise a plan,\u201d Koeckeritz said.\n\nHe said that using drones is something his department plans to do more often. The department started a UAS program roughly three years ago, and now has five trained pilots, with what he thinks is a need to train as many as a dozen more.\n\nPregler said AT&T deployed drones for both Harvey and Irma.\n\nThe drones provided valuable information to assess the damage to communications systems in both areas and report back.\n\nHowever, in one case a drone proved a bit more useful than as a mere information conduit, when the drone team came across an area without power that was disconnected from fiber optic cable across the river.\n\n\u201cWe pulled the fiber optic cable across the river to establish connectivity,\u201d he said.\n\nRelated:\n\nTopics Carriers Flood Tech Aviation Market", "output": "American Family Insurance is working on a development project to allow the integration of drone software directly into its claims operations. At present, the firm has trained a small number of its claims team to fly drones over sites which clients have reported are damaged. The firm is, however, still in a \"proof of technology\" phase regarding widespread drone use, according to its unmanned ariel vehicles chief pilot Taylor Horsager. He added larger sites are also harder to assess using drones due to laws requiring the vehicles be in line of site at all times. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon opens new office, creates 2,000 jobs \n Amazon continues to make serious inroads into the advertising business. Its latest move: a new office in Manhattan that it says will bring 2,000 jobs, mostly in advertising, to the city \u2014 and closer to Madison Avenue. Multiple media agency executives in New York said they\u2019ve been hearing more from Amazon reps who are trying to sell them and their clients on Amazon advertising. Another executive said he\u2019s hearing from Amazon more, and Amazon has hired programmatic specialists from his agency in New York.\n\nAmazon\u2019s sales team for advertising is growing fast: It\u2019s different from other platforms in that its team works cross-functionally across advertising and retail. For larger brands, Amazon has dedicated teams. The company has had a team in New York for many years but also has big ad presences in other places including Tokyo and Paris \u2014 \u201canywhere there are ad agencies in place,\u201d said Saurabh Sharma, director of programmatic at Amazon.\n\nAmazon is increasingly trying to pitch to what the company dubs \u201cnon-endemic\u201d advertisers \u2014 brands that don\u2019t sell on Amazon. Asked what he considers a challenge, Sharma mentioned that push, adding that it\u2019s not really a challenge, but an opportunity. Non-endemic advertisers would cover, for example, brands in categories like cable, wireless, airlines or restaurants. \u201cThere are opportunities to bring that value,\u201d said Sharma.\n\nAmazon\u2019s ad buckets cover everything from search (the sponsored products that appear when people search for things on Amazon.com), to more traditional display in the form of banner advertising, to newer video advertising or device-based advertising on Kindle, or through its new streaming service for entertainment. There\u2019s also what is known as \u201ccustom\u201d advertising, which could include anything from a full homepage takeover of Amazon.com on Black Friday to using Amazon boxes themselves as ad inventory.\n\nSharma said more advertising offerings are coming. The company is doing more with other pieces of \u201cinventory\u201d such as Amazon Lockers, self-service kiosks that let customers pick up Amazon packages, as well as starting to offer TV-like advertising for its new streaming service on Prime Vide, which includes \u201cThursday Night Football.\u201d (The kickoff Bears-Packers matchup had 1.6 million viewers initiating the stream in late September.)\n\n\u201cTo really go after the Google and Facebook duopoly, [Amazon needs] to think outside of just product advertising,\u201d said one agency buyer who works with Amazon. \u201cRetail is just one piece of online business overall.\u201d\n\nGeico, a non-endemic advertiser, advertises within Amazon\u2019s \u201cThursday Night Football,\u201d for example, said Sharma. Another example is Hyundai, a non-endemic brand that did a custom test-drive campaign called \u201cPrime Now. Drive Now.\u201d\n\nThat push for non-endemic brands is most of what the \u201ceducation\u201d piece for agencies is around. \u201cWe\u2019ve been hearing from them more,\u201d said Nicholas Pappas, CEO at indie media shop SwellShark, who works with brands including Applegate, Virgin Atlantic, Spike and Dos Equis. \u201cWe\u2019ve been discussing ways to bring more non-endemic partners onto Amazon advertising, and we\u2019re excited.\u201d\n\nSharma said Amazon\u2019s big competitive advantage as a platform is that it is about the intersection of e-commerce and advertising. \u201cIt\u2019s not only about being able to place ads in the right place and right time; it\u2019s also the right relevance,\u201d he said. At a high level, Amazon offers measurement metrics from impressions and clicks to deeper data on sales information, full shopping journeys and things like a customer\u2019s worth over a lifetime. E-commerce and marketing at Amazon go hand in hand \u2014 the platform does plenty of consulting with brands and agencies on what it calls \u201cretail readiness.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe can tell you how a campaign does, but in order to do something about it, you have to do something beyond advertising,\u201d said Sharma. So agencies and brands have to be trained on things like creating the right product page, making sure inventory is in stock and policing reviews, according to agency execs.\n\nBut the key with non-endemic brands is that you can\u2019t necessarily sell them on straight display or search advertising. So along with training programs for items sold on Amazon, agencies are also hearing more about how to do advertising for brands not sold on Amazon. \u201c[Amazon] has to educate planners on how to use data,\u201d said one exec. For example, a non-endemic brand can examine what else its customers buy to create a fuller picture of who their customer is. One agency, for instance, is working with a real estate company and looking for data on people shopping on Amazon.com for moving boxes.\n\n\u201cAdvertising for us is another big area \u2026 in terms of tech,\u201d said Sharma. \u201cLike Amazon Web Services can provide tech solutions for other developers, for people building on our cloud, within ad tech we can bring the same value to agencies \u2014 as a tech leader.\u201d", "output": "Online retail giant Amazon is adding to its New York and Paris advertising teams with an office in Manhattan, where it plans to employ up to 2,000 staff. The company is making its presence felt in the advertising sector, with media agency executives claiming that Amazon's team contacts them frequently. Amazon is expanding its suite of advertising offerings and increasingly targeting non-endemic advertisers, such as restaurants or airlines, said Saurabh Sharma, director of programmatic at the company."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tokio Marine teams up with Pand.ai for life insurance chatbot \n Tokio Marine Life Insurance Singapore (TMLS) has launched an AI chatbot in Singapore, in a bid to simplify life insurance and make it more accessible to the public. The chatbot\u2019s name is TOMI and stands for Tokio Marine Insurance. It was built in collaboration with local AI startup Pand.ai.According to the statement, the technology behind TOMI is called Deep Learning for Natural Language Processing (Deep NLP). The technology is able to interpret sentences regardless of length and grammatical accuracy, compared to the traditional NLP approach which only interprets short phrases and sentences.This capability allows TOMI to understand grammatically inaccurate sentences, and even Singlish.\"This sets TOMI apart from many other chatbots, which rely primarily on keyword recognition or require grammatical accuracy from users,\u201d the statement added.The chatbot builds on the success of an earlier version released in January, which was launched for its financial advisers. The current version is targeted towards users to increase understanding and enable users to manage their insurance coverage more independently.This is through the provision of users with instant and accurate explanations of commonly-used terms in insurance, information on TMLS products and solutions. The chatbot also looks to serve as a potential touch point for those looking to join the industry as a financial adviser with TMLS.The move will also be supported by regional headquarters Tokio Marine Asia (TMA), which will be exploring the potential extension of TOMI and its functionalities to other regional markets in Asia.\u201cConversations play an important role in how a customer buys and consumes life insurance products. As customers\u2019 behaviour shift towards digital, we see intelligent AI-powered chatbots as a natural evolution of websites and mobile apps, and will eventually become a dominant digital channel in how a customer interacts with an insurer,\u201d James Tan, CEO of TMLS, said.Marketing has reached out to TMLS for additional comment.", "output": "Tokio Marine Life Insurance Singapore has introduced a chatbot to aid customers. The bot is said to rely less on perfect grammar and sentence construction than other virtual assistants. The firm worked with artificial intelligence firm Pand.ai to develop the bot. The chatbot will be used in providing information to clients regarding their policies while also providing on-demand explanations of commonly-used insurance terms. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SEC plans fiduciary rule with DOL involvement \n Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton told lawmakers on Wednesday that the agency is drafting a proposal for a fiduciary rule.\n\nThe agency is trying to catch up with the Department of Labor, which partially implemented its own fiduciary rule in June and is currently conducting a review of the regulation\u2019s enforcement mechanisms as ordered by President Donald J. Trump that could lead to revisions. The SEC is currently receiving public comments about a fiduciary rule.\n\n\u201cThe next step in anything like this would be a rule proposal. We\u2019re working on such a proposal,\u201d Mr. Clayton said in an appearance before the House Financial Services Committee. \u201cWe\u2019re going to work with the Department of Labor. If this were easy, it would already have been fixed.\u201d\n\nAs he did in testimony before the Senate Banking Committee last week, Mr. Clayton outlined the rubric that he would use for a fiduciary rule. It must preserve investors\u2019 choice to use a broker or investment adviser, be clear, and apply consistently to all types of investment accounts. It must also be the product of cooperation between the SEC and DOL, whose rule requires brokers to act in the best interests of their clients in retirement accounts only.\n\nMr. Clayton said he is \u201cconfident\u201d the agency can propose a rule that \u201caddresses those core issues and that has a standard that protects investors that they understand.\u201d\n\nHe declined to provide a timeline for when the measure might be released.\n\nThe SEC is currently operating with only three of its normal complement of five commissioners. Mr. Trump has nominated Republican Hester Peirce and Democrat Robert Jackson to fill the two openings. The Senate Banking Committee has not yet scheduled a confirmation hearing. It\u2019s unlikely the SEC would advance a fiduciary rule before Ms. Peirce and Mr. Jackson come on board.\n\nMr. Clayton reassured Republican lawmakers that the SEC would address concerns they have raised about the DOL fiduciary rule. Republicans and financial industry opponents assert that the measure, finalized during the Obama administration, is too complex, increases litigation risk and will force brokers to abandon investors with modest retirement accounts because of the increased costs of providing fiduciary advice.\n\nSupporters of the DOL rule maintain that it would mitigate broker conflicts of interest that lead to the sale of inappropriate high-fee investment products that erode savings.\n\nOne of the most strident GOP critics, Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., touted the bill she introduced last week that would kill the DOL rule and replace it with a disclosure-based best-interests standard for brokers. The legislation directs the SEC to write the rule, putting the agency in the driver\u2019s seat on the regulation of investment advice, instead of the DOL.\n\nMr. Clayton aligned himself with Ms. Wagner.\n\n\u201cA lot of the themes that you outlined are themes that I have, which is [investor] choice,\u201d he said.\n\nNear the end of the hearing, which lasted more than three-and-a-half hours, Rep. John Delaney, D-Md., asked Mr. Clayton whether he supported the DOL rule.\n\n\u201cI like the words,\u201d Mr. Clayton said, referring to the DOL rule\u2019s goal of reducing brokers\u2019 conflicts of interest. \u201cThe question is, are we going to implement it in a way that adversely affects choice?\u201d", "output": "The US Securities and Exchange Commission is drafting a proposed fiduciary standard rule, according to its chairman Jay Clayton. The SEC is working with the Department of Labor (DOL) in establishing the new legislation. The DOL's own fiduciary rule, finalised in 2016, was criticised for being complex and having the potential to lead brokers away from all but the largest retirement accounts due to the fiduciary duty it placed on intermediaries. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK firms lag US counterparts in understanding benefit of robotics \n Today, Redwood Software, has revealed that businesses in the US consider robotics more important than organisations in the UK, with 19% of UK businesses ranking the technology as a \u2018top priority\u2019, compared to over 30% in the US.\n\nIn fact, while 64% of UK survey respondents see robotic process automation (RPA) as important to their wider IT strategy, over three quarters of US businesses answered the same, again placing them in the number one spot.\n\n>See also: The robots keep rising as AI-driven business transformation evolves\n\nHowever, the research does also reveal similarities in robotic uptake over the last year, as both the UK (62%) and U.S. (78%) participants admitted RPA has become \u2018more of a priority\u2019 for them in this timeframe.\n\nA lack of buy-in from leadership\n\nThe research also highlights a worrying lack of understanding from those in senior positions across the UK, with just 20% of businesses believing their company\u2019s management understands the essentials. This demonstrates quite a difference to the US market, as 34% of businesses believe their management are pioneers of robotics.\n\nNeil Kinson, chief of staff at Redwood Software, commented: \u201cWhile it\u2019s great to see an increase in the number of businesses across both the UK and U.S. that have prioritised RPA over the last 12 months, there\u2019s still a lot to be done to educate those at management level as to the benefits of software robotics.\u201d\n\n>See also: The secret behind scaling RPA across the enterprise\n\n\u201cWithout buy-in from those in senior positions the success of automation within a business will be limited. And not only buy-in from the c-suite but from across the business in general. The impact of understanding the benefits of automation will see a significant shift in the overall culture of the company and attitude towards the technology. Most importantly, every employee will understand how robotics can help them in their role and day to day tasks.\u201d\n\nWhen asked to consider whether they felt 80% or more of business processes could be automated using RPA in the next five years, just 12% of UK organisations agreed, while almost 50% more US businesses agreed.\n\nRobotising the digital transformation\n\nDespite the research unveiling many differences between the American and English robotics landscapes, one fundamental area that both agree on is the role of robotics in achieving digital transformation. Overall, 83% of the IT decision makers surveyed believe RPA is an \u2018essential\u2019 or \u2018key part\u2019 of their digital transformation.\n\n>See also: 5 steps to successful RPA implementation\n\nUnsurprisingly, the top reasons for favouring the role of robotics in the digital transformation process included cost saving (59%), increased agility (54%) and scalability (43%). In addition, 32% of US and UK businesses referenced RPA as bringing improved customer satisfaction to their transformation strategy.\n\nSupporting the understanding that RPA plays an essential part in digital transformation, the research revealed that over two thirds (80%) of organisations involved in the survey have a robotics process automation strategy in place, with 82% using RPA to automate business processes.", "output": "A fifth of UK businesses say their management understands the importance of robotic process automation (RPA), compared with\u00a034% in the US, according to a survey by Redwood Software. While 64% of UK firms think RPA should be part of their wider IT planning, three-quarters of their US counterparts did, the study found. \"There\u2019s still a lot to be done to educate those at management level as to the benefits of software robotics,\" said Redwood\u00a0chief of staff\u00a0Neil Kinson. The study also revealed that 83% of UK and US IT managers believe RPA is crucial to their digital transformation."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "India to allow transactions between digital wallets \n There has been a boom in India\u2019s e-wallets industry lately, but most such apps\u2014and thereby, their users\u2014have been siloed. Due to a lack of interoperability, users of one wallet app can transact only with those who use the same app. So they are left in a fix as they need to maintain separate wallets for separate services.\n\nOn Oct. 4, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said it will allow e-wallets of private firms to interoperate. So, users of one app will now be able to transact with users of a different app. This facility is currently functional under the state-owned Unified Payment Interface (UPI), available only to banks and those e-wallets built on the UPI platform.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nE-wallets interoperability will be allowed within six months to those compliant with know your customer (KYC) norms, RBI announced under its developmental and regulatory policies.\n\nSome platforms have been more open all along. For instance, Flipkart-owned PhonePe partners with YES Bank to access the UPI platform, BookMyShow\u2019s wallet accepts payments from multiple wallets, and Google Tez uses the UPI platform to function as an extension of one\u2019s bank account. But once RBI allows interoperability, several others like Paytm, MobiKwik, FreeCharge, Ola Money, and Amazon Pay, too, will be able to do it.\n\nRBI\u2019s decision comes amidst a massive market opportunity\u2014India\u2019s digital payments scene is slated to surpass Rs30,000 crore ($4.6 billion) by the end of 2022. However, hardly any player has achieved profitability yet. To add to the pressure, competition is getting fierce in an already overcrowded market: A slew of public and private players, from the government to myriad fin-tech companies to messaging apps are vying for customers\u2019 wallets.\n\nThe central bank\u2019s move may well be the catalyst for India\u2019s digital payment companies who have long sought interoperability.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nPaytm welcomed RBI\u2019s move towards openness saying it \u201cshould act as a strong boost for digital payments ecosystem in India.\u201d \u201dFor the user, this means they do not have to download another wallet if they already have MobiKwik (or any other),\u201d Bipin Preet Singh, founder and CEO of MobiKwik, told Quartz. \u201cThey can pay across the merchant network of any other pre-paid payment instrument. This helps us widen our reach and brings enormous value to our business.\u201d Ola and Amazon did not respond to Quartz at the time of publishing.\n\nE-wallet firms have always claimed that banks have an unfair advantage in the digital payments ecosystem as bank-to-bank fund transfers are as easy as sending a text message, thanks to UPI. For transferring funds via UPI, customers don\u2019t even need to remember the Indian Financial System Code (needed for online bank transactions) or bank account details.\n\nThe Ratan Watal Committee, tasked by the government with suggesting measures to encourage e-payments, had recommended in December that e-wallet players be open to interoperability to improve user convenience and their own market share.", "output": "The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is set to allow interoperability between digital wallets provided by different firms within six months, provided they comply with regulations. Companies will be granted access to the state-owned Unified Payment Interface, which is currently only available to banks and a handful of digital wallets. The decision follows a recommendation made last December by the Ratan Watal Committee and lobbying from e-wallet firms, which claimed the move would improve the user experience."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ecobank unveils mVisa-based Scan+Pay cashless payments in Africa \n Ecobank launches mVisa in 33 countries across Africa\n\nEcobank Scan+Pay with mVisa delivers instant, secure cashless payment for goods and services by allowing customers to scan a QR code on a smartphone or enter a unique merchant identifying code into either a feature phone or smartphone\n\nHow to make payments with mVisa. (Image source: Visa)\n\nThe strategic tie-up signals interoperability on a cross-border level, and potentially huge gains, as it affords consumers with the ability to use their mobile phone to directly access the funds in their bank accounts to pay person-to-merchant (P2M) or person-to-person (P2P).\n\nEcobank Scan+Pay with mVisa delivers instant, secure cashless payment for goods and services by allowing customers to scan a QR code on a smartphone or enter a unique merchant identifying code into either a feature phone or smartphone. The payment goes straight from the consumer\u2019s bank account into the merchant\u2019s account and provides real-time notification to both parties. This serves to accelerate digital commerce and combat some of the challenges merchants have faced using traditional point of sale systems, including the cost of installation coupled with the requirement of electricity and internet connectivity.\n\nEcobank mVisa solutions also enable customers to send money instantly to any Visa cardholders worldwide. This is a major innovation that serves the needs of Africans in the diaspora by enabling them to simply link their Visa card to the Ecobank unified mobile app to send money home to another Visa cardholder quickly and securely.\n\n\u201cWe are fulfilling our commitment to give every African the right to participate effectively in the global economy at an affordable price and in a convenient manner. Ecobank Scan+Pay with mVisa helps merchants \u2013 particularly small and micro merchants \u2013 to grow their sales without the risks of carrying cash whilst also giving consumers the ability to pay for goods and services in a cashless manner from their phones. Consumers can also conduct person-to-person payments and instantly transfer money to their friends and family via their phones at very low cost,\u201d said Ecobank Chief Executive Officer Ade Ayeyemi.\n\nThe partnership demonstrates both Ecobank and Visa\u2019s continued commitment to provide financial services to the banked and unbanked in Africa by leveraging digital platforms to offer convenient and affordable payment mechanisms.\n\nAndrew Torre, President for Visa Sub-Saharan Africa said, \u201cWe are glad to partner with Ecobank to bring mVisa into the market, a mobile payment solution with real benefits to drive digital transformation backed by advantages of Visa\u2019s global network - security, reliability and global acceptance, allowing consumers to make payments both domestically and internationally.\u201d", "output": "Ecobank has partnered with Visa to launch its Scan+Pay secure mobile payment solution throughout 33 African nations. Users can make\u00a0instant payments for goods and services, as well as peer-to-peer and international transfers, to any other Visa cardholder via a\u00a0mobile phone. Also, businesses using the system as a point of sale don't need to install additional, expensive hardware. Ecobank said its Scan+Pay with mVisa solution, which is built on QR code technology,\u00a0is aimed at bringing digital financial services to Africa's banked and unbanked populations.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Retailer Jumia launches Nigeria's first e-commerce chatbot \n Jumia introduces Nigeria\u2019s first e-commerce robot, Jumia Bot\n\nThe Jumia Bot works by asking customers what they\u2019re looking for and then using their answers to find the best offers\n\nJumia Bot, Nigeria's first e-commerce bot. (Image source: Jumia)\n\nJumia introduced JumiaBot on 2 October, Nigeria\u2019s first e-commerce Bot. Using Jumia Bot, shoppers can order food, find fashion or electronic items and book hotels and flights by simply having an online conversation with the bot.\n\nThis innovation, powered and hosted by Facebook Messenger, will offer Nigeria\u2019s 18 Million Facebook users the ability to get their own personal Jumia shopping assistant directly on Facebook Messenger. For example, to get access to the best hotel and airfare deals on Facebook Messenger, a user can simply provide his or her preferred date and destination to the bot in order to see the top recommendations.\n\nOnce a user\u2019s criteria is selected, Jumia Bot will remember and use the research for his or her next order. The bot, developed by Jumia with support from Facebook, uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and natural learning process to hone in and learn users\u2019 preferences over time in order to make recommendations that are personalised, timeline and useful to the shopper. The shopper\u2019s post-order experience is also integrated into Jumia Bot. As a result, shoppers can track their orders and contact the Customer Service team for follow-up questions.\n\n\"When we launched Bot for Businesses on Messenger, our goal was to help companies make meaningful connections with their customers in order to meet their business goals.\u201d said Emeka Afigbo, Head, Platform Partnerships, Middle East and Africa at Facebook. \u201cWe are excited to be part of the story in providing technology solutions to one of Africa\u2019s leading e-commerce websites.\u201d\n\nIn a statement on the significance of this new service, Juliet Anammah, CEO Jumia Nigeria said, \u201cJumia Bot has a very simple yet important objective: to help our customers get to personalised deals on Jumia Nigeria. We are pleased to unveil this new dimension of e-shopping for the Nigerian customer, and excited about helping to pioneer the next wave of local content and tech tools within our ecosystem.\u201d", "output": "Nigerian online retail firm Jumia has launched Jumia Bot, the country's first-ever e-commerce chatbot. Operating via Facebook's Messenger app, the bot is aimed at the 18 million users of the social media platform in Nigeria, and uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to offer an increasingly tailored shopping service over time. \"JumiaBot has a very simple yet important objective: to help our customers get to personalised deals on Jumia Nigeria,\"\u00a0said Juliet Anammah, CEO of the retailer.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Starling bank follows rival Revolut into business banking \n Starling Bank has followed rival banking challenger Revolut into business banking. The fintech disruptor will target entrepreneurs, sole-traders and small business owners.\n\nStarling is now accepting registrations from interested businesses, and will open to a group of closed testers towards the end of the year. It plans to take the product live in early 2018.\n\nKey features of the service will include same-day set up (free of charge), round the clock customer service availability and access to Starling\u2019s marketplace, which is comprised of an integrated array of technology services. Via the marketplace, businesses will be able to link their bank account to their invoicing and accounting services. Businesses will also be able to categorise transactions. Payment services, including real-time Faster Payments and international payments, will also be included.\n\n\u201cAt the heart of Starling Bank is an understanding of our customers and their passions,\u201d said Anne Boden (pictured), founder and CEO of Starling. \u201cFor a large number of our customers, that passion is a side hustle or small business that they run alongside their nine-to-five. What\u2019s therefore become apparent is that a hugely underserved group of people exist who need more than a personal current account but aren\u2019t quite a small business.\u201d\n\nStarling\u2019s closest competitor in what Boden terms the \u201cside hustle\u201d space will be Curve, which caters to business owners, directors, freelancers and contractors across Europe. The firm raised $10m in a series A fundraise in July, with global banks Santander InnoVentures and Investec participating in the round. Starling is backed by $70m in venture funding from a single Bahamas-based investor named Harald McPike.\n\nRevolut launched its business-facing service in June, landing a number of FTSE 100 companies, including two international airlines. Revolut\u2019s business banking service costs between \u00a325 and \u00a31,000 per month, depending on the package, and is compatible with 25 currencies.\n\nStarling and Curve appear to be going after smaller business operations, leaving Revolut to battle it out with incumbents.\n\n\u201cWe are focused on sole traders and small businesses because the banking industry hasn\u2019t offered something tailored for them,\u201d said Sarah Guha, product director at Starling Bank.", "output": "London-based disruptor Starling Bank is set to offer business banking to entrepreneurs, sole-traders and small business owners. CEO Anne Boden wants to target a \"hugely underserved group of people who need more than a personal current account but aren\u2019t quite a small business\". Starling is looking to offer services including 24/7 customer service availability, access to the bank's marketplace and same day, free set-up. The company will test the product on a small group at the end of this year with a view to going live in 2018."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Study tests whether robots can influence insects to help humans \n Robots help ants with daily chores so they can be accepted into the colony. Credit: Dr Bertrand Collignon\n\nTiny mobile robots are learning to work with insects in the hope the creatures' sensitive antennae and ability to squeeze into small spaces can be put to use serving humans.\n\nWith a soft electronic whirr, a rather unusual looking ant trundles along behind a column of its arthropod comrades as they march off to fetch some food.\n\nWhile the little insects begin ferrying tiny globules of sugar back home, their mechanical companion bustles forward to effortlessly pick up the entire container and carry it back to the nest.\n\nIt is a dramatic demonstration of how robots can be introduced and accepted into insect societies.\n\nBut the research, which is being conducted as part of the EU-funded CyBioSys project, could be an important step towards using robots to subtly control, or work alongside, animals or humans.\n\n'The idea is to be able to solve (a) problem with a better solution than they (the robots and insects) can produce individually,' said Dr Bertrand Collignon, who is leading the research at the \u00c9cole Polytechnique F\u00e9d\u00e9rale de Lausanne, in Switzerland.\n\nThe robots, which 'live' with the ants, pick up signs that food has been discovered through a camera mounted inside the nest. The camera alerts the robots when it detects an increasing numbers of ants are departing \u2013 a sign that food has been found.\n\nThe robots \u2013 reprogrammed off-the-shelf Thymio bots managed by simple Raspberry Pi computers \u2013 then use sensors to follow the columns of exiting ants. Once the ants have led their robotic counterparts to their discovery, the robots take over, using their superior muscle power to lug it home.\n\nDr Collignon described this as a 'cyber-biological system', which improves both on the natural order, and on what robots could achieve on their own. By getting ants and robots to collaborate, each community plays to its strengths, he says.\n\n'The ants are good at exploring the environment very efficiently, with many scouts patrolling the vicinity of the nest at the same time,' said Dr Collignon, who is a Marie Sk\u0142odowska-Curie action fellow. 'But individual ants are not able to transport large amounts of food and some can get lost between the food and the nest.'\n\nRobots are like pack animals in comparison, carrying an order of magnitude more food than an ant can, and accomplishing in a few minutes what would have taken the ants hours.\n\nDr Collignon believes it is the first project to consider an insect swarm as a biosensor and then embed in a robot the ability to extract data from the colony.\n\nBut he also believes this research could be combined with other work teaching robots to communicate with animals. Instead of relying on top-down instructions\u2014like a shepherd dog herding sheep\u2014this would work by subtly influencing them from a position as one of the group.\n\nAs many social insects such as ants and bees can form aggressive colonies that normally do not respond well to outsiders, influencing them from within may offer a new approach.\n\nIn a previous EU-funded project, LEURRE, a team pioneered the creation of small mobile robots that could interact with cockroaches and influence their collective behaviour.\n\nWhen kept in a pen together, cockroaches will gradually gather under the same dark shelter. They achieve this simply by following two rules: stay close to other cockroaches, and head for somewhere dark.\n\nBut when the researchers released small robots into the pen programmed with slightly different rules\u2014stay close to other cockroaches but prefer a lighter refuge\u2014in time the cockroaches, along with the robots, gathered in the lighter shelter instead.\n\nDr Collignon believes that the two types of robotic work \u2013 collaboration and communication \u2013 could find applications in search and rescue, exploring environments too dangerous or inaccessible for humans. Eventually, small animals could be used to get into restricted environments such as collapsed buildings.\n\nBy integrating artificial systems, such as robots, into more natural ones \u2013 such as a warehouse full of chickens \u2013 it could lead to new solutions to help control animal behaviour on farms. An example might be preventing deadly mass panic attacks amongst intensively reared animals by using robots that can detect the early signs of an impending stampede and diverting one by behaving in a different way.\n\n'The first step is to be able to track what natural agents are doing and react appropriately to that,' he said. 'That's already a tricky thing. Once you have sensed what nature is doing, you can then interact. The robotic agent can do what it has been designed for and then act on the system.'", "output": "Researchers at Switzerland's \u00c9cole Polytechnique F\u00e9d\u00e9rale de Lausanne are deploying tiny robots in insect colonies to see whether machines could be used to subtly alter group behaviour to the benefit of humans. The team placed reprogrammed Thymio bots in a colony of ants to see if ant and machine can work together when finding food. The experiment is part of the European Union-funded CyBioSys project, and scientists said future applications could include search-and-rescue scenarios."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "YouTube changes algorithm after Las Vegas shooting fake news \n SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 YouTube has changed its powerful search algorithm to promote videos from more mainstream news outlets in search results after people looking for details on the Las Vegas shooting were served up conspiracy theories and misinformation.\n\nYouTube confirmed the changes Thursday. It didn't say how it decides which news sources are authoritative.\n\nIn the days after the mass shooting, videos abounded on YouTube, some questioning whether the shooting occurred and others claiming law enforcement officials had deceived the public about what really happened.\n\nSearching for \"Las Vegas shooting\" on YouTube led many people to these videos, some of which claimed it was a \"false flag,\" a term conspiracy theorists use to refer to mass shootings they believe were staged by the government to promote gun control.\n\nLaw enforcement officials say Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock acted alone, opening fire Sunday from the 32-second floor of the hotel. The attack killed 58 people and injured nearly 500. Paddock shot and killed himself as police tried to break into the room.\n\nJake Morphonios, who runs the End Times News Report, championed the theory of a second shooter on the fourth floor of the Mandalay Bay casino. He says he presented a \"fact-based analysis of the evidence\" and insists \"there is nothing offensive in my videos.\" But Morphonios says he received a strike from YouTube for violating its community standards. YouTube takes down accounts that get three strikes in three months.\n\nAs a result, Morphonios told YouTube viewers he deleted all of the Las Vegas videos.\n\n\"I hated to do it, but if I get any more strikes, my entire channel is going to be deleted,\" he said in a video explaining the decision.\n\nMore:Portrait of a killer: Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock remains an enigma to police\n\nMore:Las Vegas shooting: Answering 4 common questions\n\nMore:We don't know Stephen Paddock's motive. Does it matter?\n\nMore:Vegas killer's girlfriend: He was 'a kind, quiet caring man'\n\nPublic outcry over YouTube videos promoting conspiracy theories is just the latest online flap for the major U.S. Internet companies. Within hours of the attack, Facebook and Google were called out for promoting conspiracy theories, with one anonymous message board misidentifying the shooter and claiming he was an anti-Trump Democrat.\n\nPaddock's motives still aren't clear. He was a retired accountant with a taste for high-stakes poker. His brother, Eric Paddock, said he wasn't aware of any religious or political affiliations.\n\nMore:Google search spread wrong info from 4chan on Las Vegas shooting suspect\n\nMore:Google looks for Russian meddling in election after Twitter slammed\n\nMore:Facebook political ads are coming out of the shadows \u2014 why you should care\n\nThis isn't the first time fringe content has plunged YouTube into controversy. Major brands pulled spending on YouTube earlier this year after reports surfaced that their ads were running next to extremist videos.\n\nYouTube is one of the Internet's most popular destinations for video. People now watch more than 1 billion hours of videos a day on it.\n\nHelping drive that popularity is the \"Up next\" column which suggests additional videos to viewers.\n\nThe Wall Street Journal found incidents this week in which YouTube suggested videos promoting conspiracy theories next to videos from mainstream news sources. YouTube acknowledged issues with the \"Up next\" algorithm and said it was looking to promote more authoritative results there, too.\n\nMore:Las Vegas survivors have been through hell. And it's not over.", "output": "YouTube has made changes to its search algorithm after people attempting to learn about the Las Vegas shooting on Sunday, that resulted in the deaths of 58 people, were directed to conspiracy theories and fake news. The changes will seek to promote more mainstream news, but YouTube has not indicated how it will determine which sources are authoritative. Facebook and Google have also been criticised for promoting conspiracy theories about the shooting. Earlier this year, brands removed ads from YouTube after it merged that they were running alongside extremist videos."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurtech Pie Insurance launches in US following $4.3m fundraise \n Pie Insurance, a direct distribution workers\u2019 compensation Insurtech business, has launched today at InsureTech Connect. Pie Insurance said it had closed on a $4.3 million seed round led by Sirius Group, Moxley holdings and Elefund.\n\nSirius Group, is a global specialty insurer and reinsurer with $2.9 billion in capital and an A.M. Best \u201cA\u201d rating; Moxley Holdings os an early stage VC for data-enabled businesses; and Elefund, is an early stage VC with seed investments in FinTech businesses such as eShares and Robinhood.\n\nPie Insurance\u2019s co-founder and CEO is John Swigart, who was part of the executive team that led Esurance from start-up to $1.3 billion in premiums and sale to Allstate for $1 billion in 2011.\n\nThe company\u2019s initial service is an interactive Price Predictor tool that allows SMEs an improved insight into their workers\u2019 compensation insurance rates. In 2018 Pie expects to begin offering its own A.M. Best \u201cA\u201d rated insurance policies.\n\nThe tool is said to be a \u201ctangible demonstration of Pie\u2019s commitment to innovative and transparent insurance solutions for U.S. small business owners.\u201d The company states that 90% of small businesses in many industries are overpaying for workers\u2019 compensation.\n\nThe Pie Price Predictor tool is said to be the first of its kind to be tailored for SMEs, assessing the range each business should be paying for insurance and the market average from a few user-submitted pieces of information. It leverages Pie\u2019s pricing algorithms and is powered by Valen Analytics, an Insurity company.\n\n\u201cThe SMB market is often overcharged and underserved when it comes to meeting their commercial insurance needs,\u201d stated Swigart. \u201cThe traditional high-touch approach agents and underwriters use in commercial lines lead to high prices and a protracted customer experience. Yet, the profitability in this sector indicates that small accounts are subsidizing larger accounts at most insurance companies. By focusing exclusively on small businesses with a digitally enabled solution, Pie will solve this problem at scale.\u201d\n\nJoel Moxley, General Partner with Moxley Holdings, said he believes Pie can become a meaningful player in the $100 billion SME insurance market.", "output": "Pie Insurance, an insurtech focusing workers' compensation, has launched following the closing of its seed funding round. The firm raised $4.3m from the round, which was led by Sirius Group, Moxley holdings and Elefund. The firm will initially offer a service to small and medium-sized businesses allowing enterprises to monitor workers' compensation insurance rates. It plans to offer its own insurance policies by 2018.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's Guirenniao to buy a part of Prince Global Sports trademark \n Chinese sportswear maker Guirenniao Co. Ltd. plans to acquire part of the trademark rights of U.S.-based Prince Global Sports LLC for $20 million.\n\nThe deal will give Guirenniao the rights to Prince trademark assets, including its websites and social media, the rights to develop and sell Prince-branded products in Greater China, including in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, as wells as in South Korea.\n\nPrince is a famous manufacturer of tennis rackets, footwear and apparel. However, the private company has undergone financial challenges and filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012.\n\nThe deal can help the Chinese buyer diversify its brands and markets, the company said in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Saturday.\n\nGuirenniao, which is popular in smaller cities in China, said it will make use of Prince\u2019s assets and will target high-end consumers in first- and second-tier cities.\n\nTrading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, where Guirenniao lists, is closed during the week-long national holiday between Oct. 1 and Oct. 8.\n\nContact reporter Coco Feng (renkefeng@caixin.com)", "output": "China's Guirenniao is to buy a portion of the trademark rights of\u00a0struggling US-based Prince Global Sports, which would give the Chinese sportswear maker the rights to Prince trademark assets such as its social media, websites and rights to develop and sell Prince products in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and South Korea. Prince, famous for its tennis rackets, filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Severe turbulence to increase due to climate change \n Climate change is set to increase the amount of severe turbulence on planes by 2050 to 2080, according to a study.\n\nResearchers at the University of Reading in England analyzed supercomputer simulations of the future atmosphere, focusing on clear air turbulence. As it is invisible, clear air turbulence is seen as being especially problematic.\n\nFor nervous fliers, the numbers contained within the research do not make for comfortable reading.\n\nThe study projects that severe turbulence at a typical cruising altitude of 39,000 feet is set to rise by roughly 181 percent over the North Atlantic; 161 percent over Europe; 113 percent over North America; 92 percent over the North Pacific; and 64 percent over Asia.\n\nAustralia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) describes severe turbulence as being characterized by large and abrupt changes in altitude or attitude (relating to an aircraft's orientation), as well as \"large variation in indicated airspeed.\" During severe turbulence, an aircraft \"may be temporarily out of control,\" the CASA adds.", "output": "Climate change will raise the amount of severe turbulence experienced on aeroplanes by 2050 to 2080, according to a study by the University of Reading. For aircraft cruising around 39,000 ft, it suggests potential increases of 181% over the North Atlantic, 161% over Europe, 113% over North America, 92% over the North Pacific, and 64% over Asia. Severe turbulence, large and abrupt changes to altitude, causes hundreds of passenger injuries annually and is a well-known risk for flight attendants. Lead researcher, Professor Paul Williams, said the study \"highlighted the need to develop better turbulence forecasts\".\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MassMutual introduces data-powered mortality risk system \n SPRINGFIELD, Mass., and OAKLAND, Calif.,, Oct. 04, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) announced today the launch of LifeRisk 360 \u2013 an exciting new digital initiative that will utilize cutting-edge data science techniques to create the first individual mortality risk scoring system of its kind for the life insurance industry.\n\nThe LifeRisk 360 initiative is headed by Sears Merritt, MassMutual\u2019s Chief Data Scientist, and draws on machine learning and artificial intelligence methodologies, as well as hundreds of millions of data points that characterize the health and behavior of millions of individuals spanning nearly two decades.\n\nAmong the anticipated benefits to life insurance carriers: significant improvements in the application process and a substantial improvement in the ability to deliver rapid assessment of individual life insurance risk relative to current industry best practices.\n\n\u201cWe are excited to introduce LifeRisk 360 \u2013 an innovative and distinct life insurance risk assessment platform designed to bring new intelligent insights into a largely manual process,\u201d Merritt said. \u201cBy leveraging linked data elements and machine learning methodologies, our objective is to further reduce underwriting decision time and improve mortality risk selection.\u201d\n\nImportantly, MassMutual and Captricity, an Oakland, Calif.-based intelligent automation provider for insurance, announced today that they are exploring a potential partnership in which Captricity would make the LifeRisk 360 scoring service broadly available to the U.S. life insurance market on a fee-for-service basis. MassMutual utilized Captricity\u2019s distinct solution to create a proprietary dataset, which underpins the new LifeRisk 360 product.\n\n\u201cOur planned partnership with LifeRisk 360 rewards our insurance carriers and their customers by reimagining underwriting as a modern, digital process,\u201d said Kuang Chen, CEO of Captricity. \u201cThis solution enables insurers to eliminate many of the manual steps and friction associated with underwriting. This solution will be an industry pivot point, giving carriers the ability to accelerate their own data-driven underwriting initiatives to deliver minimally invasive decisions faster.\u201d\n\nPending completion of the final agreement, the new solution is expected to be available to life insurance companies beginning in the first quarter of 2018.\n\nAbout MassMutual\n\nMassMutual is a leading mutual life insurance company that is run for the benefit of its members and participating policyowners. MassMutual offers a wide range of financial products and services, including life insurance, disability income insurance, long term care insurance, annuities, retirement plans and other employee benefits. For more information, visit www.massmutual.com.\n\nAbout Captricity\n\nCaptricity\u2019s AI-powered intelligent automation solution extracts and enhances data at 99.9% accuracy from any customer channel \u2014 including handwritten documents \u2014 and delivers it seamlessly into downstream systems and workflows. Thirteen of the top 20 US life insurers use high-quality, normalized data from Captricity to deliver business insights that increase revenue, lower costs, and drive a deeper understanding of risk. Captricity is headquartered in Oakland, CA. For more information, visit www.captricity.com.\n\nAttachments:\n\nA photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6daba31c-f2b2-4509-a4cf-461ca11f62ab", "output": "MassMutual is launching a platform using data to devise a mortality risk scoring system to be used by its life insurance arm. The platform, dubbed LifeRisk 360, will reportedly be able to use data and machine learning to assess the health and lifestyles of millions of potential clients. The firm says the platform will allow for greater individual assessment when providing life insurance policies. MassMutual worked with California-based Captricity in launching the platform. Captricity provided the underlying data for LifeRisk 360 and the two firms also announced the data service may be made available to external clients."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google Assistant is twice as smart as Siri \n Google's artificial intelligence technology has a considerably higher I.Q. than Apple's Siri virtual assistant, according to a new academic paper attempting to compare the smarts of various artificial intelligence systems.\n\nThe paper \u2014 written by a trio of Chinese researchers, including Yong Shi, executive deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Research Center on Fictitious Economy and Data Science \u2014 says that in 2016 Google's AI had an IQ of 47.28. It came out ahead of Chinese search engine Baidu (32.92) and Microsoft's Bing (31.98) and had almost double the IQ of Siri (23.94).\n\nNotably, none of these systems had a higher IQ than a 6-year-old (55.5), much less an 18-year-old (97), the researchers found.\n\nBut the Google and Microsoft systems have been getting smarter. In 2014 Google's IQ score was 26.5, while Microsoft's was 13.5. At that time the researchers were not yet analyzing Baidu and Siri.\n\nApple, Google and Microsoft have all been , which can yield improvements in speech recognition, image recognition and other areas. These techniques can be applied to revenue-generating processes like serving ads.\n\nBut comparing companies' existing AI systems \u2014 and seeing how they stack up with human beings \u2014 has been difficult, and that's one reason the researchers have attempted to create a comparison method. The researchers have taken into consideration the systems' abilities around \"knowledge mastery, learning, use and creation.\"\n\nThe new paper, published on Sunday, does touch on , the system for playing the Chinese board game of Go from Google parent company Alphabet's DeepMind group. While the researchers didn't give it an IQ score, they did conclude that its intelligence is below that of humans.\n\nGoogle declined to comment. Apple was not immediately available to comment on the study.", "output": "Google's virtual assistant is twice as intelligent as Apple's Siri, according to Chinese researchers studying the artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities of a number of platforms. The findings showed Google's app had an IQ of 47.28, nearly double Siri's score of 23.94. Chinese search engine Baidu and Microsoft's Bing also scored higher than Apple's assistant, but none of the AI systems tested could match a typical six-year-old's IQ of 55.5. All the systems had shown significant increases in intellectual capability between 2014 and 2016, the researchers found.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Preview of Halo game to debut on Microsoft VR headsets \n Microsoft is bringing Halo to its Windows Mixed Reality headsets later this month. Halo Recruit will be available as a free download on October 17th, and it\u2019s designed to be a VR environment of characters in the popular game. 343 industries has created the experience, and it looks like it will be similar to the lightsaber VR experience available on the HTC Vive last year. It\u2019s not a full game of Halo, nor will you be running around as Master Chief, but it\u2019s a first attempt at how Halo could look in virtual reality.", "output": "Players of the popular video game Halo will be able to experience it in virtual reality (VR) from later this month. Microsoft is releasing a free download called Halo Recruit on 17 October, which will be available on its Windows Mixed Reality headset. While\u00a0not a full version of the game, it will provide a virtual reality environment of characters from it\u00a0and give a preview of what it would look like in VR. Microsoft is increasing its support for VR gaming, giving developers access to support and allowing them to test games on its headsets.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Leak suggests UK safety standards could be weakened after Brexit \n M inisters are looking for \u201cquick wins\u201d to move away from the European safety standards regime, according to a leaked email.\n\nA Brexit official in the Business Department also suggested in the message that Amazon reviews could replace the \u201cCE European standards mark\u201d in the eyes of online shoppers. The revelations immediately sparked concerns that the system for ensuring the safety of electrical equipment, toys, machinery, medical devices and other products could be watered down after Britain quits the EU.\n\nThe CE marking shows that a manufacturer has checked that their products meet EU safety, health or environmental requirements, indicates compliance with EU legislation and allows the free movement of products within the European market. In the email, the Brexit official asks for any \u201cevidence, anecdotal or otherwise, that businesses are saying they don\u2019t want divergence\u201d.\n\nShe then adds: \u201cSimilarly, any sectors who are suggesting they would like early divergence (we are also looking for quick wins!)\u201d.\n\nThe message then discusses the shift in shopping trends to online.\n\n\u201cI actually wonder, given the UK consumer penchant for internet shopping, the extent to which an Amazon review will supersede any mark to demonstrate conformity with safety requirements,\u201d the official says.\n\nLabour expressed alarm at the remarks in the email, which were made in response to a document by the techUK trade body on the CE marking system.\n\nShadow Brexit minister Matthew Pennycook said: \u201cThis comment from a Government official should concern us all. The safe use of medical equipment and children\u2019s toys cannot be guaranteed in the same way as one would review the latest blockbuster or episode of Game of Thrones.\n\n\u201cMinisters should ensure that after Britain leaves the European Union consumers remain certain that the products they buy are safe, and that our exporters can continue to easily sell their products abroad.\u201d\n\nA spokeswoman for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: \u201cUntil we leave the EU, the UK Government continues to implement European regulations.\n\n\u201cThis correspondence does not indicate future policy direction, but was part of a normal engagement process with industry stakeholders.\u201d\n\nMinisters have been pushing for a deal with the EU in the \u201cdivorce talks\u201d, including a multi-billion bill which the UK is expected to have to pay, so we can move on to negotiations over future trade deal.\n\nHowever, it appears increasingly likely that the departure talksnegotiations will not have progressed sufficiently for EU leaders to agree at a summit later this month for trade talks to start.\n\nTheresa May has also outlined British proposals for a transition period of around two years from when Britain formally quits the EU in March 2019.While t\n\nThe Government has warned Brussels that if it seeks to punish the UK for leaving the EU Britain could become a low-tax, low-regulation economy which could threaten their social market economic model. @nicholascecil", "output": "UK safety standards could be threatened after Brexit by ministers looking for \u201cquick wins,\u201d according to a leaked email from an official in the country's Business Department. The email also suggested that CE markings, which indicate that products comply with European Union safety, health or environmental requirements, and which apply to items including electrical equipment, machinery, medical devices and toys, could be replaced by online Amazon reviews."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Oracle introduces AI self-maintenance to its 18c database \n If you can\u2019t trust humans to update your software, teach it to do the job for itself. That\u2019s the thinking at the enterprise software firm Oracle, anyway, which has just announced that its 18c database system now uses machine learning to \u201cautomatically upgrade, patch, and tune itself while running.\u201d\n\nVentureBeat reports that system administrators provide rules for the database, but then leave it to its own devices. The software learns what \u201cnormal\u201d looks like, and then tries to stop anything that seems untoward, and does all that without the downtime that comes when humans peer under the hood. \u201cIf you eliminate all human labor, you eliminate human error,\u201d Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, (pictured above) explained as he announced the new software yesterday.\n\nThat raises the specter of technological unemployment, of course. In Oracle's case, the theory appears to be that the AI will free up network administrators to help users, rather than having them spend their time patching software. But if, like at Equifax, they weren\u2019t patching much software in the first place, there is always the chance that their presence is no longer required.\n\nAnd Oracle isn\u2019t alone in using AI to improve the security of software. Data science platform Kaggle is currently running a contest in which researchers build offensive and defensive AIs to improve software security. In other words: sysadmins of the world, look busy.", "output": "California firm Oracle has announced that\u00a0its 18c database now has the ability to \"automatically upgrade, patch, and tune itself\" without an interruption to service. The company said its software had learned what its \"normal\"\u00a0behaviour was, thus enabling it to\u00a0target\u00a0anything out of the ordinary, with no human intervention required. Oracle said the move isn't likely to result in job losses, rather staff will be able to spend more time helping customers rather than patching software.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "All Londoners experience unsafe levels of particle pollution \n Created 6 years ago , updated 6 years ago\n\nThis report contains an introduction to PM 2.5\u00ad , summarises our current understanding of PM 2.5 concentrations and exposure, discusses the findings of research undertaken by the GLA and TfL into the extent of PM 2.5 pollution in London, and assesses the potential for meeting World Health Organisation guidelines by 2030. Our analysis found that at present all Londoners are exposed to concentrations higher than WHO air quality guidelines, but, if PM 2.5\u00ad reduction measures within the Mayor\u2019s Transport Strategy and London Environment Strategy are accompanied by co-operation on a national and international level, the guideline limit is achievable by 2030.", "output": "All inhabitants of London are breathing air exceeding global guidelines for toxic PM2.5 particles, according to data from the London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory. Every area in the city exceeds World Health Organisation limits for the particle, the report states, with almost 95% of the capital\u2019s population living in areas that do so by at least 50%. Exposure to the particulates increases the risk of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Half of PM2.5 in London's air comes from outside the city, according to the report. Within the capital, the main sources are construction, tyre and brake wear, and wood burning.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "All Londoners experience unsafe levels of particle pollution \n The scale of London\u2019s air pollution crisis was laid bare on Wednesday, with new figures showing that every person in the capital is breathing air that exceeds global guidelines for one of the most dangerous toxic particles.\n\nThe research, based on the latest updated London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory, shows that every area in the capital exceeds World Health Organisation (WHO) limits for a damaging type of particle known as PM2.5.\n\nIt also found that 7.9 million Londoners \u2013 nearly 95% of the capital\u2019s population \u2013 live in areas that exceed the limit by 50% or more. In central London the average annual levels are almost double the WHO limit of 10 \u00b5g/m3.\n\nThe findings, described as \u201csickening\u201d by London\u2019s mayor, Sadiq Khan, have serious health implications \u2013 especially for children \u2013 with both short- and long-term exposure to these particulates increasing the likelihood of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Health experts say that young people exposed to these toxic pollutants are more likely to grow up with reduced lung function and develop asthma.\n\nKhan said: \u201cIt\u2019s sickening to know that not a single area of London meets World Health Organisation health standards, but even worse than that, nearly 95% of the capital is exceeding these guidelines by at least 50%.\u201d\n\nLondon is widely recognised as the worst area for air pollution in the UK, although there is growing evidence that dangerously polluted air is damaging people\u2019s health in towns and cities across the country.\n\nKhan added: \u201cWe should be ashamed that our young people \u2013 the next generation of Londoners \u2013 are being exposed to these tiny particles of toxic dust that are seriously damaging their lungs and shortening their life expectancy. I understand this is really difficult for Londoners, but that\u2019s why I felt it was so important that I made this information public so people really understand the scale of the challenge we face in London.\u201d\n\nThe mayor\u2019s office said approximately half of PM2.5 in London is from sources outside the city. However, the main sources of PM2.5 emissions in London are from tyre and brake wear, construction and wood burning.\n\nLast week Khan unveiled plans to limit the use of wood-burning stoves in the capital from 2025 and tighten up regulations to make sure all new stoves from 2022 are as clean as possible.\n\nHe has also set out a range of plans to tackle pollution from diesel cars in the capital. The first stage, the new T-Charge, which will charge older, more polluting vehicles entering central London, starts later this month.\n\nThe figures were revealed as it emerged that the government has failed to bring down the number of regions across the UK with illegal levels of air pollution despite being ordered to by the courts.\n\nAccording to figures submitted by ministers to the European Commission, 37 out of 43 zones across the UK are still in breach of pollution limits \u2013 the same number as in 2015 \u2013 despite the government being under a supreme court order to bring pollution down as soon as possible.\n\nClean air campaigners criticised the government\u2019s inaction and welcomed Khan\u2019s plans, which include the introduction of an ultra low emission zone in 2019.\n\nBut they called on the mayor to take more urgent, immediate action in light of the scale of the crisis.\n\nPaul Morozzo, a clean air campaigner at Greenpeace, said: \u201cLondon air isn\u2019t safe to breathe. Every person in London is affected by this crisis \u2013 old or young, healthy or ill. The air you breathe in London is putting your health at risk now and in the future, whether you realise it or not.\n\n\u201cRestricting diesel will make a big difference to both PM and nitrogen oxide air pollution in London, which is why the mayor has no choice but to get tough on cleaning up our roads.\u201d\n\nDr Penny Woods, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation, said: \u201cQuite frankly, this research beggars belief and is deeply concerning for every Londoner. Toxic air is poisoning our children, making existing lung conditions worse, such as asthma. The mayor cannot solve this public health crisis without government support. We urgently need changes to taxation for new diesel vehicles and a diesel scrappage scheme.\u201d\n\nJonathan Bartley, co-leader of the Green party, said: \u201cThe mayor needs to decide whether he is going to commit to take the air pollution epidemic seriously or not. And that means making the right choices over the big polluting decisions. Creating pollution with one hand and then trying to waft it away with the other is no solution.\n\n\u201cThe mayor can\u2019t credibly claim to be tackling London\u2019s dirty air when he is actively contributing to it by building the Silvertown tunnel, backing City airport expansion and failing to bring in a moratorium on waste incineration.\u201d\n\nThe mayor released the latest findings on Wednesday morning as he signed London up to the Breathe Life coalition organised by the WHO, the body UN Environment and the Climate & Clean Air Coalition, at the Child Health Initiative conference at City Hall.\n\nThe initiative aims to connect similar world cities, combine expertise, share best practice and work together to improve air quality.\n\nTedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director-general, welcomed London\u2019s support and Khan\u2019s measures aimed at tackling air pollution.\n\n\u201cTo ensure good health, every person must be able to breathe clean air no matter where they live. London\u2019s plan to clean up their air means millions of people will be able to walk to work and walk their children to school without worrying about whether the air is going to make them sick. More cities around the world must also follow suit.\u201d", "output": "All inhabitants of London are breathing air exceeding global guidelines for toxic PM2.5 particles, according to data from the London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory. Every area in the city exceeds World Health Organisation limits for the particle, the report states, with almost 95% of the capital\u2019s population living in areas that do so by at least 50%. Exposure to the particulates increases the risk of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Half of PM2.5 in London's air comes from outside the city, according to the report. Within the capital, the main sources are construction, tyre and brake wear, and wood burning.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Interest in earthquake insurance rises in California post-Mexico \n Bill and Liz Barlak have carried earthquake insurance on their three-bedroom house in Burbank since the couple bought the property 30 years ago.\n\n\u201cIt helps us sleep at night,\u201d said Bill Barlak, 66, an engineer. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t buy a home without it.\u201d\n\nWhich makes the Barlaks part of a minority in California.\n\nThe state\u2019s population, housing stock, home prices and number of renters all have soared in the 23 years since the Los Angeles area\u2019s last major earthquake, a magnitude 6.7 temblor centered in Northridge that left 57 dead and caused an estimated $44 billion in property damage.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nNonetheless, the percentage of homeowners and renters who have earthquake insurance has dropped sharply.\n\nThat might change after the recent deadly earthquakes in Mexico, which were a reminder that California is considered overdue for another major quake of its own.\n\nThe Mexico quakes, and before that the hurricanes in the southern United States, sparked a \u201cdramatic increase\u201d in website visits and calls to the California Earthquake Authority. The CEA was created after the Northridge quake to provide earthquake coverage on behalf of the insurance companies that comprise its membership, spokeswoman Sarah Sol said in an email.\n\nWhile policy sales figures for September aren\u2019t yet available, \u201ccallers were asking for detailed information about earthquake insurance coverage,\u201d she said.\n\nOnly 10.8% of Californians with residential insurance had earthquake coverage at the end of last year, compared with nearly 33% when the Northridge quake struck in the early morning of Jan. 17, 1994, according to the California Department of Insurance.\n\nThe figure has stayed below 11% for the last five years.\n\nRenters as a group are even less inclined to have an earthquake policy, with only 5.24% carrying such coverage last year compared with nearly 10% a decade ago, the department said.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s stunning,\u201d said CEA Chief Executive Glenn Pomeroy. \u201cThe fact that 90% [of homeowners] are uninsured is a terrible thing for California to be resilient and survive the next big quake,\u201d said Pomeroy, whose privately funded, not-for-profit organization handles about 80% of earthquake policies in the state and now has the ability to pay up to $15 billion in claims.\n\nTheories as to why more residents don\u2019t get coverage range from faded memories of earlier quakes to confusion over coverage and pricing.\n\nThe number of Californians buying earthquake insurance has actually risen steadily over the years. The CEA had 952,000 policies in force as of August, compared with 754,672 at the end of 2006.\n\nBut the population and number of houses in California has soared even more, leaving those covered by quake insurance a low percentage of the total.\n\nThere are now about 9.1 million detached houses in California, a 25% increase from the 7.3 million in 1994 when the Northridge quake hit, according to data from the California Department of Finance.\n\nHome prices also have skyrocketed. The median price of a single-family house in Los Angeles County hit a record $580,000 in August, according to the data firm CoreLogic, more than triple the median price of $189,400 in mid-1994.\n\nThe record-setting prices have forced many Californians, especially millennials who are in their early earnings years, to rent rather than buy. Yet 95% of the renters don\u2019t have insurance to cover the cost of replacing their possessions if a major temblor struck.\n\nThe renters\u2019 landlords are responsible for covering their buildings in the event of a quake, but generally it\u2019s up to renters to get coverage for their belongings.\n\n\u201cPeople are going to have difficulty recovering, particularly lower-income people and people with fairly high mortgages,\u201d said Robert Hunter, insurance director at the advocacy group Consumer Federation of America.\n\nNewly arrived or younger Californians may have no awareness of the trauma that follows a big quake. It\u2019s been more than two decades since the Northridge quake, which was the costliest U.S. earthquake on record after adjusting for inflation, according to the Insurance Information Institute, an industry trade group.\n\n\u201cEarthquakes don\u2019t happen very often so people have a hard time focusing on it when there are so many other things in their lives,\u201d Pomeroy said. \u201cA lot of people weren\u2019t living here [in 1994] or weren\u2019t living at all then, so they don\u2019t internalize it.\u201d\n\nDwellers often mistakenly believe earthquake coverage is part of their normal homeowners or rental insurance policies, or have the misconception that if the quake is big enough, the federal government will give them help.\n\nBut grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency under its individuals and households program are capped at $33,300.\n\nThere\u2019s another reason cited for Californians\u2019 resistance to buying earthquake insurance: lingering memories of high premiums immediately after the Northridge quake.\n\nInsurers in California were required to offer earthquake coverage along with general homeowners insurance when the Northridge quake occurred. After Northridge, premiums for quake coverage soared, coverage was restricted and insurers balked at being forced to write new policies.\n\nThat led the state Legislature to create the CEA, whose participating insurers now include State Farm, Allstate, Mercury, Progressive, Farmers and Liberty Mutual.\n\nInitially, the CEA\u2019s policies were expensive and somewhat skimpy, including only $5,000 for replacing personal property (in addition to the replacement cost of the structure) and only one deductible of 15%.\n\nToday, however, the CEA personal-property coverage is up to $200,000, and the \u201closs of use\u201d coverage \u2014 for living expenses while a home is being repaired or rebuilt \u2014 is up to $100,000. Condo policies can cover damage assessments levied by homeowner associations.\n\nPremiums vary depending on where the house is located, its age, style of construction and soil conditions, to name a few factors. But overall, the CEA says premiums on its policies have dropped by more than 50% since the authority was created. (The CEA website has a tool that shows coverage options and estimated cost.)\n\nAlso, the deductibles on CEA policies now range from 5% to 25%. And the CEA notes that another fear about earthquake insurance\u2014 that homeowners and renters must come up with the money to pay deductibles \u2014 is unfounded because the deductible is subtracted from the claim payment.\n\n\u201cThere is no out-of-pocket requirement,\u201d Pomeroy said. \u201cIf you have a home destroyed, we\u2019ll pay the replacement cost, less the deductible, and they can choose how to rebuild.\u201d\n\nHunter said every California resident \u201cshould go through a careful process and analyze what would happen if something like what happened in Mexico happened in your area.\u201d\n\nMexico has experienced a series of earthquakes recently, capped by a magnitude 7.1 quake that struck near Mexico City on Sept. 19, leaving more than 325 dead and thousands of properties destroyed or damaged.\n\n\u201cYou have to think the worst-case scenario,\u201d Hunter said. \u201cThe longer it doesn\u2019t happen [in California], the more people think it won\u2019t happen.\u201d\n\nBut Barlak \u2014 who pays an additional $648 a year for earthquake coverage on his homeowners policy, with a 15% deductible \u2014 says he doesn\u2019t need to be persuaded to stay insured.\n\n\u201cI would question whether you can afford to not have it,\u201d he said.\n\njames.peltz@latimes.com\n\nTwitter: @PeltzLATimes\n\nALSO\n\nFixing L.A. buildings vulnerable to collapse is vital before next big earthquake, Garcetti says\n\nHere\u2019s what earthquake magnitudes mean\u2014and why an 8 can be so much scarier than a 6\n\nWhy some buildings crumbled and others survived the Mexico City quake: A sober lesson for California", "output": "The recent earthquake in central Mexico has prompted many California residents to begin making\u00a0inquiries regarding earthquake insurance. The California Earthquake Authority says it has seen \"dramatic\" increases in calls and website visits. While the number of policies covering earthquake damage has actually increased over the last 20 years, the overall percentage of Californians insured has dropped as the state's population has swelled. Since 1994, the percentage of homeowners insured has dropped from 33% to less than 11%. Almost 95% of California renters are also without coverage for damage to their possessions resulting from an earthquake.\u00a0\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon must repay $294m after \u2018illegal\u2019 Luxembourg tax deal \n Amazon has been ordered to repay \u20ac250m (\u00a3222m) in illegal state aid to Luxembourg, as EU authorities continue their campaign against sweetheart deals that help the biggest corporations slash their tax bills.\n\n\n\nThe European commission also announced on Wednesday that it planned to take the the Irish government to the European court of justice (ECJ) over its failure to collect \u20ac13bn in unpaid taxes from Apple, in relation to an earlier ruling.\n\n\n\nMargrethe Vestager, the EU commissioner in charge of competition, said Luxembourg\u2019s \u201cillegal tax advantages to Amazon\u201d had allowed almost three-quarters of the company\u2019s profits to go untaxed, allowing it to pay four times less tax than local rivals.\n\n\n\n\u201cThis is about competition in Europe, no matter your flag, no matter your ownership,\u201d Vestager said, dismissing suggestions she was targeting non-European companies. \u201cPaying taxes is part of doing business in Europe.\u201d\n\nThe commission said Amazon had benefited from an illegal tax deal granted by the Luxembourg authorities that allowed the company to artificially reduce its tax bill by \u20ac250m from 2006 to 2014. The company has been ordered to repay the full amount plus interest.\n\n\n\nAmazon rejected the findings of the commission investigation. \u201cWe believe that Amazon did not receive any special treatment from Luxembourg and that we paid tax in full accordance with both Luxembourg and international tax law. We will study the commission\u2019s ruling and consider our legal options, including an appeal.\u201d\n\nThe country\u2019s government said: \u201cAs Amazon has been taxed in accordance with the tax rules applicable at the relevant time, Luxembourg considers that the company has not been granted incompatible state aid.\u201d\n\nIn a separate announcement, Vestager said she was appealing to Europe\u2019s highest court to enforce an earlier ruling against Apple to ensure the iPhone maker repaid \u20ac13bn in back taxes.\n\nApple, which has appealed to Europe\u2019s highest court to contest the decision, has neither repaid the money to the Irish government nor placed the money in an escrow account, a standard practice when court proceedings are under way.\n\nDublin said it disputed the commission\u2019s ruling that it made the wrong decision in the Apple tax deal, but has promised to collect money owed as soon as possible. Citing its \u201cintensive work\u201d on recovering the funds, the Irish government described the decision as \u201cextremely regrettable\u201d in a statement.\n\n\u201cIrish officials and experts have been engaged in intensive work to ensure that the state complies with all its recovery obligations as soon as possible, and have been in constant contact with the European commission and Apple on all aspects of this process for over a year,\u201d it said.\n\nEU member states risk multimillion-euro fines when they fail to act on EU competition rulings. In 2015 the commission requested a \u20ac20m fine plus daily penalty payments against Italy over the country\u2019s refusal to collect back taxes from Sardinian hotels that had benefited from special deals.\n\nThe commission acknowledged that Ireland had begun to work on the recovery of the back taxes, but deems the Irish deadline of \u201cMarch 2018 at the earliest\u201d not good enough.\n\nThe case against Amazon centred on two subsidiaries incorporated in Luxembourg and controlled by the US parent \u2013 Amazon EU group and Amazon Europe Holding Technologies. The latter was described by the commission as \u201can empty shell\u201d that had no employees or offices, but was used to bring down the company\u2019s tax bill.\n\nAmazon EU group, which runs the internet company\u2019s operations in the region, transferred 90% of its operating profits to the holding company, where they were not taxed. As a result, Amazon paid an effective tax rate in Luxembourg of 7.25%, compared with the national rate of 29%.\n\nAmazon\u2019s blueprint was Project Goldcrest, a tax scheme named after Luxembourg\u2019s national bird, based on a 2003 deal with authorities in the Grand Duchy. Amazon changed its tax operations in June 2014, a year after Brussels began investigating tax rulings across the EU.\n\nUS authorities have also been investigating Project Goldcrest, but lost in court to the retail firm. In March a court ruled against the Internal Revenue Service, which had argued Amazon owed the US $1.5bn (\u00a31.13bn) in unpaid taxes linked to its Luxembourg companies.\n\nLuxembourg\u2019s role in orchestrating tax avoidance deals for hundreds of global companies was revealed by the Guardian in 2014, raising questions about tax policy in one of the EU\u2019s oldest member states.\n\nThe case continues to hang over Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president, who served as Luxembourg\u2019s prime minister from 1995 to 2013, and acted as finance minister for much of that period.\n\n\n\nThe commission launched the Amazon investigation in October 2014, just weeks before Juncker took office, while the fallout over the Luxleaks revelations clouded his early weeks.\n\n\n\nMany European politicians and business groups argue generous tax breaks give Amazon an unfair competitive advantage over smaller rivals, prompting the recent announcement of a plan to rewrite EU tax rules. But investigations into unfair state aid run broader, with the EU authorities expected to conclude an inquiry into the fast-food chain McDonald\u2019s in the coming weeks.\n\n\n\nThe commission has also ruled unlawful tax deals between Starbucks and the Dutch authorities, as well as Fiat\u2019s arrangements with Luxembourg. The Apple case has generated the biggest furore, with the chief executive, Tim Cook, dismissing the claims as \u201ctotal political crap\u201d.\n\n\n\nThe commission said the sweetheart deal with the Irish government allowed Apple to pay a maximum tax rate of 1%, which fell to just 0.005% in 2014. The usual rate of corporation tax in Ireland is 12.5%.\n\nIf the UK leaves the EU single market, it will not be bound by European rules on fair tax competition. However, any free-trade deal with the EU is likely to constrain the government\u2019s ability to turn the UK into a low-tax haven. Vestager said she was not expecting British government\u2019s to pursue this course: \u201cI don\u2019t see why [UK policy] would change.\u201d", "output": "Amazon has been told to repay \u20ac250m ($294m) by the European Commission after the authority found the company to have received illegal and unfair state aid from Luxembourg. The commission stated that the deal had allowed Amazon to artificially reduce its tax bill from 2006 to 2014. The commission also announced that it would take action against the Irish government in the European Court of Justice in relation to its failure to collect \u20ac13bn in unpaid taxes from Apple."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bermuda insurer of the year accolade awarded to XL Catlin \n Insurance industry trade publication Reactions magazine has named XL Catlin as the Bermuda Insurer of the Year.\n\nPatrick Tannock, XL Catlin Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of XL Bermuda Ltd, Insurance, was joined by team members Cathy Duffy, Underwriting Manager; Mark Flanagan, Chief Property Underwriter; Carla Greaves, Chief Excess Casualty Underwriter; Matt Irvine, Chief Underwriting Officer for Bermuda Professional Lines, and Kim Wilkerson, Head of Bermuda Claims for Insurance, as well as North America colleagues at the awards ceremony in New York City on September 28 to celebrate the achievement.\n\nReactions magazine conducted the awards nomination process throughout the spring and into the summer. They asked executives at brokerage houses in North America which insurance and reinsurance companies have stood out in their market as top performers for the period June 1, 2016 to May 31, 2017 and why.\n\nXL Catlin was selected as Bermuda Insurer of the Year because \u201cit was mentioned by many of the North America brokers as a company with a very strong reputation in terms of consistent high-quality performance\u201d.\n\nThe list of companies that are mentioned most by the brokers are then reviewed by a panel of highly-respected and independent industry judges who consider the nominations, along with their own thoughts, when deciding which companies and individuals to select.\n\nAccording to Reactions, the prevailing comments from the judging panel were that \u201cXL Catlin has committed significant resources in Bermuda [more so than others] and are willing to innovate in what is a traditional marketplace\u201d.\n\nThey also noted that XL Catlin\u2019s Bermuda Insurance platform offers \u201ca broad range of products with well-rated capacity and has a consistent team of underwriters\u201d. They added that it is \u201cregarded as one of the key markets on the island for large corporate clients\u201d.\n\nMr. Tannock, who accepted the award on behalf of the team, said: \u201cWe\u2019re honored to receive this award which underscores our user-friendly, friction free and solution-oriented approach to addressing clients\u2019 and brokers\u2019 needs.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s great to be acknowledged and helps to validate the hard work and contributions that our colleagues consistently make to the Bermuda market and beyond.\u201d\n\nRead More About\n\nCategory: All, Business, News", "output": "XL Catlin was named Bermuda insurer of the year by trade publication Reactions. The firm was applauded for committing resources to Bermuda as well as its willingness to support innovation. The variety of products the insurer offers via its Bermuda platform was also lauded.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chatbots may solve issues of patient engagement \n According to recent studies held by Google and Pew Research Center, today one in twenty Google searches is for health related information, with 80% of Internet users seeking online health information.\n\nHealthcare technology across web, mobile, apps and wearables gains more active users yearly (see image 1). According to Accenture, engagement of medical apps and wearables doubled in two years. At the same time, the number of people that avoid addressing their healthcare needs to various technological solutions decreased in two during the same period. In other words, technology and electronic health management tools continue gathering momentum, with apps and wearables in the lead in terms of growth speed.\n\nImage 1. Credit: Accenture\n\nHowever, the same Accenture research shows that the growing audience of medical apps addresses health-related needs to digital in fitness or nutrition/diet related situations, while medication managers and chronic disease trackers are adopted at a much lesser scale (see image 2).\n\nImage 2. Credit: Accenture\n\nThe most plausible reason of such gap is low patient engagement that has already became a buzzed issue in healthcare. In fact, it has got special attention from healthcare technology companies dedicated to develop efficient solutions to this problem.\n\nTwo-Sided Cause of Low Patient Engagement\n\n1. Existing solutions are intuitive, but not intuitive enough\n\nTake medical apps such as reminders and trackers. Despite being perfectly UI/UX designed, they still lack personalization and the sense of time. Creators might have thought through average behavioral and schedule preferences of app users \u2013 wake-up time, working hours, work-out itinerary, and adjusted pings and notifications respectively.\n\nHowever, as everyone\u2019s schedule is different, lack of in-app personalization results in low user response, hence, low patient engagement in the long run. It doesn\u2019t matter how timely 9-o\u2019clock notification to check blood sugar level is. When a patient is stuck in traffic, he or she won\u2019t respond to the app\u2019s ping and most probably miss the procedure.\n\n2. Low patient activation\n\nAnother problem of patient engagement stands at the very start of patient\u2019s adoption. Patient activation in one\u2019s healthcare \u2013 interest and active involvement \u2013 directly determines further engagement.\n\nTechnology solutions such as apps, wearables and EHR play major role in increasing patient activation, as more healthcare information becomes available and manageable. However, current generation of technology solutions still has room for improvement. Up to this date, the problems of solutions unable to hook the attention of patients for long or simply helpless for patients with special needs (mental illness, speech or vision disorders) remain.\n\nFuture state of mHealth that brings further infusing AI-based technologies, shift to digital omnivores for omnichannel experience, as well as management and security of massive healthcare data is to contribute to the increase of patient activation. In the long run, new features of mHealth solutions will change the rates of patient engagement.\n\nNew Technology to Solve Patient Engagement\n\nApart from the development of existing mHealth, telemedicine and healthcare wearables, hardware and software, new generation of solutions steps in to solve patient engagement problem.\n\nChatbots that already have broad application in e-commerce, travel and hospitality are predicted to take active part in increasing patient engagement. Along with chatbots for education, chatbots for healthcare are not expected to be complex to diagnose or provide automated medical analysis. At least, not yet. However, there\u2019s a number of cases where this technology will shine, probably, better than traditional apps or non-digital solutions.\n\n4 Features of Healthcare Chatbots that Help in Patient Engagement\n\n1. Chatbots skip activation gateway\n\nChatbots are mobile native, like apps. Unlike apps, most chatbots are placed into popular messengers. The main benefit in this case, apart from no-need-to-download, is instant activation and feedback, 24/7/365.\n\nBot operates inside familiar interfaces of existing apps that billions of people use daily. It\u2019s the most valuable benefit for less tech savvy patients of different generations that find it hard to adjust to fast changing design trends on mobile. So as for patients with special needs who may require simpler and more intuitive interfaces to interact with.\n\n2. Chatbots react to emergency fast\n\nIf a chatbot is integrated into an active healthcare system and connected to special institutes such as ER, it can promptly alarm and call for help in case of emergency. If a bot has proper functionality, it can even detect the case of emergency, for example, when the patient doesn\u2019t respond to bot\u2019s messages. Another bonus is chatbot interface \u2013 text and voice. In case of danger, chatbot provides better reaction to the command \u201ccall 911,\u201d compared to app or traditional phone that requires at least activation or dial.\n\n3. Chatbots are more personal\n\nPersonalization is a true gem of chatbot technology. Constantly collecting patient data, a personal virtual healthcare assistant adjusts to patient\u2019s specifics in time.\n\nFor example, bots powered by NLP technology can adjust to the speech and auditory specifics of the patients with special needs. Recent development in computer vision, in turn, is of help to the patients with visual disability. In other words, chatbots can be more sensitive to individual needs, which moves them closer to medical robots. Still chatbots cost far less than ASIMO or similar robots.\n\n4. Chatbots are omnichannel\n\nAnother advantage of chatbot technology is its scalability. This technology is adjustable to mobile environment when it inhabits messenger apps such as Slack, Facebook Messenger, Skype, Kik or Telegram, integrates to web if embedded to websites and lives in voice assistants such as Skills for Amazon Alexa devices or Google Home. Moreover, bots are easily integrated with third-party systems through various APIs.\n\nAs far as chatbot application in healthcare is concerned, scalability brings better availability and more consistent experience. For example, one chatbot can perform vitally important functions such as calling an ER in case of emergency across various devices, whichever is closer or on. It gives more intuitive notifications, for instance, on iPhone when a patient is on the move, via web when one is at work and in Alexa when a patient is at home.\n\nThese are the key features of chatbots that help to increase patient engagement. Personalization and leveraging of patient data allows bots to be timely and to the point. Text and voice interface helps chatbot technology adjust to specific patient needs and simplify interaction. While scalability and connectivity turns bots into a convenient point of contact across various devices.\n\nHowever, these are not the only ones that matter. Further adaption of chatbot technology, development of various branches of AI and integration capabilities may help bots drastically change both the rate of patient engagement and the way patients apply healthcare solutions.\n\nGet stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. [ Free eNews Subscription\n\nEdited by Mandi Nowitz", "output": "Chatbots could be the solution to low patient engagement with mhealth solutions, according to a study by google. The ability to constantly collect patient data allows for increased personalisation, while the ability to communicate using text or speech enables them to be used easily by patients with specific needs, according to the study. Chatbots can also integrate with multiple platforms, making them widely accessible.\u00a0Artificial intelligence solutions could improve further improve mhealth technology\u00a0in future.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US Marines in Middle East use 3D printer to make drones  \n Oct 2, 2017 | By Tess\n\nA U.S. Marine Corps task force has set up a 3D printing lab on the ground in the Middle East, using it to 3D print quadcopter drones, tools, medical supplies, and more. Dubbed the \u201cRipper Lab,\u201d the facility is allowing the task force to print devices and replacement parts on-demand and at a lower cost than shipping them in.\n\nOver the past year, the U.S. Marine Corps has made significant strides with the adoption of additive manufacturing technologies, developing 3D printed components for future smart trucks, experimenting with 3D printed munitions, and perhaps most significantly, manufacturing low-cost drones.\n\nJust months ago, a Marine Corps battalion evaluated the X-FAB system\u2014a self-contained, mobile additive manufacturing lab which consists of four 3D printers, one 3D scanner, and CAD software. The X-FAB lab, which is still in development, would enable devices such as surveillance drones to be produced on-demand and, importantly, on the ground.\n\nAs another Marine Corps task force based in the Middle East has shown, 3D printing is already in use and is proving to be a critical technology in the fight against ISIS.\n\nThe Marines of Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response-Central Command recently established an on-the-ground 3D printing facility equipped with 3D printers, materials, CAD software, etc. in the Middle East.\n\nNamed \u201cRipper Lab,\u201d the 3D printing test operation was set up to see how well 3D printing could support the troops. A first of its kind, the 3D printer lab is operated by a team of 48 and has been used to manufacture tools such as wrenches, medical supplies, various replacement parts, and a number of quadcopter drones known as \u201cNibblers.\u201d\n\nThese 3D printed drones, of which there are already about 25, are designed for increasing \u201csituational awareness\u201d on patrols. The adaptable UAVs are capable of flying for 20 to 25 minutes at a time, and can be used to monitor and protect the U.S. military\u2019s positions from drones sent by the enemy.\n\nOf course, there are still a few setbacks with the technology. For one, the Nibbler drones cost about $2,000 each to 3D print, quite a bit more than their off-the-shelf counterparts (which reportedly go for about $500 apiece). But the cost difference doesn\u2019t seem to outweigh the advantages of in-situ manufacturing and the easy and cheap production of replacement parts.\n\n(Images: U.S. Marine Corps)\n\n\u201cAcross the entire Marine Corps\u2026 it takes time to get the training and then the resources, i.e., money to buy the materials and 3D printers and things like that,\" said Col. Bill Vivian, the commander of the 7th Marine Regiment which led the 3D printing operation. \"But 3D printers are coming to each installation in the Marine Corps and that\u2019s starting to unfold now, so I think those possibilities are getting close.\"\n\nVivian added that since 3D printing has been adopted in the Marine Corps, he has seen a lot of interest amongst the troops: \u201cSince we engaged and we let Marines at the lowest level know we\u2019re wrestling with this new technology, we found out a lot of them were doing it anyway\u2014several Marines had their own 3D printers. And so just taking advantage of natural talents we have out there, we were able to pull them in and use them to our advantage. It helped retention: Marines were very excited and we were able to do some things faster than we otherwise would have been able to.\"\n\nCurrently, Vivian and his task force are working on improving the 3D printed Nibbler drone by integrating higher-quality cameras and increasing the vehicle's flying time and range.\n\nPosted in 3D Printing Application\n\nMaybe you also like:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "output": "US Marines in the Middle East are using 3D printing technology to manufacture supplies, including low-cost drones. They have set up the \"Ripper Lab\", which has 3D printers, design software and materials for the production of equipment, including tools, spare parts and quadcopter drones called Nibblers. The cost of production currently exceeds that of conventionally manufactured equipment, but the flexibility of being able to produce items on site has clear advantages, commanders have said.\u00a0The Marines are also experimenting with a mobile 3D printing lab called the X-FAB system, which is still in development.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "DeepMind forms an AI ethics unit \n While little is known about the ruminations of DeepMind\u2019s internal ethics and safety board, DMES is intended to be open and transparent. All its research will be published online in full and its six external fellows \u2013 who include economist professor Diane Coyle; philosopher and existential risk expert professor Nick Bostrom; international diplomat Christiana Figueres; and economist professor Jeffrey Sachs \u2013 have not signed any non-disclosure agreements.\n\n\u201cI can say what I like about anything, anywhere, there\u2019s no constraining agreement,\u201d professor Coyle tells me. She describes her role as a fellow to DMES as conducting academic reviews on research, taking part in workshops and giving feedback. She adds that concerns about DeepMind in-housing crucial AI research are broadly unfounded. \u201cDeepMind is obviously owned by Google now. But you can be too cynical about it. I think they are sincere and genuinely want to achieve some understanding and do some very good research. And I think if a lot more companies did it we\u2019d be in a better place.\u201d\n\nSuch cynicism might be founded on DeepMind\u2019s collaboration with the NHS Royal Free Trust to develop an app used to detect acute kidney injury. An investigation into the data-sharing agreement between the firm and the NHS by the Information Commissioner\u2019s Office found that the Royal Free had failed to comply with the data protection act when it handed over details of 1.6 million patients to DeepMind. At the time, a DeepMind spokesperson said the firm \u201cunderestimated the complexity of the NHS and of the rules around patient data\u201d. The ICO warned that such work should never be \u201ca choice between privacy or innovation\u201d.\n\nWhen I raise the issue with Suleyman, he counters that DeepMind created a panel of independent reviewers to scrutinise its work with the NHS, adding the company took \u201cserious measures\u201d to be open and transparent. \u201cThere's so much more that we need to do when it comes to interacting with this kind of data in the NHS. And that is really, really challenging,\u201d he says. \u201cIt is ambiguous, a lot of the texts are very tough to navigate when it comes to regulation and a lot of it is emerging and trying to catch up with the technology.\u201d If it works as DeepMind hopes, one role for DMES could be to spot similar issues and tackle them in the open based on input from all parties.\n\n\u201cI think having a forum where you can bring a lot of disciplinary views to bear is one of the really attractive things about this\u201d Professor Diane Coyle\n\nThe launch of DMES comes little-over a year after the launch of the Partnership on AI, a consortium of technology firms, activist organisations and academic institutions focussed on establishing best practises for developments in artificial intelligence. DeepMind was a founding member, alongside Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft and IBM. For Suleyman, it was necessary to establish DMES alongside the Partnership to tackle the size of the challenge the industry faces. \u201cThe objective of DMES is to start to do the work ourselves that I don't see happening elsewhere. The more people doing this research the better. We want there to be lots of orthogonal approaches on this work.\u201d One of the challenges for the Partnership, Suleyman continues, is persuading \u201call the companies and researchers to get on board with the direction of travel\u201d.\n\nAs well partnering with organisations such as the Royal Society and Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, DMES will also work closely with the Partnership on AI. Such work will often involve funding interdisciplinary research. While the existence of DeepMind funding will always be made public, the amount of funding may sometimes remain secret. \u201cI think DeepMind should be applauded for taking the initiative to extend its engagement with questions of ethics and social impacts of AI,\u201d says professor Bostrom. \u201cOf course, if there were only one voice speaking on these issues it would be concerning \u2013 and maybe equally concerning whether that one voice was a cooperation, a government, or some nutty academic. Fortunately that is not the world we are living in.\u201d He describes DMES as an effort by DeepMind to expose itself to \u201ca larger set of critical economic and ethical perspectives\u201d. DeepMind will also launch \u201cother initiatives\u201d looking into the ethical and societal impacts of AI in 2018, Suleyman says.", "output": "Google's artificial intelligence (AI) company DeepMind is forming new unit the DeepMind Ethics & Society (DMES) to analyse all aspects of AI technology, its impact on people and society. \"We\u2019re going to be collaborating with all kinds of think tanks and academics. I think it\u2019s exciting to be a company that is putting sensitive issues\u2026 on the table for public discussion,\" said DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman. He added DMES would be more transparent than DeepMind, which will launch a series of other initiatives next year to explore the ethical impacts of AI."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ikea uses augmented reality to let customers preview furniture \n For years, Ikea has relied on shoppers visiting its stores to sell furniture, but now, it\u2019s hoping a smartphone will drive sales.\n\nThe retailer is using augmented reality to let customers preview how furniture looks on their smartphones before they buy. Customers use Ikea Place, one of the first apps to use Apple\u2019s ARKit tech, to place the company\u2019s furniture wherever they envision it in their homes.\n\nIn Ikea Place, customers can view 3-D renderings from different angles of over 2,000 products before reserving the ones they want in the app, which directs to the Ikea site to complete purchases. Currently, large furniture for living rooms such as sofas, armchairs and storage units are available to preview in the app, though more products are in the pipeline.\n\nSeeing lifelike versions of Ikea\u2019s products in rooms lets shoppers make a \u201creliable buying\u201d decision, said Michael Valdsgaard, leader of digital transformation at Inter Ikea, the holding company for Ikea.\n\nIkea has struggled with e-commerce sales partially because of its slow adoption of digital. Allowing people to see what a product would look like in their house without embarking on a three-hour Ikea trip could help the company with online sales, said Daisy Pledge, founder of AR startup Surreal Studios.\n\nValdsgaard described potential uplift in sales from AR as a \u201cdream scenario\u201d for Ikea, which is targeting \u20ac5 billion ($5.9 billion) in online sales by 2020, up from the \u20ac1.4 billion ($1.6 billion) it generated in 2016. The business has around 340 stores in 28 countries, with e-commerce services in 14 countries.\n\n\u201cMost people postpone a purchase of a new sofa because they\u2019re not comfortable making the decision if they aren\u2019t sure the color is going to match [the rest of the room] or it fits the style,\u201d he said. \u201cNow, we can give them [those answers] in their hands, while letting them have fun with home furnishing for free and with no effort.\u201d\n\nThe app launched in the U.S. on Sept. 19, coinciding with Apple\u2019s iOS 11 update, and is rolling out to other markets over the coming weeks. Valdsgaard declined to reveal how many times Ikea Place has been downloaded but said the reaction has been \u201cpositive,\u201d noting that people are sharing how they\u2019re using it online.\n\nEarly feedback on social media for Ikea Place inspired its developers to introduce a search feature for people to find specific products, which they built and launched in five days, Valdsgaard said.\n\n\u201cThe most important thing for us is that we\u2019re not a tech company,\u201d he said. \u201cIn order to sell furniture, we have to understand technology and try to move in the direction it\u2019s moving.\u201d\n\nBetter search, more furniture and the ability to buy directly from the app could all be added to future updates. For now, the retailer is focused on driving downloads on Apple devices because the Google AR developer kits are not ready for what it wants to do. Development is being handled by Ikea\u2019s Copenhagen, Denmark-based innovation unit Space10 and AR agency Twnkls.\n\nIkea Place is also working with agency 72andSunny to build a long-term proposition for the app and AR, which could play as big of a role in Ikea\u2019s ads as its catalog has previously, like in its \u201cExperience the power of a bookbook\u201d campaign in 2014, a satirical take on Apple\u2019s product promotion style that pitched Ikea\u2019s catalog as the latest gadget. To date, ads for Ikea Place encourage people to experiment with it and have revolved around a series of short films, GIFs, a blog post and social media posts.", "output": "Furniture retailer Ikea has launched Ikea Place, anaugmented reality (AR) app which shows users what furniture would look in their home\u00a0before they buy. The app is among the first to use Apple\u2019s ARKit tech. Feedback so far had been \"positive\", said Michael Valdsgaard, leader of digital transformation at Inter Ikea.\u00a0The company is already looking at improving the app with a better search function, more items available and the option of direct purchase, said Valdsgaard. Ikea is aiming for \u20ac5bn ($5.9bn) in online sales by 2020.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "French publisher Liberation favours Facebook for revenue \n While some publishers have found it challenging to monetize Facebook Instant Articles, French news publisher Lib\u00e9ration remains a fan. According to the publisher, it makes more money through ads sold by Facebook via IA than on its own mobile webpages.\n\nLib\u00e9ration has formatted all its 150 daily articles for Facebook\u2019s fast-loading mobile pages feature since January 2016. CPMs have fluctuated: For the month of June, on average, CPMs for ads within the article on IA were $3.56; this figure dropped during the summer lull of July and August to $2.85. In September, it climbed to $3.19, according to the publisher.\n\nRevenue from IA is nearly three times what Lib\u00e9ration makes on its own mobile pages, where 96 percent of its ads are sold programmatically, fetching CPMs of around 36 cents, according to the publisher. This increases to $6 for direct ads, but with few of them making up Lib\u00e9ration\u2019s mobile webpages, IA revenue emerges on top.\n\n\u201cFacebook knows its ads better than others; it owns the data, so it can do a better job at targeting on its platform,\u201d said Xavier Grangier, the publisher\u2019s head of digital.\n\nGrangier said revenue from IA, which is in the five-figure range, accounts for 55 percent of its mobile revenue (desktop revenue is still the majority). This IA revenue is modest, but it\u2019s punching above its weight because IA accounts for just 10 percent of Lib\u00e9ration\u2019s mobile pageviews, he said. A number of factors would account for higher CPMs in IA, including publisher readership, seasonality or fewer pageviews. Grangier said the fill rate for IA is often above 94 percent and 98 percent on Lib\u00e9ration\u2019s own mobile site. IA fetches average dwell times of 3.24 minutes, compared to 2.17 minutes on the publisher\u2019s own mobile site, he added.\n\nFor other publishers who monetize their own mobile pages more effectively than Lib\u00e9ration, through more direct sales, for instance, the reasons for being on IA, while the user experience is good, are less clear-cut \u2014 leading publishers to withdraw from it \u2014 as most of the data and analytics lie with Facebook. While some publishers suggest that decline in Facebook reach is linked to IA, it\u2019s hard to attribute traffic drops, there is no clear evidence that Facebook prioritizes IA.\n\nElsewhere in the French market, Le Parisien has been outspoken on the insufficient monetization of IA. Le Monde and Le Figaro decided to eschew the feature.\n\nFacebook has been making more of an effort to offer publishers more monetization routes and data around IA. In June, it introduced more ad units, the company said early tests showed incremental increases in revenue for publishers. Other publishers are seeing IA revenue increase, albeit from low bases. Facebook has said that since the beginning of 2017, revenue per thousand impressions from Facebook Audience Network in IA has increased by over 50 percent. It also introduced call-to-action units for people to sign up for a newsletter or install an app to sweeten the deal for publishers.\n\nSince February, Lib\u00e9ration has offered newsletter subscriptions through IA, signing up 2,000 new subscribers a month to its morning briefing, which has about 200,000 subscribers. On its own site, it signs up roughly 500 people a month, but Grangier notes there are fewer email sign-up options on site. IA email sign-up is performing well for Bauer Xcel Media, where IA users are 50 times more likely to sign up for email newsletters than those who visit its own properties. This is partly because users don\u2019t have to enter their email addresses, as Facebook automatically pulls them in.\n\nLib\u00e9ration has 11,000 digital subscribers and gets half of its revenue from its subscriptions, according to Grangier. \u201cFor us [IA is] a good thing,\u201d he said. \u201cThe problem is we don\u2019t drive subscriptions, but revenue and visibility are important at the moment. This could change in time to focus more on subscriptions.\u201d\n\nFacebook is on the cusp of letting publishers sign up subscribers through IA, a feature Grangier said Lib\u00e9ration is interested in using.", "output": "French publisher Lib\u00e9ration is succeeding where its rivals have failed by generating revenue from Facebook's Instant Articles (IA). According to Xavier Grangier, the publisher\u2019s head of digital, IA is responsible for 55% of its mobile ad revenue, despite making up just 10% of Lib\u00e9ration\u2019s mobile page views. The tool has also enabled it to add 2,000 new subscribers a month to its newsletter since February. \"Facebook knows its ads better than others; it owns the data, so it can do a better job at targeting on its platform\", said Grangier.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese cinemas accused of not declaring US movie ticket sales \n Some Chinese theaters are shortchanging U.S. film studios whose movies are shown in the world\u2019s most populous country, according to a person familiar with an audit conducted by the Motion Picture Assn. of America.\n\nThe MPAA, which is the lobbying arm for the six major movie studios, hired accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers last year to audit ticket sales from China amid concerns over the accuracy of reported box-office statistics coming out of the country.\n\nThe audit found that the Chinese ticket sales from 2016 were underrepresented by about 9%, amounting to roughly $40 million in lost revenue, according to the person with knowledge of the study, which has not yet been made public. The audit examined the business of a small portion of Chinese theaters and extrapolated the findings to account for the country\u2019s entire marketplace.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe schemes employed by the theaters included underreporting the number of tickets sold to screenings and not disclosing showings of movies, according to the person familiar with the audit who was not authorized to comment publicly about the findings.\n\nChina Film Group, the state-backed distributor of most films in the country, has been shown the results of the audit, the individual said, but has yet to comment on the findings.\n\nThe MPAA declined to comment.\n\nThe audit comes ahead of planned negotiations between the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and its analogous Chinese entity. The talks will center in part on a potential expansion of the quota that allows for U.S. films to be shown in China. Under the existing revenue-sharing pact, which was finalized in 2012, 34 movies from foreign studios can be shown each year in China. U.S. studios receive 25% of the box-office revenue from those pictures.\n\nChina is the second-largest film market in the world, behind the U.S. and Canada, and boasts more than 40,000 movie screens. According to MPAA data, China\u2019s box office grew about 4% last year to $6.6 billion.\n\nThat actually represented a slowdown from explosive growth in recent years; the drop-off has been attributed in part to a weak film slate and the drying up of discounts from online ticket sellers such as Alibaba Group.\n\nStill, the country is important to the success of major studios\u2019 movies, which are sometimes tailored to appeal to Chinese audiences. Over the years, distinct versions of films including \u201cLooper\u201d and \u201cIron Man 3\u201d have been created for China.\n\nIn some cases, U.S. movies perform better in China than they do domestically. \u201cTransformers: The Last Knight,\u201d the latest film in the Paramount Pictures action franchise, grossed nearly $120 million in China in its opening weekend, nearly triple the Michael Bay movie\u2019s tepid $45 million stateside bow in June, according to Box Office Mojo.\n\nPaul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for data firm ComScore, said the Chinese market is \u201cvitally important to the success of individual movies.\u201d\n\nSome films, he said, \u201coften are able to become hits rather than misses when the China component is figured into the box-office equation.\u201d\n\nAhead of the release of the findings of the audit, which were first reported by the Wall Street Journal, Chinese authorities had already signaled a willingness to examine and crack down on the potential distortion of box-office data provided by companies operating there.\n\nIn 2016, the Beijing-based distributor of the Mike Tyson-starring martial arts picture \u201cIp Man 3\u201d was barred from releasing films for a month after an investigation found the company had inflated the film\u2019s opening-weekend box-office tally by nearly $5 million, the Times reported last year. Pumping up the film\u2019s theatrical take allowed its producers to boast about the outsized success of the project.\n\ndaniel.miller@latimes.com\n\n@DanielNMiller", "output": "Chinese ticket sales on US films from 2016 are said to have been underrepresented by around 9%, worth roughly $40m in revenue, according to a person reported to have knowledge of a yet-to-be published study by the Motion Picture Association of America. The audit assessed a small percentage of Chinese cinemas and extrapolated the results to offer a countrywide estimate. State-backed distributor the China Film Group has not yet commented on the findings. The figures come as authorities are cracking down on the manipulation of box-office results, and ahead of talks between representatives from the US and Chinese government trade agencies."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Russian-linked Facebook ads targeted swing states \n More details are emerging about the Russia-linked ads Facebook handed over to Congressional investigators just days ago. According to multiple sources who spoke to CNN, a number of the paid posts specifically targeted two states that were crucial to Trump's victory in November: Michigan and Wisconsin. Facebook has already revealed that the 3,000 ads (viewed by roughly 10 million people) focused on \"divisive social political messages,\" including issues about race, LGBT topics, immigration, and gun rights. But, the latest info sheds light on the geographic and demographical targeting of the promotional messages -- two aspects Facebook has not discussed in detail.\n\nTrump beat Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in Michigan by just 10,704 votes. Wisconsin too was a tight race, with Trump grabbing victory by 22,700 votes. Just days after the results were announced, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg swiped back at his critics by claiming it was \"crazy\" to think that fake news on his platform swayed the election. He's since said he regrets those remarks. But, bogus articles were just part of the machinery used by nefarious forces, along with promoted events, and ads. The latter saw Facebook's comprehensive (and controversial) ad targeting tool utilized to target groups in key areas of Michigan and Wisconsin, people with knowledge on the matter told CNN.\n\nFacebook is cooperating with the Senate Intelligence Committee investigating Russia's alleged social media interference during the elections. However, it's not the only one in the dock. Twitter also recently handed over evidence of over 1,800 Russia Today accounts that posted targeted ads in the US. Total Spend on the advertisements, which were also created during the 2016 election, came to $274,100. Despite its willingness to hand over data, it seems the company has not shut down several accounts associated with the so-called propagandist news outlet. As Recode points out, the @RT_com, @RT_America, and @ActualidadRT are still fully active. What's more, they have not reportedly been banned from advertising on the platform.\n\nElsewhere, Russia Today has lost a powerful soapbox. Google -- which is also being rounded up as part of the Senate's extensive investigation -- just removed Russia Today from its premium YouTube ad program (known as Google Preferred). Facebook, Google, and Twitter will be questioned by Senate lawmakers on November 1st.", "output": "Several of the ads paid for by Russia on Facebook during the 2016 US presidential campaign\u00a0specifically targeted swing states Michigan and Wisconsin, where Donald Trump won by a few thousand votes, according to multiple sources cited by CNN. The ads have already been described as spreading \"divisive social political messages\", but this is the first information regarding demographic and geographic targeting to be revealed. Representatives from Twitter, Google and Facebook will testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee investigating alleged Russian meddling in the election on 1 November.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Interest-only mortgage risks 'not clear'\u00a0to Australian borrowers \n A third of customers with interest-only mortgages may not properly understand the type of loan they have taken out, which could put many in \"substantial\" stress when the time comes to pay their debt, UBS analysts warn.\n\nAmid a regulatory crackdown on interest-only loans, a new report by analysts led by Jonathan Mott highlights the potential for repayment difficulties with this type of mortgage.\n\nTypically, an interest-only loan will allow a customer to only pay interest for the first five years. After that, they must start also paying principal, which raises their monthly payments substantially - or attempt to refinance.\n\nHowever, the UBS analysts believe there is a real risk many consumers do not realise their mortgage payments will rise in this manner.", "output": "A third of Australian homeowners may be unaware of the risks associated with interest-only mortgages, with a lack of financial literacy possibly to blame, according to a survey by UBS. Interest-only loans offer lenders an initial period when they pay off only the interest on the mortgage, but after that has elapsed, they must pay back the main loan as well, or refinance. Analyst Jonathan Mott said customers could face increases of between 30% and 60% at the end of interest-only periods, which could\u00a0lead\u00a0to \"substantial stress\". In 2015, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission questioned banks' credit standards in interest-only lending."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Kazakhstan to earn $1bn from gas export deal with China \n October 04, 2017 11:09 am | Updated 11:11 am IST - ASTANA:\n\nKazakhstan has signed a trade agreement with China covering exports of 5 billion cubic meters of natural gas to the Asian giant for a year, a deal that is expected to generate $1 billion in earnings for the Central Asian country, JSC KazTransGas said on Tuesday.\n\n\u201cThe contract was signed by JSC KazTransGas and PetroChina International Company Limited on September 30 in Beijing. Gas export deliveries are scheduled to begin on October 15,\u201d the Kazakh company\u2019s press service said in a statement, reports Efe.\n\n\u201cExpected export earnings will be around $1 billion,\u201d JSC KazTransGas said.\n\nThe natural gas will come from fields in western Kazakhstan, as well as reserves at JSC KazMunayGas\u2019s underground storage facilities.\n\nVia the Khorgos border point\n\nChina will take delivery of the gas via the Khorgos border point, the most important trade frontier between the countries.\n\n\u201cThe diversification of transit and export routes for gas transportation in Kazakhstan, as well as the increase in the volume of natural gas exports, are important strategic objectives for the country,\u201d JSC KazMunayGas vice president of transportation and gas trading Kairat Sharipbayev said.\n\nExports of Kazakh gas to China are aimed at promoting beneficial bilateral relations focused on creating a common infrastructure and establishing trade and transport links in the Eurasian region, the statement said.\n\nThe agreement also calls for bolstering bilateral strategic energy relations, as indicated by the production of 25 per cent of Kazakh oil by Chinese companies.", "output": "Kazakhstan will export 5 billion cubic metres of natural gas to neighbouring China as part of a new trade agreement, earning the central Asian nation an expected $1bn.\u00a0JSC KazTransGas and PetroChina\u00a0signed an agreement on 30 September and gas exports are due to start on 15 October.\u00a0The\u00a0deal aims to\u00a0boost\u00a0bilateral ties and\u00a0focuses on\u00a0infrastructure,\u00a0trade and transport links."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon's Echo and Alexa launch in India, by invitation only \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nAmazon has announced that its smart Echo speakers and accompanying Alexa voice service are now available in India, but by invitation only.\n\nAdditionally, Amazon announced that the Echo will be landing in Japan \u201clater this year,\u201d according to a separate press release.\n\nThose wishing to buy an Echo, Echo Plus, or Echo Dot in India can request an invitation to purchase a device through Amazon.in today, with local pricing coming in at \u20b99,999 ($153), \u20b914,999 ($230), and \u20b94,499 ($69), respectively. The initial batch of devices is slated to start shipping from October 30.\n\nEcho, echo, echo\u2026\n\nFollowing an invite-only period that kicked off more than three years ago, Amazon launched the Echo in the U.S. in July 2015 before extending it into Germany and the U.K. last year. India represents the fourth official market launch for Echo, and the first in Asia. The news comes just a week after Amazon unveiled a triumvirate of new Echo devices, including a second-generation Echo, the new Echo Plus, and the Echo Spot alarm clock.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\nFor now, Alexa \u2014 the digital voice-activated assistant that can understand and answer your questions \u2014 still only speaks English and German. English is, of course, an official language in India, but for the Indian launch Amazon said that Alexa will deliver a \u201ccustomized Indian experience,\u201d with an \u201call-new English voice\u201d that understands and converses in local pronunciations and intonation. It will also support music titles, names, and places in additional non-English languages. And Indian developers are building skills for the local market, covering Saavn, Times of India, ESPNcricinfo, Ola, and FreshMenu, among others.\n\nRumors of an imminent Indian launch had abounded for some time. An Economic Times report from July noted that while English would be the predominant language at launch, Alexa would later be updated to include regional tongues, such as Tamil, Hindi, and Marathi. However, Amazon hasn\u2019t given any indication that this is the case or when a language expansion may be expected.\n\nBattle for the \u201cnext billion\u201d\n\nIndia has emerged as a key battleground for Western tech firms, with Apple committed to selling iPhones manufactured in Bengaluru, Google going all-in to target the \u201cnext billion\u201d internet users across the country, Intel spending $178 million on a new \u201csmart and green\u201d R&D facility there, and Facebook showing growing interest. Last year, Amazon opened its first Indian AWS data center in Mumbai to help enhance data transfer speeds and to satisfy local data sovereignty concerns.\n\nWith the smart speaker market heating up, and both Google and Apple offering devices similar to the Echo, Amazon is keen to get a head start in what could prove a lucrative market for the fast-growing product line. The company revealed that the Echo Dot was its best-selling product on Prime Day in the U.S. this year, though that was probably largely due to its huge temporary discount.", "output": "Amazon is releasing its Echo speakers and accompanying voice-activated assistant Alexa in the Asian market for the first time, with an invitation-only offer to Indian customers. Amazon said the Alexa device will have an all-new English voice and offer a \"customised Indian experience\", as a host of developers race to create skills covering Indian music service Saavn, the Times of India and ride-hailing firm Ola, among others. Shipping is due to begin at the end of October. India is Amazon's fourth market launch for Echo, and the country has become a hotbed for Western firms such as Apple and Intel.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Canada welcomes Square's contactless payments technology \n US-based financial services company Square has launched a brand new contactless payment and chip reader in Canada.\n\nThe company announced the new product at a panel discussion led by Square CEO and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. \u201cOne word to really describe Square\u2026is the word access,\u201d said Dorsey, during the panel. \u201cGiving people access to the economy in ways that they previously had not. Our purpose is to build tools to help people enter the economy.\u201d\n\nThe product is a white square that can be connected to the company\u2019s Square Stand card reader. Customers will now be able to pay with their mobile devices, tap-enabled cards and chip-enabled cards.\n\nAdditionally, the company also announced that debit transactions \u2014 a much-requested feature \u2014 will be available in Canada. Customers will now be able to pay with their chip- and tap-enabled debit cards, as well as their credit cards.\n\nIn a roundtable discussion with media, Jesse Dorogusker \u2014 Square\u2019s vice president of hardware \u2014 confirmed that the company\u2019s credit card fee of 2.65 percent will not change. The company will also be waiving its $0.10 debit fee until the end of 2017. According to Dorsey, with the introduction of the new Square chip and contactless payment reader, the company is moving towards a \u201ccomplete Square.\u201d\n\nDorsey also briefly touched on the subject of bringing his company\u2019s two other major products, the Cash app and the Square Cash Card, to Canada.\n\nWhile Dorsey said that he would like to see the Cash app and Cash Card in Canada, \u201cit\u2019s a matter of doing the work.\u201d \u201cWe would like to enable all of our products in every market,\u201d said Dorsey. \u201cIt\u2019s work, entering any market with a different product requires work on our side, it\u2019s not just an okay from a partner. Connections that need to be made, code that needs to be written and hardware that needs to be tests \u2014 it\u2019s work on both sides.\u201d\n\nThe Square contactless payment and chip reader will be available through Square\u2019s website for $59 CAD. The company said that the product will be available \u201cin weeks\u201d at retailers including Staples, Apple, London Drugs and Amazon.ca.\n\nIn April, Shopify released its own chip and POS reader as it sought to grab customers that may consider Square its first option.\n\nThis article was originally published on MobileSyrup", "output": "Canadian consumers can now use contactless payments service Square. The US company's product allows customers to pay for goods and services using mobile devices, as well as debit and credit cards.\u00a0The service\u00a0is expected to\u00a0be available soon in major retailers including Apple, London Drugs and Amazon. \"Our purpose is to build tools to help people enter the economy\u201d, said CEO\u00a0Jack Dorsey.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Singapore bank's customers can\u00a0use Siri for B2B payments \n Singapore's OCBC Bank has integrated its business mobile banking app with Apple's Siri for use in voice-controlled funds transfers and account balance enquiries.\n\nAvailable early next week to 120,000 Singapore-registered users of OCBC Bank\u2019s internet business banking portal, the app will permit payments of up to S$20,000 to recipients on the SME payee list. Validation will be done via fingerprint authentication and One Time Passwords (OTP) sent via SMS.\n\n\n\nOCBC in October last year rolled out Siri-based cash transfers to retail customers using its Pay Anyone P2P mobile app.\n\n\n\nPraveen Raina, SVP, group operations & technology, OCBC Bank, says e-payments to other OCBC Bank business accounts and account balance enquiries are two of the more commonly-used business banking services.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe e-payments push is not just about peer-to-peer payments, but encompasses business-to-business payments too,\" he says. \"We have already made online and mobile banking easy for SMEs in order to encourage them to go cashless. Voice recognition technology is integral to this, and it is easy to envision the use of Siri to make e-payments, or to check account balances, becoming second nature to business owners.\"\n\n", "output": "Singapore's OCBC Bank has integrated its business banking app with Apple's Siri for voice-controlled money transfers. From next week, 120,000 Singapore-registered business users will be able to make payments of up to SGD20,000 ($14,700) to recipients on their payee list. Payments will be validated with fingerprint authentication and a one-time password, sent via text message.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snap Accelerate helps start-ups to use Snapchat for advertising \n Snapchat launched an initiative Tuesday to help fledgling companies kick-start their advertising efforts on the messaging application.\n\nSnap Accelerate is aimed at providing venture capital-backed startups, incubators and accelerator programs with access to benefits and services.\n\nA Snap Inc. spokesperson said the company is open to startups at all stages of their development, adding that the initiative is best-suited for growth-stage mobile startups with digital expertise and performance-based, direct-response marketing strategies. Examples include mobile applications that are still in the process of acquiring users, mobile commerce startups and mobile game developers.\n\nSnapchat is obviously a mobile-exclusive vehicle, and the company said 60 percent of its daily users create Snaps with their cameras on a daily basis, and the average user opens the Snapchat app 18 times per day and spends more than 30 minutes on it.\n\nThe", "output": "Snapchat is launching a partners programme to support start-up companies that want to use the platform for their advertising campaigns. The initiative, called Snap Accelerate, is a similar concept to Facebook's FbStart programme, which launched in 2014 and has continued to expand. Snapchat is inviting applications from start-ups that are formulating direct response strategies, such as mobile commerce, app and game developers.\u00a0Selected partners will get access to\u00a0a range of services and benefits, including advertising credits, priority support and advertising tools, as well as invitations to private networking events.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Grassley Pressing to Include Drug Pricing Measures in CHIP Reauthorization \n The Preserve Access to Affordable Generics Act targets deals between brand-name drugmakers and their generic counterparts to delay the market entry of competing drugs.\n\nThe CREATES Act would crack down on practices employed by some brand-name drugmakers to thwart generic competition.\n\nSen. Chuck Grassley, a senior member and former chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, is pressing GOP leaders to tackle high drug prices in a critical bill to renew funding for the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program. Grassley (R-Iowa), who has tried for years to advance legislation targeting rising prescription drug costs to little avail, is pushing two bills as potential offsets for CHIP funding. Both measures have some bipartisan support, but neither has advanced in previous congressional sessions amid fierce pushback from the pharmaceutical industry. But with urgency on Capitol Hill to renew CHIP, which expired last week, Grassley is taking a shot at getting the bills \u2014 the CREATES Act and the Preserve Access to Affordable Generics Act \u2014 included in the reauthorization as partial offsets. The CREATES Act would crack down on practices employed by some brand-name drugmakers to thwart generic competition, while the Preserve Access to Affordable Generics Act targets deals between brand-name drugmakers and their generic counterparts to delay competing drugs from entering the market.\n\nA similar affordable generics bill would reduce federal spending by roughly $2.4 billion over 10 years, according to an October 2015 estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. A previous version of the CREATES Act would reduce federal spending by roughly $3.3 billion over 10 years, according to Grassley\u2018s office in April. Experts on Grassley\u2019s staff have talked with staff on the Senate Finance Committee and in leadership about the proposals ahead of a committee markup of the CHIP legislation on Wednesday, according to a senior GOP aide. Supporters from the health sector, which include health insurers, providers and patient organizations, say their chances have never been better, given public outrage at exorbitant drug prices, bipartisan desire to address the issue in Congress and interest in drug prices from within the Trump administration. The proposals have even united progressive advocacy group Public Citizen and the conservative FreedomWorks. Still, despite unprecedented momentum to tackle rising prescription costs, it is still far from certain whether Grassley will be successful. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has not endorsed either measure and has sometimes sided with brand-name drugmakers on divisive pricing issues. Hatch\u2019s office did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. \u201cIt is a delicate conversation between two chairmen who\u2019ve been here for more than a cup of coffee,\u201d Rodney Whitlock, Grassley\u2019s former health policy expert, said in an interview Tuesday. Whitlock is now vice president of health policy at the consulting firm ML Strategies LLC. Political procedure also complicates Grassley\u2019s effort. Both drug pricing measures have been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which Grassley chairs, while the Senate Finance Committee has jurisdiction over CHIP. A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) directed a request for comment to Grassley\u2019s office.", "output": "Sen. Chuck Grassley, a senior member and former chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, is pressing GOP leaders to tackle high drug prices in a critical bill to renew funding for the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IBM, UC San Diego launch aging-based AI center \n IBM and the University of California San Diego have launched an artificial intelligence project aimed at boosting the quality of life and independence for aging populations.\n\nThe partners have opened an Artificial Intelligence for Healthy Living Center on the campus of UC San Diego to bring together the technology, AI and life sciences knowledge for research into healthy aging.\n\n[Also: AI-powered Viome raises $15 million to take on the microbiome]\n\nThey plan to develop technologies to further achieve the potential of AI and to boost cognitive health, which, in turn, will enable people to live independently longer and have a higher quality of life.\n\nThe project also aims to better understand the health implications of the human microbiome \u2013 the microbes that live in the human body.\n\nThe team will develop and employ machine learning algorithms for sensing, understanding, modeling, personalizing and informing.\n\n[Also: How AI is transforming healthcare and solving problems in 2017]\n\nThe initiative will bring together researchers in computer science, engineering and medicine, including psychiatry. Over five years, researchers will study the impact a combination of daily habits, the environment, genetics and the microbiome have on the cognition of older adults. The goal: enabling older adults to live independently longer and have a higher quality of life.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re committed to collaborating with the best minds in academia to inspire the next generation of scientists by providing access to leading-edge AI tools and expertise to solve real problems that impact human lives,\u201d John Kelly III, IBM senior vice president, Cognitive Solutions and IBM Research, said in a statement.\n\nCo-directors of the Artificial Intelligence for Healthy Living Center will be Ruoyi Zhou and Ho-Cheol Kim from IBM; and Tajana Rosing, a faculty member in the Jacobs School of Engineering\u2019s Computer Science and Engineering Department, and Rob Knight, a faculty member in the Department of Pediatrics and Computer Science and Engineering and director of the UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation.\n\nTwitter: @Bernie_HITN\n\nEmail the writer: bernie.monegain@himssmedia.com", "output": "IBM and the University of California San Diego have launched an artificial intelligence project aimed at boosting the quality of life and independence for aging populations.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Altibbi wins $6.5m to expand\u00a0employee telehealth in Middle East \n Altibbi has raised $6.5 million to support its digital health platform for the Arab world. Middle East Venture Partners and Dash Ventures led the round, with additional participation from TAMM, RIMCO Investments, Endeavor\u2019s Catalyst Fund, and other undisclosed investors.\n\n\u201cWe are fortunate to work with some of the reputable and supportive venture capital firms and strategic corporate VCs in the region, and confident that this partnership will further accelerate our efforts towards a more prosperous future with universal access to healthcare,\u201d CEO Jalil Allabadi said in a statement. \u201cThe rapid growth of our company over the past years has clearly illustrated the ever-growing demand for innovative health solutions in our region, and we are delighted to witness first-hand how our products are solving real problems. Altibbi is proud to provide cutting-edge, inclusive health services and looks forward to further strengthening these solutions by offering the best connected health solutions the region has seen to date.\u201d\n\nAltibbi is primarily a telehealth company for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It works with employers to offer their employee 24-7 access to local primary care doctors. The app serves users in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Omar, Jordan, Iraq, and Palestine.\n\nThe company also has a free doctor Q&A platform where 12,000 doctors answer a combined 1,000 questions per day. Both of these features are offered online and through the company\u2019s popular mobile app.\n\n\u201cThe funding is fully dedicated to further growing the company, which has established an exceptional track record as a premier provider of trusted health and wellness information in the region, serving over 6 million people every month,\u201d Ayman Sharaiha, cofounder and COO at Altibbi, said in a statement. \u201cWe believe there is a true opportunity to further build Altibbi\u2019s portfolio of telehealth solutions for the benefit of companies and consumers in the region.\u201d\n\nAltibbi has partnered with Uber in the past, both to offer Uber users a free trial of the company\u2019s telehealth service and to make that service available as a perk for drivers.", "output": "Dubai-based health platform Altibbi has raised $6.5m in a funding round led by Middle East Venture Partners and Dash Ventures, and featuring participation from Tamm and Rimco Investments, among others. Altibbi works with employers based in the Middle East and North Africa, offering\u00a024-hour telehealth services to employees, including a free Q&A platform boasting 12,000 doctors. The company said it serves more than six million people every month and aims to expand further.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "San Diego's hepatitis A outbreak continues to grow \n Add 20 more cases and 22 more hospitalizations to San Diego County\u2019s ever-growing hepatitis A outbreak.\n\nTuesday afternoon the county Health and Human Services Agency bumped the outbreak\u2019s confirmed cases from 461 to 481 and hospitalizations from 315 to 337. The death count associated with the outbreak, which started in November 2016, remained at 17 for a second straight week.\n\nFor the last two weeks, the health department has reported having more than 40 cases under investigation awaiting confirmation from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that they are of the same unique strains associated with other outbreak cases.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nNo information on the number of cases under investigation was available Tuesday. All of those who have died during the outbreak have had underlying medical conditions such as liver disease. Most were also homeless and/or drug users.\n\nVaccination events continue throughout the city as public health officials focus on those at the highest risk of infection such as health and safety workers and those who work with homeless outreach organizations and food service workers.\n\nHepatitis A infection is seldom fatal unless other complications, such as liver disease or an autoimmune disorder, are already present.\n\nThe hepatitis A virus is shed in human feces and is transmitted when a person accidentally consumes a small amount of fecal matter left on food, drinks, drugs or other materials. Proper hand hygiene \u2014 washing with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds after using the bathroom \u2014 is sufficient to kill the virus, though alcohol-based hand sanitizer may not be effective. Hepatitis A symptoms include jaundice (yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes), abdominal pain, fatigue, diarrhea, vomiting and nausea.\n\nFor information on where to get a hepatitis a vaccination, dial 2-1-1.\n\nHealth Playlist \u00d7 On Now Video: Leaders urge public to help extinguish hepatitis outbreak On Now San Diego starts cleansing sidewalks, streets to combat hepatitis A On Now Video: Scripps to shutter its hospice service On Now Video: Scripps La Jolla hospitals nab top local spot in annual hospital rankings On Now Video: Does a parent's Alzheimer's doom their children? On Now EpiPen recall expands On Now Kids can add years to your life\n\npaul.sisson@sduniontribune.com\n\n(619) 293-1850\n\nTwitter: @paulsisson", "output": "Add 20 more cases and 22 more hospitalizations to San Diego County\u2019s ever-growing Hepatitis A\u00a0outbreak.\u00a0 Tuesday afternoon the county Health and Human Services Agency bumped the outbreak\u2019s confirmed cases from 461 to 481 and hospitalizations from 315 to 337. The death count associated with the outbreak, which started in November 2016, remained at 17 for a second straight week.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "High-deductible health care plans curb both cost and usage, including preventive care \n INDIANAPOLIS -- A team of researchers based at IUPUI has conducted the first systematic review of studies examining the relationship between high-deductible health care plans and the use of health care services. They found these plans reduce both the cost and the use of health care services, according to an article published in the October issue of the journal Health Affairs.\n\nThose reductions are the result of a decrease in patient use of many types of medical services, including desirable services like preventive care or cancer screenings, said Nir Menachemi, a professor of health policy and management and chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management in the Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health at IUPUI, who is one of the authors of the paper.\n\n\"For high-deductible health plans to work in the ideal, patients need to be educated on the fact that preventive care does not usually incur out-of-pocket costs in these types of plans,\" Menachemi said. \"Traditional insurance plans shield patients from all of the financial decisions that are made. The fact that you are shielded financially from health care decisions makes you potentially more likely to over-consume services, which raises the average of care for everyone and increases premiums for everyone.\"\n\nThe review identified the most rigorous methodological studies previously published and ultimately summarized findings across 28 articles. The review found that high-deductible health plans were associated with a significant reduction in preventive care in seven of 12 studies and a significant reduction in office visits in six of 11 studies -- which in turn led to a reduction in both appropriate and inappropriate care.\n\nHigh-deductible health plans have lower premiums but higher deductibles compared to traditional insurance plans. Many policymakers view high-deductible health plans as a way to curb health care costs by providing patients with incentives to make more cost-conscious health care decisions.\n\nThe review highlights the decline in use of preventive health care services under high-deductible plans, which another study has shown occurs when patients change their health care behavior and forgo needed care to save money.\n\nHowever, few if any high-deductible health plans charge members for preventive screenings, suggesting patients didn't understand they could use these services at no cost, Menachemi said.\n\nGiven that nearly every health care reform proposal at the state and federal level involves some use of high-deductible health plans to manage costs and patients' demands for services, a synthesis of existing studies was needed to provide policymakers with the best available evidence as the U.S. moves toward a system increasingly centered on high-deductible health care plans, Menachemi said.\n\n###\n\nThe article, titled \"High-Deductible Health Plans Reduce Health Care Cost and Utilization, Including Use of Needed Preventive Services,\" is co-authored by Rajender Agarwal, director of the Center for Health Reform in Dallas, Texas, and a student in the Business of Medicine MBA program at IU's Kelley School of Business at IUPUI, and Olena Mazurenko, an assistant professor of health policy and management at the Fairbanks School of Public Health.", "output": "A team of researchers based at IUPUI has conducted the first systematic review of studies examining the relationship between high-deductible health care plans and the use of health care services. They found these plans reduce both the cost and the use of health care services, according to an article published in the October issue of the journal Health Affairs.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Interoperability shows progress, but it's slow progress at best \n A new Health Affairs report on the state of interoperability in healthcare reveals scant progress in spite of what the authors of the report called \u201csubstantial efforts.\u201d\n\nThe researchers looked at 2014 and 2015 data and found that 2014 national data suggested that hospital engagement with interoperability were at low levels.\n\nThey examined the 2015 data for national trends in engagement in four areas of interoperability: finding, sending, receiving and integrating electronic patient information from outside providers. They found small gains in 2015, with 29.7 percent of hospitals engaging in all four domains compared to 24.5 percent in 2014.\n\n[Also: NQF says interoperability goes far beyond EHR-to-EHR data exchange]\n\nSending information showed an increase of 8.1 percent while receiving information showed an increase of 8.4 percent.\n\nBut there were no changes in integrating systems, however. Hospitals\u2019 use of data for patient care from outside providers was low, with only 18.7 percent of hospitals reporting they \u201coften\u201d used these data.\n\n\u201cOur results reveal that hospitals\u2019 progress toward interoperability is slow and that progress is focused on moving information between hospitals, not on ensuring usability of information in clinical decisions.\u201d\n\nThe researchers concluded that in 2015, fewer than 30 percent of hospitals engaged in the four primary areas of interoperability, a slight increase over 2014. Engagement in one domain, integrating outside information, was stagnant.\n\n\u201cThis is a concern because integration is critical to data usability, and lack of integration was found to be a top barrier to the use of outside data in clinical care,\u201d the researchers wrote.\n\nOn a high note, researchers found that each of the four domains of interoperability was positively associated with the availability and use of outside clinical information and that nearly half of hospitals were \u201coften\u201d or \u201csometimes\u201d using this information in the delivery of patient care, there is still much room for progress, they wrote.\n\nHowever, they pointed to issues with integrating information into existing EHR systems. Clinical workflows were the most commonly cited barriers for hospitals that were not routinely using external information for patient care. It further underscores the need to shift the policy focus from transmitting information to information usability\n\nTwitter: @Bernie_HITN\n\nEmail the writer: bernie.monegain@himssmedia.com", "output": "A new Health Affairs report\u00a0on the state of interoperability in healthcare reveals scant progress in spite of what the authors of the report called \u201csubstantial efforts.\u201d\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Medicare innovation can spur the next round of payment reform \n The economic imperative for better health care at a lower cost has never been more urgent. Changing the way that health care providers are paid is at the core of solving the problem. Bipartisan support has formed around the idea of flexibility and innovation in how care is delivered in conjunction with more accountability for results. But the journey toward implementing these new models of care and payment is a difficult one.\n\nSuccess in these reforms means moving away from relying only or primarily on fee-for-service payments. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and, by extension, private payers rely on a highly complex system of fee-for-service prices. More than 47,000 different prices are listed for covered health care services, while many services and interventions that could lower costs and improve care \u2014 such as team-based approaches to care, telemedicine, and digital health services, personalized services based on new diagnostics and big-data capabilities, or spending time with a patient to develop a care plan that reflects their preferences \u2014 aren\u2019t covered much or at all. Medicare prices are determined by thousands of pages of regulation and legislation.\n\nadvertisement\n\nSince its creation in the Affordable Care Act, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation has led efforts at CMS to advance alternatives to fee-for-service. Working with CMS, and with states and employers, Medicare Advantage plans, Medicaid managed care plans, and commercial insurance plans are implementing new payment models that in many cases represent more fundamental reforms than Medicare has yet undertaken. But most payment reforms are still at relatively early stages, and private-sector innovators cannot make the shift without the government\u2019s commitment to shift from volume- to value-based payments.\n\nWith so much at stake, the actions of the Department of Health and Human Services are closely watched. The recent revisions in a set of mandatory payment reform pilots caused some to worry about continued HHS commitment to payment reform. Recently, CMS provided more visibility into their intentions by publishing a request for information based on a set of principles and new areas of emphasis in payment reform.\n\nThe CMS information request makes two things clear. First, the current administration does intend to continue pursuing payment reform. Second, HHS leadership believes there is a way to go before we get it right.\n\nadvertisement\n\nBoth are welcome sentiments. Reform of a system that has existed for decades takes time and will require iterative improvement and learning. For example, some large consolidated hospital systems have only undertaken modest \u201cshared savings\u201d reforms, and continue to be paid largely on a volume basis while amassing considerable market power. Many providers have criticized extensive participation and reporting requirements that they believe divert effort from steps that could really improve outcomes that matter to patients. The CMS request signals new directions in payment reform that could address these and other challenges.\n\nThe announcement emphasizes greater patient and consumer involvement in reform efforts. Medicare Part D, in which consumers choose plans that enable them to save much more than in a traditional benefit structure, have resulted in large increases in the use of generic drugs and more price competition among similar brand-name drugs. Yet only a couple of the many provider-focused payment reform initiatives to date from Medicare\u2019s innovation center let consumers pay significantly less by choosing providers and care models that are less expensive and meet their needs.\n\nFor competition on value to succeed, consumers will need help moving beyond the complex price system used by Medicare and private insurers. It is impossible for consumers to sort through thousands of specific prices, even if they were all publicly reported, to figure out the actual ballpark of their costs for a knee replacement procedure or cancer care. Payment reform is needed to drive transparency, consumer empowerment, and competition in all areas of health care.\n\nCurrently, shared savings in payment reforms are designed to go mainly to health care providers. What if future rounds of Medicare payment reform expanded opportunities to share savings with consumers and patients? They could use the quality and cost information that can go along with the payment reforms to choose high-quality and efficient provider groups for their overall care or for specialized care needs, say for cancer treatment, and can get savings that are not possible in Medicare today.\n\nAs with Medicare Part D, it is important to include steps like risk adjustment to encourage competition to improve care and lower cost for the sickest beneficiaries. Along with risk adjustment, Medicare support for broader reporting on a limited number of meaningful performance measures and regulatory flexibility to share savings with consumers could be powerful forces for driving change in health care.\n\nThe CMS request for information provides an opportunity to consider payment reforms that are administratively simpler. For example, performance measurement is not only essential for competition and consumer empowerment but is also a promising area in which CMS can reduce burdens on clinicians. Health care providers and patient advocates alike have criticized existing performance measures as not sufficiently meaningful or practically relevant to patient care. Private payers and employers are also interested in supporting more meaningful, comparable performance measures, such as important clinical outcomes, as well as patient-reported measures of how well they are functioning with a disease. Through public-private collaboration, CMS could lead efforts to make key, consistent measures widely available.\n\nIt is clear that we can expect emphasis on needed payment reforms in areas of specialized care that account for substantial disease burdens and costs, such as degenerative joint diseases, complex cardiovascular diseases, chronic gastrointestinal diseases, and cancer. Many specialty-care providers have limited options to participate in Medicare\u2019s existing major payment reforms. Payment models that exist for some surgical procedures and cancer care could be expanded to more chronic disease management and additional types of specialized care.\n\nThe CMS announcement rightly emphasizes the inclusion of drugs and other innovative medical products in payment reform efforts. Current fee-for-service payments for drugs and devices are often not transparent to consumers or providers and do not align with provider efforts to shift from volume-based to value-based care. Some product manufacturers have begun implementing outcome-based payments and other value-based payment reforms with private insurers and health care organizations. HHS support for such efforts is very timely.\n\nCMS could provide more support for state-led payment reform efforts that include public and private payers. Many states, such as Arkansas, Tennessee, and Ohio, are in the process of implementing such models. Building on some existing multi-payer reforms, CMS could take a big step toward helping these reforms succeed by providing more clarity about how Medicare can align its measures and payments with those used by a preponderance of the private- and state-based insurance plans. Such reforms could be particularly helpful in Medicaid, supporting care for complex patients and those with behavioral or social factors influencing their costs.\n\nNewsletters Sign up for the First Opinion newsletter A weekly digest of our opinion column, with insight from industry experts. Please enter a valid email address. Privacy Policy\n\nFinally, CMS could accelerate progress by supporting clinicians and private payers in sharing insights about how health care providers can implement new approaches to delivering care. Public-private and multi-stakeholder collaborations can share the tools and best practices to help them succeed.\n\nContinued momentum is important. While CMS gathers input on these potentially valuable next steps, payment reform needs to continue. The alternative to progress on payment reform is rising pressure to try to control costs through more complex and tightly regulated fee-for-service prices, which encourages providers and patients to focus on the volume of services rather than on developing innovative approaches to staying well, heading off disease complications, and incorporating new biomedical breakthroughs at a more sustainable overall cost.\n\nCMS needs to lean forward by providing a clear and predictable path for expanding the most promising measures, including making reforms mandatory after a period of successful voluntary participation. By turning its recent request for information into clear steps for promoting competition to improve outcomes and lower costs \u2014 instead of further reliance on complex fee-for-service price regulation \u2014 CMS can use its unique influence to enable health care innovations needed to meet our nation\u2019s health and economic challenges.\n\nMark McClellan, M.D., is director of the Robert J. Margolis, MD, Center for Health Policy at Duke University. He served as FDA commissioner from 2002 to 2004. Mike Leavitt is founder of Leavitt Partners. He served as the secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services from 2005 to 2009 and is a former three-term governor of Utah.", "output": "The economic imperative for better health care at a lower cost has never been more urgent. Changing the way that health care providers are paid is at the core of solving the problem. Bipartisan support has formed around the idea of flexibility and innovation in how care is delivered in conjunction with more accountability for results. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tom Price may be gone, but the Trump administration's sabotage of Obamacare is moving ahead at full speed \n Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price may be gone, but the scorched earth he left behind on Obamacare is still smoking.\n\nHealth and Human Services Secretary Tom Price is gone, ushered out of office last week after being caught causing $1 million in unnecessary taxpayer expense by chartering private planes and taking military aircraft around the country and the world instead of flying commercial, like normal people.\n\nThis looks like a case in which the right thing has happened for the wrong reason \u2014 or at least for an incomplete reason. The grounds for Price\u2019s ouster should have been his atrocious management of the most important program under his jurisdiction, the Affordable Care Act. Instead of acting to make Obamacare work better for all Americans, Price took every step within his power to undermine the law in ways that will cost American families millions of dollars.\n\nWhat\u2019s worse, Price\u2019s campaign will keep chugging along without him. Indeed, much of the damage from his tenure already has been done and can\u2019t be reversed for this year or next.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nMinnesota\u2019s experience with its 1332 waiver application has been ... nightmarish. \u2014 Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton to former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price\n\nWhether Price\u2019s departure will change the administration\u2019s approach to the Affordable Care Act isn\u2019t clear, but the signs are not encouraging. Price\u2019s stance dovetailed neatly with that of his boss, President Trump, whose disdain for the healthcare law and near-total lack of understanding for how it works have been clear since the presidential campaign.\n\nSome commentators have expressed hope that Seema Verma, currently the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, might be the front-runner to replace Price and that she\u2019d be less antagonistic toward the Affordable Care Act. It\u2019s hard to know what makes them think so. Verma is a protege of Vice President Mike Pence, who hasn\u2019t exactly been a defender of Obamacare.\n\nAs an Indiana bureaucrat when Pence was governor, Verma fashioned a program that expanded Medicaid for that state, but she has been silent on the attack on the ACA coming from within the Health and Human Services Agency. During her confirmation hearing in February, she seemed to rationalize cutting maternity care from the list of essential health benefits required of all health plans under the ACA, which suggests either that she has no idea how insurance works, no regard for the difficulties of finding maternity coverage in the pre-Obamacare era, or is willing to say just about anything to please her right-wing masters in the administration.\n\nMy colleague Noam Levey reported in May that Verma was complicit in an outrageous White House extortion attempt, when she told insurance executives that the administration would fund cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers \u2014 which Trump has been threatening to withhold \u2014 if the insurers would support repeal of the Affordable Care Act. This went over very badly with the executives, and Health and Human Services denied the story.\n\nAs head of the health agency, Price managed to tick off even Republican state administrations, which were doing their part to make the Affordable Care Act work better. Consider the experience of the bright-red state of Oklahoma. State officials worked closely with Price\u2019s office for months to gain approval for a so-called 1332 waiver under the ACA. Their goal was to set up a reinsurance program with federal funding to help insurers manage the cost of high-risk enrollees so that premiums in the individual market could be lower.\n\nIn March, Price had sent a letter to governors specifically urging them to consider 1332 reinsurance waivers and providing a road map toward expedited federal approval. But then Price pulled the rug out. According to a blistering letter sent Friday to Price and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin by Oklahoma Health and Human Services Secretary Terry Cline, the state and the feds had reached an agreement on Oklahoma\u2019s application by Sept. 22. Formal approval, Cline was told, would be coming the following Monday.\n\nInstead, Cline learned that day that approval \u201cwould not be provided, with no reason for the delay or a time frame for approval.\u201d The state had no choice but to withdraw its application. \u201cThe lack of timely waiver approval,\u201d Cline told Price and Mnuchin, \u201cwill prevent thousands of Oklahomans from realizing the benefits of significantly lower insurance premiums in 2018.\u201d\n\nAs it happens, Price\u2019s inaction will cost the federal government dearly. Cline indicated that 100,000 of the 130,000 Oklahomans in the individual market are insulated from higher premiums by federal subsidies, which rise as premiums rise. But 30,000 middle-class households in the state will have to pay the higher rates themselves, if they can \u2014 \u201cin a market many \u2026 were forced to leave because premiums are unaffordable,\u201d Cline wrote.\n\nPrice also hogtied Minnesota\u2019s effort to create a similar reinsurance program. State officials thought they had a deal in which the federal Health and Human Services Agency would provide more than $200 million over two years to fund the program \u2014 only to learn in mid-September that in return for the appropriation, Price\u2019s agency would cut $369 million from its funding for MinnesotaCare, a low-income health plan the state used to cover residents who made too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford insurance on the individual market.\n\n\u201cIn a complete turnaround and contrary to all previous direction from your agency,\u201d Gov. Mark Dayton told Price in a Sept. 19 letter, \u201cwe have now been informed that Minnesota would lose more federal Basic Health Plan funding than we would receive in federal support for reinsurance.\u201d He added: \u201cMinnesota\u2019s experience with its 1332 waiver application has been \u2026 nightmarish.\u201d\n\nThese actions, especially the treatment of Oklahoma, have \u201cmagnified suspicions that the Department of Health and Human Services is more interested in undermining the Affordable Care Act than partnering with the states to stabilize the individual market for the nearly 20 million Americans,\u201d former Pennsylvania and Oregon Insurance Commissioner Joel Ario observed over the weekend.\n\nDuring his tenure, Price was responsible for issuing a string of dishonest and disingenuous statistics about the Affordable Care Act marketplaces and, tacitly or explicitly, endorsed the lies told about the system by Republicans such as House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).\n\nPrice didn\u2019t stop there in his campaign to destroy the Affordable Care Act. Under his supervision, Health and Human Services has cut the open enrollment period for plans sold through the federal exchanges, HealthCare.gov, from three months to six weeks; instead of running from Nov. 1 through the end of January for plans effective in 2018, it will run only until Dec. 15. Last-minute enrollees \u2014 who are legion \u2014 will discover too late that their deadline has passed. The only means of avoiding that is to run a vigorous marketing and outreach program \u2014 but Price cut the budget for that by 90%, claiming through department flacks that previous experience suggested that outreach had \u201cdiminishing returns,\u201d an assertion contradicted by hard evidence. Health and Human Services also says it will shut down HealthCare.gov for 12 hours every Sunday but one during open enrollment \u2014 making it inaccessible for a good portion of the weekends when applicants would normally be signing up.\n\nJust before leaving office, Price ordered the health agency\u2019s 10 regional directors not to participate in state-based open enrollment events, an unprecedented withdrawal of federal support.\n\nAdministration sabotage of the individual insurance market is tied to more than half of the average 36% premium increases sought by insurers in 20 states analyzed by Charles Gaba of ACASignups.net. Gaba reckons that nine percentage points of the increase are due to actual medical inflation and 2% from the reinstatement of an Obamacare tax on insurers that had been suspended for two years. But five percentage points are accounted for by the administration\u2019s signals that it won\u2019t aggressively enforce the individual mandate, which requires everyone to carry health coverage; and another 17 points from uncertainty over the cost-sharing reimbursement payments.\n\nMost of this could not have been done by Price alone, at least not without the tacit connivance of President Trump. The campaign to kill the Affordable Care Act marketplaces by neglect and interference won\u2019t end with the end of Price\u2019s tenure as health secretary. There would be no improvement without a firm, proactive effort by his successor, and the chances of that happening look to be nil.\n\nKeep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com.\n\nReturn to Michael Hiltzik\u2019s blog.\n\nMORE FROM MICHAEL HILTZIK:\n\nICYMI: A new absurdity from the gun lobby is the deregulation of silencers\n\nLas Vegas: The harvest of unspeakably lax gun laws\n\nA nonpartisan tax group\u2019s searing analysis of the GOP tax plan: Top 1% would get 80% of all benefits", "output": "Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price is gone, ushered out of office last week after being caught causing $1 million in unnecessary taxpayer expense by chartering private planes and taking military aircraft around the country and the world instead of flying commercial, like normal people.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Turmoil in Washington adds uncertainty to health insurance enrollment \n People sign up for Obamacare at AltMed Health Services in Los Angeles in 2015. This year\u2019s signups are complicated by the uncertainty surrounding federal support for cost-sharing subsidies.\n\nUsually, the autumn ritual of selecting the right health plan for the coming year is quite predictable. The options are there on the table, and there is usually little thought that things might change dramatically after you make a decision.\n\nNot this year.\n\nPresident Trump tweeted this summer that he might end cost-sharing subsidies to health insurance companies if Congress can\u2019t get together on long-promised plans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. So open enrollment in California this season \u2014 which begins Nov. 1 and runs through Jan. 31 \u2014 comes with an unprecedented edge of unease.\n\nDave Jones, California\u2019s health insurance commissioner, does not attempt to sugarcoat the effect that so much heated rhetoric has had on the task of getting insurance companies to offer affordable rates to consumers, especially in the private health insurance market now dominated by the Covered California health insurance exchange.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cThis has been the most unstable and challenged health insurance market in my tenure as a public servant,\u201d Jones said. \u201cThe degree of uncertainty and instability that the Trump administration has injected into the market this year cannot be understated.\u201d\n\nThat turmoil has most directly affected the 1.4 million Californians who buy exchange plans and about 1 million more estimated to purchase individual coverage plans off-exchange.\n\nIt is this group, plus 3.8 million California adults enrolled in Medi-Cal since it was expanded in 2014, whose coverage has been the subject of political debate for several years.\n\nWhile attempts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act have failed, there are still several steps the president could take to undermine the controversial program.\n\nAlready the new administration has said it would not enforce the penalties assessed for those who don\u2019t buy health insurance. And Trump\u2019s decision to target out-of-pocket cost-reducing payments to insurance companies also introduced a fair bit of volatility.\n\nThere has also been talk that the federal government will not support outreach efforts to some types of potential policyholders, especially those in Latino communities. Enrollment there is often seen as critical to bringing in enough healthy people to offset the costs incurred by older and sicker Americans who are much more likely to sign up for coverage.\n\nOn Aug. 1, Peter Lee, Covered California\u2019s director, said the average increase for exchange plan premiums in 2018 will be 12.5%. He attributed about 3% of that bump to insurance company uncertainty about whether or not the new administration will undermine existing Affordable Care Act programs.\n\nIn some cases, Lee said, policyholders will be able to limit their premium hikes to less than 4% by moving into a different plan within their home market. In Los Angeles, seven carriers are offering plans. Premium increases in the region range from 10% in Orange County to 13% in Los Angeles.\n\nOf course, the individual healthcare market is only a small fraction \u2014 about 9% in California \u2014 of the overall health insurance pie. The largest segment, representing 45% of all Californians in 2015, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, get their coverage from an employer. Those plans generally hold enrollment in the fall.\n\nAn additional 38% is enrolled in a government program such as Medicare and Medi-Cal.\n\nIt\u2019s a little harder to peg just how much premiums for employer-sponsored plans will increase in 2018.\n\nEvery year the National Business Group on Health surveys large employers nationwide to get a sense of how much costs will increase in the coming year. This time around, the nonprofit announced that costs were up about 5%, a number that should roughly translate to the premium increase that employees of large companies will see in 2018, according to Brian Marcotte, the business group\u2019s president and chief executive.\n\nA separate survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust found that premiums for employer plans rose 3% this year, to an average $18,764. That cost is usually divided between employers and workers.\n\nMarcotte said employers are continuing strategies that have gradually come to the fore over the last few years to contain healthcare costs as much as possible. Most companies, he said, are building in income-based premiums for employees. Gone are the days when the premium list was the same for everyone on the payroll.\n\n\u201cThat means if you make more, you end up paying a higher monthly premium,\u201d Marcotte said.\n\nAnd there has also been a big increase in the number of employers offering \u201cself-directed health plans\u201d that combine high deductibles with special health savings accounts that the employer funds to help defray costs. The average contribution, Marcotte said, is $650 per year for an individual and $1,000 per family. Average deductibles for these plans, he added, are $1,500 per individual and $3,250 per year for family coverage.\n\n\u201cToday we have 90% of large employers offering self-directed plans with attached health savings accounts and 40% are offering these as their only option in 2018,\u201d Marcotte said.\n\nSisson writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.", "output": "Usually, the autumn ritual of selecting the right health plan for the coming year is quite predictable. The options are there on the table, and there is usually little thought that things might change dramatically after you make a decision.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "With Affordable Care Act\u2019s Future Cloudy, Costs for Many Seem Sure to Soar \n In Florida, the average rate increase will be about 45 percent, according to state regulators. And in New York, where officials said prices would still be below where they were before the law took effect, premiums were expected to increase by an average of about 14 percent. Many states have not made insurers\u2019 rate increases public, and experts said the rise in costs for consumers could run from 10 percent to nearly 60 percent.\n\nThere are exceptions. Minnesota, which sought a federal waiver to address the high cost of premiums, said this week that prices for plans sold on the state exchange there would remain stable or drop significantly in 2018.\n\nThose who qualify for federal subsidies, a group that accounts for about 85 percent of the roughly 10 million people who buy insurance through the marketplaces created under the health law, will largely be shielded from the higher prices.\n\nRegulators in Florida and New York said that residents of those states who qualified for the most generous subsidies could see lower prices next year, depending on which plan they buy. In some places, the least expensive plans could become free after customers apply their subsidies. (Deficit hawks will probably complain about the higher federal outlays for subsidies.)\n\nPeople who earn too much to qualify for financial assistance will feel the brunt of any increases. Because many insurers raised prices most sharply on plans that are attractive to people who receive the most generous subsidies, those unable to get subsidies may have to shop for plans that are not affected or look beyond their state marketplaces for lower-priced options.", "output": "Health insurers are aggressively increasing prices next year for individual policies sold under the federal health care law, with some raising premiums by more than 50 percent.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers develop better way to break down lignin \n TEM image of Ce-P-Pd elemental map. Credit: Igor Slowing\n\nIn every plant\u2014from trees to crops\u2014there exists a substance that makes up its wood or stems, fiber, and cell walls. This substance is a complex natural polymer called lignin, and it is the second largest renewable carbon source on the planet after cellulose.\n\nThis natural abundance has drawn high interest from the research community to chemically convert lignin into biofuels. And if plant life really does hold the building blocks for renewable fuels, it would seem that we are literally surrounded by potential energy sources everywhere green grows.\n\nBut untangling the complex chains of these polymers into components, which can be useful for liquid fuel and other applications ranging from pharmaceuticals to plastics, has presented an ongoing challenge to science and industry.\n\nThere are currently two common ways of processing lignin. One requires an acid plus high heat, and the other is pyrolysis, or treating with high heat in the absence of oxygen. Besides being energy-consuming processing methods, the results are less than optimal.\n\n\"You end up with individual molecules that are unstable and reactive, and they easily re-polymerize. It's kind of a horrible mess, really,\" explains Igor Slowing, an expert in heterogeneous catalysis at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory. \"We need to be able to deconstruct lignin in a way that is economically feasible and into stable, readily useful components.\"\n\nSlowing and other scientists at Ames Laboratory are working to reach that commercialization goal, experimenting with chemical reactions that decompose lignin models at low temperatures and pressures. There are already known ways of salvaging useful byproducts out of lignin through the addition of a stabilization process. But Slowing and his research team took both the decomposition and stabilization processes further, by combining the two into one multi-functional catalyst, using phosphate-modified ceria.\n\n\"Our process does the breaking of lignin-like material and the stabilization in a single step in very mild conditions,\" said Slowing. \"The interesting thing is that though there are two different types of chemical processes happening in a single material, they appear to be working synergistically, and are able to do that at a lower temperature.\"\n\nIn another experiment, Slowing's research team was able to process a related material, phenol, into useful industrial precursors for nylon production. This work used a catalyst made of ceria and palladium doped with sodium, which increased the reactivity of the process significantly. They also eliminated the use of hydrogen, which is produced from steam-treatment of natural gas, and used an energy-conserving alcohol-based hydrogenation process instead.\n\nResearch continues. \"Both of these results were very promising, and our next step is to combine the two experiments into one, and achieve lignin deconstruction using hydrogen from a renewable source,\" said Slowing.\n\nMore information: Nicholas C. Nelson et al, Phosphate modified ceria as a Br\u00f8nsted acidic/redox multifunctional catalyst, J. Mater. Chem. A (2017). DOI: 10.1039/C6TA08703E Nicholas C. Nelson et al. Transfer hydrogenation over sodium-modified ceria: Enrichment of redox sites active for alcohol dehydrogenation, Journal of Catalysis (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.jcat.2016.12.018 Journal information: Journal of Materials Chemistry A", "output": "US Department of Energy researchers are developing a way to convert lignin, the world's second largest renewable carbon source after cellulose, into biofuels. Decomposing the complex natural polymer into stable components useful for liquid fuel, pharmaceuticals and plastics in an energy-efficient manner has long challenged scientists. But Ames Laboratory researchers have now combined the decomposition and stabilisation processes into one multi-functional catalyst, which deconstructs lignin into more readily useful components."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Staff training intervention doesn't impact fall prevention \n (HealthDay)\u2014An intervention targeting gaps in staff communication and coordination (complexity science-based staff training intervention [CONNECT]) does not improve the impact of an evidence-based falls quality improvement program (FALLS), according to a study published online Oct. 2 in JAMA Internal Medicine.\n\nCathleen S. Col\u00f3n-Emeric, M.D., from Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, and colleagues conducted a cluster-randomized trial in 24 nursing homes receiving CONNECT followed by FALLS (intervention) or FALLS alone (control). Nursing home staff completed surveys at baseline as well as three, six, and nine months; 1,545 staff members completed surveys (734 [37 percent] and 811 [44 percent] of eligible staff in intervention and control facilities, respectively). Medical records were abstracted for 1,794 residents with at least one fall in the six-month pre- and post-intervention windows.\n\nThe researchers found that after FALLS, neither the CONNECT nor the FALLS-only facilities improved the mean count of fall reduction activities (3.3 versus 3.2 of 10); there was no difference between the groups in the adjusted median recurrent fall rates (4.06 versus 4.06 falls/resident/year). Overall, staff communication measures (mean, 0.03 points on a five-point scale) and communication timeliness (mean, 0.8 points on a five-point scale) improved modestly. Wide variation was seen across facilities in intervention penetration.\n\n\"New approaches to implementing evidence-based care for complex conditions in the nursing home are urgently needed,\" the authors write.\n\nCopyright \u00a9 2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.", "output": "An intervention targeting gaps in staff communication and coordination (complexity science-based staff training intervention [CONNECT]) does not improve the impact of an evidence-based falls quality improvement program (FALLS), according to a study published online Oct. 2 in JAMA Internal Medicine.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "More Than One-Third of Older Adults Use Sleep Medications \n Most older adults don\u2019t talk to their health care provider about sleep difficulties, even though more than one-third reported using some type of medication to help them sleep at night, according to results from the National Poll on Healthy Aging.\n\nThe poll was conducted by the University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, sponsored by AARP and Michigan Medicine. The results are based on answers from a nationally-representative sample of 1065 older adults who answered questions online.\n\nOf the respondents, who were aged 65-80 years old, with sleep problems, 36% reported using a type of sleep medication either regularly (31%) or occasionally (23%). This included prescription sleep medications, prescription pain medications, OTC medications, and herbal/natural sleep aids. Among occasional users who had trouble sleeping at least 3 nights a week, OTC sleep aids were the most common choice. Those who regularly used sleep medications relied on prescription drugs.\n\nDespite the associated health risk, 23% of respondents who reported sleep troubles 3 or more nights a week and use a prescription sleep aid indicated long-term use of these drugs.\n\nAlmost half (46%) of the poll\u2019s respondents said that they had trouble falling asleep 1 or more nights per week, and 15% reported having trouble 3 or more nights per week. Twenty-three percent who had trouble sleeping said that it was due to pain, and 40% responded that their overall health was fair or poor. Other reasons reported for sleep difficulties included having to get up to the use the bathroom at night and worry or stress.\n\nMore than half of older adults (54%) believe poor sleep is a normal part of aging. Poll results indicated that many individuals don\u2019t view sleep issues as a health problem, which is the most common reason that the respondents said they hadn\u2019t talked to their health care providers about sleep. For pharmacists, this highlights an opportunity to ask older patients about sleep habits and counsel on appropriate sleep aids while reducing prolonged use and potential risks.\n\nReference\n\nNational Poll on Healthy Aging. Healthy Aging Poll website. http://www.healthyagingpoll.org/report/october-2017-trouble-sleeping-dont-assume-its-normal-part-aging Published September 2017. Accessed October 3, 2017.", "output": "Most older adults don\u2019t talk to their health care provider about sleep difficulties, even though more than one-third reported using some type of medication to help them sleep at night, according to results from the National Poll on Healthy Aging.\n \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Munich Re Africa and Wits are latest clients to drop KPMG \n The University of Witwatersrand (Wits) has become the latest client to drop KPMG as their auditor.\n\nWits said in a statement on Wednesday the university council had decided on Friday not to renew its contract with KPMG for internal auditing and financial risk management services at the end of the current financial year.\n\nThe decision was taken after meetings with new KPMG CEO Nhlamu Dlomu\u201a international KPMG representatives and members of the University Council\u2019s Audit and Council Risk committees.\n\n\"The committees acknowledged that KPMG did take some actions\u201a including releasing the CEO\u201a COO and a number of senior partners to mitigate the reputational damage that it suffered as a result of its relationship with Gupta associated companies and its complicity in the SARS report but felt that KPMG had not gone far enough\u201a\" Wits said.\n\n\"Further\u201a it was agreed that KPMG had not been sufficiently transparent and that it is hard to reconcile KPMG\u2019s conclusion that no one did anything illegal\u201a when senior individuals have been dismissed and the SARS report has been retracted. In these circumstances\u201a the Council believes that it would have been prudent to acknowledge the ethical and legal lapses of KPMG\u2019s senior management team.\"\n\nPWC will remain the university\u2019s external auditors.\n\nWits joins the parliament\u201a the Parmed board\u201a the African branch of the Germany's Munich Re\u201a Sygnia Asset Management\u201a Sasfin and Hulisani as some of the companies that have dropped KPMG South Africa as other clients re-evaluate their relationship and pressure mounts on KPMG.", "output": "University of Witwatersrand (Wits) and Munich Re Africa are the latest clients to drop KPMG as their\u00a0auditor due to its relationship with Gupta-associated companies along with its complicity in the SARS report. This follows South African firms Sasfin and Hulisani dropping KPMG last month, along with the South African parliament;\u00a0Barclays Africa and Standard Bank are also said to be considering dropping the auditor."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Planning for Medicare in 2018 \n This year, the government will spend $609 billion to cover 58 million Medicare beneficiaries.\n\nThose numbers lump everybody together into one monolithic group, but that\u2019s not the case when Oct. 15 arrives. That date opens a 54-day window where each individual covered by the program gets to make changes to how they receive the Medicare benefit they paid for through regular payroll deductions during their working years.\n\nAnd there are plenty of choices. In San Diego County alone, 24 different prescription drug plans are available with another 23 Medicare Advantage plans offered by third-party providers.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nMany who are already enrolled in a plan they like simply let Medicare\u2019s open enrollment window close without taking any action. David Weil, director of San Diego\u2019s Health Insurance Counseling & Advocacy Program, said that is a mistake. Everyone should at least take a look at the options available to them every year, he said, especially if they are taking prescription drugs.\n\n\u201cFor most people, this is the one time during the year when they can make changes. But you don\u2019t want to make those changes without doing your homework first,\u201d Weil said.\n\nThere are also a few changes that are coming your way whether or not you decide to take a look around during Medicare\u2019s open enrollment window.\n\nToday, most Medicare beneficiaries are paying a $109 monthly Part B premium, while those who enrolled in 2017 pay $134 per month. Medicare was able to charge more to new enrollees but was unable to spread overall cost increases to the already enrolled due to \u201chold harmless\u201d provisions in the federal laws that underpin the government\u2019s largest health care benefit. However, those same laws allow a broad-based premium adjustment anytime the government grants a cost-of-living increase to Social Security benefits, and Weil said it looks like it will happen in 2018.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s likely that, across the board, people who are paying $109 per month now will see an increase, and those who are paying $134 will see a little bit of a drop. We won\u2019t know for sure until November,\u201d Weil said.\n\nThat\u2019s when Medicare is expected to announce basic Part B premiums for 2018.\n\nThere is also a bit of intrigue around another significant change in how everyone will use Medicare next year. In April, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will mail new Medicare cards to every one of the nearly 60 million Americans receiving benefits. These new cards will feature 11 randomly selected numbers and letters called a Medicare \u201cBeneficiary Identifier\u201d that will replace your existing health insurance claim number.\n\nWhy are they doing this? Well, your old number is based on your Social Security number and because it appears on all Medicare-related paperwork, it was often used to defraud seniors. The new number, because it\u2019s randomly selected, carries no such risk of inadvertently providing your Social Security number to thieves.\n\nHowever, in an ironic twist, those same thieves are using this change for one last burst of malfeasance. In San Diego and across the nation, reports are surfacing of Medicare beneficiaries receiving calls from scammers who demand their personal information and, in some cases outright payment, to get their new card.\n\n\u201cIn some cases we have reports of people calling up and telling them they can get their number embossed on a nice metal plate if they provide information over the phone,\u201d Weil said.\n\nThere are other variations of these scams which have callers impersonating Social Security or insurance company employees. In all cases, experts advise hanging up and not providing any information even if the caller already has certain information about you such as your date of birth or Social Security number.\n\nMedicare does not call and request this type of identifying information from its beneficiaries. Once the new ID number is in place, beneficiaries will have a 21-month grace period during which they can use either their old number or the new one.\n\nThe one site you must know\n\nVisit www.medicare.gov/find-a-plan to enter your information and see what\u2019s available in your specific ZIP code. There is even a place for you to enter up to 25 different prescription drugs and have the website show you only those plans which include everything you\u2019re taking.\n\nIf you\u2019re not an Internet person, that\u2019s OK too. Anyone living in San Diego County can call the Health Insurance Counseling & Advocacy Program at (858) 565-8772 for help. Imperial County residents have their own line at (760) 353-0223.\n\nHealth insurance brokers are also available to help, and because they are paid through commissions on the plans they sell, they offer assistance at no cost to you. You can find an agent at www.nahu.org.\n\nMedicare\u2019s makeup\n\nHere is a refresher on Medicare\u2019s four essential parts. It pays to remind yourself what these mean before starting your research:\n\nPart A: Hospital insurance. Everyone gets it if they or their spouse has worked in the United States for at least a decade. There is no premium.\n\nHospital insurance. Everyone gets it if they or their spouse has worked in the United States for at least a decade. There is no premium. Part B: Health insurance. This covers doctor visits, medical equipment and a vast range of other outpatient services. The government charges a monthly fee, and they deduct it from your Social Security check if you receive one.\n\nHealth insurance. This covers doctor visits, medical equipment and a vast range of other outpatient services. The government charges a monthly fee, and they deduct it from your Social Security check if you receive one. Part C: This is not a separate benefit but rather a special section which allows private companies to administer a person\u2019s Medicare benefit through Medicare Advantage plans. In San Diego County there are usually dozens of options, many offered by familiar names such as Sharp, Scripps, Kaiser and SecureHorizons.\n\nThis is not a separate benefit but rather a special section which allows private companies to administer a person\u2019s Medicare benefit through Medicare Advantage plans. In San Diego County there are usually dozens of options, many offered by familiar names such as Sharp, Scripps, Kaiser and SecureHorizons. Part D: This part of Medicare pays for prescription drugs and has its own monthly premium on top of what you pay for Part B.\n\nThere is another key to understanding Medicare: There are two different flavors, Original and Advantage. Our \u201cTurning 65\u201d article describes the differences between the two.\n\nHealth Playlist \u00d7 On Now Video: Leaders urge public to help extinguish hepatitis outbreak On Now San Diego starts cleansing sidewalks, streets to combat hepatitis A On Now Video: Scripps to shutter its hospice service On Now Video: Scripps La Jolla hospitals nab top local spot in annual hospital rankings On Now Video: Does a parent's Alzheimer's doom their children? On Now EpiPen recall expands On Now Kids can add years to your life\n\npaul.sisson@sduniontribune.com\n\n(619) 293-1850\n\nTwitter: @paulsisson", "output": "This year, the government will spend $609 billion to cover 58 million Medicare\u00a0beneficiaries. Those numbers lump everybody together into one monolithic group, but that\u2019s not the case when Oct. 15 arrives. That date opens a 54-day window where each individual covered by the program gets to make changes to how they receive the Medicare benefit they paid for through regular payroll deductions during their working years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Governments relying on consumer debt risk a financial crisis: IMF \n The International Monetary Fund has issued a warning to governments that rely on debt-fuelled consumer spending to boost economic growth, telling them they run the risk of another major financial collapse.\n\nIn a report before the IMF\u2019s annual meeting in Washington next week, it said analysis of consumer spending and levels of household debt showed that economies benefited in the first two to three years when households raised their levels of borrowing, but then risks began to mount.\n\n\n\nOnce growth becomes dependent on household debt, it can be a matter of two to three years before a financial crash, the IMF said in its annual report on the global financial system.\n\nThe study follows a series of warnings about rising levels of household debt in the UK from financial regulators and debt charities.\n\nIn a blogpost accompanying the report, one of the authors, Nico Valckx, warned: \u201cDebt greases the wheels of the economy. It allows individuals to make big investments today \u2013 like buying a house or going to college \u2013 by pledging some of their future earnings. That\u2019s all fine in theory. But as the global financial crisis showed, rapid growth in household debt \u2013 especially mortgages \u2013 can be dangerous.\u201d\n\nHe added: \u201cHigher debt is associated with significantly higher unemployment up to four years ahead. And a one percentage point increase in debt raises the odds of a future banking crisis by about one percentage point. That\u2019s a significant increase, when you consider that the probability of a crisis is 3.5%, even without any increase in debt.\u201d\n\nEarlier this year the IMF cut its forecast for the UK\u2019s GDP growth in 2017 by 0.3 percentage points to 1.7% and it is expected to reduce its prediction further next week when its global outlook is published. The uncertainty created by the Brexit vote and negotiations to leave are likely to be blamed, along with a reliance on consumer spending, which has slowed this year.\n\nThe Bank of England, which regulates the banking sector, said last month that the UK\u2019s banks could incur \u00a330bn of losses on their lending on credit cards, personal loans and for car finance if interest rates and unemployment rose sharply.\n\n\n\nThe debt charity Stepchange has warned that 6.5 million people have used credit to pay for basic items such as food after a change in their circumstances. And MPs have called for an independent commission to examine the effects of rising household debt levels in the UK.\n\nHousehold debt levels fell in relation to the UK\u2019s national income (GDP) immediately following the 2008 crash from a peak of almost 170% to below 140%. But in the last two years the figure has begun to creep upwards, fuelling concerns that the UK\u2019s GDP growth is already dependent on consumer borrowing.\n\nValckx said countries with high levels of debt were able to reduce the risks by introducing strict limits on levels of borrowing and tight regulations on the banking sector.\n\n\u201cCountries can mitigate the risks by taking measures that moderate the growth of household debt, such as raising the down payment required to purchase a house or the fraction of a household income that can be devoted to debt repayments,\u201d he said.\n\nMost of the risk relates to the mortgage market, which is 10 times the size of the consumer debt market in the US and the UK. In the UK, the level of mortgage debt relative to GDP has remained stable since 2008.\n\nHowever, the number of borrowers has become smaller as large numbers of older homeowners pay off their mortgages and high property prices limit the number of first-time buyers entering the market.", "output": "Governments relying on consumer debt to fuel economic growth run the risk of causing another financial crisis, warns the International Monetary Fund's annual report. \"As the global financial crisis showed, rapid growth in household debt \u2013 especially mortgages \u2013 can be dangerous,\" says one of the authors\u00a0Nico Valckx, adding that\u00a0\u201chigher debt is associated with significantly higher unemployment up to four years ahead. And a one percentage point increase in debt raises the odds of a future banking crisis by about one percentage point. That\u2019s a significant increase, when you consider that the probability of a crisis is 3.5%, even without any increase in debt.\u201d"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Email marketers now able to add Spotify playlists into campaigns \n by Jess Nelson , October 3, 2017\n\nWould you have opened that deleted email this morning if it had contained a playlist of Tom Petty\u2019s greatest hits?\n\nEmail marketers can now incorporate Spotify albums and playlists into their campaigns, with the recent release of Spotify Email Widget by StoryPorts.\n\nStoryPorts is a marketing automation platform that can pull content from more than 30 online content feeds such as Facebook or Twitter to populate interactive email campaigns. The company can now pull Spotify content into HTML email templates, and the company is compatible with any ESP or automation platform including HubSpot, Pardot, and MailChimp.\n\nStoryPorts\u2019 Spotify widget is easy to use and developed with a drag-and-drop design. The company claims that the widget is responsive, so album artwork and play buttons display in every email client or device.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nThe playlist does not yet play in the email client. Instead, listeners who click on a track are then taken to the Spotify mobile application or desktop client to listen to the song selected.\n\nAlthough StoryPorts\u2019 widget is not yet fully integrated, it\u2019s apparent why the company\u2019s musical clients requested such a feature. StoryPorts works with Warner Music Group, Sony Music Group, and Universal Music Group -- all labels looking to promote the music talents of their roster.\n\nBut it\u2019s not just record labels that could benefit from adding music to their email campaigns. Music has been shown to influence shopping behaviors and pace, tempo and genre can all influence consumers\u2019 emotions.\n\nIt\u2019s not just brick-and-mortar stores that can influence customers to shop with music -- email marketers would be smart to do the same.", "output": "Ohio-based marketing automation platform StoryPorts has added Spotify to its roster of online content feeds, enabling marketers to liven up email campaigns and attract potential customers with music. The drag-and-drop Spotify Email widget adds album artwork and play buttons to HTML email templates, while readers who click on them are directed to Spotify's mobile app or webpage. StoryPorts numbers Warner Music, Sony Music and Universal Music among its clients.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow chosen as partner on former school site in Oldham \n Redrow Homes has been picked as construction partner to redevelop the former Counthill school site in Oldham, beating three rival bidders.\n\nOldham Council approved Redrow Homes as its developer for the site at a cabinet meeting on 18 September.\n\nThe housebuilder beat rival bidders Barratt, Countryside Properties, and Willmott Partnership Homes to the project, according to council minutes.\n\nBarratt had proposed to build 94 homes at the site, with 27 detached homes, 36 semi-detached homes and 31 townhouses, with prices ranging from \u00a3183,000 to \u00a3280,000; while Countryside\u2019s bid included 56 detached and 22 semi-detached homes, priced between \u00a3184,000 and \u00a3290,000.\n\nWillmott Parternship Homes\u2019 proposals included 45 detached houses, 32 semi-detached houses and six mews properties, with prices ranging between \u00a3130,000 and \u00a3285,000.\n\nRedrow\u2019s winning bid will see the company build 50 detached and 10 semi-detached homes on the site, with 38 four-bed homes and 22 three-bed homes. Sale prices will be between \u00a3200,000 and \u00a3315,000.\n\nThe housebuilder is due to start on site early next year, with Redrow also providing highway improvements to Haven Lane and Counthill Road, alongside parking for the nearby Waterhead Academy sports hall, as part of the project.\n\nThe site was earmarked for development in 2014.\n\nCllr Jean Stretton, leader of Oldham Council, said: \u201cWe are committed to making the borough a place where people want to live, work and do business in so we are delighted Redrow Homes share our vision and are on board as our development partner.\n\n\u201cThe firm is one of the biggest housebuilders in the country and over the years it has produced high quality and sustainable homes at sites across the UK.\n\n\u201cThese principles match our hopes of creating a flagship neighbourhood in a location where people will be attracted to live.\n\n\u201cAs part of their bid Redrow Homes committed to creating apprenticeship positions and using local suppliers and subcontractors, so as our construction partner, they will be helping the local economy grow.\u201d\n\nSteve Greenhalgh, managing director for Redrow Homes (Lancashire), added:\n\n\u201cAs well as providing much needed, high quality new homes in a fantastic location, the new development will also bring significant community and economic benefits.\n\n\u201cThese include a raft of new apprenticeships as well as work for local subcontractors and suppliers. We\u2019re keen to begin construction early next year.\u201d", "output": "Oldham Council has chosen Redrow Homes as the developer for the former Counthill school site in the town. The company's winning bid for the project involves the construction of 50 detached and 10 semi-detached houses from early next year, which will be marketed at between \u00a3200,000 and \u00a3315,000. Redrow will also make highway improvements and add\u00a0parking facilities near the site, and will also engage\u00a0a number of apprentices from the area.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google faces trial in dispute over AdWords discount and targeting \n by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, October 3, 2017\n\nIn a blow to Google, a federal judge has ruled that the company must face trial for allegedly overcharging a search advertiser.\n\nU.S. District Court Judge Edward Davila ruled last week that Rick Woods, a Fayetteville, Arkansas-based attorney who used AdWords to market his legal practice, could proceed with claims that Google failed to give him a promised discount on at least three ad clicks, and that Google failed to geotarget the ads as promised.\n\nThe ruling stems from a lawsuit brought by Woods in 2011. He alleged that he used AdWords from September of 2009 through early 2011 to market his legal practice. During that time, Google allegedly reneged on a promise to give Woods a \u201csmart pricing\u201d discount -- which was supposed to reduce his cost-per-click when ads were served on sites within Google's publisher network.\n\nHe also said he was charged for clicks originating in Pennsylvania, Texas and Japan -- despite Google's alleged representations that the ads would be targeted to users in Arkansas.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nGoogle unsuccessfully argued that it was entitled to summary judgment, or a ruling in its favor before trial. The company contended in papers submitted two years ago that Woods received the smart pricing discount for all ads other than mobile ads, which were excluded from smart pricing when Woods advertised.\n\nWoods countered that he purchased \"text\" ads, not mobile ads.\n\nDavila ruled that there was a factual dispute about the meaning of \"mobile ads,\" and whether ads purchased by Woods that were displayed on mobile web browsers were excluded from the smart pricing discount.\n\nGiven the factual dispute, Woods was entitled to take his claim to trial, Davila ruled.\n\nGoogle also argued that it disclosed to advertisers that location targeting was sometimes based on people's search queries, as opposed to geolocation data.\n\nDavila ruled that even though Google disclosed its practice on a help page, Woods was entitled to have a jury decide whether he relied on Google's statements that ads would appear in certain locations.\n\n\"A reasonable jury could conclude that Woods saw and relied on Google\u2019s statement that ads would be targeted to users in a specific geographic area; that Google in fact charged for clicks on Woods\u2019s ads outside of the designated geographic areas; and that Woods was charged for these clicks,\" Davila wrote.", "output": "A US federal judge has ruled Google must face trial in a lawsuit brought by Arkansas attorney Rick Woods. District Court Judge Edward Davila said Woods, who had used Google's AdWords to promote his business between 2009 and 2011, alleged the company had not given him a discount on certain ad clicks and, despite requesting his ads only be shown in Arkansas, was charged for clicks from other locations. Google said the discounts Woods asked for did not cover mobile ads and contended that location targeting was more often based on search queries\u00a0than geolocation data.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "'Ultra-precise' drone uses GPS and phone for 'anywhere' deliveries \n Drone deliveries -- the impatient consumer's Holy Grail -- have been in the pipeline for some time, and while Amazon is pioneering the cause, (although Rival 7-Eleven has completed nearly 100 aerial deliveries to date), its model is still somewhat encumbered by factors at odds with the advantages drone delivery technically offers. Recipients need to be present at an address, for example. Now, though, Cambridge Consultants -- the team that brought us intelligent bins and Renaissance doodling -- has developed a drone delivery system that'll get you your stuff anytime, anywhere, in a matter of minutes.\n\nLet's imagine you're out having a nice walk in the middle of the countryside when you start feeling peckish. Using Cambridge Consultants' DelivAir app, you'd place an order for a snack, and the delivering drone would use GPS and your smartphone signal to navigate to your location, periodically asking for location updates during its flight, until it's within visual range. Once it arrives, you point your mobile phone flash LED to the sky, where it'll blink a coded pattern to let the drone know it's delivering to the right person. Then, while staying a safe height above the ground, the drone lowers the package into your very hands using a stabilising winch, which you then unhook. The drone then makes its merry way back to base, and you've got your snack, or whatever else it is you urgently need in the middle of countryside.\n\nOf course, there are multiple applications for this type of service, fervent consumerism aside. It could be used to take a puncture repair kit to a stranded cyclist, or essential supplies to remote areas as part of disaster relief efforts. There's life-saving potential, too; DelivAir could swiftly get EpiPens or defibrillators to people in urgent need. \"Drone delivery is fast and ideal for something that is needed immediately. In that case, a consumer wants a delivery directly to them as a person \u2013 not to a location,\" said Nathan Wrench, head of the industrial and energy business at Cambridge Consultants. \"Our DelivAir concept has the potential to revolutionize the delivery process, by removing the address restriction that other drone technologies are limited by.\"\n\nIndeed, DelivAir's ultra-precise delivery concept makes perfect sense for drone application, but as is the case with Amazon, 7-Eleven and other drone delivery champions, there are still question marks hanging over the mainstream roll out of this kind of service. Instant gratification is a shopper's dream, but a once-blue sky dominated by hundreds of buzzing delivery machines sounds decidedly dystopian. Still, unlike Amazon's plans to rain packages out of the sky, at least DelivAir's concept -- which places the package neatly in your hands -- retains some social decorum.", "output": "Developers at Cambridge Consultants have created a drone delivery system that delivers to a person's physical location, rather than a traditionally assigned address. The DelivAir app uses GPS and a smartphone signal\u00a0to periodically track its target, with a coded pattern from the phone's flash LED system used to verify the recipient. In addition to consumer deliveries, potential applications noted include delivering puncture kits to stranded cyclists, disaster relief, and life-saving medical deliveries.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Community objects to 160 home development in Allerton Priory \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nSign up to the Merseyside Report, as elected officials continue to lead the city region out of lockdown\n\nDevelopers Redrow have described community objections to a development of 160 new homes on the old Allerton Priory site as \u201cmisguided.\u201d\n\nA public inquiry started today into the controversial housing plan within a 33-acre field, dubbed by campaigners \u201cpossibly the most beautiful green space in Liverpool.\u201d\n\nIt follows Liverpool council\u2019s planning committee rejecting the proposals, sparking an appeal by Redrow , who have now asked for an independent Government-assigned planning inspector to make the final decision.\n\nThis morning, Paul Tucker QC, for Redrow, told the inquiry: \u201cPerspective is everything.\n\n\u201cOn the one hand the appeal site is being painted as a precious area of parkland linked to Allerton Priory whose survival is crucial to the fabric of the mosaic of open land in South Liverpool.\n\n\u201cWhereas, on the other hand, it is a rare opportunity to bring forward a much needed form of accommodation on one of those rare sites in the city which could be used for new family housing in order to help to diversify the city\u2019s housing stock.\n\n\u201cIt will be passionately submitted, no doubt, that the proposed housing is not needed and that the appeal site is a parcel of land whose loss will seriously impoverish the heritage of the city (and possibly its wildlife) and that what is proposed therefore comprises unsustainable development.\n\n\u201cWith all due respect to those perspectives, viewed dispassionately they are misguided.\n\n\u201cTo the contrary it is firmly submitted that the appeal proposals comprise sustainable development and that the planning balance decisively weighs in favour of the grant of permission.\u201d\n\nThe Allerton Priory application does not form part of the council\u2019s \u00a3205m deal with Redrow as their preferred housing partner to build 1,500 homes and bring up to 1,000 properties back into use over the next five years.\n\nLiverpool council, with David Manley QC representing them, have made it clear the local authority does not want the blueprints to go ahead, and Mayor Joe Anderson has previously given his backing to the Save Allerton Priory campaign.\n\nThe public inquiry, sitting at Liverpool\u2019s Cunard Building, is set to last at least three weeks, with a break in late October meaning it runs into November.\n\nMr Tucker, for Redrow, said: \u201c{This} is undeveloped land adjacent to two roads within South Liverpool.\n\n\u201cThe boundary wall and the extensive mature vegetation are highly visible features when viewed from Allerton Road or Woolton Road.\n\n\u201cBeyond those features, there are occasional glimpsed views of the fields beyond which comprise the appeal site.\n\n\u201cThe fields themselves do not comprise an important part of the street scene from either the adjacent land or from the parkland which lies to the east of the appeal site.\n\n\u201cIn landscape terms, as Mr Grimshaw {landscape expert for Redrow} demonstrates, the appeal site presently exhibits little visual influence beyond those well treed borders.\n\n\u201cIt is, with respect, an affectation to suggest that the change within the appeal site will have a harmful effect to the amenity of public views beyond it.\n\n\u201cAs \u2018passive\u2019 open space, therefore, the appeal site\u2019s attributes are grossly overstated other than when viewed cartographically or from the air.\n\n\u201cThe appeal site has in the past been used as private open space for the children of the school whose playing fields once extended across it, but there has never been any lawful unrestricted public access to the appeal site.\n\n\u201cThus, any value that the site may have to those who have unlawfully accessed as \u201copen space\u201d should be afforded no weight...\n\n\u201cRather, the appeal proposals will provide free public access to almost six hectares of open land and and offer a benefit in accordance with the open space policies of the plan.\u201d\n\nAdrian Thompson, representing Save Allerton Priory (SAP), told the inquiry that SAP would speak about \u201cthe harm the appeal scheme would cause to the visual amenity value of the Green Space and Green Wedge.\u201d\n\nThe inquiry continues.", "output": "A three-week public inquiry has been opened to examine objections to UK housebuilder Redrow's plans for a 160-home development on the Grade II-listed Allerton Priory site in Liverpool. The company said it was an opportunity to construct a \"much-needed form of accommodation\" and called protesters \"misguided\". The city council\u2019s planning committee initially rejected the proposal, prompting Redrow to appeal and request a final decision from an independent, government-assigned planning inspector.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "World's first indoor, vertical solar farm unveiled \n It\u2019s always sunny in Philadelphia, according to the title of a popular television show. If so, it\u2019s the perfect place for the world\u2019s first solar powered indoor vertical farm.\n\nMetropolis Farms has constructed a 500 kilowatt solar array made up of 2003 solar panels on the roof of a building in The City of Brotherly Love. On the fourth floor, it is constructing a vertical farm that will be powered entirely by electricity coming from the roof. It plans to grow the equivalent of 660 outdoor acres worth of crops in less than 100,000 sq feet. \u201cThe panels are already installed and turned on, now we\u2019re building out the farm. The first crops will be planted in November,\u201d the company says.\n\nBefore Metropolis Farms took over the space, the only things growing on the fourth floor were pigeons. But soon, crops of fresh tomatoes, strawberries, lettuce, herbs, and broccoli will flourish there for the benefit of the citizens of Philadelphia and environs. \u201cWe feel this inherently demonstrates the wonder of this new industry we\u2019re helping create, the industry of indoor farming.\u201d\n\nThe company goes on to say,\n\n\u201cTo this point, the city of Philadelphia has only ~8 acres of urban farming, mainly because there\u2019s no available land for growing crops traditionally. By bringing the growing process indoors, in line with our mission of social responsibility, we are revitalizing abandoned spaces and are using them for local food production. We are empowering a new generation of farmers to grow food for cities, in cities.\n\n\u201cThis technology democratizes the ability to grow local food in any community, regardless of location or climate. We\u2019re doing this because local food is just better. Local food is more nutritious than food that\u2019s packed in a truck and travels for weeks, it tastes better, and growing food in the communities where it\u2019s eaten helps stimulate the local economy.\u201d\n\nDetractors of indoor farming point out the high cost of powering all the lights and circulation pumps needed, but Metropolis Farms thinks its rooftop solar array will answer the critics.\n\n\u201cThe truth is, like any technology, indoor farming is constantly improving upon itself. We have gained efficiencies through innovative lighting (not LEDs), BTU management systems, and other means to dramatically reduce the amount of energy our farms are using.\n\n\u201cAnd we are on the cusp of a breakthrough in a technology that will reduce our energy usage even further. We hope to demonstrate this new technological advancement at this year\u2019s Indoor Ag-Con, hosted for the first time in Philadelphia. We are pushing the envelope by attempting to build a zero-carbon farm. Through water recapture techniques, renewable energy production, advanced energy systems, and most importantly by farming locally, we are on the right track.\u201d\n\nAnother benefit of vertical gardening is a dramatic decrease in the amount of pesticides needed to grow fresh food. Not only will the crops not be covered in chemicals, neither will the environment surrounding the vertical garden. That\u2019s a huge benefit that should not be discounted. \u201cWe hope others will follow our lead and start building farms of the future, so communities everywhere can benefit from having a quality local food source that grows crops responsibly,\u201d say the leaders of Metropolis Farms.\n\nSource and photo credit: Metropolis Farms\n\nSign up for Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era \u2014 Podcast: I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014 gasp \u2014 grow. So ... Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014\u2014 grow. So ...", "output": "An agricultural company in Philadelphia is building an indoor farm in the city centre, powered by a solar array on the roof. Metropolis Farms has taken over 100,000 square feet on the fourth floor of an office block to cultivate crops including tomatoes, strawberries and lettuce. The vertical farm is designed to have the capacity to grow produce equivalent to that produced by 660 acres outdoors, with the lights and circulation pumps powered by 2,000 solar panels on the roof. The intention is to create a zero-carbon farm, with low energy consumption and fewer pesticides."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Study discovers technique to boost building-strength sensors \n Technology from the Public University of Navarre monitors the structural health of infrastructure (bridges, viaducts, oil pipelines, gas pipelines, etc.) and can be used in intensity-based optical sensors that modify the amount of light in the system in the presence of physical as well as chemical changes, as explained in Sergio Rota's Ph.D. thesis read at the Public University of Navarre (NUP/UPNA).\n\n\"Ever since fibre optics burst onto the scene in telecommunications, many developments based on its properties have emerged,\" said Sergio Rota. \"So over the last few decades, the rapid evolution of fibre-optics-based systems and the appearance on the market of other devices has caused research in this field to advance considerably. Apart from the use of fibre optics in telecommunications, new applications have emerged, thus leading to new families of devices. Two of them of particular interest are fibre-optic lasers and fibre-optic sensors.\"\n\nBoth devices are based on fibre optics, a means of transmitting information via light. A laser is a device that emits light through optical amplification and by stimulating the emitting of electromagnetic radiation. Fibre-optic sensors are devices in which the parameter that is going to be measured (physical, chemical, biological or of another type) inserts modifications or modulations into one of the characteristics of the light in the optical system contained in it and allows it to be monitored.\n\nSergio Rota's research was based on the development of advanced fibre-optic structures for lasers and sensors. \"The aim was to improve the properties of both, and their monitoring systems, besides tackling the problems that they pose,\" said the author of this Ph.D. thesis, which received a \"cum laude\" distinction with international mention.\n\nHe developed a Rayleigh scattering distributed cavity laser (known as random lasers), the narrowest to date. Lasers of this type are characterised by the absence of reflective elements used in conventional lasers, thus improving the properties of the electromagnetic spectrum for monitoring sensors.\n\nFurthermore he has improved some of the sensor monitoring elements in such a way that he has improved parameters such as their range (up to measurements of 250 km), sensitivity and stability.", "output": "Sensors and lasers that monitor the structural health of buildings can be made 50 times more sensitive by using fibre-optic technology, according to research by a Spanish academic. Sergio Rota developed a refined version of a \"random\" laser and improved the elements in a sensor in a way that significantly improved their sensitivity and stability at the Public University of Navarre. His findings won him a\u00a0distinction for his PhD and they could be applied to devices that\u00a0monitor\u00a0bridges, viaducts and other infrastructure.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "World-first Internet of Drones platform released by Flytbase \n FlytBase Inc. a startup building developer platforms for connected intelligent drones, today announced the release of its AI Platform for Drones. FlytBase has built the world\u2019s first IoT platform for commercial drones, the \u201cInternet of Drones\u201d (IoD) platform. Continuing on its mission to bring intelligence and connectivity to commercial drones, FlytBase is now extending its cloud and edge compute platforms to incorporate AI and machine learning.\n\nAs drones continue to find use in wide range of commercial applications, the focus is shifting towards higher levels of automation and tighter integration of drones with business processes, for significantly improved efficiencies. Recent advances in AI have enabled computers to makes sense of the visual data around them, almost reaching human-level performance in some cases. Some of the tasks enabled by these algorithms, include:\n\n\u25cf Object detection \u2013 identify and locate objects of interest in an image\n\n\u25cf Object counting \u2013 identify and count objects of interest in an image\n\n\u25cf Image segmentation \u2013 classify pixels in an image into multiple finite segments to\n\nsimplify representation\n\n\u25cf Change detection \u2013 detect changes between two temporally spaced images\n\n\u25cf Image classification \u2013 classify an image into one of the known categories of images\n\nThe technological potential of drones is being further enhanced by combining autonomous drone tech with AI. Computer vision systems, mounted on drones, enable them to gather rich visual data either in the form of photos or videos. Processing this data using AI unfolds unique perspectives and information, which otherwise would be either impossible or very expensive to derive using traditional techniques involving human effort.\n\nWith the vision to leverage AI for drone applications, FlytBase platform is being further extended to incorporate AI capabilities to process aerial image data.\n\nWorkflow\n\nFlytBase AI platform is based in the cloud, wherein the entire workflow of preparing datasets, training models and deploying trained-models for inferencing has been automated. This enables quicker turnaround time and faster iterations when a use case is being worked upon. Being in the cloud also helps in scaling the system up at runtime when demand (either for training, or for real-time inferencing) increases.\n\nExamples of use cases that can be automated with FlytBase AI platform, are:\n\na. Object counting \u2013 e.g. counting the number of Arabian Oryx from an orthomap image. These are an endangered specie and keeping a tab on their count goes towards their conservation.\n\nb. Object detection \u2013 e.g. locating cracks and rust areas from an image of industrial structures.\n\nc. Change detection \u2013 e.g. detecting changes between two photos of a parking lot taking from almost the same vantage point at different times.\n\nTo harness FlytBase AI platform capabilities, customers bring in their use-case to FlytBase, along with sufficient training images dataset.\n\nThe customer provided data is carefully cropped, labelled and packaged for training purposes, and added to an Image Dataset Library.\n\nThe FlytBase AI model-training workflow consists of:\n\n\u25cf Model Library: Hosts object detection models to choose from during training\n\n\u25cf Pre-trained weights library: Hosts weights from previously trained models to borrow\n\nrepresentation from\n\n\u25cf Image dataset library: Hosts packaged datasets provided by customers. The raw data is pre-processed for image augmentation and labelling before putting into this library\n\nVia the above workflow, user can select various pieces of the training pipeline and initiate training on one of our GPU enabled cloud compute nodes. This results in a trained model ready for inferencing.\n\nOnce our model is trained, it is deployed on the platform for direct use by our users. Users can do live inferencing either via our web console or by using REST API\u2019s exposed by the platform. REST APIs have the added advantage of integrating this platform with customer\u2019s system for further automation.\n\nFlytBase AI platform is designed to support multi-tenancy, which enables utilisation usage of resources, and hence cost savings for our customers.\n\nDeep Learning Algorithm\n\nAt the heart of the image-processing pipeline are state-of-the-art CNN models employing recent advancements in computer-vision and deep-learning.\n\nOver the last few years, several object detection models have been published, which have significantly improved upon the previous generation, in terms of accuracy and speed of inferencing. Notable are, SSD, DetectNet, Fast R-CNN, Faster R-CNN, Yolo and Yolo V2.\n\nSimilarly, for image classification, ResNet50, VGG16/19 and Inception models are some of the most preferred models. Some models have better accuracy, while others might be faster at inferencing than others. Selection of a model takes into account these criteria, tailored to customer\u2019s use case.\n\nThe pipeline allows several model implementations (same model with different hyperparameters or different models altogether) to be trained on the same dataset, simultaneously, so that the best can be chosen. Since different model implementations might need datasets to be arranged in different formats (e.g. from PASCAL VOC to TFRecord format), we have built adapters to transform the data on the fly to suit the model.\n\nWe have used transfer learning to tune the off-the-shelf pre-trained models for getting higher accuracy for detecting our object(s) of interest. This involves removing layers of the off-the-shelf pre-trained models to keep the correct level of representation from the previous dataset, before training them on new dataset.\n\nThe FlytBase AI platform is agnostic to the particular framework in which the models are implemented (Tensorflow, Caffe, Theano etc. ), by virtue of an abstraction layer. This allows the platform to assimilate the best implementation of cutting-edge models coming out of research labs, with ease.\n\nChallenges and Solutions\n\nUsing high resolution aerial images to train computer vision models poses unique challenges:\n\na. Lack of sufficient training data: There are plenty of open training datasets out there, but almost all of them have images taken from human eye level. What makes aerial images unique is their top-down view of the objects. Moreover, for custom object detection, customers don\u2019t often have enough images to train the model on, wherein we have to make do with limited set of images.\n\nb. Very high resolution of the images: Computer vision models can process images of limited resolution at a time. For high-resolution images, we need to crop the images into sizable chunks and run inference on them one at a time. This can lead to double counting or misses.\n\nc. Shallow features of objects: When looked down from the top, objects can have very generic shapes which a) can be hard to detect and b) can appear to be similar to other objects.\n\nFlytBase AI platform uses various approaches to address these challenges, including data augmentation, cropping with different offsets for hi-res images, and training models on similar looking objects for better differentiation. Improving algorithms to address these challenges is a continuous process, further enriching the platform.\n\nA Case Study: Arabian Oryx Detection and Counting\n\nThe Arabian oryx or white oryx is a medium-sized antelope native to desert and steppe areas of the Arabian Peninsula. It was extinct in the wild by the early 1970s, but was saved in zoos and private preserves, and was reintroduced into the wild starting in 1980. Keeping an upto date record of their population, with geotags, is an essential part of their conservation. The practice has been to count them manually by looking at a high resolution\n\northoimage of the sanctuary. This is error prone and time consuming. Moreover, our customer had a backlog of such images taken over time, where the counting had to be done on all of them.\n\nAt FlytBase, we developed an image processing pipeline to automate the task of detecting oryxes in an ingested image and count them.\n\nWe started with 400 images which constituted an orthoimage, and extracted 1000\u00d7600 sized images, which had either oryx in them, or oryx like objects. These were then labeled and packaged into training and testing datasets in the Pascal VOC format.\n\nA Faster R-CNN based object detection pipeline was set up in the cloud using the tensorflow object detection library. In the pipeline, the images were augmented by horizontally flipping and random resizing. Once everything was in place, the model was trained for 10k iterations.\n\nThe model so prepared could scan a 1000\u00d7600 sized image for Oryx. But it had to run on a high-resolution orthoimage (29200\u00d724160 pixels). To meet that requirement, the orthoimage was split into sections sized 1000\u00d7600. Detection was executed on them, individually, and the results were stitched back. To avoid double counting or misses, the\n\nsplit-detect-stitch procedure was repeated with different offsets for the splits, and the median count of all the runs was obtained.\n\nThe results from this model were quite accurate and impressive. The FlytBase AI platform is able to process aerial image-data, gathered over several months, in order of minutes. This was the world\u2019s first application of machine learning on drone image-data for Oryx detection in the desert.\n\nThe Road Ahead\n\nThere is a vast potential to be unlocked for our customers, from the images they collect via drones. With its scalable architecture, automated pipeline, and with our vast experience in dealing with drones, their data and automation, FlytBase AI platform will result in significant improvement in efficiencies for our customers.\n\nFlytBase AI platform is optimised for interpretation of drone data, and it seamlessly integrates with the rest of FlytBase platform to offer connectivity with your business applications. If you are looking to leverage machine-learning technology for automation of\n\nIf you are looking to leverage machine-learning technology for automation of your drone data-processing, please reach out to our experts at [email protected] or\n\nsignup at flytbase.com/ai", "output": "California start-up FlytBase has launched the Internet of Drones, the world's first connected platform for a new generation of increasingly sophisticated unmanned aerial vehicles. The cloud-based system has incorporated machine learning and artificial intelligence, enabling the fast and efficient automation of training sets for drone features, including object detection and counting, and change detection."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian banks create platform to support new payments tech \n That annoying wait for a payment to transfer to or from your account will soon be a thing of the past, thanks to most banks moving to real-time payments from 26 January.\n\nA group of 13 banks and financial institutions are collaborating on a new $1bn platform, run by a company called the New Payments Platform Australia (NPP Australia), which will enable much simpler, real-time transfers between accounts.\n\nThe full introduction of the new system is scheduled to start when people return from their summer holidays but in the meantime it will be road-tested by bank staff, who will be able to make real-time payments between each other and their bank.\n\nThe main advantage for consumers will be that they will not need to wait for their money as they do now \u2013 sometimes for 24 hours. But it will also allow transfers using much simpler identifiers than a BSB and account number, such as a mobile phone number or email address.\n\nCustomers will be able to set their own more memorable identifier that is attached to their bank account, thus avoiding the problem of payments going astray due to a mistyped account number. There will also be more scope to include longer messages with transfers, which are currently limited to 18 characters.\n\nIt is anticipated most Australian bank accounts will have access to the new system as soon as the platform launches. The project was triggered by the Reserve Bank\u2019s 2012 review of Australia\u2019s payment infrastructure, which noted that similar innovations were being introduced overseas.\n\n\u201cThe industry recognised the need for a plan that would support the future of payments. Already the Australian public has embraced electronic payment methods \u2013 chip cards (particularly contactless or \u201cwave and pay\u201d technology), BPAY, and new technologies such as smartphones,\u201d NPPA chief executive, Adrian Lovney said.\n\n\u201cBut for this evolution to continue, our basic payments infrastructure needed an upgrade to enable a shift from batch or overnight account-based payments to immediate payments, and this could only be done with a whole of industry approach.\u201d\n\nHowever, the introduction of real-time payments overseas has also led to an increase in fraud, prompting experts to warn that financial institutions would need to exercise increased vigilance.\n\n\n\nLovney said the banks would need to put in place systems to track unusual transactions.\n\n\n\n\u201cWith any new system that is introduced, you will see a spike in activity as people think about how they can take advantage of the change but banks will continue to put in place systems behind the scenes to try to protect customers from being tricked,\u201d he said.\n\n\n\n\u201cWhile consumers and businesses can be reassured by the platform\u2019s high levels of security, they will need to remain alert to the possibility of cons and scams that will continue to happen outside the platform\u2019s control \u2013 like the recent spate of scams involving people impersonating the ATO, for instance ,\u201d he said.\n\nTom Godfrey, head of media at Choice said the consumer organisation supported real-time payments.\n\n\n\n\u201cAnecdotally, we\u2019ve fielded plenty of complaints from consumers about direct deposits taking too long to process, as if the bank was waiting for a cheque to clear, Godfrey, said.\n\nHe said Choice had been reassured these transactions would be safe and secure and that banks would implement safeguards.\n\n\u201cTransactions will be settled through the \u201cFast Settlement Service\u201d provided by the Reserve Bank, and we\u2019re told the system has built-in security features that we have no reason to doubt at this early stage,\u201d he added.\n\n\u201c While financial institutions that connect to the NPP will be able to offer real time payments, we\u2019ve been informed that there will also be ways to slow or stop these payments if fraud is detected.\u201d\n\nBanks will soon begin promoting the new system to customers.\n\n", "output": "Thirteen Australian banks and financial institutions are working together to create the AUD1bn ($770m) New Payments Platform Australia (NPP Australia) to support new payment technologies. In addition to real-time transfers, the platform\u00a0aims to use simpler identifiers, like mobile numbers, and offer more space for messages in transfers. Despite high levels of security on the platform, banks must remain vigilant and employ systems to identify unusual transactions, warned NPP Australia CEO, Adrian Lovney. The platform is being tested by staff before being rolled out to the public."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "App-controlled drying, ironing laundry robot eyes spring delivery \n T he drudgery of the weekly ironing session could be ended by a wifi-connected laundry robot built in a garage in north London.\n\n\u201cEffie\u201d, designed by engineers Rohan Kamdar and Trevor Kerth, can dry and press everything from workshirts to underwear in just a few minutes.\n\nThe \u00a3699 device was constructed at Mr Kamdar\u2019s family home in Pinner and the finishing touches are being made to a prototype, with the product due to go on sale in the spring.\n\nClothes are hung on adjustable hangers inside the app-controlled machine. They are then dried, steamed and smoothed to remove creases.\n\nThe 27-year-old inventors, who have masters degrees in mechanical engineering, say Effie can slash chore times as each garment \u2014 even if wet from the wash \u2014 is popped out ready to wear in under three minutes. Effie \u2014 named after \u201cFe\u201d, the chemical symbol for iron \u2014 has been designed to uncrease cotton, polyester, silk, viscose and denim.\n\nUnderwear can be hung in a bag inside to be dried and a scented ball can be added to the steam tank. Mr Kamdar, 27, said Effie differs from other automated laundry devices as it \u201ccontacts\u201d the clothes and puts tension through them to press out the wrinkles, rather than just steaming them.\n\nIt can handle clothes from children\u2019s up to XXL adult sizes, and has been designed to take up the same amount of space as an ironing board and a person \u2014 it is 128cm high, 80cm wide and 40cm deep, weighing 35kg.\n\nMr Kamdar said the device, designed to be serviced every two years, would use no more electricity during a cycle than a domestic hairdryer.\n\nHe added: \u201cLaundry is ubiquitous, time-consuming and people universally hate it. This all started out of my garage, it\u2019s a classic hardware start-up.\u201d Referring to the Sixties American sci-fi cartoon show, he said: \u201cI really like the idea of robots doing all the chores in my home, and so Effie has a real Jetsons vibe.\n\n\u201cYou don\u2019t need to split the load, you hang everything up at once, click, go and do something else.\u201d\n\nTheir next invention will be an all-in-one machine that washes, dries and irons.", "output": "Two engineers have invented an app-controlled robot that they say dries and irons clothes in a matter of minutes. Dubbed Effie, the \u00a3699 ($920) device takes up the same amount of space as a person with an ironing board and, according to designers Rohan Kamdar and Trevor Kerth, uses the same amount of electricity per cycle as a hair dryer. Effie can be used on a range of fabrics and garment sizes, from children's clothes to XXL. Kamdar and Kerth aim to bring Effie to market next spring."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ocean Conservancy launches $150m scheme to combat marine plastic \n Ocean Conservancy, the Trash Free Seas Alliance\u00ae and Closed Loop Partners to raise $150 million for a new funding mechanism to address waste management in Southeast Asia\n\nMALTA, October 5, 2017 (Ocean Conservancy) \u2013 At the Our Ocean 2017 conference, a global gathering of world leaders to address some of the world\u2019s most pressing ocean challenges, Ocean Conservancy and its partners, including the Trash Free Seas Alliance\u00ae, Closed Loop Partners, PepsiCo, 3M, Procter & Gamble, the American Chemistry Council, and the World Plastics Council announced an initiative to raise over $150 million for a new funding mechanism to prevent plastic waste from leaking in to our ocean.\n\nThe initiative is designed to fund waste management and recycling solutions in Southeast Asia, with a focus on investments to improve collection, sorting and recycling markets. Nearly half of the plastic that flows into the ocean every year \u2013 an estimated 8 million metric tons \u2013 escapes from waste streams in just five rapidly developing economies in Asia (Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and China).\n\n\u201cThis is a major breakthrough in the fight for trash free seas,\u201d said Susan Ruffo, managing director of international initiatives at Ocean Conservancy. \u201cOur research has found that by improving waste management in Southeast Asian countries, we can cut the flow of plastic going in the ocean by half by 2025. A funding mechanism will take this goal from dream to reality, and support efforts by governments and local groups on the ground to improve their livelihoods and well-being while also improving ocean health.\u201d\n\nScientists estimate that over 150 million metric tons of plastics are currently in the ocean today, entangling wildlife, polluting beaches, and costing coastal communities hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars. That number could grow to 250 million metric tons in less than a decade if immediate action isn\u2019t taken.\n\nThe new funding mechanism will be operated by Closed Loop Partners, an investment firm that invests in companies, technology and recycling facilities to turn waste into value and advance the circular economy. This new mechanism will catalyze new investments from the private sector, governments, and development finance institutions; demonstrate eco-system solutions; and build a pipeline of bankable waste management projects to demonstrate investment viability and maximize recycling profitability.\n\n\u201cThrough this initiative, we will invest in and support the municipalities, entrepreneurs, investors and NGOs working to reduce ocean plastics and improve waste management in Southeast Asia,\u201d said Rob Kaplan of Closed Loop Partners. \u201cOur investments across North America \u2014 from recycling collection in Tennessee to developing new end markets for waste plastics in Louisiana \u2014 have resulted in tangible improvements to waste collection and recycling. Our model is to take the best practices in waste management investment, leverage the world\u2019s largest consumer goods supply chains, and marry them with on-the-ground partner expertise and work.\u201d\n\nEffective waste management reduces plastics waste leakage, leads to healthier citizens, creates jobs, and reduces emissions of toxins and carbon. It is also a critical component to making a circular economy function, ensuring that materials can be recovered for reuse and recycling. This initiative aims to solve the root causes of plastics in the ocean by investing in the systems and emerging technologies needed to capture and transform waste into valuable commodities before it reaches marine environments, while also providing tangible benefits to communities.\n\nConsumer goods companies and plastics manufacturers support the project. Early commitments from PepsiCo, 3M, Procter & Gamble, the American Chemistry Council and the World Plastics Council have fully funded the design phase of the fund.\n\n\u201cP&G is proud to be a part of this initiative,\u201d said Jack McAneny, Director of Sustainability, Procter & Gamble. \u201cPlastics play an important role in commerce, but they clearly don\u2019t belong in our waterways and oceans. Thanks to the vision of Ocean Conservancy, we now have a multi-stakeholder collaborative effort that can drive the kind of innovation and scale that we need to stop the flow of plastics to the environment and ideally give these materials a second life.\u201d\n\nThe initiative aims to share the results of its initial phase of work within the next year to help build the field of investors looking to deploy capital into this market.\n\nThe Trash Free Seas Alliance is comprised of:\n\nOcean Conservancy, Algalita Marine Research and Education, The Coca-Cola Company, Covanta Energy, The Dow Chemical Company, ITW, Keep America Beautiful, The Marine Mammal Center, The Ocean Recovery Alliance, Project AWARE Foundation, Amcor, American Chemistry Council, Bank of America, Cox Enterprises, DANONE, Dart Container Corporation, Georgia Aquarium, Nature Works, Nestl\u00e9 Waters NA, Procter & Gamble, REDISA, Rozalia Project for a Clean Ocean, The Consumer Goods Forum, Vancouver Aquarium, Walmart, World Animal Protection, The World Plastics Council, World Wildlife Fund www.trashfreeseas.org\n\n###\n\nOcean Conservancy is working to protect the ocean from today\u2019s greatest global challenges. Together with our partners, we create science-based solutions for a healthy ocean and the wildlife and communities that depend on it.\n\nwww.oceanconservancy.org\n\nClosed Loop Partners\n\nClosed Loop Partners invests in sustainable consumer goods, advanced recycling technologies and the development of the circular economy.\n\nwww.closedlooppartners.com", "output": "Ocean Conservancy, a US environmental non-profit agency, is to launch an initiative that will raise over $150m for a funding mechanism that aims to combat plastic pollution in the ocean. Partners include social impact fund, Closed Loop Partners, which will operate the funding mechanism, as well as 3M, the American Chemistry Council, PepsiCo, Proctor & Gamble, the Trash Free Seas Alliance\u00ae and the World Plastics Council. The initiative will finance waste management and recycling projects in Southeast Asia. This region is responsible for nearly half of the eight million metric tonnes of plastic that enters the ocean each year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ocean Conservancy launches $150m scheme to combat marine plastic \n Dive Brief:\n\nAt the Our Ocean conference in Malta, the Ocean Conservancy, joined by the Trash Free Seas Alliance, Closed Loop Partners, PepsiCo, 3M, Procter & Gamble, the American Chemistry Council, and the World Plastics Council announced a $150 million funding plan to help prevent the flow of plastic waste into the ocean.\n\nThe funding initiative will focus on waste management and recycling solutions in Southeast Asia. According to Susan Ruffo, managing director of international initiatives for the Ocean Conservancy, improving waste management practices in the region could \"cut the flow of plastic going in the ocean by half by 2025.\"\n\nClosed Loop Partners, which has so far invested in domestic projects, will operate the new funding mechanism. During a recent interview with Waste Dive, the organization's chief investment and financial officer said marine debris is a main focus and the goal is to be \"i nstrumental in stemming that tide.\"\n\nDive Insight:\n\nThere is enough plastic on the globe for every person alive to have more than 1 metric ton to themselves \u2014 and most of that material comes from virgin sources. Due to a myriad of reasons, including high contamination rates, poor waste management practices and the sheer demand for plastic goods, plastic can get lost from the waste stream and become pollution that often finds its way into the ocean. Since nearly half of all marine plastic is believed to enter the ocean from a small number of Southeast Asian countries, it makes strategic and practical sense that this partnership is targeting the region.\n\nMarine debris is a hot topic in the waste industry, especially outside of the U.S. One of the International Solid Waste Association's (ISWA) focuses at the World Congress/WASTECON 2017 in Baltimore was reducing marine litter and closing the loop on waste. ISWA just put out a report on marine litter, saying that the global community is now \"at a critical moment in history\" when it comes to dealing with marine litter and other environmental issues. This has spurred a wave of policies on plastic packaging and even led some countries to establish harsh punishments for violations.\n\nThe issue is also seen as a top priority by environmental advocates and some industry groups in the U.S. due to many domestic signs of marine pollution. For example, tens of millions of pounds of plastic debris enter the Great Lakes each year. A growing number of cleanup efforts, corporate sponsorships and local ordinances have all been created in an effort mitigate the problem. However, none may be as useful as finding ways to make it more profitable to recycle and extract value from plastic rather than toss it in favor of virgin material.", "output": "Ocean Conservancy, a US environmental non-profit agency, is to launch an initiative that will raise over $150m for a funding mechanism that aims to combat plastic pollution in the ocean. Partners include social impact fund, Closed Loop Partners, which will operate the funding mechanism, as well as 3M, the American Chemistry Council, PepsiCo, Proctor & Gamble, the Trash Free Seas Alliance\u00ae and the World Plastics Council. The initiative will finance waste management and recycling projects in Southeast Asia. This region is responsible for nearly half of the eight million metric tonnes of plastic that enters the ocean each year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BBC pay gap of 9.3% revealed in salary review \n Men are being paid 9.3% more than women at the BBC on average and nearly 500 employees may be getting paid less than colleagues in a similar role simply because of their gender, according to a review of salaries at the broadcaster.\n\nThe BBC ordered the review into pay after a furore over the salaries of its best-paid stars this summer. The corporation\u2019s pay list revealed that just a third of its highest paid on-air stars were women and the top seven were all men, leading more than 40 of its highest-profile female presenters, including Clare Balding, Fiona Bruce and Emily Maitlis, to publicly call for change.\n\nThe pay review claims there is \u201cno systemic discrimination against women\u201d at the BBC but it did not include the vast majority of on-air presenters, editors and senior managers, and trade unions said the broadcaster needed to do better on equal pay.\n\nJane Garvey, the presenter of Radio 4\u2019s Woman\u2019s Hour, who organised a public letter from female stars, tweeted an apparently bemused response to the review:\n\n\u201cNothing (much) to see here\u201d . Ummm https://t.co/ZDVGsTZb4B \u2014 Jane Garvey (@janegarvey1) October 4, 2017\n\nThe average gender pay gap in the UK is 18.1%, which the BBC is well below. The government has said that all companies with more than 250 employees must publish their gender pay gap by next April, but the BBC has revealed its figure early.\n\nTony Hall, the director- general of the BBC, drafted in the law firm Eversheds Sutherland and the accountants PwC to audit the corporation\u2019s pay and commissioned the former court of appeal judge Sir Patrick Elias to review it.\n\nEversheds and PwC analysed in detail a sample of situations at the BBC where men and women could have expected to be paid the same but the difference in salary was more than 5%. This found that on 8.6% of occasions there was not enough evidence to establish a reason for the disparity other than gender. Across all the BBC staff in the review, this means that 229 men and 248 women could be getting paid less than they should just because of their gender.\n\nNonetheless, Elias said the pay report found \u201cno evidence from which discrimination could reasonably be inferred\u201d and that where men and women were paid differently for doing the same job it was \u201cfar more likely to be an issue of fairness than one of sex discrimination\u201d. Elias called for the BBC to keep better records, do more staff appraisals and set clearer guidance to managers deciding pay.\n\nHe said the overall gender pay gap, which measures the median salary of all women against all men, was driven by an \u201cunder-representation of women in the more senior jobs\u201d.\n\nHall welcomed the findings, saying: \u201cFairness in pay is vital. We have pledged to close the gender pay gap by 2020 and have targets for equality and diversity on our airwaves. We have done a lot already, but we have more to do.\n\n\u201cWhile today\u2019s reports show that we are in a better place than many organisations, I want a BBC that is an exemplar not just in the media but in the country \u2013 when it comes to pay, fairness, gender and representation and what can be achieved. This is an essential part of modernising the BBC. And, if the BBC is to truly reflect the public it serves, then the makeup of our staff must reflect them.\u201d\n\nQ&A What were the top 10 BBC salaries for 2017? Show 1. Chris Evans \u00a32.2m - \u00a32.25m\n\n2. Gary Lineker \u00a31.75m - \u00a31.8m 3. Graham Norton \u00a3850,0000 - \u00a3899,999 4. Jeremy Vine \u00a3700,000 - \u00a3749,999 5. John Humphrys \u00a3600,000 - \u00a3649,999 6. Huw Edwards \u00a3550,000 - \u00a3599,999 7. Steve Wright \u00a3500,000 - \u00a3549,999 = 8. Claudia Winkleman \u00a3450,000 - \u00a3499,999 = 8. Matt Baker \u00a3450,000 - \u00a3499,999 = 9. Nicky Campbell \u00a3400,000 - \u00a3449,999 = 9. Andrew Marr \u00a3400,000 - \u00a3449,999 = 9. Stephen Nolan \u00a3400,000 - \u00a3449,999 = 9. Alan Shearer \u00a3400,000 - \u00a3449,999 =9. Alex Jones \u00a3400,000 - \u00a3449,000 10. Fiona Bruce \u00a3350,000 - \u00a3399,999 Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.\n\nHall has a signed off a collection of measures designed to improve diversity at the BBC. They include a ban on all-male or all-female interview panels and the introduction of \u201cfair pay reviews\u201d every six months that will involve managers at the BBC analysing the pay of their team with the human resources department. A report on the pay of on-air presenters will be published later this year.\n\nBectu, the media and entertainment trade union, said the BBC should lead the way on eradicating bias against women. Gerry Morrissey, the head of the union, said: \u201cThe BBC must not rest on its laurels in respect of the overall gender pay gap. The report finds that the gap is much less than the national average but that should not obscure the fact that inequality is a factor for some staff day in and day out.\n\n\u201cWe want the BBC to lead the way to eliminate the bias against women in certain areas of employment and in senior management.\u201d", "output": "The BBC is paying men on average 9.3% more than women, with almost 500 employees potentially earning less than colleagues in similar roles due to their gender, according to a salary review. The survey was launched in the wake of revelations in July that just a third of the broadcaster\u2019s highest paid on-air stars were women. The review found \u201cno systemic discrimination against women,\u201d but called for the BBC to maintain better records and provide clearer pay guidance to managers. Lack of women in senior roles was blamed for the pay disparity. The UK\u2019s average gender pay gap is 18.1%."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Robo-adviser Nutmeg mulls fundraising as losses increase \n Online investment management service Nutmeg saw losses widen last year as it continued to invest heavily, and said it may need to raise more cash to continue its expansion.\n\nIts accounts with Companies House revealed that pre-tax losses went up from \u00a38.9million to \u00a39.3million in 2016 as operating expenses increased by nearly \u00a31.2million to \u00a311.9million.\n\nHowever, revenues rose from \u00a31.7million to \u00a32.5million and chief executive Martin Stead, who took the helm in May last year and appointed a new executive team, said the firm has grown \u2018significantly\u2019.\n\nExpanding: Nutmeg managed \u00a3600m of assets for 25,000 customers at the end of last year\n\nNutmeg, one of the best known of the many so-called 'robo-adviser' services now available, increased its customer base to 25,000 by the end of last year, according to the accounts, with approximately \u00a3600million of assets under its watch.\n\nThe website, which offers investors an automated way to invest online at a selected level of risk versus reward, said that it may need more cash on top of the funding it received last year to continue its development.\n\n\u2018The directors have [\u2026] determined that the company may require further cash injections to continue to develop and market its product offering and to build its customer base and its assets under management,\u2019 Nutmeg said in a statement.\n\n\u2018Under such a scenario, the directors have a reasonable expectation of securing additional funding from the existing shareholders and new investors.\u2019\n\nOnline investment management companies like Nutmeg have grown in popularity recently.\n\nCustomers can start with as little as \u00a3500, plus a \u00a3100 per month contribution for portfolios less than \u00a35,000, and pay Nutmeg an annual management fee of between 0.35 per cent and 0.75 per cent, depending on the size of their investment. Additional investment costs which average 0.19 per cent also apply.\n\nLast year the company received large funding from investors, including \u00a312million from Taiwan-based Taipei Fubon Bank and \u00a324million from Hong Kong financial advice firm Convoy.\n\nStead said that it was using the last round of funding it received in December last year to expand its product offering and \u2018rapidly scale\u2019 the business in the UK.\n\n\u2018Specific focus will be on innovation including new investing options, new tax wrappers and further developing the advice offering,\u2019 he added.", "output": "Robo-adviser Nutmeg said it may need to raise more capital after the firm saw its pre-tax losses increase over the past year. While the firm reported significant growth and a rise in revenues last year, losses widened from \u00a38.9m ($11.8m) to \u00a39.3m. Higher operating costs are believed to be behind the increase. The robo-adviser had around 25,000 customers and \u00a3600m in assets under management on its platform at the end of 2016. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shareholders push back on Starbucks' family leave policies \n Dan R. Krauss/Getty Images\n\nShareholders are calling for Starbucks to change its family leave policy.\n\nOn Monday, a group of shareholders led by Zevin Asset Management filed a resolution to express concern with the company's \"unequal paid parental leave policy.\"\n\nWhile Starbucks' corporate offices have extensive maternity and paternity leave policies, these policies do not include in-store workers. Corporate employees can receive up to 18 weeks of paid maternal leave, and fathers or adoptive parents receive up to 12 weeks of paid leave.\n\nHowever, in-store workers receive just six weeks of paid maternal leave. Adoptive parents can request up to six weeks of paid leave.\n\n\"This runs counter to Starbucks's widely recognized commitment to social responsibility, nondiscrimination, and inclusion,\" the resolution reads. \"Our Company's unequal stance may disproportionately harm low income workers and workers of color. LGBTQ workers face particular challenges, as they are four times more likely to parent adopted children and six times more likely to raise foster children.\"\n\nThe resolution requests that Starbucks' board prepare a report on the coffee giant's family leave policy that evaluates the risk of employment discrimination at the company.\n\nStarbucks spokesperson Reggie Borges told Business Insider that the company is one of the few to provide hourly employees full benefit eligibility at only 20 hours a week.\n\n\"We offer a more robust benefits package than any other retail company,\" Borges said in an email.\n\nHe continued: \"With respect to our new parental leave benefit, this will be exceptional within the retail industry not only because of paid time off component, but also because its offered to anyone who works just 20+ hours or more a week, and there is no tenure requirement attached to it.\"\n\nZevin Asset Management, which classifies itself as a socially responsible impact investing firm, says it began conversations regarding weak family leave policies with more than 10 companies in client portfolios this summer.\n\n\"Paid family leave is a matter of gender justice in America. And it's quickly becoming a business risk,\" Pat Miguel Tomaino, associate director of socially responsible investing at Zevin, said in a statement.\n\nTomaino continued: \"The huge gap between HQ and in-store workers at Starbucks can hurt morale at a firm that prides itself on equal treatment and social responsibility. Reserving paternal and adoptive parent leave for a chosen few in the company also opens Starbucks to potential discrimination claims. That's why investors are getting involved.\"", "output": "Zevin Asset Management, a shareholder in coffee-giant Starbucks, is leading a group of shareholders requesting the company refine its family leave policy. A resolution filed by the group called out the firm for not offering the same family leave policies for both its corporate and in-store staff. Starbucks was also criticised for not offering the same family leave periods for adopting parents. It was suggested that the firm's policies disproportionately affected lower income workers, while its stance towards adopting parents disproportionately harmed LGBT employees. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The John A. Hartford Foundation and West Health Partner to Support the National PACE Association\u2019s Goal of Adapting PACE to Serve Many High-Need Populations \n PACE 2.0 seeks to build on success of Programs of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly to expand the benefits of the model to more people\n\n(Oct. 2, 2017) ALEXANDRIA, VA \u2013 The National PACE Association (NPA) expresses gratitude to The John A. Hartford Foundation (JAHF) and the West Health Policy Center for their support in expanding access to Programs of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE\u00ae) for many complex high-need, high-cost populations across the country. The organizations recently approved $795,585 in funding over two years, with the goal of innovating the PACE model to serve more seniors and other individuals with high-care needs.\n\n\u201cNPA is deeply grateful to The John A. Hartford Foundation for its longstanding support of PACE and is thrilled to be working with West Health as a new partner in our ongoing efforts to expand access to PACE\u2019s provider-based, fully integrated health care delivery model,\u201d said Shawn Bloom, president and CEO of NPA.\n\nThe PACE 2.0 initiative will build upon the PACE Innovation Act, legislation passed by Congress allowing for PACE pilots to develop innovations supporting the ability of PACE to serve a larger number and wider range of adults with high health care needs. The project will identify underserved subpopulations currently eligible to enroll in PACE, as well as new unserved populations, such as younger adults with physical or mental challenges, that could benefit from the PACE model. To meet the needs of these individuals, the project will support the development of strategies to scale PACE operations and spread the model to more communities. The goal is to achieve a five-fold increase in those served by PACE and promote implementation of the strategies developed.\n\n\u201cThis project charts a course for bringing the transformative care model of PACE to many more communities and people who will benefit from its integrated, person-centered approach,\u201d said Peter Fitzgerald, executive vice president for Policy and Strategy at NPA and the principal investigator for the project. \u201cThrough scale and spread strategies developed by the project, we look forward to achieving exponential growth in access to PACE for older Americans and those with complex health care needs.\u201d\n\nNPA is the national association for PACE organizations. PACE uses an interdisciplinary team approach to provide care to older individuals who qualify for nursing home care. PACE is a Medicare benefit nationally and a Medicaid benefit in 31 states. PACE is the most successful model for keeping individuals out of nursing homes and in the community, where they enjoy a higher quality of life, remain connected to the community, and receive care in the most cost-effective way. PACE has proven its ability to reduce costs associated with emergency room visits, unnecessary hospital admissions and long-term nursing home placements. PACE data show that more than 95 percent of PACE enrollees live in the community.\n\n#\n\nThe National PACE Association works to advance the efforts of PACE programs, which coordinate and provide preventive, primary, acute and long-term care services so older individuals can continue living in the community. The PACE model of care is centered on the belief that it is better for the well-being of seniors with chronic care needs and their families to be served in the community whenever possible. For more information, visit www.NPAonline.org and follow @TweetNPA.\n\nThe John A. Hartford Foundation, based in New York City, is a private, nonpartisan philanthropy dedicated to improving the care of older adults. Established in 1929, the foundation has three priority areas: creating age-friendly health systems, supporting family caregiving, and improving serious illness and end-of-life care. For more information, visit www.johnahartford.org and follow @johnahartford.\n\nSolely funded by philanthropists Gary and Mary West, West Health includes the nonprofit and nonpartisan Gary and Mary West Health Institute and Gary and Mary West Foundation in San Diego and the Gary and Mary West Health Policy Center in Washington, DC. These organizations are working together toward a shared mission dedicated to enabling seniors to successfully age in place with access to high-quality, affordable health and support services that preserve and protect their dignity, quality of life, and independence. For more information, visit westhealth.org and follow @westhealth.", "output": "The National PACE Association (NPA) has garnered the support of the John A. Hartford Foundation (JAHF) and the West Health Policy Center for extending the access to its Programs of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE\u00ae) for Americans. The consortium has approved funding of $795,585 over a two-year period, designed to develop the PACE model further to aid further seniors and those with high-care needs. PACE 2.0 will use the PACE Innovation Act, legislation designed to develop innovative treatments, to increase access to underserved populations such as physical or mental challenges. The project will create strategies for scaling PACE operations and extend the model to more communities, with the aim of increased five-fold the number of those served. PACE utilizes an interdisciplinary approach to provide care for those who qualify for nursing home assistance, and is provided through Medicare and Medicaid across 31 states. PACE is designed to keep older adults out of nursing homes and providing a higher quality of life in local communities.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Program reduces high ED use, increases primary care visits for most vulnerable patients \n Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have found that a community-based program aimed at high users of hospital emergency departments (EDs), reduced ED visits and hospital admissions, while increasing use of primary care providers.\n\n\"Many programs have tried to tackle the problem of high utilizers of hospital emergency departments. These are usually people who are on Medicaid,\" said the study's first author Roberta Capp, MD, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. \"But this is the first program to show that care coordination actually works.\"\n\nThe study was published October 2, 2017 in the journal Health Affairs.\n\nCapp and her fellow researchers implemented and evaluated Bridges to Care (B2C), an ED-initiated, community-based program. It was one of four sites funded by a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovations grant.\n\nThe program was led by Rutgers University Center for State Health Policy and developed in collaboration with four Colorado stakeholders including an urban academic hospital, a network of 13 local federally qualified health centers, a mental health clinic and a community advocacy organization.\n\nResearchers compared participants in the B2C program, which focused on Medicaid eligible high ED users, with patients who had received standard care with respect to ED utilization, hospital admission and primary care use.\n\nHigh ED users were identified as adults who had two or more ED visits or hospital admissions within the last 180 days.\n\nDuring the six months after B2C enrollment, the participants had 29.7 percent fewer ED visits and 30 percent less hospitalizations. At the same time, they had 123 percent more primary care visits than the control subjects.\n\n\"There is a perspective from multiple stakeholders that high users of the ED are difficult patients,\" Capp said. \"But this study shows that patients use the ED because of there are serious barriers to care.\n\nED care makes up 5 - 6 percent of all healthcare expenses.Previous studies have shown that providing care-coordination services and better access to primary care can reduce waste in healthcare spending. A number of programs addressing low-income, high users of EDs have been implemented with mixed results. Most were hospital-based with little community involvement.\n\nBut Capp said the B2C intervention is the first aimed at high users of EDs to combine active outreach in the ED with multidisciplinary, community-based services.It offers intensive medical, behavioral health and social care coordination services. That includes providing a care coordinator, a health coach, a behavioral health specialist, a community health worker and frequent home visits.\n\nEach patient was given a personally tailored, 60-day care plan that included, but was not limited to assistance with getting housing resources, refugee services, access to transportation, help with applying for insurance and disability benefits, setting up primary and specialty care and filling prescriptions.\n\n\"We believe that our success stems from bringing together different healthcare systems, breaking down silos between disciplines and focusing on continuity of care in the outpatient setting,\" Capp said.\n\nThe study shows just how intense the services offered to this population must be to reduce their reliance on EDs. One reason is that they often have chronic diseases, including mental illness.\n\n\"We learned that active outreach in the ED is key to ensuring successful high utilizer and enrollment and engagement,\" the study said.\n\nFor example, early in the study, the team used call back lists and enrolled only 80 patients in seven to eight months, but when a community health worker was embedded in the ED, enrollment over the same period of time tripled.\n\n\"For a program like B2C to be effective, behavioral health services must be provided to high utilizers to ensure comprehensive, multidisciplinary care,\" Capp said.\n\nShe hopes federal lawmakers examining the Affordable Care Act will evaluate the program as a more cost efficient way of providing high quality care to the most vulnerable.\n\nMore information: Coordination Program Reduced Acute Care Use And Increased Primary Care Visits Among Frequent Emergency Care Users, DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2017.0612 ,\n\nHealth Aff October 2017 vol. 36 no. 10 1705-1711. content.healthaffairs.org/cont \u2026 /36/10/1705.abstract Journal information: Health Affairs", "output": "A team of researchers from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have discovered that the impact on hospital emergency departments and admission numbers was reduced by a community-based program named Bridges to Care (B2C). The program was one of four funded by a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovations grant, and was led by the Rutgers University Center for State Health Policy. It involved the input of an urban teaching hospital, 13 federally qualified health facilities, a community advocacy organization and a mental health clinic. The study compared the program\u2019s participants, Medicaid-eligible patients that were high-frequency ED users (two or more ED visits within 180 days), and patients who received standard care. Those enrolled in B2C had 29.7 percent fewer ED visits and 30 percent fewer hospitalizations in the first six months after joining. They also had 123 percent more primary care visits than the comparative group. ED care represents 5 percent to 6 percent of all healthcare expenses, with previous studies into emergency departments finding that care-coordination services and increased access to primary care decreases healthcare spending waste. The B2C intervention offers community-based services across several disciplines, addressing medical, behavioral and social issues through coordinated care. Care plans include medical treatment, housing resources, transport assistance, help for insurance and disability benefits, filling prescriptions and more. The study found that services need to be very intensive to reduce reliance on EDs, due to patients\u2019 chronic issues, but with behavioral health services included, care can be coordinated effectively.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mifid II set to reduce payments for research by 55% \n MiFID II\u2019s unbundling rules could see overall payments for investment research in the UK plummet by two-thirds over the next few years, according to research.\n\nA report authored by Capital Access Group (CAG) revealed the buy-side has paid brokers around \u00a3200 million for research products in the last 12 months.\n\nHowever once MiFID II\u2019s unbundling rules come into effect on 3 January next year, this figure is expected to plummet as firms scrutinise their research spend more intensely.\n\n\u201cDiscussions with investment managers suggest that they will pay for research from internal resources. Their profitability is already under pressure from regulatory concerns over fees. Therefore, it is likely that research budgets will be lower than the figure implied from traded commission,\u201d the report said.\n\nCAG has predicted payments for research could fall to just \u00a390 million in 2018, a 55% decrease from the year before and the implementation of MiFID II.\n\nThe number of analysts providing research to fund managers in the UK could also halve in the next 12 months and fall by two-thirds over the next three years.\n\nThe prediction is based on the view less than 650 of the total 1,200 analysts in the UK are currently \u2018paid\u2019 by allocations from trading commissions, although this doesn\u2019t necessarily mean there will be a swathe of job cuts in the City.\n\n\u201cAnalysts can be re-tasked within brokers; providing analysis for primary issues and M&A deals for example. There may also be a significant market for research which are paid for on-demand by fund managers,\u201d the report explained.\n\nScott Fulton, director at CAG, suggested companies use independent research providers as the \u2018most compliant route\u2019 and to avoid falling between regulatory cracks.", "output": "With asset managers' profitability already being squeezed, the implementation of Mifid II regulations next year could lead to a significant reduction in the amount laid out for research. External research payments could drop by 55%, according to Capital Access Group, which also predicted that the number of analysts providing external research to asset managers could drop by approximately two-thirds over the next three years."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Quartz creates bot to give wider context to Hewlett-Packard ads \n Publishers increasingly offer agency services, and Quartz has gone beyond making ads to constructing a chatbot for Hewlett Packard Enterprise.\n\nNamed Hugo, the chatbot was incorporated into ads that were served around Quartz\u2019s editorial series \u201cMachines with Brains,\u201d which focused on how humans, technology and artificial intelligence intersect. Those who clicked through to the bot on their phones could learn more about the stories\u2019 topics covered in the series and how HPE creates technology related to the series.\n\nAs seen in the video below, users can select topics like \u201cartificial intelligence,\u201d \u201ccloud computing\u201d and \u201cInternet of Things.\u201d Over a period of six weeks, 117,155 messages were served (after users selected topics) and users spent an average of two minutes with the bot, according to the publisher. Now the bot\u2019s distribution has been widened to include Facebook Messenger, where it will roll out in the next few weeks. Quartz will also run retargeting to encourage return users.\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB-eZ8gQfWI&feature=em-upload_owner\n\nThe bot has also evolved to mine relevant articles across the web, not just Quartz and HPE content. The topics have widened to include energy, health care and communications. Users can now also type specific questions, a function that wasn\u2019t on the first version. The bot\u2019s new features are already accessible via Quartz\u2019s U.S. app and will be available in Europe at the start of November. Quartz worked with HPE agency DigitasLBi on the effort.\n\n\u201cThere is a lot of wasted time and effort in the current [marketing funnel] structure,\u201d said Sean Mahoney, vp group director at DigitasLBi. \u201cThe challenge we gave to Quartz was how do you target the right people, not in a shotgun-blast way but in a way that\u2019s conversational and useful.\u201d\n\nQuartz Creative had 12 people working on the bot, including developers, designers, user-experience specialists and analytics staff. \u201cThe process of creating value used to be to create the shiniest objects possible. The new model is to create something that might generate real value,\u201d said Brian Dell, director of Quartz Creative.\n\nFor Quartz, bots are another way to differentiate from run-of-the-mill ads, said Jay Lauf, publisher and president of Quartz.\n\n\u201cAdvertisers benefit because people spend more time with their messaging,\u201d he said, \u201cand from that, advertisers can learn more about their audiences because they\u2019re explicitly expressing what they\u2019re interested in, so that helps marketers deliver smarter, more relevant experiences.\u201d", "output": "Digital media company Quartz has built a chatbot linked to Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) ads that offers more context and content on the products. The Hugo bot was integrated with ads surrounding the online publisher's Machines with Brains series of articles, which focused on the interaction between humans, technology and artificial intelligence (AI). Mobile readers who clicked through to the bot could learn more about HPE technology and topics such as AI and the internet of things. Over a six week period, 117,155 messages were served and users spent an average of two minutes with the chatbot, according to Quartz.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Panasonic agrees lithium deal with Galaxy Resources \n Hot on the heels of Pilbara Minerals' deal with Chinese automaker Great Wall, Galaxy Resources has inked an agreement with Tesla battery supplier Panasonic, as first reported by Street Talk.\n\nBattery makers like Japan's Panasonic have been looking to lock in supplies of high quality lithium to ensure they have enough material to meet demand for their lithium-ion batteries, used to power electric vehicles.\n\nSources told this column managing director Anthony Tse, chairman Martin Rowley and other directors were in Japan for a signing ceremony two weeks ago. Shipping data also shows product from Mt Cattlin being shipped to Japan.\n\nA Panasonic lithium-ion flexible battery. Koji Ueda\n\nGalaxy, capitalised at $1.1 billion, is one of the few producers that hasn't locked all of its slated production into agreements with long-term customers.\n\nGalaxy currently supplies spodumene concentrate produced from its Mt Cattlin mine in Western Australia to lithium converters in China, which then make the lithium chemical used by battery manufacturers.", "output": "Galaxy Resources CEO Anthony Tse, Chairman Martin Rowley and other directors were in Japan for the signing of a lithium supply agreement with Panasonic two weeks ago, according to\u00a0unidentified people. Galaxy shares rose as much as 6.2% to highest since 13 February."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Flow-battery start-up looks to compete with fossil fuels \n That\u2019s approaching the price point where the idea of \u201cseasonal storage\u201d becomes economically feasible\u2014meaning arrays of these batteries could store enough solar power during times of excess generation through the summer to continue meeting regional demand through the long, cloudy winter, Chiang says.\n\nBaseload is housed at the Engine, MIT's new accelerator, which recently provided the company nearly $2 million in funding (see \u201cDeveloping a Tough, Time-Consuming Technology? This Investor Is Interested\u201d).\n\nBaseload isn't providing many technical details at this stage, but the key to its low cost is relying on sulfur. That's because the material is very abundant and energy-dense, Chiang says. Indeed, it's a waste product of oil and gas production that costs as little as 10 cents per kilogram.\n\n\"Based on the charge stored per dollar, sulfur was more than a factor of 10 better than the next best thing,\" says Chiang, a materials science professor who previously cofounded lithium-ion battery startups A123 Systems, 24M, and three other startups.\n\nBaseload's other cofounders include Ted Wiley, previously a vice president at Aquion Energy, as well as Marco Ferrara and Billy Woodford, both of whom previously worked with Chiang at 24M (see \u201cWhy Bad Things Happen to Clean-Energy Startups\u201d).\n\nBetter, cheaper, longer-lasting storage technologies are crucial for enabling renewable sources to meet a greater portion of energy demand, and significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions.\n\nFor all the hopeful commentary and coverage of wind and solar prices nearing parity with fossil fuels, the truth is it's an apples-to-oranges comparison. Because the sun doesn't always shine and wind doesn't always blow, those sources can't be used as reliably and flexibly as coal or natural gas unless they're backed up by fossil fuel plants, balanced out through demand-response programs or long-distance transmission lines, or paired with some form of abundant storage. The options for the latter are generally limited to cheap pumped hydroelectric storage\u2014which is tightly geographically restricted since it requires a pair of water reservoirs\u2014or batteries and similar technologies that are still too expensive, short-lived, or both.\n\nThe lithium-ion batteries that run our smartphones and electric vehicles are increasingly being used in limited ways to balance renewable generation. But many battery experts believe that their high cost and limited life cycles place hard limits on how big a role they can play on the grid.", "output": "Flow battery start-up Baseload Renewables aims to compete with fossil fuels by producing fuel cells cheaper than lithium-ion batteries. The company aims to make batteries capable of producing reliable power from renewable sources 24/7, and at a cost some five times less than where lithium-ion cells are expected to plateau. This means that seasonal storage of power throughout the summer, to meet demand through the winter, could be economically viable, according to its founder, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Yet-Ming Chiang."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "German insurtech Simplesurance plans to enter US market \n Based on the edge of Berlin\u2019s trendy Mitte district in bright, open offices, Simplesurance is yet another InsurTech startup seeking to transform insurance. It is also eyeing the U.S. for future expansion, possibly in 2018.\n\nSimplesurance began in 2012, employs more than 150 people, and its cross-selling software operates across Europe. E-commerce partners can sell insurance products by adding the option to purchase insurance for a device with just one click on the platform\u2019s shopping basket. As well, Simplesurance now offers an insurance broker app in Germany.\n\nThe firm has drawn the attention of venture investors and insurers alike. Allianz SE is a major backer.\n\nSimplesurance will cover mostly mobile electronic devices, including mobile phones, tablets, laptops and digital cameras, as well as stationary electronic devices like televisions, stereos and computers. In some countries, the company also offers bicycle, tool and pet insurance, and even warranty extensions for household appliances. When buying from a Simplesurance e-commerce partner, customers can buy insurance right at the time they purchase the device. When working through Simplesurance\u2019s own websites, customers can buy insurance at a later time.\n\nBeyond technology innovation, founder and CEO Robin von Hein, a tall, elegant 34-year-old dressed in office casual, with designer stubble and short beard, is also trying to innovate how he handles his employees.\n\nOne program,\u201dRobin4You,\u201d is an initiative the company launched to bring the CEO closer to the daily work of each company department. This involves him meeting with two employees per month, each for a two-hour sit-down to help them with their work and gain better understanding of the challenges they are facing. The company touts the program as something that gives the CEO insights for strategic decisions and, in turn, shows employees how valuable they are for the success of the company.\n\nEarlier in the summer, Carrier Management Editor Mark Hollmer submitted a series of questions to von Hein about Simplesurance. These are his edited responses.\n\nQ. What is Simplesurance, and what part of property insurance do you focus on?\n\nSimplesurance is your platform for simple access to insurance. We developed a cross-selling software solution that enables our partners in e-commerce to offer their customers [coverage plans and suites] directly at the digital point of sale with just one click. In this way, we create additional distribution channels for insurance companies.\n\nWe cooperate with traditional insurers such as Allianz, Munich Re, Assurant and others who are the risk takers of the policies, while we work along the entire supply chain, from selling insurance via our e-commerce partners to generating insurance-relevant data and handling claim processes and repair management for the customer. All these services are fully automated and digital. We have used our data to extend the customer\u2019s lifetime value and offer our customers a digital insurance manager in an app.\n\nQ. How is your business now, and in what countries do you operate?\n\nSimplesurance has been growing steadily since its founding in 2012. The cross-selling software of Simplesurance is integrated into more than 2,000 e-commerce platforms in 30 European countries. Partners are renowned national e-commerce shops as well as global players, like two of the biggest smartphone manufacturers, Huawei and OnePlus, as well as Microsoft.\n\nMoreover, Simplesurance operates its own flagship online stores in nine European countries. Just recently, in April 2017, despite the Brexit movement, Simplesurance entered the British market.\n\nIn November 2016, we also extended our core business and service to customers by launching our broker business in Germany. We cooperate with more than 250 insurance companies to provide our customers with a digital insurance manager, which allows them to upload and digitize all existing insurance policies in the app as well as compare and purchase new policies. Via in-app messaging, call or email, customers can reach their personal insurance broker.\n\nWe\u2019re based in Berlin, the melting pot of young business and technological expertise. More than 150 employees from 30 nations work together to change the way customers see and buy insurance products in the digital age.\n\nA recent funding in March 2017 showed the emerging relevance of Simplesurance. With more than 30 million euro ($25.5 million), Simplesurance belongs to the 15 best-funded InsurTech companies in the world. Allianz SE, Route 66, Rheingau Founders and Rakuten Fintech Fund have invested in Simplesurance. The international investors also reflect our globally strong position.\n\nQ. Who are your competitors?\n\nOffline cross-selling has been a standard business strategy for many years, but developing a technology that works with every electronic/digital shop system has been challenging for us and completely new to the market. Since the launch of our broker business, our competitors are other digital insurance applications.\n\nBut we have a significant benefit compared to other brokers. We offer our application to our existing customer base from our cross-selling. By targeting the customer in the e-commerce, we have no customer acquisition cost as we don\u2019t need to use advertising channels, such as Google Adwords, for example. Thus, we can reach our customers at no additional costs.\n\nQ. Do you have plans to expand to the United States? If so, when?\n\nWe are continuously working on our internationalization. Expanding to the U.S. is one of our goals for the next year. Since 2015, we [have been] operating in the United States through a SaaS (Software as a Service) contract with Assurant, [which] uses our technology to sell product insurance.\n\nQ. Where do you hope to be in five years in terms of size, growth and mission?\n\nSimplesurance is steadily growing and looking into new markets. The United States with Assurant as well as Asia with Rakuten are interesting markets for us to enter and to launch our products. We also develop new products with our insurance partners and are always looking for new niches. In five years, we will hopefully be able to cover the majority of the e-commerce with our cross-selling solution. Our mission is to become the world\u2019s leading provider for product insurances.", "output": "German insurtech start-up Simplesurance has said it plans to expand into the US next year. The firm already operates in 30 European countries, including the UK. The Simplesurance platform provides easy access to insurance for gadgets such as mobile phones, tablets and digital cameras. The firm's services allow online retailers to offer policies at the point of purchase, greatly simplifying the process for consumers and broadening distribution options for insurers."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US wind turbine prices plummet below $1m per MW \n This article first appeared on the BNEF mobile app and the Bloomberg Terminal.\n\nPrice falls well below $1 million per megawatt\n\nLooming end of tax credit beckons turbine-maker competition\n\nUnited States and global wind turbine prices by delivery date\n\nNote: Price of contract is calculated on day of signing and quoted by date of delivery. Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance\n\nThe price for U.S. wind turbines delivered in 2H 2017 dropped to $0.83 million per megawatt, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance\u2019s Wind Turbine Pricing Index \u2013 well below the global average price of $0.99 million per megawatt. Fierce price competition between turbine manufacturers to secure as much of a surge in 2016 orders drove the rapid U.S. pricing plunge. The 11 gigawatt surge in 2016 turbine and equipment orders \u2013 delivered at most 3.5 months after 2016 \u2013 was a direct result of developers rushing to qualify as many projects possible for the final round of 100 percent of U.S. wind\u2019s main federal subsidy.\n\nClients can access the full report here.\n\nBNEF Shorts are research excerpts available only on the BNEF mobile app and the Bloomberg Terminal, highlighting key findings from our reports. If you would like to learn more about our services, please contact us.", "output": "The price for US wind turbines delivered in H2 2017 has reached a low of $830,000\u00a0per MW. The price is significantly below the global average for wind energy of $990,000\u00a0per MW. The fall is on the back of fierce competition as developers rushed\u00a0to qualify projects for the final round of a\u00a0federal subsidy programme, which\u00a0led to\u00a0an\u00a011 GW increase in orders in late 2016.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Catholic church to launch record fossil fuel divestment action \n More than 40 Catholic institutions are to announce the largest ever faith-based divestment from fossil fuels, on the anniversary of the death of St Francis of Assisi.\n\nThe sum involved has not been disclosed but the volume of divesting groups is four times higher than a previous church record, and adds to a global divestment movement, led by investors worth $5.5tn.\n\nChristiana Figueres, the former UN climate chief who helped negotiate the Paris climate agreement, hailed Tuesday\u2019s move as \u201ca further sign we are on the way to achieving our collective mission\u201d.\n\nShe said: \u201cI hope we will see more leaders like these 40 Catholic institutions commit, because while this decision makes smart financial sense, acting collectively to deliver a better future for everybody is also our moral imperative.\u201d\n\nChurch institutions joining the action include the Archdiocese of Cape Town, the Episcopal Conference of Belgium and the diocese of Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino, the spiritual home of the world\u2019s Franciscan brothers.\n\n\n\nA spokesman for the \u20ac4.5bn German Church bank and Catholic relief organisation Caritas said that it was committing to divest from coal, tar sands and shale oil.\n\nIn a symbolically charged move, the Italian town of Assisi will also shed all oil, coal and gas holdings the day before a visit by the Italian prime minister, Paolo Gentiloni, to mark St Francis\u2019s feast day.\n\nAssisi\u2019s mayor, Stefania Proietti \u2013 a former climate mitigation professor \u2013 told the Guardian: \u201cWhen we pay attention to the environment, we pay attention to poor people, who are the first victims of climate change.\n\n\u201cWhen we invest in fossil fuels, we stray very far from social justice. But when we disinvest and invest in renewable and energy efficiency instead, we can mitigate climate change, create a sustainable new economic deal and, most importantly, help the poor.\u201d\n\nThe origins of the latest church action lie in last year\u2019s climate encyclical by Pope Francis \u2013 himself named after St Francis of Assisi \u2013 although the project was advanced by the Global Catholic Climate Movement.", "output": "Over 40 Catholic institutions are to launch the largest ever faith-based fossil fuel divestment on the anniversary of St. Francis of Assisi\u2019s death. Although exact sums have not been revealed, the volume of groups involved is four times greater than the previous church record. Institutions involved in the action include the Archdiocese of Cape Town, the Episcopal Conference of Belgium and the diocese of Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino. The move will boost a global divestment movement headed by investors worth $5.5tn. The \u20ac4.5bn German Church bank and Catholic relief organisation Caritas also pledged to divest from coal, tar sands and shale oil."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mobile payments to trump debit cards in e-commerce by 2019: UN \n Electronic payment options on offer at a seafood market in Beijing. A report by the UN\u2019s trade and development body sees e-payment overtaking credit cards as the most popular way to pay in e-commerce by 2019. Photo: EPA", "output": "Digital payments are set to overtake the use of credit and debit cards as people's preferred method of making e-commerce transactions, according to a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The body cited figures from payment company Worldpay showing credit and debit cards\u00a0falling in online use from 51% of all transactions three years ago to 46% by 2019, with mobile, online and digital currency payments becoming the majority for the first time. UNCTAD's figures back up other reports that have found increasing numbers of customers are using electronic payments for transactions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US community health centres at risk from lack of funding \n BOSTON \u2014 Massachusetts officials are sounding the alarm over a possible loss of federal money for certain health care programs, and advocates said its impact has already hit community health centers.\n\nWhile public attention has been focused on the fate of the Affordable Care Act, Congress last week quietly missed a funding reauthorization deadline leaving $3.6 billion hanging in the balance across the country, including $196 million for community health centers in Massachusetts.\n\n\u201cIf in fact it is not ever reauthorized, it is catastrophic,\u201d Eliza Lake, CEO of Hilltown Community Health Center in Worthington, told the Health Policy Commission Monday at a hearing exploring trends in state health care spending. \u201cIt is, for my health center, about one-sixth of our budget, maybe a little more, and so we rely upon that as part of our federal mandate to serve everyone who comes in our doors.\u201d\n\nHealth center officials locally spent last week pressing Congress to act by the Saturday, Sept. 30 deadline. No action was taken, but the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, chaired by Rep. Greg Walden (R-Oregon), announced plans to consider a bill this week that would extend federal funding for the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), community health centers, diabetes programs, the National Health Service Corps, and Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education.\n\n\u201cCHIP, now in its 20th year, has always been bipartisan and we hope this extension will be no different,\u201d Walden said. \u201cThese public health programs play a critical role in communities across the country. It\u2019s imperative we finish our work quickly so these vital services continue to be available for those who rely on them.\u201d\n\nHealth centers in Massachusetts and across the country are already feeling impacts from the uncertainty around future funding, according to the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, which cited reports of community health centers instituting hiring freezes, struggling to recruit or retain providers, and beig unable to secure loans to expand capacity.\n\n\u201cEven the uncertainty of a fix is creating business disruptions for Massachusetts health centers, including hiring freezes and unplanned delays in expansion projects to add needed services and new sites,\u201d James Hunt, the league\u2019s president and CEO, said in a statement last week. \u201cIn one case, a health center has delayed plans to hire more care management staff, effectively preventing its Accountable Care Organization from fully implementing its goals to improve care outcomes and lower costs.\u201d\n\nLake, whose health center has locations in Worthington and Huntington, said there is a history of bipartisan support for community health centers. She said she hopes Congress \u201cwill rally through the distractions at the moment\u201d to reauthorize the funds.\n\nHilltown\u2019s federal grant runs through May, Lake said, leaving the health center \u201csort of holding tight in this storm of uncertainty that surrounds all of us right now.\u201d\n\nAccording to the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, federal funds represent an average 11 percent of a health center\u2019s budget and allow them to expand capacity through new personnel, services and physical space.\n\nSpeaking to reporters Monday, Gov. Charlie Baker said community health centers and the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program are programs that people \u201creally depend on.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe CHIP program, which has been really important to Massachusetts - and we were one of the first states to adopt it and chase it hard \u2014 has not been reauthorized. ...That worries me,\u201d Baker said after speaking at the health costs hearing. \u201cAnd they also did not reauthorize the community health center program. So while a lack of action on some of the issues around ACA reform may have been good news, there\u2019s a whole bunch of other things where a lack of action creates real issues for everybody and in a very immediate term.\u201d", "output": "The US Congress has missed the deadline for reauthorising funding to community healthcare centres across the country, leaving the fate of such establishments\u00a0hanging in the balance, according to reports. While the deadline was missed, a bill prolonging the funding of such centres is due to be considered in the House of Representatives later this week.\u00a0\u201cThese public health programs play a critical role in communities across the country. It\u2019s imperative we finish our work quickly so these vital services continue to be available for those who rely on them\u201d, said Oregon Representative Greg Walden.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ryanair pilots investigated by HMRC over employment arrangements \n Ryanair pilots are being investigated by HM Revenue & Customs over complex employment structures imposed on them by the no-frills airline.\n\nSeveral experienced pilots told the Guardian that they have faced tax investigations relating to the way in which they are employed by Ryanair. Europe\u2019s busiest airline is already grappling with a PR disaster caused by errors in how pilots are rostered for work \u2013 leading to the cancellation of tens of thousands of flights through to March next year, which has disrupted the travel plans of 700,000 passengers.\n\nRyanair has also clashed with its pilots over their working conditions, with many complaining about the same contract arrangements that have piqued HMRC\u2019s interest.\n\nThe tax authority\u2019s focus on individual pilots emerged two years after it launched an investigation into Ryanair\u2019s use of agencies such as Brookfield Aviation to provide about half of its 4,200 pilots.\n\n\n\nThose who apply to join Ryanair are told to set up an Irish limited company and are made directors of it, under the guidance of accountants recommended by the airline. That company then supplies pilots to one of several agencies, including Brookfield Aviation and McGinley Aviation, who in turn supply them to Ryanair.\n\n\n\nThe system limits Ryanair\u2019s obligations to the pilots, such as sick pay \u2013 among the factors that allows the Dublin-based carrier to keep its costs low. But the use of Irish limited companies to employ pilots based in the UK has led to pilots with limited experience of the tax obligations of a limited company falling foul of its fraud investigators.\n\nOne UK-based pilot said he has been under investigation since February 2015, and is being questioned by HMRC about an employment structure he had no choice but to use.\n\n\u201cWhen I started employment, I had to set up a limited company in Ireland with two other pilots who I knew from training and were employed by Ryanair at the same time. We had to go to Ireland, meet their accountant and set up a company.\u201d\n\nHe said his lack of experience of acting as a company director meant he left tax affairs to the accountant recommended by Ryanair, but has still been hit with a two-year investigation.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019re sitting there waiting for the brown envelope to hit the doormat,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m no tax expert and I thought I was doing everything correctly. Now I\u2019ve had to send my logbook off, which is priceless to me.\u201d\n\nA former colleague, who used to train pilots for Ryanair, said: \u201cThe public should be aware that some of the pilots flying the planes are stressed because of the way they operate.\n\n\u201cYou have HMRC hounding people who have been pulled into this system that is run by Ryanair.\u201d\n\nA third pilot, who is under investigation for non-payment of taxes over five years, said HMRC told him tax on his earnings should have been paid in the UK, even though he was employed by an Irish limited company.\n\nHe said he had been given \u201cno control over the governance of the way [tax] was being paid\u201d.\n\nAccording to one letter sent to him by HMRC and seen by the Guardian, the tax authority conceded that he had not \u201cengineered\u201d the complex structure and was simply trying to gain employment.\n\n\u201cYou speak to some of the people affected by this and they\u2019re broken men,\u201d he added.\n\nAnother pilot showed the Guardian a document in which the agency he worked for told him sign a disclaimer to say he was not an employee of the company but of his own Irish limited company.\n\nHe said this structure ultimately led HMRC to look into his tax affairs, causing him undue anxiety.\n\n\u201cIt was one of my main reasons for leaving. I was sick of always being worried if I was paying tax correctly,\u201d he said.\n\nAnd he warned that pilots from other countries are also facing investigations by their domestic authorities.\n\n\u201cI flew with one guy who had to sell his house and car because he\u2019d been landed with a tax bill of \u20ac40,000,\u201d he said. \u201cHe hadn\u2019t been fiddling it on purpose but he\u2019d just got it wrong.\u201d\n\nA fifth pilot said British pilots were now worried about their homes being raided, pointing to action taken by Germany tax authorities last year over pilots employed by Brookfield Aviation.\n\n\u201cImagine doing this job when you are constantly worrying about whether what you are doing tax-wise is legal, simply because you are not given any other option by your own employer,\u201d he said.\n\nAll of the pilots interviewed also warned that the use of self-employed contracts, which do not entitle them to sick pay, meant some were turning up to work even if they were ill.\n\nHMRC said: \u201cWe don\u2019t comment on identifiable individuals or organisations.\u201d\n\nRyanair said: \u201cWe do not comment on rumour or speculation.\u201d", "output": "Ryanair pilots are facing investigation by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in relation to employment structures imposed on them by the airline. Those applying to join the airline are instructed to set up an Irish limited company. That company then supplies pilots to agencies, which subsequently supply them to Ryanair. The arrangement enables Ryanair to limit its obligations to pilots, for instance in relation to sick pay, but has caused some pilots to experience difficulties with fraud investigators. Ryanair is currently facing criticism for cancelling tens of thousands of flights due to errors in rostering pilot shifts."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Kahoot! signals monitisation shift with premium corporate service \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nKahoot, an online learning platform that lets teachers create and tailor quizzes for their classes, has announced its first shift into monetization with the launch of a new premium version of the service.\n\nWith Kahoot Plus, the Norwegian startup is targeting companies with a product geared toward corporate training initiatives. Kahoot Plus subscribers will be given more flexibility over where the games are shared, as they can be confined to an organization\u2019s own private area and can also be branded with a company\u2019s own logo. Trainers can access advanced reports and data on game results down to the employee level, revealing who\u2019s up to speed and what areas may need improvement.\n\nThe story so far\n\nFounded out of Oslo in 2011, Kahoot encourages teachers to play quizmaster with their classes by creating and projecting quizzes onto a whiteboard. Students can then answer multiple-choice questions on whatever topic the teacher has chosen directly from their own device. There is also a public library of more than 20 million existing quizzes that anyone can access.\n\nKahoot has struck a chord in classrooms around the world, and it now claims more than 50 million monthly active users and is taking the U.S. by storm. Today\u2019s premium launch comes just a few months after Kahoot closed a $20 million funding round, with Microsoft Ventures participating in the round.\n\nSo far, Kahoot has offered its platform and resources to educators gratis, but it goes without saying that the company had to consider how to make money at some point. This is where Kahoot Plus comes into play.\n\nCorporate training is reportedly a $130 billion market globally, and Kahoot is going after its piece of the pie by offering to inject a little \u201cfun and engagement\u201d into training programs.\n\nIt\u2019s worth noting here that Kahoot already claims corporate customers \u2014 the company said more than one million employees use Kahoot for training purposes each month, \u201cincluding at 25 percent of the Fortune 500 companies,\u201d according to a statement issued by the startup. But now it\u2019s looking to cater specifically to corporate educators, marketers, and sales teams with a more \u201cprivate, organized, collaborative, and company-branded experience,\u201d it said.\n\n\u201cBillions of dollars and millions of hours are wasted on ineffective corporate training every year,\u201d noted Kahoot CEO Erik Harrell. \u201cAll of us have suffered through dull presentation decks and boring training sessions. We believe training should not only be useful, but also fun, memorable, inspiring and even magical. A half million corporate trainers are already using the Kahoot platform and have continually asked us to provide premium features.\u201d\n\nIn terms of cost, Kahoot Plus weighs in at an introductory price of $10 per user per month, with an unlimited number of participants on an annual subscription. Those wishing to sign a month-to-month subscription will pay $15 per user per month. The company hasn\u2019t revealed what its full pricing will be after the introductory offer has expired, but we\u2019ll update here if or when we hear back.\n\n\u201cThis is Kahoot\u2019s first move to commercialize the company in a scalable way,\u201d added Harrell. \u201cWe have 12 paying pilot customers for this product, which has helped us validate pricing and reception to Kahoot Plus\u2019 premium features.\u201d\n\nImportantly, charging businesses for a premium plan means that Kahoot intends to keep the standard version free for schools.", "output": "Norwegian start-up Kahoot! has launched a premium version of its learning platform for corporate training, signalling a shift towards monetisation. Kahoot! allows teachers to build custom quizzes for their students. Its latest offering, Kahoot! Plus, is targeted at business training schemes, and lets users brand games with the company's logo, as well as giving them more control over where the games are shared. Trainers can also access data on games results, allowing for greater analysis of results."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook favours advertisers' flexibility over one-size-fits-all \n Facebook has said it is committed to offering advertisers flexibility when it comes to video viewability metrics, arguing this is more valuable to brands than a one-size-fits-all currency.\n\nSpeaking at Facebook\u2019s IAB Upfronts event on Monday (2 October) the social network\u2019s head of communications planning, Ian Edwards also reiterated to advertisers that video on Facebook should be seen as something that works in \"synergy\" with TV campaigns, not as a direct competitor.\n\nVideo is the single biggest consumer trend Facebook is seeing on its platform since the shift to mobile, said Edwards. Who added that Facebook is currently seeing over 100m hours of video being watched every day on its platform, and predicting that 75% of all mobile data traffic will be video by 2020.\n\n\u201cOur philosophy with video is the fact that there are 2 billion plus smartphones in the world means that there are 2 billion creators.\"\n\nIt\u2019s why Facebook recently rolled out a TV-like platform, Watch, which solidified its efforts to move into the original content production space, and why it\u2019s been striking deals with sports rights holders and broadcasters to keep eyeballs on its platform and take advantage of the lucrative advertising opportunities afforded by video.\n\nThe social network also unveiled an open source camera platform similar to that of Snapchat's at its F8 conference this year to advance its skills in augmented reality, and has seen a three-times increase in the amount of video that is captured and shared on that platform, Edwards said.\n\nThere's no such thing as a common currency\n\nThe rise of video also brings with it a debate around viewability standards, which Facebook has found itself in the centre of after admitting last year it had been inflating video views, forcing the social platform to bolster its third-party measurement partnerships - which now includes 24 partners.\n\nEdwards said there are elements of viewability that Facebook \u201ctotally agrees\u201d with the industry on, including the need for video to be fully viewable on screen and viewed by humans rather than bots - claiming that over 99.3% of ads served on Facebook adhere to these standards.\n\nWhere it believes the industry needs to have a debate is around what counts as a view. Earlier in the year, P&G\u2019s chief brand officer Marc Pritchard said the FMCG giant only wanted to trade on the MRC standard for video that is two-seconds with 50% of the pixels in view.\n\nHowever, Edwards believes that while that standard might drive value to their business, it wouldn\u2019t necessarily be the right currency for a luxury brand like Chanel, for example, where the premium to get someone to watch for 10-seconds may be worth paying. On the flipside, direct response advertisers \u201cbuy as cheap as they possibly can\u201d on an impression basis, and don\u2019t care about view duration but about business outcome, the executive added.\n\nInstead, he believes it is \u201ccrucial\u201d to give advertisers the flexibility to trade and buy video on the platform \u201cin the way that delivers value to their business\u201d, rather than create one trading currency.\n\n\u201cAs you put constraints into viewability and view duration your price will rise. The longer someone views the more expensive that view will be. We are committed to giving advertisers the flexibility to buy durations that matter to them,\u201d he said.\n\nWhat\u2019s more, Facebook data shows that there is an almost perfect correlation between age and scroll speed - as its users get older, their scroll speed slows down. This means view duration will bias your audiences towards older audiences, Edwards said.\n\nHe also gave an example of a campaign that used an ad pinned to the right-hand side of the desktop app that was in full view as users scrolled through, and the same campaign that was inserted in the mobile news feed that was in view for 2-3 seconds. The mobile ad in news feed delivered 200X more clicks than the ad that was pinned to the right hand side.\n\n\u201cWhat we need to do is start to recognise view duration as a metric, not an objective,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cWhen an objective becomes a measurement is stops being a good objective. View duration in isolation is not necessarily a great predictor of business outcomes.\u201d\n\nBetter together\n\nWhile the use of video has been increasing, so has the knowledge gap for marketers when it comes to planning video campaigns on different platforms.\n\n\u201cWe also know that as an industry it creates a lot of confusion,\u201d Edwards said, addressing a room of advertisers and agencies at Facebook\u2019s IAB Digital Upfronts session yesterday (2 October).\n\n\u201cThe term video and the way it is used is actually quite misleading,\u201d he said. \u201cVideo is used as a catch-all term - we talk about video on Facebook, Instagram, TV, cinema, digital panels. They represent incredibly different things.\u201d\n\nAs marketers prepare for the holiday season - and the opportunities to drive spend at key retail dates like Black Friday - Edwards wanted to set the record straight on where Facebook sits in the video ecosystem.\n\n\u201cI want to put [to rest] this idea that video on Facebook is anything like video on TV - it is not. Facebook is not 'Channel 6', it is a different media channel entirely, and we have to think about how we use video on Facebook to fit within the context of that platform. It is not enough just to put your videos on Facebook for them to work and be effective,\u201d he said.\n\nSince it first started contemplating a standalone video product for its platform last year, Facebook has been looking to prove to broadcasters it wants to share rather than steal media budgets, with Nicola Mendelsohn likening the two to \u201creally happy bedfellows\u201d.\n\nIt stepped up this pitch yesterday by highlighting to advertisers how adding Facebook to a TV campaign can boost incremental reach by 16.1%, according to data from Nielsen Total Ad Ratings.\n\nKantar Worldpanel also showed that TV and Facebook produced a greater likelihood to purchase when delivered together; on their own TV\u2019s derived likelihood to purchase is 8%, while Facebook\u2019s is 13%. Together they represent a 29% likelihood in driving purchase.\n\nEdwards called this a \u201csynergistical multiplier effect\u201d.", "output": "Facebook has argued that flexibility in video viewability metrics is more important to advertisers than a one-size-fits-all standard. Speaking at its IAB Upfronts event in London this week, its\u00a0head of communication planning, Ian Edwards, said Facebook \"totally agrees\" with certain industry-backed standards, such the MRC viewability measure\u00a0of two seconds with 50% of pixels in view. But he argued that some brands buy as cheaply as possible on an impression basis\u00a0and care about business outcome\u00a0rather than view duration. It is vital to give brands flexibility to buy video in a way that \"delivers value to their business\", he added.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Texo unveils world's first ultrasonic thickness integrated UAV system \n Texo Drone Survey and Inspection (UKCS), the dedicated Oil & Gas services division of Texo DSI - owner-operator of the world\u2019s most comprehensive and dynamic fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles is pleased to announce the deployment of the world\u2019s first UT (Ultrasonic Thickness Testing) integrated UAV system.\n\nThe system has been designed to undertake a wide range of thickness measurement applications and is able to ascertain precise measurements on both flat and curved surfaces.\n\nThis UAV integrated UT payload has been deployed across a wide range of sectors, including both offshore and onshore wind turbine structures, telecoms and maritime assets.\n\nWith the ability to indicate, via a unique spot identification system, all UT missions are precise in acquisition and instantaneous in capture and delivery.\n\nAll UT UAV operations are overseen by Texo\u2019s accredited and certificated NDT payload technicians, ensuring accurate data set capture and validation of acquired measurements.\n\nInspection data is combined with a precise photogrammetric visual overlay of the completed survey, pinpointing exact measurement locations on the structure/surface to an accuracy of sub 10 mm - therefore providing clients with verified inspection data.\n\nJohn Wood, Chief Operations Officer, Texo Drone Survey and Inspection Ltd said: \u201cThis is a major development in the field of inspection engineering. Client feedback has been indicating that this is an area of huge demand and we have worked tirelessly to bring this to the market.\u201d\n\nJohn added: \u201cWe offer an enhanced UT thickness measurement service to our clients, combined with increased safety to personnel and efficiency of data delivery. Like all our class-leading payloads, they are safer than traditional rope access and scaffolding methods and data acquisition can be twenty times faster than by traditional methods \u2013 representing significant efficiencies for clients.\u201d", "output": "Texo DSI has revealed the world's first ultrasonic thickness (UT) integrated unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system. The system can produce a range of thickness measurements, on both flat and curved surfaces, and has been used in a range of sectors, including offshore and onshore wind turbines and maritime assets. Measurements are overseen by Texo's accredited technicians, ensuring accurate data sets are captured."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gene therapy may offer cure for end-stage retinal degeneration \n Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nVoices Dispatches email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nThe most common form of blindness in young people could be at least partially cured using gene therapy, a new study in mice suggests.\n\nResearchers managed to restore sight to mice affected by retinitis pigmentosa after reprogramming their remaining retinal nerve cells.\n\nThese were not light-sensitive but were altered by the technique to give the mice a degree of vision.\n\nA separate study, also in mice, found gene editing could be used to stop the progress of glaucoma and the scientists said the same technique might work in humans.\n\nOne of the researchers in the retinitis pigmentosa study, Dr Samantha de Silva, of Oxford University, expressed optimism about the implications of their work.\n\n\u201cThere are many blind patients in our clinics and the ability to give them some sight back with a relatively simple genetic procedure is very exciting,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cOur next step will be to start a clinical trial to assess this in patients.\u201d\n\nA paper in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) said the results of the mice trials \u201csuggest that this approach may be clinically useful in vision restoration in patients with end-stage\u201d retinitis pigmentosa.\n\n\u201cWe demonstrate ... restoration of visual function, indicating that this therapy could be stable and efficacious in the treatment of patients with end-stage retinal degenerations,\u201d it added.\n\nHealth news in pictures Show all 40 1 / 40 Health news in pictures Health news in pictures Coronavirus outbreak The coronavirus Covid-19 has hit the UK leading to the deaths of two people so far and prompting warnings from the Department of Health AFP via Getty Health news in pictures Thousands of emergency patients told to take taxi to hospital Thousands of 999 patients in England are being told to get a taxi to hospital, figures have showed. The number of patients outside London who were refused an ambulance rose by 83 per cent in the past year as demand for services grows Getty Health news in pictures Vape related deaths spike A vaping-related lung disease has claimed the lives of 11 people in the US in recent weeks. The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has more than 100 officials investigating the cause of the mystery illness, and has warned citizens against smoking e-cigarette products until more is known, particularly if modified or bought \u201coff the street\u201d Getty Health news in pictures Baldness cure looks to be a step closer Researchers in the US claim to have overcome one of the major hurdles to cultivating human follicles from stem cells. The new system allows cells to grow in a structured tuft and emerge from the skin Sanford Burnham Preybs Health news in pictures Two hours a week spent in nature can improve health A study in the journal Scientific Reports suggests that a dose of nature of just two hours a week is associated with better health and psychological wellbeing Shutterstock Health news in pictures Air pollution linked to fertility issues in women Exposure to air from traffic-clogged streets could leave women with fewer years to have children, a study has found. Italian researchers found women living in the most polluted areas were three times more likely to show signs they were running low on eggs than those who lived in cleaner surroundings, potentially triggering an earlier menopause Getty/iStock Health news in pictures Junk food ads could be banned before watershed Junk food adverts on TV and online could be banned before 9pm as part of Government plans to fight the \"epidemic\" of childhood obesity. Plans for the new watershed have been put out for public consultation in a bid to combat the growing crisis, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said PA Health news in pictures Breeding with neanderthals helped humans fight diseases On migrating from Africa around 70,000 years ago, humans bumped into the neanderthals of Eurasia. While humans were weak to the diseases of the new lands, breeding with the resident neanderthals made for a better equipped immune system PA Health news in pictures Cancer breath test to be trialled in Britain The breath biopsy device is designed to detect cancer hallmarks in molecules exhaled by patients Getty Health news in pictures Average 10 year old has consumed the recommended amount of sugar for an adult By their 10th birthdy, children have on average already eaten more sugar than the recommended amount for an 18 year old. The average 10 year old consumes the equivalent to 13 sugar cubes a day, 8 more than is recommended PA Health news in pictures Child health experts advise switching off screens an hour before bed While there is not enough evidence of harm to recommend UK-wide limits on screen use, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health have advised that children should avoid screens for an hour before bed time to avoid disrupting their sleep Getty Health news in pictures Daily aspirin is unnecessary for older people in good health, study finds A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that many elderly people are taking daily aspirin to little or no avail Getty Health news in pictures Vaping could lead to cancer, US study finds A study by the University of Minnesota's Masonic Cancer Centre has found that the carcinogenic chemicals formaldehyde, acrolein, and methylglyoxal are present in the saliva of E-cigarette users Reuters Health news in pictures More children are obese and diabetic There has been a 41% increase in children with type 2 diabetes since 2014, the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit has found. Obesity is a leading cause Reuters Health news in pictures Most child antidepressants are ineffective and can lead to suicidal thoughts The majority of antidepressants are ineffective and may be unsafe, for children and teenager with major depression, experts have warned. In what is the most comprehensive comparison of 14 commonly prescribed antidepressant drugs to date, researchers found that only one brand was more effective at relieving symptoms of depression than a placebo. Another popular drug, venlafaxine, was shown increase the risk users engaging in suicidal thoughts and attempts at suicide Getty Health news in pictures Gay, lesbian and bisexual adults at higher risk of heart disease, study claims Researchers at the Baptist Health South Florida Clinic in Miami focused on seven areas of controllable heart health and found these minority groups were particularly likely to be smokers and to have poorly controlled blood sugar iStock Health news in pictures Breakfast cereals targeted at children contain 'steadily high' sugar levels since 1992 despite producer claims A major pressure group has issued a fresh warning about perilously high amounts of sugar in breakfast cereals, specifically those designed for children, and has said that levels have barely been cut at all in the last two and a half decades Getty Health news in pictures Potholes are making us fat, NHS watchdog warns New guidance by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the body which determines what treatment the NHS should fund, said lax road repairs and car-dominated streets were contributing to the obesity epidemic by preventing members of the public from keeping active PA Health news in pictures New menopause drugs offer women relief from 'debilitating' hot flushes A new class of treatments for women going through the menopause is able to reduce numbers of debilitating hot flushes by as much as three quarters in a matter of days, a trial has found. The drug used in the trial belongs to a group known as NKB antagonists (blockers), which were developed as a treatment for schizophrenia but have been \u201csitting on a shelf unused\u201d, according to Professor Waljit Dhillo, a professor of endocrinology and metabolism REX Health news in pictures Doctors should prescribe more antidepressants for people with mental health problems, study finds Research from Oxford University found that more than one million extra people suffering from mental health problems would benefit from being prescribed drugs and criticised \u201cideological\u201d reasons doctors use to avoid doing so. Getty Health news in pictures Student dies of flu after NHS advice to stay at home and avoid A&E The family of a teenager who died from flu has urged people not to delay going to A&E if they are worried about their symptoms. Melissa Whiteley, an 18-year-old engineering student from Hanford in Stoke-on-Trent, fell ill at Christmas and died in hospital a month later. Just Giving Health news in pictures Government to review thousands of harmful vaginal mesh implants The Government has pledged to review tens of thousands of cases where women have been given harmful vaginal mesh implants. Getty Health news in pictures Jeremy Hunt announces 'zero suicides ambition' for the NHS The NHS will be asked to go further to prevent the deaths of patients in its care as part of a \u201czero suicide ambition\u201d being launched today Getty Health news in pictures Human trials start with cancer treatment that primes immune system to kill off tumours Human trials have begun with a new cancer therapy that can prime the immune system to eradicate tumours. The treatment, that works similarly to a vaccine, is a combination of two existing drugs, of which tiny amounts are injected into the solid bulk of a tumour. Nephron Health news in pictures Babies' health suffers from being born near fracking sites, finds major study Mothers living within a kilometre of a fracking site were 25 per cent more likely to have a child born at low birth weight, which increase their chances of asthma, ADHD and other issues Getty Health news in pictures NHS reviewing thousands of cervical cancer smear tests after women wrongly given all-clear Thousands of cervical cancer screening results are under review after failings at a laboratory meant some women were incorrectly given the all-clear. A number of women have already been told to contact their doctors following the identification of \u201cprocedural issues\u201d in the service provided by Pathology First Laboratory. Rex Health news in pictures Potential key to halting breast cancer's spread discovered by scientists Most breast cancer patients do not die from their initial tumour, but from secondary malignant growths (metastases), where cancer cells are able to enter the blood and survive to invade new sites. Asparagine, a molecule named after asparagus where it was first identified in high quantities, has now been shown to be an essential ingredient for tumour cells to gain these migratory properties. Getty Health news in pictures NHS nursing vacancies at record high with more than 34,000 roles advertised A record number of nursing and midwifery positions are currently being advertised by the NHS, with more than 34,000 positions currently vacant, according to the latest data. Demand for nurses was 19 per cent higher between July and September 2017 than the same period two years ago. REX Health news in pictures Cannabis extract could provide \u2018new class of treatment\u2019 for psychosis CBD has a broadly opposite effect to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active component in cannabis and the substance that causes paranoia and anxiety. Getty Health news in pictures Over 75,000 sign petition calling for Richard Branson's Virgin Care to hand settlement money back to NHS Mr Branson\u2019s company sued the NHS last year after it lost out on an \u00a382m contract to provide children\u2019s health services across Surrey, citing concerns over \u201cserious flaws\u201d in the way the contract was awarded PA Health news in pictures More than 700 fewer nurses training in England in first year after NHS bursary scrapped The numbers of people accepted to study nursing in England fell 3 per cent in 2017, while the numbers accepted in Wales and Scotland, where the bursaries were kept, increased 8.4 per cent and 8 per cent respectively Getty Health news in pictures Landmark study links Tory austerity to 120,000 deaths The paper found that there were 45,000 more deaths in the first four years of Tory-led efficiencies than would have been expected if funding had stayed at pre-election levels. On this trajectory that could rise to nearly 200,000 excess deaths by the end of 2020, even with the extra funding that has been earmarked for public sector services this year. Reuters Health news in pictures Long commutes carry health risks Hours of commuting may be mind-numbingly dull, but new research shows that it might also be having an adverse effect on both your health and performance at work. Longer commutes also appear to have a significant impact on mental wellbeing, with those commuting longer 33 per cent more likely to suffer from depression Shutterstock Health news in pictures You cannot be fit and fat It is not possible to be overweight and healthy, a major new study has concluded. The study of 3.5 million Britons found that even \u201cmetabolically healthy\u201d obese people are still at a higher risk of heart disease or a stroke than those with a normal weight range Getty Health news in pictures Sleep deprivation When you feel particularly exhausted, it can definitely feel like you are also lacking in brain capacity. Now, a new study has suggested this could be because chronic sleep deprivation can actually cause the brain to eat itself Shutterstock Health news in pictures Exercise classes offering 45 minute naps launch David Lloyd Gyms have launched a new health and fitness class which is essentially a bunch of people taking a nap for 45 minutes. The fitness group was spurred to launch the \u2018napercise\u2019 class after research revealed 86 per cent of parents said they were fatigued. The class is therefore predominantly aimed at parents but you actually do not have to have children to take part Getty Health news in pictures 'Fundamental right to health' to be axed after Brexit, lawyers warn Tobacco and alcohol companies could win more easily in court cases such as the recent battle over plain cigarette packaging if the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is abandoned, a barrister and public health professor have said Getty Health news in pictures 'Thousands dying' due to fear over non-existent statin side-effects A major new study into the side effects of the cholesterol-lowering medicine suggests common symptoms such as muscle pain and weakness are not caused by the drugs themselves Getty Health news in pictures Babies born to fathers aged under 25 have higher risk of autism New research has found that babies born to fathers under the age of 25 or over 51 are at higher risk of developing autism and other social disorders. The study, conducted by the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai, found that these children are actually more advanced than their peers as infants, but then fall behind by the time they hit their teenage years Getty Health news in pictures Cycling to work \u2018could halve risk of cancer and heart disease\u2019 Commuters who swap their car or bus pass for a bike could cut their risk of developing heart disease and cancer by almost half, new research suggests \u2013 but campaigners have warned there is still an \u201curgent need\u201d to improve road conditions for cyclists. Cycling to work is linked to a lower risk of developing cancer by 45 per cent and cardiovascular disease by 46 per cent, according to a study of a quarter of a million people. Walking to work also brought health benefits, the University of Glasgow researchers found, but not to the same degree as cycling. Getty\n\nA number of tests were used to work out how much vision had been restored to the mice, including \u201clight avoidance\u201d.\n\n\u201cWild-type animals with functional rods and cones [eyes] show aversion to bright light,\u201d the paper said.\n\n\u201cTreated mice spent less time in the bright chamber compared with control mice, which showed an apparent preference for the bright chamber.\n\n\u201cThis may be due to an inability of control mice to detect the difference in brightness between the two chambers resulting in exploration being guided primarily by nonvisual cues, for example, subtle differences in temperature, auditory, or olfactory cues.\u201d\n\nProfessor Alan Boyd, president of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine in the UK, said the use of gene therapy to treat blindness had seen \u201csignificant success in recent years\u201d.\n\nHe said a US company, Spark Therapeutics, had already applied for its gene therapy technique to be approved to treat children\u2019s eye diseases in the US and European Union.\n\nHowever, such methods did not work on people with advanced blindness.\n\n\u201cIn contrast, in this new work ... they [the scientists] have identified a possible approach to treating end-stage retinal degeneration using a gene therapy that produces a natural photosensitive protein in the eye, called melanopsin, which does not rely on the presence of rods or cones to be active and could help restore the lost sight in a patient with end-stage retinal degeneration,\u201d Professor Boyd said.\n\n\u201cThe work performed to date with melanopsin has only involved mice and it will probably take another two to three years at a minimum before a clinical study in humans could be undertaken.\n\n\u201cThese results are very encouraging and could lead to a potential treatment for end-stage blindness in humans.\u201d\n\nIn the glaucoma study, researchers used the Crispr-Cas9 gene editing technique to stop glaucoma from getting worse in mice.\n\nGenetic mutations can lead to a build-up of toxic proteins in the eye, increasing the pressure inside and leading to glaucoma, they wrote in the PNAS journal.\n\n\u201cPrimary open-angle glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible vision loss worldwide, with elevated intraocular pressure a major risk factor,\u201d they wrote.\n\nThey said they had used Crispr-Cas9 in mice and also in cultured human cells to \u201cknock down\u201d the expression of the mutant genes.\n\nThis reduced the pressure in the eye and \u201cprevents further glaucomatous damage\u201d.", "output": "Scientists have used gene therapy to restore sight in mice affected by retinitis pigmentosa, a treatment that offers hope of a cure for the most common cause\u00a0of blindness in young people.\u00a0An article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describes how researchers\u00a0used the technique to\u00a0produce a natural photosensitive protein that helped in the restoration of visual function, concluding it could be \"efficacious in the treatment of patients with end-stage retinal degenerations\".\u00a0A separate experiment used the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technique to halt the progress\u00a0of glaucoma in mice.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Personal lines to gain most from back office automation: report \n Insurers Direct Line, RSA, Allianz, AXA, Legal & General and Aviva could have the most to gain from robotic process automation (RPA), a report by investment bank RBC Capital Markets says.\n\nRPA is software that can be used to perform rules-based tasks such as reconciliation processes and data entry. The technology is already readily available and some insurers are already using it. For example, US insurer Lemonade uses software in its claims process and has paid out a claim within three seconds.\n\nThe report suggests that due to decreasing costs of RPA and increased digitisation within the insurance sector, now would be a good time for insurers to take advantage of it. Personal lines insurers could stand to benefit the most from RPA, with those with new systems and more efficient digital platforms likely to find it easiest to begin using the software.\n\nThe use of RPA could eliminate the need for employees to perform repetitive tasks and cut costs. Other potential benefits include increased process speed, better accuracy and improved operational efficiency.\n\nThe areas of business most susceptible to automation, according to EY estimates quoted by RBC, are HR (50-60% of tasks could potentially be automated), supply chain (30-40%) and sales and marketing (25-35%).\n\nCost of robots vs human employees\n\nSource: Capgemini Robotic process automation \u2013 the next revolution of corporate functions\n\nIn one scenario, RBC calculated the savings that could be made by a hypothetical non-life insurer operating with a combined ratio of 95%. The number of staff working in back office functions fell 20%, while earnings improved by 36.9%.\n\nEY estimates that the cost of one \u2018bot\u2019 is around 30% of that of an offshore worker, with the running costs decreasing to around 10-15% of this per annum. It generally takes around 6-8 weeks to fully implement a bot.\n\nHowever, the use of RPA could also lead to job losses, reduced staff morale and increased stress levels. RBC suggests that the use of this technology will lead to companies and organisations boosting the skills of some workers, but if a business\u2019s main aim is to cut costs then it unlikely that all employees will reap the benefits of this.", "output": "Insurers providing personal lines of coverage could stand to benefit the most from adopting robotic process automation (RPA), according to a report from RBC Capital Markets. As the cost of using RPA comes down, businesses that have begun to digitise their operations should be in a good position to benefit from\u00a0it and could make big savings\u00a0as well. In a scenario in which a provider of personal lines cover adopts RPA, the cost of backroom staff could fall by up to 20%, according to RBC's report. RPA is suited to\u00a0routine-based tasks, such as accounting reconciliations and data entry.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chubb loses out in NY Sandy case \n A federal judge in New York on Friday ruled in favor of a CNA Financial Corp. subsidiary in a case of a Brooklyn, New York, shopping center that had electrical equipment damaged during Superstorm Sandy but refused to dismiss a separate case against a Chubb Ltd. subsidiary involving damage to the same plaintiff\u2019s building.\n\nThe disputes arose in the aftermath of the massive storm that made landfall in New York and New Jersey on Oct. 29, 2012 and involves damage sustained by a shopping center located at 7001 E. 71st St. in Brooklyn.\n\nThe shopping center was insured by various policies, court documents said, including a $3 million commercial policy issued by Chubb subsidiary Chubb Custom Insurance Co. that insured the building, and a $5 million policy issued by a CNA subsidiary Continental Casualty Co. that covered equipment in the building, including electrical equipment in the walls and basement.\n\nAfter the storm, the owner of the shopping center, 7001 E.71st Street L.L.C., filed claims for lost profits and property damage, maintaining the damage was caused by rainwater entering the building through the openings in the roof caused by the storm.\n\nBoth insurers denied coverage, and the owner sued for breach of contract in 2013. The two insurers moved for a summary judgment, citing their respective policies\u2019 exclusions for flooding, and Continental also cites its exclusions in its policy for wind, corrosion, and fire.\n\nChubb also argued that the plaintiff could not prove the rainwater caused the damage and could not show the cost to repair the shopping center or the cost of its business interruption loss.\n\nIn his ruling in 7001 East 71st Street L.L.C. v. Continental Casualty Co., U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie wrote: \u201cThe Court concludes that because Continental\u2019s policy excluded coverage for damage caused by wind and flooding, and that the damage to electrical equipment insured by Continental was at least partially attributable to these hazards, Continental\u2019s policy excludes coverage. As such Continental\u2019s motion for summary judgment is granted.\u201d\n\nJudge Dearie wrote that \u201cbecause an excluded event, wind, contributed sequentially to the event that caused the covered equipment to break down, the damage is not covered by the Continental Policy.\u201d\n\nHowever, in his ruling in 7001 East 71st Street L.L.C. v. Chubb Custom Insurance Co., the judge found that the Chubb\u2019s policy excluded coverage for flooding but does not exclude coverage for wind or rainwater.\n\n\u201cBecause a fact finder could reasonably attribute some damage solely to a covered hazard,\u201d Judge Dearie wrote, \u201cthere are lingering issues that make summary judgment inappropriate. Chubb\u2019s motion for summary judgment is therefore denied.\u201d\n\nA spokesperson for Chubb declined to comment.", "output": "Chubb has been ruled against by a New York federal judge in a case relating to damage caused by Superstorm Sandy in 2012. The insurer was disputing a claim made by CNA Financial, which said that a shopping centre it owned was damaged by wind and rainfall during the storm. Chubb argued that the policy it provided to CNA excluded flood damage. While the judge agreed, it was decided that damage caused by rainfall was not excluded from the policy.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Catastrophe losses could lead to 20% hike in reinsurance rates \n Reinsurance rates are likely headed higher at year-end renewals as the market digests a string of catastrophe losses.\n\nHurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria will all hit reinsurers, in addition to two separate earthquakes in Mexico and storms earlier this year, observers say.\n\nWhile loss estimates are still being calculated, the most recent catastrophe losses will be substantial and likely will top $50 billion in total \u2014 and could be significantly higher, according to modeling firm estimates.\n\nWhile reinsurers have had relatively low catastrophe losses since Superstorm Sandy hit New York and New Jersey in 2012 and while there is plentiful capacity in the market, the 2017 losses will hit traditional and nontraditional reinsurance programs and will likely drive up prices for some accounts, observers say. However, renewal discussions have just started, and it\u2019s unclear how widespread any increases will be if reinsurers succeed in pushing them through, they say.\n\nHurricane Irma, which is likely to be the largest loss so far this year, hit while reinsurance executives were gathered in Monte Carlo, Monaco, at the RendezVous de Septembre reinsurance meeting. The event traditionally marks the beginning of year-end renewal discussions as executives from reinsurers and reinsurance brokers hold numerous small meetings around the cafes and hotel lobbies of Monte Carlo to get a feel for market trends.\n\nThis year, the meeting started on a Saturday, Sept. 9, when Hurricane Irma was still threatening Miami and reinsurers were potentially looking at a $100 billion loss. By the following Tuesday, the storm had made landfall along Florida\u2019s west coast, and it was clear that the loss would not be as devastating as feared.\n\nAt the time, it was unclear whether Harvey, Irma and other losses would affect reinsurance renewal rates. However, in the days and weeks that followed the Rendez-Vous, and after Hurricane Maria carved through parts of the Caribbean and a powerful earthquake struck central Mexico, reinsurers and reinsurance brokers became more convinced that rates would increase.\n\nIn addition, several insurers and reinsurers warned that their quarterly earnings would be hit by the catastrophes.\n\nThe combination of catastrophe losses will likely lead to increased reinsurance rates for North American property risks at year-end renewals, said Albert A. Benchimol, president and CEO of Axis Capital Holdings Ltd. in New York.\n\n\u201cWhatever the losses turn out to be, it will be a meaningful amount. And given the many years of intensive price competition on property and catastrophe rates, at least on a regional basis, we would expect to see some increases,\u201d he said.\n\nEven though there is plentiful capacity in the market, rates should still increase, Mr. Benchimol said.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s capital in the market, but the capital needs to be appropriately compensated \u2026 pricing needs to reflect loss costs,\u201d he said.\n\nIt remains unclear whether increases will extend to non-U.S. accounts and other lines of coverage, but insurers that experience reinsurance rate hikes likely will try to pass the costs on to policyholders, Mr. Benchimol said.\n\nThe storms, including Cyclone Debbie in Australia and tornadoes in the United States earlier this year, already have triggered market activity, with some insurers and reinsurers with single-event and aggregate coverage looking for backup coverage, said Mike Krefta, Hamilton, Bermuda-based CEO of Hiscox Re, a unit of Hiscox Ltd.\n\nAt year-end, \u201cfrom a reinsurance point of view, I would be shocked if we don\u2019t see material increases in pricing,\u201d he said.\n\nEven though Hurricane Irma was not as calamitous as feared before landfall, the cumulative losses during the year will likely push rates higher, Mr. Krefta said.\n\n\u201cWhen you tot up the end-of-year bill, the focus will be on aggregate losses,\u201d he said.\n\nIt\u2019s still unclear how much prices will increase, but reinsurers are pressing for rate increases at year-end, with some underwriters saying 10% to 20% increases will be needed for North American risks, said Steve Hearn, CEO of Ed Broking Group Ltd. in London.\n\n\u201cWe are starting to see some rate coming through on the aggregation of Harvey, Irma and the Mexican earthquake,\u201d he said.\n\nPaddy Jago, global chairman of Willis Re in London, said it\u2019s still too early to predict the level of losses, particularly as Hurricane Maria followed a similar path to Irma in the Caribbean.\n\n\u201cThat will make claims from an insurance and reinsurance viewpoint challenging,\u201d he said.", "output": "This year's glut of catastrophes is likely to lead to reinsurance rate increases when the renewal period comes up in January. Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, earthquakes in Mexico and storms in Australia and the US in 2017 may well necessitate the raising of premiums, particularly for policies concerning North American property, although the effects of Irma were not as bad as feared. Reinsurers are pushing for rate hikes of 10% to 20% for North American risks, according to Steve Hearn, the CEO of Ed Broking Group in London. It is not yet clear if non-American rates will be affected.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Premium-financing insurtech PremFina raises $33m to expand \n UK insurance premium financing and software company PremFina has raised USD33 million in equity and debt. The funds will be used to help PremFina expand into new global markets and meet high demand in the UK. PremFina is fully regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).\n\nTalis Capital participated in the oversubscribed round, which included Japan\u2019s Rakuten Capital and the UK\u2019s Draper Esprit led, alongside global investors Thomvest Ventures, Emery Capital and Rubicon Venture Capital.\n\n\n\nPremFina promotes financial inclusion within the insurance industry by eliminating the financial strain of an upfront lump-sum payment. PremFina funds the upfront payment of an insurance premium to an insurer, on behalf on an insured party. The insured party then repays PremFina via monthly instalments, including a finance fee. To better enable insurers to offer this option, PremFina provides insurers with a standalone, white-labelled software solution.\n\n\n\nPremFina is the first premium finance company in the UK to receive venture funding. PremFina\u2019s white label premium finance solution greatly improves brokers\u2019 efficiency and profitability, through greater control of their premium finance offerings and customer relationships.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe participation of a suite of investors in our oversubscribed round highlights the vast opportunity ahead for PremFina,\u201d says Bundeep Singh Rangar, CEO of PremFina. \u201cPremium financing is an industry that has been crying out for innovation. The incumbents have remained largely unchallenged due to age-old barriers to entry, such as the funding required to finance insurance premiums, and the regulatory compliance and technological capability needed to meaningfully enter the market. Consequently, insurtech has lagged behind other areas of fintech in terms of innovation. We are delighted that PremFina has overcome these barriers, and we look forward to working with our new investors.\u201d\n\n\n\n\u201cBundeep and the team have built a compelling proposition for the premium finance market, which is a significant market dominated by a handful of incumbents. We look forward to supporting their growth both in the UK and internationally,\u201d says Vasile Foca, Managing Partner at Talis Capital.", "output": "UK-based insurtech PremFina is planning global expansion having raised $33m in a recent financing round. The financing consists of both debt and equity investments with UK-based Draper Esprit leading the round. PremFina aids insured parties by paying their premium upfront to insurers. The insurtech then charges policyholders a monthly rate for the paid-for policy. It also provides incumbent insurers software enabling them to participate in this arrangement with greater ease.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Actually, a Health Care Deal Is Possible \n The Republican leadership seems to have thrown in the towel on repealing the Affordable Care Act, at least for now. That\u2019s one piece of good news. Here\u2019s another: Two senators of different parties have resumed negotiations that offer a more productive path, one that could preserve the best of Obamacare while offering adjustments that both parties can accept.\n\nThe talks between Lamar Alexander, a Republican from Tennessee, and Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington, might not succeed, of course. Republican leaders scuttled a previous attempt by the two senators because they wanted another shot at repeal, an effort that failed ignominiously last week. Mr. Alexander and Ms. Murray hope to offer Congress a way out of the morass with a modest bill that could help strengthen the A.C.A.\u2019s individual insurance markets, which are used by about 10 million people, without overhauling the whole system in ways that could deprive millions of people of subsidized care.\n\nMr. Alexander is a Senate veteran and former governor, and Ms. Murray an accomplished legislator. They have worked well together in the past. They could soon reach a deal that would guarantee appropriations for subsidy payments to insurers that President Trump has threatened to stop. The payments compensate insurers for selling policies with lower deductibles to low-income people. If Mr. Trump got rid of them, the government would actually end up spending more money to subsidize premiums, which companies would jack up to make up for the lost revenue.\n\nThe senators\u2019 compromise would also offer states more freedom than the A.C.A. now allows to attract insurers; some rural states are down to just one insurer in their marketplaces, and premiums have jumped. Democrats have resisted such changes before, fearing that any waiver from federal rules would be exploited by states to reduce mandated services like those for maternity care, cancer and pre-existing conditions. Ms. Murray is said to be insisting, as she must, that any new flexibility for states does not become a back door for watering down protections.", "output": "The Republican leadership seems to have thrown in the towel on repealing the Affordable Care Act, at least for now. That\u2019s one piece of good news. Here\u2019s another: Two senators of different parties have resumed negotiations\u00a0that offer a more productive path, one that could preserve the best of Obamacare while offering adjustments that both parties can accept.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "States rush to preserve children's health coverage \n While states won\u2019t run out of money immediately, at least 10 will deplete funds by the end of the year, according to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. If Congress doesn\u2019t approve funding by then, some state officials say they expect to terminate enrollment in the beginning of next year or shift eligible kids to other government insurance programs with potentially less federal support.\n\n\u201cThis is a terrible situation for everyone who relies on CHIP to be a functioning program,\u201d said Minnesota Department of Human Services Commissioner Emily Piper.\n\nWithout getting new funding from Congress soon, Minnesota is considering tapping into its unspent federal allotment for 2017, which would fund the program for about nine months. Doing so, however, would come with a federal penalty of $10 million to the state.\n\n\u201cIt would carry us forward, but it would be a financial strain to the state\u2019s budget,\u201d Piper said.\n\nCHIP, now in its 20th year, is jointly funded by the federal government and the states. Historically, the federal government has provided an average of 71 percent of the funding, but a provision in the Affordable Care Act boosted federal funding to the states by 23 percentage points over the past two years.\n\nLawmakers say they are still planning to fund CHIP this year, though they haven\u2019t acted with urgency so far. The Senate last month unveiled a bipartisan measure, S. 1827 (115), that funded the program for five years and preserves Obamacare\u2019s funding raise for two years before it\u2019s gradually phased out. The bill was overshadowed by the GOP\u2019s last-ditch failed effort to dismantle Obamacare, but lawmakers are expected to mark it up in committee this week.\n\nThe House, meanwhile, is also expected to hold a markup on a CHIP measure this week but has not yet released a bill, which is expected to be drastically different than the Senate\u2019s. Sources say the House is unlikely to keep the enhanced Obamacare funding for more than one year. Its bill is also expected to include funding for community health centers and other health programs, which could make it hard to pay for.\n\nState officials say the funding uncertainty is already causing logistical headaches.\n\n\u201cEven if Congress comes back and gives them all the money in the world, it\u2019s very distracting and destabilizing,\u201d said Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors.\n\nLike Minnesota, Utah is considering moving eligible children to Medicaid if the money runs out, said Utah Medicaid Director Nate Checketts. The state is also considering moving some kids to the Obamacare insurance marketplaces, where they can get subsidized coverage. However, officials are still working through the logistics.\n\nColorado is also looking at Obamacare\u2019s marketplaces as a fallback option. The state\u2019s CHIP program, which is expected to run out of money by the end of January without action from Congress, plans to notify families in mid-December that coverage may be terminated, triggering a qualifying event that allows them to purchase Obamacare coverage through the state\u2019s exchange. More than 75,000 children and nearly 800 pregnant women are currently enrolled in Colorado\u2019s program.\n\n\u201cFamilies want to know as soon as their coverage is potentially threatened,\u201d said Colorado Medicaid Director Gretchen Hammer. \u201cFamilies know that they have coverage through January, and they want to know what their options are.\u201d\n\nCalifornia\u2019s Department of Health Care Services said it\u2019s still business as usual for the state\u2019s CHIP program, which receives more than $2 billion a year and covers about 1.3 million children and pregnant women. The program is expected to run out of funding in December.\n\n\u201cRight now, it is a tough balance between the reality of a true urgency facing state CHIP programs and not wanting to create panic for families whose children depend on CHIP coverage,\u201d said Kristen Golden Testa, director of the California health program at The Children\u2019s Partnership.\n\nIn Texas, funding is expecting to dry up in January or February for a program covering nearly 400,000 children and 36,000 pregnant women in the state. Texas budget writers estimated Texas would receive $3.2 billion in federal funding for CHIP over 2018 and 2019.\n\n\u201cWith so many families across the coast impacted by Hurricane Harvey, CHIP and Medicaid help families maintain coverage,\u201d said Lou Fragoso, president of Texas Children\u2019s Health Plan, which covers 430,000 people in Texas, about 15 percent of whom receive CHIP. \u201cThis is critical, especially for those in communities devastated by the recent storm and flooding.\u201d\n\nThe Texas health department has warned that it would begin winding down the CHIP program after funding runs out early next year. But close observers say the state hasn\u2019t made serious preparations because Congress is widely expected to continue funding the program.\n\nVictoria Colliver, Rachana Pradhan, Renuka Rayasam and Joanne Kenen contributed to this report.\n\n", "output": "States are scrambling to shore up the government health insurance program that covers 9 million low-income kids after Congress failed to meet the deadline to renew its funding over the weekend.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "American College of Physicians Says Medicare Advantage Should Increase Transparency, Align, and Reduce Burden \n Washington (October 2, 2017)\u2014Increased transparency in and greater alignment across Medicare Advantage plans would help the program to reduce administrative burdens on physicians, the American College of Physicians (ACP) said in a new policy paper, Promoting Transparency and Alignment in Medicare Advantage. The paper explores the quality of care, utilization, and cost of services in the Medicare Advantage program in comparison to traditional Medicare.\n\nThe Medicare Advantage (MA) program is an option where Medicare beneficiaries can receive their benefits through a private insurance plan, rather than the typical fee-for-service Medicare program. MA plans are designed to enhance care coordination and quality of care as well as provide supplementary benefits, including dental coverage, vision coverage, and wellness plans. The MA program has long been a subject of debate among policymakers and the health insurance industry over the balance between promoting beneficiary choice, maintaining quality of care, providing access to MA plans, and setting the cost of these private plans.\n\n\u201cAs enrollment in Medicare Advantage plans increases there is a growing interest in understanding the differences in care delivery, quality, resource utilization, and cost between MA and traditional Medicare,\u201d said Jack Ende, MD, MACP, president, ACP. \u201cIf MA plans were to increase transparency that would give the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services the opportunity to examine them more closely and promote alignment, thus lessening the administrative burden associated with clinician participation in these plans.\u201d\n\nThe paper outlines three recommendations for how to address concerns about the current Medicare Advantage program:\n\nACP supports current policies to ensure that MA plans are funded at the level of the traditional Medicare program and that at least 85% of that funding goes to actual beneficiary care.\n\nACP urges Medicare Advantage Organizations (MAOs) to be transparent in their processes, policies, and procedures for how they develop and administer their MA plans and portfolios for all key stakeholders to ensure program integrity. Moreover, MAOs administering MA plans must collaborate with all relevant stakeholders to streamline and align varying policies, procedures, and contracting arrangements with physicians to further promote transparency and reduce excessive and burdensome administrative tasks.\n\nACP calls for more research on how federal payments to the MA Program are utilized by MAOs. Specifically, ACP calls for further research on the types of payment models used and prices paid by MAOs to contracted physicians, hospitals, and other clinicians compared with the models used and prices paid by traditional Medicare and commercial health insurance plans.\n\nReducing administrative burdens on physicians is a goal of ACP\u2019s Patients Before Paperwork initiative. ACP has long identified reducing administrative burdens as a priority and the initiative seeks to reinvigorate the patient-physician relationship by challenging unnecessary practice burdens. Requiring transparency in and alignment across the MA program is essential to reducing unnecessary burdens and also confusion for patients.\n\n\u201cAs Medicare moves away from its traditional fee-for-service and toward the Quality Payment Program linking physician payment to high-value care, it is a critical time for the MA program to make improvements,\u201d concluded Dr. Ende. \u201cThe relief from administrative burdens that our recommendations would provide to clinicians is an important component of promoting high-value care for all Medicare beneficiaries.\u201d\n\n***\n\nAbout the American College of Physicians\n\nThe American College of Physicians is the largest medical specialty organization in the United States with members in more than 145 countries worldwide. ACP membership includes 152,000 internal medicine physicians (internists), related subspecialists, and medical students. Internal medicine physicians are specialists who apply scientific knowledge and clinical expertise to the diagnosis, treatment, and compassionate care of adults across the spectrum from health to complex illness. Follow ACP on Twitter and Facebook.\n\nContact: Jackie Blaser, (202) 261-4572, jblaser@acponline.org", "output": "Increased transparency in and greater alignment across  Medicare Advantage plans would help the program to reduce administrative burdens on physicians, the American College of Physicians (ACP) said in a new policy paper,\u00a0Promoting Transparency and Alignment in Medicare Advantage.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Laser treatment keeps perovskite in conductive state for longer \n Artist impression of laser writing technique. The laser beam locally heats the perovskite surface, making it change from the yellow delta to the black alpha state. Credit: Julian Steele\n\nMost of today's technology in solar energy, telecommunications and microchips is constructed using silicon-based materials. However, in recent years, a new family of semiconducting materials, perovskites, has burst onto the scene, offering promise for new and better technologies. The properties of these materials rival many of the well-established commercial options, while remaining far cheaper and easier to make.\n\nPerovskite is the general name for a material consisting of three chemical components A, B and X, arranged in a specific molecular crystal structure ABX 3 . One of these perovskites currently being investigated by researchers is formamidinium lead iodide [HC(NH 2 ) 2 PbI 3 or FAPbI 3 ], which holds the world record performance for a perovskite-based solar cell, rivaling silicone-based ones.\n\nImportant challenges, however, remain to be resolved regarding the stability of perovskite crystals under real-world conditions. At room temperature, for example, FAPbI 3 arranges itself in the yellow coloured delta phase, with little practical value for technological applications. But when heated above 150\u00b0 C, the material rearranges itself into a different black structure, called the alpha state, before reverting to the delta phase after a few days under ambient conditions. It is this dark alpha state of FAPbI 3 that is most interesting for researchers and technology. Until recently, researchers have tried to access the high-temperature alpha state by heating the material and stabilising it at room temperature using surface and chemical treatments.\n\nKU Leuven researchers from the Roeffaers Lab and the Hofkens Group have now discovered a new, easier way to create the sought-after dark alpha-phase perovskite. They used direct laser writing (tuned intense laser light) to locally heat the perovskite surface, making it change from the useless delta state to the highly desirable alpha state. Furthermore, they also found that the material now remained in this state for many weeks, even at room temperature, without further need of a stabilising treatment. The KU Leuven scientists further managed to use the laser beam to rapidly micro-fabricate complex patterns of the dark FAPbI 3 state.\n\nThe researchers recently published their discovery in the high-impact nanotechnology journal ACS Nano (Steele et al. 2017).\n\n\"These findings are a big step forward in locally tailoring the structural, electrical, and optical properties of an important new class of materials and provides an avenue for making customised optical devices, all on demand.\"\n\nMore information: Direct Laser Writing of \u03b4- to \u03b1-Phase Transformation in Formamidinium Lead Iodide\"; Julian A. Steele, Haifeng Yuan, Collin Y. X. Tan, Masoumeh Keshavarz, Christian Steuwe, Maarten B. J. Roeffaers, and Johan Hofkens, ACS Nano, 2017, 11 (8), pp 8072\u20138083, pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsnano.7b02777 Journal information: ACS Nano", "output": "Researchers from the Roeffaers Lab and the Hofkens Group have used lasers to turn useless \"delta-phase\" perovskite into conductive \"alpha-state\" material that maintains its formation at room temperature for a number of weeks. Previously, researchers have tried to sustain the high-temperature alpha state by heating the material and stabilising it at room temperature using surface and chemical treatments. The experiments were carried out on a type of perovskite called formamidinium lead iodide,\u00a0which holds the world record performance for a perovskite-based solar cell, approaching\u00a0silicone-based ones."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "77 percent of Medicare members have used digital health tools \n According to a new survey of 500 Medicare plan members, 77 percent of Medicare beneficiaries have used digital health tools. Yet just nine percent of respondents indicated that their health plan integrated data from those tools.\n\nLooking specifically at the 70 percent of beneficiaries with one or more chronic conditions, just eight percent said digital health tool data was used by their health plan.\n\nBut according to Healthmine CEO Bryce Williams, the data is more reflective of poor communication to members than it is of slow digital adoption.\n\n\"Actual health plan data shows that more Medicare members have connected digital health tools than this data indicates,\" \u200bhe said in a statement. \"This survey data are the perceptions of plan members. It indicates that plans can improve communication with members, so members know that their plan is connected to digital tools.\"\n\nHealthmine also asked those surveyed what sorts of tools in particular they had used. The most-used device by a wide margin was the connected blood pressure monitor, which 49 percent of respondents said they had used. Eighteen percent had used a glucometer and 17 percent had used an activity tracker.\n\nThe other tools asked about were electronic medical records, medication adherence tracking tools, heart rate monitors, food and nutrition trackers, and sleep monitors. All of those were reportedly used by less than 10 percent of those surveyed.\n\nOutside of Medicare, HealthMine asked the same questions in a separate 750-person survey of private plan users. They found that 83 percent had used digital health tools and 22 percent thought their health plan was integrating or utilizing that data.\n\nLast month, HealthMine released additional data from the 500-person Medicare survey around telemedicine adoption; they found that 57 percent of seniors told HealthMine they didn\u2019t know whether their plan offered telemedicine, 31 percent said they were sure their plan didn\u2019t, and just 12 percent offered an unqualified affirmative.", "output": "According to a new survey of 500 Medicare plan members, 77 percent of Medicare beneficiaries have used digital health tools. Yet just nine percent of respondents indicated that their health plan integrated data from those tools.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How the Elderly Lose Their Rights \n For years, Rudy North woke up at 9 A.M. and read the Las Vegas Review-Journal while eating a piece of toast. Then he read a novel\u2014he liked James Patterson and Clive Cussler\u2014or, if he was feeling more ambitious, Freud. On scraps of paper and legal notepads, he jotted down thoughts sparked by his reading. \u201cDeep below the rational part of our brain is an underground ocean where strange things swim,\u201d he wrote on one notepad. On another, \u201cLife: the longer it cooks, the better it tastes.\u201d\n\nRennie, his wife of fifty-seven years, was slower to rise. She was recovering from lymphoma and suffered from neuropathy so severe that her legs felt like sausages. Each morning, she spent nearly an hour in the bathroom applying makeup and lotions, the same brands she\u2019d used for forty years. She always emerged wearing pale-pink lipstick. Rudy, who was prone to grandiosity, liked to refer to her as \u201cmy amour.\u201d\n\nOn the Friday before Labor Day, 2013, the Norths had just finished their toast when a nurse, who visited five times a week to help Rennie bathe and dress, came to their house, in Sun City Aliante, an \u201cactive adult\u201d community in Las Vegas. They had moved there in 2005, when Rudy, a retired consultant for broadcasters, was sixty-eight and Rennie was sixty-six. They took pride in their view of the golf course, though neither of them played golf.\n\nRudy chatted with the nurse in the kitchen for twenty minutes, joking about marriage and laundry, until there was a knock at the door. A stocky woman with shiny black hair introduced herself as April Parks, the owner of the company A Private Professional Guardian. She was accompanied by three colleagues, who didn\u2019t give their names. Parks told the Norths that she had an order from the Clark County Family Court to \u201cremove\u201d them from their home. She would be taking them to an assisted-living facility. \u201cGo and gather your things,\u201d she said.\n\nRennie began crying. \u201cThis is my home,\u201d she said.\n\nOne of Parks\u2019s colleagues said that if the Norths didn\u2019t comply he would call the police. Rudy remembers thinking, You\u2019re going to put my wife and me in jail for this? But he felt too confused to argue.\n\nParks drove a Pontiac G-6 convertible with a license plate that read \u201cCRTGRDN,\u201d for \u201ccourt guardian.\u201d In the past twelve years, she had been a guardian for some four hundred wards of the court. Owing to age or disability, they had been deemed incompetent, a legal term that describes those who are unable to make reasoned choices about their lives or their property. As their guardian, Parks had the authority to manage their assets, and to choose where they lived, whom they associated with, and what medical treatment they received. They lost nearly all their civil rights.\n\nWithout realizing it, the Norths had become temporary wards of the court. Parks had filed an emergency ex-parte petition, which provides an exception to the rule that both parties must be notified of any argument before a judge. She had alleged that the Norths posed a \u201csubstantial risk for mismanagement of medications, financial loss and physical harm.\u201d She submitted a brief letter from a physician\u2019s assistant, whom Rennie had seen once, stating that \u201cthe patient\u2019s husband can no longer effectively take care of the patient at home as his dementia is progressing.\u201d She also submitted a letter from one of Rudy\u2019s doctors, who described him as \u201cconfused and agitated.\u201d\n\nCopy link to cartoon Copy link to cartoon Shop Shop\n\nRudy and Rennie had not undergone any cognitive assessments. They had never received a diagnosis of dementia. In addition to Freud, Rudy was working his way through Nietzsche and Plato. Rennie read romance novels.\n\nParks told the Norths that if they didn\u2019t come willingly an ambulance would take them to the facility, a place she described as a \u201crespite.\u201d Still crying, Rennie put cosmetics and some clothes into a suitcase. She packed so quickly that she forgot her cell phone and Rudy\u2019s hearing aid. After thirty-five minutes, Parks\u2019s assistant led the Norths to her car. When a neighbor asked what was happening, Rudy told him, \u201cWe\u2019ll just be gone for a little bit.\u201d He was too proud to draw attention to their predicament. \u201cJust think of it as a mini-vacation,\u201d he told Rennie.\n\nAfter the Norths left, Parks walked through the house with Cindy Breck, the owner of Caring Transitions, a company that relocates seniors and sells their belongings at estate sales. Breck and Parks had a routine. \u201cWe open drawers,\u201d Parks said at a deposition. \u201cWe look in closets. We pull out boxes, anything that would store\u2014that would keep paperwork, would keep valuables.\u201d She took a pocket watch, birth certificates, insurance policies, and several collectible coins.\n\nThe Norths\u2019 daughter, Julie Belshe, came to visit later that afternoon. A fifty-three-year-old mother of three sons, she and her husband run a small business designing and constructing pools. She lived ten miles away and visited her parents nearly every day, often taking them to her youngest son\u2019s football games. She was her parents\u2019 only living child; her brother and sister had died.\n\nShe knocked on the front door several times and then tried to push the door open, but it was locked. She was surprised to see the kitchen window closed; her parents always left it slightly open. She drove to the Sun City Aliante clubhouse, where her parents sometimes drank coffee. When she couldn\u2019t find them there, she thought that perhaps they had gone on an errand together\u2014the farthest they usually drove was to Costco. But, when she returned to the house, it was still empty.\n\nThat weekend, she called her parents several times. She also called two hospitals to see if they had been in an accident. She called their landlord, too, and he agreed to visit the house. He reported that there were no signs of them. She told her husband, \u201cI think someone kidnapped my parents.\u201d\n\nOn the Tuesday after Labor Day, she drove to the house again and found a note taped to the door: \u201cIn case of emergency, contact guardian April Parks.\u201d Belshe dialled the number. Parks, who had a brisk, girlish way of speaking, told Belshe that her parents had been taken to Lakeview Terrace, an assisted-living facility in Boulder City, nine miles from the Arizona border. She assured Belshe that the staff there would take care of all their needs.\n\n\u201cYou can\u2019t just walk into somebody\u2019s home and take them!\u201d Belshe told her.\n\nParks responded calmly, \u201cIt\u2019s legal. It\u2019s legal.\u201d\n\nGuardianship derives from the state\u2019s parens patriae power, its duty to act as a parent for those considered too vulnerable to care for themselves. \u201cThe King shall have the custody of the lands of natural fools, taking the profits of them without waste or destruction, and shall find them their necessaries,\u201d reads the English statute De Prerogative Regis, from 1324. The law was imported to the colonies\u2014guardianship is still controlled by state, not federal, law\u2014and has remained largely intact for the past eight hundred years. It establishes a relationship between ward and guardian that is rooted in trust.\n\nIn the United States, a million and a half adults are under the care of guardians, either family members or professionals, who control some two hundred and seventy-three billion dollars in assets, according to an auditor for the guardianship fraud program in Palm Beach County. Little is known about the outcome of these arrangements, because states do not keep complete figures on guardianship cases\u2014statutes vary widely\u2014and, in most jurisdictions, the court records are sealed. A Government Accountability report from 2010 said, \u201cWe could not locate a single Web site, federal agency, state or local entity, or any other organization that compiles comprehensive information on this issue.\u201d A study published this year by the American Bar Association found that \u201can unknown number of adults languish under guardianship\u201d when they no longer need it, or never did. The authors wrote that \u201cguardianship is generally \u201cpermanent, leaving no way out\u2014\u2018until death do us part.\u2019 \u201d\n\nWhen the Norths were removed from their home, they joined nearly nine thousand adult wards in the Las Vegas Valley. In the past twenty years, the city has promoted itself as a retirement paradise. Attracted by the state\u2019s low taxes and a dry, sunny climate, elderly people leave their families behind to resettle in newly constructed senior communities. \u201cThe whole town sparkled, pulling older people in with the prospect of the American Dream at a reasonable price,\u201d a former real-estate agent named Terry Williams told me. Roughly thirty per cent of the people who move to Las Vegas are senior citizens, and the number of Nevadans older than eighty-five has risen by nearly eighty per cent in the past decade.\n\nIn Nevada, as in many states, anyone can become a guardian by taking a course, as long as he or she has not been convicted of a felony or recently declared bankruptcy. Elizabeth Brickfield, a Las Vegas lawyer who has worked in guardianship law for twenty years, said that about fifteen years ago, as the state\u2019s elderly population swelled, \u201call these private guardians started arriving, and the docket exploded. The court became a factory.\u201d\n\nPamela Teaster, the director of the Center for Gerontology at Virginia Tech and one of the few scholars in the country who study guardianship, told me that, though most guardians assume their duties for good reasons, the guardianship system is \u201ca morass, a total mess.\u201d She said, \u201cIt is unconscionable that we don\u2019t have any data, when you think about the vast power given to a guardian. It is one of society\u2019s most drastic interventions.\u201d\n\nAfter talking to Parks, Belshe drove forty miles to Lakeview Terrace, a complex of stucco buildings designed to look like a hacienda. She found her parents in a small room with a kitchenette and a window overlooking the parking lot. Rennie was in a wheelchair beside the bed, and Rudy was curled up on a love seat in the fetal position. There was no phone in the room. Medical-alert buttons were strung around their necks. \u201cThey were like two lost children,\u201d Belshe said.\n\n\u201cIf we can\u2019t find all the ingredients, we\u2019ll just make something horrible.\u201d Copy link to cartoon Copy link to cartoon Shop Shop\n\nShe asked her parents who Parks was and where she could find the court order, but, she said, \u201cthey were overwhelmed and humiliated, and they didn\u2019t know what was going on.\u201d They had no idea how or why Parks had targeted them as wards. Belshe was struck by their passive acceptance. \u201cIt was like they had Stockholm syndrome or something,\u201d she told me.\n\nBelshe acknowledged that her parents needed a few hours of help each day, but she had never questioned their ability to live alone. \u201cThey always kept their house really nice and clean, like a museum,\u201d she said. Although Rudy\u2019s medical records showed that he occasionally had \u201cstaring spells,\u201d all his medical-progress notes from 2013 described him as alert and oriented. He did most of the couple\u2019s cooking and shopping, because Rennie, though lucid, was in so much pain that she rarely left the house. Belshe sometimes worried that her father inadvertently encouraged her mother to be docile: \u201cShe\u2019s a very smart woman, though she sometimes acts like she\u2019s not. I have to tell her, \u2018That\u2019s not cute, Mom.\u2019 \u201d\n\nWhen Belshe called Parks to ask for the court order, Parks told her that she was part of the \u201csandwich generation,\u201d and that it would be too overwhelming for her to continue to care for her children and her parents at the same time. Parks billed her wards\u2019 estates for each hour that she spent on their case; the court placed no limits on guardians\u2019 fees, as long as they appeared \u201creasonable.\u201d Later, when Belshe called again to express her anger, Parks charged the Norths twenty-four dollars for the eight-minute conversation. \u201cI could not understand what the purpose of the call was other than she wanted me to know they had rights,\u201d Parks wrote in a detailed invoice. \u201cI terminated the phone call as she was very hostile and angry.\u201d\n\nA month after removing the Norths from their house, Parks petitioned to make the guardianship permanent. She was represented by an attorney who was paid four hundred dollars an hour by the Norths\u2019 estate. A hearing was held at Clark County Family Court.\n\nThe Clark County guardianship commissioner, a lawyer named Jon Norheim, has presided over nearly all the guardianship cases in the county since 2005. He works under the supervision of a judge, but his orders have the weight of a formal ruling. Norheim awarded a guardianship to Parks, on average, nearly once a week. She had up to a hundred wards at a time. \u201cI love April Parks,\u201d he said at one hearing, describing her and two other professional guardians, who frequently appeared in his courtroom, as \u201cwonderful, good-hearted, social-worker types.\u201d", "output": "For years, Rudy North woke up at 9 a.m. and read the Las Vegas\u00a0Review-Journal\u00a0while eating a piece of toast. Then he read a novel\u2014he liked James Patterson and Clive Cussler\u2014or, if he was feeling more ambitious, Freud. On scraps of paper and legal notepads, he jotted down thoughts sparked by his reading.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ways to prepare your home for aging in place \n Most adults want to grow old in the home they live in now and not in a nursing home or assisted living facility.\n\nA 2016 HomeAdvisor study found 61 percent of people over the age of 55 plan to stay in their homes indefinitely.\n\nOlder adults, or their children, looking to modify a home for aging in place can expect the process to get expensive \u2014 but there are lower-cost options to get started.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWhile doing most things listed in this article would cost a minimum of $75,000, research by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said making modifications to stay in one\u2019s home could be significantly cheaper than moving into assisted living.\n\nExperts say the first place to start is the bathroom, followed by the front door.\n\nHere are a few things you can do to prepare to age in place.\n\nBathroom grab bars\n\nOne of the most basic additions to an aging adult\u2019s house is usually the first thing to put in. Grab bars near a toilet or shower can assist in getting from a wheelchair to the toilet or can prevent a slip. All Home Medical Supply, based in San Diego, sells simple wall grab bars for $15 to $24. Security poles, which connect to the floor and attach to the ceiling, range from $169 to $209.\n\nNonslip flooring\n\nMore than one-third of older adults injure themselves in the bathroom, says AARP, making nonslip flooring a priority for many aging-in-place remodelers. Slip-resistant rugs can run $10 to $15 a piece, and rubber flooring options are typically less than $3 per square foot, said AARP.\n\nShower design\n\nIn addition to nonslip flooring, showers can be modified to include a seat (or shower stool), grab bar and handheld shower head. Ideally, the shower should have a low threshold for easy access. There are hundreds of shower seats on the market, but the most basic stool with suction cups and adjustable legs is around $40.\n\nWalk-in bathtubs\n\nWalk-in tubs are designed to prevent slips and to help people who have difficulty getting in and out of normal tubs or showers. Costs range from $15,000 to $35,000, said Safe Step San Diego sales representative Brady Kosen. Why is it so pricey? Sometimes plumbing needs to be redone or an entire section of the bathroom needs to be rebuilt to accommodate the tub.\n\nToilet riser\n\nCommon additions are toilet safety frames, which allow the user to lower themselves onto the seat, and toilet seat risers that reduce the distance the user needs to bend down. Seat risers can cost as little as $24 at Walgreens and there are toilet safety rails for $20 on Amazon.\n\nWidened doorways\n\nWider doorways make it easier for occupants in a wheelchair to move around the house, but wider doorways are also popular with home remodelers because they make homes look bigger. Much of the cost will likely come from labor, although there are many do-it-yourself guides on the Internet. The online Remodel Cost Guide estimates $75 to $500 for materials. In general, remodelers recommend 36-inch-wide doorways.\n\nOutside ramp\n\nAn outside ramp helps occupants in a wheelchair, or those with other walking challenges, get into their home. Materials for the project can cost from $500 to $2,000, said the Remodel Cost Guide. A simple steel ramp is also an option for homes that only have a small porch. Susan Mack of Homes for Easy Living in Murrieta suggests a subtle design that will not alert potential criminals that there is someone in the house who may be vulnerable to easy theft.\n\nStair lift\n\nEnsuring a house with several floors doesn\u2019t become a trap, several companies offer mechanical chairs that attach to stairwells and securely transport someone up a floor. Carlsbad\u2019s Access to Freedom sells Stannah brand chairs that go straight up the stairs ($2,500 to $4,100), a version for curved stairs ($11,200 to $16,500) and for outdoor stairs ($5,500 to $6,000). It also has a rental program that, for $1,895, will put in a straight-line chair and remove it after three months.\n\nKitchen remodel\n\nAging-in-place experts say the most important room to remodel is the bathroom, but after that, the kitchen is a good place to start. Anne Kellett, owner of San Diego-based A Kinder Space, said a low-end kitchen remodel could cost $45,000 but would be much more for a total makeover. Some changes include: Adjusting counter heights to make them easier to reach; adding more drawers than cabinets; arranging space so appliances are easier to reach; and using different colors throughout the house \u2014 using a different color on flooring, walls and cabinets \u2014 to help those with depth-perception issues. Kellett said some changes are simple, such as putting dishes right next to the dishwasher.\n\nWheelchair accessible sink\n\nWhen washing dishes or using a bathroom sink, it helps to have one that people in wheelchairs can roll under. It can be a simple job to install, compared to other aging-in-place projects, but can get expensive if an individual is looking for a top-of-the line product. Kohler sells enameled cast iron sinks for around $1,129. Swedish company Granberg sells an electronically raised and lowered wash basin so different members of a household can use it. (No price provided. You have to call the company for a quote.)\n\nLighting\n\nOlder adults may need stronger lighting, or dim lighting, depending on their eyes and vision. Additionally, it can be helpful to install motion-sensor lights for those with limited movement, says the AARP HomeFit Guide. It suggests increasing lighting on stairs and pathways, which can be done cheaply with nightlights. Other suggestions include light switches that glow in the dark, lighting over work areas in the kitchen, lights in places that might not already have them (like closets) and halogen bulbs to reduce glare.\n\nBusiness\n\nphillip.molnar@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1891 Twitter: @phillipmolnar\n\nALSO\n\nWill Prop. 13 changes make home prices go up?\n\nPacific Beach landlord to keep rent low, even after sale\n\nHow much can you make on the sale of a San Diego house?", "output": "Most adults want to grow old in the home they live in now and not in a nursing home or assisted living facility. A 2016 HomeAdvisor study\u00a0found 61 percent of people over the age of 55 plan to stay in their homes indefinitely. Older adults, or their child\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian student accommodation yields to fall as class matures \n \"It is at this stage that the assets offer the greatest attraction to investors who seek stabilised assets with lower occupancy risk and a proven operational platform.\n\n\"As such, we expect to see PBSA yields continue to sharpen over the next three years of the development and operational cycle to levels equivalent to office sector yields, anticipated to be around 5.5 per cent in 2020.\"\n\nSydney and Melbourne will have the sharpest yields on student dorms, ranging between 5.5 per cent and 6.25 per cent, according to JLL.\n\nYields in Adelaide and Brisbane are forecast to fall between 6.75 per cent and 7.25 per cent.\n\nPerformance\n\nAmong the factors the JLL analysis considered is the performance of the PBSA sector in other countries \u2013 including Europe, Britain and the United States \u2013 where it is regarded as a sustainable investment-grade asset class.\n\n\"Initially, PBSA yields offered a premium of around 25 to 100 basis points,\" Ms Wild said.\n\n\"But a trend is emerging showing PBSA yields coming more into line with core property markets.\"\n\nA wave of development is under way in Australia, with players including Scape Student Living, Blue Sky Private Real Estate and its joint-venture partner Goldman Sachs, Dubai-based student accommodation provider GSA and South Africa's Redefine Properties all pursuing major projects.\n\n\n\n", "output": "Yields on Australian purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) are predicted fall into line with core property markets\u00a0as the class matures. In the past year, only one transaction of more than AUD400m ($311m) has been completed\u00a0due to the lack of available assets. But Noral Wild, head of social infrastructure\u00a0at JLL, predicted that transactions will increase over the next three years as PBSA assets complete building, start operations and stabilise occupancy. Wild said PBSA yields would fall towards those in the\u00a0office sector, estimated to be about 5.5% in 2020.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Era of ultra-low UK mortgages rates predicted to be nearly over \n Mortgage rates have never been lower but repeated warnings of an imminent interest rate rise from the Bank of England are likely to push them up - and soon.\n\nExperts are warning homeowners to lock in to rock-bottom rates sooner rather than later, with research firm Capital Economics forecasting the average rate will be back above 3 per cent by the end of 2019.\n\nAt the moment, it's still possible to fix below 1 per cent for two years if you have a sizeable deposit; five-year fixed rates come as cheap as 1.55 per cent.\n\nLenders are continuing to offer fiercely competitive mortgage deals but it may not last\n\nFor now, lenders are continuing to offer fiercely competitive deals with Yorkshire Building Society launching a new best buy rate of 1.55 per cent last week, with a \u00a31,495 fee for both remortgage customers and home buyers who have a 35 per cent deposit or equity stake.\n\nThe society has also launched a best buy 0.99 per cent two-year fixed-rate mortgage for borrowers with up to a 25 per cent deposit with a \u00a31,495 fee and free standard valuation.\n\nHowever, it's pulling the 0.99 per cent two-year fix for those with just a 20 per cent deposit that was first offered through the lender's broker arm, Accord Mortgages, just 10 days ago.\n\nSantander has launched a new two-year fixed-rate mortgage, priced at 1.74 per cent for those borrowing up to \u00a3550,000 at 85 per cent loan-to-value with no product fee.\n\nAnd Leeds Building Society has also reviewed its range and now offers a two-year fixed rate at 1.55 per cent for those borrowing up to \u00a3500,000 at 65 per cent loan-to-value with a \u00a3999 fee.\n\nBut rock-bottom rates may not be around much longer. Minutes from September\u2019s Monetary Policy Committee meeting struck an increasingly hawkish note, prompting some economists to forecast a rise in Bank rate at November\u2019s meeting.\n\nRepeated hints to this effect from Bank of England governor Mark Carney have already started to push up funding costs for mortgage lenders.\n\nTwo and five-year swap rates, an important determinant of mortgage pricing, have jumped by roughly 30 basis points since the minutes were released.\n\nIt has already prompted some lenders to raise rates.\n\nNationwide hiked its two-year fixed rates by 0.25 percentage points across 60 per cent and 75 per cent loan-to-values and 0.1 percentage points at 80 and 85 per cent LTVs this week, while Skipton Building Society confirmed its rates are set to rise soon.\n\nEd Stansfield, chief property economist at Capital Economics, said: 'By the end of 2019 we expect Bank rate to sit at 1.75 per cent. Accordingly, it seems almost certain that mortgage interest rates are now approaching a turning point.'", "output": "The Bank of England has hinted that the cheapest ever mortgage rates of 1.55% or lower may soon be about to go up. However, lenders are continuing to offer competitive low-rate deals. Recently released minutes from September\u2019s Monetary Policy Committee meeting at the Bank\u00a0prompted analysts to suggest that\u00a0a rise in interest rates may not be far off, and some lenders have already raised their rates. Research firm Capital Economics has predicted that the average mortgage rate will be above 3% by the close of 2019. The firm's Ed Stansfield said: \"By the end of 2019 we expect Bank rate to sit at 1.75%.\""}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trriple mobile wallet to cash in on $19bn UAE remittance market \n With a booming economy and an expat population of about 90 per cent, the UAE is one of the world\u2019s largest remittance-sending countries in the world, topping USD 19 billion per year, according to a recent report by Nimm\u00f6k Consulting. The World Bank has ranked the UAE among the top 10 countries for outward remittance to emerging markets.\n\nHowever, the process of remitting funds outside the UAE can be incredibly inconvenient for the average UAE resident, according to the UAE-based financial technology start-up Trriple. Recently, Guardian Wealth Management, on online currency trading firm estimated that the average expatriate in the UAE spends an average of Dh6,000 per year on money transfers, besides enduring long queues resulting in loss of several man-hours per year.\n\nAddressing this issue, a new mobile wallet service is set to launch during Gitex, which has been developed by digital payments enabler Trriple.\n\nAs an open platform, Trriple\u2019s mobile wallet can connect to any bank, Trriple user, or Point of Sale (POS), which essentially means that Tripple\u2019s mobile wallet can receive funds directly from bank account, from other Trriple users, or from the merchants where user can provide the cash to the merchant to get funds in his/her wallet. As a result, Trriple users can make peer-to-peer transfers, top up their mobile credit on du or Etisalat networks, pay for goods at merchants and send cross-border remittances using Trriple mobile wallet.\n\n\u201cUAE residents sending remittances no longer want to stand in long queues holding cash, pay high fees, or wait days for transfers to clear. A mobile wallet and digital payments can cut through the delays, and enable people to send money instantly, securely, and from the convenience of their mobile devices,\u201d said Paolo Gagliardi, Chief Executive Officer, Trriple.\n\n\u201cGITEX Technology Week is an ideal global platform for Trriple to demonstrate how digital payments platform can enable the UAE\u2019s and the region\u2019s cashless economy, helping the government, merchants, and consumers save time and money. At GITEX, Trriple aims to expand our investor and channel partner ecosystem to fuel our growth,\u201d added Mr Gagliardi.", "output": "United Arab Emirates (UAE) start-up Trriple will launch its mobile wallet service during this year's GITEX Technology Week event in Dubai. The company is targeting the large number of expats in the UAE who spend an estimated average of AED6,000 ($1,633) per year to transfer $19bn overseas, aiming to make the process faster and more secure. The mobile wallet can connect with any point of sale, bank or other Trriple user\u00a0and supports peer-to-peer transfers, payment for goods and services as well as\u00a0cross-border transactions.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Robot learns martial arts nunchuck skill as if it was human \n In an era of heightened fears about killer robots, teaching them martial arts may seem unwise. But researchers have now shown a robot how to flip nunchucks to demonstrate an intuitive approach for teaching complex manual tasks. The group built a bionic hand and a motion-capture glove that can be used to teach the robot by demonstration, a popular method for skills requiring dexterity. But that's like learning from a silent teacher, the engineers say in research uploaded to the arXiv preprint server, so they devised an approach closer to how humans are taught. First, the teacher explains each step of the trick using an intuitive symbolic flow chart called a Petri net. Then, they demonstrate the trick and evaluate their own performance after every attempt, creating data the robot uses to learn the movements required at each step and develop criteria for self-evaluation as it practices. It took the robot a matter of hours to learn how to spin the nunchuck around the back of its hand and catch it again. But the approach is not task-specific, so the researchers say it could help teach all kinds of complex, dynamic motor skills now beyond robots, particularly those dealing with partly soft, partly rigid objects. That could include assembling car interiors or fruit picking. Or more advanced nunchuck tricks, of course.", "output": "Researchers from the New Jersey Institute of Technology have taught a robot how to use a pair of nunchucks in just a few hours via a more human, intuitive approach. Researchers built a bionic hand and motion-capture glove. They then used an approach whereby the teacher first explained the nunchucks trick step by step, using an intuitive symbolic flow chart. The teacher then demonstrated the trick, evaluating his own performance after each attempt. This created data the robot could learn from as well as use for criteria for self-evaluation as it practised."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesla is overvalued, says\u00a0Danish environmental investment fund \n Tesla is overvalued, according to a climate fund that has beaten 97 percent of its peers.\n\n\"We don't see upside,\" Thomas Sorensen, who manages the Nordea Global Climate and Environmental Fund, said by phone on Thursday. \"What's needed in cash flow generation to get to the current valuation -- we don't see that happening.\"\n\nWith more and more climate-friendly products and services coming to market, investors are having a hard time valuing new technology. Tesla's 60 percent share rise so far this year is testament to investor enthusiasm even as it reported losses in both the first and second quarter.\n\n\"We don't see upside,\" Thomas Sorensen, who manages the Nordea Global Climate and Environmental Fund. AP\n\nBut the turmoil created by the electric car's rise that roiled traditional carmakers now means greater risk for all manufacturers.\n\n\"It's going to be a race to the bottom for the whole industry,\" he said. \"In this big transition period, it's very tough to point out the winners and the overall profitability of the sector. The risks are too high.\"", "output": "Copenhagen-based Nordea Global Climate and Environmental Fund has taken a negative view of electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla's prospects, saying that the firm is\u00a0overvalued and it saw no upside. \"What's needed in cash flow generation to get to the current valuation. We don't see that happening,\" said fund manager Thomas Sorensen. Instead, he said the fund, which has outperformed 97% of its peers over the past five years, was focusing on \"mid-cap companies with a unique solution, unique product that can be taken global. That's our sweet spot.\" Tesla's share price has risen by 60% this year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China closes gap on US creation of billion-dollar unicorns \n In 2010, almost every new billion dollar company that entered the market called US or Europe home. Times are changing.\n\nChina is now closing the gap with the US (and rocketed past Europe in 2015) when it comes to minting new $1 billion startups, reports the investment advisory firm Scenic Advisement which analyzed financing data from CB Insights.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nSo far this year, 12 of the 33 such companies created around the world are in China. That\u2019s the latest milestone in a long-term trend. More than a quarter of new unicorns have been created in China since 2010. The rise comes as a flood of private capital has lifted startup valuations around the world, and China\u2019s economy begins to mature (paywall) into a more advanced service economy.\n\nIt\u2019s too soon to know the \u201ctrue\u201d value of many of these companies. While flush with venture capital, only a few have faced the scrutiny of public investors.\n\nBut the trend is clear. The number of new billion-dollar startups in China is now tracking their counterparts in the US quite closely: 34 unicorns have arrived in China since mid- 2015 compared to 39 in the US. Although the US still holds an advantage in the total number of such companies (it\u2019s home to 100 unicorns created in the US since 2010, compared to 56 in China), the advantage may fade.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThat bi-polar world has already arrived, says Duncan Logan, CEO of the global technology accelerator RocketSpace, citing Tencent (versus Google), Didi (versus Uber) and WeChat (versus Facebook). China has shown a willingness to shut out foreign competitors, and its economy has roared along with 7% GDP growth in recent years, compared to 1% to 2.5% growth in the US. The country is on track to become the world\u2019s largest economy by 2030 or sooner. It also has an unrivaled set of local markets for startups: The US has 11 cities with more than a million people, while China has more than 100.\n\nSilicon Valley remains the center of the world\u2019s top technical talent, capital, and people willing to fund risky ideas, but soaring housing prices and salaries in the Bay Area are leading companies to leave for less expensive cities. Chinese nationals studying abroad are now returning to China in greater numbers, reports The San Francisco Chronicle, citing the hostile environment in the US and opportunities back home. Last year, 432,500 of this returning cohort, known in Chinese as haigui or sea turtles, made the trek back home, an increase of 58% over 2012.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019re starting to see serial entrepreneurs move out of the Valley and go to other cities and try to hire people and start up something elsewhere,\u201d says Veronica Wu, managing director of Hone Capital who has helped set up operations for Motorola, Tesla, and Apple in China. \u201cI definitely think it\u2019s a threat, but right now [Silicon Valley] is still hard to replicate anywhere else.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nCorrection: A previous version of this post referred to Hone Ventures. It is Hone Capital.", "output": "China is fast\u00a0catching up with the US as a global provider of billion-dollar unicorns,\u00a0Scenic Advisement said. A dozen of\u00a0the 33 that emerged this year were created in China as a flood of private capital increased start-up valuations globally\u00a0and as China's economy matures. The trend is\u00a0being\u00a0hastened\u00a0by greater numbers of\u00a0Chinese overseas students returning home after their studies.\u00a0China's tally\u00a0passed Europe's in 2015. Although Silicon Valley remains\u00a0the primary\u00a0area for global\u00a0top tech\u00a0talent and where\u00a0people are most\u00a0willing to fund risky ideas, rising house prices and salaries are encouraging\u00a0serial entrepreneurs\u00a0to\u00a0create start-ups further afield.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wison launches floating tower for medium-depth platforms \n Edit page New page Hide edit links\n\nThe overall effect diagram of New Buoyant Tower solution with storage (illustration: Wison)\n\nWison Offshore & Marine has announced that the company has developed a new Buoyant Tower solution with condensate or oil storage, adopting Wison\u2019s proprietary Buoyant Tower technology. This innovative floating concept provides a new economic and reliable option for the oil and gas development in the shallow to medium-depth waters.\n\nOriginally invented by Ed Horton and Lyle Finn, the Buoyant Tower technology was first applied to BPZ CX-15 project offshore Peru when both Ed and Lyle worked for Horton Wison Deepwater Inc. (HWD), now renamed as Wison Offshore Technology Inc. with 130+ patents originated by Ed Horton and his fellows transferred from HWD. Since its delivery from Wison\u2019s Nantong Yard in August 2012, the CX-15 platform has been in stable operation.\n\nThe Buoyant Tower is a self-installed floater. The concept eliminates the costly T&I process needed for conventional jackets. In addition, with some greater water depth, more savings could be expected as its weight (hence the cost) is insensitive to the water depth. For example, at a water depth of 150 metres, EPC of a buoyant tower might cost as much as 50% less of that for a jacket. Now with the add-on storage capability, a buoyant tower solution presents more economic advantages compared to a traditional \u201cJacket + FSO\u201d or \u201cJacket + Export Oil Line\u201d solution due to the cost elimination of an FSO or an export oil line.\n\nThe new Buoyant Tower solution is flexible and scalable for topsides up to 10,000 tonnes, with ~10,000-30,000 tonnes of dry storage for condensate or oil, at a water depth up to 300 metres.\n\nThe configuration of the hull has been designed to accommodate the storage tank (hard tank) in the center while the surrounding ballast tanks remain balanced with hydrostatic pressure. The buoyant tanks near the water surface coupled with the solid ballast at the bottom provide the Buoyant Tower with permanent stability. The anti-rotation design of the SCF (suction can foundation) can provide further in-place stability. The analysis has shown that the tower demonstrates excellent motion performance at greater water depth.\n\n\u201cThe buoyant tower is a compliant structure with very long eigen period. Within its application limits, the tower works better in deeper water. This prevents the platform from resonant motions in severe wave conditions. Therefore, a Buoyant Tower can support most E&P operations such as drilling, production (dry tree), gas compression or treatment, crude stabilisation, water treatment or injection, power generation and other utility purposes\u201d says Dr Weimin CHEN, Senior Solutions Director of Wison Offshore and Marine.\n\nYing CUI, Chief Executive Officer of Wison Offshore & Marine says, \u201cWhile further building up our position as a leading floating LNG and power solutions provider, Wison is also dedicated to developing more innovative solutions for the offshore upstream industry with our proprietary technologies. The launch of new Buoyant Tower solution would demonstrate our commitment to help oil & gas operators adapt to the low oil price environment by offering economical alternatives.\u201d", "output": "Chinese engineering firm Wison Offshore and Marine has developed a new way to recover oil and gas in shallow and medium-depth waters. The Buoyant Tower is scalable for topsides up to 10,000 tonnes, includes up to 10,000-30,000 tonnes of dry storage at a water depth of 300 metres and can be used for most exploration and production operations."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Boxed to sell best ad space through real-time auctions \n This month, shoppers looking to stock up on Halloween candy can buy 160 mini chocolate bars for a mere $16 on ecommerce site Boxed. And starting this week, the confectionery marketers looking to target them with ads can virtually jostle for position like trick-or-treaters searching for the last Snickers in a plastic cauldron.", "output": "Retail platform Boxed will pit advertiser against advertiser in real time auctions\u00a0for the best ad space on the\u00a0wholesaler's website. It's seeking to boost revenue from its list of advertisers, who are attracted to the site by the longer times shoppers spend browsing\u00a0its pages compared with rivals. As a \"virtual warehouse\", shoppers remain on the site for\u00a015 to 20 minutes, giving Boxed more opportunity\u00a0to target them with ads.\u00a0It's one way the start-up\u00a0hopes to challenge\u00a0Amazon and other e-commerce giants\u00a0such as\u00a0Walmart's Jet.com."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nissan to recall 1.2 million cars in Japan over safety faults \n For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBreaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nNissan has announced that it is recalling just over 1.2 million vehicles in Japan that do not meet domestic requirements for final inspection.\n\nEarlier in the day, shares in the Japanese car giant fell dramatically, after it announced at the end of last week that it had released thousands of vehicles onto the Japanese market that had not been subjected to comprehensive safety checks.\n\nIt later said that approximately 1.21 million units produced between October 2014 and September 2017 would be subject to re-inspection.\n\n\u201cNissan regrets any inconvenience and concern this has caused to its valued customers in Japan,\" the carmaker said, adding that it was \"taking proactive action to resolve this matter\".", "output": "Japanese automaker Nissan will recall 1.2 million new cars it sold in Japan over the last three years, following the discovery that final vehicle inspections were not performed by authorised technicians, failing to meet domestic requirements. The recall is expected to cost roughly\u00a0$220m.\u00a0Shares in Nissan fell by 5% following the announcement.\u00a0\"We must take the registration framework and procedures seriously, regardless of how busy we may be or how short-staffed we may be\", said\u00a0Nissan CEO\u00a0Hiroto Saikawa."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lancaster University team develops gesture controller for TVs \n Targets in the corner of a TV screen. Each target rotates around its corresponding function. The user matches the rotational movement with any object, or part of their body, to create a coupling and active the control. Credit: Lancaster University\n\nImagine changing the channel of your TV simply by moving your cup of tea, adjusting the volume on a music player by rolling a toy car, or rotating a spatula to pause a cookery video on your tablet.\n\nNew gesture control technology that can turn everyday objects into remote controls could revolutionise how we interact with televisions, and other screens - ending frustrating searches for remotes that have slipped down the side of sofa cushions.\n\nIn a paper - 'Matchpoint: Spontaneous spatial coupling of body movement for touchless pointing' - which will be presented at the UIST2017 conference in Quebec City this October, researchers from Lancaster University show a novel technique that allows body movement, or movement of objects, to be used to interact with screens.\n\nThe 'Matchpoint' technology, which only requires a simple webcam, works by displaying moving targets that orbit a small circular widget in the corner of the screen. These targets correspond to different functions - such as volume, changing channel or viewing a menu. The user synchronises the direction of movement of the target, with their hand, head or an object, to achieve what researchers call 'spontaneous spatial coupling', which activates the desired function.\n\nUnlike existing gesture control technology, the software does not look for a specific body part it has been trained to identify - such as a hand. Lancaster's technology looks for rotating movement so it doesn't require calibration, or the software to have prior knowledge of objects. This provides much more flexibility and ease for the user as it works even while hands are full, and while stood or slouching on the sofa.\n\nUsers also do not need to learn specific commands to activate different functions, as is the case with some gesture controlled televisions on the market, and the user is able to decouple at will.\n\nWhen selecting volume adjustment or channel selection, sliders appear. The user moves their hand, head, or object, in the required direction indicated by the slider to change the volume or to find the desired channel.\n\nLancaster University researcher Christopher Clarke selects a channel to watch by using his mug as a remote control. He moves his drink left or right until finding the station he wants to watch. Credit: Lancaster University\n\nAs well as televisions, the technology can also be used with other screens. For example, YouTube tutorials, such as mending bikes or baking cakes, could be easily paused and rewound on tablet computers without users having to put down tools or mixing bowls.\n\nMultiple pointers can be created to allow more than one user to point at drawings or pictures on interactive whiteboards simultaneously. Matchpoint also allows users to manipulate images on whiteboards by using two hands to zoom in and out, and rotate images.\n\nIn addition to short-term couplings, users can also link stationary objects to controls, which even when left for prolonged periods will retain their control function. For example, a mug sat on a table could change a track on a music player when moved left or right, and a rolling toy car could be used to adjust volume. Objects can lose their coupling with controls simply by removing them from the camera's field of view.\n\nChristopher Clarke, PhD student at Lancaster University's School of Computing and Communications, and developer of the technology, said: \"Spontaneous spatial coupling is a new approach to gesture control that works by matching movement instead of asking the computer to recognise a specific object.\n\n\"Our method allows for a much more user-friendly experience where you can change channels without having to put down your drink, or change your position, whether that is relaxing on the sofa or standing in the kitchen following a recipe.\n\n\"Everyday objects in the house can now easily become remote controls so there are no more frantic searches for remote controls when your favourite programme is about to start on another channel, and now everyone in the room has the 'remote'. You could even change the channel with your pet cat.\"\n\nResearchers believe Matchpoint is also suitable to be used as an accessibility tool for people who are unable to use traditional pointers, such as remote controls and a mouse and keyboard.\n\nMore information: UIST 2017: 30th ACM User Interface Software and Technology Symposium, DOI: 10.1145/3126594.3126626", "output": "Researchers from Lancaster University have developed software, called \"Matchpoint\", which allows gesture control of TVs and computers. The technique removes the need to train the controller to identify a specific body part, or to teach the user\u00a0specific gesture commands for specific functions. The software uses a standard web cam to detect any movement in the visual field, looking specifically for\u00a0patterns that match\u00a0the movement of on-screen targets,\u00a0which are attached to specific functions like adjusting the volume or changing the channel. The camera will pick up any movement, including the rotation of a coffee cup or the waving of a pencil.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook to hire 4,000 more people to review ads, remove material \n Russians appeared to be following a timeworn but effective divide-and-conquer strategy.\n\nSocial network Facebook said it will hire 1,000 additional ad reviewers to crack down on future attempts to interfere with elections across the world.\n\nThe selection of divisive issues, ranging from racism to LGBTQ rights, by Russian operatives was perceived as a way to skew US sentiment in the lead-up to last November\u2019s elections, Facebook has revealed.\n\n\u2018Currency alone isn\u2019t a good way of identifying suspicious activity because the overwhelming majority of advertisers who pay in Russian currency, like the overwhelming majority of people who access Facebook from Russia, aren\u2019t doing anything wrong\u2019\n\n\u2013 ELLIOT SCHRAGE\n\nThe whole saga kicks a hornet\u2019s nest of speculation about alleged collusion between the Trump camp and Russian interests.\n\nFacebook said in recent weeks that it believed Russian agents bought 3,000 ads last year around the time of the US presidential elections. The company has submitted its data to Congress in a move that US president Donald Trump described as \u201canti-Trump\u201d.\n\nFacebook\u2019s platform has more than 5m paying advertisers, making it difficult to enforce policies.\n\nIt intends to invest in software to flag abuse of its ad targeting platform, and will also hire 3,000 more people to speed up the removal of videos that show shocking material such as murders and suicide.\n\n\u201cReviewing ads means assessing not just the content of an ad, but the context in which it was bought and the intended audience \u2013 so we\u2019re changing our ads review system to pay more attention to these signals,\u201d it said.\n\nWe can\u2019t go on forever, with suspicious minds\n\nFacebook\u2019s vice-president of policy and communications, Elliot Schrage, said that an estimated 10m people in the US saw the ads and around 44pc of ad impressions were before the US election in November.\n\nFor 50pc of the ads, less than $3 was spent. No more than $1,000 was spent for 99pc of the ads.\n\nSchrage said that despite a rigorous process that sees millions of ads reviewed each week and around 8m people reporting ads daily, the ad targeting system devised by Facebook can still be abused.\n\nTo this end, the company plans to strengthen enforcement, make its system more transparent, increase requirements for authenticity, and establish industry standards and best practices.\n\n\u201cSome of the ads were paid for in Russian currency,\u201d Schrage said. \u201cCurrency alone isn\u2019t a good way of identifying suspicious activity because the overwhelming majority of advertisers who pay in Russian currency, like the overwhelming majority of people who access Facebook from Russia, aren\u2019t doing anything wrong. We did use this as a signal to help identify these ads but it wasn\u2019t the only signal. We are continuing to refine our techniques for identifying the kinds of ads in question. We\u2019re not going to disclose more details because we don\u2019t want to give bad actors a roadmap for avoiding future detection.\u201d\n\nHe said that the right to speak out on global issues that cross borders is an important principle, and that organisations such as UNICEF and Oxfam depend on the ability to communicate.\n\nHowever, he said steps must be taken to prevent any possible abuse of the system or attempts to sow division.\n\n\u201cThe threats we\u2019re confronting are bigger than any one company, or even any one industry. The kind of malicious interference we\u2019re seeing requires everyone working together, across business, government and civil society, to share information and arrive at the best responses.\n\n\u201cWe have been working with many others in the technology industry, including with Google and Twitter, on a range of elements related to this investigation. We also have a long history of working together to fight online threats and develop best practices on other issues, such as child safety and counterterrorism. And we will continue all of this work,\u201d Schrage said.\n\nHe added that Facebook cannot be used to undermine free speech, public debate or free and fair elections.\n\n\u201cThe 2016 US election was the first where evidence has been widely reported that foreign actors sought to exploit the internet to influence voter behaviour.\n\n\u201cWe understand more about how our service was abused and we will continue to investigate to learn all we can. We know that our experience is only a small piece of a much larger puzzle. Congress and the special counsel are best placed to put these pieces together because they have much broader investigative power to obtain information from other sources.\u201d", "output": "Facebook is to hire 1,000 more ad reviewers to tackle future attempts to interfere in global elections, in response to alleged interference by Russian agents during the US presidential campaign. Facebook submitted data to Congress that it believed showed Russian operative bought 3,000 Facebook ads around the time of the elections, displaying a range of disruptive issues aimed at distorting US opinion. The firm will also invest in software to identify abuse and hire an addition 3,000 people to hasten the removal of inappropriate content. Plans to increase transparency, authenticity requirements, and establish industry standards are also noted."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Allianz inks partnership with cyber risk specialist \n Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty SE (AGCS), Allianz Group\u2019s specialist carrier for corporate insurance business, has teamed up with San Mateo, Calif.-based cyber risk analytics and modeling firm Cyence to boost its global cyber risk analysis capabilities.\n\nCyence\u2019s cyber analytics platform will help AGCS boost its global cyber risk analysis capabilities, said AGCS in a statement. The partnership also will help AGCS better analyze cyber exposures for large business customers by creating a detailed understanding of their individual cyber risk profiles, quickly allowing the insurer to tailor coverage to fit specific customer profiles.\n\nIn a second initiative, AGCS plans to integrate Cyence\u2019s cyber risk analytics into new digital distribution platforms that enable low-touch, automated underwriting of cyber policies for medium-size companies.\n\nBoth companies are also joining forces to develop a new predictive modeling tool for cyber-driven business interruption risks, AGCS added.\n\n\u201cWe are moving our underwriting approach from hindsight to foresight,\u201d explained AGCS Board Member Hartmut Mai as the rationale behind the cooperation with Cyence.\n\n\u201cThe future of underwriting and practical risk management will be based on the intelligent use of technology and data,\u201d said Mai.\n\nGoing forward, AGCS must complement its technical knowhow and experience \u201cwith extensive data-driven insight and predictive modeling if we want to keep ahead of new risks such as cyber, supply chain, or emerging liability exposures, Mai added.\n\nCyence reaches beyond the technical analysis of the IT security of a company into analyzing the human behavioral indicators and an organization\u2019s processes to calibrate cyber risk, explained AGCS, noting that the Cyence platform spans from risk selection and assessment of individual companies to risk accumulation and catastrophic cyber risk scenarios and their potential impact.\n\nAGCS previously announced a similar partnership with liability modeling specialist Praedicat, which focuses on analyzing big data to identify risk trends in liability.\n\nSource: Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS)\n\nTopics Mergers & Acquisitions Cyber", "output": "Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty has partnered with cyber risk expert Cyence to better understand cyber risks affecting its clients. The two firms will be working together in developing predictive modelling tools assessing business interruption caused by cyber breaches. Allianz also plans on leveraging the partnership to establish a digital distribution platform potentially providing automated cyber coverage for medium-sized businesses. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "VisualDx unveils dermatological diagnosis app for non-specialists \n When a person develops an unsightly skin condition, the first person to assess it is typically not a dermatologist. A lack of expertise in dermatology too often leads to misdiagnoses. General practice physicians, for example, get very little training on skin conditions. Now, thanks to a new feature inside the latest Apple iOS for iPhones and iPads, any physician can have access to an impressive image recognition platform that identifies skin conditions and recommends further actions. We spoke with Dr. Art Papier, CEO of VisualDx, about the VisualDx + Derm Expert app that the company is making available.\n\nThe new app is certainly not a dermatologist, but it relies on pretty impressive deep learning and vision algorithms to guide the physician closer to a diagnosis or a referral. Using the VisualDx + Derm Expert app, a clinician can simply take a photo of the area of the skin exhibiting something unusual, add additional related info about the patient including drugs taken and places recently traveled, and receive suggestions pointing to what the issue may be. The resulting differential diagnoses are also linked to more information about the diseases that may be causing the given condition.\n\nThe app works because it was taught what it knows using thousands of dermatology images that VisualDx, the company, collected for more than 20 years. Of note, this may be the world\u2019s largest dermatology image archive. This new capability the company has been quietly holding onto, though, because of a legal issue that was just resolved thanks to a bit of technology inside the new iOS. Specifically, because the image has to be run against a pretty intensive and power hungry algorithm, it had to be sent over the internet to the cloud for processing. This effectively broke HIPAA rules, since patient data would have to be passed to a third party outside the clinical practice. Now, thanks to a feature called Core ML that\u2019s rolling out in iOS 11, patient data stays local and is processed on the iPhone or iPad itself. Core ML is a way for app designers to integrate machine learning models into their products, forcing the processing to take place inside the device itself and not passing sensitive information to the outside world.\n\nVisualDx + Derm Expert has just been made available on the Apple App Store, but to really work you\u2019ll have to pay for a subscription. While it\u2019s mostly intended for specialists outside of dermatology, it may still help dermatologists with unusual and rare cases. For example, it\u2019s known that allopurinol, used to prevent gout, kidney stones, and other conditions, can lead to a rather large number of other conditions, each of which is nearly impossible to memorize. The VisualDx + Derm Expert app can help a dermatologist to remember such associations, potentially leading to a quicker and more assured diagnosis. To be clear, the app itself is a clinical reference and not a diagnostic tool, and so does not require FDA regulatory approval.\n\nWhile the app is made for professionals, VisualDx is currently working on an app designed specifically for consumers. In our conversation with Dr. Papier, he said that the new consumer facing app will help lay folks to make more informed triage decisions about what to do about a rash, welt, or other skin problem.\n\nProduct page: VisualDx + DermExpert\u2026", "output": "VisualDx's dermatology app VisualDx + Derm Expert has been made available on Apple's App Store. Aimed primarily at clinicians, the app uses deep learning to identify and offer additional information about a wide range of skin conditions, using a vast databank of images the company has spent 20 years collecting. Thanks to Apple's Core ML feature, the data is processed locally and doesn't violate the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The state of New York health tech firm is also working on a general app to help the public identify rashes and other skin conditions."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AppNexus' former Australia MD joins Facebook in Singapore \n Kaylie Smith\n\nAd tech business AppNexus is again on the hunt for a local lead as its MD, Kaylie Smith, has exited for a gig at Facebook.\n\nSmith, who had been in the Sydney-based role for eight months, joined the independent technology company after well-known ad tech veteran and VP sales APAC at AppNexus, Dave Osborn, returned to the states in February. Smith's role covered JAPAC.\n\nWhile Osborn wasn't MD, he was deemed the local market leader at the business.\n\nSmith, who actually left in July, is now head of SMB at Facebook Australia and New Zealand and is based in Singapore.\n\n\"By mutual agreement, Kaylie Smith departed her position at AppNexus at the end of July 2017,\u201d an AppNexus spokesperson tells AdNews.\n\nSmith is is tasked with working with small and medium businesses across Australia and New Zealand to help them maximise their advertising on the Facebook family of products. Her role is to work with businesses to help them understand how to best use Facebook to grow their business.\n\nFacebook says she's charged with empowering businesses ranging from local cafes, to online only retailers, helping them build community and customer relationships on its platform.\n\nAppNexus, which WPP invested US $25 million in for a significant stake in 2014, is still hunting for someone to fill the executive leadership role for the JAPAC region.\n\nHave something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au\n\nSign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.", "output": "The former managing director of AppNexus in Australia has departed for a role at Facebook. Kaylie Smith, who left AppNexus in July, has taken up a role based in Singapore as head of SMB at Facebook Australia and New Zealand. Smith will work\u00a0with small and medium-sized businesses across the regions to help them maximise their advertising on Facebook\u2019s platform and improve their understanding of how best to use Facebook to expand. AppNexus is looking for\u00a0someone to fill the vacant executive leadership role."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "'Electrobiorefinery' uses renewables to make fuel from biomass \n Production of drop-in fuels from biomass at high selectivity by combined microbial and electrochemical conversion\n\nC. Urban, J. Xu, H. Str\u00e4uber, T. R. dos Santos Dantas, J. M\u00fchlenberg, C. H\u00e4rtig, L. T. Angenent and F. Harnisch, Energy Environ. Sci., 2017, 10, 2231 DOI: 10.1039/C7EE01303E\n\nTo request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.\n\nIf you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.\n\nIf you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.\n\nRead more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.", "output": "A team of US and German scientists have demonstrated how intermittent renewable energy can be used efficiently to produce a drop-in biofuel. They subjected corn silage to anaerobic fermentation, creating carboxylic acids which were then electrochemically converted into energy-dense alkanes or biofuel. Excess renewable energy was used in the final electrochemical phase, and insiders say that because the first stage is much slower than the final stage, where the renewable energy is used, it accommodates the intermittent nature of the electricity supply and it could be the first step towards an electrobiorefinery integrated with renewable energy."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "'Electrobiorefinery' uses renewables to make fuel from biomass \n Scientists in Germany and the US have developed a way to make fuel from biomass that uses excess renewable energy. Their bioelectrorefinery combines known techniques in a unique way to produce a biofuel very similar to diesel.\n\nIn the first stage of the process, microbes transform corn silage into carboxylic acids in a bioreactor. Next, a method called pertraction uses membranes to separate out carboxylic acids with carbon chains six to 12 carbon-atoms long, from the reactor medium. These medium-chain carboxylic acids are the ideal feedstock for the final stage of the process and the pertraction process means smaller carboxlic acids remain in the reaction broth so the microbes can elongate them further. The final stage electrochemically converts the carboxylic acids into energy dense alkanes, which can be used as a drop-in fuel.\n\nExcess electricity from renewable sources such as wind farms or solar panels powers the final stage and means that energy generated on very sunny or windy days does not go to waste. And because the first stage produces carboxylic acids much slower than the last stage converts them into fuel, the whole concept accommodates the intermittent availability of this excess electricity.\n\nProducing a drop-in fuel is particularly significant, as it can be directly substituted for petrol or diesel without major changes to existing engines, infrastructure or distribution networks. \u2018We showed this on a scale that was not demonstrated before,\u2019 says Falk Harnisch from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research who led the work. \u2018You could really see it and even smell it \u2013 it smells like diesel!\u2019\n\n\u2018This is the first report that demonstrates at lab-scale, a combination of two approaches in a sequential manner to present an integrated electrobiorefinery set up,\u2019 says Deepak Pant, a bioelectrochemistry researcher at the Flemish Institute for Technological Research. \u2018It should pave way for efforts towards developing an electrobiorefinery that is truly integrated with renewable electricity supply.\u2019", "output": "A team of US and German scientists have demonstrated how intermittent renewable energy can be used efficiently to produce a drop-in biofuel. They subjected corn silage to anaerobic fermentation, creating carboxylic acids which were then electrochemically converted into energy-dense alkanes or biofuel. Excess renewable energy was used in the final electrochemical phase, and insiders say that because the first stage is much slower than the final stage, where the renewable energy is used, it accommodates the intermittent nature of the electricity supply and it could be the first step towards an electrobiorefinery integrated with renewable energy."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China-Austria satellite video call shows potential of quantum net \n Earlier today, China's pioneering quantum satellite Micius facilitated the first-ever intercontinental video conference using a quantum communications network. The video call connected Chunli Bai, the president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, with Anton Zeilinger, president of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, a distance of over 4,600 miles. It was the first real-world demonstration that showed that a global quantum internet is not only possible, but within reach. A little over a year ago, Bai and his colleagues launched Micius, the first quantum satellite that was meant to serve as a testbed for technologies that would pave the way for a global, space-based quantum communications network. Unlike the normal internet, this quantum internet would be perfectly secure, an issue of paramount importance as we stand on the threshold of the age of quantum computing.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nToday, satellites are the backbone of many internet technologies that we use on a day-to-day basis, such as the GPS systems that power Google Maps, satellite televisions, ATMs, and many of the consumer products that make up the Internet of Things. These satellites help route data between internetworked objects all around the globe and when the data is sensitive, such as with banking applications, it is generally encrypted as it is passed between ground stations and satellites. The encryption algorithms used to protect this data are generally based on difficult math problems, such as factoring astronomically large prime numbers.\n\n\"This is a very important step towards a world-wide and secure quantum internet.\"\n\nWhile contemporary encryption standards are robust enough that an attacker would be unable to crack them even if they had access to all the computing power on Earth, these same encryption standards will be rendered obsolete with the advent of large-scale quantum computers. Unlike a traditional computer, which traffics in binary bits, where data is stored as either a 1 or 0, quantum computers make use of qubits, which is data that is either a 1, 0, or a combination of these states at the same time. In practice, this means that a quantum computer will be able to crack today's encryption without much difficulty. This impending crypto-apocalypse has resulted in a race to create quantum-resistant cryptography, and one of the leading candidates in this area is known as quantum key distribution (QKD). This is a method of manipulating the quantum states of individual photons to encode an encryption key. This key is then used to secure another key, which would work with a non-quantum encryption algorithm that is used to actually encode the data being sent. In other words, QKD is using particles of light to create a quantum encryption key that secures a traditional encryption key. One way of implementing QKD is by entangling photons. Entanglement is a way of linking two different particles, in this case photons, at a distance, so that each share the same quantum state. Entanglement is kind of like having one particle exist in multiple locations at once. As far as the quantum internet is concerned, entanglement could be used to transfer quantum keys between two distant locations.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nFor example, in June of this year, Chinese researchers demonstrated that they were able to transmit entangled photons from the Micius satellite to two ground stations in China that are 750 miles apart while maintaining entanglement between the particles. The entangled particles were generated on board the satellite and then delivered to two different ground systems using a split laser beam. Each beam sent one of the entangled photons to a ground station, where the quantum state of the photon could be measured, thus distributing the same quantum key to two remote locations.\n\nThe quantum states of entangled photons are also a more secure cryptographic basis than difficult math problems because as soon as an attacker tries to measure the state of the photon, it alters the photon's state and renders decryption impossible. Today, these researchers took these same principles a step further by using the Micius satellite to facilitate the first intercontinental communication secured using QKD. According to a press release from the Austrian Academy of Sciences, using QKD to secure the video call made it \"at least a million times safer\" than securing it using conventional methods of encryption.\n\nIn the case of today's video conference, QKD was used to encrypt the video signal being routed between ground stations near Vienna and Beijing. Prior to the video call, the quantum state of photons generated on board Micius were generated and sent to a ground station near Vienna where these states were measured. These same quantum states were then translated into binary code (1s and 0s) on the satellite and sent to the ground station near Vienna. There, researchers compared their measurement of the quantum state of the photon with the binary translation of this quantum state. If these values didn't match exactly, it would alert the researchers that an attacker was trying to eavesdrop on the transmission.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThis same process was then repeated between the Micius satellite and the ground station near Beijing. At this point, the researchers in Austria and China both had unique quantum keys that were stored on board the satellite. These keys were then combined to generate a new quantum key that was transmitted to both China and Austria. Each station was then able to use its unique quantum key in combination with the shared quantum key to securely encrypt the video call that was routed between them, effectively establishing the first intercontinental communication secured using quantum encryption.\n\n\"The exchange of quantum encrypted information over inter-continental distances confirms the potential of quantum communication technologies as opened up by fundamental research,\" Zeilinger said in a statement after the video call. \"This is a very important step towards a world-wide and secure quantum internet.\"\n\nRead More: Researchers Made the First Quantum Enigma Machine\n\nPrior to the launch of Micius, the world-record for QKD using entanglement was 64 miles. Although both open-air and fiber-optic cable can be used to transmit photons, both of these mediums degrade the entanglement and over a long enough distance the effect is lost entirely. Space, however, provides a nearly lossless medium for the transmission of entangled particles, making it an optimal way to route quantum information between two distance points and lasers help the quantum state of photons survive their turbulent journey through Earth's atmosphere.\n\nThese ground stations were connected to the research institutions via terrestrial quantum communication networks built with optical fiber. Such networks have been used by government institutions for a few years, but these networks are limited in the distance that they can sent quantum information (around 60 miles).", "output": "The Chinese satellite Micius has carried out successful encryption and transmission of a video call between Vienna and Beijing using quantum entanglement. Prior to the call, quantum states of entangled photons generated onboard Micius were sent down to both ground stations separately, where they were used to generate unique cryptographic keys. The keys were then sent back up to Micius and combined into a new, shared key that could be used\u00a0to encrypt and decrypt the video. The achievement is being hailed as the first step towards a global quantum internet, which would theoretically be completely secure."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dash tie-up with Wirex\u00a0moves cryptocurrency\u00a0closer to mainstream\u00a0 \n Dash, the top digital currency for payments, announced on Monday it will soon be integrated into crypto-banking platform, Wirex, allowing customers to pay with Dash online and in-store at over 40 million merchants accepting VISA worldwide.\n\nAccording to Dash, the integration means Wirex plastic and virtual cardholders can fund their accounts with Dash, link their Dash wallet, and use the payment card just like a standard VISA debit card. Upon any purchase, Wirex customers will have the payment amount automatically converted from the national denomination to Dash, and then withdrawn from their digital currency holdings. The business partnership also enables Wirex customers the ability to withdraw cash at any ATM, using their Dash, in 210 countries\n\nThe business partnership also enables Wirex customers the ability to withdraw cash at any ATM, using their Dash, in 210 countries across the world. CEO of Dash Core, Ryan Taylor, stated:\n\n\u201cWirex is a premier brand for digital currency services, and supports the world\u2019s largest base of digital currency funded pre-paid cards. We\u2019re excited to bring the benefits of Dash\u2019s low cost instant transactions to these users. Consumers simply don\u2019t like waiting for transactions to top up debit card balances, and I know that once Wirex consumers try Dash they will recognize the time-saving user experience our network provides at a fraction of the fees to which they are accustomed. It really is a win for consumers, Wirex, and Dash.\u201d\n\nWirex is notably backed by Japan\u2019s biggest FinTech fund, SBI Holdings, which is headed by industry star, Yoshitaka Kitao. Serving over 800,000 customers in 130 countries, Wirex has notched up $1 billion USD in customer transaction and is seeking an e-money license in the UK. Pavel Matveev, CEO of Wirex, shared:\n\n\u201cWirex is thrilled to be the largest provider of Dash payments cards in the world. Our integration with Dash signals an important milestone in the history of cryptocurrency mass adoption. Wirex customers will be the first to spend Dash up and down the high street, or online, as simply as spending any national currency. Dash\u2019s low transaction costs and fast transfer times means customers now have significantly greater flexibility and opportunity to spend cryptocurrencies around the world.\u201d\n\nDespite the historic surge in the total value of the digital currency industry this year, accessibility has remained a recurring issue. Matveev also noted:\n\n\u201cWirex bolsters accessibility to digital currency on a global scale, and we now want to spread Dash adoption and further introduce Dash to the mass market. The Wirex payment card is the gateway to cryptocurrency mass adoption and we are providing a simple method to incorporate Dash into the everyday life of communities around the world. Buying everyday groceries, a glass of beer or even a brand new car is now possible with the Wirex-Dash partnership.\u201d\n\nTaylor then added:", "output": "Cryptocurrency Dash has announced it will integrate with digital currency banking platform Wirex, enabling Dash payments to be made at the 40 million online and in-store outlets worldwide that accept Visa. The deal also allows Wirex users to withdraw cash from ATMs in more than 200 countries using their Dash wallet. Pavel Matveev, the CEO of Wirex said the company's payment card was the \"gateway to cryptocurrency mass adoption\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Japan to encourage data sharing by tech companies to help exports \n TOKYO -- Japanese businesses dealing in such fields as robotics, biotechnology and autonomous driving will find it easier to cooperate and share industrial data under a new policy initiative announced Monday by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.\n\nThrough its tentatively named Connected Industries Tokyo Initiative, the ministry aims to forge or revise frameworks for sharing information across company boundaries in order to spur tie-ups as well as the development of big-data-driven goods and services.", "output": "Japan\u2019s ministry of economy, trade and industry has announced plans to facilitate cooperation and sharing of industrial data among Japanese businesses working in robotics, biotechnology and autonomous driving. The scheme, known as Connected Industries Tokyo Initiative, will include developing frameworks for sharing information between companies and creating\u00a0large-scale data banks\u00a0for the use and sharing of industrial data. Hiroshige Seko, the minister of economy, trade and industry, argued that Japanese businesses need to cooperate more to expand into global markets rather just\u00a0competing\u00a0at home."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "DOE-backed start-up Skysun aims to cut solar heliostat costs by 33% \n Just when it looked like concentrated solar power (CSP) couldn\u2019t get cheaper, a U.S.-based startup says it's found a way of cutting heliostat costs by a third.\n\nSkysun, of Bay Village, Ohio, is aiming to achieve the cost reduction by tying multiple heliostats -- the mirrors that reflect sunlight onto CSP power tower receivers -- onto a single motor and support structure.\n\nCurrently, each heliostat on a power tower solar field has its own motor and support, significantly adding to the cost of what is essentially just a mirror.\n\nSandia National Laboratories, which is collaborating with Skysun through a $275,000 Small Business Voucher provided by the Department of Energy, believes this \u2018ganged heliostats\u2019 design could cut average heliostat costs by 33 percent.\n\n\u201cSandia reported that Skysun\u2019s ganged heliostats can achieve an average price point around $80 per square meter,\u201d according to the DOE.\n\nThat compares to an industry average of $120 per square meter and is close to the DOE\u2019s SunShot Initiative goal of lowering the cost of solar collectors to $75 per square meter.\n\nIt is far from the first time ganged heliostats have been proposed, though; one of the first mentions of the technology is in a 1978 patent.\n\nA 1999 paper by academics at the University of Sydney and the Technical University of Munich described \u201ca new concept of solar tower, the multi-tower solar array with ganged heliostats,\u201d which \u201callows a potential reduction to the crucial reflector cost of two-axis tracking arrays.\u201d\n\nAnd in 2010, a team from the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates studied the efficiency of ganged heliostats in a 100-kilowatt pilot plant.\n\nHowever, said the DOE: \u201cWhile other ganged heliostat concepts have previously been proposed, none of them have shown to be cost-competitive or viable -- until now.\u201d\n\nSkysun\u2019s breakthrough, detailed in a study by founder Jim Clair, appears to be the use of tensile support structures that work with single-axis instead of dual-axis actuators. The system is said to maintain industry-standard accuracy in winds of up to 20 miles per hour.\n\nSlashing heliostat costs could be a big deal for CSP developers. In its 2016 Power to Change report, the International Renewable Energy Agency estimated that the solar field accounted for 38 percent of the total installed cost of a power tower CSP plant.\n\nCutting that cost by a third would reduce overall installed costs by around 13 percent. That said, it is unclear how easy it will be for Skysun\u2019s ganged heliostats to achieve commercialization.\n\nAfter years of attrition from low-cost PV competitors, the CSP market today is populated by just a handful of names, most of which have hard-earned project development credentials.\n\nThe number of projects on offer in the sector is miniscule compared to what is going on in PV or wind.\n\nIn short, the CSP market is not one that favors wild experimentation right now, even though players are said to have an appetite for risk. It also needs to achieve cost reductions as great, or greater, than other renewable sectors in order to be competitive.\n\nThat is why one senior industry figure told GTM \u201call these inventions will surely work, but my personal impression is that I don\u2019t think they have a chance of competing with current heliostats.\u201d\n\nAnother relevant factor is that CSP of late appears to have been achieving substantial cost reductions without having to resort to radical design changes.\n\nIn September, for example, developer ACWA Power bagged a 700-megawatt CSP project in Dubai for an eyebrow-raising $73 per megawatt-hour. SolarReserve managed to get down to $63 per megawatt-hour in March with a 450-megawatt project in Chile.\n\nAnd in August, the U.S. developer went even lower with a project in Australia, bidding $60 per megawatt-hour on a 150-megawatt plant.\n\nThat's cheaper than the offshore wind projects that have put the gas and nuclear industries on guard in the U.K., without even accounting for the fact that the CSP plants come with several hours of storage.\n\nThese cost reductions have led some observers to predict an upswing in fortunes for an industry that has thus far lagged in adoption behind PV and wind. \u201cThis is an industry that is booming,\u201d said economic consultant Jonathan Walters.\n\n\u201cFor me the bottom line is that CSP is becoming competitive with gas-fired power, which will make it far more game-changing than any other renewable energy technology is likely to be,\" he said.", "output": "Skysun, an Ohio-based start-up backed by the US Department of Energy (DOE), said it has found a way to reduce the costs of producing electricity from concentrated solar power (CSP). Currently, a significant proportion\u00a0of CSP costs are associated with heliostats, each of which require their own motor and support to move mirrors so they direct the sun towards the tower or parabolic trough that collects the heat. Skysun is looking to develop a single motor and support structure, and with funding from the DOE, hopes that this \"ganged heliostats\"\u00a0design could cut costs by up to 33%.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BMW to use Alexa voice control in all models from 2018 \n Amazon isn't content with Alexa pervading every corner of your home -- now, it's bringing that technology to your car. BMW has announced that it's making Alexa available in all its 2018 model year cars (including the Mini brand) starting in mid-2018 for the US, UK and Germany. You can use the voice assistant for typical Alexa tasks like the news or smart home control, as well as driving-oriented features like navigation or finding businesses. In many instances, voice responses will include relevant \"visual cards\" on your car's control display.\n\nThe move isn't at all shocking: this is Amazon's attempt to claim a foothold in the automotive space before it's too late. Apple and Google already have a strong presence thanks to CarPlay and Android Auto, and Amazon risked sitting on the sidelines if it didn't announce some major deals. Regional availability could be a problem, however. Alexa isn't an advantage if you can't buy products that use it, so Apple and Google will still have free rein unless Amazon expands access.", "output": "Amazon is partnering with German carmaker BMW to make its voice-activated assistant Alexa available in all its 2018 models across the US, the UK and Germany. The technology will enable the car driver and passengers to activate smart home controls or ask for directions, and could give retail giant Amazon a foothold in a market where rivals Apple and Google have already established a firm presence."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "General Motors plans to offer 20 EV and fuel cell models by 2023 \n After more than a century peddling vehicles that pollute the atmosphere, General Motors is ending its relationship with gasoline and diesel. This morning, the American automotive giant announced that it is working toward an all-electric, zero-emissions future. That starts with two new, fully electric models next year\u2014then at least 18 more by 2023.\n\nThat product onslaught puts the company at the forefront of an increasingly large crowd of automakers proclaiming the age of electricity and promising to move away from gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles. In recent months, Volvo, Aston Martin, and Jaguar Land Rover have announced similar moves. GM\u2019s declaration, though, is particularly noteworthy because it\u2019s among the very largest automakers on the planet. It sold 10 million cars last year, ranging from pickups to SUVs to urban runabouts.\n\n\u201cGeneral Motors believes the future is all-electric,\u201d says Mark Reuss, the company\u2019s head of product. \u201cWe are far along in our plan to lead the way to that future world.\u201d\n\nReuss did not give a date for the death knell of the GM gas- or diesel-powered car, saying the transition will happen at different speeds in different markets and regions. The new all-electric models will be a mix of battery electric cars and fuel cell-powered vehicles.\n\nTo be sure, GM\u2019s sudden jolt of electricity is planned with its shareholders in mind. The Trump Administration may be moving to roll back fuel efficiency requirements in the US, but the rest of the world is insisting on an electric age. France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Norway have all said they plan to ban the sale of gas and diesel cars in the coming decades. More importantly, China\u2014the world\u2019s largest car market\u2014and India, a rising star, plan to join them. No automaker can compete globally without a compelling stable of electric cars.\n\nGM intends to grab as large a slice of the Chinese market as possible. It has previously announced plans to launch 10 electric or hybrid electric cars in the country by 2020. This summer, it started selling a two-seat EV there, for just $5,300. Last year, it sold more cars in China (3.6 million) than it did in the US (3 million).\n\nThe crucial question for the American automaker will be how, exactly, to make money from all these cars. By one report, GM loses $9,000 on each Chevy Bolt it sells. Reuss\u2019 strategy hinges on bringing costs down thanks to steadily dropping battery prices, more efficient motors, and lighter cars. Massive scale and global supply chains helps, too. \u201cThis next generation will be profitable,\u201d he says. \u201cEnd of story.\u201d\n\nIt's not impossible. \u201cIf they\u2019ve really been laying this groundwork, they could be closer to not just having this tech but having a profitable and high volume way of supplying it,\" says Karl Brauer, an auto industry analyst with Kelley Blue Book.\n\nGeneral Motors\u2019 history hasn\u2019t been especially kind to electric mobility. Its invention of the automatic starter helped kill the first wave of electric cars at the start of the 20th century. This is the company that experimented with battery power in the EV-1, only to recall the two-seater from its owners, crush them all, and pile the carcasses up in a junkyard. In the first years of the 21st century, while Toyota was making hybrids popular with the Prius, GM was hawking the Hummer.\n\nOver the past decade, the Detroit giant has positioned itself for a different sort of future. First came the hybrid electric Chevy Volt. Then came GM\u2019s great coup, the Chevy Bolt, the 200-mile, $30,000 electric car that hit market long before Tesla\u2019s Model 3. GM is seriously pursuing semi-autonomous and fully driverless cars. It offers the first car on US roads with vehicle-to-vehicle communication capability. Now, it talks about its plans to eliminate vehicle pollution, congestion, and traffic deaths.\n\n\u201cGM has the ability to get all of us to that future so much faster,\u201d Reuss says. Now it just has to deliver\u2014and make enough money doing it to stick around for that future.\n\nMore electrifying news from the world of cars", "output": "General Motors (GM) will add 20 battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to its worldwide offering by 2023. The US's largest car maker will add two EV cars to its line-up within the next 18 months, with the other 18 electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles planned within six years. The models will be financed by profits from sales of SUVs and trucks in the US and China. \"GM believes in an all-electric future,\" said the Detroit-based company's global product development chief, Mark Reuss. However, it is unclear when GM will make all its new models zero-emission vehicles."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China accused of dumping e-bikes on Europe at rock-bottom prices \n China has been accused of flooding Europe with hundreds of thousands of cheap electric bicycles.\n\nImports of Chinese e-bikes to Europe have increased from almost zero in 2010 to an estimated 800,000 in 2017, according to the European Bicycle Manufacturers Association.\n\nThe industry group has had enough: It filed a complaint with the European Commission on Monday that accuses Chinese manufacturers of dumping e-bikes into the European market at rock bottom prices.\n\nThe complaint argues that subsidies offered by the Chinese government allow its manufacturers to sell the e-bikes in Europe for less than they cost to produce.\n\nChinese e-bikes sell for as little as $450 in Europe, while local products typically cost $1,500 to $2,000.\n\nE-bikes, which are powered by batteries, remain something of a novelty in Europe. But they're big business in China, where sales have skyrocketed from roughly 1 million a year in the early 2000s to more than 30 million in 2016.\n\nAnalysts estimate that there are now between 150 million and 200 million e-bikes on Chinese roads.\n\nBut sales growth in China has slowed in recent months because of a boom in bike-sharing schemes and a crackdown on electric bikes in some cities.\n\nExcess production is now being shipped to Europe, according to the European Bicycle Manufacturers Association. It said the imports would \"annihilate European production within only a few years\" if action is not taken.\n\nThe association cited an economic planning document produced by the Chinese government that \"sets a clear 2020 goal that the 'export of electric bicycles will be dramatically increased.' \"\n\nRelated: This electric bicycle can go up to 40 mph\n\nCNNMoney contacted several major Chinese e-bike manufacturers, but none responded to requests for comment.\n\nGlobal e-bike sales are expected to increase from $15.7 billion in 2016 to $24.3 billion by 2025, according to Navigant Research.\n\nConventional Chinese bicycles have been subject to EU anti-dumping tariffs since the early 1990s.", "output": "The European Bicycle Manufacturers Association (EBMA) has filed a complaint with the European Commission accusing China of flooding Europe with hundreds of thousands of electric bikes at rock-bottom prices. The EBMA said government subsidies enabled Chinese manufacturers to sell e-bikes in Europe below cost. The rise of bike-sharing schemes and bans in some cities have slowed e-bike sales in China. The EBMA claims excess production is being shipped to Europe and European production will be wiped out unless action is taken. A Chinese e-bike costs about $450 in Europe, while locally-produced models are over $1,500."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SSGA sees success with gender diversity ETF \n Just over 18 months old, the SPDR Gender Diversity Index ETF (NYSEArca: SHE) is proving to be a success story among exchange traded funds emphasizing environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles.\n\nSHE seeks to track the performance of the SSGA Gender Diversity Index, which comprises listed U.S. large capitalization companies with the highest levels within their sectors of gender diversity on their boards of directors and in their senior leadership.\n\nAccording to a 2015 MSCI study that explored global trends in gender diversity on corporate boards between December 2009 and August 2015, companies with at least three female board members outperformed others in overall return on equity by more than 36 percent.\n\nSHE \u201coffers an effective way to invest in firms that have a greater number of women represented in the upper echelons of their organizations relative to their sector peers,\u201d according to Morningstar. \u201cThis exchange-traded fund\u2019s index ranks large- and mid-cap U.S. stocks on a few ratios that measure the number of women to men in executive and board roles and targets those with the highest scores representing 10% of the collective market capitalization in each sector. While this approach could, in theory, lead to a lack of gender diversity by favoring firms with leadership teams principally composed of women, in practice, we\u2019re a long way from this becoming an issue.\u201d\n\nSHE holds 170 stocks. The ETF\u2019s largest sector weight is just over 20% to technology. Healthcare and consumer staples combine for over 31% of SHE\u2019s roster. Consumer discretionary and financial stocks combine for 23% of the fund\u2019s weight. SHE is up 11.2% year-to-date.", "output": "State Street Global Advisors' SPDR Gender Diversity Index ETF has garnered more than $340m in assets over an 18 month span since its launch. The ETF gives investors an attractive, and reasonably cheap, way to invest in companies valuing gender diversity, according to Morningstar. The fund analysis firm also lauds the fact a portion of the expense ratio for the smart-beta fund is donated to a charity forwarding the cause of gender diversity and equality. \u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ensurem gains $12.5m from A-CAP to simplify insurance buying \n Ensurem, LLC, secures $12.25 million investment from A-CAP\n\nEnsurem, LLC, an innovative technology and digital marketing platform dedicated to simplifying the process of buying insurance, announced today a $12.25 million capital commitment from and partnership with an affiliate of A-CAP, a New York City-based insurance holding company specializing in life and health insurance and related services.\n\nThis funding follows a successful angel investment round of $1.7 million led by AngelRush, a San Francisco-based investment firm that uses its proprietary direct-to-consumer digital engagement platform to empower partner companies.\n\nA-CAP is an industry-leading financial platform that owns multiple insurance and financial businesses. A-CAP\u2019s significant capital commitment will help Ensurem expand its capabilities in four main areas:\n\n\n\nDigital storefront where consumers can easily research, shop and purchase life insurance policies, supplemental health coverage, \u2018living insurance\u2019, and other insurance-related products.\n\nDigital customer acquisition technology and expertise.\n\nProprietary product platform used in the development of new insurance products for direct-to-consumer sales.\n\nThird-party administrative services specializing in straight-through processing, providing insurance companies full back-office support in collaboration with Secure Administrative Solutions (SAS), A-CAP\u2019s third-party administrator affiliate.\n\nA-CAP\u2019s insurance capabilities, combined with the digital marketing expertise of AngelRush and Ensurem\u2019s own team of insurance and technology experts, will advance the company\u2019s robust direct-to-consumer insurance platform.\n\n\u201cOur strategic partnership with A-CAP grants us access to third-party administration (TPA) services, reinsurance capabilities, and a wealth of knowledge in the insurance carrier space, all of which will help us meet our mission of providing consumers with a consolidated resource to learn about and secure life insurance and supplemental health-related protection online,\u201d said David Rich, CEO and founder of Ensurem.\n\n\u201cDaily advancements in technology are changing consumer expectations of the insurance-buying process,\u201d said Kenneth King, CEO of A-CAP. \u201cThe Insurtech space needs innovation and disruption to meet these growing consumer demands and we are confident that Ensurem can deliver an exceptional insurance-buying experience.\u201d\n\nFor more information visit http://www.ensurem.com, http://www.a-capholdings.com and http://www.angelrush.com.\n\nAbout Ensurem, LLC\n\nEnsurem, LLC was launched in January 2016 with a two-fold mission of Awaring America\u2122 about the value of life insurance and supplemental health products and providing a simplified buying process. Based in Tampa Bay, Florida, the company provides insurance-related products to consumers nationwide through its online platform. Ensurem offers several features to help customers live Life Optimized\u2122, including direct-to-consumer products, a library of product guides and resources, and the Life Optimized Risk Assessment (LORA) tool.\n\nAbout A-CAP\n\nA-CAP is a holding company owning multiple insurance and financial businesses on its unique and synergistic platform. These businesses include primary insurance carriers, an investment adviser, an administrative services provider, reinsurance vehicles, and a marketing organization. With broad knowledge across the insurance and investment sectors, A-CAP\u2019s management team has diverse experience and provides comprehensive services to policyholders, insurance company clients and capital partners. Launched in 2013, A-CAP is a privately held company with offices in New York, Charleston, Chicago, Salt Lake City and Omaha.\n\nAbout AngelRush Ventures, LLC\n\nAngelRush partners with passionate entrepreneurs and innovators to accelerate businesses to their fullest potential. Led by a team of successful entrepreneurs with decades of combined experience building companies and brands, AngelRush provides seed-stage funding, strategic advice and domain expertise to support its partnerships.\n\nAbout Secure Administrative Solutions (SAS)\n\nEstablished by Sentinel Security Life Insurance Company, an A-CAP portfolio company, in 2014, SAS is a licensed third-party administrator (TPA) providing efficient and effective administration for insurance companies of all sizes and across multiple product lines. SAS operates in over forty states.\n\n###\n\nEnsurem Contact:\n\nDanielle Hutchins\n\ndhutchins(at)ensurem(dot)com\n\n727-451-5126\n\nA-CAP Contact:\n\nKristen King\n\nkristenking(at)a-capholdings(dot)com\n\n929-383-7501\n\nAngelRush Contact:\n\nDavid Lukrich\n\ndlukrich(at)angelrush(dot)com\n\n415-779-2003\n\nSAS Contact:\n\nMike Maughan\n\nmmaughan(at)sslco(dot)com\n\n801-478-4022", "output": "New York-based financial platform A-CAP has poured $12.5m into insurance start-up Ensurem. Florida-based Ensurem aims to provide consumers with an easier way of purchasing life and health insurance policies. The recent funding follows an initial investment from San Francisco-based investor AngelRush, which also specialises in using a digital engagement platform to boost start-ups' viability to consumers.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Enel launches 158 MW solar facility in Brazil \n Italian utility Enel SpA (BIT:ENEL) inaugurated on Thursday the 158-MW Bom Jesus da Lapa solar complex in Brazil's Bahia state.\n\nThe particular complex was developted by Enel's Brazilian subsidiary Enel Green Power Brasil Participacoes (EGPB). It is comprised of the 80-MW Bom Jesus da Lapa and 78-MW Lapa solar farms, the company said.\n\nBom Jesus, awarded back in August 2015 in a reserve energy acution, has the capacity to generate some 340 GWh of electricity per year, enough to meet the annual demand of 166,000 local homes and offset 198,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per year.\n\nAccording to the local subsidiary's country manager, Carlo Zorzoli, this complex is the first one to enter commercial operation out of three planned by Enel for the state this year. Enel is investing a total of USD 685 million (EUR 580.9m) in the three projects, including Bom Jesus and the 254-MW Ituverava solar park, recently commissioned, as well as the 103-MW Horizonte facility, under construction.\n\nOverall, the company has a renewables portfolio of 2,276 MW, of which 716 MW are from operational solar plants.\n\n(USD 1 = EUR 0.848)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Italian utility Enel's Brazilian subsidiary Enel Green Power Brasil Participacoes has launched a 158 MW solar complex in Bom Jesus da Lapa. The facility encompasses the 80 MW Bom Jesus da Lapa farm and the 78 MW Lapa farm. The Bom Jesus farm can generate approximately 340 GWh of electricity annually, and would be able to supply 166,000 homes and offset 198,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions annually. It is the first of three solar projects in the region to begin commercial operation by Enel at the cost of $685m."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wind could provide 30% of Europe's energy needs by 2030 \n A pair of reports released by WindEurope asserts that by 2030, 30% of the electricity consumed in Europe could be generated from the wind. The continent is on track to overhaul its energy infrastructure. According to the reports (Wind Energy in Europe: Outlook to 2020 and Wind Energy in Europe: Scenarios for 2030), the progress could potentially avoid the release of 382 tonnes (421 US tons) of CO2 emissions.\n\nBloomberg points out that 716,000 jobs could be created with these efforts. The wind power industry could see 351 billion euros ($417 billion) of investment by 2030.\n\nFor the next three years, Europe may see an average installation rate of an additional 12.6 GW per year. This would allow wind power alone to meet 16.5 percent of the continent's energy demand, with a total of 204 GW of wind-generated power. The goal for 2030 would see that capacity to reach 323 GW.\n\nIndividual European countries are taking big steps to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels by investing in and building renewable energy generating installations. The topographical diversity of the continent allows for a great deal of diversity in the ways energy can be generated. Scotland is leading in wind and tidal power generation, and the whole of the UK is taking advantage of the low cost of solar power to boost its renewable energy capabilities. All of this will amount to the continued decline of global reliance on fossil fuels and will help turn the tide in the fight against climate change.", "output": "By 2030, around 30% of the electricity used in Europe could be generated from wind, according to the WindEurope association. The organisation\u2019s latest reports have found that increased use of wind in the continent could cut CO2 emissions by 382 million tonnes. The focus on wind could create 716,000 jobs, said Bloomberg, on the strength of \u20ac351bn ($413bn)\u00a0of investment\u00a0by 2030. Europe could potentially see 12.6 GW of generating capacity added each year, with the resulting 204 GW of wind power meeting 16.5% of Europe\u2019s energy demand. By 2030, it is hoped that capacity will reach\u00a0323 GW.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Enel awarded 30-year concession for 380 MW hydro plant in Brazil \n Enel Brasil has been awarded a 30-year concession for the operational 380MW Volta Grande hydro power plant in the south-east of Brazil.\n\n\n\nThe concession follows the \u201cLeil\u00e3o de Concess\u00f5es n\u00e3o prorrogadas\u201d public auction organised by the Brazilian government through the Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency.\n\nEnel said it is investing $445m in the hydro concession, which will bring its total hydro capacity in Brazil to 1.27GW.The company is expected to take over the facility in January, after which it will be operated by Enel\u2019s renewable subsidiary Enel Green Power Brasil Participa\u00e7\u00f5es.The plant has been operational since 1974 and produces 2.02 terawatt hours of electricity a year, Enel said.Enel Green Power head Antonio Cammisecra said: \u201cThis award further strengthens Enel Green Power\u2019s consolidated foothold in Brazil, a country blessed with abundant natural resources, where we are already the leading player in the solar power market.\u201d", "output": "Energy firm Enel Brasil has been granted a 30-year concession for the management of a 380 MW hydro power plant in Volta Grande, Brazil, following a public auction. Enel will invest $445m in the plant, which will extend its hydro capacity across Brazil to 1.27 GW. The firm will take over the plant in January 2018 and will manage it through its renewable subsidiary Enel Green Power Brasil Participa\u00e7\u00f5es. The plant produces 2.02 TWh\u00a0of electricity annually and has\u00a0been in operation since 1974."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Airbnb taps into China's baby boom and growing middle class \n Thanks to the surge of newborns, brought about by China\u2019s second-child policy, home-sharing sites such as Airbnb are becoming increasingly popular. Photo: AFP", "output": "The increasing number of children being born in China is contributing to a rise in demand for accommodation-sharing sites like Airbnb. The country's government relaxed its one-child policy at the start of 2016, leading to the largest number of births recorded for 17 years. Travel agents in the growing domestic tourism market report that families are increasingly looking for family-friendly accommodation with kitchens and other facilities that allow parents and their children to stay together more comfortably. The Chinese branch of Airbnb also cites rising incomes as a factor of the higher demand.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Deloitte finds tenant apps cuts 50% of time taken to process \n Die Frage nach den quantifizierbaren Effekten einer Mieter-App lautet damit pr\u00e4zisiert: Wieviele MAK\u2019s in welchen Gesch\u00e4ftsbereichen und -prozessen werden durch den Einsatz einer Mieter-App entlastet?\n\nHierzu inh\u00e4rent ist das Verst\u00e4ndnis, wie Mieter ihre Mieter-App im Kontakt mit dem Vermieter nutzen und welche Themen im Vordergrund stehen. Auskunft geben kann eine Auswertung von Allthings zu den in der Mieter-App Funktion \u201eService Center\u201c kommunizierten Themen.\n\nZum Auswertungszeitpunkt waren insgesamt 5.000 Nutzer registriert. In die Auswertung floss nur die Nutzung der Funktion \u201eService Center\u201c ein, nicht die der \u00fcbrigen Funktionen wie Buchungsfunktion, Wohnungsdokumentation o.\u00e4.. An dieser Stelle sei angemerkt, dass auch wenn Mieter-App Funktionen wie Pinnwand und Co. zun\u00e4chst keinen direkten Effekt auf die Prozesseffizient des Vermieters haben, sie von besonderer Bedeutung f\u00fcr die Akzeptanz und Nutzung einer Mieter-App sind. Je mehr Mieter sich registrieren und vor allem je h\u00e4ufiger sie ihre Mieter-App nutzen, desto leichter k\u00f6nnen angestrebte Effizienzgewinne realisiert werden.\n\nDie Analysen der \u201eServices Center\u201c-Funktion zeigen, dass \u2013 bis auf Fragen zur Handhabe der Mieter-App \u2013 ausschlie\u00dflich klassische Mieter-Vermieter Themen tangiert werden. Vor allem f\u00fcr Schadensmeldungen nutzen die Mieter ihr digitales Service-Center.\n\n\n\n", "output": "Housing companies or landlords using a tenant app could cut their damage claim processing times by up to half, according to a study by consultancy Deloitte and German firm Allthings. The study also revealed 80% of damage reports could be sent via a tenant app, while landlords could notify all tenants affected with a single push notification. The report concluded that the introduction of an app could pave the way for increased digitalisation of other services."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ESG-focused investors scrutinise cyber policies \n Cybersecurity is moving up the agenda for institutional investors and their money managers as a responsible investment consideration, as several high-profile attacks and breaches bring the issue to the front of investors' minds.\n\nSources at retirement plans and money management firms said the issue is being considered in particular when thinking through environmental, social and governance factors within investment portfolios.\n\nSome investors already are weaving cybersecurity into their expectations when it comes to money management. \"Cybersecurity is increasingly important for investors, companies and regulators,\" said Diandra Soobiah, London-based head of responsible investment at the \u00a31.8 billion ($2.4 billion) National Employment Savings Trust, London. \"Cyberattacks are part of a new reality for companies. The significant economic costs of such attacks make this a clear risk issue for NEST, and we expect companies to report on how they manage it.\"\n\nExecutives at the multiemployer defined contribution plan also want to see company boards taking a proactive stance on cybersecurity. \"This will be a future area of engagement for us and we plan to work collaboratively with other organizations on our engagement activities,\" added Ms. Soobiah.\n\nOthers are only at the start of their work. \"Many institutional investors are just beginning to look at the governance issues around cybersecurity,\" said Fiona Reynolds, managing director at the Principles for Responsible Investment in London. \"We have seen all too clearly in recent months the enormous reputational and financial consequences when adequate safeguards are not put in place to secure sensitive information.\"\n\nA number of recent breaches, such as of the U.K.'s National Health Service and U.S. credit bureau Equifax Inc., demonstrate the potential impact on portfolios, said sources. David Averre, head of credit analysis at Insight Investment in London, said from a fixed-income perspective, cybersecurity so far has not been a material financial issue. \"However, there have been a few instances of late which should raise some red flags for investors.\"\n\nHe cited the Equifax incident, which saw its stock price drop 27%, market capitalization decrease by $4.6 billion and company bonds lose 6% of their value.\n\nWhile questions are not yet coming from investors, \"following Equifax, I would be surprised if we did not start receiving questions from clients and how we are trying to gauge where the risks are in the companies in which we invest,\" he said.\n\nTo enhance investor understanding, the PRI is coordinating a group of institutional investors, representing more than $10 trillion in assets, to engage in dialogue with listed large-capitalization companies, added Olivia Mooney, London-based senior manager, corporate governance, at the PRI.\n\n\"It will build investors' understanding about how their portfolio companies are positioned to be resilient to cyberthreats and will seek to improve companies' disclosure about their cyberrisks, policies and governance. Investors don't need to have highly technical expertise. At this stage, they need to start the conversation to be assured companies are considering and managing their risk effectively.\"", "output": "Institutions focusing on environmental, social and governance factors when picking investments are scrutinising company's cyber polices. Such investors want to see firms take a proactive stance when it comes to cyber security issues, recognising cyber risk is an important factor of corporates to pay attention to. Institutional investors are also recognising the damage a major cyber breach can have on a company's stock performance. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cryptocurrencies have potential to replace cash: IMF's Lagarde \n Central Banking and Fintech\u2014A Brave New World?\n\nGovernor, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen\u2014Good morning!\n\nThank you, Mark [Carney], for that kind introduction, and thank you to the Bank of England for inviting me to this wonderful event.\n\nThis is a moment to celebrate 20 years of independence during which the Bank of England has been a stabilizing force for the U.K. economy, inspiring others in the world of central banking\u2014not least because of your guidance, Mark.\n\nThis is also a moment to learn from our experiences, build on the progress made so far, and look into the future\u2014to the next 20 years\u2014as our journey continues.\n\nThis morning, I came up Fleet Street, which always feels like a journey through history. In the Middle Ages, that street was an important center of commerce, much of which has now moved online. By the 19th century, the street was home to ticker machines and reporters racing each other to make the evening papers. That world, too, has largely moved online.\n\nAnd much has changed for the bankers and policymakers here in the City of London. But that is only the beginning. Let us spin the hands ofBig Ben forward to 2040 to catch a glimpse of their world. We might see that:\n\n\u00b7 Cars have disappeared, because people are moving about in hovering drones, or \u201cpods,\u201d which elegantly avoid each other in the morning rush hour.\n\n\u00b7 One of those pods carries the central bank governor, who recently started her second term. As part of her morning routine, she swipes through a hologram of news videos curated by a digital assistant, before arriving at Threadneedle Street.\n\n\u00b7 The governor disembarks, walks up to the columned fa\u00e7ade, opens the door and\u2026\n\nWho will she encounter inside the building? Are there economists sitting at desks, debating policy choices around a table? Or is there an intelligent machine making decisions, setting rates, and issuing money?\n\nIn other words, how will fintech change central banking over the next generation? That is the focus of my remarks today.\n\nI would like to consider the possible impact of three innovations\u2014virtual currencies,new models of financial intermediation, and artificial intelligence.\n\nSome of these innovations have already found their way into our wallets, smartphones, and financial systems. But that is only the beginning.\n\nAre you ready to jump on my pod and explore the future together? As one of your fellow Londoners\u2014Mary Poppins\u2014might have said: bring along a pinch of imagination!\n\n1. Virtual currencies\n\nLet us start with virtual currencies. To be clear, this is not about digital payments in existing currencies\u2014through Paypal and other \u201ce-money\u201d providers such as Alipay in China, or M-Pesa in Kenya.\n\nVirtual currencies are in a different category, because they provide their own unit of account and payment systems. These systems allow for peer-to-peer transactions without central clearinghouses, without central banks.\n\nFor now, virtual currencies such as Bitcoin pose little or no challenge to the existing order of fiat currencies and central banks. Why? Because they are too volatile, too risky, too energy intensive, and because the underlying technologies are not yet scalable. Many are too opaque for regulators; and some have been hacked.\n\nBut many of these are technological challenges that could be addressed over time. Not so long ago, some experts argued that personal computers would never be adopted, and that tablets would only be used as expensive coffee trays. So I think it may not be wise to dismiss virtual currencies.\n\nBetter value for money?\n\nFor instance, think of countries with weak institutions and unstable national currencies. Instead of adopting the currency of another country\u2014such as the U.S. dollar\u2014some of these economies might see a growing use of virtual currencies. Call it dollarization 2.0.\n\nIMF experience shows that there is a tipping point beyond which coordination around a new currency is exponential. In the Seychelles, for example, dollarization jumped from 20 percent in 2006 to 60 percent in 2008.\n\nAnd yet, why might citizens hold virtual currencies rather than physical dollars, euros, or sterling? Because it may one day be easier and safer than obtaining paper bills, especially in remote regions. And because virtual currencies could actually become more stable.\n\nFor instance, they could be issued one-for-one for dollars, or a stable basket of currencies. Issuance could be fully transparent, governed by a credible, pre-defined rule, an algorithm that can be monitored\u2026or even a \u201csmart rule\u201d that might reflect changing macroeconomic circumstances.\n\nSo in many ways, virtual currencies might just give existing currencies and monetary policy a run for their money. The best response by central bankers is to continue running effective monetary policy, while being open to fresh ideas and new demands, as economies evolve.\n\nBetter payment services?\n\nFor example, consider the growing demand for new payment services in countries where the shared, decentralized service economy is taking off.\n\nThis is an economy rooted in peer-to-peer transactions, in frequent, small-value payments, often across borders.\n\nFour dollars for gardening tips from a lady in New Zealand, three euros for an expert translation of a Japanese poem, and 80 pence for a virtual rendering of historic Fleet Street: these payments can be made with credit cards and other forms of e-money. But the charges are relatively high for small-value transactions, especially across borders.\n\nInstead, citizens may one day prefer virtual currencies, since they potentially offer the same cost and convenience as cash\u2014no settlement risks, no clearing delays, no central registration, no intermediary to check accounts and identities. If privately issued virtual currencies remain risky and unstable, citizens may even call on central banks to provide digital forms of legal tender.\n\nSo, when the new service economy comes knocking on the Bank of England\u2019s door, will you welcome it inside? Offer it tea\u2014and financial liquidity?\n\n2. New models of financial intermediation\n\nThis brings us to the second leg of our pod journey\u2014new models of financial intermediation.\n\nOne possibility is the break-up, or unbundling, of banking services. In the future, we might keep minimal balances for payment services on electronic wallets.\n\nThe remaining balances may be kept in mutual funds, or invested in peer-to-peer lending platforms with an edge in big data and artificial intelligence for automatic credit scoring.\n\nThis is a world of six-month product development cycles and constant updates, primarily of software, with a huge premium on simple user-interfaces and trusted security. A world where data is king. A world of many new players without imposing branch offices.\n\nSome would argue that this puts a question mark on the fractional banking model we know today, if there are fewer bank deposits and money flows into the economy through new channels.\n\nHow would monetary policy be set in this context?\n\nToday\u2019s central banks typically affect asset prices through primary dealers, or big banks, to which they provide liquidity at fixed prices\u2014so-called open-market operations. But if these banks were to become less relevant in the new financial world, and demand for central bank balances were to diminish, could monetary policy transmission remain as effective?\n\nIf anything, central banks may well have to increase the number of counterparties to their operations. The Bank of England is already leading the way by including large broker-dealers and central counterparty clearing houses.\n\nAll this, of course, has regulatory implications. More counterparties imply more firms falling under the central bank\u2019s regulatory umbrella\u2014which is the price to pay for liquidity on a rainy day. Whether the future holds more or less rain is an open question. Still, better regulating shadow banks looks all the more pressing. The FSB has already made progress in this area under your leadership, Mark.\n\nThe remit of central banks will grow, and with it, perhaps, public scrutiny and political pressures. Independence\u2014at least to set monetary policy\u2014will need further defenses and require even clearer communication.\n\nWe may also see a shift in regulatory practices. Traditionally, regulators have focused on overseeing well-defined entities. But as new service providers come on stream in new shapes and forms, fitting these into buckets may not be so easy. Think of a social media company that is offering payments services without managing an active balance sheet. What label should we stick on that?\n\nAll this is good for lawyers, but not so good for regulators. The regulators will likely have to further expand their focus, from financial entities to financial activities\u2014while possibly also becoming experts in assessing the soundness and security of algorithms. Easier said than done.\n\nCooperation is key\n\nTo make things smoother\u2014at least a bit\u2014we need dialogue. Between experienced regulators and those regulators that are just beginning to tackle fintech. Between policymakers, investors, and financial services firms. And between countries.\n\nReaching across borders will be critical as the focus of regulation widens\u2014from national entities to borderless activities, from your local bank branch to quantum-encrypted global transactions.\n\nBecause of our global membership of 189 countries, the IMF is an ideal platform for these discussions. Technology knows no borders: what is home, what is host? How can we avoid regulatory arbitrage and a race to the bottom? This is about the IMF\u2019s mandate for economic and financial stability, and the safety of our global payments and financial infrastructure.\n\nThe stakes\u2014and gains\u2014from cooperation are high. We want no holes in the global financial safety net, however much it gets stretched and reshaped.\n\nI am convinced that the IMF has a strong role to play in this respect. But the Fund will also have to be open to change, from bringing new parties to the table, to considering a role for a digital version of the SDR.\n\nIn other words, the IMF is in for the pod-ride.\n\n3. Artificial intelligence\n\nWhich brings us to the third and final leg\u2014the transformative effect of artificial intelligence.\n\nWill our governor in 2040 walk into the Bank to polish a monetary policy-setting machine? Will your prediction, Andy [Haldane], of 15 million jobs being automated in the U.K., affect the Bank and its world-class staff?\n\nOne thing is clear: we always have more data. Some estimates suggest that 90 percent of the data available today was generated in the past two years. [1] This is not just information on output, unemployment and prices, but also behavioral data on the quirks and irrationalities of the homo economicus.\n\nThanks to smartphones and the internet, this data is now abundant, ubiquitous, and increasingly valuable as we pair it with artificial intelligence.\n\nArtificial intelligence is taking immense strides. Over the past year, some of the world\u2019s best players of Go, the ancient board game, have lost to a self-learning computer. For many, that day of reckoning was supposed to be decades away. The machine learned tactics, recognized patterns, and optimized its game\u2014better than we could.\n\nClearly, the economy is vastly more complex than a game of Go. But over the next generation, machines will almost certainly play a larger role\u2014in assisting policy-makers, offering real-time forecasts, spotting bubbles, and uncovering complex macro-financial links.\n\nBut let me reassure you, humans will still be needed.\n\nFor one, there is immense uncertainty about the economy. Changes in basic economic relationships need to be spotted, and risks evaluated. Judgment and constant questioning by peers, diversity of opinions, and even a few maverick spirits, will remain essential to good policy. But what if the machine could do that too?\n\nNext is the question of communication. Good monetary policy, as we know, is about story telling. Policy is effective if it can be explained clearly so the public can form expectations about future policy. Could machines really explain their decisions in plain English?\n\nEven if that hurdle could be overcome, a last one remains. Even with the best algorithms and machines, targets will be missed, crises will occur, mistakes will be made. But can machines really be held accountable\u2014to the young couple unable to buy a house, to the working mother finding herself unemployed?\n\nAccountability is key. Without it, we cannot have independence; how else to bestow so much power in a technocratic organization? And without independence, policy is bound to go astray, as this conference reminds us loud and clear.\n\nSo no, I do not see machines taking over monetary policy. In 2040, the governor walking into the Bank will be of flesh and bones, and behind the front door she will find people, at least a few.\n\nSo there will always be an Old Lady living in Threadneedle Street. [2] And I hope you agree that it is often enlightening to speak to a lady of a certain age!\n\nConclusion\n\nAs our pod journey comes to an end, some of you may wonder about my upbeat tone. For many, this new world of central banking is less Mary Poppins, and more Aldous Huxley: a \u201cbrave new world,\u201d much like the one described in Huxley\u2019s famous novel.\n\nI believe that we\u2014as individuals and communities\u2014have the capacity to shape a technological and economic future that works for all. We have a responsibility to make this work.\n\nThat is why I prefer Shakespeare\u2019s evocation of the brave new world in The Tempest: \u201c O wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world .\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\nThank you.\n\n\n\n[1] IMB (2017), \u201cTen Key Marketing Trends for 2017,\u201d available at https://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?htmlfid=WRL12345USEN [2] Allusion to \u201cthe Old Lady of Threadneedle street,\u201d namely the Bank of England.", "output": "Future technological development may render cryptocurrencies more stable and safer than physical money, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde has said. The lack of settlement risk, clearing delays, central registration and intermediaries\u00a0means citizens may one day ask central banks to provide a digital version of legal tender for use in small-value transactions, Lagarde told a Bank of England conference. She encouraged central bankers to be open\u00a0to new monetary policies as economies evolve, citing the potential for cryptocurrencies to be used as a transparent option for countries with developing currencies or unstable institutions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scientists create biofuel from waste water used to make olive oil \n In France, scientists at Mulhouse Institute of Materials Science are finding ways to use olive oil wastewater, a harmful pollutant, for useful products, like biofuel and fertilizer. They mixed wastewater created from olive oil production with cypress sawdust, another waste product that is common in the Mediterranean, where 97 percent of the world\u2019s olive oil is produced. The mixture was dried and water collected as it evaporated. The water was clean and used for crop irrigation and the dried material was exposed to high temperatures without oxygen (pyrolysis) which caused it to decompose into combustible gas and charcoal pellets. The gas was then collected and condensed into a biobased oil that could be used as a heat source and the charcoal used as crop fertilizer. In field tests, they found that vegetation grown with the charcoal biofertilizer had improved plant growth than those without the biofertilizer.", "output": "Researchers at Mulhouse Institute of Materials Science in France have developed a way to transform the polluting waste water that derives from olive oil production into fertiliser and biofuel. Olive mills in Mediterranean countries produce about eight billion gallons of waste water, much of which is disposed of irresponsibly. The scientists embedded the waste water into another waste product, cypress sawdust, then exposed the material to high temperatures without oxygen, a process known as pyrolysis. The material then decomposes into combustible gases and charcoal, the former of which can be condensed into biofuel and the latter used as a fertiliser.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scientists create biofuel from waste water used to make olive oil \n During processing, olives are crushed and mixed with water in mills. The oil is separated out of this mixture, and the dirty water and solid residue are discarded. In Mediterranean countries, where 97 percent of the world's olive oil is produced, olive mills generate almost 8 billion gallons of this wastewater annually. Disposing of it has become problematic. Dumping it into rivers and streams can potentially contaminate drinking water and harm aquatic life. Pumping it onto farm land damages the soil and reduces crop yields. Some researchers have tried burning the wastewater with mixtures of solid waste from the mills or waste wood. But these approaches have either been too costly or have produced excessive air pollution. Mejdi Jeguirim and colleagues took a different approach. They wanted to see if they could convert olive mill wastewater (OMW) from a pollutant into sustainable products for practical use. The researchers first embedded OMW into cypress sawdust \u2013 another common Mediterranean waste product. Then they rapidly dried this mixture and collected the evaporated water, which they say could be safely used to irrigate crops. Next, the researchers subjected the OMW-sawdust mixture to pyrolysis, a process in which organic material is exposed to high temperatures in the absence of oxygen. Without oxygen, the material doesn't combust, but it does thermally decompose into combustible gases and charcoal. The researchers collected and condensed the gas into bio-oil, which could eventually be used as a heat source for OMW-sawdust drying and the pyrolysis process. Finally, they collected the charcoal pellets, which were loaded with potassium, phosphorus, nitrogen and other nutrients extracted from the breakdown of OMW-sawdust mixture during pyrolysis. Used as biofertilizers, the researchers found that after five weeks these pellets significantly improved plant growth, including larger leaves, compared to vegetation grown without them. The authors acknowledge funding from the PHC Utique program of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Higher Education and Research; the Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in the GEDURE project; and the MICA Carnot Institute. \" Olive Mill Wastewater: From a Pollutant to Green Fuels, Agricultural Water Source and Biofertilizer", "output": "Researchers at Mulhouse Institute of Materials Science in France have developed a way to transform the polluting waste water that derives from olive oil production into fertiliser and biofuel. Olive mills in Mediterranean countries produce about eight billion gallons of waste water, much of which is disposed of irresponsibly. The scientists embedded the waste water into another waste product, cypress sawdust, then exposed the material to high temperatures without oxygen, a process known as pyrolysis. The material then decomposes into combustible gases and charcoal, the former of which can be condensed into biofuel and the latter used as a fertiliser.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK said to face\u00a0a million-home shortfall by 2022 \n The shortfall of new homes in England is set to reach more than a million by 2022 as the gulf between building houses and demand from a growing populations widens, new research shows.\n\nSince 2005 England has seen a cumulative shortfall of more than 530,000 new homes and the projection for the next five years suggests that the situation is not going to get any better.\n\nThe analysis from conveyancing search provider Search Acumen using official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggests that there is enough brownfield land to provide the space to meet housing demand.\n\nSearch Acumen compared the volume of new homes completed in England each year since 1976 with new dwellings needed to accommodate the growing number of households over the same period.\n\nIt estimated household growth by assessing annual ONS birth, death and migration data, and used the ONS\u2019 average annual number of people deemed a household to determine how many new homes would meet the extra demand.\n\nAccording to the data, in the mid-noughties the creation of new households outstripped supply for the first time in three decades, a trend which has accelerated as the population in England has increased. This drop has been exacerbated by the average UK household size reducing by 16%, from 2.78 persons in 1976 to 2.34 in 2016, meaning more but smaller households putting increasing demand on property supply.\n\nOn the eve of the 2017 general election, both the Conservatives and Labour pledged to increase new home builds between 2017 and 2022. Search Acumen has compared those pledges of 300,000 and 200,000 completed new homes each year over a five year period respectively, to its findings.\n\nAccording to projections, the Tories\u2019 immediate jump to 300,000 homes per year, double 2016\u2019s completions, would only address the current shortfall in the short term.\n\nTaking a closer look at the gap that developed after 2005, the data can estimate the shortfall in supply created by the slowdown in new house builds. Between 2005 and 2016, more than 530,000 too few homes were built to meet the growing demand.\n\nSearch Acumen\u2019s research also projected how many homes would be completed each year and how many more households would be created. If trends do continue, England will need an additional 510,000 homes to meet demand. This, on top of the current shortfall means England could have more one million too few homes by 2022.\n\nMore than one million homes additional homes may sound like a daunting proposal in a relatively small country and to illustrate the amount of space needed Search Acumen theoretically speculated as to the amount of potential available land for housing development in England by assessing only available brownfield and green belt land.\n\nAccording to Government figures, there are currently more than 31,000 hectares of brownfield land in England that is suitable to build homes on. In 2015, house builders were able to build 37 domiciles per hectare on brownfield land. Therefore, Search Acumen\u2019s analysis suggests that there is enough brownfield land in England to meet cumulative demand for housing for the next five years if trends continue.\n\nFinally, Search Acumen estimated how much green belt land could be theoretically affected. The research found that if housebuilders continued to build 14 domiciles per hectare on the more than 1.1 million hectares of green belt land in England, only 14% of all green belt would have to be turned over to developers to meet cumulative demand into 2047.\n\n\u2018The housing market in all corners of England has ground to a halt as people struggle to find a home that fits their needs and their budgets. Our research suggests that, even with housing supposedly higher up the political agenda, the pledges made at the last election won\u2019t do the job of keeping up with demand in the long-term after years of under-investment into new housing,\u2019 said Andrew Lloyd, managing director of Search Acumen.\n\n\u2018As supply has weakened, demand continues unabated with more dispersed households, an increasing number of births, and net migration unlikely to be affected by Brexit and proposed changes to border controls,\u2019 he explained.\n\n\u2018We face a future where first time buyers are further squeezed by rising prices, and where those already on the ladder looking for an affordable home simply cannot. To make up for years of under supply, we need to embark on the greatest housing boom this country has seen in a century,\u2019 he pointed out.\n\n\u2018But it is possible. We have the space, we have the desire and we have tens of thousands of housing professionals in the private and public sector ready to go. We just need our leaders to share our industry\u2019s sense of urgency and begin laying foundations for economic success right away,\u2019 he added.", "output": "The UK must build a\u00a0million new homes by 2022 to meet growing demand and there is enough brownfield land to accommodate them, according to a study by conveyancing search provider Search Acumen using\u00a0Office of National Statistics data. \"We need to embark on the greatest housing boom this country has seen in a century,\" said Andrew Lloyd, managing director of Search Acumen. Demand first began to\u00a0outstrip\u00a0supply in the mid-2000s, but\u00a0neither the\u00a0Conservatives' nor\u00a0Labour's 2017 election pledges to build more homes would have\u00a0made up the\u00a0530,000 shortfall.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "First submarine drone squadron launched by US Navy \n The U.S. Navy launched its first-ever underwater drone squadron on Wednesday, demonstrating the growing role of unmanned craft as a vital component of the military.\n\nThe service expects the Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Squadron One, or UUVRON 1, will reach its full operational capability for unmanned undersea missions by 2020, the Drive reported.\n\nThe new squadron replaces a smaller unit that was part of Submarine Development Squadron Five, or DEVRON 5, which still contains the USS Jimmy Carter spy submarine, a nuclear-powered behemoth tasked with secret Naval operations.\n\n\"Today we are transitioning our UUV detachment into the first UUV squadron,\" U.S. Navy Captain Robert Gaucher, the outgoing head of DEVRON 5, said at a formal activating ceremony at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Washington. \"Why is this historical? It's because in standing up UUVRON 1, it shows our Navy's commitment to the future of unmanned systems and undersea combat.\"\n\nCurrently, most of the Navy's underwater drones are used to search for enemy mines or to conduct oceanographic mapping and research. These drones can often conduct research and reconnaissance faster, cheaper, and for longer periods of time than manned ships. They can also reach areas that are too shallow or narrow for larger ships to pass.", "output": "The US Navy has launched its first submarine drone squadron, the Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Squadron One. The squadron should be fully operational by 2020 for independent undersea missions, replacing part of the Submarine Development Squadron Five. The drones, like their manned counterparts, will be used to search for enemy mines, conduct oceanographic mapping and carry out reconnaissance in areas that are difficult to reach with conventional manned subsea vehicles."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pension funds fear paperwork burden from proposed ECB rule change \n Although the ECB has issued assurances the regulation is to benefit the stability of the eurozone's monetary system, a number of European pension fund associations raised concerns about the costs.\n\n\"In consequence of the new reporting requirements, internal operative expenses for German pension funds will rise and new IT modules or programs will become necessary (and will incur) additional costs,\" said Klaus Stiefermann, CEO at Arbeitsgemeinschaft fur betriebliche Altersversorgung, the German occupational pension funds association in Berlin. AbA represents 174 pension funds with \u20ac174 billion ($207.7 billion) in assets.\n\nGerard Riemen, managing director at Pensioenfederatie, the Dutch pension association based in The Hague, which represents 220 retirement funds with \u20ac1.1 trillion in assets, added: \"It is not desirable that pension funds must hire a provider to harvest the data. The funds then have no other option but to pass these additional costs on to their participants.\"\n\nThe key sticking points associated with the incoming regulation are the formula by which pension funds will be calculating and reporting liabilities to the ECB, and the frequency of the reporting, pension fund executives said during a public hearing on the regulation held by the ECB on Sept 21.\n\nWhile most pension funds in the eurozone now report data annually to domestic regulators, the draft regulation on the ECB's website stipulates, that starting in 2019, pension funds will be expected to provide the data quarterly.\n\nConsultants present at the hearing voiced concerns that adhering to new pan-European rules will incur unwanted costs associated with producing the data more regularly. And because domestic reporting rules vary across the eurozone, pension funds fear that they will be expected to aggregate data in unfamiliar ways. Asset owners highlighted at the hearing that some jurisdictions might feature more advanced practices, such as in the Netherlands, where market-based valuations of liabilities are conducted.\n\nBut ECB officials said during the hearing that asset owners will be expected to report liabilities according to established models in their respective member states to national central banks and supervisory authorities, which then will provide the required quarterly updates to the ECB.\n\nTo collate and streamline the data of occupational pension funds, the ECB teamed up with the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, which supervises occupational pension funds in the eurozone. But sources said the reporting templates expected by the two institutions vary, too, and could be a source of additional work.\n\n\"Even though the intention was to coordinate the reporting requirements between the ECB and EIOPA, we doubt that the objective of consistent reporting requirements which avoid double reporting and limit the related costs will be achieved,\" the AbA's Mr. Stiefermann said. For example, pension funds in Germany will have to report three different sets of data: to the national regulator, the EIOPA and the ECB, he said.\n\n\"A different breakdown and a different format for each reporting requirement mean that extra work will be needed,\" he added.", "output": "European pension funds are concerned that a European Central Bank directive will require additional paperwork burdens and eventually lead to new capital requirements being imposed. Proposed regulations require funds to report their investments on a security-by-security basis, beginning with investments for\u00a02018. Fund managers are also concerned that new regulations requiring quarterly, rather than annual, reporting of investments will mean they\u00a0incur additional costs.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FBI keeps secret hacking tools used to access terrorist's phone \n Video: FBI doesn't have to reveal details of iPhone hacking tool\n\nThe FBI will not be forced to reveal details of a hacking tool used to break into a terrorist's iPhone, a case that sparked months of legal hostilities between Apple and the US government.\n\nVice News, USA Today, and the Associated Press filed a Freedom of Information lawsuit to reveal the name of the hacking tool's vendor and its price.\n\nThe Justice Dept. launched legal action against Apple, which had refused to help unlock the phone, arguing the device's encryption could not be defeated -- even by the company.\n\nThe FBI later obtained a hacking tool -- details of which the agency wants to keep secret.\n\nThe tool allowed federal agents to access the phone's contents of Syed Farook, who with his wife Tashfeen Malik murdered 14 people in San Bernardino, California in December 2015 in a mass shooting, later deemed a terrorist attack.\n\nA court gave its final ruling in favor of the FBI late on Saturday.\n\nIn her ruling, federal judge Tanya Chutkan said that naming the vendor and its cost would amount to putting a target on its back, and could lead to the loss of theft of the hacking tool.\n\nThe FBI said that the vendor's networks are \"not as sophisticated\" as its own, which could invite cyberattacks against the company.\n\n\"It is logical and plausible that the vendor may be less capable than the FBI of protecting its proprietary information in the face of a cyber-attack,\" said the court. \"The FBI's conclusion that releasing the name of the vendor to the general public could put the vendor's systems, and thereby crucial information about the technology, at risk of incursion is a reasonable one.\"\n\nThe tool is said to have only been able to access a \"narrow slice\" of devices, thought to be iPhone 5C devices running the older iOS 9 operating system.\n\nBut the FBI told the court that it may later find \"a way to enhance the tool's capabilities.\"\n\nThe news agencies were also fighting for access to the price of the tool. The organizations argued that revealing the price fair game as details had already been publicly made, including one by former FBI director James Comey and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who both put the price of the tool at around the $1 million mark.\n\nThe court disagreed.\n\n\"Releasing the purchase price would designate a finite value for the technology and help adversaries determine whether the FBI can broadly utilize the technology to access their encrypted devices,\" said the court.\n\nThe court also dismissed the notion that Comey's statements on the price of the hacking tool amounts to an \"official disclosure\" that compels the release of information.\n\nThe news organizations will not be allowed to appeal the case.", "output": "The FBI has won its legal battle to protect the identity of the company who provided the hacking tool it used to break into a terrorist's iPhone. The US law-enforcement agency bought the hacking software after\u00a0Apple refused to help them break the encryption on the iPhone of Syed Farook, who murdered 14 people in a mass shooting in 2015. News organisations\u00a0filed Freedom of Information requests to obtain details of the cost and nature of the tool, but a court decided that the FBI should not have to disclose such information.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snapchat uses augmented reality for branded World Lenses \n A number of characteristic brand icons could be coming to Snapchat\u2019s augmented reality options. During Advertising Week New York, Snap Inc. debuted the first set of brand sponsored Snapchat World Lenses.\n\nWorld Lenses put virtual objects in the real world through the Snapchat app and the smartphone camera, allowing users to explore the animated virtual objects from all sides. Now, brands can create sponsored World Lenses, putting their own characters into Snapchat\u2019s AR options.\n\nRecommended Videos\n\nThe first two sponsored World Filters explore a few of the platform\u2019s opportunities. Warner Bros. is putting the Spinner car from Blade Runner 2049, putting the futuristic car flying through the real world. Bud Light also has a new 3D World Lens in the form of a baseball-game-style beer guy, complete with a little dance.\n\nThe idea is to bring a brand\u2019s mascot, product or other easily recognizable items into Snapchat\u2019s mix of augmented reality. While the first two showcase the character side, Snapchat also suggests that brands could use the option to add virtual products to a real-life scene, which isn\u2019t too far from Ikea\u2019s platform that allows users to try out furniture in their own home.\n\nSponsored World Lenses can be run nationally like the Bud Lite and Blade Runner characters, or can be used in conjunction with Snapchat\u2019s targeted advertising tools, which allows businesses to reach out to specific audiences by age, gender or interests.\n\nSnapchat\u2019s advertising strategy changed earlier this year when the company made an agreement with Oracle Data Cloud for creating targeted ads using third-party data. These types of ads, instead of using information from a Snapchat profile, user data such as online purchases on other sites or spending habits from using a store loyalty card. The tool can be disabled by swiping off the Snap Audience Match, which means Snapchat will only track information shared in the app for advertising.\n\nThe new branded World Lenses is part of a series of several updates designed to encourage more advertising on the platform, now that Snap Inc. is on the New York Stock Exchange. Last year, the company also applied for a patent for tech that would recommend ads based on the items inside Snaps.\n\nEditors' Recommendations", "output": "Snapchat has unveiled the first set of its sponsored World Lenses, which allows brands to insert their own mascots, products or objects into Snapchat\u2019s augmented reality (AR) options. The new sponsored AR series is part of a drive to encourage more advertising on Snapchat\u2019s platform. Big brands such as Warner Bros and Bud Lite have already taken up the opportunity to develop advertisements for World Lenses, while Snapchat has suggested that brands could also use the platform to add virtual products to real-life scenes, similar to Ikea\u2019s AR app that allows users to place furniture in their own homes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Uber northern European manager\u00a0Jo Bertram\u00a0quits \n Jo Bertram, regional general manager - Northern Europe at Uber. Jo Bertram / Linkedin\n\nUber's top boss in Britain will quit the taxi hailing app just as the firm battles to overturn a decision to strip it of its license in London, according to an email seen by Reuters.\n\nThe British capital's transport regulator deemed Uber unfit to run a taxi service last month and decided not to renew its license to operate, citing the firm's approach to reporting serious criminal offences and background checks on drivers.\n\nBut in an email seen by Reuters on Monday, Uber's Northern European Manager Jo Bertram, who has responsibility for Britain among other countries, said the firm needed a new manager in the region to tackle the issues it faces.\n\n\"Given some of our current challenges, I\u2019m also convinced that now is the right time to have a change of face, and to hand over to someone who will be here for the long haul and take us into the next phase,\" she said.\n\nIn response, Uber's top boss in Europe, the Middle East and Africa said that the firm would now seek out Bertram's replacement.\n\n\"Jo will remain with us over the next few weeks in order to help with a smooth transition, and I look forward to working closely with the excellent team she leaves behind,\" Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty said in an email seen by Reuters.\n\nThe firm's London boss Tom Elvidge will head up UK operations on an interim basis, he said.\n\nUber's new global Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi is due in London on Tuesday to meet the head of the city's transport regulator in a bid to keep operating in one of its most important foreign markets.\n\nBertram heads up the San Francisco-based app's operations in ten countries including Britain, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.\n\nIn the email, she declined to say where she would be moving to.\n\n\"An exciting new opportunity has arisen that will allow me to apply what I\u2019ve learnt here and I\u2019ll be able to share more details with you soon,\" she said.\n\n(Reporting by Costas Pitas; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)", "output": "Embattled ride-hailing company Uber has received another blow as its top executive in Britain announced her departure. Northern European manager Jo Bertram leaves the company just as the firm fights to overturn the decision to strip it of its licence in London. Bertram had been with Uber for four years\u00a0and in an email to staff she commented that \"an exciting new opportunity\u201d had arisen for her, which she did not disclose. Bertram\u2019s resignation comes as Uber's new global chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, flies to Britain to meet the head of Transport for London. Bertram will leave\u00a0in a few weeks' time.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Build to rent sector grows by nearly 40% quarter on quarter \n The Build to Rent sector in the UK now has 95,918 homes completed, under construction or in planning, a quarter on quarter rise of almost 40%, new research shows.\n\nThe number has increased from the 69,824 recorded in the first quarter of 2017, a rise of 37.4%, according to the data produced by real estate firm Savills for the British Property Federation (BPF).\n\nWhen looking exclusively at the number of Build to Rent homes under construction and in planning, the rate of growth is even stronger, up from 56,547 to 78,917, an increase of 39.6%.\n\nWith 54,978 homes complete, under construction and in planning, London still has the highest number of Build to Rent homes but regionally numbers are growing with 12,316 currently under construction compared to 11,696 in London.\n\nThe size of Build to Rent developments also continues to experience significant growth, with 34 developments currently in the pipeline set to provide over 500 new rented homes each compared to 24 developments in the first quarter of the year.\n\n\u2018The data allows us to track Build to Rent\u2019s growth across the UK. Correcting the supply-demand imbalance in the UK is fundamental to addressing the housing crisis, and we have demonstrated that Build to Rent has much to offer,\u2019 said Ian Fletcher, director of real estate policy at the BPF.\n\nHe welcomed the Mayor of London\u2019s continued support of the sector and his recognition of its capacity to deliver much-needed homes. \u2018We look forward to the Government\u2019s formal response to the national Housing White Paper, which formally recognised Build to Rent in the National Planning Policy Framework,\u2019 he added.\n\n\u2018We need all housing tenures to be fully supported by the right policy framework if we are going to reverse the damage caused by years of undersupply,\u2019 he concluded.", "output": "The UK build to rent sector had a total of 95,918 homes in the planning process, being built or completed between April and June this year, an increase of 37.4% from Q1's 69,824, according to estate agents Savills. The rate of growth for\u00a0build to rent homes either in construction or planning has increased\u00a0by even more,\u00a0from 56,547 to 78,917, or 39.6%. London has the largest number of build to rent homes underway,\u00a0with 54,978 recorded as being in planning, being built or completed. However, there are 12,316 homes being built in the regions as against 11,696 in London.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Exclusive yacht club combats plastic ocean waste \n One of the most exclusive yacht clubs in the world has drawn up an environmental charter to ask 150,000 sailors across the globe to reduce plastic pollution in the ocean.\n\nThe Costa Smerelda yacht club in Sardinia, established by the Aga Khan 50 years ago, is publishing the charter to cut plastic waste at the One Ocean Forum conference. International sailing organisations have signed up to support the document which will be disseminated to 150,000 sailors who compete across the world.\n\nRiccardo Bonadeo, commodore of the club, said there was a need to raise awareness among sailors, people who live on and use the coast, and the wider public, about the need to reduce plastic waste and adopt more environmentally friendly marine practices.\n\nThe charter aims to gather a commitment from yacht clubs, their members, marinas and other ocean users to adopt a set of principles and actions to reduce marine waste.\n\nOliver Schwall, managing director of the Sailing Champions League which has contact with individual national leagues across the world, has signed the charter. \u201cBehind the Sailing Champions League and the International Sailing League Association are up to 300 sailing clubs from 15 countries who have more than 150,000 members.\n\n\u201cThis give us a great opportunity to make the ideas of the Charta Smerelda known throughout Europe,\u201d he said.\n\nThe charter will be published at a conference run by Costa Smerelda yacht club in Milan on Tuesday and Wednesday.\n\nBonadeo believes there has never been a more pressing time to promote its message which includes:\n\neliminating single-use plastics\n\npreserving water resources\n\nprotecting and preserving marine habitats\n\nadopting renewable energy\n\nadopting ethical and responsible behaviour during boating and sailing and\n\nraising public awareness of marine litter and pollution and the need to reduce it.\n\nData from the Ellen MacArthur foundation show the scale of marine pollution. The foundation in a report in 2016 revealed that every year more than 8m tonnes of plastic are leaked into the ocean. Up to 40% of the world\u2019s oceans are heavily affected by human activities causing pollution, loss of coastal habitats and depleted fisheries, according to the UN\u2019s sustainable development goals. By 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish by weight, according to the Ellen MacArthur foundation.\n\n\n\nNew figures revealed by the Guardian showed a million plastic bottles are bought across the world every minute. By 2021 purchase of plastic bottles will rise by 21% to 583bn bottles across the world.", "output": "The Costa Smerelda yacht club has created an environmental charter which calls on sailors across the world to fight plastic pollution in the ocean. The exclusive Sardinian club, established 50 years ago by the Aga Khan, is publishing the charter at a conference in Milan this week.\u00a0The charter aims to commit yacht clubs, marinas and other groups to reducing marine waste, with\u00a0 proposals include the elimination of single use plastics, adoption of renewable energy, preservation of water resources and marine habitats, and ethical and responsible behaviour.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dubai government set to launch digital currency \n Dubai\u2019s government is to launch a cryptocurrency following a partnership between Emcredit, a subsidiary of Dubai\u2019s Department for the Economy (also known as Dubai Economy) and a UK based blockchain start-up called Object Tech Grp.\n\nThe new \u201cencrypted digital currency,\u201d called emCash, will be based on the latest blockchain technology, Dubai\u2019s economy department says in a statement, and will be usable through emPay, a wallet launched by Emcredit to support contactless payments.", "output": "The government of Dubai is set to launch emCash, its own digital currency, as part of an ambitious plan to have blockchain to underpin the Emirate's financial system. In a statement, Ali Ibrahim, deputy Director General of Dubai Economy, said emCash would be used through a new wallet called emPay, which would offer fiat payments as well as real-time digital transactions. Other blockchain-based services, including real-time settlement and peer-to-peer lending, would also be developed, according to the government's statement."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Canadian asset managers launch an ETF nearly every day \n Share\n\nExchange-traded funds providers continue to pump out new investment offerings with a plethora of products hitting the shelf in September.\n\nMore than 20 ETFs have launched over the last few weeks \u2013 both in the active management space and passive investing \u2013 pushing the total number of ETF offerings in the Canadian market beyond the 600 mark. The assets flowing into the Canadian ETF market have been consistently heading north month over month and now sit at $135-billion in assets under management.\n\nHere is a roundup of the most recent product launches \u2013 as well as those set to hit the market this fall:\n\nWisdom Tree Canada added three dividend-paying equity funds to its ETF offering. WisdomTree Canada Quality Dividend Growth Index ETF (DGRC); WisdomTree Emerging Markets Dividend Index ETF (EMV.B); and WisdomTree U.S. MidCap Dividend Index ETF (UMI and UMI.B). They all follow a dividend-weighted approach, rather than weighting by market capitalization and charge management fees between 0.21 per cent to 0.38 per cent.\n\nHorizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc. introduced its new developed markets strategy with the launch of Horizons International Developed Markets Equity Index ETF. With the ticker HXDM, investors will gain exposure to developed market stocks outside of North America through tracking the MSCI EAFE Index. Management fees for HXDM are 0.20 per cent.\n\nHorizons has also filed preliminary prospectuses for three additional funds expected to launch later this year: Horizons Robotics and Automation Index ETF (ROBO); Horizons Active Intl Developed Markets Equity ETF (HADM); and Horizons Active A.I. Global Equity ETF (MIND).\n\nRBC Global Asset Management Inc. launched a suite of seven index-tracking ETFs sub-advised by State Street Global Advisors (SSGA), the investment management arm of State Street Corp. The funds include: RBC Canadian Short Term Bond Index ETF (RCSB); RBC Canadian Bond Index ETF (RCUB); RBC Global Government Bond (CAD Hedged) Index ETF (RGGB); RBC Canadian Equity Index ETF (RCAN); RBC U.S Equity Index ETF (RUSA); RBC International Equity Index ETF (RINT); and RBC Emerging Markets Equity Index ETF (REEM). The seven ETFs will follow indexes provided by FTSE Russell and have management fees ranging from 0.05 per cent to 0.35 per cent.\n\nRBC already has plans to launch an additional five funds later this year and filed a final prospectus for four actively managed fixed-income ETFs and one index-tracking fund. These upcoming ETFs will leverage the investment capabilities behind the PH&N and BlueBay fixed-income funds and includes: RBC 6-10 Year Laddered Canadian Corporate Bond Ladder ETF (RMBO); RBC Canadian Bank Yield ETF (RBNK); RBC Short-Term U.S. Corporate Bond ETF (RUSB, RUSB.U); RBC PH&N Short-Term Canadian Bond ETF (RPSB); and RBC BlueBay Global Diversified Income (CAD Hedged) ETF (RBDI).\n\nNewcomer Evolve funds just announced four of its ETFs are now actively trading on the TSX. The funds had already filed preliminary prospectus early in the summer and received approval from regulators. With management fees of 0.40 per cent, Evolve Gender Diversity (HERS); Evolve Cybersecurity (CYBR); and Evolve Automobile Innovation Index ETF (CARS) are all indexed based funds, while Evolve Active Canadian Preferred Share ETF ( DIVS) is actively managed with a fee of 0.65 per cent and is sub-advised by Foyston, Gordon & Payne Inc.\n\nEvolve has more products set to launch this fall including a global health care fund \u2013 Evolve Global Healthcare Enhanced Yield ETF (LIFE).\n\nDynamic Funds and BlackRock Canada expanded the Dynamic iShares Active ETFs lineup with three actively managed fixed-income ETFs that provide exposure to U.S. mid-cap equity and global financial services: Dynamic iShares Active Tactical Bond ETF (DXB); Dynamic iShares Active U.S. Mid-Cap ETF (DXZ); and Dynamic iShares Active Global Financial Services ETF (DXF) all provide exposure to active investment strategies implemented by Dynamic fund managers Christine Horoyski for DXB, Tom Dicker and Steven Hall for DXZ, and Yassen Dimitrov for DXF. Management fees range from 0.50 per cent to 0.75 per cent.\n\nInvesco's Powershares introduced two income-focused ETFs that will offer investors exposure to intermediate-term corporate bonds and the real estate sector. The PowerShares 1-10 Year Laddered Investment Grade Corporate Bond Index ETF (PIB) will aim to track the FTSE TMX Canada Investment Grade 1-10 Year Laddered Corporate Bond Index, while PowerShares S&P/TSX REIT Income Index ETF (REIT) will track the S&P/TSX Capped REIT Income Index. Management fees for PIB and REIT are 0.25 per cent and 0.45 per cent, respectively.\n\nHamilton Capital Partners expanded its fund family with the addition of the Hamilton Capital US Mid-Cap Financials ETF (USD). The fund provides investors the opportunity to gain long-term returns in U.S. dollars, consisting of capital growth and dividends from an actively managed equity portfolio of, primarily, United States-based mid-cap (market capitalization between US$500 million and US$20 billion) financial services companies. With the ticker HFMU.U, the portfolio may include commercial and investment banks, insurance companies, brokerages, asset managers, exchanges, real estate investment trusts and other investment companies. Management fees are 0.85 per cent.\n\nFirst Asset has added to its actively managed suite of funds with two new ETFs: First Asset Enhanced Short Duration Bond ETF (FSB) and First Asset Cambridge Global Dividend ETF (FCW and FCW.B ) have management fees of 0.60 per cent and 0.70 per cent, respectively. FSB aims to provide positive absolute returns, monthly distributions along with very low volatility , while FCW aims to provides attractive total investment return, consisting of dividend income and capital gains, by investing primarily in equity and equity-related securities of issuers anywhere in the world. The company also launched a rules-based ETF with an unhedged version of the First Asset Tech Giants Covered Call ETF with the ticker TXF.B and management fees of 0.65 per cent.", "output": "Canada's asset management industry launched more than 20 exchange traded funds in September. WisdomTree, Invesco and RBC Global Asset Management were among the firms to bring new offerings to the market, with additional fund products expected later in the year. The Canadian ETF market now offers more than 600 funds with a total of CAD135bn ($108bn) under management."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK grocer Ocado trials robo-deliveries using Oxbotica CargoPod \n Earlier this year, the GATEway Project (Greenwich Automated Transport Environment), led by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) trialled autonomous pods to shuttle people around the Greenwich peninsula. Also, Project partner Oxbotica drove it\u2019s Geni vehicle more than 100km around the roads of the borough. The residents of Greenwich are certainly getting used to the sight of driverless vehicles on their streets and pedestrianised areas.\n\nProfessor Nick Reed, academy director from TRL, says: \u201cWe are coming to the twilight of the project, but this third trial is around deliveries. And, as in all of the use cases, we are looking at public trust and acceptance of automated vehicles.\u201d\n\nNow, the project together with online supermarket Ocado and Oxbotica has completed the UK\u2019s first trials of an autonomous delivery vehicle called CargoPod.\n\n\u201cWe need to understand how these vehicles will support the future of logistics in the city,\u201d adds Prof Reed. \u201cWhether that will be supermarkets, fuel filling stations or hospitals. Can we improve the efficiency of deliveries to these environments by using autonomous vehicles that are completely safe and produce zero emissions?\u201d\n\nCargoPod has been developed by Oxbotica and is guided by the company\u2019s Selenium autonomy software system, which uses two lidar sensors as well as several cameras to enable real-time, accurate navigation, planning and perception in dynamic environments like busy residential areas. The CargoPod is run by the same software as the autonomous shuttles, meaning that it can predict the trajectory of people, cyclists and other vehicles that are moving around it. It is programmed to make emergency stops if someone were to step out in front of it, yield to other vehicles and follow people or cyclists at a perceived safe distance of around 5m. Although this will be subject to the result of the public trial and how comfortable the public is with being followed by an autonomous vehicle.\n\nDr Graeme Smith, chief executive of Oxbotica, a spin-out from Oxford University, explains: \u201cWe took a standard electric vehicle and modified it so we could drive it electronically. The compartment on the back swings open so you can load up to 128kg of groceries using a forklift truck. Once the boxes are in there, the customer will get a message on their phone to say which of the eight lockers on the side of the vehicle is theirs to open when it arrives.\u201d\n\nAlthough Oxbotica developed the vehicle for the trial, the company\u2019s main role in the project is as software manufacturer and developer. It is working on how the vehicle reacts to pedestrians and other road users as well as the more formal rules of the highway code. Another area they are pioneering is the laser mapping of environments where GPS is ineffective and has been overlooked by initiatives like Google\u2019s street-mapping.\n\n\u201cThere are a lot of companies that are laser mapping all the roads in the world, but when you get into a community like this or a campus community, maybe your own driveway, these are not things that anybody has ever mapped before,\u201d Dr Smith says. \u201cThe technology that we introduce has to have the capability of being able to form maps itself and then transmit those maps between other vehicles that might want to use the same area.\u201d\n\nUniquely, the focus of this study is both on the commercial opportunities of self-driving technology and how it functions alongside people in a residential environment. It also explores the public\u2019s perceptions and understanding of driverless delivery vehicles.\n\nLast-mile delivery\n\nOcado Technology has already invested heavily in autonomous tech for its warehouses to increase efficiency and throughput. It is using the GATEway trial to explore the logistics and practicalities of deploying electric autonomous \u2018last-mile\u2019 delivery vehicles and could be the next step to replace or augment its fleet of diesel delivery vans.\n\nDavid Sharp, head of technology at Ocado, is quick to point out that last-mile delivery is not the end of human delivery drivers. He explains: \u201cThis is just another delivery mechanism. The Ocado driver who carries all the heavy stuff up your flights of stairs is still a very valuable way of having things delivered. But, to economically deliver small numbers of items, having a more autonomous delivery mechanism might be more value for money.\u201d\n\nThe research findings will also help guide the wider roll out of autonomous vehicles which, in the future, may play an\n\nimportant role in cutting inner city congestion and air pollution. The trial is run in partnership with \u2018Digital Greenwich\u2019, an initiative that has established Greenwich as a flagship \u2018smart city\u2019, where emerging technologies, such as these, are being developed and tested in real-life, complex urban environments. GATEway is one of several projects taking place around the UK.\n\nThe residents of Greenwich may have become used to the sight of autonomous vehicles, but do they like them? Dr Smith says: \u201cIt\u2019s been amazing, we haven\u2019t found anyone that\u2019s been negatively opposed.\n\n\u201cFor example, we had an older lady, a real technophobe, she was terrified of being in the vehicle, but after it had been going for about 30 second she said, is this it? It\u2019s just like a train. And from that minute she was over that hump.\u201d\n\nOver the horizon With its role in the GATEway project virtually over with the completion of this test, Oxbotica is setting its sights on the next, bigger project, focussing on the highest levels of autonomy. Dr Smith says: \u201cWe have just won a \u00a313 million Government project called \u2018Driven\u2019, which is going to put six autonomous vehicles on the road between London and Oxford.\u201d Finishing in 2019, the Driven project, which Oxbotica is leading, is underway now. It will use everything it has learned from developing the GATEway pods and transfer that into full-sized cars travelling at national speed limits. The first cars are expected to be on the roads by the beginning of 2018.\n\n\n\n", "output": "Trials of the first UK self-driving grocery delivery service have begun in a partnership between grocer Ocado and autonomous vehicle manufacturer Oxbotica. The service's CargoPod vehicle is equipped with Oxbotica's Selenium autonomy software, which enables the vehilce to navigate, detect obstacles and make emergency stops using cameras and sensors. It can\u00a0carry up to 128 kg of groceries that can be\u00a0offloaded by customers from lockers on the side of the vehicle. The CargoPod is being tested for public trust and logistical possibilities, as well as its ability to handle\u00a0highway\u00a0code regulations."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Franklin Mutual adds water leak alerts from Roost\u00a0home telematics \n The carrier is using the Roost Roost Smart Water Leak and Freeze Detector, designed to sense water leaks as well as humidity and freezing temperature situations.\n\n(Image source: Roost.)\n\nFranklin Mutual (Branchville, N.J.) has selected Roost\u2019s (Sunnyvale, Calif.) home telematics solutions for water leak and freezing detection in order to drive greater customer engagement and satisfaction, and to mitigate the costs of water leak claims.\n\n\u201cBy partnering with Roost to offer our policyholders Roost Smart Water Leak and Freeze Detectors, we are continuing our commitment to better serve our policyholders with innovative services, products and coverages,\u201d comments Brian Lytwynec, President and CEO, Franklin Mutual Insurance. \u201cTogether we are pairing valuable innovative devices with excellent insurance that delivers protection and priceless peace of mind around the home for our customers.\u201d\n\nRoost Smart Water Leak and Freeze Detector is designed to sense water leaks as well as humidity and freezing temperature situations. The device then delivers smartphone alerts via the Roost/Franklin Mutual Insurance App to help minimize water damage and loss. Roost says that the smart Wi-Fi enabled detector sets up in less than 5 minutes and is easily located in places around the home that are most prone to water leaks such as sinks, hot water heaters, toilets and various appliances.\n\nImpact of Preventing Water Claims\n\n\u201cWe are gratified to be working with one of New Jersey\u2019s most established and respected insurers and see this as another strong validation of our smart sensor notification platform,\u201d comments Roel Peeters, co-founder and CEO of Roost. \u201cFranklin Mutual Insurance clearly sees the impact our solutions can have on helping to prevent water claims as well as improving their customer engagement and retention.\u201d", "output": "New Jersey-based Franklin Mutual Insurance is making use of telematics provided by home-monitoring firm Roost to track water leaks and pipes freezing. Franklin hopes that by using data provided by Roost's home-monitoring devices it can mitigate the cost of claims related to water leaks. Policyholders with Franklin will be provided with Roost's smart water leak and freeze detectors, which send alerts to homeowners' smartphones if they detect a leak and also freezing conditions or\u00a0excess humidity.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bidalgo aims for $250m in 2017 \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nBidalgo has created an automated advertising platform for mobile app developers and publishers, and the Tel Aviv-based company expects to close 2017 with more than $250 million in revenue, up dramatically from $86 million in 2016.\n\nPeli Beeri, CEO of Bidalgo, said in an interview with VentureBeat that the company has averaged $25 million in revenue for the past three months, and that means its revenue run rate is $300 million going forward. That means that it could generate $300 million in revenue in the next 12 months as it becomes a one-stop shop for those who buy mobile ads to promote their apps and games.\n\nHe said that an increase in clients, global expansion, and additions to the company\u2019s services have fueled the growth. Bidalgo is an official marketing partner of Facebook, Instagram, Google, Snapchat, and Pinterest, and it also covers Apple Search Ads. Bidalgo\u2019s AI-based algorithms automate and optimize the entire ad-buying process, including automatic creation of new ads and ad content managing how much to pay for each ad.\n\nThe company has delivered more than 25 million installs in the past year and generated more than $1 billion in revenue for app developers, based on the revenue from those installs. Bidalgo\u2019s algorithms take approximately 2.5 million actions per day to optimize campaign performance on behalf of its clients.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\nImage Credit: Bidalgo\n\n\u201cApp marketing has become extremely complex, making it practically impossible for marketers to scale their apps all on their own,\u201d said Beeri. \u201cThe market is up, but Bidalgo has offered a self-serve, one-stop shop to help app marketers acquire new users, and that has helped us grow faster than the market.\u201d\n\nBidalgo started in Israel in 2010, and the company became a Facebook ad partner in 2011. It opened a San Francisco office in 2015. The company now has 80 employees, a number that is up 50 percent since the start of the year. Beeri anticipates the company will have 100 employees by the end of the year. Israel has a strong heritage in marketing and advertising technology, and Bidalgo gained momentum early by working with Israeli game and app companies, such as Playtika and Plarium.\n\nNow, hundreds of advertisers \u2014 from early-stage app developers to Fortune 500 companies \u2014 rely on Bidalgo\u2019s platform and services to scale their user acquisition programs. Bidalgo\u2019s customers include Playtika, Plarium, Scientific Games, Wargaming, and dozens of other top grossing app developers.\n\nAutomation, which artificial intelligence software enables, helped Bidalgo gain traction with advertisers, Beeri said.\n\n\u201cIt gave us an advantage in achieving results for user-acquisition managers,\u201d Peeri said. \u201cWe started out small, but today, our customers are spending millions with us.\u201d\n\nBeeri said that the company provides a dashboard that serves as a way to view a bunch of campaigns across platforms, all at once.\n\nImage Credit: Bidalgo\n\n\u201cUsing Bidalgo\u2019s AI solutions has allowed us to not only scale to millions of users with incredible return on ad spend but also understand what type of additional game content to produce and who our target audience is on a deeper level,\u201d said Filippo De Rose, head of marketing and ad monetization at Pixelberry Studios, in a statement. \u201cBidalgo was one of our key partners in breaking into the top 20 grossing apps.\u201d\n\nOne of the impediments is ad fraud, which has become a $1 billion problem.\n\n\u201cThe ad networks have a problem with ad fraud, and that has shifted a lot of momentum back to the platforms like Google and Facebook,\u201d Beeri said. \u201cThis comes back to the fact that we are fully transparent. You can log into our platform and see most of what is happening.\u201d\n\nRivals include Nanigans and Smartly.io. By the end of 2018, Beeri hopes to target total revenues of $1 billion. Bidalgo is concentrating on getting a bigger share of ad spending. For a customer who might spend $10 million on all advertising in a year, Bidalgo might get 5 percent of the spending.\n\n\u201cEveryone says they have AI and automation,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s challenging to compete. But we are focused completely on this mobile-app market. We have a lot of things in the pipeline and plan to be even stronger going forward.\u201d", "output": "Israeli firm Bidalgo is on target to end 2017 with revenues of $250m, compared to the previous year's figure of $86m, according to CEO Peli Beeri. The company is an advertising partner of Facebook, Google, Snapchat, Pinterest and Instagram, and has developed an artificial intelligence-backed platform offering an end-to-end mobile ad-buying solution for game and app marketers. Bidalgo oversaw 25 million installs in the past year, and Beeri said the firm will concentrate on growing its share of ad spending in the future.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Telemedicine eyes wider adoption after US disaster response \n As wide swaths of the southeastern US work to recover from the recent spate of hurricanes, they won\u2019t be reliant on local health care providers alone. Since Hurricane Harvey began threatening the Houston area in late August, telemedicine vendors and healthcare providers alike have opened up their lines to receive emergency calls and support relief efforts free of charge.\n\nThis isn\u2019t the first time that telemedicine providers have pitched in during a disaster, but it\u2019s clear that the technology is now enjoying a much warmer reception. For Hurricane Irma, Nemours Children\u2019s Health System told MobiHealthNews that downloads of its CareConnect telemedicine app increased 554 percent between September 8th and September 12th, while Florida Hospital told the Orlando Sentinel that its eCare service received 2,700 new users between September 8th and September 10th. In addition, Nemours noted that its social media posts describing the free services spread among followers like wildfire, and quickly became the system\u2019s most widely shared posts.\n\n\u201cWe decided once a state of emergency was called in the state of Florida that we could really provide the care and access that might be needed to parents across the state, and also to southern Georgia,\u201d Carey Officer, administrator of telehealth at Nemours, told MobiHealthNews. \u201cThere were a lot of doctor\u2019s offices that were closing due to the storm, and so parents were scrambling. Kids get sick when they want to get sick \u2014 they don\u2019t wait for a storm to pass when they do. I think it brought a lot of relief to parents as they were [encountering] certain situations where they couldn\u2019t leave their house.\u201d\n\nTeladoc \u2014 who along with American Well, Click-A-Clinic, Cure Companion, Doctor on Demand, MDLive, the Rowe Network, Vidyo, and other telemedicine vendors opened up their services during the disasters \u2014 saw a similar increase in use. Over the course of Harvey and Irma, its emergency line served more than a thousand people, Anne Stowell, Teladoc\u2019s vice president of member experience, told MobiHealthNews. While the volume of callers was undoubtedly driven by the severity of the storms, Stowell she felt that these numbers could also represent a turning point for the maturing telemedicine industry.\n\n\u201cTelemedicine is reaching a critical mass of people being aware of what it is, and how it can help,\u201d Stowell said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a lot easier to help people understand how that fits into their life when they are displaced and need care. Five years ago it was much less of a known quantity. I think now that people know what it is, and when we make it available, it\u2019s something people are inclined to trust and use, just because there\u2019s a wider public awareness.\u201d\n\nLearning to prepare\n\nMedical literature has long viewed telemedicine as an an opportunity to expand and support care during disasters \u2014 in fact, disaster medicine experts have been singing the praises of telecommunications as far back as 1995. However, understanding how best to leverage the developing technology and meet its growing demand has been a continuous learning experience.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s an extremely important service in times of disaster,\u201d Officer said. \u201cWe\u2019re looking at it very closely to find ways that we can be proactive [in the event of] another storm, and learn from these lessons.\u201d\n\nOfficer said that one of her organization\u2019s major takeaways from its Harvey and Irma relief program was the value of raising awareness through various media channels prior to the event. Whether through social media or mainstream news, Officer and Stowell both stressed the need to connect with potential patients, and the impact doing so had on call volume.\n\n\u201cWe have kind of an engagement engine running here at Teladoc,\u201d Stowell said. \u201cWe\u2019re working to get our members aware and registered using our service. With this, it\u2019s really easy for us to switch that engine over to making people in Texas, or in Florida, or in Louisiana aware of the hotline itself. \u2026 There\u2019s been much more uptake as well as much more chatter for the Harvey and the Irma relief efforts, and I think that has to do with our ability to push that message out in an effective way.\u201d\n\nMeet this demand and the numerous challenges of a natural disaster also requires extensive planning. Stowell said that her company\u2019s experience providing service during prior emergencies led Teladoc to develop a multi-phase internal emergency preparation and response plan. In the weeks before, a team will gauge the expected severity of an event and, if it\u2019s deemed to be a significantly pressing emergency, begin reaching out to partners and sending out awareness messages to the public. Then, once the storm hits, Stowell said, their teams will have their infrastructure prepared for the influx of callers.\n\n\u201cBecause we have such a robust technology infrastructure, we were able to turn that on within a day and our network was able to support the volume of the thousand-plus people who were coming to us well above our normal volume,\u201d Stowell said. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t do this \u2014 turn it on quickly and do it well \u2014 without the groundwork.\u201d\n\nDisaster preparedness plans are not unusual for telemedicine vendors. MDLive told MobiHealthNews last month that it also had a pre-drafted plan ready prior to Hurricane Harvey. However, it still pays to be flexible, Officer said, as their service had to quickly increase the number of providers on-call to meet the growing demand.\n\nTelemedicine can benefit larger relief efforts\n\nBeyond securing their own infrastructure, telemedicine services must also coordinate with relief organizations, local and federal government, and other emergency responders. As a system of pediatricians, Officer said that much of Nemours\u2019 role during the storm involved supporting shelters or other healthcare providers on the ground who may not be fully equipped to provide the appropriate specialty care.\n\n\u201cTalking to the leaders of the special needs shelters, they didn\u2019t even think about having an iPad,\u201d Officer said. \u201cHaving the opportunity to have an app ready to go, and ensuring that there are lines of communication that can handle that type of video conferencing \u2014 that would be tremendous, and that really solves a lot of the equation when you start to think about having the right expertise at the right place. That\u2019s a part of the conversation today, and I think that has to become a very important piece of how we prepare for disaster moving forward.\u201d\n\nTeladoc, on the other hand, has a standing partnership with the American Red Cross that allows the company to assist shelter staff and those who have evacuated but may not have a working mobile device. The arrangement, Stowell explained, is an example of how telemedicine can be integrated into organized relief efforts.\n\n\u201cOur partnership with the Red Cross is a really good model for that, and I think it\u2019s extendable to any other relief agency, or governmental agency, or support infrastructure [after] an event like Harvey or Irma,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have worked to make sure that they have the information they need in shelters, so when people evacuate and stay in a Red Cross shelter, the Red Cross staff there has information about the available Teladoc services and hotline, and then they are able to deploy it in the shelter.\u201d\n\nDedi Gilad, cofounder and CEO of telemedicine vendor TytoCare, also sees larger-scale collaborations between telemedicine providers and relief efforts as the future of disaster relief. He argued that while telemedicine companies are \u201cbeing nice\u201d by distributing services to disaster evacuees, the relatively low number of government-backed emergency telemedicine programs is a missed opportunity that needs to be amended.\n\n\u201c[We] really should do it in a more organized way, and be better ready to support these kinds of situations,\u201d he told MobiHealthNews. \u201cI\u2019m not part of any governmental or state board, but if I were I\u2019d say it is relatively simple and low-cost to get ready with this kind of tool. We basically only need communication, and maybe some very basic tools.\u201d\n\nSuch preparations may be sparse now, but telemedicine\u2019s growing adoption during these emergencies could improve its chances of being noticed. In an story published on FierceHealthcare.com following Harvey, Nathaniel Lacktman, a partner and chair of the telemedicine industry tream at Foley & Lardner LLP, said he expects public and government officials to appreciate telemedicine\u2019s support during emergencies, and suspected that many \u201cforward-looking hospitals\u201d may look to integrate telehealth into their disaster preparations. For Officer, though, the case has already been very clearly made.\n\n\u201cWhat we saw during Hurricane Irma is confirmation that telehealth can also be a very important channel for connecting families with providers when traditional means of accessing care are blocked,\u201d Officer said. \u201cReviews from families who used Nemours CareConnect during the storm were very positive and our providers felt they were truly able to help. I expect this will be an important solution as our country responds to future disasters.\"\n\nOvercoming telemedicine's shortcomings\n\nTelemedicine does have its shortcomings when it comes to providing disaster relief, however. Perhaps the most stark limitation is the inability to treat life-threatening injuries or other critical conditions that require hands-on attention.\n\n\u201cThe first challenge is really what we can help with and what can\u2019t we help with,\u201d Stowell said. \u201cSomeone has a broken leg in Houston \u2014 telehealth definitely can\u2019t help that.\u201d\n\nStill, the technology can provide indirect help to these patients by reducing the number of patients flooding emergency departments with low-priority issues, Gilad explained. And in many cases, the capacity to provide prompt, personalized triage alone will provide the best outcomes for those weathering the storm.\n\n\u201cWhen someone is very physically hurt, even a good quality camera to be able to look at a cut, or a bruise, or any issue that requires attention [is useful],\u201d Gilad said. \u201cThe diagnostic side is important just to tell you if this is serious and you have to run to the hospital, or if just putting on some bandages and getting some rest [is enough].\u201d\n\nOfficer agreed that, for many, telemedicine\u2019s primary role may simply be diagnostic. However, she stressed that this benefit cannot be understated when people are displaced and in need of more information.\n\n\u201cThere was a lot of great triage because parents have a lot of questions,\u201d she said. \u201cYou know, you\u2019re hearing across the state \u2018Stay in, stay in, don\u2019t go out, it\u2019s too dangerous.\u2019 So, you have a lot of nervous people, a lot of families that were moving across the state thinking they were escaping the storm and then having to move again, so not necessarily in their normal communities.\u201d\n\nAnother issue comes with infrastructure and connectivity. Winds and water can frequently knock out power, telephone, and internet services, meaning that many of those taking shelter in boarded-up homes are effectively cut off from the outside world. Further, those who do leave their houses to seek care or shelter may not have a mobile device with them, or might lose their source of communication after the first few days of traveling.\n\nFor these particular storms, Officer said that she was surprised at how many people maintained connectivity despite any service outages. Regardless, she admitted that Nemours and other telemedicine providers need to challenge themselves to find a good way for the technology to overcome these roadblocks. Conversely, Stowell said that in Teladoc\u2019s experience with these storms and those prior, well-equipped relief shelters with a sturdy connection have served as the best means for expanding access. Gilad took this approach one step further, and argued that more should be done to make access ubiquitous outside of major shelters.\n\n\u201cYou can deploy this kind of low-cost solution in schools, in malls, and other shelters,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can have a few rooms with very good service tools and communications where people can come in. You can put it in many, many areas \u2026 and maybe as part of the more governmental or state-wide strategy you can define locations that have high-quality networking.\u201d\n\nAdditional logistical issues arise as other services in disaster-struck communities, such as local pharmacies, begin to close their doors. Officer said this is a key concern that comes with storms, and ensuring that patients who need antibiotics or specialized treatments for chronic diseases can find an open distributor is a top priority for telehealth services. The issue is only exasperated by evacuees seeking shelter in unfamiliar communities, Stowell noted, leading her company to tap outside resources when helping patients.\n\n\u201cThe ways that we solve that is working with third parties who publish lists of pharmacies that are still open and making sure that that is available on social media and available through our provider networks,\u201d Stowell explained. \u201cSo, if someone is providing care to someone in the moment, they can also help advise where to go.\u201d\n\nTelemedicine fills gaps in disaster care\n\nDespite these challenges, the recent relief efforts have been a showcase of telemedicine\u2019s specific strengths, including its capacity to provide continuous support in the days and weeks following a disaster. Dr. Deborah Mulligan, chief medical affairs officer for MDLive, explained last month that virtual physicians are capable of diagnosing the various infections that come from upended sewage systems, for example, and using video consultation can examine bites marks from feral animals. Her company \u2014 along with Teladoc, Doctor on Demand, and others \u2014 also provides behavioral and mental health treatment, which normally might be pushed to the wayside when local providers have their hands full with physical conditions.\n\n\u201cRoughly 20 percent of the population suffers from a mental health diagnosis at some point in their life,\u201d Mulligan said in an earlier interview with MobiHealthNews. \u201cA hurricane of this gravity may exacerbate pre-existing conditions, as well as increase stress levels, anxiety and depression in those affected.\u201d\n\nThe back-to-back storms have also better demonstrated the benefits of a decentralized physician network. Whether it\u2019s due to a wide-sweeping power outage or an emergency evacuation, local doctors frequently find themselves unable to handle patients, Stowell and Officer explained. In these situations, providers who are unaffected, or are easily able to resume their services after a blackout, are an invaluable advantage.\n\n\u201cWe have our providers in multiple states and locations,\u201d Officer said. \u201cOnce we lost power, it was wonderful to have consistent service from our clinicians who were in a different state. So the fact that we do have physicians sitting in multiple states was a wonderful advantage \u2014 that we could bring the same level of pediatric care, the same protocols, the same quality of care to our patients and families, not relying on all of our physicians being in Florida in a storm.\u201d\n\nWhile Florida and other states have allowed out-of-state practitioners to lend their services through telemedicine for some time, Texans recovering from Harvey would have been left in the cold if not for a new Texas telemedicine law that went into effect earlier this year. The law, signed on May 27, made Texas the last state to abolish the requirement that patient-physician relationships be established with an in-person visit before telemedicine can be used.\n\nEven during an emergency, though, complications remain when coordinating cross-state care. According to the American Telemedicine Association\u2019s resource page for disaster relief, \u201cmost states\u201d have existing statutes for out-of-state providers that waive the need for additional licensure. As of Sept. 29, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, and Texas have all declared States of Emergency and are still seeking outside assistance (although the ATA still suggests that providers contact state licensing boards to ensure appropriate practice in the affected area).\n\nThat being said, many of these restrictions would primarily apply to professionals interested in volunteering their services through telemedicine without specific licensure. Teladoc, Nemours, and the long list of other established providers who have opened up their services will have a collection of cross-state practitioners ready for action. It\u2019s just another part of the planning and groundwork whose importance Stowell says becomes more clear to telemedicine providers with every disaster.\n\n\u201cThe lesson learned, at least for me, is that preparation pays off,\u201d she said. \u201cMaking sure you have a plan, and making sure that you have the technology infrastructure, and the people, and the processes, and the awareness mechanisms in place to be able to help people quickly in the right way is really critical.\u201d\n\nOr, in fewer words:\n\n\u201cPrepare for the worst, and you\u2019ll be a little better when the worst comes.\u201d", "output": "Telehealth services in the US may have turned a pivotal corner after they\u00a0were successfully used in the\u00a0relief operations of back-to-back hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Companies including Teladoc, MDLive and\u00a0Nemours deployed action plans to offer crucial triage in the wakes of the storms. Telehealth firms were able to provide other services such as mental health support and access to\u00a0clinicians outside affected states. Industry insiders said they hoped the experience would lead to more\u00a0government officials and hospitals embracing the fast-growing sector.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Texas homebuyer loses $23,000 in fake\u00a0account email scam \n Krista Johnson\n\nSan Angelo Standard-Times\n\nHomebuyers beware: An email scam this week cost a soon-to-be San Angelo homeowner over $23,000 \u2014 and the house they were trying to buy.\n\n\u201cA buyer went to his closing only to find out that his down payment and closing cost funds had not been received by the title company,\u201d said Kandi Pool, executive vice president of the San Angelo Association of Realtors.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been seeing this particular situation happen around the country,\u201d Pool wrote in an email, adding that the Texas Association of Realtors has been warning the realtors community about these scams moving into the state.\n\nTitle companies generally give buyers instructions on where to wire their money shortly before closing on the property; however, scammers are hacking into the emails of title companies, lenders, buyers and real estate agents. Using the information in those emails, the scammer will then set up a fake email account similar to the title company\u2019s, then send the buyer fraudulent wiring instructions.\n\n\u201cIn our local case, the FBI and local authorities have been notified and are working the case, but, there\u2019s no expectation of recovering the funds,\u201d Pool wrote. \u201cSo, the loss of closing funds is now affecting not only the buyer, who has lost his savings/funds, but the seller, whose property is now not sold and mostly likely it will have to be put back on the market to wait on another buyer.\u201d\n\nShe said that those who have worked on the property, such as the appraiser, surveyor and termite company, might not be able to be paid now either.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a really sad situation, especially for home owners that get duped,\u201d she said.\n\nTo avoid falling victim to these scams, Pool said that buyers should always verify the source of the email by calling the title company or their real estate agent and confirming the wiring instructions are legitimate.", "output": "An email scam in Texas has cost a homebuyer his new house after he sent $23,000 to a fake account purporting to belong to his seller's title company. The executive vice-president of the San Angelo Association of Realtors, Kandi Pool, urged buyers to verify the source of any emails dealing with payment instructions, following reports of scam companies operating in Texas. In the scam, criminals hack into emails sent by title firms and use the details to set up fake accounts, before sending the account information to would-be buyers with requests for payment. The FBI is investigating the case.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UAV swarms close to being controlled via brain-computer interface \n Panagiotis Artemiadis, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Arizona State University, with two drones in his Human-Oriented Robotics and Control (HORC) Lab at the ASU Tempe campus. Credit: Deanna Dent/ASU Now\n\nSingle unmanned autonomous vehicles (UAVs) directed by joysticks, radio controllers, and mobile phones are already accomplishing a variety of useful tasks, such as aerial photography and security patrols. But using multiple drones requires multiple human operators, and this presents a coordination problem.\n\nNow a single operator using emerging human-brain interfaces can control a swarm of drones, making possible new classes of applications, according to Panos Artemiadis, director of the Human-Oriented Robotics and Control (HORC) Lab at Arizona State University.\n\nArtemiadis is available to discuss how drone swarms using human-brain interface mechanisms will, in the next three to five years, make inroads where individually controlled UAVs cannot. Here are a few of the drone applications that are now within reach:\n\nSearch and Rescue Missions\n\nHumans will collaborate with swarms of robots in search and rescue scenarios. The brain-robot interface enables control of many robots at the same time, and it scales the ability of a robotic team to cover larger areas in less time. If the controller detects something in the video stream that warrants closer surveillance, the swarm can be directed to close in on that area.\n\nFire Fighting\n\nArmed with infrared imaging equipment, a drone swarm can be used to track the spread of a forest fire over large areas in real time, allowing firefighters to adjust their plans accordingly. The human controller can follow a reported change in weather conditions, such as a shift in wind direction, with a swarm of drones to determine if the fire has jumped to a new area.\n\nAgriculture Analysis\n\nTeams of drones will oversee and analyze large agricultural fields \u2013 creating topographic maps for soil analysis and irrigation planning. In addition to being outfitted with cameras, aerial drones will use sensors to identify necessary irrigation adjustments and scanners that can identify crop infections or infestations. Some drone systems are already being used for crop spraying \u2013 swarms will be able to accomplish the task more quickly and efficiently.\n\nEntertainment\n\nAs drones enter the entertainment arena, we will begin to see mind-controlled drone swarms for events. For example, a single person could operate a fleet of drones shooting photos and videos at an outdoor concert or sports venue, narrowing in on spectator activities for display on the Jumbotron. And while Lady Gaga's Super Bowl drones were controlled by a central computer (and filmed in advance of the show), smaller swarms can be managed by a single human for smaller light displays or to drop gifts (t-shirts or CDs, for example) into a crowd.\n\nCyber-physical surveillance systems\n\nUnderstanding brain-drone interfaces allows building cyber-physical surveillance systems that combine human intuition and experience with the sensing capabilities of multiple drones. This would allow more efficient and accurate surveillance systems than what is now available \u2013 especially for large, security sensitive events like bowl games, marathons and political rallies.", "output": "The notion that swarms of drones could be controlled by a brain interface mechanism is inching closer to becoming a reality, according to Panos Artemiadis, the director of the Human-Oriented Robotics and Control Lab at Arizona State University. He cited several examples of projects that could be operational within the next three to five years, including groups of drones being deployed in a search-and-rescue capacity, swarms helping fight forest fires, or even snapping aerial photos at large-scale entertainment events.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Rapid expansion of build to rent needed to meet demand: Savills \n More homes urgently to rent needed to boost rental affordability, according to international real estate adviser, Savills.\n\nRising numbers of renters unable to access home ownership and low interest rate payments for those with their own homes mean that the total rent bill is now more than double the total interest being paid by mortgaged homeowners for the first time on record.\n\nRenters are now paying over \u00a354 billion in rent to private landlords across Britain. This is more than twice the \u00a326.5 billion mortgage interest paid by owner occupiers - a figure which excludes capital repayments being made on mortgages.\n\nThe total private rental bill has risen by \u00a314 billion over the past 5 years. This is a 35 per cent increase, while the number of homes in the private rented sector have risen just 21 per cent.\n\nBy contrast, the amount of mortgage interest fell by \u00a36.4 billion, largely due to low interest rates. Also, older homeowners have continued to pay down debt, thus reducing the interest rate bill. Just five years ago, the gap between the private rental bill and the mortgage interest rate bill was just \u00a37.4 billion. It now stands at \u00a328 billion.\n\nThe increase in private rental bill has been greatest in London, where stretched affordability and constrained mortgage lending, has prevented more aspiring home owners accessing the market, creating greater competition for homes to rent. Here, the total rental bill has risen by 42 per cent over the past five years, to over \u00a320 billion and now accounts for over a third (35%) of the total GB private rent bill and almost four times the total mortgage interest paid by owner occupiers in the capital.\n\nRental need is growing rapidly as the housing market becomes less accessible due to house price growth and lending constraints. This is particularly impacting younger households, with those under the age of 35 now paying some 44 per cent of the total rent bill, equivalent to 4.5 times the mortgage interest paid by this cohort.\n\n\u201cIt is widely accepted that the solution to the affordability crisis in home ownership is to build many more homes,\u201d says Lucian Cook, Savills head of residential research. \u201cThe same is true in the private rented sector. Savills analysis for the British Property Federation shows that there are now almost 100,000 build to rent homes under construction or in planning across the UK, up from 48,000 last year.\n\n\u201cThis is real progress, but we need policy that encourages the rapid expansion of build to rent.\u201d\n\nPrivate rents (at over \u00a354bn across GB) now twice owner-occupiers mortgage interest, due to rising levels of renting and falling mortgage interest rates", "output": "There is an urgent need for more build-to-rent homes to meet rising demand and boost affordability in the UK, according to estate agents Savills. For the first time, the total rent paid by tenants is double the total cost of mortgage interest paid by homeowners. Private landlords received \u00a354bn ($72bn) in rent in a year, while \u00a326.5bn in mortgage interest was paid by homeowners. The rental bill has risen by \u00a314bn in the past five years, a 35% increase. \"We need policy that encourages the rapid expansion of build to rent,\" said Lucian Cook, Savills' head of residential research.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Monarch customers' insurance may not provide coverage \n Travellers affected by the collapse of Monarch may not be covered for cancelled flights under their travel insurance policies.\n\nSome 300,000 future bookings have been cancelled after the airline went into administration this morning, with 110,000 customers currently overseas.\n\nA spokesman for the Association of British", "output": "The Association of British Insurers has warned the approximately 300,000 travellers who had booked future flights with Monarch to check their insurance providers' websites, as most policies \"do not cover for the failure of a scheduled airline\". The advice follows the collapse of the Luton-based carrier, which left around 110,000 customers stranded overseas. The UK government is working with the Civil Aviation Authority to bring them home.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hotels, hospitality and leisure product revamped by Axa \n The policy is part of Axa\u2019s revamped Vantage mid market proposition.\n\nAxa Insurance has refreshed its hotels, hospitality and leisure proposition to include loss of wedding and civil partnership licenses and full theft protection for hotels with permanent occupancy.\n\nThe revamp is part of Axa\u2019s shake up of its mind market proposition Vantage.\n\nAccording to the insurer the policy is aimed at businesses in the sector with premiums of between \u00a310,000 and \u00a3100,000 and policyholders can claim up to \u00a31m for public liability and environmental clean-up costs.\n\nThe", "output": "Axa Insurance has revamped its Vantage offering, covering the hotels, hospitality and leisure industry. Aimed at businesses with premiums of between \u00a310,000 ($13,200) and \u00a3100,000, the new proposition includes full theft protection for hotels with permanent occupancy, and increased protections against profits in the event of an employee's death or disablement, among other additions. The changes, which Jon Walker, MD, commercial intermediary said: \"recognise some of the recent changes in this extremely diverse market sector\", are part of a broader initiative by Axa to update its mid-market policies.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "XL Catlin boosts Italian operation with hire \n Milan, ItalyThu Sep 28, 2017-\n\nMilan, Italy - XL Catlin's insurance operation in Italy today announced the appointment of Antonio Invernici as Senior Client & Distribution Leader for Italy. In his new role, Mr. Invernici will support the profitable growth of XL Catlin's insurance business. He is based in Milan and reports into Simona Fumagalli, Country Manager for XL Catlin's insurance operation in Italy.\n\nCommenting on the appointment, Simona Fumagalli said: 'I am very pleased to have Antonio join us. He combines a considerable experience in underwriting, broking and client management with a thorough understanding of the Italian market. He is ideally positioned to help us extend our reach to the broker community and further strengthen our existing relationships with brokers. Antonio's appointment sees us not only making our broad product suite available to more clients, but also adding talent in a critical area of our business.'\n\nAntonio Invernici has more than 20 years experience working in the insurance industry. He joins XL Catlin from AIG where he was Broker Channel Manager since 2012. He previously worked in leadership roles at Groupama Assicurazioni, Phenix Soleil and Zurich International. In 2008, he received the Master qualification Formation Sup\u00e9rieure des Managers from Paris' ESSEC Business School.\n\n\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\n\nAbout XL Catlin's Insurance Operations\n\nXL Catlin insurance companies offer property, casualty, professional, financial lines and specialty insurance products globally. Businesses that are moving the world forward choose XL Catlin as their partner. To learn more, visit xlcatlin.com.\n\nAbout XL Catlin\n\nXL Catlin is the global brand used by XL Group Ltd's (NYSE:XL) insurance and reinsurance companies which provide property, casualty, professional and specialty products to industrial, commercial and professional firms, insurance companies and other enterprises throughout the world. Clients look to XL Catlin for answers to their most complex risks and to help move their world forward. To learn more, visit xlcatlin.com.", "output": "XL Catlin has appointed former AIG broker channel manager Antonio Invernici as senior client and distribution leader for Italy. Based in Milan, Invernici will report to Simona Fumagalli, country manager for XL Catlin's insurance operation, and \"will extend our reach to the broker community and further strengthen our existing relationships,\" said Fumagalli.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Eucalyptus and pine trees could provide aviation fuel \n By Brett Stav, College of Engineering and Architecture\n\nPULLMAN, Wash. \u2013 A research team led by Hongfei Lin, associate professor from Washington State University\u2019s Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, has developed a novel process for synthesizing dense jet fuel from mint, pine, gumweed, eucalyptus or other plants.\n\nThe research is a significant step towards making high-energy density biofuels affordable in the aviation industry.\n\nJet fuel from numerous plants\n\nThe process, known as biphasic tandem catalytic process (biTCP), synthesizes cyclic hydrocarbon compounds for jet fuel from terpenoids, the natural organic chemical compounds found in many plants. Cyclic hydrocarbons are molecular compounds with structures that can store high levels of energy. The researchers were able to create a high yield of the cyclic hydrocarbon p-menthane from eucalyptus oil.\n\nCollaborating with the University of Nevada-Reno, the researchers\u2019 work was recently published in the journal Green Chemistry.\n\nCost effective process\n\nLin\u2019s research focus is on developing highly efficient, cost-effective, sustainable catalytic processes for synthesizing fuels and chemicals from renewable resources.\n\n\u201cWhen creating biofuels, a big challenge is keeping them cost-effective,\u201d Lin said. \u201cWe are developing catalytic processes that will use special biomass materials to create a specialty fuel product that could be more price-competitive than petroleum-based fuels.\u201d\n\nPetroleum-based super dense jet fuels, which can make airplanes fly faster, further and with bigger payloads, are expensive to produce. For instance, Lin says, refining the molecule in JP-10 fuel, exo-tetrahydrodicyclopentadiene, from crude oil is comparable to \u201cprocessing diamonds from dirt.\u201d Because of their structure, terpenoids are an attractive economic alternative to petroleum fuels.\n\nLin is currently investigating catalytic methods to synthesize super dense bio-jet fuels with colleagues from the Australian National University, who have studied ways to boost terpenoid production of eucalyptus trees.\n\nMedia Contact:", "output": "Researchers from Washington State University\u2019s Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering and the University of Nevada-Reno have developed a low-cost method for synthesising jet fuel from plants such as eucalyptus and pine. Using a biphasic tandem catalytic process to create cyclic hydrocarbon compounds, they have been able to create structures capable of storing large quantities of energy. The team said their process could make a dense jet fuel that could compete with petroleum-based fuels for cost.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "States go it alone on drug price legislation \n Lawmakers in Maryland are daring to legislate where their federal counterparts have not: As of Oct. 1, the state will be able to say \u201cno\u201d to some pharmaceutical price spikes.\n\nA new law, which focuses on generic and off-patent drugs, empowers the state\u2019s attorney general to step in if a drug\u2019s price climbs 50 percent or more in a single year. The company must justify the hike. If the attorney general still finds the increase unwarranted, he or she can file suit in state court. Manufacturers face a fine of up to $10,000 for price gouging.\n\nAs Congress stalls on what voters say is a top health concern \u2014 high pharmaceutical costs \u2014 states increasingly are tackling the issue. Despite often-fierce industry opposition, a variety of bills are working their way through state governments. California, Nevada and New York are among those joining Maryland in passing legislation meant to undercut skyrocketing drug prices.\n\nMaryland, though, is the first to penalize drugmakers for price hikes. Its law passed May 26 without the governor\u2019s signature.\n\nThe state-level momentum raises the possibility that \u2014 as happened with hot-button issues such as gay marriage and smoke-free buildings \u2014 a patchwork of bills across the country could pave the way for more comprehensive national action. States feel the squeeze of these steep price tags in Medicaid and state employee benefit programs, and that applies pressure to find solutions.\n\n\u201cThere is a noticeable uptick among state legislatures and state governments in terms of what kind of role states can play in addressing the cost of prescription drugs and access,\u201d said Richard Cauchi, health program director at the National Conference of State Legislatures.\n\nMany experts frame Maryland\u2019s law as a test case that could help define what powers states have and what limits they face in doing battle with the pharmaceutical industry.\n\nThe generic-drug industry filed a lawsuit to block the law from taking effect, arguing it\u2019s unconstitutionally vague and an overreach of state powers. A federal court judge on Friday denied their request for an injunction.\n\nThe state-level actions focus on a variety of tactics:\n\n\u201cTransparency bills\u201d would require pharmaceutical companies to detail a drug\u2019s production and advertising costs when they raise prices over certain thresholds.\n\nCost-limit measures would cap drug prices charged by drugmakers to Medicaid or other state-run programs, or limit what the state will pay for drugs.\n\nSupply-chain restrictions include regulating the roles of pharmacy benefit managers or limiting a consumer\u2019s out-of-pocket costs.\n\nA New York law on the books since spring allows officials to cap what its Medicaid program will pay for medications. If companies don\u2019t sufficiently discount a drug, a state review will assess whether the price is out of step with medical value.\n\nMaryland\u2019s measure goes further \u2014 treating price gouging as a civil offense and taking alleged violators to court.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a really innovative approach. States are looking at how to replicate it, and how to expand on it,\u201d said Ellen Albritton, a senior policy analyst at the left-leaning Families USA, which has consulted with states including Maryland on such policies.\n\nLawmakers have introduced similar legislation in states such as Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Montana. And in Ohio voters are weighing a ballot initiative in November that would limit what the state pays for prescription drugs in its Medicaid program and other state health plans.\n\nMeanwhile, the California legislature passed a bill earlier in September that would require drugmakers to disclose when they are about to raise a price more than 16 percent over two years and justify the hike. It awaits Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown\u2019s signature.\n\nIn June, Nevada lawmakers approved a law similar to California\u2019s but limited to insulin prices. Vermont passed a transparency law in 2016 that would scrutinize up to 15 drugs for which the state spends \u201csignificant health care dollars\u201d and prices had climbed by set amounts in recent years.\n\nBut states face a steep uphill climb in passing pricing legislation given the deep-pocketed pharmaceutical industry, which can finance strong opposition, whether through lobbying, legal action or advertising campaigns.\n\nLast fall, voters rejected a California initiative that would have capped what the state pays for drugs \u2014 much like the Ohio measure under consideration. Industry groups spent more than $100 million to defeat it, putting it among California\u2019s all-time most expensive ballot fights. Ohio\u2019s measure is attracting similar heat, with drug companies outspending opponents about 5-to-1.\n\nStates also face policy challenges and limits to their statutory authority, which is why several have focused their efforts on specific parts of the drug-pricing pipeline.\n\nCritics see these tailored initiatives as falling short or opening other loopholes. Requiring companies to report prices past a certain threshold, for example, might encourage them to consistently set prices just below that level.\n\nMaryland\u2019s law is noteworthy because it includes a fine for drugmakers if price increases are deemed excessive \u2014 though in the industry that $10,000 fine is likely nominal, suggested Rachel Sachs, an associate law professor at Washington University in St. Louis who researches drug regulations.\n\nThis law also doesn\u2019t address the trickier policy question: a drug\u2019s initial price tag, noted Rena Conti, an assistant professor in the University of Chicago who studies pharmaceutical economics.\n\nAnd its focus on generics means that branded drugs, such as Mylan\u2019s Epi-Pen or Kaleo\u2019s overdose-reversing Evzio, wouldn\u2019t be affected.\n\nYet there\u2019s a good reason for this, noted Jeremy Greene, a professor of medicine and the history of medicine at Johns Hopkins University who is in favor of Maryland\u2019s law.\n\nCurrent interpretation of federal patent law suggests that the issues related to the development and affordability of on-patent drugs are under federal jurisdiction, outside the purview of states, he explained.\n\nIn Maryland, \u201cthe law was drafted narrowly to address specifically a problem we\u2019ve only become aware of in recent years,\u201d he said. That\u2019s the high cost of older, off-patent drugs that face little market competition. \u201cHere\u2019s where the state of Maryland is trying to do something,\u201d he said.\n\nKHN\u2019s coverage of prescription drug development, costs and pricing is supported in part by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation.\n\nKaiser Health News, a nonprofit health newsroom whose stories appear in news outlets nationwide, is an editorially independent part of the Kaiser Family Foundation.\n\nImage: mattjiecock, Getty Images", "output": "Lawmakers in Maryland are daring to legislate where their federal counterparts have not: As of Oct. 1, the state will be able to say \u201cno\u201d to some pharmaceutical price spikes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "On Medi-Cal And Feel Shut Out Of Nursing Homes? Here Are Tips To Claim Your Bed. \n Most everyone agrees it can be very difficult \u2014 next to impossible, really \u2014 for Medi-Cal enrollees to snag a spot in a nursing home, especially if they\u2019re transferring from their homes or assisted living facilities rather than going straight from the hospital.\n\nNot everyone agrees on the reasons, however.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s massive, systemic Medi-Cal discrimination,\u201d says Pat McGinnis, executive director of California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform. She believes some nursing homes illegally turn away enrollees because they don\u2019t want to accept Medi-Cal\u2019s lower reimbursement rates.\n\n\u201cIf they can get more money with private pay or Medicare, they would rather accept one of them,\u201d she says.\n\nUse Our Content This story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nDeborah Pacyna, director of public affairs for the California Association of Health Facilities, which represents most of the state\u2019s standalone nursing homes, says it\u2019s illegal for nursing homes to discriminate based on payment type. She blames access problems on the state\u2019s rapidly aging population.\n\n\u201cProjections are that we will run out of nursing home beds by 2020,\u201d Pacyna says. \u201cThat is putting even more pressure on the Medi-Cal population.\u201d\n\nNo matter what you believe, the situation amounts to a crisis for Californians who desperately need a nursing home and are covered by Medi-Cal, the state\u2019s version of the federal Medicaid program for low-income residents, says Susan Geffen of Hermosa Beach, an elder law attorney, gerontologist and author of the book \u201cTake That Nursing Home and Shove It!\u201d\n\nIf you think low-income doesn\u2019t mean you, think again. Many middle-class Californians need Medi-Cal to help pay for their long-term care because they run out of money paying the bills on their own, she says.\n\nDespite the access challenges many Medi-Cal enrollees face, about two-thirds of California\u2019s nursing home residents rely on the program to cover all or part of their costs.\n\nThe state Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), which oversees Medi-Cal, says that nearly 90 percent of California\u2019s 1,400 nursing homes accept its enrollees. The department is the only entity I interviewed that \u201cis not aware of Medi-Cal members who are having difficulty finding a nursing home that will accept them.\u201d\n\nToday, I\u2019m offering some advice if you or a loved one needs a nursing home for a long-term stay. It will be easier if you\u2019re already in the hospital, which I realize is cold comfort.\n\nEmail Sign-Up Subscribe to California Healthline's free Daily Edition. Your Email Address Sign Up\n\nFinding a bed if you\u2019re not in the hospital \u2014 especially a bed in your community \u2014 might mean you\u2019ll have to pay out of your own pocket initially. Or it might require some creative maneuvering, like working with your doctor to get you admitted to a hospital. Even then, \u201ca hope and a prayer\u201d might be necessary, says Derrell Kelch, executive director of the California Association of Area Agencies on Aging.\n\nIf You\u2019re Coming From the Hospital\n\nMore than 90 percent of nursing home admissions last year came directly from hospitals, according to data from the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development.\n\nIf you or a loved one is in the hospital and may not be able to return home afterward, \u201cstart working with the hospital discharge planner immediately\u201d and ask for a list of nearby nursing homes, Kelch advises.\n\nIf you have fee-for-service Medi-Cal, you will require prior authorization, and the request must be made by the hospital or the nursing home, says DHCS spokeswoman Carol Sloan. If you\u2019re in a Medi-Cal managed care plan, it will help determine where you go, she says.\n\nYou may want to visit the facility first before committing your loved one to it, Pacyna suggests. Also check out Nursing Home Compare on the Medicare website for quality ratings.\n\nMedicare, the publicly funded health insurance program for older Americans, is often the first payer when you move into a nursing home. Under certain conditions, it will cover you for a limited time \u2014 up to 100 days.\n\nThe traditional form of Medicare will pay 100 percent for the first 20 days, after which you will owe $164.50 a day for up to 80 additional days. But you can qualify for this coverage only if you enter a Medicare-approved nursing facility within 30 days of an inpatient hospital stay that lasted at least three days. Beware: \u201cObservation\u201d care in the hospital won\u2019t count as an inpatient stay.\n\nMedicare does not cover long-term nursing home stays.\n\nSo, once you are in the nursing home, don\u2019t wait to apply for Medi-Cal if you\u2019re not already enrolled in it, Geffen says. Medi-Cal can help cover your Medicare copays, if you\u2019re eligible, and then take over when your Medicare coverage ends, she says.\n\n\u201cThey can\u2019t just discharge somebody [from a nursing home] because they\u2019re going on Medi-Cal,\u201d McGinnis says.\n\nIf the nursing home balks and says it can\u2019t keep you after you\u2019ve switched to Medi-Cal, you can seek help from McGinnis\u2019 organization (www.canhr.org or 800-474-1116) or another advocacy group, including legal services organizations or your local Long-Term Care Ombudsman, she says.\n\nBe sure to let the facility know that you know it can\u2019t discriminate against Medi-Cal enrollees, McGinnis adds.\n\nIf You\u2019re Coming From the Community\n\nJust because a small percentage of patients admitted to nursing homes last year came from their homes or assisted living facilities doesn\u2019t mean people aren\u2019t trying, says Mike Connors, an advocate for McGinnis\u2019 group.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s just extraordinarily difficult,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople end up waiting for months. \u2026 They get sick and get hospitalized.\u201d\n\nTo find a facility that is certified for Medi-Cal, go to the state Department of Public Health\u2019s database at hfcis.cdph.ca.gov. You might need to target larger nursing homes that have higher turnover, McGinnis says.\n\nIf it\u2019s financially possible, consider starting out as a private-pay client.\n\nInstead of getting rid of all of your money ahead of time to become eligible for Medi-Cal long-term care coverage, Geffen suggests keeping some in reserve so you can gain entry as a cash customer.\n\nThen, once you\u2019re a resident and run out of money, \u201cthey\u2019re not allowed to kick you out,\u201d Kelch says.\n\nGeffen also knows of people who have gone to the hospital in the hope of getting admitted, so they can be discharged directly into a nursing home. \u201cSome people have had to go to extraordinary feats in order to get into a nursing home on Medi-Cal,\u201d she says.\n\nYou can also consult with your doctor to devise a plan. If she agrees that you need to be in a facility, request documentation that you can take to the nursing home as proof, Pacyna says. Or, \u201cif you\u2019re ill, it may be appropriate to be admitted to the hospital,\u201d Connors says.\n\nI wish there were more support for individuals and families struggling through this.\n\nPlacement services, such as A Place for Mom, can help you find a nursing home with openings. You can also talk to an elder law attorney.\n\nYou can even ask your county social services department for help, says Benson Nadell, director of the San Francisco Long-Term Care Ombudsman program. \u201cPeople cannot navigate this complex system on their own,\u201d he says.", "output": "Most everyone agrees it can be very difficult \u2014 next to impossible, really \u2014 for Medi-Cal enrollees to snag a spot in a nursing home, especially if they\u2019re transferring from their homes or assisted living facilities rather than going straight from the hospital.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Replacing Faulty Heart Devices Costs Medicare $1.5 Billion in 10 Years \n WASHINGTON \u2014 Medicare paid at least $1.5 billion over a decade to replace seven types of defective heart devices, a government watchdog says. The devices apparently failed for thousands of patients.\n\nA report released on Monday by the inspector general\u2019s office for Health and Human Services said officials needed to do a better job tracking these costly product failures to protect patients from harm. More detailed reporting could lead to earlier recognition of serious problems with medical devices and faster recalls of all types of \u201cpoorly performing\u201d ones, the inspector general\u2019s office said.\n\nThe report marks the first effort by anyone in government to assess the losses to taxpayers and patients 65 and older from medical gear that proves faulty.\n\nOfficials said the $1.5 billion lost from the seven devices from 2005 through 2014 was a \u201cconservative estimate.\u201d Patients also paid $140 million in out-of-pocket costs for this care, the report noted.", "output": "Medicare paid at least $1.5 billion over a decade to replace seven types of defective heart devices, a government watchdog says. The devices apparently failed for thousands of patients.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Healthcare companies aim to convert partisan gridlock into progress \n Ceci Connolly, president of the Alliance of Community Health Plans, said there is a \"real danger\" in not addressing CSR payments. \"If the CSRs go away and many of those working families decide they can't afford coverage without that help, that has real negative effects on the risk pool, which will in turn have negative effects on health plans, which will in turn have negative effects on the market. It is a fragile assembly of pieces that could fall apart very quickly.\"\n\nInsurance companies also face the prospect that Trump may sign an executive order soon to allow cross-state insurance sales. Experts have long warned that such a policy would weaken consumer protections and further damage the individual market.\n\nMichael Consedine, CEO of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, said in a statement that the NAIC \"has long been opposed to any attempt to reduce or pre-empt state authority or weaken consumer protections.\" He noted that insurers already are able to sell plans in multiple states.\n\nInsurance companies are also pressing the Trump administration to continue enforcing the individual mandate, which requires most people to enroll in coverage, and reinstate funding for Obamacare marketing and outreach. HHS announced in August that it would slash the marketing budget, and many plans worry those cuts, coupled with a weakly enforced mandate, will lead to lower enrollment. Now, 10.3 million Americans are enrolled in ACA marketplace coverage.\n\nProviders, insurers and state insurance departments are stepping up their outreach efforts in the wake of the loss of federal funding.\n\n\"We have the same mechanisms in place to support enrollment in exchange plans or Medicaid expansion and continue those efforts, notwithstanding the administration's efforts around decreasing funding for navigators,\" said Dr. Richard Gilfillan, CEO of Catholic-sponsored system Trinity Health, based in Livonia, Mich.\n\nNot-for-profit safety net health plans in the Association for Community Affiliated Plans will also do their own marketing, according to association CEO Margaret Murray. She added that her organization is pushing for reducing the number of plans that don't comply with the ACA, such as grandfathered health plans, which she said help to destabilize the individual market and increase premiums.\n\nHealthcare companies are hopeful a bipartisan solution to stabilize the ACA marketplace can be reached. They are urging Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) to revisit their bipartisan talks to shore up the individual insurance marketplaces in time for open enrollment, which begins Nov. 1.\n\nIn September, the two senators held a series of hearings before the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on how to stabilize the market, but the conversation was abandoned when Republicans returned their attention to repealing the ACA.\n\n\"I hope that there will be a more bipartisan approach to looking at the kinds of things that can improve market stability,\" UPMC's Holder said. \"When insurance markets are stable or more stable, it allows (insurers) to plan more effectively.\"", "output": "In a show of unprecedented unity, healthcare providers and payers banded together to defeat Senate Republicans' latest attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act.\n \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Why Public Health Insurance Could Help, Even if You Don\u2019t Want It \n It is anyone\u2019s guess whether Democrats will unite around the goal of creating a single-payer health care system or even take a less ambitious approach \u2014 introducing a public health insurance option.\n\nAdding public insurance as an option in the complex American health care system has been treated as a consolation prize for those who really favor single-payer health care, but the lighter approach might pack much more punch than you might think. What\u2019s more, the best way to see that is by looking at the Indian labor market and the Mexican grocery market.\n\nWhy should jobs in India or food in Mexico have anything to do with health care in the United States? They are linked by the logic of supply and demand, which applies in the United States and in countries very different from it \u2014 countries that the United States doesn\u2019t turn to often enough for policy lessons.\n\nIn fact, India\u2019s and Mexico\u2019s experiences offer some of the best evidence on what happens when we add a public option to a marketplace: The private sector is forced to improve its game to retain customers, so more people benefit than just those who directly use the public services.", "output": "It is anyone\u2019s guess\u00a0whether Democrats will unite around the goal of creating a single-payer health care system or even take a less ambitious approach \u2014 introducing a public health insurance option.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trump couldn\u2019t repeal Obamacare, so he\u2019s trying to destroy it \n Here\u2019s a thought exercise. Barack Obama never once considered repealing George W. Bush\u2019s Medicare Part D law, even though it was a drag on the budget. But imagine if he had decided to try. Imagine, then, that this hypothetical repeal effort failed three times in a row, despite congressional majorities, and so instead Obama decided to issue executive orders aimed at making it really difficult for seniors to receive the prescription drug benefits in the law? I mean, radically undermining the law might have reduced the deficit and the long-term debt, especially if retirees were simply unaware of the program and didn\u2019t enroll, right? But it would have been a horrifyingly crappy and inhumane thing to do, given that seniors would have been forced to go without life-saving medication or go bankrupt trying to pay for prescriptions.\n\nIn truth, Medicare Part D came equipped with a pretty significant problem. It turned out that many seniors were being screwed every year by something called the \u201cdoughnut hole.\u201d Simply put, a flaw in Bush\u2019s Medicare Part D manifested itself with a coverage gap, during which recipients had to pay for medicine out of pocket or go without their prescriptions for a period of time each year. Rather than maniacally demanding a repeal of the law, though, the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress incorporated language in the health care law of 2009 that incrementally fixed the doughnut hole.\n\nWhy? Because that\u2019s the grownup thing to do -- the human thing to do. (Incidentally, repealing Obamacare would\u2019ve meant a re-opening of the doughnut hole. Bad news for all those seniors who inexplicably voted for Trump last year.) Nevertheless, the Affordable Care Act\u2019s fix for Part D is how it\u2019s supposed to work. If one president passes a beneficial law that improves people\u2019s lives, the next president should endeavor to correct any glitches. That's how it went in that case, with a bipartisan effort linking two profoundly different administrations.\n\nBut it doesn\u2019t work like that any more, apparently. Now, in the erratic and vulgar age of President Trump, the mission has never been to improve the ACA, which among many positive line items provided 20 million Americans withe affordable health insurance. The solution has been to simply kill it. The most brainless and simplistic solution for a brainless and simplistic regime. It reminds me of one of those viral videos in which a petulant kid starts relentlessly destroying his keyboard because of a computer glitch. Good job, kid.\n\nLikewise, the Republicans got caught up in their own bogus hype from 2010, becoming unable to pull out of a nosedive commitment that they would repeal and replace the ACA. Because it tests well with the conservative base to promise a sucker punch to our first African-American ex-president, they couldn\u2019t change course when it became clear most Americans beyond the loony fringe didn\u2019t want anything to do with the slapdash Republican replacement bills. Hence, three failed attempts (at least) to repeal.\n\nIn the face of those failures, the Trump administration has engaged in a secret plan to sabotage the ACA. The goal? Make it really difficult for people to enroll and receive benefits from the law, while also jacking up premiums by resurrecting failed solutions. What exactly are they doing?\n\nOn Wednesday, we learned that Tom Price\u2019s Department of Health and Human Services, which is tasked with implementing the ACA, sent word to all 10 of its regional directors to bail out of promoting this year\u2019s open enrollment period. The goal, quite obviously, is to keep people from enrolling in order to facilitate a decline in participation, creating another excuse for another possible repeal, and perhaps triggering premium hikes to compensate for the lack of customers paying into the system.\n\nReferring to the lack of promotion, the executive director of the Mississippi Health Advocacy Program, Roy Mitchell, told Vox\u2019s Dylan Scott, \u201cIt\u2019s clearly sabotage.\u201d Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer agreed: \u201cThe Trump administration is deliberately attempting to sabotage our health care system.\u201d\n\nIf customers forget to enroll as a result of the sabotage, they\u2019ll be forced to pay a penalty. Many of those lapsed customers will surely become opponents of the law. Mission accomplished. Trump already signed an executive order shortly after his inauguration ordering the IRS not enforce Obamacare's individual mandate -- another trick that is likely to trigger premiums. So far, at least, the administration has failed to implement the order.\n\nLate last month, we also learned that Trump is slashing the ACA\u2019s advertising budget by 90 percent, from $100 million to $10 million. TV ads are being scrapped altogether. The White House\u2019s logic on this is predictably confounding. Officials told reporters that they shouldn\u2019t be obligated to promote something which many Americans don\u2019t know about. Isn\u2019t that the point of advertising -- to inform the uninformed?\n\nLikewise, the network of health care \u201cnavigators\u201d tasked with helping Americans buy marketplace insurance plans is seeing its funding cut nearly in half, from $63 million to $36 million. Again, a valuable resource for making it easier to deal with complicated insurance parameters is being subverted. But I\u2019m sure there won\u2019t be any customers flummoxed by the process who will walk away hating the ACA.\n\nOh, and the open enrollment period has been reduced by six weeks, rolling back the deadline from Jan. 31 to Dec. 15, making the signup process even more harrowing.\n\nThe Trump administration has also threatened to stop paying cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments. Briefly put, CSRs are the subsidies that help low-income families pay their monthly insurance premiums. The mere threat of cutting these payments has precipitated a forthcoming 45 percent hike in premiums in Florida alone. Insurers are specifically citing the \u201cpolitical uncertainty\u201d brought on by Trump\u2019s incendiary language, and the looming concern about the possible elimination of CSR payments.\n\nFinally, for some reason that defies explanation, HHS will be shutting down the Healthcare.gov website for 12 hours every Sunday, a day when most Americans are off work and might well have the free time to focus on signing up for insurance. Rather than conducting technical maintenance when it\u2019s needed, HHS is establishing weekly shutdowns with the apparent goal of making sure that fewer people can sign up during the shortened enrollment period -- and that\u2019s if they\u2019re actually aware of open enrollment, given the reduction of the advertising budget.\n\nUltimately, of course, we\u2019ll continue to hear rhetoric from Trump about how the ACA is collapsing, forcing us to wonder whether his sneaky meddling with the law is causing the system to slowly unwind. The next time Trump screeches to his cosplaying superfans about rising premiums, it might be fair to point out that higher premiums next year and the year after that were essentially designed to happen and are his fault, not the fault of the underlying law. Not only will Democratic lawmakers be tasked with coming up with solutions for the existing glitches in the ACA, they\u2019ll also have to contend with a White House that\u2019s creating a long list of new ones -- deliberately and without remorse, effectively making health care terrible again and screwing over vulnerable Americans by the millions.", "output": "Here\u2019s a thought exercise. Barack Obama never once considered repealing George W. Bush\u2019s Medicare Part D\u00a0law, even though it was a drag on the budget. But imagine if he had decided to try.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nursing home use up with cognitive impairment category \n (HealthDay)\u2014Nursing home (NH) use increases with increasing cognitive impairment category, according to a study published online Sept. 11 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.\n\nJane A. Emerson, from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues estimated NH use among 3,545 Mayo Clinic Study of Aging participants (aged 70 to 89 years), assessed as cognitively normal (CN), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), previously unrecognized dementia, or prevalent dementia.\n\nThe researchers found that the percentages who died in the year after cognition was assessed were 1, 2.6, 4.2, and 21 percent among those categorized as CN, MCI, previously unrecognized dementia, and prevalent dementia, respectively. The percentages with any NH use were 3.8, 8.7, 19, and 40 percent, respectively, with 27, 38, 120, and 305 median NH days and 7.8, 12, 33, and 100 percent median percentages of NH days/days of observation, respectively. A significantly higher proportion had any NH use for each increase in cognitive impairment category. Individuals with prevalent dementia and any NH use had especially high one-year mortality (30 percent versus 13 percent for those with no NH use). Among those with prevalent dementia, 58 percent of all deaths occurred while an NH resident.\n\n\"Reductions in NH use could result from quality alternatives to NH admission, both among persons with MCI and persons with dementia, together with suitable options for end-of-life care among persons with prevalent dementia,\" the authors write.\n\nSeveral authors disclosed financial ties to pharmaceutical companies, including AbbVie, which partially funded the study.\n\nCopyright \u00a9 2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.", "output": "Nursing home (NH) use increases with increasing cognitive impairment category, according to a study published online Sept. 11 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brexit concern, tax increase take toll on UK\u00a0luxury home values\u00a0 \n Some of Britain\u2019s wealthiest homeowners have seen as much as \u00a313m wiped off the value of their property in a year as Brexit uncertainty and tax changes continue to wreak havoc in the prime central London market.\n\nAccording to new research, Kensington Palace Gardens in west London tops the list of the most expensive streets in Britain, with an average property value of \u00a335.7m \u2013 although that is \u00a32.5m less than this time last year, when the figure was \u00a338.3m. In July 2015 a typical property in the street was worth \u00a342.6m \u2013 which reflects a near-\u00a37m decline in just over two years, said property website Zoopla in its annual Rich List of house prices.\n\nKensington Palace Gardens is reported to be home to Chelsea football club\u2019s owner, Roman Abramovich, the Formula One heiress Tamara Ecclestone and the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah.\n\nHowever, the ultra-wealthy owners of homes in the Boltons, two miles south, have had a much tougher time of it. Zoopla said the average value of a property on the street in South Kensington had plummeted from \u00a333.3m this time last year to just under \u00a320m now. Previous residents of the Boltons include Madonna and actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr. The Boltons came third in the table of the top 10 most expensive streets, all of which are in London.\n\n\n\nA house on the Boltons, where average values have plummeted from \u00a333.3m last year to under \u00a320m. Photograph: Rightmove\n\nOther roads in the area, such as Manresa Road in Chelsea, had smaller falls, and a few increased in value over the year.\n\nOther surveys have also reported sharp falls in some of the capital\u2019s most expensive boroughs. Last month the property site Rightmove said the average asking price of a newly marketed home in Kensington and Chelsea fell by \u00a3308,000 between August and September. On Tuesday, upmarket estate agent Savills said prices in central London had fallen by 3.2% in the first nine months of this year, and were 15.2% below their peak three years ago.\n\n\n\nOn Friday, Nationwide said London house prices had fallen for the first time year on year since the height of the financial crisis eight years ago.\n\n\n\nRightmove described the slump in the high-end central London market as a \u201creadjustment\u201d, and quoted an estate agent saying that, since the introduction of the 3% surcharge on stamp duty paid by investors, along with the uncertainty over how Brexit would pan out, \u201cinvestors have been standing on the sidelines\u201d.\n\n\n\nZoopla said there were now 14,417 streets in Britain where the average property value is \u00a31m or more \u2013 up from 12,418 in 2016. Of those, 5,899 are in Greater London. The Yorkshire and the Humber region has 77 \u00a31m streets, north-east England has 45 and Wales has 11.\n\n\n\nIn line with this trend, 19 of the 20 towns with the highest number of \u00a31m-plus streets are in southern England. Guildford in Surrey takes the top spot with 204, with Reading in Berkshire in second place with 187.\n\n\n\nZoopla says its website attracts more than 40m visits per month. Asked about the large fall recorded for the Boltons, a spokesman said: \u201cThe number of estimates on a given road can vary and can be subject to change throughout the year. In the case of the Boltons, it could be that several estimates have been newly added to listings which previously didn\u2019t have a figure attached, and this may have had the knock-on impact on the street\u2019s average value compared to last year.\u201d\n\n", "output": "Tax changes and uncertainty over Brexit have been blamed for wiping millions of pounds off the value of properties in some of the UK\u2019s wealthiest streets, with overall house prices in London reported to have fallen\u00a0for the first time in eight years. Estate agent Savills said that prime residential\u00a0prices in central London were 15.2% below their peak three years ago, while\u00a0Zoopla said homes in Kensington's The Boltons -- the third-most expensive street in the world -- had lost an average of \u00a313m ($17.2m)\u00a0in the past year. Property website Rightmove described the fall as a \u201creadjustment\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Price of cyber attacks is $21.2m for US companies: Accenture \n Dive Brief:\n\nCybercrimes increased 62% in the last five years, and global malware attacks were the most expensive, costing companies up to $2.4 million per attack, according to the 2017 Accenture cybercrime cost report. The report surveyed almost 2,200 security and IT professionals in 254 international companies.\n\nCybercrimes cost businesses about $11.7 million per year, a 23% increase over 2016's $9.5 million. Security breaches increased 27% to 130 incidents annually. Ransomware attacks doubled in frequency and saw an average of 23 days dedicated to \"resolve\" each attack.\n\nU.S. companies paid the highest cybercrime cost at about $21.22 million. The financial industry was hit the hardest, followed by the utility and energy, defense and technology industries, according to the report.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nCybersecurity made a huge impact in 2017. After back-to-back-cyberattacks occurred earlier this year many companies were forced to restructure security strategies. May's WannaCry malware attack infiltrated networks through an outdated software vulnerability, highlighting the need for more vigilant software updates and maintenance.\n\nNyetya struck soon after WannaCry, and although it was disguised as ransomware, Nyetya was a wiper that destroyed data even after a ransom was paid. Shipping giant Maersk's global operations were temporarily dismantled by the attack, and FedEx lost $300 million in operating income.\n\nLost information accounts for most costs companies face following a cybercrime or data breach and additional legal costs are also common. Equifax is facing numerous legal and financial ramifications following its data breach of 143 million U.S. consumers.\n\nSavvy hackers are taking advantage of an understaffed security workforce and using trusted applications as an entry point into company networks. A lack of proper companywide security practices often results in phishing schemes and fake CEO emails \u2014 which cost companies about $5.3 million in the last three years.\n\nIt's up to companies to remain vigilant on cybersecurity efforts in infrastructure and software surveillance and maintenance. Federal agencies also need to reexamine patchwork efforts and potential gains hackers can receive from network intrusion.", "output": "US businesses are paying a high price for the boom in cyber crime, according to a report by Accenture. Incidents have increased by 62% over the past five years, costing US companies around $21.2m last year,\u00a0the report states. In a survey of security and IT employees across 254 global firms, Accenture found that each\u00a0attack costs its target\u00a0up to $2.4m.\u00a0The financial sector saw the most frequent attacks. Security breaches rose by 27% to 130 per year, according to the study, which called on businesses to\u00a0innovate to stay ahead of hackers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's Geely buys controlling stakes in Saxo Bank and Lotus \n What we reported last October has become official today: Geely Holding has acquired a majority 51-percent stake in Lotus. With 49 percent remaining at Etika Automotive, the Malaysian group behind Proton, Mr. Jean-Marc Gales will continue in his role as Lotus CEO, a job he started three years ago.\n\nThis is indeed great news. The lack of investment from the Malaysian side held the brand back dearly over the past few years. Meanwhile, every car company recently purchased by Geely's Chairman Li has made an instant turn for the better. Now, Lotus gets its chance.\n\nLotus\n\nGeely bought Volvo from Ford back in 2010. Not long after, the company evolved into a Swedish success story, with a fresh model line and a separate performance brand that's just about to develop its own electric sports car.\n\nRelated Story 2018 Volvo XC40: Here It Is\n\nThe Volvo XC40's compact platform is now shared with a new carmaker called Lynk & Co, which is trying to capture your imagination with a completely different sales model, bolder shapes and a lower price point than any Volvo. Lynk & Co might also become the first Chinese manufacturer to succeed in America\u2014its models will be built to global standards, on what's essentially a proven Volvo platform.\n\nThen, there's The London Taxi Company, a factory just a stone's throw away from Lotus. After becoming part of the Geely empire, LTC came up with a brand new electric platform that used not only for the next London cab, but also a wide range of electric commercial vehicles aimed at the European market.\n\nThe London Taxi Company\n\nNow, Lotus joins the team, and the brand is already off to a good start. In the first half of 2017, \"Lotus has already entered into a positive cash flow situation\" with sales rising by 10 percent.\n\nOn its quest to survive, the small British brand always knew how to keep up the interest with exciting products like the Evora GT430. But that certainly won't be enough to survive in the long run. So from now on, Lotus will use its engineering know-how to become a global player using Geely's investment. And while we wait for its wide range of authentic performance vehicles to appear, the new Elise can't be here soon enough.\n\nAn Elise that they will sell in America.", "output": "China's Geely is raising its stake in Denmark's Saxo Bank to 51.5% in a deal worth more than $300m.\u00a0The Chinese car maker\u00a0believes that the bank's financial technology knowhow could help it expand in Asia. Saxo Bank's income mainly comes from its online trading platforms, which are used by foreign exchange dealers among others.\u00a0At the same time, Geely has acquired a controlling 51% stake in the Lotus car company, leaving 49% with Malaysia's Etika\u00a0Automotive. So far, every car firm that Geely has acquired has made a\u00a0fast financial turnaround and it is hoped additional investment in Lotus will have the same effect.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's wealthy young buy\u00a0up worldwide art \n CNN \u2014\n\nMichael Xufu Huang is hard to miss. In March of this year, the Chinese art collector turned heads at a Guggenheim party by showing up in a white leather jumpsuit. A week later, he swept through the VIP opening of Art Basel in Hong Kong in a powder-pink, pajama-style outfit. But it\u2019s not just Huang\u2019s clothes that have art world insiders talking \u2013 it\u2019s his age.\n\nAt just 23, Huang is part of a new generation of Chinese art collectors. He began collecting art as a 16-year-old high school student in London and then returned home to Beijing, where he co-founded the contemporary arts museum, M Woods.\n\nThe gallery\u2019s ambitious exhibitions of both Western and Chinese artists have attracted international attention. But while Huang and his contemporaries clearly have money to spend, their approach to collecting is vastly different from the Chinese billionaires who shook up the art world in the mid-2000s.\n\nChanging tastes\n\nChinese collectors started making global headlines just over 10 years ago, and they quickly gained a reputation for buying big-ticket items by the best-known Western artists.\n\nAged just 23, Michael Xufu Huang is already a prominent collector and curator. He co-founded the not-for-profit contemporary art museum M Woods alongside fellow young collectors Lin Han and Wanwan Lei. Courtesy of Michael Xufu Huang\n\nAmong this early cohort were Joseph Lau, who bought one of Andy Warhol\u2019s Mao Zedong portraits for $17.4 million in 2006, and Wang Jianlin, one of China\u2019s richest men, who paid $28.2 million for a Picasso. Billionaire and former taxi driver Liu Yiqian famously paid $170.4 million for an Amedeo Modigliani painting \u2013 reportedly using his American Express card.\n\nWestern art is still a big draw for Chinese collectors like Huang.\n\n\u201cThe younger generation of Chinese collectors have been educated around the world,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are global citizens, so works by artists from abroad echo our interests.\u201d\n\nBut China\u2019s new collectors aren\u2019t only looking for big names. Heir to a property and jewelry empire, Hong Kong-based Adrian Cheng says that he owns \u201chundreds\u201d of works by both Chinese and Western artists \u2013 many of them up-and-coming.\n\nAdrian Cheng, pictured here being interviewed by CNN Style's Derek Blasberg, is one of the world's youngest billionaires. Having founded the K11 Art Foundation, Cheng is also a prominent art collector. Courtesy of Adrian Cheng\n\n\u201cI travel across the world to view art \u2013 at art fairs, biennales, museums, exhibitions and more,\u201d said Cheng, who founded the not-for-profit K11 Art Foundation. \u201cI am fortunate to have come across art that may be of historical importance, representative of its time or simply moving. I am driven to collect these works, regardless of the where the artist comes from.\u201d\n\nCollectors\u2019 understanding of art continues to grow, according to Lorenz Helbling, who founded ShanghART Gallery in Shanghai 21 years ago.\n\n\u201c(Chinese art collectors) have become more knowledgeable, sophisticated and ambitious,\u201d he said.\n\nOn the block\n\nAuctions are still the marketplace of choice among China\u2019s art collectors. Nearly 70% of artworks purchased in the country in 2016 went through auction houses, according to a joint report by Art Basel and the banking giant UBS.\n\nAlex Chang, Managing Director of Poly Auction in Hong Kong, thinks auctions provide a level of reassurance for emerging buyers in mainland China. \u201cIn an auction, the lots are selected by the specialists and an estimate is made after thorough research,\u201d Chang said.\n\n\u201cThus the collectors will have sufficient background information to make a decision on placing a reasonable bid.\u201d\n\nInexperienced collectors might feel less confident in a gallery or at an art fair, where the process for determining prices tends to be more opaque.\n\nBut while older, headline-grabbing businessmen seemed to relish the buzz \u2013 and publicity \u2013 of public sales, younger collectors have good reason for keeping a low profile.\n\nChina\u2019s so-called fuerdai (literally \u201csecond generation rich\u201d) are regularly criticized in the media for their flashy spending. And with many young collectors at least partly funded by family money, they seem eager to prove that they\u2019re interested in art as more than just a status symbol.\n\nAuction houses are changing tack to cater to them. Sotheby\u2019s, Christie\u2019s and Hong Kong\u2019s Poly Auction all offer private sales that allow for discreet transactions. In the first half of 2017, Sotheby\u2019s reported a significant rise in revenue from private sales \u2013 particularly in Asia.\n\n\u201cWe have seen a strong upward trend in private sales with mainland Chinese clients in the past five years, and more than a three-fold increase in 2016 compared to the prior year,\u201d a spokesperson said. \u201cIn China and Hong Kong, the increase has been more than four-fold.\u201d\n\nSome young collectors like Kylie Ying, co-founder of the ART021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair, eschew auction houses altogether.\n\nKylie Ying co-founded the ART021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair with her husband in 2013. She is one of China's most prominent young collectors. Courtesy of Kylie Ying\n\n\u201cSo far, I haven\u2019t bought anything (that way),\u201d she said. \u201cI always buy through galleries \u2013 that\u2019s my first priority.\u201d\n\nOther young collectors are turning to the Internet to scour the market. With auction houses like Christie\u2019s now using social media to showcase items, Huang says that he can easily browse for international art on Instagram \u2013 despite the fact that the platform is technically blocked in Mainland China.\n\n\u201cI use Instagram more than auction catalogues to see what\u2019s on the market,\u201d said Huang, whose own account features pictures taken with the likes of contemporary artist Takashi Murakami and American curator Klaus Biesenbach.\n\nThis habit seems fitting for a collector whose portfolio is dominated by artists known for exploring the Internet\u2019s impact on society. Huang\u2019s collection includes digital art that would likely be of little interest to China\u2019s older generation, like Instagram portraits from Amalia Ulman\u2019s \u201cExcellences & Perfections\u201d series.\n\n\u201cThe term \u2018post-internet\u2019 has almost become pass\u00e9 in the art world, but I think it still manages to encapsulate many of my interests,\u201d Huang said. \u201cI am fascinated with artists who respond to realities and social issues predicated by new technologies and mobile connectivity. I think these investigations reflect the language of today.\u201d\n\nAspiring patrons\n\nWorks bought by China\u2019s earliest band of collectors often remained hidden away their owners\u2019 mansions. The wife of aforementioned billionaire Liu Yiqian admitted that some of the couple\u2019s art was stored in warehouses before they opened a series of private museums around China.\n\nBut collectors like Huang, Cheng and Ying seem to be on a mission to share \u2013 or at least appear to be sharing \u2013 their art with as many people as possible. Through both the K11 Art Foundation and the exhibitions hosted in his family-owned shopping malls, Cheng frequently makes art available to the public.\n\n\u201cWe have presented blockbuster shows, such as (our) Monet exhibition, that had audiences lining up around the block,\u201d he claimed. \u201cWe have introduced mass audiences to modern and contemporary art, bridging the chasm between the wider public and art.\u201d\n\nUnlike the Cheng\u2019s K11 Art Foundation and Huang\u2019s M Woods, the ART021 fair is an explicitly for-profit business. But Ying also insists that she is motivated by the desire to make art more accessible.\n\n\u201cPublic education is also the vision of our fair,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have free art talks and speeches during the fair. We are hoping that ART021 can be the first window for art to Chinese public.\u201d", "output": "China's young, wealthy elites\u00a0are increasingly buying\u00a0artworks from around the world.\u00a0This younger generation of\u00a0collectors have been educated overseas, granting a globalised perspective on\u00a0the art industry and its value, and encouraging them to give up-and-coming artists a chance alongside the classics.\u00a0\"(Chinese art collectors)\u00a0have become more knowledgeable, sophisticated and ambitious\", said Lorenz Helbling, founder of\u00a0ShanghART Gallery in Shanghai. Auctions remain the marketplace of choice for collectors, prompting auction houses to alter their methods to appeal to\u00a0Asian buyers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Coca-Cola\u2019s single-use plastic bottles 110 billion pa: Greenpeace \n Coca-Cola increased its production of throwaway plastic bottles last year by well over a billion, according to analysis by Greenpeace.\n\nThe world\u2019s biggest soft drinks company does not disclose how much plastic packaging it puts into the market. But analysis by the campaign group Greenpeace reveals what they say is an increase in production of single-use PET bottles from 2015-2016.\n\nThe increase puts Coke\u2019s production at more than 110bn bottles each year, according to Greenpeace.\n\nCoca-Cola has confirmed that single-use plastic bottles made up 59% of its global packaging in 2016 compared to 58% in the 12 months before.\n\nThe scale of production contributes to a plastic mountain which is growing vastly year on year. Figures obtained by the Guardian reveal that by 2021 the number of plastic drinks bottles produced globally will reach more than half a trillion.\n\nBut only a tiny fraction of these bottles are recycled. Fewer than half of the bottles bought in 2016 were collected for recycling and just 7% of those collected were turned into new bottles. Instead, most plastic bottles produced end up in landfill or in the ocean.\n\nBetween 5m and 13m tonnes of plastic leaks into the world\u2019s oceans each year to be ingested by sea birds, fish and other organisms, and by 2050 the ocean will contain more plastic by weight than fish, according to research by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.\n\nLouise Edge, oceans campaigner for Greenpeace, said: \u201cCoca-Cola talks the talk on sustainability but the astonishing rate at which it is pumping out single-use plastic bottles is still growing.\n\n\u201cWe have calculated it produced over 110bn throwaway plastic bottles every year \u2013 an astounding 3,400 a second \u2013 while refusing to take responsibility for its role in the plastic pollution crisis facing our oceans.\n\n\u201cWe would love Coke to provide detailed breakdowns of what it produces \u2013 so we would welcome any clarifications they have to offer on our estimates.\u201d\n\nAmid growing concern about marine pollution and increasing evidence that plastic is finding its way into the food chain of fish and humans, Coca-Cola European Partners announced it had changed its mind about plastic bottle deposit schemes.\n\nThe company has expressed support for a deposit scheme and told Westminster MPs a new approach was needed to improve the stalled recycling rates in the UK of 57% for PET bottles, and is calling for collaborative efforts from government and industry to improve recycling rates.\n\nCoca-Cola, which operates in more than 200 countries, has said disclosing the volume of plastic packaging it puts on the market annually is \u201ccommercially sensitive\u201d.\n\nIn July Coca-Cola European Partners announced it would increase the amount of recycled plastic in its bottles to 50% by 2020.\n\nGreenpeace Canada Oceans campaigner Sarah King with a collection of Coca-Cola bottles and caps found on Freedom Island, Philippines. Photograph: Daniel M\u00fcller/Greenpeace\n\nBut plastic drinking bottles could be made out of 100% recycled plastic, known as RPet \u2013 and campaigners are pressing big drinks companies to radically increase the amount of recycled plastic in their bottles.\n\nA spokesperson from Coca-Cola Great Britain said: \u201cOur global PET bottle usage number for 2016 is 59%, an increase of 1% from 58% in 2015. We continue to review and adjust our packaging strategy as part of our overall business plan.\n\n\u201cIn the UK, all of our bottles and cans are 100% recyclable and have been since 2012. Our plastic bottles contain 25% recycled material and we have recently pledged to double this amount to 50% by 2020.\u201d", "output": "Coca-Cola, the world\u2019s largest soft drinks company, increased production of single-use plastic bottles by over a billion from 2015-2016, according to Greenpeace. Although Coca-Cola does not disclose its plastic packaging output, Greenpeace estimates that the increase means that this now stands at over 110 billion bottles per year. Coca-Cola has confirmed that such bottles constituted 59% of the firm\u2019s global packaging in 2016, up from 58% in the previous year. According to The Guardian, the number of plastic bottles produced globally will reach over half a trillion by 2021. Only a tiny proportion of such bottles are currently recycled."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "3D printing used to produce prosthetics at 10% of original cost \n Oct 2, 2017 | By Tess\n\nA mechanical engineering student at the University of Colorado Boulder is putting his knowledge to use through the development of functional and low-cost prosthetics made with the help of 3D printing technology.\n\nWhat started off as an eighth-grade science project for Peter \u201cMax\u201d Armstrong, the student in question, has grown into a highly promising initiative called Go Prosthetics. After years of research, prototypes, and tinkering, Armstrong believes he has developed a low-cost and customizable prosthetic that could be deployed in parts of the world where medical aids and prosthetics are hard to come by.\n\nOn a personal level, Armstrong was inspired to pursue the project by a family friend who suffered a double amputation. After learning how much lower limb prosthetics can cost (upwards of $3,000), the student decided to see if he could do something to make a difference.\n\nOf course, at the time Armstrong was not using 3D printing to make prosthetics, but the interest in developing accessible artificial limbs certainly grew from that point. Impressively, by the time he was in high school, Armstrong had conceived of the prosthetic design he has now printed, tested, and patented.\n\nArmstrong\u2019s Go Prosthetics technology basically consists of a \u201cgeneral shaped\u201d 3D printed prosthetic socket (which come in a variety of sizes), which can be customized to the wearer by injecting expandable foam into the socket until it is a perfect fit.\n\nAccording to the Go Prosthetics website, a socket fitting only takes about 30 minutes to complete and the prosthetics themselves only cost about $300 to produce\u2014a price that Armstrong says will drop once production increases.\n\nTo test his 3D printed prosthetic limb system, Armstrong has worked closely with Brian Sherman, who had his left leg amputated below the knee in 2013. Sherman heard about the CU Boulder student\u2019s work via an amputee support group in Oregon, and quickly got in contact.\n\nBrian Sherman wearing the Go Prosthetics 3D printed limb\n\n\"I think it's phenomenal he's had such dedication,\" Sherman told CU News. \"He's had a great idea, and he's run with it.\u201d\n\nWorking together, Sherman has given Armstrong vital feedback on his prosthetic design, telling him if and when the socket was uncomfortable and whether it was easy to move with. \"The first one he did\u2014it hurt,\" he explained. \"I told him if it hurts, people aren't going to use it. The second one he did is much better. I walked around the room. I had control. I had balance.\u201d\n\n(Images: Go Prosthetics)\n\nSince then, Armstrong says he has tested his design with three below-the-knee amputees and received positive reviews of his 3D printed prosthetic. Currently, the engineering student is trying to find an NGO or nonprofit organization to collaborate with to deploy his 3D printed prosthetics.\n\nUltimately, the goal of Go Prosthetics is to offer amputees in developing regions of the world better access to prosthetics, effectively giving them their mobility back. Armstrong will also keep working on his design to make it suitable for upper-limp amputees as well.\n\nPosted in 3D Printing Application\n\nMaybe you also like:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJames McCrory wrote at 5/16/2019 10:46:17 AM:HI I am a below knee amputee with a back ground in electronics I was an electricain but had to give up work done a degree in electronic, build my own acouistic guitars and mandolins. I have been having trouble getting my prosthesis ,socket to fit. I have had several made and they have all been to small ot to big. I live in Ireland and wonder did you every get your project of the ground. my email is jimmccy@gmail,com I have giben a lot of though about the design the socket and how it could be manufactured I find this web site and realise other out there are not only thinking about it but doning it llets know how you are getting onGilbert Cameron wrote at 11/21/2017 8:08:18 PM:Hi. Would be good to chat. We are running a 3 year project in 3d printing prosthetics in LVDC Musoma, Tanzania. In our 3rd year, starting April 2019 we hope to be printing lower limb sockets.\n\n\n\n", "output": "An engineering student at the University of Colorado in Boulder has developed a low-cost, customisable prosthetic using 3D printing. Peter Armstrong's Go Prosthetics initiative uses expanding foam to ensure that its 3D-printed prosthetics fit their wearers perfectly. The socket for the limb can be made in around 30 minutes and costs $300, compared to the usual minimum price of $3,000, according to the company. The technology\u00a0could see use in regions where artificial limbs are in short supply, said Armstrong."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Huawei overtakes Apple as the smartphone of choice in China \n Some 31.4% of respondents to a poll last month in China said they intended to buy a Huawei model for their next smartphone, compared with 24.2% who said they wanted an iPhone. Photo: IC\n\nSurging smartphone maker Huawei Technologies has for the first time surpassed Apple Inc. as the brand of choice for Chinese smartphone buyers, in the latest sign the U.S. giant is losing its luster in the world\u2019s largest market, according to a new survey.\n\nSome 31.4% of respondents to a September poll by FT Confidential Research, a unit of the Financial Times, said they intended to buy a Huawei model for their next smartphone. By comparison, only 24.2% of the 1,000 consumers surveyed said they would buy an iPhone for their next smartphone, the Financial Times reported on Monday.\n\nThe timing is significant because Apple unveiled its latest models, the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X, in September and generally gets a boost from excitement around its new launches. The iPhone 8 went on sale in late September, but has failed to attract the usual buzz of previous launches.\n\nThe iPhone's 24.2% September showing in terms of consumer preference is down from 25.8% at the time of the iPhone 7 launch last year, the Financial Times said. Among people who said they planned to buy an iPhone in the latest survey, 65.1% said they wanted one of the latest three models. That was down sharply from the 75.7% who said they planned to buy the latest models from the iPhone 7 series around the time of the last product launches.\n\nThe survey results mirror a larger trend that has seen Apple steadily lose share in the world's largest smartphone market, as it comes under assault from Huawei and a group of other homegrown brands including Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi.\n\nIn this year\u2019s second quarter, Apple\u2019s China sales fell 7.6%, as its share of the market dipped 0.6 percentage points to 7.1%, making it the No. 5 player, according to data tracking firm IDC. At the same time, Huawei\u2019s sales surged 22.6% to make it the clear market leader with 21% share, as Chinese consumers increasingly see the brand as offering comparable quality to Apple at far lower prices.\n\nContact reporter Yang Ge (geyang@caixin.com)", "output": "China's Huawei has taken over from Apple as the smartphone of choice for Chinese consumers, revealing again how Apple is losing ground in the world's biggest market, according an FT Confidential Research poll. The survey found 31.4% of respondents intend to buy a Huawei as their next smartphone, compared with 24.2% choosing Apple's iPhone. When the survey was done for the iPhone 7, 25.8% said it would be their next phone. The survey came as Apple unveiled its iPhone 8 range. So far the products have failed to attract the usual global buzz that follows an iPhone launch."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian start-up pilots financial 'personal assistant' \n San Francisco-based Douugh (the extra \"u\" was to help it secure a domain name) would also be competing with banks, though it will not actually hold a banking licence in Australia. Instead, it aims to team up with an already-licensed bank, to provide a \"white label\" transaction account to be offered under the fintech's branding.", "output": "Australian fintech Douugh is launching a pilot programme this month aimed at advising clients on their personal finances using a virtual assistant. The assistant, named \"Sophie\", is expected to provide clients with advice on issues such as credit card debt and bill payments. The firm says its plan is to launch a platform allowing customers access to transaction accounts, debit cards and loans supplied by a licensed bank based on interactions with the virtual assistant. Douugh is hoping to act as a \"financial control centre\" and provide consumers with loans that are cheaper than credit card debt they may currently be taking on.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US-based robo-adviser Blooom hits $1bn in AUM \n Robo-Advisor Blooom now manages over $1 billion of retirement accounts for their clients, according to the company blog. Blooom was started in 2013 to \u201chelp the traditionally un-helped\u201d. The platform explains that \u201cWall Street has made a habit of running in the opposite direction of investors with small accounts\u2026maybe we should build something and run towards them.\u201d\n\nBloom notes their platform has grown faster than virtually any other Robo-Advisor.\n\nBlooom stated;\n\n\u201cWe also take pride that this Kansas-based company reached the milestone faster than both Betterment or Wealthfront \u2013 while doing so on a fraction of the capital. They\u2019re peers not so much from a comparable service offering but in that they\u2019re a benchmark for other Robo-advisors. In other words, out of the gates, we have grown faster on fewer resources, as one should expect from someone managing their money.\u201d\n\nToday, thousands of people trust Blooom with their 401ks/403bs, thus representing a shift away from costly active management schemes that deliver too little yet cost much more. Blooom thanked their customers for believing in them.\n\nBlooom last raised money in February of 2017 in a $9.15 million Series B financing round. At that time, Blooom held $500 million in assets under management so it would appear the funding has been put to good use as exemplified by this dramatic growth.\n\nKansas based Blooom charges customers $10 per month, for anyone in the US who has a 401k and 403b and needs help with it \u2014 regardless of account balance. Think about it. That is about the same cost of Netflix.\n\nBlooom believes traditional industry participants seek out wealthy investors with multiple tiers of percentage pricing and complicated different service levels. Blooom wants to keep things clear and straightforward and deliver fiduciary advice to millions of hard working Americans who have never had access to help before, at an affordable price. Their recent performance indicates this goal is being met.\n\n[Editors Note: Wealthfront has pointed out that their platform took 2.5 years to reach $1 billion in assets under management]", "output": "US-based robo-adviser Blooom now has more than $1bn in assets under management (AUM). Launched in 2013, the robo-adviser is claiming faster growth than rivals such as Betterment and Wealthfront. At the time of its last funding round, in February this year, the firm had $500m AUM. The firm has a particular focus on the US' 401(k) and 403(b) retirement plan markets.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BlackRock introduces exponential technology ETF offering \n About BlackRock\n\nBlackRock\u2019s purpose is to help more and more people experience financial well-being. As a fiduciary to investors and a leading provider of financial technology, we help millions of people build savings that serve them throughout their lives by making investing easier and more affordable. For additional information on BlackRock, please visit www.blackrock.com/corporate", "output": "BlackRock's iShares exchange-traded fund division has introduced an offering focusing on exponential technology. The offering will track an index provided by Morningstar and has been developed in partnership with independent financial advisory firm Edelman Financial Services. The ETF invests in global companies seen to be determining trends in technology development. Such themes the fund may invest in include big data and analytics, nanotechnology and bioinformatics.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Instagram users are rushing to connect with brands: COO Levine \n Instagram may just be seven years old but the platform is helping to redefine what it means to launch a business and what relationships with consumers look like.\n\nIn fact, 80 percent of people on the platform (there are 800 million monthly users) connect to a business voluntarily, according to Instagram\u2019s COO Marne Levine.\n\n\u201cShrinking the distance between businesses and customers and bringing you closer to the things that matter to you is really something that we\u2019re focused on,\u201d said Levine at Advertising Week in New York on Wednesday.", "output": "Instagram users are reaching out to advertisers, according COO Marne Levine, who said 80% of consumers have voluntarily connected with brands on the platform. Nevertheless, Levine cautioned that\u00a0the company\u00a0has a long way to go to make the shopping experience more accessible. Speaking at New York's Advertising Week event, Levine said Instagram was trying to learn and understand \"how people shop on the platform\", and added that in the past month, the site had seen 180 million interactions between consumers and businesses. \"I think there\u2019s so much more that we can do in this area,\" she said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Defaults on US student loans rise for first time in four years \n The three-year student loan default rate rose in 2017 for the first time in four years, the Education Department said Wednesday, a slight uptick that raised alarm bells about whether the country is doing enough to help student loan borrowers on the margins.\n\nA record 8.5 million people are now in default on their loans, department data showed. More than half a million people defaulted in the first half of this year alone.\n\nThe cohort default rate \u2014 a measure of how many students default on their student loans within three years of leaving school \u2014 rose overall to 11.5% for those leaving school in 2014, up from 11.3% the year before. Though it captures only a small slice of defaulters, the rate is considered the best approximation of how colleges and borrowers are faring on this front.\n\nThe government has been pushing plans meant to help student loan borrowers stave off default, like income-based repayment, which allows people to pay 10% of their income toward their loans. On the lowest end of the income scale, borrowers can pay as little as $0 a month and have the balance of their loans forgiven after 20 years; a Trump proposal would move that bar even lower, to 15 years.\n\n\n\nThat's what makes the default numbers \"particularly disheartening,\" said Debbie Cochrane, the vice president of the Institute for College Access and Success, a nonprofit in Washington, DC. \"Borrowers have other options besides just defaulting.\"\n\nThe department's data show that income-based repayment hasn't done enough to stave off defaults, Cochrane said, despite increases in people who are enrolled in income-based plans.\n\nMany borrowers simply don't know that income-based repayment plans exist, said Cochrane, either because the companies that service their student loans aren't doing enough to inform them, or because they've lost contact with servicing companies altogether.\n\n\"It's really a matter of awareness,\" she said.\n\nMore troublingly, income-based repayment has done little to help borrowers who are already in default, including those who defaulted outside of the three-year window captured by the default rate. The number of borrowers who are stuck in default \u2014 which can have devastating consequences on someone's credit, and lead to wages and taxes being garnished \u2014 has continued to climb.\n\n\n\nFor-profit college students made up a disproportionate number of those who had defaulted since 2014, department data showed. A third of defaulting borrowers had attended for-profits, though those colleges enrolled just 9% of all students.\n\nBut students at community colleges defaulted at an even higher rate than for-profits. Ten colleges performed so badly \u2014 with default rates above 30% \u2014 that they were in danger of losing access to federal financial aid money.", "output": "The number of people in the US defaulting on their student loans rose this year for the first time in four years, according to the Education Department, raising concerns about whether the country is doing enough to help students who are near to\u00a0defaulting. Over 8.5 million people are now in default, the highest amount ever,\u00a0with over\u00a0half a million defaulting in the first half of 2017 alone.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple achieves Chinese handwritten symbols recognition in-device \n Handwriting recognition is more important than ever given the prevalence of mobile phones, tablets, and wearable gear like smartwatches. The large symbol inventory required to support Chinese handwriting recognition on such mobile devices poses unique challenges. This article describes how we met those challenges to achieve real-time performance on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch (in Scribble mode). Our recognition system, based on deep learning, accurately handles a set of up to 30,000 characters. To achieve acceptable accuracy, we paid particular attention to data collection conditions, representativeness of writing styles, and training regimen. We found that, with proper care, even larger inventories are within reach. Our experiments show that accuracy only degrades slowly as the inventory increases, as long as we use training data of sufficient quality and in sufficient quantity.\n\nIntroduction\n\nHandwriting recognition can enhance user experience on mobile devices, particularly for Chinese input given the relative complexity of keyboard methods. Chinese handwriting recognition is uniquely challenging, due to the large size of the underlying character inventory. Unlike alphabet-based writing, which typically involves on the order of 100 symbols, the set of H\u00e0nz\u00ec characters in Chinese National Standard GB18030-2005 contains 27,533 entries, and many additional logographic characters are in use throughout Greater China.\n\nFor computational tractability, it is usual to focus on a restricted number of characters, deemed most representative of usage in daily life. Thus, the standard GB2312-80 set includes only 6,763 entries (3,755 and 3,008 characters in the level-1 and level-2 sets, respectively). The closely aligned character set used in the popular CASIA databases, built by the Institute of Automation of Chinese Academy of Sciences, comprises a total of 7,356 entries [6]. The SCUT-COUCH database has similar coverage [8].\n\nThese sets tend to reflect commonly used characters across the entire population of Chinese writers. At the individual user level, however, what is \u201ccommonly used\u201d typically varies from one person to the next. Most people need at least a handful of characters deemed \u201cinfrequently written,\u201d as they occur in, e.g., proper names relevant to them. Thus ideally Chinese handwriting recognition algorithms need to scale up to at least the level of GB18030-2005.\n\nWhile early recognition algorithms mainly relied on structural methods based on individual stroke analysis, the need to achieve stroke-order independence later sparked interest into statistical methods using holistic shape information [5]. This obviously complicates large-inventory recognition, as correct character classification tends to get harder with the number of categories to disambiguate [3].\n\nOn Latin script tasks such as MNIST [4], convolutional neural networks (CNNs) soon emerged as the way to go [11]. Given a sufficient amount of training data, supplemented with synthesized samples as necessary, CNNs decidedly achieved state-of-the-art results [1], [10]. The number of categories in those studies, however, was very small (10).\n\nWhen we started looking into the large-scale recognition of Chinese characters some time ago, CNNs seemed to be the obvious choice. But that approach required scaling up CNNs to a set of approximately 30,000 characters, while simultaneously maintaining real-time performance on embedded devices. This article focuses on the challenges involved in meeting expectations in terms of accuracy, character coverage, and robustness to writing styles.\n\nSystem Configuration\n\nWe adopt in this work a general CNN architecture similar to that used in previous handwriting recognition experiments on the MNIST task (see, e.g., [1], [10]). The configuration of the overall system is illustrated in Fig. 1.\n\nFigure 1. Typical CNN Architecture (With 2 Consecutive Stages of Convolution and Subsampling)\n\nThe input is a medium-resolution image (for performance reasons) of 48x48 pixels representing a Chinese handwritten character. We fed this input to a number of feature extraction layers alternating convolution and subsampling. The last feature extraction layer is connected to the output via a fully connected layer.\n\nFrom one convolution layer to the next, we chose the size of the kernels and the number of feature maps so as to derive features of increasingly coarser granularity. We subsampled through a max-pooling layer [9] using a 2x2 kernel. The last feature layer typically comprises on the order of 1,000 small feature maps. Finally, the output layer has one node per class, e.g., 3,755 for the H\u00e0nz\u00ec level-1 subset of GB2312-80, and close to 30,000 when scaled up to the full inventory.\n\nAs baseline, we evaluated the previously described CNN implementation on the CASIA benchmark task [6]. While this task only covers H\u00e0nz\u00ec level-1 characters, there exist numerous reference results for character accuracy in the literature (e.g., in [7] and [14]). We used the same setup based on CASIA-OLHWDB, DB1.0-1.2, split in training and testing datasets [6], [7], yielding about one million training exemplars.\n\nNote that, given our product focus, the goal was not to tune our system for the highest possible accuracy on CASIA. Instead our priorities were model size, evaluation speed, and user experience. We thus opted for a compact system that works real-time, across a wide variety of styles, and with high robustness towards non-standard stroke order. This led to an image-based recognition approach even though we evaluate on online datasets. As in [10], [11], we supplemented actual observations with suitable elastic deformations.\n\nTable 1 shows the results using the CNN of Figure 1, where the abbreviation \u201cHz-1\u201d refers to the H\u00e0nz\u00ec level-1 inventory (3,755 characters), and \u201cCR(n)\u201d denotes top-n character recognition accuracy. In addition to the commonly reported top-1 and top-10 accuracies, we also mention top-4 accuracy because, as our user interface was designed to show 4 character candidates, the top-4 accuracy is an important predictor of user experience in our system.\n\nTable 1. Results on CASIA On-line Database, 3,755 Characters. Standard Training, Associated Model Size = 1MB\n\nInventory Training CR(1) CR(4) CR(10) Hz-1 CASIA 87.4% 94.5% 98.1%\n\nThe figures in Table 1 compare with online results in [7] and [14] averaging roughly 93% for top-1 and 98% for top-10 accuracy. Thus, while our top-10 accuracy is in line with the literature, our top-1 accuracy is slightly lower. This has to be balanced, however, against a satisfactory top-4 accuracy, and perhaps even more importantly, a model size (1 MB) smaller than any comparable system in [7] and [14].\n\nThe system in Table 1 is trained only on CASIA data, and does not include any other training data. We were also interested in folding in additional training data collected in-house on iOS devices. This data covers a larger variety of styles (cf. next section) and comprises a lot more training instances per character. Table 2 reports our results, on the same test set with a 3,755-character inventory.\n\nTable 2. Results on CASIA On-line Database, 3,755 Characters. Augmented Training, Associated Model Size = 15MB\n\nInventory Training CR(1) CR(4) CR(10) Hz-1 Augmented 88.4% 96.5% 98.3%\n\nThough the resulting system has a much greater footprint (15 MB), accuracy only improves slightly (about 2% absolute for top-4 accuracy). This suggests that, by and large, most styles of characters appearing in the test set were already well-covered in the CASIA training set. It also indicates that there is no downside in folding more training data: the presence of additional styles is not deleterious to the underlying model.\n\nScaling Up to 30K Characters\n\nSince the ideal set of \u201cfrequently written\u201d characters varies from one user to the next, a large population of users requires an inventory of characters much larger than 3,755. Exactly which ones to select, however, is not entirely straightforward. Simplified Chinese characters defined with GB2312-80 and traditional Chinese characters defined with Big5, Big5E, and CNS 11643-92 cover a wide range (from 3,755 to 48,027 H\u00e0nz\u00ec characters). More recently came HKSCS-2008 with 4,568 extra characters, and even more with GB18030-2000.\n\nWe wanted to make sure that users are able to write their daily correspondence, in both simplified and traditional Chinese, as well as names, poems and other common markings, visual symbols, and emojis. We also wanted to support the Latin script for the occasional product or trade name with no transliteration. We followed Unicode as the prevailing international standard of character encoding, as it encapsulates almost all of the above mentioned standards. (Note that Unicode 7.0 can specify over 70,000 characters in its extensions B-D, with more being considered for inclusion). Our character recognition system thus focused on the H\u00e0nz\u00ec part of GB18030-2005, HKSCS-2008, Big5E, a core ASCII set, and a set of visual symbols and emojis, for a total of approximately 30,000 characters, which we felt represented the best compromise for most Chinese users.\n\nAfter selecting the underlying character inventory, it is critical to sample the writing styles that users actually use. While there are formal clues as to what styles to expect (cf. [13]), there exist many regional variations, e.g., (i) the use of the U+2EBF (\u8279) radical, or (ii) the cursive U+56DB (\u56db) vs. U+306E (\u306e). Rendered fonts can also contribute to confusion as some users expect specific characters to be presented in a specific style. As a speedy input tends to drive toward cursive styles, it tends to increase ambiguity, e.g. between U+738B (\u738b) and U+4E94 (\u4e94). Finally, increased internationalization sometimes introduces unexpected collisions: for example, U+4E8C (\u4e8c), when cursively written, may conflict with the Latin characters \u201c2\u201d and \u201cZ\u201d.\n\nOur rationale was to offer users the whole spectrum of possible input from printed to cursive to unconstrained writing [5]. To cover as many variants as possible, we sought data from writers from several regions in Greater China. We were surprised to find that most users have never seen many of the rarer characters. This unfamiliarity results in hesitations, stroke-order errors, and other distortions which we needed to take into account. We collected data from paid participants across various age groups, gender, and with a variety of educational backgrounds. The resulting handwritten data is unique in many ways: comprising several thousands users, written with a finger, not a stylus, on iOS devices, in small batches of data. One advantage is that the sampling of iOS devices results in a very clear handwritten signal.\n\nWe found a wide variety of writing styles. Figures 2-4 show some examples of the \u201cflower\u201d character U+82B1 (\u82b1), in printed, cursive, and unconstrained styles.\n\nFigure 2. Printed radical variations of U+82B1 (\u82b1)\n\nFigure 3. Cursive radical variations of U+82B1 (\u82b1)\n\nFigure 4. Unconstrained variations of U+82B1 (\u82b1)\n\nThe fact that, in daily life, users often write quickly and unconstrained can lead to cursive variations that have a very dissimilar appearance. Conversely, sometimes it also leads to confusability between different characters. Figures 5-7 show some of the concrete examples we observe in our data. Note that it is especially important to have enough training material to distinguish cursive variations such as in Figure 7.\n\nFigure 5. Variations of U+7684 (\u7684)\n\nFigure 6. Variations of U+4EE5 (\u4ee5)\n\nFigure 7. Similar shapes of U+738 (\u738b) and U+4E94 (\u4e94)\n\nWith the guiding principles discussed previously, we were able to collect tens of millions of character instances for our training data. Compare the 3,755-character system in the previous section with the results shows in Table 3, on the same test set, after increasing the number of recognizable characters from 3,755 to approximately 30,000.\n\nTable 3. Results on CASIA On-line Database, 30K Characters\n\nInventory CR(1) CR(4) CR(10) Model Size 30K 85.6% 95.2% 97.5% 15 MB\n\nNote that the model size remains the same, as the system of Table 2 was simply restricted to the \u201cHz-1\u201d set of characters, but was otherwise identical. Accuracy drops marginally, which is to be expected, since the vastly increased coverage creates additional confusability of the kind mentioned earlier, for example \u201c\u4e8c\u201d vs. \u201cZ\u201d.\n\nCompare Tables 1-3 and you\u2019ll see that multiplying coverage by a factor of 10 does not entail 10 times more errors, or 10 times more storage. In fact, as the model size goes up, the number of errors increases much more slowly. Thus, building a high-accuracy Chinese character recognition that covers 30,000 characters, instead of only 3,755, is possible and practical.\n\nTo get an idea of how the system performs across the entire set of 30,000 characters, we also evaluated it on a number of different test sets comprising all supported characters written in various styles. Table 4 lists the average results.\n\nTable 4. Average Results on Multiple In-House Test Sets Comprising All Writing Styles, 30,000 Characters\n\nInventory CR(1) CR(4) Model Size 30K 88.1% 95.1% 15 MB\n\nOf course, the results in Tables 3-4 are not directly comparable, since they were obtained on different test sets. Nonetheless, they show that top-1 and top-4 accuracies are in the same ballpark across the entire inventory of characters. This is a result of the largely balanced training regimen.\n\nDiscussion\n\nThe total set of CJK characters in Unicode (currently around 75,000 [12]) could increase in the future, as the ideographic rapporteur group (IRG) keeps on suggesting new additions from a variety of sources. Admittedly, these character variants will be rare (e.g., used in historical names or poetry). Nevertheless, this is of high interest to every person whose name happens to contain one of those rare characters.\n\nSo, how well do we expect to handle larger inventories of characters in the future? The experiments discussed in this article support learning curves [2] based on training and test error rates with a varying amount of training data. We can therefore extrapolate asymptotic values, regarding both what our accuracy would look like with more training data, and how it would change with more characters to recognize.\n\nFor example, given the 10-times larger inventory and corresponding (less than) 2% drop in accuracy between Tables 1 and 3, we can extrapolate that with an inventory of 100,000 characters and a corresponding increase in training data, it would be realistic to achieve top-1 accuracies around 84%, and top-10 accuracies around 97% (with the same type of architecture).\n\nIn summary, building a high-accuracy handwriting recognition system which covers a large set of 30,000 Chinese characters is practical even on embedded devices. Furthermore, accuracy only degrades slowly as the inventory goes up, as long as training data of sufficient quality is available in sufficient quantity. This bodes well for the recognition of even larger character inventories in the future.\n\nReferences\n\n[1] D.C. Ciresan, U. Meier, L.M. Gambardella, and J. Schmidhuber, Convolutional Neural Network Committees For Handwritten Character Classification, in 11th Int. Conf. Document Analysis Recognition (ICDAR 2011), Beijing, China, Sept. 2011.\n\n[2] C. Cortes, L.D. Jackel, S.A. Jolla, V. Vapnik, and J.S. Denker, Learning Curves: Asymptotic Values and Rate of Convergence, in Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS 1993), Denver, pp. 327\u2013334, Dec. 1993.\n\n[3] G.E. Hinton and K.J. Lang, Shape Recognition and Illusory Conjunctions, in Proc. 9th Int. Joint Conf. Artificial Intelligence, Los Angeles, CA, pp. 252\u2013259, 1985.\n\n[4] Y. LeCun, L. Bottou, Y. Bengio, and P. Haffner, Gradient\u2013 based Learning Applied to Document Recognition, Proc. IEEE, Vol. 86, No. 11, pp. 2278\u20132324, Nov. 1998.\n\n[5] C.-L. Liu, S. Jaeger, and M. Nakagawa, Online Recognition of Chinese Characters: The State-of-the-Art, IEEE Trans. Pattern Analysis Machine Intelligence, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 198\u2013213, Feb. 2004.\n\n[6] C.-L. Liu, F. Yin, D.-H. Wang, and Q.-F. Wang, CASIA Online and Offline Chinese Handwriting Databases, in Proc. 11th Int. Conf. Document Analysis Recognition (ICDAR 2011), Beijing, China, Sept. 2011.\n\n[7] C.-L. Liu, F. Yin, Q.-F. Wang, and D.-H.Wang, ICDAR 2011 Chinese Handwriting Recognition Competition,in 11th Int. Conf. Document Analysis Recognition (ICDAR 2011), Beijing, China, Sept. 2011.\n\n[8] Y. Li, L. Jin , X. Zhu, T. Long, SCUT-COUCH2008: A Comprehensive Online Unconstrained Chinese Handwriting Dataset (ICFHR 2008), Montreal, pp. 165\u2013170, Aug. 2008.\n\n[9] K. Jarrett, K. Kavukcuoglu, M. Ranzato, and Y. LeCun, What is the Best Multi-stage Architecture for Object Recognition?, in Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Computer Vision (ICCV09), Kyoto, Japan, Sept. 2009.\n\n[10] U. Meier, D.C. Ciresan, L.M. Gambardella, and J. Schmidhuber, Better Digit Recognition with a Committee of Simple Neural Nets, in 11th Int. Conf. Document Analysis Recognition (ICDAR 2011), Beijing, China, Sept. 2011.\n\n[11] P.Y. Simard, D. Steinkraus, and J.C. Platt, Best Practices for Convolutional Neural Networks Applied to Visual Document Analysis, in 7th Int. Conf. Document Analysis Recognition (ICDAR 2003), Edinburgh, Scotland, Aug. 2003.\n\n[12] Unicode, Chinese and Japanese, http://www.unicode.org/faq/han_cjk.html, 2015.\n\n[13] F.F. Wang, Chinese Cursive Script: An Introduction to Handwriting in Chinese, Far Eastern Publications Series, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1958.\n\n[14] F. Yin, Q.-F. Wang, X.-Y. Xhang, and C.-L. Liu, ICDAR2013 Chinese Handwriting Recognition Competition, in 11th Int. Conf. Document Analysis Recognition (ICDAR 2013), Washington DC, USA, Sept. 2013.", "output": "Apple's machine learning research team has announced a system that successfully recognises a set of more than 30,000 handwritten Chinese characters. The deep learning system it used recognises characters in real-time and operates in-device on an iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch (the last in scribble mode). Handwriting recognition would give\u00a0Chinese\u00a0mobile users a significantly improved experience.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hyundai opens first overseas data centre in China \n Korean car giant Hyundai Motor has opened its first overseas big data center in the upcoming tech hub of Gui'an New Area, in southwest China's Guizhou Province, as the company looks to move past a year of poor sales figures and regain its crown as one of China's bestselling car brands.\n\nHyundai has already established its own \"car cloud\" in South Korea, as it looks to utilize self-driving technology and the Internet of Things to build an interconnected network of vehicles of the future.\n\nAccording to Xinhua, citing the provincial commerce bureau, the center will provide data support for self-driving cars. The center will also work with China Unicom, one of China's largest telecom operators, to develop Internet-based, intelligent data exchange services tailored to the needs of Chinese customers.\n\nHyundai in 2016 established its roadmap for the future of car connectivity, with long-term plans that include boosting connectivity between various systems within vehicles, linking those systems to windshields to display information to the driver and eventually to enable high-speed communication between vehicles and their immediate surroundings \ufffdC an important step in developing driverless vehicles.\n\nHyundai is also looking to use big data to allow remote maintenance of its vehicles via software updates, and is working with companies like Apple and Google to develop smartphone technology within its vehicles, moving on from Bluetooth technology to advances like projecting phone screens onto car windshields.\n\nHyundai's first big data center opened in Uiwang, South Korea, in 2013. But the decision to open its first overseas big data center in China \ufffdC part of a planned future global network of centers around the world \ufffdC is interesting for several reasons.\n\nMoving beyond THAAD and 2017 struggles\n\nA move to China is in many ways a no-brainer \ufffdC the country is one of the world leaders in big data technology, and Hyundai's partnerships with China Unicom as well as Baidu (on in-car navigation and voice recognition technology) put it in good stead to spread its \"computer-on-wheels\" ethos across its biggest market.\n\nHowever, Hyundai has struggled in China in 2017, with the effects of South Korea's decision to deploy the controversial THAAD missile system damaging sales for many Korean companies in the country.\n\nHyundai sales slumped by 65 percent in the second quarter, with the company forced to cut its targets for the year by almost 25 percent. A factory line halt earlier this month came after all four of Beijing Hyundai's production lines stopped operations for several days in late August, after suppliers claimed they had not been paid. Bloomberg also cited Hyundai's \"sedan-heavy lineup\" in the country and failure to adapt to the popularity of SUVs in the country as another reason for an alarming sales slide.\n\nMen cylce past an advertising billboard for Hyundai cars opposite the plant of Hyundai Motor Co. in Beijing, China, August 30, 2017. /Reuters Photo\u200d\n\nThe move to modernize via big data in China by establishing a center in Gui'an can be seen as a move to regain Hyundai's previous foothold in the Chinese market \ufffdC in 2016, it was the third-biggest car brand in the country.", "output": "South Korean car manufacturer Hyundai has opened a big data centre in China's Gui'an New Area. The centre will process data from self-driving vehicles, aiming to increase connectivity and communications capabilities between\u00a0systems, cars, and drivers. Hyundai follows in the footsteps of Apple, Tencent, Baidu and Alibaba by locating its data centre in Gui'an, which is fast becoming a technology hub. The data centre is\u00a0Hyundai's first on foreign soil, and forms part of\u00a0a planned network of\u00a0centres worlwide.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google ends controversial First Click Free policy \n Google is ending its controversial First Click Free (FCF) policy that publishers loathed because it required them to allow Google search results access to news articles hidden behind a paywall. The company is replacing the decade-old FCF with Flexible Sampling, which allows publishers instead to decide how many (if any) articles they want to allow potential subscribers to access. Google says it\u2019s also working on a suite of new tools to help publishers reach new audiences and grow revenue.\n\nVia FCF, users could access an article for free but would be prompted to log-in or subscribe if they clicked anywhere else on the page. Publishers were required to allow three free articles per day which Google indexed so that they appeared in searches for a particular topic or keyword. Opting out of the FCF feature was detrimental because it demoted a publisher\u2019s ranking on Google Search and Google News. Google said articles from those publishers were demoted because its search engine didn\u2019t index stories that were locked behind paywalls.\n\nThe Wall Street Journal notes that when News Corp (which owns the WSJ) diasabled free access to its articles via Google Search earlier in 2017, its stories were heavily demoted in search rankings. The WSJ says it experienced a 38 percent reduction in traffic from Google Search, and a loss of 89 percent from Google News in August compared to a year earlier. Now, publishers that decide to opt out of Flexible Sampling won\u2019t be demoted in Google search rankings. Google is recommending publishers allow 10 free articles per month as \u201ca good starting point.\u201d\n\nAs part of its push, Google is working to make subscibing to publishers easier like single-click sign-ups through Android devices and Google services. It\u2019s also working to allow seamless access to subscriber content across publisher sites, Google Newsstand, Google Search, and Google News. Google also is looking into giving publishers its user data to target potential subscribers.\n\nGoogle drives 10 billion clicks to publishers\u2019 websites each month. Today\u2019s change comes as a way to bolster Google\u2019s position \u2014 the company can\u2019t sell ads if print media fails to move online, so it has to promote the move to digital, not usurp it. \u201cWe really recognize the transition to digital for publishers hasn\u2019t been easy,\u201d Google chief business officer Philipp Schindler told the WSJ. \"The economics are pretty clear: If publishers aren\u2019t successful, we can\u2019t be successful.\u201d", "output": "Google is abandoning its First Click Free (FCF) policy and replacing it with Flexible Sampling, a model that puts the power to allow free access to paywalled content back in publishers' hands. The move has been welcomed by publishers, who saw their Google Search rankings tumble if they opted out of FCF. Google is also looking to offer \"seamless\" access to subscriber content across its Newsstand, Search and News tools, and may release user data to help publishers target readers."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "An\u00a0independent Catalan may be bigger headache\u00a0for EU than Brexit \n Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBrexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nIt is essentially a political story, but with an economic twist. On Sunday the Catalan people vote on independence from Spain, despite the referendum being ruled illegal by the Spanish courts and despite practical efforts by the authorities to block entry to the polling stations. We don\u2019t know how the day will pan out but we do know that whatever happens there will be consequences not just for Spain but for the European Union.\n\nFor most of us, Catalonia is Barcelona, the glittering planned capital, host of the Olympics in 1992, the event that brought the city to the world stage, and home to the Sagrada Familia, Antoni Gaudi\u2019s huge and still unfinished cathedral.\n\nActually it is much more. The region is an economic powerhouse, in effect subsidising the rest of the country. Its 7.5 million people, some 16 per cent of the population of Spain, generate nearly 20 per cent of the country\u2019s GDP. Were it a country it would rank in economic size somewhere between Denmark and Finland. As for Barcelona itself, its port is the biggest in the Mediterranean, and the fourth largest cruise ship destination in the world. It also has two of the top business schools in the world, ESADE and IESE, and a tradition of business competence.\n\nUK news in pictures Show all 50 1 / 50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 10 June 2023 A cyclist trains in the early morning, as hot weather continues, in Richmond Park, London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 June 2023 A performer walks on a tightrope at Covent Garden during a sunny day in London AP UK news in pictures 8 June 2023 A women rides her horse through the river during the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 7 June 2023 The Princess of Wales during a game of walking rugby during her visit to meet local and national male rugby players at Maidenhead Rugby Club PA UK news in pictures 6 June 2023 An aerial view shows the dry bed of Woodhead Reservoir, revealed by a falling water level after a prolonged period of dry weather, near Glossop, northern England AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 5 June 2023 Prime Minister Rishi Sunak onboard Border Agency cutter HMC Seeker during a visit to Dover PA UK news in pictures 4 June 2023 A hot air balloon rises into the sky above Ragley Hall, Alcester, south of Birmingham in central England AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 2 June 2023 Skaters use the mini ramp at the Wavelength Spring Classic festival in Woolacombe Bay in Devon PA UK news in pictures 1 June 2023 The And Beyond installation, during a photo call for the London Design Biennale at Somerset House in London PA UK news in pictures 31 May 2023 Emergency services attending to a blaze at a derelict listed building in Samuel Street, Belfast PA UK news in pictures 30 May 2023 A robot named Stella interacts with visitors during the International Conference on Robotics and Automation ICRA in London AP UK news in pictures 29 May 2023 Dave Hackett and his daughter Daisy, five, explore the laburnum arch in the grounds of Preston Tower, East Lothian, in the warm Spring Bank Holiday weather PA UK news in pictures 28 May 2023 Great Britain\u2019s Nick Bandurak scores their side\u2019s third goal of the game during the FIH Hockey Pro League men\u2019s match at Lee Valley, London PA UK news in pictures 27 May 2023 People enjoy the sunny weather at a park in London AP UK news in pictures 26 May 2023 People drink coffee inside Daleks during MCM Comic Con at the ExCel London in east London PA UK news in pictures 25 May 2023 King Charles III and Queen Camilla during a visit to Enniskillen Castle, Co Fermanagh as part of a two day visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 24 May 2023 Horses enjoy the sunny weather on Middleham Gallops in North Yorkshire PA UK news in pictures 23 May 2023 An aerial view of a yellow rapeseed field in Hemel Hempstead, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 22 May 2023 Manoj Malde and Clive Gillmor kiss after getting married, the first wedding ever at the Chelsea Flower Show AP UK news in pictures 21 May 2023 People enjoy the warm weather as they take punt tours along the River Cam in Cambridge PA UK news in pictures 20 May 2023 Protesters emerge from the sea as Surfers Against Sewage hold a UK-wide paddle-out protest at Brighton West Pier in East Sussex PA UK news in pictures 19 May 2023 Good Karma ridden by Daniel Muscutt (right) wins the Earl & The Pharaoh Novice Stakes at Newbury Racecourse, Berkshire PA UK news in pictures 18 May 2023 Choristers from the Choir of St John\u2019s College at the University of Cambridge look out from the top of the Chapel Tower before performing the Ascension Day carol - a custom dating back to 1902. PA UK news in pictures 17 May 2023 Oxfam activists wearing 'big heads' of G7 leaders during a demonstration in Trafalgar Square, London, highlighting their lack of action to tackle the East Africa hunger crisis ahead of the start of the G7 summit in Japan PA UK news in pictures 16 May 2023 Part of a child\u2019s jacket during a photo call for the China\u2019s hidden century exhibition, which opens at the British Museum PA UK news in pictures 15 May 2023 Viewing assistant and History of Art student Emma Scarr Hall takes a closer look at @Pink Roses\u2019 (1923) by Scottish Colourist artist Leslie Hunter which is estimated at \u00a360,000-80,000 in the forthcoming Bonhams Scottish Art Sale in Edinburgh PA UK news in pictures 14 May 2023 Eva Birthistle, Sarah Greene, Sharon Horgan and Anne-Marie Duff, with the award for Drama Series, for Bad Sisters at the 2023 BAFTA TV Awards in London EPA UK news in pictures 13 May 2023 Singer Loreen performing on behalf of Sweden celebrates with the trophy after winning the final of the Eurovision Song contest 2023 AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 12 May 2023 Leader of the Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer views a cancer tumour under a microscope during a visit to the Francis Crick Institute in north London where he met scientists working on research into lung cancer PA UK news in pictures 11 May 2023 Judging takes during the artisan cheese awards at St Mary\u2019s Church, Melton Mowbray PA UK news in pictures 10 May 2023 A dog joins members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) on the picket line outside HMRC in East Kilbride during a strike in the long-running civil service dispute over pay, jobs and conditions PA UK news in pictures 9 May 2023 Two trains carrying 170 Eurovision song contest superfans arrive into Liverpool Lime Street train station PA UK news in pictures 8 May 2023 Britain\u2019s Prince Louis eats toasted marshmallows as they take part in the Big Help Out, during a visit to the 3rd Upton Scouts Hut in Slough, England, AP UK news in pictures 6 May 2023 King Charles III and Queen Camilla can be seen on the Buckingham Palace balcony ahead of the flypast during the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla Getty UK news in pictures 5 May 2023 Britain's King Charles III leaves after speaking to well-wishers on The Mall near to Buckingham Palace in central London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 May 2023 A night time rehearsal in central London for the coronation of King Charles III PA UK news in pictures 2 May 2023 Teacher members of the National Education Union (NEU) at a rally in Westminster, London, as they stage walkouts across England in an ongoing dispute over pay PA UK news in pictures 1 May 2023 Former US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media on the tarmac after disembarking \"Trump Force One\" at Aberdeen airport on the north-east coast of Scotland AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 April 2023 Handout photo issued by the Big Partnership of walkers at the start of The Kiltwalk 2023 from Glasgow Green. PA UK news in pictures 29 April 2023 England\u2019s flanker Marlie Packer celebrates with the trophy and teammates after winning the Women\u2019s Six Nations Grand Slam at the end of the Six Nations international women\u2019s rugby union match between England and France at Twickenham in south-west London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 28 April 2023 Lucy Williams, from Aberfan, holds her son Daniel Williams, one, as he takes the handbag of the Princess of Wales, during her visit with her husband the Prince of Wales, to the Aberfan memorial garden, to pay their respects to those who lost their lives during the Aberfan disaster on October 21st 1966 PA UK news in pictures 27 April 2023 Teachers on the picket line outside Bristol Cathedral School, College Square, Bristol, as they take strike action in a dispute over pay PA UK news in pictures 26 April 2023 Protesters wait for the arrival of King Charles III and the Queen Consort for their visit to Liverpool Central Library PA UK news in pictures 25 April 2023 Wreaths are laid at the Cenotaph in central London, in commemoration for Anzac Day PA UK news in pictures 24 April 2023 Waves crash over Tynemouth pier on the North East coast of England PA UK news in pictures 23 April 2023 People cross the finish line at the 2023 London Marathon Getty UK news in pictures 22 April 2023 A Wrexham fan in a Deadpool costume ahead of the Vanarama National League match at The Racecourse Ground, Wrexham PA UK news in pictures 21 April 2023 A demonstrator wears a costume as people protest during the Extinction Rebellion's 'The Big One' event, in London, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 20 April 2023 The funeral cortege of Paul O\u2019Grady travels through the village of Aldington, Kent ahead of his funeral at St Rumwold\u2019s Church PA UK news in pictures 19 April 2023 Georgia Harrison, who was a victim of revenge porn, at a demonstration organised by Refuge outside the Houses of Parliament, calling for a violence against women and girls code of practice to be added to the \u2018Online safety bill\u2019 PA\n\nCatalonia attracts one third of inward investment into Spain, and produces one third of Spain\u2019s exports.\n\nWithout Catalonia, Spain would continue to be the fourth largest economy in the eurozone, after Germany, France and Italy, but it would be much weakened. By contrast Scotland\u2019s share of UK GDP is 7.5 per cent, so in economic terms this is a much bigger deal for Spain than Scottish independence would be for the UK. You can see why they oppose a referendum.\n\nBut what about the EU? Here the Spanish government has made it clear that were Catalonia to become independent, it would resist it remaining a member of the EU. This would be most unpopular in Catalonia, which would want, among other things, to retain the euro.\n\nQueen welcomes Spain's King Felipe VI to UK\n\nLegally, Spain would be able to push an independent Catalonia out, but in the real world of European politics it would be hard for the rest of Europe to exclude a country that wanted to remain a member \u2013 or to be technically more correct, to rejoin. In economic terms Catalonia will be fully viable and there is no practical reason why it should not continue to use the euro, even if technically it were for a time outside the EU.\n\nThe obvious big question really is not so much the outcome of the referendum but whether Spain and Catalonia can rebuild their relationship. If they cannot do so, then Catalonia becomes a threat not just to Spain but to the EU as a whole, in some ways a greater threat than the departure of the UK. One of the lessons of the past couple of years is not just that politics have become unpredictable; it is also the economic consequences of a political event are unpredictable too. By rights the decision or non-decision of 7.5 million people ought not to unsettle Europe. But a week from now it may look very different.", "output": "The recent independence referendum in Catalonia could prove to be a bigger headache for the European Union than the UK's withdrawal from the bloc. The Spanish government said the recent vote was illegal and has previously stated that, should the region achieve independence, it would lobby for it to be refused entry to the EU - leaving the European community on the horns of a political and economic dilemma."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Iranian renewables market attracts foreign investment \n Clean energy is under the spotlight in Iran as the oil and gas rich country also enjoys some advantageous geographical and climate condition to benefit from renewable sources of energy.\n\nIran\u2019s power generation capacity is currently 77,000 megawatts (MW), of which renewables account for just 420 MW and according to the former Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian the figure is planned to reach 600 MW by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2018).\n\nAlso, Deputy Energy Minister Houshang Falahatian has announced in late September that the country plans to add 1,000 MW of new renewable power capacity every year over the next five years.\n\nBased on the country\u2019s Sixth Five-Year National Development Plan (2016-2021), Iran is aiming to increase its capacity of power generation from renewable sources by 5,000 MW per annum to meet growing domestic demand and also increase its electricity exports.\n\nTo meet the set target, the Energy Ministry has taken a new approach toward development of renewable sector and has been offering incentives to both Iranian and foreign investors for cooperation in renewable projects inside the country.\n\nIt has led to more contribution of private sector to this industry, and also attraction of foreign investors appreciating Iran\u2019s noticeable resources of solar energy and wind power in addition to its special geopolitical location which makes it one of the best areas for investment in renewables.\n\nInvesting $27 million, Switzerland\u2019s DURION AG Company was the main investor of the project to build Iran\u2019s largest solar farm. The 20-MW Mokran Solar Farm in Mahan County in the southeastern Kerman Province was inaugurated on July 27.\n\nIn late August, Seyed Moslem Mousavi, the managing director of Iran Renewable Energy Association, announced that foreign companies have submitted proposals for a total of $3.6 billion investment to implement renewable energy projects in Iran.\n\nCompanies from Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, South Korea, Japan, China and India have already visited the country to investigate the investment condition in renewable sector.\n\nRaymond Carlsen, the chief executive of Norway\u2019s Scatec Solar, which builds and operates solar farms worldwide, told Reuters on September 15 that his company is in talks to build its first solar farm in Iran. He said that the initial project under discussion would cost $120 million per 100 MW installed which would rise to 500 MW later.\n\nAlso on September 20, Financial Times reported that Quercus, a UK green investment company, said it had reached agreement with Iran\u2019s Energy Ministry on plans for a 600 MW solar farm in central Iran that would rival the largest solar projects so far built in China, India and the U.S.\n\nDiego Biasi, Quercus chief executive, said the \u20ac500-million deal showed Iran was \u201copen for business\u201d and represented a \u201chuge opportunity\u201d for investors in renewable energy.\n\nAll these opportunities to attract foreign investment, not only can help Iran, which is struggling with air pollution in its major cities especially the capital Tehran, reach sustainable clean energy, but can also save the fuels consumed domestically to boost the country\u2019s fuel exports in one way and with a long-term view to conserve fossil fuels for the future generation.\n\n", "output": "Iran is offering incentives to attract investment into the country's growing renewable power market. Iran currently produces just 420 MW of its 77,000 MW total power generation capacity from renewables, but\u00a0said it plans to add an additional 1,000 MW\u00a0each year until at least 2021. Investors include\u00a0Swiss firm Durion, which recently put $27m into a 20 MW solar farm, and UK company Quercus, which has reportedly signed a\u00a0deal with Iran's energy ministry for a colossal 600 MW solar plant in the country.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Green Climate Fund to invest $1bn in Egyptian green energy plan \n In its largest investment to date, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) is teaming up with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to contribute $1 billion to the Egyptian Government\u2019s Sustainable Energy Strategy.\n\nUnder the sustainable energy strategy, Egypt has set a goal to get 20% of its energy from low emissions renewable by 2022 and 37% by 2035. Currently, only 3% of the nation\u2019s energy is supplied by renewable sources. \u201cUtilising renewable energy is part of a national plan to diversify electricity generation sources to meet growing demand and secure the continuity of the electricity supply. \u2026 Egypt has a great, untapped potential to turn into an international renewable energy hub,\u201d Ayman Hamza, a spokesman for Egypt\u2019s Ministry of Electricity, told the United Nations\u2019 Climate Action publication in May 2017.\n\nThe GCF funding, called the Egypt Renewable Energy Financing Framework, will \u201claunch the first wave of private renewable energy projects in Egypt, overcoming financial barriers due to uncertainty and high transaction costs, as well as the macroeconomic situation which has resulted in increased cost of capital and limited availability of debt,\u201d according to a GCF fact sheet.\n\nThe GCF was developed under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2010 to act as the financial mechanism through which UNFCCC member nations help developing nations fund climate mitigation and adaptation projects. It is the largest global fund aimed at leveraging the private sector in tackling climate change, according to the release.\n\nUnder the UNFCCC, developed nations agreed to jointly mobilize $100 billion per year through the GCF by 2020. As of August 2017, the GCF has raised $10.3 billion in pledges from 43 governments. However, this total includes the $3 billion pledge made by the U.S. under the Obama administration. Thus far, the U.S. has paid $1 billion into the fund, but President Trump has made it clear that the U.S. will not be making any payments to the GCF as long as his administration is in power.\n\nTo date, the GCF has funded 43 projects, benefiting an estimated 125 million people around the world. Twenty of the projects funded are in Africa, 17 are in the Asia-Pacific region, eight are in Latin America or the Caribbean, and three are in Eastern Europe (some projects are in multiple regions). Projects funded by the GCF fall into three categories: 41% of the funding provided thus far has gone to mitigation-based projects; 27% has been awarded to adaptation-based projects; 32% is funding cross-cutting initiatives.\n\nThe new funding in Egypt is the fourth project that the GCF and the EBRD are partnering on. In October 2016, the two announced a co-financed project to scale up private sector climate finance in Armenia, Egypt, Georgia, Jordan, the Republic of Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Serbia, Tajikistan, and Tunisia. Additionally, the GCF and EBRD are partnering on a water conservation project in Morocco and a hydropower project in Tajikistan.\n\nFunding for the initiative will be provided under a Funded Activity Agreement (FAA) signed by the GCF and EBRD in late August. Under the FAA, the EBRD will provide $352.3 million, GCF will contribute $154.7 million, and funding from additional sponsors and co-financiers will bring the total funding to $1 billion. \u201cThis FAA is just the beginning of the potential GCF and EBRD have in combining their financial forces to drive climate action across various parts of the planet,\u201d GCF Executive Director Howard Bamsey said in a release.\n\nThe renewable energy financing framework consisted of two components, a technical assistance program, and an effort to scale up investments in the development and construction of renewable energy projects. \u201cThis will be done by blending GCF and EBRD financing to leverage debt financing from international and development financial institutions, and at a later stage from commercial banks and private sector investments,\u201d according to the fact sheet.\n\nIt is estimated that the once all supported projects are operational, they will generate about 1,400 GWh of electricity each year, avoiding roughly 800,000 tons of CO 2 equivalent annually.\n\nThe EBRD is one of 54 entities accredited under the GCF. The GCF operates by working through these entities to channel its resources to projects and programs. Accredited entities can be public or private, non-governmental, sub-national, national, regional or international. \u201cAccredited Entities carry out a range of activities that usually include the development of funding proposals and the management and monitoring of projects and programmes,\u201d the GCF explains.\n\n\u2014Abby L. Harvey is a POWER reporter.", "output": "The UN's Green Climate Fund (GCF) is set to pump $1bn\u00a0into\u00a0the Egyptian government's green energy plan, marking its largest investment yet. The GCF, set up to help countries tackle climate change, is establishing the Egypt Renewable Energy Financing Framework to supply the investment, which includes $155m of its own funds and \u00a3352m from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.\u00a0The remainder of the $1bn total will come from other sponsors and co-financiers. Egypt will use the funding\u00a0to\u00a0launch a wave of\u00a0private renewable energy projects.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian Energy Exchange IPO to see sale of over six million shares \n New Delhi: Indian Energy Exchange Ltd\u2019s (IEX\u2019s) initial public offering will be open for subscription from 9 to 11 October, according to a draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) dated 26 September.\n\nThe IPO will see a sale of 6,065,009 equity shares by existing shareholders including Tata Power Co. Ltd, Aditya Birla Group\u2019s private equity arm , Madison India Capital and Multiples Alternate Asset Management Pvt Ltd. The shares are proposed to be listed on the BSE and National Stock Exchange.\n\nThe New Delhi-based company filed draft papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on 20 June. Axis Capital Ltd, Kotak Mahindra Capital Co. Ltd and IIFL Holdings Ltd are the managers for the IPO.\n\nEstablished in 2008, IEX is India\u2019s first power exchange providing automated trading platform for electricity(for physical delivery) and renewable energy certificates.\n\nTopics", "output": "Indian Energy Exchange will open its initial public offering (IPO) on 9 October, according to drafted documents. The company, based in New Delhi, was founded in 2008 as the country's first exchange for the trade of\u00a0electricity and renewable power certificates. As part of the IPO, over six million shares will be sold by existing shareholders, including Tata Power and a number of private equity companies. Shares are likely to\u00a0be listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Greenko places $2.15bn bid for Mumbai power business \n MUMBAI: Greenko, backed by Singapore\u2019s GIC and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, has sought to acquire Anil Ambani-led Reliance Infrastructure \u2019s flagship Mumbai electricity business for an enterprise value of Rs 13,000-14,000 crore ($2.15 billion), said people aware of the matter.Torrent and Adani Group as well as Prem Watsa\u2019s Fairfax Group are believed to be circling the same target, long considered an infrastructure crown jewel.The offer is higher than the Rs 12,223.78 crore market cap of Reliance Infrastructure (R-Infra).India\u2019s largest renewables company Greenko submitted a \u201ctimebound, non-binding offer\u201d recently and is awaiting a response from Reliance to enter into exclusive negotiations.Meanwhile, Gujarat-based Torrent Power and Adani Group have also begun evaluating the target, backed by commitments from lenders such as State Bank of India and Standard Chartered Bank. Feelers have also gone out to Fairfax, and even to the Tata Group , executives said.Greenko\u2019s offer will lapse this week unless both parties agree to exclusivity. But with multiple potential candidates, the situation could soon turn more competitive.\u201cThe sellers would try to get the maximum value through a competitive auction-like scenario, but that may also see pullouts by some of the strategic players,\u201d said one of the senior executives mentioned above.The Mumbai business caters to 3 million customers, making it the country\u2019s largest private sector integrated power utility, entailing 1800 mw of distribution along with generation facilities, besides an underground network of over 1,000 km. The distribution franchise is nine decades old with the licence valid till August 2036. Spokespersons for Reliance Infrastructure, Greenko and Fairfax declined comment on what they said was speculation.There was no response to emails, calls and text messages to Torrent Power vice-chairman Samir Mehta on Saturday. A Tata Power spokesperson said the company was not aware of any overture while Adanis did not respond to ET\u2019s detailed questionnaire. ET was the first to report on August 29 about Greenko\u2019s talks with Ambani.In a notification to the exchanges after ET\u2019s report, R-Infra said: \u201cThe company is engaged on various initiatives to unlock value in its existing businesses including inter alia the Mumbai power business, roads and transmission and to thereby reduce its overall leverage.\u201dIn November 2015, R-Infra entered into a non-binding pact to sell 49% stake in the business to Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) of Canada. Those exclusive negotiations lapsed, following which the company engaged with other potential suitors. PSP is said to have made a brief reappearance later on in the talks.Hong Kong-headquartered CLP also held discussions with Reliance to explore a merger of operations, said a company official on condition of anonymity, but later pulled out.The Mumbai circle licence, along with the generation, transmission and distribution assets, is to be carved out from RInfra\u2019s electrical division and transferred to a subsidiary before being sold, said executives briefed on the matter.For most suitors such as Adani and Greenko, the foray into transmission and distribution is seen as a move to derisk portfolio and control the entire value chain.Adani has a listed power transmission arm, which is one of the largest private sector players, but is not into distribution.Its city gas distribution joint venture operates in Ahmedabad, Ludhiana, Thiruvananthapuram and Chandigarh. Privately held Greenko is India\u2019s largest green energy company with an operational wind, hydro and solar portfolio of close to 3 gw. In the past 12 months, it has raised $2 billion in equity and debt.Torrent Power, backed by the Rs 18,500-crore eponymous group, supplies to over 3 million customers in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Surat, Dahej SEZ, Bhiwandi and Agra. Its generation portfolio includes 3334 mw of gas-based capacity and 338 mw of underconstruction wind power plants.Watsa\u2019s Fairfax has been investing in marquee infrastructure projects in the country of late, having bought out GVK from the Bengaluru airport.The Tata Group competes with Reliance in power distribution in Mumbai and Delhi, and caters to 2.6 million customers.\u201cThis is not an easy asset to digest. The Greenko bid will set a benchmark and assures big-ticket FDI (foreign direct investment), but domestic players will seriously evaluate the prospects before losing out on such a prized asset,\u201d said an investment banking official involved in the matter.", "output": "India's largest renewable energy company Greenko has offered $2.15bn\u00a0for Reliance Infrastructure's Mumbai power business. The proposed acquisition is backed by Singapore investment firm GIC and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. The Mumbai business is the country's largest private sector-integrated power utility, with 1800 MW of distribution\u00a0serving three\u00a0million customers. Greenko's offer is reported to be time-limited, lapsing if Reliance do not agree to exclusivity in negotiations. A\u00a0number of other companies are\u00a0thought to be considering their own bids for the company.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "India's Power Grid Corp enters pact with ICICI Bank \n NEW DELHI: State-run Power Grid Corp today said it has entered into a term loan facility agreement with ICICI Bank for Rs 3,270 crore.Power Grid Corp, the central power transmission utility, has an ambitious investment plan and has budgeted capital expenditure (CAPEX) including investment in joint venture and subsidiaries of more than Rs 25,000 crore during 2017-18, Power Grid said in a statement today.During the current fiscal, it has mobilised Rs 6,130 crore through issue of bonds under private placement, term loans from domestic commercial banks and has also entered into two long term loan agreements with Asian Development Bank (ADB) for $725 million for financing CAPEX.", "output": "India's state-run power grid operator, Power Grid Corp, has entered a INR3,270 crore ($500m) loan agreement with ICICI Bank to help fund its capital investment programme. The utility company has budgeted for INR25,000 crore ($3.8bn) of investment between 2017 and 2018, and has issued bonds to help finance it. Power Grid Corp\u00a0has also secured two other long-term loan agreements with Asian Development Bank, totalling\u00a0$725m.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ESB considers \u00a3400m refinancing of Carrington power facility \n Accounts show that operating profit at the ESB's retail Electric Ireland arm tumbled 19.3pc to \u20ac46m during the first half of 2017 as it cut prices and lost customers. Stock image\n\nThe ESB could refinance as much as \u00a3400m (\u20ac453m) of debt attached to its Carrington power station in the UK before Christmas if market conditions present an opportunity to do so, according to group finance director Pat Fenlon.\n\nThe ESB has about \u20ac1bn of debt that matures over the next two years, but is not under time pressure to do any refinancing.\n\nIt issued a \u20ac500m worth of bonds in January to refinance more expensive debt, and had received more than \u20ac1bn in orders for the 12-year bonds. The bonds secured a coupon, or interest rate, of 1.75pc, and were used to retire \u20ac300m of debt that fell due this month and which carried a 6.25pc rate.\n\nMr Fenlon was speaking to the Irish Independent as the ESB reported a 3.5pc fall in operating profit, to \u20ac287m, in the first half of the year. The ESB also paid a \u20ac60m dividend to the State in the first half of the year.\n\nBut the accounts show that operating profit at the ESB\u2019s retail Electric Ireland arm tumbled 19.3pc to \u20ac46m during the first half of 2017 as it cut prices and lost customers. The ESB officially opened its \u20ac820m gas-powered power plant at Carrington near Manchester earlier this year. There\u2019s about \u00a3400m in project finance attached to it.\n\n\u201cThe market conditions are still favourable. We have things like Carrington with project finance debt,\u201d said Mr Fenlon. \u201cWe are examining opportunities to see, if market conditions are good, could we refinance that earlier.\u201d\n\nHe said the refinancing could happen this side of Christmas, or early in the New Year, if conditions are right. The ESB saw profit after tax jump to \u20ac173m in the first half of 2017 from \u20ac109m in the first six months of 2016. It benefited from the non-recurrence of negative, non-cash fair value of movements of inflation-linked interest rate swaps. Revenue was flat at \u20ac1.69bn.\n\nFigures from the Commission for Energy Regulation show that Electric Ireland lost a net 3,913 electricity customers in the first half of 2017. SSE Airtricity lost 1,238 electricity customers while Energia gained 2,594. Bord G\u00e1is Energy, owned by Centrica, gained 982 electricity customers. Mr Fenlon insisted that the market here remains competitive, with another new entrant, Canadian firm Just Energy, having just entered it.\n\nThe ESB has also entered the UK retail power market. Mr Fenlon said a full launch there won\u2019t take place until early next year. A \u2018soft-launch\u2019 will happen in coming weeks, he added.\n\nThe ESB accounts note that it faces challenges in meeting the increase in infrastructure demand in Dublin, with data centres forming a significant part of that. However, Mr Fenlon said no data centre operators have been asked to delay projects because of any infrastructure deficit. ESB said that it invested \u20ac303m in energy infrastructure during the first half of the year, which was down from \u20ac332m in the first half of 2016.\n\nThis week, the broadband joint venture between ESB and Vodafone, called Siro, announced that it had pulled out of the tender process for the Government\u2019s National Broadband Plan. Mr Fenlon declined to comment on what capital expenditure figure the venture had determined would have been required to meet targets under the plan.", "output": "The Republic of Ireland's state-owned utility, the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) is mulling a possible \u00a3400m ($533m) refinancing of its UK power station in Carrington, near Manchester, toward the end of the year if market conditions permit. Group finance director Pat Fenlon said ESB was \"examining opportunities\" and added the company was making a soft launch into the UK market. ESB revenues were up to \u20ac173m during H1 2017, compared to \u20ac109m during the same period last year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US DOE reaches agreement with Georgia Power over $1.67bn loan \n ATLANTA, Sept. 29, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Georgia Power announced today that it has reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for a conditional commitment of approximately $1.67 billion in additional loan guarantees for the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion project near Waynesboro, Ga.\n\nGeorgia Power had previously secured loan guarantees of $3.46 billion for the construction of Vogtle units 3 and 4, the first to be built in the United States in more than 30 years.\n\nWith a total of more than $5 billion in anticipated DOE loan guarantees, Georgia Power expects to be able to provide more than $500 million in present-value benefits to its customers.\n\n\"We thank the DOE for their support and commitment to the Vogtle 3 and 4 project,\" said Paul Bowers, chairman, president and CEO of Georgia Power. \"From the outset, Georgia Power and the project co-owners have worked to minimize the impact of the project on our customers' bills and these additional loan guarantees will help us continue to reduce our financing costs.\"\n\n\"Today's announcement reflects the wide-ranging governmental support for nuclear energy in America,\" said Bowers. \"The administration, Secretary Rick Perry, the entire cabinet and members of Congress from both sides of the aisle have been exceedingly helpful with the construction of the Vogtle 3 and 4 project.\"\n\nGeorgia Power owns 45.7 percent of the new units, with the project's other Georgia-based co-owners including Oglethorpe Power, MEAG Power and Dalton Utilities. On August 31, Georgia Power filed a recommendation with the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) to continue construction of the Vogtle nuclear expansion supported by all of the project's other co-owners. The recommendation was based on the results of a comprehensive schedule, cost-to-complete and cancellation assessment launched following the bankruptcy of Westinghouse in March. The Georgia PSC is expected to review the recommendation and make a decision regarding the future of the Vogtle 3 and 4 project as part of the 17th Vogtle Construction Monitoring (VCM) proceeding. Read more here.\n\nFinal approval and issuance of these additional loan guarantees by the DOE cannot be assured and are subject to the negotiation of definitive agreements, completion of due diligence by the DOE, receipt of any necessary regulatory approvals, and satisfaction of other conditions.\n\nAbout Georgia Power\n\nGeorgia Power is the largest electric subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO), America's premier energy company. Value, Reliability, Customer Service and Stewardship are the cornerstones of the company's promise to 2.5 million customers in all but four of Georgia's 159 counties. Committed to delivering clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy at rates below the national average, Georgia Power maintains a diverse, innovative generation mix that includes nuclear, coal and natural gas, as well as renewables such as solar, hydroelectric and wind. Georgia Power focuses on delivering world-class service to its customers every day and the company is consistently recognized by J.D. Power and Associates as an industry leader in customer satisfaction. For more information, visit www.GeorgiaPower.com and connect with the company on Facebook (Facebook.com/GeorgiaPower), Twitter (Twitter.com/GeorgiaPower) and Instagram (Instagram.com/ga_power).\n\nCautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements\n\nCertain information contained in this communication is forward-looking information based on current expectations and plans that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking information includes, among other things, statements concerning future actions related to Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4 and the expected benefit of the DOE loan guarantees. Georgia Power cautions that there are certain factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information that has been provided. The reader is cautioned not to put undue reliance on this forward-looking information, which is not a guarantee of future performance and is subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside the control of Georgia Power; accordingly, there can be no assurance that such suggested results will be realized. The following factors, in addition to those discussed in Georgia Power's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016, and subsequent securities filings, could cause actual results to differ materially from management expectations as suggested by such forward-looking information: the impact of any inability or other failure of Toshiba to perform its obligations under its guarantee; the impact of any failure to extend the in-service deadline for federal production tax credits; the impact of any failure to amend the DOE loan guarantee to allow for additional borrowings; state and federal rate regulations and the impact of pending and future rate cases and negotiations; the impact of recent and future federal and state regulatory changes, as well as changes in application of existing laws and regulations; current and future litigation, regulatory investigations, proceedings, or inquiries; available sources and costs of fuels; effects of inflation; the ability to control costs and avoid cost overruns during the development construction and operation of facilities, which include the development and construction of generating facilities with designs that have not been finalized or previously constructed; the ability to construct facilities in accordance with the requirements of permits and licenses, to satisfy any environmental performance standards and the requirements of tax credits and other incentives, and to integrate facilities into the Southern Company system upon completion of construction; advances in technology; legal proceedings and regulatory approvals and actions related to Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4, including Georgia Public Service Commission approvals and Nuclear Regulatory Commission actions; interest rate fluctuations and financial market conditions and the results of financing efforts; changes in The Southern Company's or Georgia Power's credit ratings, including impacts on interest rates, access to capital markets, and collateral requirements; the impacts of any sovereign financial issues, including impacts on interest rates, access to capital markets, impacts on foreign currency exchange rates, counterparty performance, and the economy in general, as well as potential impacts on the benefits of DOE loan guarantees; and the effect of accounting pronouncements issued periodically by standard setting bodies. Georgia Power expressly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking information.\n\nView original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/georgia-power-receives-additional-loan-guarantee-commitments-for-new-vogtle-units-300528332.html\n\nSOURCE Georgia Power", "output": "US utility Georgia Power has taken a step closer to securing the expansion of its Vogtle site in Waynesboro, after being granted a conditional loan agreement for $1.67bn by the Department of Energy. The funds will be used to develop Vogtle's nuclear units 3 and 4, the first to be built in the US for over 30 years. The state's public services commission is set to make a final decision regarding the facility's expansion as part of the 17th Vogtle Construction Monitoring proceeding, while the loan is subject to regulatory approval and completion of due diligence."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EVs the fastest-selling used cars in US this year \n Electric vehicles now account for six of the ten fastest selling used car models in the US. Compared to the 33.4 days that conventional cars sit on the market, electric and plug-in electric hybrid vehicles now sell within 24.6 days on average, or 27% faster than gasoline cousins, reports automotive research company iSeeCars.com. The firm analyzed the sales of 2.1 million one- to three-year old cars sold between January and August of 2017 to rank the models.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAlthough EVs accounts for just 1% of total US new car sales, their low price and rising reputation is leading to a brisk business. The FIAT 500e was the fastest selling used EV this year, in part due to its low average selling price of $9,055 (down from $21,000 before incentives on the lot). At the other end of the spectrum, the price of a used Tesla Model S rose 3.5% to $70,372 from $67,992 last year.\n\nWhat\u2019s driving all this? First, incentives of $7,500 or more on electrics means used EV prices are quite low relative to their new sticker price, and conventional cars more generally. With federal and state tax credits built in, used EVs are even better deals than new models, explains Electrek. Many new EV models are also hitting the market after the expiration of their three-year leases. Buyers now have their pick of low-mileage, luxury cars at low prices built by the likes of BMW and Tesla.", "output": "Second-hand electric vehicles (EVs) spent an average of 24.6 days on showroom forecourts, making them the fastest-selling used cars in the US. EVs spent\u00a027% less time on sale than their gas-fuelled counterparts, which took an average of 33.4 days to sell, according to data from iSeeCars.com based on 2.1 million one- to three-year old cars sold between January and August. Six of the 10 fastest-selling used-car models in the US were EVs, thanks to government incentives and tax credits making them \"even better deals than new models\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Russian companies partner on heterojunction solar tech \n A joint venture of two Russian companies has built a solar power project in southern Siberia based on heterojunction technology (HJT), which is touted as a high-efficiency solar cell concept. Researchers have said photovoltaic (PV) systems using HJT solar modules provide higher energy output than other PV systems, lowering the cost of producing solar power.\n\nHevel Group, a joint venture of GK Renova and Rusnano, is in charge of the new solar park (Figure 1), located in Gorno-Altaysk in the Republic of Altai. GK Renova is a private business group that includes management companies that invest in energy, mining, metals, chemical, and other sectors in Russia and globally. Rusnano is a government-owned, Moscow-based company that finances commercial developments in nanotechnology.\n\n1. A highly efficient solar array. The solar installation built by Hevel Group in Gorno-Altaysk, capital of the Republic of Altai in Russia, is designed with heterojunction technology, which works well in lower light conditions. Courtesy: Hevel Group\n\nAnastasiya Berdnikova, a spokesperson for Hevel Group, told POWER in late August that construction of the Maima solar power plant began in May 2017, and the plant was placed into service on September 19, 2017. Solar modules for the 20-MW project were produced at Hevel\u2019s manufacturing facility in Novocheboksarsk, about 600 kilometers east of Moscow, in Chuvash Republic.\n\n\u201cEarlier in March this year Hevel Group completed upgrade of its thin-film Fab line and converted it to heterojunction technology production. This technology guarantees efficient operation of solar modules at high and low temperatures, as well as under shading and diffused light, thereby significantly expanding the geographical potential of solar power installations,\u201d Berdnikova said.\n\nHevel Group Director General Igor Shakhrai in late August told Russian media the project\u2019s cost is estimated at 2 billion rubles ($33.9 million).\n\nAccording to Meyer Burger, a German global technology company specializing in solar, HJT \u201ccombines the advantages of mono crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells with the good absorption and the superior passivation characteristics of amorphous silicon (a-Si) known from a-Si thin film technology using readily available materials.\u201d HJT was first mass produced by Sanyo (now Panasonic) more than a decade ago, but the basic technology patent was discontinued in 2010, opening the systems to more widespread research.\n\nHeterojunction solar modules perform better than other PV technologies in low and dispersed light conditions, and also do well in both high and low air temperature environments.\n\nHevel already operates three networked solar power stations in the region, each with a 5-MW capacity. It plans to increase its total regional solar generating capacity to 90 MW over the next two years. Hevel earlier put a 100-kW solar diesel hybrid power station in service in the area in 2013, providing electricity to Yaylyu in the Altai Republic, on Lake Teletskoye.\n\nHevel Group has doubled the annual production capacity of its plant in Novocheboksarsk in Chuvash Republic to 160 MW of solar modules, which it says is enough to cover half of the annual demand in the Russian solar energy market. Shakhrai told media the company\u2019s production ramp-up is \u201copening up broad prospects in terms of large-scale projects in Russia and abroad.\u201d\n\n\u2014Darrell Proctor is a POWER associate editor.", "output": "Hevel Group, a joint venture between Russian private investment firm GK Renova and state-backed nanotech company Rusano, is set to complete development of a solar power plant in Siberia this month. The 20 MW Maima solar park uses photovoltaic systems, including high-efficiency heterojunction technology, which allows efficient power generation in sub-optimal conditions. Maima is part of Hevel's push to boost its capacity in the area to 90 MW over the next two years."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EU pledges $1bn to marine conservation \n EU leads the way with ambitious action for cleaner and safer seas\n\nThe international Our Ocean Conference, co-hosted by High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini and Karmenu Vella, Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, is currently taking place in Malta, on 5 and 6 October. This morning, High Representative Mogherini on behalf of the European Union, announced an ambitious package of 36 EU-initiatives to foster healthier, cleaner, safer and more secure seas.\n\nIn her opening speech, High Representative Mogherini said: \"The sea is a global common. It is Our Ocean because it belongs to humanity, to each and every human being. We all have a responsibility to preserve what's common \u2013 to preserve it as a treasure and avoid that it turns into a threat.\" She added: \"The European Union believes that a globalised world needs a more cooperative global governance. We believe in the power of diplomacy, we invest in it, we believe and invest in the power of common rules and international institutions. And it is difficult, actually impossible, to imagine a global governance without a cooperative oceans' governance.\" Amounting to over \u20ac550 million and launching complementary activities worldwide, the announcement underscores the EU's determination to improve the situation of the seas. At the same time, as hosts, the EU seeks from the outset of the conference to set an example and send a strong message of encouragement to the rest of the world to step up and take action in the face of growing ocean challenges such as plastic pollution, protection of marine life, impact of climate change and criminal activities at sea. Over the comings days, the international community \u2013 governments and private sector alike - will come together to deliver on this objective. A live stream of the Our Ocean Conference and the press conference (at 12:00 CET) are available here. High Representative Mogherini's speech and Commissioner Vella's speech are available online.\n\nList of 36 EU commitments\n\nOther language versions of the 36 commitments available here.", "output": "The European Union is set to pledge \u20ac1bn ($1.18bn) towards the protection of marine life. The announcement will be made during this year\u2019s Our Ocean conference in Malta. The conference, which was launched in 2014 and which brings together policy makers and environmental experts in order to tackle issues including climate change and plastic pollution, has accumulated $10.2bn since its inception.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple to bring augmented reality to Major League Baseball \n During Apple's iPhone launch two weeks ago, I spotted a 10-second augmented reality demo that could potentially change the way we watch baseball.\n\n\"What the [expletive] is that?\" I said, as Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller teased a new AR feature in Major League Baseball's popular At Bat mobile app. He demonstrated how fans at a game could see special stats, including how hard a ball was hit, how far it was thrown or how fast a player runs in real time, simply by pointing their iPhone toward the action on the field.\n\nAlso watching the demo, my colleague Claudia Cruz yelled my name across the office to make sure we both saw the same thing. I emailed MLB spokesman Matthew Gould. \"Let me get back to you,\" he replied.\n\nA week later, Claudia and I found ourselves jockeying with other reporters in a crowded suite at AT&T Park in San Francisco, about a 45-minute drive north of Apple's spaceship campus in Silicon Valley. We were promised a peek at the new AR capabilities during an actual game between the San Francisco Giants and the Colorado Rockies. What we saw was an internal prototype. The goal is to debut the updated app in 2018.\n\nIt's no secret Apple wants its augmented reality developer kit, announced in May, to be used to create apps for the iPhone and iPad that will prove more enduring than last year's Pokemon Go phenomenon. Now the tech giant is experimenting with At Bat, the most popular sports league app, to give diehard baseball fans like Claudia and me more data than we probably can consume. The AR feature may also get MLB teams looking to cheat -- er, um, gain an advantage -- to use their iPads during games.\n\nEnlarge Image Apple's Phil Schiller teases the company's plans to add an AR feature to Major League Baseball's At Bat app. Apple\n\n\"We want this to be fun for fans in the stands, to tell them something new about the game they can't see on the scoreboard or have to search hard for,\" said Chad Evans, a mobile product executive with MLB Advanced Media, baseball's interactive arm. \"Everything is in play.\"\n\nFor non-sports fans, Claudia and I compare this AR feature to those Omnioculars used to watch Quidditch matches in the Harry Potter movies. \"They will provide the user with a play-by-play breakdown if desired, showing the names of the manoeuvres performed by players,\" according to the Harry Potter Wiki page.\n\nAnd that's sort of what the AR feature in the MLB At Bat app does. On Wednesday, Evans and Greg Cain, MLBAM's senior data director, pulled out iPad Pros and showed us how, by clicking on a player's augmented image, you can get his data from Statcast. The Statcast tool uses HD cameras, a Doppler radar and machine learning to track every move on the field.\n\nStatcast gives teams, broadcasters and fans an array of metrics and trivia, including that New York Yankees rookie Aaron Judge's 495-foot home run is the longest this season. Or how his teammate, Aroldis Chapman, has thrown the season's fastest pitch at 105 miles per hour, with the ball spinning a dizzying 2,600 times after it left his hand.\n\nDuring the Giants-Rockies game, we grilled Evans and Cain on what stats are available. Could they tell us how hard Rockies star and National League MVP candidate Charlie Blackmon hits a baseball? It's around 86 mph (his exit velocity), compared with Judge's shots, which can reach around 117 mph. We also learned that Rockies catcher Jonathan Lucroy has a 28 \"sprint speed,\" which means he's too slow to steal a base.\n\nToo inside baseball? Developers are trying to strike a balance with the data: They don't want to overwhelm casual fans, but they also don't want to bore stats freaks.\n\n\"We're going to try to create the right information at the right time. We just need to figure out how to do it,\" Evans said. \"There's all of these data stories we are going to try to tell.\"\n\nThe demo left us hankering for more. Claudia wants to see instant replays in AR, as well as the weight, height and strength comparisons of players on the field. She also wants the app to anticipate when a record could be broken.\n\nI'd like the feature to show me what a hitter's batting average is when he has two strikes and the bases are loaded. Maybe it could also tell me the probability of him hitting either a triple or a double in that same situation.\n\nWe could be asking too much, but they tell us being able to marry data with the world is the promise of AR.\n\n\"This is not a static product,\" Cain said. \"We will continue to grow and build it out over time.\"\n\nSolving for XX: The industry seeks to overcome outdated ideas about \"women in tech.\"\n\nSpecial Reports: All of CNET's most in-depth features in one easy spot.", "output": "Apple is developing an app that blends augmented reality and one of the most watched sports in the US: baseball. The tech giant is tinkering with Major League Baseball's hugely popular At Bat app, enabling it to offer users a wealth of additional information \u2013 from player stats to play-by-play breakdowns \u2013\u00a0all by simply holding up their mobile or tablet in front of a live game. It is understood the updated app will be launched next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ireland's AI sector is booming, finds survey \n Tech Ireland said there are at least 66 companies working in the AI sector, employing almost 2,500 people. Photograph: iStock/Askold Romanov, Mlenny & Tricia Seibold\n\nPlans are afoot to establish the first dedicated masters in artificial intelligence (AI) programme in the country as IDA Ireland continues with moves to establish the Republic as a leading hub for the technology.\n\nThe news comes as figures provided by TechIreland show there are at least 66 companies working in the space locally, employing almost 2,500 people.\n\nThe Ibec-affiliated Technology Ireland ICT Skillnet recently issued a request for tender notice for the development and delivery of the masters programme, following discussions with IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland and industry bodies.\n\nThe MSc, which is to be fully funded and managed by Technology Ireland ICT Skillnet, is intended to be an industry-led programme to be collaboratively created by ICT-related companies and higher-education institutions.\n\nREAD MORE\n\nThe masters will initially be targeted at those working in software engineering, data science, electronics engineering and business intelligence and will cover topics such as analytics, and machine and deep learning.\n\nVibrant\n\nThe objective is to begin recruitment of participants later this year with the first full-time one-year programme commencing in 2018. A two-year part-time masters is also envisaged.\n\nNewly published figures from TechIreland, the public database aimed at providing a detailed portrait of Ireland\u2019s start-up scene, shows the Republic is home to a vibrant open AI ecosystem.\n\nThe sector is also seen to be growing strongly with 61 per cent of companies working in the space having received funding, while 86 per cent have a live product.\n\nThe snapshot shows Irish AI companies, which include the likes of Artomatix, Voysis, Nuritas, SoapBox Labs, Movidius and Aylien, have raised \u20ac354 million in total. Seven Irish companies have achieved funding of more than \u20ac10 million apiece.\n\nThe majority of firms in the space are working in the area of enterprise solutions with health/medical, travel and industrial solutions also popular.\n\nAI revolution\n\nIDA Ireland has been at the forefront of moves to place Ireland at the centre of the AI revolution in recent years. Its chief technology officer Ken Finnegan told The Irish Times that the latest figures show a thriving community.\n\n\"It is really important to look to the past to understand where we are now. The pedigree that Ireland has from a technology perspective has derived over a long time and has its origins in the impact that companies such as Microsoft, Intel, IBM and Dell have had on the country. Many of these companies might not have been focusing on cutting-edge technology initially but over the years this has changed and so as a country we are well prepared in terms of core competencies,\" said Mr Finnegan.\n\n\u201cThis is really an evolution. We have an opportunity to do exceptionally well in artificial intelligence and the proposed masters programme will definitely help us in terms of adding to our credentials,\u201d he added.", "output": "The Republic of Ireland has a burgeoning artificial intelligence (AI) industry, with more than 65 firms operating, 86% of which have a live product, according to figures from TechIreland, a database relating to the country's start-up sector. The data revealed nearly\u00a02,500 people are employed in the\u00a0AI sector, while seven home-grown firms had raised more than \u20ac10m ($13m) each in funding. \"The pedigree that Ireland has from a technology perspective has\u2026 its origins in the impact that companies such as Microsoft, Intel, IBM and Dell have had on the country,\" said Ken Finnegan, the CTO of\u00a0inward investment promotion agency IDA Ireland.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook, Google criticised for fake news covering Vegas shooting \n Facebook and Google promoted false news stories claiming that the shooter who killed more than 50 people in Las Vegas was a Democrat who opposed Donald Trump. The misidentification spread rapidly from dark corners of the internet to mainstream platforms just hours after hundreds were injured at a festival near the Mandalay Bay casino, the latest example of fake news polluting social media amid a breaking news story.\n\nThe flow of misinformation on Monday illustrated a particularly grim trend that has increasingly dominated viral online propaganda during US mass shootings \u2013 hyper-partisan trolls battling to blame the tragedy on opposing political ideologies.\n\nPolice have identified Stephen Paddock as the suspect who opened fire from a high-rise hotel room, killing scores and injuring hundreds more. But before authorities named the 64-year-old Nevada man, some on the far right falsely identified the man behind the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history as Geary Danley. It\u2019s unclear where exactly the hoax originated, but rightwing users aggressively promoted his name, seizing on evidence that he was a liberal.\n\nOn 4chan, the anonymous message board and a favorite platform of the \u201calt-right\u201d, some noted that Danley was a registered Democrat. Soon after, Gateway Pundit, a conspiracy-laden blog that earned White House credentials under Trump, published an evidence-free story headlined, \u201cLas Vegas Shooter Reportedly a Democrat Who Liked Rachel Maddow, MoveOn.org and Associated with Anti-Trump Army\u201d. The piece was based on a review of Facebook \u201clikes\u201d.\n\n01:55 \u2018People started dropping around us\u2019: Las Vegas shooting told by witnesses - video report\n\nDespite the fact that the claims were unproven and coming from non-credible sources, Facebook\u2019s \u201cSafety Check\u201d page, which is supposed to help people connect with loved ones during the crisis, ended up briefly promoting a story that said the shooter had \u201cTrump-hating\u201d views, along with links to a number of other hoaxes and scams, according to screenshots. At the same time, Google users who searched Geary Danley\u2019s name were at one point directed to the 4chan thread filled with false claims.\n\nThe rightwing users\u2019 successful manipulation of social media algorithms to politicize a tragedy speaks to a relatively new pattern of online abuse. While users of Twitter and Reddit memorably misidentified the suspect behind the Boston marathon bombing in 2013, fake news during global tragedies and terrorist attacks over the last year has increasingly gone beyond careless reporting and retweeting to overt exploitation and targeted disinformation campaigns.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s getting more polarized. There\u2019s this mad scramble to paint the guy as a Democrat or a Republican, so they can cheer,\u201d Brooke Binkowski, managing editor of fact-checking website Snopes.com, said in an interview. \u201cA lot of this is pushed by trolls deliberately to muddy the conversation.\u201d\n\nFalse content can quickly move from social media to legitimate news sources, she added: \u201cPeople are putting out crap information on purpose \u2026 It\u2019s really easy to get shit into the news cycle by being on Twitter.\u201d\n\nWhile authorities have struggled to identify the possible motives of Paddock, the suspect who police believe killed himself, some far-right users and conspiracy theorists have, without any proof, attempted to link him to anti-fascist groups and the leftist Antifa movement. Infowars, the hyper-partisan site known for propaganda, claimed on Monday that Paddock was found with \u201cantifa literature\u201d. At the same time, a sham Facebook page pretending to be Antifa claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the goal of the shooter was to murder \u201cTrump supporting fascist dogs\u201d.\n\nA YouTube user also pushed an unsubstantiated rumor that the suspect was a Hillary Clinton supporter.\n\nOn the flipside, some conservatives on Twitter have theorized that leftwing social media users have attempted to falsely paint Paddock as a rightwing individual. Some have speculated that liberals are posing as white nationalists and Trump supporters and following a Twitter account that has the same name as the suspect, in hopes of proving he is a conservative.\n\nIn reality, the suspect had no known \u201caffiliations\u201d that could explain the massacre, according to one of his brothers, who spoke out on Monday.\n\nDonald Trump makes remarks at the White House on the mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock\n\nGoogle, Facebook and Twitter have faced repeated accusations that they allow propaganda to spread on their sites and reach large audiences, and in the wake of embarrassing stories of promoting fake news and offensive content, the tech corporations have typically blamed their algorithms and offered vague pledges of improvement.\n\nThe Mandalay Bay shooting was no exception. Google said in a statement: \u201cUnfortunately, early this morning we were briefly surfacing an inaccurate 4chan website in our Search results for a small number of queries. Within hours, the 4chan story was algorithmically replaced by relevant results. This should not have appeared for any queries, and we\u2019ll continue to make algorithmic improvements to prevent this from happening in the future.\u201d\n\nFacebook attempted to downplay its role in promoting false stories, saying in a statement: \u201cOur Global Security Operations Center spotted these posts this morning and we have removed them. However, their removal was delayed, allowing them to be screen captured and circulated online. We are working to fix the issue that allowed this to happen in the first place and deeply regret the confusion this caused.\u201d\n\nBinkowski noted that the online debates about possible political affiliations of the suspect distract from meaningful policy discussions about gun control.\n\n\u201cPeople would rather debate whether the mass shooter is a Republican or Democrat \u2026 than address structural issues,\u201d she said.\n\nBeyond the politically charged fake news, a wide range of hoaxes and irresponsible reporting clouded social media on Monday. A number of viral tweets posted fake accounts of missing victims, according to BuzzFeed.\n\nSome celebrities were also quick to spread unverified claims before police had offered any official confirmation of the basic facts of the shooting. Sia, a pop singer and songwriter with 3.2 million followers on Twitter, posted that 20 people were dead before police had released details on the number of casualties, adding, \u201ctake cover there are multiple shooters on the loose\u201d.\n\nPolice have said there were no other suspects.", "output": "Facebook and Google have been accused of promoting fraudulent news stories about the gunman who killed over 50 people in Las Vegas on Sunday. Stories claiming the shooter was a Democrat, opposed to President Trump, initially appeared on right-wing message board 4chan and conspiracy blog Gateway Pundit. Facebook\u2019s \u201cSafety Check\u201d, designed to help people make contact with loved ones during crises, widely promoted one such story, while Google users were directed to the false claims on 4chan. Meanwhile, conservative Twitter users speculated that left-wing social media accounts falsely represented the gunman, Stephen Paddock, as right-wing."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US tax changes could boost oil production \n Leaders\u2019 Statement: The Pittsburgh Summit (G20, 2009); https://www.g20.org/Content/DE/StatischeSeiten/Breg/G7G20/Anlagen/G20-erklaerungpittsburgh-2009-en.pdf?blob=publicationFile\n\nUnited States Self-Review of Fossil Fuel Subsidies (US Government, 2015); http://www.oecd.org/site/tadffss/publication\n\nG7 Ise-Shima Leaders\u2019 Declaration (G7, 2016); http://www.mofa.go.jp/files/000160266.pdf\n\nInventory of Estimated Budgetary Support and Tax Expenditures for Fossil Fuels 2013 (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2013).\n\nWorld Trade Report: Exploring the links between subsidies, trade and the WTO (World Trade Organization, 2006).\n\nEllis, J. The Effects of Fossil-Fuel Subsidy Reform: A Review of Modelling and Empirical Studies (International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), 2010).\n\nBurniaux, J.-M. & Chateau, J. Greenhouse gases mitigation potential and economic efficiency of phasing-out fossil fuel subsidies. Int. Econom. 140, 71\u201388 (2014).\n\nSchwanitz, V. J., Piontek, F., Bertram, C. & Luderer, G. Long-term climate policy implications of phasing out fossil fuel subsidies. Energy Policy 67, 882\u2013894 (2014).\n\nAllaire, M. & Brown, S. P. A. U.S. Energy Subsidies: Effects on Energy Markets and Carbon Dioxide Emissions (Resources for the Future, 2012).\n\nRoss, M. L., Hazlett, C. & Mahdavi, P. Global progress and backsliding on gasoline taxes and subsidies. Nat. Energy 2, 16201 (2017).\n\nGrossman, G. M. Promoting New Industrial Activities: A Survey of Recent Arguments and Evidence (OECD Growth Studies Division, 1989).\n\nKrueger, A. B. Statement of Alan B. Krueger Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy and Chief Economist, US Department of Treasury, to Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure, United States Senate (US Department of the Treasury, 2009).\n\nAldy, J. in 15 Ways to Rethink the Federal Budget (eds Greenstone, M. et al.) (Brookings Institution Press, Washington DC, 2013).\n\nMcCollum, D. L. et al. Quantifying uncertainties influencing the long-term impacts of oil prices on energy markets and carbon emissions. Nat. Energy 1, 16077 (2016).\n\nDecision 1/CP.21: Adoption of the Paris Agreement (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 2015).\n\nMcGlade, C. & Ekins, P. The geographical distribution of fossil fuels unused when limiting global warming to 2 \u00b0C. Nature 517, 187\u2013190 (2015).\n\nBP Statistical Review of World Energy June 2016 (BP, 2016).\n\nOECD Companion to the Inventory of Support Measures for Fossil Fuels 2015 (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2015).\n\nIPCC 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) on behalf of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2006).\n\nU.S. Crude Oil and Natural Gas Proved Reserves, 2014 (US Energy Information Administration, 2015).\n\nBoyd, J. Financial Responsibility for Environmental Obligations: Are Bonding and Assurance Rules Fulfilling Their Promise? (Resources for the Future, 2001).\n\nMitchell, A. L. & Casman, E. A. Economic incentives and regulatory framework for shale gas well site reclamation in Pennsylvania. Environ. Sci. Technol. 45, 9506\u20139514 (2011).\n\nAgreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (World Trade Organization, 1994).\n\nMead, W. J., Muraoka, D. D. & Sorensen, P. The effect of taxes on the profitability of U.S. oil and gas production: a case study of the OCS record. Natl Tax J. 35, 21\u201329 (1982).\n\nBailey, W., Cou\u00ebt, B., Lamb, F., Simpson, G. & Rose, P. Taking a calculated risk. Oilfield Rev. 12, 20\u201335 (2000).\n\nCube Browser v. 1.18 (Rystad Energy, 2016); https://www.rystadenergy.com/Products/EnP-Solutions/UCube/Default\n\nImpacts of Delaying IDC Deductibility (2014-2025) (Wood Mackenzie, 2013).\n\nMetcalf, G. The Impact of Removing Tax Preferences for U.S. Oil and Gas Production (Council on Foreign Relations, 2016).\n\nClarke, L. et al. in Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change (eds Edenhofer, O. et al.) 413\u2013510 (IPCC, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 2014).\n\nIPCC: Summary for Policymakers. In Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis (eds Stocker, T. F. et al.) (IPCC, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 2013).\n\nCO 2 Emissions from Fuel Combustion: Highlights 2016 (International Energy Agency, 2016).\n\nWorld Energy Outlook 2015 (International Energy Agency, 2015).\n\nKartha, S., Lazarus, M. & Tempest, K. Fossil Fuel Production in a 2\u00b0C World: The Equity Implications of a Diminishing Carbon Budget (Stockholm Environment Institute, 2016).\n\nBast, E., Doukas, A., Pickard, S., van der Burg, L. & Whitley, S. Empty Promises: G20 Subsidies to Oil, Gas and Coal Production (Overseas Development Institute, London, and Oil Change International, Washington DC, 2015).\n\nWorld Energy Outlook 2016 (International Energy Agency, 2016); http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org/publications/weo-2016\n\nFaucon, B. & Amon, M. OPEC Oil deal faces test as cartel tries to pin down Russia on details of cuts. The Wall Street Journal (9 December 2016); https://www.wsj.com/articles/opec-output-deal-faces-its-first-test-1481279581\n\nWingfield, B., Dodge, S. & Sam, C. OPEC Hits a Summer Slump on Its Oil-Cut Goals. Bloomberg.com (17 August 2017); https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-opec-production-targets\n\nCopenhagen Economics The Future of Fossil Fuels: How to Steer Fossil Fuel Use in a Transition to a Low-Carbon Energy System (Energy Transitions Commission, 2017); http://energy-transitions.org\n\nErickson, P. & Lazarus, M. Impact of the Keystone XL pipeline on global oil markets and greenhouse gas emissions. Nat. Clim. Change 4, 778\u2013781 (2014).\n\nShogren, E. A brief guide to Donald Trump\u2019s America First energy plan. Newsweek (31 January 2017); http://www.newsweek.com/trump-energy-oil-environmental-plan-547642\n\nStatement by President Trump on the Paris Climate Accord (The White House, 2017); https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/06/01/statement-president-trump-paris-climate-accord\n\nWorld Energy Investment Outlook (International Energy Agency, 2014).\n\nJahn, F., Cook, M. & Graham, M. in Developments in Petroleum Science Ch. 1, 1\u20137 (Hydrocarbon Exploration and Production Vol. 55, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2008).\n\nAnalytical Perspectives: Budget of the U.S. Government Fiscal Year 2017 (Office of Management and Budget, 2016).\n\nEstimates of Federal Tax Expenditures for Fiscal Years 2015-2019 (Joint Committee on Taxation, 2015).\n\nU.S. DOT. Hazardous materials: Enhanced tank car standards and operational controls for high-hazard flammable trains: Final rule. Fed. Reg. 80, 26644\u201326750 (2015).\n\nKendall, M. BLM and MMS Beneficial Use Deductions (US Department of the Interior, Office of Inspector General, 2010).\n\nTask Force on Texas\u2019 Energy Sector Roadway Needs: Report to the Texas Transportation Commission (Texas Department of Transportation, 2012).\n\nJahn, F., Cook, M. & Graham, M. in Developments in Petroleum Science Ch. 8, 191\u2013200 (Hydrocarbon Exploration and Production Vol. 55, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2008).\n\nPassone, S. & McRae, G. J. Probabilistic field development in presence of uncertainty. In International Petroleum Technology Conference (OnePetro, 2007); https://doi.org/10.2523/IPTC-11294-MS\n\nA Primer on Domestic Oil and Gas, Part II: Intangible Drilling and Development Costs (KPMG LLP, 2012).\n\nHow to Depreciate Property 114 (US Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, 2015).\n\nBusiness Expenses 52 (US Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, 2015).\n\nInventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2013 (US Environmental Protection Agency, 2014).", "output": "Tax changes outlined by the US Republican Party last week could undermine climate change targets, according to research by the Stockholm Environment Institute. The study found that, of the 800 newly discovered US oil fields not yet in operation, half would never go into production without existing subsidies. The proposals, which would lower the corporate tax rate to 20%, give no indication that a 2009 G20 commitment to phasing out fossil fuel subsidies will be maintained. Current subsidies would see new wells producing up to 17 billion barrels of oil, generating six gigatons of CO2, within decades."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Coral\u2019s reproductive capacity used to repair damaged reefs \n International Day of the Midwife on 5 May celebrates the critical work of midwives around the world, but stress in the profession is an ongoing challenge, says Southern Cross Midwifery graduate Georgina Haver. Thanks to a scholarship, Georgina is now researching stress and burnout in the profession as part of an Honours degree. She believes that formal support networks could help retain skilled and resilient midwives.", "output": "Damaged coral reefs in the Philippines have been successfully repaired by scientists utilising the marine invertebrates' reproductive potential. Researchers from Australia\u2019s Southern Cross University grew millions of coral larvae in tanks, then transferred them to reefs that had been degraded by blast fishing. The experiment, the first of its kind in the world, proved that the larvae could settle and reach sexual maturity within three years. Coral reefs are central to the survival of approximately one million marine species and hundreds of millions of people who rely on them for food and survival.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Over 50% of leading US fast food chains reduce antibiotic use \n NRDC and our allies\u2014Consumer Reports, Food Animal Concerns Trust, U.S. Public Research Interest Group Education Fund, Antibiotic Resistance Action Center at the George Washington University School of Public Health, and the Center for Food Safety\u2014annually review and grade the largest fast-food and -casual U.S. restaurant chains on their policies regarding the use of antibiotics in the meat they serve. We also look at how these policies are being implemented and whether companies are transparent about their progress in reducing antibiotic use. The results are published in a report called Chain Reaction.\n\nWhen top restaurant chains voluntarily commit to ending the routine use of antibiotics in their supply networks, they can ignite broader change in practices across the meat industry. Ending routine antibiotics use can help slow the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and keep these critical medicines working to treat infections in people and animals. Restaurant chains were instrumental in helping to transform antibiotic use practices in the chicken industry in recent years. Unfortunately, when it comes to beef and pork, we\u2019ve seen little in the way of meaningful change.\n\nThe 2021 Chain Reaction report focuses specifically on how top restaurant chains are or are not addressing antibiotic use in their beef supplies, highlighting the need for action in this sector.\n\nCommitments from companies are a critical part of the solution to the antibiotics resistance crisis. But the market alone will not solve the problem. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration must also regulate antibiotics across the livestock sector by banning the routine use of these drugs for disease prevention\u2014not just growth promotion\u2014and by setting a national goal for concrete reductions in livestock antibiotics use.", "output": "Over 50% of the 25 largest US fast food chains have adopted policies that limit or eliminate the use of antibiotics in the meat and poultry they use, according to the latest version of an annual report by groups including Friends of the Earth and the Natural Resources Defense Council. This year\u2019s list includes 14 restaurants, representing two-thirds of all fast food sector revenue, that have pledged to reduce antibiotic use. All improvements this year arose from changes to chicken policies. \u201cNo-antibiotic\u201d beef and pork in fast food chains remains extremely limited. Panera Bread and Chipotle topped the list."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Over 50% of leading US fast food chains reduce antibiotic use \n David Silverman/Getty Images\n\nConsumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site.\n\nMore than half of the largest 25 fast food and fast casual restaurant chains in the U.S. now have policies in place that either limit or eliminate the use of antibiotics in the production of the meat and/or poultry they serve, according to a new report out today.\n\n\u201cChain Reaction III: How Top Restaurants Rate on Reducing Use of Antibiotics in Their Meat Supply\u201d (PDF) was produced by Friends of the Earth, Natural Resources Defense Council, Center for Food Safety, Food Animal Concerns Trust, U.S. Public Interest Research Group, and Consumers Union, the policy and mobilization arm of Consumer Reports.\n\n\u201cFast food restaurants are major purchasers of meat and poultry,\u201d says Jean Halloran, director of Food Policy Initiatives at Consumers Union. \u201cWhen they switch to meat and poultry raised without antibiotics, it can affect the entire supply chain.\u201d\n\nThe 14 restaurants on this year\u2019s list that have made commitments to reduce antibiotic use represent two-thirds of all fast food industry revenue.\n\nAmong the restaurants that made improvements this year, changes in chicken policies were responsible for all of the progress. The availability of \u201cno-antibiotic\u201d beef and pork at fast food chains is still very limited, according to the report.\n\nKevin Lamarque/Reuters\n\nFor decades, antibiotics have been given to healthy food animals to help prevent the diseases they might contract in crowded, unsanitary factory conditions. This practice significantly contributes to antibiotic resistance, in which the bacteria that can cause illness don\u2019t respond to drugs, rendering them ineffective.\n\nNearly two-thirds of consumers report being extremely or very concerned that giving antibiotics to animals raised for food can create new bacteria that cause illnesses that antibiotics can\u2019t cure, according to a 2016 CR nationally representative survey of more than 1,000 people.\n\n\u201cIn the U.S., more than 70 percent of antibiotics that are important for human medicine are sold for use on animals, not people; and most of those are routinely given to animals that aren\u2019t sick,\u201d says Lena Brook, M.E.S., a food policy advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the co-authors of the report. \u201cWhen you use antibiotics in this routine way, resistance happens, and that resistant bacteria can then escape from farms and find their way into communities.\u201d\n\n\u201cConsumers have enormous influence over the behavior of companies,\u201d says Brad Spellberg, M.D., chief medical officer at the Los Angeles County and University of Southern California Medical Center. \u201cIf consumers demand 'no-antibiotic' meat, this will lead to reduced antibiotic usage in agricultural settings, which will slow the spread of antibiotic resistance.\u201d\n\nHow the restaurants scored\n\nThe six consumer, environmental, and health organizations mentioned above have produced the Chain Reaction Report as well as the accompanying Scorecard on Antibiotic Policies and Practices (see below) annually since 2015. The goal of the report is to encourage companies to adopt good policies that prohibit routine antibiotic use in healthy animals across all the meats they serve.\n\nThe 25 companies were sent a survey, and their responses\u2014along with public statements by the companies either in the press or on their websites\u2014were used to calculate the grade on the scorecard.\n\nSeveral factors are part of the grade. Forty percent of the score is based on a company\u2019s antibiotic use policy and having a timeline for implementing it. Implementation accounts for 32 percent of the grade. The remaining 28 percent of the score is based on transparency (using outside inspectors to verify that they\u2019re using and adhering to their policy and keeping consumers regularly apprised of progress) and responding to the survey, which 16 of the 25 companies did this year.\n\nThe number of fast food and casual chains that received passing grades this year was triple the number in 2015, the first year of the report.\n\nPanera Bread and Chipotle lead the pack with A grades, for the third year in a row. Nearly all their meat and poultry are raised without any antibiotics. Subway upped last year\u2019s B to a B+ after converting all chicken it serves to \u201cno antibiotic.\u201d It plans to do the same for turkey by 2019 and beef and pork by 2025.\n\nChick-fil-A, McDonald\u2019s, Taco Bell, and Wendy\u2019s earned B\u2019s and C\u2019s for their strong antibiotic policies in chicken. McDonald\u2019s recently announced that it wouldn\u2019t serve chicken raised with antibiotics most valuable to human medicine in restaurants worldwide by 2027. (It currently does not sell chicken raised on antibiotics important in human medicine in the U.S.)\n\nKFC notably upped last year\u2019s score from an F to a B- after committing to only serve chicken raised without medically important antibiotics by the end of 2018.\n\nSome smaller chains not represented on the scorecard are also making progress. For example, all of the chicken served at Dickey\u2019s BBQ is no-antibiotic, as is all of the beef, pork, and poultry served at Cheesecake Factory.\n\nBurger King, Dunkin\u2019 Donuts, Jack in the Box, and Starbucks were upgraded from last year\u2019s F to a D, joining the likes of Papa Johns and Pizza Hut. These chains received a \u201cD\u201d grade for having limited policies on antibiotics, or for not fully implementing them yet.\n\nApplebee\u2019s, Arby\u2019s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Chili\u2019s, Cracker Barrel, Dairy Queen, Domino\u2019s Pizza, IHOP, Little Caesars, Olive Garden, and Sonic earned \u201cF\u201d grades for having absolutely no antibiotics policies in place at all.\n\nWe reached out to the National Restaurant Association for comment and will update this story with any response.\n\nCharging ahead on chicken\n\nTechniques for raising chickens without antibiotics are better developed than those for beef or pork, says Halloran, and the chicken industry has made great strides toward eliminating the routine use of the drugs. According to the report, half of the chicken in the U.S. today is either produced under an antibiotics stewardship program or will be before 2020.\n\nPanera Bread and Chipotle are the only chains to limit antibiotic in beef and pork as well as chicken. Subway is the only other company that has made a public commitment to source \u201cno antibiotic\u201d beef and pork. McDonald\u2019s recently said it plans to reduce antibiotics in beef and pork worldwide but didn\u2019t provide details or set a timeline for achieving this goal.\n\n\u201cWe know that when big buyers like the McDonald\u2019s, Subways, and even the KFCs of the world step up, it sends a really clear message to producers that not only is the demand for responsibly producing meat and poultry there,\u201d says Brook, \u201cbut also that the changes are meaningful to health.\u201d\n\nIf being able to more easily purchase meat and poultry raised without antibiotics is important to you, Halloran has this advice: \u201cWherever you eat, ask restaurant managers about their meat sourcing policies and practices and make sure they know that you\u2019re looking for options that are healthier not only for you but for the animals and the environment, too\u2014including meat produced without the routine use of antibiotics.\u201d", "output": "Over 50% of the 25 largest US fast food chains have adopted policies that limit or eliminate the use of antibiotics in the meat and poultry they use, according to the latest version of an annual report by groups including Friends of the Earth and the Natural Resources Defense Council. This year\u2019s list includes 14 restaurants, representing two-thirds of all fast food sector revenue, that have pledged to reduce antibiotic use. All improvements this year arose from changes to chicken policies. \u201cNo-antibiotic\u201d beef and pork in fast food chains remains extremely limited. Panera Bread and Chipotle topped the list."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EasyJet to increase drone inspections across UK airports in 2018 \n London Gatwick airport could in 2018 see a flurry of drone activity, with both the facility's operator and low-cost carrier EasyJet looking to employ unmanned air vehicles for inspection tasks.\n\nEasyJet has for several years been trialling the use of UAVs, in conjunction with UK firm Blue Bear Systems, to perform aircraft inspections to check for damage following events such as lightning strikes.\n\nGary Smith, head of engineering at the UK carrier, says the technology has been \"successfully tested\".\n\nIn 2018 it will roll out the system to its two UK maintenance hangars at London airports Gatwick and Luton, he says, following initial trials conducted with the UK Civil Aviation Authority.\n\n\"Ultimately this may well become a service that is scalable worldwide,\" he says. \"We are pushing it forward.\"\n\nIf the roll-out in the UK proves successful, it will look to adopt the system at its three other in-house facilities at Geneva, Milan Malpensa and Berlin Schoenefeld.\n\nLufthansa Technik carries out heavy maintenance tasks for EasyJet at sites in Malta in Budapest, and, notes Smith \"it is in our interest that it is adopted by suppliers as well\".\n\nEasyJet has also been using 3D-scanning technology to permit more accurate damage assessments, and it hopes to be able to this capability to the UAVs as well, says Smith.\n\nMeanwhile, London Gatwick's operator is to begin trials of UAVs designed to perform runway inspections in the first half of 2018.\n\nCathal Corcoran, the airport's chief information officer, says the drones will replace manual inspections for damage or foreign object debris.\n\n\"They can perform inspections better than any human eye,\" he says. \"Drones are exciting for us.\"\n\nGatwick will use the tests, which will take place on a private road, to determine whether UAVs or autonomous ground vehicles provide the most accurate images, he says.\n\nHe stresses that any future drone operations would only take place at night when the runway is not in use.\n\nThe airport operator also will investigate the use of UAVs to secure the site's perimeter.\n\nSource: Cirium Dashboard", "output": "Budget airline easyJet will use drones to carry out safety inspections of its planes at Luton and London Gatwick airports from next year. The launch follows trials with the Civil Aviation Authority, and if all goes well in the UK, easyJet said the drone system could be expanded to cover its bases at\u00a0airports in Berlin, Geneva and Milan. Additionally, London Gatwick's operator expects to roll out its own drone-backed runway inspections initiative during H1 2018.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shares in video-streamer Roku soar after its IPO raises $219m \n NEW YORK -- Shares of Roku, an early player in streaming-video gadgets, soared Thursday after its initial public offering of stock raised US$219 million.\n\nThe shares priced at $14 each, the top of the company's expected range, suggesting strong demand from investors and valuing the company at $1.3 billion. The shares rocketed to more than $21 in Thursday afternoon trading, a gain of over 50 per cent.\n\nThe Los Gatos, California, company is known for its boxes and sticks that let users watch Netflix, Hulu and the growing universe of streaming-video options on their TVs. It has the biggest share of the streaming-gadget market, but has deep-pocketed competitors in Amazon, Google and Apple.\n\nMost of Roku's revenue comes from sales of its streaming players, but it's seeking to capitalize on its \"platform\" by building its business of showing ads to users, whether on its home screen or inside video apps.\n\nThe company is unprofitable and has amassed $244 million in losses since it was founded in 2002.", "output": "Shares in Roku rocketed last Thursday after the company's\u00a0initial public offering raised $219m. The California firm makes sticks and boxes that enable users to watch Netflix, Hulu and other streaming-video options on their TVs. Roku has the biggest share of the streaming-gadget market, despite competition from Amazon, Google and Apple. Shares were initially priced at $14 \u2013 the top of the company's expected range \u2013 valuing it at $1.3bn but rose to over $21 in afternoon trading. The company makes most of its revenue from selling streaming players;\u00a0however, it is not profitable, having made $244m of losses since 2002.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Drone flying banned near US landmarks such as Statue of Liberty \n Nailing awesome drone shots of your favorite U.S. landmarks is set to become more difficult as new flight bans come into effect soon at several locations across the country.\n\nOn Thursday, September 28, The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced new regulations banning drone flights within 400 feet of a number of famous tourist sites, among them the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, and the Hoover Dam.\n\nRecommended Videos\n\nThe FAA said it was introducing the new restrictions \u201cat the request of U.S. national security and law enforcement agencies.\u201d The regulations will come into force on October 5, 2017.\n\nHere\u2019s the full list of sites:\n\n\u2022 Statue of Liberty National Monument; New York\n\n\u2022 Boston National Historical Park (U.S.S. Constitution); Boston\n\n\u2022 Independence National Historical Park; Philadelphia\n\n\u2022 Folsom Dam; Folsom, California\n\n\u2022 Glen Canyon Dam; Lake Powell, Arizona\n\n\u2022 Grand Coulee Dam; Grand Coulee, Washington\n\n\u2022 Hoover Dam; Boulder City, Nevada\n\n\u2022 Jefferson National Expansion Memorial; St. Louis, Missouri\n\n\u2022 Mount Rushmore National Memorial; Keystone, South Dakota\n\n\u2022 Shasta Dam; Shasta Lake, California\n\n\u201cOperators who violate the airspace restrictions may be subject to enforcement action, including potential civil penalties and criminal charges,\u201d the FAA said in a statement on its website.\n\nThe agency added that information on the new measures will be included in its free B4UFly app (iOS and Android), which offers drone pilots tips on safe flying, as well as information on restrictions and requirements relating to drone flights in the specific area they want to operate.\n\nThe FAA noted that the new regulations mark the first time that it has taken such measures over Department of the Interior landmarks, though it\u2019s true to say that some of these locations are already included in a ban on drone flights in national parks that was introduced by the National Park Service in 2014.\n\nOther out-of-bounds sites for drone pilots include airports, government buildings, prisons, and sports stadiums.\n\nBest not to fly your drone near army bases, too. In August, the Pentagon greenlit a policy that allows the U.S. military to blow your bird out of the sky if it spots it flying close to one of 133 military installations across the country. You could also be hit with jail time for your efforts.\n\nAnd be sure to keep your flying machine well away from wildfires, as it could make flying conditions hazardous for manned aircraft tackling the blaze.\n\nFor more information on drone flight restrictions in the U.S., take a moment to check out the FAA\u2019s webpage on the subject or explore the aforementioned B4UFly app.\n\nEditors' Recommendations", "output": "Drone flights within 400 feet of major US landmarks are to be banned \"at the request of national security and law enforcement agencies\", the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has said. The FAA\u00a0will enforce the new regulation from 5 October at sites such as Mount Rushmore, the Statue of Liberty and the Hoover Dam. Drones are already banned near airports, government buildings, sport\u00a0stadiums, prisons and army bases.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Toshiba to sell NAND chip unit in $18bn deal \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\n(Reuters) \u2014 Japan\u2019s Toshiba said on Thursday it had signed an $18 billion deal to sell its chip unit to a consortium led by Bain Capital LP, overcoming a key \u2014 albeit not its last \u2014 hurdle as it scrambles for funds to stave off a potential delisting.\n\nThe sale of the unit \u2014 the world\u2019s second biggest producer of NAND chips \u2014 was agreed last week after a tortuous auction process but the signing was delayed because consortium member Apple demanded new terms on chip supply, sources familiar with the matter have said.\n\nThe deal will see Toshiba reinvest in the unit and together with Hoya, a medical technology firm that also makes parts for chip devices, Japanese firms will hold more than 50 percent of the business \u2014 a keen wish of the Japanese government.\n\nA Japanese state-backed fund and bank have also expressed their interest in investing in the future subject to certain conditions, Toshiba said in a statement.\n\n\u201cWith this deal, a lot of risks for Toshiba have disappeared. It can go back to being a normal company,\u201d said Hideki Yasuda at Ace Research Institute.\n\nPressure from the Japanese government, changing alliances among suitors and a slew of revised bids has drawn out the auction over nine months \u2014 heightening the risk that the deal may not close before the end of Japan\u2019s financial year in March as regulatory reviews usually take at least six months.\n\nIf the deal does not close before then, Toshiba \u2014 hurt by liabilities at its now bankrupt nuclear unit Westinghouse \u2014 is likely to end a second consecutive year in negative net worth, putting pressure on the Tokyo Stock Exchange to strip it of its listing status.\n\nThe sale also faces legal challenges from Western Digital, Toshiba\u2019s chip venture partner and rejected suitor, which is seeking an injunction to block any deal that does not have its consent.\n\nWestern Digital, one of world\u2019s leading makers of hard disk drives, paid some $16 billion last year to acquire SanDisk, Toshiba\u2019s chip joint venture partner since 2000. It sees chips as a key pillar of growth and is desperate to keep the business out of the hands of rival chipmakers.\n\nIn addition to Apple, Bain\u2019s consortium includes South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix, as well as Dell, Seagate Technology, and Kingston Technology.\n\nUnder the deal, Toshiba will hold 40.2 percent of voting rights in the chip unit and Hoya will own 9.9 percent, while other members will hold a combined 49.9 percent, according to SK Hynix.\n\nIn a move to address anti-trust concerns that may come up in a regulatory review. Toshiba said SK Hynix would be firewalled from accessing proprietary information that belonged to the chip unit and would not be permitted to own more than 15 percent of voting rights for 10 years.\n\n(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Additional reporting by Kentaro Hamada and Taro Fuse; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)", "output": "Toshiba has signed an $18bn agreement to sell its NAND chip unit in a bid to raise funds. The unit was auctioned off after a nine-month process to a consortium led by Bain Capital and including Apple. The unit is the second largest producer of NAND chips globally. Toshiba is also reinvesting in the unit, alongside medical tech firm Hoya. Japanese firms in the consortium will own over 50% of the business. The company hopes to close the deal before the end of the Japanese financial year in March, and\u00a0so end the year with positive net worth.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Advertisers now have ability to target Facebook Messenger ads \n Retargeting is largely associated with product ads that stalk users across the internet.\n\nBut Facebook sees retargeting as a tactic that can open the door to ongoing engagement within Messenger.\n\nTed Helwick, the Facebook product manager leading monetization efforts on Messenger, told AdExchanger that \u201cthe KPI advertisers tell us they care about most right now is getting users to reply and engage in messages.\u201d\n\nStarting this week, advertisers have the ability to target Messenger ads, which Facebook began testing in July, to optimize for replies and conversations.\n\nTargeting by objective fits with Facebook\u2019s plan to insinuate Messenger into more of the customer journey, from awareness and acquisition to customer service and re-engagement.\n\nIn addition to Messenger ads that click directly into conversations, Messenger\u2019s expanding suite of advertising products includes sponsored messages that retarget users and bring them back into existing chats.\n\nBut brands also are starting to look at Messenger as a channel for transactions.\n\nAmerican Eagle Outfitters, which created two bots to drum up awareness and sales during the back-to-school and holiday seasons, for example, was mostly focused on generating engagement within Messenger.\n\nThe hope now is to move on from the \u201csofter sell\u201d and start driving actual sales, said Kristen D\u2019Arcy, head of performance digital marketing at American Eagle Outfitters.\n\nThat\u2019s why the Messenger monetization team is particularly \u201cbullish\u201d on sponsored messages, Helwick said. Brands like American Eagle can start to capitalize on the equity and engagement they\u2019ve built with their audience on Messenger over time.\n\nWhen brands make the effort to build relationships with their customers and provide helpful customer service within Messenger, it gives them \u201cthe right to actually push new products,\u201d said David Marcus, Facebook\u2019s VP of messaging products.\n\nBecause it\u2019s one thing to open a conversation with consumers on Messenger, and it\u2019s another thing to keep that conversation going, Marcus said.\n\nWhich is where retargeting comes in.\n\nRetargeting is \u201ca way to get your business objective delivered to you,\u201d Marcus said. \u201cYou can talk to your customer until you get to the finish line.\u201d", "output": "As part of Facebook\u2019s plans to give retargeting ads a makeover, advertisers will now have the ability to target Messenger ads to optimise for replies and conversations, opening the door to ongoing engagement with customers. The new advertising products will include ads that click directly into Messenger conversations and sponsored messages that retarget users and bring them back into existing chats. David Marcus, Facebook\u2019s VP of messaging products, commented that when brands make the effort to build relationships with their customers and provide helpful customer service within Messenger, it gives them \u201cthe right to actually push new products\u201d."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Central Bank of Nigeria changes view of cryptocurrencies \n Following cautious considerations, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has commenced arrangement to introduce a digital currency in a move to key into the global adoption of Crypto currency initiative.\n\n\n\nThe Deputy Director/Head, Payments System Policy and Oversight, CBN, Musa Jimoh, disclosed this at the Crypto currency conference recently held in Lagos.\n\nCrypto currency is a digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency, and verify the transfer of funds, operating independently of a central bank.\n\nJimoh said the Apex bank \u201ccannot stop the tide of waves generated by the blockchain technology and its derivatives. Currently, we have taken measures to create four departments in the institution that are looking forward to harmonise the white paper on Crypto currency.\u201d\n\nBefore now, the CBN had been wary to adopting digital currency until it had concluded assessment on its transaction methodology, especially as it has been said that \u201cdecentralised crypto currencies such as bitcoin now provide an outlet for personal wealth that is beyond restriction and confiscation.\u201d\n\n\n\nSpeaking on the development, the President, Information Security Society of Nigeria (ISSAN), Dr. David Isiawe, said: \u201cThe reality that is before us today, particularly in Nigeria, is that the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), blockchain and Crypto currency are facts that we must face, whether we like it or not. We cannot wish this reality away. It is made worse when we realise that we are still grappling with current challenges of e-commerce and other electronic payment systems but technology development and advancements are not waiting.\n\n\u201cThe impact of the emergence of blockchain and Crypto currency will be felt in the nation just as in the global community. Nigerian must be proactive rather than reactive by considering how these technologies would affect and influence our lifestyles and business operations and channel, and thus fashion our rules of engagement for their adoption.\u201d\n\nIsiawe also admonished prospective investors to be careful investing in Crypto currencies, as every investment has its share of risks.The conference tagged: \u201cLearning to Glow with the Flow,\u201d also served as the debut of a new coin, Corion.\n\nHighlighting the coin, the President, Corion Platform, Ida Frauda, said: \u201cCrypto currency is a currency that allows parties to exchange value. Unlike gold, paper money and other means of payments, Crypto currency is digital and decentralised granting transactions to be made without intermediaries and giving the transactors control over their money.\n\n\u201cWith the Corion, users have daily payments and value storage with a staple price, fair distribution of benefits, keys to the challenges to engage the majority in using Crypto currency on a daily basis, an ecosystem to get the financial benefits from merely being a user. They make transaction in multiple currencies, peer-to-peer exchange in a limitless market in the global market; make money from the daily coin release from the increasing number of users instead of speculation.\u201d\n\nFor the conference organiser, Chimezie Chuta, Nigeria should create learning institutions to educate and engage the youths and make them relevant in this space.\n\nHe urged the youths to equip themselves with learning blockchain, as it is the technology of the future. \u201cAny sector can be on it like the Internet, which will lead to a skill shortage. People should read online, and research as many firms are going to be requiring blockchain experts in their sphere. The blockchain technology can be used across boards like smart contract, e-voting, identity management, healthcare. We should not be sole users rather; we should harness our numerical strength in his space,\u201d said.\n\nThe Chief Technical Officer (CTO), Digital Encode, Oluseyi Akindeinde, said crypto currency is the currency of the future. \u201cThis currency cannot be monopolized by any government or company. It allows transparency; the velocity of transactions can be monitored with the blockchain, as it cuts across borders of accounts with the use of Applications.\u201d\n\nHighlighting the use of blockchain for transactions, Akindeinde said: \u201cThe technology is not only used for Crypto currency, although, the naira can be on the blockchain just like some other countries, so instead of spending bitcoin, everyone can spend the naira and transfer from peer to peer without going to financial institutions. Nonetheless, it can be used for land registration, stock exchange. Everything that has value can be used on the blockchain.\u201d\n\nSpeaking on the security of the blockchain, he said: \u201cIf the CBN places the naira on it, then they are securing it with the hashing power of the blockchain. Presently based on the design which has been in existence since 2009, the blockchain is hack-proof due to the encryption and cryptography technology.\n\n\u201cThe reasons banks are prone to hack is because they are centralised. Blockchain is decentralised. It is located everywhere there is Internet, so except someone hacks the entire Internet, then they can hack the blockchain system.\u201d", "output": "The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said it is considering introducing a cryptocurrency. The bank's head of payments, Musa Jimoh, has said the CBN \"cannot stop the tide of waves generated by the blockchain technology and its derivatives\". The CBN has been wary of cryptocurrencies so far, given its previous findings found \"decentralised cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin now provide an outlet for personal wealth that is beyond restriction and confiscation\". However, the bank now acknowledges the security advantages conferred by blockchain technology and also recognises it can be used for land registration and on a stock exchange.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Whole Foods hack may have exposed payment details \n Shopping at Whole Foods might have cost customers more than just overpriced avocados.\n\nThe popular grocery chain, which Amazon bought for $13.7 billion in June, warned customers Thursday that thieves stole payment card information at several of its stores. The cyberattack hit Whole Foods' taprooms and restaurants, not stores' primary checkout lines, the company said.\n\nThese in-store taprooms and restaurants use a different payments system than the regular Whole Foods checkout. The hack didn't spread to Amazon's payment servers because they're not connected to Whole Foods' stores, the company said.\n\nPoint-of-sales attacks often target popular chains. Fast food joints like Chipotle and Wendy's have been hit in the past, with hackers stealing customer credit card information. Cybercriminals often look for easy targets to make quick cash, and restaurants have shown they're simple to hack.\n\nWhole Foods has 449 stores in the US and more than 40 sell beer on tap. It's unclear how many restaurants Whole Foods has.\n\nWatch this: How Amazon tech can be tied into Whole Foods 01:55\n\n\"While most Whole Foods Market stores do not have these taprooms and restaurants, Whole Foods Market encourages its customers to closely monitor their payment card statements and report any unauthorized charges to the issuing bank,\" the company said in a statement.\n\nWhole Foods declined to comment on how many people are affected and which stores were hacked.\n\nThe grocery chain said it's working with a cybersecurity forensics firm and law enforcement to investigate who is behind the attack.\n\nFirst published Sept. 29, 6:25 a.m. PT.\n\nUpdate at 8:14 a.m. PT: With Whole Foods declining to comment.\n\nIt's Complicated: This is dating in the age of apps. Having fun yet?\n\nTech Enabled: CNET chronicles tech's role in providing new kinds of accessibility.", "output": "Amazon-owned grocery chain Whole Foods has warned customers who frequented one of its bars or restaurants recently to \"closely monitor their payment card statements and report any unauthorised charges to the issuing bank\" following a cyber attack. The company said the hack did not affect its main checkout lines as Amazon's payment system is separate from that used in its bars and restaurants. It is not clear how many outlets were affected and Whole Foods declined to provide figures on the potential number of customers at risk or which locations were affected, but said it was investigating the\u00a0attack.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Disney Digital Network goes after bigger slice of ad budgets \n Disney owns some of the most premium online content to advertise on, but it hasn\u2019t tried to fully capitalize on it until now. After restructuring its sales team, trimming its Maker Studios influencer business and launching its own ad network in recent months, the media conglomerate is making its biggest push yet for digital ad budgets.\n\nDisney\u2019s commercial executives are pitching advertisers and agencies the Disney Digital Network, a combination of all its online assets that can be bought either on its own ad network, influencer partnerships or branded-content deals. Meetings have happened since DDN launched in May, as the company looks to grow a small but lucrative part of its consumer products and interactive business. Advertising accounted for just 2 percent \u2014 $130 million \u2014 of the division\u2019s total revenues last year.\n\nThe creation of Disney\u2019s own ad network is arguably the clearest indicator of how the company will attempt to win ad budgets. Similar to publisher alliances like Pangaea, Disney wants marketers to see it as a premium, more transparent alternative to the scale of Google and Facebook.\n\nBy running its own ad network, Disney can control its own data and reduce its reliance on third parties and, more important, third-party fees. It functions like a traditional ad network, handling the placement, optimization and reporting on ads once Disney and the buyer have negotiated a fee. Much of what is sold via the network is ads on its apps and pre-roll video before its content on social networks, particularly on YouTube. The Google-owned video site represents a sizable part of the 400 million monetizable video views that Robbie Douek, vp of digital partnerships for Disney in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said the DDN can generate for brands. Display, however, is a \u201csmall portion\u201d of what gets sold, he added.\n\nTargeting audiences online will be \u201ccontextual\u201d rather than hypertargeted for Disney\u2019s advertisers, said Douek, meaning the ads Disney sells, at least initially, will be targeted based on relevancy to page content. Douek said he could revisit sharper targeting at a later stage, however. Some media observers say the company has been too cautious, which they feel its lack of data targeting underscores. For now, Douek said the commercial team is focused on \u201clooking at specific audiences that are associated with specific franchises\u201d when helping advertisers plan campaigns.\n\nIn-house technology, however, is not always a panacea for transparency, said Bill Swanson, vp for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at PubMatic, a company that makes money from working with publishers that can\u2019t afford to build their own in-house technology. \u201c[Marketers] may relieve their anxieties about appearing next to inappropriate content, but what about fraud?\u201d he said. \u201cEven the most premium publishers today are victims of domain spoofing, something that can be alleviated by using verification technologies.\u201d\n\nDisney also expects its influencers to woo advertisers, though Douek acknowledged the difficulties of building an influencer business in a crowded market. The company has struggled to grow Maker Studios since acquiring it in 2014 for more than $500 million. Earlier this year, Disney streamlined Maker Studios, then pulled it into its consumer products and interactive division. Turning Maker Studios from a standalone unit into part of a broader pitch for digital budgets is expected to help Disney recoup some of the money it undoubtedly lost. In addition to pitching those influencers to brands, Disney will offer opportunities for Maker Studios creators to appear in its TV shows, as well as join the rebooted online version of its \u201cMickey Mouse Club\u201d series.\n\nDisney\u2019s move into online advertising has been a long time coming. After struggling to get its online business started since acquiring Maker Studios, the media outlet is hopeful the brand-safety crisis can help cement its position as a trusted publisher.\n\n\u201cBrand safety comes up a lot when we\u2019re talking to advertisers,\u201d Douek said. \u201cThat\u2019s why in the world we\u2019re living in today, the players that are going to shine through are those who sit on the content.\u201d", "output": "Disney is seeking to improve low advertising revenues at its consumer products and interactive division with a concerted push into digital. Advertising accounted for just 2% of the division's revenues in 2016. Using its Disney Digital Network, an ad network that combines all Disney's online assets, the firm aims to position itself as a trusted, premium alternative to Facebook and Google. Robbie Douek, vice-president of digital partnerships in EMEA, said initial campaigns would be \"contextual\" and that the company was looking at \"specific audiences that are associated with specific franchises\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Essex Uni joins with Kaplan for pathway college \n The college, which will open in September, will be based at the university\u2019s campus in Colchester, and will have the capacity for 450 international students.\n\nIn addition to teaching study skills, the college will offer a variety of courses, including foundation certificates and pre-masters for humanities, science and health, and social sciences.\n\nPre-sessional English will be taught from the summer of 2019,\n\nIt will also offer International Year One for business and economies.\n\nAnd pre-sessional English will be taught from the summer of 2019, for direct entry to university programs.\n\nThis is not the first time that Kaplan and the University of Essex have had worked together, having had a joint venture in the online learning space for the past 10 years.\n\nKaplan Online Learning delivers the University of Essex Online distance learning courses, and was awarded The PIEoneer Award for public / private partnership of the year.\n\nThe Kaplan Higher Education Academy also offers degree programs from the University of Essex in Singapore.\n\nLinda Cowan, managing director, Kaplan International Pathways, said: \u201cThe high levels of academic provision and student support that we provide for our online students are the best foundation on which to develop this new on-campus pathway college to prepare international students for university study at one of the UK\u2019s most innovative and exciting universities.\u201d\n\nThe University of Essex is spread across three campuses in Colchester, Southend and Loughton.\n\nThis marks Kaplan\u2019s 10th pathway partnership in the UK, in addition to its colleges in the US, Australia, China and Japan.", "output": "Kaplan and the University of Essex will partner to open a\u00a0pathway college\u00a0to prepare international students for degree studies. The\u00a0college\u00a0will open its doors next year to 450 international students,\u00a0offering foundation courses and pre-masters programmes at the University\u2019s Colchester campus. Kaplan Online Learning has been delivering the University of Essex\u2019s online distance learning courses for\u00a010 years, receiving a PIEoneer award for the partnership.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Drive.ai raises $15m for autonomous vehicle development \n Autonomous vehicle startup Drive.ai secured $15 million in funding to help the company expand its leadership team, develop its technology, grow business partnerships and open its first international office in Singapore.\n\nThe financing was led by Southeast Asia transportation and mobile payments platform Grab, though others participated as well. The funds build on Drive.ai\u2019s June series B funding round which raised $50 million.\n\n\u201cSelf-driving is the global space race of our time, so we\u2019ve had our eyes set on international deployment since the start. This focus is reflected in our investor base, with investors from around the world, and now with Grab,\u201d CEO Sameep Tandon said in a press release. \u201cGrab is an early adopter of autonomous vehicle technology in Singapore, and we are excited to have their support as we open our Singapore office.\u201d\n\nBy opening an office in Singapore, the company plans to work with the government and local businesses on development opportunities as well as possibly deploying vehicles in the country. Grab also plans to help Drive.ai with its Asia operations and the evaluation of the local market for its products.\n\n\u201cWe look at Singapore as a country, it\u2019s been a technological juggernaut. When innovations happen in the region, basically they start in Singapore and then move out to other places within the region, whether it\u2019s Indonesia, Vietnam or China,\u201d Tandon told Tech Crunch. \u201cWhat\u2019s also really interesting to us about Singapore is they have this sort of existential problem here \u2013 for them autonomous driving is not a matter of \u2018if,\u2019 it\u2019s a matter of \u2018when.\u2019 They have this high population density in a very small physical area, and the extra challenges that go along with that.\u201d\n\nDrive.ai offers a self-driving software that allows autonomous vehicles to learn new driving scenarios and routes through a deep learning-first approach. It is partnering with other businesses to deploy its technology, such as in its recent partnership with Lyft to provide autonomous ridesharing services.", "output": "Self-driving vehicle start-up Drive.ai has secured $15m of investment in a funding round led by southeast Asia-based ride-hailing and mobile payments business Grab. The funds will be used to expand the Silicon Valley-based company\u2019s leadership team, develop its technology\u00a0and find new business partnerships. Drive.ai also aims to open its first international office in Singapore, where the firm will work with the government and local businesses to develop opportunities for its\u00a0self-driving vehicle technology. The latest funds build\u00a0on Drive.ai\u2019s $50m series B funding round last\u00a0June.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Imagining A Single-Payer Health System In California \n About Capitol Desk Capitol Desk delivers the latest in health care policy and politics from Sacramento and around the state. Have an idea? Let us know.\n\nWith the crumbling of the latest GOP plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, many Americans seem more willing to discuss what a single-payer system might look like and whether it is desirable \u2014 or even possible.\n\nUse Our Content This story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nU.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) recently introduced a Medicare-for-All Act, which would gradually expand the government-financed system to the general population while eliminating private insurance companies and consumer cost sharing, such as copays and deductibles. Although the bill is backed by 16 Democratic senators, including California\u2019s Kamala Harris, observers predict it has no chance of moving through a Republican-controlled Congress.\n\nCalifornia lawmakers took a fresh look at single-payer health care this year through SB562, a proposal to create one government-financed program that covers all Californians. That bill stalled, but debate will continue this fall in legislative hearings. A grass-roots campaign is underway to put a plan to finance such a system before voters.\n\nEmail Sign-Up Subscribe to California Healthline's free Daily Edition. Your Email Address Sign Up\n\n\u201cIt is time to have those discussions [as] to how we actually get everyone covered, and get them covered in a way that they can afford to pay for care when they need it,\u201d said Jen Flory, policy advocate with Western Center on Law & Poverty, a group that supported the single-payer bill in concept.\n\nBut Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, expressed concerns about the enormous costs of building such as system, saying \u201cthe numbers matter.\u201d He said a government-financed health care system for all cannot be allowed to endanger funding for other public services \u2014 like education and public safety \u2014 which ensure a high quality of life in California.\n\nFlory and Lapsley were among the consumer advocates and industry players who last week sat side by side in Sacramento to debate the merits and challenges of universal health care coverage, whether through a single payer or other means.\n\nThe discussion occurred during a conference in Sacramento last week called \u201cHealth Care In Crisis,\u201d organized by Capitol Weekly and the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. California Healthline/Kaiser Health News Sacramento correspondent Pauline Bartolone moderated the discussion.\n\nOther panelists included Dr. Paul Song, co-chair of the Campaign for a Healthy California, a coalition that formed to support California\u2019s single-payer effort, and Mark Sektnan, president of the Association of California Insurance Companies.", "output": "With the crumbling of the latest GOP plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, many Americans seem more willing to discuss what a single-payer system might look like and whether it is desirable \u2014 or even possible.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "More Than 150 Seniors Get Free Hepatitis A Vaccine Amid Outbreak in San Diego \n More than 150 seniors received free Hepatitis A vaccines at a clinic in East Village Thursday, amid one of the worst outbreaks in San Diego County history.\n\nThe local nonprofit, Serving Seniors, offered the vaccines to seniors at no charge, following warnings from health experts that the outbreak may continue for up to six months and claim more victims.\n\nThursday morning, the Serving Seniors' center located on 525 14th Street provided the free shots between 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. According to Serving Seniors, they received overwhelming demand from seniors to get the shot after their first free vaccination event a few weeks ago.\n\nThey plan to offer the second part of the vaccination to seniors at no cost in spring 2018, Serving Seniors officials said. Protection from the disease kicks in within a couple weeks after receiving the vaccine. Immunity lasts for 20 years to life following the second dose.\n\nServing Senior officials said seniors should take the vaccine very seriously because they are a high-risk group. Hepatitis A is extremely transferable and potentially deadly to seniors and others with compromised immune systems.\n\nThe nonprofit will continue serving seniors with ongoing education, internal protocols, vaccines and sanitization stations.\n\nSan Diego County health officials declared a local public health emergency on Sept. 1. As of Sept. 26, seventeen people have died and 461 cases of Hepatitis A have been confirmed in San Diego County. There were 315 hospitalizations out of those cases.\n\nHealth care providers have given more than 42,000 hepatitis vaccinations as of Sept. 23, according to the organization. That marks an increase from nearly 23,000 about a week ago.\n\nThe most common ways to get Hepatitis A are close contact with an infected person, exposure to contaminated food or drink or eating shellfish harvested from sewage-infested water.\n\nIt takes two to seven weeks for the illness to start showing symptoms after exposure, organization officials said. The vaccines were offered in collaboration with the County of San Diego.", "output": "More than 150 seniors received free Hepatitis A vaccines at a clinic in East Village Thursday, amid one of the worst outbreaks in San Diego County history.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The High Price of Failing America\u2019s Costliest Patients \n Even patients with whom I have the best rapport would probably rather not see me so often.\n\nSometimes I readmit a patient I cared for just weeks before in the hospital. \u201cNice to see you again,\u201d I offer with a smile. The usual response, loosely paraphrased: I\u2019d rather be anywhere else.\n\nThis reflects not some deep deficiency in my bedside manner (I think), but rather an essential truth about medicine: People want health, not health care. And those who require the most health care and get the least health \u2014 high-need, high-cost patients with multiple or severe medical conditions \u2014 feel this most acutely.\n\nLeaving aside the moral compulsion to improve the quality and efficiency of their care, there is an overwhelming financial imperative to do so. It\u2019s well known that the country\u2019s staggering health care costs are not evenly distributed. Just 1 percent of patients account for 20 percent of costs, and 5 percent of the population accounts for nearly half the nation\u2019s health care spending.\n\nBut exactly who these patients are \u2014 and how we can better meet their needs \u2014 is less clear.\n\nMisaligned Financial Incentives\n\nOne emerging definition, based on research, focuses on people with three or more chronic conditions who have a functional limitation, such as difficulty dressing, bathing, feeding themselves, walking, taking medications or using transportation.", "output": "Even patients with whom I have the best rapport would probably rather not see me so often. Sometimes I readmit a patient I cared for just weeks before in the hospital. \u201cNice to see you again,\u201d I offer with a smile. The usual response, loosely paraphrased: I\u2019d rather be anywhere else.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dems see 2018 gains in repeated Obamacare repeal tries \n \u201cI think they are falling into an enormous trap of their own making. And have at it,\u201d said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.). \u201cI think they\u2019re going to pay a very heavy price for this.\u201d\n\nObamacare also has proven a uniquely unifying issue for Democrats, from the red-state Joe Manchin wing to the liberal Bernie Sanders end of the party. Activist groups that are otherwise prone to occasional clashes with party leaders have also linked arms to help Democrats defeat repeated Republican repeal efforts, and any fresh repeal attempt close to the midterms would likely spark another kumbaya moment.\n\n\u201cEverybody, from the most progressive to the most moderate, would be glad to vote to retain the progress we\u2019ve made on health care and to prevent people\u2019s lives from being thrown into chaos,\u201d Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said.\n\nThe Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee homed in on the anti-repeal message after the Senate\u2019s latest push sputtered earlier this week, blasting out a reminder that all but 20 House Republicans backed the GOP\u2019s repeal plan in May.\n\nDCCC spokesman Tyler Law declared that no matter what happens to the GOP\u2019s drive to uproot Obamacare, Democrats would work hard to hang the unpopular House-passed repeal bill around their rivals\u2019 necks.\n\n\u201cThis issue is going to remain front and center because it\u2019s so personal,\u201d Law said. \u201cAnd I would also add it\u2019s going to be front and center because Republicans are stubbornly saying, \u2018We are going to continue over and over again to try and take your health care away.\u2019\u201d\n\nThat commitment from Republicans who are still openly entertaining a return to the repeal debate before 2019 has deep roots, however. GOP donors and conservative activists who have propelled the party\u2019s seven-year push to dismantle Obamacare are not content to declare it dead for good, particularly when Trump\u2019s party is only in the early stages of its tax reform efforts.\n\nRepublicans dismissed the idea that Democrats can capitalize on Obamacare repeal.\n\n\u201cHouse Democrats have made bold claims about their electoral prospects before only to fail miserably \u2014 this is no different,\u201d Jesse Hunt, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in a statement. \u201cTheir embrace of single-payer health care has ensured that their unabashed loyalty to the progressive base, at the expense of working class families, will be the defining issue of this cycle.\u201d\n\nWaiting until next year, Republicans wager, will give them more time to shape a more successful \u201creplace\u201d element for their Obamacare repeal-and-replace plan.\n\n\u201cDemocrats have been able to use the issue, mostly because the messaging on our side hasn\u2019t been great, but the fact is that health care in the U.S. \u2014 everyone, Democrats, Republicans, recognize something needs to change. Obamacare isn\u2019t working,\u201d one GOP strategist said. \u201cWith more time, Republicans are going to be able to craft a plan that more folks can agree on within the caucus, and it will give them more time to sell it to the general public.\u201d\n\nThere\u2019s also the problem that continued failure by Republicans on their years-long campaign pledge could keep base voters home next Election Day. Proponents of the latest repeal bill were open about anger among GOP donors and the grass roots.\n\nBut after watching Republicans reap the political gains of campaigning against Obamacare, Democrats are convinced the tables have turned. Connolly singled out Rep. Darrell Issa and other politically imperiled California Republicans as particularly at risk if the GOP attempts to bring back Obamacare repeal next year. The 14 California House Republicans who voted for their party\u2019s repeal bill \u201cwent off the cliff for solidarity, irrespective of the impact on their constituents,\u201d he said.\n\nDemocrats need to pick up 24 seats to take back the House. They\u2019re eyeing 23 Republican seats in districts Hillary Clinton won and argue at least 50 more GOP seats could be competitive in the right environment.\n\nVoters rated health care and the economy as the two most important issues when picking their member of Congress in the latest POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, released this week.\n\nThe overarching theme \u2014 vote for Democrats or Republicans will keep trying to take away your health care \u2014 could also help mask some of the party\u2019s own divisions over health care, Democratic strategists say.\n\nProgressives, including multiple 2020 presidential contenders and 60 percent of House Democrats, have in recent weeks rallied around the Medicare-for-All push from Sanders (I-Vt.). But Democratic leaders and several vulnerable House Democrats have shied away from the proposal, wary of alienating centrist voters in districts that will be critical in the push to win back the lower chamber next year.\n\nRepublicans raced to play up the internal Democratic divide after Sanders\u2019 splashy rollout earlier this month, aiming to turn it into a campaign-trail albatross for the minority. But a broader message focused on GOP repeal efforts could help deflect the spotlight away from some of those differences and force Republicans to go on defense.\n\nIndeed, progressive organizers who have not hesitated to criticize Democratic leaders say their grass roots won\u2019t be caught off guard again by another repeal push.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t want to see this come back, but our groups have said time and time again that every time Republicans have put forward an attempt to repeal, they would step up,\u201d said Angel Padilla, policy director at the liberal group Indivisible. \u201cWe don\u2019t think that\u2019s going to change. And we think it\u2019s going to affect who controls Congress.\u201d\n\nDemocrats also argue that bipartisan Senate talks to stabilize Obamacare will only help their case heading into the midterms. Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) resumed talks Wednesday to try to salvage their bipartisan health care plan, an effort that was quashed by GOP leadership when the repeal plan seemed to have legs.\n\nBut Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has already rejected the talks, saying any bill they come up with would never pass in the House. Democrats say that stonewalling only strengthens their case to voters in the coming months.\n\n\u201cThe politics for us is really clear and really simple,\u201d Schatz said. \u201cIn the end, they\u2019ve got to do what they think is right, but Round Seven [of repeal] doesn\u2019t seem like the right slogan for 2018.\u201d", "output": "To the Republicans vowing to keep their Obamacare repeal drive alive for as long as it takes, Democrats say: Please, and thank you.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Medicare chronic care bill passes in Senate: 4 things to know \n The Senate passed a bipartisan bill Tuesday night to improve care coordination for patients with multiple chronic conditions.\n\nThe bill, the Creating High-Quality Results and Outcomes Necessary to Improve Chronic Care Act of 2017, aims to improve at-home care, increase Medicare Advantage flexibility, give ACOs more options and expands telehealth capabilities.\n\n\"This bill provides new options and tools for seniors and their doctors to coordinate care and makes it less burdensome to stay healthy,\" Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in a statement.\n\nHere are four things to know about how the CHRONIC Care Act would reform Medicare.\n\n1. It extends the ACA's Independent at Home program. This program was started in 2012 under the ACA as a demonstration to allow primary care teams to provide at-home care for 10,000 Medicare beneficiaries with complex chronic conditions. Due to the success of the demonstration, the CHRONIC Care Act would extend the program for two more years and increase the number of participating beneficiaries to 15,000.\n\n2. The bill expands flexibility for Medicare Advantage. Specifically, the bill would allow MA plans in all states to participate in the Value-based Insurance Design model, which allows MA plans to tailor benefits to specific patient groups, particularly those with chronic conditions. Currently MA plans must offer uniform benefits. The CHRONIC Care Act would also allow MA plans to offer a greater range of supplemental benefits for services that address the underlying causes of illness, such as fitness, counseling or alternative therapies. Additionally, the bill would permanently authorize MA Special Needs Plans for patients who are institutionalized, dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid or who have severe chronic illness.\n\n3. The bill loosens ACO regulations. Under the legislation, ACOs would be allowed to provide incentive payments to beneficiaries for certain primary care services; it would allow for prospective, rather than retrospective, beneficiary assignment for Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs; and it would give Pioneer ACOs and MSSP Tracks 2 and 3 ACOs more options to provide telehealth and receive reimbursement for those services.\n\n4. Lastly, the CHRONIC Care Act would broaden telehealth options for Medicare and MA plans. In addition to adding more pathways for telehealth reimbursement for ACOs, the bill would allow MA plans to include more telehealth options, and it would expand telestroke care and telemedicine for dialysis care. Under the bill, dialysis patients could conduct e-visits from home in lieu of an in-person monthly appointment, so long as they visit their provider face-to-face once every three months.\n\nNow that the Senate has passed the bill, the House will take up discussion of the CHRONIC Care Act.\n\nMore articles on leadership and management:\n\nNoventis to help restore park damaged in Hurricane Harvey\n\nMercer appoints Janis Koltun principal in Minneapolis office: 3 things to know\n\nDr. Atul Gawande: 'Even people bankrupted by their healthcare costs said it wasn't a right'", "output": "The Senate passed a bipartisan bill\u00a0Tuesday night to improve care coordination for patients with multiple chronic conditions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aging as a gift instead of a burden requires attitude change \n Thank you for supporting our journalism. This article is available exclusively for our subscribers, who help fund our work at the Chicago Tribune.\n\nWhen I saw the program Aging is the Only Way to Live at The Community House, I headed over. The title intrigued me: it seemed both banal and fresh.\n\nI absolutely agree that aging gets a bad rap in our culture, that our effort to appear youthful, to color our hair, smooth our wrinkles and feature fit physiques can be a full-time job. Some of us are obsessed with living longer and healthier, yet to be aged is not necessarily to be venerated and celebrated.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nHere are some of the things I found out. First, and most importantly, the program was part of the Active Adults offerings from The Community House, which offers quite a bit of programming to that group including a computer club, card groups, book clubs, trips and tours and other gatherings.\n\nIt also offers this regular monthly roundtable discussion held the fourth Wednesday of every month with coffee and doughnuts at 9:30 a.m. and a speaker or discussion at 10 a.m. The program I attended was one of those.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe day I went, more than 20 people showed up ready to participate, and while they may not have all known one another they were welcoming and friendly. I sat with Tom Paulick of Oak Brook and Jim Gordon of Hinsdale. Kate Vogts, director of the Active Adults opened the talk.\n\nOur speaker was Dr. Richard W. Bimler, a gentleman who had spent many years as a Lutheran minister, and who has three children and seven grandchildren. He also has written several books \u2014 maybe as many as 17 \u2014 including one entitled \"Joyful Aging.\" He is also known as an \"AHHA man,\" which stands for Ambassador of Health, Hope & Aging.\n\n\"It is always good to celebrate aging,\" he said, and here was a perspective the program gave me: aging is a gift. We all need to learn to \"celebrate God's gift of aging.\" Death happens all around us, he said, and death is part of life. So, yes, while one day we will all die, today we can live.\n\nProclaiming his age as 77 and 1/12th, Bimler said our culture sees aging as a burden. He asked people in the room to share their ages: 77, 89, 93, 84, 74. There was a certain amount of pride in those numbers, but ask someone a little farther down the scale, and she might be more reticent about producing the number (ahem).\n\nWith our society aging rapidly \u2014 he estimated that 10,000 people were to turn 65 years old that day alone \u2014 we need to change our attitude about growing older. There are also numerous opportunities for various professions to serve those growing older. If aging is not a blessing, \"Whatever your faith \u2014 if it is not a blessing, then where do you go with that?\"\n\nAnother point I came away with was that it's not just the young who need to change their attitudes.\n\n\"Don't pretend everything is fine,\" Bimler said.\n\nSome days your body aches, you don't move as quickly, some parts are deteriorating, but that doesn't mean there is no hope. Laugh. Laugh at yourself, take joy and pride in the process. Accept limitations with grace.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThink about those people who mentored you, who impressed and affected you, and try and be that person in the lives of others, he advised.\n\nLast, I liked Bimler's ideas about retirement. He doesn't call the \"end\" of one's career or profession \"retirement.\" Rather, he calls that state \"re-positioning.\" Those who have identified so closely and carefully with what they do may find the end of work hard, and may have to move to a new phase of life. We are human beings, he said, not human doings.\n\n\"I have been a do-er all my life,\" he said. \"I gotta keep doing stuff.\" We have to learn to \"be\" for others. We don't always have to \"do\" for them.\n\nNever in the history of the world have there been this many older adults. Bimler sees that as a blessing.\n\nThere is a certain amount of wisdom and joy in this population, and I hope we can capture it. Bimler referenced a Japanese saying to illustrate this point: The setting sun is no less beautiful than the rising sun.", "output": "When I saw the program Aging is the Only Way to Live at The Community House, I headed over. The title intrigued me: it seemed both banal and fresh.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HRL Labs devises high-strength aluminium 3D printing process \n Working with Metal\n\nFor the longest time, metal-based manufacturing has been difficult and costly. High-strength aluminum alloys are difficult materials to work with for additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing. Now, researchers from HRL Laboratories have developed a new method that allowed them to 3D print high-strength aluminum and weld previously unweldable material.\n\n\"We're using a 70-year-old nucleation theory to solve a 100-year-old problem with a 21st century machine,\" Hunter Martin, a PhD student at the University of California, Santa Barbara and engineer at HRL's Sensors and Materials Laboratory, said in a press release.\n\nThe HRL researchers came up with a method they've called nanofunctionalization, where nano-functionalized powders are fed to a 3D printer. This is applied in thin layers which are heated by a laser to solidify into a three-dimensional object. During melting and solidification, the structures produced using this method don't crack and are able to maintain their full alloy strength, thanks to the nanoparticles acting as nucleation sites for the intended alloy microstructure.\n\n\"Our first goal was figuring out how to eliminate the hot cracking altogether. We sought to control microstructure and the solution should be something that naturally happens with the way this material solidifies,\" Martin said.\n\nFiner and Stronger Structures\n\nHigh-strength alloys like aluminum \u2014 including types like Al7075 and Al6061 \u2014 are currently used in engineering aircraft and automobile parts, like in airplane fuselages. However, current methods are largely expensive and are unable to allow finer manipulation of these materials. Click to View Full Infographic\n\nNow, with this HRL's new nanofunctionalization technique that's easily scalable, it's possible to 3D print these high-strength alloys in all shapes and sizes. This allows faster, cheaper, and more detailed manufacturing using high-strength materials. Furthermore, because melting and solidification in 3D printing is akin to welding, their technique makes it possible to weld previously unweldable alloys.\n\nTo determine which particles had the properties they needed, the HRL team asked help from Citrine Informatics. \"The point of using informatics software was to do a selective approach to the nucleation theory we knew to find the materials with the exact properties we needed,\" HRL's Brennan Yahata explained. \"Once we told them what to look for, their big data analysis narrowed the field of available materials from hundreds of thousands to a select few. We went from a haystack to a handful of possible needles.\"", "output": "Researchers from California\u2019s HRL Laboratories claim to have developed a new and more efficient method of 3D printing high-strength aluminium. Through a process they call \u201cnanofunctionalisation\u201d, powders are fed to a 3D printer in thin layers and then heated by a laser to solidify into a three-dimensional object. The new process enables\u00a0the structures\u00a0to maintain their full alloy strength. This new method may result in faster, cheaper\u00a0and more detailed manufacturing using high-strength metals and alloys."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vanguard Group plans expansion into China \n People on the Bund in Shanghai look across to the financial district. China\u2019s private fund market was worth US$1.53 trillion at the end of August but the process for foreign companies to enter the fray will not be easy. Photo: AFP", "output": "US-based mutual fund giant Vanguard Group is planning on selling products to mainland Chinese clients as the country eases up to foreign operators. The asset manager is also planning onshore products in China as part of this push. The Chinese fund market is reportedly worth $1.5tn, but is already saturated with more than 20,000 asset managers operating. Vanguard's US fund rival Fidelity Investment already operates an onshore bond fund in China, which it launched in May. The fund is, to-date, the only onshore offering in China operated by a foreign asset manager.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Palliative care telehealth firm Iris Plans raises $5.1m to expand \n A telehealth startup that helps patients with palliative care and advance care planning is expanding after raising $5.1 million. Palliative care is a type of care focused on lessening the symptoms and stress caused by a serious illness.\n\nAustin, Texas-based Iris Plans uses videoconferencing technology to connect people facing serious illnesses with trained facilitators who provide disease-specific education, help with decision-making and assist in completing and distributing advance health care directives. A patient\u2019s thoughts and plans are documented and shared with their loved ones, physicians, the hospital system they use, and are also available online.\n\nThe financing round was led by New York City-based Activate Venture Partners and Austin-based LiveOak Venture Partners, both of which invest in digital health care companies. Oakland, California-based Better Ventures also joined the round. This was the company\u2019s first round of financing.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIris Plans\u2019 service is delivered through partnerships with national health care providers and insurance companies, who cover all of the cost for their members. Iris Plans currently serves a customer network of health plans and systems, accountable care organizations and nursing facilities, including senior living and home health care provider Brookdale Senior Living (NYSE: BKD) and Humana. The startup also last year teamed up with University of Utah Health Plans, which has more than 155,000 members.\n\nIris Plans will use the new funding to improve and streamline its technology platform and hire more developers, marketers, IT staffers and other employees.\n\nThe startup will also expand its national partnerships with health care providers and payers, according to Dr. Stephen Bekanich, co-founder and chief medical officer of Iris Plans.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cWe are in advanced discussions with a variety of health plans and health care providers spanning across the country and expect to be growing our footprint from coast to coast in the coming months,\u201d Bekanich tells Home Health Care News.\n\nWritten by Tim Regan", "output": "Texan palliative care start-up Iris Plans has raised $5.1m in its first funding round, led by Activate Venture Partners and LiveOak Venture Partners, with participation from Better Ventures. Iris Plans' videoconferencing platform helps connect patients facing serious illness with trained professionals; it also enables patients to share thoughts and plans with doctors, health systems and loved ones. The funding will be used to improve the technology and for hiring as the company looks to grow its footprint and expand national partnerships."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK online broker introduces chatbot for business customers \n Broker says aim is to provide faster and simpler service for customers.\n\nOnline broker ConstructaQuote has developed an interactive chatbot for potential customers searching for information on business insurance.\n\nThe Caerphilly-based broker, which specialises in offering business insurance to SMEs across the UK, said the aim was to provide current and potential customers with a faster and simpler way to request information on insurance policies.\n\nA Chatbot is a computer program that simulates how a human would behave when having a chat, and the broker noted that the", "output": "ConstructaQuote, a UK-based online insurance broker, has introduced a chatbot to aid with client interactions. The chatbot is predominantly aimed at SME clients searching for insurance for their businesses. The goal is to speed up the time potential clients take in finding insurance policies which fit their needs. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "DOE looks to compensate baseload generators \n Dive Brief:\n\nThe Department of Energy pushed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Friday to boost compensation for generators providing baseload power supplies, proposing the most significant overhaul in the nation's competitive power markets in over a decade.\n\nDOE filed a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) under the Federal Power Act to enhance grid resilience, directing FERC to \"accurately price generation resources necessary to maintain reliability and resiliency.\" The rule would provide for \"recovery of costs of fuel-secure generation units frequently relied upon to make our grid reliable and resilient.\"\n\nThe filing comes after the completion of a grid reliability study from DOE that urged federal regulators to explore boosting compensation for baseload generators. The NOPR directs FERC to act within 60 days.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nReleased at the end of August, the Department of Energy's grid study concluded that the reliability of the bulk power system is strong today, but changes in the resource mix could present challenges in the future. The report urged federal regulators to begin examining how to better compensate generators for the services they provide for reliability and resilience if it finds reliability is threatened.\n\nThe North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) stresses that the grid is not at risk today, with its CEO telling Congress this month that reliability measures are strong and improving.\n\nEven so, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry has been beating the reliability drum in recent days, describing resilience from outages as a national security issue, saying his agency could act to preserve the diversity of the fuel mix and ensure that baseload generation stays online. Coal and nuclear plants across the country are under threat of retirement in the face of competition from cheaper natural gas and renewables.\n\nOn Friday, the DOE took a significant step toward those goals, outlining what would be the biggest overhaul in competitive energy markets since their establishment in the late 1990s.\n\nUnder the NOPR, generating units in wholesale power markets that have a 90-day fuel supply onsite would be eligible for \"full recovery of costs.\" The plants must be able to provide ancillary and reliability services, be compliant with environmental regulations, and not be subject to cost-of-service recovery by a state.\n\nThe rule requires power market operators to \"establish just and reasonable rate tariffs for the recovery of costs and a fair rate of return.\"\n\nThe NOPR does not detail precisely how the generators would be compensated or who would pay, but its general structure would give immediate assistance to coal, nuclear and hydroelectric generators, which all have multi-day fuel supplies onsite.\n\nDOE draws on themes from the grid study to justify the rule, saying it is necessary to protect from \"energy outages expected to result from the loss of this fuel-secure generation\" and because of \"recognition that organized markets do not pay generators for all the attributes they provide.\"\n\nFERC regulators, who must implement the NOPR, have expressed support for revising plant compensation for resilience attributes. Acting Chairman Neil Chatterjee has said repeatedly that coal plants are not rewarded properly for their attributes today, and told lawmakers this month that the issue is a top priority for the commission. Pending FERC nominees have also expressed support for reforms based on generation attributes.\n\nFERC, however, is an independent agency, and is not required to implement any specific provision of the DOE NOPR. Former commission Chairman Jon Wellinghoff, a Democrat, stressed that \"FERC doesn't have to do anything.\"\n\n\"I would set [the NOPR] over to the side someplace under a pile of papers because it would be something that I wouldn\u2019t even consider or entertain,\" he said on a phone call.\n\nThe new NOPR is likely to please operators of coal and nuclear plants. Earlier this year, the CEO of Exelon, the nation's largest nuclear generator, urged DOE and FERC to boost baseload compensation in an interview with Utility Dive.\n\n\u201c[Nuclear] provides more benefits than just megawatts,\" CEO Chris Crane said. \"The resiliency, fuel diversity \u2014 it's important that is factored into price formation.\u201d\n\nThe NOPR presses FERC to act within 60 days, but Chatterjee and other commissioners have stressed the agency's independence, and the acting chairman indicated during FERC's monthly meeting that he does not want to move forward on major issues until the final two vacancies at the agency are filled.\n\nWhen FERC does act, it will need to build a regulatory record with input on how generation attributes should be valued. Already, some energy lawyers have expressed skepticism that the agency can finalize a new rule using the DOE's directives as a framework.\n\n\"I would say this is not a proposed rule that could form the basis of a final rule,\" said Ari Peskoe, senior fellow in electricity law at Harvard Law School's Environmental Policy Initiative\u200b. \"Usually proposed rules have far more detail that would provide a basis for comments on specific aspects of the proposal and that's not really here.\"\n\nThe vagueness of DOE's proposal will mean FERC will \"essentially need to start over\" to frame a workable rule, he added.\n\n\"I think if FERC is serious about doing this it can't possibly meet the timeline outlined by DOE,\" Peskoe said. \"It will essentially have to use this as a prompt for comments and then from that actually develop a proposed rule.\"", "output": "The US Department of Energy (DOE) has suggested a radical overhaul of the country's competitive energy markets by filing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR), calling for an increase in compensation for energy generators providing baseload power supplies. The NOPR proposes \"recovery of costs and a return on equity\" for plants that have \u201ca 90-day fuel supply on site\", which they argue would enable the plants \u201cto operate during an emergency, extreme weather conditions, or a natural or man-made disaster.\u201d"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurers see investments as increasingly important: BlackRock \n More insurers are turning to their investment portfolios as a larger source of profitability, according to the results of a survey commissioned by BlackRock.\n\nBlackRock's sixth annual global survey of 300 senior insurance executives found that two-thirds of insurers believe that rethinking their investment portfolios will be essential to improving or even just maintaining the future profitability of their business. Meanwhile, 41% of respondents are facing growing pressure to generate a greater contribution from investments to their overall profitability.\n\nThe survey, conducted in July, shows that 66% of insurers believe that reassessing their investment portfolios will be vital to improving future profitability. Historically, only 28% of respondents have made generating higher investment returns their top priority.\n\nMost respondents \u2014 84% \u2014 said embracing private market or alternative assets will be a key component in improving investment returns, while nearly 70% see \"significant room\" to improve their management of portfolio risk and capital efficiency.\n\nInsurers are moving toward private market assets, including illiquid assets, with 39% saying they are looking to increase their allocation to private market assets, up from just 16% in 2016.\n\nMeanwhile, 34% of respondents plan to increase their allocations to commercial real estate equity, which scores the highest of all private market asset classes, followed by infrastructure equity and private equity, both at 33%.\n\nChanges to asset allocation have already played a role. More than half of respondents \u2014 57% \u2014 said the most effective investment action they have taken to increase profitability was to increase their exposure to private or alternative assets.\n\nAsset allocation trends also signal a move away from fixed income. Just 9% of respondents intend to increase allocations to government bonds, compared to 47% in 2016, while the proportion intending to reduce exposure has risen to 31%, from 3% last year. Respondents' appetite for municipal bonds is also much weaker, with just 9% planning to increase allocations, compared to 42% last year.", "output": "Insurers are increasingly looking to rely on their portfolio returns for profitability, according to a survey from BlackRock. The survey, which questioned 300 global insurance executives, saw 66% of respondents say a reassessment of their investment portfolio was vital for future profitability. As a result, insurers are embracing the private markets with 84% of respondents noting they are looking to make an allocation to these types of investments. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "London mayor calls for ban on polluting wood burners \n Wood-burning stoves could be banned in some areas to combat air pollution under proposals by the London mayor, Sadiq Khan.\n\nKhan has written to Michael Gove, the environment secretary, to request extra powers to improve air quality in the capital, including measures to tackle solid-fuel burning and construction pollution. The proposed measures include minimum emissions standards for vessels on London\u2019s waterways and heavy construction machinery like diggers and bulldozers.\n\n\n\nWood-burning stoves, which would be banned under the proposals for urban areas with poor air quality, are increasingly popular \u2013 1.5m have been sold across Britain. They are most popular in south-east England, where 16% of households have them, compared with 5% nationally.\n\nIt is estimated that between a quarter and a third of all of London\u2019s fine-particle pollution comes from domestic wood burning. In January, during a period of very high air pollution, it contributed half the toxic emissions in some areas of the capital, according to King\u2019s College London research.\n\nKhan said: \u201cNon-transport sources contribute half of the deadly emissions in London, so we need a hard-hitting plan of action to combat them similar to moves I am taking to reduce pollution from road vehicles.\n\n\n\n\u201cWith more than 400 schools located in areas exceeding legal pollution levels, and such significant health impacts on our most vulnerable communities, we cannot wait any longer, and I am calling on government to provide the capital with the necessary powers to effectively tackle harmful emissions from a variety of sources.\u201d\n\nThe mayor has asked the environment department to amend the Clean Air Act to allow for the creation of zero-emission zones where the burning of solid fuel is not allowed from 2025 onwards.\n\nWhen asked to comment on Khan\u2019s letter, a Defra spokesperson told the Guardian: \u201cWe are determined to improve air quality and have put in place a \u00a33bn plan to reduce roadside emissions.\n\n\n\n\u201cNext year we will publish a comprehensive Clean Air Strategy which will address all sources of air pollution. We are also raising consumer awareness about the impact of burning wood on health and working with industry to help reduce harmful emissions.\u201d\n\nThe mayor\u2019s proposals come after he triggered London\u2019s emergency air quality alert on Wednesday for the seventh time in thirteen months. Polluted air from the continent combined with toxic air in London to create dangerous levels of pollution.", "output": "London mayor Sadiq Khan may ban wood-burning stoves parts of London\u00a0to tackle air pollution. Khan has requested additional powers to improve the air quality in the city\u00a0from environment secretary Michael Gove. The mayor\u2019s proposals include the imposition of emissions standards for boats and ships on London's waterways,\u00a0and for heavy construction machinery, as well as the possible stove ban. Between a quarter and a third of the capital\u2019s fine-particle pollution comes from domestic wood burning. Approximately 1.5 million wood-burning stoves have been sold in the UK, with 16% of households in south-east England owning one, compared to 5% nationally.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Twitter links nearly 200 accounts to Russian propaganda \n Like Facebook before it, Twitter has acknowledged that, during the US presidential elections, it collected hundreds of thousands of dollars for ads supporting Russian media messaging, and that it has identified Twitter accounts tied to Facebook profiles known for promoting pro-Russia views.\n\nOr another way of putting it: Twitter made a load of cash from groups seeking to swing the White House race to suit their agenda.\n\nIn a post to its public policy blog on Thursday, Twitter said three accounts associated with Russia Today (RT), spent $274,100 in US ads in 2016. The ads, it said, mostly promoted RT tweets about its news stories. RT is strongly linked to the Russian government, and is seen as a relatively influential mouthpiece for the Kremlin.\n\nThe troll haven and bot bastion also said it found that out of 450 Facebook profiles identified by that company, 22 also had Twitter accounts. Twitter said it suspended those accounts not already banned for rules violations.\n\nIt also said it identified 179 additional related or linked accounts and took action against those found to have violated terms of service rules.\n\nAllegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election have been a contentious issue since the vote count. Facebook's recent disclosure that it accepted over $100,000 in divisive ads has alarmed US lawmakers and forced CEO Mark Zuckerberg to confront an issue he dismissed in November.\n\nThus it was that Twitter public policy veep Colin Crowell spoke before the House and Senate Intelligence Committees on Thursday about fake news, potential election interference and Twitter's attempts to mitigate manipulation.\n\n'Enormous lack of understanding'\n\nNews reports suggest Crowell's performance was poorly received. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) is said to have expressed disappointment with Twitter's presentation.\n\nAccording to CBS, Warner said, \"The notion that their work was basically derivative, based upon accounts that Facebook had identified, showed [an] enormous lack of understanding from the Twitter team of how serious this issue is \u2013 the threat it poses to democratic institutions \u2013 and again begs many more questions than they offered.\"\n\nVia Twitter, Warner said he was working with Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar to draft legislation to make the source of election ads more evident.\n\nFor Facebook, ignorance is the business model: Social net is shocked \u2013 SHOCKED \u2013 that people behave badly READ MORE\n\nTwitter enumerated the various measures it takes to fight spam, bots, and assorted forms of abuse, noting that its automated systems catch 3.2 million suspicious accounts globally each week \u2013 more than twice the amount detected last year. At the same time, the company all but acknowledged it can no longer manage miscreants on its own, by welcoming regulatory intervention.\n\nIts stance is all the more surprising given the digital ad industry's persistent insistence that self-regulation is enough.\n\n\"We note recent calls for increased public disclosure with respect to political advertisements on social media, including Twitter,\" the company said in its post. \"Twitter supports making political advertising more transparent to our users and the public.\"\n\nLawmakers appear to need no encouragement, at least among Democrats. In a letter sent a week ago to the head of the Federal Elections Commission, 20 Democratic senators ask for rules [PDF] to prevent illicit foreign spending to influence US elections. \u00ae", "output": "Twitter has confirmed it has identified nearly 200 accounts that promoted Russian propaganda during the US presidential election, with the social platform garnering $274,100 in advertising revenue from three accounts associated with Russia Today. Twitter said it has taken action against accounts found in violation of its policies, which were discovered following Facebook's revelation of propaganda accounts linked to Twitter handles.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ProShares applies to launch long and short bitcoin ETFs \n One of the largest sellers of exchange-traded funds has filed for two bitcoin ETFs.\n\nProShares, which has about $29 billion in assets under management, filed Wednesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a ProShares Bitcoin ETF and ProShares Short Bitcoin ETF.\n\nThe two ETFs plan to track bitcoin futures contracts traded on the Chicago Board of Options Exchange and will trade on NYSE Arca, according to the filing. However, those futures products aren't available yet.\n\nIn early August, the Chicago Board Options Exchange said it plans to offer bitcoin futures in the fourth quarter or early next year, pending review by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.\n\nCBOE confirmed with CNBC Thursday that is still the case.\n\nThe absence of the CBOE's bitcoin futures product has proved a stumbling block for another major ETF company, VanEck, in its attempt to create a similar bitcoin futures ETF. VanEck, which ranks 9th in the ETF industry, according to ETF.com, filed a letter Wednesday with the SEC to withdraw its application for a bitcoin ETF.\n\nAccording to the letter, SEC staff told VanEck Vectors ETF Trust on a September 20 call that the commission's policy is to not review a registration statement for a fund whose underlying instruments are not yet available.\n\nThe SEC staff then requested VanEck withdraw its August 11 application for the bitcoin ETF \"until such time as the underlying instruments in which the Fund intends to primarily invest (i.e., bitcoin futures contracts) become available for investment,\" the letter said.\n\nThe SEC declined to comment to CNBC.\n\nProShares had no comment and referred CNBC to the public filing.\n\nProShares, which ranks 10th in the ETF industry, according to ETF.com, is known for selling specialized funds that bet on both the long and short side of the trade.\n\nBitcoin surged this year from below $1,000 to briefly above $5,000 as investors bet the digital currency will gain greater acceptance globally as a store of value, attracting the attention of many on Wall Street.\n\nThe digital currency traded above $4,100 Thursday, still up more than four times in price for the year, according to CoinDesk.\n\nHowever, the digital currency can be quite volatile. Bitcoin dropped more than 30 percent in March after the SEC rejected the Winklevoss brothers' application for a bitcoin ETF, and SolidX Partners' application for a bitcoin exchange-traded product.\n\nThe SEC said in April it is reviewing its rejection of the Winklevoss brothers' application, and bitcoin has since more than recovered from that plunge.", "output": "US-based exchange traded fund shop ProShares has applied to the Securities and Exchange Commission to offer two ETFs offering long and short positions in bitcoin. The ETFs will track bitcoin futures contracts traded on the Chicago Board of Options Exchange (CBOE) and will be traded on NYSE Arca in Chicago. CBOE has said it intends to offer bitcoin futures late in 2017 or early next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hedge fund Acadian ends social media experiment with Bing \n Quant firm Acadian Asset Management has wound down the partnership it formed in March with Microsoft\u2019s Bing Predicts. The $91 billion US asset manager says it has not found a way to turn social media data into useful signals for a medium-term investment algorithm.\n\nAcadian was hoping to use macroeconomic signals generated by Bing Predicts\u2019 social media and internet search, such as US retail sales and consumer sentiment, in its macro models in particular, while Bing Predicts had intended to use", "output": "US-based quantitative hedge fund Acadian has ended a partnership with Microsoft's Bing Predicts after failing to yield meaningful macro signals to use in its investment process. The firm had been working with Bing to process online and social media data with the hope of finding useful signals to use in algorithms. The asset manager now says it prefers more traditional methods of data collection and processing.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Disability robotics firm Kinova eyes expansion after raising $20m \n Kinova Robotics, a Canadian provider of robotics for the disabled, raised $20 million USD ($25 million CAD) that will fund product development, market expansion and production optimization. The financing came from Fonds Manufacturier Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois, the KTB Network, Foxconn and BDC Capital.\n\n\u201cWe want our users to achieve the extraordinary with our robots \u2014 creating more value for themselves and our society,\u201d CEO Charles Deguire said in a statement. \u201cThe financial support, broad expertise and geographic coverage of our experienced partners gives us additional resources to accelerate our growth, quickly and strategically establish our presence in new markets, develop an extended line of breakthrough products and propel our advanced manufacturing capabilities.\u201d\n\nSpecifically, the company plans to use the funds to transition into three new areas of service robotics: collaborative robots for inspection and pick and place operations, manipulators for mobile platforms and medical robots for research and therapies.\n\n\u201cWe firmly believe that our technology and expertise can help improve patient care,\u201d Deguire said. \u201cWe are looking to build partnerships with hospitals, governments and other players in the industry so that our products contribute to the healing of patients.\u201d\n\nIn addition, Kinova aims to open offices outside Canada, namely in Asia and the U.S., to better supply its customers with the technology. Earlier this year, the company opened an office in Germany, and it is also looking to increase its production efficiency through automation.\n\n\u201cWe are proud to support Kinova, a highly innovative Canadian company with a mission to provide life-changing service robots to people,\u201d Jean-Philippe Poissant, director of growth and transition capital at investor BDC Capital, said in the release. \u201cOur financial support will enable this young and dynamic team to continue investments in research and development, all while enabling them to realize their ambitious growth plan.\u201d", "output": "Canada's Kinova Robotics has raised $20m to finance the further development of its robotic aids for the disabled and expand into Asia and the US. The funds were invested by Fonds Manufacturier Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois, the KTB Network, BDC Capital and Foxconn. Kinova said it will use the proceeds to develop collaborative robotic devices for inspections and pick-and-place operations,\u00a0manipulator robots for mobile platforms,\u00a0and robots for medical research and treatment."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Timex incorporates Barclaycard bPay chip in watch \n Timex is to release a watch capable of making contactless payments by incorporating the Barclaycard bPay chip into the leather watchstrap.\n\nThe Timex Fairfield watch comes with a \u00a3159 price tag and enables users to make tap-and-go purchases of \u00a330 and under at over 490,000 locations across the UK. Wearers will also be able to track their spending, top up their balance, and take control of their contactless payments using the dedicated bPay app or website.\n\n\n\nDuncan Harris, Timex UK sales and marketing director, says: \u201cWe are excited at the possibilities this technology offers consumers in payment solutions and will continue to work with our partners in bringing this to more of our collection.\"\n\n\n\nThe release of the smart timepiece follows a range of contactless innovations from Barclaycard including: launching the world\u2019s first contactless car key with DS Automobiles earlier this month, partnerships with Tappy and DCK that embedded bPay into jewellery and watches, and a payments fashion accessories range with Topshop.\n\n\n\nTami Hargreaves, director of innovation and partnerships at Barclaycard Mobile Payments comments: \u201cSeptember marks the 10th anniversary of Barclaycard introducing contactless payments to the UK and our partnership with Timex represents another exciting way \u2018touch and go\u2019 technology can be simply and stylishly integrated into fashion and accessories.\u201d", "output": "Watchmaker Timex is to launch the Timex Fairfield watch, which can complete contactless payments with the aid of a Barclaycard bPay chip inserted into the leather watch strap. The watch will cost \u00a3159 ($211) and will enable contactless purchases of \u00a330 and under at more than 490,000 UK locations. Owners will be able to monitor spending, add more funds and control their payments using the bPay app and website. Barclaycard has already teamed up with DS Automobiles to offer a contactless payment car key with DS Automobiles and with Tappy and DCK to offer bPay-enabled jewellery and watches."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "National Australia Bank links payments process to SWIFT tracker \n Source: NAB\n\nIn a global first, National Australia Bank has implemented connectivity to the new SWIFT gpi Payments Tracker via Application Programming Interface (API).\n\nOver 100 of the world\u2019s largest transaction banks have now all signed on to the SWIFT global payments innovation (gpi) initiative, which provides same-day settlement with real-time payments tracking.\n\n\n\nNAB General Manager of Payments, Paul Franklin, said the introduction of SWIFT gpi means NAB can provide greater transparency to customers, and certainty of the status of their payment.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe are continually looking for opportunities to deliver better customer experiences, and key to this is collaborating with like-minded organisations and leveraging API technology in a safe and secure environment,\u201d Mr Franklin said.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe went live with our SWIFT gpi using API connectivity earlier this month, and it\u2019s already delivering real benefits.\u201d\n\n\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re providing our international partner banks with real time updates when their payments are credited to NAB customer accounts, and our customers will soon have direct access to tracking of their international payments - and many more features.\u201d\n\n\n\n\u201cNAB is making bold changes to its cross-border payments to significantly improve the customer experience, and leading the way with the adoption of API\u2019s in an effort to address and exceed customer expectations.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe API links the SWIFT gpi Tracker database with the bank\u2019s systems, and subsequently integrates the tracking information to their client portals and applications.\n\n\n\n\u201cAdopting SWIFT gpi will fundamentally transform the way customers and financial institutions do cross-border payments, and NAB is proud to be a global leader in this initiative,\u201d Mr Franklin said.\n\n\n\nSWIFT Head of Payments Markets APAC, Michael Moon, said APIs have become core to banking infrastructure to meet customer needs.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re delighted NAB is the first bank worldwide to adopt API technology to access the SWIFT gpi Tracker. They\u2019re clearly committed to building a rich source of APIs to leverage SWIFT gpi capabilities on top of their SWIFT rails.\u201d\n\n\n\n\u201cWe look forward to building our ecosystem with NAB to enable opportunities for innovation and improved experiences for their customers,\u201d Mr Moon said.", "output": "National Australia Bank (NAB) has linked into the SWIFT global payments innovation (dpi) system, enabling same-day payment settlement with real-time tracking. The bank hopes to provide greater payments transparency for its customers through the link. An application programming interface (API)\u00a0provides a bridge between the SWIFT gpi Tracker database and the bank\u2019s systems, client portals and other applications."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "South African insurer adds Facebook chatbot \n Simply Financial Services adds a chatbot\n\nRecent entrant, selling into SA\u2019s life insurance market, Simply Financial Services is a new entrant to the South African life insurance market.\n\nPart of the company\u2019s aim to shake up the market is its chatbot, Sam, developed from its quoting engine and allowing customers to get a quick quote via Facebook messenger in a matter of seconds.\n\nThe chatbot has been used for over 600 messages and quotes already. People also use the chatbot to ask questions about their policies or ask for callbacks at specific times.\n\n\u201cAs a disruptive fintech company, we love to explore conversational commerce opportunities,\u201d says Anthony Miller, CEO of Simply Financial Services. \u201cWe believe in meeting the customer where they are \u2013 and Facebook is increasingly that place, where people play, learn, and buy products that they need.\u201d\n\nThe Simply chatbot is one of several ways that customers can get in touch \u2014 intentionally designed so that people can use the channel that works best for them. Simply\u2019s website, for example, has a live chat functionality, which is well utilised \u2013 people ask all sorts of questions here \u2013 about the products, company, the details of cover and more.\n\n\u201cWhile we are not allowed to sell life insurance via Facebook yet, we use our chatbot to demonstrate the incredible value that customers can get \u2013 if they click through to our website,\u201d Miller says.\n\n\u201cSimply\u2019s chatbot is a continuation of our brand value and company philosophy, to offer easily accessible and affordable life insurance products and to simplify our touch points with our customer,\u201d he adds.\n\nForrester Research, in its report \u201cBots aren\u2019t ready to be Bankers \u2014 August 31, 2016\u201d, cautions that, although chat bots are developing rapidly, customer experience is not; and that many fail to effectively meet users\u2019 needs due to poor infrastructure and lack of fundamental understanding of artificial intelligence (AI).\n\nMiller, however, remains bullish about the chatbot and its role within the business both now and going forward.\n\n\u201cFuturologists reckon we\u2019ll need less of the human touch as we develop algorithms to enable \u201crobo advice\u201d \u2014 improving service and reducing fees in the process,\u201d he says.\n\n\u201cWe believe our value proposition, in terms of the products and the nature of the market we are targeting, is synergistic with the chatbot and the services it can deliver to our customers.\u201d", "output": "South African life insurer Simply Financial Services has introduced a chatbot, which its customers can use via Facebook. The bot uses information from the firm's quoting engine and is aimed at providing clients with instant quotes. It can also be used by customers to get more information about their policies."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Toyota, Mazda and Denso to create EV company \n Toyota President Akio Toyoda nd Mazda President and CEO Masamichi Kogai at a joint press conference on August 4, 2017 in Tokyo, Japan.\n\nToyota is establishing a new venture to develop electric vehicle technology with partner Mazda , seeking to catch up with rivals in an increasingly frenetic race to produce more battery-powered cars.\n\nPolicymakers in key markets like China are aggressively pushing a shift to electric cars over the next two to three decades, pressuring traditional automakers to crank up their electric vehicle (EV) plans \u2014 just as declining battery costs enable more power to be packed into cars.\n\nToyota said in a statement the new company will develop technology for a range of electric cars, including minivehicles, passenger cars, SUVs and light trucks.\n\nToyota will take a 90 percent stake in the joint venture, called EV Common Architecture Spirit, while Mazda and Denso , Toyota's biggest supplier, will each take a 5 percent stake.\n\nThe plans build on a partnership announced in August when Japan's biggest automaker agreed to take a 5 percent stake in Mazda and two said they would jointly develop affordable electric vehicle technologies.", "output": "Japanese car manufacturers Toyota and Mazda along with car parts maker Denso, are to form a new entity called EV Common Architecture Spirit. The company will develop a wide range of electric vehicles (EVs), from smaller cars to light trucks.\u00a0Toyota will take a controlling 90% stake, while Mazda and Denso will each hold a 5% share. Toyota bought\u00a0a 5% stake in Mazda last month, when the two firms announced their intention to collaborate on affordable EVs."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Toyota, Mazda and Denso to create EV company \n More automakers are partnering in preparation for an electric car future. Mazda and Toyota are next, joining with Denso Corporation to form a new company that will develop electric vehicle technologies.\n\nThe deal, announced today, comes about a month after Toyota said it would take a 5 percent stake in Mazda and that the two would pursue electric vehicles and necessary research and development, along with other automotive strategies together. The new company is called EV Common Architecture Spirit Co Ltd., and Toyota will own 90 percent, while Mazda and Denso will each have a 5 percent share. Vehicles produced through the new company will also use Toyota\u2019s modular platform architecture that\u2019s being used in models such as the Prius and 2018 Camry. Everything from small cars to SUVs are planned, according to the news release.\n\nElectric vehicles of all sizes are planned\n\nWhile Toyota has been a gas-electric hybrid pioneer for two decades now, one of the world\u2019s largest automakers has been surpassed by smaller rivals introducing fully electric vehicles for mass production. Its plug-in hybrid Prius Prime has just 22 miles of range on a full charge, roughly half of a Chevrolet Volt\u2019s electric-only range.\n\nMazda has also pledged an allegiance to the internal combustion engine with its SkyActiv-X gasoline engines \u2014 promising diesel-like fuel economy with significantly reduced emissions \u2014 set to appear in their production cars over the next few years. But it needs a plug-in to comply with California\u2019s zero-emissions vehicle mandate, as well as looming federal fuel economy average target. Mazda has said it will start selling an electric vehicle of some kind in 2019.", "output": "Japanese car manufacturers Toyota and Mazda along with car parts maker Denso, are to form a new entity called EV Common Architecture Spirit. The company will develop a wide range of electric vehicles (EVs), from smaller cars to light trucks.\u00a0Toyota will take a controlling 90% stake, while Mazda and Denso will each hold a 5% share. Toyota bought\u00a0a 5% stake in Mazda last month, when the two firms announced their intention to collaborate on affordable EVs."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wanda Commercial rating cut to junk by S&P after asset sales  \n Dalian Wanda Group Co's biggest unit had its credit rating cut to junk by S&P Global Ratings, raising the risk of higher borrowing costs overseas just as the Chinese conglomerate grapples with greater regulatory scrutiny.\n\nS&P lowered its score on Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties Co to BB, two steps below investment grade, from BBB. The move comes after Wanda agreed in July to sell the bulk of its theme parks and hotel assets to Sunac China Holdings Ltd and Guangzhou R&F Properties Co. Wanda Commercial's dollar bonds due in 2024 dropped the most in a month.\n\n\"We expect Wanda Commercial's market position in its property development segment to weaken following the transition,\" S&P said. Wanda Commercial delisted from the Hong Kong stock exchange in September 2016, with the aim of eventually relisting on mainland. \"The prospects of the company's Ashare listing are unclear, and information risks have heightened.\"\n\nThe downgrade, which could make it costlier for Wanda to borrow money overseas, is the latest setback for billionaire Wang Jianlin. His companies have been selling assets, delaying or shelving deals amid scrutiny from Chinese authorities, who are clamping down on capital outflows. In the past couple of months, Wang agreed to sell most of Wanda's hotels and themepark assets for 63.75 billion yuan ($9.6 billion) and scrapped plans to buy a plot of land in central London.\n\nWanda Commercial couldn't immediately comment when contacted by phone about the downgrade.\n\nDalian Wanda Group\uff0dthe parent of the property subsidiary\uff0dhas faced increased scrutiny from the Chinese government on their overseas investments, as authorities try to slow capital outflows to prevent the yuan from weakening.\n\n\"We agree with S&P\uff0dthere are too many uncertainties in relation to Wanda's strategic change and no clear picture of its future plan,\" said Chuanyi Zhou, a credit analyst in Singapore at Lucror Analytics. \"Not to mention the possible nonbusiness risks. The borrowing cost is likely to be higher.\"\n\nThe company's offshore bonds have suffered, as analysts at banks including BNP Paribas SA have said investors should exit them. The 2024 notes issued by Wanda Properties International, a unit of Wanda Commercial, have lost 2.9 percent this year, the worst performer among high-yield dollar bonds from Chinese issuers in Bank of America Merrill Lynch indexes.\n\nThe price of the securities slid 0.5 cent on the dollar, set for the sharpest decline since Aug 28, to 99.9 cents as of 12:08 pm in Hong Kong, according to prices compiled by Bloomberg.\n\nBloomberg", "output": "Dalian Wanda's subsidiary \u2013 Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties \u2013 has had its credit rating cut to junk by S&P Global Ratings. The downgrade could make it more expensive for the company to borrow money overseas just as it is struggling with heightened regulatory scrutiny. Its score is now BB, which is two steps below investment grade. This followed Wanda agreeing to sell a majority of its theme parks and hotel assets to Sunac China Holdings and Guangzhou R&F Properties. One Singapore-based analyst commented: \"We agree with S&P\uff0dthere are too many uncertainties in relation to Wanda's strategic change.\""}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ikea buys on-demand labour services platform TaskRabbit \n Ikea has bought the gig economy odd-jobs company TaskRabbit, becoming the latest retailer to move into offering services alongside products.\n\nJesper Brodin, the president and chief executive of Ikea Group, said the Swedish homeware chain was responding to increasing urbanisation and a shift to digital shopping that challenged traditional retail.\n\n\u201cWe need to develop the business faster and in a more flexible way. An acquisition of TaskRabbit would be an exciting leap in this transformation,\u201d he said.\n\nTaskRabbit, based in San Francisco and set up in 2008, operates in 40 cities in the US and the UK, connecting customers through its app with home maintenance tradespeople who can handle furniture assembly, decorating, cleaning and deliveries.\n\nUsers flag jobs they want doing, and taskers, as the company refers to them, can select work nearby, apparently choosing the rate at which they will be paid.\n\nTaskRabbit will continue to operate as an independent company within the Ikea Group and link up with other retailers. The value of the deal was undisclosed.\n\nIkea joins the likes of John Lewis and Debenhams in seeing services as a route to growth.\n\n\n\nJohn Lewis launched its Home Solutions service this month after signing up 150 independent tradespeople, all of whom were vetted by the department store. After being tested in Milton Keynes, the service is being extended to Bristol, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Gloucester and Taunton.\n\nBrodin said: \u201cWe will be able to learn from TaskRabbit\u2019s digital expertise, while also providing Ikea customers additional ways to access flexible and affordable service solutions.\u201d\n\nThe acquisition takes Ikea into the gig economy, with TaskRabbit workers classed as independent contractors who work when they want, where they want and at rates they set, but are not necessarily entitled to a minimum wage or holiday pay.\n\n\n\nOther gig economy employers, including Uber and Deliveroo, have faced court action over the treatment of their workers, some of whom say they are not independent contractors and should receive holiday pay.\n\nThe buyout comes after Ikea tested recommending TaskRabbit workers to assemble furniture for customers late last year at some of its London stores.\n\n\n\nTaskRabbit was founded by the former IBM software engineer Leah Busque. The company has struggled to expand and partnered up to offer its services via Amazon last year.", "output": "IKEA has acquired TaskRabbit, a mobile labour marketplace, to offer services that complement its products. The move comes in response to the rise of digital shopping and increasing urbanisation, according to Jesper Brodin, chief executive at IKEA. TaskRabbit links consumers with tradespeople for performing ad-hoc tasks, such as furniture assembly and deliveries. IKEA\u00a0trialled\u00a0the platform across some of its London locations in 2016, with successful results. TaskRabbit will\u00a0operate independently under IKEA's ownership."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lidl commits to removing products containing microbeads \n Lidl has removed all products containing microbeads from its UK stores as it clamps down on plastic pollutants across its own label and branded ranges.\n\n\n\n\u201cPlastic pollution is one of the most serious threats to the health of our oceans and an issue we are taking very seriously,\u201d said Lidl UK corporate responsibility manager Mark Newbold.\n\n\n\n\u201cFor us, eradicating microbeads from all our products is a small but important step in our journey to continually reduce our plastic footprint and the wider environmental impact of our products.\u201d\n\n\n\nLast September the government pledged to ban microbeads from cosmetics and cleaning products by the end of this year. According to Greenpeace, 663 species of marine wildlife are affected by plastic pollution.\n\n\n\nThe discounter joins other retailers including Tesco and Waitrose in committing to remove microbeads.\n\n\n\nLidl also plans to phase out plastic-stemmed cotton buds and replace them with new biodegradable stems by the end of the year.\n\n\n\nIn July, Lidl stopped selling single use carrier bags and introduced a new 5p reusable bag..", "output": "Supermarket Lidl has removed all products containing microbeads, tiny pieces of plastic added to cosmetic products, from its UK stores. Last September, the UK government committed to banning microbeads, which contribute to marine pollution, from cosmetics and cleaning products by the end of 2017. Other supermarkets, including Tesco and Waitrose, have already pledged to remove the beads from their stock. Lidl, which stopped selling single-use plastic bags in July, has also committed to replacing plastic cotton buds with biodegradable alternatives by the end of the year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Livestock methane emissions underestimated \n Revision of annual, per-animal CH 4 emissions factors and other livestock C fluxes\n\nThe 2006 IPCC CH 4 emissions factors were revised by (1) collecting updated regional input information (Tables 1, 2) and (2) following the Tier 2 equations for enteric fermentation and manure management CH 4 emissions [4] with the updated inputs. This resulted in new emissions factors suitable for Tier 1 bottom-up inventory based estimates. To revise enteric fermentation emissions factors for lactating dairy cows, for example, Equations 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.6, 10.8, 10.11, 10.13, 10.14, 10.16, 10.18b, and 10.21 were used with input from Tables 10.2, 10.4, 10.5, 10.8, 10.12, 10.A.1 [4] (Table 1). To revise manure CH 4 emissions factors for dairy cows, meat/other cattle, and swine, Equations 10.23 and 10.24 were used with input from Tables 10.17, 10A-4, 10A-5, 10A-7, and 10A-8 [4] (Table 2). Some information on total dry matter intake and/or gross energy intake and manure production are also provided by IPCC; these quantities were also updated and used to create complete livestock C budgets (see below). Manure production for cattle was estimated from updated regional animal body weights, assuming that dairy cattle produce 2205 kg manure dry matter per animal unit per year, and meat/other cattle produce 1510 kg manure dry matter per animal unit per year [29]. Manure production for swine was estimated using IPCC 1996 regional swine body weight and manure production information [3] along with revised (recent) regional body weights, based on the approximation that intake scales with a three-fourths fractional exponent of body mass [30]:\n\nTable 1 Dairy cow enteric fermentation emissions factor inputs Full size table\n\nTable 2 Cattle and swine manure management emissions input factors used for this study, as compared with those used/published by IPCC Full size table\n\n$${\\text{manure}}\\text{-}{\\text{production}}_{\\text{revised}} = {\\text{ manure}}\\text{-}{\\text{production}}_{{ 1 9 9 6 {\\text{IPCC}}}} \\times \\, \\left[ {{\\text{weight}}_{\\text{revised}} /{\\text{weight}}_{{ 1 9 9 6 {\\text{IPCC}}}} } \\right]^{0. 7 5}$$ (1)\n\nTo evaluate our bottom-up approach to estimating C stocks and fluxes, the equations and default inputs were first used to recalculate the IPCC 2006 CH 4 emissions factors. Literature search results were then used to revise inputs and recalculate these equations.\n\nFor dairy cow enteric fermentation CH 4 emissions factors, revisions focused on changes in mature animal weight, percent of animals that are stall fed as opposed to grazing/ranging for feed, annual milk productivity, changes in total feed intake, and on reported values of Y m (the CH 4 conversion factors for feed energy intake during enteric fermentation). For these calculations, we assumed that mature lactating dairy cows do not gain or lose weight, so that net energy for growth takes a value of zero. For enteric fermentation CH 4 emissions from meat/other cattle, we use recently reported emissions factors from national UNFSCCC reports where available, and where such information was not available, we calculated revised factors based on changes in animal body weight only. This approach was taken due to the complexity and variability in important management factors for meat cattle, particularly in industrialized systems (e.g. type of diet provided, timing of placement from pasture to feedlot, slaughter age and weight).\n\nFor manure management CH 4 emissions factors, revisions focused on changes in animal weight at slaughter, changes in total feed intake and feed digestibility, and changes in the percentage of manure managed in various manure management systems (e.g. deposited on pasture, drylot storage, short-term pit storage, long-term anaerobic lagoon treatment), and MCFs (methane conversion factors, the CH 4 conversion factors for manure volatile solids during manure storage and/or treatment) for different manure management systems at various temperatures. Because of the difficulty in obtaining recent information for all regions of the world, we did not revise B o (the amount of CH 4 produced per quantity of manure volatile solids). Manure management CH 4 emissions factors were revised for (1) lactating dairy cattle; (2) meat/other cattle (encompassing meat and dairy calves and heifers and all other cohorts of non-lactating cattle grown for slaughter, replacement, breeding, or other purposes, weighted using mean weights and reported population cohorts), and (3) swine (encompassing farrowing sows, nursing piglets, and feeders, weighted using mean weights and reported population cohorts). For meat/other cattle in the US, where in recent years animals weighed 27\u201345 kg at birth [31], were weaned at ~260 kg [31], were placed on feedlots at ~317 kg [32], and were slaughtered at ~610 kg [33], the amounts of manure managed on pasture and on feedlot were weighted by average cohort masses accordingly.\n\nUncertainty analysis\n\nWe employed IPCC 2006 Uncertainty Approach I: Propagation of Error [34] to arithmetically combine the uncertainties associated with livestock carbon fluxes of interest:\n\nWhere uncertain quantities are to be combined by multiplication, the standard deviation of the sum will be the square root of the sum of the squares of the standard deviations of the quantities that are added, with the standard deviations all expressed as coefficients of variation, which are the ratios of the standard deviations to the appropriate mean values\u2026Where uncertain quantities are to be combined by addition or subtraction, the standard deviation of the sum will be the square root of the sum of the squares of the standard deviations of the quantities that are added with the standard deviations all expressed in absolute terms \u2026 [34]\n\nWhen the uncertainties being combined can be considered independent, their standard deviations or coefficients of variation are added in quadrature (i.e. the square root of the sum of the squares of each standard deviation or coefficient of variation) [35]. This has the effect of reducing overall propagated uncertainty. We added in quadrature when propagating uncertainties within a livestock type, because we independently assembled separate estimates of the various carbon fluxes and their uncertainties (e.g. intake, manure production, milk production, CH 4 emissions) except for CO 2 , which is calculated by subtraction. We then used these uncertainties to calculate fractional standard deviations (equal to the coefficient of variation, the standard deviation divided by the mean value) for each per-animal carbon flux quantity in each global region. However, when combining uncertainties across livestock types within a nation or from multiple nations to the regional or global level, the uncertainties were simply added (not in quadrature), because these estimates are not independent [35]\u2014i.e. the livestock in all nations within a region share the same carbon flux estimates, emissions coefficients, and uncertainties, and all livestock within a nation share many regional attributes. Using the arithmetic sum, as opposed to adding in quadrature, results in larger uncertainties, which may be considered more conservative.\n\nUncertainty on all non-CH 4 quantities is derived from the coefficients of variation (the standard deviation/mean value of the quantity) that we calculated for these quantities in previous work [2]. Uncertainty on IPCC livestock CH 4 emissions factors is given as \u00b130% [4], and is defined as representing \u00b11.96 times the standard deviation of the mean [34]. In order to be combined mathematically [34, 35] with our estimates of uncertainty on other C fluxes, we used 15.3% (30% divided by 1.96) as the uncertainty for all calculated CH 4 quantities.\n\nDerivation of annual livestock C fluxes, including emissions of CO 2 and CH 4\n\nWe assumed a linear transition from IPCC 2006 emissions to revised emissions factors during the years 1990\u20132012:\n\n$${\\text{f}}_{\\text{yeari}} = {\\text{f}}_{\\text{IPCC}} + \\, \\left( {{\\text{ f}}_{\\text{revised}} - {\\text{f}}_{\\text{IPCC}} } \\right) \\cdot \\left( {{\\text{Y}}/ 2 2 { }} \\right)$$ (2)\n\nwhere f yeari is the flux of CH 4 , feed, or other C containing quantity per animal in the year of interest; f IPCC is the flux of CH 4 , feed, or other C quantity per animal given or calculated from data provided by 2006 IPCC guidelines [4]; f revised is the revised flux of CH 4 , feed, or other C quantity per animal (resulting from this work); and Y is equal to 0 for years before 1990, to (year\u20141990) for 1990\u20132012; and to 22 for years after 2012.\n\nLivestock carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions associated with respiration were estimated as the deficit between the C contained in annual livestock feed intake and the sum enteric fermentation CH 4 emissions, production of milk or eggs, and manure production. Similarly, CO 2 emissions associated with manure management were estimated as the difference between total manure C production and manure management CH 4 emissions, assuming that all manure C is emitted as either CH 4 or CO 2 within one year of production.\n\nLivestock populations\n\nAnnual national livestock populations of meat and milk-producing cattle, meat and milk-producing buffaloes, meat and egg-laying chickens, swine, sheep, turkeys, ducks, geese and guinea fowl, goats, horses, mules, asses, camels, and other camelids (i.e. llamas and alpacas) were compiled for years 1961\u20132013 from FAOSTAT [36]. Annual producing populations of egg-laying chickens and milk-producing cattle and buffalo were subtracted from conspecific total populations to estimate populations raised for meat production. For all calculations made here, the dairy cattle livestock populations include only milk-producing mature dairy cows; calves, heifers, breeding steers, and any other dairy cattle \u2018replacements\u2019 are categorized with meat/other cattle. For nine large countries (Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, India, Kazakhstan, Mexico, and the Russian Federation), state- or province-level livestock population data were compiled for available years between 2000 and 2011 [37, 38], and used to improve the spatial distribution of inventory data. For the United States, livestock populations were refined to the county level using National Agricultural Statistical Service Census and Survey data [39]. Livestock in all other nations of the world are constrained at the national level only.\n\nLivestock C fluxes and CH 4 emissions\n\nAccounting of livestock C fluxes was conducted as described in Wolf et al. [2]. Annual per-animal dry weight feed intake, dry weight manure production, manure C content, milk and egg production C, and manure management and enteric fermentation CH 4 emissions are from IPCC [4] or were estimated from existing literature. Livestock dry matter intakes were assumed to be 44% C by weight. The difference between total livestock feed intake C and total C produced or emitted by live animals (i.e. the sum of C contained in manure, enteric fermentation CH 4 , and milk and eggs) approximates the amount of C respired in the form of CO 2 over a given year, excluding C stored in livestock biomass. Although herd sizes do change over time, C stored in livestock biomass is assumed constant in this effort. Similarly, the difference between total manure C content and manure management CH 4 provides an estimate of CO 2 released by livestock manure management, all of which is assumed to be emitted in the same year of manure production.\n\nEstimating livestock consumption of fodder and forage\n\nFor purposes of tracking the use of all harvested crop C and estimating amounts of livestock forage, total livestock feed was disaggregated into fodder (i.e. biomass harvested by humans from croplands) and forage (i.e. biomass grazed or scavenged by livestock from non-cropland sources) [2]. Fodder was further subdivided into (a) market feed items derived from primary harvests (e.g., grains, brans, crop by-product feeds), derived from FAO [36] (food balance: commodity balances, crops primary equivalent, feed category), (b) hay and fodder crops (e.g., harvested quantities of alfalfa, clovers, grasses, corn and sorghum silage) derived from FAO [36] (production: crops, crops primary list), including maize, alfalfa, and other grains, grasses, legumes, roots, and vegetables denoted as produced for forage and/or silage; category no longer available), and (c) crop residue feed, consisting of crop residue collected from the field for livestock feed, estimated from annual production of several utilized crops [2]. Annual national quantities of all market feed items and hay crops available were converted into units of C using fractional item-specific dry weights and C contents [2]. The crop residue feed quantities were estimated by applying crop-specific regional percentages of residues collected for feed [40] to the crop- and country-specific estimates of annual residue production. Total annual available fodder per nation is the sum of market feeds, hay and fodder crop production, and crop residues collected for feed. At the national level, annual available fodder was subtracted from total livestock feed intake requirement (calculated from national annual populations and per-animal feed intake values) to approximate national livestock forage intake, including grazing and scavenging. Because national quantities of market feeds and hay crops were not available for years after 2011 at the time of download, fodder and forage intake for 2012 and 2013 were estimated using average available quantities for each country over 2005\u20132011.\n\nDownscaling and spatial distribution of C fluxes\n\nLivestock C fluxes were downscaled and spatially distributed to 0.05 \u00d7 0.05 degree resolution using the MODIS Land Cover Type 5 data product for year 2005, following methods documented by West et al. [41] and Wolf et al. [2]. Downscaling started with the reconciling of land class areas between satellite-based land cover in 2005 and crop harvest area inventory data in each year from 2000 to 2011. Cropland area in 2005, based on MODIS, was compared to the sum of area inventoried for harvest per geopolitical region. The MODIS cropland areas were then adjusted to equal the sum of harvested areas for respective geopolitical regions and years. Cropland area was expanded or contracted as necessary, using a global kernel density representing the combined density of cropland and distance of each grid-cell to the nearest cropland region. Based on reconciled land cover information within each nation, state or province, or county, a separate amount of area was allocated to livestock. The livestock area requirement per nation, state/province, or county was derived from the livestock population therein, along with estimated area per animal required for each livestock type, for housed and free-ranging animals, and regional estimates of the proportion of animals that are free-ranging. Livestock were spatially distributed to grasslands, based on the livestock area requirement, per nation, state/province, or county. If there was insufficient grassland area, livestock were then distributed to shrubland areas. If grassland and shrubland areas together were smaller than the estimated required livestock area, the livestock area requirement was reduced to a smaller housed-animal area requirement value, thereby increasing livestock density. Respective carbon fluxes were subsequently applied to spatial livestock distributions.", "output": "Emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas that has 28 times the \u201cglobal warming potential\u201d of carbon dioxide over a 100-year period, produced by global livestock were 11% higher in 2011 than estimates from the United Nations\u2019 Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change predicted, according to a new study. Two-thirds of methane results from human activity, primarily the production and transport of coal, oil and gas, livestock flatulence and the decay of organic waste in landfills. Changing livestock numbers, breeding and management have resulted in higher emissions. The sharpest changes have been seen in Africa, Asia and Latin America."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Livestock methane emissions underestimated \n Paris (AFP) \u2013\n\nAdvertising Read more\n\nEmissions of the greenhouse gas methane from livestock are larger than previously thought, posing an additional challenge in the fight to curb global warming, scientists said Friday.\n\nRevised calculations of methane produced per head of cattle show that global livestock emissions in 2011 were 11 percent higher than estimates based on data from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change.\n\nPeriodic reports by the IPCC, drawing from thousands of scientists, help leaders take action on climate change, which has begun to wreak weather havoc around the globe.\n\n\"In many regions, livestock numbers are changing, and breeding has resulted in larger animals with higher intakes of food,\" said Julie Wolf, a researcher in the US Department of Agriculture and lead author of a study in the journal Carbon Balance and Management.\n\n\"This, along with changes in livestock management, can lead to higher methane emissions.\"\n\nEarlier estimates, she added in a statement, were based on \"out-of-date data\".\n\nAfter rising slowly from 2000 to 2006, the concentration of methane in the air has climbed 10 times more quickly in the last decade, according to earlier research.\n\nBesides natural sources such as peatland, wetlands and termites, methane from human activity -- approximately two-thirds of the total -- is produced in two ways.\n\nThe odourless and colourless gas leaks during the production and transport of coal, oil and especially natural gas.\n\nIn roughly equal measure, it also comes from the flatulence of ruminants such as cattle and sheep, as well as the decay of organic waste, notably in landfills.\n\n- 'Hidden climate change cost' -\n\nMethane accounted for about 16 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2015, according to the IPCC.\n\nCarbon dioxide -- produced mainly by the burning of fossil fuels -- accounts for more than three-quarters of planet-warming emissions.\n\n\"As our diets become more meat and dairy-rich, so the hidden climate cost of our food tends to mount up,\" said University of Edinburgh professor Dave Reay, reacting to the study.\n\n\"Cows belching less methane may not be as eye-catching as wind turbines and solar panels, but they are just as vital for addressing climate change.\"\n\nThe new study boosts the \"estimate of human-induced emissions of methane from all sources by about four percent,\" said University of Leeds professor Piers Forster, who was not involved in the research.\n\nMethane is far more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas, capturing more of the Sun's radiative force. But it persists for less time in the atmosphere.\n\nTaking that into account, scientists calculate that over a 100-year period the \"global warming potential\" of the gas is 28 times greater than for carbon dioxide.\n\nThe study noted that methane emissions from livestock have risen most sharply in the rapidly developing regions of Asia, Latin America and Africa.\n\nBy contrast, the increase has slowed sharply in the United States and Canada. In Europe, emissions of the gas have declined.\n\nA sharp rise in methane pollution could jeopardise the goal -- enshrined in the 196-nation Paris climate pact -- of capping global warming below two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), a consortium of 81 scientists warned in December.\n\n\"Such a target will become increasingly difficult if reductions in methane emissions are not also addressed strongly and rapidly,\" they wrote in an open letter.\n\n\u00a9 2017 AFP", "output": "Emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas that has 28 times the \u201cglobal warming potential\u201d of carbon dioxide over a 100-year period, produced by global livestock were 11% higher in 2011 than estimates from the United Nations\u2019 Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change predicted, according to a new study. Two-thirds of methane results from human activity, primarily the production and transport of coal, oil and gas, livestock flatulence and the decay of organic waste in landfills. Changing livestock numbers, breeding and management have resulted in higher emissions. The sharpest changes have been seen in Africa, Asia and Latin America."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon\u2019s Echo Show loses YouTube in public row with Google \n Google has abruptly pulled its YouTube app from Amazon\u2019s Echo Show device as part of a broiling feud which has now gone public.\n\nGoogle pulls YouTube from Amazon\u2019s Echo Show as competitive spirit turns nasty\n\nThe root issue is a long running spat between the technology giants after Google accused Amazon of \u2018violating its terms of service\u2019 leading to a \u2018broken user experience\u2019 which has yet to be resolved despite exhaustive negotiations.", "output": "Google has pulled YouTube from Amazon\u2019s Echo Show device following a dispute over user experience and terms of service. The Echo Show is a voice-activated device featuring a screen,\u00a0launched by Amazon in June\u00a0as part of its Echo range. Google claimed that the Echo Show did not offer\u00a0the full range of YouTube functionality, with video recommendations and channel subscription options missing from the service,\u00a0and called the user experience \"broken\". Google has said it hopes to resolve the dispute shortly."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurance to be shaped by drones, AI, blockchain: Capgemini \n We\u2019ve had fintech, edtech, regtech and medtech. Now, it\u2019s time for insurtech, according to Capgemini. The consulting firm\u2019s report on how insurance firms will use technology paints a futuristic picture incorporating drones, artificial intelligence and big data analytics.\n\nFor its 2017 World Insurance Report, the company interviewed over 8,000 customers and 100 subject matter experts worldwide. It found that the insurance industry faces similar trends to the broader financial sector, with a less loyal, tech-savvy younger customer base looking for more digital interactions.\n\n\u201cCustomers are seeking digital touchpoints. They are seeking three main things, which are convenience, agility, and personalization,\u201d said Chirag Thakral, deputy head of the analysis group at CapGemini. \u201cYounger customers are the most challenging in terms of their expectations and demands, and they are the most difficult to retain.\u201d\n\nCustomers that Capgemini describes as \u201ctech savvy\u201d are looking for features such as online or via mobile devices according to the report, along with fast updates on claims status via similar channels. Digital policy renewal and cancellation, automatic connections with third parties to help with emergencies, and reward and incentive programs also top the list.\n\nIncumbent vs incoming\n\nThis report \u2013 the company\u2019s 10th on the topic \u2013 distinguishes incumbent insurance firms from insurance technology players that can bridge this gap by providing new customer experiences.\n\nEach group has its advantages, the report said. Incumbent insurers offer brand identity and enjoy a higher level of trust among customers. Conversely, insurtech firms offer better value for money and efficient service. The two must work together, explains Thakral.\n\nCapgemini\u2019s research highlights several technologies that it said will change the game for insurance firms. Among them is blockchain-based computing, which it said will transform the exchange of information and improve fraud management. Artificial intelligence will also help to provide the personalized experience that customers crave, it said.\n\nNew technology will help insurance companies to streamline their back-end processes by reducing the human input necessary to process insurance contracts, Thakral suggested.\n\n\u201cRight now, for the simple cases it is easy to do that, and a lot of firms have already automated the process for making the underwriting decisions,\u201d he said, adding that more complex use cases are emerging.\n\n\u201cUsing artificial intelligence and machine learning, a lot of companies are still testing the proof of concepts,\u201d he added. \u201cFor some of the more complex cases, they are using AI and robotic process automation to reduce the time for underwriting decisions.\u201d\n\nThe report provides some examples of incumbent insurers that have been busy bolstering their technology story. Asian insurer AIA created an accelerator program to expose it to insurtech startups, in a similar move to others in the financial services sector such as CIBC and Scotiabank.\n\nThe report comes at a troubling time for the insurance market, with hurricanes Harvey and Irma having caused billions of dollars in damage in America\u2019s southeastern states, and with forest fires ravaging Canada\u2019s western provinces. How can insurance companies use technology to help cope with increasingly frequent and more violent natural disasters?\n\n\u201cUsing predictive analytics, they are trying to make sure that the product availability and pricing is done in the right way,\u201d he said.\n\nHe also sees technology making claims processing easier for insurance companies. \u201cThey don\u2019t need to send somebody manually into these areas where it can be really dangerous with floods and fires,\u201d he said. \u201cThey can send drones to survey the area, especially for these aggregated claims.\u201d\n\nThe use of new technology such as IoT sensors will raise some interesting questions for the insurance sector in the future, though, he concludes. For example, he wonders who will be insured as driverless cars hit the roads.\n\n\u201cThe whole point of insuring the driver goes away. I think it\u2019s the car that gets insured, and do we need insurance for that if a large company like Google insures themselves?\u201d Collaborations between insurance companies and the incoming insurtech firms will help to answer those questions, he predicts.", "output": "Blockchain-based computing, drones\u00a0and artificial intelligence are among the technologies that will reshape\u00a0the insurance industry, according to a report from global consulting firm Capgemini. The adoption of these technologies will allow insurance companies to better streamline their back-end operations, the report noted. In particular, AI can be used to provide a more personalised client experience while also speeding up underwriting decisions, while blockchain can help with security and fraud prevention.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CO2 emissions static in 2016 \n Global emissions of climate-warming carbon dioxide remained static in 2016, a welcome sign that the world is making at least some progress in the battle against global warming by halting the long-term rising trend.\n\nAll of the world\u2019s biggest emitting nations, except India, saw falling or static carbon emissions due to less coal burning and increasing renewable energy, according to data published on Thursday by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (NEAA). However other mainly developing nations, including Indonesia, still have rising rates of CO2 emissions.\n\nStalled global emissions still means huge amounts of CO2 are being added to the atmosphere every year \u2013 more than 35bn tonnes in 2016 \u2013 driving up global temperatures and increasing the risk of damaging, extreme weather. Furthermore, other heat-trapping greenhouse gases, mainly methane from cattle and leaks from oil and gas exploration, are still rising and went up by 1% in 2016.\n\n\u201cThese results are a welcome indication that we are nearing the peak in global annual emissions of greenhouse gases,\u201d said climate economist Prof Lord Nicholas Stern at the London School of Economics and president of the British Academy.\n\n\u201cTo realise the goals of the Paris agreement and hold the increase in global average temperature to well below 2C, we must reach peak emissions as soon as possible and then achieve a rapid decline soon afterwards,\u201d Stern said. \u201cThese results from the Dutch government show that there is a real opportunity to get on track.\u201d\n\nJos Olivier, the chief researcher for the NEAA report, sounded a note of caution: \u201cThere is no guarantee that CO2 emissions will from now on be flat or descending.\u201d He said, for example, a rise in gas prices could see more coal burning resume in the US.\n\nThe flat CO2 emissions in 2016 follow similar near-standstills in 2014 and 2015. This lack of growth is unprecedented in a time when the global economy is growing. As the number of years of flat emissions grows, scientists are more confident a peak has been reached, rather than a temporary halt. In July 2016, senior economists said China\u2019s huge coal burning had peaked, marking a historic turning point in efforts to tame climate change.\n\nStern said many of the big emitting nations had achieved significant reductions in 2016: \u201cHowever, all countries have to accelerate their emissions reductions if the Paris goals are to be met.\u201d He said this could also drive development in poorer nations: \u201cWe can now see clearly that the transition to a low-carbon economy is at the heart of the story of poverty reduction and of the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.\u201d\n\nThe new Dutch report shows CO2 emissions from China, the world\u2019s biggest emitter, fell 0.3% in 2016. US CO2 emissions fell 2.0% and Russia\u2019s by 2.1%, with the EU flat, although UK emissions tumbled by 6.4%, as coal burning plunged.\n\nOf the top five emitters, only India\u2019s CO2 emissions rose, by 4.7%. Significant increases were also seen in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Turkey and Ukraine.\n\nHowever, over a quarter of the warming effect seen by the world comes from non-CO2 greenhouse gases, with methane by far the most significant. Cattle belch the gas and are responsible for 23% of global methane emissions, and this source rose by 0.4% in 2016. Scientists have warned that the growing global appetite for meat, especially beef, cannot continue if climate change is to be kept under 2C.\n\nAnother quarter of methane emissions come from fossil fuel production and leaks in gas distribution pipes. Since 2000, emissions from coal and gas production have grown by more than 65%.\n\nCarbon emissions from forest destruction and other land use changes were not included in the main analysis as they are more difficult to estimate and vary strongly from year to year.", "output": "Global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions remained static in 2016, according to data released on Thursday by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. With the exception of India, all the world\u2019s major emitting powers saw\u00a0emissions fall or remain level due to a reduction in coal burning and the increased use of renewables. Many developing nations\u00a0still saw\u00a0CO2 emissions rise, however, and\u00a0near-static emission levels were also recorded in 2014 and 2015. Emission levels for\u00a0methane, another large contributor to global warming, continued\u00a0to rise."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Global drug supply risk due to hurricane-damaged Puerto Rico \n \u200bIf Congress includes a provision to allow Medicare to negotiate the price of some prescription drugs in the major budget bill it's working on, Part D premiums could decline 15 percent by the end of the decade, according to a new analysis.\n\nA report by the nonpartisan Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) shows that, according to Medicare's actuaries, if the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services were given the authority to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies, consumers would save a total of $14 billion in Part D premiums by 2029. This savings \"translates into estimated per capita savings for Part D enrollees who pay premiums of $39 annually in 2023, increasing to $85 in 2029,\" the report says.\n\nThe proposals being debated in the House of Representatives and the Senate as part of a sweeping $3.5 trillion budget bill would allow price negotiations for some high-priced brand-name drugs, both under Part D prescription drug plans and for medications administered under Part B in doctors' offices.\n\n\"The biggest benefit of negotiation is that it would lower costs in particular for medications with no competition,\" says Tricia Neuman, senior vice president at KFF and coauthor of the report. When it comes to the pricing for these noncompetitive drugs, she adds, \"the government's hands are tied, meaning the government has no ability or leverage to negotiate to bring down prices. And that puts a burden on patients and adds significant costs to the federal government.\"\n\nNeuman says that while the KFF report specifically looks at the effects negotiations would have on premiums, if the government could successfully negotiate prices, that would bring down other out-of-pocket costs for all consumers in addition to producing savings for the Medicare program. The Biden administration has endorsed proposals that would apply the lower prescription drug prices resulting from negotiations to all those who buy such medications. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that allowing Medicare to negotiate prices would save government health plans more than $450 billion over 10 years.", "output": "There is a risk of a global drug shortage due to the damage caused by Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico. As of last year, pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing on the island was a $14.5bn industry that made up over 72% of Puerto Rico's total exports and was the largest exporter of pharmaceuticals of all the US states. Around 50 pharmaceutical manufacturing plants based in Puerto Rico are facing months of problems without reliable electrical power. Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Amgen have all had to shut down manufacturing at their plants."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Drone health monitors may help boost developing-world infant care \n Credit: The Lead\n\nDrone technology is being developed to perform routine health checks remotely in a bid to reduce infection spread in neonatal care.\n\nResearchers from the University of South Australia have successfully trialed the use of drones to remotely measure heart and breathing rates in humans aged between two and 40 using advanced image-processing systems.\n\nSensory Systems Professor Javaan Chahl said the breakthrough drone system initially began as a reflex response to fatalities resulting from problems with electrode instruments or shortages of instrumentation in developing countries.\n\n\"The norm is to stick electrodes on children to measure heart rates. Without any ill-intention, sometimes doctors in developing countries would re-use these electrodes due to a shortage of instruments,\" Professor Chahl, the project's supervisor said.\n\n\"This has lead to an infection control problem, where you may move skin infections from one child to the next. So, you can see a need for having a non-contact sensor.\"\n\nOther possible applications include monitoring the vital signs of residents in aged care facilities.\n\n\"The drones don't need to capture what you're doing. The image processing system can simply produce the variables of heart and breathing rate without having to see patients at all or invade their privacy,\" he said.\n\n\"There may also be situations in clinical settings where you wouldn't really think it's worth having electrodes and instruments to monitor patients, but if you can just have a camera do it, you may be able to put instrumentation where you wouldn't normally put it.\"\n\nThe drone technology detects heart and breathing rates as accurately as standard heart monitors using a stabilised Go-Pro camera. Sophisticated image-processing systems then assess the video footage collected on the device and extract the heart and respiratory rates of the person without difficulty.\n\nThe technology is also being developed to detect vital signs of people in war zones, trapped by natural disasters or stranded in difficult to reach locations\n\n\"The research has been going for about three years, but it still has another year to go. It's moving so quickly and we're really trying to explore all the possible options.\"\n\nProfessor Chahl said although the drone technologies were capable of monitoring several people in uncontrolled environments, the first goal was to pursue the initial aim of eliminating infection in neonatal subjects.\n\n\"The work with the neonatal subjects is something we are just going through the process of now,\" he said.\n\n\"It is quite involved and there's quite a lot of ethics to consider with filming and measuring information from babies, but there are a lot of potential benefits for neonatal care worldwide. Our current challenge is to get the original plan of neonatal instrumentation working well.\"\n\nProvided by The Lead", "output": "Researchers from the University of South Australia have successfully tested the use of drones to remotely measure heart and breathing rates in humans aged between two and 40. The technology is being developed to reduce\u00a0disease transmission resulting from\u00a0the reuse of topical\u00a0neonatal health-monitoring equipment in developing countries.\u00a0The drones use a stabilised Go-Pro camera to detect heart and breathing rates. Footage is then sent to a sophisticated image-processing system for assessment. Other possible applications include\u00a0detecting vital signs of people in war zones, those trapped by natural disasters or monitoring people\u00a0who live in remote locations."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ryanair subject to \u201cenforcement action\u201d by CAA over cancellations \n The Civil Aviation Authority has launched enforcement action against Ryanair for \u201cpersistently misleading passengers\u201d about their rights, piling more woe on the airline as it announced a second wave of flight cancellations affecting 400,000 people.\n\nIn a letter to the Dublin-based carrier, the CAA said Ryanair\u2019s chief executive, Michael O\u2019Leary, was wrong to tell passengers last week that it did not have to arrange new flights for them, after an initial batch of cancellations was announced.\n\nThe airline regulator said Ryanair had further transgressed when it notified people of fresh disruption on Wednesday, by failing to tell passengers they could be rerouted with other airlines if there were no suitable alternative on one of its planes.\n\nIt added that Ryanair should correct any misleading statements and invited the airline to discuss the matter, warning that legal action could follow if the carrier is found to be in breach of consumer protection laws.\n\nThe CAA chief executive, Andrew Haines, said: \u201cThere are clear laws in place, which are intended to assist passengers in the event of a cancellation ... We have made this crystal clear to Ryanair, who are well aware of their legal obligations.\u201d\n\nRyanair said on Thursday: \u201cWe will be meeting with the CAA and will comply fully with whatever requirements they ask us to.\u201d\n\nThe regulator issued the warning as the airline said it would scrap 18,000 flights on 34 routes between November and March, and said it has emailed affected customers to offer a refund or an alternative flight.\n\n\n\nPassengers will also receive a travel voucher for a \u00a340 one-way or \u00a380 return journey that can be used to book a Ryanair flight for travel between October 2017 and March 2018. Affected routes include London Stansted to Edinburgh and Glasgow, Gatwick to Belfast, Newcastle to Faro, and Glasgow to Las Palmas.\n\nNews of the cancellations came a week after Ryanair announced plans to scrap up to 50 flights a day until 31 October, citing a \u201cmess-up\u201d in how it schedules time off for pilots, affecting 315,000 customers. At the time, Ryanair dismissed a Guardian report that the disruption may not be over, saying: \u201cThere will be no further cancellations as a result of this rostering failure.\u201d\n\nList of the 34 routes suspended by Ryainair List of the 34 routes suspended by Ryainair\n\nAnnouncing the latest cancellations, O\u2019Leary apologised to customers for a second time, but defended the changes. \u201cWe sincerely apologise to those customers who have been affected by last week\u2019s flight cancellations, or these sensible schedule changes announced today,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cFrom today, there will be no more rostering-related flight cancellations this winter or in summer 2018. Slower growth this winter will create lots of spare aircraft and crews, which will allow us to manage the exceptional volumes of annual leave we committed to delivering in the nine months to December 2017.\n\n\u201cWe will start a new 12-month leave period on 1 January 2018 in full compliance with EU regulations and the IAA\u2019s [Irish Aviation Authority] requirements.\u201d\n\nThe airline said cancelling thousands of flights over winter would eliminate all risk of further flight cancellations.\n\nBut former and current Ryanair pilots, among them several who warned last week of further cancellations, said anger about working conditions could lead to more problems.\n\n\u201cIt all depends if we manage to unionise,\u201d said one current Ryanair pilot. He added that he and colleagues may \u201cwork to rule\u201d, meaning they would stop doing things they are not obliged to contractually that help the airline manage its tight schedule.\n\nThis includes turning up for work early to ensure punctuality and fielding telephone calls from the company during days off.\n\n\u201cThat would cause significant delays and some cancellations,\u201d he said. \u201cStriking is only a last resort, as we don\u2019t want to harm the passengers. We only want Ryanair to reason with us and give similar contracts compared with other airlines, easyJet for example, so ultimately it\u2019s up to Ryanair, and I\u2019m sure they will not listen until we take collective action.\u201d\n\nOne former pilot, who is in touch with their ex-colleagues, said: \u201cThey cannot rule it [fresh cancellations] out.\u201d Both spoke on condition of anonymity in case their job prospects were affected.\n\nRyanair estimated that the total cost of its cancellations would be less than \u20ac50m (\u00a344m), but said this would not change its prediction of annual net profit of between \u20ac1.4bn and \u20ac1.45bn.\n\n\n\nBut the airline admitted that the cancellations would slow its rapid growth, with 6 million fewer passengers due to fly with the airline by 2019 than otherwise would have done. It will also reduce fares in an effort to prevent further damage to its reputation.\n\nThe blunder has also forced Ryanair to pull out of its plans to bid for Alitalia, Italy\u2019s bankrupt flag carrier. The Irish airline said it wanted to \u201celiminate all management distractions\u201d.\n\nHannah Maundrell, the editor-in-chief of money.co.uk, said the latest flight cancellations were frustrating for customers. \u201cIt\u2019s so disappointing for Ryanair passengers whose flights have been cancelled; even with more notice this time, it\u2019s still seriously frustrating,\u201d she said.\n\nTwitter users reported problems rebooking and speaking to customer service representatives on Ryanair\u2019s website as they tried to rescue holiday plans and make alternative arrangements for business trips.\n\n@Ryanair good luck rebooking. The online flight change service doesn't work - i can only change one leg \u2014 marcus threadgold (@threadm) September 27, 2017\n\nRyanair dismissed suggestions that its scheduling problems have been exacerbated by an overall shortage of pilots, insisting it has recruited 186 since the problem began and has a long waiting list of applicants. But the airline declined to say how many of the pilots on its waiting list have the number of flying hours required to be a captain.\n\nA former Ryanair pilot said: \u201cThere will be a large waiting list at what I call cadet level. The problem is that when experienced people leave, you can\u2019t replace them with inexperienced people. You can\u2019t replace a captain with one of those cadets.\n\n\u201cThe flying Ryanair does can be more challenging than long-haul. It\u2019s a different challenge. You\u2019re operating at small airports with very little air traffic control and different procedures. You need experience.\u201d\n\nRyanair also said reports from the Irish Air Line Pilots\u2019 Association that more than 700 of its pilots have quit in the past year were exaggerated, insisting only 260 have left.\n\n\n\nMany of Ryanair\u2019s 4,200 pilots fly for the airline on a temporary contract basis, rather than as full employees, a situation that has been a bone of contention for some. In letters that have been circulated among Ryanair pilots at dozens of bases across Europe, some have demanded that the airline ditch the contract model in favour of local employment contracts.\n\nPilots and cabin crew have been turning to trade unions for advice and in some cases applying for membership in an attempt to secure improved conditions.\n\nBut Ryanair said it would not meet unions and would only meet \u201cdirectly\u201d with its \u201cpeople\u201d.", "output": "Ryanair is facing \u201cenforcement action\u201d by the UK\u2019s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for \u201cpersistently misleading passengers\u201d. The authority has said that Ryanair CEO, Michael O\u2019Leary, was incorrect when he told passengers that his airline did not have to arrange new flights for them with rival companies following cancellations due to errors in scheduling pilots\u2019 leave. Ryanair, which recently announced that it would cancel 18,000 flights on 34 routes between November and March, has said that it \u201cwill comply fully\u201d with the CAA\u2019s requirements. Ryanair pilots have warned that the airline could face further disruption due to anger about working conditions."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Coca-Cola sponsors fictional footballer in video game \n Coca-Cola has snapped up an unusual ambassador in the protagonist from EA Sport\u2019s football simulator video game, Fifa 18, marking the first time it has snapped up a virtual athlete to ply its wares.\n\nFifa 17 was the first title in the series to introduce narrative-driven mode, The Journey, in which players take up the guise of young football prodigy Alex Hunter and rise through the ranks of English football. The mode looked to encapsulate many aspects of modern football, including brand endorsements, as such, Hunter actually starred in the Adidas First Never Follows campaign, both in the game and in real life.", "output": "Coca-Cola's newest ambassador will be a virtual athlete\u00a0in the\u00a0football video game Fifa 18, the first\u00a0such partnership of its kind. Alex Hunter, the fictional protagonist of the game\u2019s story mode, will endorse Coca-Cola Zero Sugar as the player follows him through his career. The\u00a0advertising campaign references Coca-Cola\u2019s 1979 \u201cMean Joe\u201d TV spot, in which a player drinks a bottle of Coca-Cola after a\u00a0match.\u00a0The ad is due to play across social media channels and on Coca-Cola's 3D TImes Square installation."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Largest estate agents set to lose \u00a326m after letting fees ban \n Post navigation\n\nThe UK\u2019s three biggest listed estate agencies could have their profits hit by a combined \u00a326m once the lettings fee ban is introduced.\n\nA report by analysts Peel Hunt, looking at the prospects of listed agencies Countrywide, LSL and Foxtons, paints a bleak picture for them and the wider market.\n\nAnalyst Gavin Jago predicts the ban, expected in 2018, would hit Countrywide\u2019s profits by \u00a318m, offsetting any ongoing cost-cutting measures.\n\nHe said: \u201cA cost-cutting/branch closure exercise is well underway, but the full effect on profits of a reduced presence on the high street is yet to be seen.\n\n\u201cA full ban on letting fees could materially impact profits from 2018. This will not help the leveraged balance sheet or the scope for dividends. We cut our dividend forecasts and target price, and retain our negative stance.\u201d\n\nInterestingly, the report was written when Countrywide\u2019s share price closed at 123p on September 21 and showed a target price \u2013 the point at which a trader may sell \u2013 of 115p from 145p previously. But the share price has now hit a low of 113p.\n\nJago holds a similar stance with LSL, recommending investors reduce their holding. He predicts the agent will see its profits reduce by \u00a38m from the fee ban.\n\nHe said: \u201cTo date, LSL\u2019s branch closures have been small in number as management believes traditional agents will continue to represent the vast majority of the sales market until 2025.\n\n\u201cThis remains to be seen, but what is more certain is the lettings fee ban that is now widely expected to come into force in 2018. Management has not provided a figure for the group\u2019s exposure to lettings fees. However, we estimate that it could amount to around \u00a38m per annum.\u201d\n\nJago maintains a sell recommendation for Foxtons, predicting a \u00a33m hit on lettings per year. He also warns its high commission fees are impacting the firm\u2019s activity and may need to be reduced.\n\nHe said: \u201cTrading remains challenging for Foxtons due to the low levels of housing activity in the capital.\n\n\u201cIn our view, this is being exacerbated by the group\u2019s relatively high commission fees, which are increasingly detached from average rates charged by its competitors.\n\n\u201cSelf help could come in the form of a reduction in fees but, as yet, management seems reluctant to take such action. The lettings fee ban looks set to come into force in 2018, which will create a further drag on profitability.\u201d\n\nThe report is kinder to Savills \u2013 and glowing about Purplebricks.\n\nJago recommends Savills stock as a hold, backing the diversity in the business, and backs Purplebricks as a buy. He claims profits from its US operations could eclipse the UK and Australia by 2022.\n\nJago said: \u201cAgainst a backdrop of a slower UK housing market, Purplebricks\u2019 growth has been very strong. Its market share of total transactions has doubled in the last year and it remains the dominant player amongst the online/hybrid peer group.\n\n\u201cThe Australian business has been operational for a year and is trading ahead of the UK at the equivalent point of evolution. If Purplebricks captures only a small fraction of the US market, we estimate that US profits could be bigger than the UK and Australia combined by 2022.\u201d\n\nLooking at the wider agency market, the report says fees have fallen to 1% and are at 0.5% to 0.75% in some areas.\n\nIt claims the number of consumers using physical branches is diminishing due to the rise of hybrid and online agents, with Purplebricks the \u201cclear winner\u201d.\n\nThe report claims this is putting traditional agents under pressure and will mean more branch closures and less activity.\n\nRead the full report", "output": "The ban on letting fees payable by tenants due to come into force next year\u00a0in the UK\u00a0is likely to cost the country's three biggest estate agents at least \u00a326m ($34.8m) in lost profits, according to market analysts Peel Hunt. Countrywide is predicted to lose the most, with an \u00a318m fall, while\u00a0LSL and Foxtons also face significant profit reductions. The analysts added that traditional agents are also under pressure from online and hybrid agents, with Purplebricks seen as the market leader among them.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "First engineering classes begin at Dyson's private university \n Today, engineering undergraduates begin their degree studies at the Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology on the Dyson technology campus in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. Over 850 students applied for 25 places on the course and due to the exceptionally high calibre of candidates, 33 Undergraduate Engineers were accepted onto the four-year engineering degree.\n\nAccording to Dyson, 27% of the undergraduate engineers starting this year will be female, significantly more than the UK average of 16%. Students who accepted places at the Institute included those with offers from top universities including the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London and 66% achieved at least one A* at A-Level.\n\nThe Dyson Institute builds on Dyson\u2019s previous work in schools and universities to overcome the lack of engineers in the UK and is the first University of its kind following the passage of the Higher Education and Research Act on 27th April 2017.\n\nThe undergraduate engineers will be mentored by Dyson\u2019s practicing scientists and engineers who will teach alongside academics from WMG, the University of Warwick. They will benefit from learning high level science and engineering theory, combined with real-world application on live projects.\n\nEarning a salary throughout the course and the prospect of a graduate role with Dyson on completion of their degree means the students should come away from higher education debt-free.\n\nJames Dyson said: \u201cDyson\u2019s undergraduate engineers will develop new technology alongside world-leading engineering practitioners, creating real products that end up in homes around the world and all alongside their academic work. I am looking forward to seeing what exceptional things they achieve over the next four years and hope they will want to work at Dyson for many years to come.\u201d\n\nApplications for 2018 entry open today (14th September 2017).", "output": "There first engineering undergraduates at vacuum-cleaner giant Dyson's Institute of Engineering and Technology have begun their degree studies. Of 850 applicants, 33 were accepted onto the four-year course, which pays students\u00a0a salary throughout their studies and offers the prospect of a job with Dyson upon graduation. The company said 27% of\u00a0entrants are female, compared with the UK average of 16%. The course\u00a0is\u00a0taught by company scientists and University of Warwick academics at the institute's Wiltshire campus.\u00a0Dyson has invested in education to tackle what it says is\u00a0a shortage\u00a0of skilled engineers in the UK."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK homeowners dash to remortgage\u00a0expecting\u00a0rise in\u00a0interest rates \n Remortgaging was responsible for a record proportion of valuations in August, according to the latest research from Connells Survey & Valuation.\n\n\u201cRemortgaging is quickly becoming the dominant activity in the lending market,\u201d commented John Bagshaw, corporate services director of Connells Survey & Valuation. \u201cThe record high in August was driven by consumers seeking out better value borrowing. Having benefited from a decade of low interest rates, consumers are sensing the risk that this era is nearing an end. Many older mortgage deals are expiring this autumn which will mean moving onto more expensive standard variable rates. As a result, homeowners on these deals are opting to refinance, taking advantage of the intense competition in the mortgage market right now.\u201d\n\nAccording to Connells, the proportion of remortgage valuations has risen three percentage points year-on- year to make up 37% of the entire market.\n\nThe growth in remortgaging, including buy-to- let remortgaging has been driven by high levels of competition from lenders who are reducing their rates to attract potential borrowers. Consumers are opting to lock in these lower rates, securing long-term, fixed-rate remortgages ahead of a potential base rate rise later in the year.\n\n\u201cDespite a slight slowdown in transactions this August, official figures suggest house price growth has held up,\u201d continued Bagshaw. \u201cThis rise in property prices means homeowners could now get a better loan-to- value ratio when remortgaging than when they first borrowed \u2013 potentially allowing them to lower monthly repayments. With so much economic uncertainty and hints of a base rate rise, many are choosing to lock into a lower rate to see them through the next few years.\u201d", "output": "UK homeowners drove remortgages to record levels in August, as many sought out lower interest rates in anticipation of the era of low rates coming to an end, according to Connells Survey & Valuation. It revealed remortgage valuations had risen three percentage points year on year to make up 37% of the lending market. \"With so much economic uncertainty and hints of a base rate rise, many are choosing to lock into a lower rate to see them through the next few years,\" said John Bagshaw, corporate services director of Connells Survey & Valuation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MIT engineer develops robot that detects leaks in water pipes \n Around the world, one in five people don\u2019t have enough water, according to the United Nations, but that\u2019s not because there isn\u2019t enough fresh water for people to drink, bath, wash their clothes, or even water their lawns. It\u2019s mainly because either the water has been polluted, pipes don\u2019t exist to take water from lakes and streams, or aging infrastructure allows water to leak.\n\nIn 2008, Saudi Arabia approached MIT\u2019s Mechatronics Research Laboratory to fund new technologies to help tackle the third problem. The country, notorious for its expensive desalinated drinking water, was losing one-third of its water every day due to leaking pipes, but existing detection methods, developed for metal pipes, proved incompatible with the plastic infrastructure.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAfter nine years of research and development, You Wu, a fifth-year MIT mechanical engineering PhD candidate, has created an elegant solution. His invention: Robot Daisy, a flexible intelligent device that resembles a shuttlecock\u2014or a blue-skirted woman, from which it gets its name.\n\nDaisy works by floating through pipes and pinpointing water leaks. When water leaks through a crack in the pipe, it creates suction that grows linearly with its size and can be measured with sensors. These sensors compose Daisy\u2019s rubber skirt. To identify leaks in a pipeline network, a technician inserts her into the underground piping through a fire hydrant, and she logs the location and force of any tugs on her skirt as she floats downstream. Once the technician retrieves her from the pipes, the computer chip storing all the data in her body connects to wifi and downloads a map of the leaks.\n\nThe design works regardless of piping material and comes different sizes to accommodate different pipe diameters. It also operates with a higher degree of precision and granularity than traditional acoustic-based technology. This allows Daisy to catch leaks in their early stages, which \u201ccould equate to preventing the loss of millions of gallons of water annually,\u201d Mark Gallager, director of engineering and distribution at the Cambridge, Massachusetts water department, told MIT News. It could also \u201cminimize the damage to infrastructure and the loss of water services to homes and businesses\u201d during a pipe failure, he said.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIt took 11 prototypes for Daisy to successfully traverse the pipe infrastructure at a testing site in Saudi Arabia. Initial prototypes couldn\u2019t distinguish the suction force from a leak from disturbances from dirt and rust caked on the pipes\u2019 interiors. Nor could they clear sharp turns at T-junctions and adapt to changes in pipe size. Through iterative design improvements, Wu fine-tuned Daisy\u2019s detection software and gave her a squishier body to squeeze around corners and through tighter diameters. Wu is now on prototype 16, which costs $150 of raw materials and four hours to build. He estimates the costs will drop once Daisy is manufactured at scale.\n\nWu incorporated PipeGuard earlier this year with co-founders Jonathan Miller and Daniel Gomez to commercialize Daisy and the company has raised funding from several pitch competitions, including the Booz Allen Hamilton Data Analytics Award and MIT\u2019s Solve Challenge Finals, and received inquiries from dozens of utility companies and regional governments.\n\nWu, now in the final year of his PhD, has committed to three customers in the coming year: Wise County, Virginia, which loses nearly half of its water to leaks; the Lingang Industrial Zone in Shanghai, China, which loses 30%; and Monterrey, Mexico, which loses 42%, according to data from the respective utility authorities. After graduation, Wu plans to offer Daisy\u2019s expertise as a service to more cities around the world.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWu says shortages in electricity growing up in Shanghai influenced his interest in developing something that helps fix water shortages. Factories were then required to stagger work hours to accommodate the energy grid, so he only saw his parents once a week. \u201cI got this feeling of what a shortage of resource feels like, so I have this personal interest of sustainability,\u201d he says.\n\n\u201cI have this fear about the future and about resource shortage,\u201d he continues. \u201cIf the population grows to an extent that everyone has to sacrifice something, one day we won\u2019t have water for showers so that someone else will have water to drink. This was basically my personal motivation behind it: How to make sure that one day we won\u2019t have a no shower Mondays.\u201d", "output": "An engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, You Wu, has developed a low-cost, flexible robot that can detect leaks in water pipes, potentially saving many thousands of gallons of water. Dubbed Robot Daisy, the shuttlecock-shaped device floats along within water pipes while sensors on its \"skirt\" detect the suction effect caused by water outflows. The data is then collected and analysed, enabling any leaks to be spotted early. Wise County, Virginia, the Lingang Industrial Zone in Shanghai, China and Monterrey, Mexico, which all suffer significant losses to piped water supply, have all signed up to purchase Robot Daisy."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Johnson Matthey to invest \u00a3200m in developing batteries for EVs \n The British multinational giant Johnson Matthey announced that it will make an initial investment of \u00a3200 million in 2018 in the wake of the anticipated rapid growth of the electric vehicle market in the years to come.\n\nThe British multinational giant Johnson Matthey announced that it will make an initial investment of \u00a3200 million in 2018 in the wake of the anticipated rapid growth of the electric vehicle market in the years to come.\n\nAccording to the company\u2019s estimations, by the time the electric vehicle market penetration reaches around 10 percent, the potential market value of its products could be more than $30 billion.\n\nThe information was revealed in the company\u2019s recent Capital Markets Day, during which, the company outlined its strategy for growth and value creation across all its sectors.\n\nDr. Alan Nelson, Sector Chief Executive, New Markets and Group CTO said that the company is working on three new market opportunities, - i.e. alternative powertrains, life science technologies, and medical device components, of which battery materials to support alternative powertrains offer the greatest opportunity.\n\nThe \u00a3200 million investment in high-energy battery materials will be enough to manufacture up to 10,000 metric tons from 2021 to 2022.\n\nThe company will focus on a wide portfolio of cathode materials which will be able to be used in a wide range of electric vehicle applications.\n\nAt the moment, Johnson Matthey operates a Clean Air department, where it offers emission control catalysts and exhaust treatment solutions, including catalysts for light and heavy duty vehicles, diesel retrofits and stationary emissions control.\n\nWith regards to Clean Air, the company estimated that it will continue to be a lucrative sector for the next 2-3 years, but growth will fall as a result of the shift away from light-duty diesel vehicles worldwide.\n\nRober MacLeod, Chief Executive in Johnson Matthey said: \"We will enhance our leadership in the high margin, technology driven growth markets we operate in through focused investment and efficiency throughout the group\u201d.\n\n\u201cWe are world class chemists. We have the expertise to solve our customers' complex and increasingly challenging problems by scaling up fundamental chemistry to provide commercial solutions which drive our growth\u201d.\n\n\"This will create value and a cleaner and healthier world. Through the strategy, we aim to be one of the best performing, most trusted and admired specialty chemical companies in the world\u201d.\n\nJohnson Matthey first entered the lithium-ion battery market in 2012.", "output": "British specialist metals and chemicals firm Johnson Matthey has unveiled plans to invest \u00a3200m ($270m) in electric vehicle (EV) battery technologies next year. The company believes that by the time EV market penetration reaches 10%, the estimated total value of EV products could be at least $30bn. Johnson Matthey also said it had achieved a breakthrough in lithium nickel oxide, which is used extensively in EV batteries. Its shares closed 15% higher following the announcement. The firm is a specialist in vehicle exhaust catalysts so the investment is aimed at protecting its future as internal combustion engines\u00a0are phased out.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Johnson Matthey to invest \u00a3200m in developing batteries for EVs \n W ill the wheels come off for Johnson Matthey once roads are packed with electric cars?\n\nInvestors were feeling far more confident about the catalytic converter maker\u2019s future after yesterday\u2019s capital markets day, as analysts urged them to pile in.\n\nAs well as revealing a \u00a3200 million investment in battery technology, Liberum said Johnson Matthey shocked guests with its claim of a breakthrough in enhanced lithium nickel oxide, the material used in electric vehicles.\n\n\u201cIt would be remarkable and impressive if JM has pulled off a game-changing breakthrough so quickly,\u201d analyst Adam Collins said.\n\nMany have predicted Johnson Matthey, which makes most of its sales from exhaust catalysts, will suffer as drivers switch to electric cars.\n\nCredit Suisse analysts were also impressed by the electric vehicle ambitions, topping up their target price by 200p to 3700p.\n\nEven after yesterday\u2019s rally, there was no sign of profit taking as the shares climbed a further 90p, or 2.7%, to 3480p.\n\nMarkets were on edge amid concerns about North Korea\u2019s plans to detonate a hydrogen bomb as equities around the world drifted lower.\n\nThe FTSE 100 only suffered a minor fall though, down 2.51 points at 7261.39 as investors awaited Theresa May\u2019s speech in Florence where she was expected to put forward the Government\u2019s latest Brexit proposals.\n\nCoca-Cola HBC, the soft drinks bottler, joined Johnson Matthey higher on the blue-chip index after an upgrade from Morgan Stanley.\n\nThe investment bank raised its rating from Underweight to Equal-Weight, encouraged by \u201cgood progress\u201d towards its ambitious margin targets for 2020.\n\n\u201cWhilst we continue to believe the soft drinks industry faces structural challenges, we note that improving macro and a healthier consumer outlook across CCH markets should support a sustainable improvement in topline growth,\u201d Morgan Stanley said.Shares rose 33p, to 2536p.\n\nEngineer Smiths Group fell 75.78p, or 4.7%, to 1529.67p after its annual results showed its largest businesses, oil and gas arm John Crane and Smiths Medical, were under pressure.\n\nInvestors were concerned by comments that the performance for 2018 will be weighted towards the second half of the year.\n\nInvestors were encouraged by Pets at Home\u2019s capital markets day yesterday. The pet supplies retailer, whose shares have come under pressure this year, was up 11.4p to 206p today.\n\nOil rig maker Lamprell plunged 9.5p to 89.75p after warning on revenues.\n\nThe company, which famously issued five profit warnings in 2012, said annual revenues would be between $370 million and $390 million, below previous guidance, which it blamed on \u201cmarket conditions\u201d.", "output": "British specialist metals and chemicals firm Johnson Matthey has unveiled plans to invest \u00a3200m ($270m) in electric vehicle (EV) battery technologies next year. The company believes that by the time EV market penetration reaches 10%, the estimated total value of EV products could be at least $30bn. Johnson Matthey also said it had achieved a breakthrough in lithium nickel oxide, which is used extensively in EV batteries. Its shares closed 15% higher following the announcement. The firm is a specialist in vehicle exhaust catalysts so the investment is aimed at protecting its future as internal combustion engines\u00a0are phased out.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Frozen vegetable market to be worth $30bn worldwide by 2022 \n NEED HELP FINDING THE RIGHT PRODUCT? Becky will help you find what you are looking for.", "output": "The frozen vegetable market, valued at around $24.5bn globally this year, is set to grow at a 4.23% CAGR\u00a0to around $30.2bn by 2022, according to a new report. Expansion in the market is being driven by factors including rising awareness of product's health benefits, increasing urbanisation and an expanding middle class. Changing lifestyles and larger disposable incomes in the Asia Pacific region are also expected to make a significant contribution to the expansion of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include Ardo, Bonduelle, Findus, General Mills, H J Heinz and Simplot.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Arizona to offer free power to balance renewable energy system \n If you are looking for a good deal on energy in Arizona, here's a hint: around lunchtime in the month of March, it's usually free.\n\nArizona Public Service recently proposed a slate of efficiency and demand-side measures that include many of the usual suspects, along with new takes on traditional resources. The utility's plan includes incentives for smart thermostats, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, energy storage and water heater timers \u2014 along with a new \"reverse demand response\" product that aims to balance system load with excess renewable generation.\n\n\"Reverse demand response is really a reflection of our demand side planning and APS' commitment to partner with customers to act as system resources,\" explained Kent Walter, manager of customer technology and product development for the utility.\n\nSource: California ISO load settlement reports\n\nAPS is a summer-peaking utility that experiences mild temperatures through three seasons. As temperatures heat up in the summer months, air conditioning sucks up available generation. But with more moderate temperatures nine months out of the year, the utility has access to an excess of energy that often has nowhere to go.\n\nThe utility is a member of the California ISO's Energy Imbalance Market, a real-time marketplace that helps several balancing areas voluntarily trade energy. The market sends 5- and 15-minute price signals, which on mild sunny days can show up as negative pricing: renewable generation that customers get paid to take, in order to avoid curtailments.\n\n\"We see a lot of load needs during the fall, winter and spring, reflecting themselves in negative pricing and steep ramps coming out of negative pricing periods,\" said Walter. \"With the growth of solar generation, load growth hasn't kept up \u2026 We see opportunities to be able to engage our customers to help better balance the system in real-time, but also absorb negative pricing, which also lowers their bills.\"\n\nDifferent than load shifting\n\n\"Reverse demand response is very different than load shifting,\" he added. \"We encourage customers to shift loads and we have demand charges within our (commercial and industrial) rates ... we try to have customers manage the load, but reverse demand response is very different.\"\n\nSpecifically, APS is looking for dispatchable loads that \"serve the community in some way,\" said Walter. The program has a relatively small budget of $200,000 to get off the ground, but is uncapped in the volume customers could take.\n\nAPS has left the program flexible, open to all non-residential dispatchable loads with at least 30 kW of demand. That could include C&I customers, but the loads must be non-essential. \"They can't be counting on it,\" Walter said. Beautification efforts like, a town fountain that only runs during negative pricing, for instance, might be a qualifying load.\n\nAPS has a Power Supply Adjuster, so any benefit the utility receives from that Energy Imbalance Market goes directly to customers. During negative pricing periods, consumers able to take the power are paid by generators who want to avoid curtailment. Those revenues are used to help lower bills.\n\nOne more tool for integrating renewables\n\nBrett Feldman, principle research analyst for Navigant, is working on a report due out this fall examining renewables integration through demand response, storage, reverse demand response and similar programs being used to balance the growing volume of intermittent resources on the grid. Lowering demand in times of tight supply is a well-known concept, he said, but so far the idea of turning up demand is relatively new.\n\n\"I definitely wouldn't say it's common, I only know a few programs,\" he said. But \"as you see more wind and solar on the system, it's picking up... a lot of it can be addressed by energy storage, but this is a perfect application.\"\n\nWhile APS' program is specific to dispatchable non-essential loads, Feldman said the same concepts can apply to a wide range of load types. Electric vehicle charging is one possibility, as is grid-connected energy storage. He pointed to a project between Bonneville Power Administration and EnerNOC a few years ago aligning refrigeration storage with excess wind energy.\n\nOn the residential side, some appliance usage could be shifted into negative pricing events.\n\n\"Normally you shift appliances to off-peak, but in theory you could do some of those things whenever you need to increase the load,\" said Feldman.\n\nTexas is another area that has dealt with large amounts of renewables, and the balancing and pricing issues that accompany the resource. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas is an isolated system, with significant wind resources. Some utilities have offered free electricity to customers during off-peak hours.\n\n\"Load serving entities can make money by having more load. Even if they give it away for free to customers, they still make a profit because they're actually getting paid for it,\" said Feldman.\n\nCreative uses for free energy\n\nWhile traditional demand response signals the customer to decrease demand, and time varying rates incentivize shifting load, APS' reverse demand response is distinct. In instances where a customer in the reverse demand response program would access negative pricing, all other economic solutions have already been run through. It means the types of loads capable of participating may be limited, but APS said it expects customers to find creative uses for free energy.\n\n\"I like that we have remained flexible to work with customers around what brings value to them. We don't have a prescribed technology or approach. It really is an opportunity to flexibly engage our customers,\" said Walter, \"And flexibility as a resource is important.\"\n\nNegative pricing is not a new phenomenon, particularly in California. But as Utility Dive reported earlier this year, what has changed is the regularity and reliability of the events. CAISO curtailments rose steadily in the second half of 2016 as solar penetration reached new highs.\n\nIn March of this year, CAISO curtailed about 80,000 MWh \u2014 up from 47,000 MWh in March 2016.\n\nBut APS is hoping reverse demand response program will help balance the system and avoid renewables curtailments, while also creating value for the utility's customers.\n\n\"Because of our power supply adjustment, this is not something APS receives a direct benefit for,\" Walter said. \"The value goes back to our ratepayers.\"", "output": "Arizona's public utility company APS is piloting a system of offering free energy supplies at times of excess generation from renewable sources. The state's power grid experiences a fall in demand outside of the hottest summer months, leading to negative pricing on the Energy Imbalance Market. The \"reverse demand response\"\u00a0programme being introduced by APS is aimed at giving non-residential users access to extra power during times of negative pricing. To qualify, the required energy must not be used for essential operations and should preferably be directed to projects that serve the community.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HSBC launches mobile open banking platform \n HSBC UK announced today that it is making its first foray into open banking by launching a new test and learn mobile banking platform ahead of introducing a new app for customers in early 2018. The platform, HSBC Beta, will have a range of innovative new features that give customers more control over their money.\n\nIn a first from a major UK bank, the initial feature will allow customers to see all of their accounts on one screen, no matter who they bank with. Customers can add accounts from up to 21 different banks including Santander, Lloyds and Barclays and will allow users to see not only their current account but loans, mortgages and savings, too, if they are visible via online banking services.\n\n>See also: Open banking: a friend of foe to traditional banks?\n\nThis is the starting point for a raft of new features such as Safe Balance and Spend Analysis that will be released on Beta over the next few months, including:\n\n\u2022 Safe Balance \u2013 shows how much disposable money you have before the next payday.\n\n\u2022 Spend Analysis \u2013 categorises spending, adds tags, notes and photos to transactions and analyse patterns for more informed decision making.\n\n\u2022 Digital Coach \u2013 provides insights into spending and allows users to learn how to spend and save better.\n\n\u2022 Goals \u2013 helps create savings goals and provides tips on how to reach your goals sooner.\n\n\u2022 Savings Rules \u2013 building on the successful SmartSave trial, it helps you to save as you spend by rounding up amounts and sending the extra to a savings account.\n\nHSBC has found that there are two main attitudinal groups of customers: \u2018Planners\u2019 want to know their actions now will pay off in the future, whereas \u2018Responders\u2019 want to focus on the things they really care about today. For both groups, time is their most precious asset.\n\n>See also: Open banking leading financial services revolution\n\nBecky Moffat, head of Personal Banking and Advance said: \u201cAs one of the UK\u2019s biggest retail banks, it\u2019s our job to understand our customers\u2019 ever-changing relationship with their money and their financial needs. Customers now bank at home, on the bus, at work and even in bed, but managing money is still too often a complex and complicated task.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe want to provide customers with greater control and make their lives easier. Through our Beta app we want to give our customers a complete and joined-up view of their financial life and make it easier for them to choose confidently, taking the hassle out of checking dozens of statements and manually calculating what\u2019s left.\u201d\n\nRaman Bhatia, Head of Digital, UK & Europe added: \u201cLots of people ask us if a big bank like HSBC is relevant in today\u2019s competitive FinTech landscape. What sets us apart is that we have millions of customers, which provides a unique insight into how we can continue to improve our digital banking offering.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe HSBC Beta platform allows us to test, learn and develop in a live environment, and then deploy the new technology at scale. To achieve this, we have changed from the inside out putting in place digital delivery teams that are completely cross-functional, including all the skills we need in one place \u2013 developers, designers, risk and compliance and marketing.\u201d\n\n>See also: 2018: the year open banking shakes up Fintech\n\n\u201cThis joined-up view of your money is just the starting point for new features that will be added to the Beta platform over the coming months. These features were developed to answer specific customer needs, such as joined-up banking, and allows us to examine behaviour in early demos before launching a brand new app to customers early next year.\u201d\n\nHSBC Beta builds on the SmartSave app, conducted last year in the FCA Sandbox, which applied smart algorithms to identify when it\u2019s safe to spend through nudges and auto rules.\n\nThe customers saved \u00a3126 on average over a two month trial, and the best features of the trial and will be integrated into an updated version of SmartSave on Beta.\n\nHSBC Beta will be trialled with 10,000 customers from the end of October ahead of general release in early 2018", "output": "HSBC UK will test its mobile banking platform, HSBC Beta, with 10,000 customers\u00a0starting from the end of October. HSBC Beta\u00a0allows users to see details of all their accounts, mortgages, loans and savings together in one place, regardless of who they bank\u00a0with. A\u00a0series of additional features, aimed at helping people spend wisely and save efficiently, will be rolled out in due course, according to the bank. HSBC Beta is built\u00a0on the SmartSave app, which was developed last year in the Financial Conduct Authority's sandbox. The app\u00a0is set to launch nationwide in early 2018.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Estate owners set to benefit from Trump's tax reforms \n Heidi M Przybyla\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nWASHINGTON \u2013 President Trump is making one thing clear about his plan to cut taxes: It won't be a windfall for the richest Americans, including him.\n\n\"It's not good for me, believe me,\" Trump said in a speech unveiling the tax reform blueprint on Wednesday.\n\n\"We're targeting relief to working families,\" Trump said in Indianapolis. \"We will make sure benefits are focused on the middle class, the working men and women, not the highest-income earners.\"\n\nA lot would have to change before that's true.\n\nTrump's initial plan \u2013 backed by Republican leadership on Capitol Hill \u2013 would eliminate the individual Alternative Minimum Tax and estate taxes. It would also tax so-called \"pass through\" businesses at 25%.\n\nBoth of these changes could greatly benefit Trump and his family's business empire.\n\nMore:Trump plans to enlist grassroots and Democrats to sell tax plan he will call biggest in history\n\nMore:How President Trump's tax plan affects you, and what we still don't know about it\n\nMore:In Indiana, Trump promises 'revolutionary change' to tax code\n\nMore:Analysis: Trump's political losses this week could hurt his policy agenda\n\nTrump chose to maintain ownership of his businesses while president, an arrangement that government watchdogs have criticized due to the potential for conflicts of interest.\n\nThe Alternative Minimum Tax, or AMT, prevents people from avoiding tax entirely through deductions and credits \u2013 and is overwhelmingly paid by the rich. Previous analyses found repealing the AMT would have saved Trump $31 million in 2005, the year for which a partial Trump tax return is available.\n\nTrump's initial plan also would tax so-called \"pass through\" businesses at 25%, instead of the income tax rate their owners would pay. Most U.S. businesses are taxed under their owners' individual income tax rate instead of the corporate rate. According to Vox, the \u201cvast majority\u201d of the Trump Organization is considered \"pass through\" as it revolves around real estate and branding deals, though it's unclear whether Trump's businesses would fall under this rate or not.\n\nWhat's more, Trump wants to eliminate the estate tax, which is levied on the distribution of property as it passes from deceased persons to their heirs. This could save the Trump family as much as $1.4 billion, assuming a Forbes estimate that Trump is worth $3.5 billion. Currently, Trump's children would inherit $2.1 billion, assuming the top 40% estate tax rate.\n\nFinally, Trump's plan collapses individual income brackets to three, lowering the top rate from 39.6% to 35%, which critics say would be a significant increase for the wealthiest Americans.\n\nThe White House pointed to language in the GOP framework that would allow the bill's negotiators to add a surcharge on high-income households to ensure it is \"at least as progressive\" as the current code. It also vows to eliminate \"itemized deductions that primarily benefit the wealthiest families.\" Yet it doesn't identify those loopholes, other than a state and local deduction that is also used by many middle-class families living in coastal and blue states.\n\nIt\u2019s impossible to determine exactly how much Trump would personally benefit since, unlike every U.S. president since Richard Nixon, he has never released his tax returns.\n\nTrump is making clear he intends to succeed on taxes where his effort to repeal Obamacare failed \u2013 by working with Democrats.\n\nHis plan is likely to undergo significant changes in Congress if Trump wants to win their approval. For instance, he may be pressed to drop his bid to end the estate tax. Yet eliminating the estate tax has been a longtime goal of the GOP, which argues that it stifles family-owned businesses, including in the farming industry.\n\nAs he rolled out the plan in a Wednesday speech, Trump was joined by Sen. Joe Donnelly of Indiana, one of the most endangered Democrats sitting for reelection in 2018. Trump is courting moderate Democrats such as Donnelly and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, who've yet to indicate what it will take to get their votes.\n\nHowever, according to a Democrat familiar with their thinking, these lawmakers are unlikely to support the plan unless it brings in about the same amount of revenue from upper-income earners as the current tax code.\n\nProgressive Democrats are already seizing the moment to renew their calls for the release of his tax returns.\n\nMeanwhile, Trump is touting several provisions that will help lower income earners.\n\nFor instance, he said the first $12,000 in personal income for individuals and $24,000 for married couples would pay no taxes. Trump would also expand the child care tax credit and create a new $500 caregiver credit.\n\nIt's possible that, as the plan comes together, some of the substantial benefits the wealthy stand to gain will be offset by closing loopholes they currently benefit from.\n\nYet, until Republicans outline which loopholes are ending, the blueprint released this week promises substantial benefit for wealthier taxpayers.\n\nThe estate tax is charged only on estates worth about $5.5 million or more. It was created in part to reduce the ability of a small number of families to amass huge wealth over time. Supporters of its elimination say it can force family-owned businesses to be broken up and sold to pay taxes, affecting workers' jobs.\n\nYet according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, only roughly 50 small business and small farm estates nationwide will face any estate tax in 2017, owing on average less than 6% of their value in tax. The provision also brings in significant revenue to the federal Treasury.\n\nIt's a similar story with the Alternative Minimum Tax. A small minority, 3% of all taxpayers, had to pay the AMT, according to IRS data of the 2014 tax year reviewed by Forbes magazine. Doing away with it would be costly, as it brought in over $28 billion in revenue the same year.\n\nThe precursor to the AMT was created in 1969 in response to outrage over a small minority of wealthy taxpayers earning over $200,000 a year who paid nothing in federal income taxes by maximizing preferences and special write-offs.\n\nFinally, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, \"pass through\" income is highly concentrated among the wealthiest Americans.\n\nContributing: Herb Jackson", "output": "US President Donald Trump recently unveiled plans to eliminate\u00a0the estate tax, a change which stands to financially benefit his own estate. This contradicts Trump's earlier statements that his plans for tax cuts were \"not good for me, believe me\". The Republican party has long complained that the levy stifles the growth of family-owned businesses,\u00a0particularly small farms. However\u00a0the tax, which\u00a0applies to estates worth more than $5.5m, would only affect around 50 small farms this year, according to the non-partisan Tax Policy Center.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "European EV market surges 32% as German plug-in sales double \n Europe Plug-in Sales for H1 of 2017 + Updates for July and August\n\nPlug-in vehicle sales in Europe reached 135 100 units in the first half of 2017, 32 % higher than for the same period of 2016. These include all Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) and Plug-in Hybrids (PHEV) in Europe, of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles. Plug-in share of the European light vehicle market reached 1,63 % in June, the trend so far indicates further increases during the reminder of the year. Results from July and preliminary August indicate that growth is accelerating.\n\nThe German market is the highlight of 2017, with over 100 % increase over 2016 H1, making it the second largest market for plug-ins in Europe, after Norway. Plug-in share in Norway is 29 % for BEV and PHEV combined. A good indication of what is possible with compelling savings on vehicle taxes, much lower running cost and a well developed charging infrastructure.\n\nNearly all countries post growth for 2017, many of them over 100 %, but from still low volumes. For the full year of 2017 we expect 305 - 310 000 plug-ins to be delivered in Europe, up 25 000 units from our previous forecast.", "output": "Sales of battery and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (EVs) rose to 135,100 during H1 2017, up 32%\u00a0on the same period last year, according to EV world sales database\u00a0EV-volumes.com. While Germany saw\u00a0plug-in sales double during the first six months of the year,\u00a0Norway remained significantly\u00a0ahead of other European nations in terms of EV share. The report said the Scandinavian country's combination of generous tax and toll savings for EVs and a\u00a0well-developed charging infrastructure provided\u00a0a model for other nations to follow.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Prescription drug pricing is totally broken, even for generics\u2014here\u2019s what happened \n Epipens. Sovaldi. Tysabri. Acthar. Harvoni. Every month, it seems, there\u2019s fresh outrage\u2013from president Trump, the Congress, in the media, and among the public\u2013over the soaring cost of prescription drugs.\n\nWith good reason: The cash price for the average brand-name prescription drug has increased 48% since 2013. These increases put desperately needed treatments out of reach for many, and cost taxpayers (via Medicare and Medicaid) billions of dollars more every year.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBut as expensive as they are, the brand name drugs in the headlines actually treat relatively few people.\n\nMuch less attention has been paid to the price of prescription drugs that tens of millions Americans take every day\u2013that is, the 85% of prescriptions that treat common chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, chronic pain, diabetes, and depression\u2013and are usually generic medications, not brand-name drugs. Generics are the versions of drugs that get released after a manufacturer\u2019s patent expires, allowing other makers to sell the same compound for less money\u2013well, that\u2019s how it\u2019s supposed to work, at least. More than 3 billion prescriptions are written for generics every year. And the story of generic drug pricing is even weirder than brands.\n\nWe should start with the good news: generic drugs are, on average, getting cheaper. Patents on many blockbuster drugs\u2013Crestor, Abilify, Nexium\u2013have expired in recent years, and in some drug categories\u2013statins or anti-depressants, for example\u2013most treatments are now available as generics.\n\nIn theory, that should mean cheaper prices. In practice, not so much. Here\u2019s why:\n\nAdvertisement\n\nUntil the last few years, insurance covered the cost of most generics; patients would chip in an average co-pay of about $10 and never think twice about the cost of their medications. Over the last decade, however, the $10 copay has slowly begun to disappear, and patients are exposed to prices that can vary wildly.\n\nPart of this is driven by Obamacare. The ACA included prescriptions as an Essential Health Benefit, but it also allowed for very limited formularies, (the lists of drugs covered by insurers), extensive use of prior authorizations, (requiring extra approvals from doctor and insurer), and startlingly high deductibles\u2013as high as $6,500 a year for entry-level Bronze plans\u2013before those old-fashioned $10 co-pays kicked in.\n\nAt the same time, employee-provided insurance also changed dramatically. Plans that used to provide just one or two tiers of drug coverage now have as many as six, with patient costs ratcheting up with every tier. Meanwhile, copays are being replaced with \u201ccoinsurance\u201d, where the consumer\u2019s financial exposure is far greater\u2013a percentage of the total cost, rather than a flat fee.\n\nAll this means that the average American has been quickly exposed to what\u2019s called \u201cusual and customary\u201d (U&C) prices, which are the staggeringly high list prices for prescriptions that were never really intended for consumers to actually pay. Think of these prices like the sticker price on a car\u2013most buyers know that the MSRP is a fool\u2019s price, and the real, lower price is hashed out directly with the dealer. Same with the U&C price on drugs, except there\u2019s no back office for consumers to negotiate with.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nTake atorvastatin, which came on the market as Lipitor but has been available as a generic since 2011; the cash price for the most common dosage is $120 or more per prescription. Gabapentin, an oft-prescribed pain reliever, has a cash price of $75. Nexium, which went generic in 2015, has a cash price at $250 per fill. The story is even worse with diabetes drugs, including insulin, which are often not covered on insurance formularies altogether, (same with medications for erectile dysfunction and many dermatological conditions).\n\nThese prices aren\u2019t just what people without insurance\u2013which still numbers 30 million Americans and could rise substantially if current laws change\u2013will pay. Add up the people in high deductible plans, on Obamacare, and more than 50% of Americans are at risk of paying the full cash price for generic medications.\n\nFortunately, there are now ways for consumers to comparison shop and access tools to make prescriptions more affordable, even when insurance can\u2019t help. Some pharmacies have created programs to discount limited lists of prescriptions. Manufacturers are beginning to provide discounts and assistance programs to help reduce costs for cash-paying patients. And, over the past decade, pharmacy benefit managers\u2013the companies that actually negotiate prices between manufacturers, insurers, and pharmacies\u2013have launched discount cards that offer lower prices. Together, all of these discounts can provide significant savings; up to 75% off more expensive generics. The company I co-founded, GoodRx, has brought the same technology used to compare prices for plane tickets and TV\u2019s to healthcare. We built a comprehensive database of all available discounts that shows consumers to the best available discount based on pharmacy and location, free of charge. It\u2019s just one solution among many that are needed.\n\nEvery year, more Americans are diagnosed with chronic conditions, adding to the 50% of Americans currently coping with such diseases. These are conditions where medicine can\u2019t promise a quick cure, but more typically offers years of coping through one or more medication. For these Americans\u2013which sooner or later will include most of us\u2013it\u2019s essential that any solution coming out of Washington, or out of the drug industry, look beyond the headlines about expensive brand name drugs, and include the vast number of drugs taken by the vast majority of Americans. If we\u2019re really going to address the high cost of drugs in America, we need to understand the real problem.", "output": "Epipens. Sovaldi. Tysabri. Acthar. Harvoni. Every month, it seems, there\u2019s fresh outrage\u2013from president Trump, the Congress, in the media, and among the public\u2013over the soaring cost of prescription drugs.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Why the War Over Health Care Isn\u2019t Over \n The Trump era has conditioned us to brace for chaos, upheaval, and the next story. On Tuesday, after Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, decided not to schedule a vote on a last-ditch Obamacare-repeal bill put forward by Senators Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy, it took only a few hours for the political world and much of the news media to move on to the next item on the White House\u2019s agenda: tax reform. But, before running forward into this new legislative battle, it\u2019s worth dwelling on what we\u2019ve learned over the past few months, as successive G.O.P. health-care bills have faltered. Some of the lessons are encouraging, and some aren\u2019t. Let\u2019s start with the uplifting stuff.\n\nSeven and a half years after Congress passed the Affordable Care Act, the central value it enshrines\u2014that affordable health care should be available to everyone, regardless of age, income, or medical history\u2014is now widely accepted. Opinion polls show almost universal support for this proposition. Donald Trump says he supports it, and so do Republican leaders such as House Speaker Paul Ryan (although they tend to use weasel words like \u201caccessible\u201d rather than \u201caffordable\u201d). That is why the Republicans got into such political trouble when\u2014after years of promising to repeal Obamacare\u2014they finally had to release details of their plans for doing so. It turned out that their ideas would lead to millions of poorer Americans losing coverage, while many seniors and sick people would see their out-of-pocket costs soar. The Party\u2019s hypocrisy was exposed.\n\nAnother progressive idea included in the A.C.A. that has proven durable is the notion that expanding health-care coverage is important enough to justify higher taxes on the wealthy. When Donald Trump took office, Republicans were determined to repeal two Obamacare tax increases that had hit households earning more than a quarter of a million dollars a year: a 0.9-per-cent surcharge on Medicare taxes and a 3.8-per-cent investment tax. These increases had helped pay for the law\u2019s insurance subsidies and its big expansion of Medicaid. Yet going after these tax increases left Republicans open to the accusation that their real motivation was to help the Party\u2019s wealthy donors. After McConnell\u2019s Better Care Reconciliation Act died, in mid-July, Republicans quietly stopped pushing to get rid of these taxes. McConnell\u2019s so-called \u201cskinny repeal,\u201d which was voted down in the early hours of July 27th, and the Graham-Cassidy bill both would have left these taxes in place. For a Republican Party that views cutting taxes on the rich as one of its central missions, that was a big retreat.\n\nThe general point is that the enactment of Obamacare, despite all the criticisms it has received, has permanently shifted the political debate. It is no longer enough for Republicans to argue that America can\u2019t afford a decent health-care system, or that the way to fix things is to simply repeal the A.C.A. and leave the rest to the market. Having seen the pluses and minuses of Obamacare, most Americans aren\u2019t willing to junk it in exchange for vague promises. Any potential replacement must be able to withstand some detailed comparison shopping. Thus far, no Republican plan has been able to meet that challenge.\n\nThe ubiquity of the Internet has played a role here. As the action on Capitol Hill proceeded, practically everybody had access to the latest health-care analyses from independent institutions like the Congressional Budget Office, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Commonwealth Fund. Most people didn\u2019t actually read the studies these organizations produced, of course. But the news media helped transmit the key findings, and so did the round-the-clock social-media efforts of experts including Kaiser\u2019s Larry Levitt, the former Obama Administration official Andy Slavitt, and the Center for American Progress\u2019s Topher Spiro. The C.B.O.\u2019s studies, which showed that the G.O.P.\u2019s plans would lead to big drops in coverage and much higher premiums for people older than fifty-five and those with pre\u00ebxisting conditions, were arguably the single biggest factor in public opinion turning against McConnell and Ryan\u2019s efforts. This month, when the Republicans tried to rush through the Graham-Cassidy bill, they scheduled things so that the C.B.O. wouldn\u2019t have enough time to do a proper scoring. But this tactic rebounded: it was widely, and rightly, seen as subterfuge.\n\nFor once, real news and real analysis won out over fake news, and democratic activism defeated procedural stunts on Capitol Hill. On Tuesday, I noted that health-care-advocacy groups and Democratic activists had for months pursued Senator Susan Collins, of Maine, putting pressure on her to vote against her Party\u2019s bills.\n\nOf course, Collins might have decided to oppose the Republican repeal bills even without the protests. (And, as I noted, the nation owes her its thanks.) But there can be no doubt that the activism had an effect. Think back to what happened during April and May in the House of Representatives, when Paul Ryan, trying to pass his American Health Care Act, faced defections from moderate Republicans who represent places such as New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and who were being subjected to regular protests in their home districts. Ryan ultimately got his plan through the House, but the wider repeal effort never really recovered its momentum.\n\nOn the other side of the ledger, it must be acknowledged that, as the Duke of Wellington is reputed to have said of the Battle of Waterloo, it was a damn close-run thing. Had Collins, Lisa Murkowski, or John McCain voted the other way on the \u201cskinny repeal,\u201d back in July, the legislation would have proceeded to a House-Senate conference, where it would probably have been broadened and passed. We don\u2019t know for sure how many Republicans would have supported the Graham-Cassidy bill if it had come to an actual vote, but it surely would have been close, too. Republicans have comprehensively lost the intellectual arguments: they can\u2019t cite a single reputable study showing that their bills would preserve affordable coverage for the old, the sick, and the poor. But that doesn\u2019t appear to be enough to sway most G.O.P. senators. Either because they feared primary challenges from the right or because they had trotted out the anti-Obamacare patter for so long that they had come to believe it, the vast majority of them toed the Party line. Especially after Tuesday\u2019s Senate primary result in Alabama\u2014where the insurgent Roy Moore defeated the Party favorite Luther Strange\u2014there is no reason to expect this attitude to change. And there\u2019s also no reason to believe that the Republican Party won\u2019t, at some point, launch yet another repeal effort. In fact, it is only a question of when.\n\nOn Wednesday, Lindsey Graham, who had just watched his bill die, said that the Party would return to health care immediately after passing tax reform. But a legislative window for pushing through a health-care measure with just fifty votes is closing, and, going forward, the Republicans will need sixty votes to break a Democratic filibuster. Unless, of course, they pass another budget-reconciliation bill, which would give them another chance at a fifty-vote victory. Or they could get rid of the filibuster altogether, a step which Donald Trump urged them to do on Wednesday.\n\nFor now, it looks like the next repeal effort will have to wait until after the 2018 midterms. But another thing we\u2019ve learned in the past few months is that you should never underestimate the determination of the Republicans, and of their wealthy donors, to dismantle Obamacare, or their eagerness to embrace practically any tactic that might help them achieve their goal. \u201cBottom line is the ACA is not remotely safe between now & 2018 election,\u201d Andy Slavitt tweeted on Wednesday. The forces of enlightenment and progress have won another big battle. But the war isn\u2019t over.", "output": "The Trump era has conditioned us to brace for chaos, upheaval, and the next story. On Tuesday, after Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, decided not to schedule a vote on a last-ditch Obamacare-repeal bill put forward by Senators Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy, it took only a few hours for the political world and much of the news media to move on to the next item on the White House\u2019s agenda: tax reform.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Most Medicare members say they aren't getting recommendations about chronic conditions \n Dive Brief:\n\nAlthough most Medicare members have at least one chronic disease, only 10% of those recently surveyed said they received reminders or recommendations about their conditions, according to a new HealthMine Survey.\n\nThe survey found 44% of survey respondents said their health plan never communicates with them about their chronic condition.\n\nThe most frequently reported chronic conditions among those surveyed were high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, asthma and symptoms of depression.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that three out of four Americans 65 and older have multiple chronic conditions. Engaging people with co-morbidities is often a way to improve health conditions, but the HealthMine survey found that\u2019s not the case for many in the Medicare population.\n\nResearch shows that engaging patients, especially those with chronic diseases, can improve health. The industry can also cut costs by figuring out how best to engage patients with chronic conditions. The Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease recently reported that chronic disease will cost the U.S. $42 trillion between 2016 and 2030, including $2 trillion in medical costs. The report predicted that 83 million Americans will have three or more chronic diseases by 2030 unless there are health improvements. That's more than twice the number of Americans with three or more chronic diseases now.\n\nThe issue of chronic illness and engagement isn\u2019t just a Medicare population issue either. About 59% of Americans have at least one chronic disease, and those patients are driving healthcare costs, especially if they have co-morbidities. Only 5% of people account for 50% of healthcare spending.\n\nBryce Williams, president and CEO of HealthMine, a healthcare technology company that communicates health information to members in hopes of creating better outcomes and lowering costs, said corresponding with Medicare members is \u201cimperative.\u201d He added that health plans \u201chave the data to connect with meaningful, timely help for reminders to members \u2014 and learn member\u2019s communication preferences.\u201d However, HealthMine's study found the Medicare population isn't benefiting from those communications.", "output": "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that three out of four Americans 65 and older have multiple chronic conditions. Engaging people with co-morbidities is often a way to improve health conditions, but the HealthMine survey found that\u2019s not the case for many in the Medicare population.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Messing With Medicare\u2019s Prescription Drug Program Will Hurt Low-Income Seniors \n Members of Congress should never be forced to choose between low-income children and low-income seniors. However, that is the decision that lawmakers will face if congressional leaders rework Medicare benefits to pay for an extension of the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program.\n\nThe plan under discussion would dramatically increase out-of-pocket costs for low-income seniors who need brand-name prescription drugs. The change would effectively make this medicine more expensive for the Medicare population that can least afford higher prices.\n\nThis is a very real concern for people who can barely afford their existing drug coverage. Most of the people who qualify for low-income subsidies under Medicare, also known as \u201cExtra Help,\u201d make less than $18,000 a year. And they are more likely to suffer from a range of common ailments, including diabetes, heart failure and chronic kidney disease.\n\nThis is the problem with tinkering with patients\u2019 co-pays. People often base their health-care decisions on financial incentives, but doctors and diseases do not. Low-income patients are particularly vulnerable to these changes because studies show they are more inclined to choose lower-cost medicine if the price increases for another, even if doctors recommend other treatments that would be more effective.\n\nFor Americans struggling to make ends meet, every penny matters, and research shows that even a modest uptick in out-of-pocket costs will force patients to choose lower-priced alternatives, even if they are less effective. Some forgo treatment entirely. One study found small increases in co-pays for cancer patients on Medicaid prompted them not to take the medicines they need.\n\nIncreasing co-pays for branded pharmaceutical products pose the biggest threat to patients who suffer from diseases for which there are not as many generic treatments. Low-income Americans are more likely to suffer from HIV, for example, and the most prevalent HIV treatments are branded biopharmaceutical products. Similarly, a change could limit the options available to physicians looking to treat psychiatric conditions.\n\nThis is not typically a partisan issue. Prominent Republicans have supported Extra Help in the past. The credits were established by the prescription-drug bill former President George W. Bush signed into law with the help of GOP majorities in the House and Senate. At the time, Oregon Rep. Greg Walden, who is now chairman of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, penned an editorial endorsing the program and encouraging lower-income Oregonians to enroll.\n\nMedicare\u2019s prescription-drug benefit is hugely successful by every possible measure. A survey of 2,000 seniors over the summer found 87 percent are satisfied with their Part D drug coverage and 90 percent think the costs they pay for prescription drugs would be much higher if they didn\u2019t have this coverage. In July, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that premiums for the popular prescription-drug plans will fall. The announcement was a welcome sign that Medicare is already helping to tame prescription-drug costs.\n\nThe program is also helping seniors live healthier lives. A study by the University of Illinois released earlier this year found that expanded access to prescription drugs has resulted in a noticeable drop in the mortality rate for American seniors. That means seniors, on average, are living longer lives.\n\nThis program is working well and has a demonstrated history of helping seniors from every income bracket. It does not make any sense to disrupt such a wildly successful program, especially for the very seniors who need it the most.\n\nMedicare was designed to help older Americans meet their basic health care needs, just as the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program does for lower-income kids. Pitting one group against the other defeats the purpose of both programs. Surely Congress can find other ways to finance both programs, preserving two basic backstops for two groups who need the most help.", "output": "Members of Congress should never be forced to choose between low-income children and low-income seniors. However, that is the decision that lawmakers will face if congressional leaders rework Medicare benefits to pay for an extension of the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Meals on Wheels America and Aetna Form Innovative Collaboration to Improve Senior Care \n Arlington, VA \u2013 September 27, 2017 \u2013 Meals on Wheels America announced today a new national program with Aetna to collaborate on groundbreaking research and innovative models for patient care coordination. The nonprofit and Fortune 50 health company will work together to facilitate access to critical health and social services for America\u2019s seniors at all stages of medical need, from preventive to post-hospital discharge.\n\nThe objective of the collaboration is to create a best in class model for care coordination, integrating Meals on Wheels\u2019 daily nutritious meals, social support and critical safety checks into a continuum of care required as people age. Meals on Wheels and Aetna will pilot this model in several markets, and identify best practices intended to improve vulnerable seniors\u2019 health outcomes. Results from these pilots will help build a scalable operational model that will address the challenges seniors face in their daily living.\n\n\u201cMore than three-quarters of older adults have at least two chronic conditions. Having a reliable support system in place to observe their health on a regular basis can be just as important as the care they receive at the doctor\u2019s office,\u201d said Mark T. Bertolini, Aetna chairman and CEO. \u201cOur work with Meals on Wheels America will help us make better connections with seniors in their homes and communities, and enable us to establish truly meaningful relationships that can improve the lives of this vulnerable population.\u201d\n\nWith the senior population projected to double by the year 2050, this joint program is intended to create a replicable model that will encourage healthcare entities across the country to utilize home- and community-based service providers to address the significant challenges present in the nation\u2019s health care system.\n\n\u201cThis collaboration is an important step to fully integrate Meals on Wheels into the health care system,\u201d said Ellie Hollander, president and CEO of Meals on Wheels America. \u201cWe are thankful to Aetna for its generous support and leadership in working with health- and community-based service providers, and together, I am confident that we can support seniors in receiving the holistic care they need and deserve.\u201d\n\nAbout Meals on Wheels America\n\nMeals on Wheels America is the oldest and largest national organization supporting the more than 5,000 community-based programs across the country that are dedicated to addressing senior isolation and hunger. This network exists in virtually every community in America and, along with more than two million staff and volunteers, delivers the nutritious meals, friendly visits and safety checks that enable America\u2019s seniors to live nourished lives with independence and dignity. By providing funding, leadership, education, research and advocacy support, Meals on Wheels America empowers its local member programs to strengthen their communities, one senior at a time. For more information, or to find a Meals on Wheels provider near you, visit www.mealsonwheelsamerica.org.\n\nAbout Aetna\n\nAetna is one of the nation\u2019s leading diversified health care benefits companies, serving an estimated 44.7 million people with information and resources to help them make better informed decisions about their health care. Aetna offers a broad range of traditional, voluntary and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral health, group life and disability plans, and medical management capabilities, Medicaid health care management services, workers\u2019 compensation administrative services and health information technology products and services. Aetna\u2019s customers include employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, health care providers, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups and expatriates. For more information, see www.aetna.com and learn about how Aetna is helping to build a healthier world. @AetnaNews\n\nMedia Contacts:\n\nJenny Bertolette Young\n\nMeals on Wheels America\n\n571-339-1603\n\njenny@mealsonwheelsamerica.org\n\nEthan Slavin\n\nAetna\n\n(860) 273-6095\n\nSlavinE@aetna.com", "output": "Meals on Wheels America announced today a new national program with Aetna to collaborate on groundbreaking research and innovative models for patient care coordination. The nonprofit and Fortune 50 health company will work together to facilitate access to critical health and social services for America\u2019s seniors at all stages of medical need, from preventive to post-hospital discharge.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aging populations often thoroughly contemplate housing decisions, researchers find \n Credit: Pexels.com\n\nAs people approach their final stage of life, whether they decide to remain in their home or seek to move to a more supportive place, it's often a well-thought-out choice and not a reactive decision, according to a new study that includes a University of Kansas researcher.\n\n\"The literature discusses housing choices and decisions as people reacting to events, such as they become sick or the neighborhood changes around them,\" said David Ekerdt, professor of sociology and gerontology. \"This model is that people are reacting to external events, but our view is that people are proactive and always thinking about what might happen and whether their living arrangement is good for them.\"\n\nEkerdt is the corresponding author of a study, \"Residential Reasoning and the Tug of the Fourth Age,\" which will appear in the October issue of the journal The Gerontologist. His co-author on the paper is Catheryn Koss, a KU graduate, who is now at Sacramento State University.\n\nThe researchers interviewed 30 community-dwelling retirees ages 67-97 in the United States about how they prepared for the future, including their housing decisions.\n\nGerontology researchers have termed the \"third age\" as an active retirement where people have left their traditional work and family roles though they are still relatively independent. The \"fourth age\" refers to the next phase, which might include disability or a health decline toward the end of one's life.\n\nThe study is part of the larger international project \"Aging as Future\" supported by a grant from the Volkswagen Foundation in Germany. Ekerdt has joined with researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, North Carolina State University at Raleigh, the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany and the University of Jena in Germany.\n\nEkerdt said the findings about how people later in life think about their housing decisions is important because it provides a different angle to the perception that people often wait and react based on a health event or some other immediate circumstance.\n\n\"In this case, people are constantly having the specter of the fourth age ahead of them. They are continually thinking about, 'Where is the best place that I should grow old?'\" he said. \"People are continually thinking about and evaluating the residences where they live.\"\n\nThe researchers did identify two categories of people based on how they did approach their housing decisions: pre-emptive and contingent. Participants who used pre-emptive reasoning anticipated their current homes would be suitable over the long term, and they explained why. Those who engaged in contingent reasoning imagined a possible future move to more supportive housing and possibly had a destination in mind.\n\nSeveral factors could also influence which camp respondents landed in, Ekerdt said, including the effects of peers and relationship with spouses and children.\n\nEither way, the process was something that seemed to be well thought out, he said.\n\n\"The fourth age is remarkably present to people's imagination about the future,\" Ekerdt said. \"'What would happen if I was to become unable to function in the place that I'm living?'\u2014as opposed to other decisions you might make and put aside.\"\n\nThese findings might be good news for companies who market senior housing or for those who renovate homes, he said.\n\n\"There is a great opportunity to try to reach people as they are processing their setting and their dwellings,\" Ekerdt said. \"Later-life housing also has other implications. Homes are very important to health care and people's ability to fit into their environments. A dwelling not just a place to live. It's a place to manage your health.\"\n\nMore information: Catheryn Koss et al. Residential Reasoning and the Tug of the Fourth Age, The Gerontologist (2016). DOI: 10.1093/geront/gnw010", "output": "As people approach their final stage of life, whether they decide to remain in their home or seek to move to a more supportive place, it's often a well-thought-out choice and not a reactive decision, according to a new study that includes a University of Kansas researcher.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CHRONIC Act, which expands Medicare coverage for telemedicine, passes in Senate \n Senate Bill 870, the Creating High-Quality Results and Outcomes Necessary to Improve Chronic Care Act of 2017, or CHRONIC Act for short, has passed in the Senate by a unanimous vote. Among other things, the bill, which was originally introduced in April by Senator Orrin Hatch (R - Utah), includes provisions that would expand Medicare coverage for telemedicine.\n\nAlong with expanding telemedicine coverage under Medicare Advantage Plan B in 2020 and giving Accountable Care Organizations more freedom to use telemedicine, key provisions in the CHRONIC bill extend the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services\u2019 home-based primary care teams for people with multiple chronic conditions. The bill would extend this \u201cIndependence at Home\u201d demonstration to two years and increase the maximum allowable number of Medicare beneficiaries in the program from 10,000 to 15,000.\n\nOne proposal in the bill would allow a patient\u2019s home dialysis facilities to count as a recognized originating site for telehealth visits. Another eliminates location restrictions on telestroke consultations.\n\n\u201cThe Finance Committee has been working hard to address and improve healthcare outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries with chronic conditions for the last two years,\u201d Hatch said in a statement. \u201cThe CHRONIC Care Act is a culmination of a bipartisan, committee-wide effort, which included rigorous engagement and feedback from affected stakeholders. This legislation will improve disease management, lower Medicare costs and streamline care coordination services \u2013 all without adding to the deficit. Addressing these issues is critical for the increasing number of individuals who live with multiple chronic conditions and will age into the Medicare program over the next two decades. The CHRONIC Care Act is one of the few bipartisan healthcare bills to pass the Senate this Congress, and I urge my colleagues in the House to act quickly on this legislation and get it to the president\u2019s desk to be signed into law.\u201d\n\nIn the House, the various provisions of the bill have been presented as seperate pieces of legislation. HR 3727 is the bill that includes the telemedicine expansion under Medicare Advantage; it was approved by the House Ways and Means committee and now heads back to the floor. Similarly, HR 1148, which includes the telestroke provisions, has been approved by the House Energy & Commerce committee. Finally, the kidney dialysis provisions are contained in HR 3178, which the House passed back in July. Assuming all these measures pass, they can be unified with the Senate's CHRONIC Act in conference and head to the president's desk.", "output": "Senate Bill 870, the Creating High-Quality Results and Outcomes Necessary to Improve Chronic Care Act of 2017, or\u00a0CHRONIC Act\u00a0for short, has passed in the Senate by a unanimous vote. Among other things, the bill, which was originally\u00a0introduced in April\u00a0by Senator Orrin Hatch (R - Utah),\u00a0includes provisions that would expand Medicare coverage for telemedicine.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hospice in crisis \n It might seem odd to talk about \u201cinnovations in dying,\u201d but in recent decades the hospice movement has become an important new pathway for the most difficult phase of life. As American health care has become ever more high-tech and expensive, the hospice model of home-based care for terminally ill patients has enabled millions of Americans to die peacefully in their own houses, without painful medical procedures\u2014often greatly reducing stress on both the families and the health care system.\n\nNow, however, the hospice model is coming under stress of its own. Some of that\u2019s because the industry has changed, with a lot more for-profit hospice agencies and investor-owned chains, which are coming under scrutiny from regulators. But much of the stress comes from shifts in how we die, how we live\u2014and with whom. These are big demographic changes that make the original conception of hospice harder to carry out as it was once intended.\n\nWith baby boomers aging and likely to live with serious illness for several years, understanding how best to take care of the aged and the dying is becoming an ever more pressing issue in America\u2014emotionally, morally, and financially. \u201cWe need to address this very quickly,\u201d said Joan Teno of the University of Washington, a prominent geriatrician who both practices and researches end of life care. \u201cThe tsunami of frail elderly people with complex multiple illnesses is coming.\u201d\n\nIn theory, hospice would be an ideal system to deal with this tsunami. From the time it was developed in Britain in the 1960s and \u201870s, it represented a pushback against the over-medicalization of death, emphasizing comfort care and emotional support over disruptive medical interventions. It put great emphasis on family; hospice care is often delivered by close relatives rather than medical staffers. And it was originally designed with cancer in mind, at a time when cancer killed quickly.\n\nNowadays, however, dying itself has changed. Cancer isn\u2019t the death sentence it was, and thanks to new waves of drugs that prolong life in late-stage disease, it can be hard to know when it\u2019s time to stop treatment and emphasize pain relief. More than half of hospice patients have dementia, heart disease, and other slow-progressing disorders\u2014and most of those have more than one such diagnosis, and a panoply of symptoms. That makes it harder to prognosticate just how much time someone may have left to live. Given that hospice care is generally available only to people likely to die within six months, prognosticating is important. Even to the practiced medical eye, it\u2019s not always clear exactly when a patient is crossing that almost imperceptible line between \u201cvery sick\u201d and \u201cdying.\u201d\n\nFamilies, too, have changed since hospice took root in the U.S. health system. They tend to be smaller, and live farther apart. More women work\u2013making it harder for them to take on traditional roles as full-time caregivers. And millions of old, frail Americans\u2014divorced, widowed, or never married\u2014now live alone without family nearby, or without family at all. The most isolated are sometimes called \u201cthe unbefriended.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe have different illnesses, and different social situations than the traditional hospice user,\u201d said David Stevenson, an expert on aging at Vanderbilt Medical School.\n\nWhat hasn\u2019t changed is the basic payment system\u2014a per diem system\u2014and the basic regulatory framework. Hospice is largely covered by Medicare, which pays a flat daily rate\u2014usually around $145 to $160, with some variation based on geography and length of stay. Hospices get paid more for limited spells of crisis care in the home setting (and \u201chome\u201d can include a nursing home or an assisted living facility) or when a patient does get inpatient hospice care, usually briefly, in a hospice house or hospice-designated bed or wing in a hospital.\n\nNo matter how good and caring the hospice team\u2014nurses, aides, social workers and, as desired, chaplains\u2014much of the work falls to the family. And even when the family is willing and well-equipped, as my own family was as we took care of my father with hospice in the final months of his life, it\u2019s not so easy to die at home.\n\nFor those with less support\u2014it can be monumentally difficult. But no less important.\n\n\u201cThere are people who would literally rather die than leave home. And they are really left without a good option,\u201d said Dr. Drew Rosielle of the University of Minnesota, who, like his fellow palliative care physicians, works hard to keep his patients safe at home as long as possible. \u201cThe patients who genuinely don\u2019t have loved ones who can essentially move in with them\u2014most of those people do not die at home.\u201d\n\nThey end up getting care they don\u2019t want, in a place they don\u2019t want to be in\u2014and it costs more. \u201cThe ER, a hospital bed or a nursing home. That is our long-term care system for people who don\u2019t have a support system.\u201d said Edo Banach, the new president and CEO of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, who took the job knowing it\u2019s time for some fresh thinking about hospice\u2014and the rest of American health care.\n\nEven strong advocates of hospice know that it\u2019s time for changes to match the complex medical needs of today\u2019s patients and the demographic realities of the country\u2014as well as trends arising from long-term use of hospice in existing institutions like nursing homes. But in the near future, there aren\u2019t a whole lot of fabulous solutions, at least not ones that don\u2019t cost a lot of money.\n\nThis is where Washington might come in. But a comprehensive national long-term care program is so challenging economically and politically that hardly anyone in the capital even bothers talking about it. Medicaid offers long-term services and supports in the community or in nursing homes\u2014but only to poor people, or people who become poor after spending all their money on care. Plus, congressional Republicans want to cut Medicaid, not grow it. The Obamacare repeal plans would take hundreds of billions from Medicaid, raising questions about how America plans to pay for its elder care as that bill rises.\n\nBy default, improvisation becomes policy. \u201cWe spend a lot of time cutting and pasting,\u201d said Dr. Christian Sinclair, a former president of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, who is now practicing mostly outpatient palliative care at the University of Kansas Medical Center. And patching together care from friends, neighbors, some volunteers from church, is an increasingly inadequate response to the tidal wave of baby boomers now growing old. Can it be fixed?\n\nIN SOME WAYS, hospice is a throwback to how we died before the surge of medical machinery and ICUs, and it can seem jarring that the movement would take root in contemporary America at all. When patients elect hospice, they must usually give up on curing or containing their disease\u2014a difficult decision to make in a system that dangles the promise of a medical fix just within reach. In practice, people often turn to hospice for only a handful of days, at the very end, after using up a lot of expensive high-tech care that may have drawn out death more than it extended life.\n\nOnce they do elect hospice, a whole different philosophy of care begins. It\u2019s more than easing physical pain and managing symptoms, though there\u2019s that. It\u2019s built around team-based care, both physical and emotional, and it\u2019s intended to support the family as well as the patient. Surveys over the years, as well as Medicare\u2019s new \u201cHospice Compare\u201d quality project, have found high satisfaction rates with hospice care.\n\nLEFT: Ann Mitchell, CEO of Montgomery Hospice House, sits on a bench in Rockville, Maryland. Mitchell has spent years trying to make hospice more humane. RIGHT: A memorial walkway at Montgomery Hospice House. | M. Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO\n\nBut dying people can require companionship around the clock\u2014and the paid hospice team isn\u2019t there 24/7, not even close. Families\u2014or home aides when a family can afford to hire them\u2014fill the gap. The care is complex and intensive, not in the sense of \u201cintensive care,\u201d but hands-on intense. \u201cIt\u2019s a person who is dying,\u201d said Ann Mitchell, the CEO of Montgomery Hospice outside Washington, a veteran of hospice since its early days. \u201cThat takes a lot of care and a lot of time.\u201d\n\nFamily support is so crucial that some hospices won\u2019t even try to arrange home care for someone on their own; the last big survey of hospices, conducted a decade ago, found that more than one in 10 hospices refused to take on a patient without a family caregiver. But most doctors and hospices work to keep that patient at home, safely. \u201cWe try to have a plan in place,\u201d said Dr. Holly Yang, a hospice and palliative care physician at Scripps Health in San Diego, who like the other physicians interviewed for this article is engaged in both patient care and public policy.\n\nPatients who are mostly on their own may do OK for a while, but decline is inevitable. They may not be able to prepare their meals, feed themselves, get out of bed\u2014or manage their meds. They may experience acute pain, disorientation, shortness of breath. And when that happens, instead of calling the hospice nurse, the instinct is to call 911.\n\nEven if the hospice patient who is rushed to the hospital ends up back home, all those transitions likely made things worse. Care gets disrupted, protocols get changed, mistakes get made\u2014and costs rise\u2014with each handoff. \u201cIt impacts the quality of care,\u201d said Teno, the geriatrician, who has studied care transitions extensively and who has been a medical director in nursing homes and hospice. \u201cIt\u2019s crying out for someone to fix it.\u201d\n\nIf the Medicare agency and Congress aren\u2019t diving into reinvention of hospice, doctors and policy experts have some ideas of their own\u2014though not always with clear-cut ways to pay for them. By and large, they are still in the \u201cfloating ideas\u201d stage, not agenda items for Congress or the Medicare agency.\n\nSome physicians interviewed suggested tiered payments, which would replace the one size fits all daily rates. In other words, they could pay more for a patient with a particularly complex condition, or for a patient who can\u2019t stitch together the necessary social support system. Another idea is to create more flexibility on how Medicare defines \u201ccontinuous care\u201d\u2014a higher level of care for which the hospice gets a higher rate. Right now \u201ccontinuous care\u201d means an eight-hour block of hospice-provided care. Some doctors think paying for smaller blocks, like four hours, might be more practical.\n\nOne researcher mused about shifting the myriad quality markers that Medicare and private health plans now require so they have a sharper focus on end of life, and rewarding those that do it well. Hospitals measure and refine, for instance, how quickly they can get a heart patient in to the room for cardiac procedures; why not do the same for getting a dying patient into the most appropriate and compassionate setting?\n\nOne doctor suggested that four or five hospice patients could live together, sharing the cost of caregivers, who know to quickly summon the hospice nurse, not an ambulance, when things get tough. It wouldn\u2019t be the same as staying \u201cat home\u201d for patients who really wanted to live out their days in their own homes. But it could be a home-like substitute, and there are scenarios where the arrangement could make the caregiving costs more affordable for some.\n\nSome experts see promise in using more inpatient care, whether in a freestanding \u201chospice house\u201d\u2014a more formal and regulated setting for care\u2014or a section of hospital or nursing home. Hospice houses are more common than they were 20 years ago, but they are still not the norm. By 2015, the proportion of deaths in America that took place under inpatient hospice care rose to 8 percent, from zero in 1999, according to research recently published in Health Affairs. With soup on the stove, cookie dough in the fridge, and places for those who do have family and friends to gather, such houses don\u2019t feel institutional. Mostly they\u2019re used for a brief stay to control a crisis, or for a few days of respite care for family caregivers. But some who have studied hospice extensively, like Elizabeth Bradley, a health policy expert who recently became president of Vassar College, say it\u2019s worth thinking about how this inpatient setting can take on a bigger role, at least toward the end. \u201cIt makes a lot of sense,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not home\u2014but it\u2019s homelike. And it\u2019s set up to pass you through the end of life.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s appealing, but comes with its own cultural and financial challenges. For one thing, it\u2019s not how most hospices, still attuned to home-based family care, see their mission, at least not now. Nor can they afford it under the equally home-centric Medicare fee structure, unless they have a lot of philanthropic support. \u201cWe\u2019ve hit a few cases where we didn\u2019t feel safe with the patient home situation, where we brought them in for a respite stay and we added routine days onto that because there was no safe discharge plan,\u201d Dr. Patrick White, chief medical officer of BJC Hospice in Missouri, said of the 16-bed hospice house it opened a few months ago. \u201cBut it\u2019s really frustrating for us that financially the hospice takes a huge hit for that. It\u2019s not economically viable.\u201d To get Medicare to even think about paying more for the inpatient model, there\u2019d probably have to be a crystal clear economic case that it would save health care dollars elsewhere, and not be one more big bill tacked on to the last year of life.\n\nONE INNOVATION THAT does help people stay at home independently is telemedicine or telecare\u2014health care delivered remotely, over the internet or by phone. Medicare doesn\u2019t pay for telemedicine in most settings. But it\u2019s catching on under the per-day payments that hospice gets, and under other \u201cvalue-based\u201d or lump-sum payments that are emerging.\n\nIt has also caught the eye of the Department of Veterans Affairs, whose administrator, David Shulkin, has declared it a top priority to allow veterans to die in their homes if they wish. \u201cI want to be able to assure every veteran that it\u2019s their right to do so,\u201d said Shulkin, who calls this policy his \u201cmoon shot.\u201d He\u2019s working on getting more paid caregivers into the home, and expanding home technology as part of the solution.\n\nThough the recent growth of telemedicine has often come to mean fancy apps, sensors, and monitors, with hospice it can be less expensive, as simple as a regular check-in phone call from a nurse trained to pick up on red flags or stress\u2014heading off that 911 call, said Dr. White of BJC. \u201cIt\u2019s cheap and simple\u2014and it\u2019s proactive, especially for patients with lower health literacy who may not have caught a sign or symptom.\u201d For patients at home alone, it\u2019s a layer of protection.\n\nA hospice patient visits with family in an outdoor courtyard at Montgomery Hospice House on Sept. 12. | M. Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO\n\nTech is also showing promise in helping create hospice-like end-of-life care in remote areas, where people may just live too far from the nearest hospice organization to tap into its care. In an isolated rural stretch of Northern California, Dr. Michael Fratkin, founder of a company called Resolution Care, is \u201cvirtually visiting\u201d seriously ill patients at home with a phone, a laptop, and free teleconferencing software. Many of Fratkin\u2019s patients have scant family support; in addition to physical illness, some are dealing with poverty, food insecurity, and homelessness. He makes in-person visits, too, as do nurses and community health workers. The care he provides is not hospice, but it\u2019s similar, paid for by Medicaid managed care plans in California and a few big insurers.\n\nRecalling one patient, a veteran with liver cancer who lived way out in the country, Fratkin said: \u201cI walked him through the last eight or nine months of his life, on the land where he lived it.\u201d Fratkin \u2019s already getting a lot of interest from other doctors and health organizations, and his approach would easily fit into hospice. The technology is accessible enough for patients. \u201cI\u2019m not that much of a geek,\u201d Fratkin said.\n\nAnother development in medicine, embodying some of the philosophy and benefits of hospice, is the relatively new specialty of palliative care. This is an option for patients with advanced diseases, instead of or prior to hospice itself. But palliative care patients don\u2019t have to give up curative care, like chemotherapy, so the transition is less of a rupture, and more of a gentle slope. Similarly, some hospices now offer \u201copen access\u201d or \u201cconcurrent care,\u201d allowing the patient to start hospice but to keep getting \u201cregular\u201d treatment.\n\nMedicare\u2019s Innovation Center is running a multi-year test of that approach for four diseases, including advanced cancer. The idea is that patients who get the symptom management and emotional supports of hospice and palliative care, and who come to better understand their own illness, make different choices. \u201cIf we walk earlier with that patient, and he or she starts realizing the burdens of treatment outweigh the benefits. \u2026 It\u2019s a more humane way of doing it, and I think it will save money,\u201d said Ann Mitchell of Montgomery Hospice. That money could then be used to meet all sorts of needs we don\u2019t pay for now\u2014like more help at home.\n\nOn a broader level, the steps needed to create the next iteration of hospice may dovetail with the steps being taken to address the bloated, expensive American health care system. \u201cThe focus isn\u2019t just on diagnosis and medical tests and drugs and durable medical equipment, but on meeting the patients\u2019 whole needs. That\u2019s really where it\u2019s at,\u201d said Joe Rotella, a long-time hospice doctor now working with the hospice and palliative medicine academy, which has put forth its own ideas for reform. \u201cWe\u2019re just kind of waiting for the system to catch up.\u201d\n\nA raft of experiments are under way aimed at shifting how we finance and deliver care; some are advanced through the more esoteric provisions of Obamacare, the ones the country hasn\u2019t spent eight years fighting about. Others are linked to a bipartisan new law that will change how Medicare pays physicians\u2014with an emphasis on value of care, not volume of care. Many of the ideas being tested and explored entail more and better management of chronic diseases\u2014the slow-motion killers that, eventually, bring people to hospice\u2019s door.\n\nIf these experiments bear fruit, we could move toward a system where families can be supported, not exhausted. Where patients can get the holistic approach pioneered by hospice, without \u201cgiving up\u201d on more aggressive treatment. Where patients who understand their choices can get off the conveyer belt of high-tech medicine, and find whatever balance of curative and palliative care is right for them. For both those who are surrounded by family, and the \u201cunbefriended,\u201d it could become a little less hard to die at home.\n\nJoanne Kenen is POLITICO Pro's health care editor.\n\nAuthors:", "output": "It might seem odd to talk about \u201cinnovations in dying,\u201d but in recent decades the hospice movement has become an important new pathway for the most difficult phase of life. As American health care has become ever more high-tech and expensive, the hospice model of home-based care for terminally ill patients has enabled millions of Americans to die peacefully in their own houses, without painful medical procedures\u2014often greatly reducing stress on both the families and the health care system.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Senior medicine: When \u2018more\u2019 isn\u2019t better \n Dr. George Taler still makes house calls, driving his scuffed green Toyota sedan from one apartment to another, carrying a blue satchel with a laptop, hand sanitizer and a few medical tools. Inside each apartment, he practices medicine with old-fashioned care, spending half an hour with each patient. He takes out a stethoscope, a blood pressure cuff, a pulse oximeter. And if all goes well, when the visit ends, the patient ends up getting less\u2014not more\u2014medical care than if she'd shown up at a medical office.\n\nVisit No. 4 on a recent morning was Maggie Barnes, an 82-year-old stroke patient with diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. She sat in a wheelchair and shared some easy banter with a doctor she\u2019d been seeing for more than a decade. \u201cI feel good!\u201d Barnes said.\n\n\u201cShe\u2019s got James Brown Syndrome,\u201d Taler said, grinning. Barnes\u2019 main worry is the wheelchair. It was six or seven years old and getting creaky\u2014a piece had come off\u2014and she was worried she\u2019d fall out in the street. As for medications, Taler noted approvingly that she was down to one pill each for her diabetes, cholesterol, stroke and blood pressure, and not in pain.\n\nFor four decades, Taler, a senior physician at the MedStar Washington Hospital Center, has been trying to practice what he calls \u201cslow medicine.\u201d His clients are elderly people with chronic disease, individuals who typically cost the health care system around 10 times more than the average patient. And at the center of his philosophy is the idea\u2014radical in today\u2019s medical environment\u2014that less can be much more.\n\nTaler is an adherent of the guidelines of Choosing Wisely, a 5-year-old medical initiative based on the premise that the best outcomes often result from saying \u201cno\u201d to tempting procedures, tests and prescriptions. \u201cMedications can be toxic as well as therapeutic,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s as important to cull the list on a monthly basis as it is to try new medications.\u201d\n\nAccording to some estimates, as much as a fifth of U.S. medical care is unnecessary. This represents $250 billion annually\u2014and perhaps more important, it means patients are undergoing hundreds of thousands of procedures and prescriptions that have no benefit, and quite possibly cause them some harm. A third of medical care goes to the elderly, though they make up just 14 percent of the population. Older people with chronic illnesses stemming from obesity and age tend to get a lot of pills and procedures that aren\u2019t helpful. Since they are more frail, they are most likely to suffer severe harm from things like drug side effects and surgeries that go wrong.\n\nChoosing Wisely is one of the tendrils of reform that have been creeping into the U.S. health care system over the past several years as government and private-sector leaders try to find the points where cost control and better care can actually go hand in hand. The American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation started the Choosing Wisely initiative in earnest in 2012; the board\u2019s members, largely general practitioners, had started to worry about the expanding costs and contradictions of medicine, and thought they could reduce waste by encouraging physicians and patients to talk about what care was needed, debunking the notion that more is automatically better.\n\nSo far, 80 U.S. clinical and pharmaceutical specialty societies have joined their campaign, each creating lists of five to 10 things that their members shouldn\u2019t do\u2014at least without thoughtful discussion with the patient. The American Gastroenterology Society recommends against colonoscopies more often than once every 10 years; the allergy and immunology society agreed that doctors should avoid prescribing antihistamines as first-order treatment of severe allergic reactions. The American Academy of Ophthalmology recommends its members not to require preoperative tests like electrocardiograms before eye surgery unless the patient has a known heart condition. The program, which publishes resources on a website and provides patient information through Consumer Reports, amounts to a broad-based effort to figure out what patients don\u2019t really need, and then ensure they don\u2019t get it.\n\nBut for doctors like Taler, who try to integrate those ideas into their practice, it\u2019s clear that much of U.S. medicine is not embracing the principles of Choosing Wisely, which is colliding with a whole host of issues in medicine, from payment systems to the scattered way many patients receive their medical care, to a prevailing culture in which both doctors and patients have trouble saying \u201cno\u201d to more medicine.\n\nIt\u2019s important that this change succeed, Taler said. With health care accounting for a swelling chunk of the U.S. economy\u2014about 18 percent at last count \u2013 something has to give. If doctors and health systems can\u2019t better shepherd our resources, bean counters may do it for them\u2014in a way that no one likes.\n\nITS PROPONENTS SEE Choosing Wisely as an attempt to bridge the divide between two driving philosophies in U.S. medicine\u2014the idea of physician autonomy built upon an almost mystical \u201cphysician-patient dyad,\u201d as a recent writer described it, and a century\u2019s worth of momentum toward evidence-based improvement and standardization of medicine.\n\nIn theory, doctors\u2019 goals and patient health should be perfectly aligned. But in practice, for a variety of reasons including patient demands, lack of clarity or scarcity of evidence, in practice, doctors often employ procedures and medications that haven\u2019t been shown to help much\u2014and they don\u2019t like being told how to practice in their fields.\n\nEarlier efforts to tamp down on excessive care ran aground on those rocks\u2014and on the American medical system\u2019s aversion to making decisions based on cost. Physicians and patients alike bridled at the Health Management Organizations, or HMOs, where, in the pre-Obamacare days, cost-conscious reviewers meddled intensely in medicine, deciding when insurance would pay for a drug or procedure. More recent efforts to trim spending have been merged with care improvement schemes called Accountable Care Organizations, where physicians are more in the driver\u2019s seat, and get bonuses or penalties depending on how efficient their care is\u2014and how well their patients do overall.\n\nDr. Robert Jayes, with George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates, makes a house call in September for an 84-year-old patient recovering from a fall last year in her Washington, D.C., residence. | M. Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO\n\nThe Affordable Care Act and the 2015 Medicare payment reform measure known as MACRA both push in this direction, with the government trying to encourage better medicine by increasingly paying for value\u2014as best it can define this elusive quality\u2014instead-of-individual services. Choosing Wisely takes a different, purely voluntary tack: A \u201cbottom up\u201d approach led by physician organizations rather than being foisted on doctors by the government.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a movement of clinicians taking responsibility for an issue that\u2019s about overuse, but also better quality and safety and doing no harm,\u201d said Daniel Wolfson, executive vice president of the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation. \u201cThe byproduct is that it reduces cost. So we think we have solved the quality-safety-cost issue in a unique way that begins with cultural change.\u201d\n\nIndividual hospitals have incorporated specific guidelines with success. Doctors at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire reduced unnecessary preoperative tests from 23 percent to 4 percent over a three-month period by incorporating Choosing Wisely guidelines into the electronic records their doctors use, according to a recent study. Certain behaviors targeted for cessation by the campaign\u2014such as threading tubes through the nose and throats of patients suffering from advanced Alzheimer\u2019s disease in order to feed them\u2014have declined dramatically, said Joan Teno, a University of Washington physician who works with the elderly. She attributes that change largely to the Choosing Wisely campaign.\n\nIt has also attracted skeptics, including physicians who feel it\u2019s another threat to their autonomy\u2014this time coming from professional societies, rather than the government as practitioners of the art of medicine. Others have pointed out that some of the Choosing Wisely recommendations have been withdrawn\u2014including an American College of Cardiology recommendation for a heart attack treatment procedure\u2014and say it is foolhardy to issue a blanket \u201cno\u201d against procedures that the next wave of research may bring back into favor.\n\nNeither the government nor insurers were able to provide data on the extent to which Choosing Wisely has cut unnecessary medicine across the country. In part, this is because it simply hasn\u2019t penetrated the system thoroughly: A survey last year at a Massachusetts health system\u2014presumably among the more well-versed communities in medical research found about only half of primary care physicians and a third of specialists had even heard of Choosing Wisely.\n\nIf Choosing Wisely has a cheering section, it\u2019s the geriatricians, doctors like Taler and Teno who specialize in elderly care. Geriatrics first became a major specialty in Britain, where today its practitioners constitute the largest single group of primary care physicians. In the United States, the specialty is far smaller and has more of a consulting role. In many instances, the geriatrician acts as a firefighter called in when an elderly patient\u2019s medical care has spun out of control.\n\nGeriatricians like Taler come in, talk to the patient, examine their pills and make recommendations that ideally are aimed at the whole patient, not just his or her heart or lungs or pancreas. With a frail elderly patient who may not have many years to live, some of the established drugs and procedures don\u2019t make sense anymore.\n\nAre a diabetic patient\u2019s other doctors pushing too hard to lower his blood sugar, raising the risk of a faint, which could result in a broken hip? Is an orthopedist recommending arthroscopic surgery\u2014a procedure, research shows, that doesn\u2019t cure arthritis? All those expensive Mohs procedures to remove precancerous growths\u2014given how slow-growing they are, is it always worth the time, expense and strain on the patient to remove them so carefully?\n\n\u201cA lot of what we do is try to prevent harm by other providers,\u201d said Sei Lee, associate medical director at the University of California Center for Geriatric Care in San Francisco. \u201cThe cultural norm in geriatrics is that we are trying to do more with less. We try to protect our patients from some of the iatrogenic harms. We were the choir when Choosing Wisely came out.\u201d\n\n\u201cOften I\u2019m arguing with a cardiologist who says, \u2018This person\u2019s blood pressure target is X, we should get him there.\u2019 And my argument is, \u2018He\u2019s already on three medicines and we\u2019ve gotten him from terrible to almost there. What\u2019s the marginal benefit of adding a fourth medicine to get him to an optimal reading?\u2019\u201d\n\nFor doctors like Taler and Lee, a program aimed at voluntary moderation is a godsend: It bolsters their belief that it\u2019s a good idea to keep patients out of the hospital and off multiple pills, and offers guidelines to other specialists that can prevent conflicts. It still isn\u2019t easy, though: Patients and physicians often resist the recommendations for entirely practical reasons. Tranquilizers may lead to brain fog and falls, but \u201canyone who has taken a benzodiazepine and slept better at night and not fallen or had a car accident will say \u2018I didn\u2019t see the harm,\u2019\u201d says Paul Mulhausen, an Iowa geriatrician. Anti-psychotic drugs have often been abused to exert control over elderly dementia patients, but they sure come in handy when an older spouse is trying to care for an angry Alzheimer\u2019s patient at home rather than commit him to an institution.\n\nSome elderly patients don\u2019t understand why they\u2019re being told they no longer need mammographies or colonoscopies\u2014or they do understand, and don\u2019t like the implications. The regular procedures, like their frequent visits to the doctor, offer the psychological sense of normalcy and imply a kind of optimism that there\u2019s life in them yet. \u201cMy 95-year-old mother is always saying, \u2018When you get old they just throw you away,\u2019\u201d says geriatrician Joanne Lynn. \u201cThey just throw you away.\u2019\u201d\n\nAND THEN THERE'S the entirely predictable obstacle to Choosing Wisely that arises in the medical specialties themselves. \u201cThe answer is money,\u201d says Taler. \u201cWhat was the question?\u201d\n\nCertain medical groups have been hesitant to declare as \u201cwasteful\u201d procedures that can be quite profitable. For example, the Choosing Wisely list for orthopedic surgeons includes somewhat ancillary issues: \u201cDon\u2019t use glucosamine and chondroitin to treat patients with symptomatic osteoarthritis of the knee\u201d is one item; \u201cDon\u2019t use post-operative splinting of the wrist after carpal tunnel release for long-term relief\u201d is another.\n\nLeft off the list is arthroscopic knee surgery, the most commonly performed orthopedic procedure in the United States, yet one that helps only a slim percentage of patients\u2014and is of almost no value to the frail elderly patients who suffer most from arthritis.\n\nIn recent years, physicians have had another reason not to follow Choosing Wisely recommendations\u2014they come into conflict with other \u201cquality improvement\u201d measures sponsored by the government or private insurers. Some doctors shun wise choices because making them risks penalization by Medicare.\n\nAn example is pushing for low blood sugar levels in diabetic patients. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services\u2019 new payment schema punishes physicians treating patients under Medicare if they fail to achieve a 9 percent HbA1c level, a measure of blood sugar. Other programs push for 7.5 percent. This goal, enshrined in quality improvement programs run by Medicare and many insurers, is based on a landmark 1993 study showing that the lower thresholds protected patients with juvenile diabetes from suffering kidney, eye or nerve damage, said Victor Montori, an endocrinologist at the Mayo Clinic. Subsequent research on adult-onset diabetes patients without symptoms did not duplicate that result, however\u2014and yet the standard remains for all diabetes patients. Doctors who ignore it risk payment cuts or poor \u201cstar ratings\u201d in published reports.\n\nAggressive blood sugar control is especially questionable in frail older patients whose diabetes is not going to be the thing that kills them. If blood sugar gets too low, it can lead to fainting, dizziness and falls that cause broken arms or hips. And when multiple drugs are needed to reach the low threshold, as is often the case, the regimens can become cumbersome and the likelihood of bad side effects rises.\n\nWhen the American Geriatric Society tried to include easing of blood sugar control in its Choosing Wisely campaign, however, some endocrinologists became concerned and managed to water down the recommendations after a lengthy email back-and-forth, according to a geriatrician who was involved in making the list. The final list includes only a soft recommendation against the use of multiple anti-diabetes drugs.\n\n\u201cQuality and performance measures often lead to overtreatment,\u201d said Kenneth Covinsky, Lee\u2019s colleague in the UC-San Francisco geriatrics program. \u201cThey say, \u2018We\u2019re going to penalize you if your blood sugar levels are too high.\u2019 Well, they are actually not too high. The guidelines were developed for people in their 50s and they are influenced by the drug companies.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf the patient\u2019s going to be angry, insurance is going to pay and the doctor doesn\u2019t want to get dinged, it\u2019s a perfect storm to make sure you get extra mammograms, cancer screenings and aggressive control of asymptomatic conditions like hypertension and diabetes,\u201d said Lynn.\n\nTHE CHOOSING WISELY campaign has its contradictions and challenges, but it seems to be helping to move physicians in the direction that American medicine overall is taking, if haltingly and uncertainly under the Trump administration, which has hinted that it wants to slow the reform experiments incorporated into the ACA.\n\nAs long as the government has purchased health care from physicians\u2014and today the government is by far the largest payer\u2014it has paid them by the specific services they render, evidenced in the thousands of so-called CPT codes that doctors use in billing. Increasingly, though, medicine has moved toward \u201cvalue-based care,\u201d in which payments are based not on the quantity of diagnoses, prescriptions and procedures, but rather on quality, based in part by measuring patient outcomes. A percentage of the federal payments to the new accountable care organizations is based on outcomes and evidence of good medical stewardship\u2014including wise medical choices. Although Choosing Wisely per se is not enshrined in the payment schemes, they do depend more on holistic, \u201cfull-patient\u201d views of medical care, which includes saying \u201cno\u201d to tempting but wasteful tests and procedures.\n\nDr. George Taler arrives at the home of Maggie Barnes in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 20. Barnes has diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, but had recently simplified her medications and was upbeat. \u201cI feel good,\u201d she said. | M. Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO\n\nThough slowly, health care is moving in the direction of using less to do more. \u201cI can\u2019t think of a health care system that\u2019s not interested in reducing utilization,\u201d says Scott Halpern, a professor of epidemiology, bioethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania.\n\nTaler, who started making house calls on his own initiative in the 1970s after seeing it done in England during a medical school fellowship there, has had a number of benefactors over the decades. For the last five years his practice, MedStar Total Elder Care, has been partially funded through a congressionally mandated demonstration project that also includes 13 other medical centers around the country. Funding runs out next month but Taler expects a new bill to extend the program for another two years.\n\n\u201cIf Congress doesn\u2019t want to support the triple aim [of better patient experience, population health and lower costs], I\u2019ll go to an office and make money instead,\u201d Taler said (he wasn't speaking literally).\n\nThe federal Medicare and Medicaid offices has reported that the 14 pilot sites, which see about 10,000 patients total, saved the health care system $32 million in two years. That number is open to some debate, he admits, because the analysis is based on a counterfactual\u2014the quantity of trouble and medical expense his patients would have suffered without someone looking after them the way he does. And there are ambiguities involved.\n\nHe ordered the new wheelchair for Maggie Barnes because the old one was damaged enough to cause her to worry that she might fall out of it. Taler was not sure she needed a new wheelchair; the old one still rolled. By some calculus, his decision might be seen as a bit extravagant. As her doctor, though, Taler saw that Barnes\u2019 wheels were vital to her, and her peace of mind an important part of her care.\n\nWHILE SOME DOCTORS are slow to pick up the Choosing Wisely recommendations, there\u2019s also a vanguard of health care organizations already moving on to more radical measures. An example is run by Farzad Mostashari, a former Health and Human Services official who heads Aledade, a company that sets up and oversees accountable care groups in 17 states. Its physicians get bonuses for good outcomes, rather than numerous procedures, and Aledade uses a special technique to screen out doctors who game the system by doing unnecessary procedures.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll ask a gastroenterologist, \u2018If you were an unscrupulous gastoenterologist, what would you be doing?\u2019\u201d Mostashari said. The company uses that knowledge to look through a doctor\u2019s billing claims. When it finds specialists who do things motivated by padding their billable procedures rather than best medicine, they are excluded from Aledade\u2019s networks, he said.\n\nAlthough his company is attempting even more aggressive waste-cutting, Mostashari said he appreciates Choosing Wisely. \u201cIt provides consensus support for the fundamental understanding that more is not better,\u201d he said. \u201cThat sounds trivial, but it\u2019s a hard concept.\u201d\n\nIn the meantime, Taler waits for American medicine to catch up with him.\n\n\u201cWhat we\u2019re doing is a bleeding edge operation,\u201d he said as he drove from Barnes\u2019 apartment to the next patient. \u201cWe\u2019re losing money, but it\u2019s where health care is going. And when the payment system changes, it will be coin of the realm.\u201d\n\nArthur Allen is the eHealth editor for POLITICO Pro. Joanne Kenen contributed to this report.\n\nThis article was written with the support of a journalism fellowship from New America Media, the Gerontological Society of America and the Commonwealth Fund.\n\nAuthors:", "output": "Dr. George Taler still makes house calls, driving his scuffed green Toyota sedan from one apartment to another, carrying a blue satchel with a laptop, hand sanitizer and a few medical tools. Inside each apartment, he practices medicine with old-fashioned care, spending half an hour with each patient. He takes out a stethoscope, a blood pressure cuff, a pulse oximeter. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "1 in 3 Seniors Take Sleep Aids, Despite Dangers \n During normal sleep, you cycle through REM and four stages of non-REM (NREM) sleep numerous times a night. Stage 1 of NREM sleep is the lightest, while stage 4 is the deepest. When you're repeatedly interrupted and can't cycle normally through these types and stages of sleep, you may feel tired, fatigued, and have trouble concentrating and paying attention while you're awake. Sleepiness puts you at greater risk for car wrecks and other accidents.\n\nWhat Are Sleep Disorders? Circadian Rhythm Disorders Typically, people sleep at night -- thanks not only to the conventions of the 9-to-5 workday, but also to the close interaction between our natural sleep and alertness rhythms, which are driven by an internal \"clock.\" This clock is a small part of the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus. It sits just above the nerves leaving the back of our eyes. Light and exercise \"reset\" the clock and can move it forward or backward. Abnormalities related to this clock are called circadian rhythm disorders (\"circa\" means \"about,\" and \"dies\" means \"day\").", "output": "One-third of older Americans take something to help them sleep, but most don't discuss their\u00a0sleep\u00a0problems with a doctor, a new survey finds.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Housing charity warns against Corbyn-backed total rent controls \n Eye-catching retail offers on housing have become a party conference tradition, as much part of the furniture as the stuffy airless room or terrible phone signal.\n\nToday Jeremy Corbyn stepped up to the plate with his.\n\nA centrepiece of this was some intriguing language around rent control. He said:\n\n\u201cAnd we will control rents\u2026Rent controls exist in many cities across the world and I want our cities to have those powers too and tenants to have those protections.\u201d\n\n\n\nThis is clearly a play for the hard-pressed private renters that, as we\u2019ve argued before, were so crucial in the Conservatives losing their majority.\n\nThe exact detail is unclear, but the language suggested it could go further than what was in the 2017 manifesto.\n\nSo is this the right or wrong move?\n\nTo make sense of it, it\u2019s worth knowing that there\u2019s two basic ways you can \u2018control\u2019 private rents.\n\nThe first is essentially capping increases. The landlord is free to set the initial rent but the increases are restricted. This could be done, as we\u2019ve campaigned for, through changing the law to make the standard tenancy a five-year contract where the landlord sets the initial rent but increases are linked to inflation.\n\nIt\u2019s this that was in the 2017 manifesto, and indeed the 2015 manifesto (where it unhelpfully gained the moniker of \u2018Venezuelan rent controls\u2019, making it sound slightly more dramatic than it really was).\n\nIt could make a real difference.\n\nThe second approach is indeed more dramatic. It involves completely dictating the entire rent. A local authority, for instance, would tell landlords they can\u2019t charge more than \u00a310 per square metre, or no more than \u00a3500 a month for a one bed, and so on. In reality it would force rents down, not limit their increase.\n\nCorbyn has expressed support for this approach before, so it may be where he wants to take things. Or it could be somewhere in the middle.\n\nSo what\u2019s Shelter\u2019s view?\n\n\n\nEssentially, controlling increases is fine. There\u2019s a variety of ways you can do this, of which the best is probably Labour\u2019s current policy.\n\nBut setting the entire rent can cause big problems. And those problems come with big risks that could hurt the people Labour say they care about \u2013 those on low incomes.\n\nWe\u2019ve looked at this in some detail over the years. There is no crystal clear picture. But the evidence, summarised in the table below, suggests that old fashioned controls \u2013 setting the rent, not just controlling the increase \u2013 would force a significant number of landlords to sell their home, as they could make more money that way.\n\nNow, that might be good for middle earners \u2013 a glut of homes suddenly for sale might become available.\n\nBut this is where the risk comes in for low earners. They can\u2019t afford to buy and increasingly rely on the private rented sector. As landlords sell up, they would be left with fewer places to live.\n\nIn the absence of a much larger supply of council and social housing, that risks pushing people into homelessness.\n\nThis is probably not a gamble worth taking.\n\nA more flexible, local approach might mitigate some of the risks. But we\u2019d strongly suggest that this idea of controlling rents, as it develops, restricts itself to regulating increases.\n\nAll that said, it\u2019s no wonder old fashioned rent controls are very popular. People are desperate for big solutions after years of fiddling around the edges by governments of all stripes. One of my main take aways from conference was the disparity of the discussion between the traditional fringe scene and the Momentum-run The World Transformed outside. At the former, well-meaning people talked about big problems but too often pushed incremental tinkering. At the latter, people talked in radical language with bold solutions.\n\nThat doesn\u2019t make all those solutions good ideas. But it does lay down a challenge to come up with alternatives on the same scale. This includes the government \u2013 if nothing else Corbyn\u2019s speech today has firmly put the ball back in the government\u2019s court.\n\nSo in that spirit, here are three alternatives:\n\nFirstly, end the freeze on housing benefit and re-link it back to rents. This would make an instant difference to those on lower incomes, stemming the tide of families being made homeless after falling on hard times only to find they don\u2019t get enough financial support to keep a roof over their head. The NAO recently pointed this out. But bafflingly it\u2019s a call Labour have still refused to back, including in Corbyn\u2019s speech today, despite spending pledges in other areas. Secondly, build a new generation of good quality homes at low rents \u2013 both for those at the sharpest end and workers on low wages. This could be council housing or others models, such as living rent. Done well, this would provide a better alternative to the private rented sector for families on all kinds of incomes, rather than tinkering with trying to force for-profit landlords to change their behaviour. Thirdly, reform the housebuilding system so it builds more homes people want. This would involve radical reform of the land market. For more see our New Civic Housebuilding work.\n\nAll of these are big solutions that would make a difference and send a signal to voters. All of them will help those on low incomes as well as middle incomes. And all of them are a safer bet than old fashioned rent control.", "output": "Total control of rents, backed in the past by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, would\u00a0increase the risk of homelessness, UK housing charity Shelter has warned. It supports the Opposition party's current policy of\u00a0restricting private rent rises by linking them to inflation but warns that seeking to dictate the entire rent would hurt those on low incomes. Such controls would prompt many landlords to sell, reducing the supply of affordable homes for low earners and raising the likelihood\u00a0of\u00a0homelessness.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wandercraft close to unveiling walking-aid exoskeleton \n There's a reason you've never seen fully autonomous exoskeletons that help the disabled walk without crutches: Building one is crazy hard. But the founders of a Paris-based startup called Wandercraft are uniquely qualified to do it. They're roboticists who happen to have loved ones in wheelchairs, giving them both the expertise and motivation to develop an exoskeleton that helps users walk again. After years of development, they're nearly ready to show it to the public, following a round of promising patient trials.\n\nWandercraft ran successful preliminary trials with a handful of clients using \"Atalante,\" its latest prototype. \"There was such a strong emotional response from our test subjects,\" said Managing Director Matthieu Masselin. \"For a lot of them, it was the first time they had been able to walk since their accidents.\"\n\nA lot of companies have tried to develop exoskeletons for paraplegics, but models from Ekso Bionics, ReWalk and others require crutches, which heavily stress patients' shoulder muscles. That limits training and rehab sessions, as patients often need days to recover from muscle fatigue.\n\nGallery: Wandercraft exoskeleton for paraplegics | 10 Photos\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n/10 Gallery: Wandercraft exoskeleton for paraplegics | 10 Photos\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n/10\n\nParaplegics want a device that lets them be vertical and walk a bit, preferably as often as possible. That would help them deal with a host of medical problems that able-bodied folks don't experience, like cardiovascular issues, pressure sores, incontinence, loss of muscle tone and depression, to name a few.\n\nBeing able to stand and walk without the discomfort of crutches would not only provide a huge psychological boost but also help reduce or eliminate many of those symptoms. \"Our friends in wheelchairs told us, 'OK, if there was a device that would enable us to be able to walk again, there is no price that I wouldn't pay,'\" said Masselin.\n\nWithout crutches, assistive exoskeletons (or \"exos,\" as the team prefers to call them) are orders of magnitude more complex. Wandercraft's latest device, the fourth-generation model, weighs nearly 130 pounds (60kg) and must have perfect, humanlike balance so it won't fall over and injure the patient. \"We discovered that stability and the human gait are some of the hardest problems we've ever encountered in robotics,\" Masselin said.\n\nUnlike most current exos, which are more like motorized braces, the Wandercraft is a rigid, robotic structure. It has multiple powerful, compact electric motors at the hips, knees and ankle joints. A large battery is fitted at the back, along with an Intel Core i7-equipped microcomputer that does the complex math needed to ensure the machine can balance and walk.\n\nBuilding a robot is hard enough, but attaching a human to it multiplies the degree of difficulty. \"If the exo bends the knee, it has to stop before the knee of the person breaks, obviously,\" Masselin noted.\n\nTo make such a complex device work, the company recruits top roboticists, mechanical engineers and coders -- all fields in high demand. It must also enlist folks from biomedical, medical, biomechanical and other diverse areas and train them to work with the development team. To top it off, the exoskeleton and the code have to conform to medical protocols, and Wandercraft must run an elaborate regulatory gauntlet before patients can ever use it.\n\nAfter five years of dealing with those nearly overwhelming challenges, the company finally tested its Atalante exo with patients. They're not ready to show video to the public yet -- for reasons I'll explain shortly -- but I was able to see it in action during a private showing.\n\nPatients are first attached to the device by straps that are specially designed to distribute pressure evenly, at the waist, hips, knees and ankles. Those can fully support users' weight while their feet are placed on metal walking pads with rubber grips.\n\nYou start by sitting in the device and then make a gesture to stand up by bending at the waist. That activates motors that automatically drive the exoskeleton to a standing position. Walking can then be cued either by patient gestures or automatic programs started by the therapist.\n\nThe gait movement is obviously slow, but patients can take multiple steps without any crutches or external assistance. They assume a slightly bent posture, but it looks far more comfortable than the demonstration I saw of Ekso Bionics' system back in 2013. I'd describe the motion as controlled lurching, but keep in mind that such tech has never been tried and many of the test subjects hadn't risen from their wheelchairs in years. With time, patients would develop more skill, and the exoskeleton is bound to get smoother.\n\nGallery: Wandercraft patient photos | 19 Photos\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n/19 Gallery: Wandercraft patient photos | 19 Photos\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n/19\n\nDespite the limitations, Wandercraft, and particularly the patients, saw the trials as a success. \"It was huge for the team, because we'd been working so hard on this device for many years,\" Masselin said. \"But for those people, real users, it was even stronger, emotionally speaking, because they could really see the potential of the device. And a lot of them told us they were sad to have to stop the test.\"\n\nDespite their obvious enthusiasm, Wandercraft is quick to tamp down expectations. \"Showing people too early what you're doing and giving them grand visions that you are not going to be able to deliver after that, we think is very, very negative,\" said Masselin. \"We don't want to stress people by giving them false hope.\" For those reasons, it plans to show doctors and physical therapists video of the device in action before the public sees it.\n\nThe company just received a much-needed \u20ac15 million ($17.6 million) funding boost and has a careful plan to deliver its exoskeleton to market. The design and development is now finished, so Wandercraft is entering the specification phase to define exactly how patients and medical personnel can use it. By the end of the year, Wandercraft will unveil its exoskeleton via a demonstration video to the public.\n\nThe next step after that is the so-called CE Marking, or European equivalent of FDA certification. It hopes to receive that sometime in 2018. Afterwards, it can sell the suit in Europe for use in medical facilities under the strict supervision of trained specialists. The company expects to put its first exeoskeletons in medical facilities by the end of 2018. It will eventually chase FDA approval so it can market the device in the US.\n\nWandercraft Managing Director Matthieu Masselin with \"Atalante\"\n\nWandercraft has bigger dreams though. Next, it wants to build a lighter, fully autonomous version of its suit for personal use by paraplegics. Once users strapped it on, they could go out of their homes and walk in a park or other uncrowded location. That requires even more advanced tech, as the suit would need to be able to handle obstacles like stairs. As it stands right now, even a pebble can throw off such devices.\n\nThe company has taken on a risky and possibly not financially rewarding type of product. And yet it has recruited some insanely talented young people, including Physics Olympiad-caliber employees. So why would these folks do it, when there are more potentially lucrative opportunities in AI, self-driving and other areas?\n\nThe answer might lie on the company's LinkedIn page, of all places. When you see the callow money-centric culture of some major companies, Wandercraft's recruiting call is life-affirming. \"You will have stunning colleagues, chosen because they are selfless team players and not lone geniuses,\" it reads. \"We make advanced technology exo[skeletons]s that help mobility impaired persons and impact their health and happiness -- not pizza delivery apps.\"", "output": "A recent \u20ac15m ($17.56m) funding boost has brought Paris-based\u00a0mobility-tech start-up\u00a0Wandercraft closer to unveiling\u00a0a robotic\u00a0exoskeleton\u00a0that can help paraplegics move about\u00a0in an upright position. The semi-autonomous Atalante\u00a0prototype moves in response to gestures or muscular stimuli\u00a0from its wearer. This follows a round of \"promising patient trials\" of the device and the release of\u00a0images of it\u00a0in action.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurers can use social media to investigate fraudulent claims \n This photo caused an insurance company to revoke a U.S. woman\u2019s insurance policy. (The Doctors CBS)\n\nHorror stories of people losing their jobs from poorly thought out social media posts aren\u2019t uncommon. If you\u2019re not careful, what you post on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram could also cost you your insurance coverage, too.\n\nAccording to US Insurance Agents, insurers are now checking social media for relationship statuses, information on pets and to determine if you\u2019re a smoker.\n\nSelfies showing risky behaviour, including photos that appear to be taken while driving, could also come against you.\n\nEven photos of your property that have been geotagged with its location could be used to argue negligence on your part.\n\nInsurance company Nationwide cancelled Melina Efthimiadis\u2019 application for a personal umbrella liability insurance plan when they believed she had an ineligible dog breed that she failed to disclose.\n\nNationwide used a photo found on her Facebook page to argue that she has a potentially dangerous Rottweiler mix breed, but her dog, Zeus, was actually a lab/hound mix.\n\nNationwide went back on their cancellation once finding out Zeus was eligible, but by then it was too late and Efthimiadis went with another company.\n\n\n\n\n\nShe said the experience has caused her to rethink what she post on social media.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s sad that you can\u2019t post pictures of your beloved pet on your own Facebook page and have it public,\u201d she told ABC 11. \u201cUnfortunately, I had to go and change some of my pictures just to feel more comfortable about it.\u201d\n\nWhile the Insurance Bureau of Canada, which deals with home, auto and business insurance companies, told Yahoo Canada Finance that they weren\u2019t aware of any of their member companies collecting information on clients from social media posts, the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association said publicly available social media posts are a tool, alongside others like physical surveillance, data mining and predictive analysis, that could be used in fraud investigations.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not that there\u2019s going to be action based on someone\u2019s social media,\u201d Karen Voin, vice president of group benefits and anti-fraud at CLHIA, said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be part of an overall investigation.\u201d\n\nSimilarly, The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board says social media activity maybe looked at as \u201ca tool to corroborate evidence of wrongdoing,\u201d but last year that only occurred in a handful of claims.", "output": "Social media is a tool that insurers can use to investigate claims when there's a suspicion of fraud, according to the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association. Public social media posts can be used in tandem with other data sources, like physical surveillance, to assess the validity of a claim, the association added. Insurers are also reportedly checking clients' pets, relationship statuses and health habits via social media platforms. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Millennials prefer humans to robo-advisers: LendEDU \n Dive Brief:\n\nAs tech savvy as millennials are, they still want to talk finances with a real human being over a robo-adviser, says LendEDU. An online marketplace for student loan refinancing, LendEDU polled 502 millennials, age 18 to 34. All respondents said they were saving for retirement, and robo-advisers' popularity has grown substantially.\n\nBut when asked who would manage their money best and who would make mistakes in doing so, LendEDU says 51.6% of millennials said a robo-adviser is more likely to make errors versus 48.4% who thought a human adviser would be more likely to make mistakes.\n\nThe LendEDU survey also found that most millennials (62.4%) think robo-advisers are more likely to lose their money. Only 37.7% of respondents thought a traditional adviser would do so.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nRobo-advisers have garnered substantial attention as of late for their affordability and accessibility. But as in many cases of automation, it's hard to completely replicate the human touch.\n\nMillennials are proving to be as savvy about saving for retirement as they are about technology. The largest generation in the workplace is reportedly the biggest savers when it comes to retirement. The 2016 Willis Towers Watson's Global Benefits Attitudes Survey found that millennials are willing to pay more for secure retirement benefits.\n\nAlthough a 2016 Financial Finesse study said women millennials were 28% behind their male counterparts in saving for retirement, the generation as a whole is surpassing boomers' savings levels. Employee Benefits Adviser reported in late 2016 that millennials are out-saving boomers, who got caught in the transition employers have made from defined benefits plans to defined contribution plans, such as 401ks.\n\nMillennials have expressed the desire to learn more from their employers about investing for retirement. And because 35% of millennials are willing to turn down a job offer because of inadequate benefits, according to an Anthem survey, employers who accommodate them might have an edge in recruiting and retaining these young workers.", "output": "Many young investors prefer human advisers to robo-advice platforms, US-based online marketplace for loan refinancing LendEDU has noted. More millennials believe robo-advisers are more likely to make a mistake than their human counterparts, with 52% saying they thought humans were less fallible. A majority of millennials surveyed by LendEDU also said robo-advisers were more likely to lose their money than human advisers.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Early results promising for Alexa orders: Domino's \n Domino\u2019s is letting people order pizza through voice-controlled devices, and the early results are promising.\n\nOne in five customers who can order a pizza with one click through the pizza chain\u2019s Easy Orders option has asked Amazon Alexa instead, two months after making the feature available there, said Nick Dutch, head of digital for Domino\u2019s UK.\n\nDomino\u2019s introduced Easy Orders in 2013 and debuted the feature on Alexa at the end of July. To use it, customers must create a Easy Order account, which lets them save their favorite order and submit it through platforms including Domino\u2019s website and app, Facebook Messenger and Google Home. The pizza chain sees Easy Orders as a way to apply Amazon\u2019s one-click shopping model to pizza ordering and aggressively promoted its Alexa skill in the summer to get people to buy and track their orders this way.\n\nDomino\u2019s doesn\u2019t break out voice or Easy Order sales as a percentage of its online earnings, but Dutch said the initial orders on Alexa proved it \u201cbacked the right horse.\u201d\n\nVoice could be key to Domino\u2019s growing the Amazon-style model, given it is looking for the next big sales channel after desktop and mobile. The pizza maker has opted to sell direct to customers rather than through online delivery companies like UberEats and Deliveroo, which could leave it exposed should its online sales dwindle and those companies continue to grow.\n\nDomino\u2019s same-store sales in the 26 weeks ended June 25 declined 13 percent from the previous year. While voice, and more broadly, Easy Orders aren\u2019t a quick fix to the decline, they simplify the ordering process, making it easier to get people to buy. It worked so well for Amazon that it patented its 1-Click process in 1999 and fought hard to prevent others from copying the process until the patent expired earlier this month.\n\n\u201cThe reality is right now there aren\u2019t millions of people who are doing that [making voice orders],\u201d said Dutch, speaking on Sept. 27 at a We Are Social event. \u201cWe\u2019re building for the future, and we need to leverage this [early growth] \u2026 in the hope that over time, more people use the technology.\u201d\n\nDomino\u2019s immediate focus is on growing direct sales from voice-controlled devices with options such as letting customers pick different toppings and locating their nearest store. At some point, however, the company will need to consider search ads, particularly if comScore\u2019s prediction that 50 percent of all searches will be done by voice by 2020 comes true.\n\nElsewhere, Diageo and Unilever have recently revealed their own plans for voice searches. Unilever\u2019s Cleanipedia Amazon Echo skill, which answers questions about home cleaning with a direct link to e-commerce, now has 15,000 users in the U.K., where it debuted. The consumer goods company plans an 11 percent increase in investment in voice.", "output": "Pizza chain Domino's has said that early results from its voice-activated delivery ordering system are encouraging. Domino's began offering the service through Amazon's Alexa device in July, and now reports that one in five customers using the chain's one-click service did so through the\u00a0system. The service is the latest milestone in\u00a0the company's move towards an \"Easy Order\" service, modelled after\u00a0Amazon's one-click functionality. Other companies including Unilever and Diageo\u00a0are developing voice searches for their products.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google's sister company expands drone research \n The Google sister company behind the self-driving car is teaming up with the ACT's Rural Fire Service for its latest research project.\n\nIn recent months the company - called \"X\" - has been trialling an automated drone delivery system at Fernleigh Park in Googong.\n\nProject Wing co-leader James Ryan Burgess with the delivery drone. Credit: Sitthixay Ditthavong\n\nNow the initiative, called Project Wing, is moving to Royalla to ramp-up its testing in collaboration with the ACT Rural Fire Service.\n\nProject co-leader James Ryan Burgess, from San Francisco, said hundreds of homes in the Royalla region could soon benefit from the automated drone technology.", "output": "The Google sister company known as X has partnered with the Australian Capital Territory's Rural Fire Service to expand its research into drone delivery tech. Founded in 2010, X\u00a0has been responsible for a number of notable achievements, including driverless cars and Google Glass. \u201cProject Wing\u201d will involve testing routine drone deliveries\u00a0in the locality of Royalla, and gathering feedback from the local community on their attitudes to the new technology. The project also aims to explore how drones might be able to assist fire fighters in difficult-to-reach places.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Texas state workers\u00a0left without doctors after insurance switch\u00a0 \n Source: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas\n\nSource: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas\n\nAMARILLO, TX (KFDA) - Thousands of state employees in the panhandle are having to search for new doctors following a change in their health insurance plan offered by the state.\n\nPeople in our area who now have Blue Cross Blue Shield HealthSelect insurance have been calling their doctors only to learn they will not accept this new plan.\n\nAll state employees were switched to this plan on September 1st.\n\nThe decision was made by the Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS), which is aware that thousands of people in the panhandle are struggling to use this program and are working to solve it.\n\nSome panhandle residents are now having to travel to to see specialists no longer available in Amarillo under their new insurance, which is not easy for most people.\n\n\"We have to rely on going to Lubbock, which is a two hour trip, maybe an hour and a half if I drive fast,\" said one concerned HealthSelect carrier. \"My husband, he doesn't get around too well, so I have to take off a day when we go to Lubbock.\"\n\nSome local doctors have already changed their plans to include HealthSelect coverage, like all Texas Tech doctors, Family Care Clinic of Pampa, and Amarillo Stat Care.\n\n\"I probably had about 10 calls before, starting in July that they needed me to switch to continue to see me,\" said Kayla Mabery, FNP-C and Owner of Amarillo Stat Care. \"I found out we were not in network, and actually switched my plans with Blue Cross Blue Shield to include HealthSelect.\"\n\nOne health insurance creditor said he thinks more doctors aren't signing up to cover HealthSelect because they think it's a low-reimbursement plan.\n\n\"I think a lot of providers get confused when they hear Blue Cross Blue Shield HMO they think of another HMO product that Blue Cross has called Blue Advantage HMO and that's the product for Obamacare plans,\" said Bryan Williams, President of Moxie Healthcare Solutions. \"So I think when doctors hear Blue Cross HMO they automatically assume it's the Obamacare network and they don't want to take that one because the reimbursement is so poor on that plan.\"\n\nSome doctors in Amarillo will not be working to adjust their plans.\n\nAmarillo Medical Specialists sent a letter to their patients (pictured below) stating they would not be taking HealthSelect insurance because of the low reimbursement.\n\nState Senator Kel Seliger said he's gotten lots of calls to his office about the plan and is working with ERS and Blue Cross Blue Shield to fix this problem.\n\n\"If people can't use their insurance, it's the same as having no insurance,\" said Seliger. \"Everyone's been responsive so far. We have an ongoing dialogue with the Employees Retirement System and with Blue Cross and we're expecting some time next week to start getting an explanation.\"\n\nBlue Cross Blue Shield has declined to comment on the matter.\n\nMabery reminds patients that it's up to them to check with their doctors any time there's a change in insurance to make sure they're still covered.\n\nCopyright 2017 KFDA. All rights reserved.", "output": "State employees in the Texas panhandle are scrambling to find a doctor, with some\u00a0forced to travel for hours\u00a0to see a specialist,\u00a0after the Employees Retirement System of Texas switched their insurance\u00a0plan on 1 September. Thousands of people, now under the Blue Cross Blue Shield HealthSelect plan, are learning some doctors won't accept it. \"I think when doctors hear Blue Cross HMO they automatically assume it's the Obamacare network and they don't want to take that one because the reimbursement is so poor,\" said Bryan Williams, president of Moxie Healthcare Solutions. ERS is said to be working to find a solution.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China, Serbia to boost IT ties on Information Silk Road \n BELGRADE - China-Serbia cooperation on the development of Information Silk Road is due to start with exchanges in fields of electronic trade, logistics and market information, smart cities and online tourism, representatives of the two countries agreed on Wednesday in Belgrade.\n\nAt the opening of the conference \"Information Silk Road for Informational Interconnection,\" Wu Hao, deputy general manager of the department for High-Tech industry at the National Development and Reform Commission of China and Tatjana Matic, state secretary at the ministry of trade, tourism and telecommunications of Serbia, signed a plan of activities on the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Information Silk Road in front representatives of IT companies of both countries.\n\nThe aim, according to Wu, is to motivate deeper and wider cooperation in the field of information technology between governments, institutions and companies of the two countries within the Information Silk Road, a platform aimed to break down barriers in communication and facilitate flow of information between Asian and European nations.\n\nWu said that the agreement with the Serbian ministry will help \"achieve results for the 21st century\" with the participation of companies from the two countries.\n\nMatic said that the MoU with China represents an opportunity to advance cooperation in trade, tourism and telecommunications, as well as other fields such as health services and economy.\n\n\"We have decided to create pilot zone for economic cooperation within the Information Silk Road, where each side will give its suggestions and propose cities which will become part of this zone. We will also create a database of all joint projects that we are going to realize. One of the key points is also to establish an international industrial alliance within the Information Silk Road at the Institute for the Information Silk Road in China in order to promote companies within the sector of the digital economy,\" she explained.\n\nMatic predicted that the implementation of the MoU will create a stable digital foundation for the greater inclusion of Serbia in the Belt and Road Initiative and highlighted smart cities, telemedicine, broadband networks, satellite services and new industries as some of the areas of cooperation.\n\n\"We believe that the implementation of this agreement will give a key contribution to the cooperation between Serbia and China in the area of information and communication technologies, and that this will motivate more companies to become actively involved into the establishment of the Information Silk Road,\" Matic concluded.", "output": "Trade representatives from China and Serbia have met in Belgrade to discuss boosting ties in e-commerce, logistics and market information, smart cities technology and online tourism. They agreed to begin\u00a0talks as part of the so-called\u00a0Information Silk Road\u00a0project\u00a0-\u00a0a platform aimed at pulling down communication\u00a0and information barriers\u00a0between European and Asian countries.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "tZero launches ICO joint venture with RenGen and Argon \n tZERO, the fintech arm of online retail giant Overstock.com focused on blockchain technology, has embarked on a joint venture with RenGen and Argon Group to transform the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) market.\n\n\n\nThe companies have teamed up to launch an Alternative Trading System (ATS) for the trading of security tokens issued in ICOs in compliance with SEC and FINRA regulations (Joint Venture).\n\n\n\nBlockchain-based digital tokens is a rapidly emerging asset class, witnessing tremendous growth. This is evidenced by the fact that these tokens have raised over $2 billion so far this year alone and cryptocurrencies overall (including digital tokens) have a current market cap of $137 billion.\n\n\n\nHowever, global regulatory authorities including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), and the Monetary Authority of Singapore(MAS), among others, have recently issued guidance on how ICO tokens may be subject to securities laws. The SEC has made clear that any digital token with an income stream is a security, and furthermore that security tokens may only be traded on an ATS or a National Securities Exchange.\n\n\n\nThe joint venture aims to redefine the way the ICO market looks at security tokens and enhance liquidity to accelerate development.\n\n\n\n\u201ctZERO has been at the forefront of the blockchain revolution for years, working closely with regulators since 2015 \u2013 launching the world\u2019s first SEC compliant ATS for blockchain assets, the first private blockchain bond offering, and the first ever public issuance of a blockchain security,\u201d said Patrick M. Byrne, CEO of Overstock. \u201cNow, by combining our expertise with Argon's advisory services and RenGen's electronic trading, deep liquidity and market making capabilities, we are in a position to launch the only U.S. SEC compliant token trading venue.\u201d\n\n\n\nAccording to the official release, the joint venture will be built in an exclusive collaboration that draws on the distinct strengths of each company, combining tZERO\u2019s blockchain-based trading platform with RenGen\u2019s ability to provide liquidity, market making and algorithm technology, and the Argon Group\u2019s premier ICO advisory experience and security token clients. It will also take advantage of SaftLaunch for AML and KYC capabilities.\n\n\n\n\u201cThis Joint Venture allows us to continue achieving our goal of leveraging our existing U.S. equity market infrastructure and smart order routing technologies within the blockchain space,\u201d said Joe Cammarata, President of tZERO.\n\n\n\nFxWirePro launches Absolute Return Managed Program. For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/invest", "output": "Fintech tZero, together with RenGen and Argon Group, is seeking to launch an alternative trading system allowing security tokens issued in an initial coin offering to be traded in compliance with regulations laid out by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. The system will make use of tZero's blockchain trading technology with RenGen serving to provide liquidity for the platform. It will also make use of Argon's ICO advisory experience. ICOs have raised more than $2bn this year and cryptocurrencies have a market cap of $137bn.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pinterest shares 'visual search' tool with US retailer Target \n \"One is growing the user base .... and the second, of course, is creating an advertising product that really works \u2014 to bring in new customers, that's very measurable, that lets people see emerging consumer trends and merchandise against them.\"\n\n\"Really, the company's focused on two things,\" CEO Ben Silbermann told CNBC's Julia Boorstin in an interview that aired on \" Closing Bell. \"\n\nSocial media upstart Snap may have braved the public market, but as of Tuesday, Pinterest doesn't have an IPO announcement in the works, the CEO said.\n\nPinterest, which makes money through advertising, announced that Target's app will use Pinterest's \"visual search\" tool. In essence, it would let users who are out and about take a picture of any product and receive a list of similar items at Target.\n\nSilbermann declined to share Pinterest's revenue figures (which would be revealed during a public offering). But he said the Target partnership is an example of the kind of deal that supports Pinterest's massive valuation \u2014 pegged at $12.3 billion by CB Insights.\n\n\"Target was one of the earliest advertisers on the platform,\" Silbermann said. \"It means they've seen really good results.\"\n\nPinterest's concept \u2014 which allows users to collect and categorize images, the way one might use a corkboard \u2014 is often adopted by users planning big events like a wedding or a remodel. But Silbermann said Pinterest's technology learns users' tastes, and generates suggestions to keep users hooked.\n\nEarlier this month, Pinterest said it had 200 million monthly users.\n\nSilbermann also said Pinterest's \"safe\" and \"positive\" environment \u2014 which tends more toward culture, recipes and fashion and away from politics and \"memes\" \u2014 has been an attraction for advertisers \"over the last couple of years.\"\n\n\"It's been one of the reasons why we've been able to make a lot of progress with our advertisers,\" Silbermann said.", "output": "Customers of US retailer Target will be able\u00a0to use Pinterest's \"visual search\" function to take a picture of a\u00a0product when they are out and about and then receive details of similar merchandise\u00a0stocked by Target, in a deal announced by Pinterest. The deal came as Pinterest's CEO, Ben Silbermann, said the company is focusing on developing \"an advertising product that really works\", citing the platform's \"safe\" and \"positive\" ethos as a strength for attracting brands. The company reported\u00a0200 million monthly users and has been valued at around $12bn by analysts, but has no immediate plans to go public.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Revenues from video are a mirage for most publishers  \n Publishers are pivoting to video, hoping it\u2019ll pay off in ad dollars. But despite the big view numbers they\u2019re generating, the revenue is often a mirage.\n\nThe majority of those views take place off those publishers\u2019 own platforms and occur on platforms that have tons more scale (Facebook, Instagram and YouTube) and have optimized themselves around video. That could be because, like BuzzFeed or NowThis, they deliberately built their business on social distribution.\n\nThe chart below illustrates the gap. For these publishers that have made a big push into video lately, most of their views take place off their own site.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a terrible trap,\u201d said Andy Feinberg, CEO of Brightcove, which powers video players on publishers\u2019 sites. \u201c[Publishers] have to be on these platforms to retain their audiences and make sure their brand is being presented to a broad audience, and their competitors are there. But the ability to monetize on these platforms is not the same as their ability to monetize on their owned-and-operated platforms. Their CPMs are low; their revenue streams are suffering.\u201d\n\nSecond, the big view numbers publishers are getting off their own sites are somewhat deceptive because for various reasons, not all those videos can be monetized. Facebook is testing mid-roll ads in publishers\u2019 videos, but video has to run at least 90 seconds to be eligible for the test \u2014 and viewers have to make it to the break. That doesn\u2019t help publishers that specialize in short videos, which often is true of news clips. The mid-roll test is still just a test, and publishers who are participating in it have said they\u2019re only making a little money on it at this point.\n\nThen, there are self-imposed limits. Case in point is Bleacher Report. It can sell ads against all the videos it runs on its own site. But most of its views take place on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, and while marketers pay to sponsor those videos, Bleacher Report is careful to limit the sponsorships it runs on video-heavy Instagram to about one out of four videos, so it doesn\u2019t turn off viewers with a constant stream of \u201cbrought to you by\u201d messages. Publishers participating in Facebook\u2019s mid-roll test took a similar position since mid-roll was new.\n\n\u201cOn social, if every video has a \u2018brought to you,\u2019 it might diminish the [user experience],\u201d said Keith Hernandez, Bleacher Report\u2019s svp of strategy. \u201cAnd you\u2019re not the only publisher that\u2019s in someone\u2019s feed.\u201d\n\nWhen publishers do monetize their distributed video, it\u2019s not as lucrative for several reasons. There are measurement gaps by companies that track social video, which limits publishers\u2019 ability to sell their video audience to advertisers. There\u2019s an issue of whether the video ad gets counted as being seen, which is dubious given how fast people scroll through their news feeds. Then, publishers have to take into account the share of revenue that the host platform keeps (45 percent in the case of Facebook\u2019s mid-roll ads, the same as YouTube\u2019s split).\n\nBleacher Report said the CPM on its social video is roughly half what it gets on its own site. For USA Today, the ad rate on social video is one-third to one-half what it gets on its own site. One video exec at another premium publishing company said that while video on the publisher\u2019s own site can command a $70 CPM, on Facebook and YouTube, the effective ad rate drops to around $20.\n\nThe conundrum publishers face is that they have to go where the audiences are, even though the monetization lags. The Washington Post makes money on 80 percent of its video on Facebook and all its YouTube video, but because of the platforms\u2019 tracking limitations and their revenue share, \u201cthe monetization still has a lot of room to grow,\u201d said Micah Gelman, director of editorial video at the Post.\n\nYears ago, Feinberg said, publishers were happy to take YouTube\u2019s money to run their video on the platform. This helped train audiences to watch video on YouTube and the like, instead of publishers\u2019 own sites. The technology costs of serving video on your own site are decreasing, but it\u2019s expensive to make high-quality video, and monetization still lags on social video. Progressive publishers are starting to think of social as a discovery vehicle, a place to put their less timely, less premium video, while keeping their more valuable video for their own sites.\n\nOther publishers like the Post cope by not expecting distributed video to drive their business. Bleacher Report values engagement it gets on videos over mere views because it can use engagement as a selling point to advertisers.\n\n\u201cThe inclination is that every video view needs to be monetized and also that video view is the North Star metric for success,\u201d Hernandez said. \u201cI say, quality of user experience is key. You want an active, not passive, viewer that\u2019s so excited about what you\u2019re doing that they want to share it.\u201d", "output": "Publishers seeking to boost revenues from\u00a0video are being caught in a \"terrible trap\", as large viewing figures are not translating into big revenues, according to industry insiders. Issues such as an inability to effectively monetise videos on third-party sites, viewability problems and the percentage of revenue snapped up by hosting platforms have combined to put a dent into publishers' CPMs and revenues. Publishers are much better able to monetise video on their own platforms, but, unfortunately for most of them, the vast majority of views take place on third-party sites such as Facebook, where their\u00a0revenues are much less.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trivago buys AI personalisation firm tripl to boost slowing sales \n In 2022, over 90% of all digital display ad dollars will transact programmatically.\n\nThanks to a growth in connected TV (CTV), 2022 marks the first year that video will surpass nonvideo formats in programmatic ad spending.\n\nDo you work in the Advertising, Media, and Marketing industry? Get business insights on the latest tech innovations, market trends, and your competitors with data-driven research.\n\n2021 was a big year for digital advertising. Year-over-year (YoY) growth in digital ad spending far exceeded expectations, due in part to prosperity in programmatic display.\n\nProgrammatic display advertising is booming, with marketers increasing their spend despite lingering uncertainty as third-party identifiers are slowly phased out. Programmatic will continue gaining ground in years to come, as advertisers, ad tech platforms, and publishers collectively work toward a new normal.\n\nWhat is programmatic digital display advertising?\n\nProgrammatic digital display advertising includes digital display ads transacted or fulfilled via automation, including everything from publisher-erected APIs to more standardized real-time bidding technology. It includes native ads and ads on social networks like Facebook and Twitter.\n\nProgrammatic digital display ad spending in 2022\n\nProgrammatic also owes its 2021 growth spurt to the burgeoning connected TV advertising market, which, in addition to bringing more video inventory to the web, has been increasing its use of automation since 2017.\n\nAlthough growth in programmatic digital display ad spending will slow in 2022, advertisers will spend a healthy $123.22 billion. As a testament to its flexible nature and continued growth in connected TV (CTV), programmatic display will maintain a growth rate just over 2 percentage points higher than that of the total digital ad market through 2023.\n\nIn 2022, over 90% of all digital display ad dollars will transact programmatically. Within mobile display ad spending, programmatic crossed the 90% threshold in 2019, thanks largely to social media\u2019s influence. Since then, the share of CTV digital display ad spending shifting into programmatic channels has increased dramatically as advertisers continue to shed the burden of insertion orders in favor of automated purchasing avenues.\n\nProgrammatic display advertising with video\n\n2022 marks the first year that video will surpass non-video formats in programmatic ad spending. CTV is the primary driver behind that shift. Without CTV, video would account for just 39.7% of programmatic digital display ad spending. Programmatic CTV will sustain its double-digit ad spending growth next year as well.\n\nMost programmatic video ad spending goes to mobile\u201465.2% in 2022. Ad spending against non-video formats on mobile will still account for more than half of mobile programmatic display ad spending through 2023. However, given recent growth of social video advertising and increasing interest in TikTok among advertisers, it\u2019s likely that video will continue to gain share of mobile programmatic display.\n\nProgrammatic advertising forecast\n\nRetail media networks are set to become the third big wave of digital advertising. In programmatic, this means more ad supply that is close to the point of purchase with the added benefit of consumer data.\n\nDozens of retail media networks have launched over the past few years, with virtually every leading digital marketplace, mass merchandiser, national grocery chain, category-specific retailer, and delivery provider getting into the game.", "output": "German online travel comparison site Trivago has acquired Hamburg-based tripl, which has developed an artificial intelligence-driven algorithm that offers customers personalised travel recommendations based on their social media data. The move is in response to the slowly declining\u00a0share of the online hotel booking market in Europe and Asia,\u00a0now at 70%, as people increasingly book directly with hotels.\u00a0The tripl purchase\u00a0followed\u00a0a hike in ad spend across Germany and France. However, the company's \"tube takeover\" campaign on the London Underground has backfired somewhat. Commuters have said being constantly confronted by an advertisement featuring\u00a0the same person\u00a0made them feel as if\u00a0someone was\u00a0\"stalking\" them.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sprint trials signal-boosting drone tech \n Sprint is taking cell service airborne by mounting lightweight cellular radios to drones.\n\nThe wireless carrier said this week that it has successfully adapted its Magic Box signal boosting technology to fit on a drone and provide temporary cell coverage over as many as 10 square miles. The company tested the setup, which uses a lighter version of the mini cell tower and a drone from CyPhy Works, last week in Texas, 30 miles outside of Dallas.\n\nSprint launched the Magic Box earlier this year. The box, which is the size of a shoe box, normally sits in your house to improve indoor 4G LTE service using Sprint's 2.5GHz spectrum. Unlike other signal boosters, Magic Box doesn't require a broadband connection. Instead, it uses a dedicated cellular channel to the nearest Sprint cell tower.\n\nNow Sprint has adapted the technology to use it on a drone and temporarily increase network capacity during special events, like a concert or a sports contest, or to restore cell phone service following a disaster like a hurricane, said G\u00fcnther Ottendorfer, COO of technology at Sprint. Wireless carriers often use cell towers on wheels and other temporary equipment to boost capacity at special events or to provide additional network coverage when permanent infrastructure has been damaged.\n\nOttendorfer said a drone equipped with a cellular signal booster is just another tool the carrier can use to improve and restore service. The advantages include faster deployment and a wider area of coverage, because the drone can be deployed up to 400 feet in the sky.\n\nHe added that more needs to be done to make the Magic Box equipment lighter, but he expects Sprint to be using the technology in its network next year.\n\n\"It's an exciting proof of concept,\" he said.\n\nWireless carriers have already begun using drones in the wake of big disasters. Following Hurricane Harvey, which devastated areas around Houston and the Gulf coasts of Texas and Louisiana, all four major US wireless carriers flew drones in flooded areas to assess damage to towers and other infrastructure. Sprint is one of the first carriers to adapt a cellular radio to use a drone to provide cellular coverage. AT&T last year announced plans to connect drones to its 4G LTE network. The carrier tested its so-called Flying COW in February, transmitting and receiving high speed data from a drone.\n\nFirst published Sept. 27 at 3:35 p.m. PT.\n\nUpdate Sept. 28 at 4:26 p.m.: Adds information about AT&T's connected drone program.", "output": "Kansas-based wireless carrier Sprint is working on a drone which allows temporary mobile phone coverage for up to 10 square miles. The drone would carry a downsized version of the company's Magic Box, a device for boosting mobile signal in homes, allowing it to act as an improvised cell tower. More work needs to be done to make the Magic Box lighter, but the device could be used in disaster scenarios or to temporarily increase network capacity during large sporting or entertainment events, said Sprint's\u00a0COO G\u00fcnther Ottendorfer.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Zuckerberg responds to Trump's accusation of Facebook bias \n United States president Donald Trump has declared that Facebook was always against him and tossed it into the same bucket as The New York Times, which he regards as fake news, and The Washington Post, which he says is biased against him because it's owned by Amazon's Jeff Bezos.\n\nFacebook was always anti-Trump.The Networks were always anti-Trump hence,Fake News, @nytimes(apologized) & @WaPo were anti-Trump. Collusion? \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 27, 2017\n\nAs is Trump's habit, his allegation of collusion was offered without a shred of evidence. Perhaps that is why Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's response comes off as a little terse.\n\n\u201cI want to respond to President Trump's tweet this morning claiming Facebook has always been against him,\u201d he opens, going on to opine that \u201cTrump says Facebook is against him. Liberals say we helped Trump. Both sides are upset about ideas and content they don't like.\u201d\n\nZuckerberg adds that the mere presence of Facebook meant that \u201c Every [election] topic was discussed, not just what the media covered.\u201d He also laid on his usual \u201cwe host so many conversations about everything and that's awesome because it builds communities\u201d line.\n\nBut he also felt the need to defend Facebook.\n\nIn one such passage he notes that \u201cCampaigns spent hundreds of millions advertising online to get their messages out even further. That's 1000x more than any problematic ads we've found.\u201d\n\nThe other says \u201cafter the election, I made a comment that I thought the idea misinformation on Facebook changed the outcome of the election was a crazy idea. Calling that crazy was dismissive and I regret it.\u201d\n\nZuck goes on to say: \u201cThis is too important an issue to be dismissive. But the data we have has always shown that our broader impact - from giving people a voice to enabling candidates to communicate directly to helping millions of people vote - played a far bigger role in this election.\u201d\n\nComment\n\nZuckerberg appears to be arguing that fake news and deliberately divisive ads did impact the 2016 US elections, but less so than the dialog on Facebook. But he ignores the fact that dialog on Facebook is not always the civil exchange of ideas he promotes. There's also no comment on the fact that Facebook was late to implement effective filters for hate speech or fake news, but did take the time to screen pictures of womens' breasts as they are deemed too offensive for members to view. \u00ae", "output": "Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has hit back at a tweet from US President Donald Trump, in which he accused the social media site of being biased against him. In a post on his own Facebook page, Zuckerberg wrote: \"Trump says Facebook is against him. Liberals say we helped Trump. Both sides are upset about ideas and content they don't like\". He went on to say the platform saw discussions about a range of topics related to the election, far beyond what was reported in the media.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook, Google and Twitter asked to testify to US Congress \n Executives from Facebook, Google, and Twitter have been asked to testify to the United States Congress as lawmakers continue to investigate Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 US presidential election, committee sources have said on Wednesday.\n\nThe Senate intelligence committee asked that the executives testify at a public hearing on November 1, 2017.\n\n\"In the coming month, we will hold an open hearing with representatives from tech companies in order to better understand how Russia used online tools and platforms to sow discord in and influence our election,\" the committee's Democrat representative Adam Schiff and Republican representative Mike Conaway said.\n\nWhile the representatives did not specify which technology companies would be testifying, Facebook and Google confirmed they had received invitations from the Senate committee.\n\nSome US lawmakers -- increasingly alarmed by the evidence suggesting Russian hackers used the internet to spread fake news and otherwise influence the 2016 election in favour of US commander-in-chief Donald Trump -- have been pushing for more information about the influence of social media platforms.\n\nEarly Wednesday, Trump posted a tweet accusing Facebook of always being \"anti-Trump\", adding that television networks and publications such as The New York Times and the Washington Post, have also been anti-Trump.\n\n\"But the people were Pro-Trump! Virtually no President has accomplished what we have accomplished in the first 9 months-and economy roaring,\" he added.\n\nFacebook founder and frontman Mark Zuckerberg subsequently responded to Trump's tweets in the form of a Facebook post, saying both Trump and liberals are accusing the social media giant of influencing election results.\n\n\"Both sides are upset about ideas and content they don't like. That's what running a platform for all ideas looks like,\" Zuckerberg said in the post.\n\nHe went on to explain Facebook's influence in the 2016 presidential election, saying that \"more people had a voice in this election than ever before\", with \"billions of interactions\" about a variety of issues that \"may have never happened offline\". Some of these issues were not reported in the media, Zuckerberg added.\n\n\"[The] data we have has always shown that our broader impact -- from giving people a voice to enabling candidates to communicate directly to helping millions of people vote -- played a far bigger role in this election,\" he said in his post.\n\nThe CEO also said it was the \"first\" US election where the internet was the primary medium of communication between candidates and the electorate.\n\n\"Every candidate had a Facebook page to communicate directly with tens of millions of followers every day,\" he said, adding that campaigns spent \"hundreds of millions\" advertising online, which is \"1000x more than any problematic ads we've found.\"\n\nFacebook revealed earlier this month that suspected Russian trolls purchased more than $100,000 worth of divisive ads on its platform between June 2015 to May 2017, a revelation that triggered calls for new disclosure rules for online political ads.\n\nFacebook said the purchases came from around 500 \"inauthentic\" accounts and pages that seemed to be affiliated with each other. The social media giant shut down the active accounts and pages -- which it said appeared to have been operating from Russia -- for violating its policies.\n\nFacebook last week said it will turn over to the US Congress Russian-linked ads that may have been intended to sway the 2016 US election.\n\n\"We support Congress in deciding how to best use this information to inform the public, and we expect the government to publish its findings when their investigation is complete,\" Zuckerberg said at the time.\n\nIn his recent post, Zuckerberg additionally recalled Facebook's efforts in encouraging people to vote.\n\n\"[Our efforts] helped as many as 2 million people register to vote. To put that in perspective, that's bigger than the get out the vote efforts of the Trump and Clinton campaigns put together,\" he said. \"That's a big deal.\"\n\nZuckerberg said Facebook will do its part to \"defend against nation states attempting to spread misinformation and subvert elections\".\n\n\"We'll keep working to ensure the integrity of free and fair elections around the world, and to ensure our community is a platform for all ideas and force for good in democracy,\" he added.\n\nThe Daily Beast, citing anonymous sources, also reported that a Facebook group called the \"United Muslims of America\" was a fake account linked to the Russian government. The group was reportedly making false claims about politicians, including Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.\n\nThe Senate and House intelligence committees are the main congressional panels investigating allegations that Russia interfered in the latest US presidential election, as well as possible collusion between Trump associates and Russia.\n\nThe general consensus of law enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the conclusion of the Central Intelligence Agency's own investigations suggest Russia was involved in election scheming, something that Trump and Russian officials have continued to dismiss, with the latter describing the allegations as \"amusing rubbish\".\n\nRussian president Vladimir Putin had also insisted that Russia as a country never engaged in hacking activities, but conceded that some \"patriotic\" individuals may have, likening a hacker's free will to that of an artist, in a speech delivered to news agencies in June.\n\nAt the time, Putin lamented what he described as \"Russo-phobic hysteria\" in the US, saying such rhetoric makes it \"somewhat inconvenient to work with one another or even to talk\", adding that \"someday this will have to stop\".\n\nHe also alleged that some evidence pointing at Russian hackers' participation in cyber attacks -- although he did not specify which -- could have been falsified in an attempt to smear Russia.\n\n\"I can imagine that some do it deliberately, staging a chain of attacks in such a way as to cast Russia as the origin of such an attack,\" Putin said in June.\n\n\"Modern technologies allow that to be done quite easily.\"\n\nEarlier this week, Russia's communications watchdog Roskomnadzor said it will block access to Facebook next year if the social media giant does not comply with a law requiring websites to store personal data of Russian citizens on Russian servers.\n\nWith AAP", "output": "Representatives from Facebook, Twitter and Google have been invited to publicly testify before the Senate intelligence committee investigating the extent of Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential election. While the Trump administration and Russia have both dismissed the allegations of interference, Facebook recently revealed that Russian-aligned parties bought $100,000 worth of ads\u00a0between June 2015 to May 2017, and will hand over to Congress details of Russian-linked ads aimed at\u00a0swaying voter intention. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the site would \"defend against nation states attempting to spread misinformation and subvert elections\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UN sees robots as potential threat to world peace \n The UN has warned that robots could destabilise the world ahead of the opening of a headquarters in The Hague to monitor developments in artificial intelligence.\n\n\n\nFrom the risk of mass unemployment to the deployment of autonomous robotics by criminal organisations or rogue states, the new Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics has been set the goal of second-guessing the possible threats.\n\nIt is estimated that 30% of jobs in Britain are potentially under threat from breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, according to the consultancy firm PwC. In some sectors half the jobs could go. A recent study by the International Bar Association claimed robotics could force governments to legislate for quotas of human workers.\n\nMeanwhile nations seeking to develop autonomous weapons technology, with the capability to independently determine their courses of action without the need for human control, include the US, China, Russia and Israel.\n\nIrakli Beridze, senior strategic adviser at the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute, said the new team based in the Netherlands would also seek to come up with ideas as to how advances in the field could be exploited to help achieve the UN\u2019s targets. He also said there were great risks associated with developments in the technology that needed to be addressed.\n\n\u201cIf societies do not adapt quickly enough, this can cause instability,\u201d Beridze told the Dutch newspaper de Telegraaf. \u201cOne of our most important tasks is to set up a network of experts from business, knowledge institutes, civil society organisations and governments. We certainly do not want to plead for a ban or a brake on technologies. We will also explore how new technology can contribute to the sustainable development goals of the UN. For this we want to start concrete projects. We will not be a talking club.\u201d\n\nIn August more than 100 robotics and artificial intelligence leaders, including the billionaire head of Tesla, Elon Musk, urged the UN to take action against the dangers of the use of artificial intelligence in weaponry, sometimes referred to as \u201ckiller robots\u201d.\n\nThey wrote: \u201cLethal autonomous weapons threaten to become the third revolution in warfare. Once developed, they will permit armed conflict to be fought at a scale greater than ever, and at time scales faster than humans can comprehend. These can be weapons of terror, weapons that despots and terrorists use against innocent populations, and weapons hacked to behave in undesirable ways.\u201d\n\nLast year Prof Stephen Hawking warned that powerful artificial intelligence would prove to be \u201ceither the best or the worst thing ever to happen to humanity\u201d.\n\nAn agreement was sealed with the Dutch government earlier this year for the UN office, which will have a small staff in its early stages, to be based in The Hague.\n\nBeridze said: \u201cVarious UN organisations have projects on robotic and artificial intelligence research, such as the expert group on autonomous military robots of the convention on conventional weapons. These are temporary initiatives.\n\n\u201cOur centre is the first permanent UN office for this theme. We look at both the risks and the benefits.\u201d", "output": "The United Nations has established an institution to study the potential dangers of AI, including the threat to world peace and stability. The Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics is based in the Netherlands, and will study technological advances in the field to look for possible threats and opportunities. A major concern is the application of AI in warfare, a\u00a0goal which a number of countries are understood to be pursuing. A group of over 100 AI and robotics experts, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, warned the UN about the danger in August, urging them to take action.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesla sales surge forecast under China's EV tax proposals \n Foreign automakers have long been disincentivized to sell in China, where imports see a 25-percent tax and locally produced cars must be sold through 50/50 joint ventures with domestic entities. But the Chinese government, prioritizing a shift from fossil-fuel to electric vehicles, is reportedly considering a loophole.\n\nA recent proposal would allow nonnative brands to set up wholly owned EV segments in free-trade zones, and Tesla Inc TSLA is positioned to win big, according to Piper Jaffray.\n\n\u201cIt seems possible that Tesla will be allowed to book 100 percent of the profit associated with locally-produced EVs, while most global competitors will probably continue booking only 50 percent (due to their entrenched JV structures),\u201d analysts Alexander Potter and Winnie Dong wrote in a Wednesday note.\n\nTesla\u2019s Play\n\nIf Tesla capitalizes on potential regulatory changes, it could see growth in China notably steeper than this year\u2019s estimated 136-percent year-over-year delivery increase.\n\nIn fact, China could become Tesla\u2019s biggest revenue source, according to Potter and Wong.\n\nThe company could benefit from China\u2019s growing demand for luxury cars, standard vehicle sales that far outpace U.S. records, and non-competitive environment. China has little exposure to foreign brands, and although its firms lead global markets in EV production, with unit sales up 70 percent year over year, none pose a veritable threat to Tesla.\n\n\u201cWe find most of China's EVs are chintzy in comparison to Tesla's products (with the exception of NIO's soon-to-be-released SUV), and realistically Tesla's most capable global peers are probably years away from releasing locally-built luxury EVs,\u201d Potter and Wong wrote. \u201cIn the meantime, traditional (gas) luxury vehicles constitute TSLA's primary competition.\u201d\n\nAnd the government\u2019s phasing those out.\n\nBig Upside\n\nConsidering Tesla\u2019s potential in the Chinese market, Piper Jaffray reiterated an Overweight rating on the stock with a $386 price target.\n\n\u201cThere's still plenty of uncertainty, but all else equal, we think recent developments have unfolded in TSLA's favor,\u201d the analysts wrote. \u201cThe company was wise to delay investment, but once these JV-related policy details are finalized, we expect Tesla to announce its China strategy in relatively short order.\u201d\n\nRelated Links:\n\nGene Munster Goes The Distances On Tesla: A Look At Short- Vs. Long-Term Expectations\n\nA Better Idea? Ford In Talks To Build Electric Cars With Chinese Giant", "output": "Tesla could see sales surge if the government in Beijing decides to allow the skirting of import and sales rules for electric vehicles (EVs) manufacturers in China. A new tax proposal is being considered to incentivise foreign brands to set up wholly-owned EV segments\u00a0in Chinese\u00a0free-trade zones. Analysts at investment bank Piper Jaffray say Tesla, in particular, could benefit from\u00a0the move, with China potentially becoming its biggest revenue source."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk TalkTalk second most complained about fixed broadband service \n BT and TalkTalk are the providers most moaned about, according to UK comms regulator Ofcom's quarterly whinge data between April and June \u2013 a result that will surprise no one.\n\nOfcom receives 300 complaints a day for mobile, broadband, phone and paid TV services.\n\nOut of every 100,000 customers for fixed broadband services, BT generated the most gripes (28), mainly due to faults, service and provision issues, but also bill handling, pricing and charges. TalkTalk came second (24) followed by BT's subsidiary Plusnet (20).\n\nIn contrast, Virgin Media and Sky generated the fewest grumbles, with 13 and 7 respectively.\n\nTalkTalk once told GCHQ: Cyberattack? We'd act fast \u2013 to get sport streams back up READ MORE\n\nJane Rumble, Ofcom's director of consumer policy, said complaints about telcos are dropping this year but added that \"some providers are falling a long way short on customer service.\"\n\n\"There can be no room for complacency. We expect providers, particularly those who have been consistently underperforming, to make service quality and complaints handling their number-one priority.\"\n\nAn Ofcom report earlier this year found that just over half of broadband and mobile customers who complained to their provider were satisfied with how their issues were handled.\n\nThe regulator has proposed requiring providers to pay automatic compensation to landline and broadband customers who suffer slow repairs, late installations or missed engineer appointments.\n\nLast week TalkTalk was named the worst UK internet provider in a biannual survey by consumer association Which? for the fifth consecutive time. \u00ae", "output": "UK telecoms company TalkTalk has been named the country's second most complained-about broadband provider, beaten only by BT, according to a quarterly report from regulator Ofcom. Covering April-June this year, the data revealed that although complaints had dropped, some providers were still \"falling a long way short on customer service\". Ofcom has previously suggested implementing automatic compensation for customers experiencing delays or missed appointments. About 300 complaints a day are made to Ofcom.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk Talktalk downgraded by Credit Suisse to 'underperform' rating \n TalkTalk was under the cosh on Thursday as Credit Suisse downgraded the stock to 'underperform' from 'outperform' and cut the price target to 170p from 210p saying that structural headwinds are growing.\n\nThe bank pointed out that since the change of management and strategy, the shares have recovered 25% year-to-date, materially outperforming the European telecoms sector and trading on a significant premium.\n\n\"Whilst we agree with the renewed focus on core broadband, the stock has recovered to our previous target price of 210p, and we are now cutting longer-term forecasts as structural challenges are growing, and establishing a new target price.\"\n\nAmong the challenges facing the company, CS highlighted a material slowdown in growth in the UK broadband market over the last two years as UK household broadband penetration approaches 90%, which has coincided with deteriorating economic growth.\n\nAccording to Credit Suisse, the slowdown in UK broadband market growth accelerated in the first half of 2017,with the market adding only 162,000 subscribers in the three months to the end of March and just 66,000 in the three months to the end of June. It attributed the slowdown to a deteriorating UK economy and fixed-to-mobile substitution.\n\nIn addition, it noted TalkTalk is exposed to the challenges from fibre-to-the-home. CS said the pressure on European telcos to invest in FTTH is growing as demand for speed rises, cost to build falls, financing becomes more available and government policy shifts to gigabits speeds.\n\n\"BT is now considering a 10m FTTH build which would favour those telcos willing to co-invest, and present a challenge to DSL unbundlers. TalkTalk already has thinner margins in the FTTc market than DSL, whilst margins available to TalkTalk in FTTH would likely be yet lower with Ofcom seeking to create investment incentives.\"\n\nAt 0925 BST, the shares were down 3.1% to 203.80p.", "output": "UK telecommunications company TalkTalk has been dealt a blow by Credit Suisse, having its stock downgraded\u00a0to the\u00a0\"underperform\" rating. The financial institution blamed increasing \"structural headwinds\", including the near-saturation of the UK broadband market and small margins\u00a0in the fibre-to-the-home sector. The move came in spite of Credit Suisse praising changes in management and strategy which\u00a0led to a 25% year-to-date increase in TalkTalk's shares.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lloyd's pays first of $4.5bn hurricane claims \n Lloyd\u2019s of London, the world\u2019s biggest insurance market, has started paying out the first of $4.5bn (\u00a33.6bn) of claims related to tropical storm Harvey and Hurricane Irma, which wreaked havoc in the southern US and Caribbean.\n\nInga Beale, the Lloyd\u2019s of London chief executive, said: \u201cThe market is assessing claims and starting to make payments that will help local communities and businesses get back on their feet as quickly as possible.\u201d\n\nCatastrophe modelling companies have estimated the insured damage caused by Harvey and Irma at $50bn to $70bn (\u00a337bn-\u00a352bn). Hurricane Maria, which recently ripped through Puerto Rico, is estimated to have caused $40bn-$85bn in insured losses.\n\n\n\nBeale said Lloyd\u2019s was using those estimates to work out its share of the losses, about $4.5bn for Harvey and Irma. The market is still working out its liability for Hurricane Maria, the earthquake in Mexico and typhoons in Asia.\n\nAnalysts at Jefferies estimate a further $1bn hit for Maria and the Mexican earthquake. They expect that Lloyd\u2019s has the capital to absorb these losses without drawing on its central reserves. The cost of property insurance cover in the US is likely to rise \u201cmaterially\u201d as a result, but Asian prices should be unaffected.\n\n\u201cIt is clear that 2017 is a major catastrophe year,\u201d said Simon Kilgour, an insurance partner at the law firm CMS. \u201cThe current-year losses are expected to wipe out industry earnings and impact capital for the first time since 2005.\u201d\n\nLloyd\u2019s is closely monitoring the impact of climate change. Beale said rising sea levels raised the losses caused by Hurricane Sandy in 2012 by 30%.\n\nAnother big challenge is Brexit. As part of its planning, Lloyd\u2019s is about to file an application with the Belgian authorities to set up a subsidiary in Brussels. Beale said this was \u201ca bit more complex\u201d for a market with 83 syndicates than it would be for an individual company, but she still expects the new subsidiary to be up and running by the middle of 2018.\n\nBeale welcomed Theresa May\u2019s plan for a two-year transition period. \u201cThe transition would be very helpful for the financial services sector,\u201d she said.\n\nWhile the Brussels subsidiary will ensure that Lloyd\u2019s can write new business in EU countries after the UK leaves, Beale stressed that it was vital for insurers to be able to fulfil their liabilities for existing policies, adding that the outlook was \u201cstill very uncertain\u201d.\n\nLloyd\u2019s has thrown its weight behind proposals for a free trade agreement for financial services that would ensure UK and EU companies can trade in each other\u2019s countries without tariffs or quotas.\n\nBeale\u2019s comments came as Lloyd\u2019s reported a pretax profit of \u00a31.2bn for the first half of this year, down from \u00a31.46bn a year ago. It excludes the impact of the storms and other recent natural disasters.", "output": "The largest insurance market in the world, Lloyd\u2019s of London, has begun to pay the first of the claims arising from the damage caused by storm Harvey and Hurricane Irma, totalling\u00a0$4.5bn. Catastrophe modelling companies have estimated totals of between\u00a0$50bn and $70bn in insured damage caused by the two events, a statistic Lloyd's has used to calculate its\u00a0own payout. Hurricane Maria, which recently hit Puerto Rico, is thought to have resulted in between $40bn and $85bn in insured losses.\u00a0Analysts at Jefferies expect Maria and the Mexican earthquake to cost Lloyd's an addition $1bn.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Marine plastic enabling coastal species to cross oceans \n When the massive tsunami waves of the 2011 eastern Japan earthquake rolled back out to sea, they pulled with them fragments of docks, boats, and buoys that sometimes contained living stowaways. These hitchhikers\u2014including crustaceans, mollusks, and fish\u2014rode debris \"rafts\" through ocean currents over thousands of kilometers before finally washing ashore on Hawaiian and North American coastlines, sometimes years later. Now, researchers who studied hundreds of Japanese marine species living in and on this tsunami debris conclude that they were witnessing a \"transoceanic biological rafting event with no known historical precedent,\" they report today in Science . The scientists studied more than 600 pieces of tsunami-ejected debris\u2014mostly nonbiodegradable fiberglass and polystyrene foam\u2014that had swept up along Hawaiian, U.S. mainland, and Canadian shores. They counted nearly 300 Japanese species colonizing the debris, including roughly 80 different species on the largest piece, a 170-ton section of dock. In many cases, the scientists found that the animals had successfully reproduced along their journey. That's evidence that the relatively slow movement of the debris (2-4 kilometers per hour) helped species adapt to changing conditions across the Pacific Ocean, the team wrote. But life hitching a ride between continents might have a dark side, the researchers noted: Debris could transport invasive species, forever changing ecosystems.", "output": "Plastic waste is enabling communities of coastal species to cross oceans, for the first time in recorded history, according to marine scientists. Almost 300 species from Japan reached North America alive between 2012 and 2017, after travelling on plastic objects such as crates which entered the pacific after the Japanese earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Whilst this disaster was an extreme example of such transit, scientists believe that storm surges are causing many non-native species to travel on \u201crafts\u201d of marine plastic aided by storm surges. Mollusks, bryozoans, crustaceans and worms were the species most likely to have survived transit."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK\u2019s major chicken supplier alters food safety records \n Update: Since this story was published, Marks and Spencer and Aldi have stopped taking fresh chicken from the 2 Sisters factory featured in this investigation. Read more here\n\nYou probably haven't heard of the 2 Sisters Food Group but, if you like chicken, the chances are you have eaten some of the meat it processes.\n\n2 Sisters is the largest supplier in the UK of chickens to supermarkets but an investigation by ITV News and the Guardian has uncovered a series of potential breaches of food safety rules in one of the company\u2019s factories.\n\nOur undercover reporter got a job at \"Site D\" in the West Midlands, which processes fresh chicken for Tesco, Sainsbury's, Aldi, Lidl and Marks and Spencer. But he found evidence that suggests some of the chicken 2 Sisters produces from this factory may not be as fresh as the use by date suggests.\n\nOur reporter filmed workers changing both the date of slaughter and the source codes on crates of chicken crowns in such a way that artificially extended the meat\u2019s shelf-life and rendered it almost untraceable in the event of an outbreak of food poisoning.\n\nOn several occasions he witnessed workers returning chicken to the production line after it had fallen to the floor. This may have caused it to become contaminated.\n\nHe saw meat of different ages being mixed together and he filmed Tesco's \"exclusive\" Willow Farms range being topped up with drumsticks that were originally packaged for Lidl.\n\nWe have spoken to more than 20 workers, past and present, who have stated that such practices take place.\n\nSome also claim that the chicken supermarkets reject is often repackaged at the factory and sent out again.\n\n2 Sisters employs people to patrol the production line and enforce food safety rules but the quality assurance workers we spoke to told us that they are intimidated by production managers and fear being sent home if they intervene.\n\n2 Sisters is the largest supplier in the UK of chickens to supermarkets. Credit: ITV News\n\nA former employee told us they were treated like \"the enemy\" by production staff and that they felt their job was \"pointless\".\n\nWe shared our findings with Professor Chris Elliot, a food scientist at Queen's University Belfast, who led the government's inquiry into food safety following the horsemeat scandal in 2013.\n\n\"There are major concerns about food hygiene...I think [your] report absolutely calls out for a full investigation,\" he told us. \"I think the Food Standards Agency will take this very seriously, they will inspect and look at the premises and see if there are grounds to close the facility down.\"\n\nProfessor Elliot has inspected many food businesses in the past four years and insists he's never seen such poor standards. More generally, he believes government spending cuts have damaged the effectiveness of local authority inspections.\n\n\"It is my view that the environmental health services in the UK have been cut to the bone and cut to such an extent that things like this are probably happening more frequently than they should,\" he said.\n\nOur reporter uncovered a series of potential breaches of food safety rules. Credit: ITV News/the Guardian\n\nDr Richard Hyde, an expert in food law at the University of Nottingham, told us: \"If you are placing a use by date that is incorrect, that is a breach of law. If you place food on the market that doesn't have the correct traceability information, that is a criminal offence.\n\n\"There are a basket of potential offences here that the regulators need to look at and decide whether further action is required\".\n\n2 Sisters Food Group was founded in West Bromwich in 1993 by Ranjit Singh Boparan, who has built the business into one of the UK's largest food producers, employing 23,000 staff.\n\nThe 2 Sisters empire is vast but Ranjit Singh Boparan is still known in the West Midlands as \"The Chicken King\" and the bulk of the group\u2019s sales come from processing poultry.\n\nBoparan and his wife, Baljinder, own the business and The Sunday Times estimates their wealth to be \u00a3544 million.\n\nExperts were shocked by the footage we showed them. Credit: ITV News\n\n2 Sisters is dependent on the five biggest supermarkets for its income. The group\u2019s accounts note that the loss of any of these \u201ckey customers\u201d as a potential risk to the business. The same section notes that \u201cproduct quality and safety issues are paramount to the groups\u2019 success\u201d.\n\n2 Sisters Food Group told us that it takes these allegations extremely seriously. It said: \u201cHygiene and food safety will always be the number one priority within the business, and they remain at its very core.\n\n\"We also successfully operate in one of the most tightly-controlled and highly regulated food sectors in the world.\n\n\"We are subject to multiple and frequent unannounced audits from the FSA, BRC, Red Tractor, independent auditors as well as our customers. By example, our facility in the West Midlands under investigation received nine audits (five unannounced) in the months of July and August alone.\n\nEmployees at the factory told us about what it is like working there. Credit: ITV News\n\n\"However, we are never complacent and remain committed to continually improving our processes and procedures. If, on presentation of further evidence, it comes to light any verifiable transgressions have been made at any of our sites, we will leave no stone unturned in investigating and remedying the situation immediately.\u201d\n\nWe took our findings to the supermarkets supplied by 2 Sisters Food Group. They told us that they take hygiene and traceability very serious. All said they would be investigating the allegations.\n\nThe responses from supermarkets to our investigation\n\nThere is no suggestion the supermarkets were aware of these practices.\n\nThey told us:\n\nWe take hygiene and traceability very seriously and have extremely high production standards. We are now looking into these allegations with our supplier. Marks & Spencer\n\nWe operate to the highest possible food quality and safety standards, carrying out our own regular audits at all of our suppliers to ensure these standards are maintained. As such, we take these allegations extremely seriously and will be carrying out our own rigorous investigation. Tesco\n\nLidl UK takes the issue of food safety extremely seriously and, as such, we conduct independent audits to ensure that our high quality and safety standards are met. Therefore, we are very disappointed to learn of these allegations and will be urgently investigating this matter with the supplier. Lidl\n\nAll of our suppliers are expected to meet our high standards. We are concerned by these findings and are investigating. Sainsbury's\n\nWe require all suppliers to adhere to the highest possible food hygiene and traceability standards at all times. Aldi\n\nThe response from the FSA", "output": "2 Sisters Food Group, the biggest supplier of chicken to UK supermarkets, has altered food safety records to sell\u00a0meat that's past its use-by date, according to an investigation by the Guardian and ITV News. The group, which supplies\u00a0Aldi, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Sainsbury\u2019s, produces a third of all the poultry\u00a0consumed in the country. It is\u00a0part of a \u00a33bn ($4bn) operation that also includes Bernard Matthews, Fox\u2019s Biscuits, Giraffe and Goodfella\u2019s pizza.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK\u2019s major chicken supplier alters food safety records \n The largest supplier of chicken to UK supermarkets has been tampering with food safety records in moves that could dupe consumers into buying meat past its use-by date.\n\n\n\nAn investigation by the Guardian and ITV News recorded undercover footage of workers altering the slaughter date of poultry being processed at a 2 Sisters Food Group plant. The group produces a third of all poultry products eaten in the UK and supplies top grocers including Tesco, Sainsbury\u2019s, Marks & Spencer, Aldi and Lidl.\n\nWhen informed of the evidence, all five retailers responded to say they would launch immediate investigations.\n\n\n\nThe discovery comes just four years after the 2013 horsemeat scandal, which has resulted in prison sentences for those convicted of a conspiracy to pass off cheaper horsemeat as beef.\n\nExperts said the practice of changing \u201ckill dates\u201d could artificially stretch the commercial life of meat products by triggering the food processor to print incorrect use-by dates on supermarket packaging.\n\nChicken being relabelled to change the date of kill at the 2 Sisters plant. Photograph: Guardian/ITV\n\nWorkers at the company confirmed they had been asked to switch these labels on other occasions. It is illegal to place incorrect use-by dates on food, which are set for safety reasons and differ from \u201cbest before\u201d dates.\n\nThe joint investigation, which involved taking secret recordings during a spell of 12 working days inside 2 Sisters\u2019 plant in West Bromwich, also captured evidence that:\n\nChicken portions returned by supermarket distribution centres are being repackaged by 2 Sisters and sent out again to major grocers.\n\nWorkers drop chickens on the floor of the processing plant and return them to the production line.\n\nWorkers alter records of where chickens were slaughtered, potentially hindering authorities from recalling contaminated meat during food scares.\n\nChickens slaughtered on different dates are mixed on the production line. Workers said use-by dates printed on the packets of the mixed chicken tended to reflect the age of the freshest, rather than oldest, meat in the batch.\n\nChicken is picked up from the floor for processing in the West Midlands plant. Photograph: Guardian/ITV\n\nHaving been shown the evidence, Prof Chris Elliott, a food safety academic from Queen\u2019s University Belfast who led the UK government\u2019s independent review of food systems following the 2013 horsemeat scandal, said: \u201cOver the past three to four years I have conducted many inspections of food businesses right across the UK. I have never seen one operate under such poor standards as your video evidence shows.\n\n\u201cI think [this] absolutely calls out for a full investigation. We need to get environmental health officers, we need to get the Food Standards Agency to do a thorough investigation. The Food Standards Agency will take this very seriously. They will look at the premises and see if there are grounds to close the facility down.\u201d\n\nThe company said it had not been given enough time or detail to respond to the allegations, which it described as \u201cfalse\u201d.\n\n2 Sisters Food Group's response to our investigation We have been made aware of several broad allegations made by the Guardian/ITV in relation to inappropriate procedures, food safety and hygiene issues at two of our poultry processing facilities. We view these allegations extremely seriously. However, we have not been given the time or the detailed evidence to conduct any thorough investigations to establish the facts, which makes a fulsome and detailed response very difficult. What we can confirm is that hygiene and food safety will always be the number one priority within the business, and they remain at its very core. We also successfully operate in one of the most tightly-controlled and highly regulated food sectors in the world. We are subject to multiple and frequent unannounced audits from the FSA, BRC, Red Tractor, independent auditors as well as our customers. By example, our facility in the West Midlands under investigation received nine audits (five unannounced) in the months of July and August alone. However, we are never complacent and remain committed to continually improving our processes and procedures. If, on presentation of further evidence, it comes to light any verifiable transgressions have been made at any of our sites, we will leave no stone unturned in investigating and remedying the situation immediately.\n\nA letter from 2 Sisters Food Group\u2019s legal advisers, Schillings, said: \u201cFood safety and hygiene are 2SFG\u2019s top priorities. To the extent that you have identified any shortcomings (which is not admitted), these could only be isolated examples which our clients would take very seriously, and they are investigating the allegations made.\u201d\n\nDuring the course of the investigation, the Guardian and ITV interviewed more than 20 workers at 2 Sisters about standards within the company.\n\n\n\nOne worker said: \u201cI have [changed the slaughter dates] lots of times when I was working in that area. My supervisor, he asked me do it \u2026 If you are buying fresh chicken it can be older chicken.\u201d\n\nA second worker claimed that 2 Sisters quality control staff in the West Midlands were working in a \u201cpointless job\u201d and could feel intimidated and be overruled by production supervisors who treated them as \u201cenemies\u201d.\n\nOn one occasion the Guardian/ITV footage captured workers altering the \u201ckill date\u201d of hundreds of chickens to one day later at the group\u2019s West Bromwich plant in August. Other workers added that they had witnessed dates being altered by more than a day.\n\nSupermarket products typically have a use-by date around 10 days after the bird has been slaughtered.\n\nSpeaking about how chicken is returned by supermarket distribution centres, a third 2 Sisters worker said: \u201cThey will repack [the returned meat] like [it is] today\u2019s production ... It is sent back on [the line] like today\u2019s production. They mix it with today\u2019s production.\u201d\n\nSupermarkets return chicken to suppliers for a variety of reasons that can include packaging and labelling errors. Being returned does not mean it is unfit to eat. However, if older meat is mixed with fresher meat, the use-by date should reflect the age of the oldest meat in the batch.\n\nA fourth worker added: \u201cI try to make them change the [use-by] date to [reflect the] older DOK [date of kill] but that doesn\u2019t happen \u2013 they mix.\u201d\n\nThe footage shows chicken that has been processed and packed for Lidl being reopened and mixed with other pieces of poultry. The drumsticks re-emerge at the end of the line showing in packets saying they have come from Tesco\u2019s Willow Farms. The labelling on the pack says the contents are \u201creared exclusively for Tesco\u201d.\n\nSchillings said: \u201cThe Willow Farms brand is exclusive to Tesco, but the raw material is not. 2SFG meets the raw materials specifications for the Willow Farms brand.\u201d\n\nThe Guardian and ITV showed the undercover footage to four government meat inspectors, who would speak only on condition of anonymity. All of them said they believed the film showed potential breaches of food regulations.\n\nFood law experts also added that the film amounted to prima facie evidence that the company had potentially committed offences.\n\nThe 2 Sisters plant in West Bromwich. Photograph: David Sillitoe/The Guardian\n\nDr Richard Hyde, an expert in food law at Nottingham University, added: \u201cIf you are placing a use-by date that is incorrect that is a breach of law. If you place food on the market that doesn\u2019t have the correct traceability information that is a criminal offence. There are a basket of potential offences here that the regulators need to look at and decide whether further action is required.\u201d\n\nThe food processor said that Elliott and Hyde had not visited 2 Sisters sites or considered its policies, so their comments \u201ccannot be, in any way, objective expert evidence, but are completely unbalanced, based on biased selective information\u201d.\n\n2 Sisters Food Group is the UK\u2019s second largest food company by turnover and claims to process around 6 million chickens every week.\n\nIt is owned by Ranjit Singh Boparan and his wife, Baljinder Kaur Boparan, and the chicken operations \u2013 which include 12 sites in the UK \u2013 are part of a sprawling \u00a33bn food empire that separately includes the turkey producer Bernard Matthews, the restaurant chains Harry Ramsden, FishWorks and Giraffe, plus food brands such as Fox\u2019s Biscuits and Goodfella\u2019s pizza.\n\nThe Boparans, who have always shunned publicity, are worth \u00a3544m, according to the Sunday Times rich list.\n\n\n\nThe company added: \u201c2SFG ensures all staff are fully trained on hygiene and safety matters, and enforces a number of policies to ensure compliance with all regulations. It is subject to regular audits in these areas and staff have a number of ways in which to voice their concerns.\n\n\u201c2SFG has reviewed its [whistleblower hotline] records for Site D from the previous 12 months and there are no complaints from any quality assurance staff resembling those cited.\u201d\n\nThe five big supermarkets supplied by 2 Sisters\u2019 West Bromwich plant all said they took quality and safety standards very seriously and were investigating.\n\nA Tesco spokesperson said: \u201cWe operate to the highest possible food quality and safety standards, carrying out our own regular audits at all of our suppliers to ensure these standards are maintained. As such, we take these allegations extremely seriously and will be carrying out our own rigorous investigation.\u201d\n\nA Lidl spokesperson said: \u201cLidl UK takes the issue of food safety extremely seriously and, as such, we conduct independent audits to ensure that our high quality and safety standards are met. Therefore, we are very disappointed to learn of these allegations and will be urgently investigating this matter with the supplier.\u201d\n\n\n\n", "output": "2 Sisters Food Group, the biggest supplier of chicken to UK supermarkets, has altered food safety records to sell\u00a0meat that's past its use-by date, according to an investigation by the Guardian and ITV News. The group, which supplies\u00a0Aldi, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Sainsbury\u2019s, produces a third of all the poultry\u00a0consumed in the country. It is\u00a0part of a \u00a33bn ($4bn) operation that also includes Bernard Matthews, Fox\u2019s Biscuits, Giraffe and Goodfella\u2019s pizza.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cenovus sells Suffield assets to IPC for $512m \n Canada's Cenovus Energy Inc has reached an agreement to sell its Suffield oil and gas assets for $512 million to International Petroleum Corp, striking its second deal this month as it pushes ahead with its debt reduction plan.\n\nCalgary-based Cenovus said on Monday proceeds from the sale will be used to cut the $3.6 billion in debt it took on to buy oil sands assets from ConocoPhillips this year. Cenovus is targeting $5 billion from asset sales to pay down the debt and so far it has announced $1.5 billion in divestitures, including the latest sale.\n\nCenovus shares rose as much as 3.9 per cent to $13.18 in early morning trade, before retreating to $12.71 by late morning. The benchmark Canada share index was flat..\n\nAnalysts said the price tag for Suffield was within estimates, and that while the sale was positive for the company, other assets for sale may not be as attractive to buyers.\n\n\"On balance, we continue to recommend investors take a cautious stance toward the broader asset sale process for Cenovus,\" said Raymond James analyst Chris Cox, adding that other sales may \"disappoint to the downside.\"\n\nThe $16.8 billion ConocoPhillips deal effectively doubled Cenovus' producing assets, but dented its pristine balance sheet and sent Cenovus shares tumbling. It prompted some investors to revolt and resulted in the resignation of chief executive Brian Ferguson.\n\nInternational Petroleum Corp, a spinoff of Norway's Lundin Petroleum AB, said the acquisition more than triples its production and reserves. Its shares jumped 6.5 per cent to $5.22.\n\nEarlier this month, Cenovus agreed to sell its Pelican Lake heavy oil operations in Alberta for $975 million to Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.\n\nOther assets Cenovus plans to sell include the company's Weyburn and Palliser oil assets, which it hopes to announce by the end of the year. It may also sell some of the Deep Basin natural gas assets that it acquired from ConocoPhillips.\n\nReuters reported in July the company hopes to raise as much as $2.5 billion by selling Weyburn and Palliser oil assets, in-line with analysts' valuations.\n\nDesjardins analyst Justin Bouchard said Deep Basin's infrastructure assets could be sold for up to $1.5 billion, helping the company meet or even surpass its divestiture target.", "output": "Canada's Cenovus Energy has reached an agreement to sell its Suffield oil and gas assets for $512m to International Petroleum Corp., its second deal this month as it pushes ahead with its debt reduction plan following the $16.8bn acquisition of oil sands assets from ConocoPhilips earlier this year.\u00a0Cenovus is targeting $5bn from asset sales to pay down the debt $3.6bn of debt it took on to finance the Conoco deal. So far it has announced $1.5 billion in divestitures, including the latest sale.\u00a0Analysts said the price tag for Suffield was within estimates, and that while the sale was positive for the company, other assets for sale may not be as attractive to buyers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Out-of-pocket health costs hit old, poor, women hardest \n Sisters Shaylin Sluzalis, left, and Brittani Sluzalis, members of the disability rights group ADAPT, embrace while waiting in line before a Senate Finance Committee hearing to consider the Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson proposal in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, Sept. 25, 2017.\n\nLow-income Americans, older people and women pay a greater share of their incomes toward out-of-pocket health costs than do others, according to a new report issued Tuesday.\n\nThe broad analysis of spending by more than 2 million Americans also found that there is a strong correlation between when people tend to pay their out-of-pocket health costs and the months of March and April, when most people get their income tax refunds.\n\nAnd the report from the JP Morgan Chase Institute found that out-of-pocket health spending was highly concentrated among relatively few families.\n\n\"The top 10 percent of health-care spenders contributed 49 percent of total out-of-pocket spending in 2016,\" the report said. That top 10 percent on average spent 9 percent of their take-home pay on out-of-pocket health costs.\n\nOut-of-pocket costs are health expenses not covered by a person's insurance plan, and include charges such as co-payments, deductibles and coinsurance.\n\n\"The reality is that many American families don't have the cash buffer to withstand the volatility created by out-of-pocket health-care payments,\" said Diana Farrell, president and CEO of JP Morgan Chase Institute.\n\n\"We need to better understand the correlation between financial health and physical health.\"\n\nThe report comes as Republican leaders in the Senate are pushing a last-ditch bill to repeal and replace much of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.\n\nHealth experts have predicted that the bill, known as Graham-Cassidy, could greatly weaken, or eliminate in some states, ACA rules that mandate health insurance plans cover a minimum set of so-called essential health benefits, without imposing out-of-pocket charges on patients.\n\nThe institute for the report looked at spending from 2013 through 2016 by about 2.3 million Chase checking account customers. That data was \"de-identified,\" meaning it was not linked to people by name.\n\nThe time period examined includes the first three full years of implementation of Obamacare. Critics of that law predicted it would lead to increased health costs.\n\nHowever, the Chase report found that overall out-of-pocket health spending rose modestly during the time frame, by 4.3 percent on average, and ended up being less of a share of take-home income over time.\n\nIn 2013, average annual out-of-pocket health-care spending by a family stood at $629, representing 1.7 percent of take-home pay, the report said.\n\nThat grew to $645 per family in 2014 \u2014 a 2.6 percent increase \u2014 and to $690 per family in 2015, a rise of 6.9 percent.\n\nIn 2016, out-of-pocket spending grew to $714 per family, up 3.6 percent from the prior year.\n\nHowever, from 2014 through 2016, the total spent on out-of-pocket costs on average in each of those years was 1.6 percent of the average family's household take-home pay \u2014 slightly less than the level seen in 2013.\n\nBut the burden on certain groups of people was much higher.\n\nFamilies that earned less than $24,000 annually spent, on average, 2.8 percent of their take-home pay on out-of-pocket costs in 2016. That was up from 2.6 percent of take-home pay in 2015.\n\nThe next highest average burden was among families earning between $24,000 and $38,000 annually, which paid 1.6 percent of their take-home pay to out-of-pocket costs. As incomes rose after that, the burden of out-of-pocket costs dropped.\n\nIn households where the primary checking account was held by a woman, families paid, on average, 1.8 percent of their take-home pay toward out-of-pocket health costs in 2016, according to the report.\n\nThat compares to 1.5 percent among families where men were the primary checking account holders.\n\nThe report also found out-of-pocket cost burdens increased in direct correlation to a person's age.\n\nWhile people 18 to 25 years old paid just 1.2 percent of their pay toward such costs in 2016, that rose to 1.6 percent for people 35 to 44 years old, and to 1.9 percent for people 55 to 64 years old, the report said.\n\nFarrell, the CEO of the JP Morgan Chase Institute, said that while the overall average burden from out-of-pocket health costs remained stable in the past four years, many people were feeling more pinched from those costs.\n\n\"What we hear all the time.. is that these costs are increasing quite significantly, and we note that, too,\" Farrell said.\n\n\"But why is the burden stable? ... By and large people are spending a certain fraction of their income on out-of-pocket health care spend, and then they won't spend anymore,\" she said.\n\n\"That means if they get the health care \u2014 fine. If that means they won't pay for something that they're due to pay, they're probably not doing it, because we see this tight linkage between ability to pay, and pay,\" Farrell said. \"It's almost as though people cap how much they will spend on health care... so when they have more ability to pay, when incomes go up, they pay. When they don't, they won't get the health care or they won't pay for the health care.\"\n\nFarrell also said that if the Graham-Cassidy bill that would replace Obamacare becomes law, it will increase the burden on low-income people who already are struggling with out-of-pocket health costs.\n\n\"The demographic groups that are really carrying the heavier burden are the ones more likely to feel the impact of the changes,\" she said. \"Because the last several years have been relatively helpful to those groups, even though the outcome is more burdensome to them.\"", "output": "JP Morgan Chase Institute has found that older US citizens, low-income people and women pay more of their incomes for out-of-pocket healthcare expenses than others. The Institute\u2019s report also found that there was a strong correlation between the period of time when Americans get their income tax refunds, the months of March and April, and when people pay their out-of-pocket health expenses. The report took into account the spending habits of over two million Americans between 2013 and 2016, finding that the top 10 percent of healthcare spenders represented 49 percent\u00a0of all the out-of-pocket spending in 2016, putting around 9% of their take-home pay on these costs. The Institute has said that many Americans and their families do not have the financial buffer to accommodate these types of unexpected payments. The proposed Graham-Cassidy bill could cause extra pressure on Americans to pay these out-of-pocket expenses, removing the protection from the Affordable Care Act that mandates that a minimum of \u201cessential\u201d benefits are covered without incurring extra expenses. Out-of-pocket expenses rose by 4.3 percent\u00a0on average during that three-year period, with the average annual spend on out-of-pocket spending being $629 for families in 2013 and rising to $714 in 2016. The average percentage of take-home pay for a family was 1.6 percent, but was higher for female-led households (1.8 percent) and for those aged 55 to 64 (1.9 percent). The report found that when citizens had the ability to pay, they paid for health care, but when there was a lack of income, healthcare was either neglected or unpaid. The Graham-Cassidy bill could increase the burden on lower-income people already without the means to pay for out-of-pocket expenses, with the report stating that the demographics experiencing the most burden will be the ones to see the greatest negative effect of the proposed changes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Senate Republicans Say They Will Not Vote on Health Bill \n WASHINGTON \u2014 Senate Republicans on Tuesday officially abandoned the latest plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, shelving a showdown vote on the measure and effectively admitting defeat in their last-gasp drive to fulfill a core promise of President Trump and Republican lawmakers.\n\nThe decision came less than 24 hours after a pivotal Republican senator, Susan Collins of Maine, declared her opposition to the repeal proposal, all but ensuring that Republican leaders would be short of the votes they needed.\n\n\u201cWe haven\u2019t given up on changing the American health care system,\u201d Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, said after a lunchtime meeting of Republican senators. \u201cWe are not going to be able to do that this week, but it still lies ahead of us, and we haven\u2019t given up on that.\u201d\n\nMr. McConnell said Republicans would move on to their next big legislative goal: overhauling the tax code, a feat that has not been accomplished since 1986.", "output": "Senate Republicans have officially stated that they will not vote on the Graham-Cassidy bill for the alteration of the Affordable Care Act, signaling the end of the last attempt to meet the promise of the Trump administration. Republican leaders would have been short of the number of votes necessary to pass the repeal proposal. Thirteen lawmakers across 12 separate states have resisted at least one of the five past efforts to repeal the ACA since the initiation of the Trump administration. The next vote to take place will likely be on the tax code overhaul, another Republican target. Democrats\u2019 reaction to the news was to encourage the new opening of bipartisan negotiations for health insurance market stabilization, which had been put aside in favor of the repeal proposal. The decision not to vote may be the final nail in the coffin for the battle over health insurance in the US, a long debate that will likely be shelved for some time. However, there will likely be a revival of the discussion in the 2018 midterm elections, particularly as premiums are due to increase next year. The bill was due to take the regular funding for insurance subsidies on a state level, as well as the expansion of Medicaid, and to change the funding to a block grant. The bill would have lowered the spending on Medicaid by $1 trillion over a 10-year period, and putting millions of beneficiaries out of insurance. Democrats are hoping to pass the Alexander-Murray stabilization package which would send money for subsidies currently given to insurance companies as a reimbursement for lowering out-of-pocket costs for low-income citizens, and giving states more leeway to reform their insurance markets. The bill may prove unpopular with Republicans, who view the payments as a \u201cbailout\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurtech Lemonade launches no-punishment claims product \n Lemonade, the insurance company powered by artificial intelligence and behavioral economics, has launched a new product called Zero Deductible which offers new and existing Lemonade members a \u2018zero deductible\u2019 upgrade, so they can make up to two claims each year with no deductible payments, and no rate hikes. The launch of Lemonade\u2019s Zero Deductible also marks the company\u2019s first year anniversary. Launched in New York in September 2016, Lemonade has since expanded to California, New Jersey, Illinois and Texas, and has been licensed- and will launch soon- in 15 more states, reaching more than 50% of the US population.\n\n\u201cOne of the motives behind Lemonade was to rebuild insurance around what makes sense to people, not insurance companies. That\u2019s how Zero Deductible was born,\u201d explained Lemonade cofounder and CEO Daniel Schreiber. \u201cPeople resent being \u2018punished\u2019 for using the product they paid plenty to use. Zero Deductible is something new and different. It allows you to truly receive your full replacement value, twice per year, every year, all without your rates jumping. There\u2019s nothing like it in market.\u201d\n\n[clickToTweet tweet=\u201d[email protected]_Inc celebrates 1st anniversary with zero deductible @crowdfundinside @daschreiber\u201d quote=\u201dLemonade\u2019s new Zero Deductible allows customers to receive full replacement value, twice per year, every year, all without rates jumping. \u201c]\n\nWith today\u2019s launch of Zero Deductible, the platform aims to move from rethinking the fundamental business model of insurance and its customer experience, to tackling the underlying policy, and ensuring its alignment with consumers\u2019 wishes. Zero Deductible is the closest thing to truly \u201cundoing\u201d a loss.\n\n\u201cWe want people to think about their Lemonade insurance as an Undo button for their life. You pay a premium to have that undo button at hand, and you expect it to work as advertised when bad things happen,\u201d added cofounder and Chief Lemonade Maker Shai Wininger. \u201cNo gotchas, no paperwork, no faxes and no phone calls. Lemonade\u2019s Zero Deductible is a seamless, technology-powered product that undoes losses, in seconds.\u201d\n\nIn the year since launching, Certified B-Corp Lemonade has attained a notable market share, especially among first time insurance buyers. In New York State alone, Lemonade reportedly overtook Allstate, GEICO, Farmers, Liberty Mutual, Progressive, State Farm, USAA and all other legacy insurers among first time buyers of renters insurance. New users can opt for Zero Deductible when getting a policy, simply by choosing the Zero Deductible option before purchasing a policy. Existing users can upgrade to Zero Deductible instantly thanks to Lemonade\u2019s Live Policy.\n\nLemonade is on the radar for new competitors and disruptors; German Insurtech company ONE (part of the Wefox Group) yesterday pledged to outgrow US based Lemonade in service growth soon after its late September launch.\n\n________________________________________________________________________________", "output": "To mark its first anniversary, insurtech Lemonade is allowing new and existing customers to buy a \"zero deductible\" policy that allows two claims a year at no extra cost and with no effect on premium rates.\u00a0Since its launch, the firm has leapfrogged established carriers\u00a0among first-time rental-home\u00a0insurance buyers in its\u00a0New York home state.\u00a0Allstate, GEICO, Farmers, Liberty Mutual, Progressive, State Farm and USAA are among the legacy insurers it's said to have overtaken in terms of market share among the\u00a0demographic.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Robo-adviser assets could top $1.5tn in next five years \n Robo advisors are neither going away, nor are they dying off.\n\n\n\nInstead, they will get much stronger, expected to collectively top $1 trillion in assets under management in fewer than five years.\n\n\n\nThe booming popularity of micro-investing firms will partly feed such growth. With over 60% of millennials already subscribed to apps like Acorns, the sector will expand as they devote more money to investing, reports Boston-based consulting firm Aite Group.\n\n\n\n\u201cDigital advising will become less focused on Generation Y and begin to resemble the traditional investor,\u201d says Javier Paz, a senior analyst with Aite and the author of \u201cU.S. Digital Advice,\u201d a study released in September.\n\n\n\nRobos will become the norm within a decade, he suggests, joined by virtual assistants like Amazon\u2019s Alexa and Apple\u2019s Siri, as comfort with automated investing increases.\n\n\n\nThe research estimates AUM from robo advisors will hit the $1 trillion milestone by 2020 and will rise to $1.5 trillion the following year. Taking a conservative approach, the research did not account for AUM on upcoming digital platforms by Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, and UBS expected later in 2017.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re being bombarded with digitization,\u201d Paz says. \u201cThis is just one more form.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe firm conducted a year-long study that wrapped up in July. As part of their research Aite interviewed industry executives from some of the industry\u2019s largest firms and analyzed public filings. (The study projected its 2017 data).\n\n\n\nClick through the slideshow to see how mobile-first investing will change the investment landscape in the coming years.\n\n", "output": "Assets managed by robo-advisers could top $1.5tn in the next five years after reaching $1tn in 2020, according to research from Boston-based consultants Aite Group. Robo-advisers could become the default form of investing over the next decade, particularly if paired with home-assistant devices like Amazon's Alexa. The potential growth suggests younger clients are comfortable with an automated investment process.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Marijuana-related injuries in Canada could initiate\u00a0GL policies \n Insurers would be well-advised to track the evolving marijuana risk to determine if impairment-related loss history could trigger defence and indemnification obligations under employers\u2019 general liability policies, it was suggested Tuesday during a session at the RIMS Canada Conference in downtown Toronto.\n\n\u201cAn employee who is under the influence of marijuana while at work could injure others, including customers, third parties or employees,\u201d Leszek Bialy, vice president and head of alternative risk transfer for Zurich Canada, noted during the conference session, Joint Accountability: A Risk and Insurance Focused Marijuana Primer.\n\n\u201cAn employer\u2019s general liability policy would typically provide defence and indemnification to the employer for alleged injuries to an injured party on or off of the premises,\u201d Bialy explained.\n\nUse of medicinal marijuana is already legal in Canada and the impending legalization of recreational marijuana, which could be next July 1, means associated risks and possible insurance implications are receiving plenty of attention.\n\nAre insurers currently redrafting underwriting applications in light of the evolving marijuana risk? Bialy asked attendees.\n\n\u201cAt this time, I\u2019m going to say no. However, the risk is deemed to be an evolving risk and insurers are watching. If there\u2019s a loss history suggesting impairment, don\u2019t be surprised if an insurer asks more questions and looks to confirm guidelines and policies to manage risk,\u201d he pointed out.\n\nThe form would likely be \u201cno different than they would for auto claims and looking at MDRs for alcohol use today,\u201d said Bialy (pictured right).\n\nRelated: Marijuana legalization raises legal issues related to property policies, liability coverage and auto insurance, ARC Group Canada event hears\n\nTo address the risk, \u201cfrom an underwriting perspective, the biggest issue underwriters are going to have is the lack of data,\u201d suggested Alexis Moulton, a partner with McLennan Ross LLP.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s simply not enough information out here right now. It makes pricing hard; it\u2019s going to take a big effort on the part of the insurers, the brokers, the underwriters, the clients, the insured, etc. to understand this risk,\u201d Moulton told attendees.\n\n\u201cUnderwriters need to consider the what ifs, but you can\u2019t price it out of the range of what the growers can afford,\u201d she emphasized.\n\nConsider if there are bad strains, effects from taking edibles or health side effects after using marijuana recommended by a dispensary employee, said Moulton.\n\nIf a person has a severe side effect, for example, \u201che\u2019s going to sue. He\u2019s going to sue the employee, he\u2019s going to sue the dispensary, he\u2019s going to sue the landlord, he\u2019s going to sue the tenant. It goes on and on,\u201d she argued.\n\nBialy suggested GL issue could be \u201cclosely tied to workers\u2019 compensation and employment practices in terms of being able to mitigate the risk.\u201d\n\nHis advice? Take account of the human element and put in place health and safety workplace guidelines. \u201cBy enforcing those guidelines, you\u2019re going to be able to have control over those third parties, especially those of you in industries like construction or those industries that have contractor-type exposures,\u201d he suggested.\n\nWith regard to third-party contractors, \u201chow far do you take this focus as far as medical marijuana? Will there be \u2013 should there be \u2013 an element of contractual liability to address this risk?\u201d Bialy asked.\n\n\u201cWhen you\u2019re going to write a cannabis policy, you\u2019re going to be writing policies to cover security, E&O (errors and omissions), property, crop, liability, fire, transportation, distribution,\u201d Moulton (pictured left) told session attendees.\n\nRelated: With marijuana legalization impending, now is not the time to lower the legal alcohol limit, CAA-Quebec argues\n\nNoting that \u201cgrowers can have 50 to 60 different strains of cannabis, with multiple growing cycles,\u201d how these crops are insured will be different, she added.\n\nOther types of insurance policies that could potentially come into play with marijuana include property and auto, Bialy said.\n\nIn both Canada and the U.S., \u201cyour firm can be held responsible for damages stemming from an auto incident or accident involving an employee or yours who tests positive for marijuana impairment,\u201d he pointed out.\n\nFor example, south of the border, \u201cmost state laws legalizing some aspect of marijuana use does not mean a business cannot set workplace drug policies, again, particularly with safety-sensitive positions,\u201d Bialy said.\n\nRelated: One in 10 polled Canadians admit to driving under the influence of marijuana, State Farm Canada survey finds\n\nMore coverage of the 2017 RIMS Canada Conference\n\nBrokers placing fidelity coverage should be \u2018involved early on\u2019 in fraud investigations: RIMS speaker\n\nAutonomous vehicles will require a reassessment of liability: RIMS Canada Conference speaker\n\nORIMS presents Tony Lackey with 2017 Donald M. Stuart Award at RIMS Canada Conference\n\nCyber attacks could include \u2018extorting a security guard to look the other way,\u2019 RIMS Canada speaker warns\n\nCybercriminals will shift focus from data to threatening human life, cybersecurity expert predicts\n\nThird-party drone services developing, immediate post-incident use still a challenge", "output": "If employees of Canadian businesses, impaired by the legal use of marijuana,\u00a0cause\u00a0injury to third parties, it could trigger general liability insurance policies, according to\u00a0Leszek Bialy, vice president and head of alternative risk transfer for Zurich Canada. While insurers are not presently redrafting underwriting applications, they are being urged to monitor the emerging\u00a0risk posed by usage of the\u00a0drug. Medical marijuana\u00a0is already legal in Canada, with\u00a0legalisation for recreational use slated to come into law next year.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Is Health Care a Right? \n No other country in the world has built its health-care system this way, and, in the era of the gig economy, it\u2019s becoming only more problematic. Between 2005 and 2015, according to analysis by the economists Alan Krueger and Lawrence Katz, ninety-four per cent of net job growth has been in \u201calternative work arrangements\u201d\u2014freelancing, independent contracting, temping, and the like\u2014which typically offer no health benefits. And we\u2019ve all found ourselves battling over who deserves less and who deserves more.\n\nThe Berkeley sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild spent five years listening to Tea Party supporters in Louisiana, and in her masterly book \u201cStrangers in Their Own Land\u201d she identifies what she calls the deep story that they lived and felt. Visualize a long line of people snaking up a hill, she says. Just over the hill is the American Dream. You are somewhere in the middle of that line. But instead of moving forward you find that you are falling back. Ahead of you, people are cutting in line. You see immigrants and shirkers among them. It\u2019s not hard to imagine how infuriating this could be to some, how it could fuel an America First ideal, aiming to give pride of place to \u201creal\u201d Americans and demoting those who would undermine that identity\u2014foreigners, Muslims, Black Lives Matter supporters, feminists, \u201csnowflakes.\u201d\n\nOur political debates seem to focus on what the rules should be for our place in line. Should the most highly educated get to move up to the front? The most talented? Does seniority matter? What about people whose ancestors were cheated and mistreated?\n\nThe mistake is accepting the line, and its dismal conception of life as a zero-sum proposition. It gives up on the more encompassing possibilities of shared belonging, mutual loyalty, and collective gains. America\u2019s founders believed these possibilities to be fundamental. They held life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to be \u201cunalienable rights\u201d possessed equally by all members of their new nation. The terms of membership have had to be rewritten a few times since, sometimes in blood. But the aspiration has endured, even as what we need to fulfill it has changed.\n\nWhen the new country embarked on its experiment in democracy, health care was too primitive to matter to life or liberty. The average citizen was a hardscrabble rural farmer who lived just forty years. People mainly needed government to insure physical security and the rule of law. Knowledge and technology, however, expanded the prospects of life and liberty, and, accordingly, the requirements of government. During the next two centuries, we relied on government to establish a system of compulsory public education, infrastructure for everything from running water to the electric grid, and old-age pensions, along with tax systems to pay for it all. As in other countries, these programs were designed to be universal. For the most part, we didn\u2019t divide families between those who qualified and those who didn\u2019t, between participants and patrons. This inclusiveness is likely a major reason that these policies have garnered such enduring support.\n\nHealth care has been the cavernous exception. Medical discoveries have enabled the average American to live eighty years or longer, and with a higher quality of life than ever before. Achieving this requires access not only to emergency care but also, crucially, to routine care and medicines, which is how we stave off and manage the series of chronic health issues that accumulate with long life. We get high blood pressure and hepatitis, diabetes and depression, cholesterol problems and colon cancer. Those who can\u2019t afford the requisite care get sicker and die sooner. Yet, in a country where pretty much everyone has trash pickup and K-12 schooling for the kids, we\u2019ve been reluctant to address our Second World War mistake and establish a basic system of health-care coverage that\u2019s open to all. Some even argue that such a system is un-American, stepping beyond the powers the Founders envisioned for our government.\n\nIn fact, in a largely forgotten episode in American history, Thomas Jefferson found himself confronting this very matter, shortly after his Inauguration as our third President, in 1801. Edward Jenner, in England, had recently developed a smallpox vaccine\u2014a momentous medical breakthrough. Investigating the lore that milkmaids never got smallpox, he discovered that material from scabs produced by cowpox, a similar condition that afflicts cattle, induced a mild illness in people that left them immune to smallpox. Smallpox epidemics came with a mortality rate of thirty per cent or higher, and wiped out upward of five per cent of the population of cities like Boston and New York. Jefferson read Jenner\u2019s report and arranged for the vaccination of two hundred relatives, neighbors, and slaves at Monticello. The President soon became vaccination\u2019s pre\u00ebminent American champion.\n\nCopy link to cartoon Copy link to cartoon Shop Shop\n\nBut supplies were difficult to produce, and the market price was beyond the means of most families. Jefferson, along with his successor, James Madison, believed in a limited role for the federal government. They did not take expanding its power and its commitments lightly. By the time Jefferson finished his two terms as President, however, city and state governments had almost entirely failed to establish programs to provide vaccines for their citizens. Thousands of lives continued to be lost to smallpox outbreaks. Meanwhile, vaccination programs in England, France, and Denmark had dramatically curbed the disease and measurably raised the national life expectancy. So, at Jefferson\u2019s prompting, and with Madison\u2019s unhesitating support, Congress passed the Vaccine Act of 1813 with virtually no opposition. A National Vaccine Agent was appointed to maintain stocks of vaccine and supply it to any American who requested it. The government was soon providing free vaccine for tens of thousands of people each year. It was the country\u2019s first health-care entitlement for the general population. And its passage wasn\u2019t in the least controversial.\n\nTwo centuries later, the Affordable Care Act was passed to serve a similar purpose: to provide all Americans with access to the life-preserving breakthroughs of our own generation. The law narrowed the yawning disparities in access to care, levied the taxes needed to pay for it, and measurably improved the health of tens of millions. But, to win passage, the A.C.A. postponed reckoning with our generations-old error of yoking health care to our jobs\u2014an error that has made it disastrously difficult to discipline costs and insure quality, while severing care from our foundational agreement that, when it comes to the most basic needs and burdens of life and liberty, all lives have equal worth. The prospects and costs for health care in America still vary wildly, and incomprehensibly, according to your job, your state, your age, your income, your marital status, your gender, and your medical history, not to mention your ability to read fine print.\n\nFew want the system we have, but many fear losing what we\u2019ve got. And we disagree profoundly about where we want to go. Do we want a single, nationwide payer of care (Medicare for all), each state to have its own payer of care (Medicaid for all), a nationwide marketplace where we all choose among a selection of health plans (Healthcare.gov for all), or personal accounts that we can use to pay directly for health care (Health Savings Accounts for all)? Any of these can work. Each has been made to work universally somewhere in the world. They all have their supporters and their opponents. We disagree about which benefits should be covered, how generous the financial protection should be, and how we should pay for it. We disagree, as well, about the trade-offs we will accept: for instance, between increasing simplicity and increasing choice; or between advancing innovation and reducing costs.\n\nWhat we agree on, broadly, is that the rules should apply to everyone. But we\u2019ve yet to put this moral principle into practice. The challenge for any plan is to avoid the political perils of a big, overnight switch that could leave many people with higher costs and lower benefits. There are, however, many options for a gradual transition. Just this June, the Nevada legislature passed a bill that would have allowed residents to buy into the state\u2019s Medicaid plan\u2014if the governor hadn\u2019t vetoed it. A similar bill to allow people to buy into Medicare was recently introduced in Congress. We need to push such options forward. Maintaining the link between health coverage and jobs is growing increasingly difficult, expensive, and self-defeating. But deciding to build on what\u2019s currently working requires overcoming a well of mistrust about whether such investments will really serve a shared benefit.\n\nMy friend Betsy Anderson, who taught eighth-grade English at Athens Middle School for fifteen years, told me something that made me see how deep that well is. When she first started out as a teacher, she said, her most satisfying experiences came from working with eager, talented kids who were hungry for her help in preparing them for a path to college and success. But she soon realized that her class, like America as a whole, would see fewer than half of its students earn a bachelor\u2019s degree. Her job was therefore to try to help all of her students reach their potential\u2014to contribute in their own way and to pursue happiness on their own terms.\n\nBut, she said, by eighth grade profound divisions had already been cemented. The honors kids\u2014the Hillary Clintons and Mitt Romneys of the school\u2014sat at the top of the meritocratic heap, getting attention and encouragement. The kids with the greatest needs had special-education support. But, across America, the large mass of kids in the middle\u2014the ones without money, book smarts, or athletic prowess\u2014were outsiders in their own schools. Few others cared about what they felt or believed or experienced. They were the unspecial and unpromising, looked down upon by and almost completely separated from the college-bound crowd. Life was already understood to be a game of winners and losers; they were the designated losers, and they resented it. The most consistent message these students had received was that their lives were of less value than others\u2019. Is it so surprising that some of them find satisfaction in a politics that says, essentially, Screw \u2019em all?\n\nI met with Mark, a friend of Arnold\u2019s, at the Union Street Diner, uptown near the campus of Ohio University, which makes Athens its home. The diner was a low-key place that stayed open twenty-four hours, with Formica tables and plastic cups, and a late-night clientele that was a mixture of townies and drunken students. I ordered a cheeseburger and onion rings. Mark ordered something healthier. (He asked me not to use his last name.) The son of a state highway patrolman, he had graduated from Athens High School five years ahead of me. Afterward, he worked as a cable installer, and got married at twenty-three. His wife worked at the Super Duper grocery store. Their pay was meagre and they were at the mercy of their bosses. So, the next year, they decided to buy a convenience store on the edge of town.\n\nMark\u2019s father-in-law was a builder, and he helped them secure a bank loan. They manned the register day and night, and figured out how to make a decent living. It was never a lot of money, but over time they built up the business, opening gas pumps, and hiring college students to work the counter part time. They were able to make a life of it.\n\nThey adopted a child, a boy who was now a twenty-five-year-old graduate of the local university. Mark turned fifty-seven and remained a lifelong conservative. In general, he didn\u2019t trust politicians. But he felt that Democrats in particular didn\u2019t seem to recognize when they were pushing taxes and regulations too far. Health-care reform was a prime example. \u201cIt\u2019s just the whole time they were coming up with this idea from copying some European model,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m going, \u2018Oh shit. This is not going to end up good for Mark.\u2019 \u201d (Yes, he sometimes talks about himself in the third person.)\n\nFor his health coverage, Mark trusted his insurance agent, whom he\u2019d known for decades, more than he trusted the government. He\u2019d always chosen the minimum necessary, a bare-bones, high-deductible plan. He and his wife weren\u2019t able to conceive, so they didn\u2019t have to buy maternity or contraceptive coverage. With Obamacare, though, he felt forced to pay extra to help others get benefits that he\u2019d never had or needed. \u201cI thought, Well, here we go, I guess I\u2019m now kicking in for Bill Gates\u2019s daughter\u2019s pregnancy, too.\u201d He wanted to keep government small and taxes low. He was opposed to Obamacare.\n\nThen, one morning a year ago, Mark\u2019s back started to hurt. \u201cIt was a workday. I grabbed a Tylenol and I go, \u2018No, this isn\u2019t going to work, the pain\u2019s too weird.\u2019 \u201d It got worse, and when the pain began to affect his breathing he asked his wife to drive him to the emergency room.", "output": "The United States' current debate over healthcare has led to the question of whether healthcare is a fundamental right. The high cost of healthcare, even with insurance, is prohibitive for many Americans. However, some see healthcare access as a right, but the cost is a burden that individuals should pay, rather than the taxpayer. A right to healthcare, from a conservative standpoint, would allow both the deserving and the undeserving to benefit. A more liberal approach sees healthcare as a necessity, much like the potable water that the government must provide. The balance must be found over maintenance of the belief that collective action results in collective benefit. Medicare,\u00a0as a system where everyone pays\u00a0in, is perceived more favorably to Medicaid, as all Americans benefit from the system past age 65.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "XL Catlin launches accident and health solution in Italy \n THIS AXA WEBSITE USES COOKIES\n\nAXA XL, as a controller, uses cookies to provide its services, improve user experience, measure audience engagement, and interact with users\u2019 social network accounts among others. Some of these cookies are optional and we won't set optional cookies unless you enable them by clicking the \"ACCEPT ALL\" button. You can disable these cookies at any time via the \"How to manage your cookie settings\" section in our cookie policy.", "output": "XL Catlin launched an accident and health insurance solution for Italian clients. The solution consists of three distinct products: group policy accident insurance, business travel accident insurance and health care coverage for clients' employees and their families. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Global economies still at risk and ill-prepared for robots: WEF \n Hans-Peter Merten | Getty Images\n\nGlobal economies remain at risk from further shock and are \"ill-prepared\" for the next wave of \"automation and robotization,\" according to the World Economic Forum's (WEF) latest global competitiveness report. The Switzerland-based organization's 2017 Global Competitiveness Index, published Wednesday, assesses various factors driving countries' productivity and prosperity \u2013 including its institutions, infrastructure, education, innovation and labor market efficiency, among others, and showed a sharp divide between major global economies. \"Ten years on from the global financial crisis, the prospects for a sustained economic recovery remain at risk due to a widespread failure on the part of leaders and policy-makers to put in place reforms necessary to underpin competitiveness and bring about much-needed increases in productivity,\" WEF stated of its findings. In 2017, the report found that Switzerland retained top spot as the most competitive economy, closely followed by the U.S. and Singapore. Also in the top 10 were the Netherlands in fourth place, followed by Germany, Hong Kong, Sweden, the U.K. (which had fallen from sixth to eighth place), Japan and Finland. With the usual suspects populating the rankings again this year, Margareta Drzeniek-Hanouz, head of Economic Progress at the World Economic Forum, told CNBC on Wednesday that there had not been much effort at structural reforms that would improve competitiveness.\n\nwatch now\n\n\"Global growth has been mainly fueled by monetary policy and low interest rates over the last few years so we do not see much progress on productivity, so that is reflected in the ranking. At the same time, we should be seeing more (productivity) in order to keep growth going forward,\" she told CNBC Wednesday. Major BRICS economies lagged far behind, however, with China standing at number 27 in the forum's ninth year of competitiveness rankings, Russia at 38, India at 40, South Africa at 61 and Brazil at 80. There was also much divergence between the high-ranking northern European economies and southern European ones, including Spain (34), Italy (43) and Greece (87). The organization said that that its 2017 report highlighted three key areas of concern, including the robustness of the financial system, a lack of flexibility in labor markets and an imbalance between investments in technology and efforts to promote their adoption in the wider economy.\n\nThe 'Age of Talentism'", "output": "The World Economic Forum (WEF) has called on governments and business to boost productivity, warning that\u00a0worldwide economies remain vulnerable to financial shocks a decade after the financial crisis. In its latest competitiveness report, the WEF also said economies were\u00a0woefully unprepared for\u00a0incoming \"automation and robotisation\". \"The prospects for a sustained economic recovery remain at risk due to a widespread failure on the part of leaders and policy\u00a0makers to put in place reforms necessary to underpin competitiveness and bring about much-needed increases in productivity,\"\u00a0the WEF warned. It urged\u00a0governments to create more flexible labour markets that can cope with encroaching robotisation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Climate change may make some assets uninsurable \n Eu\u00adrope is turn\u00ading to Africa\u2019s gas, while the US, Chi\u00adna and Rus\u00adsia are rac\u00ading for eco\u00adnom\u00adic in\u00adflu\u00adence on the con\u00adti\u00adnent.", "output": "There is a fear among risk assessors that an increasing frequency of substantial storms during the Atlantic hurricane season may render some assets uninsurable as the impact of extreme weather causes the rate and size of claims to rise ahead of the income generated by premiums. One solution, according to Swiss Re, is to prepare adequately for a payout in the wake of significant storms, while interacting closely with clients and brokers. \u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Experts accused of hiding epilepsy drug links to birth defects \n Warnings to young women who might become pregnant that the epilepsy drug sodium valproate could cause birth defects and developmental problems in their babies could have been made public more than 40 years ago, according to campaigners.\n\n\u201cThese warnings could have and should have been given in 1974,\u201d said Catherine Cox from the Fetal Anti-Convulsant Syndrome Association at a public hearing of the European Medicines Agency, which is conducting a risk assessment of the drug. \u201cHowever, there was a deliberate decision not to publish them.\u201d\n\nRegulators knew about the risks when they were considering licensing sodium valproate for the control of seizures in epilepsy. But documents from 1973 show they thought telling patients \u201ccould give rise to fruitless anxiety\u201d.\n\nA \u201cDear Doctor\u201d letter warned health professionals: \u201cThis compound has been shown to be teratogenic in animals, meaning it could harm the human foetus.\u201d\n\nBut the then Committee on Safety of Medicines said the warning should \u201cnot (go) on the package inserts, so that there would be no danger of patients themselves seeing it\u201d.\n\nThe EMA\u2019s risk assessment committee will decide what extra measures should be taken to safeguard young women who might become pregnant and their children from sodium valproate. The drug, used to treat epilepsy but also bipolar disorder and migraine, has long been controversial.\n\nWhile many campaigners would like an outright ban for women of childbearing age, doctors say there are some for whom it is the only drug that will control their epileptic seizures. Campaigners estimate that up to 20,000 children in the UK may have been harmed.\n\nBabies whose mothers are given the drug during pregnancy run a 11% risk of birth defects and a 40% risk of developmental problems. Karen Keely, from the Organisation for Anti-Convulsant Syndrome in Ireland, told the EMA that her three sons, Lee, Lorcan and Harry, all have birth defects after she was prescribed Epilim, one of the brand names of sodium valproate.\n\n\u201cTwo of my three boys require life-long care and will never live a normal life, will never be able to have children or get married,\u201d she said. \u201cThe effects of sodium valproate have been unbearable.\n\n\u201cI have been mourning my children since the day they came into my life and I\u2019m determined to not let this injustice happen to other families in the same way that it has happened to mine.\u201d\n\nWomen are still unaware of the risks of the drug, even after a \u201ctoolkit\u201d was produced last year for doctors and patients by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, which replaced the Committee on the Safety of Medicines, with the help of stakeholders.\n\nBut Clare Pelham of the Epilepsy Society said a survey last month of 2,000 young women with the condition found that 68% did not know about it, which was a slight increase on the 64% from the years before when the toolkit had only just been introduced.\n\nShe called on the inquiry to make warnings to women mandatory, rather than voluntary. The health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, should require GPs to review any woman on the drug face to face every 12 months. \u201cIt is a very straightforward measure,\u201d she said.", "output": "Regulators knew that epilepsy drug sodium valproate could cause birth defects and developmental problems in babies more than 40 years ago but kept it quiet for fear it \"could give rise to fruitless anxiety\".\u00a0Catherine Cox of the Fetal Anti-Convulsant Syndrome Association accused medical experts at a public hearing\u00a0of making a \"deliberate decision not to publish\" warnings. The drug, manufactured by Sanofi, is also used to treat bipolar disorder and migraines. Campaigners estimate that around 20,000 children in the UK may have been affected by the drug, which is undergoing a risk assessment by\u00a0the European Medicines Agency."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "First film funded and distributed via blockchain in production \n The Story of Blockchain\n\nDozens of clips claim to explain the blockchain or tell you everything you need to know about Bitcoin. But the story of cryptocurrencies and the technology that makes them possible demands more explanation than is possible in a cursory two-minute animation.\n\nThese topics may be garnering a lot of mainstream attention right now thanks to skyrocketing valuations and interest from multi-billion dollar organizations like IBM and Microsoft, but they've actually been around for decades. The story of how they managed to land in the spotlight in 2017 is both compelling and complex.\n\nLuckily, filmmaker Alex Winter has taken on the daunting task of telling it.\n\nWinter's face isn't new in the entertainment industry. He began his career as an actor, starring in several popular films such as The Lost Boys and, perhaps most famously, the Bill and Ted franchise. He then moved behind the camera to direct several narrative features and award-winning documentaries. His recent work reflects his interest in decentralization and the rise of internet-based communities \u2014 two of his documentaries, Downloaded and Deep Web, center on these themes. His next project, the \"Untitled Blockchain Film,\" is a feature specifically focused on the blockchain and its potential to change the world.\n\n\"This film is an opportunity to examine the future as opposed to the distant past or the immediate past: where we are, where we're going, and the frenzied, exciting, and precarious world that we are currently in, particularly as that relates to the blockchain and crypto,\" Winter explains in an interview with Futurism.\n\nTo do that, the director will travel the world, interviewing the investors and innovators playing a major role in the evolution of blockchain and decentralization. He'll also seek out those using the technology to address important real-world problems, such as world hunger and income inequality.\n\nWinter notes that he has been studying the rise of cryptography and its impact on global culture since the late 1980s. But he is excited to see where the process of creating this film takes him. \"Every movie is a journey of discovery and disorientation for me,\" says Winter. \"That's what I love about making them.\"\n\nCould blockchain upend the film industry? Get ready. This award-winning director just announced the world\u2019s first blockchain film. Posted by Futurism on Thursday, September 28, 2017\n\nAn Industry Redefined\n\nThe subject of Winter's new documentary isn't the only thing about it that's cutting-edge \u2014 everything from how the film is being funded to how it will be distributed is forward-thinking, thanks to SingularDTV, the EnTech company producing the film alongside Futurism Studios (a wholly owned subsidiary of Futurism LLC).\n\nSingularDTV's Ethereum-based production and distribution platform utilizes blockchain technology to give filmmakers and artists everything they need to bring their projects to fruition.\n\n\"We're creating the ecosystem for entertainment industry artists and creators to be able to do everything \u2014 raise funds, market their projects, rent equipment \u2014 through a tokenized ecosystem,\" Kim Jackson, president of entertainment at SingularDTV, tells Futurism. \"The different applications we're building support artists all the way from development to distribution.\"\n\nGeoff Clark, president of Futurism Studios, notes that this pivotal moment for blockchain technology makes this an especially exciting time for filmmaking. \"We have the rare opportunity to redesign our finance and distribution models from the ground up, ensuring a more sustainable and equitable future,\" he says. \"I believe Blockchain represents the next evolution of content creation, and we are excited to partner with top technologists and creatives to bring that vision to life.\u201d\n\nScheduled for release in Spring 2018, the \"Untitled Blockchain Film\" is the first project in SingularDTV's slate of original productions, and Jackson says she was thrilled Winter was available to direct it. \"He was just such an obvious choice for this project given his background,\" Jackson says. \"He totally understands the different avenues to explore with this new technology, and it was just really serendipitous that he was available to direct this film.\"\n\nWinter hopes the film will clear up some of the public's misconceptions of the blockchain, but in this project, as in those before it, he seeks to entertain as well as inform. \"I hope the audience comes away with a deeper understanding of this seemingly confusing and impenetrable world,\" says Winter. \"That being said, I make movies, not journalism or infotainment, so more than anything I want the audience to feel they've watched a good, satisfying story.\"\n\nDisclosure: Several members of the Futurism team, including the editors of this piece, are personal investors in a number of cryptocurrency markets. Their personal investment perspectives have no impact on editorial content.", "output": "New York-based entertainment production company SingularDTV, which uses blockchain technology to support the film-making process, is set to release its first documentary next spring exploring blockchain's potential to change the world. The as-yet-untitled film will be directed by Bill and Ted star Alex Winter and its production process is intended to demonstrate\u00a0how blockchain and a tokenised ecosystem can enable\u00a0the creative process, from development to distribution. \"Blockchain represents the next evolution of content creation,\" said Geoff Clark, the president of Futurism Studios, which is co-producing the documentary.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bauer finds branded videos 10 times as interactive as unbranded \n Bauer Media is trying to show its ads can drive sales with shoppable videos for clients such as Adidas and Very.\n\nThis month, Bauer launched a two-month campaign for online fashion retailer Very that included 25 videos where viewers choose which items they want stylists in the video to wear. The first in the series shows different ways to wear a leather jacket: Viewers choose whether the stylist wears a floral print shirt or a Breton-style jumper; ripped jeans or floral embroidered jeans; and Chelsea boots or three-strapped heels. The items get more seasonal as the series continues; the second video is on how to style knitwear.", "output": "Bauer Media found its branded videos receive 10 times as many interactions as its unbranded videos after it launched\u00a0a two-month campaign for fashion retailer Very. The videos, distributed on both Bauer\u00a0and non-Bauer sites, are designed to raise brand awareness and provide shoppable videos for consumers. Bauer has not yet released the number of sales made through the videos; however,\u00a0for its recent campaign for Adidas on its Grazia site, dwell times on the videos were 200% higher than the average for other videos.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Uber criticised in US over assault reporting prior to London ban \n When Uber refused to comply with a warrant in a California sexual assault case, police, prosecutors and the judge were bewildered.\n\nLt Brian South told the Guardian that in more than 15 years on the job, he had never seen anyone so brazenly defy a judge\u2019s order for records. A prosecutor testified that Uber was actively preventing law enforcement from protecting riders from violence, and a judge attacked the ride-share corporation for a \u201chorrific\u201d pattern of ignoring police, describing its typical response as \u201cgive as little as possible, be as uncooperative as possible\u201d.\n\nThe judge\u2019s forceful rebuke \u2013 in a criminal case where a driver was accused of restraining and attacking a female passenger \u2013 is one of many allegations across the globe of Uber neglecting the safety of riders and drivers by failing to work with law enforcement and ignoring standard regulations. Last week, Uber lost its license in London in part due to the government\u2019s concerns about the company\u2019s failure to report sexual assaults to police.\n\nWhile Uber is fighting London to stay in operation there, critics throughout the world are pushing other local municipalities to follow suit \u2013 and some say the law enforcement concerns cited in the UK are far from unique. Several women in the US, who say they were sexually assaulted in Uber cars, are now filing fresh lawsuits against the company and spoke exclusively with the Guardian this week about their claims of fundamental public safety problems at Uber.\n\nThe San Francisco-based firm is facing widespread pressure after months of bad press surrounding corporate misconduct and sexual harassment, shady tactics to evade law enforcement and claims that Uber mistreats and underpays its drivers.\n\nIn Moraga, a city 20 miles east of Uber\u2019s San Francisco headquarters, court records reveal particularly damning allegations related to the company\u2019s evasion of police. After a driver was arrested on suspicion of sexual battery in May, prosecutors successfully obtained a warrant for information related to the more than 1,000 rides the suspect had given in the previous 90 days.\n\nUber claimed the order was overly broad, ignored the warrant, missed the deadline imposed by the judge and failed to properly communicate with police, according to a court transcript. Prosecutors were then forced to delay the investigation and bring Uber to court in an unusual hearing where Judge Clare Maier sanctioned the company and angrily demanded it comply with the order she had already signed.\n\nAn anti-Uber protest in New York in February 2017. Photograph: Michael N/Pacific/Barcroft Image\n\n\u201cThe reputation of Uber for cooperating with law enforcement is horrific,\u201d said Maier, whose $1,000 sanction was first reported in the East Bay Times. \u201cThe fact that Uber resists search warrants gives me grave concern that there is an ulterior motive here and not any desire to cooperate.\u201d\n\nThe judge said she was further concerned Uber was blocking an investigation into a man who could be a repeat offender.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think you have the authority to just resist a search warrant,\u201d the judge later said. \u201cYou\u2019ve dragged your feet on every aspect of it.\u201d\n\nSouth, the police lieutenant on the case, said in an interview: \u201cI\u2019ve never had somebody flat-out refuse to comply with a search warrant.\u201d\n\nUber\u2019s lawyer Candace Kelly testified that it was a \u201ctechnology company\u201d that put strangers together in cars where \u201cbad things\u201d can happen, and that Uber did not \u201cwant to be the cause of delay in solving those incidents\u201d.\n\nA spokesperson for Uber, which subsequently complied with the warrant, declined to comment.\n\n\u2018They turn their back on women\u2019\n\nWomen who say they have been attacked during Uber trips said the company should be liable and should have done more to help police hold assailants accountable.\n\n\u201cUber is allowing this to happen and providing the means to make it so easy for predators,\u201d said Indra, a Virginia woman who said she was sexually assaulted by a driver last year and requested not to use her full name. Her subsequent conversations with Uber left her with the impression that the company\u2019s position was \u201cthis kind of thing is common and they just didn\u2019t care\u201d, she said. \u201cThat\u2019s just abhorrent. They didn\u2019t seem concerned about me as a person.\u201d\n\nIndra, 38, is one of several women who is now bringing lawsuits against Uber with Lisa Bloom, a high-profile California attorney who has brought sexual misconduct cases against Fox News, Bill Cosby and Donald Trump.\n\nThey didn\u2019t seem concerned about me as a person Indra, from Virginia\n\nA Los Angeles woman, who filed a case anonymously as Jane Doe on Tuesday, alleged in a lawsuit that after she reported a driver fondling her in a car, an Uber representative told her: \u201cDo whatever you want to about the incident.\u201d\n\nIn an interview, Jane Doe, 25, said Uber never even refunded her ride or followed up with her to let her know if the driver had been permanently banned. She said it was not clear whether Uber had done everything it could to work with police: \u201cIf there\u2019s any sort of battery or sexual assault claims \u2013 anything that\u2019s putting a driver or passenger at risk \u2013 they should be fully willing to comply with the police and give them any information they need.\u201d\n\nUber typically does not disclose information to passengers or drivers about alleged assailants, citing privacy concerns, and complies with law enforcement requests for data only when given subpoenas. The Jane Doe suit alleges that this policy can hamper police investigations and discourage criminal charges, arguing that \u201cnon-cooperation with law enforcement agencies means that Uber has provided its drivers with tacit assurance that their misconduct will not be detected by law enforcement\u201d.\n\nUber\u2019s failure to work with police means that for some victims, their only option is to file a civil suit, Bloom said in an interview.\n\n\u201cThey have all this information. It\u2019s a very simple matter for them to cooperate,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just shocking how they are turning their back on women customers and allowing this to go on.\u201d\n\nBloom also filed a lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of a passenger who claimed she was sexually harassed and falsely imprisoned by an Uber driver.\n\nA recent lawsuit filed in Kansas City alleged that an Uber passenger was raped by a driver a month after Uber was explicitly warned by a member of the public that the man was dangerous. The driver had also previously been convicted of attempted first-degree murder, according to the suit.\n\nKate Lewis, a former Uber driver, also publicly accused the company of failing to do enough to support a criminal investigation after she reported that a passenger had groped and sexually assaulted her throughout a ride last year.\n\n\u201cThey were very defensive and not very sympathetic,\u201d she said in a recent interview, adding that police told her that lack of communication by Uber was impeding the investigation. \u201cUber made it worse by not letting me get closure.\u201d Police, however, claimed Uber cooperated in that investigation.\n\nUber declined to comment on specific cases. The company said it has a 24/7 customer support team and employs former law enforcement professionals who work with police.", "output": "Uber has been accused of failing in relation to law enforcement by several women in the US who have spoken to The Guardian. The allegations come in the wake of Transport for London\u2019s decision last week not to renew the company\u2019s licence in the city, based partly on Uber\u2019s failure to report sexual assaults to the police. The company, which was criticised by a judge in California for refusing to comply with a warrant in a case of sexual assault, is facing lawsuits from a number of women in the US who claim that they were assaulted in Uber cars."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Climate change made Europe\u2019s 2017 heatwaves more likely: WWA \n The scorching temperatures across Europe\u2019s Mediterranean nations this summer were made at least 10 times more likely by climate change, according to scientists.\n\nFurthermore, without action to tackle global warming, such summer heatwaves with temperatures soaring over 40C will become normal by 2050.\n\nThe new analysis by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group also analysed the particular \u201cLucifer\u201d heatwave which struck south-east France, Italy and Croatia in early August and found it was made at least four times more likely by human-caused climate change.\n\nThe Lucifer heatwave saw temperatures fail to drop below 30C for three days and nights in the hottest spots, and was linked to a 15% surge in emergency hospital admissions in Italy. Prolonged heat is known to be very dangerous to health and a severe heatwave in Europe in 2003 was linked to 75,000 deaths by subsequent analysis.\n\n\u201cSummers keep getting hotter,\u201d said Friederike Otto at the University of Oxford, UK, also part of WWA. \u201cHeatwaves are far more intense than when my parents were growing up in the 1950s. If we do nothing to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, the kind of extreme heat we saw this past summer will be the norm when my young son is a grown man.\u201d\n\nThe fast-growing science of climate change attribution tackles the question of what impact global warming is having on extreme weather and the people it affects. No event can be said to be caused by climate change because random extremes occur naturally. But by comparing extremes with historical measurements and computer models of a climate unaltered by carbon emissions, researchers can show how global warming is already heavily loading the dice of dangerous weather.\n\nIn June, WWA showed the extreme heatwave that saw deadly forest fires blazing in Portugal and Spain was made 10 times more likely by global warming. In Portugal, 64 people died. Previous work has demonstrated floods in England and France \u2013 even as far back as 2000 \u2013 were made more significantly likely by climate change.\n\nResearch in Australia has shown the bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef was 175 times more likely due to greenhouse gas emissions, while the recent hot winter was made 60 times more likely.\n\nHurricanes are much more complex and time consuming to analyse than heatwaves and WWA is currently working on Hurricane Harvey. But scientists are clear that climate change is most likely to have made the giant storms that have ripped across the Caribbean and the US this year more destructive. This is because greater heat means more storm energy and rainfall, while rising sea level means storm surges reach further inland.\n\nThe new research analysed this summer\u2019s heat across Spain, southern France, Italy and the Balkans. It compared the measured temperatures with four different groups of climate models in which the heating effect of the last century of carbon emissions were omitted. This showed the high level of heat in June, July and August was at least 10 times more likely than it would have been in the early 1900s.\n\nA cyclist waits to cross a road in Valencia, Spain, where the temperature is 41C. Photograph: Manuel Bruque/EPA\n\nThe researchers did the same for the Lucifer heatwave, examining its three-day peak in early August. They found the intensity of such heatwaves has increased by 1C to 2C since 1950 and that overall climate change has quadrupled the change of them happening.\n\nIn June, the Guardian revealed that the UK government\u2019s failure to update building regulations for homes, hospitals and schools could cause a tripling of heatwave deaths by 2040.\n\n\u201cIt is critical that cities work with scientists and public health experts to develop heat action plans because such extreme heat will become the norm in the middle of the century,\u201d said Robert Vautard, a researcher at the Laboratory of Climate and Environmental Sciences in France. \u201cClimate change is impacting communities right now and these plans save lives.\u201d", "output": "Heatwaves that rolled across Mediterranean countries this summer were made 10 times as probable by man-made climate change, according to analysis by scientists at the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group. The study also found that\u00a0\u201cLucifer\u201d, a particularly deadly heatwave which affected Croatia,\u00a0France and Italy in August, was\u00a0four times more likely to happen as a result of\u00a0climate change. Without action on global warming, 40C temperatures during summer will be standard for Europe by 2050, according to the research.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers harness evaporation energy to produce electricity \n The idea sprang from research into the mechanical properties of the subtilis spores, which can exist in a dormant state for hundreds of years. \u201cIt struck me as amazing how much mechanical energy they seem to have,\u201d says Ozgur Sahin, an associate professor of biological sciences at the university. \u201cThey are so rigid that as the material\u2019s shape changes it produces a lot of energy.\u201d\n\nSahin glued the spores to a tape made of polyimide\u2014a polymer used in fuel cells, computer displays, and various military applications\u2014and surrounded them with a shutter mechanism that controls the passage of moisture. The shutter is essentially an oscillator, a mechanical switch like an electrical circuit, that opens and closes in response to the force produced by the spore changing shape. The opening and closing of the switch produces the regular pulsing of the swelling and shrinking spores. When the shutter is open, moisture escapes to the air and the spore dries out; when it closes, moisture fills the gap, the humidity increases, and the material expands.\n\nAn eight-centimeter by eight-centimeter water surface can produce about two microwatts of electricity (a microwatt is one-millionth of a watt), on average, and can burst up to 60 microwatts, says Sahin. That doesn\u2019t sound like a lot of electricity; so far Sahin and his team have used the evaporation engines to power an LED and a miniature car that weighs a tenth of a kilogram.\n\n\u201cWe made a lot of compromises in creating this version in hopes of creating a self-sufficient device,\u201d he says. \u201cWe know actually that it can be made 100 times more powerful by solving a number of problems.\u201d\n\nThose solutions include adjusting the size of the moisture cavities and the mechanism of the shutters that control the flow of moisture. Sahin believes that arrays of the devices on the surface of lakes or other bodies of water could produce a scalable renewable energy technology, but that is likely years off, if it ever happens at all. One possible use could be to create battery-size \u201cbricks\u201d of spores than can be activated to produce electricity\u2014just add water.\n\nThe tiny engines may have no practical applications in the near term, but they\u2019re still a useful demonstration of the ubiquity of natural energy that can\u2014at least in theory\u2014be harnessed by relatively simple and cheap devices.\n\nAs Sahin says, unlike solar and wind power, \u201cEvaporation is not intermittent.\u201d", "output": "A recent study shows that, theoretically, utilising natural water evaporation could produce more than 325 GW of electricity in the US more efficiently than burning coal. Columbia University researchers developed a technology they claim can harnesses the motion of Bacillus subtilis spores, which contract and expand as they absorb and release air moisture, to drive generators. Vitally, they continue doing so when dormant or dead. The technology remains in its laboratory stage and co-author of the paper, Ozgur Sahin, warned that it is a \"thought experiment\" not a \"literal development proposal\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers harness evaporation energy to produce electricity \n That, however, would require covering the surface of every lake and reservoir larger than 0.1 square kilometers in the lower 48 states, excluding the Great Lakes, with arrays of the devices. Obviously, that would directly conflict with existing economic and recreational uses, and raise a host of serious aesthetic and environmental concerns. Notably, interfering with evaporation on a large enough scale, across a big enough lake, could even alter local weather.\n\nBut study coauthor Ozgur Sahin says that the paper is more of a thought experiment designed to underscore the potential of the technology and the importance of advancing it beyond lab scale, rather than any sort of literal development proposal.\n\nSahin, an associate professor of biological sciences and physics at Columbia University, believes it could make a significant contribution to clean-energy and climate goals, even if it's never rolled out at anywhere near the potential extent highlighted in the study.\n\nHe says that early use cases could include remote reservoirs already generating hydroelectric power, where it's not as likely to interfere with other uses. It could offer the added benefit of reducing water loss through evaporation, increasing the amount available for energy generation, irrigation, and other needs.\n\nThe team of scientists also created a tiny, evaporation-powered car, dubbed Eva.\n\nSahin and colleagues at Columbia have been working on this technology for years. In a 2015 paper, the team described an evaporation engine that relied on Bacillus subtilis spores adhered to stacks of film attached to shutter mechanisms. When the device is placed above water, the spores absorb moisture from natural evaporation and expand, opening the shutter and allowing moisture to escape. The spores then dry out and contract, closing the shutter once again, and allowing additional air moisture to flow in and restart the process. When the device is connected to a generator, the continual oscillating motion generates a tiny amount of power.\n\nAs MIT Technology Review previously reported: \"An eight-centimeter-by-eight-centimeter water surface can produce about two microwatts of electricity (a microwatt is one-millionth of a watt), on average, and can burst up to 60 microwatts.\"\n\nThe team has continued to work on improving the efficiency and scalability of the technology, exploring additional materials and means of spore adhesion. Because the technology is largely based on biological materials, the eventual cost could be lower than solar photovoltaic cells and other technologies that require specially manufactured materials, Sahin believes.\n\nCrucially, Bacillus subtilis spores continue to perform the necessary mechanical motion even when they're dead or dormant.\n\nIn addition, the technology largely avoids the intermittency limitations of wind and solar power because, while evaporation rates change, they don't stop. Moreover, since the devices decrease the evaporation rate, they also raise the temperate of surface water. Modeling in the new study showed that by deliberating altering the rate of this process, they could create a kind of thermal water battery that balances out generation and demand. When throttled up, the heat in the water would increase evaporation, boosting power generation.\n\n\u201cWe could match power demand on an hourly basis about 98 percent of the time in warm and dry places,\u201d Sahin says. \u201cWhich means you don\u2019t need an external battery to adjust for intermittency.\u201d", "output": "A recent study shows that, theoretically, utilising natural water evaporation could produce more than 325 GW of electricity in the US more efficiently than burning coal. Columbia University researchers developed a technology they claim can harnesses the motion of Bacillus subtilis spores, which contract and expand as they absorb and release air moisture, to drive generators. Vitally, they continue doing so when dormant or dead. The technology remains in its laboratory stage and co-author of the paper, Ozgur Sahin, warned that it is a \"thought experiment\" not a \"literal development proposal\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hurricanes show need for building regulations, says\u00a0US architect \n Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images\n\nDesigning buildings to be sustainable, resilient and safe is at the core of what architects do. Resilient, energy-conscious buildings are good for the environment and for economic policy.\n\nYet in recent months, policymakers in Washington and in some states have proposed and even succeeded in rolling back regulations that have made America\u2019s buildings among the safest and most advanced in the world. This is ill-advised public policy, especially in the aftermath of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.\n\nLate last month, the administration issued an executive order to roll back rules governing environmental reviews for infrastructure projects and to lift restrictions on federally funded projects in flood-prone areas. This is part of ongoing efforts to streamline regulations, ostensibly to speed the rebuilding of aging U.S. infrastructure. Red tape should be eliminated, of course, but why would we abandon requirements to keep federally funded projects outside of FEMA-defined flood plains?\n\nCommon-Sense Regulations\n\nIt is a mistake to roll back common-sense programs that make people safer in order to save taxpayers money. Designing projects to avoid exposure to natural disasters\u2014floods, fires and earthquakes\u2014is not just important to citizen health, safety and welfare, it makes basic economic sense. In 2016 alone, we spent $46 billion in the wake of natural disasters, and that was just in direct costs. The damage wrought by Harvey and Irma will total at least five times that much.\n\nEfforts to weaken sound design policies are gaining traction in the states, too. The catastrophic damage from Hurricane Andrew 25 years ago led to more stringent Florida building codes, which have made the state\u2019s newer buildings and homes resilient even to the most recent major storms. But in June of this year, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed legislation that will imperil Floridians\u2019 ability to withstand future storms by no longer requiring the state to adopt new editions of nationally recognized, state-of-the-art model building codes.\n\nEnergy-conserving, sustainable buildings save lives and they save money, a fact that policymakers should realize.\n\nThe American Institute of Architects asked the governor to veto this legislation, noting that weaker codes could lead to much higher costs for rebuilding following major disasters\u2014at the very moment that policymakers in Washington are looking to reduce funding for FEMA and other programs that help communities after disasters. The Wall Street Journal reports that Florida houses built after the state adopted the more stringent building codes survived Hurricane Irma in much better shape than those built under previous versions of the code.\n\nAnd when Indiana was on the brink of allowing its energy code to expire last fall, last minute lobbying by architects convinced then-Governor Mike Pence to extend the code, keeping buildings warm in winter and cool in summer at reduced costs and lower rates of energy use.\n\nCost-Effective Policies\n\nThese are matters of common sense, but how do we convince states to maintain sound regulations and sensible policies to keep buildings efficient and resilient?\n\nOne solution is on the horizon. Shortly before the administration took office this January, a cash-starved FEMA proposed a regulation that would help the government meet the staggering costs of disaster recovery. FEMA proposed imposing a \u201dstate disaster deductible\u201d\u2014a requirement that states shoulder some of the disaster recovery costs up front, before receiving federal dollars. The deductible would be reduced for states that applied stricter building codes, or took other steps to reduce vulnerability to disasters.\n\nThese kinds of cost-effective, innovative policies will help to ensure that the federal government does its part to make our buildings safer. So far, this proposal has been spared in efforts to gut building regulations, but the perception remains among some policymakers that good design is more expensive and not worth pursuing.\n\nEnergy-conserving, sustainable buildings save lives and they save money, a fact that policymakers at all levels of government should realize.", "output": "US federal and state policymakers' decisions to scrap some building regulations to save construction costs and taxpayers' money will make buildings less resilient to extreme weather\u00a0and more costly to rebuild after natural disasters, argues Thomas Vonier, the president of the American Institute of Architects. For example, last month the Trump administration issued an executive order to ease rules governing environmental reviews for infrastructure projects and reduce\u00a0restrictions on federally funded projects in flood-prone areas. Vonier\u00a0says this relaxing of standards is ill advised, particularly considering the damage done by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "London sees seventh emergency air alert in 13 months \n The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has triggered the capital\u2019s emergency air quality alert as polluted air from the continent combines with toxic air in London to create dangerous levels of pollution.\n\nThe alerts will see warnings displayed at bus stops, road signs and on the underground. Khan has also asked TV and radio stations across the capital to warn their viewers and listeners in news bulletins.\n\nAnyone with lung or heart problems is advised to reduce strenuous exercise, especially outside. The young and elderly are particularly vulnerable.\n\nToday\u2019s alert has been triggered by \u201chigh\u201d levels of air pollution. It is the seventh time in 13 months that the mayor has used the alert system. One instance was because the level of pollution was deemed \u201cvery high\u201d, and on six occasions because it was \u201chigh\u201d.\n\nKhan said: \u201cThe shocking and illegal state of London\u2019s filthy air means once again I am triggering a high air pollution alert today under my new comprehensive alert system.\u201d\n\nThe government\u2019s committee on the medical effects of air pollutants advises adults and children with lung problems, and adults with heart problems, to reduce strenuous physical exertion, particularly outdoors, and particularly if they experience symptoms. People with asthma may find they need to use their reliever inhaler more often. Older people should also reduce physical exertion.\n\nKhan is implementing a range of measures to try to tackle the air pollution crisis in the capital, and he called on the government to do more.\n\n\u201cI am doing everything with the powers I have at City Hall and it\u2019s now time for the government to step up by introducing a national diesel scrappage fund to rid our streets of dirty diesels, and to give me the powers I need to tackle non-transport sources of pollution.\u201d\n\nResponding to the news that the capital\u2019s air quality emergency alert had been triggered, Prof Jonathan Grigg from Doctors Against Diesel said \u201cdirty air is seriously damaging Londoners\u2019 health and wellbeing.\u201d\n\nGrigg called on Khan to do more to tackle it. \u201cVulnerable people shouldn\u2019t have to restrict their activities to stay safe,\u201d he said. \u201cSadiq Khan must bring London\u2019s air pollution down to legal levels as soon as possible, and commit to phase out diesel vehicles by 2025 to protect Londoners\u2019 lungs.\u201d\n\nThe government has come under increasing pressure over the UK\u2019s air quality. It has suffered a string of humiliating defeats in the courts over its failure to clean up the nation\u2019s air. Its latest proposal, released in July, was met with widespread criticism from clean air campaigners and regional politicians.\n\nThe latest episode of dangerously polluted air has been caused by mist, low cloud, fog and slow wind speed in London that has lead to a build up of pollution. This has combined with air arriving from the continent that has travelled slowly over industrial polluted areas giving it time to pick up emissions on the way. Experts say this is likely to produce high levels of PM2.5 and moderate levels of PM10 particulate pollution across areas of London and the south-east.", "output": "London experienced its seventh emergency air quality alert in 13 months on Wednesday. The alert, triggered by the capital\u2019s mayor, Sadiq Khan, came as polluted air from the continent joined with toxic air within the city to produce an atmosphere likely to contain high levels of PM2.5 and moderate levels of PM10 particulate pollution. Khan called on the government to introduce a national diesel scrappage scheme and to increase his powers to combat non-transport pollution."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Regus opens workspace on top floor of Sayeh Tower in Tehran \n Iranian companies and business visitors can now benefit from flexible work and meeting spaces in Tehran with the arrival of Regus. The international serviced office and meeting room provider launched its first flagship location in the Iranian capital in partnership with EDGE Business Group.\n\nRegus Tehran is on the top floor of the Sayeh Tower, located on Valiasr Avenue \u2013 one of Tehran\u2019s main thoroughfares and commercial centres. Benefits of the area include five-star hotels, top restaurants, banks and shopping centres in addition to Mellat (Nation) Park opposite the building.\n\nRegus believes its centre will help meet the growing demand for world-class office space in what many business analysts call the world\u2019s largest untapped market since the fall of the Soviet Union.\n\nGDP growth in the MENA region\u2019s second largest economy is expected to hit 4.5% by the end of the year, and as Iran\u2019s economy continues to develop after the landmark nuclear deal in 2016, it is becoming an exciting market to consider for global brands.\n\nWith the addition of Iran to its global network, Regus now boasts a presence in 120 countries.\n\n\u201cIt is exciting to see Regus coming to Iran and its presence there is testament to Iran being a thriving hub for business. Both local and international businesses will be able to benefit from this high-quality and ultra-modern workspace, whether they are looking to expand an existing business or start up a new one,\u201d said Dr Mohsen Talaie, senior board advisor to Edge Business Group, Regus\u2019s local partner in Iran.\n\nMark Dixon, chief executive of Regus, said: \u201cModern, dynamic businesses need to be able to work where they want and when they want, so I am very excited we are adding Iran to a growing global network. Whether you are a multi-national global corporation or a start-up, more than ever before you need flexibility, agility and the right location to succeed. Now firms in Iran or visitors can join over two million Regus customers who enjoy those benefits as part of our international network.\u201d\n\nRegus clients include Iran\u2019s first and largest fashion e-commerce brand, Modiseh; the first global concierge service provider in Iran, Emminence; Iran\u2019s largest consulting group, Ara Enterprise; Iran\u2019s Largest FMCG company, Golestan; and one of the largest PR agencies in the world, MC Group.\n\nThe official launch ceremony took place on 13 September in the presence of government leaders, local business leaders, foreign companies\u2019 representatives and guests from the chambers of commerce and foreign diplomatic corps in Tehran.", "output": "Flexible workspace provider Regus has opened its first location in Tehran with the aid of business services firm Edge Business Group. Regus Tehran occupies the top floor of the Sayeh Tower, close to major retail areas and Mellat Park. Regus aims to explore the \u201cworld\u2019s largest untapped market\u201d, with GDP growth in the region predicted to reach 4.5% by the end of 2017. With the addition of the Tehran site, Regus will have a location in 120 countries. Clients include Iran fashion e-commerce brand Modiseh and Emminence, Iran's largest consulting group.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sirin Labs seeks ICO funding for 'blockchain phone' \n Sirin Labs, the company behind the $14,000 Solarin smartphone, is now developing an open-source model that runs on a fee-less blockchain. The Finney -- named in honor of bitcoin pioneer Hal Finney -- will be the only smartphone in the world that's fully secure and safe enough to hold cryptographic coins. Or so says the company, which is launching a crowdsale event this October (date to be confirmed) to support the phone's development.\n\nAccording to Sirin, all Finney devices (there's an all-in-one PC coming, too) will form an independent blockchain network powered by IOTA's Tangle technology. The network will operate without centralized backbones or mining centers cluttering up the transaction process, using the SRN token as its default currency (only SRN token holders will be able to purchase the device). And it'll all run on a Sirin operating system specially designed to support blockchain applications such as crypto wallets and secure exchange access.\n\nThe phone comes with all the bells and whistles you'd expect from a device with a $1,000 (\u00a3740) price tag, including a 256GB internal memory and 16MP camera, plus a hefty suite of security measures. A behavioral-based intrusion prevention system, physical security switch and blockchain-based tamper proof feature mean that, in theory, it's going to take considerable effort to hack. But the question is whether anyone would want to. \"The crypto community\" is still a niche market, certainly more niche than the affluent business market the $14,000 Solarin was intended for, and that didn't work out so well -- only 10 months after its launch the company laid off a third of its staff, claiming it would be \"pursuing new directions to a new product line\". Some have suggested the Solarin was a product ahead of its time, and the Finney may well be too.", "output": "Swiss consumer electronics firm Sirin Labs is launching a crowdsale event in October to fund its next project,\u00a0an open-source smartphone running on blockchain technology. The Finney will be followed by a personal computer, with both devices operating on an independent blockchain network. Sirin Labs said the\u00a0smartphone will be the only model secure enough to hold\u00a0cryptocurrencies. The Finney is set to cost $1,000 and will be available only to holders of Sirin Labs' SRN tokens. Its launch will follow that of the firm's $14,000 Solarin phone, which was released last year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "DuPont HF alkylation process could offer alternative to diesel  \n - DuPont, Overland Park, Kansas\n\nJason Nunez is a Senior Technical Service Engineer at DuPont Clean Technologies for the alkylation and hydroprocessing businesses. He has more than 14 yr of experience in the refining and petrochemical industries. Prior to joining DuPont in 2014, he served in various roles at Citgo Petroleum Corp. and the Saudi Aramco Mobil Refinery. Mr. Nunez holds BS degrees in chemical engineering and environmental science from McNeese State University.", "output": "The clean fuel alkylate could become a widespread alternative to diesel, thanks to the development of a safer hydrofluoric acid (HF) alkylation conversion process. The fuel, a type of petrol, could help meet increasingly stringent emissions standards. Scientists at US chemicals giant DuPont have devised a cost-effective reactor design that replaces HF alkylation units with sulphuric acid alkylation units, sulphuric acid being a safer option than the more volatile HF. In the US, there are around 100 alkylation units in use with approximately half using HF alkylation technology that could be converted to sulphuric acid alkylation."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BMO Harris issues credit card giving\u00a0SMEs\u00a0contactless payments \n BMO Harris Bank, a US-based lender, has released a new credit card especially for small businesses in the country.\n\nThe new offering, known as Small Business Mastercard, will enable the banks\u2019 small merchants to add the card details to the BMO Harris Bank Masterpass, Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay digital wallets to make contactless payments.\n\nUsing these digital wallets, small business customers can make transactions from their mobile devices without the need of wallet or a card.\n\nThe new zero liability protection eliminates unauthorised purchases and also supports the bank\u2019s mission in providing small business customers an efficient way to make business purchases.\n\nBMO Financial Group head of North American Retail Payments Jennifer Hawkins said: \u201cSmall business owners are busy, and we\u2019re here to help by offering them a simpler purchasing experience on their smartphone devices.\n\n\u201cOur digital wallets are secure and easy to use, making for a simple, straightforward buying experience.\u201d", "output": "Chicago-based lender BMO Harris Bank has launched a credit card for small US businesses, giving them access to its own\u00a0Masterpass\u00a0digital wallet\u00a0as well as Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Android Pay. The Small Business Mastercard\u00a0also includes zero-liability protection.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insightin's AI-driven chatbot helps patients manage\u00a0healthcare\u00a0 \n Patients deciding the next step of their care may soon be doing so with the help of an AI on their phone. Today, Insightin Health \u2014 a Gaithersburg, Maryland-based company that develops a data-based clinical decision-making platform \u2014 announced that it has launched a consumer-facing version of its machine learning-based service, which presents all of a user's health data and future options via a text-based chatbot.\n\nThe In360 app will offer users real-time access to streamlined data collection and personal decision-making tools. The platform incorporates users\u2019 behavioral trends to make predictive recommendations and gauge care options, while presenting the information in a straightforward way that Insightin CEO and founder Enam Noor says provides an edge over competing services.\n\n\u201cThere are many good consumer facing apps out there that are great, but as a consumer I may need several of these to manage my care, and they are likely unconnected,\u201d Noor told MobiHealthNews. \u201cOur user friendliness comes from our simple, intuitive design, and simple user interface.\u201d\n\nMore specifically, the app condenses several aspects of paying for and receiving care in a way that is easy to understand, and then begins planning the next best option in a way that reflects the user\u2019s tendencies.\n\n\u201cWhen a patient visits a doctor, pays a bill, schedules a preventative screening, claims a reward, or provides a quality rating, In360 gathers [information], connects the data, and provides the consumer with the next steps along their path to wellness,\u201d Noor said. \u201cThe way people interface with their health insurer, doctor, or wider care team is changing, and we offer a multi-channel experience that is preference driven, and that alone makes the consumer more apt to engage because they are in control.\u201d\n\nIn360 is available to consumers through an app or web browser, and Noor says that the app will eventually allow users to voice chat with the AI bot. The app is fully integrated with Insightin Health\u2019s larger platform, which is marketed to health plans as a means to examine member acquisition, retention, engagement, and competitive analysis. In360 is the first of several consumer-facing features that will be launched as part of Insightin\u2019s platform.\n\n\u201cThe overarching goal we are solving is to empower the [consumers] to be healthier by engaging in preventative care with knowledge,\u201d Noor said. \u201cHealthier outcome for the member is a win-win for both the member and health plan.\u201d", "output": "Maryland-based firm Insightin Health has launched the In360 app, a text-based chatbot that's powered by artificial intelligence (AI). It offers\u00a0users real-time access to their health data and enables\u00a0them to make informed decisions about treatment, in particular, by helping to manage how they pay for and receive care.\u00a0The app integrates fully with Insightin Health's main platform and is one of a suite of\u00a0features for\u00a0patients that the company is planning to roll out. Insightin CEO Enam Noor said the preference-driven nature of the technology makes customers more likely to adopt it\u00a0\"because they are in control\".\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trump pushes $200m of funds towards STEM education \n \u201cDoes that sound like big bucks? What do you guys think?\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s what President Donald Trump asked a young student today in the Oval Office. Surrounded by children, educators, Ivanka Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, the President signed a presidential memorandum that expands K-12 computer science and STEM education in the United States with at least $200 million in annual grant funding.\n\nIn a memo directed to DeVos, President Trump acknowledged that STEM skills, particularly computer science, will be necessary for workers to attain jobs in the future. Yet, as he noted, many American schools don\u2019t offer computer science courses, or teachers qualified to teach these subjects.\n\nThe memo affirms that computer science education should be one of the Department of Education\u2019s priorities, and instructs DeVos to take that into account when awarding grants to schools. In addition, the Department of Education should make helping districts recruit and train teachers in STEM subjects\u2014in particular, computer science\u2014a priority.\n\nAccording to the memo, \u201cThe Secretary of Education (Secretary) shall, consistent with law, establish the promotion of high-quality STEM education, including Computer Science in particular, as one of the priorities of the Department of Education. The Secretary shall take this priority into account, to the extent permitted by law, when awarding grant funds in fiscal year 2018 and in future years.\u201d\n\nThere appears to be no new federal funding for this new initiative. Rather, the memo directs the Department of Education to devote at least $200 million in existing grant funds to support computer science education efforts. (Department officials did not respond , and neither did the White House ).\n\nIn an interview with EdSurge, Hadi Partovi, CEO of Code.org, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding computer science education, says the Department of Education is being directed to focus existing grant funding on computer science programs.\n\nPartovi does not seem concerned about how that stipulation may impact non-computer science programs at schools. \u201cWhat it does is it focuses existing funds towards schools that teach CS,\u201d he says, also adding that \u201cit is going to create an incentive for schools to begin teaching computer science.\u201d School districts that are applying to the Federal government for grants can get the same funding they were before, and \u201cthey\u2019re now encouraged to include a proposal to expand access to computer science, with a focus on diversity.\u201d\n\nThe memo also directs the education department to submit an annual report the Office of Management and Budget on \u201cwhether these actions succeeded in promoting and expanding access to high-quality STEM education, including Computer Science in particular, both generally and with respect to underserved populations.\u201d\n\nAn Iranian-American, Partovi points out that he\u2019s \u201cprobably the most unusual spokesperson to defend something done\u201d by the Trump Administration, as his own community is being \u201cdirectly targeted\u201d by its policies. (Trump also announced a new travel ban on countries including Iran today.) He says he can distinguish and celebrate computer science education from other policies, contending that this initiative will help underprivileged children in American schools.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s completely obvious to me that this policy will help American students, American children and, especially more than anything else, American children in communities, backgrounds and races that feel most targeted from some of the things that you may disagree with from this administration,\u201d Partovi adds.\n\nOn Tuesday, Ivanka Trump, who is credited with leading this initiative, will join business leaders in Detroit to share more details about the tech sector\u2019s support. Salesforce is one of the confirmed companies.\n\nTrump\u2019s announcement adds yet another twist in his relationship with the tech industry, which has largely condemned his position and policies surrounding immigration and citizenship.\n\nGerard Robinson, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who served as an education advisor on Trump\u2019s transition team, says even though most tech companies don\u2019t agree with the Trump administration\u2019s policies, in politics, business people will still seek areas where they can agree.\n\n\u201cIf Amazon and the tech companies believe this is important because this will help bolster the number of people available for them to hire, then they\u2019ll see that as a good thing,\u201d Robinson explains. \u201cSo for this, they'll work together. On other issues, they won\u2019t.\u201d", "output": "The US president, Donald Trump, has signed a memorandum directing the Department of Education to make science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education a priority, and allocate at least $200m in annual grant funding to it. The memo also indicated Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos should take STEM education into account when awarding grants, creating an incentive for schools to teach computer science. Hadi Partovi, the CEO of non-profit Code.org, said the policy would benefit US children \"that feel most targeted by some of the things that you may disagree with from this administration\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Twitter allows select users to test new 280 character limit \n Twitter has increased the 140-character limit for posts for the first time in its history.\n\nThe social network is allowing a number of its users to test a new 280 limit, claiming the previous restriction meant speakers of some languages were constrained when compared to others.\n\nFor example, only 0.4 percent of Tweets in Japanese are 140 characters in length compared to nine percent in English. The average Japanese Tweet is 15 characters long, while the English figure is 34.\n\nTwitter character limit\n\n\u201cFor example, when I (Aliza) Tweet in English, I quickly run into the 140 character limit and have to edit my Tweet down so it fits,\u201d said Aliza Rosen, Twitter Product Manager.\n\n\u201cSometimes, I have to remove a word that conveys an important meaning or emotion, or I don\u2019t send my Tweet at all. But when Iku Tweets in Japanese, he doesn\u2019t have the same problem. He finishes sharing his thought and still has room to spare.\n\n\u201cThis is because in languages like Japanese, Korean, and Chinese you can convey about double the amount of information in one character as you can in many other languages, like English, Spanish, Portuguese, or French.\u201d\n\nWhich mobile operating system do you use? Android\n\niOS\n\nWindows Mobile / Windows Phone\n\nBlackBerry\n\nOther View Results\n\nLoading ... Loading ...\n\nWhile Twitter has experimented with a number of new features that have drastically changed the experience, such as quoted Tweets, threads and images that don\u2019t count towards the limit of a post, the 140 limit has remained sacrosanct.\n\nThe same constraint on Direct Messages was lifted in 2015 however.\n\nTwitter said that although there might be an \u201cemotional constraint\u201d to the old limit, it is not worried that longer posts will damage the appeal of the platform.\n\n\u201cThis is a small change, but a big move for us,\u201d said CEO Jack Dorsey. \u201c140 was an arbitrary choice based on the 160 character SMS limit. Proud of how thoughtful the team has been in solving a real problem people have when trying to tweet. And at the same time maintaining our brevity, speed, and essence!\u201d\n\nWhat do you know about mobile apps? Try our quiz!", "output": "Twitter has raised its maximum character limit for selected users from 140 to 280, arguing that the limit unfairly impacted speakers of some languages. Only 0.4% of Japanese tweets reach 140 characters, for instance, with the average being 15 characters long. In English, by contrast, 9% of tweets hit the 140 character cap, and the average tweet is 34 characters. The social network commented that although there might be an \u201cemotional constraint\u201d to the old 140 character limit, it is not concerned about damage to the platform's overall appeal.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "San Diego Congressman Holds Town Hall For Seniors \n California faces drastic federal funding cuts under a Republican proposal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Among the hardest hit populations would be low-income seniors. Rep. Scott Peters, D-San Diego, held a town hall Q & A Friday with a group of seniors to talk about their concerns.\n\nThe event was held at the Serving Seniors center downtown, which offers meals and services to hundreds of seniors. The seniors packed a dining hall to tell Peters their worries about Medicare and Medicaid.\n\nThe congressman said the GOP bill is being rushed through without expert analysis or a thorough discussion in the House of Representatives.\n\nRELATED: Graham-Cassidy Health Bill Would Shift Funds From States That Expanded Medicaid\n\n\"If this bill passes that the Senate's considering \u2014 Graham Cassidy \u2014 that means tens of billions of dollars of lost Medicaid money for California. And it's really gonna hit this group of people really hard,\" Peters said.\n\nPeters said he plans to continue fighting the proposal when he returns to Washington on Monday.\n\nThe seniors also shared concerns over the region's hepatitis A outbreak. Peters said he has requested for the Centers for Disease Control to provide additional treatment programs and oversight.", "output": "California faces drastic federal funding cuts under a Republican proposal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Among the hardest hit populations would be low-income seniors. Rep. Scott Peters, D-San Diego, held a town hall Q & A Friday with a group of seniors to talk about their concerns.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hepatitis deaths grow by one as cases continue to rise \n The death toll in San Diego\u2019s hepatitis A outbreak increased by one Tuesday, and the region\u2019s top public health official said she has not seen any signs yet of a slowdown in the public health emergency that has now killed 17 people.\n\nDr. Wilma Wooten said there are currently 49 suspected hepatitis cases and one death still under investigation. That number sat at 44 one week ago and has bounced around from roughly 30 to 50 cases under investigation at any given time for several months, public health officials have said.\n\n\u201cUntil the numbers start dropping, we won\u2019t have a clear indication of whether we have turned the corner or not,\u201d Wooten said after making a presentation to the county Board of Supervisors.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nShe said the total case count in the current outbreak jumped to 461 Tuesday with 315 hospitalizations since November and 17 deaths. That\u2019s one more death, 17 more cases and 10 more hospitalizations than a week ago.\n\nLabs at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta have confirmed current case counts, and Wooten said her office is still waiting for word from the CDC that an 18th death was caused by one of the 1B hepatitis strains responsible for outbreak cases in San Diego and several other California communities.\n\nThe CDC sent two of its workers to San Diego for a three-week period after the health department requested assistance in May. Dr. Nick Yphantides, the health department\u2019s medical director, said the CDC will send representatives to San Diego next week for a planning meeting with local public health staffers.\n\nSan Diego County saw a major uptick in hepatitis A vaccinations since Yphantides led a group of local government and health care workers who stood together one week ago to announce a public education campaign, encouraging vaccinations for at-risk groups, frequent hand-washing and other hygiene and sanitation efforts.\n\nIn less than one week the number of vaccinations provided throughout the region jumped from nearly 23,000 to more than 42,000, Wooten said Tuesday.\n\nGiven that the county\u2019s homeless population was estimated to be about 9,100 in the annual January count, some might think that the vaccination work is finished. But Wooten said there is more to do. She said that the number estimated to have \u201cunstable\u201d living circumstances is about 25,000.\n\n\u201cThey might be living on somebody\u2019s couch today, but they\u2019re on the streets tomorrow,\u201d Wooten said.\n\nIllicit drug users are another major cohort of the hepatitis A cases confirmed so far. Wooten said that this population, across all types of drugs, is estimated to be 400,000 countywide. If half of those are already immune, that would leave about 200,000 who could benefit from immunization. So, while 42,000 vaccinations looks like a lot, that number, Wooten said, is probably far from what\u2019s necessary to reach a large percentage of those who are most at risk.\n\nDuring Tuesday\u2019s meeting, Supervisor Kristin Gaspar wondered about the roughly 25 percent of cases who are not homeless and don\u2019t use illicit drugs.\n\nWhile these folks may not be in one or both of these high-risk groups themselves, the county has said that many have links to people who are in those high-risk categories. Gaspar asked for more information on precisely how many of the 461 cases occurred among the general population with no link to a high-risk group.\n\nShe said knowing that number could go a long way toward easing the fears of the larger community, especially businesses.\n\n\u201cI know that there is a heightened level of concern which trickled down and has impacts on our small business community, our local restaurants, for example, people that might be considering traveling to San Diego,\u201d Gaspar said. \u201cWe want people to be informed, but we don\u2019t want people walking around fearful to touch a doorknob.\u201d\n\nWooten said she did not have a precise breakdown of that 25 percent available Tuesday morning but said the county, with the assistance of the CDC, is working on answering the question.\n\n\u201cWe do know that a significant number of that group has had relationships with or worked or had some association with the at-risk groups. But a significant number have not. Staff and the CDC \u2026 will be working over the coming weeks to try to characterize any relationships or demographics of that group,\u201d Wooten said.\n\nMeanwhile, the city of San Diego has been busy on the sanitation front. Four portable restrooms went in at Tailgate Park. Located downtown at 14th and L streets, the facilities will be disinfected twice per day and will be monitored by full-time security. The addition brings the total number of downtown restrooms accessible to the homeless to 22, about half of which are open 24 hours a day.\n\nDozens of hand-washing stations have been installed around San Diego\u2019s urban core and Wooten said work is underway to install more stations in outlying communities.\n\nThere were also fresh maneuvers Tuesday on the political front.\n\nIn a move to step up pressure on the mayor\u2019s office to address homelessness and the hepatitis A outbreak, four City Council members released a memo Tuesday pushing for a ballot measure focused exclusively on addressing the homeless crisis and the need for affordable housing.\n\nIn the meantime, the council members said that Mayor Kevin Faulconer should redirect the $5 million that had previously been allocated in the city budget for a special election to \u201caccelerate the citywide efforts to combat homelessness.\u201d\n\nThe statement was signed by Council President Myrtle Cole and members David Alvarez, Barbara Bry and Georgette Gomez, all Democrats.\n\nTheir memo comes amid ongoing efforts by a coalition of tourism and civic leaders to get a citizens initiative on the June 2018 ballot that would raise the hotel tax to fund a convention center expansion, expand homeless services and fund road repairs. Some homeless advocates have opposed the effort, arguing that the homeless crisis deserves a ballot measure of its own. So far, no firm measure has been released.\n\n\u201cThe position of the four of us is that if we\u2019re going to put anything forward, it should be focused on homelessness and an affordable housing component that keeps people from becoming homeless,\u201d Alvarez said. \u201cThe message we\u2019re sending is we\u2019re not interested in holding the homeless hostage to try and pursue other initiatives and another agenda.\u201d\n\nCouncilwoman Bry said that, unlike the homeless crisis, expanding the convention center is not an emergency.\n\n\u201cIf they were to collect enough signatures for something that focuses on the convention center expansion, my only decision would be what ballot it would go on. And I would vote to put it on the November 2018 ballot,\u201d she said\n\nCraig Gustafson, the mayor\u2019s spokesman, did not address the notion that the homeless issue should be separated from convention center expansion and road repairs, focusing instead on what Faulconer\u2019s proposal would do for the homeless if the council supported it.\n\n\u201cEarlier this year the Mayor proposed a ballot measure to create the first-ever dedicated funding stream for homeless services and affordable housing in the city\u2019s history,\u201d Gustafson said in an email. \u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate the Council majority chose to delay the Mayor\u2019s plan for homeless funding until next year, but he remains committed to working with the Council to take meaningful action to reduce homelessness.\u201d\n\nStaff writers Lori Weisberg and David Garrick contributed to this report.\n\nHealth Playlist \u00d7 On Now Video: Leaders urge public to help extinguish hepatitis outbreak On Now San Diego starts cleansing sidewalks, streets to combat hepatitis A On Now Video: Scripps to shutter its hospice service On Now Video: Scripps La Jolla hospitals nab top local spot in annual hospital rankings On Now Video: Does a parent's Alzheimer's doom their children? On Now EpiPen recall expands On Now Kids can add years to your life\n\npaul.sisson@sduniontribune.com\n\n(619) 293-1850\n\nTwitter: @paulsisson", "output": "The death toll in San Diego\u2019s hepatitis\u00a0A outbreak increased by one Tuesday, and the region\u2019s top public health official said she has not seen any signs yet of a slowdown in the public health emergency that has now killed 17 people.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Treating patients as consumers \u2014 the key to improving revenue cycle health \n With an increase in high deductible plans, access to mobile healthcare and more transparency into price and quality, patients are more in charge of their health and are shouldering greater financial responsibility for the care they receive.\n\nPatients are becoming the healthcare industry's largest payers, with more than 51 percent having a health plan with a deductible of more than $1,000, according to Carrie Moneymaker, vice president of solution design at Zotec Partners. This makes collecting patient payments vital to the hospital's bottom line. At Becker's Hospital Review 3rd Annual Health IT + Revenue Cycle Conference in Chicago, Ms. Moneymaker presented a way for hospitals to collect patient payments and retain a functional revenue cycle \u2014 treating the patient as a consumer.\n\n\"It's especially important for healthcare providers to recognize that patients should now be viewed as the consumer. They search the web for this care and the price of this care\u2026We are no longer business to business. We are consumer to business,\" Ms. Moneymaker said.\n\nMs. Moneymaker suggested that providers establish a patient portal that allows patients to access their data at all times to allow patients to set up payment plans, place a credit card on file for easy payment and print their statements. Providers should also educate patients early on about upfront payments and their health savings account, set expectations that the service requires payment, strive to have the best customer service and create policies and procedures that are always followed, Ms. Moneymaker added.\n\nIn addition, since patients take an average of two times longer than insurers to pay their bills and require more touch points, Ms. Moneymaker said mobile technology such as texting will be a key transforming agent in the future healthcare climate.", "output": "With an increase in high deductible plans, access to mobile healthcare and more transparency into price and quality, patients are more in charge of their health and are shouldering greater financial responsibility for the care they receive.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How Failure of the Obamacare Repeal Affects Consumers \n Obamacare repeal is dead, again. But the months of Republican attacks on the health law will still have consequences for some consumers.\n\nFor now, people who get their insurance through Medicaid can rest easy. While some states have applied to make minor changes to their programs, the demise of the Graham-Cassidy legislation on Tuesday means no major cutbacks are on the immediate horizon. But almost every health bill that Republicans proposed this year called for subjecting the program to caps, so that idea seems unlikely to disappear.\n\nThose with employer insurance can also coast along with the status quo; there have been no policy changes affecting the price or comprehensiveness of workplace health plans. The Republican bills would have eliminated rules requiring large employers to offer health benefits and could have weakened protections against annual or lifetime limits on workers\u2019 coverage.", "output": "Obamacare repeal is dead, again. But the months of Republican attacks on the health law will still have consequences for some consumers. For now, people who get their insurance through Medicaid can rest easy. While some states have applied to make minor changes to their programs, the demise of the Graham-Cassidy legislation on Tuesday means no major cutbacks are on the immediate horizon.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Obamacare Repeal Fails Again: What\u2019s Next for Health Care? \n \"Game of Thrones\" fans know that what is dead may never die. The saying may hold true for Obamacare repeal as well.\n\nThe collapse of the Senate\u2019s latest health care bill means that Republicans will miss the deadline for repealing the Affordable Care Act this year using a process that would require only 50 votes. The budget rules that enable that process expire on September 30, the end of fiscal year 2017.\n\nSenate Republicans had to decide Tuesday whether to bother with a vote on the doomed bill. Was it better to try to show the conservative grassroots that they tried or to avoid the spectacle of failure on the Senate floor? They opted to pull the bill. But Republicans aren\u2019t giving up entirely on the goal of Obamacare repeal. \u201cWe haven\u2019t given up on changing the American health care system,\u201d Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said. \u201cWe are not going to be able to do that this week, but it still lies ahead of us, and we haven\u2019t given up on that.\u201d\n\nHere\u2019s where the health care debate goes next:\n\nThe Final Margin Still Matters: Even without a vote, the margin of defeat matters for the future, writes David Leonhardt of The New York Times. \u201cThe more senators who oppose Graham-Cassidy, the less likely that yet another version of Trumpcare will emerge. \u2026 If Republicans come to terms with their total lack of a reasonable repeal plan, more of them will be open to a bipartisan compromise to fix Obamacare\u2019s flaws.\u201d Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) issued a statement Tuesday decrying the \u201clousy process\u201d for the Graham-Cassidy bill, but she did not indicate how she would have voted.\n\nAnother Repeal Attempt Could Happen: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Republicans are moving on to tax reform, but some GOP lawmakers reportedly hope to start over by having health care included in the budget blueprint for 2018 \u2014 the same blueprint that\u2019s supposed to include instructions for tax reform so that it can pass with a simple GOP majority. Squeezing in health care could threaten the chances that a budget vehicle passes, potentially torpedoing tax reform in the process, and prominent lawmakers in both the House and Senate have already come out against the idea. Still, Graham predicted that his bill could return. \u201cThere are 50 votes for the substance,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are not 50 votes for the process.\u201d Even if Obamacare repeal is left out of the 2018 budget, Congress could still come back to it soon: One option is to use the fiscal 2019 budget. \u201cIt\u2019s not a question of if, but when,\u201d Graham said.\n\nA Bipartisan Fix Seems Unlikely Right Now: About 70 percent of Americans want Congress to work on stabilizing the ACA marketplaces. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said again Monday that once Obamacare repeal is off the table, Democrats are willing to work with Republicans on that. And Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Patty Murray (D-WA) had made some progress on a plan to guarantee federal subsidies for low-income Americans in exchange for additional flexibility for states on how that money could be spent. But the bipartisan effort stopped when the last-ditch Obamacare repeal appeared to be gaining momentum, and it now looks stalled. \"We stopped the bipartisan talks last week because my goal wasn't just to get a bipartisan agreement \u2014 it was to get a bipartisan result,\u201d Alexander said Monday. \u201cI didn't see any way to get one in the current political environment.\" On Tuesday, he said he would consult with Murray to try to find consensus on steps that would help in 2018 and 2019. But other Republican leaders \u201cindicated they have little interest in shoring up the existing insurance market,\u201d The Washington Post reported Tuesday. \u201cInstead, they suggested, the ongoing instability would backfire on Democrats and build momentum for the ACA\u2019s eventual repeal.\u201d\n\nSo the 2018 Insurance Market Will See Steep Rate Hikes: Insurers have until Wednesday to finalize contracts with the federal government to sell health plans through the Obamacare marketplace next year. Premiums are set to climb by double digits in many places, and insurers have placed at least part of the blame on the ongoing uncertainty about whether the Trump administration will continue to make cost-sharing reduction payments. The Trump administration has made the payments so far, but has not committed to continuing them. Any Obamacare stabilization efforts at this point are far more likely to affect 2019 rates. A safe bet for the next year: We\u2019ll hear a lot more criticism of the health care law from Republicans, lots of complaints from Obamacare supporters about the administration\u2019s sabotaging the exchanges, and plenty of complaints from Americans about rising health care costs.", "output": " \"Game of Thrones\" fans know that what is dead may never die. The saying may hold true for Obamacare repeal as well. \u00a0The\u00a0collapse\u00a0of the Senate\u2019s latest health care bill means that Republicans will miss the deadline for repealing the Affordable Care Act this year using a process that would require only 50 votes.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Premiums Likely to Rise Amid Fallout From Graham-Cassidy Health Bill \n In taking one last shot to overhaul the Affordable Care Act, Senate Republicans derailed a rare bipartisan push to stabilize the nation\u2019s health insurance marketplaces and prevent double-digit rate hikes for many Obamacare customers next year.\n\nEarlier this month, there was a glimmer of hope that partisan warfare over the ACA had finally fizzled on Capitol Hill. Returning from the August recess, the Senate\u2019s health committee launched a bipartisan effort \u2014 backed by health insurers and governors \u2014 to stabilize the ACA before a critical Sept. 27 deadline.\n\nThe push focused on short-term fixes to stave off increases in health insurance premiums, including extending key cost-sharing reduction payments that President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to cut off and granting states more flexibility to establish reinsurance programs, which help insurers pay for their most expensive claims.\n\nBut that effort died last week amid the resurgence of partisan health care proposals, most notably after some Senate Republicans, with support from the White House, pushed an 11th-hour bid to revive a repeal effort before the end of the month. While that last-ditch Obamacare repeal push floundered Tuesday, there is little residual momentum among Republicans who supported the stabilization bill to resume negotiations with Democrats.\n\nSenate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who spearheaded the bipartisan effort with ranking member Patty Murray (D-Wash.), blamed both sides for killing momentum on a bipartisan fix: Republicans for resuming their Obamacare repeal push and some Democrats for rallying behind a single-payer health care proposal.\n\n\u201cWe stopped bipartisan talks last week because my goal wasn\u2019t just to get a bipartisan agreement, it was to get a bipartisan result,\u201d Alexander told reporters Monday. \u201cAnd I didn\u2019t see any way to get one in the current political environment.\u201d\n\nBut on Tuesday Alexander \u2014 who said he supported the latest GOP repeal push \u2014 reversed course, saying in a statement he would reach out to committee members of both parties about resuming discussions about a \u201climited bipartisan plan.\u201d", "output": "In taking one last shot to overhaul the Affordable Care Act, Senate Republicans derailed a rare bipartisan push to stabilize the nation\u2019s health insurance marketplaces and prevent double-digit rate hikes for many Obamacare customers next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Graham-Cassidy Would Lead to Unaffordable Costs for Older Adults Who Get Sick or Have a Pre-Existing Condition \n The Graham-Cassidy bill, as released on September 13, 2017 and on September 25, 2017, would lead to unaffordable increases in health care costs for older adults ages 50-64 who get sick or have a pre-existing condition. AARP examined the potential impact of Graham-Cassidy on two typical older consumers in select states and counties.\n\nHealth insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs could skyrocket under the bill. For example, in Cumberland County, Maine, a 50 year old consumer who is diagnosed with colon cancer could see her total health care costs increase by as much as $53,000 a year. And a 60 year-old consumer with preexisting conditions including diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure, could see his total health care costs increase by as much as $30,200 a year.", "output": "The Graham-Cassidy bill, as released on September 13, 2017 and on September 25, 2017, would lead to unaffordable increases in health care costs for older adults ages 50-64 who get sick or have a pre-existing condition.  AARP examined the potential impact of Graham-Cassidy on two typical older consumers in select states and counties.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Public-private partnerships could bring long-term telemedicine to resource-poor areas \n While telemedicine has been touted as a potential care delivery strategy in remote and low-resource settings, successfully sustaining these services has proved difficult. The key to long-term deployment, recent research suggests, could lie in key partnerships between public health systems and entrepreneurial providers of telemedicine.\n\n\u201cTelemedicine is very helpful in extending the reach of healthcare to medically underserved regions.\u201d Radha K. Mahapatra, professor in the Department of Information Systems and Operations Management at the University of Texas at Arlington\u2019s College of Business, told MobiHealthNews. \u201cHowever, implementing telemedicine in rural areas in low-income countries poses many challenges due to lack of resources, from technical infrastructure to human capital and financial capital.\u201d\n\nIn his case study, which was presented at the Americas Conference on Information Systems 2017, Mahapatra and colleague Sahadeva Sahoo, a retired employee of the Indian Administrative Service, investigated a model currently employed by OTTET Telemedicine, a non-profit, non-government organization servicing India\u2019s Odisha state. OTTET entered an arrangement with the state\u2019s government to augment the local public health system by linking to private specialty hospitals or other large state-run medical facilities.\n\nThese connections, Mahapatra and Sahoo wrote, were enabled by information communication technologies (ICT). OTTET built 127 Telemedicine Operations Centers (TOCs) outfitted with laptops, video cameras, mobile diagnostic devices, and patient health record software in rural areas that could link with non-local private care partners.\n\nThe program has been a long-running success, according to the study, with 900 telemedicine technicians trained and approximately 500,000 patients served since 2009.\n\nThese results, they wrote, can be attributed to multiple factors inherent to the public-private partnership model. When the funding grants of other public health development projects expire, systems often fail due to a lack of local ownership. OTTET\u2019s model, on the other hand, sought \u201cmicro entrepreneurs\u201d willing to offset the $9,000 to $12,000 TOC startup costs and have a stake in the locally-operated centers. OTTET also gained local support for the telemedicine program\u2019s success by training unemployed local youths to man each center and operate the telemedicine technology. All the while, these centers enjoyed the support of the state government\u2019s regulatory oversight and technical support \u2014 services that required little to no additional costs to the public health service.\n\nMahapatra and Sahoo\u2019s analysis suggests that OTTET\u2019s program is not only sustainable, but appears to still be growing despite the various difficulties of introducing telemedicine to rural populations. The organization\u2019s strategy to link government services with private stakeholders should be further examined, they argued, and should serve as a blueprint for future rollouts of rural telemedicine programs and other similar initiatives.\n\n\u201cThere is a need to conduct more studies to understand the contingent conditions that lead to sustainable development through ICT-based projects. OTTET Telemedicine certainly offers a significant data point in this stream of research, and shines a light on the path to sustainable development,\u201d they concluded.", "output": "While telemedicine has been touted as a potential care delivery strategy in remote and low-resource settings, successfully sustaining these services has proved difficult. The key to long-term deployment, recent research suggests, could lie in key partnerships between public health systems and entrepreneurial providers of telemedicine.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Buyer beware: Long-term care costs are surging, survey says \n Tom Murphy\n\nThe Associated Press\n\nLong-term care costs are surging and the most expensive option \u2014 a private nursing home room \u2014 may soon top $100,000 per year.\n\nGrowing labor expenses and sicker patients helped push the median cost of care that includes adult day care and assisted living communities up an average of 4.5% this year, according to a survey released Tuesday by Genworth Financial. That's the second-highest increase since Genworth started its survey in 2004.\n\nThe cost of home health aide services climbed the most, rising 6%, to $21.50 an hour. Private nursing home care now costs more than $97,000.\n\nMany Americans don't plan for these expenses or understand them until they face them, said Joe Caldwell of the National Council on Aging, which is not tied to the study.\n\n\"People don't like to think about it and talk about it ahead of time, so they kind of put off planning and saving for it financially because they don't think it's going to happen to them,\" he said.\n\nLong-term care can impose a crushing financial burden on individuals or families in part because Medicare, the federal health coverage program for people over age 65, provides limited help. That can force people who don't have private coverage to spend down their assets until they qualify for the government's health insurance program for the poor, Medicaid.\n\nGenworth Financial Inc. sells long-term care coverage and didn't address that cost in its study, which was based on information from 15,000 long-term care providers.\n\nCoverage costs are rising as well, Caldwell said, noting that few employers offer help with that expense like they do with more common forms of coverage such as health insurance.\n\nInitial premiums for long-term care coverage can cost well over $2,000 annually, depending on the customer's age, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, which researches health care issues.\n\nMore:Attacks on GOP health bill are nonsense, but it's still a bad idea\n\nMore:Parenting is freaking hard and we should be honest about it\n\nMore:VA tightens oversight after outrage over conducting experiments on dogs, then killing them\n\nMore:Financial preparation can help you weather all types of life storms\n\nA third of Americans 40 and older have done no planning for their long-term care needs, according to a 2016 Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey.\n\nCaldwell said many people don't realize the limits of Medicare coverage, and he expects the need for long-term care to soar.\n\n\"There is this aging baby-boom population that's going to be really hit hard in the coming decade,\" he said. \"We need to figure it out.\"\n\nFor 2017, long-term care prices climbed in part because the cost of labor rose, according to Genworth. Care providers had to raise pay to compete for workers in a tight job market or comply with state requirements for minimum wages. Many also have started providing health insurance to their workers to comply with the Affordable Care Act. The federal law requires all companies with 50 or more full-time employees to offer coverage.\n\nGenworth researchers say costs also are rising because care providers are working with patients that have more complex medical needs and live longer than they did a decade ago. Plus Medicaid offers reimbursement that can fall below the cost of care, which forces long-term care providers to make that up in their prices.\n\nGenworth sees no sign that long-term care expenses are starting to slow, said David O'Leary, CEO of the company's U.S. life division.\n\n\"We only see cost of care increasing,\" he said.", "output": "Long-term care costs are surging and the most expensive option \u2014 a private nursing home room \u2014 may soon top $100,000 per year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Automation a threat to workers: Corbyn \n Robots are, in many ways, better than humans \u2013 especially if you work in HR. Robots never ask for a pay rise. Robots never steal someone else\u2019s milk from the fridge. Robots almost never make a scene at the Christmas party. So it\u2019s no surprise that automation threatens a lot of jobs, especially as in the long run they\u2019re a fair bit cheaper than humans that consistently draw a salary, get sick and take the skills elsewhere after a time.\n\nRobots may be good for company owners, who get to maximise profits, but it\u2019s not so hot for society as a whole. If an entire workforce is displaced, then what do they do for work? How do they survive? These are difficult questions with serious repercussions that governments have been ducking for some time, as I wrote about in more depth here.\n\nToday at the Labour Party conference, Jeremy Corbyn will attempt to answer some of these questions, and while it\u2019s far easier to do this from the comfort of the opposition benches, it does at least start a discussion. Corbyn\u2019s answer is for companies that replace workers with robots to be taxed in a \u201cnew settlement between work and leisure.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe need urgently to face the challenge of automation; robotics that could make so much of contemporary work redundant,\u201d the Labour leader will say. \u201cThat is a threat in the hands of the greedy but what an opportunity if it\u2019s managed in the interests of society as a whole.\n\n\u201cIf planned and managed properly, accelerated technological change can be the gateway for a new settlement between work and leisure, a springboard for creativity and culture, making technology our servant and not our master at long last.\u201d\n\nThe Wider Picture\n\nYou can disagree with the methods, but this feels quite an important moment to me. People on the fringes of politics have been talking about automation and robotics for a while, but for a keynote speech from a party leader, this could be a watershed moment.\n\nWhen I wrote about this from my time at Futurefest 2016, a quote from Futurologist David Smith stuck with me: \u201cIf you think about the language, it\u2019s very old: we use the ideas of retirement, pensions, taxation, welfare, how we generate money. The language is all wrong. This is half the problem \u2013 we can\u2019t really have a conversation until we rethink how it really works.\n\n\u201cThere needs to be a debate among politicians who have a view of the future \u2013 and there aren\u2019t many \u2013 for a political system that has more long-term thinking,\u201d he added. Quite so: our politics simply isn\u2019t built for long-term planning. All a party needs to think about is the next election in five years time. Ten, 20 or 30 years away is somebody else\u2019s problem \u2013 until it isn\u2019t anymore.\n\nCorbyn\u2019s intervention may not be fully formed, but the more people that are thinking about the serious issues that automation raises the better.", "output": "The leader of the UK Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, has suggested that companies which replace their staff with robots ought to be taxed. In a speech delivered at the party's annual conference in Brighton, Corbyn discussed the problem of people being made redundant by machines, saying: \"If planned and managed properly, accelerated technological change can be the gateway for a new settlement between work and leisure, a springboard for creativity and culture, making technology our servant and not our master at long last\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesco promises more from rebranded in-store\u00a0payment wallet\u00a0 \n Tesco has officially launched Tesco Pay+ in a move designed to make payments in-store faster and easier. A replacement for PayQwik Tesco Pay+ replaces PayQwik from Tesco, the popular digital wallet service. First trialled two years ago and now rolled out to stores nationwide, the app has\u2026", "output": "UK retail giant Tesco is rebranding its PayQwiq in-store payments system two years after being trialled. Now named Tesco Pay+, the app includes all its predecessor's features\u00a0but Tesco has promised additional functionality\u00a0in the future. As an incentive, until 14 January, customers are being offered a bonus loyalty-card\u00a0point for every \u00a34 ($5.3) spent via Tesco Pay+, which has a higher spending threshold than other contactless payment methods. Tesco said customers using the app visit stores 20% more often and that the payment system frees up staff to do more useful shop-floor tasks."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AdBlock Plus launches filter for\u00a0Facebook ads \n Adblock Plus has struck online advertising another blow by offering a new filter for users who want to block Facebook ads.\n\nAd-blocking apps, plugins, and software are used to strip the majority of advertising out of website pages, social media networks, and other online services.\n\nWhile they can prevent malvertising -- fraudulent and malicious ads -- from potentially placing users at risk, they can have a massive knock-on effect for companies that rely on advert-generated revenue to stay afloat and keep offering free content online.\n\nThere's no easy option -- although The Pirate Bay has recently turned to visitor CPU cryptocurrency mining as an alternative to ads -- beyond negotiation between vendor and ad-block provider, or making ads more seamless to prevent users from turning to such software in the first place.\n\nSome of the time, a game of cat-and-mouse comes into play, with adblockers on a campaign to block adverts, and vendors changing tactic to stop it occurring.\n\nAdblock Plus and Facebook have been battling for some time now. Every time an ad-blocker introduces ways to remove ads, Facebook plays whack-a-mole and brings ads back to the forefront once more.\n\nThis week, Adblock Plus swung again, by announcing the addition of a new filter capable of blocking out likely adverts on the social networking site.\n\nThe new filter depends on a new \"has\" filter -- currently available only on Chrome and Opera -- to \"read\" Facebook posts and pick out the telltale signs of an advert. If elements which appear to be advertising appear, then the post is blocked.\n\nAdblock Plus says that web elements at the top or parent level are often marked with advertising signals. However, Facebook obfuscated these signals by moving ad signatures below the parent level, rendering ad blockers ineffective.\n\nThe new filter allows the blocker to snoop under the top of the sub-elements below it, resulting in potentially some success with removing adverts.\n\n\"We're outfoxing Facebook's latest attempt to hide the ads on their site so ad blockers can't block them,\" Adblock says. \"We're reasonably sure that Facebook's IT army will eventually outfox our outfoxing. Just like death and paying taxes, Facebook will continue the cat-and-mouse game, ushering in a fix that will stop ad blockers.\n\n\"The difference this time around, versus the back and forth our community shared with Facebook last fall, is that due to our community's hard work, we'll be able to respond more quickly to Facebook's next anti-block volley,\" the company added.\n\nPrevious and related coverage\n\nMalvertising campaign strikes top websites worldwide Web domains including The New York Times, BBC, AOL, and MSN became victims of the campaign, designed to spread the Angler exploit kit. Malvertising reached new heights in 2016 The rise in such fraud is giving not only consumers a headache, but also ad agencies and firms which have to mitigate the threat. White Ops, Trade Desk partner to tackle ad fraud The companies aim to block fraudulent ad impressions before they are purchased.", "output": "Open-source browser extension Adblock Plus has launched a tool capable of blocking ads on\u00a0Facebook. The solution goes beneath the parent level of a web page to find hidden elements marked with advertising signatures, a practice Facebook employs to hide its ads from blocking software. However, Adblock\u00a0doesn't expect to outsmart its rivals for long. \"We're reasonably sure that Facebook's IT army will eventually outfox our outfoxing\", the company said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "'Second tipping point' opens door to replacing all existing power \n Michael Liebreich, BNEF Chairman of the Advisory Board, gives his much-anticipated \u2018state of the clean energy industry\u2019 keynote at BNEF\u2019s Future of Energy EMEA Summit in London, September 2017. View the presentation slides or the related opinion piece .\n\nAbout BloombergNEF\n\nBloombergNEF (BNEF) is a strategic research provider covering global commodity markets and the disruptive technologies driving the transition to a low-carbon economy. Our expert coverage assesses pathways for the power, transport, industry, buildings and agriculture sectors to adapt to the energy transition. We help commodity trading, corporate strategy, finance and policy professionals navigate change and generate opportunities.\n\n\n\nSign up for our free monthly newsletter \u2192", "output": "The first tipping point for renewable energy, where solar and wind power is cheaper to install than thermal capacity, is upon us in many places already, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance founder Michael Liebreich. The second tipping point, when it is cheaper to build new renewable capacity than it is to keep existing thermal resources going, will be here by around 2030, increasing the addressable market for renewables to \u201ceverything\u201d from incremental replacements, he said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Teambrella P2P crypto-based insurance launches in two markets \n Teambrella wants to solve some problems of the insurance industry by eliminating insurance companies. Utilizing smart contracts and cryptocurrencies the Russian developers have built a decentralized insurance platform. Now the first projects have launched, covering pets in South America and bicycles in the Netherlands. Due to the fees, the developers switched from Bitcoin to Ethereum.\n\nUntil now, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have mostly demonstrated, that you can build and maintain money in a decentralized way, without states and central banks. That marks a historic innovation, which started a silent revolution that will need decades to penetrate the whole of society.\n\nMoney is just the Beginning\n\nFor some, however, this is just the beginning. Smart contracts are said not just to revolutionize money, but the concept of a company as a whole. The reason is that with blockchain driven smart contracts you can decentralize any process in which a group of people decides what is done with money under certain rules. The DAO has been an impressive demonstration, that it is possible to use smart contracts to build a complex organization like an investment company \u2013 without a company, but just with decentrally organized peers. The DAO failed, but the idea it symbolized lives on. It just started.\n\nOne of the most thrilling DAOs is Teambrella. The Russian developers behind the project have worked on the platform, which aims to create a decentralized insurance company, for almost two years. Now they have launched the project with insurance teams in South America and the Netherlands.\n\nSolving Insurance Problems by Eliminating Insurance Companies\n\n\u201cInsurance companies and policyholders have conflicting interests,\u201d the whitepaper explains the problems with traditional insurance, \u201cThis is reflected in various bad \u00adfaith practices of the companies, such as unreasonable delays, denial of payment, etc. Though some jurisdictions try to mitigate this by adopting the tort of insurance bad faith, the general public has a very negative perception of the industry. This, in turn, leads to a high amount of frauds committed by otherwise law-abiding persons.\u201d The developers of Teambrella believe that these problems can be reduced or eliminated by implementing a peer-to-peer (P2P) insurance organization. Further, an insurance DAO can bring insurances to areas in which no insurance is available right now.\n\nThe concept of Teambrella is to let peers build groups, for example, to insure bicycles. The peers decide about rules, what is covered, what documents need to be submitted and so on. Formulas from insurance math connect values like risk, reimbursements, and value of the insured object. The members of the team can decide on their own, how much they pay, which is at the same time the maximum amount others pay when they submit a damage by themselves.\n\nWhen there is a case, every team member can vote in relation to the reimbursement payments it made in the past. To make it more simple to use Teambrella in larger groups, it is possible to give your vote to another member, which receives parts of the reimbursements as a fee. Such \u201cpro-voter\u201d can be a freelancer for insurance companies, which could have the same responsibilities as employees for insurance companies.\n\nThe monthly payment of the team members is made in cryptocurrencies on multisig addresses. These addresses are designed in a way that funds can only be released after a defined number of team members signed their vote.\n\nPioneering with Pet Insurance in Peru and Argentina\n\nAfter years of development, Teambrella recently started. The first teams are niche cases in South America and the Netherlands. \u201cWe are interested to see how Teambrella will work in different contexts and cultures. These first teams are the pioneers; we want to go further in exploring more opportunities for P2P coverage and collaborating with the various communities,\u201d developer Alex Paperno explains.\n\nThere are two teams; one connects cat owners in Peru with dog owners in Argentina to insure their cats, in case they get sick or need surgery. The second group covers bicycles in the Netherland, the country famous for its love of this particular mode of transport. Both teams have just started, Paperno explains, \u201cIn Peru, we have a team of 80 pet owners, in Argentina and the Netherlands we are still accepting new team members.\u201d\n\nSwitching from Bitcoin to Ethereum\n\nDuring the first years of development, Teambrella used P2SH addresses for bitcoin payments. However, during the past month, the team switched to Ethereum. Paperno explained why:\n\n\u201cWhile bitcoin was naturally the best choice back then, we did not design Teambrella to be bound by one cryptocurrency. Using bitcoin turned out to be a challenge as long as the fees were growing up to $5, and that is incompatible with our model. If the situation with Bitcoin changes, we may reconsider the decision, though we plan to implement support of ShapeShift soon so we could work with multiple cryptocurrencies.\u201d\n\nFollow Us on Google News", "output": "Russian based insurtech Teambrella is trialling its peer-to-peer blockchain-based platform in South America and the Netherlands. The firm is making use of blockchain to create \"teams\" of self-insured customers, insuring their pets in Peru and Argentina and their bikes in Holland. The goal is to create a platform where peers can insure each other, bypassing an insurance company. Lauded as the first decentralised autonomous organisation for insurance, Teambrella aims to make use of smart contracts which payout following a team vote in the event of a claim.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FT.com uncovers $1.3m a month of domain spoofing against its site \n The Financial Times has investigated the scale of domain spoofing occurring against its site, and has been shocked by the results.\n\nThe publisher has found display ads against inventory masquerading as FT.com on 10 separate ad exchanges and video ads on 15 exchanges, even though the FT doesn\u2019t even sell video ads programmatically, with 300 accounts selling inventory purporting to be the FT\u2019s. The scale of the fraud uncovered is vast \u2014 the equivalent of one month\u2019s supply of bona fide FT.com video inventory was fraudulently appearing in a single day. The FT has estimated the value of the fraudulent inventory to be \u00a31 million ($1.3 million) a month.\n\n\u201cThe scale of the fraud we found is jaw-dropping,\u201d said Anthony Hitchings, the FT\u2019s digital advertising operations director. \u201cThe industry continues to waste marketing budgets on what is essentially organized crime.\u201d\n\nJon Slade, Financial Times chief commercial officer, on Sept. 27 planned to notify the exchanges in question by mail to remove the fraudulent inventory, with the promise that the FT will check back in a month to ensure action has been taken. Hitchings wouldn\u2019t say which exchanges were at fault but added that they are \u201cknown\u201d names. A second letter is on its way to 11,000 of the FT\u2019s client and agency contacts, explaining the problem and asking them to watch out for inventory that isn\u2019t sourced from the two exchanges the FT sells its display inventory through, Google AdX and TrustX.\n\nThe fraud investigation coincided with the FT\u2019s adoption of ads.txt, the Interactive Advertising Bureau Tech Lab\u2019s tool created to help publishers combat ad fraud \u2014 specifically domain spoofing, but also arbitrage via unauthorized reselling. Other publishers including the Guardian and News UK have also adopted ads.txt, though uptake has been slow in the U.K. In his letter, Slade urged the buy side to push for publisher adoption of ads.txt.\n\n\u201cWe are working with partners to support the adoption of ads.txt by all publishers, as part of our ongoing efforts to help clean up digital advertising. By eliminating this extremely widespread form of fraud, budgets will work that much harder for advertisers and the revenue will reach working media to fund the independent, high-quality journalism which society, especially today, depends upon,\u201d Slade wrote in the letter to client and agency contacts.\n\nDomain spoofing has long dogged digital advertising, and premium publishers are top targets for fraudsters, as advertisers will pay a lot for their inventory. The scale at which publishers have become domain-spoofing targets was brought under a sharp spotlight in February after the \u201cMethbot\u201d scheme, which spoofed more than 6,000 publishers in the U.S.\n\n\u201cThis is what inspires fraudsters to take a vanilla URL and dress it up as a comScore top 50 site, so it appears more attractive to DSPs. This results in the fraudsters getting paid, the advertiser having to deal with some terrible PR about their brand appearing on a random site and the publisher is left out of pocket. Ads.txt is going to help stamp a lot of these bad actors out,\u201d said ad tech consultant Paul Gubbins.\n\nThe Financial Times has long favored direct deals with advertisers, so programmatic ads only account for 5 percent of its advertising revenue. That could mean other publishers who rely more on programmatic revenue could have an even bigger domain-spoofing problem.\n\nIt\u2019s not the first time the FT has looked into fraud on its own site, although it is the first time it has conducted this particular test. Previously, a bank came to the FT to talk about poor performance of its ads, which the bank had bought via a trading desk, according to Hitchings. \u201cThe brand thought they had bought a homepage takeover for the day and were expecting high impact. Not a single ad appeared,\u201d he said.\n\nWe\u2019ll discuss the next phase of programmatic at the Digiday Publishing Summit Europe. Learn more here.", "output": "The Financial Times is urging fellow publishers to adopt the Interactive Advertising Bureau Tech Lab\u2019s tool ads.txt, after it uncovered \u00a31m ($1.3m) a month worth of fraudulent inventory that purported\u00a0to be the FT's posted across 10 ad exchanges and 15 video exchanges. \"The industry continues to waste marketing budgets on what is essentially organised crime,\u201d said Anthony Hitchings, the FT\u2019s digital advertising operations director, who would only say the exchanges were \"known names\". In February, the domain spoofing scheme Methbot fooled more than 6,000 US publishers."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Start-up allows fans to invest in music artists' royalties \n Steely Dan\u2019s 69-year-old Donald Fagan has to go back on tour. Luis Fonzi and Daddy Yankee\u2019s \u201cDespacito\u201d may have lost out on millions. Liam Gallagher can\u2019t afford people to make his \u201cfucking tea.\u201d\n\nThe truth is that digital music streaming, as beloved as it is amongst listeners for its accessibility and cheapness, just doesn\u2019t make all that much money for artists. But there is good news yet. Streaming is so popular these days that it\u2019s actually growing the once-dying music business\u2014giving the industry a lift for the first time in decades, and offering a glimmer of hope to the producers and musicians who had been watching profits crash down year after year.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nOff the heels of that sudden renewal of optimism, a new music startup, called Royalty Flow, plans to sell shares of rapper Eminem\u2019s royalties\u2014banking on future industry growth as well as the idea that fans will be eager to \u201cown\u201d part of an artist\u2019s work. Jeff and Mark Bass, the two producers who first signed the rapper, are behind the effort, pledging to sell up to 25% of their holdings in his song catalog to the new company. Royalty Flow has just filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to raise between $11 million and $50 million via a crowdsourced fundraising and list on the Nasdaq if successful.\n\nThe income stream will include royalties from studio albums that Eminem released between 1993 and 2013, such as The Eminem Show and The Marshall Mathers LP. (Note that this venture has nothing to do with the real Slim Shady; Eminem \u201cwas not consulted,\u201d his record label Interscope stated, and is not selling his own publishing.)\n\nSome in the music industry are skeptical of the project, drawing parallels to the \u201cBowie bonds\u201d that were issued in the 1990s and never saw their promised success\u2014but the odd new era of streaming is volatile and unpredictable enough that things may be different, this time around. According to Nielsen Music, Eminem\u2019s catalog has sold 172 million albums worldwide, 47.4 million of them in the US, to date.\n\nA new report from the Recording Industry of America this month shows that streaming\u2014which is up 48% so far this year\u2014is now 62% of the US music business.", "output": "A start-up called Royalty Flow is aiming to allow fans to invest in the potential future royalties of music artists. Founded by producers for rapper Eminem, the firm is aiming to raise between $11m and $50m from fans for a stake in up to 25% of the artist's song catalogue. The income stream to investors will be provided by royalties generated by albums released by Eminem between 1993 and 2013.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "San Francisco studies solar-plus-storage disaster power backup  \n Dive Brief:\n\nSan Francisco city officials are considering installing solar-plus-storage systems at as many as 12 community buildings, the San Francisco Examiner reports.\n\nBackers of the proposed project say the installations would be designed to provide energy for critical loads for up to five days to help the city survive a major disaster, such as an earthquake.\n\nWhether or not the city moves forward with the project could depend on costs. Consulting group Arup, hired to study the viability of the solar-plus-storage systems, put the price tag at $40 million.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nMuch of San Francisco\u2019s current resiliency planning relies on diesel generators to provide electricity should the city be hit by a disaster. But obtaining fuel for those generators could be difficult during a major disaster that disrupts supply chains.\n\nAccording to a three year study funded with $1.3 million from the Department of Energy and $300,000 in San Francisco city funds, solar-plus-storage installations at community centers would provide fuel-free backup power for critical services such as refrigeration for medical supplies, lighting for shelters, and communications.\n\nIt is still unclear, however, how the city would pay for the proposed installations. The $40 million price tag could be reduced to about $26 million, if the city can find a private sector partner for the installations.\n\n\u201cWe are still looking forward to working collaboratively with our fellow city agencies to think about how implementation of these projects might fit into the city\u2019s bigger picture around emergency response, resiliency and also bringing more renewables onto our grid,\u201d Department of the Environment spokesperson Peter Gallotta told the Examiner.", "output": "A solar power-plus-storage solution would be the best way for San Francisco to ensure critical services have access to back-up power following a disaster, rather than relying on diesel generators, according to a report funded by the Department of Energy and San Francisco city. The proposal had been initially costed at $40m but private-sector investment could bring the city's commitment down to $26m, the report says.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UN sustainability goals can help institutional investors \n The United Nations' sustainable development goals can help institutional investors to invest in new opportunities and identify future areas of risk in portfolios, said pension fund executives.\n\nSpeaking on a panel discussion at the Principles for Responsible Investment annual conference in Berlin on Tuesday, executives outlined the ways they are using the UN's 17 sustainable development goals in their portfolios and why they are important.\n\nAlexandra West, portfolio head, strategy and innovation at the A$40 billion ($32 billion) Cbus, Melbourne, Australia, said there are two reasons why the goals are important. The first is \"because they will ensure a sustainable economy and they will drive economic growth,\" and the second is that they \"need us. Without mainstream institutional investment\" the goals will not be achieved, she said.\n\nAnne Simpson, investment director of sustainable investments at the $336.2 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System, Sacramento, agreed. \"These are not just a moral imperative,\" but an \"economic necessity\" given CalPERS' size, which means the fund has \"nowhere to hide from the world's problems and the world's risks. However, we are not in a position, even though we are a large fund, to tackle these \u2026 without a public policy framework.\"\n\nThe goals also present potential for returns. Ms. Simpson said CalPERS relies on economic growth globally and cannot invest in only one place.\n\n\"I think we have our part to do \u2026 not out of charity, but mutual interest to ensure those goals are met.\" Ms. Simpson added that the goals will \"underpin our ability to pay pensions\" over generations to come.\n\nFor the \u20ac394 billion ($470.4 billion) Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP, Heerlen, Netherlands, the goals \"are a gift from the United Nations to the world,\" said Josepha Meijer, vice chairwoman and member of the board of trustees at the fund.\n\nExecutives at ABP see a number of areas where the goals are relevant: \"They provide a widely supportive frame of reference, and also a vision to the world.\" She said the goals can be used as an \"overarching framework\" in portfolios. \"ABP wants to invest in solutions \u2026 that contribute to SDGs \u2026 through investments that meet our risk/return requirement, but also (have a) positive impact,\" said Ms. Meijer.\n\nBut not all goals are investible, added Ms. West. Some never will be, and others will require policy changes. She said investors have three levers they can pull: allocate capital, engage and \"advocate either for others to join you or for policy changes to make things more investible.\"", "output": "Institutional investors can generate economic gains and investment returns by paying attention to the United Nation's sustainable development goals, a panel of executives speaking at the Principles for Responsible Investing Conference have said. Investing according to these principles can aid the development of sustainable economies while also adding greater diversity to portfolios since they necessitate investing globally, noted pension fund managers from the US, Australia and the Netherlands. The executives also suggested the success of the UN's sustainability initiative may depend on significant institutional investment."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK firm eyes US market for its liquid-air energy-storage tech \n A new, hybrid storage technology could be making its way to the United States, if a U.K. company\u2019s plans pan out.\n\nLast month, Highview Power Storage won \u00a31.5 million ($2.03 million) in funding for a new hybrid configuration of its existing Liquid Air Energy Storage (LAES) system from the U.K. government\u2019s Innovate UK program.\n\nThe funding will pay for the addition of supercapacitors and flywheel technology to Highview\u2019s existing 5 MW, 15 MWh LAES facility at Viridor\u2019s Pilsworth landfill gas plant in Bury, near Manchester, U.K. That project was the recipient of \u00a38 million ($10.8 million) in funding from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in 2014 and is due to come online by year end.\n\nQuick response\n\nA LAES system has a ramp rate similar to a gas-fired peaking plant. Adding flywheels and supercapcitors gives the system the ability to respond even more quickly to the U.K.\u2019s frequency response market and enables it to layer on more revenue streams, said Richard Riley, Highview\u2019s business development manager for North America.\n\n\u201cThe next step is to build a complete system,\u201d Riley told Utility Dive. The minimum size for a commercial scale LAES plant is 10 MW, which would cost between $40 million and $60 million, he said.\n\nHighview wants to take its technology to that next step, from demonstration to commercial scale, and is looking for projects in the U.S. \u201cThe U.S. is probably the most healthy storage market,\u201d particularly states such as California, Hawaii and New York, Riley said.\n\nRiley acknowledged that there is a challenge in the U.S.\u2019 patchwork of state regulatory regimes, buts said the state of regulation for energy storage in the U.S. is \u201cpromising.\u201d Energy regulation in the U.K. is slower moving and more \u201cdeliberative,\u201d he said.\n\nWhile a LAES system itself is new, its component parts rely on existing technology. \u201cA lot of the equipment comes from the oil and gas industry. It is all catalogue equipment,\u201d Riley said. The most expensive component in the system is air liquefaction equipment.\n\nLiquid air storage\n\nLiquid air has been used industrially for decades, but it did not appear as a storage technology until about 2001 when it was developed by Peter Dearman, a garage inventor in Hertfordshire. \u201cDearman engines\u201d are being explored for use in liquid nitrogen fueled vehicles, including zero emission refrigerated trucks. Highview Power was created to use Dearman's technology for energy storage and move it to the commercial stage.\n\nA LAES system cools and compresses air into a liquid that is stored in what is essentially a giant thermos. When the air is released, it expands rapidly and is used to drive a conventional expansion turbine. To increase the efficiency of that process, the air is heated as it expands. The system also incorporates devices that can store heat from the air liquefaction process and cold from the process of moving the air back to ambient temperature in order to further increase system efficiency.\n\nA LAES system also can be paired with other industrial plants to gain efficiencies by using waste heat and cold. Highview\u2019s 350 kW, 2.5 kWh demonstration project in Slough, U.K., uses waste from a biomass plant. Highview says another application for its technology would be to pair it with a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant that compresses natural gas into a liquid.\n\nThe roundtrip efficiency of a LAES system is about 60%, but Highview says it can boost that up to about 70% by gaining efficiencies from thermal storage or hosting. The biggest cost in operating the system is purchasing power to run the compressors for the initial air liquefaction process. The system also has a parasitic load of about 10%, says Riley.\n\nCompressed air energy storage\n\nIn many ways, a LAES system is comparable to a compressed air energy storage (CAES) project or the CAES technology that Hydrostor is tweaking by pumping the air that stores the energy into an underground reservoir instead of an underground cavern.\n\nAmong the benefits of those systems are that they have a long life span and longer duration or discharge times than battery storage systems. A LAES system could last for 30 years and can discharge for \"tens of hours or even days,\" Riley said. The heat loss of energy from the storage tanks is about 0.1% a day, he said. Those systems also can be configured to very large sizes for energy storage, up to hundreds of megawatts.\n\nThat is one of the chief benefits of LAES, Riley said. It can be scaled to very large sizes with very low lifetime costs. That also means that LAES lends itself to certain applications more than others. It would not be good for residential storage, for instance, but could provide peaking power or be used to \u201cchop peaks\u201d or as a non-wires alternative for a substation upgrade, Riley said.\n\nFor some applications such as those, \u201cLAES is the lowest cost system that is unconstrained by geography, meaning that it can be located where the value of storage is highest,\u201d Riley said. He cited to Lazard\u2019s levelized cost of energy storage study that put the low end cost of LAES \u2013 or thermal storage as Lazard calls it \u2013 at $227/MWh compared with $152/MWh for pumped hydro and $116/MWh for compressed air.\n\nRiley said Highview is already \u201cengaging with utilities\u201d in the U.S. for sites and applications for its next installation and hopes to initiate the company\u2019s first commercial projects in the next 12 months.", "output": "London firm Highview Power Storage is seeking US projects for its liquid air energy storage (LAES) system, after being granted \u00a31.5m ($2.03m) from the UK government\u2019s Innovate UK programme. Highview's LAES system cools and compresses air into a liquid and stores it in a thermos-like chamber. Upon release, the liquid air expands and drives a turbine, creating electricity. Richard Riley, Highview\u2019s business development manager for North America, said the low-cost system is ideally suited to large-scale projects, while the US is considered to have the healthiest energy storage market."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Medicaid Has A Bull\u2019s-Eye On Its Back, Which Means No One Is Entirely Safe \n About Capitol Desk Capitol Desk delivers the latest in health care policy and politics from Sacramento and around the state. Have an idea? Let us know.\n\nThis special series examines the reach and the role of Medicaid, the federal-state program that began as a medical program for the poor but now provides a wide variety of services for California as well as a large swath of America. More Stories\n\nWhen high levels of lead were discovered in the public water system in Flint, Mich., in 2015, Medicaid stepped in to help thousands of children get tested for poisoning and receive care.\n\nWhen disabled children need to get to doctors\u2019 appointments \u2014 either across town or hundreds of miles away \u2014 Medicaid pays for their transportation.\n\nWhen middle-class older Americans deplete their savings to pay for costly nursing home care, Medicaid offers coverage.\n\nThe United States has become a Medicaid nation.\n\nAlthough it started as a plan to cover only the poor, Medicaid now touches tens of millions of Americans who live above the poverty line. The program serves as a backstop for America\u2019s scattershot health care system, and as Republicans learned this year in their relentless battle to replace the Affordable Care Act, efforts to drastically change that can spur a backlash.\n\nThe latest Republican proposal \u2014 by Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (La.) \u2014 is being pummeled by doctors, insurers, hospitals and patient advocates because it would scrap the health law\u2019s Medicaid expansion and reduce federal funding for Medicaid. Senate leaders are trying to get a vote before Sept. 30, when special budget rules would allow the package to pass with only 50 votes.\n\nToday, Medicaid is the nation\u2019s largest health insurance program, covering 74 million, or more than 1 in 5 Americans. Over the next weeks, Kaiser Health News will explore the vast reach of the program. About 25 percent of Americans will be on Medicaid at some point over the course of the year \u2014 many are just a pink slip away from being eligible.\n\nThis KHN story also ran on NPR . It can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nMedicaid funding protects families from having to sell a home or declare bankruptcy to pay for the care of a disabled child or elderly parent. It responds to cover disaster relief, public health emergencies and programs in schools that lack other sources of funding.\n\nMillions of women who don\u2019t qualify for full Medicaid benefits each year obtain family planning services paid for by Medicaid. These women have incomes as high as triple the federal poverty rate, or over $36,000 for an individual. And thousands of women, who otherwise don\u2019t qualify for the program, get treated each year for breast and cervical cancers through Medicaid.\n\n\u201cInstead of cutting Medicaid, [lawmakers] increased public awareness of its value and made it even harder to cut in the future,\u201d said Jonathan Oberlander, professor of health policy and management at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and a supporter of the federal health law. The Medicaid cuts passed the House, but the ACA overhaul legislation fell short in the Senate in July.\n\nMedicaid is the workhorse of the health system, covering:\n\n39 percent of all children.\n\nNearly half of all births in the country.\n\n60 percent of nursing home and other long-term care expenses.\n\nMore than one-quarter of all spending on mental health services and over a fifth of all spending on substance abuse treatment.\n\nUnlike Medicare beneficiaries, who keep that insurance for life, most Medicaid enrollees churn in and out of the program every few years, depending on their circumstances.\n\nSuch numbers underline the importance of Medicaid, but also provoke alarm among conservatives and some economists who say the U.S. cannot afford the costs over the long run.\n\nBill Hammond, director of health policy of the fiscally conservative Empire Center for Public Policy in Albany, N.Y., said Medicaid has been a big help for those it was designed to cover \u2014 children and the disabled. But it has grown so big that the cost hurts state efforts to pay for other necessary public services, such as education and roads. \u201cI can\u2019t think of any other anti-poverty program that reaches so many people. \u2026 It\u2019s too expensive a benefit.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe need to transition people to get coverage in the private sector,\u201d he said, noting how millions on the program have incomes above the federal poverty level.\n\nIt May Be The Person Down The Block\n\nJoana Weaver, 49, of Salisbury, Md., who has cerebral palsy, has been on and off Medicaid since birth. For the past few years, it\u2019s paid for home nursing services for six hours a day to help her get dressed, bathed and fed. That\u2019s kept her out of a nursing home and enabled her to teach English part time at a local community college.\n\n\u201cFor me, Medicaid has meant having my independence,\u201d Weaver said.\n\nLike Weaver, many people getting Medicaid today are not easily typecast. They include grandmothers \u2014 one-quarter of Medicaid enrollees are elderly people or disabled adults.\n\nOr the kid next door. About half of Medicaid enrollees are children, many with physical or mental disabilities.\n\nEmail Sign-Up Subscribe to California Healthline's free Daily Edition. Your Email Address Sign Up\n\nMany of the rest \u2014 about 24 million enrollees \u2014 are adults under 65 without disabilities who earn too little to afford health insurance otherwise. About 60 percent of non-disabled adult enrollees have a job. Many of those who don\u2019t work are caregivers.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s the mechanic down the street, the woman waiting tables where you go for breakfast and people working at the grocery store,\u201d said Sara Rosenbaum, a health policy expert at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.\n\nWhile all states rely on Medicaid, it\u2019s used more in some places than others because of varying state eligibility rules and poverty rates. As of August, about 44 percent of New Mexico residents are insured by Medicaid. In West Virginia, as in California, the rate is nearly 1 in 3.\n\nJane and Fred Fergus, in Lawrence, Kan., said Medicaid has been a cornerstone in their lives since their son, Franklin, was born eight years ago with a severe genetic disability that left him unable to speak or walk. He is blind and deaf on one side of his body.\n\nAlthough the family has insurance through Fred\u2019s job as a high school history teacher, Franklin was eligible for Medicaid through an optional program that states use to help families let their children be cared for at home, rather than moving to a hospital or nursing home. Medicaid pays all his medical bills, including monthly transportation costs to Cincinnati Children\u2019s Hospital, where for the past 18 months he has been receiving an experimental chemotherapy drug to help shrink tumors blocking his airway, Jane Fergus said. It also covers his wheelchair, walker and daily nursing care at home.\n\n\u201cWe have such great health care for him because of Medicaid,\u201d his mother said.\n\nJane Fergus was never politically active until this year, when she feared that the GOP plans to cut Medicaid funding would reduce services for her son.\n\n\u201cIf there is a silver lining in all this debate, it\u2019s that we have been given a voice, and people in power are being educated on the role of Medicaid,\u201d she said.\n\nMoving Beyond Its Roots\n\nMedicaid was born in a 1965 political deal to help bring more support for President Lyndon Johnson\u2019s dream of Medicare, the national health insurance program for the elderly.\n\nOver the past 40 years and in particular since the 1980s, Medicaid expanded beyond its roots as a welfare program. In 1987, Congress added coverage for pregnant women and children living in families with incomes nearly twice the federal poverty level (about $49,200 today for a family of four).\n\nIn 1997, Congress added the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program to help cover kids from families with incomes too high for Medicaid.\n\nAnd since September 2013, Obamacare allowed states to expand the program to anyone earning under 138 percent of poverty (or $16,394 for an individual in 2016), adding 17 million people.\n\nIn addition, more than 11 million Medicare beneficiaries also receive Medicaid coverage, which helps them get long-term care and pay for Medicare premiums.\n\n\u201cMedicaid is plugging the holes in our health system,\u201d said Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, \u201cand our health system has a lot of holes.\u201d\n\nBut that comes at a steep price.\n\nA Blessing And A Curse\n\nWith increasing enrollments and health costs steadily rising, the cost of Medicaid has soared. Federal and state governments spent about $575 billion combined last year, nearly triple the level of 2000.\n\nThose dollars have become both a blessing and a curse for states.\n\nThe federal government matches state Medicaid spending, with Washington paying from half to 74 percent of a state\u2019s costs in 2016. Poorer states get the higher shares.\n\nThe funding is provided on an open-ended basis, so the more states spend the more they receive from Washington. That guarantee protects states when they have sudden enrollment spikes because of downturns in the economy, health emergencies such as the opioid crisis or natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina.\n\nThe program is the largest source of federal funding to states. And Medicaid is often the biggest program in state budgets, after public education.\n\n\u201cMedicaid is the elephant in the room for health care,\u201d said Jameson Taylor, vice president for policy for the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, a free-market think tank. He said states have become dependent on the federal funding to help fill their state budget coffers. While the poorest states, such as Mississippi, get a higher percentage of federal Medicaid dollars, that still often isn\u2019t enough to keep up with health care costs, he said.\n\nExtensive Benefits\n\nMedicaid provides significant financing for hospitals, community health centers, physicians, nursing homes and jobs in the health care sector.\n\nBut the revenue stream flows further. Billions in annual Medicaid spending goes to U.S. schools to pay for nurses; physical, occupational and speech therapists; and school-based screenings and treatment for children from low-income families, as well as wheelchairs and buses to transport kids with special needs.\n\nMedicaid also often covers services that private health insurers and Medicare do not \u2014 such as non-emergency transportation to medical appointments, vision care and dental care. To help people with disabilities stay out of expensive nursing homes, Medicaid pays for renovations to their homes, such as wheelchair ramps, and personal care aides.\n\nRena Schrager, 42, of Jupiter, Fla., who has severe vision problems, has relied on Medicaid for more than 20 years. Although she often has difficulty finding doctors who will accept Medicaid\u2019s reimbursements \u2014 which are often lower than private insurance and Medicare \u2014 she is grateful for the coverage. \u201cWhen you do not have anything else, you are glad to have anything,\u201d Schraeger said.\n\nAs it\u2019s grown, Medicaid has become more popular, another reason why politicians are cautious to curtail benefits or spending.\n\nA recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation showed three-fourths of the public, including majorities of Democrats (84 percent) and Republicans (61 percent), hold a favorable view of Medicaid. That\u2019s nearly as high as Americans\u2019 views on Medicare. (Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent program of the foundation.)\n\nBut it may still have a bull\u2019s-eye on its back.\n\n\u201cThe fact that the House passed a bill to cut $800 billion from Medicaid and it came one vote short to passing the Senate shows Medicaid is stronger than maybe many Republican leaders anticipated,\u201d said Oberlander. \u201cBut politically it is still in a precarious position.\u201d\n\nUpdate: This story was updated on Sept. 25 to clarify that Medicaid doesn\u2019t cover all home modifications for enrollees with disabilities. It was also updated on Nov. 17 to correct a statistic. Twenty-five percent of Americans will be on Medicaid at some point over the course of the year, not over the course of their lives.\n\nThis story was produced by Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation.", "output": "The latest proposal by Republicans in the Senate has been criticised for potentially crippling Medicaid, a system that 74 million Americans, by scrapping present expansions and reducing federal funding. The new proposal is being pushed for a vote before September 30th, when it will only require 50 votes to pass. More than one in five Americans relying on the service for medical assistance from all walks of life, and it is used as and when necessary, particularly for those in poverty. All states use Medicaid, though in New Mexico 44 percent of citizens use the service and in California and West Virginia almost one in three do. Medicaid was created in 1965 as part of a national health insurance program created by President Lyndon Johnson, and has expanded from welfare program to general healthcare cover, now including anyone earning below 138 percent of the poverty line ($16,394). The cost of maintaining the system is significant, with federal and state officials spending approximately $575 billion in the past 12 months. Medicaid\u2019s financial support not only helps those in need of treatment, it helps to pay for school nurses, therapists, screenings, wheelchairs, buses and more. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 75 \u00a0of the public have a favorable attitude towards Medicaid, including 84 percent of Democrats and 61 percent of Republicans. However, Medicaid is a target for cuts, putting it into a potentially dangerous position as a bill has already been passed to cut $800 billion from the service\u2019s funding.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Samsung to follow Apple and make an AI chip for mobile \n Samsung is joining Apple and Huawei in developing AI-centric CPU cores for its upcoming processors. The new Exynos chips will supposedly be able to process data from AI directly on the smartphone without offloading it to the cloud.\n\nSet to be commercialised in the next couple of years, the new AI co-processor will reduce cloud-base processing dependency by instead processing the data in the smartphone itself. Today\u2019s AI tasks (voice recognition, big data processing) are offloaded to the cloud, and then retrieved when needed by the users.\n\nThis will be very useful as Samsung\u2019s Bixby is still in the early days of developing into a proper smart assistant.\n\nAs one of the major semiconductor manufacturer, Samsung is well equipped to start developing the co-processor. This will contribute to a 3% global revenue growth that semiconductor manufacturers are expected to see from 2018 until 2022 according to market intelligence firm TrendForce.\n\nWith AI Processing becoming a fast growing trend among OEMs, having a leg\u2019s up in the game will benefit Samsung to differentiate it from the other manufacturers in the market.\n\n(Source: Korea Herald via Android Authority )\n\nWhat\u2019s your Reaction? +1 0 +1 0 +1 0 +1 0 +1 0 +1 0 +1 0", "output": "Samsung is joining the likes of Apple and Huawei by developing an AI-centric CPU core for its upcoming smartphone processors. Today\u2019s AI tasks such as voice recognition and big data processing are usually offloaded to the cloud, to be retrieved by the user when needed. Samsung\u2019s new Exynos chip, however, will have AI processing built in and will reduce\u00a0cloud-based processing dependency. The chip is set to be brought to market in the next couple of years. Samsung's Bixby smart assistant is expected to be a\u00a0beneficiary of\u00a0the new technology.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon to bring AWS cloud to the Middle East by early 2019 \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nAmazon\u2019s cloud computing arm, Amazon Web Services (AWS), has announced its first data center region in the Middle East, with three availability zones planned for Bahrain by \u201cearly 2019,\u201d according to the company.\n\nLaunched in 2006, AWS serves companies of all sizes with cloud computing capabilities, negating the need for them to have their own on-site servers. AWS currently offers server infrastructure in 16 regions, including seven in the Americas (across the U.S., Canada, and Brazil), three in Europe (across the U.K., Ireland, and Germany), and six in Asia Pacific (across Singapore, Japan, Australia, South Korea, India, and China).\n\nFor 2018, Amazon has already announced a host of new regions around the world (including in the Nordics), while additional server infrastructure will also be arriving in new regions in France, China, and Hong Kong over the next year.\n\nBattle heats up\n\nThe Middle East represents a notable move for AWS as the battle for the cloud services market intensifies. Earlier this year, rival Microsoft beat both Google and Amazon to announce its first African data centers, which are expected to open in 2018, while last week Microsoft revealed it was adding availability zones (different geographical locations within a region) to its Azure cloud platform. Earlier this month, Google opened its first Cloud Platform regions in Germany and Brazil, the latter representing its first in South America. However, AWS has offered a cloud region in Brazil since way back in 2011, while Microsoft followed suit three years later.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\n\u201cAWS customers are already making use of 44 availability zones across 16 geographic regions,\u201d noted Jeff Barr, chief evangelist at AWS. \u201cToday\u2019s announcement brings the total number of global regions \u2014 operational and in the works \u2014 up to 22.\u201d\n\nAmazon is the first of the three companies to announce a cloud region in the Middle East, and it should go some way toward helping AWS attract new customers in the area \u2014 local server infrastructure means lower latency and faster data transfer speeds. The news also comes just a few months after Amazon completed its $580 million acquisition of Souq, the Middle East\u2019s biggest ecommerce site. And the company recently announced plans to open new AWS offices in Dubai and Bahrain.\n\n\u201cAs countries in the Middle East look to transform their economies for generations to come, technology will play a major role, and the cloud will be in the middle of that transformation,\u201d said AWS CEO Andy Jassy.\n\nAdditionally, Amazon revealed plans to open a new CloudFront Edge location (effectively a conduit for end users to access cached content with lower latency) in the United Arab Emirates in 2018.", "output": "Amazon is bringing its cloud services to the Middle East, with the opening of three \"availability zones\" in Bahrain by early 2019. The online retailer's web division, Amazon Web Services, was launched in 2006 and provides IT cloud services to companies around the world. Its rivals in the sector, Microsoft and Google, have announced the introduction of their cloud services into Africa and South America respectively, but Amazon is the first to announce plans for the Middle East. Alongside the expansion, AWS is planning to open new offices in Dubai and Bahrain.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese insurance regulator plans stricter stance \n China\u2019s top insurance regulator said it will enforce existing rules and strengthen risk control as former chairman is handed over to prosecutors to face criminal charges", "output": "The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) has said it is aiming to put an end to \"special companies\" playing loose with certain regulations. While acting head of the regulator Chen Wenhui did not expand on the definition of \"special\" companies, he also said the focus of the CIRC should be to regulate the industry, rather than encouraging its expansion. Spurious capital claims, aggressive acquisitions and volume selling of short-term products are among evidence for the previous loose policy of the regulator, commentators noted.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Intel experiments with chip that mimics how the brain learns \n Intel just introduced a new type of chip that could have big implications for artificial intelligence.\n\nThe company is experimenting with a new \"self-learning\" chip that's designed to learn like the human brain.\n\nCalled the \"Intel Loihi test chip,\"(opens in a new tab) the processor is what Intel calls a \"neuromorphic chip,\" meaning it's designed to learn from its environment. The chip could be used for an array of AI-intensive applications, but the company says it will be particularly impactful in industrial automation and personal robotics.\n\n\"The Intel Loihi research test chip includes digital circuits that mimic the brain\u2019s basic mechanics, making machine learning faster and more efficient while requiring lower compute power,\" Michael Mayberry, managing director of Intel Labs, wrote in a statement(opens in a new tab).\n\nThis could help computers self-organize and make decisions ...\n\n\"This could help computers self-organize and make decisions based on patterns and associations.\"\n\nIntel isn't the first to develop a chip specifically for AI applications. Google has its cloud-based Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), which also aim to speed up machine learning processes. But Intel's approach is different in that the Loihi test chip is designed to work and learn locally on whatever machine it's inside of.\n\nHaving self-learning capabilities localized on a chip also has unique advantages over cloud-based systems, according to Intel. It could end up being much faster, for one, since a system can learn without data needing to move back and forth between the chip and the cloud.\n\nIntel says it also doesn't need the same type of training as most AI systems currently do, making it more efficient.\n\nThe chip is still a prototype for now, but the company plans to begin working with universities and other researchers next year to develop it further.", "output": "Intel is working on a \"self-learning\" chip that could have big implications for artificial intelligence. The Intel Loihi test chip features \"digital circuits that mimic the brain\u2019s basic mechanics, making machine learning faster and\u00a0more efficient\u00a0while requiring less compute\u00a0power\", according to Michael Mayberry, the managing director of Intel Labs. The chip could be used for a variety of AI-intensive applications, but may prove particularly useful in industrial automation and personal robotics. Intel plans to begin working with universities and other researchers next year to develop its prototype further. The chip is \"neuromorphic\", meaning that\u00a0it is able to learn from its environment."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nvidia to supply Chinese tech giants with Volta GPUs to power AI \n The new chip is claimed to be up to five times more powerful than the current Pascal-based chips deployed by the Chinese firms", "output": "Nvidia will supply Chinese behemoths Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu with its Volta-based graphics processing unit (GPU) hardware, designed to accelerate artificial intelligence (AI), as the firms upgrade their data centres and cloud services platforms. Nvidia's Volta-based system features the V100 GPU, said to be five times faster than its current Pascal series. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nvidia claims its TensorRT will accelerate\u00a0AI inferencing \n Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More\n\nThe Chinese are racing ahead with artificial intelligence research, and Nvidia is helping make that possible, as evidenced by several announcements the graphics chip maker\u2019s CEO, Jen-Hsun Huang, made today at a big AI event in Beijing, China.\n\nSanta Clara, California-based Nvidia has pivoted over the past decade, adapting its graphics chips to do artificial intelligence processing. And a number of big Chinese companies \u2014 from Baidu to Tencent \u2014 are endorsing Nvidia\u2019s approach. That\u2019s important in a world where 60 billion video frames are uploaded per day to YouTube, and where Google Translate translates 140 billion words per day.\n\nOf the multiple announcements made at Nvidia\u2019s GPU Technology conference in Beijing, the most interesting could be about Nvidia\u2019s TensorRT software, which dramatically accelerates AI inferencing, or the process by which a neural network learns how to recognize an object or pattern. Inferencing can take a huge amount of computing power, but Nvidia\u2019s TensorRT enables inferencing to be done as much as 40 times faster, slashing the cost of the inferencing on Nvidia-based AI hardware.\n\n\u201cAI inferencing is exploding,\u201d said Paresh Kharya, Nvidia\u2019s product marketer for accelerated computing, in an interview with VentureBeat.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\nImage Credit: Nvidia/JD.com\n\nWith better inferencing, we\u2019ll get much faster image and speech recognition, which in turn will improve everything from self-driving cars to robots. With Nvidia Tesla graphics processing units, the TensorRT software can accelerate processing up to 40 times faster than central processing units (CPUs) at a tenth of the cost.\n\n\u201cInternet companies are racing to infuse AI into services used by billions of people. As a result, AI inference workloads are growing exponentially,\u201d said Nvidia\u2019s Huang, in a statement. \u201cNvidia TensorRT is the world\u2019s first programmable inference accelerator. With CUDA programmability, TensorRT will be able to accelerate the growing diversity and complexity of deep neural networks. And with TensorRT\u2019s dramatic speed-up, service providers can affordably deploy these compute intensive AI workloads.\u201d\n\nMore than 1,200 companies have already begun using Nvidia\u2019s inference platform across a wide spectrum of industries to discover new insights from data and deploy intelligent services to businesses and consumers. Among them are Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook and Google; as well as leading Chinese enterprise companies like Alibaba, Baidu, JD.com, iFflytek, Hikvision, Tencent and WeChat.\n\nTensorRT 3 is a high-performance optimizing compiler and runtime engine for production deployment of AI applications. It can rapidly optimize, validate, and deploy trained neural networks for inference to big data centers and other AI platforms.\n\nIn other news, Huang said that China\u2019s big hardware makers \u2014 Huawei, Inspur, and Lenovo \u2014 are using the Nvidia HGX AI server technology across their data centers. Nvidia is providing those companies with early access to its HGX reference designs for data centers. Those companies will use HGX as a starter recipe for using graphics processing units (GPUs) in the data center. The HGX has eight Nvidia Tesla V100 GPUs on a single server board.\n\n\u201cThe V100 deployment in Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent are extremely remarkable,\u201d said analyst Chirag Dekate at Gartner, in an email. \u201cHyperscale/webscale companies like Baidu, AWS, Azure, Tencent, Alibaba, and others are working aggressively to provision [service] solutions for deep learning environments. And users are increasingly exploring clouds as a means of starting their AI journeys. Nvidia through its global strategy of engaging leaders across cloud service providers is embedding itself to be the main architecture of choice for deep learning workloads.\u201d\n\nImage Credit: Nvidia/JD.com\n\nNvidia also announced today that Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent are incorporating new Volta architecture-based Nvidia Tesla V100 GPU accelerators into their data centers and cloud-service infrastructures. All three of the major companies are upgrading their data centers with the new Nvidia Tesla V100 GPUs.\n\nIn addition, Nvidia is announcing that its Jetson-based robotics platform will be used by ecommerce firm JD.com in its JDrone and JDrover automated delivery drones and robots to delivery packages to consumers. Nvidia and JD.com are collaborating on using AI in logistics and delivery machines. JD.com\u2019s JD X lab is doing pilot testing of drones and robots to deliver packages to consumers. JD X estimates it will release more than 1 million drones over the next five years, and it plans to use Nvidia\u2019s Jetson platform.\n\n\u201cAI is the most important technology development of our time, with the greatest potential to help society,\u201d Huang said. \u201cAs the world\u2019s leading cloud providers deploy the world\u2019s best AI platform, with Volta GPUs and Nvidia software, we\u2019ll see amazing breakthroughs in medicine, autonomous transportation, precision manufacturing, and much more.\u201d\n\nLastly, Nvidia said that Alibaba and Huawei are adopting Nvidia\u2019s Metropolis AI Smart Cities platform, which simplifies the process for getting data from Internet of Things sensors, such as smart traffic lights, to data centers where the information can be analyzed and used to improve overall traffic. A total of 50 companies are currenty using Nvidia\u2019s Metropolis platform.", "output": "California-based Nvidia has unveiled its TensorRT software, which it claims speeds up artificial intelligence (AI) inferencing by as much as 40 times. Revealed during a series of announcements at the company's GPU Technology conference in Beijing, the TensorRT software is the world\u2019s first programmable inference accelerator, and could lead to improvements in self-driving cars and robots. Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Baidu and Alibaba are among the big-name companies already using Nvidia's inference platform. Inferencing is the process by which a neural network learns to recognise objects or patterns."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Kanye West denies Lloyd's counterclaim in $10m no-show row \n Los Angeles, CA -\n\nThe abrupt end to Kanye West\u2019s Saint Pablo Tour last year caused an ensuing legal fiasco that has yet to be resolved.\n\nAfter West canceled the remainder of the tour due to sleep deprivation and exhaustion, the belief of West\u2019s camp was an insurance policy filed with Lloyd\u2019s of London would bail him out.\n\nA little over a year later, with a lawsuit filed by West as well as a countersuit filed by Lloyd\u2019s denying his claim, it looks like the legal firestorm has only intensified.\n\nAfter the countersuit denied West\u2019s claim, West\u2019s camp responded in a new court document to refute Lloyd\u2019s claims.\n\nBack in August 2017, West and his Very Good Touring, Inc. moved to receive the insurance claim that had been delayed for eight months at that point. To do this, they filed a $10 million lawsuit against Lloyd\u2019s.\n\nA couple of weeks later after the initial suit, Lloyd\u2019s fired right back with its own countersuit against Very Good Touring, INC. saying the 40-year-old rapper\u2019s cancellation reasons weren\u2019t beyond his control, denying his claim. In the response, West said the reasons for denial weren\u2019t legitimate and reiterated points from the first lawsuit.\n\nAccording to the original suit filed by West, it states that insurance company employees \u201csuggested that they may deny coverage of the claim on the unsupportable contention that use of marijuana by Kanye caused the medical condition.\n\nRead West\u2019s original suit in full below and the new one above.", "output": "Rapper Kanye West has fired another salvo in his $10m legal row over a series of gig no-shows last year, demanding that the matter be taken before a jury.\u00a0West's lawyers lodged a document with US courts, saying that insurers at\u00a0Lloyd's of London\u00a0had no legitimate reason to\u00a0refuse\u00a0his claim for lost earnings. The filing also denied allegations made\u00a0by the insurance market that West had brought the illness, which led to the cancellation of the tour, on himself.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Number of UK working mothers with dependent children on the rise \n Tell us whether you accept cookies\n\nWe would like to use cookies to collect information about how you use ons.gov.uk.\n\nWe use this information to make the website work as well as possible and improve our services.", "output": "The number of UK working mothers with dependent children has risen by over a million in the past 20 years, according to the country\u2019s Office for National Statistics (ONS). Nearly 73.7% of women in this category are now employed, up 11.8% from 1996. Women with children aged between three and four were the least likely to work full-time, and the most likely to have part-time employment,\u00a0though even this group has\u00a0seen drastic\u00a0growth.\n\u00a0\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Number of UK working mothers with dependent children on the rise \n The number of mothers with dependent children employed in England has surged by more than a million over the past two decades, according to official figures.\n\nThe Office for National Statistics said there had been a step-change in the employment rate for working mothers since records began in 1996 with almost three-quarters of women with dependent children either in full-time or part-time work.\n\nEncouraging women with young children back into the jobs market has been a priority for Labour and Conservative governments, with the latest initiative an offer of 30 hours free childcare for eligible working families.\n\nThe ONS said the figures showed there were 4.9 million mothers with dependent children in work in 2017, up from 3.7 million in 1996. The employment rate rose by 11.8 percentage points to 73.7% over the same period.\n\nAlthough the ONS said women with three- and four-year-old children were least likely to work full-time \u2013 and the most likely to work part-time \u2013 it found there had been a marked increase in employment among this group.\n\nMothers were more likely to have a full-time job when their children went to secondary school at 11, the ONS said. Childcare responsibilities tended to make it more likely that mothers of younger children worked part-time.\n\nThe ONS statistician Emily Glastonbury said: \u201cThe continuing rise in the number of working mothers has been a major feature of the labour market in England in the last two decades. Reasons for this might include more flexible working practices, shared parental leave and changes to government policy on the availability of childcare.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe ONS said single parents were less likely to be in employment than parents in a couple. In 2017, 71.7% of single fathers were working, compared with 93% of fathers in a couple; and 68.5% of single mothers were in employment, as opposed to 75% of mothers in a couple.\n\nSingle mothers were least likely to be employed when the youngest dependent child was aged under three, at 48.4%. Single fathers were least likely to be in employment when their youngest dependent child was aged three or four (62.3%).", "output": "The number of UK working mothers with dependent children has risen by over a million in the past 20 years, according to the country\u2019s Office for National Statistics (ONS). Nearly 73.7% of women in this category are now employed, up 11.8% from 1996. Women with children aged between three and four were the least likely to work full-time, and the most likely to have part-time employment,\u00a0though even this group has\u00a0seen drastic\u00a0growth.\n\u00a0\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK clothing company relocates to renewable factory \n COWES \u2013 Garment manufacturer, UK T-Shirt Printing, has moved its operations to a new low carbon factory on the Isle of Wight, which is powered entirely by renewable energy.\n\nThe company is a division of fashion brand Rapanui, and says the decision was a result of a substantial upturn in business related to its sustainable branded merchandise and in recognition of its supply chain\u2019s commitment to sustainability and traceability.", "output": "UK T-Shirt Printing, a division of fashion brand Rapanui, has relocated to a low-carbon factory on the Isle of Wight. The new 12,000 sq ft facility runs entirely on renewable\u00a0energy, including hydroelectric, solar and wind power. The company prints onto organic cotton t-shirts produced by Rapanui in an \u201cethically accredited\u201d factory in India, and\u00a0creates branded items for groups including Lush Cosmetics, The Marine Conservation Society and the RSPCA."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fitbit to provide wearables to Fujitsu for employee wellness \n Fitbit\u2019s wearable devices and services will soon be included in Japanese tech company Fujitsu\u2019s corporate wellness program. The program will offer 10,000 employees of Mitsubishi Motors Health Insurance Society a chance to earn redeemable fitness points using the Fitbit Charge 2 and a cloud-based data system, thereby making it one of Fitbit\u2019s largest corporate wellness agreements in Japan. According to a statement, Fujitsu chose to partner with Fitbit due to their device\u2019s ease of use, and because the fitness wearable company\u2019s open API allows easy incorporation into Fujitsu\u2019s existing Health Points environment. Read more\n\n\u2026\n\nAt Home Healthcare has tapped mobile care device company Vivify Health to provide technological support for patients transitioning from hospitals throughout Texas. Vivify\u2019s remote patient monitoring kits will support At Home\u2019s in-home nursing staff, and provide an additional layer of care that At Home believes will stand out from the rest of the state\u2019s home care market. \u201cWe know that care transitions are particularly vulnerable times for these patients, which is why we are taking additional measures to assure they are continuously monitored by our professional care teams, enabled by the Vivify remote monitoring platform,\u201d Michelle Maiorka, At Home\u2019s vice president of Business Development and Transitional Care, said in a statement. Read more\n\n\u2026\n\nHealthcare networking companies HealthXL and WEGO Health have announced a partnership to connect digital health companies with healthcare experts. Members on HealthXL\u2019s platform will be able to access WEGO Health\u2019s network through its member portal. The companies say that the integration will enable executives to more fluidly connect with experts in patient-driven digital health. Read more\n\n\u2026\n\nGNS Healthcare, a precision medicine technology company, and the Swedish Cancer Institute have announced a collaboration to bring machine learning to breast cancer care. GNS\u2019 Reverse Engineering and Forward Simulation (REFS) platform will provide computer models and a software interface tool linking clinical and molecular data to breast cancer patients\u2019 treatments and outcomes. The partnership aims to provide caregivers with focused, personalized treatment options for their patients, and according to a statement could be a foundation for other more expansive programs. Read more\n\n\u2026\n\niMedicare, a pharmacy-focused decision automation platform available on tablets and computers through a web app, has teamed up with the Mirixa Corporation to bring patient counseling opportunities to thousands of community pharmacies. The new integration will be delivered alongside medication therapy management, adherence, and other services already implemented in the MirixaPro proprietary platform, and will allow pharmacies to make the most of medication-related opportunities by prioritizing available interventions for each patient. The partnership follows an announcement that iMedicare will be implementing other technologies, such as augmented reality, to deliver its services. Read more\n\n\u2026\n\nAliso Viejo, California-based Ambry Genetics will integrate its AmbryPort 2.0 (AP2) clinician ordering platform with FDNA\u2019s Face2Gene suite of applications. The partnership will allow clinicians evaluating patients with Face2Gene\u2019s AI and facial analysis technologies to securely pass data along to AP2, increasing the diagnostic value of patients\u2019 genetic tests. FDNA CEO Dekel Gelbman said in a statement that combining his company\u2019s technologies with Ambry\u2019s genetic testing services will facilitate a \u201cnew age in precision medicine.\u201d Read more", "output": "Fujitsu will soon be handing out Fitbit devices and services to its employees as part of its corporate wellness programme. The services will be offered to 10,000 members of the Mitsubishi Motors Health Insurance Society and the programme represents one of Fitbit's largest corporate wellness agreements in Japan.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Index launched to boost investment in biodiversity and food chain \n A \u201csixth mass extinction\u201d is already under way, scientists are now warning us. Species such as the Bengal tiger and blue whale are vanishing at an alarming rate, and mournful eulogies are being written on how those born in 20 years\u2019 time may never see an African elephant. But who is writing the eulogy for our food? Huge proportions of the plant and animal species that form the foundation of our food supply \u2013 known as agrobiodiversity \u00ad\u2013 are just as endangered and are getting almost no attention.\n\n\n\nTake some consumer favourites: chips, chocolate and coffee. Up to 22% of wild potato species are predicted to become extinct by 2055 due to climate change. In Ghana and Ivory Coast, where the raw ingredient for 70% of our chocolate is grown, cacao trees will not be able to survive as temperatures rise by two degrees over the next 40 years. Coffee yields in Tanzania have dropped 50% since 1960.\n\nThese crops are the tip of the iceberg. Across the world, 940 cultivated species are threatened. Agrobiodiversity is a precious resource that we are losing, and yet it can also help solve or mitigate many challenges the world is facing. It has a critical yet overlooked role in helping us improve global nutrition, reduce our impact on the environment and adapt to climate change.\n\nAccording to the World Health Organisation, poor diet is the biggest cause of early death and disability. Globally, 2 billion people are undernourished, while 2 billion are obese and at risk of contracting diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Focusing on large-scale intensive production of starchy crops for calories rather than nutritious diets has led to serious levels of obesity around the world, from the US to Kenya. Our agrobiodiversity base can be a source of affordable, nutritious food \u2013 provided we don\u2019t let it disappear.\n\nTake gac, a fiery red fruit from Vietnam with astronomical levels of beta carotene (which the body converts to vitamin A). Or the orange-fleshed Asupina banana, which has such high levels of carotenoids that a preschool child could meet 50% of their vitamin A requirement by consuming just one per day, when they would need to eat 1kg of some other varieties to reach the equivalent nutritional benefit.\n\nThese relatively obscure species can offer incredible levels of nutrition, but only if they are still around and available to us. Food biodiversity is full of superfoods like gac \u2013 but perhaps even more important is the fact these foods are also readily available and adapted to local farming conditions. They open the way to year-round nutrition security.\n\nAbout 33% of the world\u2019s farmland is estimated to be degraded, lacking the nutrients essential for growing crops. Agrobiodiversity once again has a solution. Planting cold-tolerant legumes and forages throughout winter has helped farmers in France naturally reduce weed infestation as well as increasing soil\u2019s nutrient content and capacity to hold water. Natural remedies such as this can enhance the sustainability of farms worldwide, reducing the sector\u2019s impact on the environment.\n\nAccording to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global warming will reduce agricultural production by 2% every decade, while demand will increase every decade by 14% until 2050. Yet a wealth of traditional seed varieties have unique traits that make them tolerant to heat, drought and floods. They must be found, preserved and put to use in crop-breeding programmes.\n\nA cocoa farmer holds dried cocoa pods in Ivory Coast where insects have eaten the cocoa trees. Photograph: Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images\n\nThis year in Ethiopia, researchers at Bioversity International discovered two varieties of durum wheat that were not previously on the market, but yield remarkably well in dry, marginal areas. Work is now underway to breed superior durum wheat crops using these high-performing traditional seeds, to help buffer farmers against recurring droughts and combat hunger in the region.\n\nGlobal efforts to protect agrobiodiversity need to be stepped up urgently. But where can governments and agribusinesses start? A new scientific review of the evidence the agrobiodiversity can contribute to a better food system and wider sustainable development issues has been produced to answer this very question.\n\nThis assessment forms the basis for an Agrobiodiversity Index that can guide countries and companies towards the most impactful investment opportunities. These can range from increasing research and development on agrobiodiversity, to introducing more diversity into food supply chains. It will enable agribusinesses to estimate and monitor the impact of their supply chain investments and ensure future product lines are both sustainable and resilient. Similarly, governments will be able to channel funding into agrobiodiversity interventions that will safeguard domestic food supply and simultaneously improve environmental sustainability.\n\nWhile wild elephants and rhinos thoroughly deserve our support, we should also be raising the alarm for our disappearing agrobiodiversity. After all, if there is one thing we cannot allow to become extinct, it is the species that provide the food that sustains the 7 billion people on our planet.", "output": "Bioversity International has launched the Agrobiodiversity Index,\u00a0providing\u00a0tools for governments and companies to invest in ways that support the plant and animal species that underpin human food supplies. The Index is based on the first ever scientific review of the potential of agrobiodiversity to combat issues including climate change and malnutrition. In total, 940 cultivated species are threatened across the world, and an estimated 33% of global farmland is believed to be degraded. The Agrobiodiversity Index aims to ensure that food supplies and suppliers become more resilient and sustainable.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Green credits scheme has netted Tesla $1bn from rival car makers \n Tesla Inc. has generated nearly $1 billion in revenue the last five years from an unlikely source: Rival automakers. The payments are part of an unpopular system in California that\u2019s poised to proliferate elsewhere.\n\nCalifornia requires that automakers sell electric and other non-polluting vehicles in proportion to their market share. If the manufacturers don\u2019t sell enough of them, they have to purchase credits from competitors like Tesla to make up the difference.\n\nTesla, which exclusively sells battery-powered models, sold $302.3 million in regulatory credits last year alone. China and the European Union \u2014 two of the world\u2019s biggest auto markets \u2014 are considering mandates and credit systems similar to California\u2019s. If California is any guide, automakers will resent having to buy from peers, including the electric-car maker led by Elon Musk.\n\n\u201cIt really makes them mad that Tesla got so much of a boost out of being the only purely electric car manufacturer out there,\u201d Mary Nichols, the chair of the California Air Resources Board, said in an interview Friday at Bloomberg\u2019s headquarters in New York. \u201cIn effect, they helped to finance this upstart company which now has all the glamour.\u201d\n\nFor all the flack California has taken from traditional carmakers for how its mandate system has benefited Tesla, Musk also has been a critic. Tesla\u2019s chief executive officer last year said the Air Resources Board was being \u201cincredibly weak\u201d and called its standards \u201cpathetically low.\u201d Rules should be tougher and the credits should be worth more, he said.\n\n\u201cNobody\u2019s happy,\u201d Nichols said. \u201cThat\u2019s my mantra.\u201d", "output": "Tesla has generated almost $1bn in revenue over five years from rival car makers due to a\u00a0system in California that requires\u00a0car makers to sell electric and other non-polluting vehicles in proportion to their market share. If manufacturers fail to sell enough they are required by law to purchase credits elsewhere \u2013 from competitors such as Tesla that sells only battery-powered models. Tesla sold $302.3m in regulatory credits last year alone\u00a0and dominates the electric vehicle industry. China and the European Union are considering adopting a credit system similar to California\u2019s.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SEC announces initiatives to tackle cyber threats \n FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\n\n2017-176\n\nThe Securities and Exchange Commission today announced two new initiatives that will build on its Enforcement Division\u2019s ongoing efforts to address cyber-based threats and protect retail investors. The creation of a Cyber Unit that will focus on targeting cyber-related misconduct and the establishment of a retail strategy task force that will implement initiatives that directly affect retail investors reflect SEC Chairman Jay Clayton\u2019s priorities in these important areas.\n\nCyber Unit\n\nThe Cyber Unit will focus the Enforcement Division\u2019s substantial cyber-related expertise on targeting cyber-related misconduct, such as:\n\nMarket manipulation schemes involving false information spread through electronic and social media\n\nHacking to obtain material nonpublic information\n\nViolations involving distributed ledger technology and initial coin offerings\n\nMisconduct perpetrated using the dark web\n\nIntrusions into retail brokerage accounts\n\nCyber-related threats to trading platforms and other critical market infrastructure\n\nThe unit, which has been in the planning stages for months, complements the Chairman\u2019s initiatives to implement an internal cybersecurity risk profile and create a cybersecurity working group to coordinate information sharing, risk monitoring, and incident response efforts throughout the agency.\n\n\u201cCyber-related threats and misconduct are among the greatest risks facing investors and the securities industry,\u201d said Stephanie Avakian, Co-Director of the SEC\u2019s Enforcement Division. \u201cThe Cyber Unit will enhance our ability to detect and investigate cyber threats through increasing expertise in an area of critical national importance.\u201d\n\nOver the past several years, the Enforcement Division has developed substantial expertise in the detection and pursuit of fraudulent conduct in an increasingly technological and data-driven landscape. The Cyber Unit will consolidate and advance these efforts, and include staff from across the Enforcement Division.\n\nRobert A. Cohen has been appointed Chief of the Cyber Unit. Since 2015, he and Joseph Sansone have been Co-Chiefs of the Market Abuse Unit. Mr. Sansone will continue to lead the Market Abuse Unit as its Chief.\n\nRetail Strategy Task Force\n\nThe Retail Strategy Task Force will develop proactive, targeted initiatives to identify misconduct impacting retail investors. The Enforcement Division has a long and successful history of bringing cases involving fraud targeting retail investors, from everything involving the sale of unsuitable structured products to microcap pump-and-dump schemes.\n\nThis task force will apply the lessons learned from those cases and leverage data analytics and technology to identify large-scale misconduct affecting retail investors. The task force will include enforcement personnel from around the country and will work with staff across the SEC, including from the SEC\u2019s National Exam Program and the Office of Investor Education and Advocacy.\n\n\u201cProtecting the welfare of the Main Street investor has long been a priority for the Commission,\u201d said Steven Peikin, Co-Director of the SEC\u2019s Enforcement Division. \u201cBy dedicating additional resources and expertise to developing strategies to address misconduct that victimizes retail investors, the division will better protect our most vulnerable market participants.\u201d\n\nStatement from Chairman Clayton\n\n\u201cWhen Stephanie and Steve approached me with these initiatives, I endorsed them wholeheartedly. They reflect the division\u2019s continual efforts to pursue new forms of misconduct while keeping a watchful eye out for our Main Street investors,\u201d said SEC Chairman Jay Clayton.", "output": "The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has launched two programmes aimed at handling digital threats and protecting retail investors. The Cyber Unit will focus on market manipulation schemes and dark web activity,\u00a0while the\u00a0Retail Strategy Task Force will identify criminal behaviours impacting negatively on retail investors, using\u00a0analytics to uncover large-scale misconduct. \"They reflect the division\u2019s continual efforts to pursue new forms of misconduct while keeping a watchful eye out for our Main Street investors\u201d, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton said of the initiatives.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fitbit finds purpose in medical studies \n If you\u2019re trying to get in shape and you want a tiny, wrist-bound computer to help you do it, you have more options than ever before. Fitness trackers come in all shapes, colors, and price tags, with newfangled sensors and features to stand out to customers. But for doctors and scientists studying how exercise can help people deal with disease, the landscape is much simpler. There\u2019s Fitbit, and then there\u2019s everyone else.\n\nLike most fitness trackers, Fitbit\u2019s devices are far from perfect. They can count steps pretty well and give a good idea of activity levels day to day. But they haven\u2019t yet cracked the code on caloric burn\u2014which is kind of a big deal for understanding weight loss. And the ones equipped with Fitbit\u2019s proprietary heart rate monitoring tech are on even shakier ground; the company is part of an ongoing class action lawsuit alleging dangerous inaccuracies. But that\u2019s not stopping a growing number of medical researchers from flocking to Fitbit for use in clinical studies of everything from arthritis to sleep apnea to cancer.\n\nSince 2012, scientists have published 457 studies using Fitbit device data, nearly half of them in 2017 alone. According to a recent analysis in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, that puts the company well ahead of its competition. In clinical trials that used consumer activity monitors, a full 83 percent outfitted trial participants with a Fitbit. For NIH-funded research, that number rose to 95 percent.\n\nSome researchers, like Sheri Hartman, a psychologist at the University of California San Diego, gravitate toward Fitbit devices because they deliver information without being burdensome for her patients\u2014breast cancer survivors struggling with brain fogginess and other cognitive declines following treatment. They just have to keep it charged and wear it, that\u2019s it. Fitbit, and its data-crunching research facilitation partner, Fitabase, do the rest.\n\nFitabase, if you haven\u2019t heard of it, is like Fitbit\u2019s personal digital plumber. The company has built a connection to Fitbit\u2019s API that allows it to pipe out user data to scientists. Since it launched in 2012, Fitabase has collected over 3.5 billion minutes of Fitbit data on behalf of research customers at places like John Hopkins, MD Anderson Cancer Center, and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.\n\nFor Hartman, Fitabase collected three months\u2019 worth of data on a randomly-selected group of 43 women who had recently received chemotherapy or surgery for breast cancer. They, along with a control group which received health-related emails, were given the goal of exercising 150 minutes per week. Both groups were asked to wear a clinical-grade accelerometer for a week before and after the study to see how much their baseline activity had improved in three months' time. But only half of them received fitness trackers and access to a UCSD researcher to track their goals. Sticking with new lifestyle changes is hard, and Hartman\u2019s team was testing how well the wearables helped keep subjects accountable to their plans.", "output": "While Fitbit struggles in the consumer market, it is becoming increasingly popular among\u00a0medical trials that require participant monitoring. Fitbit's ease-of-use and reliability make it the device of choice for medical studies, with the device seeing use in 83% of clinical trials requiring consumer activity monitors. Some 457 studies have been published by scientists since 2012 using Fitbit device data, with almost half that number published\u00a0this year. The devices are being adopted in trials tracking a range of conditions from cancer to arthritis.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ECB president states it is not his job to regulate or ban cryptos \n Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank, has stated that it\u2019s not within ECB\u2019s powers to regulate or prohibit digital currencies like bitcoin at the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament.\n\nAsked what are the material risks of bitcoin for the economy, he said there were three considerations, one was the size, two the extent of its use, third being their impact on the economy.", "output": "The president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, said it was not the role of the institution to \"regulate or prohibit digital currencies like bitcoin\". Speaking at the committee on economic and monetary affairs of the European Parliament, Draghi added that the EBC had concluded, after considering bitcoin's size, the extent of its use and its impact on the economy, that it was \"absolutely premature to consider it as a means of payment in the future\". Draghi recently prohibited the Estonian government from issuing its own digital tokens.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Everyone Says We Must Control Exorbitant Drug Prices. So, Why Don\u2019t We? \n Of all the promises President Donald Trump made for the early part of his term, controlling stinging drug prices might have seemed the easiest to achieve.\n\nAn angry public overwhelmingly wants change in an easily vilified industry. Big pharma\u2019s recent publicity nightmare included thousand-percent price increases and a smirking CEO who said, \u201cI liken myself to the robber barons.\u201d Even powerful members of Congress from both parties have said that drug prices are too high.\n\nBut any momentum to address prescription drug costs \u2014 a problem that a large number of Americans now believe government should solve \u2014 has been lost amid rancorous debates over replacing Obamacare and stalled by roadblocks erected via lobbying and industry cash.\n\n\u201cThere is a very aggressive lobby that is finding any and all means to thwart any reform to a system that has produced very lucrative profits,\u201d said Ameet Sarpatwari, an epidemiologist and lawyer at Harvard Medical School who follows drug legislation. \u201cEverything that\u2019s coming out is being hit and hit hard \u2014 even stuff that\u2019s commonsensical.\u201d\n\nThose in Congress concerned with health policy have spent much of the year advancing proposals to overhaul the Affordable Care Act, none of which would affect pharmaceutical pricing. The latest Republican proposal, by Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, is no different.\n\nMeanwhile, more than two dozen bills aimed at curbing drug costs have been introduced in this or the previous Congress, according to the Drug Pricing Lab, a Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center program that has catalogued ideas for reducing prices. Many have bipartisan support.\n\nProposals include importation from other developed countries, where regulations keep prices down; allowing government to negotiate the price of Medicare-covered drugs; speeding approval of cheaper generics; requiring notification before raising drug prices; and restricting consumer drug ads.\n\n(Story continues below.) Other ideas that haven\u2019t made it to legislation include banning patents for pills that simply copy or repackage existing medicines; and adjusting prices according to a drug\u2019s effectiveness.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s clearly no single solution out there that will solve this rapidly rising spending,\u201d said Dr. Peter Bach, who leads the lab. But, he added, \u201cthere\u2019s not a lot of fundamental disagreement about the direction this needs to move.\u201d\n\nTrump drew new attention to the issue last month by tweeting that Merck\u2019s chief executive, Kenneth Frazier, \u201cwill have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!\u201d after Frazier quit the president\u2019s manufacturing council to protest his remarks about white supremacists in Charlottesville, Va.\n\nThose comments matched Trump\u2019s characterization earlier this year of drug companies as \u201cgetting away with murder.\u201d That same January day, a dozen Republican senators, including Ted Cruz of Texas, John McCain of Arizona and Mike Lee of Utah, voted for the old liberal idea of letting Americans buy less-expensive drugs from Canada.\n\nThe measure was attached to a budget resolution and wouldn\u2019t, by itself, have allowed importation. It failed 52 to 46 after 13 Democrats voted against it, with some citing safety concerns about foreign-sourced medicine \u2014 an idea promoted by American drugmakers.\n\nEven so, the vote prompted speculation that a pharma price deal might be within reach.\n\nSen. Lee is one of the Republicans who favor importation as a way to increase competition. \u201cWhen we\u2019re talking about garden-variety, generic drugs that can be easily imported from another country that has regulatory procedures that make them safe?\u201d he said in an interview. \u201cI don\u2019t see why not.\u201d\n\nIn response to the new threats, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, already one of Washington\u2019s biggest-spending trade groups, increased member dues by half last year to prepare for battle.\n\nThe pharmaceutical and health products industries spent $145 million on lobbying for the first half of 2017, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.\n\nDrug manufacturers gave $4.5 million to congressional campaigns in that period, including six-figure donations to House Speaker Paul Ryan; Rep. Greg Walden, head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee; and Sen. Orrin Hatch, head of the Senate Finance Committee, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis.\n\nPhRMA\u2019s \u201cGo Boldly\u201d campaign, showing heroic researchers seeking cures, has spent $28 million so far this year on six ads shown on about 4,600 national TV channels, according to iSpot.tv, an ad tracker.\n\nThe industry hired former FBI director Louis Freeh to study the impact of importation. He concluded that it would \u201cleave the safety of the U.S. prescription drug supply vulnerable to criminals seeking to harm patients.\u201d Import proponents argue the Food and Drug Administration could easily ensure safety by licensing and inspecting Canadian suppliers.\n\nDrugmakers say that high prices reflect heavy investment in innovation and drug development. They reject the notion that the industry wields too much influence in Washington.\n\n\u201cThese are important issues with significant ramifications,\u201d Holly Campbell, a PhRMA spokeswoman, said. \u201cSo we will continue to be engaged with the administration to advance solutions that improve the marketplace and make it more responsive to the needs of patients.\u201d\n\nThe top 10 publicly traded U.S. drug companies made $67.8 billion last year, after taxes, regulatory filings show.\n\nEfforts to restrain prices have made little progress in the executive branch, either.\n\nThe White House has long been expected to issue an executive order on drug costs. But leaked documents show that deliberations have focused on things the industry wants, such as extending overseas patents and changing a drug-discount program for hospitals, and not so much on lowering prices.\n\nGerard Anderson, a health policy professor at Johns Hopkins University, said Trump\u2019s draft order \u201cdid not talk at all about branded drugs or about specialty drugs,\u201d including for rheumatoid arthritis and cancer, that have seen especially steep price increases. \u201cIf that represents the administration\u2019s thinking, then my guess is there is not much effort.\u201d\n\nTrump\u2019s ongoing feud with congressional Republicans, especially Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, means \u201cyou\u2019re not going to get any strong direction or leadership out of the White House\u201d on drug prices, said Vishnu Lekraj, who follows pharma stocks for Morningstar, an investment research firm.\n\nTrump isn\u2019t the only one in his administration criticizing drug companies. Scott Gottlieb, the FDA commissioner, has accused the industry of \u201cgaming\u201d the system to delay the appearance of cheap generics after patents expire. He has pledged to speed applications for generics when there is little competition as part of a \u201cdrug competition action plan\u201d while opposing stronger measures like allowing importation.\n\nBut promoting generics is \u201creasonably small potatoes\u201d compared with the money that could be saved by putting direct pressure on brand-drug prices, Anderson said. Gottlieb has served on the boards of several pharmaceutical companies and reaped large consulting and speaking fees from the industry.\n\nYet even small potatoes might be a long shot \u2014 despite widespread agreement that change is needed.\n\n\u201cIt is sort of remarkable to see just how far the system can bend before meaningful reform is taken,\u201d said Sarpatwari of Harvard. \u201cIf there ever was a time to strike while it\u2019s hot, it\u2019s now.\u201d\n\nElizabeth Lucas and Sydney Lupkin contributed to this report.\n\nKHN\u2019s coverage of prescription drug development, costs and pricing is supported in part by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation.", "output": "Of all the promises President Donald Trump made for the early part of his term, controlling stinging drug prices might have seemed the easiest to achieve. An angry public overwhelmingly wants change in an easily vilified industry. Big pharma\u2019s recent publicity nightmare included thousand-percent price increases and a smirking CEO who said, \u201cI liken myself to the robber barons.\u201d Even powerful members of Congress from both parties have said that drug prices are too high.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "When a Drug Coupon Helps You but Hurts Fellow Citizens \n It\u2019s completely rational for you to use coupons to reduce the cost of your brand-name drug purchase.\n\nBut if the coupon is causing you to switch away from a generic drug with an overall lower cost, you may be playing a role in pushing up drug spending and premiums for others.\n\nLet\u2019s say that I needed the brand drug Effexor XR, used to treat depression and anxiety disorders. It would cost me at least $65 a month on my health insurance plan. It retails for about twice that amount, and the difference would be picked up by my insurer. But the generic version, Venlafaxine, would cost my insurer far less, and my co-payment would be only $10 per month.\n\nMy insurer and I would both save money if I purchased the generic. Pfizer, which sells Effexor XR, would lose a sale.", "output": "It\u2019s completely rational for you to use coupons to reduce the cost of your brand-name drug purchase. But if the coupon is causing you to switch away from a generic drug with an overall lower cost, you may be playing a role in pushing up drug spending and premiums for others.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Data sharing needed to help motor insurance pricing: Liberty \n The cost of car insurance can only be brought under control if fraud is tackled and data is shared more effectively, according to insurer Liberty. Liberty is set to unveil a series of proposals which, it believes, can help reform the car insurance market.\n\nDeirdre Ashe, director of personal lines at Liberty Insurance, said the company is highly committed and engaged with the Cost of Insurance Working Group and the 88 actions that group is pursuing. She said Liberty is now keen to facilitate further on those actions and is shining a light on two aspects of the problem - fraud and increased data sharing.\n\nWe need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences\n\n\n\nMs Ashe said the company is looking for more rigid enforcement of existing legislation on the prosecution of insurance fraud, adding that no actual legislative change is needed to do this. Liberty is seeking a dedicated Garda insurance fraud unit, she added. At the moment, a regionalised system is in place where an insurance company contacts the local superintendent and share a case and a decision is then taken as to whether it will be pursued or not. But Liberty wants this process centralised and with more oversight.\n\nLiberty is also suggesting enhanced training for judges to ensure greater consistency in the level of personal injuries compensation awarded. Ms Ashe said this is something other countries have applied and it would have merits here.\n\nAccording to Deirdre Ashe, the company is also seeking the setting up of a national fraud database, which would be specific for the purposes of sharing fraud experiences across the industry and important for all insurers in the Irish market to access. Ms Ashe said that fraud in the industry is costing \u20ac200m a year, with fraud putting a minimum of \u20ac50 extra on insurance policies. All of the insurance companies are investing in both technology and resources to try and prevent fraud, but Ms Ashe said the main thing they have to do is to share the data and experience, which will give visibility of where fraud is occurring across the market.\n\n***\n\nMORNING BRIEFS - Ryanair has concluded a \u20ac600m share buyback programme announced in May. A statement to the stock exchange this morning notes the airline purchased 445,000 of its shares for \u20ac7.3m yesterday. Ironically the impact on its share price of the spate of flight cancellations due to mismanagement of its flight rosters has reduced the cost of the buybacks. Ryanair took advantage of the recent softness in its share price as it purchased the final blocks of shares in a number of transactions over the past week while the price was falling.\n\n*** Apple shares fell overnight and have now lost 9% of their value since the beginning of the month the equivalent of $77 billion. A report from Asian technology journal Digitimes, as yet unconfirmed, suggested Apple had told suppliers of components used in its phones to scale back shipments to 40% of the levels originally planned for its upcoming iPhone X.", "output": "In order for the cost of car insurance to come down firms need to share data tackling fraud, according to Ireland-based Liberty Insurance. The firm is calling for greater enforcement of insurance fraud prosecution. It is also encouraging the establishment of an insurance fraud database where insurance companies can share experiences with the goal of cracking down on fraudulent activity.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "7.5 million Californians could lose coverage under latest Obamacare repeal effort, state health insurance exchange says \n California farmworkers will have to undergo sexual assault prevention training By Jazmine Ulloa Gov. Jerry Brown/ (Monica Davey/ EPA) Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday signed legislation to ensure farm labor contractors train employees on how to prevent and report sexual assault, a response to a 2013 PBS Frontline investigation that found sexual violence against women was a pervasive problem in California fields. Senate Bill 295 by Sen. Bill Monning (D-Carmel) makes sexual harassment training mandatory at all businesses that supervise farm employees or provide them with lodging, transportation or other services. The training has to be conducted or interpreted in a language that employees can understand, the law stipulates, and farm labor contractors will have to provide proof of all of their materials and resources to the Farm Labor Commission as part of the license renewal process. Under the new law, the state labor commission also will be able to charge a $100 civil fine for any violation of the new requirements. The PBS Frontline investigative documenatory, \u201cRape in the Fields, The Hidden Story of Rape on the Job in America\u201d found more than half a million women work in U.S. fields. Most do not have legal residency in the country, and sexual harassment and violence often go unreported. A 2012 Human Rights Watch survey found 80% of 150 women in California\u2019s Central Valley had experienced some form of the abuse. Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nLos Angeles voters can cast ballots in Assembly race on Tuesday By Chris Megerian Wendy Carrillo is one of 13 people running for a state Assembly seat. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) The political dominoes from U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer\u2019s retirement are almost done falling. Her decision two years ago to forgo reelection led to a reshuffling that eventually left vacant a state Assembly seat in Los Angeles. There are 13 candidates running in the special election, and the primary is Tuesday. Read More Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nGov. Brown signs major housing legislation By Liam Dillon At a signing ceremony in San Francisco on Friday morning, Gov. Jerry Brown signed 15 bills aimed at addressing the state\u2019s mounting housing problems. \u201cIt is a big challenge,\u201d Brown said. \u201cWe have risen to it this year.\u201d The bills could add nearly $1 billion in new funding for low-income housing developments in the near term as well as lessen regulations that slow growth. Read More Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nWatch live: Gov. Jerry Brown signs bills to tackle California\u2019s housing crisis Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers are gathered in San Francisco for the signing into law of a package of proposals designed to tackle some of the most pressing parts of California\u2019s housing crisis. Read More Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBusinesses in California will be required to tell customers exactly how much their automatic renewal will cost By Mina Corpuz California will require online businesses that offer free trials to tell customers exactly how much an automatic renewal will cost under a law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday. The law\u2019s author, Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys), thinks the bill, known as SB 313, will make it easier for customers to cancel service. \u201cConsumers need to know what they are signing up for and that they can just as easily cancel any service or subscription online as when they started it online,\u201d Hertzberg said in a statement. Streaming services like Hulu and Spotify and the file-sharing site Dropbox have elicited lawsuits and consumer complaints about their automatic service renewals, according to Hertzberg\u2019s statement. The law goes into effect in July. Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nHere\u2019s why California\u2019s early primary in 2020 is destined to pick the next president. (Nah, not really) By Mark Z. Barabak (Harry Chase / Los Angeles Times) Today we answer questions. Woo-hoo! Now that Gov. Jerry Brown has signed the bill, it looks like California is moving up its 2020 presidential primary. Finally! Uh. No more watching from the sidelines as small-fry states like Iowa and New Hampshire throw their weight around. Um. I\u2019m already fluffing pillows and prepping the guestroom for all the 2020 hopefuls who\u2019ll be camped out. Er. What? You don\u2019t seem too excited. Look, it would be great if California voted in a truly meaningful presidential primary. It\u2019s been about 50 years since that happened. But it\u2019s about as likely in 2020 as President Trump dumping Vice President Pence and running for reelection on a unity ticket with Hillary Clinton. How can that be? Lots of reasons, both political and practical. Do tell. Read More Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nPoll: Californians like Obamacare more than ever but are divided on single-payer healthcare By Melanie Mason Members of the California Nurses Assn. and other supporters rally at the state Capitol for a single-payer health plan June 28. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) As the latest attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act fizzles, the law has reached its highest popularity in California in four years, according to a new poll released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California. Nearly 60% of the Californians hold a generally favorable view of the healthcare law, and just over a third of Californians see it unfavorably \u2014 the highest approval rating since PPIC began tracking the law\u2019s popularity in 2013. But while Democrats and independents back the law, known as Obamacare, with strong majorities, three-quarters of Republicans have negative views of it. Only 18% of Californians believe congressional Republicans should try again to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, and 58% of adults want to see bipartisan efforts to improve the law. Underscoring the GOP\u2019s challenge in dramatically reducing government\u2019s role in healthcare, two-thirds of the state\u2019s adults believe it is the federal government\u2019s responsibility to ensure that all Americans have health coverage. But Californians are divided on whether to substantially increase government involvement through a single-payer system, such as the \u201cMedicare for All\u201d proposal recently introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont). A national single-payer insurance program such as \u201cMedicare for All\u201d gets support from 35% of Californians, according to the poll. Support is higher among Democrats \u2014 44% \u2014 and independents \u2014 34% \u2014 than among Republicans. Only 6% of Republicans back such a system. But the current system, a patchwork of government and private insurance options, isn\u2019t particularly adored by Californians. Just under 30% of adults support continuing with a mix of private and public insurance options, while 36% of Democrats, 21% of Republicans and 31% of independents see that mixed system as the best way to provide health coverage. Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nHalf of California\u2019s likely voters think Sen. Dianne Feinstein should retire, poll finds By Phil Willon (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) As Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein contemplates a 2018 bid for reelection, a new poll has found that 50% of California\u2019s likely voters think she shouldn\u2019t run again. Just 43% of likely voters support Feinstein running for a sixth term, according to a Public Policy Institute of California poll released Wednesday. The results are similar among all California adults, not just likely voters, with 46% saying she should not run for another term and 41% saying she should run. Feinstein, 84, has come under increased pressure from members of California\u2019s left, many of whom were infuriated when earlier this month she called for \u201cpatience\u201d with President Trump and refused to back demands for his impeachment. Still, the poll found that Feinstein remains popular. More than half of likely voters \u2014 54% \u2014 approve of the job she\u2019s doing, compared with 38% who disapprove. That\u2019s on par with Gov. Jerry Brown\u2019s approval rating, and it bests the marks for California\u2019s other Democratic senator, Kamala Harris. When likely voters were asked about Harris, the former state attorney general elected to the Senate in November, 47% approved of the job she was doing in Washington and 30% disapproved. Almost a quarter of voters didn\u2019t offer an opinion about Harris. The contrasting results on Feinstein are difficult to decipher but at the very least indicate voters remain restless. \u201cPartly, this is a holdover from last year\u2019s election in which you saw many Democrats wanting a more liberal alternative at the presidential level and you saw many independents wanting an outsider,\u201d said Mark Baldassare, president of Public Policy Institute of California. \u201cAs people are looking to next year, there\u2019s a desire for something new.\u201d Speculation continues that Feinstein may face a Democratic challenger. Among those who have been mentioned is state Senate leader Kevin de Le\u00f3n (D-Los Angeles), who is weighing his next political move after he terms out of office in 2018. De Le\u00f3n lashed out at Feinstein after her comments about Trump in early September. In her last election, Feinstein trounced her Republican opponent, Elizabeth Emken, by a 25-percentage-point margin in 2012. She won by almost an identical margin in 2006 when challenged by former Republican state Sen. Richard Mountjoy. However, California has since switched to a top-two primary system. The two candidates who receive the most voters in the June primary election will advance to the 2018 general election, regardless of their party. Two Democrats faced off in the finale of California\u2019s 2016 U.S. Senate election, with Harris besting then-Rep. Loretta Sanchez. Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBarbara Boxer says if Sen. Dianne Feinstein runs for another term, she should expect a tough race By Mina Corpuz Former Sen. Barbara Boxer (Mina Corpuz / Los Angeles Times ) It\u2019s one of the hottest political parlor games in California right now: Will she run again? Everyone is waiting for Sen. Dianne Feinstein to announce if she\u2019ll seek a sixth term. And even though they served as colleagues in Washington for more than two decades, former Sen. Barbara Boxer said she has no inside intel on what Feinstein will do in 2018. \u201cI believe she is running until I see any other indication,\u201d Boxer said Wednesday at a Sacramento Press Club lunch. \u201cEvery single race is hard.... Anyone who runs against her will give her a tough race.\u201d Feinstein, 84, has made clear she is taking her time, even as ambitious politicians eye the seat she has held since 1992. One long-shot Democrat already is raising money for the race, and Feinstein recently drew criticism from California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Le\u00f3n, who has not ruled out a primary challenge against her. Boxer said Wednesday her own priority for next year\u2019s midterm election is flipping several Republican-held House seats in Southern California. \u201cThere\u2019s no such thing as an off election year,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s an on year.\u201d Much of this work will be done through the political action committee Boxer founded, PAC for a Change. The organization also supports electing more Democrats to the Senate and standing up to President Trump\u2019s policies, she said. Since leaving the Senate in January, Boxer has also given speeches and promoted her book, \u201cThe Art of Tough.\u201d She doesn\u2019t like to consider herself a retiree. Boxer also skirted a question about her pick for governor in a race that already is crowded with several Democrats. All of the candidates, she joked, are \u201clike my sons and daughters.\u201d Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nCalifornia\u2019s top elections officer now says his agency\u2019s website wasn\u2019t the one \u2018scanned\u2019 by Russian hackers By John Myers Secretary of State Alex Padilla (John Myers / Los Angeles Times) Five days after saying he had been told Russian hackers scanned the state\u2019s main elections website for weaknesses in 2016, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla said Wednesday that it turns out it didn\u2019t actually happen that way. Padilla said that his office was given incorrect information by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and that the Russian operation was instead focused on \u201cscanning\u201d the network of the state Department of Technology. \u201cOur notification from DHS last Friday was not only a year late, it also turned out to be bad information,\u201d Padilla said in a statement. Bryce Brown, a spokesman for the state\u2019s information technology agency, said officials had long known about \u201csuspect activity that occurred on our network last summer\u201d but didn\u2019t know anything else until the notification from federal officials. \u201cAlthough we did not have knowledge of the source until now, we have confirmed our security systems worked as planned and the activity was blocked as it happened in 2016,\u201d he said. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment. On Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that federal officials also reversed course in a notification they had made to Wisconsin elections officials about Russian activity. In June, federal officials told Congress that 21 states\u2019 elections systems were targeted by Russian activity. Padilla insisted last week that the \u201cscanning\u201d incident found no vulnerabilities or access to any California voter information, and he criticized DHS officials for the delay in sharing information about 2016 activities. On Wednesday, he said hopes that federal officials will continue to work with the states in preventing cyberattacks. \u201cI remain committed to a partnership with DHS and other intelligence agencies; however, elections officials and the American public expect and deserve timely and accurate information,\u201d Padilla said. Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nHollywood tour buses could get more rules slapped on them under the law Gov. Jerry Brown just signed By Patrick McGreevy A tour bus passes the late Carrie Fisher\u2019s gated home in Beverly Hills. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday signed legislation aimed at reining in the proliferation of tour buses offering to take fans to the homes and gathering spots of celebrities in Hollywood and other trendy neighborhoods. The measure allows cities and counties to adopt rules that restrict the routes or streets used by the tour buses, and prohibit the use of loudspeakers on open-topped buses and vans. Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian (D-Sherman Oaks) introduced the proposal in response to a report by NBC Los Angeles that found some tour buses were operating unsafely without proper permits. He also cited complaints about topless buses on narrow streets of the Hollywood Hills, Malibu and Bel-Air. Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nLatino state lawmakers back Antonio Villaraigosa for California governor By Phil Willon Antonio Villaraigosa gives a pep talk in Los Angeles at Cathedral High School, where he once was also a student. ((Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) The Legislature\u2019s California Latino Caucus on Wednesday endorsed former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for governor. While expected, the nod from the politically influential caucus is a boon for Villaraigosa, a former Democratic Assembly speaker and the only major Latino candidate running for governor. Villaraigosa has lagged behind Lt. Gov. Gavin Newson in early polls and fundraising. \u201cAs Assembly speaker and Los Angeles mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa worked to strengthen our economy, expand our healthcare, improve our schools and invest in strategic infrastructure projects that create middle-class jobs,\u201d Sen. Ben Hueso (D-San Diego), chair of the caucus, said in a statement Wednesday morning. An intriguing aspect of the endorsement is that one of the most prominent members of the California Latino Caucus is Senate leader Kevin de Le\u00f3n (D-Los Angeles). In Sacramento, speculation abounds over whether De Le\u00f3n may run for governor, and the Villaraigosa endorsement could indicate De Le\u00f3n has other plans for his political future. Villaraigosa joins a slate of other Latino statewide candidates endorsed by the caucus: Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-Azusa) for lieutenant governor; current appointee Xavier Becerra for attorney general; incumbent Alex Padilla for secretary of state; Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) for insurance commissioner; and Assemblyman Tony Thurmond (D-Richmond) for superintendent of public instruction. Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nCalifornia is trying to educate people about marijuana before recreational sales start By Patrick McGreevy Months before California allows the sale of marijuana for recreational use, the state has launched an education campaign about the drug, including highlighting the potential harms of cannabis for minors and pregnant women. The state is scheduled to issue licenses starting Jan. 2 for growing and selling marijuana for recreational use, expanding a program that currently allows cannabis use for medical purposes. In response, the California Department of Public Health has created a website to educate Californians about the drug and its impacts, including how to purchase and safely store cannabis. \u201cWe are committed to providing Californians with science-based information to ensure safe and informed choices,\u201d said State Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Smith. The website, \u201cLet\u2019s Talk Cannabis,\u201d notes it is illegal for people under 21 to buy marijuana for non-medical use and warns that \u201cusing cannabis regularly in your teens and early 20s may lead to physical changes in your brain.\u201d The site also warns that marijuana edibles may have higher concentrations of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. \u201cIf you eat too much, too fast you are at higher risk for poisoning,\u201d the website warns. The state urges parents and guardians to talk to their teenagers about legal and health issues surrounding marijuana use. The state officials also say consuming cannabis is not recommended for women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, or who plan to become pregnant soon, noting that it \u201ccan affect the health of your baby.\u201d The website got good marks from legalization activist Ellen Komp, deputy director of California\u2019s chapter of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. The website is \u201cfairly accurate,\u201d she said, but added, \u201cThe risks with pregnancy are somewhat overstated, telling women they should not use cannabis for nausea or even if they are thinking of getting pregnant.\u201d Some 43% of Californians have used marijuana for recreational purposes and 54% said they have not, according to a USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll last November. Among those who have not used it, just 2% said they are much more likely to use it if Proposition 64 passed, which it did, while 5% said they are somewhat more likely to use it, and 89% said they are no more likely to smoke pot if it was legalized. Other advice from the state\u2019s site: driving under the influence of cannabis is illegal and increases the chance of a car accident, and cannabis should be stored in a locked area to avoid poisoning children and pets. Updated at 11:30 am to include data from poll on marijuana use. Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nToday\u2019s newsletter: Republicans fail again to repeal Obamacare By John Myers Today\u2019s Essential Politics newsletter details the last gasp of the Republican efforts in Washington to repeal the Affordable Care Act, efforts that President Trump insisted on Tuesday aren\u2019t over. We also take a look at the win by Roy Moore, a former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, in a Senate runoff that saw the president back the losing candidate. And we\u2019ve got the details of what happens if Gov. Jerry Brown, as expected, signs the \u201csanctuary state\u201d bill into law. The newsletter comes out Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Are you a subscriber? Sign up below. Read More Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAfter meeting with Trump, California Democrats say they want a seat at the tax reform table By Sarah D. Wire Ahead of Republicans\u2019 plans to unveil a more detailed overview of their tax reform plan Wednesday, President Trump sat down with a bipartisan group of members that included California Democratic Reps. Linda Sanchez and Mike Thompson. Sanchez, of Whittier, who serves on the House committee that has authority over tax legislation, said members didn\u2019t learn much about the details of the plan Tuesday. \u201cThere were kind of generalities but no specificity, which is why we\u2019re interested to see what they put out tomorrow, because clearly it\u2019s not something that\u2019s had Democratic input,\u201d Sanchez said. According to a White House transcript of part of the meeting, Trump said the plan is focused on making the tax code \u201csimple and fair,\u201d increasing the deduction most families can take, lowering the business tax rate and bringing wealth stored overseas back to the United States. Thompson, of St. Helena, said the president listened to what Democrats had to say, but he didn\u2019t get the impression that the policy plan would change before it becomes public Wednesday. \u201cI don\u2019t think it was that kind of meeting. We all agreed we wanted a fair, easy-to-work-with tax code that generates more jobs,\u201d said Thompson, who is also on the committee. \u201cHe said repeatedly he wants to be successful.\u201d Republicans are set to unveil a \u201cconsensus document\u201d Wednesday they say will be a much more detailed overview than previous tax policy papers they\u2019ve released. But it is not expected to be an actual plan or bill. Republicans will huddle with Vice President Mike Pence for half of Wednesday to discuss tax reform. Democrats are holding their own tax reform forum too. It\u2019s been 30 years since Congress has passed a major tax overhaul, and Republican leaders have set an ambitious timeline for passing a tax-reform measure, indicating they want to get it to Trump\u2019s desk by the end of the year. Sanchez said she tried to stress in the meeting that Democrats should play a role in writing the final bill. There wasn\u2019t discussion about the group sitting down with Trump again, she said. \u201cThe president was very pleased that it was a bipartisan effort, which sort of confused me because that was the first meeting where there were members of the Democratic side of the Ways and Means Committee there,\u201d Sanchez said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if they\u2019ve been telling him that the process is bipartisan or if he knew it wasn\u2019t bipartisan but didn\u2019t care, but I thought that was kind of odd.\u201d Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nJudge rewrites summary of proposed gas tax repeal initiative, saying it was \u2018fundamentally flawed\u2019 By Patrick McGreevy A Chevron gas station in Sacramento shows prices in February. ( (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)) A judge on Monday rewrote the title and summary for a proposed initiative that would repeal recent gas tax increases in California. He rejected a title and summary written by the state attorney general\u2019s office as \u201cfundamentally flawed.\u201d Sacramento Superior Court Judge Timothy M. Frawley criticized the attorney general\u2019s office for not mentioning in the title that the ballot measure would repeal newly approved taxes or fees. \u201cThis is not a situation where reasonable minds may differ,\u201d Frawley wrote in his ruling. \u201cThe Attorney General\u2019s title and summary ... must be changed to avoid misleading the voters and creating prejudice against the measure.\u201d The initiative proposed by Assemblyman Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach) would repeal a bill approved in April by the Legislature and governor that would raise the gas tax by 12 cents per gallon and increase vehicle fees in order to generate $5.2 billion for road repairs and to improve mass transit. The title and summary will be placed on petitions to be circulated by those trying to qualify the measure for the November 2018 ballot. The title and summary are also placed on the ballot if enough signatures are collected. The original title written by Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra\u2019s office was: \u201cEliminates recently enacted road repair and transportation funding by repealing revenues dedicated for those purposes.\u201d Allen\u2019s attorneys argued the voter could read that to mean that the Legislature identified existing funds for transportation and the initiative would take those funds away. The judge\u2019s title says: \u201cRepeals recently enacted gas and diesel taxes and vehicle registration fees. Eliminates road repair and transportation programs funded by these taxes and fees.\u201d The judge also made it clear in the summary that an Independent Office of Audits and Investigations that would be eliminated by the initiative is \u201cnewly established.\u201d Representatives of the attorney general\u2019s office were not immediately available to comment on whether the ruling would be appealed. Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nDemocrats to try to force vote on Dream Act with rarely successful procedural move By Sarah D. Wire House Democrats are trying to force a vote on Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard\u2019s version of the Dream Act, they announced in a news conference Monday. The House and Senate have less than six months to address the legal status of people brought into the country illegally as children before the program protecting them from deportation ends in March. In the weeks since President Trump announced he was ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Democrats have pushed for a quick vote on Roybal-Allard\u2019s bill, which is backed by every House Democrat and four Republicans. There are also a handful of other Republican-sponsored bills that could be considered. To force a vote, Democrats would need a majority of the House \u2014 218 members \u2014 to sign what\u2019s called a discharge petition to pull the bill from the House Judiciary Committee and bring it to the House floor. Roybal-Allard, a Democrat from Downey, said she believes there is enough support to pass the bill if Democrats can get it to the House floor. Democratic leaders said they expect all House Democrats will sign the petition. \u201cThe American people overwhelmingly oppose deporting our \u2018Dreamers,\u2019\u201d Roybal-Allard said. \u201cBut the Republican leadership is ignoring the wishes of a majority of the American people.\u201d Democrats hold only 194 seats, and would have to convince 24 Republicans to buck their party leaders and sign the petition. House leaders control which bills come to the floor for a vote and when. Although discharge petitions have been used in the past to shame congressional leadership into letting a bill move forward, the procedural move is rarely successful. This month, Republican Rep. Mike Coffman of Colorado filed a discharge petition for the Bridge Act, a Republican- sponsored bill to address the legal status of people brought to the country illegally as children. Five members of Congress had signed on as of Monday. FOR THE RECORD Sept 26, 12:38 p.m.: An earlier version of this post identified the member of Congress who filed a discharge petition for the Bridge Act as Rep. Mike Thompson. It was Rep. Mike Coffman. Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nCalifornia lawmakers grant some megaprojects relief from environmental law, but not others By Liam Dillon Developers plan to build two skyscrapers near the Capitol Records building in Hollywood. (Reed Saxon / Associated Press) When professional sports team owners, Facebook and big developers have asked California lawmakers for some relief from the state\u2019s main environmental law over growth, the answer usually has been yes. The law, the California Environmental Quality Act, requires developers to disclose and reduce a project\u2019s effects on the environment \u2014 a process that often can get tied up in lengthy litigation. This year, legislators passed a measure aiming to shorten any potential environmental lawsuit against Facebook\u2019s expansion of its headquarters, two skyscrapers planned in Hollywood and other megaprojects to less than nine months. Doing so has led many to question why only big projects get such relief. Read More Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nThe fate of California\u2019s biggest campaign donor disclosure bill may hinge on some small details By John Myers Members of the California Fair Political Practices Commission. (Rich Pedroncelli/AP) You wouldn\u2019t expect to see the leader of California\u2019s campaign watchdog agency rooting for Gov. Jerry Brown to veto sweeping new disclosure rules for political donors. And yet, that\u2019s where things stand in a seven-year debate over helping voters follow the money. \u201cI think we can do better than this bill,\u201d said Jodi Remke, chair of the California Fair Political Practices Commission. Remke and her staff have raised a red flag about the fine print tucked inside Assembly Bill 249, the \u201cCalifornia Disclose Act,\u201d that rewrites rules for campaign contributions that are \u201cearmarked.\u201d Read More Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nOceanside lifeguard receives California\u2019s highest public safety honor By Mina Corpuz Medal of Valor recipient David Wilson stands with his parents, a family friend, Gov. Jerry Brown and Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra. (Mina Corpuz / Los Angeles Times ) An Oceanside Fire Department officer who risked his life to save a boater received the state\u2019s highest award for public safety officers on Monday. Gov. Jerry Brown and Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra presented David Wilson with the Public Safety Medal of Valor at a ceremony at the state Capitol. In July 2016, Wilson rescued a man whose boat crashed into a jetty in Oceanside Harbor. The victim was barely conscious and jammed between two rocks. With only a short window between each set of waves, Wilson dove underneath the water and swam into the boulders to free the victim\u2019s legs. \u201cYou earned it,\u201d Brown said at the ceremony. \u201cYou were assaulted by the waves and the rocks, and you went ahead anyways. That\u2019s why you are the only one getting a medal of honor.\u201d A review board made up of law enforcement officers reviewed 21 nominations for the Medal of Valor. The award is given out once a year. There can be more than one recipient, but this year Brown chose one. Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAdvertisement\n\n7.5 million Californians could lose coverage under latest Obamacare repeal effort, state health insurance exchange says By Melanie Mason Peter V. Lee, executive director of Covered California, the state\u2019s health insurance exchange, in 2013. (Rich Pedroncelli / AP) Californians who get their health coverage on the individual market could face dire consequences under the current Republican effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, warned a new analysis released Monday by Covered California, the state\u2019s health insurance exchange. Under the latest plan, which is being led by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.), 7.5 million Californians could lose their health insurance by 2027, the analysis said. It also said the repeal could trigger a collapse of the state\u2019s individual insurance market. \u201cThe Graham-Cassidy plan takes resources away from California and from the majority of states, which means that far fewer Americans would have insurance or the existing protections from insurers,\u201d said Peter V. Lee, executive director of Covered California, in a statement. \u201cThe effect on California would be devastating, and lead not only to there being more uninsured people than there were before the Affordable Care Act, but would also cause huge negative impacts on the health care delivery system, the economy and on those with employer-based coverage,\u201d Lee said. The report comes on the heels of another grim analysis by Gov. Jerry Brown\u2019s administration, which estimated that the Senate proposal would strip California of nearly $139 billion in federal funds from 2020 to 2027. The Covered California report looked at two different scenarios for how state officials could respond to such a slash in federal dollars. If the state chose to prioritize protecting Medi-Cal, which provides coverage for low-income Californians, the analysis projects the collapse of the individual insurance market by 2021. If officials chose to direct attention to the individual market by stepping in to cover subsidies now paid for by the federal government, that could lead to large reductions in the Medi-Cal program. In both scenarios, the result would be up to 7.5 million fewer Californians with health insurance, according to the report. \u201cProponents claim Graham-Cassidy gives states flexibility and choice, but in reality it puts states into a lose-lose situation,\u201d Lee said. \u201cUnder this plan, California and states across the nation would be forced to either turn their backs on their most needy residents, or let the individual market be destroyed. Either way, millions lose coverage.\u201d Read More Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nToday\u2019s newsletter: Sports spat starts with California teams By Christina Bellantoni Today\u2019s Essential Politics newsletter details President Trump\u2019s sports spat, which originated with California teams before becoming national political drama on football fields across America. It also notes last fall\u2019s USC/Los Angeles Times poll, which found huge partisan divisions in how California voters viewed Colin Kaepernick at the time. Democrats liked him more, while he had just 6% favorability among tea party Republicans here. The state was evenly divided on whether to support his protest during the national anthem. The newsletter comes out Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Are you a subscriber? Sign up below. Read More Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAttorney running against Sen. Dianne Feinstein is hosting Hollywood fundraiser By Christine Mai-Duc Pat Harris may be a long-shot candidate for U.S. Senate, but he\u2019s not fundraising like one. On Monday Harris, a Democrat challenging Sen. Dianne Feinstein, is set to tread territory familiar to many prominent statewide candidates looking for cash: the Hollywood fundraiser. The event is to be held at the Catalina Jazz Club on Sunset Boulevard and is being billed as a CD release party for Carol Welman, a jazz musician and Harris\u2019 wife. Tickets range from $150 for a single ticket to $2,700 for a VIP dinner for two. (An email to Welman\u2019s subscriber list earlier this week advertised tickets for as little as $30). Harris announced that he was running last month on a platform that includes support for single-payer healthcare and a pledge that he will only take campaign donations from individuals. Facing pressure from progressive activists, Feinstein has been coy so far about whether she\u2019ll retire or run again in 2018. Either way, she\u2019s stockpiled $3.5 million in her campaign war chest. As of June 30, Harris had raised no money except for $104,685 he loaned his own campaign. Three other candidates have also filed to run against Feinstein: Democrats Steve Stokes and David Hildebrand, and independent Jerry Carroll. Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nRep. Keith Ellison headlines dinner for Orange County Democrats, who declare \u2018orange is the new blue\u2019 By Christine Mai-Duc The focus was on 2018 as Orange County Democrats gathered Saturday night in Costa Mesa to bask in their high hopes here. Headliner and deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota, urged unity as dozens of Democrats navigate crowded primaries throughout the state. Ellison getting star treatment tonight, speaking to VIP attendees & meeting congressional candidates & gubernatorial hopeful @DelaineEastin pic.twitter.com/2Bh8K5H1Qu \u2014 Christine Mai-Duc (@cmaiduc) September 24, 2017 Much of focus tonight on flipping 4 GOP congressional seats in OC. Ellison: \"We need 24 more seats...I figure 4 of em we can get right here\" pic.twitter.com/CDDbGWpNnT \u2014 Christine Mai-Duc (@cmaiduc) September 24, 2017 The theme of the annual awards dinner was \u201cOrange is the New Blue,\u201d a twist on the title of a popular Netflix show and the latest indication of Democrats\u2019 rosy outlook as they try to flip the county\u2019s four GOP-held House seats next year. Ellison told the crowd it was \u201cnot the proper role\u201d of the DNC to choose among the many primary contenders. \u201cBut you will sort it out running spirited campaigns, you will sort it out over ideas, and when it is over we need you to hold hands and support the Democrat.\u201d Ellison pushed for a return to grass-roots organizing and outreach to voters of all stripes \u2014 and not just during election years. \u201cWe cannot come a month before the election, tell them ... \u2018Come vote for us,\u2019\u201d Ellison said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to be in their lives in a physical, palpable way. Then we do have to have the right words, we do have to stand up for them.\u201d Ellison on more permanent solution for DACA: no wall, no increase in detention beds \"but there might be some other things\" Dems can agree to pic.twitter.com/yrmOGfXYan \u2014 Christine Mai-Duc (@cmaiduc) September 24, 2017 In an interview, Ellison also stressed the need to pass legislation for young people brought to the country illegally who were allowed to stay and work under the Obama Administration\u2019s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Ellison said Democrats are open to negotiating certain immigration enforcement provisions in order pass a replacement for DACA, which President Trump announced he will end in March. But he said Democrats won\u2019t acquiesce to Trump\u2019s demand for a border wall or allow additional capacity for immigration detentions. \u201cThere are certain things that are simply not on the table \u2014 the wall or more detention beds, we\u2019re just not doing that,\u201d he said. Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAdvertisement\n\nRussians tried to find weaknesses in California\u2019s election website last year, say state officials By John Myers Secretary of State Alex Padilla (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) California\u2019s chief elections officer said U.S. government officials believe Russian hackers tried to find weaknesses in the state\u2019s election website during the 2016 campaign, but that there\u2019s no evidence their effort was successful. Secretary of State Alex Padilla said the Department of Homeland Security only told him on Friday of last year\u2019s attempt. He described the attack as a \u201cscanning\u201d of the state\u2019s website in hopes of finding weaknesses in its computer network. \u201cOur office actively monitors scanning activity as part of our routine cybersecurity protocols,\u201d Padilla said in a statement. \u201cWe have no information or evidence that our systems have been breached in any way or that any voter information was compromised.\u201d Those involved were \u201cRussian cyber actors\u201d according to Padilla\u2019s description of information he received from federal officials. In June, a top federal official told the Senate Intelligence Committee that systems in 21 states were believed to have been scoured by cyberattackers. The election website, www.sos.ca.gov, contains public information about voting procedures as well as data on past election results and current issues. More sensitive data, including the electronic files of some 17 million registered voters, are not included on the website. A leaked National Security Agency document earlier this year outlined a Russian effort to hack into devices made by a Florida-based voting software company. One California county, Humboldt, used the company\u2019s software, but did not find any evidence of tampering. Padilla, a frequent critic of President Trump\u2019s special panel investigating the potential of voter fraud, said federal officials should have notified him much earlier of the attempted breach. \u201cThe practice of withholding critical information from elections officials is a detriment to the security of our elections and our democracy,\u201d he said. Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAntonio Villaraigosa jabs at Gavin Newsom over his apparent embrace of single-payer healthcare bill By Melanie Mason Supporters of a measure to establish single-payer healthcare in California were thrilled by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s embrace of their bill on Friday, but a rival gubernatorial campaign was less impressed with his position. A spokesman for former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa accused the lieutenant governor of flip-flopping because after Newsom was asked if he explicitly endorsed the legislation \u2014 Senate Bill 562 \u2014 he responded that he endorsed \u201cgetting this debate going again.\u201d \u201cThis is an outrageous parsing of words when millions of people are at risk of losing their healthcare,\u201d Villaraigosa spokesman Luis Vizcaino said in a statement. \u201cIt is a yes or no question, lieutenant governor. Are you for SB 562 or not? The nurses and California voters deserve the truth,\u201d Vizcaino added. The question of backing SB 562 is thorny since it was shelved earlier this year after Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) called it \u201cwoefully incomplete.\u201d Backers have said they\u2019d be willing to make changes to the measure, but the contours of those proposed changes have not been made public. Vizcaino said Villaraigosa \u201chas always supported universal healthcare and the concept of single payer,\u201d but agreed with Speaker Rendon that the bill couldn\u2019t be sent to the governor without a funding plan. Speaking to reporters, Newsom said he saw a single-payer system in which the government covers healthcare costs as the best way to achieve universal coverage and said he would be \u201cactively engaged in designing and developing it\u201d if SB 562 does not pass next year. RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Assn./National Nurses United, said she saw Newsom\u2019s remarks as a clear endorsement of their measure and a stance she said was not surprising. \u201cWe always knew Gavin would support our bill,\u201d DeMoro said. She lambasted Villaraigosa \u2014 who does not support SB 562 \u2014 for criticizing Newsom, whom her group endorsed nearly two years ago. \u201cI want Villaraigosa to explain to the Latino community why he doesn\u2019t think they should have ... comprehensive healthcare,\u201d she said. \u201cVillaraigosa\u2019s being disingenuous. He knows better. He\u2019s just politically posturing trying to find a wedge issue and he knows better.\u201d UPDATE 4:32 p.m.: This post was updated with an additional statement from Villaraigosa\u2019s spokesperson on the former L.A. mayor\u2019s support for universal healthcare. Read More Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nIn San Francisco, Bernie Sanders plays two roles: Obamacare defender and single-payer advocate By Melanie Mason View Twitter post Sen. Bernie Sanders headed west to drum up support for his recently unveiled \u201cMedicare for All\u201d proposal Friday, but first trained his sights on the Obamacare repeal bill currently gripping Congress. Sanders (I-Vt.), whose speech was the cornerstone of a California Nurses Assn. gathering in San Francisco, blasted the Republican plan led by Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina as \u201chorrific legislation.\u201d \u201cHow cruel, how immoral it is, to say to those millions of Americans, we are going to take away that health insurance that keeps you alive,\u201d Sanders said. Sen. John McCain announced on Friday he could not support the measure, dealing the GOP plan a blow. Sanders thanked McCain for his stance, prompting the liberal crowd to cheer the Arizona Republican. Some Democrats had worried that Sanders\u2019 push for his single-payer plan could distract from efforts to oppose the repeal bill. But the senator was explicit in his appeal to the approximately 2,000 supporters in attendance to focus their energy on defeating the repeal measure. \u201cOur job is to continue to make sure the Republicans do not get the 50 votes they need ... I beg of you, please, do everything you can to stop the bill,\u201d he said. Still, the crux of Sanders\u2019 speech focused on his single-payer bill, which he sold as an improvement over the status quo. \u201cThe Affordable Care Act, as we all know, made significant improvements to our healthcare system,\u201d Sanders said, citing the expansion of the number of Americans with health insurance and the ban on insurance companies\u2019 ability to deny coverage to people with preexisting conditions. \u201cBut we must be honest and acknowledge that with all the gains of the Affordable Care Act, it does not go far enough,\u201d he added. The bill expands the Medicare program to cover the healthcare costs of all Americans with no out-of-pocket payments for patients. The measure does not include a plan to finance such a system, but Sanders has released a report laying out various ways to cover the costs, including a progressive income tax. During his pitch, Sanders said the implications extended beyond health policy. \u201cIt is a struggle about what this great nation stands for,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cIt is a struggle about whether or not every working person in this country has healthcare as a right or whether we allow insurance companies and drug companies to continue to rip us off.\u201d Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAdvertisement\n\nGas tax foes win victory as they try to get a repeal on November 2018 ballot By Patrick McGreevy A Chevron gas station in Sacramento shows prices in February. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) In a rare court rebuke of the state Attorney General\u2019s Office, a judge said Friday that the title and summary written for a proposed initiative is misleading \u2014 and that he\u2019d do a rewrite himself to make it clear the measure would repeal recently approved increases to gas taxes and vehicle fees. Sacramento Superior Court Judge Timothy M. Frawley said he would draft a new title and summary to be placed on petitions for the initiative after attorneys for the state and proponents of the ballot measure could not agree on compromise language. \u201cIn this circumstance, I honestly believe that the circulated title and summary that has been prepared is misleading,\u201d Frawley told attorneys during a court hearing Friday. He hopes to release the new title and summary by Monday. The initiative proposed by Assemblyman Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach) would repeal a bill approved in April by the Legislature and governor that would raise the gas tax by 12 cents per gallon and increase vehicle fees to generate $5.2 billion annually to fix the state\u2019s roads and bridges and improve mass transit. Allen and his attorneys said the state attorney general sought to confuse voters with a title that does not use the words \u201ctaxes\u201d or \u201cfees.\u201d The title was proposed to say: \u201cEliminates recently enacted road repair and transportation funding by repealing revenues dedicated for those purposes.\u201d Allen, who is running for governor in 2018, said the court decision showed the attorney general was trying to sway voters against the initiative. \u201cJustice is being served for the voters of California,\u201d Allen said after the court hearing. \u201cI think that he [the judge] has properly seen that the attorney general has tried to intentionally mislead the voters of California because he has tried to prejudice their vote and tried to keep increased taxes for Californians.\u201d A coalition of business, labor and government officials called Fix Our Roads, which supports the gas tax legislation, had representatives in the courtroom who later criticized Allen for seeking political gain at the expense of California motorists. \u201cThis is more about Travis Allen\u2019s gubernatorial race than anything else,\u201d said coalition spokeswoman Kathy Fairbanks. \u201cHe\u2019s condemning voters to driving on potholed roads and being stuck in traffic.\u201d Allen said the initiative and his campaign for governor are both aimed at giving voters power to fight higher taxes. \u201cFinally ordinary Californians are understanding that they actually can hold Sacramento accountable,\u201d Allen said. \u201cThis is why I\u2019m running to be the next governor of California, because for too long Sacramento has been run by out-of-touch elitists that are coming from Sacramento and the Bay Area of San Francisco.\u201d A second initiative to repeal the gas tax has been proposed by a different group of Republican activists. Allen said he supports the second initiative but noted it has to collect many more signatures because it seeks to change the state constitution. \u201cIt has a long way to go,\u201d Allen said. If the judge issues a new title and summary Monday, Allen said the petitions will hit the streets immediately and he is confident they will get the 365,880 signatures to qualify the measure for the November 2018 ballot. Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\n\u2018We will have universal healthcare in the state of California,\u2019 Gavin Newsom promises single-payer advocates By Melanie Mason View Twitter post Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom has made his most explicit endorsement yet of a controversial single-payer healthcare proposal that has roiled Democratic politics in California. Newsom appeared Friday before the California Nurses Assn., the most ardent backers of SB 562, a stalled bill to establish a system in which the state would cover all residents\u2019 healthcare costs. \u201cThere\u2019s no reason to wait around on universal healthcare and single-payer in California,\u201d Newsom said. \u201cIt\u2019s time to move 562. It\u2019s time to get it out of committee.\u201d The line prompted cheers and a standing ovation from the audience of about 1,500 members of the nurses\u2019 union. He capped off his remarks with a promise: \u201cIf we can\u2019t get it done next year, you have my firm and absolute commitment as your next governor that I will lead the effort to get it done. We will have universal healthcare in the state of California.\u201d Enthusiastic nurses in the room heard an unequivocal backing of their effort to push forward with the bill. \u201cWhen he says he\u2019s going to get this done, he means, seriously, that he will pass SB 562 and make sure that there is healthcare for all Californians,\u201d said Catherine Kennedy, a neonatal nurse from Roseville. But speaking to reporters after his address, Newsom was less clear in embracing the specifics of the proposal. \u201cI 100% support moving this process along, getting this debate going again and addressing the concerns, the open-ended issues that the nurses themselves have acknowledged as it relates to the need of going through the legislative process and to fill in the blanks on the financing plan, among other issues,\u201d he said. Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nPresident Obama appears in an Assembly race mailer in California \u2014 but read it closely By Christina Bellantoni The race to replace Jimmy Gomez, who was elected to Congress earlier this year, has so far been waged by mail and door-knocking in northeast Los Angeles. Most of the mailers feature local leaders and endorsements from groups including Planned Parenthood and the Sierra Club. But one mailer that arrived in my mailbox Thursday has a much more familiar face \u2014 former President Barack Obama. While it might seem like one to the casual voter sorting through junk mail, this isn\u2019t an endorsement. \u201cWant to know what kind of job Gabriel Sandoval will do in the Assembly? Listen to the people he\u2019s worked with in the past,\u201d the mailer reads, above Obama\u2019s official White House portrait. In small type, it notes that Sandoval \u201cserved as a Senior Civil Rights Attorney and Senior Advisor\u201d for a White House initiative within the Department of Education. It features a glowing quote over an image of a July 12, 2013, letter from the president to Sandoval written on White House letterhead. Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nHealthcare a hot issue in race for California governor By Phil Willon Antonio Villaraigosa, left, and Gavin Newsom (Brendan Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images; Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)) With the hyperpartisan politics surrounding healthcare stirred up by efforts to repeal Obamacare and calls for a single-payer system, both Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa are claiming the mantle of healthcare visionary. On the campaign trail the two Democratic candidates for governor are touting their signature healthcare accomplishments from earlier in their political careers as their bona fides. For Newsom, it\u2019s about Healthy San Francisco, the nation\u2019s first municipal universal healthcare program, approved while he was mayor; and for Villaraigosa, it\u2019s Healthy Families, which provided healthcare coverage to the children of California\u2019s working poor, legislation he authored as a California assemblyman. But do they deserve all the credit? It sure doesn\u2019t look that way. Healthy San Francisco is one of the many topics Newsom is expected to highlight when he speaks to the California Nurses Assn. convention in the Bay Area on Friday morning. On Thursday night, Newsom took a shot at the latest Republican effort in Washington to roll back the Affordable Care Act \u2013 a bill written by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) \u201cThe numbers on this make my skin crawl. Under Graham-Cassidy, an individual with metastatic cancer could see their premiums increase by $142,650. Diabetes? $5,600. Want to tackle the opioid crisis? Gets a lot tougher if an individual suffering from drug dependence sees their premiums go up by $20,450,\u201d Newsom said in an email sent out by his campaign. \u201cThis is not a game. Lives are at stake.\u201d Read More Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nRep. Duncan Hunter calls for preemptive strike against North Korea By Joshua Stewart, San Diego Union-Tribune Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine) introduces U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions at a news conference. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) Rep. Duncan Hunter said that the United States needs to launch a preemptive strike against North Korea in order to prevent the rogue nation from harming the U.S. first. \u201cYou could assume, right now, that we have a nuclear missile aimed at the United States, and here in San Diego. Why would they not aim here, at Hawaii, Guam, our major naval bases?\u201d Hunter, an Alpine Republican, said Thursday during an appearance on San Diego television station KUSI. \u201cThe question is, do you wait for one of those? Or two? Do you preemptively strike them? And that\u2019s what the president has to wrestle with. I would preemptively strike them. You could call it declaring war, call it whatever you want,\u201d Hunter continued. Hunter, a member of a House Armed Services Committee and the subcommittee with jurisdiction over the United States\u2019 nuclear arsenal, did not say whether the military should strike North Korea with conventional or nuclear weapons. Read More Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nWill Bernie Sanders\u2019 push for \u2018Medicare for All\u2019 help or hinder the California effort for single-payer? By Melanie Mason When Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders visited Beverly Hills last May, he made a full-throated appeal for California to \u201clead the country\u201d and pass a pending state proposal to establish single-payer healthcare. On Friday, he\u2019ll return to California for a San Francisco speech trumpeting his own higher-stakes plan \u2014 a bill to drastically overhaul the nation\u2019s healthcare system by covering everyone through Medicare. The push for single-payer, in which the government pays for residents\u2019 medical care, has already rattled California\u2019s political landscape. Now, the Sanders measure brings an additional jolt, elevating the issue to a national debate that has implications for the future direction of the Democratic Party and early jockeying in the 2020 presidential race. Read More Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWhat will Kevin de Le\u00f3n do when his term in the California Senate expires next year? By Patrick McGreevy State Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Le\u00f3n, D-Los Angeles, speaks during the last regular Senate floor session of the year. ( (Rich Pedroncelli / AP)) As he gaveled down what may be his last full year as leader of the California Senate on Saturday, Kevin de Le\u00f3n had still not said what he planned to do next. Will he run for governor or U.S. Senate? Does he want to be mayor of Los Angeles some day? De Le\u00f3n told reporters they will have to wait to find out. His advisors, supporters and political observers have their own ideas what De Le\u00f3n could do next. Read More Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nSkelton: The presidential election bills on Gov. Brown\u2019s desk may be satisfying politics, but they\u2019re risky ideas By George Skelton Two presidential election bills are on Gov. Jerry Brown\u2019s desk, sent to him by the Democratic Legislature. Both should be tossed in the trash. No doubt I\u2019m in the minority on this. These bills do offer some fun, even if they\u2019re flawed. One has strong pluses that are outweighed by unacceptable minuses. The second is a mean-spirited \u201cgotcha\u201d bill aimed at the Democrats\u2019 No. 1 enemy: President Trump. It may be satisfying politics, but it sets a risky precedent. The first bill moves up California\u2019s presidential primary from June to March. Great idea. But it also moves up the state primary along with it. A horrible idea. The second measure would require all presidential candidates to release their tax returns for the last five years. Anyone who refused wouldn\u2019t be allowed on the California ballot. That\u2019s a sharp poke at Trump, who in 2016 was the first presidential candidate in 40 years not to release his taxes. Yes, watching Trump squirm would be entertaining. And maybe the tax information would be useful for some voters. But even if the disclosure requirement were constitutional \u2014 and there\u2019s substantial doubt about that \u2014 it\u2019s a crummy precedent. Read More Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAdvertisement\n\nCalifornia Senate leader preparing for legal fight over \u2018sanctuary state\u2019 legislation By Sarah D. Wire California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin De Le\u00f3n (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Gov. Jerry Brown hasn\u2019t yet signed legislation making California a so-called sanctuary state, but state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Le\u00f3n is preparing to defend it in court. In between several immigration events in Washington on Wednesday, De Le\u00f3n (D-Los Angeles) said he met with former U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. \u2014 who has served as outside counsel to the Legislature for much of the year \u2014 \u201cto continue to further discuss inoculating California from [U.S. Atty. Gen.] Jeff Sessions\u2019 Department of Justice.\u201d Passed early Saturday by the Legislature, the sanctuary state bill would limit state and local law enforcement communication with federal immigration authorities and prevent officers from questioning and holding people on immigration violations. Sessions has threatened to withhold some federal grant funds from cities and counties that refuse to assist federal immigration agents. Holder and other former Justice Department lawyers believe the bill is defendable, and if the Trump administration tries to compel California cities to act by withholding funds, it will find itself in court, De Le\u00f3n said. Defenders of so-called sanctuary cities often rely on a 1996 Supreme Court ruling that cited the 10th Amendment and found the federal government can\u2019t compel local governments to cooperate with enforcing federal laws. \u201cIt is immoral, and quite frankly un-American, that America\u2019s top law enforcement official would withhold dollars that our local police officers need \u2014 precious dollars we need desperately to counter terrorism, to deal with the issue of human trafficking as well as international drug cartels,\u201d De Le\u00f3n said. On Tuesday, Sessions urged Brown not to sign the bill, calling it \u201cunconscionable\u201d and a threat to public safety. Brown responded to Sessions\u2019 comment on CNN by calling the legislation well-balanced. \u201cIt protects public safety, but it also protects hardworking people who contribute a lot to California,\u201d Brown said. He has until Oct. 15 to sign the bill. De Le\u00f3n also shot back against Sessions\u2019 statement that the federal money isn\u2019t an \u201centitlement,\u201d saying Californians pay more in federal taxes than they receive in federal funding. \u201cThat\u2019s not a gift or a grant from the Department of Justice to California. Those are our dollars; they belong to the people of California,\u201d he said. Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nCalifornia, with alliance of states, pledges to keep pushing climate policies despite lack of federal progress By Chris Megerian (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) California and a growing alliance of states committed to fighting global warming said Wednesday that they\u2019re slashing greenhouse gas emissions at the rate required by the Paris climate agreement. However, the rest of the country would need to join their effort for the United States to actually hit the target of cutting emissions by at least 26% below 2005 levels by 2025. President Trump has pledged to pull the country out of the Paris deal, but the states reiterated their pledge to keep pressing forward during a news conference in New York. \u201cWe\u2019re all in,\u201d California Gov. Jerry Brown said. \u201cEventually, Washington will join with us. You can\u2019t deny science forever.\u201d California\u2019s climate goal is even more ambitious than the Paris target. A law signed by Brown last year requires the state to cut emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030. California became a founding member of the U.S. Climate Alliance, along with New York and Washington state, months ago. \u201cEither we end this problem, or this problem will end us,\u201d said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. On Wednesday, North Carolina became the 15th member of the U.S. Climate Alliance. Other members include Massachusetts, Oregon and Puerto Rico. \u201cClean air and a healthy environment are vital for a strong economy and a healthier future,\u201d North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a newly elected Democrat, said in a statement. Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nBay Area cities sue major oil companies over climate change By Chris Megerian (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) San Francisco and Oakland are suing to get five oil companies, including San Ramon-based Chevron, to pay for the cost of protecting the Bay Area from rising sea levels and other effects of global warming. \u201cThese fossil fuel companies profited handsomely for decades while knowing they were putting the fate of our cities at risk,\u201d San Francisco City Atty. Dennis Herrera said in a statement. The lawsuits, which were filed Tuesday in state court in San Francisco and Alameda counties and announced Wednesday, don\u2019t ask for a specific dollar amount. But the cities could try to put oil companies on the hook for billions. Long-term improvements in San Francisco\u2019s seawall are projected to cost $5 billion, according to one of the lawsuits. \u201cThe law is clear that the defendants are responsible for the consequences of their reckless and disastrous actions,\u201d Oakland City Atty. Barbara J. Parker said in a statement. A spokesman for Chevron, Melissa Ritchie, said the lawsuits would not help address climate change. \u201cReducing greenhouse gas emissions is a global issue that requires global engagement and action,\u201d she said in a statement. \u201cShould this litigation proceed, it will only serve special interests at the expense of broader policy, regulatory, and economic priorities.\u201d Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nCalifornia sues to stop Trump\u2019s border wall: \u2018No one gets to ignore the laws. Not even the president\u2019 By Patrick McGreevy \u00d7 California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announces lawsuit against Trump Administration. California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra filed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging that President Trump\u2019s proposal to expedite construction of a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border violates laws aimed at protecting the environment. Becerra announced the legal challenge standing in front of the existing border fencing at Border Field State Park near San Diego, saying the federal government failed to comply with federal environmental laws and relied on federal statutes that don\u2019t authorize border wall projects in San Diego and Imperial counties. \u201cNo one gets to ignore the laws. Not even the president of the United States,\u201d Becerra said. \u201cThe border between the U.S. and Mexico spans some 2,000 miles. The list of laws violated by the president\u2019s administration in order to build his campaign wall is almost as long.\u201d He said the project involves the improper waiver of 37 federal statutes, many aimed at protecting the environment. Filed in federal court in San Diego and including the California Coastal Commission as a plaintiff, the lawsuit states its purpose is \u201cto protect the State of California\u2019s residents, natural resources, economic interests, procedural rights, and sovereignty from violations of the United States Constitution\u201d and federal law. Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra at the U.S.- Mexico border where he announced lawsuit to stop a proposal for a border wall. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) The lawsuit also alleges that federal officials have not shown any data suggesting new border barriers in the San Diego area will reduce illegal entry into the U.S., nor that there is a significant problem in that area. It adds that the wall would have a chilling effect on tourism to the United States from Mexico. In August, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a notice that it was waiving federal and state laws on the environment to expedite the construction of prototypes of the wall along the San Diego border with Mexico. The California lawsuit claims the federal government violated the U.S. Constitution\u2019s separation-of-powers doctrine \u201cby vesting in the Executive Branch the power to waive state and local laws.\u201d The lawsuit also says the Department of Homeland Security decided to build the walls without complying with the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and the Coastal Zone Management Act. As a result, the lawsuit alleges, the federal government lacks proper environmental analysis of the impact of the 400-foot prototypes of the wall currently planned, as well as the 2,000-mile-long final wall. A federal official declined comment. \u201cAs a matter of policy, we do not comment on pending litigation,\u201d said Tyler Q. Houlton, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security. State Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego) stood with Becerra at the event, saying the wall is unnecessary and will put a barrier between relations involving the two countries. \u201cMaybe to people in Iowa, it sounds like a really good idea,\u201d she said. \u201cWe don\u2019t need more structure. We need a good relationship [with Mexico].\u201d Times staff writers McGreevy reported from Sacramento and Ulloa from San Diego. AG @XavierBecerra takes some shots at Trump: He hasn't made the transition from candidate to president. #borderwall pic.twitter.com/liSJdrAK2v \u2014 Jazmine Ulloa (@jazmineulloa) September 20, 2017 Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nCalifornia to sue Trump administration over plan for U.S.-Mexico border wall By Patrick McGreevy California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra plans to announce a lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of the state that will challenge President Trump\u2019s proposal to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, a project Becerra has called \u201cmedieval.\u201d Becerra is scheduled to travel to Border Field State Park near San Diego to announce that a lawsuit is being filed in federal court over construction of border wall projects in San Diego and Imperial counties. The lawsuit, which includes the California Coastal Commission as a plaintiff, states its purpose is \u201cto protect the State of California\u2019s residents, natural resources, economic interests, procedural rights, and sovereignty from violations of the United States Constitution\u201d and federal law. It adds that the wall would have a chilling effect on tourism to the United States from Mexico. The state\u2019s lawsuit alleges that the Trump administration has failed to comply with federal and state environmental laws and relied on federal statutes that don\u2019t authorize the proposed projects. The brief alleges the federal government violated the U.S. Constitution\u2019s separation-of-powers doctrine \u201cby vesting in the Executive Branch the power to waive state and local laws, including state criminal law.\u201d. The lawsuit also says the Department of Homeland Security decided to build the walls without complying with the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. As a result, the lawsuit alleges, the federal government lacks proper environmental analysis of the impact of 400-foot prototypes of the wall currently planned, as well as the 2,000-mile-long final wall. The Democratic attorney general has been critical of the wall for months, including in April during an appearance on ABC\u2019s \u201cThis Week.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m still trying to figure out who believes that a medieval situation to fix our broken immigration system is what we need,\u201d Becerra said. He also accused Trump at the time of reneging on his promise to have Mexico pay for the wall. \u201cI think American taxpayers probably are very much aligned with Mexico. None of them, whether it\u2019s Mexico or our taxpayers, wants to pay for a medieval wall,\u201d he said. This is the latest of more than two dozen lawsuits and legal briefs filed against the Trump administration by Becerra, who was appointed attorney general in January and is running for election to the post next year. He previously sued to challenge Trump\u2019s plans to end a program that protects young immigrants from deportation, ban immigration from some countries and roll back environmental laws. Last week, three advocacy groups sued the federal government to block construction of a border wall, alleging that the Trump administration overstepped its authority by waiving environmental reviews and other laws. The action by the Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife and Animal Legal Defense Fund seeks to prevent construction of wall prototypes in San Diego. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said last month that prototypes for a border wall may be completed by the end of October. Becerra\u2019s lawsuit is the latest attempt by California Democrats to fight the wall proposal. A bill that would have banned state government contracts for any company that helps build the wall passed the state Senate, but stalled recently in an Assembly committee. Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) authored the bill, testifying at a committee hearing that \u201cthe wall is another attempt to separate and divide us. It sends a message that we are better off in a homogenous society.\u201d Todd Bloomstine, a lobbyist representing the Southern California Contractors Assn., opposed the bill, asking the panel, \u201cWhat next unpopular project would be [on the] blacklist?\u201d Read the lawsuit >> UPDATE 8:30 a.m. This article was updated to provide additional details of the lawsuit. This article was originally published at 6 a.m. Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nJudge rules state used misleading language in summary of ballot measure to repeal California gas tax By Patrick McGreevy GOP Assemblyman Travis Allen, in red tie, with Democratic state Sen. Bob Hertzberg, left, and Charles Munger Jr., far right, in 2014. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) A judge tentatively ruled Tuesday that the state-written title and summary of an initiative to repeal the recent gas-tax increases were misleading and should be rewritten by the state attorney general\u2019s office. The ruling by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Timothy M. Frawley, scheduled to be finalized at a court hearing on Friday, was welcomed by the initiative\u2019s lead proponent, Assemblyman Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach). \u201cThis preliminary ruling is a major victory for Californians,\u201d Allen, a candidate for governor, said in a statement. \u201cThis brings us one step closer to repealing Jerry Brown\u2019s hugely unpopular gas tax. I look forward to the final ruling on Friday, and ensuring that the Repeal the Gas Tax Initiative receives the straightforward ballot title and summary that it deserves.\u201d Judge Frawley agreed with Allen\u2019s legal claims that the title and summary drafted by Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra\u2019s office is \u201cconfusing, misleading, and likely to create prejudice against the proposed measure.\u201d The judge said the initiative would repeal taxes and fees approved by the Legislature this year, but the title and summary issued by the state makes it sound like it would eliminate transportation funding without using the words \u201ctaxes and \u201cfees\u201d in the title. He ordered state officials to come to Friday\u2019s hearing prepared to discuss alternate language for the ballot measure. \u201cTo avoid misleading the voters and creating prejudice against the measure, the Attorney General must prepare a \u2018true and impartial statement\u2019 that reasonably informs voters of the character and real purpose of the proposed initiative in clear and understandable language,\u201d the ruling says. \u201cThe existing circulating title and summary fails this test.\u201d If the judge finalizes the order after hearing arguments Friday, Allen can use the new title and summary to circulate a petition. Allen needs to collect 365,000 signatures from registered voters in 150 days to put the measure on the November 2018 ballot. Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nGov. Jerry Brown: Trump\u2019s rhetoric about North Korea adds to \u201cnon-rational bluster\u201d By Mina Corpuz (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) California Gov. Jerry Brown said President Trump\u2019s name calling and threats at the United Nations can get in the way of diplomacy and statesmanship. Earlier Tuesday, Trump called North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a \u201cRocket Man on a suicide mission\u201d and said the United States may have no choice but to \u201ctotally destroy North Korea.\u201d \u201cIt just raises the temperature and the exchange of non-rational bluster back and forth,\u201d Brown said in a interview with CNN\u2019s Jake Tapper. \u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s positive.\u201d Brown is in New York for some climate meetings related to the United Nations General Assembly. Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nYes, \u2018dahlink\u2019: Frederic Prinz von Anhalt, widower of Zsa Zsa Gabor, is running for California governor By Phil Willon Frederic Prinz von Anhalt, widower of actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, outside of the couple\u2019s Bel-Air mansion in 2011. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times) Frederic Prinz von Anhalt, widower of the whimsical celebrity and actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, is back. Von Anhalt has filed to run for governor of California \u2014 his second attempt after a short-lived campaign in 2010 \u2014 saying he\u2019s fed up with seeing roads falling apart, people struggling to afford rent and an explosion of homelessness in the state. \u201cI\u2019ve lived in this city for 36 years. I\u2019ve never seen so many people eating out of a trash can in the Western world,\u201d Von Anhalt said Tuesday. \u201cWe talk about Hollywood, and this being the entertainment center of the world. How is this possible?\u201d Von Anhalt, Garbor\u2019s ninth and last husband, is running as an independent. He filed an official \u201cCandidate Intention Statement\u201d with the California Secretary of State\u2019s office Monday, the first step in launching an official campaign. The 74-year-old Bel-Air resident, a German immigrant, said he has enough money to help support his own campaign. He said he dropped out of the 2010 governor\u2019s race only because his wife became seriously ill. She died in December. \u201cShe was the one \u2026 who wanted me run,\u201d Von Anhalt said. Von Anhalt also flirted briefly with a run for Los Angeles mayor in 2013, a race eventually won by Eric Garcetti. FOR THE RECORD 5:33 p.m.: An earlier of this post said Von Anhalt was age 71. He is 74. Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAssemblyman urges other legislatures to join California in censuring President Trump By Mina Corpuz Assemblyman Tony Thurmond (D-Richmond) speaks with Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) A California lawmaker who authored a resolution to support a censure of President Trump sent letters to 49 other state legislatures Tuesday to urge them to join the effort. Assemblyman Tony Thurmond, a Richmond Democrat, sent the letters days after the Assembly became the first state legislative body to support a congressional censure of the president. \u201cCalifornia has spoken and we look to the rest of the nation to join us,\u201d Thurmond said in a statement. \u201cIt\u2019s important that all our states unite and show that the United States of America stands against hate.\u201d Read More Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAfter cap-and-trade vote, Assemblyman Chad Mayes faces a second Republican challenger for reelection By Patrick McGreevy Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley leaves the Assembly floor before resigning as Assembly Republican leader on Aug. 24. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)) Former Palm Springs Police Chief Gary Jeandron on Tuesday became the second Republican to announce plans to challenge Assemblyman Chad Mayes (R-Yucca Valley) in the 2018 election. Jeandron, a La Quinta resident, said he was angered over Mayes\u2019 vote as Assembly Republican leader to support an extension of the state\u2019s controversial cap-and-trade program, which requires businesses to buy permits to release greenhouse gas emissions. Jeandron saw the action as continuing a \u201cwrongful tax increase\u201d and said he is signing a no-tax pledge. \u201cI just don\u2019t believe [Mayes] has held Republican values,\u201d Jeandron told The Times. \u201cHe has been blinded by ambition. He has been seduced by the governor.\u201d Mayes\u2019 vote led to an outcry by Republican leaders, and he eventually succumbed to pressure to step down as leader of the Assembly Republicans. Mayes defended his position, telling colleagues during the floor debate, \u201cmany of us believe that climate change is real and \u2026 we have to work to address it.\u201d Jeandron, who lost to Mayes in the 2014 election, joins San Jacinto City Councilman Andrew Kotyuk in planning to challenge Mayes for the 42nd Assembly District seat. Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nRepublican John Cox tasted political defeat many times before launching his bid for California governor By Phil Willon Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox speaks to the Lincoln Club of Riverside County in June. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times) Candidate for California governor John Cox is relatively new to the state\u2019s politics, but Cox has run for office multiple times, and even tangled with Barack Obama on the debate stage when the pair ran in the 2004 Illinois U.S. Senate race. Neither candidate was considered their party\u2019s favorite. But things began looking up for Obama, of course, who won the Senate race and then the presidency. Cox dropped out before the GOP primary election. It was his third try for elected office in Illinois and his third defeat. Now he\u2019s back, this time in his new home of California, running for governor against a trio of Democratic heavyweights. Once again, Cox is a practical unknown. Once again, the Republican is in a left-leaning state reaching for a coveted political office. Once again, Cox\u2019s campaign is being fed by cash from his own bank account. Read More Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAfter she was confronted by protesters, Pelosi says Democrats want a \u2018clean\u2019 Dream Act \u2014 with no border wall By Jazmine Ulloa House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Monday said she understood the fear in young protesters who shouted her down at a San Francisco news conference, asking for a legal path to citizenship for themselves and their parents. Speaking at Sacramento State hours after the disruption, Pelosi said she agreed with the protesters, pointing to the Dream Act as only the first step to broader immigration reform. \u201cWe are all disrupters ourselves,\u201d she said, standing next to fellow congressional Democrats. \u201cSo we recognize it and respect it in others.\u201d At Sac State, @NancyPelosi on SF protests today: We are all disruptors ourselves. So we recognize it and respect it in others. #dacadeal pic.twitter.com/W1WKQikmsc \u2014 Jazmine Ulloa (@jazmineulloa) September 19, 2017 Both press events were scheduled by Pelosi to discuss a legislative fix to help thousands of young people affected by President Trump\u2019s decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The Obama-era policy provided temporary status for 800,000 people brought to the country illegally as children. Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York met with Trump last week after the termination of DACA was announced. In Sacramento, Pelosi said they had come to an agreement to a \u201cclean\u201d Dream Act, which would provide a path to permanent status for citizens who work, study or serve in the military, without tougher border enforcement or increased deportations. Meanwhile, Democrats are fighting with the president over the construction of a wall along the U.S-Mexico border. And House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin \u201chas made it clear he wants some kind of border security,\u201d Pelosi said. \u201cThat is not under discussion,\u201d she said. \u201cWe can discuss other issues, but we are not going to discuss how we protect the Dreamers.\u201d At Sac State, @NancyPelosi arrives to talk #DACAdeal and help for Dreamers. Elected officials from every level of government also present. pic.twitter.com/yoESsRC1Ok \u2014 Jazmine Ulloa (@jazmineulloa) September 18, 2017 Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nFeinstein, who called for patience with Trump, lashes out over his attacks on Clinton By Sarah D. Wire Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said it was \u201cappalling and disgusting\u201d to see President Trump retweet a video edited to look like he hit former rival Hillary Clinton in the head with a golf ball. \u201cHe continues to obsessively lash out at her \u2014 at his rallies, with his words and now through social media \u2014 in a manner that is utterly unbecoming of the president of the United States,\u201d Feinstein said in a statement Monday. \u201cEvery one of us should be offended by the vindictive and candidly dangerous messages the president sends that demean not only Secretary Clinton, but all women. Grow up and do your job.\u201d Clinton is out with a new book about the campaign, and Trump has repeatedly used Twitter to deride her as a sore loser. He retweeted the animated GIF Sunday which shows him hitting a golf ball that then knocks down Clinton. Feinstein, who has yet to say whether she\u2019ll run again in 2018, has walked a fine line with Trump in recent months. She\u2019s criticized him at times, but drew ire from some progressive Californians last month when she called for \u201cpatience\u201d in dealing with the president, saying that Trump could be a good president if he learned and changed. Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAdvertisement\n\nCalifornia lawmakers are building a wall against President Trump\u2019s policies By George Skelton California state legislators ended their annual session the way they began it \u2014 building a wall to protect undocumented immigrants from President Trump. Not an iron wall, as Trump promised to erect along the U.S.-Mexico border, but a legal barrier to prevent local police and sheriffs from teaming with the president\u2019s agents to enforce federal immigration law. The legislators did a lot of other things, too, before adjourning early Saturday until January. They sent Gov. Jerry Brown bills to address California\u2019s dearth of affordable housing, to borrow $4 billion for parks and waterworks, to spend $1.5 billion in greenhouse-gas pollution fees, to provide tuition-free community college for first-year students and to lift some secrecy from prescription drug pricing. Earlier in the session, the heavily Democratic Legislature passed its boldest, most controversial bill of the year: A $5.2-billion annual increase in fuel taxes and vehicle fees to finance transportation infrastructure, especially to repair crumbling highways. Republicans will attempt to repeal the bill at the ballot box in 2018. Brown says that \u201cborders on insanity.\u201d Read More Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nTrump is \u2018riding a very dead horse\u2019 on climate change, Gov. Brown says at New York conference By Ann Simmons (Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press) Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday touted steps California has taken toward a healthier climate, but warned that powerful forces he called \u201cclimate deniers\u201d are resisting technologies and policies designed to improve conditions. \u201cI like all the optimism around here, but I don\u2019t want to minimize the steep hill that we have to climb,\u201d Brown said at the start of a gathering of international leaders called Climate Week NYC. \u201cDecarbonizing the economy when the economy depends so totally on carbon is not child\u2019s play. It\u2019s quite daunting.\u201d Hosted by the Climate Group, an international nonprofit organization that works with business and government to promote clean technologies and policies, the event was scheduled to bring together high-profile governors, executives of Fortune 500 companies and leaders of multinational businesses for a week to share their strategies in tackling climate change. The discussions come amid concerns about global warming and after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma caused devastation in Houston, Florida and across parts of the Caribbean. Some scientists believe that warmer ocean waters caused by climate change are creating stronger storms. Read More Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nNancy Pelosi shouted down at DACA news conference for working with Trump By Sarah D. Wire Dreamer protesters have disrupted a Pelosi presser in CA, asking for protections for Dreamer & their parents: https://t.co/o3zGNJvblL \u2014 Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) September 18, 2017 More than four dozen immigration activists upset with Democrats for negotiating with President Trump shouted down House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi at a San Francisco news conference Monday. \u201cWe are not your bargaining chip,\u201d the crowd chanted at one point, according to KCBS News political reporter Doug Sovern. VIDEO: Chaos at @NancyPelosi #DACA event as 40+ undocumented hijack her news conf in SF: \"We are not your bargaining chip! Let us speak!\" pic.twitter.com/KC2WyrjqSy \u2014 Doug Sovern (@SovernNation) September 18, 2017 'All of us or none of us' Crowd takes over DREAM Act event. Pelosi getting blasted by about 100 young 'undocumented youth' pic.twitter.com/RgwnZ4dB3O \u2014 Evan Sernoffsky (@EvanSernoffsky) September 18, 2017 San Francisco Chronicle reporter Evan Sernoffsky said on Twitter that some in the group were yelling, \u201cAll of us or none of us.\u201d Other reporters said the group chanted, \u201cShut down ICE.\u201d Pelosi held the news conference to advocate for speedy passage of a legislative fix to the legal status of hundreds of thousands of people brought to the country illegally as children. Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York met with Trump last week after he announced an end to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The Obama-era program deferred deportation for some people brought to the country illegally as children. Pelosi and Schumer said their discussion with the president included the possibility of adding more immigration enforcement \u2014 which some immigration advocates are against \u2014 to legislation to address DACA. At the news conference, Pelosi first made remarks and introduced an immigrant in the country illegally, at which point the shouting began, according to a Pelosi aide. The group surrounded Pelosi, with some gesturing close to her face. She attempted to calm the crowd for about half an hour before leaving the news conference. The aide said the group was made up of local DACA beneficiaries. \u201cWe need to have a conversation, but that was completely one-sided; they don\u2019t want any answers,\u201d Pelosi told reporters afterward, according to a transcript. Pelosi said the activists should be focused on Republican members of Congress, not Democrats. \u201cI understand their frustration, I\u2019m excited by it as a matter of fact, but the fact is they\u2019re completely wrong. The Democrats are the ones who stopped their assault on \u2018sanctuary cities,\u2019 stopped the wall, the increased deportations in our last bill that was at the end of April, and we are determined to get Republicans votes to pass the clean Dream Act. Is it possible to pass a bill without some border security? Well we\u2019ll have to see. We didn\u2019t agree to anything in that regard, except to listen,\u201d Pelosi said. UPDATES\n\n1:06 p.m. This post was updated with more details throughout and quotes from Pelosi. This post was originally published at 12:12 p.m. Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAdvertisement\n\nDemocrats\u2019 hopes of flipping seats in California are soaring, but it won\u2019t be as easy at it seems By Christine Mai-Duc (Associated Press / AFP/Getty Images) Democrats know they have to win at least a few seats in California if they want to regain control of the House in 2018. But though the energy and hopes of many Democratic activists here are soaring, flipping Republican-held seats here could be harder than it appears. There are a few bits of conventional wisdom that suggest Democrats have a long road ahead. For one, Republicans often turn out in greater numbers than their Democratic counterparts in midterm-election years. And even though Hillary Clinton won seven of the Republican-held districts Democrats are now targeting, past election data show voters there still lean much more conservative than other parts of the state. If past is prologue, says Rob Pyers, research director for the nonpartisan election guide California Target Book, Democrats will have a hard time picking up more than a couple of seats in California. With most voters unlikely to tune in until at least next spring, there are many factors that could affect the political calculus, including whether the California Republican Party will be able to field a competitive candidate for governor, or whether ballot initiatives such as a potential repeal of the newest gas tax hike will propel GOP voters to the polls. Read More Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nCalifornia will be the \u2018keeper of the nation\u2019s future\u2019 in the era of Trump, state Democratic lawmakers promise By Melanie Mason State Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Le\u00f3n, from left, Gov. Jerry Brown and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon. (Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press) Within a day of President Trump\u2019s election last November, California\u2019s top Democratic lawmakers responded with a joint statement that contained an audacious promise. It was their state, not Washington, D.C., that would be the \u201ckeeper of the nation\u2019s future.\u201d An artistic rendering of that vow, with looping calligraphy and a roaring grizzly, is now on display in the offices of Senate leader Kevin de Le\u00f3n and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon. In the wake of Trump\u2019s win, the words seemed to be a sort of foundational document \u2014 California\u2019s declaration of resistance. That pugilistic posture is often conveyed in shorthand: California versus Trump. But the ensuing legislative year, which ended Friday, revealed the messy reality of squaring up against the federal government. \u201cIt\u2019s been challenging,\u201d De Le\u00f3n (D-Los Angeles) said, bleary-eyed as he took a break during the final days of the session. \u201cYou have to debate, you have to negotiate, you have to make your case, and I think at the end of the day, we\u2019ll still have the most far-reaching policy in the nation.\u201d Read More Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nCalifornia Politics Podcast: Lawmakers leave Sacramento after a busy year By John Myers From immigration issues to housing, some of the biggest debates of the Legislature\u2019s nine-month session happened at the very end. In governing, as in life, deadlines often make things happen. On this week\u2019s California Politics Podcast, we take an early look at some of the most important decisions lawmakers made in the final few days of the 2017 session in Sacramento. That includes a landmark decision to intervene in the issue of illegal immigration, and to pass a long discussed package of bills to begin addressing California\u2019s housing crisis. We also look at some of the broader political themes of the entire legislative year -- most notably, the effort by Democrats in the Legislature to provide a \u201cresistance\u201d to actions taken by President Trump. I\u2019m joined by Times staff writers Melanie Mason and Liam Dillon. Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nAdvertisement\n\nPassage of \u2018sanctuary state\u2019 bill draws rebukes from Trump administration officials, praise in California By Jazmine Ulloa Supporters of state sanctuary bill SB 54 rally outside the Hall of Justice. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) California lawmakers on Saturday passed a \u201csanctuary state\u201d bill to protect immigrants without legal residency in the U.S., part of a broader push by Democrats to counter expanded deportation orders under the Trump administration. The landmark legislation by Sen. Kevin de Le\u00f3n (D-Los Angeles) would limit state and local law enforcement communication with federal immigration authorities, and prevent officers from questioning and holding people on immigration violations. But the bill sent to Gov. Jerry Brown drastically scaled back the version first introduced, the result of tough negotiations between Brown and De Le\u00f3n in the final weeks of the legislative session. Its passage already is reverberating across the country. Trump administration officials have sounded off in opposition. And immigrant rights groups and some California law enforcement officials have come out in support of what they call a hard compromise. Read More Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nShow more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nLinkedIn\n\nEmail\n\nCopy Link URL Copied!\n\nPrint\n\nSupporters unable to resurrect California clean-energy proposal on final day of legislative session By Chris Megerian Environmentalists rally in front of Assemblyman Chris Holden\u2019s office in Pasadena on Thursday. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) Despite a last-minute push from environmentalists and actors from \u201cThe Avengers,\u201d legislation that eventually would require all of California\u2019s electricity to come from clean sources failed to advance this year. Facing opposition from unions and utilities, Assembly leadership refused to put the measure, SB 100, up for a vote on Fri", "output": "Californians who get their health\u00a0coverage\u00a0on the individual market could face dire consequences under the current Republican effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, warned a\u00a0new analysis released Monday by Covered California, the state's health insurance exchange.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Health Bill Appears Dead as Pivotal G.O.P. Senator Declares Opposition \n WASHINGTON \u2014 A last-ditch attempt by President Trump and Senate Republicans to dismantle the Affordable Care Act appeared to collapse on Monday as a pivotal senator announced her firm opposition to the latest repeal plan, virtually ensuring that Republicans would not have the votes they need for passage.\n\nThe announcement by the senator, Susan Collins of Maine, effectively dooms what had been a long-shot effort by Republicans in the Senate to make one more attempt at repealing the health law after failing in dramatic fashion in July.\n\nThe demise of the latest repeal push means that Republicans are now all but certain to conclude Mr. Trump\u2019s first year in office without fulfilling one of their central promises, which the president and lawmakers had hoped to deliver on quickly after Mr. Trump took office.\n\nFor seven years, Republicans have said they would repeal President Barack Obama\u2019s signature domestic achievement and replace it with a new health care system more palatable to conservatives. But they were never able to formulate a replacement that was both politically and substantively viable.", "output": "A last-ditch attempt by President Trump and Senate Republicans to dismantle the Affordable Care Act appeared to collapse on Monday as a pivotal senator announced her firm opposition to the latest repeal plan, virtually ensuring that Republicans would not have the votes they need for passage.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "States warn latest Obamacare repeal plan \u2018impossible\u2019 to set up \n The last-ditch repeal plan from Sens. Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy would eliminate Obamacare\u2019s insurance subsidies and Medicaid expansion and replace the funding with block grants shared among states beginning in 2020. Governors and state legislatures would be charged with designing coverage schemes for the 27 million people insured through private Obamacare plans or Medicaid expansion \u2014 with as much as $107 billion less over a decade, according to estimates. That\u2019s on top of hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts the bill, H.R. 1628 (115), makes to the traditional Medicaid program, which would be transformed from an open-ended entitlement into a budgeted program.\n\nTen Republican governors, mostly from Medicaid expansion states, have objected to a plan that could cost them billions of dollars. Health insurers, who largely remained neutral throughout the GOP\u2019s months-long repeal effort, condemned Graham-Cassidy \u201cunworkable\u201d and \u201cimpossible.\u201d The board of Medicaid directors issued a searing indictment of the plan, a rare rebuke from a group that represents states ranging from deep red Texas to blue-as-they-come California.\n\n\u201cHonestly, I am really struggling to figure out how we would respond,\u201d said Teresa Miller, Pennsylvania\u2019s acting secretary of human services, at the Senate\u2019s lone hearing on the repeal plan Monday afternoon. Miller testified that it\u2019s \u201chighly unlikely\u201d Pennsylvania would be able to build a functioning insurance marketplaces by the bill\u2019s 2020 deadline.\n\nThe Graham-Cassidy plan, which as of Monday was still struggling to earn enough Republican support, would result in funding cuts to 35 states, particularly those that had the greatest success enrolling people under Obamacare, according an analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The states that would receive more funding are predominately those that resisted Obamacare and may lack the health care expertise \u2013 and desire \u2013 to build new coverage systems.\n\nA revised version of the bill released Monday morning offers new funding for states represented by GOP senators skeptical of the effort: Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, John McCain of Arizona, and Rand Paul of Kentucky. But their states would still see overall funding cuts, and none of the holdouts have been swayed by the changes ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline to pass a repeal bill with just GOP votes.\n\nRepublican lawmakers supporting Graham-Cassidy have brushed off concerns about abruptly shifting responsibility for the nation\u2019s health care system to the states, most of which \u2013 unlike the federal government \u2013 are constrained by requirements to balance their budgets each year.\n\n\u201cI have complete confidence in [state] policymakers that they can come up with plans, that they know the state better than the federal government does,\u201d said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), whose home state expanded Medicaid to more than 400,000 poor adults last year.\n\nThe Senate plan would allow states to scrap many of Obamacare\u2019s insurance regulations and protections that Republican critics say drive up the cost of insurance, in hopes of winning over conservative Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee.\n\nHowever, the plan would give states limited time to solve the politically fraught policy dilemmas that have stumped congressional Republicans for years, such as how to ensure affordable coverage for people with expensive medical conditions. State legislatures typically meet only a few months each year, and gubernatorial elections in 36 states next year could slow efforts to develop new health care plans. That means newly elected governors could have less than a year to develop, pass and implement a statewide insurance system.\n\nIf a state fails to agree on a plan by 2020, it would lose out on all federal block grant funding for the year, leaving low-income residents without government aid to obtain coverage.\n\nThough the latest bill revisions give some states, including Alaska, more money to cover people, it doesn\u2019t provide additional financial help to study and set up new health care systems. The plan designates just $2 billion to help states implement new systems over two years. That\u2019s about half the time and federal money spent on the run-up to the Obamacare marketplaces\u2019 disastrous debut in fall 2013.\n\nTexas, which has the nation\u2019s highest uninsured rate, is expected to be the biggest beneficiary under Graham-Cassidy, gaining an estimated $34 billion over a decade, according to the Kaiser analysis. Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, on Monday said he welcomed the plan\u2019s new flexibility for states.\n\nBut the state\u2019s legislature isn\u2019t scheduled to meet again until January 2019, likely setting back efforts to devise a coverage system. Committee chairs said if Graham-Cassidy becomes law, they would call interim hearings to work out key details.\n\n\u201cI think we take the ball and run with it as fast and furious as possible,\u201d said state Sen. Charles Schwertner, an orthopedic surgeon who chairs a key health care committee.\n\nGraham-Cassidy\u2019s boosters argue the plan\u2019s enhanced funding for states refusing Obamacare\u2019s Medicaid expansion will nudge them to broaden access to insurance.\n\nTexas, however, already has a laundry list of health care issues to address, including a spike in maternal mortality rates, crumbling mental health hospitals and Hurricane Harvey recovery. Texas state Rep. Garnet Coleman, a Democrat, said he expects the Republican-controlled Legislature is just as likely to trim eligibility for health programs and cut payments to Medicaid providers.\n\nThe state already has one of the country\u2019s stingiest Medicaid programs \u2014 three-quarters of recipients are children \u2014 and Coleman said Texas could potentially use the additional leeway from the federal government to slash state spending on Medicaid.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think all of the sudden the state is going to get generous,\u201d he said.\n\nIt\u2019s a dilemma that would play out across the nation, particularly in conservative states that have long criticized the Affordable Care Act\u2019s coverage expansion as unaffordable and deferred much of its implementation to the federal government.\n\nIn the meantime, insurance experts expect the uncertainty that\u2019s wracked the Obamacare markets this year would only get worse, potentially driving more insurers out of a marketplace they know will be defunct in a couple years.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s really hard to wrap your head around this,\u201d said Jennifer Tolbert, the director of state health reform for the Kaiser Family Foundation. \u201cInsurers have spent the last seven years basically adjusting to this new market with these standardized rules, and then you\u2019re moving backwards to how things were prior to the ACA.\u201d", "output": "State officials are warning they face a daunting, near-impossible task of rebuilding their health care systems from the ground up in just two years under the GOP\u2019s latest Obamacare repeal plan.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Using technology to help older adults keep their independence \n Story highlights Researchers at Georgia Tech are turning houses into smart homes to help keep older adults safe One expert uses a Fitbit to keep track of her aging mother, and robots can help, too\n\nCNN \u2014\n\nA charming three-story home trimmed in white sits at the corner of 10th and Center streets on the Georgia Institute of Technology campus in Atlanta.\n\nFrom the outside, the 5,000-square-foot abode appears just like any other home, but inside, Georgia Tech researchers are testing and developing cutting-edge devices to determine which can make the home safer \u2013 and smarter \u2013 for older adults.\n\nThe house is actually a living lab, called the Aware Home, and research conducted there has revealed some of the top home-related concerns among older adults, said Brian Jones, director of the Aware Home and a senior research scientist at Georgia Tech.\n\n\u201cSome of the concerns they had were around unattended cooking,\u201d he said, adding that the No. 1 cause of fires in older adults\u2019 homes is cooking equipment.\n\n\u201cIf you forget that you have turned on the water to draw a bath or to wash the dishes, that can cause significant damage in the home,\u201d he said. \u201cTVs left on was another \u2026 and then door locks.\u201d\n\nNow, some in-home technologies are in development \u2013 or on the market \u2013 to address those concerns.\n\nWhat the future holds for older adult care\n\nA stove at the Aware Home has been equipped with sensing and a large colored-light system that blinks to alert you when the oven has been left on unattended, which can be helpful if you are nearby. If you are leaving the house, a photo frame placed by the front door blinks and plays sound to notify you that the stove is unattended and left on.\n\nDevices of the future are expected to collect and use data to become much more personalized, said Elizabeth Mynatt, a professor and executive director of the Institute for People and Technology at Georgia Tech.\n\n\u201cThey will learn more about your habits, your likes, your dislikes, your routines, when you\u2019re most likely to forget to take your medication, what are the aspects of your health that need the most attention,\u201d she said. \u201cThey will become as personalized to you that you just can\u2019t even imagine living without them.\u201d\n\nFor instance, a long hallway in the Aware Home is equipped with gait-sensing technology through which the walking patterns of someone strutting by are screened, collected and analyzed.\n\nThose personalized data could be used to track that individual\u2019s health. The data even could be programmed with an algorithm to alert a caregiver if any potentially harmful changes emerge in the gait pattern.\n\n\u201cTo track how someone is doing \u2026 is very important,\u201d Mynatt said.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s important for the daughter who wants to know that her mom is doing OK. It\u2019s important for someone who might need to respond to a health emergency, and it is important for health professionals who might need to see those slight declines or trends over time,\u201d she said. \u201cPerhaps a person is less steady going up those steps than they were three months ago. That would be an important indicator to maybe make some changes in the house before a fall or something else occurs.\u201d\n\nJones, director of the Aware Home, said that while such technologies can help monitor an older adult\u2019s health, he doesn\u2019t think they would entirely eliminate the need for care facilities. Rather, \u201cit might also help in informing a family when someone may need a caregiver,\u201d he said.\n\nMynatt agreed that at some point, the human body may need more constant care, and so there still may be a need for care facilities.\n\n\u201cWhat we will hopefully see is that older adults will live the majority of their lives in the setting of their choice,\u201d she said. \u201cOnly in times of acute medical crisis or only at the very, very end of life would you have to move out of this setting.\u201d\n\nFor now, Mynatt and her colleagues are analyzing how such technologies may change the future. However, you don\u2019t have to wait: Some technologies are assisting older adults today.\n\nSmart home technologies on the market\n\nMynatt has connected her smartphone to her mother\u2019s Fitbit in order to keep track of her health and safety, despite living about a three-hour drive away, she said.\n\n\u201cIf I\u2019m wondering how she\u2019s doing, I can just check on her steps,\u201d Mynatt said. \u201cI know that on Friday, she volunteers in the hospital and there\u2019s going to be a lot of steps, and I know what Sunday\u2019s going to look like, and I know what her routine is. So that little bit of information actually tells me quite a bit that she\u2019s doing alright.\u201d\n\nAs the 65-and-older population in the United States is projected to nearly double by the year 2050 \u2013 reaching 83.7 million \u2013 more and more smart technologies have appeared on the market for older adults.\n\nOne new device called Inirv React, currently in beta testing, connects your stove to a sensor in your home and a smartphone app. The sensor will automatically turn the stove off if it no longer detects motion around the appliance after a long period of time. You can also turn the stove off using your smartphone.\n\nLifeAssist Technologies has developed the Reminder Rosie, a clock that allows you to record personalized messages and reminders that will be broadcast at scheduled times for whomever is in the home. A reminder could be to take medication or that the grandchildren will be coming over for dinner.\n\nThen there\u2019s MedMinder, a collection of automatic medication dispensers. The dispensers first flash to remind users to take their medication. They then beep if the medicine\u2019s still not taken. Next, they call the user. After a certain period of time, a caregiver or family member will be notified.\n\nThere are robots on the market for older adults, too. The Paris-based company Bluefrog Robotics has developed Buddy, a companion robot that can act as a calendar reminder and alarm clock, and connect with home security systems.\n\nWith any technology, \u201cmost people ask that question, \u2018How invasive is it?\u2019 \u2026 But what we hear from older adults is that they value the security and the safety that the technology provides for them,\u201d Mynatt said.\n\n\u201cWhen we\u2019ve talked to older adults about robots that could help them in the home, they\u2019ll tell us that they would rather have a robot than a human caregiver in some cases, because robots don\u2019t gossip,\u201d she said. \u201cThey don\u2019t look through their things. Robots don\u2019t judge. So if a robot could help them day in and day out then, and a human could come in as needed, they would love that combination.\u201d\n\n\u2018Being independent is foremost in the mind\u2019\n\nWhile many older adults worry about losing their independence, 75-year-old Albert Bolet of Atlanta thinks most older adults are typically receptive to bringing technology into their homes.\n\nFollow CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter.\n\n\u201cPeople have the misguided impression that seniors are adverse to technology. I don\u2019t think that that is true at all,\u201d said Bolet, who has participated as a subject in research at Georgia Tech\u2019s Aware Home with his wife, Margarita.\n\n\u201cWe do know what routers are, we do understand wireless technology, and we understand how these things will make things easier. People will always tend to use things that are simple and will eliminate problems in their life,\u201d he said. \u201cBeing independent is foremost in the mind of anybody that gets to be our age or older.\u201d\n\nAs technologies develop, researchers hope that they continue to improve independence and provide more options for older adults in the future.", "output": "A charming three-story home trimmed in white sits at the corner of 10th and Center streets on the Georgia Institute of Technology campus in Atlanta. From the outside, the 5,000-square-foot abode appears just like any other home, but inside, Georgia Tech researchers are testing and developing cutting-edge devices to determine which can make the home safer -- and smarter -- for older adults.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Caregiver startup CareLinx acquired by Generali Global Assistance \n Generali Global Assistance, the US division of Europ Assistance Group, has acquired CareLinx, a seven-year-old digital health startup that offers a matching service for families and caregivers. The terms of the deal were undisclosed.\n\n\u201cFrom the Generali perspective, we really believe we\u2019re acquiring a unique asset with a competitive advantage of the nationwide caregivers as opposed to the traditional model,\u201d Chris Carnicelli, CEO of Generali Global Assistance, said in a statement. \u201cAnd all the dynamics are perfect for growing this business and helping the senior market evolve. So it\u2019s not just that seniors want to stay at home, the dynamics and the economics are pushing the market toward the lower cost environment, which is the home, and we think the CareLinx model provides a unique opportunity because it\u2019s perfectly positioned to deliver those sorts of opportunities.\u201d\n\nGenerali has several assistance-related businesses in the US and overseas, including a travel assistance and roadside assistance business. CareLinx will be incorporated as its own elderly assistance business and will retain its full team, office, and brand.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re super impressed with what Sherwin [Sheik, CEO of CareLinx] and his team have built, not only with the team but also the brand,\u201d Carnicelli said. \u201cSo we\u2019re very happy to keep the full team and the brand.\u201d\n\nCareLinx is one of a handful of VC-backed companies focused on connecting families with home caregivers \u2014 others include Honor, HomeTeam, and HomeHero, which was forced to shut down its business earlier this year and now operates in a new space under the name Harvey. While all those companies focused on the same problem, CareLinx approached it differently \u2014 which, Sheik says, helped attract the attention of not only Generali but a number of the company\u2019s health plan and provider customers.\n\n\u201cThe main difference between our model and their models is we\u2019re a marketplace, whereas they are traditional agencies with their own tech staff. They basically employ all these caregivers, which is very costly and makes the unit economics hard to operate,\u201d he told MobiHealthNews. \u201c[At CareLinx,] we set up families as the direct employer of record and then, similar to ADP, we manage all the payroll, taxes, W2 issuance, on behalf of the patient and the caregiver. That allows us to have a nationwide network of 200,000 caregivers on our platform versus competitors who are struggling with about 1,000 caregivers on staff. Unless you are an employer on the scale of Cisco Systems it\u2019s hard to compete with CareLinx\u2019s model.\u201d\n\nThat struggle of employing so many caregivers is exactly what forced HomeHero to shut down after a change in California\u2019s labor laws. Sheik says CareLinx ended up taking on a lot of HomeHero\u2019s clients in the aftermath, with the blessing of HomeHero cofounders Kyle Hill and Mike Townsend.\n\nCareLinx has also been moving recently toward offering tools for payers and providers in addition to families. And the technology has grown to include digital care plans and remote patient monitoring, not just a matching service for caregivers and patients.\n\n\u201cInstead of relying on self-reporting of patients with chronic conditions, [\u2026] what we\u2019re doing is we\u2019re really helping health systems to better take care of their patients post-discharge,\u201d Sheik said. \u201cSo we have a caregiver that\u2019s basically given a digital care plan that\u2019s customized by disease state and it tells the caregiver exactly what to do. When we\u2019re in the home we capture discreet, relevant, clinical information that we use algorithms to send to care management teams to identify points for early intervention.\u201d\n\nGenerali has resources, including a 24-hour nurse call line and doctors on staff, that will allow CareLinx to expand some of these new offerings even further. Also, because the company is international, the plan is to eventually facilitate an expansion of CareLinx overseas as well.\n\n\u201cThe main takeaway here is Generali and CareLinx really believe that more and more of healthcare delivery is going to be transitioning from the facility-based, inpatient setting to \u2014 given physician shortages not just in the US but globally \u2014 to a lot more healthcare [being] delivered into the home,\u201d Sheik said. \u201cReally what we\u2019re doing with the backing of Generali is building that ability for insurance companies and providers to extend beyond the facility walls and really provide healthcare into the home, which they currently can\u2019t do.\u201d", "output": "Generali Global Assistance, the US division of Europ Assistance Group, has acquired CareLinx, a seven-year-old digital health startup that offers a matching service for families and caregivers. The terms of the deal were undisclosed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vision and Hearing Loss Are Tied to Cognitive Decline \n Now and then I hear someone (myself included) proclaim \u201cmy brain is on overload.\u201d This is not surprising given the myriad complex tasks the brain performs, among them enabling you to learn, plan, remember, communicate, see, hear and smell.\n\nPerhaps also not surprising, a growing number of studies have linked compromised sensory functions like poor vision and hearing to a decline in cognitive abilities. The brain, it seems, can do only so much, and when it must struggle to make sense of the world \u2013 from reading the words on a page to understanding the spoken word \u2013 it may be less able to perform other important tasks.\n\nWhile a cause-and-effect relationship has yet to be established, evidence is gradually increasing to suggest that uncorrected deficits in vision and hearing can accelerate cognitive decline.\n\nNational statistics demonstrate the importance of this relationship. The number of Americans with poor vision, often undetected among older adults, is expected to double by 2050; hearing loss \u2013 mostly untreated or undertreated \u2013 afflicts nearly two-thirds of adults over 70; both vision and hearing impairment occur in one person in nine age 80 and older (fewer than one in five have neither), and the prevalence of dementia is now doubling every 20 years.", "output": "Now and then I hear someone (myself included) proclaim \u201cmy brain is on overload.\u201d This is not surprising given the myriad complex tasks the brain performs, among them enabling you to learn, plan, remember, communicate, see, hear and smell.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How Juniper\u2019s Care Model Could Save Medicare $15 Billion Annually \n Senior living providers might have the secret sauce to save the Medicare program more than $15 billion each year.\n\nThat\u2019s the message from Bloomfield, New Jersey-based Juniper Communities, which provides assisted living and memory care services at 22 communities in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Colorado and Florida.\n\nLikely thanks to the company\u2019s Connect4Life integrated care model, Juniper\u2019s high-acuity residents are hospitalized far less often than similarly frail seniors in the general Medicare population, according to research findings released last spring. A new independent analysis shows what this means for Juniper in dollars and cents, and how those cost savings might translate to the U.S. health care system at large.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nJuniper has been able to achieve a hospitalization rate of 0.30 events per person per year for a population of 471 medically frail seniors, all of whom participate in Connect4Life. That compares to a hospitalization rate of 0.65 events per person per year for a population of 3.42 million Medicare beneficiaries who have a similar profile to the Juniper residents, according to the analysis done by Anne Tumlinson Innovations (ATI). Washington, D.C.-based ATI was founded by Anne Tumlinson, a health care and aging services expert who previously was a vice president with research and business intelligence firm Avalere.\n\nWith average spending per hospitalization calculated to be $10,399, Juniper is saving the Medicare program between $3.93 million and $6.04 million each year by reducing hospitalizations, according to the new ATI analysis. If the larger population of similar Medicare beneficiaries had the same hospitalization rates as the Juniper residents, the aggregate savings would be between $10 billion and $15.3 billion annually.\n\nThroughout the passage and implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and in the ongoing debate about how to refine or replace the ACA, legislators and policymakers have been seeking ways to improve health outcomes while reducing spending. These new findings show that senior housing can help achieve these elusive twin goals, Juniper CEO Lynne Katzmann told Senior Housing News.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIncentivizing connected care\n\nConnect4Life is about integration and coordination. One part of the program is on-site primary care, therapy, pharmacy, and labs; Juniper also has hired medical concierges to ensure that these services are working smoothly together and meeting the needs of residents and their families. A shared technology platform\u2014the PointClickCare EHR\u2014facilitates communication and teamwork among all these stakeholders.\n\nIn light of the new research findings, senior living providers obviously might want to consider implementing similar programs, Katzmann said. While there are costs associated with starting and running Connect4Life, it has not only decreased hospitalizations but increased resident length of stay, Juniper has found. It also helped differentiate Juniper from competitors.\n\nThere\u2019s the potential for additional financial benefits down the road, Katzmann believes.\n\n\u201cThe magnitude of the savings we created suggests there are other ways of capturing ROI beyond length-of-stay and product differentiation,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen you look at the data we\u2019re releasing, you see massive savings, but under the model we use right now, we don\u2019t get those [dollars]. They accrue to the government and Medicare, not to us.\u201d\n\nKatzmann sees a few potential ways to change this situation. For instance, senior living providers could negotiate with an accountable care organization (ACO) to help manage its patient population, and receive payments from the ACO for hitting cost benchmarks.\n\nMedicare Advantage presents another opportunity. These are Medicare insurance plans run by private sector organizations such as UnitedHealthcare. MA plans are growing in popularity and they have some latitude in defining their scope of benefits, so this could be a logical starting point for greater senior housing involvement.\n\n\u201cWhat the government needs to do quickly is allow MA plans the flexibility to cover some of the services we provide,\u201d Katzmann said.\n\nSome senior care organizations have begun to offer their own MA plans, and this is something that Juniper might do down the road, she added.\n\nTumlinson also sees potential referral benefits for providers that can achieve outcomes like Juniper.\n\n\u201cIf I\u2019m in charge of population health, in charge of a managed care plan or special needs plan, or a program focused on managing a high-cost population, I should be going, \u2018Hey, which assisted living facility has invested in technology, in care coordination?\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cIf they\u2019ve done that, I\u2019m going to bring the primary care to them. I\u2019m going to bring them residents, because I want my population living there.\u201d\n\nNot a medical model\n\nWhile senior housing can and should coordinate with other the larger ecosystem of medical providers, this does not mean the industry needs to \u201cmedicalize\u201d its operational model, Katzmann emphasized. Juniper still operates on nearly a 100% private-pay basis, and it maintains a hospitality-forward look and feel.\n\n\u201cIf you were to come to our buildings today, you would not see a medical model,\u201d she said. \u201cEverybody [in the industry] has rehab, pharmacy services, allows home care aides to come in if residents need it. We do the same, except that we integrate it electronically and through an individual, our concierge, who does not walk around in a nurse\u2019s uniform.\u201d\n\nTumlinson rejects the notion that senior living needs to focus on hospitality more than health care, or vice-versa.\n\n\u201cI think this whole hospitality/health care split is false,\u201d she said. \u201cThe residents are at the center, their needs should be met, and there\u2019s growing acuity in assisted living. If you\u2019re being rushed to the hospital every time something happens, and you\u2019re 95, you can have all the most wonderful hospitality you want, but your resident is still not having good quality of life.\u201d\n\nAcuity is not only growing in assisted living, but in independent living, in skilled nursing, and in the aging U.S. population at large, Tumlinson emphasized. It\u2019s this large-scale shift in health care needs that really has her attention, and Katzmann\u2019s, as they look toward the evolving role of senior housing.\n\n\u201cSociety as a whole is thinking about curative medicine, and it needs to be thinking about enriched housing,\u201d Katzmann said. \u201cWhen you link service-enriched housing with chronic care management, and deal with functional impairment, you can avoid very high-cost interventions like hospitalization. These findings say senior housing has the potential to solve some of the big, intractable issues leading to the explosion in health care costs.\u201d\n\nWritten by Tim Mullaney", "output": "Senior living providers might have the secret sauce to save the Medicare program more than $15 billion each year. That\u2019s the message from Bloomfield, New Jersey-based Juniper Communities, which provides assisted living and memory care services at 22 communities in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Colorado and Florida.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Superhydrophilic water filter could bring down cost of fracking \n A new superhydrophilic filter has proven able to remove greater than 90 per cent of hydrocarbons, as well as all bacteria and particulates from contaminated water produced by hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations at shale oil and gas wells, according to researchers at the Energy Safety Research Institute at Swansea University in collaboration with researchers at Rice University.\n\nThe work by Prof Andrew R Barron and his colleagues turns a ceramic membrane with microscale pores into a superhydrophilic filter that \"essentially eliminates\" the common problem of fouling.\n\nThe researchers determined one pass through the membrane should clean contaminated water enough for reuse at a well, significantly cutting the amount that has to be stored or transported.\n\nThe work is reported in Nature's open-access Scientific Reports.\n\nThe filters keep emulsified hydrocarbons from passing through the material's ionically charged pores, which are about one-fifth of a micron wide, small enough that other contaminants cannot pass through. The charge attracts a thin layer of water that adheres to the entire surface of the filter to repel globules of oil and other hydrocarbons and keep it from clogging.\n\nA hydraulically fractured well uses more than 5 million gallons of water on average, of which only 10 to 15 per cent is recovered during the flow back stage, Barron said.\n\n\"This makes it very important to be able to re-use this water\"\n\nNot every type of filter reliably removes every type of contaminant, he said.\n\nSolubilized hydrocarbon molecules slip right through micro filters designed to remove bacteria. Natural organic matter, like sugars from guar gum used to make fracking fluids more viscous, require ultra- or nanofiltration, but those foul easily, especially from hydrocarbons that emulsify into globules. A multistage filter that could remove all the contaminants isn't practical due to cost and the energy it would consume.\n\nFrac water and produced waters represent a significant challenge on a technical level. If you use a membrane with pores small enough to separate they foul, and this renders the membrane useless. In our case, the superhydrophilic treatment results in an increased flux (flow) of water through the membrane as well as inhibiting any hydrophobic material - such as oil - from passing through. The difference in solubility of the contaminants thus works to allow for separation of molecules that should in theory pass through the membrane.\n\nBarron and his colleagues used cysteic acid to modify the surface of an alumina-based ceramic membrane, making it superhydrophilic, or extremely attracted to water. The superhydrophilic surface has a contact angle of 5 degrees.\n\nThe acid covered not only the surface but also the inside of the pores, and that kept particulates from sticking to them and fouling the filter.\n\nIn tests with fracking flow back or produced water that contained guar gum, the alumna membrane showed a slow initial decrease in flux -- a measure of the flow of mass through a material -- but it stabilized for the duration of lab tests. Untreated membranes showed a dramatic decrease within 18 hours.\n\nThe researchers theorized the initial decrease in flow through the ceramics was due to purging of air from the pores, after which the superhydrophilic pores trapped the thin layer of water that prevented fouling.\n\n\"This membrane doesn't foul, so it lasts,\" Barron said. \"It requires lower operating pressures, so you need a smaller pump that consumes less electricity. And that's all better for the environment.\"\n\n\"Fracking has proved highly controversial in the UK in part as a result of the pollution generated from produced waters\", co-author Darren Oatley-Radcliffe, an associate professor, at Swansea University, said, \"However, with this new super-hydrophilic membrane we can clean up this waste produced water to a very high standard and recycle all of the materials, significantly improving the environmental performance of the fracking process.\"\n\n###\n\nRice alumnus Samuel Maguire-Boyle is lead author of the paper. Co-authors are Rice alumnus Joseph Huseman; graduate student Thomas Ainscough at Swansea University, Wales; and Abdullah Alabdulkarem, of the Mechanical Engineering Department, and Sattam Fahad Al-Mojil, an assistant professor and environmental adviser, at King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Barron is the S\u00ear Cymru Chair of Low Carbon Energy and Environment at Swansea and the Charles W. Duncan Jr.-Welch Professor of Chemistry and a professor of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice.\n\nThe research was supported by the Welsh Government S\u00ear Cymru Program, FLEXIS, which is partially funded by the European Regional Development Fund, and the Robert A. Welch Foundation.\n\nNotes\n\nRead the abstract at http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-12499-w\n\nFor more information about ESRI go to http://www.esri-swansea.org/en/. Follow ESRI via Twitter @ESRI_Swansea\n\nSwansea University is a world-class, research-led, dual campus university. The University was established in 1920 and was the first campus university in the UK. It currently offers around 350 undergraduate courses and 350 postgraduate courses to circa 20,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students.\n\nThe University's 46-acre Singleton Park Campus is located in beautiful parkland with views across Swansea Bay. The University's 65-acre science and innovation Bay Campus, which opened in September 2015, is located a few miles away on the eastern approach to the city. It has the distinction of having direct access to a beach and its own seafront promenade. Both campuses are close to the Gower Peninsula, the UK's first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.\n\nSwansea is ranked the top university in Wales and is currently The Times and The Sunday Times 'Welsh University of the Year' for 2017. It is also ranked within the top 300 best universities in the world in the Times Higher Education World University rankings.\n\nThe results of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 showed the University has achieved its ambition to be a top 30 research University, soaring up the league table to 26th in the UK, with the 'biggest leap among research-intensive institutions' (Times Higher Education, December 2014) in the UK.\n\nThe University has ambitious expansion plans as it moves towards its centenary in 2020, as it continues to extend its global reach and realising its domestic and international ambitions.", "output": "UK researchers have developed a system for filtering water from fracking operations more effectively, helping to reduce pollution and waste. The scientists from the University of Swansea created a superhydrophilic filter that has a ceramic membrane with microscale pores, which uses ionic charges to prevent fouling. Just one pass through the membrane was able to clean contaminated water enough for it to be reused at a well, and the filter can operate at lower pressure, making the process substantially more efficient and environmentally friendly. Hydraulically fractured wells use large amounts of water, of which only about 10% to 15% is normally recoverable."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Connecticut accelerator offers insurtech start-ups $25,000 grants \n Startupbootcamp Launches InsurTech Accelerator in Hartford\n\nStartupbootcamp today announced the launch of its new InsurTech Accelerator in Hartford, designed specifically to rapidly scale insurance-focused technology startups. The InsurTech Accelerator, which is now accepting applications, has been established to attract new talent and technology to Hartford, one of the world\u2019s leading insurance centers, and will provide entrepreneurs with the support, resources, and industry and investor connections they need to help grow their business.\n\nFounding local partners of the InsurTech Accelerator are Cigna, The Hartford, Travelers, and CTNext. Additional corporate partners include USAA and White Mountains. The InsurTech Accelerator is part of Hartford InsurTech Hub, an initiative that was conceived of by a diverse set of executives from Hartford-area insurance carriers and other related firms, City of Hartford staff, and several other community stakeholders. Opportunities to help spur more InsurTech innovation activity in the region were identified by this group, and action against these goals was catalyzed by investment from CTNext: Connecticut\u2019s Innovation Ecosystem.\n\nEach year, 10 to 12 startups will be accepted into the three-month intensive accelerator program in Hartford, and will receive an initial cash grant of $25,000, co-working space for each startup team, and access to Startupbootcamp\u2019s global network of mentors and investors. To be eligible for the program, entrepreneurs must have a working prototype and have secured startup funding from other sources ranging from $150,000 to $500,000.\n\n\u201cStartupbootcamp is a global brand name in innovation and entrepreneurship, and their decision to launch their first InsurTech accelerator in North America here in Hartford is really significant for our City and for the State of Connecticut,\u201d said Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin. \u201cToday\u2019s announcement is the direct result of the strong partnership we\u2019ve been building between our insurance companies, our educational institutions, and the City of Hartford. Working hand in hand with the private sector, our goal is to make Hartford the capital of insurance innovation, and the launch of this InsurTech accelerator is a big part of that strategy. Our focus on InsurTech is just one part of a broader effort to make Hartford a center of innovation, not only in the insurance sector, but also in advanced manufacturing and healthcare \u2013 areas where the Greater Hartford region has tremendous strength. I\u2019m grateful to all of the partners who came together to make today\u2019s announcement possible.\u201d\n\nThe program will reach beyond Connecticut and leverage Startupbootcamp\u2019s global network, including resources in New York City and Miami, where Startupbootcamp FinTech and Digital Health programs reside. Entrepreneurs participating in the InsurTech Accelerator will also benefit from the experience that Startupbootcamp has gained through its globally-respected InsurTech Accelerator in London.\n\nSabine VanderLinden, CEO, Startupbootcamp InsurTech, said: \u201cI am thrilled to support a unique initiative in Hartford that brings together ecosystem development, startup acceleration and corporate engagement. We are fortunate to be working with some of the most renowned insurance brands in the United States to continue building entrepreneurial talents within the insurance and technology space. During the past two years, we have seen increased and speedier engagements between fast-moving insurers and those startups that have propositions clearly aligned to corporate entities\u2019 needs. Our goal is to reflect on our learning, select international ventures that can foster an innovation spirit within the City of Hartford\u2019s new InsurTech hub and build a spirit of collaboration and the entrepreneurial community in a City that has so many insurers gathered in one place.\u201d\n\n\u201cUSAA is always looking for opportunities to work with innovative companies, entrepreneurs and organizations. Our goal is to learn, test and implement new products so we can better serve our members,\u201d said Jon-Michael Kowall, assistance vice president of innovation, USAA. \u201cWe are excited to see what can come out of this relationship and what types of problems we can solve for our members.\u201d\n\n\u201cNew technologies and applications are creating significant opportunities for the insurance industry,\u201d said Brian MacLean, President and Chief Operating Officer of Travelers. \u201cWe\u2019re focused on innovation, advancing our digital agenda and making investments in technology, products, people and partnerships. The InsurTech Accelerator is one of those investments, and we\u2019re proud to be a part of the city\u2019s initiative to support economic growth and help attract new talent and businesses to the area.\u201d\n\n\u201cCigna is investing in the InsurTech Accelerator to connect us with local technology start-ups and entrepreneurs who can help us drive innovation that advances our mission for improving the health, well-being and sense of security for our more than 95 million customer relationships around the globe,\u201d said Cigna Executive Vice President and Global Chief Information Officer Dr. Mark Boxer. \u201cTo put a new turn on an old phrase, we\u2019re innovating locally to serve our customers globally.\u201d\n\nDevi Mohanty, vice president of Strategy and Innovation for The Hartford said: \u201cAs an insurer based in Hartford for more than 200 years, we are pleased to be part of the team bringing this innovation to Greater Hartford. Technology continues to change the way insurers engage with customers and underwrite and price risk. The InsurTech Accelerator will enable us to embrace the new technologies and continue to advance our industry.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis is exactly the type of public-private partnership we wanted to catalyze through our Innovation Places program,\" said Glendowlyn Thames, Executive Director of CTNext. \"We are thrilled to see the East Hartford/Hartford Innovation Place Initiative, one of the winning communities, so quickly leverage the program\u2019s resources and work in partnership with the private sector to ultimately create new jobs, grow tax revenue and establish itself as a next-generation hub of innovation within the insurance industry.\"", "output": "Startupbootcamp has launched the InsurTech Accelerator, an incubation programme for insurtech companies based in Hartford, Connecticut. The programme was established in partnership with insurers Cigna, The Hartford, and Travelers\u00a0as well as\u00a0Connecticut entrepreneur support company CTNext. The InsurTech Accelerator will offer successful applicants\u00a0a three-month programme including\u00a0a $25,000 grant\u00a0and a co-working space. Eligible applicants must already have a prototype of their product and funding from other sources.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Investors trapped as hyperinflation fears return to Zimbabwe \n Harare\n\nDejection, hopelessness and desperation are written over the faces of the majority of Zimbabweans as they queue up for fuel and foodstuffs that have become scarce across the country amid fears that the country has started to slide back into the 2008 hyper-inflation era.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nEven bitcoin rates, which some ordinary Zimbabweans have turned to as a storage of value, has started to soar on a local Zimbawean exchange Bitcoinfundi. It was up to $5,600 for a bitcoin versus $4080 per bitcoin on the Coinbase global index. The discrepancy is caused by the difficulty Zimbabweans will have in cashing out their bitcoins locally.\n\nPresident Robert Mugabe on Monday (Sep.25) promised to deal with the current wave of foodstuff and fuel shortages in double quick time. He blamed \u201ceconomic saboteurs\u201d for the sudden worsening of the economic situation, ordering retailers to speedily reduce prices or face action from the government.\n\nThis has however brought little cheer to crisis weary Zimbabweans who are faced with further cuts to drug supplies, electricity and other commodities thanks to forex shortages despite the government asking platinum and chrome miners to surrender about three quarters of their forex earnings to the central bank. Anglo Platinum and Impala Platinum\u2014the world\u2019s biggest miners of the precious metal\u2014will be affected by this although they are in negotiations with the government over this.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nInvestors in Zimbabwe\u2019s economy are also trying to run for cover as they empty their portfolios. But others are stuck in Zimbabwe as they cannot repatriate funds out of the country, with British American Tobacco and Delta Corporation being the notable affected companies.\n\nThe justification is that it is better to use cash resources now than hold onto them and watch them lose value. Zimbabwe introduced local bond notes last year which initially traded at par with the US Dollar but these have been losing value fast in the past few weeks.\n\nZimbabwe is expecting economic growth of 2.7% this year, driven by a better agricultural season, stronger mining production and improving tourist arrivals but economists say the current wave of uncertainty and constraints being faced by businesses will stiffle growth.\n\nBut it is not just the bigger investors and established businesses that have been affected by Zimbabwe\u2019s falling economy. Pensioners and workers have also been affected as they have to do with being turned away from banks because lenders frequently run out of cash and have instituted daily withdrawal limits of $50 when the cash is available.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cIt has become very difficult for the public to access cash from banks. People are not even accessing their salaries and the worst scenario is that pensioners, some as old as 80 are sleeping outside banks,\u201d Peter Mutasa, president of trade union, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) said on Tuesday.\n\nZimbabwe\u2019s unemployment has ballooned to over 80% and the ZCTU says continued value loss in the bond notes and foreign currency shortages will \u201ccondemn more than 90% of the population which survives on informal activities into destitution\u201d.\n\n\u201cThe avenging spirit of 2008 needs to be exorcised before it wipes out our dignity. The country is in this predicament largely because of fiscal indiscipline that is being driven by a culture of consumerism by a broke and clueless government,\u201d underscored Mutasa.", "output": "Companies including JPMorgan, Franklin Templeton, British American Tobacco, Delta and Allan Gray are being prevented from repatriating\u00a0funds from Zimbabwe even as residents\u00a0pour\u00a0money into the local\u00a0stock market, amid fears another bout of hyperinflation may be imminent. President Robert Mugabe's government has begun printing hundreds of millions of new bond notes, evoking memories of the collapse of the country's currency a decade ago, when inflation hit 500 billion per cent. Zimbabweans seeking to preserve their capital are investing in gold, property and shares, and\u00a0bitcoin rates are soaring on local\u00a0exchange Bitcoinfundi."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China Mobile in talks to buy Brazilian telecoms operator Oi \n Get the free newsletter\n\nSubscribe for top news, trends, and exclusive discounts on our events\n\n", "output": "China Mobile is in early talks to buy struggling Brazilian telecoms operator Oi and has met regulator Anatel to discuss this and other options for further investments in Brazil, sources have said.\u00a0Oi filed for bankruptcy protection in June last year\u00a0and so far it has been unsuccessful in agreeing a\u00a0recovery plan with creditors. China Mobile, on the other hand, is now the\u00a0world's biggest\u00a0mobile operator, with a local\u00a0customer base of 873.73 million as of\u00a0the end of August. Oi has a 23% market share for fixed line broadband, the third biggest in Brazil, and a 17.4% share of mobile customers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ping An Technology targets 50% of sales from external business \n In May, Ping An Insurance announced the appointment of Jonathan Larsen, former head of retail banking and mortgages at Citigroup, as its chief innovation officer. Photo: Jonathan Wong", "output": "China-based Ping An Technology, a subsidiary of Ping An Insurance, is hoping half of its business can be represented by external companies making use of its data and technology offerings. The subsidiary was established as an in-house technology provider in 2008 and has since developed services such as facial recognition technology, which the firm uses for offerings like its wealth management and online-lending platform Lufax. Roughly a quarter of its current business for facial recognition technology is derived from external clients."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BMW to roll out wireless charging pads for 530e hybrid \n BMW is close to rolling out wireless charging on one of its cars \u2014 and this time, it doesn\u2019t involve phones. That feature is already there, but being able to wirelessly charge your car is new.\n\nIt really is a big charging pad for a 530e iPerformance plug-in hybrid. The BMW pad connects to a 220-volt outlet, then the sensors on the car show you where to steer so the vehicle can communicate with the charger, as shown in this video.\n\nAccording to BMW, the 9.4kWh battery in the 530e can be charged in about 3.5 hours at 3.2kW of power, or close to the level you\u2019d get if you just plugged the car in with a cord.\n\nA BMW North America spokesperson told The Verge in an email that the technology depicted in the video is still in the testing and evaluation phase for the US and Canada. It still needs UL approval, too.\n\nIn other countries, BMW plans to launch the wireless charging system early next year, but only on the 530e iPerformance plug-in hybrid sedan. Other iPerformance PHEVs \u2014which include the 330e, 740e, and X5 \u2014 as well as the i3 and i8 electric vehicles are set to be offered with the system later.\n\nWhile it\u2019s still a few years away from being even available here, and there\u2019s no word on what it might cost when it does arrive, BMW is still about to be one of the first manufacturers offer wireless vehicle charging from the factory on a model.", "output": "BMW is to launch a wireless charging system for its 530e iPerformance plug-in hybrid. The charging pad connects to a 220-volt outlet and\u00a0BMW said\u00a0the car's\u00a09.4 kWh battery\u00a0can be charged within 3.5 hours at a rate of\u00a03.2 kW. The technology is not yet available in North America\u00a0as it requires\u00a0safety certification but BMW is planning to launch the pads in other countries next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Houston geophysics conference showcases exploration technologies \n The Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) International Exposition and 87th Annual Meeting in Houston provides an avenue to showcase and share new technical insights and business developments across multiple disciplines of the geosciences sector. The following is a sampling of some of the new technologies and products that will be showcased at the conference this year.\n\nEditor\u2019s note: The copy herein is contributed from service companies and does not reflect the opinions of Hart Energy.\n\nDigital seismic system receives upgrade\n\nDesigner and manufacturer Avalon Sciences Ltd. (ASL) delivers borehole seismic technology with a specific focus on vertical seismic profiling and downhole microseismic equipment. At booth 2320 at the SEG conference ASL will be presenting the latest hardware, including an update on the new 3-component downhole fiber-optic system (BOSS) and the new X-Series modular upgrade to the Geochain system. The X-Series will deliver tool functionality enhancements to clients\u2019 existing Geochain inventory, namely upgrading the downhole tool temperature rating to 196 C (385 F), along with improved telemetry performance and integrated high-side indicators to give real-time tool roll and inclination values within every satellite. Combined with the company\u2019s new ultrahigh-pressure 35,000-psi Advanced Seismic Receiver, the new X-Geochain is designed to be one of the most robust wireline seismic tools for operation in the most hostile of well environments. avalonsciences.com\n\nFWI, least-squares migration a focus at SEG\n\nAt SEG 2017 CGG will showcase some of its latest imaging technologies including reflection-based full-waveform inversion (RFWI) and least-squares migration (LSM). Both technologies have been applied to some of CGG\u2019s most recent JumpStart integrated multiclient geoscience programs, including Encontrado in the Southern Gulf of Mexico. In complex areas FWI provides significant uplift in velocity model accuracy, particularly in the shallow sediment section. Recent advances using RFWI have delivered significant improvement in deeper sections below complex structures such as mobile shales or massive salt bodies. CGG also has made extensive advances in LSM technology, which can provide substantial improvements to both image quality and amplitude fidelity. For more information, see the six CGG papers on RFWI and LSM in the SEG 2017 technical program. cgg.com\n\nRFWI enhances the imaging of the complex Perdido fold belt structures and underlying reservoirs in the Encontrado program. (Source: CGG Multi-Client & New Ventures)\n\nTransforming end-user geoscience\n\nAs the oil and gas industry embraces increased digitalization across the hydrocarbon value chain, the geoscience community needs more computing power at its disposal to manage the exponential increase in captured seismic and operational data but without the burden of being forced to locate teams where the computing power traditionally is. Geoscience benefits greatly when workflows are executed in close proximity to the field, and this is accomplished using three end-user computing modes: 1) regional geoscience, where teams share computing resources through high-visualization virtual desktop infrastructure; 2) remote operations, where offshore and environmentally challenged locations require computing through self-contained appliances; and 3) enhanced immersive geoscience, where virtual and augmented reality technologies increase the level of data interaction, understanding and geoscience collaboration in a practical, material way. Dell EMC is demonstrating end-user geoscience transformation at SEG 2017 booth 1101 using its Petrotechnical IT Solution Suite. dellemc.com\n\nTriple-combo log suite categorizes porosity components\n\nIt is commonly recognized that unconventional reservoir systems have mixed wetting\u2014both a water-wet fraction and an oil-wet fraction. Analysis of rock samples has been used for many years to measure reservoir wetting (Kumar et al. 2015). However, there are no available petrophysical techniques for wetting categorization using readily available logging suites. In 2016 (AAPG, Las Vegas) using triple-combo logs Digital Formation presented data from a number of unconventional reservoirs categorizing the porosity component that is water-wet and recognizing another component that is oil-wet. The oil-wet component is organic porosity generated from the total organic carbon during the thermal maturation process. This organic porosity has not been previously calculated in standard petrophysical analysis. The approach has very significant applications to the study of flow characteristics of unconventional reservoirs. The amounts of porosity that are oil-wet and water-wet can be quantified level by level. Each component will have markedly different flow characteristics to derive a combined response for the total system. digitalformation.com\n\nVisualize, manipulate and interpret data within single software platform\n\nHow are you figuring out which zones your competitors\u2019 wells are landing in and producing from? How are you measuring well interference? Are you using geoscience and engineering data to predict and optimize future results? Imagine a tool that could use deviation surveys and gridded geologic surfaces to precisely locate horizontal wellbores and calculate geometric attributes for each, such as distance to nearest fault, percent in zone and more in minutes. Or imagine a tool that allowed quick but sophisticated identification and quantification of interfering well pairs or perhaps a tool that was customdesigned to integrate geology, geophysics and engineering data in a rigorous multivariate analytics workflow to predict the best \u201crecipe\u201d for wells in a specific area. With DI Transform these tools are a reality. With 3-D visualization and functionality to solve today\u2019s challenges DI Transform is designed to help companies throughout the oil patch deliver better answers and results. info.drillinginfo.com\n\nDI Transform\u2019s geoscience and engineering tools help users meet today\u2019s resource play development challenges. (Source: Drillinginfo)\n\nSystem improves depth penetration and resolution\n\nEMGS has completed the development of the next-generation electromagnetic (EM) source system. Deep Blue was developed within a joint industry project (JIP) with Shell and Statoil with the goal of significantly improving the depth penetration and resolution compared to existing EM systems. The new deep-towed source can operate in water depths up to 4,000 m (13,123 ft), and the depth of penetration will increase up to 1.5 km (.93 mile) in most geological settings. Deep Blue not only impacts deep exploration targets but also near-field exploration and field appraisals, where resolution and sensitivity requirements are higher. Following a successful technology trial offshore Norway, which confirmed improvements in data quality and prospect imaging, the JIP partners entered a commercialization agreement. The first commercial survey using the next-generation EM source system was recently completed in an area offshore Norway. emgs.com\n\nThe EMGS Deep Blue source (left) is shown being deployed for its first commercial survey offshore Norway. The EMGS conventional source is shown on the right. (Source: EMGS)\n\nImport data, co-visualize information\n\nCanopy Geoscience is a software platform for building geoscience applications using Python. The platform provides tools to import geoscience data and co-visualize information spanning multiple disciplines such as geophysics, petrophysics and reservoir engineering. This eliminates the limitations of domain-specific solutions and accelerates the delivery of innovative data analysis workflows to oil and gas companies. The Python scientific software ecosystem provides a wide range of tools to rapidly take research ideas from the whiteboard to deployed applications. Leverage existing geoscience toolkits including seismic processing, geostatistics and reservoir simulation. Incorporate the latest artificial intelligence techniques and machine learning models using scikit-image, TensorFlow, Keras and more. Users can give their existing Python scripts a custom user interface and deploy easy-to-use applications to their team. Canopy Geoscience is extensible, and plugins can be written to extend the capabilities of the application. Enthought builds custom software for oil and gas companies that are deployed on Canopy Geoscience. enthought.com\n\nCanopy Geoscience integrates data input/output and visualization in a Python environment for building innovative geoscience applications. (Source: Enthought)\n\nFlexibility, scalability and safety in OBN acquisition\n\nFairfieldNodal has extended its ZNodal Technology portfolio to include ZXPLR, an ocean-bottom node (OBN) capable of dual-mode deployment. New efficiencies in deployment and node handling will create more cost-effective opportunities to acquire the long-offset, full-azimuth and densely sampled data characteristic of OBN acquisition. In a deepwater configuration ZXPLR is designed to significantly improve node deployment, recovery and HSE exposure by increasing high-speed loader (HSL) payloads, employing mid-water docking and active heave controls on HSL and ROV systems. In shallow-water configuration ZXPLR features automated retrieval and deployment with safe and efficient handsfree rope connection and disconnection. Overall survey and back deck management systems have been improved, and onboard data quality control has been largely automated, enabling onboard processors to quickly and consistently verify node data. fairfieldnodal.com\n\nMarine vibrator generates seismic energy equivalent to airguns\n\nThe environmental impact of subsea noise can be significant\u2014 high-amplitude impulsive sources can mask animal calls and may cause temporary hearing loss or changes in animal behavior. The Geokinetics AquaVib marine vibrator is a towable marine source that generates seismic energy equivalent to airguns at significantly reduced sound pressure levels and at frequencies below the hearing range of most marine species. The AquaVib subarray consists of two Triton vibrators and one lower frequency Subton, each with different response characteristics and resonant frequencies. Advanced controller systems enable precision acoustic output while providing real-time feedback to ensure high levels of acoustic quality control. AquaVib is designed for water depths as little as 1 m (3.28 ft), delivering performance and reliability in challenging transition zones, lakes and shallow-water OBN surveys. geokinetics.com\n\nTechnology results to be featured at conference\n\nGeophysical Insights will be showcasing the application of two important results that are the product of applying Paradise machine learning technology on multiple seismic attributes simultaneously at single sample resolution: discrimination direct hydrocarbon indicators (DHIs) and identifying thinbeds below classic seismic tuning at SEG 2017. DHIs are seismic anomalies due to the presence of hydrocarbons and caused by changes in rock physic properties. The accurate interpretation of DHI characteristics has proven to significantly improve the success rates of drilling commercial wells. Paradise incorporates attribute generation and multi-attribute analysis using self-organizing maps. Likewise, the identification of features below classic seismic tuning (thinbeds) is enabled by multi-attribute analysis and is not restricted to resolution limits of conventional amplitude data. Both of these capabilities have profound consequences on interpretation, which will be addressed in presentations at the company\u2019s booth 301 and are described in recent papers. geoinsights.com\n\nSelf-organizing maps enable interpreters to clearly identify thinbeds and edge effects associated with DHI characteristics such as hydrocarbons contacts, transition from hydrocarbon to brine portions of the reservoir and even more accurate hydrocarbon volumetric calculations. (Source: Geophysical Insights)\n\nProducing multiple possible geological realizations\n\nIkon Science will be releasing a new stochastic version of RokDoc Ji-Fi technology. The flagship joint impedance and facies inversion technology (Ji-Fi), which requires no low-frequency background model, generates multiple equi-probable realizations of facies and elastic properties from seismic and geological input data. This new release delivers a host of statistical analysis features to assess rock and hydrocarbon volumes along with facies and rock property uncertainty. RokDoc Ji-Fi brings 21st century seismic data analysis to subsurface teams working in exploration, near-field, development and production drilling. Other enhancements to RokDoc Ji-Fi this fall include spatially varying wavelet and noise fields and a new, more intuitive and user-friendly interface. Furthermore, the 2017 software supports high-performance computing solutions on both large-scale cluster and cloud computing environments. ikonscience.com\n\nStochastic inversion allows uncertainty in reservoir properties to be taken into account, producing multiple possible geological realizations. (Source: Ikon Science)\n\nCollaboration leads to nodal acquisition system\n\nA collaboration between INOVA Geophysical and Innoseis has enabled development of a new, fully featured autonomous nodal acquisition system. The system leverages iX1 command and control software from INOVA and Tremornet from Innoseis to create a new system called Quantum. iX1 provides hardware and software functionality for all types of onshore seismic operations plus nodal data download and management and in-field operational tools. iX1 also provides integrated source control and is compatible with INOVA\u2019s existing cable and cableless acquisition ground equipment facilitating a single system infrastructure for hybrid deployments. Quantum is the industry\u2019s lightest and lowest power nodal sensor enabling fast, cost-effective seismic recording. These attributes make dense receiver deployment economically feasible resulting in a higher resolution seismic image. The Quantum system provides users with a new acquisition technology, supported worldwide by INOVA, that is designed to deliver lower costs, greater operational flexibility and improved image quality. inovageo.com\n\nAccelerate development of web-based data visualization\n\nINT offers the only digital framework\u2014IVAAP\u2014which unlocks significant value for E&P with a modern, cloudbased platform to help companies achieve the lowest TCO and highest operational performance. IVAAP\u2019s modular and scalable microservices architecture accelerates the development of data visualization and analysis solutions so users can replace outdated legacy platforms quickly and easily. IVAAP aggregates and streams multiple data sources in real time, including WITSML, and the HTML5 client uses GeoToolkit libraries\u2014the industry standard\u2014to build powerful visualizations, including well logs, histograms, schematics, 2-D/3-D and more. With no installation needed, users can set up and analyze their data in minutes. Cloud-enabled and network-secure, IVAAP allows teams to collaborate remotely and helps companies optimize their E&P processes. int.com\n\nIVAAP is a digital framework that accelerates the development of web-based data visualization and analysis solutions for upstream E&P users. (Source: INT)\n\nNew technique for thin layer interpretation, hydrocarbon detection\n\nLumina\u2019s PhaseDecomp is a direct hydrocarbon and sweet spot indicator that offers a new technique for thin layer interpretation and hydrocarbon detection by making subtle amplitude effects highly visible. By separating the seismic trace amplitudes into unique phase components (akin to spectral decomposition\u2019s frequency components), phase attributes that accentuate otherwise subtle amplitude anomalies are produced. Lateral changes in lithology, porosity and fluid content all affect amplitude and phase of the seismic data. Amplitude anomalies become more recognizable when interpreted on individual phase component volumes. Hydrocarbon effects are commonly separated on the -90 phase component, while water contacts could be more readily observed in the 180 phase component. With this improved seismic interpretation technique, hydrocarbon volumetrics and reserves calculation is more precise, and exploration risk is reduced. luminageo.us/v2\n\nThe left image is a stacked seismic section, and the right is the -90 phase component showing bright amplitudes at hydrocarbon accumulations. (Source: Lumina Geophysical)\n\nReal-time notification of seismicity\n\nNanometrics\u2019 developments in processing and noise-suppression techniques fully utilize the power of broadband seismometers, which allow cost-effective passive fracture imaging, giving users fracturing diagnostics at a fraction of the price of costly and riskier downhole monitoring. The company operates the largest private arrays in the world by which operators can share installation costs while maintaining state and provincial regulatory compliance. Real-time risk management is best accomplished through dense monitoring arrays (private or shared), allowing operators to monitor themselves. Nanometrics will be at SEG at booth 1909. nanometrics.ca\n\nImproving asset team effectiveness\n\nAt SEG Paradigm will feature some of the advanced technologies in its Paradigm 17 release, designed to improve asset team effectiveness and results. These include incorporating machine learning into the interpretation platform for facies classification. Another workflow presented lets users realize the full value of chronostratigraphic modeling by combining chronostratigraphic interpretation and modeling without approximations. The company will present broadband deghosting in a high-resolution seismic processing, imaging and inversion workflow. Paradigm will also show the value of in situ full-azimuth imaging for different geologic regimes and demonstrate how to improve field decisions through precision depthing with travel time-preserving tomography. Advanced SKUA-GOCAD technologies will be presented, including stochastic refinement and inversion for better vertical resolution and probabilistic outcomes, the use of integrated reservoir modeling to improve horizontal well placement, and other new offerings. Finally, the company will show how Paradigm software running on the cloud provides an optimal solution to the demanding requirements of the oil and gas E&P industry. pdgm.com\n\nSeismic vector array used to characterize, monitor subsurface\n\nAt SEG Paulsson Inc. will showcase a borehole vector-seismic all-optical array consisting of a small-diameter drillpipe- based deployment system that includes a hydraulic clamping mechanism for the sensor pods, an optical sensor pod design, a fiber-optic seismic vector sensor, distributed temperature sensors, distributed acoustic sensors and optical pressure sensors. In combination, these technologies allow the deployment of an ultralarge number of 3-component seismic sensor pods and distributed optical sensor arrays in vertical, deviated or horizontal wells. Laboratory and field tests of the fiber-optic seismic vector sensors have shown that the optical borehole seismic sensor technology can generate high vector fidelity data with extremely large bandwidth\u20140.01 Hz to 10,000 Hz. Benefits include a proven capability to record micro-seismic data at magnitudes much smaller than M-4.0 at frequencies more than 2,000 Hz at temperatures more than 300 C (572 F). paulsson.com\n\nThe Paulsson team deploys an all-optical vector seismic and distributed optical sensor array into a deviated borehole drilled into a Michigan reef to monitor a CO 2 flood. (Source: Paulsson)\n\nGeoscience application software increases efficiency\n\nSeisWare and Recon software is an integrated geophysical and geological interpretation package used by geophysicists and geologists. SeisWare International Inc. developed a patented technology called Cascade Technology. Any changes to interpretation immediately update within the company\u2019s interactive windows while re-gridding all of the user\u2019s structural surfaces on the fly. This is designed to greatly reduce the time it takes for geologists to do quality control and increases efficiency and accuracy of interpretation. seisware.com\n\nImproving subsalt images in the GoM\n\nNew long-offset and dual wide-azimuth (WAZ) acquisitions combined with a geologically sound velocity modeling strategy provides unprecedented insights into the subsalt of the Mississippi Canyon region of the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). Salt structures can be complicated but, once they are built, can simplify the geologic model. Completely reworking some salt tectonic structures enhances the image, particularly in the Mesozoic section. It is critical that concepts are tested and proven successful for the resulting migrated image. Certain types of improvements stand out. Refinement of the shallow salt shape and especially of shallow overhangs uplifts the local subsalt image. Salt-stock geometries are addressed, and in some cases shapes are simplified. Salt wings and early Miocene canopy structures are reevaluated. The common hourglass shape of vertical stocks is simplified, widening the \u201cwaist,\u201d vastly improving the base-salt image at the Louann level and permitting presalt imaging. tgs.com\n\nSalt interpretation for velocity model building using long-offset multi-WAZ data improves the subsalt image in the eastern Mississippi Canyon in the GoM. (Source: TGS)\n\nOnshore seismic data acquisition enhanced\n\nWireless Seismic has enhanced and expanded the industry\u2019s only fully scalable wireless seismic recording systems with realtime data transmission. The RT2 system now features new hardware developed to significantly reduce the wireless recording unit power consumption, resulting in less capex and greater efficiencies. One fully charged standard six-cell battery now operates a wireless recording unit for 25-plus days. Wireless Seismic is also a collaboration partner with Total E&P Research & Development and Geokinetics for the next-generation land seismic acquisition and processing system Multiphysics Exploration Technology Integrated System (METIS). Wireless Seismic provides the real-time seismic recording infrastructure that supports the 150,000-plus real-time channels required by METIS deployments; the high-speed, real-time radio telemetry system based on its next-generation radio technology; and the seismic recording channel called Downfall Air Receiver Technology (DART) deployed from aerial drones. wirelessseismic.com", "output": "A range of new geoscience and exploration technologies are to be showcased at a forthcoming event being organised by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists in Houston, Texas. This includes DI Transform\u2019s geoscience and engineering tools, which allow users to precisely locate horizontal well bores and calculate geometric attributes for them, using deviation surveys and gridded geologic surfaces. Also highlighted at the event is electromagnetic source system EMGS Deep Blue, which is capable of operating at depths of\u00a04,000 metres\u00a0and has a depth of penetration of up to 1.5 km.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Price comparison site investigated over contracts with insurers \n Video report by ITV News Consumer Editor Chris Choi\n\nA price comparison website is to be investigated by the competition watchdog over its contractual arrangements with insurers that could be resulting in consumers paying more for home insurance.\n\nThe unnamed site may be stopping the insurer's products being made available more cheaply on other comparison sites, restricting competition and causing higher prices, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) suspects.\n\nIt also warned that it will take \"enforcement action\" against firms that break the law.\n\nIn its final report into the use of price comparison sites, the antitrust watchdog's wider findings include setting clear \"ground rules\" for all online comparison tools.\n\nThis includes communicating how they plan to use people's personal data, and clearly displaying important information like price and product description.\n\nThe principle recommendations of the CMA's report demands that all sites should be clear about how they make money, how many deals they're displaying and how they are ordering the results.\n\nIt should also be made as \"easy as possible\" for people to make effective comparisons or use different sites, the CMA said.\n\nAndrea Coscelli, CMA chief executive, added: \"Our study has found that most people in the UK have used a comparison site at least once, so it is vital that everyone gets the benefits they deserve.\n\n\"The good news is that more than 90% of the people we surveyed were very or fairly satisfied with the sites they used.\n\n\"But we have also found that improvements are needed to help people get even better deals.\"", "output": "The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is investigating an unnamed insurance comparison site over concerns about its contractual arrangement with certain insurance providers. It is possible agreements between the comparison site and insurers may be obstructing policies appearing on other price comparison sites at a cheaper price. This potentially is causing UK consumers to pay more for their home insurance policies. The CMA has also noted the need to lay out ground rules for comparison sites, including transparency about pricing and how customer data is treated. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "India's Reliance Capital explores uses for blockchain \n Home\n\nNews\n\nAgencies\n\nReliance Capital to launch standalone health insurance arm\n\nReliance Capital to launch standalone health insurance arm\n\nMumbai, Sep 26 (PTI) Reliance Capital, the financial services arm of the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group, is planning to launch a standalone health insurance venture.The company already offers health i\n\nMumbai, Sep 26 (PTI) Reliance Capital, the financial services arm of the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group, is planning to launch a standalone health insurance venture.\n\nThe company already offers health insurance products and the move to have a standalone offering is to increase retail presence in the already cluttered mediclaim segment.\n\nYou may like to read\n\nAddressing the shareholders at his maiden annual general meeting here today, Jai Anmol Ambani, who is an executive director of the company, said the move is aimed at creating a retail focused entity in this space.\n\n\u201cTo create retail focus we are setting up a standalone health insurance company. We have already received round one approval from the regulator IRDAI. We expect to become operational beginning early next year,\u201d Ambani said.\n\nHe also said the company is actively exploring new age technologies like blockchain and artificial intelligence in this financial services verticals and the company has already deployed IoT (Internet of Things) solutions across few use cases and are seeing great results.\n\n\u201cDigital is going to help us bridge the gap between customers\u2019 expectations and service delivery. We will not only match their expectations but surpass and delight them,\u201d he said.\n\nOn Reliance Home Finance, which was listed last week, he said the focus going forward will be on affordable housing.\n\nHe said the public issue of Reliance General Insurance is on course, having received the IRDAI approval for the same.\n\nThe listing will take place in the current financial year itself, he added.\n\nClaiming that Reliance Capital is in a leadership position across all its business, Ambani said the aim is to be ranked in the top 3 within their respective industries in the near future.\n\nHe said Reliance AMC is already the No.1 asset manager in the country with an asset under management (AUM) of around Rs 3.5 trillion and has one of the highest retail AUMs amongst mutual funds.\n\nThis is published unedited from the PTI feed.\n\nFor breaking news and live news updates, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and Instagram. Read more on Latest News on India.com.", "output": "Reliance Capital, the financial services affiliate of India-based Reliance Group is exploring the possibility of using blockchain technology, according to Jai Anmol Ambani, an executive director at the company. The firm is also looking at making use of artificial intelligence, Ambani said during the firm's annual general meeting. The firm already makes use of the internet of things across its product and services lineup."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Green bond issuance to jump 35% in 2017: BNEF \n This article first appeared on the BNEF mobile app and the Bloomberg Terminal.\n\nOver $96 billion of green bonds have been issued this year\n\nAnother $39 billion of green bonds are expected by year-end\n\nAnnual green bond issuance by issuer/bond type\n\nSource: Bloomberg New Energy Finance\n\nAnnual green bond issuance will hit triple digits for the first time this year. Bloomberg New Energy Finance\u2019s most recent Green Bond analysis finds $96 billion in issuance so far this year, and expects another $39 billion in new green bonds before the end of the year. That $135 billion annual total would be a 36% increase in issuance from 2016. Bonds are tagged on the Terminal according to Bloomberg\u2019s green bond criteria, which assesses the use of bond proceeds against international green principles. Southern Company subsidiary Southern Power Co is the largest U.S. issuer to date, having sold over $3 billion worth of green notes to fund investments in power generation since 2015.\n\nClients can access the full report here.\n\nBNEF Shorts are research excerpts available only on the BNEF mobile app and the Bloomberg Terminal, highlighting key findings from our reports. If you would like to learn more about our services, please contact us.", "output": "The annual value of green bonds issued is predicted to pass the $100bn mark for the first time this year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The company has recorded $96bn of the bonds issued so far in 2017, and expects another $39bn to be issued by the end of the year. The total of \u00a3135bn would represent a 35% increase on last year, with the largest single issuer in the US being Southern Power, which has sold over \u00a33bn since 2015."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Human involvement may mean less regulation for robo-advisers \n Latest News OPINION: Do Robo-Advisors Need Regulation?\n\nThere is nothing like new technology to overturn the apple cart of precedent-based regulation.\n\nUS legislators and regulators have spent more than 75 years developing a framework in which investment advisers act as fiduciaries who give personalized investment advice based on the best interests of their clients.\n\nIt was only a matter of time with the advancements in artificial intelligence and cloud computing that the advent of robo advisors would eventually test the flexibility of the existing regulatory framework.\n\nNot surprisingly, changing the framework, which incorporates the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, the Investment Adviser Act of 1940, the Investment Company Act of 1940, and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, is daunting, noted Melanie L. Fein, the author of four recently published white papers regarding the regulation of robo advisors.\n\nFein found that regulators need to clarify their fiduciary standards regarding robo advisers as well as the standards for \u201csuitability\u201d and \u201cbest interest\u201d as well.\n\nHowever, does this boil down to semantics? Many people in the financial services industry bandy about \u201crobo advisers\u201d as if everyone has agreed upon its definition.\n\nUnder Section 203 of the Investment Adviser Act, an investment adviser is \u201cany person who, for compensation, engages in the business of advising others, either directly or through publications or writings, as to the value of securities or as the advisability of investing in purchasing, or sell securities, or who, for compensation and as apart of a regular business, issues or promulgates analyses or reports concerning securities\u2026\u201d\n\nCurrent robo advisor offerings do not tick every box of the definition, especially the \u201cfor compensation,\u201d portion.\n\nThe term itself, robo advisor, makes one think that it would replace living breathing investment advisers lock, stock, and barrel.\n\nCurrent robo advisor offerings are tools that automate portions of an investment advisor workload, such as onboarding clients, offering what-if analysis for client portfolios, and fielding client inquiries. In other areas of financial services, insiders would call it straight-through processing.\n\nOne could argue that once a particular portion of an investment advisor\u2019s functions is automated than those aggregated tools would be equivalent to an investment advisor. It would require some overly prescriptive regulations, something from which most regulators have been loathed to do historically.\n\nAs long as a registered investment advisers review the performance of their automated tools and can press the big red button if something goes wrong, there\u2019s no need to regulate the tools of advisers if they are regulated themselves.", "output": "Human oversight of robo advisers should negate the need for excessive regulation, according to Rob Daly of Markets Media. While there are concerns about what sort of fiduciary duty robo advisers should be held to, and whether new regulation should be established to safeguard clients of these services, human advisers\u00a0still hold authority, argued\u00a0Daly.\u00a0As long as these overseers are able to intervene if things go wrong, they can still be held accountable for the \"performance of their automated tools\", he said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Man in coma for 15 years shows signs of awareness after implant \n A 35-year-old man who had been in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) for 15 years has shown signs of consciousness after receiving a pioneering therapy involving nerve stimulation.\n\nThe treatment challenges a widely-accepted view that there is no prospect of a patient recovering consciousness if they have been in PVS for longer than 12 months.\n\nSince sustaining severe brain injuries in a car accident, the man had been completely unaware of the world around him. But when fitted with an implant to stimulate the vagus nerve, which travels into the brain stem, the man appeared to flicker back into a state of consciousness.\n\nHe started to track objects with his eyes, began to stay awake while being read a story and his eyes opened wide in surprise when the examiner suddenly moved her face close to the patient\u2019s. He could even respond to some simple requests, such as turning his head when asked \u2013 although this took about a minute.\n\nAngela Sirigu, who led the work at the Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod in Lyon, France, said: \u201cHe is still paralysed, he cannot talk, but he can respond. Now he is more aware.\u201d\n\nNiels Birbaumer, of the University of T\u00fcbingen and a pioneer of brain-computer interfaces to help patients with neurological disorders communicate, said the findings, published in the journal Current Biology, raised pressing ethical issues. \u201cMany of these patients may and will have been neglected, and passive euthanasia may happen often in a vegetative state,\u201d he said. \u201cThis paper is a warning to all those believing that this state is hopeless after a year.\u201d\n\nThe vagus nerve, which the treatment targeted, connects the brain to almost all the vital organs in the body, running from the brain stem down both sides of the neck, across the chest and into the abdomen. In the brain, it is linked directly to two regions known to play roles in alertness and consciousness.\n\nIn surgery lasting about 20 minutes, a small implant was placed around the vagus nerve in the man\u2019s neck. After one month of vagal nerve stimulation, the patient\u2019s attention, movements and brain activity significantly improved and he had shifted into a state of minimal consciousness.\n\nRecordings of brain activity also revealed major changes, with signs of increased electrical communication between brain regions and significantly more activity in areas linked to movement, sensation and awareness.\n\nSimilar stimulation has already been shown to help some patients with epilepsy and depression.\n\nSirigu and her team now hope to apply the same technique to patients with less serious brain injuries, where even more substantial improvements might be possible. There may even be patients, she said, whose cortex (the part of the brain used for cognitive tasks) is intact, but who have brain stem injuries that have led to limited awareness or consciousness.\n\nThe findings offer hope to the families of patients in PVS that it may one day be possible to re-establish some basic form of communication. However, some might also question whether such patients would wish to be made more acutely aware of being in a severely injured state.\n\n\n\n\u201cI cannot answer to this question,\u201d said Sirigu. \u201cPersonally I think it\u2019s better to be aware, even if it\u2019s a bad state, to be conscious of what\u2019s happening. Then you can have a decision if you want to go on or if you want [euthanasia].\u201d\n\nDamian Cruse, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Birmingham, described the findings as \u201cpretty exciting\u201d, adding that in future it might be possible to combine vagal nerve stimulation with other forms of rehabilitation.\n\n\u201cIf you can just push the patient over the threshold so they can start responding to external stimulation you can maybe help them follow speech therapy and get them to a level where they can start to communicate,\u201d he said.\n\nDuring the past decade, scientists have made major advances in communicating with \u201clocked in\u201d patients using various forms of brain-computer interface.\n\nThese have allowed paralysed patients, some of whom had been assumed to be in PVS, to answer \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno\u201d to questions to let their family and friends know their wishes and their state of wellbeing.", "output": "A nerve implant has restored signs of consciousness to a man who has been in a persistent vegetative state for 15 years. The pioneering therapy challenges the previous belief that there was no chance of a return to consciousness after 12 months in a vegetative state. The procedure involved attaching an implant to stimulate the vagus nerve and, although still paralysed\u00a0and unable to speak, the 35-year-old was then\u00a0able to respond to simple requests. The next stages of the trials undertaken by the scientists at the Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod in Lyon will be to\u00a0treat patients with less severe brain injuries."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Passive investing outperforms active managers, finds S&P report \n Index funds are still beating actively managed funds like a pi\u00f1ata at a 10-year-old\u2019s birthday party, according to Standard & Poor\u2019s. But the American Funds says advisers can avoid some truly awful funds with a few simple, additional screens.\n\nThe mid-year S&P Indices vs. Active (SPIVA) scorecard shows that actively managed funds are routinely clobbered by index funds.\n\n\u201cOver the one-year period, 56.6% of large-cap managers, 60.7% of mid-cap managers and 59.6% of small-cap managers underperformed the S&P 500, the S&P MidCap 400 and the S&P SmallCap 600, respectively,\u201d said the report, which covered performance through June 30. Growth managers fared better than their core and value counterparts, reflecting the strong returns from technology stocks such as Amazon and Netflix.\n\nSurprisingly, the one-year SPIVA results were stronger for active funds than the report six months earlier. But long-term results remain sadder than a rodeo clown in an elephant stampede.\n\nOver the past five years, 82.4% of large-cap managers, 87.2% of mid-cap managers and 93.8% of small-cap managers lagged their respective benchmarks.\n\nThe SPIVA report is adjusted for funds that either merge or liquidate. In the past 15 years, 58% of U.S. stock funds and 55% of international stock funds have been shuffled off to Palookaville.\n\nSteve Deschenes, product management and analytics director at Capital Group, thinks the SPIVA methodology has some important flaws. For one thing, most passively managed funds don\u2019t beat their index, either: They lag by the amount they charge in expenses. For example, the Vanguard 500 Index fund investor share class has lagged its benchmark Standard & Poor\u2019s 500 stock index by 0.13 percentage points a year \u2014 a figure that\u2019s almost entirely due to its 0.14% annual expense ratio.\n\nMr. Deschenes argues that two simple screens can help advisers choose funds more likely to beat their benchmarks:\n\n\u2022 Low expenses. Fund managers have a tough enough time beating their benchmark, and doing so with a 1.5% expense ratio is a Herculean feat.\n\n\u2022 High management ownership. Not surprisingly, managers whose lifestyle depends on their funds\u2019 performance tend to do better than those who don\u2019t invest in their own fund.\n\nCapital Group, managers of the actively managed American Funds, looked at 20 years\u2019 worth of performance and found that funds in the top quartile of both criteria tended to outperform over the long term. (U.S. funds with an expense ratio below 0.98% and foreign funds with expense ratios below 1.08% qualified for the lowest quartile in expenses. For management ownership, the top quartile included firms that had 55% or more assets in the fund family complex in which at least one portfolio manager had invested a minimum of $1 million.)\n\nU.S. large-cap funds in both quartiles, on average, outpaced the S&P 500 index in 72% of rolling five-year periods and 86% of rolling 10-year periods. International large-cap funds in both quartiles outpaced the MSCI All Country ex USA Index in 84% of the five-year periods and 87% of the 10-year periods.\n\n\u201cThe two criteria combined improves the success rate in every time period and asset class,\u201d Mr. Deschenes said.\n\nTodd Rosenbluth, senior director of ETF and mutual fund research at CFRA, noted that while the American Funds is a low-cost active manager, the research has merit.\n\n\u201cI agree with the premise that you shouldn\u2019t buy any average fund. Being cheaper is going to help a fund outperform its peers,\u201d he said. \u201cLarge fund companies can keep costs down and deal better with manager turnover.\u201d", "output": "Passive investments continue to provide better returns than actively managed portfolios, according to S&P's latest Indices vs Active study. Over the past year, the S&P 500 outperformed 56.6% of large-cap active managers, while the S&P MidCap 400 and S&P SmallCap 600 outperformed 60.7% and 59.6% of mid and small-cap managers, respectively. Taking the past five years into account, 82.4% of large-cap managers, 87.2% of mid-cap managers and 93.8% of small-cap managers were outperformed by their benchmarks.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China doubles EV production target to 600,000 by 2020 \n A man charges an electric car at an electric-car rental service bay in Liuzhou, Guangxi province, July 31, 2017. [Photo/VCG]\n\nChina will double its new energy cars development goal by 2020 as it reaches its target ahead of schedule.\n\nCai Tuanjie, an official of the China's Ministry of Transport said, the number of new energy cars in China's transportation sector is expected to break 300,000 units by the end of this year, three-year ahead of target that was established in 2014.\n\nTherefore, the new energy cars development goal in transportation sector, which includes city buses, taxies and logistics vehicles, will be increased to 600,000 unites by 2020.\n\nThe move will have a positive impact on China's efforts to combat air pollution.\n\nAt present, the fossil-fuel powered cars maintain dominant position in Chinese auto market. According to official data from China's Public Security Ministry's Traffic Management Bureau, the country had 205 million registered cars at the end of June, and the registered new energy cars had surpassed 1 million units at the end of August.\n\nCritics said the exhaust from fossil-fuel powered cars is making air pollution worse. Sina news website citing environmental protection bureaus in some Chinese cities said, PM2.5 (small particle) pollution in these cities mainly comes from cars exhaust.\n\nAt an auto industry forum this month, Xin Guobin, vice-minister of industry and information technology, said that the country had started research on a timetable to phase out production and sales of fossil fuel cars.", "output": "China will have produced more than 300,000 electric vehicles (EVs) by the end of 2017, according\u00a0the\u00a0Ministry of Transport, with 600,000\u00a0targeted\u00a0for completion by 2020 -- double the original goal\u00a0set in 2014. The push to embrace EVs comes as China attempts to reduce air pollution, much of which is emitted in the exhaust fumes of fossil-fuel vehicles. Of the 205 million cars\u00a0registered in China this summer, about 1 million were electric."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Automatic milking system could save farmers 20 hours a week \n T\u00e1naiste and Minister for Enterprise and Innovation Frances Fitzgerald with Enterprise Ireland chief executive Julie Sinnamon at the Robotics and Drives stand at the National Ploughing Championships in Offaly. Photograph: Karl Hussey/Fennells\n\nWhat would you do with an extra two days off per week? This was the question posed to Irish dairy farmers this week by Dutch agri-robotics company Lely at the National Ploughing Championships in Offaly. It claims its systems, which include a futuristic automatic milking machine called the Astronaut, could knock 20 hours off the average working week of a farmer.\n\nOn Tuesday, the Lely shed was one of the busiest trade areas I visited at the event. People milled around it all day. The exhibit comprised a pen with about 20 cows who spent the day lazing around, munching fresh grass and blithely expelling methane at a fantastic rate. Every few minutes, one of them would saunter over to the Astronaut for feed.\n\nWithout human intervention, a small brush appeared beneath the animal to stimulate its udders, before the robot milked it in a flash. At the same time, it collected data on the animal\u2019s health and the quality of the milk. The cows couldn\u2019t have cared less.\n\nAlong with another Lely system powered by a unit hanging around the cow\u2019s neck like a high-tech bell, the Astronaut fed its data into a web-based management system. The information was then collated on a smartphone app, where farmers can view a tailored health report on each animal. Is she in heat? Has she mastitis? Is she sick?\n\nREAD MORE\n\nEach time a cow went to the Astronaut, the process was witnessed by up to a hundred people \u2013 mostly men \u2013 leaning against the fence in that way that Irish men tend to lean against things: arms folded, backside out, leg propped up against the bottom rung of the fence. They looked fierce impressed altogether.\n\nYou can forget any urban misconceptions about agriculture being a conservative, low-tech industry. Irish farming is now cutting edge.\n\nAnd despite the looming threat of Brexit and the current economic difficulties of some tillage and beef farmers, confidence appears to be surging through much of the rest of the industry. A sense of elan was palpable at \u201cthe Ploughing\u201d. Agriculture is on the march.\n\nThe huge focus on technology and innovation, including robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), was one the most striking aspects of the event. Around every corner, it seemed, there was a new high-tech offering: robot shed cleaners or feed pushers, soil monitoring devices, geo-mapping systems, drones.\n\nI didn\u2019t see any driverless tractors. \u201cBut they\u2019re coming someday soon,\u201d mused one farmer, as he sat surveying the \u20ac50 million worth of high-tech machinery plonked in one section of the sprawling festival campus.\n\nThe apparent feeling of economic confidence wasn\u2019t confined to the industry zones. There were queues of people, for example, waiting to talk to the some of the large group of wealth management and stockbroking firms among the 1,700 exhibitors. Not all farmers are wealthy, but some of them clearly feel wealthy again.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s taken a while for the recovery to ripple down to my part of the country,\u201d said one Corkman. \u201cBut there\u2019s no doubting it is there now.\u201d\n\nThe Dome \u2013 the indoor retail zone \u2013 was bursting with purveyors of consumer luxury and indulgence that fare well in any vibrant economy: chocolatiers, jewellers, beauty product stalls. Outside, a garden furniture company was selling a kid\u2019s wooden playhouse in the shape of a tractor: a snip at \u20ac4,000.\n\nGratuitous Irish consumerism\n\nBut just when you thought the Ploughing was morphing into yet another modern display of gratuitous Irish consumerism, something would pop into view to remind you that rural Ireland, thankfully, still retains its sense of idiosyncrasy.\n\nAn enthusiastic stallholder captivated his audience, mostly women, with his spiel for Coole Swan, a whiskey liqueur business that morphed out of a family farm. Where is it made, one woman asked. \u201c\u2019Tis made in heaven, but bottled in Cavan,\u201d he replied.\n\nAround the corner, sandwiched between a stall selling pet foods and another selling skincare products, there was a stall selling salvation: the Legion of Mary was handing out miraculous medals. Nearby, the Franciscans were recruiting, close to a sign that read: \u201cGod is calling you\u201d. A man sat beneath it, talking into his mobile. Surely God wasn\u2019t calling on a Samsung?\n\nClearly it\u2019s not all milk and honey for the agriculture industry. Margins for crop farmers are wafer thin and beef farmers are also struggling to break even.\n\nSome parts of rural Ireland, however, are faring far better than others. The undeniable buzz in the air at the Ploughing bodes well for the recovery in counties outside of the Dublin belt.\n\nTowards the end of the day, a large crowd gathered to chat outside the Irish Farmers Association section at the heart of the campus. One of the most pressing issues for the agriculture in the upcoming budget, one of the IFA men told me, is the introduction of a new State scheme to give low-cost loans for farmers.\n\n\u201cLast year\u2019s scheme was maxed out in about a month,\u201d he told me.\n\nBut if farmers are looking for sources of capital for fresh investment, isn\u2019t that a sure sign that confidence is once again flowing through the industry?\n\nFootnotes . . .\n\nFriday night is Culture Night in Dublin, so a trip to see your accountant is unlikely to be top of the agenda. Consider, however, dropping down to the Pearse Street headquarters of Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI) this evening. If you are interested in singing beancounters, it could, quite literally, be music to your ears.\n\nThe accountants have teamed up with the Sound Check exhibition from the nearby Science Gallery for a music-themed event for Culture Night. Distressed Assets, a rock band of staff members from the CAI, will be making an appearance.\n\nThere will also be a series of talks on the business of music, including from Ciar\u00e1n Conroy, co-founder of music agency Milestone Management; Sarah Sweetman, finance director of the Irish Music Rights Organisation; and Eoin Connolly from Deloitte, who will discuss the potential impact of blockchain on the economics of the music industry.\n\nThere will also be talks on the accountants\u2019 art collection, and a series of unusual instruments for children to try.\n\nIt all sounds like fun. Always be wary, however, if an accountant starts singing the blues.\n\nRyanair's incredible cock-up regarding the raft of flight cancellations due to pilot rostering has left a golden opportunity for the airline to be ridiculed by its rivals. Thankfully for Michael O'Leary, Aer Lingus appeared to have pulled its punch.\n\nAer Lingus has launched \"rescue sales\", which are obviously targeting stranded Ryanair passengers, but, beyond that, it has made little hay out of its main rival's difficulties. Can you imagine how much O'Leary would crow if the shoe was on the other foot?\n\nO'Leary owes Willie Walsh, chief executive of Aer Lingus parent IAG, a pint. Walsh, too, remembers what it is like to oversee an operational disaster. Remember the mess that was British Airways' ground operations at Heathrow T5? Walsh was chief executive of BA at the time. He and O'Leary now have more in common than just a chippy approach to business.", "output": "Dutch agri-robotics firm Lely believes its product offering, including its automatic milking device the Astronaut, could shorten the average working week of farmers by 20 hours. The Astronaut machine stimulates milk production, milks cows, and collects data on cow health and milk quality. Another device is a cow wearable device that feeds data into a digital system viewable on smartphones. In Ireland, the devices may prove popular as the country undergoes an agricultural revolution, with robotics and AI playing a large part in high-tech, automated farming.\n \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lucozade Ribena Suntory starts to create its own adverts \n Ad agencies\u2019 existential crisis isn\u2019t subsiding anytime soon, as Lucozade Ribena Suntory becomes the latest advertiser to create its own ads. The soft-drink maker says its own in-house creative team won\u2019t replace its agencies anytime soon, but it\u2019s taking on much of what they used to do.\n\nLRS plans, creates and launches half of its U.K. ads using TED (tech, entertainment and design), the creative team it assembled last July. Now, the company is considering having the same team purchase its display and social media.\n\nThe global soft-drinks maker is adamant that it won\u2019t take programmatic in-house anytime soon, as brands like Pernod Ricard and Procter & Gamble have done in part. LRS just doesn\u2019t spend enough on digital display to warrant its own ad tech stack, said Rick Oakley, head of digital marketing.\n\nA large part of the company\u2019s \u00a350 million ($67.3 million) ad budget goes to TV, outdoor and sampling, which is why TED has found itself trying to outdo its creative teams. \u201cHaving strong creative partners like Grey and JWT really help us, but at the same time, we look at them and think, \u2018How can we beat them?\u2019\u201d he said.\n\nTED plans to spend the next 18 months experimenting with marketing and sales data to better understand the efficacy of its ads, said Oakley, something an agency couldn\u2019t do. For example, TED plans to do small A/B tests that mix live point-of-sale data, supply-chain information and geotargeted media by region to see which creative works best.\n\n\u201cAn agency can be heavily involved in delivering great value upfront, but they don\u2019t always get close to what\u2019s going to be executed on the shop floor, for example,\u201d he said. \u201cOur team, however, can, and so they\u2019re thinking about those cases from day one.\u201d\n\nIt took six months for the creative team to build trust among LRS\u2019s marketing teams, but now they come to TED directly. \u201cThey were saying, \u2018Why would we go to our agencies when you guys understand our brands better?\u2019\u201d Oakley said.\n\nFeedback like that has given TED\u2019s marketers the confidence to pursue the other half of LRS\u2019s ads in the U.K. it doesn\u2019t already produce, as well as other marketing work.\n\nOther marketers are going this route. Unilever has taken more of its creative production in-house over the last 12 months, while a recent ISBA study found that nearly half (44 percent) of advertisers want to erect their own in-house ad team.\n\nCost savings is one benefit. Oakley would not disclose how much LRS has saved by using TED but said the team has freed up money for additional marketing, such as a sampling campaign that gave out bottles of Lucozade Energy to 10 million people earlier this year.\n\nBut the TED team isn\u2019t just a way to cut costs. The company hasn\u2019t cut its annual ads and promotion budget; it\u2019s just changed how it spends it. \u201cWe\u2019re coming up with ideas in-house that are as good as our agencies \u2014 often better \u2014 because we\u2019re working with the brand teams every day versus the ad hoc or project-by-project way an agency would work with them,\u201d Oakley said.\n\nIt sounds like the stuff of nightmares for agencies, but Oakley insists TED isn\u2019t out to replace LRS\u2019s agencies, rather freeing them up to focus on its broader marketing strategy.", "output": "UK soft drinks company Lucozade Ribena Suntory (LRS) has revealed half of its ads are created by in-house unit TED (tech, entertainment and design), and could expand that figure to 100%. Although the company has no plans to take programmatic advertising in-house, it is considering having TED purchase display and social media. Rick Oakley, head of digital marketing said: \"We\u2019re coming up with ideas in-house that are as good as our agencies - often better - because we\u2019re working with the brand teams every day\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Publishers concerned over gaining consent to cookies with EU law \n While media attention has focused on the General Data Protection Regulation, the European Union\u2019s new data protection laws, another privacy measure is stoking publishers\u2019 fear: the ePrivacy regulation, known as the EU cookie law.\n\nMany European publishers are up in arms about the current draft of the new ePrivacy law, which is far stricter than the existing one. In May, 12 publishers, including the Financial Times, the Guardian, The Telegraph, Le Monde and Spiegel, wrote to the European Parliament, arguing that the proposed law will make it harder to gain consent to use cookies for site analytics, reporting and advertising, limiting their ability to earn digital revenue.\n\nHere are some of the proposal\u2019s main points of tension:\n\n\n\nBrowsers as gatekeepers\n\nTo eliminate those annoying banners that ask people for their consent to use cookies, the European Commission has suggested users opt in or out of cookies in their browser settings. For example, if a user visits a publisher\u2019s site and a banner appears that asks for permission to use cookies, even if the user clicks yes, that publisher still cannot use cookies unless the user\u2019s browser settings reflect that choice \u2014 a proposal that doesn\u2019t sit well with publishers.\n\nGiven there is no line of direct communication between publishers and browsers, some publishers fear they will be held ransom. For example, browsers could offer publishers the chance to whitelist their sites for a price.\n\n\u201cWe are pretty worried. We would fully support any legal framework that gives back control and data transparency to the user,\u201d said Stefan Betzold, managing director of Axel Springer title Bild. \u201cBut the current discussions in Brussels are about cookie technology and gateway control and unfortunately not about giving transparency to the user. The \u2018browser supremacy\u2019 will give a gatekeeper role to browser providers, who mainly come from the U.S. or belong to U.S. platforms. This might have major effects on the open and free advertising-financed internet in the long term.\u201d\n\nThe platform effect\n\nWhether the proposed ePrivacy law will hurt or help the likes of Google, Facebook and Amazon is debated. German publishers, who are particularly outspoken when it comes to the duopoly, argue that the proposal will advantage walled gardens further over publishers because it\u2019s easier for Google, Facebook and Amazon to get consumers to opt-in at scale because they have masses of user login data (and don\u2019t rely on third-party data like publishers) and the ability to directly communicate with users of their products.\n\n\u201cGoogle and Facebook may lose some capacity for collecting data, but compared to publishers, which are far more reliant on third-party cookies, they will still be much better off,\u201d said Christoph Fiedler, head of legal affairs at the European Magazine Media Association.\n\nDigital Content Next, a U.S. trade association for premium publishers, takes the opposite view, arguing that Google and Facebook\u2019s ability to collect and use consumer data will be \u201cdramatically curbed\u201d \u2014 a message Digital Content Next has circulated to its members. The argument is that Google and Facebook would be restricted from targeting ads based on data from services such as WhatsApp, Gmail and Messenger unless they have consent from all parties. Monetizing messaging apps and email isn\u2019t an area where publishers compete with the duopoly directly, but when it comes to online advertising, where they do, Google and Facebook will face the same challenges as them.", "output": "The new stricter draft of the EU ePrivacy regulation, known as the \u201cEU cookie law\u201d, has raised concerns amongst publishers. The draft includes a proposal that users opt in or out of cookies in their browser settings rather than individually on each visited webpage. Major publishers including the Financial Times, the Guardian, The Telegraph, Le Monde and Spiegel, however wrote to the European Parliament back in May, arguing that the proposed law will make it harder for publishers to gain consent to use cookies for site analytics, reporting and advertising, thereby limiting their ability to earn digital revenue."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TV industry could follow streaming services into ad-free programming \n TV viewers have long accepted a simple trade-off: To watch your favorite shows, you\u2019re going to have to sit through commercials. Even though you\u2019re paying a fee for every channel as part of your cable TV bundle subscription, commercials are part of the ballgame.\n\nThe rise of DVRs put a dent in this bargain, showing that people were willing to take matters into their own hands to avoid ads. Now, with the rise of Netflix and others, people can just pay to avoid TV spots. Networks are noticing. This summer, AMC, the network behind \u201cThe Walking Dead,\u201d \u201cBreaking Bad\u201d and \u201cMad Men,\u201d launched AMC Premiere, a $5-per-month streaming channel that allows you to watch current shows commercial-free. Less than two months later, FX, home of \u201cAmerican Horror Story\u201d and \u201cIt\u2019s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,\u201d launched a similar ad-free subscription streaming channel, FX+.\n\nOf course, there\u2019s a catch: Both streaming channels are sold as add-ons by Comcast, which means Comcast customers still have to pay for the regular AMC and FX channels in order to level up to the commercial-free add-on. With $70 billion in annual ad revenue at stake, it\u2019s going to take a lot more than shifting consumption habits to force linear TV distributors and networks to change.\n\nBut if one cable distributor and two high-profile networks are willing to experiment with ad-free options, what if the entire industry did the same and gave viewers the option to pay for an entirely ad-free cable bundle? TV ads would go from a reliable mass reach vehicle to a tax on poor people.\n\nNot linear, but streaming\n\nFor an ad-free cable bundle to exist, the TV industry would need to follow in the footsteps of HBO, AMC and FX, which release new episodes of their shows on their digital streaming channels at the same time that they air them on traditional TV. These channels also offer full libraries of previous seasons and shows, which essentially replace the reruns that populate many cable networks\u2019 programming lineups.\n\n\u201cThere are people like Amazon, Hulu and Netflix, which are effectively doing versions of that today,\u201d says Bernard Gershon, president of GershonMedia.\n\nIt\u2019d be hard to apply this model to live programming like the Oscars, sports and news, he added. Many live events are designed to include commercial breaks. In football, for instance, commercial breaks give teams the chance to review plays or switch from offense to defense. Advertisers are also willing to pay higher premiums to reach attentive viewers.\n\nBut when it comes to most of the TV guide, an ad-free option is plausible, especially as more cable networks offer ad-free streaming channels. Long term, people won\u2019t want to have 10 different logins and 10 different monthly billing statements.\n\nRevenue implications\n\nThe challenge for TV networks is making up for the lost revenue. Networks don\u2019t typically break down their revenue by source, but advertising can account for anywhere from a third to two-thirds of a cable network\u2019s monthly revenues, says Brian Wieser, senior analyst at Pivotal Research.\n\n\u201cAssume that the network would want to be made whole before they commit to anything,\u201d Wieser says. \u201cThey might say, \u2018We just have to accept lower revenues and lower profits.\u2019 Theoretically, that does happen in different industries from time to time, but I\u2019m highly skeptical.\u201d\n\nAMC and FX can offer ad-free streaming channels because they\u2019re sold as add-ons through Comcast, an existing major cable distributor, so while the additional revenue is minimal, so are the costs. Otherwise, networks run the risk of cannibalizing their still-lucrative advertising businesses. Cable networks could choose to offset this by charging enough on the subscription side to make up for losses in ad revenue, but that assumes enough customers would be willing to pay steeper prices for an ad-free experience.\n\nOne potential benefit is that such options could decrease costs at smaller cable networks, which have to find programming to fill 24 hours of air time. \u201cA lot of smaller cable channels can go video-on-demand only \u2014 there\u2019s no reason for them to be live for 24 hours,\u201d says Alan Wolk, TV industry analyst for TVRev.\n\nNot everyone will pay\n\nThere\u2019s clearly a market for people willing to pay more to avoid ads. Hulu, for instance has an ad-free tier priced at $11.99 per month, which is $4 more than the regular tier. Earlier this spring, Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins said nearly half of Hulu\u2019s revenue comes from advertising, with about 41 percent of Hulu viewers seeing ads, according to Hulu.\n\nWolk estimates that roughly 10-15 percent of TV viewers would be willing to pay for ad-free streaming channels. \u201c[AMC and FX] are banking on that; otherwise, it will seriously cut into ad sales,\u201d he says.\n\nThe wrinkle for the networks is that the people most willing to pay up for subscriptions are also the affluent spenders that advertisers want to reach the most.\n\n\u201cIf you lost 30 percent of your audience to an ad-free channel, then your remaining ad-supported audience is not worth as much anymore,\u201d Wolk says. \u201cIt will require a balancing act to figure out where the ideal position is for the networks, and throwing in other tricks such as native ads and branded integrations to make up the gap.\u201d\n\nHighly unlikely, but not impossible\n\nFor all these reasons, TV analysts agree that the entire cable bundle is unlikely to go ad-free anytime soon. But there is evidence beyond Comcast, AMC and FX that some form of ad-free bundle will eventually happen. Hulu, for instance, is already selling subscriptions to HBO Now and Showtime\u2019s streaming channel, in addition to its own two subscription tiers. With Showtime, Hulu also offers a $2 discount for those who subscribe to both channels. The rise of internet-based live TV service, including those from DirecTV, Dish Network, Hulu and YouTube, also offers the chance to distribute ad-free video channels.\n\n\u201cWhether it\u2019s offered by a traditional player such as DirecTV or some new player, it\u2019s definitely viable,\u201d Gershon says.", "output": "Linear US TV networks could emulate streaming services Netflix and Amazon by offering ad-free packages to viewers and make up revenue with subscriptions. Recently, AMC FX both launched commercial-free channels costing a few dollars per month, but analysts don't believe the entire industry is ready to make the leap just yet. TV advertising is worth $70bn annually, and insiders believe networks face a delicate balancing act, as the people most advertisers want to target would be the ones who could afford to pay for ad-free TV."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "First ever amphibious commercial UAV created in China \n A U650 unmanned amphibious aircraft undergoes tests in Central China at the end of 2016. [Photo provided to China Daily]\n\nA Chinese company has produced the world's first unmanned, amphibious commercial aircraft, with plans to use it to deliver goods, transport supplies to islands and detect submarines, according to the manufacturer.\n\nLiu Jiandong, founder and chairman of UVS Intelligence System, a privately owned drone-maker in Shanghai, said mass production of its U650 seaplane has begun and will enter commercial operation this year with a Chinese express delivery company and a client in Southeast Asia.\n\nHe declined to name the buyers, citing business confidentiality, but said both contracts had \"considerable value\".\n\n\"We are working with the domestic client to apply for approval from air traffic management authorities of our plan to open a freight route next year using the amphibious drone,\" he said.\n\nThe U650 was developed based on Spain's Colyaer Freedom S100 amphibious ultralight aircraft, whose intellectual property rights were wholly acquired by the Shanghai company, according to UVS.\n\nThe amphibious drone carried out its maiden flight from waters in Central China in December 2015, the company said.\n\nThe 5.85-meter-long unmanned seaplane, made of carbon fiber, is able to stay aloft 15 hours with a cruising speed of 180 kilometers per hour and a flight range of 2,000 km. It is capable of takeoffs and landings from short unpaved airstrips, grassland or water.\n\nThe drone can carry up to 250 kilograms of cargo and its wings can also carry four payloads, such as inflatable life rafts.\n\nLiu said his company sees domestic and foreign couriers as the U650's primary users. It expects the model to be a commercial success because \"it is the only civilian drone in the global market that is capable of ferrying cargo with a total weight of 200 kg or even heavier\".\n\nExpress delivery enterprises along China's eastern and southern coastal regions will find the U650 useful, he said. Those areas are densely populated and have busy airline operations that lead to many restrictions when it comes to drone flights.\n\n\"Our aircraft can fly above, and land on, water. Its range is much longer than those of small types, so it doesn't need to make stops during a delivery mission. It will not risk the safety of people or airliners,\" Liu said.\n\nAlmost all of China's large couriers, such as China Post and SF Express, have begun to invest in research and development on delivery drones. Analysts have said drones will play an increasingly important role in the country's skyrocketing online shopping industry.\n\nGlobally, Amazon and DHL Express have deployed drones for delivery service on a small and experimental scale, and are continuing to design new models.\n\nIn addition to couriers, U650 will also be able to benefit Chinese troops and residents on islands and reefs in the South China Sea, Liu said.\n\n\"It can be used to transport supplies to those islands and reefs many times a day at a low cost while ships and manned planes are subject to weather and expenditure considerations,\" he said. \"Meanwhile, the deployment of such drones will make it possible for those living there to have access to online shopping, which they are unable to do now because of the absence of delivery service.\"\n\nThe U650 is capable of carrying out reconnaissance and strikes for the military thanks to its ability to carry radar, sonar or missiles.\n\n\"For instance, the drone can remain afloat at sea to tow sonar to detect submarines and move rapidly to other areas to continue the search,\" Liu said.", "output": "Chinese drone manufacturer UVS Intelligence System has created the world's first amphibious unmanned commercial aircraft. The U650 can either be used for cargo deliveries or to\u00a0detect submarines, according to UVS. The company has begun to mass produce the U650 and expects it to be put into commercial operation\u00a0this year through its first two clients, an\u00a0express delivery company in China and an unnamed Southeast Asian firm. \"It is the only civilian drone in the global market that is capable of ferrying cargo with a total weight of 200 kg or even heavier\", said\u00a0Liu Jiandong, founder and chairman of UVS."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shell joint venture completes first LNG bunkering in Singapore \n The ship-to-truck transfer was carried out in batches from 22 July to 23 September 2017 by FueLNG a joint venture between Keppel and Shell Eastern Petroleum.\n\n\"This is an exciting milestone for FueLNG as we establish ourselves as a safe, cost-efficient and reliable LNG bunker supplier. The development of proven LNG bunkering infrastructure will give confidence to the industry that LNG can be widely adopted as a marine fuel and is sustainable for the long-term,\u201d said FueLNG chairman Michael Chia.\n\nThe bunkering was conducted in accordance with the Singapore Chemical Industry Council (SCIC) Technical Reference for LNG Bunkering (TR 56).\n\nFueLNG also has contracts with Keppel Smit Towage and Maju Maritime to provide LNG bunkering services for two dual-fuel LNG harbour tugs from 2018.\n\n\"This successful operation by FueLNG attests to Singapore's ability to provide safe, efficient, and reliable LNG bunkering in the Port. Furthermore, we are pleased to note that the operation was carried out based on the recently launched Singapore Technical Reference for LNG Bunkering (TR56),\u201d said Andrew Tan, chief executive of the Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).", "output": "A truck-to-ship bunkering has been carried out by LNG supply company FueLNG, a joint venture between Shell and Keppel, in batches between July and September at Singapore's shipping port, the first such transfer to take place there. The port of Singapore completed its LNG trucking infrastructure earlier this year and is seeking to position itself as an LNG storage and supply hub for Asia. FueLNG has contracts to supply two dual-fuel harbour tugs due to enter service this year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Suit on defective heart device claims recall too slow \n Lawsuit claims St. Jude acted slow on defective heart device recall\n\nSt. Jude Medical and its parent company, Libertyville Township-based Abbott Laboratories, are the subjects of a class-action lawsuit claiming St. Jude failed to act quickly in the recall of defective cardiac defibrillator devices. COURTESY OF Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune via AP\n\nA class-action lawsuit has been filed against St. Jude Medical and parent company Abbott Laboratories, claiming St. Jude failed to act quickly on a defect that led to a 2016 recall of some of its cardiac defibrillator devices.\n\nThe complaint, filed in Chicago by law firms DiCello Levitt & Casey and Tousley Brain Stephens on behalf of third party insurance payers, alleges Minnesota-based St. Jude knew of a significant battery depletion defect as early as 2011, but failed to adequately investigate and report the risk, instead waiting nearly five years before issuing a recall of the defective devices.\n\nThe medical products -- the Implantable Cardiac Defibrillator and Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Defibrillator -- provide pacing therapy to support slow heart rhythms and electrical shock or pacing therapy to treat fast heart rhythms. The products were recalled on Oct. 10, 2016 due to defects related to a fast depletion of its lithium-based battery.\n\nThe lawsuit claims that, between the time St. Jude discovered the defect and the time the devices were recalled, the brunt of the economic impact from the defective devices fell on the shoulders of public and private health insurance payers.\n\nSeveral models of ICDs and CRT-Ds are at issue, including the Fortify, Fortify Assura, Quadra Assura, Unify, Unify Assura and Unify Quadra models, according to a statement from the law firms. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of ASEA/AFSCME Local 52 Health Benefits Trust and similarly-situated plaintiffs nationwide, seeks restitution and damages related to third party payers' coverage of these defective ICDs and CRT-Ds, and related medical costs.\n\n\"Physicians, patients and payers were deliberately kept in the dark by St. Jude with respect to ongoing battery issues,\" said Kim Stephens, a partner at Tousley Brain Stephens. \"Defendants have purportedly agreed to reimburse patients for their out-of-pocket costs associated with the implantation of these devices, but what about the health insurance payers who have shelled out millions of dollars on these defective pacemakers?\"\n\nLibertyville Township-based Abbott acquired St. Jude in January for approximately $25 billion. While the acquisition was seen as a boost to Abbott's cardiovascular business portfolio, the recall occurred during the time Abbott began the acquisition process.\n\nSt. Jude at the time was also fighting a battle with investment firm Muddy Waters Capital, which claimed its devices could be targets of cyberattacks. St. Jude called the allegations \"false and misleading.\"", "output": "US-based Abbott Laboratories subsidiary St Jude Medical is alleged to have acted too slowly when recalling heart defibrillator devices during a 2016 recall, according to a lawsuit filed against the company. The suit claims St Jude knew of a battery defect affecting the devices as early as 2011, but only recalled the defibrillators in October 2016. The lawsuit is claiming the economic impact of the faulty devices was placed on health insurance payments from both public and private plans."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Eloplay settles on blockchain to decentralise e-sport tournaments \n Last week, EloPlay announced plans to integrate blockchain technology into its popular eSports platform.\n\nThe Current eSports Market\n\neSports is a form of competitive gaming. It is a relatively new phenomenon, but one that has really caught fire and managed to spawn a booming industry. It has become so popular, in fact, that it has already been added to the 2022 Asian Games and there is even talk about it being included in the 2024 Olympics.\n\nIn terms of revenue, eSports is growing by leaps and bounds. In 2017 alone, eSports will have generated an estimated $696 million \u2013 an increase of over 41% from the previous year. Furthermore, with the number of online gaming platforms steadily increasing, the overall revenues of the industry is predicted to reach $1.5 billion by 2020.\n\neSports\u2019 audience is expanding as well, with nearly 400 million people tuning into events in 2017 alone, of which 191 million consider themselves to be devoted enthusiasts. This is particularly impressive when you consider that baseball, basketball, and football (American), three of the world\u2019s Top 10 sports, have audiences of 500, 400, and 390 million people, respectively.\n\nAs for players themselves? The Global eSports Market Report has estimated their number to reach 58.4 million by the end of 2017.\n\nBlockchain: Taking eSports to the Next Level\n\nWhile major online gaming platforms like Steam are quick to jump on the eSports bandwagon, most have chosen to ignore the promise that blockchain technology brings. Fortunately, their smaller competitors are hearing the call, and there are now several online gaming platforms that have already embraced blockchain-powered solutions or at least have expressed their intent to do so in the near future.\n\nOne such example is FirstBlood, which has been operating for more than a year. The platform offers its users an opportunity to play, compete, place bets, and earn rewards. Currently, the platform hosts only Dota 2, however, it has announced that it will also add Counter Strike: Global Offensive, FIFA 18, Hearthstone, League of Legends, and Call of Duty.\n\nAnother notable example is Gilgam.es, which has recently held an ICO. With the project scheduled to enter beta in late 2017, the platform will offer individual smart contracts for each match, as well as betting functionality. The platform will use artificial intelligence which, while it does not determine the winner, confirms that a certain player or a team has won, and over time, will detect and ban cheaters. The platform will offer a set of games similar to that of FirstBlood.\n\nLast, but certainly not least, there is EloPlay. Already on the market for almost two years, EloPlay made the recent decision to introduce blockchain to its ecosystem. The project\u2019s team came up with what they call \u2018smart tournaments\u2019 that are essentially regular tournaments with decentralized prize pools gathered by the players themselves, or by sponsors of a tournament which, in this case, is free to participate.\n\nOther blockchain-enabled options of the EloPlay platform include betting, gamer stats, and advertising. However, those are yet to be deployed. Games available at EloPlay include Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Hearthstone, Dota 2 and other popular games.\n\nThe EloPlay team explained their decision to embrace blockchain tech:\n\nIn our opinion, blockchain technology is the perfect solution for most of the problems that the entire industry has to face. [\u2026] In our case, the technology can promote decentralized prize pools, a system for game results accounting, and even automatize the betting mechanism. [\u2026] As more and more players and sponsors join us, we will be able to hold major eSports events, while blockchain-based technologies will make everything easy to use and completely transparent.\n\nEloPlay has announced that it will hold an ICO to raise funds for the further development and integration of additional blockchain-based features. The ICO will begin on October 16, 2017. For more information, please visit the official ICO website.\n\nThe eSports Revolution Will Be Decentralized\n\nThese are not the only projects that directly integrate blockchain solutions in their platforms. There are others which offer a specialized token to buy skins across the internet, while others focus on the gambling side of the industry offering advanced betting experiences.\n\nWith more and more projects coming online and integrating blockchain-powered elements in their platforms, it seems like it will only be a matter of time before the eSports industry becomes the most tokenized and smart contract driven of them all.\n\nAnd, at its current pace, it\u2019s likely that it won\u2019t take very long.\n\nAre you an eSports player? How do you think blockchain tech will change the eSports industry? Let us know in the comments below.\n\nImages courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, Shutterstock", "output": "EloPlay has become the latest e-sports platform to turn to blockchain, revealing plans to create decentralised tournaments using smart contracts and tokens. The\u00a0company said that, as well as underpinning the\u00a0prize pools, blockchain could promote \"a system for game results accounting, and even automate the betting mechanism\". The company will hold an initial coin offering\u00a0to fund the platform's expansion, the addition of new games and ad campaigns to reach US, Chinese and European markets.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US growers associations begin to offer recall coverage \n The United Fresh Produce Association and Western Growers (WG) have entered into a formal marketing agreement to jointly promote the Western Growers Shield, a first-of-its-kind insurance programme specifically designed to protect food companies from recall liability.\n\n\u201cThis programme represents an innovative solution to a critical bottom line issue facing our members,\u201d said Tom Stenzel, United Fresh president and chief executive. \u201cOur Finance & Business Administration Council was very impressed with this programme, and we look forward to working with the WG team to bring recall insurance to every segment of the fresh produce supply chain.\u201d\n\nUnder the terms of the agreement, United Fresh will exclusively endorse and promote the proprietary programme encompassing property, contamination, recall, liability and non-physical damage loss of income.\n\n\u201cUnited Fresh and Western Growers have a long history of working together to promote the competitiveness and profitability of the fresh produce industry,\u201d said Tom Nassif, Western Growers president and CEO. \u201cWith United\u2019s reach into states not currently served by WG, and relationships with food companies from farm to fork, this partnership is the next logical step in protecting the long-term viability of our collective memberships.\u201d\n\nUnited Fresh and WG will also work together to provide several other proprietary WG solutions to the fresh produce industry.\n\n", "output": "Two agricultural associations have teamed up to provide producers with an insurance policy covering the cost of product recall. The insurance coverage is being promoted by United Fresh Produce Association and Western Growers. The coverage, dubbed Western Growers Shield, covers risk presented by factors such as property, contamination, recall, liability and non-physical damage loss of income."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian food industry recall coverage inadequate \n While many food companies are relatively well prepared to deal with product recall, they are under-prepared in the event of a crisis, according to a new survey.\n\nThe Food and Grocery Product Recall Survey Report by the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) and Victual also found that insurance cover across the industry is inadequate, leaving organisations vulnerable to potential costs of over $10 million in the event that something goes wrong.\n\nAdditional key findings include that recalls have steadily increased in recent years, largely due to the detection of undeclared allergens and microbial contamination.\n\nWhile all respondents said they have a recall plan in place, only 59 per cent frequently review it. In addition, one third of businesses surveyed have either no nominated spokesperson or have not trained their spokesperson in the event of a recall or crisis\n\n\u201cThe results of the survey highlight the need for industry to better prepare themselves for a crisis situation. We have seen time and time again that a poorly managed recall has the potential to turn quickly into a crisis, affecting a company\u2019s reputation and bottom line. This is especially relevant with the advent of social media, where issues are rapidly amplified,\u201d said Director of Victual Recall and report co-author, Peter McGee.\n\n\u201cAn essential component of protecting an organisation\u2019s balance sheet is to transfer the risk of a product recall escalating in to a crisis through the purchase of specialist recall insurance. Added to this is the need for access to specialist resources to guide the recall process.\u201d\n\nThe report states that there are many direct and indirect costs incurred when a recall occurs. These include not only tangible costs such as logistics, cleansing and legal fees, but more importantly costs relating to a damaged brand. The report notes that the average global cost of a recall is US $10 million. The fact that 62 per cent of respondents purchase insurance that covers significantly less than this amount is concerning.\n\n\u201cAn insurance policy is complex, but it is a critical contract that needs to be understood so that it responds in the way you expect it to,\u201d said David Goodall, Director of Victual Recall and a report co-author.\n\n\u201cFor example, understanding the difference between a stand-alone contaminated products insurance policy and a product recall extension under Public & Products Liability policies is essential to ensure that you are not exposed to all the major costs relating to a recall.\n\n\u201cSpecialised recall insurance, combined with carefully-executed preparedness planning could be the difference between the end of a business and its ongoing viability.\u201d\n\nThe survey made these recommendations to industry:", "output": "Australian grocery producers are under-insured against losses caused due to a product recall, according to a study from the Australian Food and Grocery Council. The average global cost of a recall is $10m, according to the study, with the majority of companies surveyed purchasing insurance covering damages valued lower than\u00a0this.\u00a0Companies are also under-prepared for the event of a recall, with just 59% reviewing their recall plans regularly, the study found.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dublin chosen as XL Group looks to move from UK after Brexit \n XL Group is the latest property/casualty insurer to make plans to move its European insurance company headquarters from the United Kingdom in response to its vote to leave the European Union.\n\nThe insurer and reinsurer (parent company of XL Catlin) said it will shift its main EU operations to Dublin, Ireland in 2018, once it obtains the required regulatory approvals. This will be accomplished by moving its main EU insurance company, XL Insurance Co. SE, which will allow its clients and brokers to continue being serviced through its European branch network once the Brexit process is complete.\n\nXL Group\u2019s post-Brexit decision to relocate follows similar moves by other P/C insurers and reinsurers. Chubb Limited has said it intends to relocate its European Union headquarters to France if the United Kingdom leaves the EU as expected in March 2019. CNA Hardy decided in June to launch a European subsidiary in Luxembourg beyond its London headquarters in order to keep open access to the EU market. FM Global is also shifting its EU headquarters from the UK to Luxembourg. American International Group will open a Luxembourg subsidiary but keep its main EU headquarters in London. MS Amlin plans to re-domicile its European business, Amlin Insurance Societas Europaea (AISE), to Belgium in response to Brexit.\n\nThe Lloyd\u2019s of London insurance market, meanwhile, plans to address Brexit concerns by opening a Brussels subsidiary.\n\nIn the case of XL Group, choosing Dublin as its EU headquarters makes sense on multiple levels. It has had operations there since 1990 after opening its first European insurance company in the city\u2019s International Financial Services Center. XL Group noted in its Brexit announcement that it established XL Re Europe (today XL Re Europe SE) in 2006 and that it remains an Irish-domiciled insurer.\n\nAlso, XL Group\u2019s parent company was domiciled in Dublin between 2010 and 2016 before its new holding company XL Group Ltd. was formed in Bermuda after XL Group acquired Catlin Group that year. The combined company continues to have insurance and reinsurance operations in Dublin.\n\nMeanwhile, back in the UK, XL Group said it will keep Catlin Insurance Co. in place (the division is a UK-regulated insurance company). Its Lloyd\u2019s operations \u2013 Syndicate 2003 and 3002 \u2013 will also remain.\n\nRelated:\n\nTopics Carriers Europe London Uk AXA XL", "output": "Insurance company XL Group will move its European headquarters to Dublin next year, following the UK's vote to leave the EU. The parent company of XL Catlin announced it will make the move once it gains the necessary regulatory approvals, in order to allow its customers to continue having access to its European branch network. Other insurance companies are also relocating from the UK in anticipation of Brexit, with Chubb moving to France and FM Global to Luxembourg. Lloyd's of London is meanwhile opening a subsidiary in Brussels."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Canadian court to re-examine gallery workplace death claims \n An Ontario court finding, that Intact Insurance Company has a duty to defend an organization sued in connection with a worker killed on the job, lacked \u201canalysis of the critical issues that had to be addressed,\u201d the Court of Appeal for Ontario recently ruled.\n\nCourt records indicate that in August, 2013, Conrad Lafreni\u00e8re, \u201csuffered fatal injuries in the course of his employment\u201d while carrying out maintenance work on a vehicle ramp at the National Gallery of Canada.\n\n\u201cWhen a vehicle approached to enter the underground garage, Mr. Lafreni\u00e8re stepped back towards the ledge of the ramp and fell,\u201d wrote Justices Paul Rouleau, Katherine Rensburg and Lois Roberts of the Court of Appeal for Ontario in a decision released Sept. 6, 2017.\n\nLafreni\u00e8re worked for Lafleur de la Capitale Inc., which provided landscaping and maintenance services for the National Gallery.\n\nLafleur had a liability policy with Intact providing coverage of up to $5 million per occurrence of bodily injury or property damage. The National Gallery was a named insured, \u201conly insofar as [its] Legal Liability arises vicariously out of the operations of [Lafleur] in connection with [its landscaping and snow removal services],\u201d wrote the Court of Appeal for Ontario judges hearing Intact\u2019s appeal.\n\nIntact was appealing a ruling by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ordering Intact to fund defences of two lawsuits \u2013 one by Lafreni\u00e8re\u2019s wife and the other by other family members of Lafreni\u00e8re under the Family Law Act.\n\nThe National Gallery of Canada had asked for a declaration that Intact and Lafleur \u201care obliged to provide and fund its full defence in the underlying actions, relying on the terms of the maintenance contract and the CGL policy.\u201d\n\nThe policy that Intact wrote excluded obligations under a workers\u2019 compensation law and for bodily injury to an employee of arising from employment. The applications judge ruled that the allegations made in the lawsuits \u201ccould relate to issues of maintenance or of measures that should have been taken in the cause of maintenance.\u201d\n\nBut the ruling ordering Intact to defend the National Gallery has been set aside. In its Sept. 6, 2017 decision \u2013 cited as National Gallery of Canada v. Lafleur de la Capitale Inc. \u2013 the Court of Appeal for Ontario ordered that National Gallery\u2019s application be re-heard by a different judge.\n\nThe judge hearing that National Gallery\u2019s application \u201chad to undertake a detailed analysis\u201d of the pleadings by the plaintiffs, the insurance policy and the maintenance contract, in the context of three questions, the appeal court ruled. One was whether the plaintiffs showed that the loss at issue is covered under the terms of the policy. The second was whether Intact demonstrated that an exclusion applies. The third was \u2013 if an exclusion did apply \u2013 whether the plaintiffs established that there is an exception to the exclusion.\n\nThe applications judge \u201cdid not conduct the necessary analysis of the pleadings, maintenance contract and policy, which were essential in this complex case, to address the coverage issue,\u201d the Court of Appeal for Ontario found.\n\nIn Canada, workers\u2019 compensation began when Sir William Ralph Meredith was appointed in 1910 to recommend a scheme for Ontario, Justice John Sopinka noted in the Supreme Court of Canada ruling in Pasiechnyk v. Saskatchewan, released in 1997.\n\n\u201cThe bar to actions against employers is central to the workers\u2019 compensation scheme as Meredith conceived of it: it is the other half of the trade-off,\u201d Justice Sopinka wrote. \u201cIt would be unfair to allow actions to proceed against employers where there was a chance of the injured worker\u2019s obtaining greater compensation, and yet still to force employers to contribute to a no-fault insurance scheme.\u201d\n\nIn a ruling released in 2016, the Court of Appeal of Yukon allowed a lawsuit against a construction worker as well as two corporations, arising from a workplace injury, to proceed.\n\nIn Whitehorse in 2012, federal employee Linda Hill was struck on the head by a piece of wood that had fallen from the roof at the Elijah Smith Building.\n\nNamed as defendants in her lawsuit were construction worker Jason Tomandl Ketza Construction Corp. and SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. The defendants had argued that \u201cthe whole point of a universal scheme of compensation is to avoid lawsuits where employers and employees are involved,\u201d Justice John Vertes of the Supreme Court of Yukon wrote in 2015 in his ruling allowing the lawsuit to proceed.\n\nThe Government Employees Compensation Act \u201cextends benefits analogous to those under provincial and territorial workers\u2019 compensation legislation to federal government employees,\u201d and also \u201cbars an employee who is eligible to receive compensation from bringing a civil claim against the federal Crown, its officers, servants, and agents,\u201d wrote Justice Harvey Groberman of the Court of Appeal of Yukon.\n\nBut when GECA was revised in 1955, there was \u201cno suggestion that the new legislation would curtail an employee\u2019s right to sue an employer or worker other than the Crown and its servants,\u201d Justice Groberman added.\n\nAn Ontario company that was sued by a worker injured on the job was Sam\u2019s Auto Wrecking Co. Ltd., carrying on business as Wentworth Metal, in Hamilton. A Wentworth Metal vice-president had his right leg severed below the knee after he was run over by a crane. He was not covered by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario because in 1989 or 1990, Wentworth Metal opted to purchase private insurance for executives.\n\nIn 2013 the Court of Appeal for Ontario upheld a 2011 finding that Lombard General Insurance Company did not have a duty to defend Wentworth.\n\nOne exclusion in the Lombard policy was for \u201cbodily injury to an employee of the Insured arising out of and in the course of employment by the Insured.\u201d", "output": "A Canadian court has asked for the re-examination of a case in which insurer Intact was told it had a duty to defend a client\u00a0over a\u00a0workplace death in 2013. Judges had earlier\u00a0ruled against\u00a0Intact, which said\u00a0its policy didn't cover the National Gallery of Canada's defence\u00a0against claims from the family of\u00a0maintenance worker Conrad Lafreniere, who died\u00a0while working at the cultural centre. The order was set aside\u00a0on appeal in Ontario because the original hearing\u00a0\u201cdid not conduct the necessary analysis\" of the case, the higher court said.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Educational app instantly checks maths homework \n Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-25 18:21:47|Editor: Xiang Bo\n\nVideo Player Close\n\nHANGZHOU, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- A tech company in east China's Zhejiang Province has developed the software which can free parents from checking math assignments.\n\nThe app, \"Love Homework,\" was developed by Hangzhou Dana technology company. By simply taking a photo, it can check arithmetic problems in one second, with over 95 percent accuracy.\n\nThe free app has gained widespread high praise from parents and teachers alike since its launch in early September, with more than 400,000 downloads in three weeks.\n\n\"I have never seen an app receiving such a warm, enthusiastic reception in my 20 years of career,\" said Luo Huan, co-founder of Dana.\n\nThe idea of the app came from Mao Lihui, who works at Dana. Father of a primary school student, Mao spent a lot of time and energy checking his kid's assignments every day.\n\n\"There are about 60 math questions a page, sometimes 100. I hate checking homework after a long day at work,\" Mao said.\n\n\"Some parents said they spent at least an hour checking these questions,\" said Chen Mingquan, another co-founder.\n\nThe Dana team analyzed the handwriting of Chinese children and trained the computers to recognize the figures even when the handwriting was careless, with overlapping corrections or on thin paper.\n\nA mother surnamed Xu downloaded the app on the recommendation of other parents. \"It saved me a lot of time and the accuracy was better than my own. Plus, my kid and I don't quarrel about the questions when we come up with different answers,\" she said. \"I hope they come up with more, similar homework-checking apps.\"\n\nFeng Dingying, a math teacher, said artificial intelligence can replace humans in repetitive work. \"It allows educators and parents to put more effort in motivating the students,\" said Feng.", "output": "An app developed by Chinese software company Hangzhou Dana could free up parents' and teachers' time by checking children's maths homework. The \"Love Homework\" app takes a photo of the assignment, which it then checks for arithmetic problems in a single second, with a reported 95% accuracy. It has been met with widespread praise by parents and educators in China, with over 400,000 downloads in the three weeks since its launch. Artificial intelligence could replace humans in repetitive\u00a0work,\u00a0allowing \"educators and parents to put more effort in motivating the students\", said maths teacher Feng Dingying.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China extends property-price taming measures to hinterland \n Eight big cities in China have rolled out further property tightening measures in the latest efforts to rein in housing price rises.\n\nSince Friday, the second-tier cities of Xi'an, Chongqing, Nanchang, Nanning, Changsha, Guiyang, Shijiazhuang and Wuhan have tightened housing controls, with most banning home sales within two to three years after purchases.\n\nIn Shijiazhuang, houses newly bought as of Sunday will be banned from being sold within five years.\n\nIn Wuhan, real estate developers were told not to have prejudice against those home buyers who plan to use mortgages rather than making full payments.\n\nAnalysts said the ban on sales is an effective measure in fighting market speculation.\n\nThe new round of housing tightening started by the eight cities showed that there will be no respite in a rather long term and the authorities will not change their determination in controlling housing prices, said Yang Xianling, research chief of real estate agency Homelink.\n\nThe measures taken ahead of the National Day holiday can better guide market expectations, said Yang.\n\nIn March, Xiamen became the first city nationwide to introduce a sales ban. More than 40 cities have followed suit, according to the China Index Academy.\n\nYang said this time the tightening mainly targeted the provincial capitals as the housing markets there still face inflationary pressures from expected growth in population in the future.\n\nZhang Dawei, chief analyst with Centaline Property, said the housing tightening was moving down to the second- and third-tier cities and more are expected to follow suit.\n\nThe property markets in bigger cities like Beijing have lost steam after tough tightening measures including higher mortgage rates and down payment. However, the smaller cities saw price rises with money moving in with fewer restrictions.\n\nBanks in many major cities have raised the mortgage rates.\n\nIn Beijing, nearly 20 banks have raised the mortgage rates for first-home purchases by 5 or 10 percent. Some even declined to accept mortgage applications.\n\nThe banking regulators in cities like Beijing and Shenzhen have also ordered banks to check consumer loans to prevent the money flowing into the property market.", "output": "Cities in China are introducing further restrictions on housing transactions, banning the resale of properties for periods of up to five years after purchase, as they seek to curb speculators driving up property prices. Metropolises including Xi'an and Chonqing have brought in the measures as efforts to dampen China's property market expand\u00a0from the largest population centres to\u00a0so-called second-tier cities. The policy's extension\u00a0shows\u00a0Chinese\u00a0leaders are determined to control spiralling house prices,\u00a0said Yang Xianling, head of research at real estate agency Homelink."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lagos forces builders to insure against collapsing properties \n Ebere Nwoji examines the recent move by the Lagos State Government to make the builders\u2019 insurance policy compulsory to stem the rising incidence of crumbling buildings in the state\n\nThe Lagos State Government recently intensified efforts to check rising incidence of building collapse in Nigeria as well as ensuring that where it occurs, victims are provided with necessary mitigations against associated huge losses.\n\nThe state did this through recent move to enforce compulsory builders insurance on owners of buildings across the state. It also established a safety institute where stakeholders in construction work can be trained and certified to prevent frequent cases of collapse buildings in the state. Lagos has in recent times recorded the highest number of building collapses.\n\nThe Director General of Lagos State Safety Commission, Hakeem Dickson, who disclosed this at a press Conference held as part of preparation for the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcNaija Safe Awards 2017\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, organised at Alausa, Ikeja, said the state government would synergise with a consortium of insurance companies and the National Insurance Commission, (NAICOM) to achieve this.\n\nDickson was disgusted with the rate at which Lagosians pass blames on the state government whenever there is incidence of building collapse especially for not compensating victims.\n\nHe was of the view that if Lagosians embrace building insurance policy, it would save them from untold hardship, losses and hopelessness associated with unforeseen emergency situations,stressing that insurance companies have the financial capabilities to compensate and pay claims to victims of disasters than government.\n\nThis decision by the state government is in line with long standing crusade by both the insurance industry regulator, NAICOM and the umbrella body of insurance underwriters, the Nigeria Insurers Association (NIA) and other stakeholders in the industry on enforcement of compulsory insurance nationwide.\n\nThey have for many years been agitating for implementation of sections of 2003 insurance Act on compulsory insurances.\n\nBuilders insurance, especially public buildings and buildings under construction is one of the compulsory insurance policies stipulated by insurance Act of 2003.\n\nIts enforcement since then has been lying low until in 2008, when NAICOM in collaboration with the industry operators kicked off campaign on the enforcement in the six geopolitical zones of the country.\n\nThe expectation was that by now, everybody would have embraced this policy and all buildings in Nigeria covered by insurance policies but this has not happened for lack of enforcement.\n\nWhile insurance underwriters look upon NAICOM as government agency charged with the responsibility of doing that, NAICOM, on its part looks upon federal government for empowerment and deployment of its various enforcement agents for that purpose.\n\nThe Commission is also looking forward that the proposed amendment of 2003 Insurance Act would vest on it the necessary powers for enforcement and punishment of offenders.\n\nThe compulsory insurance policies slated by the commission for enforcement include statutory Group Life Insurance as required by Section 9(3) of the Pension Reform Act, 2004.\n\nEmployee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Compensation (which replaced Workmen Compensation) as required by Section 33 of the Employee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Compensation Act, 2010.\n\nOccupier\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Liability Insurance as required by Section 65 of the Insurance Act, 2003.\n\nMotor Third-Party Insurance as required by Section 68 of the Insurance Act, 2003.\n\nBuilder\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Liability Insurance as required by Section 64 of the Insurance Act.\n\nHealth Care Professional Indemnity Insurance as required by Section 45 of the National Health Insurance Act, 1999.\n\nSection 65 of insurance act of 2003, states that every public building shall be insured with a registered insurer against the hazards of building collapse, fire, earthquake, storm and flood.\n\nThe act defined public building as including tenement house, hostel, and building occupied by a tenant, lodger, or licensee.\n\nAt the flag off of the enforcement in Abuja, insurers described the exercise as the best thing that has happened to the industry projecting that at least it would yield the industry as much as N10 billion premium annually if effectively enforced .\n\nIndeed, considering the number of buildings in major cities in the country where there are more public buildings than in the villages, one would conclude that the builders insurance holds much opportunity for the insurance industry and is capable of tripling the projected amount by the insurers.\n\nBut instead of this, the policy is being affected by a lot of issues that have hampered its successful enforcement.\n\nAmong the issues as pointed out by the Managing Director of Niger Insurance Mr. Kola Adedeji are inadequate and ineffective frame work for insurance industry.\n\nAccording to him, insurance law makes provision for NAICOM as the regulator to enforce the insurance laws but provides no means of enforcement against the public. According to him, the commission lacks the power to arrest law breakers in the industry.\n\nAccording to the Niger insurance boss, whereas section 17 of the 2003 Act on third party motor insurance empowers the police to ask any one driving a motor vehicle to produce his or her certificate of insurance and section 40 of the workmen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s compensation act gave the minister of labour power to enforce the compulsory insurance provision of the act. In the case of compulsory building insurance, there is no separate enactment for compulsory insurance of public buildings.\n\nHe noted that this inadequate legal framework makes it completely difficult to enforce the provisions.\n\nHe therefore suggested a separate act of parliament for each of the compulsory insurance policies adding that each of the acts would provide relevant enforcement agencies through the benefits on the long run accrue to the insurance industry in form of increasing patronage and growth.\n\nHe particularly suggested the empowerment of all states and physical planning authorities for the enforcement of the act.\n\n\u00e2\u20ac\u02dc\u00e2\u20ac\u2122It is equally important to note that the provisions for insurance of public buildings even as they are in the insurance act are quite confusing, the law provides that either the owner or the occupier of the premises can insure public buildings\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, he noted.\n\nPointing out its other pitfalls, Adedeji queried: \u201cThe policy is meant to cover legal liabilities of either owner or occupier at what point in time does the occupier have legal liabilities or insurable interest in the building he or she is occupying?\n\nDespite these pitfalls, Lagos State government have taken the bull by the horns to enforce the law by ensuring that owners of buildings in the state put in place insurance cover for the third party.\n\nThe state government has already set up enforcement and monitoring team to ensure compliance.\n\nMembers of the team, THISDAY gathered were selected from insurance practitioners and outside insurance as the government was disgusted with high level of abuses by environmental workers in the state.\n\nBut Lagosians who commented on the development expressed diverse opinions on the matter. While some said it is a good development, others said what Lagosians need is solution to problem of building collapses not compensation.\n\nThey also feared that it will increase cost of building in the state which will in turn increase the already high cost of house rent in the state.\n\nInsurance industry observers said the decision by the state government is a good one but to make it more effective, the government should have used only the law enforcement agents to effect the enforcement.\n\nThey argued that using the insurance operators for enforcement would not yield much result because the insurers themselves have often said they were handicapped in enforcing the policy because they find it difficult going into any standing building or building under construction and to ask for insurance policy paper.\n\nThe insurers have always wished the law enforcement agents would be assigned to act on their behalf.\n\nThe observers therefore want the state government to restrict the enforcement to security and law enforcement agents of government.\n\nAt the lunch of the compulsory insurance in Abuja, the then Commissioner for Insurance Mr. Fola Daniel had explained that the enforcement was meant not only to boost the industry\u2019s premium, but most importantly to protect lives and properties which are often lost in building collapses.\n\nHe had listed structures covered under the Act to include all buildings occupied by government ministries; extra-ministerial departments; statutory bodies; tenement houses; hostels; lodges; or licences and any building to which members of the public have access for the purpose of obtaining educational or medical service or for recreational purposes or for business transaction.\n\nApparently, the industry regulator hoped to use the proceeds from the compulsory builders insurance to transform the industry into trillion naira market this year from below N400 billion currently.\n\nDaniel, had said that the trillion naira market transformation of the industry projected by his regime in NAICOM was based on the assumption that if all the houses and motor vehicles in Lagos and Abuja alone were insured, the figure would be met.\n\nSection 64 of Insurance Act of 2003 makes mandatory the insurance of buildings under construction where more than two floors are envisaged. The section says that insurance must cover the liability of the owner of the building in respect of the negligence of his servants, agents or consultant.\n\nSection 65 of the same Act makes the insurance of public building mandatory.\n\nSection 65 (4) of the Act specifies that 0.25 per cent of the premium collected is to be paid into a Fire Services Maintenance Fund to be administered and disbursed by NAICOM for the purpose of providing grants or procurement of equipment to institutions engaged in fire fighting services in the country.\n\nThe Act also provides that where there is a violation of this order, which derives from the provision of Sections 64 and 65 of the Insurance Act 2003, such offenders are liable to three years\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 imprisonment or a fine of N250,000 or both.\n\nAlso, the law prescribes a fine of N100, 000 for a tenant or owner of such insured building in respect of loss of, or damage to property, or bodily injury or death suffered by any user of the premises and third party but it failed to state the right or power of the NAICOM to punish any offender.", "output": "The state government of Lagos will work with a consortium of insurance companies to enforce the law requiring building owners to have cover against collapse, as stipulated in the 2003 Insurance Act. The move, which has been welcomed by the insurance sector, follows attempts by regulator the National Insurance Commission and the Nigeria Insurers' Association to enforce the law. If properly implemented, building insurance could boost industry revenues to the tune of NGN10bn (approx $28m) annually."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "InfoWatch unveils 'surveillance-proof' smartphone \n A man holds a TaigaPhone, a brand new smartphone created by InfoWatch Group, during a presentation in Moscow on September 22, 2017\n\nFor Russians who fear that someone may be eavesdropping on their phone conversations, leading IT entrepreneur Natalya Kaspersky says she has a solution.\n\nAt a business forum in Moscow on Friday she presented \"TaigaPhone\", a brand new smartphone created by InfoWatch Group, her software development company, costing around 15,000 rubles ($260).\n\nThe TaigaPhone is entirely green to represent the Russian northern forest after which it is named and has a five-inch touch screen.\n\n\"We have created it for the corporate market,\" said Kaspersky, president of InfoWatch Group and co-founder of Kaspersky Lab, Russia's leading antivirus software development company which some believe may have links to Russian intelligence.\n\nKaspersky Lab has over the past months been at the centre of controversy in the United States.\n\nIn July, the US government removed Kaspersky from its list of approved vendors, weeks after top US intelligence agency and law enforcement officials expressed concerns about the safety of its software.\n\nBut no evidence has been presented to back up vague assertions that it might be a tool of Moscow, offering Russian spies back-door entry into computers worldwide.\n\nThe company has repeatedly denied working with any government agency.\n\nThe TaigaPhone is not the first Russian-made smartphone. YotaPhone, which first appeared on the market in 2013, is back this year with a new device: the YotaPhone 3.\n\nInfoWatch wants to sell TaigaPhone to Russian companies at a cost of between 12,000 and 15,000 rubles, almost five times cheaper than the cost of an iPhone in Russia.\n\n\"Half of all data loss in Russia happens on mobile devices, we intend to fix that problem with the TaigaPhone,\" company representative Grigoriy Vasilyev told investors at the forum.\n\nInfoWatch says the device can guarantee the confidentiality of all TaigaPhone users, track the location of each device and prevent information leakage.\n\n\u00a9 2017 AFP", "output": "Russian software development company InfoWatch has unveiled a smartphone\u00a0it claims is \u201csurveillance-proof\u201d. The TaigaPhone, developed with the Russian corporate market in mind,\u00a0will retail at around RUB15,000\u00a0($260), significantly cheaper than\u00a0an iPhone in the country. \"Half of all data loss in Russia happens on mobile devices, we intend to fix that problem\", said company representative Grigoriy Vasilyev. InfoWatch claims that the TaigaPhone\u00a0guarantees user confidentiality, a valuable trait for those that fear eavesdropping and data leakages.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian food firms poorly covered for product recall crises \n The Lynx UK Trust has announced an agreement that will insure the UK's whole sheep population against lynx attacks throughout a proposed trial to reintroduce the wild cat to the UK.\n\nThe agreement, with Lloyds Syndicate ARK Speciality Programs, is seen as an attempt to ease farmers' concerns surrounding the danger of reintroducing the lynx to the British countryside.\n\nIf the proposal trial is approved by Natural England, six lynx will be reintroduced for a five year period in the Kielder Forest, Northumberland.\n\nThey will be closely monitored with satellite tracking to see how they fit back into the UK ecosystem, where they could become a natural control on the currently overpopulated deer species.\n\nBut the National Sheep Association (NSA) has said the proposals would have a \"detrimental impact\" on farmers' livelihoods.\n\nThe NSA said the debate so far has only focused on the positives, with 'little consideration' for evidence which suggests similar projects in Europe have experienced limited success.\n\n\"Releasing this predatory species puts at risk all the things that emanate from a successful sheep farmed area \u2013 the landscape and its associated ecology and wildlife, local working communities and a vibrant rural economy,\" the group said.\n\n'Wide-reaching'\n\nNSA chief executive Phil Stocker said the impact of it would be 'far wider-reaching than just a few sheep lost'.\n\n\"The UK's ecology is built on huge diversity which is dependent on human management and farming in the majority of cases,\" he said.\n\n\"This hierarchy of species interact with each other and we already have many examples where a lack of intervention and predator control result in the collapse of iconic birds and mammals such as the red squirrel and the curlew - two species that Northumberland is renowned for.\n\n\"The UK is very different from countries where top level predators such as big cats can survive, in terms of land use, wildlife and our population and infrastructure.\"\n\n'Natural balance'\n\nHowever, Lynx UK Trust believes the animal belongs in the UK ecosystem, having been hunted to extinction around 500-700AD.\n\nThe Trust believes reintroduction is vital in re-storing a natural balance in the British countryside.\n\nLynx UK Trust has pledged to establish a sheep welfare programme which will provide grants to build fencing, buy outbuildings for lambing and bring in llamas to act as guardians for sheep flocks.\n\nChief scientific advisor to the Lynx UK Trust, Dr Paul O'Donoghue told The Telegraph: \u201cThere are some really exciting ideas from other countries, such as guardian animals like llamas,\u201d said chief scientific advisor to the Trust, Dr Paul O'Donoghue.\n\n\u201cWe've seen these successfully used in the Scottish Highlands keeping off foxes, and in an American study they reduced sheep kills from dogs and coyotes by 66 per cent; half of those farms saw predation stop entirely.\n\n\u201cThose are astounding results, I'm amazed we don't already see them widely in use; we might be able to reduce all sheep predation by two thirds, just by providing farmers with llamas.\u201d\n\n'Criminal offence'\n\nNevertheless, the NSA said it would therefore be a 'criminal offence' to keep them without a local authority licence.\n\nCurrently, these licences are only available for zoo and captive animals, not for those being released into the wild.\n\nThe current law would also allow farmers to legally shoot lynx causing distress to their animals.\n\nAnd since lynx's are natural predators, farmers' see this as a risk to their livestock if a re-introduction were to happen.\n\nNSA's Phil Stocker continued: \u201cThis country is a very different place to what it was 1,300 years ago and NSA does not believe we have enough largescale, suitable habitat to support the minimum population of 250 lynx that is needed for true genetic sustainability.\n\n\u201cAnimal welfare and disease biosecurity, as well as unconsidered changes in ecology if we were to see pastoral farming decline, also present huge problems.\u201d", "output": "Australian food companies are ill-equipped to deal with product recalls, according to a report by the Australian Food and Grocery Council and Victual. It revealed that while the average cost of a global recall was $10m, many firms' insurance \"covered significantly less\". Additionally, 41% of respondents did not regularly review their recall plans, while a third had no spokesperson, and of those who did, they were not trained to deal with a recall crisis. The report made several recommendations, including the need for more robust ways to track consumer sentiment and reducing batch quantities to minimise recall costs."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Workplace insurance premium cuts to save Ontario firms $614m \n Small businesses also rewarded for health & safety efforts\n\nTORONTO, Sept. 20, 2017 /CNW/ - For the second year in a row, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) is lowering premium rates. The three per cent reduction to the average rate for 2018 was announced at today's Annual General Meeting (AGM) for stakeholders.\n\n\"The rate cut we announced today combined with last year's reductions means a nine per cent drop in the average premium rate over the past two years,\" said Elizabeth Witmer, Chair of the WSIB. \"That means $760 million will remain in Ontario's economy that can be invested in jobs, technology and improvements to workplace health and safety.\"\n\nOver 300,000 businesses and organizations in Ontario pay premiums for the WSIB's workplace injury and illness collective liability insurance coverage.\n\nThe WSIB also released its 2017 Economic Statement today which shows continued progress reducing its unfunded liability (UFL), which now stands at $2.6 billion, down from $14.2 billion in 2011.\n\n\"Good financial management underpins our ability to keep delivering and expanding the services that help people recover and return to work safely,\" said Tom Teahen, WSIB President and CEO. \"We are focused on always delivering better outcomes across everything we do.\"\n\nA key focus of the AGM was the first-ever Small Business Health and Safety Leadership Awards, designed to recognized outstanding achievement in health and safety initiatives in businesses with fewer than 50 employees. Nominated businesses were judged on their performance in five categories: safety culture and leadership, inspections, hazard identification and control, quality of return-to-work programs, and employee safety engagement survey results.\n\n\"We need to call out the efforts of leaders in small business who make health and safety a priority,\" said Witmer. \"These business leaders are leading by example and can inspire other businesses to make improvements.\"\n\nThe three winners were encouraged to reinvest their cash awards in their health and safety programs. The winners were:\n\nGold level \u2013 JTR & Custom Works Inc., Timmins, $5,000\n\nSilver level \u2013 Devolder Farms Inc., Dover Centre, $3,000\n\nBronze level \u2013 Mike Moore Construction Ltd., Sault Ste. Marie, $2,000\n\nSOURCE Workplace Safety & Insurance Board", "output": "Canadian agency the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), part of the country's Ministry of Labour, has announced a 3% cut in average premium rates for 2018, saving local firms CAD760m ($614m), according to Chair Elizabeth Witmer. The latest cuts follow a 9% drop in average premium prices over the past two years, and will be a boost to the more than 300,000 Ontario businesses in Ontario paying WSIB for injury and illness collective liability insurance."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Teens use digital tools to cheat at school \n For K\u201312 schools, technologies in the classroom can expand access to innovative information and add layers of protection to the digital learning experience. But today\u2019s digital native students might be so savvy with technology that they use it to break the rules.\n\nAbout one-third of students aged 14 to 18 report they have gone around schools\u2019 online safeguards to access banned content, and another 29 percent indicate that they\u2019ve used digital tools to cheat in school, reports a new survey from security firm McAfee.\n\nRoughly 62 percent of students say they\u2019ve witnessed a friend using a connected device to cheat. eSchool News reports that the students surveyed say that using a mobile device to take a photo of notes or test answers is easy to do.\n\nWhile these students are tech savvy, some educators believe that the students might not even be aware when their tech use counts as cheating.\n\n\u201cThey share information because it\u2019s just available to them,\u201d says Joe Fuertsch, assistant principal at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Calif., in a U.S. News and World Report article about the survey.\n\nFuertsch recommends that teachers have proactive conversations about cheating and plagiarism and where technology fits into that. Other teachers in the article suggest that educators regularly search the internet for new ways that students might be able to cheat on tests, and teachers should design tests that encourage critical thinking instead of a simple right or wrong answer.\n\nWhen best practices can\u2019t cut it, technology can help to thwart inappropriate tech use.\n\nTechnologies Ensure Proper Tech Use\n\nDigital tools can be particularly effective in addressing attempts to access banned and inappropriate content.\n\nGoGuardian, the company behind content-filtering apps that many schools use, released Admin 2.0, a new tool that applies machine learning to more efficiently flag content.\n\nUsing the updated content filter, administrators can set up personalized messages for students trying to access banned content. Instead of just putting up a blocked page, the tool gives students a \u201cyou know better\u201d type of message, which has helped to limit the amount of explicit or inappropriate content accessed.\n\nCheating and accessing banned content aren\u2019t the only cybersecurity issues that schools have to deal with when students become more technologically sophisticated. At Miami-Dade County Public Schools, students conducted repeated distributed denial of service attacks, which flooded schools\u2019 networks with malicious traffic to stop the schools from issuing a standardized test.\n\nThe district tells EdTech that now it\u2019s using more network monitoring tools and establishing rules on its routers, switches and firewalls to spurn this kind of bad traffic.", "output": "Around 29% of students between the ages of 14 and 18 have used digital technology to cheat at school, according to a survey by security company McAfee, while 62% of students surveyed by the firm say\u00a0they have seen friends\u00a0cheating with tech. A further third of students have used technology to circumvent their school's security protocols to access prohibited content, the survey states. Digital tools, like content filters, can act as countermeasures to this behaviour,\u00a0alongside keeping teachers up-to-date with the latest methods.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Costa Coffee completes successful drone deliveries in Dubai \n Costa Coffee has successfully delivered its first batch of takeaway coffee to customers on the beach in Dubai using specially engineered drone technology.\n\nThe Jumeirah Beach Road branch tested out the technology and took their \u2018Frostino\u2019 and \u2018Cold Brew\u2019 beverages to customers on Kite Beach.\n\nBeach-goers can be seen in the video released by Costa ordering via mobile phone to the local branch, before the drink arrives right at their location within 15 minutes.\n\nThe Drone Drop idea came after 82 percent of customers in the UAE said they would make food and drink orders to be delivered by drone.\n\n\u201cDubai is known for leading the way with innovative technology, and drones are the next frontier for instant delivery,\u201d Shemaine Jones, Head of Marketing at Costa Coffee UAE, said. \u201cOur customers told us they\u2019d love to have their favorite drinks dropped off by drones, so we\u2019re super excited to have successfully tested this service, enabling beach-goers to enjoy ice cold beverages without leaving the comfort of their sun-loungers.\u201d\n\nThe coffeehouse has released no exact details yet as to whether it plans to introduce the service or not following the trial.", "output": "A branch of Costa Coffee in Dubai has successfully tested a drone delivery service for customers on the beach. A video released by the company shows the order being placed with a mobile phone, and the drone arriving at Jumeirah Beach to make the delivery 15 minutes later. A spokesman for Costa in the UAE said the technology is \"the next frontier for instant delivery\", but the chain has not confirmed plans to introduce the service.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ANZ banks look to implement unified biometric authentification \n The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) is looking to implement voice biometrics as the method of authentication in its call centres across all of its front doors, ANZ general manager of Wholesale Digital Nigel Dobson told the FIDO Alliance Seminar in Sydney on Monday.\n\nVoice identification technology was rolled out earlier this month on the bank's Grow by ANZ app, and according to Dobson, the service has experienced \"high customer acceptance and success\" and as a result, the bank is keen to roll it out across its call centres.\n\n\"We will test and learn this capability, and our hope is to have it as a pervasive authentication capability for the bank for all of its front doors, if you like, within 12-24 months,\" he said.\n\n\"What we think we have found with voice biometrics as an addition to authentication is something actually that gives high security and a significant degree of convenience.\"\n\nPointing to other institutions in the space that are jumping on the biometrics bandwagon -- such as Barclays, HSBC, and USAA -- Dobson is concerned the market might become too cluttered with disparate methods of authentication. Instead, he wants to see financial institutions in Australia work together to form a unified solution.\n\n\"Every bank coming up with their own solution is probably not wise when you can have a standard response that is nationally utilised. Combing strong authentication coupled with secured credentials is the mission,\" he explained.\n\n\"We certainly have common interests as a banking community in implementing framework.\"\n\nIt is a similar approach financial providers in Canada are doing, he explained, with the Digital ID & Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC) also including telecommunications providers and government in the conversation with financial services providers.\n\n\"I think that's a really interesting combination. Not every country has managed to become that collaborative and I can see enormous benefits of having telcos and financial institutions with complementary datasets trying to solve national identity and security,\" Dobson said.\n\n\"I would hope the same thing might happen here in Australia.\"\n\nWith the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) launching itsNew Payments Platform into trial mode later this year, Dobson is concerned with the increase in fraud the platform may bring with it when it goes live with customer transactions from February next year.\n\n\"We're expecting an increase in the success of fraud just simply because of the velocity of transactions,\" he said.\n\n\"Transactions that are set, cleared, and settled and posted within 15 seconds obviously offer you a much greater viability to success in fraud attacks as opposed to slower payment tracks that have been used in the past.\n\n\"Coupled with open-data, we believe the market is upon significant innovation, but our collaborative energies need to be brought together to ensure that the customer experience is both convenient and secure.\"\n\nThe new payments platform will allow for near real-time funds transfer between bank accounts, regardless of who people bank with. All a user will require to perform an \"instantaneous payment\" with the forthcoming system will be the recipient's email address or mobile phone number.\n\nIn partnership with speech software firm Nuance, the bank's Grow by ANZ banking app allows customers to make \"pay anyone\" payments of more than AU$1,000 automatically, bypassing usual security measures such as visiting a branch in person. Voice ID can also be used to make BPAY payments of over AU$10,000.\n\nANZ announced its voice biometrics trial in April, kicking off the new technology with a pilot running with staff and select customers in May.\n\nAt the time, ANZ managing director of customer experience and digital channels Peter Dalton touted voice biometrics as the next step in making banking more convenient for customers while also strengthening security.\n\n\"One of the key challenges today for banking as the world becomes more digital is making it easier for customers to do what they want to do in a safe and secure way,\" he said previously.\n\nSpeaking with ZDNet in April, Nuance Australia and New Zealand managing director Robert Schwarz said voice biometrics is a more secure method of identifying and authenticating the user or the account owner in the financial services sector.\n\n\"What ANZ Bank has done around implementing voice biometrics is going to have multiple benefits for their customers,\" Schwarz said. \"First and foremost is the security side, by being able to secure some of these larger transactions. They're using it for a step-up authentication process, because voice is a lot more secure than a lot of the other modalities that are out there.\"\n\nSchwarz also believes there is an important place for voice biometrics to curb the influx of fraud that could emerge in the RBA's instant payments environment.", "output": "The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) plans to utilise voice biometrics to authenticate customer data across its call centres. The technology has already been rolled out on the group's\u00a0Grow app, garnering\u00a0\u201chigh customer acceptance and success\u201d. ANZ hopes that the technology's success\u00a0will encourage other\u00a0financial institutions in the region to adopt it, creating a national, unified security solution. The group is expecting a hike in fraudulent activity as a result of the launch of the Reserve Bank of Australia\u2019s New Payments Platform in February.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Singapore project to test bunkering\u00a0marine biofuels \n Can biofuels provide a sustainable power alternative to the shipping industry? A new collaborative project in Singapore is going to test the idea.\n\nThe Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has signed an agreement with BHP and GoodFuels Marine to run a biofuels pilot project next year. GoodFuels Marine is an international supplier of marine biofuel. It currently supplies fuel to the Port of Amsterdam and this latest initiative will see it lend its expertise to the \u201clargest bunkering port in the world\u201d.\n\n\u201cWe are very proud that our \u2018biofuel-footprint\u2019 of supply locations and sustainable customers is spreading from Europe to the largest bunkering port in the world and our first Asian partner as well. From now on, sustainable marine biofuels are available in Singapore for those ship and freight owners that want to eliminate their carbon and sulphur emissions,\u201d said Dirk Kronemeijer, Chief Executive Officer of GoodFuels.", "output": "GoodFuels Marine and BHP have partnered with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore to run a biofuels bunkering pilot project at the port. GoodFuels is an international supplier of marine biofuel that currently services the Port of Amsterdam and the trial at the largest bunkering port in the world will mark the first time it has brought its expertise to Asia. The initiative aims to test whether biofuels can provide a sustainable power alternative to the shipping industry, which is facing increasingly stringent environmental regulations. The project is expected to take place next year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "India's PM promises\u00a0a home for every citizen by 2022 \n SHAHANSHAHPUR ( VARANASI ): Prime Minister Narendra Modi today lashed out at his political rivals, saying for BJP, politics was not for the sake of votes as it considered the country's development as the top-most priority.Addressing a public meeting after inaugurating a 'Pashu Arogya Mela' (cattle health fair) here on the second day of his two-day visit to his Lok Sabha constituency of Varanasi, he also promised to double farm income and provide homes to the homeless by 2022.He said his government had \"waged a war\" against black money and corruption, for which the poor have had to suffer because of \"the loot\" by the dishonest.\"Our (BJP) politics is not for votes, our culture is different. In politics, people do only that task which yields votes, but our character is different.\"Some politicians work only when it fetches them votes. But we have been brought up in a different culture. ... For us, the nation is above all and it is our top-most priority, not votes,\" Modi said.Referring to the mega animal fair being organised for the first time on 1800 acres of land here, he said \"these animals don't go to cast their ballot. They are not anyone's voters.\"He said proper healthcare of the cattle through such initiatives, would help increase milk production in India which is lower than in several countries.Encouraging the farmers to adopt dairy and animal husbandry as alternate sources of income, Modi said such initiatives would lead to \"a new path of progress\" that would not only raise farmers' income but also the overall income.Maintaining that crores of families are still homeless, he said the government has decided to provide each of the urban and rural poor, a shelter by 2022 when the country celebrates 75th year of independence.\"When crores of houses are built across the country, it will require bricks, cement, iron and wood. It will generate jobs for thousands and open up new avenues of income and employment,\" the Prime Minister said.Modi, who distributed Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana certificates to some beneficiaries, said \"By 2022, every poor, whether in urban or rural area, will get a home. Building crores of homes will generate jobs and income.\"\"If Modi will not take up such an arduous task, who else will,\" he posed.He also targetted the erstwhile Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh for not providing to the Centre the list of homeless requiring houses in the state.\"The previous government had no interest in giving homes to the poor. After mounting pressure, they gave a list of only 10,000. But the current (Yogi Adityanath) government has given a list of lakhs of people to avail benefit,\" Modi said.Referring to his government's cleanliness drive, he said toilets at home can save up to Rs 50,000 per annum as per a survey.Praising villagers, where he went for laying foundation of a toilet for naming it as \"Izzatghar\", Modi said, \"I liked this word so much. Where there is Izzatghar, there is honour of our mothers and sisters. I also congratulate the state government for recognising it as Izzatghar. In the days to come those who are concerned about their honour, will construct Izzatghar.\"Thanking Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for organising health treatment for cattle programme, Modi said cattle were brought here from different places and specialist doctors are here to treat them.\"I hope such programme for health of cattles will be held across the state through which we will take care of cattle of poor. It will be a relief for them,\" he said.Modi said such camps would help poor farmers who could not afford treatment to their animal because of poverty and pointed out that dairy farming gave them a major economic support.Earlier, he went around the animal shelter and even patted some cows at the 'gau shala'.He spoke to the staff there enquiring about their work.Modi said that the government has kickstarted a big battle against blackmoney, corruption and dishonesty.\"A common honest man suffers as corrupt used to loot him. The campaign of honesty is going ahead like a festival. The way in which our trader brothers are associating with GST and Aadhar. Every penny of peole will be spent for their welfare. We are moving forward fast,\" he said.On the first day of his visit, Modi inaugurated 17 infra projects worth over Rs 1000 crore including the Ramnagar-Samne Ghat bridge and the Balua Ghat bridge.He also flagged off the third Mahamana Express train between Varanasi and Vadodara.", "output": "Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to build a home for every urban and rural family or individual in the country by 2022, when the country marks its 75th year of independence. Speaking at a cattle fair in Varanasi, Modi said his initiative would \"generate jobs and income\". Modi lashed out at the previous government's attempts to provide housing for India's thousands of homeless people, saying it had \"no interest in giving homes to the poor\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Client details stolen in Deloitte cyber attack \n One of the world\u2019s \u201cbig four\u201d accountancy firms has been targeted by a sophisticated hack that compromised the confidential emails and plans of some of its blue-chip clients, the Guardian can reveal.\n\nDeloitte, which is registered in London and has its global headquarters in New York, was the victim of a cybersecurity attack that went unnoticed for months.\n\nOne of the largest private firms in the US, which reported a record $37bn (\u00a327.3bn) revenue last year, Deloitte provides auditing, tax consultancy and high-end cybersecurity advice to some of the world\u2019s biggest banks, multinational companies, media enterprises, pharmaceutical firms and government agencies.\n\nThe Guardian understands Deloitte clients across all of these sectors had material in the company email system that was breached. The companies include household names as well as US government departments.\n\nSo far, six of Deloitte\u2019s clients have been told their information was \u201cimpacted\u201d by the hack. Deloitte\u2019s internal review into the incident is ongoing.\n\nThe Guardian understands Deloitte discovered the hack in March this year, but it is believed the attackers may have had access to its systems since October or November 2016.\n\nThe hacker compromised the firm\u2019s global email server through an \u201cadministrator\u2019s account\u201d that, in theory, gave them privileged, unrestricted \u201caccess to all areas\u201d.\n\nThe account required only a single password and did not have \u201ctwo-step\u201c verification, sources said.\n\nEmails to and from Deloitte\u2019s 244,000 staff were stored in the Azure cloud service, which was provided by Microsoft. This is Microsoft\u2019s equivalent to Amazon Web Service and Google\u2019s Cloud Platform.\n\nMicrosoft\u2019s Azure cloud service. Photograph: Microsoft\n\nIn addition to emails, the Guardian understands the hackers had potential access to usernames, passwords, IP addresses, architectural diagrams for businesses and health information. Some emails had attachments with sensitive security and design details.\n\nThe breach is believed to have been US-focused and was regarded as so sensitive that only a handful of Deloitte\u2019s most senior partners and lawyers were informed.\n\nThe Guardian has been told the internal inquiry into how this happened has been codenamed \u201cWindham\u201d. It has involved specialists trying to map out exactly where the hackers went by analysing the electronic trail of the searches that were made.\n\nThe team investigating the hack is understood to have been working out of the firm\u2019s offices in Rosslyn, Virginia, where analysts have been reviewing potentially compromised documents for six months.\n\nIt has yet to establish whether a lone wolf, business rivals or state-sponsored hackers were responsible.\n\nSources said if the hackers had been unable to cover their tracks, it should be possible to see where they went and what they compromised by regenerating their queries. This kind of reverse-engineering is not foolproof, however.\n\nA measure of Deloitte\u2019s concern came on 27 April when it hired the US law firm Hogan Lovells on \u201cspecial assignment\u201d to review what it called \u201ca possible cybersecurity incident\u201d.\n\nThe Washington-based firm has been retained to provide \u201clegal advice and assistance to Deloitte LLP, the Deloitte Central Entities and other Deloitte Entities\u201d about the potential fallout from the hack.\n\nResponding to questions from the Guardian, Deloitte confirmed it had been the victim of a hack but insisted only a small number of its clients had been \u201cimpacted\u201d. It would not be drawn on how many of its clients had data made potentially vulnerable by the breach.\n\nThe Guardian was told an estimated 5m emails were in the \u201dcloud\u201d and could have been been accessed by the hackers. Deloitte said the number of emails that were at risk was a fraction of this number but declined to elaborate.\n\n\u201cIn response to a cyber incident, Deloitte implemented its comprehensive security protocol and began an intensive and thorough review including mobilising a team of cybersecurity and confidentiality experts inside and outside of Deloitte,\u201d a spokesman said.\n\n\u201cAs part of the review, Deloitte has been in contact with the very few clients impacted and notified governmental authorities and regulators.\n\n\u201cThe review has enabled us to understand what information was at risk and what the hacker actually did, and demonstrated that no disruption has occurred to client businesses, to Deloitte\u2019s ability to continue to serve clients, or to consumers.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe remain deeply committed to ensuring that our cybersecurity defences are best in class, to investing heavily in protecting confidential information and to continually reviewing and enhancing cybersecurity. We will continue to evaluate this matter and take additional steps as required.\n\n\u201cOur review enabled us to determine what the hacker did and what information was at risk as a result. That amount is a very small fraction of the amount that has been suggested.\u201d\n\nDeloitte declined to say which government authorities and regulators it had informed, or when, or whether it had contacted law enforcement agencies.\n\nThough all major companies are targeted by hackers, the breach is a deep embarrassment for Deloitte, which offers potential clients advice on how to manage the risks posed by sophisticated cybersecurity attacks.\n\n\u201cCyber risk is more than a technology or security issue, it is a business risk,\u201d Deloitte tells potential customers on its website.\n\n\u201cWhile today\u2019s fast-paced innovation enables strategic advantage, it also exposes businesses to potential cyber-attack. Embedding best practice cyber behaviours help our clients to minimise the impact on business.\u201d\n\nDeloitte has a \u201cCyberIntelligence Centre\u201d to provide clients with \u201cround-the-clock business focussed operational security\u201d.\n\n\u201cWe monitor and assess the threats specific to your organisation, enabling you to swiftly and effectively mitigate risk and strengthen your cyber resilience,\u201d its website says. \u201cGoing beyond the technical feeds, our professionals are able to contextualise the relevant threats, helping determine the risk to your business, your customers and your stakeholders.\u201d\n\nIn 2012, Deloitte, which has offices all over the world, was ranked the best cybersecurity consultant in the world.\n\nEarlier this month, Equifax, the US credit monitoring agency, admitted the personal data of 143 million US customers had been accessed or stolen in a massive hack in May. It has also revealed it was also the victim of an earlier breach in March.\n\nAbout 400,000 people in the UK may have had their information stolen following the cybersecurity breach. The US company said an investigation had revealed that a file containing UK consumer information \u201cmay potentially have been accessed\u201d.\n\nThe data includes names, dates of birth, email addresses and telephone numbers, but does not contain postal addresses, passwords or financial information. Equifax, which is based in Atlanta, discovered the hack in July but only informed consumers last week.\n\n\n\n", "output": "Global accountancy firm Deloitte has lost confidential client details in a cyber attack that went undetected for months. Six major clients have been informed that their information was \u201cimpacted\u201d.\u00a0An internal review is being conducted into the loss, which saw IP addresses, passwords, medical records and architectural diagrams compromised. The hack was discovered in March, but may have been in progress since November of last year. \u201cIn response to a cyber incident, Deloitte implemented its comprehensive security protocol and began an intensive and thorough review\u201d, said\u00a0a spokesman for the company.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "20% of Dutch businesses hit by cyber attacks in 2016 \n More than 20% of Dutch companies employing more than 10 people were hit by cyber attacks by third parties in 2016, the national statistics office CBS said on Monday. Companies operating in the financial and energy sectors were hardest hit.\n\nSome 43% of companies also had to cope with internet breakdowns and other IT failures last year, the CBS said.\n\nThe CBS also looked into people\u2019s willingness to report cyber crimes such as online bullying, hacking and sales fraud to the authorities.\n\nIt found around a quarter of incidents are reported to the police or other authorities but only 7.6% of people affected by cyber crime went on to make a formal report to police.", "output": "Over 20% of businesses in the Netherlands with 10 or more employees were targeted by\u00a0cyber attacks last year, according to the country's national statistics office. Financial and energy firms\u00a0were the most common victims.\u00a0In addition, 43% of all Dutch companies reported\u00a0internet breakdowns and other IT failures in the last year. Despite the large number of attacks, only a quarter of breaches were reported to the police or other relevant authorities.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gatorade pays $300,000 to settle complaint over Usain Bolt game \n Dive Brief:\n\nGatorade, owned by PepsiCo, agreed to pay $300,000 to settle the California attorney general\u2019s complaint filed over Gatorade\u2019s \u201cBolt\u201d game, featuring track star Usain Bolt getting faster when he touched a Gatorade icon,and slowing down when he touched a water droplet, according to the San Francisco Chronicle and a statement from the attorney general's office.\n\nCalifornia\u2019s AG Xavier Becerra cited studies that found this type of game can negatively affect a child\u2019s desire for healthy food. The game was played 87 million times between 2012 and 2013, and roughly 70% of the players were aged 13-24.\n\n\u201cMaking misleading statements is a violation of California law,\u201d Becerra said in a press release. \u201cBut making misleading statements aimed at our children is beyond unlawful, it\u2019s morally wrong and a betrayal of trust. It\u2019s what causes consumers to lose faith in the products they buy.\u201d\n\nDive Insight:\n\nGatorade is paying the price for misleading advertising, but the entire food and beverage industry can learn a couple of lessons from it. The first is simply to not lie about a competing product in an ad campaign. And lastly, don\u2019t lie about healthy products in a format that is geared toward children. It won\u2019t end well, as Gatorade can attest.\n\nIt\u2019s understandable that Gatorade wants to differentiate itself in the increasingly crowded sports drink market. The beverage is already a giant in the space, dividing about a 70% share with Coca-Cola\u2019s Powerade. But that doesn\u2019t mean the company isn't angling for a larger take of the $8.5 billion consumers spend annually on sports drinks. However, going after water is no way to win over consumers of other energy drinks. Bottled water is the nation's most popular drink category, with 12.8 billion gallons sold to consumers last year. And that doesn't count water that people drink from their own taps.\n\nPepsiCo could take a note other manufacturers outside of the sports drink category which have discovered ways to stand out from the crowd \u2014 without getting sued under consumer protection laws.\n\nIn January 2016, Campbell was the first major company to tell consumers which of its products contained genetically modified ingredients by printing it on the label. It also plans to comply with the Food and Drug Administration's new Nutrition Facts panel by the original July 2018 deadline, even though the timetable was recently delayed by the agency. Campbell's actions aren't targeting competitors, but are instead making its own brand look more transparent.\n\nDollar General stores has made its mark by offering exclusive branded products. This past summer, the store has offered Oreo Mississippi Mud Pie cookies, a 16-ounce Coca-Cola can series honoring military veterans, Regal Cinemas brand popcorn and an exclusive six-pack of Mott's mango juice. These exclusives appeal to shoppers from a variety of demographics and bring them into the store.", "output": "PepsiCo-owned soft drinks giant Gatorade has agreed to pay $300,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by California's attorney general, Xavier Becerra. He filed the complaint, claiming Gatorade's Bolt game was misleading and could discourage children from eating and drinking healthily. In the game, track and field star Usain Bolt sped up when he touched a Gatorade droplet, but slowed down when he touched water. Between 2012 and 2013, Bolt\u00a0was played 87 million times, with around 70% of players aged between 13 and 24.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US hurricanes leave smaller businesses\u00a0at higher risk of failure \n Assistant Professor of Risk Management and Insurance in the Fox School of Business at Temple University and a Research Fellow at the Wharton School's Risk Management and Decision Processes Center\n\nPhoto: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images\n\nAn interview with Ben Collier, Professor of Risk Management, Temple University and Fellow at Wharton Risk Center\n\nDamage estimates from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma are still pouring in and recovery efforts are underway. Historically, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are particularly hard hit, have less insurance and in the aftermath, face credit restraints when trying to secure the funds to rebuild.\n\nBRINK spoke with Ben Collier, professor of risk management at Temple University and a fellow at the Wharton Risk Center about the effects on SMEs in the aftermath of such disasters, based on his study of those businesses in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. Mr. Collier provides insights on why such firms are so dramatically affected and some of the psychology behind why those that pour their life\u2019s savings into a business often fail to insure it fully.\n\nBRINK: What has the history of disasters told us about the impact on small and medium enterprises?\n\nBen Collier: A consistent theme has been that firms are often unprepared when disaster strikes. Many don\u2019t have disaster plans or insurance in place at that time. Another piece that comes up in the history that we\u2019ve seen commonly is that disasters destroy the property of small and medium enterprises, at least natural disasters do, and those property losses do tend to be big ticket items. These are some of the businesses that lose the most.\n\nMore commonly, disasters can create business interruptions due to customer disruption or power outages. Those can be especially challenging. Insuring against those business interruptions is difficult, and often the flood-related interruptions, such as we\u2019ve seen with Hurricane Harvey, and that we saw with Superstorm Sandy, [can] be especially challenging because there are so few [insurance] products that cover those risks.\n\nSome research indicates, too, that SMEs fail at higher rates in the years following disasters due to the challenges of fully recovering. There are some businesses that close their doors when a disaster strikes and never reopen and others that make it a few more years, but they never are fully recovered.\n\nBRINK: How are the effects of a disaster different for SMEs than they are for larger firms?\n\nMr. Collier: There are a couple different ways I think we could think about this issue, but let me focus on one or two points here. Disasters may be especially challenging for younger firms than for smaller firms.\n\nEntrepreneurs face many risks when they\u2019re starting out. They\u2019re trying to seek out their place in the market. Many can\u2019t operate sustainably before their startup capital runs out. There are a lot of entrepreneurs that may have good ideas, then something gets in the way and they\u2019re not able to make the business viable. New businesses face so many risks that it seems like they may be especially unlikely to worry about rare events, such as hurricanes, because there are so many more probable, likely dangers that will cause them to fail.\n\nAs businesses mature the nature of a company\u2019s risk falls. The ones that survive the first years have established themselves in the market by demonstrating their viability. For these firms, disaster risks may become more prominent. You start to worry more about a disaster causing you to fail than the younger firm that\u2019s worried about many different risks that might cause it to fail.\n\nMaybe for these reasons we\u2019ve found that older and larger firms are more likely to buy insurance. So, for example, my colleagues and I studied whether New York area businesses had insurance in place at the time of Superstorm Sandy, and we found that younger firms and smaller firms were especially unlikely to be insured.\n\nMaybe the more fundamental point that you\u2019re asking about is vulnerability, too. Smaller firms tend to be more spatially concentrated. If you think about the local retailer with a single office or a few offices, in Houston, Hurricane Harvey may have affected all of those offices; [at] a bigger firm, not all of their locations would be affected by such an event. The same thing with business lines. Larger firms tend to have a variety of business lines of revenue. We see more specialization with smaller firms.\n\nBRINK: In general, how does thinking about risk impact smaller firms?\n\nMr. Collier: Thinking about risks can be challenging for all of us. So let me put on the small-firm hat for a minute. Many small business owners went into business because they have some specific type of work that they really like to do and are good at doing. For a lot of these businesses it can be tempting to consider risk management a distraction from that work, from what they got into business to do. If you\u2019re coming at it from that perspective, it would be quite natural for an owner to have this internal narrative that every minute I\u2019m thinking about this [risk management] stuff is a minute that I could be working with my customers.\n\nFor a lot of businesses it can be tempting to consider risk management as just a distraction from work.\n\nWhat we\u2019ve learned from psychology is that we can make very different decisions when we\u2019re going with our gut. When we\u2019re trying to think quickly and intuitively about something we make very different decisions than when we\u2019re planning deliberately for something, especially when it\u2019s a complex topic or it\u2019s [a] really challenging area like risk management.\n\nWhat we like to see are businesses challenging this natural tendency that\u2019s pushing them to avoid thinking about disasters and instead think about such things more deliberately and plan better.\n\nBRINK: Based on the research that you did in the aftermath of the Superstorm Sandy, for example, how are SMEs likely to respond to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma?\n\nMr. Collier: What we saw with Sandy was that SMEs frequently weren\u2019t insured. About 30 percent of SMEs that were negatively affected by Sandy had no insurance of any kind. Those numbers were much higher for the young firms. More than 50 percent, close to 60 percent of firms that were five years and younger didn\u2019t have any insurance at all. Even among insured firms, only a portion of their losses were covered.\n\nWe found that negatively affected firms were about twice as likely to apply for credit than unaffected firms following Sandy to finance recovery. And these businesses often faced credit constraints. Negatively affected firms were more likely to report that access to financing had decreased and that interest rates had increased or that they were required to use collateral more often than unaffected firms.\n\nThis was especially true for younger firms. So we had this picture that the younger firms and smaller firms were least likely to be insured and they\u2019re most likely to face credit constraints after these events. The prognosis is really dire for those firms moving forward.\n\nBRINK: If someone has poured their heart and soul into a business, why then do they fail to insure it against such disasters?\n\nMr. Collier: This is really a great and tricky question, a challenging question. One reason is the psychology behind it, as we talked about earlier. We are geared to not think about rare events, or want to avoid thinking about them, and just hope for the best. I think that\u2019s part of the challenge. A lot of businesses are credit constrained to begin with. They\u2019re trying to get credit to invest in the business and so there\u2019s this competition between buying insurance and investing more in the business.\n\nOne of the potential solutions that we might see related to credit constraints, is that to the extent that lenders or supply chain partners or other firms connected to those small businesses recognize the value of insuring, they may help smaller business overcome those financing constraints. If I\u2019m a lender and I recognize a business really should be insured from certain risks if they\u2019re not right now, maybe I can offer better interest rates or maybe I can help supply some additional credit to make sure they have the right insurance in place.\n\nThis interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.", "output": "Smaller businesses in the US have a higher risk of failing because of\u00a0natural disasters such as hurricanes\u00a0and are more likely to be without insurance, according to an expert in risk management. Professor Ben Collier\u00a0of Temple University in Philadelphia warned that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), particularly those in their early years of trading, are more vulnerable to business interruption or failure caused by hurricane damage than larger enterprises. Many do not see insurance as a priority\u00a0and, of the SMEs affected by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, nearly 60% of those that were less than five years old had no insurance.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MIT researchers create framework for predicting extreme events \n Credit: CC0 Public Domain\n\nMany extreme events\u2014from a rogue wave that rises up from calm waters, to an instability inside a gas turbine, to the sudden extinction of a previously hardy wildlife species\u2014seem to occur without warning. It's often impossible to predict when such bursts of instability will strike, particularly in systems with a complex and ever-changing mix of players and pieces.\n\nNow engineers at MIT have devised a framework for identifying key patterns that precede an extreme event. The framework can be applied to a wide range of complicated, multidimensional systems to pick out the warning signs that are most likely to occur in the real world.\n\n\"Currently there is no method to explain when these extreme events occur,\" says Themistoklis Sapsis, associate professor of mechanical and ocean engineering at MIT. \"We have applied this framework to turbulent fluid flows, which are the Holy Grail of extreme events. They're encountered in climate dynamics in the form of extreme rainfall, in engineering fluid flows such as stresses around an airfoil, and acoustic instabilities inside gas turbines. If we can predict the occurrence of these extreme events, hopefully we can apply some control strategies to avoid them.\"\n\nSapsis and MIT postdoc Mohammad Farazmand have published their results today in the journal Science Advances.\n\nLooking past exotic warnings\n\nIn predicting extreme events in complex systems, scientists have typically attempted to solve sets of dynamical equations\u2014incredibly complex mathematical formulas that, once solved, can predict the state of a complex system over time.\n\nResearchers can plug into such equations a set of initial conditions, or values for certain variables, and solve the equations under those conditions. If the result yields a state that is considered an extreme event in the system, scientists can conclude that those initial conditions must be a precursor, or warning sign.\n\nDynamical equations are formulated based on a system's underlying physics. But Sapsis says that the physics governing many complex systems are often not well-understood and they contain important model errors. Relying on these equations to predict the state of such systems would therefore be unrealistic.\n\nEven in systems where the physics are well-characterized, he says there is a huge number of initial conditions one could plug into associated equations, to yield an equally huge number of possible outcomes. What's more, the equations, based on theory, might successfully identify an enormous number of precursors for extreme events, but those precursors, or initial states, might not all occur in the real world.\n\n\"If we just blindly take the equations and start looking for initial states that evolve to extreme events, there is a high probability we will end up with initial states that are very exotic, meaning they will never ever occur for any practical situation,\" Sapsis says. \"So equations contain more information than we really need.\"\n\nAside from equations, scientists have also looked through available data on real-world systems to pick out characteristic warning patterns. But by their nature, extreme events occur only rarely, and Sapsis says if one were to rely solely on data, they would need an enormous amount of data, over a long period of time, to be able to identify precursors with any certainty.\n\nSearching for hotspots\n\nThe researchers instead developed a general framework, in the form of a computer algorithm, that combines both equations and available data to identify the precursors of extreme events that are most likely to occur in the real world.\n\n\"We are looking at the equations for possible states that have very high growth rates and become extreme events, but they are also consistent with data, telling us whether this state has any likelihood of occurring, or if it's something so exotic that, yes, it will lead to an extreme event, but the probability of it occurring is basically zero,\" Sapsis says.\n\nIn this way, the framework acts as a sort of sieve, capturing only those precursors that one would actually see in a real-world system.\n\nSapsis and Farazmand tested their approach on a model of turbulent fluid flow\u2014a prototype system of fluid dynamics that describes a chaotic fluid, such as a plume of cigarette smoke, the airflow around a jet engine, ocean and atmospheric circulation, and even the flow of blood through heart valves and arteries.\n\n\"We used the equations describing the system, as well as some basic properties of the system, expressed through data obtained from a small number of numerical simulations, and we came up with precursors which are characteristic signals, telling us before the extreme event starts to develop, that there is something coming up,\" Sapsis explains.\n\nThey then performed a simulation of a turbulent fluid flow and looked for the precursors that their method predicted. They found the precursors developed into extreme events between 75 and 99 percent of the time, depending on the complexity of the fluid flow they were simulating.\n\nSapsis says the framework is generalizable enough to apply to a wide range of systems in which extreme events may occur. He plans to apply the technique to scenarios in which fluid flows against a boundary or wall. Examples, he says, are air flows around jet planes, and ocean currents against oil risers.\n\n\"This happens in random places around the world, and the question is being able to predict where these vortices or hotspots of extreme events will occur,\" Sapsis says. \"If you can predict where these things occur, maybe you can develop some control techniques to suppress them.\"\n\nMore information: \"A variational approach to probing extreme events in turbulent dynamical systems\" Science Advances (2017). advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/9/e1701533 Journal information: Science Advances", "output": "Researchers at MIT in the US have created a system for predicting previously unexpected extreme events. The method takes existing equation models for predicting outcomes and uses real-world data to identify only those initial scenarios most likely to occur. They tested the general framework on a simulation of a turbulent fluid flow, looking for the precursor conditions predicted by their model, and found these led to extreme events in between 75% and 99% of cases. The scientists say the model could have applications predicting extreme events in\u00a0ocean currents around oil installations and air flows around aeroplanes."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "West Health opposes Graham-Cassidy; says disastrous bill fails to protect the critical healthcare needs of older, most vulnerable citizens \n West Health opposes Graham-Cassidy; says disastrous bill fails to protect the critical healthcare needs of older, most vulnerable citizens\n\nSAN DIEGO and WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 September 23, 2017\u2013 Dedicated to enabling seniors to successfully age in place with access to high-quality, affordable health and support services, West Health, a nonprofit based in San Diego, issued the following statement from its president and CEO, Shelley Lyford, in opposition to the U.S. Senate\u2019s Graham-Cassidy legislation:\n\n\u201cThe Graham-Cassidy bill would deliver a devastating blow to Medicaid, which provides critical services and assistance to nearly 75 million poor, elderly and disabled Americans. Further, the bill fails to address the fundamental fact that America\u2019s healthcare costs too much, and does virtually nothing to create a sustainable and high-performing healthcare system. For these reasons, more than anything else, all Americans should strongly oppose this bill and urge policy makers to put politics aside and put people first. We must only support legislation that offers strategies to address the unsustainable trajectory of healthcare expenses so we protect access and choice for everyone, especially our older and most vulnerable citizens, and eliminate the prevalence of disparities in care as well as the unnecessary tests and procedures caused by fee-for-service medicine. Our healthcare system is broken, and now is the time to fix it instead of making it worse.\u201d\n\n###", "output": "Dedicated to enabling seniors to successfully age in place with access to high-quality, affordable health and support services, West Health, a nonprofit based in San Diego, issued the following statement from its president and CEO, Shelley Lyford, in opposition to the U.S. Senate\u2019s Graham-Cassidy legislation\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Everyone Wants to Reduce Drug Prices. So Why Can\u2019t We Do It? \n Of all the promises President Trump made for the early part of his term, controlling stinging drug prices might have seemed the easiest to achieve.\n\nAn angry public overwhelmingly wants change in an easily vilified industry. The pharmaceutical industry\u2019s recent publicity nightmare included 1,000 percent price increases and a smirking chief executive who said, \u201cI liken myself to the robber barons.\u201d Even powerful members of Congress from both parties have said that drug prices are too high.\n\nBut any momentum to curtail prescription drug costs \u2014 a problem that a large number of Americans now believe government should solve \u2014 has been lost amid rancorous debates over replacing Obamacare and stalled amid roadblocks erected via lobbying and industry cash.\n\n\u201cThere is a very aggressive lobby that is finding any and all means to thwart any reform to a system that has produced very lucrative profits,\u201d said Ameet Sarpatwari, an epidemiologist and lawyer at Harvard Medical School who follows drug legislation. \u201cEverything that\u2019s coming out is being hit and hit hard \u2014 even stuff that\u2019s common-sensical.\u201d", "output": "Of all the promises President Trump made for the early part of his term, controlling stinging drug prices might have seemed the easiest to achieve.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How will the Graham-Cassidy proposal affect the number of people with health insurance coverage? \n This analysis is part of the USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy , which is a partnership between the Center for Health Policy at Brookings and the University of Southern California Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics. The Initiative aims to inform the national health care debate with rigorous, evidence-based analysis leading to practical recommendations using the collaborative strengths of USC and Brookings.\n\nOn September 13, Senators Graham and Cassidy, together with two other Republican colleagues, introduced legislation that would repeal major portions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Press reports indicate that the legislation has gained considerable support among Senate Republicans, and Senate Majority Leader McConnell\u2019s office announced on Wednesday that the Senate would hold a vote on this legislation sometime during the week of September 25.\n\nThis legislation has not yet been analyzed by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), and CBO has indicated that it will not be able to provide a complete analysis of the legislation before the Senate vote. Notably, CBO stated that its analysis would not include \u201cpoint estimates of [the Graham-Cassidy legislation\u2019s] effects on the deficit, health insurance coverage, or premiums.\u201d To help fill the gap left by the Senate\u2019s decision to hold a vote in the absence of a complete CBO analysis, this analysis draws upon CBO\u2019s estimates for prior legislation to evaluate how the Graham-Cassidy legislation might affect the number of people with health insurance coverage.\n\nFor years prior to 2020, this new legislation broadly tracks prior Republican bills, most importantly by immediately repealing the individual mandate. CBO\u2019s analyses of these prior bills imply that the Graham-Cassidy legislation would reduce insurance coverage by around 15 million in 2018 and 2019. The reduction would be larger if uncertainty about the effects of the more radical changes implemented by the legislation in 2020 caused some insurers to pre-emptively withdraw from the individual market.\n\nStarting in 2020, the Graham-Cassidy proposal would eliminate the ACA\u2019s Medicaid expansion and Marketplace subsidies. Also in that year, the legislation would begin providing block grant funding to states, as well as allowing states to seek waivers from ACA regulations that bar insurers from varying premiums based on health status and require insurers to cover certain health care services.\n\nTo estimate the effects on insurance coverage during these years, we consider the various ways in which states might respond to the options provided by the legislation, using prior CBO analyses to evaluate the likely coverage outcomes for each of four broad categories of states. We then make assumptions about how many states will take each broad policy approach.\n\nBased on this analysis, we estimate that the Graham-Cassidy legislation would reduce the number of people with insurance coverage by around 21 million each year during the 2020 through 2026 period. This estimate likely understates the reductions in insurance coverage that would actually occur under the Graham-Cassidy legislation, particularly toward the beginning and end of the seven-year period, because it does not account for the challenges states will face in setting up new programs on the bill\u2019s proposed timeline, the possibility that uncertainty about the program\u2019s future will cause market turmoil toward the end of the seven-year period, or the bill\u2019s Medicaid per capita cap and other non-expansion-related Medicaid provisions. These estimates are, of course, subject to considerable uncertainty, most importantly because predicting how states would respond to the dramatic changes in the policy environment under the Graham-Cassidy proposal is very challenging. What is clear, however, is that the legislation would result in very large reductions in insurance coverage.\n\nBased on this analysis, we estimate that the Graham-Cassidy legislation would reduce the number of people with insurance coverage by around 21 million each year during the 2020 through 2026 period.\n\nThe Graham-Cassidy legislation\u2019s adverse effects on insurance coverage are likely to increase after its block grant funding expires at the end of 2026. After that time, the legislation is similar to the \u201crepeal and delay\u201d proposal that the Senate considered in July, which CBO estimated would reduce the number of people with insurance coverage by 32 million people in the long run. Reductions in insurance coverage would likely be somewhat larger under the Graham-Cassidy proposal because of the legislation\u2019s non-expansion related Medicaid provisions, which would further reduce insurance coverage.\n\nTable 1 summarizes our conclusions. The remainder of this analysis discusses the effects of the Graham-Cassidy legislation in more detail.\n\nOverview of the Graham-Cassidy Legislation\n\nUnder the Graham-Cassidy proposal, policy changes would take effect in three phases:\n\nPolicy changes prior to 2020 :The legislation would repeal the individual and employer mandates retroactive to 2016. The legislation would also provide temporary funding that states could use to operate reinsurance or similar programs in their individual markets during 2018 and 2019.\n\n:The legislation would repeal the individual and employer mandates retroactive to 2016. The legislation would also provide temporary funding that states could use to operate reinsurance or similar programs in their individual markets during 2018 and 2019. Policy changes in 2020 through 2026 : Starting in 2020, the legislation would also eliminate the ACA\u2019s premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions for people purchasing individual market coverage, as well as the state option to expand Medicaid to cover low-income adults with incomes under 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Those programs would be replaced with a block grant to states, which states could use for a variety of different purposes and which would, in the aggregate, provide less federal funding than would have been provided through individual market subsidies and the Medicaid expansion under current law. States would be permitted to waive a range of individual and small group market insurance regulations, including regulations that bar insurers from varying premiums for based on health status and that require insurers to provide certain benefits. 1 The proposal would also impose a per capita cap on federal funding to state Medicaid programs, which would drive further reductions in federal funding.\n\n: Starting in 2020, the legislation would also eliminate the ACA\u2019s premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions for people purchasing individual market coverage, as well as the state option to expand Medicaid to cover low-income adults with incomes under 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Those programs would be replaced with a block grant to states, which states could use for a variety of different purposes and which would, in the aggregate, provide less federal funding than would have been provided through individual market subsidies and the Medicaid expansion under current law. States would be permitted to waive a range of individual and small group market insurance regulations, including regulations that bar insurers from varying premiums for based on health status and that require insurers to provide certain benefits. The proposal would also impose a per capita cap on federal funding to state Medicaid programs, which would drive further reductions in federal funding. Policy changes in 2027 and beyond : Starting in 2027, the block grant funding available for 2020 through 2026 would disappear, as would the authority to waive insurance regulations. The other policy changes implemented by the Graham-Cassidy proposal would remain in effect.\n\nThe effects of the legislation on insurance coverage would differ markedly across these three different time periods, so we consider each period separately below.\n\nEffects on Insurance Coverage in 2018 and 2019\n\nPrior to 2020, the major policy changes made by the Graham-Cassidy proposal are similar to those in the House-passed American Health Care Act (AHCA) and the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) that was considered by the Senate in July. CBO concluded that both bills would have reduced the number of people with coverage by around 15 million in 2018 and 2019, primarily due to repeal of the individual mandate.2\n\nWhile these estimates are a reasonable starting point for assessing the near-term effects of the Graham-Cassidy proposal, both private insurers and state governments may take actions in anticipation of the broader changes that take effect in 2020 that would drive additional reductions in insurance coverage. Notably, as discussed in greater detail below, it is uncertain how states will make use of the block grant funding and waiver authority provided under Graham-Cassidy, and thus how the individual market will function in 2020 and beyond. This uncertainty, together with the fact that 2018 and 2019 would be unsettled years in the individual market due to repeal of the individual mandate and ongoing uncertainty around cost-sharing reduction payments, could cause some insurers to delay investments required to maintain (or expand) their individual market presence. The resulting reduction in insurer participation could lead to higher premiums and leave some parts of the country with no insurers participating in the individual market. Similarly, some states might elect to begin the process of winding down their Medicaid expansion prior to 2020, which could also add to coverage losses during this period.\n\nWhen CBO analyzed the \u201crepeal and delay\u201d legislation the Senate considered in July\u2014which would have repealed the individual and employer mandates immediately and repealed individual market subsidies and Medicaid expansion after a two-year delay\u2014it concluded that these anticipatory effects could be important. CBO estimated that insurance coverage would fall by 17 million people in 2018 and 18 million in 2019, with about 10 percent of the population living in areas with no individual market insurers.\n\nEffects on Insurance Coverage from 2020 through 2026\n\nForecasting how the Graham-Cassidy legislation would affect insurance coverage is more difficult for the years 2020 through 2026. In these years, the bill\u2019s effects would depend in significant part on how states allocate the block grant funding the legislation makes available and how they use the option to waive various insurance market regulations. This section discusses three key questions about the nature of state decision-making and then provides a quantitative assessment of how the Graham-Cassidy legislation would likely affect insurance coverage during these years.\n\nWould states direct block grant funds to unrelated purposes?\n\nIn considering how the bill\u2019s block grant funding would affect health insurance coverage, the first question is to what extent states would use block grant funds to achieve objectives unrelated to increasing insurance coverage, like cutting taxes or increasing spending on unrelated programs.\n\nThere are no apparent legal barriers to diverting funds to unrelated uses. All states would need to do is identify existing state health care programs that qualify for block grant funding, thereby freeing up the state dollars currently devoted to those program to be used in whatever way the state wishes. If this were a state\u2019s goal, the legislation makes it easy to achieve. Total block grant funding under the Graham-Cassidy proposal is $200 billion in 2026.3 States could almost certainly use block grant funds to support programs that provide substance abuse and mental health services; non-Medicaid state and local government spending on such services is likely to be on the order of $50 billion in 2026.4 As another example, states could likely use block grant funding to finance health benefits for state and local employees; state costs in this area are likely to be on the order of $200 billion in 2026.5 Thus, these expenditures alone are more than sufficient to absorb the block grant funding that the Graham-Cassidy legislation would make available in 2026.\n\nStates would likely identify many other categories of existing programs that could be funded with block grant dollars, such as programs that compensate medical providers for uncompensated care or spending on health care for prison inmates.6 In other instances, states might be able to direct money into their general funds by funneling them through public hospitals. While it is likely that some of these uses are not intended by the legislation\u2019s authors, many of them may be difficult to disallow while still providing states with the broad discretion over the use of the block grant funds that the authors clearly do intend.\n\nWhether block grant funds will be diverted in practice would thus depend on the objectives of state policymakers, specifically how they value investments in coverage programs relative to alternative uses of funds. How state policymakers would evaluate this tradeoff would likely vary from state to state.\n\nAt one end of the spectrum are the 19 states\u2014accounting for 39 percent of the U.S. population\u2014that have not expanded their Medicaid programs under the ACA. These states have demonstrated that they place a low value on coverage programs since, for each dollar a state devoted to its Medicaid expansion, it had to forgo at most 10 cents of other state spending. Investments in coverage programs would be far less attractive under the Graham-Cassidy legislation because devoting an additional dollar of the block grant funding to coverage programs requires forgoing a full dollar that could otherwise be devoted to other state programs.7 While it is conceivable that some of these states could respond differently to Graham-Cassidy because it was enacted by Republicans or because states are willing to pay more to avoid reductions in insurance coverage than to increase insurance coverage, these states seem particularly likely to find it attractive to divert block grant funds to uses other than new coverage programs.\n\nOther states, by contrast, may see mitigating the reductions in insurance coverage that would occur under the Graham-Cassidy proposal as a high priority and therefore devote a relatively large fraction of the block grant dollars to setting up new coverage programs. The 17 states that set up their own Marketplaces under the ACA\u2014accounting for 35 percent of the U.S. population\u2014are the most likely candidates for this type of approach, although, as noted above, the fiscal rewards to making investments in coverage programs would be considerably smaller than under current law.\n\nEven in states that do use block grant funding to set up new coverage programs initially, it seems likely that the share of block grant funding devoted to other uses would rise over time. Inevitably, most states will face periods of fiscal stress, whether due to recessions or other unexpected developments. Such periods might well drive states to redirect block grant funds to other purposes, and there is no guarantee those funds would be returned to their original purposes afterward.\n\nAs a final note, a long literature in economics has examined how state and local governments adjust their spending in response to the availability of targeted federal block grant funding. That literature has found that states often do divert a large fraction of block grant funding to unrelated uses, although the extent of diversion varies widely from setting to setting, from near complete diversion in some settings to virtually no diversion in other settings.8 The possibility that the Graham-Cassidy funding will be diverted to unrelated purposes thus has ample precedent in prior experience.\n\nHow effective would the insurance coverage programs states create be?\n\nA separate question is how effective the block grant dollars that states do devote to insurance coverage programs would be in increasing insurance coverage. For a variety of reasons, we expect that the programs states would create in response to the Graham-Cassidy legislation would generally have a lower \u201cbang for the buck\u201d than the coverage programs that exist under current law.\n\nNotably, state policymakers will face greater operational challenges than their federal counterparts, particularly with respect to policy toward the individual market. Federal policymakers benefited from significant economies of scale; for example, they were able to build a single enrollment website, a single income verification system, and a single system for handling financial transactions with insurers, and then deploy those systems across many states. By contrast, under the Graham-Cassidy proposal, each state will need to build its own system to do these things, increasing administrative costs. The federal government also had certain capabilities that would likely be completely unavailable to state policymakers. For example, federal policymakers relied upon existing federal databases to verify income and citizenship status when individuals applied for Marketplace subsidies. Lacking access to such systems, states may either need to target subsidies less precisely than the ACA or build suitable systems from scratch.\n\nAs a process matter, the ACA also benefited from explicit choices by both legislative and executive branch policymakers to make designing, enacting, and implementing major health care legislation a priority, and then allocate staff and other resources accordingly. A policy process foisted on governors and state legislatures, each of whom have their own policy priorities and objectives, is unlikely to operate as smoothly, particularly given the short implementation timeline states will be operating under. (On the plus side, the policy process in some states could benefit from lower levels of partisan conflict between the executive and the legislature than was the case during federal implementation of the ACA.) The ACA also benefited from the ample analytic resources available to federal policymakers, including CBO and the large analytic teams at federal agencies. While many state governments have similar entities that do high-quality work, many are not as well-resourced as their federal counterparts.\n\nA final consideration is that the ACA, while not perfect, is reasonably well designed to deliver coverage in a cost-effective fashion. For both substantive and political reasons, the drafters of the ACA were highly motivated to achieve as large an increase in insurance coverage as possible given the budgetary resources available and certain other constraints, at least as assessed by CBO. Holding outlays fixed, deviations from the ACA\u2019s design are thus likely to generally result in reduced insurance coverage. There will, of course, be exceptions to that general rule. States that are willing to use Medicaid-like programs to provide coverage to individuals further up the income spectrum may be able to provide coverage somewhat more cost-effectively than is the case under current law since Medicaid coverage is generally less expensive than private coverage on a per enrollee basis. States may also have a greater ability to tailor the design of coverage programs to local conditions, although because states already have the ability to customize their programs through the section 1332 waiver process and other avenues, the extent of those advantages are likely to be limited.\n\nWhat would states do with the Graham-Cassidy waiver authority?\n\nA final question is whether and how states will use the option to waive certain insurance market regulations. These include the \u201ccommunity rating\u201d regulations that bar insurers from varying premiums for individual and small group market plans based on health status, as well as \u201cessential health benefit\u201d regulations that govern what types of health care services individual and small group market plans must cover.\n\nWe believe that some states will likely allow insurers to vary individual market premiums based on health status and substantially pare back essential health benefit requirements, similar to the conclusion CBO reached in analyzing the AHCA. Indeed, relatively few states had these regulations prior to the ACA, likely reflecting the challenges of barring insurers from varying premiums based on health status without having an individual mandate and robust subsidies to ensure a broad risk pool. States taking this approach are likely to disproportionately be those who are unwilling to devote a significant fraction of the block grant funds to subsidizing individual market coverage, in part because maintaining these regulations without providing sufficient subsidies to individual market plans is likely to result in the market\u2019s collapse.\n\nOther states, however, will likely maintain protections more like those that exist under current law. Both community rating and essential health benefit requirements are popular with the public, which may discourage some state policymakers from making changes in this area. The fact that the default if state policymakers take no action is for these regulations to remain in place may also influence the outcome.\n\nQuantifying the insurance coverage effects of the Graham-Cassidy legislation\n\nBuilding on the discussion above, we estimate the overall reduction in insurance coverage that would occur under the Graham-Cassidy legislation using the following two-step process. First, we assume that states would fall into four broad categories and identify prior CBO estimates that reflect the nationwide effect on insurance coverage if all states nationwide adopted the relevant approach. Obviously, there would be variation across states that is not captured by our categories, but we believe that these categories capture the most important dimensions of variation.9 Second, we make our best estimate of what share of the U.S population would fall in each category of state, recognizing that there is considerable uncertainty about what states would actually choose to do.\n\nThe four categories we consider are as follows:\n\nCategory #1: States that devote a small share of block grant funds to effective insurance coverage programs and make large changes to market regulations: These states would place a low priority on using block grant funds to increase insurance coverage and would therefore devote the large majority of these funds to other uses or to programs that are relatively ineffective in increasing insurance coverage. To keep their individual markets from unraveling in the absence of adequate subsidies, these states would also largely eliminate both community rating and essential health benefit requirements. If every state adopted this approach, the national effect of the Graham-Cassidy legislation would be similar to fully repealing the coverage provisions of the ACA (including its insurance market regulations), which CBO has estimated would reduce insurance coverage by 24 million people by 2026. We assume that states accounting for 30 percent of the U.S. population would take this approach, somewhat smaller than the share of people currently living in Medicaid non-expansion states.\n\nThese states would place a low priority on using block grant funds to increase insurance coverage and would therefore devote the large majority of these funds to other uses or to programs that are relatively ineffective in increasing insurance coverage. To keep their individual markets from unraveling in the absence of adequate subsidies, these states would also largely eliminate both community rating and essential health benefit requirements. If every state adopted this approach, the national effect of the Graham-Cassidy legislation would be similar to fully repealing the coverage provisions of the ACA (including its insurance market regulations), which CBO has estimated would reduce insurance coverage by 24 million people by 2026. We assume that states accounting for 30 percent of the U.S. population would take this approach, somewhat smaller than the share of people currently living in Medicaid non-expansion states. Category #2: States that devote a small share of block grant funds to effective insurance coverage programs and make few changes to market regulations: These states would place a low priority on using block grant funds to increase insurance coverage and would therefore devote most of these funds to other uses or to programs that are relatively ineffective in increasing insurance coverage. However, political barriers or other constraints would keep them from making significant changes to market regulations. If every state adopted this approach, the national effect of the Graham-Cassidy legislation would be similar to the \u201crepeal and delay\u201d legislation analyzed by CBO last month, which CBO estimated would reduce insurance coverage by 32 million people by 2026, reflecting in part the near collapse of the individual health insurance market. Because of the dire negative consequences of this approach, we assume that such states would account for only around 5 percent of the U.S. population.\n\nThese states would place a low priority on using block grant funds to increase insurance coverage and would therefore devote most of these funds to other uses or to programs that are relatively ineffective in increasing insurance coverage. However, political barriers or other constraints would keep them from making significant changes to market regulations. If every state adopted this approach, the national effect of the Graham-Cassidy legislation would be similar to the \u201crepeal and delay\u201d legislation analyzed by CBO last month, which CBO estimated would reduce insurance coverage by 32 million people by 2026, reflecting in part the near collapse of the individual health insurance market. Because of the dire negative consequences of this approach, we assume that such states would account for only around 5 percent of the U.S. population. Category #3: States that devote almost all block grant funds to effective insurance coverage programs and make few changes to market regulations: These states would place a high priority on using block grant funds to increase insurance coverage and would therefore devote most of these funds to coverage programs. Because of the comparatively significant subsidies provided to the individual market in these states, they would not be compelled to make significant changes to market regulations. The total amount of block grant funding available under the Graham-Cassidy legislation roughly matches the federal spending on Medicaid expansion and Marketplace subsidies that would occur after the significant reductions in insurance coverage attributable to repeal of the individual and employer mandates. 10 Thus, if every state adopted this approach, the national effect of the Graham-Cassidy legislation on insurance coverage would be similar to the effect of \u201cskinny repeal\u201d bill the Senate considered this summer, which CBO estimated would reduce insurance coverage by 16 million people by 2026. We assume that states accounting for 40 percent of the U.S. population will take this approach, somewhat more than the share of people living in states that currently operate their own Marketplaces under the ACA.\n\nThese states would place a high priority on using block grant funds to increase insurance coverage and would therefore devote most of these funds to coverage programs. Because of the comparatively significant subsidies provided to the individual market in these states, they would not be compelled to make significant changes to market regulations. The total amount of block grant funding available under the Graham-Cassidy legislation roughly matches the federal spending on Medicaid expansion and Marketplace subsidies that would occur after the significant reductions in insurance coverage attributable to repeal of the individual and employer mandates. Thus, if every state adopted this approach, the national effect of the Graham-Cassidy legislation on insurance coverage would be similar to the effect of \u201cskinny repeal\u201d bill the Senate considered this summer, which CBO estimated would reduce insurance coverage by 16 million people by 2026. We assume that states accounting for 40 percent of the U.S. population will take this approach, somewhat more than the share of people living in states that currently operate their own Marketplaces under the ACA. Category #4: States that devote around half of block grant funds to effective insurance coverage programs and make few changes to market regulations: These states would place a moderate priority on using block grant funds to increase insurance coverage and would therefore devote about half of the block grant funds to coverage programs. They would not make significant changes to market regulations. We assume that the insurance coverage outcomes for these states would be exactly intermediate between category #2 and category #3 described above. Thus, if every state adopted this approach, the national effect of the Graham-Cassidy legislation would be to reduce insurance coverage by 24 million people by 2026. We assume that the remaining 25 percent of the U.S. population would live in states that adopt this approach.\n\nAveraging across the four categories as described above, we estimate that the Graham-Cassidy legislation would reduce the number of people with insurance coverage by approximately 21 million during the 2020 through 2026 period. Table 2 summarizes the assumptions we have made for each category of states.\n\nFor a few reasons, this estimate likely understates the reduction in insurance coverage that would actually occur under the Graham-Cassidy legislation. First, these estimates completely ignore the challenges associated with transitioning to the entirely new system envisioned under Graham-Cassidy. Transitions are difficult even under the best of circumstances. Government agencies need to gain experience administering their states\u2019 new regulatory regimes and subsidy programs. Private insurers need to learn to set premiums for a new market, while individuals need to learn how to access new coverage arrangements. That type of learning inevitably takes time and involves some amount of trial and error, which would likely cause insurance coverage to remain meaningfully below its long run \u201csteady state\u201d for at least some time after 2020.\n\nIn this case, transitional challenges would be greatly exacerbated by the tight timeline that states would be operating under. States would have only around 15 months to get new policies in place to do so before insurers would need to begin developing products for 2020 and only about 27 months before the new rules would have to be in effect. For comparison, the process of drafting and implementing the ACA began close to five years before the new rules would be in effect. It seems likely that many states would simply fail to meet this timeline or meet the timeline only by deploying ineffective policies.\n\nSecond, these estimates ignore the potential for market turmoil toward the end of the 2020-2026 period as insurers anticipate the disappearance of the block grant funding and waiver authority. As with the years leading up to 2020, uncertainty about what rules will govern the individual market in the future may put downward pressure on individual market participation, increasing premiums and reducing coverage.\n\nThird, because suitable CBO estimates are not available, the reductions in insurance coverage assigned to each of the scenarios described above do not account for the effects of the legislation\u2019s per capita cap on Medicaid spending, which would drive additional reductions in insurance coverage, particularly toward the end of the 2020 through 2026 period. These estimates also ignore the bill\u2019s various other Medicaid provisions, including the introduction of state options to impose work requirements and disallow retroactive eligibility, which would drive further reductions in insurance coverage.\n\nFor these reasons, we believe our estimates are more likely to understate than overstate reductions in insurance coverage under the Graham-Cassidy legislation. However, there is also significant uncertainty around these estimates, particularly because they depend so heavily on predictions about states\u2019 decisions. For example, it is possible that significantly more or significantly fewer states would choose to devote a large share of their block grants to effective insurance coverage programs, in which case actual reduction in insurance coverage could be smaller or larger than we estimate here.\n\nEffects on Insurance Coverage in 2027 and Beyond\n\nThe effects of the Graham-Cassidy legislation on insurance coverage become clearer after the block grant and state waiver authority expire at the end of 2026. Once those aspects of the legislation expire, the bill\u2019s effects would likely to be similar to legislation that would fully repeal the individual and employer mandates, Medicaid expansion, and Marketplace subsidies without any replacement.\n\nAs noted above, CBO estimated that legislation of this type would reduce insurance coverage by 32 million people in the long run, reflecting in part the near complete unraveling of the individual market. In fact, the long run outcomes would be somewhat worse under the Graham-Cassidy legislation because of the additional changes to the Medicaid program under this legislation. Most important in this regard is the legislation\u2019s Medicaid per capita cap, which is likely to become progressively more stringent over the decade starting in 2027, and thereby spur growing reductions in insurance coverage over time.", "output": "On September 13, Senators Graham and Cassidy, together with two other Republican colleagues, introduced legislation that would repeal major portions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Press reports indicate that the legislation has gained considerable support among Senate Republicans, and Senate Majority Leader McConnell\u2019s office announced\u00a0on Wednesday that the Senate would hold a vote on this legislation sometime during the week of September 25.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "One Way for G.O.P. to Achieve Some Repeal Goals? It\u2019s Already Part of Obamacare \n On Friday, Senator John McCain of Arizona announced that he would not support the latest Republican push to overhaul the health care system. He didn\u2019t disapprove of the objectives of the bill, but to its process, which was too rushed and partisan, he said in a statement: \u201cA bill of this impact requires a bipartisan approach.\u201d\n\nMr. McCain\u2019s vote most likely dooms the current Obamacare repeal effort, which can afford to lose the votes of only two Republican senators. (Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and Senator Susan Collins of Maine are generally regarded as no votes as well.) But there is, in fact, a bipartisan effort that could help Congress achieve many of the goals that the recent bill\u2019s authors say they hope to accomplish. The catch: It would be hard for Republicans to call it Obamacare repeal.\n\nSenator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who brought the legislation with Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, has said that one of his key goals was to eliminate Obamacare\u2019s top-down approach, giving states more power to run their own health care systems according to local preferences and conditions. \u201cI\u2019m trying to take the money and power in Washington and send it back closer to the patient,\u201d he said during a news conference Tuesday, adding that \u201cgovernment closer to the people is the best government.\u201d\n\nMr. Cassidy has said he wishes to protect insurance coverage for Americans with pre-existing health conditions, though many independent analysts have questioned whether the text of the legislation would, indeed, offer such a protection.", "output": "On Friday, Senator John McCain of Arizona announced that he would not support the latest Republican push to overhaul the health care system. He didn\u2019t disapprove of the objectives of the bill, but to its process, which was too rushed and partisan, he said in a statement: \u201cA bill of this impact requires a bipartisan approach.\u201d\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Why the Latest Health Bill Is Teetering: It Might Not Work \n WASHINGTON \u2014 Health insurers, who had been strangely quiet for much of the year, came off the sidelines to criticize it. Many state Medicaid directors could not stomach it, either.\n\nFor months now, proposals to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act have risen and fallen in the House and the Senate, almost always uniting health care providers and patient advocacy groups in opposition but winning support among conservatives, including Republican policy makers. But the version drafted by Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana \u2014 and hastily brought into the spotlight last week \u2014 went further.\n\nIt brought much of the health care world together to stop it, an effort that appears to have succeeded \u2014 not for ideological reasons, but for the simple reason that administrators, caregivers, advocates and insurers believed it could not work.\n\nSenate Republican leaders hoped to bring the measure to the Senate floor for a vote this coming week. But the bill is on life support after Senator John McCain, the unpredictable Arizona Republican whose dramatic \u201cno\u201d vote killed the previous repeal effort, announced on Friday that he could not \u201cin good conscience\u201d vote for the bill. He joined Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, in opposition \u2014 and Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, is leaning hard toward no.", "output": "Health insurers, who had been strangely quiet for much of the year, came off the sidelines to criticize it. Many state Medicaid directors could not stomach it, either.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "If the U.S. Adopts the G.O.P.\u2019s Health-Care Bill, It Would Be an Act of Mass Suicide \n The fundamental thing to understand about Senate Republicans\u2019 latest attempt to repeal Obamacare is that the bill under consideration would not just undo the Affordable Care Act\u2014it would also end Medicaid as we know it and our federal government\u2019s half-century commitment to closing the country\u2019s yawning gaps in health coverage. And it would do so without putting in place any credible resources or policies to replace the system it is overturning. If our country enacts this bill, it would be an act of mass suicide.\n\nIn my surgery practice in Boston, I see primarily cancer patients. When I started out, in 2003, at least one in ten of my patients was uninsured. Others, who had insurance, would discover in the course of their treatment that their policies had annual or lifetime caps that wouldn\u2019t cover their costs, or that they would face unaffordable premiums going forward because they now had a pre\u00ebxisting condition. When he was governor of Massachusetts, it was Mitt Romney, a conservative, who brought Republicans and Democrats together to make a viable state system of near-universal coverage. That system then served as a model for the A.C.A. The results have been clear: increases in coverage have markedly improved people\u2019s access to care and their health. For the last four years, health-care costs in Massachusetts have risen more slowly than the national average\u2014while the national numbers themselves have been at historic lows. I have not seen a single uninsured patient\u2014zero\u2014in a decade. And now comes an utterly reckless piece of legislation that would destroy these gains.\n\nTo review how we got to this point: last spring, the House passed a health-care-reform bill that proposed to hollow out the A.C.A.\u2019s funding, insurance mandates, and protections for people with pre\u00ebxisting conditions. It was immensely unpopular with the public. The problem was not just that twenty-three million Americans would lose their health insurance if the bill becomes law but also the Republicans\u2019 vision of a health system where insurance with deductibles of five thousand dollars and more, and little or no primary-care coverage, would become the norm. This summer, Senate Republicans failed to secure enough votes to pass a modified version of the House bill. Later, in a dramatic late-night session, the Senate also rejected, by a single vote, a \u201cskinny\u201d repeal bill. That bill would have repealed only the parts of the A.C.A. that required large businesses to insure their workers and all Americans to carry coverage. It would have resulted in a mere sixteen million more uninsured people, according to estimates.\n\nThe Republican bill currently being rushed to a vote was put forward by a group of senators led by Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, and Bill Cassidy, of Louisiana. As has become the apparent rule for Republican health-care bills, there have been no hearings or committee reviews of the Graham-Cassidy bill. And, this time, lawmakers and the public do not even have a Congressional Budget Office analysis of the effects the bill would have on the budget, insurance costs, or the uninsured rate.\n\nThis is unprecedented: senators are moving ahead with a vote on a bill that would alter the health care of every American family and the condition of a sixth of our entire economy, without waiting to hear any official, independent estimates of the consequences. The irresponsibility is as blithe as it is breathtaking. Before becoming a senator, Cassidy spent twenty-five years working as a physician in hospitals devoted to the uninsured. I find it baffling that a person with his experience would not recognize the danger of this bill. But here we are.\n\nThe Graham-Cassidy bill goes even further than the bill passed by the House. It would bring to a virtually immediate end not only the individual and employer mandates but also the whole edifice of the Medicaid expansion, insurance exchanges, and income-based coverage subsidies set up under the A.C.A. Graham-Cassidy expects all fifty states to then pass, and implement, alternative health systems for tens of millions of people within two years\u2014with drastically less money, in most states, than the current law provides. This is not just impossible. It is delusional.\n\nLike the House bill, Graham-Cassidy would cut Medicaid payments for traditional enrollees\u2014the elderly in nursing homes, pregnant women in poverty, disabled children, etc.\u2014by a third by 2026. A portion of the money saved would go into a short-term fund for states to use for health-care costs. The rationale is that this would give states \u201cflexibility\u201d to design coverage for their residents as they see fit. But the amount of funding provided is, by multiple estimates, hundreds of billions of dollars below what the A.C.A. provides. The bill also nakedly shifts funds from Democratic-leaning states that expanded Medicaid under the A.C.A. to Republican-leaning states that didn\u2019t. Analyses indicate that states like California, Massachusetts, and New York will receive block-grant funding anywhere from thirty-five to almost sixty per cent below the health-care funding their residents would receive under current law. Much of those missing funds would be transferred to states like Texas, Mississippi, and Wisconsin. And special deals to make further shifts from blue states to red states such as Alaska are being negotiated to win votes.\n\nAs for what states can do with the funds they do receive, they would not be allowed to use them to enroll people in Medicaid, or able to establish a single-payer system. And states would not be receiving enough to continue Obamacare on their own. The only options for spending are for commercial coverage. States will be permitted to let insurers bring back higher costs for people with pre\u00ebxisting conditions and to reinstate annual and lifetime limits on coverage. And then, starting in 2026, the funding turns out to only be temporary. Under the bill\u2019s provisions, unless further action is taken then, four trillion dollars will be removed from health-care systems over twenty years.\n\nWith these massive sums being flung around, it is easy to forget that this is about our health as human beings. The evidence is that health-care programs like the A.C.A. save lives. The way they do so is by increasing the number of people who have affordable access to a regular source of care and needed medications. Such coverage has been shown to produce a substantial and increasing reduction in mortality\u2014especially among those with chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, cancer, or H.I.V.\u2014in as little as five years.\n\nVirtually all of us, as we age, will develop serious health conditions. A critical test of any health reform, therefore, is whether it improves or reduces our prospects of having the continuous care and medicines we need when we come to have a chronic illness. The Graham-Cassidy bill fails this test. It will terminate Medicaid coverage and insurance subsidies for some twenty million people. The entire individual-insurance market will be thrown into a tailspin. Federal protections for insurance coverage will be gone.\n\nEvery major group representing patients, health-care professionals, health-care institutions, and insurers has come out vociferously against this plan. Governors from Alaska to Ohio to Virginia have opposed the bill. In a highly unusual, bipartisan statement, the national association representing the Medicaid directors of all fifty states has also opposed the bill. The top health official in Louisiana, Cassidy\u2019s home state, has opposed the new plan. There is not a single metric of health or health care that the Graham-Cassidy plan makes better. This bill is a national calamity. It should not even come to a vote.", "output": "The fundamental thing to understand about Senate Republicans\u2019 latest attempt to repeal Obamacare is that the bill under consideration would not just undo the Affordable Care Act\u2014it would also end Medicaid as we know it and our federal government\u2019s half-century commitment to closing the country\u2019s yawning gaps in health coverage.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Money-Saving Offer For Medicare\u2019s Late Enrollees Is Expiring. Can They Buy Time? \n About Insight Insight provides an in-depth look at health care issues in and affecting California. Have a story suggestion? Let us know.\n\n[UPDATE: Since this article was published, Medicare officials extended the deadline for applying for an exemption to the Part B late enrollment penalty to Sept. 30, 2018. The announcement came in a fact sheet posted on Oct. 12, 2017.]\n\nMany older Americans who have Affordable Care Act insurance policies are going to miss a Sept. 30 deadline to enroll in Medicare, and they need more time to make the change, advocates say.\n\nA lifetime of late enrollment penalties typically await people who don\u2019t sign up for Medicare Part B \u2014 which covers doctor visits and other outpatient services \u2014 when they first become eligible. That includes people who mistakenly thought that because they had insurance through the ACA marketplaces, they didn\u2019t need to enroll in Medicare.\n\nMedicare officials are offering to waive those penalties under a temporary rule change that began earlier this year, but the deal ends Sept. 30.\n\nOn Wednesday, more than 40 groups, including consumer health advocacy organizations and insurers, asked Medicare chief Seema Verma to extend the waiver deadline through at least Dec. 31, because they are worried that many people who could be helped still don\u2019t know about it.\n\nThey also say more time is needed because of application delays at some Social Security Administration (SSA) local offices, where beneficiaries request the waiver.\n\nThis story also ran on NPR . It can be republished for free ( details ).\n\n\u201cWe know there are people who can still benefit from it,\u201d said Stacy Sanders, the federal policy director at the Medicare Rights Center, a Washington-based advocacy group that coordinated the request to Medicare. \u201cWe know there have been delays, and those are good reasons to extend it.\u201d\n\nCounselors at the Medicare Rights Center have helped seniors apply for the waiver in Arizona, California, Florida, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey and New York, she said.\n\nSince the marketplaces opened in 2014, the focus has been on getting people enrolled, Sanders added. \u201cThere\u2019s no reason to expect that people would understand how to move out of the marketplace into Medicare.\u201d\n\nThe waiver offer applies not only to people over 65 who have kept their marketplace plans, but also to younger people who qualify for Medicare through a disability and chose to use marketplace plans.\n\nThe waiver also allows Medicare beneficiaries who earlier realized their mistake in keeping a marketplace plan and have switched to ask for a reduction or elimination of the penalty.\n\nIn all cases, people had to be eligible for Medicare after April 1, 2013.\n\nOfficials at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid, which runs Medicare, would not provide details about the number of waivers granted or pending applications. Nor would they comment on the likelihood of an extension.\n\nBarbara Davis said that when she initially applied, a Social Security representative didn\u2019t know about the waiver. She eventually contacted the Medicare Rights Center, where a counselor interceded on her behalf in June. A day later, a Social Security representative told her she would not have a penalty.\n\n\u201cMy advice would be, find out your rights before you apply,\u201d said Davis, 68, who lives with her husband in rural western New York. \u201cBecause they don\u2019t seem to want to give you information to help you, you have to know this on your own.\u201d\n\nEmail Sign-Up Subscribe to California Healthline's free Daily Edition. Your Email Address Sign Up\n\nA Social Security spokeswoman said the agency is processing waiver applications from \u201cacross the country\u201d but does not keep track of the number. She declined to comment on whether SSA employees know about the waiver.\n\nSanders suggested that people applying for the waiver ask Social Security officials for it by using its official name: \u201ctime-limited equitable relief.\u201d\n\nSince Medicare\u2019s Part A hospitalization benefit is usually free, some seniors who liked their marketplace coverage thought \u2014 incorrectly \u2014 that they had nothing to lose by signing up for Part A and keeping their marketplace plan.\n\nSome people receiving Social Security retirement or disability benefits opted to keep their marketplace plan and drop Part B after the Social Security Administration enrolled them automatically in Medicare when they became eligible.\n\nIf the temporary waiver expires, the only other way for beneficiaries to get an exemption is by proving they declined Part B because a government employee misinformed them.\n\nThe groups writing Verma argue that keeping the waiver in place past Sept. 30 could also help many beneficiaries who may be surprised by a little-known rule that will affect 2018 marketplace policies.\n\nFor the first time, insurers will be prohibited from issuing a marketplace plan if they know the member is eligible for Medicare and the 2018 policy is significantly different.\n\nThose who find themselves without a marketplace plan could be in for another surprise: They won\u2019t have insurance for outpatient care until July 1 because Medicare imposes a waiting period before Part B coverage kicks in for latecomers.\n\nExtending the deadline \u201cwould lessen a significant hardship for many people \u2026 [who] are unaware of the repercussions that could result from keeping their marketplace coverage,\u201d said Cathryn Donaldson, a spokeswoman for America\u2019s Health Insurance Plans, an industry group.\n\nFor information on how to apply for the time-limited equitable relief waiver, go to the Medicare Rights Center\u2019s Medicare Interactive webpage or call the center\u2019s helpline at 1-800-333-4114.\n\nThis story was produced by Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation.", "output": "Many older Americans who have Affordable Care Act insurance policies are going to miss a Sept. 30 deadline to enroll in Medicare, and they need more time to make the change, advocates say.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lyft teams up with USC to give low-income seniors rides to the doctor \n Lyft and the University of Southern California are getting $1 million from insurance giant UnitedHealth to help seniors more easily access the transportation they need.\n\nAs part of the grant, USC's researchers will study whether taking rides can reduce feelings of loneliness and isolation in seniors and improve their health by helping them get to medical appointments on time.\n\nThe funds will be used for a pilot program run by the AARP Foundation in Los Angeles. It will provide free Lyft rides to a group of USC Keck Medical Center patients over 60 who have missed at least 2 medical appointments within the past year and have an upcoming appointment on the books. The rides will be available for 3 months.\n\nThese patients will also receive a Fitbit activity tracker, and are encouraged to log their daily activities. Additional pilots are scheduled for Chicago and Atlanta in 2018.\n\nStudies have found that transportation gaps result in many low-income seniors missing or delaying their doctor's visits, which is associated with worse health outcomes. It's also an expensive problem for insurance companies, as these patients are more likely to end up in the emergency room.\n\nFor Lyft, the business case is clear as it looks to engage new demographics, including seniors, and pick up new sources of revenue in the $6 billion non-emergency medical transportation market. Beyond this specific study, the company is working with a mix of commercial and government insurers will typically foot the bill.\n\n\"We want to study whether we can reduce these no-show rates and provide a better experience for elder populations,\" said Lyft's Dan Trigub, who works on health care solutions.\n\nLyft is providing training on how to use the app and it allows a phone-based service for those who lack a smartphone. In that case, the car typically arrives within 30 minutes.\n\nTrigub said drivers will be be aware that they need to pickup riders with service animals. That's an issue that got Uber into legal trouble back in 2015.\n\nHe also said that there's no additional cost for caregivers to join the ride.\n\nUltimately, he said, \"we want to be the premier solution for elder, low-income and underserved populations.\"\n\nUber has also made steps into the health and medical market. It ran its own pilot program in 2015 to deliver flu shot packages to workplaces and homes.", "output": "Lyft and the University of Southern California are getting $1 million from insurance giant UnitedHealth to help seniors more easily access the transportation they need.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "At Florida Nursing Home, Many Calls for Help, but None That Made a Difference \n That same day, about 160 other nursing homes across Florida had no electricity, and most of those, like Hollywood Hills, had no generator capable of powering air-conditioning. But of all those places, the only one where a power loss is known to have caused multiple deaths was the home that advertised being \u201cdirectly across the street from Hollywood\u2019s Memorial Regional Hospital \u2014 so patients receive the finest health care day and night.\u201d\n\nInterviews with nursing home representatives, hospital personnel, residents\u2019 families and government officials, as well as a review of emergency response records, show a preventable descent into the suffocating chaos of that early morning.\n\nThe nursing home\u2019s state-approved emergency plan was confounded by a foreseeable electrical failure. The home said its repeated requests for help from state and county officials, and to the power company, yielded no results.\n\nGov. Rick Scott and other state and local officials say they never had any indication from Hollywood Hills that residents were in distress, though records show that a facility that shared the building reported that the conditions were \u201cadversely affecting patients.\u201d In any event, the officials and the power company said, it was the nursing home\u2019s responsibility to ensure its residents\u2019 safety. The local medical examiner\u2019s office is still investigating the cause and manner of the deaths.\n\nAs Irma threatened and then passed, nursing home workers reassured families that their loved ones would be safe. But fans and portable coolers were not enough for some residents, with one so overcome by the heat that she lay nearly naked on a bed in the second-floor hallway. When firefighters were finally summoned to rush people out, they said the conditions reminded them of battling a fire.", "output": "The emergency room workers at Memorial Regional Hospital rushed the first patient to Room 9, which was devoted to the hope and practice of arresting death. They threaded fluid lines into her veins and readied a breathing tube. Even through gloves, they could feel the heat corseting the 84-year-old woman\u2019s body.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dublin authority faces \u20ac30m loss on new-home tax exemption rule \n \u201cIt\u2019s inequitable. New apartments at Lansdowne Place in Ballsbridge have prices ranging from \u20ac825,000 to \u20ac6.5 million. The property tax on \u20ac6.5 million is \u20ac16,000 a year,\u201d said Paddy McCartan. Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien\n\nDublin local authorities stand to lose in the region of \u20ac30 million by 2019 in Local Property Tax (LPT) foregone on new homes, figures compiled by Dublin City Council indicate.\n\nThe rate of property tax paid by homeowners is based on the value of the property in May 2013. Houses and apartments bought from a builder since 2013 are exempt from property tax. The exemption was introduced when the tax came into effect in July 2013 and was due to last until October 2016.\n\nHowever, in 2015 the then minister for finance Michael Noonan announced the valuation thresholds for LPT would be frozen until October 2019, meaning households paying the tax will not see an increase in their bill until then.\n\nThis extension was also applied to the exemption on homes sold by builders after the 2013 valuation date, giving new home owners an extra three LPT-free years.\n\nREAD MORE\n\nFigures compiled by the city council\u2019s finance department show the council has already lost an estimated \u20ac5.6 million in potential property tax revenues on exempt new homes.\n\nThe figures, which the council's head of finance Kathy Quinn stresses are a rough estimate, are based on approximately 4,800 new homes sold in the city since mid-2013, and use an average valuation of \u20ac250,000 per home.\n\nWhile at the standard LPT rate homeowners would owe the council an average of \u20ac405 each, the council applies a 15 per cent discount, resulting in an average annual charge of \u20ac344.25. Cumulatively that would amount to \u20ac5,594,063 foregone to the city council alone.\n\nCumulative costs\n\nHowever, Fine Gael councillor and member of the council's finance committee Paddy McCartan said when the losses of the other three Dublin local authorities are taken into account and the figures are projected to the end of 2019, the cumulative costs are in the region of \u20ac30 million.\n\n\u201cThe finance department agree with my calculations which show that the city council alone will be facing the potential loss of \u20ac15 million to the end of 2019, because the property tax is a cumulative charge,\u201d Mr McCartan said.\n\n\u201cThe three other local authorities between them collect approximately the same amount of property tax as the council, so the combined total wouldn\u2019t be far short of \u20ac30 million.\u201d\n\nThere was a basic unfairness, Mr McCartan said, with the vast majority of homeowners paying a tax that others, some of who would be high earners, were escaping.\n\n\"It's inequitable. New apartments at Lansdowne Place in Ballsbridge have prices ranging from \u20ac825,000 to \u20ac6.5 million. The property tax on \u20ac6.5 million is \u20ac16,000 a year.\"\n\nThe Government could benchmark new homes on what similar housing was valued at in 2013, he said.\n\n\u201cThe council can\u2019t afford to be at a loss of revenue of this magnitude and I will be calling on the Government to close this loophole.\u201d\n\nA Government report by Dr Don Thornhill in 2015 recommended the exemption should not be renewed when the revaluation takes place. A spokesman for the Department of Finance yesterday said it would be considering the recommendations of the Thornhill report \"in due course in line with the 2019 timeline\".", "output": "An exemption on charging property tax for new homes may deprive Dublin\u2019s authorities of \u20ac30m ($35m) in revenue by 2019, according to the city council. The provision originally applied\u00a0to homes built between\u00a0July 2013 and October 2016, but a new property tax rule introduced in\u00a02015\u00a0extended that to\u00a0October 2019. The council has already lost about\u00a0\u20ac5.6m in potential tax revenue from the 4,800 houses and apartments built since the exception was brought in.\u00a0The scheme has also been criticised for disproportionately favouring\u00a0wealthier owners, as they can afford the newer builds. A government report recommended ending\u00a0the exemption in 2019.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "One Last Visit to See My Patient \n Still, I was intensely grateful that this patient remained comfortable, happy, pain-free and able to remain in her home with her loving family. Just as the data predicted, she was living far longer than any of us would have expected, given her congestive heart failure and her severe respiratory disease. It was now 18 months since we started the hospice care.\n\nThe paradox is that a patient can qualify for hospice care only if he or she has a life expectancy of six months or less, if the disease runs its normal course. My patient certainly fit that definition, but as we focused intensely on making her more comfortable, she was living longer. Every six months I recertified that my patient indeed had end-stage cardiac and respiratory disease. And although she was clearly frailer at each certification, she remained comfortable and pain-free.\n\nMost patients, sadly, get referred to hospice only in the very last days or weeks of their illness, which explains the misperception that \u201cnothing\u201d is done for the patient other than fluff the pillows on the way to death. Even for patients with end-stage cancer, the earlier they are referred to palliative care (care focused on patient comfort), the longer they usually live.\n\nThese thoughts circled in my head as I slogged through the torrential rain toward my patient\u2019s home. I\u2019d asked her daughter if maybe we could reschedule for the next day, when it would be less monsoon-like. \u201cI think you should probably come today,\u201d her daughter replied. Her voice was straightforward and unhurried, but as soon as she said that I angled my umbrella into the downpour and didn\u2019t lift it until I arrived at her building, 20 sopping blocks later.\n\nTheir apartment was brimming with ferns, vines and succulents. It was almost as if they\u2019d recreated the jungle of their home country in the concrete of New York City. In the midst of this verdant lair, my patient reclined comfortably on the couch, her face radiating warmth and welcome amid the greenery and medical equipment surrounding her. She gave me a big hug and invited me onto the couch next to her. A breathing mask from a nearby BiPAP machine covered her mouth and nose, but she could still talk. It was obvious how proud she was of her two daughters who sat nearby.\n\nSitting there, it dawned on me that my patient had won the lottery. She\u2019d lived a long and happy life, with a loving extended family in two countries. Her final days were being spent on her own couch, among her plants and family, her favorite TV shows and music.\n\nAfter 45 minutes visiting, I kissed her goodbye and shared hugs with the daughters. I headed back out into the rain, nursing a sadness and a relief at the same time.", "output": "The rain was coming down in torrents and my shoes were not up to the job. Nevertheless, I pressed forward along the soggy blocks. My 91-year-old patient and I had been together for some 20 years \u2014 honestly I\u2019d lost count \u2014 so this was the least I could do.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Enter the age of the age-friendly health system \n For the Triple Aim goal to be met, IHI had to confirm the best ways to provide care. \u201cWe studied all of the major successful, evidence-based interventions for older adults,\u201d Mate says. And what they found were the 4Ms \u2014 what matters to the patient, medications, mobility and mentation or mental activity. \u201cThe 4Ms were considered the absolute most important, most-evidenced and most impactful changes that could be made for improving the lives of older adults,\u201d he says.\n\nMate admits that the 4Ms are not \u201cterribly surprising or particularly innovative,\u201d but they are what works. Simplicity is often the best course to take and Fulmer says medical providers love the reductionism of four elements. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to add work,\u201d she says. \u201cWe want [clinicians] to measure these elements and put in place common-sense best practices that move care in the right direction.\u201d\n\nThe way they do this is through bundles \u2014 strategies used to ensure reliable implementation of, and attention to, the 4Ms. Rather than have a standard set of procedures for treatment, as is the case in the volume-based structure, bundles incentivize physicians to compile approaches and treatments that are necessary and sufficient for that patient and their condition, putting the focus on quality, not quantity. That\u2019s why providers working at ACOs and alternative payment model care systems often find it much easier to follow the 4Ms, especially what matters. When put into action like this, wasteful costs that may come from repeated and unnecessary tests and hospital readmissions are reduced. What\u2019s more is that the patient often experiences a faster and more complete recovery.\n\n\u201c We have to make sure this work translates into streamlining what [hospitals and health systems] are already doing. As we shift from fee-to-service to value-based payments, health services will shift. This is a new day and we have to make sure we are using all the talent we have and releasing all the waste we can. \u201d Terry Fulmer, President, The John A. Hartford Foundation\n\n\n\n\n\nThe 4Ms translate to the patient\u2019s understanding, too. \u201cI [used the 4Ms] this morning,\u201d Fulmer says. \u201cThe patient I saw has been post-operative for several days, has a colostomy and a number of other problems with that. She\u2019s not giving up. She wants to go home and go back to dog walking.\u201d When you think about what\u2019s best for her, what matters most to her, you can tailor her care to best meet her goals, Fulmer says.\n\nBy focusing on the 4Ms, hospitals and health systems can begin reducing the amount of money that is wasted through inefficient care. An estimated one-third of what the U.S. spends on health care each year is wasteful, according to Fulmer. When adopted, the 4Ms can free up that waste so it can be put toward more useful avenues. This translates to better care at home, better attention to related services, better communication throughout the health care system and ultimately, a reduction in repeat hospital visits. Although the focus of the AFHS initiative is on the aging population, a reduction in wasteful health care spending saves money for every population.\n\nPutting the initiative to work\n\nU.S. health care costs account for 17 percent of our GDP, and that number is expected to rise to 20 percent in the next three years. At the same time, the Foundation and IHI are geared up to have the AFHS initiative in 20 percent of U.S. hospitals and health systems \u2014 that\u2019s roughly 1,000 hospitals across 40 states \u2014 by 2020. Today, The John A. Hartford Foundation and IHI partner with five health systems, Anne Arundel Health System, Ascension, Kaiser Permanente, Providence St. Joseph Health and Trinity Health, on creating age-friendly health systems.\n\nFulmer says that 20 percent is an audacious goal.", "output": "The future of the United States is old. And this old future isn\u2019t that far off. By 2026, the majority of baby boomers, the most populated generation in our nation\u2019s history, will be in their 80s. Twenty-four years on, 20 percent\u00a0of the U.S. population will be older than 65.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Finding out what matters most at the end of life \n When Ellen Goodman and her mother would speak about end-of-life wishes, it was always in the most general terms. \u201cMy mom would see somebody in a terrible condition and she\u2019d say, \u2018If I\u2019m ever like that, pull the plug,\u2019\u201d says Goodman.\n\nIt wasn\u2019t until her mom developed dementia in her 90s and her health began declining that Goodman realized it was too late for a more detailed conversation on the topic. \u201cShe basically couldn\u2019t decide what she wanted to have for lunch, let alone what she wanted to have for health care,\u201d says Goodman, who went on to make all of the health decisions for her mother, including turning down various unnecessary tests that doctors suggested and medications they offered. \u201cIt put a huge amount of stress on me because I was making these decisions and I always wished that I could hear her voice in my ear,\u201d says Goodman.\n\nLooking back, Goodman wishes someone had told her about a specialty of medicine called palliative care, which aims to reduce the pain and stress associated with serious illness or the end of life, while putting the person and his or her wants front and center.\n\n\u201c We need to change from a death denying culture to one that supports people to live as well as possible with serious illness straight through the end of life. \u201d Amy Berman, Senior Program Officer, The John A. Hartford Foundation\n\n\n\n\n\nAmy Berman, a senior program officer with The John A. Hartford Foundation, an organization helping to improve the care of older adults, works to educate people and shift discussions to focus on living well in the face of serious illness and dying with dignity. Her goal is to make an experience like Goodman\u2019s the exception, rather than the rule, when it comes to palliative care. Berman believes that can happen by encouraging people to have conversations early in life with their families and clinicians about their wishes for care. Should they become seriously ill, they would receive care that matches their goals and preferences. In many cases, this means families receive support and health costs are lowered by limiting unwanted medical interventions.\n\n\u201cWe need to change from a death denying culture to one that supports people to live as well as possible with serious illness straight through the end of life,\u201d says Berman.\n\nTreating the person, not the disease\n\nPeople frequently confuse palliative care with hospice, or end-of-life care, says Berman, or they assume that it means someone has given up. That\u2019s simply not the full picture. Palliative care can relieve symptoms and pain and address the stress that comes with serious illnesses such as cancer, congestive heart failure, lung disease, dementia and more. When opting for palliative care, a person will express to palliative doctors, nurses, social care workers and other specialists what he or she wants in life and at the end of that life, and that team can work to create a more dignified, personalized and humane course for the patient and their family. Palliative care can be provided alongside curative care at any stage in a serious illness or towards the end of life.\n\nThe John A. Hartford Foundation The John A. Hartford Foundation is a private, nonpartisan philanthropy dedicated to improving the care of older adults. Since 1982, they have awarded $565 million in grants to partner organizations. Learn More\n\n\u201cPalliative care should be viewed as the best friend of the seriously ill,\u201d says Berman. \u201cWhen it becomes part of care early on, whether somebody is going to get better or live with a chronic condition or at the end of life, the outcomes really shift because it focuses on the whole person, not just the disease.\u201d\n\nIn the United States, life expectancy has gotten longer, but with advances in medical treatment, it may also be more painful, filled with medical procedures that go against a person\u2019s own goals. According to the Center to Advance Palliative Care, 90 million Americans are living with serious illnesses \u2014 a number that will only rise as the baby boomer generation ages. The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice found that 32 percent of total Medicare spending goes to pay for patients with chronic illness in the last two years of living. They also found that in the last six months of life, people in the United States spend, on average, 7.9 days in the hospital.\n\n32% 32 percent of Medicare spending pays for patients with chronic illness in the last two years of living\n\n\n\n\n\nAggressive intervention in the late stages of an illness can bring more harm than good, and no evidence exists that says spending more money on health care and medical procedures results in a better quality of death. In fact, evidence points to the contrary. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine compared outcomes of newly diagnosed patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer-related death globally. Of the 151 patients, one group received palliative care and the other received standard care. Those who received palliative care reported better quality of life, lower rates of depression and they lived 2.7 months longer than those receiving aggressive treatment.", "output": "When Ellen Goodman and her mother would speak about end-of-life wishes, it was always in the most general terms. \u201cMy mom would see somebody in a terrible condition and she\u2019d say, \u2018If I\u2019m ever like that, pull the plug,\u2019\u201d says Goodman.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Supporting America's modern heroes \n Halima Amjad, MD, MPH, recalls a time when her father wandered into the kitchen as her mother prepared dinner, snatched a piece of raw chicken and put it in his mouth. Her mother, and his wife of 37 years, yelled and ran toward him, ignoring the pain in her arthritic knee, and quickly yanked the chicken out of his mouth. The now-retired dentist was living with frontotemporal dementia.\n\nAt the time of her father\u2019s diagnosis in his late 50s, Amjad was about to graduate medical school. While she had seen many cases of caregiving and too many cases of dementia, her father\u2019s experience is the only case she had experienced so completely. \u201cAs a doctor you learn about dementia, but you don\u2019t expect it to occur in your family, especially that early,\u201d says Amjad, now an assistant professor of medicine and geriatrician at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.\n\nAmjad, her sister and brother all help take care of their father, but the brunt of the care falls to their mother.\n\nThe John A. Hartford Foundation The John A. Hartford Foundation is a private, nonpartisan philanthropy dedicated to improving the care of older adults. Since 1982, they have awarded $565 million in grants to partner organizations. Learn More\n\n\u201cSeeing my mom go from happy-go-lucky to having a baseline level of stress isn\u2019t easy,\u201d Amjad says. \u201cAt this point, the disease is quite advanced. We have to feed and clean him. My mom is basically his brain. He can\u2019t talk anymore. She feels lonely. As children, it\u2019s hard to watch my mom struggle and it\u2019s hard for us to figure out where we belong in all of this. Mom wants us to go out and build our careers and families. But we also have to balance her health. It\u2019s physically and mentally exhausting having to take care of someone with dementia.\u201d\n\n\u201c I have been brought to my knees in tears trying to get my mom to the right provider, understanding a medication change, doing 3 a.m. internet research because the diagnosis she received did not align with what I was seeing day in and day out. \u201d Rita Choula, Senior Advisor, AARP Public Policy Institute\n\n\n\n\n\nTaking care of a loved one and facing the demands of dementia is no simple task. Help can be hard to come by. Sometimes, where one lives determines access to programs and services, admits Rita Choula, senior advisor with the AARP Public Policy Institute. \u201cUnfortunately, some zip codes have access to more or better programs than others,\u201d she says.\n\n18 M Americans are caregivers\n\nof older adults\n\nChoula\u2019s 16-year experience caregiving for her mother and grandmother has been a bit of an uphill battle, even for someone whose work revolves around promoting the development of policies to address our common need for economic security, health care and quality of life. \u201cIt can be difficult for a family caregiver to navigate the infinite internet universe to track down what they need,\u201d Choula says. \u201cOne of the most frustrating things for me was going into a local aging office and being handed a 50-plus page book of resources for things I didn\u2019t know I needed.\u201d\n\nStill, Amjad and Choula\u2019s stories are hardly unique. Most Americans will become caregivers at some point in their lives. According to a 2016 study conducted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, an estimated 18 million friends and family members provide care for an older person, whether it is help with daily activities like bathing and eating, medication management or other types of medical tasks and wound care. That same study, which was done in partnership with The John A. Hartford Foundation and other organizations, also found that 36 percent of caregivers reported moderate to high levels of financial strain.\n\n36 percent of caregivers experience moderate-to-high levels of financial strain\n\n\n\n\n\nYet, while they\u2019re vital to our health system and represent a large portion of our population, family caregivers are often overlooked.\n\nThrough grant-making and partnerships with mission-aligned organizations like AARP, The John A. Hartford Foundation, an organization dedicated to improving care for older adults, is committed to transforming our health care system, long-term services and other support systems to meet the needs of this 18 million-member caregiving workforce. This has included funding major national studies, programs that are linking family caregivers to support and creative efforts to raise public attention to the role of family caregivers such as a multi-media window display at New York\u2019s Rockefeller Center.\n\n\u201cOne of the most exciting results of the 2016 study for us has been the ability to use it as a focal point to bring together a network of leaders interested in supporting the vital role caregivers play in a variety of ways across differing settings, geographic locations and populations,\u201d says Rani Snyder, program director with The John A. Hartford Foundation.\n\nThe high societal cost of family caregiving\n\nFew family caregivers can or would put a price tag on what it means to care for their loved one during their time of need. Either through a sense of obligation or few available options, families cobble together finances, time and space in their homes without necessarily realizing the inherent costs. Beyond the costs of care, losses in lifetime earnings for caregivers age 50 and up amount, on average, to over $300,000, according to AARP.\n\nMany caregivers complain that while it\u2019s nice to see companies touting flextime as company policy, it\u2019s often frowned upon in practice as these employees manage everything from doctor appointments to picking up prescriptions. According to research conducted by AARP and the nonprofit Respect A Caregiver\u2019s Time (ReACT), employers offering benefits to support family caregivers can expect a return of between $1.70 and $4.34 for every dollar invested in flextime. And every dollar invested in a telecommuting option saw a return of between $2.46 and $4.45, the report revealed. Family-friendly policies have been typically reserved for new parents, but these can also be the cornerstone of human resources support for employees providing care to loved ones affected by dementia.", "output": "Halima Amjad, MD, MPH, recalls a time when her father wandered into the kitchen as her mother prepared dinner, snatched a piece of raw chicken and put it in his mouth. Her mother, and his wife of 37 years, yelled and ran toward him, ignoring the pain in her arthritic knee, and quickly yanked the chicken out of his mouth. The now-retired dentist was living with frontotemporal dementia.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Engie issues $1.5bn green bond to finance renewable push \n French energy group Engie (EPA:ENGI) said today it has issued a EUR-1.25-billion (USD 1.5bn) green bond \"to support its ambitious development strategy in renewable energies and energy efficiency\".\n\nThis is the company's third green bond, bringing its total green bond issuance since 2014 to EUR 5.25 billion. Proceeds from the latest bond will be used to finance renewable energy, energy efficiency and natural resources preservation projects, as well as research and development (R&D) in these areas and equity investments in projects of Engie's social impact fund Rassembleurs d'Energies.\n\nEngie has a target of a 25% share of renewables in its energy generation portfolio by 2020, up from 18% in 2015.\n\nThe green bond was issued yesterday and consisted of two tranches -- EUR 500 million with a duration of five years and five months and an annual coupon of 0.375%, and an eleven-year-five-month tranche of EUR 750 million with a 1.375% annual coupon. In addition, the company issued a 20-year, EUR-750-million bond for general purposes. It said it is taking advantage of the current favourable rate environment to lengthen the duration of its debt at attractive terms.\n\n(EUR 1 = USD 1.200)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Engie has raised $1.5bn through the issue of its third green bond in order to finance its \"ambitious development strategy in renewable energies and energy efficiency\". The proceeds will be used to fund its R&D efforts as the company looks to provide 25% of its energy generation using renewables by 2020, up from 18% in 2015. The offering was made up of a EUR500m five-year note with a coupon of\u00a00.375%, and a\u00a0EUR750m\u00a011-year bond\u00a0that pays\u00a01.375%."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Geneva Airport pushes for biofuel adoption by late 2018 \n In Switzerland, Geneva Airport has partnered with Neste to introduce sustainable and renewable jet fuel for aircraft operations, with a target of at least one percent of the annual jet fuel consumption starting late 2018.\n\nThis collaboration marks Geneva\u2019s transition into the implementation phase of the Carbon War Room/SkyNRG-initiated project. CWR and SkyNRG first brought their Airport Approach to Geneva Airport in 2015 with a mission to help airports play a more active role in accelerating the uptake of SAF.\n\nThe aviation backstory\n\nThe International Civil Aviation Organization has set a target that from 2020 onwards the growth in aviation is carbon-neutral. Currently, the only viable alternative to fossil liquid fuels for powering commercial aircraft is sustainable renewable jet fuel, which is one the most efficient means of decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. It can be adopted immediately without the need for additional investments in new fuel distribution infrastructure.\n\nFor Neste, the development of Neste MY Renewable Jet Fuel has been a long journey taking several years: from building proof of concept to ensuring the quality and performance that fully meet the aviation industry\u2019s expectations. Neste\u2019s renewable jet fuel technology and quality is proven in thousands of commercial flights by e.g. Lufthansa and is now ready for commercialization.\n\nWe reported last mopnth that Bergen became the second Norwegian airport to offer aviation biofuels. The fuel provider, AirBP, made its first biofuel delivery the night before the opening. Biofuel can be mixed directly with conventional fuel and no adjustments to the aircraft engines or distribution system are required. This follows Air BP\u2019s successful introduction of biojet at Oslo Airport in January 2016.\n\nAnd we reported in July that Air BP extended its biofuel footprint in the Nordics with the supply of commercial jet biofuel (biojet) now available at Halmstad Airport, Sweden.\n\nThe company has collaborated with Halmstad Airport (HAD/ESMT) and Swedish domestic airline, BRA (formerly Braathens Regional) to make this possible. The first batch was delivered to Halmstad Airport on June 29th and was successfully uplifted by BRA when it refueled its ATR 72-600 aircraft. It is available to all airlines that refuel at the airport, initially for a period of one year. Air BP has since continued to work towards growing its biojet footprint in the region and has supplied airlines and airports on an ad-hoc basis at Stockholm Arlanda (ARN/ESSA), Stockholm Bromma (BMA/ESSB) and G\u00f6teborg Landvetter (GOT/ESGG).\n\nThe Neste backstory\n\nNeste is the world\u2019s leading renewable diesel producer from waste and residues, and with its renewable diesel it has helped to decarbonize traffic by 33 million tons over the past 10 years. This is equivalent to 2 years\u2019 emissions from the Swiss transport sector. Now this expertise and renewable solution is available for aviation.\n\nThe Airport Approach backstory\n\nThe Carbow War Room and SkyNRG Airport Approach model, which was first developed by the partners in 2015, engages airports as key stakeholders in the future of SAF. The model introduces an airport-wide SAF blend utilizing existing fueling infrastructure, making SAF standard for all flights refueling at the airport. CWR and SkyNRG also collaborate with partner airports to identify and secure appropriate mechanisms to cover the cost premium of SAF based on the financial profile of the airport. This can include non-aeronautical airport revenues, operational cost savings from energy efficiency projects, government subsidies, policies, grants and sponsorship by local businesses.\n\nWe reported in October 2016 that CWR and SkyNRG joined with the Port of Seattle to announce recommendations for long-term funding mechanisms that could supply all airlines at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport with SAF. This is the next step in a process that began late last year by the Port of Seattle with a $250,000 Biofuel Infrastructure Feasibility Study, in partnership with Alaska Airlines and Boeing, that will assess costs and infrastructure necessary to deliver sustainable aviation fuel to aircraft at Sea-Tac. That study is expected to be released in early 2017.\n\nReaction from the stakeholders\n\n\u201cGeneva Airport is exemplary in sustainability with its ambitious goals to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. We are very excited to collaborate with Gen\u00e8ve A\u00e9roport and their airline partners to show the way to the aviation sector. We both share the common view that decreasing CO2 emissions in aviation is crucial in combating climate change.\n\nThis is an important step for Neste in implementing our growth strategy for renewables in applications outside road traffic fuels. Neste MY Renewable Jet Fuel is Neste\u2019s sustainable solution for reducing CO2 emissions in aviation,\u201d says Kaisa Hietala, Executive Vice President in the Renewable Product business area in Neste.\n\nAndr\u00e9 Schneider, CEO of Geneva Airport, commented: \u201cAs aviation is growing, airports have a crucial role in taking initiatives which aim at reducing environmental impact. Gen\u00e8ve A\u00e9roport is particularly pleased to work in this very ambitious project together with Neste, the Swiss authorities, airlines operating from Geneva, and locally established fuel companies in our pursuit of fossil neutral growth. We would not have reached this milestone without the vision of Carbon War Room and SkyNRG, who have supported us with project initiation, development and pursuit of funding during the preparatory phase of this project. We credit them for their pioneering contributions and practical guidance during that phase.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe congratulate Geneva Airport on demonstrating great leadership with respect to decarbonising aviation and for being the first to actualise our Airport Approach model, said Jules Kortenhorst, CEO of Rocky Mountain Institute-Carbon War Room. \u201cThese efforts are critical as the industry continues to grow in a world where we must limit temperature rise to well below 2 degrees. We wish Geneva Airport and Neste the best of luck in their collaboration and look forward to their success.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re proud that together with Carbon War Room we\u2019ve built a unique model, The Airport Approach, that will now help Geneva Airport to reach their ambitious 1% target. We congratulate Geneva Airport reaching the next phase of this exciting project. Now it is up to the locally established fuel companies to integrate renewable jet fuel into their supply chains in the most sustainable and cost-effective way.\u201d says Theye Veen, CFO SkyNRG.\n\nMore background slides\n\nDOE, DOD aim for take-off: The Digest\u2019s 2017 Multi-Slide Guide to Biofuels in Defense and Aviation\n\nReady for take-off: The Digest\u2019s 2017 Multi-Slide Guide to Honeywell\u2019s UOP and aviation biofuels\n\nSustainable aviation fuels: The Digest\u2019s 2017 Multi-Slide Guide to United Airlines", "output": "Geneva Airport has partnered with Finnish renewable diesel producer Neste to bring sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to its planes, starting next year. The airport has set an ambitious target:\u00a0a minimum of 1% of\u00a0jet fuel used\u00a0will be SAF by the end of 2018. The move is part of a project proposed by\u00a0Carbon War Room and SkyNRG in 2015, which aims to make SAF the standard for all flights refuelling at the airport. Over the past decade, Neste has helped to reduce the carbon emissions of traffic by 33 million tons."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Decentralised healthcare system needs real estate: Colliers \n The Shift to Outpatient Care by Healthcare Providers and Cost Constraints Increases Emphasis on Real Estate\n\nHealthcare providers are dealing with a myriad of challenges in the face of softening admissions, changing consumer expectations about healthcare, tight operating margins, shrinking budgets, and shifting policies. While facing these challenges many health systems are looking to expand their access points to capture more patients and drive referrals. This translates into a more distributed real estate footprint with a goal to bring convenient access closer to patients driven by advancements in technology, cost, and consumer-driven care.\n\nAccording to their 2017 State of Cost Transformation in U.S. Hospitals from Kaufman Hall: 96 percent of hospital executives surveyed agreed to transform costs was a \u201csignificant\u201d to \u201cvery significant\u201d need.\n\nHowever, more than half of organizations haven\u2019t implemented adequate cost reduction goals. Part of the solution is ensuring that patient care is delivered in the most appropriate setting by providing routine care and simple procedures in lower-cost ambulatory facilities rather than directing large volumes of outpatient services through high-cost medical centers. Reconfiguring portfolios and service lines will generate an increased amount of real estate activity for healthcare providers.\n\nCare Shifts Away from the Hospital Setting\n\nOutpatient clinics are more important than ever before as they become the primary delivery vehicle for care. The traditional hub and spoke model in healthcare, which puts hospitals at the center of care delivery, is changing to focus more on ambulatory care.\n\nThe total number of outpatient visits has grown by 1.9 percent per year from 1994 to 2014. Over the same time period, inpatient admissions declined at an annual rate of 0.64 percent.\n\nAs healthcare delivery continues to shift to an outpatient setting, the volume of new medical office development continues to expand. A total of 35.7 million square feet of medical office buildings (MOBs) and other outpatient projects were started or completed last year, according to a recent survey from Revista.\n\nAccording to data from the Advisory Board, 92% of hospital systems are planning new construction or a renovation project for an Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC), MOB or Urgent Care clinic and 37.8% of hospital systems are planning a new Micro-Hospital or Free Standing Emergency Department.\n\nCare delivery and reimbursement are shifting to a more integrated, streamlined, and cost-effective approach, and rather than just prioritizing large costly hospital facilities, healthcare systems will allocate more capital to multiple, smaller, lower-cost outpatient facilities.", "output": "The US healthcare system's shift towards an ambulatory network of clinics and out-patient facilities has spotlighted the need for real estate skills in the sector, according to Coy Davidson, senior VP of Office and Healthcare Services at Colliers International. In a blog post, Davidson said the decentralised healthcare model required expert analysis of where primary care clinics, ambulatory centres and\u00a0micro-hospitals should be located to capture the most patients, and that site selection \"required some of the disciplines of the retail sector\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio says tech giants have become too big \n Yoshua Bengio, the artificial intelligence pioneer, says the centralization of wealth, power and capability in Big Tech is \"dangerous for democracy\" and that the companies should be broken up.\n\nWhy it matters: Bengio is a professor at the University of Montreal and a member of the three-man \"Canadian Mafia\" that pioneered machine learning, the leading method used in AI. His remarks are notable because of his influence in the AI community and because he or his peers all either directly lead or consult for Big Tech's AI programs. Says Bengio: \"Concentration of wealth leads to concentration of power. That's one reason why monopoly is dangerous. It's dangerous for democracy.\"\n\nThe AI pioneers: Bengio consults for IBM and his colleagues Geoffrey Hinton consults for Google and Yann LeCun for Facebook. Ruslan Salakhutdinov, a protege of Hinton's, runs Apple's AI research effort.\n\nBenigo said the concentration of resources, talent and knowledge among giant tech companies is only increasing and governments must act. \"We need to create a more level playing field for people and companies,\" Bengio told Axios at an AI conference in Toronto last week.\n\nIn recent years, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft have amassed a towering lead in AI research. But now, they are subject to growing scrutiny because of their outsized influence on society, politics and the economy. I asked Bengio if the companies should be broken up. He harrumphed and responded that anti-trust laws should be enforced. \"Governments have become so meek in front of companies,\" he said.\n\n\"AI is a technology that naturally lends itself to a winner take all,\" Bengio said. \"The country and company that dominates the technology will gain more power with time. More data and a larger customer base gives you an advantage that is hard to dislodge. Scientists want to go to the best places. The company with the best research labs will attract the best talent. It becomes a concentration of wealth and power.\"\n\nWhen some of the young people gathered around him looked a bit dejected, Bengio responded, \"Don't despair \u2014 fight.\"", "output": "A machine learning pioneer has spoken out against big tech companies, suggesting they are \"dangerous for democracy\". Speaking at an AI conference in Toronto last week Yoshua Bengio, a\u00a0professor at the University of Montreal and a\u00a0consultant for IBM,\u00a0suggested that giant tech companies are increasingly monopolising\u00a0resources, talent and knowledge,\u00a0and governments should step in and\u00a0enforce\u00a0anti-trust laws. \"AI is a technology that naturally lends itself to a winner take all,\" Bengio commented. \"The country and company that dominates the technology will gain more power with time.\u201d\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NZ price comparison site calls for greater insurance transparency \n Technology entrepreneur Michael Speight has said that rules need to be introduced to force motor and home insurers to disclose their premium rates, for improved transparency and promote competition.", "output": "Providers of motor and home insurance in New Zealand should be forced to offer greater transparency around pricing, according to Michael Speight, co-founder of price comparison website Glimp.co.nz. Such a measure may make the New Zealand insurance market less concentrated, Speight argues. Two companies, IAG and Suncorp, account for three-quarters of the motor and home insurance market, according to Speight. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "LV= discontinues legal service offering \n Leading insurance company LV= has ditched its legal services offering, less than two years after starting it, Legal Futures can reveal.\n\nIn January 2016, it launched a joint venture with Bristol-based law firm Lyons Davidson to offer fixed-fee advice for wills, powers of attorney, probate, conveyancing, personal injury and employment law.\n\nLV= is the country\u2019s largest friendly society and said at the time that it saw legal services as an added benefit \u201cthat fits our mutual values\u201d, rather than a revenue stream.\n\nHowever, it has now shut down LV= Legal Services. A spokeswoman said: \u201cWhile feedback from our customers on the services we provided was very good, the sustainability of LV= Legal Services required scale and significant investment.\n\n\u201cTo ensure we continue providing our customers with great products and quality customer service, it was decided that we\u2019d instead focus on strengthening our capabilities in our core businesses of general insurance and life & pensions and any necessary investment is being put into these specific areas.\n\n\u201cAs such, we\u2019ve decided to no longer provide legal services. However, while it won\u2019t be available to new customers, we will fulfil any services which existing customers have already purchased.\u201d\n\nUnlike other arrangements between law firms and insurers, LV= Legal Services was not an alternative business structure. Rather, the services were explicitly provided by Lyons Davidson, with Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society Ltd permitting the firm to use the LV= brand in doing so.\n\nMark Savill, managing director of Lyons Davidson, added that \u201cWe are very pleased with the positive feedback we received on the quality of the service that we provided.\n\n\u201cWe are continuing to provide services under the Lyons Davidson brand to customers of LV= who are looking for a consumer legal service.\u201d\n\nLiverpool Victoria is a shareholder in Lyons Davidson. According to Companies House, it has a class of non-voting shares that entitle the company to dividends as determined by a specific formula, and to capital to the extent of a return of amounts paid up on the shares.\n\nThe LV= spokeswoman said: \u201cWe have a broad commercial relationship with Lyons Davidson under which they provide a range of services to us and our customers and our decision to not continue providing consumer legal services does not affect this wider relationship.\u201d\n\nLyons Davidsons\u2019 other shareholders include ZPC Capital \u2013 part of Zurich Insurance \u2013 and telematics car insurance business Insure The Box.\n\nIt also has joint venture alternative business structures with Admiral and the AA. It was involved in Saga Legal Services too but the over-50s insurance and travel business closed that down a year ago.", "output": "Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society has discontinued offering clients legal services as a value-add service. Instead, the company said it will focus on strengthening its core business of providing general insurance as well as life insurance and pension services. The firm also said continuing to\u00a0offer\u00a0the legal services would have required significant scale and investment.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vanguard takes in \u00a32m a day from UK investors \n Vanguard is a titan in the fund management industry, but the vast majority of its $4 trillion assets are in the US. As its chief investment officer Tim Buckley prepares to become CEO next year, the company is eyeing global expansion. It\u2019s off to a strong start in the UK, taking in almost \u00a32 million ($2.71 million) a day from British customers since it launched there in May.\n\nVanguard became the second-biggest global asset manager, after BlackRock, thanks to its ultra-low fees. It\u2019s bringing a similar approach to Europe, threatening to spark a price war among asset managers. Vanguard\u2019s direct-to-customer UK service will charge 0.15% per year, which is about a third of the fee at Hargreaves Lansdown, Britain\u2019s biggest provider, according to The Times (paywall). Vanguard\u2019s fees for customers are capped at \u00a3375 per year.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe Malvern, Pennsylvania-based company has been one of the biggest winners from the shift to low-cost passive investments, but its European push also features actively managed funds that are prevalent in the region.\n\nBrokerage Liberum has projected that Vanguard will take in \u00a35 billion per year within three years through its online offering, according to the Financial Times (paywall). That would be about 25% of the new money invested by UK retail customers every year.\n\nAt least one British institution may welcome Vanguard\u2019s advance into the UK\u2019s \u00a36.9 trillion asset management industry. In June, the UK\u2019s Financial Conduct Authority said the sector suffered from a worrying lack of competition and inflated margins. If its US record is any indication, Vanguard\u2019s arrival in Britain could provide the shakeup the regulator is looking for.", "output": "US asset management giant Vanguard Group has pulled in almost\u00a0\u00a32m ($2.71m) a day from UK investors since May. The majority of Vanguard\u2019s $4tn assets are in the US, however, as part of the company\u2019s global expansion plans it aims to bring its ultra-low fee approach to Europe. Vanguard\u2019s direct-to-customer UK service charges 15 basis points\u00a0a\u00a0year, a third of the fee at UK-based competitor\u00a0Hargreaves Lansdown. Brokerage firm Liberum has projected that Vanguard will take \u00a35bn per year within three years through its online offerings."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sustainably sourced timber tower to be built in Brazil \n frequently called the capital of steel and concrete, s\u00e3o paulo will house a building completely made of brazilian timber. the project is an initiative by amata, a forest management company, and architecture studio, triptyque. the 13 story building allows for many different functional uses, such as co-working, co-living, and restaurant dining. both communal and private spaces interact with the city where one can live in tune with a new environmental consciousness.\n\n\n\nboth communal and private spaces interact with the city\n\neach 1m\u00b3 of reforested wood has absorbed one metric ton of atmospheric CO\u00b2 from the environment, helping meet the proposal signed by brazil during the 21st climate conference (COP 21) in paris, (promising to replant 12 million hectares of forest and reduce by 43% the green-house effect gas emissions until 2030). consequently, triptyque and amata\u2019s project helps solve one of the long lasting problems with the construction industry.\n\n\n\nthe building will be made from cross-laminated timber\n\n\u2018wooden framed buildings are an efficient solution and may serve as a boost toward a change in the environmental consciousness of our societies,\u2019 explains dario guarita neto, cofounder and CEO at amata. \u2018as we replace non-renewable resources with natural raw materials, we also help create a cleaner chain of production and we add value to certified forests. this can lower the pressure for deforestation.\u2019\n\n\n\neach 1m\u00b3 of reforested wood has absorbed one metric ton of atmospheric CO\u00b2 from the environment\n\n\n\nthe 13 story building allows for many different functional uses\n\n\n\nelevation of the project\n\nSave\n\nSave\n\nSave\n\nSave\n\nSave", "output": "A tower built of sustainably harvested Brazilian wood has been designed by Triptyque Architecture for Amata, a Brazilian forest management company. The environmentally responsible building is intended for multi-purpose use, such as co-working, co-living\u00a0and restaurant dining. With deforestation and illegal logging a big issue in Brazil, Amata CEO Dario Guarita Neto\u00a0commented: \u201cWooden framed buildings are an efficient solution and may serve as a boost toward a change in the environmental consciousness of our societies.\u201d\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sustainably sourced timber tower to be built in Brazil \n Brazil is often in Treehugger because of illegal logging and deforestation. Not this time.\n\nWe have shown a lot of wood buildings on TreeHugger, but this is the first design we have seen for tall wood in Brazil. It is designed by Triptyque architecture for Amata, a forest management company. Designboom writes that \"the 13-storey building allows for many different functional uses, such as co-working, co-living, and restaurant dining. Both communal and private spaces interact with the city where one can live in tune with a new environmental consciousness.\"\n\n\u00a9 Triptyque architecture via DesignboomThere is a lot of illegal logging in Brazil, and deforestation is a huge issue, so there was a twinge of nervousness writing about this building; but Dario Guarita Neto, cofounder and CEO at Amata, tells Designboom:\n\nWooden framed buildings are an efficient solution and may serve as a boost toward a change in the environmental consciousness of our societies. As we replace non-renewable resources with natural raw materials, we also help create a cleaner chain of production and we add value to certified forests. This can lower the pressure for deforestation.\n\n\u00a9 Amata forest management\n\nOn their website, they make a very big deal about their purpose and their practices: \"AMATA is a company that serves as a bridge between the forest and the consumer market, offering certified wood that is produced with social responsibility and guaranteed origin.\" They grow pine and eucalyptus and go \"beyond compliance with environmental standards.\"\n\n\u00a9 Triptyque architecture via Designboom\n\nAnd that's why it's in TreeHugger -- because every cubic meter of wood that they grow absorbs a metric tonne of CO2. That's why we love wood, even from Brazil. It's part of the solution, not the problem.\n\n\u00a9 Amata Manifesto", "output": "A tower built of sustainably harvested Brazilian wood has been designed by Triptyque Architecture for Amata, a Brazilian forest management company. The environmentally responsible building is intended for multi-purpose use, such as co-working, co-living\u00a0and restaurant dining. With deforestation and illegal logging a big issue in Brazil, Amata CEO Dario Guarita Neto\u00a0commented: \u201cWooden framed buildings are an efficient solution and may serve as a boost toward a change in the environmental consciousness of our societies.\u201d\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China complies with UN sanctions on trade with North Korea \n China said on Saturday it will ban exports of some petroleum products to North Korea , as well as imports of textiles from the isolated North, to comply with a United Nations Security Council resolution after Pyongyang's latest nuclear test .\n\nChinese vendors sell North Korea and China flags on the boardwalk in the border city of Dandong, China.\n\nThe announcement from Beijing came at the end of a week that saw tensions ratchet up between the United States and North Korea, with the leaders of both countries trading insults.\n\nThe Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on its website that China would limit exports of refined petroleum products from Oct. 1 and ban exports of condensates and liquefied natural gas immediately to comply with the latest U.N. sanctions.\n\nImports of textiles from North Korea would also be banned immediately, the statement said.\n\nTextile trade contracts signed before Sept. 11 would be respected if import formalities are completed before midnight on Dec. 10, the statement said.\n\nThe moves follow the adoption of a unanimous UN Security Council agreement on sanctions after the isolated North conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3.\n\nThat resolution imposed a ban on condensates and natural gas liquids, a cap of 2 million barrels a year on refined petroleum products and a cap on crude oil exports to North Korea at current levels.\n\nOn Saturday as well, China's General Administration of Customs reported the country's total trade with North Korea was $604.27 million in August, up from $456.16 million a month earlier.\n\nIts total trade with North Korea was worth $3.61 billion in the first eight months of the year, up 7.5 percent from the same period a year earlier.\n\nRussia urged calm on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump called North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a \"madman\". Kim had called Trump a \"mentally deranged U.S. dotard\" a day earlier after Trump said Washington would \"totally destroy\" North Korea if it threatened the United States or its allies.", "output": "China has banned exports of condensates and liquid petroleum gas to North Korea, and from 1 October will also limit supply of refined petroleum products complying with UN sanctions over North Korea's nuclear and missile development. Furthermore, imports of textiles from North Korea have been banned. Crude oil has not yet been included in the roll call of banned products."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Japan-based payment brand JCB adds Apple Pay functionality \n JCB Co (JCB), a Japan-based payments brand, has introduced J/Speedy functionality for Apple Pay users in Japan to enhance payment experience for its cardholders.\n\nBased on EMV Contactless Communication Protocol, the new J/Speedy payment service provided by the JCB brand will enable the customers to use their smarphone to conclude J/Speedy transactions at merchants supporting J/Speedy in and out of Japan.\n\nApple Pay users can keep using existing Apple Pay features. J/Speedy functionality on Apple Pay is available from iOS 11.0 on iPhone 7, 7 plus and later, and Apple Watch Series 2 and later pairing to iPhone 5 or later.\n\nAccording to JCB, J/Speedy provides a simple, fast, and convenient way to pay and is suitable for supermarkets, convenience stores, and fast food restaurants.\n\nIn order to use the new functionality, the customers need to simply wave their card or mobile phone on a reader to pay.", "output": "Japan's only international payment brand, JCB, has launched J/Speedy for Apple Pay users, enabling them to use their smartphones to make payments at outlets wherever J/Speedy is supported, both domestically and abroad. JCB said the feature will be available on the iOS 11.0, as well as models upward of the iPhone 7, and would be paired with the Apple Watch Series 2 and iPhone 5 and up later."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NFL is sitting on a litigation, financial and racial timebomb \n I am not certain if the owners of the National Football League understand the extent of the peril they face. The revenues and value of their teams have skyrocketed thanks to a bubble created by television revenues that radically increased as the number of bidders and the nights of football games both increased. That bubble has burst and future television contracts will bring in substantially less. The other part of the revenue bubble has been funded by private boxes, especially in newer stadiums built specifically to offer more of them, along with increasing ticket prices.\n\nThe tort lawyers are rubbing together their hands anticipating the lucre headed their way thanks to brain injury lawsuits argued in front of sympathetic juries. And now attendance and TV ratings are down quite a lot.\n\nQuite obviously, the owners already have been scared by signs of racial discontent among the African American players that make up about 70 percent of their rosters. Should tensions escalate, the black players easily could shut down the league, and probably could stymie as racist any attempt to reconstitute the rosters without the protestors. They had been hoping that the kneeling controversy started by Colin Kaepernik would calm down on its own, but President Trump\u2019s remarks in Hunstville threw it right back in their faces. Some of them are very unhappy and fighting back:\n\nGiants owners John Mara and Steve Tisch had a harsh reaction to President Trump\u2019s call for NFL owners to fire players who refuse to stand for the national anthem.\n\n\u201cComments like we heard last night from the president are inappropriate, offensive and divisive,\u201d Mara and Tisch said in a statement Saturday. \u201cWe are proud of our players, the vast majority of whom use their NFL platform to make a positive difference in our society.\u201d (snip) His comment sparked criticism from commissioner Roger Goodell, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith, and several notable athletes, but Trump followed it up with a few the following Twitter posts:\n\nIf a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL,or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect.... \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017\n\n...our Great American Flag (or Country) and should stand for the National Anthem. If not, YOU'RE FIRED. Find something else to do! \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 23, 2017\n\nTrump has once again shown himself to be a master flack, as Lucianne Goldberg puts it, completely in touch with mainstream America, and forcing clueless members of various elite bubbles into playing villain roles in the drama he is expertly scripting. Brian Joondeph explains this today elsewhere on this site.\n\nBillionaire owners of NFL teams enjoy an extraordinarily pleasant social status, rich beyond the ability to spend, and in a position to bestow boons upon their local counterparts in elites across America\u2019s major cities. They are celebrities of a sort. As such, they are most interested in what their peers think of them, and because the left has completely taken over elite culture, their peers want them to toe the progressive party line on race and everything else.\n\nThe owners should read Michael Walsh\u2019s article, Farewell to the NFL\u201d in order to understand how close they are to losing half or more of their revenues. They have been lulled by their success into thinking fans will stay with them through thick and thin.\n\nNow that controversy surrounds NFL games, how many corporations are going to want to sign on to those lucrative corporate boxes? The last thing any host wants if for a political argument to break out among guests \u2013 perhaps business clients. But with players taking the knee and fans responding, isn\u2019t it quite possible that conflicting passions could be ignited among those guests?\n\nA lot of government agencies have sold a lot of municipal bonds to pay for lavish palaces for NFL teams, and repayment of those securities depends on revenues continuing strong.\n\nI have never liked public subsidies for these billionaires, enabling them to pay millions to players. Maybe this will help end it.", "output": "After riding a wave of booming revenues and team values, the National Football League's bubble appears to have burst, and Thomas Lifson in American Thinker believes the NFL is underestimating the extent of the risks it now faces. Brain injury lawsuits are building up and TV ratings have dropped substantially with less revenue expected from future contracts. Furthermore, there is racial discontent among African-American players; should this continue to escalate, these players could easily shut down the league since they make up around 70% of NFL rosters. And the kneeling protest, exacerbated by President Trump's hostility, continues to spread.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bittrex partners with South Korea's Kakao to open UpBit exchange \n \n\n\n\nKakao affiliate to open cryptocurrency exchange\n\nA Kakao affiliate will launch the most comprehensive cryptocurrency exchange in Korea yet, enabling traders to buy and sell more than 100 different currencies in Korea.Dunamu, a local fintech company that runs Kakao Talk-based mobile stock trading app Kakao Stock, will partner with Bittrex to open a cryptocurrency exchange that can reportedly enable the trading of some 110 cryptocurrencies. Titled \u201cUpbit,\u201d the exchange platform will open next month.Bittrex is one of the major cryptocurrency exchanges in the United States. The platform handles transactions in over 190 different currencies. On Monday as of press time, Bittrex was ranked ninth in the world in terms of bitcoin trading volume.For cryptocurrencies that are considered minor in Korea and often not sold in local exchanges - such as tether and reddcoin - Bittrex was the top trading platform.\u201cBittrex does thorough legal and technological investigations on cryptocurrencies before they are listed in the market,\u201d said a spokesperson from Dunamu.\u201cIts founding members are security experts that worked in global IT companies such as Amazon and Microsoft so the company has an advanced security system.\u201dDuring the initial stage of the service, Upbit will mainly handle bitcoin and other major alternative coins such as ethereum, ripple and litecoin with trading volume exceeding a certain amount. The platform\u2019s ultimate goal is to enable the trading of 111 different tokens from 167 different markets.Right now, most cryptocurrency exchanges in Korea allow transactions of about six to eight currencies. Bithumb, Korea\u2019s largest cryptocurrency exchange platform, handles eight currencies - including bitcoin, ethereum, dash and litecoin - all of which are considered main stream and rank within the top 10 in terms of market capitalization.Through the partnership with Brittex, Upbit will allow Korean traders looking to trade currencies not found on local platforms to conduct direct transactions.Until now, Korean traders wanting to buy and sell currencies not listed on local platforms, had to buy bitcoins from Korean exchanges and use them to trade currencies unavailable locally through platforms outside of Korea such as Brittex.Even with direct purchasing centers, including the one run by Coinone, Korea\u2019s second largest trading platform, Korean traders still had to go through this cumbersome process, which many local traders thought time-consuming and difficult to manage.Traders using Upbit will also be able to use Kakao apps, including Kakao Talk and Kakao Pay, the company\u2019s mobile payment service, making it easier for first time traders.By offering more platforms for transactions, Upbit says it aims to make cryptocurrency trading as easy as mobile trading of securities, which has become a popular medium of stock exchange in Korea recently.BY CHOI HYUNG-JO, KO RAN [choi.hyungjo@joongang.co.kr]", "output": "Fintech firm Dunamu, an affiliate of South Korean online consumer services provider Kakao, is partnering with major US cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex to launch Upbit, a comprehensive cryptocurrency exchange. The new platform, set to go live in October, aims to streamline direct digital currency trading in South Korea, which is seen as cumbersome by local dealers. Initially handling bitcoin, ether, ripple and litecoin, Upbit eventually aims to enable the trading of more than 100 cryptocurrencies from 167 different markets."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tactical Urbanism movement grows with the help of social media \n You've read the book; now watch the movie.\n\nTactical Urbanism has been defined as \u201cthe principle that citizens can undertake direct low-cost, high-reward actions that immediately improve some aspect of a community's public life and demonstrate to city leaders that there are opportunities for easy, successful changes to the status quo.\u201d Mike Lydon and Anthony Garcia wrote the book on it; Janette Sadik-Kahn blurbed that \u201cit shows how, with a little imagination and the resources at hand, cities can unlock the full potential of their streets.\"\n\nTransform Your City With Tactical Urbanism from STREETFILMS on Vimeo.\n\nBut if they wrote the book, now Clarence Eckerson Jr. has made the movie, and for TreeHugger regulars, it includes some familiar names. There\u2019s Doug Gordon of Brooklyn Spoke, who has been quoted on TreeHugger many times.\n\nJonathan Fertig/ how the modern flaneur dresses for walking/via\n\nThere\u2019s Jonathan Fertig, who won my heart forever when he photoshopped vests onto Gustave Caillebotte\u2019s painting of flaneurs in Paris in response to the post It's National Walking Day in America. Time to take back the streets.\n\n\u00a9. Bikeyface with a message, photo by Jonathan Fertig\n\n\u00a9 Bikeyface with a message, photo by Jonathan Fertig\n\nHe is in the video for his work with Bekka Wright (AKA Bikeyface) to take back the streets of Boston.\n\nLloyd Alter/ Chris and Melissa Bruntlett/CC BY 2.0\n\nThere\u2019s Melissa Bruntlett, partner with Chris in Modacity. There is even a quick glimpse of Brent Toderian in Vancouver\u2019s Robson Square.\n\n\u00a9 Matt Jelly\n\nTactical urbanists use the power of social media to move quickly, and often get in a bit of trouble with the authorities.\n\nThese groups are showing their fellow citizens innovative visual solutions to make safer streets with quick strike executions -- which sometimes only last a few hours until they are removed by their government. But each week more empowered people are deciding they are fed up and joining the movement and not waiting for their agencies to act.\n\nBut sometimes, those authorities see that the solutions work and it sometimes causes real change. It works. So take back the streets with tactical urbanism!", "output": "Members of the growing movement known as Tactical Urbanism are using social networks to mobilise quick strike actions on US streets. In a book written by Mike Lydon and Anthony Garcia, Tactical Urbanism has been defined as \u201cthe principle that citizens can undertake direct low-cost, high-reward actions that immediately improve some aspect of a community's public life and demonstrate to city leaders that there are opportunities for easy, successful changes to the status quo\u201d. The group uses innovative visual solutions and video shared on social media to attract attention to its cause. Examples are reclaiming roads for pedestrians and cyclists.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese takeover of Imagination may risk UK military secrets \n A former spy chief has demanded action on Chinese takeovers amid fears the sale of a top British technology firm could put military secrets at risk.\n\nImagination Technologies is being bought for \u00a3550million by private equity company Canyon Bridge, which is secretly backed by Beijing-controlled Yitai Capital.\n\nExperts including former MI6 deputy head Nigel Inkster said Britain lacks a clear policy on China and called for deals to be carefully examined to protect national security and business.\n\nHertfordshire-based microchip maker Imagination\u2019s technology is used in billions of devices worldwide, including many smartphones and computers.\n\nImagination Technologies, which among other things creates chips for iPhones (pictured), is being bought for \u00a3550million by private equity company secretly backed by Beijing-controlled Yitai Capital\n\nCritics warned that its sale was part of an effort by the Communist dictatorship in Beijing to create a microchip monopoly that could endanger Western technology. They said this might force the British military to rely on Chinese components that could incorporate hidden features.\n\nEarlier this month, the US government blocked Canyon Bridge from buying American chipmaker Lattice Semiconductor on grounds of national security. Pressure will now be piled on Theresa May to follow suit with Imagination.\n\nMr Inkster said Britain needs far more scepticism when approaching such deals. The former spy chief, who is now a director at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said: \u2018Quite a lot of UK policymakers have a somewhat Pollyannaish [over-optimistic] view of China.\n\n\u2018There needs to be some recognition of this issue, and some systematic way of looking at these deals. When you\u2019re dealing with a very powerful state like China that\u2019s a practitioner of state corporatism rather than a genuine proponent of free trade, you don\u2019t have a level playing field and you need to make allowance for that.\u2019\n\nChips in millions of phones Imagination Technologies has long been a jewel in Britain\u2019s technology crown \u2013 making microchips for billions of products from Apple smartphones to wireless speakers. Founded in 1985, it is one of the few firms outside Silicon Valley to play a leading role in the global computing industry. Apple, the company\u2019s biggest customer, uses many of the 1.2billion chips produced every year in its iPhones and iPads. But this year Imagination\u2019s share price crashed when the US tech giant said it wanted to make its own chips instead. It set the scene for a legal case that could drag on for years. Apple is also said to have poached several key staff from Imagination, which employs more than 1,000 people in 20 countries and has its HQ in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire. Ministers have powers to block the Chinese takeover under the 2002 Enterprise Act, which lets the Business Secretary refuse bids that could damage national security. Advertisement !- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/ru/news/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 - ->\n\nJohn Hemmings, of The Henry Jackson Society think-tank, said the deal has \u2018all sorts of implications in the military sphere\u2019.\n\n\u2018If the military suddenly has to start buying semiconductors from China, there are very serious concerns,\u2019 he said. Chinese firms might build \u2018back doors\u2019 into their chips which allow devices to be hacked into by the state. Consumer electronics could also be at risk, he added.\n\nMrs May has pledged to stand up to overseas predators. However, no objections were raised when British tech giant ARM Holdings was sold to the Japanese, and Chinese involvement in the Hinkley Point nuclear power station was allowed to proceed as planned after a short \u2018pause\u2019. Dr Hemmings said it was as if George Osborne \u2013 who wooed the Chinese while Chancellor \u2013 was still in power. \u2018Osborne has gone, but it\u2019s as if his ghost was still at the wheel of the ship,\u2019 he said.\n\n\u2018We need trained lawyers and civil servants to really have time to look into these deals and to make sure we\u2019re not selling the future of defence.\u2019\n\nLiberal Democrat leader Vince Cable, a former business secretary, said the government has \u2018done nothing to put in place a more satisfactory regime for corporate takeovers\u2019.\n\nLabour MP Wes Streeting, a member of the Treasury select committee, said: \u2018It\u2019s something the Government ought to take a close interest in.\u2019 A spokesman for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said it could not comment on the \u2018commercially sensitive\u2019 case.\u2019 Imagination could not be reached for comment.", "output": "Chinese takeovers of British firms, such as the \u00a3550m ($743m) purchase of Imagination Technologies, may put military secrets at risk. Action must be taken to carefully examine Chinese deals so as protect the UK's national security and business, according to former MI6 deputy head Nigel Inkster.\u00a0Chinese corporations\u00a0can construct\u00a0their tech products with\u00a0\"back doors\", which grant the state access to the\u00a0devices, according to\u00a0John Hemmings, of The Henry Jackson Society think-tank.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MailOnline is opening up more audience data to advertisers \n MailOnline is joining the ranks of a growing number of publishers keen to deepen partnerships with brands and agencies by offering more strategic \u2014 and valuable \u2014 services. The publisher has started offering key clients access to its live on-site surveying tool, Pulse, to help them make more sense of its digital audience of 29 million monthly uniques in the U.K. (over half of the U.K.\u2019s digital population), according to comScore.\n\nIn the last few months, MailOnline has run hundreds of reader surveys on topics like views on brands or current events. The publisher will soon make its real-time analytics available to clients so they can see which articles are trending. It will also profile specific reader groups, so clients can ask questions like, \u201cWhen are people most likely to read about mortgages?\u201d or \u201cWhat content are mothers reading apart from content about babies?\u201d before spending money on campaigns.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re pivoting our business; we want to be seen as a strategy and insights resource to clients,\u201d said Bedir Aydemir, product marketing and insight director at MailOnline. \u201cThe idea is that we\u2019re adding value before the client has spent any money.\u201d\n\nDigital advertising has been moving away from targeting based on broad demographic segments to more granular, interest-based targeting. Mail Advertising, the commercial division for Mail Newspapers and MailOnline within parent company DMG Media, is the driving force behind becoming an insight partner. According to SimilarWeb, over a third of MailOnline\u2019s visitors come to it directly, making the publisher somewhat less vulnerable than others to the duopoly\u2019s dominance. This also gives MailOnline a rich, enticing data set.\n\nSpeaking on stage at One Vizeum in London this week, Roland Agambar, CMO at parent company DMG Media said that the publisher has profiled 3.5 million of its readers. In this database, each customer has around 300 fields of data, including first-party data related to their viewing habits, engagement and transaction data \u2014 it sells everything from home goods to travel cruises \u2014 enhanced with third-party data from partners like Netmums and Nectar. The publisher is close to having a single-customer view, and the business is starting to make use this database, said Agambar.\n\nDatabase customers are separated into three segments depending on how valuable they are. MailOnline has a few thousand high-value customers, each of which spends about \u00a34,000 ($5,400) a year with the publisher. It has a million customers in the low-value bucket. Messages are tailored to different levels accordingly; for instance, the publisher is in the process of understanding what message would nudge someone who visits the site infrequently to make a purchase or sign up to one of its newsletters.\n\nAydemir said MailOnline is starting to build what it calls a \u201cnext-best action engine,\u201d which will automatically serve readers an action aimed to resonate best with them, whether that\u2019s an ad from an ad client or an ad directing them to its property search service. \u201cIt might be serving them fewer ads, even though that\u2019s counterintuitive,\u201d he said, \u201cbut we want them to communicate with us more regularly.\u201d\n\nAccording to Aydemir, because MailOnline has scale, it offers guarantees of 1 million on-platform views for branded-content video, and it hasn\u2019t had to buy traffic from social platforms or media distribution on other sites to match clients\u2019 reach goals. Aydemir said clients are increasingly asking for more social distribution. This week in the U.S., it launched DailyMailTV, opening up another potential distribution channel for advertiser content.\n\nAudience data is the backbone of any publisher, but using it for more commercial advantages is nascent, according to Dan Chapman, head of digital at Mediacom. \u201cWith a publisher\u2019s understanding of their customers through analytics and research panels, they are in a great space to start stealing share in insight-driven creative concepting and production,\u201d he said. A growing number of publishers are using this data commercially: Recently, ESI Media started delivering real-time article engagement data to advertising agencies.\n\nMailOnline\u2019s whole business is understanding the monetary value of customer data in ways that weren\u2019t possible five years ago, said Agambar. One way this plays out is that Aydemir and memebers of his team now move around the company, collaborating with different departments to help them understand the value of customer data.\n\n\u201cWe want to work in a partnership type of way with clients, but we need to be flexible,\u201d said Dominic Williams, chief investment officer at Mail Advertising. \u201cWe\u2019re a brand that still needs to evolve.\u201d\n\nImage courtesy of Daily Mail, via Facebook", "output": "MailOnline has offered key clients access to its live onsite surveying tool, Pulse, to help advertisers gain greater insights into its digital audience. \u201cWe want to be seen as a strategy and insights resource to clients,\u201d said Bedir Aydemir, product marketing and insight director at MailOnline. \u201cThe idea is that we\u2019re adding value before the client has spent any money.\u201d Digital advertising has been moving away from targeting based on demographics towards more interest-based targeting. To this end, MailOnline aims to deepen its partnerships with brands and agencies by offering more strategic and valuable insight services."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pentagon launches $700m programme to counter Isis\u00a0drone attacks \n WASHINGTON \u2014 At the vast, windswept White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico earlier this year, nearly a dozen military contractors armed with laser guns, high-tech nets and other experimental systems met to tackle one of the Pentagon\u2019s most vexing counterterrorism conundrums: how to destroy the Islamic State\u2019s increasingly lethal fleet of drones.\n\nThe militant group has used surveillance drones on the battlefield for more than two years. But an increase in deadly attacks since last fall \u2014 mostly targeting Iraqi troops and Syrian militia members with small bombs or grenades, but also threatening American advisers \u2014 has highlighted the terrorists\u2019 success in adapting off-the-shelf, low-cost technology into an effective new weapon.\n\nThe Pentagon is so alarmed by this growing threat \u2014 even as it routs the Islamic State from its strongholds in Mosul, Iraq, and Raqqa, Syria \u2014 that it has launched a $700 million crash program overseen by two senior Army generals to draw on the collective know-how and resources of all branches of the armed services, Silicon Valley and defense industry giants like Boeing and Raytheon to devise tactics and technology to thwart the menace.\n\nOne important piece of that effort was the contest in New Mexico. It amounted to a Pentagon counter-drone bake-off, called the Hard Kill Challenge, to see which new classified technologies and tactics proved most promising. The results were decidedly mixed, and underscore the long-term problem confronting the Pentagon and its allies as it combats the Islamic State and Al Qaeda in a growing number of hot spots around the world beyond Iraq and Syria, including Yemen and Libya.", "output": "The Pentagon has set up a $700m programme aimed at developing technology capable of tackling the growing threat of Isis drones. In the US, authorities have warned about a possible attack on infrastructure, while drone experts have been sent to help protect troops in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. The Pentagon programme combines experts from Silicon Valley, Boeing, Raytheon and across the military. It also\u00a0funded the recent Hard Kill Challenge in New Mexico, which tested classified and proprietary technology, with mixed results after some targets proved resistant to attack.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Expectations and contractual obligations increase for influencers \n Influencer marketing is moving from a sidelight to a major part of marketing strategies, leading to tighter expectations and contractual obligations that guarantee social stars\u2019 rights and advertisers\u2019 needs.\n\nAgency Digital Brand Architects updated its influencer contracts around two weeks ago to clear up gray areas like post timing and content rights, said Reesa Lake, partner and svp of Digital Brand Architects, at a panel discussion hosted by Women in Influencer Marketing on Sept. 19.\n\nThe agency\u2019s new contracts specify the social stars\u2019 time zones and they should post, and they require brands to provide comprehensive creative briefs \u2014 if the talent follows the brief, they are not required to reshoot the content. The new contracts also specify where and for how long brands can use or reuse influencer posts, according to Lake.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s important to make sure that the brand and the influencer are on the same page,\u201d she said. \u201cFor example, a brand may say to an influencer, \u2018We trust you [in your creativity] because you have so many followers.\u2019 But the content may not turn out the way the client hoped, so a comprehensive creative brief from the brand is necessary.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile, Jessy Grossman, talent agent for Don Buchwald & Associates, said the talent agency updated its partnership contracts around two months ago \u2014 many brands initiate deals with their own media contracts as well \u2014 to include a clause restricting edits once a piece of content is created, and the contracts require briefs from brands or agencies.\n\n\u201cMy clients are always looking for repeat business and want to nail the deliverables the first time around. The clause is both to save my clients from extra work but also to ensure the [brand] is happy or the middle person looks good,\u201d said Grossman. \u201cI\u2019m going to add the time zones [of the influencer and the client] into my contracts.\u201d\n\nJoe Gagliese, co-founder and managing partner for talent and marketing agency Viral Nation, said that a year ago, many of his clients didn\u2019t give social stars detailed instructions, so content was often reshot. As a result, his team has put together comprehensive contracts over the past year. For instance, each influencer has a customized brief detailing the storyline, deliverables by platform and by post, estimated posting times based on the influencer\u2019s optimal timing, minimum performance guarantees and FTC compliance, among other items, according to Gagliese.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s also more clarification of the language used,\u201d he said. \u201cFor instance, we tell the influencer that brand X wants an Instagram Story consisting of four segments, instead of just saying that the brand wants an Instagram Story.\u201d\n\nUpdating influencer contracts is nothing new for some companies. Steve Ellis, CEO for influencer marketing firm WhoSay, said his company addressed the above issues, which many smaller influencer agencies face, early on. \u201cYou are seeing some clearing up in the industry where smaller players are adopting a more disciplined process, and they will need a more disciplined measurement [approach],\u201d he said.\n\nEllis added that one change WhoSay made recently to its media contracts was giving advertisers more options to use influencer content beyond social media, such as in their TV, radio, out-of-home and e-commerce advertising. Of course, there are additional usage fees when the content is used elsewhere beyond what the original contract specifies, he said.\n\nA publishing executive who prefers anonymity said that in influencer marketing, content usage fees can be pegged to the size of the ad spend, but more often, they are simple flat fees broken out by media type or posting medium. \u201cThere is a lot of precedent for these types of usage tiers from the older world of modeling and photography agencies, where usage is where they make most their money,\u201d he said.", "output": "Influencer marketing has become big business, with many advertisers updating their contracts with social media stars to reflect higher expectations and more detailed contractual obligations. Companies are also moving towards providing influencers with better defined creative briefs that specify\u00a0the social stars\u2019 time zones, when they should post\u00a0and how content should be presented. As influencer marketing becomes a major part of brands\u2019 marketing strategies, Steve Ellis, the CEO of influencer marketing firm WhoSay, suggested that influencer agencies, especially smaller ones,\u00a0should\u00a0adopt \u201ca more disciplined process\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Volvo makes XC40 SUV available for a monthly all-in\u00a0fee \n The Volvo XC40 may be just another small SUV for people who wouldn\u2019t be caught dead in a sedan these days, but the company\u2019s approach to sharing and selling the car might be how they get potential customers to pay attention.\n\nThe XC40 will compete with cars like the Audi Q3, BMW X1 and Mini Countryman, as well as higher-end versions of the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4. Volvo\u2019s been on a bit of a hot streak lately, turning out strikingly cool cars, but the XC40 adds trendy stuff like a contrasting roof / body color scheme that the company says will be available in 17 different combinations.\n\nWhen it reaches showrooms next year, the XC40 will be available with a 2.0-liter turbocharged gasoline four-cylinder engine with 250 horsepower. A plug-in hybrid will be offered later, Volvo officials said Thursday at the Milan event where the car was revealed. Also expect a fully electric model of this size from Volvo in the next couple of years.\n\nVolvo is into screens these days, so all XC40s will come with a 12.3-inch TFT display behind the steering wheel, where conventional dials and gauges have lived. In the middle of the dash, there\u2019s the 9-inch touchscreen that we liked a lot in the V90 Cross Country; it controls most of the audio, air, and vehicle settings. Qi wireless charging is now included as well \u2014 just in time for your most recent iPhone purchase.\n\nThe Swedes are big on safety, so all XC40s will get Volvo\u2019s Pilot Assist semi-autonomous driving assistance that includes automatic emergency braking and pedestrian and cyclist detection. A 360-degree parking camera will also be offered.\n\nBecause this is Volvo\u2019s smallest vehicle aimed at a more tech-aware and city-dwelling audience, the XC40 is being introduced with some new services. As part of the Volvo On Call app, you can now add trusted friends or family to use the car through the app. The app, like ones offered by a number of automakers, allows you to unlock and start the car, control the air conditioning or heating, and set the vehicle destination.\n\nVolvo recently acquired pieces of Luxe to further its concierge services for things like fueling and service appointments, so expect that to be rolled into the XC40 once those programs are expanded outside of the San Francisco area.\n\nAlong with the full details of the XC40, Volvo also announced its Care By Volvo service, which will allow people who want to lease an XC40 to roll all of the costs associated with owning a car (aside from fuel) into one monthly payment. The price is non-negotiable, which is likely meant to dissuade those who enjoy haggling with car salespeople, but it makes for a less dramatic experience for those who wish buying a car were like buying a phone. What\u2019s more, Volvo says you can get a new car every year under the plan.", "output": "Swedish car manufacturer Volvo is set to launch its XC40 compact sports utility vehicle in Europe for a\u00a0non-negotiable flat fee of \u20ac699 ($824) per month. The two-year plan\u00a0covers\u00a0insurance, taxes and basic maintenance, and in some cases a concierge service for fuel and cleaning, while customers will be offered a new car every year under the scheme. The XC40 will be available across Europe from the end of September and will be a rival to\u00a0BMW\u2019s X1 and Mercedes-Benz\u2019s GLA.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Economists claim Ontario rent controls reduce\u00a0supply incentives \n RioCan and Allied Properties cite the Ontario government\u2019s new rent controls as the reason why the REITs converted 133 planned rental units to condominiums at the Kingly development in Toronto. Share\n\nMore than 1,000 planned purpose-built rental units have instead been converted to condominiums in the Greater Toronto Area since Premier Kathleen Wynne's government expanded rent control in the spring, according to a new report that warns the region's rental supply crisis is poised to worsen.\n\nThe report, which is to be released on Monday and was obtained by The Globe and Mail, says that already-low vacancy rates will plunge further unless the government enacts policies that encourage developers to build an average of at least 6,250 additional new apartment units a year for the next decade in Ontario.\n\nRead also: Toronto housing market feels effect of foreign-buyers tax\n\n\"We need more supply,\" said Jim Murphy, president of the Federation of Rental-housing Providers of Ontario (FRPO), which commissioned the study. \"When the government brings in policies that sort of act as a deterrent or, at best, just get people thinking about putting things on hold pending the election, that's not good.\"\n\nThe report is the first to measure the impact of extending rent control by tracking the conversion of planned apartment projects to condos. As part of a wide-ranging package of housing policy changes announced in April, Ms. Wynne, who is preparing to go to the polls next year, announced that all rental units in the province would be subject to rent control to improve affordability. Previously, the policy applied only to buildings constructed before November, 1991.\n\nWhile the measure was popular among renters, some of whom had received huge monthly increases as Toronto's housing market got ever tighter, many economists warned that expanding rent control would choke supply by reducing incentives for developers to launch new apartment buildings. Under the policy, rent hikes for all private apartments are now capped at around inflation to a maximum of 2.5 per cent a year.\n\nThe government's policy change reduced \"growth prospects for rental\" and contributed to a decision by RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust and Allied Properties Real Estate Investment Trust to convert 133 planned rental units to condominiums at the Kingly development on King Street West in Toronto, said Jonathan Gitlin, senior vice-president of investments and residential at RioCan.\n\n\"The legislation caused us to review our rental projects across the GTA,\" Mr. Gitlin said by e-mail. \"The impact of the legislation will be to mute growth through limiting rental growth and enhance risk that will accompany inflation as a landlord will need to absorb increased expenses.\"\n\nThe FRPO found in a survey of its members, who are mostly large property owners and management companies, that about 20,000 of more than 28,000 planned purpose-built rental units in the GTA were under review as a result of the government's housing measures. The organization is tracking unit conversions and cancellations and is also launching a campaign on Monday to push the government to amend its rent-control legislation.\n\nAfter the government's announcement, the number of purpose-built rental units proposed for the GTA continued to rise in the second quarter of 2017. However, the increase was at a much slower rate than in previous periods \u2013 1,719 units were added to the planned inventory from April to June compared with 2,453 units in the first three months of this year and 5,645 units in the second quarter of 2016, according to Urbanation, a real estate consulting firm that prepared the report for the FRPO.\n\nThat figure doesn't include more than 1,000 planned apartments in four projects that have already been converted to condos \u2013 an \"early and conservative\" estimate that will likely soon double, according to Shaun Hildebrand, senior vice-president at Urbanation.\n\nEven with expected levels of new apartment starts, the report projects that demand for rental units in the province will far outweigh supply. It urges the construction of at least 62,500 additional new purpose-built apartments over the next decade, or 6,250 a year on average, which would raise the vacancy rate to between 2.5 per cent and 3 per cent in Ontario. The majority are needed in the GTA. The vacancy rate was 2.1 per cent in the province as of last year and 1.3 per cent in Toronto.\n\nThe report cites high real estate prices, tighter mortgage policies and rising interest rates as contributing factors to surging interest in rentals and notes strong demand from new immigrants, millennials and baby boomers.\n\nWhile most of the growth in the current rental supply comes from the so-called secondary market of investors who rent out their condos, such units are not as stable as purpose-built apartments, given they can be sold at any time. In addition, the report says investors will likely not hold onto their condos for as long because rent control will limit their ability to cover increases in carrying costs.\n\nThe report also warns that 85 per cent of the province's existing stock of purpose-built rental buildings are more than 35 years old and will require higher levels of investment to maintain.", "output": "Rent control policies in Ontario are reducing the supply of new rental properties in the Greater Toronto Area, according to a report from real estate consulting firm Urbanation.\u00a0The province's Premier\u00a0Kathleen Wynne\u00a0announced measures in April to cap rent increases at 2.5% a year for all private apartments. The rate of increase in new purpose-built rental units has since slowed, from 2,453 units added to the planned inventory in Q1 2017 to just 1,719 in Q2, according to the report. 1,000 planned rental developments have been converted into condominiums in response to the rent controls, the report states.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Didi Chuxing puts $200m into used-car trader Renrenche \n The logo of Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing. The company is seeking a bite of the lucrative Chinese market for second-hand cars with an investment in used-car platform Renrenche. Photo: AP", "output": "Chinese ride-hailing business Didi Chuxing has put $200m into peer-to-peer secondhand car trading platform Renrenche, and is expected to allow it to sell vehicles via Didi's app. This will give Renrenche access to Didi's customer base of around 17 million drivers and 400 million passengers. The secondhand car market is of increasing interest to Chinese companies since\u00a0authorities began to ease restrictions on it\u00a0last year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Weatherford HPHT V0-qualified well barrier goes on sale \n Weatherford International plc has announced the commercial release of the ISO Extreme retrievable well barrier, which is qualified to ISO 14310 V0 standards for gas-tight isolation.\n\nThe barrier has a large operational envelope: it is capable of withstanding pressure differentials up to 10 000 psi (68.95 MPa) and temperatures between 40 and 325\u00b0F (4 and 163\u00b0C), which reduces the loss-of-containment risk in extreme environments. ISO Extreme well barriers are available for tubing sizes from 3.5 through 7 in. The variety of deployment options \u2014 including electric line, slickline, tubing and coiled tubing \u2014 further increases operational flexibility.\n\nUnlike comparable technologies available for the high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) market, the ISO Extreme barrier does not require any nipple profiles and is retrieved by first shifting down to equalise the pressures then jarring up to release. This safety feature reduces the risk of trapped pressure below the plug prior to releasing. Additionally, the small diameter of the plug enables passage through typical wellbore restrictions for easy deployment and removal even in challenging environments.\n\n\u201cWe are pleased to add the first V0-qualified and field-proven HPHT well barrier to our industry-leading portfolio of wellbore isolation technologies,\u201d said Mark Hopmann, Vice President of Completions at Weatherford. \u201cWith this addition, we now have a comprehensive offering of well barriers for diverse applications and environments.\u201d", "output": "Weatherford International has released its ISO Extreme retrievable well barrier. The V0-qualified barrier can operate in temperatures between 4C and 163C, withstands pressures up to 10,000 psi, and can be deployed via slickline, electric line, tubing and coiled tubing. Weatherford also said the ISO Extreme barrier does not require nipple profiles and is easily retrieved."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "LIDAR system uses continuous light to improve accuracy \n The company\u2019s name, Aeva, is a play on \u201cEve,\u201d the name of the robot in the Pixar movie \u201cWALL-E.\u201d\n\nThe market for autonomous vehicles will grow to $42 billion by 2025, according to research by the Boston Consulting Group. But for that to happen, the vehicles will need new and more powerful sensors. Today\u2019s autonomous cars are ill prepared for high-speed driving, bad weather and other common situations.\n\nThe recent improvements in self-driving cars coincided with the improvements offered by new lidar sensors from a Silicon Valley company called Velodyne. These sensors gave cars a way of measuring distances to nearby vehicles, pedestrians and other objects. They also provided Google and other companies with a way of mapping urban roadways in three dimensions, so that cars will know exactly where they are at any given moment \u2014 something GPS cannot always provide.\n\nBut these lidar sensors have additional shortcomings. They can gather information only about objects that are relatively close to them, which limits how fast the cars can travel. Their measurements aren\u2019t always detailed enough to distinguish one object from another. And when multiple driverless cars are close together, their signals can become garbled.\n\nOther devices can pick up some of slack. Cameras are a better way of identifying pedestrians and street signs, for example, and radar works over longer distances. That\u2019s why today\u2019s self-driving cars track their surroundings through so many different sensors. But despite this wide array of hardware \u2014 which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per vehicle \u2014 even the best autonomous vehicles still have trouble in so many situations that humans can navigate with ease.", "output": "Silicon Valley start-up Aeva has joined in with efforts to build more effective sensors for autonomous vehicles. Driverless cars under development today track their surroundings using cameras, radar, GPS and light detection and ranging (LIDAR) devices that measure distances using pulses of light emitted individually. However, the Aeva prototype sends out a continuous wave of light, enabling a more precise and reliable view of the world around autonomous cars. Founded by two ex-members of Apple\u2019s special projects group, the Aeva prototype is still under development, but\u00a0the company hopes\u00a0to start selling devices next year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Prisa changes stance on header bidding to cut page latency \n Running programmatic ad operations across multiple countries can be an operational nightmare. Spanish- and Portuguese-language media group Prisa, which owns major national newspapers like El Pa\u00eds and spans 22 markets, thinks it\u2019s found the answer with server-to-server integration.\n\nProgrammatic advertising accounts for between 25 and 40 percent of Prisa\u2019s advertising revenue, depending on the markets and titles. For example, programmatic ads across its flagship Spanish national newspaper El Pa\u00eds and football site As.com account for between 30 and 40 percent of those titles\u2019 ad revenue, but that number is closer to 25 percent in Prisa\u2019s Latin American markets.\n\nThe group deployed header bidding a year ago and generated yield increases of between 30 and 50 percent across different titles. But the trade-off between yield and page latency caused by header bidding is no longer sustainable, according to Matthias Mondini, yield management and business insights director at Prisa. Plus, operating header bidding with different systems across the nine markets in which it has sales and ad operations was becoming unwieldy, overly complex and difficult to scale.\n\n\u201cWe want transparency [of the bid streams] and to be able to manage and control incoming ad quality via one platform,\u201d he said. \u201cFor header bidding to work at its best, you need between five and 10 different interfaces \u2014 we wanted to reduce that technology fragmentation and make our operations more nimble.\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s why it turned to Switch Concepts\u2019 server-to-server platform, which provides a transparent and unified overview of a publisher\u2019s live bid streams across all its exchanges simultaneously, while facilitating a unified auction off the publisher\u2019s own header.\n\nThat additional visibility of the bid streams shows the publisher who is winning and losing bids, opening up valuable insights into who would make suitable programmatic-direct partners, which it can feed to sales teams. Programmatic-direct deals are on the rise everywhere. Around 30 percent of Prisa\u2019s programmatic revenue now comes from direct deals, compared to less than 10 percent two years ago, according to Mondini. While agencies are still pushing for open marketplace auctions, large advertisers that want brand-safety guarantees are actively pushing for programmatic direct, he added.\n\nPrisa is also bullish about managing ad quality, but doing so across the some 12 billion monthly impressions across its portfolio of titles, with fragmented systems in each market, has been challenging, to say the least. The Switch platform should help alleviate that. Previously, ad quality was managed via 10 different platforms, with staff manually screening sites for bad ads, figuring out their sources and then blocking them. \u201cOperationally, it was far from perfect, and reporting was equally difficult and costly,\u201d said Mondini.\n\nServer-side auctions have been welcomed by publishers for their ability to allay page latency caused by header bidding. Content loads separately from ads across Prisa titles, and it wasn\u2019t a great user experience to have them appearing on page at different times. \u201cWe want to reduce the ad-load time from 700 milliseconds to 100-200 milliseconds, which we believe is more acceptable,\u201d said Mondini. Prisa also expects yields to grow as a result of the additional bid density that server-side bidding can offer.\n\nPrisa has also tested Google\u2019s server-side option, exchange bidding in dynamic allocation, and has seen decent yield lifts compared to what Google\u2019s ad exchange is generating, according to Mondini. But there are drawbacks. \u201cThe product itself is a bit limited still. You can\u2019t set up programmatic-direct deals outside of Google AdX, so you can\u2019t use other third-party platforms,\u201d he said. \u201cGoogle\u2019s auction mechanics with AdX and EBDA are still a black box \u2014 we don\u2019t know how they work. Ultimately, we want to work with agnostic tech providers.\u201d\n\nThis is a reason why it hasn\u2019t investigated Amazon\u2019s server-side solution more, as questions around Amazon\u2019s potential conflict of interest in buying and selling media haven\u2019t yet been answered. That said, given Amazon\u2019s unique demand, Prisa won\u2019t close the door on header bidding entirely. \u201cWe want to reduce client-side header bidding integration as much as we can,\u201d Mondini said. \u201cHowever, we may not be able to reduce it to zero, as there is some uncertainty around demand partners like Criteo and Amazon, which want publishers to use their own products and may not be willing to integrate with third-party platforms.\u201d\n\nWhile page-latency issues have dogged header bidding, reduced user matching has cast a shadow over server-side bidding. Prisa isn\u2019t immune to the risks. \u201cWe want to manage the risk we see in terms of lower cookie-syncing rates,\u201d said Mondini. \u201cSo far, we haven\u2019t seen a huge difference, but it\u2019s true that cookie-syncing rates can potentially negatively impact yield.\u201d\n\nHowever, Mondini stressed that chasing yield increases is not Prisa\u2019s only objective in opting for server-side integration. The ultimate aim is to have a single system from which it can better manage and control its digital ad trading across all its markets.", "output": "A year after adopting header bidding, Madrid-based media group Prisa is moving to Switch Concept's server-to-server platform, according to Matthias Mondini, the company's yield management and business insights director. He cited unsustainable page latency as the reason behind the decision, and said although he was aware of the risks of reduced user matching with server-side bidding, the platform also presented more opportunities for programmatic-direct deals, which have grown to make up 30% of Prisa's programmatic revenue."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aire drone can scan homes for insurance purposes \n The Aire drone is one of the most ambitious home robotics projects I've ever encountered. If I hadn't seen it fly in person, I wouldn't even believe it's real. But Aire is real. It actually flies. And I actually asked it to take a photo of me using Alexa.\n\nOn Kickstarter, Aire is advertised as a \"self-flying robotic assistant for the home.\" The basic idea is that the drone is smart enough to keep itself upright in the air and avoid obstacles, so you can safely fly it indoors without crashing into too many lamps or small dogs. You can remotely control the drone with your phone to check a suspicious situation when you're away from home, or to video conference with your family (there's a built-in microphone and speaker).\n\nAire doesn't sound or move like a typical drone, which is a big point of emphasis for its creators. It sounds a bit like a vacuum cleaner or hair dryer, instead of that mosquito-in-your-ear sound you get from most drones. It's also really safe to interact with. For instance, when we were asking Aire to take a photo, it was totally cool to grab the drone and position it in the desired spot \u2014 once you let go it stabilizes and keeps flying like nothing happened.\n\nThe technology that makes this stable flight possible is what makes Aire so interesting. The prototype I saw had stereo cameras for vision, a 3D depth camera for obstacle avoidance, a downward facing camera for positioning, and sonar sensors all around for more obstacle avoidance. There's an Nvidia TX1 chip processing all this sensor data. Right now that mostly just means Aire is stable in the air, can land automatically, and can carry out very basic Alexa and IFTTT commands.\n\nBut there's enough technology here to do some very interesting things if Aire is successful. For instance, you could ask Aire to scan your entire home for insurance purposes, or create a 3D map of your home for help with a remodel. Aire could search your home for a specific person, or patrol your home for anomalies. These are all features that could set it apart from a traditional security camera setup, or a traditional drone, but who knows if they'll ever get built. Aire's autonomous skills are very limited right now: it can take off and land from a wireless charging dock if it can see the dock, and it can take a photo when you ask it to over Alexa.\n\nAire is supposed to ship in December of next year, with a beta model out that September. The retail price is supposed to be $1,499, but the Kickstarter price is $749 if you're willing to put your money down right now.", "output": "A new drone that uses artificial intelligence to avoid objects around the home, allowing it to be flown indoors, could be used to scan homes for insurance coverage. The Aire drone, which is being funded by a Kickstarter campaign, can be flown remotely when a user is away from home. It can also take basic Alexa voice commands."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Commerce-focused publishers struggle to find best use for Facebook \n A lot of commerce-focused publishers have hit a wall on Facebook.\n\nMany publishers are turning to commerce to generate revenue in a challenging ad climate. But they\u2019re having a hard time incorporating Facebook into their plans.\n\nThat\u2019s partly because the economics of commerce-focused posts differ from ad-supported posts. But it\u2019s also because Facebook\u2019s role in e-commerce is still evolving, and that uncertainty is hampering the growth of publishers\u2019 affiliate commerce efforts.\n\n\u201cSocial is a black hole for us,\u201d said one executive at a commerce-focused publisher.\n\nE-commerce sales have tripled over the past 10 years, to account for $105 billion in the second quarter and 9 percent of the country\u2019s total retail sales, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.\n\nAnd as e-commerce climbs, Facebook has tried a number of approaches to get involved. It launched its first marketplace in 2007, abandoning it two years later. It added a kind of storefront, Facebook Shop, in 2015 and a new Facebook Marketplace last year. It recently introduced a number of shoppable ad formats, including Canvas and Carousel. While most of these tools are aimed at retailers and marketers, a handful of publishers have experimented with Facebook Shop.\n\nBut the news feed, the tool most publishers rely on for Facebook audience growth, is a poor fit for commerce-focused content. Because the feed is algorithmically driven, the content people see can be hours, sometimes even days old. That makes the feed ill-suited to distribute timely deals.\n\nDeal-focused publishers have found workarounds. For example, Gizmodo Media Group, which organizes its commerce efforts around a brand called Kinja Deals, recently launched a Kinja Deals Facebook Messenger bot that sends offers directly to readers via mobile push notifications.\n\nBeyond the time-sensitive issue, the feed isn\u2019t the best place to reach people who are in a shopping mood. \u201cThe intent of the [Facebook] user is so low,\u201d another commerce-focused publisher executive said. \u201cPerformance marketing is terrible.\u201d\n\nIn addition, two publisher products that Facebook is pushing, Instant Articles and video, fit uncomfortably into commerce strategies, despite publishers\u2019 efforts to use them. \u201cFacebook has been very encouraging of [us] to do video,\u201d said another commerce-focused executive. \u201cBut video with product recommendations don\u2019t go hand in hand. There\u2019s not a lot of great video to be done around commerce.\u201d\n\nThere\u2019s also the question of where commerce content is subject to the Federal Trade Commission\u2019s regulations that require advertising content shared to a social platform to be disclosed.\n\nIn most cases, commerce-focused content isn\u2019t positioned as advertising, but the lack of clarity around the issue worries publishers. \u201cI think they don\u2019t know exactly how to play in this space because the rules haven\u2019t been clearly defined,\u201d a third executive said. \u201cWe don\u2019t know how to manage the Facebook handshake when it comes to commerce content. I think platforms are reluctant to draw too much attention to this.\u201d\n\nBut if Facebook isn\u2019t driving satisfactory conversions for some publishers, others see it as a way to access data about readers\u2019 intent, which can be monetized. \u201cCommerce-focused content is the same [as regular content],\u201d said Troy Young, global president of Hearst Digital Media. \u201cThe difference is that it creates new opportunities to gather data for publishers to market products for advertisers. \u2026 Publishers that have the ability to tie data around content, products and individuals will have a competitive advantage in the future.\u201d\n\nThere also are practical hurdles to selling on Facebook. Being able to target a post about a gray T-shirt at the right person on Facebook is one thing. But a retailer\u2019s fantasy \u2014 having that reader see the post, decide she would rather buy that shirt in blue and in two different sizes and be able to act on that impulse, all inside Facebook \u2014 is a ways away. \u201cThere are technological challenges to tying it all together,\u201d said Rich Fulop, CEO of the linens brand Brooklinen. \u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019re there at all.\u201d\n\nAnd until it can deliver something along those lines, Facebook may feel it\u2019s in its best interests to wait. \u201cConsumers expect the kind of service they\u2019re going to get from Amazon,\u201d said Susan Bidel, a senior analyst at Forrester. \u201cI cannot imagine any of the other platforms coming out of the gate with that level of sophistication and service [right now]. They\u2019re probably smart not to try it until they can do it in a competitive way.\u201d", "output": "Social media giant Facebook can't compete with online retail behemoth Amazon when it comes to e-commerce, according to industry insiders. Many said the news feed is \"ill-suited\" to promoting time-sensitive deals, while others said video, which is hugely popular on the site, doesn't dovetail with most e-commerce strategies. Facebook's previous attempts to enter the e-commerce market, Shop and Marketplace, both failed, and Susan Bidel, a senior analyst at Forrester suggests the site is still a long way from being able to compete with Amazon's seamless and sophisticated shopping experience."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fintechs protest against proposed EU 'screen scraping' ban \n A large group of over 70 European fintech companies are warning that new EU rules on payments processing could unfairly pit them against large banks and decimate the industry if they are passed into law.\n\nThe rules are part of the European Union\u2019s Payment Services Directive (PSD) and would ban the practice of \u201cscreen scraping,\u201d a common practice used by fintech companies to \u201cscrape\u201d display data from one application (like an online banking service) and display it on their own.\n\nUsually, fintech startups scrape data by logging into banking applications on behalf of their customers with sensitive data like passwords and PIN codes.\n\nIn their manifesto, the 71 fintech firms argue that the ban on scraping is unreasonable and a backdoor method for traditional banks to claw back control as the Fintech revolution threatens to upend their business models.\n\nHowever, banks are arguing that screen scraping is too dangerous and that customer data should only be accessible through bank-provided application programming interfaces (APIs) in the interest of customer security.\n\n\u201cThe customer is in control of what can and cannot be shared with a third party, as the API is consent and permission-driven. Alternative technologies for sharing data exist, but are less robust and less secure than APIs,\u201d said David Song, an EU affairs expert at UK Finance, a representation of over 300 firms providing banking, payments, and financial services in the United Kingdom.\n\nFintech companies, for their part, say that banks have an incentive to build semi-functional APIs that would tarnish fintech upstarts\u2019 own quality of service and scare customers away from using their products, which at times compete directly with the services that banks offer to their clients.\n\n\u201cIf we\u2019re forced to use an API that doesn\u2019t provide a good service, it will kill our business. We\u2019ll have to use a low-quality interface that won\u2019t meet our service needs and will drive customers away,\u201d said Joan Burkovic of Bankin, a French fintech startup that helps customers manage their money and finances via an app that links to their existing bank accounts.\n\nThey also argue that a fallback option to screen scraping should necessarily be kept open in case a bank\u2019s API fails.\n\n\u201cWithout the fallback option, our business is effectively in the hands of banks. They\u2019ll have full control over all the information they give to us and can even impose restrictions on how they send it. That goes entirely against the spirit of EU rules that guarantee technological neutrality for payments,\u201d said Arturo Gonz\u00e1lez Mac Dowell, President & CEO of EuroBits, a payments aggregator headquartered in Spain.\n\nRevised payment services directive\n\nThe European Union\u2019s Payment Services Directive (PSD), originally passed in 2007, built a single market for cashless payments in Europe, making cross-border payments as easy and efficient for European consumers and businesses as domestic transfers.\n\nIt was revised in 2015 by the European Commission in part to promote more competition and digital innovation within the banking and payments sector.\n\nMost importantly, the revised PSD (also known as PSD2) mandated that banks loosen their grip over customer account data and allow third parties to be able to access it with customers\u2019 permission.\n\nIt is no secret that this will present a challenge to retail banks, who will lose their exclusive hold over customer data and be forced to innovate in both payments processing and customer data analytics, where many of their upstart competitors already have a significant lead.\n\n\u201cThis presents banks with a challenge. At best, PSD2 puts at risk an important income stream for banks and at worst will relegate them to the status of a utility, acting as simple data holder,\u201d said Jacqui Hatfield, former partner at the law firm Reed Smith, in an editorial for Banking Tech.\n\nHowever, as is common practice in European financial regulation, a regulatory agency under the Commission\u2019s authority was given the right to draft technical guidelines (such as the rules on screen scraping) that would come into effect after the general framework of the PSD2 was finalized and agreed among lawmakers.\n\nThe controversial ban on screen scraping was first tabled by the European Banking Authority, a London-based agency of the European Commission which has regulatory oversight over European banks, in February.\n\n\u201cThe EBA is of the view that accessing accounts through screen scraping will no longer be allowed on the basis of a number of provisions under PSD2, especially the requirements on secure communication and on restrictions on in accessing data and information from accounts and transactions,\u201d the agency said in its February proposal.\n\nBanks agree.\n\n\u201cAPI-based solutions gain the benefits of device-based multi-factor authentication that is both safer and easy for consumers to use than typing codes into a form. Breach after breach has made clear that there is no such things as a \u2018secure\u2019 or \u2018strong\u2019 way to use passwords\u201d, said the FIDO Alliance, an industry consortium of banks and payment services providers like Visa and MasterCard, in an open letter to EU lawmakers at the end of August.\n\nThe European Commission, which has final say over the proposed draft rules, has publicly disagreed with the EBA\u2019s position and swooped in from above this summer to propose amendments to the guidelines, allowing for a \u201cfall back\u201d to screen scraping if banks\u2019 APIs failed to provide fintech companies with reliable account data.\n\nBut in any case, the final rules will have to be vetted by both the European Parliament and finance ministers in the European Council, who have the right to veto them. It is expected by some that Council representatives from countries without a substantial fintech industry may push for a compromise between the Commission and EBA versions.\n\nWhy it matters for fintech startups\n\nPSD2 falls into line with the Juncker Commission\u2019s Digital Single Market strategy from 2014, in which it promised to break down barriers in the provision and sale of digital services and to ensure the free movement of data between consumers and companies in Europe.\n\nThe rules on digital payments are also envisaged to help break Europe\u2019s longstanding dependency on bank finance. Many see the over-dominance of banks as an endemic problem to the growth of European capital markets and an important cause of the sovereign debt crises of 2010-2015.\n\nHowever, the standoff on screen scraping suggests to some that large banks can still throw their weight around in lobbying EU laws aimed at increasing competition in financial services.\n\n\u201cThe European Banking Authority has been behaving more like the European Banking Association on PSD2. It\u2019s incredible that they haven\u2019t met with any fintech companies at all to discuss their needs but are regularly taking meetings with banking associations on digital innovation,\u201d said one fintech startup executive who declined to be named for the purposes of the article.\n\nIt has also shown that there is no single European rulebook dedicated to FinTech regulation, and is instead managed by a mix of national regulators and a constellation of institutions and agencies at the European level.\n\n\u201cIt is striking to observe the large number of institutions currently commenting, regulating, drafting consulting, and exchanging ideas on fintech. There are already overlaps at European level, but more importantly there is already substantial regulatory divergence between EU countries,\u201d wrote a team of three researchers from Brussels think-tank Bruegel for a discussion of EU finance ministers in Estonia this month.\n\nHowever, it also pointed out that \u201cin the European context, issues such as data privacy, cybersecurity, consumer protection and operational risks will be central importance for consumer acceptance.\u201d\n\nStill, the outstanding question is whether banks\u2019 privacy concerns in the PSD2 are merely a Trojan horse to torpedo a nascent FinTech industry in Europe and to cling to their waning hold over customer account data.\n\n\u201cThe bottom line is this: the Payment Services Directive 2 was designed in order to increase competition in the sphere of payments. Putting a ban screen scraping would undermine that principle\u201d, said Nick Wallace of the Centre for Data Innovation.\n\nThe first parts of the PSD2 will come into force in all 28 Member States and the European Economic Area in January 2018. The Commission is expected to present its finalized set of rules on screen scraping in October or November, which will come into force 18 months after they are adopted by EU institutions.\n\nFeatured image credit: Didier Weemaels on Unsplash", "output": "Seventy-one European fintech firms have warned their industry could be severely damaged if the European Banking Authority's proposed ban on \"screen scraping\" is approved. The practice, in which fintech firms access consenting customer data by logging into banking applications, was legitimised by the European Union\u2019s revised Payment Services Directive, which required banks to ease their grip on customer data and open it up to third parties. Banks argue the move relegated them to being \"simple data holders\" and that screen scraping is insecure. A final decision on screen scraping is expected in October or November."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scottish Power pushes for more support for onshore wind farms \n ScottishPower has called for political support to develop more onshore wind farms after hitting a record high of power from the sector.\n\nAfter the completion of a \u00a3650m infrastructure project, Scottish Power Renewables has passed the 2000 megawatt (MW) UK milestone.\n\nThe company has now called for politicians and regulators to back the development of the industry in Scotland in order to keep up with an anticipated increase in demand.\n\nKeith Anderson, chief executive of Scottish Power Renewables, said: \"It's now cheaper, easier and faster to build onshore wind.\n\n\"In a little over 18 months we have built over 470 megawatts of onshore wind, delivering enough power for more than 280,000 homes and with it significant environmental and financial benefits for the UK.\n\n\"If the UK Government is serious about reducing carbon emissions and having enough clean power to support the huge expected growth in electric vehicles, then more onshore wind is essential.\"\n\nHe added: \"One new onshore wind turbine could power around 7000 electric vehicles but we need to act now to meet growing demand.\"\n\nAnalysis from the firm shows 66% of investment in onshore wind has been spent in the UK and more than three-quarters of the total UK investment has been spent in Scotland.\n\nScottish Government minister for business, innovation and energy Paul Wheelhouse said: \"Investing in renewables is key to Scotland's transition to a low carbon future.\n\n\"It has not only brought jobs to our communities, and boosted our economy, but it has contributed to the progress of Scotland's world leading climate change targets.\"\n\nA spokesman for the UK's department for business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) said: \"The UK is a global leader in tackling climate change and the UK Government's latest auction for renewable technologies secured projects set to deliver over three gigawatts of electricity, enough to power 3.6 million homes.\n\n\"We're committed to supporting the development of onshore wind projects in the remote islands of Scotland and will set out our plans shortly.\n\n\"And by setting long-term targets, like the one to end the sale of new conventional petrol and diesel cars by 2040, we can ensure the grid is ready for the mass transition to cleaner technologies.\"", "output": "Scottish Power Renewables has called on the UK government to back further development of onshore wind farms in Scotland. The company has completed a \u00a3650m ($875m) infrastructure project and seeks increased support from regulators and politicians to further develop the industry and keep pace with increasing demand. \"It's now cheaper, easier and faster to build onshore wind,\" commented Keith Anderson, the CEO of Scottish Power Renewables. \"If the UK government is serious about reducing carbon emissions and having enough clean power to support the huge expected growth in electric vehicles, then more onshore wind is essential.\"\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "YouTube tries to tap TV budgets with brand-integration opportunities \n YouTube is hoping to pull from TV ad budgets by offering advertisers sponsorship and custom brand-integration opportunities for its growing slate of free-to-watch video series.\n\nDuring its Brandcast event in May for advertisers, YouTube announced plans to fund seven original long-form video series, which would be available for free on the platform. YouTube\u2019s budget for these shows is roughly between $500,000 and $1 million per episode, according to two sources. This puts YouTube on par with cable budgets, but not \u201cpremium\u201d cable fare such as scripted shows on HBO and AMC.\n\nSince it announced the shows, YouTube has been busy selling advertisers on sponsorships and brand integrations for the shows. This week, it rolled out \u201cEllen\u2019s Show Me More Show,\u201d which goes behind the scenes at Ellen DeGeneres\u2019 daily talk show. L.L. Bean and STX Entertainment are the U.S. sponsors for \u201cEllen\u2019s Show Me More Show,\u201d which will run for the next 14 weeks, with Hyundai signed on as a sponsor for \u201cEllen\u2019s Show\u201d in Australia.\n\nPreviously announced advertisers for YouTube\u2019s ad-supported originals include Johnson & Johnson, which will be the exclusive sponsor for \u201cBest.Cover.Ever,\u201d a singing-competition series from Ryan Seacrest premiering later this fall; while Ulta Beauty is exclusively sponsoring singer Demi Lovato\u2019s \u201cSimply Complicated,\u201d also premiering later in the fall.\n\nAdvertising against YouTube\u2019s ad-supported originals does not come cheap. According to one media buyer pitched by YouTube, ad packages for \u201cEllen\u2019s Show Me More Show\u201d ranged from roughly $500,000 as an entry point to $1.5 million for a \u201cfuller buy.\u201d Another source said ad packages for the originals could be priced even higher.\n\nYouTube declined to comment on pricing.\n\n\u201cWith more and more new series showing up ad free on subscription services and premium cable channels \u2014 just look at the recent Emmy winners \u2014 we\u2019ve seen a real hunger from brands interested in supporting content in new and exciting ways, which is why we\u2019ve decided to partner with them to revert this trend,\u201d said John Nicoletti, managing director of agency development for Google.\n\nYouTube\u2019s pitch to advertisers includes access to video inventory running alongside the shows as well as different in-show integrations that can be customized based on show format. This includes custom segments within shows, branded set pieces and other similar opportunities, YouTube said. YouTube also offered advertisers a minimum \u201cshare of voice\u201d across show inventory, which was done since it\u2019s difficult to guarantee minimum impressions for this new programming, one ad buyer said.\n\nYouTube\u2019s ad-supported originals can be seen as an expansion of the company\u2019s ongoing efforts to pull in more TV ad dollars. YouTube\u2019s head of original content Susanne Daniels, a TV veteran, basically expressed as much at Cannes Lions earlier this summer.\n\n\u201cThis is Google\u2019s attempt to be more Hulu-like, but we aren\u2019t talking about 30 minutes to an hour of scripted programming; these very much feel like YouTube-ish shows but with top-tier talent,\u201d said one media buyer pitched by YouTube, speaking under the condition of anonymity. \u201cThere are degrees of premiumness, and you have to take that into account.\u201d\n\nGoogle Preferred, YouTube\u2019s ad program that opens top YouTube channels to advertisers, is the company\u2019s other big effort to chase TV ad dollars. Since it launched three years ago, the program has seen 30 percent more U.S. advertisers year over year buying Google Preferred inventory. The program is now available in 20 markets.\n\n\u201cThe integration opportunities these ad-supported shows provide along with the scale of Google Preferred lineups are a powerful combination that marketers are finding very attractive,\u201d said Nicoletti.\n\nAd buyers estimate there are about 8,000 channels in Google Preferred, which can make the program tricky to navigate \u2014 and not every channel carries the type of professionally produced videos that advertisers are comfortable with. In this context, creating original shows that meet a certain standard of quality makes sense for YouTube.\n\n\u201cThere is the reassurance that this is coming from top talent and something that YouTube is personally investing in,\u201d said Marianne Rush, associate media director at GSD&M. \u201cIt gives you a safeguard versus general [user-generated content] and cheap influencer content on YouTube.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a benefit,\u201d said another ad buyer, who also prefers anonymity. \u201cThey\u2019re not creating this content for fun; they\u2019re creating it to put advertising against. These shows are specifically being developed to sell.\u201d\n\nBut that doesn\u2019t mean advertisers won\u2019t make the buy \u2014 and pull in dollars from TV budgets.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no question that people are spending time watching videos \u2014 whether it\u2019s Ellen or Demi Lovato \u2014 on YouTube,\u201d said Sarah Baehr, evp and managing partner of digital investment at Horizon Media. \u201cDepending on who you want to reach, as an advertiser, you need to make a decision on whether you can find those eyeballs somewhere else. In that sense, YouTube, as a part of the overall video mix, can pull some TV ad dollars.\u201d\n\nImage via YouTube", "output": "YouTube is selling advertisers sponsorship and brand-integration opportunities for its growing roster of free-to-watch video series. The move comes as part of YouTube\u2019s expansion of the company\u2019s ongoing efforts to tap marketing budgets previously reserved for traditional TV advertising. The company has announced plans to fund seven more original video series with budgets for these shows ranging from between $500,000 to $1m per episode. Advertising however does not come cheap, with packages for the Ellen DeGeneres series \u201cEllen\u2019s Show Me More Show\u201d for example ranging from roughly $500,000 to $1.5m."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Uber CEO apologises and promises change after London ban \n Uber\u2019s chief executive has apologised for the taxi app\u2019s mistakes in London and promised to change as the company fights a decision by the city not to renew its licence.\n\nThe firm is battling to keep operating in the capital after Transport for London decided not to renew its licence to operate. Uber\u2019s London licence expires on 30 September, although it will continue to run taxis while it pursues a legal appeal process that could last a year.\n\nTfL said last week Uber was not a \u201cfit and proper\u201d private car-hire operator and cited four areas of concern, including its approach to reporting criminal offences and carrying out background checks on drivers. But sources close to TfL indicated that a change of conduct from the taxi firm, the culture of which is being reformed by its new chief executive, could leave the door open to a fresh licence application.\n\nDara Khosrowshahi, who succeeded Uber founder Travis Kalanick as CEO a month ago, wrote in an open letter: \u201cWhile Uber has revolutionised the way people move in cities around the world, it\u2019s equally true that we\u2019ve got things wrong along the way. On behalf of everyone at Uber globally, I apologise for the mistakes we\u2019ve made.\n\n\u201cWe will appeal [against] the decision on behalf of millions of Londoners, but we do so with the knowledge that we must also change.\u201d\n\nSadiq Khan, the London mayor and chair of TfL, said he welcomed Khosrowshahi\u2019s apology. \u201cObviously I am pleased that he has acknowledged the issues that Uber faces in London,\u201d Khan said. \u201cEven though there is a legal process in place, I have asked TfL to make themselves available to meet with him.\u201d\n\nHowever, another Uber executive told the BBC on Monday he company did not understand the concerns of London\u2019s transport regulator.\n\n\n\nFred Jones, an executive at Uber\u2019s UK operation, said: \u201cSitting down with TfL representatives as soon as possible would be the most helpful thing to really understand their concerns, to work out what they are. It is just not clear to us what those concerns are.\u201d\n\n\n\nWhen asked why Uber does not report criminal offences directly to the police and instead notifies TfL, which lengthens the investigative process, Jones said: \u201cWe follow the rules.\u201d\n\nReferring to one specific incident involving an Uber driver who sexually assaulted a passenger, he said: \u201cWe hold our hands up, we made a mistake. In that incident we just didn\u2019t realise when that passenger wrote in how serious it was ... We apologise to everyone involved.\u201d\n\nThe Uber driver involved stayed on the company\u2019s books and went on to commit another, more serious, attack.\n\nJones defended Uber\u2019s usual practice of notifying TfL of criminal offences. \u201cAs soon as we receive a serious complaint or we are alerted of it, we restrict the access to the app and immediately investigate and that would involve notifying TfL.\u201d\n\nHe added that Uber had set up a working group. \u201cThis is absolutely something we will work on with the police. This is absolutely an area where we want to go further.\u201d\n\nKhan said Uber had brought \u201cunfair pressure\u201d on TfL, employing an \u201carmy\u201d of PR experts and lawyers.\n\nThe mayor said: \u201cI want companies that abide by the rules, I want companies that innovate, harbour new technologies, I want disruptive technology coming to London but you\u2019ve got to play by the rules.\u201d\n\nIn a separate dispute, Uber will on Wednesday challenge a tribunal ruling over the employment status of its drivers, which lawyers say is also a public safety issue. Uber is attempting to overturn a landmark ruling that its drivers are workers, with rights to paid holiday and the minimum wage.\n\nLawyers representing the original claimants, James Farrar and Yaseen Aslam, said Uber was deliberately \u201ckicking the can down the road\u201d and had so far ignored the ruling from October last year. Paul Jennings, of Bates Wells Braithwate, said: \u201cAt the heart of this is safety. Imagine if it was bus or train drivers who couldn\u2019t take a paid holiday. Given the numbers involved and the nature of this work, there is a real risk.\u201d", "output": "Uber\u2019s CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, has apologised for the firm\u2019s mistakes in its London operation and pledged to implement changes. The comments, made in an open letter, come in response to Friday\u2019s decision by Transport for London (TfL) not to renew Uber\u2019s licence to operate in the city after it expires on 30 September. TfL claimed that Uber was not \u201ca fit and proper\u201d operator and cited concerns over issues including the company\u2019s reporting of criminal offences. Uber, which will appeal TfL\u2019s decision, has set up a working group on this issue."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Michelin's next-gen wheel concept uses biomaterials \n They\u2019re completely airless, last virtually forever, and could be the perfect tire for our autonomous future. Michelin, the 128-year-old tire manufacturer based in Clermont-Ferrand, France, recently unveiled a 3D-printed tire concept that it says could be the ideal ride for self-driving cars. It just needs to figure out how to actually manufacture them first.\n\nDubbed \u201cVision,\u201d these spidery, psychedelic-looking sponges are printed from bio-sourced and biodegradable materials, including natural rubber, bamboo, paper, tin cans, wood, electronic and plastic waste, hay, tire chips, used metals, cloth, cardboard, molasses, and orange zest.\n\n\u201creplace a tire-and-wheel-combination with a unique structure\u201d\n\nWhile it may sound like Michelin is rooting through your compost pile to come up with its futuristic concept, there\u2019s more to it than that. These tires would be embedded with RFID sensors to collect data and predict performance and function of the vehicle. And they will be adaptive to different conditions. Heading to the mountains for some skiing? Drive through a Michelin printing station and get your tires retrofitted for snowy terrain.\n\n\u201cThis concept vision is a dream for an ideal solution for the long-term,\u201d said Terry Gettys, Michelin\u2019s executive VP for research and development. \u201cWe\u2019re confident you can replace a tire-and-wheel-combination with a unique structure, carry the load, provide good comfort and noise, and we\u2019re very encouraged that can be the solution of the future.\u201d\n\nIf cars become fully autonomous, then the traditional design language that has held up for decades goes out the window. Engineers and automakers are already beginning to rethink the vehicle\u2019s interior, removing steering wheels, adding bookshelves, and positioning car seats to face one another. Rather than be left behind, Michelin is contributing to this effort through its reinvention of its tires, both in form and function.\n\nMichelin\n\nMichelin\n\n\u201cAs vehicles become more automated, the requirements for handling and driving pleasure are greatly diminished,\u201d Gettys said. \u201cIn fact the passengers when they turn over the driving to the car, they don\u2019t even care about the handling feel. And as such, there\u2019s going to be a huge shift in customer expectations toward comfort and noise.\u201d\n\nHe continued, \u201cThey\u2019ll want to enter the vehicle like a cocoon and have a very pleasurable experience getting to their destination, but that pleasure coming from using their telephone, their PC, discussing, and being totally oblivious to the distractions outside.\u201d\n\n\u201ctotally oblivious to the distractions outside\u201d\n\nThe concept of \u201cair-free\u201d tires isn\u2019t new. Bridgestone has been playing around with the idea since 2013, when it unveiled its first air-free concept for tiny, smart-car sized vehicles. It was a bid to reduce the need for drivers to pull to the side of the road to fix flat tires, as well as reduce CO2 emissions and create a more sustainable drive. Recently, it began testing airless bicycle tires.\n\nThe Vision tire first debuted at the company\u2019s Movin\u2019 On conference in Montreal earlier this year. Michelin then brought samples of the 3D-printed tire to New York City in early August for more exposure. But a brief trip through the 128-year-old company\u2019s history reveals that this isn\u2019t Michelin\u2019s first rimless, airless tire to be released. The Tweel, an airless tire concept that emerged over a decade ago, is currently in use in small-frame, low-speed vehicles and appliances like golf carts and lawn mowers.\n\nThe limited application of the Tweel hints at the challenges Michelin will face in mass producing its 3D-printed concept. \u201cIt\u2019s really not an existing product,\u201d Gettys said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have all the materials to make this work.\u201d\n\nMichelin\n\nSo what\u2019s missing? Michelin already manufactures tires with embedded RFID sensors for groups like the Porsche Club and truckers, allowing for the monitoring of things like temperature and pressure. So connected tires won\u2019t be too difficult, Gettys said. The long-term challenges relates to printing the entire material structure from biodegradable materials like sugar stalks and orange zest. That will require much further research, he admits. But Michelin is working with a number of external partners and predicts being able to entire into production by 2023.\n\nIt\u2019s admirable pursuit, and a sustainable one too. Currently, over 70 percent of tires produced globally are made from non-biodegradable materials. (Just think of the eternal burning tire pile in The Simpsons.) Natural rubber is replenishable, but most of the materials are petroleum-based. Its taken researchers 10 years to produce biosourced synthetic elastomers. \u201cIt may take the same amount of time\u201d to make all of the other materials that comprise automobile tires, Gettys said.", "output": "French tyre manufacturer Michelin is working on a 3D-printed concept that replaces the traditional tyre and wheel combination with an airless prototype called \"Vision\", created using biodegradable materials such as food waste and bamboo. According to Terry Gettys, Michelin\u2019s head of research and development, the tyres could be retrofitted for changing weather conditions, while the advent of self-driving cars would eliminate the need for handling feel, enabling developers to focus on getting the prototype to deliver a smooth, comfortable ride. Gettys said more research is needed before the new tyre could go into commercial production."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Company behind Oyster working on facial recognition ticket system \n Oli Scarff/Getty Images\n\nAt the train station of the future, your face could be your ticket and gates could be invisible.\n\nCubic Transportation Systems, the US company behind London\u2019s Oyster card technology, is working on new ticketing systems that use facial recognition, palm vein scanning and object tracking in a bid to cut down queues.\n\n\u201cThe ridership on public transportation is due to grow,\u201d says Dave Roat, strategy manager at Cubic. \u201cHow do we deal with the growth in capacity and help enable passenger flow through stations?\u201d\n\nRead more: London Tube platforms are being painted green to cut congestion\n\nOne of the problems Cubic is trying to solve is the bottleneck that occurs at ticket gates when everyone rushes to dig out their ticket or pass. To avoid this crush, Cubic suggests removing the gates completely. Instead, its prototype system uses an object tracking system to track passengers as they walk through.\n\nThe company has demonstrated a prototype of its \u201cFasTrak\u201d gateless gate system at its London-based innovation centre. Here\u2019s how it works. First, the traveller presents their ticket at a next-generation validator. As with existing machines, this validator accepts Oyster cards and contactless cards, but it also works with some alternative payment methods: Bluetooth LTE (which could identify passengers by their phone as they pass through, without them needing to hold it on the scanner), palm vein scan and facial recognition.", "output": "US firm Cubic Transportation Systems is working on a ticketing system that uses palm vein identification and facial recognition technology to improve the flow in public transport hubs. Cubic, the company behind London's Oyster card, said the prototype registers passengers' palms or faces in place of issuing a ticket. They would be re-scanned on exiting and checked against the system's registry. It could also be used to spot fare-dodgers, with non-paying people triggering an alert. While it aims to test the gate-less tracking system at a London station within the year, Cubic admitted the facial recognition technology wasn't yet ready."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scotland\u2019s climate change plan criticised by official body \n Scotland\u2019s plan to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions into the 2030s will need to bring forward firmer policies in transport, heating and other sectors if it is to remain world-leading, the Committee on Climate Change says in its latest publication: Reducing emissions in Scotland \u2013 2017 progress report\n\nTo date, Scotland has made good progress in reducing its emissions and is performing well compared to other parts of the UK. Scotland\u2019s emissions fell 3% between 2014 and 2015 to 38% below 1990 levels. This is compared to a reduction of 35% since 1990 for the UK as a whole in 2015.\n\nThe Scottish Government\u2019s draft Climate Change Plan sets out policies and proposals to reduce emissions into the 2030s in order to meet Scotland\u2019s legislated carbon targets. It also seeks to lay the foundations for deeper emissions cuts beyond 2030. The final plan, due in February 2018, will need to set out firmer policies to meet these targets.\n\nAction taken now will also need to pave the way to meet Scotland\u2019s higher ambition to reduce its emissions by 90% in 2050 on 1990 levels (previously set at a minimum reduction of 80%). This is a suitable contribution to global efforts to tackle climate change as required by the Paris Agreement.\n\nThe Committee\u2019s report also finds that:\n\nScotland met its emissions target in 2015 . \u2018Actual\u2019 (physical) emissions, including international aviation and shipping, fell 3% between 2014-15. Progress was largely driven by action to reduce emissions in the electricity sector. Scotland also hit its \u2018net\u2019 emissions target, achieving a 41% emissions reduction on 1990 levels. An interim target of at least a 42% reduction in net emissions by 2020 is well within reach.\n\n. \u2018Actual\u2019 (physical) emissions, including international aviation and shipping, fell 3% between 2014-15. Progress was largely driven by action to reduce emissions in the electricity sector. Scotland also hit its \u2018net\u2019 emissions target, achieving a 41% emissions reduction on 1990 levels. An interim target of at least a 42% reduction in net emissions by 2020 is well within reach. More effort is needed to reduce emissions from other sectors of the Scottish economy , alongside the good progress made in electricity. Emissions from agriculture, transport and non-residential buildings have not fallen in recent years. Scotland\u2019s ambitious emissions targets will require broader, economy-wide progress in future years.\n\n, alongside the good progress made in electricity. Emissions from agriculture, transport and non-residential buildings have not fallen in recent years. Scotland\u2019s ambitious emissions targets will require broader, economy-wide progress in future years. The balance of effort in the draft Climate Change Plan between the transport and buildings sectors is unrealistic. However, the recent Programme for Government announcement indicates stronger action to reduce emissions from the transport sector. At this higher level, transport emissions would be commensurate with ambitious Scottish emissions targets. This could allow for less reliance to 2032 on the rapid deployment of low-carbon heating in buildings. While ambitious deployment of low-carbon heat is essential, it is unlikely to be feasible at the rate or level envisaged in the draft plan.\n\nHowever, the recent Programme for Government announcement indicates stronger action to reduce emissions from the transport sector. At this higher level, transport emissions would be commensurate with ambitious Scottish emissions targets. This could allow for less reliance to 2032 on the rapid deployment of low-carbon heating in buildings. While ambitious deployment of low-carbon heat is essential, it is unlikely to be feasible at the rate or level envisaged in the draft plan. The draft Climate Change Plan contains limited new policy to deliver emissions reductions to 2032 beyond existing commitments. Without effective new policies, progress seen in recent years is unlikely to continue into the 2020s. The credibility of the proposed 90% emissions target for 2050 will be compromised if Scotland fails to lay the groundwork over the period to 2030.\n\nPlans to further decarbonise the electricity sector are suitably ambitious and align with the Committee\u2019s analysis. The draft plan\u2019s commitment to the deployment of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology is also welcome as are plans to increase tree planting to 15,000 hectares per year by the mid-2020s.\n\nChairman of the Committee on Climate Change, Lord Deben, said: \u201cScotland\u2019s level of ambition in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions and tackling climate change is amongst the highest in the world. Our report shows that Scotland continues to lead the UK in this area, as Scotland\u2019s emissions continue to fall year on year.\n\n\u201cThe Scottish Government\u2019s Climate Change Plan will deliver the next chapter of emissions reductions into the 2030s and beyond. It\u2019s therefore essential that further work is done to ramp up emissions reductions right across the Scottish economy and think through how to reduce emissions from heating Scotland\u2019s buildings and from transport, amongst other areas. The process of review and revision should enable this to happen in time for the adoption of the final Climate Change Plan early next year.\u201d\n\nNotes to editors\n\nEmissions data for Scotland and the devolved administrations in Wales and Northern Ireland are produced with a significant delay compared to the UK as a whole. The Committee\u2019s report therefore focuses on progress to 2015, while noting any significant subsequent developments that are not yet reflected in the emissions data. The difference between \u2018net\u2019 and \u2018actual\u2019 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Under the existing Climate Change Scotland (2009) Act, Scottish GHG emissions are measured on a \u2018net\u2019 basis. The Net Scottish Emissions Account (NSEA) is calculated as the sum of: a) Non-traded emissions. Actual Scottish emissions in sectors not covered by the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), such as buildings, transport and agriculture (around 64% of total Scottish emissions); plus b) Traded sector allocation. Scotland\u2019s share of the EU ETS cap for sectors that are covered by the trading scheme, such as electricity generation and heavy industry. Actual emissions are the physical greenhouse gas emissions emitted across all sectors including: Power, Buildings, Industry, Transport, Agriculture, Waste and F-gases, Aviation and Shipping, and Land Use, Land-Use change and Forestry (LULUCF). A detailed explanation is provided in the Committee\u2019s March 2017 report: Advice on the new Scottish Climate Change Bill. The Scottish Government intends to pass new climate change legislation by early 2019, to replace the current Climate Change Scotland (2009) Act. In particular, the Scottish Government proposes to adopt a more ambitious target for emissions reductions by 2050 of at least 90% by 2050 (on 1990 levels), from an existing target of at least 80% by 2050 (on 1990 levels). The Committee provided advice on the design and levels of these targets in March 2017 in our report: Advice on the new Scottish Climate Change Bill. The Scottish Government\u2019s draft Climate Change Plan was published in January 2017. It sets out policies and proposals for meeting Scotland\u2019s legislated emissions reduction targets as required under the Climate Change Scotland (2009) Act. The Scottish Government is conducting a public consultation on the draft plan (until 22 September). Low-carbon heat: The draft Climate Change Plan\u2019s assumed contribution to emissions reductions from uptake of low-carbon heat (80% of heating in buildings to be low-carbon by 2032) is very unlikely to be feasible and calls into question the integrity of the overall strategy, as well as risking missing emissions reduction targets in 2032. Securing lower levels of low-carbon heat roll-out (40%) in the CCC\u2019s High Ambition Scenario requires immediate action, rather than waiting for deployment in 2025 as in the draft plan. The CCC recommends the final version of the plan relies on low-carbon sources providing no more than 50% of heat by 2032. These will need to be done in tune with further improvements in energy efficiency. Ambition on electric vehicles. The draft Climate Change Plan envisages ultra-low-emission vehicle (ULEV, e.g. electric vehicle) reaching 40% of new car and van sales by 2032, which would not prepare sufficiently to achieve the deep decarbonisation required by 2050 given the time it takes to turn over the vehicle stock. The recent Programme for Government announcement that petrol and diesel vehicle sales will be phased out by 2032 is a far stronger commitment, and is commensurate with the challenge set by Scotland\u2019s ambition on climate change. The final version of the plan will need to set out the policies that will build the market for ULEVs over the next 15 years to the point that sales of petrol and diesel vehicles can be phased out.\n\nTopics", "output": "Scotland\u2019s draft plan on climate change has been criticised by the UK Committee on Climate Change (CCC). The body claimed that the plan placed too much emphasis on the quick implementation of reduced-carbon heating, and disregarded broader topics, including vehicular emissions. However, the CCC also remarked that the Scottish government was leading the UK in emissions reductions.\u00a0Scotland achieved its 2015 emissions target, and looks set to hit the interim goal of a 42% reduction by 2020. In January, Scotland set an additional target of reducing emissions by 66% by 2032.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Addison Lee drivers not self-employed, rules UK tribunal \n An employment tribunal has ruled that a group of Addison Lee drivers were workers and therefore entitled to rights such as holiday pay and the national minimum wage.\n\n\n\nThe ruling will affect thousands of drivers working for the taxi and courier company, according to the law firm representing them, Leigh Day.\n\nThe drivers brought their case to the London Central Employment Tribunal in July, supported by trade union GMB, which has supported similar claims by drivers for taxi firm Uber.\n\nAddison Lee claimed that all of its UK drivers are self-employed, so can choose their own hours but cannot have access to traditional employment benefits that those with \u201cworker\u201d or \u201cemployee\u201d employment status would receive.\n\nGMB, however, argued that the company was \u201cshirking its responsibilities through bogus self-employment\u201d.\n\nLiana Wood of the employment team at Leigh Day said: \u201cAddison Lee advertises itself as a premium driving service and seeks to ensure that its drivers meet the high standard required for that premium service.\n\n\u201cHowever, Addison Lee drivers very often work very long hours, in excess of 60 hours a week, in order to just earn enough to cover their basic living costs. Addison Lee has sought to deny its drivers the most basic workers\u2019 rights, including to be paid the national minimum wage and to receive paid holiday.\u201d\n\nShe added that the judgement acknowledged the \u201ccentral contribution that Addison Lee\u2019s drivers have made to the success of the company\u201d.\n\nThere will now be a further tribunal hearing to calculate the holiday and pay that the drivers should receive.\n\nAn Addison Lee spokesman said: \u201cWe note the tribunal\u2019s verdict, which we will carefully review. Addison Lee is disappointed with the ruling as we have always had, and are committed to maintaining, a flexible and fair relationship which generates work for 3,800 drivers.\u201d", "output": "Addison Lee, the UK private car hire company, has lost a case in which it argued that its drivers were self-employed. The tribunal ruled that a group of drivers for the company were workers and were consequently entitled to rights including holiday pay and minimum wage. The drivers who brought the case were supported by the GMB trade union, which has backed similar claims by drivers for Uber. The ruling will apply to thousands of drivers working for the firm. A further hearing will\u00a0determine the amount of holiday and pay to be awarded.\u00a0\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK antislavery agency sees caseload double \n The UK\u2019s antislavery body has launched 185 investigations since May, nearly double its total for the whole of last year, after assuming powers that allow it to look beyond the food and farming sector.\n\nThe Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) is scrutinising the treatment of workers in carwashes, construction, textile manufacture, cleaning and warehouse operations. A number of prosecutions are already under way and the first case under its new remit is expected to come to court as early as next month.\n\nPaul Broadbent, the chief executive of the GLAA \u2013 which changed its name from the Gangmasters Licensing Authority after extending its remit in May this year \u2013 said the group had taken on 50 more investigators, bringing the total to 125, in order to monitor more activities.\n\n\u201cWe have got a bigger team to follow the labour exploitation trail wherever it takes us. We are determined to exploit the fact that we have got new powers to protect the good and tackle the bad,\u201d said Broadbent, a former assistant chief constable of Nottinghamshire Police.\n\nLast year, the antislavery body conducted 100 investigations. Its new powers enable the GLAA to look into cases of forced labour and human trafficking many of which would previously have been passed to the police.\n\nBroadbent\u2019s team can also look into non-payment of the national minimum wage and breaches of employment agencies legislation, which sets basic standards on pay, working hours and the right to a written contract.\n\nThe investigations under way, he said, were \u201cevidence led\u201d and based on tipoffs from exploited workers, unions, concerned members of the public and businesses.\n\nThe agency, which was created in the wake of the Morecambe Bay cockle-picking tragedy, works with HMRC\u2019s minimum wage enforcement team and the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate as well as police.\n\nIt has powers to ensure that licence-holding gangmasters operate legally in terms of wages, tax and holiday pay as well as providing good-quality transport, accommodation and safety equipment. It also investigates cases of unlicensed labour in the food sector, which is a criminal offence carrying a prison sentence of up to 10 years.\n\nThe body is also considering a new licensing system for nail bars, after an investigation by the independent anti-slavery commissioner, Kevin Hyland, found a high risk of trafficked Vietnamese migrants being employed in slavery-like conditions.", "output": "The UK\u2019s Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) has launched 185 investigations since May, almost twice as many as for the whole of 2016, after its remit was expanded beyond the food and farming sectors. The body is now investigating treatment of workers in carwashes, cleaning, construction, textiles and warehouse operations. The GLAA can also examine non-payment of the national minimum wage and employment agency legislation violations and is considering a new licensing system for nail bars. The first case under the body\u2019s new powers is expected to come to court next month. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Just 3% of UK\u2019s major elite is from BAME background \n Barely 3% of Britain\u2019s most powerful and influential people are from black and minority ethnic groups, according to a broad new analysis that highlights startling inequality despite decades of legislation to address discrimination.\n\nFrom a list of just over 1,000 of the UK\u2019s top political, financial, judicial, cultural and security figures drawn up by the Guardian in partnership with Operation Black Vote and in consultation with academics, only 36 (3.4%) were from ethnic minorities (BAME). Just seven (0.7%) were BAME women.\n\n\n\nThe numbers betray a grotesque disconnect with the composition of the UK population, almost 13% of which has a minority background. In some sectors \u2013 the police, military, supreme court and security services as well as top consultancies and law firms \u2013 there were no non-white supremos at all.\n\nEquality advocates said the new study shone a light on the glass ceilings, subtle discrimination and \u201caffinity bias\u201d that minorities face as a matter of course in their careers. The toll is severe, on individuals, communities, and society as a whole, they said.\n\n\u201cWe need to ensure that every young person has a role model they can look up to,\u201d said the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, one of the 36. \u201cIt\u2019s so important to promote the successful figures from Britain\u2019s BAME communities. We need to create a sense of optimism, aspiration and hope.\u201d\n\nSpeaking at a Guardian Live event at the Labour party conference in Brighton on Sunday, Khan also identified confidence as a key factor in holding BAME people back. \u201cSome white people feel confident about applying for jobs even if they are not fully qualified. But BAME people may not have the same confidence even though they are more qualified,\u201d he said.\n\nThe data analysis looked at the ethnicity of more than 1,000 individuals across 39 categories covering politics and the civil service; policing, defence and the judiciary; FTSE companies and groups representing business; professional services including the heads of law, accountancy, advertising, consulting and publishing firms; arts bodies; media; trade unions; top universities; sporting bodies and NHS trusts.\n\nThe results of the exercise call into question the effectiveness of equality legislation such as the 2000 Race Relations Act and the 2010 Equality Act, which have seemingly done little to promote people of minority backgrounds into the highest positions of power.\n\n\u201cPathways to power are almost non-existent if you\u2019re black or Asian,\u201d said Simon Woolley, director and co-founder of Operation Black Vote, which helped compile the Colour of Power data along with the recruitment consultant Green Park.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe white club virtually locks out black talent. The lack of diversity at the top level is deeply troubling, not least because in most sectors there has been little or no progress at all.\u201d\n\nRebecca Hilsenrath, chief executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said the research showed that \u201cinequality and unfairness are still entrenched in our society\u201d.\n\n\n\n\u201cWithout real diversity in leadership positions we will never be truly reflective of society, particularly when it comes to public services and bodies which serve our communities. There is absolutely no reason that BAME people should not be able to reach the top of their chosen profession,\u201d she said, calling on the government to put in place a comprehensive and coherent race strategy.\n\nThe shadow equalities minister, Dawn Butler, said black people were losing out because contacts and networks trumped talent. \u201cIf people do not fulfil their potential in all walks of society then we all lose out: the country loses out, that person loses out, that business loses out.\n\n\n\n\u201cAs a black woman nothing surprises me when it comes to representation of both people of colour and women \u2026 It\u2019s really not because of lack of talent. That\u2019s the disappointing thing.\u201d\n\n02:25 The colour of power: why is the British establishment so white? \u2013 video\n\nThe latest data amplifies a report published earlier this year by the businesswoman Ruby McGregor-Smith, which found that while 14% of the working age population were from a BAME background, they made up only 10% of the workforce and held only 6% of top management positions.\n\nThere has been some progress further down the ranks since the 2000 Race Relations Act which, among other things, placed a duty on public bodies to promote racial equality.\n\n\n\nBAME representation in the civil service now stands at 11.6%, double the 2000 figure. And 7% of court judges in England and Wales are from minorities, a significant improvement on 2000. The proportion of BAME police officers rose from 2.2% in 2000 to 6.3% in 2017 although diversity among the most senior ranks remains low.\n\nThere have also been some advances in politics: 8% of MPs after the 2017 general election are of minority ethnic backgrounds, the highest ever proportion, while the current cabinet has two BAME members compared to the all-white 2001 cabinet under Tony Blair.\n\nBut despite this progress, various reports have concluded that inequality remains deep-rooted in society. A recent TUC survey found that more than a third of BAME workers reported bullying, abuse or experience of racial discrimination in the workplace while the recently published Lammy review warned of racial bias in the criminal justice system in England and Wales.\n\nA University of Bath project reported problems of ethnic diversity in higher education while a 2016 report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission found that \u201centrenched and far-reaching race inequality\u201d remains present in many areas of society.\n\n03:42 London mayor Sadiq Khan explains the importance of laws to improve diversity \u2013 video\n\nDr David Owen of the Warwick Institute for Employment Research in Warwick University, whose research has looked at the changing ethnic makeup of the population and the labour force, said evidence showed workplace barriers were manifold.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe evidence from analysis of data over many years is that minority ethnic groups are less well represented in higher status occupations than white people,\u201d he said.\n\nHe said the issue of diversity at the highest levels mattered for a number of reasons, most importantly that people of BAME backgrounds should feel they are able to fulfil their potential without \u201cglass ceilings or other barriers to their ambition\u201d. He added that it was also an advantage to organisations to best \u201cunderstand the population and the society they are serving\u201d.\n\nWhile the project concentrated on BAME diversity, it also showed up a startling gap in gender representation. Women account for less than a quarter of the names on the list (23.6%). Among FTSE 100 chief executives, there are more men called David than women.\n\nHave your opportunities for career advancement been restricted because of your ethnicity? Please share your thoughts with us using the form below:\n\n", "output": "Just 3.4% of the UK\u2019s most powerful and influential people are from black and minority ethnic (BAME) groups, according to a study by The Guardian in collaboration with academics and Operation Black Vote. The research analysed over 1,000 of the country\u2019s leading figures from the cultural, financial, judicial, political and security sectors. Just 36 individuals were from BAME backgrounds and just seven, or 0.7%, were BAME women. Leading consultancies and law firms, the military, the police, and the supreme court and security services, had no non-white key leaders. Nearly 13% of the UK\u2019s population has a minority background. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australia plans 'last line of defence' against blackouts \n The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) has released what it calls a \"last line of defence\" against blackouts - a package of new rules that incorporate renewable energy sources.\n\nThe energy market regulator's chairman, John Pierce, said the latest rules were designed to address \"risks to energy security created by the power system's changing generation mix\" with its rising proportion of renewable energy such as wind and solar power.\n\nThe Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), which runs the nation's largest gas and electricity markets, is forecasting more than 19,000 MW of proposed new energy capacity for the coming years, with nearly two-thirds of that coming from wind power as costs of renewable technologies are falling.\n\n\"As the power system continues to evolve\", the new rules \"require networks to provide a minimum level of system strength to help keep the system stable,\" the AEMC's Mr Pierce said.", "output": "The Australian Energy Market Commission has published regulations aimed at protecting the grid from blackouts caused by its increasing\u00a0reliance\u00a0on\u00a0renewably energy sources. Its chairman, John Pierce, said the rules, described as the 'last line of defence',\u00a0will reduce risk arising from the growing proportion of power that derives from renewable sources, such as wind and solar. The commission wants the new rules to provide the greatest stability of supply at the least cost to consumers, given renewables\u2019 increasingly lower pricing. Electricity networks will be required to meet minimum inertia levels and\u00a0make sure they can deal with periods when demand exceeds supply.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Statoil reaches 2020 carbon emissions reduction target early \n An error occurred. Please try again.\n\nStatoil said today that it had reached its 2020 carbon emissions reduction target already.\n\nThe Norwegian oil major said it had cut CO2 output on the Norwegian continental shelf by 1.2million tonnes a year between now and 2008.\n\nStatoil said the same effect would be achieved by removing a quarter of private cars from Norway\u2019s roads.\n\nThe business said it had implemented 228 energy improvement measures within the categories of flaring, production processes, gas compressors and gas turbines.\n\nIt intends to reduce its Norwegian CO2 emissions by another 2million tonnes by 2030.\n\nArne Sigve Nylund, Statoil\u2019s executive vice president, development and production Norway, said: \u201cIt is essential that we take strong and effective actions to meet the challenges associated with man-made climate change and to realize the important goals set in the Paris Agreement.\n\n\u201cTargeted efforts are therefore under way throughout our business.\n\n\u201cThe results show that it is possible to achieve ambitious emission reduction targets.\n\n\u201cSkills, technology and hard work over-time pay off, and confirm that the transformation we need must be achieved in cooperation with, not in opposition to the petroleum industry.\u201d", "output": "Oil firm Statoil claims to have slashed\u00a0carbon dioxide emissions from the Norwegian continental shelf by\u00a01.2 million tonnes per year since 2008,\u00a0equivalent to removing 25% of\u00a0Norway\u2019s privately-owned cars. Statoil has put 228 discrete energy improvement measures into place, with the aim of reducing\u00a0emissions even further.\u00a0\u201cThe results show that it is possible to achieve ambitious emission reduction targets\", said\u00a0Arne Sigve Nylund, Statoil\u2019s executive vice president of\u00a0development and production.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Male backlash against gender diversity in tech \n \u201cIt\u2019s exhausting,\u201d said Joelle Emerson, who runs Paradigm, a company that designs diversity strategies. \u201cIt\u2019s created divides that I didn\u2019t anticipate.\u201d\n\nOne radical fringe that is growing is Mgtow, which stands for Men Going Their Own Way and pronounced MIG-tow. Mgtow aims for total male separatism, including forgoing children, avoiding marriage and limiting involvement with women. Its message boards are brimming with activity from Silicon Valley, Mr. Altizer said.\n\nCassie Jaye, who lives in Marin County and made a documentary about the men\u2019s rights movement called \u201cThe Red Pill,\u201d said that the tech world and the men\u2019s rights community had \u201csnowballed\u201d together and that the rise in the number of people in Mgtow is new.\n\nOn the Mgtow message boards, members discuss work (\u201cEver work for a woman? Roll up your sleeves and share your horror story\u201d), technology (\u201cThe stuff girlfriends and wives can\u2019t stand \u2014 computers, games, consoles\u201d) and dating (mostly best practices to avoid commitment).\n\n\u201cI think there are a lot of guys living this lifestyle without naming it, and then they find Mgtow,\u201d said Ms. Jaye, who calls herself a former feminist.\n\nMr. Altizer leads Bay Area Fathers\u2019 Rights, a monthly support group for men to talk about the issues they uniquely face. He became interested in the community after a divorce and said his eyes were opened to how few rights men have. As for the numbers of women in tech, the effort for parity is absurd, he said.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve been on the hiring side for years,\u201d Mr. Altizer said, adding that he is not currently hiring people. \u201cIt would be nice to have women, but you cannot find applicants.\u201d", "output": "Women working in Silicon Valley are facing a blacklash following a series of scandals involving sexual discrimination and harassment. Men\u2019s rights activists claim that numbers at their meetings in the sector are rising, with many identifying as \u201ccontrarians\u201d to signal their opposition to \u201cdiversity dogma\u201d. Those holding such views have been galvanised by the case of James Damore, an engineer fired by Google after he wrote a memo arguing that women were biologically less capable of engineering than men. Last year, two male employees of Yahoo sued the firm for gender discrimination.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Enel hosts celebration for South African solar plant \n Some three years after expanding operations into South Africa, Italian renewable energy firm Enel Green Power (EGP) has established a significant presence locally, boasting more than 520 MW of wind and solar projects in operation, one of which was declared a National Key Point in June.\n\nThe 66 MW Tom Burke photovoltaic power (PV) plant, in Limpopo, where Enel hosted a dedication ceremony on Wednesday for one of its first large-scale solar projects, feeds 122 GWh/y into the national grid and is supplying electricity to nine villages in the Lephalale region.\n\n\u201cBy harnessing renewable energy sources, we can improve electrification in Southern Africa and incorporate current and available technologies to bridge the gap between supply and demand for energy in a sustainable way,\u201d said Enel country manager William Price on Wednesday.\n\nThis followed the early generation and commissioning of the plant on a 202 ha property in August 2016, adding \u201csignificant\u201d value to the region and country, after being built by more than 400 construction workers in less than two years \u2013 a record for the company.\n\nAt its peak, Enel constructed some 1 MW a day on the project.\n\nBy June this year, Tom Burke became the first Enel South Africa facility to be declared a National Key Point by the South African Police Service and now produces an average energy output of 350 MWh/d to 360 MWh/d.\n\nSpeaking to media prior to the event, Price said Tom Burke became the setting for the company\u2019s first use of thin-film solar technology in a large-scale project and set the precedent for Enel\u2019s future endeavours.\n\nEnel had first used the thin-film technology at its 10 MW Upington solar plant before pursuing its deployment in larger projects.\n\nTom Burke had also set the standard for the company, with its well-executed progression, best practices and approaches now being emulated at many more of Enel\u2019s projects moving forward.\n\nMeanwhile, Enel was working to implement several community initiative projects to leave behind a sustainable positive mark on the communities hosting the plant.\n\n\u201cWe do not just produce energy, we change communities,\u201d Enel sustainability head Lizeka Dlepu told delegates at the dedication ceremony.\n\nShe highlighted the company\u2019s dedicated steering committee that was strategising with the local communities to identify shared value that addresses and aligns local social needs with the company\u2019s business objectives.\n\nTom Burke has a 20-year power supply agreement with State-owned power utility Eskom, as part of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme.\n\nEGP owns and operates five PV plants in South Africa, namely Tom Burke; the 82.5 MW Paleisheuwel project, in the Western Cape; the 10 MW Upington and 82.5 MW Adams projects, in the Northern Cape; and Pulida, an 82.5 MW plant in the Free State.\n\nThe company also operates the 88 MW Nojoli and the 111 MW Gibson Bay wind farms, in the Eastern Cape.", "output": "Italian renewable energy firm Enel Green Power has held a dedication ceremony at its Tom Burke solar plant in South Africa, marking the site's designation as a National Key Point in the summer. The 66 MW facility will feed 122 GWh a year into the national grid\u00a0and powers nine villages in the country's Lephalale region. Enel now has a total of 520 MW of wind and solar projects in operation in South Africa\u00a0across seven sites."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Enel begins two largest solar project operations in Brazil \n Enel subsidiary Enel Green Power Brasil Participa\u00e7\u00f5es (EGPB) has started operations for 546MW of solar PV projects in Brazil.\n\nThis includes the 254MW Ituverava plant, located in the municipality of Tabocas do Brejo Velho, in the north-eastern state of Bahia, as well as the 292MW Nova Olinda solar plant, located in the municipality of Ribeira do Piau\u00ed, in the north-eastern state of Piau\u00ed. Both are the largest PV projects in the country to date.\n\nEnel invested roughly US$700 million in the construction of both plants mainly through its own capital. This was also supported by long-term financing provided by Banco do Nordeste for Nova Olinda. Meanwhile, Ituverava was supported by long-term financing provided by Bank of China and Santander, backed by China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation (Sinosure) and guaranteed by Enel.\n\nThe 292MW Nova Olinda contains 930,000 solar modules across 690 hectares and will be able to produce more than 600GWh per year once fully operational, enough to power the equivalent of 300,000 Brazilian households.\n\nThe 254MW Ituverava plant includes 850,000 panels over 579 hectares and once fully up and running will be able to produce over 550GWh, for the equivalent of 268,000 Brazilian households.\n\nBoth the solar parks have 20-year power purchase agreements (PPA) with the Brazilian Chamber of Commercialisation of Electric Energy (C\u00e2mara de Comercializa\u00e7\u00e3o da Energia El\u00e9trica, CCEE).\n\nEGPB has also introduced so-called creative recycling workshops in the nearby areas for local communities to learn to manufacture furniture from materials used in the solar construction works, such as pallets. The firm is providing similar workshops for a 754MW development in Mexico, set to be the largest PV project in the Americas.\n\nEnel now has 716MW of solar PV installed in Brazil.\n\nAntonio Cammisecra, head of Enel Green Power: \u201cThe start of operation of Nova Olinda and Ituverava is a major milestone for our presence in Brazil since it confirms our leadership in the country\u2019s photovoltaic market, as well as our commitment and ability to quickly and efficiently deliver the projects we are awarded. With our projects and expertise, we can boost the development of Brazil\u2019s photovoltaic sector with the aim of further strengthening the increasingly key role that solar power is playing in the diversification of the country\u2019s generation mix and in meeting its growing energy needs\u201d.", "output": "Italian renewable firm Enel has begun operating 546 MW of solar power projects in Brazil, following a $700m investment in the country. Developed through its local subsidiary Enel Green Power Brasil, the PV projects are the largest in Brazil to date, and comprise the 245 MW Ituverava plant in the state of Bahia and the 292 MW Nova Olinda plant in Ribeira do Piau\u00ed. The new developments bring Enel's total PV capacity in Brazil to 716 MW, and the company is currently building a 754 MW solar plant in Mexico, which will be the largest PV project in the Americas."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pesticide safety assumptions false, claims scientist \n The assumption by regulators around the world that it is safe to use pesticides at industrial scales across landscapes is false, according to a chief scientific adviser to the UK government.\n\n\n\nThe lack of any limit on the total amount of pesticides used and the virtual absence of monitoring of their effects in the environment means it can take years for the impacts to become apparent, say Prof Ian Boyd and his colleague Alice Milner in a new article.\n\nThe damning assessment of pesticide regulations that are meant to protect the global environment follows a growing number of highly critical reports including research showing farmers could slash their pesticide use without losses and a UN report that denounced the \u201cmyth\u201d that pesticides are necessary to feed the world.\n\n\u201cThe current assumption underlying pesticide regulation \u2013 that chemicals that pass a battery of tests in the laboratory or in field trials are environmentally benign when they are used at industrial scales \u2013 is false,\u201d state the scientists in their article published in the journal Science. Boyd is chief scientific adviser to the UK\u2019s Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, where Milner also works on secondment, but their criticism reflects their own views.\n\n\u201cThe effects of dosing whole landscapes with chemicals have been largely ignored by regulatory systems,\u201d the scientists said. \u201cThis can and should be changed.\u201d They contrast this situation with pharmaceuticals, for which there is a system of rigorous global monitoring after a drug is approved in case adverse effects emerge.\n\n\u201cVigilance on the scale that is required for medicines does not exist to assess the effects of pesticides in the environment,\u201d they said. They cite the UK as an example of one of the most developed regulatory systems: \u201cYet it has no systematic monitoring of pesticide residues in the environment. There is no consideration of safe pesticide limits at landscape scales.\u201d\n\nThe scientists\u2019 article also criticises the widespread use of pesticides as preventive treatments, rather than being used sparingly and only when needed.\n\nMilner told the Guardian: \u201cWe want to start a discussion about how we can introduce a global monitoring programme for pesticides, similar to pharmaceuticals. It can take years to fully understand the environmental impact.\u201d\n\n\u201cAny chemical you put into the environment has the potential to be widely distributed,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve known this for decades, particularly through the early work in the 1960s \u2013 the Silent Spring, DDT and so on \u2013 and you can find chemicals in places that have not been treated because of the connectivity of ecosystems. There are often quite unexpected effects [and] you often don\u2019t see them until the pesticide is used at more industrial scales.\u201d\n\nMatt Shardlow of the conservation group Buglife said: \u201cPesticides have got big on society \u2013 the thin veil of science around the approvals process has been exposed and the marketing strategies are stronger than the products they tout.\n\n\u201cIf you think the biggest governments in the world are wrapped around the pesticide industry\u2019s fingers, that\u2019s nothing compared to the 35% of countries that have no regulation at all. It looks as if only an international convention can get pesticides back into a box that helps rather than harms us. It can\u2019t come soon enough.\u201d\n\nThe UK government has repeatedly opposed increased European restrictions on widely used insecticides that are linked to serious harm in bees, but a partial ban was backed by other nations and introduced in 2013.\n\nHowever, the environment secretary, Michael Gove, said in July that changes to pesticide regulation were being considered: \u201cCertainly, it is the case that anyone who has seen the [recent] scientific evidence must inevitably contemplate the need for further restrictions on their use.\u201d After Brexit, he said: \u201cInformed by rigorous scientific analysis, we can develop global gold-standard policies on pesticides and chemicals.\u201d\n\nKeith Tyrell, at Pesticide Action Network, said the current pesticide management system was not fit for purpose: \u201cWe don\u2019t know how a pesticide will really impact the environment until it is too late. It can take years before enough scientific evidence is collected to persuade regulators to take action, and they will be fought every step of the way by pesticide manufacturers who make millions from these products.\u201d\n\nThe UN report in March was severely critical of the global corporations that manufacture pesticides, accusing them of the \u201csystematic denial of harms\u201d, \u201caggressive, unethical marketing tactics\u201d and heavy lobbying of governments which has \u201cobstructed reforms and paralysed global pesticide restrictions\u201d.\n\nSarah Mukherjee, chief executive of an industry group called the Crop Protection Association, said: \u201cAs [Boyd and Milner] themselves acknowledge, crop-protection products are a fundamental component of a sustainable, productive agricultural sector which seek to strike the right balance between protecting the environment and providing a reliable supply of safe, healthy, affordable food.\n\n\u201cPesticides are amongst the most heavily regulated products in the world. It takes up to 12 years and costs over \u00a3200m to bring a new product to market. This process, involving rigorous scrutiny by independent scientific experts, ensures plant protection products are safe before they reach the market.\u201d", "output": "Global assumptions about safe pesticide use are incorrect, according to a chief scientific adviser to the UK government. An article by Professor Ian Boyd and Alice Milner argues that the lack of limits on total pesticide use, and the absence of monitoring of their environmental effects, means that the impacts of such use can take years to emerge. Boyd claims that the central assumption that chemicals that pass laboratory or field tests \u201care environmentally benign when they are used at industrial scales \u2013 is false\u201d. The authors calls for the introduction of \u201ca global monitoring programme for pesticides, similar to pharmaceuticals\u201d.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Start-ups to receive investment by MIT incubator\u00a0unveiled \n The Engine, founded last year by MIT, today announced investments in its first group of seven startups that are developing innovations poised for transformative impact on aerospace, renewable energy, synthetic biology, medicine, and other sectors.\n\nThe founding startups will be featured today at an event to celebrate the official opening of The Engine\u2019s headquarters at 501 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge, Massachusetts, now renovated to include three floors of conference rooms, makerspaces, labs with cutting-edge equipment, computer stations, and other amenities.\n\nThe seven startups are:\n\nAnalytical Space, developing systems that provide no-delay, high-speed data from space, to address global challenges such as precision agriculture, climate monitoring, and city planning;\n\nBaseload Renewables, developing ultra low-cost energy storage to replace fossil baseload generation with renewable energy to successfully reduce carbon on a global level;\n\nC2Sense, building a digital olfactory sensor for industrial use cases such as food, agriculture, and worker safety, and transforming smell into real-time data that can be accessed remotely;\n\niSee, delivering the next generation of humanistic artificial intelligence technology for human and robotic collaborations, including autonomous vehicles;\n\nKytopen, accelerating the development of genetically engineered cells by developing technology that modifies microorganisms 10,000 times faster than current state-of-the-art methods;\n\nSuono Bio, enabling ultrasonic targeted delivery of therapeutics and macromolecules across tissues without the need for reformulation or encapsulation; and\n\nVia Separations, developing a materials technology for industrial separation processes that uses 10 times less energy than traditional methods.\n\nAnnounced last October, The Engine combines funding and an open network of technical facilities to provide stable financial support and access to costly resources. It focuses on startups developing \u201ctough\u201d technologies \u2014 breakthrough ideas that require time to commercialize \u2014 in a range of sectors including robotics, manufacturing and materials, health, biotechnology, and energy.\n\n\u201cAs we look at the first seven companies we have invested in, it is wonderful to see the breadth of tough-tech areas founders have leaned into,\u201d says Katie Rae, president and CEO of The Engine. \u201cWe have been so gratified by the quality and passion of the founders that have come to us. These entrepreneurs are on a mission, and with our help they are going to change the world for the better.\u201d\n\nIn January, MIT announced the creation of The Engine Working Groups, charged with guiding the development of Institute policies and procedures related to The Engine, and an Idea Bank for MIT community members and alumni to provide input. In February, the program secured funding and established its leadership, and in April it closed its first investment fund with more than $150 million to support the startups. Since then, additional funds have been raised, for an updated total of $200 million.\n\n\u201cWe announced The Engine nearly a year ago with the vision of supporting innovative ventures working to address society's most important challenges,\u201d MIT President L. Rafael Reif says. \u201cI am thrilled that the first cohort of startups has the potential to do exactly that. I have watched The Engine's evolution with great enthusiasm and admiration, and I look forward to this exciting next step in making The Engine's bold vision a reality.\u201d\n\nA running start\n\nThe startups have already begun benefiting from The Engine.\n\nShreya Dave PhD \u201916 and Brent Keller PhD \u201916, co-founders of Via Separations, have drawn on the tight-knit community growing inside The Engine, where advice and feedback are just around the corner. Joined by MIT professor of materials science and engineering Jeffrey Grossman and industry expert Karen Golmer, the team has been at The Engine since July. \u201cInstead of sending out a million emails and asking for advice, we can literally walk next door and ask advice on company or customer problems,\u201d Dave says.\n\nMembranes today are predominantly polymers that filter out particles from liquids; examples include removing salt during water desalination or sifting out ingredients for pharmaceuticals or foods. These membranes are low-cost and efficient, but cannot withstand high temperatures, intense cleaning, and harsh environments, so some industries turn to power-hungry thermal-separation processes. Via Separations\u2019 graphene oxide membranes, however, are more resilient than polymers and can operate in the streams polymers cannot. According to the startup, its membrane can replace thermal separation in many industries, cutting energy use by 90 percent. The startup now has a working prototype and is in talks with potential customers.\n\nThe Engine\u2019s patient capital has been a major help for the startup, which emerged from a project in the J-WAFS Solutions program, a commercialization grant of the Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food Security Lab administered in partnership with the MIT Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation. \u201cOur development timeline will take a few years, with key milestones in design scale up, manufacturing, and customer agreements. But when we do it, it is going to have huge impact. With the Engine\u2019s community and support, we have the resources to support a stellar team,\u201d Dave says.\n\nAlso appreciative of The Engine\u2019s patient capital is MIT professor of mechanical engineering Cullen Buie, another first-time entrepreneur who co-founded the two-month-old Kytopen. \u201cThe Engine is betting on us. I don\u2019t know how many venture capitalists would bet on where we are today,\u201d Buie says. \u201cWe could have stayed in the lab a little longer, but it wouldn\u2019t get going nearly as fast. The Engine is helping us throw some gas on the idea and accelerate what we\u2019re doing.\u201d\n\nKytopen is developing a platform to enable extremely high-throughput cell engineering. To genetically engineer organisms, scientists expose cells to an electric field, which opens pores within the cell membrane, allowing customized DNA to flow into the cell. But scientists must zap the cells one batch at a time to find the right electric field that can open the cells but not kill them, which can be a months-long process.\n\nBuie and his Kytopen co-founder, MIT research scientist Paulo Garcia, developed a microfluidics device that shocks cells continuously. Then they integrated the device\u2019s components into a pipette tip, meaning scores of cells can be zapped as the flow through. In one pipette channel, the startup can process the equivalent of 80 tests per minute. Systems already exist that process 96 and 384 pipette samples in parallel, which makes the process potentially 10,000 times faster than traditional methods. \u201cWe take the guts of microfluidics and put it in a pipette tip which \u2026 makes it amenable to automation and scaling,\u201d Buie says.\n\nPower of proximity\n\nThe Engine\u2019s central location is also beneficial for startups such as Baseload Renewables, whose founders and employees are transitioning into the startup life from MIT and other jobs. \u201cWe\u2019re four co-founders of this company, and two of us live within walking distance of The Engine,\u201d says MIT professor of materials science and engineering Yet-Ming Chiang. \u201cIt makes it easy for us to meet, get early research started, and have a smooth transition from lab to commercial product.\u201d\n\nBaseload Renewable\u2019s battery system is based on cheap, readily available, and energy-dense sulfur dissolved in water as the anode, with an equally low-cost cathode.\n\nBecause the components are low-cost and allow for great energy-density, the system can store electricity from renewable sources for long durations \u2014 multiple days to months \u2014 for about a fifth to a tenth the cost of traditional battery storage for the grid. Today\u2019s traditional lithium-ion batteries cost more than $300 per kilowatt hour and may only drop to about $150 per kilowatt hour, Chiang says.\n\nThe aim is to use the system for baseload power \u2014 the minimum demand on an electrical grid over a span of time \u2014 which currently relies on systems that produce a lot of carbon emissions. \u201cAnyone in the energy industry will recognize that turning renewable energy into baseload electricity available all day, every day, is an extremely ambitious goal,\u201d Chiang says. \u201cBut The Engine is allowing us to get a running start at it.\u201d\n\nFresher food, safer cars, better health\n\nThe other founding startups\u2019 goals are similarly ambitious.\n\nAnalytical Space, founded by Harvard Business School graduates, aims to make downloading satellite data much faster. Every few hours, terabytes of data are collected by orbiting satellites, but downloading that data is becoming very costly and complex. The startup is building small satellite relays that use laser communication to enable continuous high-speed wireless connectivity between space and ground. The startup is now preparing to launch its first pilot on a SpaceX craft from the International Space Station later this year.\n\nC2Sense, which emerged from work supported by the Deshpande Center, aims to bring gas sensing to the so-called internet of things by creating a \u201cdigital olfactory\u201d platform for industrial use. The startup has developed low-cost sensors that detect and measure a range of chemical substances in food that indicate rot as well as toxic gases, to help ensure worker safety and environmental protection. In one of its first use cases, the startup\u2019s sensing technologies could \u201csmell\u201d when apples were ripening by detecting tiny amounts of ethylene, a gas that promotes ripening in plants.\n\niSee AI is developing a missing piece of the self-driving car puzzle \u2014 the next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) driven by a common sense engine. To begin such a monumental task, the team is taking inspiration from computational cognitive science to develop a fundamentally different approach to achieve a fully autonomous driving system. By building and applying a common sense engine to this space, iSee is able to effectively model a variety of behaviors of different occurrences on the road and quickly deal with new situations.\n\nSuono Bio\u2019s drug delivery platform uses ultrasound waves to rapidly deliver drugs, proteins, vaccines, and other molecules directly into the gastrointestinal tract to treat inflammatory bowel disease and other disorders that are difficult to treat. When a fluid is exposed to ultrasound waves, tiny bubbles form that then implode to create microjets that penetrate and push the drugs into tissue. The drugs absorb about 22 times faster than the traditional treatment method using enemas, where drugs must be kept in the colon for eight to 12 hours.", "output": "The seven start-ups set to benefit from The Engine, the incubator founded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have been announced. They include Analytical Space, which is developing systems providing no-delay, high-speed data from space, Baseload Renewables, which is working on ultra-low-cost energy storage, C2Sense, a company creating an olfactory sensor to transform smell into real-time data, and Via Separations, which is developing a materials technology for industrial separation processes. Each of the firms will receive financial support and access to costly resources.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Iran seeks financial aid\u00a0abroad for waste-to-energy projects \n Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 19\n\nBy Fatih Karimov\u2013 Trend:\n\nProducing electricity from waste can be considered as an important option for the Islamic Republic, where over 20 million tons of waste is produced annually.\n\nAn Iranian citizen produces some 700 grams of trash every day, which is significantly over the global average of 300 grams. So 80 million Iranians produce over 56 million kilograms of waste every day, of that only 5 percent is recycled.\n\nReportedly, Iran has the capacity to generate more than 10,000 MW of electricity from biomass, with 25 cities capable of generating at least 400 MW of electricity from waste material.\n\nThat is why the Iranian administration has started to take steps to expand the waste-to-energy (WTE) plants in collaboration with international companies.\n\nLast year Iran's energy ministry announced that will pay 4,000 rials (about 12 cents based on official rate of 33,515 rials per each USD) per each kilowatt hour of electricity produced at garbage incineration power plants.\n\nCurrently only one WTE plant is active in capital city of Tehran - a mega city home to 9 million people - with limited output capacity of 2.5 megawatts.\n\nAccording to data by state-owned Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Organization (SATBA), two WTE plants are operational in Shiraz and Mashhad cities as well.\n\nEarlier in March 2017, Iran signed a build\u2013operate\u2013transfer (BOT) contract with the Czech Republic for construction of a 20 MW waste to energy plant in Iran\u2019s northern Gilan province. The plant will be capable of burning 350 tons of trash per day to generate power.\n\nIn a recent development, Abdolamir Bakhshizadeh, an official with the Mashhad Municipality announced that several investors from European and Asian countries including China, Japan, India, France, Germany and Austria have expressed readiness to implement WTE projects in Tehran.\n\nBakhshizadeh, who heads Municipality Waste Organization of the city with 3.5 million population, told IRNA Sept. 19 that 3500 billion rials is needed for construction of WTE plants based on Asian technology, meanwhile implementing the project based on European technology will cost 13,000 billion rials.\n\nEstablishing incinerator power plant projects in big cities which enable the Islamic Republic to produce electricity from garbage is among the priorities of the Iranian energy ministry and the ministry has allocated 19 locations for construction of this type of power plants.\n\n\n\nWTE plants will be launched around cities with over 200 thousand people population both to help power production and prevent waste from polluting environment.\n\n\n\nAccording to the Sixth National Development Plan (2016-2021), Iran is aiming at the production of 700 megawatts of electricity in the form of waste-to-energy power generation.", "output": "Iran is turning to European and Asian investors to help fund a series of waste-to-energy (WTE) plants, following an agreement signed in March with the Czech Republic for a 20 MW WTE plant. Iran recycles just 5% of the 56 million kilograms of waste generated every day, while only a single WTE plant is active in Tehran. The Iranian energy ministry has already allocated 19 sites for construction of\u00a0WTE facilities\u00a0and aims to generate up to 700 MW by 2021.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GM buys 200 MW of wind energy in Ohio and Illinois \n Eric Lawrence\n\nDetroit Free Press\n\nDETROIT -- General Motors is making a big investment in wind power.\n\nThe automaker has announced that it is purchasing 200 megawatts of wind energy from wind farms in Ohio and Illinois, and that once the turbines are online next year, 20% of the company's global electricity usage will be powered by renewables. The electricity generated will supply seven plants, including those that make the Chevrolet Cruze and Silverado and GMC Sierra light-duty pickups.\n\nGM announced last year that it intends to source all electricity needs at its facilities worldwide with renewable energy by 2050.\n\nDetails about the cost for the wind power purchase were not released, but the company noted a connection to the push for zero-emission vehicles. Those include electric vehicles, such as the Chevrolet Bolt.\n\nOne of the criticisms of zero-emission vehicles as a cleaner transportation mode is that making the energy to power them still causes pollution, if not as much, just not through the tailpipe.\n\nMore:As Trump ditches Paris, California is one step closer to getting wind power from Wyoming\n\nMore:Maine windjammers let you dance with the wind\n\nMore:GM plant strike could create shortages of hot Chevrolet Equinox SUV\n\n\"As GM works toward advancing zero-emissions vehicles, it makes business sense to create a cleaner grid on which to drive them. The company uses (electric vehicle) batteries in tandem with a solar array to power an office building at its Milford Proving Ground in Michigan and is researching the use of fuel cells as energy storage in the future,\" it said.\n\nRob Threlkeld, GM global manager of renewable energy, said that through a \"pragmatic strategy, companies can turn ambitious renewable energy goals into action and scale quickly.\u201d\n\nThrelkeld said that the cost to produce wind power continues to drop, making it more feasible to use as a power source in areas closer to most of GM's manufacturing plants.\n\nThe company said its wind power purchases will be \"enough to meet the electricity needs of Ft. Wayne Assembly, Marion Metal Center and Bedford Casting plants in Indiana and Lordstown Assembly, Defiance Casting Operations, Parma Metal Center and Toledo Transmission plants in Ohio.\"\n\nStarwood Energy Group will provide half of the energy through its Northwest Ohio Wind farm in Van Wert and Paulding counties, and Swift Current Energy will provide the rest through its HillTopper Wind Project in Logan County, Ill., the release said.\n\nGM says it made its first wind power purchase in 2014 for several Mexican facilities; uses solar power at 26 locations; and gets electricity from landfill gas at two assembly plants. The company says it saves about $5 million each year using renewable energy.", "output": "US car manufacturer General Motors (GM) will purchase 200 MW of wind energy from farms in Ohio and Illinois. By next year, 20% of GM's energy needs will be met by renewables, according to the company. The move is part of the firm's commitment, announced in 2016, to power 100% of its facilities around the world with green energy by 2050. By adopting a \"pragmatic strategy, companies can turn ambitious renewable energy goals into action and scale quickly\", said Rob Threlkeld, global manager of renewable energy at GM."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hawaiian Electric Industries buys 60 MW Honokaa power plant \n One of the \u201chighest efficiency, lowest emission power plants in the state\u201d is being sold to a new subsidiary of Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc.\n\nADVERTISING\n\nOne of the \u201chighest efficiency, lowest emission power plants in the state\u201d is being sold to a new subsidiary of Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc.\n\nThe 60-megawatt Hamakua Energy Partners plant in Honokaa was sold to Pacific Current by Boston private equity firm ArcLight, according to a news release from ArcLight.\n\nBy 2045, 100 percent of power supplied in the state is required, by law, to come from renewable sources, such as wind, geothermal, water, bioenergy and solar. The state Legislature passed the law, signed by Gov. David Ige, in 2015.\n\n\u201cHawaiian Electric Industries is firmly committed to meet the state\u2019s goal of 100 percent renewable energy by 2045,\u201d Greg Hazelton, executive vice president of HEI, Hawaii Electric Light Co.\u2019s parent company, said via email. \u201cThe sale to a subsidiary of HEI will provide stable, local ownership of this critical power supply infrastructure, which can provide 22 percent of Hawaii Island\u2019s generating capacity.\u201d\n\nHamakua Energy Partners sells the power it produces to HELCO under a power purchase agreement, ArcLight said.\n\nIn March, the state Public Utilities Commission denied HELCO\u2019s request to purchase Hamakua Energy because of \u201cinsufficient benefits to customers if the plant was directly owned by HELCO.\u201d\n\nBut, \u201cthe plant is vital in providing a firm power source to ensure continued reliability for Hawaii Island customers while HELCO works to transition Hawaii to reach the state\u2019s renewable energy goal,\u201d Hazelton told the Tribune-Herald.\n\nThe PUC has broad authority, but HEI is betting the commission won\u2019t intervene because HEI owns diverse entities beyond utilities, including American Savings Bank.\n\nThe ArcLight announcement of the plant\u2019s sale says HELCO rates won\u2019t change because the power purchase agreement, which remains in effect, doesn\u2019t expire until 2030.\n\n\u201cKnowing the importance of this facility to Hawaii Island and the ability of our company to provide a strong financial foundation for its continued operation, we made the decision to acquire the plant, with the purchase price and risks of ownership borne solely by HEI shareholders, not customers of HELCO,\u201d Hazelton said in the ArcLight release.\n\nThe plant has 15 workers who \u201cwill continue to be managed and operated by Consolidated Asset Management Services, which has managed the plant since 2010.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt has been a privilege serving the people of Hawaii Island and providing their energy needs over the past seven years,\u201d said Daniel Revers, ArcLight\u2019s managing partner and founder.\n\nEmail Jeff Hansel at jhansel@hawaiitribune-herald.com.", "output": "Pacific Current, a new subsidiary of Hawaiian Electric Industries, has acquired the 60 MW Hamakua Energy Partners plant, based in Honokaa, from Boston private equity firm ArcLight, according to an ArcLight statement. The facility is capable of supplying up to 22% of Hawaii\u2019s electricity. By 2045, 100% of power supplied in the state is legally required to come from renewable sources. Earlier this year, the Public Utilities Commission rejected a request to purchase Hamakua Energy by Hawaii Electric Light, a subsidiary of\u00a0Hawaiian Electric Industries, citing \u201cinsufficient benefits to customers\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "South Australian steel plant to run on renewables and storage \n The new owners of the Whyalla Steelworks in South Australia have made good on their commitment to green energy, announcing the purchase of a majority stake in the Ross-Garnaut chaired Zen Energy, an Adelaide company specialising in solar and battery storage.\n\nThe deal was announced less than a month after UK billionaire Sanjeev Gupta\u2019s GFG Alliance completed the acquisition of Whyalla, saying it was investment in renewable energy that would make the bankrupt steel-making operation viable again.\n\nRenewEconomy understands that Zen had been in discussions with GFG in the lead-up to the purchase, mostly about the various renewable energy options for the new owner of Australia\u2019s largest integrated steel and mining business, including wind, solar, co-generation and pumped hydro.\n\nThose talks have now resulted in GFG taking a majority stake in Zen and building a strategic alliance led by SIMEC Energy, GFG\u2019s energy unit. The new venture will be called SIMEC Zen.\n\nThe alliance has the potential to reshape the debate about renewable energy and its benefits for big business in Australia. Whyalla is not the first major industrial user to turn to renewables to reduce the cost of energy from Australia\u2019s dysfunctional, fossil fuel-dominated grid, and it won\u2019t be the last.\n\nAsked on ABC Radio on Thursday morning if the partnership was based on a \u201cbelief\u201d that renewables could power industry, Garnaut responded: \u201cIt is not a belief, it is the economic reality.\u201d\n\n(See our interview with Ross Garnaut and his plans for large-scale solar, pumped hydro and battery storage here).\n\nGupta said on Wednesday the high cost of energy is \u201cdebilitating for the economy and a crying shame for a country so rich in resources\u201d, and a step change was needed in the power industry to reduce the cost of dispatchable power.\n\n\u201cOur main focus, as in the UK, will be renewable energy,\u201d he said, adding that the company believed renewable energy would be the basis for a low-carbon industrial future\n\nThe commitment by one of the country\u2019s biggest energy users \u2013 following the investment in solar by Queensland zinc refiner Sun Metals and telecoms giant Telstra \u2013 comes as federal politics attempts to do a u-turn and focus on ageing coal plants rather than new renewables.\n\nFormer prime minister Tony Abbott threatened to cross the floor of parliament to vote against the future and any policy that looked to address climate change, however modestly, or encourage new renewable energy.\n\n\u201cYou can\u2019t run a steel mill on renewables,\u201d Abbott has said. Yes you can, says Gupta, and he intends to show how, using the combination of wind, solar, pumped hydro, battery storage and co-generation for most of its needs.\n\nThe announcement also comes days after Zen made a formal application to the Australian Energy Regulator for a licence to retail electricity to customers using solar and storage and demand management technologies.\n\nZen has made no secret of its plans to launch a renewable-based retailer, and to service the industrial sector, and it also has plans for large-scale solar plants and large-scale battery storage arrays, despite missing out on a South Australia government tender that was won by Tesla and French company Neoen.\n\n\u201cGFG Alliance has now taken a major step towards realising its Australian energy ambitions,\u201d it said in a statement. \u201cThe opportunity to invest in large-scale power projects to meet its own industrial requirements and support the domestic economy was a key driver for GFG\u2019s strategic entry into Australia.\u201d\n\nThe venture will also focus on providing \u201ccheaper, more reliable and environmentally sustainable energy\u201d for SIMEC\u2019s mining operations in South Australia and Liberty OneSteel\u2019s operations in South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, and Western Australia.", "output": "UK-based company GFG Alliance has taken a majority stake in Adelaide firm Zen Energy, with the aim of transforming recent acquisition Whyalla Steelworks into a renewables business. As part of the deal, Zen will form a strategic alliance with its energy unit, SIMEC Energy, creating a new company called SIMEC Zen. GRG CEO Sanjeev Gupta aims to prove that a combination of wind, solar, pumped hydro, battery storage and co-generation, can power Australia's heavy industry without having to rely on fossil fuels."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Engie to build 1 GW wind farm in India with Abu Dhabi's Abraaj \n New Delhi: French energy firm Engie SA and Dubai\u2019s private equity firm Abraaj Group on Wednesday announced a partnership to build a wind power platform in India.\n\n\u201cTogether, Abraaj and Engie have identified a robust pipeline of wind power projects representing over 1 GW (gigawatt) in several key states,\" the companies said in a joint statement.\n\nForeign investments are crucial for India\u2019s renewable energy industry as the lower cost of foreign capital and the size of the market has helped bring down tariffs.\n\n\u201cEnergy demand is growing tremendously in India, and Engie is investing in green energy sources as part of supporting the country with its sustainable development plans,\" said S\u00e9bastien Arbola, chief executive of Engie Middle East, South and Central Asia and Turkey in the note.\n\nThe National Democratic Alliance government has set an ambitious clean energy target of 175GW by 2022. Of this, 100GW is to be generated by solar projects and 60GW by wind projects.\n\nWednesday\u2019s announcement comes in the backdrop of India\u2019s wind sector transitioning from a feed-in tariff regime to tariff-based competitive auctions. While feed-in tariffs ensure a fixed price for wind power producers, wind power tariffs in India followed the solar route and hit a record low of Rs3.46 per kilowatt hour (kWh) in a February auction conducted by Solar Energy Corp. of India.\n\nIn such a scenario, obtaining finance at the lowest cost has become key to success, resulting in record low solar and wind energy tariffs.\n\n\u201cIn line with our commitment to addressing the Sustainable Development Goals, our partnership with Engie marks Abraaj\u2019s second investment in the clean energy sector in India,\" said Saad Zaman, partner at Abraaj Group, in the statement while adding, \u201cwind power generation is approaching grid parity and offers a competitive solution to lower average power pool prices.\"\n\nPrior to this joint venture, both Abraaj and Engie have had a presence in the Indian solar space. While the Abraaj Group with $11 billion under management announced a partnership with the Aditya Birla group in October 2015 to build a renewable energy platform focused on developing solar power plants, Engie with \u20ac66.6 billion in revenue has been trying to expand its presence in India\u2019s clean energy space.\n\nAfter selling its Meenakshi Energy coal-fired thermal plant in Andhra Pradesh last year to India Power Corp. Ltd, a Kanoria family trust entity, Engie (formerly GDF Suez SA) sought to exit all coal-fired projects. It has been actively eyeing the Indian clean energy space. It plans to set up a 2GW capacity by 2019 with its subsidiary Solairedirect actively bidding for solar power projects, and has a 810 megawatt (MW) portfolio.\n\nEngie has been in talks with the country\u2019s largest roof maker Everest Industries Ltd for a partnership for solar-ready roofs, Mint reported on 11 August. The largest independent electricity producer globally with 112.7GW capacity is also exploring the acquisition of projects from Singapore-based renewable energy developer Equis Energy\u2019s India portfolio, which comprises green energy platforms Energon and Energon Soleq.\n\nThe group has been active in the Indian deal space. Abraaj\u2019s investments in the country include a majority stake in Hyderabad-based hospital chain Quality Care India Ltd for an estimated Rs1,700 crore. Last year, Abraaj also led a $150 million funding round in online grocer BigBasket.\n\nEY was the transaction advisor for the partnership. \u201cThe Indian wind sector today is at an inflection point,\" said Srishti Ahuja Taneja, director, transaction advisory services, EY. \u201cAs the underlying sector economics remain strong, this platform is well poised to add capacity on the ground and create value for both shareholders.\"\n\nIndia\u2019s green energy play is expected to grow substantively with federal policy think-tank Niti Aayog projecting a 597-710 GW capacity by 2040 in its draft energy policy.", "output": "French utility company Engie is partnering with Dubai's Abraaj Group on a project to develop 1 GW of wind power in India. Abraaj has already built a similar level of solar capacity in the country in another partnership, and has bought a majority stake in the 50 MW Jhimpir Power wind project in Pakistan. India's government has launched a number of initiatives to create new opportunities for private investment in renewables, and the country is aiming at nearly doubling its wind power capacity to 60 GW by 2022."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hitachi data storage to smooth motor accident claims in the UK \n LAS VEGAS, Sept. 20, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hitachi Vantara, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE:6501), announced it is improving the data strategy of motoring accident management company Accident Exchange through the use of Hitachi Content Platform (HCP). The HCP data storage solution helps Accident Exchange to better manage and govern the data it produces, collects and retains in an effort to seamlessly adopt and comply with new industry regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).\n\n\n\nBased in the United Kingdom, Accident Exchange is a subsidiary of the Automotive and Insurance Solutions (AIS) Group, established in 2004. The company hires replacement vehicles for customers involved in accidents, while it manages repairs to their damaged cars. Historically, Accident Exchange relied on a traditional data management approach, whereby the producers and consumers of organizational data were both siloed and based on proprietary technologies. These data and technology silos made the management, governance and location of data very difficult, especially as the number of data producers and consumers continued to grow.\n\nBy integrating HCP into their data and business processes, Accident Exchange has simplified the management of insurance claim data, making communication with stakeholders and third parties easier, more accurate and more efficient. The solution abstracts files away from the creating application to ensure that all the data for each claim is stored in one place. This guarantees a quality audit trail for each customer interaction, which, in turn, helps the company stay compliant with legislation, such as the upcoming GDPR.\n\n\u201cOperating in a siloed fashion did not give us the data control we needed, with multiple proprietary systems to manage, back up and protect all customer interactions. With a minimum retention period of 10 years, our data volumes were in danger of ballooning,\u201d said Ray Ford, CTO at AIS Group. \u201cThe unique capabilities of HCP give Accident Exchange complete control over its business application data, from call recordings to engineers\u2019 crash reports. With HCP, we can prevent changes to evidentiary documentation, defensibly retain and delete data, anonymize customer details, and simultaneously ensure full compliance with insurance and financial industry regulations.\u201d\n\nHCP is the only technology offering that allows organizations to bring together object storage, file sync and share, cloud storage gateways, and sophisticated search and analytics to create a tightly integrated, simple and smart cloud storage solution. HCP provides massive scale, multiple storage tiers, powerful security, cloud capabilities and multitenancy, all backed by legendary Hitachi reliability. Designed to preserve data for long durations, HCP carries built-in data protection mechanisms and fluently evolves as storage technologies change. Furthermore, HCP is able to address a wide range of challenges through a thriving community of third-party software partners as well as traditional and cloud storage protocols. HCP eliminates the need to maintain separate systems for each workload and bridges the gap between traditional applications and modern modes of operation. Customers enjoy faster time to value and service providers accelerate time to market by eliminating the hassles of do-it-yourself integrations or forced-fit interoperabilities.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no one-size-fits-all solution that works for everybody. That\u2019s why it was important for us to listen to the business challenges that Accident Exchange faces and continually evolve our portfolio in ways that can address a wide range of data challenges while delivering net-positive business outcomes,\u201d said Peter Sjoberg, vice president, Global Content and Data Intelligence Business, Hitachi Vantara.\n\n\u201cHeavily regulated industries, like insurance and financial services, often have the staff and budgets in place to adapt to new regulations like GDPR, but not all organizations can be so well prepared,\u201d he explained. \u201cThe value of our portfolio is steeped in the flexibility of our data architecture and our focus on getting data under management with a focus on quality. This is the key to supporting initiatives like GDPR with minimal disruption to your business \u2013 regardless of industry.\u201d\n\nSjoberg added, \u201cWith respect to Accident Exchange, by building their technology foundation on HCP as the centralized data hub, they are able to better service their customers with confidence in how their data is processed and stored. More importantly, the flexibility that HCP affords them means that they are also ready to embrace the next set of industry regulations without overhauling their technology foundation.\u201d\n\nLearn More. Join the Conversation.\n\nTwitter\n\n\n\nLinkedIn\n\n\n\nFacebook\n\nNEXT 2017 Community\n\nAbout NEXT 2017 by Hitachi\n\nNEXT 2017 by Hitachi is the premier event for the digital revolution. It's for business leaders who want to win \u2013 not just compete \u2013 and innovate faster to thrive in the digital economy. And to reinvent their business even if they weren't born in the cloud. You'll experience the latest solutions and services so that you can get the most value in your data. It's all made possible by integrating information technology with the operational technologies of the world's infrastructure through the internet of things. Gain the expertise of Hitachi, one of today's industrial giants. Achieve incredible value when this expertise meets Hitachi's strength in data management and analysis. It's part of our vision of Social Innovation to help businesses succeed and societies be safer, healthier and smarter. NEXT 2017 will be held September 18-20, 2017, at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. For more information and to register, please visit HitachiNEXT.com.\n\nAbout Hitachi Vantara\n\nHitachi Vantara, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., helps data-driven leaders find and use the value in their data to innovate intelligently and reach outcomes that matter for business and society. We combine technology, intellectual property and industry knowledge to deliver data-managing solutions that help enterprises improve their customers\u2019 experiences, develop new revenue streams, and lower the costs of business. Only Hitachi Vantara elevates your innovation advantage by combining deep information technology (IT), operational technology (OT) and domain expertise. We work with organizations everywhere to drive data to meaningful outcomes. Visit us at HitachiVantara.com.\n\nAbout Hitachi, Ltd.\n\nHitachi, Ltd. (TSE:6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, delivers innovations that answer society\u2019s challenges. The company\u2019s consolidated revenues for fiscal 2016 (ended March 31, 2017) totaled 9,162.2 billion yen ($81.8 billion). The Hitachi Group is a global leader in the Social Innovation Business, and it has approximately 304,000 employees worldwide. Through collaborative creation, Hitachi is providing solutions to customers in a broad range of sectors, including Power / Energy, Industry / Distribution / Water, Urban Development, and Finance / Government & Public / Healthcare. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachi.com.\n\nHITACHI is a trademark or registered trademark of Hitachi, Ltd. All other trademarks, service marks, and company names are properties of their respective owners.\n\nCompany Contact:\n\nStefani Finch\n\nHitachi Vantara\n\n+1 408 499 7349\n\nStefani.finch@hitachivantara.com\n\n\n\n", "output": "A data storage system, made by a subsidiary of Hitachi, will be adopted by UK motor-accident management\u00a0service Accident Exchange, easing the process\u00a0of insurance claims and bringing the operation\u00a0in line with\u00a0data protection laws. Hitachi's\u00a0Content Platform\u00a0will enable Accident Exchange to deal with cases more quickly\u00a0through better data management, according to\u00a0Hitachi. It will also be compliant with the requirements of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Smart meters to be introduced to every Irish home and business \n Smart electricity meters are to be introduced to every home and business in Ireland, after permission was given for the plan to proceed.\n\nThe Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) says the initial phase of the rollout will commence in 2019, with all 2.3 million customers receiving the meters by 2024.\n\nThe project will cost \u20ac1.2 billion, with electricity customers ultimately footing the bill over time.\n\nAccording to the CER, electricity customers will pay around \u20ac5.50 extra on their bill annually over a 20 year period.\n\nHowever, the regulator estimates that each premises will see savings of three to four times that from use of their smart meter.\n\nSmart meters are next generation internet connected devices for recording and monitoring energy usage and will replace older mechanical meters.\n\nThey allow users to monitor their electricity usage closely and switch providers more easily.\n\nThey also enable those providers to offer more personalised tariffs, read meters remotely and predict demand for power more accurately.\n\nThe meters are also expected to help the environment by reducing the amount of energy used by people.\n\nOther European countries including the UK, Sweden, Norway and Italy have already begun to roll out smart meters to users.\n\nA pilot programme was run in Ireland in 2009 and 2010, during which time around 8,000 homes received network-connected smart meters.\n\nThe trial found that, on average, those using the meters saved 3% on their bills.\n\nNow, following a long consultation process and a detailed cost benefit analysis that showed the investment represents value for money, permission has been given for the rollout to proceed.\n\nThis means the procurement process for the technology can begin.\n\nInitially, around 250,000 premises will have the meters installed in 2019 and 2020, with 500,000 more receiving them in the four subsequent years.\n\nPeople who request them, and homes and businesses that need to have older near end of life meters replaced, will be prioritised.\n\nCER Commissioner Aoife MacEvilly described the meters as an upgrade to the next phase of technology, which, she said, will eliminate the need for physical meter reads and deliver better data results.\n\nShe said the third phase of the project, sometime around 2024, will see gas meters being upgraded.", "output": "The Republic of Ireland plans to roll out a \u20ac1.2bn ($1.4bn) smart meter programme in 2019 that will take in every domestic household and business in the country by 2024, according to the Commission for Energy Regulation. The move follows a trial in 2009 and 2010, a lengthy consultation process and a detailed cost benefit analysis, which demonstrated the meters offered value for money. The machines enable customers to monitor their electricity consumption more closely and make it easier to switch providers, among other benefits."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurers, brokers seen as vital in helping firms navigate Brexit \n Stuart Ramsden of trade credit insurer Atradius argues that the combined resources of brokers and insurers offer a powerful tool in uncertain times.\n\nIn 2017 uncertainty is the name of the game. But despite the uncertainty, businesses need to continue to trade with confidence.\n\nProviding that confidence is the perfect role for credit insurance and the challenge for those that work in the industry, particularly insurers and brokers, is to get that message to the market.\n\nIn the present risk climate, there is a need not just for protection against an individual debt or buyer, but against threats to a company\u2019s longer term business strategy.\n\nA", "output": "Trade credit insurers and brokers can act as vital bulwarks for businesses as they navigate the economic and geopolitical uncertainties of Brexit, said Stuart Ramsden of trade credit insurer Atradius. They offer the reassurance and knowledge necessary for businesses to continue operating with confidence and to mitigate risks to trade relationships, Ramsden wrote in Insurance Age. \"Astute businesses know that they can trade with more confidence if they have strong credit management partners working with them,\" he said.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow North Cornwall MP opposes plans for 190 homes in Wadebridge \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nOur weekend morning emails feature the very best news and exclusive content from our team of reporters\n\nThe MP for North Cornwall is calling on housing and wind farm developers to abandon their High Court challenges after initial applications were rejected by planners.\n\nScott Mann, MP, has described his \"dismay\" at news that Redrow plc and Good Energy Group plc are appealing the rejection of plans for 190 homes in Wadebridge and a \u00a330 million wind farm in Week St Mary respectively.\n\nThe two applications were rejected by local councils, Cornwall Council and the Government's Planning Inspectorate upon appeal, with the wind farm scheme also being rejected by the secretary of state for communities and local government this summer.\n\nBoth companies have now applied to the High Court for judicial reviews to try to overturn the decisions taken by the Planning Inspectorate.\n\nIn response, Mr Mann is calling on the two companies to abandon their High Court legal action and to respect the views of local people.\n\nWriting to the chief executive of Redrow plc, John Tutte, regarding its failed application to build 190 homes on land off Trevanion Road, south of Cleavelands in Wadebridge, Mr Mann said: \"The planning application for this proposed development received a fair hearing.\n\n\u201cIt underwent significant scrutiny at a local level through the normal planning procedures at Cornwall Council, whereby many local residents lodged their objections alongside the evidence produced by the planning officer as to why planning permission had to be refused.\n\n\"Nearly one year later in July 2017, after receiving initial refusal from Cornwall Council, the application was again rejected by the Planning Inspectorate.\n\n\"This first appeal action was met with much disapproval locally, and I am astonished that Redrow continue to pursue this matter as far as the High Court.\n\n\"Of course, Redrow is well within their rights to seek a judicial review if it believes the Planning Inspectorate did not properly scrutinise and analyse the appeal.\u201d\n\nMr Mann said he could not stress \"the level of anger and disappointment\" caused locally by Redrow's legal action.\n\nWriting to Juliet Davenport, the CEO of Good Energy Group plc, which owns the Delabole wind farm, Mr Mann said: \"The proposed wind farm was opposed by a number of parish and town councils during the original planning process and it also received widespread opposition from local residents.\n\n\u201cI would like to register my dismay on behalf of local communities that Good Energy is pursuing this proposal through the High Court, even though it has received a high level of objection from local people and official rejection by planning officials.\n\n\"This proposal has also been rejected by the communities and local government secretary himself. I therefore find it astonishing and alarming that Good Energy is ignoring this \u2013 particularly the will of local people \u2013 and is pursuing the matter in the High Court.\"\n\nMr Mann reminded the chief executive in his letter that the appeal for the wind farm went under extensive scrutiny by the Planning Inspectorate, including a public inquiry in Launceston Town Hall where local people and representatives were able to give their views.\n\nLocal communities will now have to wait and hear whether the legal action for either proposal will be allowed to continue in the High Court.\n\nCornwall Live has contacted both companies for comment.", "output": "North Cornwall MP Scott Mann has called on UK housebuilder Redrow to abandon its application to the High Court, where it is seeking a judicial review after its plans to develop 190 homes in Wadebridge were rejected upon appeal by local councils, Cornwall Council and the government's Planning Inspectorate. In a letter to Redrow CEO John Tutte, Mann said the planning application had received a \"fair hearing\" and that he was \"astonished Redrow continues to pursue this matter as far as the High Court\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook updates Collection Ads with Canvas templates \n The social network announced in a blog post that it will introduce a new Canvas template for Collection ads, which will be available to all advertisers next month.\n\nFacebook debuted its e-commerce-driven Collection ads in March, consisting of a video on top and four recommended products below.\n\nCanvas, Facebook\u2019s full-screen, immersive mobile ad units, was introduced in February 2016.\n\nFacebook said in its blog post that it hopes the combination of lifestyle images ads tagged with products within an immersive mobile experience will give brands the opportunity to \u201cshowcase their products in context and create a more meaningful branded experience.\u201d\n\nThe new templates focus on three business objectives:\n\nAcquiring new customers\n\nShowcasing a business\n\nSelling products\n\nThe social network added in its blog post, \u201cAdvertisers that have a Facebook product catalog can easily use the template to create a rich browsing experience, encouraging product discovery and...", "output": "Facebook will improve its Collection feature, which displays a number of products beneath a video advertisement,\u00a0with the addition of\u00a0Canvas, the company's full-screen immersive ad units. The company said that combining the features\u00a0will give brands the opportunity to \u201cshowcase their products in context and create a more meaningful branded experience\u201d. Brands can also now re-target people who have clicked on Collection ads,\u00a0use ads to drive in-store sales and\u00a0track which products are driving traffic to their sites.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Blended learning continues to grow in the US \n Teaching with Technology Survey\n\nSurvey: Blended Learning on the Rise\n\nMost faculty in our second annual Teaching with Technology Survey said they employ a mix of online and face-to-face instruction, and many are using the flipped model in their courses.\n\nIn a nationwide survey on the use of technology for teaching and learning, an increasing number of higher education faculty members said they employ a mix of online and face-to-face learning in their courses. A full 73 percent of respondents said they use the blended model \u2014 that's up from 71 percent in 2016. And while 15 percent of faculty are still teaching exclusively face-to-face, 12 percent have gone fully online (an increase from 10 percent teaching online in 2016).\n\nThose findings came out of Campus Technology's 2017 Teaching with Technology Survey, in which we asked faculty to dish on their approach to teaching, use of technology, views of the future and more.\n\nDiving deeper into the topic, we asked faculty both about the extent of their use of blended learning and about their plans for exploring that mode in the future. Seventy-six percent of respondents said all or some of their classes are blended (a notch up from 75 percent last year), while 9 percent plan to use the blended model in the next year or are considering the option.\n\nOne faculty member in West Virginia brought up a particular issue that could discourage some from moving to blended or online instruction: cheating. \"The biggest challenge I see to technology in the classroom, especially with online classes, is the verification of the identity of the individual doing the work. In my online classes \u2014 and even the on-campus classes \u2014 cheating has become increasingly found among students.\"\n\nIn a related question, we asked faculty if they are flipping their classrooms \u2014 having students review recorded lectures or course content on their own and using class time for hands-on, active learning activities. Sixty-one percent of respondents said all or some of their classes are flipped (up from 55 percent in 2016). Twenty-four percent plan to use the flipped model in the next year or are exploring the idea.\n\nA faculty member in Connecticut pointed to the flipped model as a way to make learning more engaging: \"Technologies that will improve learning will engage students in doing more thinking. So much of what we see now is making learning more convenient, but not really increasing student engagement in and responsibility for their own learning. Flipped classroom models are moving in the right direction, asking students to engage with course content in creative and productive ways.\"\n\nThe full results of the Teaching with Technology Survey appear in the July digital issue of Campus Technology. Highlights from the survey will also be posted on this site over the coming months. You can check back for ongoing coverage in our Research section.\n\nWho Responded Our survey polled 232 faculty members across the country about their use of technology in the classroom, their likes and dislikes, their predictions for the future and more. The majority of respondents (68 percent) come from public institutions, with 28 percent from private nonprofits and 4 percent working at for-profit schools. Seventy-two percent work at four-year colleges or universities; 26 percent are at community colleges (the remaining 2 percent designated their institutional level as \"other\"). Respondents represent institutions of a range of sizes, with about one-third (32 percent) working in colleges or universities with 2,500 to 9,999 students. Just under half (45 percent) of respondents are from institutions with 10,000 students or more. Our respondents are veterans of higher education: The largest group (47 percent) has more than 20 years of experience, with 81 percent logging at least 11 years in the field. The top three most common school and college types among our respondents are education (22 percent), business/business administration (17 percent) and liberal arts (12 percent). But overall, respondents work in a wide range of disciplines, from engineering and medicine to humanities and fine arts. The top 10 states with the most survey respondents are New York, Texas, California, Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.", "output": "Online publication Campus Technology\u2019s 2017 Teaching with Technology Survey found that across the US, 73% of higher education faculties are using blended learning on\u00a0their courses, which combine\u00a0online with face-to-face education. The figure is 2% up on\u00a02016. Other findings include that\u00a015% of faculty members still teach\u00a0exclusively in person, while 12% are now fully teaching through online means. Of those surveyed, 76% stated that all or some of their classes are blended, with 9% considering using it. However,\u00a0concerns were raised about cheating\u00a0and identifying the individuals completing coursework using digital methods.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "African lender Ecobank adds cardless\u00a0banking to its mobile\u00a0app \n Ecobank in its financial inclusion drive to address the needs of the unbanked and the general populace has introduced Xpress Cash functionality as part of its upgraded mobile banking app. The application is aimed at transforming a mobile phone into an all-in-one bank account and payment/cash withdrawal tool.\n\nXpress Cash the bank said allows customers to withdraw cash from any Ecobank ATM using e-Tokens generated from the Ecobank Mobile app. The e-token generated can also be redeemed at agent locations within any of Ecobank\u2019s 33 territories across middle Africa. Additionally, customers can send e-tokens to third parties via SMS, email or social media.\n\nEcobank CEO Ade Ayeyemi said \u201cInnovating for customer convenience is in our DNA at Ecobank. We have developed this fast, convenient and innovative mobile banking solution \u2013 cardless Xpress Cash at our ATMs and Agencies to embed our digital platforms within the lifestyle of our customers and improve the uptake of digital financial solutions by both banked and unbanked in Africa.\u201d\n\nWorld Bank data indicates that in Sub-Saharan Africa only 34 per cent of adults had a bank account in 2014, up from 24 per cent in 2011. However according to the GSMA report \u2013 The Mobile Economy Sub-Saharan Africa 2017, at the end of 2016, there were 420 million unique mobile subscribers in Sub-Saharan Africa. This accounts for almost 10 per cent of the global mobile subscriber base, and is expected to exponentially grow.\n\n\u201cEcobank is known across Africa for leveraging the mobile phone to deliver instant bank accounts, transfers and payments to our customers. We are taking this to another level by giving our customers the opportunity to withdraw cash on our ATMs using their phones. What this means is that your phone is your access to cash. It is your bank in your pocket. That\u2019s powerful. That\u2019s freedom. That\u2019s inclusion for all.\u201d said Patrick Akinwuntan, Ecobank\u2019s Group Executive for Consumer Banking.", "output": "African lender Ecobank has added cardless banking functionality to its mobile app, enabling customers to\u00a0use their phones to make digital payments, withdraw\u00a0cash from ATMs and manage their accounts. Xpress Cash is aimed at attracting new savers, including\u00a0unbanked Africans, said\u00a0CEO Ade Ayeyemi. World Bank data from 2014 indicates only a third of sub-Saharan African\u00a0adults held\u00a0bank accounts.\u00a0The app means \"your phone is your access to cash\", said Patrick Akinwuntan, group executive for consumer banking. \"It is your bank in your pocket. That\u2019s inclusion for all.\u201d\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "E-commerce in India valued at $1.7bn in run-up to Christmas \n What funding crunch and pressure for profits? It\u2019s India\u2019s biggest festive season and, as usual, e-commerce players are splurging.\n\nBetween September and December, the cash burn\u2014the amount companies spend to run their businesses\u2014is estimated to reach up to $400 million, according to research firm RedSeer Consulting. This is up to 60% higher than the $250 million spent last year.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe good news, however, is that it may result in more business. RedSeer estimates the total GMV (gross merchandise value, or the total value of goods sold from a marketplace) of the Indian e-commerce sector this festival season to be about 60% higher than a year ago at $1.7 billion (Rs11,309 crore).\n\nFestive season sales make for a huge share of the total annual sales in segments like apparel, consumer goods, and home decor. So companies go on advertising sprees during this time.\n\nAhead of this year\u2019s season, India\u2019s e-commerce posterboy Flipkart raised its biggest-ever funding round of $2.5 billion.\n\nThe cash burn \u201ccould pay off if the industry is able to deliver a top-class experience to the millions of new shoppers this time around and retain them going forward,\u201d Anil Kumar, CEO of RedSeer Consulting, said.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWhere\u2019s the cash going?\n\nLike every year, companies are likely to spend on discounts. It will be higher than the previous year, RedSeer Consulting said, without putting any figure to it.\n\nPrice-sensitive Indians love discounts and lower prices have been key to online shopping. According to a 2015 report by Goldman Sachs, 30% of an Indian e-commerce company\u2019s expenses go towards discounts.\n\n\u201cWith the latest funding firepower, this time around, market leader Flipkart would most likely increase discounting spends to acquire new customers as well as to gain momentum over rival Amazon,\u201d RedSeer Consulting said in the report. Amazon India and Paytm Mall are likely to follow suit, it said.\n\nThe other area where online retailers will spend more than last year is logistics and supply chain management.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cCustomer demographics have changed compared to (the) past year with tier-II becoming a more important share (of the customer base)\u2026E-tailers are more dependent on third-party logistics players for delivery (to tier II areas) which adds to the overall expenses,\u201d RedSeer said.\n\nThe one area where spending is seen flat or marginally lower this year is advertising. For companies are now increasingly spending on low-cost channels such as digital marketing.\n\nFlipkart is focusing on \u201cpersonalised digital push,\u201d Moneycontrol.com reported earlier this month. \u201dThe Big Billion Days sale was the only big sale event online when we started. Now it is more of festive season sale, given many other players offer the same. In this scenario, we need to cut through the clutter and innovate ways to reach out to our potential users,\u201d Flipkart\u2019s director for marketing, Kartikeya Bhandari, told the news portal.", "output": "The total value of the Indian e-commerce sector this festive season is expected to be around $1.7bn, up 60% from last year. Companies' total spend for the holiday period is also set to rise by 60%. A 2015 report by Goldman Sachs found that 30% of an Indian e-commerce company\u2019s expenses goes towards discounts, to encourage new customers and maintain market\u00a0competitiveness. Online retailers are expected to\u00a0spend more on logistics and supply chain management, but\u00a0less on total advertising, favouring\u00a0low-cost digital channels."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mahindra mobile PV testing lab to tackle waning performance \n Mahindra Susten has launched what it claims to be India\u2019s first mobile PV lab as quality standards are set to be brought in and some third-party solar projects see significant module performance drops across the country.\n\nSpeaking to PV Tech at the REI Expo near Delhi, Satish Pandey, head, performance analytics and PV testing, Mahindra Susten, said: \u201cThe main reason behind this is after one year or two years the module performance is degraded drastically, particularly in India.\u201d\n\nHe said that the quality of modules coming into India even today can be low. During field testing as a third-party, the firm has observed some projects with supplied modules degrading up to 10% just in the first year. Meanwhile, several other projects have seen modules operate within the warranty limit for two years before degrading as much as 8% just in the third year and these are all modules supplied by tier-one manufacturers.\n\nThe new test lab has three main applications:\n\nFlash test \u2013 or Sun Simulator \u2013 to record the module power in similar conditions to that of the module manufacturer Elector luminescence (EL) testing to find micro-cracks and cell cracks Thermal inspection to test the module for hotspots or diode defects\n\nThe company has just one lab to date, but depending on market response, will consider developing more to cover the whole of India.\n\nPandey said response from industry has been good so far and the Lab has applied for accreditation from NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories \u2013 an autonomous body under the aegis of Department of Science & Technology), and has also approached the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) for the empanelment of the laboratory, which would allow Indian solar industry asset owners to make the most of the lab results. Pandey was confident that Mahindra will see positive results on both shortly.\n\nMNRE also recently confirmed that new quality standards would be brought in in 12 months\u2019 time, which will make it mandatory for every EPC player to do onsite testing. The mobile lab, which is compatible for all technologies, allows for onsite testing and removes damage from transportation risks as well as giving transparency to the owner who can witness the tests.\n\nThis article has been updated to clarify the accreditations that were applied for.", "output": "Indian renewable energy firm Mahindra Susten, part of the Mahindra Group, has launched a mobile photovoltaic testing lab in response to the number of modules from Tier I suppliers that are degrading by up to 10% in their first few years of use. The lab tests for micro-cracks and cell cracks, hotspots or diode defects, and can also perform a flash test. Mahindra Susten has applied for accreditation for the lab from the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories, and is considering increasing its number of mobile labs."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Germany clears online ransom to be covered by cyber insurance \n In the September 2017 edition of its monthly journal, the German Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) published a statement on the insurability of cyber extortion payments. BaFin decided to allow coverage for cyber extortion payments in combination with general cyber policies. Following this clarification, there is now legal certainty that from now on, cyber extortion payments can be covered under cyber policies.\n\nIn the past, cyber extortion payments were subject to the general BaFin provisions on the insurability of kidnap and ransom insurance (K&R). Until 1998, K&R insurance was inadmissible due to the German regulator\u2019s strict approach finding that the insurance of K&R claims would foster the risk of kidnapping and would therefore violate public policy. While none of the BaFin publications on this subject are technically legally binding, they can be deemed as a clear indication of the regulator's expectations. Moreover, such publications will usually constitute a self-commitment of BaFin with the effect that BaFin has to treat similar cases alike.\n\nIn 1998, BaFin changed its opinion by publishing a circular letter and stating that under certain conditions the provision of product extortion and ransom insurance does not violate public policy. However, BaFin still considered K&R insurance only admissible under strict requirements such as: no combination with other coverage, no advertisements, contract term not to exceed one year, confidentiality as regards coverage (information of no more than three persons). BaFin has adjusted the requirements for K&R insurance three times since the circular letter was published. In 2000, BaFin stated that a separate K&R license was no longer required and, since 2008, has accepted automatic policy renewals as admissible under certain circumstances. In 2014, BaFin stated that in certain scenarios more than three persons may be informed about the K&R policy but also stressed that the other strict requirements for K&R insurance would remain applicable.\n\nFollowing these strict requirements also for cyber insurance purposes, insurers were to provide German policyholders with two separate cyber policies: the main policy to cover the standard cyber risks and the separate policy to cover cyber extortion payments.\n\nTherefore, besides providing legal certainty, the recent BaFin statement simplifies the business for insurance companies providing comprehensive cyber coverage. From now on, they can provide one cyber policy that covers general cyber risks as well as ransom payments. However, it should be noted that the ransom coverage can only be combined with cyber policies and not with any other insurance policies, such as crime policies for instance.\n\nMoreover, BaFin underlines in its recent statement that the other strict requirements established in the circular letter of 1998 are, in general, still applicable. If an insurer decides to offer comprehensive cyber coverage including ransom payments, in particular the following restrictions are still relevant:\n\nThe cyber policy can still be advertised but it is not admissible to advertise the ransom component. It has to be ensured that the ransom coverage does not interfere with police investigations. The insurers have to ensure high data protection standards which have to be adapted to the ongoing technical developments.\n\nThe new BaFin publication is addressed to insurers that have a licence to conduct property and casualty insurance business in Germany. It is also applicable for insurers from other member states of the European Union and the European Economic Area conducting business in Germany on a freedom of services or freedom of establishment basis.", "output": "German property and casualty insurance companies can, for the first time, offer a single policy covering ransom payments as well as general cyber risks, following a clarifying statement from the German Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). It said that, in addition to existing kidnap and ransom restrictions, ransom cover can only be combined with cyber policies, may not be advertised as part of a cyber policy and must not interfere with police investigations. BaFin's ruling also covers companies from European Union member states and the European Economic Area that are working in Germany."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Uber loses London licence over corporate responsibility failings \n Uber has been stripped of its London licence in a surprise move that dealt a serious blow to one of Silicon Valley\u2019s fastest rising companies and sparked an outcry from a coalition of customers, government ministers and drivers at the ride-hailing company.\n\nThe firm\u2019s application for a new licence in London was rejected by Transport for London on the basis that the company is not a \u201cfit and proper\u201d private car hire operator.\n\nUber\u2019s cars will not disappear immediately as its current licence expires on 30 September and it plans to challenge the ruling by London\u2019s transport authority in the courts immediately. The firm can continue to operate in the capital \u2013 where it has 3.5 million users \u2013 until it has exhausted the appeals process, which could take months..\n\nUber\u2019s chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, wrote to staff on Friday confirming that the company would appeal against the ruling. He said he disagreed with the decision but it was based on past behaviour.\n\n\u201cThe truth is that there is a high cost to a bad reputation,\u201d he wrote. \u201cIt really matters what people think of us, especially in a global business like ours.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s critical that we act with integrity in everything we do, and learn how to be a better partner to every city we operate in. That doesn\u2019t mean abandoning our principles \u2013 we will vigorously appeal TfL\u2019s decision \u2013 but rather building trust through our actions and our behaviour. In doing so, we will show that Uber is not just a really great product, but a really great company that is meaningfully contributing to society, beyond its business and its bottom line.\u201d\n\nKhosrowshahi, who was brought in to run the firm after a series of scandals, also tweeted an appeal to Londoners to \u201cwork with us\u201d in solving the issue.\n\nDear London: we r far from perfect but we have 40k licensed drivers and 3.5mm Londoners depending on us. Pls work w/us to make things right \u2014 dara khosrowshahi (@dkhos) September 22, 2017\n\nThe decision by TfL was backed by the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, employment rights campaigners, and the trade body for the capital\u2019s black-cab drivers, who have been staunch opponents of the US-based company.\n\nHowever, it drew immediate criticism from Uber users, drivers and Greg Hands, the trade minister.\n\n\n\nOne of Uber\u2019s 40,000 drivers in the capital, James Farrar, who has campaigned for better working conditions at the firm, said TfL\u2019s decision was a \u201cdevastating blow\u201d.\n\nTfL said it had rejected the company\u2019s application to renew its licence because \u201cUber\u2019s approach and conduct demonstrate a lack of corporate responsibility\u201d in relation to reporting serious criminal offences, obtaining medical certificates and driver background checks.\n\nThe licensing body also said it was concerned by Uber\u2019s use of Greyball, software that can be used to block regulatory bodies from gaining full access to its app and undertaking regulatory or law enforcement duties.\n\nThe decision to remove Uber from one of its biggest markets is the latest blow for a company that has shot to a $70bn (\u00a352bn) valuation since it was founded in 2009 but has been hobbled by opposition from national and municipal governments around the world \u2013 including in Italy and Rio de Janeiro \u2013 due to concerns over safety or the threat to existing taxi businesses.\n\n\n\nProf Andre Spicer, from Cass Business School in London, said the decision was a \u201cpotentially mortal blow\u201d to Uber. \u201cIn the past Uber operated at the edge of the law with new technology as an alibi. Now its rogue business model is proving to be a big liability.\u201d\n\nKhan said he fully supported TfL\u2019s decision, saying all companies needed to \u201cplay by the rules\u201d.\n\n\n\nHe said: \u201cI want London to be at the forefront of innovation and new technology and to be a natural home for exciting new companies that help Londoners by providing a better and more affordable service.\n\n\u201cHowever, all companies in London must play by the rules and adhere to the high standards we expect \u2013 particularly when it comes to the safety of customers.\u201d\n\nBut Hands, who is also minister for London, said: \u201cAt the flick of a pen Sadiq Khan is threatening to put 40,000 people out of work and leave 3.5 million users of Uber stranded.\n\n\u201cUber must address safety concerns and it is important there is a level playing field across the private hire market.\n\n\u201cBut a blanket ban will cause massive inconvenience to millions of Londoners, all while showing that the Mayor of London is closed to business and innovation.\u201d\n\nSam Gyimah, a Conservative justice minister and MP for East Surrey, said it was \u201cpossible to have effective regulation of Uber without\n\npenalising the consumers who benefit from more choice and lower\n\nprices\u201d.\n\nSteve McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers\u2019 Association, which represents black-cab drivers, said the mayor had made the right decision.\n\n\u201cSince it first came on to our streets Uber has broken the law, exploited its drivers and refused to take responsibility for the safety of passengers. This immoral company has no place on London\u2019s streets,\u201d he said.\n\nUber said in a statement the decision would \u201cshow the world that, far from being open, London is closed to innovative companies\u201d.\n\n\u201c3.5 million Londoners who use our app, and more than 40,000 licensed drivers who rely on Uber to make a living, will be astounded by this decision,\u201d the company added.\n\nThe company wrote to users on Friday asking them to \u201cdefend the livelihoods\u201d of its drivers and sign a petition asking the mayor to reverse TfL\u2019s decision.\n\nHelp ensure Londoners have more, not fewer, transportation options\u2014sign the petition. https://t.co/nheuOcYjQH \u2014 Uber (@Uber) September 22, 2017\n\nFarrar, a co-claimant in a landmark employment tribunal decision against Uber and chair of the Independent Workers\u2019 Union of Great Britain\u2019s private hire drivers\u2019 branch, said TfL should have stepped in earlier to protect drivers.\n\n\u201cTo strip Uber of its licence after five years of laissez-faire regulation is a testament to a systemic failure at TfL,\u201d he said.\n\nThe majority of Uber users responding to a Guardian request for comment opposed the decision to revoke the company\u2019s licence.\n\nHelen, from Walthamstow in east London, criticised the decision and said TfL should be working more closely with Uber. \u201cWith a lack of staff and police visible [on public transport], I often feel unsafe travelling alone and Uber has given me an affordable alternative to get home safely,\u201d she said.\n\nLeo, a wheelchair user, said less than 30% of the tube network was accessible to him and buses were slow. \u201cUber has been a lifesaver for me. It has got me to visit family at short notice when the nearest accessible station was miles away and the bus took two hours,\u201d he said.\n\nIn London, Uber has faced criticism from unions, lawmakers and traditional black-cab drivers over working conditions. Unions including the IWGB and GMB called on TfL to insist Uber guaranteed basic employment rights under the terms of its new five-year licence.\n\nEmployment rights campaigners said TfL\u2019s decision was a warning shot to so-called gig economy companies, which include apps such as Deliveroo and delivery firms such as Hermes who argue their drivers and riders are self-employed.\n\nFrank Field, the Labour MP who led a parliamentary inquiry which found that Uber drivers were treated as Victorian-style \u201csweated labour\u201d said: \u201cThis is a gamechanger for the gig economy. Uber must now respond to TfL\u2019s decision by totally resetting its business model.\u201d", "output": "Uber has had its application for a new London licence rejected on the grounds that the company is not a \u201cfit and proper\u201d private car hire operator. The firm\u2019s current licence expires on 30 September, but Uber, which plans to appeal, can continue to operate during the 21-day appeal process. Transport for London (TfL) argued that Uber\u2019s behaviour showed \u201ca lack of corporate responsibility\u201d with regard to reporting criminal offences, obtaining medical documentation and checking the backgrounds of drivers. TfL also expressed concern about Uber\u2019s use of the Greyball software, which can block regulators from accessing the company\u2019s app."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aldi stores across US to accept Apple Pay \n If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Read our ethics policy\n\nArticle Hero Image\n\niPhone and Apple Watch users shopping at Aldi grocery stores can now check out with Apple Pay at nearly 1,700 locations across the U.S., marking a significant expansion for Apple's tap-to-pay service.\n\nBeyond the iPhone, Aldi's expansion also includes Android Pay, meaning most anyone with an NFC-based payment system on their phone will be able to check out conveniently without swiping or inserting a credit card.\n\nPayment terminals at checkout will also support contactless bank and credit cards, as well as NFC-enabled wearable devices like the Apple Watch.\n\n\"We're continually innovating to provide our customers a faster, more efficient shopping experience that saves them time and money,\" Aldo Chief Executive Jason Hart said. \"Shoppers love ALDI because we build and run stores they can shop quickly. Contactless payment makes shopping at ALDI that much faster and more convenient.\"\n\nAs of 2016, Aldi had 1,602 stores across the U.S. Recent expansions have brought the chain close to 1,700 locations in America.\n\nApple Pay support has gradually expanded since the feature launched on the iPhone 6 nearly 3 years ago. One recent popular addition was the Citi Bike bicycle sharing service in New York City.\n\nThe capabilities will further expand this fall with the launch of Apple Pay Cash, allowing for person-to-person money transfers direct from an iPhone or Apple Watch.", "output": "Aldi\u2019s almost 1,700 US stores are set to accept payments through Apple Pay and Android Pay, enabling\u00a0anyone with NFC-enabled payment options on their phone to shop without cash or card. Payment will also be possible with contactless\u00a0cards\u00a0and wearable devices,\u00a0such as smartwatches. It is hoped the new payment methods will make checking out quicker and easier.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California Nervously Awaits U.S. Senate\u2019s Verdict On Obamacare \n About Capitol Desk Capitol Desk delivers the latest in health care policy and politics from Sacramento and around the state. Have an idea? Let us know.\n\nCongressional Republicans are giving repeal of Obama\u2019s signature health law one more try.\n\nThey have until the end of the month to garner enough votes to pass the so-called Graham-Cassidy bill, which would fundamentally change how health care is funded nationwide. Its effects would be especially far-reaching in California and other states that bought heavily into the Affordable Care Act.\n\nFormer U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, a Republican from Pennsylvania who been working with GOP leaders to craft the latest measure, told Breitbart News that four states \u2014 Massachusetts, California, New York and Maryland \u2014 receive a disproportionate share of Obamacare funding. The Graham-Cassidy bill, he said, would \u201credistribute this money that has been heaped upon these four ultra blue, very wealthy states by the way, and don\u2019t need a lot of federal support because they\u2019re very wealthy states.\u201d\n\nOther Republicans who favor the bill argue it would provide states with increased flexibility while controlling costs.\n\nPerhaps the most significant changes in the bill: allowing states to opt out of the \u201cessential health benefits\u201d guaranteed by the ACA and using lump sums, or \u201cblock grants,\u201d to pay for Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California) and federal subsidies for the Obamacare exchanges, including Covered California. The bill also would remove the individual mandate for all Americans to obtain coverage. Critics say that could result in a riskier insurance pool dominated by sicker patients, making coverage less affordable for everyone.\n\nIn this radio segment, Emily Bazar of California Healthline and Kaiser Health News discussed the potential impact of the proposal in California and Nevada with Capital Public Radio host Beth Ruyak. The interview preceded a conference Thursday in Sacramento in which Bazar moderated a panel discussion titled \u201cThe ACA: What Happens Under Trump.\u201d\n\nOne point Bazar underscored in her remarks about the future of the ACA: \u201cI will not make any predictions.\u201d", "output": "Congressional Republicans are giving repeal of Obama\u2019s signature health law one more try. They have until the end of the month to garner enough votes to pass the so-called Graham-Cassidy bill, which would fundamentally change how health care is funded nationwide. Its effects would be especially far-reaching in California and other states that bought heavily into the Affordable Care Act.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The push for single-payer health care just went national. What does that mean for the California effort? \n Last May, Sen. Bernie Sanders lauded California\u2019s proposed single-payer healthcare plan. (Sept. 22, 2017) (Sign up for our free video newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)\n\nWhen Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders visited Beverly Hills last May, he made a full-throated appeal for California to \u201clead the country\u201d and pass a pending state proposal to establish single-payer healthcare.\n\nOn Friday, he\u2019ll return here for a San Francisco speech trumpeting his own higher-stakes plan \u2014 a bill to drastically overhaul the nation\u2019s health-care system by covering everyone through Medicare .\n\nThe push for single-payer, in which the government pays for residents\u2019 medical care, has already rattled California\u2019s political landscape. Now, the Sanders measure brings an additional jolt, elevating the issue to a national debate that has implications for the future direction of the Democratic Party and early jockeying in the 2020 presidential race .\n\nThe Sanders plan has left proponents of state Senate Bill 562, the California proposal, elated, viewing the buzz in Washington, D.C., as an unequivocal boon to their efforts in Sacramento, which faltered this summer when the measure was shelved in the state Assembly.\n\n\u201cIt phenomenally buttresses SB 562,\u201d said RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Assn./National Nurses United, the bill\u2019s most fervent supporter. \u201cThe fact is, it\u2019s in the national narrative now.\u201d\n\nBut the parallel state and federal proposals could also make an already thorny issue more difficult by laying bare the challenges facing California should it embark on the single-payer route alone \u2014 and ramping up the pressure for the state to establish itself as a national model.\n\nSanders, who has a huge liberal following in California from his presidential bid, has been an enthusiastic proponent of the state\u2019s proposal, casting it as a head start for his national single-payer ambition.\n\n\u201cPlease make my life easier,\u201d he pleaded in May, endorsing the bill by state Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) that was then winding its way through committee hearings. It was abruptly halted by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) several months later, but is still eligible for consideration next year. At the time, Rendon called the plan \u201cwoefully incomplete.\u201d\n\nFor now, the two bills face vastly different political terrains. Sanders\u2019 measure, which was rolled out last week, would have to clear a Republican Congress and survive President Trump \u2019s veto pen, an almost unimaginable scenario. In California, the prospect is theoretically less futile with Democrats dominating the state Capitol, although this year\u2019s stumble showed how resistance to single-payer is not simply partisan.\n\nPolicy-wise, Sanders\u2019 bill echoes California\u2019s. Both proposals would do away with nearly all out-of-pocket health-care costs for residents, including premiums and co-pays. Both would dramatically reduce the role of private insurance companies, with government filling that role instead.\n\nWhile proponents of each bill have floated potential financing schemes, neither piece of legislation includes tax hikes or a specific way to cover costs.\n\nBoth measures have been framed by supporters as a rejoinder to the repeated attempts by Republicans in Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act , including a new Obamacare overhaul poised for a Senate vote next week.\n\nThe debate over single-payer healthcare in California isn't going away. Here's why \u00bb\n\nLara, the author of SB 562, backs the Sanders plan. But despite the bills\u2019 similarities, other California politicians have reacted differently to the two proposals.\n\nU.S. Sen. Kamala Harris is one of 16 Democratic senators to co-sponsor Sanders\u2019 bill.\n\n\u201cUnited States taxpayers deserve a better return on their investment, and that's why I'm supporting Medicare for All,\u201d Harris said in a statement. \u201cIt is about saying that healthcare is a right for all, not a privilege for a few.\u201d\n\nHarris did not take a position on the California bill, and her office did not address a reporter\u2019s specific questions on the state-level effort this week.\n\nLt. Gov. Gavin Newsom , a 2018 gubernatorial hopeful who, along with Sanders, will address the nurses\u2019 union Friday, has been unequivocal in his support for the Sanders bill.\n\nBut he has been more circumspect on his thoughts on SB 562, explaining in an interview that he wanted to see the legislative process in Sacramento \u201crun its course.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe bill's not perfect. It's not complete,\u201d Newsom said. \u201cThe end result would hardly look like it looks today had it had a chance to process through the Legislature.\u201d\n\nOne of Newsom\u2019s Democratic rivals in the governor\u2019s race, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa , said he supports the concept of having national single-payer health-care coverage, but he opposed SB 562.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t support it because it doesn\u2019t have a funding plan,\u201d Villaraigosa said. \u201cThe notion that we would just transfer to a single-payer system on our own with the price tag of $400 billion is not something people see as feasible.\u201d\n\nSingle-payer backers such as DeMoro expressed little patience with distinguishing support for a state proposal versus a national one.\n\n\u201cIf you're a single-payer advocate, you're going to support SB 562. If you're just politically posturing, you might not,\u201d DeMoro said. She added she has \u201cconfidence\u201d that Newsom, whom her group endorsed nearly two years ago, sufficiently backs the state bill.\n\nA state-level single-payer system in California is attainable, according to health-care experts.\n\n\u201cWe are large enough to do what needs to be done,\u201d said Gerald Kominski, director of UCLA\u2019s Center for Health Policy Research. \u201cWe've got a large enough pool of people. We've got a strong economy. So we could go it alone.\u201d\n\nAs long as there\u2019s a Republican Congress and a Republican president, everyone knows this is an organizing tool rather than an immediate threat to pass. \u2014 Eddie Kurtz, president of Courage Campaign, on Sen. Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All bill\n\nStill, there are unique snags to a state-only system. Most significantly, California would need to get permission from the federal government to repurpose dollars from Medicare, Medicaid and other programs. That prospect appears hazy under Trump, who called single-payer a \u201ccurse on the U.S.\u201d in a recent tweet. And California\u2019s state constitution has spending limits and rules on how revenue must be spent that serve as obstacles to using new taxes for increased healthcare spending.\n\nA California single-payer system could also be more vulnerable to \u201cmedical tourists\u201d from other states establishing residency here \u2014 a relatively easy step under the proposal \u2014 to take advantage of free care.\n\nSanders\u2019 proposal essentially expands Medicare, a single-payer system already in place. California, however, has no equivalent program; it would have to build one from scratch.\n\nMedicare \u201cis a framework that, I think, most people can get their arms around. It\u2019s a process that provides for at least some understanding and familiarity,\u201d Newsom said. \u201cAt the state level, the requirements are very different \u2026. It\u2019s a more challenging frame.\u201d\n\nSingle-payer advocates in the state said while they\u2019re thrilled by Sanders\u2019 proposal, their primary efforts will still be in California where such a plan is more politically possible.\n\nThe progressive group Courage Campaign convened liberal activists this week in Sacramento to strategize on how to push ahead with a state-level health-care overhaul.\n\n\u201cAs long as there\u2019s a Republican Congress and a Republican president, everyone knows this is an organizing tool rather than an immediate threat to pass,\u201d said Eddie Kurtz, the group\u2019s president. \u201cIt\u2019s wonderful to have that goalpost out there.\u201d\n\nAssemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento), a co-author of SB 562 who nonetheless called the bill not \u201cready for prime time,\u201d said he didn\u2019t expect lawmakers to cede the issue to Congress.\n\n\u201cThe best way to do it and the most viable is to have a national plan for this,\u201d McCarty said. \u201cDoes that mean California should sit around and wait for the nation to do it? No. I think we'll be evaluating how to do it.\u201d\n\nThe national debate underscores how high the stakes will be. Proponents are hoping California will serve as Massachusetts did for the Affordable Care Act, establishing a model the country can follow.\n\nThe potential of being an archetype also comes with more responsibility to craft the best policy, said Rendon, who has urged broadening the healthcare overhaul debate beyond SB 562. He is facing a recall effort for deciding to shelve that bill.\n\n\u201cThe possibilities of a national system changes the conversation,\u201d Rendon said. \u201cIf we're going to do universal healthcare in California \u2014 whatever manifestation that may take \u2014 there may be more of a need to get it right than there would have been otherwise.\u201d\n\nTimes staff writer Phil Willon in Sacramento contributed to this report.\n\nmelanie.mason@latimes.com\n\nFollow @melmason on Twitter for the latest on California politics.\n\nCalifornia Assembly leader Anthony Rendon's decision to shelve single-payer healthcare angers progressive activists\n\nQ&A: What would California's proposed single-payer healthcare system mean for me?\n\nUpdates from Sacramento\n\nUPDATES:\n\n9:20 p.m.: This article was updated with more information about how single-payer faces potential constitutional challenges.\n\nThis article was originally published at 12 a.m.", "output": "When Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders\u00a0visited Beverly Hills last May, he made a full-throated appeal for California to \u201clead the country\u201d and pass a pending state proposal to establish single-payer health care.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mercedes to invest $1bn in EV/Battery plant in Alabama \n Mercedes is investing more than $1 billion to upgrade a U.S. plant for assembling batteries and electric SUVs -- putting a big bet on the market for larger battery-powered vehicles.\n\nThe German automaker, owned by Daimler, made the announcement Thursday at its Tuscaloosa, Alabama plant, which makes its SUV models GLE, GLS and GLE Coup\u00e9.\n\nAlong with a nearby battery factory, Mercedes will upgrade factory lines to build its EQ brand electric SUV, the EQ C, starting sometime around 2020.\n\nThe move comes as Mercedes prepares to launch its broader EQ line of EVs, starting with the EQ A midsize hatchback, and now the EQ C. Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche said earlier this month that Mercedes will offer electric versions of all of its models by 2022, plus a new series of plug-in hybrids, for about 50 new models in all.\n\nAll told, Daimler plans to invest $11 billion in EVs over the next five years.\n\nThe company told investors that profit margins may suffer in coming quarters as it ramps up sales of EVs -- which come with roughly half the profit margins of its internal combustion engine vehicles -- in order to prepare for a world market more focused on reducing vehicle emissions.\n\nDaimler\u2019s moves are being matched by automakers around the globe, and not just early EV entrants like Nissan and General Motors.\n\nVolvo announced in July that every new vehicle model released starting in 2019 will be either a hybrid or electric. Audi is scaling up EV production at its Brussels plant. Volkswagen has committed to investing $10 billion over the next five years to bring 25 new EV models to market by 2025. And Ford plans to invest $4.5 billion in electrification by 2020.\n\nMeanwhile, the electric SUV market is mainly defined by Tesla\u2019s Model X -- a gull-winged, poorly reviewed vehicle. CEO Elon Musk described it as the \u201ctechnology bandwagon of everything cool we could imagine all at once.\"\n\nThe Model X received Consumer Reports\u2019 second-worst ranking in midsize luxury SUVs, and analysts report that vehicle registrations in the U.S. have been slipping over the past few quarters. Tesla recently dropped the price from $82,500 to $79,500.\n\nMusk took a moment during a May earnings call to address the next SUV concept, the more fleshed-out Model Y. That vehicle, supposedly featuring a \u201cgenuine step change\u201d in manufacturing, will \u201caspirationally\u201d be out in 2019, or more likely in 2020, he said.\n\nBattery prices are one of the most critical determinants in EV pricing, which has turned automakers into battery manufacturers.\n\nTesla\u2019s Gigafactory in Nevada, as well as its foray into behind-the-meter energy storage through its Powerwall and Powerpack systems, has gotten much of the press attention.\n\nBut Mercedes has also launched a U.S. energy storage company making use of its automotive manufacturing capacity -- in fact, the battery plant it\u2019s building in Tuscaloosa will be its fifth around the world.", "output": "Mercedes is investing more than $1bn to upgrade its US plant for assembling batteries and electric SUVs based in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.\u00a0Mercedes is preparing to launch its EQ line of EVs, starting with the EQ A midsize hatchback\u00a0followed by the\u00a0the EQ C SUV from 2020. Daimler\u00a0said earlier this month that Mercedes will offer electric versions of all of its models by 2022, plus a new series of plug-in hybrids, for about 50 new models in all.\u00a0The battery plant in Tuscaloosa will be its fifth globally.\u00a0Earlier this year, it launched a US\u00a0energy storage company."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Believe it or not, Graham-Cassidy socializes the cost of health insurance \n Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) speaks to the media about his proposal to repeal and replace Obamacare, accompanied by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.\n\nThere are plenty of things wrong with the Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson proposal to overhaul Obamacare (and Medicaid, while it\u2019s at it), from its cockamamie approach to helping people not insured by their employers to its blithe indifference to the rising cost of medical care.\n\nBut give sponsoring Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Dean Heller (R-Nev.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) credit for doing something remarkable: They got even the most conservative of their Republican colleagues to agree to socialize more of the cost of health insurance.\n\nWait, they did what?\n\nUnlike previous GOP proposals to \u201crepeal and replace\u201d Obamacare, Graham\u2019s legislation would leave in place almost every new tax and tax increase the Affordable Care Act imposed, including those on high-income Americans, health insurers, tanning salons and drugmakers. Doing so would raise about $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years; the Graham-Cassidy proposal would put that money into block grants for states, replacing various subsidies in the ACA for health insurance and care for low-income Americans.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nRepublicans and Democrats can, and will, disagree sharply over the wisdom of the change. But what\u2019s being missed here is that Republicans are proposing to use a metric megaload of federal tax dollars to do the same thing Democrats did through the ACA: make health insurance more available and affordable. After all, under Graham-Cassidy, the block grant funding would have to be spent to help provide health insurance to high-cost individuals, or to help insurers cover losses (presumably from such individuals), or to help low-income residents obtain coverage and care.\n\nPut another way, the Graham-Cassidy proposal would socialize some of the cost of healthcare for millions of Americans, to the tune of more than $1 trillion per decade.\n\nSen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has cited this spending as the reason why he\u2019s adamantly opposed to the proposal. But no other Republican has; instead, a few GOP senators have complained that the bill may not provide enough money for their states, or that it has been force-marched through the Senate with no hearings or vetting.\n\nIt should be noted that this country already socializes a large percentage of healthcare costs through the tax exemption for employee insurance premiums as well as Medicare, Medicaid and other public health insurance programs. The Affordable Care Act pushed that percentage a bit higher; Graham-Cassidy would dial it back a little.\n\nI suspect the proposal\u2019s supporters don\u2019t look at it as a way to perpetuate the transfer of wealth from taxpayers to insurance buyers (or, less directly, to insurance companies and healthcare providers). But that\u2019s what they would be voting for.\n\nAnd that\u2019s something Democrats and Republicans could build on, should Graham-Cassidy fail to pass the Senate. Granted, it would require both sides to step out of their ideological bunkers. Democrats would have to accept the idea that Obamacare didn\u2019t come up with the perfect solution to insuring people not covered by large employer plans \u2014 in fact, it piled too much cost on too few people. And Republicans would have to agree that the federal government can play a bigger role in helping Americans with healthcare costs that are too great for those of limited or even ordinary means to afford.\n\nIf the two sides can agree on those points, it shouldn\u2019t take a herculean effort to come up with an approach to insuring the 20 million or so Americans in the non-group market that both sides can embrace. Because all of the sturm und drang about preserving or repealing Obamacare essentially comes down to this: How do we enable those people to be insured? Once both sides are willing to answer that question with federal tax dollars, it\u2019s just a matter of figuring out how best to control the costs.\n\nBy supporting Graham-Cassidy, Republicans would be anteing up $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years to help bring coverage to folks in the non-group market, as well as to low-income Americans not eligible for Medicaid. That would be quite a step toward a bipartisan agreement, if only they recognized what they were doing.\n\njon.healey@latimes.com\n\nTwitter: @jcahealey", "output": "There are plenty of things wrong with the Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson\u00a0proposal\u00a0to overhaul\u00a0Obamacare\u00a0(and\u00a0Medicaid, while it\u2019s at it), from its\u00a0cockamamie approach\u00a0to helping people not insured by their employers to its blithe indifference to the rising cost of medical care.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Graham-Cassidy Has One Great Idea \n The idea of turning more power over to the states has long been advocated by conservatives, but there are compelling reasons for liberals to get behind devolving power from the federal government.\n\nWhen Congress passed the Affordable Care Act in 2010, it left many of the details to the discretion of the Department of Health and Human Services, giving vast powers to the secretary to determine everything from fast-food menu labeling requirements to when individuals could purchase insurance. During the Obama years, the administration used its regulatory discretion \u2014 pushing and arguably exceeding the limits of the law \u2014 to prop up the president\u2019s signature legislative accomplishment as the program ran into implementation problems.\n\nWhen President Trump took office, he appointed Tom Price, a longtime foe of Obamacare during his time in Congress, to run H.H.S. In the past several months, liberals have shouted \u201csabotage\u201d as they have witnessed Mr. Price take actions such as slashing Obamacare\u2019s advertising budget, tweaking the rules on the types of plans insurers are allowed to offer and cutting in half \u2014 to six weeks \u2014 the program\u2019s open enrollment period. Mr. Trump himself has created uncertainty over whether he will continue to authorize payments to insurers that congressional Republicans sued Mr. Obama over.\n\nAny national health care system that assumes one party will control Washington for all eternity is doomed to fail. New Yorkers would have much less to fear about a Trump presidency if the president didn\u2019t control agencies that set policies for the entire country.\n\nFrom the perspective of somebody who wants to see genuine federalism in health care, Graham-Cassidy leaves a lot to be desired. Because it keeps many of Obamacare\u2019s regulations on the books at the national level, it limits the amount of innovation that can occur at the state level. The fact that it keeps most of Obamacare\u2019s taxes means that states preferring to take a more free market approach will still be paying for a big government footprint in other states. Under one scenario, for instance, Texans could be subsidizing single-payer health care in Vermont.\n\nBut the idea of giving states more control over their health care systems should survive no matter what happens with Graham-Cassidy.", "output": "The latest Republican stab at overhauling the Affordable Care Act manages to be both more timid and more sweeping than previous efforts to replace Obamacare. Known as Graham-Cassidy, it was written by a quartet of Republican senators led by Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The G.O.P. Bill Forces States to Build Health Systems From Scratch. That\u2019s Hard. \n In 2003, health care policy makers in Massachusetts agreed that the state should build a system to expand coverage to its uninsured residents.\n\nIt took four years before Romneycare was fully up and running.\n\nIn between, politicians had to think hard about how they wanted the system to work: how money would be raised and spent, what benefits would be offered, whether and how markets should be used to distribute coverage, whether people who didn\u2019t buy coverage should be penalized. They had to build a computer system to help people check their eligibility and understand their options. They had to recruit insurers to participate. And they needed to find uninsured residents and persuade them to enroll.\n\nA new health care bill before the Senate would require all the states in the country to make a similar soup-to-nuts evaluation of how they\u2019d like their health care systems to work, to build such a system and be ready to open their doors in substantially less time \u2014 just over two years. That may not be realistic.\n\n\u201cThe answer is absolutely no,\u201d said Jon Kingsdale, who ran Massachusetts Connector, the system that matched Massachusetts residents with health insurance, and is now a public health professor and a consultant. \u201cThat\u2019s not enough time for most states to figure it out.\u201d", "output": "In 2003, health care policy makers in Massachusetts agreed that the state should build a system to expand coverage to its uninsured residents. It took four years before Romneycare was fully up and running.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Latest Obamacare Repeal Effort Is Most Far-Reaching \n \u201cThis is by far the most radical of any of the Republican health care bills that have been debated this year,\u201d said Larry Levitt, a senior vice president with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. \u201cAnd the reason for that is that this would be the biggest devolution of federal money and responsibility to the states for anything, ever.\u201d\n\nThe White House and Senate leaders are now in an intensive final push to repeal the Affordable Care Act by September 30. After that, under Senate rules, they will need 60 votes, which they acknowledge is an impossibility. Senator Graham said in a statement on Thursday that the legislation was gaining \u201cmomentum and support\u201d because it would send \u201cmoney and power back to the states, and closer to patients, to deliver quality health care.\u201d\n\nThe legislation would turn over more than $1 trillion that would have been spent on the law known as Obamacare over the next seven years \u2014 everything from the funds for the expansion of Medicaid to the subsidies to help people buy private insurance \u2014 to states as \u201cblock grants\u201d with very few strings attached. They would then use the money to set up their own health care programs. Congress would have to reauthorize the money after 2026 or it would go away.\n\n\u201cThe decisions about individual mandates, mandated benefits, and all the other decisions the ACA moved to Washington are best made at the state level by governors who understand the unique needs of their states,\u201d said Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, a Republican. Arkansas expanded Medicaid under Obamacare, and would lose roughly $6 billion under the bill, but Governor Hutchinson supports the legislation nonetheless.\n\n\u201cGraham-Cassidy is putting federal spending on a budget,\u201d he said. \u201cThat is the fiscal discipline the federal government and states both need to ensure the sustainability of Medicaid and other state health care programs.\u201d", "output": "For decades, Republicans have dreamed of taking some of the vast sums the federal government spends on health care entitlements and handing the money over to states to use as they saw best.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Republicans Have a Bill to Repeal Obamacare. They Don't Know Exactly What It Will Do \n Senate Republicans have just days to pass a bill that would repeal major chunks of the Affordable Care Act, scale back federal spending on health care and dramatically change health insurance in the United States.\n\nBut they don\u2019t know exactly how it will work.\n\nNamed for cosponsors Sens. Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy, the Graham-Cassidy bill will not be scored by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office before the Senate faces an end-of-month deadline to pass it by a simple majority.\n\nWhile the broad outlines of the bill are known, that means senators will have to make a decision to vote for or against the bill without knowing how many millions of Americans could lose insurance, how much money their state could gain or lose under it and what effects it might have on insurance premiums, according to their own scorekeeper.\n\nOutside groups have made their own estimates, all of which say the bill will lead to millions fewer Americans having insurance. A recent report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities wagers that more than 32 million people could lose healthcare as a result of Graham-Cassidy, which could slash federal healthcare funding by nearly $300 billion over the next decade.\n\nBut for some Republicans, the details of the bill are not as important as the years-long promise they made to repeal Obamacare.\n\n\u201cYou know, I could maybe give you 10 reasons why this bill shouldn\u2019t be considered,\u201d said Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa. \u201cBut Republicans campaigned on this so often that you have a responsibility to carry out what you said in the campaign. That\u2019s pretty much as much of a reason as the substance of the bill.\u201d\n\nRepublican Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas told Vox that the bill needed to be passed regardless of imperfections because of the problems of the Affordable Care Act.\n\n\u201cLook, we\u2019re in the back seat of a convertible being driven by Thelma and Louise, and we\u2019re headed toward the canyon,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s a movie that you\u2019ve probably never seen. So we have to get out of the car, and you have to have a car to get into, and this is the only car there is.\u201d\n\nWhen the Affordable Care Act was being considered in 2010, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously said that lawmakers would have to \u201cpass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.\u201d She meant that the \u201cfog of controversy\u201d over the famously tortuous legislative process behind the bill had clouded the actual benefits in it, but the quote was seized on by many conservatives over the years to criticize the Democratic law.\n\nBut the Affordable Care Act was debated after a rigorous congressional schedule that included hearings before multiple committees, changes to the bill designed to win Republican support and a painful month for Democrats of angry constituents arguing against the bill at town-hall meetings.\n\nThe Graham-Cassidy bill, by contrast, is the result of fast-tracked and largely backroom conversations between Senate Republicans. There will only be one day of Senate hearings on the bill next week. At a press conference this week, Senate Minority Leader denounced it as \u201ca hastily constructed piece of legislation put together in back rooms by only one party.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s quite unprecedented, and it\u2019s very, very bad process on a lot of levels,\u201d Alice Rivlin, the founding director of the Congressional Budget Office, director of the Office Management and Budget under the Clinton Administration and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told TIME. \u201cTo pass a major healthcare bill with the votes of only one party is a big mistake. They should wait for the CBO score. It\u2019s bad PR, and it\u2019s bad politics.\u201d\n\nThe major impetus for the current push is a deadline to use a process known as reconciliation, which requires just a simple majority of 50 votes (with Vice President Mike Pence breaking the tie) to pass a bill. Earlier this month, the Senate parliamentarian set Sept. 30 as the deadline.\n\nBut earlier this week, the CBO issued a statement saying that it would only provide a \u201cpreliminary assessment\u201d of Graham-Cassidy\u2019s impact before the end of the month. Specific estimates of the bill\u2019s impact on the deficit, the number of insured Americans, and the cost of insurance premiums would take \u201cat least several weeks.\u201d\n\n\u201cI would say it\u2019s either never happened or it\u2019s extraordinarily unusual for legislation to be considered without a full CBO score, particularly under reconciliation,\u201d Frederick Isasi, executive director of Families USA, the nonprofit health advocacy organization, tells TIME. \u201cMany Republicans pride themselves on being fiscally conservative, so it\u2019s difficult to understand how they would be comfortable voting on sweeping legislation that will impact at least 90 million Americans without a full accounting from the CBO of all financial and coverage impacts.\u201d\n\nThis hasn\u2019t stopped Senate Republicans from moving ahead. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell intends to \u201cconsider Graham-Cassidy on the floor next week,\u201d his spokesman David Popp confirmed to TIME on Wednesday. When asked about the lack of a CBO score at a press conference, Senator Graham, the bill\u2019s eponymous co-sponsor, deflected, saying only that \u201cthe CBO has told us that they\u2019ll have a score for us, and it\u2019ll be on the cash aspect of it, so we\u2019ll have a chance to look at that.\u201d\n\nBut it may yet stop the bill. Republicans can afford only two defections in the Senate to keep the bill from failing, and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky has already made it clear that he won\u2019t vote for Graham-Cassidy. Three Republicans who voted against the last repeal attempt remain on the fence: Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.\n\nIn his dramatic late-night speech against that attempt, McCain complained that the bill wasn\u2019t going through the regular legislative process, and Collins has raised similar concerns this time around about Graham-Cassidy.\n\n\u201cI am still looking at it, but I have major reservations,\u201d Collins told reporters this week. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a CBO score.\u201d\n\nContact us at letters@time.com.", "output": "Senate Republicans have just days to pass a bill that would repeal major chunksof the Affordable Care Act, scale back federal spending on health care and\u00a0dramatically change health insurance\u00a0in the United States.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ted Baker brings ecommerce and payments tech in-store \n British retailer Ted Baker has partnered with e-commerce consultancy Salmon to offer a new payment solution which allows customers to order in a more secure way and pay for products that are unavailable in-store.\n\n\n\nThe new service enables employees to help customers shop in a more flexible way and have those products delivered to home, work or via Click and Collect at Ted Baker stores.\n\n\n\nCurrently being piloted in five London locations \u2013 Westfield, St. Pancras, Regent Street, Covent Garden and Floral Street \u2013 the solution is due to be rolled out across all UK and US stores, helping more than a thousand Ted Baker\u2019s employees.\n\n\n\nSales representatives will also be better empowered with the ability to help customers create new Ted Baker accounts to improve their in-store and online experiences, and to enable a quick, more secure checkout for orders, taking payments via PayPal Here card readers anywhere within the store.\n\n\n\nCraig Smith, digital commerce director at Ted Baker, said: \u201cWe recently opened our store in St. Pancras with limited storage facilities, so we wanted a solution that ensured our customers could still have the full Ted Baker shopping experience, even in our smaller stores. We wanted a seamless way to sell products to customers that they couldn\u2019t access in store. The solution needed to be slick so as not to jar our customers\u2019 experiences, and was also user-friendly for our employees.\u201d\n\n\n\nNeil Stewart, CEO at Salmon, added: \u201cAt a time when customers are demanding convenience from retailers, we\u2019re proud to be helping Ted Baker provide a solution for its customers that facilitates a seamless and integrated way of shopping.\u201d\n\nShare Story:\n\n", "output": "British clothing retailer Ted Baker is piloting an ecommerce and payments approach to in-store shopping. The service enables staff to help customers shop for items that are unavailable in-store, and is aimed at delivering a full shopping experience regardless of store size. A PayPal Here card reader system will help to provide a faster, secure checkout, with purchases delivered or picked up through the click and collect service at Ted Baker stores. Developed in partnership with e-commerce consultancy Salmon, the system is being tested at five stores around London before being rolled out across the UK and US."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Caregivers Draw Support By Mapping Their Relationships \n DENVER \u2014 Every time Jacque Pearson tried to devise a plan to move her 81-year-old dad, who has Alzheimer\u2019s, from his home in Boise, Idaho, to hers in Denver, she felt stuck. Then, two weeks ago, she had a breakthrough.\n\nIt happened at an AARP-sponsored session in which Pearson created a \u201cCareMap\u201d \u2014 a hand-drawn picture showing all the people she cares for as well as the people surrounding those individuals and her own sources of support.\n\nOn one side of the paper, Pearson sketched out her father\u2019s situation. There were three friends from Alcoholics Anonymous and his longtime doctor \u2014 the people he relies on most. There were three sisters and two sons in Arizona, not very involved. And there she was, the primary caregiver, far, far away.\n\nAs she peered at the drawing later that evening, Pearson saw what she had to do. \u201cI\u2019m going to contact each of his Alcoholics Anonymous friends and his doctor and ask them to convince my father to come to Colorado,\u201d she told me when I called a week later.\n\nHow could a quick sketch of stick figures (representing the people in her father\u2019s life), triangles (representing his medical providers), arrows (representing relationships between people) and box-like houses (where she and her father live) have this kind of impact?\n\nNAVIGATING AGING Navigating Aging focuses on medical issues and advice associated with aging and end-of-life care, helping America\u2019s 45 million seniors and their families navigate the health care system. To contact Judith with a question or comment, click here. For more KHN coverage of aging, click here.\n\nCareMaps are an intriguing new tool created by the Atlas of Caregiving, an ambitious project that hopes to gather comprehensive data about family caregivers. The project\u2019s pilot study examined 14 families in the San Francisco Bay Area who wore miniature cameras and sensors, kept a log of their activities and participated in extensive in-person interviews.\n\nOne of the goals was to understand what Rajiv Mehta, the project\u2019s founder, calls the \u201cecosystem of family caregiving, the relationships that surround caregivers and that shape their experiences.\u201d\n\nOne family caregiver might be at odds with her siblings but have a close group of friends she can turn to for emotional support as she cares for a disabled husband, for example. Another might be divorced but have a son living at home who can help with practical responsibilities as he cares for his mother with Parkinson\u2019s disease, who moved in a year ago. Yet another couple in their 60s, both struggling with serious illness, may rely primarily on their three children, all living nearby, but have few friends.\n\nHow could these webs of relationships \u2014 people who are caring for each other and who are cared for, in turn, by others \u2014 be portrayed? Interviewers started drawing them quickly as family members were speaking. Symbols were assigned to people, pets, health care professionals, facilities and households.\n\nOver time, refinements were added. Bidirectional arrows, for example, could show support flowing between people in both directions and the amount of assistance being provided (multiple times a day, daily, weekly or occasionally). Instructions for drawing CareMaps \u2014 anyone can give it a try \u2014 are available on the Atlas of Caregiving website.\n\nAt conferences, Mehta displayed some CareMaps and was surprised by the interest they generated. Somehow, seeing these pictures helped social workers, psychologists and other professionals understand what caregivers were experiencing in a different way.\n\nUse Our Content This KHN story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nIn California, the Santa Barbara Foundation launched a series of caregiving workshops last year, using the CareMaps tool. Carol Levine, who directs the United Hospital Fund\u2019s Families and Health Care Project and advises the Atlas of Caregiving, attended some of those sessions and was struck by how many participants seemed to have \u201caha moments.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s something visceral about making these pictures \u2014 it seems to open people\u2019s vision to a broader view of what they were doing as caregivers,\u201d she said.\n\nPhylene Wiggins, director of the community caregiving initiative at the Santa Barbara Foundation, recalled leading a group at one of the workshops. \u201cAfter people drew their CareMaps, we started going around the table and talking about their maps, and it was so heartbreaking,\u201d she remembered. \u201cOne by one, each caregiver said \u2018I am so alone.\u2019 \u2018I am so alone.\u2019 \u2018I am so alone.\u2019\u201d Encouraging those kinds of conversations and discovering ways to address that social isolation are among the foundation\u2019s priorities, she said.\n\nCynthia McNulty, a social worker at Family Service Agency in Santa Barbara County, said her agency is using CareMaps in individual and group counseling sessions as a conversation opener. \u201cMany of the people we work with, especially Latinos, don\u2019t even acknowledge themselves as caregivers,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is a useful way to shed light on the responsibilities they\u2019ve taken on and needs that might not be met.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no stigma attached: You\u2019re just drawing a picture, not complaining,\u201d she said.\n\nAARP is testing CareMaps in six cities this year \u2014 Charleston, S.C.; Denver; Houston; Los Angeles; Phoenix; and Tulsa, Okla. It may roll out workshops more widely next year, depending on feedback. And the Atlas of Caregiving is preparing a web-based version, set to debut by year\u2018s end or early next year, Mehta confirmed.\n\nIn Denver, Alice Jordan, 69, is the primary caregiver for her partner, Vickie, 64, who has multiple sclerosis. When she drew her CareMap recently, Jordan saw that almost nobody was supporting Vickie other than her brother Bob, the only one of four siblings who checks in to see how she\u2019s doing.\n\n\u201cMS isn\u2019t a warm-and-fuzzy type of illness,\u201d Jordan said, when I contacted her after attending one of the AARP sessions. \u201cI\u2019m going to call Bob and tell him how much we both appreciate him.\u201d\n\nFor her part, Jordan initially felt that the circle of people who care for her would be empty. \u201cWhen we started doing the diagram, it was like, \u2018Bloody hell, I don\u2019t have anybody,\u2019\u201d she said. But she found herself drawing Steve, a neighbor, who helps out when she goes out of town; Mary, a former colleague whom she walks with once a week; Onna, one of her sons whom she has lunch with regularly; Irene, a friend with Parkinson\u2019s disease who\u2019s always ready to talk; and her church, a source of comfort and connection.\n\n\u201cIt made me realize I had more support than I thought,\u201d Jordan said. And for that, she added, she\u2019s very grateful.\n\nWe\u2019re eager to hear from readers about questions you\u2019d like answered, problems you\u2019ve been having with your care and advice you need in dealing with the health care system. Visit kffhealthnews.org/columnists to submit your requests or tips.\n\nKHN\u2019s coverage related to aging & improving care of older adults is supported by The John A. Hartford Foundation and coverage of end-of-life and serious illness issues is supported by The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.\n\nKFF Health News' coverage of aging and long-term care issues is supported in part by The SCAN Foundation.", "output": "Every time Jacque Pearson tried to devise a plan to move her 81-year-old dad, who has Alzheimer\u2019s, from his home in Boise, Idaho, to hers in Denver, she felt stuck. Then, two weeks ago, she had a breakthrough.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook adds ways for marketers to reach offline audiences \n Facebook has introduced more ways to help marketers re-engage offline audiences.\n\nAccording to a blog post, since launching last year, thousands of companies have used Facebook\u2019s offline conversions tool to measure the impact their campaigns have on offline purchases. Now, these advertisers, which include Macy\u2019s, KFC and Dick\u2019s Sporting Goods, can build custom audiences from their offline conversion event sets comprised of consumers who have previously purchased offline.\n\nFacebook said these new types of audiences allow brands to re-engage customers based on their interactions through offline channels like stores or call centers. Brands can also create lookalike audiences to find new consumers that share characteristics with their best customers that shop offline.\n\nAdvertisers also have a number of options to connect offline data to digital campaigns, including manual uploads, the Facebook Offline Conversions API and integrations from partners.\n\nIn addition, Facebook\u2019s store visits reporting is an estimated metric based on data from consumers with location services enabled on their phones. This, in turn, allows businesses in more than a dozen countries to understand the impact of their ads on foot traffic.\n\n\u201cFacebook\u2019s store visits reporting helped us show an increase in restaurant traffic and higher sales during our Facebook campaign,\u201d said Steve Kelly, US director of media and digital at KFC, in a statement. \u201cSome campaigns have shown a cost per store visit ranging from $0.50-$2.00. Understanding the impact of our Facebook ads on foot traffic is putting us ahead of the curve from others in the industry in terms of proving ROI.\u201d\n\nAdvertisers that are eligible for store visits reporting can also create custom audiences of consumers who have recently visited their stores, which allows those brands to re-engage in-store audiences with more relevant campaigns, as well as to create lookalike audiences, Facebook said.\n\n\u201cNow with store visits custom audiences, we re-engaged customers who had visited one of our stores with a targeted Facebook ad at a profitable Omni-ROAS,\u201d said Tom Hassett, vice president of media at Dick's Sporting Goods, in the blog post. \u201cAnd, using lookalike audiences, created from people similar to those who visited our store, opened up a broader audience of new customers for us to reach, driving incremental foot traffic and sales.\u201d\n\nAccording to figures cited by Facebook, 90% of sales still take place in stores. And, the platform noted, nearly two-thirds of people are more likely to shop with a retailer that remembers their previous interactions and purchases across all channels.\n\n\"Businesses have long desired ways to understand how their digital ads can drive more offline value\u2014where most sales happen. With these products, businesses can get more from digital by re-engaging their offline shoppers with more relevant and meaningful campaigns on Facebook,\u201d added Gabriel Francis, product marketing manager at Facebook, in a statement.\n\nThe move makes good on a promise made by chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg. In a recent interview with The Drum, she said: \u201cThe more we can look at ad spend and what actually happens at the end of the day in terms of sales, the better off we will be, and we\u2019re increasingly focusing there. All those marketers really care about, is does it ring the cash register?", "output": "Facebook allows advertisers to build custom audiences consisting of consumers who have made purchases offline, in stores or over the phone. These custom audiences allow businesses to re-engage customers with advertising after the point of purchase, using data collected by Facebook\u2019s offline conversions tool. Advertisers can also use the tool to\u00a0create\u00a0\"lookalike\" audiences, consisting of\u00a0consumers who share characteristics with their best customers. According\u00a0Facebook, 90% of sales still take place in stores."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Etihad Airways to offer automated credit card payments \n Etihad Airways is the first airline in the region to offer fully-automated credit card installment plans in partnership with PayFort, an online payment service provider in the Arab region. The initiative allows Etihad Airways to offer consumers who book directly via Etihad.com that range from three to 60 months. 17 of the region\u2019s leading banks are taking part in the programme.\n\nJustin Warby, Vice President Digital Strategy and Innovation, Etihad Airways, said: \u201cEtihad is committed to continually enhancing the travel experience by providing greater choice and flexibility to our guests while ensuring we make it as easy and secure as possible to transact through our direct channels, including Etihad.com. By partnering with PayFort we\u2019re able to offer fully automated, best in class technology solutions provided by the industry leaders. We\u2019re taking a global outlook and bringing best practice to the region. \u201d\n\nWith over 20 payment methods available on its website, Etihad Airways offers diverse payment solutions to meet both global and local needs. Warby said this initiative was designed to assist low to medium income travellers and families by empowering them with the ability to book travel without the burden of having to pay for it up front. Etihad Airways created its specialised Digital Transformation & Innovation team as an in-house research, development solution delivery programme to lead the airline\u2019s digital transformation. Its mission is to turn Etihad Airways into the industry\u2019s leading, integrated airline capable of harnessing emerging technologies and capabilities, big data and innovation to create a product and service offering unique to the individual passenger.", "output": "Etihad Airways has partnered with PayFort, an online payment service provider in the Middle East, to offer fully automated credit card instalment plans to its customers. The initiative is aimed at low income travellers and families, enabling them to book without the need for an upfront payment, according to Justin Warby, vice president of digital strategy and innovation at Etihad. Seventeen of the\u00a0UAE's largest\u00a0banks will participate in the programme."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BYD and Daimler to extend Denza-branded EV range in China \n Daimler and BYD plan to expand their cooperation to bring new EV models to China as the market seeks to phase out fossil-fuel powered vehicles.\n\nBYD is discussing more investment in Shenzhen Denza New Energy Automobile, its 50:50 venture with Daimler, BYD's founder and chairman Wang Chuanfu told a group of reporters in the southern Chinese city on Thursday.\n\nThe two automakers are working together to add more models under the Denza brand, Wang said, without elaborating.\n\nCurrently the marque sells just one model, a five-seat sedan. Denza has been unprofitable since 2014, the year the model hit the market.\n\nThe EV maker, backed by Warren Buffett, is among companies preparing to benefit from a surge in demand for the non-polluting vehicles as China prepares to set a deadline to end production and sales of automobiles powered by gasoline and diesel. Besides policy incentives to promote sales of the cars, authorities will also study measures to ease curbs on foreign investment in new-energy vehicles, a commerce ministry spokesman said Thursday.\n\nDaimler has partnered with BYD to produce and sell electric cars under the brand Denza since 2012. BYD said in May it will increase the 500-million-yuan ($76 million) investment in the joint venture, with a matching contribution from Daimler as well.\n\nLike Daimler, automakers including Volkswagen Group have also partnered with local manufacturers, allowing them to put off setting up their own production lines from scratch.\n\nA report on Wednesday said China is discussing a plan to allow foreign carmakers to set up wholly owned EV businesses in a major departure from current rules which demand that they work with a Chinese counterpart.\n\nLeading sales\n\nBYD led makers of greener vehicles in the first seven months of this year, delivering 46,855 electric and plug-in hybrid cars, according to the China Passenger Car Association. Beijing Electric Vehicle, the EV division of state-owned BAIC Motor, followed with 36,084 units. By comparison, General Motors has sold 738 cars that run on electricity since it introduced the Velite 5 plug-in hybrid model at the Shanghai auto show this April.\n\nTo help reduce reliance on fuel imports and curb emissions, China has been rolling out various incentives to help speed up adoption of electric vehicles.\n\nRegulators are poised to unveil a policy that will require automakers to earn enough credits or buy them from competitors with a surplus under a new cap-and-trade program for fuel economy and emissions. An official said Sept. 9 that the government is working with regulators on a timetable to end sales of internal combustion engines.\n\nFrance, the UK and the Netherlands are other countries that have announced similar moves.\n\nPredicting China will likely order an end to sales of all polluting vehicles by 2030, Wang said BYD is considering supplying batteries to competitors as the industry faces production challenges during the switch in powertrains and also exploring joint investments. The company expects to announce the first contract by the end of the year, he said.\n\n\"We are talking to a lot of automakers on selling vehicle batteries and we have a big plan for that,\" said Wang. \"I am sure it will be a big business for us in the future.\"", "output": "Chinese car manufacturer BYD and Germany\u2019s Daimler plan to extend the range of electric vehicles (EVs) produced through their joint venture (JV), Shenzhen Denza. The Denza marque has not turned a profit since the launch of its debut and sole EV in 2014, however, in May, BYD announced plans for both parties to increase their investment in the JV, as China prepares to phase out production of fossil fuel-powered cars. For the seven months to end July, parent BYD led the Chinese market in EV and plug-in hybrids, delivering 46,855 units, outstripping its nearest rival by over 10,000 units."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Drugmakers face increasing litigation risk over opioids \n HENDERSON, Ky. (AP) \u2014 A Kentucky county is joining a multi-county, multi-state effort to sue opioid distributors to recoup costs associated with the drug epidemic.\n\nThe Henderson County Fiscal Court voted unanimously Tuesday pursue litigation, after a presentation by attorney Jeff Gaddy of Levin, Papantonio, Thomas, Mitchell, Rafferty and Proctor, P.A., one of the firms spearheading the lawsuit.\n\nGaddy told The Gleaner the lawsuit targets wholesale distributors who may not have complied with regulations. Ohio, West Virginia and Alabama have joined the lawsuit.\n\nGaddy says around 20 lawsuits have been filed in Kentucky thus far.\n\nThe agreement between the Henderson fiscal court and attorneys says the county will pay the firms 30 percent of any award, but won't bear upfront costs or have to pay if there's no monetary recovery.\n\n___\n\nInformation from: The Gleaner, http://www.thegleaner.com/", "output": "Drugmakers that produce and sell opioid painkillers are facing increasing litigation pressure, with a Kentucky county joining\u00a0the multi-county, multi-state effort to sue and recoup from these distributors. Now, 41 states are working together to investigate\u00a0the drugmakers;they\u00a0have issued subpoenas to Endo International, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceuticals and Allergan, and additional subpoenas to Purdue Pharma. Documents have also been demanded from distribution firms\u00a0AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson.\u00a0This comes as America's lethal prescription painkiller crisis is beginning\u00a0to spread globally, with nations like the UK seeing similar patterns of addiction.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California hit by biggest Hepatitis A outbreak in decades \n Nearly 450 people in San Diego have become infected with hepatitis A over the last 10 months, making it the largest outbreak of the illness in California in decades.\n\nOn Tuesday (Sept. 19), officials in San Diego said the number of hepatitis cases in the city had climbed to 444, up from 421 last week. Of those infected, 305 have been hospitalized, and 16 have died. (For comparison, the city had just 22 cases of hepatitis A in 2015.)\n\nAlso this week, Los Angeles declared its own hepatitis outbreak, with 10 cases reported so far. And Santa Cruz County, in northern California, has reported 69 cases of the virus since April. The outbreaks in all three areas are occurring primarily among people who are homeless or who use illegal drugs. But what's causing hepatitis to spread in these areas? [27 Devastating Infectious Diseases]\n\nIn general, people become infected with hepatitis A through the \"fecal-oral\" route \u2014 that is, when small amounts of stool from an ill person contaminate objects, food or drinks that are then touched and ingested by another person, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).\n\nSan Diego officials say the outbreak there is being spread from person to person \"through contact with a fecally contaminated environment.\" This type of contamination can occur when people with the illness don't properly wash their hands after going to the bathroom, according to the CDC.\n\nMore than 50 percent of hepatitis cases in San Diego are in homeless people, who are known to be at increased risk for hepatitis A, in part because homelessness presents challenges to keeping good hygiene, such as limited access to toilets and hand-washing facilities, according to a 2009 paper published in the journal Public Health Reports. Clusters of hepatitis A cases have also occurred in some facilities with shared restrooms, including jails and residential drug treatment facilities, San Diego officials said. The infection can also spread through the sharing of equipment related to illicit drug use, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.\n\nOn Sept. 1, San Diego declared a local public health emergency because of the hepatitis outbreak. The city has taken several steps to combat the outbreak, including vaccinating about 19,000 people against hepatitis A to prevent future illnesses, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Officials have also installed 40 hand-washing stations throughout the downtown area and have disinfected some city streets with bleach.\n\nThe strain of hepatitis involved in the San Diego outbreak is the same as the one in the Santa Cruz outbreak, which suggests the outbreaks are related, according to the County of San Diego's Public Health Services Division. (The strain involved in the LA outbreak has not been reported, but five of the LA cases involved people who visited either San Diego or Santa Cruz before their infection began, officials said.)\n\nThe hepatitis A virus can infect the liver and cause inflammation and damage to the organ, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Symptoms can include dark-yellow urine, fever, joint pain, nausea and vomiting. People with the infection usually get better on their own without treatment, the NIH says. But in some cases, the infection can lead to liver failure, particularly in older adults or people who have other liver diseases.\n\nIn general, the hepatitis A vaccine is recommended for children at age 1; travelers to countries that have high rates of hepatitis A; users of illegal drugs; people with chronic liver diseases, such as hepatitis C; men who have sexual contact with other men; and people who work with animals infected with hepatitis A, according to the CDC.\n\nBecause of the outbreak in San Diego, officials there are also recommending that people get the vaccine if they are homeless, have close contact with the homeless or illicit drug users, or work in jobs where they handle food. It's also recommended that any person who wants to obtain immunity against hepatitis A get the vaccine, San Diego officials said.\n\nOriginal article on Live Science.", "output": "California has been hit by its largest outbreak of Hepatitis A in decades, with nearly 450 people infected in San Diego in the past 10 months, of which 305 have been\u00a0hospitalised and 16 have died\u00a0from the illness. The\u00a0outbreak is being spread from person to person \"through contact with a fecally contaminated environment,\" say officials, particularly through\u00a0people not washing their hands after going to the bathroom. Over 50% of the cases are among the homeless, who are faced with difficulties maintaining good hygiene, as public restrooms are rare, and few in the state are open 24 hours."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Claims and drone technology drive insurtech development \n Insurance technology or \u2018InsurTech\u2019 has been pinned as a growing industry thanks to claim and drone startups, although it is faced with fundamental challenges, according to the latest Insurance Tech Report from CB Insights which analysed the performance of the global insurtech sector across Q2.\n\nInsurTech, a diversion of fintech focused around payment claims, reinsurance and insurance distribution, is valued at approximately US$170 billion (AU$215 billion) globally, the report said. Describing the sector as \u201cbooming with innovation\u201d, it was found that funding in the sector that had increased by 248 percent since last quarter, reaching a total of US$985 million (AU$1.25 billion) across 64 investments.\n\nSeries A and seed rounds accounted for US$289 million (AU$365 million) of the total funding, the highest amount raised in a single quarter to date \u2013 27 investments rounds were held by insurtech startups.\n\nSince 2012, US insurtechs have held a sizeable footing on the investment market, having been responsible for 65 percent of total transactions. The recent quarter, however, displays a shift in this trend, with US companies responsible for 45 percent of total transactions.\n\nThis change reflects a growing interest in nations outside the US such as Australia in insuretech startups, according to the report, which linked the increase to the booming investment total and 248 percent step up from the previous quarter.\n\nStartups working with new claims technology have emerged as a \u201cnew area of focus\u201d for investors, according to the report, with businesses such as Snapsheet closing a $12 million Series D round during Q2, the largest investment for the startup to date.\n\nBased in the US, Snapsheet is a self-service mobile app which allows users to gain an estimate of vehicle insurance claims by uploading a photo. Having raised $42.3 million total to date, Snapsheet aims to help insurers quickly sort through claims and increase customer satisfaction.\n\nThe report also highlighted drone startups as a key area driving growth in the insurtech industry. Startups such as Airware are using drones and backend platforms to gather \u201cinspection\u201d data for the purpose of insurance claims.\n\nThe US-based startup provides drones that businesses can fly to gather aerial imagery that is later analysed. While tailored to fulfil compliance and safety within mining and construction industries, the technology is also being popularised in insurance.\n\nAirware, which has raised $116 million to date, recently closed a round of investment for an undisclosed amount.\n\nApps which disrupt roadside assistance are another key area of growth for insurtech, with startups such as HONK Technologies developing platforms which allow customers to access tire change, fuel, tow and lockout services on demand. Focusing on trucks, the businesses are currently servicing more than 55,000 vehicles worldwide.\n\nThe challenge, however, for existing insurers to grow the sector, is that the insurance model does not lend itself to frequent interactions with customers. Considering that the sale and claim payment are the only points of contact, the report explained that the accessing insurance is \u201cnot always a positive experience\u201d.\n\nAccording to the report, industry executives estimate that a customer who undertakes a personal auto claim could be up to 40 percent less likely to renew their policy, regardless of the outcome.\n\nSource: Airwave.", "output": "Technological advances around insurance claims and drone usage is driving the growth of insurtech, according to a report from CB Insights. Overall, insurtech as an industry is valued at $170bn globally, the report noted. It cited US-based claims start-up Snapsheet and drone-tech firm Airware as examples of technology companies that have raised significant capital to-date.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "One fifth of central banks plan blockchain use by 2019 \n Central banks are pretty bullish on blockchain technology, according to a new study by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance. One in five central banks surveyed say they will deploy some form of blockchain tech within the next two years. Nearly 40% say the tech will be in use within a decade.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe central banks were surveyed as part of the Global Blockchain Benchmarking Study. A group of 25 central banks were included in the study, some surveyed directly by the authors, and others included based on public statements about their blockchain policies.\n\nThe main reason central banks appear to be excited about the technology is so that they can harness it to issue their own cryptocurrencies. Over 80% of central banks say they\u2019re researching the tech for that reason.\n\nBut what protocols, precisely, are central bankers tinkering with? It\u2019s no surprise that so-called permissioned ledgers are high on the list, but permissionless protocols such as ethereum and bitcoin put in a notable showing.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nOf course, central bankers being central bankers, most won\u2019t be drawn on how or when they\u2019ll put the tech in place. Nearly half said they couldn\u2019t predict a deployment timeframe for their blockchain initiatives.", "output": "One in five central banks say they will be utilising blockchain technology by 2019, according to a study from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance. The study, which surveyed 25 central banks, notes 40% of respondents believe the technology will be commonplace within the next decade. The majority of respondents said they are researching blockchain due to a desire to launch their own cryptocurrency. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CCleaner malware targeted large tech and telecoms firms \n File Photo\n\nThe threat actors behind the use of malware embedded in CCleaner have targeted large tech firms for their intellectual property.\n\nAccording to the security team at Cisco Systems, Cisco was only one of many companies that hackers attempted to compromise. Microsoft, Samsung, HTC, Sony, and Intel, among others, were potentially also at risk.\n\nThe CCleaner breach, disclosed earlier this week, involved cyberattackers modifying legitimate versions of the software to contain malware. It is estimated that the tainted version of the popular Android and Windows PC cleaner has been downloaded roughly 2.27 million times, or by up to three percent of overall users.\n\nPiriform, the makers of CCleaner, was snapped up by Avast in July this year. Avast believes the platform was targeted before the buyout was complete.\n\nThe affected version is 5.33.6162, designed for 32-bit Windows machines, released on August 15, as well as a version of CCleaner Cloud, released on August 24.\n\n\"The compromised version of CCleaner was released on August 15 and went undetected by any security company for four weeks, underscoring the sophistication of the attack,\" Avast said earlier this week. \"In our view, it was a well-prepared operation and the fact that it didn't cause harm to users is a very good outcome.\"\n\nThe malware's command-and-control (C&C) server was taken down once the threat was detected; however, Cisco said late on Wednesday that this is not the end of the story.\n\nAccording to the Cisco Talos security team, the C&C record shows a payload deployment list which includes a list of organizations \"specifically targeted through delivery of a second-stage loader.\"\n\nCisco\n\nBased on a review of the C&C's tracking database -- which covers only four days in September -- at least 20 victim machines from these companies were in line to be served secondary payloads.\n\n\"This would suggest a very focused actor after valuable intellectual property,\" the team says. \"These new findings raise our level of concern about these events, as elements of our research point towards a possible unknown, sophisticated actor.\"\n\nThe C&C server contained PHP files responsible for handling communication between infected PCs and threat actors. The server would implement a series of checks in order to avoid the efforts of security researchers as well as gather information from infected systems, such as OS version, architecture, and whether admin rights were in play. This information was then stored in an SQL database.\n\nIf a system met the malware's requirements, the second payload would be deployed to create a backdoor and potentially pave the way for attackers to steal information and spy on the target companies.\n\n\"The web server also contains a second PHP file (init.php) that defines core variables and operations used,\" Cisco says. \"Interestingly, this configuration specifies \"PRC\" as the time zone, which corresponds with People's Republic of China (PRC). It's important to note that this cannot be relied on for attribution.\"\n\nNo damage may have been detected as of yet, but the addition of these C&C instructions does suggest the breach is more serious than first believed. Targeting high-profile targets with a seemingly innocuous and innocent piece of software is a clever method, but seeking information from these groups suggests that the general public is not the true focus of the campaign.\n\nWhile Avast has recommended that consumers update to a clean version of the software and remove the tainted version, Cisco has gone further in recommendations to companies which may have been involved.\n\n\"Those impacted by this supply chain attack should not simply remove the affected version of CCleaner or update to the latest version, but should restore from backups or reimage systems to ensure that they completely remove not only the backdoored version of CCleaner but also any other malware that may be resident on the system,\" the company said.\n\nUpdate 11.56BST:\n\nAvast has published additional findings on the situation.\n\nIn a blog post, the security firm said 20 machines in a total of eight companies were targeted, \"but given that the logs were only collected for little over three days, the actual number of computers that received the 2nd stage payload was likely at least in the order of hundreds.\"\n\n\"This is a change from our previous statement, in which we said that to the best of our knowledge, the 2nd stage payload never delivered,\" Avast added.\n\nIn addition, the security firm says that the attack was a \"typical\" watering hole attack, which deployed malicious DLLs designed to inject malicious functionality into legitimate DLL systems.\n\nPrevious and related coverage", "output": "The malware that attacked popular free software tool CCleaner, affecting 2.27 million users earlier this week, appears to have specifically targeted large technology and telecoms companies, and attempted to harvest intellectual property for possible commercial- or state-level espionage. Avast, which owns CCleaner, has not released the names of the targeted firms, however, it has said they were based in Japan, Taiwan, Germany, the US and the UK.\u00a0Cisco Systems security team said Cisco was only one of many companies that hackers attempted to compromise, with\u00a0Microsoft, Samsung, HTC, Sony, and Intel, among others,\u00a0also\u00a0potentially\u00a0at risk."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UN hosts event to discuss global guidelines for drones \n The aviation arm of the United Nations is sponsoring a two-day event in Montreal, where participants like Amazon Inc., the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Boeing Co., General Electric Co., two leading industry trade associations, and researchers from China and Brazil will gather to meet about the booming drone industry.\n\n\u201c(The event) isn\u2019t likely to produce specific rules or even a consensus around general principles. It\u2019s not intended to prompt any country to immediately adopt new regulations,\u201d the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.\n\n\u201cThe default response in many countries is a blanket ban on flying,\u201d which further frustrates both recreational and commercial users, Stephen Creamer, International Civil Aviation Organization\u2019s top safety official, told the WSJ.\n\nThe UN is also backing ICAO\u2019s proposal to create a global drone registry, which would create a \u201cone-stop shop\u201d for law enforcement to access all drone data and information, as opposed to multiple databases.", "output": "Representatives from NASA, Boeing, Amazon and General Electric are among the organisations set to discuss the blossoming drone industry during a two-day meeting in Montreal, sponsored by the UN's International Civil Aviation Organisation. While the talks represent initial discussions\u00a0rather than a formal attempt to legislate, the meeting is an opportunity for the UN to advance its ambition\u00a0to create\u00a0a global drone registry.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lower valuations are causing sales to fail, says Bank of England \n Post navigation\n\nIncreasing numbers of transactions collapsed in the third quarter as surveyors down-valued properties, the Bank of England says.\n\nThe central bank\u2019s latest summary of business conditions, based on feedback on the economy among 12 regional estate agents, said the housing market has softened, especially in higher price brackets.\n\nThe feedback from regional agents said: \u201cThere were more reports of transactions falling through due to surveyors down-valuing properties, reflecting concerns about falling prices.\u201d\n\nThe report also warned that while mortgages have become cheaper, home loans are only going to those with the cleanest credit record.\n\nIt said: \u201cHelp to Buy was regarded as crucial to sustaining demand among first-time buyers. In the residential mortgage market, both lender and broker contacts reported that competition remained intense, driven by new market entrants and low funding costs.\n\n\u201cHowever, this competition was mainly concentrated on customers with the cleanest credit history. More customers were taking out fixed-rate deals; mortgages with longer terms, in many cases over 30 years, were becoming more popular.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile, a report by the Resolution Foundation think tank has highlighted the struggle millennials \u2013 those born in the early 1980s \u2013 face when getting on the property ladder compared with previous generations.\n\nThe research says millennials are four times more likely to rent and half as likely to own their own property than baby boomers \u2013 those born between 1946 and the mid-1960s \u2013 at their age. Millennials also spend on average 23% of their income on housing compared with 17% among the post-war generation.\n\nThe report warns that the younger generation also face higher housing costs, smaller properties and longer commutes.\n\nLindsay Judge, senior policy analyst at the Resolution Foundation, said: \u201cAcross the generations, many are worried about why today\u2019s young adults have it so hard when finding a secure place to live.\n\n\u201cBritain\u2019s housing catastrophe has been 50 years in the making, but while its effects are widespread it is millennials who are truly at the sharp end. For older generations, at least rising housing costs have been accompanied by improvements in the quality and security of housing, as more families have been able to own their home.\n\n\u201cThe big danger today is that young people are having to settle for lower quality, longer commutes and less security in order to afford a place to live, despite spending a record share of their income on housing.\n\n\u201cIt is vital that all political leaders recognise the scale of Britain\u2019s housing crisis which is placing an ever greater strain on families\u2019 living standards, so that their response is suitably radical.\u201d", "output": "An increased amount of transactions collapsed in the third quarter as surveyors lowered their valuations on properties, adding to concerns about falling prices. According to the Bank of England\u2019s latest report on business conditions, based on feedback from 12 regional estate agents, the housing market has softened, especially in higher price brackets. The report also warned that although mortgages have become cheaper, they are only going to those with the best\u00a0credit records. The report also found that millennials\u00a0spend 23% of their income on housing compared with\u00a017% in previous generations. It added:\u00a0\"Britain\u2019s housing catastrophe has been 50 years in the making.\"\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Natwest economist predicts more renters than owners by 2024 \n Post navigation\n\n\u2018A major cultural shift in home ownership is on the horizon, with more private renters than mortgaged home owners within just a few years.\n\nBy 2025, the number of mortgaged households will be just under 6m, while the number of households in private rental accommodation will be a whisker more, at 6m.\n\nThe forecast comes from NatWest senior economist Sebastian Burnside, who says the cross-over will happen in late 2024.\n\nHe said: \u201cWe think it\u2019s a fairly comfortable bet that by 2025 we will have more households renting privately than owning their homes with a mortgage, which is a big cultural shift for a country like the UK and something that\u2019s being driven by those underlying demographics.\u201d\n\nThere are already more people owning a home outright than people buying with a mortgage, and the number of outright home owners will continue to climb.\n\nSince 2013, outright home ownership has been the biggest form of housing tenure in the UK. By 2024, about 9m households will own their homes outright.\n\nThe number of households in social rental accommodation will edge downwards, from 4m today to just under that figure.\n\nBurnside said that fewer people are taking out mortgages because of the differences between their incomes and house prices.\n\nHowever, baby boomers are increasingly able to pay off their mortgages.\n\nBurnside said that as the private rented sector grows, lenders need to rethink their repossession strategies.\n\nAt the moment, lenders treat home owners who fall into mortgage arrears with more leniency than buy-to-let landlords unable to keep up payments. Defaulting landlords usually have their properties possessed within months.\n\nHowever, Burnside said that possessing landlords\u2019 properties swiftly was problematic for tenants with ties in the area, or children at school.\n\nhttp://www.mortgageintroducer.com/private-renters-will-common-mortgaged-homeowners-2025/#.WcPIGkqGNj0", "output": "The number of UK households in rented accommodation is set to exceed that of those with a mortgage within eight years, according to NatWest Senior Economist Sebastian Burnside. The growing disparity between\u00a0income and house prices is causing a boom in the rental sector, said Burnside, adding that lenders need\u00a0to rethink the repossession process in light of this changing cultural dynamic, since home owners tend to be dealt with less harshly than landlords.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Duke Energy to invest $30m in two battery storage facilities \n Duke Energy is investing $30 million into the two biggest battery storage projects in North Carolina -- a first for the regulated arm of the Charlotte-based utility.\n\n\u201cWe feel the technology has improved, the price has come down, and we think there are some niche applications where battery use makes sense for the regulated utility,\u201d said Duke spokesperson Randy Wheeless. \u201cIn a regulated environment, you have to justify these projects to a commission, and usually least cost is an overriding factor there.\u201d\n\nThe projects may indicate new interest in storage among regulated utilities, as battery prices continue to fall.\n\nBoth of Duke\u2019s projects -- a 9-megawatt project in Asheville and a 4-megawatt project in Hot Springs -- will use lithium-ion technology. While lithium prices are currently spiking, battery prices are bottoming out.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s all about the economics,\u201d said Stephen Kalland, executive director at the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center.\n\nDuke said the Asheville storage project will provide real-time grid support services and the Hot Springs project will improve reliability for the community. Down the line, a solar facility may be added in Hot Springs as well.\n\nAccording to Wheeless, the utility sees battery storage as an economic way to alleviate grid stress in rapidly-growing areas, or improve delivery in remote areas.\n\nWestern North Carolina, dotted by the Appalachians, hosts many remote communities where providing service can be more challenging. For example, Duke operates a remote communications tower in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It runs on a microgrid with solar and a zinc-air battery, a more cost-effective solution than running poles and wires up a mountain.\n\n\u201cWestern North Carolina is an ideal spot to use this technology to serve remote areas, or where extra resources are needed to help the existing energy infrastructure,\u201d said Robert Sipes, vice president of Duke\u2019s Western Carolinas Modernization project, in a statement.\n\nUtility-scale storage is growing at a rapid rate. But it's still rare for regulated utilities. According to Ravi Manghani, director of energy storage at GTM Research, only a few dozen regulated utilities have deployed grid-scale storage.\n\nRegulated utilities, excluding public utilities, so far have deployed 35 megawatts of storage capacity. Duke's 9-megawatt storage system will be the largest rate-based project.\n\n\u201cIn that sense, it puts Duke in the top ranks,\u201d said Manghani.\n\nHowever, the $30 million for storage is a relatively small portion of the $1.1 billion the company is devoting to the Western Carolina Modernization project.\n\n\u201cThey do have to be commended for investing in these assets,\u201d said Manghani. \u201cBut I think from a much broader perspective, it\u2019s going to be just one of the many assets they\u2019re going to invest in.\u201d\n\nDuke joins utilities like Tucson Electric Power, Arizona Public Service, and Southern California Edison that are making storage more central to their services. Duke already has a 36-megawatt storage facility, the Notrees Battery Storage Project, connected to a wind farm in West Texas. That project was developed by Duke's unregulated arm.\n\n\u201cA lot of regulated utilities don\u2019t have them in their territory now, but have seen the promise of battery storage technology and may be looking at projects of their own,\u201d said Wheeless. \u201cSeeing Duke move forward will cause them to look and see how it may benefit them.\u201d\n\nIt's also a sign of a real culture shift in the region.\n\n\u201cThat fact that we\u2019ve gone from Duke Energy using old coal-fired power plants in that region in the state, to a mix of gas turbines and energy storage I think is a good sign,\u201d said Kalland. \u201cAnd probably a harbinger of things to come, not just from Duke, but from other utilities.\u201d\n\nJoin GTM for a deep dive into the budding domestic energy storage market at the U.S. Energy Storage Summit 2017. Utilities, financiers, regulators, technology innovators, and storage practitioners will all come together for two full days of data-intensive presentations, analyst-led panel sessions with industry leaders, and extensive, high-level networking.", "output": "Duke Energy is to invest $30m into two of the biggest battery storage projects in North Carolina in a first for the regulated arm of the utility. The projects signal a culture shift in the region as battery prices continue to fall,\u00a0indicating increased interest in battery storage among regulated utilities. \u201cThat fact that we\u2019ve gone from Duke Energy using old coal-fired power plants in that region in the state, to a mix of gas turbines and energy storage I think is a good sign,\u201d said Stephen Kalland, executive director at the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Drone insurance showcases on-demand model \n EVEN at weddings or whale watches, the buzz of a drone is no longer a surprise. Drone photography is booming. Gartner, a consultancy, says some 174,000 drones will be sold for commercial use around the world this year, and 2.8m to consumers. It is easy to imagine a few might fall out of the sky, causing damage the pilot cannot hope to pay for: crushed wedding cakes, injured spectators and so on. Amid scores of near-misses, several incidents have already occurred. In 2014, for example, a drone filming a triathlon in Australia crashed on a competitor\u2019s head.\n\nClearly, drone-users need insurance. Typically, risks are insured through the payment of an annual premium. Insure4drones, a British specialist, charges \u00a3738.86 ($1,000) to cover a DJI Phantom, a bestselling drone, for a year. From October Flock, a London startup, will offer insurance on a flight-by-flight basis, at the push of a button in an app, to any commercial drone-operator in Britain. Cover for amateur pilots will soon follow. Costs will be about \u00a35 per hour of flight, according to Allianz, an underwriter.\n\nFlock\u2019s app relies on a wide range of data. Weather forecasts come from IBM, a computing giant which, having spent over $2bn on The Weather Company in 2015, now offers forecasts to within a few hundred metres, and over a period of minutes. Live information about nearby aircraft is provided by a software company called Snowflake, which tracks aeroplanes around the planet. Flock also considers local topography, such as proximity to churches, hospitals and schools, as well as roads and traffic levels. It also monitors the drone itself, gathering data as it flies to build a risk profile for that machine. All these numbers are crunched when a customer requests insurance through the app. As well as offering a quote, the app tells pilots how to reduce their risks.\n\nAllianz then converts Flock\u2019s data-driven risk scores into a price. The attraction for Allianz is acquiring customers cheaply. \u201cRather than humans sitting and writing business, the algorithm does it on the spot,\u201d says Tom Chamberlain, who manages its aviation underwriting.\n\nConventional insurance works by pooling individual risks and then setting a price for that group\u2014new drivers under 30, say. But that process can be much refined if the objects and people being insured can report to the insurer automatically, and if there is a wealth of data on the external environment. As an ever-growing number of sensors\u2014in phones or watches, drones or cars\u2014gather ever-greater volumes of data, more and more activities can be assessed for real-time risk (though in the absence of pooling, some risks may become prohibitively expensive to insure).\n\nFlock is not alone. Verifly, a New York startup, competes with it in America. Root, a car insurer, offers drivers insurance based on their minute-to-minute behaviour behind the wheel. It even offers a discount to Tesla drivers if their car spends plenty of time in autonomous mode. Slice, a San Francisco startup, lets its customers insure their houses and cars for the time they are used on services such as Uber and Airbnb. Trov, also from San Francisco, insures personal possessions for short periods.\n\nFlock\u2019s chief executive, Ed Klinger, says that he eventually wants to insure all kinds of future autonomous activities, from taxi rides to rolling delivery pods. He argues that selling insurance through annual premiums is inflexible. It less easily takes advantage of the large volume of live data that can now help estimate the risk posed by a given activity at a given time. For instance, a passenger in an autonomous taxi may be at far lower risk if the trip takes place outside rush hour, or in weather conditions in which the car performs at its best. Firms that dispatch delivery drones might use Flock to calculate the risk for each flight automatically, depending on cargo and address.\n\nThe business model is in its infancy, but on-demand insurance seems bound to grow. In a world where consumers expect push-button convenience from their services, they will demand the same of the insurance those services rely on.", "output": "Data-collecting companies have teamed up with insurers to offer on-demand coverage for drones, potentially paving the way for similar products to be offered for other insurable assets. Firms like Flock make use of weather patterns, aeroplane movements and local topography to help insurers devise coverage that drone users can access on a flight-by-flight basis. The alternative to annual premiums could also be used to insure elements of the sharing economy, such as ride- or home-sharing. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hong Kong, UK regulators team up for fintech oversight \n The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has entered into a co-operation agreement with the Hong Kong Insurance Authority (IA) designed to enhance collaboration in supporting Fintech innovation. The FCA explains the agreement includes information sharing and mutual referrals of Fintech firms looking to enter into either market.\n\nThe principle role of the IA is to tegulate and supervise the insurance industry for the promotion of the general stability of the insurance industry and for the protection of existing and potential policy holders.\n\nChristopher Woolard, Executive Director of Strategy and Competition at the FCA, said that by working together regulators can boost innovations in Fintech;\n\n\u201cWe look forward to working closely with the IA to promote innovation and enhance synergy for both markets, which will in turn benefit our consumers and financial industry as a whole,\u201d said Woolard.\n\nJohn Leung, Chief Executive Officer of the IA, said the agreement would foster Fintech development globally and help Fintech firms expand beyond their home jurisdiction.\n\n\u201cThe IA will consider signing similar cooperation agreements with insurance regulators in other jurisdictions,\u201d added Leung.\n\nThe FCA has concluded similar agreements with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Securities and Futures Commission, to provide a full spectrum of co-operation and assistance in Fintech innovation in the banking, securities and insurance sectors in both the UK and Hong Kong markets. The FCA has been at the forefront of establishing bilateral agreements around the world with the intent of aiding cooperation and promoting innovation in financial services.\n\n[scribd id=359512481 key=key-gxF59ERxAObvfveElhMN mode=scroll]", "output": "Regulatory bodies in the UK and Hong Kong have signalled an intent to work together in supporting fintech innovation. The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Hong Kong Insurance Authority (IA) have signed a co-operative agreement, which both bodies say is aimed at allowing fintech start-ups to expand beyond their home base."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Zenefits changes tune on brokerage ambitions \n Dive Brief:\n\nZenefits is a turning a new page, getting out of the brokerage business and instead collaborating with brokers as a \"backbone\" technology provider, according to a release emailed to HR Dive.\n\nThe Zenefits Certified Broker Program's first partner is OneDigital, one of the nation's larger benefits companies. The partnership allows OneDigital to use Zenefits platform while giving Zenefits clients access to local brokers across the country. Zenefits also announced other partnerships, including other vendors and apps on their marketplace.\n\nThis move is the latest by the re-emergent tech company to recover and stabilize after the scandal that wracked the company in late 2015 and early 2016 over the licensing of brokers on the company's platform. \" What we need to focus on is being a killer tech platform that is easy use and efficient as possible,\" Kevin Marasco, Zenefits chief marketing officer, told HR Dive.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nMike Sullivan, chief growth officer for OneDigital, told HR Dive he sees the partnership as a strong sign that the benefits tech field is reaching a stage of greater collaboration and consolidation \u2014 something that may make the field a bit easier for HR managers to navigate.\n\nFor those that have been watching Zenefits, the pivot makes sense. Zenefits' problems weren't with its technology platform, but with an aspect of the HR benefits field that is heavy in compliance and regulation. The company paid a $7 million fine in California for licensing and training violations after insurance regulators alleged employees at the firm sold insurance without licenses and used software to skip required training.\n\nThe entanglement between the benefits-side and technology-side is familiar to those that have been in the bentech space for some time.\n\n\"I think there\u2019s a lot of HR tech companies that find themselves pulled into dealing with benefits, or dealing with tech. But almost across the board, whether it is HR tech or benefits, they tend to do one thing very well and other things they don\u2019t do very well,\" Sullivan said. \"A lot of firms are talking about one-stop-shopping. In reality, no one can do that.\"\n\nZenefit's goal is to become an HR tech platform akin to Salesforce that serves as the \"backbone\" other HR tech companies can partner with and integrate into, Marasco said. If anything, the company has learned over the past few years that they \"don't have to do it all.\"\n\n\"A lot of people have approached this in silos, but we are trying to have a more people-focused approach and not a process-centric approach,\" Marasco said. \"We want to create a seamless approach for people but still have the flexibility they need.\"", "output": "Zenefits, a US-based workplace benefits provider, which previously positioned itself as a technology-driven brokerage platform, is re-positioning itself as a technology provider to insurance brokers. The company has had past issues, being investigated and later fined over insurance agent and broker training for personnel on its platform. Zenefits' first partner as a technology provider to brokers will be benefits provider OneDigital. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ECB signals greater liquidity requirements for fintech banks \n \u201cHigh-tech,\u201d or fintech banks may be required to hold higher capital buffers and larger liquidity when entering Europe, the European Central Bank said in draft licensing guidelines today.\n\nThis is to counter some of the risk these banks might bring into already mature financial markets (risks that are somewhat more unique than those presented by traditional banks), the ECB said.\n\nAs fintech grows around the globe, and factors such as the Brexit send banks looking for additional headquarters, many European countries are seeking to draw in these new companies.\n\nThe ECB has granted six banking licenses for fintechs this year, with another two applications still pending. This license is unnecessary for fintechs who don\u2019t want to assume that traditional duty of banking, collecting deposits.\n\nAside from bigger capital buffers, fintech banks will also be required to demonstrate \u201cIT competence\u201d to the ECB. Fintech banks could also be asked to come up with a plan to fold themselves down in an \u201corderly\u201d manner, as reported by the NY Times.\n\nRead more at Reuters and the NY Times.", "output": "The European Central Bank (ECB) has indicated it may require fintech banks to hold additional capital buffers and greater liquidity when entering the European market. The concern is over the potential unrest these entities could pose to the European banking system. Six banking licenses have been granted to fintech banks in Europe this year. Many European centres are looking to attract fintech entities with the UK's impending exit from the European Union meaning many start-ups are looking for EU-based headquarters. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurer told it had duty to defend recycler in pollution case \n By Rick Archer (September 12, 2017, 4:34 PM EDT) -- Westfield Insurance Co. asked an Indiana federal judge Monday to reject a summary judgment motion from the neighbors of a recycling plant who are seeking the insurer's contribution to a more than $50 million judgment in their class action over pollution, saying that they have no grounds to block its policy defense....\n\nStay ahead of the curve\n\nIn the legal profession, information is the key to success. You have to know what\u2019s happening with clients, competitors, practice areas, and industries. Law360 provides the intelligence you need to remain an expert and beat the competition.\n\nAccess to case data within articles (numbers, filings, courts, nature of suit, and more.)\n\nAccess to attached documents such as briefs, petitions, complaints, decisions, motions, etc.\n\nCreate custom alerts for specific article and case topics and so much more!\n\nTRY LAW360 FREE FOR SEVEN DAYS", "output": "Westfield Insurance has asked an Indiana federal judge to reject the summary judgement by neighbours of the VIM recycling plant that calls for the insurer to contribute to the more than $50m judgement as a result of their class action suit over pollution. The neighbours argued that Westfield broke its contract with VIM when it failed to defend the company from their suit. Westfield however argued that a prior court ruling had relieved the insurer of its duty to VIM, and that the neighbours had no right to claim breach of contract that they were not a party to."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "University of London teams up with Coursera to launch VR courses \n Coursera launched its first series of courses on Virtual Reality developed by the University of London.\n\nThe Virtual Reality Specialisation, comprising five course modules, has been developed by Dr Sylvia Pan and Dr Marco Gillies from Goldsmiths, University of London, based on a combined 25 years\u2019 experience in some of the world\u2019s most prominent Virtual Reality research labs.\n\nTheir expertise in Virtual Reality centres on the generation of interactiveand engaging virtual characters, one of the focus areas in the new Specialisation they teach on Coursera.\n\n\u201cMany of the mistakes made by Virtual Reality content creators come from not understanding the psychology of how VR works and what it means for how we create content, which is an important feature of this Specialisation,\u201d said Dr Marco Gillies \u201cIn Virtual Reality users need to physically interact so they feel present in the surrounding environment. This means other characters must respond in the same way they would in the real world. These courses combine theory \u2013 the basic psychology of how VR works \u2013 with practical production skills. All the time learners are doing the practical work, they are also having to think about the psychology behind it.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnother important part of this Specialisation is Social VR. Social interactions in Virtual Reality are such a powerful experience; Users are sharing the space with someone who is life size, so the body language works in a way it doesn\u2019t on a regular screen.\u201d\n\nLearners in this Specialisation will get hands-on experience using many of the leading technology tools for Virtual Reality content development, and in particular the world leading game development project Unity.\n\n\u201cThe potential for Virtual Reality to change the way we work, learn, and play is significant, but we need more people educated in VR technologies and design to get there,\u201d said Jessica Lindl, Unity\u2019s Global Head of Education. \u201cThis series of courses from the University of London is a great example of a credential that can really help anyone interested in applying Virtual Reality in the work that they do.\u201d\n\nDr Sylvia Pan, Lecturer in Graphics at Goldsmiths, University of London, said, \u201cThe launch of the Virtual Reality Specialisation presents a real opportunity to use online learning to grow the number of people equipped with the skills required to become VR content creators. Learners will take the skills developed in each of the preceding courses and put these into practice to develop their own Virtual Reality game.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe development of Virtual Reality courses is pivotal to cementing the role the technology will play in everyday life and across enterprises. The creative industry has naturally become the first sector to integrate Virtual Reality. However, the potential applications range across many industries, including healthcare, engineering, online collaboration, and more. The medium of Virtual Reality is developing rapidly and those making content now are creating the fundamentals of the technology. We are really excited that our learners will be able to contribute to the future of Virtual Reality.\u201d", "output": "Online course provider Coursera has partnered with the University of London to launch a series of virtual reality (VR) courses. The courses were developed by Dr Sylvia Pan and Dr Marco Gillies of Goldsmiths, University of London, who collectively share 25 years\u2019 experience working in some of the world\u2019s leading VR\u00a0labs.\u00a0\u201cThe development of Virtual Reality courses is pivotal to cementing the role the technology will play in everyday life and across enterprises\u201d, said Dr Pan.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurance firm has data on 880 million Chinese users \n Insurance company says investors who inflate income can be identified through new technologies\n\n(File photo of Sina.com.cn)\n\nInvestors who inflate their income can be identified through new technologies, said Yang Jun, deputy chief risk officer of the Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd., at a conference on Sept. 20, Thepaper.cn reported.\n\nA senior executive of the company said that they can help financial institutions identify eligible investors using five technologies: biological recognition, big data and risk management, block chain, artificial intelligence, and cloud technology, as they have obtained data on 880 million Chinese users so far.\n\nThe new technologies can help match product risks with investors\u2019 risk tolerance, Yang noted.\n\nChief product officer of the company, Ou Haiying, explained that the company can judge the credit line of customers based on collected data ranging from their ages, income levels, genders, and telephone expenses.\n\nHe added that the company is currently focused on research into intelligent cognition. Since biological recognition technology like fingerprint identification and facial recognition is likely to be broken, the company will try to integrate voiceprint recognition with facial recognition and identity information.\n\nAs for the next step, the company will be committed to doing research on micro expressions as a way to help financial institutions judge customers\u2019 honesty. And in the future, it will be likely delve into biometric recognition technologies like vein recognition and iris recognition, according to Ou.", "output": "A Chinese insurance company claims to have collected data from 880 million users in China. Ping An Insurance Company said it can use five technologies - biological recognition, big data and risk management, blockchain, artificial intelligence, and cloud technology - to assess customer risk profiles, which could help in product matching. The firm also intends to research micro-expression recognition, which could allow it to better assess a customer's honesty."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AMD and Tesla to co-develop processors for self-driving car \n Telsa is reportedly developing its own AI chip for automated cars with AMD.\n\nSanjay Jha, CEO of GlobalFoundries, a spin-off of AMD, spilled the beans at its conference in Santa Clara, California, CNBC reports. GlobalFoundries later said Jha didn't mean to explicitly name Tesla as a partner, but was instead pointing to Tesla as an \"example\" of a company working with chipmakers.\n\nBut the presence of Jim Keller\u2014former chip designer for Apple, AMD, and Honda\u2014at Tesla has fueled speculation that Tesla and GlobalFoundries are indeed working together. A source for CNBC adds that Tesla has received samples of the first implementation of its AI processor and is running tests now.\n\nTesla's current vehicles use Nvidia GPUs to power its Autopilot self-driving system. By making its own chips, Tesla would be able control costs, something it will need to do to meet its CEO-imposed deadline of fully automated cars by 2019.\n\nFully automated cars that match up to the Level 5 standard\u2014i.e. no human input required to drive it\u2014will need a lot of computing power in order to run cameras, spatial sensors, and mapping processes. And if they're going to be rolling off of the production lines at scale, they're going to have to be cheap, too.\n\nIn February, GlobalFoundries VP of IoT Rajeev Rajan said his company's 22nm FDX process was instrumental in delivering the world's first insulator for an Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) SoC, capable of handling \"360-degree top view, road-sign recognition, lane departure warning, driver distraction warning, blind spot detection, surround vision, flicker mitigation for digital mirroring, pedestrian detection, cruise control and emergency braking.\"\n\nWhile ADAS SoC's are not new, the key thing here is the costs savings. At CES 2017, Alain Mutricy, senior vice president for product management at GlobalFoundries, said the 22nm FDX process delivers similar performance to an advanced 14nm FinFET non-planar transistor at the cost of a more basic 28nm planar.", "output": "AMD-owned semiconductor manufacturer GlobalFoundries is rumoured to be working with\u00a0Tesla, following comments made by CEO Sanjay Jha at a recent conference in Santa Clara. Jim Keller, former chipmaker at\u00a0AMD, was also spotted at Tesla recently, sparking speculation. The partnership would alleviate Tesla's current reliance on Nvidia GPUs in its vehicles, allowing it to reduce costs, which in turn\u00a0could help the firm meet its deadline of producing entirely self-driving cars by 2019.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brigham Young team uses Wikipedia hack to give robots context \n Daniel Ricks, David Wingate, Nancy Fulda and Ben Murdoch. Credit: Tabitha Sumsion/BYU\n\nWalk into a room, see a chair, and your brain will tell you that you can sit in it, tip it over or lift it up, but you wouldn't even consider drinking it, promoting it or unlocking it. As humans, explains Brigham Young University computer science professor David Wingate, we know intuitively that certain verbs pair naturally with certain nouns, and we also know that most verbs don't make sense when paired with random nouns.\n\n\"Consider the monitor on your desk: you can look at it, you can turn it on, you can even pick it up or throw it, but you cannot impeach it, transpose it, justify it or correct it,\" said Wingate. \"You can dethrone a king or worship him or obey him, but you cannot unlock him or calendar him or harvest him.\"\n\nThat intuition, for the most part, doesn't exist with computer artificial intelligence agents, who are good at identifying objects but less so in knowing what to do with them. So Wingate and three student researchers, including lead author Nancy Fulda, developed a method for teaching agents about affordances\u2014the set of actions that can be done with an object. They recently presented their work at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence.\n\nThe team's ambitious end goal is to help build androids that can walk around the world and interact with it intelligently. Such an android \"has incredible potential to do good, to help people,\" said Fulda, who is finishing her Ph.D. in computer science. An example she gives is elderly care: a robot who is told to \"get me my glasses\" could figure out what glasses look like, where they're likely to be, how heavy they are, how best to lift them and how to get them to the person requesting them.\n\nAs it stands right now, explains BYU computer science undergrad and research co-author Ben Murdoch, there are plenty of artificial intelligence agents who can identify what they're looking at, but they can't go beyond the ID: they might know they're looking at a phone but don't necessarily know what a phone is good for.\n\n\"When machine learning researchers turn robots or artificially intelligent agents loose in unstructured environments, they try all kinds of crazy stuff,\" said Murdoch. \"The common-sense understanding of what you can do with objects is utterly missing, and we end up with robots who will spend thousands of hours trying to eat the table.\"\n\nBecause the hand-coding needed to help an agent understand which verbs make sense with which nouns would be a laborious, slow-moving process, BYU's research team instead found a way to put linear algebra and Wikipedia to use. Understanding that Wikipedia offers a vast corpus of mostly up-to-date language use, they downloaded it, ran it through a previously established algorithm that looks at words in their contexts, \"and voila! The computer is equipped with common-sense knowledge about things that make sense,\" said Wingate, who recently received a National Science Foundation Career Award to help fund his artificial intelligence work.\n\nFor this project, the team tested their method in a series of text-based adventure games, which allow a player and agent to have back and forth text interactions, with the agent offering a situation and the player responding with a written phrase. Their method improved the computer's performance on 12 out of 16 games.\n\nEven with help from Wikipedia, the team's agent makes mistakes with its language use. But he's made progress: unlike he tried to do in one of their early games, \"he doesn't bulldoze Santa,\" said Fulda. \"I love it when the agent does something that surprises me in a good way. I'm like, it did it: it figured it out all by itself. It's kind of like watching your child take their first steps.\"\n\nThere's plenty of work still to be done before reaching the team's end goal of having a functioning android, said co-author and BYU computer science master's student Daniel Ricks. \"But it's really exciting to see the progress we've made.\"", "output": "A student team from Brigham Young University has used Wikipedia to teach an artificial intelligence (AI) to understand linguistic context. AI is very effective when operating in the environments it was\u00a0trained in, but performs poorly in unstructured and unfamiliar situations, since it\u00a0lacks a\u00a0common-sense understanding of how objects and ideas relate to one another. The team found that\u00a0Wikipedia was a very effective tool for teaching an AI how words were related, which improved the machine's ability to decipher its surroundings."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Dutch co-working provider Spaces leases entire tower in Hong Kong \n The Amsterdam-based company has leased Sun House in Connaught Road, Central, as demand for shared office space is seen picking up in the city and as mainland Chinese firms scale back their investments in Hong Kong offices", "output": "Flexible workplace provider Spaces has agreed to rent the entire 77,000 sq ft Sun House tower in Hong Kong\u2019s Central, in the business district's biggest leasing transaction in terms of square footage so far this year. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. The deal is part of Amsterdam-based Spaces'\u00a0broader push into the Asia-Pacific market, after opening in\u00a0Tokyo, Nagoya, Singapore, Chennai and Shanghai. Sun House is undergoing renovation and is set to open in mid-2018. The Hong Kong market is seen as having strong growth potential: it has 30 co-working spaces, compared with 200 in Shanghai and Beijing.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's giant firms tap into booming online fresh food market \n The e-commerce giant plans to expand its cold-storage and logistics sites and source a wider variety of food from around the world as it seeks a share of a market that could grow to almost US$36 billion next year", "output": "The Chinese market for fresh food deliveries is set to triple in size between 2016 and 2018, but the lack of development in China's cold-chain logistics infrastructure means that only online delivery giants like JD.com\u00a0and Alibaba will be able to take advantage. Online deliveries currently make\u00a0up just 2% of China's total fresh food industry, compared to 40% for clothes and electronics.\u00a0Alibaba recently invested $300m in companies and infrastructure, to allow for 24/7 deliveries\u00a0across more than 700 cities.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "General Atomics\u2019 military drone contract modified by $27m \n Mq-1 Predator drone in flight over Creech Air Force Base, Nev. The Gray Eagle is a updated version of the platform. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Air Force\n\nSept. 21 (UPI) -- General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has received a $27 million modification to an existing contract for service support to the Gray Eagle unmanned aerial system program. The work will be conducted in Poway, Calif., and will run through March 17, 2019. Advertisement\n\nThe Gray Eagle is a derivative of the Predator drone designed for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and strike missions. It has a flight endurance of over 25 hours and can operate as high as 29,000 feet.\n\nIt has a maximum payload capacity of 1,075 pounds. It is capable of mounting electro-optical and infrared cameras for target detection and can mount up to four Hellfire laser-guided missiles. It can carry its own laser designator for targeting of its own ordnance or for other platforms.\n\nThe Gray Eagle as a automatic take-off and landing system that enables it to launch and land without any direct control from operators. It can use any standard U.S. military fuel to ease logistical burdens.", "output": "Californian drone manufacturer General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has been awarded a $27m modification to its contract to provide support services for the Gray Eagle unmanned military aircraft programme. The craft is an offshoot of the Predator drone, used for intelligence, reconnaissance and strike missions.\u00a0It can\u00a0operate at heights of up to 29,000 ft and remain in the air for up to 25 hours. The Gray Eagle can carry\u00a0four laser-guided missiles, along with infrared and electro-optical cameras."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Baidu takes on Google with $1.5bn fund for self-driving\u00a0projects \n This photo taken on April 21, 2016 shows a woman walking past the Baidu booth at the China (ShangHai) International Technology Fair in Shanghai\n\nChinese internet giant Baidu on Thursday announced a $1.5 billion investment in autonomous driving projects over the next three years, as it seeks to diversify its portfolio and compete with rivals such as Google.\n\nOver the next three years, the \"Apollo Fund\" will invest 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) in over 100 autonomous driving projects, the company said in a press release.\n\nBaidu's search engine dominates the Chinese internet, and online ads are a key revenue stream.\n\nBut since crackdown by authorities on its online advertising business after a much-publicized scandal last year over the promotion of a fake medical treatment, \"China's Google\" is seeking to focus on artificial intelligence, investing heavily in the sector.\n\nBaidu hopes to be the first to develop a vehicle capable of driving itself via powerful software and sensors.\n\nThe technological coup would help the Chinese firm compete with Google parent company Alphabet and Waymo, its subsidiary specializing in self-driving cars, as well as American car manufacturer Tesla.\n\nBaidu launched an initial version of an open-source autonomous driving platform known as \"Apollo\" in July.\n\nAt the time, celebrity CEO Robin Li took one of the semi-autonomous vehicles for a joy-ride on a Beijing highway, livestreaming his trip to a packed auditorium of developers and calling the ride \"very smooth.\"\n\nOn Thursday, Baidu announced a new version of the platform, \"Apollo 1.5,\" which enables cars to \"perform autonomous driving capabilities in designated lanes, perfectly recognizing obstacles and passengers and making optimal driving decisions even at night.\"\n\n\"Apollo\" has already gathered 70 partners both in China and abroad, it added.\n\nBaidu has previously tested its cars close to its campus in Beijing's northwest without incident, and is working with China's government to develop rules for self-driving cars, which currently exist in a legal grey area.\n\nThe \"Apollo Fund\" is jointly established by the software giant and the Yangtze River Industry Fund, an investment program run by the Hubei provincial government.\n\n\u00a9 2017 AFP", "output": "Chinese internet company Baidu is investing $1.5bn in over 100 autonomous vehicle projects over the next three years, as it seeks to rival companies such as car manufacturer Tesla and Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving car subsidiary. Baidu is seeking to diversify its business after Chinese authorities cracked down on its online advertising activities and it launched an open-source autonomous driving software platform called Apollo in July. It has also set up the Apollo Fund to develop the technology in partnership with the investment arm of the Hubei provincial government.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tech firms pay 50% less tax than traditional competitors: EU \n The EU is pushing ahead with plans to rewrite tax rules for technology companies, aimed at increasing governments\u2019 take from the likes of Google, Facebook and Amazon.\n\nThe European commission is looking at ways to capture tax from companies that may have no offices, shops or other physical presence in a country, but are accruing profits through large numbers of online users or customers.\n\nA report published by the commission on Thursday said technology companies paid less than half the tax of bricks-and-mortar businesses.\n\nA digital business with international operations typically pays a 10.1% tax rate in the EU, compared with a 23.2% rate levied on traditional companies, said the report.\n\n\n\nIn reality, many technology companies pay far less than their high street rivals. Amazon\u2019s corporation tax bill in the UK is 11 times smaller than that of British bookstores, a recent study found. In Ireland, the European commission concluded that Apple paid 0.005% to Irish tax authorities in 2014, far below the corporation tax rate of 12.5%. Apple continues to fight the ruling.\n\n\n\nThe commission published the report to shed light on the gap, with momentum building for action after France seized the initiative with a proposal to tax technology companies on turnover, rather than a conventional corporation tax on profits.\n\n\n\nThe French plan has won support from 10 EU member states, including Germany, Italy and Spain, but commission policymakers are uneasy about departing from the convention of taxing profits. EU officials think taxing turnover may not work for all technology companies, although they are not ruling it out, especially as a stopgap measure.\n\n\n\n\u201cA tax on all untaxed or insufficiently taxed income generated from all internet-based business activities\u201d is listed as a possible short-term option in the paper. As a long-term answer, the commission is looking at revising the rules on permanent establishment, so businesses could be taxed in countries even if they have no offices, warehouses or shops there.\n\nPierre Moscovici, the European commissioner in charge of tax policy, said the commission\u2019s first choice was a common corporate tax base for companies. Aimed at introducing a common set of tax rules, but not rates, the CCTB is a longstanding tax harmonisation policy that has been blocked by hostile member states, including the UK, since 2007.\n\n\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s the commission\u2019s preferred solution,\u201d he said. \u201cThe digital presence of companies could be included to solve once and for all the question of digital taxation.\u201d\n\n\n\nMoscovici said all options were on the table and called on EU member states to find \u201ca consensus on the most fair, efficient and permanent solution\u201d.\n\n\n\nThe UK\u2019s impending departure from the EU in 2019 could make it easier to agree common tax measures. However, Britain was never alone in its opposition, as Ireland also did not support the plans.\n\nAlthough the UK has a say on the legislative proposals on the table, Moscovici pointedly excluded Britain in his statement.\n\n\u201cThis is an issue on which we have to advance as 27 if we want to be effective,\u201d he said. \u201cAt all costs, we must avoid creating digital havens on one side where taxation is more attractive, and administrative nightmares on the other for European companies that want to grow in the single market.\u201d\n\nTaxing tech companies is on the agenda of an EU leaders\u2019 summit devoted to the digital economy in Tallinn on 29 September.\n\nBefore publishing legal proposals, the EU wants to see how far the rest of the world will go. Officials are awaiting a report in spring 2018 from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Paris-based body that is co-ordinating global efforts against tax avoidance. EU officials stress they are prepared to act alone. \u201cThe global answer is the best,\u201d the European commission vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis said. \u201cHowever, the EU must be prepared to act in the absence of global progress.\u201d\n\n\n\nYet the French idea of taxing revenues seems unlikely to become the EU\u2019s preferred option.\n\nEU tax laws are agreed by unanimity and several countries, including Luxembourg, Estonia and Denmark, have already raised doubts. The OECD\u2019s tax director, Pascal Saint-Amans, recently told the French parliament that taxes on revenue were \u201cdaft\u201d.\n\nBut agreeing any new rules to capture more tax revenue from tech companies is fraught with complexity. Officials point to the fact that there is no typical digital company, and most companies use the internet to a greater or lesser degree.", "output": "Technology companies pay less than half of the tax of traditional rivals, according to a report by the European Commission. The regulator is currently considering options for increasing the amount of tax paid by companies such as Amazon and Google to national governments. An international digital business pays an average tax rate of 10.1% in the European Union (EU), compared to a rate of 23.2% for traditional firms. A French proposal to tax tech firms on turnover rather than profits recently won support from 10 EU member countries, including Germany, Italy and Spain."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Online courses require more preparation than in-person teaching \n Online courses are more time-consuming for academics to prepare for than traditional teaching, according to an Australian study.\n\nAnalysing the responses of just over 2,000 academics to a survey conducted by the National Tertiary Education Union, John Kenny and Andrew Fluck from the University of Tasmania found that it took academics 10 hours to plan an hour\u2019s lecture for online students compared with eight hours for a traditional hour-long lecture.\n\nIt took six hours to plan an online tutorial, as opposed to five hours for an in-person one, and 100 hours to plan an entirely new unit for online students compared with 96 hours for a course delivered on campus.\n\nIt also took significantly longer to substantially review or update teaching materials for online courses, while student consultation and assessment moderation for online students was more time-consuming, says the study, published in the Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management.\n\nDr Kenny, a senior lecturer in science education at Tasmania, told Times Higher Education that the results exploded the myth that online education \u2013 a growing area of delivery \u2013 was less time-consuming than on-campus courses.\n\n\u201cIn our experience...the prevailing pressure from administrators is that online students take less staff time to teach, [but] staff indicate that the materials take longer to prepare,\u201d Dr Kenny said.\n\nInterestingly, the study found no evidence that it took more experienced academics longer to complete tasks related to online teaching compared with younger, more tech-savvy scholars.\n\nDr Kenny and Dr Fluck argue that their findings could have significant implications for the caps on annual academic working hours implemented by Australian universities, since they believe that the current workload models do not take into account the extra hours that it takes to prepare tutorials and lectures for online students.\n\nThe Australian academics who responded to the NTEU survey worked an average of 50.4 hours a week, but some claimed to work up to 100 hours in a typical week. Sixty-two per cent of respondents claimed that they regularly worked on evenings or weekends.\n\nDr Kenny said that Australian universities needed to adopt a more uniform approach to workload allocation that took into account detailed evidence about the time it took to complete certain tasks because staff were often working large numbers of \u201cinvisible\u201d hours.\n\n\u201cIt is well-known that academic work is complex and difficult to quantify [but] with the lack of clear time-based standards to work with, we have noticed a managerial tendency to pile more duties, particularly compliance duties, on to the desks of academics without assessing the associated workload impact,\u201d he explained.\n\njack.grove@timeshighereducation.com", "output": "It takes longer for academics to prepare for online courses than it does for traditional teaching, according to an Australian study. The research was conducted by Australia's National Tertiary Education Union and researchers from the University of Tasmania, and is based on the responses of over 2,000 academics. It found they took an average of 10 hours to prepare an online lecture and six hours for an online tutorial, while the equivalent timings for in-person teaching were eight hours and five hours. The authors said the finding has significant implications for assessing the working hours of teaching staff in Australia."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TerraPay joins with Bux to help\u00a0Indian diaspora send money home \n Share\n\nTerraPay, the mobile payments switch, has partnered with bux, a mobile app money transfer service, to launch anywhere, anytime instant cross border money transfers from Australia, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and Europe to India.\n\nThe partnership with TerraPay and bux just made sending money to India a little cheaper and more convenient because it can now be done from a mobile phone with just a few taps. Bux customers have the freedom to safely and instantly transfer money, 24X7, to bank accounts in India from their mobile phones through the mobile application.\n\nbux\u2019s money transfer service offers compelling benefits to expats, foreign workers, international students and migrants, including; access to low-cost, anytime, anywhere secure money transfers, up to 45% cheaper than competitors. Traditionally when sending money home, migrants would have to put up with expensive trips to agent locations or bank branches, high fees and transaction times of up to a week to send small value transfers.\n\nAmbar Sur, Founder & CEO of TerraPay said, \u201cThe partnership between TerraPay and bux aims to add value to the growing remittance market. We are proud to increase the speed and convenience with which people in Australia and Hong Kong can send money to friends and family in India. Our partnership with bux will help the migrants by providing a real-time, 24X7 and seamless money transfer service experience.\u201d\n\nAndrew Webber, Managing director, bux says, \u201cWe are very excited about our partnership with TerraPay and adding India as a send money destination in the bux app. This partnership means that bux customers can now send money home to India from Australia, the United Kingdom and Europe anytime, anywhere. Adding this growing remittance corridor to the app will ensure continued customer growth for bux. We are proud that we can now provide the Indian diaspora around the globe an easier, cheaper and safer way to send money home.\u201d\n\nTerraPay, the world\u2019s first mobile payments switch is a global transaction processing, clearing and settlement service for mobile wallets. It provides the interoperability engine that enables customers to send and receive real-time transactions across diverse payment instruments, platforms, and regions.\n\nThe company believes in the power of mobile devices and is building the digital payment rails to fulfil their vision of enabling users to send money to any mobile. TerraPay is a B2B company incubated by Mahindra Comviva, a global leader in delivering mobile financial solutions and is part of the USD 19 billion Mahindra Group.", "output": "Mobile payments provider TerraPay has partnered with Australian fintech Bux to add India to Bux's app as a transfer destination for international payments. Indian nationals working overseas can now use Bux to send small sums instantly and relatively cheaply to bank accounts in\u00a0India from\u00a0Australia, Europe, Hong Kong and the UK. TerraPay\u00a0is part of India's Mahindra Group.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Singaporean healthtech MyDoc wins $5.2m in series A funding \n 5 MIN READ\n\nMyDoc, a Singapore-based regional healthtech startup , has raised US$5.2 million in a Series A funding round. The investment was led by UST Global , a California-based, global provider of end-to-end IT services and solutions for Global 1000 companies. Other investors include cross-border early stage venture capital firm Wavemaker Partners.\n\nThe startup provides companies with a digital health platform that integrates key aspects of healthcare \u2013 connecting patients, healthcare professionals, corporates, pharmacies, health data and insurers. Current clients include AIA, AXA and Aetna and other partners including the Health Promotion Board (HPB), Guardian Pharmacy, as well as individual general practitioner clinics and laboratories.\n\n\u201cWe see increasing corporate and insurer demand for enterprise digital health solutions like MyDoc. This funding is a strong boost for us to meet this demand by expanding our services throughout Asia and enter new markets. Our Series A funding round reflects the confidence our investors have in MyDoc\u2019s business model and services, as well as the potential of the industry,\u201d said Snehal Patel, CEO and Co-Founder, MyDoc.\n\nRedefining Corporate Healthcare Management\n\nThis Series A round will fund the development of MyDoc@Work, a digital healthcare platform which provides corporate employees a wide range of health services \u2013 video consultation with doctors, online prescriptions, online medical certificates (MyMC), on-site health screenings and a private care network. The private care network provides access to dental, physiotherapy, eye health, and fitness and other services.\n\nThrough this platform, corporations can benefit from significant cost and operational efficiencies, through reduced administrative processes to manage medical certificates, insurance claims, decreased employee absenteeism (due to ill health) and minimized upfront employee healthcare costs.\n\n\u201cWith MyDoc@Work, we\u2019re building a simple, validated, but powerful corporate health tool that not only promotes, but creates action towards building a healthier company. MyDoc@Work allows corporate employees to enjoy the convenience of consulting a doctor remotely \u2013 saving time on traveling to the clinic as well as queuing to see the doctor and collecting medication \u2013 and overall better health as they are more likely to follow up with necessary treatments,\u201d added Patel.\n\nFocus on Insurtech Solutions\n\nA second investment priority is the continued development of health-focused insurtech solutions based on MyDoc\u2019s proprietary technology. The startup is now shifting its focus towards improving and expanding services to benefit both policyholders and payers.\n\nPart of the Series A funds will be used to continue development of insurance-focused solutions that enable further automation of the health insurance process. This work will include tools that allow comprehensive data analysis to enhance the delivery of personalized care.\n\nThe partnership with UST Global would allow MyDoc to tap into the company\u2019s technological capabilities and expertise, as well as grow the business through UST Global\u2019s distribution channels and government partnerships.", "output": "Singapore healthtech start-up MyDoc has raised $5.2m in a series A funding round led by California's UST Global. My Doc offers companies a platform that integrates healthcare provision by connecting patients, healthcare professionals, companies, pharmacies, health data and insurers. Corporate users of its services include AIA, AXA and Aetna, and its partners include the Health Promotion Board as well as doctors' clinics and laboratories. The investment will be used to develop the MyDoc@Work platform, which provides health-related services to employees, including video consultations, and to fund expansion into other Asian markets\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "8fit raises $10m for personalised fitness guidance app \n 8fit announced it has raised $10 million in Series A financing led by Creandum and Eight Roads.\n\n\n\n8fit plans to make healthy living fun and simple by providing guidance and support \u2013 including tailored workouts and meal plans \u2013 in one easy to use app. The company provides wholesome, nutritious meal plans with real food, customized by food groups and ingredients. Its workout plans can be applied to all fitness levels and are designed to help users keep their programs on track.\n\nThe company revealed that the Series A investment will help 8fit support rapid international user growth.", "output": "Health and fitness start-up 8fit has raised $10m in a series A funding round led by venture capital firms Creandum and Eight Roads. The Berlin-based company's 8fit app offers tailored workouts and support with healthy eating including meal plans. The company plans to use the investment to increase its users internationally.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Consumer-protected crypto payments platform raises $3.5m pre-ICO \n ZUG, Switzerland - September 20, 2017 - ( Newswire.com\n\nUTRUST is pleased to announce it has so far raised $3.5 million USD in total, for the world\u2018s first Bitcoin and cryptocurrency payments platform with consumer protections. To express gratitude and to show how much they appreciate the enthusiasm of their supporters, UTRUST has decided to introduce an Early Supporter Reward.\n\nAnyone who is already registered, or who registers on the UTRUST website before the 20th of September 2017, will receive a 20% reward on the first $10,000 contributed during the ICO. For example, if a supporter contributes $1,000, they will receive $1,200 of UTRUST tokens.\n\nUTRUST CEO Nuno Correia, and co-founder Filipe Castro, CIO also hosted a live video streaming AMA event on the 15th Sept. Nuno, Filipe, and Artur the CTO answered many questions from the community. The full recorded live stream can be viewed here.\n\nLast week, UTRUST also announced that a new public ICO date will be shared in early October, with a more equitable public ICO structure.\n\nAbout UTRUST\n\nUTRUST has currently raised $3.5 million through private early investors and the sold-out pre-ICO, with the public ICO to be announced in early October.\n\nUTRUST is the world\u2019s first cryptocurrency payments platform to implement consumer protections on a mass scale. The company is building a global PayPal\u2013like payments platform with extensive cryptocurrency support.\n\nUTRUST\u2019s end goal is to provide all the benefits of fast, secure, convenient, and inexpensive cryptocurrency transactions, in tandem with the world\u2019s first cryptocurrency payment protections, which consumers need to fully embrace blockchain technology en masse.\n\nWith 2.5 billion unbanked people in Emerging Markets yet to benefit from financial inclusion, UTRUST is also planning to build the bridge to enable the unbanked worldwide to access the mainstream global financial system.\n\nUTRUST ICO and Tokens\n\nUTRUST\u2019s public ICO will be set in October. The company will use the collected funds to establish key industry partnerships and to develop the world\u2019s first PayPal-like cryptocurrency payments platform. The ERC20 compatible tokens are created over the Ethereum protocol and can be used as a means of payment on UTRUST\u2019s payment gateway along with other cryptocurrencies.\n\nUTRUST\u2019s token can be used for making zero-fee payments to the thousands of merchants accepting any cryptocurrency via UTRUST, and be traded against other currencies on supported exchange platforms.\n\nUTRUST will allocate a certain portion of the revenues to buyback and destroy the tokens in circulation. Being a deflationary currency by design, the demand for UTRUST tokens will increase with time, which combined with buyback should lead to appreciation in its market value.\n\nTo learn more about UTRUST\u2019s ICO please go to: https://utrust.io/ico\n\nThe Team\n\nUTRUST is backed by a highly-experienced team from various sectors including corporate management, startups, payments, cryptocurrency development, law, finance, and computer science. Some of the prominent members of the team include:\n\nNuno Correia, CEO\n\nNuno Correia is an early cryptocurrency investor who has been involved in the cryptomarkets since the beginning of 2011. Having founded multiple B2C businesses in the past, Correia has a background in Law and Marketing, and his passion lies in transforming the future of digital payments.\n\nFilipe Castro, CIO\n\nFilipe Castro holds a business degree from MSENG and is passionate about disruptive technologies. He has experience developing electronic payment systems and other software solutions during the early days of his career. Castro is engaged in business development and strategic development of new ventures.\n\nArtur Goul\u00e3o, CTO\n\nArtur Goul\u00e3o comes with previous experience in the payments industry. He has previously donned the role of a CTO in one of leading digital payment platform and is currently serving as the Head of Development at a Swiss-based cybersecurity company. With a background in computer science from IST and MIT, Goul\u00e3o is well-acquainted with both classical and blockchain smart contract-based approach.\n\nRoberto Machado, CPO\n\nFounder and Product Manager at several startups prior to UTRUST, he has been leading different teams to build highly-reliable software products, with a focus on the end-user experience. Previously, he has worked together with major international companies such as AT&T, Betfair, Airtel, and Uphold, being responsible for the vision outline, goals and product strategy of solutions used by millions of users.\n\nOther significant team members include Luis Ferreira as Head of Engineering; Laura Esteves as Head of Operations; Joao Ferreira as Head of Design; Nick Olender as Head of Sales and Partnerships; and Francisco Baila as Product Designer. UTRUST has a team of software engineers like Miguel Palhas, Gabriel Poca, Ronaldo Sousa, Fernando Mendes, Bruno Azevedo, Pedro Costa, and Joao Justo.\n\nUTRUST\u2019s diverse advisory team includes Francisco Maia, Francisco Cruz, Joao Paulo, Sergio Viana, Marc Howland, David Dryan, Daniel Pierce and Sascha Benz.\n\nLearn more about UTRUST: https://utrust.io\n\nRead the UTRUST Whitepaper: https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/utrust/UTRUST-whitepaper-v1.0.1.pdf\n\nLearn more about UTRUST\u2019s ICO: https://utrust.io/ico\n\nFollow UTRUST on Twitter: https://twitter.com/UTRUST_Official\n\nJoin UTRUST on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/utrust.io\n\nJoin the UTRUST Slack conversation: https://utrust-official.slack.com\n\nJoin UTRUST on Telegram at: https://t.me/utrustofficial\n\nRead UTRUST\u2019s posts on Medium: https://medium.com/@UTRUST\n\nMedia Contact\n\nContact Name: Nuno Correia, UTRUST CEO\n\nContact Email: nuno@utrust.io\n\nContact Phone: +41 22 518 70 77\n\nLocation: Zug, Switzerland\n\nRelated Links\n\nPress Release Service by Newswire.com Original Source: UTRUST Raises $3.5 Million for Blockchain Payments Platform, Public ICO in October", "output": "Swiss blockchain firm UTRUST has raised $3.5m from private investors ahead of its planned initial coin offering (ICO) in October. The funds will be used to establish key industry partnerships. UTRUST is developing the first cryptocurrency payments platform to feature consumer protections. The company aims to offer \"fast, secure, convenient and inexpensive cryptocurrency transactions\", and also target\u00a0the 2.5 billion unbanked people in emerging markets."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dublin's Pointy raises $6m to help retailers list their wares \n Mark Cummins and Charles Bibby. Pointy\n\nPointy, a Dublin startup with a device that shopkeepers can use to list their products online, has raised $6 million (\u00a34 million) from a host of big name investors.\n\nThe Series A funding comes from Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress, Lars Rasmussen cofounder of Google Maps, Taavet Hinrikus cofounder of TransferWise, and Michael Birch cofounder of Bebo.\n\nVenture capital firms Draper Associates and Frontline Ventures also participated in the round, which brings total investment in Pointy up to around $7.2 million (\u00a35.3 million).\n\nFounded by Mark Cummins and Charles Bibby, who met while studying their PhDs in robotics, Pointy provides local stores with a way to list all of their products online.\n\nThe company's \"Pointy box\" device connects to a store's barcode scanner and automatically puts scanned items on a website for the store. Pointy says that store pages are optimised for search engines, so that when local customers search for products, they find results from local stores.\n\nThe Pointy Box. Pointy\n\n\"For many local retailers, keeping up with technology can feel like too much,\" said Cummins in a statement. \"They have full time jobs to do already, they don't have the time or expertise to create digital stores as well. But consumers increasingly expect to find everything on their smartphones.\n\n\"If someone takes out their phone to search for a product they want to buy, they're likely to see a result from Amazon, even if a local store 50 feet away has the product in stock. It's a frustrating for retailers and consumers alike. Pointy is solving that problem in a way that's effortless for retailers.\"", "output": "Dublin start-up Pointy has raised $6m in a series A funding round led by the founders of Bebo, Google Maps, TransferWise and WordPress. The Irish firm has developed a device that links to a barcode scanner, enabling retailers to easily list their products on a website, with results optimised for search. \"If someone takes out their phone to search for a product they want to buy, they're likely to see a result from Amazon, even if a local store 50 feet away has the product in stock. It's frustrating for retailers and consumers alike,\" said co-founder Mark Cummins."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SoCal Confronts Hepatitis A Outbreak \n Vaccinations are urged, but the source of the outbreak is still unknown, as public health agencies in Los Angeles, Santa Cruz and San Diego counties take measures to combat the highly contagious virus.\n\nThree counties in Southern California are dealing with a hepatitis A outbreak, with the majority of cases afflicting homeless people, drug addicts and the people who provide services for them.\n\n\u201cPublic Health has been proactively preparing for an outbreak for some time and is working diligently to prevent spread in local communities. Our priorities are to keep all our residents both safe and well informed of the situation,\u201d Jeffrey Gunzenhauser, MD, MPH, Interim Health Officer, Los Angeles County, said in a media release this week.\n\n\u201cVaccination is the best protection against Hepatitis A. With this in mind, our outreach teams and clinics are offering free vaccine to persons who are homeless, active drug users, and those who provide services and support to those individuals,\u201d Gunzenhauser said.\n\nHepatitis A outbreaks are also ongoing in San Diego and Santa Cruz counties. Officials have confirmed 10 total cases of the highly contagious virus among high-risk people in Los Angeles County. Four of the infected people had been in San Diego and one had been in Santa Cruz during their exposure period.\n\nThree secondary cases occurred in a healthcare facility in Los Angeles County. Two most-recent cases appear to have acquired their infection locally within Los Angeles County, officials said.\n\nHepatitis A can be acquired through contact with an infected person\u2019s feces through contaminated food or objects. Officials have all but ruled out contaminated food as the source of this outbreak.\n\nThe hepatitis A virus can spread when a person does not properly wash their hands after going to the bathroom or changing diapers. The virus can cause acute liver disease.\n\nOther modes of transmission include certain sexual practices, sharing equipment related to illicit drug use, and consumption of food or water contaminated with the virus. People who are homeless are at higher risk because they face challenges to maintaining good hygiene, officials said.\n\nSymptoms of acute hepatitis A include fever, malaise, dark urine, lack of appetite, nausea, and stomach pain, followed by jaundice. Symptoms generally last for less than two months although some persons may have prolonged or more severe illness. Infection can be prevented in close contacts of patients by vaccination or administration of immune globulin within two-weeks following exposure.\n\nSan Diego County\n\nPublic health officials in San Diego County have been grappling for several months with the outbreak of hepatitis A, which is blamed for at least eight deaths, with all of the victims weakened by underlying medical conditions.\n\nNick Yphantides, MD, with the San Diego County Health & Human Services Agency, said this week that \u201cthe outbreak is not from a contaminated food source. It is caused by person-to-person transmission.\u201d\n\n\u201cOne of the challenges of this virus is the long incubation period,\u201d Yphantides said. \u201cWith this virus the average incubation period is 28 days, but the range of the incubation period can be anywhere from 15 to 50 days, which is quite a long incubation period.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnother complicating factor, medically speaking, is that individuals can be infected and can be transmitting the virus for up to two weeks prior to them having any symptoms,\u201d he said.\n\nSanta Cruz County\n\nSince April, Santa Cruz County has had 69 confirmed cases of hepatitis A. They usually have 1-2 confirmed cases per year.\n\nThe county\u2019s Public Health Division says an investigation is ongoing and challenging because of the long incubation period and the difficulty contacting people sickened with the illness who are homeless and/or illicit drug users.\n\nWith no common source of food, beverage, or other cause identified, the source of the outbreak remains undetermined, county officials said.", "output": "Vaccinations are urged, but the source of the outbreak is still unknown, as public health agencies in Los Angeles, Santa Cruz and San Diego counties take measures to combat the highly contagious virus.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California would lose $78 billion \u2014 more than any other state \u2014 under GOP health bill \n California would lose more federal funding than any other state under the latest GOP plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the health policy consulting firm Avalere Health.\n\nBy 2026, California would lose $78 billion in federal money for the Medi-Cal insurance program for the poor and in federal subsidies for low-income residents who buy health insurance through Covered California, the state exchange created under the ACA. That figure represents a 13 percent drop in federal funding levels, according to the analysis, which was funded by the left-leaning think tank Center for American Progress.\n\nBlue states like California and New York that accepted the ACA\u2019s additional federal dollars to expand Medicaid would be hit disproportionately hard by the bill, advanced by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.). By comparison, some red states that did not expand Medicaid would see an increase in federal funding. Texas, for instance, would receive $35 billion more from the federal government in 2026, the analysis found.\n\n\u201cThe bill reallocates funding from states that expanded Medicaid to those that did not,\u201d said Caroline Pearson, senior vice president at Avalere Health. \u201cSo a large state like California, which has had a big Medicaid expansion under the ACA, (is) going to be worse off.\u201d\n\nThe Graham-Cassidy bill is similar to previous GOP bills that failed to gain enough support in the Senate earlier this year. It would eliminate the ACA\u2019s individual and employer mandate and the expansion of Medicaid \u2014 which allowed California to enroll 4 million new people. It would also phase out federal subsidies currently used by 1.3 million low-income Californians to buy health insurance through Covered California.\n\nCassidy and Graham released their own estimates of how the bill would impact states, finding that California would receive roughly the same amount of federal funding under their plan. However, outside analysts said this estimate understates the impact to states because it was based on a misleading comparison. Rather than comparing spending levels under the GOP bill to spending levels under the ACA for the same year, it compares spending levels under the GOP bill for 2026 to spending levels under the ACA for 2020. This comparing apples to oranges, analysts said, because health costs rise over time, regardless of changes to health policy.\n\nThe non-partisan Congressional Budget Office plans to release a partial assessment of the bill next week.\n\nThe bill proposes grouping together the two streams of federal funding \u2014 federal subsidies for those buying Covered California plans and federal funding for Medi-Cal expansion \u2014 capping it, and then decreasing the amount over time through a mechanism known as a block grant. The funding for the block grants would end altogether after 2026, though Congress would have authority to reauthorize them.\n\nIn addition, the bill would impose a cap on federal funding for the overall Medi-Cal program. Currently, Medi-Cal is an open-ended program, meaning federal contributions increase to accommodate changing health care needs among beneficiaries.\n\nThis week, a group of Republican governors, led by Wisconsin\u2019s Scott Walker, expressed support for the bill, saying that block grants give states flexibility and control over spending \u2014 though some GOP governors, including John Kasich of Ohio and Brian Sandoval of Nevada, have said they oppose the bill.\n\nWhile the state would get flexibility in deciding how to spend the block grant, the net loss in federal dollars would be so significant that state officials would likely have to cut benefits for Medi-Cal recipients or make eligibility rules stricter so fewer people would receive benefits, experts said.\n\n\u201cThose caps on federal funding would mean billions of lost Medi-Cal dollars in the state, and the state legislature would have to decide how to respond to that,\u201d said Laurel Lucia, a health policy researcher at the UC Berkeley Labor Center, which released a separate analysis this week on the impact of the Graham-Cassidy bill. \u201cThey could cut eligibility, benefits. They could find money in other parts of the budget. But the cuts we\u2019re talking about are at such a large scale it\u2019d be difficult choices they\u2019d face.\u201d\n\nThe UC Berkeley analysis found that 6.7 million Californians would lose health insurance in 2027 under the bill: the 4 million enrolled in Medi-Cal expansion, 1.3 million who have subsidized coverage through Covered California, and an additional 1.4 million children, seniors and people with disabilities currently on Medi-Cal. A small percentage of these individuals may be able to buy coverage without subsidies or enroll in employer-sponsored health plans, but the vast majority would become uninsured, researchers said.\n\nThe center based its findings on data from the left-learning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and the assumption that California would respond to the Medi-Cal funding cap by cutting eligibility or limiting enrollment for certain groups.\n\nAir Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes\n\n\u201cThis bill would be more severe than simply rolling back the ACA,\u201d Lucia said. \u201cIt rolls back the ACA and makes additional cuts to Medi-Cal on top of that.\u201d\n\nCatherine Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Cat_Ho\n\nUncovered\n\nThe new GOP health plan would have a significant impact on Californians who get health insurance through Covered California or Medi-Cal. This chart shows how many people in each Bay Area county and in the state as a whole are projected to lose coverage by 2027 under the proposed plan.", "output": "California would lose more federal funding than any other state under the latest GOP plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, according to an analysis\u00a0released Wednesday by the health policy consulting firm Avalere Health.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CMS Innovation Center Seeks New Direction to Encourage Competition, Flexibility \n CMS has issued an informal request for information seeking input on a new direction promoting patient-centered care and market-driven reforms for the CMS Innovation Center.\n\nIn an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal, CMS Administrator Seema Verma noted the large numbers of Americans enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid plus the fiscal concerns surrounding those problems as a reason for leading the Innovation Center in a new direction.\n\n\u201cWe will move away from the assumption that Washington can engineer a more efficient health-care system from afar\u2014that we should specify the processes health-care providers are required to follow,\u201d Verma wrote.\n\nShe added that CMS was analyzing current Innovation Center models to determine which ones should continue and which ones should not. In its request for information, CMS noted the following guiding principles:\n\nPromote competition based on quality, outcomes, and costs.\n\nFocus on voluntary models; reduce burdensome requirements and unnecessary regulations to allow physicians and other providers to focus on providing high-quality healthcare; and give patients and providers tools to make informed decisions.\n\nEmpower patients, their families, and caregivers to take ownership of their health and provide them with information and flexibility to make choices.\n\nUse data-driven insights to ensure cost-effective care that also improves outcomes.\n\nDraw on partnerships and collaborations for a transparent model design and evaluation.\n\nTest smaller scale models that can be scaled up if they meet requirements for expansion under the Affordable Care Act.\n\n1. Advanced alternative payment models (APMs)\n\nUnder the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, clinicians can choose to participate in an Advanced APM. The innovation Center is seeking ways to increase opportunities for eligible clinicians to participate in Advanced APMs.\n\n2. Consumer-directed care and market-based innovation models\n\nBeneficiaries should be empowered as consumers to make choices among competitors in a market-driven healthcare system. CMS is considering new options to promote consumerism and transparency.\n\n3. Physician specialty models\n\nCMS wants to increase specialty physician models to improve quality of care and lower costs by engaging specialty physicians in APMs.\n\n4. Prescription drug models\n\nCMS wants to test new prescription drug payment models in Medicare Part B and Part D and state Medicaid programs. Models should engage beneficiaries as consumers and promote novel arrangements between plans, manufacturers, and stakeholders.\n\n5. Medicare Advantage innovation models\n\nThe Medicare Advantage Value-Based Insurance Design model is one example of providing more flexibility to improve outcomes, but CMS believes this model can be modified to provide more flexibility. The agency seeks other demonstrations that incentivize plans to compete for beneficiaries.\n\n6. State-based and local innovation\n\nCMS wants to increase partnership with states on additional state-led models that drive reform and innovation. Models would vary based on the needs and goals of each state.\n\n7. Mental and behavioral health models\n\nCMS is looking for models to improve care for behavioral health, including a focus on opioids, substance use disorder, and dementia, as well as improve participation of mental health care providers in Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Plan.\n\n8. Program integrity\n\nThe agency is seeking ways to reduce fraud, waste, and abuse, as well as improve program integrity.\n\nThere will also be main 8 areas where the Innovation Center is interested in testing models:\n\n\u201cThere are a lot of great ideas, and we want to hear from people on the front lines,\u201d Verma wrote. \u201cNo government agency has all of the answers, especially in an industry as large and multifaceted as healthcare.\u201d\n\nThe announcement of the new direction of the Innovation Center comes just days after Patrick Conway, MD, MSc, left his position in CMS as head of the Innovation Center to serve as president and CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina.\n\nThe comment period will remain open through November 20, 2017, and ways to submit comments can be found here.", "output": "CMS has issued an informal request for information seeking input on a new direction promoting patient-centered care and market-driven reforms for the CMS Innovation Center.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CMS says it will change direction of CMMI, wants providers to have greater flexibility in payment model design \n The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is redesigning its Innovation Center to give providers greater flexibility in payment models while encouraging greater competition among healthcare systems to drive down cost.\n\n\u201cThis administration plans to lead the Innovation Center in a new direction,\u201d said CMS Administrator Seema Verma in an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal.\n\nThe Innovation Center came out of the Affordable Care Act and introduced many new models shifting payment from fee-for-service to value-based care.\n\nBut CMS is now looking for feedback on what models work and which ones don\u2019t. It will accept comments through Nov. 20.\n\n\u201cProviders need the freedom to design and offer new approaches to delivering care,\u201d Verma said. \u201cOur goal is to increase flexibility by providing more waivers from current requirements.\u201d\n\nCurrent models have encouraged consolidation in the healthcare system, she said.\n\nCMS wants to see more competition between providers to compete for patients in a free market system. Transparency is needed for consumers to be more cost-conscious, she said.\n\nThe Innovation Center is interested in testing models in eight focus areas including increased participation in advanced alternative payment models, consumer-directed care and market-based innovation, physician specialty models, prescription drug models, Medicare Advantage innovation models, state-based and local innovation, including Medicaid focused models, mental and behavioral health models and program integrity.\n\n\u201cWe will move away from the assumption that Washington can engineer a more efficient healthcare system from afar -- that we should specify the processes healthcare providers are required to follow,\u201d Verma said.\n\nThe move away from federal control to giving providers greater flexibility follows a push by the Department of Health and Human Services to do the same for states by urging state officials to apply for Section 1332 waivers to ACA requirements.\n\nLegislation is also moving towards giving states fewer restrictions in the Section 1332 waivers established under the ACA. An estimated 23 states have begun steps towards getting a waiver. Seven have applied and two have gotten waivers.\n\nVerma said Medicare and Medicaid are both facing a fiscal crisis, with Medicare\u2019s trust fund projected to run out of money in 11 years and Medicaid representing the second largest budget item after education in most states.\n\nCMMI\u2019s new direction is to promote patient-centered care and test market-driven reforms to empower beneficiaries as consumers, provide price transparency, increase choices and competition, reduce cost and improve outcomes, CMS said.\n\nTwitter: @SusanJMorse\n\nEmail the writer: susan.morse@himssmedia.com", "output": "The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is redesigning its Innovation Center to give providers greater flexibility in payment models while encouraging greater competition among healthcare systems to drive down cost. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Obama says Republican healthcare plan would inflict 'real human suffering' \n Trump Jr. to speak privately to Senate staff on Thursday\n\n(Richard Drew / Associated Press)\n\nPresident Trump\u2019s oldest son is expected to meet privately with a Senate committee investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, several senators said Wednesday.\n\nDonald Trump Jr.\u2019s appearance Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee would probably focus on a meeting he had with a Russian lawyer and others during the final stretches of last year\u2019s campaign. Emails released in July show that Trump Jr. was told the session at Trump Tower in New York was part of a Russian government effort to aid his father, the Republican nominee.\n\nSpecial counsel Robert Mueller is investigating that meeting, also attended by Trump\u2019s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and then-campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. A grand jury has heard testimony about it.\n\nTrump Jr. has also agreed to appear in the coming weeks before the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is conducting its own investigation.\n\nSeparately, President Obama\u2019s national security advisor, Susan Rice, was meeting on Wednesday with the House Intelligence Committee, according to a person familiar with the interview. This person wasn\u2019t authorized to discuss the committee\u2019s confidential work and spoke on the condition of anonymity.\n\nThat committee has subpoenaed the Justice Department and the FBI for documents related to a dossier of salacious allegations involving Trump and possible ties to Russia.\n\nAs for Donald Trump Jr., some Democratic senators said they planned to attend his session though tradition dictates that senators cannot ask questions at such interviews conducted by committee staff.\n\nSens. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said they would be there. Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) was considering it.\n\n\u201cI go in with an open mind,\u201d Durbin said. \u201cI want to hear his answers to questions \u2014 there are plenty of questions \u2014 about the involvement of the Trump corporation as well as the Trump campaign with the Russians and other foreigners, and I just want to hear what Mr. Trump has to say.\u201d\n\nDurbin said he would be \u201cshocked\u201d if questions weren\u2019t asked about whether Trump Sr. knew about the Trump Tower meeting.\n\n\u201cThe critical part of his testimony will be following the financial dealing,\u201d Blumenthal said. He said he also wants to find out what Trump Jr. may know about potential obstruction of justice, adding there may have been conversations between the two about the firing of FBI Director James Comey and other matters.\n\nBlumenthal and Coons said the private interview is no substitute for a public hearing, which the committee chairman, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), has promised will happen.\n\n\u201cThis meeting is far less important than his public testimony, under oath, before the American people,\u201d Blumenthal said.\n\nGrassley would not say on Wednesday whether he would issue a subpoena for Trump Jr. if he refuses to testify publicly.\n\nMeanwhile, the Justice Department is reviewing subpoenas from the House intelligence committee.\n\nIn a letter Friday that was obtained by the AP, the committee wrote that it had served subpoenas on Aug. 24 to the department and the FBI for documents related to the committee\u2019s investigation of Russian meddling. The Justice Department and FBI had missed the original Sept. 1 deadline, so the committee extended the deadline to Sept. 14.\n\nThe letter was signed by the committee chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who stepped back from the Russia investigation this year after he was criticized for being too close to the White House. Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) took over the leading role, but his name does not appear on the letter.\n\nAs chairman, Nunes retains subpoena power in the committee.\n\nAccording to the letter, the original subpoenas requested any documents related to the dossier and sought information about whether the department was involved in its production.\n\nIf the documents are not produced, the committee is seeking to compel Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, who has withdrawn from investigations examining connections between Trump and Russia, and newly installed FBI Director Christopher Wray to testify in an open hearing. The committee issued two additional subpoenas to Sessions and Wray on late Tuesday.\n\n\u201cResort to compulsory process was necessary because of DOJ\u2019s and FBI\u2019s insufficient responsiveness to the committee\u2019s numerous Russia-investigation related requests over the past several months,\u201d the letter said.\n\nIf the committee is unable to obtain documents or testimony, Nunes wrote, the committee \u201cexpressly reserves its right to proceed with any and all available legal options,\u201d including a House vote to hold Sessions and Wray in contempt.\n\nThe Justice Department confirmed it was reviewing the subpoenas but declined further comment.\n\nThe dossier attracted public attention in January when it was revealed that then-FBI Director Comey had briefed Trump, soon before he was inaugurated as president, about claims from the documents that Russia had amassed compromising personal and financial allegations about him.\n\nIt\u2019s unclear to what extent the allegations in the dossier have been corroborated or verified by the FBI because the bureau has not publicly discussed it.\n\nRep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said Tuesday evening on MSNBC that the subpoenas were issued over the objections of Democrats. Schiff said Republicans are working harder to discredit those who compiled the dossier than to find out if the allegations in it are true. He said Republicans should be more focused on getting documents from the White House.\n\nThe subpoenas were first reported by the Washington Examiner.", "output": "The latest Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act would inflict \"real human suffering\" on millions of Americans, former President Barack Obama said Wednesday, speaking out in public defense of his signature healthcare reform effort.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How the Latest Obamacare Repeal Plan Would Work \n The latest Republican proposal to undo the Affordable Care Act would grant states much greater flexibility and all but guarantee much greater uncertainty for tens of millions of people.\n\nThe legislation, proposed by two Senate Republicans, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, would not only reduce the amount of federal funding for coverage over the next decade, but also give states wide latitude to determine whom to cover and how. The result is a law that would be as disruptive as many of the Republicans\u2019 previous proposals, but whose precise impact is the hardest to predict.\n\nThe bill would initially preserve nearly all the funding currently provided to Americans through the Affordable Care Act\u2019s state insurance marketplace subsidies and expansion of Medicaid. But starting in 2020, that funding would be reallocated to state governments as block grants. Over time, the division of money would shift among the states based on a complex formula, and the total pot would grow according to a set rate, not based on the number of people nationwide who sign up for coverage.\n\nStates could use the money to replicate the programs in President Barack Obama\u2019s signature health law, or to pursue completely different health policy strategies. The bill lays out some standards for program goals, but gives states broad discretion to use the funds in a variety of ways. \u201cThere will be clear differences between states about how they implement,\u201d said Deep Banerjee, an analyst with Standard & Poor\u2019s. \u201cIt will create quite a bit of uncertainty over the next few years.\u201d", "output": "The latest Republican proposal to undo the Affordable Care Act would grant states much greater flexibility and all but guarantee much greater uncertainty for tens of millions of people.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Republican Leaders Defy Bipartisan Opposition to Health Law Repeal \n Yet some governors, the supposed beneficiaries of that federalism, were decidedly cool to the proposal. New Hampshire\u2019s Republican governor, Chris Sununu, had criticized the proposal on Monday. But it was the opposition of Alaska\u2019s governor, Bill Walker, that might prove most important. He increased pressure on Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, to cast what could be a deciding vote to kill the repeal effort, just as she voted against the last repeal bill in July.\n\nRepublican leaders appeared determined to thwart any alternative ahead of a possible showdown vote next week. Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee, announced Tuesday that he and Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, would not come forward with the \u201climited, bipartisan plan to stabilize 2018 premiums\u201d in the individual health insurance market that they had been working toward.\n\nTheir bipartisan efforts, which grew out of four days of committee hearings, were overtaken by the resumption of partisan warfare on health care.\n\n\u201cWe have worked hard and in good faith,\u201d said Mr. Alexander, the chairman of the Senate health committee, \u201cbut have not found the necessary consensus among Republicans and Democrats.\u201d\n\nMs. Murray was more blunt: \u201cRepublican leaders have decided to freeze this bipartisan approach and are trying to jam through a partisan Trumpcare bill.\u201d", "output": "Eleven governors, including five Republicans and a pivotal Alaskan independent, urged the Senate on Tuesday to reject a last-ditch push to dismantle the Affordable Care Act.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Why Understanding Value Is Central to True Health Care Reform \n While health care reform has become synonymous with the Affordable Care Act and this summer\u2019s battle royale on Capitol Hill, true reform of our health care system needs to reach beyond debates over individual mandates, Obamacare, Medicaid expansion and other questions of health insurance design. It needs to address health care spending.\n\nThe U.S. health care spending problem is the ubiquitous elephant in the room, making steady appearances in presidential tweets, nightly newscasts and most certainly on our bank statements. Spending on health care is increasing at its fastest clip in 10 years, with health care expenditures growing by 5.8 percent or $3.2 trillion dollars in 2015. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services projects similar spending growth through 2025.\n\nGiven the daunting dollar signs, an easy trap for policymakers, as well as for anyone in the health care industry, is simply to focus on cutting spending. But to preserve and improve the standard of care, it\u2019s important to focus not on how much to cut but instead on where we should be spending our limited resources.\n\nThe true problem is that dollars are poured into a system without any clear understanding of how worthwhile one dollar spent is, relative to another. The remedy lies in making spending and coverage decisions based on the value \u2013 not just the price tag \u2013 of health care treatments and services.\n\nValue-based spending is a simple notion that amounts to prioritizing spending on services where the benefits outweigh cost \u2013 spend less on recognized areas of low-value care, like unnecessary tests and procedures, and more on high-value areas like vaccines.\n\nImplementing value-based spending in practice, however, is more complicated because health care system stakeholders each have disparate, and sometimes conflicting, definitions of value.\n\nSelf-insured employers are likely to value care that allows patients to remain in the workforce, for example, whereas an insurer like Medicare may be more concerned about reducing hospital readmissions. For patients, the value of treatment is more personal \u2013 driven by side effects and how quickly they can get back to their daily lives.\n\nSeveral medical societies and research organizations \u2013 the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, for example \u2013 have developed value assessment frameworks, yet because these frameworks have different objectives and intended audiences, they have different results \u2013 which simply provide ammunition for the various sides of the debate.\n\nValue assessments need to address the reality of diverse perspectives, evolving evidence bases, and differing needs on the part of decision-makers. They must be dynamic to adapt to new evidence and treatment advances, and flexible enough to be patient-centered, yet meet the needs of physicians, payers and health systems.\n\nFortunately, patient groups, researchers and payers are beginning to come together to define value. Last week, health plan representatives, leading researchers and patient groups gathered at the National Press Club to discuss better approaches to measuring value in treatments and services, as well as value-based reimbursement strategies.\n\nMeanwhile, here at the Innovation and Value Initiative, we\u2019re using feedback from the event and from other stakeholders across the health care ecosystem to build open, consensus-driven tools that will eventually help patients, providers, payers and health care systems all individually measure value in treatments and services.\n\nIt will take a consensus approach from stakeholders across the health care industry to tackle spending in a way that rewards value rather than volume. Time to get started.\n\nMark Linthicum is the director of scientific communications for the Innovation and Value Initiative, a collaboration between patient advocacy organizations, payers, providers and life sciences companies dedicated to improving the way value is measured and rewarded in the health care system.\n\nMorning Consult welcomes op-ed submissions on policy, politics and business strategy in our coverage areas. Updated submission guidelines can be found here.", "output": "While health care reform has become synonymous with the Affordable Care Act and this summer\u2019s battle royale on Capitol Hill, true reform of our health care system needs to reach beyond debates over individual mandates, Obamacare, Medicaid expansion and other questions of health insurance design. It needs to address health care spending.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Population Health in Primary Care: Cost, Quality, and Experience Impact \n ABSTRACT\n\nObjectives: To evaluate whether a primary care practice transformation that used population health strategies and predictive modeling to match clinical resources to patient needs reduced inpatient and total spending, while maintaining or improving quality and patient experience for adult Medicaid and Medicare patients.\n\nStudy Design: Quasi-experimental analysis using an adjusted historical control.\n\nMethods: Measures included a quality composite metric, patient experience indicators, and total cost of care, as assessed by an independent actuary.\n\nResults: Payers saved a cumulative $15.8 million (1.7%) across a 26-month program implementation period, which was substantially larger than the approximately $3.9 million in program staffing expenses. Driven by reduced inpatient spending, the total cost of care for high-risk adults was reduced across all lines of business, ranging from \u2014$40.88 per member per month (PMPM) to \u2013$737.20 PMPM. Payer savings were larger for Medicare (5.5%) than for Medicaid patients (0.7%). Patient experience metrics improved during this time. Quality findings were mixed, likely confounded by the 2014 Medicaid expansion.\n\nConclusions: These findings suggest that risk-stratified primary care delivery models can achieve the Triple Aim and could be self-sustaining through alternative payment models that allow reinvestment of savings into program costs. These results are consistent with literature that finds that short-term return-on-investment requires carefully targeting patients at risk of hospitalization, that reducing Medicare hospitalizations may be more easily achieved than for Medicaid, and that opportunities may be greater among unmanaged fee-for-service populations. Differences in savings by payer and by year underscore the importance of all-payer approaches to program financial sustainability.\n\nThe American Journal of Accountable Care. 2017;5(3):10-20Constraining healthcare cost growth has been a focus of health policy since the enactment of Medicaid and Medicare in the 1960s.1 Despite substantial efforts, high medical inflation persists, governmental health spending continues to crowd out other priorities, and health outcomes remain poor compared with those of international peers.2-4 Post Affordable Care Act, efforts to reverse these trends have focused on patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs), complex care management, transitions of care, and accountable care organizations (ACOs). Results to date have been inconsistent, with a limited number of multifaceted programs reducing healthcare expenditures.5-8\n\nPrograms that have lowered costs and improved quality and patient experience (the Triple Aim) often share features of Wagner\u2019s Chronic Care Model.9 Most have implemented comprehensive team-based care, enabling proactive provider-patient interactions and tailoring care models to better support the needs of high-risk patients.10-15 Clinical information systems to facilitate population health management have also been foundational, including high-risk patient identification, decision support, and clinical performance feedback.16,17\n\nMost cost-saving initiatives have targeted Medicare or commercial populations and have achieved savings by reducing hospitalization.10,12,13,18-22 Among the few well-designed Medicaid programs, evaluations assessing costs or hospitalizations have shown mixed findings.23-25 This suggests the need to adapt successful interventions to Medicaid populations, which will likely require attending to social determinants of health.22,26,27\n\nFinding effective Medicaid approaches takes on increased salience as Medicaid/Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) enrollment has outpaced that of Medicare.28,29 To this end, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) funded Health Care Innovation Challenge Awards (HCIAs) to accelerate at-scale, delivery system reform.30 We describe the reach and Triple Aim outcomes of an HCIA-funded primary care practice transformation at a large urban safety-net institution. This intervention employed predictive risk modeling to segment patients according to clinical and financial criteria, and sought to target higher-risk patients for more, and more intensive, services. This evaluation tested whether a risk-stratified, enhanced primary care delivery model demonstrated savings through reduced inpatient spending, while improving quality and patient experience for Medicaid and Medicare adults.\n\nMETHODS\n\nSetting\n\nDenver Health (DH) is an integrated, academic safety-net delivery system and the largest provider of Medicaid and uninsured services in Colorado, serving approximately 200,000 patients annually. DH provides comprehensive outpatient and inpatient services and operates a managed care plan. This integration enables data capture across the care continuum.\n\nTarget Population\n\nAlthough the program targeted both adults and children in need of primary care services, this evaluation focused on Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries older than 19 years, specifically: DH primary care users (\u22651 primary care visits in the prior 18 months); DH managed care members; or frequent users of DH\u2019s emergency department, urgent care, or hospital services (\u22653 services in a year). The target population was dynamically redefined monthly, according to a validated population attribution and risk-stratification algorithm, described briefly below and detailed elsewhere.31 Excluded were individuals who could not be risk-stratified due to no claims history or short enrollment periods.\n\nDH adapted commercial predictive risk modeling software to assign patients to 1 of 4 tiers of care needs. The algorithm relied primarily on age, gender, diagnosis, clinical procedure, and medication history. Through a multidisciplinary process, DH-defined rules were developed and integrated into the algorithm. These rules considered additional diagnostic information, clinical registries, and utilization patterns signaling unmet social or behavioral health needs. Algorithm development for high-risk tiers focused on defining patient groups at risk of hospitalization with distinctive care support needs, not solely on high costs. As noted, the algorithm was rerun monthly to capture new patients and changes in health status.\n\nIntervention: Tiered Population Health Approach to Primary Care\n\nThis population health intervention built on DH\u2019s National Committee for Quality Assurance\u2014certified PCMHs and used Wagner Chronic Care Model principles to implement team-based care for complex populations.32-36 Consistent with Wagner\u2019s vision of health information technology\u2014enabled, proactive, prepared teams, DH provided real-time patient risk-tier information for care planning at the point of care. We specified a graduated set of enhanced clinical and electronic services appropriate to each risk tier, with more higher-intensity services targeted to higher-tier patients. Standard work that considers both tier and individual needs guided care teams\u2019 service provision.\n\nAll patients (tiers 1-4) were provided \u201cusual care\u201d medical home services, complemented by new, optional electronic messaging reminder services. DH also expanded primary care staffing to include new team members to provide disease management, care transition, and patient navigation services (tiers 2-4). This enhanced-care team included nurse care coordinators, clinical pharmacists, behavioral health consultants, and patient navigators. More comprehensive multidisciplinary care management support was available to complex patients (tiers 3-4) during and between visits.\n\nFor tier 4, separate high-intensity clinics were established for targeted subpopulations: children with special healthcare needs, medically complex adults with multiple admissions, and adults with severe mental health diagnoses. All high-risk teams sought to empower patients through multidisciplinary care planning, goal setting, and problem-solving approaches. Patients also received referrals for specialty care, substance abuse treatment, housing, and other community resources (Figure).\n\nProcess and Outcome Measures\n\nPrimary outcomes were program reach, patient experience, quality, and total cost of care. Patient reach was quantified as the number of patients receiving any face-to-face or phone-based patient interaction by the HCIA-funded enhanced-care or high-intensity teams. Usual care clinical contacts were not included, nor were low-touch services, such as phone messages, letters, and text messages. These exclusions sought to avoid overstating program reach by focusing on new, intensive HCIA services.\n\nTo assess overall quality, DH uses an internal composite quality metric comprising individual indicators largely adapted from the Health Resources and Services Administration\u2019s Health Center Program Uniform Data System. DH used the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems\u2019 PCMH-aligned items to assess patient experience.\n\nAssessed from the payer perspective, the total cost of care measure was calculated by aggregating medical expenditures across all inpatient, outpatient, professional, and other services, and was expressed on a per-member per-month (PMPM) basis to account for differing lengths of enrollment. DH had nearly complete data capture for its managed care members because the DH health plan pays members\u2019 medical claims. For those enrolled in fee-for-service (FFS) programs, spending estimates for non-DH services were derived from public sources (listed in the eAppendix [eAppendices available at ajmc.com]). Savings net of program expenses were also calculated.\n\nProgram expenses included salary and benefits of HCIA-funded staff, including the enhanced-care team, information technology, and evaluation personnel. Clinical staffing associated with reimbursable clinical care for program participants was not counted, nor were program development costs. This represented DH\u2019s annual, unreimbursed costs to continue the program post award (eAppendix).\n\nAnalytical Approach\n\nThis quasi-experimental analysis compared trends in payer spending between a baseline performance period and 2 intervention performance periods. Because DH enrolls a majority of the Denver Medicaid market and the program was implemented at scale, no concurrent DH or non-DH control population exists. Therefore, it was necessary to develop an appropriate historical comparative population to estimate what the baseline costs would have been without the intervention. Observed costs were then compared with this historical cost benchmark. CMS uses a similar methodology to assess the financial performance of Medicare ACOs.37 Consistent with CMS\u2019 approach, population-level cost outcomes were assessed whether or not targeted individuals were reached by the intervention. In the actuarial literature, this is approach is known as quasi-experimental analysis using an adjusted historical control.38\n\nTo construct performance populations for analysis, DH used its patient attribution and tiering algorithm to identify the target population during each month of baseline and intervention performance periods, resulting in 38 cross-sections, each with different member month counts and tier distributions. These 38 cross-sections were subsequently aggregated into 3 performance periods: a 12-month baseline period, a 14-month early program period, and a 12-month mature program period. The decision to create 2 intervention periods balanced several considerations: distinguishing early and mature program effects, minimizing seasonal effects by selecting measurement periods of approximately equal length, and isolating the potentially confounding effect of the Medicaid expansion in 2014 into a separate performance period.\n\nChanges in medical costs were calculated by subtracting observed costs during the 2 intervention periods from the historical cost benchmark. In contrast to a pre-post analysis that focuses on a single population cross-section that is reached by the intervention, we refresh the population (38 cross-sections). This addresses regression by accounting for population dynamics such as changes in health status. To the extent that high-risk patients became lower-risk, died, or left the population during the intervention periods, this phenomenon also occurred during the baseline period, enabling detection of performance improvement net of these effects.\n\nDuring the intervention periods, observed member months (which differ by time period) were the denominator used to calculate PMPM costs, but were not the multiplier to calculate total costs. To ensure the intervention period costs were comparable to those of the baseline period, the PMPMs were applied to the baseline population\u2019s tier distribution. This \u201ctier mix\u201d adjustment ensures that patient health status was comparable across performance periods, effectively holding tier mix constant (see eAppendix for details).\n\nTo establish the historical cost benchmark, against which the intervention period costs can be compared, we quantified payer spending for the baseline population, adjusted by a medical inflation factor to account for secular cost trends. This adjustment is necessary to enable direct comparison of costs during the baseline and intervention periods. The Medicaid trend factor was 3.7%, consistent with the trend developed during Colorado state Medicaid agency annual capitation rate setting for DH\u2019s health plan. The 2.3% Medicare trend factor was derived from the National Health Expenditures Projections report. Baseline costs for the Medicaid expansion population were estimated according to insurance rate-setting methods for a new population (eAppendix). We stratified cost outcomes by payer to account for payer-specific reimbursement levels.\n\nRESULTS\n\nPopulation Characteristics\n\nTable 1 compares baseline and intervention populations according to tier, gender, and age. Member months are post adjustment, reflecting the above-described tier-mix adjustment.\n\nProgram Reach Results\n\nAs intended, a greater proportion of higher-tier patients were reached by DH interventions than were lower-tier patients. More than half of adult tier 4 patients were reached by either primary care\u2014based enhanced-care team members or visited a high-intensity clinic during the ramp-up (51.0%) and mature program periods (56.4%). Program reach was lower for lower-tier patients: for the ramp-up and mature program periods, respectively, the percentages were 24.6% and 25.6% for tier 3, 15.7% and 12.9% for tier 2, and 1.5% and 1.4% for tier 1.\n\nQuality and Patient Experience Results\n\nThe DH composite quality metric measured 77% at baseline. It increased to 82% during the intervention ramp-up, declined to 72% in 2014, and rebounded to 81% by mid-2015. Four of 6 patient experience metrics improved or remained constant during intervention ramp-up, and improved relative to baseline in 2014 and 2015 (Table 2).\n\nTotal Cost of Care Results\n\nReductions in total costs were observed for the majority of periods and payer populations, except for Medicaid managed care during the ramp-up period and Medicare managed care in the mature program period (Table 3). DH achieved a cumulative $10.9 million reduction in the total cost of care for its Medicaid and Medicare FFS populations across the 2 program implementation periods. These savings largely accrued to the state and federal governments. The largest share of this FFS cost avoidance ($8.2 million) was attributable to Medicare FFS. An additional $5.0 million reduction in the total cost of care was estimated for DH\u2019s capitated managed care during this same timeframe. The annualized personnel cost of the adult program totaled $1.8 million.\n\nDuring both the ramp-up and the mature program periods, reductions in the total cost of care for tier 4 adults were observed across all managed care and FFS payers, ranging from \u2014$40.88 PMPM to \u2013$737.20 PMPM. Reduced tier 4 spending was concentrated in inpatient reductions. For lower-risk populations (tiers 1-3), changes in claims costs varied by payer and by year. In aggregate, the analysis shows small cost reductions for tiers 1 and 3 (totaling $1 million across years and payers).\n\nTier 2 costs consistently exceeded the benchmark, totaling $4.8 million for Medicaid and $2.6 million for Medicare. For both Medicare and Medicaid, this higher-than-expected tier 2 spending offset, but did not eliminate, overall cost reductions.\n\nWe conducted a subanalysis on DH\u2019s Medicaid and Medicare managed care populations to further explore the changes in tier 4 inpatient costs. We chose these populations due to the more complete data capture. Table 4 reveals that reductions in inpatient costs are not consistently observed in lower-risk tiers, suggesting that tier 4 inpatient cost reductions are not due to a broader secular trend affecting all DH populations. Consistent with prior research, Table 4 reveals that tier 4 inpatient savings are offset by increased spending in other areas, possibly reflecting program-driven referrals that resulted in additional service provisions.12,24,20\n\nDISCUSSION\n\nThis study provides an important contribution to the literature as one of the first cost analyses of a major CMMI/HCIA initiative. Compared with an inflation-adjusted baseline period, net reductions in PMPM spending were observed in 5 out of 6 payers during 2 subsequent intervention periods. Patient satisfaction measures also improved during this same timeframe, suggesting that cost reductions were not achieved at the expense of patient experience. Overall quality improved in 2013 and 2015 over baseline performance. Reduced performance during 2014 may be partially explained by pent-up demand during the Medicaid expansion.\n\nAs hypothesized, reduced inpatient spending among high-risk adults drove the overall reduction in the total cost of care. High-risk (tier 4) adults with multiple chronic conditions and repeated hospitalizations were targeted for multiple interventions, and more than half were reached. The program reached fewer lower-tier patients and concomitant changes in associated payer spending were less pronounced, and even increased in some cases. This latter finding suggests that team-based care for lower-risk patients may need to be more targeted or evaluated over a longer time horizon.\n\nAlthough we observed year-to-year fluctuations in performance, average cost reductions for Medicare exceeded Medicaid performance and FFS reductions were generally larger than those for managed care members. These results are consistent with literature that finds that short-term return on investment requires carefully targeting patients at risk of hospitalization, reducing Medicare inpatient costs may be easier than for Medicaid inpatient costs, and opportunities may be greater among unmanaged FFS populations. Differences in cost-avoidance by payer and by year underscore the importance of all-payer approaches to overall financial sustainability.\n\nGross cost reductions of nearly $16 million over the entire 26-month intervention period are substantially larger than the approximately $3.9 million in staffing expenses, supporting the self-sustaining potential of risk-stratified primary care delivery models. However, neither FFS nor experience-based capitation permits ongoing reinvestment of savings into program costs. Cost reductions accrue to at least 3 separate payers: the federal and state government for FFS Medicare and Medicaid patients, and the DH health plan for its managed care members. Since DH owns and operates its own health plan\u2014an unusual arrangement among safety net institutions\u2014there is a direct means to \u201ccapture\u201d a portion of the payer savings. Combined Medicaid and Medicare managed care cost avoidance was estimated at $2.3 million (annualized) compared with the $1.8 million in annual program costs. However, because capitation rates are based on historical claims costs, funds for program reinvestment will decline over time as capitation payments are rebased to reflect lower levels of medical expenditures.\n\nThus, current payment models\u2014even capitated managed care\u2014do not align incentives. Although both Medicare and Medicaid have implemented new FFS care coordination, care transitions, and integrated care reimbursement opportunities, requirements are often highly prescriptive, process-oriented, and not consistent across payers. As a result, staffing models and clinical work flows that meet Medicare rules do not necessarily satisfy those of Medicaid, and vice versa. However, multipayer approaches are necessary to ensure sufficient funds and to smooth out year-to-year variations, especially for high-volume Medicaid providers. This underlines the need to accelerate implementation of advance payment models that better align financial incentives.\n\nRecognizing that current payment models do not adequately incentivize population health approaches, CMS has set a goal to have 90% of Medicare non-FFS arrangements by 2018.39 This evaluation offers both programmatic and financing insights relevant to alternative payment model development, such as those being developed under the Medicare Access and CHIP Replacement Act.\n\nLimitations\n\nFirst, although we applied a tier-mix adjustment and stratified by payer to ensure equivalence between the baseline and intervention populations, some differences in population characteristics remain that could partially account for the findings. Second, incomplete data capture is a concern. Although we estimated service use at non-DH facilities among FFS populations, we did not attempt to estimate cross-sector impacts to the criminal justice or social service systems. Third, there is no widely accepted best practice for trend assumptions to establish the cost benchmark. Because DH accounts for approximately 57% of the Denver Medicaid primary care market, we cannot use actual trend. We therefore selected trend assumptions that were based either on state rate-setting practices (3.7% for Medicaid) or national health spending trends (2.3% for Medicare). These trends are equivalent or lower than a recent CMS actuaries\u2019 analysis that found that US health spending growth was \u201chistorically low\u201d between 2009 and 2013, averaging 3.7%.3 Our trends are also lower than a touted Oregon Medicaid program analysis, assuming a 5.4% trend on a 2011 baseline.31,40 Although our approach does not exclude the possibility that savings result from a broader, secular phenomenon of lower inpatient spending, reductions were concentrated in tier 4 where program reach was greatest. Generalized inpatient reductions across all tiers were not observed. Finally, the program was implemented at a single institution; findings may not be generalizable.\n\nCONCLUSIONS\n\nRecent leveling-off of costs is often attributed to the aggregate effect of readmission reduction programs nationally, most of which have been launched without formal research designs. Although at-scale implementation complicates efforts to identify unexposed, concurrent comparison groups, from an institutional perspective, improvements over past performance are relevant even while the broader sector also improves.34 This analysis demonstrates that a large, multifaceted program may be evaluated by benchmarking against historical costs, using well-accepted actuarial methods to address regression to the mean.41 We conclude that risk-stratified, enhanced primary care delivery models hold Triple Aim promise, assuming supportive payment models.\n\nAcknowledgments\n\nThe authors would like to acknowledge the project team responsible for designing and implementing the intervention, including the core management team, clinical teams, information technology team, and evaluation team, as well as Ambulatory Care Services and Executive Leadership (past and present).\n\nThis study was conducted for quality improvement/quality assurance purposes. Colorado Multiple Institutional Review Board (COMIRB) determined this project to be \u201cnot human subjects\u201d research. Results are not generalizable.Author Affiliations: Denver Health and Hospital Authority (TLJ, CIO, DB, RE, PG, SJH, HB), Denver, CO; Milliman (MvdH, SD), Denver, CO; Colorado School of Public Health (AA), Denver, CO.\n\nSource of Funding: The intervention described herein was supported by Grant Number 1C1CMS331064 from the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The contents of this publication are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the US Department of Health and Human Services or any of its agencies. Findings might or might not be consistent with or confirmed by the findings of the independent evaluation contractor.\n\nAuthor Disclosures: Several of the authors are or were employed by Denver Health and Hospital Authority (TLJ, CIO, DB, RE, PG, SJH, HB). Dr Johnson was co-principal investigator, Director of Evaluation, and reports that earlier versions of this analysis were presented at 2 academic conferences. Dr Hambidge has presented data from this project at 4 national academic and policy conferences. The remaining authors report no other relationship or financial interest with any entity that would pose a conflict of interest with the subject matter of this article.\n\nAuthorship Information: Concept and design (TLJ, PG, SJH, AA, HB); acquisition of data (TLJ, DB, RE, SJH, AA); analysis and interpretation of data (TLJ, MvdH, SD, CIO, DB, RE, PG, SJH, AA, HB); drafting of the manuscript (TLJ, CIO, PG, AA); critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content (TLJ, MvdH, SD, CIO, RE, PG, SJH, AA, HB); statistical analysis (MvdH, SD, RE); provision of study materials or patients (SJH); obtaining funding (TLJ, PG); administrative, technical, or logistic support (TLJ, DB, RE, SJH, HB); and supervision (TLJ, RE, SJH).\n\nSend Correspondence to: Tracy L. Johnson, PhD, MA, Denver Health, Ambulatory Care Services, 777 Bannock St, MC 6551, Denver, CO 80204. E-mail: Tracy.Johnson@dhha.org.REFERENCES\n\n1. Altman D, Frist WH. 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Prof Psychol Res Pract. 2007;38(3):290-297.\n\n37. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Accounting for social risk factors in Medicare payment: criteria, factors, and methods. National Academies website. http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/Reports/2016/accounting-for-social-risk-factors-in-medicare-payment-3.aspx. Published July 13, 2016. Accessed October 27, 2016.\n\n38. Duncan I. Part 2: actuarial issues in care management interventions. paper 6: an actuarial method for evaluating disease management savings outcomes. Society of Actuaries website. https://www.soa.org/Files/Research/Projects/Paper6-Actuarial-Methodology-for-Evaluating-DM.pdf. Published March 29, 2005. Accessed July 9, 2016.\n\n39. Better care. smarter spending. healthier people: paying providers for value, not volume. CMS website. https://www.cms.gov/Newsroom/MediaReleaseDatabase/Fact-sheets/2015-Fact-sheets-items/2015-01-26-3.html. Published January 26, 2015. Accessed July 9, 2016.\n\n40. Stecker EC. The Oregon ACO experiment\u2014bold design, challenging execution. N Engl J Med. 2013;368(11):982-985. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp1214141.\n\n41. Johnson TL, Rinehart DJ, Durfee J, et al. For many patients who use large amounts of health care services, the need is intense yet temporary. Health Aff (Millwood). 2015;34(8):1312-1319. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2014.1186.", "output": "An evaluation of the use of predictive modeling for primary care resource allocation demonstrated reduced spending and improved quality and patient experience for publicly insured adults.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Does Medicare make sense for seniors with employer health coverage? \n Editor\u2019s Note: Journalist Philip Moeller is here to provide the answers you need on aging and retirement. His weekly column, \u201cAsk Phil,\u201d aims to help older Americans and their families by answering their health care and financial questions. Phil is the author of the new book, \u201cGet What\u2019s Yours for Medicare,\u201d and co-author of \u201cGet What\u2019s Yours: The Revised Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security.\u201d Send your questions to Phil.\n\nMore and more employers are adopting high-deductible health plans, which usually include a health savings account. In 2016, between 20 and 23 million employees and family members had HSAs, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute. These plans can make Medicare more popular to employees aged 65 and older, even if they have the option of staying on their employer plans.\n\nAsk Phil readers already are familiar with a major pitfall of HSA plans for employees who are receiving Social Security. In order to receive any type of Social Security payment, beneficiaries aged 65 and older must, by law, also sign up for Part A of Medicare.\n\nPart A charges no premiums to people who have enough work experience to qualify for Social Security benefits. It can come in handy as supplement insurance to help pay for hospital and other institutional health care expenses that are covered by Part A but either not covered by their employer plan or not fully paid for by that plan.\n\nThis is usually a nice supplemental insurance benefit to have. However, Part A comes at a heavy price for HSA participants: Having Part A qualifies as being on Medicare, and Medicare recipients are prevented under IRS rules from making new pre-tax contributions to an HSA. They may use funds already in an HSA account, but cannot add new funds. If their employers don\u2019t also offer a non-HSA health plan, the employees could be on the hook for sharply higher health insurance expenses.\n\nREAD MORE: Standard Medigap plans are learning some new tricks\n\nThis downside, when added to the burden of high and often rising annual plan deductibles, can make getting Medicare more attractive for employees with group health plans. In the past, I usually told employees turning 65 that they did not have to get Medicare and could simply keep their employer plans.\n\nMy thinking has changed.\n\nThe rise of high-deductible plans should trigger a serious study by people about the merits of Medicare \u2013 either in addition to employer plans or in place of them.\n\nThe rise of high-deductible plans should trigger a serious study by people about the merits of Medicare \u2013 either in addition to employer plans or in place of them.\n\nThe current monthly premium for Part B of Medicare is $134 a month. Part B covers expenses for doctors, care at non-hospital facilities, and durable medical equipment. This works out to a bit more than $1,600 a year. There also is a $183 annual deductible that people must pay for Part B expenses before their insurance coverage begins. Here\u2019s a summary of Part A and Part B costs.\n\nFor people keeping their high-deductible employer plans, laying out $2,000 for Part B premiums and deductibles could well be money well spent. This is because Medicare can be a secondary insurer and can pay a big hunk of covered plan expenses before the plan\u2019s annual deductible is reached.\n\nI regularly receive questions from Ask Phil readers about whether Medicare can help pay these employer plan deductibles, and how this process works. Casey Schwartz, a benefits expert at the Medicare Rights Center, provided this explanation:\n\n\u201cMedicare pays secondary to other insurance (including paying in the deductible) in situations where the other insurance is primary to Medicare. There are some restrictions \u2014 it has to be a Medicare covered service, and the total amount paid must be equal to or less than the Medicare approved amount.\u201d\n\nIf the care costs more than the Medicare-approved amount, she explained, Medicare coverage will cover up to that amount, and the employee would pay the difference if they wanted the care.\n\nSchwartz noted that there is an online Medicare manual explaining rules of how Medicare works as a secondary payer of covered claims. Here is a section that gets to the heart of how it can work with employer group health insurance (GHP):\n\n\u201cWhere a GHP is primary payer, but does not pay in full for the services, secondary Medicare benefits may be paid, to supplement the amount it paid for the Medicare covered service. If a GHP denies payment for services because they are not covered by the plan as a plan benefit bought for all covered individuals, primary Medicare benefits may be paid if the services are covered by Medicare. Primary Medicare benefits may not be paid if the plan denies payment because the plan does not cover the service for primary payment when provided to Medicare beneficiaries. \u201cA GHP\u2019s decision to pay or deny a claim because the services are or are not medically necessary is not binding on Medicare. Contractors must evaluate claims under existing guidelines derived from the law and regulations to assure that services are covered by the program regardless of any employer plan involvement.\u201d\n\nIf you spend a lot on prescription drugs, you would want to explore getting a Medicare Part D drug plan. You usually need Part B to qualify for Part D. But this is not required if your employer plan\u2019s drug coverage is inferior to a typical Part D plan. This is known as the drug coverage \u201ccredibility\u201d test.\n\nIf you must pay thousands of dollars out of pocket for your drugs prior to reaching your health plan\u2019s annual deductible, there is a good chance the drug coverage provided by your employer plan would not be considered credible. Employers are legally required under Medicare rules to issue annual statements about the credibility of their drug coverage. It might be possible for you to avoid getting and paying for Part B in this situation, but I\u2019d only recommend this approach if you are comfortable that the bulk of your uninsured health expenses will be for prescription drugs.\n\nIt may well be that having employer insurance plus Medicare is not as attractive as simply dropping the employer plan and relying solely on Medicare as your primary insurer. This decision depends on how much your employer subsidizes your health care and on your maximum out-of-pocket expenses in a high-deductible employer plan. Also, if you drop an employer plan, it might not admit you back if you change your mind. These possibilities should be explored with your employer\u2019s benefits experts.\n\nHere are this week\u2019s reader questions:\n\nRoger \u2013 Ariz.: Am I not permitted to decline Medicare Part A when applying to receive Social Security benefits? I\u2019m 66, employed, and on my employer\u2019s group health plan (PPO). My employer has said it may move its insurance to a high-deductible health plan, with a health savings account. If I have Part A, am I automatically ineligible for the HSA and employer insurance? If so, would I be eligible for COBRA?\n\nPhil Moeller: You cannot receive any type of Social Security benefit if you are 65 or older without also being enrolled in Part A. For better or worse, it\u2019s the law.\n\nIn that event, you would not be able to make contributions to an HSA. Of course, I don\u2019t know if your employer would also offer a non-HSA health plan. If not, it probably would make sense for you to get Medicare rather than signing up for a temporary COBRA extension of your employer plan.\n\nSolomon \u2013 Wash.: I cannot understand why dental care is excluded from Medicare. This is something that older Americans need, and we need to begin this conversation NOW!\n\nPhil Moeller: I agree that this is a discussion that we should have, and that it should include hearing and vision insurance as well. Many Medicare Advantage plans offer insurance for these things, but I\u2019m guessing that what you would like is more comprehensive coverage that would allow people to take proper care of themselves and thus avoid many later-life health issues that can be directly traced to their earlier inability to afford needed care.\n\nWhile the need is great, robust dental coverage for older people is not very attractive from an insurance perspective. When the population skews to people who are older, the need for dental care becomes much greater. For this population, you\u2019re really not talking about a stand-alone insurance product so much as including specified care needs as one of the services that Medicare would cover.\n\nREAD MORE: Medicare\u2019s lack of dental, hearing and vision coverage can put seniors in a bind\n\nI\u2019d be willing to pay a bit more for my Part B if it covered dental care. But I bet a lot of consumer groups would argue that the government should foot this bill or that wealthier people should pay higher Medicare rates to subsidize dental care for others. If Medicare did cover dental care, you could expect the dental lobby to push hard for favorable reimbursement rates. From where I sit, this is where the battle would be joined.\n\nAnn: I just turned 65; my spouse is 61. Both of us are currently not working and we purchase insurance on our state exchange. My husband has accepted a job offer and will be eligible for group health insurance next month. Prior to the job offer, I had planned to get Medicare but have not actually signed up. When I went to the Social Security office, they signed me up for Part B of Medicare, even though I was not then 65. What should I do about the month-long gap between me turning 65 and being covered on his new employer plan?\n\nPhil Moeller: You can terminate enrollment in Part B and should do so immediately to avoid being charged a premium. You can get this money back, but it can be a time-consuming process.\n\nFew people know this, but you (and your husband) can keep your exchange plan even after you turn 65. In that event, you would lose any income-related subsidies, but in your case this would be a minor concern because you\u2019re only talking about staying on for another month.\n\nWhen you eventually do need Medicare, you should have a special enrollment period. At that time, your husband\u2019s employer will need to complete this form, which attests that you have had employer health insurance and thus are qualified for the special enrollment period and will face no adverse consequences when you do enroll in Medicare and related Medicare policies.\n\nVicky: My parents are 84 and 85. They want to move to Germany where my sister and I can be of more help. My question is, can they tap into their Medicare from there? My dad had Parkinson\u2019s but is still mobile. Is this move feasible?\n\nREAD MORE: I\u2019m retiring abroad. What Medicare plan should I get?\n\nPhil Moeller: Unfortunately, basic Medicare will not cover any of their medical expenses in Germany. Some Medicare Advantage and Medigap supplement plans do cover emergency overseas medical expenses, but this coverage is designed for travelers and not permanent overseas residents. If your parents wish to keep their Medicare, they could only use it if they returned to the U.S. for care. Unless they are planning to do so, they probably should drop their Medicare plans. I always advise people to confirm this with their Medicare insurers. Here\u2019s a primer on Medicare for people living outside the U.S. Sorry I don\u2019t have better news.", "output": "More and more employers are adopting high-deductible health plans, which usually include a health savings account. In 2016, between 20 and 23 million employees and family members had HSAs, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute. These plans can make Medicare more popular to employees aged 65 and older, even if they have the option of staying on their employer plans.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hybrid lithium anodes create more durable, rechargeable batteries \n Novel lithium electrodes coated with indium could be the basis for more powerful, longer-lasting, rechargeable batteries. The coating hinders undesirable side-reactions between the electrode and electrolyte, provide a more uniform deposition of lithium when charging, and augments storage in the lithium anode via alloying reactions between lithium and indium, as reported by American scientists in the journal Angewandte Chemie. Their success stems from the good diffusion of lithium ions along the interfacial layer.\n\nModern lithium ion batteries usually have graphite anodes that store lithium when the batteries are charged. An interesting alternative is presented by batteries with metallic anodes, such as lithium metal, which promise significantly higher storage capacity. However, a significant hurdle barring their successful implementation has been the uneven deposition of the metal during the charging process, which leads to formation of dendrites. After longer uses of the battery, these dendrites can grow so extensive that they short-circuit the battery. In addition, there are undesirable side-reactions between the reactive metal electrodes and the electrolyte, which significantly reduces the lifetime of the batteries. The formation of a stable, passivating layer that prevents further contact would be an ideal solution; however, it isn't possible because of the constant expansion and contraction of the electrode upon charging and discharging. This destroys the layer and exposes the metal to the electrolyte for more reactions. Other approaches include artificial films or physical barriers.\n\nResearchers working with Ravishankar Sundararaman at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, USA) and Lynden A. Archer at Cornell University have now introduced a novel alternative. By using straightforward electroless ion-exchange chemistry, they produced indium coatings on lithium. Simple immersion in a special indium salt solution is all it takes. Some of the indium is deposited on the surface of the lithium electrode as metal and the lithium ion concentration in the electrolyte simultaneously increases.\n\nThe indium layer is uniform and self-healing when the electrode is in use, if small amounts of the indium salt are added to the electrolyte. It remains intact during charge/discharge cycles, its chemical composition remains unchanged, and side-reactions are prevented. Dendrites are also eliminated, leaving the surface smooth and compact.\n\nBy using computer modeling, the researchers were able to show why their method is so successful: lithium ions are very loosely bound to the indium coating. They form an alloy with the indium, which allows them to move very rapidly over the surface before they cross it and are deposited on the underlying lithium electrode. In complete cells with commercial cathodes, these new indium\u2013lithium hybrid electrodes were stable over more than 250 cycles, retaining about 90 % of their capacity.\n\nProvided by Wiley", "output": "Scientists at Ravishankar Sundararaman at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Lynden A Archer at Cornell University have developed a simple coating that prevents side-reactions between the electrode and electrolyte in rechargeable batteries, according to an article in the journal Angewandte Chemie. The researchers immersed the electrode in an indium salt solution, creating a protective layer that eliminated dendrites and remained smooth and stable over more than 250 cycles. It is hoped the development will lead to more powerful, longer-lasting, rechargeable batteries."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snapchat adds 14 companies to its creative partners to drive ROI \n Snapchat has added 14 companies to its roster of creative partners, with the aim of helping brands drive ROI when a user \u2018swipes up\u2019 on a vertical ad.\n\nThe Venice Beach-based company is forging ties with over a dozen new companies in order to enhance the 'post-swipe' ad experienc\n\nThe firm has forged ties with the likes of Whalar which matches advertisers with creators to produce scalable content, and Slyce which allows brands to create custom coupons and track redemption.\n\nThe Venice Beach-based company is forging ties with over a dozen new companies in order to enhance the 'post-swipe' ad experience; or in other words ensuring users remain engaged with what is on their screen after they take action on a clickable, vertical ad.\n\nOther partners with specialists in custom games, interactive videos, haptics and gyroscope, and lead generation include: Flyr; Ceros; Undertone; Famous; Wirewax; Entrypoint; Adludio; TreSensa; GameCommerce; CrossInstall; Jebbit and Popwallet.\n\nWith the new deals, Snap is focusing on the impact of ads that load in its internal browser. This is something it has already been experimenting with through gamification and interactive experiences, including the recent unveiling of an exclusive Adidas game last week, which let viewers partake in a competitive touchscreen kick-up tournament. In June, the Economist also trialed Snapchat's Attachment format, which facilitates external links and video.\n\nDuring Snap's most recent earnings call its chief strategy officer Imran Khan claimed that the average cost per-lead on the campaign was \u00a310.28 compared to the \u00a362 norm on other display channels.\n\nThe messaging app launched its official partner program last year when it was seriously bulking up its ad offering. Previously creative partners like Vidsy and Celtra have been tasked with producing the visuals people see when Snap Ads are served between Stories or in Discover, but today's announcement marks in a shift in focus in favor of technology that fuels post-swipe experiences.\n\nSnap Inc's most recent financial results fell short of Wall Street forecasts with the company pulling in $182m between March and June of this year. However, in the face of growing competition from the likes of Facebook and Instagram the upstart has remained optimistic about its ad products.", "output": "Snapchat has partnered with 14 creative companies to focus on the impact of ads that load in its internal browser and help brands boost its ROI. To enhance user engagement in the 'post-swipe' ad experience the firm has linked with Whalar, which matches advertisers with creators to produce scalable content, and Slyce which allows brands to create custom coupons and track redemptions. Other partners that specialise in custom games, interactive videos, haptics and gyroscope, and lead generation include: Flyr; Ceros; Undertone; Famous; Wirewax; Entrypoint; Adludio; TreSensa; GameCommerce; CrossInstall; Jebbit and Popwallet."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon said to be exploring move into US drug supply chain \n Amazon is ramping up conversations with a group of drug middlemen known as pharmacy benefits managers or PBMs, according to analysts from Leerink Partners. PBMs are a critical part of the drug supply chain, as they negotiate prices with drug manufacturers on one end, and manage pharmacy benefits for insurers on the other.\n\nThe report, which was previously spotted by Axios, also outlines the \"disruptive\" potential posed by Amazon across the multibillion dollar pharmacy benefits and pharmacy arena.\n\nCiting an anonymous analyst, the report states that Amazon may \"indeed be in conversations with some middle-market PBMs now, in an effort to get into various contract arrangements.\"\n\nThat suggests that Amazon is a \"bigger threat\" than many expect, but that it won't be right away. Leerink estimates that it will take about 18 to 24 months for Amazon to get pharmacy licenses in all 50 states.\n\nCNBC reported in May that Amazon was looking to hire a general manager to lead its pharmacy business. And that it had already hired Mark Lyons from Premera Blue Cross, a local insurer, who was tasked with building an internal PBM.\n\nIn the ensuing months, analysts and investors asked players across the supply chain were asked about the Amazon threats. Some described Amazon has a potential partner, while others were skeptical that the e-commerce company would move into a highly-regulated space.\n\n-- CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report.", "output": "Amazon is expanding its talks with pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) \u2013 the middlemen in the drug industry, according to a report\u00a0by analysts from Leerink Partners. A move by Amazon to pick up contracts in the sector could pose\u00a0a significant\u00a0risk to many of the players across the entire drug supply chain. The report\u00a0stated that Amazon is a \"bigger threat\" than many realise;\u00a0however, it estimated it will take at least\u00a018 to 24 months for Amazon to gain\u00a0pharmacy licences in all 50 US states. PBMs negotiate drug prices with manufacturers while also managing\u00a0pharmacy benefits for insurers."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Oil company Shell still finds Facebook and Google best place for ads \n Not every advertiser sees YouTube\u2019s brand-safety woes and Facebook\u2019s metric mishaps as chances to openly berate the duopoly. Oil giant Shell is doing the opposite, taking a pragmatic \u2014 and sometimes sympathetic \u2014 view of both companies\u2019 quandaries.\n\nBetween developing a clear strategy for YouTube and running more ads on Facebook, Shell has pinned its colors to the duopoly flag for the foreseeable future. Americo Campos Silva, head of digital and social media for Shell, justified the moves, insisting that Google isn\u2019t entirely to blame for ads appearing next to terrorist videos and criticizing the videos\u2019 creators for avoiding detection using specific tags. Campos Silva also downplayed reports that Facebook falsified the size of its audience and insisted that Shell doesn\u2019t use reach as the main proxy for the success of its ads.\n\nAlthough Campos Silva\u2019s arguments contrast from the industry\u2019s animosity toward Google and Facebook, Shell was never going to burn bridges to either platform, not when both are key to reaching the millennials who think the oil industry is only about profiting from irreversible damage to the planet. After all, a marketer can only go to so many places to reach those who aren\u2019t watching TV.\n\nYouTube is that place, according to Campos Silva, who is leading a review of how his 40-strong team of marketers build its channel\u2019s subscribers. He declined to share how the team will consistently create content that people will willingly watch, but he revealed Shell is still figuring out the platform\u2019s myriad uses.\n\n\u201cWe need to understand exactly what we want to get from YouTube, instead of looking at it as just a warehouse of multiple videos that we upload videos to or as a place to put some ad budget into it in order to generate views,\u201d Campos Silva said. \u201cWe have some very good benchmarks on other brands that have produced content for YouTube alongside some influencers that have produced great work.\u201d\n\nFrom positioning YouTube as the heartbeat of Shell\u2019s content strategy to making content with professional vloggers, Shell will need to consider the risks and rewards these moves pose to its brand before starting to rebuild its strategy. Interestingly, advertising on YouTube is conspicuously absent from YouTube\u2019s renewed focus on the platform, particularly given Campos Silva\u2019s insistence that it has the largest audience for online video.\n\n\u201cI think YouTube\u2019s importance [to Shell] is growing significantly because there is a growing trend of people watching YouTube on the TV in the living room,\u201d he said.\n\nCampos Silva said Shell won\u2019t stop spending on Facebook despite its data conflicting with U.S. census statistics. Earlier this month, Pivotal Research Group senior analyst Brian Wieser highlighted discrepancies between U.S. census data and the potential reach the social network promises advertisers. But having previously headed up Shell\u2019s media buying, Campos Silva deems it OK that Facebook\u2019s reach may not be accurate as long as the same measurement is used each time \u2014 reach becomes a barometer, rather than an exact science.\n\nWhile the majority of Shell\u2019s Facebook ads try to build its brand, they are harder to measure, and direct-response campaigns \u201care more objective on the way they are measured,\u201d he said.\n\nCampos Silva said what ultimately matters to him is the impact of campaigns rather than their reach. For instance, if Shell pays to reach 10 million people but reaches 9.9 million without sacrificing impact, it\u2019s \u201cnot a big problem,\u201d he said. \u201cThe issues over Facebook\u2019s reach and whether or not it is as big as they say will not stop us investing in the channel.\u201d\n\nNo brand view on the duopoly is irrelevant, but the loudest ones appear to be from legacy industries that are being disrupted the most. Whether it\u2019s Shell (energy), Procter & Gamble (consumer packaged goods) or Restoration Hardware (retail), brands\u2019 comments about the state of the media supply chain seem to be as much about showing shareholders they are innovative businesses as they are about advertising.", "output": "Oil giant Shell is bucking the trend in advertisers frowning upon Facebook and Google's advertising duopoly, and shrugging off recent bad headlines surrounding content placement and inaccurate metrics. Americo Campos Silva, head of digital and social media for Shell, has spotlighted Google-owned YouTube as the place to engage millennial viewers, citing the growing trend of people watching the channel on their living room TVs. Silva also said Google was not entirely to blame for the scandal surrounding ad content placed near extremist content on YouTube, and issues over Facebook's reach won't prevent the company investing in the channel."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NHS agrees results-based payment for hepatitis C drug \n The cash-strapped NHS has struck up a 'pay as you cure' deal for a hepatitis C drug as it desperately attempts to save money.\n\nUnder the new deal, which is the first of its kind, the National Health Service will only pay for the medication if a patient is successfully cured.\n\nFor those who aren't cured by taking the medication, its manufacturer, who hasn't been identified, will cough up and pay the fee.\n\nIf it proves successful, the move by NHS England could be adopted for other costly treatments to reduce the nation's drug bill.\n\nCurrently, the health service spends more than \u00a315 billion on the range of drugs it provides every year, according to official figures.\n\nIt comes amid repeated cuts to the NHS, which has seen various services scrapped in recent months, creating a 'postcode lottery' for many.\n\nUnder the new deal, which is the first of its kind, the health service will only pay for the medication if a patient is successfully cured (stock)\n\nThe cost-saving move was announced at the NHS Expo conference in Manchester by NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens.\n\nHe said cutting back was important for the NHS to reach its 'full potential' by making sure it can afford drugs for future generations.\n\nHow common is hepatitis C?\n\nAround 215,000 people in the UK are thought to have hepatitis C, figures suggest. The virus can infect the liver.\n\nTREATMENTS AT RISK Hundreds of people with rare diseases could miss out on vital treatments after the NHS was ordered to consider bankrolling a controversial HIV pill, it was announced last November. Toddlers with cystic fibrosis, deaf children and amputees may now be denied a range of new medical devices and breakthrough drugs. NHS England has a budget of \u00a325million a year for specialised new treatments and equipment for rare diseases. But the Court of Appeal ruling meant up to \u00a320million may be diverted to provide pills for those at risk of HIV infection due to their high-risk sex lives, including up to 5,000 gay men. Critics fear it will encourage 'sexual risk-taking'. The decision put patients at the centre of a price war between a US drugs giant and the NHS, which warned that 'excessively high pricing' of the \u00a34,000-a-year pill could put funding for 13 other treatments in doubt. NHS England had argued it should not have to even consider funding the PrEP treatment, because HIV prevention is not in its remit \u2013 insisting local councils should bear responsibility. Advertisement !- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/ru/health/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 - ->\n\nLeft untreated, the condition can lead to potentially life-threatening complications, including cirrhosis or liver cancer.\n\nPeople contract the virus by coming into contact with the blood of an infected person which can occur by sharing needles, razors or toothbrushes.\n\nNICE advises that patients are given direct-acting antiviral medicines, which can produce results in as little as eight weeks.\n\nThe drug in the new deal, which is given to around 10,000 patients a year, and its manufacturer cannot be named due to commercial confidentiality.\n\nOther innovative ways to save money\n\nDelegates at the conference were told of various innovative ways the NHS has come up with to fund the latest treatments and keep the nation's drugs bill down.\n\nMr Stevens also announced how he hopes to save \u00a3300 million a year by 2021 by accelerating the uptake of 'biosimilar' medicines.\n\nSuch drugs are cheaper but as equally effective as 'biological' treatments - which mimic substances that humans produce naturally.\n\nNHS figures show that six of the top 10 most expensive medicines prescribed in NHS hospitals are biological products.\n\nAt the conference, Mr Stevens also announced a \u00a3700,000 investment for auditory brainstem implants - which help to restore hearing in some deaf children.", "output": "The NHS in England has struck a payment-by-results deal with a pharmaceutical company for the supply of a drug used to treat hepatitis C. It means the manufacturer will only be paid if a patient is successfully cured. The company and the drug have not been named due to commercial confidentiality, but the arrangement was confirmed by NHS England's chief executive, Simon Stevens. If the innovative deal works well, it may be introduced for other costly treatments as the NHS seeks to reduce its \u00a315bn ($20.3bn) annual bill for drugs.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Oil and gas companies in South China Sea at risk \n That was the case for Spanish energy firm Repsol . In July, its subsidiary Talisman-Vietnam was ordered by Hanoi to stop gas drilling in a China-claimed area after Beijing warned the Southeast Asian country that it would attack bases if operations continued.\n\nAs the world's second-largest economy threatens military action in the South China Sea, oil and gas players with interests in the disputed zone are put in a bad place.\n\nMap courtesy of Stratfor.\n\nPresident Xi Jinping's administration's use of military retaliation is \"a worrying escalation\" and could result in further , said Hugo Brennan, Asia analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, in a Wednesday note.\n\nCompanies that have interests or operations in blocks licensed by Southeast Asian governments but located within China-claimed waters are likely to face pressure from Beijing, according to Brennan.\n\nThere are many overlapping claims in the region. China relies on a concept known as the nine-dash line to mark its territorial claims \u2014 a massive area that extends roughly 1,000 miles from its southern shores \u2014 in the South China Sea. But Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also assert sovereign rights over parts of the international waterway, which is rich in resources and boasts key maritime routes.\n\nAgainst that backdrop, firms licensed by other countries to operate in disputed ares will face Chinese protestations. Any company ignoring those would likely face consequences such as on-site harassment, de facto exclusion from the Chinese market and even implicit threats to company staff and assets, Brennan said. experienced the latter option in 2007, he added.\n\n\"Operators also have to analyse the resolve of Southeast Asian governments to stand up to China. Otherwise, companies with rights to develop blocks or fields in contested waters may find that they are prevented from exercising them as host government become wary of rocking the boat.\"\n\nThe next potential flash-point could be Vietnam's Red Emperor oil and gas field, also called Ca Rong Do. Repsol is active in the project, which is located within China's nine-dash line, and drilling is slated for 2019. But in light of Chinese threats, it remains to be seen how much progress the Madrid-based firm will make, Brennan said.", "output": "The increased willingness by China to use military threats in the South China Sea, as shown with the incident in July over Spain's Repsol, reveals how oil and gas companies with interests in the disputed zone are increasingly at risk. These companies, if they ignore demands by China, may face harassment, exclusion from the Chinese market as well as threats to staff, according to Verisk Maplecroft. The Beijing government's use of military retaliation is \"a worrying escalation\" which could further pressurise future business dealings, warns Verisk Maplecroft's Hugo Brennan."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Powerhouse Ventures to sell quarter of its Invert Robotics stake \n Christchurch-based technology incubator Powerhouse Ventures plans to sell about one-quarter of its holding of Invert Robotics for $1.3 million, a premium to its book value.\n\nIn a release to the ASX, the company said it had been approached during Invert's current financing round. At present, it owns 34.6 percent of the company and the sale would reduce that to between 23.6 percent and 28.2 percent of the shares.\n\nThe deal is conditional to completing a pre-emptive shareholder process and co-sale rights under the shareholder agreement it has with Invert, which will determine its holding after the sale, it said. It will take at least one month to complete.\n\nPowerhouse said the sale would result in a profit above its current book valuation of Invert. Chair Russell Yardley said the sale would introduce \"new institutional and sophisticated investors\" to Invert ahead of further capital raising to fund the robotics firm's expansion into European dairy and aviation.\n\n\"Generally, Powerhouse Ventures aims to own between 20 to 40 percent of its investee companies prior to their expansion rounds when they grow to become 'post-seed stage' companies,\" the company said. \"Invert has now reached this point and has in place the necessary governance and funding arrangements to succeed.\"\n\nPowerhouse shares recently traded at 30 Australian cents on the ASX, down 62.5 percent this year. It listed last year with an initial public offering price of A$1.07.\n\nLast month the company said it was adjusting its investment portfolio after a review found a number of companies didn't follow Powerhouse's investment strategy.\n\n(BusinessDesk)\n\nComments from our readers\n\nNo comments yet\n\nAdd your comment:\n\nYour name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process.\n\nRelated News:\n\nFPH - Notification of closing date for Director nominations\n\nSteel & Tube Shareholder Newsletter June 2023\n\nTEM - Final Results\n\nFSF - Capital Return - Interim Orders Received\n\nJune 12th Morning Report\n\nNWF - Aokautere Expansion - Fast-Track Consent Referral\n\nBPG - PEARL DIVER MARKET UPDATE\n\nAir New Zealand provides earnings guidance update for FY23\n\nMeridian / NZAS demand response agreement unconditional\n\nAIA - Auckland Airport FY23-27 price changes\n\n", "output": "New Zealand technology incubator Powerhouse Ventures aims to sell a quarter of its stake in Invert Robotics for NZD1.3m ($1m), in a deal subject to the completion of a pre-emptive shareholder process and co-sale rights. The move is in line with Powerhouse's policy of reducing its holdings in firms that grow beyond their seed stage. Chairman Russell Yardley said the sale would result in a profit above Invert's current book valuation\u00a0and introduce \"new institutional and sophisticated investors\" to the firm.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese firm reveals\u00a0drones equipped with anti-tank missiles \n The TB001 is 33 feet long and has a wingspan of twice that. It can fly for 35 hours and travel over 3,700 miles in that time. It is optimized for satellite control as well as an electro-optical targeting sensor. It can also be equipped with armaments, such as small missile launchers, for a total of 220 pounds of ordnance. A mock-up at the UAV show depicted the TB001 equipped with eight anti-tank Norinco Blue Arrow missiles, each weighing 100 pounds.\n\nAlso showcased was the TA001, a single pusher-engine UAV meant to carry lighter ordnance. It was about half the size of the TB001.", "output": "Chinese drone-maker Tengoen has unveiled a new generation of armed reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with anti-tank missiles at the 14th China-Asean\u00a0Expo in Nanning, Guangxi province. The UAVs include the TB001 Twin-Tailed Scorpion, which Tengoen has described as the only Chinese-made twin-engine, twin-boom unmanned aerial system in production. The TB001 is 33 ft long and can fly for 35 hours over a distance of 3,700 miles. At present China lags behind other major military powers in drone warfare and has been exploring its options for catching up.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tencent to invest $366m in Chinese investment bank CICC \n \n\n\n\nTencent Holdings Ltd. has agreed to invest HK$2.86 billion (US$367 million) in China International Capital Corp Ltd (CICC) for a 4.95% stake in the company. At the same time, the two parties said they have agreed to establish a strategic partnership in a range of services and products leveraging Tencent\u2019s financial technology and CICC\u2019s wealth management capabilities, according to a joint announcement.\n\nThe move is another major bet on China\u2019s financial services industry by social networking and gaming giant Tencent. Tencent\u2019s current financial services offerings include loan and wealth management via its WeBank and Qian.qq.com units, while its third-party payment platform Tenpay is currently the second largest digital payment service in China, following market leader Alibaba-controlled Alipay. The company is also a backer of China\u2019s first Internet only insurer ZhongAn Online and online peer-to-peer lender Renrendai, and has invested in brokerage firms Futu Securities and Huatai Securities.\n\n\"Tencent looks forward to cooperating with CICC, a leading investment bank in China, in a range of services and products, including providing CICC with our advanced FinTech, and leveraging CICC\u2019s wealth management capabilities to better serve our users,\" said Martin Lau, president of Tencent.\n\nThe deal sees Tencent Mobility Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tencent Holdings, acquire 207.5 million newly issued H shares of CICC for HK$13.8 per share, which represents a discount of about 10.97% to CICC\u2019s closing price of HK$15.5 yesterday. The Tencent unit will own 12.01% and 4.95% of the total issued H shares and the total issued shares of CICC respectively on a fully diluted basis after the completion of the deal, which is pending regulatory approval.\n\nFounded in 1995, CICC\u2019s main businesses include investment banking, equities, wealth management and investment management. The Beijing-based company operates over 200 securities branches in 19 cities with overseas presence in New York, Singapore and London, in addition to Hong Kong. The company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2015.", "output": "China International Capital Corp's (CICC) shares surged on news that Tencent will invest HKD2.86bn ($366.6m) in the investment bank for a 4.95% stake. The two will also work together in a strategic partnership. Tencent is no newcomer to financial services, it offers customers loans and banking services via subsidiaries WeBank and Qian.qq.com, owns China's second largest digital payments service and backs the country's first online-only insurer ZhongAn. Another Chinese internet firm eyeing financial services is JD.com, said to be in talks last week to buy a 24% stake in brokerage First Capital Securities worth roughly $1.5bn."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow approaches 'end of an era' at Buckshaw Village development \n Two landmark Chorley developments coming to an end\n\nWith only a dozen properties left to sell at West Point, Redrow Homes is approaching the \u2018end of an era\u2019 at Buckshaw Village, near Chorley, while only three new homes remain a few miles away in Whittle-le-Woods.\n\nInterestingly, these two developments are linked by wartime history as well as by location and by Redrow.\n\nBuckshaw Village has totally transformed the site of the former Royal Ordnance Factory (ROF Chorley), while the public open space area of Lucas Green contains a Grade II listed pillbox and light anti-aircraft gun emplacement that\u2019s been restored and preserved by Redrow. It was originally built to defend ROF Chorley against enemy attack during World War Two, both from the ground and from the air.\n\nToday these two locations are sought-after residential areas, with buyers vying to secure the final homes.\n\nRedrow was one of two lead developers whose vision helped shaped Buckshaw Village almost two decades ago.\n\nRedrow launched its first homes for sale here in 2003 and since then has been responsible for 1,270 of the circa 3,000 homes that make up this thriving community today.\n\nWest Point, a development of just 21 properties, is the final piece of the puzzle and, with nearly half of them sold, would-be customers have just 12 more chances to own a Redrow home at Buckshaw Village.\n\nThere are a mix of two, three and four-bedroom properties with current prices from only \u00a3154,995 to \u00a3224,995. They\u2019re conveniently close to some of Buckshaw Village\u2019s key amenities including the Tesco superstore and new railway station.\n\nIt\u2019s features like these, as well as schools, bars, restaurants, shops, a doctors\u2019 surgery, community centre and a business park supporting 10,000 jobs, that have made redevelopment of the former Royal Ordnance Factory such a resounding success.\n\nAnd it\u2019s a success that prompted Chorley MP and Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, Lindsay Hoyle, to say recently: \u201cIt proves what you can do with a big piece of land, the right vision and the right investment, to deliver a long-term future.\n\n\u201cEverything was brought together on this one site. This is a real village where people can live and work.\u201d\n\nDuring its lifespan, Buckshaw Village has featured a wide variety of homes from Redrow\u2019s portfolio to suit every kind of buyer, including Arts & Crafts inspired family homes, bespoke apartments and contemporary first time buyer properties.\n\nThese final homes at West Point are based on Redrow\u2019s Regent Collection, with Georgian influenced exteriors and contemporary interiors. The remaining properties can all be ready to move into before Christmas.\n\nMeanwhile, those seeking a larger home and the Arts & Crafts inspired architecture of Redrow\u2019s popular Heritage Collection, may find the answer at Lucas Green in nearby Whittle-le-Woods.\n\nThere too, only a small number of properties remain for sale due to the development\u2019s outstanding success. In fact, there\u2019s just a trio of detached homes to bring Lucas Green to a close; a decidedly spacious three-bedroom Worcester at \u00a3319,995 and four-bedroom Oxford and Sunningdale styles, at \u00a3324,995 and \u00a3409,995 respectively. Those who reserve now can move into their new home next spring.\n\nTo find out more about Lucas Green, visit redrow.co.uk/lucas; for information on the final West Point homes, visit redrow.co.uk/westpoint. Sales offices at both locations are open Thursday to Monday inclusive from 10am to 5.30pm, with a fully furnished Finsbury show home available to view at West Point.", "output": "Redrow Homes now has only 12 properties left at its Buckshaw Village development, near Chorley in Lancashire, while at nearby Whittle-le-Woods there are only three homes still for sale. Redrow was one of two lead developers that transformed the site of a former Royal Ordnance factory into Buckshaw Village. Redrow launched its first homes for sale in the village in 2003 and has since been responsible for 1,270 of the 3,000 homes that now make up the site. The final development on the site is West Point, which has 21 properties, nearly half of which are sold\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US government buys 75 FirstLook robots from Endeavor Robotics \n Endeavor Robotics secured a contract with the U.S government for 75 of its FirstLook robots, its third major contract with the government in six weeks.\n\n\u201cFirstLook is the most preferred lightweight reconnaissance robot in its class because of how easily and quickly it can be deployed while withstanding the abuse of ground operations,\u201d president Tom Frost said in a press release. \u201cIt gives me great pride to know that we are doing our part each and every day to reduce human exposure to potentially lethal situations.\u201d\n\nThe five-pound robot, which moves on treads, serves the military, law enforcement and energy industries and performs reconnaissance missions, clears buildings and detects IEDs using day/night cameras and two-way audio. Operators control the robot with a remote, and the machine can be thrown or dropped from 15 feet onto concrete without being damaged.\n\nIn August, the company received a $15 million order from the government for upgrades and accessories to support robotic systems already in use. Earlier in the month, the government purchased 32 small unmanned ground vehicles with the Endeavor Robotics uPoint Multi-Robot Control System, which decreases on-robot training time using technology and tablet-based user-interfaces.\n\n\u201cWe are proud to respond to the needs of our customers,\u201d CEO Sean Bielat said in a statement. \u201cWe are a highly responsive, customer-focused, agile company that stands positioned to rapidly provide upgrades, accessories, and new platforms whenever called upon by our customers. We remain ready 24/7 to meet the needs of our valued customers, helping them place distance between themselves and the incredible hazards that they bravely face each day.\u201d", "output": "Endeavor Robotics has won a contract with the US government for 75 of its FirstLook robots, the third major contract it has secured with the government in six weeks. FirstLook robots serve the military, law enforcement and energy industries by reducing human exposure to potentially lethal situations. The robots, which move on treads, perform reconnaissance missions, clear buildings and detect explosive devices using day and night vision\u00a0cameras and two-way audio. Operators control the robots remotely, and the lightweight yet robust machines can be thrown or dropped from up to 15 feet without becoming damaged."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Robots displace 400 Spanish workers at farm produce supplier \n Spanish farm produce supplier El Dulze has reduced its human workforce from 500 down to just 100 with the use of robots, according to a report on FruitNet.com.\n\nThe company is said to be using Fanuc robots \u2013 LR Mate 200iB models \u2013 which use vision systems to even out the production line so the vegetables are not bunched up too close together for packing.\n\nThe robots also appear to be picking heads of lettuce and placing them in containers, or plastic packaging.\n\nA total of 68 robots have been installed at the El Dulze facility in Murcia, and they process approximately 550,000 heads of lettuce every day.\n\nThe robotic system is also said to have reduced rejects from 20 per cent to 5 per cent, mostly due to improvements in hygiene and handling.\n\nManaging director Jos\u00e9 S\u00e1nchez is quoted by FruitNet.com as saying: \u201cThis business has traditionally been labour intensive but today labour is increasingly unavailable.\n\n\u201cThis region has a major shortage of labour \u2013 many workers in the industry are immigrants but this hasn\u2019t solved our problem.\n\n\u201cAs minimal skill is needed we have a real problem with labour and turnover of these workers is high \u2013 they just seem to come and go.\n\n\u201cReducing the amount of people has made everything more hygienic and damage to the lettuces caused by handling is now minimal.\u201d\n\nShare this: Print\n\nFacebook\n\nLinkedIn\n\nReddit\n\nTwitter\n\nTumblr\n\nPinterest\n\nSkype\n\nWhatsApp\n\nTelegram\n\nPocket\n\n", "output": "The introduction of robots at Spanish farm produce supplier El Dulze has reduced its human workforce from 500 to just 100. \u201cThis business has traditionally been labour intensive but today labour is increasingly unavailable\", said managing director Jos\u00e9 S\u00e1nchez. \"Reducing the amount of people has made everything more hygienic and damage to the lettuces caused by handling is now minimal\u201d, he said. The 68 robots are able to sort around 550,000 lettuces per day, and have reduced the number of rejected lettuces by approximately 15%."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "German insurtech ONE inks partnership with Munich Re \n Munich Re and insurance startup ONE announce strategic partnership\n\nhttp://www.one-insurance.eu\n\nBERLIN, 20th September 2017 \u2013 ONE, the fully digital and shortly to be launched insurance provider, today announced a strategic partnership with Munich Re, world\u2018s largest re-insurance company.\u201cMunich RE is screening the insurtech horizon systematically and we\u2019ve picked ONE as a partner, in which ambitions and potential we sustainably believe. Our partnership is the start of an exciting collaboration in new methodologies and technologies of the digital world\u201d, says Tobias Sonndorfer, Client Executive at Munich Re and board member of ONE.\u201eWe are very glad to be supported by Munich Re, this is strong evidence for our business case going the right way. Another fundamental milestone after having received the regulatory permission recently\u201d, Stephan Ommerborn, CEO of ONE, states.Details of the strategic partnership have not been disclosed.About Munich ReMunich Re stands for exceptional solution-based expertise, consistent risk management, financial stability and client proximity. In the financial year 2016, Munich Re (Group) achieved a profit of \u20ac2.6bn on premium income of \u20ac48.9bn. It operates in all lines of insurance, with more than 43,000 employees throughout the world. With premium income of \u20ac27.8bn from reinsurance alone, Munich Re is one of the world\u00b4s leading reinsurers. Especially when clients require solutions for complex risks, Munich Re is a much sought-after business partner. Roughly 12,000 staff in reinsurance possess unique global and local knowledge. Munich Re attaches great importance to its client service, which regularly receives top ratings.About ONEONE is Europe\u00b4s first fully digital and licensed all-round insurance carrier. Users can complete insurance policies within a few minutes, starting with household and liability insurance. ONE has been founded by Julian Teicke, CEO of wefox-Group and founder of wefox, a leading insurance platform, and by Stephan Ommerborn, formerly an Executive at Zurich Insurance Group. The digital insurance carrier will officially launch in autumn 2017 - starting with Germany, Austria and Switzerland.PresscontactAlexander Huberpress@one-insurance.comFinanceFox Services GmbHUrbanstr. 71, 10967 Berlin", "output": "German insurtech ONE has entered into a partnership with Munich Re, the world's largest reinsurance company. Terms of the nature of the partnership were not announced, though Munich Re says it came after surveying the insurtech landscape and represents the firm moving into new digital channels. ONE is an online on-demand insurer that aims to provide customers with fast access to coverage and the flexibility to retain coverage only when needed. It also seeks to reward customers for giving back to their communities. It plans to launch this autumn in Germany, Switzerland and Austria."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK scientists create molecule-building microscopic robots \n Artist's impression of the molecular robot manipulating a molecule. Credit: Stuart Jantzen, biocinematics.com\n\nScientists at The University of Manchester have created the world's first 'molecular robot' that is capable of performing basic tasks including building other molecules.\n\nThe tiny robots, which are a millionth of a millimetre in size, can be programmed to move and build molecular cargo, using a tiny robotic arm.\n\nEach individual robot is capable of manipulating a single molecule and is made up of just 150 carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen atoms. To put that size into context, a billion billion of these robots piled on top of each other would still only be the same size as a single grain of salt.\n\nThe robots operate by carrying out chemical reactions in special solutions which can then be controlled and programmed by scientists to perform the basic tasks.\n\nIn the future such robots could be used for medical purposes, advanced manufacturing processes and even building molecular factories and assembly lines. The research will be published in Nature on Thursday 21st September.\n\nProfessor David Leigh, who led the research at University's School of Chemistry, explains: 'All matter is made up of atoms and these are the basic building blocks that form molecules. Our robot is literally a molecular robot constructed of atoms just like you can build a very simple robot out of Lego bricks. The robot then responds to a series of simple commands that are programmed with chemical inputs by a scientist.\n\n'It is similar to the way robots are used on a car assembly line. Those robots pick up a panel and position it so that it can be riveted in the correct way to build the bodywork of a car. So, just like the robot in the factory, our molecular version can be programmed to position and rivet components in different ways to build different products, just on a much smaller scale at a molecular level.'\n\nThe benefit of having machinery that is so small is it massively reduces demand for materials, can accelerate and improve drug discovery, dramatically reduce power requirements and rapidly increase the miniaturisation of other products. Therefore, the potential applications for molecular robots are extremely varied and exciting.\n\nProf Leigh says: 'Molecular robotics represents the ultimate in the miniaturisation of machinery. Our aim is to design and make the smallest machines possible. This is just the start but we anticipate that within 10 to 20 years molecular robots will begin to be used to build molecules and materials on assembly lines in molecular factories.'\n\nWhilst building and operating such tiny machine is extremely complex, the techniques used by the team are based on simple chemical processes.\n\nProf Leigh added: 'The robots are assembled and operated using chemistry. This is the science of how atoms and molecules react with each other and how larger molecules are constructed from smaller ones.\n\n'It is the same sort of process scientists use to make medicines and plastics from simple chemical building blocks. Then, once the nano-robots have been constructed, they are operated by scientists by adding chemical inputs which tell the robots what to do and when, just like a computer program.'\n\nMore information: Salma Kassem et al, Stereodivergent synthesis with a programmable molecular machine, Nature (2017). DOI: 10.1038/nature23677 Journal information: Nature", "output": "University of Manchester scientists have created molecular robots that can build other molecules in a process hailed as a world first. The microscopic robots are a millionth of a millimetre in size and composed of just 150 carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen atoms. They can be programmed to move and build molecular cargo using a tiny robotic arm. The robots operate by performing chemical reactions in special solutions, which are controlled and programmed by scientists. Molecular robots could be used for medical purposes and advanced manufacturing processes as well as building molecular factories and assembly lines."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Moneymailme to hold ICO for its social payments app \n Groundbreaking blockchain platform launch is imminent\n\nSocial payment app Moneymailme announces development of a new blockchain platform called Modex Marketplace, a platform designed to bring the benefits of blockchain technology into everyday life.\n\nConnecting developers with applications and companies to deploy smart contracts into the real world.\n\nModex ICO, to commence in October with the Modex platform launch to follow in Q1 2018.\n\nEarly indications of participants enthusiasm robust on Modex despite calls for caution on ICO offerings.\n\nThe award-winning fintech social payment app company Moneymailme announces today that Modex \u2014 its smart contract marketplace \u2014 will open to a wider investment base with its much-anticipated ICO scheduled for early October.\n\nModex aims to bridge the gap between businesses and developers, in order to vastly accelerate global adoption of blockchain technology. Given the emerging norm for \u2018borderless\u2019 transactions, distributed ledger technology (aka the Blockchain) has opened the door for a new world of \u201cdata exchange\u201d, facilitated through Smart Contracts.\n\nMihai Ivascu, Moneymailme CEO and founder, stated in London: \u201cMoneymailme\u2019s next chapter centres on Modex Smart Contract Marketplace, the infrastructure needed to integrate blockchain capabilities with apps like ours. The fact that we\u2019ll be packaging and delivering the platform with our financial partners who\u2019ve developed practical uses for the tool in the UK and rest of Europe is really exciting. Modex is a game-changer. Frankly, the Modex team has even surprised itself.\u201d\n\nDesigned to serve as a central hub for multiple 3rd party applications and web platforms to plugin with and deploy smart contracts, Modex Marketplace will incorporate significant advantages for consumer adoption, enterprise cost savings, developer tools, community trust & engagement, IP protection, and revenue opportunities for developers, all centered around our smart contract ecosystem.\n\nThe infrastructure will initially be built on top of the Ethereum blockchain protocol and will eventually incorporate emergent protocols that also support smart contracts. Ethereum is by far the most trusted, and widely used smart contract platform making it an obvious place to start.\n\nThe Modex team brings together some of the most experienced individuals from across Europe, North America, and Asia with specialized talent in financial, security and blockchain development, and senior experience at Fortune 100 companies such as Oracle, and IBM. The team is tasked with building a one-stop solution for value- based transactions within the Modex ecosystem. This includes an all-in-one stop for developers and buyers of blockchain-based smart contracts, and an infrastructure to facilitate widespread deployment.\n\nStrategically timed for an October opening, the Modex ICO will last for 30 days or until its cap is reached, which may be as short as three days according to some experts in initial coin offerings. Precise dates will be announced shortly. Modex implementation is programmed to begin in late December 2017 with the official launch in Q1 of 2018.\n\nModex ICO funding will enable and advance development of its blockchain-based ecosystem of solutions, addressing key use-cases to help individuals, corporations, and organisations evolve and broaden their scope of services.\n\nModex infrastructure is moving toward providing easy and user-friendly access to cryptocurrency adoption and smart contract deployment. Based on the Ethereum blockchain, and over time other blockchain protocols, Modex is preparing to offer application program interfaces (APIs) and user-friendly apps that act as the technical bridge to achieve numerous implementations across a wide spectrum of companies and projects.\n\nWhat is a smart contract?\n\nA smart contract is a computer protocol intended to facilitate, verify, or enforce the negotiation or performance of a contract. Smart contracts were first proposed by Nick Szabo in 1996. Proponents of smart contracts claim that many kinds of contractual clauses may be made partially or fully self-executing, self-enforcing, or both. Smart contracts have been used primarily in association with cryptocurrencies. The most prominent smart contract implementation is the Ethereal blockchain platform, where they are known as a decentralised application.[1]\n\nA Word on Blockchain\n\nBlockchain technology is rapidly emerging as the singularly most promising next-generation norm for enabling industries and companies to instantaneously conduct and verify financial transactions on a network without a central authority. Traditionally, banking and payment transactions have relied on a central authority or \u201cmiddleman\u201d for making or enabling payments. This will soon be nostalgia!\n\nOrganisations and companies worldwide are deepening on a daily basis their understanding of blockchain and are migrating progressively to blockchain solutions that implement the advantages that the technology is offering.\n\nOn a global scale, more countries are introducing cryptocurrency rules heeding calls for regulatory environments which facilitate responsible adoption. The importance of cryptocurrencies and their role in the new economic paradigm is pushing this adoption, while the social and economic benefits of cryptocurrencies and blockchain applications are fast becoming clear and accessible.\n\nThe Ethereum infrastructure provides the technological foundation to create decentralised applications. Social and economic inclusion will be one of the most widely felt benefits of such decentalisation, and access to the framework of easy-to-use tools such as the Modex platform will drive adoption and implementation.\n\nGiven the major changes in a complex landscape such as payments, the adoption of blockchain technology comes with several natural challenges, notably integration concerns and costs. There are a variety of use-cases for companies and organisations to apply blockchain technology. Each well-implemented scenario should result in faster, cheaper transactions, with greater transparency and unprecedented security.\n\n[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_contract", "output": "London-based social payment app company Moneymailme will launch an initial coin offering (ICO) in October to fund its blockchain-based platform, the Modex Marketplace. Constructed on the Ethereum blockchain, the platform will offer application programme interfaces and user-friendly apps as a technical bridge to a variety of businesses and sectors, and is set to launch in Q1 2018. The ICO will run for 30 days or until its cap is reached.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nest Labs creates facial recognition-enabled doorbells \n Michelle Turner, general manager of security products for Nest Labs, talks about the Hello doorbell during an event Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017, in San Francisco. Home device maker Nest Labs is adding Google's facial recognition technology to a camera-equipped doorbell and rolling out a security system in an attempt to end its history of losses. The products announced Wednesday expand upon the internet-connected thermostats, smoke detectors and stand-alone security cameras that Nest has been selling since its inception six years ago. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)\n\nHome device maker Nest Labs is adding Google's facial recognition technology to a camera-equipped doorbell and rolling out a security system in an attempt to end its history of losses.\n\nThe products announced Wednesday expand upon the internet-connected thermostats, smoke detectors and stand-alone security cameras that Nest has been selling since its inception six years ago.\n\nAlthough Nest has been among the early leaders in the effort to make home appliances as intelligent as people's smartphones, it hasn't been able to make money to the frustration of its corporate parent, Alphabet. In an attempt to shake things up, Alphabet brought in cable industry veteran Marwan Fawaz to replace Nest founder Tony Fadell as CEO after Fadell stepped down 15 months ago.\n\nNest had been supplementing its existing product line with slightly different choices until Wednesday's move into entirely new categories.\n\nThe Hello doorbell comes with a built-in video camera and speakers that will make it seem like it can recognize and talk to people.\n\nThe doorbell will draw upon Google's facial recognition technology so it can warn a home's occupants when a stranger approaches. Google bought Nest for $3.2 billion in 2014 and then spun it off after it hatched Alphabet as its parent company.\n\nMichelle Turner, general manager of security products for Nest Labs, talks about the facial recognition features of the Hello doorbell during an event Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017, in San Francisco. Home device maker Nest Labs is adding Google's facial recognition technology to a camera-equipped doorbell and rolling out a security system in an attempt to end its history of losses. The products announced Wednesday expand upon the internet-connected thermostats, smoke detectors and stand-alone security cameras that Nest has been selling since its inception six years ago. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)\n\nNest is now lumped into a group of risky companies venturing into new areas of technology that have collectively lost $10.6 billion during the past three-and-half years alone. Alphabet hasn't disclosed how much Nest has contributed to it the losses in its \"Other Bets\" segment\n\nNest isn't announcing a price for its new doorbell until it hits the market sometime during the first three months of next year.\n\nGoogle's facial recognition technology is coming to the doorbell a few months after Nest introduced a more sophisticated indoor security camera featuring the same tool. Nest also announced Wednesday that the same facial recognition tools will be deployed on an outdoor security camera that will cost $349.\n\nMichelle Turner, general manager of security products for Nest Labs, talks about the Hello doorbell during an event Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017, in San Francisco. Home device maker Nest Labs is adding Google's facial recognition technology to a camera-equipped doorbell and rolling out a security system in an attempt to end its history of losses. The products announced Wednesday expand upon the internet-connected thermostats, smoke detectors and stand-alone security cameras that Nest has been selling since its inception six years ago. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)\n\nApple is implanting a different form of facial recognition into its $1,000 iPhone X to unlock the device, telegraphing a future where cameras increasingly are going to be able to identify people within its lens' range. The new phone will be released in November.\n\nNest's usage of facial recognition hasn't yet sparked privacy concerns because it doesn't tap into Google's vast database of photos to automatically recognize people. Instead, a user of the Nest camera or doorbell must manually tag and name people before the device recognizes someone.\n\nThe Nest home security system is being billed as a simpler and more convenient way to protect a home than the alarms and other kinds of sensors that have long been sold by other vendors. Nest's \"Secure\" system will sell for $499 for its basic toolkit of devices.\n\nThe Nest Labs Hello doorbell is displayed during an event Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017, in San Francisco. Home device maker Nest Labs is adding Google's facial recognition technology to a camera-equipped doorbell and rolling out a security system in an attempt to end its history of losses. The products announced Wednesday expand upon the internet-connected thermostats, smoke detectors and stand-alone security cameras that Nest has been selling since its inception six years ago. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)\n\nThe features of the Nest Labs Hello doorbell are demonstrated during an event Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017, in San Francisco. Home device maker Nest Labs is adding Google's facial recognition technology to a camera-equipped doorbell and rolling out a security system in an attempt to end its history of losses. The products announced Wednesday expand upon the internet-connected thermostats, smoke detectors and stand-alone security cameras that Nest has been selling since its inception six years ago. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)\n\nMichelle Turner, general manager of security products for Nest Labs, demonstrates the facial recognition features of the Hello doorbell during an event Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017, in San Francisco. Home device maker Nest Labs is adding Google's facial recognition technology to a camera-equipped doorbell and rolling out a security system in an attempt to end its history of losses. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)\n\nMichelle Turner, general manager of security products for Nest Labs, talks about the camera features of the Hello doorbell during an event Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)\n\nMatt Rogers, founder and chief product officer of Nest Labs, summarizes their newest products during an event Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017, in San Francisco. Home device maker Nest Labs is adding Google's facial recognition technology to a camera-equipped doorbell and rolling out a security system in an attempt to end its history of losses. The products announced Wednesday expand upon the internet-connected thermostats, smoke detectors and stand-alone security cameras that Nest has been selling since its inception six years ago. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)\n\nMaxime Veron, head of product marketing for Nest Labs, talks about the features of the Nest Secure alarm system during an event Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017, in San Francisco. Home device maker Nest Labs is adding Google's facial recognition technology to a camera-equipped doorbell and rolling out a security system in an attempt to end its history of losses. The products announced Wednesday expand upon the internet-connected thermostats, smoke detectors and stand-alone security cameras that Nest has been selling since its inception six years ago. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)\n\nNest Labs CEO Marwan Fawaz talks about the security their products provide during an event Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017, in San Francisco. Home device maker Nest Labs is adding Google's facial recognition technology to a camera-equipped doorbell and rolling out a security system in an attempt to end its history of losses. The products announced Wednesday expand upon the internet-connected thermostats, smoke detectors and stand-alone security cameras that Nest has been selling since its inception six years ago. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)\n\nThe Nest Secure alarm system is seen on display during an event Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017, in San Francisco. Home device maker Nest Labs is adding Google's facial recognition technology to a camera-equipped doorbell and rolling out a security system in an attempt to end its history of losses. The products announced Wednesday expand upon the internet-connected thermostats, smoke detectors and stand-alone security cameras that Nest has been selling since its inception six years ago. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)\n\nPhotographers take pictures of the Nest Secure alarm system and Hello doorbell during an event Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017, in San Francisco. Home device maker Nest Labs is adding Google's facial recognition technology to a camera-equipped doorbell and rolling out a security system in an attempt to end its history of losses. The products announced Wednesday expand upon the internet-connected thermostats, smoke detectors and stand-alone security cameras that Nest has been selling since its inception six years ago. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)\n\n\u00a9 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.", "output": "Alphabet-owned Nest Labs is hoping the launch of its new doorbell, which uses Google's facial recognition technology, will help it finally turn a profit. The Hello doorbell, part of Nest's Secure system, has a camera and speakers to alert homeowners of visitors, while the technology quickly identifies people whose details have been manually tagged by the user. Apple's recently launched $1,000 iPhone X uses similar facial recognition technology as an unlocking method."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "German container ship cuts emissions with dual-fuel retrofit \n Edit page New page Hide edit links\n\nThe Wes Amelie (photo: Wessels Reederei)\n\nAt a recent event at the Hamburg offices of MAN Diesel & Turbo, Dr Uwe Lauber \u2013 CEO of MAN Diesel & Turbo \u2013 presented Gerd Wessels, Managing Owner of Wessels Reederei with a take-over certificate marking the formal conclusion of the Wes Amelie LNG conversion project.\n\nGerd Wessels says, \u201cThis pioneering project marks a milestone in the European container feeder market, and MAN has impressively proven that existing engines can be converted to LNG operation with a tremendous effect on exhaust emissions and the environment.\u201d\n\nThe project involved the retrofitting of the 1,036-teu feeder container ship\u2019s MAN 8L48/60B main engine to a multi-fuel, four-stroke MAN 51/60DF unit that enables dual-fuel operation \u2013 the first such conversion of its type the world has ever seen.\n\nChristian Hoepfner, General Manager of Wessels Reederei, says, \u201cThe Wes Amelie operates in the highly regulated Nordic and Baltic Seas. Since they are both within Emission Control Areas, the ship needs to meet the highest environmental standards and strictest limits for emissions. By converting to a low emission fuel, we are safeguarding the future of this container ship as well as our own competitiveness in the market.\u201d\n\nStefan Eefting \u2013 Head of MAN PrimeServ in Augsburg \u2013 also attended the ceremony and says, \u201cWe are very happy to have successfully completed this project with the great cooperation of our partner, Wessels Reederei. In doing so, we trust that the dramatic reduction in emissions will mark the beginning of a trend towards the adoption of LNG as an environmentally friendly fuel within the maritime sector.\u201d\n\n\u201cBy providing customers with the technology to retrofit their existing fleet, we are driving what we call the maritime energy transition\u201d, adds Dr Uwe Lauber, CEO of MAN Diesel & Turbo. \u201cThere are roughly 40,000 cargo vessels in operation worldwide. If we are serious about decarbonisation and want the shipping industry to be climate neutral by 2050, we need to take action today.\u201d\n\nThe dual-fuel conversion has enabled the Wes Amelie to significantly reduce its SOx emissions by >99%, NOx by approximately 90%, and CO 2 by up to\n\n20%. The vessel now meets both the Tier II and Tier III emission requirements set by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).\n\nWorks were carried out at German Dry Docks in Bremerhaven in cooperation with gas-specialist, TGE Marine Engineering, who provided tank and LNG components. Bureau Veritas, the international classification society based in France, classed the conversion.\n\nWessels and MAN Diesel & Turbo originally signed the retrofit contract with MAN Diesel & Turbo at the Europort exhibition for maritime technology in November 2015. The \u2018Wes Amelie\u2019 was constructed in 2011 and has already re-entered service on its usual route between the North and Baltic Seas.\n\nWhen selecting a suitable vessel for conversion, special attention was paid to the scalability of the engineering services as well as the development costs, reducing significantly the costs for follow-up projects. In this respect, the Wes Amelie has 23 sister ships, 16 of them structurally identical, which would allow follow-up projects to be easily implemented. This ship therefore facilitates a multiplier effect, with multiple, other, \u2018conversion-capable\u2019 vessels also found around the European continent.", "output": "German manufacturer MAN Diesel & Turbo has converted a container ship to use\u00a0liquified natural gas (LNG) as well as diesel. The conversion means the Wes Amelie, owned by Germany's Wessels Reederei, has reduced SOx emissions by 99%, NOx by 90% and\u00a0CO2 by\u00a020%, enabling it to meet the high environmental standards and strict\u00a0emissions limits of the Baltic and Nordic seas in which it operates. \"We trust this will mark the beginning of a trend towards the adoption of LNG as an environmentally friendly fuel within the maritime sector,\" said Stefan Eefting, head of MAN PrimeServ in Augsburg.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK banks to search accounts for illegal immigrants \n Banks and building societies are to carry out immigration checks on 70m current accounts from January in the biggest extension of Theresa May\u2019s plans to create a \u201chostile environment\u201d for illegal immigrants in Britain, the Guardian has learned.\n\n\n\nThe Home Office expects to identify 6,000 visa overstayers, failed asylum seekers and foreign national offenders facing deportation in the first year of the checks, which are to be carried out quarterly.\n\nThe accounts of those identified will be closed down or frozen \u201cto make it harder for them to establish or maintain a settled life in the UK\u201d. Officials say freezing accounts that hold significant sums \u201cwill create a powerful incentive [for those involved] to agree to voluntary departure\u201d so they can secure their money once they have left the country.\n\nImmigration welfare campaigners warned that the Home Office\u2019s recent record meant it could not be trusted to implement this new system without errors and that migrants with every right to be in Britain were likely to be hit by mistakes in the imposition of the checks.\n\nSatbir Singh, the chief executive of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, criticised the move: \u201cThe government\u2019s own record shows it cannot be trusted even to implement this system properly. Immigration status is very complex, and the Home Office consistently gives out incorrect information and guidance.\n\n\u201cMigrants and ethnic minorities with every right to be here will be affected by the imposition of these new checks.\u201d.\n\nBanks have been told to adopt a default position of telling customers to take up the matter with the Home Office if a mistake has been made, even if they provide a passport or biometric residence permit showing they are lawfully present in Britain.\n\nThe Guardian confirmed with the Home Office the January implementation date for the bank checks after being alerted by a reader who is a European national resident in Britain. Her husband spotted a reference to \u201cchanges to how we check your eligibility to bank with us based on your immigration status\u201d in an email from Barclays detailing their latest changes in their banking terms of conditions.\n\n\n\nDominique Welbank said: \u201cAs a French national having lived here since 1991, and having been denied permanent residence because I do not have comprehensive sickness insurance, I have no confidence the Home Office will not extend this scheme to EU citizens like myself because of Brexit.\u201d\n\nStatus checks are required by anyone opening a new bank or building society account under the Immigration Act 2014, but no measure has previously required checks on the scale of every current account in Britain.\n\n\n\nThe new legislation requires the banks to check the identity of every current account holder against a Home Office supplied database held by an anti-fraud organisation, Cifas. It includes details of those whom the Home Office regard as liable for removal or deportation because they are overstayers, failed asylum seekers or those who have absconded from immigration detention.\n\nSafeguards are included to prevent the closure of a bank account which would leave the account holder without the subsistence means to live. Account closure can also be delayed to recover debts or deal with complex joint accounts.\n\nAn official Home Office impact assessment acknowledged \u201cthe proposed measures may have the potential to impact on the appetite of firms to offer banking services to legal migrants who do not have permanent leave to remain in the UK\u201d and promises to monitor the situation. Officials add that the banking laws ban discrimination against legally resident customers.\n\nThe January implementation of the quarterly checks on the current accounts operated by every bank and building society in Britain are part of Immigration Act 2016 measures to create a hostile environment for illegal migrants. Other measures include \u201cright to rent\u201d checks with heavy fines for landlords who let homes to illegal migrants, checks on driving licences and tougher measures against illegal working.\n\nAn official Home Office impact assessment acknowledges that rather than encouraging illegal migrants to go home it could simply drive them even further into the \u201chidden economy\u201d, but says this will not be a significant issue because they are already breaking the law.\n\n\u201cThis policy is not expected to exacerbate the situation but to contribute to the hostile environment, encouraging illegal immigrants to leave the UK on a voluntary basis,\u201d it says.\n\n\n\nBanks have also been told there is no requirement on them to contact account holders or require additional documentary evidence as part of the check.\n\n\n\nA Home Office spokesperson defended the introduction of the checks saying: \u201cWe are developing an immigration system which is fair to people who are here legally, but firm with those who break the rules. Everyone in society can play their part in tackling illegal migration.\n\n\u201cAs approved by parliament in December 2016, from January banks and building societies will be required to carry out regular checks on the immigration status of all current account holders against the details of known illegal migrants to establish whether their customers are known to be in the UK unlawfully. This is part of our ongoing work to tackle illegal migration. People who are here legally will be unaffected.\u201d\n\nA Barclays spokesperson said the bank was simply complying with the Immigration Act 2016 and the checks impacted on all customers regardless of nationality.", "output": "UK banks and building societies will conduct immigration checks on 70 million current accounts from January 2018, as part of Prime Minister Theresa May\u2019s efforts to create a \u201chostile environment\u201d for illegal immigrants in the country. The Home Office anticipates that it will identify 6,000 individuals within the first year who have overstayed their visas, failed in their asylum applications, or who face deportation. Checks, which will be conducted quarterly, will enable accounts to be closed or frozen. Banks are not required to contact account holders during the check.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Broker RHSB promotes personal risk expert Buchanan to VP \n Keleigh Buchanan was recently promoted to vice president at Dallas-based independent insurance broker, RHSB.\n\nShe has been with RHSB for five years and has 16 years of experience in the insurance industry. Buchanan is a licensed insurance professional working with families and individuals to manage their personal risk by finding the best insurance solutions while maximizing value.\n\nShe is part of RHSB\u2019s Private Client Group \u2014 a concierge type service that specializes in the distinctive needs of high net worth clients with unique assets like aircraft, yachts, wine collections, vintage cars, fine art and jewelry. These clients often have extraordinary needs including coverage for domestic help, kidnap and ransom, worldwide travel and medical coverage. Buchanan\u2019s consultative approach helps these clients find coverage to protect their assets and lifestyle.\n\nBuchanan holds the Certified Personal Risk Manager designation.\n\nRHSB, a member of the privately held risk management and insurance brokerage group Assurex Global, has offices in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas.\n\nSource: RHSB", "output": "Personal risk insurance specialist Keleigh Buchanan has been promoted to vice president at RHSB, an independent broker. The 16-year professional will work in the company's Private Client Group, which concentrates on the needs of high\u00a0net-worth clients, offering services such as kidnap and ransom insurance and aircraft, yacht and jewellery coverage. RHSB is part of the risk management and insurance brokerage group Assurex Global and is based in Dallas."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NY insurer has negligence charges against US Navy reinstated \n A federal appeals court has reinstated negligence charges filed by Ironshore Specialty Insurance Co. against the U.S. government in connection with a Navy ship\u2019s oil spill.\n\nNew York-based Ironshore Specialty filed suit against Wollaston, Massachusetts-based American Overseas Marine Company L.L.C. and the United States under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, general admiralty and maritime law in connection with a 2010 oil spill that occurred at a Boston dock owned by its policyholder, Boston-based Northeast Ship Repair Inc., according to Friday\u2019s ruling by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston in Ironshore Specialty Insurance Co. et al. v. United States of America; American Overseas Marine Corp.\n\nAmerican Overseas had a contract with the Navy under which it had agreed to crew, maintain and make routine repairs to the Fisher, a transport vessel and vehicle cargo ship, according to the ruling.\n\nNortheast unit Boston Ship Repair incurred nearly $3 million in costs associated with cleaning up the more than 11,000 gallons of fuel that were spilled, according to the ruling.\n\nIronshore filed suit against the United States and American Marine as Boston Ship Repair\u2019s subrogee. The U.S. District Court in Boston dismissed all charges against the defendants.\n\nOn appeal, a three-judge appeals court panel unanimously reinstated the negligence charges against the United States. The panel agreed with the District Court that the ship was a public vessel and therefore exempt from liability under the Oil Pollution Act.\n\nHowever, it says a subsection of the law states that it does not affect admiralty and maritime law. \u201cHence, because public vessels lie outside the sweep of OPA liability, any pre-existing admiralty and maritime law that applied to public vessels before the OPA\u2019s passage survives its enactment.\n\n\u201cThe District Court erroneously dismissed Ironshore\u2019s negligence claims against the United States,\u201d said the ruling, in reinstating the negligence charges.\n\nThe case was remanded for further proceedings.", "output": "New York-based insurer Ironshore Specialty has had negligence charges it filed against the US government reinstated by the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. The insurer had previously filed the charges against American Overseas Marine Company and the US following a 2010 oil spill. The spill cost Boston Ship Repair $3m. The original charges were filed under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scottish farmers call for weaker pesticide rules after Brexit \n The UK should use Brexit as an opportunity to streamline regulation and ease curbs on issues such as pesticide use, a farming union has urged.\n\nNFU Scotland has mapped out the priorities for legislative change that would \"significantly ease\" what some farmers call the \"regulatory burden\" on Scottish agricultural industry.\n\nLaunching its document \u2018Post-Brexit Priorities for Legislative Change\u2019, the union identified elements of legislation that could be removed or improved during the period between the UK exiting the EU, and before the implementation of any new UK and Scottish agricultural policies.\n\nThe union is calling for changes that would help protect supply chain integrity and agriculture\u2019s profitability, introduce proportionality in penalties, mapping and record-keeping requirements and see decisions on legislation based on risk rather than perceived \u2018hazard\u2019.\n\nIt has also called for curbs on pesticides to be eased after Brexit.\n\nOn profitability, one example includes tackling \u2018greening\u2019 and removing Europe\u2019s \u2018three-crop rule\u2019 which requires Scottish farmers to grow three different crops if they want to secure the greening element of support.\n\nThe union said in a statement: \"That would end a blunt EU requirement that does little for the environment, impacts on farm businesses, restricts the ability to grow for real markets and can be replaced with smarter environmental alternatives.\"\n\n'Yellow card'\n\nNFU Scotland has also called some EU laws as \"draconian and disproportionate\" for its penalty systems.\n\nIt said these should be replaced with a \u2018yellow card\u2019 warning system for minor breaches allowing time for unintentional errors to be rectified.\n\nScottish farmers are eager to re-write the rulebook to introduce what they see as more common sense approaches in how farmers secure environmental and animal welfare standards and traceability.\n\nNFU Scotland President Andrew McCornick said: \u201cBrexit must allow us to replace elements of EU agricultural regulation that are bureaucratic, ineffective or ill-tailored to farming conditions in the UK and Scotland. I firmly believe that elements can be redesigned or implemented in a better way.\n\n\u201cRegulation should always be appropriate, proportionate, evidence-based and as light-touch as possible. A successful approach to delivering regulation would involve more carrot and less stick, a yellow card warning system for unintentional breaches and encouragement farmers to do what they do best \u2013 provide a safe and affordable supply of food.\u201d\n\n'Power grab'\n\nThe way in which powers repatriated from Brussels will be shared out is still a matter of fierce dispute.\n\nAgriculture is among areas devolved to the Scottish and Welsh parliaments, but both countries have said the UK government is trying a 'naked power grab' by repatriating powers to Westminster.\n\nScott Walker, NFUS chief executive, said the Scottish government is best placed to understand local farmers\u2019 needs and that all of the UK\u2019s devolved nations should have equal say in future policy.\n\n\u201cIf the UK agricultural policy is basically set by Defra, then you don\u2019t have a UK agricultural policy, what you have is an English policy being imposed on Scotland, Wales and Ulster,\u201d Mr Walker explained.", "output": "The UK should ease regulations including those on pesticide use after Brexit, according to the Scottish National Farmers\u2019 Union. The union\u2019s proposals would \u201csignificantly ease\u201d what some farmers view as the \u201cregulatory burden\u201d on their sector. Proposals also include removing the European Union\u2019s \u201cthree-crop rule\u201d which requires Scottish farmers to grow three different crops in an attempt to benefit the environment in exchange for subsidies."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Biofuels pushing up global food prices: NGOs \n Demand for biofuels made from food crops, such as palm and rapeseed oil, has led to an increase in global food prices and needs to be curbed, according to a new analysis.\n\nThere has been a surge in the production of biofuels in Europe and the US since the early 2000s, backed by policies designed to cut use of fossil fuels, such as the first EU biofuel directive in 2003.\n\nIn the face of criticism about biofuels\u2019 link to rising food prices and deforestation, the EU agreed to cap the use of food-based biofuels at 7% in 2015.\n\nThe EU is now debating whether to keep this at 7% after 2021 or cut it further, as a number of NGOs are calling for. Last week, the UK agreed to cap its use of food-based biofuels at 4% of UK road fuel next year, dropping to 2% by 2032.\n\nThe new analysis \u2013 commissioned by the NGOs BirdLife and Transport & Environment \u2013 backed those calling for an end to the use of food-based biofuels. If the EU cut use of them to zero, it concludes, then global vegetable oils, including palm oil, would be 8% cheaper and global cereal prices 0.6% cheaper by 2030.\n\nWhile concluding that \u201conly a fraction of the feedstock used for biofuel production would find its way to poor food consumers if biofuel mandates were cancelled tomorrow\u201d, report author Dr Chris Malins from the consultancy Cerulogy said: \u201cReducing demand in Europe for food-based biofuels would take pressure off food commodity markets, resulting, in the short to medium term, in modest reductions in food prices and global poverty rates, and in net global welfare improvements.\u201d\n\n\n\nVegetable oil is currently the main feedstock used to produce biofuels within the EU, with palm oil accounting for an estimated 12% of that total. Use of palm oil for biodiesel is also on the rise with 46% of the crop imported into the EU used for biodiesel in 2015.\n\nThe environmental benefit of using vegetable oils, such as palm and rapeseed oil to produce biodiesel, is also being questioned. A report published in July by The Royal Academy of Engineering said some biofuels, such as diesel made from food crops, have led to more emissions than those produced by the fossil fuels they were meant to replace.\n\nResponding to the new analysis, WWF said it only supported biofuels that avoid these types of impacts such as those made from wastes or residues instead of crops. \u201cBut we would advocate for their use in hard-to-treat sectors, such as aviation, rather than road transport, which can be and is increasingly rapidly becoming electrified,\u201d a spokesperson said.\n\nThe EU Commission declined to comment, but continues to dispute the impact of its biofuels policies on global food prices. In its most recent update report on its renewable energy policy it said: \u2018Concerning food prices, it should be noted that between 2012 and 2015, prices of agricultural commodities decreased. In 2015, the price of vegetable oils reached its lowest level since 2005\u2026 Lower biofuel demand for vegetable oils was among the factors contributing to the fall in oils/fats prices.\u2019\n\nHowever, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Hilal Elver, said biofuels were \u201chaving a huge impact on accessibility of food because of price increase, especially in developing countries. Moreover, in developing countries biofuel production is connected with the land grabbing and heavy pesticides use\u201d.", "output": "Global food prices are rising due to the demand for biofuels made from food crops, including palm and rapeseed oil, according to an analysis by NGOs BirdLife and Transport & Environment. Since the early 2000s, biofuels production in Europe and the US has increased dramatically due to attempts to reduce fossil fuel use. In 2015, the European Union capped the use of food-based biofuels at 7% to counter deforestation, and it is now considering reducing this further after 2021. Last week, the UK capped its use of such biofuels at 4%, falling to 2% by 2032.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NRT Technology to merge with Sightline Payments \n Following the closing of the transaction and subject to regulatory approvals, Sightline's CEO and Founder, Kirk Sanford, will assume the role of President and CEO of NRT Sightline. NRT's current Founder, President and CEO, John Dominelli, will become Chairman of NRT Sightline and will remain active in leading the overall company strategy with a keen focus on driving the technology roadmap.\n\nLAS VEGAS, Sept. 20, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NRT Technology Corp. (\"NRT\") a leading provider of integrated ticket redemption and payment services to global casino operators, and Sightline Payments (\"Sightline\"), developers of the disruptive Play+ platform that's powering the next generation of cashless and mobile gaming payment solutions, announced today an agreement to merge. The company on closing will be named NRT Sightline and will form one of the largest pure play gaming payment technology companies in the world with an equity value of over $300 million.\n\nCombination Will Accelerate Innovation in Mobile, Data, Cashless Payments, and Provisional Credit Solutions to the Worldwide Integrated Resort Casino Industry\n\n\"Sightline is a perfect fit with NRT,\" said NRT President and Founder John Dominelli. \"Kirk Sanford and his team add complementary talent and technology that we believe will help accelerate NRT's global leadership in casino payments. Together, we expect that NRT and Sightline also will accelerate our leadership in delivering innovative solutions for next generation commerce, mobile, and big data.\"\n\nSightline's cloud-based Play+ payment platform powers industry innovators such as Caesars, MGM Resorts International, Mohegan Sun, Station Casinos, Golden Nugget, William Hill, PokerStars and BetFair, which are creating compelling new consumer experiences and disrupting traditional cash-based ecosystem models.\n\nSightline's Founder and CEO Kirk Sanford said: \"Sightline's growth has skyrocketed over the past several years and the alignment with NRT will continue to push the boundaries of innovation while expanding its customer base with increased speed and support from the extensive resources of the NRT infrastructure. John and I have a shared vision for the global gaming industry, which we intend to rapidly transform with many technological advancements that we already have in the works.\"\n\nPlay+, Sightline's award winning technology gives patrons a convenient and cost effective alternative to obtaining cash from current methods by allowing them to pay for their gaming experience using only their mobile devices or directly at gaming devices and POS using only their casino loyalty card. NRT already has a strong presence in gaming with payment volumes of more than $15 billion a year.\n\nAbout NRT Sightline\n\nOn closing, NRT Sightline(TM) is a global leader in the design and development of enterprise platforms for the casino industry. Every year we enable more than 1 billion physical and digital commerce experiences at over 600 casino properties worldwide. By seamlessly combining technological innovation with strategic partnerships, we create the most convenient, reliable, and secure omni-channel payment ecosystem for casino operators and their guests. NRT Sightline has been recognized with numerous industry awards, including the coveted \"Most Innovative Gaming Technology Product of the Year\" for our Play+(TM) cloud-based cashless funding platform. Our solutions are used by casinos, lotteries, race and sports, banking & retailers around the world. We operate across 7 countries and have corporate offices in Las Vegas, Toronto, Macau, and Singapore.\n\nFor further information please contact Michael Dominelli, NRT Sightline's Chief Marketing Officer mdominelli@nrttech.com 1(866) 646-5232 x4248\n\nThis announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.\n\nThe issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.\n\nSource: NRT Sightline via Globenewswire\n\n", "output": "Canadian integrated ticket redemption and payment services provider NRT Technology is set to merge with Sightline Payments, the firm behind the disruptive Play+ platform, to create one of the world's biggest casino\u00a0payment technology companies. Subject to closure, the new firm will be named NRT Sightline, have an equity value of more than $300m and will see Kirk Sanford appointed as CEO.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Body Shop introduces digital wallet \n The Body Shop is tapping into mobile wallet as more than just a way to pay.\n\nThe cosmetics and skin care retailer will use mobile wallet to raise awareness and generate engagement for a campaign launched Wednesday as part of an effort to lobby the United Nations against product testing on animals.\n\nThe brand hopes to leverage the mobile wallet tool beyond the campaign for more personalized one-to-one communications.\n\nFor the UN campaign, the goal is to collect around 8 million signatures for the petition calling on the global organization to end product testing on animals. The petition is a joint effort between The Body Shop and animal advocacy group Cruelty Free International.\n\nThe Body Shop is hoping for a network effect. Consumers who sign the petition are brought to a landing page where they can download the \u201cForever Against Animal Testing\u201d pass to their mobile wallet and easily share it with other potential supporters. Lather, rinse, repeat.\n\nThrough a partnership with mobile tech company Urban Airship, the brand will regularly update the mobile wallet pass with signature counts for the petition and news related to the fight against animal testing.\n\nBut The Body Shop\u2019s ultimate plan is for the mobile wallet pass to endure beyond the campaign as a gateway to future and ongoing engagement. Down the line, The Body Shop will create mobile wallet passes for its loyalty program and gift cards.\n\nBeyond eliminating the need to carry around branded plastic cards, which fits into The Body Shop\u2019s corporate social responsibility mandate to be environmentally friendly, the passes are a sticky built-in marketing tool. Mobile wallet comes baked into a user\u2019s device by default through Apple Pay or Android Pay.\n\n\u201cIf we have permission, we\u2019re able to use these passes to serve more content relevant to the campaign and also connect consumers with our other initiatives,\u201d said Russell Longley, The Body Shop\u2019s senior manager of CRM and digital development.\n\n\u201cEveryone is constantly being bombarded with so much information,\u201d Longley said. \u201cWhat mobile wallet gives us is an opportunity to deliver interesting, concise snippets of content to an audience we know is already engaged.\u201d\n\nUsers only rarely delete a pass once they\u2019ve downloaded it to their mobile wallet. The retention rate for passes stands between 85% and 95%, according to Urban Airship.\n\n\u201cOverall globally, we have more than half, about 52%, of our visits coming via mobile,\u201d said Leona De-Graft, global head of ecommerce marketing at The Body Shop. \u201cThat obviously presents a massive opportunity for our communications when customers take the step to download our pass to their wallet.\u201d\n\nConsumers are also more likely to engage with content surfaced through a notification from their mobile wallet than with an ad.\n\n\u201cDisplay ads and programmatic ads are about broad reach and anonymous users,\u201d said Judy Chan, director of product marketing for mobile at Urban Airship. \u201cBut mobile wallet is a more intimate format, and when a pass is downloaded onto a consumer\u2019s device, a brand can start thinking about a nurture program and going from an anonymized place to a more personalized place.\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s The Body Shop\u2019s intention going forward.\n\n\u201cWe see mobile wallet as an opportunity for us to open up our communication channels with consumers and have more of a one-to-one interaction,\u201d Longley said. \u201cEverything we do is about deep engagement, and this is another way for us to put the customer at the center of what we do.\u201d", "output": "Ethical cosmetics and skin care retailer The Body Shop has partnered with mobile tech company Urban Airship to develop a mobile wallet. The wallet will raise awareness as part of a wider campaign against animal testing, but the company hopes it will also become a personalised means of one-to-one interaction with consumers. \"A mobile wallet gives us an opportunity to deliver interesting, concise snippets of content to an audience we know is already engaged\", said Russell Longley, senior manager of customer relationship management and digital development.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fino Payments targets India's underbanked with mobile banking app  \n In a bid to help develop the fintech ecosystem in India, Fino Payments Bank has launched its mobile banking app called BPay.\n\nFino, which started its banking operations in July with 410 branches and 25,000 access points, aims to make banking easy for millions of under banked people in India.\n\nBPay is also an extension of its already existing wallet in the same name that was launched in December last year. The upgraded BPay app, available on Android at present, is now much more than just a wallet. The mobile banking app enables simple, paperless and convenient banking that allows customers to make bill payments, recharges, fund transfers and buy insurance either through wallet or bank account.\n\nAn interesting feature of the mobile app is that it allows customers to seamlessly access wallet as well as savings account, with a single login and interface, Fino said in a statement.\n\nRishi Gupta, MD & CEO, Fino Payments Bank, said, \u201cOver a decade ago we pioneered digital banking in rural India through biometric solutions. Going forward we believe rural India or Bharat, where mobile internet usage is growing at 26 per cent year-on-year, will drive mobile banking adoption. BPay app will play a critical role in our endeavour to bring banking closer to 50 million customers in 5 years, largely driven by tech savvy rural youth.\u201d\n\n\u201cBPay is an extension of our phygital strategy, wherein customers have the options to choose the medium of engagement with us. They can come to our branches, banking points, get doorstep banking or simply do mobile banking by downloading BPay app,\u201d he Gupta.\n\nIn addition to single login access that allows anytime, anywhere payments and banking, people can even open Fino bank account from BPay mobile app without the need to step inside a branch or calling a representative. Going forward, Fino Payments Bank plans to add more customer-centric offerings and services to the mobile banking app, it added.\n\nSHARE Copy link\n\nEmail\n\nFacebook\n\nTwitter\n\nTelegram\n\nLinkedIn\n\nWhatsApp\n\nReddit", "output": "Mumbai-based Fino Payments Bank has launched mobile banking app BPay, an extension of its existing mobile wallet rolled out last December. The app enables customers to make bill payments, recharges, fund transfers and buy insurance, with a single login and interface offering access to both the wallet or the bank account. The mobile banking app is aimed squarely at India's underbanked, rural population, among whom Fino said mobile internet usage is growing at 26% year-on-year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Touch-sensitive robots can detect gender and personality \n Engineering news\n\nResearchers in Paris are developing touch-sensitive robots that can infer someone\u2019s gender and personality by shaking hands with them.\n\nAdriana Tapus and colleagues at Universit\u00e9 Paris-Saclay are developing humanoid robots that are sensitive to tactile stimulation, and hope their technology can benefit the elderly and those with autism.\n\n\u201cGiving robots a personality is the only way our relationship with artificial intelligence will survive,\u201d said Tapus. \u201cIf we can simulate a human-like emotional response from a robot we can ensure a two-way relationship, benefiting the most vulnerable and isolated members of our society. Our research will help the next generation of social robots to be polite, empathetic, and maybe have their own sense of humour.\u201d\n\nThe team has also developed robots that can display different emotions depending on the situation and context \u2013 adapting their arm stiffness depending on who they\u2019re shaking hands with, for example.\n\nAnother strand of research hopes to help people with autism become more social, by investigating how they interpret emotions displayed by robots as compared to humans.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a tool to aid the human worker,\u201d said Gilbert Tang, a robotics researcher at Cranfield University, who was not involved in the research. \u201cIt\u2019s something that\u2019s available all the time,\u201d he told Professional Engineering.\n\nTang said that this kind of technology could transfer into the industrial space to make collaborative robots on the factory floor more human. \u201cThere\u2019s more room for error,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you look at industrial robots, they\u2019re designed to make things quickly and as fast as possible, whereas in a domestic environment robots tend to be closer to people. In the factory, although a cobot is within reach, it\u2019s not as huggable.\u201d", "output": "French scientists are developing humanoid robots that are sensitive to touch, allowing them to detect a person's gender and personality by shaking hands with them. The researchers, from the University of Paris-Saclay, have designed the robots to display different emotions depending on situation and context, which they claim could lead to the next generation of robots being more \"empathetic\", and even developing a sense of humour. The research is also being used to help people with autism become more sociable."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FedEx profits suffer in aftermath of cyber attack \n Dallas - FedEx cut its annual profit forecast, citing the $300m cost of a June cyberattack on its TNT Express unit.\n\nThe courier now expects to earn no more than $12.80 a share in the fiscal year ending in May after excluding certain items, FedEx said in a statement on Tuesday. That\u2019s down from an original projection of as much as $14 and less than the $13.10 average of analysts\u2019 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.\n\nThe global cyberattack in late June struck as the company was stepping up spending to handle more packages from the expansion of online shopping. FedEx also said results at its ground-shipment unit weighed on results, as did Hurricane Harvey, which caused flooding along the US Gulf Coast.\n\n\u201cThe first quarter posed significant operational challenges due to the TNT Express cyberattack and Hurricane Harvey,\u201d CEO Fred Smith said in the statement.\n\nFedEx had no insurance to cover the attack, which forced TNT to manually process some transactions.\n\nShares drop\n\nFedEx fell 2% to $211.61 after the close of regular trading in New York.\n\nGlobal operations outside the TNT unit weren\u2019t affected by the virus, which entered the unit\u2019s systems through tax software used in the Ukraine. FedEx said it found no evidence of a data breach or information lost to third parties.\n\nThe shipper also was among companies hit by the WannaCry ransomware in May, although it said that attack didn\u2019t cause a material disruption to its systems or raise operating costs. Companies around the world struggled to retake control of their networks after the intrusions, which cost them hundreds of millions in potential revenue.\n\nFedEx acquired Dutch shipping company TNT Express for $4.8bn last year to gain an extensive parcel delivery system in Europe to compete with United Parcel Service and Deutsche Post\u2019s DHL. The just-completed quarter was the first in which FedEx reported TNT results as part of its Express division. TNT primarily serves industrial, automotive, high-tech and health-care industries.\n\nFedEx already had planned a 16% expansion in capital spending this year to $5.9bn, after delaying some projects at FedEx Ground to help it process more of the growing number of e-commerce shipments and to boost margins. Deliveries to homes generally have lower yields than to businesses because fewer items are delivered at each stop.\n\nThe shipper also said its first quarter profit fell to $2.51 a share, compared with analysts\u2019 average expectation of $3. Sales in the period ended August 31 rose 4% to $15.3bn, compared with the average estimate of $15.35bn.\n\nSUBSCRIBE FOR FREE UPDATE: Get Fin24's top morning business news and opinions in your inbox.\n\nRead Fin24's top stories trending on Twitter: Fin24\u2019s top stories", "output": "American courier FexEx has reported a cut in profits, blaming the effects of a cyber attack on its subsidiary TNT Express, along with disruption caused by Hurricane Harvey. The company acquired Dutch shipping company TNT Express last year, providing them with a delivery network in Europe. The cyber attack in June was caused by a virus in tax software used in the Ukraine, forcing TNT to process some transactions manually. FedEx had no insurance to cover the attack, which they say has caused \"significant operational challenges\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Virgin Trains auctions first-class seats through app \n Rail passengers unhappy at the prospect of a journey in standard class can now bid for an upgrade.\n\nEmpty first-class seats on selected Virgin Trains East Coast services are being auctioned through a smartphone app shortly before departure.\n\nPrices start from \u00a35 for a seat in first-class carriages featuring complimentary food and drink, free Wi-Fi, reclining leather seats and extra legroom.\n\nUpgrades are initially available on some weekday services from London King\u2019s Cross to Edinburgh, Leeds, Newcastle and York, with more routes expected to be added soon.\n\nRegular walk-up first-class fares for London to Edinburgh journeys can cost almost \u00a390 more than standard class tickets.\n\nEach auction opens approximately two and a half hours in advance and closes about half an hour before the train departs.\n\nSuzanne Donnelly, commercial director at Virgin Trains East Coast, said: \u201cWe are really excited to be partnering with Seatfrog to offer customers more opportunities to experience first class.\n\n\u201cPassengers can get upgrades from as little as \u00a35 and there are real deals to be had. The live bidding element means you can decide at the last minute if you fancy treating yourself.\u201d\n\nThe Seatfrog chief executive, Iain Griffin, said people wanting to guarantee first-class travel should buy a regular ticket, as auctions would not be held for all trains.\n\n\u201cFor passengers who travel standard class and maybe want to experience first class now and again, or be a little spontaneous on the day, then Seatfrog is the perfect platform,\u201d he said. \u201cWe give them the chance to get a really good deal.\u201d\n\nGriffin said he was in discussions about rolling out the service with a number of other travel firms. \u201cI\u2019d be really interested in working with any train service in the UK,\u201d he added.\n\n\u201cI see this working perfectly for a business like Eurostar. We\u2019re already talking to rail operators in mainland Europe. Outside of rail, we\u2019ve also got a big airline capability.\u201d\n\nPassengers who want to use the system for a first-class upgrade enter their booking reference into the app and start bidding. Successful participants are instantly sent a new ticket direct to their smartphone or tablet.", "output": "Virgin Trains is auctioning empty first-class seats on its East Coast services through a smartphone app. There will be a two-hour window to bid on the seats, which closes half an hour\u00a0prior to departure, with prices starting from \u00a35. First-class travel includes free refreshments, Wi-Fi and reclining seats. The service\u00a0will launch on certain weekday trains from London King\u2019s Cross, with more to come in future. First-class tickets for travel between London and Edinburgh can cost as much as \u00a390 more than standard\u00a0fares.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google, Bertelsmann offer 75,000 online tech study scholarships \n These scholarships mark the next step in an existing partnership which the companies describe as aiming to \u201cprepare new European talent for the digital future\u201d.\n\nGoogle will fund 60,000 scholarships to Udacity\u2019s Android and web development courses, which last three months. The top 6,000 students from that program will then be offered the chance to earn a scholarship for one of Udacity\u2019s \u2018nanodegree\u2019 programs.\n\n\u201cExperienced developers and passionate beginners can take their skills to the next level\u201d\n\nBertelsmann will fund a further 15,000 scholarships for Udacity\u2019s data science programs.\n\nThe scholarships will be open to students around the EU, and in nations on the borders of Europe and the Mediterranean, such as Egypt, Israel, Russia and Turkey.\n\nIt follows on from a successful similar program in 2016, for which 70,000 people applied for just 10,000 scholarships.\n\nGoogle is clearly no stranger to technology, but also has experience of providing education and funding in the digital realm. It has trained over three million people across the EU in the past few years, through its Growth Engine program.\n\nMatt Brittin, president of business and operations in EMEA for Google, said the firm took the step to increase its funding, in order to benefit both beginners and those who want to develop their existing skills.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re announcing the 60,000 Scholarships Challenge for Udacity Android & web dev courses\u2026 so that experienced developers and passionate beginners can take their skills to the next level and create new opportunities of their own,\u201d he said.\n\nBertelsmann also has experience in the education sector, having given their worldwide employees free access to more than 10,000 online learning courses. It also run the Bertelsmann University, which offers corporate progression course, on strategy and leadership, as well as technology.", "output": "Google and German media company Bertelsmann are partnering with online education provider Udacity to provide 75,000 online scholarships in web development and data science. The scholarship programme is an expansion of a similar scheme run last year that was seven-times oversubscribed. Applications will be invited from Europe and neighbouring countries. The top 6,000 students from the Google-funded Android and web-development courses will be offered the chance to earn a scholarship for further study with Udacity.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cyber crime boosted by low cost of hacking tools \n Malware as a service, along with the affordability of spam botnets, is providing criminals with a low barrier of entry into the cybercrime space, a report from SecureWorks has said.\n\nIn 2017 State of Cybercrime: Exposing the threats techniques and markets that fuel the economy of cybercriminals, the SecureWorks Counter Threat Unit explained that less experienced hackers are able to purchase information-stealing malware for reasonably low prices, and, as a result, this has increased who can conduct malicious activity online.\n\n\"The internet underground is thriving with ready-to-purchase malware. In underground forums, inexperienced or less-skilled cybercriminals are able to purchase information-stealing malware for reasonably low prices, typically in the form of pre-compiled binaries or premium builder kits that enable attackers to custom configure their own binaries,\" the report explains.\n\nSimilarly, spam botnets, labelled the most frequently used method for the distribution of all \"wares\" by SecureWorks, are readily available for a low cost to budding cybercriminals.\n\n\"Today, cybercriminals can tap into large botnets to increase the spread of their spam exponentially, a product that can be thought of as 'spam as a service',\" the report says.\n\nAs one example, the report says one large spam botnet known as Kelihos was charged at as little as $200 per million emails sent for pharmaceutical and counterfeit goods-type messages.\n\nPersonal information remains a popular commodity, SecureWorks said, with tested and verified credit card data available in some cases for as little as $10, and highly detailed personal information records also offered for as low as $10.\n\nIn total, the report details 11 key findings based on the company's research. However, in addition to the malware and ransomware explosion that was WannaCry and Petya, as well as the business email compromise (BEC) threat that accounted for $5 billion in losses globally between October 2013 and December 2016, SecureWorks highlighted that online crime is a market economy of its own.\n\nThe global financial toll of cybercrime is difficult to quantify, but pointing to a report from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), SecureWorks said internet crime led to losses in excess of $1.3 billion [PDF] in 2016.\n\nThe report from SecureWorks labelled the online criminal landscape as one that is complex and composed of actors with a diverse range of capabilities.\n\nAs defined by SecureWorks, the underground internet is the collection of forums, digital shop fronts, and chat rooms that cybercriminals use to form alliances, trade tools, and techniques, and sell compromised data that can include banking details and personally identifiable information, as well as anything else.\n\nHowever, SecureWorks concedes that the full extent of cybercrime is not visible solely through this window.\n\n\"Lucrative online criminality is run like a business, controlled by organised crime groups who are focused on minimising risk and maximising profit,\" the report says. \"Such groups have considerable reach, will often be active in other areas of more traditional criminality, and, when necessary, will employ the services of other professional criminals who specialise in certain areas, such as moving money or goods around the world.\"\n\nWith money in tow, cybercrime organisations are often able to scoop up security talent before the good guys can employ them. This has created an underground job market that SecureWorks said mainly requires skills in malware writing, inject writing, data processing, network and sysadmin, and network exploitation, as well as vendors to perform exploit kit loading.\n\nMoney muling, where a \"middleman\" takes the data and passes it on -- knowingly or unknowingly -- to the cybercriminal, also continues to be a valuable component of the online criminal landscape, the report explained.\n\nSecureWorks also said the perceived gap between criminality and nation states, in terms of both actors and capabilities, will continue to shrink, pointing to the $81 million Bangladesh heist -- and the criminals' links with North Korea -- as its example.", "output": "The low cost of hacking tools being sold online is making cyber crime easier and more affordable, according to a report by the SecureWorks Counter Threat Unit. Information-stealing malware and spam botnets are readily available, and stolen credit card information\u00a0is being traded for as little as $10, the research found. In other findings\u00a0it highlighted the development of an underground cyber crime jobs market, with security experts being courted by\u00a0hackers. It also suggested online crime led to losses of around $1.3bn in the US last year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Coinfirm and SEI to work on blockchain pilot for asset transfer \n London-based Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Read this Term regtech company Coinfirm has signed a strategic partnership with SEI (NASDAQ:SEIC), which manages, advises and administers $809 billion in hedge, private equity and mutual funds, and pooled and separately managed assets.\n\nLearn how to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum safely with our simple guide!\n\nThe companies say that their initiative is aimed at providing a solution that will significantly reshape the UK\u2019s asset transfer market, and create a new digital industry standard.\n\nBrett Williams, Managing Director, SEI Wealth Platform, UK Private Banking, said: \u201cWhile there is a lot of talk across the industry about blockchain\u2019s potential, this new initiative is a tangible example of how its power can be used to provide practical innovation to the industry. This solution could potentially transform the asset transfer market in the U.K -- significantly improving efficiency, service, and control, while simultaneously reducing costs and risk.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe asset transfer market is widely regarded as one of the most expensive and error-prone parts of the asset management value chain, with much of it still involving a great deal of manual procedures. The work we are doing with Coinfirm will help redefine asset transfers processing, with a view to setting a new standard by which all U.K. wealth and asset managers can evaluate their own systems and processes.\u201d\n\nPawel Kuskowski, co-founder and CEO, Coinfirm, added: \u201cWhat Coinfirm and SEI are doing together through our blockchain solution is not only a legitimate, living example of how this technology is helping solve core problems, but also setting a new standard for the industry as a whole. SEI has really placed itself at the forefront with this initiative, and we are happy to add a company of this calibre to the growing list of financial players with which we work.\u201d\n\nSEI and Coinfirm intend to embark on a pilot programme with one of SEI\u2019s existing UK clients before rolling out the offering to other clients and the wider market in 2018.", "output": "SEI has entered into a partnership with London-based blockchain company Coinfirm to develop a system for asset transfer using blockchain. The goal of the partnership is to make asset transfer more efficient, with it currently representing, \"one of the most expensive and error-prone parts of the asset management value chain\", according to Brett Williams, managing director for SEI Wealth Platform. The two firms intend to begin the initiative with a pilot programme for one of SEI's existing clients. A full offering is expected next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "John Lewis embraces 360-degree Facebook ads for new campaign \n John Lewis has set its flag in a new Facebook ad format, it is the first UK retailer to trial 360 degree Facebook ads that enable shoppers to fully check out select goods from every angle.\n\nJohn Lewis' 360 shoppable ad\n\nBecoming the first retailer to embrace the ad format gives John Lewis an advantage in getting its autumn advertising campaign ready. Furthermore, it can work out the kinks in the run up to its inevitable big spend during the holiday period in winter.", "output": "John Lewis has become the first retailer to try out a new ad format on Facebook. The 360-degree ads let shoppers see products from a number of different angles and can direct users to the website with one click to\u00a0make purchases. John Lewis\u2019s early adoption of the format enables the retailer to fine-tune it before the busy Christmas shopping season.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Second Sight developing vision-restoring brain implant \n The device, called the Orion, is a modified version of the company\u2019s current Argus II bionic eye, which involves a pair of glasses outfitted with a camera and an external processor. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted the company a conditional approval for a small study involving five patients at two sites, Baylor College of Medicine and the University of California, Los Angeles. Second Sight still needs to conduct further testing of the device and answer certain questions before starting the trial but hopes to begin enrolling patients in October and do its first implant by the end of the year.\n\nSecond Sight first won approval in Europe in 2011 for the Argus II, followed by an FDA approval in 2013 (see \u201cBionic Eye Implant Approved for U.S. Patients\u201d). In Europe, two more retinal prosthetics have since been approved\u2014one is marketed by French company Pixium Vision and another by German firm Retina Implant.\n\nAlso known as a bionic eye, all three devices are intended to bring back some vision in patients with a genetic eye disorder called retinitis pigmentosa. The disease causes gradual vision loss when light-sensing cells called photoreceptors break down in the retina\u2014the tissue membrane that coats the back of the eye. An estimated 1.5 million people worldwide, including about 100,000 people in the U.S., have retinitis pigmentosa. That is a small percentage of the 39 million people worldwide who are blind, according to the World Health Organization.\n\nA rendering of Second Sight\u2019s Orion device, a brain implant that uses most of the technology from the company\u2019s existing device, the Argus II.\n\nBut Robert Greenberg, Second Sight\u2019s board chair, says the company has only sold about 250 of the Argus II devices, a number lower than he expected. The device costs about $150,000 and restores minimal vision. Only 15 centers in the U.S. offer the technology, and with competition abroad, Second Sight is hoping its new brain implant could be used by far more pople.\n\nSecond Sight\u2019s Argus II uses a camera mounted on a pair of glasses to capture images. The images are sent to a small, patient-worn processor, which uses special software to convert the images into a set of instructions that are sent to the implanted chip near the retina. Those instructions are then transmitted as a series of electrical pulses to an array of electrodes, also implanted around the eye.\n\nPeople with retinitis pigmentosa are able to benefit from the device because the disease destroys only specialized photoreceptors while leaving the retina\u2019s remaining cells intact. These retinal cells are able to transmit the visual information along the optic nerve to the brain, producing patterns of light in a patient\u2019s field of view.\n\nThe new device, the Orion, borrows about 90 percent of its technology from the Argus II but bypasses the eye. Instead, an array of electrodes is placed on the surface of the visual cortex, the part of the brain that processes visual information. Delivering electrical pulses here should tell the brain to perceive patterns of light.\n\n\u201cIn some types of blindness, the optic nerve is damaged so you have to go downstream. With the Orion, we\u2019re essentially replacing the eye and the optic nerve completely,\u201d Greenberg says. With this approach, \u201canyone who had vision but has lost it from almost any cause could potentially be helped by the Orion technology.\u201d", "output": "Californian medical company Second Sight has been granted conditional approval by the US Food and Drug Administration to conduct small clinical trial of its new device, the Orion, which could restore some vision to patients with retinitis pigmentosa. The Orion borrows much of its technology from Second Sight's previous model, the Argus II, but also includes electrodes implanted directly into the brain to bypass the eye and the optic nerve. The company said people who are blind due to other illnesses could \"hypothetically\" use the Orion.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "DOE enzyme discovery could make\u00a0biofuels more economic to produce \n News Release: Enzyme\u2019s Worth to Biofuels Shown in Latest NREL Research\n\nAn enzyme discovered at the U.S. Department of Energy\u2019s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) proves adept at breaking down cellulose fibers regardless of whether their crystalline structure is simple or highly complex. No other enzyme has shown that ability.\n\nThe enzyme, called CelA, comes from Caldicellulosiruptor bescii, and NREL scientists reported three years ago, in the journal Science, how it can convert biomass to sugars faster than competing catalysts in commercial enzyme preparations. The follow-up study, detailed in the new Scientific Reports paper, The Multi Domain Caldicellulosiruptor bescii CelA Cellulase Excels at the Hydrolysis of Crystalline Cellulose, points to how the enzyme could help remove one of the technical and economic barriers preventing cellulosic biofuels from becoming a commercial reality.\n\nThe crystalline structure of cellulose fiber in plant cell walls generally poses a problem for cellulases, the enzymes that work to break down cellulose. The more crystalline the structure, the stronger the fibers are. Fungal enzymes tested to date cannot easily break down fibers with high crystalline content so that the material can be converted into a biofuel. CelA, however, is agnostic to the level of crystalline content.\n\n\u201cCelA is able to break down cellulose with high crystallinity the same as low crystallinity, which has never been shown for any other cellulase,\u201d said Yannick Bomble, a senior research scientist at NREL and the senior author of the paper. \u201cThe better the cellulase is, the quicker you can convert biomass to simple sugars so the cheaper the process will get.\u201d\n\nBomble\u2019s co-authors from NREL are Roman Brunecky, Bryon Donohoe, John Yarbrough, Ashutosh Mittal, Larry Taylor, Daehwan Chung, and Michael Himmel. Other co-authors were Brian Scott, Hanshu Ding, Sarah Teter from Novozymes, and Jordan Russell and Janet Westpheling from the University of Georgia. Their research looked at how CelA performed in breaking down and interacting with the components of cell walls in corn stover: glucan, xylan, and lignin. Chemical pretreatments were used on corn stover and silky fibers called cotton linters, leaving behind various amounts of the components and varying degrees of crystallinity, respectively. The experiments showed the degree of crystallinity didn\u2019t affect how well the enzyme performed.\n\nThe sticking point came when CelA encountered lignin, the component that provides rigidity to cell walls. With some pretreatment conditions, some lignin remained, and that stopped the enzyme. \u201cIf it binds to lignin, it\u2019s just stuck. It can\u2019t process or break down biomass any longer,\u201d Bomble said. \u201cWhen that happens, you lose the enzyme. The more enzymes you lose to non-productive binding, the less efficient the conversion. That\u2019s usually the problem. This is why we\u2019re working on strategies to prevent CelA\u2019s binding to lignin but retain the vital affinity to cellulose.\u201d\n\nThe latest research was funded by DOE\u2019s BioEnergy Science Center.\n\nNREL is the U.S. Department of Energy's primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for the Energy Department by The Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.", "output": "Scientists at the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have discovered an enzyme that could help make the production of biofuels more economic. The enzyme, CelA, has proved faster than existing catalysts at breaking down complex crystalline structures in plant cells, which has proved a challenge in the past. However, in experiments, CeIA stopped working when it encountered\u00a0lignin, a component of cells, and the researchers are now looking at ways to prevent this occurring.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cisco, Bosch among founders of alliance backing IoT blockchain \n File Photo\n\nCisco, Bosch, Gemalto and other business giants have announced the launch of the \"Trusted IoT Alliance\" as part of an effort to promote the use of the blockchain to secure IoT devices worldwide.\n\nOn Tuesday, the group of companies said the Trusted IoT Alliance will \"further a blockchain-based Internet of Things (IoT) open-source working group\" that will create a \"blockchain-enabled, trusted IoT\" ecosystem with improved security and trust protocols.\n\nTo reach this goal, the alliance intends to create an open-source blockchain protocol to \"support IoT technology in major industries worldwide.\"\n\nThe blockchain is usually associated with cryptocurrency, but its uses go further than as a means to trade in Bitcoin. The distributed, decentralized electronic ledger can also be used to underpin everything from voting records to legal documents, and with the same information distributed across different systems, tampering, falsification, or compromise is difficult to achieve.\n\nBosch, BNY Mellon, Cisco, Gemalto, US Bank along with Bitse, Chronicled, ConsenSys, Ledger, Skuchain, Slock.it, HCM International of Foxconn Group, IOTA, Oaken Innovations, Qtum, Chain of Things, and Big Chain DB are the first batch of companies to sign up to the alliance.\n\nHowever, it is hoped membership will expand membership by targeting Fortune 5000 enterprise companies.\n\nThe group has already published a common API for registering IoT \"things\" to the Hyperledger and Enterprise Ethereum blockchain and plans to issue grants to support the development of additional open-source blockchain technologies.\n\n\"Proprietary technology and competing interests made a truly open network difficult to develop,\" the alliance says. \"Open-source is widely recognized as the solution to the development of robust IoT standards. However, organizing consortia between major industry players is complex.\"\n\nThe alliance says that the groups' open-source tools and property will help the enterprise register IoT devices and create event logs on decentralized systems, which in turn will lead to a trusted IoT ecosystem which links cryptographic registration, \"thing\" identities, and metadata.\n\nThis will give users the equivalent of \"birth certificates\" for devices connected to a network -- as well as means to track any aberrations in behavior. In addition, the group says the aim is to increase interoperability and interworking, and so blockchain agnosticism will be maintained.\n\nCo-founder of Skuchain, Zaki Manian, has been named the executive director of the alliance, with figures from Bosch, Chronicled, Cisco, and Gemalto holding board member roles.\n\n\"The world is beginning to recognize the potential of blockchain technology to fundamentally reshape the way business is done globally - and we're still just scratching the surface,\" said Ryan Orr, CEO of Chronicled. \"At this early stage we think it's vitally important to establish an inclusive framework that ensures openness, trust, and interoperability among the many parties, in both the public and private sectors, that we believe will begin to adopt blockchain technology over the next several years.\"\n\nSee also: Yes, Blockchain could reverse the course of civilization and upend the world's most powerful companies\n\nThere are many companies exploring how the blockchain can be used not only for security purposes, but to improve business protocols, transactions, and supply chain management.\n\nMicrosoft, for example, is promoting its Blockchain-as-a-Service offering in the world of smart contracts, while the UK government wants to use the technology to track benefits spending.\n\nPrevious and related coverage", "output": "Global companies including Bosch, Gemalto and Cisco have formed the Trusted IoT Alliance, an open-source working group that aims to create a \"blockchain-enabled, trusted IoT\" ecosystem. The alliance has already published a common API for registering IoT-enabled devices, or\u00a0\"things\",\u00a0to the Enterprise Ethereum and Hyperledger blockchains, while the decentralised network will eventually hold cryptographic registration, thing\u00a0identities and metadata. \"At this early stage we think it's vitally important to establish an inclusive framework that ensures openness, trust, and interoperability,\" said Ryan Orr, CEO of alliance member Chronicled."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Adblock Plus makes browser available for App Store on iOS \n Browser extension Adblock Plus, which says it wants to rid the Internet of \u201cannoying and intrusive online advertising,\u201d announced its Adblock Browser for iOS 2.0 is available at the App Store.\n\nAdblock Plus has a new iOS browser.\n\nCalling it a \u201cmilestone update for the browser,\u201d Adblock Plus said the product includes an intuitive interface and easy-to-use controls, and it will also keep data costs down, save battery life and protect personal data on the mobile web.", "output": "The Apple-sanctioned Adblock Browser for iOS 2.0, developed by browser extension Adblock Plus, is available to buy on the App store. The updated version, which the company has dubbed a \"milestone update for the browser\" includes many additional features, including Ghost Mode, which enables anonymous web browsing, while Adblock Plus said the intuitive interface and easy-to-use controls ensure a frictionless user experience."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Latest Obamacare repeal bill would hit California hard \n If Congress passes the latest effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, California stands to lose tens of billions of dollars over the next 10 years, according to separate analyses of the legislation.\n\nThe left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities was the first to crunch the numbers on the bill sponsored by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana). It determined that the state would lose nearly $58 billion in 2027. A Kaiser Family Foundation analysis estimates California would lose nearly $46 billion that year, and nearly $62 billion from 2020-26.\n\nThe Congressional Budget Office says it doesn't have enough time to conduct a complete analysis of the bill by the time the U.S. Senate must vote on it next week.\n\nThe Senate Parliamentarian has ruled that the chamber only has until Sept. 30 to try to pass the legislation with 51 votes under budget reconciliation rules. After that, Republicans would need 60 votes to overcome a Democratic filibuster.\n\nThe legislation would roll back funding for expanded Medi-Cal and the subsidies that help people buy private individual insurance policies through Covered California. Those dollars would be replaced with block grants to states. Graham and Cassidy argue that states are better positioned than the federal government to decide how best to serve their populations' health care needs.\n\nSwitching to block grants would be a boon to states that never expanded Medicaid under Obamacare. It would mean a financial hit for those that did, like California. In the Golden State, that could amount to a loss of more than $1,500 a person, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.\n\nAnalysts say the loss of funding could force the state to make deep cuts to Medi-Cal, which covers one out of every three Californians.\n\nThe UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education estimates that 6.7 million Californians could lose coverage in 2027, based on a scenario in which the state cut Medi-Cal eligibility or capped enrollment for certain groups.\n\n\"The biggest group would be the people in the Medi-Cal expansion, but also people with covered California subsidies would lose those subsidies, and children, and seniors, and individuals with disabilities in Medi-Cal are also at risk of coverage losses,\" said Laurel Lucia, director of the Center\u2019s Health Care Program.\n\nHealth organizations with a majority of their patients on Medi-Cal expect to be hit hard if the Republican bill becomes law.\n\n\"When states get block-granted they have to make really tough choices,\" said Louise McCarthy, president of the Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County. \"They either cut the eligibility, they cut the services, or they cut the payments. Or they cut all three.\"\n\nThose cuts would mean health care providers would, in turn, be making their own tough decisions on where to tighten their belts, meaning fewer services and potentially fewer jobs, she said.\n\n\"At this point in the Affordable Care Act debate, it feels like we are in hurricane season,\" said McCarthy. \"We\u2019ve been dodging hurricane after hurricane of repeal attempts. Now with Graham-Cassidy, we are right back where we started fighting a storm that is even worse than those that preceded it.\"\n\nThis story has been updated.", "output": "If Congress passes the latest effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, California could face a loss of nearly $58 billion in 2027, according to the only analysis of the legislation so far.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hep A outbreak: 'more lives are going to be at risk' \n In its strongest public outreach to date, city and county leaders urged the public to do everything they can to help end the region\u2019s historic hepatitis A outbreak.\n\nWith case counts continuing to rise, San Diego leaders made their largest show of solidarity Tuesday morning in the fight against hepatitis A, gathering to ask the public for help in getting control of the outbreak that does not appear to be going away any time soon.\n\nEven though efforts to contain the outbreak started in March, officials do not expect an immediate halt to unprecedented public health threat.\n\n\u201cFrankly, this outbreak could last for at least another six months, and unfortunately there are going to be more lives that are going to be at risk,\u201d Dr. Nick Yphantides, the county\u2019s chief medical officer, said at a news conference in from of the County Administration Center.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAs they have every Tuesday for the last few months, officials gave an update on the outbreak\u2019s toll which has had its strongest impact on San Diego\u2019s homeless population. While the death count remains 16 as it was last week, there are two more deaths currently under investigation. For 15 of the 16 deaths confirmed so far, Yphantides said, each has been homeless and/or an illicit drug user. All have had underlying health conditions such as a concurrent hepatitis C infection.\n\nThe total number of confirmed cases linked to the outbreak jumped to 444 from 421 last week, and there are another 44 suspected cases currently under investigation. The number of people hospitalized due to infections from the specific strains associated with the outbreak climbed to 305 this week from 292 last week.\n\nThe steady increase in these numbers is causing growing anxiety in the region, pushing further into the mainstream late last week with a public warning to all patrons of a Pacific Beach restaurant after a person associated with the establishment was infected.\n\nThere was also news Tuesday of a new outbreak declared by public health officials in Los Angeles County. Two infections that occurred locally, officials said, are in addition to eight previous cases linked to ongoing outbreaks in San Diego and Santa Cruz counties.\n\nDr. Barbara Ferrer, director of the L.A. County Department of Public Health, note the outbreak is small by comparison. Nevertheless, she said the department is ramping up prevention efforts locally so more people don\u2019t get sick. San Diego\u2019s outbreak has already spread to Santa Cruz, where 69 people have been diagnosed.\n\nAnother San Diego-linked case case surfaced in Imperial County over the weekend, according to health officials there.\n\n\u201cWithin our investigations we have learned that the individual did not contract the infection here in the valley, here in Imperial Valley. He is currently still being treated at one of our local facilities,\u201d Karla Lopez, Epidemiologist with Imperial County Public Health Department, told television station KYMA.\n\nThe person was described as middle aged homeless man living in downtown San Diego before arriving in Imperial County last week.\n\nThe San Diego outbreak was first recognized by the county health department in March, and the response has come under criticism in recent weeks for being somewhat fragmented.\n\nSan Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer took pains Tuesday to signal that the government response has crystallized around the three main themes of vaccination, sanitation and education.\n\nHepatitis A: frequently asked questions\n\n\u201cThere are lives at stake. Every person affected has a family, has friends. This is personal. This is our community. We will protect it,\u201d Faulconer said at the news conference, the largest show of unity among public officials in the hepatitis fight.\n\nThe mayor and others urged the public to do its part primarily through attention to hygiene \u2014 frequent and thorough hand-washing \u2014 and getting vaccinated if warranted.\n\nIn addition to the county\u2019s regular Tuesday update on the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths associated with the outbreak, officials also said that 22,966 people have received the hepatitis A vaccine through a wide range of outreach events from inoculation clinics to foot teams working with the homeless in remote locations.\n\nYphantides stressed that vaccination is recommended only for a \u201chigh-risk group\u201d of people across the county. There is no reason why those who do not fall into that group need to run out and get a hepatitis A vaccination even if they work in downtown San Diego where the largest number of cases have occurred, he said. On the other hand, he added, those who fear exposure to the virus should not be shy.\n\n\u201cIf, however, there are individuals who have a felt need that they may have had exposure to the virus and want to have access to the vaccine, it is perfectly reasonable for you to make that request to your medical provider,\u201d Yphantides said.\n\nThe main high-risk group the medical director referred to includes: homeless people, intravenous and illicit drug users, gay men, anyone who has has sexual contact with a person who has a hepatitis A infection, people with chronic liver disease and anyone with a clotting factor disease.\n\nOn Tuesday morning, the health department also defined a second job-based vaccination category. It includes: fire and emergency workers, law enforcement personnel, food handlers, health care personnel, homeless outreach and service workers, substance abuse treatment workers and public transportation workers.\n\nAnyone who wants to find a nearby vaccination clinic can call 2-1-1 for more information.\n\nThe city is also conducting a free vaccination clinic in front of the San Diego Central Library, 330 Park Blvd., Wednesday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.\n\nHealth Playlist \u00d7 On Now Video: Leaders urge public to help extinguish hepatitis outbreak On Now San Diego starts cleansing sidewalks, streets to combat hepatitis A On Now Video: Scripps to shutter its hospice service On Now Video: Scripps La Jolla hospitals nab top local spot in annual hospital rankings On Now Video: Does a parent's Alzheimer's doom their children? On Now EpiPen recall expands On Now Kids can add years to your life\n\npaul.sisson@sduniontribune.com\n\n(619) 293-1850\n\nTwitter: @paulsisson", "output": "With case counts continuing to rise, San Diego leaders made their largest show of solidarity Tuesday morning in the fight against hepatitis A, gathering to ask the public for help in getting control of the outbreak that does not appear to be going away any time soon.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IBM gives UC San Diego $10 million to find better ways to detect memory loss \n IBM has given UC San Diego a $10 million contract to search for ways to preserve people\u2019s ability to think and remember things clearly to help seniors live in their own homes late into life, perhaps until they die.\n\nThe money is aimed at a problem that trips up many older adults \u2014 mild cognitive impairment, a condition that can make it difficult to remember simple things like a name, and how do basic tasks like balance a checkbook.\n\nUC San Diego will try to make it easier to detect MCI, whose symptoms can be hard to distinguish from the natural declines in thinking and memory that are a part of aging.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nScientists also are focusing on MCI because the condition can lead to serious forms of dementia, such as Alzheimer\u2019s disease.\n\n\u201cIf you can detect it in time, there are ways to dramatically slow MCI down,\u201d said Tajana \u0160imuni\u0107 Rosing, a UC San Diego computer scientist who will help lead a five year study of the matter.\n\n\u201cThe bad news is that by the time most people go see a doctor they\u2019re already experiencing more severe stages of cognitive decline.\u201d\n\nScientists say the future looks promising due to the rise of web-connected sensors that can observe people with great precision and the availability of computer systems like IBM Watson, which crunch huge sets of health data in search of patterns and meaning.\n\nThere\u2019s also a growing sense of urgency about the need to help older adults stay healthy. People are living longer. They want to stay in a home of their choice. And the nation\u2019s population is aging rapidly, a change that involves great cost.\n\nMedicaid spends about $150 billion a year to provide services and support to older Americans.\n\nMuch of the $10 million contract that UC San Diego will get from IBM will be used to study about 50 people who are 65 and older.\n\nTen of those people will have their homes outfitted with a variety of sensors and electronic devices that will monitor their daily habits and behavior, which provide clues to how clearly people are thinking and remembering things.\n\nThe sensors could be placed in everything from cellphones to phone outlets.\n\n\u201cWe want to use the home environment to learn what\u2019s going on with people,\u201d Rosing said.\n\nThis part of the study also will involve scientists who can help identify cognitive decline by examining subtle changes in behavior, such as a person inexplicably repeating something or taking longer pauses when they speak.\n\nLike the 40 other participants, the ten people also will undergo more classical study. The university\u2019s Center for Healthy Aging will evaluate such things as a person\u2019s general physical health, cognitive function and quality of their social life.\n\nDilip Jeste, the center\u2019s director, doesn\u2019t expect to have trouble finding participants, noting, \u201cMost older people want to avoid going into assisted living, let alone nursing homes. Everyone wants to live independently as long as possible.\u201d\n\n\u00d7 UC San Diego will try to make it easier to detectmild cognitive impairment, whose symptoms can be hard to distinguish from the natural declines in thinking and memory that are a part of aging.\n\nThe project also involves studying people\u2019s microbiomes \u2014 or the genetic make-up of the micro-organisms that live in and on a person\u2019s body, notably in the gut. Scientists believe that a person\u2019s ever changing microbiome directly affects their health. The affects on memory and thinking are unclear, but need to be studied, say researchers.\n\nUC San Diego is going to feed IBM Watson a large body of published data about the microbiome, along with readings from the upcoming study.\n\nThe university plans to draw study participants from a variety of places, including the Paradise Valley Retirement Community in National City. Researchers are looking for people like Louise Oberlin, one of the community\u2019s residents.\n\nOberlin is an optimistic soul who nonetheless describes the indignities of aging in frank terms.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve noticed that I don\u2019t pick things up as quickly,\u201d the 73 year-old Oberlin said Friday. \u201cI may have to read a page twice to get the whole thing. It\u2019s a slowly moving stream of diminishment.\u201d\n\nThe problems include sometimes forgetting people\u2019s names.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll look at people I\u2019ve known forever and can\u2019t think of their name,\u201d said Oberlin. \u201cMy first thought is that I\u2019m embarrassing myself. My second thought is I get to use (the excuse), \u2018I\u2019m older, I\u2019m a senior.\u2019 That\u2019s natural.\n\n\u201cThe other part is that it feels bad to not feel competent in my own environment.\u201d\n\nOn balance, though, she is thriving, saying, \u201cI\u2019m happy. My life is good. The things that have happened to me have made me be able to love the life that I\u2019m in today.\u201d\n\nScience Playlist \u00d7 On Now In a first, scientists rid human embryos of a potentially fatal gene mutation by editing their DNA On Now 10 interesting facts about Mars On Now Kids can add years to your life On Now LA 90: SpaceX launches recycled rocket On Now Ocean temperatures warming at rapid rate, study finds\n\nTwitter: @grobbins\n\ngary.robbins@sduniontribune.com", "output": "IBM has given UC San Diego a $10 million contract to search for ways to preserve people\u2019s ability to think and remember things clearly to help seniors live in their own homes late into life, perhaps until they die.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Court allows\u00a0farm\u00a0hit by bird flu to claim for premises pollution \n A federal district court judge has dismissed one of a poultry farm\u2019s claims for \u201cremediation costs\u201d against its insurer with prejudice, but allowed the other to proceed. In Rembrandt Enterprises, Inc. v. Illinois Union Insurance Company, Rembrandt brought suit against its insurer for losses it sustained after a bird flu epidemic broke out at its farms in 2015. Regulators ultimately ordered Rembrandt to quarantine its facilities and put down millions of birds, forcing Rembrandt to spend millions of dollars to purchase new chicks to repopulate its farms.\n\nRembrandt submitted a claim to Illinois Union for the entire $7 million limit under its Premises Pollution Liability Insurance Policy: $5 million for business-interruption losses and $2 million for remediation expenses. The parties agreed to split the matter and address liability first and damages second. United States District Judge Paul A. Magnuson denied Rembrandt\u2019s and Illinois Union\u2019s cross-motions for summary judgment on liability, holding that genuine issues of material fact remained for the jury to decide whether (1) bird flu had \u201cdispersed, released, migrated, or seeped\u201d onto or into Rembrandt\u2019s farms, and (2) the virus had spread due to human activity, which would trigger a policy exclusion.\n\nRegarding the damages issue, Illinois National moved for partial summary judgment, arguing that Rembrandt could not recover the $2 million it sought for \u201cremediation costs.\u201d The policy defined \u201cremediation costs\u201d as \u201creasonable expenses required to restore, repair, or replace real or personal property to substantially the same condition it was in prior to being damaged during the course of responding to a pollution condition.\u201d The key issue was whether Rembrandt\u2019s property was \u201cdamaged during the course of responding to a pollution condition.\u201d\n\nIllinois National did not dispute that the diseased birds were Rembrandt\u2019s \u201cpersonal property,\u201d or that bird flu was a \u201cpollution condition.\u201d Instead, Illinois National tried to hatch another argument: that the \u201cpollution condition\u201d itself \u2013 bird flu \u2013and not the response to that \u201cpollution condition,\u201d caused Rembrandt to incur the remediation costs. In Illinois National\u2019s view, all of Rembrandt\u2019s poultry became damaged the instant that bird flu arrived at Rembrandt\u2019s farms, and as a result, the birds were already damaged when the remediation commenced. By the insurer\u2019s logic, therefore, none of the birds could have been damaged \u201cduring the course of responding to [the] pollution condition.\u201d\n\nJudge Magnuson clipped that argument. First, he noted that it appeared \u201cundisputed that at least some of Rembrandt\u2019s birds were not infected with [bird flu] when government officials ordered \u2013 and Rembrandt completed \u2013 the entire flock\u2019s euthanization.\u201d As a result, at least some of the birds were not at all damaged by the \u201cpollution condition\u201d itself (the bird flu), but instead were \u201cdamaged during the course of responding to\u201d the pollution condition (i.e., when Rembrandt was forced to put down all of the fowl after the bird flu epidemic had begun).\n\nRembrandt also sought coverage for \u201cremediation costs\u201d in the form of $800,000 it spent to heat its barns after it put down all of its birds. Normally, Rembrandt\u2019s farms hold hundreds of thousands of birds, from which the body heat alone is enough to heat Rembrandt\u2019s barns. But with its flock euthanized, there were no birds to heat the barns, so Rembrandt incurred costs in supplying heat for its barns, without which additional damage would have been sustained.\n\nJudge Magnuson cooled on this argument, holding that Rembrandt\u2019s barns sustained no \u201cdamage [\u2026] [prior to or] during the course of responding to [the] pollution condition\u201d (emphasis added). This was plainly distinguishable from Rembrandt\u2019s birds, which did sustain damage (they were destroyed) when Rembrandt responded to the bird flu. According to the language of Rembrandt\u2019s policy, coverage was not afforded for the prospective heating costs that Rembrandt incurred to prevent damage from occurring to its barns. Rather, coverage extended only to retroactive costs incurred to \u201crestore, repair, or replace\u201d property \u201cdamaged during the course of responding to a pollution condition.\u201d As a result, Judge Magnuson dismissed with prejudice Rembrandt\u2019s claim to recover barn-heating expenses as \u201cremediation costs,\u201d but allowed Rembrandt\u2019s claim for the euthanized birds to go forward.\n\nYou can read Judge Magnuson\u2019s order here.", "output": "A US judge has allowed a poultry farm\u00a0to proceed with part of a $7m claim against its insurer. The claim\u00a0arose from the destruction of millions of birds amid an outbreak of bird flu in 2015. Rembrandt Enterprises made the claim\u00a0under its premises pollution policy after the cull, but Illinois Union Insurance balked at paying $2m for\u00a0remediation costs, which Rembrandt said were incurred\u00a0in\u00a0bringing the farm back to working order. Illinois Union's argument that the need for remediation had been caused by the disease, and not the destruction of the birds, was shot down by the federal court.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "While Premiums Soar Under Obamacare, Costs of Employer-Based Plans Are Stable \n In sharp contrast to the soaring health insurance premiums in many Affordable Care Act marketplaces, the cost of coverage for the vast numbers of people who get insurance through their jobs rose relatively little this year, continuing a period of remarkable stability in the employer market, according to a national survey released Tuesday.\n\nThe annual premium for family coverage rose an average of 3 percent to $18,764 this year, according the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit group, which conducted the annual survey of employers. That is the sixth straight year that employer-provided policies have increased by well under 5 percent, according to the survey. Employers paid the bulk of the costs, the survey found, with workers shouldering an average of $5,714, a year for a family policy.\n\nAbout 151 million people are covered through an employer, and the insurance environment for many of those companies is characterized by \u201ca remarkable stubborn stability,\u201d said Craig Garthwaite, a health economist at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.\n\nThe exception is the smallest companies, which are still finding it challenging to afford insurance for their workers. In recent years, a growing number of smaller companies have stopped providing health benefits, according to the Kaiser data. Over the last five years, the percentage of businesses with under 50 workers offering coverage has fallen from 59 percent to 50 percent. In 2001, two thirds of those employers offered benefits.", "output": "In sharp contrast to the soaring health insurance premiums in many Affordable Care Act marketplaces, the cost of coverage for the vast numbers of people who get insurance through their jobs rose relatively little this year, continuing a period of remarkable stability in the employer market, according to a national survey\u00a0released Tuesday.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Five New Grants Totaling Over $3.6 Million Approved by JAHF Board of Trustees at September 2017 Meeting \n Five New Grants Totaling Over $3.6 Million Approved by JAHF Board of Trustees\n\nThe John A. Hartford Foundation Board of Trustees approved five new grants totaling $3.6 million in September 2017 to accelerate the move to age-friendly health systems, support family caregivers, and improve serious illness and end-of-life care.\n\nNational Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA): Demonstration of Person-Driven Outcomes Measures for an Age-Friendly Health System ($1,494,992 for 3 years)\n\nThere is broad agreement that people\u2019s priorities and health goals should guide their care, and yet, existing health care quality measures do not effectively evaluate what is most important to individuals, particularly older adults with complex care needs. This grant to NCQA will improve the lives of older people by developing quality measures to assess how well health systems maintain or improve the health goals of older adults. The project will develop goal-based quality measures suitable for use in value-based payment arrangements in order to align care with what matters most to older people and their families.\n\nAARP Foundation: Supporting Family Caregivers Providing Complex Care ($1,372,242 for 30 months)\n\nNearly half of the 18 million family caregivers in the U.S. who assist older adults perform complex medical/nursing tasks with very little training or support, as revealed in the 2012 AARP/United Hospital Fund Home Alone study, funded by The John A. Hartford Foundation. This project with the AARP-led Home Alone Alliance will help health systems better serve these family caregivers by completing a national scan and sharing best practices in implementing the CARE Act, a law passed in 39 states that requires hospitals to identify and educate patients\u2019 family caregivers before discharge. Home Alone Alliance members will create educational materials and conduct training for nurses and other health professionals to better work with family caregivers. The Home Alone study will also be updated, with a focus on diverse populations.\n\nIcahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai: Implementation of Rehabilitation at Home ($500,000 for 27 months)\n\nThis project will refine the Rehabilitation at Home care model and propose a new payment mechanism within Medicare to enable more older adults to receive post-acute rehabilitation services at home, improving quality and cost outcomes. The Rehabilitation at Home care model grew out of the Hospital at Home program, developed with funding from The John A. Hartford Foundation. The model provides safe, high-quality rehabilitative and medical care in the home, the setting patients often prefer.\n\nAmerican Bar Association Fund for Justice and Education: Advancing Legal and Medical Collaboration in Advance Care Planning ($151,997 for 1 year)\n\nAdvance care planning for the end of life is an essential component of person and family-centered care. However, legal and health care professionals are not well-aligned in advance care planning processes and this often results in legal documents that are not actionable in clinical settings. This project intends to bridge the chasm between lawyers and clinicians so that advance care planning will support patients\u2019 goals of care being understood, documented, and honored in health care decision-making. The American Bar Association will convene, in collaboration with the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, experts and stakeholders and produce National Recommendations and Best Practice Guidelines with actionable tools for medical-legal collaboration in effective advance care planning.\n\nColumbia University: The John A. Hartford Foundation State Aging Index ($109,528 for 1 year)\n\nThis one-year project will extend the recently released international John A. Hartford Foundation Aging Society Index to the domestic state level and examine the impact of state programs and policies on the status and well-being of older adults. The project will begin by establishing measures in several relevant domains: social, economic, intergenerational, and health-related. Data analysis will include the calculation of state (or census region where appropriate) performance using the measures and an analysis of how state-based policies and programs are correlated with key state characteristics. The investigators, members of the Research Network on an Aging Society, will publish and present the findings, including to local, state, and federal policy makers.", "output": "The John A. Hartford Foundation Board of Trustees approved five new grants totaling $3.6 million in September 2017 to accelerate the move to age-friendly health systems, support family caregivers, and improve serious illness and end-of-life care. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insufficient new antibiotics in development: WHO \n A report, Antibacterial agents in clinical development \u2013 an analysis of the antibacterial clinical development pipeline, including tuberculosis, launched today by WHO shows a serious lack of new antibiotics under development to combat the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance.\n\n\n\n\n\nMost of the drugs currently in the clinical pipeline are modifications of existing classes of antibiotics and are only short-term solutions. The report found very few potential treatment options for those antibiotic-resistant infections identified by WHO as posing the greatest threat to health, including drug-resistant tuberculosis which kills around 250 000 people each year.\n\n\n\n\n\n\"Antimicrobial resistance is a global health emergency that will seriously jeopardize progress in modern medicine,\" says Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO. \"There is an urgent need for more investment in research and development for antibiotic-resistant infections including TB, otherwise we will be forced back to a time when people feared common infections and risked their lives from minor surgery.\"\n\n\n\n\n\nIn addition to multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, WHO has identified 12 classes of priority pathogens \u2013 some of them causing common infections such as pneumonia or urinary tract infections \u2013 that are increasingly resistant to existing antibiotics and urgently in need of new treatments.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe report identifies 51 new antibiotics and biologicals in clinical development to treat priority antibiotic-resistant pathogens, as well as tuberculosis and the sometimes deadly diarrhoeal infection\n\n.\n\n\n\n\n\nAmong all these candidate medicines, however, only 8 are classed by WHO as innovative treatments that will add value to the current antibiotic treatment arsenal.\n\n\n\n\n\nThere is a serious lack of treatment options for multidrug- and extensively drug-resistant M. tuberculosis and gram-negative pathogens, including\n\nand\n\n(such as\n\nand\n\n) which can cause severe and often deadly infections that pose a particular threat in hospitals and nursing homes.\n\n\n\n\n\nThere are also very few oral antibiotics in the pipeline, yet these are essential formulations for treating infections outside hospitals or in resource-limited settings.\n\n\n\n\n\n\"Pharmaceutical companies and researchers must urgently focus on new antibiotics against certain types of extremely serious infections that can kill patients in a matter of days because we have no line of defence,\" says Dr Suzanne Hill, Director of the Department of Essential Medicines at WHO.\n\n\n\n\n\nTo counter this threat, WHO and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) set up the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (known as GARDP). On 4 September 2017, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Wellcome Trust pledged more than \u20ac56 million for this work.\n\n\n\n\n\n\"Research for tuberculosis is seriously underfunded, with only two new antibiotics for treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis having reached the market in over 70 years,\" says Dr Mario Raviglione, Director of the WHO Global Tuberculosis Programme. \"If we are to end tuberculosis, more than US$ 800 million per year is urgently needed to fund research for new antituberculosis medicines\".\n\n\n\n\n\nNew treatments alone, however, will not be sufficient to combat the threat of antimicrobial resistance. WHO works with countries and partners to improve infection prevention and control and to foster appropriate use of existing and future antibiotics. WHO is also developing guidance for the responsible use of antibiotics in the human, animal and agricultural sectors.\n\n\n\nNote to editors\n\nClostridium difficileAcinetobacterEnterobacteriaceaeKlebsiellaE.coli\n\nFor more information, download the following reports:\n\nThe clinical pipeline analysis data can be explored in an interactive way through:", "output": "There is a serious lack of new antibiotics in development to combat the growing risk of antimicrobial resistance, according to a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The report states that most of the drugs currently being worked on are modifications of existing forms of antibiotics, which offer only short-term solutions. The WHO has identified 12 categories of priority pathogens that urgently require new treatments. Although 51 new antibiotics and biologicals are in development to treat such pathogens, just eight are considered innovative treatments\u00a0that will expand the field.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese engineers announce world's first large transport drone \n The world\u2019s first large transport drone for SF Express. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]\n\nChinese engineers have converted a utility plane into the world's first large transport drone for an express delivery company.\n\nThe drone \u2014 a refitted PAC P-750 XSTOL turboprop built by New Zealand's Pacific Aerospace \u2014 is undergoing ground tests, according to a senior designer involved in the project.\n\n\"If all goes well, the plane will make its maiden flight in early October,\" said Chen Xiang, director of unmanned aircraft vehicle guidance at the Xi'an Flight Automatic Control Research Institute.\n\n\"Once flight-tests are finished, the aircraft will be the world's first large transport drone for commercial use.\"\n\nDesigners and engineers from several Chinese institutes took part in the refit, including Chen's institute, which is part of Aviation Industry Corp of China, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Engineering Thermophysics.\n\nThe cargo drone is being produced for SF Express, the nation's second-largest courier after China Post. It will initially be used for technical demonstrations and by civil aviation authorities before going into commercial use, according to promotional materials from Chen's institute.\n\nAmazon and DHL already use drones for delivery services and are developing new models. However, Chen said all the drones in service or in development are small and cannot compete with Chinese models for speed and capacity.\n\n\"The reason we lead in this field is because China is leading in e-commerce, thus needs such drones more urgently,\" he said on Monday on the sidelines of a civil-military integration development expo in Beijing.\n\nTo carry out the refit, he said engineers removed the pilot's instruments in the cockpit and installed ground-control and automated flight devices, the most important apparatus on a drone.\n\nThe plane now has a maximum takeoff weight of 3.4 metric tons, a capacity of 1 ton and a flight range of more than 2,000 kilometers.\n\nCompared with manned cargo planes, a freight drone will spend about 30 percent less in terms of operational cost, according to Chen, who said they can be used for short-haul deliveries of time-sensitive goods, such as fresh food and medical supplies.", "output": "A team of Chinese engineers and designers has created the world's first large transport drone for commercial use. The team modified a utility plane to create the drone, replacing the traditional instruments with ground-control and automated flight devices. The drone\u00a0has a one-tonne capacity and a flight range of more than 2,000km. SF Express, China's second largest courier company, is behind the project. The drone is currently undergoing ground tests, with its maiden flight scheduled for early October."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "High-speed internet still unavailable to six million US students \n More than 5 million students in the United States gained access to high-speed internet in the last year alone, leaving just 6.5 million students to go, according to new data released by EducationSuperHighway on Tuesday.\n\nIn its third annual State of the States report, the nonprofit applauds the progress states have made toward closing the digital divide. Today, about 39.2 million students, 2.6 million teachers and 74,000 schools have access to digital learning opportunities, and 94 percent of districts across the country meet the Federal Communications Commission\u2019s minimum goal of 100 kilobits (kbps) per second per student.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re seeing a lot of excellent progress,\u201d said Evan Marwell, CEO of EducationSuperHighway, which was founded in 2012 to support America\u2019s public schools in obtaining and upgrading broadband access. \u201cFor us, the goal has always been to have everybody connected by the start of the school year in 2020. I feel like we\u2019re continuing to make great progress and be on track for that goal \u2014 maybe even ahead of schedule.\u201d\n\nSince last year\u2019s State of the States report was published, the number of students who don\u2019t have high-speed internet access has decreased by 45 percent, and Marwell said he\u2019s \u201cvery optimistic\u201d about coming through for the 6.5 million kids who remain unconnected.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nMost of the districts that have not reached the FCC\u2019s 100 kbps per student minimum can obtain that high-speed broadband through a package already being offered to a comparable district in their state, he said. These districts tend to be located in urban and suburban areas.\n\nThe districts that lack fiber infrastructure, on the other hand, are mostly rural, and they\u2019re concentrated in some of the largest states, like California, Texas and Illinois.\n\nThe challenge for rural schools, Marwell said, is that they are typically far removed and resource-strapped, making it difficult to come up with the $100,000 needed to get a fiber connection.\n\n\u201cFor most rural school districts, that\u2019s really beyond their means,\u201d he told EdScoop. \u201cI\u2019m less optimistic about bringing fiber to [them].\u201d\n\nThis is an area that the FCC needs to prioritize, Marwell said. He hopes that Chairman Ajit Pai will follow through on his promises to close the digital divide and to reduce the bureaucracy of the E-rate program, which helps schools and libraries afford broadband. \u201cThat, hopefully, means faster approval for fiber projects,\u201d Marwell said.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nEfforts to connect students to high-speed internet have emerged from every level \u2014 local, state and federal \u2014 but governors especially have been \u201cstepping up and putting up funding\u201d in recent years.\n\nForty-five governors have committed to supporting \u201c21st century\u201d educations in their states, and together they have allocated almost $200 million in state matching funds for broadband.\n\nNine states now boast that 100 percent of their students are connected to high-speed broadband, the most recent being Arkansas earlier this summer. Others include Hawaii, Kentucky, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming.\n\nStates like Texas, Massachusetts, Montana and New Hampshire are not far behind, Marwell said. New Mexico, too, has recently made significant gains.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re really proud of New Mexico,\u201d Marwell said. \u201cThe fact that they, in what is a very rural state, have gotten fiber to 99 percent of their schools is truly remarkable.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cSome of these states started so low and they have some of the hardest schools to connect, and they\u2019re just chipping away at it and making progress.\u201d\n\nThe progress is aided by the fact that, since 2013, the cost of broadband has declined by 78 percent \u2014 from $22 per Mbps in 2013 to $4.90 per Mbps in 2017.\n\n\u201cWe have to highlight the role service providers have played\u201d in helping schools access high-speed internet, Marwell said. \u201cThey have been really key in driving down the cost of bandwidth for schools. We\u2019re really excited at the way service providers have said, \u2018hey, we have a responsibility in this.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe website hosting the report allows visitors to see state-by-state comparisons, including notable milestones and areas for improvement.", "output": "The US Federal Communications Commission needs to prioritise \"far removed and resource-strapped\" schools if it is to meet its goal of providing every US student with high-speed internet, according to an annual report from EducationSuperHighway. The non-profit organisation revealed that despite having made great progress - with more than five million US students gaining access to the internet in 2016 alone -\u00a06.5 million children, in rural regions such as California, Texas and Illinois, were still unconnected."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WHO warns of lack of new antibiotics for resistant infections \n Too few antibiotics are in the pipeline to tackle the global crisis of drug resistance, which is responsible for the rise of almost untreatable infections around the world, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warns.\n\nAmong the alarming diseases that are increasing and spreading is multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (TB), which requires treatment lasting between nine and 20 months. There are 250,000 deaths a year from drug-resistant TB and only 52% of patients globally are successfully treated. But only two new antibiotics for the disease have reached the market in 70 years.\n\nThe new WHO report, showing the paucity of new antibiotics being developed, lists 12 other pathogens that are serious dangers to health because we are running out of drugs to treat the infections they cause. Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacteriaceae that have become resistant to the carbapenem class of antibiotic are all on the critical priority list. They are what are known as gram-negative bacteria, capable of causing a range of life-threatening infections such as pneumonia, sepsis and meningitis.\n\nHospital infections such as C. difficile and MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) are also of major concern. They are a particular danger to patients who are already sick and have fragile immune systems.\n\n\u201cAntimicrobial resistance is a global health emergency that will seriously jeopardise progress in modern medicine,\u201d said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO. \u201cThere is an urgent need for more investment in research and development for antibiotic-resistant infections including TB, otherwise we will be forced back to a time when people feared common infections and risked their lives from minor surgery.\u201d\n\nEd Whiting, director of policy at the Wellcome Trust agreed and said: \u201cThere is no doubt of the urgency \u2013 the world is running out of effective antibiotics and drug-resistant infections already kill 700,000 people a year globally. We\u2019ve made good progress in getting this on the political agenda. But now, a year on from a major UN agreement, we must see concerted action \u2013 to reinvigorate the antibiotic pipeline, ensure responsible use of existing antibiotics, and address this threat across human, animal and environmental health.\u201d\n\nThe report\u2019s authors have found 51 new antibiotics and biologicals currently in development that may be able to treat the diseases caused by these resistant bugs. But that will not be anywhere near enough because of the length of time it takes to get drugs approved and onto the market, and because inevitably some of the drugs will not work.\n\n\u201cGiven the average success rates and development times in the past, the current pipeline of antibiotics and biologicals could lead to around 10 new approvals over the next five years,\u201d says the report. \u201cHowever, these new treatments will add little to the already existing arsenal and will not be sufficient to tackle the impending antimicrobial resistance threat.\u201d\n\nMore investment is needed in basic science, drug discovery and clinical development, it says, especially for those pathogens on the WHO\u2019s critical priority list. Gram-negative bacteria are getting less research attention because they are harder to find drugs against.\n\nAmong all these candidate medicines, only eight are classed by the WHO as innovative treatments that will add value to the current antibiotic treatment arsenal. The rest are just modifications of drugs that already exist and may already be compromised.\n\n\u201cPharmaceutical companies and researchers must urgently focus on new antibiotics against certain types of extremely serious infections that can kill patients in a matter of days because we have no line of defence,\u201d says Dr Suzanne Hill, director of the department of essential medicines at the WHO which produced the report.\n\nThere is serious concern over the spread of first multi-drug-resistant TB and then extremely drug-resistant TB worldwide. Drug-resistant TB has been found all over the globe.\n\n\n\n\u201cResearch for tuberculosis is seriously underfunded,\u201d said Dr Mario Raviglione, director of the WHO Global TB Programme. \u201cIf we are to end TB, more than $800m per year is urgently needed to fund research.\u201d\n\nBut new drugs will not be enough, says the WHO. Unless they are sparingly used, resistance will build to the new drugs as well. The WHO says it is working with countries and partners to improve infection prevention and control and to foster appropriate use of existing and future antibiotics. It is also developing guidance for the responsible use of antibiotics in the human, animal and agricultural sectors.", "output": "There is an alarming lack of antibiotics under development to deal with the rising global drug resistance crisis, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned. Among its concerns is\u00a0the fast-spreading, multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. WHO's Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned:\u00a0\"There is an urgent need for more investment in research and development for antibiotic-resistant infections including TB, otherwise we will be forced back to a time when people feared common infections and risked their lives from minor surgery.\u201d"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Female-focused robo Ellevest adds human advisers after $34m round \n Investing tailored to women is turning out to be big business. Ellevest, the platform for investing for women, just raised $34 million.\n\nInvesting for women sounds like it could be an insulting idea\u2014don't women understand investing the normal way?\u2014but that's not what Ellevest is doing. The platform tailors investments to the realities of women's careers: they face a gender pay gap, they live longer, and their salaries peak earlier than men's. That means they need to save for retirement differently.\n\nEllevest is hoping to beat out some of the roboadvising competition\u2014and close the gender savings gap at the same time.\n\nRethink Impact, a venture capital firm that looks for companies run by women, led the funding round. PSP Growth, Salesforce Ventures, CreditEase Fintech Investment Fund, LH Holdings also participated, as did Ellevest's returning investors.\n\nWith this funding round, Ellevest will add human financial planners as an option to complement its roboadvising services. That's something other investing startups like Betterment have also added recently. Those changes have helped roboadvisors tap slightly older customers who are more comfortable using a roboadvisor when there's also someone they can talk through their finances with.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m thrilled these global leaders\u2014who are female 'firsts' and technology innovators\u2014are joining Ellevest\u2019s mission to end the gender gap in investing and personal finance,\u201d Ellevest CEO and Wall Street veteran Sallie Krawcheck said in a press release. \u201cWe will use this new funding to build on the momentum in our digital offering, and develop solutions with women in our community who are asking us for human interaction and financial planning services.\u201d", "output": "Ellevest, a robo-adviser focusing on female investors, has raised $34m in its latest funding round. The funding will allow the robo-adviser to add human advisers to its platform, a move aimed at luring in older, more sceptical clients. Ellevest focuses on investing with women's particular needs in mind, addressing factors like a longer life expectancy than men and earnings peaking earlier than male counterparts, with the ultimate aim of closing the gender pay gap."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Contactless payments growing strongly in Sri Lanka, says Visa  \n Contactless payments are rapidly growing in popularity across the world and in Sri Lanka too this segment is showing growth, said Visa Group Country Manager for India and South Asia, T.R. Ramachandran.\n\nSpeaking to Daily News Business, he said that in Sri Lanka, contactless payments only began rolling out in September 2016 and so far growth numbers across the first 12 months are growing rapidly.\n\n\u201cVisa has already begun deploying contactless payment technology in Sri Lanka and expects to have 30% of the total number of terminals contactless enabled by the end of 2017.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe creative disruption brought about by digitalization of point-of-sales, tokenisation of transaction gateways and diversification of IoT-enabled payments will revolutionize the everyday buying and selling in Sri Lanka,\u201d Ramachandran said. He said that Visa will continue to expand contactless payment acceptance and facilitate new ways to pay and be paid for everyone, everywhere. \u201cThe swift adaptation by Sri Lankans to contactless payments will also help to speed up governments drive towards creating a cashless society.\u201d\n\nContactless payments are designed to replace the use of cash in busy retail environments where speed and convenience are important, such as supermarkets, convenience stores, petrol stations and quick-service restaurants. He said that in India too this there has been a significant increase in digital payments penetration post demonetization. \u201cIn the overall context, we look at what is known as personal consumption expenditure (PCE). The current penetration of digital payments of these expenditures is around 7 to 9%.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe are seeing a shift towards digital payments, quite dramatically, particularly in non-discretionary categories such as fuel and groceries, not only from metros and urban areas but also from tier II and tier III markets. Consumers are slowly but steadily embracing digital payments.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s fair to say that post demonetization, India has perhaps leapfrogged three to four years and achieved what otherwise could have happened in 2020.\u201d In comparison with China, where 45% of China is already digitized, only 8% of India is digitized, which presents a huge potential to grow, Ramachandran said. Singapore is embracing contactless technology, with around one in every four transactions being made through this channel.\n\n\u201cHence India represents perhaps the single largest cash displacement opportunity in the planet.\u201d\n\nNearly 20-25 billion devices across the world by 2020 in some form of fashion will be connected and will be smart devices. India and Sri Lanka are countries where there is a level playing field with a domestic scheme and international schemes.\n\nThe size of the challenge and the opportunity in India is too large for one player to take on itself, whether it is Visa, RuPay, MasterCard, or any other firm.", "output": "Sri Lankan consumers have embraced contactless payments since their deployment began in September 2016, according to Visa Group country manager for India and south Asia, TR Ramachandran. He said the company expects to have 30% of terminals enabled for contactless payment by the end of the year, and said the ease with which the system had been adopted would speed up the Sri Lankan government's drive towards creating a cashless society.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Former MP warns of 'housing catastrophe' for UK's millennials \n Millennials are spending three times more of their income on housing than their grandparents yet are often living in worse accommodation, says a study launched by former Conservative minister David Willetts that warns of a \u201chousing catastrophe\u201d.\n\nThe generation currently aged 18-36 are typically spending over a third of their post-tax income on rent or about 12% on mortgages, compared with 5%-10% of income spent by their grandparents in the 1960s and 1970s. Despite spending more, young people today are more likely to live in overcrowded and smaller spaces, and face longer journeys to work \u2013 commuting for the equivalent of three days a year more than their parents.\n\nThe research by Willetts\u2019 intergenerational commission at the Resolution Foundation thinktank also reveals that today\u2019s 30-year-olds are only half as likely to own their own home as their baby boomer parents. They are four times as likely to rent privately than two generations ago, a sector which has the worst record for housing quality, the report claims.\n\nThe report\u2019s authors argue that the housing crisis is a huge part of public anxiety about the country\u2019s direction, a factor in the result of the EU referendum last year and in the general election in June.\n\nA young family today has to save for 19 years on average to afford a typical deposit compared with three years for the previous generation, the report states.\n\n\u201cThis is the biggest problem facing the younger generation,\u201d said Willetts. \u201cIt depresses their living standards and quality of life. It is very important for the Tory party to open up the route to home ownership again. A lot of twentysomethings also have horror stories of bad landlords and we need to help them as well.\u201d\n\nBy highlighting intergenerational inequality, Willetts hopes to break down public opposition to mass housebuilding \u2013 not least from parents who despair at the difficulty their children face in finding good housing. He is arguing for a new towns programme in which the government buys land that does not have planning consent to create large new communities of homes for sale.\n\nThe report came as the communities secretary, Sajid Javid, also announced a wholesale review of social housing policy in the wake of the fatal fire at Grenfell Tower, a 24-storey block in north Kensington which combined council housing and a small number of private rented homes.\n\nSpeaking to the National Housing Federation conference in Birmingham, Javid said: \u201cIn one of the richest, most privileged corners of the UK \u2013 the world, even \u2013 would a fire like this have happened in a privately owned block of luxury flats? If you believe that the answer is no, even if you think it was simply less likely, then it\u2019s clear that we need a fundamental rethink of social housing in this country.\u201d\n\nHe said a social housing green paper would propose reforms to the overall quality of social homes, the rights of tenants and will address what can be done to ensure their complaints are taken seriously and dealt with properly.\n\nGrenfell residents claim they raised concerns about fire safety at the block on several occasions but were not heeded. The Resolution Foundation report found that almost a third of 25-to-34-year-olds living in private rented flats live in properties which fail the decent homes standard.\n\nResponding to the Resolution Foundation report, Dan Wilson Craw, director of campaign group Generation Rent, said: \u201cYoung adults have been hit with a double whammy of rising house prices which make ownership unaffordable, and rising rents which they cannot escape. The chorus of demands on the government to act decisively is getting louder, but it\u2019s important not to neglect the growing numbers of older renters. Because getting a mortgage becomes harder beyond the age of 40, many face a lifetime of renting.\n\n\u201cMillions of people, young and old, are stuck renting for the foreseeable future and they need much greater security than the market currently provides, with protection from eviction and rising rents.\u201d", "output": "The UK is heading towards a \"housing catastrophe\", according to former Conservative MP David Willetts. Millennials now spend three times more of their post-tax\u00a0income on housing than their grandparents, often for\u00a0worse accommodation, found a study commissioned by\u00a0Willetts. The study also reported that 30-year-olds today are only half as likely to own a house as their parents were at the same age.\u00a0\u201cThis is the biggest problem facing the younger generation.\u00a0It depresses their living standards and quality of life\", said Willetts."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Regus offers free business lounge access in Berkshire for World Car Free Day \n Workspace provider Regus is offering free business lounge access at its centres throughout Berkshire, including Reading, Slough, Bracknell and Maidenhead, for World Car Free Day on Friday September 22. The initiative is designed to help professionals avoid a car journey into work, and instead work from a professional environment within walking or cycling distance from home.\n\nWorld Car Free Day encourages motorists to give up their cars for a day in favour of walking, cycling or using public transport and hundreds of cities and towns across the globe are expected to mark the occasion.\n\nUnnecessary carbon emissions, wasted time and loss of productivity are just a few of the negatives associated with a lengthy car journey to the office. According to the latest research, the average UK commute increased from 27 to 29 minutes between 2011 and 2016, adding a total of 14 hours of commuting time for drivers each year[1].\n\nThe Regus business lounges in Berkshire are ergonomically designed and equipped with high-speed connectivity to enable workers to turn-up, plug-in and be productive rather than battle through the rush-hour crowds.\n\nRichard Morris, UK CEO, Regus, commented: \u201cThis World Car Free Day, we\u2019re encouraging people to do their bit for the environment by reconsidering whether they really need to drive to the office every day. We are offering them the opportunity of working for free at their local Regus centre so they can try out a greener, healthier way of working.\n\n\u201cLengthy car journeys to work are expensive, tiring and have devastating effects on the environment. We\u2019re asking business owners and senior managers to consider whether the fixed workspace model is still necessary in today\u2019s connected age, especially as flexible workspace alternatives exist in nearly every town throughout the UK.\u201d\n\nThe Regus centres in Reading are located at: Davidson House at Forbury Square, Atlantic House on Imperial Way, Duke Street, Green Park and Thames Valley Retail Park.", "output": "Flexible workspace provider Regus is marking World Car Free Day by offering free business lounge access at its centres in Berkshire. The average UK commute has increased from 27 to 29 minutes between 2011 and 2016, according to research, and World Car Day encourages drivers to give up their wheels for a day. \"We\u2019re asking business owners \u2026 to consider whether the fixed workspace model is necessary in today\u2019s connected age, especially as flexible alternatives exist in nearly every town throughout the UK,\" said Richard Morris, the UK CEO of\u00a0Regus. The Berkshire sites include workspaces in Bracknell, Maidenhead, Reading and\u00a0Slough.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fotech launches Livepipe II fibre-optic pipeline monitoring tool \n As oil and gas operators around the world continue to face increasing pressure to enhance their pipeline monitoring and security measures, Fotech has launched LivePIPE II \u2013 enhancing the world\u2019s most reliable real time pipeline protection technology.\n\nCrucially LivePIPE II\u2019s dual channel technology delivers a monitoring range up to 100 km from each individual module, with no multiplexing, just continuous monitoring, and no loss of detection accuracy or sensitivity at any point. As a world first capability, this significantly simplifies and lowers the cost of deploying a Distributed Fibre Optic (DFO) sensing solution on a pipeline. Detecting leaks and third-party intrusions over vast distances has just become a lot easier with LivePIPE II.\n\nThe next generation of LivePIPE also introduces Fotech\u2019s EDAM (Enhanced Data and Acoustic Management) technology, giving operators enhanced insight to their pipeline\u2019s integrity. EDAM allows operators to listen to activity at a specified location on the installed fibre in real-time \u2013 offering new assistance in identifying the exact nature of potential threats. EDAM can also identify and record segments of data that can be stored for up to three months, replayed, listened to, and used to analyse and enhance LivePIPE\u2019s event detection algorithms.\n\nThese new features make LivePIPE II the most advanced fully-automated fibre optic sensing solution in the world.\n\nChris Shannon, CEO, Fotech Solutions, said: \u201cFibre optic sensing technologies are increasingly vital to operators\u2019 security strategies and are no longer seen as just a \u2018nice to have\u2019. Issues of pipeline theft, accidental damage, and the environmental damage both scenarios can cause, are not going away. LivePIPE II offers operators a major step forward in being able to prevent and mitigate the financial and environmental consequences of such integrity incidents.\n\n\u201cWith LivePIPE II Fotech is demonstrating its technological leadership by pushing the boundaries of DFO solutions and this next generation product represents a significant breakthrough for pipeline operators.\u201d", "output": "Fotech Solutions, a UK information technology and services company, has launched Livepipe II, which it calls the world's most fully automated fibre-optic sensing tool for pipelines. Livepipe\u00a0II offers dual-channel technology, delivers a monitoring range of up to 100 km with no loss of detection accuracy or sensitivity. In addition, it comes with Fotech's enhanced data and acoustic management technology, allowing operators to listen to activity at a specified location. Chris Shannon, the CEO of\u00a0Fotech Solutions, said Livepipe\u00a0II was a \"major step forward\" in preventing pipeline theft, accidental\u00a0and environmental damage, and in bringing down the cost of monitoring pipelines."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "National Pig Association to help craft future migration policy \n The British pig industry has asked farmers to fill in a survey to help inform the Government about post-Brexit immigration and labour policy - an issue of critical importance to the pig sector.\n\nHome Secretary Amber Rudd has commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to advise the Government on how the UK\u2019s immigration system 'should be aligned with a modern industrial strategy'.\n\nThe MAC is now seeking views from across the UK economy on various issues, including the extent of EU labour employed and the type of work performed, the benefits and disadvantages of EU labour and the likely impact of changes to its availability in future.\n\nIt is also seeking views on the relationship between EU and domestic labour and the issues around employing domestic labour, including skill levels and the provision of training by our educational establishments.\n\nThe National Pig Association (NPA) has been asked for its opinion, and this will help inform Government policy on post-Brexit migrant labour.\n\nEarlier this month, the pig industry expressed concern following the publication of a leaked document giving an insight into the Government\u2019s current thinking on post-Brexit immigration policy.\n\nThe document, leaked to The Guardian, shows the Government intends to be tough on immigration, ending the free movement of labour as soon as the UK leaves the EU.\n\nOf particular concern for the pig sector, according to the NPA, are plans to curb so-called \u2018unskilled\u2019 workers from the EU by, for example, introducing a cap on numbers and a salary and skills threshold.\n\n'Alarmed'\n\nNPA senior policy advisor Ed Barker said the pig industry is \"alarmed\" by the Home Office\u2019s suggestion that migrant labour from the EU should be severely restricted, particularly those who fall under the \u2018unskilled\u2019 definition.\n\nHe said: \u201cMany workers in the pig sector fall into this category but are in fact highly skilled and make a significant contribution to the economy.\n\n\u201cWe have made our position clear that migrant labour is integral to the businesses of NPA members; 58% of members indicated to the NPA\u2019s migrant labour survey that they employed at least one migrant labourer, with 20% indicating they would struggle to survive without it.\n\n\u201cWhilst the paper refers to the ongoing work of the Migratory Advisory Committee, it is vital that the Committee is able to report its findings quickly, so that it can adequately shape Government policy.\n\n\u201cWe note that the paper recognises the need for a sector by sector approach to business needs on migrant labour, and the NPA would urge that the pig sector should be able to state its unique case for continued access to migrant labour for permanent, \u2018unskilled\u2019 roles.\u201d", "output": "UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd has commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee to seek opinions from across the UK economy regarding the country's immigration system and how it \"should be aligned with a modern industrial strategy\". Among the industries being asked for their opinions is the National Pig Association (NPA), which expressed concern about recently leaked government plans to limit numbers of unskilled workers coming from the European Union. NPA senior policy advisor Ed Barker said migrant labour was \"integral\" to the pig farming industry, and that many were highly skilled contributors to the UK economy."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK must focus on solar and wind energy rather than biomass: NRDC \n The Drax Power Station near Selby, North Yorkshire, is the single largest CO2 emitter in the U.K. Its owner plans to replace the coal-fired units with gas power and a 200 MW battery.\n\nThe U.K. government has decided to keep generating electricity from biomass, which involves burning wood pellets, to meet its climate and renewable energy targets. However, biomass will still be more expensive than solar and onshore wind by the end of the decade, the NRDC says in a new study it recently conducted in cooperation with Vivid Economics.\n\n\u201cIn reality, burning biomass for electricity not only undermines the United Kingdom\u2019s climate change goals, it does so at huge taxpayer expense while diverting resources from cleaner and smarter investments,\u201d the New York-based environmental advocacy group says.\n\nBiomass plants rely on millions of tons of wood pellets imported from the southeastern U.S. and elsewhere for fuel. Developers of such projects also receive billions in subsidies, based on the assumption that biomass is a zero-carbon source of electricity, which the NRDC disputes. But by 2020, all forms of renewable energy will be more cost effective than carbon-emitting energy sources, it says.\n\nFurthermore, biomass will be more expensive than all forms of wind and solar by 2025. If more coal-fired plants are converted to biomass installations, they could become obsolete and uneconomic within a decade, the NRDC says. And the U.K. government risks wasting millions of pounds per year by continuing to subsidize coal-to-biomass conversions.\n\nPopular content\n\nAs an example, energy provider Drax has decided to convert its coal-fired plant in North Yorkshire \u2013 the largest emitter of CO2 in the U.K. \u2014 to biomass. However, if it focused its attention on a more economically viable long-term solution involving clean energy, notably solar and wind power, it would be a more cost-effective business plan, as well as a more environmentally friendly one.\n\nThe NRDC urges U.K. policymakers to cut subsidies for biomass projects in favour of investments in renewable sources such as solar and wind. The non-profit environmental advocacy group argues that a reliable, coal-free electricity grid is not only a possibility for the British government, but also the more economically viable long-term choice, given how the price of renewables has plummeted in the past few years.\n\nAuthor: Frederic Brown", "output": "The UK government needs to plough its renewable-energy finances into solar and wind power, rather than biomass, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has said. Biomass power produced from burning wood chips isn't a zero-carbon operation and will cost more than solar and onshore wind generation in a decade, the New York-based environmental advocacy group said. That means subsidies offered for coal-to-biomass power plant\u00a0conversions are a waste of taxpayer money, it said,\u00a0adding that\u00a0the plunging cost of solar and wind energy makes them\u00a0more \"economically viable long-term\" choices.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Rolls-Royce plans to build robot ships with 3,500-mile range \n British firm Rolls-Royce has announced plans to develop an autonomous robot naval vessel with a range of 3,500 nautical miles.\n\n\u201cThe vessel concept is capable of operating beyond the horizon for over 100 days, will displace 700 tons and reach speeds above 25 knots,\u201d according to a Rolls-Royce news release. \u201cThe 60-meter [197 feet]-long vessel is designed to perform a range of single-role missions, for example, patrol and surveillance, mine detection or fleet screening.\u201d\n\nThe ship sounds conceptually similar to DARPA\u2019s Sea Hunter robot sub-chaser. The design may feature a full-electric propulsion system with two Rolls-Royce MTU 4000 Series gensets, or small gas turbines. Thrusters will make the vessel highly maneuverable, and solar panels will provide backup energy.\n\n\u201cRolls-Royce has created what it believes to be the world\u2019s first intelligent awareness system combining multiple sensors with artificial intelligence, to help commercial vessels operate more safely and efficiently,\u201d the company said. \u201cSignificant analysis of potential cyber risks is also being undertaken to ensure end-to-end security.\u201d", "output": "UK engineering firm Rolls-Royce is developing an autonomous ship\u00a0with a range of 3,500 nautical miles, according to a company statement. The 700-ton\u00a0vessel will be able to reach at least 25 knots and can operate beyond the horizon for more than three months, and will be used for \"patrol and surveillance, mine detection or fleet screening\". Rolls-Royce added it had developed what it believed was the \"world\u2019s first intelligent awareness system combining multiple sensors with artificial intelligence\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wages and inflation to rise post-Brexit: BoE \n The Governor of the Bank of England has warned that the major economic impact of Brexit has yet to be felt, but it was likely to spell a weaker economy, higher inflation and higher interest rates in the coming years.\n\nIn his latest attack on Brexit, Mark Carney said that it should be seen as a prime example of \"de-globalisation\", adding that it was likely to dampen UK growth, and that any fall in migration numbers could also push up inflation and force the bank to raise borrowing costs.\n\nHowever, in a speech at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, the Governor surprised those expecting more detail on when and by how much the Bank was likely to raise interest rates, and instead focused on the economic fallout of Britain's departure from the EU.\n\nMr Carney said Brexit was \"an example of de-globalisation not globalisation\".\n\nHe added: \"It will proceed rapidly not slowly. Its effects will not build by stealth but can be anticipated.\"\n\nPlease use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 3:11 May on 'significant' post-Brexit trade deal with Canada\n\nThe Governor said any fall in migration following Britain's departure could push up prices in the UK, saying: \"Abrupt decreases in migration could result in shortages in some sectors that have become reliant on migrant labour, and contribute more materially to inflationary pressures.\"\n\nMr Carney also said that while economic growth remained relatively resilient so far, it could take many years for the full impact of the transition to be felt by the UK economy, pointing out that any fall in the value of the currency could take as long as four years to feed into domestic prices.\n\nHowever, he said that there was only so much the Bank could do with interest rates: \"It is critical to recognise that Brexit represents a real shock about which monetary policy can do little.\n\nPlease use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 3:18 Johnson: PM's the only Brexit 'driver'\n\n\"Monetary policy cannot prevent the weaker real incomes likely to accompany the move to new trading arrangements with the EU, but it can influence how this hit to incomes is distributed between job losses and price rises.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\"And it can support UK households and businesses as they adjust to such profound change.\"\n\nHowever, Mr Carney's speech also suggested that wages could rise faster if the UK left the EU, suggesting the Phillips Curve - a measure of the trade-off between inflation and employment - could steepen as a result.\n\nPlease use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 3:03 Could Brexit raise cost of a Guinness?\n\nHis speech did not add much detail to the news last week that the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee is now more open to the notion of an interest rate increase.\n\nHe said: \"If the economy continues to follow a path consistent with the prospect of a continued erosion of slack and a gradual rise in underlying inflationary pressure then, with the further lessening in the trade-off that this would imply, some withdrawal of monetary stimulus is likely to be appropriate over the coming months in order to return inflation sustainably to target.\n\n\"Any prospective increases in bank rate would be expected to be at a gradual pace and to a limited extent, and to be consistent with monetary policy continuing to provide substantial support to the economy.\"", "output": "Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England has warned inflation and interest rates could rise following Brexit, but suggested wages may increase too. In a speech at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, Carney said a significant drop in migration following the UK's departure from the bloc could \"contribute more materially to inflationary pressures\", and warned it could take up to four years for the fall in sterling's value to impact on domestic prices. More positively, Carney said the Phillips Curve could steepen as a result of Brexit, leading to faster-rising wages in the UK."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Siemens and PAS announce industrial cybersecurity partnership \n Siemens, PAS announce partnership to provide industrial control system cybersecurity\n\nSiemens and PAS Global, a provider of industrial control system (ICS) cybersecurity solutions, announced an agreement to provide fleet-wide, real time monitoring for control systems. By leveraging the unique capabilities of both companies, this partnership will provide customers with deep analytics required to identify and inventory proprietary assets; and visibility to detect and respond effectively to attacks across the operating environment.\n\nAccording to recent research conducted by Ponemon Institute on the state of cybersecurity in the US oil and gas industry, deployment of cybersecurity measures in the industry isn\u2019t keeping pace with the growth of digitalization in oil and gas operations. Just 35% of survey respondents rate their organization\u2019s OT cyber readiness as high. Sixty-eight percent of respondents say their organization experienced at least one cyber compromise, while 61% say their organization\u2019s industrial control systems protection and security is not adequate.\n\nThe Siemens-PAS global strategic partnership bridges the visibility gap for distributed, legacy control assets to provide a comprehensive view into fleet security. Focused on gathering detailed configuration data down to the sensor, the Siemens-PAS partnership will enable customers to secure proprietary systems in multi-vendor environments\u2014guarding against cyber attacks as well as unauthorized engineering changes.\n\nAs an industrial technology provider for more than 165 yr, Siemens has an inherent and holistic understanding of how to manage cyber risk in complex operating environments. A leader in the OT industry, Siemens brings to the partnership deep domain know-how and solutions for OT cyber, including security program design, security lifecycle management, plant security monitoring, and incident response.\n\nFor more than two decades, PAS has solved operational and security challenges for leading chemical, refining and power companies across the globe. Its best-in-class Cyber Integrity solution provides foundational inventory management that covers all the major cyber assets found in plants today. The solution detects new or missing devices, aggregates configuration data at the asset level, baselines security-related data to monitor for change, and captures system interdependencies.\n\nRelated News\n\nFrom the Archive", "output": "Siemens is partnering with industrial control system cybersecurity solutions provider PAS Global, to offer real-time monitoring for control systems in the oil and gas industry. The Siemens-PAS joint venture enables customers to guard against cyber attacks and unauthorised engineering changes by securing proprietary systems in multi-vendor environments. More than 60% of organisations' industrial control systems protection and security is inadequate, according to a survey by Ponemon Institute."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Japanese childcare robots aim to ease burden of staff shortages \n Japan introduced Care bear robots to relieve staff shortages in child care centres\n\nJapanese designed Robots to look after children in child care centres to come up with the challenge of nation\u2019s acute shortage of childcare staff.\n\nThis initiative is taken by a Tokyo-based childcare and nursing start-up named \u201cGlobal Bridge Holdings\u201d in collaboration with Gunma University academics to build up a new system by means of robots and sensors to keep an eye on children.\n\nThe core gadget presented by the startup is a robot called \u201cVevo\u201d having a bear-shaped head and humanoid body, which is capable to recognize and welcome children as well as could record their body temperatures by a thermograph.\n\nThere is separate built-in sensors system in robots through which they can monitor the heart rate and movement of children during their sleep time in their cots, and if they find any abnormalities the alarms would trigger.\n\nThe new incorporated scheme of robots is currently being trialled at a Tokyo nursery, which is among one of 27 countrywide child care centres run by Global Bridge Holdings. They have planned to introduce it in a second facility in Gunma Prefecture in the coming months.\n\nNow the company is hoping to commercialize and put up for sale the system for approximately four million yen (\u00a328,000) from next April.\n\nThe creation of the robots was need of the hour for Japan\u2019s crisis-hit childcare industry, which is suffering a national scale staff shortage due to the long working hours and low wages that go hand in hand with working in nurseries.\n\nAccording to the Japanese health, labour and welfare ministry \u201c 26,081 children were on waiting lists for daycare facilities on April 1at the start of this academic year \u2013getting higher by 2,528 compared to last year.\n\nYuji Takashima, a spokesperson for Social Solutions, the Global Bridge Holdings subsidiary behind the childcare robotics project, said,\n\n\u201cWe believe that by supporting childcare education with this robot, we can contribute to resolving the shortage of nursery teacher and improving the quality of education.\u201d\n\nRobotics are increasingly being utilised in Japan to counter human labour shortages, as the nation struggles with a rapidly ageing population.\n\nIn Japan, robots are replacing human staff rapidly and implementing the theory of robotics technology to alleviate staff shortages and implementing the cost-cutting cut strategy.\n\nAccording to recent reports, One Japanese Company has even trained a robot as a Buddhist priest-for-hire, line up it to read scriptures, chant prayers and tap drums to take part in funeral ceremonies.", "output": "Tokyo-based childcare and nursing start-up Global Bridge Holdings has teamed up with researchers at Gunma University to develop Vevo, a bear-like robot aimed at helping to address the chronic shortage of child care staff. The robot uses facial recognition technology to identify children, as well as sensors that  monitor their heart rate and movements while they sleep. Vevo is being tested at one of Global Bridge Holdings' Tokyo facilities. The company hopes to sell the system for around JPY4m ($35,728) from next April."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UKEF to offer political risk coverage for overseas investors \n By Richard Crump (September 19, 2017, 12:52 PM EDT) -- Britain's export credit agency is to offer U.K. businesses wider access to government-backed insurance to protect firms investing abroad against political risk, the government's international trade minister said on Tuesday....\n\nStay ahead of the curve\n\nIn the legal profession, information is the key to success. You have to know what\u2019s happening with clients, competitors, practice areas, and industries. Law360 provides the intelligence you need to remain an expert and beat the competition.\n\nAccess to case data within articles (numbers, filings, courts, nature of suit, and more.)\n\nAccess to attached documents such as briefs, petitions, complaints, decisions, motions, etc.\n\nCreate custom alerts for specific article and case topics and so much more!\n\nTRY LAW360 FREE FOR SEVEN DAYS", "output": "UK Export Finance, the country's export credit agency, is set to extend a greater degree of protection to British exporters. The agency is broadening the reach of insurance it offers to include political risk. The new policy would offer cover for civil war, revolution or nationalisation of an exporter-owned entity. The government-backed policy has been established to satisfy demand from exporters who have difficulty finding private-sector solutions to their needs."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "British Columbia ferry company to convert largest vessels to LNG \n BC Ferries has announced that the Spirit of British Columbia has been removed from service to undergo a mid-life upgrade, which will include converting the vessel to operate on LNG.\n\nThe vessel will transit to the company\u2019s fleet maintenance unit in Richmond, before departing to Remontowa Ship Repair Yard S.A. of Gdansk, Poland, to complete the mid-life upgrade. Whilst at the fleet maintenance unit, a number of preparations will be carried out. These will include the installation of a wave break on the main car deck forward section, marine pilot access arrangements and voyage logistical provisions. In addition to this, safety inspections will be carried out, and vessel equipment not required during the transit or at the shipyard will be de-stored. BC Ferries claims that the transit should take approximately 42 days, depending on the weather.\n\nLast year, the company awarded a contract to Remontowa Ship Repair Yard S.A. to conduct the Spirit Class mid-life upgrades. These include the conversion of both vessels to dual-fuel, allowing them to operate on either LNG or ultra-low sulfur marine diesel.\n\nMark Wilson, BC Ferries\u2019 Vice President of Engineering, said: \u201cLast fiscal year, we spent approximately $100.2 million on diesel fuel of which the two Spirit Class vessels consumed approximately 15.5%.\n\n\u201cLNG costs significantly less than marine diesel. The conversion of the two largest ships in the fleet along with the three new dual-fuel Salish Class vessels that all entered service this year will go a long way to help both our environmental footprint and with fare affordability for our customers.\u201d\n\nAs well as the conversion to LNG, the vessel\u2019s passenger areas will also be upgraded. This will include new carpeting, refurbished washrooms, an expanded gift shop, and an additional washroom on Deck 5, as well as a new coffee bar on Deck 6. Upgrades to the passenger elevators include renewal of mechanical and electrical drive components, emergency communication system and electrical and control systems.\n\nAs part of the upgrade, the navigation equipment and air conditioning equipment will also be renewed, as will the propulsion equipment components, including: rudders; steering system; bow thrusters; propeller blades; and LED lighting.\n\nThe vessel will be the first ship to undergo its mid-life upgrade and conversion. The upgrade will be completed from Autumn 2017 through the Spring of next year. The Spirit of Vancouver Island will follow, commencing in the Autumn of 2018 through the spring of 2019. This schedule will allow both vessels to be back in operation during the summer months, when traffic is at its highest.", "output": "Canadian firm BC Ferries has revealed its Spirit of British Columbia vessel will be converted to operate on liquified natural gas (LNG) as part of a mid-life upgrade, followed by sister ship Spirit of Vancouver Island. The company spent $100m on diesel fuel during the last fiscal year, with more than 15% consumed by the Spirit class vessels. \"LNG costs significantly less than marine diesel. The conversion of the two largest ships in the fleet\u2026 will go a long way to help both our environmental footprint and fare affordability for our customers,\" said Mark Wilson, BC Ferries\u2019 vice-president of engineering."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "First LNG ship-to-ship bunkering takes place off Danish coast \n For the first time the Skangas\u2019 Coralius bunkered LNG to a vessel.\n\nThe operation took place on international waters, Northern Kattegat, in the middle of the sea between Frederikshavn, Denmark and Gothenburg, Sweden.\n\n\u201cThe bunkering of Fure West confirmed that Coralius delivers in accordance with what she is built for\u201d, says Kimmo Rahkamo, CEO of Skangas. \u201cThis is a key milestone in our history of developing the LNG availability. We are happy working together with our customer Furetank for this first of several upcoming ship-to-ship (STS) bunkerings.\u201d\n\nThe receiving vessel, Fure West, is an oil and chemical tanker with a length of 144 m. She operates mainly in the Baltic and Kattegat area. In 2015 the Furetank Rederi retrofitted the tanker pioneering the use of LNG as marine fuel in Europe. An LNG fueled vessel needs the equivalent service as with conventional fuel by swift and safe operation and fast fuel transfer at sea, not only at the port. Coralius is built with state-of-the-art bunkering equipment to meet exactly this increasing demand for STS LNG bunkering.\n\nLNG is the cleanest available marine fuel, one that is rapidly becoming more commonly viewed \u2013 and used - as a cost-effective alternative. LNG is suitable for all vessel types, including ferries, passenger ships, tankers, bulk, supply and containerships. LNG offers several benefits by reducing local pollution and the global environment. Switching to LNG completely removes SO X and particles, and reduces NO X emissions by up to 85%. In addition, LNG reduces CO 2 emissions by at least 20%. Use of LNG as marine fuel also results in compliance with current and forthcoming IMO and EU regulations.\n\nSkangas expects the LNG demand for ships to increase significantly in next few years as responsible shipping companies are seeking cleaner fuel alternatives.", "output": "Norwegian firm Skangas's state-of-the-art vessel Coralius bunkered liquified natural gas (LNG) for the first time to a receiving vessel, oil and chemical tanker Fure West. The transfer took place in international waters between Frederikshavn in Denmark and Gothenburg in Sweden. Skangas expects demand for LNG, the cleanest available marine fuel, to increase rapidly in the coming years."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gender roles imposed in early adolescence worldwide \n Across the world, from Beijing to Baltimore, children are straitjacketed into gender roles in early adolescence, with the world expanding for boys and closing in for girls, according to new research.\n\nThe Global Early Adolescent Study breaks new ground by talking to children and their parents in 15 countries around the world and finding a remarkably similar story. Girls approaching adolescence are considered vulnerable and protected, while boys are set free to roam and explore. That has consequences for their behaviour and expectations throughout their life.\n\n\u201cWe found children at a very early age \u2013 from the most conservative to the most liberal societies \u2013 quickly internalise this myth that girls are vulnerable and boys are strong and independent,\u201d said Robert Blum, director of the Global Early Adolescent Study, based at Johns Hopkins University. \u201cAnd this message is being constantly reinforced at almost every turn, by siblings, classmates, teachers, parents, guardians, relatives, clergy and coaches.\u201d\n\nOver four years, the researchers talked to 450 children aged 10 to 14 with a parent or guardian, from low-income families in Bolivia, Belgium, Burkina Faso, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Scotland, South Africa, the United States and Vietnam for the research produced with the World Health Organisation.\n\nThe researchers found that gender-based restrictions rationalised as \u201cprotecting\u201d girls actually made them more vulnerable by emphasising subservience and implicitly sanctioning even physical abuse as punishment for violating norms. They say that in many parts of the world these stereotypes leave girls at greater risk of dropping out of school or suffering physical and sexual violence, child marriage, early pregnancy, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.\n\nBoys in both New Delhi and Shanghai, for instance, talked about being encouraged to spend time outside of the home in unsupervised exploration of their environment, while girls said they were told to stay home and do chores. Shaming and beatings for those who sought to cross the divide was reported by girls and boys in both cities.\n\nSome parents accepted that boys were not always strong and independent. But, says the report, \u201ceven in sites where parents acknowledged the vulnerability of their sons, they focus on protecting their daughters.\u201d\n\nMuch of it is about girls\u2019 sexuality. \u201cAround the world pubertal boys are viewed as predators and girls as potential targets and victims. Messages such as \u2018do not sit like that, do not wear that, do not talk to him, boys will ruin your future\u2019 support the gender division of power \u2026 In some places, girls come to internalise these norms to even a greater extent than boys,\u201d says one of the papers in the study published in a special supplement of the Journal of Adolescent Health.\n\nGirls\u2019 mobility is restricted. \u201cA girl cannot go out as she wishes because she is a girl and if a girl came home late her parents would shout at her, but it is okay for a guy,\u201d said a girl in Assuit, Egypt.\n\nBoth girls and boys were saddened that their early easy relationship with the opposite sex was no longer allowed. \u201cThey played together as children and were friends, but now with puberty, those friendships are no longer legitimate,\u201d says the report.\n\nEven in wealthier parts of the world, the gender norms were still apparent. Edinburgh in Scotland was the only city where boys and girls did not think the boy must always take the initiative in a relationship. In every country, young girls talked of a constant emphasis on their physical appearance and had been taught that their bodies were their key asset.\n\n\u201cIn New Delhi, the girls talked about their bodies as a big risk that needs to be covered up, while in Baltimore girls told us their primary asset was their bodies and that they need to look appealing \u2013 but not too appealing,\u201d said Kristin Mmari, associate professor and the study\u2019s lead researcher for the qualitative research.\n\n\n\nBoys are not unscathed, says the report. Because of these gender norms, \u201cthey engage in and are the victims of physical violence to a much greater extent than girls; they die more frequently from unintentional injuries, are more prone to substance abuse and suicide; and as adults their life expectancy is shorter than that of women. Such differences are socially not biologically determined.\u201d\n\n\n\nOne paper compared young people\u2019s attitudes in China, India, Belgium and the United States. It was more acceptable for girls to push against the gender boundary than it was for boys.\n\nIn all four countries, it appeared to be increasingly acceptable for girls to engage in certain stereotypically male behaviours, like wearing trousers, playing sports and pursuing careers. But \u201cboys who challenge gender norms by their dress or behaviour were by many respondents seen as socially inferior,\u201d said the researchers. Both boys and girls said the consequences for boys who were perceived as adopting feminine behaviour, like painting their nails, ranged from being bullied and teased to being physically assaulted.\n\nThe authors say interventions to change gender stereotyping need to happen at a much earlier age. By the age of 10, it can be too late. \u201cAdolescent health risks are shaped by behaviours rooted in gender roles that can be well established in kids by the time they are 10 or 11 years old,\u201d said Mmari.\n\n\u201cYet we see billions of dollars around the world invested in adolescent health programs that don\u2019t kick in until they are 15, and by then it\u2019s probably too late to make a big difference.\u201d", "output": "Children around the world are forced into restrictive gender roles at a young age, according to The Global Early Adolescent Study. The study, which interviewed children and parents in 15 countries, found remarkably similar trends across the globe.\u00a0As adolescence approaches, girls are deemed\u00a0\u201cvulnerable\u201d, while boys are encouraged to explore. Such stereotypes put girls at greater risk of leaving school early, suffering violence, early marriage,\u00a0young pregnancy and contracting sexually transmitted infections. Boys, by contrast, are more prone to violence, substance abuse and suicide. The study calls\u00a0for earlier interventions to challenge stereotyping.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Arctic sea ice summer minimum continues downward trend \n Arctic sea ice has dwindled to its summer minimum for 2017, with its smallest extent for the year clocking in at 4.64m square kilometres (sq km) on 13 September.\n\nAt 1.58m sq km below the 1981-2010 average, this puts 2017 as the eight lowest summer minimum in the satellite record, according to preliminary figures from the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC). The record low remains 3.39m sq km, which was set in 2012.\n\nEven though it wasn\u2019t a record low, an NSIDC scientist tells Carbon Brief that the long-term downwards trend has continued with sea ice extent falling below 5m sq km again this year. This had never happened in the satellite record before 2007.\n\nPinpointing the minimum\n\nScientists have been tracking the daily changes in Arctic sea ice cover using satellites in a continuous record that stretches back to 1978-79. Notable events, such as the annual minimum and maximum extents, serve as an indicator of how the Arctic is changing as global temperatures rise.\n\nBack in March, Arctic sea ice hit its lowest winter maximum on record for the third year in a row. Since then, Arctic sea ice has been on its annual decline through the melt season of spring and summer.\n\nAt the time of the record low winter peak, Carbon Brief asked some polar scientists to put the much-reported findings in context. You can watch the video of their responses here.\n\nScientists keep a close eye around the time the low is normally reached \u2013 usually early-to-mid september \u2013 then look for signs of ice accumulating again in order to pinpoint exactly when the summer minimum extent is reached.\n\nThis year, that minimum point was on 13 September, when Arctic sea ice extent declined to 4.64m sq km.\n\nThat means nine of the 10 lowest summer minima in the satellite record have occurred in the last 10 years, says Prof Julienne Stroeve, a professor of polar observation and modelling at University College London and senior research scientist at the NSIDC. She tells Carbon Brief:\n\n\u201cEven though we didn\u2019t reach a new record low, the extent fell below 5m sq km, something which never happened before 2007.\u201d\n\nThe chart below shows how the Arctic sea ice extent (sq km) has changed from May to September over the past five years. Years shown include 2017 (blue line), 2016 (green), 2015 (orange), 2014 (brown), 2013 (purple), and 2012 (dashed brown).\n\nThe map below shows the Arctic sea ice extent for 13 September alongside the 1981-2010 average extent for that day (orange line). The ice edge has continued to retreat in the Chukchi, East Siberian, and Kara Seas, but it has slightly expanded in the Beaufort and Laptev Seas.\n\nFluctuations and trends\n\nAfter a series of record low months earlier in 2017, the summer melt season has been relative sluggish at times.\n\nThis year, summer temperatures in the Arctic have been relatively moderate for such high latitudes and have even been cooler than average in some parts.\n\nThis shows that even with a record low winter maximum in March, it doesn\u2019t necessarily translate into very low summer extent as well. Short-term fluctuations in weather play a large role in changes from month to month, says Stroeve, on top of the long-term decline. She explains:\n\n\u201cI think this summer shows that despite preconditioning (thin ice, less extent), summer weather conditions largely govern how much ice will be left at the end of summer.\u201d\n\nIt is for this reason that the size of the sea ice winter maximum is not necessarily a robust indicator of how the subsequent summer will play out, says Prof Ed Hawkins, professor of climate science at the University of Reading. He tells Carbon Brief:\n\n\u201cChanges in summer ice extent are dominated by the long-term downwards trend, but are also strongly influenced by the weather in each particular summer. There are large swings from year-to-year, rather like a ball bouncing down a bumpy hill.\u201d\n\n(You can read more about this \u201cbouncing ball\u201d analogy in Hawkins\u2019 guest post for Carbon Brief from 2015.)\n\nAlthough the annual minimum has become an iconic barometer of the decline in Arctic sea ice, it\u2019s not the most reliable indicator of how Arctic sea ice is changing, says Hawkins:\n\n\u201cWhen looking across the seasons, the long-term trend becomes clearer. The lowest annual average ice extent was in 2016, even though the summer minimum was above the dramatic loss of 2012. For the January-August average, 2017 is the second lowest in the satellite era, after 2016.\u201d\n\nYou can see this in the chart below, which shows average Arctic sea ice for various indicators over the satellite data record. The January-to-August average is the black line.\n\nThe downward trends for September (thick red line) and the summer minimum (thin red line) are quite erratic from one year to the next. In contrast, the trend for March (blue line) shows a smoother decline because the influence of the weather on Arctic sea ice during winter is smaller.\n\nThis highlights the need to not over-emphasise the ice extent on a particular day or in a particular month, notes Hawkins:\n\n\u201cInstead, the focus should be on the bigger picture: Arctic sea ice is melting and will continue to do so whilst global temperatures continue to rise.\u201d\n\nIce elsewhere\n\nAt the opposite end of the planet, Antarctica is heading to its maximum yearly sea ice extent, which normally occurs in September or early October. This year\u2019s maximum ice cover is also likely to be among the eight lowest on record.\n\nThe map below shows the Antarctic sea ice extent from June to 17 September 2017 (blue line), along with daily ice extent data for four previous years. Years shown include 2016 (green), 2015 (orange), 2014 (dashed brown), and 2013 (purple).\n\nAntarctic sea ice also hit a record low earlier this year.\n\nAnd elsewhere in the Arctic, the annual melt season for the Greenland ice sheet also recently came to a close. Carbon Brief has a guest post from scientist the Danish Meteorological Institute on how the ice sheet has fared over the past 12 months.", "output": "The summer minimum extent of Arctic sea ice for 2017 is the eighth lowest in satellite records dating from 1978, according to figures from the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC). On 13 September, the smallest extent of ice for the year was measured at 4.64m sq km, or 1.58m sq km below the 1981-2010 average. The record low, of 3.39m sq km, occurred in 2012. A scientist from the NSIDC stated that the measurements indicated the downward trend to sea ice falling below 5m sq km, first recorded in 2007, was continuing. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MIT paper points way for robots to obey human instructions \n A new innovation from MIT helps robots understand and respond to voice commands \u2013 putting us one step closer to an Alexa with arms.\n\nWhere is this data coming from? Start your free trial today Email Where is this data coming from? Start your free trial today Email\n\nThough the field of robotics is rapidly advancing, in many ways consumer-ready robotic technologies are still far less sophisticated than AI-powered voice assistants like Siri or Alexa.\n\nRobots can be programmed to execute repetitive tasks or movements, but their usefulness typically stops there. Since most robots (even industrial ones) lack language processing abilities, we\u2019re still far out from a future where we regularly interact with robots in ways that resemble human communication, interaction, or responsiveness.\n\nBut a team of computer science researchers just pushed us closer to that reality: A new paper out of MIT presents an Alexa-like system that allows robots to understand a wide range of commands that require contextual knowledge about objects and their surroundings.\n\nThe researchers\u2019 \u201cComText\u201d system takes robot learning further than most advances to date \u2013 enabling robots to develop the \u201cepisodic memory\u201d necessary to reason, infer meaning, and respond to nuanced commands.\n\ndownload the 59-page robotics report Download the free PDF for a deep dive into robots, cobots, and the startups bringing automation to the enterprise. Email\n\nTraditional approaches to robot learning focus mainly on semantic memory, which is based on general facts such as \u201cthe sky is blue.\u201d\n\nTraining of semantic memory can allow robots to execute basic commands: With literal understanding of distance and direction, for example, a robot may be able to respond to a request to move two feet to the right or left.\n\nRequests involving contextual knowledge demand a cognitive skill set most robots lack, however. Consider a command like \u201cgrab my jacket.\u201d Even if a robot knows what a jacket is, the idea of possession \u2013 of retrieving your jacket \u2013 demands a more nuanced, human level of understanding than the robot has.\n\n\u201cThe main contribution is this idea that robots should have different kinds of memory, just like people,\u201d says research scientist Andrei Barbu.\n\nComText helps close that \u201csemantic gap\u201d by training robots to develop both semantic and episodic memory. Episodic memory is based on experiences in the past that can inform decisions made in the future.\n\nPossession is one example: A robot with episodic memory that is told, for example, \u201cthis jacket is mine,\u201d can retain that information and use it when responding to later commands even in langague constructions that do not follow the same structure as how they were initiatally taught about possession of the jacket.\n\nThe new Alexa-like solution makes that kind of cognition possible. Developed by researchers in MIT\u2019s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), ComText enables robots to understand the world as a collection of objects, people, and abstract concepts (such as position and possession).\n\nNamed for \u201ccommands in context,\u201d ComText debuted in a research paper developed by MIT researchers Rohan Paul, Andrei Barbu, Sue Felshin, Boris Katz, and Nicholas Roy for the 26th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence.\n\nThe research work helps robots \u201cground\u201d (aka understand and interpret) natural language instructions. It creates a learning model \u2013 referred to as Temporal Grounding Graphs \u2013 whereby robots continually acquire \u201chigher-order semantic knowledge\u201d about their environments and the objects within them.\n\nA robot equipped with the ComText system learns as it goes: As commands and responses are exchanged between humans and the robot, the robot retains more and more experiential knowledge \u2013 as well as more visual and linguistic context \u2013 based on the past commands.\n\n\u201cFor robots to understand what we want them to do, they need a much richer representation of what we do and say,\u201d says Paul.\n\nIn a video released by the MIT media team, we see Baxter (a two-armed humanoid robot) understanding various items described as \u201cmy snack,\u201d and responding to commands to \u201cpick it up\u201d or \u201cpack up my snack.\u201d With ComText, Baxter was successful in executing the right command about 90% of the time.\n\nThat kind of cognition may seem simple, but it gets us one step closer toward a world where a robot packs your snacks (or grabs your jacket). As the technology develops further, the ability for a robot to gain greater understanding of placement and possession could mean a robot can help you find your keys, since it could remember where you left them.\n\nThat kind of understanding is the researchers\u2019 next step. In the future, the MIT team hopes to enable robots to understand more complicated information \u2013 such as multi-step commands, or the intentions behind actions.\n\nIf they succeed, the ability to interface with robots more like humans could go well beyond a helpful AlexaBot around the house: In industrial settings, for example, robots will prove far more useful to people if they understand normal voice commands. With ComText, simple instructions like \u201cGo get the last box I put down\u201d could be done by a robot (instead of taking up a person\u2019s time).\n\nThe project for \u201cTemporal Grounding Graphs for Language Understanding with Accrued Visual-Linguistic Context\u201d was co-led by research scientist Andrei Barbu, alongside research scientist Sue Felshin, senior research scientist Boris Katz, and Professor Nicholas Roy. They presented the paper at last week\u2019s International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) in Australia. Full information is available here.\n\nIf you aren\u2019t already a client, sign up for a free trial to learn more about our platform.", "output": "A team from MIT has published a paper outlining a learning model that allows robots to interpret information about their surroundings and understand spoken instructions. The system, called ComText, was run on a\u00a0Baxter robot, a machine with two arms that can be used to grab, lift and move objects.\u00a0ComText\u00a0allowed the robot to\u00a0gain experiential knowledge, as well as\u00a0visual and linguistic context, based on past\u00a0interactions.\u00a0During tests, the robot\u00a0was able to correctly understand and execute\u00a0commands with 90% accuracy."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "XL Group moves European base to Dublin \n Insurance Ireland says the XL Group\u2019s decision validates the country\u2019s position as an international insurance hub\n\nThe XL Group has announced plans to move its main European insurance company from the UK to Dublin as a \"response to Brexit\".\n\nChief executive Mike McGavick said the decision would help it \u201cprovide certainty and consistency\u201d to customers in the aftermath of last year\u2019s referendum vote.\n\nWhile the move will require regulatory approval, the plans follow a meeting between Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Mr McGavick in Dublin on Tuesday.\n\n\"At a time many countries have lost their confidence and are unsure about their place in the world, Ireland's firm commitment to being at the heart of Europe, in the euro and being globally engaged, with an open economy and commitment to free trade makes us an excellent place to invest,\" Mr Varadkar said in a statement.\n\nREAD MORE\n\n\u201c I look forward to more announcements in the weeks and months ahead.\u201d\n\nDublin had been home to XL between 2010 and 2016, before its new holding company, XL Group Ltd, was formed in Bermuda following the acquisition of the Catlin Group.\n\nInsurance Ireland said the decision validated the country's position as an international insurance hub.\n\nXL Insurance Company is a wholly-owned subsidiary within the XL Group, providing the main insurance company platform within Europe and Asia.\n\nXL opened its first European insurance company in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in the 1990s, and in 2006 established XL Re Europe which remains an Irish-domiciled reinsurer.\n\nThe company operates through an international network of branches, subsidiaries and third-party fronting partners.\n\nBranch network\n\n\u201cRe-domesticating XL Insurance Company SE to Ireland will allow XL Group\u2019s clients and brokers to benefit from continuity of service through its branch network in Europe, which enables it to write business in domestic markets as well as providing the infrastructure for its Global Programs business,\u201d it said in a statement.\n\nIn the UK the group will retain Catlin Insurance Company, a UK-regulated insurance company, and its Lloyd's operations.\n\nIn making its announcement the company referenced potential disruption to its business by a loss of passporting rights when the UK leaves the EU.\n\n\u201cSince the referendum announcement we have been clear that our top priority is to provide certainty and consistency of service to our clients and brokers. Moving XL Insurance Company SE to Ireland means we deliver on that commitment,\u201d Mr McGavick said.\n\n\u201cDublin is a natural home for us in Europe. We have a long and established presence in Ireland, and we understand and respect the high-quality business environment, the regulatory environment and the talent of the people here.\u201d\n\nReinsurance hub\n\nXL Group is a global insurance and reinsurance company providing property, casualty and speciality products to industrial, commercial and professional firms, insurance companies and other enterprises throughout the world.\n\nWelcoming the announcement, Insurance Ireland, the representative body for the domestic and international sector, said it validated Ireland\u2019s position as an international insurance and reinsurance hub, particularly in the context of Brexit.\n\n\u201cWhile we are all aware of the negatives that are presented to the Irish economy by the Brexit decision, we must welcome the opportunities such as the decision taken today by XL Catlin,\u201d chief executive Kevin Thompson said. \u201cIreland must maintain an open and responsive approach in order to maximise the opportunity over the short term.\u201d\n\nThe sentiments were echoed by the IDA whose chief executive Martin Shanahan said it had been encouraging to see \u201cso many high profile banks and insurance firms\u201d endorse Ireland as their destination of choice.\n\n\u201cPost Brexit, nurturing talent, delivering a pro-business ethos and maintaining a consistent track record, must be the priorities if we are to continue to grow the economy at the current rate and remain competitive,\u201d he said.", "output": "Global insurance and reinsurance firm XL Group has announced it will relocate its main European insurance company from London to Dublin in response to Brexit. The move follows a meeting between between Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and XL Group CEO Mike McGavick. In a statement, McGavick said: \"Since the referendum announcement we have been clear that our top priority is to provide certainty and consistency of service to our clients and brokers. Moving XL Insurance Company SE to Ireland means we deliver on that commitment.\""}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cable to position Lib Dems against hard Brexit \n Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable has called on \"political grown-ups\" from all parties to stop Brexit.\n\nSir Vince used his first keynote address to the Lib Dem conference as leader to position his party firmly as an anti-Brexit voice.\n\nHe called for a new referendum once the terms of Britain's divorce from the European Union are clear.\n\n\"At the end of these tortuous divorce negotiations, the British public must be given a vote on the outcome,\" Sir Vince told delegates in Bournemouth.\n\n\"Let me be clear about this. This is not a call for a re-run. This is not a call for a second referendum on Brexit. This is a call for a first referendum on the facts.\"\n\nPlease use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 0:30 Vince Cable 'has stamina' to be PM\n\nSir Vince called on moderates from the Labour and Conservative parties to \"put aside tribal differences\" and join forces.\n\n\"What the country now desperately needs is some political adults. There are sensible grown-ups in the Conservative Party, and the Labour Party and the Greens,\" he said.\n\n\"That's you. That's us.\"\n\nSir Vince urged Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to \"refurbish his revolutionary credentials\" and join the Lib Dems in the \"Anti-Brexit People's Liberation Front\".\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe former business secretary took over in July after a disappointing result at the General Election, where the party campaigned on an anti-Brexit platform but failed to capitalise on disappointed Remain voters.\n\nPlease use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 9:16 Cable: Age is no barrier for me\n\nSir Vince leads a group of just 12 MPs, but insists he is a \"plausible\" candidate for prime minister.\n\nAt 74, he is the oldest ever Lib Dem leader and the oldest head of a major party since Sir Winston Churchill, who stepped down as Tory leader aged 80.\n\nBut Sir Vince has already dismissed suggestions his age might be a problem, saying he has the energy to lead the party.\n\nIn his speech, he sought to show that there was more to his party than the anti-Brexit message. He called for wealth taxes and urged a crackdown on property speculators to ease housing problems.\n\nThe party is not just a \"UKIP in reverse\", Sir Vince said.", "output": "Vince Cable has positioned the Liberal Democrats as the country's anti-Brexit voice during his first keynote address as leader of the UK political party, during its annual conference. Under Cable, the party will continue to pursue a strategy of opposing the implementation of Brexit. He also called for a second referendum following the negotiations with the European Union, saying: \"This is not a call for a re-run. This is not a call for a second referendum on Brexit. This is a call for a first referendum on the facts.\" The former business secretary, who took over leadership of the party following the summer's dismal General Election results, leads just 12 MPs in parliament."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Johnson could resign over Brexit strategy dispute with PM \n Boris Johnson could resign if Theresa May signals she will pursue a \u201cSwiss-style\u201d Brexit, even though he is publicly denying he will walk away from the cabinet.\n\n\n\nThe foreign secretary told reporters in New York he would not resign and denied the cabinet was split over Brexit policy, insisting: \u201cWe are a nest of singing birds.\u201d\n\nBut it is understood that Johnson considers it could be a resigning matter if May veers towards the kind of \u201csoft Brexit\u201d advocated by Philip Hammond, the chancellor, when she makes a key speech in Florence on Friday.\n\nThe Telegraph reported on Tuesday that the foreign secretary could even quit the cabinet before the weekend if May signals that she will sign up the UK to paying for access to the single market permanently in an arrangement similar to staying in the European Economic Area (EEA).\n\nThis option similar to the arrangements adopted by Switzerland is known by its critics as the \u201cEEA-lite\u201d, but would be a way of preserving the benefits of the single market.\n\nFriends of Johnson told the newspaper he \u201ccould not live with\u201d the version of Brexit under consideration, which prompted the publication of his personal blueprint for Brexit in the Telegraph at the weekend.\n\nThe foreign secretary \u2013 who appears to have the backing of other pro-leave ministers, including Michael Gove \u2013 was unhappy about some of the wording in early drafts of the speech.\n\n\n\nHe was concerned the prime minister was preparing to send a public signal that she would like to see a close long-term relationship with the rest of the EU along the lines of Norway, or Switzerland \u2013 with more leeway over freedom of movement.\n\nJohnson and others fear that would limit the UK\u2019s ability to do deals with other countries; and require the UK to mirror EU regulations too closely. Saturday\u2019s controversial Daily Telegraph article was aimed at sending a signal he could not support such a relationship.\n\n00:43 Ken Clarke: 'Johnson would be sacked by now, normally' \u2013 video\n\nOne source close to Johnson said the Telegraph\u2019s claims that a resignation could be imminent were nonsense and \u201ctotally made-up\u201d. However, his article was widely regarded as a warning shot to the prime minister as she prepares to deliver her major Brexit speech on Friday.\n\nJohnson was piqued that a meeting of other senior ministers involved in Brexit was held last week when he was inspecting hurricane damage in the Caribbean.\n\nMay is also in New York, attending the UN general assembly. Asked whether she still backed the foreign secretary, she told Sky: \u201cBoris Johnson has been here at the United Nations doing important work yesterday in a meeting on Burma.\n\n\u201cI will be seeing Boris at various stages during our time here, but of course we have got very busy programmes.\u201d\n\nMay will convene a special meeting of her cabinet on Thursday, to consult colleagues about her speech. A Number 10 source said: \u201cThe PM has said consistently that she values the contribution of people from across the cabinet, and clearly this is a significant moment in terms of our progress, and in terms of our relationship with Europe.\u201d\n\nMay\u2019s spokesman also underlined the fact that May plans to use the speech to discuss not just transitional arrangements, but Britain\u2019s ongoing partnership with the rest of the EU. \u201cShe will talk about the future relationship going forward, as well as the progress on the talks so far,\u201d he said.\n\nAsked if she was confident of getting consensus on her Brexit strategy at Thursday\u2019s meeting, May said: \u201cYes, the cabinet is absolutely clear about the destination we are aiming for in relation to our European negotiations.\n\n\u201cWe want to make sure we get the best possible deal for the United Kingdom as we leave the European Union. What we want to do is to ensure not just a good deal on trade, but also on our future security and relationship on law enforcement and criminal justice.\u201d\n\nAsked what she wanted Johnson to do, in the light of reports he may resign, May said: \u201cWhat I want the government to do is what the government is doing, Boris and others, all very clear about the destination we have as a country and that is getting that deep and special relationship with the EU when we leave, but a partnership that still leaves us as the UK free to make trade deals around the world. and free to take control of our laws, our borders and our money.\u201d\n\nAsked if she had \u201cgot her mojo back\u201d, May said: \u201cI\u2019m doing what I always do, which is getting on with the job and, you know what, I think that\u2019s what the British people expect their prime minister to do.\u201d\n\nSpeculation about the foreign secretary\u2019s future has been rife since the article was published, as some senior Conservatives believe he should have been sacked for departing from collective responsibility. Ken Clarke, the former chancellor, said he would undoubtedly have been dismissed if May was not in such a weak position.\n\n\u201cSounding off personally in this way is totally unhelpful and he shouldn\u2019t exploit the fact that [Theresa May] hasn\u2019t got a majority in parliament,\u201d Clarke said on Tuesday. \u201cAnd he knows perfectly well that, normally, a foreign secretary would be sacked instantly for doing that.\u201d\n\nHowever, May could leave herself vulnerable to a leadership challenge if she sacked Johnson, whose intervention won the backing of hardline eurosceptics and former Vote Leave supporters.", "output": "UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson could quit the cabinet if Prime Minister Theresa May pursues a soft Brexit, according to friends of the politician, who outlined his vision of Brexit in a controversial article for the Telegraph. Johnson voiced his objections to a \"Swiss-style\" deal with the European Union, in which the UK would pay for access to the single market, and said it could limit the country's ability to make trade deals elsewhere. Johnson has denied he will step down, while May said he was \"clear about the destination we have as a country.\" If Johnson were to resign, a leadership election in the Conservative Party could soon follow."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Call9 raises $24M to replace seniors' ER visits with virtual visits \n Brooklyn-based Call9 has raised $24 million in a new round of funding. Redmile led the round, with additional investments from Index Ventures, Refactor, YCombinator, Western Technology Investments, and other undisclosed investors.\n\nThis is the second round of funding for the company, which raised $10 million in January 2016. The new funding will be used to scale Call9\u2019s operations.\n\nCall9's video visits service connects nursing home patients to an emergency room doctor. The company sets up the system in nursing home facilities and provides them with the mobile devices preloaded with their software. When a resident has a concern, the facility's nurse brings the tablet to them to make a call to a doctor on Call9\u2019s system.\n\nThe company was predicated on the idea that nursing home residents are some of the most frequent emergency room visitors, but those patients are among the least well equipped for a stressful emergency room visit.\n\n\u201cOur most vulnerable patients experience hardships related to real-time access to care they urgently need and get shuffled across disparate care ecosystems and emergency settings, unnecessarily,\u201d Dr. Timothy Peck, Call9\u2019s founder, said in a statement. \u201cThe system was ripe for disruption and so we re-invented the 911 experience for nursing homes, improving care for this elderly patient population, while dramatically lowering costs.\u201d\n\nThe company also prides itself on combining high tech with high touch, as the hands on work of the telemedicine doctor is performed by onsite care specialists trained by Call9.\n\n\u201cMany new healthcare companies are applying technology to aggressively streamline care, but at the same time, they\u2019re removing the human touch required for personalized medicine, making the shift from fee-for-service to value-based care virtually impossible,\u201d Peck said. \u201cOur motto as a company has always been \u2018do right by the patient and all else will fall into place.\u2019 This is only possible through new collaboration paradigms that couple technology and data with trusted care specialists who are on site and available to hold their patient\u2019s hands.\u201d\n\nCall9 has seen significant cost savings from its efforts, with a Precision Health Economics study showing that the intervention prevented a hospital visit 80 percent of the time, saving the average 200-bed nursing facility $8 million per year, according to the company.", "output": "Emergency room visits remain one of the significant hardships of senior care. Older patients are often the least prepared for the stress and exhaustion of a visit to the emergency room. To tackle these issues, New York-based telehealth startup Call9 offers a virtual health service that connects nursing home patients to its own, trained emergency room doctors by providing nursing homes with mobile devices equipped with preloaded software. As well as an improved doctor experience, Call9 offers a significant cost reduction, with a study by Precision Health Economics demonstrating an annual average reduction of $8 million per year for a nursing home, whilst also preventing a hospital visit 80 percent of the time. Call9 has recently raised $24 million and intends to scale its service following the added investment.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Auto-insurtech firm The Zebra raises $40m in financing \n The Zebra, an auto insurance comparison marketplace, has raised $40 million in Series B funding led by Accel Partners. Simultaneously, the Zebra introduced Keith Melnick, former president of travel metasearch engine KAYAK as Chief Executive Officer, joining the company as it expands to reach new users and markets.\n\nKAYAK of Insurance\n\n\u201cFrom day one we set out to make insurance \u2018black and white,\u2019 and our team is making a huge impact in driving this industry forward,\u201d commented founder and Chairman Adam Lyons. \u201cThere is no shortage of interest in the insurance space right now, and we felt Accel was the right partner and aligned with our vision of creating something big. When we met Keith, we knew instantly that we found the talent to help take this company to new heights.\u201d\n\nMelnick believes insurance is where travel was ten years ago and it is need of improvement. His company seeks to provide a consumer friendly, easy to use, comparison site to drive competition and improve options for individuals searching for insurance.\n\n\u201cIt sounds simple, but it definitely is not, and it can revolutionize the industry. The Zebra gets that, I get that, and we share a vision and a plan to get it done,\u201d said Melnick.\n\nThe Zebra\u2019s Series B round is said to be one of Accel\u2019s first investments in Insurtech in the U.S., as well as its largest investment in tech hub Austin, Texas. Accel Partners has backed other well known consumer brands including Facebook, Dropbox, Spotify, Venmo, and KAYAK.\n\nJohn Locke, Partner with Accel, believes there is a huge opportunity to provide a comparison shopping environment just like KAYAK did for travel.\n\n\u201cThe Zebra team has the product-first DNA and momentum to pull this off, and we\u2019re thrilled to partner with Keith Melnick \u2013 who we worked with on KAYAK for over a decade \u2013 and the whole The Zebra team to help make this vision a reality.\u201d\n\nThe Zebra\u2019s Series B brings total funding to $61.5 million. Additional investors include Silverton Partners, Floodgate, Ballast Point Ventures, Mark Cuban, Daher Capital, and Birchmere Labs.The company reports it has grown revenue more than 80% year over year and has established itself as a leader in the growing insurtech space. The Zebra claims to be the most visited car insurance comparison site in the U.S., providing millions of insurance quotes every month. It searches more than 200 auto insurance companies in seconds to give consumers the choice and simplicity they need to find the right coverage at the right price.\n\nThe Zebra said it would be expanding product functionality, adding new lines of insurance, growing both staff and partnerships to expand its reach, and making substantial investments in brand-building with the additional funding.", "output": "US-based motor-insurance-focused insurtech firm The Zebra has raised $40m in its latest funding round, which was led by Palo Alto-based Accel Partners. The Zebra aims to provide a comparison service to consumers seeking auto insurance. It plans to use the funds\u00a0to recruit more\u00a0staff and add\u00a0new lines of insurance. The company is also planning\u00a0improvements to\u00a0the functionality of its existing service.\u00a0\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "London lobbyist Terrapin behind $4.1bn of Lendlease deals: Vice \n Peter Bingle is one of London's most prolific lobbyists. He spends his days schmoozing local councillors in the capital's finest restaurants in a bid to get his clients picked for big deals, picking up enough tabs for him to tweet that he's \"trying to end austerity singlehandedly\".\n\nIn the last four years, Mr Bingle has arranged at least 25 private meetings with councillors from Haringey, Kensington, Wandsworth and Southwark. All these councils were on the cusp of awarding huge development contracts, including for the demolition and regeneration of thousands of Londoners' homes. The councillors often didn't declare any other meetings with any other developers, or anyone else except Bingle. In total, the meetings precede nearly \u00a33 billion of contracts, all of which went to one developer: Lendlease.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nMr Bingle has been employed by Lendlease (although, mysteriously, any mention of them has slipped from his website), a huge Australian development corporation which has been involved in many gentrifying projects over recent years.\n\nIt is Lendlease that building around 3,000 new homes on the former Heygate Estate, only 25 percent of them \"affordable\" \u2013 costing over \u00a3400,000 for a one bed flat \u2013 after the council initially promised residents \"100 percent reprovision\" of the 1,000 council homes. Lendlease will build 82 socially rented homes at some point during the controversial redevelopment. As VICE revealed, a large number of the remaining units were flogged to offshore foreign investors off-plan two years before they were offered to UK buyers.\n\nBingle's company is called Terrapin Communications. His head pops up often in recent coverage of the Haringey Development Vehicle \u2013 the biggest suburban redevelopment in history, a 50:50 partnership between the Labour-led borough of Haringey and the developer Lendlease. This will threaten 4,468 homes (around 3,500 of them on council estates), including sites like Broadwater Farm, Stella House and Northumberland Park Estate. All those homes and lives potentially changed forever, and a \u00a32 billion collected pot to be meted out \u2013 a mix of public and private money, as well as the transfer of public assets into a fund.\n\nWATCH: What It Costs to Live in London\n\nAdvertisement\n\nFrom the moment Haringey announced it was knocking down half of its borough, Bingle was arranging meetings between local councillors and his client, Lendlease. Before long, Haringey councillors were coming under fire from local paper the Ham and High for dining out with Terrapin Communications 13 times, enjoying hospitality worth \u00a3770.\n\nAmazingly, Bingle also employed Haringey council's chief whip \u2013 the guy who pressures councillors to vote on big issues, i.e. housing \u2013 Adam Jogee as a \"consultant\" for his firm Terrapin Comms. Bingle even calls supposedly neutral Jogee his \"baby terrapin\" publicly on social media. When Jogee came under scrutiny for this, he wrote a letter to his Labour comrades, chastising them for bringing it up and causing \"media scrutiny and a great deal of public attention\".\n\nJust as well, then, that when faced with allegations of favouritism, Haringey council appointed an independent legal advisor to oversee everything. Pinsent Masons were paid \u00a3499,999 by the council to be the legal adjudicator for the bid \u2013 the most \"economically advantageous bid\", according to the council. But far from being independent, Pinsent Masons have acted as legal representatives for Lendlease since 2005. Completing the circle, Pinsent Masons were also one of Terrapin Communications' first ever clients.\n\nIn September of 2014, Alan Strickland \u2013 Haringey's cabinet member for Housing Regeneration and Planning \u2013 took Lendlease's \"Head of Residential\" Richard Cook on a \"tour of Tottenham\" to show him what was up for grabs. None of the 11 other bidders for the HDV contract had this privilege. Why all the favours? Why the obsession with working with a company that previously broke their promises on social housing, letting down a London borough?\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAt the end of all the developer jostling, Lendlease \u2013 who, VICE are told, were only the third highest value bidder in the process \u2013 won out. You'd be forgiven for thinking that Lendlease are acting as referee, linesman and both managers of a match that resulted in them winning a \u00a32 billion contract that redesigns Haringey forever.\n\nWATCH: The War to Live in London \u2013 Regeneration Game\n\nLendlease split their profits across more than 300 separate global companies worldwide), including 65 in the UK.\n\nMany, like \"Lendlease Elephant and Castle\", make surprisingly little taxable profit. This company returned a worrying \u00a3914 profit in 2014, but did make a whole \u00a31 more in 2015. Southwark Council is entitled to half this meagre return, having signed a 50/50 profits split with Lendlease for the Elephant and Castle site it sold.\n\nBy 2016, Southwark had clawed back around \u00a312 million from the deal, including a \u00a36 million one-off payment from Lendlease for not building the social homes they promised. That year, Lendlease Corporation \u2013 a separate Lendlease company \u2013 still returned a \u00a3214 million profit globally, citing \"strong sales in Elephant and Castle\".\n\nHaringey, whose redevelopment plans remain opaque, say their 50:50 power share is supposed to stop Lendlease wriggling out of any affordable housing promises and ensure they do all repairs on all commercial buildings in the area. After a similar deal with New York City, Lendlease was fined over \u00a340 million for overcharging for repairs, a scam that had been running for decades.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nLike the residents of Haringey, when I put questions to councillors I was met with zero response. I did, however, have a call completely out of the blue from Lendlease asking me what my concerns were. At this point, I hadn't yet contacted Lendlease. Haringey then admitted they are passing phone calls to Lendlease for them to answer, including calls about their relationship. Lendlease didn't deny that Pinsent Masons regularly worked for them.\n\nPeter Bingle didn't respond to questions either. Mysteriously, Lendlease and another firm \u2013 Starwood Capital, which also bid in the HDV process \u2013 have vanished from Bingle's company's website after its links to the HDV came under the spotlight.\n\nPeter Bingle (right) in simpler times, as director of the \"Hands Off Reading\" campaign. Here, Peter and his friend \"Vatman\" are delivering a letter to the Treasury explaining the arguments against the imposition of VAT on the printed word. (Jim James/PA Archive/PA Images)\n\nBingle also arranged seven Terrapin meetings with Kensington councillor Rock Fielding-Mellen, the former Kensington housing chief who oversaw the disastrous Grenfell cladding contract. After the disaster at Grenfell Tower, in which at least 80 people lost their lives, Bingle tweeted that Kensington council is actually \"the most paternalist [sic] and caring borough in London\".\n\nAfter each of Bingle's meetings with Fielding-Mellen, Kensington awarded three huge contracts to Lendlease \u2013 two of them worth \u00a335 million and \u00a39.1million, one undisclosed. The examples go on and on. Bingle, for instance, met John Cook, Deputy Leader of Wandsworth council, in February of 2016 before a \u00a345 million deal was announced for Lendlease at the Cambium site in Southfields, South-West London, with no affordable housing.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nMr Bingle also had seven meetings with Southwark's Peter John while Lendlease was busy finalising its \u00a31.5 billion redevelopment on West Grove, where there isn't a single affordable home available or a unit sold under \u00a3500,000. Southwark Council then spent \u00a356,000 of taxpayers' money trying to block a legal challenge from residents hoping to discover why Lendlease had failed to deliver all the social homes they promised at Heygate.\n\nJohn, who averages about 30 declared hospitality meetings per year, called the net loss of 1,800 social homes \"a good deal\", and it was certainly a good deal for many within Southwark council, with a \"well oiled revolving door\" ensuring Lendlease have been able to count a number of previous Southwark Council employees among their staff.\n\nTerrapin didn't want to leave anything to chance in the run-up to the \u00a32 billion Haringey deal. They made sure Haringey's officials knew how lucrative it was to work for Lendlease. The agency hosted a double date for Southwark's Peter John and Haringey's Alan Strickland in July of 2015, just seven months before the HDV bidding began. Terrapin Communications then hosted another dinner, this time inviting only Haringey's Strickland (Labour) and Kensington's Fielding-Mellen (Conservative) so they could talk Lendlease, in March of 2016, at Cannes' MIPIM, a large property trade show. By then, Haringey was one month into the tender process for the HDV.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nStrickland declared no other meetings with councillors or Haringey bidders over the following seven-month tendering process, only proven Lendlease fan-boys John and Fielding-Mellen, all on the tab of Lendlease's PR, Terrapin Communications. Lo and behold, Lendlease was duly announced as the winner.\n\nVICE approached Bingle and Pinsent Masons but received no response. After talking to us about their relationship with Pinsent Masons, Lendlease didn't respond to further questions [Lendlease contected VICE following publication \u2013 see update below]. Haringey's Alan Strickland didn't respond when asked by VICE for a comment. He has previously said in a letter to the Guardian that \"Terrapin isn't involved in any way in the proposed Lendlease joint venture.\"\n\nIf that's so, they've spent a lot of time in meetings, not talking about Bingle's client who would go on to win a \u00a32 billion contract. And a scan around London suggests he's not the only councillor who's been having innocent conversations about the weather, courtesy of Terrapin Communications.\n\nUpdate \u2013 22 September 2017\n\nLendlease and Haringey contacted us following publication of this article and we have made the following corrections and clarifications:\n\nPeter Bingle has been employed by Lendlease but is not currently working for them as we previously stated.\n\nWe previously stated that no other developers were taken on the tour of Tottenham. We're happy to clarify that no other bidders for the HDV contract were on the tour.\n\nWe've clarified how promises made to residents about social housing were broken, and Lendlease's current commitment to delivering 25 percent \"affordable\" housing.\n\nPreviously we stated that Lendlease were the third highest bidder in the process. Lendlease have told us that it had the highest accumulative score of any bidder in the public OJEU procurement process, and was selected as the preferred partner on that basis.", "output": "Terrapin Communications has helped win nearly \u00a33bn ($4.1bn) of contracts for Australian developer Lendlease, according a Vice News article\u00a0that focuses on the lobbying company's role\u00a0in securing development contracts across London. Author\u00a0Andy Jones writes that the\u00a0Lendlease\u00a0contracts had been awarded after\u00a0meetings between\u00a0Terrapin chief\u00a0Peter Bingle and senior officials within tendering boroughs. Also, the report said\u00a0Bingle\u00a0has\u00a0hired key decision-making\u00a0professionals \u00a0from within tendering boroughs\u00a0and orchestrated\u00a0preferential meetings with council chiefs. Some\u00a0councillors he wined and dined declared no meetings with other bidders in contracts that Lendlease eventually won, Vice\u00a0reports.\u00a0The author points out that Lendlease has consistently\u00a0failed to provide expected\u00a0amounts of social and affordable housing in previous developments.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wealthsimple eyes UK with robo-advice service \n It looks like you have reached this page in error ...\n\nThe content you are looking for has either moved, or if you typed in the address there might have been a mistake.\n\nIf you believe there has been a technical error \u2013 please let us know.\n\nMost Popular Destinations", "output": "Canadian robo-adviser Wealthsimple is expanding into the UK following a trial period of the firm's platform. The robo-adviser has $1bn in assets under management across 40,000 North American clients."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australia ends double tax on bitcoin transactions \n The Australian government has delivered on its longstanding promise to remove the double taxation of transactions involving cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. For years, digital currency adopters ...\n\nThe Australian government has delivered on its longstanding promise to remove the double taxation of transactions involving cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.\n\nFor years, digital currency adopters in Australia were taxed twice for transactions, once for the goods and services tax (GST) on the product and again for the GST levied on the digital currency used for the payment.\n\n\u201cIf you pay $4 in bitcoin for a coffee, you will pay 40c GST for the coffee, and 40c again for the bitcoin you used to pay for the coffee,\u201d explained Daniel Alexiuc, CEO of Australian bitcoin startup Living Room of Satoshi, speaking to CCN.com in 2016.\n\nAt the time, the Australian government confirmed it was \u201ccommitted\u201d to removing the double taxation of digital currencies, in March 2016. A year later, bitcoin was still seen as \u201cintangible\u201d property by the Australian Tax Office with no changes in legislation to put an end to the double taxation. The delay was criticized by Australia\u2019s FinTech community as an \u201coutdated\u201d approach to the taxation of digital currencies by the government. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the original priorities we put in the reform paper and one they said yes to,\u201d revealed Danielle Szetho, CEO of the industry lobby group and collective FinTech Australia in April this year. \u201cBut here we are, 14 months on and still nothing.\u201d\n\nThe following month, digital currencies finally gained that tax cut in this year\u2019s federal budget, as a part of Australia\u2019s wider FinTech-friendly agenda.\n\nNow, the Australian government has \u2013 at last \u2013 introduced a bill to push the necessary legislation to remove the double taxation of digital currencies. A move described by Australia\u2019s treasurer Scott Morrison as an \u201caction that will further cement Australia\u2019s reputation as a global FinTech center\u201d.\n\nIn a statement, Morrison wrote:\n\nThe Bill will ensure that Australians are no longer charged GST on purchases of digital currency, allowing it to be treated the same way as physical money for GST purposes. The law change will retrospectively apply from 1 July 2017, in line with the 2017 Budget announcement.\n\nAs such, the bill would need to go through parliament for approval before being mandated as national law. The government\u2019s announcement reveals no details as to when the bill will be brought up to go through the due process. Nonetheless, the local bitcoin industry and the wider digital currency ecosystem is certain to get a boost as digital currency transactions become cheaper and gain parity with fiat money transactions.\n\nFeatured image from Shutterstock.", "output": "The Australian government has introduced a bill to put an end to the double taxation of transactions involving bitcoin. Adopters of digital currencies in Australia have for years been charged\u00a0for the goods and services tax on both the product\u00a0and the digital currency itself. The move still requires parliamentary\u00a0approval, though the local bitcoin and wider cryptocurrency industry is likely to receive a boost as transactions become cheaper.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Non-profit firm Poseidon\u00a0to create 'carbon currency' \n Join our growing army of changemakers and get unlimited access to our premium content\n\nThe venture, set to be formally launched by non-profit Poseidon in January 2018, will create a carbon value for everyday products, bringing carbon pricing into the mainstream by allowing customers to participate through every-day micro-transactions.\n\nIt will be made possible through the adoption of blockchain \u2013 an open source digital ledger that facilitates secure online dealings. The blockchain technology, provided by online platform Stella.org, will provide consistency across jurisdictions and prevent the double counting of carbon, Poseidon claims.\n\nSpeaking during New York Climate Week, Poseidon founder Laszlo Giricz said: \u201cThere is significant scope for companies to capitalise on the increasing demands of their consumers, investors, and employees to demonstrate sustainability, responsible supply chains, and positive environmental action.\n\n\u201cAs momentum builds, Poseidon\u2019s blockchain technology presents an opportunity for early involvement in a transparent, accountable carbon market that can provide both financial and ecological returns, offering a host of benefits to natural ecosystems, and the habitats and livelihoods they support.\u201d\n\nPoseidon aims to enable consumers to purchase \u2018climate-positive\u2019 products through smart contracts and a custom token on the Stellar blockchain. The digital ecosystem will also facilitate the transparent measuring and trade of emissions.\n\nA fundraiser will be launched the start of next year before Poseidon begins to source carbon credits through Ecosphere, a venture which finances a range of environmental assets worldwide, including in vulnerable ecological zones such as Brazil, Guatemala and Peru.\n\nPoseidon will then create a mobile app which enables businesses to view the impact their carbon positive purchases are having on the ground.\n\nChain reaction\n\nBlockchain is viewed as one of the \u2018essential eight\u2019 emerging technologies by PwC that will play a crucial role in tackling issues around climate and biodiversity. The technology could facilitate peer-to-peer energy sharing and trading on digital platforms, a market which is reportedly set for take-off.\n\nA host of major firms including Nestl\u00e9, Unilever and Walmart recently established a collaboration with tech giant IBM to explore how the global food supply chain can benefit from blockchain technology. The joint programme could enable all participants in the supply chain, including growers, suppliers, retailers and consumers, to quickly trace a contaminated product to its source and stem the spread of illnesses.\n\nGeorge Ogleby", "output": "Non-profit organisation Poseidon has unveiled a project aimed at\u00a0creating\u00a0a \"carbon currency\" using blockchain technology. The digital currency will\u00a0allow businesses to measure the carbon footprint of every transaction\u00a0by establishing\u00a0a universal carbon value for everyday goods across all markets and jurisdictions.\u00a0The currency gives\u00a0consumers, investors and employees the ability to demonstrate sustainable practices across supply chains. The project will be hosted on the Stella blockchain, with a fundraising round planned for early 2018.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Number of zero-hours contracts falls to three-year low in UK \n 3. How many no guaranteed hours contracts (NGHCs) are there?\n\nThis section looks at the latest estimates from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) for the period April to June 2017 and the business survey for May 2017. Estimates from surveys are, due to sampling error, subject to a degree of uncertainty. Where available, an indication of the level of uncertainty is provided in Annex 1.\n\nLabour Force Survey\n\nThe LFS samples around 40,000 households a quarter and collects information about people\u2019s employment status. One of the questions on the LFS, asked of people in employment, relates to special working arrangements that vary daily or weekly. Respondents can choose up to three different arrangements from a list of eight options, one of which is \u201czero-hours contracts\u201d defined as \u201cwhere a person is not contracted to work a set number of hours, and is only paid for the number of hours that they actually work\u201d.\n\nAs the LFS is based on respondents\u2019 views about their working arrangements and counts people rather than contracts, it is likely that any estimate of \u201czero-hours contracts\u201d from the LFS will be less than an estimate obtained from businesses. The number of people the LFS classes as being on a \u201czero-hours contract\u201d will be those who:\n\nare employed (have done at least 1 hour of paid work in the week before they were interviewed or reported that they were temporarily away from their job)\n\nreport that their working arrangements in their main employment include some form of flexibility\n\nrecognise that the flexibility of their working arrangements is a result of being on a \u201czero-hours contract\u201d\n\nTherefore, the people identified by the LFS as being on a \u201czero-hours contract\u201d will be those in employment who are aware that their contract allows for them to be offered no hours. This might exclude some people who select another option, such as on-call working, although they have the opportunity to report a \u201czero-hours contract\u201d as well.\n\nThe latest estimate from the LFS shows that 883,000 people reported that they were on a \u201czero-hours contract\u201d in the period April to June 2017, representing 2.8% of people in employment. This is 2.2% lower than the reported figure from the same period in 2016 (903,000 or 2.9% of people in employment). This fall in the number of people reporting to the LFS that they were on a \u201czero-hours contract\u201d breaks the upward trend that was observed since 2011. The upward trend that we saw between 2011 and 2016 was likely to have been affected by greater awareness and recognition of the term \u201czero-hours contract\u201d. Figure 1 shows the number of people in employment on a \u201czero-hours contract\u201d from 2000 to 2017. Comparisons with 2012 and earlier years are complicated by a large increase between 2012 and 2013 that appeared to be due mainly to increased recognition of \u201czero-hours contracts\u201d. This change was covered in a previous ONS report published on 30 April 2014.\n\nFigure 1: Number (thousands) of people in employment reporting they are on a zero hours contract, 2000 to 2017 Source: Office for National Statistics Notes: The number of people who are shown as on a zero hours contract at any point in time will be affected by whether people know they are on a zero hours contract and will be affected by how they are aware of the concept. Estimates presented in Figure 1 are non-seasonally adjusted so comparisons of change should be made based on the same period each year. Additionally estimates from surveys are subject to a degree of uncertainty. Download this chart Figure 1: Number (thousands) of people in employment reporting they are on a zero hours contract, 2000 to 2017 Image .csv .xls\n\nWhen looking at the length of time in current job, the fall in \u201czero-hours contracts\u201d on the year is driven by a fall in the number of people being in their job for less than 5 years. The fall in the three categories (less than 12 months, 1 year but less than 2 and 2 years but less than 5) comprising people in employment in their job for less than 5 years is only partially offset by increases on the year in the number of people who were in their job over 5 years (5 years but less than 10 years and 10 years or more) (Figure 2).", "output": "The number of people in the UK on zero-hours contracts has fallen to its lowest in over three years, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). In May, there were an estimated 1.4 million such contracts, down from 1.7 million in the same month the previous year. The figure was the lowest since January 2014. However, despite this fall, the percentage of zero-hours contracts among all employment agreements remains unchanged at 5%. ONS data for the three months to June shows 883,000 people on zero-hours contracts, down from 903,000 for the same period in 2016.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Number of zero-hours contracts falls to three-year low in UK \n The number of people on zero-hours contracts in the UK has fallen to its lowest level in more than three years, as companies appear to be moving away from employing staff without guaranteed working hours.\n\nThere were an estimated 1.4m contracts that did not guarantee a minimum number of hours in May, down from 1.7m in the same month a year ago, and the lowest since January 2014, according to figures published by the Office for National Statistics on Tuesday.\n\nWhile the overall number fell, the percentage of these contracts as a share of all employment agreements remained unchanged at 5%.\n\nDavid Freeman, a senior labour market statistician at the ONS, said: \u201cIt seems possible that the trend towards this type of work has begun to unwind.\u201d\n\nThe latest figures show a break in the upward trend for zero-hours contracts, which have drawn the ire of politicians and union leaders. Businesses including Sports Direct have been heavily criticised for using them, while a group of McDonald\u2019s workers in Cambridge and Crayford, south-east London, went on strike over low wages and the use of zero hours contracts.\n\nThe Labour party has called for such contracts to be banned. Theresa May\u2019s employment tsar, Matthew Taylor, refused to ban them in his sweeping review of Britain\u2019s labour market published in July, although called for workers on zero hours to be given the right to request a permanent contract.\n\nThe ONS found someone on a zero-hours contract works 26 hours a week on average, while more than a quarter want more hours. Most want more hours in their current job, as opposed to seeking extra work with a different employer. By comparison, 7.2% of other people in employment wanted to work more hours.\n\n\n\nLarge businesses are estimated to be the heaviest users of employment agreements that do not guarantee a minimum number of hours. Administrative support businesses are the heaviest users, followed by accommodation and food services.\n\nWomen make up more than half of those saying they have zero-hours contracts, and there are significant numbers of young people and students.\n\nThe number of zero-hours contracts is falling, according to ONS data. Photograph: ONS\n\nThe latest figures follow ONS data for the three months to June, which found 883,000 people reported that they were on a zero-hours contract, a fall from 903,000 for the same period a year ago. The statistics authority measures data submitted by employees \u2013 who are less likely to identify as being on zero hours \u2013 and from businesses, where the figures are higher.\n\nDespite the statistics showing falling usage, the shadow business secretary, Rebecca Long-Bailey, said it was still a \u201cnational scandal\u201d that 1.4 million people were employed on zero-hours contracts \u2013 \u201cstuck in limbo in insecure work, not knowing how much they\u2019ll earn from week to week, unable to budget for basic necessities and unsure if they can even pay the rent.\u201d", "output": "The number of people in the UK on zero-hours contracts has fallen to its lowest in over three years, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). In May, there were an estimated 1.4 million such contracts, down from 1.7 million in the same month the previous year. The figure was the lowest since January 2014. However, despite this fall, the percentage of zero-hours contracts among all employment agreements remains unchanged at 5%. ONS data for the three months to June shows 883,000 people on zero-hours contracts, down from 903,000 for the same period in 2016.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nike uses NFC chips to offer sport content via NBA smart jerseys \n NIKE is celebrating the beginning of its partnership with the NBA by revealing that its new fan jerseys will include an interactive element, designed to bring the sport\u2019s followers closer to its biggest stars. billed as \u2018the future of fan apparel\u2019, each of the connected basketball jerseys features a unique NFC chip \u2014 the same technology used in metro cards, or for apple pay \u2014 built into its jock tag. using NIKEconnect, fans will then be able to access real-time, personalized experiences through their smartphone.\n\nNIKE unveiled its new NBA jerseys for the 2017-18 season at an exclusive event in los angeles where designboom was in attendance. to learn more about the technology, designboom spoke with NIKE innovation\u2019s michael hailey, and took a closer look at some of the uniforms and apparel that will grace the NBA hardwood for the upcoming season.\n\n\n\nNIKE unveiled its new NBA jerseys for the 2017-18 season at an exclusive event in los angeles\n\nglobally launching on september 29, as soon as the NIKE jerseys go on sale, fans will be able to instantly unlock content via the NIKEconnect app. when the smartphone is tapped on the tag at the bottom of the NBA jersey it recognizes the special NFC chip located under the NIKEconnect logo. wearers are then able to \u2018tap in\u2019 around the clock, unlocking a wealth of team and player content such as pre-game arrival footage and highlight packages. game day brings even more access to exclusive offers.\n\n\n\neach of the fan jerseys features a unique NFC chip built into its jock tag\n\nbased on the jersey\u2019s allegiance, the app navigates the central \u2018team\u2019 tab. here, a status bar has either a pre-game countdown to tip-off, an in-game score, or a post-game final score. other information provided includes where and when the team is playing next, as well as stats about the wearer\u2019s player of choice. below, the \u2018team\u2019 feed combines performance and off-court highlights, including related recap videos and gifs. fans can \u2018tap in\u2019 to this content for greater detail or share externally with friends online.\n\n\n\nusing a smartphone, fans will be able to access real-time, personalized experiences\n\nin addition, the left side of the experience has an \u2018offers\u2019 tab that reveals both game day deals and \u2018upcoming rewards\u2019 for future games. offers include exclusively licensed products, NBA 2K18 boosts, tickets to games, and spotify playlists from athletes. meanwhile, the right side of the app has a \u2018jersey\u2019 tab, which shows a history of tap-ins and rewards with that particular NIKE NBA connected jersey.\n\n\n\nthe NIKEconnect app provides access to a wealth of team and player content\n\ndesignboom (DB): can you start by introducing the NIKE NBA connected jersey?\n\nmichael hailey (MH): first off, its way more than a jersey, way more than a uniform. it\u2019s actually your gateway to being connected to your favorite team, your favorite athlete, and the game you love. it lets you engage with your favorite athletes and teams. it rewards you everyday that you connect with the game, and that reward is customized content for you. there are also exclusive experiences that are delivered for you. the jersey is powered by NIKEconnect, a new technology platform that NIKE is building that enables our products to draw fans, who are wearing this jersey, closer to the athletes and the team that they love.\n\n\n\nthe new jersey is the league\u2019s slimmest yet, while the shorts are more fitted than past silhouettes\n\nDB: how does the technology work?\n\nMH: all our fan jerseys have the NIKEconnect jock tag on them. on this jock tag is the NIKEconnect logo and behind that logo is an NFC (near field communications) tag. it\u2019s the same general technology that you use for apple pay or for metrocards. it\u2019s a very simple technology but we\u2019ve applied it in a very powerful way. each tag has a unique ID. when you wear the jersey and you tap on it with your phone, we know what the team is, what the player is, and we even know the style of the jersey. that allows us to create really customized experiences for anybody around the world.\n\n\n\nkevin durant wearing the golden state warriors\u2019 new \u2018statement\u2019 edition uniform\n\nDB: what do you need in order to use this interactive element?\n\nMH: you need three things in order to use this: a jersey with NIKEconnect that has the chip technology inside; a phone that can scan NFC, so most modern android devices, iPhone 7, iPhone 8, iPhone X; and the NIKEconnect app. if you have a NIKEplus account you just sign in, otherwise you can create one, it\u2019s very simple. we also ask for your location so we give you more offers that are even more tailored to you. the idea is that we want you to wear your jersey, and \u2018tap in\u2019 anytime. if you tap in, even if your team aren\u2019t playing, you\u2019re going to get NBA highlights. if you tap in on game days, you can unlock additional exclusive offers.\n\n\n\nlebron james in the new cleveland cavaliers \u2018icon\u2019 edition uniform\n\nDB: what kind of content will fans have access to?\n\nMH: it\u2019s a nice mix of performance but also off court, so you get a nice sense of the culture of the game. if your athlete is kevin durant, you\u2019ll see a lot of nice KD content, but you\u2019ll also see a lot of content from the rest of the team. there are gifs, which you can save and share, and at the end of the game, you actually get a focused game re-cap video \u2014 a 1 to 2 minute movie that has all of the best plays from the night. the other cool thing is that you can see what offers are available, based on games that are upcoming. for example, if you tap in on game day, you can get KD\u2019s spotify playlist. you can see that if you tap in you have a chance to get tickets for an upcoming game. the core of this experience is customized content.\n\n\n\nNIKE adjusted the cut of the jerseys\u2019 armholes around the back of the shoulders\n\nalthough the jerseys that the players will wear on-court do not include the NFC chip, they are near identical to the fan versions. in order to develop the uniforms for the 2017-2018 season, NIKE engineers and designers focused their efforts on three key areas: movement, thermoregulation, and fit. importantly, the team used \u2018atlas maps\u2019 \u2014 a process that involves taking a digital body scan to evaluate sweat zones, contact zones, and where basketball players need full range of motion. designers then overlaid the maps to understand how to design a uniform in three dimensions.\n\n\n\nuniquely, the charlotte hornets\u2019 new uniforms and apparel feature the famous \u2018jumpman\u2019 logo\n\nimage \u00a9 designboom\n\ndesigners also modified the fit of the uniform based on range of information taken from the atlas maps, including scalloping the back of the jersey around the shoulder and shifting the motion vent on the shorts toward the front. \u2018typically, players would size up to get more range of motion from their uniforms,\u2019 says kurt parker, NIKE VP of apparel design. \u2018but thanks to these maps we were able to streamline the fit by tailoring the uniforms to their need, resulting in the lightest uniform in NBA history.\u2019\n\nthe NBA \u2018association\u2019 edition and \u2018icon\u2019 edition uniforms launch september 29, 2017 via NIKE\u2019s website, while the \u2018statement\u2019 edition uniform will be available november 20, 2017.\n\n\n\ndesigners shifted the motion vent toward the front of the shorts to facilitate more range of motion\n\nimage \u00a9 designboom\n\n\n\na wide range of new apparel was unveiled at the launch\n\n\n\na presentation showcased the NBA\u2019s \u2018association\u2019 edition uniforms for the upcoming season\n\n\n\na host of star names were in attendance, including paul george of the oklahoma city thunder\n\n\n\nbackstage, 30 NBA athletes wear NIKE\u2019s new \u2018statement\u2019 edition uniforms\n\nSave\n\nSave\n\nSave\n\nSave\n\nSave\n\nSave\n\nSave\n\nSave\n\nSave\n\nSave\n\nSave\n\nSave\n\nSave\n\nSave\n\nSave\n\nSave\n\nSave\n\nSave", "output": "Sports clothing brand Nike has unveiled a range of connected fan jerseys as part of its partnership with the National Basketball Association (NBA). The shirts have a near-field communication\u00a0sensor on the jock tag which, when tapped with an NBA app-enabled smartphone, opens up a range of personalised content, from pre-game arrival footage to special offers on merchandise to in-game and post-game scores, as well as player statistics.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Porsche's Mission E could challenge Tesla on price \n While automakers have been not-so-quietly making promises to catch up to the likes of Tesla when it comes to electric vehicle range, a sports car maker may be the first to beat the startup at its own game. A production version of the 2015 Porsche Mission E electric concept is scheduled to go on sale at the end of 2019, with a price expected to start in the $80,000 - $90,000 range, according to CAR Magazine.\n\nSpeaking last week at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt, Porsche CEO Oliver Blume says the Mission E will look \u201cvery close\u201d to the concept presented two years ago at the show. Smaller than Porsche\u2019s other four-door car, the Panamera, the company says it is intended to bridge the gap between that vehicle and the 911 sports car.\n\nThe Mission E won\u2019t be offered with any internal combustion engine\n\nThat apparently means in performance terms, too. Unlike Porsche\u2019s current range of hybrids the Mission E won\u2019t be offered with any internal combustion engine assistance. And yet the concept promised a 0\u201360 time of less than 3.5 seconds and a top speed of around 155 mph through a dual-motor setup that also allows for all-wheel drive. While a Tesla Model S P100D may beat it off the the line in its most ludicrous of modes, the Porsche would ultimately keep up on an unrestricted stretch of Autobahn. Yet like Tesla, Blume says Porsche will offer the Mission E with different power levels, so your \u201cbasic\u201d $90,000 version may not be quite as powerful.\n\nBlume also didn\u2019t rule out expanding the Mission E range to include other styles, which may include a coupe or wagon or SUV. Porsche may be known for sports cars, but its Cayenne SUV has been pretty successful over the years. And being part of the vast Volkswagen Group that has promised to electrify everything by 2030, a slew of electric-only Porsches by then wouldn\u2019t be so surprising.", "output": "Porsche has announced an all-electric production version of its 2015 Mission E concept car that could rival Tesla on price. The model is scheduled to go on sale at the end of 2019, with prices expected to start\u00a0between $80,000 and\u00a0$90,000. Speaking at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt, Porsche CEO Oliver Blume said that the Mission E will be \u201cvery close\u201d in appearance to the concept presented two years ago at the event. The car won\u2019t be offered with any internal combustion engine assistance, unlike Porsche\u2019s current range of hybrids.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brokers under threat by blockchain developments: DAC Beachcroft \n DAC Beachcroft report predicts blockchain impact, another IPT rise and increased focus on corporate governance for brokers.\n\nBrokers could be eliminated from some parts of the insurance distribution chain if blockchain is used to implement what is known as smart contracts.\n\nAccording to a report by DAC Beachcroft blockchain/smart contracts can be used to automate digital claims.\n\nThe report, Insurance Market Conditions & Trends 17/18, stated: \u201cThey can automate the claims process, enabling digital claim submission (via sensors or internet-connected data sources) and processing (eliminating the need for brokers and", "output": "Brokers could be eliminated if the insurance industry adopts blockchain technology on a grand scale, according to a research report from DAC\u00a0Beachcroft. Making use of smart contracts via blockchain, which can pay out claims automatically, may eliminate the need for brokers in certain parts of the insurance distribution chain. For more complex claims, however, human involvement may still be needed.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Synthetic muscle advances development of lifelike robots \n Making Muscle\n\nA group of researchers from the Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science has developed a new type of synthetic soft muscle that can be manufactured using a 3D printer. The material is capable of lifting up to 1,000 times its own weight and boasts fifteen times the strain density (expansion per gram) of natural muscle.\n\nThe material doesn't require an external compressor or equipment to regulate pressure, which are common facets of existing solutions that rely on pneumatic or hydraulic inflation. These components take up a lot of space, which makes it difficult to use them to create machines that are both small and able to operate independently.\n\nThe synthetic muscle consists of a silicone rubber matrix, which is peppered with microbubbles of ethanol. It's electrically actuated using a low-power charge administered via a thin resistive wire.\n\nThe synthetic muscle before and after actuation. Image Credit: Aslan Miriyev/Columbia Engineering\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been making great strides toward making robots minds, but robot bodies are still primitive,\u201d said Hod Lipson, a professor of mechanical engineering who led the research group, in a press release. \u201cThis is a big piece of the puzzle and, like biology, the new actuator can be shaped and reshaped a thousand ways. We\u2019ve overcome one of the final barriers to making lifelike robots.\u201d\n\nSoft Touch\n\nThis new synthetic muscle could be a great benefit to the field of soft material robotics. In recent years, there have been great advances made in creating robots that can move and perform actions an ever-expanding variety of actions. However, there are still plenty of movements which are still too difficult for rigid robots to perform.\n\nActions related to grasping and manipulation require a certain level of finesse and dexterity that current technologies struggle to attain. This new material could help to create a robot that can grip a soft object without causing damage, for instance.\n\nMachines built using this technology could provide assistance to human workers in situations where delicate movements are required, like in a medical context. We might even see the material integrated into next-generation prosthetics to provide improvements to the control that users have over their digits.\n\nThe next step for these researchers is to replace the resistive wire currently used with conductive materials, which should improve the muscle's response time and longevity. Looking further forward, they plan to use artificial intelligence to control motion with the material, an advance that could bring with it more humanoid movement to the robots of tomorrow.", "output": "Researchers have developed a synthetic soft muscle they believe will enable robots to perform delicate tasks. The team, from the Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science, 3D printed a silicone rubber matrix filled with microbubbles of ethanol, which was then actuated by a low-power charge. The new substance is far more malleable and practical\u00a0than hydraulic and pneumatic solutions, and could represent a huge stride forward in the creation of robotic bodies."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SPR Therapeutics funds wearable for pain management \n SPR Therapeutics, the Cleveland, Ohio-based developer of a wearable pain management device, announced yesterday the completion of $25 million in Series C financing. The company\u2019s new funding \u2014 primarily secured from Frontcourt Ventures and an unnamed family office \u2014 will support commercialization of the Sprint Peripheral Nerve Stimulation System, and investigate its applicability across indications.\n\nSPR bills the FDA-cleared Sprint Peripheral Nerve Stimulation (PNS) System as a non-narcotic alternative for chronic and acute pain relief. By connecting a wearable stimulater to a 0.2mm wire placed through the skin, the system activates target nerve fibers to relieve patients\u2019 pain. The therapy requires no permanent implants, invasive surgery, tissue destruction, or opioid prescription.\n\n\u201cSprint was developed to address a wide spectrum of chronic and post-surgical pain conditions affecting millions worldwide,\u201d Maria Bennett, CEO, president, and founder of SPR, told MobiHealthNews. \u201cIt was specifically designed for use in the periphery to preferentially activate target nerve fibers, delivering sustained, significant pain relief without opioids, permanent implants, or tissue destruction. Our patients have found the therapy to be convenient, effective, and in many cases they\u2019ve told us Sprint has given them back their quality of life.\u201d\n\nIn a statement released when the Sprint PNS System received FDA clearance in 2016, the company described the system as ideal for short outpatient procedures, and completely reversible if necessary. Notably, a 2014 clinical study found that use of the system was associated with a 72 percent reduction in average pain among patients presenting with moderate-to-severe post-amputation pain.\n\nAccording to the company, SPR has received nearly $23 million to date in non-dilutive funding from the US Department of Defense, National Institutes of Health, and others. The company also used today\u2019s statement to announce the appointment of Nick Valeriani, former CEO of West Health and Johnson & Johnson veteran, to the company\u2019s board of directors.\n\nThe primary wearable pain management device available commercially is Neurometrix\u2019s Quell. Its newest iteration uses a smartphone app to allow users direct control of their pain management, and was approved by the FDA last November. Both the Quell and the Sprint PNS System rely on nerve stimulation technology, but unlike SPR\u2019s subcutaneous system, Quell is worn above the skin.", "output": "US health tech company SPR Therapeutics has secured $25m in a funding round led by Frontcourt ventures. The investment will support the development and marketing of the company's wearable pain management device, called the Sprint Peripheral Nerve Stimulation System. The device, which has been approved for use by federal authorities, works by running a current through a wire, placed next to the patient's skin, to trigger nerve fibres. It has been developed as a non-narcotic alternative for pain relief, and tests in 2014 recorded a 72% reduction in post-amputation pain.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Total buys 23% stake in renewable energy company Eren \n French oil and gas group Total SA (EPA:FP) has agreed to acquire a 23% indirect stake in compatriot company EREN Renewable Energy (EREN RE) as it steps up its push into renewables.\n\nTotal will take the stake by subscribing to a EUR-237.5-million (USD 284.9m) capital increase that will help EREN RE speed up its business in the coming years. The renewables firm currently has 650 MW of wind, solar and hydro capacity in operation or under construction globally and aims to reach more than 3 GW within five years. It is developing a number of projects in Asia-Pacific, Africa and Latin America.\n\nThe deal includes an option for Total to take over control of EREN RE after five years. Following completion, which is subject to approval from competition regulators, EREN RE will be renamed Total Eren.\n\nPhilippe Sauquet, President Gas, Renewables and Power, said the EREN RE investment will allow Total to accelerate its growth in solar energy and enter the wind power market, as well as help it reach its goal of achieving 5 GW of installed capacity in five years.\n\nTotal is the majority owner of US solar company SunPower (NASDAQ:SPWR) and this year set up Total Solar to develop solar power plants in developed countries and distributed solar systems for industrial and commercial customers. Development of EREN RE's solar farm business will be mainly focused on emerging countries where electricity demand is growing, according to today's joint statement from the companies.\n\n\"In line with the Group's integrated strategy along the oil and gas value chains, we are rebalancing our portfolio in renewables between the upstream manufacturing with SunPower and the downstream power production with EREN RE,\" said Sauquet.\n\n(EUR 1 = USD 1.199)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "French energy company Total is set to enter the wind power market and expand into the renewables sector by taking a 23%, \u20ac237.5m ($284.9m) stake in EREN Renewable Energy. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, is part of EREN RE's push to achieve up to 5 GW of installed capacity in five years and will also allow Total to enter the wind power market. In a joint\u00a0statement, the firms said EREN's solar farm business will be mainly focused on emerging countries. Upon completion, the company will be renamed Total Eren."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Direct-debit payments start-up GoCardless taps backers for $22.5m \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nGoCardless, a fintech startup that\u2019s setting out to make it easier for companies to collect recurring payments from customers, has raised $22.5 million in a round of funding from existing investors, including Balderton Capital, Accel Partners, Notion Capital, and Passion Capital.\n\nFounded out of London in 2011, Y Combinator alum GoCardless wants to create a global bank-to-bank network that makes collecting money via direct debit as frictionless and automated as possible.\n\nSubscriptions have emerged as a popular monetization model in the internet era, with consumer-focused services such as Spotify and enterprise-focused SaaS companies such as Salesforce proving popular with millions. Some estimates suggest that 35 percent of Fortune 2000 companies generate revenues via subscriptions, and managing these payments is where companies such as GoCardless come into play.\n\nOthers operating in the recurring payments realm include San Francisco-based Recurly, which has significant venture capital backing, and heavily funded Stripe, which also caters to subscription-based businesses.\n\nOne issue many of these companies are striving to fix relates to cross-border transactions. With anyone now able to carry out business globally through the web, the need for a \u201cglobal\u201d solution to collect money from customers is greater than ever. But many existing direct debit providers weren\u2019t built with global commerce in mind, which is why GoCardless is working to create what it calls a \u201cnew international payments network,\u201d one that works irrespective of country or currency.\n\nGoCardless is currently limited to businesses in a handful of countries in Europe, with support for euros, U.K. pounds, and Swedish krona. But it is actively seeking to broaden its horizons. The company claims that it currently processes \u00a33 billion ($4 billion) worth of transactions for 30,000 organizations in Europe, including in the U.K., France, Germany, Sweden, and Spain. And it is currently accepting registrations of interest for companies based in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, and New Zealand. Australia is expected to be GoCardless\u2019s first non-European launch.\n\n\u201cAs more and more businesses become international, they face endless frustrations in managing payments across multiple territories,\u201d explained GoCardless CEO and cofounder Hiroki Takeuchi. \u201cWhat we have engineered is a way to simply plug recurring payments into their existing systems, across the world, so they can focus on the challenges that really matter.\u201d\n\nGoCardless customers include Box, the U.K. government, and the Guardian newspaper, and the company also claims a number of third-party software integrations via its API, including Sage, Xero, and QuickBooks.", "output": "Fintech company GoCardless has\u00a0raised $22.5m from existing investors to further develop its global direct-debit payments service. The London-based firm's backers include\u00a0Balderton Capital, Accel Partners, Notion Capital\u00a0and Passion Capital. GoCardless is seeking to link banks in a global network to enable smooth direct-debit payments, especially in the subscriptions and other recurring payments space. The company\u00a0claims to handle $4bn\u00a0of transactions for\u00a0organisations across Europe, including the UK government and the Guardian newspaper.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brighton and Hove council looks at buying back\u00a0ex\u00a0public housing \n Scheme to buy back former council homes\n\nA proposal for a trial scheme to enable Brighton & Hove City Council to buy back former council homes is to be considered by councillors.\n\nThe idea is aimed at providing more affordable rented housing for people on the housing register by bringing homes sold under Right to Buy back into council ownership.\n\nMembers of the council\u2019s Housing and New Homes Committee will consider the proposal at a meeting soon.\n\nIf the proposed one year trial goes ahead, the council could buy back four homes, each costing up to a maximum of \u00a3250,000. Properties would be independently valued and people selling would benefit from a quick sale with no chain. The scheme would be reviewed the following year.\n\nMoney for purchasing homes would come from the council\u2019s Housing Revenue Account and the properties could be used to provide temporary accommodation or permanent homes.\n\nThe proposed Home Purchase Policy provides the council with the formal policy and budget framework to be able to buy back council properties sold within the last 10 years, and longer, if they come onto the market.\n\nAnne Meadows, chair of the Housing and New Homes Committee, said: \u201cWe are already building new council homes in the city, and this proposal is another way in which we could provide more homes to rent.\n\n\u201cAnything that brings us more social housing is fantastic for the city. Even if only a small number of properties is involved, it all adds up, and for four families on our housing register it could mean a new home.\u201d", "output": "Brighton and Hove city councillors are considering a proposal to buy back former council homes bought under right-to-buy in an attempt to offer additional affordable rented housing. If the trial goes ahead, the council will be able to buy up to four homes, costing a maximum of \u00a3250,000, with the trial reviewed a year after the purchases. The home purchase policy would enable the council to buy back homes sold under right-to-buy if they come on to the market.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California Drug Price Bill Sweeping In Scope, Lacking In Muscle \n About Capitol Desk Capitol Desk delivers the latest in health care policy and politics from Sacramento and around the state. Have an idea? Let us know.\n\nA California bill headed to the governor\u2019s desk may be the most sweeping effort in the nation to shine a light on drug pricing, but it lacks the muscle being applied in other states to directly hold those prices down.\n\nThe idea behind the law is that if everyone knows when and why prices are rising, political leaders eventually will be more empowered to challenge those increases.\n\n\u201cTransparency is a longer-term play. It\u2019s about building political will, getting more information and helping build the case for the changes that we need\u201d in order to have more sustainable drug prices, said Ted Lee, a senior fellow at Yale University\u2019s Global Health Justice Partnership, which recently released a report on steps states can take to reduce drug prices.\n\nSome experts have said transparency alone is not enough to bring down drug prices, and more extensive changes are needed.\n\n\u201cWe need really far-reaching reforms that say \u2018sorry, pharma, we\u2019ve had enough. We\u2019re not going to do it your way. We\u2019re going to do it our way,\u2019\u201d said Peter Maybarduk, director of the Global Access to Medicines Program at Public Citizen, a consumer watchdog group. The group wants sweeping changes at the federal level that would reduce spending on drugs, such as allowing Medicare to negotiate prices with drug companies and limiting market exclusivity on certain pharmaceuticals.\n\nThe California measure would put a spotlight on drug prices from different angles, imposing reporting obligations on both insurers and drug manufacturers.\n\nThe campaign for the bill brought together some unlikely political allies in the California State Capitol this year: Consumer advocates, insurers, employer groups, labor unions and even a prominent billionaire environmentalist shared the same platforms at press conferences, urging legislators to force drug manufacturers to disclose and justify their high prices.\n\nGov. Jerry Brown has about a month to decide whether to sign the bill. Brown rarely comments publicly about legislation before he takes action, but a spokesman, Brian Ferguson, said the governor\u2019s office had worked closely with legislative staff on the bill.\n\nThe pharmaceutical industry remains fiercely opposed to the legislation and has vowed to lobby the governor against it.\n\nThe measure \u201cwill not improve the accessibility or affordability of medicines for patients,\u201d Priscilla VanderVeer, deputy vice president of public affairs for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), said in an email.\n\nUnder the proposed law, pharmaceutical companies would be required to give state agencies and insurers 60 days\u2019 notice if they planned a price increase of more than 16 percent over two years on drugs with a wholesale cost of $40 or higher. And they would have to explain the reasons for the increase.\n\nManufacturers would also have to report the introduction of certain high-priced drugs to market, explain their marketing plans for the product and say if it is an improvement on drugs that are already available.\n\nHealth plans would be obliged to report to state regulators on the drugs with the highest annual cost increases and document how much drug spending factored into their premiums.\n\nYale\u2019s Lee said both price control and transparency laws play important roles in regulating prescription drug costs. Ellen Albritton, a senior policy analyst at Families USA, said transparency measures such as California\u2019s bill are a \u201ckey part\u201d of what is needed for the U.S. to get drug prices under control. She said various actions by states, taken together, build the case for federal action.\n\nDon't Miss A Story Subscribe to California Healthline's free Weekly Edition newsletter. Your Email Address Sign Up\n\nThis year, at least two states have passed laws that tackle high drug prices head-on and may have a more immediate effect on consumer costs than the California measure, Lee said.\n\nMaryland and New York, for example, passed laws this year that use a variety of legal levers to impose financial penalties or require discounts if prices are too high.\n\nMaryland\u2019s law empowers the state\u2019s attorney general to take legal action if it determines drugmakers are \u201cprice gouging\u201d on generic drugs. A violation by the company could trigger refunds to consumers and a fine for the manufacturer.\n\nThe New York law introduces a drug price cap in the state\u2019s Medicaid program and would require rebates on drugs that exceed their limits, according to a Yale University analysis.\n\nThe California bill\u2019s author, Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-Covina), said he didn\u2019t believe price controls were the right approach. \u201cI still believe in the basic tenet of free enterprise,\u201d he said. \u201cThe market should play itself out.\u201d\n\nBut California\u2019s bill is more comprehensive in some ways than other states\u2019 laws. It requires new reporting in the private and public insurance markets and encompasses generic, brand-name and specialty pharmaceuticals. Other state laws affect only one payer, as in New York, or one subset of drugs, as in Maryland.\n\nVermont has a transparency measure, passed last year, that mandates reporting on a narrower subset of drugs than California\u2019s proposal. Nevada\u2019s recently passed drug price law requires disclosures from insulin makers.\n\nHernandez, who chairs the state Senate\u2019s health committee, said the California bill could be a national model for drug price policy because transparency works to bring costs down. Consumers across state lines will benefit from California\u2019s law, he said.\n\n\u201cI encourage the federal government, especially California\u2019s representatives in the U.S. House and Senate, to consider similar legislation as we continue this discussion at a national level,\u201d Hernandez said.\n\nHe said industry opposition to his bill has been fierce, with \u201clegions\u201d of lobbyists clogging Capitol hallways and full-page ads in local newspapers during the final days of the legislative session, which ended Friday.\n\nDespite the industry\u2019s resistance, Hernandez said, the effort to address high drug costs had bipartisan support and rallied players who are usually at odds on other matters.\n\n\u201cIt has become a huge coalition because it\u2019s impacting everybody,\u201d he said.", "output": "A California bill\u00a0headed to the governor\u2019s desk may be the most sweeping effort in the nation to shine a light on drug pricing, but it lacks the muscle being applied in other states to directly hold those prices down.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "State Lawmakers Tackle Public Smoking And Lead Poisoning, But Punt On Single-Payer \n About Capitol Desk Capitol Desk delivers the latest in health care policy and politics from Sacramento and around the state. Have an idea? Let us know.\n\nCalifornia lawmakers approved several key health care proposals \u2014 and stalled on others \u2014 in their mad dash toward last Friday\u2019s do-or-die legislative deadline.\n\nThey adopted a bill that would require drugmakers to give 60 days\u2019 notice on big price hikes, but pushed off a decision on single-payer health care. They banned smoking at state parks and beaches, but delayed a proposal that would have established staffing requirements for dialysis clinics.\n\nSome state legislators faced dual health care challenges this year: They lobbied to get their own bills passed while pushing back against attempts in Congress to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.\n\nState Sen. Ed Hernandez, chairman of the Senate Health Committee, said his priority was \u201cto make sure we secured what we have \u2026 and that no consumer was going to be left without insurance.\u201d\n\nAs a result, the focus of his legislative work this year became \u201cmostly consumer protection and a lot of defense,\u201d the West Covina Democrat said. He cited the example of his bill to protect access to Planned Parenthood and other reproductive health clinics, which passed last week.\n\nDemocratic Gov. Jerry Brown has until Oct. 15 to sign or veto the bills adopted by the Legislature. Other health policy proposals were shelved for now, and may be resurrected next year.\n\nHEADED TO THE GOVERNOR\u2019S DESK\n\nKeeping Your Doctors\n\nIn response to the impending departures of Anthem Blue Cross and Cigna from portions of California\u2019s individual insurance market next year, lawmakers agreed to a measure that would allow some seriously ill patients to continue seeing their current providers for a limited time if their insurer discontinued their plan. Under SB 133, introduced by Hernandez, an eligible patient\u2019s coverage would continue even if her doctors didn\u2019t contract with the new health plan, so long as they were willing to accept the new plan\u2019s reimbursement rates.\n\nReproductive Bias\n\nThe Legislature gave the green light to a measure by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego) to prohibit institutions with religious affiliations from firing workers because of their reproductive choices, such as becoming pregnant out of wedlock or having abortions. AB 569 would bar a religion-based employer such as a Christian school from requiring workers to sign a code of conduct that waived their reproductive health rights.\n\nPrescription Drug Costs\n\nAfter a similar proposal fizzled last year, lawmakers last week supported a hotly contested bill by Hernandez that would require drugmakers to report and explain big price hikes. SB 17 directs pharmaceutical companies to notify state agencies and insurers 60 days in advance if they plan to raise prices more than 16 percent over two years on drugs with a wholesale cost of at least $40.\n\nLawmakers also approved AB 265 by Assemblyman Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg), which would ban drugmakers from giving consumers coupons for brand-name drugs when a generic equivalent was available, with some exceptions.\n\nOpen Enrollment\n\nLegislators agreed that Californians who buy insurance for themselves should continue to have a three-month open enrollment period, during which they can choose or switch health plans. By adopting AB 156, also authored by Wood, lawmakers are exempting the Golden State from a Trump administration rule that shortens the sign-up period to 45 days. If endorsed by the governor, the law would apply to people who purchase plans from Covered California and in the open market for coverage in 2019 and beyond. These Californians already are assured a three-month open enrollment period for next year, which will run from Nov. 1 to Jan. 31.\n\nSmoking At State Parks And Beaches\n\nLawmakers approved AB 725 by Assemblyman Marc Levine (D-San Rafael) to ban smoking at state beaches and parks. Violators would face fines of up to $50 per incident. Gov. Brown vetoed a similar effort last year, calling it \u201ctoo broad.\u201d A similar bill by Sen. Steve Glazer (D-Orinda), which proposes a fine of up to $100, also awaits the governor\u2019s decision.\n\nChildhood Lead Poisoning\n\nLegislators adopted AB 1316 by Assemblyman Bill Quirk (D-Hayward), which would strengthen the state\u2019s screening for lead poisoning in children. The bill calls for all California kids to be evaluated by their doctor during regular checkups, and for those deemed \u201cat risk\u201d to undergo a blood screening. Currently, children who receive government assistance such as Medi-Cal must be screened for lead, but that requirement doesn\u2019t extend to other children.\n\nEmail Sign-Up Subscribe to California Healthline's free Daily Edition. Your Email Address Sign Up\n\nSEE YOU NEXT YEAR\n\nRegulating Dialysis Clinics\n\nA proposal by Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) would have required minimum staff-to-patient ratios at dialysis centers, such as one nurse for every eight patients or one technician for every three. The stalled bill, SB 349, also would have mandated more time for staff to prepare between patient appointments. A bill by Assemblyman Rob Bonta (D-Oakland) would have required dialysis centers to spend at least 85 percent of their revenue primarily on direct patient care.\n\nBoth measures were backed by a large labor union, Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW), which has threatened to take the issue directly to voters if the Legislature does not act.\n\nSingle-Payer Health Care\n\nThe ambitious attempt to create one government-administered or \u201csingle-payer\u201d health care system in California has been tabled until next year. SB 562 by Lara and Assemblywoman Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) would provide comprehensive health coverage to all Californians, regardless of immigration status. Private insurance companies would be barred from the system, and enrollees would not be charged copayments or premiums. A legislative committee estimated that the program would require $200 billion annually in additional tax revenue.\n\nSupporters of universal health care hope to put a measure on the statewide ballot that would make it easier to fund a single-payer system.\n\nPediatric Dental Anesthesia\n\nA bill that would have required oral surgeons to have a specially trained staff member with them to monitor a child under anesthesia stalled in committee. Current law allows an oral surgeon to perform surgery and monitor the unconscious child at the same time. AB 224 , by Assemblyman Tony Thurmond (D-Richmond), would have built on last year\u2019s \u201cCaleb\u2019s Law,\u201d named after Caleb Sears, a 6-year-old boy who died in 2015 after oral surgery under anesthesia.\n\nContaining Drug Costs\n\nA measure by Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco) would have brought together administrators from 17 state agencies to devise ways to reduce state drug costs. AB 587 would have expanded an existing state purchasing collaborative that buys drugs for a handful of public health programs, and directed the new group to develop cost controls, such as creating a uniform drug formulary for state agencies.\n\nSB 790 by Sen. Mike McGuire (D-North Coast/North Bay) sought to restrict the pharmaceutical industry\u2019s marketing to doctors, limiting their spending to mostly educational or scientific purposes, which McGuire said could reduce unnecessary prescriptions of pricey drugs.", "output": "California lawmakers approved several key health care proposals \u2014 and stalled on others \u2014 in their mad dash toward last Friday\u2019s do-or-die legislative deadline. They adopted a bill that would require drugmakers to give 60 days\u2019 notice on big price hikes, but pushed off a decision on single-payer health care. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Reinventing Utilization Management (UM) to Bring Value to the Point of Care \n How can health systems deliver the right care, at the right cost, in the right setting, without overwhelming delivery and reimbursement systems with administrative burden?\n\nThe shift from volume to value-based care requires the deft combination of value-based delivery (enabled through actionable intelligence and new care delivery models) and value-based payment (enabled through select provider networks and new reimbursement models).\n\nProviders and payers must operate across a transparent, administratively simple, shared ecosystem. This giant leap from today\u2019s world might appear impossible; however, as providers take on greater accountability for cost, and share more risk with payers, there is a real urgency for change.\n\nThe good news: the technological capabilities needed to affect change are available today. What\u2019s missing: an effective bridge between the current volume-based systems, where communication between providers and payers happens after the care decision (with the limited exception of pre-authorization), and a value-based system, where rich data and enhanced intelligence are automatically shared in real-time to inform decision making.\n\nSuch a bridge can be built by starting with the current, albeit flawed, pre-authorization model as a foundation, enhancing current core systems and investments rather than trying to completely rebuild healthcare. The result is a new form of utilization management (UM) that shifts the balance of interactions from post-care decision with claims to pre-care decisions.\n\nThis can be done through multiple layers of seamless automation that use existing medical information systems (i.e., electronic health records (EHRs), care management portals, etc.) to minimize or even eliminate routine administrative tasks, and empower providers and payers to focus manual medical necessity and authorization review efforts only on cases that require their clinical expertise.\n\nThis exception-based approach increases the value of review and authorization processes by adding evidence-based decision support to their roles. By driving communication around evidence-based practices and appropriate care at the point of decision, the industry starts to bring value-based care delivery and, ultimately, value-based payment together.\n\nSolving this practical challenge will foster genuine collaboration between payers and providers based on a shared priority to ensure that quality care for value is delivered, while significantly reducing their administrative burdens.\n\nThe limits of traditional utilization management\n\nThe shift to value-based care would seem so logical and promising that nearly all stakeholders would want to support it. The reality is that current payer-provider relationships, their technological systems, and their organizational infrastructures are only now becoming ready to accommodate the transition.\n\nIn the new world of value, payers and providers should be able to collaborate effortlessly at the point of care. A patient entered into the system by the provider should automatically trigger the relevant data, processes and tools needed to deliver cost-effective, evidence-based quality care.\n\nProviders and payers should know the patient\u2019s relevant care history, which approaches and treatments are supported by the evidence, and whether those are included in the patient\u2019s insurance benefits package and provider network. The payment of care should be administered under the appropriate reimbursement model, and providers should have shared access to the data and actionable intelligence needed to deliver the right care in the right setting.\n\nThis is decidedly not the case in the traditional volume-based healthcare system. Pre-authorization and admission review are limited and often flawed examples of opportunities for payers and providers to interact and determine the clinical and financial impacts of care.\n\nUnder the current approach to UM, providers must seek approval from payers for care through a cumbersome, manual and often retrospective process. This puts payers in the position of serving as guardians of cost, medical necessity, network utilization and reimbursement rules.\n\nTraditional utilization management also fails to deliver rich data on provider utilization patterns and network performance that can be shared between payer and provider. This hinders the development of improved policies, high performing networks and effective, targeted provider interventions.\n\nNot surprisingly, payers and providers view this relationship as adversarial and the traditional utilization management function as a burdensome but necessary evil, fraught with the potential for conflict.\n\nAccording to a study from the American Medical Association1:\n\nAbout 64 percent of physicians reported difficulty determining which tests, procedures and drugs require authorizations.\n\nAbout 63 percent of physicians reported waiting several days for authorization responses on tests and procedures, while 13 percent waited more than a week.\n\nNearly all of physicians reported that eliminating authorization hassles was \u201cvery important\u201d (78 percent) or \u201cimportant\u201d (17 percent).\n\nThe percentage of medical claims reporting prior authorization increased on average by 2.3 percent from 2011 to 2013, with some payers doubling and tripling the number of care events that require authorization.5 Additional studies found each preauthorization costs payers and providers between $50 and $100, adding to the $74 billion annually2 in administrative costs to payers, and increasing the estimated $31 billion in annual administrative costs burdening providers (roughly $68,274 per physician).3\n\nWhile the complexity and uncertainty created by the shift from volume to value-based care is significant, the opportunities created by reform are promising. It is estimated, for example, that enhanced collaboration can lead to a significant reduction in the $800 billion lost to administrative inefficiencies, provider inefficiencies and error, medically unnecessary and duplicative care, unwarranted use, and overutilization and fraud and abuse.4\n\nShifting to a collaborative exception-based model\n\nAlthough traditional utilization management tends to be universally disliked, if transformed into a new collaborative model, it could serve as a bridge to the future.\n\nUtilization management already drives the collection and aggregation of clinical and financial performance data, although it is generally not available for analyses until long afterward when claims and care management data has been retrieved and reported. That said, it is precisely this aggregation of clinical data that provides an opening for collaboration and for enhancing decision support in advance of care.\n\nWhile the administrative burden of conducting a manual review is high, it is possible to automate the authorization process by integrating it into both the payer\u2019s and provider\u2019s workflows. This would lead to a significant reduction of the manual work involved in following up on authorization requests as well as helping to eliminate redundant medical reviews.\n\nThis process could be further streamlined by programmatically extracting data directly from the electronic health record (EHR) to automatically populate the medical review. Querying the clinical record directly in this way brings obvious advantages to the UM process, reducing the administrative work required for the medical review, and reducing human errors introduced when clinicians manually copy information between multiple systems.\n\nSignificantly, from the payer\u2019s perspective, automating this process increases the trustworthiness of the review because the clinical data came directly from the EHR\u2014the source of truth\u2014without human intervention. And when the automated process transfers the clinical values into the medical review, that additional transparency further enhances trust.\n\nIn this scenario, immediate approval could be generated based on medical review results coupled with the payer\u2019s business rules. Automated decisions could also take into account data on provider utilization patterns and network performance.\n\nThe ability to configure options based on the utilization patterns of a provider or care event is important to developing a collaborative win-win relationship between a payer and its providers. The more the provider\u2019s practices are in line with evidence and policy, the lower the administrative burden.\n\nBoth the payer and provider can see this practice data\u2014the provider can demonstrate proficiency, and the payer can monitor and incentivize provider participation without the burden of a manual discussion. In the process, the provider will know automatically if care events are covered, what the appropriate medical and network polices are, and whether they require a deep manual review or simply a notification as they are making their decisions and before the care is delivered.\n\nTo drive optimal provider adoption, this must be done across care events\u2014diagnostics, procedures, specialty drugs, DME, etc.\u2014and across their various payers, bringing a familiar, common workflow to the user, which is much more attractive than having to go to multiple systems for multiple payers.\n\nOptimizing utilization processes with analytics\n\nHow does a payer continue to manage authorizations that are approved the majority of the time, without intervening in the care delivery process excessively? The data generated by automation must be gathered in a cloud-based shared ecosystem, measured and smartly managed by exception.\n\nIn this way, the payer intervenes only to the degree necessary. If the provider is delivering appropriate, evidence-based care, then the burden of scrutiny should be minimized and it should be easier for the provider to deliver and be reimbursed for care. That is the formula for a collaborative payer-provider relationship and one needed for value-based care.\n\nTo understand when interventions can be minimized, payers must measure and manage utilization patterns, while refining policies and processes.\n\nMeasure Measuring utilization data requires examining it in aggregate as part of an overall trend, rather than in terms of individual authorizations. Doing so makes apparent which requests are being automatically approved and which are automatically reviewed or canceled, and how frequently such interventions happen. This can be done based on the plan, product, provider, patient or care event. Manage Drilling down, payers can compare utilization patterns of different networks and providers, and observe variations in care events and procedures. Accordingly, the health plan can identify outliers where requests are higher volume compared to the peer-set norm, in or out of network, or not in line with evidence-based approaches. In addition, it can also see when requests are routine and do not warrant additional scrutiny that would waste administrative resources. Based on this data analysis, the health plan can build a nuanced exception-based approach by refining and optimizing its rules of authorization to facilitate the approval of requests that are aligned with quality and cost objectives while triggering notification in the system to scrutinize requests that are outside of their set parameters. Refine Once a system is in place to automate routine requests and signal alerts about outliers, the health plan and the provider can work together to understand the root causes of the outliers and intervene as appropriate. Ultimately, this collaboration can result in improved performance for the system from both administrative and medical cost perspectives that benefit the provider and the payer alike. This can also serve as key performance data for value-based relationships between them.\n\nThe more providers can align their care practices with the benefits and policies of the payer, the more providers will avoid the administrative burden of utilization management and be better able to demonstrate their value to a payer\u2019s narrow network.\n\nPerformance-driven collaboration\n\nIn a value-based system, we are striving toward collaboration. How can exception-based utilization management be implemented, and what are the benefits of this model for both parties?\n\nIn this system, payers and providers communicate about care delivery in near real-time and learn to develop a more nuanced understanding of utilization patterns and variations in care. Over time, payer rules and actionable content can be infused into the many points of decision that are being made by the provider. This will help determine the appropriateness of medical care while also reducing administrative burdens. Most significantly, it creates a traversable pathway to a value-based care system.\n\nThis approach engages providers and payers with a common language. They are using a shared technology to measure, manage and refine quality care delivery in line with coverage policy. It reduces barriers internally, and between payers and providers, so that the various functions can communicate across traditional silos. Eventually, this also opens the door to integrate shared rules into the provider\u2019s workflow.\n\nThis is an essential bridge from volume to value. When utilization patterns and the benefits of improved performance are shared openly, the provider can organize its care delivery to drive value, and the health plan can incent or support such efforts by paying for value. Over time, payers will direct more care to the best performing providers, as defined by their ability to meet quality and cost goals in accordance with evidence. The best providers will work to increasingly align their practices to meet the payer\u2019s definition of value.\n\nMaking the vision real\n\nA transformative system is well within reach. It starts with the technology tools and platforms being developed today, and the collaborative ecosystem forming among the network of payers, providers and vendors across the healthcare space.\n\nBy fully automating the authorization process, redundancy\u2014where both payers and providers perform the same medical reviews\u2014can be eliminated, and authorizations can be provided without needing to manually handle the request. This helps reduce administrative costs, speed authorizations, and helps ensure appropriate care.\n\nException-based UM is now a reality, and the elimination of the adversarial relationship heralds better days ahead for payers, providers and patients.\n\nAbout the Author:\n\nNilo Mehrabian: Vice President, Product Management, Decision Support, Change Healthcare\n\nNilo Mehrabian has more than 25 years of experience in the healthcare market, serving the last 20 years in healthcare IT. She is responsible for the Decision Support products at Change Healthcare.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1American Medical Association, AMA Survey of Physicians on Preauthorization Requirements (May 2010)\n\n2Medical Economics, Curing the prior authorization headache (October, 2013)\n\n3McKinsey & Company, Preauthorization sizing, McKesson report (2008)\n\n4Health Affairs, What Does it Cost Physician Practices to Interact with Health Plans? (July/August 2009)\n\n5Thomson Reuters report, http://www.reuters.com/article/usa-healthcare-waste-idUSN2516799520091026 (October, 2009)\n\n6American Hospital Association, Study: 75% of hospitals have at least a basic EHR (November, 2015)", "output": "How can health systems deliver the right care, at the right cost, in the right setting, without overwhelming delivery and reimbursement systems with administrative burden? The shift from volume to value-based care requires the deft combination of value-based delivery (enabled through actionable intelligence and new care delivery models) and value-based payment (enabled through select provider networks and new reimbursement models).\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Latest Health Care Repeal Plan Would Give States Sweeping Discretion \n In a new Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana have released a plan that would essentially allow states to come up with their own health care plans using a federal block grant.\n\nThe grant money would replace federal dollars currently being spent on Medicaid expansion and on subsidies to help people afford insurance under the health law, also known as Obamacare. All of this funding would expire in 2027.\n\nLike earlier Republican health care overhaul bills, the new bill would also make permanent, structural changes to the Medicaid program for beneficiaries who qualified before the expansion, converting it from an open-ended federal health care program to one that caps federal spending on each beneficiary.\n\nHow the bill would alter major parts of Obamacare\n\nRepeal Change Keep Medicaid expansion Taxes created under Obamacare Dependent coverage until 26 Subsidies for out-of-pocket costs Essential health benefits Tax credits for premiums Prohibitions on annual and lifetime limits Individual mandate Pre-existing conditions policy Employer mandate Restrictions on charging more for older Americans Health savings account\n\nRepeal Medicaid expansion Subsidies for out-of-pocket costs Tax credits for premiums Individual mandate Employer mandate Change Taxes created under Obamacare Essential health benefits Prohibitions on annual and lifetime limits Pre-existing conditions policy Restrictions on charging more for older Americans Health savings account Keep Dependent coverage until 26\n\nRepeal\n\nMedicaid expansion\n\nOBAMACARE Changed Medicaid\u2019s eligibility requirements to allow more people to enroll if a state chose to expand the program. The federal government pays at least 90 percent of the costs for newly eligible beneficiaries.\n\nSENATE BILL The Cassidy-Graham bill would repeal Medicaid expansion. And instead it would create a big block of money for health coverage that states could use as they saw fit. The money would be used for residents who are currently eligible for the Medicaid expansion or the Affordable Care Act markets.\n\nMoney would be redistributed among states, using a complex formula, and the funding would expire entirely in 2027. Over all, states that expanded Medicaid would receive less money than they would under the Affordable Care Act.\n\nRepeal\n\nSubsidies for out-of-pocket costs\n\nOBAMACARE Provides subsidies to help people with lower incomes pay for out-of-pocket costs like deductibles and co-payments.\n\nSENATE BILL Would repeal the subsidies in 2020. States could use money from their block grants to lower cost-sharing for low-income beneficiaries, but they would not be required to do so.\n\nRepeal\n\nTax credits for premiums\n\nOBAMACARE Gives tax credits to middle-income Americans to offset the cost of premiums, based on their income and the cost of insurance in their area.\n\nSENATE BILL Would repeal premium tax credits in 2020. But states could use the new block grant money to create their own subsidy programs.\n\nChange\n\nTaxes created under the Affordable Care Act\n\nOBAMACARE Imposed new taxes to help pay for expanding coverage to more people. They include taxes on investment income, wages above $200,000, medical devices, prescription drugs and indoor tanning.\n\nSENATE BILL The measure would repeal the tax on medical devices but leave most other Obamacare taxes in place.\n\nChange\n\nEssential health benefits\n\nOBAMACARE Requires all insurers to offer 10 categories of essential health benefits, like maternity treatment and hospital care.\n\nSENATE BILL States would be allowed to obtain waivers to eliminate the essential health benefits.\n\nChange\n\nProhibitions on annual\n\nand lifetime limits\n\nOBAMACARE Bars insurers from setting a limit on how much they have to pay to cover someone.\n\nSENATE BILLThe provision would not technically be repealed. But the caps would be less meaningful in states that pursued waivers and did not choose to guarantee coverage for essential health benefits. That\u2019s because the annual and lifetime limits and essential health benefits are interrelated.\n\nChange\n\nPre-existing conditions\n\nOBAMACARE Requires insurers to cover people regardless of pre-existing medical conditions and bars them from setting prices based on a person\u2019s health history.\n\nSENATE BILL The requirement that insurers must cover people with pre-existing conditions would not be eliminated everywhere, but states would be able to obtain waivers to charge different premiums based on health status. Such waivers would effectively eliminate Obamacare\u2019s protections, since people with prior health problems could be priced out of the market.\n\nChange\n\nRestrictions on charging more for older Americans\n\nOBAMACARE Bans insurers that sell policies directly to individuals from charging their oldest customers more than three times what they charge their youngest ones.\n\nSENATE BILL While it would not eliminate the restriction, the bill would allow states to obtain waivers that let insurers charge different premiums based on age.\n\nRepeal\n\nIndividual mandate\n\nOBAMACARE Requires all Americans to buy health insurance or pay a tax penalty, with exceptions for people who have experienced hardships.\n\nSENATE BILL Would eliminate the penalties retroactive to 2016.\n\nRepeal\n\nEmployer mandate\n\nOBAMACARE Requires larger companies to provide affordable insurance to their employees, or face financial penalties.\n\nSENATE BILL Eliminates the penalties retroactive to 2016.\n\nChange\n\nHealth savings account\n\nOBAMACARE In 2017, allows an individual to put $3,400 and a family to put $6,750 into a tax-free health savings account.\n\nSENATE BILL The bill would increase the amounts people could put into their health savings accounts. It would also allow people to use health savings account money to pay insurance premiums, a change from current law.\n\nKeep\n\nDependent coverage until 26\n\nOBAMACARE Allows children to stay on their parents\u2019 insurance policies until age 26.", "output": "In a new Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana have released a plan\u00a0that would essentially allow states to come up with their own health care plans using a federal block grant.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How this 72-year-old weightlifter is lifting expectations \n WILLIAM BRANGHAM:\n\nFinally, to our NewsHour Shares, something that caught our eye that might be of interest to you as well.\n\nStaying in shape is difficult for many people, no matter their age. But one Virginia grandmother is raising the bar, literally.\n\nThe NewsHour's Julia Griffin has this profile.", "output": "A 60-year-old grandmother from Fairfax, Virginia, developed a love for weightlifting and garnered up to 12 world records in her age and weight categories. Now 72, Linda Leightley can deadlift 273 pounds and is breaking preconceptions about the limitations of age and gender.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Analyst values Google's travel business at around $100bn \n by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, September 18, 2017\n\nGoogle's plan to dominate the travel business with search, referrals, recommendations and online advertising buys through AdWords seems to be working. One analyst firm suggests Google's travel business worth is about $100 billion.\n\nGoogle's U.S.-booked air volume rose 13.6% year-over-year to $159 million, according to one report.\n\nAt $100 billion, Google\u2019s travel business contributes about 15% to Google\u2019s $650 billion market cap, according to Skift Research.\n\nHere's how analysis from Skift Research comes to this conclusion by analyzing financial disclosures for the first half of 2017 and full-year 2016, and estimating how much these companies spent on Google.\n\nThe research group estimates that metasearch engines like Kayak and Trivago will spend 25% more, helping Google's travel business to generate about $14 billion in revenue in 2017.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nPriceline spent 23.5% more on advertising during the six months of 2017 compared with the prior year, which puts digital ad spend on pace to reach $4.3 billion in 2017, according to the research. And while Expedia does not disclose quarterly ad spend, the research note mentions it does disclose direct marketing costs -- which rose 28%, putting Expedia's digital ad spend at about $2.9 billion.\n\nPriceline, which broke down its online and offline advertising in 2016 filings, recently changed to performance advertising from brand advertising such as TV. The research firm uses performance metrics as a proxy for online spend. Figures suggest that Priceline spent 92% of its ad budget online.\n\nAnd with a few numbers on hand within Expedia's footnotes in its financial statement, Skift analysts estimates Expedia spent 85%. Factored into that number, research from Skift analyzed Expedia's exposure to Trivago\u2019s television push.\n\nCombined, Priceline and Expedia likely spent $5.8 billion on digital advertising in 2016.\n\nThe analysis also factors in hotels -- with Airbnb specifically at about $1 billion, and other travel agencies amounting to about $5 billion in Google ad spend in 2016, which includes AdWords.", "output": "Google's travel business is worth $100bn, according to Skift Research. Skift arrived at this conclusion by assessing financial disclosures from the first half of the year and projecting client's estimated spends: it guessed that Kayak and Trivago will up their spend by 25%, letting Google's travel business take\u00a0$14 billion in 2017. Hotels are factored into the analysis, with Airbnb accounting for $1 billion, and other travel agencies amounting to around $5 billion in ad spend in 2016.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Rich American seniors are getting healthier, not poor ones \n The U.S. has seen substantial improvements in life expectancy over the past century, particularly for those who are better-educated and more affluent.\n\nOur study, out today, looks at the health of older Americans in recent years, using data collected by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on more than 50,000 seniors age 65 and older. Seniors in 2014 were 14 percent more likely to report that they were in very good or excellent health, compared to seniors in 2000.\n\nHowever, a closer look tells a worrisome story: The health divide is widening across socioeconomic groups. Gains in good health primarily went to more advantaged groups.\n\nOur work reveals a health disparity echoed in reports by others. In 1980, a wealthy 50-year-old man could expect to live an additional 5.1 years longer than a poor man of the same age. Thirty years later, the life expectancy of two similar men differs by more than a dozen years.\n\nMeasuring older Americans\u2019 health\n\nHealth can be measured in many different ways. While physical measures such as weight, blood pressure and cholesterol level are excellent markers, it simply isn\u2019t practical to obtain such information in studies that include many thousands of subjects.\n\nMost research to date looks at trends in older adults who are frail or in otherwise poor health. These studies show that disability rates among older adults have declined by 1 to 3 percent every year since the 1980s.\n\nSince seniors have such complex health needs, it may seem to make intuitive sense to track poor health. But this provides only one perspective. In our opinion, examining only those in poor health neglects to consider how good health \u2014 the goal of public health initiatives \u2014 is distributed in the population. Using disability trends to evaluate the health of older Americans is analogous to making conclusions about the U.S. economy based solely on the poverty rate.\n\nIn fact, when disability is used to examine health disparities, it leads to mixed conclusions. For instance, in comparing whites to blacks, one report showed a decline in the disability gap throughout the 1990s, while another showed an increase starting in the 1990s and extending to 2006.\n\nOur work\n\nIt turns out that a single question about health is actually very accurate at estimating an individual\u2019s likelihood of dying: \u201cIn general, would you say that your health is excellent, very good, good, fair or poor?\u201d\n\nBy focusing on good health rather than poor health, we can think of health as an asset much like wealth, where the goal is to be at higher levels. We found that, by taking this new approach, health disparities among seniors became strikingly clear.\n\nWe identified seniors who reported \u201cexcellent\u201d or \u201cvery good\u201d health from 2000 to 2014. Our results show that seniors are more likely to report being healthy in recent years. In 2014, there were 8.4 million more healthy seniors in the U.S. than in 2000.\n\nHowever, the gains in health were primarily among non-Hispanic whites and those of higher educational backgrounds or high family income. For instance, between 2000 to 2014, the number of seniors reporting good health increased by 21 percent among non-Hispanic whites. Meanwhile, during the same period, good health decreased 17 percent among non-Hispanic blacks.\n\nLikewise, good health increased by 10 percent among seniors who possess a graduate degree. It also increased by 23 percent among seniors of high family income \u2014 that is, whose income was greater than or equal to four times the federal poverty level. Less advantaged counterparts \u2014 including those of high school education or less and with family income near or below the federal poverty level \u2014 were not so fortunate.\n\nWhat explains these growing disparities? Given that the individuals in our study were all eligible to participate in Medicare, our results suggest that the influence of social, economic and environmental factors extends beyond access to health insurance.\n\nThis suggests that public health initiatives may miss some intended audiences. For instance, the U.S. government\u2019s Healthy People 2020 initiative aims to manage risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease, a leading cause of mortality. However, a recent report shows that public health gains have benefited the wealthy more than the poor.\n\nThe idea that higher education may affect an individual\u2019s personal \u201cinvestment\u201d in themselves by partaking in healthy behaviors can be traced back to the concept of human capital described by Nobel laureate Gary Becker. Income and education are closely related, and their effect on health can last for a lifetime.\n\nWhy these disparities matter\n\nBy 2050, the population of older adults is expected to nearly double. Older adults\u2019 health will have a significant impact on the national economy, as they will use more health care resources and may stay in the workforce longer.\n\nFurthermore, the growing divide in health suggests that there are at least two different Americas. Depending on where an individual sits on the socioeconomic spectrum, he might expect a different length and quality of life.\n\nDifferences in life expectancy are particularly important as policymakers consider potentially raising retirement age for Social Security or the eligibility age for Medicare. In light of this disparity, such efforts to make federal programs financially sustainable would pay out less in the long run to lower income groups.\n\nIndicators point to greater improvements in the length and quality of life among the most privileged groups in the U.S. This raises important questions regarding how we might design better health systems so that all members of society can benefit.\n\nMatthew A. Davis, Assistant Professor, University of Michigan and Kenneth Langa, Professor of Medicine and Health Policy, University of Michigan", "output": "The U.S. has seen substantial improvements in life expectancy\u00a0over the past century, particularly for those who are better-educated and more affluent.\u00a0Our study, out today, looks at the health of older Americans in recent years, using data collected by the\u00a0U.S. Department of Health and Human Services\u00a0on more than 50,000 seniors age 65 and older. Seniors in 2014 were 14 percent more likely to report that they were in very good or excellent health, compared to seniors in 2000.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple users turn to Siri for emotional support \n Perhaps you\u2019ve stumped Siri before, asking Apple\u2019s automated assistant things like, \u201cWhat is the meaning of life?\u201d or \u201cHow can I be healthier and happier?\u201d\n\nIf so, you\u2019re not alone in turning to your phone for existential guidance and serious, practical life advice. According to an Apple job posting, lots of people do it. That\u2019s why the company is seeking software engineers with feeling\u2014and a background in psychology and peer counseling\u2014to help improve Siri\u2019s responses to the toughest questions.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cPeople talk to Siri about all kinds of things, including when they\u2019re having a stressful day or have something serious on their mind. They turn to Siri in emergencies or when they want guidance on living a healthier life,\u201d states the April ad for a \u201cSiri Software Engineer, Health and Wellness\u201d in Santa Clara, California. The job posting was unearthed by CNBC reporter Christina Farr, who shared it on Twitter on Sept. 14.\n\nThe position requires a unique skill set. Basically, the company is looking for a computer scientist who knows algorithms and can write complex code, but also understands human interaction, has compassion, and communicates ably, preferably in more than one language. The role also promises a singular thrill: to \u201cplay a part in the next revolution in human-computer interaction.\u201d\n\nThe post doesn\u2019t note this, but it\u2019s obvious from the job description that it also offers lots of fodder for a science fiction writer with a Ballardian bent. If this talented, compassionate, emotionally intelligent computer scientist also happens to be literary, we can look forward to a great but creepy tale someday, too, apart from a more intelligent assistant.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nComputer scientists developing artificial intelligence have long debated what it means to be human and how to make machines more compassionate. Apart from the technical difficulties, the endeavor raises ethical dilemmas, as noted in the 2012 MIT Press book Robot Ethics: The Ethical and Social Implications of Robotics.\n\nEven if machines could be made to feel for people, it\u2019s not clear what feelings are the right ones to make a great and kind advisor and in what combinations. A sad machine is no good, perhaps, but a real happy machine is problematic, too. In a chapter on creating compassionate artificial intelligence (pdf), sociologist, bioethicist, and Buddhist monk James Hughes writes:\n\nProgramming too high a level of positive emotion in an artificial mind, locking it into a heavenly state of self-gratification, would also deny it the capacity for empathy with other beings\u2019 suffering, and the nagging awareness that there is a better state of mind.\n\nThe job at Apple has been up since April, so maybe it\u2019s turned out to be a tall order to fill. Still, it shouldn\u2019t be impossible to find people who are interested in making machines more understanding. If it is, we should probably stop asking Siri such serious questions.", "output": "Users are increasingly asking Apple's voice-activated assistant Siri\u00a0questions about their mental well-being, according to the company. In response, Apple is seeking a software engineer with a background in psychology and peer counselling.\u00a0\"People talk to Siri about all kinds of things, including when they\u2019re having a stressful day or have something serious on their mind. They turn to Siri in emergencies or when they want guidance on living a healthier life\", the ad reads.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Swedish mobile payment start-up iZettle raises $36m to explore AI \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nEuropean mobile payments processor iZettle has raised a \u20ac30 million ($36 million) debt round to fund a host of research and development (R&D) initiatives covering areas including machine learning and artificial intelligence.\n\nThe latest financing, which arrives via the E.U.\u2019s European Investment Bank (EIB), comes just nine months after the Swedish startup raised $63 million in funding, which constituted a mix of debt and equity. The company has some big-name backers already too, including Intel\u2019s investment arm Intel Capital, American Express, and Mastercard.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s the type of offer [EIB funding] you can\u2019t refuse, and it will allow us to further accelerate our growth and continue to level the playing field for small businesses, giving them access to tools to take on the big corporations,\u201d noted iZettle CEO and cofounder Jacob de Geer.\n\nThe story so far\n\nFounded out of Sweden in 2010, iZettle is similar to Square, insofar as it targets small to medium-sized businesses with hardware and software that makes it easier to accept card payments from customers through mobile devices.\n\nImage Credit: iZettle\n\niZettle has so far mainly been focused on Europe, including Scandinavia, Germany, Spain, and the U.K., but it has also expanded into Latin America via Brazil and Mexico. While iZettle recently intimated that it has no intentions to encroach on Square\u2019s home turf in the U.S., Square recently launched its service in the U.K., with plans to roll out in further European markets in the future.\n\nHowever the mobile payments battle plays out between these two companies, iZettle clearly hopes that investing in its R&D efforts can give it a competitive advantage in the long term. The four main areas of investment will cover: developing next-gen payments infrastructure; harnessing machine learning and artificial intelligence; scaling legislative and compliance systems; and digitalization of commerce processes.", "output": "European mobile payments processor iZettle has completed a $36m debt round to fund research and development into areas including artificial\u00a0intelligence (AI). The Swedish start-up's technology makes it easier for smaller businesses in Europe to accept card payments through mobile devices. It has also expanded into Latin America, but is understood to have no plans at present to take on Square in the US.\u00a0The company intends to use\u00a0the funding from the European Investment Bank\u00a0to develop\u00a0next-generation payments infrastructure.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bots may replace humans in four million UK roles \n Four million jobs in the British private sector could be replaced by robots in the next decade, according to business leaders asked about the future of automation and artificial intelligence.\n\n\n\nThe potential impact amounts to 15% of the current workforce in the sector and emerged in a poll conducted by YouGov for the Royal Society of Arts, whose chief executive, Matthew Taylor, has been advising Downing Street on the future of modern work.\n\nJobs in finance and accounting, transport and distribution and in media, marketing and advertising are most likely to be automated in the next decade, the research says.\n\nThe RSA\u2019s prediction of the impact of robotics on working lives is lower than some other estimates. Four years ago, academics at the University of Oxford predicted 35% of jobs could be rendered obsolete by new technology, while the Bank of England predicted in 2015 that up to 15m jobs in Britain were at risk from robots \u201chollowing out\u201d the workforce.\n\nThe RSA is also more optimistic about the potential of robots and artificial intelligence than US tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has said AI was \u201cthe scariest problem\u201d and \u201cour biggest existential threat\u201d because, he predicts, they will be able to do everything better than humans.\n\nResearch by the University of Oxford and Deloitte last year predicted more than 850,000 public sector jobs could be lost by 2030 through automation.\n\nAsda operates a fully automated distribution warehouse in west London; white-collar tasks are being automated by PwC, the accountancy firm, and Linklaters, the law firm, which have been developing software robots that use artificial intelligence to learn to do research tasks usually undertaken by junior accountants and lawyers.\n\nThe RSA warns that artificial intelligence and robotics will \u201cundoubtedly cause the loss of some jobs, whether it is autonomous vehicles pushing taxi drivers out of business or picking and packing robots usurping warehouse workers\u201d. But it argues that new technologies could phase out mundane jobs, raise productivity levels and so deliver higher wages and \u201callow workers to concentrate on more human-centric roles that are beyond the reach of machines\u201d.\n\nIt found that business leaders largely believed that new technologies were more likely to alter jobs rather than eliminate them and that this, combined with the creation of new types of jobs, would lead to greater prosperity in the long run.\n\nCare homes are also trialling robots. One in Lincoln plans to use one to help residents remember daily necessities such as taking medication. The robot will also monitor their movements and habits as a nurse would. A care company in London, Three Sisters Home Care, will soon trial the use of robots for lifting people so only one care worker will be needed rather than two.\n\nThree Sisters\u2019 chief executive, Jobeda Ali, told the researchers: \u201cIf I don\u2019t have to send a person to do a transfer job [lifting], I can send them to have a cup of tea and a chat. This is a much better use of their time than carrying patients or cooking meals.\u201d\n\nThe prediction that millions of jobs will be lost to robots led the Trades Union Congress to warn against \u201cshredding good jobs\u201d.\n\n\u201cThe UK must make the most of the economic opportunities that new technologies offer,\u201d said Frances O\u2019Grady, general secretary of the TUC. \u201cRobots and AI could let us produce more for less, boosting national prosperity. But we need to talk about who benefits \u2013 and how workers get a fair share. The productivity gains must be used to improve pay and conditions for workers.\u201d\n\nBenedict Dellot, the author of the report, said the technical limitations on robots, evidenced so far by driverless cars crashing and the difficulty of getting robots to read at an adult level, would restrict the speed with which jobs will be automated.\n\nThe RSA has also warned that Britain needs to invest more in robots or risk falling further behind countries including the US, France, Germany, Spain and Italy where companies are buying more robots than in the UK.\n\n\u201cAI and robotics could solve some of the gaps and problems in the labour market with low-paid, dull, dirty, dangerous jobs that nobody really wants to fill,\u201d Dellot said. \u201cThe technology has the potential to fundamentally improve productivity levels in the UK.\u201d\n\nThe report also warns that increasing automation could deepen economic inequality and \u201cdemographic biases could become further entrenched\u201d. It argues that to avoid this policymakers should take control of the development of the technology by creating an ethical framework to guide the behaviour of AI and to encourage investment in \u201cbenevolent technology that enriches the worker experience\u201d.", "output": "A survey by the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) has suggested that, in the next decade, robots could replace up to four million British\u00a0private sector\u00a0jobs. The RSA also posits that\u00a0its findings point, for the large part, to\u00a0improved roles for workers, having their roles altered rather than eradicated. However, trade unions have warned against the \"shredding (of) good jobs\", illustrating a widespread\u00a0fear that bots will leave many humans unemployed."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Singaporean commercial cybersecurity R&D receives $16m funding \n More than $16 million will be invested to strengthen Singapore's cyber-security research and development, under two separate programmes that aim to produce more commercial cyber-security solutions.\n\nSpeaking at the opening of the second Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (Switch) yesterday, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat announced the move, and said it would further public- private partnerships in areas of advanced cyber security.\n\nNine research projects were granted funding of $15.6 million under a grant call by the National Cybersecurity R&D Programme, which was set up in November last year to develop capabilities to meet Singapore's cyber-security needs.\n\nEach project is a collaboration between a cyber-security company and academic researchers, and falls under one of the nation's three key cyber-security priorities: national security, critical infrastructure and Smart Nation.\n\nFor example, local cyber-security start-up Attila Cybertech is working with researchers from the Singapore University of Technology and Design to use machine learning in the software for critical infrastructure in order to detect strange, out-of-the-ordinary behaviour that might indicate a cyber attack.\n\nSuch partnerships mean that new research findings can be brought to market faster as there is already a company available to market the research.\n\n\"Should our cyber-security researchers arrive at new findings, industry leads... will stand ready to develop them into game-changing solutions,\" said Mr Heng.", "output": "Singaporean Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat has announced more than $16m in funding to boost Singapore's cybersecurity research and development. The investment will go to nine individual projects, each aiming to bolster national\u00a0cybersecurity and reinforce critical infrastructure. The funds\u00a0may also help new developments to reach the market faster. \"Should our cybersecurity researchers arrive at new findings, industry leads... will stand ready to develop them into game-changing solutions,\" said Heng.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Access to devices biggest barrier to digital learning \n Research\n\nBiggest Barriers to Digital Learning: Lack of Time, Lack of Devices\n\nThe biggest barrier to digital learning for teachers is gaining student access to technology. That's followed by a lack of time during the school day. For administrators, the top concern is providing relevant and effective professional development to their staff, followed by limitations and problems with the technological infrastructure, such as WiFi and security. Overall, across both roles, the main obstacle to integrating technology into the classroom was lack of time and an insufficient number of devices to do so.\n\nThose findings surfaced in a survey undertaken for the first time by education technology company Schoology.\n\nSchoology produces a web-based learning management system with tools for creating content, designing lessons and assessing student learning, primarily used in K-12 environments, but also adopted by higher ed. A free version is available for classroom use; a subscription version is intended for school, district or institutional adoption.\n\nThe survey went beyond getting input from Schoology customers. Responses came from 2,846 education professionals specifically in K-12, a quarter of whom were users of the company's online service. Although the response was worldwide, a high volume came from the United States.\n\nPerhaps unsurprisingly (for a survey undertaken by a tech company), almost everybody said digital learning had a positive impact on student achievement (95 percent) and teaching effectiveness (92 percent). However, most of the time, the resources they said they use tend to be \"static\" \u2014 PDFs and Word documents (cited by 90 percent of respondents) and videos (cited by 70 percent). This suggests, the report noted, that institutions \"may be digitizing traditional learning instead of enhancing it.\" Online games came in third, referenced by 42 percent of participants, and publisher content and open educational resources ranked lower (39 percent and 37 percent, respectively).\n\nTeachers and administrators specify their major obstacles to integrating technology into teaching and learning. Source: \"The Global State of Digital Learning in K-12 Education,\" Schoology\n\nAmong other results:\n\nSix in 10 respondents (61 percent) work in institutions that have dedicated instructional technologists.\n\nThe most common hardware set-up is the shared cart of devices. Those are in place at 33 percent of respondent schools. A quarter of respondents run 1-to-1 programs where students can't take devices home; a similar number have 1-to-1s where they can take them home.\n\nNot quite half of participating schools (46 percent) have an LMS in place; 20 percent don't; and a solid third (34 percent) don't know. Among those with LMSes, the larger the institution, the less likely they are to mandate LMS use in the classroom. Whereas 39 percent of education entities with 50,000 or more students required LMS use, the share rose to 54 percent in organizations with fewer than 2,000 students.\n\nThe survey found that frequency of LMS use also corresponded to level of student engagement. The highest proportion of \"very engaged\" students were found in schools where the LMS was used daily.\n\nThe survey also examined instructional approaches that integrate technology. The ones used most by respondents were differentiated instruction (75 percent), blended learning (54 percent), and individualized learning (45 percent). The report pointed out that three biggies that \"command the most press\" aren't being \"practiced as much as one might think.\" For example, flipped learning was mentioned by 35 percent of participants; personalized learning by 32 percent and gamification by 16 percent. Schoology's thinking: that \"these approaches require more time and resources than many of the others.\"\n\nThe complete results, which also cover professional development and the use and types of educator collaboration, are available with registration on the Schoology website.", "output": "Education professionals believe that a shortage of devices and a lack of time are restricting the educational potential of digital systems, according to a study by edtech Schoology. Roughly 95% of teachers believe digital learning has improved education, according to the report, which warned that given 90% of respondents were using non-interactive resources, this could mean traditional teaching methods are being digitised rather than overhauled. The study also revealed that blended learning, flipped classrooms and gamification were not practised as much as might be thought."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "JPMorgan advertises for blockchain project manager \n JP Morgan reveals they are looking for a \u201cTechnical Project Execution Manager \u2013 (Blockchain) Distributed Ledger Technology\u201d despite a very recent vehement attack on Bitcoin, which originated the very blockchain technology the financial services giant seeks to adopt.\n\nIn a move that many are finding ironic, if not downright hypocritical, JP Morgan is on the hunt for an experienced blockchain technician. The job posting comes just days after CEO Jamie Dimon called Bitcoin \u201ca fraud\u201d \u2013 the same fraud whose core open source technology the company has appropriated.\n\nThe job listing on JP Morgan\u2019s website reads:\n\nThe Blockchain Center of Excellence (BCOE) leads efforts for applications of distributed ledger technology (DLT) within J.P. Morgan. We are exploring Blockchain use cases and piloting solutions across business lines. We are active in the Blockchain ecosystem: developing technology, investing in strategic partnerships, and participating in industry consortia.\n\nBitcoin to the Rescue\n\nIt is no secret that big banks are heavily investing in blockchain technology, however, part of Bitcoin\u2019s success is in how it has rewarded miners for building and maintaining a decentralized blockchain infrastructure which is essential to security, while also making the system accountable to everyone.\n\nBitcoin was born as a response to poor financial management after the largest banks, including JP Morgan, contributed to the 2008 world financial crash, leaving a pressing need for a better system. It is no coincidence that Bitcoin came to fruition in the same year when the world was looking for alternatives, Bitcoin was presented.\n\nJamie Dimon\u2019s Blockchain History\n\nDimon\u2019s recent anti-Bitcoin diatribe is hardly a new position for the JP Morgan CEO. During an appearance on CNBC\u2019s coverage of the World Economic Forum meetings in February 2016, he made his feelings about Bitcoin quite clear:\n\nBitcoin the currency, I think, is going to go nowhere [\u2026] There is nothing behind a Bitcoin, and I think if it was big, the governments would stop it\u2026\n\nAt the time of Dimon\u2019s pronouncement, the price of Bitcoin was somewhere in the neighborhood of $400. Four short months later the cryptocurrency nearly doubled in value to $780 and by December 2016 had reached the then-unprecedented value of $1200. Since then, the value of Bitcoin has continued to climb, reaching its all-time high in August of this year at just under $4980. From this perspective, it is easy to see why one former JP Morgan executive told Dimon to STFU about Bitcoin.\n\nDo you think that JP Morgan is sending mixed messages? Is it hypocritical to reject Bitcoin while embracing the core technology that it is built upon? Let us know in the comments below?\n\nImages courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, Reuters/Mike Segar", "output": "JPMorgan is recruiting a specialist to undertake research and development work on blockchain technology. The bank is advertising for a technical project manager to work in its Blockchain Centre of Excellence (BCOE), a unit that it said\u00a0is exploring uses of blockchain and distributed ledger technology across its business. The bank's CEO, Jamie Dimon, recently called the pioneer blockchain currency bitcoin a \"fraud\", but many traditional banks are known to be investing in developing uses for the technology.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dublin-based team creates 3D\u00a0medical devices for disaster zones \n In developing nations during a disaster, quick access to medical equipment can often be left wanting, but 3D printing is trying to bridge the gap.\n\nFor more than a decade now, 3D printing as a concept has promised a revolution in everything from construction to food production but, on the surface, you might think things haven\u2019t changed much.\n\nThis couldn\u2019t be further from the case, however, particularly in medicine where 3D printers have set in motion a future where many of us are already cyborgs \u2013 humans with replacement body parts specifically printed to suit our individual needs.\n\nPerhaps one of the most striking examples of its potential was recently seen at Inspirefest 2017 when NUI Galway research fellow Dr Ellen Roche showed her ingenious solution to print a soft robotic silicone sleeve to keep a heart pumping inside the body.\n\nBut not everything needs to be as complex as this, as the team from Med3DP at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) has shown time and again.\n\nFounded by Dr Michael Monaghan and Dr Conor Buckley, the centre was set up to develop on-demand medical devices for humanitarian healthcare using 3D-printing technology.\n\nSince it began, the group has built a wide range of projects complete with ready-to-print files, documentation and other helpful information for anyone else in an affected disaster zone, so that they can jump right in and start printing devices.\n\nAnyone who visited Inspirefest this summer may have seen some of their creations first-hand, including a working stethoscope to let people listen to their own heartbeat.\n\nOne of those from Med3DP was Pooja Mandal from India, who is undertaking an MSc in bioengineering at TCD with a specialisation in tissue engineering and stem cells.\n\nSpeaking with Siliconrepublic.com, Mandal said that the device templates they are creating can be vital when second-hand medical devices get broken during transit or are lost.\n\nIn many cases, medical devices sent to countries in dire need of equipment are often obsolete or left with no instructions on how to operate them \u2013 but not so with 3D-printed devices.\n\nOne of the projects Mandal and her team in Med3DP worked on that she is particularly proud of is a 3D-printed breast pump, but she admits it\u2019s still at a starting point, with design improvements needed to make it ideal for women in developing countries.\n\n\u201cWhat I would like is to be able to make it into a single component that is easily accessible, so that not much printing time goes into it,\u201d she said.\n\nThis is just one of dozens of other devices the Med3DP team has already designed and built, including an umbilical cord clamp, pocket mask and valve, finger splint kit, and even a neck brace.\n\nIt shows, Mandal said, that 3D printing is certainly not simply a pursuit of makers and designers, but also for scientists like her who see it as making a substantial difference in the field of medicine.\n\n\u201cIt has really revolutionised science as people are trying to get donor-matching organs, but now people can get a proper treatment without any immunogenic response [using 3D printing] \u2026 by building them with their own cells,\u201d she explained.\n\nSo, aside from the impressive output of the group, what would she say is one of its greatest qualities?\n\nThe answer: a diverse team of 14 men and women from multiple nations, not your typical image of a group of exclusively Irish students who might not really understand the complexities of the problems they are trying to solve.\n\n\u201cWe can all talk to each other, hear each other\u2019s ideas, with everyone able to bring in their own scenarios from their countries,\u201d Mandal said.\n\n\u201cEverything played a bigger role into the programme and helped us achieve our ultimate goal of getting into designing proper medical devices, especially from me as someone from a developing country.\n\n\u201cIt was really good for me to see that and I felt that maybe someday I could revolutionise [3D-printing technology] in India.\u201d\n\n3D printing in action. Image: OlegDoroshin/Shutterstock", "output": "Researchers at Trinity College Dublin are using 3D printing to create a range of medical devices for disaster relief situations. The team has established the Med3DP project to pursue the research\u00a0and has already developed a number of device templates including a stethoscope, a breast pump, an umbilical cord clamp and a neck brace. The devices are intended to assist in providing fast access to vital medical equipment in disaster-affected countries where traditional supplies can be difficult to obtain.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Decentralised exchange Kyber Network\u00a0raises $60m in ICO \n The token sale by Kyber Network has reached its full funding cap of 200,000 ETH, worth about $60 million at an Ethereum Ethereum Ethereum is an open source, blockchain-based distributed computing platform and operating system featuring smart contract functionality. Created in 2014, Ethereum now stands as the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap at the time of writing.As a decentralized cryptocurrency network and software platform, Ethereum represents the most prominent altcoin. Ethereum also enables the creation Distributed Applications, or dapps. Understanding EthereumEthereum boasts its own programming language, Ethereum is an open source, blockchain-based distributed computing platform and operating system featuring smart contract functionality. Created in 2014, Ethereum now stands as the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap at the time of writing.As a decentralized cryptocurrency network and software platform, Ethereum represents the most prominent altcoin. Ethereum also enables the creation Distributed Applications, or dapps. Understanding EthereumEthereum boasts its own programming language, Read this Term price level of $300. The service is a decentralized and trustless exchange for instant conversions between crypto-assets.\n\nLearn how to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum safely with our simple guide!\n\nThrough KyberNetwork, a user can send one token to a recipient who wishes to receive the payment in another token in a single transaction. It will also introduce a new Smart Contract Smart Contract A smart contract is a piece of software that automatically executes a pre-determined set of actions when a certain set of criteria or met. One of the key tenets of smart contracts is their ability to perform credible transactions without third parties and are self-executing, with their conditions written into the lines of code that form themAdditionally, these transactions are both trackable and irreversible. For example, a smart contract could be used to give royalty payouts to a musical artist A smart contract is a piece of software that automatically executes a pre-determined set of actions when a certain set of criteria or met. One of the key tenets of smart contracts is their ability to perform credible transactions without third parties and are self-executing, with their conditions written into the lines of code that form themAdditionally, these transactions are both trackable and irreversible. For example, a smart contract could be used to give royalty payouts to a musical artist Read this Term interface that would allow existing wallets, which only accepts certain specific tokens, to receive any existing or future token without having to modify the token contract code.\n\nPrior to the ICO, Kyber Network CEO and co-founder Loi Luu sat down to talk with Finance Magnates about the project ahead of its token sale. Listen to the interview on SoundCloud or watch it on YouTube:\n\nFollowing the completion of the token sale Luu commented: \"I would like to thank the Kyber Network team members and advisors for getting the company to successfully raise a good round. Not forgetting the community moderators and volunteers who have been extremely diligent in keeping the community safe and secure for all members, and in keeping the communication from Kyber Network to fellow members succinct. Lastly, this token sale wouldn\u2019t have been possible if not for the enthusiastic support from all of you.\n\nThis marks the end of one phase and the beginning of another. Moving forward, we will channel our energy and resources to product and business development. We promise that we will continue our effort in creating a world-class and highly usable platform that everyone has access to.\"", "output": "Cryptocurrency exchange Kyber Network has raised $60m in its initial coin offering. The platform is a decentralised exchange service which allows users to send and receive payments in different currencies, without having to go through a centralised exchange.\u00a0The company plans to introduce a smart contract interface to allow existing electronic wallets to accept new types of cryptocurrency without requiring a modification of the contract code.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mobile devices lower hospitalisations in rural India \n Update: This story has been updated to include additional quotes from the study's researchers.\n\nHeart disease patients visiting mobile health clinics outfitted with pocket-sized, smartphone-connected ECGs and other point-of-care medical devices are more quickly referred for therapy, and less frequently experience hospitalization or death.\n\nAccording to a recent study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the benefits of these portable devices could be especially key in transforming healthcare delivery in regions strapped for resources.\n\n\u201cSuch areas have the highest rates of chronic diseases, [yet] have the lowest availability of diagnostic tests,\u201d lead author Dr. Sanjeev Bhavnani, of the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, told MobiHealthNews. \u201cBy way of their portability, new mobile health devices such as pocket ultrasound and the smartphone-iECG maybe uniquely poised to improve healthcare access and lead to earlier treatment decisions, especially for high risk patients.\u201d\n\nIn the study, researchers enrolled Indian outpatients with new or established diagnoses of rheumatic and structural heart disease. The patients were randomly assigned to receive either standard care (n=114), or were referred to a clinic equipped with a suite of wireless point-of-care devices (n=139), including pocket-echocardiography (General Electric\u2019s VScan); smartphone-connected oximetry and blood pressure monitors (iHealth); activity monitors (Ozeri); a smartphone-connected ECG (AliveCor); and fingerstick B-type natriuretic peptide tests (Alere Triage).\n\nOver a 12-month observational period, the researchers found that patients who initially visited a mobile health clinic were significantly more likely to be referred for a valvuloplasty, valve replacement, or both procedures and, to a less significant extent, undergo the therapies. Furthermore, those assessed with the mobile health devices were also at significantly less risk of hospitalization or death, which the researchers attributed to the mobile health clinic\u2019s improved characterization of structural heart disease and more prompt referral to care.\n\nThe researchers lamented the smaller and unequal sample sizes of the treatment groups, but noted in their study that the use of readily available technologies, hard clinical outcome measurements, and real-world implementation add validity to their results.\n\n\"To our knowledge this is the first randomized study that shows how modern cardiology clinics can be organized for triaging symptomatic patients efficiently and how decision making can be accelerated using a combination of mHealth technologies that look at different dimensions of a disease,\u201d principal investigator Dr. Partho Sengupta, of the West Virginia University School of Medicine, told MobiHealthNews. \u201cThe outcomes suggest potential substantial cost-savings and cost-efficacy studies are needed to evaluate the impact on health-economics using such strategies.\"\n\nThe opportunities and need for more data regarding mobile phone-connected health devices outside of resource-rich settings was previously explored in a 2015 review, in which the authors argued that \u201cpriorities should be set for investments and guidance in evaluation disseminated by the scientific community to practitioners and policymakers.\u201d", "output": "Patients in rural India fitted with wireless mobile health devices have lower incidences of hospitalisation and death, according to a study. Led by Dr. Partho Sengupta of the West Virginia University School of Medicine in the US, the study enrolled patients in remote parts of India diagnosed\u00a0with rheumatic and structural heart disease. Those who were given mobile health devices were found to have better outcomes, although the researchers noted the small and unequal sample sizes used in the trial.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Use of virtual reality growing in nurses' training\u00a0in the US \n Research\n\nNursing Ed Using More Virtual Simulation, Other New Tech\n\nA recent survey of thought leaders in the nursing field revealed that nursing education programs are accelerating adoption of virtual simulation and other cutting-edge technologies.\n\nThe study, conducted by Wolters Kluwer Health and the National League for Nursing Center for Innovation in Simulation and Technology, found that 65 percent of nursing education programs currently use virtual simulation to train students, 84 percent use instructional video for skill development and 75 percent employ online/distance learning. Rounding out the technology landscape:\n\nAdaptive quizzing and testing (used by 64 percent of nursing programs);\n\nElectronic health record applications (60 percent);\n\nIntegrated digital curriculum (49 percent);\n\nMobile apps (41 percent);\n\nSocial media (37 percent);\n\nFacetime/videoconferencing (35 percent); and\n\nE-portfolios of student work (31 percent).\n\nThe survey also identified technologies where adoption is expected to increase significantly in the near future. Use of virtual reality will jump from 10 percent to 45 percent over the next five years; mobile apps will go from 41 percent to 59 percent; and data analytics tools and predictive analytics will go from 14 percent to 34 percent, the researchers predicted.\n\nThe top three reasons for all that change, according to the study:\n\nChanges in technology being used in practice; Nursing schools are adapting to meet the way incoming students learn; and Reduction in the number of available clinical sites.\n\n\"This survey confirms the important role nurse educators play in advancing the use of technology in the classroom through their willingness to act as early adopters and trailblazers,\" commented Julie Stegman, vice president and publisher, Nursing Education, Wolters Kluwer Health Learning, Research & Practice, in a statement. \"By seeking out innovative technologies like adaptive quizzing and virtual simulation, nurse educators are helping to overcome resource challenges and pave the way for their peers in other areas of higher education to also benefit from these advances.\"\n\nFor more information on the survey, visit the Wolters Kluwer Health site.", "output": "The use of virtual reality (VR) and other new technology in educating nurses in the US is increasing, according to a study by health tech firm Wolters Kluwer and the National League for Nursing's Center for Innovation in Simulation and Technology. The survey found 65% of nursing education programmes use virtual simulation to train students, and 75% use online and distance learning. The use of full VR is predicted to grow from 10% to 45% over the next five years, while the use of mobile apps will jump from 41% to 59%.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US launches drive to compose standards for\u00a0offshore wind industry \n The U.S. has launched a new initiative to develop a set of standards for the offshore wind sector.\n\nThe three-year project is a collaboration between the the Department of Energy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, Business Network for Offshore Wind and the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).\n\nAn Offshore Wind Technical Advisory Panel comprising industry stakeholders has been formed and will guide the scope of activities for a group of new technical sub-working groups, which will develop the standards.\n\nAccording to a release from the Governors\u2019 Wind & Solar Energy Coalition, the proposed sub-groups cover the updating of the AWEA\u2019s 2012 offshore compliance recommended practices, floating offshore turbines, geotechnical data requirements and met-ocean requirements for US waters.\n\nThe standards, which will be recognized by the American National Standards Institute, will allow BOEM to \u201cadopt better requirements that reflect the latest industry best practices.\u201d\n\n\u201cThese standards and guidelines will form the basis for BOEM to establish transparent compliance requirements that will help industry in turn provide safe and reliable offshore wind facilities that serve the US electric supply,\u201d said Walt Musial, NREL principal engineer and chairman of the Offshore Wind Standards working group.\n\nNREL will host a webinar on September 26 to provide information on the work to stakeholders and potential working group participants.", "output": "A three-year project to develop a set of standards for the offshore wind sector has been launched by US government and energy organisations. The Department of Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, Business Network for Offshore Wind and the American Wind Energy Association are collaborating on the initiative. Technical sub-working groups overseen\u00a0by a panel\u00a0of industry stakeholders are to\u00a0draw up the guidelines --\u00a0which should reflect\u00a0industry best practices --\u00a0ready for\u00a0recognition by the American National Standards Institute.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Milrem Robotics partners with QinetiQ on battlefield robot system \n In an effort to give soldiers new robotic systems for defense applications, Milrem Robotics, which is a provider of defense technologies, will expand the capabilities of its THeMIS UGV.\n\nOne of Milrem Robotics\u2019 goals is to enhance the situational awareness of warfighters, so several systems are being developed, including the TITAN SENTRY concept, which was developed in collaboration with QinetiQ.\n\n\u200bThe TITAN SENTRY concept, which includes the Milrem Robotics-designed THeMIS UGV, along with a suite of sensor systems integrated by QinetiQ, is an \u201cexploration of manned/unmanned teaming where the cognitive burden on the warfighter is vastly reduced through the fusion of sensor data and advanced battlespace management systems.\u201d It is meant to operate in high threat areas, as it can identify and fix enemy locations while reducing the risk of casualties.\n\nMilrem Robotics has also started developing an unmanned system that combines the THeMIS UGV with UAS. The company is also working with Eli, which is an Estonian UAV manufacturer, to develop a UAS nest, and they have also begun a tethered multirotor UAS integration project with Threod Systems.\n\nThese systems can be used during high risk situations or in remote areas where a larger area needs oversight, without the need of a human operator to be present.\n\nKuldar V\u00e4\u00e4rsi, the CEO of Milrem Robotics, says that robotic systems are very important for keeping soldiers as safe as possible.\n\n\u201cRemotely controlled robotic systems that keep our soldiers in a safe distance are crucial to the next generation of battlefield effects that will give asymmetric advantage to the warfighter,\u201d V\u00e4\u00e4rsi says.", "output": "Milrem Robotics has partnered with security technology firm QinetiQ for its TITAN SENTRY battlefield robot\u00a0system. The setup features\u00a0Milrem's\u00a0THeMIS unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) fitted with QinetiQ\u00a0sensors that the company said\u00a0will\u00a0feed soldiers in-the-field data to\u00a0help\u00a0them\u00a0identify\u00a0and fix\u00a0enemy locations while\u00a0reducing the risk of casualties. Milrem is also seeking to link THeMIS\u00a0with aerial drones for use in higher-risk or remote\u00a0areas. The TITAN SENTRY system was exhibited at the Defence and Security Equipment International exhibition in London.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese robot performs first autonomous dental surgery \n World first autonomous dental implant robot put into use in China\n\nTech & Sci CGTN", "output": "The world\u2019s first fully autonomous dental implant robot has successfully completed a surgery in under an hour. The robot, developed in China, must perform a CT scan of the patient's mouth before proceeding, allowing it to calculate the exact motions required to perform the operation. The machine is capable of fitting 3D-printed cavity fillings, tailored to patient's individual needs."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Commonwealth Bank of Australia to add Android Pay, Garmin watches \n Commonwealth Bank has teamed with Google to offer Android Pay and will also enable payments on the go with Garmin smartwatches.\n\nAndroid Pay allows customers to make convenient and secure payments on their Android compatible devices. Android Pay is available at almost 800,000 stores across Australia, wherever contactless payments are accepted.\n\nGarmin has recently launched a smartwatch and CommBank customers will be able to make payments with a tap of their smartwatch. These smartwatch payments will be available across Android and iOS phones.\n\nMichael Baumann, General Manager Everyday Banking & Payments, Commonwealth Bank said CommBank's 4.4 million app users now have more ways than ever to pay.\n\n'In June this year we saw weekly transactions across the CommBank app hit $6.1 billion so we know customers love using their phones to make payments and do their banking. Since 2013 our customers have been able to use their smartphones to make payments. By offering customers the ability to pay with Android Pay and with their Garmin smartwatches we are combining choice and convenience.'\n\nAndroid Pay complements the CommBank app's Tap & Pay functionality allowing customers to make contactless payments using an Android smartphone of their choice. The CommBank app digital wallet also allows customers to store and use their favourite store loyalty cards and simply and easily transfer money to family and friends.\n\nFor customers who use an iOS device, CommBank has offered contactless payments via an optional PayTag sticker for more than three years. Customers can use the PayTag sticker to make contactless payments up to $100 by simply tapping their phone.\n\nRecent changes to CommBank's Tap & Pay will allow customers to choose their preferred way of making payments with their mobile phone. Customers can set up Tap & Pay in the CommBank mobile app, and select between the convenience of simply powering up the phone to tap at the POS, using the smartphones device security such as Touch ID to tap, or opening up the CommBank app to tap.\n\nAndroid Pay will be available to Commonwealth Bank customers before the end of the year.\n\nGarmin smartwatches have been launched globally and CommBank customers will be able to use these when they hit the market in early October.", "output": "The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has announced it is teaming up with Google to allow the bank's customers to complete transactions via Android Pay and make on-the-go payments with Garmin smartwatches. Michael Baumann, the general manager of everyday banking and payments, said the partnership will give app users \"more ways than ever to pay\", with transactions up to AUD100 ($80) available via contactless payments using the bank's PayTag system. Android Pay will be available to the bank's users before the end of the year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Drone services provider Measure opens franchise\u00a0in Illinois \n Measure, a U.S. provider of drone services for enterprise customers, announced its first franchise location with the grand opening of Measure Springfield in Illinois. The new office provides local, face-to-face service for businesses in Central Illinois that are interested in using aerial data collection to improve productivity, control costs, and increase workplace safety.\n\nMeasure Springfield offers turnkey, industry-specific solutions that combine best-in-class drone technology with professional drone pilots, data collection, data processing and easy-to-understand reporting\n\nThe franchise\u2019s primary focus is on the construction, energy, and telecommunications sectors. Capabilities range from include inspecting wind and solar farm infrastructure, as well as surveying construction sites.\n\nAll services enable customers to take advantage of the efficiencies and insights of drone technology without the time, expense, and experienced personnel required to manage their own drone programs.\n\n\u201cOur franchising program is designed to build a nationwide drone services network that can provide efficient, quality aerial data collection to clients anywhere in the country while also ensuring adherence to strict operations, maintenance and safety criteria,\u201d said Dan Rothfeld, Measure Senior VP of Franchising. \u201cWith the Reisers\u2019 aviation and business backgrounds as well as Bryan\u2019s commercial drone credentials, Measure Springfield will be a strong link in the chain we\u2019re building to advance the use of drone technology in the business world.\u201d", "output": "US drone services provider Measure is opening its first franchise location\u00a0at a store in Illinois. The Springfield store will allow Measure to provide a face-to-face\u00a0service\u00a0aimed at customers who need\u00a0aerial data collection. Capabilities of the drones range\u00a0from inspecting wind and solar farms to surveying construction sites to supporting telecoms firms. Dan Rothfeld, Measure's senior vice-president\u00a0of franchising, said: \"Our franchising programme is designed to build a nationwide drone services network that can provide efficient, quality aerial data collection to clients anywhere in the country.\"\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dubai concentrated solar project goes to Chinese-Arabian group \n Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) awarded the 700MW parabolic trough concentrated solar power (CSP) fourth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in a Saudi Arabia- China consortium with a record bid of $7.3 cents per KWh.\n\nDubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) awarded the 700MW parabolic trough concentrated solar power (CSP) fourth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in a Saudi Arabia- China consortium with a record bid of $7.3 cents per KWh.\n\nThe project is considered the largest concentrated solar power (CSP) project in the world, and was awarded to a consortium comprising Saudi Arabia\u2019s ACWA Power and China\u2019s Shanghai Electric.\n\nThe mega project will cost $3.9 billion, and is expected to be commissioned in stages, with the first one scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2020.\n\nFinancial closure has not been achieved yet, although it is known that $850 million will come from ACWA equity.\n\nThe project will comprise the world\u2019s tallest solar tower of 260 meters, and is said to be as tall as Emirates Towers in Dubai.\n\nThe solar power plant will cover 3,750 hectares- i.e. equivalent to 4,500 football fields.\n\nIt will feature a combination of a tower and a field of troughs, which will all collect heat and store that heat in molten salt medium to supply electricity on demand at all hours.\n\nPaddy Padmanathan, President & CEO of ACWA Power, said: \u201cThis project is a game changer in our quest to decarbonize electricity generation by making available renewable energy at a price that competes with fossil fuel generated electricity without subsidy not just when the sun is shining but at any time of the day and night\u201d.\n\n\u201cThis project at this scale and cost level is a cause celebration not just for the renewable energy industry but for each and every person in the world who is concerned about preserving the planet for future generations\u201d.\n\nDubai has long expressed its intentions to promote sustainability and become a global centre for clean energy, as it is declared in Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050.\n\nAccording to the 2050 plan, Dubai aims to increase the share of renewable energy in the city\u2019s total power output to 7 percent by 2020, 25 percent by 2030 and 75 percent by 2050.\n\nHE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Managing Director &CEO of DEWA said: \u201cOur focus on renewable energy generation has led to a drop in prices worldwide and has lowered the price of solar power bids in Europe and the Middle East\u201d.\n\n\u201cThis was evident today when we received the lowest CSP project cost in the world\u201d.\n\nThe Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park is one of Dubai\u2019s energy diversification initiatives to increase the share of renewable resources and aims to have a total capacity of 5GW.\n\nThe first phase was a 13MW Solar PV power plant which was commissioned in 2013; the second phase will add 200MW of Solar PV started construction in March 2017 and the 800MW third phase will add 800MW of Solar PV and is set to be operational by 2020.\n\nFuture phases have not been announced yet.", "output": "The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority has awarded the contract for the fourth phase of its 700 MW concentrated solar power (CSP) project in Dubai to a Chinese-Arabian consortium. The project is thought to be the largest CSP project in the world\u00a0and was awarded to Saudi Arabia\u2019s ACWA Power and China\u2019s Shanghai Electric after a bid of 7.3 US cents per\u00a0KWh.\u00a0The project will feature the world\u2019s tallest solar tower at 260 metres and the\u00a0power plant will cover\u00a014.5 square miles. The project will cost $3.9bn and will be commissioned in stages, with the first scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2020."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesla files patent for 'Battery Swapping System and Techniques' \n Credit: US Patent 20170259675\n\n(Tech Xplore)\u2014Tesla has filed a patent with the US Patent and Trademark Office, titled \"Battery Swapping System and Techniques.\"\n\nThe patent describes a mobile battery-swapping rig.\n\nStories about the patent were posted in TechCrunch and a number of other sites. They have been talking about what was filed and what it could mean in the bigger scheme of all-things-Tesla.\n\nBusiness Insider said the patent application \"shows how the machine could elevate a vehicle and then replace its battery pack with a new one.\"\n\nCleanTechnica described the technology as a \"quick-swap Electric Energy Storage System (EESS).\" It said figure details included a \"2 pillar vehicle lift system\" and battery lift Gas2 said the patent discussed a system raising a vehicle in the air \"with one set of hydraulic lifts while another inboard lift would drop the battery pack and replace it with a fully charged unit.\"\n\nThe machine proposed could make it quick to replace a battery in an electric vehicle. Matt Burns, managing editor, TechCrunch, explained a scenario for the system, as described in the patent, where the system \"could be installed in a service station or integrated into a mobile rig. A Model S or X would either drive onto ramps or a lift where technicians would then assist the machine in swapping the packs.\"\n\nThe patent discussion suggested either the EESS operating autonomously, or operated by technicians.\n\nThe patent document discussed both systems and techniques for swapping an EESS. \"In some implementations, a system can be used to exchange the battery pack of a Model S or Model X vehicle from Tesla Motors, Inc., for another (e.g., fully charged) battery pack. For example, this can provide a more rapid way of replenishing the electric energy for the electric vehicle and can enable electric vehicles to travel essentially nonstop on long road trips.\"\n\nAlso from the patent discussion: \"In some implementations, the battery swap system is configured for use by one or more technicians, who will monitor certain aspects of the system's operation and make necessary inputs when appropriate. For example, the battery-swapping system can be installed at a remote location (e.g., along a highway between two cities) and one or more technicians can be stationed at the location for operating the system.\"\n\nBrett Williams in Mashable: \"The system described in the filing, which was first spotted by Electrek, would make it possible for technicians to swap out Tesla vehicle battery packs in less that 15 minutes\u2014making it feasible for Tesla owners to use a battery exchange rather than constantly having to charge up.\"\n\n\"Tesla writes in the patent that at least one technician could monitor the lift,\" said Business Insider, \" which could be installed in remote locations, such as a highway between cities.\"\n\nWhy is the patent drawing interest? That is not hard to figure out, since there is general range anxiety and concern over just how convenient or inconvenient electric cars might turn out to be vis a vis charging points.\n\n\"One of the biggest drawbacks for electric car drivers is the time it takes to charge their vehicles,\" said Rob Stumpf, The Drive.\n\nA battery swap solution could come in handy, as Tesla continues its effort to play its part in the transition to electric mobility.\n\nA number of reports linked this patent topic to Tesla's entry into the truck space some time in the future.\n\nThe system being used for trucks could make sense as a truck driver would especially be mindful of cutting down on charging times\u2014and getting back on the road quickly.\n\nYoni Heisler, BGR: \"Elon Musk has been pretty blunt about Tesla's plans to further expand its vehicular lineup.\" When might Tesla unveil a pickup truck? Heisler said, \"Musk this past April put a two year timeline on the project.\" Heisler added that \"if Musk's initial projection pans out, we should see a Tesla pickup truck event by April of 2019 at the absolute latest. Suffice it to say, it's certainly on Tesla's radar.\"\n\nMore information: Battery Swapping System And Techniques, United States Patent Application, 20170259675. Abstract\n\nA system for exchanging an electrical energy storage system (EESS) of an electric vehicle includes. An EESS station is configured to position an electric vehicle in x and y directions. A vehicle lift raises the electric vehicle to a predetermined height. An EESS lift supports and lowers the EESS and replaces the EESS with a differing EESS. The vehicle lift may be an inboard lift and the EESS lift may be an outboard lift. The system may also include one or more rollers configured to guide the electric vehicle. The system may include a horizontal door having at least one tube positioned thereon for guiding the electric vehicle and/or at least one vehicle chock for positioning the electric vehicle in at least one of the x and y directions. The vehicle lift may include lifting arms to engage jack pads of the electric vehicle.\n\n\u00a9 2017 Tech Xplore", "output": "Tesla has filed a patent with the title Battery Swapping System and Techniques, which relates to creating\u00a0a\u00a0rig that is able to swap electric vehicles' battery packs quickly. The patent suggests that the technology could be installed in service stations,\u00a0or alternatively a mobile rig, where the vehicle would be lifted and the battery packs removed by technicians. The technology would be particularly useful for electric lorries in the future, which would have larger battery packs that require longer charging, as it would reduce downtime caused by recharging.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow prepares to launch new homes near Huddersfield \n Highburton homes set to launch soon\n\nRedrow is preparing to launch its latest new homes at Springfields, off Burton Acres Lane, in Highburton, near Huddersfield.\n\nAn on-site sales centre is due to open by the end of October to take off-plan reservations, with a fully furnished show home set to open early next year.\n\nRedrow\u2019s development will feature 60 three and four-bedroom family homes for private sale, mostly detached, and there will also be 13 affordable properties.\n\nDesigns will be from Redrow\u2019s popular Arts & Crafts inspired Heritage Collection, with traditional looking exteriors and bright, modern interiors with convivial open plan living spaces.\n\nAlongside the affordable housing \u2013 designed to help people who live and work in the area to \u2018stay local\u2019 - there are a number of other community benefits attached to the 6.5 acre development, including contributions totalling more than \u00a3350,000 towards improving local amenities.\n\nThe lion\u2019s share of \u00a3233,115 is earmarked for local education provision, with a further \u00a389,000 towards off-site public open space, \u00a310,000 for a new bus stop and \u00a323,820 towards public transport in the area.\n\nBuilding the homes will also provide work for Yorkshire trades and encourage spending in local shops and businesses.\n\nRedrow Homes (Yorkshire) sales director Patsy Aicken, said: \u201cWe\u2019ve had lots of interest in Springfields already, not least because it enjoys a village location, 10 miles from the Peak District National Park and only five miles from the amenities of Huddersfield.\u201d\n\nRedrow\u2019s new development is adjacent to Gregory Playing Fields, which includes grassed sports pitches, a children\u2019s play area and the local tennis club. There\u2019s a village stores in Highburton, a small selection of local shops in nearby Kirkburton and the development is within walking distance of local schools.\n\nWould-be home owners can register their interest by visiting redrow.co.uk/springfields.", "output": "UK housebuilder Redrow Homes will\u00a0open the sales centre at its development in Springfields\u00a0in Highburton, near Huddersfield towards the end of October, which will begin taking\u00a0off-plan reservations. The plot includes 60 three and four-bedroom houses, as well as 13 affordable properties.\u00a0Redrow said the development will include at least\u00a0\u00a3350,000 of spending on improving local amenities, with \u00a3233,000 going on education provision\u00a0and\u00a0off-site public open space and a new bus stop also planned.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hedge fund buys taxi medallions in search for distressed assets \n An auction at a Queens hotel on Monday gave a stark indication of how beaten-up the once mighty taxi industry is, as 46 medallions sold for $186,000 apiece, according to two people familiar with the matter. A 6% premium that's owed to the auction house pushed the price to around $198,000 per medallion, or $9.1 million in total.\n\nTaxi medallion prices topped $1 million in 2013 and reached $965,000 at an auction held by the city in early 2014. They have been falling at an escalating rate ever since Uber and other ride-hail companies began taking business away from yellow cabs in late 2014.\n\nMedallions auctioned for under $200,000 in the mid 1990s. Among the most prolific buyers in the 2000s was Evgeny \"Gene\" Freidman, who owned the 46 auctioned medallions until they were foreclosed upon by Citibank.\n\nThe winning bidder was MGPE, Inc., which had been identified in court papers last week as the stalking-horse bidder for the sale. MGPE, an out-of-state hedge fund, according to one person familiar with the matter, had set a floor for Monday's auction of $167,000 per medallion.\n\nHedge funds and private equity firms have been circling the medallion market for months, on the hunt for a distressed asset. Monday's sale marks the first time a hedge fund has taken a position in the industry.\n\nA spokeswoman for Maltz Auctions, which conducted the sale, declined to comment.\n\nFreidman, who once managed 800 medallions and has been accused of bidding up prices on medallions to increase the value of his own assets, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2015 to keep Citibank from foreclosing on his holdings. He was ordered to turn over the 46 medallions in 2016 to pay off creditors.\n\nThe auction was closed to the press, but one observer described the bidding as proceeding in small increments between two parties. The $186,000-per medallion bid was for all 46 of the placards, which prevented the auction house from accepting one-off bids that would have priced a single medallion north of $200,000, according to two sources.\n\nThe winning bidder is expected to lease the medallions to a fleet operator.\n\nAndrew Murstein, president of taxi lender Medallion Financial, said this sale \"could be the tip of the iceberg.\" For much of the past year he has been advising hedge funds and private equity firms on how to approach the taxi industry, though he did not take part in Monday's auction.\n\nMurstein said he knew of fleets that would pay anywhere from $1,200 to $1,400 a month per medallion, providing investors with as much as an 8% annual return on a $200,000 purchase. He said some operators would pay around $2,000 a month if a cab were furnished along with the medallion.\n\nSome long-time medallion owners are still being paid $1,500 a month, which until recently was a fairly typical rate. Two fleet managers who asked not to be identified said the going rate these days is around $1,000 a month.", "output": "Hedge fund MGPE is said to have purchased 46 New York City taxi medallions at a price of $186,000 per medallion. In 2013, New York City taxi medallions sold for as much as $1m, however, prices have been cheapened by the onset of ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft. Hedge funds searching for distressed assets have shown an interest in the medallions, which can be leased to fleet operators for roughly $1,000 per month.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Berkeley Lab produces ethanol fuels directly from CO2 \n Scientists at the Department of Energy\u2019s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have harnessed the power of photosynthesis to convert carbon dioxide into fuels and alcohols at efficiencies far greater than plants. The achievement marks a significant milestone in the effort to move toward sustainable sources of fuel.\n\nMany systems have successfully reduced carbon dioxide to chemical and fuel precursors, such as carbon monoxide or a mix of carbon monoxide and hydrogen known as syngas. This new work, described in a study published in the journal Energy and Environmental Science, is the first to successfully demonstrate the approach of going from carbon dioxide directly to target products, namely ethanol and ethylene, at energy conversion efficiencies rivaling natural counterparts.\n\nThe researchers did this by optimizing each component of a photovoltaic-electrochemical system to reduce voltage loss, and creating new materials when existing ones did not suffice.\n\n\u201cThis is an exciting development,\u201d said study principal investigator Joel Ager, a Berkeley Lab scientist with joint appointments in the Materials Sciences and the Chemical Sciences divisions. \u201cAs rising atmospheric CO2 levels change Earth\u2019s climate, the need to develop sustainable sources of power has become increasingly urgent. Our work here shows that we have a plausible path to making fuels directly from sunlight.\u201d\n\nThat sun-to-fuel path is among the key goals of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP), a DOE Energy Innovation Hub established in 2010 to advance solar fuel research. The study was conducted at JCAP\u2019s Berkeley Lab campus.\n\nThe initial focus of JCAP research was tackling the efficient splitting of water in the photosynthesis process. Having largely achieved that task using several types of devices, JCAP scientists doing solar-driven carbon dioxide reduction began setting their sights on achieving efficiencies similar to those demonstrated for water splitting, considered by many to be the next big challenge in artificial photosynthesis.\n\nAnother research group at Berkeley Lab is tackling this challenge by focusing on a specific component in a photovoltaic-electrochemical system. In a study published today, they describe a new catalyst that can achieve carbon dioxide to multicarbon conversion using record-low inputs of energy.\n\nNot just for noon\n\nFor this JCAP study, researchers engineered a complete system to work at different times of day, not just at a light energy level of 1-sun illumination, which is equivalent to the peak of brightness at high noon on a sunny day. They varied the brightness of the light source to show that the system remained efficient even in low light conditions.\n\nWhen the researchers coupled the electrodes to silicon photovoltaic cells, they achieved solar conversion efficiencies of 3 to 4 percent for 0.35 to 1-sun illumination. Changing the configuration to a high-performance, tandem solar cell connected in tandem yielded a conversion efficiency to hydrocarbons and oxygenates exceeding 5 percent at 1-sun illumination.\n\n\u201cWe did a little dance in the lab when we reached 5 percent,\u201d said Ager, who also holds an appointment as an adjunct professor at UC Berkeley\u2019s Materials Science and Engineering Department.\n\nAmong the new components developed by the researchers are a copper-silver nanocoral cathode, which reduces the carbon dioxide to hydrocarbons and oxygenates, and an iridium oxide nanotube anode, which oxidizes the water and creates oxygen.\n\n\u201cThe nice feature of the nanocoral is that, like plants, it can make the target products over a wide range of conditions, and it is very stable,\u201d said Ager.\n\nThe researchers characterized the materials at the National Center for Electron Microscopy at the Molecular Foundry, a DOE Office of Science User Facility at Berkeley Lab. The results helped them understand how the metals functioned in the bimetallic cathode. Specifically, they learned that silver aids in the reduction of carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide, while the copper picks up from there to reduce carbon monoxide further to hydrocarbons and alcohols.\n\nSeeking better, low-energy breakups\n\nBecause carbon dioxide is a stubbornly stable molecule, breaking it up typically involves a significant input of energy.\n\n\u201cReducing CO2 to a hydrocarbon end product like ethanol or ethylene can take up to 5 volts, start to finish,\u201d said study lead author Gurudayal, postdoctoral fellow at Berkeley Lab. \u201cOur system reduced that by half while maintaining the selectivity of products.\u201d\n\nNotably, the electrodes operated well in water, a neutral pH environment.\n\n\u201cResearch groups working on anodes mostly do so using alkaline conditions since anodes typically require a high pH environment, which is not ideal for the solubility of CO2,\u201d said Gurudayal. \u201cIt is very difficult to find an anode that works in neutral conditions.\u201d\n\nThe researchers customized the anode by growing the iridium oxide nanotubes on a zinc oxide surface to create a more uniform surface area to better support chemical reactions.\n\n\u201cBy working through each step so carefully, these researchers demonstrated a level of performance and efficiency that people did not think was possible at this point,\u201d said Berkeley Lab chemist Frances Houle, JCAP deputy director for Science and Research Integration, who was not part of the study. \u201cThis is a big step forward in the design of devices for efficient CO2 reduction and testing of new materials, and it provides a clear framework for the future advancement of fully integrated solar-driven CO2-reduction devices.\u201d\n\nOther co-authors on the study include James Bullock, a Berkeley Lab postdoctoral researcher in materials sciences, who was instrumental in engineering the system\u2019s photovoltaic and electrolysis cell pairing. Bullock works in the lab of study co-author Ali Javey, Berkeley Lab senior faculty scientist and a UC Berkeley professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences.\n\nThis work is supported by the DOE Office of Science.\n\n###\n\nLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world\u2019s most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab\u2019s scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel Prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy\u2019s Office of Science. For more, visit www.lbl.gov.\n\nDOE\u2019s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.", "output": "Scientists in the US have developed a new way to produce fuels from carbon dioxide (CO2). The Department of Energy's Berkeley Lab replicated the solar-driven photosynthesis process used by plants to produce energy, but much more efficiently. The researchers say it's the first time CO2 has been turned directly into target materials, such as ethanol and ethylene, rather than fuel precursor materials. Their method reduced by half the energy required to drive the process, and it is hoped the work could open the way to generating fuel directly from sunlight and carbon dioxide."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "USAT deal with Premier Food Service adds mobile payment to kiosks \n USA Technologies (USAT), a payment technology firm, has entered into a strategic partnership with Kansas-based food service provider Premier Food Service for cashless payments.\n\nThe partnership enables Premier Food Service to improve its machines to ePort Connect cashless payment system which allows the company to track the acceptance of cash, credit/debit cards, and contactless payments, including mobile wallet payments such as Android Pay and Apple Pay.\n\nFurthermore, Premier Food Service has also worked with USAT to connect more than 300 Vendors Exchange (VE) Kiosks with a consumer engagement and loyalty programme.\n\nPremier Food Service COO Gary Kurth said: \u201cAs personalization becomes more common in the marketplace, we wanted to be one step ahead of the trend with customer loyalty and reward programs being at the center of our go to market strategy.\n\n\u201cBy partnering with best-in-class providers like USA Technologies and Vendors Exchange, we are able to utilize innovative hardware like the VE Kiosk and ePort G-10S and layer on the consumer services that allow us to delight our customers, whether it be by simply allowing them to pay the way they want (via cash, swipe or tap) or by rewarding them at the point of sale for their patronage.\n\n\u201cWe are a service industry that relies on technology to deliver on our commitment to excellence and we understand the importance of having the right partners to help execute our vision. USAT has made it easy for companies like ours to quickly deploy innovative cashless payment technologies across our business so that we can better engage consumers at the point-of-sale and build in customer loyalty programs.\u201d", "output": "Kansas-based vending machines provider Premier Food Service has partnered with payment technology company USA Technologies to offer cashless payments at its self-service kiosks. The move enables Premier Food to offer the ePort Connect cashless payment system, allowing the company to monitor\u00a0cash and credit and debit card\u00a0usage\u00a0and accept contactless payments, including via Apple Pay and Android Pay. The two companies previously worked together to link more than 300 Vendors Exchange snack and drink\u00a0kiosks with a consumer engagement and loyalty initiative.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Propy raises $15m in ICO to bring real estate onto a blockchain \n Propy, a property store and decentralized title registry, announced today that it raised $15 million from 6,597 participants in its PRO Token Sale to put the international real estate market on the Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Read this Term.\n\nLearn how to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum safely with our simple guide!\n\nPrior to the start of the public sale, Propy had already secured $2 million in pre-sale commitments. \u201cBy recording real estate transactions in the blockchain, Propy brings the transparency and accountability buyers and sellers of real estate need,\u201d said Scott D. Hughes, one of the pre-sale participants in Propy, a lawyer and an avid real estate investor.\n\n\u201cIt was an easy decision to invest,\u201d said Debbie Chiu, another pre-sale participant in Propy. \u201cProspective homeowners and sellers need a simple, secure way to transact without middlemen, and Propy\u2019s solution offers that.\u201d\n\nThe public sale got a large investment in the first hour from RenGen, an investment company, and CrunchFund, an early stage investment firm based in San Francisco.\n\nAdditional developments\n\nPropy also announced the appointment of Vasilious Vutsadaskis Ph.D., an MIT graduate, scientist, and patent author with experience in computational physics, programming, and legislative research. Vasilios has experience in dealing with real estate transactions in both the EU and Russia.\n\nPropy has partnered with Leju Holdings Limited, the leading online-to-offline real estate services provider in China, to facilitate online real estate purchases by foreign investors.\n\nAs we previously reported, Propy partnered with the government of Ukraine to allow online purchases of Ukrainian real estate by foreign investors. It now reports that the first real estate transaction is underway by Michael Arrington, the founder of TechCrunch. Pilot programs will be led by Propy in coordination with Ukraine\u2019s Agency for E-Governance throughout next year.", "output": "US firm Propy, which operates a decentralised title registry and property store, has raised $15m from its initial coin offering from investors including RenGen and CrunchFund. Prior to the PRO token sale, the company had already raised $2m, as it plans to put the international real estate market on the blockchain. Propy recently partnered with the government of Ukraine to enable online purchases of the country's real estate by foreign investors."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow opens show apartment at Summerhill Park in Liverpool \n New show apartment opening at Summerhill Park, Liverpool\n\nBuyers looking for apartment living outside the city centre \u2013 yet within reach of everything Liverpool offers - will be able to view Redrow\u2019s latest designs at Summerhill Park later this month.\n\nThe award winning homebuilder is set to unveil a chic new show apartment at Kings Court on Saturday, September 23, so it\u2019s definitely a date to put in the diary.\n\nThe Kings Court apartments are the newest phase of Summerhill Park, a development of two, three and four-bedroom homes, which boasts something for everyone and enjoys a great location within walking distance of Broadgreen station and close to the end of the M62.\n\nKings Court comprises two three-storey apartment buildings, each containing 15 two-bedroom apartments and offering a choice of three different layouts.\n\n\u201cSummerhill Park is proving to be a very popular development and one we are really proud of,\u201d says Claire Jarvis, sales director for Redrow Homes (Lancashire).\n\n\u201cA double award winner - it was highly commended in the UK Property Awards, which held it up as a prime residential development, and has previously been given the title of Housing Development of the Year by Knowsley Business and Regeneration Awards - it has clearly been given the seal of approval by buyers too, with sales soaring.\n\n\u201cAnd we are delighted to mark the start of this new phase with the show apartment opening, which gives people a chance to see inside one of the latest properties, which are ideal for first time buyers, downsizers and buy-to-let investors.\u201d\n\nAnd Claire added: \u201cThese light and airy, modern apartments make the most of every bit of space, offering contemporary open-plan living at its very best.\u201d\n\nThe new show apartment is a C-type, which offers a spacious kitchen, lounge and dining area (20\u20199\u201d x 11\u20192\u201d), two double bedrooms and a bathroom with a separate bath and shower cubicle. All the rooms are accessed from a central hallway and there\u2019s a handy storage cupboard and laundry area.\n\nWhichever apartment style home owners choose, all boast fully-fitted kitchens with integrated appliances including a ceramic hob, single oven and microwave, as well as a fridge and freezer, with prices expected to start in the region of \u00a3125,000.\n\nEach apartment has a dedicated parking space, with further visitor places provided, and there\u2019s a bike store to encourage greener travel.\n\nAlready competitively priced, the apartments will also be available with the government-backed Help to Buy equity loan, which can reduce the initial outlay by up to 20% and means purchasers may only need a 5% deposit.\n\nWhile situated in a quiet neighbourhood within the borough of Knowsley, Summerhill Park, off Thomas Lane, is close enough to Liverpool city centre so residents can take advantage of all that it has to offer. Broadgreen train station is a short walk away \u2013 with a footpath leading to the station from Kings Court \u2013 and offers frequent journeys to Liverpool Lime Street in less than 15 minutes.\n\nThe end of the M62 is also within easy reach, linking to the heart of Manchester in around 40 minutes and the M6 in under half an hour.\n\nFor more information about the Kings Court apartment, as well as three and four-bedroom family homes from Redrow\u2019s hugely popular Heritage Collection at Summerhill Park, go along to the show apartment opening on Saturday, September 23 between 10am and 5.30pm, visit redrow.co.uk/summerhill.", "output": "UK housebuilder Redrow Homes will unveil a show apartment at Kings Court, part of its Summerhill Park development in Liverpool, on 23 September. The flats, which Redrow said are \"ideal for first time buyers, downsizers and buy-to-let investors\" can be purchased using the government-backed help to buy equity loan. Prices at the development are expected to start at\u00a0about \u00a3125,000.\u00a0Summerhill Park is in the borough of Knowsley, near the end of the M62.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hair transplant robot firm Restoration Robotics seek\u00a0$25m in IPO \n Restoration Robotics filed for an initial public offering that would raise $25 million at the median to fund the development of its ARTAS System, robot-assisted hair restoration system.\n\nThe medical technology company plans to sell more than 3.1 million shares at a range of $7 to $9 a piece; at the high end of the range the flotation would fetch more than $28.1 million.\n\nThe IPO is expected to price during the week of October 9, 2017. If successful, it would establish a market value of $225 million for the company.\n\nThe ARTAS System is a physician-assisted robotic system that carries out follicular unit extraction surgery by identifying and dissecting the hair follicular units at the scalp and creating implant sites. It also comes with the ARTAS Hair Studio application, a 3D consultant tool for creating hair transplant models with patients.\n\nThe system includes a patient chair and a cart that supports the robotic arm, vision system and a series of sensors and devices.\n\n\u201cWe believe the ARTAS System addresses many of the shortcomings of other hair restoration procedures,\u201d Restoration Robotics said in an SEC filing. \u201cThe ARTAS System is capable of robotically assisting a physician through many of the most challenging steps of the hair restoration process, including the dissection of hair follicles, site planning and recipient site making.\u201d\n\nTo continue growing the business, the company hopes to expand its physician customer base to dermatology and plastic surgery specialists, increase international sales with more distributors and sales staff, develop new features and capabilities and encourage greater use of the system for hair restoration surgeries.\n\nRestoration Robotics posted losses of -$21.8 million, or -$13.54 per share, on sales of $15.6 million last year, paring its losses by -4.9% despite a -9.5% top-line slide.", "output": "Restoration Robotics, whose robots carry our hair transplant procedures, aims to raise about $25m during an initial public offering (IPO). The sale is expected to price during the week of 9 October, and if plans to\u00a0sell more than 3.1 million shares at between $7 and $9 are successful, it would give\u00a0the firm a market value of about $225m. Restoration Robotics will use the proceeds to develop its ARTAS System, a doctor-assisted hair restoration robotic system that carries out follicular unit extraction surgery. The firm aims to expand its customer base of physicians\u00a0to include dermatology and plastic surgery specialists.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "University Cribs raises \u00a3450k for student rental platform \n Cardiff-based University Cribs has received \u00a3450,000 in Seed funding, hitting a \u00a32m valuation.\n\nThe startup, an online platform for student property rentals, received the funds from a range of angel investors including Raffaelle Russo, director of Loc8Me; Dave Harvey and Tom Paine, co-founders of TeamLove; and the co-founders of Thor Companies.\n\nUniversity Cribs will use the funds to expand its geographic reach, while continuing to invest in its proprietary technology platform.\n\nJack Jenkins, co-founder of University Cribs, said: \u201cDan, Christian and I are thrilled to have the backing of established entrepreneurs and business leaders within relevant industries \u2013 ranging from UK property to student leisure. As the university term starts across the UK, we want to offer students the easiest and most hassle-free route to rental.\n\n\u201cToday\u2019s investment allows us to push ahead with our plans, and make the most of the forthcoming academic year when over 2million students will be considering their accommodation options for the years ahead.\u201d\n\nTom Paine, investor and co-founder of TeamLove, commented on how the student property market was ripe for disruption.\n\n\u201cUniversity Cribs is bringing much-needed transparency to the market, and the three founders have taken a smart approach to thinking about what value-added services they can bring to the student market. They have built a nifty technology platform, and have built a trusted brand for the marketplace to allow them to offer more services in the future. I\u2019m thrilled to be on board as an investor \u2013 it\u2019s going to be an exciting journey from here,\u201d he added.\n\nChris Singleton, co-founder of Thor Companies, added: \u201cAs three co-founders who started up a business several years ago, we encountered similar challenges and opportunities to the ones facing Christian, Jack and Dan. Having a solid management team will see them achieve great successes as they expand, innovate and grow University Cribs.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve invested in them as much as the business \u2013 they\u2019ve engaged the student population in their brand and their product, and we see potential to support that loyal user base in a few years as they look beyond university towards full-time employment. The obvious synergies with our business, and others in the graduate market, make University Cribs a compelling investment.\u201d", "output": "Cardiff-based start-up University Cribs, an online platform for student rentals, has received \u00a3450,000 in seed funding from a range of angel investors, at a valuation of \u00a32m. The company will use the funds to expand its geographic reach and invest in its proprietary technology platform. Tom Paine, investor and co-founder of TeamLove, said that the student property market was ripe for disruption and that the founders of University Cribs have \u201ctaken a smart approach to thinking about what value-added services they can bring to the student market. They have built a nifty technology platform, and have built a trusted brand.\u201d"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Surging Chinese sharing economy employs 5.5% of workforce \n Around 5.5 percent of China's labor force work in the rapidly expanding sharing economy, according to a report from the top economic planner Monday.\n\nThe market value of the Internet-based sharing economy exceeded 2 trillion yuan (about 305.8 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016, with more than 50 million people working in the sector, said a report released by the National Development and Reform Commission.\n\nThe success of business models such as bike-sharing platforms, including Mobike and ofo, has inspired an increasing number of sharing enterprises eager to ride the wave.\n\nMeanwhile, on the back of strong government support for innovation and entrepreneurship, industries such as car-sharing, education, entertainment and healthcare have prospered, seeing double-digit growth in demand for labor force last year, the report said.\n\n\"Mass Innovation and entrepreneurship have played an important role in increasing employment,\" the report said, citing rapid expansion in emerging industries such as cloud computing, industrial robots and new energy vehicles.\n\nWith the traditional industries losing steam, China is seeking to foster new growth from innovative business models, which have proved to be key forces underpinning economic growth.\n\nThe latest Global Innovation Index showed China rose three places to 22nd on the list of the world's most innovative nations in 2017, the only middle-income country to join the top 25 innovative economies.", "output": "More than 50 million people are employed in China's sharing economy, about 5.5% of the country's workforce, according to the National Development and Reform Commission. The growth of enterprises such as bike-sharing platforms Mobike and Ofo pushed the\u00a0market value of China's\u00a0internet-based sharing economy beyond\u00a0CNY2tn ($303.7bn) last year.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow graduates complete project with Help Bristol's Homeless \n A group of 12 Redrow graduate trainees has completed a project in partnership with Help Bristol\u2019s Homeless to convert an empty shipping container into a habitable space. This is part of the local charity\u2019s wider goal to help members of the city\u2019s homeless population by providing a roof over their heads whilst they receive help finding permanent accommodation.\n\nThe graduates received no funding, resources or help from seniors and instead relied on the skills acquired during their first year with Redrow. This meant they had to utilise contacts and relationships they had built up within the industry to source essential materials, deploy their project management and problem-solving skills and work closely together as a team. They acquired and fitted a kitchen and sanitaryware that was unable to be sold, but still worked perfectly, and ensured the whole container was finished to an exceptionally high standard.\n\nThe end result is a shipping container that has been transformed into a well-furnished living quarters complete with a kitchen and wet room bathroom as well as fitting windows and skylights. Most importantly it will provide the perfect fresh start to those in the local community that need it most.\n\nClare Horton, New Entrants Programmes Manager at Redrow, comments: \u201cA career in housebuilding can be both rewarding and challenging, requiring a broad range of skills from strong communication, problem-solving, negotiation and excellent time management. These graduates had to demonstrate these qualities in bucket-loads to get the job done and we hope this project captures the imagination of young people considering their career options.\n\n\u201cThese graduates come from a variety of areas within the business and had to work together to make a success of this task in a very short space of time. As well as the practical element of fitting out the container, they deployed the skills they have been building over the last year to gather materials and solve problems along the way. It\u2019s great to see how much progress they have made during their first year with Redrow and even better that it\u2019s helping such a brilliant cause.\u201d\n\nManjeeta Pathak, now an Assistant Site Manager, who helped lead the project, said: \u201cIt was incredibly challenging, but so enjoyable, to work as a team to complete the project and empowering to be trusted to make sure we finished on time and to a high standard. I still can\u2019t believe we managed to get it all finished in only five days and that included sourcing all the materials we used. It feels really special knowing that our handiwork will now be used to make a difference to people\u2019s lives.\u201d\n\nEvery year Redrow\u2019s newest batch of graduates take part in a community challenge which aims to support a good cause whilst putting them through their paces.\n\nBefore the container becomes a temporary home for a homeless person, it will be transported to the South Downs Festival at the end of September to raise awareness of, and additional funds for, the charity.", "output": "A dozen Redrow Homes graduate trainees have transformed an old shipping container into a fully furnished living space, using the skills they acquired during their first year with the UK housebuilder. In five days, the team located and sourced materials and fitted out the container, which will be sent to the South Downs Festival at the end of September to raise awareness of homelessness, and funds for charity, before being used as temporary accommodation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pollution, obesity, poverty affect\u00a0London's poorest children \n Tens of thousands of the poorest children in London are facing a cocktail of health risks including air pollution, obesity and poverty that will leave them with lifelong health problems, according to a new report.\n\nThe study found that schools in the capital worst affected by the UK\u2019s air pollution crisis were also disproportionately poor, with high levels of obesity.\n\nSaul Billingsley, from the FIA Foundation, an international environmental and road safety charity which carried out the study, said: \u201cChildren from some of London\u2019s most socially deprived areas are not only affected by unacceptable levels of air pollution around their schools, they also face compounding health risks.\u201d\n\nThe report found:\n\n85% of the schools most affected by air pollution have pupils that come from deprived neighbourhoods\n\n\n\nAlmost nine in 10 of the secondary schools most affected had levels of obesity higher than the London average\n\n86% of worst affected primary schools were in catchment areas with lower than average car ownership\n\nJonathan Grigg, professor of paediatric respiratory and environmental medicine at Queen Mary University of London, said the health consequences for these children could be \u201cvery serious\u201d.\n\n\u201cThis is going to have major consequences not just in childhood but over the whole of the life course.\u201d\n\nProfessor Grigg, a founding member of the Doctors Against Diesel campaign group, said children from disadvantaged backgrounds often did have access to green spaces but when they did go outside, they were more likely to be breathing dangerously polluted air.\n\n\u201cThis is a dangerous combination of factors \u2026 childhood is a critical time in terms of health. Children should have the right to breathe air that does not cause them harm.\u201d\n\nDoctors Against Diesel said \u2018children should have the right to breathe air that does not cause them harm\u2019. Photograph: Guy Bell/Rex/Shutterstock\n\nEarlier this year the Guardian revealed that children at more than 800 schools, nurseries and colleges in London, and more than 2,000 across England and Wales, are being exposed to illegal levels of air pollution.\n\nThe analysis of government data revealed how dangerous levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) pollution from diesel traffic are not limited to large metropolitan centres, but threaten the health of children and young people in towns and cities from Newcastle to Plymouth.\n\n\n\nPollution from diesel traffic causes 23,500 of the 40,000 premature deaths each year attributed to air pollution, with young people particularly vulnerable, according to figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.\n\nLast week London mayor Sadiq Khan described air pollution as \u201cthe biggest public health emergency of a generation\u201d.", "output": "Poor children in London are at risk from polluted air, obesity and poverty, often resulting in lifelong health problems, according to a study by the FIA Foundation. Of the city schools most affected by pollution, 85% had pupils from deprived areas, while\u00a090% also showed\u00a0higher than average levels of obesity, according to the research. Of the worst affected primary schools, 86% had catchment areas with below average car ownership.\u00a0Toxic air is \u201cthe biggest public health emergency of a generation\u201d, said London mayor Sadiq Khan.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Over 40 million people in slavery: UN \n An estimated 40.3 million people were victims of modern slavery in 2016, a quarter of them children, according to new global slavery statistics released today.\n\nThe figures, from the UN\u2019s International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Walk Free Foundation, show 24.9 million people across the world were trapped in forced labour and 15.4 million in forced marriage last year. Children account for 10 million of the overall 40.3m total. The 2017 Estimates of Modern Slavery report calculates that of 24.9 million victims of forced labour, 16 million are thought to be in the private economy, 4.8 million in forced sexual exploitation and 4.1 million in state-sponsored forced labour including mandatory military conscription and agricultural work.\n\n\u201cWhat is startling about these new estimates is the sheer scale of the modern slave trade and the fact that we have 40 million people across the world in some form of modern slavery is simply not acceptable,\u201d said Fiona David, executive director of global research at the Walk Free Foundation.\n\n\u201cWhen you have 24.9 million people working under threat or coercion in farming, fishing and construction or in the sex industry and yet according to the United Nations only 63,000 victims of slavery were reported to the authorities last year, the gulf between the problem and the insufficient global response becomes very clear.\u201d\n\nThe research also indicates that while many forced labourers reported violence or threat, the majority of them are exploited through debt bondage and non-payment of wages.\n\n\u201cWe found that 50% of the 24.9m people in forced labour are in debt bondage, often arriving at a job with high recruitment debts to pay off or forced to take a job to pay off debt and with 7% of forced labourers saying their employers are forcing them to pay fines while at work,\u201d said Micha\u00eblle de Cock, senior statistician at the ILO.\n\n\u201cHow forced labour affects the whole family is also very clear with 18% of male forced labourers surveyed saying that their employers directly threatened their families or children.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe new global estimate also deals with forced marriage, the first time it has been included in any reporting of modern slavery figures.\n\n\u201cIt isn\u2019t clear why forced marriage has often been overlooked as a form of slavery in data reporting,\u201d said David. \u201cIf you have a situation where someone is sold into marriage and is providing free domestic labour and has no sexual autonomy, then when you take the label of marriage away from this situation it\u2019s often nothing less than slavery and we need to shine a light on this so that people can see it for what it is.\u201d\n\nAccording to the new global estimates, modern slavery is most prevalent in Africa, followed by Asia and the Pacific, although the ILO and Walk Free say that these results should be interpreted \u201ccautiously\u201d, due to a lack of available data from the Arab states and the Americas.\n\n\u201cWe believe that the global estimate of 40.3 million is the most reliable data to date, although we believe it to be a conservative estimate as there were millions of people we couldn\u2019t reach in conflict zones or on the refugee trail and places where we couldn\u2019t be sure of collecting robust data such as the Gulf states, where access and language barriers prevented us from reaching the migrant worker communities,\u201d said de Cock.\n\nResearchers found that more than 70% of the 4.8 million victims of sex trafficking were in the Asia and Pacific region, while forced marriage was found to be the most prevalent across African countries. The global estimates were calculated by drawing on a range of data over a five-year period, including interviews with more than 71,000 people across 48 countries. The ILO and Walk Free Foundation also used figures from the UN\u2019s International Office for migration (IOM) and other UN agencies.\n\nThese figures are a marked increase from the ILO\u2019s previous estimates of 21 million people in forced labour worldwide. The ILO and Walk Free attribute the rise to better reporting and research methodologies and the inclusion of forced marriage as a form of modern slavery.\n\nThe research was carried out as part of the drive to meet the sustainable development goal on slavery, which calls for the eradication of all forms of slavery, human trafficking and child labour.", "output": "An estimated 40.3 million people were victims of slavery last year, with children comprising 25% of this total, according to global slavery statistics released on Tuesday by the United Nations\u2019 International Labour Organisation (ILO) and campaign group the Walk Free Foundation. The figures, which show a marked increase on previous ILO estimates of 21 million, include cases of forced marriage, which was found to affect 15.4 million people, for the first time. The remaining 24.9 million people were trapped in forced labour. Of these, 50% were in debt bondage. Slavery was most prevalent in Africa, followed by Asia and the Pacific."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Global warming may be happening less quickly than predicted \n Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nIndependent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nComputer modelling used a decade ago to predict how quickly global average temperatures would rise may have forecast too much warming, a study has found.\n\nThe Earth warmed more slowly than the models forecast, meaning the planet has a slightly better chance of meeting the goals set out in the Paris climate agreement, including limiting global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.\n\nScientists said previous models may have been \u201con the hot side\u201d.\n\nThe study, published this week in the journal Nature Geoscience, does not play down the threat which climate change has to the environment, and maintains that major reductions in emissions must be attained.\n\nBut the findings indicate the danger may not be as acute as was previously thought.\n\nMyles Allen, professor of geosystem science at the University of Oxford and one of the study\u2019s authors told The Times: \u201cWe haven\u2019t seen that rapid acceleration in warming after 2000 that we see in the models. We haven\u2019t seen that in the observations.\u201d\n\nThe original forecasts were based on twelve separate computer models made by universities and government institutes around the world, and were put together ten years ago, \u201cso it\u2019s not that surprising that it\u2019s starting to divert a little bit from observations\u201d, Professor Allen added.\n\nAccording to The Times, another of the paper\u2019s authors, Michael Grubb, a professor of international energy and climate change at University College London, admitted his earlier forecasting models had overplayed how temperatures would rise.\n\nRecommended Correction to satellite data shows 140 per cent faster warming\n\nAt the Paris climate summit in 2015, Professor Grubb said: \u201cAll the evidence from the past 15 years leads me to conclude that actually delivering 1.5C is simply incompatible with democracy.\u201d\n\nBut speaking to The Times he said: \u201cWhen the facts change, I change my mind, as [John Maynard] Keynes said.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s still likely to be very difficult to achieve these kind of changes quickly enough but we are in a better place than I thought.\u201d\n\nProfessor Grubb said the reassessment of the situation was good news for low-lying countries and island states in the Pacific, which would be swamped by sea-level rises if average temperatures rose by more than 1.5C.\n\nThe previous scenario allowed for the planet to emit a total of 70 billion tonnes of Carbon after 2015, in order to keep temperature rises to just 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.\n\nBut the reassessment allows for a \u201ccarbon budget\u201d of another 240bn tonnes of emissions before catastrophic damage is done.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s about 20 years of emissions before temperatures are likely to cross 1.5C,\u201d Professor Allen said.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s the difference between being not doable and being just doable.\u201d", "output": "Global warming may be occurring more slowly than previously estimated, according to new research. The study found that the earth's warming has been slower than models used a decade ago predicted, meaning that the chance of limiting temperature increases to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, as set out in the Paris Climate Accord, is slightly better than feared. The previous scenario allowed for the planet to emit a total of 70 billion tonnes of carbon after 2015 to keep temperature rises within this range. The new models permit an additional 240 billion tonnes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurers challenged by New York State over role in opioid crisis \n Insurers say they have been addressing the issue on many fronts, including monitoring patients\u2019 opioid prescriptions, as well as doctors\u2019 prescribing patterns. \u201cWe have a very comprehensive approach toward identifying in advance who might be getting into trouble, and who may be on that trajectory toward becoming dependent on opioids,\u201d said Dr. Mark Friedlander, the chief medical officer of Aetna Behavioral Health, who participates on its opioid task force.\n\nAetna and other insurers say they have seen marked declines in monthly opioid prescriptions in the past year or so. At least two large pharmacy benefit managers announced this year that they would limit coverage of new prescriptions for pain pills to a seven- or 10-day supply. And bowing to public pressure \u2014 not to mention government investigations \u2014 several insurers have removed barriers that had made it difficult to get coverage for drugs that treat addiction, like Suboxone.\n\nExperts in addiction note that the opioid epidemic has been changing and that the problem now appears to be rooted more in the illicit trade of heroin and fentanyl. But the potential for addiction to prescribed opioids is real: 20 percent of patients who receive an initial 10-day prescription for opioids will still be using the drugs after a year, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.\n\nSeveral patients said in interviews that they were terrified of becoming dependent on opioid medications and were unwilling to take them, despite their pain.\n\nIn 2009, Amanda Jantzi weaned herself off opioids by switching to the more expensive Lyrica to treat the pain associated with interstitial cystitis, a chronic bladder condition.", "output": "Health insurance providers are being questioned over their role in the proliferation of opioid abuse associated with prescription drugs. The New York State attorney general's office has sent letters to three major pharmacy benefit managers\u00a0asking how they are\u00a0addressing the growth of opioid abuse among patients. According to an investigation conducted by the New York Times and ProPublica, patients have been denied access to less risky drugs due to their higher cost compared with\u00a0opoids, which are more addictive.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Resolute completes shift to Delaware-only driller with Aneth sale \n Resolute Energy Corp. (NYSE: REN) entered into a definitive agreement to sell its subsidiary, which holds interests in Aneth Field, for total potential consideration of $195 million to an affiliate of Elk Petroleum Ltd, on Sept. 14.\n\nUPDATE: Resolute\u2019s Paradox Sale Creates Newest Delaware Basin Pure Play\n\nResolute will receive cash consideration of $160 million at closing and additional cash consideration of up to $35 million if oil prices exceed certain levels in the next three years.\n\nThe Aneth Field is located in the Paradox Basin of Southeastern Utah.\n\n\u201cThis sale is the final step in our previously announced strategy to transform Resolute into a pure-play Delaware Basin company. Closing this transaction will significantly improve our cost structure, strengthen our balance sheet and position the company to accelerate the development of our prolific Delaware Basin property and continue our strong growth profile,\u201d Rick Betz, Resolute\u2019s CEO, said.\n\nResolute's current 2017 production guidance is 24,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) to 28,000 boe/d. Assuming the closing of the divestiture occurs by Nov. 1, its 2017 production will be reduced by about 1,000 boe/d.\n\nAs previously disclosed, actual July production was 23,600 boe/d in the Permian Basin and 29,500 boe/d for Resolute as a whole.\n\nUnder the terms of the definitive agreement, the buyer will fund a performance deposit of $10 million creditable against the purchase price.\n\nPursuant to the contingent consideration provisions of the agreement, the buyer will pay Resolute $40,000 for each day in the twelve months after closing that the WTI spot oil price exceeds $52.50 per barrel (up to $10 million), $50,000 for each day in the twelve months following the first anniversary of closing that the oil price exceeds $55.00 per barrel (up to $10 million) and $60,000 for each day in the twelve months following the second anniversary of closing that the oil price exceeds $60.00 per barrel (up to $15 million).\n\nThe transaction is expected to close in late October and become effective as of Oct. 1. The transaction is subject to customary covenants, closing conditions and purchase price adjustments.\n\nPetrie Partners LLC and Barclays Capital Inc. (NYSE: BCS) acted as financial advisors to Resolute on the Aneth Field sale transaction. Resolute was represented by Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP.", "output": "Resolute Energy has agreed to sell a unit that holds interests in Aneth Field for $195m\u00a0to an affiliate of Elk Petroleum. Resolute will receive cash consideration of $160 million at closing and additional cash consideration of up to $35 million if oil prices exceed certain levels in the next three years. \"This sale is the final step in our previously announced strategy to transform Resolute into a pure-play Delaware Basin company\", said Resolute CEO Rick Betz.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Reserve Bank of India examines issuing digital currency \n It seems demonetisation is not India's last experiment with currency. The Reserve Bank of India ( RBI ) is now looking at the brave new world of cryptocurrency The success of Bitcoin , a popular cryptocurrency, may have encouraged the central bank to consider its own cryptocurrency since it is not comfortable with this non-fiat cryptocurrency, as stated by RBI executive director Sudarshan Sen a few days ago.Despite RBI's call for caution to people against the use of virtual currencies, a domestic Bitcoin exchange said it was adding over 2,500 users a day and had reached five lakh downloads. The company, launched in 2015, said the increasing downloads highlighted the \"growing acceptance of Bitcoins as one of the most popular emerging asset class.\"A group of experts at RBI is examining the possibility of a fiat cryptocurrency which would become an alternative to the Indian rupee for digital transactions.According to a media report, RBI's own Bitcoin can be named Lakshmi, after the Hindu goddess of wealth.RBI's cryptocurrency could be a part of creating its own Blockchain , a distributed digital ledger and technology that supports cryptocurrencies.State Bank of India has taken the lead in bringing lenders and tech companies together for using Blockchain technology to share information among banks which will eventually help prevent frauds and tackle bad loans which are almost one-fifth of banks' loan book. The SBI's initiative, christened Bankchain, is in partnership with IBM, Microsoft, Skylark, KPMG and 10 commercial banks.Blockchain, the technology behind cyber currency Bitcoin, follows the concept of a centralised registry that can be accessed by all members, and every event is registered as an unalterable 'block'.Despite a distrust of non-fiat cryptocurrencies, central banks all over the world have taken note of their effectiveness and popularity.The People\u2019s Bank of China has done trial runs of its prototype cryptocurrency, taking it a step closer to being the first major central bank to issue digital money, according to a Bloomberg report. The Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank have launched a joint research project which studies the possible use of Blockchain.The Dutch central bank has created its own cryptocurrency for internal circulation just to better understand how it works, says the report. Ben Bernanke, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve who has said digital currencies show \"long term promise,\" will be the keynote speaker at a blockchain and banking conference in October hosted by Ripple, the startup behind the fourth largest digital currency.", "output": "The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is examining the possibility of issuing a fiat cryptocurrency that could become an alternative to the Indian rupee for digital transactions. RBI's bitcoin would be named \u201cLakshmi\u201d after the Hindu goddess of wealth. The State Bank of India has already taken the lead with its \u201cBankchain\u201d initiative, which brings lenders and tech companies together to collaborate on blockchain technology."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "JLL calls on Sri Lanka to allow REIT investments \n Sept 18, 2017 (LBO) \u2013 Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) has called for a re-evaluation of the regulatory and legal mechanisms around Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) as a vital first step towards their introduction into the Sri Lankan market.\n\n\u201cIn a global context, REITs have become an integral part of the investment landscape, accepted by individual and institutional investors, alike, as providing greater access to commercial real estate projects,\u201d JLL said.\n\nIn Sri Lanka too, the potential benefits to the domestic economy from the introduction of REITs are significant, the real estate consultancy said.\n\n\u201cTheir introduction will likely signal stronger economic growth and job creation, but, moreover, REITs provide a platform for much needed foreign direct investment in Sri Lanka without transferring the ownership of the real estate asset to the foreign investor,\u201d\n\n\u201cGiven the current regulations around foreign ownership, we believe that REITs are one of the most viable mechanisms for attracting investment into Sri Lanka\u2019s commercial real estate sector.\u201d JLL observed.\n\nHowever, they say that prior to the introduction of REITs to the domestic market, significant reforms would be necessary in relation to Sri Lanka\u2019s legal and regulatory frameworks in order to ensure sufficiently robust safeguards and procedural mechanisms to enable a secure foundation for REITs to flourish.\n\n\u201cEstablishing REITs in a new market depends heavily upon support from local regulatory bodies and authorities including the implementation of a Unit Trust Code, but there also needs to be an efficient and stable tax regime in place to instill confidence in investors,\u201d\n\n\u201cIn addition to transparent taxation policies, that are required to be applied in an equitable fashion, there is a need for certain limited tax concessions to stimulate yields and make REITs more attractive.\u201d\n\nSeveral studies have shown that the socio economic benefits provided by REITS outweigh any losses in tax revenue, and supportive policies, along with international standards of corporate governance are essential to entice foreign investors who are, in turn, the lifeblood to the longer term prosperity of REITs in the country.\n\nCurrent restrictions on foreigners owning land in Sri Lanka have been a significant hurdle to foreign capital inflows in Sri Lanka, however JLL noted that if regulations were enacted to help mitigate these challenges while still ensuring that the title of a given property is not directly transferred to a foreign investor, then a significant obstacle to the establishment of REITs in Sri Lanka would have been cleared.\n\nFirst established in the USA in 1960, REITs are widely regarded as investment vehicles that democratize real estate ownership, enabling retail investors to take a diversified stake in real estate, something that they, in all probability, could not achieve as individual investors.", "output": "Real estate consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) has called on Sri Lanka to review the regulatory framework for Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). Current restrictions on foreign ownership of property are a significant barrier to investment in the country, but JLL has said REITs could provide a solution, allowing property investment without transferring the title of an asset to foreign investors. The trusts were created in the USA in the 1960s, and allow investors to take a diversified stake in real estate.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Central bank cryptocurrencies offer cash-like potential: BIS \n New cryptocurrencies are emerging almost daily, and many interested parties are wondering whether central banks should issue their own versions. But what might central bank cryptocurrencies (CBCCs) look like and would they be useful? This feature provides a taxonomy of money that identifies two types of CBCC - retail and wholesale - and differentiates them from other forms of central bank money such as cash and reserves. It discusses the different characteristics of CBCCs and compares them with existing payment options.1\n\nJEL classification: E41, E42, E51, E58.\n\nCentral bank cryptocurrencies (1:58) Morten Bech outlines the development of the \"money flower\", a taxonomy for classifying past, present and future forms of money.\n\nIn less than a decade, bitcoin has gone from being an obscure curiosity to a household name. Its value has risen - with ups and downs - from a few cents per coin to over $4,000. In the meantime, hundreds of other cryptocurrencies - equalling bitcoin in market value - have emerged (Graph 1, left-hand panel). While it seems unlikely that bitcoin or its sisters will displace sovereign currencies, they have demonstrated the viability of the underlying blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT). Venture capitalists and financial institutions are investing heavily in DLT projects that seek to provide new financial services as well as deliver old ones more efficiently. Bloggers, central bankers and academics are predicting transformative or disruptive implications for payments, banks and the financial system at large.2\n\nLately, central banks have entered the fray, with several announcing that they are exploring or experimenting with DLT, and the prospect of central bank crypto- or digital currencies is attracting considerable attention. But making sense of all this is difficult. There is confusion over what these new currencies are, and discussions often occur without a common understanding of what is actually being proposed. This feature seeks to provide some clarity by answering a deceptively simple question: what are central bank cryptocurrencies (CBCCs)?\n\nTo that end, we present a taxonomy of money that is based on four key properties: issuer (central bank or other); form (electronic or physical); accessibility (universal or limited); and transfer mechanism (centralised or decentralised). The taxonomy defines a CBCC as an electronic form of central bank money that can be exchanged in a decentralised manner known as peer-to-peer, meaning that transactions occur directly between the payer and the payee without the need for a central intermediary.3 This distinguishes CBCCs from other existing forms of electronic central bank money, such as reserves, which are exchanged in a centralised fashion across accounts at the central bank. Moreover, the taxonomy distinguishes between two possible forms of CBCC: a widely available, consumer-facing payment instrument targeted at retail transactions; and a restricted-access, digital settlement token for wholesale payment applications.4\n\nBut what might the two types of CBCC offer that alternative forms of central bank money cannot? For the consumer-facing kind, we argue that the peer-to-peer element of the new technology has the potential to provide anonymity features that are similar to those of cash but in digital form. If anonymity is not seen as important, then most of the alleged benefits of retail CBCCs can be achieved by giving the public access to accounts at the central bank, something that has been technically feasible for a long time but which central banks have mostly stayed away from.\n\nOn the wholesale side, the assessment of CBCCs is quite different. Wholesale payments today do not offer cash-like anonymity. In particular, transactions that occur in wholesale systems are visible to the central operator. Hence, the case for wholesale CBCCs depends on their ability to improve efficiency and reduce settlement costs. Here, the answer depends on a number of technical issues that still need to be resolved. Some central banks have experimented with wholesale CBCCs, but none has announced yet that it is ready to adopt this technology.\n\nThe first section presents the taxonomy underlying our definition. The following two sections discuss the features of the two basic CBCC types, retail and wholesale, drawing on historical examples and projects that are currently under way. A concluding section reflects on some of the issues that central banks need to consider in this area going forward.\n\nA new form of central bank money\n\nOur starting point for defining CBCCs is a report on cryptocurrencies published in 2015 by the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI (2015)).5 This report sought to provide a definition of the new class of currencies represented by bitcoin and altcoins (alternatives to bitcoin) that had emerged using the same technology. The report identifies three key characteristics of cryptocurrencies: they are electronic; are not the liability of anyone; and feature peer-to-peer exchange.6\n\nCryptocurrencies utilise DLT (Box A) to allow remote peer-to-peer transfer of electronic value in the absence of trust between contracting parties. Usually, electronic representations of money, such as bank deposits, are exchanged via centralised infrastructures, where a trusted intermediary clears and settles transactions. Previously, peer-to-peer exchange was restricted to physical forms of money.\n\nSome - but not all - of these features are also common to other forms of money (Graph 2, left-hand panel). Cash is peer-to-peer, but it is not electronic, and it is a central bank liability. Commercial bank deposits are a liability of the bank that issues them. Nowadays, they are in electronic form and are exchanged in a centralised manner either across the books of a given bank or between different banks via the central bank. Most commodity monies, such as gold coins, may also be transferred in a peer-to-peer fashion but are neither the liability of anyone nor electronic.7\n\nIt may seem natural to define CBCCs by adapting the CPMI's definition to say that they are electronic central bank liabilities that can be used in peer-to-peer exchanges. But this ignores an important feature of other forms of central bank money, namely accessibility. Currently, one form of central bank money - cash - is of course accessible to everyone, while central bank settlement accounts are typically available only to a limited set of entities, mainly banks (CPSS (2003, p 3)). In this spirit, Bjerg (2017) includes universally accessible (ie easy to obtain and use) in addition to electronic and central bank-issued in defining the new concept of central bank digital currency (Graph 2, right-hand panel).\n\nBox A What is distributed ledger technology? Distributed ledger technology (DLT) refers to the protocols and supporting infrastructure that allow computers in different locations to propose and validate transactions and update records in a synchronised way across a network. The idea of a distributed ledger - a common record of activity that is shared across computers in different locations - is not new. Such ledgers are used by organisations (eg supermarket chains) that have branches or offices across a given country or across countries. However, in a traditional distributed database, a system administrator typically performs the key functions that are necessary to maintain consistency across the multiple copies of the ledger. The simplest way to do this is for the system administrator to maintain a master copy of the ledger which is periodically updated and shared with all network participants. By contrast, the new systems based on DLT, most notably Bitcoin and Ethereum, are designed to function without a trusted authority. Bitcoin maintains a distributed database in a decentralised way by using a consensus-based validation procedure and cryptographic signatures. In such systems, transactions are conducted in a peer-to-peer fashion and broadcast to the entire set of participants who work to validate them in batches known as \"blocks\". Since the ledger of activity is organised into separate but connected blocks, this type of DLT is often referred to as \"blockchain technology\". The blockchain version of DLT has successfully powered Bitcoin for several years However, the system is not without drawbacks: it is costly to operate (preventing double-spending without the use of a trusted authority requires transaction validators (miners) to employ large amounts of computing power to complete \"proof-of-work\" computations); there is only probabilistic finality of settlement; and all transactions are public. These features are not suitable for many financial market applications. Current wholesale DLT payment applications have therefore abandoned the standard blockchain technology in favour of protocols that modify the consensus process in order to allow enhanced confidentiality and scalability. Examples of protocols currently being tested by central banks include Corda and Hyperledger Fabric. Corda replaces blockchain with a \"notary\" architecture. The notary design utilises a trusted authority and allows consensus to be reached on an individual transaction basis, rather than in blocks, with limited information-sharing.\n\nWe combine the properties discussed in CPMI (2015) and Bjerg (2017) to establish a new taxonomy of money. Our properties are: issuer (central bank or other); form (electronic or physical); accessibility (universal or limited); and transfer mechanism (centralised or decentralised, ie peer-to-peer). This taxonomy reflects what appears to be emerging in practice and distinguishes between two potential types of CBCC, both of which are electronic: central bank-issued and peer-to-peer. One is accessible to the general public (retail CBCC) and the other is available only to financial institutions (wholesale CBCC). Again, a Venn diagram is useful for illustration.8 The four-ellipse version in Graph 3, which we call the money flower, shows how the two potential types of CBCC fit into the overall monetary landscape.\n\nIn principle, there are four different kinds of electronic central bank money: two kinds of CBCCs (the shaded area) and two kinds of central bank deposits. The most familiar forms of central bank deposits are those held by commercial banks - often referred to as settlement accounts or reserves. The other form is, at least in theory, deposits held by the general public. Tobin (1987) refers to this form as deposited currency accounts (DCAs).9 So far, central banks have generally chosen not to provide DCAs.\n\nUniversally accessible forms of money that are not issued by the central bank include (privately created) cryptocurrency, commodity money, commercial bank deposits and mobile money.10 Cryptocurrency borders CBCC given that only one of its properties differs. The other three currency forms are more removed because they are, in addition, either physical or \"not peer-to-peer\". A number of other forms of money are not universally accessible. Local (physical) currencies, ie currencies that can be spent in a particular geographical location at participating organisations, populate the right-hand petal of the flower. The upper left-hand petal contains virtual currencies, which are \"electronic money issued and usually controlled by its developers, and used and accepted among the members of a specific virtual community\" (ECB (2012)). There is also the possibility of a private sector wholesale version of cryptocurrency. It would be transferred in a peer-to-peer fashion by means of a distributed ledger, but only between certain financial institutions.\n\nBox B uses this taxonomy to classify different examples of money from the past, present and future according to where they would fit in the money flower. The remainder of this feature discusses the two types of CBCC in further detail and highlights some of the many issues central banks will need to consider if they ever chose to adopt them. We start with the retail variant and then turn to the wholesale one.\n\nBox B The money flower with selected examples Graph B fills out the money flower with examples of money from the past, present and possibly the future. Starting at the centre, we have Fedcoin, as an example of a retail CBCC. The concept, which was proposed by Koning (2014) and has not been endorsed by the Federal Reserve, is for the central bank to create its own cryptocurrency. The currency could be converted both ways at par with the US dollar and conversion would be managed by the Federal Reserve Banks. Instead of having a predetermined supply rule, as is the case with Bitcoin, the supply of Fedcoin would, much like cash, increase or decrease depending on the desire of consumers to hold it. Fedcoin would become a third component of the monetary base, alongside cash and reserves. Unlike Bitcoin, Fedcoin would not represent a competing, private \"outside money\" but would instead be an alternative form of sovereign currency (Garratt and Wallace (2016)). CADcoin is an example of a wholesale CBCC. It is the original name for digital assets representing central bank money used in the Bank of Canada's proof of concept for a DLT-based wholesale payment system. CADcoin has been used in simulations performed by the Bank of Canada in cooperation with Payments Canada, R3 (a fintech firm), and several Canadian banks but has not been put into practice. In Sweden, the demand for cash has dropped considerably over the past decade (Skingsley (2016)). Already, many stores do not accept cash and some bank branches no longer disburse or collect cash. In response, the Riksbank has embarked on a project to determine the viability of an eKrona for retail payments. No decision has yet been taken in terms of technology (Sveriges Riksbank (2017)). Hence, the eKrona is located on the border between deposited currency accounts and retail CBCCs. Dinero electr\u00f3nico is a mobile payment service in Ecuador where the central bank provides the underlying accounts to the public. Citizens can open an account by downloading an app, registering their national identity number and answering security questions. People deposit or withdraw money by going to designated transaction centres. As such, it is a (rare) example of a deposited currency account scheme. As Ecuador uses the US dollar as its official currency, accounts are denominated in that currency. Bitcoin is an example of a non-central bank digital currency. It was invented by an unknown programmer who used the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto and was released as open-source software in 2009 along with a white paper describing the technical aspects of its design (see Box A for further details). Pok\u00e9Coin is a currency used for in-game purchases in the Pok\u00e9mon Go game and an example of a virtual currency. Utility Settlement Coin (USC) is an attempt by the private sector to provide a wholesale cryptocurrency. It is a concept proposed by a collection of large private banks and a fintech firm for a series of digital tokens representing money from multiple countries that can be exchanged on a distributed ledger platform (UBS (2016)). The value of each country's USC on the distributed ledger would be backed by an equivalent value of domestic currency held in a segregated (reserve) account at the central bank. The Bank of Amsterdam (the Amsterdamse Wisselbank) was established in 1609 by the City of Amsterdam to facilitate trade. It is often seen as a precursor to central banks. A problem at the time was that currency, ie coins, was being eroded, clipped or otherwise degraded. The bank took deposits of both foreign and local coinage at their real intrinsic value after charging a small coinage and management fee. These deposits were known as bank money. The Wisselbank introduced a book-entry system that enabled customers to settle payments with other account holders. The Dutch central bank was established in 1814 and the Bank of Amsterdam was closed in 1820 (Smith (1776), Quinn and Roberds (2014)). The 1934 series gold certificate was a $100,000 paper note issued by the US Treasury and used only for official transactions between Federal Reserve Banks. This was the highest US dollar-denominated note ever issued and did not circulate among the general public. It is an example of non-electronic, restricted-use, government-backed, peer-to-peer money. Examples of privately issued local currencies include the Bristol Pound and BerkShares, located in the right-hand petal. Stores in Bristol, United Kingdom, give a discount to people using Bristol Pounds, whereas BerkShares are purchased at 95 cents on the dollar and are accepted at retail stores in the Berkshires region of Massachusetts at face value. Precious metal coins are examples of commodity money. They can be used as an input in production or for consumption and also as a medium of exchange. This is in contrast to fiat money, which has no intrinsic use. Although commodity money is largely a thing of the past, it was the predominant medium of exchange for more than two millennia. E-gold account holders used commercial bank money to purchase a share of the holding company's stock of gold and used mobile phone text messages to transfer quantities of gold to other customers. Payments between e-gold customers were \"on-us\" transactions that simply involved updating customer accounts. E-gold ultimately failed. But before it shut down in 2009, it had accumulated over 5 million account holders. Many current private mobile payment platforms, such as Venmo (a digital wallet with social media features popular with US college students) and M-pesa\u2122 (a popular mobile money platform in Kenya and other East African countries), employ a similar \"on-us\" model. Users transfer either bank deposits or cash to the operator, who gives them mobile credits. These credits can be transferred between platform participants using their mobile devices or redeemed from the operator for cash or deposits. The daily number of M-pesa transactions dwarfs those conducted using Bitcoin. However, in terms of value, worldwide Bitcoin transfers have recently overtaken those conducted on the M-pesa platform (Graph 1, right-hand panel).\n\nRetail central bank cryptocurrencies\n\nRetail CBCCs do not exist anywhere. However, the concept of a retail CBCC has been widely discussed by bloggers, central bankers and academics. Perhaps the most frequently discussed proposal is Fedcoin (Koning (2014, 2016), Motamedi (2014)).11 As discussed in Box B, the idea is for the Federal Reserve to create a cryptocurrency that is similar to bitcoin. However, unlike with bitcoin, only the Federal Reserve would be able to create Fedcoins and there would be one-for-one convertibility with cash and reserves. Fedcoins would only be created (destroyed) if an equivalent amount of cash or reserves were destroyed (created) at the same time. Like cash, Fedcoin would be decentralised in transaction and centralised in supply. Sveriges Riksbank, with its eKrona project, appears to have gone furthest in thinking about the potential issuance of a retail CBCC (Box C).\n\nA retail CBCC along the lines of Fedcoin would eliminate the high price volatility that is common to cryptocurrencies (Graph 1, centre panel).12 Moreover, as Koning (2014) notes, Fedcoin has the potential to relieve the zero lower bound constraint on monetary policy. As with other electronic forms of central bank money, it is technically possible to pay interest on a DLT-based CBCC. If a retail CBCC were to completely replace cash, it would no longer be possible for depositors to avoid negative interest rates and still hold central bank money.\n\nAny decision to implement a retail CBCC would have to balance potential benefits against potential risks. Bank runs might occur more quickly if the public were able to easily convert commercial bank money into risk-free central bank liabilities (Tolle (2016)). There could also be risks to the business models of commercial banks. Banks might be disintermediated, and hence less able to perform essential economic functions, such as monitoring borrowers, if consumers decided to forgo commercial bank deposits in favour of retail CBCCs. These benefits and costs are, however, not unique to retail CBCCs. They are the same for DCAs. What, then, is the key difference between retail CBCCs and DCAs? The answer lies with the peer-to-peer aspect of CBCCs and, more specifically, with anonymity.\n\nAnonymity\n\nBitcoin was designed to be a \"peer-to-peer version of electronic cash\" (Nakamoto (2009, p 1), and this allows transactions to be anonymous. All bitcoin transactions are publicly recorded using the payer's and the payee's public addresses.13 However, very much like e-mail addresses, bitcoin public addresses do not need to reveal the true identity of users.14 This means that a person sending bitcoin to a public address need not reveal his/her true identity to the recipient (counterparty anonymity) or to other members of the Bitcoin community (one form of third-party anonymity).15\n\nBox C The case of Sweden Sweden has one of the highest adoption rates of modern information and communication technologies in the world. It also has a highly efficient retail payment system. At the end of 2016, more than 5 million Swedes (over 50% of the population) had installed the Swish mobile phone app, which allows people to transfer commercial bank money with immediate effect (day or night) using their handheld device (Graph C, left-hand panel; see also Bech et al (2017)). The demand for cash is dropping rapidly in Sweden (Graph C, right-hand panel). Already, many stores no longer accept cash and some bank branches no longer disburse or collect cash. These developments are a cause for concern for the Riksbank (Skingsley (2016)). Will the payment system continue to be safe and efficient without cash? Even if cash is not used every day, it is a backup option in crisis situations. Will those without access to bank services still be able to manage their payments? The Riksbank currently has a so-called eKrona project under way to determine whether it should supply digital central bank money to the general public. The project is considering different technical solutions, but no decision has been taken as to whether to focus on a DCA or a retail CBCC structure. The project is expected to be finalised in late 2019 (Sveriges Riksbank (2017)).\n\nKahn et al (2005) and McAndrews (2017) emphasise legitimate reasons for counterparty anonymity in transactions. Payees and payers may want to reduce the risk of identity theft, the possibility that the counterparty might follow them home and rob them, or more innocuous annoyances like directed advertising and solicitations (spamming). Similarly, a lack of third-party anonymity may be regarded as revealing too much information about a person's private activities. In his proposal for Digicash, David Chaum (1983) makes this argument by pointing out that \"knowledge by a third party of the payee, amount, and time of payment for every transaction made by an individual can reveal a great deal about the individual's whereabouts, associations and lifestyle\".16\n\nCounterparty anonymity seems less controversial than third-party anonymity. Many observers have argued that third-party anonymity in payments should not be allowed because it facilitates criminal activity, such as tax evasion, terrorist financing or money laundering. Rogoff (2016) argues that $100 bills should be removed from circulation for the same reasons.\n\nIt is unclear how much consumers actually value anonymity of either sort in order to protect their privacy. Athey et al (2017) look at how much effort people make to protect their privacy in relation to digital currencies. In an experimental setting, they find that subjects, in general, do not devote the small amount of time needed to read through the e-wallet description that is necessary to meet their own stated preferences for privacy. Similar findings emerged from a survey of economics students at the University of California, Santa Barbara, on usage of Venmo (a digital wallet with social media features). Of the 669 respondents, 80% were users. Of these users, 44% allowed their Venmo transactions to be public (visible to everyone on the internet) and another 21% allowed all of their Facebook friends to see their transactions. Finally, while Digicash is regarded as a precursor to bitcoin, there may not have been sufficiently high demand for the third-party anonymity it provided as it was never widely adopted. It filed for bankruptcy in 1998.17\n\nThe technology behind CBCCs could allow central banks to provide a digital cash substitute with anonymity properties similar to those of cash. In its role as issuer, the central bank would need to decide whether or not to require customer information (the true identity behind the public address). This would determine the extent to which the retail CBCC would provide third-party anonymity.\n\nWhile it may look odd for a central bank to issue a cryptocurrency that provides anonymity, this is precisely what it does with physical currency, ie cash. Perhaps a key difference is that, with a retail CBCC, the provision of anonymity becomes a conscious decision. It is worth recalling that the anonymity properties of cash are likely to have emerged out of convenience or historical happenstance rather than intent.\n\nWholesale central bank cryptocurrencies\n\nWhile CBCCs for retail payments remain at the conceptual stage, some central banks have completed proofs of concept for DLT-based applications.18 One of the reasons for the interest in DLT is that many central bank-operated wholesale payment systems are at the end of their technological life cycles. The systems are programmed in obsolete languages or use database designs that are no longer fit for purpose and are costly to maintain.\n\nProjects Jasper and Ubin\n\nProject Jasper at the Bank of Canada (Chapman et al (2017)) and Project Ubin at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS (2017)) simulate real-time gross settlement (RTGS) systems on a DLT platform. In an RTGS system, payments are processed individually, immediately and with finality throughout the day (CPSS (1997)).\n\nUnlike the retail payment applications discussed above, wholesale systems have restricted access, ie they are permissioned rather than permission-less. Usually, access is restricted to financial institutions. Moreover, the costly proof-of-work validation (Box A) needed to prevent double-spending in retail schemes is replaced by less energy-consuming alternatives, such as a trusted notary (eg the central bank).\n\nA key challenge in any CBCC application is how to transfer central bank money to the distributed ledger.19 Both Jasper and Ubin chose a digital depository receipt (DDR) approach. A DDR is a claim on central bank reserves held in a segregated account against which the central bank issues digital tokens on the distributed ledger. In Jasper, the digital tokens - initially known as CADcoins20 - are created at the beginning of the day and redeemed at the end. In Ubin, banks acquire or redeem digital tokens at any point during the day and can keep them on the distributed ledger overnight. Hence, transfers on the DLT platform of the Singaporean proof of concept are not restricted to the opening hours of MAS.\n\nProject Jasper also implements a liquidity-saving mechanism (LSM) on the DLT platform. While RTGS systems minimise settlement risk, they can be demanding in terms of liquidity. Consequently, many RTGS systems around the world are augmented by mechanisms that periodically seek to offset payments against each other in a queue and settle only the net amounts (Bech and Soram\u00e4ki (2001)). Distributed ledgers are decentralised, so implementation of a centralised queue requires a clever work-around (Project Jasper (2017)).\n\nThe two projects show that central bank money can be transferred on a distributed ledger in real time, in realistic volumes and with an LSM. Nevertheless, none of the current initiatives to update or replace existing wholesale payment systems are considering the adoption of DLT. Both the Bank of England (2017) and Bank of Canada (Ho (2017)) conclude that DLT is not yet mature enough for current adoption. Yet most central banks that are considering modernising their core payment infrastructure stress the need to make new systems inter-operable with future DLT platforms.\n\nSecurities settlement\n\nLooking beyond the immediate horizon, many industry participants see significant potential for DLT to increase efficiency and reduce reconciliation costs in securities clearing and settlement.21 One potential benefit of DLT-based structures is immediate clearing and settlement of securities, in contrast to the multiple-day lags that currently exist when exchanging cash for securities (and vice versa).22 Progress in this direction was recently achieved by a joint venture between the Deutsche Bundesbank and Deutsche B\u00f6rse, which developed a functional prototype of a DLT-based securities settlement platform that achieves delivery-versus-payment settlement of digital coins and securities (Deutsche Bundesbank (2016)).\n\nConclusion\n\nAs it stands, cash is the only means by which the public can hold central bank money. If someone wishes to digitise that holding, he/she has to convert the central bank liability into a commercial bank liability by depositing the cash in a bank. A CBCC would allow consumers to hold central bank liabilities in digital form.23 But this would also be possible if the public were allowed to have central bank accounts, an idea that has been around for a long time.24 We argue that the main benefit that a consumer-facing retail CBCC would offer, over the provision of public access to (centralised) central bank accounts, is that the former would have the potential to provide the anonymity of cash. In particular, peer-to-peer transfers allow anonymity vis-\u00e0-vis any third party. If third-party anonymity is not of sufficient importance to the public, then many of the alleged benefits of retail CBCCs can be achieved by giving broad access to accounts at the central bank.\n\nWhether or not a central bank should provide a digital alternative to cash is most pressing in countries, such as Sweden, where cash usage is rapidly declining. But all central banks may eventually have to decide whether issuing retail or wholesale CBCCs makes sense in their own context. In making this decision, central banks will have to consider not only consumer preferences for privacy and possible efficiency gains - in terms of payments, clearing and settlement - but also the risks it may entail for the financial system and the wider economy, as well as any implications for monetary policy (Bordo and Levin (2017)). Some of the risks are currently hard to assess. For instance, at present very little can be said about the cyber-resilience of CBCCs, something not touched upon in this short feature.\n\nReferences\n\nAndolfatto, D (2015): \"Fedcoin: on the desirability of a government cryptocurrency\", MacroMania, blogpost, 3 February.\n\n--- (2016): \"Is bitcoin a safe asset?\", MacroMania, blogpost, 27 March.\n\nAthey, S, C Catalini and C Tucker (2017): \"The digital privacy paradox: small money, small costs, small talk\", Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Research Papers, no 17-24.\n\nBank of Canada (forthcoming): \"White paper on Project Jasper\".\n\nBank of England (2017): \"Bank of England extends direct access to RTGS accounts to non-bank payment service providers\", press release, 19 July.\n\nBank of France (2016): \"La Banque de France m\u00e8ne une exp\u00e9rimentation de 'blockchain' interbancaire\", press release, 15 December.\n\nBech, M, Y Shimizu and P Wong (2017): \"The quest for speed in payments\", BIS Quarterly Review, March, pp 57-68.\n\nBech, M and K Soram\u00e4ki (2001): \"Gridlock resolution in payment systems\", Danmarks Nationalbank, Monetary Review, December.\n\nBenos, E, R Garratt and P Gurrola-Perez (2017): \"The economics of distributed ledger technology for securities settlement\", Bank of England, Staff Working Papers, no 670, August.\n\nBjerg, O (2017): \"Designing new money - the policy trilemma of central bank digital currency\", Copenhagen Business School (CBS) Working Paper, June.\n\nBolt, W and M van Oordt (2016): \"On the value of virtual currencies\", Bank of Canada, Staff Working Papers, no 42, August.\n\nBordo, M and A Levin (2017): \"Central bank digital currency and the future of monetary policy\", NBER Working Papers, no 23711, August.\n\nBroadbent, B (2016): \"Central banks and digital currencies\", speech at the London School of Economics, 2 March.\n\nChapman, J, R Garratt, S Hendry, A McCormack and W McMahon (2017): \"Project Jasper: are distributed wholesale payment systems feasible yet?\", Bank of Canada, Financial System Review, June, pp 1-11.\n\nChaum, D (1983): \"Blind signatures for untraceable payments\", Advances in Cryptology, proceedings of Crypto '82, pp 199-203.\n\nCommittee on the Global Financial System (2015): \"Central bank operating frameworks and collateral markets\", CGFS Papers, no 53, March.\n\nCommittee on Payment and Settlement Systems (1997): Real-time gross settlement systems, March.\n\n--- (2003): The role of central bank money in payment systems, August.\n\nCommittee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (2015): Digital currencies, November.\n\nDeutsche Bundesbank (2016): \"Joint Deutsche Bundesbank and Deutsche B\u00f6rse blockchain prototype\", press release, 28 November.\n\nEuropean Central Bank (2012): Virtual currency schemes, October.\n\nFriedman, M (1959): \"The demand for money: some theoretical and empirical results\", The Journal of Political Economy, vol 67, no 4, pp 327-51.\n\nGarratt, R (2016): \"CAD-coin versus Fedcoin\", R3 Report, 15 November.\n\nGarratt, R and N Wallace (2016): \"Bitcoin 1, bitcoin 2, - : an experiment in privately issued outside monies\", University of California, Santa Barbara, Department of Economics, Departmental Working Paper, October.\n\nHo, S (2017): \"Canadian trial finds blockchain not ready for bank settlements\", Reuters Business News, 25 May.\n\nHong Kong Monetary Authority (2016): Whitepaper on distributed ledger technology, 11 November.\n\nKahn, C, J McAndrews and W Roberds (2005): \"Money is privacy\", International Economic Review, vol 46, no 2, pp 377-99.\n\nKlein, B (1974): \"The competitive supply of money\", Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, vol 6, no 4, pp 423-53.\n\nKocherlakota, N (1998): \"Money is memory\", Journal of Economic Theory, vol 81, no 2, pp 232-51.\n\nKoning, J (2014): \"Fedcoin\", Moneyness, blogpost, 19 October.\n\n--- (2016): \"Fedcoin: a central bank issued cryptocurrency\", R3 Report, 15 November.\n\nLuther, W and J Olson (2015): \"Bitcoin is memory\", The Journal of Prices & Markets, vol 3, no 3, pp 22-33.\n\nMainelle, M and A Milne (2016): \"The impact and potential of blockchain on the securities transaction lifecycle\", SWIFT Institute Working Papers, no 7.\n\nMcAndrews, J (2017): \"The case for cash\", Asian Development Bank Institute Working Paper Series, no 679.\n\nMonetary Authority of Singapore (2017): The future is here - Project Ubin: SGD on distributed ledger.\n\nMotamedi, S (2014): \"Will bitcoins ever become money? A path to decentralised central banking\", Tannu Tuva Initiative, blogpost.\n\nNakamoto, S (2009): \"Bitcoin: a peer-to-peer electronic cash system\".\n\nProject Jasper (2017): \"A Canadian experiment with distributed ledger technology for domestic interbank payments settlement\", white paper prepared by Payments Canada, R3 and the Bank of Canada.\n\nQuinn, S and W Roberds (2014): \"How Amsterdam got fiat money\", Journal of Monetary Economics, vol 66, September, pp 1-12.\n\nRaskin, M and D Yermack (2016): \"Digital currencies, decentralized ledgers and the future of central banking\", NBER Working Papers, no 22238, May.\n\nRogoff, K (2016): The curse of cash, Princeton University Press.\n\nSantander InnoVentures (2015): The Fintech 2.0 Paper: rebooting financial services.\n\nSkingsley, C (2016): \"Should the Riksbank issue e-krona?\", speech at FinTech Stockholm 2016, 16 November.\n\nSmith, A (1776): An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations, W Strahan and T Cadell, London.\n\nSveriges Riksbank (2017): Project plan for the eKrona, 14 March.\n\nTobin, J (1985): \"Financial innovation and deregulation in perspective\", Bank of Japan Monetary and Economic Studies, vol 3, no 2, pp 19-29.\n\n--- (1987): \"The case for preserving regulatory distinctions\", in Proceedings of the Economic Policy Symposium, Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, pp 167-83.\n\nTolle, M (2016): \"Central bank digital currency: the end of monetary policy as we know it?\", Bank Underground, blogpost, 25 July.\n\nUBS (2016): \"Utility settlement coin concept on blockchain gathers pace\", press release, 24 August.\n\nVenn, J (1881): Symbolic logic, MacMillan and Co, London.\n\nYermack, D (2015): \"Is bitcoin a real currency?\", in D Lee (ed), The Handbook of Digital Currency, Elsevier, pp 31-44.", "output": "The peer-to-peer element of consumer-facing, retail central bank cryptocurrencies (CBCCs) could offer the anonymity of cash but in digital form, according to the Bank for International Settlements. In a blog post, it suggests the creation of CBCCs would require universal accessibility, thus removing the need for central bank clearance when transacting CBCCs. The BIS warned, however,\u00a0that such a move could increase the threat of bank runs and may pose risks to the business models of commercial banks. Moreover, the impact of CBCCs is down to the public\u00a0perception of the necessity for\u00a0anonymous payments, otherwise\u00a0broader central bank\u00a0accounts would be sufficient.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Employers should aid first-time buyers: Localis \n Employers and government must help first-time buyers save deposit money to break housing impasse, Localis urges\n\n18/09/2017\n\nTo boost young people\u2019s chances of getting on the property ladder, employers and government should both contribute to first-time buyers\u2019 deposit-savings using auto-enrolment of monthly pay-packets \u2013 a think-tank has today urged.\n\nThe call comes as centre-right think-tank Localis produces the interim findings of its report \u2018Disrupting the Housing Market\u2019.\n\nThe report will present three key policy recommendations: \u2013\n\nExtension of principle of auto-enrolment from pensions to saving deposits among 18-40 year olds to radically speed up the time it takes young people to earn the deposit for their first house;\n\nLet local authorities re-designate greenbelt land through the creation of \u2018yellowfield registers\u2019 \u2013 allowing the sustainable release of land for new homes in areas where green belt protection is unwarranted;\n\nProviding greater protections to private-rented tenants by allowing them to choose their initial tenancy length at six month intervals up to thirty-six months, with a one month break option after six months.\n\nJack Airey, senior researcher at Localis, said: \u201cWhether out of choice, or simply because they do not have enough money at the end of each month to do so, a majority of people are not building any financial capacity with which to get a mortgage and purchase a home in the future.\n\n\u201cThis crisis of saving transcends people of all tenures, ages, regions and socio-economic classes yet these consequences are underappreciated, least of all by non-homeowners themselves. Under this auto-enrolment scheme, rather than relying on the \u2018Bank of Mum and Dad\u2019, employers and government would help young people onto the housing ladder.\u201d\n\nLiam Booth-Smith, chief executive at Localis, said: \u201cThe available evidence overwhelmingly points to the vast majority of people still wanting to own a home. It is an important life ambition, one that recent generations have enjoyed and future generations should too.\n\n\u201cThe housing market is everyone\u2019s problem \u2013 those who already own their home are dependent on someone else buying it. If the first rung of the housing ladder is lifted too high, there will be fewer and fewer buyers to sell to in the future.\n\n\u201cA Burkean intergenerational contract needs to be restored between those who wish to own their home, those that already do; and those that want to leave for retirement.\u201d\n\nRead more; for a full breakdown of the interim housing report findings, please visit : https://www.localis.org.uk/news/policies-for-a-fairer-housing-market/", "output": "Employers should help younger people save for a deposit on their first home, according to London think-tank Localis. The centre-right organisation included the recommendation in the interim findings of its forthcoming report, titled Disrupting the Housing Market. The policy would extend the principle of auto-enrolment currently in place for pensions, and would be aimed at helping young people build up the funds needed to get on the housing ladder. \"This crisis of saving transcends people of all tenures, ages, regions and socio-economic classes yet these consequences are underappreciated, least of all by non-homeowners themselves\", said\u00a0Jack Airey, senior researcher at Localis.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hewlett Packard and GE to provide cybersecurity support in Africa \n Johannes Koch, MD, Middle East and Africa for HPE, and Ali Saleh, senior vice president and chief commercial officer for GE Digital MEA.\n\nInformation technology enterprise Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has entered into three-year partnership with General Electric (GE) to provide cyber security solutions in the Africa, Middle East and Turkey regions.\n\nAccording to the two companies, the partnership, which is valued at $25 million, is the first collaboration of this scale and scope in the region and will see GE Digital's industrial solutions de-ployed in the areas.\n\nThe companies will use a combined network of more than 1 500 partners in the region to deliver the solutions. \"HPE's Partner Ready Program will ensure that more than 340 HPE specialists and channel partner technical and sales resources will be trained and certified on GE Digital solutions to deliver the solution on HPE storage and server infrastructure. In addition, HPE's own security capabilities for information technology infrastructure will complement the solutions provided by GE for the operational technology environment,\" the companies said.\n\nAli Saleh, senior vice president and chief commercial officer for GE Digital MEA, adds that in the first year, the partnership will be focusing on South Africa, Northern Africa, the Gulf, Levant and Turkey. \"This partnership will enable our most important customers and partners in the region to begin the journey of digital transformation in a secure environment. HPE has the strongest partner programme among peers to manage a partnership of this scope and scale, to bolster a secure digital ecosystem, and reach customers quickly through an innovative business model.\"\n\nAccording to the pair, one of the first solutions that will be focused on is OpShield from GE Digital. OpShield is an operational technology cyber security solution that is specialised to protect critical infrastructure and reduces risk of cyber-related unplanned downtime; heightens asset protection from cyber-related damage; helps safeguard protected health information and reduces risk of damage to reputation and intellectual property theft due to cyber incidents.\n\nThe companies further announced that discussions around bringing Predix-based applications to the market are currently underway. Predix is a cloud-based operating system for the industrial Internet that was purpose-built for the digital industrial era. It captures and analyses the \"unique volume, velocity and variety of machine data in a secure, industrial-strength cloud environment\".\n\nJohannes Koch, MD of HPE in the Middle East and Africa, notes that the partnership is mutually beneficial. \"This agreement for Middle East, Africa and Turkey builds on our global partnership with GE to help our customers and partners take advantage of the industrial Internet of things and drive digital transformation across their business. The requirement for security in both information technology and operational technology environments, and the need to protect critical infrastructures, makes this an ideal opportunity for our partners.\"", "output": "UK-based IT company Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has announced a three-year partnership with General Electric (GE) to develop cybersecurity systems for projects in Africa, the Middle East and Turkey. The $25m deal will involve making GE's digital solutions available to HPE's existing partners and combining the companies' security capabilities for IT infrastructure. GE's OpShield system, which is designed to protect critical infrastructure from cyber-related damage, will be among the first products to be offered. The companies also intend to develop applications for GE's Predix, a cloud-based operating system designed for digital industries.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Electric rickshaws and buses to take to the streets of India \n A sales executive talks about Mahindra's electric car \"e2o Plus\", on display at a showroom in New Delhi\n\nIndia will roll out nearly 100,000 battery-powered buses and autorickshaws onto its sulphurous city streets in the coming weeks, setting it on the bumpy road to making new vehicle sales all-electric by 2030.\n\nIndia, one of the world's most polluted nations, has one of the most ambitious plans to kick its fossil fuel addiction.\n\nAnalysts say the target is \"daunting\".\n\nTransport is a major source of India's carbon emissions and the Greenpeace group blames at least 1.2 million deaths a year in the country on pollution.\n\nGetting off diesel and petrol would improve the nation's health and bolster India's bid to meet the bold climate change targets it pledged in Paris in 2015.\n\nIndia is not alone in wanting all-electric cars, though it is aiming to go faster than others.\n\nBritain and France have said they want to end the sale of fossil fuel cars by 2040.\n\nBut electric and hybrid models make up just three percent of all cars on the road worldwide, say London-based consultancy firm PwC.\n\nThat figure is even lower in India, underscoring the enormity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's electric challenge.\n\nOn top of gradually bringing in electric rickshaws and buses in New Delhi, the government has issued a tender to auto makers for 10,000 cars to replace pollution producers at four government ministries.\n\n\"To go all electric is a daunting task,\" said PwC partner Abdul Majeed.\n\nAnkur Bhatia (R), head of marketing at Mahindra Electric Mobility, checks his mobile phone while driving Mahindra's electric car \"e2o Plus\", in New Delhi\n\n\"Electric vehicles have a few huge challenges to deal with before they can take off in a big way.\"\n\nLow-cost solutions\n\nThe government does not want to pay for a network of charging stations for millions of future green motorists to power up depleted car batteries.\n\nInstead it hopes private energy companies will invest in \"swapping bays\", where drivers can exchange empty batteries for fresh ones, Ashok Jhunjhunwala, principal advisor to the power minister and the official spearheading the efforts, told AFP.\n\nIt plans to lease batteries separately for public transport and taxi fleets. It also wants more work on smaller, easier to use batteries.\n\nAmara Raja Batteries, an Indian battery manufacturer, would be part of the \"swapping model\", said its chief executive S. Vijayanand.\n\n\"The headache of managing and charging the battery will not be with the driver then,\" he said.\n\nOther ideas include setting tougher efficiency standards so new vehicles use less power.\n\n\"The idea is to keep it as low-cost as possible,\" Jhunjhunwala said. \"Vehicles and chargers must happen without subsidies and must make business sense.\"\n\nMahesh Babu, chief executive at Indian conglomerate Mahindra, said it was an exciting project but government efficiency targets are \"idealistic and might lead to compromise on consumer needs and safety.\"\n\nOthers are more optimistic.\n\nMahindra's electric car \"e2o Plus\" is plugged in for charging, at a showroom in New Delhi\n\nReductions in the size and cost of electric vehicles, coupled with rapid technological advances, mean India's ambitions were \"very feasible\", said Bill Hare, chief executive of the Berlin-based Climate Analytics consultancy.\n\n'India's challenges'\n\nForeign car majors are not ready to bring their electric offerings to India.\n\nMercedes said it needs a reasonable timeline and improved incentives for motorists\u2014currently a tiny sum that could be withdrawn at any time\u2014to bring in electric cars.\n\nTesla boss Elon Musk\u2014who in July launched Model 3, a mass-market version of Tesla's pricier cars\u2014has postponed entry to the Indian market.\n\nBut at $35,000, even the cheapest Tesla is out of reach for most Indians. Most of the three million new cars added to India's roads every year are far cheaper, compact vehicles.\n\nNissan Motor is test driving its Leaf model to see how it performs on Indian roads and copes with pollution and extreme weather conditions.\n\nThat leaves the field wide open for Mahindra, currently the only company selling electric cars in India.\n\nIts hatchback, sedan and van sell in Delhi from $11,000 to $15,000, after a subsidy of $2,300.\n\nThe company hopes to sell up to 5,000 units this year, including autorickshaws.\n\nSo far it has tied up with cab firms in a handful of cities, logistics firms and start-ups that offer a sharing system of self-driving cars.\n\n\"We want to meet India's challenges,\" Babu said.\n\n\u00a9 2017 AFP", "output": "India is to put almost 100,000 battery-powered autorickshaws and buses into service in the coming weeks. Rather than set up a network of charging stations, the government wants to create battery-swapping points, where drivers deposit a depleted battery in exchange for a fully charged one. The government intends all new vehicles on sale to be electric by 2030. Some 1.2 million deaths a year in India are caused by pollution, according to Greenpeace.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Christian Candy remortgages and sells\u00a0\u00a3340m of property assets \n The controversial property mogul Christian Candy, whose luxury developments attracted some of the highest prices ever paid for London real estate, has sold and mortgaged assets worth an estimated \u00a3340m in less than a year.\n\n\n\nThe sum is a significant part of the \u00a3600m joint fortune Christian and his elder brother and business partner, Nick, disclosed to a British court last year.\n\nA trawl through the land registry, property websites and news reports suggests that eight homes and developments have been sold, borrowed against or placed on the market between July 2016 and June of this year.\n\nThey include a villa on the French Riviera, a penthouse above the Plaza Hotel in New York, and a seven-bedroom, seven-bathroom house in London with a swimming pool and staff quarters.\n\nKnown as the \u201cbrothers bling\u201d for their private jet, their yachts and collections of Swiss watches and sports cars, the Candys were the poster boys for London\u2019s super-luxe real estate boom. Their developments, including One Hyde Park in Knightsbridge, attracted oligarchs, Nigerian petro-bosses and Middle Eastern royals.\n\nBut the five-year high-end property rush has stalled, with too many competing developments and an oil price slump curbing interest from potential buyers. Christian Candy, it seems, has decided to cash in some of his chips.\n\nNick and Christian Candy at the launch of their One Hyde Park development in 2011. Photograph: Dave M. Benett/Getty Images\n\n\u201cPlayers at this level often shuffle their chess pieces around,\u201d said property agent and market commentator Henry Pryor. \u201cThe market, even for the Candy brothers, is no longer as sweet as it was a couple of years ago \u2013 but, having enjoyed some of the most impressive returns over the years, they can probably weather a modest downturn.\u201d\n\nHowever, the disposals have prompted legal letters from the businessman Mark Holyoake, who is suing the brothers for \u00a3132m in damages after they fell out over a loan. The trial was held in February and March, and judgment in the case is expected in October.\n\nMany of the transactions took place during and after the trial. Holyoake\u2019s solicitors wrote to the Candys in July threatening to ask for a court ruling to freeze their assets. Such an order would prevent the brothers from making any further disposals. However, Holyoake has yet to take any such action.\n\nHis spokesman said: \u201cWe are extremely concerned at the level of recent Candy property disposals in the UK and abroad. Mr Holyoake and his legal team are currently investigating these issues as a matter of urgency and will not hesitate to take appropriate action if assets are being dissipated.\u201d\n\nThe Candys declined to comment on the disposals and dismissed Holyoake\u2019s concerns as misplaced and without foundation. They have fully defended the claims brought by Holyoake and expect to be successful in their defence. They say their remaining assets would, after the disposals, be sufficient to cover any penalty were Holyoake\u2019s case to succeed.\n\nLoans have been taken out against properties, including a two-floor penthouse in block D at One Hyde Park, where security measures include iris scanners and SAS-trained guards. The proprietor is a company registered at the Guernsey address used by Christian Candy\u2019s CPC Group.\n\nIn July 2016, it raised a mortgage from the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, according to the title deed, which states that the bank is under obligation to \u201cmake further advances\u201d.\n\nThe Plaza hotel in New York, where Christian Candy sold a \u00a331m apartment. Photograph: Lisa Carpenter\n\nThis June, Christian Candy was reported to be under contract to sell his three-floor Plaza penthouse for just under $40m (\u00a331m). The property, which occupies the attic floors of a famous New York hotel once owned by Donald Trump, was acquired for $25m in 2012 and, after a revamp, was placed on the market a year later with a price tag of $59m. A buyer was found after a decision to drop the price earlier this year, according to reports.\n\n\n\nIn May, Villa l\u2019Horizon in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, one of the most expensive locations on the French Riviera, was sold to an undisclosed buyer \u2013 for nearly 30% less than the original \u20ac35m (\u00a331m) asking price.\n\nHugh House on Eaton Square was refinanced in March with Swiss bank UBS. It appears to have been put up for sale and then withdrawn. Once the property of Lily Safra, widow of billionaire banker Edmond Safra, it was marketed at \u00a345m by the estate agent Savills, according to an advert which states it has now been \u201cremoved by the agent\u201d.\n\nClermont Trust (Switzerland) SA, which appears to be a Geneva-based wealth manager, is now named as the proprietor of three other addresses.\n\nA large property at Cornwall Terrace, used by Christian as his London family home, has been transferred to Clermont for just over \u00a339m according to a land registry entry from December 2016. The Swiss group is also named on the title deeds of two associated houses at Cornwall Terrace Mews: one was acquired for \u00a32m, and the other, valued at \u00a31.2m, previously belonged to Christian Candy\u2019s wife Emily Crompton.\n\nCornwall Terrace next to London\u2019s Regent\u2019s Park. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian\n\nFinally, the Financial Times reported in June that the Duke\u2019s Lodge development was for sale. The 1930s mansion block was bought for \u00a385m, according to the title deed, and Christian Candy\u2019s CPC Group obtained planning permission to refurbish the building as luxury flats. Rather than developing the property itself, CPC is now reported to be seeking buyers at a discounted \u00a375m.\n\nIn 2016, a judge imposed restrictions on disposals by the Candys. He forbade them from selling assets worth more than \u00a31m without notifying Holyoake first, after deciding there was \u201crisk of dissipation\u201d ahead of the damages trial, which took place in the high court in February and March of this year.\n\nThe judge later varied the restriction significantly, including allowing for no notice on \u201ctransactions in the ordinary and proper course of business\u201d. In October the court of appeal decided the notification order should be completely lifted, with a judge concluding there was \u201cinsufficient evidence showing a real risk of dissipation\u201d.\n\nOne Hyde Park, London. Photograph: View Pictures/REX\n\nThe properties\n\n1. One Hyde Park Penthouse D, London \u2013 valued at \u00a3120m in 2011, was refinanced in July 2016 according to the land registry\n\n2. Plaza Penthouse, New York \u2013 reported in June 2017 to be under contract with a buyer at just under $40m\n\n3. Hugh House, London \u2013 mortgaged in March 2017, advertised for sale at \u00a345m\n\n4. Villa L\u2019Horizon, Cap-Ferrat \u2013 the French Riviera villa was originally marketed at \u20ac35m, but reported in May to have been sold for \u20ac25m\n\n5. Cornwall Terrace, London \u2013 Britain\u2019s \u201cmost expensive terraced house\u201d, overlooking Regent\u2019s Park, was bought for \u00a335m in 2012. In February of this year it was recorded as transferred to Clermont Trust (Switzerland) SA, at a value of \u00a339m.\n\n6. Cornwall Terrace Mews \u2013 Originally in the name of Emily Crompton, Christian\u2019s wife, the property was transferred in February 2017 to Clermont Trust for \u00a31.2m.\n\n7. Cornwall Terrace Mews \u2013 a second mews house associated with the main property at Cornwall Terrace was transferred to Clermont Trust for \u00a32m in January 2017.\n\n8. Duke\u2019s Lodge, London \u2013 The 1930s mansion block in Holland Park was bought for \u00a385m in 2015, and refinanced with a loan from Credit Suisse in February 2017. A newspaper report says it is now on the market for \u00a375m.\n\n", "output": "UK property mogul Christian Candy has mortgaged and sold up to \u00a3340m ($460m) worth of assets, including a villa on the French Riviera, a penthouse above the Plaza Hotel in New York and a seven-bedroom house in London. A spokesman for businessman Mark Holyoake, who took legal action against Christian and his brother Nick Candy after\u00a0they fell out over\u00a0a loan, said Holyoake was \"extremely concerned\" at the reshuffle. Judgment in the case is expected in October.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Device measures atmospheric carbon compounds from fossil fuels \n Carbon atoms occur in heavy and light forms, or isotopes, and measuring the relative amounts of each can reveal the source of the carbon. Oxygen atoms are represented in gray and carbon isotopes are in orange. Credit: Kelly Irvine/NIST\n\nScientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a laboratory instrument that can measure how much of the carbon in many carbon-containing materials was derived from fossil fuels. This will open the way for new methods in the biofuels and bioplastics industries, in scientific research, and environmental monitoring. Among other things, it will allow scientists to measure how much of the carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in the atmosphere came from burning fossil fuels, and to estimate fossil fuel emissions in an area as small as a city or as large as a continent.\n\nThis is possible because carbon atoms occur in heavy and light forms, or isotopes, and measuring the relative amounts of each can reveal the source of the carbon. Using carbon isotopes in this way is not a new idea, but it requires extremely precise\u2014and expensive\u2014measurements. The new instrument, developed by NIST chemists Adam Fleisher and David Long and based on a technology called cavity ringdown spectroscopy (CRDS), promises to dramatically reduce the cost of those measurements. They described the instrument's performance in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters .\n\n\"Measuring carbon isotopes is an extremely useful technique, but until now, it has found limited use because of the cost,\" said Long. \"Lowering the cost will open the way for new applications, especially ones that require testing a large number of samples.\"\n\nThe key to these measurements is carbon-14, a radioactive (yet harmless) isotope of carbon that is formed in the upper atmosphere. That carbon-14 finds its way into all living things. Unlike regular carbon, carbon-14 is unstable, with a half-life of 5,730 years. When living things die, they stop incorporating carbon into their bodies, and their carbon-14 starts to decay away.\n\nScientists can calculate how long ago something died by measuring how much carbon-14 is in its remains. That technique is called carbon dating, and scientists use it to date things like Neanderthal bones and ancient plant fibers.\n\nFossil fuels also are the remains of living things, mainly plants that died hundreds of millions of years ago. Virtually all their carbon-14 decayed away eons ago, so anything derived from them is marked by the absence of measurable amounts of carbon-14.\n\nBut carbon-14 is extremely rare, and to use it for identifying fossil fuels, scientists need to be able to measure it at concentrations as low as 1 part in 10 trillion. That's the equivalent of a single grain of sand in 60 dump trucks full of the stuff.\n\nTo measure concentrations that low, you need an extremely sensitive measurement technique, and such a technique already exists. Archaeologists have been relying on it for decades. But that technique requires a particle accelerator to separate the isotopes (the heavier carbon-14 accelerates more slowly than everyday carbon-12), along with a facility to house it and a team of PhDs to run it.\n\nThe CRDS instrument that Fleisher and Long have developed can sit on a laboratory benchtop and is relatively inexpensive to operate.\n\nCredit: Kelly Irvine/NIST\n\nCRDS instruments analyze gases by detecting the wavelengths of light they absorb. For instance, CO 2 that contains carbon-14\u2014so-called heavy CO 2 \u2014absorbs a slightly different wavelength than regular CO 2 .\n\nTo measure how much heavy CO 2 you have in a CO 2 sample, you first inject the sample into the instrument's measurement cavity (the \"C\" in CRDS), which is a tube with mirrors inside at either end. You then tune a laser to the exact wavelength that only heavy CO 2 absorbs and shoot a burst of it into the cavity. As the laser light bounces between the mirrors, some of its energy is absorbed by the gas. The greater the absorption, the greater the concentration of heavy CO 2 .\n\nTo achieve the required sensitivity, Fleisher and Long enhanced existing CRDS technology by engineering a system that chills the cavity to a uniform minus 55 degrees Celsius and minimizes temperature fluctuations that would throw off the measurement. Making the cavity very cold allows their instrument to detect very faint signals of light absorption, the same way that you might be able to hear a pin drop if you made a room extremely quiet.\n\nThis and other improvements boosted the instrument's sensitivity enough for accurate carbon dating.\n\nTo test biofuels and bioplastics, you would first burn those materials, then collect the resulting CO 2 for analysis. This would allow you to test a fuel mixture to determine what fraction of it is biofuel. In the airline industry, for example, this would be useful because some countries require that aviation fuels include a specific biofuel percentage. Such tests could also be used to verify that bioplastics, which sell for a premium, do not contain petroleum-derived compounds.\n\nTo estimate fossil fuel emissions in a geographic area, you would collect many air samples across that area and analyze the atmospheric CO 2 in those samples. Areas with high fossil fuel emissions, such as cities and industrial zones, will have below-normal concentrations of heavy CO 2 .\n\n\"Fossil fuel emissions dilute the concentration of heavy CO 2 in the air,\" said Fleisher. \"If we can accurately measure that concentration after it's been diluted, we can calculate how much fossil fuel emissions are in the mix.\"\n\nA report from the National Academy of Sciences estimated that 10,000 samples a year, collected at carefully chosen locations around the United States, would be enough to estimate national fossil fuel emissions to within 10 percent of the actual value. Such a system of measurements can increase the reliability of national emissions estimates. This would be especially useful in parts of the world where high-quality emissions data are not readily available.\n\n\"There is a need for this type of measurement in many industries,\" Fleisher said. \"We've demonstrated a path to meeting that need in a cost-effective way.\"\n\nMore information: Adam J. Fleisher et al. Optical Measurement of Radiocarbon below Unity Fraction Modern by Linear Absorption Spectroscopy, The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters (2017). DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.7b02105 Journal information: Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters", "output": "Scientists at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology have developed a device that can measure the level of fossil fuel-derived carbon in the atmosphere, according to an article published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. The team made several changes to cavity ringdown spectroscopy technology, including chilling the cavity to minimise temperature fluctuations, to improve its sensitivity, before injecting a sample of heavy CO2 and measuring the wavelengths of light absorbed. Possible applications include the airline industry and bioplastics."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Quantum tech raises hydrogen\u00a0productivity from water splitting \n Fossil fuels accounted for almost 90 percent of energy consumption in 2015. Credit: Lancaster University\n\nPhysicists at Lancaster University are developing methods of creating renewable fuel from water using quantum technology.\n\nRenewable hydrogen can already be produced by photoelectrolysis where solar power is used to split water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen.\n\nBut, despite significant research effort over the past four decades, fundamental problems remain before this can be adopted commercially due to inefficiency and lack of cost-effectiveness.\n\nDr Manus Hayne from the Department of Physics said: \"For research to progress, innovation in both materials development and device design is clearly needed.\"\n\nThe Lancaster study, which formed part of the PhD research of Dr Sam Harrison, and is published in Scientific Reports, provides the basis for further experimental work into the solar production of hydrogen as a renewable fuel.\n\nIt demonstrates that the novel use of nanostructures could increase the maximum photovoltage generated in a photoelectrochemical cell, increasing the productivity of splitting water molecules.\n\nDr Hayne said: \"To the authors' best knowledge, this system has never been investigated either theoretically or experimentally, and there is huge scope for further work to expand upon the results presented here.\"\n\nFossil fuels accounted for almost 90% of energy consumption in 2015, with absolute demand still increasing due to a growing global population and increasing industrialisation.\n\nDr Manus Hayne said: \"Fossil-fuel combustion releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, causing global climate change, and there is only a finite amount of them available for extraction. We clearly need to transition to a renewable and low-greenhouse-gas energy infrastructure, and renewable hydrogen is expected to play an important role.\"\n\nPhotovoltaic solar cells are currently used to convert sunlight directly into electricity but solar hydrogen has the advantage that it is easily stored, so it can be used as and when needed.\n\nHydrogen is also very flexible, making it highly advantageous for remote communities. It can be converted to electricity in a fuel cell, or burnt in a boiler or cooker just like natural gas. It can even be used to fuel aircraft.\n\nMore information: S. Harrison et al, Photoelectrolysis Using Type-II Semiconductor Heterojunctions, Scientific Reports (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-11971-x Journal information: Scientific Reports", "output": "Scientists at Lancaster University are turning to quantum technology to find innovative ways of developing hydrogen fuel using water and sunlight. In a recent study, published in Scientific Reports, physicists increased the productivity of splitting water molecules by demonstrating how the novel use of nanostructures could increase the maximum photovoltage generated in a photoelectrochemical cell. \"To the authors' best knowledge, this system has never been investigated either theoretically or experimentally, and there is huge scope for further work to expand upon the results,\" said Dr Manus Hayne from the department of physics."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brazil registers 48 GW of renewables projects for December auction \n Brazil\u2019s energy agency EPE has registered 574 solar PV projects, totalling 18,352MW in capacity, for it\u2019s A-4 Reserve energy auction that will be held in December.\n\nWind energy saw strongest interest with 954 projects registered totalling 26,604MW, and covering more than half (55.5%) of the capacity submitted by all technologies.\n\nThere were 1,676 projects submitted across all technologies combined, including biomass, wind, solar and hydro. This came to 47,965MW.\n\nThe states with the highest solar registrations were:\n\nBahia \u2013 4,758\n\nPiaui \u2013 3,354\n\nRio Grande do Norte 2,978\n\nCeara \u2013 1,575\n\nSao Paulo \u2013 1,243\n\nMato Grosso do Sul \u2013 1,220\n\nPernambuco \u2013 1,201\n\nMinas Gerais \u2013 1,145\n\nUntil 15 November, EPE will be analysing submissions to be able to technically qualify projects for the auction and participate effectively in the auction. The Auction will take place on 18 December. Grid-connection for winning projects is due by January 2021.\n\nThe other power auction, the A-6 for hydro, biomass, coal, gas and wind, will take place two days later on 20 December, and has seen 53,424MW of capacity registered.\n\nCiel & Terre Brasil, a subsidiary of French floating PV specialist Ciel & Terre, recently completed Brazil\u2019s first floating solar project.", "output": "EPE, Brazil's energy agency, has registered 1,676 renewable-energy projects amounting to 48 GW of capacity for an auction to be held in December. Wind accounted for the majority, with 954 projects totalling 26.6 GW. There were 574 solar projects with 18 GW of capacity. The remainder\u00a0were hydropower and biomass."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Medicaid pilots telehealth programme for new mothers in Arizona \n Care1st Health Plan Arizona has launched a pilot program offering Pacify Health\u2019s live video chat app to new and soon-to-be mothers enrolled in the state\u2019s Medicaid program.\n\nThe Pacify service, which is also available to consumers on Android and iOS platforms, quickly connects users to lactation consultants, dietitians, and other pregnancy management specialists. The video chat service is now available to all of the health plan\u2019s expectant mothers and those up to 12 months postpartum, explains Pacify Health CEO Ben Lundin, and on average will connect mothers and experts in 25 seconds at any time of the day or night.\n\n\u201cWhen it\u2019s 2 o\u2019clock in the morning and you\u2019re struggling with breast feeding, the last thing you want to see from an application is that the first available appointment is tomorrow at five,\u201d Lundin told MobiHealthNews. \u201cThe moms who are creating these accounts and accessing these services are experiencing a radically higher level of care, and are showing much higher levels of satisfaction as a result.\u201d\n\nTraditionally, new mothers in need of assistance during off hours had few options outside of calling a knowledgeable friend, visiting an emergency room, or waking up their doctor during the middle of the night, Lundin said. A service capable of offering 24-7 consulting is capable of not only reassuring hysterical mothers, he continued, but would also greatly reduce unnecessary emergency services and their accompanying expenses.\n\n\u201cThe key component to the technology development has precisely been solving that issue: how do you take a service like lactation consulting or dietetics \u2026 and connect them in under 30 seconds to the moms who need them?\u201d Lundin said. \u201cIt\u2019s partly an Uber-like technology for call routing and availability identification \u2026 and it utilizes a lot of push notifications.\"\n\nWhile Care1st Health Plan Arizona is the first in the state to work with Pacify, the company currently has arrangements with additional insurers. What\u2019s more, Lundin said that his company is comfortable working within the framework of Medicaid, public health networks, and regulations.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t see state Medicaid agencies as a hurdle at all,\u201d Lundin said. \u201cWhat we\u2019ve found is that state regulators are overwhelmingly excited about programs that can transform the level of care in these populations. So many technology companies out there are providing fee-for-service or high-cost platforms that are targeting the commercial market or wealthier families, and it\u2019s really awesome to be able to offer a program like this that is accessible in the Medicaid space and that has the possibility of transforming the way Medicaid participants access care.\u201d\n\nAlong with live video chat, Pacify also features regular push notifications, alerts, and various educational resources related to prepartum and postpartum wellbeing.", "output": "A live video chat service for new and expectant mothers is being piloted in Arizona for those on the state's Medicaid programme. The Pacify service is available around the clock\u00a0and connects users to lactation consultants, dietitians\u00a0and other pregnancy management specialists. It operates on Android and iOS platforms\u00a0and also features push notifications, alerts and other educational resources. While developer\u00a0Pacify Health\u00a0has arrangements with other insurers,\u00a0CEO Ben Lundin\u00a0said\u00a0it's \"awesome\"\u00a0to be able to make\u00a0the technology accessible through Medicaid, whose users tend to be less affluent Americans.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Instagram verification increasingly elusive for emerging brands \n To many brands, a verification badge on a social media platform represents that they are legitimate businesses. Out of all platforms, a verification badge on Instagram has become the most exclusive. Agency executives say Instagram is only becoming more secretive and selective.\n\nThe main way agencies and brands get verified is by proving to a rep their Instagram accounts are being impersonated or are likely to get impersonated, said multiple agencies. Major brands seeking verification can use their size and popularity to prove fake accounts are impersonating their own. Strong connections with Facebook and Instagram and big budgets don\u2019t hurt either. \u201cThe easiest way [to get verified] is to, frankly, spend money on advertising,\u201d said Matt Britton, CEO at digital agency Crowdtap.\n\nSmall brands, however, cannot as easily demonstrate that other accounts want to steal their identities, and they are finding more and more roadblocks to verification.\n\nThe process\n\nInstagram introduced verified badges to brands and celebrities in December 2014 to deter users from impersonating real accounts. Users could apply for verification, just as they would through Facebook or Twitter, according to Britton. But in September 2015, Instagram suddenly started prohibiting users from applying for badges, leaving agencies and brands to go through a rep at the platform. \u201cIt\u2019s not currently possible to request or purchase a verified badge,\u201d reads the platform\u2019s current help page.\n\nAllison Brito, associate director of media and marketing at Wondersauce, works with emerging brands on getting verified accounts on Instagram and noticed the process has become even more mysterious and rigid in the past year. She recalled that in early 2016, she contacted her Facebook rep directly without speaking to someone at Instagram when she wanted to get clients verified on both platforms.\n\n\u201cWe were told from our Facebook rep that because Facebook and Instagram are the same company, that getting verified on Facebook was the easy way in,\u201d she said. Essentially, because a brand was verified on Facebook meant it was likely the brand would also get verified on Instagram. But an \u201cin\u201d with a rep at Facebook no longer necessarily means a brand can get verified on Instagram, she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not necessarily a shoo-in anymore,\u201d said Brito, who is now undergoing the process for a client. \u201cThey are talking about the two platforms separately.\u201d\n\nAgencies also claim they are no longer notified whether or not a brand will be verified. Instead, verification badges will randomly appear on accounts, regardless of whether brands are working for them. \u201cIt\u2019s like it\u2019s a complete surprise, like, \u2018Oh, we woke up one morning, and [the badge] was there,'\u201d said Brito. And rather than taking a few days, agencies said the process can last from a few weeks to a few months.\n\nA status symbol\n\nBeing verified on Instagram is of utmost importance for brands, numerous agency executives said. The blue check gives brands credibility in consumers\u2019 eyes, especially now that Instagram users are accustomed to seeing blue badges next to familiar brands. \u201cA user may be less inclined to reach out to a brand that isn\u2019t verified,\u201d said Jill Sherman, svp of social strategy at DigitasLBi.\n\nVerification helps brands gain credibility among industry peers, too. \u201cBeing able to say we are recognized as a legitimate brand that other people would want to impersonate is important to get recognition within their industry,\u201d said Brito.\n\nWhat\u2019s more, brands with verification badges receive early access to Instagram features that can help monetize accounts, like outgoing links on Instagram Stories. Instagram\u2019s algorithms are also rumored to favor verified brands, with their content getting better placement and more engagement, said Gil Eyal, CEO of agency Hypr.\n\nJason Schlossberg, managing director at digital agency Huge, said that if a brand is not verified, it sends the message that the account is not significant enough to verify. \u201cThe verification itself becomes an implied endorsement that the brand or celebrity is \u2018worthy\u2019 of verification,\u201d he said.\n\nThe desire for verification has led to the use of shady methods to get it. At the beginning of September, Mashable uncovered a black market where middlemen with contacts at Instagram have charged up to $15,000 for verification. But that approach is in jeopardy. One influencer named James, who sells verifications for up to $7,000, told Mashable that Instagram is firing employees involved in this scheme. While he could pass five names per week to his Instagram contact a year ago, he can now only send two names a week.\n\nBrands have complained on their blogs or to Instagram itself about the difficulty of becoming verified. Amber Boyes, PR account supervisor and content strategist at creative agency Marcus Thomas, follows home organization e-commerce brand The Home Edit on Instagram. She said she saw the brand ranting about not being verified a few weeks ago on its Instagram Stories. Since then, The Home Edit brand has received a badge, and Boyes presumes it\u2019s because the brand spoke out. The brand could not be reached for comment.\n\n\u2018No official system\u2019\n\nBecause of the mysterious nature of the Instagram verification process, agencies don\u2019t know why they experience roadblocks. \u201cThere\u2019s no official system,\u201d said Schlossberg. \u201cIt all goes on behind the scenes.\u201d\n\nMostly, experts believe that as the platform attracts more businesses, it wants to remain in complete control of its verification process, ensuring fake branded accounts don\u2019t become as prevalent as they were in its early days.\n\nStephen Boidock, director of marketing and business development at digital agency Drumroll, believes the platform is making the verification process harder, but notes the platform is doing the same with its application programming interface approval process. Although Instagram would not comment on whether it is strengthening its grip on the verification process or how many requests it receives, a spokesperson said, \u201cWe take spam, inauthentic and other abusive behavior very seriously.\u201d\n\nAnother belief is Instagram doesn\u2019t have time to review all requests. Indeed, businesses have joined Instagram at an impressive rate. Nearly 71 percent of U.S. businesses are using Instagram this year, nearly double the amount of businesses (about 49 percent) that used the platform in 2016, according to eMarketer. At the end of July, Instagram announced it had 15 million business profiles, up from 8 million in March. With more new business users, the platform is likely seeing more verification requests, making it harder for emerging brands to receive it, said Eyal.\n\nExperts believe Instagram\u2019s verification system is not automated, with human beings reviewing each account, no easy feat with all the new businesses. Plus, the platform fields verification requests from influencers and celebrities. When Instagram introduced verification badges, it had 300 million users. Today, it has 700 million users. \u201cInstagram must be inundated with these kind of requests,\u201d said Schlossberg.\n\nInstagram might not be the only platform becoming stricter about verifying accounts. Brito recently saw Twitter\u2019s verification process become more tedious as well. Around three months ago, Wondersauce sent a brand\u2019s Twitter handle to its rep at the platform for verification. The rep said the handles \u201cgo to a separate team\u201d and that they would review the brand\u2019s account, according to Brito. After \u201cseveral doors closed,\u201d the brand has still not been verified. \u201cThese platforms are looking for more authentic ways of verifying and not just giving out a badge because you apply,\u201d Brito said. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s just with Instagram anymore.\u201d", "output": "Smaller businesses seeking verification on Instagram are finding it increasingly difficult, thanks to the \"mysterious and rigid\" nature of the verification process, and the sheer number of business users on the social media site, according to several advertising executives. Instagram verification, which gives brands and celebrities a blue tick, is regarded as a mark of credibility, and is of the \"utmost importance for brands\". At the end of July 2017, Instagram said it had 15 million business profiles, compared to eight million in March."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple restricts ad trackers to 24-hour window \n Ad industry groups are pissed off at Apple, but there\u2019s not much they can do about it.\n\nApple is limiting ad tracking in its Safari browser, which will make it harder for ad buyers to target niche audiences. Although this move protects users\u2019 data privacy, it\u2019s likely to hurt advertiser conversions and reduce CPMs for publishers that rely heavily on third-party data.\n\nOn Tuesday, Apple will update the operating system of its web browser Safari so users can\u2019t be tracked by third parties for more than 24 hours after visiting a website. In response, six ad industry groups let Apple know they were frustrated, publishing an open letter last week stating that this move will sabotage the internet\u2019s economy. Apple did not respond to a request for comment.\n\nApple\u2019s Safari update is just the most recent example that displays company\u2019s ambivalence about digital advertising. In 2014, Apple CEO Tim Cook criticized ad supported businesses like Facebook. Last year, Apple shut down its mobile ad platform iAd. While other tech giants like Amazon and Google are growing their revenue by creating new ad products, Apple has fully invested in getting people to pay for products like $1,000 cellphones.\n\nJulie Rezek, North American president at ad agency HackerAgency, said Apple\u2019s restrictions on retargeting data could hurt conversions and reduce reach by making it harder for advertisers to find users who fit specific demographics. Two other ad buyers said Apple\u2019s reduction of third-party tracking will make it harder for them to drive sales and that if their ad performance declines, publishers will ultimately suffer since their CPMs will drop due to a reduction in demand.\n\nBut not all publishers will be harmed. Publishers that rely on third-party data vendors to sell the majority of their ads programmatically on open exchanges are most likely to be affected. The issue doesn\u2019t hurt publishers that get most of their revenue from direct sales, said Todd Sawicki, CEO of native ad platform Zemanta.\n\nJust as the General Data Protection Regulation will force advertisers to buy ads on sites with recognizable brands rather than target audiences whenever they wind up on the web, Apple\u2019s data-gathering restrictions could benefit premium publishers not reliant on hypertargeting, said a product head at a comScore 200 publisher.\n\nAlthough Ranker gets about 90 percent of its revenue through programmatic, Apple\u2019s new rules should only affect 1 to 2 percent of its revenue, said Ranker CEO Clark Benson. This is because Ranker, like many publishers, is ramping up its private marketplace deals where it sells its proprietary data to advertisers. Meanwhile, Apple is clamping down on third-party data collection, which Ranker does not depend on in its PMPs.\n\nBy protesting Apple, the trade groups show they\u2019re upholding their members\u2019 interests, said media industry analyst Rebecca Lieb.\n\n\u201cBut Apple is uniquely positioned to not care,\u201d said Lieb, referring to how the vast majority of Apple\u2019s revenue comes from selling devices, unlike Facebook, Google and Amazon. If Apple wants to change how users can be tracked in its browser, there\u2019s really no one in ad land who can stop it, she said.\n\nBy making advertising slightly more difficult on the web, Apple is playing its card against ad giants like Amazon, Facebook and Google, Sawicki said. But unlike how Facebook algorithm changes can suddenly cut off a publisher\u2019s primary revenue stream, the impact of Apple\u2019s ploy will be more subtle, given that only 4 percent of desktop traffic and 29 percent of mobile traffic runs through Safari, according to NetMarketShare.\n\n\u201cAs always in these kind of situations, the industry is saying, \u2018The sky is falling,\u2019\u201d said independent ad tech consultant Brad Holcenberg, noting that Google\u2019s Chrome browser is also restricting intrusive advertising by blocking the sound on autoplay videos. \u201cMaybe it is, maybe it isn\u2019t, but the industry has to be prepared to evolve quickly to a more user friendly one. Only a few companies hold the keys to users on the internet, and as [Google and Apple] show, that means changes can come fast and have broad implications.\u201d", "output": "Apple is changing the rules for ad tracking through its web browser Safari, in a move that advertisers say will harm their ability to target effectively. Third-party advertisers won't be able to track users for more than 24 hours after they land on a website,\u00a0once the rules come into effect. Six advertising industry groups have published an open letter warning that the move will severely damage online business, gutting advertisers' ability to categorise users under\u00a0particular demographics."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google rolls out sound-enabled cash-transfer app Tez in India \n Google has introduced a new payment app in India called Tez (the Hindi word for \u201cfast\u201d). Tez features a technology called audio QR that allows users to transfer money using sounds to pair two devices. Called the \u201ccash mode option,\u201d phones negotiate a connection using audio to identify the payer and payee. (The sounds should be inaudible to human ears though because they\u2019re sent using ultrasonic frequencies, according to the Financial Times.) The feature is therefore similar to cash transactions which don\u2019t require the exchange of personal details like bank accounts and phone numbers. Cash Mode works with any phone with a mic and speaker and Tez app installed, and doesn\u2019t require an NFC chip. Google\u2019s Audio QR technology is similar to Chirp, which also sends data encoded in ultrasonic audio.\n\nThere are 300 million smartphone users in India, and phones with NFC are still relatively rare and expensive, with many users instead favoring entry-level and mid-tier devices. Tez is a step beyond Android Pay, because it allows users to link payment apps from Indian banks \u2014 it works with all of the country\u2019s 55 banks on India\u2019s Unified Payments Interface (UPI). UPI is a system that allows numerous bank accounts to be linked into one mobile app, and enables secure peer-to-peer payment. According to Bloomberg, digital transactions have surged after the Indian Government banned high-value cash notes late last year.\n\nTez also facilitates bank-to-bank payments and is protected by Tez Shield, a data security platform from Google that detects fraud and protects user identity. Tez behaves like a chat app, using your contact list as a way to keep transaction history organized. People or businesses you\u2019ve sent or received cash from grouped together \u201clike a conversation,\u201d Google says.", "output": "Google has rolled out Tez, a payment app for the Indian market that uses sound to identify a transaction. When set to the Cash Mode Option, app-enabled phones negotiate connections via\u00a0ultrasonic frequencies that should be inaudible to humans. All that's required is a handset with a microphone and speaker, rather than near-field communication chips, which are rarely used by Indian consumers. Available on iOS and Android, Tez works with all 55 banks on India\u2019s Unified Payments Interface, enabling secure, peer-to-peer payment. Google said it plans to also introduce\u00a0the service in Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MTN deal enables mobile payments into Uganda's pension fund\u00a0 \n MTN and NSSF partner on mobile payments\n\nMTN Uganda and the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) have announced a partnership that enables payment of social security contributions using Mobile Money.\n\nThe partnership enables NSSF members on the NSSF Voluntary Membership Plan as well as small and medium sized entities to conveniently make payments using MTN Mobile Money. NSSF on the other hand will be able to receive contributions promptly, thus enhancing its contributions process efficiency.\n\nAt a joint press conference today held at Workers House, Wim Vanhelleputte, the MTN Uganda CEO noted that this was part of fostering financial inclusion through easing the payments process of pensions that are critical to avoiding poverty in old age.\n\n\u201cIn the last eight years, MTN Mobile Money has had significant impact in the transformation of people\u2019s lives. Now we are further enabling people to pay for their NSSF Contributions using MTN Mobile Money. This will enable a significant part of our customers pay their pension and ensure they don\u2019t retire into poverty,\u201d Wim said.\n\nAdding, \u201cMTN Mobile Money is an enabler and we believe that on top of facilitating transactions, we can also have real impact on the lives of people.\u201d\n\nNSSF Uganda Managing Director Richard Byarugaba also emphasized that the MTN Mobile Money payments will ease the payments process since it is convenient.\n\n\u201cMTN Mobile Money benefits both our members and the Fund. In a survey we conducted last year on voluntary contributions, 67% of respondents cited mobile money as a preferred transaction method when remitting their social security contributions.\u201d\n\nAdding; \u201cin addition to guaranteeing convenience for our voluntary contributors, it will ease reconciliation with an option of automating the upload of contributions onto members\u2019 accounts. It will greatly improve data accuracy, as well as instant confirmation of received contributions through SMS to the contributors\u201d.\n\nByarugaba clarified that MTN Mobile Money can be used by both voluntary contributors under the NSSF Voluntary Contributions Plan as well as established entities, especially those that remit less than 4 million shillings in social security contributions per month.\n\nMTN Mobile Money, since its launch in 2009 has been a major facilitator of financial inclusion in the country. Over 8.8 million Ugandans depend on MTN Mobile Money, of which the majority had little or no access to any formal banking structure. MTN Mobile Money has also evolved from just being sending and receiving tool to one that enables people to borrow and save using MoKash. Now it is ensuring people save with NSSF, Uganda\u2019s largest pension fund, and earn a return once they retire or are unable to work.\n\nMTN Uganda recently concluded the MTN Mobile Money month that celebrated its over 8.8 million customers for having transformed their lives.\n\nEstimates indicate that millions of Ugandans do not have any form of social security in old age.\n\nNSSF launched the Voluntary Contributions Plan to provide an opportunity to workers not covered by the mandatory provisions of the NSSF Act, as well as those in gainful self-employment that were previously contributing to the Fund to voluntarily save.\n\nTo make the payment, VMS members only need to dial *165*3*4# and follow the prompts to make their payments.\n\nSource: http://www.biztechafrica.com/article/mtn-nssf-partner-mobile-payments/12841/", "output": "The Ugandan subsidiary of mobile telecoms giant MTN Group\u00a0is partnering with the country's biggest pension fund to enable payment of contributions using the company's\u00a0Mobile Money platform. The move allows small and medium-sized businesses who remit less than UGX4m ($1,112) per month to the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), as well as users of the NSSF Voluntary Membership Plan, to make transactions. Almost nine million Ugandans depend on\u00a0MTN Mobile\u00a0Money, most of whom\u00a0had no previous access to\u00a0banking services.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Texan engineers develop a permanently seabed-based pigger \n Subsea field design involves a lot of time spent weighing options and considering the costs and benefits of various technologies.\n\nIf a production line is likely to require frequent pigging, for example, a twin pipeline, or loop system, may be justified. But the cost to build and install a second pipeline is significant, especially in very long subsea tie-back developments.\n\nSubsea pig launchers enable pigging with a single pipeline. The downside is that they must be deployed and retrieved with a vessel and remotely operated vehicle (ROV), which is costly \u2014 and time-consuming if the pigging operation is not part of a scheduled maintenance programme.", "output": "Engineers at Texan firm NOV are developing a pigging machine that can be permanently installed on the sea bed. The Subsea Automatic Pig Launcher (SAPL), can be operated remotely, has an internal cassette capable of holding up to 10 pigs, while a ROV-operated ball valve barrier enables deployment with no disruption to production. NOV is building a prototype off the west coast of Norway, and expects tests to be completed during Q1 2018. It is also examining an all-electric version of the SAPL."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian small businesses poorly protected against cyberattacks \n Many small- and medium-sized businesses could be at risk of losing money and customers because they don't have a cyber security plan.\n\n\n\n\n\nOnly 13 per cent of small businesses have a plan to protect their money and valuable client data, according to a monthly survey of 400 small business owners by online business management solutions provider MYOB Group.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYOB chief operating officer Andrew Birch says all types and sizes of business may be susceptible to cyber attack, but attackers may consider smaller businesses more vulnerable because they are unlikely to be as well prepared as larger enterprises.\n\n\n\n\n\nCyber attacks can involve individuals in a business being tricked into clicking on a download, email or attachment that may contain a virus or ransomware.\n\n\n\n\n\nA cyber attack may also involve a false invoice being sent to a business and money being paid to a fraudulent party.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network (ACORN) received 11,851 reports of cybercrime in the June quarter of 2017, 51 per cent of which related to scams or fraud and 19 per cent to purchases or sales.\n\n\n\n\n\nLast week the Australian government's StaySmartOnline service, which provides information on how home internet users and small businesses can protect themselves from cyber security threats, warned of scam emails under the guise of \"E-toll Account statement\" or \"AusPost Delivery\".\n\n\n\n\n\nThese scam emails invited email users to click on a \"View in OneDrive\" link which could lead to the installation of malware onto the user's computer.\n\n\n\n\n\nEarlier in September, a fake email circulated claiming to be an invoice for an eBay purchase, and another email claiming to be \"Voice Message from 017234512978 - name unavailable\" aimed to download ransomware onto the user's computer.\n\n\n\n\n\nMr Birch says cyber attackers are typically after money already in a business's bank account or looking to divert money that should be flowing into that account.\n\n\n\n\n\nA business can have its bank account emptied in a cyber attack, which could force the enterprise to close down.\n\n\n\n\n\nAlso, cyber attackers seek client information which can be used in identity fraud.\n\n\n\n\n\nMr Birch says businesses that turn over more than $3 million a year are obliged under the Privacy Act to protect information and if they have taken no measures to protect themselves, they may be liable for prosecution.\n\n\n\n\n\nAlso, clients who have personal information stolen may have a case to take legal action against the business that was attacked.\n\n\n\n", "output": "Most small businesses in Australia lack proper protection from cyber attacks, according to a survey by business services company MYOB Group. The company found that just 13% of the 400 small businesses questioned had plans in place to protect their money and client data, and this lack of security could make them attractive targets for hackers. The Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network received 11,851 reports of cyber crime in the June quarter of this year, and the Australian government last week warned businesses of a new threat from scam emails linked to malware.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "John Lewis offers overnight stays in 'try-before-you-buy' flats \n D epartment store John Lewis is offering customers the chance to stay overnight at special in-store apartments \u2014 where everything is for sale.\n\nThe fully fitted out apartments in the Oxford Street, Cambridge and Liverpool branches are being offered via random ballot for shoppers to stay over and test out a range of John Lewis products \u2014 including that all-important bed.\n\nEach apartment has a fully furnished bedroom, dining and living room boasting a \u00a33,000 sofa, \u00a32,000 dining table and a \u00a32,800 widescreen plasma television, for guests to curl up in front of.\n\nThe Oxford Street branch offers a fitted kitchen (complete with \u00a31,300 coffee machine and wine cooler), a study and an indoor terrace overlooking Cavendish Square.\n\nThe latest Autumn Winter products can be found in every cupboard and wardrobe with an expert Residence team on hand to answer any questions.\n\nOnly available on Saturdays, those staying over will have private use of the apartment from 6.30pm until 9am the next day, with a Waitrose breakfast basket and newspapers delivered as a wake-up call.\n\nThere is also the choice of a 60-minute after hours private shopping time or an access all-areas tour of the department store included in the stay.\n\nThe Residence at John Lewis 1 / 8 The Residence at John Lewis The Residence Opening exclusively at John Lewis' Oxford Street, Cambridge and Liverpool stores, the retail giant is offering customers the chance to stay overnight at one of the special in-store apartments. The Residence Everything in the apartment will be for sale and exclusive to John Lewis as part of their \"Only Here\" Autumn campaign The Residence Only available on Saturdays, those staying over will have private use of the apartment from 6.30pm until 9am the next day, with a Waitrose breakfast basket and newspapers delivered as the wake-up call. The Residence Customers can chose to stay overnight or host their own intimate dinner party for up to 10 friends. The Residence The expert Residence team will be on hand to answer any questions about the apartment. The Residence For those unable to book an exclusive sleepover or dining experience, The Residence remains open to all throughout shop opening hours, and will host a series of free customer workshops.\n\nLondon customers can also hire out the the Residence for dinner parties for up to 10 people, catered by a professional chef with cocktails prepared by the Residence's mixologist.\n\nFor those unable to book a sleepover or dining experience, the Residence remains open to all throughout shop opening hours.\n\nThe venue will also host a series of free customer workshops including how to pick the right duvet, tips on creating mood lighting and advice for hosting the perfect dinner party.", "output": "UK retailer John Lewis is offering customers the opportunity to stay overnight in special, fully fitted-out flats at its Oxford Street, Cambridge and Liverpool branches. Each Residence is filled with items from the store's autumn/winter range, and everything in each flat is for sale. Customers, who are invited by random ballot, can stay in the Residence on Saturdays only, from 6.30pm to 9am the following day, while the flats\u00a0are open to the public during trading hours.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US financial planners favour outsourcing portfolio management \n Investment advisers are increasingly outsourcing portfolio management and concentrating on building client relationships, according to a study by Cerulli Associates.\n\nOutsourcing has three advantages, according to Cerulli, and the first is that it allows advisers to concentrate on building client relationships, which is especially important to those holding Certified Financial Planner designations. \u201cThey are trained to focus their client interaction on holistic financial planning instead of managing portfolios,\u201d the report said.\n\nSeveral CFPs echoed that sentiment. \u201cI outsource investment management, and I firmly believe that CFPs should not manage client portfolios,\u201d said Wade Brittingham, CFP, of Voya Financial Advisors Inc. \u201cI want to spend my time with clients adding value to their lives with my financial planning expertise.\u201d\n\nMr. Brittingham said it\u2019s wise for a certified financial planner to keep with his skill set, and that it saves a huge amount of time that\u2019s better spent meeting with clients.\n\n\u201cWe have a fee-only, hourly/project based financial planning firm and choose not to manage client money,\u201d said George Reilly, CFP, of Safe Harbor Financial Advisors. \u201cIn fact, one of our mission statement sentences is that, \u2018We help clients manage their own money.\u2019\u201d Portfolio management is not something we want to do.\u201d\n\nMr. Reilly uses First Ascent Asset Management (FAAM) of Denver for that portfolio management. Clients engage separately with FAAM, he said. \u201cWe are the client-facing advisers, and they are, in effect, our back office,\u201d Mr. Reilly said.\n\nThe financial planning industry isn\u2019t unanimous on the issue. According to Cerulli, 54% of CFPs outsource portfolio management, and 46% keep it in-house.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t outsource our management,\u201d said Evan Beach, a financial planner for Campbell Wealth Management. \u201cWe have a CFA in-house that does nothing but watch the markets and our portfolios. He is analytical, disciplined and experienced \u2014 not always the same things you want in a planner.\u201d\n\nLeon LaBrecque of LJPR Financial Advisors, was more succinct: \u201cWe insource it. That is what we are paid to do.\u201d\n\nFinancial planners aren\u2019t the only advisers that lean towards outsourcing, the Cerulli report said. \u201cOutsourcers can also be found among insurance B-D advisers, for whom investment management is often an afterthought to selling insurance. Independent B-Ds, who often are strapped for resources and time, show a preference for outsourcing. Almost one-third (31%) of outsourcers are in the IBD channel, whereas 25% of insourcers are IBD representatives.\u201d\n\nIndependent registered investment advisers are the least likely to outsource portfolio management, according to Cerulli. About 18% show a preference for insourcing, versus 5% for outsourcing.\n\nImplementation of the DOL fiduciary rule is the second reason outsourcing has become more popular, the Cerulli report said. \u201cHome offices will require even the most sophisticated advisers to document each action to protect themselves from future inquiries. These documentation processes may become cumbersome and expensive to many advisers and the home offices who are working to increase due diligence.\u201d\n\nFinally, there\u2019s the matter of investment returns. While many in the advisory business feel they can produce superior returns than a fully dedicated investment manager, the evidence doesn\u2019t support it, the report said. \u201cCerulli research finds that advisers are quick to leave a falling equity market, but slow to enter when the market recovers. Since they miss a significant portion of a market upswing, their portfolios underperform over the long term.\u201d", "output": "More than half of certified financial planners (CFPs) outsource their portfolio management so they can focus on building good relationships with clients, according to a study by Cerulli Associates. It revealed that 46% of CFPs prefer to keep it in-house, while almost a third of independent insurance business development advisers outsource to save time and money. The study also found that the cost of implementing\u00a0the Department of Labor's fiduciary rule\u00a0encouraged\u00a0outsourcing by advisers, and that advisers' returns often underperformed those of a\u00a0dedicated investment manager."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "South African grocer Pick\u00a0n\u00a0Pay pilots in-store bitcoin payments\u00a0 \n The ICT services and telecom company says it is waiting for more information on the offer, including the proposed offer price", "output": "South African grocery chain Pick n Pay has piloted in-store payments using bitcoin. The exercise used Electrum's cloud-based payments platform\u00a0on infrastructure provided by global bitcoin company Luno. Customers at the company's Cape Town head office campus store were able to use the cryptocurrency to buy groceries and services, checking out using a QR code scanner on their smartphones. Deputy CEO Richard van Rensburg\u00a0said the trial was limited\u00a0and that there were\u00a0no plans to enable bitcoin payments\u00a0until a more comprehensive regulatory framework for cryptocurrency use\u00a0was in place.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "South African grocer Pick\u00a0n\u00a0Pay pilots in-store bitcoin payments\u00a0 \n In what is potentially a world first for a major grocery retailer, Electrum has enabled Pick n Pay to accept Bitcoin payments in-store. As a result of this ground breaking innovation project, for a limited time customers at Pick n Pay\u2019s head office campus store have been able to use the Bitcoin cryptocurrency to purchase groceries and services. The checkout process is as simple as scanning a QR code using a Bitcoin wallet app on the customer\u2019s smartphone.\n\nJason Peisl, IS Executive at Pick n Pay, explains, \"At Pick n Pay one of our key values is to embrace change and encourage innovation and leadership. To deliver on that promise we are constantly working with our technology partners to find ways in which we can deliver valuable, innovative services to our customers. Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin are still relatively new payment concepts, yet we have been able to effectively demonstrate how we are able to accept such alternative payments.\"\n\n\n\nElectrum provided the cloud-based enterprise payments platform used for the transactions. Electrum MD Dave Glass says, \"We've worked closely with PnP for several years as a key technology provider. Our mission is to support innovative enterprises like Pick n Pay, and together we use the advanced Electrum software-as-a-service technology to move quickly on new opportunities, whilst at the same time delivering the best possible shopping experience\".\n\n\n\nThe Bitcoin infrastructure for the project was provided by Luno, a global Bitcoin company, active in Southeast Asia and Africa, and with an office in Cape Town. Luno enables South African consumers to easily buy, sell, send and spend Bitcoin.\n\n\n\n*update* Business Day has picked up this blog post - No paying via bitcoin just yet, says Pick n Pay", "output": "South African grocery chain Pick n Pay has piloted in-store payments using bitcoin. The exercise used Electrum's cloud-based payments platform\u00a0on infrastructure provided by global bitcoin company Luno. Customers at the company's Cape Town head office campus store were able to use the cryptocurrency to buy groceries and services, checking out using a QR code scanner on their smartphones. Deputy CEO Richard van Rensburg\u00a0said the trial was limited\u00a0and that there were\u00a0no plans to enable bitcoin payments\u00a0until a more comprehensive regulatory framework for cryptocurrency use\u00a0was in place.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "PwC UK\u2019s BAME workers paid 12.8% less than white staff \n Investing in technology, tools and training for our people and communities\n\nWe\u2019ve invested heavily in technology this year, with more than two-thirds of our people agreeing that \u2018those I work with actively seek out new ways to use technology\u2019. Our firmwide Tech For All digital learning programme has given our people knowledge of key technologies and, in line with our flexible working approach, is available on mobile, anytime, anywhere. We\u2019ll continue to build on this investment in the coming year by upskilling our entire workforce and creating a place for our people to learn about working with different technologies and sharing this across our business.\n\nTechnology is helping us allocate work fairly and efficiently, and we\u2019ve deployed an AI tool matching our people to the right client projects. We\u2019ve also built technological capabilities into our new development programme for senior managers, ensuring they have the skills they need to become our future leaders.\n\nOur investment goes beyond the people who currently work for us and this year we\u2019ve been using immersive experiences and interactive videos to bring our culture to life for potential graduate and school leaver recruits. We\u2019re also continuing to inspire young women to pursue a career in technology via our Tech She Can Charter.", "output": "UK firm PwC has released data showing that its black, Asian and minority-ethnic (BAME) employees earn 12.8% less than other staff. The company blamed the discrepancy on the fact that many BAME employees\u00a0worked in junior and administrative roles. PwC stated that it had released the information in order to encourage efforts\u00a0to tackle \u201cethnicity challenges\u201d. \"The more transparent we are with our diversity and social mobility data, the more we hold ourselves accountable to achieving real change\", said Kevin Ellis, chairman at PwC.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Harvey shows vulnerability of oil storage tanks to excessive rain \n More than two dozen storage tanks holding crude oil, gasoline and other contaminants ruptured or otherwise failed when Harvey slammed into the Texas coast, spilling at least 145,000 gallons (548,868 liters) of fuel and spewing toxic pollutants into the air, according to an Associated Press analysis of pollution reports submitted to state and federal regulators.\n\nThe tank failures follow years of warnings that the Houston area\u2019s petrochemical industry was ill-prepared for a major storm, with about one-third of the 4,500 storage tanks along the Houston Ship Channel located in areas susceptible to flooding, according to researchers.\n\nMore of the massive storage tanks could be put to the test in coming days as Hurricane Irma bears down on Florida. The tanks are prone to float and break during floods, and Harvey\u2019s unprecedented rainfalls revealed a new vulnerability when the roofs of some storage tanks sank under the weight of so much water.\n\nFederal and state rules require companies to be prepared for spills, but mandate no specific measures to secure storage tanks at refineries, chemical plants and oil production sites.\n\nAlthough Florida has no oil refineries, it has more than 20 petroleum product storage terminals in coastal communities and about 30 chemical companies with a presence in the state, including a significant number of facilities in the Tampa Bay area, according to the American Chemistry Council and U.S. Energy Information Administration.\n\n\u201cTampa Bay is one of the most vulnerable cities in the country\u201d to hurricanes, said John Pardue, a Louisiana State University professor who has researched problems with storage tanks during storms.\n\n\u201cBut there\u2019s no requirement that says when you\u2019re in a hurricane zone you\u2019ve got to do things differently,\u201d Pardue added. \u201cIf we\u2019re going to continue to put some of these facilities in harm\u2019s way, it would be great to have some specific regulations\u201d to safeguard storage tanks.\n\nThe storm surge from Harvey was small enough that the refineries in the Houston Ship Channel appear to have avoided the huge spills associated with past storms such as Hurricane Katrina, when ruptured storage tanks released several millions of gallons of oil including into residential areas, according to Jamie Padgett, an associate professor at Rice University who has inventoried the Houston Ship Channel\u2019s storage tanks.\n\nOne difference during Harvey was that prior to the storm, some refineries apparently were able to fill up their storage tanks to make them less buoyant and therefore less prone to floating and being damaged, said Kyle Isakower, vice president of regulatory policy at the American Petroleum Institute.\n\nThat wasn\u2019t the case with about a dozen smaller storage tanks that experienced spills in Fayette County west of Houston, said Ron Whitmire with EnerVest, the Houston-based company that operated the tanks. The capacity of those tanks ranged from about 250 to 400 barrels, which he said was not large enough to resist the force of the floodwaters that swept them away.\n\n\u201cDo we plan for storms and hurricanes? Absolutely,\u201d Whitmire said. \u201cBut nobody plans for 50-plus inches of rain.\u201d\n\nThe record rainfall also exposed problems among almost 400 large storage tanks in the Houston area that have \u201cfloating roofs\u201d that go up or down depending on how much fuel is inside the containers. The unprecedented rains that came with Harvey caused 14 of those roofs to sink, in some instances allowing the chemicals inside them to escape, according to company reports and Padgett of Rice.\n\nThere are no government rules dictating how tanks are designed. But the American Petroleum Institute has established industry standards for tank construction that call for tanks to be able to drain at a minimum 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain over a 24-hour period. Rain was falling at more than twice that rate during Harvey, Padgett said.\n\nAt least two of the floating roof failures occurred in gasoline storage tanks at Shell Oil\u2019s Deer Park refinery and another occurred at Exxon Mobil\u2019s Baytown refinery.\n\nPollution reports submitted by the companies to Texas regulators blamed the roof problems on Harvey\u2019s excess rainfall. The reports said air pollutants including benzene, toluene and xylene were released into the atmosphere. Long-term exposure to such pollutants can cause cancer, although Texas officials said they never reached concentrations high enough in the storm\u2019s wake to cause health concerns.\n\nA Shell representative said in a statement to the AP that the roof problems presented an \u201cextremely rare\u201d circumstance and that company workers had quickly responded by spraying the spilled fuel with foam to suppress any harmful vapors. All the gasoline that was released was contained on-site, Shell spokesman Ray Fisher said.\n\nExxon Mobil spokeswoman Charlotte Huffaker said safety was a priority for the company and it was able to lessen environmental damage from Harvey by shutting down equipment in advance. Huffaker said Exxon \u201creported and responded to the event as soon as it was identified.\u201d\n\nAs state and federal officials investigate the impacts from Harvey, it\u2019s uncertain how much spilled material flowed off-site from the storage yards, oil production areas and refineries.\n\nIt\u2019s expected to take about two weeks from the time of the spills for any contamination in the ship channel to reach Galveston Bay, according to Hanadi Rifai, director of the graduate program in environmental engineering at the University of Houston.\n\nTexas has rules governing protections for underground storage tanks during floods, but not for above-ground tanks found at many refineries and chemical plants, according to Andrea Morrow, a spokeswoman for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.\n\nMorrow declined to say if the agency planned to investigate the Harvey-related tank failures and whether tanks that failed had been properly secured before the storm.\n\n\u201cWe have established a Unified Command with other state and federal partners, and are in the field conducting rapid needs assessment at this time,\u201d she said. \u201cDue to the widespread impact from Harvey, the TCEQ anticipates conducting many storm-related investigations over the next several months.\u201d\n\n___\n\nAssociated Press Correspondent Matthew Brown reported from Billings, Montana. AP data journalist Larry Fenn reported from New York City.\n\n___\n\nFollow Matthew Brown on Twitter at www.twitter.com/matthewbrownap and get the best of the AP\u2019s all-formats reporting on Irma and Harvey in your inbox: http://apne.ws/ahYQGtb .", "output": "The record rainfall from Hurricane Harvey exposed the lack of adequate measures to protect refineries, chemical plants and oil production sites in and around Houston, according to data from reports submitted to state and federal regulators. Some smaller above-ground oil storage tanks were not big enough to resist flood waters, while the roofs on 14 of 400 large storage tanks collapsed under the weight of 20 inches of rainwater. Louisiana State University professor John Pardue, who has researched storage tanks, said: \"There\u2019s no requirement that says when you\u2019re in a hurricane zone you\u2019ve got to do things differently.\u201d"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Low academic achievement tied to lack of broadband in Florida \n Technology's Impact on Learning\n\nLink between Low Broadband Access and Lower Degree Achievement Noted in Florida\n\nA lack of widely available broadband is correlated to a smaller percentage of residents with college degrees or certificates. That's the suggestion of a presentation made recently in Florida to the Higher Education Coordinating Council. The gap will hold back the state from achieving its goal of having 55 percent of its working-age population obtain a degree or professional certificate by 2025, according to Ed Moore, president of Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida. Moore's organization has 30 non-profit institutions that deliver undergraduate, graduate, first-time professional and continuing education programs throughout the state, many of which are online.\n\nFor the purposes of his argument, Moore used the Federal Communications Commission's definition for internet access speed \u2014 25 Mbps for download and 3 Mbps for upload \u2014 as the minimum required for residential access to distance learning programs. As Moore put it, almost 700,000 Floridians are \"stranded on the wrong side of a distance learning divide.\" The FCC estimates, Moore added, that a tenth of all Americans \u2014 34 million people \u2014 lack access to this benchmark service level.\n\nBut the biggest identifiable shortage occurs in rural areas, where 39 percent of people across the country lack broadband. In Florida, the more isolated rural counties \u2014 those away from large metropolitan areas \u2014 have fewer people with fast internet access and \"are also more likely to have lower educational attainment and lower income levels per capita,\" Moore stated.\n\nThe 13 \"trailing\" counties with the least amount of internet access, ranging from Madison County, where 41 percent of residents have no access, to Dixie County, where 99 percent lack access, show a smaller percentage of residents with college degrees or certificates (from 12 percent to 27 percent). In the 19 counties where the total without internet access is zero percent, the share of residents with degrees or certificates runs from a low of 16 percent to a high of 54 percent.\n\nMoore explained that while his organization's member schools \"now offer more than 590 fully online degree and certificate programs,\" the access to those programs \"should not be driven by where one lives.\" Limits on broadband access, he said, \"slams the door on accessibility. You cannot get ahead if you cannot get online.\"\n\nReporting by the Gainesville Sun quoted Marshall Criser, chancellor of the state university system, who advised education leaders to work \"collaboratively\" with the business community on developing policy recommendations for expanding broadband services. Criser, a former president of AT&T in Florida, called the gap a \"chicken or egg\" kind of problem, pointing out that \"there were sound reasons for broadband development to follow population densities.\"\n\nAccording to reporter Lloyd Dunkelberger, the council may \"invite the companies that provide broadband access and infrastructure to talk about the issue.\"", "output": "Poor access to broadband in rural areas of Florida is connected to low educational attainment, according to research by Ed Moore, President of the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida. Moore found that in counties with the least internet access, people are more likely to have poor educational records and lower incomes. His research suggests that across the US, 10% of people lack access to minimum standards of internet access.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Portable DNA sequencer could speed up diagnosis of dengue fever \n TOKYO -- A team led by a professor from the University of Tokyo has devised a fast and cost-effective method of determining dengue fever virus types using a portable DNA sequencer.\n\nUse of the palm-sized device will hopefully be able to speed up diagnosis at hospitals in developing countries and also help trace the path of infection.", "output": "Researchers at the University of Tokyo have developed a portable DNA sequencer to help hospitals in developing countries diagnose dengue fever more quickly and trace its path of infection. After separating serum from blood samples, the researchers converted it to DNA fragments which are amplified for sequencing. A computer linked to the device then cross-references the DNA with a database of genetic information to determine which virus type the patient is infected with. Currently, diagnosis of dengue fever relies on advanced genetic sequencers or a polymerase chain reaction, which are too costly for healthcare budgets in the developing world.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Teledyne Cormon updates pipeline corrosion monitoring system \n Corrosion can be considered one of the offshore oil and gas industry\u2019s worst enemies.\n\nThe cost of corrosion in the oil and gas production industry surpasses $1.3 billion each year, according to NACE International\u2019s estimates.\n\nSubsea technology-focused Teledyne Cormon, which specializes in corrosion monitoring equipment as well as the design and manufacture of corrosion sensors among other types, sees global spending on corrosion and erosion monitoring for the topside and subsea markets combined at more than an estimated $150 million.\n\nThe offshore industry has seen advances in recent years with corrosion-resistant alloys designed for harsh offshore environments, intelligent pigs that detect cracking and pitting corrosion, biocides that aim to prevent or stop corrosion in its tracks and high-temperature corrosion inhibitors. Yet corrosion is still considered one of the leading causes of subsea pipeline failures.\n\n\u201cWe estimate about half of [subsea pipeline] failures to be related to corrosion or erosion within the equipment,\u201d Teledyne Cormon\u2019s Tom Wollam said in a statement. \u201cCosts can vary to replace a subsea pipeline but include much more than simply the cost of materials and labor to replace it. Often the cost is driven up exponentially by ancillary costs such as offshore vessels, engineering, testing and any environmental or safety impact the failure may have caused.\n\nHowever, having an \u201ceffective asset integrity program can be an operator\u2019s best insurance against preventable corrosion-related problems. \u2026 The risk of pipeline failure far outweighs the costs associated with installing, monitoring and maintaining effective corrosion control systems.\u201d\n\nEffective pipeline corrosion control comes down to quality design and installation of equipment, proper technologies and ongoing maintenance and monitoring by trained professionals, he added.\n\nCorrosion and all of the problems it comes with is not new to the oil and gas industry. But the topic still commands attention considering its potential impact on oil and gas operations as facilities\u2014particularly those in areas such the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico (GoM)\u2014get older. About half of the platforms in the GoM are more than 20 years old, while some in the North Sea are even older. More than 50% of the world\u2019s oil rigs will be more than 30 years old within the next decade, said Wollam, regional sales manager for Teledyne Cormon.\n\n\u201cOlder infrastructure is at higher risk of corrosion damage, especially as operators face tighter budgets and are faced with tough choices such as extending the life of aging rigs, or reducing monitoring programs and personnel,\u201d he added. \u201cThe simple fact of the matter is that as soon as a steel platform hits the saltwater it begins to corrode and therefore should be subject to monitoring, inspection and maintenance soon after deployment.\u201d\n\nThe industry has typically used corrosion coupons with electrical resistance (ER) probes for monitoring. Ultrasonic inspections also have been used to measure wall thickness to determine corrosion and erosion rates in pipelines. Pigging is another common technique.\n\nImprovements in the corrosion monitoring area continue.\n\nTeledyne recently updated its data storage and transfer instrumentation for its ER probes to help determine metal loss caused by corrosion or erosion.\n\n\u201cOur transmitters now offer direct Modbus RS485 output straight from the transmitter without the need for any post processing or conversion. The updated transmitter is especially well paired with our CEION technology, which offers unrivalled response time and probe life,\u201d Wollam said. \u201cOften there is a tradeoff between these two aspects of ER probe monitoring; however, with CEION we combine both, giving the customer a very fast response time without the traditional concern of a short probe life.\u201d\n\nFor real-time data acquisition, the technology can be combined with an online transmitter system.\n\nRobotics is also playing a role in combating corrosion.\n\nCompanies are using AUVs and ROVs for close-up inspections of assets using lights, cameras and multi-beam sonar systems. \u201cThis application is gaining traction in the offshore industry as a low-logistics method to collect data on structural integrity of pipelines or other equipment,\u201d Wollam said.\n\nBut the advent of Big Data and machine learning could usher in another way of advances for corrosion monitoring.\n\nWhile the measurement of metal loss, described by Wollam as the \u201cprincipal benchmark of corrosion monitoring\u201d is unchanged, technology has brought to the industry higher resolution measuring electronics that speeds up the detection of changes in measurements.\n\n\u201cThe value of this faster detection lies in the ability to respond more quickly to increases in the metal loss rate, which can reduce the total metal lost, and thereby extend asset life,\u201d Wollam added. \u201cWe now can see real-time changes in metal loss, enabling the operator to respond more quickly to issues that may arise or develop an optimized maintenance plan with greater confidence with the help of data to support and justify the plan.\u201d\n\nHowever, these same advances could pose obstacles. One challenge could lie in technology itself, specifically the ability to get large amounts of data quickly.\n\nWollam posed these questions:\n\nHow do you manage, store and use all the data in a practical sense?\n\nWhat kind of IT infrastructure needs to be in place to handle all the data coming in?\n\nHow can operators ensure the data give them actionable information?\n\n\u201cWithout applications or analysis to transform the data into recommendations, alerts or reports, the data are essentially worthless regardless of the quality or size,\u201d Wollam said. \u201cThe measurement technology has evolved, but our data management systems may be in need of upgrades as well.\u201d\n\nThis article originally appeared in Hart Energy\u2019s Subsea Engineering News newsletter.", "output": "UK-based subsea technology company Teledyne Cormon offers a low-logistics method of collecting data on the corrosion of pipelines. The company said its updated transfer and data storage instrumentation, combined with an online transmitter system, can offer real-time data on corrosion and erosion rates in pipelines. Within the next decade, more than half of the world's oil rigs will have been in service for more than 30 years, one reason that corrosion costs the oil and gas industry more than $1.3bn a year, according to NACE International."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Utah-based fintech Square applies for industrial loan licence \n Square Wants to Be a Bank Too\n\nJust a few weeks ago it was announced that the mobile-only bank Vary Money had applied for a national bank charter. Now another popular FinTech company also has its sights set on becoming a bank: Square. However, unlike Varo\u2019s charter, Square intends to become an industrial loan company and will be based in Utah. According to the Wall Street Journal, this route was chosen since, under a traditional banking license, the company would no longer be able to engage in other businesses like selling their famed card readers. Similarly, WSJ reports that some of Square\u2019s other financial efforts, including their P2P money-sending app Square Cash, would be separate from this new venture. Should the charter be approved, the new bank would be known as Square Financial Services Inc.\n\nSquare\u2019s plan to open a banking wing isn\u2019t exactly out of left field. While it may mostly be known for its small business point of sale solutions, they\u2019ve also offered small business loans since 2014 under their Square Capital initiative. This program was in partnership with Celtic Bank \u2014 a bank also based in Utah. WSJ reports that Square Capital has loaned $1.8 billion to 41,000 small businesses to date.\n\nSo, if Square is already lending large amounts of cash to businesses through its partnership with Celtic, why bother going solo? As Jacqueline Reses, who currently heads Square Capital and will be the chairman of Square Financial Services Inc., explains, \u201cAs we scale, it\u2019s becoming increasingly important that we have direct relationships with regulators.\u201d This would certainly imply that Square has larger plans for its FinTech operations and suggests Jack Dorsey and co. could continue to push the envelope when it comes to small business (and perhaps consumer?) finance.\n\nAnother major reason Square might want to expand into banking is so that it can be a one-stop shop. The more services that Square can offer to its customers, the more likely they are to stay loyal and within their \u201cecosystem.\u201d Therefore, if the company can role out small business banking solutions on par with their other services, they could prove to be an even bigger powerhouse in the industry and a major ally for entrepreneurs\n\nOf course, like with Varo Money charter, this is also an exciting development for FinTech. Although many (like I have) will surely lump the two together due to timing, the charters they\u2019re applying for are actually quite different. While Varo\u2019s national bank aspirations aim to show that banks can be exclusively mobile, Square\u2019s plans to become an industrial loan company displays the belief that nonfinancial entities can still provide great financial services. In the end both of the assertions may prove controversial but, once affirmed, could mark a big leap for the FinTech industry.", "output": "Payments company Square has applied for a charter to become a Utah-based industrial loan company. The move would enable Square to continue to sell its payment card readers, which it would be banned from doing under a traditional banking licence. Although Square Capital already offers small businesses loans through its partnership with Celtic Bank, by opening a banking wing, Square would be able to establish direct relationships with regulators, which would assist it as it grows, said Jacqueline Reses, the head of Square Capital. Square will also be able to improve the scope of financial services it offers businesses.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US insists on post-Harvey inspection of oil and gas pipelines \n Hurricanes can wreak devastation on offshore infrastructure. In the case of pipelines, a physical impact, such as a dragging anchor, can breach a pipeline and cause pollution.\n\nStrong waves and currents can move a pipeline, causing stress and potential ruptures.\n\nPipeline crossings may also be damaged by wave and current action, and waves can even expose buried pipelines in water depths of less than 200 feet.\n\nThe connectors between risers and surface facilities also can succumb to stress from wind and wave action.\n\n\u201cWe", "output": "The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has issued a directive following Hurricane Harvey\u00a0requiring that all offshore oil and gas facilities in the storm's path are inspected and reported on to BSEE by the end of March 2018, and repairs made by 1 June the same year. Among the inspection requirements included in the directive are the visual inspection of pipeline tie-ins and crossings in less than 200 feet of water, and all pipelines must undergo a two-hour leak test before returning to service. So far the bureau has not received any reports of damage.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK's ESI Media plans to double its video team to increase output \n After shuttering its print paper in March 2016, The Independent is profitable again and can spend more on what its audience wants \u2014 and that\u2019s video.\n\nOver the next six months, ESI Media, the parent company of The Independent and the Evening Standard, plans to double its video team to 50. Each title currently has a team of 10 video specialists, and a central team of five works across both brands on bigger projects. The Independent needed to get its video offering right before growing its team, according to editor Christian Broughton.\n\nBroadly speaking, The Independent\u2019s original video falls into three categories: foreign correspondence, like reporting on a fire in a refugee camp in Syria; explainers with journalists, such as one with economics editor Ben Chu about whether austerity is over in the U.K.; and mini-documentaries about subjects like a teenage drug dealer. All are under five minutes long.\n\n\u201cWe have been focusing on international and foreign reporting and putting a spotlight on the lives people who are struggling in some way,\u201d said Broughton. \u201cThese are the ideas that represent the brand and mission of [The Independent].\u201d\n\nIn the next month, The Independent will make its documentary videos easier to identify by packaging them under a new name and on a separate landing page. The Independent\u2019s previous documentaries will be rebadged and housed here, too.\n\nIn a platform era, publishers struggle to get readers to recognize their brands. As The Independent exists solely on digital, this is a challenge it knows all too well. \u201cVideo is one of the more chaotic parts of online media; it comes out in an unruly way,\u201d said Broughton.\n\nAccording to analysis by the News Media Association and NewsWhip, news brands account for 47 percent of all social media engagements with U.K. content, stoking the fire for publishers that don\u2019t feel they are getting a fair reward from platforms for the content they provide. But publishing on Facebook has been a big driver in growing The Independent in the U.S., where it gets a third of its traffic.\n\nIn July, The Independent had 140 million views on its videos, almost all of which came from Facebook, where each video has an average of 570,000 views, according to Tubular Labs. Many of these views come from videos licensed from news agencies or aggregated from the web.\n\n\u201cAs media houses, we have less control on how and where content is consumed,\u201d said Zach Leonard, managing director of digital for ESI Media. \u201cThat\u2019s not an expression of relaxing, but recognition that a 14-year-old won\u2019t be having a relationship with a newspaper but will be gathering their news by osmosis. It behooves us as brands to make sure we\u2019re there.\u201d\n\nBroughton admits the size of The Independent\u2019s video team is smaller than that of most other news brands. By comparison, the Guardian has around 35 people on its video team. Last year, The Telegraph reported it had 30 people on its video team, News UK\u2019s title The Sun had about a dozen people working on video and the Financial Times had about 15 staff dedicated to video.\n\nWith the increase in team size, the number of videos it makes will increase, but Broughton is reluctant to establish a formal schedule for how many videos it plans to produce a week, saying this misdirects effort and focus.\n\n\u201cThere are some areas we can strongly influence,\u201d said Leonard. \u201cIn our case, that\u2019s intense focus on the quality and efficacy of accurate journalism.\u201d\n\nWe\u2019ll recognize this year\u2019s Best Video Publisher Partner for Brands at the Digiday Video Awards. Learn more about entering here.", "output": "ESI Media, the owner of UK news website the Independent and Evening Standard newspaper, plans to double its video team to 50 staff, as it seeks to satisfy growing audience appetite for the format. Next month, the Independent will package all its video content under a new name and separate landing page, but editor Christian Broughton is unwilling to formalise how much content will be produced and published each week. In July, the Independent had 140 million views of its videos, almost all from Facebook, where they were viewed on average about 570,000 times."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "'Dieselgate' scandal blamed for 5,000 European deaths a year \n Emissions from diesel cars rigged to appear eco-friendly may be responsible for 5,000 air pollution deaths per year in Europe alone, according to a new study\n\nEmissions from diesel cars rigged to appear eco-friendly may be responsible for 5,000 air pollution deaths per year in Europe alone, according to a study published on Monday.\n\nThe numbers are in line with previous assessments of deaths due to the so-called \"Dieselgate\" scandal, which erupted when carmaker Volkswagen admitted in 2015 to cheating on vehicle emissions tests.\n\nMany other carmakers have since fallen under suspicion.\n\nIn May this year, a study in the journal Nature said \"excess\" emissions from diesel vehicles exceeding certification limits were associated with about 38,000 \"premature\" deaths globally in 2015.\n\nThe new study, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, focuses on the perils for Europe.\n\nThe researchers from Norway, Austria, Sweden and the Netherlands calculated that about 10,000 deaths in Europe per year can be attributed to small particle pollution from light duty diesel vehicles (LDDVs).\n\nAlmost half of these would have been avoided if emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from diesel cars on the road had matched levels measured in the lab.\n\nVolkswagen admitted installing illegal software devices in cars that reduced emissions only for the duration of tests.\n\nIf diesel cars emitted as little NOx as petrol ones, almost 4,000 of the 5,000 premature deaths would have been avoided, said the authors.\n\nThe concentration of fine particulate matter due to excess NOx emissions from diesel cars, vans and light commercial vehicles across Europe. Blue colors indicate low concentrations, orange and red indicates high extra pollution. Unit: microgram PM2.5 per cubic metre, annual average 2013. Credit: Jonson et al 2017\n\nThe countries with the heaviest burden are Italy, Germany, and France, the team added, \"resulting from their large populations and high share of diesel cars in their national fleets.\"\n\nTouted as less polluting, the share of diesel cars in Europe rose fast compared to petrol since the 1990s, and now comprise about half the fleet.\n\nThere are more than 100 million diesel cars in Europe today, twice as many as in the rest of the world together, said the study authors.\n\nDiesel engines emit less planet-warming carbon dioxide than petrol ones, but significantly more NOx.\n\nNumber of premature deaths due to excess NOx emissions from diesel cars, vans and light commercial vehicles in Europe (left column). Almost 50% could be have been avoided if diesel emission limits had been respected on the road (center column). Almost 80% could have been avoided had diesel cars emitted no more NOx than petrol cars (right column). Credit: Jonson et al 2017\n\nRoad transport, said the study authors, contributed about 40 percent of NOx emissions in the countries of the European Union plus Norway and Switzerland.\n\nComposed of nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide, NOx gases contribute to acid rain and suffocating smog.\n\nThrough long-term exposure, they can cause breathing problems, eye irritation, loss of appetite, corroded teeth, headaches, and chronically reduced lung function.\n\nThe central value is 9,830 premature deaths annually in EU28+NOR+SWI, with an uncertainty range from 6,300 to 13,000 premature deaths. Direct health impacts from NO2 have not been included to avoid double-counting. Remaining 20 EUR countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Rep., Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden. They account for 23% of the population, but only for 10% of the premature deaths from dieselgate. For comparison the top four countries have 50% of the population and 70% of the dieselgate premature deaths. Credit: Jonson et al 2017\n\n\"Excessive premature deaths will continue into the future until LDDVs with high on-road NOx emissions have been replaced,\" said the study authors.\n\nEarlier this month, tougher emissions tests came into force in Europe.\n\n\u00a9 2017 AFP", "output": "Almost half the 10,000 deaths in Europe a year caused by small particle pollution from diesel engines could have been avoided had diesel vehicles' emissions matched levels measured in labs, according to a study. Researchers from Austria, the Netherlands,\u00a0Norway and Sweden found Europe had more than 100 million diesel vehicles, with Italy, France and Germany having the largest share. About 4,000 of the 5,000 premature deaths could have been avoided if the diesel vehicles' NOx emissions were no worse than those of\u00a0petrol-engined vehicles. The figures are consistent with earlier research into the\u00a0\"dieselgate\" scandal over Volkswagen cheating emissions tests.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Why Are Drug Prices So High? We\u2019re Curious, Too \n Along the way, we\u2019ve asked readers to share their stories about their struggles with high drug costs. We\u2019ve heard from nearly 1,000 people.\n\nIn recent weeks, a few stories caught our eye. A woman in Texas, for example, told us that the company that manages her drug benefits, OptumRx, was going to start asking her to pay more out of pocket for Butrans, a painkilling patch that contains the drug buprenorphine. As a \u201clower cost alternative,\u201d OptumRx, which is owned by UnitedHealth Group, suggested she try painkillers like OxyContin, according to a letter she shared with us, even though they carry a higher risk of abuse and dependence.\n\n\u201cThe whole point of pain management is to take the least amount of medication possible to manage your pain, so that you always have somewhere to go when the pain increases or changes,\u201d she wrote to us. \u201cThis is irresponsible and scary \u2018cost management.\u2019 \u201d She did not want us to use her name, saying her employer prohibited her from identifying herself, but she allowed us to share OptumRx\u2019s redacted letter.\n\nHer pharmacy benefit manager, she wrote, is \u201ceffectively contributing to the \u2018opioid crisis\u2019 with its own policies.\u201d", "output": "This much is clear: The public is angry about the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs. Surveys have shown\u00a0that high drug prices rank near the top of consumers\u2019 health care concerns, and politicians in both parties \u2014\u00a0including President Trump\u00a0\u2014 have vowed to do something about it.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New CA Legislation Will Widen Healthcare Access \n On Sept. 11, the California legislature passed health care bill SB 17, which requires pharmaceutical companies to release critical information on how major drugs are priced. SB 17 \u2014 although not yet signed by Gov. Jerry Brown \u2014 received support from both Republicans and Democrats in the waning hours of the 2017 legislative session. Many proponents from both sides believe that the bill could revolutionize national health care policy, as it would check the power of an increasingly monopolized business.\n\nSpecifically, the measure requires that pharmaceuticals make three important pieces of information public: the 25 most commonly prescribed drugs, the 25 most costly drugs and the 25 drugs with the largest annual increase in price. In addition, SB 17 forces manufacturers to report any increase in the cost of their products at least 60 days in advance if it exceeds a certain threshold.\n\nUnsurprisingly, drug manufacturers are not pleased. If SB 17 goes into effect, big pharmaceutical companies would no longer have the power to raise the price of major drugs without receiving at least some kind of backlash. Public silence is what these companies feed on, allowing them to get away with limiting free enterprise and maximizing profit on their products.\n\nPharmaceutical companies\u2019 ability to take advantage of that monopoly is highlighted in a 2014 Express Script report, which states that Americans consume 80 percent of the world\u2019s supply of opioids despite representing only 5 percent of the population. Powerful painkillers are, undoubtedly, addictive and have serious side effects, and the fact that most Americans have a full bottle stocked in their cabinets at home is not to be taken lightly. In fact, the opioid epidemic, now deemed a national emergency by the Trump administration, was responsible for 28,000 American deaths in 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most of these fatalities were from prescribed medications.\n\nThe issue is indicative of most manufacturers\u2019 reckless disregard for public health; knowing that doctors over-prescribe drugs without properly weaning patients off of them, pharmaceuticals have made a business out of creating potentially harmful products and selling them to consumers who likely did not need the medication in the first place. Indeed, the more money rolls in from the hordes of drug-abusing Americans, the easier it is to push ethical boundaries in the industry. Put simply, big manufacturers undermine national health care policy by shifting the focus from the well-being of American citizens to the potential profits that can be made by big business.\n\nThe aforementioned evils of Big Pharma are personified in one formidable public enemy: Martin Shkreli. Those familiar with his name might remember him as the former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, a manufacturer that primarily markets the drugs Daraprim and Vecamyl. In 2015, Shkreli \u2014 otherwise known as the \u201cmost hated man in America\u201d \u2014 sparked national uproar after he raised the price of Daraprim, which treats malaria and AIDS, by over 5,000 percent. Shkreli was later arrested for fraud.\n\nLike Shkreli, a large number of these companies do not care about meeting public health needs because they have more important things on their minds \u2014 like money. In other words, major manufacturers can sleep well at night knowing that they jeopardized the health of millions if it meant making a quick billion. And, while it is true that some pharmaceuticals may be unfairly demonized by a bad apple, the impersonality embodied by Shkreli is still largely characteristic of the direction the industry is going in.\n\nThe California legislature should be commended for its decision to tackle pharmaceuticals like Turing during this year\u2019s session. In addition to SB 17, lawmakers introduced measure AB 265, which cuts discounts to pricier drugs when more affordable alternatives are available. If successful, the bill would limit manufacturers\u2019 ability to manipulate consumers by tempting them with seemingly less expensive brands. Also notable is AB 315, a bill that focuses on regulating pharmacy benefit managers, who are largely responsible for driving up the cost of prescription medication.\n\nMissing from the equation in these measures, however, is public knowledge of the situation \u2014 which is why SB 17 will be critical if signed into law. In matters as important as healthcare, each citizen deserves to know how his or her access to essential medication is being impacted by big pharmaceutical companies. College students, and those transitioning into a life of self-sufficiency, should be able to know much their EpiPens might cost in a few years.\n\nWhile insurers usually take much of the blow from rising drug prices, SB 17 is a step in the right direction. Our legislators cannot have informed, productive conversations with pharmaceuticals if there is not at least some level of transparency. As mentioned before, drug companies have too long been held unaccountable for the prices of their products, and measures like SB 17 are necessary checks on their power, albeit small ones.\n\nIf Brown signs this bill, perhaps other states will follow suit \u2014 and the nation can take back public health for the sake of health.", "output": "On Sept. 11, the California legislature passed health care bill SB 17, which requires pharmaceutical companies to release critical information on how major drugs are priced. SB 17 \u2014 although not yet signed by Gov. Jerry Brown \u2014 received support from both Republicans and Democrats in the waning hours of the 2017 legislative session. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Will Epic's new record-sharing tool solve interoperability challenges? \n \"This sounds like a very positive incremental improvement in the use of patient portals in the Epic customer base,\" said Dr. David Kibbe, CEO of the not-for-profit governance group DirectTrust. \"But it doesn't seem to me to be a global solution. The most obvious limitation is that it's available only to customers of Epic who also have MyChart accounts,\" he said, referring to Epic's patient portal.\n\nAccording to Charles Christian, vice president of technology and engagement at the Indiana Health Information Exchange, Share Everywhere doesn't quite count as interoperability. \"It's not really moving data around but providing access to it.\"\n\nPamela McNutt, chief information officer at Dallas-based Methodist Health System, agreed, calling Share Everywhere \"another vehicle for access to very important information. It's really exciting, and it's moving us closer to a patient having a personal health record that they can control.\" Her system, which uses Epic, will advertise the new feature on its website and when it encourages new patients to sign up for MyChart.\n\nEpic argues that this kind of data exchange does indeed qualify as interoperability and, more importantly, makes that interoperability patient-directed, said Sean Bina, Epic's vice president of access applications. \"Whether traveling internationally, receiving home care, or simply seeking a second opinion, patient-driven interoperability is now a reality even when the caregiver doesn't have an interoperable EHR,\" he said.\n\nPatient control over medical records is a requirement under meaningful use, which specifies that patients are supposed to be able to view, download and transmit their data. Epic's Share Everywhere achieves the crucial \"transmit\" portion of that trio, centering the data around the patient rather than around a single provider and maintaining a patient's privacy under HIPAA along the way, since the patient is the one moving the information.\n\nThe industry has long touted the potential benefits of patient-centered care, calling it an important part of the Triple Aim, since it will improve outcomes and lower costs. But, Christian said, \"at times, we may be asking too much of the patients.\" Sometimes, he said, patients want providers to initiate the exchange of data.\n\n\"It's an idea that makes a ton of sense, to put patients in the middle of interoperability,\" said Dr. Christopher Longhurst, CIO for UC San Diego Health. But, he said, he's found that \"when you ask our patients, most of them tell you they don't want to be in the middle.\"\n\nEpic's Care Everywhere\u2014not to be confused with Share Everywhere\u2014helps in that quest. Using the technology, organizations exchange 2 million records per day with Epic and other vendors' systems. Epic is also a member of Carequality, an initiative of the Sequoia Project whose framework supports data transfer among its members. Carequal- ity members will soon be able to exchange data with members of the Commonwell Health Alliance, co-founded by Epic market rival Cerner Corp., greatly expanding interoperability.\n\nShare Everywhere will be available for free in November to Epic users. Epic declined to say what the average cost of implementing its EHR is. But installing new systems can be expensive: The installation of an Epic EHR at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville this fall, for instance, is estimated to cost $214 million.\n\nAsked if providers might be drawn to purchase Epic because of Share Everywhere. Longhurst said likely not. \"It's not a game-changer,\" he said.", "output": "By most accounts, Epic Systems Corp.'s announcement that it was releasing a digital tool allowing patients to share their medical records with any provider was a huge leap toward reaching the ever-elusive digital exchange of medical information.\n \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CBO: ACA markets to see premium increases, stunted enrollment \n Dive Brief:\n\nPremiums in next year\u2019s Affordable Care Act plans will be about 15% higher than this year because of short-term market uncertainty, according to a report the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released Thursday.\n\nThe analysis also found that enrollment in these marketplace plans will increase slightly, but will be limited by reduced federal advertising and outreach efforts, as well as the higher premiums.\n\nThe reduced federal outreach includes cuts of up to 98% for community groups that help people enroll in ACA plans. The organizations began receiving notice of their new budgets late Wednesday, about two weeks after their previous funding ran out, Vox reported.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nThe CBO report lends credence to the theory that efforts from President Donald Trump\u2019s administration to hamstring the ACA are working as intended. Trump hasn't backed away from his plan of letting the individual market \u201cimplode\u201d in order to gain a bargaining chip for future healthcare reform discussions.\n\nAt the beginning of the month, HHS said the overall advertising budget for the ACA was being cut by 90%. With massive budget cuts and the delay in receiving the funding, ACA navigator groups have been laying off employees and suspending some of their projects.\n\nHHS argues the navigator groups are ineffective and have accounted for only a small number of enrollees each year. Advocates for the navigators say the numbers don\u2019t tell the whole story. In addition to coaching ACA enrollment, the navigators help people access care after they obtains insurance and work with employers on ACA compliance. They also reach out to minority groups in their community to further knowledge of coverage options.\n\nThe CBO\u2019s finding of premium increases because of likely market instability mirrors other analyses that show higher costs in early premium rate filings. The agency said one major cause for the instability is the uncertainty that payers will continue to receive cost-sharing reductions (CSR). Insurers have strongly urged future payments be assured, warning that otherwise they will have to leave the ACA marketplaces or substantially increase premiums. The CBO agrees.\n\nThere have been bipartisan talks in support of legislation to secure the future of CSR payments, but some Republicans instead continue to push for full ACA repeal. Meanwhile, 58 counties are at risk of having no ACA plan options next year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.", "output": "Premiums in next year\u2019s Affordable Care Act plans will be about 15% higher than this year because of short-term market uncertainty, according to a report\u00a0the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released Thursday.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "One Little Medicaid Waiver Could Spell Big Changes \n WASHINGTON -- Medicaid may have escaped deep cuts this summer, after several repeal and replace bills foundered in the Senate, but the administration has another vehicle for implementing conservative-friendly changes on a state-by-state basis through the waiver process.\n\nOne particular waiver, crafted by Arkansas, if approved, could create a pathway for other \"red\" states to expand the program on their own terms by allowing a \"partial expansion\" of the program. In Arkansas's case, which already technically expanded Medicaid -- albeit in a nontraditional fashion -- the effect would actually be to disqualify some 60,000 current enrollees from the program.\n\nThe state's amended \"Arkansas Works\" waiver would roll back the income threshold for Medicaid eligibility from 138% of the federal poverty level to 100%. Those no longer qualifying could try to enroll in plans supported by federal tax credits or find employer-sponsored insurance. the state's Medicaid agency said.\n\nArkansas also wants a \"work requirement\" for enrollees ages 18-49 who are \"able-bodied\" with no dependents. They must find paying jobs, volunteer positions, or participate in work training programs for at least 20 hours a week, J.R. Davis, a spokesman for Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R), told MedPage Today in a phone interview.\n\n\"If you want this coverage you have to be able to put some skin in the game,\" Davis said.\n\nThose who do not meet the requirement, and who lack an exemption, will be dropped from the program and blocked from re-enrollment, the ARMedicaid website noted.\n\nArkansas Expansion\n\nArkansas initially expanded Medicaid under a different waiver under Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe in 2013. That waiver allowed the state to use Medicaid expansion dollars to provide private insurance. This was known as the \"private option.\"\n\nSo instead of increasing Medicaid eligibility the state directed those federal dollars to would-be Medicaid recipients who could then choose plans on the exchanges, Nicholas Bagley, JD, of the University of Michigan, explained in The Incidental Economist.\n\nFor the 60,000 people who are expected to lose coverage by scaling back Medicaid expansion eligibility, Davis said the subsidies will allow them to access coverage, just as it does for those who are currently on the exchanges.\n\n\"With the limited amount of resources from the state, we want to focus those resources on those who need it most,\" Bagley wrote.\n\nMedicaid is jointly run by the states and federal government. Under the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid expansion was intended to increase eligibility to most adults earning up to 138% of the federal poverty level. The federal government would provide 100% of the funding for the expansion population, in the first few years, with that percentage tapering off after that.\n\nThe ACA allows states to seek waivers from some of its requirements. Several states contemplated expanding Medicaid eligibility only to those at 100% of the federal poverty level instead of the usual 138%, but that idea was soundly rejected by the Obama administration.\n\nThe new administration under Trump may take a rosier view of similar proposals.\n\nIf \"red\" states needed a sign, Seema Verma, the new administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), helped craft Indiana's \"Republican-friendly [Medicaid] expansion.\" Indiana's program required Medicaid recipients to make small monthly payments or lose coverage.\n\nReactions\n\nIf the new Arkansas waiver is approved it could have a trickle-down effect on states that had resisted expansion in the past, said Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors.\n\n\"I think it would certainly send a signal to the Rick Scotts and the Greg Abbotts to say ... 'Potentially we could do this,'\" Salo told MedPage Today, referring to the Republican governors of Florida and Texas, respectively.\n\nWhile some states may choose to expand eligibility to 138% of federal poverty level, the right cut-off for others may be 100% or even 75%.\n\nBut expansion, even on a lesser scale, is still a win for the enrollees in most states, he said.\n\n\"People, single adults, between 0% and 100% of poverty are uninsured. If Florida does an expansion up to 70% or 80%, that's a whole bunch of people who would have coverage who didn't before,\" Salo said.\n\nMarquita Little, health policy director for Arkansas Advocates for Families and Children, is skeptical that people will easily transition to a marketplace plan and receive comparable coverage at comparable costs using tax credits. She noted the uncertainty surrounding the exchange marketplaces given the atmosphere in Washington.\n\nThe state doesn't have a good track record for smooth transitions, she added, pointing to a a renewal process in 2015 that left some people not realizing their coverage had lapsed until they showed up for doctor's appointments.\n\nWaivers are intended to pursue the objective of the Medicaid program, observed Joan Alker, executive director for the Center for Children and Families.\n\n\"Taking coverage away from people ... unless you're 100% certain everybody's going to get coverage and they're going to get just as good coverage,\" doesn't meet that objective, she argued.\n\nDavis, the governor's spokesman, insisted the transition wouldn't be a problem.\n\n\"There's facts versus fiction. The facts are they will be able to go onto the exchange and we have staff at the Department of Health and Human Services who will be able to help them,\" he said.\n\n'On CMS Time'\n\nBagley told MedPage Today in an email that advocacy groups \"can and probably will bring lawsuits,\" but there are credible arguments on both sides.\n\n\"On the one hand, it's a little awkward to say that restricting Medicaid eligibility advances the objectives of the program,\" he said. But, he added, \"Arkansas might be able to argue that the 100-to-138 expansion population will have more choices if they can use premium tax credits to shop for coverage instead of Medicaid dollars.\"\n\nThe courts generally defer to HHS on waivers, but will \"definitely put the agency through its paces,\" he wrote.\n\nFour other states -- Indiana, Kentucky, Iowa, and Massachusetts -- currently have Medicaid expansion waivers pending with CMS, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. All but the Bay State's include a work requirement, and Indiana and Kentucky would lock out enrollees if they fail to renew eligibility by certain deadlines.\n\nAs for when a decision on Arkansas's application is expected, William Golden, MD, medical director for Arkansas Department of Human Services/Medicaid, said in an email that he expected to have a decision by now but heard it had been delayed by the recent hurricanes.\n\n\"We are on CMS time,\" he wrote.\n\nPlease enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.", "output": "Medicaid may have escaped deep cuts this summer, after several repeal and replace bills foundered in the Senate, but the administration has another vehicle for implementing conservative-friendly changes on a state-by-state basis through the waiver process.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Buried Inside Bernie Sanders\u2019s Bill: A Fallback Plan \n The Bernie Sanders \u201cMedicare for All\u201d plan promises rapid, sweeping change to the American health care system, with the elimination of all private insurance and the creation of a costly new government insurance program that will cover everyone and nearly every medical service.\n\nBut deep in its back pages is a more modest fallback plan.\n\nThe bill, introduced this week, has attracted the endorsement of 15 Democratic senators, including several of the party\u2019s most ambitious liberals. But many more Democrats this week said they\u2019d like to pursue more limited steps to expand health insurance coverage and the government\u2019s role in the system. It turns out that the Sanders bill also has provisions along those lines. Taken together, the bill encapsulates much of the coming Democratic debate about the direction of health care.\n\nIn the statements of the bill\u2019s co-sponsors, one can detect an openness to less transformational approaches to health reform. \u201cThis bill is aspirational, and I\u2019m hopeful that it can serve as a starting point for where we need to go as a country,\u201d Senator Al Franken of Minnesota wrote in a Facebook post. He described the bill as a \u201cmarker\u201d and \u201cone way to achieve universal coverage.\u201d\n\nParts of the Sanders bill help establish a road map for what some other strategies might look like.\n\nThe provisions are tucked into Title X of the bill and describe the four-year transition between current policy and the Sanders bill\u2019s goal of a Medicare-for-all system. During that interim, some younger Americans would be able to buy access to the traditional Medicare program, which is now mainly for those 65 and up. The provisions would also establish an option for Americans to buy access to a Medicare-like government plan that would be sold on the Obamacare exchanges.", "output": "The Bernie Sanders \u201cMedicare for All\u201d plan promises rapid, sweeping change\u00a0to the American health care system, with the elimination of all private insurance and the creation of a costly new government insurance program that will cover everyone and\u00a0nearly every medical service.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How Trump Is Making Obamacare More Expensive \n President Trump\u2019s threats and actions to undermine Obamacare come at a cost: In a report released Thursday, the Congressional Budget Office projects that premiums for benchmark silver plans will increase by an average of 15 percent next year.\n\nThe nonpartisan budget referee expects premiums for those plans to rise by 5 percent a year until 2027. But the projected jump for next year is much steeper, the CBO says, \u201clargely because of short-term market uncertainty\u2014in particular, insurers\u2019 uncertainty about whether federal funding for certain subsidies that are currently available will continue to be provided\u2014 and an increase in the percentage of the population living in areas with only one insurer in the marketplace.\u201d\n\nThe Trump administration has not yet said whether it will continue to pay roughly $7 billion a year for so-called cost-sharing reductions \u2014 subsidies that help reduce deductibles and co-pays for low-income enrollees. In the meantime, it has slashed spending on advertising and outreach, and shortened the enrollment period to six weeks from about three months. This week, the Department of Health and Human Services told groups that assist with Obamacare enrollments that their budgets will be cut, in some cases by more than 90 percent. (For more on the effects of these cuts, check out this piece at Vox by Lori Lodes, the former director of the office of communications at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.)\n\nAs a result of those cuts to programs driving signups and of the higher premiums it expects, CBO also projects future enrollment through Obamacare exchanges to be lower than it had previously forecast. A March 2016 CBO report projected that about 18 million Americans would be covered through the Obamacare marketplaces by 2018. The new report projects that enrollment will climb from 10 million this year to 11 million next year and then stabilize at around 12 million from 2019 through 2027.\n\nCBO last month said that if President Trump followed through on his threat to cut federal cost-sharing subsidies, silver plan premiums would rise by an average of 20 percent next year and, as a result, the federal deficit would climb by $194 billion through 2026 as the cost of government tax credits increased along with the rising premiums.\n\nInsurers have until September 27 to decide whether and how they will participate in Obamacare markets.", "output": "President Trump\u2019s threats and actions to undermine Obamacare come at a cost: In a report\u00a0released Thursday, the Congressional Budget Office projects that premiums for benchmark silver plans will increase by an average of 15 percent next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Windsor retirement community celebrates 80 years in Glendale \n Residents enjoyed a musical performance Wednesday by Ann Louise Christensen on piano and Jennifer Hall on the saxophone, at Windsor Retirement Community, which is celebrating its 80th anniversary.\n\nWindsor, a continuing-care retirement community in Glendale, celebrated its 80th anniversary last week.\n\nElderly residents say frequent social activities are just part of living there.\n\nThe 3.5-acre facility invited its roughly 140 residents, as well as friends and family, to mark the occasion with food, dancing and live music.\n\nAlmost 200 attendees were joined by Councilwoman Paula Devine and representatives from Mayor Vartan Gharpetian\u2019s and state Sen. Anthony Portantino\u2019s offices to award a special commendation to Windsor.\n\n\u201cI truly commend your passion and dedication in providing excellent health and patient care services to our community,\u201d Gharpetian wrote in the letter.\n\nOpened in 1937 as a United Presbyterian home for Glendale seniors, the facility later became Windsor and is the only senior community that offers a residential retirement housing, assisted living and skilled nursing facility in one location.\n\nWindsor is part of the nonprofit senior housing organization HumanGood.\n\nLooking ahead, Leif Cameron, who joined Windsor as executive director a year and a half ago, said the community is transitioning from long-term custodial care to short-term stays.\n\nHe added that the community social outings will remain consistent.\n\n\u201cWe allocated a little more money to [the anniversary] but we try and make all of our community events special,\u201d Cameron said.\n\nBarbara Estlow, 82, worked at Windsor as a type of do-all receptionist for 16 years before she decided to spend 14 years as a resident.\n\n\u201cThere isn\u2019t any resident here that I can\u2019t eat a meal with,\u201d Estlow said.\n\nRoger Thisdell, 87, and Patricia Wayner, 81, met while living on the third floor. They\u2019ve been in a relationship for almost a year.\n\nWayner arrived to Windsor about two years ago after her husband died. Her daughter, living near Windsor, recommended the community.\n\n\u201cLittle by little, I found that this is a very good place to live,\u201d she said.\n\nThisdell has lived in Glendale for 60 years and made the community his home after his wife died.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of entertainment and mixing with all the other different people here,\u201d Thisdell said.\n\njeff.landa@latimes.com\n\nTwitter: @JeffLanda", "output": "Windsor, a continuing-care retirement community in Glendale, celebrated its 80th anniversary last week. Elderly residents say frequent social activities are just part of living there. The 3.5-acre facility invited its roughly 140 residents, as well as friends and family, to mark the occasion with food, dancing and live music.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Talking to older adults about health prognosis may be helpful \n Prognosis is the term for the most likely outcome of a medical condition. When it comes to health care, talking about your prognosis can be difficult for you, your family/friends, and even your healthcare providers. However, many of us prefer to talk to our healthcare providers about the expected course of an illness and about our life expectancy when living with a chronic or terminal illness. This is according to new research on advanced care planning (the technical term for having early conversations with our healthcare providers about our care needs, preferences, and expectations).\n\nIn a new study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, researchers examined how older adults with disabilities later in life might react to learning their prognosis, and how they evaluated their own prognosis compared to \"official\" estimates.\n\nThe study participants were 35 adults 70-years-old and older from four geriatrics clinics in the San Francisco Bay area. All the participants required help with daily activities, and they all participated in a 45-minute interview as part of the study.\n\nThe researchers asked older adults questions about how they would want to receive information about their life expectancy. For example, did they prefer hearing or reading news about their prognosis? Would they prefer receiving information about their prognosis while at home by themselves?\n\nAdditionally, participants circled the shortest, longest, and most likely number of years they thought they might live on a scale from zero to 30 years. Researchers then offered to give the participants an estimate of life expectancy with a visual presentation using an estimate system created for people older than age 50. Next, participants were given the option to see their prognosis. If they chose to see it, they discussed their reactions with the researchers. Afterward, researchers asked the participants 10 questions about their feelings based on hearing about estimated life expectancy. The researchers called the participants two to four weeks later to check on their reactions as a follow-up.\n\nOver the course of the study, the researchers learned that:\n\n16 participants (46 percent) had life expectancy estimates that were within two years of the \"most likely\" estimate from a healthcare professional.\n\n15 participants (43 percent) over-estimated their own life expectancy by more than two years compared to the \"most likely\" estimate.\n\n4 participants (11 percent) under-estimated their own life expectancy by more than two years compared to the \"most likely\" estimate.\n\nOverall, 30 participants (86 percent) estimated their life expectancy in a way that at least overlapped with the \"official\" estimated calculation.\n\nThe researchers concluded that most older adults wanted a health care practitioner to be present when discussing life expectancy. People in the study did not react with sadness or anxiety when they learned about life expectancies, though several disputed the calculated results.\n\n\"Health care practitioners may offer to discuss life expectancy with their older, disabled patients and expect the patients to tie the information into their own life narratives,\" said the researchers.\n\nAccording to other research, key reasons for a healthcare professional's reluctance to have these discussions with their older adults may include:\n\nFear of taking away hope\n\nConcern for a negative reaction\n\nTime restraints\n\nPoor training\n\nWorry about giving someone a mistaken prognosis, leading to incorrect information about a person's future\n\nAddressing these and other important concerns remains key to advance care planning, which has been shown to improve the quality of care we receive as we age.\n\nMore information: Theresa W. Wong et al, Prognosis Communication in Late-Life Disability: A Mixed Methods Study, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (2017). DOI: 10.1111/jgs.15025 Journal information: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society", "output": "Prognosis is the term for the most likely outcome of a medical condition. When it comes to health care, talking about your prognosis can be difficult for you, your family/friends, and even your healthcare providers. However, many of us prefer to talk to our healthcare providers about the expected course of an illness and about our life expectancy when living with a chronic or terminal illness.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Young Africans' professional development boosted by edtech \n Young Africans are honing their business leadership skills through online courses\n\nJens is an African edtech expert and founder of Apps-for-learning.com, a comparison site that presents the various e-learning and m-learning providers available in Africa and compares them in terms of their prices, and the type and quality of courses on offer.\n\nThe population of Africa is getting younger. Young people make up on average two thirds of the African population\u2014and counting.\n\nDrawing on these figures, the UN recently questioned whether Africa's increasingly youthful population is, \u2018A Ticking Time Bomb Or An Opportunity?\u2019\n\nWith old people traditionally occupying the roles of leaders simply due to their age, new models of leadership are needed to harness the power of Africa's growing numbers of young people.\n\nYoung Africans can emerge as the global and national leaders of the future. But, adhering to traditional models of 'leadership through age' may make this difficult to achieve.\n\nYoung people in Africa are in need of educational technology\u2014edtech\u2014and strategies to develop their leadership skills. Learning technologies such as mobile apps and online courses are the way forward when it comes to inspiring and teaching a new generation of leaders in this continent.\n\nAccess\n\nInadequate infrastructure, poverty (and hence the need for young people to prioritise work over education), lack of trained teachers and a scarcity of schools are some of the key hurdles to education in Africa.\n\nThese problems are most acute in Sub-Saharan Africa, though they are improving. Statistics show that net enrolment in primary school education right across Sub-Saharan Africa has grown from 58% in 1999 to 87% in the present day. This is promising as it demonstrates that there is a large appetite for education across Africa. The next generation of leaders is ready to spring into action.\n\nThis appetite needs to be met with appropriate learning resources. Online education is key here. In countries where infrastructure is poor, online education enables students to learn from their own homes. And, in big universities such as Cape Town or Kenyatta University, online courses can provide valuable supplements to classroom based studies.\n\nThroughout Africa, both global and regional online course providers have sprung up, each with different approaches and pricing models.\n\nGlobally too, 100% online MBA and master\u2019s programs\u2014like Birmingham Business School\u2019s AMBA-accredited Online MBA or Nottingham Business School\u2019s Online MBA With Big Data Analytics\u2014give Africans easy access to high-quality education from top tier institutions.\n\nBridging the skills gap\n\nFar from being a nebulous concept, leadership is something that can (and should) be taught. Though to an extent good leaders may be said to be born, not made, anyone can be taught to grasp and apply leadership skills like clear communication, dispute resolution, managing teams and resources.\n\nProviding young Africans with access to educational institutions which teach them leadership skills is crucial. However, as it stands, some countries (such as Kenya and South Africa) lead the way in terms of their density of schools and the quality of their universities. Other countries (such as Somalia) are lagging behind.\n\nA leadership skills 'gap' is developing between students in countries with good quality education infrastructure and a high level of living standards, and students in countries with poorer living standards and an inadequate education infrastructure.\n\nE-learning and m-learning, because they make learning available to all, help to bridge this skills gap. When you have access to online courses, you can study wherever you are.", "output": "Online education is helping to provide young people in Africa with access to professional development in business and leadership. Regional providers of online courses have appeared throughout the continent, along with global institutions such as Birmingham Business School, which provides an online MBA. These may help to address a leadership skills gap that has opened up between countries with good educational provision, such as Kenya and South Africa, and others such as Somalia, which are lagging behind.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Payment platform Vindi secures $1.8m from Criatec2 \n S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil-based payment platform Vindi raised U$1.8M (R$ 5.8m) in funding.\n\nCriatec2 fund, managed by Bozano Investimentos, made the investment.\n\nThe company intends to use the funds to move to new headquarters to accommodate around 80 employees, to make investments in technology, growth, and acquisitions of other fintechs.\n\nFounded in 2013 by Rodrigo Dantas, CEO, Vindi provides is the leader in payment solutions in signatures, plans and monthly payments in Brazil targeting the retail and service sector. The company\u2019s payment processing platform features more than hundreds of different integrations with banks, credit card acquirers and financial solutions.\n\nClients include Multiplus, Editora Abril, Thomson Reuters, VivaReal, Movile and some of the fastest growing startups in the country.\n\nIn four years, Vindi has has accumulated acquired Aceita F\u00e1cil (2016) and Smartbill.\n\nSP\n\nTel.: (Vindi) +55 (11) 5904-7380\n\nhttps://www.vindi.com.br | https://www.smartbill.com.br", "output": "Brazilian payment platform Vindi has raised $1.8m in funding from the Criatec2 venture capital fund. Vindi's platform provides the retail and service sector with payment solutions from an array of banks and credit card acquirers. The new funds will be used to invest in technology, growth, and acquisitions, as well as enabling the company to move to a bigger headquarters.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Japan becomes dominant bitcoin market following Chinese bans \n Japan has once again become the largest Bitcoin exchange market with 50.75 percent market share of the global Bitcoin exchange market. Analysts including BitFury Vice Chairman George Kikvadze attributed the surge in the trading volume of the Japanese Bitcoin exchange market to the exit of Bitcoin traders in China.\n\nEarlier this week, the Chinese government, local authorities and financial regulators officially requested Chinese Bitcoin exchanges and trading platforms to halt their services by the end of September. OKCoin and Huobi, the two largest exchanges in China, were granted leeway to operate until Oct. 30, considering the fact that they have not been involved in any initial coin offerings (ICOs) in the past.\n\nBut, it seems as if traders are not willing to take any chances with the Chinese government and their unpredictable nature. The Chinese Bitcoin exchange market\u2019s daily trading volume has halved within a period of three days, from 15 percent to less than seven percent.\n\nAccording to various trusted Bitcoin market data providers such as CryptoCompare, China only accounts for 6.4 percent of global Bitcoin trades at the time of reporting.\n\nCryptoCompare shows that Japan accounts for over 50% of all #bitcoin trades. Chinese traders have already moved to Japan. China less than 7% pic.twitter.com/t7YRaL5jv3 \u2014 Joseph Young (@iamjosephyoung) September 17, 2017\n\nUS market benefits\n\nPrior to the nationwide Bitcoin exchange ban by China, the US exchange market had consistently secured its position as the largest market in the world.\n\nHowever, almost immediately after the announcement of the country\u2019s three largest Bitcoin exchanges, BTCC, Huobi and OKCoin, were released, traders moved over to the Japanese Bitcoin exchange market. The abrupt migration of traders led to the short-term surge in the trading volume of Japan, allowing the market to overtake the US by over 20 percent in global Bitcoin exchange market share.\n\nContrary to many negative reports, prominent developers, analysts, researchers and experts within the cryptocurrency and Blockchain sectors including Litecoin creator Charlie Lee and billionaire investor Tim Draper expressed their optimism toward the shutdown of the Chinese Bitcoin exchange market. Lee emphasized that the Chinese government will no longer be able to manipulate the market, as it had done since 2013.\n\nLee says:\n\n\u201cThis is a good thing. China can no longer play with the markets by banning Bitcoin. Cryptocurrency cannot be killed by any country. One solution to centralized exchanges is decentralized ones. I hear the Decred Project team has something cooking that helps with that.\u201d\n\nBitcoin stabilization\n\nAs Lee emphasized, the exit of the Chinese Bitcoin exchange market should really only have affected around 10 to 15 percent of traders in the global Bitcoin exchange market. Yet, speculators and impatient traders initiated a major sell-off as the Chinese government banned exchanges, leading to a major correction on Bitcoin price.\n\nOver the next few weeks, the global Bitcoin exchange market will stabilize, as traders move from the Chinese market to South Korea and Japan, two markets that have developed significantly more efficient regulations, industry standards and policies for both cryptocurrency exchanges and users.\n\nIt is likely that as Lee and Draper noted, the closure of the Chinese Bitcoin exchange market could lead to the stabilization of the global Bitcoin exchange market, which may be beneficial for Bitcoin in the long run.", "output": "Japan has overtaken the US to become the world's largest bitcoin exchange market. The move follows the Chinese authorities' order to bitcoin exchanges and trading platforms to cease trading by the end of September. Traders subsequently switched in huge numbers to the Japanese market, giving it a 20% greater market share than the US. Many see the Chinese ban as beneficial for the global bitcoin exchange market, as the Japanese and South Korean exchanges, with their improved regulations and increased standards, may bring stability to the sector.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Californian biotech start-up aims to 3D print organs \n Startup of the week:\n\nWho they are: Prellis Biologics\n\nWhat they do: Make 3D-printed human organs\n\nWhy it\u2019s cool: Every day, 20 people die waiting for an organ transplant, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The country is facing a massive organ shortage \u2014 there were more than 116,000 people on the national transplant waitlist as of last month, but in 2016 just 33,611 transplant surgeries were performed. That\u2019s because it\u2019s difficult to find usable organs. Patients have to wait for a willing donor who is a match.\n\nRelated Articles Technology | This surveillance startup wants to put cameras in your neighborhood\n\nThis surveillance startup wants to put cameras in your neighborhood Technology | Last minute camping trip? This startup finds you a spot to pitch your tent\n\nLast minute camping trip? This startup finds you a spot to pitch your tent Technology | Oakland startup delivers lunch, pulls young people out of poverty\n\nOakland startup delivers lunch, pulls young people out of poverty Technology | Meet the startup that\u2019s prevented 25 child and teen suicides so far To solve the supply shortage, San Francisco-based startup Prellis is working on building human organs using a unique 3D printing technology. If a patient needed a new liver, for example, doctors would take a biopsy from his or her existing liver, and the Prellis scientists would harvest those liver cells and cultivate them, allowing them to multiply until there were enough to create a new organ. Then the scientists would embed those cells into a collagen-based goo, and use a laser light to shape the mixture into a liver.\n\n\u201cWe think we\u2019re going to extend the lives of millions of people with this technology,\u201d said Noelle Mullin, who co-founded the startup in 2016 with fellow scientist Melanie Matheu.\n\nAnd unlike with traditional organ donation, there\u2019s no danger of a patient rejecting one of Prellis\u2019 organs, because the organ is made from the patient\u2019s own cells. That means there\u2019s no need for the patient to take immunosuppressant drugs for the rest of his or her life.\n\nGet tech news in your inbox weekday mornings. Sign up for the free Good Morning Silicon Valley newsletter.\n\nThe process would be relatively speedy \u2014 the founders estimate it would take between two and four months to print an organ. They anticipate making a kidney for about $80,000, which is roughly the same price as a donor kidney.\n\nWhere they stand: Mullin and Matheu estimate they\u2019ll be ready to print their first human organ in the next four to six years. In the meantime, they\u2019re showcasing their technology by printing less complicated tissues. The scientists already have made working lymph nodes, which have successfully produced antibodies that Prellis can market to drug companies.\n\nNext, the founders are going to try printing the cells that make insulin \u2014 called islet cells \u2014 which are found in the human pancreas. Those working cells can be implanted in a patient with diabetes, eliminating the need for insulin shots and daily blood sugar tests. Prellis hopes to start clinical trials with its islet cells by 2021.\n\nGet top headlines in your inbox every afternoon.\n\nSign up for the free PM Report newsletter.\n\nThe company on Tuesday secured $1.8 million in seed funding, led by True Ventures.\n\nTo learn more, visit www.prellisbio.com.http://www.prellisbio.com\n\nWhat will they think of next?\n\nIt\u2019s a common scenario: you\u2019re enjoying a day out and about in San Francisco, and you run into a problem \u2014 the city has very few public bathrooms. Even places like Starbucks won\u2019t always let you use their facilities. Good2Go, an app that launched Thursday in San Francisco, hopes to help users find clean restrooms in nearby businesses. Once users enter a business that\u2019s registered with the app, they join the virtual line for the bathroom, and the app notifies them when it\u2019s their turn. The app even unlocks the bathroom door as they approach.\n\nUsers can download Good2Go free for a limited time. The app gives them access to restrooms in San Francisco at several Peet\u2019s Coffee locations, Sextant Coffee Roasters and The Creamery. Additional locations soon will be available at Rigolo Cafe, Church Street Cafe, Cafe La Boheme, Fifty-Fifty Cafe and more.\n\nTo learn more or download the app, visit www.good2go.global.\n\nRun the numbers:\n\nMore than half of young adults eschew traditional TV and instead watch most of their favorite shows online, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center. About 61 percent of U.S. adults ages 18 to 29 primarily use online streaming to watch TV, compared with 31 percent who use a cable or satellite subscription. But older Americans are less likely to turn to online streaming. Just 10 percent of adults ages 50 to 64 primarily watch TV online, as do 5 percent of adults 65 and older. The study highlights how the internet is changing the way we access entertainment, news and other information, and the growing threat online streaming poses for traditional cable and satellite providers.", "output": "A US biotech start-up is developing a system for 3D printing human organs, which could ease the shortage of donor organs. San Francisco-based Prellis Biologics has raised $1.8m in seed funding for the project, in a round led by True Ventures. The process would use a patient's own cells to cultivate and grow the organs, eliminating the possibility of rejection. The scientists estimate it would take between two and four months and cost about $80,000 to make a kidney, which is similar to the price tag for a donor organ."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pioneer of key AI technique casts doubt on the technology's future \n In 1986, Geoffrey Hinton co-authored a paper that, three decades later, is central to the explosion of artificial intelligence. But Hinton says his breakthrough method should be dispensed with, and a new path to AI found.\n\nSpeaking with Axios on the sidelines of an AI conference in Toronto on Wednesday, Hinton, a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto and a Google researcher, said he is now \"deeply suspicious\" of back-propagation, the workhorse method that underlies most of the advances we are seeing in the AI field today, including the capacity to sort through photos and talk to Siri. \"My view is throw it all away and start again,\" he said.\n\nThe bottom line: Other scientists at the conference said back-propagation still has a core role in AI's future. But Hinton said that, to push materially ahead, entirely new methods will probably have to be invented. \"Max Planck said, 'Science progresses one funeral at a time.' The future depends on some graduate student who is deeply suspicious of everything I have said.\"\n\nHow it works: In back propagation, labels or \"weights\" are used to represent a photo or voice within a brain-like neural layer. The weights are then adjusted and readjusted, layer by layer, until the network can perform an intelligent function with the fewest possible errors.\n\nBut Hinton suggested that, to get to where neural networks are able to become intelligent on their own, what is known as \"unsupervised learning,\" \"I suspect that means getting rid of back-propagation.\"\n\n\"I don't think it's how the brain works,\" he said. \"We clearly don't need all the labeled data.\"", "output": "Geoffrey Hinton, co-author of the 1986 paper that brought the back-propagation neural network to the attention of the AI community, has said that the technique should now be jettisoned. Back-propogation uses labelled data to train a network, reweighting the calculations made by its artificial \"neurons\" repeatedly until the labels produced as outputs match the labels on the data used for the training inputs. Hinton now suggests\u00a0that that this is not\u00a0how the human brain works, and that back-propagation needs to be replaced with \"unsupervised\" learning methods to move AI forward."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EHarmony recruits marketers to get more traction on social \n After years of resistance, eHarmony is ready to commit to social media. The brand is recruiting marketers to turn the medium, which it has previously used for brand building, into a direct-response channel.\n\nThe popular matchmaking site\u2019s CEO, Grant Langston, plans to expand its marketing team in a bid to reassert eHarmony\u2019s credentials in an online dating market enamored with apps like Tinder and Bumble. In February, Langston revealed eHarmony had around 750,000 paid subscribers and 10 million active users, about the same as it has had since 2012. Tinder, on the other hand, had 1.8 million premium users and 50 million people using the app in February.\n\nTo quicken eHarmony\u2019s growth, Langston, who was previously CMO, is looking for marketers who can \u201chelp us get more from paid social, more from content and more from digital video.\u201d\n\nEHarmony has taken ROI for the \u201cworkhorses\u201d of search, display and affiliates as far as they can go, said Langston. While profitable for the business, none of those three formats \u201cis going to be massive\u201d for driving subscriptions, he conceded.\n\n\u201cWe have all these [search, display, affiliate and social] functions, but we want to bring in fresh perspectives and try new tricks,\u201d added Langston.\n\nHe was coy about what those \u201cnew tricks\u201d could be but revealed the lifestyle articles it publishes on social networks such as Facebook are its \u201cbest-performing tool.\u201d Despite the observation, those articles amount to a fraction of the content in the site\u2019s social media feeds, which are filled with user-generated posts from couples it has brought together. Targeted ads are also used, though the marketing team doesn\u2019t have access to individual profiles and instead targets against demographic and census data.\n\nEHarmony\u2019s most recent social media efforts have focused on brand building by using humor. Last year, it revealed engagement with its brand jumped after it injected humor into content such as emoji quizzes and dating tips.\n\nWhile that approach works, helping the business capture a 66 percent share of the 175,000 interactions on Facebook to eHarmony, Tinder and Bumble pages that Socialbakers tracked between Jan. 1 and Sept. 7, it is becoming harder for the brand to scale its presence. Over the same period, eHarmony gained 15,291 Facebook followers, per Socialbakers, which was noticeably less than Bumble (24,499) and Tinder (50,350).\n\nFacebook strangles the organic reach of business accounts on its platform, meaning brands like eHarmony have to pay to reach their target audience. However, with the reach Facebook says it delivers in question, focusing on tangible outcomes from articles like driving visits to eHarmony\u2019s site and increasing registrations with calls to action means it can get closer to seeing a value on its spend beyond reach.\n\n\u201cIf a channel is bringing incremental increases in acquisition, I\u2019m very comfortable giving it incremental increases in budget. We\u2019re still leaning to the TV side in terms of budget, but that\u2019s changing every day,\u201d Langston said. \u201cWhile TV will continue to be part of the way we talk to the public, it\u2019s going to be far less of a focus. The problem we have to overcome with digital is that they look good when you spend moderately, but when you decide to really commit, then they\u2019re inefficient.\u201d\n\nThe move comes as eHarmony rolls out a new logo across its ads to reflect a series of changes to its service, including a faster sign-up process, a smarter matchmaking algorithm and sleeker page designs on its site. But rather than attempt to go toe-to-toe with Tinder and Bumble for 20-something singles, the changes are aimed at winning over those in their 30s, an audience better suited to the long-term relationships eHarmony tries to encourage.\n\n\u201cWhen I became CEO a year ago, there were a number of things that needed changing,\u201d said Langston. \u201cThe apps, communications and design all felt antiquated \u2014 it was like we stopped working on the product in 2010.\u201d\n\nImage courtesy of eHarmony", "output": "Matchmaking site eHarmony is expanding its marketing team to help it take on rivals Tinder and Bumble. CEO Grant Langston said he wanted to bring in \"fresh perspectives and try new tricks\" to boost the site's social media presence and engage with singles aged 30 and over. Part of the plan is to expand the use of social media beyond brand building and use it to generate direct responses from users. Between 1 January and 7 September, eHarmony gained 15,291 Facebook followers, compared with\u00a0Bumble's 24,499 and Tinder, which racked up 50,350, according to Socialbakers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "DOE lab to use AI to analyse and reinforce US electricity grid \n Menlo Park, Calif. \u2014 A project led by the Department of Energy\u2019s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory will combine artificial intelligence with massive amounts of data and industry experience from a dozen U.S. partners to identify places where the electric grid is vulnerable to disruption, reinforce those spots in advance and recover faster when failures do occur.\n\nThe eventual goal is an autonomous grid that seamlessly absorbs routine power fluctuations from clean energy sources like solar and wind and quickly responds to disruptive events \u2013 from major storms to eclipse-induced dips in solar power \u2013 with minimal intervention from humans.\n\n\u201cThis project will be the first of its kind to use artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve the resilience of the grid,\u201d said Sila Kiliccote, director of SLAC\u2019s Grid Integration, Systems and Mobility lab, GISMo, and principal investigator for the project. \u201cWhile the approach will be tested on a large scale in California, Vermont and the Midwest, we expect it to have national impact, and all the tools we develop will be made available either commercially or as open source code.\u201d\n\nCalled GRIP, for Grid Resilience and Intelligence Project, the project builds on other efforts to collect massive amounts of data and use it to fine-tune grid operations, including SLAC\u2019s VADER project. It\u2019s one of seven Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium projects aimed at boosting grid resilience that will receive up to $32 million in funding as part of the DOE\u2019s Grid Modernization Initiative. GRIP was awarded up to $6 million over three years.\n\nThe project will use both machine learning, where computers ingest large amounts of data and teach themselves how a system behaves, and artificial intelligence, which uses the knowledge the machines have acquired to solve problems.\n\nSLAC\u2019s GISMo lab, which works with Stanford University, utilities and other industry partners on smart grid technology, will develop machine learning algorithms that digest data from satellite imagery, utility operations and other sources and build knowledge about how electrical distribution systems work.\n\n\u201cOne of the first places we will test our data analytics platform is at a major California utility,\u201d Kiliccote said. \u201cThe idea is to populate the platform with information about what your particular part of the grid looks like, in terms of things like solar and wind power sources, batteries where energy is stored, and how it\u2019s laid out to distribute power to homes and businesses. Then you begin to look for anomalies \u2013 things that could be configured better.\u201d\n\nFor instance, she said, a grid can be divided into \u201cislands,\u201d or microgrids, that can be isolated to prevent a power disruption from spreading and taking the whole system down.\n\n\u201cYou can also learn a lot just from satellite imagery,\u201d Kiliccote said. \u201cFor example, you could see where vegetation is growing with respect to the power lines, and anticipate when trees are likely to grow over the power lines and pull them over during a storm.\u201d\n\nThe knowledge and tools developed by the project will be passed along to another partner in the project, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), which represents 834 distribution cooperatives that provide electricity to an estimated 42 million people in 47 states. The association will help deploy the tools the team develops on standard utility industry platforms, make them available to its members and help the team integrate them into existing industry planning and operational workflows.\n\nOne of those members, Vermont Electric Cooperative, has already been working with Packetized Energy, which develops software and hardware that adjust the power consumption of water heaters and other thermostat-controlled devices when the grid becomes overloaded or the power supply from renewables fluctuates. \u201cWe\u2019re working with both of them to build additional controls into that system and demonstrate how we can absorb grid events by reducing loads and moving them around,\u201d Kiliccote said.\n\nAnother partner, the DOE\u2019s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, will be deploying and validating control systems it has developed for solar inverters that automatically convert the variable direct current from photovoltaic systems to AC current that\u2019s fed into the grid.\n\n\u201cBerkeley Lab has pioneered the development of algorithms that can optimally manage distributed energy resources, like wind, solar and batteries, and are completely plug and play,\u201d said Dan Arnold, a research scientist who is leading the Berkeley Lab part of the project. \u201cIn this project we're partnering with SLAC to deploy and test our approach in a real utility network. With these algorithms, we hope to be able to create an electric grid that can use distributed energy resources to automatically reconfigure itself to maximize reliability during normal operations or emergencies.\u201d\n\n-Written by Glennda Chui\n\nPress Office Contact: Manuel Gnida, mgnida@slac.stanford.edu, (650) 926-2632\n\nSLAC is a multi-program laboratory exploring frontier questions in photon science, astrophysics, particle physics and accelerator research. Located in Menlo Park, California, SLAC is operated by Stanford University for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. To learn more, please visit www.slac.stanford.edu.\n\nSLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.\n\nThe DOE\u2019s Grid Modernization Initiative (GMI) works with public and private partners to develop the concepts, tools, and technologies needed to measure, analyze, predict, protect, and control the grid of the future. The Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium (GMLC) was established as a strategic partnership between DOE and the national laboratories to bring together leading experts, technologies, and resources to collaborate on the goal of modernizing the nation\u2019s grid.", "output": "The US Department of Energy\u2019s (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory will lead a three-year project using artificial intelligence and machine learning to reinforce the grid, enabling it to automatically deal with power fluctuations or external weather events. The $6m Grid Resilience and Intelligence Project (GRIP), is part of the DOE\u2019s Grid Modernisation Initiative, and will use satellite imagery, utility operations and other sources to develop machine learning algorithms, based on how electrical distribution systems function. The tools developed by the project will be passed on to partners including the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), which represents 834 distribution cooperatives that provide electricity to an estimated 42 million people in 47 states."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook forced to turn over Russia-linked ads to special counsel \n Special counsel Robert Mueller and his team are now in possession of Russian-linked ads run on Facebook during the presidential election, after they obtained a search warrant for the information.\n\nFacebook gave Mueller and his team copies of ads and related information it discovered on its site linked to a Russian troll farm, as well as detailed information about the accounts that bought the ads and the way the ads were targeted at American Facebook users, a source with knowledge of the matter told CNN.\n\n(On Sunday, Facebook told CNN in a statement that it was providing information to Mueller, \"including ads and related account information.\")\n\nThe disclosure, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, may give Mueller's office a fuller picture of who was behind the ad buys and how the ads may have influenced voter sentiment during the 2016 election.\n\nFacebook did not give copies of the ads to members of the Senate and House intelligence committees when it met with them last week on the grounds that doing so would violate their privacy policy, sources with knowledge of the briefings said. Facebook's policy states that, in accordance with the federal Stored Communications Act, it can only turn over the stored contents of an account in response to a search warrant.\n\n\"We continue to work with the appropriate investigative authorities,\" Facebook said in a statement to CNN.\n\nFacebook informed Congress last week that it had identified 3,000 ads that ran between June 2015 and May 2017 that were linked to fake accounts. Those accounts, in turn, were linked to the pro-Kremlin troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency.\n\nIn those briefings, Facebook spoke only in generalities about the ad buys, leaving some committee members feeling frustrated with Facebook's level of cooperation.\n\nSen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CNN last week that Facebook had not turned over the ads to Congress. Warner has also called Facebook's review \"the tip of the iceberg,\" and suggested that more work needs to be done in order to ascertain the full scope of Russia's use of social media.\n\nWarner also indicated that his committee may call Facebook, Twitter and other social media networks in for \"some level of public hearing.\"\n\nAs CNN reported Thursday, Facebook is still not sure whether pro-Kremlin groups may have made other ad buys intended to influence American politics that it simply hasn't discovered yet. It is even possible that unidentified ad buys may still exist on the social media network today.\n\nThe special counsel's spokesman declined to comment.", "output": "Facebook has given up copies of suspect ads to special counsel Robert Mueller after he obtained a search warrant. The social media giant also handed over information about the accounts that bought the ads, believed to come from a Russian troll farm, and how they were used to target US users. Senator Mark Warner, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, expressed frustration that neither the Senate nor the House Intelligence Committees were given the information, after Facebook cited its strict privacy rules. Mueller is investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bot reviews hamper retailers and brands on Amazon \n Bot reviews continue to be a growing concern for retailers and brands selling on Amazon.\n\nMultiple small companies report they\u2019re seeing one-star reviews of unverified purchases on their pages that are written with bad grammar, coupled with remarks like, \u201cGreat product satisfaction guaranteed.\u201d The problem seems to run across both the first-party and third-party sellers on the platform.\n\nIn most cases, the only recourse brands have is to click \u201creport abuse\u201d and then potentially start a conversation with their Amazon contacts. \u201cWe live and die by our reviews,\u201d said one brand that sells as a hybrid seller. \u201c[Fake bot reviews] are for sure a pain point.\u201d The brand, which didn\u2019t want to speak on the record for fear of damaging its relationship with Amazon, said it has a customer-solutions team dedicated to monitoring, responding and engaging with customer feedback.\n\nA brand that sells as a vendor both on the U.S. and European sites for Amazon, which also wished to remain anonymous because of fear of retribution from Amazon, said bot reviews are definitely an issue. This brand is seeing more fake reviews in Europe than in the U.S. Because merchandise managers don\u2019t have control over this, the issue is passed onto a separate team. Some fake reviews have been removed, but in some cases, this vendor said Amazon has refused to remove reviews. The big question, said this person, is why bots exist. In some cases, it may be competitors doing this. But when consumers search for products according to reviews, this brand gets \u201cburned\u201d and has lost sales. Companies like Fakespot, which search reviews to see how many are fake, help, said this person.\n\nAn Amazon spokesperson said it invests heavily to ensure customers can trust reviews on Amazon, saying, \u201cWe use a machine-learned algorithm that gives more weight to newer, more helpful reviews, apply strict criteria to qualify for the Amazon Verified Purchase badge and enforce a significant dollar amount requirement to participate, in addition to other mechanisms which prevent and detect inauthentic reviews.\u201d The company says even one inauthentic review is unacceptable. All reviewers in the U.S. must have an account, used for at least $50 in purchases on Amazon.\n\nIn 2016, Amazon filed a suit against companies like Amazonverifiedreviews.com and Buyamazonreviews.info that sold fake reviews. Those companies are slightly different in that they offer \u201cverified\u201d reviews and often give people product in exchange for reviews.\n\nAmazon\u2019s approach to policing this is unclear. Elaine Kwon, who now runs an Amazon consultancy called Kwontified and previously handled the luxury division at Amazon, said the brand can call Amazon to get fraudulent reviews removed.\n\nIt\u2019s important to note that Amazon has its own review program. Dubbed Amazon Vine, it\u2019s essentially a way to get trusted reviewers to post their opinions on new products. It\u2019s one way sellers and vendors generate reviews for their pages, but it isn\u2019t free. The program costs about $2,000 for every 30 reviews, and they have to pay for shipping and the product they provide. Amazon stopped accepting incentivized reviews and has cracked down on so-called \u201cprofessional reviewers\u201d that review items for a living.\n\n\u201cReviews are critical to your success on Amazon,\u201d said Fred Killingsworth, CEO of Amazon consultancy Hinge. \u201cThis goes back to brand management. If you\u2019re not policing or managing your reviews, it can really hurt.\u201d He added that negative reviews, whether fake or real, affect brands on and off Amazon, even in brick-and-mortar situations. \u201cAmazon is this great equalizer in that competitors can come out of anywhere,\u201d he said. \u201cBut bot reviews skew the entire experience.\u201d", "output": "Retailers and brands have complained of bots placing fake reviews on their Amazon product listings. One-star reviews from unverified customers on the site are potentially hugely damaging to sellers, whose sales figures can suffer as a result of low scores. Amazon said it is investing heavily in an algorithm to give more weight to helpful reviews, but retailers say the process for flagging the issue is not effective, and Amazon has refused to remove some of the offending entries."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mobile marketing is key to brand growth, says Facebook executive \n As the world\u2019s biggest advertisers like Unilever and Proctor & Gamble continue to operate on lower advertising budgets and spend less on media buys in 2017, Facebook believes that putting its faith in mobile advertising will help it ride the storm going into the next year.\n\nEver since P&G's top marketer Marc Pritchard announced that the Ariel and Pampers advertiser will review all of its agency contracts and called for more transparency in the media supply chain at the start of year, the advertising industry has seen some major shakeups.\n\nUnilever dropped half of its creative agencies under its employment and reduced spend to $200m, while P&G reduced up to $140m of its ad spend and stopped investing in areas where it was unsafe for its brands, on top of its move to stop targeted ads on Facebook in 2016.\n\nThe cutbacks by the FMCG giants were necessary to clean up the supply chain and remove fraudulent inventory, acknowledges William Platt-Higgins, vice president, global client partnerships at Facebook in an interview with The Drum in Singapore, and notes that it is in everybody's interest that fraud be eliminated from the ecosystem.\n\n\u201cWe have seen various marketers and agencies taking a hard stance on this publicly and some clients very surgically try and cut out as much of that as possible. They have done so without any negative impact on their business because the inventory that they are weeding out is actually not good inventory to begin with,\u201d explains Platt-Higgins.\n\n\u201cIt won't be eliminated completely, but I think all the clients that we work with in all regions of the world are focused on reducing fraud as much as they can and getting transparency into the supply chain by using third party verification.\u201d\n\nWhile Facebook has previously come under fire for reporting miscalculated metrics and for a lack of transparency because of its closed marketplace around its user data, brands and agencies still trust the social media giant, according to Platt-Higgins, which is why all Facebook verticals are growing, including FMCG.\n\nHe also accuses critics of being green-eyed about Facebook\u2019s strong, growing partnership with P&G and other big FMCGs, claiming that it is being brought earlier into the creative and strategy planning stages.\n\n\"People don\u2019t appreciate that we have a strong, growing partnership with P&G and other big CPGs that are pushing these industry trends. If anything, we\u2019re being brought earlier into the mobile creative and strategy planning,\" says Platt-Higgins.\n\n\u201cThey (Unilever and P&G) are very focused on maximising value for their investments and cleaning up as much of their supply as they can. They are looking to hold all media choices, not just digital media choices accountable.\n\n\u201cOne of the things we are starting to hear is the advantage of any digital investment is it is more measurable than traditional offline investments. Digital channels, because they are measurable, the amount of data available on their efficacy and attribution to sales is large.\n\n\u201cWhat we are seeing from these conversations is 'It is great that I am holding all my digital investments super accountable, because that is the right thing to do and I want to hold all my other investments as accountable as well'. What you will see increasingly is that investments will flow to media channels that are providing the higher returns of investment and the higher value, and they will recede from those that aren't.\"\n\nHe then repeats a well-trotted out company line about its closed marketplace, as he says that the Facebook ecosystem does not qualify it as a 'walled garden'.\n\n\u201cWe certainly hear it (walled gardens) and I don't think that we would agree with that,\u201d he says, adding that the requests tend to boil down to various people or entities wanting more data on individuals, which breaches Facebook\u2019s terms of service and the trust that people give when they join.\n\n\u201cThat is something that we will and must protect. So that's our stance on it,\u201d asserts Platt-Higgins.\n\nQuoting a book called 'How Brands Grow' by professor Byron Sharp at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, Platt-Higgins says Sharp\u2019s words inspired Facebook to shift its focus to mobile advertising to cope with the FMCG giants\u2019 lower ad spend and media buys. Sharp wrote that in order for brands to grow they need to bring new users into the franchise, and that consumers are not uniquely loyal to brands and instead tend to shop on a 'consumer regiment' of products because of mental and physical availability.\n\nHe claims that this approach by Facebook has seen it reach 500,000 households in the Philippines for Nestle's all-purpose cream product campaign using Facebook and Instagram. While in the UK, 37 FMCG campaigns that made use of its tools drove a 3.7% increase in sales, and of those people buying those products 60% were non-brand buyers. In the US, 200 campaigns on Facebook and Instagram drove an increase in household penetration, bringing new users in 72% of the time.\n\n\u201cOver the last number of years, as people shifted to mobile devices, the concept of both mental and physical availability has changed. If you are in the business of growing your brand, what you need to master is mobile marketing,\u201d says Platt-Higgins.\n\n\u201cThis is where we have been spending most of our time. Not only is Facebook and Instagram driving sales, but they are disproportionately driving household penetration and bringing new users in because of mobile.\n\n\u201cIn Indonesia or India, where there might be power outages from television, the opportunity to reach people with mobile and bring top-of-mind awareness and mental availability is huge.\u201d\n\nHowever, Platt-Higgins admits that simply porting assets from television onto mobile does not necessarily work and Facebook is constantly reminding itself that the way people consume content is different. He adds that if a brand is not building for the mobile environment intentionally and with craft, care, seniority, thoughtfulness and senior stakeholder-management stewardship, as well as optimising for mobile, then it is a missed opportunity.\n\n\u201cBrands need to optimise in three areas. One is the reach, where often what we find is that clients have gone too narrow with their reach and that can be a drag on their results. We see that the frequency is not optimised and not reaching people enough or too often. The most important thing is how the creative is being optimised for mobile,\u201d explains Platt-Higgins.\n\n\u201cWe spend a lot of time trying to audit and show whether or not the work has been optimised for mobile and if it has, how we can make it even better.\n\n\u201cIf we can get those three things right, we find that we can disproportionately drive sales and Facebook has a direct attribution to sales. That is the only equation that people are interested in.\u201d\n\nPlatt-Higgins' advice on mobile certainly carry weight, as a report by eMarketer found that FMCG brands are expected to invest 28% more in mobile advertising in 2017 in the UK.", "output": "Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands looking to get more out of their mobile advertising must optimise their reach and frequency and ensure their creative works well on mobile, according to William Platt-Higgins, vice-president of global client partnerships at Facebook. Platt-Higgins said mobile ad campaigns did not need to focus on brand loyalty, but rather on consumers whose behaviour was influenced by mental and physical availability. He also said that Facebook had strong relationships with FMCG brands and was being brought in earlier to campaigns' strategy and planning stages.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Unilever and NHS to pilot team-building chatbot \n Team discussions could be different if a chatbot joins in, but will they get better? sturti/Getty\n\nAre your colleagues lousy at communicating with each other? A chatbot could help, specifically one called CoachBot. Developed by the London-based HR company Saberr, it asks about workplace dynamics and provides the team with reports. A unit within the UK\u2019s National Health Service is trialling it, as are 10 companies, including Unilever and Logitech.\n\nWhen Coachbot arrives in the workplace, staff have to introduce themselves to it.\n\n\u201cTeam members start by saying hello to CoachBot, and are then asked about who they are and what they do,\u201d says Tom Marsden, Saberr\u2019s CEO. After 10-minute sessions to identify problems and delve into grievances, \u201cCoachBot then creates a plan to try to improve the team\u2019s overall performance,\u201d he says.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nEngaging its services costs \u00a38 per month per employee. One early adopter is Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, which specialises in mental health. The trust is now using it for 30 staff members over a 12-month period to see if it helps improve outcomes for patients and employees\u2019 perception of the effectiveness of their teams.\n\nBite-size coaching\n\n\u201cIt has great potential for us because it offers bite-size coaching that the teams can work on at a time that suits them,\u201d says staff member Jess Lievesley. \u201cIt means we don\u2019t have to take days out of service for long courses, and if we need to move things around due to patient needs we can do so without incurring extra cost.\u201d\n\nQuestions Coachbot asks include \u201cIs your team productive?\u201d and \u201cDo you trust each other?\u201d This questioning eventually leads to CoachBot identifying some team-wide and individual goals that it will keep tabs on. If they aren\u2019t being met or team morale is low, CoachBot suggests activities to try to improve things. These come straight out of \u201cmanagement science\u201d, and include options like changing the way meetings are run or recommending the team plays a board game together.\n\nThere\u2019s some evidence that people may prefer to divulge their woes to a chatbot. In one study, members of the US army were more likely to admit to mental health issues, using illicit drugs or drinking alcohol when talking to a chatbot than in an old-fashioned written questionnaire. If this extends to office politics, people may be more willing to speak their mind to CoachBot than via other means.\n\nBut don\u2019t expect too much beyond that. \u201cOne of the key skills of any [human] coach is to pick up on the emotional aspects of a group \u2013 something which a bot is probably not so good at doing,\u201d says Andr\u00e9 Spicer at Cass Business School in London.\n\nRead more: The road to hell is paved with corporate wellness\n\nEven if the technology develops, not everyone is convinced that it will ultimately be beneficial. \u201cI think it could be successful in a rather cruel and sinister way because it will force people to record every little move they make,\u201d says Carl Cederstr\u00f6m at Stockholm University, Sweden. \u201cIf it turns out that when this data is processed that a person is not performing as efficiently as they should, they could be left out of a team,\u201d he says.\n\n\u201cThere is also a real danger that a coachbot could actually get in the way of doing the job,\u201d says Spicer. \u201cThis would happen when employees spend more time interacting with the robocoach than each other.\u201d\n\nThis could also mean that managers are lulled into complacency and fail to do their jobs properly. Marsden says that\u2019s not their intention. \u201cWe\u2019re not trying to replace human conversation,\u201d says Marsden. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to augment it with better information.\u201d", "output": "A team-building chatbot is being tested by companies including Unilever, Logitech and a local NHS Trust. CoachBot, developed by London-based HR firm Saberr, asks users about workplace dynamics and provides reports based on its conversations with employees. Staff have to introduce themselves to the bot, and answer a range of questions about their jobs. It uses their responses to identify goals and suggests activities to help improve a team's dynamics. There is evidence that people may be more likely to speak frankly to a chatbot than to reply honestly to a written questionnaire."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon's search engine provides competition for Google \n As Amazon wields a growing power as a search engine, it is also becoming a more compelling advertising platform and, as a result, is posing the first real challenge to Google and Facebook, which have long commanded digital advertising budgets virtually unopposed. Of the two, Google initially stands to lose more, but as Amazon\u2019s ad offerings expand, Facebook could also bleed ad dollars.\n\nAt the same time, it is unlikely Amazon will overthrow this so-called 'duopoly' until it starts to do more with online media and command a larger chunk of consumers\u2019 time. So, instead, we\u2019re likely to end up with three digital advertising powerhouses instead of two.\n\nHere\u2019s how that\u2019s likely to play out:\n\nResearch shows many consumers turn to Amazon when looking for information about products. Figures vary from 31% to 55% when it comes to first-time research \u2013 and a study from marketing technology company Kenshoo found 72% of people visit Amazon at some point before making a purchase when they want to research products online.\n\nAccording to Collin Colburn, analyst on the B2C marketing team at market research firm Forrester, use of Amazon as a search engine will continue to grow for two reasons:\n\nAmazon is built like a product-specific search engine \u2013 consumers can search for anything product-related and get relevant results better and quicker than they can with Google.\n\nSecond, Colburn noted Amazon is unique in that its product listing pages have virtually everything a shopper could want to know \u2013 including price, description, pictures and reviews \u2013 which gives customers a one-stop shop for research even if they aren\u2019t actually going to buy from Amazon.\n\nNathan Grimm, director of marketing at Seattle-based agency Indigitous, agreed Amazon's share of search will grow.\n\n\u201cThey have built a sizeable lead in selection and service over their competitors and continue to grow their market power,\u201d he said. \u201cAs retail stores continue to struggle and close down, even more business will shift to Amazon. Their share of search is very much a function of them being a preferred channel for purchasing products. Until someone else upsets their model, it will grow.\u201d\n\nIn addition, Kevin Mannion, chief strategy officer at business intelligence firm Advertiser Perceptions, said he believes Amazon has growing influence on how advertisers view search.\n\n\u201cOur data shows that advertisers are increasingly ready to shift down their spend in traditional digital search and [are] more likely to see alternate search opportunities. Amazon is one. And perhaps the most important,\u201d he said. \u201cSearching within the Amazon environment is essential to the data story that Amazon can share with marketers and agencies. And as the shopper leaves [its] walled garden, Amazon is able to track and retarget shoppers who have explored a product category and\u2026considered contender brands.\u201d\n\nAmazon the ad platform\n\nIt\u2019s this knowledge about consumer behavior that makes Amazon such a powerful foe against Google and Facebook, which have long ruled the digital marketing landscape.\n\nIn fact, Advertiser Perceptions\u2019 Q4 2016 Programmatic Intelligence Report found Amazon\u2019s nascent ad business was the most-used DSP and the most preferred DSP \u2013 and Mannion said Amazon also performed well in a forthcoming study, confirming Amazon is a \u201csignificant player\u201d among DSPs. That\u2019s in part because it has its own exclusive placements on Amazon.com and other Amazon properties that other DSPs can\u2019t reach, as well as because Amazon can offer targeting based on what consumers are shopping for on Amazon and it can report on sales, as well as on how purchase and search behavior changed while ads were running.\n\nIn fact, at Dmexco, Marc Pritchard, chief brand officer at P&G, said advertising on platforms like Amazon enable the brand to better understand consumer behavior and deliver ads when they are most likely to result in sales. (A Samsung rep at Dmexco, however, told The Drum the brand respects Amazon, but sees it primarily as an ecommerce platform rather than a marketing platform.)\n\nAmazon v. Google\n\nOf the two players in the duopoly, Amazon is more like Google \u2013 which means they\u2019re now squaring off for consumers looking for information.\n\nAnd, according Joe Migliozzi, managing director of e-commerce and retail media unit Shop+ and lead of media company Mindshare North America, Amazon\u2019s business model is not dependent on advertising revenue, which gives it the freedom to change the competitive landscape.\n\n\u201cFor example, Amazon Echo's main ambition is to sign up more Prime subscribers and sell more goods, not to sell ads,\u201d he said. \u201cHowever, Echo has disrupted the search business both by voice, as well as the singularity of its answers: There is no room, or at least very limited space, for paid search advertising in a world of single voice answers to queries.\u201d\n\nJason Hartley, senior vice president and national head of search and paid search at digital marketing agency 360i, agreed the challenge from Amazon is significant because it has disrupted Google\u2019s virtual monopoly on search \u2013 and as Google loses market share in product searches, it is also losing revenue from the ads it used to serve consumers making those searches. And, as Amazon does a better job of monetizing its own searches, Google could see further losses in the consumer product and retail budgets it used to command.\n\nIn addition, Hartley noted that advertising is a means to an end for Amazon, which wants to sell more products. For Google, however, advertising is the end \u201cbecause, with few exceptions, they don\u2019t sell anything or make any money off the goods they direct people to via searches,\u201d he continued.\n\nAt the same time, Hartley also noted Amazon has some limitations \u2013 for example, if it doesn\u2019t sell a given product, the brand behind it can\u2019t advertise on the platform. There are also verticals like travel that Amazon probably won\u2019t touch.\n\n\u201cThere will be a lot of competition for traditional retail and CPG searches in the future, and Amazon will be on par in terms of search volume, but not necessarily advertising because, again, it\u2019s not a revenue priority for them, selling the product is,\u201d he added.\n\nAmazon v. Facebook\n\nFacebook also stands to lose market share to Amazon, but it isn\u2019t as much of a direct competitor as consumers use the platform for different reasons. Facebook could, however, still be hurt if budgets moved to Amazon as its ad offerings expand, a 360i rep noted.\n\n\u201cUntil Amazon starts competing more for online media they aren't directly challenging Facebook,\u201d Grimm said. \u201cAmazon does have inroads with Amazon Video and Amazon Music, but they don't have a social network or a news portal with wide adoption.\u201d\n\nThe Oligopoly\n\nHartley noted Amazon is likely to follow a similar path as Facebook and Google in digital advertising.\n\n\u201cIn the next year, I think you\u2019ll see the maturation of the digital advertising products on Amazon, which will mean early gains for those who understand how the system works, followed by a rapid rise in competition as more players get to know how to leverage the advertising opportunity effectively, and then in the crowded space it will become a lot harder for brands to win and create ROI,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is the same trajectory Facebook and Google faced in their early days. But with Amazon\u2019s growth, there is probably another three-to-five years of being able to find strong performance without particularly sophisticated strategies.\u201d\n\nHowever, he also noted Amazon is known to move quickly, so this time period could be compressed if Amazon prioritizes advertising and works closely with brands and agencies and \u201cshares data more effectively.\u201d\n\nGrimm believes that Amazon can carve out \u201ca nice chunk\u201d of the digital ad market by serving ads to shopping customers.\n\n\u201cHowever, consumer awareness and preferences are primarily built elsewhere, so Amazon will have to control a lot larger chunk of consumers' time before they steal a large chunk of ad dollars from Facebook and Google,\u201d he added. \u201cI see them becoming a third pillar of Internet advertising, but not replacing Facebook or Google.\u201d\n\nColburn agreed that consumers more likely to end up with three powerhouses than two. That\u2019s in part because many companies are investing in Amazon advertising from their shopper marketing or retail teams and not their marketing budgets. This means they\u2019re not necessarily taking dollars away from Google, but rather putting more money in Amazon.\n\n\u201cIt doesn\u2019t really change the duopoly \u2013 it just sort of props Amazon up more,\u201d Colburn said. \u201cBut it doesn\u2019t take share away from Google.\u201d\n\nAdditional reporting by Rebecca Stewart.", "output": "Amazon is becoming a rival to Google and Facebook in terms of advertising revenue, as customers increasingly use the site as a search engine for products. Research has shown that up to 72% of people visit Amazon to research products before making a purchase. This trend is reported to have disrupted Google's advertising dominance, with Amazon doing a better job of monetising its own searches. Facebook is also losing market share to the online retailer, although Amazon's lack of a social network is expected to limit this effect."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Major web browsers will soon support payment request APIs \n In early September I learned with excitement that the status of Payment Request API implementation in Webkit went from \u201cUnder Consideration\u201d to \u201cIn Development.\u201d That means that the API is being implemented in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Webkit, as well as Samsung Internet Browser and Facebook. If you know about more implementations, please let me know.\n\nThe timing couldn\u2019t be better. Today the Web Payments Working Group advanced both Payment Request API and Payment Method identifiers to Candidate Recommendation Status. This step in the W3C Recommendation Track means that the specification is stable and we will now focus on browser interoperability, primarily by developing a comprehensive test suite. If you would like to help us work on the test suite, please contact me.\n\nFor more information about the Candidate Recommendation announcement, see our media advisory and FAQ.\n\nIn parallel, the Working Group continues to work on:\n\nPayment Handler API, which enables Web sites to be payment apps in the Payment Request API ecosystem. Google and Samsung have been working on experimental implementations on the browser side of the API, and Klarna and others working on payment apps. I expect that the Working Group will devote more attention to payment apps now that Payment Request API is a Candidate Recommendation.\n\nPayment Method Manifest, which supports the secure deployment of third-party payment apps for proprietary payment methods.\n\nOngoing discussion of payment methods \u201cbeyond Basic Card,\u201d including discussions of encrypted and tokenized cards, as well as credit transfers and interledger payments.\n\nThe Working Group\u2019s charter expires 31 December, so we have begun to discuss what\u2019s next. If you are interested in shaping the group\u2019s agenda, now is a great time to get involved, especially as our next face-to-face meeting is around the corner: 6-7 November at TPAC 2017.\n\nCongratulations to the Web Payments Working Group for reaching this milestone!\n\nUpdate: Many thanks to everyone who responded to this post urging the Working Group to include support for cryptocurrencies. I have turned off comments for now, most of which speak to the same request.", "output": "Major web browsers, including Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Webkit, could soon support Web Payments Working Group's Payment Request API implementation, according to a post on the Web Payments Working Group's site. The company said it would be focusing on browser interoperability for the API, as well as the Payment Method, after both were advanced to candidate recommendation status. Discussions surrounding \"beyond basic card\" payments, including encrypted and tokenised cards and interledger payments, are still ongoing."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "India lenders reveal a 45% annual jump in wilful defaulters \n Moneycontrol News The number of wilful defaulters who have the resources to pay has been on the rise, reports the Indian Express, quoting data from a report by the TransUnion CIBIL, a credit information firm. Local lenders have seen a 45 percent jump of Rs 34,900 crore in loan defaulters from last year. According to the report, the wilful defaults jumped to Rs 1,09,594 crore in March 2017 from Rs 74,694 crore in the same period last year. Over the last five years, defaults have risen by over Rs 84,000 crore. In FY16, wilful defaulters rose 31 percent while in 2015, it grew 47.5 percent, according to the report. The State Bank of India tops the default list with Rs 15,069 crore stuck in 997 accounts. In FY17, this amount grew by Rs 2,759 crore. Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda are next in the list with Rs 10,989 and Rs 4,785 crore worth defaults, respectively. In SBI, the default account includes accounts of GET Engineering with default of Rs 424 crore and Zenith Birla with Rs 139 crore default. PNB has put accounts of Zoom Developers with Rs 410 crore defaults, Forever Precious (Rs 747 crore) and Winsom Diamond with Rs 899 crore under the default list. On the other hand, wilful defaults with the LIC reduced to Rs 1,034 crore in March 2017 from Rs 1,304 crore in the same period last year. All India Bank Employees Association General Secretary CH Venkatachalam told Indian Express that such wilful default accounts should be declared as a criminal offence and action must be taken against them.\n\nUSER CONSENT\n\nWe at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy.\n\n*We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies.\n\nCookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy\n\n*I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age\n\nI agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl\n\nI agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites\n\nI agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS\n\nPlease select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue.\n\nI Accept", "output": "The number of wilful defaults in India rose by 45% to INR109,594 crore ($17bn) in March 2017, compared to INR74,694 crore in the same month the previous year, according to a report by credit information firm TransUnion CIBIL. The general secretary of the All India Bank Employees Association, CH Venkatachalam has argued that wilful default of bank loans should be made a criminal offence.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "French asset managers sign on to blockchain platform \n By Paige Long (September 15, 2017, 7:34 PM BST) -- London-based financial blockchain company SETL said Friday it has partnered with four of the largest asset managers in France to launch a pan-European fund record-keeping platform based on blockchain technology, in the latest collaborative tie-up for the financial sector....\n\nStay ahead of the curve\n\nIn the legal profession, information is the key to success. You have to know what\u2019s happening with clients, competitors, practice areas, and industries. Law360 provides the intelligence you need to remain an expert and beat the competition.\n\nAccess to case data within articles (numbers, filings, courts, nature of suit, and more.)\n\nAccess to attached documents such as briefs, petitions, complaints, decisions, motions, etc.\n\nCreate custom alerts for specific article and case topics and so much more!\n\nTRY LAW360 FREE FOR SEVEN DAYS", "output": "Four french asset managers have signed on to be involved in a blockchain record-keeping platform, created by London-based SETL. OFI Asset Management Group, GroupAMA AM, La Financiere de L\u2019echiquier, and Ark\u00e9a Investment Services form the pan-European collective participating in the platform's initial stage. The platform, dubbed Iznes, allows asset and wealth managers to record client relationships and transactions via a distributed ledger."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese 'Sponge Cities' could absorb and reuse 70% of rainwater \n Editor\u2019s Note: Asit K. Biswas is a distinguished visiting professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. Kris Hartley is a lecturer in city and regional planning at Cornell University.\n\nStory highlights Chinese cities are struggling with flooding in urban, concrete areas Sponge cities aim to capture and utilize this rainwater\n\nCNN \u2014\n\nAsian cities are struggling to accommodate rapid urban migration, and development is encroaching on flood-prone areas.\n\nRecent flooding in Mumbai was blamed in part on unregulated development of wetlands, while hastily built urban areas are being affected by flooding across India, Nepal, and Bangladesh.\n\nThis is not a trend only in developing countries; floods in Houston, United States, highlighted the risks of development in environmentally sensitive and low-lying areas. In 2012, a severe flood in Beijing wreaked havoc on the city\u2019s transportation systems, and in 2016 floods overwhelmed drainage systems in Wuhan, Nanjing, and Tianjin.\n\nThe challenges are clear.\n\nRead: A third of Bangladesh under water as flood devastation widens\n\nGroundwater over-extraction, waterway degradation, and urban flooding are forcing China\u2019s cities to address a vicious cycle. Sprawling urban development and use of impervious material prevent soil from absorbing rainwater, prompting further investment in infrastructures that typically impede natural processes and worsen flood impacts.\n\nChina\u2019s \u201csponge city initiative\u201d aims to arrest this cycle through the use of permeable surfaces and green infrastructures.\n\nHowever, the initiative faces two challenges: lack of expertise of local governments to effectively coordinate and integrate such a complex set of activities, and financial constraints.\n\nThe concept\n\nEngineering solutions are popular interventions, but cities cannot simply pipe away flood risks.\n\nTo address the issue, China\u2019s sponge city initiative has an ambitious goal: by 2020, 80% of urban areas should absorb and re-use at least 70% of rainwater.\n\nParts of China are especially prone to floods. In summer 2016, torrential rains caused damage across northern China. STR/AFP/AFP/Getty Images\n\nLaunched in 2015 in 16 cities, the initiative seeks to reduce the intensity of rainwater runoff by enhancing and distributing absorption capacities more evenly across targeted areas. The resulting groundwater replenishment increases availability of water for various uses. This approach not only reduces flooding but also enhances water supply security.\n\nThe initiative is similar to the North American concept of low-impact development (LID), which according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mimics natural processes in order to protect water quality.\n\nThe case of Lingang, a planned city in Shanghai\u2019s Pudong district, illustrates typical sponge city measures. These include rooftops covered by plants, scenic wetlands for rainwater storage, and permeable pavements that store excess runoff water and allow evaporation for temperature moderation.\n\nThe skyline in Pudong, Shanghai -- Lingang city will stand in this district. JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/AFP/Getty Images\n\nWith ambitions to be China\u2019s largest sponge city project, the Lingang city government has invested $119 million in retrofits and innovations that could be a model for the majority of Chinese cities lacking modern water infrastructure.\n\nChinese cities are making noteworthy efforts. In a pledge to expand coverage of urban greenery, Shanghai announced in early 2016 the construction of 400,000 square meters of rooftop gardens.\n\nThe project is a collaborative effort among city regulators, property owners, and engineers. Sponge city projects in Xiamen and Wuhan have performed effectively during heavy rainfall.\n\nImproved policies and budgets\n\nThe sponge city initiative requires a holistic and sustained effort, including effective environmental governance. However, concerns persist about weak regulations and selective enforcement. Local officials cannot simply turn the other way when violations are discovered.\n\nThe unsung tedium of tightening controls is less exciting than bold innovations, but equally crucial for managing water. Gains from sponge city programs should not be offset by poor environmental governance.\n\nFunding is also a persistent constraint. To date, more than $12 billion has been spent on all sponge city projects. The central government funds roughly 15-20% of costs, with the remainder split between local governments and the private sector.\n\nWetland restoration being carried out in Denver, Colorado in 2016. Seth McConnell/Denver Post/Getty Images\n\nUnfortunately, the initiative coincides with a burgeoning municipal debt crisis spurred in part by restrictive financial reforms, bond ratings cuts, and nervous bond markets. China\u2019s cities may soon find borrowing costs even higher and avenues for reducing debts narrower.\n\nInvestment in sponge city initiatives is also proving to be an increasingly difficult sell, with only tepid interest from domestic private investors. The government should improve conditions that encourage investment, including tax incentives, better project transparency, and looser credit markets.\n\nGains from sponge city programs should not be offset by poor environmental governance.\n\nUntil this happens, sponge city initiatives will have to compete against visible and familiar infrastructure such as roads, transit, and utilities. They will also have to be attractive in a market with numerous other investment options.\n\nInnovative water initiatives have been adopted worldwide, including wetland restoration in the American Midwest, flushing systems using collected rooftop water in Oregon USA, bioswales in Singapore, and public spaces as flexible water retention facilities in the Netherlands.\n\nA rooftop garden in Amsterdam. Michael C Corder/AP\n\nChina has an opportunity to strengthen its emerging global leadership role in urban sustainability.\n\nHowever, it must first implement an effective vision for how sponge city initiatives complement broader environmental governance efforts.\n\nImproving regulatory enforcement and reviving interest in related private investment opportunities are two steps it can take.", "output": "Lingang is aiming to become China's flagship \"Sponge City\", with its government investing $119m in innovations such as permeable pavements and scenic wetlands for rainwater storage. The Sponge City initiative, launched in 2015 across 16 cities, aims to enable urban areas to\u00a0absorb and reuse 70% of all rainwater by enhancing and distributing absorption capacities. However, the plan is under threat from a lack of investment and regulatory enforcement.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bank of England raises concerns over \u00a360bn of car loan exposure \n David Bailey, Professor of Industry at Aston University and Colin Chapman, Associate Dean, Learning and Teaching, Aston University\n\nSales of new cars in the UK fell for the fifth month in row during August, with demand for diesel cars falling more than a fifth, according to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).\n\nBut looking at longer term trends, sales are still near record levels and on a par with pre-credit crunch levels. Last year, some 1.2m of the 2.7m new cars sold in the UK went to private individuals, a 47% increase on 2011 figures.\n\nThese private sales are overwhelmingly fuelled by credit: 86% of them were financed by members of the Finance & Leasing Association who lent over \u00a318 billion to private individuals buying new cars. This is a 164% increase on 2011. Finance provision on secondhand cars is roughly the same amount again.\n\nNo wonder the Bank of England is looking at this closely \u2013 and others are warning it could lead to another credit crunch.\n\nHow it works\n\nPersonal Contract Purchase (PCP) financing deals now account for over 80% of new car credit sales. To many, PCPs are essentially a form of rental agreement; after paying a deposit, the consumer pays a fixed monthly payment to use the car for an agreed time period and number of miles.\n\nBut the mechanics and options of a PCP deal are a little different to a traditional lease (or Personal Contract Hire). In many PCPs, the deposit is fairly small, and often comes with a contribution from the manufacture or dealer, albeit in lieu of a discount.\n\nSo once registered, the value of the finance will be close to the asset\u2019s value.\n\nA guaranteed minimum future value (GMFV) is set for the end of the term \u2013 usually 24 or 36 months \u2013 with this GMFV based on a forecast of the vehicle\u2019s value at that stage, allowing for depreciation.\n\nThe consumer\u2019s monthly payment is based on paying back the difference between the amount financed and the GMFV, with interest often calculated and payable during this term based on the total amount financed.\n\nAt the end of the agreed term, the consumer hands back the car, or can purchase it for the pre-agreed GMFV, also known as a \u201cballoon payment\u201d, or use any positive equity (that\u2019s excess value over the GMFV) as a deposit towards a new car \u2013 assuming there is any.\n\nIt all sounds simple, and has kept the champagne corks popping in dealerships. What could possibly go wrong?\n\nThe catch\n\nFirst, think of consumer expectations. Fees are payable if the car is handed back with more than the agreed miles on the clock, or if the car is deemed to have more than reasonable wear and tear. This often catches consumers out.\n\nEarly termination is also usually penalised, although dealers target mid-term upgrades, and consumers often have an expectation of some equity being available at end of the term. Being sold a new car upgrade at the end or during the contract will likely require a further injection of cash \u2013 or the rollover of any deficit.\n\nSecond, let\u2019s think how the finance industry works. To hit high volumes, many lenders have made credit acceptance easier, thus making PCPs more readily available to those with less than prefect credit records \u2013 think of the subprime housing market in the US and how it led to the last credit crunch.\n\nBut this credit \u201cboom\u201d relies on a number of elements.\n\nFirst, low default rates. But the Bank of England reported an increase in \u201cvoluntary terminations\u201d of late which usually means losses for finance houses, perhaps linked to the fact that prices are rising faster than wages. And any rise in interest rates will put further pressure on household budgets, whether that\u2019s owners or renters.\n\nA stable boom also relies on stable underlying assets. But PCPs use as security a car, a fast depreciating asset.\n\nIf a large percentage of consumers upgrade at the end of their term, whether to avoid the balloon payment or just to keep up with the Joneses, this could also mean a tidal wave of end-of-contract cars hitting the secondhand market.\n\nThe risk here is of values falling and a spiralling effect setting in, as those seeing the actual value of their car falling below the GMFV also decide to return it to the dealership.\n\nSecondhand values of diesels have already fallen sharply according to auction specialist Autorola thanks to environmental pressures and consumers becoming spooked by bad news about diesels and concerns over future residuals.\n\nThis could also cause material losses to lenders through their GMFV risk. Here, the entwined relationship between auto makers and lenders means it is not actually that clear who is ultimately underwriting these risks; indeed, around half of the finance comes from lenders which are actually owned by the manufacturers. For example, Volkswagen\u2019s financing division had over \u20ac150 billion of loans to customers on its books in March this year.\n\nWhat next?\n\nThe Bank of England is now concerned about the financial stability of these products as banks have a \u00a320 billion exposure, and manufactures as much again. It is concerned that the industry\u2019s growing reliance on PCPs has made it more vulnerable to macroeconomic downturns.\n\nThe Bank reckons that a 20% fall in used car values could lead to losses as high as \u00a31.2 billion, in turn denting what\u2019s termed \u201cCommon Equity Tier 1 Ratios\u201d, a key measure of banks\u2019 financial stability.\n\nThis is possible as average prices for used fleet cars fetched at auction fell 19% during the global financial crisis, according to BCA figures.\n\nA likely outcome of the Bank of England review could well be tougher affordability criteria, to improve the quality of the loan book, and this reduction could in theory lead to a credit crunch.\n\nSome of the car loans in the UK and US have been sliced up and packaged into asset-backed securities (ABSs) and sold on to investors (like pension funds). These ABSs played a big part in the last global financial crisis of course. Last year, \u20ac4.8 billion of auto loan ABSs were sold in the UK alone, with around \u20ac18 billion of auto bonds placed in Europe.\n\nAuto loan ABSs involve numerous banks; HSBC, Lloyds, Wells Fargo and BNP Paribas were all involved in a \u00a31.3 billion ABS issued by PSA Finance, for example.\n\nAt the same time, the Financial Conduct Authority, which is responsible for regulating consumer credit, has concerns about the sales practices involved in PCPs, and is studying whether there is a lack of transparency, potential conflicts of interest, and irresponsible lending in the motor finance industry. Others have joined the clamour.\n\nMost dealerships are only authorised in a non-advisory capacity for finance, and cannot recommend specific finance deals. But it is suggested that the full implications to the consumer are not always clearly disclosed. Other options (like leasing which could work out cheaper) may be ignored in favour of \u201cdrive away\u201d PCP packages which are a great tool to help dealers meet car and finance targets, and make commission in the process.\n\nAre we likely to see a crash? That\u2019s unlikely in the UK, as the market is smaller than in the US, and the Bank of England is relatively vigilant, and likely to impose controls that will gradually adjust the situation without causing a snowball effect. It may well be a far bigger problem in the US, however.\n\nNevertheless, greater public exposure may be welcome news for one sector: the potential PCP mis-selling scandal may soon become the ambulance chasers\u2019 next meal ticket. Think PPI all over again.\n\nDavid Bailey, Professor of Industry, Aston University and Colin Chapman, Associate Dean, Learning and Teaching, Aston University\n\nThis article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.", "output": "The Bank of England has expressed concern about the high number of UK personal contract purchase (PCP) financing deals, which have left banks exposed to \u00a320bn ($27bn) of debt and manufacturers to twice that amount. PCPs make up 80% of all new credit car sales, but rising default rates, swift depreciation\u00a0and a wave of vehicles swamping the second-hand market have sparked fears of instability. Analysts suggested the Bank of England may impose tougher affordability criteria, while the Financial Conduct Authority is studying whether there is irresponsible lending in the market.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Regus moves in with Google and Nike in Melbourne's Collins Street \n Tech giant Google will set up its first Melbourne office in the heart of corporate Australia, leasing space in US property group Pembroke Real Estate's signature Collins Street building.\n\nPembroke has been busy undertaking a major refurbishment of the T&G building at 161 Collins and is close to sealing a deal with Google as well as another key multinational tenant, sportswear brand Nike.\n\nRenders of the planned refurbishment of the T&G Building at 161 Collins Street, now owned by Pembroke Real Estate.\n\nA third deal is also in the offing with co-working firm Regus Spaces.\n\nBetween them the three businesses have stitched up 10,500 square metres in the \"Paris\" end of Collins Street, a premium stretch likely to see them paying net face rents around $520 per square metre.", "output": " Office space provider Regus is to open a co-working space in Pembroke Real Estate's T&G building at 161 Collins Street in Melbourne. The office will be Regus's 25th co-working hub in Melbourne. Regus will share the building with tech giant Google and sportswear brand Nike. Currently, Regus's co-working space at 90 Collins Street hosts Google's Melbourne-based employees. Regus is likely to pay rent of about AUD520 ($416) a sq\u00a0metre for the space.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese insurers face more supervision of overseas investments \n The regulator said it will prevent risks stemming from \u201can excessively rapid growth in overseas investments\u201d. Photo: Handout", "output": "China's Insurance Regulatory Commission will focus on \"irrational stock market fundraising and overseas acquisitions\" as it steps up its supervision of foreign investments, according to Guo Jing, vice head of the commission\u2019s finance and accounting department. Guo added the regulator would also call on insurance companies to carry out self-checks on their property investments. The moves followed last month's announcement by the State Council that it would limit overseas investments in several sectors to stem capital outflows.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Esure Esure shares rise on reports Sir Peter Wood wants to sell his stake \n Teen used \u2018survival games\u2019 to keep her and her siblings alive for 40 days lost in Colombian jungle", "output": "Esure shares rose 5% after the Sunday Times reported that Sir Peter Wood, the firm's biggest shareholder, has been in talks with would-be buyers of the motor insurer. Wood, who owns a 30.7% controlling position, is seeking to close a deal next month, the Sunday Times said. Despite private equity firms' interest in Esure, an American insurance company is most likely to buy the stake in the firm, the report said. Esure's pre-tax profits rose 44.6% to \u00a345.1m in the six months to 30 June. A sale of Wood's stake could trigger a sale of the whole business.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shanghai Fosun to buy 74% of India's Gland Pharma for $1.1bn \n For continuing, Please agree our Terms & Conditions and acknowledge our Privacy Policy. This same account can be used across all Elets News portals.", "output": "The board of Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group has agreed to purchase a 74% stake in Indian drug company Gland Pharma in a deal worth $1.1bn, according to a company statement. The move revives Fosun Pharma's attempt to buy an 86% stake in Gland Pharma last year, which was blocked by the Indian government; foreign firms investing more than 74% in Indian companies must obtain government approval."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google and Facebook forecast to dominate over half of UK market \n The latest snapshot of the UK digital ad market has reaffirmed the dominance of Google and Facebook with both tech titans combined expected to account for over half of all UK digital ad revenues by the end of the year.\n\nGoogle and Facebook digital ad dominance grows\n\nCompiled by eMarketer the forecast foresees that both tech companies will account for 54% of all digital ad revenues this year, taking home \u00a36.3bn between them.", "output": "Earnings from Google and Facebook will comprise 54% of all UK digital ad revenue this year, according to a forecast from eMarketer. The two companies will take \u00a36.3bn ($8.5bn) in ad revenue between them for 2017, eMarketer predicted. Google's total digital ad revenues are expected to reach \u00a34.43bn this year, with Facebook set to earn \u00a31.87bn from digital advertising on its social network and media-sharing site Instagram. By 2019, Google is on track to earn \u00a35.1bn from digital advertising, while Facebook will earn \u00a32.57bn, eMarketer reported."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Point Bridge introduces right-wing political ETF \n Want to invest in line with your political ideals and the Grand Old Party? A new exchange-traded fund and index will let you to do just that.\n\nPoint Bridge Capital LLC launched its MAGA ETF, which tracks the Point Bridge GOP Stock Tracker index. The rules-based methodology follows the performance of companies whose employees and political action committees are highly supportive of Republican Party candidates.\n\n\"I have been in the investment business as a portfolio manager for over 20 years, and (have) also been very involved in politics,\" said Hal Lambert, founder and managing director of the firm in Fort Worth, Texas. Mr. Lambert, in a telephone interview, said he had noticed \"companies were getting more and more politically active, making public statements and really affecting, I think, stock prices in their companies.\"\n\nStock selection begins with the S&P 500, screening for PACs and employee contributions. Point Bridge then uses proprietary rules to select the top 150 Republican-supporting companies. \"That is what makes up the ETF. (It is) important because companies are giving millions and millions of dollars, affecting the outcomes of elections, and companies may be contributing to candidates that investors may not want to support,\" he said. Mr. Lambert declined to comment on whether the MAGA ticker stands for \"Make America Great Again,\" the slogan adopted by President Donald Trump for his 2016 campaign. Mr. Lambert has dubbed the development of the ETF and index \"politically responsible investing. I view it as a new category for investors,\" he said.\n\nHe said he'll be looking to launch more politically linked funds in the near future.\n\nFurther information is available on the ETF website.\n\n\u2014 Sophie Baker and Lydia Parker", "output": "Texas-based asset manager Point Bridge Capital has launched the MAGA exchange-traded fund (ETF), which tracks 150 companies highly supportive of the US Republican Party. Managing director Hal Lambert, who says the product represents \"politically responsible investing\" said offering clients the chance to make investments based on their political bias was important, as \"companies are giving millions and millions of dollars, affecting the outcomes of elections, and may be contributing to candidates they may not want to support\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "San Leon San Leon faces financial difficulties while waiting for payments \n 'The company is looking to shore up its financial footing as it seeks to meet payments due on foot of a dispute with former partner Avobone.' (stock photo)", "output": "Independent gas and oil exploration firm San Leon Energy will struggle to meet payments of \u20ac8m ($9.6m) and almost \u20ac7m, due in October and November to Polish company Avobone, as it continues to wait for payments from its stake in a Nigerian oil field. While auditors KPMG expressed doubt about San Leon's ability to continue to trade, in a statement, the Irish company said: \"The directors have assumed that additional loan facilities of \u20ac12m will be obtained in October 2017 and a further \u20ac7m will be obtained in November 2017 to meet the group's payment commitments.\"\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Drax plans to build largest grid storage battery in the world \n Drax Group plc (LON:DRX) has outlined intentions to build a large-scale battery storage of 200 MW and repower up to two coal units to gas at Drax power station in North Yorkshire, England.\n\nThe company said on Wednesday it has given notice to the Planning Inspectorate of its plans to consult on the options that could result in up to 3.6 GW of new gas generation. The plans are subject to a positive investment decision and would have to be backed by a 15-year capacity market contract, the power generator added. It noted that at the moment, at the start of the planning process, the figures provided are the maximum parameters of the project.\n\nDrax expects to start consultations on the plans with local communities and national stakeholders in the coming weeks. It first said it was considering gas options for the site in June.\n\nThe upgrade would increase the ability of the company to provide flexible generation and grid support services that are increasingly needed as the UK shifts to low-carbon generation and removes coal from the grid. Drax has already converted three of the plant's six units to biomass and is exploring converting a fourth unit.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Drax Group said it plans to build a 200 MW energy storage facility in North Yorkshire in what would be the largest battery storage project in the world, double what Tesla is providing to Australia's Hornsdale wind farm in the coming months. The proposal also includes converting up to two coal units to natural gas, which could result in 3.6 GW of new gas generation. The plans are subject to a positive investment decision and will need to be backed by a 15-year capacity market contract."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "DNA-sized robots transport cargo through blood \n Nano-cargo carrier Ella Maru Studio\n\nYou won\u2019t read about a smaller robot than this one any time soon. It consists of just a single strand of DNA, and moves by taking tiny 6-nanometre steps \u2013 around a hundred-millionth the size of a human step. The robot can pick up and deliver microscopic cargo, so its creators hope it will one day be used to transport medicines to individual diseased cells or help assemble hard-to-make chemical compounds.\n\nJust as robots have been sent to places too distant for humans to visit, such as other planets, mastering molecular robotics would allow us to \u201csend them to places that are perhaps too small for humans to go to, for example inside the bloodstream\u201d, says Lulu Qian at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.\n\nBut while plenty of tiny robots exist, and some have even been used in the bloodstream, they had to be much bigger than a DNA strand to be useful. \u201cIt is one of the first steps towards developing general-purpose DNA robots,\u201d says Qian.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe robot consists of a leg with two feet attached to two arms for carrying cargo. To test it, Qian created a flat 58-by-58-nanometre surface with little DNA stepping stones for it to hop between. As one foot lands, the other lifts up, causing it to randomly move from stone to stone until it eventually comes into contact with the desired cargo. It then picks up the load and continues to hop around until it finds the drop-off point.\n\nThe objects collected and the drop-off point are pre-programmed by the robot\u2019s chemical composition, which causes it to bind to particular substances. So although the path taken is random, the final destination is predictable.\n\nIn experiments, the robot successfully picked up six fluorescent dyes \u2013 three yellow and three pink \u2013 and moved them to one of two destinations.\n\nSpeed boost\n\nAll this hopping might sound quick, but a single step between stones takes a rather lengthy 5 minutes, meaning that covering the entire surface takes a whole day. Qian and her colleagues say they could boost the speed by adding an enzyme to give extra thrust, or giving the robot a chemical motor.\n\nOr you could just add more robots: the saying \u201cmany hands make light work\u201d applies at the nanoscale too.\n\n\u201cThis is the ultimate example of minuscule robotics, and yet it is still programmable and predictable,\u201d says Robert Cross at the University of Warwick, UK. That will be important for ultra-precision medicine. Once inside the bloodstream, specific signals or markers could be used to get the molecular bots to deliver a drug only to cells that show signs of disease, leading to more effective treatments.\n\nCross believes the work could also be useful for building things at the nanometre scale, such as chemical compounds. \u201cThis would allow focused assembly,\u201d he says.\n\nJournal reference: Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.aan6558", "output": "Scientists in Pasadena have developed a microscopic robot, consisting of a single strand of DNA, that is capable of transporting microscopic loads from one location to another. In tests, the robot successfully moved across a flat surface, collected coloured dyes, and carried them to its destination. Although each movement took five minutes, the team said that enzymes could be added to speed up the device. The ultimate aim of the project is to develop nanomachines which can deliver medicine ultra-precisely to infected cells within the human body."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Weatherford unveils autonomous pipe makeup system AutoTong \n Weatherford International plc has announced the commercial release of the AutoTong\u2122 system featuring AutoEvaluate connection-makeup software. The AutoTong system is the world\u2019s first technology to automate pipe makeup and to provide autonomous connection evaluation.\n\nUsing the AutoTong system, the final pipe-makeup process is initiated with the push of a button. The system autonomously determines the appropriate connection parameters based on the pipe and thread criteria specified by the original equipment manufacturer. Providing complete control throughout the final makeup sequence, the system continuously monitors the torque and adjusts the rotational speed of the casing to achieve the optimal torque value. The integrated AutoEvaluate software automatically evaluates the connection quality based on high-resolution data and does not require a joint-makeup analyst to interpret the data.\n\n\u201cBy eliminating the element of human error from the physical makeup and connection validation processes, the AutoTong system sharply increases the safety and efficiency of well construction operations,\u201d said Aaron Sinnott, Vice President of Well Integrity at Weatherford. \u201cThe addition of automation to the makeup process represents a real turning point for tubular management.\u201d", "output": "US-based oil and natural gas servicing firm Weatherford International has released AutoTong, which it claims is the world's first autonomous pipe makeup system. It determines the correct connection parameters based on criteria specified by the original equipment manufacturer. It also eliminates the need for a human joint-makeup analyst by using high-resolution data to automatically evaluate the connection quality.\u00a0\u201cBy eliminating the element of human error from the physical makeup and connection validation processes, the AutoTong system sharply increases the safety and efficiency of well construction operations\",\u00a0said Aaron Sinnott, vice president of well integrity at Weatherford."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Diversity Project releases benchmark study on investment sector \n London, Monday 18th September 2017, Almost a year since launching, the Diversity Project has today provided an update on its progress to develop a more inclusive and diverse culture within the investment and savings profession over the next 4 years.\n\nOver the last 12 months, the Diversity Project, led by a CEO/Chair Advisory Council with a Steering Committee from a selection of UK investment and savings institutions, has embarked on a wide range of initiatives and educational programmes.\n\nThis includes this week\u2019s launch of a Returners Database, a portal for individuals who have taken an extended career break and are keen to return to the investment sector.\n\nOther important initiatives underway include, focused work streams aimed at attracting more diverse talent, including a wider range of socio-economic backgrounds and improved ethnic representation.\n\nThe Project is also working on cultural aspects to encourage diverse talent to stay and develop their careers within the industry, with the aim of achieving more diversity among fund managers of flagship funds.\n\nMeasuring progress is crucial to gauging the Diversity Project\u2019s success.\n\nThe Project commissioned Mercer to undertake a Benchmarking study (Q2 2017) to survey over 3,755 participants from 24 firms including 650 investment managers, to understand the experience, backgrounds, qualifications and motivations of those working in the sector and importantly, what actions are needed to improve diversity.\n\nThe key insights and actions from the research highlight areas such as supporting individuals returning to the industry after a leave of absence, introducing broader recruitment practices and exploring greater flexibility across the workplace.\n\nThe research looks for new ways to help personal development and enhance the reputation of the sector to encourage more people from a wider variety of backgrounds to apply for roles.\n\nThe Diversity Project Advisory Council has also developed a ten-point commitment to diversity and inclusion\u2019 to further strengthen the industry\u2019s intention to deliver change.\n\nThe Commitment sets out ways to support the industry to launch schemes aimed at ensuring diverse recruitment, helping a wider range of talent to rise to top roles within firms, as well as the sharing of best practice and the development of new collaborative initiatives.\n\nFounder of the Diversity Project, Helena Morrissey comments:", "output": "A benchmarking study for the Diversity Project, which was established last year to promote diversity within the UK\u2019s investment industry, has shown that the average employee in the sector is a straight, white male, likely to have been privately educated. The study, carried out by Mercer, revealed that 38% of investment managers went to a private school, compared to 7% of the population as a whole. Women accounted for 23% of the industry, while people with disabilities accounted for just 4%. Improving flexible working was identified as the key method for increasing diversity in the sector.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK government launches Green Finance Taskforce \n Green Finance Strategy\n\nThe UK launched the Green Finance Strategy on 2 July 2019. The Strategy supports the UK\u2019s economic policy for strong, sustainable and balanced growth, the delivery of our modern Industrial Strategy and our domestic and international commitments on climate change, the environment and sustainable development.\n\nIt is informed by the private sector and wider stakeholders, and is, in part, a response to the recommendations of the Green Finance Taskforce, chaired by Sir Roger Gifford. The Taskforce is a leading example of the cross-sector collaboration that the strategy seeks to advance. To this end the government has already taken action to implement its recommendations ahead of the publication of this strategy, such as announcing the establishment of the Green Finance Institute ( GFI ).\n\nThe Strategy is an ambitious package, bringing together work from across the government, regulators and the private sector. It has 3 core elements:\n\ngreening finance: ensuring current and future financial risks and opportunities from climate and environmental factors are integrated into mainstream financial decision making, and that markets for green financial products are robust in nature\n\n\n\nfinancing green: accelerating finance to support the delivery of the UK\u2019s carbon targets and clean growth, resilience and environmental ambitions, as well as international objectives\n\n\n\ncapturing the opportunity: ensuring UK financial services capture the domestic and international commercial opportunities arising from the \u2018greening of finance\u2019, such as climate related data and analytics, and from \u2018financing green\u2019, such as new green financial products and services.\n\nIt also outlines how we will be coordinating closely with our international partners to achieve our objectives, and areas where government will seek to lead by example.\n\nAn important announcement within the strategy is the launch of the Green Finance Institute.\n\nGreen Finance Institute\n\nAs the UK\u2019s principal forum for collaboration between the public and private sector with respect to green finance, the Green Finance Institute ( GFI ) will play an integral role in supporting delivery of our Green Finance Strategy.\n\nOn the 2 July, the government and the City of London Corporation launched the GFI to foster greater cooperation between the public and private sectors, create new opportunities for investors, and strengthen the UK\u2019s reputation as a global hub for green finance.\n\nGreen Finance Taskforce\n\nIn September 2017, the government asked leading finance expert and former Lord Mayor of the City of London, Sir Roger Gifford, to chair an independent taskforce to accelerate growth of green finance and the UK\u2019s low carbon economy.\n\nThe Green Finance Taskforce report sets out a series of recommendations on how the government and the private sector can work together to make green finance an integral part of our financial services sector. The government has subsequently published the Green Finance Strategy which takes forward the key themes of the taskforce.", "output": "A new group of investors and figures from the City of London has been established by the UK government to encourage \u201cgreen finance\u201d in the country. The Green Finance Taskforce will spend six months working on proposals, in conjunction with banks and other financial organisations, to increase investment in the low-carbon economy. The group, which will be chaired by former lord mayor of London Sir Roger Gifford, will consider ways of making the UK\u2019s infrastructure investments more sustainable, and may produce guidelines for those wishing to invest in greener stocks.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK government launches Green Finance Taskforce \n A new group led by investors and leading figures from the City of London has been brought together by the government to draw up measures to encourage \u201cgreen finance\u201d in the UK.\n\nThe Green Finance Taskforce will have six months to come up with proposals on how to increase investment in the low-carbon economy and will work with banks and other financial institutions. Chaired by Sir Roger Gifford, former lord mayor of London, the taskforce will look at measures to make the UK\u2019s planned investments in infrastructure, for instance on energy and transport, more environmentally sustainable.\n\nThe government also wants to give investors assurances about how their money is being looked after, and promote ways for consumers to benefit, for instance through green mortgages, which make borrowing cheaper for those who have insulated their homes.\n\nClaire Perry, minister for climate change, said the UK already showed strong investment in low-carbon activities, and should build on its strengths.\n\n\u201cThe transition to a low-carbon economy is a multi-billion pound investment opportunity and a key part of this government\u2019s industrial strategy,\u201d she said. \u201cDeveloping standards to promote responsible investment in sustainable projects and establishing the Green Finance Taskforce will help ensure businesses across the UK take full advantage of it.\u201d\n\nStephen Barclay, economic secretary to the Treasury, added: \u201cFinancial services are a British success story. It is a priority of mine that people are able to access financial products that support their values, whether that be sharia-compliant loans or green mortgages that have a positive environmental impact. This taskforce will keep the UK at the forefront of green finance and help deliver choice for consumers.\u201d\n\nHowever, the government made it clear that its approach is likely to be based on voluntary standards, to be adopted by companies, banks and investment institutions if they wish. These could include standards for companies to disclose their exposure to risks from climate change, which some companies already attempt.\n\nAs a result, although the taskforce may provide guidelines for investors wishing to ensure they put their money in greener stocks, it is unlikely to have much effect on the behaviour of core fossil fuel companies, or those companies that prefer to stay invested in the fossil fuel economy.\n\nFriends of the Earth, the green campaign group, urged the government to go further. \u201cComing only a few days after it was revealed that the cost of offshore wind has plummeted, this is another welcome boost to the green economy,\u201d said Simon Bullock, senior climate campaigner. \u201cBut ministers must also do far more to reduce investment in climate-wrecking fossil fuels, such as fracking and deep sea oil exploration. If we want to stop climate change, 80% of the world\u2019s coal, oil and gas reserves must be left in the ground.\u201d\n\nMembers of the Green Finance Taskforce include the chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, a senior adviser to the Bank of England, representatives from Barclays, HSBC and Aviva, and representatives from the public sector and academia.\n\nThe UK government made the announcement on the taskforce to coincide with the opening of Climate Week in New York. There, some UK companies including Aviva, WPP and Marks & Spencer joined with others from around the world to endorse the disclosure of climate risks to investors.\n\nNigel Topping, chief executive of the We Mean Business coalition, said: \u201cThere is a great need among the investor community to have consistent climate-related financial risk disclosures from businesses in order to make more informed decisions on capital investment.\u201d", "output": "A new group of investors and figures from the City of London has been established by the UK government to encourage \u201cgreen finance\u201d in the country. The Green Finance Taskforce will spend six months working on proposals, in conjunction with banks and other financial organisations, to increase investment in the low-carbon economy. The group, which will be chaired by former lord mayor of London Sir Roger Gifford, will consider ways of making the UK\u2019s infrastructure investments more sustainable, and may produce guidelines for those wishing to invest in greener stocks.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Female hedge fund managers outperform male peers \n For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBreaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nAn index measuring the performance of hedge funds run by women dramatically outperformed a gauge for a broader range of funds during the first half of the year, data has revealed.\n\nThe HFRX Women index, which pulls together data for female hedge fund managers, returned 9.95 per cent during the first seven months of this year, according to data compiled by the Financial Times.\n\nThe HFRI Fund Weighted Composite index, which measures the performance of hedge funds across all strategies and genders, returned just 4.81 per cent, according to the paper.\n\nRecommended Hurricanes are an unlikely reminder that gender bias could kill\n\nWomen are still dramatically under-represented across the wider investment management world, but the latest data echoes similar statistics that have in the past shown that female-run hedge funds do better than male-run ones \u2013 even over longer time frames.\n\nHelena Morrissey, who heads up personal investing at Legal & General Investment Management, told the Financial Times that, although the latest HFRX data only looks at a short timeframe, other research has in the past found that women are \u201cat least as good as men\u201d when investing.\n\nNicole Boyson, associate professor of finance at Northeastern University in Boston, told the paper that while it is hard to say unequivocally that women make better hedge fund managers than men, \u201cwe can say pretty definitively that women are not worse performers\u201d.\n\nShe also said that women still face several disadvantages in the industry, including a lack of visibility.\n\nBusiness news: In pictures Show all 13 1 / 13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled \u2013 leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: \u201cEurope\u2019s largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: \"You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share\" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid \u00a33.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a \"bad\" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rue\u2019s contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped \u00a34m off of Flybe\u2019s revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airline\u2019s estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.\n\nCiting a report-co-authored by Professor Boyson, The Wall Street Journal last year reported that women are struggling to get their hands on capital, partly because of the low level of news media attention that the funds they run get compared to those run by their male counterparts.\n\nThe research found that funds run by women tend to be smaller than those run by men and also showed that fewer than one in 20 hedge funds employed a female portfolio manager.\n\nAccording to the Financial Times, only about 10 per cent of UK fund managers are female.", "output": "Hedge funds run by women have outperformed those managed by men during H1 2017, according to the HFRX Women index, which collates data on female hedge fund managers. The index returned 9.95% for the first seven months of this year, while the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite index, which analyses the performance of hedge funds across genders and strategies, returned 4.81%. The data supports previous research that offers similar findings. Just 10% of UK fund managers are women, according to the Financial Times.\n \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bauer increases e-commerce revenue from motoring\u00a0sites by 10% \n Bauer Media has run classified ads for cars on its digital auto sites for about a decade, taking a modest cut of the sales. In the last year, it\u2019s switched gears to keep up with growing competition, adding more tools that generate useful data and adapting the way its editorial team communicates to audiences.\n\nEach year, Bauer earns six figures in revenue from sending leads to car manufacturers across its digital auto brands, Parkers and Car magazine. The publisher wouldn\u2019t disclose specific numbers, but it said revenue from these e-commerce sales leads has grown 10 percent since the beginning of 2017. Meanwhile, advertising revenue across Bauer\u2019s auto brands is in the seven figures. Like other publishers, Bauer wants to reduce reliance on a singular revenue stream.\n\nParkers, run by Bauer Xcel Media, Bauer\u2019s global digital division, is the publisher\u2019s most transactional site, with a fifth of its revenue coming from e-commerce and sales leads. It offers tools for people to search for reviews for specific cars, listings for over 200,000 cars for sale that are pulled in from automatic feeds from tens of thousands of partnering dealerships, car valuations and finance advice that directs people to third-party vendors. The majority of its traffic, 2.1 million monthly uniques, according to comScore, comes from car reviews. Search drives 80 percent of its traffic; Parkers\u2019 car tax calculator tool ranks fourth in Google search listings for car tax calculators.\n\n\u201cParkers is like a Swiss army knife; that\u2019s why people come to us, and car manufacturers see that,\u201d said Tim Pollard, Bauer\u2019s editorial director of motoring and specialist digital divisions. \u201c[The buyers] are not tire kickers; they are people who buy.\u201d\n\nIn the last year, Parkers started emphasizing selling cars on monthly financial payments rather than for one-off big-ticket prices like \u00a320,000 ($27,000) because 85 percent of people in the U.K. buy cars through monthly finance deals, according to Pollard. Now, Parkers\u2019 car finance tool, in partnership with aggregator CarFinance247, is integrated at key points in the customer journey so the option to make monthly payments is visible.\n\nLast year, Bauer\u2019s motoring division hired an auto finance editor to write articles helping people find the right payment plan. These articles, like \u201cHow to dodge dealers\u2019 sneaky tricks,\u201d contain links to other finance articles and advice, plus its car finance tool, where audiences can click through to off-site vendors for financial advice or dealers to buy a car. In the last 12 months, Bauer\u2019s editorial team within its motoring division nearly doubled head count to 14 people. There are six people across the motoring division\u2019s commercial team, and 10 people from Bauer\u2019s digital marketing team are focused on e-commerce implementation across U.K. brands.\n\n\u201cFinance is at the heart of our storytelling,\u201d said Pollard. \u201cThat\u2019s a key strength and strong commercial lever ad agencies and manufacturers want to pull.\u201d\n\nBauer gets a cut from selling additional services like tax and insurance as well. Spotting an opportunity to gather valuable first-party data, Bauer launched Mustard, an insurance aggregator site, 18 months ago. Despite a competitive price-comparison space, Bauer has 107 magazine brands it can funnel toward Mustard. Parkers is the top referrer to the insurance aggregator, according to Pollard.\n\nSince launch, Mustard has delivered over a million insurance quotes. That first-party data on potential car buyers can inform its ad campaigns, like a newsletter sponsorship targeted to people who have searched for insurance on vehicles of a specific size. Bauer is only just starting to use this data for e-commerce to inform where it reaches potential buyers in their purchase journey.\n\n\u201cIn the car purchase journey, you are often selling your car and buying a new one; we operate on both sides of that coin,\u201d said Pollard.\n\nBauer has also started siphoning off motoring coverage to other brands based on audience needs. The auto team is reviewing cars for Mother & Baby magazine, as 43 percent of people are more likely to buy a car when they start a family. It\u2019s also reviewing first-time buyer cars for Kiss, the radio station targeted at young people.\n\n\u201cIn digital, it\u2019s about marginal gains; the little things add up,\u201d said Pollard. \u201cWe work hard to remove any pinch points where people drop off, like recently integrating PayPal or adding infinite scroll on Car magazine, which led to doubling pageviews.\u201d\n\nImage courtesy of Parkers, via Facebook", "output": "Bauer Media has increased e-commerce revenue from its digital automotive sites by 10% since the start of 2017. In the last 12 months, the company has added further advertising tools and changed its editorial approach. Bauer offers search tools for car reviews, sales listings for hundreds\u00a0of thousands of cars, valuation services and financial advice, with the majority of its traffic coming from car reviews. In total, advertising revenue across its automotive brands has reached seven figures, with an additional six figures in revenue made from sending leads to the manufacturers that advertise on its digital sites.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Canadian scientists create 'bio-ink' for 3D-printed human organs \n Lifesaving Gel\n\nPatients in need of an organ transplant face a grim reality: according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, in the US alone there are over 116,000 people on the life-saving transplant waiting list. But so far, in 2017, there have only been 10,866 donors. A new innovation could change that reality by creating artificial human tissues and organs from bio-ink.\n\nDeveloped by engineers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Okanagan, bio-ink is made of cold-soluble gelatin (which can dissolve without heat), which served as a building block in hydrogel alongside living cells to mold 3D-printed tissues. The hydrogel performed better than others made of pig or fish skin, forming healthy tissue scaffolds for new cells to grow on while remaining stable at room temperature.\n\n\"A big drawback of conventional hydrogel is its thermal instability,\" explained Keekyoung Kim, an assistant professor at UBC Okanagan's School of Engineering in a press release. \"Even small changes in temperature cause significant changes in its viscosity, or thickness.\"\n\nThe cold-soluble gelatin is also inexpensive, allowing for a much cheaper alternative to traditional organ transplants.\n\n3D printed models of human organs are already helping surgeons better plan for surgery, but we've yet to see an artificial organ transplant; a 3D printed-tibia is as close as we've come.\n\n\"We hope this new bio-ink will help researchers create improved artificial organs and lead to the development of better drugs, tissue engineering and regenerative therapies,\" Kim said. \"The next step is to investigate whether or not cold-soluble GelMA-based tissue scaffolds are can be used long-term both in the laboratory and in real-world transplants.\"\n\nWith another person added to the organ transplant list roughly every ten minutes, this new method can't come soon enough.", "output": "A team of engineers at the University of British Columbia have developed a substance called \"bio-ink\", a type of gelatin that could be combined with live human cells to create 3D-printable human organs. 3D-printed organs are, at present, prohibitively expensive\u00a0and too structurally unstable for use in a transplant.\u00a0The new technology could be a step towards saving\u00a0millions of lives by making mass-produced, ready-for-transplant human organs a reality.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snap searches for head of brand integration \n Snap is searching for a head of brand integration, who would be responsible for working with Snapchat\u2019s content team and advertisers to insert brands into shows on Snapchat Discover.\n\nAccording to a description of the role obtained by Digiday, the head of brand integration, which would be a new position at Snap, will be based in either New York or Los Angeles and will \u201cdrive brand integration and go-to-market strategy for Snapchat content.\u201d Responsibilities will include working with Snapchat\u2019s content team to identify opportunities for brand integrations, informing Snap\u2019s ad sales team of said opportunities and generally bringing more brand and agency partners into the fold.\n\nIn the listing, Snap said it\u2019s looking for a sales executive with at least 12 years of experience with branded integrations in TV, film or digital media, which aligns with the company\u2019s growing entertainment ambitions.\n\nSources said this role would primarily oversee brand integrations inside Snapchat shows, which air alongside publisher content and live stories on Snapchat Discover.\n\nSnap did not respond to a request for a comment.\n\nMultiple ad buyers said the role is a signal to brands that Snap is easing up on its restrictions on branded content. Earlier this summer, Ad Age reported that Snap had started discussing the possibility of brand placements inside its shows.\n\nHistorically, Snap has tried to maintain a strict distinction between editorial and branded content on Snapchat. Its preference was for brands to buy into Snap through products such as Snap Ads, geofilters and lenses. With this new role, Snap is saying it\u2019s more willing to invite brands into one of its premium content offerings: Snapchat shows.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a sea change, philosophically, for them,\u201d said Noah Mallin, head of content for MEC. \u201cWhen they first went to market, one of the things they were clear about was the bright line between what happens organically and what happens from an ad perspective. By adding brand integrations, which is a familiar product for marketers, it also gives them the opening to talk about their whole suite of products \u2014 \u2018If you\u2019re doing integrations, you should also look at Snap Ads and filters.\u2019\u201d\n\nSince Snap embarked on its shows initiative last year, the company has rolled out more than 22 short-form shows from major media partners such as NBC, ESPN, A&E and Viacom. Snap has previously said it plans to increase the number of shows it airs every day from one earlier this summer to three per day by the end of the year.\n\nSnap\u2019s search for a brand integration specialist comes as the company struggles to grow ad revenue. In the second quarter, Snap made $182 million, which fell short of Wall Street\u2019s expectations. Under revenue pressure, Snap launched a self-serve ad service earlier this year to bring more advertisers to Snapchat and, more recently, started to verify Snapchat stars, who for a long time have felt ignored by the company.\n\n\u201cBrand integrations would benefit Snap in two ways: It would help drive view and brand exposure metrics, and it would give them another item to monetize and drive revenue,\u201d said one ad buyer, speaking anonymously. \u201cShows are supposedly doing well for them, so they can strike while the iron is hot.\u201d\n\nSnapchat\u2019s shows initiative has been one of the sole bright spots for the company. Shows such as E! News\u2019 \u201cThe Rundown,\u201d A+E Networks\u2019 \u201cSecond Chance\u201d and Vertical Networks\u2019 \u201cPhone Swap\u201d are pulling in as many as 10 million unique viewers (or more) per episode.\n\nThat said, even with the initial success of Snapchat shows, some ad buyers have expressed skepticism about the product \u2014 citing expensive prices as high as $300,000 for a mid-roll slot as one reason why.\n\nFour media buyers approached by Digiday said Snap has not contacted them about brand-integration opportunities, with some not knowing Snap is looking to hire an executive to lead the effort. But such a role does benefit Snap, giving marketers a single person to go to for any discussion related to brand integrations.\n\n\u201cA struggle is often figuring out who the point person is for stuff like this,\u201d said a second ad buyer, speaking anonymously. \u201cBrand integrations would definitely be good for Snapchat. It\u2019s a smart, competitive move.\u201d\n\nWhile Snap remains committed to working with advertisers inside its premium sections \u2014 instead of helping them build promoted accounts \u2014 brand integrations are a natural extension for a company that has invested in creating more professionally produced, TV-like programming.\n\n\u201cIf their shows continue to do well, integrations are a natural next step,\u201d Mallin said.\n\nShareen Pathak contributed reporting", "output": "Snapchat\u2019s parent company, Snap, is looking for to fill the position of head of brand integration. The role will involve overseeing the company\u2019s content team and advertisers to create campaigns for Snapchat Discover, as well as further opportunities for brand integrations and agency partnerships. The business is looking for a sales executive with 12 years of experience across traditional and digital media."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IBM simulation of largest molecule could boost drug research \n IBM's quantum computer has made a small advance that could ultimately lead to a major chemistry breakthrough. A team of IBM researchers has successfully used IBM Q to accurately simulate the molecular structure of beryllium hydride (BeH2), the largest molecule ever to be simulated by a quantum computer to date. This is pretty important, because simulating any molecule on a quantum level is no easy task, never mind a big one.\n\nThe point of simulating molecules is to determine how they will interact with other compounds, so researchers can create safe and effective chemical models for things like medicine and batteries. To do this, scientists need to find the molecule's most stable configuration, known as its ground state. In theory, this should be straightforward enough, but to truly understand the molecule's behavior, you have to figure out how each electron in each atom will interact with all the other atom's nuclei, including the unusual quantum effects that take place on such small scales.\n\nSo there's a lot going on, and today's computers can quickly become overwhelmed with the magnitude of options and outcomes, leaving chemical modellers to make approximations about how a molecule might behave and then test their theories -- which can be time-consuming -- in the real world. So the IBM team demonstrating that its seven-qubit chip is up to the job by calculating the ground state of BeH2 has significant connotations for the future of chemistry as we know it. As the team outline on the IBM blog, simulating chemical reactions accurately is an important step in discovering new drugs, fertilizers and even new sustainable energy sources. It's big news on a small scale.", "output": "IBM's quantum computer could have made a major chemistry discovery by simulating the largest molecule to date. The IBM Q simulated beryllium hydride\u2019s molecular structure to examine how it interacts with various compounds, enabling researchers to test chemical model theories for safety and efficacy. IBM Q\u2019s seven qubit processor can cut the time-consuming process of testing approximate models by calculating the stable configuration of the compound.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SparkMeter analyses smart-grid power use in developing world \n Data from up to around 22,500 smart meters provides one of the most advanced analyses of rural microgrid use to date.\n\nThe data revealed by smart meter developer SparkMeter, which specializes in microgrids for emerging markets such as Haiti, Nigeria and India, shows that the microgrid setups tend to deliver only small amounts of power and make only small amounts of money.\n\nWhile SparkMeter\u2019s product portfolio contains meters of up to 200 amps, the company has found the maximum load per user is usually capped at a low level in most rural settings.\n\nPeak loads, meanwhile, are usually much less than the maximum allowance. Most customers draw less than 500 watts of power.\n\nSince most SparkMeter-equipped rural microgrids have fewer than 200 users, this means the peak load each microgrid must support is also correspondingly small, around 2 kilowatts or less.\n\nSimilarly, over the course of a month the average consumption per user is only around 2 kilowatt-hours.\n\nPayments are small, too, with customers rarely paying more than a dollar at a time.\n\nThis is an important factor to bear in mind when planning business models to support the rollout of rural microgrids, said Arthur Jacquiau-Chamski, SparkMeter\u2019s vice president of product management, at this month\u2019s Microgrid Global lnnovation Forum in Barcelona, Spain.\n\nYet while payments are small, they are also made frequently, the data shows. Most users pay for electricity at least twice a month, with payment peaks coming at the beginning and the end of every 30-day period.\n\nThe data, culled from up to 90 percent of SparkMeter\u2019s 25,000 meter deployments in 17 countries, also shows there are four major load profiles in the rural microgrid world.\n\nPerhaps the most demanding profile, which SparkMeter has dubbed \"daytime baseload,\" is found in 31 percent of sites and accounts for 39 percent of energy consumption. It is characterized by steady daytime usage and an evening peak.\n\nAnother 31 percent of sites have what SparkMeter calls \"evening only\" usage, where consumption is minimal except for an 8 p.m. peak. This has the lowest consumption profile, accounting for just 7 percent of power consumed on SparkMeter-equipped microgrids.\n\nA further 21 percent of sites have \"daytime bump\" consumption, with relatively high diurnal use ending in a marked evening peak. This profile accounts for 23 percent of energy consumption.\n\nFinally, 15 percent of sites have \"mostly daytime\" use, where consumption is generally high throughout daylight hours and there is no evening peak to speak of.\n\nAccounting for 30 percent of energy consumption, this pattern may indicate the presence of light commercial or industrial activity.\n\nThe data comes from SparkMeter\u2019s worldwide installed base, which has processed more than 100,000 payments at an average of around $1.75 each.\n\nThe smart meters have dished out more than 320 megawatt-hours, which equates to an average electricity cost of around $0.55 per kilowatt-hour.\n\nFurther analysis of the SparkMeter data shows the average monthly revenue per user per site is usually less than $5 and never more than $9.\n\nJacquiau-Chamski highlighted the challenge facing rural electrification programs by noting that SparkMeter\u2019s basic meters cost $35, yet the average value of energy they had delivered so far was just $7.\n\nThe fact that rural microgrid investors may face a lengthy payback period is one reason why SparkMeter is keen to share its data. Investors cannot turn to traditional analysts for information upon which to base decisions, Jacquiau-Chamski noted.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s really important the data from the field can be used by operators to scale up,\u201d he said.\n\nUpdate: Jacquiau-Chamski clarified that the \"ARPU per site\" chart is showing monthly figures -- each data point is the Average Revenue Per User per month for a given site. As a consequence, it is the monthly average revenue per customer that varies between $5 per month and $9 per month depending on the site. These numbers reflect the reality of village microgrids better than the figure of $7 of energy delivered per meter on average, because the $7 figure doesn't reflect the fact that the majority of meters sold were installed in the recent past or at sites that are not fully commercially operational yet. In any case, Jacquiau-Chamski said, the low value of this monthly ARPU (under $10 per month per connection) illustrates the challenges facing rural electrification programs and rural utilities, which make innovation and optimization at every level a necessity.", "output": "Smart meter provider SparkMeter has analysed data from approximately 22,500 devices to develop a better understanding of microgrids in emerging markets. The company found that the maximum load per user was usually less than 200 amps in rural settings, such as those in Nigeria, India and Cuba, with peak loads under 500 W. For a typical microgrid of fewer\u00a0than 200 users, demand is only 2 KW or less. Payments are usually around a dollar a time, which\u00a0are made twice or more a month. The\u00a0information could prove vital for planning business models for the expansion of microgrids in rural areas.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Goldman Sachs to buy $300m worth of solar loans from Mosaic \n Solar loan provider Mosaic reached an agreement with Goldman Sachs in which the bank will buy $300 million in loans over time.\n\nThis deal will clear up space on Mosaic's balance sheet to finance more loans, and signals a prestigious bank's willingness to buy and own solar loans for itself.\n\nMosaic this week also finalized a partnership with Wave Solar to give Mosaic's dealer partners a pre-negotiated discount on the lead-generation platform. That service tracks and analyzes interactions with customers, potentially giving long-tail installers more resources to pursue their sales.\n\nBanks have the lowest cost of funds, making them an ideal partner for loan sales, said Amir Friedman, vice president of bank partnerships. However, that money comes with stringent requirements in terms of compliance and information security.\n\n\"To be a lender to a bank, the bar is very high,\" Friedman said. \"We were able to meet all of [Goldman Sachs'] vendor requirements and get them satisfied and purchasing from Mosaic.\"\n\nThat rounds out Mosaic's tool belt for ways to finance loans.\n\nThe company employs a hybrid model, choosing to keep some loans on its balance sheet via warehousing and securitization, while moving others off the balance sheet through whole loan sales. The presence of both options allows for maneuverability.\n\n\"If one particular market opportunity isn\u2019t there, there will be another leg to the strategy to pick up that slack,\" Friedman said.\n\nMosaic issued a $139 million asset-backed securitization in February comprising 6,000 projects, which was oversubscribed, indicating market demand for such securities.\n\nIn the newly announced deal, Goldman Sachs will purchase the loans with its own balance sheet, Friedman noted.\n\n\"These are assets that they really want to hold and are comfortable holding,\" he said. \"Once banks see we were able to get a bank comfortable with our compliance, other banks are taking interest.\"\n\nFor Mosaic, the bank deal could serve as a differentiator that other competitors don't have. The company ranked first for solar loan provider market share in 2016, followed by GreenSky Credit and EnerBank, according to GTM Research's April U.S. Residential Solar Update.\n\nMosaic's market share nearly tripled from 2015 to 2016, and it more than doubles the next runner-up. GreenSky and EnerBank, the report notes, offer other home improvement loans and are not necessarily trying to expand their solar business.\n\nMosaic's rise has coincided with a market shift away from third-party-owned leases and PPAs to customer-owned deals. Roughly three-quarters of residential deployments by companies outside of the top three are now customer-owned, while third-party owned continues to dominate among the top three.\n\nThe lower cost of capital from this sort of bank transaction could eventually help lower prices for loan customers, creating an additional pull toward that form of ownership.", "output": "Goldman Sachs will purchase $300m of solar loans from provider Mosaic for its own use, offering Mosaic the opportunity to finance further loans and bolstering its credibility. The company also recently partnered with Wave Solar, a marketing software firm for solar installers, to offer discounts to dealers on its platform. Mosaic currently controls by far the largest market share in the solar loans sector, having tripled between 2015 and 2016."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Take-up of renewables not fast enough to meet Paris climate goal \n The pieces of a renewable-forward future are falling into place. Wind, solar, and storage are accelerating. Plummeting costs and greater security in investment mean countries are increasingly looking to renewable technologies as a safe bet. And prices for offshore wind and battery storage are dropping faster than expected.\n\nOne hitch, though: That renewable future still won\u2019t mean the globe reaches its climate goals.\n\nNew reports from Moody\u2019s Investors Service and energy consulting firm DNV GL outline the unstoppable momentum behind renewables. But even what DNV GL calls a \u201ccritical watershed\u201d in the electricity industry doesn\u2019t appear to move the needle fast enough on the Paris climate agreement.\n\nMoody\u2019s report finds that the falling costs of renewables will make it easier for countries to meet their individual Paris goals. But according to DNV GL\u2019s analysis, the world will still be on track for 2.5 degrees of warming, half a degree higher than the agreement\u2019s temperature target to prevent the most dangerous consequences of climate change.\n\nAside from that large problem, the granular business trends laid out in the reports should come as yet more positive news for renewable energy companies and advocates.\n\nDNV GL\u2019s model predicts that oil use will peak in the next 10 years and gas use in the next 20. By 2050, fossil fuels will decline from 81 percent of the globe\u2019s current energy mix to just 52 percent. Oil and gas will become the world\u2019s largest energy source in 2034, but solar, hydropower, and onshore and offshore wind will account for 85 percent of global electricity production in 2050.\n\n\u201cBy the end of our forecast period in 2050, the electricity system, its culture and its personnel will be unrecognizable,\u201d DNV GL\u2019s report reads.\n\nMoody\u2019s tells a similar story. Levelized cost of energy (LCOE) has dropped substantially since 2010. Costs for solar and wind have fallen drastically, making both more globally competitive with traditional fuel sources.\n\nBoth reports describe recent shifts in country subsidy programs, from guaranteed technology-specific rates to more technology-neutral auctions. Under auctions, wind and solar have been able to compete on price with incumbent fossil fuels. For example, new auctions for offshore wind have brought record-low prices that rival nuclear in the U.K.\n\nA May 2017 solar bid in India that was 18 percent below the average price for coal projects set a record low tariff there. Moody\u2019s also cites record-setting prices for offshore wind in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands; onshore wind in Mexico; and solar in Chile and South Africa.\n\nBy 2050, DNV GL predicts solar generation will increase 85-fold, with China and India at the helm. Solar installs will near 600,000 megawatts by the end of 2019.\n\nWind prices have already reached lows not expected until 2020. DNV GL predicts onshore wind will continue to dominate offshore. China will be a leader here, too, with a third of the world\u2019s capacity by 2050. Per Moody\u2019s, the world will have nearly 700,000 megawatts in wind capacity by the end of 2019.\n\nThere\u2019s more: Battery costs, too, have tumbled 75 percent since 2009. As prices fall and efficiency increases, batteries will stake out an even more important position in allowing flexibility in the deployment of more renewables faster.\n\nThe only question remaining is how big of an impact these technologies will have on our changing climate.\n\nMoody\u2019s analysis suggests that the U.S. exit from the Paris Agreement will not have a significant negative effect on global emissions, although it will make further global cooperation harder to achieve. And DNL GV posits there are ways to improve climate scenarios: essentially by deploying more of what\u2019s already being deployed, but at a speedier clip.\n\n\u201cThis report model, it wasn\u2019t a low scenario or a medium scenario or a high scenario. It modeled our best view,\u201d says Ray Hudson, global solar segment leader at DNV GL. \u201cCertainly there are ways to go faster with more renewables more quickly.\u201d", "output": "Efforts so far to move to renewable energy are not enough to meet global climate goals, according to Moody\u2019s Investors Service and energy consultant DNV GL. Despite reaching a \u201ccritical watershed\u201d in terms of wind, solar and storage options, as well as\u00a0lower costs of\u00a0production and increased investment, the rate of growth in renewable use is not enough. DNV has predicted that solar, wind\u00a0and hydropower will represent 85% of global electricity production by 2050. However, the planet will still warm by\u00a02.5C, 0.5C higher than the target agreed in the Paris accord that would avert the worst consequences of climate change.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Slowing US home solar market signals first annual decline \n The U.S. solar industry has grown accustomed to record-breaking growth. New capacity additions have increased every year since record keeping began. Last year, the U.S. market installed 14.8 gigawatts of solar PV -- nearly doubling the capacity installed the year prior. In 2016, solar also became the top-ranked source of new electric generating capacity for the first time ever.\n\nThis year, things look different -- particularly for the residential solar segment.\n\nThe U.S. residential PV sector grew 1 percent from the first quarter to the second quarter of 2017, according to the latest U.S. Solar Market Insight report from Wood Mackenzie, Limited and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). The industry installed 563 megawatts of residential solar in Q2. But while this represents a slight uptick quarter-over-quarter, it represents a 17 percent decline year-over-year, which comes on the heels of a sluggish Q1.\n\nGTM Research, a Wood Mackenzie company, is now forecasting residential PV will experience its first down year ever. The U.S. home solar segment is expected to shrink by 3 percent this year. GTM previously forecast flat or limited growth in 2017.\n\nThe news is not all bad. Overall, the U.S. market installed 2,387 megawatts (DC) of solar PV in the second quarter of 2017 -- which marks an 8 percent increase year-over-year, and the largest second quarter ever. \u201cThis report shows once again that solar is on the rise and will continue to add to its share of electricity generation,\u201d said Abigail Ross Hopper, SEIA\u2019s president and CEO, in a statement.\n\nBut looking only at industry-wide performance hides the growing pains within the residential segment.\n\n\u201cResidential solar is just not seeing growth rates as high as in the past -- which is fine; it\u2019s what happens when an industry matures, but it\u2019s no longer fair to frame it as though rooftop solar is explosive,\u201d said Austin Perea, GTM Research solar analyst and lead author of the new U.S. Solar Market Insight report. In recent years, the residential sector has led the PV market in terms of growth. Today, that\u2019s simply no longer the case.\n\nFIGURE: U.S. Quarterly PV Installations, Q1 2012-Q2 2017\n\nMajor state markets slow down\n\nThe decline is primarily due to weakness across major state markets, including California and several states in the Northeast, which are feeling the effects of a pullback from national providers. Tesla\u2019s SolarCity and Vivint Solar in particular have been reorienting their strategies to optimize profitability over growth, according to Perea. The two companies have been scaling back operations in certain key geographies and transitioning to a direct ownership model, which has resulted in lower overall sales volumes.\n\nBecause of their disproportionate size relative to the rest of the residential market, slower growth rates at SolarCity and Vivint have a meaningful impact on the broader residential segment.\n\nCalifornia was the first state to see a slowdown in the residential sector this year, which was due in part to bad winter weather, but also because national installers have been devoting less resources to making sales in saturated regions. Northeast markets started to feel the impact of that strategic shift more recently.\n\nLast quarter, New York, Maryland and Massachusetts saw installation volumes fall between 15 and 60 percent year-over-year. SolarCity had a particularly slow second quarter in the Bay State, with growth down more than 75 percent from the same period in 2016.\n\nAfter last quarter\u2019s performance, GTM Research has revised down its residential PV forecasts for New York, Maryland and Massachusetts. New Jersey\u2019s market is still expected to grow this year, however, while growth in Connecticut\u2019s residential market is expected to be flat.\n\nNew markets for rooftop PV are opening up across the country, thanks to cost reductions and favorable policies. But growth in these states -- such as Texas, Utah and Florida -- is not robust enough to offset the declines in established areas, Perea said.\n\nBusiness models shift\n\nVivint leadership has acknowledged that the company is experiencing slower growth, partially because it\u2019s retraining staff to sell loans and not only leases. The company is currently aiming to have 30 percent of its sales be direct ownership by the end of 2017, up from 19 percent at the start of this year.\n\nSolarCity relaunched its loan offering last summer, after its original loan product failed to gain traction. Since then, the nation\u2019s largest residential solar installer was acquired by Tesla, and announced that it is quitting the practice of door-to-door sales and transitioning to selling solar through Tesla stores. As a result of these changes, \u201cresidential solar deployment will be impacted over the short term but is expected to resume growing in Q4 compared to Q3,\u201d according to Tesla\u2019s latest earnings report.\n\nThe portion of Tesla solar customers who elected to purchase rather than lease a solar system grew to 37 percent of deployments in the second quarter of this year, up from 6 percent a year ago. As its conventional solar business shifts, Tesla is also focused on ramping up production of its solar roof -- which some believe is the key to bringing home solar to the masses, although that remains to be seen.\n\nCustomer acquisition costs remain stubbornly high across all solar market segments, but the issue is especially pronounced among large residential solar players, said GTM\u2019s Perea. How easy or hard it is to win customers factors heavily into the residential solar segment\u2019s overall performance. In major state markets, there\u2019s a sense of customer fatigue -- people have been getting their doors knocked on for years and are generally familiar with the solar sales pitch, Perea said. For whatever reason, these customers have decided not to make the investment.\n\n\u201cThe low-hanging fruit has been picked, and installers need to figure out how to crack that code -- how to reduce the cost of customer acquisition and find meaningful growth,\u201d Perea said.\n\nJustin Baca, vice president of markets and research at SEIA, acknowledged that customer acquisition costs are a challenge, but was optimistic that the solar industry would succeed at bringing them down.\n\n\u201cSomeone is going to figure it out, and they\u2019re going to get bigger faster,\u201d he said, in an interview at Solar Power International on Sunday night. \u201cThere are probably other trades we can also learn from -- the roofing industry, for one. We don\u2019t hear about customer acquisition being a huge portion of their cost structure. Our industry is still figuring it out.\u201d\n\nBaca also took a generally positive view of the residential solar industry\u2019s performance last quarter.\n\n\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing in the residential market isn\u2019t a big downturn, it\u2019s more of a leveling out,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can\u2019t expect the industry to grow 20 to 50 percent per year indefinitely. Those growth rates are great, but something less is still very good by traditional industry standards.\u201d\n\nUtility-scale solar continues to be the bedrock\n\nMeanwhile, other segments of the solar industry have fared relatively well so far this year. In the second quarter of 2017, non-residential solar grew 31 percent year-over-year, with 437 megawatts installed. Growth was driven in large part by favorable time-of-use rates in California and expiring incentives in Massachusetts. The non-residential market in New York also experienced its largest quarter on record with the completion of several remote net-metered projects.\n\nNon-residential PV is expected to grow 9 percent this year, following a record-shattering 58 percent growth in 2016. Continued growth in 2017 is due in part to the growing adoption of community solar, which remains on track to add more than 400 megawatts (DC) this year -- nearly doubling community solar installations from 2016.\n\nThe utility-scale segment \u201ccontinues to serve as the bedrock of the U.S. solar market,\u201d according to the report. A total of 1.4 gigawatts (DC) of utility PV projects came on-line in the second quarter of 2017, accounting for 58 percent of all PV capacity installed during the three-month period. Q2 represents the seventh consecutive quarter in which utility PV added more than 1 gigawatt of new capacity.\n\nThe threat of losing the solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) was a big part of the reason why 2016 was such a strong year for U.S. solar. Developers rushed to take advantage of the incentive before it was scheduled to expire, which caused the utility-scale solar market to more than double. Today, the market is recalibrating.\n\nGTM Research expects the overall U.S. solar market to shrink year-over-year in 2017 and 2018 before rebounding in 2019, due in large part to trends in utility PV procurement. With the extension of the ITC and project spillover from 2016, GTM Research continues to forecast a strong 8.1 gigawatts (DC) of utility-scale solar PV will be deployed in 2017. The market is expected to take a more noticeable downturn next year, with 6.5 gigawatts (DC) deployed for in 2018.\n\nBut growth won\u2019t lag for long. The combination of competitive pricing, new procurement plans and developers looking again to benefit from the 30 percent ITC before the incentive steps down prompted GTM Research to increase its 2019 forecast for utility-scale PV by 14 percent to 9.0 gigawatts (DC). The return to growth in 2019 will come from the expansion of new state markets, and as both distributed and utility solar reach tipping points in terms of economic attractiveness.\n\nMore than 75 percent of the current utility-scale pipeline is slated to come from voluntary procurement -- or projects driven by cost-competitiveness with natural-gas alternatives rather than renewable energy mandates. For residential PV, more than 30 states are forecast to have surpassed grid parity by 2019, based on current rate structures.\n\nU.S. solar installers will still have to innovate around customer acquisition and push into new markets in order to see more record-breaking growth. The industry will also have to hope for low or no tariffs in the Suniva/SolarWorld Section 201 trade case. If the International Trade Commission approves a minimum price of 78 cents per watt on modules, GTM Research estimates it could reduce U.S. solar demand by 50 percent cumulatively over the next five years.\n\nWithout tariffs, total installed U.S. solar PV capacity is expected to nearly triple over the next five years. By 2022, more than 16 gigawatts of solar PV capacity will be installed annually. Residential solar stands to make up a significant portion of the overall market, if installers can overcome the business challenges they face today.\n\n***\n\nDownload the free executive summary here.", "output": "Growth in the US residential solar energy market has slowed and is predicted to shrink for the first time ever this year, according to analysts GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). The US Solar Market Insight report showed growth in the US residential PV sector was 563 MW in Q2 this year -- up 1% on the previous quarter but down 17% on Q2 2016. GTM has\u00a0changed its earlier\u00a0forecast for limited\u00a0or flat growth\u00a0this\u00a0year to a 3% decline. The weakening of the residential sector is masked by strong overall growth in the PV industry."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian energy market operator says coal plant can close \n The Turnbull government's insistence that the ageing Liddell coal-fired power plant must stay open longer has been cast into doubt by the operator of Australia's electricity market, who says there are other ways to head off a predicted power shortfall.\n\nAustralia's energy quandary dominated question time on Thursday, as the government and Labor tussled over who was responsible for rising power prices and how best to deliver a reliable, affordable power supply.\n\nAppearing at a hearing in Canberra on Thursday, Australian Energy Market Operator chief executive Audrey Zibelman said battery storage, renewable energy, management of consumer demand and upgrading existing power plants could all help meet a predicted 1000-megawatt shortfall in flexible, dispatchible capacity \u2013 power that can be created on demand \u2013 when energy giant AGL closes its Liddell power plant in 2022.\n\nThe Turnbull government is pressuring AGL to keep the Liddell station open for five more years. However, the power company insists it has no plans to sell the plant or keep it open.", "output": "Renewable energy, improved management of consumer demand and upgrades to existing power plants will help meet the 1,000 MW shortfall in capacity when the Liddell coal power station closes, said Australian Energy Market Operator CEO Audrey Zibelman. Although Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is pressuring Liddell's operator, AGL, to keep the power station open for five more years, the company has no plans to do so. The current five-year notice period until the coal plant closes is long enough to develop reliability mechanisms, such as auctions, to bridge the power gap, Zibelman said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ToneTag AudioPod emits sound to activate mobile payment \n ToneTag AudioPod Enables Payment by Sound\n\nSeptember 15, 2017 By: Steven Anderson\n\nMobile payments have ultimately proven so valuable for their end users that we\u2019ve seen a host of new ways to make and receive payments. From near-field communications to quick response (QR) codes, we\u2019ve seen a lot of movement. Enter the ToneTag AudioPod, which reports note allows users to make mobile payments without that connection to the internet that isn\u2019t always available in some places.\n\nThe ToneTag AudioPod turns to sound as its primary interface, hence the name AudioPod. Users need only tap their phones on the AudioPod to activate the device, which promptly emits a sound wave that contains a strand of data. The phone, meanwhile, picks up the sound and responds in kind, which effectively completes the mobile payment.\n\nReports further note that it works quickly\u2014each transaction takes less than three seconds to complete\u2014speeding up checkout operations. The system works with any currently-operating banking application or e-wallet function, and any merchant can put the AudioPod to work quickly. Since it doesn\u2019t require a data connection, it works anywhere that there\u2019s power for it.\n\nToneTag\u2019s CEO and co-founder Kumar Abhishek commented \u201cToneTag Audio Pod is a device that can be used by any merchant irrespective of their scale of operations or nature of the business. This device can be that trigger which enables mass acceptance of digital mode of payments amongst merchants. In our push towards a digital economy, a device like the ToneTag Audio Pod can bring in both the merchant and the consumer segment to accelerate the digital drive.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s an exciting notion, particularly for developing economies that are increasingly embracing mobile payment systems but don\u2019t always have the infrastructure available to back these up. Mobile payments offer convenience and speed of transaction that\u2019s hard to improve on, so they\u2019re desirable systems for the merchant and the customer alike. They improve the customer experience, and increase the chances of repeat business, so they\u2019re the kind of thing businesses should look to have.\n\nWithout that internet connectivity to back things up, though, it can be tough to put these systems in place. Tools like the AudioPod may really be able to help here, and open up the concept of mobile payments to places that have never had the opportunity to put them to work previously.", "output": "The ToneTag AudioPod enables mobile payments through sound, with mobiles tapped on the device activating a sound wave that translates into a mobile payment when the mobile device responds with a note of its own. The device takes less than three seconds to complete a transaction and does not require an internet connection. The system can work with any bank application or e-wallet, and any type of merchant can use the AudioPod. The device could help expand payment infrastructure in places with limited and unreliable internet connections.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Turkey looks to develop renewable energy sector with investments \n 14 September 2017 13:43 (UTC+04:00)\n\nBy Kamila Aliyeva\n\nTurkey, an energy-importing country, has plans to develop its renewable energy sector in order to be energy secure and independent.\n\nThe country seeks to invest $11 billion in the energy sector of the country during the period from 2017 to 2023, according to the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources.\n\nThe energy sector is an important area for investment, given the country's high dependence on energy imports.\n\nOver the past two years, $1.9 billion have been invested in the country's energy sector. As many as 30 percent of these funds are invested in the development of renewable energy sources.\n\nThe ministry noted that Turkey plans to build 10 wind power stations in five different provinces of the country.\n\nTurkish Energy Minister Berat Albayrak earlier stated that the construction of new power plants will increase Turkey's energy security and reduce its dependence on other countries.\n\nAlbayrak also stressed that the new project of renewable energy sources will generate about 3,750 jobs.\n\nTurkey held a tender for the construction of wind farms on August 3. German company Siemens became the winner. The German-Turkish consortium Siemens -Turkerler- Kalyon was established in order to carry out the construction work.\n\nWind farms will be located in five regions of Turkey, including the capital - Ankara, he added.\n\nTurkey's demand for energy and electricity is increasing rapidly and heavily dependent on expensive imported energy resources [around 70 percent] that place a big burden on the economy.\n\nAt the same time, Turkey is one of the richest countries in the world in terms of renewable resources \u2013 hydro, wind, solar, geothermal and others. For geothermal energy the country is ranked first in Europe and seventh in the world. In addition, the solar energy is abundant due to its geographical position in the world.\n\nTurkey is also one of the countries in the world possessing high hydroenergy potential. Wind energy potential in Turkey is estimated at 160 TWh.\n\nEncouraging policies backed by favorable feed-in tariffs are expected to increase their share in the national grid in the coming years. The Turkish government has made it a priority to increase the share of renewable sources in the country\u2019s total installed power to a remarkable 30 percent by 2023.\n\n---\n\nKamila Aliyeva is AzerNews\u2019 staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva\n\nFollow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz", "output": "Turkey plans to invest $11bn in its energy sector from 2017 to 2023 in order to become less dependent on imports, said Turkish Energy Minister Berat Albayrak. As part of the scheme, Turkey will increase its share of renewable energy to 30% of the country's installed power. Moreover, the government will build 10 wind power stations across the country and create 3,750 jobs."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Goldman throws weight behind online lending platform \n Goldman Sachs has been pilloried for lackluster results from its trading division (paywall), so this week the bank gave investors a peek into its plans (pdf) for making more money. Surprisingly, the Wall Street powerhouse thinks it can generate as much revenue from online consumer loans\u2014a market targeted by many fintech startups\u2014as from buying and selling securities.\n\nSpecifically, Goldman thinks it can make $1 billion in extra revenue from its consumer lending business over the next three years, as much as it expects for its trading operations. Combined with new lending for the wealthy and companies, the bank expects to bring in $2 billion in additional sales from loans. Goldman co-chief operating officer Harvey Schwartz said it\u2019s one of the fastest-growing lending platforms ever launched, even though he says the bank is taking its time with the nascent business. The bank\u2019s digital consumer-lending arm called Marcus is expected to have lent out $2 billion by the end of the year.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nGoldman isn\u2019t known for consumer lending, but stricter rules have forced banks to look for new ways to make money. CEO Lloyd Blankfein pointed out earlier this year that while Goldman doesn\u2019t have branches, thanks to technology that isn\u2019t a shortcoming anymore. Post-crisis regulations have put restrictions on trading but tend to give incentives for lending. The investment bank is launching Marcus in the UK next year, according to the Financial Times (paywall).\n\nGoldman knows a lot about what technology companies are up to because it invests in a bunch of them. Its push into digital retail lending also challenges the notion that venture capital-backed fintech firms are poised to disrupt the banking industry. If these startups\u2019 advantage is their technology, they may not be able to stay ahead of the armies of engineers at companies like JPMorgan and Goldman.\n\nMeanwhile, big banks have access to cheaper funds than peer-to-peer lenders like Lending Club or Zopa. With consumer deposits and the billions of dollars they routinely borrow in credit markets, banks can undercut the loan rates offered by smaller companies.\n\nThat said, Schwartz acknowledged that consumer lending isn\u2019t immune to economic downturns, and analysts cited by Bloomberg were skeptical about Goldman jumping into a market outside its core expertise.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nGoldman\u2019s revenue projections are based on the assumption that markets remain placid (which isn\u2019t ideal for banks\u2019 trading desks) and that regulations that crimp trading profits remain in place. While more volatile markets or bank-friendly regulatory changes could make Goldman\u2019s traditional businesses more profitable, it seems the bank isn\u2019t counting on it.\n\nThat\u2019s noteworthy given the Trump administration is stocked with Goldman alumni who could, theoretically, make banking rules more palatable to their former employer. The tone of this week\u2019s presentation suggests the investment bank isn\u2019t planning on it.", "output": "Goldman Sachs plans to generate $1bn extra revenue from Marcus, its digital consumer lending arm, over the next three years. The bank expects to earn as much from its trading operations over the same period. Although Marcus launched in the US in October last year, the company expects to have issued loans worth $2bn by the end of 2017. Marcus will debut in the UK next year, the Financial Times reported.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook, Microsoft collaborate on open exchange for AI resources \n Microsoft, which last week announced it is was partnering with Amazon to let their respective AI-powered virtual assistants talk, said this week it has joined forced with Facebook to launch an open source AI resource repository called Open Neural Network Exchange (ONNX).\n\nThe AI resource repository, the companies said, will allow developers to swiftly switch between the company's respective AI engines - PyTorch and Caffe2 - at any stage of the development. The Open Neural Network Exchange addresses one of the key issues that is hindering the growth of the machine learning ecosystem. There are various frameworks for executive neural networks but they are all different and not interoperable.\n\nDevelopers have long desired for a common ground among these different frameworks, as each offers its own advantages. Kovas Boguta, a developer at Twitter, said \"Looks like the long-awaited 'export pytorch to caffe2' has dropped. Interesting development.\"\n\nFacebook maintains two different AI modules -- FAIR and AML. The company uses FAIR to handle bleeding edge research, while AML to bring AI-powered solutions to consumer-facing services. FAIR supports PyTorch, while AML supports Caffe2. The collaboration between Facebook and Microsoft will enable developers to easily convert models built in PyTorch into Caffe2 models.\n\nIt's a welcome move from the two companies, but developers who prefer Google's TensorFlow and other key frameworks, and Apple's CoreML are still in their wallet chambers, as both only allow limited conversions to other models.\n\n\"People experimenting with new models, and particularly those in research, want maximum flexibility and expressiveness in writing neural networks - ranging from dynamic neural networks to supporting gradients of gradients, while keeping a bread-and-butter ConvNet performant,\" developers at Facebook wrote.\n\n\"Researchers also want to iterate rapidly, which means that they need excellent tooling for interactive development and debugging. PyTorch has been built to push the limits of research frameworks, to unlock researchers from the constraints of a platform and allow them to express their ideas easier than before.\"", "output": "Microsoft is working with Facebook to establish an open-source AI resource repository, called the Open Neural Network Exchange. The facility will allow developers to work on both companies\u2019 AI offerings, PyTorch and Caffe2, to expand the machine learning ecosystem. By providing interoperability, developers will easily\u00a0be able to convert their PyTorch models into Caffe2 models at any stage in the development process. \"People experimenting with new models, and particularly those in research, want maximum flexibility and expressiveness in writing neural networks\", said developers at Facebook.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brazilian regulator allows testing of\u00a0Enel solar project \n Brazilian power sector regulator Aneel has given the go-ahead to 210 MW of solar plants by Enel Green Power SpA (BIT:EGPW) to commence test operations.\n\nSited in the city of Ribeira do Piaui, Piaui state, each of the seven 30-MW plants will include 32 systems of 937.5 kW each. They are part of the 292-MW Nova Olinda photovoltaic (PV) complex, according to the company's website.\n\nSpread over 690 hectares, Nova Olinda was dubbed by Enel as the largest of its kind in all of Latin America. Once completed, the PV complex is expected to generate 600 GWh per year, enough to meet the demand of about 300,000 local homes.\n\nUnder Aneel's resolutions, only after the test period, if these plants present positive results, the government will allow Enel to start the commercial operations.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Enel Green Power has been given the green light by Brazilian power regulator Aneel to begin testing part of its 292 MW Nova Olinda solar complex. Enel will initially put seven 30 MW plants, located in Ribeira do Piaui into testing. The Nova Olinda, dubbed by Enel as the largest of its kind in all of Latin America, is set to produce 600 GWh per year, enough to power around 300,000 local homes."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian spot market prices peak after less generation from wind \n NEW DELHI: Spot market power prices have peaked Rs 9 per unit, a threeyear high, while the average price on India Electricity Exchange also rose to Rs 5 per unit on low electricity supply. The prices are expected to remain high until the warm weather conditions recede.Industry sources said while the power demand remained at the same level as last year, supply was low due to lesser generation from wind and hydropower plants . The development, however, comes as a relief to coal-based power plants that have ramped up production.There has been growth of 17% in coal-based thermal power generation, on account of reduction in hydro power generation by 12%, in nuclear power generation by 36% and others by 7% in August 2017 over August 2016, a statement issued by the coal ministry said.Data available with the Central Electricity Authority showed that the thermal power plants operated at 58% last month against 51.59% in the same period last year. Sources said wind-based generation dropped by 70% due to unfavourable weather conditions across states like Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.The hydro generation declined 12% due to less rainfall in southern and western states and nuclear generation was down by over 36%. Data available with India Energy Exchange showed that the trading volume on Wednesday stood at an all-time high of 183 million units, while prices peaked to Rs 9.2/unit on Tuesday across India for a 15-minute slot. The maximum clearing price on Wednesday was Rs 7.90/unit.Spot power prices have been rising since August, typically an irrigation period. They rose by 8.5% last month over previous month due to increase in electricity demand by the southern states. The market clearing price at Rs 3.13 per unit last month was 26% higher from price in July 2017 (Rs 2.49 per unit) and 44% higher than August 2016 (Rs 2.17 per unit).Meanwhile, coal secretary Susheel Kumar had on Tuesday reviewed coal stock position at various power plants and directed to raise loading to 250 railway rakes per day. \u201cFor every power plant, one subsidiary of Coal India (CIL) has been assigned the role of lead company. The lead company shall be responsible to monitor and ensure that power plants linked to it are out of criticality. A control room at CIL will monitor coal supply position to the TPPs on 24x7 basis,\u201d the statement said.", "output": "Spot market power prices in India reached a three-year high of INR9 ($0.14) per unit, as coal-based power plants ramped up production following a 70% drop in wind-based electricity last month, compared to August 2016. Less rainfall in southern and western states during the same period resulted in a 12% reduction in hydro power generation. The buoyant spot prices are expected to last until the weather turns cooler."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Harvey revives debate over 'undergrounding' of power lines \n Undergrounding\n\nIt is the height of a highly destructive hurricane season in the United States. The devastation of Harvey in Texas and Louisiana caused nearly 300,000 customers to lose electricity service, and Hurricane Irma has cut service to millions of people. Soon, winter storms will bring wind and snow to much of the country.\n\nImage Source: dphinton2003\n\nAnxious people everywhere worry about the impact these storms might have on their safety, comfort and convenience. Will they disrupt my commute to work? My children\u2019s ride to school? My electricity service?\n\nWhen it comes to electricity, people turn their attention to the power lines overhead and wonder if their electricity service might be more secure if those lines were buried underground. But having studied this question for utilities and regulators, I can say the answer is not that straightforward. Burying power lines, also called undergrounding, is expensive, requires the involvement of many stakeholders and might not solve the problem at all.\n\nWhere Should Ratepayer Money Go?\n\nElectric utilities do not provide service for free, as everyone who opens their utility bill every month can attest. All of the costs of providing service are ultimately paid by the utility\u2019s customers, so it is critical that every dollar spent on that service provides good value for those customers. Utility regulators in every state have the responsibility to ensure that utilities provide safe and reliable service at just and reasonable rates.\n\nBut what are customers willing to pay for ensuring reliability and mitigating risk? That\u2019s complicated. Consider consumer choices in automobile insurance. Some consumers choose maximum insurance coverage through a zero deductible. Others blanch at the higher premiums zero deductibles bring and choose a higher deductible at lower premium cost.\n\nTo provide insurance for electricity service, regulators and utilities must aggregate the preferences of individual customers into a single standard for the grid. It\u2019s a difficult task that requires a collaborative effort.\n\nThe state of Florida\u2019s reaction in the wake of the 2004-2005 hurricane seasons provides a model for this type of cooperative effort. Utilities, regulators and government officials meet every year to address the efficacy of Florida\u2019s storm hardening efforts and discuss how these efforts should evolve, including the selective undergrounding of power lines. This collaborative effort has resulted in the refinement of utility \u201cvegetation management practices\u201d \u2013 selective pruning of trees and bushes to avoid contact with power lines and transformers \u2013 in the state as well as a simulation model to assess the economic costs and benefits of undergrounding power lines.\n\nNationally, roughly 25 percent of new distribution and transmission lines are built underground, according to a 2012 industry study. Some European countries, including the Netherlands and Germany, have made significant commitments to undergrounding.\n\nBurying power lines costs roughly US$1 million per mile, but the geography or population density of the service area can halve this cost or triple it. In the wake of a statewide ice storm in December 2002, the North Carolina Utilities Commission and the electric utilities explored the feasibility of burying the state\u2019s distribution lines underground and concluded that the project would take 25 years to complete and increase electricity rates by 125 percent. The project was never begun, as the price increase was not seen as reasonable for consumers.\n\nA 2010 engineering study for the Public Service Commission on undergrounding a portion of the electricity system in the District of Columbia found that costs increased rapidly as utilities try to underground more of their service territory. The study concluded that a strategic $1.1 billion (in 2006 dollars) investment would improve the reliability for 65 percent of the customers in the utility\u2019s service territory, but an additional $4.7 billion would be required to improve service for the remaining 35 percent of customers in outlying areas. So, over 80 percent of the costs for the project would be required to benefit a little more than one third of the customers. The Mayor\u2019s Power Line Undergrounding Task Force ultimately recommended a $1 billion hardening project that would increase customer bills by 3.23 percent on average after seven years.\n\nShifting Risk\n\nIn addition to the capital cost, undergrounding may make routine maintenance of the system more difficult, and thus more expensive, because of reduced accessibility to power lines. This may also make it more difficult to repair the system when outages do occur, prolonging the duration of each outage. Utility regulators and distribution utilities must weigh this cost against the costs of repairing and maintaining the electricity system in its overhead state.\n\nElectricity service is valuable. A 2009 study from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated an economic cost of $10.60 for an eight-hour interruption in electricity service to the average residential customer. For an average small commercial or industrial customer the cost grew to $5,195, and to almost $70,000 for an average medium to large commercial or industrial customer. The economic benefits of storm hardening, therefore, are significant.\n\nBeyond the economic value of undergrounding, one could consider other benefits, such as aesthetic ones, which may be more difficult to quantify. But all costs and benefits must be considered to ensure value for the customer\u2019s investment.\n\nIn terms of reliability, it is not correct to say that burying power lines protects them from storm damage. It simply shifts the risk of damage from one type of storm effect to another.\n\nFor example, it is true that undergrounding can mitigate damage from wind events such as flying debris, falling trees and limbs, and collected ice and snow. But alternatives, such as proper vegetation management practices, replacing wood poles with steel, concrete or composite ones, or reinforcing utility poles with guy wires, may be nearly as effective in mitigating storm damage and may cost less.\n\nAlso, undergrounding power lines may make them more susceptible to damage from corrosive storm surge and flooding from rainfall or melting ice and snow. Areas with greater vulnerability to storm surge and flooding will confront systems that are less reliable (and at greater cost) as a result of undergrounding.\n\nSo, the relocation of some power lines underground may provide a cost-effective strategy to mitigate the risk of damage to elements of a utility\u2019s infrastructure. But these cases should be evaluated individually by the local distribution utility and its regulator. Otherwise consumers will end up spending more for their electricity service, and getting less.", "output": "The recent power outages wrought by Hurricane Harvey in the US have reopened the debate surrounding burying electricity lines, or \"undergrounding\". While a study found a quarter of all new electricity cables in the US and in some parts of Europe are laid underground, burying existing power lines costs about $1m per mile, which cannot be passed on to the consumer. Instead, some US states are adopting a holistic approach, with improved vegetation management practices to avoid trees falling on power lines or transformers."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Enel prize seeks to spark ideas on H2S\u00a0cuts in geothermal plants \n Enel seeking for innovation proposals on H2S abatement from geothermal operations\n\nGeothermal well in Italy (source: Enel)\n\nAlexander Richter 15 Sep 2017\n\nEnel Green Power is looking for novel solutions to maximize H2S abatement in geothermal power plants and at the same time reducing the OPEX associated with needs of chemicals in a challenge published and announces a reward of $17,800 for the winner.\n\nEnel Green Power is looking for novel solutions to maximize H2S abatement in geothermal power plants and at the same time reducing the OPEX associated with needs of chemicals. Moreover, the present end-cycle effect of the AMIS\u00ae (Abatement of Mercury and Hydrogen Sulfide) process is quite good: no materials from the reactions outcomes are handled as solid waste nor sulfur cake are produced to be reprocessed. These condition should not be penalized (or even better improved) by the proposed solutions.\n\nChallenge Expiration Date: October 12, 2017\n\nReward: EUR 15,000 \u2013 ca. $17,800\n\nChallenge: An alternative solution for H2S abatement in geothermal power plants\n\nDescription\n\nScenario\n\nSustainable integration of geothermal power plants and related infrastructures, abatement of the gaseous emission and of the cooling tower drift, reduced noise level, etc., allow the preservation of natural beauties, environmental features and life quality of the people living near the plants.\n\nOne of the major problem of the geothermal energy is related to the atmospheric emission of the power plants, mainly hydrogen sulphide and mercury in elemental form.\n\nHydrogen sulphide is characterized by an odor threshold concentration of few ppb (part per billion), remarkably lower than the reference value of 100 ppb (as 24 hours average) established by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the protection of the population health.\n\nHydrogen sulphide concentrations in the ambient air, measured both by ENEL and ARPAT (the Environmental Protection Agency of Tuscany) are much lower than WHO reference value, so that this compound doesn\u2019t pose any problem for the population health. However, the bad smell of hydrogensulphide is often perceived in the geothermal areas, depending on the atmospheric conditions and represents a real nuisance.\n\nAs for mercury, the emissions of this element are quite low, but there is some concern about possible build-up in the long term operation even at significant distances from the power plants, due to the mobility of this element.\n\nEmission cleaning and in particular the elimination of the bad smell of hydrogen sulphide is a crucial point for the perfect compatibility between geothermal exploitation and valuable use of the territory, fundamental requirement for the consensus of the local communities.\n\nOwing to the particular features of the Italian power plants (small and unattended) and of the geothermal fluids (high content of non condensable gases), the abatement technologies available on the market were not suitable and entailed excessive costs. As a consequence, it became necessary to develop an innovative process. This objective was achieved through the invention of AMIS\u00ae technology below outlined.\n\nThe invention of a proprietary technology (AMIS\u00ae \u2013 acronym for \u201cAbatement of Mercury and Hydrogen Sulfide\u201d in Italian language) for the abatement of hydrogen sulphide and mercury emission and its application both to new geothermal plants and to the retrofit of the existing one\u2019s is a cornerstone of the New Geothermal Deal in Italy. Hydrogen sulphide is responsible of the bad smell often perceived in the geothermal areas.\n\nAMIS\u00ae is an environmentally friendly process because doesn\u2019t produce sulphur based by-products to be landfilled or recycled.\n\nAt present, all power plants are equipped with AMIS\u00ae systems. The process consists of three basic steps:\n\nRemoval of mercury by chemical absorption;\n\nSelective catalytic oxidation of hydrogen sulfide to sulfur dioxide;\n\nSulfur dioxide scrubbing by a side stream of cooling water.\n\nAccording to the ammonia content of the steam, which contributes to neutralize the absorbed SO2, the process may require the addition of chemicals (e.g. sodium hydroxide) to maintain the cooling water within the desired pH range. NaOH is injected in the column feed. Unfortunately, the cost of sodium hydroxide is getting an operative issue.\n\nTherefore, Enel GP is looking for novel solutions to maximize H2S abatement and at the same time reducing the OPEX associated with needs of chemicals.\n\nThe Challenge\n\nEnel GP is looking for novel solutions to maximize H2S abatement in geothermal power plants and at the same time reducing the OPEX associated with needs of chemicals. Moreover, the present end-cycle effect of the AMIS\u00ae (Abatement of Mercury and Hydrogen Sulfide) process is quite good: no materials from the reactions outcomes are handled as solid waste nor sulfur cake are produced to be reprocessed. These condition should be considered in the proposed solution and should not be penalized (or even better improved) by the new proposed solutions\n\nAny proposed solution should address the following Solution Requirements:\n\nThe proposed solution must maximize H2S abatement in geothermal fluids, without using or minimizing chemicals The proposed solution must be economical (including capital, installation and maintenance costs) in order to be amenable to mass deployment in geothermal plants The solution must be easy to install and require low maintenance The proposed solution must be adaptable to typical geothermal plants The solution must use no toxic chemicals or have any negative impact on the environment The proposed system should offer the Seeker \u201cfreedom to practice\u201d or be available for potential licensing. There should be no third party patent art preventing the use of specific equipment and materials for their commercial application.\n\nThe submitted proposal should include the following:\n\nDetailed description of the proposed solution that can meet the above Solution Requirements. Rationale as to why the Solver believes that the proposed solution will work. This rationale should address each of the Solution Requirements described in the Detailed Description and should be supported with any relevant examples. Data, drawings, case studies, patent and journal references or any additional material that stitionupports the proposed solution.\n\nDetails of AMIS process are available in the attached Regulation, as annex 1.\n\nThe following links can be used by Solvers as a first introduction to the AMIS\u00ae technology:\n\nBaldacci A., 2001. Italian Patent #01305033 dated 10 April 2001 (applied for 16 October 1998).Baldacci A., M. Mannari and F. Sansone, 2005: \u201cGreening of Geothermal Power: An Innovative Technology for Abatement of Hydrogen Sulphide and Mercury Emission.\u201d Proceedings of World Geothermal Congress 2005, Antalya, Turkey, 24-29 April 2005. Cesare Pertot, Fabio Sabatelli, Massimo Messia, Marco D\u2019aleo, 2013: \u201cAssessment of Geothermal Power Plants Impact on Air Quality \u2013 Effect of H2S Abatement with AMIS\u00ae in the Larderello-Travale-Radicondoli Geothermal Area (Tuscany)\u201d. Proceedings of European Geothermal Congress 2013, Pisa, Italy, 3?7 June 2013 Fabio Sabatelli, Massimo Mannari, and Roberto Parri, 2009: \u201cHydrogen Sulfide and Mercury Abatement: Development and Successful Operation of AMIS\u00ae Technology\u201d, GRC Transactions, Vol. 33, 2009\n\nChallenge rules\n\nThis challenge has a specific Regulations and it is available as attachment at the end of this page. Read the Regulations to see terms and conditions of this challenge and to see if you can take part to the contest. All proposers are invited to read it keeping in mind that submitting a solution they automatically accept the Regulations other than the Terms of Usage of this platform.\n\nWhat happens next?\n\nAn Enel technical panel will evaluate your proposal and might contact you to gather additional information.\n\nYour innovative proposal will be evaluated based on technical parameters, economic and business impact for Enel. The presentation of the proposal will also be evaluated.\n\nAt the end of the assessment, you will receive feedback.\n\nIn case of success, an Enel contact person will get in touch with you to discuss the next steps.\n\nSource & Details via: Enel", "output": "Italian renewable energy firm Enel Green Power has launched a competition to find new ways of maximising\u00a0hydrogen sulphide abatement in geothermal power plants. A prize of \u20ac15,000 ($18,000) is available for the winning solution, which the rules state must be easy to install, low-cost\u00a0and adaptable to typical geothermal plants. Also, it must have no harmful impact on the environment nor\u00a0interfere with current processes.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "VC firm uses IPO capital to invest in tech start-ups \n Brian Ach/Getty Images for TechCrunch\n\nChamath Palihapitiya, a \"Midas touch\" investor, has raised $600 million in the initial public offering for his new firm, Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings.\n\nIts shares, priced at $10 under the ticker IPOA.U, were up on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday.\n\nThe firm will use its IPO money to fund other well-performing private tech startups.\n\nChamath Palihapitiya, founder of the venture-capital firm Social Capital, is setting himself up to become the Warren Buffett of tech investing. To that end, he has launched a new \"blank-check\" company in partnership with the London-based VC firm Hedosophia, aptly named Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp.\n\nOn Wednesday, Social Capital Hedosophia announced it had raised $600 million in its initial public offering, an increase from the $500 million the company originally filed for at the beginning of September. The shares were listed on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday at $10 and were up 3.5% in the first half of Thursday.\n\nDespite the high price tag, Social Capital Hedosophia doesn't have any products or customers, and it doesn't own anything yet. The company plans to buy stakes in private tech companies \u2014 from minority stakes to controlling interests to full ownership.\n\nThe idea is to give these tech companies the benefits of being a publicly traded company \u2014 like easier access to capital \u2014 with fewer drawbacks, like the \"distraction\" of doing the actual IPO and the bother of the quarterly, short-term view of investors, Social Capital Hedosophia explained in the documents it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.\n\nThis tactic also gives public investors access to the wealth created by well-performing private tech companies. Right now, most of that wealth is going to a small pool of investors, mainly the VCs and private-equity firms that get invited to the investment table.\n\nSocial Capital Hedosophia estimates that as of May, there were about 150 tech startups valued at over $1 billion, compared with about 200 public technology companies with a market cap of $1 billion. In years past, those 150 startups would have become public companies. Today, they can hold out as private ones indefinitely because there's so much money available to fund their growth from private investors.\n\nSuch blank-check public companies, which raise money first and then figure out how to invest it, are in vogue, according to The Wall Street Journal's Maureen Farrell. Twenty-two such funds have been launched on US exchanges so far this year, raising $6.9 billion, Farrell reports, citing Dealogic data.\n\nThat's not necessarily to say Palihapitiya's will succeed in picking tech companies that will make its investors wealthy. But it is being backed by a who's who in the Valley circles \u2014 Tony Bates, a Social Capital partner who's best known as the former CEO of Skype, is on the holding company's board.\n\nAlso on the board is Adam Bain, the well-liked former chief operating officer of Twitter who has been relishing in time off from a full-time job since he left in November. Bain has been advising startups and doing some other investments and board work, such as joining that of the sneaker company Goat last summer. There has been a lot of speculation about which company will finally talk Bain out of his retirement and back into an exec role.\n\nBut Palihapitiya will be the CEO of Social Capital Hedosophia. He's well known as one of the original executives of Facebook and an owner and board member of the Golden State Warriors. As an investor, he has backed companies like Box, Palantir, Pure Storage, Slack, and Yammer.", "output": "A \"blank cheque\" venture capital company is using share capital to invest in private tech firms. Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings, which raised $600m for\u00a0its recent IPO, plans to use the raised funding to invest in tech start-ups. The investments will grant the start-ups\u00a0some of the benefits of being a public company, like access to capital, without having to go through the IPO process themselves. It also means portfolio companies will not have to meet financial\u00a0expectation of short-term orientated shareholders. Social Capital's backers include\u00a0Tony Bates, former CEO of Skype, and Adam Bain, former COO of Twitter.\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New Australian energy policy would not rule out more coal power \n Malcolm Turnbull has signalled the government\u2019s eventual response to the Finkel review will not create any barriers to building new coal-fired power stations, as he secured additional undertakings from energy retailers to be more transparent with customers.\n\n\n\nAfter a meeting with energy retailers in Sydney on Wednesday, the prime minister was asked whether a clean energy target would be set at a threshold allowing for a new coal plant.\n\nThe prime minister said \u201cI don\u2019t foresee there being any barrier to a new coal-fired power station being built\u201d.\n\nTurnbull said the government had a technology agnostic approach to energy policy and his view was \u201call of the above\u201d.\n\nIt was the second meeting in a month with energy retailers, and extracted undertakings that retailers would write to customers to inform them of more cost-effective plans.\n\nThe retailers agreed to write to 2 million customers on standing offers by Christmas and give them information that should help them obtain better rates.\n\nThe energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, said the companies had also agreed to move to a system where customers could access their consumption data and their payment data on a bar code on their bill, \u201cand by using a smartphone or a similar device, they can click on that barcode and then automatically get access to better deals that are available in the market\u201d.\n\nThe government also wants energy retailers to issue monthly accounts to customers in an effort to prevent bill shock but the companies say there are practical difficulties with this if customers are not hooked up to smart meters.\n\nLast time they met the government, the energy companies delivered a message that they were not interested in prolonging the life of their ageing coal plants and they were looking for certainty about whether the government would legislate a clean energy target as recommended by the Finkel review.\n\nInternal Coalition divisions have prevented a quick resolution on how to proceed with the clean energy target and the government is also waiting for a report from the Australian Energy Market Operator about the dispatchable power requirements of the electricity grid after the closure of two ageing coal-fired power stations.\n\nThat report is due imminently.\n\nThe Finkel review modelled a scheme where the threshold for the clean energy target was set at 0.6 tonnes of CO2 per megawatt hour \u2013 which would rule out coal operators being eligible for certificates.\n\nThe chief scientist, Alan Finkel, told Guardian Australia in mid-June the government could set the threshold anywhere it liked but it would be \u201csurprising\u201d if governments endorsed a scheme that \u201cincentivised\u201d coal-fired power.\n\nSince the Finkel report was published, the Minerals Council of Australia has launched a fierce lobbying effort in Canberra to ensure the clean energy target threshold is set high enough to include \u201cclean\u201d coal.\n\nThe Nationals have also made it plain they want coal to remain in Australia\u2019s energy mix as part of the government\u2019s reset on energy policy, either through new capacity or refurbishing existing plants.\n\nIn mid-July, the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, told Guardian Australia he was prepared to support a clean energy target if the Liberals agreed to set a threshold allowing high-efficiency coal in the mix.\n\nVarious members of the government have said different things at different times about coal and the desirability of government intervention to build new plants.\n\nThe prime minister earlier this week told the ABC the government had no plans to build a coal-fired power station.\n\nAsked whether he would rule out funding any coal-fired power stations, Turnbull replied: \u201cWell, we have no plans to do so.\u201d\n\nAsked on Wednesday whether he had now ruled out building a power station, Turnbull said: \u201cNo, what I said was \u2013 I was asked if we had any plans to build a coal-fired power station, and I said we didn\u2019t\u201d.\n\nTurnbull repeated arguments he has made previously that there is a case for Australia to have a next-generation coal-fired power station. \u201cI would certainly welcome that.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe are the largest exporter of coal in the world,\u201d he said. \u201cCoal has a big future to play, not just in our electricity generation, for many, many years to come, but in the world\u2019s.\n\n\u201cWe have a vested interest in demonstrating that coal has a high-efficiency, low-emissions future, so I would welcome a high-efficiency, low-emissions coal-fired power station being built in Australia.\n\n\u201cIt would be a good thing.\u201d\n\nThe Labor leader, Bill Shorten, said on Wednesday the country needed \u201creal solutions, not just window dressing\u201d on energy prices.\n\nShorten said nothing would improve on energy prices until Australia had a new climate and energy policy to give investors certainty.\n\nHe said the No 1 cause of rising prices was policy uncertainty. \u201cWe need a clean energy target\u201d.", "output": "Any investment policy for the energy sector will need to keep coal-fired power stations open, said Australia's deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce. Although the Australian government is due to decide on a new investment mechanism, the Coalition will not introduce clean energy targets modelled by Alan Finkel, Australia's chief scientist. Finkel's targets would deny certificates to new coal power stations. The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, said: \u201cI don\u2019t foresee there being any barrier to a new coal-fired power station being built.\u201d He added that the government had a technology-agnostic approach."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk TalkTalk appoints Kate Ferry as chief financial officer \n Talktalk Telecom (LSE:TALK)\n\nHistorical Stock Chart\n\nFrom Jun 2018 to Jun 2023\n\nTIDMTALK\n\nRNS Number : 8891Q\n\nTalkTalk Telecom Group PLC\n\n15 September 2017\n\nRNS Announcement\n\n15 September 2017\n\nFor Immediate Release\n\nTalkTalk Telecom Group PLC\n\nDirectorate Change\n\nFurther to our announcement on 10 July 2017 we are pleased to confirm that Kate Ferry's appointment as the group's Chief Financial Officer will commence on 9 October 2017. Iain Torrens will step down from the Board on 30 September 2017.\n\nThere is no further information to disclose under paragraph 9.6.13 of the Listing Rules in respect of this appointment.\n\n- End -\n\nEnquiries\n\nMal Patel, Investor Relations: +44 (0) 20 3417 1037 Tim Morris, Company Secretary: +44 (0)203 417 1000\n\nThis information is provided by RNS\n\nThe company news service from the London Stock Exchange\n\nEND\n\nBOAKMGMLLKMGNZG\n\n(END) Dow Jones Newswires\n\nSeptember 15, 2017 05:52 ET (09:52 GMT)", "output": "Kate Ferry has been made TalkTalk chief financial officer, effective from 9 October. The present chief financial officer, Iain Torrens, will step down from the board on 30 September.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EU safety study on glyphosate copied from Monsanto report \n The European food safety authority (Efsa) based a recommendation that a chemical linked to cancer was safe for public use on an EU report that copied and pasted analyses from a Monsanto study, the Guardian can reveal.\n\nGlyphosate is the core ingredient in Monsanto\u2019s $4.75bn (\u00a33.5bn) a year RoundUp weedkiller brand and a battle over its relicensing has split EU countries, with a final decision on its authorisation expected in early November.\n\nThat decision will largely be informed by an Efsa opinion, which is based on a 4,300-page renewal assessment report (RAR) published in 2015.\n\nIn June, Efsa said that where the RAR was concerned, \u201cevery scientific study is scrutinised for relevance and reliability by EU risk assessors based on the evidence contained within the study\u201d.\n\nBut dozens of pages of the paper are identical to passages in an application submitted by Monsanto on behalf of the Glyphosate Task Force (GTF), an industry body led by the company.\n\nThese sections analyse peer-reviewed studies into links between glyphosate and genotoxicity (how likely it is to cause cell mutations), carcinogenicity and reproductive damage.\n\nFranziska Achterberg, Greenpeace EU\u2019s food policy director, said: \u201cWhether this is a question of negligence or intent, it is completely unacceptable.\n\n\u201cIt calls into question the entire EU pesticide approval process. If regulators rely on the industry\u2019s evaluation of the science without doing their own assessment, the decision whether pesticides are deemed safe or not is effectively in the industry\u2019s hands.\u201d\n\nEfsa insists that it has a \u201crobust, well-balanced independence policy\u201d and that it views the RAR as separate from the authority\u2019s conclusion which follows it. The RAR is prepared by an EU state\u2019s regulator \u2013 in this case Germany\u2019s BfR \u2013 rather than Efsa itself.\n\nAn Efsa spokesperson said: \u201cIt is important to stress that these are extracts from and references to publicly available studies submitted by the applicant as part of their obligation under the pesticide legislation to carry out a literature search. In other words, these are not Glyphosate Task Force studies but rather studies available in the public scientific literature.\u201d\n\nEven so, the Efsa paper repeats descriptions \u2013 and analyses \u2013 verbatim from the 2012 GTF review. One of these, by former and current Monsanto employees John Acquavella and Donna Farmer, challenges the results of a study which found an association between pesticide use and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.\n\nIt says: \u201cThe major limitations of this study were: the reliance on reported pesticide use (not documented exposure) information, the small number of subjects who reported use of specific pesticides, the possibility of recall bias, the reliance on secondary sources (next-of-kin interviews) for approximately 43% of the pesticide use information, and the difficulty in controlling for potential confounding factors, given the small number of exposed subjects.\u201d\n\nSome other sections are differentiated from the GTF paper by additions of text and reference numbers, different marking of headings and tables, capitalisations, changes from US to British spelling and some text cuts.\n\nMost paragraphs dealing with peer-reviewed papers, though, are copied word for word. A Monsanto spokesperson said that Efsa allowed renewal reports to be written this way because of the large volume of toxicological studies submitted.\n\n\u201cThere was an explanation by Efsa that direct passages from the industry application were included,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cThis should by no means be understood as Efsa\u2019s conclusion on glyphosate.\u201d\n\nThe row over glyphosate\u2019s safety has pitted scientists against each other \u2013 and regulators \u2013 with one branch of the World Health Organisation assessing that the substance was unlikely to be carcinogenic, while another ruled that it probably was.", "output": "Glyphosate, the major ingredient in Monsanto\u2019s RoundUp weedkiller, was recommended as safe for public use by the European Food Safety Authority (Efsa) based on an\u00a0EU\u00a0report that copied and pasted elements of a Monsanto study, according to The Guardian. Glyphosate has been linked to cancer, and EU countries have been divided over whether to re-license the chemical in November. The Efsa's\u00a0recommendation is based on a report published in 2015, dozens of pages of which are identical to those in a Monsanto application on behalf of industry body, the Glyphosate Task Force.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US-Norwegian firm wins part funding for Nordic data centre \n Last month, the newly formed US-Norwegian company made public its plan to build the 600,000 sq m (6.46m sq ft) green facility in Narvik, Norway, with up to 1,000MW of power capacity. Kolos joins the ranks of Facebook , Apple , Google , and companies involved in the Lefdal Mine project, all of which have their own massive data centers in the Nordics.\n\nData center developer Kolos has received $2.5m from a consortium of investors which includes the Fast Track Venture Capital, to fund its massive data center project in the Arctic Circle.\n\nWhen the campus was announced, Kolos had already obtained part of the necessary funding for the project, and was in talks with US investment fund Headwaters MB - which has since agreed to raise $250m for the company - to secure the remaining cash.\n\nThe data center will rely entirely on hydro and wind power sources, which are said to hold enough energy locally to provide twice the amount required for the facility, while using water from the surrounding fjords to cool its servers.\n\nConstruction of the first module, which will support up to 60MW of IT equipment, is planned to begin in early 2018.", "output": "Investors including Fast Track Venture Capital have invested $2.5m in Kolos, a US-Norwegian company that plans to build a 600,000 sq metre green data centre in Narvik, Norway. The 1,000 MW data centre will operate entirely on hydro and wind power sources, and the water from surrounding fjords will be used to cool its servers. US investment fund Headwaters MB has pledged to raise the remaining $250m of funding needed for the project.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Global hunger rose in 2016, for first time this century \n The number of hungry people in the world has increased for the first time since the turn of the century, sparking concern that conflict and climate change could be reversing years of progress.\n\nIn 2016, the number of chronically undernourished people reached 815 million, up 38 million from the previous year. The increase is due largely to the proliferation of violence and climate-related shocks, according to the state of food insecurity and nutrition in 2017, a report produced by five UN agencies.\n\nThe study also noted a rise in the number of people globally who are chronically hungry, from 10.6% in 2015 to 11% in 2016.\n\nCindy Holleman, a senior economist at the Food and Agriculture Organisation, said it was hard to know whether the increase was a blip or marked the reversal of a long-term trend. However, she said the rise in conflict and climate change \u2013 factors that rank alongside economic slowdown, which makes food hard to access for poor people, as key drivers of food insecurity \u2013 was cause for concern.\n\n\u201cWhether it has been a blip and it\u2019s going to go back down again, we\u2019re not sure,\u201d said Holleman. \u201cBut we\u2019re sending warning signals. We are sending a message that something is going on.\n\n\u201cIf you look at the 815 million [chronically undernourished] people, 489 million or 60% of them are located in countries affected by conflict. Over the last decade we\u2019re seen a significant increase in conflict. We also see that conflict combined with climatic effects is having a significant effect.\u201d\n\nA foreword to the report, written jointly by the heads of the five UN agencies, said: \u201cOver the past decade, conflicts have risen dramatically in number and become more complex and intractable in nature.\n\n\u201cThis has set off alarm bells we cannot afford to ignore: we will not end hunger and all forms of malnutrition by 2030 unless we address all the factors that undermine food security and nutrition. Securing peaceful and inclusive societies is a necessary condition to that end.\u201d\n\nOxfam\u2019s head of food and climate change, Robin Willoughby, said:\n\n\u201cThis must act as a wake-up call for international leaders and institutions to do more to resolve the catastrophic cocktail of climate change and conflict around the world. Global failure to tackle these issues affects us all, but it\u2019s the world\u2019s poorest who will suffer most.\u201d\n\nThe report is the first UN global assessment of food security and nutrition following the adoption of the sustainable development goals, which aim to end hunger and all forms of malnutrition by 2030.\n\nProgress has been made on reducing global hunger, which affected more than 900 million people at the turn of the century. Over the past year, however, hunger has reached an \u201cextreme level\u201d in many parts of the world, with famine declared in South Sudan in February, and Yemen, north-east Nigeria and Somalia considered on the brink.\n\nPeople living in countries affected by protracted crisis are nearly two and a half times more likely to be undernourished than those living elsewhere, the report said.\n\nFuelled partly by extreme weather patterns resulting from El Ni\u00f1o, food security \u201cdeteriorated sharply\u201d in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and in south-east and western Asia, said the report.Chronic child malnutrition continues to fall, but at a slower rate in some regions, the report found. Wasting remains a threat to the lives of 52 million children.\n\n\n\nOverweight and obesity rates in children are rising in most regions, and in all regions for adults. Such \u201cmultiple burdens\u201d for malnutrition is a \u201ccause for serious concern\u201d, said the report.\n\nAfrica has the highest levels of severe food insecurity, affecting 27.4% of the population \u2013 almost four times that of any other region. Higher food insecurity was also observed in Latin America, rising from 4.7% to 6.4%.", "output": "The number of chronically undernourished people in the world rose by 38 million to 815 million in 2016, signalling the first rise this century, according to a report by five United Nations agencies. The study states that the increase is largely due to conflict and climate-related factors. Of the 815 million, 60% live in countries affected by conflict. The report also stated that the number of people experiencing chronic hunger rose from 10.6% in 2015 to 11% last year. Researchers stated that it was unclear whether the rise was a blip or the\u00a0sign of a long-term trend.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Global hunger rose in 2016, for first time this century \n The world is in a very different place to where it was six years ago when it committed to the goal of ending hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition by 2030.\n\nAt the time, we were optimistic that with transformative approaches, past progress could be accelerated, at scale, to put us on track to achieve that goal.\n\nYet, the past four editions of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) revealed a humbling reality.\n\nThe world has not been generally progressing either towards ensuring access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food for all people all year round (SDG Target 2.1), or to eradicating all forms of malnutrition (SDG Target 2.2).\n\nConflict, climate variability and extremes, and economic slowdowns and downturns are the major drivers slowing down progress, particularly where inequality is high. The COVID-19 pandemic made the pathway towards SDG2 even steeper.\n\nSo, if the world is at a critical juncture, where do we stand now? And what can be done to help us build forward better and put us on track to achieving Zero Hunger?", "output": "The number of chronically undernourished people in the world rose by 38 million to 815 million in 2016, signalling the first rise this century, according to a report by five United Nations agencies. The study states that the increase is largely due to conflict and climate-related factors. Of the 815 million, 60% live in countries affected by conflict. The report also stated that the number of people experiencing chronic hunger rose from 10.6% in 2015 to 11% last year. Researchers stated that it was unclear whether the rise was a blip or the\u00a0sign of a long-term trend.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Viridian to pay $80m dividend\u00a0to US private equity firm owner \n Belfast-based energy group Viridian plans to pay a \u20ac60 million dividend up to its ultimate parent group, majority owned by US private equity firm I-Squared, as it undergoes a refinancing of its debt.\n\nThe onwner of electricity and gas supplier Energia and Power NI has confirmed it plans to redeem in full its \u20ac540 million of existing bonds and issue the equivalent of \u20ac600 million of cheaper notes, denominated in sterling and euro.\n\nThe company plans to pay a \u00a360 million (\u20ac66mn) dividend to its recently-formed Cayman Islands-based parent, Viridian Topco Limited, which was set up by I-Squared earlier this year as it sold a minority stake in Viridian to an unknown investor.\n\nThe existing debt, issued in February 2015, carries a 7.5 per cent interest rate and Viridian's chief executive Ian Thom noted on a call with analysts late last month that its rivals' funding costs are currently below 4 per cent, given how bond yields have fallen in the past two-and-a-half years.\n\nREAD MORE\n\nViridian passed a milestone on September 1st where it could exercise an option for early redemption of the debt, which was ordinarily not due to mature until 2020.\n\nI-Squared, founded in 2012 by former executives from Morgan Stanley, bought Viridian in an estimated \u20ac1 billion deal last year from Bahrain\u2019s Arcapital Bank, which owned the power company for almost decade.", "output": "New York-based private equity firm I-Squared is in line for an $80m dividend once Northern Irish energy company Viridian restructures its debt. The Belfast-based group plans to redeem \u20ac540m ($645m) of existing bonds and issue the equivalent of \u20ac600m of cheaper notes in euro and sterling, with the existing debt carrying an interest rate of 7.5%. In September, the company became able to exercise an option for early redemption of the debt, which was not due to mature until 2020. I-Squared set up Viridian's parent company, Viridian Topco,\u00a0earlier this year, which will receive the dividend payment.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Reporter\u2019s Notebook: In Health Care, A Good Price (Or Any Price) Is Hard To Find \n A recent story about why Northern California is the most expensive place in the country to have a baby began as a tip from an obstetrician. Dr. Sarah Azad told me that insurers were paying her just a third of what they pay doctors employed by large hospital systems in her town of Mountain View, Calif.\n\nUnfortunately, she explained, she could speak only in general terms. She couldn\u2019t share her actual payment rates with me because she was barred from doing so by a gag clause in her contracts with insurers.\n\nSo, I called the insurers who pay her, and the hospital systems that employ most of the other obstetricians in Mountain View. They all had the same answer: It would be illegal for them to tell me the dollars and cents.\n\nUse Our Content This KHN story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nAs it turns out, the vast majority of contracts between doctors or hospitals and insurance companies are subject to a gag clause, which prohibits either party from disclosing negotiated rates. That means it\u2019s almost impossible for consumers, researchers or journalists to find actual, accurate numbers, despite the fact that cost differentials among doctors can be so stark. And it\u2019s particularly problematic for the growing number of people who have insurance plans with deductibles that can run more than $10,000 for a family.\n\nThe underlying problem of our health care system \u2014 beyond the corrosive partisan politics \u2014 is its high cost. I have long understood that the lack of price transparency is one reason our system stays so expensive. It was a surprise, though, to find out that this opacity is cemented by legally binding contracts.\n\nThink about what this would look like for a mundane purchase, say, a gallon of milk. Advertisements and price tags would disappear, so you couldn\u2019t compare prices at different stores. And you wouldn\u2019t even know how much you had paid for the milk until you got a bill in the mail weeks or months later. On top of that, the store and the dairy farmer would be barred from telling a journalist or an economist what you had paid.\n\nIt\u2019s absurd, but I wasn\u2019t going to let the absurdity kill my story.\n\nI started by asking all of the health policy analysts, researchers and economists I could find, \u201cHow can I find these rates, by physician, for an uncomplicated vaginal delivery?\u201d Everyone told me the same thing: You can\u2019t get that.\n\nI searched online, but most of the websites claiming to offer health price transparency offered only \u201caverage costs\u201d for specific services in your area. Not much help if you\u2019re trying to compare the costs of individual doctors.\n\nNext, I asked Castlight, a \u201ctransparency tool\u201d that gathers payment data and allows employees of certain companies to estimate the costs of their medical care. But Castlight told me that as a journalist, I wasn\u2019t allowed to have access to the exact pricing information of individual providers. It, too, was subject to the gag clause.\n\nSo I turned to the consumers who might have access to those tools. I asked friends and colleagues, and put out social media requests: Would anyone be willing to share the information from the cost estimators they got from their employers or insurers? I found a few willing sources and was able to mine the results of their inquiries to find out the basic cost differentials between independent doctors and those employed by large systems, including Sutter Health.\n\nUnfortunately, these estimators are difficult to use and often provide incomplete data. And when I tried to confirm that information, I ran up against the gag clauses again.\n\nFinally, I found out about a health data company called Amino that was willing to send me the claims data it had been gathering. At last! The Holy Grail! It had hundreds of claims for vaginal births performed by obstetricians in the Bay Area. KHN data correspondent Sydney Lupkin helped me decipher a Medicare provider database to determine where each doctor worked. In cases where the doctor\u2019s employment status was unclear, I called the health system or physician directly. We then calculated the median billing amount, on average, for a routine vaginal birth for each health system.\n\nWeeks of digging and data analysis confirmed the imbalance Dr. Azad had told me about at the start of my quest. The few independent doctors left in the Bay Area receive a median amount of $2,408.45 for a routine vaginal delivery, which includes prenatal and postnatal visits. That compares with $5,238.13 for the same bundle of services provided by Stanford physicians and $8,049.84 when the doctors are employed by University of California-San Francisco \u2014 a fourfold difference.\n\nHard data, hard won.\n\nThe database we built gave us a strong sense of the cost variation between doctors who work at other health systems and those who have remained independent. But it did not include enough claims from the largest hospital system in the region, Sutter Health. For Sutter, I used the data from the online cost estimators, and found that obstetricians employed by the system are reimbursed about $6,452 for a vaginal delivery.\n\nIt\u2019s no accident that data on physician costs are so hard to find. Its inaccessibility allows hospitals to keep raising their prices. It\u2019s simply not in their interest for the public to know how much they\u2019re charging. And insurers don\u2019t want other doctors or hospitals to see the high prices they\u2019ve agreed to pay, for fear they would demand the same.\n\nIn the end, all of us \u2014 through our insurance premiums and our taxes \u2014 pay a price for non-transparency.", "output": "A recent story about why Northern California is the most expensive place in the country to have a baby began as a tip from an obstetrician. Dr. Sarah Azad told me\u00a0that insurers were paying her just a third of what they pay doctors employed by large hospital systems in her town of Mountain View, Calif.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "It\u2019s now time for Medicare for all \n Senator Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, and Jeff Merkley, are introducing a Medicare For All bill in the Senate. It\u2019s a model for where this nation needs to be headed.\n\nSome background: American spending on health care per person is more than twice the average in the world\u2019s 35 advanced economies. Yet Americans are sicker, our lives are shorter, and we have more chronic illnesses than in any other advanced nation.\n\nThat\u2019s because medical care is so expensive for the typical American that many put off seeing a doctor until their health has seriously deteriorated.\n\nWhy is health care so much cheaper in other nations? Partly because their governments negotiate lower rates with health care providers. In France, the average cost of a magnetic resonance imaging exam is $363. In the United States, it\u2019s $1,121. There, an appendectomy costs $4,463. Here, it\u2019s $13,851.\n\nThe French can get lower rates because they cover everyone \u2014 which gives them lots of bargaining power.\n\nOther nations also don\u2019t have to pay the costs of private insurers shelling out billions of dollars a year for advertising and marketing \u2014 much of it intended to attract healthier and younger people and avoid the sicker and older.\n\nNor do other nations have to pay boatloads of money to the shareholders and executives of big for-profit insurance companies.\n\nFinally, they don\u2019t have to bear the high administrative costs of private insurers \u2014 requiring endless paperwork to keep track of every procedure by every provider.\n\nAccording to the Kaiser Family Foundation, Medicare\u2019s administrative costs are about 2 percent of its operating expenses. That\u2019s less than one-sixth the administrative costs of America\u2019s private insurers.\n\nTo make matters worse for Americans, the nation\u2019s private health insurers are merging like mad to suck in even more money from consumers and taxpayers by reducing competition.\n\nAt the same time, their focus on attracting healthy people and avoiding sick people is creating a vicious circle. Insurers that take in sicker and costlier patients lose money, which forces them to raise premiums, co-payments and deductibles. This, in turn, makes it harder for people most in need of health insurance to afford it.\n\nThis phenomenon has even plagued health exchanges under the Affordable Care Act.\n\nMedicare for all would avoid all these problems and get lower prices and better care.\n\nIdeally, it would be financed the same way Medicare and Social Security are financed, through the payroll tax. Wealthy Americans should pay a higher payroll tax rate and contribute more than lower-income people. But everyone would come out ahead because total health care costs would be far lower, and outcomes far better.\n\nA Gallup poll conducted in May found that a majority of Americans would support such a system. A poll by the Pew Research Center shows that such support is growing, with 60 percent of Americans now saying government should be responsible for ensuring health care coverage for all Americans \u2014 up from 51 percent last year.\n\nDemocrats are wise to seize the moment. The time has come for Medicare for all.", "output": "Senator Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, and Jeff Merkley, are introducing a Medicare For All bill in the Senate. It\u2019s a model for where this nation needs to be headed.\n\n \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Health Care Next Steps: Listen, Learn, and Strengthen Today\u2019s Marketplace \n As I listen intently to members of Congress, thought leaders and members of the Trump administration, I am encouraged by how Congress and President Donald Trump came together in the last week to supply urgently needed aid to the victims of Hurricane Harvey. They responded to the emergency with overwhelming bipartisan support, and they may need to do so again rapidly for storm victims in Florida.\n\nI am also heartened by what could be an emerging, bipartisan health policy direction to respond to struggling individual insurance markets \u2014 at least in the near term. While we must engage over the long term about how to restructure the health care marketplace, we need to increase the chances right now for the existing marketplace to succeed. This means policymakers should consider immediate legislation to appropriate funds for cost-sharing reductions that help the most vulnerable afford insurance and provide states more flexibility to demonstrate different ways to achieve the goal of increasing coverage and decreasing costs.\n\nI applaud Chairman Lamar Alexander and ranking member Patty Murray of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in the Senate for scheduling four committee hearings this month on short- and long-term health care reform. One of the witnesses at the second hearing was Gov. John Hickenlooper of Colorado. He joined with Ohio Gov. John Kasich and a bipartisan group of six other governors on Aug. 30 to outline a commonsense, short-term approach to strengthen the existing markets, jump start state innovation and more effectively control costs.\n\nTheir recipe for achieving these goals includes funding the CSRs through 2019; creating a temporary state stability fund; keeping the individual mandate for now; and adding flexibility and a fast track process to the state waiver process, among a number of other thought-provoking ideas.\n\nOthers are coalescing around similar bipartisan proposals. The Bipartisan Policy Center\u2019s Future of Health Care expert panel called for a two-stage approach to health care reform. First, the panel advocates for stabilizing the individual insurance market and then taking on the more challenging task of addressing the more fundamental structural challenges in our health care system. The BPC\u2019s recommendations are similar in scope and content to the eight governors\u2019 letter. The BPC recommends a two-year extension of the CSRs, a health insurance stability fund, greater use of health savings accounts and a study of alternatives to the individual mandate.\n\nWhile details will differ and must be worked out, Ascension applauds the efforts of each of these groups of thought leaders in driving consensus around a short-term bill that will strengthen the health care marketplace. Ascension supports continued funding of the CSRs. We believe that the parties should engage on ways to increase flexibility for states so that they can unleash innovation and creativity on expanding coverage and decreasing costs. We hope that the federal government and states will do more to hasten the transformation of our health care system to one that rewards value rather than volume. The kind of flexibility that allows more proactive experimentation with value-based financing should be applauded.\n\nStrengthening the health care marketplace is an issue that unites policymakers, thought leaders, consumers, providers and insurers, and there is a spark of agreement forming across the political parties. All of us want a strong marketplace, and it is essential we get the right premium rates, care delivery networks and care management programs in place to stabilize the marketplace. While thought leaders and policymakers differ markedly on how that marketplace should be constructed for the long term, all of us agree that the marketplace that we have right now should be as strong as possible in the near term to serve all of us, especially those most vulnerable. Congress should act now to take the steps needed to strengthen today\u2019s health care marketplace. For those without access to affordable insurance, it is an emergency. Every health care consumer will benefit, and it would provide us the opportunity to then re-engage in the fundamentally important debate about how to structure the marketplace for the long term.\n\n\n\nAnthony R. Tersigni, EdD, FACHE, is president and CEO of Ascension, the nation\u2019s largest nonprofit health system.\n\nMorning Consult welcomes op-ed submissions on policy, politics and business strategy in our coverage areas. Updated submission guidelines can be found here.", "output": "As I listen intently to members of Congress, thought leaders and members of the Trump administration, I am encouraged by how Congress and President Donald Trump came together in the last week to supply urgently needed aid to the victims of Hurricane Harvey. They responded to the emergency with overwhelming bipartisan support, and they may need to do so again rapidly for storm victims in Florida.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Some Democrats Willing to Replace Obamacare\u2019s Individual Mandate \n As a Senate panel tries to agree on a bipartisan fix to stabilize the Affordable Care Act, some Democrats appear willing to part with the law\u2019s controversial individual mandate \u2014 as long as there is an adequate replacement.\n\nNow that debate on Capitol Hill has started to shift from repealing Obamacare to broader issues in the health care system, some Democrats say they are willing to look at alternatives to the mandate that requires most Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty. And those alternatives have some Republican support.\n\nAt least two Democratic senators \u2014 Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Tim Kaine of Virginia \u2014 have expressed interest in automatically enrolling uninsured Americans in a low-cost insurance plan, a proposal that was included in one Republican plan to repeal Obamacare earlier this year. And 10 moderate House Democrats raised auto-enrollment as a potential tool to increase coverage and stabilize the Obamacare exchanges in a health care proposal released in July.\n\n\u201cMaybe auto-enroll would be a more effective way to get more healthy people in the pool,\u201d McCaskill said Wednesday in a brief interview on Capitol Hill. \u201cBut we got to stay focused on getting healthy people in the pool, either with a stick or with a carrot.\u201d\n\nEven some Democrats who are more supportive of the mandate say they are willing to have a discussion about alternatives, as long as it\u2019s through the committee process.\n\n\u201cFor those who don\u2019t want to see the individual mandate maintained, let\u2019s figure out what would be at least as good as a substitute \u2013 maybe it\u2019s some combination of approaches,\u201d Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), who favors the mandate, said in an interview Tuesday.\n\nThe Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is working to shore up the ACA\u2019s individual marketplaces.\n\nMost, if not all, congressional Democrats want to keep the mandate unless they can find a better option. But even ardent supporters of Obamacare acknowledge the mandate hasn\u2019t met their expectations for encouraging young, healthy people to enroll for coverage to balance the risk pool.\n\nThe provision has also been unpopular with many voters. A plurality of 49 percent said in a recent Morning Consult/POLITICO poll of registered voters that they oppose the mandate. The national poll surveyed 1,976 voters from Sept. 7 through Sept. 11.\n\nSeveral former Obama administration officials who helped implement the ACA also say auto-enrollment could be an effective replacement. In a policy paper from the Bipartisan Policy Center published Aug. 30, Obama administration veterans Andy Slavitt, Chris Jennings and Cindy Mann were among health care experts who recommended that Congress study whether auto-enrollment could replace the mandate without reducing coverage rates, increasing premiums or adding to the federal deficit.\n\n\u201cThe individual mandate plays an important role in keeping premiums low but is also unpopular with the American public,\u201d Slavitt, who served as acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from 2015 to 2017, co-wrote in a Washington Post opinion piece on Monday with former Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist, a fellow contributor to the BPC policy paper. \u201cCongress should direct the administration to explore an option similar to one used in Medicare \u2014 automatically enrolling consumers in low-cost coverage and providing incentives to enroll on time.\u201d\n\nAll of the proposals on this front would allow individuals the ability to opt out of auto-enrollment, but proponents expect few would do so, citing research showing that companies with auto-enrollment for 401(k) retirement plans have higher employee participation rates compared to employers that don\u2019t.\n\n\u201cWe know from the experience with 401(k) plans that if you auto-enroll employees they stay in the plan overwhelmingly, whereas if you hand them a packet of information they never get around to signing up,\u201d Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who co-sponsored a GOP bill in January that includes an auto-enroll option for states, said at a hearing last week.\n\nBut some experts are skeptical that auto-enrollment could work on its own; they recommend pairing it with policies, such as late-enrollment penalties, to encourage people to obtain health insurance.\n\nThat\u2019s partly because auto-enroll plans would help uninsured Americans who get Obamacare subsidies to cover their monthly premiums. People with higher incomes, and therefore lower subsidies or no subsidy at all, would need other policies to encourage them to sign up.\n\nJennings, who served as a senior health care adviser to former President Barack Obama, said replacing the individual mandate with a system based on auto-enrollment would be complicated. But given its controversy and unpopularity with many voters, Jennings said it\u2019s probably more likely that Congress would replace the mandate than try to fix it.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t see a lot of Democrats and Republicans lining up to increase the enforcement or the size of the penalty on the individual mandate,\u201d Jennings, founder and president of Washington-based Jennings Policy Strategies Inc., said in an interview last week.", "output": "As a Senate panel tries to agree on a bipartisan fix to stabilize the Affordable Care Act, some Democrats appear willing to part with the law\u2019s controversial individual mandate \u2014 as long as there is an adequate replacement.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "More and more older Americans are slipping into poverty \n There was good news in the Census Bureau's poverty report for most age groups in America. The data revealed one concerning trend, however: rising poverty among older Americans.\n\n\"Individuals ages 65 and older had the unique distinction of being the only population segment to experience a significant increase in the number of individuals in poverty, with 367,000 more older Americans in poverty in 2016,\" Ashley Edwards, Adam Bee, and Liana Fox of the Census' Social, Economic and Housing Statistics Division wrote in an analysis of the latest Census report.\n\nThe national poverty rate declined by 0.8 percentage points to 12.7%, the broader survey showed. Poverty rates, while still the highest among wealthy nations, fell across the board for groups including whites, blacks, Hispanics, males, females, children, American citizens, and immigrants.\n\nWhy the reversal of fortunes for the elderly?\n\nPart of the trend \"could be explained by the aging of the baby boom generation, which contributed to faster population growth in the population ages 65 and over in 2016 compared with the overall population,\" the experts suggest. \"Population growth alone would lead to increases in the number of older Americans both in and out of poverty.\"\n\nBut that doesn't tell the whole story. Issues like inadequate safety nets, elevated healthcare costs, and longer lifespans are also playing a role.\n\n\"Among older Americans living alone (or with nonrelatives), increases in the number of individuals in poverty outpaced their population growth, leading to statistically significant increases in their poverty rate from 16.0% in 2015 to 18.1% in 2016,\" the Census analysis found.\n\nIn addition, Americans 65 and older were the only demographic group in which the proportion of people with income below 50% of their poverty threshold \u2014 another key measure known as the supplemental poverty rate \u2014 increased, to 3.3% in 2016 from 2.8% the year prior.\n\n\"While the change in the official poverty rate among those ages 65 and older was not statistically significant, the supplemental poverty rate for older adults increased by 0.8 percentage points in 2016,\" the report said. The share of people ages 65 and older with resources below half their supplemental poverty threshold also spiked, from 4.5% in 2015 to 5.2% in 2016.", "output": "There was good news in the Census Bureau's poverty report for most age groups in America. The data revealed one concerning trend, however: rising poverty among older Americans.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "As Telemedicine Expands, Quality Measures Try to Keep Pace \n Data is thin, but the search is on for the best ways to measure the quality of healthcare that is being delivered via telehealth to remote patients.\n\nRemember when you had to go to the video store to catch up on (and return) the movies you wanted to see?\n\nFast and cheap digital bandwidth enabled the digital streaming that essentially put video stores out of business. Now broadband is changing the way healthcare is delivered.\n\nIt is now even cheaper and faster to move large data files than it was only a few years ago. But how good is the quality of care that is delivered via a video screen?\n\nProviders say that for many consults, telemedicine is just as good as in-person care delivered in a clinic or exam room. But the evidence to support these assertions is thin.\n\nNow comes the National Quality Forum's attempt to start the discussion on quality measures for telemedicine. The 80-page report does not endorse any measures \u2013 although it suggests some candidates. The report instead offers \"a framework to support the development of measures.\"\n\nA Step Forward\n\n\"It's another example of how the field is maturing,\" says Joseph Kvedar, MD, the vice-president for connected health at Partners Healthcare. His operation has been holding annual Connected Health meetings for 12 years. The next one is next month in Boston.\n\nTelemedicine was initially seen as a way to extend access to care to rural communities. That was a couple of decades ago. Now \"anything that has to do with connectivity seems be moving at the speed of light,\" Kvedar says.\n\nQuality remains a hurdle, however.\n\nOne fast-growing area is teledermatology and other direct-to-consumer services. Walgreens got in the game this past summer with its \"Dermatologist on Call\" program. A company called First Derm invites customers to send in a selfie for a diagnosis.\n\nSpeaking in industry-wide terms, there is concern about the lack of internal policing of direct-to-consumer sites, says Kvedar, a dermatologist by training.\n\nRight now, telemedicine is governed by and subject to some federal rules and a patchwork of policies and regulations that vary from state to state.\n\nMany state laws call for parity in payment, but coverage varies from payer to payer. Still, US hospitals are plugged in. More than 80% report using at least one \"connected health tool\" according a 2016 survey from The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS).\n\nThe survey also found that 67% of hospitals report deploying multiple tools from a list that includes telemedicine, phone apps, patient portals, text messaging, and patient monitoring.\n\nDivergent Standards for Telemedicine\n\nBrian Wayling notes that standards of care and practice models diverge widely across the broader practice of medicine. He is the assistant vice president for telemedicine services at Intermountain Healthcare, a 22-hospital health system based in Salt Lake City, UT.\n\n\"We are seeing evidence of the same thing in telehealth, which should be no surprise, simply because the standards of care are not well established,\" he says.\n\nIntermountain is considered a leader in telemedicine, offering services for seven different specialties including cancer and mental health. It has 1,200 access points, which are either rooms or mobile carts equipped with cameras to serve remote patients.\n\nWayling knows telemedicine has limitations, both in the type of care it can deliver and the quality of information it can return to providers. With that in mind, if a provider in his program isn't comfortable with a video visit, the patient gets a face-to-face appointment.\n\nSteps are being taken to address quality concerns. For example, the use of antibiotics in the system's telemedicine program is in line with the hospital's guidelines.\n\n\"Some of the direct-to-consumer provider groups are readier to prescribe,\" Wayling says. \"We take a more cautious approach.\"\n\nIntermountain also uses the system to validate the use of clinical practice models. Wayling thinks adherence to the models is going up because of the telemedicine validation.\n\nSabrina Smith of the American Telemedicine Association says she sees the NQF report which as an \"important first step\" in the discussion of quality issues for telemedicine.\n\nATA reports that it represents 10,000 industry leaders and is promoting quality care through practice guidelines, she says. The group has also brought in a third-party partner to boost its accreditation efforts.\n\nATA wants telemedicine to be governed by the same health quality measures that apply to in-person exams, Smith says.", "output": "Data is thin, but the search is on for the best ways to measure the quality of healthcare that is being delivered via telehealth to remote patients.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Telemedicine visits save families time and money \n Patients and families who use telemedicine for sports medicine appointments saved an average of $50 in travel costs and 51 minutes in waiting and visit time, according to a new study by Nemours Children's Health System. Each telemedicine visit also saved the health system an average of $24 per patient, researchers reported at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference & Exhibition.\n\n\"There's a constant need to innovate care delivery to demonstrate value to patients and families,\" said Alfred Atanda Jr., MD, an orthopedic surgeon at the Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children and author of the study. \"Nemours' tech-savvy care environment provides another way to get patients the care they need\u2014where and when they need it. We were able to do so while saving families time and money.\"\n\nIn a cohort study of 120 patients younger than 18 who had at least one telemedicine visit between September, 2015 and August, 2016, the Nemours researchers compared total time of clinical visit, percentage of time spent with attending surgeon, and wait time, to data from in-person visits in the department. Data were collected for postoperative evaluations, surgical/imaging discussions, and follow-up visits. Demographic data and diagnosis were recorded from the electronic medical record.\n\nThe findings support the use of telemedicine to reduce costs for both the patient and hospital system, while maintaining high levels of patient satisfaction, researchers said. After each visit, parents were asked to complete a five-item satisfaction survey. Ninety-one percent of parents found the application easy to download, 98 percent would be interested in future telemedicine visits, and 99 percent would recommend telemedicine to other families.\n\nThe study, which was conducted in a pediatric sports medicine practice, also found that the percentage of time spent with the provider was significantly greater for telemedicine than for in-person visits (88% vs. 15% of visit time). Families also saved significant travel time and expense, avoiding an average of 85 miles of driving, resulting in $50 of savings in transportation cost per telemedicine visit.\n\nResearchers said the study demonstrates that telemedicine can successfully be used in pediatric subspecialties to maximize healthcare resources and stretch the availability and expertise of the limited number of pediatric subspecialty providers.\n\n\"We know that telemedicine is often looked to for common childhood ailments, like cold and flu, or skin rashes. But we wanted to look at how telemedicine could benefit patients within a particular specialty such as sports medicine,\" said Atanda. \"As the healthcare landscape continues to evolve and the emphasis on value and satisfaction continues to grow, telemedicine may be utilized by providers as a mechanism to keep costs and resource utilization low, and to comply with payor requirements.\"\n\nNemours has implemented telemedicine throughout its health system with direct-to-consumer care for acute, chronic, and post-surgical appointments, as well as through its partner hospitals, schools, and even cruise ships. Nemours CareConnect is a 24/7 on-demand pediatric telehealth program which provides families access to Nemours pediatricians through a smartphone, tablet, or computer\u2014whether they are at home, school, or even on the sports field. If necessary, the physician may order a prescription, using geo-location service on the smartphone or tablet, and send it to the nearest pharmacy.\n\nProvided by Nemours Children's Health System", "output": "Patients and families who use telemedicine for sports medicine appointments saved an average of $50 in travel costs and 51 minutes in waiting and visit time, according to a new study by Nemours Children's Health System. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US energy department to invest $62m in concentrated solar \n Concentrated solar is at the top of the reshuffled list of research priorities, suggesting DOE officials think the technology can do more to improve grid stability over the long term. That\u2019s because, while the energy it produces has been far more expensive than photovoltaics, it can store some of it in the form of heat. That means it can continue to generate electricity even when the sun isn\u2019t shining, helping to balance supply-and-demand loads on the grid.\n\nGiven past behavior, the announcement raises at least some suspicions that the department, under Energy Secretary Rick Perry, may be seeking additional ways to diminish support for photovoltaics, potentially slowing progress behind the solar technology that\u2019s done the most so far to threaten fossil fuels. After all, it follows the Trump Administration\u2019s 2018 budget proposal to cut funding for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, which oversees the SunShot program, by nearly 70 percent. (So far, Congress has pushed back on most of the proposed cuts to DOE research programs.)\n\nBut with that all said, energy researchers are quick to stress that the storage issue is a very real problem for photovoltaics\u2014and a very real advantage for concentrated solar.\n\n\u201c[Concentrated solar power] today hasn\u2019t been able to compete with photovoltaics, but there are some promising research areas,\u201d says Dan Reicher, executive director of the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance at Stanford. \u201cGiven the climate challenge, we need to put eggs in many, many zero-carbon baskets.\u201d\n\nConcentrated solar generally relies on mirrors to concentrate sunlight, which converts liquid into turbine-driving steam. Some of that heat can also be stored using molten-salt tanks, allowing the plants to continue supplying electricity when the sun isn\u2019t shining.\n\nIn contrast, photovoltaic power plants only work when the sun is out, unless they\u2019re coupled with expensive batteries or other forms of external storage. The same goes for wind.\n\nThe downside to concentrated solar, however, is that it\u2019s proven to be more expensive and technically challenging. Notably, the $2.2 billion Ivanpah plant in California\u2019s Mojave Desert has struggled to meet production goals and produce electricity at competitive prices. The facility has been relying on increasing amounts of natural gas, the local Press-Enterprise newspaper reported earlier this year.\n\nBut there are some promising research avenues that could improve efficiency and costs. In 2015, the DOE\u2019s moonshot ARPA-E division provided $24 million in funding to 11 projects focused on essentially combining the two approaches into what\u2019s known as \u201cconcentrated photovoltaic technologies,\u201d using lenses and mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto small photovoltaic cells (see \u201cDOE Attempts to Jump-Start Concentrated Solar\u201d).", "output": "The US Department of Energy will invest $62m in concentrated solar power, a technically challenging and more expensive form of renewable energy compared with photovoltaics, but which is capable of storing as well as generating energy. Concentrated solar uses mirrors to focus sunlight, converting liquid into steam to drive turbines, with excess energy stored in molten-salt tanks. While some experts have questioned the Trump administration's move, which appears to diminish support for photovoltaics, others have praised the decision to back an underdeveloped technology."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Too many older diabetes patients are being overtreated \n Anyone with diabetes who takes blood sugar medication knows their doctor prescribed it to help them. After all, the long-term effects of elevated blood sugar can harm everything from the heart and kidneys to the eyes and feet.\n\nBut what if stopping, or at least cutting back on, such drugs could help even more in some patients?\n\nIn some older people, such \"deintensification\" of diabetes treatment may be the safer route, because of the risks of falls and other issues that come with too-low blood sugar.\n\nBut a new study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine suggests more doctors and such patients should work together to dial back diabetes treatment.\n\nWho's over-treated?\n\nAlmost 11 percent of Medicare participants with diabetes had very low blood sugar levels that suggested they were being over-treated, the new study finds. But only 14 percent of these patients had a reduction in blood sugar medication refills in the next six months.\n\nPatients over age 75, and those who qualified for both Medicare and Medicaid because of low incomes or serious disability, were most likely to be over-treated. Those who lived in urban areas or were of Hispanic origin were less likely to be over-treated.\n\nPatients over age 75 were less likely than others to have their treatment dialed back, as measured by prescription doses and refills.\n\nBut patients who had more than six chronic conditions, or who lived in urban areas or had frequent outpatient visits, were more likely to experience a deintensification.\n\nThe results were compiled by a team of researchers from Duke University, the University of Michigan and the VA hospitals in Durham, North Carolina and Ann Arbor, Michigan. They studied detailed records from 78,792 Medicare participants over age 65 in ten states, all of whom had diabetes.\n\nThe authors, led by Duke/Durham researcher Matthew Maciejewski, Ph.D., warn against a one-size-fits-all approach when treating diabetes in older patients. They call for greater personalized care that takes account of the risks and benefits that such treatment holds for individual patients.\n\nJeremy Sussman, M.D., M.S., a co-author of the new study and U-M/VA researcher, suggests that older patients with diabetes - and the adult children who often assist with their care - should talk to their care teams about whether de-intensification is right for them.\n\nThe risk of too-aggressive treatment\n\nIn people in their 70s and older, very low blood sugar levels - called hypoglycemia\u2014can actually raise the risk of dizzy spells, confusion, falls and even death.\n\nIn recent years, experts have started to suggest that doctors ease up on how aggressively they treat such patients for high blood pressure or diabetes\u2014especially if they have other conditions that limit their life expectancy.\n\nIt can be hard for an older person to recognize the signs of too-low blood sugar, such as confusion and combativeness, or of too-low blood pressure, such as dizziness.\n\nMeanwhile, keeping up with taking multiple medications, and checking blood sugar daily or even more often, can be a struggle for the oldest patients. De-intensifying their treatment can often be a relief.\n\nA previous study by Sussman and his U-M/VA colleagues showed that only one in four of nearly 400,000 older patients in the VA system who could have been eligible to ease up on their blood sugar medicines actually had their dosage changed.\n\nEven those with the lowest readings, or the fewest years left to live, had only a slightly greater chance as other patients of having their treatment de-intensified.\n\nThe VA system is actively trying to encourage de-intensification of blood sugar-reducing treatment in its oldest patients nationwide. The U-M/Ann Arbor VA team, led by Eve Kerr, M.D., M.S., is studying the effects of that effort.\n\nMore about the new study\n\nFor the new study, the team looked at prescription refills among those whose blood sugar levels - represented by a measure called HbA1c - were already well below recommended levels.\n\nThey focused on those who had an A1c at or below 6.5 percent, at a single point in time in 2011 - as well as those with an A1c over 9, which is considered very high.\n\nThe patients under 6.5 A1c levels would be eligible to ease up on their blood sugar medication dosages, to lower their risk of the consequences of hypoglycemia.\n\nIn fact, the American Geriatrics Society recommends that the only medication an older person with diabetes should be on if they have an A1c level below 7.5 percent is metformin.\n\nWhile 10.9 percent of all the Medicare participants in the study were being over-treated to the point of an ultra-low A1c level, only 6.9 percent were being under-treated and had A1c levels over 9.\n\n\"The oldest Medicare beneficiaries are the least likely to benefit from tight glycemic control and most likely to be harmed, so it is troubling that they were more likely to be overtreated and less likely to have their medication regimens de-intensified,\" explains Sussman, who is a member of the VA Center for Clinical Management Research and the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation.\n\n\"By focusing on both overtreatment and undertreatment ends of the diabetes quality spectrum, we can best begin to improve the quality of diabetes care in all respects, ensuring that patients get needed care while avoiding unnecessary potential harm,\" he adds.\n\nLong-term gain, short-term pain\n\nSussman notes that the reasons why doctors prescribe medication to help people get their diabetes under control mostly focus on the long term.\n\nControlling these factors for years can help people cut their risk of problems that result from too-high sugar levels, like stroke, heart attack, blindness, nerve damage, amputation and kidney failure.\n\n\"Every guideline for physicians has detailed guidance for prescribing and stepping up or adding drugs to control these risk factors, and somewhere toward the end it says 'personalize treatment for older people',\" says Sussman, a U-M assistant professor of general internal medicine and VA Ann Arbor researcher. \"But nowhere do they say actually stop medication in the oldest patients to avoid hypoglycemia or too-low blood pressure.\"\n\nIf a patient has been on medication for diabetes for many years, and is now in their late 70s or older, they may have gotten many long-term benefits from keeping their levels in control.\n\nBut because their chance of a dangerous blood sugar or blood pressure dip goes up with age, the short-term risk starts to balance out any long-term gain they could still get.\n\nSussman and his colleagues write that effective treatment of diabetes requires a major shift in approach towards greater personalization of treatments based on potential for individual risk and benefit.\n\nMore information: Matthew L. Maciejewski et al, Overtreatment and Deintensification of Diabetic Therapy among Medicare Beneficiaries, Journal of General Internal Medicine (2017). DOI: 10.1007/s11606-017-4167-y Journal information: Journal of General Internal Medicine\n\nProvided by University of Michigan", "output": "Up to 11 percent of older Americans insured through Medicare are receiving too much medication to control their diabetes, and around 7 percent are being undertreated. This is according to a study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine\u00a0which is published by Springer.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Alcohol Abuse Is Rising Among Older Adults \n In the summer, Henry Wrenn-Meleck likes to sit on the stoop of his building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, observing the passing urban parade.\n\nOne day in late July, \u201cone of my neighbors could see something was wrong,\u201d he recently recalled. \u201cI was sort of rolling around, obviously in a lot of pain. He said, \u2018I have to call 911,\u2019 and he did.\u201d\n\nMr. Wrenn-Meleck, 63, an independent music publisher and dealer in rare guitars, spent three weeks in a hospital, being treated for trauma from a fall he does not recall. But the underlying problem was \u201c40 years of being a very serious alcoholic,\u201d he said. \u201cMy body finally said no more.\u201d\n\nDischarged from the hospital after detoxing, Mr. Wrenn-Meleck went to the New Jewish Home in Manhattan for physical therapy. He also entered its geriatric substance abuse recovery program where, he found, he was one of the younger participants.", "output": "In the summer, Henry Wrenn-Meleck likes to sit on the stoop of his building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, observing the passing urban parade.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Five Tips for Choosing a Reliable Nursing Home \n Hospitals may have an incentive to save money by discharging patients, putting pressure on families to make a decision quickly, but consumers should know they can ask for more time. \u201cI tell people this may be one of the most important decisions you ever make regarding this person\u2019s life,\u201d Mr. Chicotel said. \u201cDon\u2019t feel pressure to go to a place that you haven\u2019t vetted.\u201d\n\nDo your homework.\n\nInvestigate the track record of the facilities you are considering. A federal website, Nursing Home Compare, is the most comprehensive source of data on nursing homes and allows consumers to sort and compare facilities based on geography and other factors. The site includes information about a home\u2019s staffing levels, recent inspection reports and measurements of the quality of residents\u2019 care. Another website, Nursing Home Inspect \u2014 run by ProPublica, the nonprofit investigative journalism group \u2014 allows visitors to dig more deeply into facilities\u2019 inspection reports and any citations they have received from regulators.\n\nThe federal website is not perfect \u2014 some key information, like staffing data, is reported by the nursing homes themselves, for example \u2014 but changes in recent years have improved the site. Nursing Home Compare also does not always include state-level reports or penalties. To view those, families must search the websites of individual states, such as the one run by the state of Florida.\n\nTaken as a whole, the websites can provide an overview of a nursing home\u2019s quality and identify potential red flags. A facility that has been given only one or two stars on the federal website, for example, should likely be ruled out, advocates said.\n\nFlorida officials are still sorting out who is to blame for the death of residents this week when the facility\u2019s air conditioning stopped working, but the nursing home in question \u2014 the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills \u2014 had a federal rating of two stars (out of a possible five). Inspection reports show that in 2016 and 2014, it was cited for problems with maintaining its emergency generators, though this year, a follow-up inspection concluded that the issues had been corrected.", "output": "The news that eight Florida nursing home residents died\u00a0in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma has prompted a criminal investigation and spurred widespread outrage.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AXA adopts blockchain technology for insurance product \n BI Intelligence\n\nThis story was delivered to BI Intelligence \"Fintech Briefing\" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.\n\nFrench insurance giant AXA has rolled out a new flight-delay insurance product, Fizzy, which will store and process payouts via \"smart contracts\" \u2014 self-executing contracts triggered automatically once pre-determined parameters are met in the real world \u2014 based on Ethereum's public blockchain.\n\nFor now, payouts will be issued in fiat currencies, though AXA aims to use Ether eventually. Fizzy is currently in a testing phase, and AXA hasn't yet specified a date for a full launch.\n\nAXA says using smart contracts stands to deliver two major benefits:\n\nStreamlining the compensation process for both providers and claimants. When an AXA customer buys flight-delay insurance on the Fizzy platform, the purchase is automatically recorded on an Ethereum-based immutable ledger, and a smart contract is created on the blockchain. The smart contract is linked to global air traffic databases, which means that as soon as a delay of over two hours is registered on the ledger, compensation is automatically triggered. Moreover, the customer is told how much they will receive when they first buy the coverage.\n\nWhen an AXA customer buys flight-delay insurance on the Fizzy platform, the purchase is automatically recorded on an Ethereum-based immutable ledger, and a smart contract is created on the blockchain. The smart contract is linked to global air traffic databases, which means that as soon as a delay of over two hours is registered on the ledger, compensation is automatically triggered. Moreover, the customer is told how much they will receive when they first buy the coverage. Improving the insurer-customer relationship. This process means the need for a customer to file a claim is removed, and the compensation decision is delegated entirely to an automated arbitrator \u2014 the smart contract \u2014 which eliminates potential disputes between insurer and client. In turn, the company says, this brings greater transparency to the claims processing procedure, which should build up trust between customers and their insurance providers, whose interests are often seen as being at odds.\n\nSmart contracts promise particularly large benefits for insurers, but legal dilemmas are likely to stand in the way of widespread use for some time. The insurance industry is particularly well positioned to benefit from implementing the technology, as it promises to reduce friction between the many disparate parties typically involved in an insurance payout, thereby reducing costs and conflicts between carriers and end customers. As such, incumbents will likely be keeping a close watch on how well Fizzy does in its test phase. However, even if the solution does well, we might not see smart contracts take off for some time: This is because, beyond the success of individual solutions like Fizzy, unresolved questions remain about the enforceability and legality of smart contracts, which might take a longer time to solve than technical hurdles.\n\nThe global insurance industry is worth nearly $5 trillion, and insurance companies are at risk of losing a share of this valuable market to new entrants. That's because these legacy players have been even slower to modernize than their counterparts in other financial services industries.\n\nThis has created an opportunity for a group of firms known as insurtechs. These startups are leveraging new technology and a better understanding of consumer expectations to increase efficiencies in the insurance industry. Some are helping incumbents deliver better end products, while others are directly competing with legacy players.\n\nSarah Kocianski, senior research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on insurtechs that:\n\nExplains the structure and current state of the insurance market.\n\nHighlights areas where insurtechs can help legacy players modernize.\n\nDescribes where insurtechs are competing with incumbents and how their models compare.\n\nProvides case studies of insurtechs.\n\nOutlines the legacy response.\n\nAnd much more.\n\nTo get the full report, subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and more than 250 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >> Learn More Now\n\nYou can also purchase and download the full report from our research store.", "output": "French insurance company Axa is testing Fizzy, a platform for flight-delay insurance relying on smart contracts, powered by the ethereum blockchain. The platform, which automatically triggers a payment if a delay of more than two hours is registered on the ledger, is aimed at streamlining the claims process and increasing transparency and trust between clients and insurers. Compensation will be paid in fiat currencies, though Axa plans to issue ether payments in the future. The company did not indicate a date for the full launch of the platform. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nvidia and Avitas partner to improve drone inspections \n Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More\n\nAvitas Systems has partnered with Nvidia to use artificial intelligence, drones, and analytics to improve inspections of heavy industry facilities, such as oil rigs.\n\nThe deal marries Nvidia\u2019s DGX-1 and DGX Station AI computers with the inspection services of Avitas Systems, which is a spinout from GE Venture, the investment arm of General Electric. AI has become a huge priority at Nvidia, the largest stand-alone maker of graphics chips.\n\nAvitas has been working on its AI software for about a year and is optimizing systems such as robots or drones so they can fly around industrial assets and record everything with video. The AI computers will then analyze the video to automatically detect defects and other problems.\n\nThe whole system is meant to enhance the capabilities of human inspectors. It also keeps them out of harm\u2019s way, as drones and robots can go into places that are dangerous for human inspectors. Right now, inspectors have to do dangerous things like hang on ropes on ocean rigs.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\n\u201cOil and gas companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars on maintenance and inspection each year,\u201d said Alex Tepper, founder and head of corporate and business development at Avitas Systems, in an interview with VentureBeat. \u201cThey make decisions based on people walking around with sensors, helicopters looking down at sites, people in harnesses in precarious positions.\u201d\n\nImage Credit: Nvidia\n\nAvitas Systems is targeting specific points of inspection and developing paths to collect data in the form of images and video for a variety of robotics, including drones, robotic crawlers, and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV). These paths, driven by 3D models, can be repeated from the same angles and locations. The paths\u2019 repeatability means a wide variety of images captured over time can be put into the Avitas Systems cloud-based platform. So advanced image analytics can detect changes and measure exact defects on an industrial asset, such as cracks and corrosion.\n\nThe platform can also rate the severity of defects, which are often not visible to the human eye, allowing customers to determine when equipment needs to be replaced and enabling earlier resolution of potential issues.\n\nAvitas is using the Nvidia DGX-1 and DGX Station systems for AI training to enable automated defect recognition. Avitas Systems data scientists build convolutional neural networks for image classification and generative adversarial neural networks to minimize the amount of work involved in labeling captured images. The result is that the defects can be discovered without a massive amount of computing power.\n\nImage Credit: Nvidia\n\n\u201cAvitas has the experts on things like corrosion, and they tap what we have,\u201d said Jim McHugh, general manager of DGX Systems for Nvidia, in an interview. \u201cThey\u2019re using the raw compute power of our hardware as we had intended it to be used.\u201d\n\n\u201cUsing our latest DGX systems to help train robots and better predict industrial defects increases worker safety, protects the environment, and leads to substantial cost savings for companies,\u201d McHugh added.\n\nThe companies have been working on a solution for the past six to nine months, and they believe that the cost of inspections can be cut 25 percent over other methods. The robots will be used in harsh conditions, as will trucks that carry the computers, from the North Sea to the desert.\n\n\u201cWe can dramatically reduce turnaround time or time an asset has to be taken down,\u201d Tepper said. \u201cA refinery that is not in production costs a lot of revenue. We partnered with Nvidia around the DGX platform because they were the obvious choice for us as a partner.\u201d", "output": "Automated inspection firm Avitas Systems has partnered with chip manufacturer Nvidia to develop software that can assess and analyse heavy industry facilities. Using Nvidia\u2019s DGX-1 and DGX Station AI computers, drones, robotic crawlers, and autonomous underwater vehicles are deployed to collect imaging data which is then put into the Avitas Systems cloud-based platform. Advanced analytics track the components in the images, discovering defects not visible to the human eye and enabling customers to repair or replace them,\u00a0reducing disruption and cost.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "'Lipidcane' could replace 65% of US jet fuel consumption \n URBANA, Ill. \u2013 A Boeing 747 burns one gallon of jet fuel each second. A recent analysis from researchers at the University of Illinois estimate that this aircraft could fly for 10 hours on bio-jet fuel produced on 54 acres of specially enagineered sugarcane.\n\nPlants Engineered to Replace Oil in Sugarcane and Sweet Sorghum (PETROSS), funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E), has developed sugarcane that produces oil, called lipidcane, that can be converted into biodiesel or jet fuel in place of sugar that is currently used for ethanol production. With 20 percent oil - the theoretical limit - all the sugar in the plant would be replaced by oil.\n\n\"Oil-to-Jet is one of the direct and efficient routes to convert bio-based feedstocks to jet fuel,\" said Vijay Singh, Director of the Integrated Bioprocessing Research Laboratory and Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at U of I. \"Reducing the feedstock cost is critical to improving process economics of producing bio-jet fuel. Lipidcane allows us to reduce feedstock cost.\"\n\nThis research analyzed the economic viability of crops with different levels of oil. Lipidcane with 5 percent oil produces four times more jet fuel (1,577 liters, or 416 gallons) per hectare than soybeans. Sugarcane with 20 percent oil produces more than 15 times more jet fuel (6,307 liters, or 1,666 gallons) per hectare than soybeans.\n\n\"PETROSS sugarcane is also being engineered to be more cold tolerant, potentially enabling it to be grown on an estimated 23 million acres of marginal land in the Southeastern U.S.,\" said PETROSS Director Stephen Long, Gutgsell Endowed Professor of Plant Biology and Crop Sciences at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at U of I. \"If all of this acreage was used to produce renewable jet fuel from lipid-cane, it could replace about 65 percent of national jet fuel consumption.\"\n\n\"We estimate that this biofuel would cost the airline industry $5.31 per gallon, which is less than most of the reported prices of renewable jet fuel produced from other oil crops or algae,\" said Deepak Kumar, postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at U of I and lead analyst on the study.\n\nThis crop also produces profitable co-products: A hydrocarbon fuel is produced along with bio-jet fuel or biodiesel that can be used to produce various bioproducts. The remaining sugar (for plants with less than 20 percent oil) could be sold or used to produce ethanol. In addition, biorefineries could use lipidcane bagasse to produce steam and electricity to become self-sustainable for their energy needs and provide surplus electricity, providing environmental benefits by displacing electricity produced with fossil fuels.\n\nThe paper \"Biorefinery for combined production of jet fuel and ethanol from lipid-producing sugarcane: a techno-economic evaluation\" is published by Global Change Biology Bioenergy (10.1111/gcbb.12478).\n\nPETROSS (Plants Engineered to Replace Oil in Sugarcane and Sorghum) is a research project transforming sugarcane and sweet sorghum to naturally produce large amounts of oil, a sustainable source of biofuel. PETROSS is supported by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), which funds initial research for high-impact energy technologies to show proof of concept before private-sector investment.", "output": "Sugarcane specially engineered to produce oil, called lipdc-ane, can be converted into jet fuel, in place of sugar that is currently used for ethanol production, according to a research project\u00a0-\u00a0Plants Engineered to Replace Oil in Sugarcane and Sweet Sorghum (PETROSS) -\u00a0funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E).\u00a0Lipid-cane with\u00a020% oil (the theoretical maximum) produces more than 15 times more jet fuel\u00a0per hectare than soybeans.\u00a0PETROSS sugarcane is also being engineered to be more cold tolerant. If it\u00a0could be grown on an estimated 23 million acres of marginal land in the Southeastern US, it could replace about 65% of national jet fuel consumption.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GSAM ETF pricing could harm asset management industry: Moody's \n A new exchange traded fund from Goldman Sachs' asset management arm is fueling a Wall Street price war that could hurt the industry, credit agency Moody's says.\n\nThe new \"smart-beta\" product, which tracks an equal weight index of roughly 500 large cap equities, was announced Thursday and is set to be one of the lowest priced ETFs out there. It will trade under the ticker GSEW and has an expense ratio of 0.09%.\n\nMost smart-beta products, like GSEW, have an expense ratio between 0.24% and 0.39% while traditional mutual funds are generally more expensive, near 0.63%, according to Moody\u2019s.\n\n\"The ETF price war beyond vanilla ETFs is credit negative for traditional active equity players entering the smart-beta realm,\" wrote Moody\u2019s analyst Stephen Tu in a note Thursday morning.\n\n\"GSAM has a long history in quantitative investing on behalf of institutions in both traditional and alternative strategies and had earlier forays launching competitively priced products. With this recent move, GSAM is now solidifying a price point below 10 basis points for simple smart-beta strategies.\"\n\nHere\u2019s a breakdown of other similarly priced ETFs, from Moody\u2019s:\n\nMoody's\n\nETFs are some for the hottest investment products on the market, and outnumber individual securities in the United States. GSEW will be Goldman\u2019s 11th ETF since it started offering the products in 2015. Today, Goldman manages $5.6 billion in ETF assets.\n\n\"GSEW seeks to help investors looking for a low cost way to avoid market cap biases, by allocating evenly to the largest U.S. companies, independent of their relative size,\" Michael Crinieri, GSAM\u2019s chief ETF strategist, said in a press release.", "output": "A new smart-beta exchange-traded fund from Goldman Sachs Asset Management may permanently lower the pricing bar for similar products, damaging the industry, according to credit agency Moody's. The ETF has an expense ratio of nine basis points, substantially below the average of 24 to 39 usually charged for similar smart-beta offerings investing in factor-based indices. Offering prices below 10 basis points on more complex equity ETFs is likely bad news for traditional active managers seeking to enter the ETF space with quantitative products, according to Moody's."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US added 2.4 GW solar capacity in Q2 with\u00a012 GW\u00a0expected in 2017 \n Updated June 8, 2023\n\nThe US solar industry installed 6.1 gigawatts-direct current (GWdc) of capacity in the first quarter of 2023, a 47% increase from Q1 2022 and a 19% decrease from Q4 2022. This was the best first quarter in the industry\u2019s history, led by delayed utility-scale solar projects coming online.\n\nEach segment had a record-setting first quarter, except for community solar, which faced interconnection and siting challenges in several key state markets. The residential segment set a first quarter record and would have likely set another overall quarterly record had it not been for intense rainstorms that hampered installation crews. Utility-scale solar installations were up 66% compared to the first quarter of 2022. The industry is still operating in a supply-constrained environment, but conditions are improving as module shipments are finally making their way through ports.\n\nOverall, photovoltaic solar (PV) accounted for 54% of all new electricity-generating capacity additions in the first quarter of 2023.\n\nClick here to read the Executive Summary of the latest Solar Market Insight Report. The full report includes all the data and analysis from our Executive Summary plus incisive, state-level breakdowns of installations, costs, manufacturing and demand projections. To learn more about the Solar Market Insight Report series, click here.\n\nWASHINGTON D.C. \u2014 The U.S. solar industry installed 6.1 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity and had its best first quarter in history, according to the US Solar Market Insight Q2 2023 report released today by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie.\n\n\n\nThe record quarter was driven in large part by supply chain challenges abating and delayed solar projects moving forward. Due in part to the strong first quarter numbers and a surge in demand from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Wood Mackenzie expects the solar market to triple in size over the next five years, bringing total installed solar capacity to 378 GW by 2028. (Keep Reading)\n\nFor more facts and figures about the U.S. solar industry, including historical data and future projections, click here.\n\nNeed a quick summary of all the key facts and figures about the U.S. solar industry? Download SEIA's Solar Data Cheat Sheet.", "output": "The US added 2.4 GW of solar-energy capacity in 2Q 2017, a surge of 8% on the same quarter last year. The increase is the largest for any 2Q\u00a0and brings total installed solar capacity for the US to 47.1 GW, or enough to power more than\u00a0nine million homes. The figures were published by the Solar Energy Industries Association and GTM Research, which predict the industry will have installed 12 GW of solar capacity by the end of the year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "PE firm Waud Capital ties up with TrustCommerce\u00a0 \n Waud Capital Forms Partnership with TrustCommerce\n\nSeptember 14, 2017 By: Payment Week\n\nCHICAGO and SANTA ANA, Calif. September 14, 2017 \u2013 Waud Capital Partners, a leading growth-oriented middle market private equity firm, today announced a strategic partnership with TrustCommerce, a premier provider of payment security software and technology that allows clients to process highly secure and compliant payments that are deeply integrated within their core business software.\n\nWaud Capital and Andrew Rueff formed Sphere Payments LLC to facilitate the investment in TrustCommerce. A seasoned executive with more than 20 years of payments technology experience, Mr. Rueff will serve as Executive Chairman of Sphere Payments to guide the company in its next phase of growth. Mr. Rueff and Waud Capital partnered in January 2017 to identify attractive investments in the payments and software industries. Mr. Rueff was previously one of the original founders and architects of TransFirst Holdings, Inc., a leading private equity-backed U.S. merchant solutions provider that was acquired by TSYS (NYSE: TSS) in January 2016 for $2.35 billion.\n\n\u201cTrustCommerce has long been at the forefront of two of the most important trends in payments technology: integrating payments capabilities within mission-critical enterprise software, and providing security and compliance technology necessary to protect all constituents in the payments value chain.\u201d said Mr. Rueff, Executive Chairman of Sphere Payments. \u201cThe management team of TrustCommerce has established a strong technology platform with deep vertical market expertise in healthcare and other attractive market segments. This partnership provides TrustCommerce with additional capital and operating experience to extend its product capabilities, expand its relationships with clients and enterprise software providers, and accelerate the growth of the company.\u201d\n\nFounded in 2000 by Rob Caulfield, TrustCommerce was an early innovator in developing tokenization to protect sensitive payment data and has been a leading provider of highly-secure, integrated payments software ever since. TrustCommerce delivers a full suite of payment acceptance solutions, allowing clients to accept payments securely within an omnichannel environment. At closing, Mr. Caulfield and other key executives of TrustCommerce will maintain their current roles with the company and will participate in ownership through Sphere Payments.\n\nAdded Justin DuPere, Principal at Waud Capital, \u201cOur partnership with Andrew and TrustCommerce is the result of our careful diligence of the payments technology market. TrustCommerce is a rapidly growing software provider and an innovator within the financial technology landscape. Andrew brings an unprecedented level of expertise in building businesses and delivering strong returns for shareholders over time. We look forward to continuing our partnership and executing on this multi-year growth opportunity.\u201d\n\nMatt Clary, Partner at Waud Capital, added, \u201cThis transaction highlights Waud Capital\u2019s disciplined approach of matching experienced industry leaders with the best platforms for growth. Our investment team leveraged its experience in financial technology markets to identify key growth drivers within the payments technology sector. We then developed a relationship with Andrew which resulted in him becoming an Operating Partner in January 2017. Within six months of formalizing our relationship, using our collective network and operating expertise, the Waud Capital team together with Andrew found an attractive platform for growth and completed the transaction with TrustCommerce.\u201d\n\nAbout TrustCommerce\n\nAn innovator and veteran in the payment security software and technology industry, TrustCommerce offers a comprehensive suite of payment software and solutions with a focus on security, data protection, and risk mitigation. Featuring Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE), tokenization, EMV, and seamless redirects, TrustCommerce solutions assist partners and clients with reducing the cost and complexity of PCI DSS compliance. Whether accepting payments in a card-present or card-not-present environment, TrustCommerce solutions protect transactions and reduce risk. TrustCommerce is a focused provider of integrated solutions to the healthcare sector, as well as other specialized verticals focused on providing a high level of security to their clients. To learn more about TrustCommerce, and its full breadth of products and solutions, visit www.TrustCommerce.com.\n\nAbout Waud Capital Partners\n\nBased in Chicago, Waud Capital Partners is a leading growth-oriented private equity firm with total capital commitments of approximately $2.1 billion since its founding in 1993. Waud Capital partners with exceptional management teams to build market leading companies within two industries: healthcare services and business and technology services. Since its founding, Waud Capital has successfully completed more than 210 investments, including platform companies and follow-on opportunities. For additional information on Waud Capital, visit www.waudcapital.com.", "output": "Chicago-based private equity firm Waud Capital Partners has formed a strategic partnership with payment security software and technology provider TrustCommerce. The deal offers TrustCommerce \"additional capital and operating experience to extend its product capabilities, expand its relationships with clients and enterprise software providers, and accelerate the growth of the company\", according to Andrew Rueff, executive chairman of Sphere Payments, which is facilitating the deal."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Incumbents unwilling to change business models to adopt fintech \n It's quick, easy and as a registered user you'll have full access to all Pensions Expert articles. You will also be able to receive editorial emails.\n\nIf you are already registered, please click here to login.", "output": "Incumbent banks and financial service companies, who are loath to change their business models or culture to accommodate fintech innovations, are preventing customers\u00a0from enjoying the potential financial benefits, according to a panel of pensions and technology experts. It found start-ups have difficulty dealing with the incentives structure of some innovation departments, while \"behemoth\"\u00a0firms have little incentive to change their models as they have already cornered particular markets. Established companies also fear diluting a brand's strength in an unknown market.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Korean city puts robot street cleaners to the test \n GWANGJU, Sept. 15 (Korea Bizwire) \u2014 Seo District in the city of Gwangju announced on Thursday it has introduced street cleaning robots in the community that can also be operated by remote control.\n\nThe move by district officials to trial street-sweeping robots comes with the community seeking ways to effectively deal with the issue of illegal trash dumping.\n\nSeo District\u2019s newly deployed cleaning robots, which are 1.75 meters long, 0.94 meters wide, and 1.3 meters tall, are capable of collecting garbage on the street using their brushes, or cleaning flower beds with a hose.\n\nWith a floating population of tens of thousands traveling in and out of the neighborhood, the cleaning robots\u2019 waste collection capacity of 100 liters and their accessibility to areas difficult to reach, such as narrow alleyways, are expected to come in handy.\n\nThe robots can detect pedestrians and other obstacles and are designed to remain a certain distance from human street cleaners to secure a safe working environment.\n\nIncluding an autonomous parking system, the prevention of workplace accidents also figured prominently during the robots\u2019 development process.\n\n\u201cAfter a trial run in Sangmu District, we will decide whether to increase the number of street cleaning robots in other neighborhoods,\u201d said an official from Seo District Office.\n\n\u201cWe hope this move will improve working conditions for street cleaners.\u201d\n\nAshley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)", "output": "Authorities in the South Korean city of Gwangju have deployed street-cleaning robots in a trial scheme to crack down on fly-tipping. The 1.3m-tall robo-dustbins, which also can be operated remotely, sweep up rubbish using brushes or a hose, and have been programmed to identify pedestrians and other obstacles. They will operate at a minimum distance from human street cleaners to ensure worker safety. If the trial in Gwangju's Seo District is successful, the robots could be sent to other areas of the city."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Reactive Robotics wins funding to develop physical therapy robot \n Munich-based company Reactive Robotics GmbH secured a second seven-digit funding round to continue its work in rehabilitation robotics development.\n\nInvestors included new lead investor Dr. Doll Holding GmbH and existing investors MTIP MedTech Innovation Partners AG, High-Tech Gr\u00fcnderfonds, Bayern Kapital and TQ-Group.\n\nReactive Robotics intends to use the funds to further market entry in Germany as well as in other countries.\n\nCEO Dr. Alexander Koenig founded the company in 2015 to provide quality Very Early Mobilization, which improves patient recovery times, to intensive care patients in their beds within 24 hours of their hospital admission.\n\nThe team is working on an intelligent therapy device that replaces the manual VEM therapy with a robotic option. The solution would help critically ill patients recover quicker, reduce the work and strain on caretakers and would bring the therapy directly to patients instead of requiring them to go to therapy.\n\nSo far the company has developed a prototype, established a quality management system and cooperated with business partners and suppliers.\n\nPreviously, the company was able to secure approximately $1.5 million in funding.", "output": "German firm Reactive Robotics has secured significant funding in a round led by new investor Dr Doll Holding and featuring participation from existing backers MTIP MedTech Innovation Partners, High-Tech Gr\u00fcnderfonds, Bayern Kapital and TQ-Group. Reactive Robotics provides very early mobilisation (VEM) therapy to intensive care patients and is developing an intelligent physical and occupational\u00a0therapy robotic device that will replace\u00a0manual VEM therapy. The new funds will be used to expand at home and abroad.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian insurance chatbot AskArvi gains investment \n Jang Capital backs insurance chatbot AskArvi\n\nCredit: Thinkstock\n\nMumbai-based Haida Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which operates insurance aggregating platform AskArvi.com, has raised an undisclosed amount from a clutch of investors led by US-based early-stage investment fund Jang Capital LLC.\n\nA few American angel investors also participated in the round, AskArvi founder CEO Sushant Reddy told VCCircle.\n\nShardul Amarchand Mangaldas and Co. advised Jang Capital on the acquisition of a minority stake in Haida Technologies by way of primary share subscription. The transaction closed on 21 August.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAskArvi, which aims to provide a more personalised experience to customers, has built an artificial intelligence-powered virtual assistant to answer questions on various products and policy-related information, besides helping the user raise claims.\n\nThough it is still at a beta stage, the company has already helped over 15,000 customers with products and claim-support information, he claimed. \u201cWe are planning to use the money to build our AI platform and acquire the first 1,000 customers for travel and health insurance.\u201d\n\nThe startup aims to build a fully-automated platform, which can intelligently help customers in pre- and post-sale support across health, travel, motor and life insurance segments.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAskArvi was launched in January by Reddy, Alok Tiwari, Ashwin Narkhede and Mandar Zope. Reddy is a former CEO of Mumbai-based financial technology company Quantum Phinance; Tiwari had earlier co-founded two other startups, Aptivaa and Xplanr Analytics; Zope is a former CTO of Omnikart; and Narkhede had stints in Quantum Phinance and Omnikart.\n\nOn his plans about the next round of funding, Reddy said: \u201cThis was our first round of investment. Based on the projected cash burn rates, the capital gives us an 18-month runway.\u201d\n\nReddy said that the Indian insurance industry has a huge outgo in terms of paying commissions to intermediaries, to the tune of about Rs 45,000 crore, or $7 billion. \u201cIf there ever was one industry where we could eliminate the dependence on agents, this has to be it.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nSeveral startups in the AI space have also raised funds recently. In July, chatbot creation tool Bottr.me had raised an undisclosed amount from 500 Startups, Purvi Capital, Google India\u2019s managing director Rajan Anandan, and Abhishek Gupta from TLabs.\n\nBangalore-based Niki.ai had raised $2 million in a Series A round from San Francisco-based fund SAP.iO and existing investor Unilazer Ventures.\n\nAirCTO, a human- and artificial intelligence-powered recruitment platform that helps companies hire technical talent, had raised an undisclosed amount in angel investment from former Nokia director Francesco Cara.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIn June, Bangalore-based Boxx.ai had raised $500,000 from Mumbai-based venture capital firm Unicorn India Ventures, besides a clutch of investors.\n\nIn May, Vernacular.ai, which offers a multilingual AI platform for businesses, had raised an undisclosed amount from KStart Capital, the seed programme run by venture capital firm Kalaari Capital.\n\nIn February, Botworx.ai, a conversational commerce platform, had raised $3 million in seed round led by California-based venture capital firm Costanoa Ventures with support from San Francisco-based angel investment firm S V Angel.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nShare article on Leave Your Comments", "output": "Indian insurance aggregation platform AskArvi.com, operated by Mumbai-based Haida Technologies, has received an investment of an undisclosed sum in a round led by US\u00a0investment fund Jang Capital. AskArvi.com is developing a\u00a0virtual assistant, capable of answering product and policy-related questions, which has already helped more than 15,000 customers\u00a0despite still being in beta testing. The additional funding will be used to build the AI platform and on-board the first 1,000 travel and health insurance customers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Solar power could greatly benefit the US military \n Using solar power could give the U.S. military some advantages \u2013 and more security. Credit: Diane Durden/U.S. Marine Corps\n\nAs the U.S. military increases its use of drones in surveillance and combat overseas, the danger posed by a threat back at home grows. Many drone flights are piloted by soldiers located in the U.S., even when the drones are flying over Yemen or Iraq or Syria. Those pilots and their control systems depend on the American electricity grid \u2013 large, complex, interconnected and very vulnerable to attack.\n\nWithout electricity from civilian power plants, the most advanced military in world history could be crippled. The U.S. Department of Energy has begged for new authority to defend against weaknesses in the grid in a nearly 500-page comprehensive study issued in January 2017 warning that it's only a matter of time before the grid fails, due to disaster or attack. A new study by a team I led reveals the three ways American military bases' electrical power sources are threatened, and shows how the U.S. military could take advantage of solar power to significantly improve national security.\n\nA triple threat\n\nThe first threat to the electricity grid comes from nature. Severe weather disasters resulting in power outages cause between US$25 billion and $70 billion in the U.S. each year \u2013 and that's average years, not those including increasingly frequent major storms, like Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.\n\nThe second type of threat is from traditional acts of crime or terrorism, such as bombing or sabotage. For example, a 2013 sniper attack on a Pacific Gas and Electric substation in California disabled 17 transformers supplying power to Silicon Valley. In what the head of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission called \"the most significant incident of domestic terrorism involving the grid that has ever occurred,\" the attacker \u2013 who may have been an insider \u2013 fired about 100 rounds of .30-caliber rifle ammunition into the radiators of 17 electricity transformers over the course of 19 minutes. The electronics overheated and shut down. Fortunately, power company engineers managed to keep the lights on in Silicon Valley by routing power from other sources.\n\nThe third threat is from cyberspace. In 2012, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security responded to approximately 200 \"cyber incidents\" across critical infrastructure sectors, nearly half of which attacked the electrical grid. A major breach in the electric system could cost as much as $1 trillion. And China, Russia and North Korea are all trying to break into the grid, potentially to disrupt the U.S. electricity supply the way Russia has in Ukraine in recent years. The security firm Symantec recently warned that hackers have already gained direct access to the electric grid.\n\nA major grid failure, thanks to nature or malicious humans, could easily outstrip the ability of generators and fuel supplies to fill the gaps. Rebuilding or replacing large numbers of damaged transformers could take months or even years: Fixing just 17 of them after the 2013 attack in California cost roughly $100 million and took 27 days.\n\nIt wouldn't just be homes and businesses waiting for the lights to come back on: Military bases, too, would be in the dark.\n\nRemote overseas bases already use solar power to sustain themselves. Credit: Maj. Paul Greenberg, U.S. Marine Corps\n\nSecuring the ability to fight\n\nU.S. national security requires that the military have electricity even during a long-term blackout for other parts of society or the country. Fortunately, there is a solution that addresses all three types of threat to the electric grid at once: distributed power generation.\n\nIn a sense, stationing diesel-fueled generators outside key buildings to provide emergency power is a start down this path. But fuel supply lines can be disrupted too, so renewable energy is best for a long-lasting solution. Solar photovoltaic systems, which generate electricity directly from sunlight, are best because they are easy to maintain, can be located almost anywhere and don't need to be refueled.\n\nThe U.S. military is already working toward this goal. Congress has decided that military facilities must get 25 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2025. To meet that requirement, also by 2025, the department wants to be able to generate 3 gigawatts of renewable power every year. (A nuclear power plant operating at peak capacity produces about 1 gigawatt.)\n\nMuch more to be done\n\nThese steps are in the right direction but are not enough to relieve the threat. Only a few military bases have installed solar panel systems, which generally cover only part of their loads. Most military bases remain unprotected against long-term interruption of electrical power.\n\nIn our study, we found that the 3 GW goal by 2025 is far short of the real need: About 17 GW of solar-generating capacity would be enough to fortify the U.S. military domestically. And more is needed to protect overseas bases, which are vulnerable because other countries' civilian electricity grids are as vulnerable as those in the U.S.\n\nThis is an enormous need for solar capacity: Only in 2015, after years of effort and investment, did the U.S. as a whole reach 20 GW of solar-generating capacity. And while our study found that the work will cost around $42 billion, it will save as much as $2 billion a year in electricity bills the military now pays to civilian suppliers.\n\nCompanies already serving the military are ready and able to do the work. For example, Lockheed Martin, a major defense contractor, has built a demonstration system at Fort Bliss in Texas with a 120-kilowatt solar array and a 300-kilowatt energy storage system. The equipment is connected together \u2013 and to buildings it serves \u2013 in what is called a \"microgrid,\" which is normally connected to the regular commercial power grid but can be disconnected and become self-sustaining when disaster strikes.\n\nTo truly secure the U.S. military, every base will need this kind of system \u2013 supersized, including both rooftop and ground-based solar arrays. The costs are manageable \u2013 and the solar panels are largely one-time costs. In fact, we found that the military could generate all of its electricity from distributed renewable sources by 2025 using these types of microgrids \u2013 which would provide energy reliability and decrease costs. And it would largely eliminate a major group of very real threats to national security.\n\nThis article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.", "output": "The US military needs 17 GW of solar capacity by 2025 to guarantee functionality in the event of a catastrophic cyber attack on the US grid, according to Professor Joshua Pearce, academic engineer at Michigan Tech. As reliance on remotely piloted vehicles grows, distributed power generation and microgrids,\u00a0comprising solar panels and energy storage facilities,\u00a0are\u00a0crucial to the country's military infrastructure, said Pearce. Lockheed Martin has\u00a0developed a demonstration system at Fort Bliss in Texas, capable of producing reliable clean energy and reducing costs.\n"}
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\u6c0f\u306f\u6025\u6210\u9577\u3092\u7d9a\u3051\u308b\u30d3\u30c3\u30c8\u30b3\u30a4\u30f3\u30de\u30fc\u30b1\u30c3\u30c8\u306e\u63a8\u79fb\u3092\u6319\u3052\u305f\u4e0a\u3067\u300c\u6b21\u4e16\u4ee3\u30c1\u30c3\u30d7\u3084\u52b9\u7387\u3088\u304f\u4f7f\u3048\u308b\u96fb\u529b\u3001\u305d\u3057\u3066\u5341\u6570\u5e74\u9593\u6570\u4e07\u53f0\u624b\u304c\u3051\u3066\u304d\u305f\u30b5\u30fc\u30d0\u30fc\u4e8b\u696d\u3001FX\u306a\u3069\u91d1\u878d\u30b5\u30fc\u30d3\u30b9\u3084\u305d\u308c\u3067\u6d3b\u7528\u3059\u308b\u30d3\u30c3\u30b0\u30c7\u30fc\u30bf\u51e6\u7406\u3084\u4eba\u5de5\u77e5\u80fd\u306e\u30ce\u30a6\u30cf\u30a6\u3001\u3053\u308c\u3089\u3092\u7dcf\u52d5\u54e1\u3067\u304d\u308bGMO\u30a4\u30f3\u30bf\u30fc\u30cd\u30c3\u30c8\u30b0\u30eb\u30fc\u30d7\u306e\u512a\u4f4d\u6027\u306f\u4e16\u754c\u3067\u901a\u7528\u3059\u308b\u300d\u3068\u8a00\u3044\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\nGMO\u30a4\u30f3\u30bf\u30fc\u30cd\u30c3\u30c8\u306f\u4eca\u5f8c\u3001\u30de\u30a4\u30cb\u30f3\u30b0\u30bb\u30f3\u30bf\u30fc\u306e\u5b9f\u9a13\u5f8c\u306e2018\u5e74\u6625\u306b\u3082\u6b21\u4e16\u4ee3\u30c1\u30c3\u30d7\u3067\u306e\u904b\u7528\u3092\u30b9\u30bf\u30fc\u30c8\u3059\u308b\u8a08\u753b\u3002\u898f\u6a21\u3068\u3057\u3066\u306f\u4e16\u754c\u7684\u306a\u5f71\u97ff\u529b\u3092\u6301\u3064\u3053\u3068\u3082\u60f3\u5b9a\u3055\u308c\u308b\u304c\u300c\u3042\u304f\u307e\u3067\u65b0\u53c2\u8005\u3001\u4eee\u60f3\u901a\u8ca8\u30b3\u30df\u30e5\u30cb\u30c6\u30a3\u306b\u5b66\u3070\u305b\u3066\u3082\u3089\u3044\u306a\u304c\u3089\u4e8b\u696d\u3092\u5c55\u958b\u3057\u305f\u3044\u300d\u3068\u718a\u8c37\u6c0f\u306f\u8a9e\u308a\u307e\u3059\u3002\n\n\u5c06\u6765\u7684\u306b\u306f\u3001\u30de\u30a4\u30cb\u30f3\u30b0\u3057\u305f\u30d3\u30c3\u30c8\u30b3\u30a4\u30f3\u3092GMO\u30b3\u30a4\u30f3\u4e8b\u696d\uff08\u4eee\u60f3\u901a\u8ca8\u306e\u4ea4\u63db\u30fb\u53d6\u5f15\u4e8b\u696d\uff09\u306b\u63d0\u4f9b\u3057\u3001\u6d41\u52d5\u6027\u4f9b\u7d66\u306b\u3088\u308a\u53d6\u5f15\u6a5f\u4f1a\u3092\u78ba\u4fdd\u3057\u3064\u3064\u3001\u53d6\u5f15\u3067\u304d\u308b\u901a\u8ca8\u30da\u30a2\u3084\u5bfe\u5fdc\u30a2\u30eb\u30c8\u30b3\u30a4\u30f3\u306e\u62e1\u5145\u3001\u30af\u30ed\u30b9\u5186\u3001\u30af\u30ed\u30b9\u30c9\u30eb\u3001\u30af\u30ed\u30b9\u4eee\u60f3\u901a\u8ca8\u53d6\u5f15\u306a\u3069\u3078\u3068\u62e1\u5927\u3057\u305f\u3044\u8003\u3048\u3067\u3059\u3002\n\n\u3010\u95a2\u9023URL\u3011\n\n\u30fbGMO\u30a4\u30f3\u30bf\u30fc\u30cd\u30c3\u30c8\u30b0\u30eb\u30fc\u30d7\n\nhttps://www.gmo.jp\n\n\u30fbGMO\u30a4\u30f3\u30bf\u30fc\u30cd\u30c3\u30c8\u304c\u4eee\u60f3\u901a\u8ca8\u63a1\u6398\u306b\u53c2\u5165 \u6700\u65b0\u30c1\u30c3\u30d7\u63a1\u7528\n\nhttp://techwave.jp/archives/gmo-internet-enters-into-cryptcurrency-mining.html", "output": "GMO Internet said it will enter the cryptocurrency mining business with a data centre run on energy-efficient hardware it's developing with partners. The Japanese web-hosting firm has budgeted JPY10bn ($89.5m)\u00a0for the project, including the opening this year\u00a0of the\u00a0data centre in northern Europe. It'll use\u00a0semiconductors that are being developed especially for solving mining algorithms. The system will be able to\u00a0operate on almost half the power requirements of other energy-hungry mining setups, which will give GMO an edge when\u00a0combined with the company's\u00a0expertise in data processing and artificial intelligence, it\u00a0said.\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Samsung eyes autonomous driving market with Harman deal \n \u201cIt\u2019s time to communicate our intent to enter the autonomous driving market,\u201d Young Sohn, the company\u2019s president and chief strategy officer, told Reuters. \u201cSamsung has been incubating this business for quite a while.\u201d\n\nSamsung is set to announce on Thursday at the Frankfurt Motor Show that it has set up an automotive strategic business unit for autonomous and advanced driver assistance services (ADAS), together with a $300-million fund to invest in automotive start-ups and technology.", "output": "South Korean conglomerate Samsung is set to follow IBM and Qualcomm and enter the self-driving car sector, following its $8bn acquisition of audio and auto parts supplier Harman. A formal announcement at the Frankfurt motor show is expected to reveal that it has\u00a0set up an autonomous and advanced driver assistance services (ADAS) unit. \"Samsung has been incubating this business for quite a while,\" said company president Young Sohn. The firm expects to have a viable autonomous strategy by 2020, and recently secured licences for pilot projects in South Korea and California.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Beijing bike-sharing providers required to supply insurance \n Shared bikes clutter a street in Xicheng District, Beijing, Sept. 15, 2017. (Photo/ Ecns.cn\uff09\n\n(ECNS) -- Beijing is requiring providers of public shared bikes to purchase life accident insurance while banning children under 12 from using them and prohibiting commercial advertisements on the two-wheelers, according to a new guideline.\n\nJointly issued by Beijing's 11 governmental departments, the guideline aims to regulate the booming bike-sharing industry while acknowledging that it's a green solution to traffic congestion and flexible mobility.\n\nThe rules require all bikes to have GPS and meet safety standards. Users must register with their IDs and companies providing the bikes have the responsibility to remind them of safety information and provide accident insurance. The companies also need to open special accounts to save user deposits.\n\nBeijing Municipal Commission of Transport said the guideline was based on studies of Mobike, Ofo and other startups as well as administration practices in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Chengdu.\n\nBeijing's 15 bike-sharing companies have altogether placed 2.35 million bikes across the city. New additions were banned in the city.\n\nThe guideline also made it clear that electric bikes will not be encouraged here.\n\nBeijing is still working on more specific technical standards and parking requirements to be released later under the newly introduced guideline.", "output": "Beijing's 11 governmental departments have collaborated to issue guidelines to providers of publicly shared bikes, including the mandatory purchasing of life accident insurance and the prohibition of use by children under the age of 12. In addition, all bikes must have GPS, meet minimum safety standards and may not carry advertising. The regulations were based on studies of bicycle-sharing start-ups Mobike and Ofo, as well as rules laid down in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Chengdu."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Asian fintech more complementary than challenging to incumbants \n The Asia-Pacific region has established itself as a leader in fintech, but established banks there are unlikely to be replaced anytime soon, according to a white paper by LexisNexis Risk Solutions.\n\n\u201cIn Asia-Pacific, we have seen an ecosystem of fintech companies emerge that are focusing on the applicability of technology like blockchain, artificial intelligence and biometrics has emerged with the aim of working with conventional financial institutions, rather than replacing them,\u201d Chris Foye, manager of financial crime compliance at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, said in the paper.\n\nThe paper referred to a report by IDC Financial Insights finding that of fintech vendors that gain more than a third of their revenue from financial institutions, four of the top nine are in Asia.\n\n\u201c\u2018Challenger banks\u2019 have emerged in the U.K. and elsewhere to disrupt big banking institutions, including crowdfunding/P2P platforms, payment processors and lenders,\u201d Foye said. \u201cYet in recent years there have been no signs \u2014 and no instances \u2014 of banks disappearing due to tech interlopers.\u201d\n\nThe key is finding ways to \u201cencourage and regulate digital disruption at the same time,\u201d according to John Price, fintech commissioner at the Australia Securities and Investments Commission.\n\n(Related: International Regulatory Shift Could Tame Cryptocurrency Market)\n\nBanks are ideally suited to that purpose, Foye said, being intimately familiar with regulation and compliance obligations, and many have established innovation labs to experiment with ways to bring innovation to consumers.", "output": "Fintech firms in the Asia-Pacific region are working with established banks and financial institutions to implement technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence and biometrics, according to a report by LexisNexis Risk Solutions. In Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia the active development of tech \"sandboxes\" has been allowing financial firms to test technology without violating regulations. The dynamic contrasts with the way fintech firms in Europe position\u00a0themselves as challengers to incumbent institutions.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "DOE shifts focus to solar thermal after surpassing PV cost target \n Dive Brief:\n\nThe U.S. Department of Energy announced plans to expand the SunShot program after hitting its 2020 goals to trim utility-scale solar costs to $0.06/kWh \u2014 or under $1 per watt \u2014 three years early.\n\nor under $1 per watt three years early. Under the new goals, the popular program plans to cut utility-scale solar costs in half to $0.03/kWh by 2030. The agency also plans to trim commercial solar costs to $0.04/kWh and residential solar to $0.05/kWh in the same timeframe.\n\nThe Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), which houses SunShot, also announced $82 million in funding for early-stage research in concentrating solar power and power electronics.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nDespite the Trump administration's efforts to cut funding from DOE research efforts, the agency is forging ahead with new programs to expand solar development. But the agency now frames these efforts as opportunities to boost grid reliability and resiliency \u2014 key priorities of Secretary Rick Perry and his recently-published grid study.\n\n\"Secretary Perry is certainly focused on improving the resiliency of the grid,\" Becca Jones-Albertus, acting deputy director for the SunShot initiative, told Utility Dive. \"We\u2019re continuing to focus innovation that can drive cost reductions to meet the 2030 goal, so that includes focusing on the hardware side; on longer lifetimes and better durability.\"\n\nJones-Albertus said focusing on durability and longer lifetimes would help drive down so-called \"soft\" costs associated with installations \u2014 interconnection and permitting. And they underscore the agency's efforts to use solar as a way to boost resiliency, she added.\n\nAs part of the SunShot expansion, DOE allocated $62 million for concentrated solar power technologies and $20 million for early-stage power electronic projects that would help grid operators better detect problems, while also shoring up against cyber and physical attacks. Those types of electronics will also better enable integration of variable solar power, DOE said.\n\nWinners will have to pony up 20% of the funds to their overall project budget, which could yield a total of private and public spending of $100 million.\n\nThe expanded SunShot program still targets cost cuts, aiming to cut the installed price of various solar technologies by more than half by 2030. Current tax incentives, such as the federal investment tax credit, do not factor into these cost forecasts, Jones-Albertus said.\n\nCurrently, commercial-scale solar prices rest around $0.11/kWh and residential solar is roughly $0.16/kWh. The agency uses an average cost found in Kansas City, Missouri to model its projections. In sunnier states, the costs could fall to nearly $0.02/kWh for large-scale solar.\n\nThese prices are a stark contrast to 2011, when the program first began. At that time, utility-scale solar cost $0.28/kWh, while residential and commercial-scale solar was $0.52/kWh and $0.40/kWh respectively. Lower module prices helped drive these costs down, according to a new report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, also released with the funding announcements.\n\nThe new funding opportunities arrived amid a heated debate between solar companies over a request to impose a tariff and floor price on imported crystalline silicon photovoltaic solar panels. Two companies proposed a tariff of $0.40/watt and a floor price of $0.78/watt.\n\nIf enacted, these tariffs could endanger 88,000 jobs from the solar sector next year, the Solar Energy Industries Association warned, and threaten two-thirds of utility-scale solar projects expected to come online in the next five years. The tariffs could also hamper any DOE efforts to reduce costs.", "output": "The US Department of Energy has announced it will expand its SunShot programme after the project hit its goal of reducing utility-scale solar costs to under $1 per watt three years early. The project has now set new goals, aiming to cut the installed price of various solar technologies by half by 2030. The department's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy has also announced $62m of funding for concentrated solar power technology and $20m for early-stage power projects to help grid operators detect problems and defend against physical and cyber attacks."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Anti-glare coating enables first Scandinavian airport solar PV \n Finnwind Oy has installed a 312 kW solar PV system at Finnair cargo center, Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, Finland.\n\nThe company, one of the most experienced PV installers in Finland, used Vikram Solar\u2019s modules for the project. It is the first ever PV installation at an airport in Scandinavia and the system is expected to supply on an average 280,000 kWh of energy per year, said a press release.\n\nCommenting on the completion, Davide Marro, Head-Sales (Europe), Modules, Vikram Solar, said: \u201cThe modules used for these types of projects must meet exceptional quality standards. We are pleased that a renowned airline like Finnair turned to our partner Finnwind Oy and chose Vikram Solar modules.\u201d\n\n\u201cSustainability is important for Finnair Cargo customers, as well as their clients,\u201d said Janne Tarvainen, Managing Director of Finnair Cargo, on the milestone. \u201cOur new cargo hub features advanced automation technology and has temperature-controlled areas for pharmaceuticals and other perishable products, and the solar plants support the energy efficiency of the terminal.\n\nPopular content\n\n\u201cQuality, performance, and durability of the solar panels were key criteria for choosing Vikram Solar and Finnwind for this project,\u201d Tarvainen added.\n\nThe airport authority was cognizant of the safety constraints of the aviation industry in relation to PV installations at airports. To reduce the risk of glare for air traffic at and around the airport, Vikram Solar\u2019s modules were equipped with an anti-reflection coating (ARC) glass, absorbing 94% of incident light.\n\nAdditionally, the weather conditions played a significant role in the project. The modules can withstand the cyclic pressure loads caused by factors such as wind and snow, which are common in Finland. Vikram Solar's modules passed similar testing conditions, and were credited among the \u201ctop performer\u201d list for 2017, released by the Norway-based DNV GL.", "output": "Finnish solar company FInnwind Oy has installed a 312 kW solar power system at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, the first such installation at a Scandinavian airport. The company used PV modules from Vikram Solar for the project, which are expected to supply an average of 280,000 kWh of energy per year. To reduce the risk of glare to aircraft, the modules were given an anti-reflection coating, which absorbs 94% of incident light. They can also withstand cyclic pressure loads from wind and snow, common weather conditions in the area. The project was carried out for Finnair Cargo, which operates from the airport."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Prudential finds four million over-55s want\u00a0to downsize homes \n More than 3.9 million over-55s are planning to downsize to a cheaper property, according to new research from Prudential.\n\nThe nationwide study found that 47% of homeowners aged over 55 were planning to sell and move to cheaper homes later in life, and on average they expected to raise around \u00a3112,000 in equity, with 11% expecting to make more than \u00a3200,000.\n\nHowever, Prudential found that money wasn\u2019t the key driver for downsizing, with 74% citing convenience as the main reason, compared with 28% who claimed they were doing so mainly to release cash for retirement.\n\n\u201cIt is interesting to see that these figures challenge the common theory that \u2018my house is my pension\u2019,\u201d said Vince Smith-Hughes, a retirement income expert at Prudential.\n\n\n\nPoll As a broker, do you currently quote 'green' loan options alongside standard loan quotes for property development finance? Yes No Vote Results\n\n\n\n\n\n\u201cAlthough we see a large proportion of those taking equity from their homes to boost their retirement incomes, most people have accepted that the main reason they need to move home in later life is for convenience.\n\n\u201cWith the average amount of equity raised likely to be just over \u00a3100,000, and with many other demands on this cash \u2013 such as helping children, paying off debts and putting money aside to pay for care in the future \u2013 it is clear that for most people the best way to fund retirement is through saving as much into a pension as early as possible in their working lives.\u201d\n\nHowever, a lack of suitable, available housing was the main reason why over-55s felt downsizing wasn\u2019t more popular, with 24% blaming the cost of moving and 17% citing high house prices.", "output": "More than 3.9 million homeowners over the age of 55 plan to downsize their properties for a cheaper home, according to insurance and financial services company Prudential. Almost half of homeowners in the age group sought to sell up in later life and could expect to raise as much as \u00a3200,000 in equity, Prudential said, citing the findings of a nationwide survey of 1,092 homeowners. The company found that funding was not the main reason for downsizing, with 74% stating that convenience was the driving factor, rather than releasing money for a pension fund.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bank of America and FitPay partner for wearabale payment tech \n Source: Bank of America\n\nBank of America (NYSE: BAC ) and FitPay, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of NXT-ID, Inc. (NASDAQ: NXTD), today announced an agreement to extend contactless payment capabilities to a range of new devices, giving Bank of America customers more payment options and accelerating the adoption of new payment devices.\n\nThis collaborative effort enables Bank of America customers to use their credit or debit cards to make secure contactless payments directly from devices that are integrated with the FitPay[TM] payment platform at NFC-enabled point-of-sale locations and more than 9,000 Bank of America ATMs.\n\n\"As digital payments evolve, our goal is to give Bank of America customers access to payment options that are easy to use and highly secure,\" said Mark Monaco, Head of Enterprise Payments at Bank of America. \"Working with FitPay will allow our customers to use a range of new contactless payment devices to improve the payment experience, provide a high level of security, and fit seamlessly into any lifestyle.\"\n\nUnder the agreement, Bank of America will participate in FitPay's Digital Wallet Program, which enables manufacturers of Internet of Things (IoT) and wearable devices to add contactless payment capabilities to their product, making it possible for consumers to pay for goods and services at near-field communication-enabled (NFC) point-of-sale terminals with a simple tap. The platform uses tokenization, a payment security technology that replaces cardholders' account information with a unique digital identifier (a 'token'), to transact highly secure contactless payments.\n\n\"We are very pleased to be working with Bank of America to give their customers access to the latest payment technology,\" said Michael Orlando, COO of NXT-ID and President of FitPay, Inc. \"Broad adoption of digital payments requires fundamentally changing the payment experience and making new payments methods widely available. Our work with device manufacturers and Bank of America is driving both of these goals.\"\n\nManufacturers of 15 IoT and wearable devices are currently integrating with the FitPay payment platform. Bank of America and FitPay are working together to enable Bank of America customers to use their credit or debit cards to make contactless payments or use NFC-enabled Bank of America ATMs with these devices. This collaboration includes ensuring that the devices meet Bank of America's technical, usage, security, branding, and consumer experience requirements. Product announcements from the manufacturers of these devices are anticipated in 2017 and 2018.", "output": "The Bank of America and contactless payment provider FitPay are working together to offer contactless payment options across a range of devices, encouraging adoption of the technology. Customers will be able to make secure contactless transactions through integrated devices at approved point-of-sale locations and across 9,000 Bank of America ATMs. 15 Internet of Things and wearable device manufacturers are working on integration with the FitPay platform to enable further payment options.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian online learning platform Unacademy raises further $11.5m \n Unacademy Plans To Onboard More Than 10,000 Educators Globally In 18 Months\n\nBengaluru-based edtech startup Unacademy has raised $11.5 Mn in its Series B round of funding led by Sequoia India and SAIF Partners. Existing investors and angels including Nexus Venture Partners and Blume Ventures also participated in the round.\n\nThe startup will use the proceeds to accelerate its product and technology as well as scale to other categories including personality development, new languages and job interviews. It will also invest in producing its own knowledge based content with its top educators on the platform. With this round of funding, Unacademy plans to grow 10X and onboard more than 10,000 educators across the globe in 18 months.\n\nGaurav Munjal, CEO and co-founder, Unacademy stated, \u201cOur vision is to build the world\u2019s largest online knowledge repository by empowering great educators. With the backing of Sequoia and SAIF, we are poised to significantly gain momentum and create the first global education technology product out of India. I\u2019m very excited to kickstart this new phase of growth for Unacademy.\u201d\n\nUnacademy is an online learning platform that empowers educators to create courses on various subjects. The platform currently has more than 50,000 lessons online and over 1.3 Mn registered users and more than 4,000 educators. Over 25% of the educators are active monthly. It is also one of the largest education channels on YouTube India with 1 million subscribers.\n\nAlok Goel, Managing Director, SAIF Partners, said, \u201cUnacademy democratises access to personalised learning by connecting educators and students directly on its platform. We believe it has the potential to disrupt the status quo that limits access to quality education at a global level. With very limited investment, the team has built a strong brand and word-of-mouth reputation. We are delighted to support the team in realising their mission.\u201d\n\nUnacademy And The $1.96 Bn Edtech Market\n\nUnacademy was founded by Gaurav Munjal (ex-founder and CEO Flatchat) along with Roman Saini, Hemesh Singh and Sachin Gupta. It was initially launched as an educational YouTube channel in 2011 and as a free learning platform Unacademy in January 2016.\n\nIt allows educators to create courses using their app on various subjects, including exclusive content for various competitive exams. All educators go through an interview process and selection is based on their experience.\n\nThe startup also recently added billionaire and serial entrepreneur Bhavin Turakhia to the board.\n\nHere\u2019s a look at its funding history-\n\nAs per Inc42 Datalabs Report for H1 2017, edtech took the fourth spot with 23 deals in the sector. In June 2017, another edtech platform Coursera raised $64 Mn Series D funding led by GSV Asset Management.\n\nOnline education in India will see approximately 8x growth in the next five years, says a recent report by Google, KPMG. This will have a significant impact on the edtech market that has a potential to touch $1.96 Bn by 2021 from where it stands now i.e. $247 Mn. India is poised to be the third-largest online market for education, with a plethora of web- and mobile-based courses and tools available in the currently. Also, India is home to 19% of the world\u2019s youth. No wonder edtech startups like Unacademy are banking on this growing market as using technology as a growth driver.", "output": "Indian online education provider Unacademy has raised $11.5m in a series B funding round, which it will use to help develop\u00a0and scale its\u00a0products. The investment round, led by Sequoia India and SAIF Partners, was also joined by existing backers, including Nexus Venture Partners and Blume Ventures. The funding will be used\u00a0to begin producing Unacademy's own content on its platform\u00a0and add more than 10,000 educators in the next 18 months. The start-up's learning platform has more than 50,000 lessons online and in excess of 1.3 million registered users, with its YouTube channel one of the largest in India.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fleet Secure product could enable cyber insurance for shipping \n Inmarsat launches Fleet Secure The new cyber security service was unveiled in partnership with Singtel and Trustwave.\u2026\n\nInmarsat has officially launched its Fleet Secure cyber security service, which has been constructed and delivered in partnership with Singtel and Trustwave, at its UK headquarters as part of London International Shipping Week.\n\nFleet Secure will provide customers with a 24/7 monitoring, consultancy and response provision, with four key components.\n\nVia Trustwave, Inmarsat will facilitate round-the-clock connectivity to participating superyachts, which ensures real-time monitoring of any anomalies or potential attacks.\n\nThis has been referred to as \u2018cyber risk visibility\u2019, which equates to real-time threat monitoring, analysis and expert mitigation guidance, which the company says has \u2018never happened before\u2019.\n\nThe key value propositions are that both the bandwidth provision, and associated costs, will be shouldered by Inmarsat, with no impact on the vessel\u2019s allowance, and incorporated into the Fleet Xpress package without the need for any additional hardware.\n\nSpeaking at the London event, Peter Broadhurst, Senior Vice President of Safety & Security explained that, in a recently commissioned independent study, 44 per cent of respondents believed their vessels\u2019 defences were not sufficient. Furthermore, an alarming 39 per cent had been the victim of some level of cyber attack in the last 12 months.\n\nCiting the vulnerability human error on board can trigger in a vessel\u2019s cyber defences, \u201cThe majority of crew are unaware of how greatly they compromise security; it\u2019s about awareness and training. You really have to follow up to make sure people [are following best practice].\u201d\n\nWhen quizzed about clause 380, which excludes cyber attacks from maritime insurance contracts, and has left many in the industry concerned owners are leaving themselves unnecessarily exposed, Broadhurst intimated that Fleet Secure was the sort of best practice that could potentially underwrite cyber security in the future.\n\nWith yacht crew bringing more and more devices on board, with huge quantities of unlicensed content, a yacht\u2019s cyber security is frequently compromised. But, for this nascent paradigm, there is a need for education and infrastructure. \u201cIf we can get to the point where we achieve an ISO or IMO standard, we will be able to get to the point where we have crew with cyber training certificates. And we need to get there as quickly as possible.\u201d\n\nInmarsat also used the event to allude to the launch of its new Fleet Broadband service in 2018, and then the launch of the I6 satellite constellation in 2019/2020. A single satellite of this L-band/Ka-band hybrid system will be more powerful than the entire I4 and I5 constellations.\n\nProfile links\n\nInmarsat Global\n\nClick here to become part of The Superyacht Group community, and join us in our mission to make this industry accessible to all, and prosperous for the long-term. We are offering access to the superyacht industry\u2019s most comprehensive and longstanding archive of business-critical information, as well as a comprehensive, real-time superyacht fleet database, for just \u00a310 per month, because we are One Industry with One Mission. Sign up here.", "output": "Satellite and communications firm Inmarsat has launched Fleet Secure, a maritime cyber security product. The offering provides round-the-clock monitoring for anomalies hinting at a potential cyber attack, an industry first, as well as expert guidance. The deployment of Fleet Secure may be a step towards cyber insurance for shipping companies; many maritime insurance contracts exclude cyber risks in their coverage.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Carmaker McLaren seeks productivity gains with Holmes AI platform \n Indian information technology (IT) firm Wipro signed up with British company McLaren Technology Group, on Tuesday to deploy its Holmes artificial intelligence platform to increase the productivity and high-tech business of the automobile company.\n\n\"Wipro, with its deep domain expertise and vast application services portfolio, will help us achieve excellence as well as drive innovation in artificial intelligence,\" said Craig Charlton, Chief Information Officer at McLaren Technology Group in a statement.\n\nAfter the sign-up, Wipro got the title of 'official technology partner' of McLaren. This will help the car maker boost digitisation across its businesses and also help Wipro to expand its artificial intelligence business.\n\n\"Digitisation is a great opportunity for renowned brands like McLaren to re-imagine and redesign their products and services from their customer's perspective,\" said N S Bala, president of Manufacturing & Technology at Wipro Limited.\n\nWipro's AI platform -- Holmes\n\nHolmes is a cognitive computing system developed by Wipro in 2016. This artificial intelligence platform of Wipro, gives direct competition to rival IBM and its product IBM Watson.\n\nLast year, Wipro said it will use Holmes to automate several aspects of its fixed price projects that will save up to $46.5 million and free over 3,000 engineers from usual and boring software maintenance activities.\n\nThat move was part of Wipro's bigger plan to generate $60-$70 million in revenue by selling the platform to new and existing clients.\n\n\"The extensive use cases addressed by Wipro Holmes enable faster time to market for application services, minimum human touchpoints in IT infrastructure operations and enhanced process efficiencies across key business processes through theme-driven AI and automation offerings,\" said Rohit Adlakha, vice-president and Global Head at Wipro Holmes and Automation Ecosystem.\n\nHowever, such mass expansion of the automation platform will also raise fears of job cuts in the future. Earlier in May, top seven IT companies in India, that include Wipro, said they had plans to ask at least 56,000 engineers to leave in 2017.\n\nIn fact, according to reports, the IT major Wipro has sacked about 600 employees early this year on achieving greater process automation and following performance appraisals.\n\nReports also suggested that Wipro's homegrown AI platform Holmes will soon automate jobs done by 10,000 engineers across 20,000 projects from various business verticals. This means that more engineers would become redundant as their tasks would be now done by codes and algorithms.\n\nHowever, mass layoffs can be addressed if the big IT companies takes the initiative to reskill the engineers and upgrade their knowledge to handle roles that will require diverse skillsets and expertise.\n\nBut with more automation coming in, it is not clear how companies like Wipro will manage to create non-automated work profiles for their engineers who face the threat of losing their work as digitisation makes further strides within the software services companies.", "output": "UK car firm McLaren Technology is turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to digitise its business and improve productivity. Indian IT firm Wipro will deploy its\u00a0Holmes\u00a0AI platform to\u00a0help\u00a0McLaren re-imagine and redesign its products and services, and will be known as the company's \"official technology partner\". Holmes is a direct rival to IBM's Watson AI software."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IBM launches AI-powered tool for maths teachers \n Teaching STEM\n\nIBM Rolls Out Free AI Tool for Math Teachers\n\nIBM is launching a free new tool powered by artificial intelligence specifically for teachers.\n\nTeacher Advisor with Watson 1.0 uses artificial intelligence from Watson, IBM's Jeopardy!-playing robot, now trained by math experts with feedback from more than 1,000 math teachers, to help K-5 teachers with targeted math resources for their students.\n\nTeacher Advisor has more than 1,000 math lessons, teaching strategies and videos available for targeted recommendations. Teacher advisor is designed to help teachers:\n\nAccess quality resources to meet diverse classroom needs;\n\nUnderstand the standards and prerequisites for each lesson to better close gaps for students;\n\nApply new teaching techniques; and\n\nReceive targeted recommendations for specific math concepts.\n\nTeaching materials available through the online tool come from Achieve, AFT's Share My Lesson, CPALMS, EngageNY, Illustrative Mathematics, Student Achievement Partners and UnboundEd.\n\n\"Time is of the essence for teachers,\" said Sheena Lee, an elementary school teacher at Umana Academy in Boston, MA, in a prepared statement. \"With a classroom full of third through fifth graders who have had inconsistent education in their lives, I need to help my students learn math in different ways, at different levels. Teacher Advisor With Watson offers a one-stop shop for the most trusted resources, enabling me to decide how best to meet my students where they are.\"\n\n\"Teachers shoulder endless challenges and responsibilities \u2014 mastering content, standards and curriculum, and meeting the diverse needs and abilities of each of their students,\" said AFT President Randi Weingarten in a news release. \"Too often, teachers are expected to do all this single-handedly, but Teacher Advisor could help change that. The AFT worked hand-in-glove with the IBM Foundation to hone this tool and see how it empowers teachers and benefits students. This effective public-private partnership is a testament to what can be achieved when educators are entrusted with innovative technology to support powerful learning.\"\n\nVisit teacheradvisor.education to learn more.", "output": "IBM is launching a tool for maths teachers powered by artificial intelligence (AI)\u00a0to help them with targeted resources for students. The Teacher Advisor with Watson 1.0 uses AI\u00a0from IBM's Watson's Jeopardy!-playing\u00a0robot system and provides access to more than 1,000 maths lessons, teaching strategies and videos. The materials are offered\u00a0by a range of providers, including AFT's Share My Lesson, Illustrative Mathematics, Student Achievement Partners and UnboundEd, among\u00a0others.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian engineer creates world's cheapest ventilator \n The world\u2019s cheapest and smallest ventilator, which looks like a clunky cellphone and can easily slip into your back pocket, has been developed by a young robotics engineer in Delhi in collaboration with a neurosurgeon at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. This machine is 450 times smaller than the conventional ventilators and can easily slip into your back pocket.\n\n\u201cIt is almost 450 times smaller than the conventional ventilators and can be moved around easily,\u201d said the 25-year-old inventor Diwakar Vaish.\n\nHe developed it with Dr Deepak Agrawal, professor of neuroscience at AIIMs, who have seen scores of such patients living in hospital because the family cannot afford to buy a portable ventilator, which costs about Rs 2 lakh.\n\nWhen the pocket ventilator hits the market after clinical trials and approval from the drug controller general of India, it will cost between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000, which is less than the Rs 5-15 lakh that a traditional ventilator would cost.\n\nThe cheapest portable ventilator also costs between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 2.5 lakh.\n\n\u201cThere is an FDA-approved disposable ventilator that costs between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000, but it has a maximum life of four weeks. This will be a one-time investment and since it runs on room air, and not oxygen, the operational costs are close to zero,\u201d said Dr Deepak Agrawal, professor of neurosurgery at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).\n\n\u201cThere is no requirement for oxygen cylinders, which cost between Rs 3,000 and Rs 4,000 a day,\u201d said Dr Vaish.\n\nControlled with an android app, the ventilator uses an artificial intelligence algorithm to adjust air supply to the normal breathing pattern of the patient.\n\n\u201cIt works by pushing the atmospheric air into the lungs of the patients who cannot breathe on their own. The disposable ventilators currently in use also push in air, but they do it at a fixed frequency that does not necessarily match the patient\u2019s breathing pattern, which may cause low oxygen saturation. This device synchronises ventilator air support with the normal breathing pattern,\u201d said Dr Agrawal.\n\n\u201cWe have successfully used it for a couple of hours on six fully paralysed patients at AIIMS who have been unable to return home for the want of affordable ventilators,\u201d said Dr Agrawal.\n\nAs a safety measure, the ventilators were attached to FDA-approved disposable ventilators during the trial. India faces a huge shortage of ventilator beds needed to support critically-ill patients who cannot breathe on their own. According to norms, at least 10% of all hospital should have ventilators, but even Delhi, which has the best health infrastructure in India, has 200 ventilators for over 10,000 beds.\n\n\u201cThe oxygen supplied to the patients through conventional ventilators is usually diluted to 40% concentration, air contains 20% oxygen. Nine in 10 of all patients, barring the ones with severe lung problems, can breathe in the normal atmospheric air because the problem is in their diaphragm, not lungs,\u201d said Dr Agrawal.\n\nFor the 10% who need more oxygen, the pocket ventilator can also be hooked to an oxygen-supply system.\n\nSHARE THIS ARTICLE ON", "output": "A 25-year-old Indian engineer and a neurosurgeon at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences have invented the world's smallest, cheapest ventilator. Diwakar Vaish and Dr Deepak Agrawal hope the device could solve India's chronic shortage of hospital ventilator beds. The device uses an\u00a0algorithm to intelligently adjust a patient's air supply, resulting in negligable operating costs. The FDA-approved device costs between INR15,000 ($234) and INR20,000, and will be made available following clinical trials and Indian regulatory approval.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New York University uses VR classrooms to train\u00a0teachers \n Coming out of preservice training, many soon-to-be teachers register the same complaint: They didn\u2019t get enough practice managing a classroom.\n\nResearchers at New York\u2019s University at Buffalo, in conjunction with a local public charter school and a digital-media company, are working to help ease that transition using virtual reality.\n\nThe technology offers a middle ground \u201cbetween what can happen in the university context and the real classroom,\u201d said Lynn Shanahan, an associate professor at the university who is currently working as an administrator at Enterprise Charter School, which serves K-8 students. \u201cIt\u2019s a safe space because they\u2019re practicing not on real kids.\u201d\n\nAlthough several companies are already building virtual environments to simulate the classroom experience, those scenarios have tended to use avatars, which look a bit like cartoon characters, in place of real students. As part of the new effort, teachers watch videos of actual students, shot with 360-degree cameras in the classroom.\n\nThe idea is that incoming teachers can feel what it\u2019s like to be confronted with challenging behaviors\u2014for instance, students yelling, pulling out their cellphones, jumping on desks\u2014without having to step into a physical classroom. And they can do so at any time on their own by using a smartphone and VR headset, which can cost as little as $10.\n\nBut the use of real video for VR does pose some financial and ethical concerns: It\u2019s quite expensive to shoot; a single 360-degree camera costs about $5,000. And it can reinforce racial, ethnic, or gender stereotypes\u2014especially when there\u2019s limited footage featuring a small pool of students.\n\nThe project, underwritten by a $20,000 innovation grant from New York\u2019s state university system, is still in its early stages, but preservice teachers at the University at Buffalo, as well as some practicing teachers at Enterprise, located in the city\u2019s downtown area, will use a pilot of the basic technology this fall.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re not saying to replace those [student-teaching] field experiences, but the VR is another tool that can enhance the clinical preparation of the preservice teacher,\u201d said Elisabeth Etopio, the director of the Teacher Education Institute and the interim assistant dean for teacher education at the university. \u201cYou can rack up the hours of experience and actually master skills prior to when you go to interact with students.\n\nAmber Grzechowiak, a K-2 teacher at Enterprise Charter School, had never used VR before putting on a headset during a demonstration of the technology last month.\n\n\u201cThis is the craziest thing I\u2019ve ever seen in my life,\u201d she said, turning her head from left to right, up and down, to see the virtual classroom in its entirety.\n\nIn one of the scenarios, which were created by Crosswater Digital Media, a Buffalo, N.Y.-based audio- and video-production studio, and filmed at Enterprise Charter, a middle school boy is irritating a classmate\u2014balling up paper and throwing it at her, pulling her hair, teasing her. Eventually, she stands up and slaps him on the back. (The students were acting.) In another, students enter a classroom shouting, and one girl hops up on a desk to challenge another girl.\n\nThe technology is still in proof-of-concept stage and far from fully interactive right now. VR users can turn their heads and see the classroom all around them, but they cannot walk closer to students or talk to them and get a response. An assessment appears on the screen asking the teachers how they would respond, but as of now, the VR doesn\u2019t capture their answers.\n\nA \u2018Visceral Feeling\u2019\n\nAs some will point out, the current technology is not so different from watching a regular video\u2014except that it surrounds the user.\n\n\u201cWhen you\u2019re watching it on [a flat] screen, it\u2019s a window and it\u2019s somebody else, it\u2019s not me,\u201d said Grzechowiak. \u201cYou don\u2019t get the same connection as you do when you\u2019re actually standing and you look down and can see the floor right in front of you.\u201d\n\nThe VR gave the university\u2019s Shanahan a \u201cvisceral feeling.\u201d\n\n\u201cI teach with video, and it\u2019s different. I just think it\u2019s the encompassed-body piece,\u201d she said.\n\nRichard Lamb, an associate professor of education at Buffalo and the director of the Neurocognition Science Laboratory there, who is leading the cross-organizational project with Etopio, has some data.\n\nThrough brain-imaging and physiological tests, such as measures of heart rate, blood pressure, and galvanized skin response, Lamb has shown that the body and mind respond similarly to virtual reality and real life.\n\nFor instance, he said, whether teachers are doing a lesson in front of a real group of students at his laboratory or in front of a VR class, the test results follow the same general trend. \u201cIt\u2019s looking like the brain doesn\u2019t care,\u201d he said.\n\nAuthenticity is important, though, which is why he thinks it\u2019s best to use video.\n\nTeach Live, a program created by the University of Central Florida that is now in use at dozens of teacher education institutions across the country, including Buffalo, has a similar concept\u2014but instead of using video, it\u2019s a simulated environment. The students are computer-generated characters, or avatars, whose movements and speech are controlled on the other end by a professional actor.\n\nWithin that kind of animated simulation, the students and teacher can engage in a natural back-and-forth, which isn\u2019t yet possible with the video VR project. But the sessions have to be scheduled to accommodate parties on both ends, unlike the VR, which teachers can pick up and practice with at any time using even a cheap cardboard headset.\n\nDavid Cantaffa, an assistant provost for educator preparation for the State University of New York, the project funder, was surprised by the extent to which the VR made him feel transported to the classroom.\n\nBut to be most powerful for classroom-management training, \u201cI think it would need to be interactive so that you could step forward, step back, interact with kids, kneel down, and have a conversation of some sort,\u201d he said.\n\nThe producers and programmers at Crosswater Digital say they\u2019re getting there. Companies like IBM are making advances in natural-language processing to allow computers to better understand human speech, which Crosswater is exploring incorporating into its VR scenarios.\n\nForward movement in virtual reality is also possible, but quite complicated. \u201cWhen you take a 360-degree camera shot, the camera is in one position, and you\u2019re taking data from that position,\u201d said Lauren Innes, a video editor at Crosswater. \u201cIf you wanted to move, you would literally have to take camera shots of [every position].\u201d\n\nArmin St. George, the senior vice president at Crosswater, which is creating the pilot VR for the university-charter collaboration at a much-reduced rate, estimated there would be some minimal interaction capabilities within the next four to six months. The ability to speak to the system, though, is likely more than a year away.\n\nJulie Schwab, the school superintendent for Enterprise, is eyeing using the VR scenarios both for in-service teacher training this school year and during the teacher-hiring process.\n\nMost of the teachers who come in to her school are white, middle-class women, she said, and many have never worked in an urban setting.\n\n\u201cThey don\u2019t have the background knowledge to understand where these kids are coming from,\u201d Schwab said.\n\n\u2018Stereotyping Threat Is Real\u2019\n\nWith the VR, teachers could practice responding to challenging behaviors without the risk of causing emotional harm to real students, she said.\n\nIdeally, they\u2019d be more measured in their reactions to tough situations when they got to the classroom, she said. \u201cFrom a cognition side, I\u2019ve already processed this before, so I have some experiences I can draw on,\u201d explained Lamb, the researcher.\n\nBut a problem with this work is that it can also potentially reinforce stereotypes about students.\n\nThe majority of students at Enterprise are black\u2014and the half-dozen students featured misbehaving in the videos are all black. Research has consistently shown that black and Latino students are disciplined at disproportionately higher rates than their white peers.\n\n\u201cI do get nervous about putting my kids out there and the stereotypes that could come,\u201d said Schwab.\n\nThe training programs that use avatars have a leg up here, said Christopher Dede, a professor of learning technologies at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Within those simulations, it\u2019s easy to change students\u2019 races and genders\u2014so the programs can even be used to help teachers recognize their own biases, he said.\n\nWith video, in particular, because it\u2019s so expensive to shoot, \u201cI think the stereotyping threat is real because it\u2019s just harder to show so many alternatives that you\u2019re not stereotyping,\u201d said Dede.\n\nCantaffa of SUNY sees a lot of promise in the video-based VR technology beyond the fraught area of classroom management. Perhaps education schools can use it for practice administering literacy tests, running special education meetings, or delivering lessons.\n\n\u201cHaving been a teacher, there are many moments in which it\u2019s quite anxiety-ridden to be in front of a class,\u201d he said. \u201cBut if the VR experience can help create those anxieties, it might help me in terms of muscle memory when I encounter that pedagogical moment in which I\u2019m also anxious.\u201d", "output": "Researchers at New York's University at Buffalo are partnering with Enterprise Charter School and Crosswater Digital Media to develop virtual reality (VR) videos aimed at helping trainee teachers learn to manage students. The proof-of-concept\u00a03D films enable trainee teachers to practise dealing with challenging behaviour, although limitations include not being able to approach or interact with the children. Critics have argued the high cost of 3D filming means a limited number of video scenarios, potentially leading to the reinforcement of student stereotypes. Buffalo teachers will begin using a pilot of the technology this autumn.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bernie Sanders: Why We Need Medicare for All \n This is not a radical idea. I live 50 miles south of the Canadian border. For decades, every man, woman and child in Canada has been guaranteed health care through a single-payer, publicly funded health care program. This system has not only improved the lives of the Canadian people but has also saved families and businesses an immense amount of money.\n\nOn Wednesday I will introduce the Medicare for All Act in the Senate with 15 co-sponsors and support from dozens of grass-roots organizations. Under this legislation, every family in America would receive comprehensive coverage, and middle-class families would save thousands of dollars a year by eliminating their private insurance costs as we move to a publicly funded program.\n\nThe transition to the Medicare for All program would take place over four years. In the first year, benefits to older people would be expanded to include dental care, vision coverage and hearing aids, and the eligibility age for Medicare would be lowered to 55. All children under the age of 18 would also be covered. In the second year, the eligibility age would be lowered to 45 and in the third year to 35. By the fourth year, every man, woman and child in the country would be covered by Medicare for All.\n\nNeedless to say, there will be huge opposition to this legislation from the powerful special interests that profit from the current wasteful system. The insurance companies, the drug companies and Wall Street will undoubtedly devote a lot of money to lobbying, campaign contributions and television ads to defeat this proposal. But they are on the wrong side of history.\n\nGuaranteeing health care as a right is important to the American people not just from a moral and financial perspective; it also happens to be what the majority of the American people want. According to an April poll by The Economist/YouGov, 60 percent of the American people want to \u201cexpand Medicare to provide health insurance to every American,\u201d including 75 percent of Democrats, 58 percent of independents and 46 percent of Republicans.\n\nNow is the time for Congress to stand with the American people and take on the special interests that dominate health care in the United States. Now is the time to extend Medicare to everyone.", "output": "This is a pivotal moment in American history. Do we, as a nation, join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee comprehensive health care to every person as a human right? Or do we maintain a system that is enormously expensive, wasteful and bureaucratic, and is designed to maximize profits for big insurance companies, the pharmaceutical industry, Wall Street and medical equipment suppliers?\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Asian glaciers to shrink by 36% by 2100, reducing water supply \n Asia\u2019s mountain glaciers will lose at least a third of their mass through global warming by the century\u2019s end, with dire consequences for millions of people who rely on them for fresh water, researchers have said.\n\n\n\nThis is a best-case scenario, based on the assumption that the world manages to limit average global warming to 1.5C (2.7F) over pre-industrial levels, a team wrote in the journal Nature.\n\n\u201cTo meet the 1.5C target will be a task of unprecedented difficulty,\u201d the researchers said, \u201cand even then, 36% (give or take 7%) of the ice mass in the high mountains of Asia is projected to be lost\u201d by 2100.\n\nWith warming of 3.5C, 4C and 6C respectively, Asian glacier losses could amount to 49%, 51% or 65% by the end of the century, according to the team\u2019s modelling study.\n\nThe high mountains of Asia comprise a geographical region surrounding the Tibetan plateau, holding the biggest store of frozen water outside the poles.\n\nIt feeds many of the world\u2019s great rivers, including the Ganges, the Indus and the Brahmaputra, on which hundreds of millions of people depend.\n\nNearly 200 nations adopted the Paris agreement in 2015, which sets the goal of limiting warming to a level \u201cwell below\u201d 2C, while \u201cpursuing efforts\u201d to achieve a lower ceiling of 1.5C.\n\nEarth\u2019s surface has already warmed by about 1C, according to scientists.\n\nFor high warming scenarios, experts predict land-gobbling sea-level rise, worsening storms, more frequent droughts and floods, species loss and disease spread.\n\nThe Asian high mountains, the new study said, were already warming more rapidly than the global average.\n\nA global temperature rise of 1.5C would mean an average increase in the region of about 2.1C, with differences between mountain ranges \u2013 all of which will warm by more than 1.5C.\n\nThe Hindu Kush mountain range would warm by about 2.3C and the eastern Himalayas by 1.9C, the study forecast.\n\n\u201cEven if temperatures stabilise at their current level, [glacier] mass loss will continue for decades to come,\u201d the researchers added.\n\nFor the high mountain glaciers to survive, \u201cit is essential to minimise the global temperature increase\u201d.\n\nSwaths of south Asia and China depend on meltwater from Himalayan glaciers for drinking water, electricity generation and irrigation.\n\nAt the same time, the regions are also vulnerable to more intense flooding from accelerated glacier melt, combined with heavier rains and superstorms boosted by global warming.\n\nA study in July in the journal Nature Climate Change said there was only a 5% chance of holding global warming under 2C. For 1.5C, the odds were about 1%.\n\nOn current trends, some experts project Earth is on track to warm by about 3C.", "output": "Mountain glaciers in Asia are warming more rapidly than the global average and will lose at least a third of their mass by the end of the century, according to research. If the world does not manage to restrict global warming to an average 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, the loss will be even greater. The region surrounding the Tibetan plateau holds the largest store of frozen water outside of the poles. Large areas of China and south Asia depend on glacial meltwater for drinking water, electricity and irrigation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Asian glaciers to shrink by 36% by 2100, reducing water supply \n Glaciers in the high mountains of Asia are a crucial water resource, but are at risk from global warming. Modelling suggests that the glaciers will shed mass in direct proportion to the warming to which they are exposed. See Letter p.257\n\nThe 2015 Paris climate agreement aspires to limit the average global temperature rise to 1.5 \u00b0C above pre-industrial levels by the end of this century (see go.nature.com/2efxikg). Intensive work is under way to determine what return we would get for the formidable effort required to achieve this goal. On page 257, Kraaijenbrink et al.1 contribute to this work by modelling glaciers in the high mountains of Asia (HMA) and showing how these glaciers respond to different levels of warming. The authors demonstrate that even if the 1.5 \u00b0C target is met, about one-third of the present-day mass of HMA glaciers will be lost by the end of this century. The work could have major consequences for communities in the region that depend on glacial meltwater for domestic use, hydropower and irrigation.", "output": "Mountain glaciers in Asia are warming more rapidly than the global average and will lose at least a third of their mass by the end of the century, according to research. If the world does not manage to restrict global warming to an average 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, the loss will be even greater. The region surrounding the Tibetan plateau holds the largest store of frozen water outside of the poles. Large areas of China and south Asia depend on glacial meltwater for drinking water, electricity and irrigation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Leading medical societies, health systems collaborate to improve geriatric emergency care \n Four national medical societies and nine leading health systems announced today they have established a new national geriatric emergency department collaborative (GEDC) to help improve emergency care for our nation's older adults.\n\nThe American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), American Geriatrics Society (AGS), Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) and Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) will work with a team of experts in geriatric emergency care to support health systems across the United States in identifying, studying and sharing best practices in emergency care for seniors, with about half of all older adults visiting the emergency department (ED) each year.\n\nThe four societies previously developed expert guidelines on geriatric emergency care in 2014. Those guidelines and new educational activities will help partners at Aurora Health Care System (Wis.), Emory University/Grady Memorial Hospital (Ga.), Magee Women's Hospital (Pa.), Mount Sinai (N.Y.), UC San Diego Health (Calif.), Northwestern (Ill.), St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center (N.J.), University of Chicago (Ill.), and University of North Carolina (N.C.) to promote a variety of proven techniques for improving care for older patients--from coordinating expertise among various professionals to ensuring that older people can transition from the hospital to outpatient settings (like homes or community-based settings) whenever and wherever safely possible.\n\nThe research collaborative is supported by a grant of $3 million from The John A. Hartford Foundation and the Gary and Mary West Health Institute, two national non-profit organizations focused on improving care for us all as we age.\n\n\"Today, 20 million seniors visit our nation's emergency departments,\" said Shelley Lyford, president and CEO of the Gary and Mary West Health Institute. \"With the number of older adults growing rapidly as a result of our aging demographic, there is a critical need for more senior-focused care. This pioneering collaborative is an urgent prescription for innovation and shared learning, which will benefit our nation's seniors in emergency rooms across the country.\"\n\nAdded Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, FAAN, president of The John A. Hartford Foundation: \"This dynamic initiative is committed to ensuring that age-friendly best practices in theory become best practices in practice--advancing large-scale changes in clinical care and ED policies to improve the health, safety, and independence of older adults.\"\n\nThe GEDC will continue to add more health centers and partners, contributing to an alliance of national stakeholders who will help promote national adoption of geriatric emergency care best practices.\n\n###\n\nAbout The John A. Hartford Foundation\n\nFounded in 1929 by John and George Hartford of the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P), The John A. Hartford Foundation, based in New York City, is a private, nonpartisan philanthropy dedicated to improving the care of older adults. As 10,000 people turn 65 every day, the largest-ever generation of older adults is living and working longer, redefining later life, and enriching our communities and society. Comprehensive, coordinated, and continuous care that keeps older adults as healthy as possible is essential to sustaining these valuable contributions. The John A. Hartford Foundation believes that its investments in aging experts and innovations can transform how care is delivered, lowering costs and dramatically improving the health of older adults. For more information, visit https://www.johnahartford.org/.\n\nAbout The Gary and Mary West Health Institute and West Health\n\nSolely funded by philanthropists Gary and Mary West, West Health includes the nonprofit and nonpartisan Gary and Mary West Health Institute and Gary and Mary West Foundation in San Diego, and the Gary and Mary West Health Policy Center in Washington, D.C. These organizations are working together toward a shared mission dedicated to enabling seniors to successfully age in place with access to high-quality, affordable health and support services that preserve and protect their dignity, quality of life and independence. For more information, visit westhealth.org and follow @westhealth.", "output": "Four national medical societies and nine leading health systems announced today they have established a new national geriatric emergency department collaborative (GEDC) to help improve emergency care for our nation's older adults.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Is California Doing Enough To Protect Patients From Bad Doctors? \n This is KPBS Midday Edition. I am Maureen Cavanaugh. Some lawmakers believe patients should be notified if the doctor is on probation for a serious offense. That is the idea behind a measure that has not been able to clear this date legislature. The medical Association has tried to kill the bill two years in a row. Kenny Goldberg says supporters are not ready to give up.Marion Hollandsworth needed a colonoscopy. Her primary care doctor referred her to an introit just who performed a procedure. Everything was okay.A few years later, Hollandsworth learn how to research doctors on the medical board website. She decided to check the records of the doctor who did her colonoscopy.I about fell over because he was about to start a 30 day suspension and seven years probation for a decade long history of drug and alcohol abuse but what got the attention of the medical board is that he went after a patient with a hatchet.The medical board investigated this doctor before expect in the early 2000, he was recommended for the medical board diversion program they had at that time. He failed other diversion programs. He tried voluntarily and he failed the medical board version and nothing was done.Any disciplinary action taken against a physician in California is listed on the medical board website but it is not user friendly. Hollandsworth takes us through a search of a doctor who has public records.Click to Sir theTo see what he did. Here, for the five years probation, you have to click there. You have to know to click here.Even if a doctor is punished for being drunk on the job, they are not required to tell patients about it.A bill would have changed that. It would have required doctors to notify patients in writing if the medical board with them on probation or a serious offense like sexual misconduct with a patient or operating under the influence of drugs. The California medical Association said no. He lobbied to kill the bill. The CMA did not agree to be interviewed for the story. Any written statement, a spokeswoman said such notification would erode the fundamental right to due process by basing notification on accusation rather than a finding of fact.That is false.Writ budget directs the law at Sandy go.They have stipulated with the medical board that they did commit the conduct that they are accused of or that the board could prove the case or certain elements of the case.Grammy says the CMA is wrong on this.They are trying to make it sound like there is a good reason but they do not have a good reason. They do not want to tell patients because it would be embarrassing. That is not a good enough reason.There are an estimated 137,000 licensed physicians. In that is in California. They put 124 doctors on probation each year. The failed bill would have applied to a subset of those doctors. The CMA helped kill a measure that would have affected 2/100 of a percent. Jeffrey Gordon has a unique perspective. He not only spent 35 years in private practice but he also served on the state medical board for eight years in the 1970s. He says the board has an obligation to protect patients from bad doctors expect to put their names on our website is not adequate. Each physician ought to be responsible for notifying his patients that he has not been morally responsible.Marion has become a pursuit or for more public disclosure. She thinks the medical board does not have the priority straight.The investigator in my case told me it is the medical board's job to make sure they remain in practice for as long as practice.I thought it was to protect patients.She says that to.KPBS news.Joining me is Jerry Hill the sponsor of SB 798. Welcome to the program.Thank you.What is this is of the bill ?This was approved by the Senate yesterday. It will go to the governor. It is a different bill than the bill the Senate approved in May of this year.When it came to the Senate from the assembly, the patient protection issues, they were able to get removed from the California medical Association.The patient notification of doctors on probation, that was removed from the bill ?That was removed from the bill. I have been fighting for this issue it came up last year when we saw the egregious violations of medical practice and from physicians who caused patient harm. They were given probation to serve or the sanction from the medical board. They would do the job and see patients and patients would not know. Many of these physicians are discipline for a sexual misconduct and a lot of times, the condition of probation is that they cannot see female patients if they are male and chaperone. The patient does not know that. Many doctors us are practicing in Seoul practices where there is no one to monitor them. To me, this most significant aspect is that we find the medical board, 30% of the physicians recidivate. They do it again. The patient should have an has a right to know to be told upfront before they see the doctor that that Doctor is on probation and here are the conditions and terms and that probation.Center Hill, this is not the first time that legislation that you sponsored to strengthen Doctor the closure has come up against the California medical Association.Why is the CMA such a powerful group?I cannot explain why. Every person who makes a decision based on their influence or the lab he -- the lobby, they have to look at why they made that decision. They are very powerful and we have been fighting to try to protect the patient and we are only talking about in California, 137,000 doctors, they practice and there are only 600 you are on probation. And of that number, many less are there for the three issues that we are concerned with with this gross negligence, sexual misconduct or substance abuse that will affect the Mac practice in medicine. Right now, if a doctor is on probation, they are required by law to notify the insurance company and required by law to notify the hospital that they are affiliated with but the most important person in the healthcare continuum is the patient. They are not required to be notified. There is something wrong with that.If doctors were required to tell patients they are about to be suspended or put on probation, would that kill the Mac practice ?It could but that is not something that we should be concerned with. That is the argument that the medical Association makes that this would put them out of business. I think that my responsibility as the chair of the business and profession committee is to protect patients and consumers and to over see the human affairs.What benefit would this have on patients besides them saying I do not want to affiliate with this Doctor?I do not know if that is the case.There are physicians who have long relationships and good relationships with patients that this may not affect them. They may be able to have that relationship. I am fascinated by the argument. This bill came forward is to why a psychiatrist should not be -- should not have to disclose probation status is that this would breach the trust that is necessary between the patient and the position if you notify them.That makes no sense to me.Shouldn't you be honest with your patient and let them know the circumstances around her practice? That is the trust that should be built, not deceive them by not telling them of the proms you have.You put forward a disclosure law last year and a disclosure law this year. They have not made it into the final legislation. Do you intend to keep doing it ?I do. I will continue this fight because it is most important for the people of California and the good thing is that the California medical board on this legislation, they were supportive of the legislation with the amendments that we placed in allowing for and requiring patient notification of doctors on probation but that is a good first step. They had previously not felt that it was necessary to notify patients. This information is available today on a medical board website. It is not easy to find and that is the problem. Most of us do not look at or think to look at a website or go to the medical board when we go to a position, to see if they have a license and if there has been disciplinary actions. We take it to granted and we hold them in highest esteem. I feel there should be a better level of transparency and information that is provided to patients.I have been speaking with Jerry Hill. Thank you.Thank you. It is my pleasure.", "output": "In 2011, Marian Hollingsworth needed to get a colonoscopy. Her primary care doctor referred her to a gastroenterologist, who performed the procedure. It went well. A few years later, Hollingsworth learned how to research doctors on the California Medical Board\u2019s website. She decided to check the records of the doctor who did her colonoscopy.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Making sense of Covered California and Medicare during open enrollment \n \u201cSelecting the traditional Medicare provides full choice of physicians and facilities, but entails out-of-pocket co-pays, and many buy supplemental insurance to cover the costs that Medicare does not cover,\u201d says Dr. Michael Brant-Zawadzki of Hoag Hospital.\n\nIt\u2019s that time of year when we all have to start thinking about health insurance plans and options.\n\nNot only do I need to figure out if my current plan will be offered again next year, and with what changes, but my husband is over 65, so I also have to research the latest Medicare plans as well.\n\nAs a columnist, research is my thing, but this insurance stuff makes my head spin.\n\nLike it or not it\u2019s time to start researching as open enrollment begins. Covered California open enrollment is Nov. 1 to Jan. 31, and Medicare\u2019s is Oct. 15 to Dec. 7.\n\nAt healthcare.gov, there\u2019s information about the various open enrollments, including for a Special Enrollment Period, due to a life event like losing other coverage, getting married or having a baby, as well as Medicaid or the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).\n\nThe government site also provides tips regarding the Health Insurance Marketplace and what\u2019s required to be eligible to use these programs.\n\nMaking the right insurance choices can be confusing.\n\nSo I asked my pal Dr. Michael Brant-Zawadzki, FACR senior physician executive at Hoag Hospital, for some thoughts on how to maneuver through this medical insurance muddle.\n\nHoag is part of a 50, non-profit hospital system, the second largest west of the Mississippi, so I thought he\u2019d have some good advice, and he did.\n\nBrant-Zawadzki agrees that \u201cUncertainty about healthcare abounds, and it clouds our choices.\u201d\n\nHe says it\u2019s important to look at options, as it can come down to a tradeoff: choice versus cost.\n\nEven with workplace health plans, this is the case as, \u201cas employers increasingly select health plans that package hospitals and clinicians in a \u2018narrow\u2019 network,\u201d hoping to spend less while \u201cmaintaining quality and patient satisfaction.\u201d\n\nI asked the good doctor about Medicare, as information is showing up in the mail, and from what I can see, it\u2019s a bit confusing.\n\nBrant-Zawadzki explained Medicare has two options.\n\n\u201cSelecting the traditional Medicare provides full choice of physicians and facilities, but entails out-of-pocket co-pays, and many buy supplemental insurance to cover the costs that Medicare does not cover,\u201d he says.\n\nThe other choice, Medicare Advantage, is marketed to seniors by insurance companies and large health plans like Kaiser.\n\nHe says this is \u201cattractive because it promises low or no out-of-pocket costs for doctors, hospitalization and drugs.\u201d\n\nBut those choosing this option should be aware that Medicare Advantage plans offer members a network of physicians and facilities that they must use, according to the plan guidelines.\n\n\u201cMedicare Advantage plans typically require access for all care through an assigned primary care physician, who directs the care plan, including which tests and specialists the member will need,\u201d says Brant-Zawadzki.\n\nHe explained these managed plans have contracted specialists, and sites of service, so patients\u2019 choices of specialists is limited.\n\nAn unexpected emergency could find a patient here in a hospital not in their plan, resulting in transfer to a hospital within their plan.\n\n\u201cLikewise, an on-call specialist seeing that ER patient may not be on the plan, and may bill separately for professional services,\u201d says Brant-Zawadzki.\n\n\u201cThis scenario causes confusion and frustration, as well as unexpected bills for the patient, not to mention the disruption in the continuum of care,\u201d he says.\n\nBrant-Zawadzki says if Medicare Advantage is your preference, it\u2019s a good idea to choose a plan that bundles the hospital, its facilities and the specialists you trust.\n\n\u201cJust because your favorite hospital is \u2018in network\u2019 on your plan does not mean that that hospital\u2019s out-patient lab, imaging, colonoscopy or even ambulatory surgery facilities are also in your plan,\u201d says Brant-Zawadzki.\n\nAsk your primary care physician what contractual obligations he or she has within the plan you\u2019ve chosen and what facilities and specialists to which you\u2019d likely be directed.\n\n\u201cYou may find yourself in a facility operated by an unfamiliar entity with an unknown diagnostician\u201d Brant-Zawadzki says.\n\nMedicare and Medicare Advantage plans can be confusing.\n\nPatients should access all care from the hospital network of their choice and ensure that the plan they select gives them access to not only inpatient hospital care, but all of the additional services, such as imaging, physical therapy and other outpatient services.\n\nCover your bases, as you research health insurance choices.\n\nSpeak to an independent insurance broker.\n\nAnd you might want to attend Hoag Hospital\u2019s free seminars about the basics of Medicare, Medicare benefits, Medicare Supplemental Insurance Plans, Medicare Advantage HMO and PPO plans and Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage.\n\nClasses begin in September and run through November at all three campuses in Newport, Irvine and Huntington Beach.\n\nReservations are a must and to find the location and times in your area visit hoagmedicalgroup.com/for-patients/classes/\n\nBARBARA VENEZIA lives in Newport Beach. She can be reached at bvontv1@gmail.com.", "output": "It\u2019s that time of year when we all have to start thinking about health insurance plans and options. Not only do I need to figure out if my current plan will be offered again next year, and with what changes, but my husband is over 65, so I also have to research the latest Medicare\u00a0plans as well.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Yes, patients want to discuss pricing, payment options before treatment \n More than three-quarters of healthcare consumers say it's important or very important that they know their costs before treatment, and 53 percent want to discuss financing options before care. But the vast majority of healthcare providers are not satisfying these demands, according to the HealthFirst Financial Patient Survey, a survey conducted by ORC International and commissioned by patient financing company HealthFirst Financial.\n\n[Also: Employers sending patients to top-performing providers with bargain prices for routine surgeries]\n\nOnly 18 percent of the 1,011 U.S. adults surveyed across the country said that any of their healthcare providers had spoken to them, at any time, about patient financing options in the past two years. Patients are especially interested in affordable payment programs, with 57 percent saying it's important or very important that their healthcare provider offer ways to extend payments over time with no interest charged. Yet, just 8 percent received zero- or low-interest financing from a healthcare provider.\n\n\"These findings highlight a huge gap in what patients want and what hospitals, medical groups and other healthcare providers are delivering,\" said KaLynn Gates, president and corporate counsel of HealthFirst Financial, in a statement. \"Providers that care for the financial as well as clinical needs of their communities are much more likely to thrive in this era of rising out-of-pockets costs and growing competition for patients among traditional and non-traditional providers.\"\n\n[Also: Despite providers posting prices, patients still not shopping around for services]\n\nDisappointed patients are prepared to vote with their feet. A full 40 percent of millennials 18 to 36 years old said they'd be very likely or likely to switch providers if a competitor offered low- or zero- interest financing for medical bills. They aren't alone: Overall, 29 percent said they'd move to different providers that offer attractive payment programs.\n\nPeople at all income brackets worry about covering the cost of care. A full 42 percent are very concerned or concerned about their ability to pay out-of-pocket medical bills in the next two years, according to the survey. That number jumps to 54 percent among those with incomes of less than $35,000 a year, and falls to 24 percent among those with incomes of $100,000 or more annually.\n\n[Also: Battle over price transparency rages in Ohio, where new laws like Ohio's Healthcare Price Transparency Law are in limbo]\n\nAs a result, consumers also want know what they will owe as early as possible: 77 percent said it's important or very important that providers give the cost before a procedure, while 63 percent said it was important or very important that providers publish pricing lists of common procedures.\n\nAnd with consumer debt on the rise, people have even less room in their budget for medical bills. Anxiety over covering unexpected medical expenses rises with the amount: 53 percent of survey respondents voiced concern about the ability to pay a medical bill of less than $1,000; 35 percent worried about the ability to pay a bill of less than $500; and 16 percent are concerned about the ability to pay a bill of less than $250.\n\n\"We commissioned this independent survey to learn more about how consumers are coping with their medical expenses,\" said Gates. \"Without providing and communicating these viable financing options, they are likely to delay care or switch providers to find financial help. In either case, providers will be hurt by those choices, and they need to develop a strategy to meet these consumers' needs.\"\n\nThe August survey was conducted by ORC International among a sample of 1,011 adults comprising 504 men and 507 women 18 years old and older. The interviews were weighted by age, sex, geographic region, race and education to ensure reliable and accurate representation of the total U.S. adult population.\n\nTwitter: @JELagasse\n\nEmail the writer: jeff.lagasse@himssmedia.com", "output": "More than three-quarters of healthcare consumers say it's important or very important that they know their costs before treatment, and 53 percent want to discuss financing options before care. But the vast majority of healthcare providers are not satisfying these demands, according to the HealthFirst Financial Patient Survey, a survey conducted by ORC International and commissioned by patient financing company HealthFirst Financial.\n\n\n \n\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Appetite for digital advice grows 80% among advisers \n Financial firms using Fidelity\u2019s Wealthscape adviser technology platform now have access to the robo adviser the company has developed with eMoney Advisor.\n\nFidelity\u2019s clearing and custody arm has concluded the pilot of the Fidelity AMP (Automated Managed Platform) and is making the robo service available generally, a company spokesperson said. In a release, the company noted that the number of advisers whose firms are exploring the addition of digital advice has grown by more than 80% in a year, with 40% considering the digital advice options now available.\n\nFidelity said that its robo integrates with eMoney\u2019s widely used tools and that the two firms plan to add enhancements to Fidelity AMP, including more options for customized investment models. Advisers can apply their own branding to an end-investor portal and marketing materials, Fidelity said.", "output": "The number of financial advisory firms considering the adoption of digital advice has increased by more than 80% in the last year, according to Fidelity. 40% are currently considering digital advice options, the investment company added. Fidelity recently released a robo-advice service\u00a0to customers of its Wealthscape adviser technology platform,\u00a0developed in partnership with financial planning software provider eMoney.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Why Bernie Sanders\u2019s plan for universal health care is only half right \n Sen. Bernie Sanders plans to introduce his universal health care bill Wednesday; it is likely to serve as a litmus test for Democrats with presidential aspirations. The legislation is bold and simple, which makes it very appealing. A recent survey by the Pew Research Center found that 60 percent of Americans believe the federal government should ensure health coverage for all Americans.\n\nBut Sanders\u2019s bill only gets it half right.\n\nThe part that\u2019s right is that every American would automatically get health insurance. If that came to pass, the door would be open to lowering costs while eliminating the highly complex regulations needed to police our current system and the inequitable tax treatment that sustains it.\n\nThe part that Sanders gets wrong is that he would turn Medicare into a single-payer system for all, supplanting private insurers.\n\nThat approach has lots of problems, not least of which is an enormous price tag. Consider what happened in California earlier this year when the state legislature briefly considered a single-payer bill. An appropriations committee estimated it would cost $400 billion, over twice the state\u2019s annual budget. Such complications make the Sanders bill \u2014 and other Medicare for all proposals \u2014 virtually impossible to enact.\n\nPeople also forget that Medicare is a hidebound system. It took Congress more than 40 years to offer a prescription drug benefit, for example. Physicians are paid using an arcane system developed decades ago and that has now ballooned to more than 140,000 procedure codes, all of which is supervised (and gamed) by physicians themselves. Standard private sector cost-saving measures, like competitive bidding for routine services, are rarely used.\n\nThere is a better way \u2014 called universal catastrophic coverage \u2014 which borrows from both progressive and conservative playbooks. It would combine the federal guarantee of insurance for all with the cost-controlling benefits of insurers competing for that business.\n\nFrom the consumer viewpoint, universal catastrophic coverage would look like this: All Americans not covered by Medicaid and Medicare would be placed in a single, massive risk pool. The government would assume the risk of insuring everyone, using a high-deductible policy that would guarantee that no one would be without care in the event of a health care crisis.\n\nTo keep the plan progressive and affordable for all, deductibles would be tied to income. Services that are very effective would be exempt from the deductible and fully covered. This includes many prevention services \u2014 like flu shots \u2014 but also medications for chronic disease, certain vaccines, and the like.\n\nThis would eliminate a host of problems in the current system: no more worries about preexisting conditions, no more losing insurance when changing jobs, no more mandated buy-in, and no more upward spiraling of premiums for those buying policies because healthy people are staying uninsured and not paying their share.\n\nFrom the point of view of insurers, the new system would look like Medicare\u2019s prescription drug plan, in which they compete for market share by offering different networks, deductibles, premiums, and supplemental coverage.\n\nA version of universal catastrophic coverage that I devised with my colleague, Kip Hagopian, would cost the government about 15 percent less than the Affordable Care Act while insuring 115 million more people, according to a RAND study. Premiums would be about $3,000 annually, about 40 percent less than the ACA silver plans.\n\nThis approach borrows from liberal dreams for health care as a right, and from conservative conviction that market forces are the most efficient way to deliver health care and keep costs under control. That is why both sides can support it.\n\nBeing bold means asking for big changes. The current system of employer-based insurance would lose its tax-protected status, which currently costs the federal government $236 billion (about the same as the mortgage interest deduction, charitable deductions, and retirement benefit exclusions combined, according to the Tax Policy Center). Those savings would be used to underwrite the new system.\n\nVested interests will find many reasons to oppose change. But the bottom line is that we can cover everyone if we are smart about it.", "output": "Sen. Bernie Sanders plans to introduce his universal health care bill Wednesday; it is likely to serve as a litmus test\u00a0for Democrats with presidential aspirations. The legislation is bold and simple, which makes it very appealing.\u00a0A recent survey\u00a0by the Pew Research Center found that 60 percent of Americans believe the federal government should ensure health coverage for all Americans.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Medicare for All or State Control: Health Care Plans Go to Extremes \n WASHINGTON \u2014 In one Senate office building, some of the leading lights of the Democratic Party gathered Wednesday to embrace what was once a proposal only of the far left: a huge expansion of Medicare, large enough to open the popular, government-run health program to all Americans.\n\nIn another Senate office building, a smaller but equally adamant group of Republican senators stood together to take one last stab at dismantling the Affordable Care Act. They proposed instead to send each state a lump sum of federal money, along with sweeping new discretion over how to use it.\n\nImportant elements in both parties are trying to move beyond President Barack Obama\u2019s health care law, which has always been a complicated, politically difficult mix of government and private health insurance. But they are moving in radically different directions.\n\nThe proposals appeared to have only one thing in common: Neither is likely to be enacted any time soon.", "output": "In one Senate office building, some of the leading lights of the Democratic Party gathered Wednesday to embrace what was once a proposal only of the far left: a huge expansion of Medicare, large enough to open the popular, government-run health program to all Americans.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How the Bernie Sanders Plan Would Both Beef Up and Slim Down Medicare \n The Sanders plan \u2014 which has no near-term chance of advancing with Republicans in power \u2014 would change that. Most crucially, it would expand the program so that every American would eventually get insurance from Medicare instead of private companies or other public programs. The employer health insurance system, the Affordable Care Act exchanges and most of Medicaid would be eliminated.\n\nMr. Sanders says that the transition to the Medicare program would achieve several goals: It would ensure universal coverage, it would improve the affordability of health care for many Americans and it would save the country money.\n\nWhether it can achieve that third goal depends a great deal on how the new Medicare-for-all system would be managed, and the Sanders plan leaves a lot of those details unclear for now. Covering everyone would not, by itself, make the health care system in the United States as inexpensive as those of other nations with universal health care systems. That sort of cost control would require its own set of policies and difficult choices.\n\nIn his news conference introducing the bill on Wednesday, Mr. Sanders focused his ire on insurance and drug companies, two profitable sectors of the health care system. But insurance and drug company profits don\u2019t make up the bulk of America\u2019s health care spending. Single-payer advocates argue that the simplicity of a single, government payer would reduce paperwork and office staff, and that is almost certainly true. But most spending in the health care system is on medical care from doctors and hospitals \u2014 and squeezing savings there may be harder.", "output": "In his big new single-payer health care bill, Senator Bernie Sanders says he wants to turn the country\u2019s health system into \u201cMedicare for all.\u201d But his bill actually outlines a system very different from the current Medicare program.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How the Trump administration is reshaping health care \u2014 without Congress \n The sheer scale of the effort has surprised and thrilled health care lobbyists, some of whom described feeling inundated by Health and Human Services leadership\u2019s appeals for recommendations on any and all federal rules they would like to see trimmed.\n\n\u201cWe have been shooting for the moon, just bringing up every possible issue we think they have the ability to change,\u201d said Vinita Ollapally, manager of regulatory affairs for the American College of Surgeons. \u201cThis is the first time that any administration has seemed to be so focused on regulatory relief.\u201d\n\nHowever, the effort has raised alarms among patient advocates and policy experts, who fear it could erase several years of gains aimed at modernizing the health care system and tipping the balance of power away from providers and toward patients.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s consistent with a general orientation to try to find significant accomplishments of the Obama administration and to undo them,\u201d said Eliot Fishman, who spent nearly four years at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services\u2019 Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, including two as Medicaid waiver chief, before leaving the agency in April. \u201cIt\u2019s disappointing, but not surprising.\u201d\n\nLed by HHS Secretary Tom Price and CMS Administrator Seema Verma, the initiative appears aimed at rewriting or outright eliminating a slew of regulations imposed on doctors, hospitals and other providers.\n\nPrice, an orthopedic surgeon who has long criticized health care regulation as too heavy-handed, has in some cases dispatched top staffers to work closely with doctors\u2019 groups on changes further easing regulatory scrutiny of physicians.\n\nVerma, formerly a Medicaid consultant who worked primarily with red states, has wasted little time targeting a pair of far-reaching Medicaid rules that tightened supervision of insurers and home health care facilities, multiple sources familiar with the process said. The agency has spent months reviewing those regulations as part of a much larger effort seen as laying the groundwork for a policy shift that hands back to states more regulatory power over Medicaid.\n\nThe work fits with an administrationwide mission to reverse scores of Obama-era rules, and Price and Verma\u2019s vow early on to re-examine every federal health care rule in search of waste.\n\n\u201cThe Trump administration is working tirelessly to get Washington out of the way, bring down the cost of coverage, expand health care choices and improve quality,\u201d an HHS spokesperson said in response to a series of questions for this article, highlighting the agency\u2019s emphasis on abolishing rules it deems \u201cburdensome across all spectrums of the health care system.\u201d\n\nThe effort has also given rise to an apparatus within President Donald Trump\u2019s health department dedicated to the so-called burden reduction initiative \u2014 one that multiple staffers characterized as a massive effort to solicit, evaluate and implement industry-backed ideas for slashing regulations.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not really a reducing-burden issue,\u201d one CMS staffer said. \u201cIt is a deregulation issue. It\u2019s a deregulation intent.\u201d\n\nIn the process, HHS\u2019 tiny but influential Office of Health Reform \u2014 originally created to aid Obamacare\u2019s implementation \u2014 has been transformed into one of the agency\u2019s central deregulatory hubs, meeting with industry groups and developing its own recommendations, multiple current and former CMS staffers said.\n\nThe office at one point maintained a spreadsheet listing roughly 200 potential regulatory changes, according to one staffer.\n\nExactly what those ideas are and how they\u2019ll be implemented remains closely held among HHS\u2019 and CMS\u2019 top political appointees and their aides \u2014 a point of frustration for career employees who have spent months gathering recommendations.\n\n\u201cWhen you ask, \u2018What is the organizing principle here? How are we prioritizing?\u2019 And try to put some structure around this, nobody has an answer. The only answer people give is, \u2018Reduce burden,\u2019\u201d another CMS staffer said. \u201cThere\u2019s got to be more to this than that.\u201d\n\nBut officials have laid out a two-track strategy in meetings with industry groups and lobbyists: quickly overhauling smaller rules to make life easier for providers, while developing longer-term projects aimed at fundamentally changing the way the federal government regulates health care.\n\nIn practice, that\u2019s translated into a series of industry-friendly moves targeting Obama-era rules and protecting companies\u2019 bottom lines. HHS plans to restore nursing homes\u2019 ability to require that patients pre-emptively give up their right to sue for negligence \u2014 reversing a major win for consumer advocates \u2014 after saying that a 2016 ban on mandatory arbitration agreements \u201cunderestimated the financial burdens placed on providers\u201d forced to defend themselves against lawsuits.\n\nMedical equipment companies will get a boost from a pending rule likely to halt Medicare\u2019s move to a new bidding program that would cut government payments to the industry. Prior to taking the helm at HHS, Price, as a Georgia congressman, sponsored legislation delaying the competitive bidding program, which aimed to bring Medicare\u2019s spending on medical equipment more in line with the private sector.\n\nAs for the shift in the way Medicare pays doctors to focus on the quality, rather than the quantity, of services they provide \u2014 a broadly bipartisan goal that Price supported during his time in Congress \u2014 HHS has repeatedly slowed the process to accommodate small and rural providers. That includes plans to kill off a pair of Obama-era experiments making hospitals more financially responsible for patients\u2019 care during and after certain joint-replacement surgeries and cardiac procedures.\n\n\u201cThey recognize that there\u2019s some complexity, and that\u2019s why they\u2019ve turned to physician groups,\u201d said American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons President Mark Froimson, who said his group is working with CMS to simplify the metrics used to measure the quality of physicians\u2019 care. \u201cWe believe we have a good partner and set of partners in the administration.\u201d\n\nTwo of the agencies\u2019 most ambitious projects are still in the works: a rewrite of a 2016 rule that updated federal requirements for Medicaid managed-care plans for the first time in over a decade, and a similarly sweeping 2014 rule tightening oversight of residential care facilities, including those for adults with disabilities.\n\nTwo red-state Medicaid experts \u2014 former Tennessee Medicaid Director Darin Gordon and former Ohio Medicaid Director John McCarthy \u2014 have consulted on the policy work, according to two people familiar with their involvement.\n\nIn an email, McCarthy said the two are subcontracted to the Mitre Corp. Mitre declined to comment on its work with CMS.\n\nEarly discussions within CMS about the Medicaid managed-care rule centered on giving states more leeway in how they direct federal funding \u2014 a shift consistent with Republicans\u2019 attempts to give states more control over the entitlement, including imposing conditions like work requirements on beneficiaries.\n\nChanges to the regulation regarding residential care facilities, known as the Home and Community-Based Services rule, could potentially have ripple effects, according to people familiar with the agency\u2019s discussions. A rewrite is likely to focus on easing the federal standards for facilities that care for disabled adults and shifting more oversight responsibility back to the states.\n\nThat would represent a sharp reversal from the Obama era, which sought to toughen federal regulation over concerns about abuse and subpar living conditions in homelike facilities for the disabled.\n\nThat could take years to accomplish \u2014 CMS has already spent months just sifting through the regulations to determine what elements it can change and how to do it, said multiple people familiar with the process.\n\nBut the intent is plain: to loosen federal control over Medicaid and give states more flexibility to run their own programs.\n\n\u201cThere is clearly a new discomfort with federal regulatory power in Medicaid, and an assumption that state concerns about, particularly, Obama-era regulations have a presumption of being valid,\u201d Fishman said.\n\n", "output": "While Congress tussles over Obamacare, the Trump administration is quietly pressing ahead with plans to gut major Obama-era rules and relax federal oversight of swaths of the health care industry.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Use of Real-World Evidence in Health Care Decision-Making \n Health care experts are schedule to gather in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 13 to discuss how we can harness the data we gather in routine health care delivery in the real world and apply that information to support drug approvals, inform safety monitoring, and accelerate new health care innovations. Although many decision-makers are already using real-world data, the Food and Drug Administration is poised to take a significant step forward in how it considers and uses this information.\n\nUnderstanding how treatments work in the \u201creal world\u201d can help improve the new health care innovation and inform health care decision-making. For example, real-world data can be used to identify unmet needs with existing medications, understand the potential safety and effectiveness of treatments in other forms of cancer, or accelerate the conduct of clinical trials. Real-world evidence has been in use for a long time, but it has grown in importance through investment in health information technology and more sophisticated approaches to collect and analyze data.\n\nUnder the 21st Century Cures Act, the FDA must consider how real-world evidence could support the approval of a new indication of a drug or support or satisfy post-approval study requirements. RWE is meant to complement, not replace, knowledge from randomized clinical trials \u2014 studies most commonly used for FDA approval of a treatment \u2014 and accelerate and add to what we already know about how a treatment works.\n\nIn fact, the FDA is already using RWE, but not for new biopharmaceutical indications. Through the FDA\u2019s Sentinel Initiative, the FDA monitors the safety and emerging safety concerns of medical products in use in the marketplace. The Sentinel Initiative database, with more than 170 million lives, is one of the largest uses of this type of information. In July, the FDA cited RWE as a critical factor in its decision to expand the initial approval for transcatheter aortic valve replacement to now include valve-to-valve procedures. And at the end of August, the FDA issued a final guidance on how it intends to utilize real-world data to support regulatory decision-making for medical devices, offering a glimpse at how the agency could use the data for biopharmaceutical-related decisions.\n\nYet as the FDA has acknowledged, there is a need for rigorous and reliable information. When done correctly, by using high-quality data and strong methodologies, RWE can provide meaningful information; when done poorly, misinterpretations and poor health outcomes for patients are possible. Recent systematic reviews that compared treatment effects results from RCT and RWE studies for the same condition found few differences among high-quality studies based on the study type (RCT vs. RWE) alone. The quality of some data and methods have improved such that RWE can reliably answer many research questions.\n\nHigh-quality data and credible analytic methods are critical. Over the past decade, several professional societies and research consortium have developed best practices and standards for conducting analyses and using RWE. However, as the National Pharmaceutical Council has outlined in research, there is little agreement among researchers and other stakeholders on how to optimally do this. A consensus-based set of methods and standards for collecting RWE developed in consultation with multiple stakeholders could provide greater clarity. An iterative process would allow these standards to rapidly incorporate new methods innovation, yet still encourage other stakeholders to accept high-quality studies and disregard poor-quality studies.\n\nThe regulatory context, decisions, and needs of the FDA are unique \u2014 however, recommendations and evidence included in the FDA-approved label serve as a guiding light for many stakeholders. For RWE to be fully accepted and utilized, it will require all stakeholders, including the biopharmaceutical industry, to encourage a learning health system using real-world data. While payers are using data in a variety of applications, from value-based contracting to medication adherence, broader and more consistent use of RWE to update coverage policies based on effectiveness in the real-world is needed. Clinical practice guideline organizations and clinical pathways that serve as a foundation for translating knowledge into clinical practice could more routinely use high-quality RWE to expand the knowledge about treatment effects in broader patient populations and improve the certainty of their recommendations. Patients also are becoming more aware of how their data is being collected and used. Going forward, it will be important to ensure that patients understand what RWE is and determine when it can be trusted to guide patient and provider treatment decisions.\n\nThe September meeting, bringing together these diverse stakeholders, is an important next step toward expanding the quality and reliability of real-world evidence for health care decision-making. NPC is looking forward to the conversation.\n\n\n\nJennifer Graff is a PharmD and vice president for comparative effectiveness research at the National Pharmaceutical Council, which sponsors and participates in research on the appropriate use of pharmaceuticals and the clinical and economic value of pharmaceutical innovation.\n\nMorning Consult welcomes op-ed submissions on policy, politics and business strategy in our coverage areas. Updated submission guidelines can be found here.", "output": "Health care experts are schedule to gather in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 13\u00a0to discuss how we can harness the data we gather in routine health care delivery in the real world and apply that information to support drug approvals, inform safety monitoring, and accelerate new health care innovations. Although many decision-makers are already using real-world data, the Food and Drug Administration is poised to take a significant step forward in how it considers and uses this information.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Caregiver Fatigue Increases Healthcare Costs \n Emergency department visits are higher among patients whose family caregivers felt sad or fatigued.\n\nTired family caregivers are associated with more ED visits and higher overall healthcare costs for the person they care for finds a new University of Michigan study published in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.\n\nResearchers studied 3,101 couples over the age of 65, each with one spouse acting as caregiver for their disabled partner. They looked at Medicare payments and ED visits for the disabled spouses in the six months after the caregiver spouses took standard tests to measure their fatigue, mood, sleep habits, health and happiness.\n\nIn those six months, ED visits were 23% higher among patients whose caregivers scored high for fatigue or low on their own health status. Over the same time frame, patients with fatigued or sad caregivers had higher Medicare costs\u2014$1,900 more if the caregiver scored high for fatigue, and $1,300 more if the caregiver scored high for sadness.\n\n\u201cInformal caregivers, including spouses, enable older adults with functional disability to stay out of the nursing home and live at home where they\u2019d prefer to be,\u201d says senior author Deborah Levine, MD, MPH, an assistant professor of internal medicine and neurology at University of Michigan. \u201cOur findings suggest that we need to do a better job of identifying and supporting caregivers experiencing distress, in order to help caregivers feel better and hopefully improve outcomes in older adults with disability.\u201d\n\nRespite Support Needed\n\nNearly 15 million older adults receive help with activities of daily living from spouses and other family or friend caregivers, but Medicare does not pay for or offer formal respite coverage for family or friends who regularly care for older adults.\n\nGiven the increased use of healthcare resources when caregivers are unsupported, it may make financial sense to change this policy.\n\n\u201cI definitely think there are specific services that could help caregivers, if we can identify those people who are highest risk and provide a basic level of support such as an around-the-clock geriatric care call line that could help caregivers feel less isolated and talk to a nurse about whether, for example, to go to the emergency department,\u201d says lead author Claire Ankuda, MD, MPH. \u201cThis is a high-cost, vulnerable population.\u201d", "output": "Tired family caregivers are associated with more ED visits and higher overall healthcare costs for the person they care for finds a new University of Michigan\u00a0study\u00a0published in\u00a0Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AARP urges Congress to stabilize Affordable Care Act marketplace \n 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.\n\nAARP 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.\n\n[Also: Navigator organizations wait in limbo for reduced funding to enroll consumers in the ACA exchanges]\n\nThe 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.\n\n[Also: ACA co-op Evergreen Health in Baltimore to liquidate]\n\nFor 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.\n\n[Also: Anthem leaves ACA markets in Missouri and Kentucky]\n\nIn 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.\n\nTwitter: @JELagasse\n\nEmail 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\u00a0Affordable Care Act's marketplace, increase enrollment and competition, and lower costs for consumers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Asia's ageing population: A golden opportunity for businessv \n 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.\n\nNo 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.\n\nThis 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.\n\nIncreasing 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.\n\nCharles 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.\n\nBank 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.\n\nCompanies 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.\n\nBut 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.\n\nThe 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.\n\nOlder 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.\n\nFor 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.\n\nCountries 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.\n\nThe 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.\n\nNow 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.\n\n\u2022The 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.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Type 2 diabetes linked to artificial sweeteners \n 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.\n\nThe 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.\n\nType 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.\n\nThe 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.\n\nSome 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.\n\nTests at the end of the two weeks showed that the body\u2019s response to glucose was impaired. \u201cThis study supports the concept that artificial sweeteners could reduce the body\u2019s 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,\u201d said the authors.\n\nThey presented their findings at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Lisbon, Portugal.\n\nSome 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.\n\n\u201cThis 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,\u201d said Dr In\u00eas Cebola, from Imperial College London, who is a member of the Society for Endocrinology.\n\n\u201cAlthough 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.\u201d\n\nShe said studies had previously only been done on mice. \u201cEven 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.\n\n\u201cAt 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.\u201d\n\nVictor Zammit, professor of metabolic biochemistry at the University of Warwick, said it was not possible from the data available to conclude that the body\u2019s changed response to glucose would necessarily result in diabetes. Proper clinical trials were needed. \u201cIncreased sweetener intake may be associated with other lifestyle elements that may be more direct causes of type 2 diabetes,\u201d he said.\n\nDiabetes UK was sceptical. \u201cThis is a small study with interesting results, but it doesn\u2019t provide strong evidence that artificial sweeteners increase the risk of type 2 diabetes,\u201d said Emma Elvin, a clinical adviser. \u201cWe need to see the results of larger trials testing in settings more true to real life before we\u2019ll know more.\n\n\u201cConsuming 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.\u201d", "output": "Artificial sweeteners may raise the risk of type 2 diabetes, according to research from Australia\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "European broadcasters take on tech firms with video ad exchange \n European broadcasters continue to square off with the Facebook-Google duopoly.\n\nGerman broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1, France\u2019s TF1 and Italy\u2019s 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\u2019s attempts to get at TV ad budgets.\n\nThe 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\u2019re 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.\n\nThe 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.\n\nSpeaking 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.\n\n\u201cWe 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],\u201d said Wahl.\n\nFrom now until December, a series of text campaigns will run with a select number of clients, the names of which Wahl wouldn\u2019t disclose. Currently, pre-roll inventory is available against each of the broadcaster\u2019s 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.\n\nThe programmatic exchange is being run independently from the partners, an approach that\u2019s emerged as vital ingredient for the longevity of such an alliance \u2014 without any internal bureaucracies within the shareholders slowing progress. They\u2019re 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\u2019t individually, according to Wahl.\n\nTraditionally, 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\u2019t direct competitors in their own local markets is of benefit. \u201cWe\u2019re not in the same territories, so we\u2019re finding ourselves in neutral territory, which certainly helps. It isn\u2019t about controlling everything yourself; it\u2019s about building an ecosystem in which you jointly do more than just sell your own products,\u201d 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.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Siam Commercial Bank gets behind AI technology \n Siam Commercial spins off AI subsidiary\n\nSiam 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.\n\nSCB 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.\n\nWith the bank's big database, SCB Abacus plans to leverage AI technology to keep up with customers' requirements.\n\nAs 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.\n\nSCB 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.\n\nSCB Transformation started in the middle of last year and runs through 2020.\n\nSutapa Amornvivat, chief executive of SCB Abacus, said several financial projects are in the pipeline.\n\n\"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.\n\nFor 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.\n\nIn 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.\n\nThe company wants to continue to develop AI technology for robo-adviser service, as well as facial recognition biometric technology for payment service.\n\nSCB Abacus, in collaboration with the bank and DV, is creating the latest version of its mobile banking app, SCB Easy.\n\nRegistered capital for SCB Abacus is 10 million baht and it has 19 employees.\n\nSCB 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.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BBC creates interactive audio drama for voice-activated devices \n Media companies have mostly used voice-activated devices like Amazon Echo and Google Home to deliver news headlines. The BBC\u2019s research and development lab is trying to make stories people can interact with. One result of this is \u201cThe Inspection Chamber,\u201d a Kafkaesque audio drama developed over the last nine months with production company Rosina Sound.\n\n\u201cHello, my name is Dave,\u201d says a female voice as the story begins. \u201cI hope life has been comfortable in the containment room?\u201d\n\nAs \u201cThe Inspection Chamber\u201d 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\u2019t clarify where it takes place or where \u201chome\u201d is.) The listener undergoes a scientific examination, answering questions like, \u201cDo you feel special?\u201d and \u201cAre you in a happy mood or a gloomy mood?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe scientists have different approaches to solving the riddle, so there\u2019s tension between them and tension between them and Dave, who appears less reliable than a computer,\u201d said Henry Cooke, senior producer at BBC\u2019s R&D team.\n\nThe story runs about 20 minutes. While the overall narrative doesn\u2019t change, the details do depending on how people respond to questions. Cooke didn\u2019t 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\u2019 answers.\n\nVoice-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\u2019s what it has learned from working on \u201cThe Inspection Chamber.\u201d\n\nEncourage regular, unforced interaction\n\nAlexa skills require people to talk at least every 90 seconds; for Google Home, it\u2019s two minutes. The story must include reasons for the listener to reply without seeming forced. \u201cInteractions with Dave became like scene breaks,\u201d said Cooke. \u201cIt was a creative decision based on the tech limitations that turned out really nicely.\u201d\n\nVoice-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.\n\nLimit the number of characters\n\nStarting 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.\n\nThe BBC\u2019s 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\u2019s scope. Three characters are enough to ensure the listener understands their place in the story, can regularly interact with the device and doesn\u2019t lose interest.\n\n\u201cWe didn\u2019t want to make the mental model and where people sit within it too confusing,\u201d said Cooke, adding that to make it even clearer, a ding sound directs listeners when to speak.\n\nThe BBC is still testing \u201cThe Inspection Chamber\u201d 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.\n\nMost of the time was dedicated to creating the script, with the final two months spent on recording and developing the story. \u201cWhen building a skill, the work isn\u2019t in the coding time but the modeling of it,\u201d said Cooke. \u201cThat\u2019s doubly so if you\u2019re making a complicated fiction [story].\u201d", "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\u2019s R&D team. The first offering, The Inspection Chamber, will be sent out for testing later this year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "P&G lifts ROI from digital ad spend via ecommerce-led ad targeting \n Procter and Gamble\u2019s (P&G) chief brand officer Marc Pritchard has been working with the likes of Amazon and Alibaba as part of its \u201crelentless\u201d pursuit to clean up the digital supply chain and solve the problem of ad overload.\n\nSpeaking at Dmexco on Wednesday (13 September) the top marketer at the world\u2019s 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.\n\nSpeaking specifically on Alibaba and Amazon he said: \u201cWe\u2019re able to use their unique consumer ID data and to [target] consumers precisely when they're ready to buy.\u201d\n\nPritchard claimed this is accelerating P&G\u2019s 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 \u201cit\u2019s creating a better experience for users.\"\n\nTie-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.\n\nBloom came off the rose\n\nMeanwhile, Pritchard\u2019s latest comments, come amid cuts to marketing budgets at P&G \u2013 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.\n\nSo far, the move to exert greater control over its media strategy has come at no cost to the company\u2019s bottom line. During the brand\u2019s 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 \u201calmost all\u201d of the marketing budget reductions his firm had enforced in the past three months were in the digital space.\n\nPritchard has previously been outspoken about the need for the industry to pull together to tackle what he believes is a \u201cmurky at best, fraudulent at worst\u201d digital ecosystem.\n\nThe 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.\n\n\"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.\n\nPointing 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.\n\nTurning point\n\nWhile he noted that the brand\u2019s work around media transparency was yielding \u201cencouraging\u201d results and he used his Dmexco keynote to issue a further two \u201cwake up calls\u201d for the industry \u2013 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.\n\n\"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.\n\n\"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.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "JP Morgan is in a bubble: Max Keiser \n The CEO of JPMorgan Chase Jamie Dimon has called bitcoin a fraud that will blow up. Max Keiser of RT\u2019s Keiser Report has explained why the real bubble may be in banking, and not in the cryptocurrency.\n\n\u201cJP 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,\u201d he told RT.\n\nFinancial 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.\n\nAccording to Keiser, it is wrong to say bitcoin is a bubble or a fraud.\n\n\u201cThe 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,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cAs 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,\u201d Keiser added.\n\nMcAfee 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 \u2014 Joseph Young (@iamjosephyoung) 14 \u0441\u0435\u043d\u0442\u044f\u0431\u0440\u044f 2017 \u0433.\n\nKeiser also explained why traditional bankers dislike cryptocurrencies.\n\n\u201cBitcoin makes banks, essentially price gouging intermediaries and socially unacceptable leeches, obsolete. Bankers rightfully fear for their jobs as bitcoin replaces them,\u201d he said.\n\nJPMorgan 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.\n\nMy memory is failing, was it Bitcoin or was it JP Morgan that was bailed out by the government? https://t.co/DHqFzr5UJN \u2014 Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) 12 \u0441\u0435\u043d\u0442\u044f\u0431\u0440\u044f 2017 \u0433.\n\nThe 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\u00a0saying 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\u00a0of financial repression\u00a0by the US Federal Reserve. He added that bankers dislike cryptocurrencies because they make banks obsolete, endangering their jobs.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US watchdog mulls fraud rule extension to protect elderly clients  \n 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.\n\nThe Finra rule in question is Rule 2165, which allows broker-dealers to place a temporary hold on disbursements from brokerage accounts if there\u2019s reasonable belief of elder financial exploitation. The rule, proposed in last fall, goes into effect in February 2018.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s about disbursements\u201d 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. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t apply to transactions. That is something we\u2019re still considering.\u201d\n\n(More: Finra: Who\u2019s watching the watchdog?)\n\nDisbursements 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.\n\nBut if fraudulent brokerage transactions emerge as a problem after the first tranche of rulemaking, \u201cwe\u2019ll consider broadening the rule to cover those,\u201d Mr. Wrona told InvestmentNews.\n\nHe 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.\n\nFinra\u2019s rule is coming into effect at a time when regulators are beefing up investor protections around elder financial abuse.\n\nLast 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\u2019 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.\n\nNASAA executives expect more states to follow suit.\n\nA 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\u00a0extension 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.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Canada's Stack joins with Mastercard for mobile payment\u00a0system \n STACK, Mastercard Get Together on New Digital Money System\n\nSeptember 13, 2017 By: Steven Anderson\n\nSTACK\u2019s 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\u2019s got one more reason to get users interested thanks to a new partnership with Mastercard.\n\nThe 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.\n\nThis 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\u2014automated savings, social sharing and more\u2014available without fees, giving it an edge over many brick-and-mortar institutions.\n\nUsers 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.\n\nCo-founder and current CEO of STACK Miro Pavletic commented \u201cPartnering 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\u2019re committed to working with the best of the best.\u201d\n\nA 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\u2019s incorporating a growing new investment property, it\u2019s effectively providing access to user\u2019s money at any time of the day or night, and it\u2019s 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.\n\nThis may not catch on like STACK would hope, but it\u2019s got a noteworthy proposition going for it. It\u2019s 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\u00a0offer\u00a0a tap-to-pay option\u00a0in North America. It\u00a0gives 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\u00a0in the coming weeks.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese caviar and steak match imported equivalents \n Home \u00bb Feature \u00bb iDEAL\n\nENJOYING caviar with a mother of pearl spoon is almost a showcase of status and wealth in China.\n\nTogether with truffle and premium steak, it\u2019s among the staples of a luxury lifestyle.\n\nBut now, these Western foods are being produced in China and they symbolize quality and sustainability.\n\nSome of the price tags have even beaten the expensive imported foods, while some have made the luxury food cheaper to reach more people.\n\nOtto 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.\n\nIn the past, these items were often perceived as imported luxury goods.\n\n\u201cI favor these local Chinese ingredients because not only is the quality fantastic, it\u2019s also safe and sustainable,\u201d said the Malaysian chef who has a passion for ingredients and vast knowledge of Chinese-sourced ingredients.\n\nThe various businesses have been developing for several decades, and recently the results have started to show in the market.\n\nChina\u2019s vast transportation network has also helped boost these industries.\n\nThe cold chain and logistics guarantee the freshest foods can be delivered promptly every day.\n\nCheaper caviar\n\nCaviar 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 \u201cliving fossil\u201d can live to 100 years and weigh up to a ton.\n\nIt 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.\n\nRussian fishermen started to fish sturgeon along River Volga by the Caspian Sea in the 11th century, but the food didn\u2019t become popular in Europe until the 19th century.\n\nTraditionally, the best caviar comes from the Caspian, bordered by Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Azerbaijan. It\u2019s the optimal habitat of sturgeon and the majority of the wild catch came from here.\n\nBut 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.\n\nTo supply the world\u2019s 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.\n\nChina 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\u2019s natural habitat.\n\nW3 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.\n\nRegular 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.\n\nYunnan 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.\n\nLarge scale caviar farming has made the world\u2019s most expensive food accessible not just for the rich and wealthy.\n\n\u201cIn the past, I didn\u2019t quite agree with the use of caviar because it didn\u2019t 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,\u201d said Goh.\n\nHis 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.\n\nThe 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.\n\n\u201cThe price is getting cheaper and cheaper, and there is more than one company doing it and the quality is all good,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely getting better because the fish needs time to grow.\n\n\u201cI think Chinese caviar will be world famous.\u201d\n\nThe signature imperial caviar and king crab refreshed with crustacean jelly, cauliflower cream dish (358 yuan) from the two Michelin-starred restaurant L\u2019Atelier de Jo\u00ebl Robuchon is also using the Chinese caviar which has shown consistent quality.\n\nPricier beef\n\nChina is the world\u2019s second largest beef importing country, bringing in beef from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and recently the United States.\n\nThe Chinese\u2019s appetite for premium steaks was cultivated after Australian beef became a prominent player in the market.\n\nThe public is accustomed to thinking steaks made of Australian Wagyu beef are good quality and expensive.\n\nBut Goh has discovered a Chinese beef that can rival with the Japanese Kobe beef, and it\u2019s much more expensive than Australian Wagyu.\n\n\u201cOne time a friend who\u2019s 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\u2019t believe him at first and the beef didn\u2019t look like it\u2019s from a domestic breed, so I started to do research online.\u201d\n\nTianyigangshan 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.\n\nJilin Black Cattle Industry Co Ltd was founded in 2003 with the goal of developing China\u2019s high-grade beef.\n\nIt\u2019s identified by China\u2019s 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.\n\nThe 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.\n\nThe 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.\n\nAccording to the company, the Tianyigangshan black cattle live a good life \u2014 eating good feed, sleeping on soft beds, listening to music and even getting massages in an air-conditioned environment.\n\nEnergy-saving and environmental protection is also a key in developing China\u2019s own high-grade beef.\n\nThe company introduced an automatic processing line of biomass pellet fuel in 2010, which is clean and pollution free.\n\nThe 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.\n\nOther foods\n\nYunnan is a key area for producing foods of Western origin domestically.\n\nThe unique climate and geographical conditions can accommodate the farming of many products \u2014 from coffee to truffles. The land of mushroom grows one of the world\u2019s most expensive funguses: truffles. Wild truffles are mainly found in Sichuan and Yunnan. The Chinese black truffle is related to the French black truffle.\n\nBecause the wild truffles have become increasingly rare due to over-harvesting, many plantations have been established to supply the high demand.\n\nYunnan is famous for its Pu\u2019er 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.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Liverpool 'nature gem' flattened before inquiry can decide on saving it \n 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.\n\nA 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.\n\nBut just weeks before the start of that inquiry, the land has been flattened and mown - much to the outrage of local people and environmentalists.\n\nThis 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.\n\nRecent 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.\n\nSteve Hopley is chair of the Save Allerton Priory campaign group, he said: \u201cBoth Save Allerton Priory and Liverpool City Council are defending their case on the grounds of heritage, greenspace, ecology and planning matters.\n\n\u201cThe proof of evidence deadline was Tuesday/Wednesday last week, where each of the three main parties exchanged evidence with the other two parties.\u201d\n\n(Image: Liverpool Echo)\n\nHe said that on ecology matters, different environmental groups and the council have \u201cdetailed the extensive ecological significance of the site.\u201d\n\nHe 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 \u201cconfirmed that the appeal site on its own qualifies as a Local Wildlife Site for its butterfly and breeding bird assemblage\u201d - and that this could be seriously affected by the recent treatment of the site.\n\nIt is unclear who has carried out the work to mow and flatten the land - but it has been described as \u201cdespicable\u201d by environmental campaigner Carlee Graham.\n\nShe said: \u201cI surveyed the species last year and know the site is truly a gem of nature. I\u2019m disgusted by the tactics being played out.\u201d\n\nIt 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.\n\n(Image: Liverpool Echo)\n\nAt the end of last year, the council\u2019s planning committee unanimously voted against the proposals for the development next to Allerton Priory Home Farm.\n\nBut Redrow has appealed against that decision and the public inquiry is due to begin on October 3.\n\nThe 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.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Alibaba tie-up to bring New York Fashion Week to Chinese audience \n 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\u2019s 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.\n\nAs part of the arrangement, Alibaba will feature some NYFW regulars, including Opening Ceremony and Robert Geller, in a shoppable, \u201csee-now buy-now\u201d fashion show hosted on Tmall, Alibaba\u2019s business-to-consumer platform. The show will be part of the run up to China\u2019s incredibly massive online shopping holiday, Single\u2019s Day, which takes place on Nov. 11. Alibaba says it live streamed its debut Single\u2019s Day fashion show last year to 7 million viewers, and that the New York designers \u201cwill gain first-time exposure to the more than half a billion consumers visiting Alibaba\u2019s platforms.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThen, in September 2018, New York Fashion Week will introduce \u201cNYFW: China Day\u201d to highlight Chinese designers selected from Tmall\u2019s 2017 \u201csee-now buy-now\u201d show. Alibaba hasn\u2019t yet announced which designers might be included, and additional details on exactly what \u201cNYFW: China Day\u201d will entail weren\u2019t available.\n\nIn any case, the event should bolster China\u2019s 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\u2019s. In February, the Council of Fashion Designers of America even signed an agreement with Chinese entertainment firm Suntchi\u2014also involved in the new Alibaba deal\u2014to help along the exchange of fashion business between the two countries.\n\nChinese design students have also become common in New York, at colleges such as Parsons School of Design, one of the world\u2019s 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\u2019t 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\u2019s 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.\n\nAt 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\u2019s founder and CEO, something else to dance about.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAn earlier version of this story listed the date of Single\u2019s 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.\u00a0NYFW: The Shows will\u00a0include\u00a0a 'see-now buy-now' presentation, set to air on Alibaba\u2019s business-to-consumer platform Tmall in the run-up to China's\u00a0Single\u2019s Day\u00a0shopping holiday\u00a0on 11 November. Alibaba's inaugural Single's Day show last year reached seven\u00a0million viewers.\u00a0In 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.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Burger-flipping robots to arrive at Californian restaurants \n 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.\n\nThe kitchen assistant, known as \u2018Flippy\u2019, was designed by a startup called Miso Robotics which specializes in \u201ctechnology that assists and empowers chefs to make food consistently and perfectly, at prices everyone can afford.\u201d\n\nIt 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.\n\nWhat 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\u2019s 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.\n\nMiso engineers working on Flippy\u2019s 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.\n\n\u2018Flippy cooks burgers perfectly \u2014 every time\u2019\n\nFlippy is supposed to be a kitchen assistant and can\u2019t replace human workers entirely \u2014 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\u2019 routine. It might not take too long before human presence in the burger grilling kitchen is superseded.\n\nMoving on beyond burgers, it\u2019s 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\u2019s kitchen as it is, with no additional hassle. Flexibility is the keyword here.\n\nOver 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\u2019t speak in the name of the 2.3 million likely underpaid cooks currently employed in the United States. At least, Miso\u2019s CEO admits their product will put people out of jobs.\n\n\u201cTasting 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\u2019t know what the new roles will be yet in the industry,\u201d the company\u2019s CEO and co-founder David Zito said.\n\nJust take a look at the following promo video and tell me that human worker\u2019s face doesn\u2019t spell \u2018show-off!\u2019.\n\nOn a more serious note, it\u2019s 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\u2019re 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.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Furhat Robotics raises $2.5m in seed round \n Stockholm-based Furhat Robotics has raised $2.5 million in a seed round from Balderton Capital and LocalGlobe.\n\nFounded by researchers from Stockholm\u2019s Royal Institute of Technology, Furhat is building machines with \u201csocial intelligence\u201d 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 \u201cbrain\u201d.\n\nThe long-term goal of the technology is to create a new interface between humans and tech.\n\n\u201cWe 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,\u201d said Samer Al Moubayed, CEO of Furhat.\n\n\u201cFurhat 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.\u201d\n\nThe 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.\n\nThe Swedish employment agency is using the conversational robot to prepare people for job interviews and to train teachers.\n\nHonda 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.\n\nFurhat 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.\n\n\u201cAs 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,\u201d 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 \n by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, September 13, 2017\n\nIn a first, Lionsgate presented a multi-character animated streaming event on Facebook Live to debut the theatrical release of \"My Little Pony: The Movie.\"\n\nThis 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.\n\nJason 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.\n\nThe 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.\n\nInnovating 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.\"\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nFor 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.\n\nAdobe 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.\n\nAvatarLabs' integration of the Adobe Character Animator and Unity software brought the event to life.\n\nThe 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.\n\nThe 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\u2019 responses and displayed them in real-time on the Facebook platform.\n\nThe technology is easily combined with other media such as search.\n\nApple 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\u2019s 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 \n China's plastic demand to rise as foreign garbage ban to curb recycled supply\n\nSINGAPORE (Reuters) \u2014 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.\n\nThe 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.\n\nTo 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.\n\n\"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.\n\nChina imported 7.3 MMt of waste plastics last year, taking in over half the world's leftover plastic.\n\nOf 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.\n\nIHS Markit expects China's polyethylene demand to grow by 6.6% from 2017 to 2018, outpacing Asia's overall growth of 5.5%.\n\n\"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.\n\nNah said Asia's 2017 total polyethylene demand would be around 41.5 MMt, with China accounting for some two-thirds of total demand.\n\nChina'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.\n\nPolyethylene 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.\n\n\"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.\"\n\nReporting by Seng Li Peng; Editing by Henning Gloystein and Christian Schmollinger\n\nRelated News\n\nFrom the Archive", "output": "Chinese demand for plastic is expected to increase as the country\u00a0plans 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\u00a0and 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\u00a0polyethylene is predicted to grow by 6.6% in 2018.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Electronic artificial skin could give robots a sense of touch \n 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.\n\nLike human skin, the material is able to sense strain, pressure and temperature, according to the researchers.\n\n\"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]\n\nYusaid the rubber electronics and sensors have a wide range of applications, from biomedical implants to wearable electronics to digitized clothing to \"smart\" surgical gloves.\n\nBecause 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.\n\nOne 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 \u2014 perhaps even a soft, flexible one, with skin that's able to feel its surroundings\u2014could work side by side with humans without endangering them, Yu said.\n\nIn 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.\n\nElectronics 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.\n\nIn 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.\n\nThis 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.\n\nYu and his colleagues made the stretchable material by mixing tiny, semiconducting nanofibrils \u2014 nanowires 1,000 times thinner than a human hair \u2014 into a solution of a widely used, silicon-based organic polymer, called polydimethylsiloxane, or PDMS for short.\n\nWhen 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.\n\nThe 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.\n\nFor 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.\n\nUsing the electrical signals, the researchers were able spell out \"YU LAB\" in American Sign Language.\n\nYu 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.\n\n\"This will change the field of stretchable electronics,\" he said.\n\nOriginal 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 \n 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, \u201ca physically domineering crop\u201d\u2014something that is made clear as he plunges through a densely packed plot.\n\nAlthough little of the British countryside could be confused with Iowa or Mato Grosso, where maize has long been big business, the plant\u2019s 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.\n\nThe 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\u2019s 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.\n\nA 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.\n\nThe 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.\n\nA 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.\n\nSuch displacement will be less common in future, though. The trend in dairy farming \u201cis to go back to what everyone assumes happens already,\u201d says Peter Melchett of the Soil Association: \u201cthat cows graze grass.\u201d 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\u00a0all maize grown is\u00a0transformed 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."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "India exploring green alternatives to air conditioning \n When Rutam Vora was growing up in Vadodara, a city of about 2 million people near the western coast of India, his parents kept cool each summer by drenching bedsheets in water and hanging them in the windows of their house. When the scorching westerly wind known as the loo swept in and hit the sheets, the evaporating water absorbed the brunt of the heat. White chalk spread on the roof reflected the sun and dropped the temperature further. They were old methods of coping with the heat, like drinking lassis or chaas when \u201cstruck by the loo,\u201d and they were effective.\n\nBut the weather, already hot, has been getting hotter. In the summer of 2015, it hit 114 degrees Fahrenheit in nearby Ahmedabad, where Vora works as a correspondent for The Hindu. The next summer, it passed 122 degrees, a record. It\u2019s not uncommon for people to wrap their faces in wet cloth when venturing onto the furnace-like streets, and the wind is so hot it feels heavy. \u201cFor about a decade, the temperature has been going up,\u201d Vora said. \u201cBut now, the last couple summers have been extreme, going beyond normal, bearable conditions.\u201d\n\nEarlier this year, Vora\u2019s mother came down with a bacterial infection, and part of the doctor\u2019s prescription was to stay cool. When the meteorological department warned of yet another punishing summer on the way, Vora decided it was time to buy an air conditioner.\n\n\u201cThe last couple summers have been extreme, going beyond normal, bearable conditions.\u201d\n\nAcross India, millions of people are making similar calculations. The share of Indians with air conditioning is still small, roughly 5 percent, but it\u2019s growing fast. Rising incomes are making air conditioners more attainable, while rising temperatures are making them a necessity. \u201cThere are hundreds of millions of people for whom air conditioning doesn't seem like a luxury good,\u201d said Michael Greenstone, director of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. \u201cIt can mean the difference between life and death.\u201d\n\nThe cooling industry has found a ready market in Ahmedabad, the largest city in the state of Gujarat. The city bakes each summer until the monsoon comes, at which point temperatures drop into the 90s and the humidity rises to stifling levels. Above the city\u2019s winding streets, crowded with fleets of auto rickshaws and mopeds, billboards declare that every home deserves Hitachi cooling. Elsewhere, Panasonic ads extol the speed at which its \u201clife conditioners\u201d can cool a room. Apartment ads list AC first among amenities offered, and restaurants promise relief from the heat. Appliance shops along the roadside display the industry\u2019s major players in big letters on their windows: Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Blue Star, Panasonic, General \u2014 the King of Cool, etched in glass with a crown \u2014 Daikin, Carrier.\n\nThe world is on track to add 700 million new ACs by 2030, and 1.6 billion by 2050, largely in hot, developing countries like India and Indonesia. But the AC boom threatens to worsen the crisis it\u2019s responding to, and widen the divide between those who can afford to stay cool and those left out in the heat.\n\nAir conditioners use refrigerants, and some of the most common types \u2014 hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs \u2014 are powerful greenhouse gases, with thousands of times the warming potential of carbon dioxide. If HFC use continues to grow at its current pace, these chemicals could make up as much as 19 percent of emissions by 2050. International initiatives are set to phase down the worst offenders, but air conditioners contribute to climate change in a second way: they consume a tremendous amount of electricity. Handling the growing load will require adding thousands of new power plants to the grid.\n\nThe AC boom threatens to worsen the crisis it\u2019s responding to\n\nAir conditioners may be a double-edged tool, but some way of adapting to the rising heat will have to be found. High temperatures are already interfering with people\u2019s ability to work, making people sick, and outright killing thousands. If heating is considered a basic requirement in Western countries, said Satish Kumar, executive chairman of the New Delhi-based Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy, it\u2019s time to start thinking about cooling the same way. \u201cWe are saying that a basic level of thermal comfort in order to be productive, in order to sit comfortably in your home during the night, it should not be a question. Everybody should have access to that level of comfort.\u201d\n\nVora recalls the first time his family turned on their AC. His father announced that \u201cfrom now onwards, the summer has gone from our life.\u201d His mother asked the mechanic what temperature to keep it at to minimize electricity bills. \u201cWe survived so many decades, my father, and the people of his age, they would have hardly used AC,\u201d Vora said. \u201cBut mine, and I imagine the next generation, they can\u2019t live without it.\u201d\n\nA drink vendor on a hot day in New Delhi.\n\nOne of the dangerous things about heat is the way it can sneak up on you. We deal with hot days all the time, and generally, they\u2019re uncomfortable at worst. We wear light clothes, stand in the shade, fan ourselves, and commiserate. Our bodies work to stay at around 98.6 degrees: blood vessels dilate to move heat to the skin where it can be radiated into the air. If that\u2019s not enough, we produce sweat, and heat gets absorbed turning it to vapor. But the effects of heat are nonlinear, and the line between discomfort and danger can be hard to detect. When the air becomes hotter than the body, skin stops radiating heat and starts to absorb it. If humidity is high, sweat can\u2019t evaporate into the already saturated air. If you exert yourself, your core temperature will start to climb, and your body will struggle to bring it down.\n\nDiscomfort turns into fatigue, nausea, disorientation \u2014 symptoms of a fever, which is what it is. Skin turns bright red and sweat pours out as the body\u2019s cooling systems go into overdrive. The heart starts to pound as it struggles to pump thickening blood, muscles spasm, sweat runs dry. At that point, the body is uncontrollably overheating. If its temperature isn\u2019t brought down by ice baths and intravenous fluids, the cells\u2019 mitochondria start to break down, organs fail, and death follows.\n\nSeemingly small increases in global average temperatures hide a crucial shift in the extremes. What were uncomfortably hot days are becoming dangerously hot, dangerously hot days are becoming deadly ones. This shift is already perceptible in India: the mean summer temperature has risen less than a degree since 1960, but heat waves that kill more than a hundred people have become more than twice as likely.\n\n\u201cOur choices now are between bad and terrible.\u201d\n\nBy the end of the century, almost half the people on Earth will face deadly heat and humidity for more than 20 days a year, according to a study by Camilo Mora, a researcher at the University of Hawaii. And that\u2019s the best-case scenario, with drastic reductions in carbon emissions. If emissions continue on their current trajectory, three-quarters of humanity will face deadly heat. Regions in the Persian Gulf, Bangladesh, and northeast India may become so hot and humid that, in the words of another recent study, they pass the \u201cupper limit on human survivability,\u201d deadly to anyone who ventures outside for more than a few hours. \u201cOur choices now are between bad and terrible,\u201d Mora said.\n\nFor the past century, the best technology we\u2019ve had for coping with heat has been the air conditioner. Air conditioners run refrigerant through coils in a loop. The refrigerant absorbs heat from inside a room as it turns from liquid to gas, then deposits heat outside as it\u2019s condensed into liquid again. Because cooler air holds less moisture, water vapor condenses on the conditioner\u2019s coils, lowering the humidity. (That condensate is the liquid that drops on city-dwellers\u2019 heads in the summer.)\n\nThough primarily thought of as a comfort appliance, ACs also save lives. As air conditioning spread through movie theaters, offices, and homes in the 20th century United States, heat-related deaths plummeted. (Without AC, heat and humidity in places like Florida can quickly become deadly, as became clear when several residents died at a nursing home after Hurricane Irma.) Air conditioning enabled the growth of hot cities like Phoenix and Houston, but it eventually became standard even in temperate regions, finding its way into 87 percent of US homes.\n\n\u201cAC has become a necessity, like a fan.\u201d\n\nNow air conditioning is spreading in India. Indians bought about 5 million room ACs last year, according to Frost and Sullivan, and the market is growing at 10 to 12 percent annually, with some of the more aggressive companies expanding far faster. International vendors are vying for a share of the market. General, a joint venture between Japan\u2019s Fujitsu and the Emirati company ETA, is selling a \u201chyper tropical\u201d line meant for temperatures up to 125 degrees, which it unveiled with a Bollywood performance. The Japanese company Daikin opened a factory in Rajasthan that\u2019s pumping out half a million units a year and plans to double production. The industry is well aware that rising temperatures are juicing demand. (The tagline for this year\u2019s air-conditioning exhibition in New Delhi was \u201cwitness global cooling.\u201d) \u201cBeyond a status symbol, AC has become a necessity, like a fan,\u201d said Gaurav Mehtani, divisional manager at Daikin\u2019s New Delhi office.\n\nElectrical wires in New Delhi.\n\nFor the salesmen and mechanics on the frontlines of the boom, summer can be a grueling time. Sundresh Nambiar has worked in the business for eight years, though he bought his first AC just this summer. (Like Vora, it was out of concern for his parents\u2019 health.) His shop, and the two that sit next to his beneath a pizza place by the side of a busy road, is typical of many in Ahmedabad: a narrow room, fluorescent lit, its walls entirely covered with AC units.\n\nAs the temperature climbs, Nambiar\u2019s days grow longer, starting at 7:30AM and stretching past midnight. Customers get irate if their ACs can\u2019t be installed immediately, and sometimes they try to bribe their way to the front of the line. Nambiar proudly said it\u2019s first come, first served, except in cases of medical emergencies. The heat that\u2019s driving sales is brutal to work in: Nambiar\u2019s mechanics drench their clothes in water and spray down their tools to avoid searing their hands. It\u2019s happened to Nambiar before.\n\nMechanics spray down their tools to avoid searing their hands\n\nTemperatures in Ahmedabad sometimes get so high that older ACs stop functioning, and repairmen like Dinesh Sata have found a lucrative business in keeping them running. \u201cBecause of climate change, machines break with overheating,\u201d he said. Five years ago, it was just him and a couple employees. Now he has a staff of 14 and runs them like a fire department, dispatching teams of two as calls come in. In the summer, they work from 7:30 in the morning to 3AM, each duo taking as many as 20 calls a day. They move through the city on mopeds, so as to better weave through Ahmedabad\u2019s snarled traffic. The repairmen, Sata said, \u201cdon\u2019t even have time for food \u2014 just small snacks.\u201d\n\nAccess to cooling falls along class lines, and Sata can read the affluence of a neighborhood by its air conditioners: older, probably secondhand units on one end, brands like Samsung and LG in the middle, and Mitsubishi and General at the top.\n\nThe houses of the very wealthiest are lavishly cooled. \u201cI installed one in a kitchen,\u201d Sata said, incredulously. \u201cAnd in the toilet.\u201d The house, an old mansion owned by diamond dealers, had 29 ACs in total. Most people, of course, have none at all. \u201cThe poorer people,\u201d he said, \u201cthey are suffering the most.\u201d\n\nSata himself has no AC, but by choice. His work entails spending long hours in scorching heat, and he\u2019s seen how dependent people become on ACs once they\u2019re exposed to them. \u201cIf I get used to AC, I won\u2019t be able to work.\u201d\n\nSata can read the affluence of a neighborhood by its air conditioners\n\nAll the new ACs set to be installed from India to Brazil have added urgency to the race to make them less damaging to the climate. Last year in Kigali, Rwanda, negotiators from 197 countries amended the Montreal Protocol to phase down use of the most potent greenhouse gas refrigerants, a measure that\u2019s projected to avoid almost a degree of warming by 2100. India has until 2028 to start its reductions, but several companies active there have already begun switching to less-damaging chemicals.\n\nMeanwhile, India has begun programs meant to reduce the tremendous energy demand the AC boom will bring. It has a five-star rating system meant to encourage people to purchase more efficient ACs, and the shops in Ahmedabad display the stars with large stickers on each device. Several companies have released lines of 5.8-star ACs. Godrej, a New Delhi-based company, uses climate-friendly, though flammable, propane as a refrigerant; it boasts it\u2019s broken the scale with a six-star AC. In order to drive down the price for consumers, earlier this summer, the Indian government arranged the bulk purchase of 100,000 superefficient ACs from Panasonic and Godrej, and is planning to order half a million more.\n\nEven with increasing efficiency and better refrigerants, however, the energy demand will still be immense. The ACs India alone is expected to install by 2030 will be the equivalent of adding several new midsize countries to the global grid. With air conditioners already accounting for up to 60 percent of the summertime electricity use in cities like New Delhi, simply meeting the demand \u2014 and meeting it without burning huge amounts of fossil fuels \u2014 will be a challenge. \u201cThis AC load should be kind of taken with the same level of seriousness as renewable energy policies are taken,\u201d said Nikit Abhyankar, a researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, pointing out that even incremental improvements in efficiency will greatly reduce energy use.\n\nIn Ahmedabad, health officials worry that all the new ACs are pumping heat out into the streets, raising the temperature for anyone who can\u2019t afford an AC of their own. If air conditioners become the only way of dealing with rising temperatures, the same dynamic risks playing out on a global scale.\n\nProfessor Rajan Rawal, executive director at CEPT University\u2019s Centre for Advanced Research in Building Science and Energy.\n\nIn late July, on the leafy campus of Ahmedabad\u2019s CEPT University, Professor Rajan Rawal stood outside his lab, drinking chai with his students, sheltering from a monsoon rain that was flooding the city. Tall, with short gray hair and dark mustache, he speaks with patrician weariness about the folly of the world of cooling.\n\nRefrigerated cooling first caught on as a way to preserve food, then to control humidity in factories. Finally it was used to cool people, but, Rawal said, it\u2019s a blunt instrument, and shouldn\u2019t be the only one. \u201cYou can\u2019t simply take one pill and cure everything, or just take a fighter jet and win a war. You need various kinds of weapons and various medicines, in same way you need various strategies for buildings.\u201d\n\nSome examples lay strewn about his lab: a segment of brick wall on a wheeled rack, meant to study heat absorption; a model building surrounded by lights on arcing tracks, meant to observe shade as the sun\u2019s position changes; in the basement, a climate-controlled chamber where students sometimes sit to test the effectiveness of various cooling technologies.\n\nAir conditioning is \u201cthe modern building\u2019s iron lung\u201d\n\nThe proliferation of air conditioning enabled building designs that were wholly dependent on air conditioning. Age-old cooling tricks like courtyards, crossbreeze-promoting corners, eaves, porches, and other architectural features were dispensed with. Developers, eager to capitalize on cheap designs and interior floor space that would\u2019ve been stiflingly hot previously, turned to solid office blocks, glass towers, and boxy, mass-produced tract homes, relying on air conditioning to make them habitable. Air conditioning, writes Gail Cooper in Air-Conditioning America, \u201cwas the modern building\u2019s iron lung.\u201d\n\nAs India urbanizes, the CEPT team sees an opportunity to take a different path when it comes to cooling, one with a smaller role for the air conditioner. \u201cDo we go the route of the US and Western countries, not worry about efficiency, just whatever provides the cooling?\u201d Yash Shukla, another researcher in Rawal\u2019s program, asked me. \u201cThe climate impact of that is significant. If we can find a better approach to have the same level of comfort, why not do it the better way?\u201d\n\nCompressors for split ACs in Ahmedabad.\n\nTheir research took them somewhere esoteric: thermal comfort standards. When figuring out what sort of HVAC equipment to put in a building, engineers use models that attempt to predict what temperature and humidity levels occupants will be happy with. It\u2019s a necessarily difficult attempt to quantify something subjective. One of the widest-used thermal comfort standards, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 55, acknowledges thermal comfort is \u201ca condition of mind\u201d before setting out on a valiant effort to model everything from the metabolic rate of someone typing to the insulation factor of calf-length socks.\n\nASHRAE dictates a comfortable temperature in the range of 67 to 82 degrees, depending on the season and other variables, yet it\u2019s become a widely acknowledged problem that air-conditioned buildings are too cold. Figuring out exactly why \u2014 whether the standard is resulting in overpowered AC systems, building managers are overcooling so men can wear suits in summer, or some other reason \u2014 is \u201cthe holy grail,\u201d in the words of one researcher, and the subject of ongoing research.\n\nThere are big gains to be had in raising building temperatures. In 2005, Japan launched an energy-saving initiative called Cool Biz, setting office thermostats at 82 and encouraging workers to forgo ties and heavy business suits. After the 2011 nuclear meltdown, the program became Super Cool Biz: jackets came off, and polos, even aloha shirts were encouraged. If you needed sartorial guidance, Uniqlo published recommendations, and the Environment Ministry sponsored a fashion show where men demonstrated how to pull off a blazer with shorts. By 2010, the latest year for which data is available, Japan estimated that the program cut as much CO2 as almost 4 million households would emit in a month.\n\nThe CEPT researchers felt India\u2019s standards needed revising, too. Most of the international comfort standards were developed by institutions in the global north, based largely on surveys of people unaccustomed to India\u2019s heat. \u201cThe premise was that occupants in buildings in India are very different from occupants in Europe or the US, which is where the international standards come from,\u201d said Sanyogita Manu, who led the study. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have a thermal comfort model of our own.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe didn\u2019t have a thermal comfort model of our own.\u201d\n\nManu traveled to office buildings from humid Chennai in southern India to mountainous Shimla in the Himalayan foothills, wielding monitors to test the temperature, humidity, and airspeed, and asking workers whether they were comfortable.\n\nShe found that Indians are indeed comfortable at slightly higher temperatures than existing models would predict, particularly when in buildings that aren\u2019t sealed up and air conditioned. Previous research has shown that in buildings without AC, people are comfortable at higher indoor temperatures the hotter it is outside; they don\u2019t expect refrigerated coolness, they wear lighter clothes, they open windows, they use fans, and their bodies adjust to the heat. The mere feeling of control over things like windows and fans also makes people feel more comfortable, even if the temperature remains the same. The models that reflect this are called \u201cadaptive,\u201d but they\u2019re typically only used for buildings that aren\u2019t air conditioned at all. The CEPT team found that the same phenomenon also applied to mixed-mode buildings \u2014 buildings that switch on the AC when it gets hot \u2014 and that people were comfortable in environments up to almost 88 degrees. Last year, the Indian government adopted their model in the national building code. It\u2019s expected to reduce energy spent to cool a building by a third.\n\nCooling equipment beneath CEPT\u2019s laboratory.\n\nThe expanded threshold opens up new options for cooling. As we walked through the CEPT lab, Rawal pointed out the ceiling tiles: pipes of cold water run through them, emanating cool air downward on the researchers below. Ceiling fans stirred the air, and tower fans were scattered about, available for anyone dissatisfied with the office climate. Clamped to each researcher\u2019s desk was a monitor, testing the temperature, humidity, and airspeed. Nestled in the trees of the campus, positioned to minimize direct sun exposure, and equipped with a suite of various cooling technologies, the building is able to coast without air conditioning until the heat gets extreme. With solar panels on the roof, the building produces more energy than it uses over the course of the year. The air inside felt slightly damp, but cool.\n\nRawal and his team say buildings like this are the way forward for India, but they\u2019re well aware of the challenges to widespread adoption. Buildings like CEPT\u2019s require bespoke design, whereas air-conditioned buildings can be mass-produced and are cheap to make, if not to keep cool. \u201cYou get a bad building, you still buy it because a split AC can make it habitable,\u201d Rawal said. \u201cHence people are making it because they know you\u2019ll find a way to make it habitable.\u201d\n\nRawal is particularly intrigued by one technology in particular: the evaporative cooler. It uses far less electricity than an air conditioner, and doesn\u2019t use refrigerants. Instead, a fan blows on a wetted pad, cooling hot air through evaporation. Also known as an air cooler or swamp cooler, it\u2019s an electric version of the drenched sheets Vora\u2019s parents used. One such machine sits in the lab\u2019s thermal comfort chamber, amid fans and thermometers and a sensor-filled manikin dressed in a beige kurti, sitting at a desk.\n\nControl panel for CEPT\u2019s cooling systems.\n\nThe world\u2019s largest cooler manufacturer, Symphony, is based in Ahmedabad, in a conspicuously modern concrete building sitting amid trees and empty lots off the highway. Founded in 1988, the company is now worth over a billion dollars and has made its founder and chairman, Achal Bakeri, one of the country\u2019s richest people.\n\nBakeri, the scion of a prominent real estate family, offers a classic startup origin story for the company\u2019s founding. Home after completing an MBA at the University of Southern California, he was sitting in his parents\u2019 living room when he was struck by the ugliness of their air cooler. \u201cIt worked really well, but the product was aesthetically very bad and made a lot of noise,\u201d he said. He took it apart and started learning how it worked. Seeing an opportunity, he put a small team together to design a better version. They set up shop in the parking garage of one of his family\u2019s construction sites and built the first Symphony air cooler. Their first run sold out within a week.\n\nToday, the company is focused on air coolers and air coolers only, and it\u2019s expanding into markets abroad \u2014 markets that climate change is helping open. In 2010, Russia was hit by an unprecedented and deadly heat wave, with temperatures in Moscow passing 100 degrees. Soon after, Symphony began getting inquiries from dealers in Russia interested in carrying their products.\n\n\u201cNot even in our wildest of dreams did we consider that a market.\u201d\n\n\u201cNot even in our wildest of dreams did we consider that a market,\u201d said Rajesh Mishra, vice president of sales. \u201cBut we realized that heat is relative. In Russia, the moment it touches 35 [95 Fahrenheit] people just go crazy. Four or five years back, temperatures in the UK touched about 27 [80.6 Fahrenheit] and everybody jumped into the lake,\u201d he said, laughing. (He sets his AC to 80 Fahrenheit.) \u201cThere were photographs of people stripping off their shirts, jumping in fountains.\u201d Now the UK is buying Symphony coolers, too.\n\nMishra sees a unique opportunity for Symphony in the extreme and unpredictable heat waves brought on by climate change. Coolers are cheap and use little power, making them affordable to many for whom ACs are out of reach. They\u2019re also relatively easy to set up \u2014 you just need to fill them with water and plug them in. In a generally temperate place like Germany, it wouldn't be worth the hassle and expense of installing an AC, Mishra said, but a cooler would be easy to roll out of the closet in the event of a freak heat wave.\n\nThe major drawback of coolers is that they don\u2019t work when it\u2019s humid, for the same reason sweating loses its effectiveness. If the air is nearly saturated with moisture already, water won\u2019t evaporate off the pad, the air won\u2019t cool, and the device will function more like fan that makes the room even muggier. But in hot and dry regions, they work very well. In addition to India, Symphony\u2019s core markets are arid countries in the Middle East and Africa. In 2009, they scooped up IMPCO, a Phoenix-based company that has been producing coolers since the 1930s. Its manufacturing facilities in Mexico have opened up new markets in Latin America, and eventually perhaps the American Southwest.\n\nSymphony\u2019s biggest project so far \u2014 the biggest air cooler project anywhere so far \u2014 is Mecca\n\nCoolers can also do something air conditioners can\u2019t: because they lower the temperature of the air that passes through them, rather than removing heat from a sealed room, they can cool people in huge open spaces and even outdoors. Symphony\u2019s biggest project so far \u2014 the biggest air cooler project anywhere so far \u2014 is Mecca. In 2006, Symphony installed 200 giant coolers on the Jamarat Bridge, which millions of pilgrims cross each year, and 50,000 units in the residential section, where cooler intakes jut up from each tent like chimneys.\n\nCavernous factories, warehouses, outdoor restaurants, and amusement parks will be growing markets for coolers, Mishra said, especially as temperatures rise. In 2015, Symphony bought the Chinese cooler company Keruilai, and is now cooling automobile factories and train maintenance yards there. \u201cAs the temperature goes up, working conditions will become harsher in factories,\u201d Mishra said. \u201cThe demand for air coolers will be enormous.\u201d\n\nMishra recognizes climate change as a threat, and a business opportunity. \u201cIt looks bright!\u201d he said, laughing, when I asked him about the future of the cooling industry. \u201cBecause of the changing climate, unfortunately. This is an irreversible process, and now with the great Mr. Donald Trump pulling out of the treaty, things will become even worse,\u201d he said, smiling grimly.\n\nA neighborhood on the northern edge of Ahmedabad.\n\nDuring the summer of 2010, Tejas Shah, a deputy health officer with the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, noticed a strange increase in deaths. \u201cBetween the 19th of May and 23rd, the number of deaths each day were somewhere around 300, which is three times the normal,\u201d Shah said, sitting at a desk strewn with folders and maps of his jurisdiction. The city first suspected there was an unknown epidemic, but found no outbreaks. Then they checked the temperature. \u201cIn these four or five days, the temperature was beyond 45 [113 Fahrenheit]. There was no other obvious reason.\u201d\n\nDespite being among the deadliest natural disasters, heat waves often escape notice. They\u2019re largely invisible when they happen, and leave no wrecked buildings behind. They frequently kill indirectly, by fatally stressing existing health conditions, so their full toll is only evident much later, statistically. And they kill the most vulnerable and overlooked: the elderly or already sick; the socially isolated, who have no one to check in on them; and the working poor, who have to risk laboring in the heat or go without food.\n\nA tailor working in a tin-roofed house in northern Ahmedabad.\n\nAfter the 2010 heat wave became apparent, Ahmedabad began formulating a plan for coping with extreme temperatures. Working with the Natural Resource Defense Council, Georgia Tech, and other institutions, Ahmedabad developed an early-warning system and a strategy for mobilizing the city in advance of impending heat waves. Shah is now the coordinating heat officer for the city of five and a half million, in addition to other emergency management duties that result in an unending barrage of calls, texts, and knocks at the door, which he greets with wry forbearance.\n\nWhen extreme heat is forecast, Shah sends out WhatsApp alerts to health officers, hospital liaisons, the fire department, the police, the parks department, and other officials. Color-coded heat warnings are announced in newspapers, on television, and through social media. Phone companies send out SMS warnings. Social workers go into slums, where these warnings might not reach, and hand out rehydration packets and pamphlets on heat safety. Hospitals prepare ice packs and heat wards, water stations are set up on street corners, and temples, mosques, and malls double as cooling centers. It\u2019s proven effective: in 2015, when heat waves killed over 2,500 people across India, Ahmedabad reported fewer than 20 heat-related deaths. The model is now being copied by Nagpur, Gondia, and 15 other Indian cities.\n\n\u201cIf it remains for a month? It would be a natural disaster.\u201d\n\nBut rising temperatures will strain the system the city has put in place. While hospitals in Ahmedabad have been building out heat wards, they would run out of space if a heat wave stuck around for long. And while members of the growing air-conditioned class can shelter in cooled offices and homes, the poor must go out to work on construction sites, build roads, and sell wares on baking streets.\n\n\u201cSuppose for a day or two or three the temperature is between 47 and 48 [116\u2013118 Fahrenheit],\u201d said Bhavin Solanki, Ahmedabad\u2019s chief health officer. \u201cWe can control the situation. But if it remains for a month?\u201d he said, pausing. \u201cIt would be a natural disaster.\u201d\n\nThe scale of what cities will need to do to truly adapt to the heat is daunting. Simply waiting for people to get cooling appliances isn\u2019t enough \u2014 too many would be left behind. Public health programs like Ahmedabad\u2019s save many lives, but as temperatures rise, more drastic measures will be needed.\n\nA roof in Ahmedabad painted white to deflect the sun.\n\nThe climate researcher Vimal Mishra, who teaches in nearby Gandhinagar, described India\u2019s situation as a race against temperature. He ran through some of the measures needed to beat the heat; as the list grew, it gradually took on the feel of science fiction. People will have to run air conditioners constantly, and new energy sources will have to be built to power them. There will have to be air-conditioned transit because people won\u2019t be able to bike in the sweltering streets. Working hours will have to be shifted to avoid the hottest parts of the day. New buildings will have to be designed that can stay cool with less energy. Maybe, he said, those buildings will have to be prefabricated in cooled warehouses to minimize time spent outdoors. Maybe workers will have to wear personal cooling gear, like the solar-powered cooling hardhats Qatar is experimenting with. Heat kills animals, too, so livestock will have to be brought inside and cooled.\n\nThis is the good scenario, one where carbon emissions are curtailed. The other, where temperatures pass the threshold of human survivability, would entail mass migration, or as Jonathan Buzan, a researcher who works with Mishra put it, fantastical infrastructure projects, citing the Isaac Asimov novel The Caves of Steel, where humanity shelters in climate-controlled domes. It\u2019s a tug-of-war, Mishra said, between rising temperatures and our ability to adapt. \u201cWho, will win? Probably, I would go for humans,\u201d he said, optimistic but hedging.\n\n\u201cWho, will win? Probably, I would go for humans.\u201d\n\nAdapting will be expensive. With every degree of warming that gets locked into the climate system, the more it will cost to maintain something resembling normal life, and the more people there will be who are unable to afford it. The particular problem posed by heat isn\u2019t that it\u2019s impossible to adapt to, it\u2019s that it\u2019s difficult to adapt to equitably and in a way that doesn\u2019t make the problem worse. Like mitigating climate change overall, any cooling solution will require collective action, in the form of international agreements like the Kigali Amendment, efficiency regulations, subsidies, technological advances, new building designs, and civic programs.\n\nThis year, Ahmedabad added an element to its heat action plan designed not just to cope with extreme heat, but reduce it. A quarter of the city\u2019s population lives in the slums ringing the city, jammed together in small concrete boxes with tin roofs that turn them into solar ovens. The city has begun painting these roofs white, and covering public buildings with reflective white mosaic tiles. It\u2019s a modest adaptation, but it can drop the indoor temperature by several degrees. \u201cThe fact is that the gap between the rich people and the poor people is increasing,\u201d Shah said. \u201cIt is going to be very difficult. They are going to be more vulnerable, they are going to face more problems.\u201d\n\nShah has his own list of immediate adaptations the city needs to make. More trees need to be planted, he said, to lower the city\u2019s temperature. There need to be more cooling centers installed, and mass transit should be expanded so all the internal combustion engines stop heating the streets. There will need to be new regulations around working hours for jobs like construction, so laborers don\u2019t die of heatstroke. The city is looking for ways to build awnings that can shade whole intersections, so vendors and traffic police can get shelter from the sun. Piece by mundane piece, through new appliances and public works, the city will have to reconfigure itself to survive in the changing climate.", "output": "Rising temperatures are increasing the number of air conditioning (AC) units in the world, with 700 million units expected to be added to the global total by 2030 and 1.6 billion units to be added by 2050. Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants used in such units produce greenhouse gases that are thousands of times more warming than carbon dioxide. At current rates, HFCs could be responsible for 19% of all emissions by 2050. AC units also consume huge quantities of electricity. Developers in India are exploring alternative cooling methods, including building design and energy efficient coolers that use evaporation rather than refrigerants."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New York Mayor plans to reduce energy use in large buildings \n Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday said that he wants to force landlords to retrofit old buildings \u2014 including apartment houses, office buildings and warehouses, with more than 25,000 square feet of space \u2014 to make them more energy efficient.\n\nThe plan, which could affect as many as 23,000 buildings in New York City, called for strict standards in place by 2030, as part of a push to fight global warming.\n\nBut as the mayor began to field questions about the proposal, it became apparent that certain details were unclear, and that critical support for the plan had not yet been lined up.\n\nThe mayor needs the City Council to pass legislation to carry out the proposal, yet no Council member was at the announcement, on the Brooklyn waterfront, with the glass towers of Lower Manhattan in the background. There were also no representatives of landlord or real estate groups, although some environmental activists turned up.", "output": "New York City mayor Bill de Blasio\u00a0has announced plans to force landlords to retrofit apartments, offices and warehouses\u00a0in order to improve energy efficiency. The proposals could affect up to 23,000 buildings in the city. Implementation of the plan, which has not yet been finalised, would require legislation by the City Council. Such legislation would outline the maximum levels of energy use permitted in relation to affected buildings, with most required to reduce consumption by around 25%.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google faces class action lawsuit on gender discrimination \n Google systematically pays women less than men doing similar work, according to a class action-lawsuit accusing the technology company of denying promotions and career opportunities to qualified women who are \u201csegregated\u201d into lower-paying jobs.\n\n\n\nThe complaint, filed Thursday on behalf of all women employed by Google in California over the last four years, provided the most detailed formal accounts to date of gender discrimination and pay disparities at the company after months of criticisms and a growing chorus of women publicly speaking out.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been talking about these issues for a long time, and it hasn\u2019t really changed,\u201d Kelly Ellis, a former Google employee and a lead plaintiff on the case, told the Guardian in her first interview about the suit. \u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of PR and lip service, but ... this is going to be one of the only ways to get these companies to change how they hire and compensate women.\u201d\n\nThe claim that Google is violating labor laws by paying women less than men for \u201csubstantially similar work\u201d comes at a time when the male-dominated tech sector is reeling from complaints about sexual harassment, discrimination and a glaring lack of diversity. The US Department of Labor (DoL) first accused the corporation of \u201cextreme\u201d pay discrimination in April as part of a lawsuit seeking to force Google to hand over salary records for a government audit.\n\nThe new lawsuit could have widespread ramifications, especially considering that Google has publicly insisted it has eliminated its gender pay gap and is a leader in the industry. Google also became ground zero for an international debate about diversity last month after it fired a male engineer who wrote a memo criticizing affirmative action and suggesting that white men have become victims of \u201cdiscrimination\u201d in tech.\n\nPlaintiffs allege \u2018sexist culture at Google\u2019\n\nThe class-action complaint, filed in San Francisco, included three named plaintiffs who offered specific stories of Google \u201cassigning and keeping female employees in lower compensation levels than male employees with similar skills, experience, and duties\u201d.\n\nGoogle disputed the central claims of lawsuit on Thursday, saying it had \u201cextensive systems in place to ensure that we pay fairly\u201d.\n\nWhen Ellis was hired in 2010 as a software engineer for Google Photos, the company placed her into a \u201cLevel 3\u201d position typically assigned to new college graduates, according to the suit.\n\nWe\u2019ve been talking about these issues for a long time, and it hasn\u2019t really changed Kelly Ellis, software engineer\n\nSeveral weeks later, Google hired a male software engineer, who graduated the same year as Ellis, into a \u201cLevel 4\u201d position on her team, the complaint said. Level 4 engineers \u201creceive substantially higher salary and opportunities for bonuses, raises, and equity\u201d, her lawyers wrote.\n\n\u201cI was so excited just to be there. I really wanted to give Google the benefit of the doubt,\u201d Ellis said in an interview.\n\nBut other male software engineers who were less qualified than Ellis or at the same level were promoted into Level 4 and higher positions, according to the suit. Google initially denied Ellis a promotion, despite \u201cexcellent performance reviews\u201d, claiming she hadn\u2019t been at the company long enough, the suit said. By the time she advanced, she said, she was far behind her male counterparts who had better opportunities from the start.\n\nEchoing a broader complaint in the tech sector, Ellis said she also observed that male software engineers occupied most of the higher-paying \u201cback-end\u201d roles while female software engineers were assigned to \u201cfront-end\u201d positions, which design what users see and are considered less prestigious.\n\nEllis, who has a degree in applied mathematics and a minor in computer science, had experience in back-end development. But \u201cGoogle assigned her to an occupationally-segregated frontend engineering role\u201d, the suit said. She quit in July 2014 due to the \u201csexist culture at Google\u201d, according to the complaint. Ellis previously made headlines in 2015 when she tweeted about harassment at Google.\n\nAnother plaintiff, Holly Pease, was hired in 2005 and advanced to a senior manager role overseeing about 50 software engineers and product managers across multiple teams. Although she had more than 10 years of experience as a network engineer before Google, she was placed into a \u201cnon-technical\u201d career track while the engineers she managed and the other senior manager in her group, a man, were all in \u201ctechnical\u201d roles, which come with higher compensation rates, the complaint said.\n\nGoogle headquarters in Mountain View, California. The new lawsuit claims Google is violating labor laws by paying women less than men for \u2018substantially similar work\u2019. Photograph: JasonDoiy/Getty Images\n\nPease later coached non-technical employees on how to pass interviews to transition to technical jobs, helping many get promotions, including a male manager a level below her who had performed poorly, according to the suit.\n\nBut Pease herself was denied a promotion to a technical position, the complaint said: \u201cMs Pease\u2019s two interviewers, both men, did not ask her any technical questions, and one interviewer did not even bother to take notes of the meeting with her.\u201d\n\nGoogle claimed she \u201clacked technical ability\u201d despite her technical background, according to the suit. She resigned in 2016 due to the \u201clack of technical and engineering opportunities available to her and other women\u201d.\n\nJames Finberg, one of the civil rights attorneys who filed the suit, told the Guardian that more than 90 women who previously worked or currently work at Google have contacted him about the class action.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve heard from a lot of women about stereotypes and perceptions that women can\u2019t do coding,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s frustrating and demoralizing.\u201d\n\nWe\u2019ve heard from a lot of women about stereotypes and perceptions that women can\u2019t do coding. It's demoralizing James Finberg, attorney\n\nThe third plaintiff, Kelli Wisuri, joined in 2012 when Google acquired her company. Despite three years of sales experience, she was placed into a \u201cLevel 2\u201d role, considered the \u201clowest level available to permanent, full-time employees\u201d, the suit said. Men with comparable qualifications started at Level 3 or higher, according to the complaint.\n\n\n\nWisuri was also placed on a lower-paying career track, in which about 50% of employees were women, according to the suit. She said nearly all the sales employees she encountered in a higher sales track were men.\n\nDespite doing very similar work to men in the higher tier, she was not promoted and resigned in 2015 due to \u201clack of opportunities for advancement for women\u201d, the suit said.\n\nFears of retribution\n\nGoogle did not respond to detailed inquiries about the plaintiffs, but a spokeswoman, Gina Scigliano, contested the allegations.\n\n\u201cJob levels and promotions are determined through rigorous hiring and promotion committees, and must pass multiple levels of review, including checks to make sure there is no gender bias in these decisions,\u201d she said in a statement to the Guardian. \u201cBut on all these topics, if we ever see individual discrepancies or problems, we work to fix them, because Google has always sought to be a great employer, for every one of our employees.\u201d\n\nFinberg said that several current Google employees considered being named plaintiffs, but backed out due to concerns that they could face retribution from the company, which has repeatedly been accused of silencing critics and whistleblowers with strict confidentiality policies.\n\nA US labor department official involved in the audit told the Guardian in April that the \u201cgovernment\u2019s analysis at this point indicates that discrimination against women in Google is quite extreme, even in this industry\u201d. Currently, men occupy 80% of tech jobs at the company.\n\nThis month, the New York Times obtained an internal Google spreadsheetthat showed that women on average were paid less than men within the same job levels and tended to receive lower bonuses.\n\nGoogle, which faced similar allegations in 2015, claimed to the Times that the spreadsheet was not representative and did not take into account factors like job performance and whether employees were in higher-paying technical roles.\n\nEllis recalled how disappointing it was to see no women making presentations at the first all-hands engineering meeting she attended at Google.\n\n\u201cThere definitely was a lack of role models,\u201d she said. \u201cIt made me feel like I could never get to the level where these guys are.\u201d\n\nEllis added that she hoped the suit would put other tech firms on notice: \u201cThey have to treat everyone fairly. Otherwise, we are going to take action.\u201d\n\nContact the author: sam.levin@theguardian.com", "output": "Google is systematically paying female employees less than their male peers for similar work, according to a class action-lawsuit filed in California on Thursday. The suit, which was filed on behalf of all women employed by the company in the US state over the past four years, also accuses the firm of failing to promote female workers and of having \u201csegregated\u201d them into lower-paid positions. The suit claims that Google\u2019s pay procedures are in breach of labour laws and comes in the wake of a series of allegations about sexual harassment and discrimination in the tech sector."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Row over AI that can predict your sexuality from your face \n Voters have a right to keep their political beliefs private. But according to some researchers, it won\u2019t be long before a computer program can accurately guess whether people are liberal or conservative in an instant. All that will be needed are photos of their faces.\n\nMichal Kosinski \u2013 the Stanford University professor who went viral last week for research suggesting that artificial intelligence (AI) can detect whether people are gay or straight based on photos \u2013 said sexual orientation was just one of many characteristics that algorithms would be able to predict through facial recognition.\n\nUsing photos, AI will be able to identify people\u2019s political views, whether they have high IQs, whether they are predisposed to criminal behavior, whether they have specific personality traits and many other private, personal details that could carry huge social consequences, he said.\n\nKosinski outlined the extraordinary and sometimes disturbing applications of facial detection technology that he expects to see in the near future, raising complex ethical questions about the erosion of privacy and the possible misuse of AI to target vulnerable people.\n\n\u201cThe face is an observable proxy for a wide range of factors, like your life history, your development factors, whether you\u2019re healthy,\u201d he said.\n\nFaces contain a significant amount of information, and using large datasets of photos, sophisticated computer programs can uncover trends and learn how to distinguish key traits with a high rate of accuracy. With Kosinski\u2019s \u201cgaydar\u201d AI, an algorithm used online dating photos to create a program that could correctly identify sexual orientation 91% of the time with men and 83% with women, just by reviewing a handful of photos.\n\nKosinski\u2019s research is highly controversial, and faced a huge backlash from LGBT rights groups, which argued that the AI was flawed and that anti-LGBT governments could use this type of software to out gay people and persecute them. Kosinski and other researchers, however, have argued that powerful governments and corporations already possess these technological capabilities and that it is vital to expose possible dangers in an effort to push for privacy protections and regulatory safeguards, which have not kept pace with AI.\n\nKosinski, an assistant professor of organizational behavior, said he was studying links between facial features and political preferences, with preliminary results showing that AI is effective at guessing people\u2019s ideologies based on their faces.\n\nThis is probably because political views appear to be heritable, as research has shown, he said. That means political leanings are possibly linked to genetics or developmental factors, which could result in detectable facial differences.\n\nKosinski said previous studies have found that conservative politicians tend to be more attractive than liberals, possibly because good-looking people have more advantages and an easier time getting ahead in life.\n\nMichal Kosinski. Photograph: Lauren Bamford\n\nKosinski said the AI would perform best for people who are far to the right or left and would be less effective for the large population of voters in the middle. \u201cA high conservative score \u2026 would be a very reliable prediction that this guy is conservative.\u201d\n\nKosinski is also known for his controversial work on psychometric profiling, including using Facebook data to draw inferences about personality. The data firm Cambridge Analytica has used similar tools to target voters in support of Donald Trump\u2019s campaign, sparking debate about the use of personal voter information in campaigns.\n\nFacial recognition may also be used to make inferences about IQ, said Kosinski, suggesting a future in which schools could use the results of facial scans when considering prospective students. This application raises a host of ethical questions, particularly if the AI is purporting to reveal whether certain children are genetically more intelligent, he said: \u201cWe should be thinking about what to do to make sure we don\u2019t end up in a world where better genes means a better life.\u201d\n\nSome of Kosinski\u2019s suggestions conjure up the 2002 science-fiction film Minority Report, in which police arrest people before they have committed crimes based on predictions of future murders. The professor argued that certain areas of society already function in a similar way.\n\nHe cited school counselors intervening when they observe children who appear to exhibit aggressive behavior. If algorithms could be used to accurately predict which students need help and early support, that could be beneficial, he said. \u201cThe technologies sound very dangerous and scary on the surface, but if used properly or ethically, they can really improve our existence.\u201d\n\nThere are, however, growing concerns that AI and facial recognition technologies are actually relying on biased data and algorithms and could cause great harm. It is particularly alarming in the context of criminal justice, where machines could make decisions about people\u2019s lives \u2013 such as the length of a prison sentence or whether to release someone on bail \u2013 based on biased data from a court and policing system that is racially prejudiced at every step.\n\nKosinski predicted that with a large volume of facial images of an individual, an algorithm could easily detect if that person is a psychopath or has high criminal tendencies. He said this was particularly concerning given that a propensity for crime does not translate to criminal actions: \u201cEven people highly disposed to committing a crime are very unlikely to commit a crime.\u201d\n\nHe also cited an example referenced in the Economist \u2013 which first reported the sexual orientation study \u2013 that nightclubs and sport stadiums could face pressure to scan people\u2019s faces before they enter to detect possible threats of violence.\n\nKosinski noted that in some ways, this wasn\u2019t much different from human security guards making subjective decisions about people they deem too dangerous-looking to enter.\n\nThe law generally considers people\u2019s faces to be \u201cpublic information\u201d, said Thomas Keenan, professor of environmental design and computer science at the University of Calgary, noting that regulations have not caught up with technology: no law establishes when the use of someone\u2019s face to produce new information rises to the level of privacy invasion.\n\nKeenan said it might take a tragedy to spark reforms, such as a gay youth being beaten to death because bullies used an algorithm to out him: \u201cNow, you\u2019re putting people\u2019s lives at risk.\u201d\n\nEven with AI that makes highly accurate predictions, there is also still a percentage of predictions that will be incorrect.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019re going down a very slippery slope,\u201d said Keenan, \u201cif one in 20 or one in a hundred times \u2026 you\u2019re going to be dead wrong.\u201d\n\nContact the author: sam.levin@theguardian.com", "output": "Sexual orientation is just one characteristic that can be predicted through facial recognition software and artificial intelligence, according to a US academic whose research on the subject caused controversy recently. Michal Kosinski of Stanford University used an algorithm to analyse online dating photos and was able to predict sexual orientation with 91% accuracy for men and 83% for women. He has now suggested that traits such as intelligence, political beliefs and predisposition to commit crime could be similarly detected. There have been warnings that the future use of such technology would present serious ethical and human rights concerns.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Premier Oil agrees to sell Wytch Farm for $200m \n An error occurred. Please try again.\n\nPremier Oil has entered into a sale and purchase agreement to sell its entire interests in the Wytch Farm field to Verus Petroleum SNS Limited for a cash consideration of $200 million.\n\nIn addition, the operator will be able to release letters of credit totaling approximately $75 million which have been issued in relation to future decommissioning liabilities that are now being transferred to Verus.\n\nThe effective date of the Disposal is 1 July 2017.\n\nWytch Farm is an onshore oil field located in Dorset, United Kingdom that has been producing since 1979.\n\nVerus is a UK-focused independent E&P company backed by HitecVision, a Norway based private equity investor focused on the upstream offshore oil and gas industry.\n\nPremier\u2019s board believes that the disposal is in the best long-term interest of the company and its stakeholders.\n\nThe firm said the sale represents an \u201cexcellent opportunity\u201d to realise an attractive valuation well in excess of the implied valuation from the most recent transaction in Wytch Farm.\n\nThe disposal will generate proceeds to accelerate deleveraging of the balance sheet.\n\nWytch Farm is non-operated, onshore and with fewer near-term growth prospects than elsewhere in Premier\u2019s portfolio.\n\nWytch Farm is a large onshore oil field although a significant area extends offshore.\n\nThe field has been developed with 11 well sites linked to a central onshore gathering station and is operated by Perenco UK Limited.\n\nProduction is exported via pipeline to the Hamble terminal near Southampton for tanker loading.\n\nPremier acquired a 12.4% interest in the Wytch Farm field in 1984.\n\nIn December 2011, Premier completed the acquisition of an additional 17.7% interest from Perenco UK Limited and in July 2017 announced an agreement to acquire a further 3.7% from Maersk Oil North Sea UK Ltd, taking its total interest to 33.8%.\n\nAs of 31 December 2016, the estimated 2P reserves in Wytch Farm net to Premier were 14.91 mmboe.\n\nFor the 12 months ended 31 December 2016, Wytch Farm generated profit before taxation of approximately $23.42 million and as at 30 June 2017 had gross assets of approximately $90.22 million.\n\nDisposal proceeds will be used to pay down Premier\u2019s existing debt.\n\nIn addition, Verus will assume all of the abandonment liabilities and associated decommissioning security.\n\nTony Durrant, chief executive, said: \u201cThe disposal will allow for a significant reduction in Premier\u2019s net debt and generates material value for shareholders.\n\n\u201cThis is the latest in a series of disposals in line with Premier\u2019s strategy of realising value for shareholders at the appropriate stage of an asset\u2019s life cycle and at an attractive valuation.\u201d", "output": "Premier Oil is to sell its entire stakes in licenses PL089 and P534, which contain Wytch\u00a0Farm field, to Verus Petroleum for $200m.\u00a0Premier will be able to release letters of credit\u00a0totalling \u00a0about\u00a0$75m, issued in relation to future decommissioning\u00a0liabilities that are now being transferred to Verus.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple supplier Foxconn plans $5.7bn smartphone factory in China \n TAIPEI -- Hon Hai Precision Industry will pour more than 37.5 billion yuan ($5.74 billion) into a smartphone plant and other investments in the Chinese city of Nanjing, under a deal achieved by Wednesday, as the Taiwanese company aims to strike a balance after announcing a major U.S. investment in July.\n\nHon Hai, better known as Foxconn Technology Group, is the world's biggest contract electronics maker and a major Apple supplier. The group's Chinese unit reached a general agreement with the Jiangsu Province city that also includes possible investments such as a liquid crystal display TV plant, a research and development site, chipmaking facilities and a logistics center. Nanjing may provide financial support as well as help with land and other infrastructure.", "output": "Taiwanese supplier Foxconn Technology, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, will invest over CNY37.5bn ($5.75bn) into a smartphone factory, an LCD TV plant, chip manufacturing facilities and more in Nanjing, China, after making significant investments in the US in July. The company is the world's largest contract electronics maker and is a major manufacturer for Apple. The group's Chinese arm has made an agreement with Jiangsu province city officials that\u00a0may result in Nanjing providing financial and infrastructure support. As well as making iPhones Foxconn is understood to want to capture a larger share of the Chinese smartphone market.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Israel makes deal with China to provide high-tech vegan meat \n China this week inked a deal with Israel that stands to give high-tech vegan meat companies an opening into the world\u2019s most populous country.\n\n\u201cIt is a colossal market opportunity,\u201d says Bruce Friedrich, head of the The Good Food Institute (GFI), which supports and lobbies on behalf of meat alternative interests. \u201dThis could put [lab-made] meat onto the radar of Chinese officials who have the capacity to steer billions of dollars into this technology.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe $300 million trade agreement, announced on Sept. 11, will give Chinese firms the opportunity to partner with Israeli tech companies to tackle issues relating to emissions. It\u2019s yet another signal that China is serious about tapering the amount of greenhouse gases it emits; the Chinese government last week (Sept. 9) said it was joining the UK, France, and India in taking steps to decrease the number of petroleum-powered cars sold in the country. That decision goes hand-in-hand with a new policy the government handed down last year, in which it committed to nudging its citizens to eat less meat and eggs. The animal agriculture industry is a major contributor to global emissions, and a growing problem in China.\n\nThese kinds of moves have caught the attention of companies racing to get lab-made meat\u2014the kind being produced fiber-by-fiber in laboratories\u2014to market. Right now, eight companies in the world are working to produce a scalable version of this high-tech, vegan meat and three of them are in Israel.\n\nWhile the Israeli companies\u2014SuperMeat, Future Meat Technologies, and Meat the Future\u2014may get the first clear shot at the Chinese lab-made meat market, their competitors see the deal as an opportunity, too. Chinese meat imports were valued at more than $10 billion in 2016, according to the International Trade Centre, which means there\u2019s a lot of room for meat alternative products to nip away at market share.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe Israeli government\u2019s Israel Innovation Authority and the Israel Export Institute both took part in making of the deal with China. Both are interested in lab-made meat and were involved in the world\u2019s first lab-made meat conference in Haifa, Israel earlier this year.\n\nIsrael\u2019s tech economy is considered by some to be second only to Silicon Valley, which is home to several high-tech meat alternative companies, including Impossible Foods and Hampton Creek\u2014both of which have received investment from Chinese billionaire Li Ka-shing.\n\n\u201c[China\u2019s] version of Bill Gates is already backing these companies,\u201d says Josh Balk, an animal-protection policy leader at the Humane Society of the United States. \u201cI think all this runs into a pretty good theory that clean meat and other non-live animal protein sources will become bigger in China.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nOn Tuesday (Sept. 12), the state-run China Science and Technology Daily published an article (in Chinese) that discussed embracing lab-made meat for reasons that included food safety, food security, and environmental reasons. \u201cImagine the future,\u201d the article states. \u201cYou have two identical products, one is that you have to slaughter the cattle to get. \u2018The other\u2019 is exactly the same, and cheaper, no greenhouse gas emissions, no animal slaughter, which one would you choose?\u201d", "output": "The Israeli government has signed a $300m trade agreement with China that aims to tackle issues relating to emissions, and offers three companies developing vegan meat a glimpse of what could be a \"colossal market opportunity\". Israel-based SuperMeat, Future Meat Technologies, and Meat the Future are working to develop scalable versions of the high-tech vegan foodstuff to market, and take a slice of China's meat imports sector, valued at more than $10bn in 2016. Lab-made meat involves \"no greenhouse gas emissions and no animal slaughter\", according to an article in China Science and Technology Daily.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Norwegian banks to offer instant P2P payment service with Vipps \n Nordic payments processor Nets is to enable instant P2P payments to customers of all Norwegian banks who use the Vipps mobile payments app.\n\nUsers of Norwegian bank, DNB, primary stakeholder of Vipps, are already benefitting from instant payment transfers enabled by Vipps\u2019 payment app.\n\n\n\nThe partnership with Nets will enable the extension of this real-time payment service to customers of the other 100 banks in the country partnered with Vipps, representing 40% of the total userbase of the mobile wallet.\n\n\n\nDNB, the SpareBank 1 alliance, the Eika alliance, Sparebanken M\u00f8re and the 15 independent savings banks which also are co-owners of Frende Forsikring signed a letter of intent in February, to jointly acquire a 48% stake in the mobile payment service. Under the deal, DNB will retain a 52% controlling interest in Vipps, which is to be spun off as an autonomous joint venture.\n\n\n\nRune Garborg, CEO of Vipps, comments, \u201cUsing the common infrastructure for instant payments will eventually make it possible to transfer money in real-time for consumers in all Norwegian banks. In this first phase, the 100 banks involved in the Vipps partnership will have this opportunity.\u201d\n\n\n\nHe says both parties have already begun adjustments to their systems to make the service available in the popular mobile wallet, with real-time payments expected to go live for some of Vipps\u2019 additional bank partners before the end of the year.\n\n\n\nJeppe Juul-Andersen, SVP and head of Domestic Card Schemes across Nets adds: \u201c We will reuse most of the existing infrastructure we have already delivered with both efficiency and stability for several years, and make the necessary adjustments to accommodate for future needs.\u201d\n\n", "output": "Payments processor Nets will provide an P2P payment service to Norwegian bank customers who use\u00a0the Vipps mobile payment app. The instant transfer service will be available to customers of approximately\u00a0100 banks in the Nordic area, which\u00a0represent 40% of the mobile wallet\u2019s user base. The SpareBank 1 alliance, the Eika alliance, Sparebanken M\u00f8re and 15 independent savings banks will take a 48% stake in Vipps, with DNB retaining a 52% share, with Vipps set\u00a0to become an independent joint venture.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Alipay expands into retail in the United States \n BI Intelligence\n\nThis story was delivered to BI Intelligence \"Payments Briefing\" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.\n\nMajor Chinese mobile wallet Alipay has partnered with luxury fashion retailer Rebecca Minkoff to enable Chinese tourists in the US to make purchases at all Rebecca Minkoff retail locations \u2014 including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and online \u2014 using Alipay, according to Payment Week.\n\nThis partnership \u2014 which was announced prior to Rebecca Minkoff's New York Fashion Week show on September 9 \u2014 continues Alipay's effort to expand its massive network of 520 million active global users. In the last year alone, the mobile wallet expanded into Europe, Asia, Australia, South Africa, and the US.\n\nThis partnership continues the series of expansion efforts by Alipay to target Chinese tourists globally.\n\nAlipay is catering to the growing population of Chinese tourists in the US. Approximately 2.97 million Chinese tourists traveled to the US in 2016, compared to 2.59 million in 2015, creating an opportunity for Alipay to extend its platform to different industries and serve the growing tourist market. And given that China has the highest percentage of outbound tourism in the world \u2014 roughly 122 million Chinese tourists traveled in 2016, and an estimated 700 million trips are planned for the next five years \u2014 it\u2019s likely that trips to the US will become more frequent.\n\nApproximately 2.97 million Chinese tourists traveled to the US in 2016, compared to 2.59 million in 2015, creating an opportunity for Alipay to extend its platform to different industries and serve the growing tourist market. And given that China has the highest percentage of outbound tourism in the world \u2014 roughly 122 million Chinese tourists traveled in 2016, and an estimated 700 million trips are planned for the next five years \u2014 it\u2019s likely that trips to the US will become more frequent. Chinese tourists are spending less on shopping than they used to. The number of Chinese tourists who listed shopping as the main reason to travel dropped from 68% in 2016 to 33% in 2017, according to a study by Hotels.com. This change in consumer travel spending has caused Alipay to forge partnerships in different industries. It's still building out its services to shoppers, though, as demonstrated through this new partnership. Launching with a higher-end fashion retailer during New York Fashion Week, which gets a lot of media coverage, could be a good move for Alipay, allowing it to target a new demographic and further round out its industry offerings to support even more purchasing opportunities.\n\nDigital disruption is rocking the payments industry. But merchants, consumers, and the companies that help move money between them are all feeling its effects differently.\n\nFor banks, card networks, and processors, the digital revolution is bringing new opportunities \u2014 and new challenges. With new ways to pay emerging, incumbent firms can take advantage of solid brand recognition and large customer bases to woo new customers and keep those they already have.\n\nAnd for consumers, the digital revolution is providing more choice and making their lives easier. Digital wallets are simplifying purchases, allowing users to pay online with only a username and password and in-store with just a swipe of their thumb.\n\nDan Van Dyke, senior research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service has written a detailed report that explores the digital payments ecosystem today, its growth drivers, and where the industry is headed. The report also:\n\nTraces the path of an in-store card payment from processing to settlement across the key stakeholders.\n\nForecasts growth and defines drivers for key digital payment types through 2021.\n\nHighlights five trends that are changing payments, looking at how disparate factors, such as surprise elections and fraud surges, are sparking change across the ecosystem.\n\nTo get the full report, subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND more than 250 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> Learn More Now\n\nYou can also purchase and download the report from our research store.", "output": "Chinese mobile wallet provider Alipay has joined forces with luxury US fashion brand Rebecca Minkoff. Under the partnership, Chinese tourists in the US will be able to make payments in Rebecca Minkoff stores using their Alipay account. Alipay currently has 520 million users across the world, and is specifically targeting Chinese tourists. The digital wallet company is working on partnerships to raise their profile and target new demographics.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US hurricanes prompt Lloyd's to urge reform \n By William Shaw (September 13, 2017, 10:46 AM BST) -- U.S. Congress must allow private insurers to play a greater role in flood coverage following the devastation wrought by hurricanes Harvey and Irma, according to Lloyd's of London....\n\nStay ahead of the curve\n\nIn the legal profession, information is the key to success. You have to know what\u2019s happening with clients, competitors, practice areas, and industries. Law360 provides the intelligence you need to remain an expert and beat the competition.\n\nAccess to case data within articles (numbers, filings, courts, nature of suit, and more.)\n\nAccess to attached documents such as briefs, petitions, complaints, decisions, motions, etc.\n\nCreate custom alerts for specific article and case topics and so much more!\n\nTRY LAW360 FREE FOR SEVEN DAYS", "output": "In the wake of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, Lloyd's of London is urging the US Congress to allow private insurers to play a greater role in providing flood insurance to US property owners. The US National Flood Insurance Program needs to be unburdened significantly in the face of changing weather patterns, said Lloyd's CEO Inga Beale. Allowing greater private insurance would also provide home and business owners with a greater number of options for coverage.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BlackRock, Goldman strategies added to Betterment robo platform \n Betterment, the largest independent online investment advisor, will now offer two new portfolio strategies: a smart beta portfolio strategy and an income portfolio strategy. Betterment has selected the portfolio strategies from BlackRock and Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) designed to meet users diverse needs and financial circumstances. Betterment currently manages more than $10 billion in assets for more than 270,000 customers.\n\nJon Stein, founder and CEO of Betterment, explained that Betterment has an increasingly diverse customer base that have different needs;\n\n\u201cAdding these options to our existing portfolio strategies will help us deliver on our promise to provide customers with a personalized investment plan tailored for their individual needs and preferences,\u201d said Stein.\n\nBlackrock Target Income Portfolio Strategies\n\nBetterment has selected BlackRock\u2019s income portfolio as it was created for clients averse to stock market risk, but who seek to target higher levels of income than cash savings accounts deliver. The portfolio invests 100% of assets in U.S. bonds and international bonds issued in U.S. dollars. The portfolio strategy prioritizes capital preservation and aims to generate cash income.\n\nGoldman Sachs Smart Beta Portfolio Strategies\n\nTo help meet the preferences of investors seeking long-term outperformance of Betterment\u2019s core portfolio strategy and who can accept periods of underperformance (IE Volatility), Betterment is now offering a smart beta strategy from GSAM.\n\nThe Goldman Sachs Smart Beta portfolios are globally diversified across stocks and bonds, but are weighted by economically intuitive factors rather than a pure passive market cap strategy based on market capitalization. This portfolio strategy tends to be more heavily allocated to emerging markets, as well as small cap stocks in both the U.S. and developed countries. The strategy also incorporates REITs and proportionally invests more in high-yield bonds with longer durations, compared to Betterment\u2019s core portfolio strategy.\n\nAlex Benke, CFP and VP of Financial Advice and Investing at Betterment, said the new options were added due to customer demand.", "output": "Robo-adviser Betterment has added exchange-traded fund portfolio strategies managed by BlackRock and Goldman Sachs Asset Management to its platform. The portfolio strategies consist of an income-focused offering and a smart-beta strategy. The goal of adding these strategies is providing Betterment clients with greater options for\u00a0a personalised investment plan via its robo-adviser platform, according to a company statement.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ThinkMarket adds cryptocurrencies to CFD services \n Multi-asset provider ThinkMarkets has become the latest brokerage to extend its contracts-for-difference (CFD) offering to Cryptocurrencies Cryptocurrencies By using cryptography, virtual currencies, known as cryptocurrencies, are nearly counterfeit-proof digital currencies that are built on blockchain technology. Comprised of decentralized networks, blockchain technology is not overseen by a central authority.Therefore, cryptocurrencies function in a decentralized nature which theoretically makes them immune to government interference. The term, cryptocurrency derives from the origin of the encryption techniques that are employed to secure the netw By using cryptography, virtual currencies, known as cryptocurrencies, are nearly counterfeit-proof digital currencies that are built on blockchain technology. Comprised of decentralized networks, blockchain technology is not overseen by a central authority.Therefore, cryptocurrencies function in a decentralized nature which theoretically makes them immune to government interference. The term, cryptocurrency derives from the origin of the encryption techniques that are employed to secure the netw Read this Term. The extension of its trading suite is the result of the growing demand for such products in the retail space as cryptocurrency trading heats up across the industry.\n\nRegister now to the London Summit 2017, Europe\u2019s largest gathering of top-tier retail brokers and institutional FX investors\n\nBrokers from around the retail industry have been increasingly warming to cryptocurrency CFDs in recent months, with Bitcoin and Ethereum each recently trading near record highs. Other industry players such as Admiral Markets and ADS Securities, among others, have each made similar inroads into this area, following demand from their respective client bases.\n\nNauman Anees, CEO and co-founder of ThinkMarkets, commented on the launch: \u201cBitcoin CFDs are a natural extension of our vast portfolio of financial instruments that include; major currencies, stock indices, precious metals and commodities. The recent surge in volatility has triggered investor interest in the alternative digital asset class and we are well positioned to service virtual currency traders with unmatched trading conditions.\u201d\n\nNauman Anees\n\nThinkMarkets will be expanding its CFD trading to include Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP) and Litecoin (LTC) CFDs, which will be made available on its MetaTrader 4 and recently integrated Trade Interceptor trading platforms.\n\nCryptocurrency trading is at a key juncture, with Bitcoin and other altcoins recently reaching all-time highs. The massive range of volatility exhibited in these instruments creates an ideal environment for investors in CFDs, many of whom are looking for ways to not only buy into cryptos but also bet against their rapid ascension.\n\nThinkMarkets\u2019 offering will feature 24/7 leveraged trading across all four of the aforementioned CFDs. \u201cThe surge in Bitcoin, driven by market volatility, gives traders the opportunity to take advantage of daily price spikes. That\u2019s why Bitcoin and digital currencies are set to become a key market for day traders,\u201d explained Faizan Anees, Managing Director and co-founder.\n\nWho wins and who loses if Bitcoin drops off a cliff: https://t.co/yFMPRv8OSMpic.twitter.com/QPkfxlwVvt \u2014 Forbes (@Forbes) September 13, 2017\n\n\u201cThe Trade Interceptor app offers some of the most advanced and sophisticated analysis tools. The platform has over 550,000 downloads and we expect global Bitcoin investors to benefit from our tight spreads, stable pricing and swift order execution, coupled with the most in-depth selection of charting and Analytics Analytics Analytics may be defined as the detection, analysis, and relay of consequential patterns in data. Analytics also seeks to explain or accurately reflect the relationship between data and effective decision making. In the trading space, analytics are applied in a predictive manner in an attempt to more accurately forecast the price. This predictive model of analytics generally involves the analysis of historical price patterns that are used in an attempt to determine certain price outcomes. Analyt Analytics may be defined as the detection, analysis, and relay of consequential patterns in data. Analytics also seeks to explain or accurately reflect the relationship between data and effective decision making. In the trading space, analytics are applied in a predictive manner in an attempt to more accurately forecast the price. This predictive model of analytics generally involves the analysis of historical price patterns that are used in an attempt to determine certain price outcomes. Analyt Read this Term exclusively available on mobile\u201d, he added.\n\n\u201cLooking at the current momentum, I still hold the target of 5,500 per Bitcoin by the end of this year. The current pull back is confirming that many investors are not ready to sell, therefore, this could be an opportunity to come join the trend,\u201d reiterated ThinkMarkets\u2019 Chief Market Analyst, Naeem Aslam, who remains bullish on Bitcoin.", "output": "Online broker ThinkMarkets has launched bitcoin, ethereum, ripple and litecoin contracts-for-difference (CFD) on its MetaTrader 4 and Trade Interceptor platforms, as it seeks to meet growing retail-sector\u00a0demand of cryptocurrency trading. The extension follows similar moves by Admiral Markets and ADS Securities into the fast-moving sector. \"The surge in bitcoin, driven by market volatility, gives traders the opportunity to take advantage of daily price spikes,\"\u00a0said Faizan Anees,\u00a0ThinkMarkets managing director.\u00a0\"That\u2019s why digital currencies are set to become a key market for day traders.\u201d\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "South Korea's regulatory reform could open commercial drone use \n \n\n\n\nGov\u2019t plans to allow drone delivery\n\nDrone deliveries could become a reality in Korea as the government is considering removing the regulations that currently restrict the unmanned vehicles from traveling long distances or at night.The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Wednesday announced that it is considering reforming the regulations that currently restrict drones from being used commercially. The ministry will canvass public opinion on the issue until Oct. 2.Under current regulations, parcel companies are barred from using drones to make deliveries as the unmanned vehicles can only travel distances that are within the view of the person piloting them. Additionally, drones are prohibited from flying after dark.But the new reform bill allows for long-distance travel and night flying if a drone meets several safety requirements, including the addition of a fail-safe that allows the drone to land safely or return its starting point if there is a problem such as a system failure, low battery or communications disruption. The drones will also have to have a system that can automatically detect obstacles installed and a first-person view camera that allows the pilot to monitor the flight in real-time.To fly after dark the unmanned vehicles must include a crash prevention system that recognizes obstacles that are 5 kilometers away. These drones will have to operated and monitored by at least two people and the landing pad used at night has to be lit with search lights.Companies will be able to get approval to fly drones over long distances or at night for a maximum of six months, after which they will have to reapply.After canvassing public opinion on the changes and consulting with industry experts, the Transport Ministry is hoping to implement the new regulations in November.The Moon Jae-in administration has agreed to actively lift regulations that are thought to block the entry of new businesses. A cabinet meeting earlier this month hosted by Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon concluded that actively easing regulations on autonomous vehicle, customized health care and drones can create new job opportunities, particularly among young people.The global race to using drones for commercial deliveries has been intensifying. Last month Flytrex, a company based in Tel Aviv, Israel, partnered with Iceland-based restaurant and retailers platform company AHA to officially launch the world\u2019s first food delivery service via drones in Reykjavik, Iceland.Other global companies are already testing drone delivery. Amazon in December delivered a television streaming device and a bag of popcorn through a drone to a customer in the U.K.BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]", "output": "The South Korean government is considering repealing regulation that prevents commercial use of drones, as it restricts\u00a0long-distance\u00a0and night-time use. The country's current regulation stipulates that unmanned aerial vehicles must remain within sight of their operator and can only be flown during daylight hours. Proposed changes could allow parcel delivery companies to use drones to make deliveries, provided they meet certain safety requirements, such as\u00a0obstacle detection, crash prevention systems, and real-time camera viewing."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lack of transparency seen distorting supply-side platform pricing \n Header bidding is unloading a symphony of destruction on ad tech, and supply-side platforms are adjusting by jacking up their price floors in hidden ways.\n\nRather than setting price floors as a flat fee upfront, some SSPs are setting high price floors after their bids come in as a way to squeeze out more money from ad buyers who believe they are bidding into a second-price auction, which is where the second-highest bid determines the price the impression gets sold for. The reason price floors are critical is because they determine the minimum value that an impression can be won for. While sell-side platforms have been known to mislabel the type of auction they run, this tactic is different since it allows SSPs to technically run a second-price auction while charging ad buyers as if the highest bid is winning the impression.\n\nIn a second-price auction, raising the price floors after the bids come in allows SSPs to make extra cash off unsuspecting buyers who thought they could secure an impression with a high bid but end up paying a much lower price. This practice persists because neither the publisher nor the ad buyer has complete access to all the data involved in the transaction, so unless they get together and compare their data, publishers and buyers won\u2019t know for sure who their vendor is ripping off.\n\n\u201cWith the onset of header bidding, these games kicked into full force,\u201d said a demand-side platform exec requesting anonymity. \u201cSSPs are trying to differentiate themselves to publishers based on yield, and they get that yield by ripping off the buy side.\u201d\n\nOpenX recently teamed up with an unnamed DSP so they could get data from both the buy and sell sides to study how auction mechanics are being gamed. Across several SSPs, they found that even when buyers bid as high as $50 on an impression, the SSPs would set their price floors at 95 percent of what the highest price was. The chart below shows how this would work to the SSPs\u2019 advantage.\n\nDrew Bradstock, svp of product at Index Exchange, said that before header bidding allowed SSPs to simultaneously bid on the same inventory, SSPs were more likely to have unique inventory, and they could make money by simply selling the inventory they had access to and taking a cut. But with header bidding, several SSPs are bidding on the same inventory, and only the one that wins the auction will make any money.\n\nSo to make sure they win the auction, these SSPs want a high clearing price, and one way to make sure there is a high clearing price is to set high price floors so the highest bid (rather than the second-highest bid) gets passed to the ad server. Bradstock stressed that there are good reasons to have first-price auctions or raise price floors, but that this information should be transparent to ad buyers because their bidding strategies will be influenced by what type of auction they think they\u2019re in.\n\nWhen header bidding started gaining traction, SSPs that were losing auctions adapted by increasing the cut they took for each impression that they won, said the DSP exec. But following the Guardian-Rubicon Project lawsuit, publishers started purging high-margin vendors, which has made SSPs hesitant to raise their fees. In response, SSPs turned to raising price floors incognito since that could benefit their publisher clients in the short term by increasing the CPMs they get.\n\nChanging the price floors after the bids come in is like changing the rules of a game that is already underway. SSPs pull this off by inserting code into their auction that automatically raises the price floor just before the publisher\u2019s timeout, the DSP exec said.\n\nFor example, a publisher might give SSPs 0.5 seconds to respond to ad calls before moving on without them. The SSP will collect whatever bids come through in 0.49 seconds, and then just before the auction closes, it will set the price floor to 95 percent of whatever the highest bid happens to be.\n\nBuyers could spot seedy vendors if they compared their transaction data against publishers\u2019 data. But meeting with individual publishers is only worth buyers\u2019 time if they make large buys on those particular websites. However, the ad supply chain is engineered to have as deep a pool of publishers and advertisers as possible, which leads ad buyers to purchase inventory from thousands of sites for a single campaign. For the majority of those sites, the buyer won\u2019t have time to set up meetings to compare data, which helps shady vendors remain hidden.\n\nUsing deceptive price floors is hardly the only questionable tactic SSPs use. They also misstate which publishers they represent and resell inventory without publisher authorization. And DSPs are guilty of their own sins for using misleading definitions of clearing price and sneaking in audience segments with unclear markup.\n\nAt some point, the shenanigans become overwhelming for ad buyers.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t know how prevalent [the tricks] are or who is guilty of it, as we don\u2019t see that level of transparency,\u201d said an ad buyer requesting anonymity.", "output": "A lack of transparency is preventing ad buyers from finding out whether supply-side platforms (SSPs) are raising price floors during header bids simply to increase revenue. The practice has reportedly been adopted by some SSPs following the Guardian-Rubicon Project lawsuit, as a means of ensuring a high clearing price and a successful auction. Drew Bradstock, SVP of product at Index Exchange, said that while sometimes price floors were raised for good reason, it needed to be done transparently\u00a0so that ad buyers could adapt their bidding strategies accordingly.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Promise of deal-making robots comes with some reservations \n A bot might someday take your job, but perhaps it can help you negotiate a nice severance package, too.\n\nA recent research paper (PDF) suggests that AI agents could do all sorts of useful haggling, providing they become a little bit smarter, and users can be persuaded to trust them.\n\nThe authors envision a world where an AI agent negotiates on your behalf, like buying a house or working out the details of a pay raise. And they write that such technology could allow negotiations in new areas like figuring out the terms of an energy-sharing deal with your neighbor, or the amount of money you should receive for giving up some privacy information to a mobile app. The team has experimented with an Android app that lets you do just that, in fact.\n\nIn an interview with Science, one of the authors, Tim Baarslag from Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica in Amsterdam, says the key challenges are giving such systems deep understanding of a particular domain, like real estate or energy, as well as enabling some sort of long-term perspective, so that it can negotiate with an entity that it\u2019s dealt with before.\n\nAI agents are, in fact, already used for all sorts of more narrow negotiations, like figuring out the correct price for an online ad, or the right bid for a stock. But it\u2019s fascinating to imagine them taking on more human areas of deal-making. Perhaps AI may someday play a vital role in future standoffs like the one between the U.S. and North Korea?\n\nOne interesting observation from the researchers\u2019 paper, however, provides a little pause for thought. \u201cPeople may show less regard for fairness and ethical behavior when negotiating through a third (human) party,\u201d the authors write. \u201cThis raises the question as to whether agents should similarly lie on behalf of a user, for example by using argumentation and persuasion technology. Analogous to recent research on ethical dilemmas in self-driving cars, people may claim that negotiation agents should be ethical, but sacrifice these ideals if it maximizes their profits.\u201d", "output": "The increased use of artificial intelligence to negotiate deals on behalf of users will create a number of technological, societal and ethical challenges, according to a new study. Researchers from the Netherlands, US and the UK have examined applications for autonomous negotiators, from standard tasks such as salary settlements and property transactions to emerging areas including\u00a0energy-sharing deals between neighbours.\u00a0The authors concluded that\u00a0key challenges\u00a0include\u00a0ensuring the software develops relevant expertise and long-term perspective. They also identified a\u00a0need to resolve questions of trust in negotiation agents and decide how ethical they should be when\u00a0striking deals with others."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vemo Education raises $7.4m for higher-ed financing platform \n Edtech startup Vemo Education announced the close of $7.4 million in seed financing, led by University Ventures and NextGen Venture Partners. Route 66 Ventures, Third Kind Venture Capital, Haystack Fund, and Task Force X Capital also participated in the offering.\n\nVemo works with higher education institutions to develop and deploy income-based financing programs that align the cost of a student\u2019s education with its value. The company\u2019s goal is to provide thoughtful, consumer-friendly alternatives to high-cost and burdensome student loans, changing the way students pay for higher education. According to the company, Vemo Education facilitated $23 million of income share agreements, including Purdue University\u2019s \u201cBack a Boiler\u201d program, during the 2016 to 2017 academic year.\n\n\n\nIn its announcement, the company said the funding will allow Vemo Education to hire for growth, accelerate investment in its technology platform, and expand market development.", "output": "Edtech start-up Vemo Education has raised $7.4m\u00a0in a seed-funding round, with the money earmarked for\u00a0hiring\u00a0new team members, increasing\u00a0investment in its technology and extending market development. Vemo develops income-based financing programmes for higher education; it claimed to have\u00a0facilitated $23m worth of agreements in the 2016-17 academic year. University Ventures and NextGen Venture Partners led the investment round, which\u00a0also saw participation from Haystack Fund, Route 66 Ventures, Third Kind Venture Capital\u00a0and Task Force X Capital."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "South Asia faces annual flood costs of $215bn by 2030 \n Stories to Watch 2023\n\nAt this pivotal moment, WRI President & CEO Ani Dasgupta will share insights into our predictions for the big stories coming up in 2023, including what actions governments, businesses, institutions and people must take to get the world on the right path.\n\nSign up now to secure your spot.", "output": "South Asia, home to 25% of the global population, could be facing annual flooding costs of up to $215bn by 2030, according to the World Resources Institute. Analysts warn that such floods will affect not only local businesses, but global firms that source products and raw materials from the region. Over 41 million people in South Asia have recently been affected by floods and displacement,\u00a0with at least 1,200 deaths last month alone. Last year, Asia saw losses of $87bn, $77bn of which were uninsured, from 320 natural disasters, according to Munich Re.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Video ad spend forecast to overtake TV ad spend in China by 2021 \n In China, advertisers\u2019 increased focus on mobile, along with investments in video and social, will continue to boost overall digital ad spend, according to eMarketer\u2019s latest forecast.This year, eMarketer\u2019s forecast estimates overall digital ad spend in China will reach US$50.31 billion \u2014 of which 72.0% will go to mobile channels. Video is the fastest growing ad format within digital, and by 2021 it expects it will overtake spending on traditional TV, accounting for 13.4% of all media ad expenditures.\u201cAdvertising on digital video is growing at a faster rate than overall display ads, and strong content is a key driver for this growth as brands are willing to spend more money to appear alongside the most popular content,\u201d said eMarketer forecasting analyst Cindy Liu. \u201cAs well as investing in original content, video platforms are looking to establish exclusive partnerships. For example, iQiyi, Baidu\u2019s on-demand video streaming service, recently announced a deal with Netflix to license some of their premium content.\u201dThanks to their continued innovations in mobile and high-profile partnerships, the BAT companies \u2014 Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, will continue to dominate the digital ad market in China. According to eMarketer\u2019s latest forecast, the BAT companies combined will take in 64.1% of digital ad expenditures in China this year. Within the BAT companies, Alibaba will capture more than 35% of China\u2019s digital ad spending in 2017, followed by Baidu with an 18.4% share and Tencent with a 10.4% slice.By 2019, Alibaba\u2019s digital ad revenues will reach US$28.93 billion, accounting for 38.0% of all digital ad spend in China.\u201cAlibaba continues to outperform expectations and is once again the strongest performer in terms of net digital ad revenues in China,\u201d Liu said. \u201cBy incorporating social and video elements into its mobile shopping app - Taobao, Alibaba is able to capture more consumer time and thus attract more advertising spend. Meanwhile, Tencent, which is the fastest growing company in terms of net digital ad revenues, will fall short of Alibaba and Baidu through 2019, as the company errs on the conservative side when it comes to unloading its ad inventory.\u201d", "output": "Video is the fastest growing digital ad format in China, with spend predicted to overtake\u00a0TV ad spend by 2021, reaching a 13.4% share of all ad spend, according to\u00a0eMarketer. This year, TV ad spend is estimated to reach $16.88bn and digital video $7.94bn. Overall digital ad spend in the country is forecast to hit $50.31bn this year, with 72% of that being spent on mobile. The leading digital companies in China, search engine Baidu, e-commerce company Alibaba and internet services firm Tencent will represent 64.1% of ad expenditures in digital for 2017.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Twitter CEO promises to make it easier to advertise on the site \n Twitter's chief executive Jack Dorsey has promised to make it easier for advertisers to run campaigns on the platform, admitting that is has been too \u201ccomplicated\u201d for brands to use, and lacked measurement capabilities in the past.\n\nSpeaking on stage at Dmexco on Wednesday, 13 September, Twitter\u2019s top executive told WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell that Twitter plans to streamline how brands buy ads within its walls, as well as making it easier for them to see where their investment is actually going.\n\n\u201cWe have a really strong business in advertising... Our focus is on two things: one, we need to simplify it and differentiate it, it\u2019s been a little bit too complicated for our advertisers to use in the past,\u201d he said.\n\nIn response to Sorrell\u2019s suggestion that buying ads on Twitter was a \u201cclunky\u201d experience, Dorsey conceded: \u201cEvery organisation is clunky and messy, so we can certainly focus more and we can certainly make it better for [clients].\u201d\n\nHe reiterated that advertisers must be able to trust the dollars they spend with Twitter are going to yield ROI. \u201cPriority number two is prove that it works. We have not focused enough on measurement and proving that it works so that is a big focus for us,\u201d he noted.\n\nHis comments come amid attempts from Twitter to improve the measurement it offers to advertisers, as the wider digital ecosystem comes under increasing pressure to prove ROI worth to the ad industry's decision makers.\n\nJust last month, Twitter\u2019s publishing platform MoPub unveiled a series of improved measurement assurances to brands across areas like viewability, etc. Recently, the company has also inked a deal with Dunnhumby to offer more assurances to FMCG advertisers around ROI, as well as striking similar accords with measurement partners Moat and IAS.\n\nWPP\u2019s agency roster \u2013 which works with some of the world\u2019s biggest brands including Unilever and Coca-Cola \u2013 collectively spent around $240m on Twitter in 2015, a figure which rose to $300m last year, but one Sorrell noted is going to be \u201cpretty flat\u201d by the time 2017 is out. By comparison, Sorrell said WPP will spend a combined $8.3bn with the Google and Facebook (the \u201ctwo elephants\u201d) this year.\n\nEarlier this year Twitter said it was on course to become accredited by the Media Ratings Council (MRC), with Dorsey asserting that it wanted advertisers to view the platform as the \"gold standard\" for third-party measurement.\n\nThis strategy looks to differentiate Twitter in a space plagued by measurement woes, and amid concern from big advertisers that they have overspent on digital. A recent World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) study found that 63% of marketers have said they are now only investing in viewable impressions that adhere to industry standards, highlighting the urgency for platforms to ensure they are meeting such client demands.\n\nOther topics of discussion during the chat between the two leaders included President Trump's impact on Twitter's bottom line - with Dorsey reacting cynically to suggestions that the commander in chief was worth $2bn to the platform - and Amazon's role in the changing media landscape.\n\nWhen asked about Amazon snapping up the rights to NFL's Thursday night games, which were previously held by Twitter, Dorsey hinted that despite signing a slew of live deals of late with the likes of Bloomberg and BuzzFeed, Twitter wasn't about to put all of its eggs in one basket with real-time deals.\n\n\u201cWe can\u2019t just optimise for these live experiences, we have to optimise for asynchronous, because only a very small market can see something live, but the whole world can see it after it happened.\n\n\"Our job is to make sure we show users what matters the most within that stream, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing now \u2013 continuing to focus on what people thought, but also what mattered within that stream \u2013 like what were the highlights and what they need to see.\u201d", "output": "Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has promised to make advertising on the site easier, admitting that it has been too difficult in the past. Dorsey told an audience this week that the platform was planning improvements to streamline the process for buying ads, as well as to provide assurances to brands that it provides value for money through more effective measurement. Leading ad agency WPP spent just $300m on Twitter in 2016, compared to $8.3bn on Google and Facebook, and clients are increasingly seeking greater assurances of the effectiveness of their spending.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ICO investors at risk of losing all their money: FCA \n Britain's financial watchdog warned consumers they should be prepared to lose all the money they might invest in so-called Initial Coin Offerings.\n\nIn a consumer warning issued on Tuesday, and just over a week after China had declared them outright illegal, the Financial Conduct Authority labelled ICOs as \"very high-risk, speculative investments\".\n\nICOs are a mix between 'crowd-funding' and 'crypto-currencies', allowing issuers to raise funds - in the form of actual crypt-currencies such as Bitcoins or Ether - digitally from the public using in exchange for tokens or vouchers which either concede a share in the issuer, a right to services from the issuer or, sometimes, apparently nothing at all.\n\nOne ought only to invest in an ICO if they are an \"experienced investor, confident in the quality of the ICO project itself (e.g. business plan, technology, people involved) and prepared to lose [their] entire stake,\" the FCA said.\n\nEven then, potential investors were assuming multiple risks, the FCA said, including the alck of regulation, no investor protection, price volatility and the potential for fraud to name but just a few.\n\nThe warning followed a ban on ICOs from Beijing on 4 September and according to some reports was set to be followed by a blanket prohibition against domestic trading platforms in the country that use Bitcoin or other digital currencies.\n\nOn 2 September, Bitcoin prices had hit the $5,000 mark, versus the barely $624 which they cost just one year ago.\n\nAccording to Coindesk, as of 1538 BST Bitcoins were trading 1.18% higher to $4,238.36.", "output": "Britain's financial watchdog has warned investors they risk losing all of their money in ICOs. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a statement on Tuesday saying people should only invest in digital coin sales if they are experienced investors, are confident in the quality of the project, and are prepared to lose their entire stake. The warning comes after the Chinese government acted to outlaw ICOs altogether earlier this month, in a move which may be followed by the banning of digital currency exchanges. Risks highlighted by the FCA include lack of regulation, price volatility and potential fraud."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Instagram monetises Stories with extra services\u00a0for advertisers \n Instagram is ready to turn the success of its Stories feature into more money.\n\nThe Facebook unit is integrating Stories with its full-screen Canvas ad format, making it easier to run cross-channel campaigns. It's also launching an uploading tool, so businesses can turn their organic stories into ads.\n\nBrands can use camera features, like face filters, boomerangs and drawing tools, to create a piece of media, then repurpose it as an ad.\n\nAdditionally, Instagram will now allow Stories to be added to Facebook, Instagram and Audience Network campaigns through so-called \u201cplacement optimization.\u201d\n\nIt is in Facebook\u2019s interest for brand partners to run campaigns across its various properties. Yet, the social giant insists that it also benefits brands. To prove it, Facebook shared some metrics from a campaign recently run by Procter and Gamble\u2019s SK-II brand to raise awareness around its Genoptics beauty product.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nP&G ran a split-test to see how Instagram Stories performed in conjunction with its feed campaigns across Facebook and Instagram.\n\nCompared to running on Instagram and Facebook alone, Genoptics achieved a brand lift of 13 points, along with 30% reach among its target audience of females in Japan, aged 18-54.\n\nA year after its debut, Instagram is having great success with its Stories feature. The Facebook unit is especially enthused about Stories\u2019 popularity among younger users.\n\nAbout a year after its debut, Instagram is thrilled with the success of Stories.\n\nAccording to internal figures, users under 25 spend more than 32 minutes a day, on average, on Instagram. Those age 25+ spend more than 24 minutes a day, according to just-released internal figures.\n\nInstagram attributes Stories\u2019 strong showing, in part, to near constant updates and new tools.\n\nBrands are increasingly leaning into Stories, too. In the last month, more than 50% of businesses on Instagram posted a Story. Suggesting strong engagement, Instagram also notes that 20% of organic stories from businesses elicit at least one direct message.", "output": "Instagram is looking to increase revenue from its Stories feature by integrating its\u00a0full-screen Canvas ad format into it, as well as adding\u00a0an uploading tool.\u00a0Brands can use features such as face filters, boomerangs and drawing tools to create ads. Instagram is also allowing Stories to be added to Facebook, Instagram and Audience Network campaigns. Brands are using the Stories feature more and more; in the past month alone, more than 50% of businesses on Instagram posted a story.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NASA commissions next stage of robotic satellite assembly project \n The National Air & Space Administration awarded the next phase of funding to Space Systems Loral, a spacecraft systems provider, modifying their contract to continue work on the Dragonfly on-orbit satellite assembly program.\n\nThe partnership between NASA and SSL intends to create a semiautonomous robotic system to assemble satellites in space. The software to run the program was designed to work with current spacecraft equipment and platforms.\n\n\u201cNASA relies on commercial innovation as exemplified by the Dragonfly team,\u201d NASA Headquarters TDM program executive Trudy Kortes said in a press release. \u201cTransformative technologies such as these will, in time, lead to more affordable, safer human access to space and more efficient, longer-lasting satellites, probes and other space hardware. Today our future in space looks brighter and more robust than ever.\u201d\n\nNASA, SSL and fellow partners MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. and Tethers Unlimited recently performed a successful ground demonstration of the Dragonfly project, including its ultra-light robotics system and command and control software. The next step in the project is a flight demonstration.\n\n\u201cSSL has a history as an early adopter of innovative technologies that improve satellite performance,\u201d SSL group president Dario Zamarian said in the statement. \u201cOur work with NASA to develop next-generation robotic assembly on orbit has the potential to change the way satellites are built and launched and will also be important for future space architectures that support exploration and deep space missions. We are pleased to have NASA\u2019s continued support of this important work, which is critical to our nation\u2019s leadership in space.\u201d\n\nNASA originally selected SSL for the multi-million dollar contract in December 2015 as part of its Tipping Point initiative aimed at working with private companies and other industry players to advance the use of robotics in space exploration. The original contract was to fund SSL\u2019s Dragonfly study to achieve a ground demonstration.", "output": "Space Systems Loral (SSL), a US spacecraft systems provider, has been awarded their next stage of funding by The National Air & Space Administration (NASA). While\u00a0the initial\u00a0contract set out to achieve a ground demonstration, NASA and SSL now plan to create semi-autonomous robotic systems capable of assembling satellites in space. \"Today our future in space looks brighter and more robust than ever\", said\u00a0Trudy Kortes, NASA program executive.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "LLamasoft to deliver medical supplies to third world by drone \n Ann Arbor-based LLamasoft has partnered with Zipline, a company whose autonomous drones deliver medical supplies to remote locations, to optimize drone usage in public health supply chain applications.\n\nZipline, which is based in Half Moon Bay, Calif., has already been using drones to deliver medical supplies in Rwanda and is now expanding its services into Tanzania. LLamasoft's Global Impact Team has worked with the Tanzanian Ministry of Health and Medical Stores Department on supply chain projects to optimize the ministry's transportation routes for nearly four years.\n\n\"We've been helping the ministries of health answer questions like how many warehouses they need, where they need to put them, [and] how to ensure medicines are in stock at health facilities,\" says Sid Rupani, regional director for LLamasoft IMEA. \"We examine transportation routes, the frequencies of deliveries, the capacities of the trucks, and all these other quantitative questions about how to set up the supply chain.\"\n\nRupani says he began talking to Zipline founders a couple years ago. He thought the time for a partnership was ripe because Zipline already had supply-chain expertise, and because drone technology was becoming more \"mature.\"\n\n\"It made sense to model how their technology would fit in with supply chain management and improve the availability of medicines, the speed with which those medicines would be provided, and the impact on cost,\" Rupani says.\n\nZipline and LLamasoft collaborated for over a year, modeling existing operations in Rwanda so they could make the case for expanding their services into Tanzania in terms of benefits and cost.\n\nRupani says nobody is making the case that drones should replace existing transportation methods completely, now or in the future.\n\n\"So the question becomes what niches do they fit into, and where do they give a compelling advantage?\" Rupani says.\n\nIn Rwanda, the partners found that delivering blood by drone made more sense than driving to the nearest blood bank. Instead of using three or four hours of an employee's time as well as fuel costs for a round-trip ride, a drone could deliver a few pints of blood in 20-30 minutes.\n\nRupani says delivery of vaccines is likely to be another useful application. Instead of sending one truck around each month to deliver vaccines to various health clinics, which may have power outages that spoil temperature-sensitive vaccines, a drone can deliver smaller amounts more frequently.\n\n\"It's a nice trade-off, because the cost worked out to be about neutral, but with better performance\" and less waste, Rupani says.\n\nRupani says he and others at LLamasoft are working on a white paper with another partner with the aim of determining what niches in the supply chain can best be supplied by drones.\n\n\"We're looking not just at Zipline's technology but all available drone options currently on the market,\" Rupani says. \"We'll be looking at all these different parameters and examining in which cases it would make sense to deliver by drones.\"\n\nSarah Rigg is a freelance writer and editor in Ypsilanti Township. You may reach her at sarahrigg1@gmail.com.\n\nPhotos courtesy of LLamasoft.", "output": "LLamasoft has joined forces with Zipline, an autonomous drone delivery firm\u00a0that carries\u00a0medical supplies to remote and hard-to-reach\u00a0locations. After a successful collaboration between the two companies\u00a0in\u00a0Rwanda, they plan to expand their services into Tanzania,\u00a0continuing\u00a0an initiative to utilise drones in public health supply chain applications. Trips to\u00a0blood banks used to take three to four hours of an employee's time, but the use of drones may cut this down to 20-30 minutes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Offshore expert Opex optimises\u00a0rig\u00a0data with\u00a0X-PAS \n As offshore operations become increasingly digitalised, vast amounts of data are collected and put to use with the hope of creating the most efficient rigs possible. But with such large volumes of information, how can we be sure the right data is floating to the service? At the Transforming Offshore Operations forum in Aberdeen at the end of June this year, Operational Excellence Group (OPEX) vice president Gerry Ward made it clear that almost all of this data is going to waste, leading to increasing and unnecessary costs.\n\nAn offshore rig can have as many as 30,000 data tags but only a fraction of the data collected is put to use. This has a knock-on effect on other aspects like maintenance which is often expensively overlooked and poorly organised. For example, one company spent \u00a320m refurbishing accommodation units so they could be used during maintenance, only for them to be thrown away after just one use.\n\nAs the oil and gas industry is changing, so must its attitude to data waste. \u201cThe industry has a real opportunity to embrace emerging big data technologies that can help them maximise economic recovery in the UK continental shelf,\u201d explains Ward.\n\nWe sat down with Ward to discuss how OPEX\u2019s predictive systems can put a stop to data wastage, and why so much data is being overlooked.\n\nMolly Lempriere: How are you using data to improve the way oil rigs work?\n\nGerry Ward: OPEX has pioneered a unique data-driven approach to maximising production uptime, known as X-PAS, which combines predictive technologies and techniques with the expertise of data scientists and the domain experience of oil and gas engineers.\n\nExpert sources state that the majority of oil and gas production losses are attributed to issues with critical systems. However, if you can predict the threats to these systems in advance, in most cases you can take the required steps to mitigate or eliminate the risk.\n\nMost data analysis tools and conventional monitoring techniques look for changes in single data points to signal a problem or issue, for example changes in temperature, vibration, pressure or flow. The X-PAS approach is different.\n\nUsing data from existing offshore sensors we can create bespoke models that enable us to reveal the many thousands of relationships that exist within critical systems. Essentially, we can look at how millions of data points from an asset are interacting with each other at the same time. It\u2019s multi-dimensional.\n\n\u201cAn offshore rig can have as many as 30,000 data tags but only a fraction of the data collected is put to use.\u201d\n\nUsing live sensor data, our team of data scientists use these complex models to carry out analysis on behalf of our customers to pinpoint any anomalies or developing issues. Our oil and gas engineers then verify and place these insights into the context of the offshore operating environment to identify emergent risks to production before they occur, often months in advance. Rather than \u2018flooding\u2019 our customers with meaningless observations we ensure that only filtered, actionable insights are escalated.\n\nML: Can you give us an example of a situation where your technology has made a big difference?\n\nGW: By turning huge volumes of operational data into valuable filtered information, the X-PAS service enables our customers to make informed decisions and interventions to maximise the uptime on their installations. This improvement helps to increase production revenues; lift production efficiency; reduce operational, maintenance and repair costs; and improve the performance of plant and people.\n\nThe X-PAS service was initially piloted in 2015 and is now being used by a number of UKCS operators.\n\nFor example, the X-PAS service is in operation on the gas compression system on a major UKCS installation. 2.5million data points and thousands of relationships are analysed on a daily basis from the X-PAS Support Centre. Over a 12-month period the X-PAS service helped the customer earn an additional $20mn in production revenue through 40 crucial interventions, resulting in a 65% reduction in system trips and a number of important safety and performance improvements\n\nBy making use of existing infrastructure and operational data that was previously going to waste, no additional capital expenditure was required to achieve these efficiency gains.\n\nML: Why do you think so much data is going to waste?\n\nGW: The industry has invested heavily in infrastructure to capture data from the offshore installations, each one having something like 30,000 data tags, yet less than 1% of the data collected is used to aid decision making.\n\nThere are many factors that contribute to this. In simple terms, people are just too busy \u2013 they don\u2019t have the time to dedicate to analysing the data, and data is useless unless it is turned into actionable insights.\n\nThe industry is wrestling with the changes that digital transformations present. We are seeing a move in the right direction, with more and more operators recognising the opportunities that exist by unlocking the value in their data.\n\nML: What are the next steps for OPEX?\n\nGW: The team at OPEX have a genuine desire to make a difference to the oil and gas industry by harnessing the power of \u2018big data\u2019 to increase production, reduce costs and improve performance. We are now working closely with our customers and industry bodies to explore the potential of applying predictive big data techniques and technology for a number of other solutions for the oil and gas industry.", "output": "Aberdeen-based company Operational Excellence Group (Opex) believes the vast quantities of data generated by offshore oil and gas operations can be put to better use, according to its vice-president Gerry Ward. It has developed X-PAS, a system combining \"predictive technologies and techniques with the expertise of data scientists and the domain experience of oil and gas engineers\". The software enables Opex data scientists to predict developing issues or anomalies, reducing costs and increasing efficiency. Ward said X-PAS had helped one customer earn an additional $20m of revenue in one year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mobile app is favourite way to bank in Saudi Arabia \n RIYADH \u2014 Banking customers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are increasingly using digital channels to conduct their transactions, with mobile banking leading the way, according to a new survey from Avaya. The findings reveal that Saudi customers\u2019 most-preferred channel for accessing banking services is via a mobile app, while 40% of respondents said it was a priority to have everything on their mobile device \u2013 the highest out of nine countries surveyed.\n\n\n\nThe Customer Experience in Banking Survey, conducted with YouGov, queried more than 10,000 banking customers in two waves \u2013 the first covering the UK, UAE, India and Australia, and the second France, Germany, Italy, KSA and South Africa. Almost a quarter (24%) of respondents in both the UAE and Saudi Arabia said a mobile app was their preferred channel, behind only India and South Africa, and much higher compared to just 8% in Germany and 10% in France.\n\n\n\nSaudi Arabia already has one of the highest mobile penetration rates in the region, with a population penetration rate of 140% as of Q1 2017, according to one report by the Ministry of Communication & Information Technology.\n\n\n\nSaudi banking customers are also more likely to change their banks because of poor customer service \u2013 and less likely to give the bank a chance to do something about it. While more than half (52%) would change banks \u2013 the highest out of all nine countries \u2013 only 37% would lodge a complaint, the lowest of the countries surveyed. When asked to assess what was important to them in interacting with their bank, top asks from KSA banking customers include wanting to have the same level of experience and service across all channels, and for their problems to be resolved on the first point of contact, all regardless of which contact channel they used.\n\n\n\nWhile more robust digital channels are one way for banks to improve the customer experience, almost a quarter of those in the Kingdom would still prefer to visit their bank\u2019s branch and speak with a relationship officer for services. Virtual Financial Advisors (VFAs) \u2013 representatives from the bank who engage customers through virtual means and service them remotely with online tools \u2013 seem to be an ideal solution based on the preferences of KSA respondents. According to the survey, the most valued benefit of having a VFA is being able to resolve their banking inquiries faster, regardless of the contact center channel they use.\n\n\n\nCustomers in the Kingdom generally prefer not to be contacted by their bank for promotional offers or new services. But they want to hear from their bank when it comes to renewing their credit cards or services before they expire, and dealing with problematic or potentially fraudulent transactions. Nearly a quarter of respondents (23%) say that they would not want to be contacted for any of these issues, preferring to contact the bank only when they need to.\n\n\n\n\u201cGetting customer experience right is vital for banks in KSA, and it is clear that delivering a superior customer experience requires coordination across all touchpoints\u2014whether online or offline,\u201d said Yaser Alzubaidi, Engagement Solutions Sales Leader for Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (AMEA) at Avaya. \u201cBanks in the region are increasingly investing in digital transformation to deliver the right customer experience. However, it really comes down to personal autonomy and giving consumers the opportunity to choose the way they interact with their bank. That is where new technologies can really make a difference. Moreover, these new technologies help customers to do what they want to do as fast and effectively as possible.\u201d \u2014 SG", "output": "Bank customers in Saudi Arabia are increasingly showing a preference for using digital channels to conduct transactions, with mobile phone banking their preferred platform. A survey of over 10,000 customers by polling company YouGov showed almost a quarter of those in both Saudi Arabia and the UAE cited a mobile app as their preferred channel, with only India and South Africa recording higher scores for that method. The survey also found more Saudi customers would change their bank rather than complain\u00a0if the customer service was poor. Saudi Arabia has one of the highest rates of mobile ownership in the region.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "State Bank of India moves towards virtualisation of payment card \n SBI Cards Customers Will Soon Be Able To Make Payments By Tapping Their Smartphones On POS Machines\n\nIn a bid to make payments faster, more reliable and convenient, SBI Cards, a joint venture between the State Bank of India and GE Capital, is set to release an updated version of its mobile app. As per reports, the move is geared towards allowing contactless payments at POS (point of sale) terminals.\n\nThe contactless payments technology, according to sources, will enable SBI Cards customers to pay by simply tapping their smartphones on POS machines. Based on Host Card Emulation (HCE), the app has provision for dematerialisation of the card.\n\nWhile SBI cardholders already use their smartphones to make payments digitally, the proprietary contactless payments app is designed to facilitate virtualisation of the card via a smartphone using near-field communication (NFC). The app will be launched by next month, sources have revealed.\n\nLately, the payment solutions provider has been on a path of embracing innovation for the purpose of bolstering its product line. Speaking on the matter, SBI Cards CEO Vijay Jasuja stated, \u201cAmong our recent innovations we have enabled our card for Bharat QR code by incorporating the feature in our app.\u201d\n\nSBI Cards: Second Largest Card Issuer Servicing Over 5 Mn Users\n\nThe genesis of SBI Cards can be traced back to 1998, when GE Capital partnered with the State Bank of India to float two joint venture companies, as part of a move aimed at developing a robust credit card business in the country. It is currently the largest card issuer in India, second only to HDFC Bank.\n\nAt present, SBI enjoys majority shareholder status, with a 60% stake in the venture. In July 2016, it was reported that GE Capital was looking to exit the venture. As stated by Jasuja, the company is working to double its current user count within the next two years.\n\nOver the last three years, SBI Cards has reportedly doubled its customer base to more than 5 Mn. IT has witnessed fastest growth in the insurance segment and currently, holds a 15% market share in terms of card spends and cards-in-force (CIF).\n\nJasuja added, \u201cBefore demonetisation, the card volume growth rate was around 60,000 cards per month which increased to over 100K cards per month post-demonetisation period and has now grown to around 200K cards per month.\u201d\n\nThe bank\u2019s subsidiary currently issues cards to both the individual and corporate segments, under the following categories: Premium Card, Classic Card, Travel & Shopping Card, Exclusive Card, Corporate Card, Kisan Card, and Loan Card. Around 15%-20% of these cards are provided through partnerships with enterprises like Tata and Big Bazaar.\n\nExisting customers of the State Bank of India account for nearly 35% of all cards issued by SBI Cards. Jasuja said, \u201cWhile going after the whole lot does not make sense considering that the bank has a 50-crore customer base and we do not have the capacity for that, we will be picking them up in lots.\u201d\n\nAccording to a 2016 SBI Research report, monthly card spend in the country has increased significantly over the last 12 months, from $547 Mn (INR 3,500 Cr) per month to over $859.5 Mn (INR 5,500 Cr) per month.\n\nThe creation of the HCE-based contactless payments app is one of the many steps taken by the company to expand its customer base. As confirmed by Jasuja, SBI Cards is keen on investing in infrastructure and forging new partnerships. In December 2016, the company announced plans to issue credit cards to students of the country\u2019s 100-200 top educational institutions.\n\nWhile exact details of the technology have not been disclosed by SBI Cards, the promise of contactless payments on POS machines is sure to be a big hit among retail consumers.\n\n(The development was reported by ET)", "output": "SBI Cards, a joint venture between the State Bank of India and GE Capital, will launch an updated app enabling cardholders to make contactless payments at point of sale (PoS) devices in India. The app, set to be launched next month, will use near-field communication to allow customers to make a payment by tapping their phones on to the PoS machine. The move is intended to facilitate the virtualisation of payment cards. SBI Cards currently has a 15% market share in terms of card spends and cards in force, with volume growth rate at 200,000\u00a0cards a month.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scientists develop cheap test for DNA biomarkers \n Scientists at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University and Boston Children\u2019s Hospital have developed a cheap, sensitive, and highly accurate way of detecting protein biomarkers. The technology may very well revolutionize diagnostics, disease monitoring, and help stop the spread of infectious pathogens. The nanoswitch-linked immunosorbent assay (NLISA) has the potential to be as simple to use as self-administered pregnancy tests but with nearly laboratory-level of accuracy.\n\nNLISA screens for specially prepared DNA strands that change shape in the presence of a protein biomarker. The DNA strands have multiple small proteins that bind to the target proteins, and as they bind, they pull on the rest of the DNA strand, changing its shape. Electrophoresis is then used to pull on the DNA strands, some of which move faster than others depending on whether they\u2019ve been bent out of their original shape or not. Moreover, while the dragging is going something called \u201ckinetic proofreading\u201d is administered to the DNA strands, shaking loose any imperfect connections that may lead to false positives.\n\nThe technology, just described in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was used to detect prostate-specific antigen (PSA) at high sensitivity and to screen between different strains of the Dengue virus in less than an hour. False positives were reduced to nearly zero while the sensitivity was lab quality.\n\nHere\u2019s a quick animation that explains the workings of the NLISA technology:\n\nStudy in PNAS: Nanoswitch-linked immunosorbent assay (NLISA) for fast, sensitive, and specific protein detection\u2026\n\nVia: Wyss Institute\u2026", "output": "US scientists have developed a cheap, highly accurate test that can be used to diagnose conditions by detecting protein biomarkers in subjects' DNA. The test could be as simple to use as a home pregnancy testing kit, according to the researchers from the Wyss Institute at Harvard University and Boston's Children's Hospital. In experiments, the method was used to detect prostate-specific antigen and to screen between different strains of the Dengue virus in less than an hour. It reduced false positives to nearly zero and achieved lab-quality sensitivity.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cancer drugs' high prices not justified by cost of development, study contends \n (HealthDay)\u2014 Excusing the sky-high price tags of many new cancer treatments, pharmaceutical companies often blame high research and development (R&D) costs.\n\nBut a new analysis, focused on 10 new cancer drugs, finds those costs may have been greatly exaggerated\u2014and the return on investment for drug companies is lucrative indeed.\n\nThe study found that the typical R&D process for a new cancer medication spans about seven years, with an average per-drug cost of between $648 million and $794 million.\n\nPricey, yes\u2014but still far below the $2.7 billion-per-drug R&D figure determined by a 2016 Tufts University investigation. It's that number that drug companies have pointed to as their average R&D cost per drug.\n\nAnd the pay-off, once a new cancer drug reaches the market, can be enormous, the new study found. According to the researchers, after an average of about four years on the U.S. market, the 10 new drugs they studied ended up collectively generating $67 billion in revenue.\n\nThat's seven times the total cost of all the drugs' combined R&D.\n\n\"These results suggest that pharmaceutical drug development is extremely lucrative, and the current drug prices are not necessarily justified by the R&D spending on these drugs,\" said study co-author Sham Mailankody. He's assistant attending physician with the myeloma service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.\n\nMailankody co-wrote the study with Dr. Vinay Prasad, of Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. The findings were published online Sept. 11 in JAMA Internal Medicine.\n\nAt the crux of the issue are skyrocketing U.S. prices for new cancer medications, which often exceed $100,000 a year, sometimes hitting as high as $200,000.\n\nAccording to Mailankody, there are three common justifications for this \"sticker shock\": the drug is a novel approach to treating a cancer; it brings improved effectiveness; and it's been produced after some very expensive R&D.\n\nMailankody said that, in prior investigations, he and Prasad already found that \"the cost of anticancer drugs is unrelated to the novelty of mechanism of action or the efficacy of these drugs.\"\n\nSo that leaves the high R&D cost as the sole justification left standing.\n\nTo see if that argument held up, the researchers identified 10 drug companies which\u2014for the first time\u2014had each gotten a single new cancer drug to market between 2006 and 2015.\n\nThe 10 new medicines included: ponatinib (Iclusig); brentuximab vedotin (Adcetris); cabozantinib (Cometriq); ruxolitinib (Jakafi); eculizumab (Soliris); ibrutinib (Imbruvica); enzalutamide (Xtandi); irinotecan liposome (Onivyde); vincristine liposome (Marqibo); and pralatrexate (Folotyn).\n\nFilings lodged with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission revealed the total amount each company had laid out for all R&D costs related to cancer drugs\u2014even when the company successfully brought just one drug to market.\n\n\"Our analysis actually accounts for the cost of [all drug] failures\" as well, Mailankody explained, rather than just the R&D costs of a single successful drug.\n\nR&D cost per drug ranged widely between companies, from a low of $320 million to a high of $2.7 billion, the study found.\n\nHowever, roughly four years after a drug successfully made it to market, nine out of 10 companies saw their revenues greatly exceed such costs. In fact, four of the 10 companies were raking in revenues 10 times their total investment in R&D, the findings showed.\n\nMailankody noted that drug companies also \"enjoy long market exclusivity/patent protections,\" averaging about 14 years, so that \"in time, it is anticipated that these companies will have substantial profits.\"\n\nMerrill Goozner has variously worked as a business professor, journalist, and director of the Integrity in Science Project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. He wrote a journal commentary reflecting on the new findings. He believes \"the study conclusively shows for the first time that the drug industry's claim that it costs $2.5 billion on average to develop a new drug is completely specious.\"\n\nRepresentatives of the drug industry were quick to take issue with the claims, however.\n\nSpeaking to The New York Times, Daniel Seaton, a spokesman for the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, said that because success in drug research is expensive and never guaranteed, \"it's a bit like saying it's a good business to go out and buy winning lottery tickets.\"\n\nAnd Dr. Joseph DiMasi, the Tufts University researcher who wrote the 2016 study citing the $2.7 billion figure, called the newer study \"irredeemably flawed.\"\n\n\"The sample consists of relatively small companies that have gotten only one drug approved, with few other drugs of any type in development,\" he told the Times. This leads to \"substantial selection bias,\" so that the findings cannot reflect the pharmaceutical industry as a whole.\n\nDr. J. Leonard Lichtenfeld is deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society. Reading over the study from Mailankody and Prasad, he said that \"there are a lot of different facets to this discussion, well beyond the single point of this paper.\"\n\nHe agreed with DiMasi that the paper's focus on small start-ups fails to \"consider drug companies that are private or very large with many, many, drugs under consideration.\"\n\nLichtenfeld pointed out that \"the problem is those kinds of privately held companies don't provide access to detailed R&D information. And many people, including these researchers, would argue that we need that information in order to make rational interpretations on drug pricing.\"\n\nHe added, \"As a member of the Cancer Society, I don't have a position on this. But I do think this paper is going to move this discussion along because we need innovation and incentives for innovation. But society 'writ large' also needs to reach an understanding as to what is acceptable and desirable. Hopefully, cooler heads will prevail.\"\n\nMore information: Sham Mailankody, M.B.B.S., assistant attending physician, myeloma service, department of medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City; J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, M.D., MACP, deputy chief medical officer, American Cancer Society; Merrill Goozner, M.S., editorial department, Modern Healthcare, Chicago; The New York Times; Sept. 11, 2017, JAMA Internal Medicine, online There's advice on managing the cost of cancer care at the American Cancer Society. Journal information: JAMA Internal Medicine\n\nCopyright \u00a9 2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.", "output": "Excusing the sky-high price tags of many new cancer treatments, pharmaceutical companies often blame high research and development (R&D) costs. But a new analysis, focused on 10 new cancer drugs, finds those costs may have been greatly exaggerated\u2014and the return on investment for drug\u00a0companies is lucrative indeed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California moves closer to adopting a drug pricing transparency law \n A California bill that would require drug makers to report and justify price hikes took a big step toward reality on Monday night. The state Assembly overwhelmingly passed the legislation and it now goes to the Senate for approval, which legislative sources say may occur as soon as today.\n\nThe bill, which has been vociferously fought by the pharmaceutical industry, could become one of the most comprehensive state efforts to address pricing transparency. For instance, drug makers would have to provide 60-day notice to insurers and government health plans before increasing list prices of a medicine that costs more than $40, by 16 percent in a two-year period.\n\nadvertisement\n\nIf the legislation becomes law, health plans would also have to provide detailed information about prescription drug costs and the portion of premiums attributed to this expense (here is a fact sheet).", "output": "A California bill that would require drug makers to report and justify price hikes took a big step toward reality on Monday night. The state Assembly overwhelmingly passed the legislation and it now goes to the Senate for approval, which legislative sources say may occur as soon as today.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Goldman invests in financial wellbeing provider \n Source: Neyber\n\nLondon-headquartered Neyber, the UK\u2019s sector leading financial wellbeing provider, has secured up to a further \u00a3100M in a capital investment round led by Goldman Sachs.\n\nThe investment includes debt and equity as part of the recently completed series C fundraising round providing Goldman Sachs with a stake in the company. Neyber has also secured \u00a315m of lending capital from existing investors led by Henry Ritchotte and Gael de Boissard in this investment round.\n\n\n\nNeyber is an award-winning financial wellbeing provider that helps UK employees to be better with their money. Neyber partners with employers to support their workforce\u2019s financial wellbeing with access to affordable, salary-deducted loans and financial education - all at no cost or risk to the employer.\n\n\n\nNeyber launched nationally in January 2016. Since then it has launched with over 80 private and public sector organisations across the UK including some of the largest UK employers. It has saved its borrowers \u00a314M in interest payments and developed an addressable market of 700,000 employees.\n\n\n\nNeyber co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Martin Ijaha, said:\n\n\u201cThis is a groundbreaking transaction for Neyber and the most significant milestone in our development to date. This transaction brings Neyber\u2019s award winning proposition further into focus and comes at a time when Neyber is launching with some of the largest employers in the UK. This capital investment will allow Neyber to embrace these opportunities and expand the universe of employees that Neyber can serve. This supports our mission of improving the financial wellbeing of even more UK employees.\n\n\n\n\u201cGoldman Sachs joins Police Mutual and WGC to create a group of core strategic investors in Neyber. Collectively the investment and expertise these three organisations bring across areas such as capital markets, financial services and credit risk will serve to cement Neyber\u2019s position as the leading player in the UK salary deducted lending market\".\n\n\n\nDennis Beeson, a senior executive with Goldman Sachs Private Capital, said:\n\n\u201cWe are excited to partner with Neyber on its period of rapid growth. Employee financial wellbeing is of increasing importance to UK employers and Neyber is a key player in the evolving market. Neyber\u2019s strong management and leading technology platform ensure its continued success.\u201d\n\n\n\nNeyber was founded by former Goldman Sachs investment bankers Martin ljaha and Monica Kalia along with financial technology expert Ezechi Britton.\n\n\n\nThe founders joined together to deliver a genuine alternative to the solutions offered by financial service providers whose high borrowing rates and low returns on savings have helped to create an unprecedented era of financial stress. Neyber clients include FTSE listed firms, the UK Police Service, London City Airport, Anglian Water, BUPA, NHS Trusts and local authorities.", "output": "Goldman Sachs has invested \u00a3100m ($132m) in London-based financial wellbeing platform Neyber, a firm which helps workers in the UK manage their finances. Neyber's goal is to displace traditional financial service companies by offering employees lower rates on loans and easier access to investments and savings accounts. The investment will allow Neyber to expand the number of employers it works with, according to a company statement.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "If the GOP would only give up on repeal and replace it could actually make healthcare more affordable \n Time is rapidly running out before health insurers have to commit to the policies and premiums they\u2019ll offer next year to roughly 20 million Americans not covered by an employer-sponsored health plan. Although those premiums are expected to jump 10% or more in many states, Congress can rein in that increase significantly \u2014 if it acts quickly. Doing so, however, will require Senate Republicans to stop flirting with yet another partisan proposal to \u201crepeal and replace\u201d the Affordable Care Act, and start focusing instead on steps to make coverage more affordable that can win broad support.\n\nThe good news is that leaders of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, who have a reputation for pragmatism and compromise, are trying to pull together a narrowly focused, bipartisan bill this week that would have a direct and rapid effect on premiums. Although the details are still being negotiated, the measure is likely to continue reimbursing insurers for at least a year \u2014 and preferably more \u2014 for some $7 billion that the ACA requires them to spend on lower out-of-pocket costs for low-income customers.\n\nAlthough the law requires the federal government to make those reimbursements, some Republicans have labeled them a bailout for insurers, and the Trump administration has threatened repeatedly to cut off funding. Those threats have led insurers to seek premium increases of 2% to 23% in 2018 just to pay for the cost-sharing reductions, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIt\u2019s irresponsible for Republicans even to flirt with the Cassidy proposal.\n\nThat\u2019s just one of the factors driving up premiums; others include the Trump administration\u2019s indifferent enforcement of the ACA\u2019s requirement that all Americans carry insurance, which encourages healthier adults not to sign up for coverage, and the unexpectedly large treatment costs incurred by those who do have policies. The Senate health committee\u2019s bill may not address the rest of those issues directly. Instead, it\u2019s likely to let states try to entice more healthy people to buy coverage by allowing insurers to offer less robust policies than the ACA requires, or by kicking in state dollars to help insurers.\n\nA more direct approach would be to provide the sort of federal backstop that helps hold down premiums in Medicare\u2019s prescription drug plans \u2014 such as reinsuring insurers against the cost of consumers with outsize medical expenses.\n\nBut even the Senate committee\u2019s proposal would be better than one being floated by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Dean Heller (R-Nev.), which would replace the ACA\u2019s insurance mandate and subsidies with a complex system of aid to the states, while also reengineering Medicaid to gradually reduce Washington\u2019s share of its costs.\n\nThe Cassidy proposal has until Sept. 30 to pass by a simple majority, after which it would need an unattainable 60 votes to overcome a certain Democratic filibuster. It\u2019s irresponsible for Republicans even to flirt with so major a proposal, let alone one so potentially damaging to California and other states with large Medicaid populations. Congress barely has enough time to pass a far more narrow bill to shore up the non-group insurance markets in time to affect the 2018 premiums. Lawmakers should focus on that, and get it done.\n\nFollow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook", "output": "Time is rapidly running out before health insurers have to commit to the policies and premiums they\u2019ll offer next year to roughly 20 million Americans not covered by an employer-sponsored health plan. Although those premiums are expected to jump 10% or more in many states, Congress can rein in that increase significantly \u2014 if it acts quickly. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GOP split over fixing or gutting Obamacare as deadline looms \n \u201cI don\u2019t see it,\u201d Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who backs the block grant proposal set to be introduced by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.), said on Wednesday. \u201cI don\u2019t see voting on doing it one more time.\u201d\n\nShot back Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who came to prominence attacking Obamacare: \u201cI think we are much closer to getting this done than many outside observers believe. I think we\u2019ve got 45-46 votes in the Senate.\u201d\n\nBut it has always been the last five votes that have stymied action on Obamacare repeal, and 46 votes isn\u2019t close enough for GOP leaders to reopen the painful wound left by July\u2019s failure to pass even a slimmed down Obamacare repeal bill.\n\nThe problem for McConnell is that the alternative doesn\u2019t seem to be taking off either.\n\nSen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) is trying to work with Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) on a bill to shore up the insurance markets, but the two health committee leaders are already at odds over including looser regulations with the package. Without regulatory reform, many Republicans argue, the bill amounts to a giveaway to the insurance industry.\n\n\u201cAll I see so far are suggestions for further bailouts of insurance companies and no real reform,\u201d said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas). He said it \u201cmay be\u201d better to do nothing at all.\n\nAlexander said Tuesday that he wants to have some kind of plan \u201cin our minds by early next week in order to be able to hand it to Senator McConnell and [Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer in time to deal with it before the end of the month.\u201d\n\nSo far, Alexander is looking at a bill that would fund Obamacare\u2019s cost-sharing program for two years, allow for people to buy \u201ccatastrophic\u201d health care plans that were restricted under Obamacare and make changes to a state waiver program. The waivers, dubbed 1332s, have proven to be the most controversial element, as Democrats say the changes shouldn\u2019t eliminate consumer protections and Republicans say structural changes are needed to reduce costs in the health system.\n\nMcConnell on Tuesday refused to rule out votes on either a repeal or a fix of Obamacare, wary of picking sides among his caucus and aware that both proposals divide the Senate GOP.\n\n\u201cThe way forward as of today is unclear,\u201d he told reporters.\n\nBut doing nothing at all seems an equally bad option.\n\nInsurance companies make final decisions on their 2018 plans at the end of the month, and inaction seems likely to cause a premium spike. Congress would also be ceding more authority to President Donald Trump, who currently threatens to withhold Obamacare subsidies on a monthly basis, a move that could cripple the insurance markets and allow Democrats to blame the GOP for high premiums.\n\nSenate Republicans also are still stewing over the failure of their July repeal effort. Cassidy, Graham and two other senators will begin a final push for their block grant approach at a Wednesday news conference. Senators say their voters are sick of hearing excuses and need to see some action.\n\n\u201cMy constituents want to see Obamacare repealed. But the votes aren\u2019t there right now,\u201d said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.).\n\nCruz, Graham, Cassidy and their allies are trying to change that narrative, and they believe that stated interest by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) \u2014 who with Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) killed the GOP\u2019s \u201cskinny\u201d bill \u2014 could help get them to 50 votes. They also see an opening on the calendar: The Senate is likely to have a window for another repeal vote at the end of month, once the chamber passes the defense bill it is currently debating.\n\nBut some Democrats are skeptical that McCain, who opposed the previous bill in part because it was rushed to the floor, could back Graham-Cassidy, which is being introduced less than three weeks before the deadline for passage.\n\n\u201cAnybody that said that they want regular order can\u2019t vote for a bill when regular order is literally playing out before your eyes,\u201d Sen. Chris Murphy said of the health committee\u2019s process. \u201cHow on earth do you short circuit a bill and undercut Lamar Alexander?\u201d\n\nBut with the budget reconciliation tool to evade a filibuster about to expire, pressure is increasing from the White House and among rank-and-file GOP senators to give repeal another try. Trump has repeatedly needled McConnell and his members over this summer\u2019s failure.\n\nAnd that requires Republicans to keep the door cracked for another repeal vote this month.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not done. It\u2019s still a live round out there,\u201d said Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.). \u201cIt\u2019s pretty slim, but there\u2019s a chance.\u201d\n\nThe block grant plan would likely cut hundreds of billions of dollars in federal spending and potentially leave millions more uninsured, a problem for the more moderate Republicans. But Graham and Cassidy are running into resistance from conservatives because the bill keeps some of Obamacare\u2019s taxes and regulations.\n\nThe main selling point to the right is that the bill is better than allowing the fast-track power to lapse with nothing to show for it.\n\nSen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says that\u2019s not enough for him.\n\n\u201cKeep all the Obamacare taxes? Keep most of the Obamacare regulations? And then give some sort of pretense to giving state control? They leave all the regulations in place as far as I\u2019m concerned. It sounds to me like a bad idea,\u201d Paul said Monday. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s going anywhere. I\u2019ve heard nobody talking about it.\u201d\n\nHeritage Action spokesman Dan Holler said the conservative advocacy group is waiting to see details but prior versions of the bill were \u201cfar off the mark from what conservatives had anticipated\u201d from the GOP Obamacare repeal effort.\n\n\u201cWhat they proposed in the summer had some pretty big downfalls \u2014 keeping most of the taxes,\u201d Holler said. \u201cBut there were elements of good things in there too [such as] allowing states to be flexible.\u201d\n\nConservatives are even less likely to support the Alexander-Murray effort, but the bipartisan duo was never going to get the most conservative members of the Republican Conference. Instead, the bill would likely pass with a mix of Democratic votes and centrist Republicans, if McConnell decides to bring it to the floor.\n\n\u201cWe need cost-sharing. We need it soon,\u201d Schumer said. \u201cSens. Alexander and Murray are working on a compromise proposal, which we hope will be ready very soon. And we can move that, not some effort to repeal.\u201d", "output": "Republicans are paralyzed over what to do about health care, caught between a bipartisan effort to shore up Obamacare and the opportunity to take one last swing at their years-long promise to repeal the law.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AAFP Debates Medical Aid-in-Dying Laws \n SAN ANTONIO -- Some family physicians want the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) to spike the term \"assisted suicide\" and recognize medical aid-in-dying as \"an ethical, personal, end-of-life decision.\"\n\nCalifornia delegates presented and argued for their resolution here at the AAFP's Congress of Delegates meeting, inciting vigorous debate on Monday afternoon.\n\nWhile the AAFP currently abides by the American Medical Association's code of ethics -- and in 20 years the AMA has not altered its position on the issue -- Heather Paladine, MD, a New York delegate, and sponsor of the \"ethical\" resolution said the AAFP should take the lead. Others \"wholeheartedly\" agreed.\n\n\"To use the term 'assisted suicide' is arrogant and I also believe it's judgmental. We as physicians do not have the right nor the power to decide what life is and the quality of that life for a patient,\" said Karla Booker, MD, an alternate delegate from Georgia, who noted that she wasn't willing to \"stand by\" as her husband suffered from terminal lung cancer.\n\nCritics of the resolution said it directly contradicts the Hippocratic Oath and could lead to a \"slippery slope.\" Others opposed the resolutions arguing that the term \"medical aid-in-dying\" is inaccurate, since hospice care providers also help patients through the dying process, minus the \"lethal prescription.\"\n\nDelegates also explored arguments for repealing the Hyde amendment, endorsing a single-payer system and improving the public's perception of physicians in relation to opioids.\n\nThe Hyde Amendment prohibits the federal government from providing coverage for abortion, and delegates from California want it scrapped. They argued that health plans funded by the states or the federal government that offer coverage for continuing a pregnancy should also provide coverage for ending a pregnancy.\n\nNot everyone agreed.\n\n\"The murder of a child has not yet been defined as healthcare,\" said James \"Jim\" Taylor, MD, an alternate delegate from Louisiana, who added that now is not the time to bring up a \"settled issue.\"\n\nWanda Filer, MD, board chair for the AAFP, speaking neither for or against, said the group typically opposes laws when they are applied in ways that restrict patients' access to legal medical services.\n\nHowever, Filer suggested that a separate resolution, proffered by New York, which aimed to prohibit laws that ban or limit telemedicine's use for medication abortion, would likely need further study, due to \"complicated and variable\" state laws.\n\nCalifornia, Colorado, Illinois, New Hampshire, New York, Massachusetts, and Maine all put forward some version of a resolution supporting healthcare as a human right.\n\nTaylor, a Louisiana alternate delegate, opposed the idea. \" If this is a right, that creates an open-ended demand on your labor,\" he said, warning members to be careful what they wish for.\n\nHowever, Filer recommended the resolution be referred \"until we have a sense of where our membership resides.\"\n\nLastly, a resolution to \"Stop the Blame the Doctors Game,\" sponsored by Mississippi, and aiming to engage public relations staff to reframe public perception of physicians' role in the opioid epidemic, was panned by some delegates.\n\n\"This is a multifactorial problem, and we don't want to lower ourselves to that level,\" said Domenic Casablanca, MD, a Connecticut delegate.\n\nThe AAFP Congress will review these and other resolutions when it re-convenes Tuesday to begin voting on proposed new policies.\n\nPlease enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.", "output": "Some family physicians want the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) to spike the term \"assisted suicide\" and recognize medical aid-in-dying as \"an ethical, personal, end-of-life decision.\"\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hospice care is short and may start later than needed \n Older adults are admitted to hospice for short duration despite experiencing symptoms months prior to the end of life, according to a Yale-led study. The finding highlights the need for earlier hospice admission or other strategies to address increasing symptoms and disability at the end of life, the researchers said.\n\nThe study was published on September 12 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.\n\nThe researchers examined information from a study of 562 people, aged 70 and older, who were not disabled when the study began but died over the following 16 years. Of these individuals, 244 (43.4 percent) were admitted to hospice during the last year of life. They were slightly older and more likely to have cognitive impairments (problems thinking and making decisions) than older adults who weren\u2019t admitted to hospice.\n\nThe researchers found that cancer and advanced dementia were the conditions that most often resulted in hospice admission. Older adults who were frail were least likely to be admitted to hospice. The most common condition leading to death was frailty, followed by organ failure, advanced dementia, and cancer.\n\nThe study also found that the duration of hospice care was less than 13 days for half of the study participants. This short duration suggests that healthcare providers might need to consider discussing referrals to hospice sooner with people who are approaching the end of their lives. Alternatively, providers may need to develop and test other ways to reduce the high burden of distressing symptoms and disability at the end of life, said the researchers.\n\n\u201cFailing or delaying to refer older persons to hospice at the end of life can place a high burden on caregivers and result in patient suffering,\u201d said Dr. Thomas Gill, the Humana Foundation Professor of Medicine and the study\u2019s first author.\n\nReferral to hospice at the end of life should be based on an older adult\u2019s burden of pain and other distressing symptoms, suggest the researchers. Those symptoms include fatigue, nausea, depression, anxiety, difficulty sleeping, and difficulty with memory, among others.\n\nStudy authors are Dr. Ling Han, Linda Leo-Summers, Dr. Evelyne A. Gahbauer, and Heather G. Allore.\n\nThe work for this report was funded by grants from the National Institute on Aging. The study was conducted at the Yale Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center.", "output": "Older adults are admitted to hospice for short duration despite experiencing symptoms months prior to the end of life, according to a Yale-led study. The finding highlights the need for earlier hospice admission or other strategies to address increasing symptoms and disability at the end of life, the researchers said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Non-traditional teachers highly value digital learning tools \n Research\n\nTeachers in Non-Traditional Classrooms Value Digital Tools for Personalized Learning\n\nTeachers in flipped, blended and virtual classrooms see greater value in digital learning tools than their counterparts in traditional classrooms \u2014 in particular for personalized learning.\n\nAccording to a new report released by Project Tomorrow, more educators in non-traditional classrooms indicated that, thanks to technology, \"they are now providing students with more individualized attention, creating more student-centered learning experiences, helping my students become self-directed learners,\" and 53 percent said the use of tech \"results in students taking greater ownership of their own learning,\" compared with about a third of educators in traditional classrooms.\n\nThe data were released as part of a Congressional briefing by Project Tomorrow, compiled from information collected for the 2016 Speak Up Research Project for Digital Learning, which included input from more than 500,000 K-12 students, teachers, administrators and parents. (Registration for the 2017 Speak Up Survey is open now; input will be collected from Oct. 16, 2017 to Jan. 19, 2018.)\n\n\"The opportunities technology presents to transform learning have yet to be fully explored and implemented in classrooms across the country,\" said Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow, in a statement released to coincide with the report. \"Speak Up data continues to show evidence of external indicators of change, but also indicate the lack of real systematic changes in activities, attitudes or aspirations of teachers. Those teaching in new classroom models \u2014 flipped, blended and virtual \u2014 are pointing the way for how technology can actually change teaching and learning.\"\n\nFurther information can be found at tomorrow.org/speakup.", "output": "More than half of US teachers believe that digital technology is helping students take \"greater ownership\" of their education compared to traditional methods, according to a report by Project Tomorrow. The study formed part of the 2016 Speak Up Research Project for Digital Learning, which surveyed more than 500,000 K-12 students, teachers, administrators and parents. \"Those teaching in new classroom models - flipped, blended and virtual - are pointing the way for how technology can actually change teaching and learning\", said Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Start-up Sophia Genetics raises $30m for AI cancer diagnosis \n For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBreaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nA startup that\u2019s using artificial intelligence to help analyse the human genome and then diagnose illnesses like cancer and metabolic disorders, has raised $30m in a recent funding round.\n\nSophia Genetics, which was founded in 2011 by academics from Stanford University and Switzerland, provides over 330 hospitals in more than 50 countries with software to analyse genomic profiles and diagnose patients.\n\nIt recently expanded into so-called liquid biopsies, offering an app that can help diagnose cancer by analysing DNA and tumour cells in blood, urine, cerebral spinal fluid and other liquid samples.\n\nThe latest funding round was led by London-based Balderton Capital, one of the largest venture capital firms in Europe. Balderton manages around $2.3bn in assets and has invested in more than 100 companies since 2000, including Betfair, before it publicly listed, and LOVEFiLM, before it was sold to Amazon in 2011.\n\nOther investors that participated in the latest funding round include 360o Capital Partners, entrepreneur Mike Lynch\u2019s Invoke Capital and Alychlo, which was started by Belgian pharmaceutical entrepreneur Marc Coucke.\n\n\u201cAs diagnostic kits and sequencers become cheaper and more powerful, we believe that there is an opportunity to build the defining software layer on top of these technologies in genomics, just as Windows did for PCs and Android has for smartphones, and Sophia is already leading in this field,\u201d said James Wise, a partner at Balderton Capital.\n\nJurgi Camblong, chief executive and co-founded of Sophia said that the group aims to break down the \u201cinformation silos in healthcare, meaning that the information from a patient in London or Paris can for instance help better diagnose and treat a patient in Lagos or Rio\u201d.", "output": "Swiss start-up Sophia Genetics has raised $30m in a funding round led by London-based Balderton Capital, one Europe's largest venture capital firms, and featuring participation from 360 Capital Partners, Invoke Capital and Alychlo. Sophia Genetics, founded by a group of academics from Stanford University in 2011, uses artificial intelligence to analyse the human genome and diagnose a range of illnesses, including cancer and metabolic disorders. The company recently expanded to offer liquid biopsies through an app.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US researchers link biofuel production decline to drought \n From field to fuel. The switchgrass conversion process. Credit: Matthew Wishiewski\n\nPlant-derived sustainable fuel sources could contribute to near-term U.S. energy security and independence. However, weather conditions could greatly affect crop yields. In this study, researchers examined the effect of weather on biofuel production by comparing switchgrass and corn stover harvested after a year of major drought and after 2 years of normal precipitation. They found that the plants produced more sugar, but the sugar changed during pretreatment and produced toxic compounds rather than the desired fuels.\n\nThe study is the first linking changes in rainfall and other conditions during crop growth to potential detrimental effects on biofuels. The work underscores the need to develop production systems that can tolerate sugars produced under stress and turn those sugars into the desired biofuels.\n\nIn response to the 2012 severe Midwestern drought, soluble sugar accumulated in switchgrass at significantly higher levels in comparison to non-drought years. The sugars were chemically changed during the pretreatment stage, the step that opens up the physical structure of the plant cell wall. The soluble sugars chemically changed by reacting with the ammonia-based pretreatment chemicals to form highly toxic compounds known as imidazoles and pyrazines. The formation of toxic compounds during the pretreatment stage inhibited conversion, the final step where intermediates such as sugars are fermented into biofuel by microorganisms, such as the microbe S. cerevisiae.\n\nHowever, it may be possible to overcome this issue by 1) removing the soluble sugars before pretreatment or 2) using microbial strains resistant to the toxic effects of imidazoles and pyrazines. This study demonstrates that while there are benefits to growing bioenergy crops on marginal lands to avoid competition with food crops, the plants grown there may experience higher levels of stress resulting in deleterious impacts on microbes during biofuel production. To develop sustainable biofuel production systems, the deleterious effects of stress, such as fluctuations in precipitation and water availability, must be mitigated. This research helps to provide an understanding of the effects of drought stress on switchgrass.\n\nMore information: Rebecca Garlock Ong et al. Inhibition of microbial biofuel production in drought-stressed switchgrass hydrolysate, Biotechnology for Biofuels (2016). DOI: 10.1186/s13068-016-0657-0 Journal information: Biotechnology for Biofuels", "output": "Drought may cause bioenergy crops to produce far less beneficial fuel, according to a recent scientific study. Researchers looking into the impact of the 2012 drought in the US Midwest found that sugars had built up in bioenergy crops,\u00a0inhibiting\u00a0the production of biofuel and instead creating\u00a0highly toxic compounds.\u00a0The research, the first to link changes in climate conditions with crop growth and their effect on biofuel production, concluded that \"fluctuations in precipitation and water availability must be mitigated\" to develop sustainable bioenergy\u00a0production systems.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ieso lands $24m for AI-driven virtual behavioural therapy \n Ieso Digital Health, a Cambridge, UK-based digital behavioral health company, has raised $24 million in a new round of funding led by European VC firms Draper Esprit and Touchstone Innovations.\n\nThe company offers cognitive behavioral therapy via text-based messaging that takes place in a secure virtual room. Ieso collects data from sessions and uses machine learning to continue training its therapists in best practices.\n\n\u201cThis financing is a great vote of confidence in Ieso\u2019s ability to become a global leader in mental health delivery and our technology which lies at the intersection of online evidence-based CBT, dynamic artificial intelligence learning, real time therapist support, and mobile accessibility, ultimately creating high quality, accessible CBT therapy,\u201d Dan Clark, Ieso\u2019s CEO, said in a statement. \u201cUp to 60 percent of people in the US alone have unmet behavioral health needs. This presents a major opportunity for Ieso to make a radical impact on healthcare outcomes and costs. With our technology and clinical data science we are simultaneously improving patient outcomes and reducing costs to the healthcare system.\u201d\n\nIeso offers its services directly in some markets, but also works with health plans and employers. The company will use the funding to expand and scale its technology in the US and UK.\n\nThe company\u2019s methodology was validated in a 2009 study in The Lancet. The study did show that online CBT improved depression recovery rates, but notably the intervention group received that therapy in addition to their regular care.\n\n\u201cBecause of its focus on clinical results, Ieso has been at the forefront of the clear and long overdue movement from volume to value based reimbursement,\u201d continued Clark. \u201cPut simply, unlike the existing subscriber-based services, Ieso only does well, if the patient does well.\u201d\n\nBehavioral health is a hot topic for digital health these days, and a number of companies in the space have received large funding rounds in the space just recently.\n\nBehavioral health technology company AbleTo secured $36.6 million in a round led by Bain Capital Ventures last month. Talkspace, another online therapy company, raised $31 million last week in a round led by Qumra Capital.", "output": "UK-based firm Ieso Digital Health has secured $24m in a funding round led by venture capital firms Draper Esprit and Touchstone Innovations. Ieso aims to become a global leader in mental health delivery with its innovative and proven cognitive behavioral therapy. Delivered via text-messaging in a secure virtual room, the data from each session is analysed and machine learning is used to help teach therapists best practices. The new funding will be used to scale its technology in the UK and the US.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Instagram apologises after removing image of child with deformity \n Instagram has apologized for taking down a photo of a boy with a facial disfigurement after another user reported it to the app\u2019s content moderation team.\n\nTwelve-year-old Harry Beswick was born with Goldenhar syndrome, which means he has no left eye, eye socket, nostril or left ear. His mother, Charlie, runs a parenting blog and Instagram account where she posts about parenting Harry and his twin brother Oliver.\n\nBeswick posted a photo to Instagram in which Harry was not wearing his prosthetic eye. According to Charlie, another Instagram user reported the image, and when Instagram\u2019s content moderation team reviewed it, they decided it breached community guidelines. The picture was removed.\n\nSomeone is reporting my son's face & #Instagram agree saying it doesn't meet their guidelines before removing it. RT to support me in this! pic.twitter.com/XxOvthBT5O \u2014 Charlie Beswick (@ouralteredlife) September 12, 2017\n\nBeswick complained about the decision on social media, with a tweet that was shared thousands of times. In a longer Facebook post, she wrote: \u201cWhat do you see when you look at my boy? I see the most beautiful smile, wonderful heart and purest love. Sadly some people on Instagram feel that it\u2019s too much to look at and have reported a picture of him (again).\n\n\u201cI\u2019m beyond disgusted. Instagram need to rectify this discrimination!\u201d\n\nInstagram\u2019s community guidelines ban photos deemed \u201cinappropriate for a diverse audience\u201d including those that depict nudity, celebrate organized crime or terrorism, or glorify self-injury. The app also bans content used to bully or harass anyone because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, disability or injury.\n\nIn this case, the photo was removed for bullying, possibly because the reviewer misinterpreted the lighthearted comment that accompanied it as offensive.\n\nMany people contacted Instagram to express outrage over the decision, and the photo was restored.\n\n\u201cWe mistakenly removed the photo, but quickly restored it as soon as the mistake was brought to our attention,\u201d said an Instagram spokeswoman. \u201cWe have apologized to the family.\u201d\n\nOnce the photo was restored, Beswick, who lives in Stoke-on-Trent, edited the description to read: \u201cNote to the person who reported the last image of my son like this. It\u2019s his face. If you\u2019re offended then scroll past. Shame on you!\u201d\n\nInstagram has a team of content moderators, called community operations analysts, who review millions of reports from users and automated systems a week.\n\nThis is not the first time they\u2019ve made a mistake. In March, the photo blogger Morgan Bartley\u2019s 110-pound weight loss was reported and removed.\n\n\u201cIt sucks that people express negativity toward something with only positive intentions,\u201d she wrote once the picture was restored.\n\nAllow Instagram content? This article includes content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'. Allow and continue\n\nInstagram \u2013 and its parent company, Facebook \u2013 have also waged a continuing battle against the female nipple. This led to a campaign in 2015 that encouraged women to photoshop male nipples on to their topless photos to test the censorship policy.\n\nSimilarly, a trio of advertising students \u2013 Evelyn Wyss, Morgan-Lee Wagner and Marco Russo \u2013 set up the @genderless_nipples Instagram account in which they post close-up shots of nipples in which it\u2019s impossible to determine the sex of the person they belong to.\n\nIn another case, Instagram reportedly confused a cake for a naked breast.", "output": "Instagram has apologised after removing a photograph of a child with a facial deformity in response to a user complaint. Twelve-year old Harry Beswick has Goldenhar syndrome, which means he was born without a left eye, eye socket, nostril and ear. Beswick\u2019s mother posted a photograph of Harry without his prosthetic eye, which was judged to breach community guidelines by the content moderation team. Instagram stated that the photograph had been removed due to bullying, after the misinterpretation of an accompanying comment. Following complaints by Harry\u2019s mother and other users, the image was restored and an apology issued."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FA to increase cybersecurity for World Cup in Russia \n The Football Association is increasing cyber security ahead of next summer\u2019s World Cup due to hacking concerns.\n\nThe governing body is concerned that sensitive information such as injury, squad selection and tactical details could be exposed during the tournament in Russia.\n\nThe advice is understood to have been put into action by the FA already, but worries over data theft have increased following last month\u2019s Fancy Bears hack regarding the use of banned medicines in football.\n\nThe hacking group claimed the information showed that 160 players had failed drugs tests in 2015, with the number rising to 200 the following year.\n\nThe FA has written to Fifa with its concerns about IT security, and is thought to be particularly concerned about the leaking of its own correspondence with the governing body.\n\nAn email from FA head of integrity Jenni Kennedy, which revealed details regarding four anti-doping cases in May 2017, was released in the August hack.\n\nIn response to the FA\u2019s letter, a Fifa spokesman said: \u201cFifa has informed the FA that [it] remains committed to preventing security attacks in general and that, with respect to the Fancy Bears attack in particular, it is presently investigating the incident to ascertain whether Fifa\u2019s infrastructure was compromised.\n\n\u201cSuch investigation is still ongoing. For the purposes of computer security in general, Fifa is itself relying on expert advice from third parties.\n\n\u201cIt is for this reason that Fifa cannot and does not provide any computer security advice to third parties.\u201d\n\nBryan Campbell, senior security researcher at Fujitsu UK & Ireland believes that the cyber security lessons learned from the World Cup can be put in place for any business.\n\n\u201cThe steps taken by the FA to strengthen its cybersecurity ahead of the 2018 World Cup are equally simple and effective,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s been known that hackers can exploit Wi-Fi connections to compromise or steal user data, and consumers have been warned on numerous occasions not to access unknown Wi-Fi sources.\n\n\u201cNow that the FA will provide its own internet access and staff and players have been asked not to use Wi-Fi in hotels or cafes, hopefully we can see the general public become more aware of this danger and avoid putting their data at risk.\n\n\u201cThe FA also advised players to think twice before posting anything on social media, such as photos that can reveal details of their location or personal information, and this should apply to all internet users. The greatest defences are often the least exciting, and consist of doing the basic IT housekeeping well.\n\n\u201cThese efforts should not be limited to one country, and instead have to become a regular occurrence for organisations of every size, and in every industry.\n\n\u201cUsing the analogy of the World Cup, the same way training becomes a lifestyle and does not begin only after the team has arrived at the tournament, security surrounding operational and technical standards should be well practised before cybercriminal strike next time.\n\n\u201cTo prepare for a potential attack, it is vital organisations move to a proactive approach focusing on the integration of threat intelligence and other information sources to provide the context necessary to deal with today\u2019s advanced cyber threats.\n\n\u201cImplementing a strong security education programme underpinned by a robust security framework will allow companies to get on the front foot in combating these types of threats.\n\n\u201cIt would also be great to see more companies work together to raise awareness about these easy steps we all can take to protect ourselves online.\n\n\u201cSecurity is a non-competitive issue, and a team game not an individual sport.\u201d\n\nEngland, who is top of their World Cup qualifying group, will confirm their place in Russia with victory against Slovenia at Wembley in their next qualifier on 5 October.\n\nFA officials are understood to be increasingly concerned about IT security in Russia, and have been boosting cyber counter-measures.\n\nPractical measure have seen the governing body strengthen online firewalls and introduce encrypted passwords for websites and devices.Players are also expected to be reminded of existing guidelines relating to their use of social media.", "output": "Officials at the Football Association have tightened their cybersecurity ahead of the World Cup tournament in Russia, amid fears of cyber attacks. The governing body has reportedly strengthened firewalls and introduced encrypted passwords for devices and websites, while players are set to be reminded of guidelines surrounding their use of social media. The move follows the recent hack by Russian group Fancy Bear, in which information about players who had failed drugs tests in 2015 was leaked.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Twitter aims to be top platform for video content in Asia Pacific \n Twitter has announced a slate of over 35 premium video content partnerships with the likes of Bloomberg, Fox Sports Asia, Riot Games and KBS in Asia Pacific and will offer in-stream video advertising to advertisers, starting with Australia.\n\nSpeaking to The Drum on the sidelines of All That Matters 2017, Maya Hari, Twitter\u2019s managing director for Asia Pacific, explains that while these deals are a great value proposition for the audience, the platform wants to build its monetisation strategy around it by offering pre-roll and mid-roll advertising on its live feed.\n\nTransparency issues like viewability and advertising fraud will also be a key part of Twitter\u2019s pitch to advertisers, according to Hari.\n\n\u201cWe offer the ability to do pre-roll advertising for snippet and highlights videos. This is for brands who want brand safe, premium content to associate with, while still getting social engagement out of it, so this the perfect opportunity for them,\u201d says Hari.\n\n\u201cBrand safety and ad fraud are things that are important to our advertisers which we have taken care of in building our platform and product.\n\n\u201cIn the regular format, we follow the IAB viewability standard and we also have a more stringent standard that we allow for 100% in-frame viewability at three seconds, which is what we call the 'Twitter standard', where we give the advertisers the option to choose what they want to buy.\u201d\n\nEven as Twitter is building its strategy in video, Hari dismisses the idea that the company has evolved from a social media platform to a purely broadcast company.\n\nShe explains that the company look at itself as a news platform that brings the best of what is happening in the world to consumers, but news in a looser definition of what is current, which includes sports, entertainment and current affairs.\n\n\u201cDo we see ourselves as purely a broadcaster? No. Do we see ourselves as a strong, synergistic partner to the content industry? Yes, as we have the distribution and monetisation capabilities,\u201d says Hari.\n\n\u201cWe also have an immense amount of data and insights because we are a public platform for these partners to reap rewards from.\n\n\u201cDo we expect Twitter to become the platform of choice for a consumer to go watch premium content in news, sports and entertainment? Absolutely.\u201d\n\nLooking ahead, Hari admits that the prospect of in-house programming is appealing, but is keen to stress that production is not Twitter\u2019s greatest strength and will leave that aspect to content creators at the moment.\n\n\u201cAt the moment, we do not have plans for that, but we do work with creators in informal capacity to do interesting interviews and snippets, but not in the long-form format, which is not our core strength,\u201d notes Hari.\n\n\u201cWe much rather leave quality production to our content partners and we bring our strength which is the distribution, conversation and engagement, which is a good marriage.\n\n\u201cIt is not something that we experimenting with, but things can always change.\u201d\n\nIn other parts of the world, Twitter also signed similar deals with BT Sport to showcase its football results, BuzzFeed news to broadcast a daily morning news show and with BBC to stream coverage of Wimbledon.", "output": "Social media site Twitter is seeking to become the \"platform of choice\" for consumers seeking premium content in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, after agreeing a raft of partnerships with broadcasters, including Bloomberg, KBS in Asia Pacific, Riot Games and Fox Sports Asia, according to Maya Hari, Twitter\u2019s managing director for APAC. She said advertisers would be offered pre-roll and mid-roll ads on its live feed, and added Twitter would focus on \"distribution, conversation and engagement\", and leave content creation to its partners.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AMA demands EHR overhaul, calls them 'poorly designed and implemented' \n Primary care physicians spend more than half of their workday typing data on a computer screen and completing other EHR tasks, according to new research from the University of Wisconsin and the American Medical Association.\n\nResearchers gleaned their findings from EHR event logs. Confirmed by direct observation data, they found that during a typical 11.4-hour workday, primary care physicians spent nearly six hours on data entry and other tasks with EHR systems. The study was published in the Annals of Family Medicine.\n\n[Also: Doctors loathe their EHRs, right? Not these physicians]\n\n\u201cThis study reveals what many primary care physicians already know \u2013 data entry tasks associated with EHR systems are significantly cutting into available time for physicians to engage with patients,\u201d AMA President David O. Barbe, MD, a family physician from Mountain Grove, Missouri, said in a statement.\n\nBarbe blames poorly designed and poorly implemented EHRs for the growing sense among physicians that they are neglecting their patients as they try to keep up with an overload of type-and-click tasks.\n\nDoctor burnout rates are at more than 50 percent, according to Barbe.\n\nAn overhaul of EHR systems is needed to address the lack of actionable data for patient care; convoluted workflows that take time away from patients; and long hours added to difficult clinical days just to complete quality reporting and documentation requirements.\n\nThe AMA is calling for the implementation of eight priorities for improving EHR usability, calling for a reframing the design and configuration of EHR technology to emphasize the following priorities:\n\nEnhance physicians' ability to provide high-quality patient care\n\nSupport team-based care\n\nPromote care coordination\n\nOffer product modularity and reconfigurability\n\nReduce cognitive workload\n\nPromote data liquidity\n\nFacilitate digital and mobile patient engagement\n\nExpedite user input into product design and post-implementation feedback\n\nThe AMA said it recognizes that many of the recommendations can only be implemented in the long-term due to vendor product development life-cycles, limitations of current legacy systems and existing contracts, regulations and institutional policies.\n\n\u201cHowever, there is a great sense of urgency to improve EHRs because every patient encounter and the physician\u2019s ability to provide high-quality care is affected by the current state of usability,\u201d AMA writes in its call for action.\n\nTwitter: @Bernie_HITN\n\nEmail the writer: bernie.monegain@himssmedia.com", "output": "Primary care physicians spend more than half of their workday typing data on a computer screen and completing other EHR tasks, according to new research from the University of Wisconsin and the American Medical Association.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FlyPulse partners with FlytBase to deploy\u00a0defibrillator drones \n Heart disease remains the No. 1 global cause of death with 17.3 million deaths each year, according to \u201cHeart Disease and Stroke Statistics \u2014 2015 Update: A Report From the American Heart Association.\u201d That number is expected to rise to more than 23.6 million by 2030, the report found.\n\nA minuscule number of these patients get defibrillation in-time and survive. The time between the cardiac arrest and defibrillation of the patient is the most crucial factor for achieving higher survival rates.\n\nFlyPulse, a Sweden based company, is building the next-generation technology, based on their specially-designed drones, to address this challenge. LifeDrone AED is a transportation drone, equipped with an automated external defibrillator (AED) \u2014 a portable electronic device that automatically diagnoses the life threatening cardiac arrhythmias and is able to treat them through defibrillation, the application of electrical therapy.\n\n\u201cFlyPulse develops, sells and provide services with LifeDrone AED to medical and rescue service providers. Our system can improve the survival rate for people with cardiac arrest, where it is difficult to arrive with an AED in time with ambulances or other transportation,\u201d explains Sebastian Wallman, Co-Founder and CEO of FlyPulse.\n\nTo reach their goal, FlyPulse needs to build and integrate a number of complex technologies. This includes the mechanical drone system, it\u2019s payload, electronics, and the software to manage complete operations, with a high level of automation. Of course, they have to build a viable business model around this technology and make sure that the technology addresses the requirements of all key stakeholders.\n\nSoftware plays a critical role in the success of this application. They need to integrate the following major modules:\n\nFlight control and safety\n\nPayload management\n\nCloud connectivity for remote telemetry and control\n\nFleet management through a centralized dashboard\n\nLive video streaming for situational awareness and remote patient monitoring\n\nCollision avoidance and airspace management\n\nIntegration with first responders\u2019 applications, emergency help lines, messaging platforms\n\nAuthentication, security and fail-safe management\n\nCustom user and operator mobile/web apps with status updates\n\nAfter careful evaluation of their options, FlyPulse decided to partner with FlytBase, and leverage its products and expertise, to accelerate their drone application development.\n\nSebastian Wallman, CEO of FlyPulse, is excited to announce the partnership, \u201cwe get a very fast pace in our development with the help of FlytBase team and their products. Partnership with companies like FlytBase gives us the development speed we need.\u201d\n\nFlytBase offers the world\u2019s most advanced drone software development platform, with \u201cintelligence\u201d and \u201cconnectivity\u201d as its core features.\n\nFlytOS, its operating system for drones is compatible with the widest range of drones and computer hardware platforms. This enables developers to make their applications agnostic to hardware. It provides a number of other capabilities, like, navigation and control, computer vision, payload management, authentication and security, machine learning, a simulator for testing, SDKs for web/mobile.\n\nFlytBase Cloud extends a number of these capabilities to the cloud. It helps developers manage large fleets of drones, connect over wifi/4G networks, and easily integrate drones with other business applications.\n\nFlytBase has deep expertise in drone technology and has won numbers of start-up awards for their innovation in product and business. They recently graduated from the Cisco Launchpad Accelerator program. Their team of experts has an extensive background in Aerospace, Computer Science, and Robotics.\n\nSebastian comments, \u201c very positive, helpful and skilled team. This is one of the most important reasons why we want to work with FlytBase.\u201d\n\nNitin Gupta, CEO of FlytBase, adds, \u201cFlytBase provides all the critical building-blocks to assist in quick assembly of complex drone applications. We look forward to working closely with FlyPulse team to help them build a successful professional product in the shortest possible time.\u201d", "output": "Swedish drone builder FlyPulse has partnered with Californian drone software developer FlytBase\u00a0to build\u00a0a drone capable of delivering automated external defibrillators\u00a0(AEDs) in emergency situations. The drone will also be able to diagnose life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias and treat them with defibrillation. With global heart disease-related deaths forecast to rise to more than 23.6 million per\u00a0year by 2030, FlyPulse aims to improve survival rates by rapidly cutting down AED delivery times.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lockheed Martin debuts 2 kg tube-launched drone \n LONDON \u2014 Lockheed Martin debuted a lightweight, tube-launched, micro unmanned aircraft system designed and built entirely in the U.K. that can be launched from platforms across domains and the services.\n\nDubbed Outrider, the UAS is 4 inches wide and weighs fewer than 2 kilograms. It can take off from helicopters, vehicles, surface ships and submarines and can also be hand-launched, according to Paul James, Lockheed Martin\u2019s international business development manager for the UAS, who was at DSEI, a defense conference in London, England.\n\nThe company displayed its UAS on Tuesday at its booth on the showroom floor and provided footage of the UAS launching \u2014 at the press of a button \u2014 from a pool of water to simulate its capability to deploy subsurface at periscope depth from a submarine, from a vehicle and by hand.\n\nThe UAS has a folding wing structure in order to fit inside of a canister-launching system. Outrider can fly up to 50 knots and can stay aloft for two and a half hours. The payload sits on the back of the UAS and can be used during the day and at night.\n\nSome scenarios Lockheed envisions for the Outrider include giving submarines the ability to stay undetected and to have deep situational awareness to support either a military operation or to get surveillance on shore over large areas, and \u201cthat information can come back to the submarine in real time,\u201d James said.\n\n\u201cThe same really goes for a military aircraft going through a hostile area where it might need to have an eye in the sky but doesn\u2019t know when it needs to launch it,\u201d he said, \u201cor equally troops carrying hand-launched.\u201d\n\nThe UAS is controlled by Lockheed\u2019s common ground control station. James noted many customers that already have Lockheed drones, and said Outrider can fit into their inventories without a new controller entering the mix. The system can also fly completely autonomously in preprogrammed configurations, he added.\n\nThe UAS was developed through a partnership with Wirth Research, a U.K.-based engineering company with experience in aerodynamics and composite materials gained from work in the motor-racing world, James said.\n\nLockheed is poised to sell Outrider now, according to James, and since it was developed in the U.K. and can be sold in an International Traffic in Arms Regulations-free configuration, it \u201cgives us a wide international market\u201d in which to sell the UAS.\n\nJames said the company is looking for orders from first customers by year\u2019s end.\n\nJen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.", "output": "US defence company Lockheed Martin has unveiled a 2 kg miniature unmanned aircraft system (UAS) dubbed Outrider, which can be hand-launched and fly for more than two hours. Co-developed with UK-based engineering firm Wirth Research, Outrider could enable submarines to stay undetected, or offer military aircraft in a hostile area an \"eye in the sky\". Lockheed is expecting orders for the device by the end of the year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK government wants to keep EU cyber security links post-Brexit \n The UK government will seek to continue to collaborate in-depth with its former European Union (EU) partners on cyber security matters after Brexit.\n\nIt hopes to maintain Britain\u2019s participation in the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security\u2019s (Enisa\u2019s) Cybersecurity Incident Response Team (CSIRT) Network and Network and Information Security (NIS) Cooperation Group, according to recently released position paper on foreign policy and defence.\n\nIn the document, the government set out a wide range of proposals offering the EU a \u201cdeep security partnership\u201d as the region faces a number of significant global threats such as illegal immigration and terrorism, and even raised the prospect of the UK continuing to make financial contributions to EU defence operations.\n\n\u201cThe cyber threat the UK and its European allies face from state actors and non-state actors remains significant,\u201d wrote the paper\u2019s authors.\n\n\u201cThis threat knows no international boundaries and the UK and European partners operate in a single cyber space. We collectively get stronger when each country improves its cyber defences. But we are vulnerable to attacks on parts of the networks that are essential for the day-to-day running of our countries and economies.\u201d\n\nThe UK is already a global leader in the cyber security field, said the government, with last year\u2019s National Security Cyber Strategy reiterating a previous commitment to splash \u00a31.9bn on the UK\u2019s cyber security capabilities.\n\nIt said the UK was one of the first nations to make these capabilities available to support Nato operations, with 22 EU member states also being members of the Nato alliance.\n\nThe UK has worked consistently with EU partners and other allies on the application of international and human rights law in cyber space and diplomatic efforts to counter malicious online activity, among other things.\n\nRead more about Brexit and cyber security Most UK firms are planning to hire extra staff to help them meet the requirements of the EU\u2019s new GDPR data protection regulation.\n\nThe free flow of data after Brexit is essential for UK trade and security, a Lords\u2019 inquiry has found, urging the government to ensure transitional measures are in place.\n\n\u201cCyber security is a key element of protecting European security and values, and to ensure that European nations remain at the forefront of technology. It will continue to grow in importance,\u201d said the paper.\n\n\u201cThe UK is a world leader in cyber security and seeks to maintain the broadest possible cooperation to address the shared cyber security threats that the UK and its European partners face.\u201d\n\nBesides retaining the UK\u2019s participation in the CSIRT network and Cooperation Group, sharing threat information, conducting joint analysis and coordinating investigations into cyber attacks, the government set out a number of other objectives that it will seek to secure agreement on during the ongoing Brexit negotiations.\n\nThese include the continuation of collaboration to promote frameworks for conflict prevention, cooperation and stability in cyber space, to support \u201ccommon prosperity and social well-being\u201d; the continuation of work on developing effective cyber security legislation and international standards and a consistent and robust stance to deter harmful activity; and the continuation of work to encourage the development of the cyber security industry across borders.", "output": "The UK government will seek to \"maintain the broadest possible cooperation\" with the European Union\u2019s cyber security working groups after the country leaves the bloc in 2019, according to a position paper on foreign policy and defence. The document sets out Britain's wish to participate in the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security\u2019s cyber security incident response team network and network and information security cooperation group, but adds that the nation and the EU are \"vulnerable to attacks on parts of the networks that are essential for the day-to-day running of our countries and economies\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GE develops 4 MW onshore turbines to win market share in Europe \n General Electric\u2019s latest turbine release reaffirms the wind industry\u2019s leading trend: the bigger the turbine, the better.\n\nOn Tuesday the company unveiled its 4.8-megawatt turbine, with a rotor diameter of 158 meters, the length of a Boeing 747. The turbine will be among the largest on the market, but likely not for long.\n\n\u201cThis is a much larger turbine than what\u2019s typically out there,\u201d said Aaron Barr, a senior consultant with MAKE Consulting. \u201cThis new class of 4-megawatt turbines has really just hit the market over the last year-and-a-half, and they\u2019re so new that very few of them have been prototyped to date, but every turbine manufacturer is rushing toward this space.\u201d\n\nThe play by GE could make the manufacturer more competitive in the European market, where limited and expensive space for wind farms means bigger turbines are advantageous.\n\nAs shown in the chart below from MAKE's global trends report, the European market\u2019s average turbine is expected to climb past 3 megawatts by 2024.\n\n\u201cThe European market is quickly racing toward this 4-megawatt installment,\u201d said Barr. \u201cThis move to introduce the new larger turbine size is clearly aimed at trying to increase their market share in the European market.\u201d\n\nAccording to MAKE, GE ranked second in the world for onshore wind in 2016, with 12.7 percent market share. But GE held only 8 percent of market share in Europe, coming in sixth place. Barr said about 80 to 90 percent of GE\u2019s current onshore installs are in the 2-megawatt class. With this innovation, the company could change that.\n\nThe announcement comes on the first day of the HUSUM Wind conference in Hamburg, where MAKE expects other platform announcements from competitors like Nordex and Intercon. All are hoping for a larger slice of the blossoming wind market in Europe.\n\nWhile GE\u2019s new turbine represents a bold move forward for the manufacturer, it also speaks to larger forces at work in the onshore wind industry that are especially observable in Europe.\n\nAs turbines get bigger and blades get longer, turbines can produce more energy at lower costs. An August report from MAKE showed turbine sizes steadily climbing globally.\n\nIn 2010, 40 percent of onshore turbines were 2 megawatts or more. In 2016, that figure reached 90 percent.\n\nWhile the growth is more pronounced in Europe, economies of scale mean bigger turbines will also gain in popularity in markets with plentiful, windy space like the United States and Latin America.\n\nAccording to Barr and several members of GE\u2019s onshore team, the innovations are all geared toward achieving the lowest levelized cost of energy (LCOE). \u201cThat\u2019s the whole name of the game,\u201d said Barr. \u201cYou want to maximize the output of every turbine. By doing so, they\u2019re able to limit the LCOE and also generate a lot more energy per turbine.\u201d\n\nWhile GE has not yet disclosed pricing details, the release of this turbine puts LCOE front and center. \u201cThe LCOE race never ends, but our mission is to get out front and stay out front,\u201d said Pete McCabe, GE\u2019s president and CEO of onshore wind business. \u201cThis technology will do it.\u201d\n\nThe company is now making final decisions on design and production logistics (which presents challenges because the blades are so large), as well as European locations for a prototype install. That installation will be complete before the end of next year. The turbine will be on the market for customers by the end of 2019.", "output": "General Electric (GE) has unveiled designs for a 4 MW onshore wind turbine. With a rotor diameter of 158 meters, the turbine is aimed squarely at the European market, where space for wind farms is limited and greater yield from individual turbines is an advantage. The turbine, which generates energy at a lower cost, could help GE to better its sixth place and 8% share of the European onshore-wind market; globally it is number two with\u00a012.7% market share."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple announces Apple Watch Series 3 \n Apple announced its Apple Watch Series 3 today, the first to include LTE connectivity. This means that you can now stream music, make phone calls, and send texts without being tethered to your phone.\n\nJeff Williams, Apple\u2019s chief operating officer, calls the new device \"the ultimate expression of Apple Watch.\" Aside from the LTE watch, Apple CEO Tim Cook also declared the Apple Watch the \"number one watch in the world\" (likely in terms of revenue), beating out Rolex, Fossil, and Omega. Cook also said the device experienced 50 percent year-over-year growth, though Apple was characteristically cagey about sharing unit sales numbers.\n\nThe new Apple Watch Series 3 costs $399 with cellular connectivity, and $329 without it. It's available in either 33mm or 42mm case sizes. Orders start on September 15th, but the watch will be available on September 22nd. You can check on carrier availability here. The Series 1 now starts at $249. The company didn't mention the Series 2, which is likely being replaced by the non-LTE Series 3.\n\nAll models of the Series 3 include a new dual-core processor that Apple says is 70 percent faster, thereby allowing Siri to actually talk. This new W2 chip is said to deliver 85 percent faster Wi-Fi while also being 50 percent more power efficient, which will prove important because of cellular connectivity depleting battery more rapidly. (Apple says the Watch should have up to 18 hours of battery life.)\n\nWilliams says that the Apple Watch team had to rethink how it builds its Watch to accommodate LTE. Instead of a conventional antenna, the display itself serves as the antenna, and although users need a SIM, the Series 3 features a smaller, electronic SIM. Still, even with the cellular connectivity, the Series 3 is the same size as the Series 2, although the back is expanded by 0.25mm.\n\nThe Series 3 Watch comes in gold, silver, or space gray and is being launched with new band colors and styles, including an updated woven nylon. The cellular version features a red digital crown and an exclusive \"explorer\" watchface that'll display cellular connection. Herm\u00e8s and Apple are launching unique models, too, that'll feature designer bands and a watchface inspired by the brand. They start at $1,149.\n\nPrevious Next\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n1 / 36 Previous Next\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n1 / 36\n\nThere have always been workarounds to LTE. You can, for example, store music locally on an Apple Watch (earlier models had 8GB of internal storage with 2GB allocated for music) and play music that way. The Series 2 Watch also had built-in GPS, which means you didn\u2019t need to have your phone with you to get an accurate reading on workout distances.\n\nHowever, this is the first smartwatch from Apple that features true connectivity independent of the phone, which presents some existential questions about smartwatches that we can\u2019t answer until we use the device.", "output": "Apple has announced the Apple Watch Series 3, calling it \"the ultimate expression of Apple Watch\". The device is the company's first to feature long-term evolution (LTE) connectivity, enabling wearers to stream music, send texts and make calls without requiring a smartphone. Apple claims the Series 3 has up to 18 hours of battery life, and all models will include a new dual-core processor, powerful enough to enable conversations with Siri. LTE-enabled\u00a0versions will cost $399, while Apple and Herm\u00e8s are set to launch bespoke models, retailing from $1,149."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nissan marketing boss says ad fraud main issue not brand safety \n The Times' expose into how brands are funding extremist content has provoked action from global marketers to ensure they're not the face of the next brand safety crisis. However, Nissan\u2019s global marketing boss has cautioned that ad fraud is the more damaging problem being overlooked.\n\nThat's not to say Roel de Vries hasn't taken the damning \u2018brands funding terror\u2019 reports seriously. Alongside the marketers from the UK government, Unilever and Johnson & Johnson, it reviewed its media buying processes and bulked up internal know-how. Speaking to The Drum, the head of brand and marketing applauded how much more time and investment is going into blocking and excluding unsafe and illegal sites.\n\nAnd thanks to marketers actively tackling the problem, the dial is moving is moving in the right direction. According to the Media Quality Report from Integral Ad Science, brand safety risk in the UK fell from 6.8% in the second half of 2016 to 3.7% in the first half of 2017.\n\nBut a more pertinent concern is measurement and fraud, with de Vries warning that despite the promises from Google and Facebook to break down the so-called 'walled gardens' it's still a \"risky\" area of the marketing mix.\n\nIn another blow to Facebook - which is still overcoming reports of mismeasurement on video ads from last year - it was found by one research firm to be claiming to advertisers that it can reach more young people than actually exist in the UK, the US and Australia.\n\nIn the UK for example, Facebook says it can reach 7.8 million users aged between 18 and 24, however, the Office of National Statistics notes there were only 5.8 million people in that age group in the whole in the country in 2016.\n\nThis is a big problem for Nissan, which was estimated to have spend over $2bn on ads in 2016.\n\n\u201cThe industry, and the big players in the industry, are still not very secure in making sure that we only buy the real stuff,\" said de Vries.\n\n\u201cThey are going to fix that over time but in my view it\u2019s still not resolved. I\u2019m more worried about our dollars and our pounds going into things that we are not getting results from as opposed to brand safety.\u201d\n\nFollowing the fallout of a 2016 media transparency report from the US Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and K2, a recent World Federation of Advertisers Study WFA found that transparency remains the number one priority for almost half (47%) of brands.\n\nThe figure forecast to be lost to ad fraud in 2017 currently stands at $16.4bn, and the WFA claims that 40% are developing internal solutions to the problem, highlighting a trend for brining digital buying capabilities in-house or working to a hybrid model.\n\nNissan has sought to mitigate the risks of an industry grappling with what\u2019s been described by others as a \u201cmurky at best fraudulent at worst\u201d digital ecosystem by in-housing its digital media buying.\n\nBut away from problems like online safety and viewability, de Vries believes there is a tougher nut to crack \u2013 creativity.\n\nWhile he has recruited in-house digital media specialists, Nissan \u2013 unlike other brands \u2013 doesn't\u2019 have a dedicated in-house media team. Bringing in more internal data and analytics capabilities are high on the agenda but there are elements of this which are still contracted out to agencies, including OMD which handles the brand's media account.\n\n\u201cMy biggest focus now is how we can create agile creative,\u201d he added, giving the example that advancements in digital targeting mean that during the costumer journey Nissan can be faced with over 27 shopper profiles, each in three or four different phases of the purchase consideration \u2013 all of whom could potentially buy a car.\n\n\u201cYou now need 75 or 80 pieces of creative that still lather up to one message and that\u2019s still going to be a bigger challenge in the future,\u201d de Vries asserted.\n\nWith agencies going through an intense period of consolidation, brands have been turning to different models to tackle this step-change \u2013 Airbnb for example works to a hybrid in-house/agency model to produce creative content, while others like Unilever have been turning to UGC platforms like Vidsy to produce various iterations of creative campaigns for local markets or building their own in-house content studios.\n\nFor Nissan, it's unlikely the latter will be an option, with de Vries putting this down to the company's own internal capabilities. When it comes to creating agile content, however, on the production side the brand is \"absolutely\" looking at what should be done in-house and what should be outsourced.\n\nWithin the wider industry, de Vries is firm in his belief that the model is going to change. From Nissan's point of view, it has \"far more\" direct relationships with media owners \u2013 the Google, Facebook, the Twitter as well as big broadcasters \u2013than it has in the past.\n\n\"That trend will continue \u2013 some companies will have internal departments for creative and some will keep outsourcing it but in five years time the industry will look completely different. The role of a creative agency, the role of a media agency, the role of data and analytics, the role of a client; all of these things are changing at a rapid pace.\"\n\nWith change, comes opportunity - and discussion around the role of agencies has not gone unnoticed by management consultancies which are snapping at the heels of creative shops. The likes Accenture and Deloitte are increasingly encroaching into ad land\u2019s turf, and while de Vries acknowledged that his brand is using the services of these businesses more, he remains unconvinced of the role they will play in the creative arena.\n\n\"Today, you see media companies starting to produce creative, you see more creative companies working across data and analytics \u2013 so everybody is jumping on the bandwagon to try and solve these [industry issues] and it\u2019s not clear yet where they will go.\n\nDe Vries is aware that everyone \"wants a piece of the pie\" when it comes to creative; \"we need to think about what the role of the agencies will be, and I think in a few years time the agency grid will look completely different.\"", "output": "Advertising measurement and fraud are more of a concern than brand safety, according to Roel de Vries, Nissan's global head of marketing and brand strategy. With regard to walled garden issues with Facebook and Google, he said: \"The industry, and the big players in the industry, are still not very secure in making sure we only buy the real stuff,\" and added he worried that money was being poured into \"things we are not getting results from\" rather than about brand safety issues. Ad fraud is forecast to cost $16.4bn in 2017, according to a World Federation of Advertisers study.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook enables retailers to recreate print catalogues on mobile \n Facebook has expanded the capabilities of its \u2018collection\u2019 ad format, which enables retailers to display their products in a carousel under a video or image-based ad.\n\nCollection, which was launched back in March, has been given the addition of a new creative format called lifestyle templates. This feature enables retailers to bring digital versions of their print catalogues to mobile via a full-screen template.\n\nIn addition, the new ad format comes with the ability to tag products directly to help with product discovery, and retailers can add a store locator card to their template to show people where there nearest store is.\n\nFurthermore, the feature can be used to re-engage high intent consumers who have previously engaged with the retailer\u2019s Facebook catalogue. Facebook says it only surfaces product categories to the most relevant people.\n\n\u201cGiven the shift to digital, and as eCommerce accounts for more than 50 per cent of our business, innovation is at our core to ensure we continue to tell our brand stories in new formats,\u201d said Felix Carbullido, CMO at kitchenware and home furnishing company Williams-Sonoma. \u201cThe lifestyle template for collection is an exciting opportunity to unify our heritage in catalogue with a new lifestyle digital format designed to inspire our customers to discover new products, all on mobile where we know they are spending their time,\u201d", "output": "Facebook has expanded its Collection ad format to include \"lifestyle templates\". The move allows marketers to display versions of their print catalogues on mobile devices. The full-screen templates allow products to be tagged and let advertisers add a store locator card. The templates\u00a0can be used to re-engage with\u00a0consumers who regularly purchase items, although Facebook said the feature would not be used to swamp people with ads.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon denounces bitcoin as fraud \n JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon took a shot at , saying the cryptocurrency \"is a fraud.\"\n\n\"It's just not a real thing, eventually it will be closed,\" Dimon said Tuesday at the Delivering Alpha conference presented by CNBC and Institutional Investor.\n\nDimon joked that even his daughter bought some bitcoin, looking to cash in on a trend that has seen it soar more than 300 percent this year.\n\n\"I'm not saying 'go short bitcoin and sell $100,000 of bitcoin before it goes down,\" he said. \"This is not advice of what to do. My daughter bought bitcoin, it went up and now she thinks she's a genius.\"\n\nIn an appearance at a separate conference earlier in the day, Dimon said bitcoin mania is reminiscent of the tulip bulb craze in the 17th century.\n\n\"It's worse than tulip bulbs. It won't end well. Someone is going to get killed,\" Dimon said at a banking industry conference organized by Barclays. \"Currencies have legal support. It will blow up.\"\n\nDimon also said he'd \"fire in a second\" any JPMorgan trader who was trading bitcoin, noting two reasons: \"It's against our rules and they are stupid.\"\n\nBitcoin fell to its session lows after Dimon's comments. As of 3:01 p.m. in New York, bitcoin traded at $4,106.23, down 2 percent.\n\nDimon's criticism comes at a time when some of the most well-known figures on Wall Street are starting to embrace the cryptocurrency. Fundstrat's Tom Lee said he sees bitcoin surging to $6,000 next year and value investor Bill Miller reportedly owns bitcoin.", "output": "JP Morgan's CEO Jamie Dimon has said that bitcoin is a 'fraud' that will eventually be closed. He made the remarks in appearances at two conferences in New York on Tuesday, likening the popularity of bitcoin to the tulip bulb craze of the 17th century. Bitcoin initially fell by 2% on his remarks, which he repeated later in the day in another interview. In other remarks, Dimon warned about further declines in trading for JP Morgan, with Q3 trading expected to be down 20% year-on-year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Syrian hospitals turn to solar power to combat fuel supply risk \n Prior to the outbreak of war in 2011, Syria was an electrified nation with 95% of homes connected to a reliable grid system. But after six years this has completely changed. The transmission network and power stations have been destroyed both tactically and accidentally, leaving Syrians predominantly reliant on heavily polluting and expensive diesel generators to keep the lights on.\n\nThe lack of power has had a dramatic effect upon people\u2019s lives, and nowhere is this felt more acutely than within hospitals and health facilities. The UOSSM has set about changing this, by providing solar panels to hospitals to ensure respirators, incubators and operating rooms can always be kept going.\n\nA decimated network\n\nSyria was once a power hub, producing enough power not just for domestic use but also for exportation. This was thanks to a network of 15 power plants, including the Aleppo thermal power plant and three hydropower dams; however, since the outbreak of war, $5bn worth of infrastructure has been destroyed or damaged.\n\n\u201cCivilian parts of [the power network] have been destroyed, power generation capacity in power plants has been completely out of service, certain transmission lines also have been destroyed, and a number of transformer stations have been destroyed,\u201d says UOSSM Syria Solar Initiative projects director Tarek Makidssi. \u201cThe last comprehensive assessment of the power network conditions within Syria as a whole, showed that within the regime areas a number of them still operate but at a much lower capacity.\u201d\n\nElectricity infrastructure has been specifically targeted by different warring factions. The effects of these tactics have left those within opposition held areas in particular without access to reliable power. As such, most have been turning to alternative sources of power. People have been forced to make their own candles out of fats and rice for light, and have turned to diesel generators for electricity. There are a number of downsides to this, including reliability of supply, cost and pollution. But the people of Syria have been left with no alternative.\n\n\u201cSince the outbreak of war, $5bn worth of infrastructure has been destroyed or damaged.\u201d\n\nNow renewables are increasingly being viewed as a means to securing energy independence. \u201cWe see renewables as a way to transition from diesel to increase the resilience of the population, to increase the resilience of critical infrastructure, to reduce dependence of diesel, the commodity at the centre of the war economy, and we see it as the first way to break the cycle of this economy as there is a different alternative,\u201d says Makidssi.\n\nSolar panels for hospitals\n\nThe concept of installing solar panels on hospitals was first suggested by the UOSSM in 2013, when it became apparent that hospitals along with other health organisations had to rely solely on diesel generators for power.\n\n\u201cThen, in the middle of 2015, there was a huge diesel cut when the route that usually brought fuel to the area was disputed between different armed groups,\u201d says Makidssi. \u201cThat caused the markets to suddenly shrink, which was especially bad for hospitals because there\u2019s only a certain amount that they could actually procure. So at that point, larger NGOs started to actually look at alternative power planning and feasibility studies and primary agencies evaluated some system development work for it which came through last March.\u201d\n\nWork began to install UOSSM\u2019s first solar panels at the end of 2016, and continued throughout the winter into 2017, despite dangerous conditions. The system is now in operation at the hospital, providing a security of supply of power. \u201cIt\u2019s a hybrid PV system based on an energy storage system and a diesel generator that runs in parallel,\u201d says Makidssi. \u201cThe system is composed of 480 solar PV modules, each at 265W capacity, formulating a 127KW PV system PV capacity.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe system throughout the year is expected to generate 30%-40% of the hospital\u2019s total energy use,\u201d Makidssi continues. \u201cThis, obviously, is in the standard operating scenario where you do have diesel in the market and you are operating at full capacity in the hospital.\u201d Alternatively, should there be a problem with supply, the solar panels will ensure that key parts of the hospital such as surgical rooms are able to remain active.\n\nA modular system was specifically chosen to ease maintenance and operations, \u201cbecause you can have certain sections of the system offline and still have the rest of the system operating and providing electricity,\u201d says Makidssi. There were 18 inverters installed within this project.\n\nDuring installation, the local maintenance team at the hospital were trained to be able to operate the PV system, as well as make basic repairs using locally sourced materials should the panels or other elements become damaged.\n\nHumanitarian solar power\n\nOne particular area where renewable power could make a difference is within refugee camps. A recent report titled \u2018Heat, Light and Power for Refugees: Saving Lives, Reducing Costs\u2019 by Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, showed that current systems providing energy to displaced populations are economically, environmentally and socially unsustainable. The report claims that in 2014 the cost of household energy usage for displaced peoples was an estimated $2.1bn. This amounted to 3.5 million tonnes of oil equivalent.\n\nAlternatively, the report states that \u201cthe widespread introduction of improved cook stoves and basic solar lanterns could save $323m a year in fuel costs in return for a one-time capital investment of $335m for the equipment\u201d.\n\nAlong with the economic benefits, there are also clear environmental and safety incentives. Diesel generators, kerosene lamps and wood fires are dangerous. However, governments have been resistant to pursuing renewable power networks within refugee camps, as to do so would accept a level of permanence.\n\n\u201cThe widespread introduction of improved cook stoves and basic solar lanterns could save $323m a year in fuel costs in return for a one-time capital investment of $335m for the equipment.\u201d\n\nRenewables, in particular solar, have been making a contribution to relief efforts elsewhere. Following the 2015 earthquakes in Nepal, 1.4 million people were in need of immediate help. NGO Sunfarmer set about raising money and providing solar powered water purification to ensure those affected had access to clean water.\n\nSolar lanterns have now been used in the wake of several disasters, including the Haitian earthquake in 2010. Access to clean, safe and economical sources of light has many benefits, not least safety for women and girls to move about at night as they are particularly at risk following disasters.\n\nSolar for Syria?\n\nLooking towards the future, there is hope that solar, amongst other renewable sources, will play an increasingly important role within Syria. UOSSM alone is pursuing five more solar PV projects for hospitals around the country.\n\n\u201cThose hospitals have been selected based on criteria that ensure diversity of medical services that are provided in case of an all diesel outage,\u201d says Makidssi. \u201cWe see them as low risk of vandalism; the hospitals were selected after a comprehensive survey of 140 hospitals.\u201d\n\nAs Syria moves forwards, a new energy network will have to be practically built up from the ground. While this is a colossal task, it also brings new opportunities regarding which energy sources it will be reliant on. But Syria\u2019s energy priorities remain unclear and dependant on stability. Despite solar powers obvious advantages, there will be challenges to overcome.\n\nNot least is Syria\u2019s inexperience with solar power, something which provided one of the greatest challenges to UOSSM\u2019s project. \u201cBecause it\u2019s the first time a project of this scale has been deployed in Syria\u2026sometimes we had problems with material access, with logistics, with the capacities we needed in order to actually deploy the system,\u201d says Makidssi. This lack of experience and easily accessible technology will undoubtedly play a role in the uptake of solar.\n\nA key consideration is Russia and its involvement with the Bashar al-Assad regime\u2019s and Syria. Russia entered the Syrian war in 2013, bombing opposition forces despite US and western condemnation. Its motives have been questioned, and it seems clear that oil plays a role in Russia\u2019s interest in the conflict. The Russian energy company Soyuzneftegaz has a permit for exploration in Syrian waters, and it has been suggested that Assad has signed agreements giving Russia the right to operate regardless of a change of government.\n\nRussia suffered greatly for the downturn in oil prices, and a large portion of its economic policy remains reliant of oil and gas exports. As such, it seems evident that it will be backing oil and gas activity in Syria which would deprioritise renewables such as solar.\n\nNations recovering from war have found the high CAPEX required by renewables hard to come by, and in the dash to rebuild a country, refurbishments to previous thermal power stations have been favoured. In Iraq, despite the war officially ending in 2011, access to reliable energy remains out of reach. Diesel generators still account for 8% of the country\u2019s total electricity supply and the country is an estimated quarter short of meeting demand. Foreign companies have a monopoly over its oil and gas fields, while alternative potential power sources are largely ignored. As the country endeavour\u2019s to rebuild its economy, investment focus remains firmly with hydrocarbons, a situated Syria could easy fall into.\n\nNone of this bodes particularly well for solar power. But some remain optimistic that with stability will come greater decentralisation, and a greater focus on renewables. \u201cPreviously we\u2019ve had a very centralised national grid,\u201d says Makidssi, \u201cand in the future there are a number of considerations and a number of points of view about how this will transition in the post-conflict era.\n\n\u201cI personally see it heading more towards decentralisation, perhaps more along the lines of local mini-grids. Syrians can have local renewable energy based mini grids for different villages, or combine three or four villages together to make a mini grid.\u201d", "output": "Hospitals in Syria are being fitted with solar panels to help secure their energy needs amid uncertainty over fuel supplies. The national electricity network in Syria has been crippled by the civil war, with $5bn of infrastructure destroyed or damaged, leaving hospitals largely reliant on diesel generators. International humanitarian alliance UOSSM began installing solar panels at one hospital at the end of 2016, and the system is expected to provide 30-40% of the facility's energy needs, making it more resilient to future fuel shortages."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Talks continue over expanding UK exports of pig trotters to China \n Negotiations will continue on getting permission for more meat plants to export trotters to China, after three plants were granted permission last month.\n\nBut it will not be a quick process and might not happen until at least 2018, AHDB Pork strategy director Mick Sloyan told the recent NPA\u2019s producer group meeting.\n\nIn August, it was announced that two plants in Northern Ireland \u2013 Karro\u2019s Cookstown plant and Cranswick\u2019s Ballymena facility \u2013 had been approved for export to China, including trotters. A third plant \u2013 Cranswick\u2019s Hull facility, already approved for export to China \u2013 was also approved to export trotters.\n\nWhile this provides a timely boost for the sector, there is a disappointment that the approval for trotters doesn\u2019t apply to other pig meat plants already approved for export to China.\n\nMr Sloyan explained that the two Northern Ireland plants were inspected by Chinese officials in 2015, along with Cranswick\u2019s Hull factory, initially with a view to wider UK permission for trotters.\n\nBut, while the three inspected plants have got the go ahead, the Chinese authorities have now confirmed they want to inspect other plants individually before granting permission.\n\nMr Sloyan said: \u201cWe are pressing to get the rest of the country approved for trotters without the need for inspection. That\u2019s going to be hard work \u2013 the chances are there will need to be an inspection visit and that\u2019s not going to happen this year. It may happen next year.\u201d\n\nHe praised the work of the British Embassy in Beijing in helping to secure the latest deal, alongside the efforts of UK and Northern Ireland Government officials, AHDB and the meat processors.\n\nGet Our E-Newsletter - Pig World's best stories in your in-box twice a week See e-newsletter example Will be used in accordance with our Privacy Policy", "output": "Negotiations to allow more British producers to export pig trotters to China are continuing, after three UK facilities were approved to begin supplying the product. While\u00a0Karro gained approval for exports from its Cookstown plant in Northern Ireland, and Cranswick for its plants in Ballymena and Hull, the\u00a0Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board\u00a0(AHDB) is frustrated at the slow pace of approvals. Chinese officials had inspected the sites in 2015, but only gave them the nod in August. Chinese officials said they wish to inspect other facilities individually, meaning any further approvals for exports may not\u00a0happen until 2018 at the earliest, the AHDB said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Swedish researchers look to extract lignin from wheat straw \n In Sweden, University of Bor\u00e5s researchers are investigating ways to extract and refine lignin from wheat straw for use in industrial applications.\n\nLignocellulosic ethanol plants currently use lignin to heat and power plants, but high investment costs and low profitability are driving the need to valorize more of fractions.\n\n\u201cIf biofuels are to become a reality, we need to realize the industrial potential of lignin and get more value from it,\u201d says UB research Swarnima Agnihotri. \u201cSeeing the complexity and richness of its functional groups, there are various potential applications of lignin by converting it in variety of value added products like high performance carbon fiber, bio-oil and vanillin, to name a few.\u201d\n\nOnce the extraction from wheat straw is optimized, the group will work to transform the pure lignin into bio-oil through a hydrothermal liquefaction process.\n\nAgnihotri\u2019s work is part of AGROinLOG, a European Union Horizon 2020 project.", "output": "Researchers from the University of Bor\u00e5s in Sweden are developing a method to efficiently turn lignin from waste wheat straw into bio-oil-based products. While the use of lignin-based feedstock in ethanol plants is not new, these projects' low profitability has meant they are unsuitable for commercial production. However, the researchers are still developing the hydrothermal liquefaction process for transforming the lignin into high-value bio-oil. Lignin can also be converted into high-performance carbon fibre, bio-oil and vanillin, researcher Swarnima Agnihotri said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Swedish researchers look to extract lignin from wheat straw \n Lignin, a waste product in biomass and ethanol production, now finds new value as bio-oil in new products. At the University of Bor\u00e5s, Sweden, a team of researchers has investigated methods to extract and refine lignin for industrial applications.\n\nWhile the commercial lignocellulose-to-ethanol plants use lignin after pretreatment as biomass feedstock to heat and power plants, in the Horizon 2020 project AGROinLOG, lignin is instead transformed into bio-oil-based products.\n\nThe researcher Swarnima Agnihotri has spent a year at the University of Bor\u00e5s refining the methods to extract the lignin from lignin-rich wheat straw. She says, \"If biofuels are to become a reality, we need to realize the industrial potential of lignin and get more value from it. Seeing the complexity and richness of its functional groups, there are various potential applications of lignin by converting it in variety of value added products like high performance carbon fibre, bio-oil and vanillin, to name a few.\"\n\nThe project uses an agricultural residue, wheat straw, which is available in surplus in Sweden, and also in other European countries.\n\nWhat is there to gain for the society or industry from your part of the project?\n\nWheat straw lignin valorization will add value to the whole process, and in turn provide benefit to industry, as well as further insight in creating value from lignin, which has been considered a waste until now.\n\nIntegration of lignocellulose-based feedstock in ethanol plants is not new. There are a number of techniques already producing ethanol from lignocelluloses at commercial scale.\n\nIt is the high investment costs and the low profitability of the process which needs to be addressed. The goal with this AGROinLOG project will be to see the possibilities of adding a high valuable byproduct, eg. bio-oil, to the whole production chain, and therefore increase the profitability of the process.\n\nWhat challenges did you face in the project?\n\nFinding a cost-effective biomass fractionation process was a challenge. There is a lot of ongoing research on pretreatment for a better lignin extraction from lignocelluloses, but still the main challenge is to bring the cost down. The results are interesting and motivating.\n\nWhat is the next step in the project?\n\nNow, when we have optimized an efficient pretreatment process for effective lignin extraction from wheat straw, we will scale up the process, and the pure lignin obtained will be transformed into bio-oil through a hydrothermal liquefaction process done, that is, extracting liquid and get a concentrated oil. The bio-oil product obtained will be a high valuable byproduct since it can be further upgraded in refineries to obtain green chemicals and biofuels.\n\nProvided by University of Bor\u00e5s", "output": "Researchers from the University of Bor\u00e5s in Sweden are developing a method to efficiently turn lignin from waste wheat straw into bio-oil-based products. While the use of lignin-based feedstock in ethanol plants is not new, these projects' low profitability has meant they are unsuitable for commercial production. However, the researchers are still developing the hydrothermal liquefaction process for transforming the lignin into high-value bio-oil. Lignin can also be converted into high-performance carbon fibre, bio-oil and vanillin, researcher Swarnima Agnihotri said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's Huawei lures graduates to Japan lab with double pay \n TOKYO -- China's Huawei Technologies is causing a stir among young Japanese job seekers by offering monthly salaries of around $4,000 for prospective science and engineering graduates.\n\nHuawei, the world's No. 3 smartphone maker by sales, will set up a major \"production research laboratory\" in Japan as early as this year, and is determined to hire the best engineers.", "output": "China's Huawei Technologies is seeking to lure graduates to work in its new Japanese production research lab with an offer of monthly salaries that are roughly double those paid by local rivals.\u00a0The company will pay bachelor's degree holders upwards of JPY401,000 ($3,650) per month and monthly salaries for master's degree holders will start at JPY430,000. The move is intended to draw talent that would otherwise opt to work for Japanese rivals, such as SoftBank, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pollution crackdown dents output in China's Shandong province \n A man rides a scooter along a street in heavy smog in Liaocheng, Shandong. The government\u2019s efforts to improve air quality have led to the closure of dozens of oil and chemical plants in the province. Photo: Reuters", "output": "China's attempts to curb emissions from energy plants in Shandong province are putting small and medium-sized oil and\u00a0chemical businesses\u00a0under pressure as refineries struggle to comply with new standards. While random environmental inspections formerly scrutinised large state-owned facilities, the authorities' targeting of smaller companies has caused 30 independent refineries to shut since mid-July. Additionally, a number of chemical plants making propylene oxide (PO), PVC and rubber tyres in the region have stopped production, according to industry sources and market analysts. The amount of lost production is not known;\u00a0however, China's imports of PO have risen 40% since the start of the year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SA anti-corruption campaign targets KPMG and McKinsey \n T he speed with which anti-business campaigns can snowball in the internet age never ceases to amaze.\n\nFollowing last week\u2019s implosion of Bell Pottinger over its South African smear campaign for the Gupta family, KPMG is in the line of fire.\n\nThe accounting giant is auditor to the Guptas, who are accused of winning state contracts due to their friendship with the president Jacob Zuma. KPMG, anti-Zuma campaigners allege, played a \u201ccentral role in facilitating state capture\u201d.\n\nAlready, stung by virulent social media, several South African companies have distanced themselves from the firm.\n\nThe world\u2019s press has picked up on the digital buzz in South Africa, and today KPMG finds itself splashed all over the Financial Times. Desperate to get ahead of the story, KPMG has launched a review into its Gupta work and pledged to \u201crebuild the public\u2019s trust\u201d, an admission its reputation has been badly damaged.\n\nNext will surely be McKinsey. Its South African operation is accused of turning a blind eye to corrupt payments to the Guptas by the state utility Eskom, a McKinsey client.\n\nMcKinsey has launched an independent inquiry into itself, but that won\u2019t stop the clamour. Particularly after Reuters today quoted ex-McKinsey employees saying that local staff warned the firm off the contract as early as 2013. Back in the day, multinationals would have seen little blowback in their important western markets from such African skirmishes.\n\nNow, with Twitter and Facebook having the power to spread bad news globally in milliseconds, a well-organised local campaign in a faraway place can sink a business within weeks.\n\nBell Pottinger, once famed for its skills in organising such campaigns itself, will not be the last to learn that to its cost.\n\nBarclays battler back\n\nAn update from a pal at Barclays\u2019 Canary Wharf tower gives cause for cheer.\n\nBack in March, in the aftermath of the Westminster terror attack, we were looking for positive stories to counter the gloom. We alighted on Barclays in Canary Wharf, where 60 traders were spending the day on a charity effort on the office gym\u2019s StairMasters to \u201cclimb Mount Everest\u201d.\n\nTheir efforts \u2014 which raised a chunky \u00a370,000 \u2014 were to support their colleague on European rates sales, Tarun Mathur, who was fighting a gruelling battle with cancer.\n\nI\u2019m delighted to report that Tarun yesterday returned to the bank\u2019s vast dealing room for the first time, to a standing ovation from the whole floor. The noise resounded across the North Colonnade, leaving not a dry eye in the house.\n\nGreat to have you back, Tarun. Now, crack on and tell us when the ECB\u2019s putting up rates.", "output": "KPMG faces criticism and its clients being urged to sever ties with the firm over its alleged involvement in controversial business deals in South Africa. The Save South Africa campaign says the company risks \"becoming the Bell Pottinger of the auditing profession.\"\u00a0It accuses KPMG of being\u00a0involved in numerous deals by members of the Gupta family, which has faced widespread public criticism amid accusations of corruption in their links to President Zuma's government. McKinsey is also now under scrutiny as its South African operation stands accused of turning a blind eye to corrupt payments made to the Guptas by one of its clients, Eskom."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SA anti-corruption campaign targets KPMG and McKinsey \n Campaign call on corporates to urgently review business relations with auditing firm\n\nKPMG could be the next Bell Pottinger\n\nThe Save South Africa campaign calls on corporate South Africa to urgently review business relations with KPMG in light of ongoing revelations about the audit firm\u2019s central role in facilitating state capture -- and to cancel their contracts where possible.\n\nWe support demands by other civil society organisations, including FutureSA, for ongoing action and pressure against KPMG, as well as full investigations by regulatory bodies into their relationship with the Gupta family.\n\nOrganised business, including formations such as Business Leadership South Africa and Business Unity South Africa, must take a clear stand given that many corporates continue to use KPMG as their auditors despite the revelations. These include British American Tobacco, BHP Billiton and other mining companies, a number of leading financial institutions \u2013 including Standard Bank, Old Mutual, Barclays Africa, Absa, Investec and Nedbank \u2013 and the JSE itself.\n\n(A full list of South African companies using KPMG for auditing services is published here: http://www.biznews.com/global-investing/2017/08/10/kpmg-gupta-state-capture/)\n\nKPMG was clearly a central player in several controversial Gupta deals, including the acquisition of Optimum coal mine and Shiva uranium mine. It was also involved in \u201cauditing\u201d Linkway Trading\u201a which channeled R30m in public money to fund the Gupta wedding in Sun City, and helped Duduzane Zuma and the Guptas set up shop in Dubai by advising on investments and company formation there.", "output": "KPMG faces criticism and its clients being urged to sever ties with the firm over its alleged involvement in controversial business deals in South Africa. The Save South Africa campaign says the company risks \"becoming the Bell Pottinger of the auditing profession.\"\u00a0It accuses KPMG of being\u00a0involved in numerous deals by members of the Gupta family, which has faced widespread public criticism amid accusations of corruption in their links to President Zuma's government. McKinsey is also now under scrutiny as its South African operation stands accused of turning a blind eye to corrupt payments made to the Guptas by one of its clients, Eskom."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurtech Metromile secures reinsurance package \n Pay-per-mile personal auto insurer Metromile announced a partnership with global reinsurance broker JLT Re for a risk transfer and unique reinsurance agreement. Hudson Bermuda led this reinsurance agreement which also includes MAPFRE RE.\n\nMetromile said the agreement gives it additional leverage for future growth.\n\nMetromile claims that while the industry is grappling with an increase in frequency of claims, its pay-per-mile model creates a hedge against this trend. That makes the company attractive to reinsurers because of the lower volatility in the loss ratio, according to an Preston, CEO, Metromile.\n\n\u201cThis reinsurance agreement provides continued validation that the pay-per-mile model is efficient and highly scalable,\u201d said Preston. \u201cIt also emphasizes our innovative customer experience and strong retention which is driven by our customers\u2019 desire for technology-first solutions.\n\nMetromile uses machine learning for claims modeling, which lowers risk and further enhances the model\u2019s appeal to reinsurers, according to Preston. Last month Metromile paid its first completely automated claim.\n\nMetromile\u2019s pay-per-mile insurance is currently available in seven states, including California, Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia. and Washington.\n\nJLT Re\u2019s Insurtech and Transportation teams led by Gregg Holtmeier and David Johnson, worked with Hudson Structured Capital Management and MAPFRE RE to develop the bespoke agreement. JLT Re is part of the Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc.\n\nRelated:\n\nTopics Carriers Reinsurance", "output": "Pay-per-mile auto insurer Metromile has secured a reinsurance agreement led by Hudson Bermuda. The firm said its use of machine learning, which it utilises in its claims modelling, makes it appealing to reinsurers. Metromile is available in seven US states. The reinsurance agreement will allow the insurtech firm to pursue future growth, according to a company statement. \u00a0\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "LNG exporter Tellurian buys Haynesville shale assets \n Houston-based Tellurian Inc. last week veered into the upstream sector, making a deal to buy gassy Haynesville Shale acreage near its planned natural gas export facility in Louisiana.\n\nA subsidiary of Tellurian last Thursday made an $85.1 million pact with a private, undisclosed seller for some producing assets and undeveloped acreage in northern Louisiana.\n\n\u201cAcquisition of natural gas producing assets is integral to our growing business,\u201d said CEO Meg Gentle. She formerly was a top executive at LNG developer Cheniere Energy Inc., co-founded by Tellurian cofounder Charif Souki.\n\n\u201cWe expect our full-cycle cost of production and transport to markets will be approximately $2.25/MMBtu, which represents a significant savings to natural gas we will purchase at Henry Hub and other regional liquidity points,\u201d Gentle said.\n\nIncluded in the transaction, set to close by the end of November, are 9,200 net acres in Red River, DeSoto and Natchitoches parishes, with 138 operated Haynesville and Bossier sand drilling locations. Tellurian estimated the total resource potential at 1.3 Tcf.\n\nThe properties now have 19 producing wells with net output of 4 MMcf/d, along with associated midstream facilities that have additional capacity available.\n\nThe acreage is 100% held by production and 92% operated, which would allow Tellurian to control the pace of development for its multi-year drilling inventory.\n\nTellurian is developing the Driftwood LNG export terminal in Louisiana\u2019s Calcasieu Parish south of Lake Charles, which would be able to export up to 26 million metric tons/year, requiring up to 4 Bcf/d of feed gas. The design for the project, now set to go online in 2022, includes five plants, each composed of one gas pretreatment unit and four liquefaction units.\n\nA 96-mile pipeline would deliver feed gas to the facility from the interstate pipeline grid, according to the filing with FERC [PF16-6]. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved Driftwood\u2019s pre-filing request in June 2016.\n\nIn August 2016, Tellurian merged with privately held Magellan Petroleum Corp.to advance the Driftwood project and other ventures. By late 2016, other takers were coming aboard. In November 2016, GE Oil & Gas made a $25 million preferred equity investment in Tellurian. Last December Paris-based oil major Total SA , which works in the Barnett Shale in North Texas, bought a 23% stake in Tellurian for $207 million.\n\n\u201cActually owning a stake in production, and doing it much closer to the LNG facility, both secures supply and should minimize transportation costs,\u201d said NGI\u2019s Patrick Rau, director of strategy and research. \u201cTellurian could take that vertical integration one step further by owning a stake in the production.\u201d\n\nSeveral local distribution companies have tried to vertically integrate in similar ways via a regulated cost-of-service model, but not all public utility commissions are amenable, Rau said. \u201cThere\u2019s no such worry with Tellurian.\u201d\n\nTotal\u2019s stake in Telluride is not a new concept. BG Group plc, formerly one of the largest global LNG players now owned by Royal Dutch Shell plc, once had a 50-50 joint venture with Exco Resources Inc.in the Haynesville, and BG also held export capacity at Cheniere\u2019s Sabine Pass LNG export facility in Texas.\n\n\u201cHaving supply close to the export facility was part of the concept there,\u201d Rau said.", "output": "Tellurian has agreed to buy 9,200 acres in the Haynesville shale for $85.1m from an unidentified company, the first US firm to secure cheap natural gas for its export terminal by producing the power-plant fuel\u00a0itself. It eventually wants 40% of the gas supplying its\u00a0Driftwood LNG facility, due to begin production in 2022, to come\u00a0from its own wells."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "India rejects Russia offer for stake in five Siberian oil fields \n NEW DELHI: India has rejected Russia\u2019s offer of stake in five more oilfields in the Vankor Cluster in Siberia as it doesn\u2019t want to concentrate its upstream investments in just one country, people with direct knowledge of the negotiations said. Indian state oil firms are now taking it easy after having invested about $5.4 billion last year to buy substantial stakes in two Russian fields. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to put all our eggs in just one basket. Russia can keep offering fields but we can\u2019t keep accepting every offer,\u201d one of the persons cited earlier told ET. Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), Oil India, IndianOil and Bharat Petroleum together bought 49.9% in Vankor last year for about $4.22 billion from Russian state firm Rosneft. Indian companies also signed a preliminary pact with Rosneft early last year to buy stake in three satellite fields, referred to as the Vankor Cluster. Oil India is leading the negotiations for five state firms, including ONGC, IndianOil, BPCL and HPCL, which are interested in the Vankor cluster. Mid-way through the negotiations, Rosneft had offered to club five more fields in the same region to the three that were already on the table, another person said.These five fields are not developed assets. Indian companies had a preliminary look at the offer and then conveyed to Rosneft that they had no interest in the five new fields being offered and would like to limit their negotiations to just three fields of Suzunskoye, Tagulskoye and Lodochnoye that were already being discussed, he said.This new offer and rejection delayed the negotiation for the Vankor Cluster, which has taken one and a half years and not yet closed, the person cited earlier said. \u201cThe evaluation is underway. We have invested enough in Russia, so there is no urgency to quickly seal the deal,\u201d he said. \u201cBesides, there are competing investment opportunities across the globe for Indian oil firms, which have limited capital and wouldn't want to put all of it in just one region.\u201dInvestments in Russian fields so far have been a mixed bag, with some of the fields offering rich dividends and others turning out to be dud. Selling stake in oilfields last year brought oil-rich Russia lot of cash, which was useful in dealing with hardship due to sanctions imposed by the US. India has been trying to diversify its energy security risk by procuring from a range of suppliers across geographies and spreading out upstream investments across regions.", "output": "India has rejected Russia\u2019s offer of a stake in five more oilfields in the Vankor Cluster in Siberia after state oil firms invested $5.4bn last year on substantial stakes in two Russian fields, according to people with direct knowledge of the negotiations.\u00a0Oil and Natural Gas Corp, Oil India, IndianOil and Bharat PetroleumBSE together bought 49.9% in Vankor last year for about $4.22 billion from Russian state firm Rosneft. Indian companies also signed a preliminary pact with Rosneft early last year to buy stake in three satellite fields, referred to as the Vankor Cluster.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FirstEnergy to sell 1.6 GW of assets to LS Power Equity for $825m \n Dive Brief:\n\nFirstEnergy Corp. announced yesterday that it has revised the terms of sale for several generating assets to LS Power Equity Parners III LP, lowering the price and raising the capacity first announced in January.\n\nFirstEnergy now says it has entered into a revised agreement for the sale of 1,615 MW of competitive natural gas and hydroelectric generation assets located in Pennsylvania and Virginia for an all-cash price of $825 million.\n\nWhen the deal was announced in January, the transaction included 1,572 MW of generation capacity being sold for $925 million in cash.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nNo explanation was given for revisions to the deal, but FirstEnergy says its plan remains the same: transition to a fully regulated company and exit from commodity-exposed generation.\n\nAs originally announced, the assets included: Bath County Hydro, a 713-MW pumped-storage hydro plant in Warm Springs, Va.; five units totaling 638 MW of the Springdale facility in Springdale Township, Pa.; two units totaling 88 MW at the Chambersburg plant in Guildford Township, Pa.; two units totaling 88 MW at the Gans station in Springhill Township, Pa., and the 45 MW Hunlock Creek plant in Hunlock Creek, Pa.\n\nThe revised deal also includes Allegheny Energy Supply's indirect interest in a joint venture that owns the Buchanan Generating Facility in Oakwood, Va., which accounts for another 43 MW of gas generation. This asset was not included in the original purchase agreement.\n\nThe transaction involving the Springdale, Chambersburg, Gans and Hunlock power stations is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2017. The sale of the interests in Bath and Buchanan is expected to close in the first quarter of 2018, the company said.\n\nLast year, FirstEnergy said it could sell more than a dozen power plants as it shifts back toward a focus on its regulated assets. A series of regulatory approvals will be required for the sales to go through. The utility, along with AEP, has attempted to win income supports from regulators for a group of aging coal and nuclear plants, but were forced to change approach after FERC blocked the subsidies.\n\nFirstEnergy said it expects proceeds from the sale will be invested in its unregulated money pool and may be used for the repayment of debt and other corporate purposes. Once the divestiture is complete, FirstEnergy will own or control generating capacity totaling more than 15,000 MW from a range of technologies across Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New Jersey, Virginia and Illinois.", "output": "FirstEnergy said that it has revised the terms of sale for several generating assets to LS Power Equity Parners III LP.\u00a0It will now sell 1,615 MW of competitive natural gas and hydroelectric generation assets located in Pennsylvania and Virginia for an all-cash price of $825m after agreeing in\u00a0January to sell 1,572 MW of generation capacity\u00a0for $925m.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Kidman, SQM sign $110m lithium joint venture \n Kidman Resources has finalised a $US110 million, 50-50 joint venture agreement with Chile\u2019s SQM (Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile) at the Mt Holland lithium operations in Western Australia.\n\nThe two companies, which flagged they would form a JV in July, intend to build a mine and concentrator producing 6 per cent lithium concentrate.\n\nThey eventually aim to develop a refinery \u2014 currently undergoing a feasibility study \u2014 for the production of lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide, dependent on the continued potential of the in-demand ore.\n\nThe JV represents a considerable step for Kidman into the lucrative lithium mining industry, drawing on what the company\u2019s managing director Martin Donahue refers to as SQM\u2019s \u201cconsiderable metallurgical expertise\u201d.\n\nKidman will retain sole marketing rights to its 50 per cent share of lithium production, as well as all rights to Mt Holland\u2019s gold resources as part of the deal.\n\nThe $US110 million JV is broken into two parts. SQM is paying $US30 million for a 50 per cent share of the Mt Holland tenements, while the remaining $US80 million will also be paid by SQM for further project funding.\n\nSQM is one of the world\u2019s major players in the lithium industry, controlling 26 per cent of the global market as of January 2017.\n\nWA has experienced a boom in lithium production over the last year, increasing from just one mine to seven, and also hosts the world\u2019s largest lithium mine, Greenbushes, a joint Sino-American venture.\n\nLithium has become something of a hot property in the mining industry, with its demand fuelled in part by emerging technological developments.\n\nAustralia is the world\u2019s largest lithium-producing country, though the so-called South American \u2018Lithium Triangle\u2019 of Chile (the world\u2019s second-biggest producer), Bolivia, and Argentina edge out Australian reserves overall.\n\nDemand for emerging green technologies, such as solar panels, EVs, (the upcoming Tesla Model 3 is expected to be a game-changer for the nascent electric car industry) and flow batteries, as well as high demand from Chinese producers, have all been explained as reasons behind the surge in popularity.", "output": "Kidman Resources has finalised a $110m, 50-50 joint venture agreement with Chile\u2019s SQM to exploit lithium resources at Mt\u00a0Holland in Western Australia.\u00a0The two companies, which flagged they would form a JV in July, intend to build a mine and concentrator producing 6%\u00a0lithium concentrate.\u00a0They eventually aim to develop a refinery\u00a0for the production of lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide.\u00a0Kidman will retain sole marketing rights to its 50%\u00a0share of lithium production, as well as all rights to Mt Holland\u2019s gold resources.\u00a0SQM is paying $30m for a 50% share of the Mt Holland tenements, while the remaining $80m will also be paid by SQM for further project funding.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tianqi says expansion of world's biggest lithium mine to go ahead \n A looming legal dispute will not affect plans by China\u2019s Tianqi Lithium to expand its Greenbushes mine or double the capacity of a proposed processing plant at Kwinana, according to the company\u2019s Australian general manager.\n\nIn June, Tianqi announced a 1.34Mtpa expansion of its Greenbushes mine in the South West to provide feedstock for a doubling of capacity of its proposed lithium hydroxide plant from 24,000tpa to 48,000tpa to supply the burgeoning electric vehicle battery market.\n\nBut the Resource Capital Funds-owned Global Advanced Metals, which has rights to other minerals at Greenbushes, has taken issue with the company\u2019s plans, arguing the expansion will effectively waste its tantalum resource.\n\nThe Greenbushes mine is the world\u2019s biggest lithium mine, producing 31 per cent of global supply, and is operated by Talison Lithium, a joint venture between Tianqi (51 per cent) and US-based Albemarle Corporation (49 per cent).\n\nGAM argues Talison did not discuss its expansion plans for Greenbushes with it as required by a reserved minerals rights agreements over the asset. It wants the company to halt the expansion and negotiate in good faith before proceeding.\n\nTianqi Lithium\u2019s Australian boss Phil Thick told a Benchmark Mineral Intelligence conference in Perth yesterday he thought the dispute would be resolved.\n\n\u201cOur legal opinion is about as crystal-clear as I\u2019ve seen \u2014 we\u2019re going ahead with the expansion,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not my company so I\u2019m speaking a bit out of school but I expect they\u2019ll just come to a commercial settlement at some point that will allow them to go on.\n\n\u201cBut it\u2019s not stopping us in any way and I\u2019m not concerned about it.\u201d\n\nGAM chief executive Andrew O\u2019Donovan said the company\u2019s tantalum rights at Greenbushes were valuable and critical to its position as the global leader in the integrated supply of a range of tantalum products for use in high-tech industries.\n\nHe said Talison had not complied with its contractual obligations to GAM.\n\nMr Thick said Kwinana would be Tianqi\u2019s global headquarters outside of China. The company wanted to be considered in the same league as Rio Tinto, BHP, Woodside and Wesfarmers in terms of sponsorship and support of the WA community.", "output": "A looming legal dispute won't affect plans by China\u2019s Tianqi Lithium to expand its Greenbushes mine in Western Australia by\u00a01.34 million tons per annum (mtpa)\u00a0or double the capacity of a proposed processing plant at Kwinana to 24,000 tpa, the company\u2019s Australian general manager said.\u00a0Resource Capital Funds-owned Global Advanced Metals, which has rights to other minerals at Greenbushes, has said that\u00a0the expansion will effectively waste its tantalum resource.\u00a0The Greenbushes mine is the world\u2019s biggest lithium mine, producing 31% of global supply, and is operated by Talison Lithium, a joint venture between Tianqi\u00a0and\u00a0Albemarle."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IBM and UBS to build in-vehicle blockchain payments platform \n UBS, IBM and car parts manufacturer ZF are working together to build a blockchain-based payments system that automatically collects fees for things such as parking and power charging.\n\nThe partners say that their Car eWallet will act as a digital assistant, enabling secure and convenient payments on the go. The system is likely to become increasingly useful as driverless cars become a reality, providing a way to independently authorise payments without the owner or user having to be active themselves.\n\n\n\nVeronica Lange, head of innovation at UBS says: \u201cIn today's digitally connected world, no single institution works in isolation. As a leading financial services institution we pursue the development of a new platform that will transform how transactions and payments between vehicles and other machines can be done efficiently and safely.\u201d\n\n\n\nIn the future, the platform, provided through the IBM Cloud and driven by Hyperledger Fabric 1.0, will not only be used for parking and tolls, but also car sharing, electric charging and delivery services.\n\n\n\nDirk Wollschlaeger, GM, IBM Global automotive, aerospace and defence, says: \"The world of mobility is quickly evolving with self-driving vehicles, electric cars and new mobility services having quickly evolved from visionary concepts into reality. Time of great change requires transformational solutions.\n\n\n\n\"Together with UBS and ZF, we are engineering a new mobility platform to redefine how, when and where traditional transactions occur.\"", "output": "Car parts manufacturer ZF is teaming up with IBM and UBS to launch a blockchain application to enable car-related payments. The Car eWallet is being marketed as a \"digital assistant\", automatically collating parking costs with little to no input from the driver, and making secure payments. The system will also\u00a0pay for electric charging, digital services and car sharing once those technologies become commonplace."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Restaurant-focused mobile payments firm Glance expands into US \n Glance Technologies Inc., a Vancouver-based company that specializes in mobile payments for the restaurant industry, has signed its first U.S.-based customer in Ta\u2019cul Mexican Cocina, located in California, according to a press release.\n\nGlance also announced it has set up its U.S. head office in Silicon Valley.\n\n\"Our U.S. expansion is key to our strategy of signing large North American restaurant chains,\" Glance CEO Desmond Griffin said in a statement. \"Silicon Valley is an ideal location for us to access the world's premier high tech ecosystem as we continue to develop our technology.\"\n\nGlance Pay is a payments system that enables users to order goods and services, make payments, access digital receipts, redeem digital deals, earn great rewards and interact with merchants. The app is available for Android and iOS.", "output": "Canada's Glance Technologies is expanding into the US with its mobile payments system for restaurants. The Glance app lets restaurant users place orders, make payments, redeem deals and interact with owners. The Vancouver-based company has signed its first US-based customer and opened its US head office in Silicon Valley.\u00a0\"Our U.S. expansion is key to our strategy of signing large North American restaurant chains\", said Desmond Griffin, CEO at\u00a0Glance.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Real-time simulator slashes product design time \n Multi-physics software developer, ANSYS, has released its Discovery Live platform, which allows engineers to make changes to a CAD model and have the simulation updated in front of them, instantaneously. The new level of interactivity means that the physical results of a design change can be seen as they are being made, bringing a new level of intuitive engineering capability. The company insist that the assumption that multi-physical simulation programs are only for specialist engineers or PhDs is outdated, and plan to get simulation in the tool box of every engineer by 2020, up currently from the estimated 1 in 6.\n\nInstead of taking days, months or weeks to set up, run and analyse digital prototypes with traditional engineering simulation solutions, Discovery Live allows engineers to immediately examine the impact of their design changes. Users can pose what-if questions upfront in the design process to rapidly explore thousands of design options and receive immediate feedback \u2013 enabling the user to digitally explore the impact of changes with results updating immediately.\n\nFor the first-time, engineers can rapidly explore design options and receive instant and accurate simulation results with new cutting-edge technology that can be run on most standard laptops. The only upgrade that might be needed is the graphics card.\n\n\u201cWe've rewritten, from the ground up, the classic simulation algorithms to run natively on the GPU architecture, and that\u2019s what gives you the speed,\u201d said Mark Hindsbo, \u200evice president and general manager at ANSYS. \u201cAnd it's not some insane graphics card, it\u2019s a modern 4GB NVidia graphic card with a number of CUDA cores to run on.\u201d\n\nDiscovery Live supports fluids, structural and thermal simulation applications \u2013 enabling engineers to experiment with design ideas and see instant feedback. Users can run an analysis first approach as they design \u2013 enabling them to iterate with a 3D model and interactively explore the impact of simple and complex changes.\n\n\u201cThe tool allows us to use multiple physics and the results are practically instantaneous, so we can get answers to the quick \u2018what-if\u2019 studies very quickly \u2013 helping us engage more people in simulation with the ultimate goal of moving faster,\u201d said Bob Tickel, director of structural and dynamic analysis at engine developer, Cummins. \u201cWe are committed to analysis-led design and I believe that Discovery Live will propel us forward faster in this area.\u201d\n\nThe Ansys Discovery Live platform is currently available today for technology preview and is available for download at: www.ansys.com/discovery/", "output": "ANSYS, a multi-physics software developer, has launched the Discovery Live platform, enabling engineers to alter CAD models and to see update simulations instantly. The instant design change and immediate feedback the platform provides compares with the days, months or weeks to set up, run and analyse digital prototypes with traditional engineering simulation solutions, ANSYS claims."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Zelle launches peer-to-peer mobile payments app \n BI Intelligence\n\nThis story was delivered to BI Intelligence \"Payments Briefing\" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.\n\nZelle, a bank-based P2P offering operated by Early Warning, is launching its long-awaited standalone app for both Apple and Android users on September 12. (It has been available within its partners' banking apps since late 2016.)\n\nTo use Zelle, the sender and recipient can download the app and conduct transactions using an email address or mobile number \u2014 regardless of bank affiliation. Customers can also use Zelle to split payments, if need be. The app will compete directly with other mobile and digital P2P services like Venmo and Square Cash.\n\nThis app will provide consumers with another channel to access Zelle's services.\n\nAlmost anyone with a debit card can now use Zelle. Zelle is partnered with many major banks \u2014 including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Citi, among others. The app will also allow consumers with accounts at smaller banks and credit unions that don't support Zelle on their digital platforms to use its services. And through partnerships with Visa and MasterCard, almost anyone with a debit card linked to a US bank account can use the app. Additionally, the Zelle app won't support credit cards, allowing it to offer free transfers. That could extend its reach to up to 86 million users.\n\nZelle is partnered with many major banks \u2014 including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Citi, among others. The app will also allow consumers with accounts at smaller banks and credit unions that don't support Zelle on their digital platforms to use its services. And through partnerships with Visa and MasterCard, almost anyone with a debit card linked to a US bank account can use the app. Additionally, the Zelle app won't support credit cards, allowing it to offer free transfers. That could extend its reach to up to 86 million users. A standalone app makes Zelle a competitor for millennials' P2P business. Digital P2P payments tend to be favored among millennials, but Zelle's bank-app focus has helped it target an older generation, by introducing them to digital P2P in a familiar environment. But as a standalone service, the app will more directly compete against players like Venmo and Square Cash in the crowded market. That could heat up the space \u2014 Venmo, the market leader, saw $14.8 billion in volume in the first half of 2017, while Zelle partner banks' P2P services were used for 100 million transactions worth $33.6 billion.\n\nIt remains to be seen how Zelle will fare on its own, but its current success, combined with an appetite for mobile P2P, could position it well. Zelle already counts about 50,000 new enrollees a day. But the app could broaden its reach, especially since it has a much more inclusive audience than third-party services, like Venmo, which might have a more sophisticated sign-up process. And the differentiating features, like free instant cashouts, could help it stand out, though other providers have similar offerings. That means that, though Zelle is off to a good start, the firm could stand to build out its in-app offerings in order to establish a unique need, or a specific use case, to grow its own audience and beat out the competition in a market where no one player holds a majority share.\n\nJaime Toplin, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on mobile P2P payments that:\n\nForecasts the growth of the P2P market, and what portion of that will come from mobile channels, through 2021.\n\nExplains the factors driving that growth and details why it will come from increased usage, not increased spend per user.\n\nEvaluates why mobile P2P isn\u2019t profitable for companies, and details several cases of attempts to monetize.\n\nAssesses which of these strategies could be most successful, and what companies need to leverage to succeed in the space.\n\nProvides context from other markets to explain shifting trends.\n\nTo get the full report, subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and more than 250 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >> Learn More Now\n\n\n\nYou can also purchase and download the full report from our research store.", "output": "Zelle has launched a peer-to-peer mobile payments app for Apple and Android users. Zelle users can transact using a mobile number or email address, irrespective of where the user banks.\u00a0Payments can also be split as necessary. Zelle has a longstanding relationship\u00a0with such banks as Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase, but with the launch of its standalone app opens its services to a much broader userbase."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Race to the bottom: average estate agency fees slide to 1% ex-VAT \n Post navigation\n\nThe average estate agency fee has fallen to almost exactly 1% excluding VAT \u2013 and is likely to fall further, despite mounting costs for agents.\n\nPeter Knight, of the Property Academy, said that moving off the high street and/or going \u2018hybrid\u2019 would not be a solution for most agents because of their marketing and staffing costs.\n\nIn the 2017 Home Moving Trends Survey carried out for this month\u2019s EA Masters event, 5,838 home sellers were asked about fees.\n\nKnight said: \u201cIn simple terms, you can break things down into three thirds.\n\n\u201cOne third pay more than 1%. One third pay less than 1%. And one third pay 1%. The average fee is now, as near as damn it, 1%.\n\n\u201cAnd as if this isn\u2019t concerning enough there\u2019s a worrying trend \u2013 the fees are going even lower.\n\n\u201cThose currently selling are paying less in percentage terms than those who have sold within the last 12 months.\n\n\u201cThis confirms data Stephen Hayter of My Home Move shared with me that estate agent fees fall between 0.1% and 0.15% every 12 months.\n\n\u201cOn that basis, in the first quarter of 2019, the average fee could be as low as 0.75%.\u201d\n\nThe study of home movers showed that relatively few (30%) were selling for over \u00a31m, and most (60%) were selling for \u00a3250,000 or less.\n\nKnight told EYE: \u201cThis is the tenth year we\u2019ve surveyed people who are currently selling a property and we\u2019ve seen a marked reduction in the average fee.\n\n\u201cIn 2011, 76% of sellers were paying in excess of 1%, whereas today it\u2019s just 31%.\n\n\u201cWe will be sharing further insights from this survey and also two others, the 2017 Landlord Survey and 2017 Tenant Survey, at the EA Masters.\n\n\u201cIn addition, we will also be revealing insights from our 30,000 mystery shops for the Best Estate Agent Guide and highlighting what it takes to be exceptional.\u201d\n\nKnight said the continuing reduction in fees cannot continue \u2013 \u201cunless the industry is prepared to experience even greater levels of change than those of the last few years\u201d.\n\nHe said the main costs of staff and marketing are going up, not down: \u201cSo, while a small saving can be achieved by leaving the high street and working from a conventional office, or from home, or going \u2018hybrid\u2019, this isn\u2019t enough to compensate for the reduction in fees.\u201d\n\nKnight said that the subject will be tackled at the EA Masters on September 22. There are just 50 tickets left for what will be the largest estate agency event ever staged in the UK.\n\nDetails here \u2013 where you will also find a rather stirring short video about the Best Estate Agents Guide, also to be part of the event:", "output": "The average estate agency fee has dropped to nearly 1%, excluding VAT, and is on a trend to decrease further despite the strain on agents. Agents are limited in their options because limits of marketing and staffing costs mean\u00a0they cannot move from the high-street or become \u201chybrid\u201d to compromise. Property sellers are paying less in terms of a\u00a0percentage than those who have successfully sold within the last 12 months, with predictions putting average fees at 0.75% by Q1\u00a02019. In 2011, 76% of sellers paid more than 1%; presently, that figure stands at 31%.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Telehealth May Ease Docs into ACOs, MedPAC Suggests \n WASHINGTON -- Incentivizing doctors to use telehealth services under Medicare's new value-based payment models might be a good way to get fee-for-service Medicare providers to consider joining an accountable care organization (ACO) or another new model, a member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) said Thursday.\n\n\"We need to be building incentives to providers to want to get out of fee-for-service and get into an environment where there is more accountability and more risk-sharing,\" said Sue Thompson, of UnityPoint Health in Des Moines, Iowa. \"So perhaps telehealth is one of those things you have an opportunity to do in a risk-sharing environment -- an [alternative payment model] that involves risk, or Medicare Advantage, or an ACO that has upside and downside risk.\"\n\n\"I think we'd have an easier time recruiting providers into behavioral health modalities and family practice modalities if we could talk about how this creates a lifestyle that's pretty attractive,\" she said. \"Telehealth is a piece of the puzzle that offers all kinds of opportunity.\"\n\nThe commission heard a presentation on how telehealth services are being paid for under Medicare. Staff members Zach Gaumer and Amy Phillips defined telehealth as falling into six categories:\n\nBasic care and consultations for patients and their doctors who are connecting to another doctor\n\nBasic care and consultations for patients connecting to a doctor from their home\n\nBasic care and consultations for doctors connecting to one another without the patient present\n\nRemote monitoring of patients in the hospital\n\nRemote monitoring of patients at home\n\nStoring and forwarding data -- including images and scans -- to a remote clinician for evaluation\n\nCurrently, under Medicare's fee-for-service system, a healthcare facility that originates a telehealth visit is paid a flat fee of $25 by Medicare, while the remote site at which the consulting physician works is paid 100% of the fee-for-service facility rate. Patients have a cost-sharing responsibility of 20% for the telehealth visit. This method encourages the healthcare system to increase the volume of telehealth services provided, the presenters noted.\n\nSubstitute or Supplement?\n\nTwo schools of thought exist on telehealth, they noted: some say it can be cost-effective by substituting for in-person visits, while others say it adds costs because it is used as a supplement to in-person visits and patients still see the doctor in person anyway.\n\nCommissioner Craig Samitt, of the Anthem health insurance company, in Indianapolis, came down on the side of cost-effectiveness. \"We're currently covering and paying for a large number of low-value services, and [here] I feel we are resistant to paying for what I think is a high-value service,\" he said. \"We seem to think telehealth is not equivalent to in-person health. But telehealth ... is in fact a substitute. It enables people to give care through an alternative modality.\"\n\n\"The potential value in telehealth is reduction in total cost of care,\" Samitt continued. \"This is not a replacement or supplemental visit; this is a way to avoid multiple downstream [costs] that we would otherwise not capture in the absence of it. I would love to jump into the debate about the way telehealth is factored into the Medicare Advantage package. This should be included in the benefit package as opposed to being a supplemental benefit.\"\n\nPharmacy Services Discussed\n\nThe commission also heard a presentation on the structure of pharmacy services, including pharmacy benefit management (PBM) companies. Staff member Rachel Schmidt noted that in addition to negotiating drug prices on behalf of health plans, most large PBMs have their own specialty pharmacies -- a relationship that may present financial conflicts, since the PBMs are supposed to lower drug expenditures for their customers, but they have an incentive in their pharmacies to increase revenue as much as possible.\n\nBut commissioner Amy Bricker, RPh, of the Express Scripts PBM, in St. Louis, disagreed with that idea, adding that it is not true that PBMs will often require customers to use the PBM's pharmacy: \"To suggest there's some leverage over the client isn't the case, because of the competitiveness of the industry,\" she said. \"If you're not lowering the cost for the plan sponsor and not servicing patients appropriately, you're going to be fired.\"\n\nCommissioner Jack Hoadley, PhD, of Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute, was not so sanguine. \"I'm not as comforted as Amy by the notion of competition in this market,\" he said. \"It's really unclear where the system saves money and where it adds cost. There is evidence of both, and that's what we need to try to untangle.\"\n\nFor example, in the Part D drug benefit world, there are cases of competing drugs -- such as etanercept (Embrel) and adlimumab (Humira), which are both prescribed for arthritis and psoriasis, \"and we've seen those prices [for both] go up pretty constantly over time. We have not seen a lot of formulary competition; it's the opposite of what you'd normally expect.\"\n\nSharing the savings that come from drug rebates is a good issue for MedPAC to examine, Hoadley added. \"We could think about ways to share the benefit, such as putting caps on coinsurance so beneficiaries aren't as affected by [drug price increases].\"\n\n\"It's hard not to be struck by how complex this is,\" said commissioner Rita Redberg, MD, of the University of California San Francisco. \"I feel like there are a lot of moving parts, a lot of secrecy, a lot of fees, and the whole rebate thing that's secret makes me very uncomfortable, and the whole designation of specialty drugs basically means that if you raise your prices high enough you're a specialty drug. This does not seem like a very efficient system.\n\n\"It does seem more complicated to me to have drugs covered under Part B and Part D ... I wonder if it's worth considering if there should be just one drug benefit and not to separate it like this,\" she said.\n\nRural Hospitals and Physician Supervision\n\nOn Friday morning, commissioners briefly discussed the issue of physician supervision at critical access and rural hospitals. Medicare regulations have mandated that certain procedures -- such as chemotherapy and cardiac rehabilitation -- have physicians available to supervise, even if they are not necessarily in the room. After concerns were raised by hospitals that these rules might make it more difficult for them to operate, Congress suspended enforcement of the rules from 2010 to 2016, and has proposed doing so again in 2018 and 2019.\n\nMedPAC staff members interviewed staff from several critical access hospitals and found they were not having any trouble complying with the rules. The hospitals \"are using the emergency department or family physicians in the same building or nearby to address physician supervision requirements,\" said MedPAC staff member Ledia Tabor. She noted that in a MedPAC report issued in 2012, the commission had said that \"expectations for quality of care in rural and urban areas should be equal for nonemergency services rural providers choose to deliver.\"\n\nCommissioners seemed satisfied with the idea of sticking to that wording, but possibly providing a little additional guidance as well: \"It's important to take a strong position that the standard of care, whether urban or rural, must be consistent,\" said Thompson. \"Yet we did hear from those [hospitals] leaders a plea for clarity,\" such as knowing how quickly a supervising physician would need to respond: \"I do believe a call for clarity would be quite welcome from these organizations.\"\n\nPlease enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.", "output": "Providing incentives for physicians to incorporate telehealth services under the new Medicare value-based payment model may encourage fee-for-service Medicare providers to consider becoming part of an accountable care organization (ACO), the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has noted. Telehealth may provide the risk-sharing environment that proves appealing to providers and patients alike, with the practice potentially being used to introduce providers to behavioral health and family practice modalities. The Commission defines telehealth as covering basic care and consultation for patients and doctors connecting to other physicians; patients connecting with doctors from home; doctors connecting to other physicians; remote hospital monitoring; remote home monitoring; and storing and forwarding data for remote evaluation. Under the Medicare fee-for-service system, cost-sharing is shared 20 percent with patients for telehealth, with the patient\u2019s facility being paid a $25 flat fee, and the receiving remote facility paid 100 percent of the rate for fee-for-service. For providers at present, telehealth is either considered a cost-effective replacement for in-person consultation, or an additional supplemental service that extends costs.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Accenture unveils analytics, business platform for asset managers \n Source: Accenture\n\nAccenture (NYSE:ACN) has launched a new business analytics service for investment management institutions to help them benchmark, analyze and improve the performance of their business processes and technology.\n\nThe service will provide year-round industry research and subject matter expertise to the asset management sector. It will address key business issues including client and product management, intelligent automation, cloud, big data, cyber security and analytics for portfolio management, distribution and operations. Investit chief executive Catherine Doherty and her team of industry specialists have joined Accenture\u2019s asset management practice to form the new service.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe top 35 investment management firms in the UK alone spend about five billion dollars annually on technology and operations, but in the new wave of digital innovation many will need to rethink their strategies,\u201d said Owen Jelf, senior managing director and head of Accenture\u2019s global capital markets practice. \u201cUnder heavy regulatory and market pressures, the health and performance of business processes and technology will be a growing factor in the competitive landscape. By bringing leading benchmarking experts and capabilities to Accenture\u2019s capital markets practice, we can help our clients compete in a fast evolving sector.\u201d\n\n\n\n\u201cOur team has worked with many of the world\u2019s largest investment firms, providing insights to help them make key business decisions,\u201d said Doherty, who will be head of the service. \u201cAs part of Accenture we can scale up to provide world leading insights for asset managers across Europe, North America and Asia.\u201d\n\n\n\nThis launch marks Accenture\u2019s most recent initiative to expand its asset management consulting and technology capabilities to help global investment managers, institutional investors and asset servicers use emerging digital innovations and technology to improve competitiveness and profitability. Earlier this year, Accenture completed its acquisition of InvestTech Systems Consulting, a North American technology consultancy, and in 2015 Accenture acquired Beacon Consulting Group a management consulting firm whose clients include five of the top 10 North American investment management firms.", "output": "Management consultancy Accenture has launched a new business analytics service to provide subject expertise and industry research to asset managers. The company has taken on British benchmarking provider Investit and its chief executive Catherine Doherty to run the new service, and will focus on key business issues including big data, cyber security and other tech issues. The move is the latest move by Accenture to expand its consulting capabilities for asset management clients to help them adapt to emerging digital innovations and technology."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Huawei fitting out 'demo' smart city in Weifang \n Huawei has announced the launch of a \"demo city\" in Weifang, China, to showcase its narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) smart city applications and OceanConnect IoT platform.\n\nAnnounced during its annual Huawei Connect conference in Shanghai, Weifang will use Huawei's city-level IoT platform to access, manage, and collect data from sensory equipment spread across the city in real-time.\n\nHuawei said it has already enabled smart lighting applications across Weifang, using it to monitor the status of street lamps, automatically adjust brightness, and detect faults, with the system designed to save 80 percent of traditional electricity usage and 90 percent of previous maintenance costs.\n\nThe Chinese networking giant has also integrated eight services with its NB-IoT network, including a remote-control system, Wi-Fi hotspots, video surveillance, environment monitoring, and statistics.\n\nHuawei said its goal is to develop the \"nervous system\" of smart cities, with the company having deployed its smart city solutions throughout 40 countries in over 100 cities across the world.\n\n\"ICT advancement is accelerating the growth of the digital economy, which is a driving force of global economic development and transforming cities across many areas including governance, transport, living, social interactions, and employment, promoting the sustainable development of cities,\" said Huawei Enterprise Business Group GM of Global Smart City Solution Department Zheng Zhibin.\n\n\"The underlying connectivity in these smart cities will be critical to unlock the potential of the digital economy. Huawei is focused on improving connectivity capabilities within cities, and is creating the nervous system of better-connected cities through an IoT platform, achieving better awareness [and] connectivity among smart devices.\"\n\nHuawei and the Government of Weifang City have also established the Huawei-Weifang IoT Innovation R&D Centre and the Huawei-Weifang Smart City IoT Industry Alliance.\n\nChina's Longgang District Government is similarly working with Huawei on developing a smart region, including through the government's own digital transformation to speed up approvals and other applications.\n\n\"The transformation also achieves integrated online and offline approval services, allowing Longgang citizens to submit applications or reports to the government through online business halls, mobile apps, WeChat, and other channels,\" Huawei said.\n\nHuawei has this week also announced that it will partner with Accenture to establish a consolidated information management platform powered by the former's FusionCloud solution for Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG).\n\nThe Huawei-Accenture agreement will see Huawei provide its hyperconverged infrastructure FusionCube, OpenStack-based cloud operating system FusionSphere, integration server, software-defined storage, and network hardware; while Accenture will design and implement SIPG's new management platform.\n\nSIPG, which works across port handling, stevedoring services, warehousing, logistics, and real estate development services, will use this to \"streamline\" its operations, as well as to implement new engineering, human resources, master data management, and business intelligence systems, Huawei said.\n\n\"The integration of Huawei's FusionCloud with OpenStack ensures the openness of the cloud platform. This will enable SIPG to establish and manage the private cloud, public cloud, and hybrid cloud, resulting in the provision of more innovative and valuable services,\" president of Huawei's IT Cloud Computing and Big Data Platform Product Line Matt Ma said.\n\nHuawei is similarly leading the digital transformation of Hamad International Airport in Qatar in an effort to improve security, customer experience, and efficiency via the creation of prototypes and solutions for IoT and autonomous machines throughout the airport.\n\nHuawei and SoftBank partner on 5G\n\nHuawei has also announced partnering with Japanese carrier SoftBank to demonstrate 5G networking use cases for business customers.\n\nThe four use cases demonstrated by Huawei and SoftBank were real-time ultra high-definition (UHD) video transmission, immersive video, remote control of a robotic arm with ultra-low latency, and remote rendering by a GPU server.\n\nThe first demo involved a UHD camera capturing outdoor scenery of the Odaiba Tokyo Bay area, compressing the data, and then transmitting it through a 5G network with throughput of over 800Mbps to a UHD monitor. According to the companies, such technology could be used for telehealth and remote education.\n\nThe immersive video demonstration then captured scenery with a 180-degree camera with four lenses, broadcasting this footage in real-time to smartphones and tablets over 5G, which it said could be used for AR and VR.\n\nIn their third use case, Huawei and SoftBank played a game of air hockey using a remote-controlled robot arm -- technology which they said could eventually be used in factory automation, as it attained latency of under 2ms.\n\n\"A camera installed on top of the air hockey table detected the puck's position to calculate its trajectory. The calculated result was then forwarded to the robotic arm control server to control the robotic arm,\" they explained.\n\n\"In this demonstration, the robotic arm was able to strike back the puck shot by the human player on various trajectories.\"\n\nLastly, remote rendering by a GPU server saw the two use edge computing to execute HD computer games and HD computer-aided design (CADs) playable on tablets and smartphones.\n\n\"A GPU server located near a 5G base station performed rendering, and the image generated by the GPU server was sent to the tablet over the ultra-high throughput and ultra-low latency 5G network,\" they said.\n\n\"This technology can be applied to check the CAD data at a construction site with a tablet or to enjoy a HD game application on a smartphone.\"\n\nSoftBank, which recently bought robotics company Boston Dynamics from Google parent Alphabet, is also working with Chinese telecommunications technology solutions provider ZTE to trial 5G over sub-6GHz spectrum at 4.5GHz across Tokyo.\n\nZTE and SoftBank have been collaborating on pre-5G technology research and development including Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (Massive MIMO) technology and 5G New Radio (NR).", "output": "Chinese tech giant Huawei is looking to demonstrate its narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT) capabilities by transforming Weifang into a \"smart city\". Huawei can already monitor and adjust the brightness of street lamps across the city, saving 80% of traditional energy expenditure. \"Huawei is focused on improving connectivity capabilities within cities, and is creating the nervous system of better-connected cities through an IoT platform, achieving better awareness [and] connectivity among smart devices\", said\u00a0Zheng Zhibin,\u00a0Huawei Enterprise Business Group GM of Global Smart City Solution Department.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Future of gene therapy treatments burdened by vast medical costs \n The first gene therapy treatment in the United States was approved recently by the Food and Drug Administration, heralding a new era in medicine that is coming faster than most realize \u2014 and that perhaps few can afford.\n\nThe treatment, Kymriah, made by Novartis, is spectacularly effective against a rare form of leukemia, bringing remissions when all conventional options have failed. It will cost $475,000.\n\nWith gene therapy, scientists seek to treat or prevent disease by modifying cellular DNA. Many such treatments are in the wings: There are 34 in the final stages of testing necessary for F.D.A. approval, and another 470 in initial clinical trials, according to the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine, an advocacy group.\n\nThe therapies are aimed at extremely rare diseases with few patients; most are meant to cure with a single injection or procedure. But the costs, like that of Kymriah, are expected to be astronomical, alarming medical researchers and economists.", "output": "The Food and Drug Administration recently approved the first commercially available gene therapy in the US, giving Novartis clearance to offer the leukemia treatment to patients for $475,000. The decision could clear the way for the introduction of immensely expensive gene therapy treatment options. The cost has led to criticism from doctors towards drug manufacturers, who maintain that the value of the drug should reflect the value of the treatment for the patient, as well as covering the cost of making such specific therapies."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Graphene batteries may give wearables more functionality \n Imagine you\u2019re hiking in the mountains when a blizzard hits. Despite your warm coat, your body temperature begins to drop. But fear not. Temperature sensors in the coat feel you getting colder, activating heating elements embedded in the fabric. Perfectly toasty, you continue your hike.\n\nSounds like a smart idea, right? Why is it not a reality? In a word, batteries. Battery technology has not advanced as quickly as wearable technology, meaning wearables\u2014smartwatches, fitness trackers, clothing-embedded medical sensors\u2014must either be equipped with bulky batteries or plugged in to charge at frequent intervals.\n\nNow, researchers in the UK have a new development that could lead to a solution: a flexible, battery-like device made of graphene that can be printed directly on almost anything.\n\n\u201cYou can print the batteries on a flexible substrate like textiles,\u201d says Mohammad Nazmul Karim, a fellow at the National Graphene Institute at the University of Manchester. \u201cAnd it can be charged very rapidly.\u201d\n\nThe devices, recently described in the journal 2D Materials, are technically not batteries but supercapacitors, which store energy on their surfaces by static charge. They can be charged extremely quickly compared to batteries\u2014in seconds, rather than minutes or hours\u2014and don\u2019t lose their energy storage capabilities over time, even after millions and millions of charges.\n\nThe supercapacitors developed by Karim and his team are made from graphene, a two-dimensional lattice of carbon only one atom thick. The researchers used a basic screen printing technique to print a flexible supercapacitor of graphene-oxide ink onto cotton fabric. The fabric can be worn, stretched and even thrown in the wash without destroying the supercapacitor\u2019s charging capabilities.\n\n\u201cIf you have a piece of fabric and you apply graphene on that fabric, it doesn\u2019t only make it conductive, it also makes it stronger,\u201d Karim says.\n\nGraphene can be stretched up to 20 percent larger than its original size without breaking. This is one of the reasons it\u2019s considered so promising for wearables, which need to move with the body.\n\nThe team\u2019s initial goal is to use the graphene supercapacitors for medical sensors: wearable heart monitors, temperature sensors and EEG sensors to monitor sleep and other brain activities. This could happen in as little as two or three years, Karim estimates. Other uses\u2014clothes the charge your cell phone, wearable computers, even the temperature-stabilizing jacket I described\u2014would be significantly further down the road.\n\nWearable technology\u2014everything from smartwatches to fitness trackers to wearable cameras to clothing-embedded medical sensors\u2014is big business. A recent analysis by CCS Insight suggests the industry will be worth some $34 billion by 2020. But charging has been a constant problem for wearables developers. Nobody wants to take their wristband off to charge in the middle of the day. So the search for better batteries and alternative charging solutions has been going on for years. Many companies have banked on wireless charging as the wave of the future for wearables\u2014you could simply walk into your kitchen, and have your device charged by a wireless charger on the wall while you cook dinner, without even taking it off. But the technology is still very much under development, and consumers have been slow to warm to the relatively slow and expensive wireless chargers on the market so far.\n\nKarim cautions that graphene is no silver bullet either.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s lots of hype around graphene, and we need to be careful,\u201d he says.\n\nOne major challenge is making large quantities of high quality graphene. It\u2019s cheap and easy to make lower quality graphene, which is fine for some applications. But the best quality of graphene is still expensive and laborious to produce, a problem researchers are working on.\n\n\u201cMaintaining the high quality of graphene in a scalable quantity is a huge challenge,\u201d Karim says.\n\nAnother drawback to graphene is that it doesn\u2019t conduct electricity as well as metals. So while graphene-based supercapacitors are strong and flexible, as well as relatively environmentally friendly, silver or copper supercapacitors are more conductive. Depending on the use, one or the other might be preferable.\n\nSo watch this space. In a decade or two, we might be describing the new, graphene supercapacitor-powered winter jacket, perfect for your next trip to the Himalayas.\n\nGet the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.", "output": "New graphene supercapacitors, which can be printed onto clothes and provide an alternative power source to traditional batteries, could revolutionise the wearable technology industry. Researchers at the National Graphene Institute at the University of Manchester have developed a system which stores energy on the surface of the flexible graphene supercapacitor by static charge. It can be charged in a matter of seconds, rather than the minutes or hours required by batteries, and does not lose its storage capability despite repeated charging or washing of the material."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ripple Asia and DAYLI Group partner for international payments \n SBI Ripple Asia, the company fused of Japan\u2019s SBI Holdings and global payment network Ripple announced today a signed partnership agreement with DAYLI Intelligence, a subsidiary of DAYLI Financial Group, to bring Ripple\u2019s enterprise blockchain solutions for cross-border payments to the South Korean market.\n\nDAYLI Intelligence provides blockchain solutions and AI-based technology infrastructure for financial institutions and will work with SBI Ripple Asia to enable instant cross-border payments between customers in Japan and South Korea, as well as other global markets.\n\nCommenting on the partnership, Takashi Okita, CEO of SBI Ripple Asia, said:\n\n\u201cSouth Korea is one of the most active markets worldwide when it comes to blockchain innovation and trading of digital assets. With trade flows into and out of the country totaling $960 billion every year, we also see a high and growing demand for Ripple\u2019s frictionless payments solution in the country.\u201d \u201cDAYLI Intelligence \u2013 a leading fintech firm \u2013 will help us to better serve our customers there.\u201d\n\nSBI Ripple Asia was formed in January 2016 with an engineering and sales force across Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, and ASEAN countries to sell and install Ripple\u2019s enterprise solutions for cross-border payments at banks across the region.\n\nThe company also currently manages a consortium of more than 60 Japanese banks who leverage Ripple\u2019s enterprise blockchain technology for instant payments and settlement.\n\nDAYLI, a leading Korean FinTech Player\n\nFounded in 2015, DAYLI Financial Group is made up of specialized companies with specialized services and technologies in digital finance. One of those specialized services is based upon blockchain and cryptographic transactions such digital asset exchange and remittance services.\n\nClients:", "output": "SBI Ripple Asia, a conglomerate of blockchain-based payment network Ripple and financial services group SBI Holdings, will join forces with DAYLI Intelligence, an AI and blockchain focused arm of DAYLI Financial Group.\u00a0Together, the firms will offer blockchain-based cross-border payments between customers in Japan and South Korea, alongside a handful of other global markets.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pandora to offer free music trial to Dunkin' Donuts customers \n Music streaming service Pandora has teamed up with doughnut company Dunkin\u2019 Donuts to offer free 90-day Pandora Premium trials to Dunkin\u2019 fans.\n\nStarting today (11 September), when someone signs up to DD Perks \u2013 Dunkin\u2019s rewards program \u2013 with the code \u2018Pandora\u2019 they will be sent a 90-day trial code via email.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re excited to offer DD fans enrolling in Perks this exclusive offer to try Pandora Premium free for 90 days upon enrolment,\u201d said Nick Dunham, director of media at Dunkin\u2019 Brands. \u201cThe partnership allows us to align with our customers every day, on-the-go rituals and behaviours on a mass scale.\u201d\n\nThe campaign to promote the offer will involve an email to people not yet signed up to DD Perks, online ads and audio ads.\n\n\u201cWe are thrilled to partner with an iconic brand like Dunkin\u2019 Donuts to gift 90-day Pandora Premium trials,\u201d said Steven Kritzman, SVP of sales at Pandora. \u201cWe are always looking for new ways to help our advertisers effectively reach and resonate with their target audiences through the power of music. This campaign will allow Dunkin\u2019 Donuts to surprise and delight our listeners with the opportunity to try out Pandora\u2019s new on-demand Premium service in exchange for taking action and signing up for the DD Perks Loyalty program. It\u2019s a win-win.\u201d", "output": "Music streaming service provider Pandora is offering a free 90-day trial of its premium product to Dunkin' Donuts customers. Access codes to the service will be sent by email as part of the doughnut chain's DD Perks programme.\u00a0\u201cThe partnership allows us to align with our customers' everyday, on-the-go rituals and behaviours on a mass scale,\" said\u00a0Nick Dunham, director of media at Dunkin\u2019 Brands.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sky Sports signs deal with EFL to livestream 80 games \n Sky Sports has signed a new deal with the English Football League in a transformative agreement defined by its objective livestream 80 games.\n\nFrom the 2019/20 season until 2024, the broadcaster will air some 183 matches live annually across the Sky Bet Championship, Sky Bet League One, Sky Bet League Two, Carabao Cup and Checkatrade Trophy tournaments \u2013 this stands as a 26% increase on its current deal with the sports body.\n\nHowever, Sky Sports will also livestream 80 midweek Championship fixtures throughout the season across \u201cinteractive and digital platforms\u201d. A Sky Sports spokesman confirmed that the platforms where the games will be available are yet to be set in stone, although any strategy likely feature the red button service and website.\n\nThe games will likely only be available to subscribers although certain content could run on social media. Further to that, the games will also be available on the EFL's streaming service iFollow.\n\nThe desire to distribute matches across online and digital reflects the changing needs of the consumer, Adrian Pettett, chief executive of Cake, the Havas sport and entertainment agency, expands on this, he said: \u201cThis is a directional deal in terms of the way Sky is integrating streaming in to its offer. The broadcaster needs football, both in terms of breadth and depth. It has a Premier League vertical and this is about building its content for the Sky Football channel, which - as obvious as its sounds - needs a great deal of football. Streaming allows viewers to watch when and where they want.\n\n\u201cAmazon and other tech platforms are moving in to sport. This shows how serious Sky takes the issue of protecting its position as the leading football media brand.\u201d\n\nSky Sports recently restructured its offering to reflect fan demand for select sports, Barney Francis, Sky Sports managing director, the deal would help build out its Football channel. \u201cThis is great news for EFL fans and our viewers, with more live games than ever before and more opportunities for fans to watch their teams live. With a new dedicated football channel, newly enhanced digital platforms, adding more games means Sky Sports is getting even better for football fans.\u201d\n\nShaun Harvey, EFL chief executive, dubbed Sky Sports a \u201chugely important\u201d partner and touted the financial security from securing a half decade deal.\n\nHe touted the benefits of live-streaming: \u201cThe new opportunity for EFL Clubs to live-stream their matches through a direct to consumer service in the UK is a revolutionary and exciting step forward for football broadcasting rights in the UK and we will monitor its progress closely to determine how this model can be considered for future EFL rights cycles.\u201d\n\nIt appears to have been a competitive brokering process. He concluded: \u201cI would like to thank all those who submitted bids.\u201d One of those rivals was predictably BT Sport.", "output": "A deal signed between Sky Sports and the English Football League (EFL) will see the broadcaster livestream 80 midweek games throughout the season across digital platforms, in addition to its main television coverage of matches. The exact platforms have yet to be finally decided, but are likely to include Sky's red button service and website. The focus on digital is being seen as a reaction to the increasing prevalence of Amazon and other tech platforms in sports coverage. The EFL welcomed the five-year deal and said that the potential for streaming matches was 'revolutionary'.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ProctorU unveils AI for online exam proctoring \n Online Proctoring\n\nProctorU Intros AI-Based Online Proctoring\n\nOnline proctoring and identity management company ProctorU today launched ProctorU Auto, an automated online proctoring solution that uses artificial intelligence to flag suspicious test-taking behavior in real time.\n\nFeatures of the product include:\n\nMachine learning allows ProctorU Auto to adapt to student behavior, improving its analysis with each exam;\n\nFacial recognition, eye movement tracking and auditory analysis identify suspicious behavior;\n\nIncident reports and session activity data are generated at the end of an exam;\n\nWith real-time exam view, faculty can observe students taking exams as if they were in the classroom;\n\nMulti-factor authentication \u2014 ID and photo capture, facial recognition and keystroke analysis \u2014 verifies student identities;\n\nThe platform is available on-demand with no scheduling required;\n\nIntegration with Blackboard and Canvas via LTI; and\n\nLive support is available to students and faculty 24/7.\n\nIn addition, ProctorU Auto is available with two added service levels:\n\nProctorU Auto with Professional Review, which \"provides trained and certified professional proctors to review flagged behaviors from the testing session and confirm breaches of academic integrity,\" and\n\nProctorU Auto with Live Launch and Professional Review, which \"includes test-taker identification verified by a live proctor prior to the start of the testing session and then the same level of professional review for the recorded session,\" according to a company statement.\n\nFor more information, visit the ProctorU site.", "output": "Proctoring firm ProctorU has released an AI-driven service that identifies suspicious online test-taking behaviour in real time. The software uses machine learning to adapt to students' behaviour, uses facial recognition and auditory analysis to identify when a student might be cheating, and offers multi-factor authentication to verify students' identities. Additionally, a live video stream enables examiners to observe students taking exams as if they were in the classroom.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "3D-printed device developed to diagnose sport-related concussions \n Sep 11, 2017 | By Benedict\n\nResearchers at the University of Washington have developed a 3D printed deep learning device called \u201cPupilScreen\u201d that can determine whether a person requires medical attention for concussion or other traumatic brain injuries (TBIs).\n\nAlthough diagnosed as a \u201cminor\u201d brain injury, concussions are an extremely serious topic in the world of sports and elsewhere. Even with protective headgear, athletes like American footballers and rugby players are extremely susceptible to concussion, a kind of injury that causes a temporary loss of brain function, headaches, and a general feeling of fogginess.\n\nBut those are just the short-term effects. What\u2019s really under scrutiny these days is the long-term effects of concussion, especially the effects of multiple concussions over a period of time. Studies suggest that those who have suffered such injuries numerous times are more likely to develop clinical depression and even memory loss conditions like Alzheimer\u2019s disease.\n\nPreventing concussion is therefore incredibly important, and that\u2019s why the development of high-level protective headgear for athletes\u2014but also soldiers, workers, and other people at risk of brain trauma\u2014is so crucial. (3D scanning has been used by helmet specialist Riddell on some of its recent models, while new 3D printed materials could also improve protective headgear.)\n\nYou can\u2019t always prevent concussion, though, and the next best solution to the problem is being able to spot the signs of TBIs as soon as possible. Doctors and physiotherapists have the skills to do this, but most of us don\u2019t.\n\nThat\u2019s why PupilScreen, a new smartphone app and 3D printed device developed at the University of Washington, could be so useful.\n\n\u201cThe vision we\u2019re shooting for is having someone simply hold the phone up and use the flash,\u201d explains researcher Alex Mariakakis. \u201cWe want every parent, coach, caregiver or emergency medical technician who is concerned about a brain injury to be able to use it on the spot without needing extra hardware.\u201d\n\nAccording to the researchers, PupilScreen uses a smartphone\u2019s video camera and deep learning software to see how a person\u2019s eyes are responding to light\u2014a potential indicator of whether or not that person may have concussion.\n\nUsing the smartphone\u2019s camera flash, PupilScreen can stimulate the eye, before recording an eight-second video of the pupil\u2019s response. Neural networks then process the video footage, tracking the pupil diameter over the course of those eight seconds and delivering useful numbers\u2014constriction velocity, magnitude of diameter change, etc.\u2014that can be used for diagnosis.\n\nThat\u2019s how the smartphone bit works, but the 3D printed attachment is also incredibly important. The simple box-like structure works to block out ambient light, enabling standardization and maximizing the effect of the camera flash. The 3D printed part also keeps the smartphone at a precise distance from the eye.\n\nThe researchers say the trickiest part of developing PupilScreen was training the software to distinguish between pupil and iris. Around 4,000 images of eyes had to be annotated by hand in order to \u201cteach\u201d the system which part was which. Now, however, the machine may be smarter than the people that built it, since a computer can quantify subtle changes in the pupillary light reflex that are imperceivable with our own eyes.\n\nEarly testing suggests that the 3D printed smartphone system is doing its job. A pilot study involving six patients with TBIs resulted in PupilScreen correctly differentiating healthy patients from injured ones every time. A bigger study involving coaches, emergency medical technicians, and doctors is planned for this fall.\n\nA commercial version of PupilScreen could be available within two years, but the researchers still have some way to go before the device is ready. At present, the system is best at identifying serious TBIs, but struggles at identifying very mild concussion. However, the University of Washington team expects the upcoming fall trials to yield big improvements.\n\n\u201cHaving an objective measure that a coach or parent or anyone on the sidelines of a game could use to screen for concussion would truly be a game-changer,\u201d says Professor Shwetak Patel of the University of Washington. \u201cRight now the best screening protocols we have are still subjective, and a player who really wants to get back on the field can find ways to game the system.\u201d\n\nPupilScreen could therefore be the first device to offer a conclusive diagnosis of concussion in non-medical environments.\n\n\u201cPupilScreen\u2026[gives] us the first capability to measure an objective biomarker of concussion in the field,\u201d says Dr Lynn McGrath of the university\u2019s College of Medicine. \u201cAfter further testing, we think this device will empower everyone from Little League coaches to NFL doctors to emergency department physicians to rapidly detect and triage head injury.\u201d\n\nThe PupilScreen team is currently seeking further partners for its next round of testing, which will begin in October.\n\nPosted in 3D Printing Application\n\nMaybe you also like:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "output": "University of Washington researchers have created a 3D-printed device that allows smartphones to accurately scan patients for signs of concussion or other traumatic brain injuries. The 3D-printed device, called PupilScreen, blocks out ambient light, allowing the accompanying app to scan a person's eye using a smartphone video camera and flash\u00a0before analysing the footage. A pilot study showed early success, with the system able to correctly differentiate between patients with injuries and those without.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NFL star to host 10-week Bleacher Report show for Facebook Watch \n Bleacher Report and Marshawn Lynch are coming to Facebook\u2019s Watch.\n\nLater in September, Bleacher Report will debut a 10-episode video series called \u201cNo Script,\u201d in which Bleacher Report\u2019s cameras will follow the Oakland Raiders running back as he interviews celebrity guests and tries activities such as riding military tanks and testing virtual reality. Produced for Facebook by Bleacher Report\u2019s B/R Entertainment division and Lynch\u2019s own Beast Mode Productions, the show will air weekly on Facebook\u2019s Watch over 10 weeks this fall. Each episode of the midform show runs for 10 minutes or longer.\n\n\u201cNo Script\u201d is Bleacher Report\u2019s first live-action video show. While the Turner-owned sports lifestyle publisher creates recurring video segments and formats such as college-commitment videos, this is the first time Bleacher Report has produced a full live-action video series with a consistent cast and crew working on the project from start to finish. Between Bleacher Report and Beast Mode Productions, Brown said as many as 20 people spent \u201ca lot of time\u201d on \u201cNo Script.\u201d\n\nCurrently, this is the only show that Bleacher Report is producing for Facebook\u2019s Watch, a new section on Facebook dedicated to professionally produced video shows. Facebook is willing to spend as much as $1 billion on original content through 2018, according to The Wall Street Journal, as the platform gets more serious about taking on YouTube. In the coming months, Facebook expects to offer hundreds of short- and long-form shows on Watch.\n\nBleacher Report retains the content rights to \u201cNo Script,\u201d which means the publisher is free to distribute episodes on other platforms after a period of exclusivity on Facebook.\n\n\u201cWatch is not a proven product yet, but out of fairness to Facebook, we\u2019re optimistic about it due to the level of investment they\u2019re putting into this initiative,\u201d said Rory Brown, president of Bleacher Report. \u201cIt does not hurt when there is a licensing fee attached to this as well, but Facebook has made this less of a blind guess and more something where we\u2019re able to weigh the short-term, mid-term and long-term potential of the show.\u201d\n\nWhile \u201cNo Script\u201d is made for and funded by Facebook, the idea for the show came out of a desire to work with Lynch, who is one of the more popular pro athletes among Bleacher Report\u2019s younger, mostly male audience, according to Brown. Videos and Facebook posts about Lynch regularly outperform other content Bleacher Report creates and shares, he added.\n\n\u201cNo Script\u201d comes at a time when Bleacher Report is investing in doing more entertainment-style content. The 12-person B/R Entertainment team that veteran TV and comedy writer Neil Punsalan (who serves as an executive producer on \u201cNo Script\u201d) leads is spearheading the effort, with more than a dozen projects in production or development. Last week, Bleacher Report also moved into bigger offices in New York, in part to support the production of more entertainment-style content, Brown said.\n\nIt\u2019s easy to envision a scenario where Bleacher Report works with all sorts of athletes on shows like \u201cNo Script\u201d or even future episodes of \u201cNo Script\u201d that center on different athletes. But that\u2019s not how Bleacher Report plans to approach live-action and athlete-driven original programming, Brown said.\n\n\u201cOne thing we\u2019re not doing is trying to do shows with 50 different athletes,\u201d Brown said. \u201cIt\u2019s more valuable to have premium content versus throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks, which is what a lot of other publishers are doing. We\u2019re definitely doing something with a handful of athletes, but we\u2019re not going to run the Marshawn Lynch playbook with someone else.\u201d\n\nImage courtesy of Bleacher Report", "output": "Facebook's streaming service, Facebook Watch, will exclusively run a 10-episode video series from sports media company Bleacher Report called No Script. The TV programme will follow Marshawn Lynch, an American football player, as he interviews celebrity guests and tries activities such as virtual reality. Facebook has funded the programme as part of efforts to take on YouTube. The social media company will offer hundreds more short\u00a0and long-form shows on Watch within the next few months, it said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Rolls-Royce shows off autonomous naval vessel concept \n Rolls-Royce has revealed plans for a 60m long, 700 tonne autonomous naval vessel with a range of 3500 nautical miles. The vessel concept is said to be capable of operating at sea for over 100 days, performing a range of single role missions, for example, patrol & surveillance, mine detection or fleet screening.\n\nAt the heart of the vessel is a \u2018power dense propulsion system\u2019 combining both gas turbines and diesel engines with electric propulsion, energy storage and propulsors.\n\nAccording to Benjamin Thorp, Rolls-Royce, general manager naval electrics, automation and control: \u201cRolls-Royce is seeing interest from major navies in autonomous, rather than remote controlled, ships. Such ships offer a way to deliver increased operational capability, reduce the risk to crew and cut both operating and build costs.\n\n\u201cOver the next 10 years or so, Rolls-Royce expects to see the introduction of medium sized unmanned platforms, particularly in leading navies, as the concept of mixed manned and unmanned fleets develops.\u201d\n\nThe initial design features a full electric propulsion system which is claimed to require fewer auxiliary systems (lubrication, cooling system etc.) and offer better reliability levels than mechanical counterparts. It features two Rolls-Royce MTU 4000 Series gensets providing around 4MW electrical power to a 1.5MW propulsion drive. Rolls-Royce says that small gas turbines could offer an alternative to diesel engines, further improving the system\u2019s reliability and reducing onboard maintenance. Permanent Magnet Azipull thrusters together with a bow mounted tunnel thruster will make the vessel more manoeuvrable.\n\nTo reduce fuel consumption and extend operational range, an additional 3000 kWh of energy storage will facilitate low speed loiter operations and the vessel will also be fitted with solar panels to generate power when the vessel is on standby.\n\nThe absence of crew increases the need for reliable power and propulsion systems. Rolls-Royce plans to cost-effectively blend advanced Intelligent Asset Management and system redundancy to avoid sacrificing the cost and volume savings achieved by removing the crew. A suite of autonomous support tools, developed by Rolls-Royce, such as Energy Management, Equipment Health Monitoring and predictive and remote maintenance, will ensure the availability of unmanned vessels.\n\nMany of the technologies needed to make autonomous ships a reality already exist. Rolls-Royce has created what it believes to be the world\u2019s first Intelligent Awareness System combining multiple sensors with Artificial Intelligence, to help commercial vessels operate more safely and efficiently. Significant analysis of potential cyber risks is also being undertaken to ensure end-to-end security.\n\nRolls-Royce says that autonomous technology presents an opportunity to automate certain parts of the ship\u2019s operations, and the partial removal of sailors reduces operating costs and improves safety by limiting the number of people exposed to hazards.", "output": "Rolls-Royce has unveiled designs for an autonomous naval vessel, which could sail for upwards of 100 days over 3,500 nautical miles. The vessel would be powered by gas and diesel engines, and driven by an electric propulsion system designed to run reliably for long periods of operation without maintenance. The concept also incorporates an additional 3,000 KWh of energy storage, and solar panels to generate power when on standby. The company says it expects mixed manned and unmanned naval fleets to develop over the next decade."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "'Nano-drills' developed that can kill cancer cells one by one \n Microscopic \"molecular drills\" could deliver drugs to, or destroy, diseased cells \u2013 potentially forging a new path to targeted cancer treatment.\n\nWhere is this data coming from? Start your free trial today Email Where is this data coming from? Start your free trial today Email\n\nFor cancer patients, aggressive treatment options like chemotherapy and radiation can come with severe side effects, including extreme nausea, compromised immune systems, and long-term organ damage. This is largely because some of the most common and effective cancer treatment regimens attack cancerous and non-cancerous cells indiscriminately.\n\nResearchers have long sought alternative treatments capable of killing cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone. Now, a team of scientists from Rice, Durham, and North Carolina State Universities may have uncovered one: A new innovation uses light to activate microscopic \u201cnanomachines\u201d that can drill into individual cancer cells. Once these nanomachines pierce a cell, they can release cancer-killing drugs or attack the cell membranes, inducing the cell to die by a process known as necrosis.\n\nThe research could represent a huge step forward for non-invasive cancer treatment, delivered in an extremely small package: The nanomachines are so tiny, you could park 50,000 of them end-to-end across the diameter of a human hair.\n\nResearch Briefing: Startups Curing Cancer We take a deep dive into recent advances in cancer therapy and see where VCs and big corporations like Google, IBM, Merck and Novartis are placing their bets. Email\n\nNanomachines themselves are a fairly new development. Just last year, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to the researchers who created the first nanomachines \u2013 essentially tiny electric drills a few thousand times thinner than the strand of a single hair and made out of molecules.\n\nDrs. James Tour of Rice, Robert Pal of Durham, and Gufeng Wang of North Carolina State \u2013 who collectively led the new nanomachines research \u2013 all hail from the chemistry field as well. Their team based its work on the Nobel-winning designs, but at an even more microscopic scale.\n\nThe cancer-killing technology leverages nanomachines (or \u201cmotorized molecules\u201d) and engineers them to selectively target cancerous cells based on a sensitivity to certain proteins of the compromised cells. Even before UV light is applied, the motorized molecules can adhere themselves to diseased cells through \u201cadsorption.\u201d\n\nThe nanomachines remain affixed to the surface of the diseased cells until the light activation makes the cell permeable. Once activated by ultraviolet light, the nanomachines burrow through cell linings using a system of rotors and stators.\n\nThe nanomachines can then drill through the cell membranes at a speed of up to 3 million times per second. (This high a speed is required to outpace \u201cBrownian motion,\u201d which is the erratic movement that takes place among microscopic particles suspended in fluid.)\n\nFrom there, the cancer cells can be killed in one of two ways: The nanomachines can inject chemical agents to destroy it, or they can repeatedly pierce the cell to blast open tumorous membranes until the cell dies by necrosis.\n\nIn one test, it took just 60 seconds for a nanomachine to pierce the outer shell of a prostate cancer cell with dozens of tiny holes; overall, it took 1-3 minutes to destroy the cell by necrosis.\n\n\u201cOnce developed, this approach could provide a potential step change in non-invasive cancer treatment and greatly improve survival rates and patient welfare globally,\u201d says Dr. Robert Pal of Durham University.\n\nThe cancer-killing nanomachine research remains far from clinical application, but has so far been successful in lab tests on human and animal cells. (Further testing on microbes, small fish, mice, and rats would precede any human trials.)\n\nThe researchers\u2019 ambition is to ultimately use light-activated nanomachines to target common cancer cells \u2013 such as those in breast tumors and skin melanomas \u2013 as well as cells that are more resistant to chemotherapy.\n\nMuch further down the road, nanomachines could potentially be utilized in other areas of healthcare and treatment; for example, some scientists say the technology could be used to heal or repair cells that don\u2019t naturally heal or are difficult to repair (such as nerve cells or heart cells).\n\nNanomachines will also have applications well beyond medicine. For example, molecular machines could be used to create \u201csmart materials\u201d that can store energy or expand and contract like muscles: In first-generation tests, 3D printing and nanomachines created smart materials capable of lifting a dime weighing 2.268g. The coin, which was 15 times the weight of the smart material that lifted it, was raised 1.6 millimeters; that scale is equivalent to a human being lifting a car. This futuristic scenario could have potentially broad implications for heavy industry and manufacturing.\n\nTo learn more about the molecular motor research discussed in this piece, check out the video below.\n\nThe original research \u2018Molecular machines open cell membranes\u2019 was published in the scientific journal Nature. Full information is available here.\n\nIf you aren\u2019t already a client, sign up for a free trial to learn more about our platform.", "output": "Microscopic \"nano-drills\" that can target and destroy individual cancer cells have been developed by US scientists. Researchers from Rice, Durham and North Carolina state universities used light to activate \"nanomachines\" that can drill into individual cells. Once the nanomachines pierce a cell, they release cancer-killing drugs or attack cell membranes, leading to the cell dying off through necrosis. The development could prove a major step forward for non-invasive cancer treatment.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vine-monitoring robot trials well in Portuguese vineyard \n Imbibe Live unites the entire drinks industry to grow their businesses. Whether you\u2019re sourcing and buying, or producing and selling, we invite you to share new products, stories and build lasting relationships. Be where the future of the UK industry is determined.", "output": "A robot designed to monitor vines has been hailed a success following trials in Portugal's Douro Valley. The VineScout is being developed by Spanish universities in conjunction with port and Douro wine producer Symington Family Estates, using technology from French and British companies. The EU is funding \u20ac1.7m ($2.04m) of the \u20ac2m project, which is aimed at both improving viticulture and addressing labour shortage issues."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Rootstock to release smart contracts platform after SegWit2x \n Rootstock (RSK) CEO Diego Gutierrez has confirmed it will finally launch \u201cbetween mid-November and mid-December\u201d after the possible SegWit2x hard fork.\n\nIn a Twitter exchange Monday, Gutierrez said the timing of the initial release was deliberate to avoid complications from a hard fork occurring afterwards.\n\nRSK is an open source smart contracts platform pegged to Bitcoin, the first such implementation for the network which will see significantly more capacity and faster payments.\n\nWhen asked what stage the project\u2019s technology was at, Gutierrez added the only reason for \u201cwaiting\u201d was the SegWit2x hard fork issue.\n\n\u201c...On our side, all the tech is in place, and the reason why we're waiting is because of the potential fork which might happen after mid (November),\u201d he wrote.\n\nWell on our side all the tech is in place and the reason why we're waiting is because of the potential fork which might happen after mid Nov \u2014 Diego Gutierrez-Z (@dieguito) September 11, 2017\n\nOn the subject of which chain RSK would support if a hard fork did occur, Gutierrez said that any willing to integrate smart contracts, but that \u201climited resources\u201d meant the chain with most transactions would get \u201cpriority.\u201d\n\nChina setback\n\nSegWit2x has taken a back seat in the Bitcoin industry debate this month as regulatory upheaval in China becomes a decisive factor regulating price and volatility.\n\nCommunity consensus has recently drifted towards discrediting the forking proposal, which came out of Barry Silbert\u2019s so-called New York Agreement (NYA) in May.\n\nThe advent of Bitcoin Cash, Blockstream CEO Adam Back said as an example, made SegWit2x seem \u201cmoot.\u201d\n\nyes! tho some may argue segwit2x helped activate segwit not just 148 and 91 initiatives. anyway given BCH segwit2x seems moot. https://t.co/R0Ta59HMkR \u2014 Adam Back (@adam3us) September 11, 2017\n\nCatallaxy co-founder Francis Pouliot yesterday meanwhile added to the opinion that such hard forks were ultimately malicious acts, echoing Chain engineer Oleg Andreev last month, who described them as \u201cFUD projects.\u201d", "output": "Rootstock will launch its open-source smart contract platform between mid-November and mid-December after the possible hard fork caused by the introduction of SegWit2x rules on block size. The technology is in place to launch, however, the hard fork could cause complications, CEO Diego Gutierrez said. In the case of a hard fork, Rootstock will support the blockchain that hosts the most transactions, he added.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple tests cardiac diagnosis potential of Apple Watch \n Apple is working with partners to test whether its smartwatch can be used to detect common heart conditions, an effort that would make its device a \"must have\" for millions of people worldwide.\n\nThe company is partnering up with a group of clinicians at Stanford, as well as telemedicine vendor American Well, to test whether Apple Watch's heart rate sensor can detect abnormal heart rhythms in a cohort of patients, according to two people familiar. The people requested anonymity as these plans have not yet been made public.\n\nApple confirmed the test and Stanford's participation at its event on Tuesday, where it unveiled a new version of the Apple Watch with wireless connectivity.\n\nArrhythmias, or abnormal heart rhythms, aren't always problematic. But in some people, a condition known as atrial fibrillation can show no external symptoms while carrying a risk of blood clots, strokes and other complications.\n\nFor that reason, an Apple Watch could be a useful screening tool for high-risk patients -- if its heart rate monitor proves to be sufficiently sensitive and accurate.\n\n\"Atrial fibrillation is a common rhythm disorder and knowing someone has it is medically useful because those people might need specific treatments,\" said Bob Wachter, chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco.\n\nAmerican Well declined to comment on its involvement with Apple. But the company's CEO Roy Schoenberg did say that telemedicine companies are working closely with wearable makers. If a problem is detected, he said, \"the best route forward is to put a health care professional out in front.\"\n\nCompanies like American Well already provide apps for the iPhone so that anyone with an Internet connection can reach a doctor in a matter of minutes.\n\nApple Watch has also been used in studies to screen for heart rhythm abnormalities. A start-up called Cardiogram released the results of its research in May, in partnership with clinicians at UCSF.\n\nGreg Marcus, a cardiac electrophysiologist at UCSF who was involved with the Cardiogram study, said Apple benefits from the real-time access to raw data from its heart rate sensor. \"That's potentially more powerful,\" he said, than the signals that third-party developers can access through Apple Watch.\n\nThe clinical study is slated to kick off later this year, one of the people said.\n\nApple's Tim Cook hinted at the company's interest in heart health applications in an interview with Fortune published on Monday.\n\n\"We started working on the Apple Watch several years ago,\" he said, and one goal was \"performing some measurements of your health that people were not measuring, at least continually. Like your heart. Very few people wore heart monitors. We're extremely interested in this area. And yes it is a business opportunity.\"\n\nCook went on to describe the medical health activity market as the \"largest or second largest component\" of the economy.\n\nIn June, CNBC reported that Apple hired Sumbul Desai, a rising star on Stanford's digital health team who was working on projects related to Apple Watch. CNBC also reported that month that Apple has been in talks with developers, hospitals and other industry groups about bringing clinical data, such as detailed lab results and allergy lists, to its devices.\n\nApple declined to comment. Stanford did not return a request for comment.\n\nRelated video: Apple and Aetna hold secret meetings to bring the Apple Watch to Aetna customers", "output": "Apple is reported to be working with researchers at Stanford University on clinical applications for the heart rate monitor on its Apple Watch. The tests will examine whether the watch can be used to detect abnormal cardiac activity, or arrhythmia, and potentially serious conditions such as atrial fibrillation, which carries the risk of blood clots, strokes and other complications. Tech company American Well, which specialises in connecting patients with doctors via secure video, is also thought to be involved with the trial.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New listings for August down 6% on last year across the UK \n Post navigation\n\nNew listings were down last month by almost 6% on August the year before, and down 13.1% on a monthly basis.\n\nAnalysis of new listings on website Home has shown that in 100 UK towns and cities, supply dropped on a monthly basis in two thirds of places.\n\nThe biggest falls were in Coventry (down 33%), Winchester (31%), Salford (28.5%) and Oxford (25.6%).\n\nIn London, supply was down 22.3%, with the highest monthly fall in Richmond at 42%.\n\nThe analysis was done by HouseSimple, whose CEO Alex Gosling said: \u201cFew people will be concerned by the drop-off in new listings between July and August.\n\n\u201cMore of a concern is the 5.9% drop-off when comparing last month with the corresponding month in 2016. Supply continues to be a major issue.\n\n\u201cThe property market needs a strong September after a subdued period since the general election.\u201d\n\nThe Land Registry has said that transactions in the second quarter of this year fell 12% on an annual basis across England and Wales. In the 12 months to the end of the quarter, there were 844,380 transactions \u2013 the lowest since the same period in 2009/10.", "output": "New property listings in the UK in August fell nearly 6% compared to August 2016, according to new figures from the website Home. Transactions in the second quarter of 2017 fell by 12% on an annual basis across England and Wales, and totals for the year have fallen to the lowest since 2009/10, with just 844,380. The figure for August showed a 13.1% fall from July, with Coventry, Winchester and Salford recording the sharpest falls. London listings were down by 22.3%. The figures have raised fresh concerns about housing supply.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Outsourced property viewing industry gathering pace \n Post navigation\n\nThe outsourced viewings industry looks to have established itself beyond doubt.\n\nOne provider, Access2View, has announced its 50,000th accompanied viewing in just under five years.\n\nEd Mead\u2019s high-profile Viewber, now one year old, has already notched up 6,500 viewings.\n\nJim Johnston, managing director of Access2View, said: \u201cWe\u2019re proud to have hit this milestone. We\u2019re an independent business with no outside investment. We\u2019re completely focused on quality of service and have reinvested all our profits into creating a system that integrates with our customers\u2019 IT platforms.\n\n\u201cBased on the last few months, we expect to hit 100,000 viewings by the end of next year.\u201d\n\nHe said customers include letting agents, traditional estate agents, housing associations and landlords, as well as online agents.\n\nMead said that in the first three months of Viewber going live, there were just 50 viewings undertaken for a handful of clients.\n\nThe businesss now has over 500 customers, including lettings, sales and auction businesses, plus property and asset managers.\n\nThere are now over 2,200 \u2018Viewbers\u2019, with the number growing at around 20 a day.\n\nHighlights of the last year include a request for 188 block viewings in one go; the 30 minutes that was the shortest time between a requested and actual viewing; and the 5.45am request for a viewing at 8.30am the same day, which was duly carried out.\n\nMead said: \u201cI always knew this service was part of the future and increasingly useful to busy agents and other industry players who face squeezed margins and increased competition.\n\n\u201cAgents, buyers and tenants can now expect service on demand, which is often late, at short notice or at weekends.\n\n\u201cViewber can help support a business, freeing up teams to spend more time putting deals together and less out on the road.\n\n\u201cIt has been a phenomenal year and it\u2019s hard to believe we\u2019ve achieved so much in such a short space of time.\u201d\n\nBelow, the two co-founders of Viewber, Marcus de Ferranti, left, and Ed Mead", "output": "Outsourced property viewing providers are on the rise, with the UK industry having rapidly established itself. Leicester-based Access2View recently announced its 50,000th accompanied viewing in just under five years and expects to reach 100,000 viewings by the end of 2018. Meanwhile, Viewber has already reported 6,500 viewings and more than 500 customers in its first year. Ed Mead, co-founder of Viewber, said such services were increasingly useful to agents and other industry players who faced increased competition and squeezed margins."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cryptocurrency/fiat ATMs to go into service in Argentina \n La comunidad blockchain de Argentina y de toda Latinoam\u00e9rica tiene un gran motivo de celebraci\u00f3n. A partir del mes de octubre, en el territorio argentino se instalar\u00e1n 250 cajeros autom\u00e1ticos que permitir\u00e1n realizar operaciones tanto con dinero fiat, como con criptoactivos.\n\nEl sistema bidireccional se refiere a que estos cajeros pueden dar y recibir billetes de curso legal en Argentina, como tambi\u00e9n dar y recibir criptoactivos. Sebasti\u00e1n Ponceliz, CEO y fundador de Odyssey Group, la empresa que est\u00e1 desarrollando esta iniciativa, declar\u00f3 a CriptoNoticias que realizar\u00e1n operaciones con las principales criptomonedas del mercado: desde el momento de su instalaci\u00f3n comenzar\u00e1n a operar con Bitcoin, Ethereum y Litecoin y se ir\u00e1n a\u00f1adiendo m\u00e1s criptomonedas seg\u00fan su relevancia.\n\nAsimismo, indic\u00f3: \u201cNuestra empresa transfiere tecnolog\u00eda por fuera de los Estados Unidos. La plataforma Octagon, permite comunicar con el puerto transaccional de cada pa\u00eds y de esa manera, administrar los ATM bidireccionales. Octagon, permite al usuario de los ATM, obtener efectivo, intercambiar criptomonedas, obtener microcr\u00e9ditos, realizar transferencias de dinero y muchas otras funciones m\u00e1s a trav\u00e9s de carteras electr\u00f3nicas\u201d.\n\nCon respecto a la plataforma Octagon, Ponceliz indic\u00f3 que se trata de una plataforma de administraci\u00f3n transaccional con un nodo de distribuci\u00f3n de criptomonedas integrado, lo que permitir\u00e1 llevar a cabo dichas funciones. \u201cOctagon es la primera plataforma mundial integradora de soluciones fintech, criptomonedas y efectivo, de contacto directo con el ser humano, facilitando el movimiento de divisas, el comercio y la reducci\u00f3n de los costos transaccionales\u201d, apunt\u00f3.\n\nSurge a partir de comprender que est\u00e1 cambiando el orden monetario mundial. Existe lo que yo denomino, una convergencia monetaria que hace que utilicemos diferentes tipos de medios de pago y monedas de cambio (efectivo, crypto, e-wallets, puntos de fidelidad, etc) y el punto de contacto humano para eso, es un ATM que pueda transaccionar multiples monedas, convirtiendo dinero digital en fisico y a la inversa. Octagon es la primera plataforma mundial integradora de soluciones fintech, criptomonedas y efectivo, de contacto directo con el ser humano, facilitando el movimiento de divisas, el comercio y la reducci\u00f3n de los costos transaccionales. Sebastian Ponceliz\n\nCEO\n\nTambi\u00e9n, manifest\u00f3 que las primeras 250 m\u00e1quinas ser\u00e1n instaladas en las provincias de Buenos Aires, C\u00f3rdoba y Jujuy. Ponceliz indic\u00f3 que tambi\u00e9n proyectar\u00e1n hacia toda Latinoam\u00e9rica y tambi\u00e9n en Europa y Asia.\n\nPor lo que se refiere a las alianzas con instituciones, Ponceliz dijo que est\u00e1n trabajando de cerca con los bancos centrales de Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Colombia y M\u00e9xico. En relaci\u00f3n con la regulaci\u00f3n en territorio argentino, Ponceliz agreg\u00f3 que desde el mes de mayo del presente a\u00f1o, la legislaci\u00f3n argentina cambi\u00f3, permitiendo a empresarios particulares poder llevar a cabo operaciones de instalaci\u00f3n de cajeros autom\u00e1ticos por fuera del sistema bancario tradicional, siendo ellos, Octagon, en conjunto con el Banco Central, los promotores de ese cambio.\n\nEsta iniciativa de Odyssey Group, seg\u00fan su CEO y fundador, responde al cambio que las criptomonedas est\u00e1n generando en el orden monetario mundial. Seg\u00fan el sitio web de la compa\u00f1\u00eda, buscan ser un factor de disrupci\u00f3n tecnol\u00f3gico y un proveedor de servicios de alta eficiencia de cajeros autom\u00e1ticos, m\u00e1quinas expendedoras y de seguridad inform\u00e1tica e Internet de las Cosas. La empresa tiene diversas oficinas, en M\u00e9xico, Florida, Nueva York, Per\u00fa, Chile, Uruguay y Argentina y es un importante agente del sector.\n\nYa son varios los pa\u00edses en donde se han instalado cajeros autom\u00e1ticos para criptoactivos como Bitcoin, Litecoin y Ethereum, siendo los dos primeros los que llevan la batuta en este sentido. Entre los pa\u00edses en donde hay cajeros para criptoactivos se pueden mencionar Kosovo (para Bitcoin), Colombia (para Bitcoin, Ethereum y Litecoin), Canad\u00e1 (para Ethereum, Litecoin y Bitcoin), Rep\u00fablica Dominicana (para Bitcoin), Rep\u00fablica Checa (para Bitcoin), Estados Unidos (para Bitcoin), Israel (para Bitcoin), Espa\u00f1a (para Bitcoin), entre otros.\n\nCabe destacar que Argentina ha sido sede de numerosos eventos vinculados a las plataformas blockchain y los criptoactivos, como por ejemplo, eventos educativos como el BitcoinDay Argentina, celebrado en julio pasado, y \u201cBitcoin y Blockchain, un mundo de oportunidades\u201d, que se llev\u00f3 a cabo el pasado 4 de agosto en la provincia de Buenos Aires, por parte de la ONG Bitcoin Argentina. Sin duda alguna, el pa\u00eds suramericano se perfila como un ambiente bastante amigable hacia los criptoactivos.\n\nCorrecci\u00f3n: Este art\u00edculo fue modificado para aclarar que Argentina no posee la primicia en la adopci\u00f3n de cajeros bidireccionales con criptoactivos a nivel mundial.", "output": "Fintech company Odyssey will introduce 250 automated teller machines (ATMs) in Argentina which are able to issue and receive cryptocurrencies alongside fiat transactions. Upon installation, the ATMs will use Odyssey's Octagon platform to process bitcoin, ethereum and litecoin. Odyssey plans to launch its bi-directional crypto ATMs across Latin America, Europe and Asia, said CEO Sebastian Ponceliz.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California Assembly passes drug price transparency bill \n The California State Assembly on Monday overwhelmingly approved Senate Bill 17, controversial legislation that could soon become the nation\u2019s most comprehensive law aimed at shining a light on prescription drug prices.\n\nThe 66-9 vote easily overcame the 41 votes needed to pass, though an earlier vote late Monday afternoon had come up short at 31-6. At that point, the bill was put on call and the voting roll was kept open for less than an hour until the final vote was called.\n\nSB 17, authored by Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina and co-authored by Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, aims to make drug prices for both public and private health plans more transparent.\n\nIt would enable health insurers to negotiate lower prices for drugs or, in many cases, replace those drugs with cheaper alternatives, according to its supporters.\n\n\u201cPublic anger at rising drug prices has been growing for some time, and Californians expect their government to do something about it,\u201d said Hernandez in a statement afterwards.\n\n\u201cDrug companies threw everything they had at this bill, but the Assembly stood up for consumers. The reason Big Pharma hates this bill so much is that it\u2019s going to work.\u201d\n\nThe bill is strongly opposed by the pharmaceutical industry, which deployed legions of lobbyists and paid for full-page newspaper ads leading up to the Legislature\u2019s final votes on the measure, partially out of fear that SB 17 could become a national model and the first major step toward price controls.\n\nOn Monday night, Priscilla VanderVeer, spokeswoman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said in a statement that \u201cSB 17 can\u2019t deliver on its empty promises.\n\n\u201cIt won\u2019t help Californians access needed medicine or make their costs at the pharmacy counter any lower,\u201d she said. \u201cIt won\u2019t even paint a complete picture of prescription drug spending since it only calls for information on list\n\nprices rather than the final cost after discounts and rebates.\u201d\n\nSB 17 would require pharmaceutical companies to notify health insurers and government health plans like Medi-Cal at least 60 days before scheduled prescription drug price hikes that would exceed 16 percent over a two-year period. It would also force drug companies to explain the reasons behind those increases.\n\n\u201cAfter two years of setbacks, I\u2019m thrilled to see SB 17 pass the Assembly,\u201d said Chiu in a statement. \u201cWe\u2019re one step closer to lifting the veil on soaring drug prices and identifying meaningful strategies to ensure access to life-saving treatments.\u201d\n\nThe bill passed the Senate 28-10 in May, but has since been amended and will need to return to the Senate for a full vote sometime this week. If it passes there, it will be forwarded to Gov. Jerry Brown, who will decide if it will become law.", "output": "The California State Assembly on Monday overwhelmingly approved Senate Bill 17, controversial legislation that could soon become the nation\u2019s most comprehensive law aimed at shining a light on prescription drug prices.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "What Does It Cost to Create a Cancer Drug? Less Than You\u2019d Think \n What does it really cost to bring a drug to market?\n\nThe question is central to the debate over rising health care costs and appropriate drug pricing. President Trump campaigned on promises to lower the costs of drugs.\n\nBut numbers have been hard to come by. For years, the standard figure has been supplied by researchers at the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development: $2.7 billion each, in 2017 dollars.\n\nYet a new study looking at 10 cancer medications, among the most expensive of new drugs, has arrived at a much lower figure: a median cost of $757 million per drug. (Half cost less, and half more.)\n\nFollowing approval, the 10 drugs together brought in $67 billion, the researchers also concluded \u2014 a more than sevenfold return on investment. Nine out of 10 companies made money, but revenues varied enormously. One drug had not yet earned back its development costs.", "output": "What does it really cost to bring a drug to market? The question is central to the debate over rising health care costs and appropriate drug pricing. President Trump campaigned on promises to lower the costs of drugs.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UC cancer collaboration seeks combined clout \n UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center is among five University of California sites participating in a new collaborative effort that aims to increase access to clinical trials, share research data and hone preventive efforts across the state.\n\nThe proposal would formalize and deepen connections between the UC\u2019s National Cancer Institute designated centers, said Dr. Scott Lippman, Moores director,\n\nTaken together, the UC centers care for more than 16 percent of Californians diagnosed with a disease projected to kill nearly 60,000 Californians this year, according to the American Cancer Society.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWhile that number is daunting, there is more hope these days than there has been perhaps at any time since President Richard Nixon declared war on cancer in 1971. In recent years, breakthroughs in immunotherapies \u2014 drugs that activate or piggyback on components of the body\u2019s immune system \u2014 have brought significant increases in survivability and seen to generate new headline-worthy advances every single week.\n\nLippman said the pace of innovation in cancer therapy is so fast, that the best care available is often obtained by joining a trial run by a drug company headed for market. Becoming the home of one of these trials is not easy even if your operation is among the 69 government-designated centers in the nation, he said.\n\n\u201cThere is tremendous competition for getting these trials. They\u2019re investigational, in a certain sense, but they\u2019re also the best cancer therapy that a person can get,\u201d Lippman said.\n\nWhile the collaboration announced in San Francisco Monday morning is about much more than clinical trial access, Lippman said that the added clout that can be gained by joining together will likely have the most immediately-visible impact for diagnosed patients.\n\nIn fact, he noted, it already has. The five centers have already built collaborative efforts around head and neck cancers and blood cancers that have brought trials systemwide that might not have appeared if only one cancer center was involved, he siad.\n\nDr. Ezra Cohen, a Moores head and neck specialist, was due to present an abstract of results of a promising trial at the European Society for Medical Oncology on Monday. That trial uses the immunotherapy drug Durvalumab, made by global medicine giant AstraZeneca, in conjunction with another drug called a STAT3 inhibitor.\n\nThough the trial is still ongoing, early results are exciting, Cohen said in an email from Barcelona.\n\n\u201cWe would expect to see a response rate of 10 percent to 15 percent with Durvalumab alone with few complete responses. We are seeing a doubling to tripling of the response rate with the addition of a STAT3 inhibitor,\u201d Cohen said.\n\nGetting that trial, Cohen and Lippman said, had a lot to do with the existing cross-collaboration between head and neck oncologists at various UC cancer centers. All had agreed to abide by the recommendations of Moores scientific review committee and institutional review board which must approve all clinical trials before they can proceed.\n\nThe ability to go through just one approval and have access to as many as five major cancer centers, Lippman said, definitely helped secure a trial in a competitive environment.\n\n\u201cWe think this is obviously a major advantage,\u201d Lippman said.\n\nDr. Alan Ashworth, president of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, agreed that the AstraZeneca trial is a good example of \u201cone-off\u201d collaborations that have occurred between different UC cancer centers in the past. The executive, who will direct the collaborative in its first year, said formalizing the relationship will hopefully make such joint effort the rule rather than the exception.\n\n\u201cWhat we want to happen down the road is that, when one center is considering applying for a trial it\u2019s the standard practice to say \u2018Hey guys, we\u2019re setting this trial up, which of you guys is in?\u2019\u201d Ashworth said.\n\nBut he added that the collaboration is about much more than connecting more efficiently for trials.\n\nCancer research is increasingly moving away from categorizing cancers based on where they occur in the body. The new defining characteristic at the center of research is the disease\u2019s specific genetic signature.\n\nBut spotting genetic mutations is the relatively easy part. Once those differences are delineated, researchers must use sophisticated data analysis tools to determine which are driving the disease and present an actionable target that can be exploited by a drug.\n\nThis analysis is aided by what computer scientists call \u201cbig data\u201d: By looking across the clinical and genetic information of thousands of patients, cleverly designed computer algorithms can pick up on patterns that would not be apparent by looking at one patient at a time.\n\nHere, Ashworth said, collaborating more closely, and sharing data sets, can help researchers make the next wave of discoveries more quickly.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re not big enough on our own, sometimes, for this kind of work, but together we\u2019re going to see the big picture of cancer in ways we never have before,\u201d Ashworth said.\n\nHe said that there is also room for collaboration on cancer prevention programs whether it\u2019s finding the best way to get people to stop smoking or to get those over age 50 to undergo the routine colonoscopies that are proven to reduce the chances of colon cancer.\n\nLooking across institutions at what is effective in one place versus another, he said, should enable new insights about what truly motivates and what just gets ignored.\n\n\u201cWe can now start to use the data from our electronic medical records to look at similarities and difference in outcomes and treatment and also around cost,\u201d Ashworth said.\n\nIn addition to Moores, the organizations that make up the consortium are: UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, the UC Irvine Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.\n\nHealth Playlist \u00d7 On Now Video: Leaders urge public to help extinguish hepatitis outbreak On Now San Diego starts cleansing sidewalks, streets to combat hepatitis A On Now Video: Scripps to shutter its hospice service On Now Video: Scripps La Jolla hospitals nab top local spot in annual hospital rankings On Now Video: Does a parent's Alzheimer's doom their children? On Now EpiPen recall expands On Now Kids can add years to your life\n\npaul.sisson@sduniontribune.com\n\n(619) 293-1850\n\nTwitter: @paulsisson", "output": "UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center is among five University of California sites participating in a new collaborative effort that aims to increase access to clinical trials, share research data and hone preventive efforts across the state.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Congress Rejects Trump Proposals to Cut Health Research Funds \n In identical language, the House and Senate bills explicitly prohibit the Trump administration from changing the formula used for decades to calculate and pay indirect costs.\n\n\u201cThe administration\u2019s proposal would radically change the nature of the federal government\u2019s relationship with the research community, abandoning the government\u2019s long-established responsibility for underwriting much of the nation\u2019s research infrastructure, and jeopardizing biomedical research nationwide,\u201d the Senate Appropriations Committee said in a report on its bill. The proposed cuts, it said, could not be made \u201cwithout throwing research programs across the country into disarray.\u201d\n\nJust to make sure the message got through to the administration, Congress included the same prohibition in a stopgap spending bill that provides money to run the government through Dec. 8. President Trump on Friday signed the bill, which also suspends the debt limit and includes aid for victims of Hurricane Harvey and other disasters.\n\nTom Price, the secretary of health and human services, had argued for the proposed cuts, saying they would not harm research. \u201cAbout 30 percent of the grant money that goes out is used for indirect expenses, which, as you know, means that that money goes for something other than the research that\u2019s being done,\u201d Mr. Price told the House Appropriations Committee in March.\n\nBut he won few converts.\n\n\u201cIndirect costs are very real costs,\u201d said Dr. Landon S. King, the executive vice dean of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and \u201cthere is not another source to pay for them.\u201d", "output": "Back in March, when President Trump released the first draft of his budget proposal\u00a0for the coming fiscal year, he asked lawmakers for deep cuts to one of their favorite institutions, the National Institutes of Health \u2014 part of a broad reordering of priorities, away from science and social spending, toward defense and border security.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Feeling Older? Here\u2019s How to Embrace It \n The realization that you are getting older can come in waves.\n\nYou watch movies and point to the actors, saying: \u201cShe\u2019s dead. Oh, he\u2019s dead, too.\u201d\n\nYour parents move to a retirement community they call God\u2019s waiting room.\n\nYou hear more snap, crackle and pop in your joints than in your breakfast cereal.\n\nIn society, youthfulness is glorified and getting older is cast as something to avoid, but as your age increases, your quality of life does not necessarily have to decrease, experts said.\n\nHere\u2019s what you should know:\n\nWhat is \u2018old\u2019?\n\nMost people wouldn\u2019t say that a 38-year-old qualifies, but once you pass the median age of 37.8, you may statistically be considered \u201cold,\u201d said Tom Ludwig, emeritus professor of psychology at Hope College in Holland, Mich.", "output": "The realization that you are getting older can come in waves. You watch movies and point to the actors, saying: \u201cShe\u2019s dead. Oh, he\u2019s dead, too.\u201d Your parents move to a retirement community they call God\u2019s waiting room. You hear more snap, crackle and pop in your joints than in your breakfast cereal.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US researchers create biofuel from potato waste \n Researchers evaluated the effects of temperature, pH and aeration rates in biofilm reactors, and the optimal conditions were found to be 95 degrees Fahrenheit and a pH of 5.8 with no aeration. After 72 hours, the researchers achieved the maximum ethanol concentration of 37.93 grams per liter. The yield was 0.41 grams or ethanol per gram of starch.\n\n\"These results are promising, because the co-culture biofilm reactor provided similar ethanol production \u2014 37.93 grams per leader \u2014 compared to the conventional ethanol production \u2014 37.05 grams per liter \u2014 which required pre-treatment with added commercial enzymes at a higher temperature,\" Demirci explained. \"Therefore, eliminating the externally added enzyme and energy costs will certainly reduce the cost of bioethanol production.\"\n\nResearchers also evaluated biofilm formation of co-culture on the plastic composite supports using a scanning electron microscope, said researcher Gulten Izmirlioglu, a doctoral student in agricultural and biological engineering when the study was conducted. \"Scanning electron microscope images revealed that when mold and yeast are allowed to form a biofilm, hyphae (filaments) of the mold provide surface area for the yeasts' attachment,\" she said. \"That's a good thing.\"\n\nThe research findings, which demonstrated that plastic composite supports can be used for simultaneous saccharification and fermentation processes in biofilm reactors with co-cultures when producing ethanol, were published in Fuel. Izmirlioglu believes the results are significant for industry.\n\n\"Overall, bioethanol production from starchy industrial wastes can be improved with application of biofilm reactors, while the production cost is reduced with integrations of the simultaneous saccharification and fermentation process and co-culturing,\" she said.\n\nMore efficient bioethanol production is needed to meet the demand for renewable energy and reduce the negative environmental impacts of petroleum fuel, Demirci noted. To make ethanol production cost-competitive, inexpensive, and easily available, feedstocks such as potato mash are needed, as well as improved processing technologies with higher productivities.\n\n\"This research is of great interest to Keystone Potato Products in Hegins, Pennsylvania, a subsidiary of Sterman Masser Inc.,\" said Demirci. \"The company is paying attention to this project, hoping this novel approach may help it add more value to its waste potato mash. Industrial food wastes are potentially a great substrate in production of value-added products to reduce the cost, while managing the waste economically and environmentally.\"\n\nAlso contributing to the research was John Cantolina in the Microscopy and Cytometry Facility at the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Penn State.\n\nThe Turkish Ministry of Education, by providing a scholarship to Izmirlioglu and the Pennsylvania Agricultural Experiment Station supported this work.", "output": "Researchers at Penn State\u2019s College of Agricultural Sciences have developed a method of converting potato waste into the biofuel ethanol, which is more cost effective than current methods and achieves a slightly greater yield. Using potato waste from Pennsylvania crisp factories, the team triggered the simultaneous processes of saccharification and fermentation, while mould and yeast were added as catalysts to the bioreactor.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US researchers create biofuel from potato waste \n In Pennsylvania, with more than two-dozen companies in Pennsylvania manufacturing potato chips, it is no wonder that researchers in Penn State\u2019s College of Agricultural Sciences have developed a novel approach to more efficiently convert potato waste into ethanol. This process may lead to reduced production costs for biofuel in the future and add extra value for chip makers.\n\nUsing potato mash made from the peelings and potato residuals from a Pennsylvania food-processor, researchers triggered simultaneous saccharification \u2014 the process of breaking down the complex carbohydrate starch into simple sugars \u2014 and fermentation \u2014 the process in which sugars are converted to ethanol by yeasts or other microorganisms in bioreactors.\n\nThe bioreactor had plastic composite supports to encourage and enhance biofilm formation and to increase the microbial population. Biofilms are a natural way of immobilizing microbial cells on a solid support material. In a biofilm environment, microbial cells are abundant and more resistant to environmental stress causing higher productivities. In this application, these benefits were especially important because mold enzyme activity required higher temperature and the yeast had to tolerate this.", "output": "Researchers at Penn State\u2019s College of Agricultural Sciences have developed a method of converting potato waste into the biofuel ethanol, which is more cost effective than current methods and achieves a slightly greater yield. Using potato waste from Pennsylvania crisp factories, the team triggered the simultaneous processes of saccharification and fermentation, while mould and yeast were added as catalysts to the bioreactor.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Zillow buys construction listings start-up New Home Feed \n SEATTLE, Sept. 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: Z and ZG), which houses a portfolio of the largest and most vibrant real estate and home-related brands on mobile and the web, today announced it has acquired New Home Feed, a streamlined listing management technology that allows builders to input, manage and syndicate their listings across the web.\n\n\"As the leader in new construction data management and a tool many of our builder customers currently use, New Home Feed felt like a natural extension of our current services,\" said Tony Small, group vice president of emerging marketplaces at Zillow Group. \"By incorporating New Home Feed's tool set into our offering, it will be easier for partners to send their listings to Zillow Group and will improve the quality and accuracy of our new construction listings. This acquisition is another step toward our ultimate goal for new construction at Zillow Group, which is to help builders market their homes to consumers with a great return-on-investment.\"\n\n\"We are excited to be joining Zillow Group,\" said Rick Phillips, general manager of New Home Feed. \"Many of our customers already use Zillow and Trulia to market their new construction homes. New Home Feed allows them to easily input, manage, and syndicate listings, and view intuitive reports in one dashboard. We are thrilled to start working with the Zillow Group team to integrate our technology directly with the platform to meet the rapidly growing needs of the new home industry.\"\n\nZillow Group will discuss the acquisition further at the Zillow Group New Construction Forum, September 14, 2017, in Austin, Texas.\n\nAbout Zillow Group\n\nZillow Group (NASDAQ:Z) (NASDAQ:ZG) houses a portfolio of the largest real estate and home-related brands on mobile and the web. The company's brands focus on all stages of the home lifecycle: renting, buying, selling and financing. Zillow Group is committed to empowering consumers with unparalleled data, inspiration and knowledge around homes, and connecting them with the right local professionals to help. The Zillow Group portfolio of consumer brands includes real estate and rental marketplaces Zillow\u00ae, Trulia\u00ae, StreetEasy\u00ae, HotPads\u00ae, Naked Apartments\u00ae and RealEstate.com. In addition, Zillow Group develops a comprehensive suite of marketing software and technology solutions to help real estate, rental and mortgage professionals maximize business opportunities and connect with millions of consumers. The company operates a number of business brands for real estate, rental and mortgage professionals, including Mortech\u00ae, dotloop\u00ae and Bridge Interactive\u2122. The company is headquartered in Seattle.\n\n(ZFIN)\n\nSOURCE Zillow Group", "output": "Zillow has acquired construction listings management start-up New Home Feed. Seattle-based Zillow, which controls a range of online real estate and home-related brands including Trulia and StreetEasy, said New Home Feed's expertise are\u00a0a \"natural extension\" of its\u00a0digital services. The purchase\u00a0marks a step towards Zillow's goal of helping builders market their homes to consumers, said Tony Small, Zillow\u00a0group vice president of emerging marketplaces.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Robotics guru Rodney Brooks debunks AI myths \n [An essay in my series on the Future of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence.]\n\nWe are surrounded by hysteria about the future of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. There is hysteria about how powerful they will become how quickly, and there is hysteria about what they will do to jobs.\n\nAs I write these words on September 2nd, 2017, I note just two news stories from the last 48 hours.\n\nYesterday, in the New York Times, Oren Etzioni, chief executive of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, wrote an opinion piece titled How to Regulate Artificial Intelligence where he does a good job of arguing against the hysteria that Artificial Intelligence is an existential threat to humanity. He proposes rather sensible ways of thinking about regulations for Artificial Intelligence deployment, rather than the chicken little \u201cthe sky is falling\u201d calls for regulation of research and knowledge that we have seen from people who really, really, should know a little better.\n\nToday, there is a story in Market Watch that robots will take half of today\u2019s jobs in 10 to 20 years. It even has a graphic to prove the numbers.\n\nThe claims are ludicrous. [I try to maintain professional language, but sometimes\u2026] For instance, it appears to say that we will go from 1 million grounds and maintenance workers in the US to only 50,000 in 10 to 20 years, because robots will take over those jobs. How many robots are currently operational in those jobs? ZERO. How many realistic demonstrations have there been of robots working in this arena? ZERO. Similar stories apply to all the other job categories in this diagram where it is suggested that there will be massive disruptions of 90%, and even as much as 97%, in jobs that currently require physical presence at some particular job site.\n\nMistaken predictions lead to fear of things that are not going to happen. Why are people making mistakes in predictions about Artificial Intelligence and robotics, so that Oren Etzioni, I, and others, need to spend time pushing back on them?\n\nBelow I outline seven ways of thinking that lead to mistaken predictions about robotics and Artificial Intelligence. We find instances of these ways of thinking in many of the predictions about our AI future. I am going to first list the four such general topic areas of predictions that I notice, along with a brief assessment of where I think they currently stand.\n\nA. Artificial General Intelligence. Research on AGI is an attempt to distinguish a thinking entity from current day AI technology such as Machine Learning. Here the idea is that we will build autonomous agents that operate much like beings in the world. This has always been my own motivation for working in robotics and AI, but the recent successes of AI are not at all like this.\n\nSome people think that all AI is an instance of AGI, but as the word \u201cgeneral\u201d would imply, AGI aspires to be much more general than current AI. Interpreting current AI as an instance of AGI makes it seem much more advanced and all encompassing that it really is.\n\nModern day AGI research is not doing at all well on being either general or getting to an independent entity with an ongoing existence. It mostly seems stuck on the same issues in reasoning and common sense that AI has had problems with for at least fifty years. Alternate areas such as Artificial Life, and Simulation of Adaptive Behavior did make some progress in getting full creatures in the eighties and nineties (these two areas and communities were where I spent my time during those years), but they have stalled.\n\nMy own opinion is that of course this is possible in principle. I would never have started working on Artificial Intelligence if I did not believe that. However perhaps we humans are just not smart enough to figure out how to do this\u2013see my remarks on humility in my post on the current state of Artificial Intelligence suitable for deployment in robotics. Even if it is possible I personally think we are far, far further away from understanding how to build AGI than many other pundits might say.\n\n[Some people refer to \u201can AI\u201d, as though all AI is about being an autonomous agent. I think that is confusing, and just as the natives of San Francisco do not refer to their city as \u201cFrisco\u201d, no serious researchers in AI refer to \u201can AI\u201d.]\n\nB. The Singularity. This refers to the idea that eventually an AI based intelligent entity, with goals and purposes, will be better at AI research than us humans are. Then, with an unending Moore\u2019s law mixed in making computers faster and faster, Artificial Intelligence will take off by itself, and, as in speculative physics going through the singularity of a black hole, we have no idea what things will be like on the other side.\n\nPeople who \u201cbelieve\u201d in the Singularity are happy to give post-Singularity AI incredible power, as what will happen afterwards is quite unpredictable. I put the word believe in scare quotes as belief in the singularity can often seem like a religious belief. For some it comes with an additional benefit of being able to upload their minds to an intelligent computer, and so get eternal life without the inconvenience of having to believe in a standard sort of supernatural God. The ever powerful technologically based AI is the new God for them. Techno religion!\n\nSome people have very specific ideas about when the day of salvation will come\u2013followers of one particular Singularity prophet believe that it will happen in the year 2029, as it has been written.\n\nThis particular error of prediction is very much driven by exponentialism, and I will address that as one of the seven common mistakes that people make.\n\nEven if there is a lot of computer power around it does not mean we are close to having programs that can do research in Artificial Intelligence, and rewrite their own code to get better and better.\n\nHere is where we are on programs that can understand computer code. We currently have no programs that can understand a one page program as well as a new student in computer science can understand such a program after just one month of taking their very first class in programming. That is a long way from AI systems being better at writing AI systems than humans are.\n\nHere is where we are on simulating brains at the neural level, the other methodology that Singularity worshipers often refer to. For about thirty years we have known the full \u201cwiring diagram\u201d of the 302 neurons in the worm C. elegans, along with the 7,000 connections between them. This has been incredibly useful for understanding how behavior and neurons are linked. But it has been a thirty years study with hundreds of people involved, all trying to understand just 302 neurons. And according to the OpenWorm project trying to simulate C. elegans bottom up, they are not yet half way there. To simulate a human brain with 100 billion neurons and a vast number of connections is quite a way off. So if you are going to rely on the Singularity to upload yourself to a brain simulation I would try to hold off on dying for another couple of centuries.\n\nJust in case I have not made my own position on the Singularity clear, I refer you to my comments in a regularly scheduled look at the event by the magazine IEEE Spectrum. Here is the the 2008 version, and in particular a chart of where the players stand and what they say. Here is the 2017 version, and in particular a set of boxes of where the players stand and what they say. And yes, I do admit to being a little snarky in 2017\u2026\n\nC. Misaligned Values. The third case is that the Artificial Intelligence based machines get really good at execution of tasks, so much so that they are super human at getting things done in a complex world. And they do not share human values and this leads to all sorts of problems.\n\nI think there could be versions of this that are true\u2013if I have recently bought an airline ticket to some city, suddenly all the web pages I browse that rely on advertisements for revenue start displaying ads for airline tickets to the same city. This is clearly dumb, but I don\u2019t think it is a sign of super capable intelligence, rather it is a case of poorly designed evaluation functions in the algorithms that place advertisements.\n\nBut here is a quote from one of the proponents of this view (I will let him remain anonymous, as an act of generosity):\n\nThe well-known example of paper clips is a case in point: if the machine\u2019s only goal is maximizing the number of paper clips, it may invent incredible technologies as it sets about converting all available mass in the reachable universe into paper clips; but its decisions are still just plain dumb.\n\nWell, no. We would never get to a situation in any version of the real world where such a program could exist. One smart enough that it would be able to invent ways to subvert human society to achieve goals set for it by humans, without understanding the ways in which it was causing problems for those same humans. Thinking that technology might evolve this way is just plain dumb (nice turn of phrase\u2026), and relies on making multiple errors among the seven that I discuss below.\n\nThis same author repeatedly (including in the piece from which I took this quote, but also at the big International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) that was held just a couple of weeks ago in Melbourne, Australia) argues that we need research to come up with ways to mathematically prove that Artificial Intelligence systems have their goals aligned with humans.\n\nI think this case C comes from researchers seeing an intellectually interesting research problem, and then throwing their well known voices promoting it as an urgent research question. Then AI hangers-on take it, run with it, and turn it into an existential problem for mankind.\n\nBy the way, I think mathematical provability is a vain hope. With multi-year large team efforts we can not prove that a 1,000 line program can not be breached by external hackers, so we certainly won\u2019t be able to prove very much at all about large AI systems. The good news is that us humans were able to successfully co-exist with, and even use for our own purposes, horses, themselves autonomous agents with on going existences, desires, and super-human physical strength, for thousands of years. And we had not a single theorem about horses. Still don\u2019t!\n\nD. Really evil horrible nasty human-destroying Artificially Intelligent entities. The last category is like case C, but here the supposed Artificial Intelligence powered machines will take an active dislike to humans and decide to destroy them and get them out of the way.\n\nThis has been a popular fantasy in Hollywood since at least the late 1960\u2019s with movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, but set in 2001), where the machine-wreaked havoc was confined to a single space ship, and Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970, and set in those times) where the havoc was at a planetary scale. The theme has continued over the years, and more recently with I, Robot (2004, set in 2035) where the evil AI computer VIKI takes over the world through the instrument of the new NS-5 humanoid robots. [By the way, that movie continues the bizarre convention from other science fiction movies that large complex machines are built with spaces that have multi hundred feet heights around them so that there can be great physical peril for the human heroes as they fight the good fight against the machines gone bad\u2026]\n\nThis is even wronger than case C. I think it must make people feel tingly thinking about these terrible, terrible dangers\u2026\n\nIn this blog, I am not going to address the issue of military killer robots\u2013this often gets confused in the press with issue D above, and worse it often gets mashed together by people busy fear mongering about issue D. They are very separate issues. Furthermore I think that many of the arguments about such military robots are misguided. But it is a very different issue and will have to wait for another blog post.\n\nNow, the seven mistakes I think people are making. All seven of them influence the assessments about timescales for and likelihood of each of scenarios A, B, C, and D, coming about. But some are more important I believe in the mis-estimations than others. I have labeled in the section headers for each of these seven errors where I think they do the most damage. The first one does some damage everywhere!\n\n1. [A,B,C,D] Over and under estimating\n\nRoy Amara was a futurist and the co-founder and President of the Institute For The Future in Palo Alto, home of Stanford University, countless venture capitalists, and the intellectual heart of Silicon Valley. He is best known for his adage, now referred to as Amara\u2019s law:\n\nWe tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.\n\nThere is actually a lot wrapped up in these 21 words which can easily fit into a tweet and allow room for attribution. An optimist can read it one way, and a pessimist can read it another. It should make the optimist somewhat pessimistic, and the pessimist somewhat optimistic, for a while at least, before each reverting to their norm.\n\nA great example\u20601 of the two sides of Amara\u2019s law that we have seen unfold over the last thirty years concerns the US Global Positioning System. Starting in 1978 a constellation of 24 satellites (30 including spares) were placed in orbit. A ground station that can see 4 of them at once can compute the the latitude, longitude, and height above a version of sea level. An operations center at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado constantly monitors the precise orbits of the satellites and the accuracy of their onboard atomic clocks and uploads minor and continuous adjustments to them. If those updates were to stop GPS would fail to have you on the correct road as you drive around town after only a week or two, and would have you in the wrong town after a couple of months.\n\nThe goal of GPS was to allow precise placement of bombs by the US military. That was the expectation for it. The first operational use in that regard was in 1991 during Desert Storm, and it was promising. But during the nineties there was still much distrust of GPS as it was not delivering on its early promise, and it was not until the early 2000\u2019s that its utility was generally accepted in the US military. It had a hard time delivering on its early expectations and the whole program was nearly cancelled again and again.\n\nToday GPS is in the long term, and the ways it is used were unimagined when it was first placed in orbit. My Series 2 Apple Watch uses GPS while I am out running to record my location accurately enough to see which side of the street I ran along. The tiny size and tiny price of the receiver would have been incomprehensible to the early GPS engineers. GPS is now used for so many things that the designers never considered. It synchronizes physics experiments across the globe and is now an intimate component of synchronizing the US electrical grid and keeping it running, and it even allows the high frequency traders who really control the stock market to mostly not fall into disastrous timing errors. It is used by all our airplanes, large and small to navigate, it is used to track people out of jail on parole, and it determines which seed variant will be planted in which part of many fields across the globe. It tracks our fleets of trucks and reports on driver performance, and the bouncing signals on the ground are used to determine how much moisture there is in the ground, and so determine irrigation schedules.\n\nGPS started out with one goal but it was a hard slog to get it working as well as was originally expected. Now it has seeped into so many aspects of our lives that we would not just be lost if it went away, but we would be cold, hungry, and quite possibly dead.\n\nWe see a similar pattern with other technologies over the last thirty years. A big promise up front, disappointment, and then slowly growing confidence, beyond where the original expectations were aimed. This is true of the blockchain (Bitcoin was the first application), sequencing individual human genomes, solar power, wind power, and even home delivery of groceries.\n\nPerhaps the most blatant example is that of computation itself. When the first commercial computers were deployed in the 1950\u2019s there was widespread fear that they would take over all jobs (see the movie Desk Set from 1957). But for the next 30 years computers were something that had little direct impact on people\u2019s lives and even in 1987 there were hardly any microprocessors in consumer devices. That has all changed in the second wave over the subsequent 30 years and now we all walk around with our bodies adorned with computers, our cars full of them, and they are all over our houses.\n\nTo see how the long term influence of computers has consistently been underestimated one need just go back and look at portrayals of them in old science fiction movies or TV shows about the future. The three hundred year hence space ship computer in the 1966 Star Trek (TOS) was laughable just thirty years later, let alone three centuries later. And in Star Trek The Next Generation, and Star Trek Deep Space Nine, whose production spanned 1986 to 1999, large files still needed to be carried by hand around the far future space ship or space station as they could not be sent over the network (like an AOL network of the time). And the databases available for people to search were completely anemic with their future interfaces which were pre-Web in design.\n\nMost technologies are overestimated in the short term. They are the shiny new thing. Artificial Intelligence has the distinction of having been the shiny new thing and being overestimated again and again, in the 1960\u2019s, in the 1980\u2019s, and I believe again now. (Some of the marketing messages from large companies on their AI offerings are truly delusional, and may have very bad blowback for them in the not too distant future.)\n\nNot all technologies get underestimated in the long term, but that is most likely the case for AI. The question is how long is the long term. The next six errors that I talk about help explain how the timing for the long term is being grossly underestimated for the future of AI.\n\n2. [B,C,D] Imagining Magic\n\nWhen I was a teenager, Arthur C. Clarke was one of the \u201cbig three\u201d science fiction writers along with Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov. But Clarke was more than just a science fiction writer. He was also an inventor, a science writer, and a futurist.\n\nIn February 1945 he wrote a letter\u20602 to Wireless World about the idea of geostationary satellites for research, and in October of that year he published a paper\u20603 outlining how they could be used to provide world-wide radio coverage. In 1948 he wrote a short story The Sentinel which provided the kernel idea for Stanley Kubrick\u2019s epic AI movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, with Clarke authoring a book of the same name as the film was being made, explaining much that had left the movie audience somewhat lost.\n\nIn the period from 1962 to 1973 Clarke formulated three adages, which have come to be known as Clarke\u2019s three laws (he said that Newton only had three, so three were enough for him too):\n\nWhen a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.\n\nPersonally I should probably be wary of the second sentence in his first law, as I am much more conservative than some others about how quickly AI will be ascendant. But for now I want to expound on Clarke\u2019s third law.\n\nImagine we had a time machine (powerful magic in itself\u2026) and we could transport Issac Newton from the late 17th century to Trinity College Chapel in Cambridge University. That chapel was already 100 years old when he was there so perhaps it would not be too much of an immediate shock to find himself in it, not realizing the current date.\n\nNow show Newton an Apple. Pull out an iPhone from your pocket, and turn it on so that the screen is glowing and full of icons and hand it to him. The person who revealed how white light is made from components of different colored light by pulling apart sunlight with a prism and then putting it back together again would no doubt be surprised at such a small object producing such vivid colors in the darkness of the chapel. Now play a movie of an English country scene, perhaps with some animals with which he would be familiar\u2013nothing indicating the future in the content. Then play some church music with which he would be familiar. And then show him a web page with the 500 plus pages of his personally annotated copy of his masterpiece Principia, teaching him how to use the pinch gestures to zoom in on details.\n\nCould Newton begin to explain how this small device did all that? Although he invented calculus and explained both optics and gravity, Newton was never able to sort out chemistry and alchemy. So I think he would be flummoxed, and unable to come up with even the barest coherent outline of what this device was. It would be no different to him than an embodiment of the occult\u2013something which was of great interest to him when he was alive. For him it would be indistinguishable from magic. And remember, Newton was a really smart dude.\n\nIf something is magic it is hard to know the limitations it has. Suppose we further show Newton how it can illuminate the dark, how it can take photos and movies and record sound, how it can be used as a magnifying glass, and as a mirror. Then we show him how it can be used to carry out arithmetical computations at incredible speed and to many decimal places. And we show it counting his steps has he carries it.\n\nWhat else might Newton conjecture that the device in front of him could do? Would he conjecture that he could use it to talk to people anywhere in the world immediately from right there in the chapel? Prisms work forever. Would he conjecture that the iPhone would work forever just as it is, neglecting to understand that it needed to be recharged (and recall that we nabbed him from a time 100 years before the birth of Michael Faraday, so the concept of electricity was not quite around)? If it can be a source of light without fire could it perhaps also transmute lead to gold?\n\nThis is a problem we all have with imagined future technology. If it is far enough away from the technology we have and understand today, then we do not know its limitations. It becomes indistinguishable from magic.\n\nWhen a technology passes that magic line anything one says about it is no longer falsifiable, because it is magic.\n\nThis is a problem I regularly encounter when trying to debate with people about whether we should fear just plain AGI, let alone cases C or D from above. I am told that I do not understand how powerful it will be. That is not an argument. We have no idea whether it can even exist. All the evidence that I see says that we have no real idea yet how to build one. So its properties are completely unknown, so rhetorically it quickly becomes magical and super powerful. Without limit.\n\nNothing in the Universe is without limit. Not even magical future AI.\n\nWatch out for arguments about future technology which is magical. It can never be refuted. It is a faith-based argument, not a scientific argument.\n\n3. [A,B,C] Performance versus competence\n\nOne of the social skills that we all develop is an ability to estimate the capabilities of individual people with whom we interact. It is true that sometimes \u201cout of tribe\u201d issues tend to overwhelm and confuse our estimates, and such is the root of the perfidy of racism, sexism, classism, etc. In general, however, we use cues from how a person performs some particular task to estimate how well they might perform some different task. We are able to generalize from observing performance at one task to a guess at competence over a much bigger set of tasks. We understand intuitively how to generalize from the performance level of the person to their competence in related areas.\n\nWhen in a foreign city we ask a stranger on the street for directions and they reply in the language we spoke to them with confidence and with directions that seem to make sense, we think it worth pushing our luck and asking them about what is the local system for paying when you want to take a bus somewhere in that city.\n\nIf our teenage child is able to configure their new game machine to talk to the household wifi we suspect that if sufficiently motivated they will be able to help us get our new tablet computer on to the same network.\n\nIf we notice that someone is able to drive a manual transmission car, we will be pretty confident that they will be able to drive one with an automatic transmission too. Though if the person is North American we might not expect it to work for the converse case.\n\nIf we ask an employee in a large hardware store where to find a particular item, a home electrical fitting say, that we are looking for and they send us to an aisle of garden tools, we will probably not go back and ask that very same person where to find a particular bathroom fixture. We will estimate that not only do they not know where the electrical fittings are, but that they really do not know the layout of goods within the store, and we will look for a different person to ask with our second question.\n\nNow consider a case that is closer to some performances we see for some of today\u2019s AI systems.\n\nSuppose a person tells us that a particular photo is of people playing Frisbee in the park, then we naturally assume that they can answer questions like \u201cwhat is the shape of a Frisbee?\u201d, \u201croughly how far can a person throw a Frisbee?\u201d, \u201ccan a person eat a Frisbee?\u201d, \u201croughly how many people play Frisbee at once?\u201d, \u201ccan a 3 month old person play Frisbee?\u201d, \u201cis today\u2019s weather suitable for playing Frisbee?\u201d; in contrast we would not expect a person from another culture who says they have no idea what is happening in the picture to be able to answer all those questions. Today\u2019s image labelling systems that routinely give correct labels, like \u201cpeople playing Frisbee in a park\u201d to online photos, have no chance of answering those questions. Besides the fact that all they can do is label more images and can not answer questions at all, they have no idea what a person is, that parks are usually outside, that people have ages, that weather is anything more than how it makes a photo look, etc., etc.\n\nThis does not mean that these systems are useless however. They are of great value to search engine companies. Simply labelling images well lets the search engine bridge the gap from search for words to searching for images. Note too that search engines usually provide multiple answers to any query and let the person using the engine review the top few and decide which ones are actually relevant. Search engine companies strive to get the performance of their systems to get the best possible answer as one of the top five or so. But they rely on the cognitive abilities of the human user so that they do not have to get the best answer first, every time. If they only gave one answer, whether to a search for \u201cgreat hotels in Paris\u201d, or at an e-commerce site only gave one image selection for a \u201cfunky neck tie\u201d, they would not be as useful as they are.\n\nHere is what goes wrong. People hear that some robot or some AI system has performed some task. They then take the generalization from that performance to a general competence that a person performing that same task could be expected to have. And they apply that generalization to the robot or AI system.\n\nToday\u2019s robots and AI systems are incredibly narrow in what they can do. Human style generalizations just do not apply. People who do make these generalizations get things very, very wrong.\n\n4. [A,B] Suitcase words\n\nI spoke briefly about suitcase words (Marvin Minsky\u2019s term4) in my post explaining how machine learning works. There I was discussing how the word learning can mean so many different types of learning when applied to humans. And as I said there, surely there are different mechanisms that humans use for different sorts of learning. Learning to use chopsticks is a very different experience from learning the tune of a new song. And learning to write code is a very different experience from learning your way around a particular city.\n\nWhen people hear that Machine Learning is making great strides and they think about a machine learning in some new domain, they tend to use as a mental model the way in which a person would learn that new domain. However, Machine Learning is very brittle, and it requires lots of human preparation by researchers or engineers, special purpose coding for processing input data, special purpose sets of training data, and a custom learning structure for each new problem domain. Today\u2019s Machine Learning by computers is not at all the sponge like learning that humans engage in, making rapid progress in a new domain without having to be surgically altered or purpose built.\n\nLikewise when people hear that computers can now beat the world chess champion (in 1997) or the world Go champion (in 2016) they tend to think that it is \u201cplaying\u201d the game just like a human would. Of course in reality those programs had no idea what a game actually was (again, see my post on machine learning), nor that they are playing. And as pointed out in this article in The Atlantic during the recent Go challenge the human player, Lee Sedol, was supported by 12 ounces of coffee, whereas the AI program, AlphaGo, was running on a whole bevy of machines as a distributed application, and was supported by a team of more than 100 scientists.\n\nWhen a human plays a game a small change in rules does not throw them off\u2013a good player can adapt. Not so for AlphaGo or Deep Blue, the program that beat Garry Kasparov back in 1997.\n\nSuitcase words lead people astray in understanding how well machines are doing at tasks that people can do. AI researchers, on the other hand, and worse their institutional press offices, are eager to claim progress in their research in being an instance of what a suitcase word applies to for humans. The important phrase here is \u201can instance\u201d. No matter how careful the researchers are, and unfortunately not all of them are so very careful, as soon as word of the research result gets to the press office and then out into the unwashed press, that detail soon gets lost. Headlines trumpet the suitcase word, and mis-set the general understanding of where AI is, and how close it is to accomplishing more.\n\nAnd, we haven\u2019t even gotten to saying many of Minsky\u2019s suitcase words about AI systems; consciousness, experience, or thinking. For us humans it is hard to think about playing chess without being conscious, or having the experience of playing, or thinking about a move. So far, none of our AI systems have risen to an even elementary level where one of the many ways in which we use those words about humans apply. When we do, and I tend to think that we will, get to a point where we will start using some of those words about particular AI systems, the press, and most people, will over generalize again.\n\nEven with a very narrow single aspect demonstration of one slice of these words I am afraid people will over generalize and think that machines are on the very door step of human-like capabilities in these aspects of being intelligent.\n\nWords matter, but whenever we use a word to describe something about an AI system, where that can also be applied to humans, we find people overestimating what it means. So far most words that apply to humans when used for machines, are only a microscopically narrow conceit of what the word means when applied to humans.\n\nHere are some of the verbs that have been applied to machines, and for which machines are totally unlike humans in their capabilities:\n\nanticipate, beat, classify, describe, estimate, explain, hallucinate, hear, imagine, intend, learn, model, plan, play, recognize, read, reason, reflect, see, understand, walk, write\n\nFor all these words there have been research papers describing a narrow sliver of the rich meanings that these words imply when applied to humans. Unfortunately the use of these words suggests that there is much more there there than is there.\n\nThis leads people to misinterpret and then overestimate the capabilities of today\u2019s Artificial Intelligence.\n\n5. [A,B,B,B,\u2026] Exponentials\n\nMany people are suffering from a severe case of \u201cexponentialism\u201d.\n\nEveryone has some idea about Moore\u2019s Law, at least as much to sort of know that computers get better and better on a clockwork like schedule.\n\nWhat Gordon Moore actually said was that the number of components that could fit on a microchip would double every year. I published a blog post in February about this and how it is finally coming to an end after a solid fifty year run. Moore had made his predictions in 1965 with only four data points using this graph:\n\nHe only extrapolated for 10 years, but instead it has lasted 50 years, although the time constant for doubling has gradually lengthened from one year to over two years, and now it is finally coming to an end.\n\nDouble the components on a chip has lead to computers that keep getting twice as fast. And it has lead to memory chips that have four times as much memory every two years. It has also led to digital cameras which have had more and more resolution, and LCD screens with exponentially more pixels.\n\nThe reason Moore\u2019s law worked is that it applied to a digital abstraction of true or false. Was there an electrical charge or voltage there or not? And the answer to that yes/no question is the same when the number of electrons is halved, and halved again, and halved again. The answer remains consistent through all those halvings until we get down to so few electrons that quantum effects start to dominate, and that is where we are now with our silicon based chip technology.\n\nMoore\u2019s law, and exponential laws like Moore\u2019s law can fail for three different reasons:\n\nIt gets down to a physical limit where the process of halving/doubling no longer works. The market demand pull gets saturated so there is no longer an economic driver for the law to continue. It may not have been an exponential process in the first place.\n\nWhen people are suffering from exponentialism they may gloss over any of these three reasons and think that the exponentials that they use to justify an argument are going to continue apace.\n\nMoore\u2019s Law is now faltering under case (a), but it has been the presence of Moore\u2019s Law for fifty years that has powered the relentless innovation of the technology industry and the rise of Silicon Valley, and Venture Capital, and the ride of the geeks to be amongst the richest people in the world, that has led too many people to think that everything in technology, including AI, is exponential.\n\nIt is well understood that many cases of exponential processes are really part of an \u201cS-curve\u201d, where at some point the hyper growth flattens out. Exponential growth of the number of users of a social platform such as Facebook or Twitter must turn into an S-curve eventually as there are only a finite number of humans alive to be new users, and so exponential growth can not continue forever. This is an example of case (b) above.\n\nBut there is more to this. Sometimes just the demand from individual users can look like an exponential pull for a while, but then it gets saturated.\n\nBack in the first part of this century when I was running a very large laboratory at M.I.T. (CSAIL) and needed to help raise research money for over 90 different research groups, I tried to show sponsors how things were continuing to change very rapidly through the memory increase on iPods. Unlike Gordon Moore I had five data points! The data was how much storage one got for one\u2019s music in an iPod for about $400. I noted the dates of new models and for five years in a row, somewhere in the June to September time frame a new model would appear. Here are the data:\n\nYear GigaBytes 2003 10 2004 20 2005 40 2006 80 2007 160\n\nThe data came out perfectly (Gregor Mendel would have been proud\u2026) as an exponential. Then I would extrapolate a few years out and ask what we would do with all that memory in our pockets.\n\nExtrapolating through to today we would expect a $400 iPod to have 160,000 GigaBytes of memory (or 160 TeraBytes). But the top of the line iPhone of today (which costs more than $400) only has 256 GigaBytes of memory, less than double the 2007 iPod, while the top of the line iPod (touch) has only 128 GigaBytes which ten years later is a decrease from the 2007 model.\n\nThis particular exponential collapsed very suddenly once the amount of memory got to the point where it was big enough to hold any reasonable person\u2019s complete music library, in their hand. Exponentials can stop when the customers stop demanding.\n\nMoving on, we have seen a sudden increase in performance of AI systems due to the success of deep learning, a form of Machine Learning. Many people seem to think that means that we will continue to have increases in AI performance of equal multiplying effect on a regular basis. But the deep learning success was thirty years in the making, and no one was able to predict it, nor saw it coming. It was an isolated event.\n\nThat does not mean that there will not be more isolated events, where backwaters of AI research suddenly fuel a rapid step increase in performance of many AI applications. But there is no \u201claw\u201d that says how often they will happen. There is no physical process, like halving the mass of material as in Moore\u2019s Law, fueling the process of AI innovation. This is an example of case (c) from above.\n\nSo when you see exponential arguments as justification for what will happen with AI remember that not all so called exponentials are really exponentials in the first place, and those that are can collapse suddenly when a physical limit is hit, or there is no more economic impact to continue them.\n\n6. [C,D] Hollywood scenarios\n\nThe plot for many Hollywood science fiction movies is that the world is just as it is today, except for one new twist. Certainly that is true for movies about aliens arriving on Earth. Everything is going along as usual, but then one day the aliens unexpectedly show up.\n\nThat sort of single change to the world makes logical sense for aliens but what about for a new technology? In real life lots of new technologies are always happening at the same time, more or less.\n\nSometimes there is a rational, within Hollywood reality, explanation for why there is a singular disruption of the fabric of humanity\u2019s technological universe. The Terminator movies, for instance, had the super technology come from the future via time travel, so there was no need to have a build up to the super robot played by Arnold Schwarzenegger.\n\nBut in other movies it can seem a little silly.\n\nIn Bicentennial Man, Richard Martin, played by Sam Neill, sits down to breakfast being waited upon by a walking talking humanoid robot, played by Robin Williams. He picks up a newspaper to read over breakfast. A newspaper! Printed on paper. Not a tablet computer, not a podcast coming from an Amazon Echo like device, not a direct neural connection to the Internet.\n\nIn Blade Runner, as Tim Harford recently pointed out, detective Rick Deckard, played by Harrison Ford, wants to contact the robot Rachael, played by Sean Young. In the plot Rachael is essentially indistinguishable from a human being. How does Deckard connect to her? With a pay phone. With coins that you feed in to it. A technology that many of the readers of this blog may never had seen. (By the way, in that same post, Harford remarks: \u201cForecasting the future of technology has always been an entertaining but fruitless game.\u201d A sensible insight.)\n\nSo there are two examples of Hollywood movies where the writers, directors, and producers, imagine a humanoid robot, able to see, hear, converse, and act in the world as a human\u2013pretty much an AGI (Artificial General Intelligence). Never mind all the marvelous materials and mechanisms involved. But those creative people lack the imagination, or will, to consider how else the world may have changed as that amazing package of technology has been developed.\n\nIt turns out that many AI researchers and AI pundits, especially those pessimists who indulge in predictions C and D, are similarly imagination challenged.\n\nApart from the time scale for many C and D predictions being wrong, they ignore the fact that if we are able to eventually build such smart devices the world will have changed significantly from where we are. We will not suddenly be surprised by the existence of such super intelligences. They will evolve technologically over time, and our world will be different, populated by many other intelligences, and we will have lots of experience already.\n\nFor instance, in the case of D (evil super intelligences who want to get rid of us) long before we see such machines arising there will be the somewhat less intelligent and belligerent machines. Before that there will be the really grumpy machines. Before that the quite annoying machines. And before them the arrogant unpleasant machines.\n\nWe will change our world along the way, adjusting both the environment for new technologies and the new technologies themselves. I am not saying there may not be challenges. I am saying that they will not be as suddenly unexpected as many people think. Free running imagination about shock situations are not helpful\u2013they will never be right, or even close.\n\n\u201cHollywood scenarios\u201d are a great rhetorical device for arguments, but they usually do not have any connection to future reality.\n\n7. [B,C,D] SPEED OF Deployment\n\nAs the world has turned to software the deployment frequency of new versions has become very high in some industries. New features for platforms like Facebook are deployed almost hourly. For many new features, as long as they have passed integration testing, there is very little economic downside if a problem shows up in the field and the version needs to be pulled back\u2013often I find that features I use on such platforms suddenly fail to work for an hour or so (this morning it was the pull down menu for Facebook notifications that was failing) and I assume these are deployment fails. For revenue producing components, like advertisement placement, more care is taken and changes may happen only on the scale of weeks.\n\nThis is a tempo that Silicon Valley and Web software developers have gotten used to. It works because the marginal cost of newly deploying code is very very close to zero.\n\nHardware on the other hand has significant marginal cost to deploy. We know that from our own lives. Many of the cars we are buying today, which are not self driving, and mostly are not software enabled, will likely still be on the road in the year 2040. This puts an inherent limit on how soon all our cars will be self driving. If we build a new home today, we can expect that it might be around for over 100 years. The building I live in was built in 1904 and it is not nearly the oldest building in my neighborhood.\n\nCapital costs keep physical hardware around for a long time, even when there are high tech aspects to it, and even when it has an existential mission to play.\n\nThe US Air Force still flies the B-52H variant of the B-52 bomber. This version was introduced in 1961, making it 56 years old. The last one was built in 1963, a mere 54 years ago. Currently these planes are expected to keep flying until at least 2040, and perhaps longer\u2013there is talk of extending their life out to 100 years. (cf. The Millennium Falcon!)\n\nThe US land-based Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) force is all Minuteman-III variants, introduced in 1970. There are 450 of them. The launch system relies on eight inch floppy disk drives, and some of the digital communication for the launch procedure is carried out over analog wired phone lines.\n\nI regularly see decades old equipment in factories around the world. I even see PCs running Windows 3.0 in factories\u2013a software version released in 1990. The thinking is that \u201cif it ain\u2019t broke, don\u2019t fix it\u201d. Those PCs and their software have been running the same application doing the same task reliably for over two decades.\n\nThe principal control mechanisms in factories, including brand new ones in the US, Europe, Japan, Korea, and China, is based on Programmable Logic Controllers, or PLCs. These were introduced in 1968 to replace electromechanical relays. The \u201ccoil\u201d is still the principal abstraction unit used today, and the way PLCs are programmed is as though they were a network of 24 volt electromechanical relays. Still. Some of the direct wires have been replaced by Ethernet cables. They emulate older networks (themselves a big step up) based on the RS485 eight bit serial character protocol, which themselves carry information emulating 24 volt DC current switching. And the Ethernet cables are not part of an open network, but instead individual cables are run point to point physically embodying the control flow in these brand new ancient automation controllers. When you want to change information flow, or control flow, in most factories around the world it takes weeks of consultants figuring out what is there, designing new reconfigurations, and then teams of tradespeople rewiring and reconfiguring hardware. One of the major manufacturers of this equipment recently told me that they aim for three software upgrades every twenty years.\n\nIn principle it could be done differently. In practice it is not. And I am not talking about just in technological backwaters. I just this minute looked on a jobs list and even today, this very day, Tesla is trying to hire full time PLC technicians at their Fremont factory. Electromagnetic relay emulation to automate the production of the most AI-software advanced automobile that exists.\n\nA lot of AI researchers and pundits imagine that the world is already digital, and that simply introducing new AI systems will immediately trickle down to operational changes in the field, in the supply chain, on the factory floor, in the design of products.\n\nNothing could be further from the truth.\n\nThe impedance to reconfiguration in automation is shockingly mind-blowingly impervious to flexibility.\n\nYou can not give away a good idea in this field. It is really slow to change. The example of the AI system making paper clips deciding to co-opt all sorts of resources to manufacture more and more paper clips at the cost of other human needs is indeed a nutty fantasy. There will be people in the loop worrying about physical wiring for decades to come.\n\nAlmost all innovations in Robotics and AI take far, far, longer to get to be really widely deployed than people in the field and outside the field imagine. Self driving cars are an example. Suddenly everyone is aware of them and thinks they will soon be deployed. But it takes longer than imagined. It takes decades, not years. And if you think that is pessimistic you should be aware that it is already provably three decades from first on road demonstrations and we have no deployment. In 1987 Ernst Dickmanns and his team at the Bundeswehr University in Munich had their autonomous van drive at 90 kilometers per hour (56mph) for 20 kilometers (12 miles) on a public freeway. In July 1995 the first no hands on steering wheel, no feet on pedals, minivan from CMU\u2019s team lead by Chuck Thorpe and Takeo Kanade drove coast to coast across the United States on public roads. Google/Waymo has been working on self driving cars for eight years and there is still no path identified for large scale deployment. It could well be four or five or six decades from 1987 before we have real deployment of self driving cars.\n\nNew ideas in robotics and AI take a long long time to become real and deployed.\n\nEpilog\n\nWhen you see pundits warn about the forthcoming wonders or terrors of robotics and Artificial Intelligence I recommend carefully evaluating their arguments against these seven pitfalls. In my experience one can always find two or three or four of these problems with their arguments.\n\nPredicting the future is really hard, especially ahead of time.\n\n1 Pinpoint: How GPS is Changing Technology, Culture, and Our Minds, Greg Milner, W. W. Norton, 2016.\n\n2 \u201cV2s for Ionosphere Research?\u201d, A. C. Clarke, Wireless World, p. 45, February, 1945.\n\n3 \u201cExtra-Terrestrial Relays: Can Rocket Stations Give World-wide Radio Coverage\u201d, Arthur C. Clarke, Wireless World, 305\u2013308, October, 1945.\n\n4 The Emotion Machine: Commonsense Thinking, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of the Human Mind, Marvin Minsky, Simon and Schuster, 2006.", "output": "Rodney Brooks, former MIT professor and co-founder of iRobot and Rethink Robots, has written a blog post criticising many of what he sees as the exaggerated claims around the current and future capabilities of artificial intelligence. He identifies the \"seven deadly sins\" of AI hype: underestimating the rates of technological development, magical thinking, the over-extension of competence, misuse of terms, over application of exponential extrapolation, over application of ideas from Hollywood films, and a poor understanding of the marginal costs and speed of deployment of hardware."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ICOs are 'very high risk', warns UK financial regulator \n What are ICOs?\n\nThe term ICO refers to a digital way of raising funds from the public using a virtual currency, also known as cryptocurrency. An ICO can also be known as \u2018token sale\u2019 or \u2018coin sale\u2019.\n\nICOs vary widely in design. The digital token issued may represent a share in a firm, a prepayment voucher for future services or in some cases offer no discernible value at all. Often ICO projects are in a very early stage of development.\n\nICOs are very high-risk, speculative investments.\n\nYou should be conscious of the risks involved (highlighted below) and fully research the specific project if you are thinking about buying digital tokens. You should only invest in an ICO project if you are an experienced investor, confident in the quality of the ICO project itself (e.g. business plan, technology, people involved) and prepared to lose your entire stake.\n\nWhat are the risks?\n\nUnregulated space : Most ICOs are not regulated by the FCA and many are based overseas.\n\n: Most ICOs are not regulated by the FCA and many are based overseas. No investor protection : You are extremely unlikely to have access to UK regulatory protections like the Financial Services Compensation Scheme or the Financial Ombudsman Service.\n\n: You are extremely unlikely to have access to UK regulatory protections like the Financial Services Compensation Scheme or the Financial Ombudsman Service. Price volatility : Like cryptocurrencies in general, the value of a token may be extremely volatile \u2013 vulnerable to dramatic changes.\n\n: Like cryptocurrencies in general, the value of a token may be extremely volatile \u2013 vulnerable to dramatic changes. Potential for fraud: Some issuers might not have the intention to use the funds raised in the way set out when the project was marketed.\n\nSome issuers might not have the intention to use the funds raised in the way set out when the project was marketed. Inadequate documentation: Instead of a regulated prospectus, ICOs usually only provide a \u2018white paper\u2019. An ICO white paper might be unbalanced, incomplete or misleading. A sophisticated technical understanding is needed to fully understand the tokens\u2019 characteristics and risks.\n\nInstead of a regulated prospectus, ICOs usually only provide a \u2018white paper\u2019. An ICO white paper might be unbalanced, incomplete or misleading. A sophisticated technical understanding is needed to fully understand the tokens\u2019 characteristics and risks. Early stage projects: Typically ICO projects are in a very early stage of development and their business models are experimental. There is a good chance of losing your whole stake.\n\nAre ICOs regulated by the FCA?\n\nWhether an ICO falls within the FCA\u2019s regulatory boundaries or not can only be decided case by case.\n\nMany ICOs will fall outside the regulated space. However, depending on how they are structured, some ICOs may involve regulated investments and firms involved in an ICO may be conducting regulated activities.\n\nSome ICOs feature parallels with Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), private placement of securities, crowdfunding or even collective investment schemes. Some tokens may also constitute transferable securities and therefore may fall within the prospectus regime.\n\nBusinesses involved in an ICO should carefully consider if their activities could mean they are arranging, dealing or advising on regulated financial investments. Each promoter needs to consider whether their activities amount to regulated activities under the relevant law. In addition, digital currency exchanges that facilitate the exchange of certain tokens should consider if they need to be authorised by the FCA to be able to deliver their services.\n\nShould I report ICOs to the FCA?\n\nIf you suspect that an ICO is a scam, report it to the FCA via our online form.\n\nTo learn more about general warning signs of scams, visit our ScamSmart pages.\n\nFurther Links\n\nTo learn more about potential benefits and challenges of the underlying technology that facilitates ICOs, please refer to the FCA\u2019s Discussion Paper DP17/3 on distributed ledger technology (DLT) from April 2017. We are currently reviewing responses to this discussion paper and are looking to publish our findings at the end of this year.\n\nCertain other national regulators have issued bulletins or statements on ICOs, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Canadian Securities Administrators, the People\u2019s Bank of China and the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong.", "output": "UK regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a warning on its website about the \"very high\" risks of investing in initial coin offerings (ICOs). It said only experienced investors who are confident in the ICO project should get involved, and highlighted the risks to inexperienced investors, including a lack of regulation, no access to UK regulatory support and the possibility of funds raised being used for nefarious purposes. The guidelines also called on digital currency exchanges to consider whether FCA authorisation was required for the exchange of some tokens.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EMoov said to be sounding out investment banks about IPO \n The online estate agent eMoov is drawing up plans to join the ranks of quoted rivals spurred by the soaring valuation of Purplebricks, the market leader.\n\nSky News has learnt that eMoov has approached a number of investment banks in recent weeks to discuss a potential stock market listing before the end of the year.\n\nInsiders said on Monday that eMoov's plans could involve a conventional initial public offering or reversing its business into an existing listed vehicle.\n\nA listing of eMoov would underline continued investor interest in the online estate agency sector as OnTheMarket, a portal which competes with Zoopla and Rightmove, also prepares to go public.\n\nIt would also, however, highlight the extraordinary lead that Purplebricks has built up in the sector, with a market valuation that stood at just over \u00a31bn during Monday's trading session.\n\nAnnouncing a \u00a39m fundraising last month which valued eMoov at \u00a340m, its founder and chief executive, Russell Quirk, said: \"The estate agency space is changing drastically and we have always been at the forefront of that change since we launched in 2009.\n\n\"We've been more considered than some in our methodology and therefore, we will emerge and remain as one of the few estate agency disruptors that are actually sustainable.\"\n\neMoov believes its hybrid model, which promise homeowners cost-savings from marketing their property online while also offering other related services, gives it an advantage in a sector projected to grow to \u00a35bn in annual revenues by 2020.\n\nThe company has told prospective investors that its cost of service is falling sharply, and is forecast to decline from \u00a3484 per listing last year to \u00a3408 in 2018.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIt also expects to increase its listing price point from \u00a3795 this year to \u00a3995 next year.\n\nSources said that eMoov was forecasting that it would record earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of nearly \u00a32m in 2018, with \u00a33.6m of losses predicted this year.\n\nOther rivals in the sector include HouseSimple and Yopa, which recently unveiled a \u00a325m fundraising backed by the publisher of the Daily Mail and LSL Property, the Newcastle-based owner of YourMove.\n\nMr Quirk declined to comment on the plan for eMoov to list on the stock market.", "output": "Online estate agent eMoov is understood to have been in talks with investment banks about an initial public offering (IPO) later this year. This could be a conventional IPO or eMoov could reverse its business into an existing listed vehicle. EMoov has forecast record earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of nearly \u00a32m next year, with \u00a33.6m of losses predicted this year, according to sources.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HSBC drops valuation fees on mortgages \n HSBC is removing valuation fees on its mortgages from today, the bank announced today.\n\nThe move means customers will taking out mortgages between \u00a3150,001 and \u00a3200,000 would save \u00a3173.\n\nHSBC UK head of retail products Tracie Pearce says: \u201cWe are working to improve the home-buying process and this is a significant move, making it simpler for both remortgagors and those purchasing a home.\n\n\u201cBuying a house is a major financial investment, particularly for first time buyers, so by removing valuation fees and potentially saving them hundreds of pounds we are helping them to keep initial costs down and improving their cashflow, giving them a bit more spending power when they move in.\u201d", "output": "HSBC UK has removed valuation fees from its mortgages, meaning customers taking out home loans between \u00a3150,001 ($199,175) and \u00a3200,000 will save \u00a3173. Tracie Pearce, head of retail products at HSBC UK, said the bank was looking to improve the house-buying process, and the removal of valuation fees would make it easier for both remortgagors and those buying a home.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "LSL Property Services and GVA partner for build-to-rent services \n LSL Property Services\u2019 new consultancy and management service for the Build To Rent sector - PRSim - has teamed up with commercial property operators GVA to provide what they call \u2018end to end service\u2019 for the institutional rental sector.\n\nLSL unveiled PRSim last month, and now with GVA it says the combined offer to Build To Rent operators will cover operational residential management business, investment strategies, funding, valuations, planning, project management and agency transactions.\n\nThe combined offer will include expertise from finding viable sites and development opportunities, through to ongoing management.\n\n\u201cAs one of the UK\u2019s leading property companies with a rich heritage in residential property lettings, LSL has made a commitment to deliver superior services to the institutional private rental sector sector with the launch of PRSim. By adopting a strategic partnership with GVA, we believe this will further deliver unrivalled services to the sector that until now has simply not been available\u201d says David Bond head of Build To Rent at PRSim.\n\n\u201cThe UK residential industry is seeing a revolution. Market demand and demographic changes are driving the growth of institutionally funded BTR schemes\u201d claims GVA spokesman Alastair Carmichael.", "output": "PRSim, a consultancy and management service for the build-to-rent (BTR) sector, will partner with commercial property operators GVA to offer an end-to-end service to the institutional private rental sector. The initiative will cover everything from finding viable sites to project management and agency transactions. PRSim was launched last month by UK estate agency LSL Property Services.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Supply chains increasingly hampered by terrorist attacks \n specnaz7/Adobe Stock\n\nTerrorist attacks on supply chains are on the upswing, according to a recent report from BSI, a provider of supply chain intelligence.\n\nThe number of such attacks have increased 8.5% from last year, and the year-over-year increase in the proportion of terrorist attacks on supply chains versus all attacks has also risen, by 19%.\n\n\u201cThe rate of direct attacks by terrorist organizations on the supply chain has been about three per week globally, when we look at the data over a 10-year period,\u201d says Jim Yarbrough, BSI\u2019s global intelligence program manager. \u201c[In] the last two years, however, that rate has jumped to about six attacks per week.\u201d\n\nWhile terrorist attacks tend to saturate news headlines, they\u2019ve in fact decreased in frequency worldwide for the second year in a row. This is not the case for supply chain- and trade-related attacks.\n\nAccording to BSI analysis, supply chains in 58 countries have experienced terrorist attacks in the past decade. The range of industries targeted is also widening. \u201cThe oil and gas sector is most common sector to suffer from terrorist attacks,\u201d says Yarbrough. \u201cHowever, in recent years, we have seen dramatic increases in attacks on the agricultural and food sector and the industrial manufacturing sector.\u201d\n\nThe biggest perpetrators of terrorist attacks on supply chains include the Baloch Republican Army in Pakistan, ISIS, the Revolutionary Forces of Colombia and the New People\u2019s Army in the Philippines. Together, they account for nearly a quarter of attacks over the past five years.\n\nSupply chain terrorist attacks in Iraq and Turkey have recently been happening more frequently, while rates have dropped for the Philippines, India and Colombia. Nigeria, in particular, has seen a staggering increase starting in early 2016, when the militant group Niger Delta Avengers began to attack oil facilities.\n\nAs Reuters reported, in February militants had used divers to carry out an underwater attack on Shell's Forcados pipeline. Subsequent attacks have caused Nigeria's daily crude oil production to drop by around 700,000 barrels, and it wasn't until this summer that the Forcados terminal finally resumed operations.\n\nIn this case, it was a direct disruption of the supply chain, motivated by the impoverishment and oil pollution that characterizes the Delta. Its inhabitants have not been able to partake in the oil wealth, and the Avengers sought to bring a larger share of the proceeds to the region.\n\nAccording to BSI analysis, these \u201cphysical attacks against the supply chain, such as arsons, bombings and armed assaults, often result in the destruction of transported cargo.\u201d The report cites the continued threats of terrorism associated with shipping through the Suez Canal, which accounts for 7% of global seaborne trade.\n\nIt\u2019s difficult to determine the total supply chain costs that can be attributed to terrorist attacks. \u201cWe do know that, among the top 10 countries where these attacks occurred, there is over $770 billion worth of goods exported from those countries,\u201d Yarbrough explains.\n\nCompanies should also keep in mind the indirect costs associated with terrorism threats. Increased security can mean more inspections and delays. Companies may also need to reroute, potentially increasing costs.\n\nThere\u2019s no best way to eliminate these risk, but vigilance never hurts. \u201cThreats to the supply chain are constantly evolving,\u201d Yarbrough says, \u201cCriminals and terrorists are always adapting to defeat the latest countermeasures. Organizations need to respond by constantly revisiting their security policies and procedures, and they should continuously perform risk assessments with their business partners and suppliers.\u201d", "output": "Supply chains are being increasingly affected by terrorist attacks, according to supply chain intelligence provider BSI. The number of such attacks has increased 8.5% on last year, its report said. Meanwhile, the year-on-year rise in the proportion of terror attacks on supply chains versus all attacks also increased, by 19%. Supply chains in 58 countries have been attacked over the past decade, with the most common sector likely to be targeted being the oil and gas industry, BSI added.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Build-to-rent project for London 'micro-flats' unveiled by U+I \n T housands of people who have been priced out of living in the capital because of sky-high rents could move to central London in new, cheaper \u201cmicro-flats\u201d.\n\nA housing regeneration developer based in the city is attempting to combat the chronic unaffordability of London homes with a new \u201ccompact living\u201d scheme designed to lure young professionals back into Zone One with reasonable rents.\n\nThe mini flats, which would have a floor size of either 19 or 24 metres squared, will be built in blocks with shared communal areas in nine inner London boroughs.\n\nThe homes, called Town Flats, would be rental only \u2013 meaning they cannot be bought and sold on.\n\nThe developers is looking for sites in nine inner London boroughs. (U+I) / U+i\n\nDeveloper U+I has already created two test apartments in their offices in Victoria, designed by Manser Practice and architect Ab Rogers.\n\nResearch suggests building just five blocks of the mini flats in each of the nine London boroughs could provide 4,770 extra homes in the centre.\n\n\u201cFor too long and for too many people London has been hollowing itself out, diluting the rich blend which has made it the global capital,\u201d said U+I deputy chief executive Richard Upton.\n\nIt is hoped the flats will allow middle-income earners to rent in the centre once again. (U+I) / U+i\n\n\u201cThe centre is now only affordable to either the very wealthy, only occasionally present, or those living in what social housing remains.\n\n\u201cFor a new generation of workers in the middle, often working centrally, living in the middle of London has long been a dream.\u201d\n\nMr Upton added: \u201cWe want to develop something that not only re-fills hollow London, but also brings communities back to life and delivers real social and economic benefits.\n\nTwo test flats have already been created. (U+I) / U+i\n\n\u201cIdeally we would like to develop these sites in association with public sector bodies who have unused land. This could bring additional social benefit to the public sector by generating much needed revenue from the rental income, while retaining ownership of their assets.\u201d\n\nThe project was backed by a report by Development Economics which said it was \u201cthe type of innovation in housing delivery that London will need if the enormous challenge of meeting future housing demand in the capital is to be met.\".\n\nAll flats would be able to live in at the London Living Rent, a scheme designed to help Londoners pay rent while saving to buy their own home.\n\nThe homes will be available at the London Living Rent. (U+I) / U+i\n\nAuthor of the Development Economics report, Stephen Lucas, said: \u201cWith greater numbers of people than ever choosing location over space when deciding where to live, building sufficient quantities of high-quality, centrally-located housing will be essential for London\u2019s future economic, social and cultural growth.\n\n\u201cOur findings show that delivering professionally-managed compact living developments along the lines of those proposed by U+I would lead to an increase in the number of young, working people living in the city centre, significantly boosting the local economy of the surrounding area\u201d.\n\nThe flats are officially being launched on Wednesday. The next stage is for U+I to find a landowner to partner with.\n\nBut last month, analysis by Which? consumer magazine found so-called \u201crabbit hutch\u201d flats might not be a good investment, as the growth rate is smaller for flats below the official minimum of 37 square metres of floor space.\n\nEarlier this year London Mayor Sadiq Khan was asked to consider prefab housing could be one possibility to close the gap between supply and demand.", "output": "London-based developer U+I has unveiled plans for \"micro-flats\" or \"town-flats\" in central London, which could help thousands of people priced out of living in the UK capital. The micro-flats, which have a floor area of either 19 or 24 sq m, would be built in nine inner city boroughs. The flats would be rental only and would have communal areas. Research suggested that building just five blocks of such homes in each of the boroughs could offer 4,700 extra homes in the city centre. U+I is seeking a landowner to partner with on the developments."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's Sunlon and CITIC buy British Peking duck supplier \n Photo of Cherry Valley duck. [Photo: tupian.baike.com]\n\nTwo Chinese companies have acquired a top British poultry firm which supplies the breed used to make the famed Peking roast duck.\n\nBeijing Capital Agribusiness, or Sunlon, and CITIC Agriculture announced the acquisition of Cherry Valley Farm.\n\nThe deal includes the British firm's breeding technologies and patents. The value of the deal has not been announced.\n\nSigning ceremony of the acquisition of Cherry Valley Farm by Beijing Capital Agribusiness, or Sunlon, and CITIC Agriculture is held on September 11, 2017. [Photo: Beijing Capital Agribusines]\n\nObservers suggest that the acquisition may break the West's monopoly in duck breeding, while supporting import substitution programs.\n\nSources with Sunlon said Cherry Valley Farm entered the Chinese market in the 1990s, and has grown to become the country's major duck breeder with a market share of 80 percent.\n\nCurrently, China is reportedly home to over 2.5 billion Cherry Valley ducks.", "output": "Two Chinese companies have acquired the British poultry firm that supplies the breed of duck used to make Peking roast duck. Sunion (Beijing Capital Agribusiness) and CITIC Agriculture have acquired Cherry Valley Farm for an undisclosed sum, in a deal that includes the firm's breeding technologies and patents. The British company entered the Chinese market in the 1990s and has become the country's main duck breeder, with a market share of 80%. The acquisition could reportedly help break the West's monopoly on duck breeding.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's Country Garden seeks stake in Indian homes project \n Mumbai: Country Garden Holdings Co. Ltd, China\u2019s third largest builder by sales, is in talks with Mumbai-based Wadhwa Group to buy a majority stake in its upcoming 450-acre residential township at Panvel in Navi Mumbai, two people aware of the development said.\n\nIf signed, this would be the Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed company\u2019s first Indian investment.\n\nAccording to the first of the two people cited above, the two companies have held several rounds of talks in the past few months and signed a memorandum of understanding and term sheet for the transaction. Due diligence could take two more months, this person said on condition of anonymity.\n\nWhile the value of the deal could not be ascertained, Wadhwa Group has already invested over Rs600 crore to buy the land and has been looking to raise an additional Rs500 crore to start building the first phase of the planned township.\n\nCountry Garden did not reply to emails sent on Friday seeking confirmation. A Wadhwa Group spokesperson confirmed by email that the company is talking to Country Garden but said it is still \u201cearly stages of discussions\" and declined to give details.\n\nLocated at Panvel in the satellite city of Navi Mumbai, the township is planned to be built in various phases. The first phase would be spread across 145 acres and is expected to have around 2,500-3,000 apartments costing Rs21 lakh to over Rs50 lakh per unit, the company had earlier said.\n\n\u201cAmong the Chinese firms looking to invest in India, Country Garden has been one of the most aggressive, having already set up offices, built operational teams and hired people to the tune of hundreds including lawyers, architects and consultants,\" said the second person, also speaking on condition of anonymity.\n\nEarlier this year, the South China Morning Post reported that Country Garden is looking for investment opportunities in India and plans to acquire at least one residential land parcel by the end of 2017.\n\nLast year, the Chinese developer set up its first India office at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai and hired around 175 people to handle operations in western and southern India. It has also set up separate offices for the eastern and northern parts of the country.\n\n\u201cDifferent Chinese companies have taken different routes and strategies to enter India. Country Garden has taken a more regional route where they\u2019ve got a lot of people trying to tap the local market,\" the person said.\n\nIn western India, the firm is also in talks with developers including Kolte-Patil Developers Ltd for a strategic partnership, according to a person in the know. Kolte-Patil\u2019s group chief executive officer Gopal Sarda declined to comment.\n\nThe Guangdong-based firm, which clocked sales of RMB 309 billion (around Rs3.02 trillion) last year, operated 728 projects under different stages of construction in China, Malaysia, Australia and Indonesia as of 31 December 2016, according to its annual report.\n\nOther prominent Chinese developers planning investments in India include China Fortune Land Development (CFLD) and Dallian Wanda Group Co Ltd.\n\n\u201cIndia\u2019s country dynamics are very similar to China\u2019s. To that extent, Chinese builders understand India far better than Western developers. They understand it\u2019s a regional play and have the experience of working in a large country which could have multiple levels of bureaucracy, state governments and central government,\" said Shashank Jain, partner, transaction services, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) India.\n\nThe government\u2019s Housing for All 2020 initiative and regulatory reforms in the past year have raised interest among foreign developers and private equity investors. Despite a slump in the residential market, India\u2019s growing economy and housing needs have continued to attract opportunities for large scale residential developments both in tier I and tier II cities.\n\n\u201cThe government\u2019s stated intention of affordable housing has set the stage for significant scope for large scale development and expansion. The Chinese developers have proven their development and construction capability for massive large scale projects in China. Secondly, with the Chinese economy slowing and an ongoing overcapacity around housing in China, India offers an opportunity to expand their business,\" Jain said.", "output": "China-based Country Garden Holdings wants to buy a controlling stake in a suburban-Mumbai residential project run by India's\u00a0Wadhwa Group. Country Garden, China's third largest builder by sales, is looking to purchase the\u00a0stake in the 450-acre development at Panvel in Navi Mumbai. The companies have reportedly signed a memorandum of understanding and term sheet for the transaction. If the deal goes through, it will be Country Garden's first investment in India.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesla granted free battery upgrade to drivers\u00a0fleeing Irma \n Millions of people are currently affected by the evacuation of Florida as Hurricane Irma starts reaching the state and creates some difficult traffic situation when escaping north. There are reports of traffic jams and gas stations running out gas.\n\nThere are a lot Tesla owners in Florida and they are also escaping north using the Supercharger network.\n\nNow Tesla has even facilitated travels for some of them as the automaker remotely unlocked the full battery pack capacity of Model S/X 60/60D vehicles with 75 kWh battery packs.\n\nThat\u2019s due to Tesla using an unforeseen feature of their over-the-air software update system.\n\nTesla used to offer the option to buy a Model S or Model X with a 75 kWh battery pack software-locked at a capacity of 60 kWh. The option would result in a less expensive vehicle with a shorter range, but the option to pay to remotely enable the longer range at a later stage.\n\nSome of those owners reported this morning having more range than usual in their vehicles.\n\nA Tesla Model S 60 owner in Florida reached out to us with almost 40 more miles than in his usual full charge and a new \u201975\u2019 badge in his car software.\n\nWhile he didn\u2019t ask for it nor knew why it changed, Tesla had temporarily unlocked the remaining 15 kWh of the car\u2019s software-limited battery pack option to facilitate the owner\u2019s evacuation.\n\nWe reached to Tesla and a representative confirmed that the company has put in place the emergency measure to temporarily extend the range of the vehicles of Tesla owners in the path of Hurricane Irma.\n\nThe company says that a Tesla owner in a mandatory evacuation zone required another ~30 more miles of range to optimize his evacuation route in the traffic and they reached out to Tesla who agreed to a temporary access to the full 75 kWh of energy in the battery pack, an upgrade that has cost between $4,500 and $9,000 depending on the model and time of upgrade.\n\nConsidering the 15 kWh (30 to 40 additional miles) could also be useful to other owners affected by Irma, Tesla decided to also temporarily unlock other vehicles with the same software-lock battery packs in the region.\n\nTesla\u2019s Supercharger network is fairly extensive in Florida and most owners should be able to get by even with a Model S 60 (the shortest range option), but sometimes that 30 more miles of range can make a big difference.\n\nMost Supercharger stations in Florida are still online:\n\nThe station in the Florida Keys is offline and one in Myers is currently listed as \u201creduced service\u201d:\n\nOtherwise, the other Superchargers are reportedly online and accessible on the way north. Stay safe out there everyone.", "output": "Owners of Tesla Model S and Model X electric vehicles in Florida, who were trying to evacuate before Hurricane Irma hit, were given an extra 30 miles of range for free, thanks to an over-the-air update from the carmaker. The move was in response to one owner's request to unlock his car's battery, taking it from 60 kWh to 75kWh, to ensure his escape from the storm, an upgrade which usually costs between between $4,500 and $9,000. Tesla confirmed it carried out the update but said it will be reversed on 16 September.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesla granted free battery upgrade to drivers\u00a0fleeing Irma \n Tesla drivers who fled Hurricane Irma last weekend received an unexpected lesson in modern consumer economics along the way. As they sat on choked highways, some of the electric-car giant\u2019s more keenly priced models suddenly gained an extra 30 or so miles in range thanks to a silent free upgrade.\n\nThe move, confirmed by Tesla, followed the request of one Florida driver for a limit on his car\u2019s battery to be lifted. Tesla\u2019s cheaper models, introduced last year, have the same 75KwH battery as its more costly cars, but software limits it to 80% of range. Owners can otherwise buy an upgrade for several thousands of dollars. And because Tesla\u2019s software updates are online, the company can make the changes with the flick of a virtual switch.\n\nIt is, points out economist Alex Tabarrok, an example of price discrimination \u2013 in this case, the art of selling superficially worse versions of the same or similar product for less. And it is nothing new. \u201cThe only thing that has changed is that companies can now change the offering during the life cycle of the product,\u201d says Dr Georg Tacke, a consumer pricing expert and the chief executive of global consultancy Simon Kucher. \u201cAs more software gets into our hardware, the more we are going to see this.\u201d\n\nIn Damaged Goods, a paper on the subject published by MIT in 1996, economists Raymond Deneckere and Preston McAfee showed how limiting products to make them cheaper can even cost a company more in the short term. In 1990, IBM launched LaserPrinter E, a cheaper version of its LaserPrinter. The only difference? A chip modification that slowed the printing speed to five rather than 10 pages per minute.\n\nBut, as Tacke explains, manufacturing two genuinely different versions of a product costs a lot more. The challenge is to predict the willingness to pay of customers while making them feel as if they have benefited from value \u2013 or better features. \u201cIf you have one product and the price is too high, people don\u2019t buy it. But if it\u2019s too low, you don\u2019t exploit some customers\u2019 willingness to pay,\u201d he says. \u201cSo you differentiate and, yes, that means damaging the product in some way.\u201d\n\nThis is why there is now also a market for \u201cremapping\u201d modern cars: tweaking their software to unleash hidden performance \u2013 like a video game cheat \u2013 without touching the engines. Mobile phone and household appliance makers use similar marketing ploys to differentiate products \u2013 and sell more overall.\n\nBut should we feel cheated by this sleight of hand? \u201cGet used to it,\u201d says Tacke. The key to pulling it off, he adds, is to manage expectations and to do the research to get the prices right. Tesla customers driving the cheaper cars knew what the payoff was. And the company had the last laugh; it no longer offers cheaper cars with the \u201cdamaged\u201d battery, because most people bought the upgrade anyway.", "output": "Owners of Tesla Model S and Model X electric vehicles in Florida, who were trying to evacuate before Hurricane Irma hit, were given an extra 30 miles of range for free, thanks to an over-the-air update from the carmaker. The move was in response to one owner's request to unlock his car's battery, taking it from 60 kWh to 75kWh, to ensure his escape from the storm, an upgrade which usually costs between between $4,500 and $9,000. Tesla confirmed it carried out the update but said it will be reversed on 16 September.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Airbnb releases first UK insight report \n Airbnb hosts in the UK pocketed \u00a3657 million in the year to July as the number of inbound guests using the home-sharing platform surged 81%.\n\nA report by the US-based company showed that UK hosts welcomed around 5.9 million guests from outside the UK between July 2016 and July 2017, helping the typical host earn around \u00a33,000 per year.\n\nBut a growing number of guests are from within the country, thanks to the rising popularity of so-called staycations after the pound's collapse, which has made foreign trips more expensive for UK travellers.\n\nAirbnb said 53% of its UK customers travelled domestically in the year to July, taking advantage of 168,000 listings across the country.\n\nAround 76% of hosts are renting out their primary home, with the average age around 43. Women made up about 62% of UK hosts.\n\nAbout 55% of hosts rent out their entire homes, while 44% offer a private room and 1% list a shared room for visitors, suggesting hosts may be looking to make use of a spare room \"without committing to a full-time lodger\".\n\nAirbnb said the site is an \"easy and flexible source of income\" for UK homeowners, but the report also found that around 4% are using the site to avoid eviction or foreclosure on their home.\n\nCritics point to the negative effects the short-term rental company has had on some neighbourhoods, driving up house prices and exacerbating housing crunches in major cities like London, Paris, New York and Vancouver as landlords opt for more lucrative Airbnb lettings over long-term tenants.\n\nIt has even caused authorities to consider new regulations, including London which now has a 90-day annual limit for short-term lettings, with extensions requiring special permits.\n\nAirbnb has tried to shift focus to the economic benefits of the platform. The company said spending in local communities by Airbnb guests has contributed \u00a33.46 billion to the UK economy in the year to July.\n\nIt found that the average Airbnb guest spends about \u00a3147 in the UK each day of their stay, with 43% in the local neighbourhood on the likes of groceries, shopping, food and transport.\n\nThe report also highlighted regional success stories including Scotland, where hosts earned \u00a386 million over the past year, and Yorkshire and the Humber with \u00a314 million, as tourists contributed \u00a385 million to the economy.\n\nHosts in the East Midlands earned \u00a38 million, and the figure in Wales was \u00a319 million.\n\nJames McClure, Airbnb's general manager for northern Europe, said: \"The UK continues to break records on Airbnb - both as a world-leading destination, and for the benefits that hosting generates for local families and their communities.\n\n\"Hosts are ambassadors for their neighbourhoods and we look forward to seeing guests discover more unique, diverse and welcoming communities across the UK.\"", "output": "US-based holiday home letting company Airbnb has published a report on its UK operation, showing UK users of the platform had made \u00a3657m ($872m) from letting out their homes in the year to July. British hosts earned an average of \u00a33,000 ($3,981) per year, with 5.9 million of their guests from overseas, and a growing proportion coming from elsewhere in the UK. The growth of the platform has led to concerns about the impact on the housing market, while the company claims local spending by Airbnb guests has contributed \u00a33.46bn ($4.59bn) to the UK economy.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook fined \u20ac1.2m by Spain\u2019s data privacy regulator \n Facebook has been fined \u20ac1.2m ($1.43m) by the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD) for violating privacy laws.\n\nThe agency found [PDF, Spanish] that the company has collected information on its millions of Spanish users and then used that for advertising purposes without informing users how that information would be used, or seeking their consent.\n\nIt also determined that Facebook did not delete data that it was obliged to remove under Spanish law, but \"retains and reuses it later associated to the same user.\" Facebook retains user data for up to 17 months, the AEPD noted, even if those users deleted their accounts and actively removed personal information from the service.\n\nThe ruling is just the latest in a battle that Europe's data protection agencies are collectively waging against the social media giant, which has a long history of abusing the data it gathers from users to make money and has been renowned for constantly changing its \"privacy settings.\"\n\n\"The data on ideology, sex, religious beliefs, personal tastes or navigation are collected directly, through interaction with their services or from third-party pages without clearly informing the user about their use and purpose,\" the AEPD said in a statement.\n\n\"Facebook does not obtain unequivocal, specific and informed consent from users to treat their data,\" it concluded, leading to it finding Facebook guilty of \"two serious infringements and one very serious breach of data protection law.\"\n\nThe AEPD slams Facebook for its use of cookies that track users even when they are not on Facebook, and even when they are not logged into the service. \"Unregistered Internet users are unaware that the social network collects their browsing data,\" it notes. And it complains about the \"generic and unclear terms\" in Facebook's privacy policy, adding that is too hard to find the policy, requiring multiple clicks to locate.\n\nCampaign\n\nThe ruling follows a long investigation by data protection agencies in Spain, France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands who have worked together and shared information in an effort to discover what Facebook does with the data it gathers.\n\nThat approach has had some successes and some failures. Last year, the Belgium Privacy Commission lost its effort to force Facebook to stop tracking non-users when an appeals court ruled it was acting outside its jurisdiction.\n\nPreviously the social network had been ordered by a Belgian court to kill tracking cookies within 48 hours for anyone who was not signed up to or logged into its service, or face a daily fine of \u20ac250,000.\n\nFacebook appealed the decision, claiming that because it only retains data for 10 days it was not breaking local laws. But ultimately it was the fact that Facebook's European headquarters is based in Ireland that led to the decision being overturned. \"Belgian courts don't have international jurisdiction over Facebook Ireland, where the data concerning Europe is processed,\" the court said in its ruling.\n\nHowever, other data protection agencies are continuing to push, with the French data protection authority fining Facebook its maximum allowable fine of \u20ac150,000 ($179,300) back in May for the same violations that the Spanish authorities are now claiming.\n\n\"Facebook proceeded to a massive compilation of personal data of internet users in order to display targeted advertising,\" complained the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert\u00e9s. \"It collected data on the browsing activity of internet users on third-party websites, via the 'datr' cookie, without their knowledge.\"\n\nDone owt wrong\n\nAnd the UK's Information Commissioner is also digging into how Facebook is using personal data from the WhatsApp chat app that it bought for $19bn in 2014. \"Some might consider it'll give them a better service, others may be concerned by the lack of control,\" Elizabeth Denham noted.\n\nUK privacy watchdog sends poison pen letter to Zuckerberg et al READ MORE\n\nOf course in both the French and Spanish cases, Facebook claims it has done no wrong.\n\nOn the French decision, Facebook said that it \"respectfully disagreed\" with the decision and would appeal it, and made the familiar claim that Facebook was \"putting people in control of their privacy\" by offering a wide range of privacy settings.\n\nFacebook used pretty much the exact same language with this new AEPD fine, noting that it \"respectfully disagrees\" with it and would appeal the decision, and arguing that \"users choose which information they want to add to their profile and share with others, such as their religion.\"\n\nImportantly, it claims that it does not use that data for advertising. \"We do not use this information to target adverts to people,\" it said in a statement that is likely very precisely worded.\n\nJust for context, the \u20ac1.2m fine represents 0.005 per cent of Facebook's annual revenue for 2016. Or two days worth of income. Zuckerberg must be quaking in his hoodie. \u00ae", "output": "Spain's Data Protection Agency (AEPD) has fined Facebook \u20ac1.2m ($1.43m) after finding the social media giant guilty of \"two serious infringements and one very serious breach of data protection law\". The AEPD said Facebook had collected data on Spanish users without obtaining their consent, and had retained that data for later use, contrary to Spanish law. The company lost a similar case in France earlier this year, and said it \"respectfully disagreed\" with and would appeal both verdicts."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Water risks in supply chain are being ignored by food companies \n Join our growing army of changemakers and get unlimited access to our premium content\n\nCeres published its latest Feeding Ourselves Thirsty report today (11 September), which evaluates 42 of the largest food companies on water risks across packaged foods, beverages, agricultural products and meat. The latest report found that while the number of companies that were assessing water risks had increased by 30% since 2015, just six has set sourcing goals across key areas of the business.\n\nThe report noted that Coca-Cola, General Mills, Kellogg, Nestl\u00e9, PepsiCo and Unilever were the only companies that had set these goals, with 50% of the evaluated firms were yet to show evidence that their boards of directors were \u201cexercising oversight\u201d on water-related issues.\n\nRecent MSCI analysis of food companies in its All Country World Index (ACWI) found that $459bn in revenue is at risk from water scarcity for irrigation and animal consumption. Ceres also estimates that by 2050, water demands will increase by 55% and food demand by 60%.\n\nClimate change looks set to impact how companies interact with water supplies, with hotter temperatures set to create the biggest risk to the $5trn industry\u2019s bottom line. Fortunately, 85% of the companies scored in the report cite water as a material risk in financial filings. Although this represents a 30% increase on 2015, supply chain risks remain under-explored with just over half of the companies conducting regular assessments of their supply chains.\n\nKraft-Heinz and Monster Beverage finished bottom of the rankings in their respective sectors, with the latter scoring 0 out of 100, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Nestl\u00e9 and Diageo were amongst the highest-scoring brands.\n\nThe report also highlighted that the number of companies linking executive compensation to water savings had increased by 150%, although only 12 companies currently use water as a criteria for executive pay.\n\nAnglian for change\n\nIt\u2019s not just businesses that are attempting to reduce water usage. Anglian Water has teamed with brand purpose consultancy Given London to help Newmarket residents reduce annual water usage by 30%.\n\nGiven London has carried out insight work with residents to gain an understanding of behaviours and habits, and will launch a behaviour change drive and test new technologies from Anglian Water.\n\n\u201cWe are really excited to deliver positive, real change for Anglian Water around consumer water usage,\u201d Given London\u2019s managing partner Ben Hayman said.\n\n\u201cIt is an important challenge and key to its success will be better connecting consumers\u2019 water usage to both their household bills and the environment. Our approach is insight based, as we work closely with Anglian Water and the local community, to deliver results which can then be replicated at scale across the UK.\u201d\n\nRefill scheme\n\nWhile it is important for businesses to track water use, another key environmental issue is emerging regarding the use of plastic bottles. The UK use 7.7bn single-use plastic bottles every year for water and drinks. An estimated 800 plastic bottles a minute are either ending up in landfill or as litter in waterways and new campaigns are attempting to reverse this trend.\n\nOnce such campaign is Refill, which aims to reduce the use of plastic bottles by getting businesses to offer free tap water refills. Last week, Banbury and Bicester became the tenth and eleventh towns in England to sign up to the scheme.\n\nAround 20 local businesses have joined the initiative across the towns. Participating businesses register with an app and place a sticker in their window to alert passers-by that they are a Refill site. People using the scheme do not have to be customers of that business.\n\nMatt Mace", "output": "The majority of major food companies are failing to account for the risks to their supply chain from water-rated issues, according to research published by sustainability organisation Ceres. The non-profit found that of 42 large food companies they evaluated, only six - Coca-Cola, Kellogg, Nestl\u00e9, Unilever, General Mills and PepsiCo - had set water sourcing goals across key areas of their business. Around $459bn of revenue is at risk from water scarcity, according to separate research by analysts MSCI, and 85% of the companies scored in the Ceres report cite water as a material risk in their financial reports."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US' $5bn waste export\u00a0business at risk after\u00a0ban by China \n For decades, shipping containers have been loaded with American scrap and waste and dispatched to China for recycling.\n\nIt's a $5 billion annual business that is now in danger of sinking.\n\nBeijing notified the World Trade Organization in July that it plans to ban the import of 24 varieties of solid waste, including types of plastic and unsorted paper commonly sent from the U.S.\n\nChina said that the ban would take effect from September, giving American companies little time to prepare. ISRI estimates that roughly a fifth of the trade is at risk.\n\nThe announcement has made U.S. recyclers that trade with China very nervous.\n\n\"In the short term we're going to see a significant drop of exports from the U.S. into China, and there is a little bit of panic in the market,\" said Adina Adler, an official at the U.S. Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI).\n\n\"We respect what the Chinese government is trying to do ... and we want to be helpful, but they gave us practically no time for any kind of transition,\" said Adler.\n\nTrade deficit\n\nScrap and waste is the sixth largest U.S. export to China.\n\nThe trade works like this: A huge number of container ships laden with consumer goods sail each year from China to American ports.\n\nBut the U.S. runs a massive trade deficit with China, and there is little demand for space on the return leg, or \"backhaul.\" As a result, shipping companies offer major discounts on return runs to China.\n\nThe dynamic has been a boon for the U.S. recycling industry, which has an abundance of the scrap metal, paper, plastic, rubber and electronics that Chinese recyclers crave.\n\nAdam Minter, a journalist, explains in the book \"Junkyard Planet\" that it can be much cheaper to ship scrap from the U.S. to China than to send it by rail from Los Angeles to Chicago.\n\nExports at risk\n\nBeijing says it's now banning some of the scrap categories out of concern for the environment.\n\nThe government told the WTO that it had found large amounts of dirty and hazardous material mixed with solid waste, leading to serious environmental pollution.\n\nChina's State Council said in a statement that it hoped to \"reform ... the management system of solid waste imports, promote the recycling use of domestic solid wastes, protect the ecological environment and people's health.\"\n\nMinter, however, has argued that the ban could exacerbate environmental problems.\n\nHe wrote in July that imported recyclables are cleaner than their Chinese counterparts, and banning them will force many Chinese recyclers to shut down -- meaning more waste will be incinerated or end up in landfills.\n\nRelated: China wants to ban gas and diesel cars\n\nThe policy shift has sparked confusion in the industry, with American producers uncertain about when it will be implemented.\n\n\"The confusion it causes does as much damage to our markets as the policies themselves,\" said Kevin Duncombe, president of independent recycler Western Pacific Pulp and Paper.\n\nAdler said the ban has already impacted trade with China.\n\n\"Chinese buyers are canceling orders, or not placing new ones, and in some cases they're just not picking up shipments at the port,\" she said.\n\nRelated: GM is selling a $5,000 electric car in China\n\nThe Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection did not respond to requests for additional details.\n\nISRI said it intends to fight the ban.\n\n\"China has an environmental crisis on their hands and they need to do something about it, but we don't agree on imposing an outright ban,\" said Adler. \"That's not the answer.\"", "output": "About a fifth of the US' annual $5bn Chinese waste disposal business is at risk, according to the US Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI). Beijing told the World Trade Organisation in July that it would stop imports of 24 varieties of waste, including types of plastic and paper often sent from the US, because of concerns about hazardous materials mixed in with the waste. The ban, due to start this month, has made US recyclers nervous, as there was little time for transition, said Adina Adler at the ISRI. Scrap and waste is the sixth biggest export to China."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Leader of $9bn Chinese Ponzi scheme given life sentence \n A Beijing court on Tuesday sentenced the architect of the $9 billion Ezubao online financial scam to life imprisonment. (Representational Image) A Beijing court on Tuesday sentenced the architect of the $9 billion Ezubao online financial scam to life imprisonment. (Representational Image)\n\nA Beijing court on Tuesday sentenced the architect of the $9 billion Ezubao online financial scam to life imprisonment, and handed down jail time to 26 others, marking the close to one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in modern Chinese history. The ruling comes at a time when the government is stepping up efforts to crack down on risky and illicit behaviour in the country\u2019s financial sector, including the unruly peer-to-peer industry that continues to attract high volumes.\n\nBeijing First Intermediate People\u2019s Court sentenced Ding Ning \u2013 chairman of Anhui Yucheng Holdings Group that launched Ezubao in 2014 \u2013 to life in prison and fined him 100 million yuan ($15.29 million) for crimes including illegal fundraising, illegal gun possession and smuggling precious metals.\n\nDing Dian, the chairman\u2019s brother, was also sentenced to life, while Zhang Min, Yucheng\u2019s president, and 24 others were sentenced to imprisonment for 3 to 15 years, according to an article on the Beijing Courts social media account.", "output": "The man behind one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in modern China has been sentenced to life imprisonment, with his brother and 24 other accomplices also jailed. Ding Ning operated Anhui Yucheng Holdings Group and launched the fraudulent Ezubao scheme in 2014, which collapsed last year after collecting $9.14bn from more than 900,000 investors. The company fabricated projects to raise money, while\u00a0Ding spent CNY1.5bn ($230m) of its proceeds on himself. The case has led to a regulatory crackdown on China's online financial services market, including\u00a0peer-to-peer lending, where monthly volumes are now above $50bn."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "France goes on strike over Macron's labour reforms \n For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBreaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nThis week is expected to see mass protests and strikes against the French government and the country\u2019s president Emmanuel Macron. Here\u2019s everything you need to know about them\n\nWhy are people protesting and going on strike?\n\nPrimarily, the protests are about Emmanuel Macron\u2019s plans to reform French labour laws, which are extremely controversial.\n\nUnder the plans, it would become easier for medium and small businesses to sack workers. Trade union collective bargaining will also be watered down and firms with fewer than 20 staff will be able to negotiate directly with individual employees, instead of a union branch. The Government also wants a cap on pay-outs from industrial tribunals.\n\nDidn\u2019t Macron just win an election?\n\nYes, but his popularity has fallen like a stone \u2013 across the board pollsters have shown him less popular in this stage of his premiership than both Nicholas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande. Both of those presidents were unpopular.\n\nAs a candidate Macron also refused to go into specifics about what labour reforms he would make.\n\nMacron was also elected on an extremely low share of the first preference vote \u2013 just 24 per cent. He won an overwhelming victory in the second round, though his only opponent there was far-right National Front\u2019s Marine Le Pen.\n\nWhy does Macron want to reform the Labour code?\n\nFrench liberals (and those abroad) have long argued that the country\u2019s regulated and collectively organised labour market is inefficient and holds the country back economically.\n\nMacron, for his part, says France will be \u201cturning the page on three decades of inefficiency\u201d by introducing his changes.\n\nIt is not uncommon for the French government to provoke the ire of the French labour movement. In 2007 and 2010 the country was crippled by general strikes over cuts to pensions and the raising of the retirement age. In 1995 general strikes brought the country to a standstill to stop welfare cutbacks.\n\nWho is calling the protests?\n\nThe CGT, or Conf\u00e9d\u00e9ration g\u00e9n\u00e9rale du travail, France\u2019s biggest and most assertive major trade union federation has call the strike.\n\nOther federations, including the less militant CFDT and FO, have said they will stay away from the day of action.\n\nThe CGT was previously communist-backed but has recently taken a more moderate stance. Its battalions will be accompanied by other elements of the organised French left.\n\nAre there other reasons people are annoyed?\n\nThe labour law reforms are just the latest of a series of unpopular things Macron has done in office. He has already taken a hit over planned cuts to housing assistance for people on low incomes, and there was push-back over plans to make his wife the official first lady, potentially with a salary. Other ways the president has upset people include backtracking on a pledge to shore-up defence spending, which led to a very public row with the head of the army.", "output": "France is going on strike with the CGT announcing 180 protests and 4,000 strikes across the country to protest against President Emmanuel Macron's proposed labour reforms. Over 20,000 Ryanair passengers had their flights cancelled due to the strike with many other travellers also affected by the action. The strikes are expected to last the week. In addition to his labour reforms, decisions such as planned cuts to housing assistance for those on low incomes and\u00a0backtracking on\u00a0defence spending have caused Macron's popularity to plummet in the polls."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "France goes on strike over Macron's labour reforms \n Sign up to Simon Calder\u2019s free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calder\u2019s Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nSimon Calder\u2019s Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nMore than 20,000 Ryanair passengers have had their flights on Tuesday cancelled due to a strike by French air-traffic controllers. Many other travellers are being affected by the action by members of the USAC-CGT union.\n\nThey are stopping work as part of a nationwide walk-out which constitutes the first major challenge to President Macron's sweeping labour reforms. The union says the proposed law \u201cpromises to be dangerous for employees and their representatives\u201d.\n\nEurocontrol is warning of \"very high delays\" in the Marseille sector, covering a swathe of southern France.\n\nRyanair has cancelled at least 110 flights. Passengers hoping to fly from Ryanair\u2019s main UK base, Stansted, to Barcelona, Bergerac, Blagnac, Bordeaux, Limoges, Madrid, Marseille, Palma and Perpignan, or on the return legs, are now trying to find seats on alternative services.\n\nRecommended Ryanair cuts number of bags passengers can take on board flights\n\nOther casualties of the strike are Luton-Nimes, Manchester-Ibiza, Leeds/Bradford-Palma and East Midlands-Barcelona.\n\nRyanair warns \u201cfurther flight delays and cancellations are likely\u201d. Its marketing director, Kenny Jacobs, said: \u201cEnough is enough. If the French Government is serious about changing France, they should start by tackling these air traffic control unions, and together with the European Commission, should take immediate action to prevent thousands of European consumers from having their travel plans disrupted by a tiny group of ATC unions going on strike once again.\n\n\u201cThey cannot stand idly by as more disruption and travel misery is inflicted upon Europe\u2019s consumers and airlines.\"\n\nBritish Airways has cancelled 16 flights as a result of air-traffic control restrictions over France: four services linking London with Barcelona and with Nice have been grounded, along with round-trips from Heathrow to Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse and Zurich.\n\nRyanair boss demands airports drop passport checks for departing passengers\n\nThe airline says: \u201cOther short-haul flights may also experience some disruption, given how many flights from numerous European airlines would normally use French airspace each day.\u201d\n\nBA is offering passengers flying on any French route, as well as Barcelona, the option of shifting the flight to Wednesday or Thursday. It says: \u201cWe will be using larger aircraft, where possible, to help affected customers and are doing all we can to reduce the levels of disruption.\u201d\n\nIts rival, easyJet, says: \u201cLike all airlines, our flights to and from French airports, as well as those flying in French airspace, could be affected.\n\n\u201cWe are doing everything possible to minimise the impact of the strike on our customers, and we advise that you allow plenty of extra time to get to the airport and consider alternative transport options where possible, as public transport services may be affected by the strike.\u201d\n\nAir France is warning passengers of \"limited disruptions\" on domestic flights, and that \"last-minute delays and cancellations can be expected too\".\n\nPassengers whose flights are cancelled should be re-booked for travel as soon as possible, even if it is on a rival airline. They are also entitled to a duty of care, with the cancelling airline responsible for meals and accommodation until they can reach their destination.\n\nThe Foreign Office is warning of \u201cdisruption and delays to transport services, including rail networks and some maritime ports\u201d.\n\nIn Germany, dozens of Air Berlin flights have been cancelled because of \"sickness-related absences\" by flight crew. The airline has filed for insolvency but is being propped up by a German government loan. Air Berlin says it is \"currently seeing an exceptional high number of sickness reports of their pilots\".\n\n\"For this reason a number of flights will have to be cancelled today.\"", "output": "France is going on strike with the CGT announcing 180 protests and 4,000 strikes across the country to protest against President Emmanuel Macron's proposed labour reforms. Over 20,000 Ryanair passengers had their flights cancelled due to the strike with many other travellers also affected by the action. The strikes are expected to last the week. In addition to his labour reforms, decisions such as planned cuts to housing assistance for those on low incomes and\u00a0backtracking on\u00a0defence spending have caused Macron's popularity to plummet in the polls."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China to evacuate up to 500,000 people from path of Typhoon Talim \n BEIJING - Up to half a million people were expected to be evacuated from their homes in south-eastern China on Tuesday (Sept 12) as the region braced itself for a \"giant\" typhoon that is expected to make landfall later in the week.\n\nTyphoon Talim was forecast to hit several cities along the central and northern sections of the Fujian coastline, including Fuzhou and Ningde, reported The South China Morning Post, citing the chief engineer at the province's meteorological bureau, Ms Liu Aiming.\n\nMs Liu said as many as 500,000 people would receive evacuation notices, though the exact figure was subject to change as the situation was evolving.\n\nMost of the people lived in properties that were unlikely to withstand the high winds, or in areas that were prone to flooding and mudslides, or were close to construction sites where they could be hit by flying debris. Ms Liu said that school buildings and sports stadiums were likely to be used as temporary shelters.\n\nTalim formed east of the Philippines on Saturday. It has been steadily gaining strength and was likely to pass through Taiwan. It was expected to have grown into a super typhoon by the time it made landfall, the highest level in China's rating system and comparable to a category 4 or 5 hurricane in the US.\n\nThe meteorological agency issued a blue alert, the lowest in a four-tier colour-coded system for severe weather, reported Reuters.\n\n\n\nOn Tuesday morning, the eye of Talim was 1,040km south-east of Taiwan's Yilan county, packing winds of up to 33 metres a second.\n\nTalim is expected to hit north and north-east parts of Taiwan the hardest on Wednesday and into Thursday with heavy rains and strong gusts.\n\n\n\nThe storm will then move north-west at a speed of 25km to 30km an hour towards the coast of Zhejiang and Fujian, making landfall late on Thursday or early Friday, according to China's National Meteorological Centre.\n\n\n\nFrom Tuesday to Wednesday, Talim will bring gales to the southern East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and waters east of Taiwan, as well as parts of the South China Sea.\n\n\n\nThe Fujian government initiated a Grade IV emergency response on Monday night, the lowest of a four-grade emergency response system.\n\n\n\nRelevant government agencies were told to monitor Typhoon Talim and take emergency measures in a timely manner, according to a statement on the official website of Fujian province.\n\n\n\nState-owned China News Service reported on Tuesday that Zhejiang province had also initiated a Grade IV response.\n\n\n\nIf anything unusual was detected, government agencies should issue warnings and organise evacuations, the news report said.\n\n\n\nThe National Meteorological Centre also warned of a tropical depression 205km east of Manila in the Philippines, saying it could gather strength and become a typhoon in the next 12 hours.\n\nFloods caused by tropical storm Maring submerged many streets and highways in the Philippines on Tuesday, prompting the government to close schools and suspend work in Metro Manila and the affected provinces.\n\nLate last month, Typhoon Hato pummelled Macau with winds of more than 200kmh and wreaked havoc in the nearby financial hub of Hong Kong.\n\n\"Talim is a giant. It will dwarf any of the others (typhoons) we've seen this year,\" Ms Liu told The South China Morning Post.\n\nPeople who resisted orders to evacuate would be forced to do so by inspection teams, she said.\n\n\"It's routine practice. (If they were not told to evacuate) most people would just stay in their homes. Nobody hits the highway,\" she said, adding that she was a \"bit surprised at what happened in the US\".\n\nShe was referring to the mass exodus by 5 million residents from Florida last week as Hurricane Irma raced towards the coast, which caused huge jams on motorways and saw many service stations run out of fuel.\n\nProfessor Huang Peng, who teaches architecture and wind engineering at Tongji University in Shanghai and used to work at the International Hurricane Research Centre in Florida, said the different approaches adopted by China and the US to keep people safe were understandable.\n\n\"(In Florida) Most of the people live in timber properties on low-lying ground and that makes them vulnerable to high winds,\" he said. \"And because they are spread over such a wide area, it would have been difficult to get aid and support to them in the aftermath of the hurricane,\" he said.\n\n\"In China, mass evacuations are usually not considered an option, but for those living in poorly built properties or at-risk locations it is better if they are relocated,\" he explained, adding that the population density was the reason why mass evacuations were not as popular in China.\n\nMr Wang Kanghong, a researcher at the meteorological disaster laboratory under the Ministry of Education in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, said the Chinese government was very selective when it came to ordering evacuations, only issuing orders if the data suggested a building was vulnerable to a typhoon.\n\n\"(However) the climate is changing. It is possible we will one day be faced with a mega-typhoon that few buildings would be able to withstand,\" he said.\n\nOfficials in every city had plans to deal with such a \"doomsday scenario\", he added.\n\nThese included the evacuation of entire cities, but there were no guarantees such a plan would work, Mr Wang told The South China Morning Post.\n\n\"There has never been a drill. Many things can go wrong.\"", "output": "Up to 500,000 people could be evacuated from the southeastern coast of China as the region braces itself for super typhoon Talim, which is set to make landfall on Thursday or Friday this week, according to China\u2019s National Meteorological Centre. Some buildings in the typhoon's path will be unable to withstand the high winds, while other areas are prone to flooding or mudslides. The storm system, set to become the equivalent of a US category four or five hurricane, is also expected to hit north and north-east parts of Taiwan on Wednesday.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI-powered camera can spot distracted drivers \n Texting while driving is an incredibly irresponsible, potentially dangerous thing to engage in. However, despite any number of laws, police initiatives and public service announcements, too many still do it. That is a problem that engineering researchers from Canada\u2019s University of Waterloo think they have come up with a solution to \u2014 with the development of a system which uses a combination of cameras and artificial intelligence to determine when drivers are texting, or otherwise engaged in distracting activities.\n\n\u201cDistracted driving is one of the major causes of car crashes around the world and North America in particular,\u201d Fakhri Karray, an electrical and computer engineering professor at Waterloo, told Digital Trends. \u201cIn this work, an artificial intelligence-based system is investigated for driver distraction detection. A full prototype [with both] software and hardware has been designed, implemented and tested, based on the latest tools of deep learning AI and computer vision. The work is motivated by its performance in designing next generation self-driving cars, and by alerting in real time a driver of the imminent danger of his or her action when undergoing text messaging, drinking, reaching objects at the back or side seats, calling on the phone, or operating a radio, [air conditioning unit], or other devices on the dashboard.\u201d\n\nRecommended Videos\n\nThe smart camera setup detects hand movements which deviate from normal driving behavior (i.e. hands on the wheel) and then classifies them according to their potential threat level. In addition to this, it takes into account the length of particular actions and information about the surrounding vehicles \u2014 meaning that texting on a busy highway would be ranked considerably higher in the danger stakes than, for example, turning on your air conditioning on a quiet country road. The system can then be used to trigger protective measures, which might range from warning the driver about his or her behavior to, in a car with self-driving features, temporarily taking control of the vehicle.\n\n\u201c This is an integral part of a larger project on driver behavior recognition and driver action prediction for the design of next generation cognitive Advanced Drivers Assisting Systems,\u201d Karray said. \u201cThis should contribute to the design of next generation systems to be implemented in level three or level four self-driving vehicles.\u201d\n\nGiven that distracted drivers are reportedly to blame for up to 75 percent of traffic accidents worldwide, technology such as this could be a major benefit \u2014 not just for the drivers of these vehicles, but for everyone on the road. It\u2019s not every day that AI could help save lives!\n\nEditors' Recommendations", "output": "Researchers at Canada's University of Waterloo have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system which uses cameras to determine whether drivers are distracted. Through the camera. the AI identifies non-standard hand movements in drivers and appraises how much of a threat they represent. The AI system will form part of a larger project on driver behaviour recognition for the design of self-driving vehicles, said Fakhri Karray, a professor at the university.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazonian tribe members allegedly killed by gold miners in Brazil \n Brazilian authorities are investigating reports of a massacre of up to 10 people from an isolated tribe in the Amazon by illegal gold miners.\n\nThe killings, alleged to have taken place in Javari Valley, are claimed to have been carried out by men working for gold prospectors who dredge illegally in the region\u2019s rivers.\n\nIf proven, the murders would confirm that severe budget cuts to Brazil\u2019s indigenous agency are having deadly effects. The agency was forced to close two bases in the same region earlier this year. Investigators face a 12-day boat trip just to reach the area.\n\nPablo Beltrand, the prosecutor from the remote Amazon town of Tabatinga \u2013 near the Peruvian border and 700 miles from the Amazonas state capital, Manaus \u2013 said his team was first informed about the possible murders in the Javari Valley at the beginning of August. A fifth of Brazil\u2019s uncontacted tribes live in this wild region.\n\n\u201cWe received a communication from federal government,\u201d he said. \u201cThe ongoing investigation is about the possible death of indigenous people.\u201d\n\nBeltrand said he could not give more information about the inquiry but said that two men arrested recently in a police and army operation into illegal gold prospecting in the area were not connected to the case.\n\nBrazil\u2019s National Indian Foundation, known as Funai, first sent a team of three to the small town of S\u00e3o Paulo de Oliven\u00e7a after receiving reports that men working for gold prospectors had boasted in a bar of killing a group of eight to 10 indigenous people.\n\nLeila Sotto-Maior, coordinator for isolated and recently contacted Indians at Funai, said the men had brandished a paddle and a small bag used for carrying food that they claimed they had taken from their victims.\n\n\u201cThey were saying they killed indigenous people and threw them in the river,\u201d Sotto-Maior said. She emphasised that the massacre has yet to be confirmed.\n\n\u201cIt is very difficult to investigate something like this after time [has passed]. We don\u2019t have the bases,\u201d she said.\n\nFunai has had its budget almost halved this year by the business-friendly government of President Michel Temer. His government recently proposed to reduce the protected area of Amazon forest and has announced plans to allow mining and development in other protected areas.\n\nBurnt communal houses of uncontacted Indians, pictured in December 2016, could be signs of another attack in the region. Photograph: Courtesy of Funai\n\nSotto-Maior\u2019s department at Funai has less than \u00a3600,000 to spend this year protecting 103 tribes of non-contacted indigenous people across this vast country, as well as recently contacted groups. Around 20 isolated groups are believed to live in the Javari Valley, where around 80 recently contacted indigenous people also live.\n\n\u201cTo know we do not have the capacity to stop something like this \u2026 it\u2019s very difficult,\u201d Sotto-Maior said.\n\nCleber Buzatto, executive secretary of the non-profit Indigenous Missionary Council, said cuts to Funai budgets and the closing of bases in areas with isolated tribes increased the risk of attack.\n\n\u201cThis is a mechanism of encouragement of invasion of territories and makes attacks against isolated Indians more probable,\u201d he said. In June, UN rights experts denounced a surge of killings related to rural land disputes in Brazil this year.\n\nA spokeswoman for Brazil\u2019s federal police said: \u201cThe investigation is still ongoing to ascertain the provenance of the information.\u201d\n\nA spokesman for the Brazilian army said an operation carried out in the same area between 28 August and 3 September had destroyed four illegal gold dredgers. The documents of two others were being analysed.", "output": "Reports of the murder of up to 10 members of an isolated tribe in the Amazon by illegal gold miners are under investigation by Brazilian authorities. The killings, in Javari Valley, are alleged to have been committed by men working for gold prospectors who carry out criminal dredging in the area\u2019s rivers. Brazil\u2019s indigenous agency, or Funai, has seen a cut of nearly 50% to its budget this year, raising concerns about safety risks. The country\u2019s government has also announced plans to permit mining and development in protected areas."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK booksellers pay 11 times as much corporation tax as Amazon \n The UK\u2019s bookshops pay 11 times what Amazon does in corporation tax, according to a report from the Centre for Economics and Business Research.\n\nThe Bookselling Britain report was unveiled at the Booksellers Association\u2019s annual conference in Birmingham on Tuesday, revealing that bookshops contribute an estimated \u00a3540m to the UK economy, and pay an estimated \u00a3131m in tax, including \u00a312m in corporation tax. This equates to 91p per \u00a3100 of turnover, the report said, which is 11 times the 8p rate that Amazon pays, according to the CEBR. Amazon\u2019s most recent accounts show that Amazon UK Services saw turnover rise to almost \u00a31.5bn in 2016, while corporation tax payments dropped from \u00a315.8m to \u00a37.4m year on year.\n\nThe discrepancy was condemned by the Booksellers Association\u2019s Giles Clifton, head of corporate affairs. \u201cThe BA has already highlighted the unequal treatment meted out by the business-rates system to British booksellers, the staggering 17 times differential between what the Waterstones on Bedford High Street pays in comparison with the Amazon business unit a short distance away,\u201d said Clifton.\n\n\u201cHowever, this report helps the BA take this to the next level and to confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt [that] an enormous financial gap exists between what UK booksellers put into the UK, and what Amazon does. At a time when the UK needs to be making the most of her own talents, and utilising all her resources, both cultural, economic, and other, why on earth are we persisting with a policy that is an act of gross self-harm? This stupidity must end.\u201d\n\nThe association\u2019s chief executive Tim Godfray added that bookshops were \u201cmaking an incredible contribution to the UK despite the many obstacles that they currently, and increasingly, face\u201d. But the contribution was \u201cnot sustainable unless decisive action is taken by the government to protect them from closure\u201d, he said.\n\nGodfray added: \u201cBookshops are currently closing at a rate of 3% per year, and 275 towns across the UK can expect to lose their bookshop completely due to changes to business rates if nothing is done. We hope that CEBR\u2019s report encourages our government to act to protect the nation\u2019s bookshops, and enable them to flourish.\u201d\n\nFigures from the BA show that there are currently 867 independent booksellers in the UK, almost half the number that existed 11 years ago. According to the CEBR report, bookshops support 24,400 jobs in the UK, and pay \u00a3416m in wages. But they are facing an \u201cincreasingly challenging trading environment\u201d, said the report, citing Amazon\u2019s market power and advantages, business rates and corporate taxation as issues that threaten the very existence of Britain\u2019s local and national booksellers.\n\nSpeaking at the BA conference, CEBR director Oliver Hogan said that bricks-and-mortar bookshops had a range of advantages that Amazon did not offer, from involvement \u201cwith more reluctant readers, helping them to find books they might enjoy\u201d, to the events they put on and the \u201cphysical interface\u201d that \u201ccan trigger different and unpredictable exploration of themes and topics beyond what was intended\u201d.\n\nHogan continued: \u201cThe Bookselling Britain report highlights the significant direct and multiplier impacts that bookshops have on the UK economy, despite facing numerous challenges. But the benefits to UK communities of local booksellers stretch beyond these monetary impacts, encompassing education, literacy and the provision of an informational and cultural conduit to society at large. All of this feeds technological progress and innovation, the key ingredients in achieving long-term economic growth.\u201d\n\nClifton added: \u201cIt is high time the policymakers in this country woke up and smelt the coffee.\u201d", "output": "Amazon pays 11 times less in corporation tax than the UK\u2019s bookshops, according to a study by the Centre for Economics and Business Research. The report, released at the Booksellers Association\u2019s annual conference, disclosed that bookshops contribute \u00a3540m ($716m) to the country\u2019s economy, and pay approximately \u00a312m in corporation tax. This is equivalent to 91p per \u00a3100 of turnover, 11 times the 8p that Amazon contributes. Amazon UK Services has seen corporation tax payments fall from \u00a315.8m to \u00a37.4m year on year, despite rising profits."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google Oxford University researchers teach an AI to read lips \n Video: Humans prefer faulty robots over perfect ones\n\nIn the movie \"2001\" I found the scariest moment was when astronauts David Bowman and Frank Poole met in the EVA pod to discuss the artificially intelligent HAL 9000 computer's behavior -- and HAL reads their lips. Science fiction? Not anymore!\n\nIn the paper Lip Reading Sentences in the Wild, researchers Joon Son Chung, of Oxford University, Andrew Senior, Oriol Vinyals, and Andrew Zisserman, of Google, tested an algorithm that bested professional human lip readers. Soon, surveillance videos may not only show your actions, but the content of your speech.\n\nGoogle's DeepMind\n\nThe researchers used Google's Deep Mind neural network and trained it using thousands of hours of subtitled BBC television videos. The videos showed a broad spectrum of people speaking in a wide variety of poses, activities, and lighting -- thus the \"in the wild\" designation.\n\nLip reading is an active area of AI research, and this team is not the first to work on it. But by using thousands of hours of BBC videos, their algorithm achieved the best results yet.\n\nTheir 'Watch, Listen, Attend and Spell' (WLAS) neural network learned to transcribe videos of mouth motion to characters, using over 100,000 sentences from the videos. By translating mouth movements to individual characters, the neural net spelled out words.\n\nIn training the AI, one of the team's innovations was to start out with single words, and gradually increase the length of samples to reach complete sentences. That sped up training and dramatically improved test performance.\n\nThe videos were 120x120 pixel images, showing only the lips, sampled every 40 milliseconds.\n\nResults\n\nThey found that a professional lip reader is able to correctly decipher less than one-quarter of the spoken words. Their WAS model (lips only) was able to decipher half of the spoken words, significantly better than professional lip readers.\n\nThe Storage Bits take\n\nThere are many practical uses for machine lip reading, such as transcription in noisy contexts, dubbing and/or transcribing silent films, resolving multi-speaker concurrent speech, and improving automated speech recognition.\n\nBut let's let our imaginations run wild. With chatbots inventing their own languages, and AI surpassing human intelligence someday this century, it's clear that humans will have to cover their mouths -- as David and Frank should have -- in order to have secure verbal communication during the coming war with our AI overlords.\n\nOr maybe we'll all just have to mumble.\n\nCourteous comments welcome, of course.\n\nPrevious and related coverage", "output": "Researchers have developed an algorithm that uses artificial intelligence to lip-read sentences more accurately than human experts. The team from Oxford University and Google used thousands of hours of subtitled BBC television footage to train the system, which used Google's Deep Mind neural network. The footage showed a broad range of people in different poses, activities and lighting conditions, replicating conditions \"in the wild,\" as the team described it. The digital model was able to decipher around half of the spoken works from the footage, significantly better than a professional lip-reader, who managed less than a quarter."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IBM makes a 10-year commit to fund AI research with MIT \n IBM and the Mass. Institute of Technology plan to expand their ongoing partnership to create the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab to perform research on artificial intelligence. IBM is making a 10-year, $240 million investment to establish the Cambridge, Mass. center.\n\nThe lab will harness the work of 100 scientists, professors and students to develop AI hardware, software and algorithms; increase AI\u2019s role in industries; and consider economic and ethical considerations associated with AI.\n\n\u201cThe field of artificial intelligence has experienced incredible growth and progress over the past decade. Yet today\u2019s AI systems, as remarkable as they are, will require new innovations to tackle increasingly difficult real-world problems to improve our work and lives,\u201d said John Kelly III, IBM senior vice president, Cognitive Solutions and Research. \u201cThe extremely broad and deep technical capabilities and talent at MIT and IBM are unmatched, and will lead the field of AI for at least the next decade.\u201d\n\nAnother goal of the partnership is to help MIT staff and students create companies to commercialize and sell AI technologies and innovations developed in the lab.\n\n\u201cI am delighted by this new collaboration,\u201d MIT President L. Rafael Reif said. \u201cTrue breakthroughs are often the result of fresh thinking inspired by new kinds of research teams. The combined MIT and IBM talent dedicated to this new effort will bring formidable power to a field with staggering potential to advance knowledge and help solve important challenges.\u201d\n\nThe two parties have worked together for a decade on research in areas related to AI, including machine vision and unsupervised data processing. The combined effort will further both their work in the AI field. The lab is calling for joint research proposals in AI algorithms, physics of AI, application of AI to industries and advancing shared prosperity through AI.", "output": "IBM and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will build on a decade of collaboration in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) with the establishment of the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts. IBM will invest $240m over 10 years, as the lab develops AI algorithms, hardware and software, and seeks \"innovations to tackle increasingly difficult real-world problems to improve our work and lives,\" according to John Kelly III, IBM senior vice president, Cognitive Solutions and Research. The lab has already called for joint research proposals for a series of AI-related projects."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Third of global land severely degraded due to intensive farming \n A third of the planet\u2019s land is severely degraded and fertile soil is being lost at the rate of 24bn tonnes a year, according to a new United Nations-backed study that calls for a shift away from destructively intensive agriculture.\n\nThe alarming decline, which is forecast to continue as demand for food and productive land increases, will add to the risks of conflicts such as those seen in Sudan and Chad unless remedial actions are implemented, warns the institution behind the report.\n\n\u201cAs the ready supply of healthy and productive land dries up and the population grows, competition is intensifying for land within countries and globally,\u201d said Monique Barbut, executive secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) at the launch of the Global Land Outlook.\n\n\u201cTo minimise the losses, the outlook suggests it is in all our interests to step back and rethink how we are managing the pressures and the competition.\u201d\n\nThe Global Land Outlook is billed as the most comprehensive study of its type, mapping the interlinked impacts of urbanisation, climate change, erosion and forest loss. But the biggest factor is the expansion of industrial farming.\n\nHeavy tilling, multiple harvests and abundant use of agrochemicals have increased yields at the expense of long-term sustainability. In the past 20 years, agricultural production has increased threefold and the amount of irrigated land has doubled, notes a paper in the outlook by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European commission. Over time, however, this diminishes fertility and can lead to abandonment of land and ultimately desertification.\n\nThe JRC noted that decreasing productivity can be observed on 20% of the world\u2019s cropland, 16% of forest land, 19% of grassland, and 27% of rangeland.\n\n\u201cIndustrial agriculture is good at feeding populations but it is not sustainable. It\u2019s like an extractive industry, said Louise Baker, external relations head of the UN body. She said the fact that a third of land is now degraded should prompt more urgent action to address the problem.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s quite a scary number when you consider rates of population growth, but this is not the end of the line. If governments make smart choices the situation can improve,\u201d Baker said, noting the positive progress made by countries like Ethiopia, which has rehabilitated 7m hectares (17m acres).\n\nThe impacts vary enormously from region to region. Worst affected is sub-Saharan Africa, but poor land management in Europe also accounts for an estimated 970m tonnes of soil loss from erosion each year with impacts not just on food production but biodiversity, carbon loss and disaster resilience. High levels of food consumption in wealthy countries such as the UK are also a major driver of soil degradation overseas.\n\nThe paper was launched at a meeting of the UNCCD in Ordos, China, where signatory nations are submitting voluntary targets to try to reduce degradation and rehabilitate more land. On Monday, Brazil and India were the latest countries to outline their plan to reach \u201cland degradation neutrality\u201d.\n\nHowever, the study notes that pressures will continue to grow. In a series of forecasts on land use for 2050, the authors note that sub-Saharan Africa, south Asia, the Middle East and north Africa will face the greatest challenges unless the world sees lower levels of meat consumption, better land regulation and improved farming efficiency.", "output": "A third of the earth\u2019s land is now severely degraded, with 24 billion tonnes of fertile soil lost each year, according to a study backed by the United Nations that argues for the rejection of destructive, intensive agriculture. The decline in fertile soil is anticipated to continue due to rising demand for food and is also expected to increase the risk of conflict similar to that seen in Chad and Sudan. The Global Land Outlook report analyses the impacts of factors including climate change, erosion, forest loss and urbanisation, but concludes that industrial farming is the most damaging of all."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's big banks ban new North Korean accounts \n \"Previously, the banks were happy to open accounts for North Koreans living in China for personal reasons (mostly visiting relatives), provided they present their personal identity documents,\" the website Daily NK reported. \"This practice has ended as well.\"\n\nThis blocks cash flow to the regime to a significant extent, while the volume of oil shipments from China to North Korea has also dwindled, Kyodo News reported Saturday. Affected are not only North Korean diplomats and officials in China but also laborers and traders with North Korean passports.\n\nChina's large state banks have stopped opening new accounts for North Koreans and frozen remittances to North Korea.\n\nThe Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China have gradually stopped services for North Koreans in the border regions since last year, but the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China appears to be continuing them.\n\nChinese bank officials told Kyodo that this is a result of international sanctions against the North.\n\nThe Chinese government has also reportedly ordered commercial banks to stop services for North Koreans. It appears that the banks stopped dealing with the North voluntarily to avoid U.S. sanctions amid warnings of a secondary boycott from Washington.\n\nWith oil imports dwindling as a result, gasoline prices have reportedly soared in the North.\n\nThere is speculation that Beijing is taking tougher measure because of the regime's nuclear test on Sept. 3.\n\n", "output": "China's largest banks have put a ban on allowing North Korean's to open new bank accounts, along with freezing remittances to North Korea, thereby blocking significant amounts of\u00a0cash for\u00a0the regime. It is believed this tough stance is due to North Korean's nuclear test on 3 September.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Higher risk of tropical storms in UK due to Atlantic hurricanes \n Advertisement\n\nBritain is due to be hit by the tail-end of up to three hurricanes or tropical storms in the next two months, said AccuWeather, one of the world's biggest weather forecasters.\n\nHurricane Irma is hammering Florida today after devastating Caribbean islands, leaving at least three people dead as the storm slams into Key West.\n\nBritain more at risk this autumn \u2013 with this forecast to be the worst hurricane season for seven years, the US Government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said.\n\nBattered homes are a possibility, as well as trees and floods blocking road and rail lines.\n\nThis satellite image obtained from NASA's Earth Observatory shows Hurricane Irma (centre), Hurricane Jose (right), and Hurricane Katia (left)\n\nOminous-looking storm clouds gather over Poole harbour, in Dorset, which stunned locals as it passed overhead earlier on today. Britain is due to be hit by the tail end of up to three hurricanes or tropical storms in the next two months\n\nDarkening clouds gather over pool: The Met Office has downplayed fears Britain is set to be battered by hurricane-strength weather churning across from the US\n\nLocals gather on a pier as foreboding clouds collected above them in Poole, Dorset. Forecaster Helen Roberts told MailOnline: 'We have often got the remnants of hurricanes coming across the Atlantic to the UK\n\nBritain has already been hit by a hurricane this season \u2013 Hurricane Gert \u2014 which swept across the Atlantic to deluge the North on August 20.\n\nPrevious hurricane-based storms which crossed the Atlantic to hammer Britain include Hurricane Bertha in August 2014, which hit with gusts up to 94mph, six inches' rain and floods.\n\nSeptember's 2012's 'Child of Hurricane Nadine' tempest killed one and caused floods, and September 2011's Hurricane Katia caused one death amid gusts up to 98mph, with floods and widespread travel chaos.\n\nThe Met Office said Britain won't be battered by weather as severe as that which is slamming the US and Caribbean, but could face winds of up to 70mph this week.\n\nForecaster Helen Roberts told MailOnline: 'We have often got the remnants of hurricanes coming across the Atlantic to the UK.\n\n'But when they reach us they are very different beasts.'\n\nBritons can breathe a sigh of relief knowing the ferocity of storms that have battered the Caribbean and Florida will not be replicated in the UK\n\nBritain has already been hit by a hurricane this season \u2013 Hurricane Gert \u2014 which swept across the Atlantic to deluge the North on August 20\n\nThis is the ridiculous moment the driver of a convertible Vauxhall Tigra uses an umbrella to stay dry \u2013 rather than closing the roof on the M4 near Brentford, London\n\nA yellow weather warning has been issued for southern parts of Wales and and the south-west of England from 12am tonight through to 11am tomorrow morning\n\nIt means Britons can breathe a sigh of relief knowing the ferocity of storms that have battered the Caribbean and Florida won't be replayed in the UK.\n\nOver the course of today and night, the forecaster said the UK is set for more unsettled weather.\n\n'For the rest of today a weather front is pushing west to east across the county, bringing spells of rain for many.\n\n'The rain won't really reach the south east until later in the day \u2014 followed by further blustery showers.'\n\nThe forecaster added there is a risk of hail in parts and 'really blustery' showers should be expected.\n\nRevellers at Bestival have been faced with rains and high winds this weekend.\n\nToday the festival, which is taking place in Dorset for the first time this year, was forced to close its main area due to poor conditions.\n\nOrganisers tweeted: 'Due to current high winds and safety of all our festival-goers The Castle Stage and Ambient Forest are both temporarily closed.\n\n'We'll reopen the stages and areas as soon as possible. Due to high winds & for everyone's safety the main arena is temporarily closed. Please make your way to the campsites until we reopen gates.'\n\nThe stages have now reopened but festival-goers have had to battle huge swamped areas and rain storms throughout the weekend.\n\nYour browser does not support the <code>iframe</code> HTML tag. Try viewing this in a modern browser like Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Internet Explorer 9 or later.\n\nA yellow weather warning has been issued for southern parts of Wales and and the south-west of England from 12am tonight through to 11am tomorrow morning.\n\nStrong winds will continue across much of Wales tomorrow morning, indicating a 'tricky rush' for commuters.\n\nMost of the UK will experience sunshine a showers throughout much of Monday.\n\nMs Roberts added: 'Tuesday is probably one of the better days of the week, more in the way of sunny spells, but there still be some showers in between.'\n\nTemperatures are expected to reach highs of 62.6\u00b0F (17\u00b0C) on Tuesday, and remain in the mid to high teens throughout much of next week.\n\nBut a lower pressure system arriving on the night could bring stormier and colder-feeling weather along with it, with wind gusts reaching up to 70mph in parts of northern England and northern Wales.\n\nMet Office forecaster Greg Dewhurst predicted an 'unsettled autumn day' across the country throughout the day.\n\nA second area of low pressure coming in from the Atlantic is expected to bring more strong winds on Tuesday night, lasting into Wednesday morning.\n\nHe said: 'It is likely to bring winds across many parts of England and Wales on Tuesday and Wednesday of between 50mph and 60mph, with isolated gusts reaching 70mph.\n\n'It could cause disruption to Wednesday morning rush hour and there could be some heavy rain associated with it as well.'", "output": "The UK is at greater risk of being hit by hurricane-based storms this Autumn, warns AccuWeather, as it faces the tail-end of up to three hurricanes or tropical storms - including Hurricane Irma - over the next two months. While battered homes, flooding, and blocked rail lines and roads are a possibility during the season,\u00a0the Met Office, which predicted possible winds of up to 70 mph\u00a0this week, reiterated\u00a0that the UK will not be battered as severely as the\u00a0Caribbean and Florida.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK software firm CDL opens insurtech incubator \n Software house says incubator will support start-up ideas and accelerate time to market for new technology developments.\n\nCDL has launched the CDL Incubator, a provision to support start-up ideas and accelerate the development of innovative new technologies for the insurance sector and beyond.\n\nThe software specialists stated that the move is one of a number of new initiatives to increase investment in research and development as the company continues to build its portfolio of InsurTech solutions and capabilities.\n\nAccording to CDL, the new incubator creates a framework for continuous innovation which will", "output": "Insurtech software provider CDL has established the CDL Incubator to support start-ups in the sector. The Stockport-based firm hopes to inspire investment into research and development as it expands its capabilities. CDL recently launched a chatbot option for customers to create tailored car and home insurance quotes with their mobiles.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Licensing laws limiting London's ability to be 24-hour city \n In 2016, concerned about drug-related deaths at clubs in London, councillors for the borough of Islington and the local police force revoked London super club and cultural institution Fabric\u2019s license.\n\nThe debate attracted attention, partly because it was a microcosm of simmering tensions within cities between governments and the people whose lives they regulated, and partly because of the widespread public outcry from clubbers and DJs. At the time, in leaked emails obtained by Mixmag, Justine Simons, Sadiq Khan\u2019s deputy mayor for culture, said that the row showed that London needed \u201ca new positive vision around nightlife\u201d.\n\nIn July of this year, Khan responded by launching a plan to make London a 24 hour city. The plan \u2013 created with the Night Time Commission, a body designed to examine the growth of the night time economy \u2013 promised to help London \u201ccompete with the likes of Berlin, Tokyo, and New York\u201d. It laid out 10 principles such as promoting night time activities other than clubs, and attracting investment and tourism to an industry already worth \u00a326.3bn.\n\nAn all-night London is not as farfetched as it sounds \u2013 the 2003 Licensing Act has already given local councils the ability to approve 24 hour licenses for venue.\n\nBut barely any councils in London have approved those requests. A 2013 review of the licencing act then found that 7,672 such licenses had been granted to venues around the UK. Only 12 per cent of those licenses were to pubs and clubs: 45 per cent of them had been granted to hotel bars, most of which were only open to guests.\n\nAnd as recently as 2015, Hackney council designated the vibrant area of Dalston as a \u201cSpecial Policy Area\u201d (despite opposition from 84 per cent of residents) where no new bars or clubs will have late licenses approved, and already existing venues may have to starting closing at midnight on weekends. While Fabric eventually reopened its doors (with far stricter door protocol), local cuts, increasing disapproval from local councils and rising rents might stifle Khan\u2019s vision of a 24 hour city.\n\nThe introduction of the Night Tube at weekends was definitely a step in the right direction: it meant fewer nights out in central London finished at 11.30pm, as people rushed to get the last tube home. But as is increasingly obvious, there might not be much point in having a 24 hour tube if there\u2019s nowhere open after 2am.\n\nKhan and the Night Time Commission are obviously hoping that London will soon be able to stay up all night \u2013 but what would it look like in practice? In a feature with Resident Advisor in 2016, Alan Miller, who set up the groundbreaking Night Time Industries Association, pointed out that much of the conversation in Britain treats the night time economy as negative. He contrasted this with the way it\u2019s discussed in other cultural capitals around the world, as \u201ca benefit with revenue, employment and culture\u201d.\n\nIn Amsterdam, night life venues are given 24-hour licenses to enable them to be restaurants, installation spaces and cafes by day. Such spaces are treated like a valuable commodity, as opposed to a strain on the city\u2019s resources. In Berlin, clubs stay open for the whole weekend and licensing laws let you have a meal whenever you want, leading people to bring backpacks of clothes, a toothbrush and phone chargers on their nights out: many start with a beer at 6 pm and stay out all night, often for days at a time.\n\nIn London, venues like the Bussey Building / CLF Art Cafe could play a similar role \u2013 but these aren\u2019t treated with the same value as their counterparts in other European cities, instead seen as a place for young people to indulge in hedonism and then leave.\n\nBut there are a whole host of practical reasons why 24 hour licensing might be a blessing. It might even make life easier for local police if there are staggered closing times for your local: part of the reason why the 2003 Licensing Act was introduced was in order to minimise public disruption, as drunk patrons all left pubs around the ripe old hour of 11pm.\n\nMore late licences might also mean an end to those days of wandering from a nice quiet pub down the high street until you find a bar that\u2019s open later (generally one with a light up dance floor, a DJ spinning Katy Perry so loud you can\u2019t hear, and a half an hour wait to get a pint).\n\nRestaurants around London could benefit too; late night refreshment comes under the late license policy. Alan Miller pointed out in an article with Eater London that other cities around the world enable kitchens to stay open as late as 4 am.\n\nGiven the current state of London\u2019s night time food, it\u2019s almost painful to picture the possibilities if restaurants could stay open later \u2013 like good greasy pizza slices after you\u2019ve had your last pint, or even vegan and vegetarian options that don\u2019t amount to paying \u00a34 for a pile of greasy chips because that\u2019s all most places seem to have after a night out.\n\nIt could also mean that cultural events such as museum lates run by the Tate, which have seen a great uptick in interest, could run more frequently and for longer, making it possible to leave work or university, head to a Late with a friend, grab some food and then head out to go clubbing or grab a drink, without worrying about pubs closing or missing last entry.\n\nCurrently, Late events of that sort tend to run for a couple of hours after the normal working day, to stay within their local council\u2019s late license regulations. July\u2019s Art Night, run across different art spaces throughout one day and night this past July, was a successful example, and could be replicated across the city in the future.\n\nAs shown by the furore over Fabric\u2019s license, local police and regulators are often quick to pin the blame of individual instances onto the nightlife scene as a whole \u2013 the local police even had an undercover operation, known as Lenor, a reference to the fabric softener, which they used evidence from to argue that the club should be shut down. When the Act was enacted in 2005, many thought it would lead to increases in binge drinking, crime and disorderly behaviour \u2013 Miller pointed out that many of those feared outcomes actually didn\u2019t happen.\n\nThis kind of overhaul is going to take more than just police forces, local councils and businesses learning to work together. There\u2019s going to have to be a cultural shift too. \u201cWe have to break this late-night taboo that we have in London,\u201d Dalston club owner Dan Beaumont told Resident Advisor. \u201cWe have to learn how to be permissive, because I think we\u2019ve forgotten how to do it. And these cultural reserves are going to dry up if we don\u2019t invest in them.\u201d", "output": "Mayor of London Sadiq Khan\u2019s plans to make London a 24-hour city are being hampered by councils rejecting applications for 24-hour licences for venues. The introduction of the night tube service could help to attract investment to the \u00a326.3bn ($35bn) night-time\u00a0economy, but the lack of venues is halting growth. The 24-hour approach could also alleviate pressure on the police to manage post-closing time\u00a0crowds. Investment could rejuvenate museums, restaurants and more, but the change has to be supported by local councils and businesses.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "High street agent declare themselves open to bitcoin \n Post navigation\n\nA high street lettings agent is the latest to be converted to Bitcoins.\n\nDavid Allen, of Worcestershire-based Property Plus, said he would allow agency fees and deposits to be paid in Bitcoins, as well as sterling.\n\nRent will still need to be paid in pounds.\n\nHe said: \u201cI would not expect a great demand to start with but I would encourage as many businesses as possible to get involved with the currency because I like the idea of \u2018sound money\u2019 and don\u2019t like this debt based system that we currently have.\u201d\n\nLondon developer The Collective said it would start accepting Bitcoin for deposits this week and rents later this year.\n\nBitcoin is a decentralised virtual currency or cryptocurrency that has emerged in recent years. They are created or \u201cmined\u201d using a complicated code devised by mysterious founder Satoshi Nakomoto.\n\nProponents of the currency argue it is safer than traditional or fiat money as it can\u2019t be interfered with by Governments or banks. Transactions are instant, don\u2019t require a payment system such as VISA or MasterCard and can be tracked using each coin\u2019s unique code on a central ledger known as the blockchain.\n\nIt works based on supply and demand but can be extremely volatile and subject to wild swings if regulators restrict its use or a platform fails. It has been particularly popular in China when limits have been placed on how much local currency can leave the country.", "output": "UK property firm Property Plus will allow agency fees and deposits to be made in bitcoins along with standard fiat currency. Rent will still be collected in pound sterling. Co-living specialist developer, The Collective, has also said it will accept the cryptocurrency for deposits, and plans to make rents payable in bitcoin from later in 2017."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NHS seeking to digitise patient access to its services \n Jeremy Hunt is to pledge that every patient in England should be able to access their medical records and book an appointment with a GP via an app by the end of 2018.\n\nThe health secretary will use his speech at an NHS conference on Tuesday to promise the national rollout of an integrated app, which patients will also be able to use for ordering repeat prescriptions and accessing NHS 111 \u2013 the non-emergency medical helpline.\n\nSpeaking at the Health and Care Innovation Expo in Manchester, he is expected to unveil the key expectations he wants to see rolled out across the NHS by the end of its 70th birthday year in 2018.\n\n\n\nHunt will also refer to the next 10 years as \u201cthe decade of patient power\u201d.\n\nHe is expected to say: \u201cPeople should be able to access their own medical records 24/7, show their full medical history to anyone they choose and book basic services like GP appointments or repeat prescriptions online.\n\n\u201cI do not underestimate the challenge of getting there \u2013 but if we do it will be the best possible 70th birthday present from the NHS to its patients.\u201d\n\n\n\nPilot schemes, which are a part of the \u00a34.2bn personalised health and care 2020 programme announced by the health secretary last year, are already under way.\n\nIn south-east London, patients can access NHS 111, book GP appointments, order repeat prescriptions and receive online consultations with their GP all via a smartphone.\n\nEvaluation of the pilots is ongoing and, if they are successful, there will be a national rollout of the programmes in the coming months.\n\n\n\nThere has also been success with online trials supporting those with long-term conditions \u2013 such as the app MyCOPD, which is intended to help patients manage their condition independently and give them more freedom and less reliance on GP and hospital appointments. The ambition is that this level of digitally led treatment should be available universally.\n\nImelda Redmond, national director of Healthwatch England, welcomed the plans, saying the vision \u201cdirectly addresses\u201d what the public wants from a modern NHS.\n\n\n\nShe added: \u201cIt is a huge step forward in ensuring all of us get the sort of integrated service we have come to expect in many other areas of life.\u201d", "output": "UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is expected to announce plans for granting NHS patients digital access to their medical records, as well as enabling the booking of GP appointments via an app, by the end of next year. Hunt plans to roll out an integrated app that will facilitate repeat prescription requests and access to non-emergency line NHS 111. The scheme has already been piloted as part of the\u00a0\u00a34.2bn budget for personalised health."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The solar industry shows off its high-performance products \n LONGi Solar\u2019s all mono 3.0 era modules provides mainstream benchmark\n\n\u2018Silicon Module Super League\u2019 (SMSL) member LONGi Solar, and the world\u2019s largest manufacturer of monocrystalline solar cells & modules, will introduce its 300W+ solar module series, based on 60-cell standard modules with over 300W nominal power and 72-cell modules exceeding 360W at Solar Power International. This marks the entry into the PV 3.0 era, which is based on solar modules with nominal power ratings above 300W that are becoming available in large quantities this year, as the pioneers in production of high efficiency, high quality solar cells, such as mono PERC, are reaching GW-size production levels. \u201cPV 3.0 means that we are entering a phase that enables solar investors to use high efficiency, high quality and high energy yield crystalline modules of over 300 W nominal power for their solar installations,\u201d said Mr. Zhengguo Li, President and Founder of LONGi Group. The PV 3.0 era follows on PV 2.0 and PV 1.0, which in simple terms are defined as periods when modules had power ratings between 100 W and 300 W (PV 2.0), and solar panel power was below 100 W (PV 1.0). The nominal power rating has been the key differentiator of solar modules since their introduction in the 1950s \u2013 and that\u2019s what module customers pay for. High efficiency, high quality and high energy yield solar modules with power ratings above 300W will enable sustainable solar system designs that provide competitive levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) generation. These technologies are not limited to the monofacial P-type PERC cells (Hi-MO1), but also the innovative bifacial P-type PERC in the form of its Hi-MO2 modules.\n\nHanwha Q CELLS launches Q.PEAK DUO with half-cut PERC cell technology\n\n\u2018Silicon Module Super League\u2019 (SMSL) member Hanwha Q CELLS, and the largest producer of PERC cell technology has saved a world premiere for SPI attendees with the launch of its Q.PEAK DUO module series, which combines half-cut cell technology, six-bus-bars and the company\u2019s proprietary \u2018Q.ANTUM\u2019 PERC (Passivated Emitter Rear Cell) technology. As a result, the monocrystalline modules reach efficiencies of close to 20% and power outputs of up to 330Wp from 120 half-cells and up to 395Wp from 144 half-cells. \u201cHanwha Q CELLS will be setting another benchmark in terms of high-end performance and reliability of crystalline solar modules under real-life conditions\u201d, said Seong Woo Nam, Chairman and CEO of Hanwha Q CELLS. \u201cUS customers and investors are looking for the highest possible yields and reliability from a bankable partner.\u201d\n\nLumeta Solar touts lowest installed cost hi-performance modules\n\nCalifornia-based PV module manufacturer Lumeta Solar LLC is launching its \u2018Lumeta Lynx\u2019 line of solar modules that eliminate racking resulting in faster installation, zero roof penetrations, and improved aesthetics at SPI this year. The low-profile, black-on-black, frameless monocrystalline modules adhere directly to the roof, dramatically reducing module installation time on tile, shingle, and commercial roofs. \u201cLumeta Lynx offers the lowest installed cost and is more attractive than traditional rack-mounted solar modules,\u201d said CEO and founder Timothy Davey. \u201cOur product grew from customer demands for solar without roof penetrations, and has been redesigned to meet the needs of residential and commercial solar professionals.\u201d The Lumeta Lynx 60 is a high-peformance 300W 18.1% efficient module that is designed for both tile roofs, where it is installed using inserts that create a level surface, and composition shingle roofs. The Lumeta Lynx 72 is a 360W 18.3% efficient module designed for installation on almost all commercial roof systems. Lumeta Lynx will begin shipping to select partners in Q4 2017 and be available throughout the United States in Q1 2018. The Lumeta Lynx module series is said to weigh less than half of glass-fronted modules with racking, and their construction uses Dupont's ETFE (ethylene tetrafluoroethylene) that replaces the glass front sheet and enables heat dissipation and a FRP (fiber reinforced polymer) semi-rigid back sheet protects the cells.\n\nCertainTeed Solar highlighting 60 and 72-cell solar modules with max 365W\n\nCertainTeed Solar has several upgraded products and an enhanced installer programs being showcased at SPI. The company is highlighting its US Series 60 and 72-cell solar modules, which have a maximum power output of 305W, while 72 cell modules reach up to 365W.\n\n\n\nAll US Series modules are American-made using domestic and foreign components, and rank among the most efficient solar modules manufactured in the United States. The modules are available individually or as part of CertainTeed's Solstice system, which includes the components necessary for rooftop installation.\n\nMission Solar Energy has eyes on AC and heterojunction modules\n\nMission Solar Energy is displaying three new products at SPI, including AC and heterojunction (HJ) modules. The heterojunction and AC technologies are anticipated to attract attention for their higher panel power, increased lifetimes, and more stringent fire ratings.\n\n\n\n\u201cOur line of AC and heterojunction modules feature the very best of solar technology. We are gauging customer interest in these products, and based on market response, mass-production could begin as early as Q1 2018,\u201d said Jae Yang, President of Mission Solar Energy. In the 72-cell format, Mission Solar\u2019s MSE HJT 72 Elite series module featuring Heterojunction technology produces 460W of power with a bifacial boost. The Elite consists of strong dual glass construction, not only durable but also aesthetically pleasing. This module has the ability to withstand high wind load, has a Class A fire rating, and a low thermal co-efficient. The MSE PERC 60 AC module has an integrated micro inverter, which shortens installation time, simplifies inventory management, and maximizes system production in shady conditions.\n\nPanel-level performance monitoring is another key advantage of the PERC AC. This module is tested and certified against a >210mph wind load, making it ideal for all locations.\n\nSolaria launches \u2018PowerVision\u2019-150 to transform building structures\n\nSolaria Corporation is introducing its \u2018PowerVision\u2019-150 product to the electrical and solar distributor markets, which is said to be endorsed by leading glass and fabrication companies including Pilkington, AGC, and Walters & Wolf. \u201cBy reimagining commercial and residential building structures, Solaria has devised its PowerVision glass in inventive new ways so that nearly every aspect of a building envelope \u2014beyond the rooftop\u2014 can generate electricity,\u201d said Nick Bagatelos, President of Bagatelos Architectural Glass Systems, Inc. \u201cPowerVision builds on the success of PowerXT to enable building owners and developers to turn skylights, windows and building facades into electricity-generating assets.\u201d Solaria\u2019s unique solar cell process technology has allowed the company to develop vision glass that can be used in locations not typically associated with solar panels; these include skylights, patios, and window openings, providing a see-through surface that generates electricity.\n\nJinkoSolar brings half-cut cell and bifacial technology to US", "output": "Solar Power International 2017 in Las Vegas has showcased a significant number of businesses in the solar industry that offer cutting-edge technology. The world's largest manufacturer of monocrystalline solar cells and\u00a0modules, LONGi Solar, has shown off its 300 W+ solar module series, which will enable solar systems to\u00a0provide\u00a0electricity generation at a\u00a0competitive cost. In addition, Solaria launched its PowerVision-150, which enables building owners to turn a physical structure into an electricity-generating asset.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chubb, App in the Air lead partnership on flight delay product \n LONDON, Sept. 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Chubb and App in the Air today announced the launch of Flight Delay Insurance, an innovative new insurance cover for airline travellers. Underwritten by Chubb European Group in partnership with Swiss Re and FlightStats, the proposition will be offered to UK App in the Air users through their personal travel assistant app.\n\nFlight Delay Insurance covers the additional costs and inconvenience travellers may face when their flight is cancelled, diverted or delayed and will pay out sooner than they might typically expect to receive compensation from their airline carrier. For example, under current EU legislation, passengers travelling from within the EU must be delayed by at least three hours before they are eligible for any compensation and this only applies if you are travelling with an EU-based carrier. Flight Delay Insurance will pay out sooner, applies to flights outside the EU, and is intended to cover unexpected costs incurred, for example a taxi, fees for a lounge, snacks, meals, refreshments, books, magazines, or any other expenses.\n\nApp in the Air users will be offered Flight Delay Insurance for each eligible flight shown on their itinerary. Customers receive \u00a3100 compensation if they are delayed by more than an hour and in some instances as little as 30 or 45 minutes. Flight cancellations and diversions automatically trigger \u00a3100 payment.\n\nClaims are validated in real time using data from FlightStats, a leading provider of real-time global flight data to consumers and the travel industry, and paid directly into the customer's PayPal or bank account, or credited to their debit or credit card, typically within an hour, but at the latest within 72 hours of arriving at their destination.\n\nCommenting on the launch, Alex Blake, Senior Vice-President and Global Head of Travel Insurance at Chubb, said:\n\n\"This exciting new proposition, launched in partnership with Swiss Re, FlightStats and App in the Air, marks an important step in our strategy to develop new and innovative ways to reach more customers with very tailored and relevant insurance offers. It also addresses a previously unmet customer need, having been designed specifically to pay out when they may not otherwise be eligible for compensation from their airline carrier.\n\n\"Being able to assess claims automatically in real time, without any action on the side of the customer - such as obtaining proof of the incident - and then pay the claim directly to their PayPal or nominated bank account, debit or credit card, we think will be an appealing feature and provide the level of service we all now expect in our ever-increasing online, digital lives.\"\n\nBayram Annakov, CEO of App in the Air said:\n\n\"Working in conjunction with Chubb and Swiss Re has enabled us to develop a proposition that addresses a real and increasing customer need. This is exactly the kind of positive experience we want to provide to App in the Air users.\"\n\nAbout Chubb\n\nChubb is the world's largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company. With operations in 54 countries, Chubb provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance and life insurance to a diverse group of clients. As an underwriting company, we assess, assume and manage risk with insight and discipline. We service and pay our claims fairly and promptly. The company is also defined by its extensive product and service offerings, broad distribution capabilities, exceptional financial strength and local operations globally. Parent company Chubb Limited is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CB) and is a component of the S&P 500 index. Chubb maintains executive offices in Zurich, New York, London and other locations, and employs approximately 31,000 people worldwide. Additional information can be found at: chubb.com/uk\n\nLogo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160121/324916LOGO\n\nRelated Links\n\nhttp://www.acegroup.com/eu-en\n\n\n\nSOURCE Chubb", "output": "Global insurance company Chubb has teamed up with App in the Air, Swiss Re and FlightStats to launch Flight Delay Insurance, which aims to deliver swift compensation\u00a0to App in the Air users for cancelled, diverted or delayed flights\u00a0and additional costs incurred. The product proposes to pay out ahead of rival policies, as claims are validated in real time using FlightStats' data with no need to provide proof of the incident, and paid directly to customers' bank or PayPal account. Flight Delay Insurance can also be applied to flights outside the European Union.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "QuantHouse platform seeks to boost open API use by quants \n Trading systems provider QuantHouse has launched an initiative to improve industry uptake of open API systems to add value to the trading process.\n\nThe \u2018qh API Ecosystem\u2019, launched today, is designed to accelerate adoption of multi-asset class API solutions. The initiative wants to assist fintech providers to turn their software and hardware products into global, on-demand solutions via open APIs (application programming interface).\n\nQuantHouse said current industry models with per-customer implementation are slow, costly and place a significant burden on firms. With an API, vendors can deploy their products to clients rapidly through the Internet.\n\nStephane Leroy, co-founder and chief revenue officer at QuantHouse, said: \u201cThe concept of the QuantHouse API Ecosystem is simple; in the same way that other companies have successfully connected human traders in the 90\u2019s through instant messaging systems, we are bringing together the next generation of automated quant traders through API\u2019s. Providers of API based innovative solutions will benefit from enhanced business opportunities through our established global community of clients and prospects.\u201d\n\nThe API Ecosystem currently features over 500 market participants and hopes to enable them to gain access to multiple trading venues, technologies and applications and reduce the time to market for new services.", "output": "Trading systems firm QuantHouse is trying to stimulate fintech usage in the quant trading industry with a push to increase adoption of open\u00a0application programming interfaces (APIs), the mechanisms that allow various platforms and other digital services to integrate with each other. Its QuantHouse\u00a0qh API Ecosystem\u00a0is being touted as an answer to streamlining fintech adoption and use. \"In the same way that other companies have successfully connected human traders in the 1990s through instant messaging systems, we are bringing together the next generation of automated quant traders through APIs,\" said chief revenue officer Stephane Leroy.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Majority of US adults use VPNs \n Anyone who has used or taken a look at VyrVPN\u2026\n\nRead More", "output": "Some 65% of working adults in the US have used corporate or personal virtual private networks (VPNs), according to a report from Wombat Security. In the UK, 44% had used a VPN and 33% did not know what a VPN was at all. In contrast, just 16% of US respondents were unaware of what a VPN was. The disparity between UK and US usage of VPNs could be because a higher proportion (71%) of US respondents use a personal device to work from home; among UK respondents, the figure was just 39%.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Best Buy pulls Kaspersky software amid Kremlin\u00a0influence concerns \n Electronics retailer Best Buy will no longer sell security software from Russian internet security company Kaspersky Lab after concerns that the company could be unduly influenced by the Russian government.\n\nThis summer, the Moscow-based cybersecurity company has faced a series of allegations that it could be influenced by the Kremlin. During a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing in May, the heads of the six major US intelligence agencies all said that they wouldn\u2019t be comfortable with the software being used on their computers. In July, the US Senate Armed Services Committee specifically proposed prohibiting the Department of Defense from utilizing Kaspersky Lab products, \u201cdue to reports that the Moscow-based company might be vulnerable to Russian government influence,\u201d while the Committee on Science, Space and Technology for the US House of Representatives requested that all 22 government agencies share their documentation and communications regarding the company, according to a report from Reuters.\n\nThis could be troubling news for consumers, because the product is widely used, according to an article on NPR. Because of those concerns, Best Buy decided to stop selling the product, a \u201cdecision prompted by media reports, congressional testimony, and industry discussion,\u201d according to the Star Tribune, and that while the company didn\u2019t conduct a formal investigation, it \u201cfelt there were too many unanswered questions\u201d concerning it. A Best Buy spokesperson told The Verge in an email that the Tribune\u2019s article is accurate, but wouldn\u2019t comment further on specific vendors. The company will allow customers who have purchased the software or who have active subscriptions to exchange it for another product within the next 45 days.", "output": "US retailer Best Buy has stopped selling security software made by Kaspersky Lab after several US government officials, including the heads of the six major intelligence agencies, expressed fears the \"Moscow-based company might be vulnerable to Russian government influence\", according to Reuters. A Best Buy spokesperson said customers who bought the software or have active subscriptions can exchange them\u00a0for alternative products in the next 45 days. Kaspersky Lab denied the allegations and said it had \"never helped, nor will help, any government in the world with its cyber espionage or offensive cyber efforts\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UN agency wants single database of all drones \n The United Nations' aviation agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), plans to support a single worldwide drone registry. This singular ledger would be easier for law enforcement to sift through than each country's individual UAV ledger.\n\nThat might irk US hobbyists, who fought and defeated the FAA in court when it passed a law to force drone owners to sign up for an American registry. The contentious case ended in a decision that classified non-commercial drones as model aircraft, which don't need to be nationally registered. Whether the US drone community cooperates with ICAO's registry is another question.\n\nConceivably, the UN agency could run the database itself, though no department has been officially tasked to do it. But the registry is likely a precursor to the global regulations on drone flying and tracking that ICAO has been asked to help create, according to Reuters. They could pattern their rules after any of three likely examples: The US's regulations for commercial UAVs, China's registration rules or the anticipated set coming out of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).\n\nBut the skies only keep getting busier. In the aftermath of hurricane Harvey and the impending Irma, a record number of drones operated by state and local agencies have been speedily greenlit to fly by the FAA, which is finding new ways to parse out legitimate UAV activity from illegal flights.", "output": "The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the UN's aviation agency, is set to support the creation of a global database of drone users, a move likely to precede regulations on drone tracking and flying, which the ICAO has been asked to help draft. The US Federal Aviation Administration recently lost a legal battle against hobbyist fliers, after a court ruled non-commercial drones should be classified as model aircraft and not subject to registration.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google plans new dashboard to help users control data privacy \n If you want to understand and tweak how Google uses your private data, the internet giant hopes to make it a bit easier soon with a new dashboard that works better on mobile devices.\n\nThe dashboard already lets you see what data Google stores about you, like websites you've opened with the Chrome web browser and destinations that Google Maps thinks you've visited. And you can nudge Google's approach to personalized advertisements.\n\nThe mobile-friendly version of the site will arrive \"in coming days,\" Google product manager Greg Fair said in a blog post Friday.\n\n\"We redesigned Dashboard from the ground up. The most important change was to improve usability on touchscreens, ensuring Dashboard works well on any device. We also worked to make it easier to see an overview of the Google products you use and your data in each of them. And we made the process for downloading data much easier,\" Fair said. \"It should always be easy for you to make meaningful decisions about your data -- and we decided we could do better.\"\n\nOnline privacy is a big deal, especially with companies like Google, Facebook, Apple , Amazon and Microsoft offering ever more personal services and trying to target ads at just what you're interested in.\n\nGoogle is trying to get a better handle on what we all want when it comes to privacy, though. It interviewed more than 4,000 people in 2016 to try to learn what's needed.", "output": "Google is launching a mobile-friendly version of its dashboard to make it easier to control how the company uses private data, such as internet history and mobile users' physical locations in Google Maps. The redesigned service will be easier to use on touchscreens, making it more suitable for all devices, including mobiles and tablets. There will also be changes to Google's approach to data relating to personalised ads. The company has recently been researching what customers want from privacy, conducting over 4,000 interviews with people on the subject in 2016.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Land Registry seeks IT specialists to lead move to digital \n The Land Registry is on the hunt for a team of specialists as it seeks to bolster its digital, data and technology directorate.\n\nThe organisation - which keeps an up-to-date register of property transactions in England and Wales - was earmarked for privatisation until a government u-turn at the last Autumn Statement saw ministers instead vow to focus on turning the Land Registery into \u201ca more digital data-driven registration business\u201d in the public sector. MPs, unions and campaigners had warned that privatisation could create serious conflicts of interest in the property market and undermine public access to data.\n\nWith its future in the public hands now more certain, the agency is working on a new business strategy which it says will help it move \u201ctowards a fully digital register\u201d, with plans to digitise \u201cmore than 95%\u201d of its daily transactions.\n\nRelated articles\n\nThe Land Registry has already launched a range of large-scale digital projects in recent years, including the UK's first House Price Index - a joint project with the Office for National Statistics and Land Registry's Scottish and Nothern Irish counterparts - as well as MapSearch, a tool giving customers access to a free online mapping tool to check property and land registration.\n\nAs part of its ongoing transformation programme, the Land Registry is now seeking to recruit 13 new IT and digital specialists for its Plymouth headquarters, with chief executive Graham Farrant saying the new hires should be \u201cdynamic, resourceful and ambitious individuals\u201d who will help the organisation become \u201cresponsive, market-leading and exceptional\u201d.\n\nThe senior executive officer-level roles up for grabs - all of which offer salaries ranging from \u00a338,876 - \u00a342,443 - include six technical delivery lead posts; an infrastructure delivery lead; three test managers; and five senior software engineers.\n\nAccording to a job specification posted online, all recruits will be expected to \u201caid HMLR in its vision in becoming a more digital data-driven registration organisation\u201d, with test managers in particular tasked with challenging and supporting the agency as it seeks to build in-house skills.\n\n\u201cYou will be responsible for developing capability within the test discipline and increasing knowledge and understanding of the importance of building in quality across the wider development community,\u201d the specification states.\n\nAll candidates are, it says, expected to have \u201cexperience in leading and developing team collaboration, setting direction and vision\u201d and must hold either a formal IT qualification or have \u201csignificant experience in an IT field\u201d to be eligible.\n\nThose interested in applying have until October 2 to put their names forwards, with interviews set to kick off on October 23.", "output": "The Land Registry is recruiting 13 IT specialists to improve its digital data capabilities. The government had planned to privatise the public agency but dropped the idea after concerns were raised about potential conflicts of interest and a possible threat to public access to data. The registry is now focusing on becoming a \"more digital data-driven registration business\"\u00a0with plans to digitise more than 95% of its daily transactions and move towards being a fully digital register. The registry has already launched several digital projects, such as a house price index and an online mapping tool.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk Openreach set to reduce price of GEA Cablelink \n Openreach to massively reduce GEA cablelink fees\n\nThe GEA cablelink is a small but critical part of the Openreach VDSL2 and FTTP puzzle that comprise the GEA product range and while a one off cost of \u00a32,000 may seem small, once you add up the cost of needing to pay that in some 1,200 locations if you want to provide full national coverage via your own backhaul network (as oppossed to buying aggregated links from BT Wholesale) then the sums soon start adding up.\n\nOn 6th October 2017 the Openreach price list indicates that the old 1 Gigabit fibre GEA cablelink will drop in price from \u00a32,000 down to \u00a3790 and more importantly the 10 Gbps version will drop even more from \u00a310,000 down to \u00a31,800. The 10 Gbps price point is the most important moving forward as it makes adding capacity to deal with GEA-FTTP customers and G.fast customers who may have 160 Mbps to 330 Mbps connections and FTTP should soon have a 1 Gbps option a lot cheaper.\n\nIt will be interesting to see if the LLU operators use this price change to start selling the GEA-FTTP products and with counties like Herefordshire, Powys and Gwynedd all having 10 to 11% coverage and increasing. The LLU providers if they don't start selling GEA-FTTP soon run the risk of losing ADSL2+ customers who are keen to upgrade to faster services. To date lots of the rural areas getting FTTP have been exchanges that were never unbundled but that is changing and places like Bristol are starting to see growth in the GEA-FTTP footprint.\n\nThe GEA connection (\u00a349+VAT) and migration fees (\u00a311+VAT) have been fairly static for a while, but what many don't realise is that the original 40/2 product has not changed its \u00a36.90+VAT per month price since 2009. The GEA-FTTC 40/10 product is due to see a drop in pricing in 2018 so its current \u00a37.40+VAT per month that has been in place since 2011 will soon change, and its this anticipated drop that has seen TalkTalk switch its customers to the better upload version, leaving Plusnet as the last of the large providers using the bargain basement service - which if prices change as expected will be more expensive than the 40/10 service in 2018.\n\nAll the figures in this article only cover the Openreach segments of the network, so BT Wholesale adds its costs for running its network and similar for TalkTalk and Sky, put simply even though providers core networks are cheap to run they are expensive to setup and scaling them to ensure a reliable and consistent service across this core fibre network does cost money.\n\nAnother welcome change in October is that Openreach is dropping the held to term charges, so the minimum contract term for a new GEA-FTTC connection will drop from 12 months to just one month. Its unlikely that we will see the biggest operators drop their 12/18 month terms as they use these periods to spread the cost of hardware and acquisition, but we might see more 1 month rolling contract options with higher setup fees to cover the hardware cost from the small to medium providers.\n\nComments\n\nPost a comment", "output": "UK network operator Openreach is to reduce the fees for its GEA Cablelink. The one gigabit version will drop from \u00a32,000 to \u00a3790 and the 10 Gbps option will drop from \u00a310,000 to \u00a31,800. The company is aiming to reach GEA-FTTP and G.fast customers looking for capacity with the changes, according to one commentator.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cordant recruitment firm becomes social enterprise \n One of the UK\u2019s largest recruitment firms is to tear up its 60-year-old structure and become a \u201csocial enterprise\u201d with a pay cap and profit-sharing plan, in a move the family who own the company hope will inspire others businesses to follow suit.\n\nCordant, which sends 125,000 temporary staff every year to work for 5,000 clients such as Amazon and Tesco, will announce the radical overhaul this week.\n\nIts largest shareholder, Phillip Ullmann, whose father founded the Cordant Group in 1957, said he hoped to convince clients to follow suit by improving workers\u2019 conditions, predicting a Brexit-related shortage of workers that would give low-paid staff more bargaining power.\n\nThe new ethos, cemented by a change to the company\u2019s articles of association, will include a fixed limit on its pay ratio, the gap between its highest- and lowest-paid employees.\n\nTop earners will not be able to take home more than 20 times the salary of its lowest-paid staff, some of whom earn the minimum wage, effectively meaning a salary cap of \u00a3400,000.\n\nThere will also be a ceiling on dividends paid to its owners, several branches of the Ullmann family, who will not be able take more than \u00a33m out of the business between them in any single year.\n\nProfit, above what is paid to shareholders, will be shared with the company\u2019s 1,500 permanent staff, while company money will be channelled into projects that \u201caddress the needs of society\u201d, Cordant said.\n\nIt has yet to finalise its plans but this will include offering staff and IT systems to the NHS at cost rather than for profit, which it says will save the health service \u201cmillions of pounds\u201d.\n\nCordant also plans to plough cash into education initiatives to help teachers and improve workplace skills.\n\nAs well as overhauling its own model, the company hopes in time to convince some of its clients to adopt similar measures, such as profit shares for the low-paid temporary staff they employ via Cordant.\n\nUllmann, who lists his favourite film as Mission Impossible, said: \u201cWith Brexit there will be a shortage of minimum wage workers so there should be more power to the workers.\u201d\n\n\u201cBrexit will focus the mind,\u201d he added.\n\nHe came up with the plan after a discussion with the accountancy firm Deloitte and sought approval from fellow family members, who between them control the company.\n\nUllmann, whose profile on the Cordant website describes him as \u201cchief energiser\u201d, said: \u201cI was a traditional capitalist. I wanted to make more money and increase the size of the wealth.\n\n\u201cNow I\u2019ve found gold dust, that\u2019s how it feels to me. It will give more satisfaction than just doing more of the same.\u201d\n\nUllmann said the company would share some its profits with its 1,500 permanent staff, a scheme reminiscent of John Lewis\u2019s annual staff bonus scheme, and would encourage businesses that use its temporary staff to do the same.\n\nBut he admitted he could not force clients such as Tesco and Amazon, which use Cordant workers in their warehouses, to come up with similar plans.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re not going to tell clients to put up wages or we won\u2019t work for them,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I decided what they pay, wages would be high. It\u2019s a more subtle journey than that.\u201d\n\nHe said workers would also benefit from plans to give them more choice in where they work, rate temporary employers and sign up for extra shifts when they want them.\n\nBut Cordant\u2019s ambitions to cap its dividend and profits could be limited by its ability to produce them, according to accounts filed at Companies House.\n\nThe Uxbridge-based company made a pre-tax loss of \u00a39m last year, although it posted a profit of \u00a33.9m in 2015, and it has not paid a dividend in either of the past two years.\n\n\u201cI recognise the ladder we\u2019re trying to climb but I\u2019m not daunted by the challenges in the way,\u201d said Ullmann.\n\n\u201cWe are all in. We\u2019re not going to reverse.\u201d\n\nCordant also has some way to go to win the hearts and minds of its workers, according to posts on the jobs website Glassdoor, which carries reviews of hundreds of employers.\n\nSome 55 reviewers gave it an average of 2.4 out of 5, a relatively low score compared to other companies.", "output": "Cordant, one of the largest recruitment firms in the UK, is to become a \u201csocial enterprise\u201d operating a pay cap and profit-sharing scheme. The company, which supplies 125,000 temporary staff each year to 5,000 clients including Amazon and Tesco, will restrict its pay ratio, meaning that the pay of top earners will not be allowed to exceed 20-times that of the lowest-paid employees. Dividends will also be capped. Social schemes will include offering staff and services to the NHS at cost and educational initiatives."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "South Africa securing biometrics with 'bank' of imposter voices \n More organisations are using voice biometrics as second or third factor authentication.\n\nThe South African Fraud Prevention Service (SAFPS) is partnering with voice biometric authentication solutions provider OneVault to launch a shared imposter voice bank.\n\nAccording to SAFPS, the initiative, which will be piloted with select participants before national roll-out, aims to reduce fraudulent transactions in local call centres.\n\nImposter voices will be loaded onto a single shared database created by OneVault. The database will then be distributed for use by multiple companies and automated to trigger alerts in real-time when suspects phone the contact centre.\n\nOver the years, methods of authentication have evolved from an item owned (a driver's licence), to something known (mother's maiden name), to an individual's biometric reference point (voice or fingerprint) and is known as third factor authentication.\n\nPaul Hutton, CEO of OneVault, explains: \"Voice biometrics is an authentication solution that is similar to a fingerprint in that it represents an individual's biological construct and is therefore difficult to emulate. Thus, with a combination of two or all factors - commonly known as multi-factor authentication - it's more difficult to commit fraud.\"\n\nToday, voice biometrics is used across various digital platforms to authenticate users within mobile apps, contact centres, connected cars and smart homes.\n\nThe SAFPS says the explosion of online and digital transactions has increased the demand for remote security and, more specifically, remote authentication. Hutton says voice authentication is as accurate as a fingerprint and eliminates the need for an individual to be physically present to conclude a secure transaction.\n\nBy using voice biometrics to automatically cross-reference each call with the shared imposter voice bank, the agent will be alerted if there is match against the 'watch list' and a defined process can be followed. The solution is sophisticated enough that it will trigger liveness detection functionality when artificial voice production or voice manipulation is detected, notes SAFPS.\n\nThe company encourages all its members to participate, in order to gain access to the recordings of known imposter calls.\n\n\"SAFPS has identified an innovative application to combat fraud through contact centres. Most fraud cases touch a contact centre at least once. The implementation of a shared imposter voice bank will have a substantial impact on combating this type of fraud,\" Hutton points out.\n\nSAFPS says it will run a pilot for six months to enable it to apply necessary considerations to comply with South African regulations.\n\nManie van Schalkwyk of SAFPS says: \"We decided to partner with OneVault to assist in the fight against fraud as they bring exciting new technology in voice biometrics. We want to see competitors taking hands in fighting fraud. Together we can eradicate fraud in SA.\"\n\nAccording to international biometrics company VoiceVault, contact centre fraud is a major problem that enterprises globally are struggling to mitigate. Research shows 30% of cross-channel fraud is conducted through social engineering attacks in contact centres. This is a method of hacking that involves assuming someone else's identity in order to convince a live agent to surrender account information over the phone.\n\nVoice biometrics firm Nuance says one out of every 2 500 calls into global financial institution's call centres is a fraudulent call and $42 546 is lost on average per account from phone fraud.\n\n\"Voice biometrics have an authentication success rate of 100%, while passwords have been proven to have a 90% success rate and fingerprints have an 80% success rate,\" adds Nuance.", "output": "The South African Fraud Prevention Service (SAFPS) is targeting fraud at contact centres by developing an \"imposter voice bank\". SAFPS will work with voice biometric authentication firm OneVault for a six-month pilot, loading voices of known impostors onto a shared database\u00a0while software using automatically cross-references each call, issuing an alert if a voice matches any on the watch list. The system can also detect the use of artificial voices or vocal manipulation. On average\u00a0global financial institutions lose $42,546 per account through voice fraud, according to voice biometrics firm Nuance.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Blackboard begins push into Indian education market \n National Cybersecurity Reference Framework launched 12 Jun 2023 | 9:00 PM Pune, Jun 12 (UNI) The Government of India announced on Monday the launch of National Cybersecurity Reference Framework (NCRF) in order to provide a structured guidance on cyber security to the critical sectors of the nation, including telecom, power and energy, transportation, finance, strategic and government entities and health. see more..\n\nSJTA to make wide publicity of Jagannath Mahima 12 Jun 2023 | 8:59 PM Puri, June 12 (UNI) Sri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) will make wide publicity of Jagannath Mahima (glory of Jagannath dharma), and develop the temple website to reach devotees across the globe. see more..\n\nInhumane lathicharge on Warkaris in Alandi \"unfortunate\": NCP spokesperson 12 Jun 2023 | 8:54 PM Mumbai, Jun 12 (UNI) NCP state chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase on Monday expressed his deep displeasure over the inhumane lathicharge by police on the Warkaris at Alandi in Pune district saying that it was an \"unfortunate\" incident that tarnished the 300-year-old tradition of the Warkari Sampraday of Maharashtra. see more..\n\nAir Vice Marshal Vohra calls on DGP J&K 12 Jun 2023 | 8:45 PM Srinagar, June 12 (UNI) Air Vice Marshal Praveen Keshav Vohra, commanding Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh called on the Director General of Police Jammu and Kashmir Dilbag Singh at Police Headquarters here on Monday. see more..", "output": "US edtech company Blackboard has launched in India as part of a bid to provide its learning services to students across all Indian states by 2020, its president, Lee Blakemore, has said. The company will introduce a price model in line with Indian market conditions, he added. Currently, 110 million students from more than 19,000 educational institutions worldwide use Blackboard's edtech platform.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Loyyal and MyList partner to widen gift and e-card user base \n SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Sept 11, 2017 - (ACN Newswire) - Loyyal, the leading blockchain network for the loyalty and rewards industry, today announced an accord with MyList, the premier gift card and merchandise fulfillment provider in the MENA region.Through this agreement, MyList's comprehensive network of e-Gift Cards will become available as a potential redemption option for any program operator who joins the Loyyal network.\"This is a relationship we are very excited about as it will provide extensive new options for program operators running nodes on the Loyyal network. Loyyal's program operators will now have access to e-Gift Card redemption options across 100's of retailers, merchants, and service providers in the MENA region. In addition to this, MyList benefits from increased sales volume - faster, cheaper and more securely than before because it is facilitated by Loyyal's blockchain technology,\" explained Greg Simon, Founder and CEO of Loyyal.\"We think the new partnership with Loyyal is an ideal way to expand our sales of e-Gift Cards whilst adding real value to Loyyal's customer experience as well. There are a lot of companies in the loyalty space in the region now, but Loyyal brings a professionalism and dynamic to the market that we can appreciate being a part of,\" says Julie Leblan, Founder and CEO of MyList Group.Using blockchain to build a global network platform, Loyyal provides existing and new program operators with capabilities that will reduce operating costs through revolutionary efficiencies and increase revenues through dynamic and personalized redemption options. Through this relationship, MyList will target increased revenue on e-Gift Card sales volumes and increased profit margins from the blockchain efficiency.About MyListMyList is the market leader in the MENA region offering comprehensive gift and reward fulfilment services, with both gift cards and merchandise from over 100 tier one retailers throughout the region. After initially pioneering the online gift registry business in the region, MyList has expanded into the employee reward, sales incentive and loyalty programme fulfillment markets. For more information, please visit mylist.ae.About LoyyalLoyyal is reinventing how loyalty is created and rewarded. Using blockchain and smart contract technology, Loyyal has built an interoperable loyalty and rewards platform to address a highly fragmented industry, and offer multiple industries an innovative way to incentivize customer behavior.For information about Loyyal, please visit www.loyyal.com or email to info@loyyal.com Source: LoyyalCopyright 2017 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.", "output": "San Francisco-based blockchain company Loyyal has partnered with Dubai firm MyList, enabling both firms to expand their customer bases. Loyyal's interoperable loyalty and rewards platform offers MyList greater sales volume and increased efficiency, enabled by\u00a0blockchain technology. Programme operators joining Loyyal's platform will have access to offers with hundreds of retailers across the Middle East and North Africa that\u00a0are part of\u00a0gift card and merchandise fulfilment provider MyList's network.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SM group offers insurance from shopping malls in the Philippines \n The SM group has opened up its vast shopping mall network nationwide to be a pioneering sales platform for insurance products, beginning with the simplest ones that required relatively small premium payments like compulsory third party liability (CTPL), travel and dengue insurance.\n\nEventually, the plan is to offer protection products even for pets, motorcycles and, further into the future, an insurance for weddings that fail to push through.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nThe group has teamed up with 63-year-old Filipino-owned insurer Pioneer Insurance to offer these products to the mass market in a program called \u201cInsureME@SM\u201d or short for \u201cinsurance made easy at The SM Store.\u201d\n\nThe idea of selling insurance through the SM group\u2019s department store chain\u2014in the same counter where people pay their utility bills\u2014came from BDO Unibank chair and SM Investments Corp. vice chair Teresita Sy, who had seen similar arrangements work well in overseas markets, said BDO Insurance Brokers Inc. general manager and senior vice president Tracy Tan.\n\nThe challenge in this market, Tan said, was that awareness about insurance products was much lower compared to other markets. This is reflected in the very low insurance penetration rate in the country, which the SM group deemed as an opportunity.\n\n\u201cIf we could make insurance more accessible, then it would create better awareness,\u201d Tan said. \u201cIf we offered products that were simple enough to obtain over the counter, then it would increase people\u2019s appreciation of what insurance is all about.\u201d\n\nTan said Sy did not want to limit the initiative to one product, noting that retailing was all about giving choices to consumers.\n\n\u201cTo cut a long story short, BDO Insurance Brokers and SM took on this challenge because we are the leaders in this industry and wanted to blaze the trail in terms of bringing insurance closer and more accessible to every Filipino,\u201d Tan said.\n\nTan said SM group had tied up with Pioneer exclusively on the distribution of insurance products because this group was committed to invest in the system needed by the project.\n\n\u201cInsurance serves a noble purpose. The payment of a claim often makes a world of difference between an individual turning hopeless and the ability to get on with his life,\u201d Pioneer Life president Lorenzo Chan said.\n\nOnce Filipinos have a better understanding of such product, he said this would cease to be a product that insurers would have to push and sell. Chan added that Pioneer was honored to be part of InsureME@SM.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\n\u201cIs there anyone who can deny that when it comes to serving millions no one has done it the way the SM has and it still does today?\u201d Chan said.\n\nOn travel insurance, Pioneer\u2019s Safe Trip Comprehensive Travel Insurance Worldwide 2.5M provides medical treatment cover of up to P2.5 million and satisfies the Schengen Visa requirement. It also offers personal accident insurance up to P1 million, personal liability up to P1.5 million and covers travel inconveniences such as trip cancellation, flight delay and loss of baggage. It also provides access to emergency and travel assistance hotlines. Safe Trip also comes in the P1 million (for worldwide travel) and P500,000 (for domestic travel) variants.\n\nYour subscription could not be saved. Please try again. Your subscription has been successful. Subscribe to our daily newsletter SIGN ME UP\n\nRead Next", "output": "Wedding cancellation, personal accident and other insurance will soon be available from the Philippines' largest chain of department stores. The SM group is teaming up with Pioneer Insurance\u00a0to offer coverage from its mall network, beginning with simple policies for third-party liability and dengue fever. The programme is already being sold from the chain's handle utility bill payment counters. The company sees the move as an opportunity to fill the Philippines' yawning insurance gap by making products more accessible.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bleach use linked to lung disease \n Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nLifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nThe regular use of disinfectant cleaning products such as bleach has been linked to an increased risk of developing fatal lung conditions, researchers said.\n\nA study by Harvard University and the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) found that using the products just once a week could increase a person's chance of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by nearly a third.\n\nThe research involved data from more than 55,000 nurses in the US, and scientists looked at exposure to specific disinfectants, including bleach, hydrogen peroxide, alcohol and chemicals known as quaternary ammonium compounds (quats), which are often used to disinfect surfaces such as floors and furniture.\n\nRecommended Disabled teenage girl suffers burns after being washed in bleach\n\nAll of these were associated with an increased risk of COPD of between 24 per cent to 32 per cent in the study.\n\nCOPD is an umbrella term for a series of conditions affecting the lungs including emphysema, chronic bronchitis and chronic asthma.\n\nThe condition affects an estimated 1.2 million people in the UK, with nearly 30,000 people dying from the disease each year.\n\nPrevious studies have linked exposure to disinfectants with breathing problems such as asthma, but it is believed this is the first piece of research to identify a link between disinfectants and COPD.\n\nDr Orianne Dumas, a researcher at Inserm, said: \u201cThe potential adverse effects of exposure to disinfectants on COPD have received much less attention, although two recent studies in European populations showed that working as a cleaner was associated with a higher risk of COPD.\n\n\u201cTo the best of our knowledge, we are the first to report a link between disinfectants and COPD among healthcare workers, and to investigate specific chemicals that may underlie this association.\u201d\n\nUK news in pictures Show all 50 1 / 50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 22 May 2023 Manoj Malde and Clive Gillmor kiss after getting married, the first wedding ever at the Chelsea Flower Show AP UK news in pictures 21 May 2023 People enjoy the warm weather as they take punt tours along the River Cam in Cambridge PA UK news in pictures 20 May 2023 Protesters emerge from the sea as Surfers Against Sewage hold a UK-wide paddle-out protest at Brighton West Pier in East Sussex PA UK news in pictures 19 May 2023 Good Karma ridden by Daniel Muscutt (right) wins the Earl & The Pharaoh Novice Stakes at Newbury Racecourse, Berkshire PA UK news in pictures 18 May 2023 Choristers from the Choir of St John\u2019s College at the University of Cambridge look out from the top of the Chapel Tower before performing the Ascension Day carol - a custom dating back to 1902. PA UK news in pictures 17 May 2023 Oxfam activists wearing 'big heads' of G7 leaders during a demonstration in Trafalgar Square, London, highlighting their lack of action to tackle the East Africa hunger crisis ahead of the start of the G7 summit in Japan PA UK news in pictures 16 May 2023 Part of a child\u2019s jacket during a photo call for the China\u2019s hidden century exhibition, which opens at the British Museum PA UK news in pictures 15 May 2023 Viewing assistant and History of Art student Emma Scarr Hall takes a closer look at @Pink Roses\u2019 (1923) by Scottish Colourist artist Leslie Hunter which is estimated at \u00a360,000-80,000 in the forthcoming Bonhams Scottish Art Sale in Edinburgh PA UK news in pictures 14 May 2023 Eva Birthistle, Sarah Greene, Sharon Horgan and Anne-Marie Duff, with the award for Drama Series, for Bad Sisters at the 2023 BAFTA TV Awards in London EPA UK news in pictures 13 May 2023 Singer Loreen performing on behalf of Sweden celebrates with the trophy after winning the final of the Eurovision Song contest 2023 AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 12 May 2023 Leader of the Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer views a cancer tumour under a microscope during a visit to the Francis Crick Institute in north London where he met scientists working on research into lung cancer PA UK news in pictures 11 May 2023 Judging takes during the artisan cheese awards at St Mary\u2019s Church, Melton Mowbray PA UK news in pictures 10 May 2023 A dog joins members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) on the picket line outside HMRC in East Kilbride during a strike in the long-running civil service dispute over pay, jobs and conditions PA UK news in pictures 9 May 2023 Two trains carrying 170 Eurovision song contest superfans arrive into Liverpool Lime Street train station PA UK news in pictures 8 May 2023 Britain\u2019s Prince Louis eats toasted marshmallows as they take part in the Big Help Out, during a visit to the 3rd Upton Scouts Hut in Slough, England, AP UK news in pictures 6 May 2023 King Charles III and Queen Camilla can be seen on the Buckingham Palace balcony ahead of the flypast during the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla Getty UK news in pictures 5 May 2023 Britain's King Charles III leaves after speaking to well-wishers on The Mall near to Buckingham Palace in central London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 May 2023 A night time rehearsal in central London for the coronation of King Charles III PA UK news in pictures 2 May 2023 Teacher members of the National Education Union (NEU) at a rally in Westminster, London, as they stage walkouts across England in an ongoing dispute over pay PA UK news in pictures 1 May 2023 Former US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media on the tarmac after disembarking \"Trump Force One\" at Aberdeen airport on the north-east coast of Scotland AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 April 2023 Handout photo issued by the Big Partnership of walkers at the start of The Kiltwalk 2023 from Glasgow Green. PA UK news in pictures 29 April 2023 England\u2019s flanker Marlie Packer celebrates with the trophy and teammates after winning the Women\u2019s Six Nations Grand Slam at the end of the Six Nations international women\u2019s rugby union match between England and France at Twickenham in south-west London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 28 April 2023 Lucy Williams, from Aberfan, holds her son Daniel Williams, one, as he takes the handbag of the Princess of Wales, during her visit with her husband the Prince of Wales, to the Aberfan memorial garden, to pay their respects to those who lost their lives during the Aberfan disaster on October 21st 1966 PA UK news in pictures 27 April 2023 Teachers on the picket line outside Bristol Cathedral School, College Square, Bristol, as they take strike action in a dispute over pay PA UK news in pictures 26 April 2023 Protesters wait for the arrival of King Charles III and the Queen Consort for their visit to Liverpool Central Library PA UK news in pictures 25 April 2023 Wreaths are laid at the Cenotaph in central London, in commemoration for Anzac Day PA UK news in pictures 24 April 2023 Waves crash over Tynemouth pier on the North East coast of England PA UK news in pictures 23 April 2023 People cross the finish line at the 2023 London Marathon Getty UK news in pictures 22 April 2023 A Wrexham fan in a Deadpool costume ahead of the Vanarama National League match at The Racecourse Ground, Wrexham PA UK news in pictures 21 April 2023 A demonstrator wears a costume as people protest during the Extinction Rebellion's 'The Big One' event, in London, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 20 April 2023 The funeral cortege of Paul O\u2019Grady travels through the village of Aldington, Kent ahead of his funeral at St Rumwold\u2019s Church PA UK news in pictures 19 April 2023 Georgia Harrison, who was a victim of revenge porn, at a demonstration organised by Refuge outside the Houses of Parliament, calling for a violence against women and girls code of practice to be added to the \u2018Online safety bill\u2019 PA UK news in pictures 18 April 2023 People walk at the Taihaku Cherry Tree Orchard at Alnwick Gardens in Alnwick, Northumberland Reuters UK news in pictures 17 April 2023 A pelican sits in St James\u2019s Park, London PA UK news in pictures 16 April 2023 People take part in the Nagar Kirtan procession through the city centre in Southampton, during Vaisakhi celebrations to mark the birth of the Khalsa and to celebrate the spring harvest and the solar new year PA UK news in pictures 15 April 2023 Former Chelsea players and fans show the Samaritans' 24-hour helpline number 116 123 on the back of their shirts during the launch of the TalkMoreThanFootball campaign from Three, during halftime of Chelsea v Brighton at Stamford Bridge, London PA UK news in pictures 14 April 2023 Protesters outside York Magistrates\u2019 Court, where Patrick Thelwell is charged with threatening behaviour after eggs were thrown at King Charles III during his visit to York in November PA UK news in pictures 13 April 2023 British milliner Justin Smith, from J. Smith Esquire, with a crown he has created using 319 Scrabble tiles to mark Scrabble's 75th anniversary and King Charles III's coronation PA UK news in pictures 12 April 2023 US President Joe Biden delivers a speech on business development at Ulster University in Belfast AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 11 April 2023 People take part in a rally in Trafalgar Square in London, in support of striking NHS junior doctors, as the British Medical Association holds a 96-hour walkout in a dispute over pay PA UK news in pictures 10 April 2023 Masked people attack a police vehicle with petrol bombs in Derry\u2019s Creggan area on on 25th anniversary of Good Friday Agreement Getty UK news in pictures 9 April 2023 People taking part in the annual procession in Glasgow as part of the Sikh Vaisakhi celebration to celebrate the Birth of the Sikh Nation PA UK news in pictures 8 April 2023 Visitors dressed in costumes during the Star Wars Celebration at the ExCel London in east London PA UK news in pictures 7 April 2023 Lorries queue to enter the Port of Dover in Dover, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 6 April 2023 Seating being erected on The Mall outside Buckingham Palace, central London, ahead of King Charles III\u2019s Coronation. PA UK news in pictures 5 April 2023 Police officers stand guard outside the home of Peter Murrell and Nicola Sturgeon in Glasgow, Scotland Getty UK news in pictures 4 April 2023 Workers protest outside Google London HQ over the treatment of staff facing redundancies PA UK news in pictures 3 April 2023 Members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union on the picket line outside the Passport Office in east London, as more than 1,000 members of the PCS working in passport offices in England, Scotland and Wales begin a five week strike as part of the civil service dispute PA UK news in pictures 2 April 2023 Coaches wait to enter the Port of Dover in Kent after extra sailings were run overnight to try and clear the backlog which has left passengers stuck in Easter traffic for hours PA UK news in pictures 1 April 2023 Waves crash against the lighthouse in Seaham Harbour, County Durham PA\n\nDr Dumas will present the findings at the European Respiratory Society International Congress in Milan on Monday, where she will highlight that further research is needed to clarify the impact of disinfectant use in the home.\n\nShe added: \u201cIn particular, we need to investigate the impact on COPD of lifetime occupational exposure to chemicals and clarify the role of each specific disinfectant.\n\n\u201cSome of these disinfectants, such as bleach and quats, are frequently used in ordinary households, and the potential impact of domestic use of disinfectants on COPD development is unknown.\n\n\u201cEarlier studies have found a link between asthma and exposure to cleaning products and disinfectants at home, such as bleach and sprays, so it is important to investigate this further.\u201d\n\nAs part of the research, scientists looked at 55,185 female registered nurses enrolled in the US Nurses' Health Study II, which began in 1989.\n\nThey looked at those nurses who were still in a nursing job and with no history of COPD in 2009, and then followed them for approximately eight years until May 2017.\n\nDuring that time 663 nurses were diagnosed with COPD.\n\nThe nurses' exposure to disinfectants was evaluated via a questionnaire and other factors that could have distorted the results, such as the age, weight and ethnicity of the subjects, were taken into account.\n\nPress Association", "output": "Frequent use of disinfectants, including alcohol, bleach and hydrogen peroxide, has been linked to fatal lung conditions, according to research by Harvard University and the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research. The study, which used data from 55,000 nurses in the US, found that using such products just once a week could lead to the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) increasing by between 24% and 32%. COPD, which is a broad term for conditions including chronic bronchitis and asthma and emphysema, affects 1.2 million people in the UK and kills almost 30,000 each year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google plans appeal against \u20ac2.4bn EU fine over shopping service \n Google has lined up an appeal in response to its record fine \u20ac2.4bn from the EU over allegedly breaking monopoly laws.\n\nGoogle looks to appeal its record fine\n\nThe costly slap on the wrist will be appealed on Monday according to a report in the Telegraph. While the company has coughed up the fine, further down the line, it expects to face further charges on its online advertising and mobile operating system.", "output": "Google has prepared an appeal in response to its \u20ac2.4bn ($2.9bn) fine from the European Commission for breaking EU monopoly laws. In June, the commission accused Google of exploiting its 90% domination of the search market to cut out rivals by pushing e-commerce sales to its shopping service. The fine is the biggest ever issued by the EU for anti-competitive behaviour. The commission is also investigating whether Google has an unfair advantage over rival online retailers because of its maps and image services."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AARP: Specialty drug retail pricing escalates \n Generic drug retail prices decrease, despite some steep hikes\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 Retail prices for specialty drugs widely used by older Americans has surged, while pricing for generic drugs has dipped despite sharp hikes for some medications, according to a pair of new AARP Public Policy Institute (PPI) reports.\n\nFor the specialty drugs examined in the study, retail prices jumped by an average of 9.6% between 2014 and 2015, the highest increase since at least 2006, AARP said. Meanwhile, results were somewhat mixed in the generis segment: Though retail prices declined overall in 2015, 11% of generic drugs experienced price gains, with some topping 100%.\n\nIn 2015, the average annual cost of therapy with one specialty drug was $52,486, over three times higher than the average Social Security retirement benefit ($16,101) and twice the median income ($25,150) for someone on Medicare, AARP noted.\n\nConversely, the average annual cost of therapy for one generic drug in 2015 was $523, down from $714 the year before.\n\nOf the 11% of generic drugs which saw price hikes, all of the increases surpassed the rate of general inflation. Between 2010 and 2015, all but one of the 399 widely used generics in the AARP PPI study experienced at least one retail price increase. Some of the price rises were steep, exceeding 100%. AARP said two manufacturers upped the retail price of doxycycline hyclate, a commonly used generic antibiotic, by more than 1,000%, the highest price increase noted in the generic drug report.\n\n\u201cAmerican families can\u2019t afford to keep paying for prescription drugs that cost more money than their salaries,\u201d AARP chief public policy officer Debra Whitman said in a statement. \u201cThese price increases are particularly hard on older adults, who take an average of 4.5 prescription drugs per month and often live on fixed incomes.\u201d\n\nFor the two studies, AARP\u2019s PPI and the PRIME Institute at the University of Minnesota developed market baskets to gauge retail price trends among specialty and generic drugs widely used by older Americans, including Medicare beneficiaries. The market baskets for the Rx Price Watch reports included 101 specialty drug products and 399 generic drug products. Using data from the Truven Health MarketScan Research Databases, the studies analyzed retail price changes between 2006 and 2015 for the products in each basket. Medications included products used to treat common and often chronic health conditions, including high cholesterol, diabetes, arthritis and hypertension.\n\nUsed to treat complex, chronic health conditions, specialty drugs often require special care in how they are administered to patients, as well as in how they are handled and stored, AARP noted. Many specialty drugs treat conditions common among older people, including rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and cancer.\n\nBased on the retail prices of the 101 specialty drugs examined, the average annual increase in retail prices was 9.6% (2014\u20132015), compared with 8.9% the year before. In contrast, the general U.S. inflation rate was 0.1%.\n\nThe average annual cost of specialty drug therapy used on a chronic basis climbed by almost $35,000 between 2006 and 2015. And in 2015, the average annual price of therapy for specialty medications was nine times higher than the average annual price of therapy for branded drugs and 100 times higher than the average annual price of therapy for generic drugs.\n\nOne drug, HP Acthar Gel, was dropped from the specialty drug analyses because its sharp one-time retail price increase (over 1,300%) in 2007 distorted the overall trends, AARP reported.\n\nAccording to the retail prices of the 399 generics studied, the average annual retail cost of generic drug therapy was about $2,350 in 2015, more than twice the figure in 2006, when the Medicare Part D program began. One widely used generic diabetes drug had a 450%-plus retail price increase in 2015. AARP said the average annual generic drug price fell 19.4% from 2014 to 2015.\n\n\u201cGenerics drugs currently account for almost nine out of 10 prescriptions filled at the pharmacy but only a quarter of total drug costs,\u201d stated generic report co-author Leigh Purvis, director of health services research for AARP\u2019s PPI. \u201cGiven Americans\u2019 long-standing reliance on these products for savings \u2014 as well as recent price trends for brand-name and specialty drugs \u2014 it is incredibly important that we identify and mitigate the factors behind recent generic drug price increases.\u201d", "output": "Retail prices for specialty drugs widely used by older Americans has surged, while pricing for generic drugs has dipped despite sharp hikes for some medications, according to a pair of new AARP Public Policy Institute (PPI) reports.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fate of controversial California drug price bill up in air \n SACRAMENTO \u2014 A closely watched California bill could soon become the nation\u2019s most comprehensive law aimed at shining a light on prescription drug prices.\n\nSenate Bill 17\u2019s goal of moving toward \u201ctransparency\u201d in drug prices would enable health insurers to negotiate lower prices for drugs or, in many cases, replace those drugs with cheaper alternatives, its supporters say. They argue that the measure could make a huge difference because when California has required cost transparency in other areas of the health care industry, prices have stabilized or even decreased.\n\nThe bill is furiously opposed by the pharmaceutical industry, which has deployed legions of lobbyists and paid for full-page newspaper ads as the Legislature gets ready to take final votes on the measure, partially out of fear that SB 17 could become a national model and the first major step toward price controls.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a big deal,\u201d said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a consumer advocacy group. \u201cWe have never come so close to having prescription drug price reform in my 15 years of doing this.\u2019\u2019\n\nSB 17 requires pharmaceutical companies to notify health insurers and government health plans like Medi-Cal at least 60 days before scheduled prescription drug price hikes that would exceed 16 percent over a two-year period. It would also force drug companies to explain the reasons behind those increases.\n\nThe bill, which passed the Senate 28-10 in May, is set for a vote on the Assembly floor as early as Monday. The Assembly vote is expected to be much closer than the Senate vote.\n\nTransparent or misleading?\n\nThe uproar over stratospheric drug costs has been building in the past few years, spurred by headlines over things such as the $600-plus retail price for a two-pack of EpiPens, the lifesaving auto-injector.\n\nUnder SB 17, whose main author is Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina, health insurers also would have to annually report the 25 most frequently prescribed drugs, the 25 most costly drugs, the 25 drugs with the highest year-over-year increase in total annual spending and the proportion of premiums spent on prescription drugs.\n\nGetting those numbers, Hernandez said, should help health insurers and the public get a better sense of which drugs are driving up the cost of health care.\n\n\u201cThere is a level of frustration with the black box of drug pricing and the uncertainty of price increases and the ability of states to balance their budgets,\u2019\u2019 said Trish Riley, executive director of the National Academy for State Health Policy. \u201cIt\u2019s the perfect confluence of circumstances that gives states the impetus to act.\u2019\u2019\n\nBut pharmaceutical companies call SB 17 misleading because the list prices set by drug makers \u2014 like those set by car manufacturers \u2014 aren\u2019t what most health plans pay after negotiating discounts, or what consumers actually shell out after they use rebates and coupons.\n\n\u201cThe bill, which claims to be about price transparency, is not going to do what it claims to do,\u2019\u2019 said Priscilla VanderVeer, spokeswoman for the Washington, D.C.-based Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a trade group that represents 37 drug companies.\n\n\u201cWhen you are not having a conversation about the actual facts on the ground in the marketplace, then what is your legislation going to help accomplish?\u2019\u2019 asked VanderVeer, who said her group has tried to work with Hernandez on solutions, \u201cbut he is not going to talk to us anymore.\u2019\u2019\n\nHernandez disputes that characterization.\n\n\u201cWe have been trying to work with the opponents,\u2019\u2019 said Hernandez, an optometrist who is chairman of the Senate Health Committee and is a candidate for lieutenant governor. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter what we do. They\u2019re always opposed to this bill because they don\u2019t like being told what to do. What they want is to do nothing.\u2019\u2019\n\nMore support\n\nThe impact of SB 17, health industry experts say, could very well lead to other states adopting California\u2019s template if Gov. Jerry Brown signs the bill into law.\n\nAt least three states \u2014 Vermont, Maryland, Nevada \u2014 have similar laws. But California\u2019s is considered the most comprehensive, in part because it covers generic as well as brand drugs.\n\nHernandez introduced a similar bill last year, but he pulled the measure at the last minute after it was watered down with amendments.\n\nHe said he learned from the experience, went back and changed some parts of the bill.\n\nThe new bill has a lot more support than last year. Backers now include a handful of Republican legislators, the California Hospital Association, as well as more businesses and chambers of commerce. Billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer, of San Francisco, also has signed on as a financial backer, alongside labor unions and insurers.\n\nBut most importantly, Hernandez said, he has the public on his side.\n\nA poll conducted in April by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that most Americans favor tough government actions to lower drug costs. Eighty-six percent said drug companies should be required to publicly release information on how prices are set.\n\n\u201cOne thing economists agree on is that we provide monopoly power to the drug industry when we give them patents for their discoveries,\u2019\u2019 said David Chiu, a San Francisco assemblyman who co-authored the bill. \u201cWhat we don\u2019t know is whether the billions of dollars earned by those companies are a fair rate of return, or price gouging in return for that monopoly power.\u2019\u2019\n\nCost of drugs\n\nA drug made by Foster City-based Gilead Sciences has become another flashpoint in the debate over drug prices. Sovaldi, which cures Hepatitis C, surfaced in 2014 with a list price of $84,000 for a 12-week course of treatment.\n\nWhen Gilead introduced Sovaldi, the state had to budget $340 million more for its Medi-Cal recipients in fiscal year 2014, Hernandez said.\n\n\u201cIf we would control costs, even just slightly, the money could be used to pay for things like increased (Medi-Cal) provider fees, dental care restored for the poor and a lot of social services,\u201d he said.\n\nBut drug manufacturers say the cost to develop drugs \u2014 90 percent of which never get approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration \u2014 means the profits from those medications that do succeed must subsidize the failures.\n\nMoreover, they say, the way Americans pay for medications is much more complex than most consumers realize. Many of them don\u2019t understand that drug manufacturers routinely offer significant price concessions to insurers and consumers, according to the California Life Sciences Association, which represents at least 300 biopharmaceutical companies in the Golden State.\n\nIn 2015, the group said, discounts, rebates and other price concessions offset the price increase of brand name drugs by roughly 80 percent.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s discouraging that California is moving forward with something like SB 17 that really just looks at the drug maker\u2019s list prices,\u2019\u2019 said Brett Johnson, the trade association\u2019s senior director of policy and regulatory affairs. \u201cI don\u2019t think that will help consumers or insurers or the public \u2014 or really help anyone understand the actual costs.\u201d", "output": "A closely watched California bill could soon become the nation\u2019s most comprehensive law aimed at shining a light on prescription drug prices. Senate Bill 17\u2019s goal of moving toward \u201ctransparency\u201d in drug prices would enable health insurers to negotiate lower prices for drugs or, in many cases, replace those drugs with cheaper alternatives, its supporters say. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Specialty Drug Prices Increase at Fastest Rate in Over a Decade \n Retail prices for specialty prescription drugs widely used by older Americans ballooned by an average of 9.6 percent between 2014 and 2015, the highest increase since at least 2006, while retail prices for some generic drugs saw more mixed results, with 11 percent showing price increases according to two new AARP Public Policy Institute (PPI) reports released Thursday. While generic drug prices decreased overall in 2015, 11 percent of generic drugs saw price increases, some exceeding 100 percent.\n\nSpecialty drugs generally include drugs used to treat complex, chronic health conditions. They often require special care in how they are administered to patients, as well as in how they are handled and stored. Many specialty drugs treat conditions that are common among older people, including rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and cancer.\n\nIn 2015, the average annual cost of therapy with one specialty drug was $52,486, an amount more than three times higher than the average Social Security retirement benefit ($16,101) and twice the median income ($25,150) for someone on Medicare. By comparison, the average annual cost of therapy for one generic drug in 2015 was $523, down from $714 the year before.\n\nAmong the 11 percent of generic drugs which saw price increases, all of the increases exceeded the rate of general inflation. Between 2010 and 2015, all but 1 of the 399 widely-used generic drugs in this study experienced at least one retail price increase. Some of these price increases were extraordinary, exceeding 100 percent. Two manufacturers increased the retail price of doxycycline hyclate, a commonly-used generic antibiotic, by over 1,000 percent, the highest price increase noted in the generic drug report.\n\n\u201cAmerican families can\u2019t afford to keep paying for prescription drugs that cost more money than their salaries,\u201d said AARP Chief Public Policy Officer Debra Whitman. \u201cThese price increases are particularly hard on older adults, who take an average of 4 \u00bd prescription drugs per month and often live on fixed incomes.\u201d\n\nSpecialty Rx Price Watch Report Highlights\n\nBased on the retail prices of 101 specialty drugs:\n\nThe average annual increase in retail prices was 9.6 percent (2014\u20132015), compared with 8.9 percent the year before. In contrast, the general U.S. inflation rate was 0.1 percent.\n\nThe average annual cost of specialty drug therapy used on a chronic basis rose by nearly $35,000 between 2006 and 2015.\n\nIn 2015, the average annual price of therapy for specialty drugs was nine times higher than the average annual price of therapy for brand name drugs and 100 times higher than the average annual price of therapy for generic drugs.\n\nOne drug, HP Acthar Gel, was dropped from the specialty drug analyses because its enormous one-time retail price increase (1,300 percent+) in 2007 distorted the overall trends.\n\nGeneric Rx Price Watch Report Highlights\n\nBased on the retail prices of 399 generic drugs:\n\nThe average annual retail cost of generic drug therapy was about $2,350 in 2015, more than twice what it was in 2006 when the Medicare Part D program began.\n\nIn 2015, one widely-used generic diabetes drug had a 450 percent+ retail price increase.\n\nThe average annual generic drug price decreased 19.4 percent (2014\u20132015).\n\n\u201cGenerics drugs currently account for almost nine out of 10 prescriptions filled at the pharmacy but only a quarter of total drug costs,\u201d said Leigh Purvis, Director of Health Services Research, AARP Public Policy Institute, and co-author of the report. \u201cGiven Americans\u2019 long-standing reliance on these products for savings\u2014as well as recent price trends for brand name and specialty drugs\u2014it is incredibly important that we identify and mitigate the factors behind recent generic drug price increases.\u201d\n\nAbout Rx Price Watch Report Methodology\n\nAARP\u2019s Public Policy Institute, in collaboration with the PRIME Institute at the University of Minnesota, developed market baskets used to examine retail price trends among brand name, generic, and specialty drugs that are widely used by older Americans, including Medicare beneficiaries. The most recent Rx Price Watch reports focus on specialty and generic drug products.\n\nThe specialty market basket includes 101 specialty prescription drug products. The generic market basket includes 399 generic prescription drug products. Using data from the Truven Health MarketScan Research Databases, the reports analyzed retail price changes between 2006 and 2015 for the drug products in each market basket. The medications include products used to treat common and often chronic health conditions, including high cholesterol, diabetes, arthritis, and hypertension.\n\nThe full reports can be found at http://www.aarp.org/rxpricewatch.\n\nAdditional Resources\n\nAARP is the nation\u2019s largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering Americans 50 and older to choose how they live as they age. With nearly 38 million members and offices in every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, AARP works to strengthen communities and advocate for what matters most to families with a focus on health security, financial stability and personal fulfillment.\n\n(Source: PR Newswire)", "output": "Retail prices for specialty prescription drugs widely used by older Americans ballooned by an average of 9.6 percent between 2014 and 2015, the highest increase since at least 2006, while retail prices for some generic drugs saw more mixed results, with 11 percent showing price increases according to two new\u00a0AARP Public Policy Institute (PPI) reports\u00a0released Thursday.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "When It Comes to the Drug Pricing Debate, Talk Is Cheap \n In the last several months, individual companies have begun to take actions in an attempt to address pricing concerns and demonstrate their ability to \u201cself-police\u201d \u2014 especially in the face of bad actors that have fueled hatred of the pharmaceutical industry by taking significant price increases on single-source products.\n\nThese actions have ranged from taking pledges to limit annual price increases to improving transparency of pricing \u2014 including disclosing price increases, entering into value-based pricing schemes and devising innovative partnerships to lower the cost of certain medicines for patients \u2014 to entering into new partnerships to provide discounts on the medicines they sell at the pharmacy.\n\nBut the question remains \u2014 to what extent have or will these actions actually make a difference in how these companies are perceived by the public and by legislators? What is the potential benefit of these various actions for reputation, for gaining a seat at the table in policy discussions or for fighting off damaging state and federal legislation \u2014 compared to the potential risk of maintaining the status quo? Is staying out of the news enough, or are proactive actions required?\n\nAPCO Worldwide recently conducted opinion research to try and answer these questions and to understand what actions may be most helpful in positively positioning pharmaceutical companies in the current debate on drug pricing. Specifically, we asked stakeholders \u2014 including the opinion-leading public, health care providers and policymakers \u2014 what actions most demonstrate companies are doing the \u201cright thing\u201d when it comes to access and affordability.\n\nSo what moves the needle the most? We found that stakeholders want to see companies demonstrate that they have patients\u2019 best interests in mind, act as an advocate to improve access and affordability. What actions accomplish this?\n\n1.) Advocate for policies aimed at improving access to medicines \u2013 Companies must have a point of view on how to improve access and affordability for patients, and publicly advocate for that position.\n\n2.) Partner to improve access \u2013 Stakeholders like to see companies working with others in the system \u2014 health insurers, pharmacy benefit managers or others \u2014 to improve access to patients. This suggests innovative discount programs that have recently been implemented by companies to reduce prices to patients at the pharmacy are widely viewed as positive.\n\n3.) Share details on how medicines are priced \u2014 Transparency, transparency, transparency. Even if it doesn\u2019t change how prices are determined, stakeholders expect to see companies disclosing more information about how their medicines are priced. Transparency helps improve trust and demonstrates companies are not taking advantage of patients or the system.\n\nOn the flip side, our research also showed the actions that don\u2019t break through, or that can make things worse.\n\nInterestingly, we found that maintaining the status quo will not be enough to address stakeholder concerns. Specifically, companies have increasingly tried to communicate that they negotiate with payers to help improve access \u2014 something that has been done in the industry for a long time \u2014 but this activity is not viewed especially favorably. Nor are the access programs that provide free or discounted medicines to patients in need \u2014 programs which companies have long touted.\n\nBottom line: Communicating more while continuing to do the same things will not help quell the ongoing criticism.\n\nAnd finally, the worst companies can do? Get called out as a bad actor. Whether for taking large price increases or launching a medicine with a high price, giving large bonuses or salaries to senior executives or making exceptionally high profits, media coverage of these actions is distinctly viewed by stakeholders as doing \u201cthe wrong thing.\u201d\n\nWhile concerns about pricing are unlikely to dissipate in the near future, these results clearly demonstrate that there are several \u201cright things\u201d companies can do to address concerns.\n\nThe catch? Companies must be past the point of relying on words alone, and be willing to take concrete action that either directly alleviates patients\u2019 pocketbook pains or addresses the confusion and uncertainty surrounding the high cost of drugs everyone is hearing about.\n\nOver the last year, we\u2019ve seen several companies take steps aimed at doing just that \u2014 from efforts meant to clarify their approaches to pricing to those engaging unique partnerships to provide additional discounts at the pharmacy counter.\n\nIn the end, our research suggests it will be these same companies that are increasingly able to move the needle and meaningfully engage in the pricing debate moving forward.\n\n\n\nChrystine Zacherau is a senior director with APCO Insight, the opinion research group at APCO Worldwide, and manages APCO Insight\u2019s global health care research. April Claassen is a director of health policy in APCO Worldwide\u2019s Washington, D.C., office and works with APCO\u2019s health care clients.\n\nMorning Consult welcomes op-ed submissions on policy, politics and business strategy in our coverage areas. Updated submission guidelines can be found here.", "output": "In the last several months, individual companies have begun to take actions in an attempt to address pricing concerns and demonstrate their ability to \u201cself-police\u201d \u2014 especially in the face of bad actors that have fueled hatred of the pharmaceutical industry by taking significant price increases on single-source products.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "For Low-Income Drug Users, Medi-Cal Offers A Fresh Start \n Breann Johnson stopped using heroin on Mother\u2019s Day this year, determined to end her 13-year addiction. Days later, she began three months of residential treatment in Riverside, Calif. \u2014 all paid for by California\u2019s Medicaid program.\n\nJohnson, who has two young sons, said other inpatient drug rehab programs had refused to accept Medicaid, and she knew outpatient care would not be enough to break her habit.\n\n\u201cI couldn\u2019t stop,\u201d said Johnson, 28. \u201cWith my drug, you are either sick all day or you have to do it to make yourself feel better.\u201d\n\nAs the opioid epidemic burns a path of devastation through communities across the nation, California is leading the way in revamping treatment for low-income residents like Johnson. Before this year, the state\u2019s Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal, covered only limited and episodic care. Now, it pays for a much broader range of treatment including expanded access to medications, inpatient beds, individual therapy and case managers.\n\nUse Our Content This KHN story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nThe five-year pilot project, which gives the state flexibility in its use of federal money, was approved in 2015 by the agency that oversees Medicaid. The California project officially started earlier this year. Virginia, Massachusetts and Maryland also have federal permission to expand drug treatment for Medicaid members. Other states, including West Virginia and Michigan, are seeking it.\n\nCalifornia\u2019s drug rehab overhaul makes it easier for Medi-Cal members to get care and improves their chances of long-term recovery, state health officials said. It also aims to reduce costs by decreasing use of emergency rooms and hospitals and keeping drug-addicted enrollees out of jail and out of the child welfare system.\n\n\u201cIt is such a dramatic change to our substance abuse field,\u201d said Marlies Perez, chief of the substance use disorder compliance division at the state Department of Health Care Services. \u201cWe turned off one system one day and turned on a whole new system the next.\u201d\n\nHealth officials and service providers say that with the federal waiver they are finally able to address addiction as a chronic disease. Instead of simply getting short-term outpatient care, Medi-Cal beneficiaries can receive ongoing treatment from detoxification through recovery, tailored to their specific needs.\n\n\u201cThe old traditional way was a rather canned approach to recovery,\u201d said Bruce Copley, director of the Department of Alcohol and Drug Services in Santa Clara County.\n\nThe state does not yet know how much the changes will cost, because the program is open-ended: Anyone eligible for the services in the participating counties can receive them. In previous years, the state has spent about $180 million annually on drug rehabilitation for Medi-Cal beneficiaries. Perez said the state is only beginning to receive bills and is hoping to prove to the federal government that the changes will actually reduce overall costs related to substance abuse.\n\nDrug rehab providers still fear for the future of Medicaid given the ongoing debate over health care in Washington, said Tom Eby, clinical director of Whiteside Manor, a nonprofit residential treatment center in Riverside. If his clients lost their Medicaid coverage \u2014 or the federal government ended California\u2019s drug rehab program \u2014 it could imperil the progress being made, Eby said.\n\n\u201cIt would go back to what it was, with these folks dying on the street,\u201d he said.\n\nThirty-eight of the state\u2019s 58 counties have joined California\u2019s Medi-Cal pilot. Riverside and San Mateo started in February. Other counties, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, have come on board since.\n\nThe big increase in the availability of residential care is a significant aspect of the program, since it could reduce the chance of relapse or overdose for those with severe addictions. Previously, Medicaid did not cover treatment in inpatient rehab facilities with more than 16 beds. That resulted in long waiting lists. Inpatient stays typically were paid for by the county, a private insurer or the person being treated.\n\nIn Riverside County, Medi-Cal recipients used to wait more than two months for a bed. Now, many of them get one in a day or two, according to Rhyan Miller, the county\u2019s substance abuse services program administrator.\n\nAt MFI Recovery\u2019s women\u2019s center in Riverside, known as A Woman\u2019s Place, residents now have access to a licensed vocational nurse, a driver to take them to appointments and a discharge planner. They can stay 90 days (with a possible 30-day extension) and longer if they are pregnant.\n\nJohnson said she was grateful to get in without a long wait. If she hadn\u2019t, the Riverside woman said, \u201cI would either be on the streets or dead.\u201d\n\nBrittany Stearns, another resident, said her parents had paid $48,000 for an earlier stay at a private residential treatment center to treat opioid addiction. When she relapsed three years later, the 32-year-old Palm Springs resident knew her parents wouldn\u2019t pay for it again.\n\n\u201cI needed help,\u201d said Stearns, whose 2-year-old daughter, Molly, lives with her at the center. \u201cIf Medi-Cal didn\u2019t pay for this, I am afraid to think about where I would be.\u201d\n\nJohnson and Stearns both completed their residential treatment and are now getting follow-up outpatient care.\n\nPerez, of the health care department, said that although the project is scheduled to run five years, the state does not intend to return to the old way of doing business. It hopes to persuade the federal government to continue allowing spending flexibility. \u201cThis is already impacting not only Medi-Cal but other individuals who are receiving substance abuse disorder services,\u201d she said.\n\nThat\u2019s because clinics have made sweeping changes to meet the new Medi-Cal requirements for participation, including the recruitment and training of new employees. Counties are also now using guidelines set by the American Society of Addiction Medicine \u2014 another condition of participation.\n\nWhen the new program started, thousands of people called in to a substance abuse line for screening and referral, said Miller of Riverside County. That was up from fewer than 200 calls the previous month.\n\n\u201cWe didn\u2019t expect this,\u201d he said. \u201cIt has been absolutely crazy. The sheer numbers of calls completely overwhelmed and also excited us.\u201d\n\nAt Whiteside Manor, director Ron Vervick said the additional reimbursement from Medi-Cal enabled him to hire more counselors, drivers, nurses and intake workers. Many of the residents at Whiteside are homeless and mentally ill. In the past, he said, they didn\u2019t get the care they needed.\n\nOne resident of Whiteside Manor, Kendall Jenkins, sought treatment in early May after years of heavy drinking and drug use that included heroin, methamphetamines and pills \u2014 \u201canything I could get my hands on.\u201d A former college golfer and hotel valet, Jenkins, 30, was homeless off and on, and spent stretches living in his car. He recently left the facility, found work at a hotel and is staying in a sober-living home nearby.\n\nJenkins said that when he learned Medi-Cal would cover his stay at Whiteside, he felt relieved. He was able to participate in individual counseling and group therapy and said the center \u201csaved my life.\u201d\n\nThough he still thinks a lot about using heroin, he knows where he would end up if he did.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not worth it,\u201d he said. \u201cI know I can do this.\u201d\n\nKHN\u2019s coverage in California is funded in part by Blue Shield of California Foundation.", "output": "Breann Johnson stopped using heroin on Mother\u2019s Day this year, determined to end her 13-year addiction. Days later, she began three months of residential treatment in Riverside, Calif. \u2014 all paid for by California\u2019s Medicaid program.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How Democrats learned to stop worrying and love 'Medicare for all' \n Story highlights Sanders campaigned relentlessly against the Republican bills, mostly in the Midwest and Rust Belt. Public opinion polls have begun to show more support among Democrats for single-payer.\n\nCNN \u2014\n\nFirst, consider this: It\u2019s the summer of 2019 and a dozen Democratic presidential candidates are gathered onstage for a debate somewhere in the Midwest. The network moderator concludes her introductions and tees up the opening question.\n\n\u201cWho here tonight supports moving the United States toward a single-payer, or \u2018Medicare for all,\u2019 taxpayer-funded health care system?\u201d\n\nPause it there and rewind to January 2016 in Iowa. The caucuses are days away, and Hillary Clinton is fending off an unexpected challenge from Sen. Bernie Sanders. The discussion turns to single-payer, and Clinton balks.\n\n\u201cPeople who have health emergencies can\u2019t wait for us to have a theoretical debate about some better idea that will never, ever come to pass,\u201d she tells voters in Des Moines, explaining her campaign\u2019s focus on preserving and expanding Obamacare, while dismissing the progressive insurgent\u2019s more ambitious pitch.\n\nGo back even further now to the last contested Democratic primary before that, in 2008, and recall the lone and lonely voices in favor of single-payer care. They belonged to Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich and former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel. The pair combined for a delegate haul of precisely nil.\n\nBack to the present \u2013 a decade on \u2013 and after a chaotic months-long push by Republicans to dismantle former President Barack Obama\u2019s Affordable Care Act, the prospect of Sanders\u2019 \u201cMedicare-for-all\u201d program has emerged as the hot-button centerpiece of the Democratic Party\u2019s roiling public policy debate.\n\nTicket to ride\n\nAfter a summer that has seen so many of the party\u2019s most ambitious officials and brightest prospects line up in vocal support of what was so recently a fringe cause, consider again how the single-payer question will be received on a Democratic debate stage. Here\u2019s a hint: Expect to see a lot of hands.\n\nStill, for a party on its heels in Washington and around the country, the 2020 race is a distant star. If Democrats fail to claw back enough seats in next year\u2019s midterm elections, the health care conversation will remain in its current state: purely hypothetical.\n\nBut as Sanders prepares to unveil his new legislation next week, the broader left is beginning to coalesce around a vision that holds up universal, government-backed health care as a core Democratic party principle. The Vermont independent\u2019s forthcoming bill \u2013 its arrival delayed on at least three occasions by Washington\u2019s unique rancor \u2013 has Senate cosponsors in Kamala Harris, Kirstin Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren, Sheldon Whitehouse, Cory Booker, Jeff Merkley, and Tammy Baldwin. More Democrats could join before its unveiling on Wednesday. The House companion bill, from Michigan Rep. John Conyers, has 117 cosponsors, a little more than 60% of the entire caucus.\n\nAbout half of those cosponsors signed on after House Republicans introduced their first hack at Obamacare repeal, the American Health Care Act. For the better part of five months, Democrats in both chambers, along with a coalition of liberal protesters, fought to wrest defections from the GOP line. Ultimately, it was a single vote in the Senate \u2013 delivered well after midnight on a Friday morning in late July \u2013 that signaled an improbable rearguard victory.\n\nThanks, President Trump\n\nBut even before Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain angled his thumb toward the floor, the effort to unwind Obama\u2019s signature legislative feat was beginning to backfire on the GOP.\n\nSanders set the tone early on. About a week after House Speaker Paul Ryan unveiled the AHCA in March, he tweeted a warning.\n\n\u201cNever lose sight of the fact that our ultimate goal is not just playing defense,\u201d Sanders wrote. \u201cOur goal is a Medicare-for-all, single payer system.\u201d\n\nNever lose sight of the fact that our ultimate goal is not just playing defense. Our goal is a Medicare-for-all, single payer system. \u2014 Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) March 12, 2017\n\nSanders campaigned relentlessly against the Republican bills, mostly in the Midwest and Rust Belt. His criticism was lacerating. In June he told a Saturday night crowd in Pittsburgh that if the GOP plan\u2019s implementation would be \u201ca moral outrage that this nation will never live down.\u201d After rolling into Ohio overnight, he rose in Columbus the next day as part of a joint barnstorming effort with organizers from MoveOn.org to brand the Republican proposal \u201cthe most anti-working-class legislation ever passed in the modern history of our country.\u201d\n\nNot 24 hours later, Sanders\u2019 Democratic colleagues began amassing on the steps of the Capitol in Washington; their conversation, kicked off by Booker and Georgia Rep. John Lewis, who broadcast it a Facebook Live, went viral. Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, now considering a bill of his own that would allow anyone to buy-in to Medicaid, and Gillibrand joined in early on.\n\n\u201cHealth care should be a right, it should never be a privilege,\u201d Gillibrand said, almost in passing. \u201cWe should have Medicare-for-all in this country.\u201d One viral moment had given way to another, and Gillibrand\u2019s office confirmed to CNN the next day that, \u201cYes,\u201d she supports single-payer.\n\nA changing dynamic\n\nA few weeks on, in mid-July, Sanders returned to Des Moines, Iowa, for the first time since the 2016 election to water the grassroots.\n\n\u201cOur immediate test,\u201d he said, was to defeat the Republican plan. \u201cBut as soon as we accomplish that, I will be introducing legislation which has gained more and more support all across this country, legislation for a Medicare for All, single-payer system.\u201d\n\nRobert Becker, Sanders\u2019 2016 Iowa campaign director, was in the hall that day. (As was top Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, as it happened, for an unrelated event just a few hundred feet away.) Between cigarettes, and before his old boss arrived on the scene, Becker sat back and diagnosed the bubbling dynamic.\n\n\u201cEvery time Paul Ryan, or someone who is trying to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, steps to the podium and starts talking about insurance rates and premiums getting higher and higher and higher, they\u2019re actually making an argument for a single-payer system,\u201d he said. \u201cYou don\u2019t hear people on Medicare and Medicaid complaining about their co-pays.\u201d\n\nThere were other tailwinds kicking up. Public opinion polls had begun to show hardening support among Democrats for single-payer. One notable Pew survey released in mid-June found more than half of Democrats supported such a program. Among liberals, the number jumped to 64%. Looking across party lines, the poll found that a third of Americans backed the policy, up 12 points from 2014.\n\nWhen it was reported Friday that Obamacare architect and former Montana Sen. Max Baucus, hardly a progressive firebrand, now supported single-payer, saying, \u201cWe\u2019re getting there, it\u2019s going to happen\u201d \u2013 there were some chuckles on the left, but little surprise.\n\nThe new normal\n\nWhen it became apparent on July 17 that Senate Republicans did not have the votes to advance their own bill, the Better Care Reconciliation Act, progressive political organizations pounced.\n\nWorking Families Party national director Dan Cantor, after warning presciently that \u201cthis may well not be the last version of Trumpcare we see,\u201d all but thanked Republicans for joining the battle.\n\n\u201cIn the end, the biggest impact of the Republicans\u2019 attack on healthcare may be this: It has strengthened the resolve of many, many Americans to fight for healthcare for all,\u201d he said.\n\nAdam Green, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee co-founder, brushed off the prospect of \u201csmall-bore technocratic tweaks,\u201d saying it was time to offer \u201cevery American access to Medicare.\u201d\n\nAfter a subsequent, last-ditch Republican push to secure enough votes for \u201cskinny repeal\u201d failed, Democrats on Capitol Hill began a swift public relations counteroffensive. Their weakened status in Congress has, on this front, turned out to be a sort of gift, offering freedom to test drive a variety of ideas and, should they crash, walk away relatively unharmed.\n\nOn August 3, Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow launched the \u201cMedicare at 55 Act,\u201d a limited buy-in program. Seven Democratic colleagues attached themselves immediately, and by the end of the month, Harris, whose progressive bona fides have been called into question by activists, became the first senator to go further and formally back the Sanders plan.\n\n\u201cHere, I\u2019ll break some news: I intend to co-sponsor the Medicare-for-all bill, because it\u2019s just the right thing to do,\u201d she said a town hall in Oakland, California, shortly after informing Sanders of her intentions. \u201cThis is about understanding, again, that health care should be a right, not a privilege. And it\u2019s also about being smart.\u201d\n\nThis past Thursday, Warren announced her decision in an email to supporters.\n\n\u201cI believe it\u2019s time to take a step back and ask: what is the best way to deliver high quality, low cost health care to all Americans?,\u201d she wrote. \u201cEverything should be on the table \u2013 and that\u2019s why I\u2019m co-sponsoring Bernie Sanders\u2019 Medicare for All bill that will be introduced later this month.\u201d\n\nBy the evening, another Senate Democrat, Connecticut\u2019s Chris Murphy was making headlines of his own. According to a Politico report, Murphy is currently drafting a bill of his own that would put Medicare on the Obamacare exchanges and allow individuals and businesses an option to buy in.\n\nThe growing crop of bridge bills, though they might disappoint hardliners, is another leading indicator of where the party is headed. But if the Stabenow and Murphy plans would appeal to some Democrats in part for their abilities to shield less bullish colleagues from pressure on the left, they represent only a temporary solution given the enthusiasm of activists for a universal program.\n\nAs former Sanders campaign digital organizing director Claire Sandberg said in an email after the Harris announcement, activists are charged up \u2013 and the pressure will be unyielding.\n\n\u201cThe grassroots movement for universal health care will have to push Democratic leaders to not just voice support for Medicare-for-all when the party is in the minority,\u201d she said, \u201cbut also demand that Democrats commit to keep fighting and refuse to back down or water down the proposal when the party is back in power.\u201d", "output": "First, consider this: It's the summer of 2019 and a dozen Democratic presidential candidates are gathered onstage for a debate somewhere in the Midwest. The network moderator concludes her introductions and tees up the opening question.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Labster to expand its education VR service following $10m round \n LABSTER: 3D STEM simulations startup Labster has picked up $10M in a Series A financing round led by British venture capital firm Balderton Capital, reports VentureBeat.\n\nBased in Copenhagen, Denmark, Labster simulates a variety of physics, chemistry, and biology labs\u2014from protein synthesis to the fundamentals of animal genetics\u2014in a laptop or mobile setting, although the company is starting to support more VR headsets. The labs were created in partnerships with industry giants like Thermo Fisher Scientific and research institutions such as Auburn University.\n\nPrices start at $9 per month for high school students and $19 for college students. Already, the simulations are being used by Harvard, MIT and other big domestic and international schools. Previously the company received about $10M in grant funding.\n\nThe recently raised money will help the company expand to more schools in the U.S. and Europe and develop new simulations. Northzone and Unity Technologies founder David Helgason also invested in this round.", "output": "Danish edtech start-up Labster has raised $10m in a series A funding round led by Balderton Capital and featuring participation from Northzone and Unity Technologies founder David Helgason. Labster creates educational simulations in STEM fields for mobiles and laptops, and is also expanding into virtual reality\u00a0headsets, with Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology among its clients. The latest funding will be used to expand into the US and Europe, as well as develop new simulations.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How much flexibility should states have to experiment with paying for and delivering healthcare? \n One of the few things that Republicans and Democrats broadly agree on is that states should have some flexibility to experiment with different ways to pay for and deliver health care.\n\nBut they disagree \u2014 strongly \u2014 on how much. In fact, Republicans don\u2019t agree with one another on this, and that dissent helped sink efforts this summer to \u201crepeal and replace\u201d the Affordable Care Act. Bridging these divides will help determine the success of a bipartisan effort in the Senate this month to help shore up the individual health insurance market.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve always said not all the wisdom is going to be in Washington,\u201d said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), the ranking Democrat on the powerful Finance Committee. \u201cProgressive and conservative folks are going to say \u2018we can do better.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe federal health law includes a provision that allows states to alter some of its rules if they can think of a better way to provide health care to their residents. These are known as \u201cSection 1332 waivers,\u201d bookmarking where they are located in the health law.\n\nBut the law strictly limits how far states can go with their experiments. It includes what are known as \u201cguardrails.\u201d Those limits, said Nicholas Bagley, a health law professor at the University of Michigan, \u201care to prevent states from undermining the Affordable Care Act goal to provide people with comprehensive coverage.\u201d\n\nThe waivers were designed \u201cso blue states can experiment with blue state solutions, and red states can experiment with red state solutions,\u201d said Bagley. \u201cBut to do so and stay within the guardrails is really difficult.\u201d For example, he said, \u201cyou can reallocate the money, but you can\u2019t reallocate it to create losers.\u201d\n\nAt issue is whether to broaden authority for states by revising or eliminating the \u201cguard rails\u201d intended to protect patients and the federal government.\n\nWyden, who authored the 1332 language in the ACA, is skeptical. Under the current rules, he said, \u201cstates can make changes that make health care better. But they can\u2019t go out and make health care worse.\u201d\n\nIt is clear that Republicans in Congress want changes to the provision. The repeal-and-replace bill that passed the House and all those considered in the Senate included some expansion of state authority to waive protections included in the health law. Bagley said the bills \u201cwould have essentially given carte blanche to states to come up with ACA alternatives without any regard to the guardrails\u201d other than the one prohibiting additions to the federal deficit.\n\nAnd Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, who is working on a bipartisan bill, said Wednesday that \u201cDemocrats will have to agree to something \u2014 more flexibility for states \u2014 that some are reluctant to support.\u201d\n\nSo is there a compromise between Democrats who want to maintain the protections and Republicans who want states to have a freer hand?\n\nMaybe.\n\nDavid Anderson of Duke University said one possible source of agreement would be to streamline the federal approval process, starting with the guidance issued by the Obama administration in 2015 that critics said was too restrictive.\n\nUnder the rules set by the ACA, states can use waivers to adjust things like the structure of premium assistance to those with low and moderate incomes or the individual and employer requirements to have and offer coverage. But those changes must meet four key standards: States continue to provide equally comprehensive coverage to at least the same number of people, with no higher out-of-pocket costs and without costing the federal government more than it would spend under the provisions of the ACA.\n\nThe rules around the waivers also make it hard to accomplish a truly comprehensive overhaul of a state\u2019s health care system, as states can\u2019t use them to reach the place where most of the money funding that system comes from: tax breaks for employer-provided insurance and the federal Medicare program. Workers don\u2019t pay taxes on the value of employer-provided insurance, which is estimated to cost the federal Treasury some $260 billion in income and payroll taxes 2017.\n\n\u201cIf you want to reshape your state health insurance market, you\u2019ve got to be able to grab onto the employer market or Medicare, and you can\u2019t\u201d using the waiver procedure, Bagley said.\n\nStates also cannot use Section 1332 to change provisions of the Medicaid and Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program, although they can submit simultaneous waivers to each program under separate Medicaid waiver authority in the law.\n\nSo far, only two states \u2014 Hawaii and Alaska \u2014 have won federal approval for 1332 waivers under the health law.\n\nHawaii has had its own system for providing health coverage based on an employer requirement for coverage since the 1970s. The state\u2019s waiver allows it to use money allocated to help small businesses afford coverage in different ways.\n\nAlaska\u2019s waiver, which was approved this summer, involves a \u201creinsurance\u201d plan that will help spread the costs of the state\u2019s sickest patients more widely. \u201cBy removing high-cost conditions from the risk pool, the benefits of the [reinsurance program] are shared by the entire individual health insurance market,\u201d Lori Wing-Heier, head of the state\u2019s insurance department, told the HELP Committee on Wednesday. In its first year, the program dropped proposed premium increases from 40 percent to \u201cjust over 7 percent,\u201d Wing-Heier said.\n\nMinnesota has applied for a waiver similar to Alaska\u2019s, and approval is expected. Earlier this spring, the Department of Health and Human Services specifically invited states to apply for waivers of that type.\n\nOther states, though, are working on proposals that would make more comprehensive changes. Iowa, for example, wants to dramatically redistribute the money available, with bigger subsidies for the middle-class customers and smaller ones for those with lower incomes. The state says that would help draw more customers into the marketplace so that the risk pool is healthier and the premiums for everyone would decrease. It would also eliminate the help lower-income people get to pay their out-of-pocket medical costs, such as deductibles and copayments.\n\n\u201cThe Iowa waiver on its face pretty brazenly ignores the guardrails,\u201d said Bagley.\n\nOklahoma, which is seeking a waiver for its own reinsurance program, is also working on a plan that would make major changes, including encouraging people to purchase insurance with higher deductibles along with a health savings account.\n\nPart of the difficulty with the waivers is the number of hoops states must jump through to win approval, including passing legislation, seeking public comment and holding hearings around the state.\n\nAnd those are not even the biggest problems, state officials say. \u201cThe part that is stifling states right now is the six-month waiting period before they receive final approval,\u201d Alaska\u2019s Wing-Heier told the Senate panel.\n\nTeresa Miller, former Pennsylvania insurance commissioner, agreed at the Senate hearing, saying, \u201cThe current process is very cumbersome.\u201d\n\nAnderson of Duke University said one key possibility to add flexibility would be to loosen the requirement that state changes not add to the federal deficit. \u201cMaybe they could allow for deficit neutrality over the course of the waiver rather than year by year,\u201d he said, in which case experiments that cost money to begin with but save over time would be allowed.\n\nWyden said he is willing to look at any ideas to make the waivers easier to use.\n\nBut he added that the popularity of state \u201creinsurance\u201d waivers that are lowering premiums shows the waiver provision is working as intended. And, he said, if GOP members try again to roll back coverage using the waiver provision \u201cthey\u2019re going to have to roll over me, then they\u2019re going to have to persuade people\u201d that it meets the 1332 requirements.\n\nPhoto: dkfielding, Getty Images", "output": "One of the few things that Republicans and Democrats broadly agree on is that states should have some flexibility to experiment with different ways to pay for and deliver health care.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Access to Mental Health Care Improved After ACA \n Access to healthcare in the United States has improved for adults with moderate and severe mental illness, a new study confirms.\n\nMost importantly, researchers note that following pasage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), fewer patients with severe mental illness went without mental health care, although gaps in access persist.\n\nThe ACA expanded health insurance to roughly 21 million Americans through insurance reforms, Medicaid expansions, and subsidies for coverage in the marketplace.\n\nThe ACA also expanded mental health coverage through mental health parity reforms and through the provision of essential health benefits, which included mental health services. Early ACA-related research found increases in mental health treatment and reductions in the number of uninsured adults with mental illness.\n\nBuilding on this previous research, Elizabeth Sherrill and Gilbert Gonzales, PhD, from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee, examined changes in access to care for adults by mental health status in 2012-2013, before the ACA, and in 2015, after the ACA, using data from the National Health Interview Survey.\n\nThe sample included 77,095 adults aged 18 to 64 years (51% women; mean age, 41 years). Using the Kessler 6 (K6) scale, the scores of which range from 0 to 24, with higher scores indicating more severe psychological distress, the study team classified adults as having moderate mental illness (scores from 5 to 12 points), severe mental illness (scores of 13 points or higher) or no mental illness (scores from 0 to 4 points).\n\nIn both periods, adults with severe mental illness were more likely to be unemployed, have low income, and have poor or fair health, they report.\n\nAfter passage of the ACA, and after controlling for sociodemographic factors, there was a decrease in uninsured adults with no mental illness (-6.2 percentage points) and moderate (-8.5 percentage points) and severe mental illness (-9.3 percentage points).\n\nIn addition, after the ACA, there was a significant drop in the percentage of adults with moderate mental illness with no usual source of care (-3.5 percentage points), delayed medical care (-4.5 percentage points), forgone medical care (-3.3 percentage points), and forgone prescription medications (-3.6 percentage points).\n\nFor adults with severe mental illness, the ACA led to a decrease in forgone prescription medications (-6.8 percentage points) and forgone mental health care (-8.0 percentage points).\n\nThe results were published online September 6 in JAMA Psychiatry.\n\n\"We did not find improvements in having a usual source of care, delayed medical care because of cost, or seeing a mental health professional for adults with SMI [severe mental illness], which may be attributable to factors not fully addressed by the ACA, such as high cost sharing and continued shortages in mental health,\" the authors write.\n\n\"Future reforms should consider expanding access to care for adults with SMI, with a focus on strengthening the mental health care system,\" they conclude.\n\nThe study had no funding. The authors have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.\n\nJAMA Psychiatry. Published online September 6, 2017. Full text", "output": "Access to healthcare in the United States has improved for adults with moderate and severe mental illness, a new study confirms. Most importantly, researchers note that following pasage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), fewer patients with severe mental illness went without mental health care, although gaps in access persist.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Quality Affordable Health Care Is Within Our Reach \n At the heart of almost every conversation about health care reform is one question: \u201cHow do we make health care affordable and accessible for everyone in America?\u201d As representatives of America\u2019s largest employers, we believe the most important strategy for transforming our nation\u2019s health care system is to accelerate payment and delivery reforms that share support among both Republicans and Democrats \u2014 value-based health care. This approach focuses on innovations in provider payment, delivery system redesign, and consumer engagement. Importantly, value means both higher quality and lower cost.\n\nWhy is this important in the current environment? Just look at the numbers. The U.S. spends $3 trillion, 17 percent of our GDP, on health care \u2013 twice the average of other developed nations. In 2019, the amount the federal government spends on health care will overtake the entire federal discretionary budget. In other words, we will spend more on health care than the combined budgets of the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Education, Energy, Justice, Commerce, State, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, Transportation, Treasury and the Environmental Protection Agency, National Science Foundation, NASA, General Services Administration and all emergency spending. This shocking statistic should be an urgent call to action to pursue all strategies that can help decrease costs and improve care, including proven value-based care models.\n\nValue-based care needs to be at the foundation of fixing our nation\u2019s health care system, with the federal government leveraging proven private-sector, market-based strategies. While there are several value-based approaches government programs may adopt, bundled\u2013 or episode-based\u2013 payments have proven to be highly effective. However, the Department of Health and Human Services recently announced that it is significantly reducing the use of mandatory bundled payments and will increase opportunities for voluntary participation in this model. We are optimistic that voluntary bundled payment programs will still have a positive impact on quality improvement, but such voluntary programs may only attract the highest quality providers, thus limiting system-wide cost savings.\n\nImportantly, private-sector voluntary bundled payment programs have produced positive results in savings and outcomes. Employers such as JetBlue, Lowe\u2019s, McKesson, and Wal-Mart have participated in the Employer Centers of Excellence Network, a bundled payment program that offers insights for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as their leaders pursue a voluntary \u2013 as opposed to a mandatory \u2013 approach.\n\nCurrently, the ECEN program includes hip and knee replacements, spine care, and bariatric surgery provided at health care systems carefully selected after a rigorous evaluation.\n\nUnder the program, negotiated prospective bundled rates cover all services rendered during the episode of care. When the payment rate is combined with the savings from fewer complications and better patient selection, the ECEN patient total cost is 10-15 percent lower than the traditional fee-for-service patient, and patient outcomes are better.\n\nFor Lowe\u2019s, the ECEN patients had lower out-of-pocket costs, and 100 percent of the participants would recommend the program to their co-workers or family. Fewer than 1 percent of ECEN patients had to return to the hospital because of a surgery complication \u2013 compared to over 6 percent of patients who received care at their regular community hospital. Additionally, all of the ECEN patients were able to go directly home after surgery, while over 9 percent of the community patients needed care at a skilled nursing facility.\n\nFinally, Lowe\u2019s estimates there have been $1-2 million savings from the ECEN spine program per year. Half of patients recommended for surgery in the old model were found by ECEN providers not to be good candidates.\n\nEmployers are reorienting the health care system toward value using strategies like ECEN. However, to reach the tipping point of change where consistent high-quality care is delivered everywhere, federal programs must be equally aggressive. We need government leadership on the federal level and a commitment from the president to stand behind private-sector innovation. We need the government to leverage its influence as the largest single purchaser of health care and help break down policy barriers that hinder adoption. By incorporating the private sector innovation\u2019s most beneficial features into Medicare and other government programs, the administration will not only save taxpayer dollars, but will also improve health outcomes for patients.\n\nThe combined impact of the private and public sectors working together to advance value-based care is exponentially greater than any one entity can accomplish themselves. We truly believe we will benefit more when we benefit together.\n\nAnnette Guarisco Fildes is the president and CEO of The ERISA Industry Committee and David Lansky is the president and CEO of the Pacific Business Group on Health.\n\nMorning Consult welcomes op-ed submissions on policy, politics and business strategy in our coverage areas. Updated submission guidelines can be found here.", "output": "At the heart of almost every conversation about health care reform is one question: \u201cHow do we make health care affordable and accessible for everyone in America?\u201d As representatives of America\u2019s largest employers, we believe the most important strategy for transforming our nation\u2019s health care system is to accelerate payment and delivery reforms that share support among both Republicans and Democrats \u2014 value-based health care. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Antidote Technologies to match patients to clinical trials \n Boston-based Antidote Technologies expects it will soon be able to accelerate the development of capabilities for its trial matching platform \u2013 including precision medicine and EHR matching. That\u2019s because the company has just entered into an agreement for an $11 million funding round led by Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, and joined by existing investors Smedvig Capital and Octopus Ventures. Regulatory clearances still need to come through, but that\u2019s expected to happen later this year.\n\nA lot of clinical trials are delayed or closed because of a lack of patients taking part; Antidote estimates the number at about 80 percent. The company wants to put a dent in those numbers by changing the way patients and researchers connect. With its clinical and AI prowess, Antidote has created Match, a clinical trial matching platform currently serving around 180 patient communities \u2013 JDRF, Lung Cancer Alliance, and Healthline among them \u2013 bringing new studies to millions of patients on a monthly basis.\n\nPatients answer simple questions about their health, and the platform provides matching studies in their neighborhood.\n\n\u201cWe are excited to back Antidote given the company\u2019s focus on solving the critical issue of matching patients with the right clinical trials,\u201d said Francesca Wuttke, managing director at Merck GHI. \u201cWe think the Antidote approach fits well with our focus on investing in companies that play a critical role in the new digital clinical trial management ecosystem.\u201d\n\nAntidote Match is based on generating structured eligibility criteria, proprietary algorithms, and machine learning. To date, the company has made 14,000 clinical trials matchable and plans to reach full coverage of US trials next year with enhanced capabilities, such as matching cancer patients to studies using mutation-level data. The company is already a participant in the Cancer Moonshot project.\n\nThis year, Antidote has made its clinical trial matching platform accessible to the pharmaceutical industry with Match API, a web and mobile app layer that allows any organization to match patients to their portfolio or program of trials and build insights. The company is also piloting the Beta of Antidote Base, a SaaS offering that enables research sites to invite local, engaged patients to participate in their studies.\n\n\u201cWe couldn't wish for a better endorsement of Antidote\u2019s high-scale ecosystem approach to patient engagement than this round led by Merck GHI, a fund that has a deep understanding of the problem we are solving,\u201d said Antidote founder and CEO Pablo Graiver in a statement. \u201cWe are also grateful for the continued support from Octopus Ventures and Smedvig Capital. Antidote is excited to embark on the next stage of transforming medical research to deliver new treatments faster to the people who need them.\u201d\n\n", "output": "Healthtech firm Antidote Technologies aims to expand the reach of its platform, which uses structured eligibility criteria, proprietary algorithms and machine learning, to match eligible patients to clinical trials, to the whole of the US by next year. The Boston-based firm, which recently entered into an agreement for an $11m funding round led by Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, has so far made 14,000 clinical trials matchable, but estimates that around 80% are delayed or closed, due to a lack of participating patients."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nurse Staffing Levels Linked to Patient Satisfaction With Pain Management \n Hospitals with more nurses on staff and better nurse-patient communication tend to receive higher scores on patients\u2019 satisfaction with pain management, according to new research.\n\nThe study, published online in Pain Management Nursing, analyzed results from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health Care Providers Systems survey from hospitals in California, Massachusetts, and New York. It examined the associations between patient perceptions of pain control and hospital staffing numbers of nurses, hospitalists, physicians, and residents. It also studied 21 other hospital-level factors that were correlated with patients\u2019 pain management reports.\n\nPatients\u2019 perception of pain control improved significantly with increasing numbers of registered nurses, nursing staff, and hospitalists, but worsened with higher numbers of residents or interns. Additionally, both higher numbers of nursing staff and being treated in a nonprofit hospital decreased the likelihood of patients reporting their pain was poorly managed.\n\nThere were also several factors that made patients significantly more likely to report their pain was poorly controlled: they did not receive help as soon as they wanted, poor nurse communication, poor medication education, and being treated in a teaching hospital. Patients reported particularly low rates of pain control satisfaction if they were treated in teaching hospitals with rotating intern/resident assignments.\n\nThe researchers also determined that 79% of the variations in self-reports of pain control could be explained by just 6 predictors. Nurse staffing and nurse-patient communication were the strongest predictors of pain management perceptions among patients.\n\n\u201cThe findings highlight the need for adequate numbers of nursing staff to achieve optimal patient satisfaction with pain management,\u201d said lead author Judith Shindul-Rothschild, PhD, MSN, RN, in a news release from Boston College. \u201cIn addition, having a prescriber (physician or nurse practitioner) available 24/7 to offer continuity of care is essential.\u201d\n\nThe results also point to the importance of strong communication among providers and patients in making sure that patients feel their pain needs are well managed.\n\n\u201cIn addition to appropriate nurse staffing, our study highlights that an essential component to improve patients' satisfaction with pain management is to promote more effective collaboration among medical trainees, hospitalists, and nurses,\u201d Shindul-Rothschild said.", "output": "Hospitals with more nurses on staff and better nurse-patient communication tend to receive higher scores on patients\u2019 satisfaction with pain management, according to new research.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "It\u2019s Incredibly Hard to Get Dental Care in Rural America \n Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.\n\nTwo and a half hours west of the Twin Cities, where the Minnesota and Chippewa rivers meet, is the prairie village of Montevideo, Minnesota. Downtown consists of a post office, railroad tracks, a few storefronts, and a dentist\u2019s office called Main Street Dental Care. From the outside, the clinic doesn\u2019t look like much. But on the bitter February day I visited, inside it was buzzing with activity.\n\nDown the hall from the full waiting room, bent over her dental chair, Brandi Tweeter had a full roster of patients. Some had traveled hundreds of miles to see her, she told me. That\u2019s not unusual: In Minnesota, there\u2019s about one dentist for every 1,500 people\u2014but they\u2019re concentrated in cities. Here in Chippewa County, the ratio is 1 in about 2,400. In a neighboring county, it\u2019s 1 in more than 5,000.\n\nRural Minnesota isn\u2019t alone\u2014some 49 million Americans live in places where there are not enough dentists. In those areas, it\u2019s often hard to get an appointment even if you have private insurance. But for people on Medicaid, it can be impossible: Fewer than half the nation\u2019s dentists accept Medicaid patients. Those who don\u2019t claim the paperwork is too complicated and the re\u00adimbursement rates are too low.\n\nMore than 1 in 3 low-income adults avoid smiling because they\u2019re ashamed of their teeth.\n\nThe result is a public health crisis. While writing my book, Teeth: The Story of Beauty, Inequality, and the Struggle for Oral Health in America, I met people who slept in their cars and waited in long lines for extractions at free clinics. I met people who had pulled out their own teeth and others who had lost loved ones to dental abscesses. I met a boy dying from complications of untreated tooth decay.\n\nI also observed how bad teeth can lock families into a cycle of poverty. \u201cNo more people behind the counter unless they have all their teeth,\u201d Andrew Puzder, the former CEO of CKE Restaurants, told managers of Hardee\u2019s burger shops in a memo that turned up when he was nominated to be President Donald Trump\u2019s labor secretary. More than 1 in 3 low-income adults avoid smiling because they\u2019re ashamed of their teeth, according to a Harris Poll survey conducted on behalf of the American Dental Association in 2015.\n\nAnd untreated dental problems tax our health care system. More than a million Americans a year show up at hospital emergency rooms with nontraumatic dental problems\u2014costing more than $1 billion annually. In Minnesota, about 400,000 preschoolers were brought to hospital emergency rooms with severe oral conditions during a recent five-year period. The visits cost $80 million, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported last year.\n\nWhich is where Brandi Tweeter comes in. She\u2019s a dental therapist\u2014 something like a nurse practitioner for teeth. Twice as fast to train as a dental surgeon and half as expensive to employ, dental therapists handle a range of common procedures: drilling and filling teeth, placing crowns, performing some extractions. Under an innovative program in Minnesota, about 60 dental therapists fill in where care is scarce.\n\nMore than a million Americans a year show up at hospital emergency rooms with nontraumatic dental problems\u2014costing more than $1 billion annually.\n\nYet the therapists remain controversial in Minnesota and beyond. The American Dental Association, which spends more than $2 million a year on lobbying, has fought them tirelessly. The ADA says it\u2019s worried about patient safety, but John Powers, the owner of Main Street Dental Care, suggests the real reason is fear of competition. \u201cDental organizations say, \u2018We\u2019re concerned about our patients and their care,'\u201d he told me. \u201cNo. You are concerned about your pocketbook.\u201d\n\nThe nation\u2019s first dental therapists started working in Alaskan tribal areas in 2005\u2014and the ADA and the Alaska Dental Society soon sued (unsuccessfully) to stop them. Three years later, Ann Lynch, a freshman Minnesota state senator, introduced a bill to allow dental therapists in her state. The Minnesota Dental Association launched what the Star Tribune called \u201can all-out media blitz targeting the legislation,\u201d but lawmakers passed it anyway. Since then, Maine and Vermont have passed laws allowing dental therapists, and 11 other states are considering them, as are more tribal groups.\n\nThe ADA still maintains there\u2019s no evidence that dental therapists are helping to fix Minnesota\u2019s shortage of care. But a 2014 review by the state\u2019s Department of Health and Board of Dentistry indicates that more Medicaid patients receive treatment in areas surrounding clinics that employ dental therapists. The state also documented dramatically reduced waiting times.\n\nHere\u2019s what hasn\u2019t decreased: business at Main Street Dental Care. Quite the opposite, in fact. When Powers hired Tweeter five years ago, he was able to open his doors to Medicaid recipients. Since then, his practice has increased from 3,000 patients to 8,000. The office\u2019s annual revenue has more than tripled, from $600,000 to $1.9 million, and the staff has grown from 7 employees to 23 (including three more dental therapists). The clinic had to move to a bigger office. Powers is excited about the booming business, but he\u2019s most proud of how his team has helped people on the prairie, he told me: \u201cThe effect we\u2019ve had on their oral health in this area\u2014and in the state, for that matter\u2014is kind of amazing.\u201d", "output": "Two and a half hours west of the Twin Cities, where the Minnesota and Chippewa rivers meet, is the prairie village of Montevideo, Minnesota. Downtown consists of a post office, railroad tracks, a few storefronts, and a dentist\u2019s office called Main Street Dental Care. From the outside, the clinic doesn\u2019t look like much. But on the bitter February day I visited, inside it was buzzing with activity.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Advertisers advised to use Nielsen to measure Facebook reach \n IAB Australia has urged advertisers to use Nielsen for measuring Facebook's reach rather than the social media's own Ad Manager tool, AdNews can reveal.\n\nFor the past week, the social media platform has come under increasing pressure to explain how its estimated reach of 15-39s has 1.7 million more people in Australia than officially exists.\n\nThe reach inflation issue has spread to the US, where market analysts and the media have questioned the discrepancy, which has been found in nine out of 12 other markets in an AdNews study.\n\nFacebook has stood by its inflated reach estimates in responses to the media and a carefully-worded email to media buyers in this country. Its position is that its reach estimates include variables like short-term visitors and has encouraged advertisers not compare its figures with official census data.\n\nThe IAB, a peak body for internet advertising in Australia, has told AdNews that it \u201cstrongly encourages\u201d advertisers to use independent third-party data for assessing media reach across all digital players.\n\n\u201cThe investment in both time and money that the industry puts into the IAB endorsed digital currency via Nielsen gives the market a robust and independent measuring stick to review all media players. Publishers and platforms will have additional deep data on their audiences which can be extremely valuable, however it is often difficult to compare this to other market metrics.\u201d\n\nThe IAB says the Nielsen figures are the cleanest digital currency to represent true reach and accounts for factors such as duplicate accounts and fabricated user information.\n\nExperts speaking to AdNews on the condition of anonymity have said Facebook's \"estimated reach\" does not describe individual people and was likely to contain duplicate accounts and users lying about their age.\n\n\u201cI wouldn't call their numbers reach, I would call them accounts,\u201d a digital media expert told AdNews. \u201cIt's like when people used to use cookies as reach and it got ridiculous.\n\n\u201cThose self-serving tools from both Google and Facebook have been built for the SME market. Getting the nuance for what is a person and an account can be difficult and they probably take it to the easiest word, which can be quite misleading.\u201d\n\nA media buyer has told AdNews the concern about the tool is that it could mislead marketers in planning and budget allocation on the platform, particularly for smaller companies that do not have media agency partners to scrutinise the data.\n\n\"It doesn\u2019t matter if they are only billing us on actuals,\" the media buyer said. \"Because of higher estimations it is perceived as a better platform based at the planning stage.\"\n\nFacebook clarifies\n\nFacebook's response to the audience inflation findings has been to distance its reach estimates from census data rather than acknowledging it has a problem.\n\nIn a email circulated to media buyers, it sought to clarify its reach estimates by saying there are \u201cseveral factors\u201d that contribute to the discrepancy before naming one potential cause.\n\n\u201cWe look at people in a particular region at a particular time, not necessarily who lives there like the Census does. Census data also does not include non-residents or visitors, which we factor into estimates,\u201d the email said.\n\nFacebook says its \u201cestimated reach\u201d tool provides an estimate of potential overall reach and the estimated daily reach of the ad campaign. It described it as a \"campaign planning tool\".\n\n\u201cThese numbers are designed to provide an idea of your campaign's potential reach. They are not meant to be an actual accounting of Facebook's active users and are not designed to match population or census estimates,\u201d the email said.\n\nIt urged media buyers to advise clients: \u201cwe don't recommend that advertisers compare the numbers as they are not expected to match\u201d.\n\nRitson's reaction\n\nIn his weekly column in The Australian, Mark Ritson said he was shocked to learn that Facebook's figures had exceeded population data and alarmed that some digital marketers were unconcerned by the discrepancy.\n\n\u201cThe reaction of most digital marketers was one of unconcerned equanimity. Some accepted that Facebook had erred but they pointed out that it was no better or worse than other traditional media vendors who also overstate their reach,\u201d Ritson said.\n\n\u201cBut in my long and torrid history of looking at media data this is the first time I have come across a claim that exceeds the physical population. There are lies, media statistics and then there are Facebook audience measures.\u201d\n\nOne of Ritson's LinkedIn posts garnered a broad range of industry views on the issue, with many critical about credibility of Facebook figures.\n\nHave something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au\n\nSign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.", "output": "The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Australia has urged marketers using Facebook to rely on Nielsen for accurate reach measurements, after it emerged Facebook appeared to have inflated its estimated reach of users in the 15-39 age group. Facebook suggested it had 1.7 million more such users than officially exist in Australia. IAB said Nielsen figures are \"the cleanest digital currency to represent true reach\". In an email circulated to media buyers, Facebook said estimated reach figures were \"not meant to be an actual accounting of active users and are not designed to match population or census estimates\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Caring for Your Parents? This Project Wants to Make You Feel Less Alone \n For 12 years, Priya Soni watched as her father\u2019s health deteriorated.\n\nMultiple doctors in the '00s were unable to diagnose his illness \u2014 which included losing motor control and the ability to speak, she said \u2014 and Soni, who was then in her 20s, found herself having to take care of him.\n\nWhat made the process even more difficult was that Soni felt isolated because none of her friends were going through a similar experience.\n\n\u201cThere was an alienating and isolating aspect to all of this, and I think as I was going through it, I didn\u2019t always know I needed somebody,\u201d Soni told NBC News. \u201cIt was very hard to stop and think about what [I] needed.\u201d\n\nPriya Soni, founder of The Caregiving Effect LLC. Courtesy of Priya Soni\n\nSoni is now working to spread caregivers' stories and teach them how to share their experiences to ensure no one feels as alone as she did. Through \"The Caregiving Effect LLC,\" a project she started in 2016, Soni has mentored those currently caring for loved ones and shared their stories on social media.\n\nShe also writes and speaks about caregiving and is scheduled to give a presentation at the second annual National Caregiving Conference in November.\n\nA 2015 joint study by the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP estimated that there are more than 40 million unpaid caregivers in the U.S.\n\n\u201cTo have that many people in this country alone caregive and then for so many of us to feel alone in the experience, that says something,\u201d Soni said.\n\n\u201cI had always envisioned a quilt of caregivers and their stories, but with a real intention focus to shift conversation.\"\n\nRuth Chung, associate professor of clinical education at the University of Southern California\u2019s Rossier School of Education, said that \u2014 consistent with broader demographics \u2014 many women are getting married later, having children later, and learning that their parents are living longer, thus taking on caretaking roles.\n\nThis may cause many women to feel \u201csandwiched\u201d between caregiving of their aging parents and still having young children they are responsible for, she explained, adding that sometimes women may suffer in silence without seeking help.\n\n\u201cWomen as a whole, especially working women, then feel this kind of triple burden of their role of being parents, wives, and children, and then as their parents age, stepping into a caregiving role,\u201d Chung told NBC News. \u201cSo it\u2019s putting a lot of strain and burden on middle-aged women and that\u2019s something that is becoming much more apparent and unclear, but that seems to be cutting across cultures.\u201d\n\nGrowing up in Maryland as the eldest daughter of South Asian-American parents, Soni learned about her father\u2019s experiences living in a village in the Punjab region where many generations of his family, particularly young women, would care for their elders.\n\nSoni understood that education and respect for elders were of the utmost importance to her father and knew she had to honor that value system at home.\n\n\u201cBecause of the Indian culture, one of the things we wanted to do was honor the fact that we grew up in a house and witnessed his family taking care of the elderly,\u201d Soni said. \u201cWe knew that was important to him and we knew it was important to be able to contribute back to him.\u201d\n\nAt one point during her father\u2019s last years of life, Soni realized her dad needed 24-hour, seven-days-a-week care, so the family decided to hire two caregivers who spoke Hindi and understood his cultural background, a story she later recounted to Women's Day magazine.\n\n\u201cThey spoke Hindi, they had a Tibetan background, they understood what my father needed,\u201d Soni said.\n\nLooking back, Soni wishes she sought more help from aging experts, social workers, and other advocates while taking care of her father.\n\n\u201cWhat I needed the most was a support group that focused on how to handle mystery illnesses when you don\u2019t have a diagnosis or trajectory of knowing what\u2019s going to happen around the corner,\u201d Soni said.\n\nCaregivers are unsung heroes, according to Dr. Zaldy Tan, medical director of the UCLA Alzheimer\u2019s and Dementia Care Program, but their dedication can lead to increased stress.\n\nTan noted that third-generation Asian and Hispanic caregivers spent the most time looking after their charges, referencing a 2016 study released by the California Health Interview Survey.\n\n\u201cAsian Americans, we feel in our culture that caregiving for older family members or even younger family members is part of our responsibility as a family and that institutionalism perhaps is less acceptable culturally than in other cultures,\u201d he said.\n\n\"I think as I was going through it, I didn\u2019t always know I needed somebody. It was very hard to stop and think about what [I] needed.\u201d\n\n\u201cAsian Americans could conceivably spend longer durations of caregiving and therefore will be subjected to greater risk of stress and strain compared to other caregivers who may be more willing to seek respite care or hiring somebody,\u201d he added.\n\nAfter the death of her father in 2015, Soni spent a year reflecting and communicating with others who had gone through similar experiences. Soni said she created the platform for these stories to live on, a way to honor the memory of those who have died and also pay respect to caregivers.\n\n\u201cI started to open up and have conversations with adult caregivers, people who had been through loss, people who were currently caregiving to different family members, and I asked them questions about what they have gone through, what do they need, how could I help, and what services would have helped them,\u201d Soni said.\n\nUltimately, the main goal of The Caregiving Effect is to support adult caregivers who have cared or are caring for their parents.\n\n\u201cI had always envisioned a quilt of caregivers and their stories, but with a real intention focus to shift conversation,\" Soni said. \"I really wanted to shift conversations [from] sitting in pain and discomfort to one that is understanding of the sources of learning and knowledge we all walk from in this experience.\u201d\n\nFollow NBC Asian America on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr.", "output": "For 12 years, Priya Soni watched as her father\u2019s health deteriorated. Multiple doctors in the '00s were unable to diagnose his illness \u2014 which included losing motor control and the ability to speak, she said \u2014 and Soni, who was then in her 20s, found herself having to take care of him.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon opens anti-counterfeiting programme to third-party sellers \n Amazon is extending its anti-counterfeiting Transparency program to third-party retailers on its platform, according to three sources that sell as third-party sellers on the site.\n\nThe program was launched in March as a test for Amazon\u2019s own products and labels. It\u2019s now open to everyone that sells products through Marketplace, Amazon\u2019s third-party sales platform, and some speculate that it may end up being mandatory for retailers to sign on to.\n\nTransparency provides customers with details about where a product comes from, including manufacturing date, location and other details like materials and ingredients. Every item that has a Transparency label, a stylized blue T, has a unique code that can be scanned with the Amazon app to reveal the product information.\n\nThe way it works is roughly like a serialization or UPC code. The brand buys the codes from Amazon and puts a unique code on every unit it creates for sale on Marketplace. All the codes are serialized; Amazon will not accept items without codes. Amazon is telling sellers that don\u2019t have codes on products right now that they have to add the codes soon or risk their products being eliminated from Amazon.\n\nSources say that Amazon is focusing Transparency efforts on third-party sellers that sell through its enormous Marketplace offering. Amazon takes a cut out of any retail transactions that go through Marketplace. The program is optional now and there\u2019s no cost to use it, but sources believe Amazon will eventually charge retailers a nominal price of a few cents for a million codes; Amazon wouldn\u2019t say.\n\nOne of the brands signing on to Transparency is Corkcicle, a maker of high-end water bottles. Eric Miller, partner at the company, which sells as a third-party seller to Amazon, said that his company has had people making knock-offs of his product, so he likes the idea of the program.\n\n\u201cAmazon wants to get out of the concept that they\u2019re just a mass retailer,\u201d said Michael Levine, vp of marketing at retail agency Photon. \u201cThe problem they\u2019ve had in the past is legitimacy. Essentially, coming out with their own UPC code means guaranteeing authenticity.\u201d That, said Levine, can open the door to the coveted luxury segment \u2014 a segment Amazon has been struggling to woo as luxury brands worry not just about the low-end \u201cstorefronts\u201d Amazon could provide but also about counterfeit sellers diluting brands\u2019 value.\n\nEven for a company like Corkcicle that isn\u2019t on the level of a Louis Vuitton, Transparency is nice to have, even if it\u2019s not game-changing, Miller said. \u201cIt\u2019s a nice comfort level.\u201d\n\nElaine Kwon, founder of e-commerce consultancy Kwontified and the former vendor manager of luxury division at Amazon Fashion, said that Transparency is in line with Amazon\u2019s focus on customer experience and trust. The brands signing onto Transparency have to do much of the legwork themselves \u2014 even to the point of making sure its authorized retail partners also don\u2019t apply for the program, lest Amazon sees authorized resellers as counterfeiters.\n\nKwon said Transparency fulfills two objectives: It weeds out \u201cbad\u201d products but keeps Marketplace competitive on price, which ultimately gives the customer the most choice and helps Amazon. This doesn\u2019t help brands, though, because price competitiveness among multiple sellers on Marketplace still happens, she said, which drives down prices for the seller.\n\nSources say that buyers who work for Amazon themselves struggle with the scale of Marketplace to the point where finding counterfeit products and stamping them out becomes a game of whack-a-mole.\n\nAmazon declined to comment on the specific program or confirm that it\u2019s extending it, but a spokeswoman said, \u201cAs part of our investment in brand protection, we are building powerful tools tailored to the needs of rights owners. In order to detect bad actors and potentially counterfeit products, we employ dedicated teams of software engineers, research scientists, program managers, and investigators to operate and continually refine our anti-counterfeiting program. When a business registers to sell products through Amazon\u2019s Marketplace, Amazon\u2019s automated systems scan information for signals that the business might be a bad actor, and Amazon blocks those bad actors during registration before they can offer any products for sale.\u201d\n\nTransparency is separate from Amazon\u2019s Brand Registry program where companies can register logos and IP with Amazon and let it take down counterfeit seller accounts. It\u2019s one big reason brands decide to sell directly to Amazon \u2014 Nike\u2019s recent move to sign on as a so-called vendor was driven in part by the large number of counterfeit sellers of Nike on Amazon, which joining the brand registry program would help solve.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a way of them saying, \u2018We\u2019ll take a step on our side and build a program and help you track every product sold on Amazon,\u2019\u201d said Levine.", "output": "Amazon is making its anti-counterfeiting transparency programme available for third-party retailers on its site. The transparency programme requires brands to buy unique codes which provide customers with product details. Without a code, vendors' products risk being taken down from the site. By launching unique product codes, Amazon is more able to attract luxury brands, which would otherwise worry about counterfeit sellers diluting their brand's value, said Michael Levine, VP of marketing at retail agency Photon.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Over 50 business owners jailed for not paying new business rates \n One small business owner a week has been sent to prison after failing to pay the newly adjusted business rates bills, as the government warns sole traders to pay up or face prison.\n\nAccording to new data compiled by CVS for the Press Association, 54 business owners were sent to prison for up to 90 days for nonpayment of business rates in the year to the end of March.\n\nWhereas limited companies face liquidation if they are unable to pay the controversial new rates, sole traders and self-employed businesses face a \u201cdisproportionate financial and legal burden\u201d\u009d and prison for not keeping up with payments.\n\nBusinesses across the UK have been challenging the rates revaluations, which continue to cripple thousands.\n\nThe government pledged \u00a3300 million to a relief fund to help those businesses most affected, but just two out of nearly 100 local councils have paid out so far amid increasing delays and lack of direction from the government.\n\nFor the hundreds of companies challenging their revaluated business rates bill, bills must still be paid while a decision is made on their appeal.\n\n\u201cIt is the only tax not related to the ability to pay, so it places both a disproportionate financial and legal burden on sole traders.\u201d CVS chief executive Mark Rigby said.\n\nThe disproportionate challenges faced by limited companies and sole traders was thrown into the spotlight earlier this year with the collapse of fashion retailer Jaeger.\n\nRoughly \u00a32 million was owed in relation to business rates bills to 39 different councils and around 2p in the pound was returned to councils as the company fell into liquidation.\n\nClick here to sign up to Retail Gazette\u2018s free daily email newsletter", "output": "Some 54 business owners were sent to prison for up to 90 days for failing to pay business rates in the year to the end of March. While limited companies face liquidation if they cannot pay business rates, sole traders and self-employed businesses face a \"disproportionate financial and legal burden\" and also prison for failing to pay the new revalued business rates. Although the government has pledged \u00a3300m ($396m) to help businesses most affected by the rate changes, just two out of nearly 100 local councils have paid out so far.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ECB shoots down Estonia's national cryptocurrency plan \n Bitcoin, the original stateless cryptocurrency, has often been tolerated and sometimes embraced by governments, central banks, and other key institutions around the world. But there is a limit to some officials\u2019 acceptance of cryptoassets.\n\nThe president of the European Central Bank yesterday rejected the idea that Estonia, which is part of the euro zone, could issue and manage its own state-backed cryptocurrency. The idea is still theoretical, but ECB president Mario Draghi shot it down anyway when asked about it at a press conference: \u201cNo member state can introduce its own currency; the currency of the euro zone is the euro.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAn Estonian cryptocurrency has been mooted as part on the country\u2019s e-Residency program that provides a digital identity to foreign entrepreneurs. Kaspar Korjus, managing director at e-Residency, floated the idea of issuing \u201destcoins\u201d that allow people to invest in the country. The cryptocurrency would be available through its its e-residency program via an initial coin offering, which takes some of the principles of bitcoin and blends them with crowdfunding. Proceeds could go into a type of public-private partnership.\n\nLast week, China\u2019s central bank said fundraising through digital tokens\u2014that is, initial coin offerings\u2014was illegal, a move that sent shockwaves through the burgeoning token markets.\n\nMeanwhile the euro has been on a tear lately, rallying against fellow old-school fiat currencies of just about every major trading partner amid the region\u2019s economic recovery. The common currency has gained nearly 15% against the dollar so far this year. Over that same period against the greenback, bitcoin is up nearly 400%.", "output": "Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, has refused to allow European Union member Estonia to develop its own digital currency, saying: \"No member state can introduce its own currency; the currency of the euro zone is the euro.\" Kaspar Korjus, managing director of Estonia's e-Residency programme, which offers a digital identity to foreign entrepreneurs, had proposed issuing \"estcoin\" as part of an initial coin offering, with funds raised put into a public-private partnership."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Russia develops legal frameworks for cryptocurrencies \n Russia is developing a legal framework that would regulate the purchase of cryptocurrencies, Russia\u2019s finance minister says, adding that the government wants to legitimize cryptocurrencies and wind down the black market.\n\nSpeaking at the II Moscow Financial Forum, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov reassured Russian fans of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies that the government has no intention of outlawing cryptocurrencies.\n\n\u201cThe state understands indeed that crypto-currencies are real. There is no sense in banning them, there is a need to regulate them,\u201d the minister said.\n\nInstead, the Russian financial authorities are now working to bring operations with cryptocurrencies into compliance with Russian law. The legislation, to be ready by the end of the year, envisions registration of would-be buyers and a clear definition of buying procedures and rules of circulation.\n\nExplaining the need for tighter regulation, Siluanov pointed out that those investing in virtual money are subject to greater risks due to the lack of external regulation.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe must make an organized market out of the black market,\u201d he said.\n\nREAD MORE: \u2018US wanted him for his intellect\u2019 \u2013 wife of Russian arrested for alleged Bitcoin fraud to RT\n\nWhile not disclosing details of the proposed law, Siluanov said the ministry\u2019s goal is to make the purchase of cryptocurrencies covered by law to the same degree as buying treasury bonds and other securities.\n\nEarlier it was reported that Russia is mulling prohibiting the mining of cryptocurrencies in apartments. The procedure is deemed unsafe, as substantial increases in power consumption may result in fire.\n\n\u2018Bitcoin plunges over news of looming exchanges shutdown in China\u2019\n\nMeanwhile, unconfirmed reports emerging on Friday that China\u2019s financial regulator plans to close major Bitcoin exchanges caused Bitcoin to fall. The reports were spread by Chinese financial publication Caixin, citing sources within the country\u2019s cross regulators committee, but remain unconfirmed.\n\nSpeculation over a crackdown on cryptocurrencies in China is rife due to a recent decision by The People\u2019s Bank of China (PBOC) to outlaw the practice of raising funds through \u2018initial coin offerings\u2019 (ICOs).\n\nICO fundraising has experienced a surge in popularity in China, with 65 IOCs raising a total of 2.62 billion yuan ($394.6 million) from over 100,000 individuals since the beginning of the year.\n\nPursuant to the PBOC decision, individuals who have already completed fundraising should make arrangements to return the money.", "output": "Russia is aiming to introduce a legal framework that regulates the purchase of cryptocurrencies by the end of the year, the Russian finance minister, Anton Siluanov, has said. While\u00a0the Russian government does not intend to outlaw cryptocurrencies, the legislation would require would-be buyers to register before trading virtual currencies. Additionally, the finance ministry plans to issue clear definitions of buying procedures and rules of circulation. Through the regulation, the ministry intends to make the purchase of cryptocurrencies similar to buying treasury bonds and other securities.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Commercial carrier insurtech start-up DataCubes raises $2.5m \n DataCubes, a Chicago, IL-based data science platform for the commercial insurance industry, completed a $2.5m Series A funding round.\n\nThe round was led by Seyen Capital and MK Capital.\n\nThe company intends to use the funds to extend platform capabilities to support additional lines of business and scale sales and marketing efforts.\n\nLed by Kuldeep Malik, CEO and co-founder, and Harish Neelamana, Chief Product Officer, DataCubes provides a data science platform that leverages machine learning and AI to analyze sources for insights, like unstructured text and images, to enables carriers to accurately quote commercial insurance policies by asking customers a few questions. Specifically, the company\u2019s D3 platform eliminates paperwork and automates underwriting with machine learning and AI, provides a holistic view of risks by analyzing a variety of internal and external data, and prioritizes commercial insurance applications by using external data to score risks.\n\nFinSMEs\n\n08/09/2017", "output": "Chicago-based start-up DataCubes has raised $2.5m in a series A funding round led by Seyen Capital and MK Capital. DataCubes has developed a platform aimed at the commercial insurance industry that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to accurately quote commercial insurance policies for customers, removing paperwork and automating underwriting. The new funds will be used to expand sales and marketing, and extend the platform to include additional lines of business.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Steve Morgan makes $1m donation to Hurricane Irma appeal \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nSign up to our free newsletter for the top North Wales stories sent straight to your e-mail\n\nNorth Wales developer Steve Morgan has donated one million US Dollars to the Barbuda Relief Fund after the island was devastated by Hurricane Irma.\n\nThe deadly hurricane has tragically claimed a number of lives and left a trail of destruction across the Caribbean island of Barbuda.\n\nIrma was a category five hurricane - the highest level possible - and it is understood that over 60% of Barbuda\u2019s people are now homeless as a result.\n\nMr Morgan, who was raised in Rhyl and went to school in Colwyn Bay, has had a home on the island of Antigua for many years and today called on the international community, and those with the available means, to come to the island's assistance as a matter of urgency.\n\n\u201cMy heart goes out to everyone affected by Hurricane Irma,\u201d said the founder and Chairman of Deeside based Redrow plc.\n\n\u201cI've been visiting the island for many years and my family and I consider Antigua as a second home.\n\n\"We have all seen the truly horrendous pictures and footage of the damage caused by the hurricane and cannot begin to imagine what it is like for those involved.\n\n\u201cSo many people have been affected and now face such a long and hard struggle to return to some kind of normality.\n\n\"The devastation on the ground cannot be overstated \u2013 we simply cannot stand by and watch the people of Barbuda suffer and I just felt like I had to do something to try to help.,\n\n\"I would also repeat the calls already made for the international community, and others with the available means, to come together and do whatever they can to help all those affected who are in such desperate need following the devastating hurricane.\u201d\n\nSteve Morgan has made the donation of one million US dollars via his charity - the Steve Morgan Foundation - which he formed in 2001.\n\nMr Morgan is worth \u00a3831m - the sixth richest man in Wales. He would be a billionaire but last year gifted more than 11% of his Redrow housebuilding company shares to his charitable foundation.", "output": "Steve Morgan, the founder and chairman of housebuilder Redrow Homes, has donated $1m to the Barbuda Relief Fund. The fund will help rebuild the island after category five hurricane Irma left around 60% of its population homeless. Morgan also called on the international community to contribute to help those affected by the hurricane.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "First-time buyers on the rise in California, supply still waning \n Josh and Kayleigh Hyink, former San Clemente residents, pose in front of the new home they recently purchased in the Riverside County community of Murrieta.\n\nNewly married and in their mid-20s, San Clemente residents Josh and Kayleigh Hyink were ready for the next step in their \u201cmaster plan.\u201d\n\nSo the couple ditched their $1,644 one-bedroom apartment in Orange County and this spring purchased a new $430,000 house in the Riverside County city of Murrieta, becoming homeowners for the first time.\n\n\n\nFor the record: For the record: This article incorrectly describes a development in Rancho Mission Viejo as the Norwalk Neighborhoods. In fact, the project is known as the NorthWalk Neighborhoods.\n\nEven though the move meant that Josh\u2019s commute to his Huntington Beach job ballooned to 75 miles, the couple said it was worth it to get a large house \u2014 something they couldn\u2019t afford closer in. The median home price in Riverside County was $365,000 in July, compared with $690,000 in Orange County, according to CoreLogic.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cWe wanted to get out of renting,\u201d Josh said. \u201cWe wanted to move toward starting a family.\u201d\n\nThe rate of first-time home buyers remains low historically, but eight years into the economic recovery, it is finally picking up, as young Americans such as the Hyinks grow more comfortable in their careers and reach an age when people tend to put down roots.\n\nNationally, first-time home buyers purchased 35% of previously owned houses and condos sold in the 12 months that ended in June 2016 \u2014 the latest data available \u2014 up from a near-record low of 32% in the previous 12-month period.\n\nStill, that rate is well below the historical average of 40% over the last several decades, reflecting continuing obstacles, such as heavy personal debt loads and high home prices, that are preventing more young people from buying homes.\n\nIn California, the uptick is slightly more muted, given an affordability crisis that prompted Bankrate.com to label the state the toughest for first-time buyers.\n\nIn this year\u2019s second quarter, 31.7% of houses and condos in California were purchased by first-time buyers, according to a California Assn. of Realtors survey. That\u2019s up from 29.2% a year earlier.\n\nBut even here, developers say they are ramping up construction to cater to millennials with good jobs, who are increasingly fleeing rising rents for a locked-down mortgage payment.\n\n\u201cThey are finally ready to buy,\u201d Skylar Olsen, a senior economist with real estate firm Zillow, said of millennials.\n\nJosh and Kayleigh Hyink stand in the kitchen of their new home in Murrieta. (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)\n\nGiven the high cost of housing in urban and coastal areas, many are choosing a single-family house inland.\n\nThe Hyinks said that near the coast they couldn\u2019t afford the large house they wanted for their dog and future children. In Murrieta, they have a brand-new, three-bedroom house with a three-car garage. As an added plus, they are near Temecula, where they both grew up.\n\n\u201cIt was cool out there for a while,\u201d Kayleigh, a 26-year-old teacher, said of Orange County. \u201cBut we\u2019d never have a yard.\u201d\n\nDevelopers are rushing to fill demand from such young adults.\n\nIn San Bernardino and Riverside counties, builders pulled permits for 9,269 new homes, most of which were houses, in the first seven months of this year, up 58% from a year earlier, according to data from the Census Bureau.\n\nIn more expensive Los Angeles and Orange counties, permits were down a combined 4%, a drop that came entirely from multifamily construction, which is typically built in expensive urban areas and faces more pushback from existing residents.\n\n\u201cThey are all shifting their business a little more to first-time buyers, whether along the coast or inland,\u201d John Burns, a well-known national real estate consultant, said of California builders. \u201cThat is where the demand is.\u201d\n\nKB Home, a national home builder based in Los Angeles, is selling homes in 27 developments in the Inland Empire, compared with 18 a year earlier.\n\nJeff Mezger, the company\u2019s chief executive, said KB Home wants to build near the coast, but it\u2019s increasingly difficult to acquire lots there as prices have risen in the largely built-out area. Constructing homes farther out is easier, and homes are selling fast to millennial buyers, as the housing market goes through a familiar cycle.\n\n\u201cDemand always moves inland as the economy gets better, because people want to be a homeowner and \u2026 they get priced out,\u201d Mezger said.\n\nIn Lake Elsinore, Pardee Homes last year started offering single-family houses below the Riverside County median in its new Viewpoint neighborhood in the master-planned Canyon Hills, with three-bedroom homes in the low $300,000s. The price was possible because of low land costs there and a denser-than-typical layout that put homes in a semi-circle surrounding a community courtyard.\n\nLinda Mamet, vice president of corporate marketing at Pardee\u2019s parent company, TRI Pointe, said the majority of buyers at the small 75-home project were purchasing a house for the first time. And with prices low, only three homes remain.\n\n\u201cIt was a very fast-selling community,\u201d she said.\n\nConstruction is under way in the Murrieta neighborhood where Josh and Kayleigh Hyink live. (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)\n\nEven some coastal developers are trying to offer houses at a price millennials can afford, eager to cater to a demographic that now surpasses baby boomers in sheer size and number of home sales nationwide.\n\nIn south Orange County, new neighborhoods in the master-planned Rancho Mission Viejo community just east of San Juan Capistrano are being designed specifically with millennials in mind. Most homes in the Norwalk Neighborhoods there are starting from the low $300,000s to $700,000s.\n\nThe homes will have a contemporary feel and residents can watch their children scamper in a designated play area, hop on a zip line or get a drink at an outdoor lounge.\n\nMost important are the prices, which are kept on the relatively affordable end by increasing density, even for the single-family homes.\n\n\u201cIt really all begins with getting attainable pricing,\u201d said Paul Johnson, senior vice president of community development with the Rancho Mission Viejo company, the developer of the 14,000-home master-planned community.\n\nThe developer decided to build neighborhoods designed for young home buyers about three years ago. It wanted to get ahead of what it predicted would be a wave of millennials looking for suburban homes.\n\nThe decision ran counter to the views of many pundits who predicted millennials, compared with previous generations, would forgo homeownership to rent in big cities, where developers are building apartment and condo towers in places such as downtown Los Angeles and Seattle.\n\nMany millennials are indeed staying in their apartments, and the national homeownership rate for those under 35 is still nearly 7 percentage points less than it was a decade ago, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That\u2019s partly because high student loan and rent payments make saving for a down payment difficult.\n\nDowell Myers, a demographic expert at USC, puts most of the blame on high home prices for turning what should be a flood of young home buyers into more of a trickle.\n\n\u201cThere is an uptick,\u201d he said. \u201c[But] demand is being smothered by supply constraints.\u201d\n\nIn the third quarter, 33.1% of California home buyers were born between 1980 and 1999, compared with 30.5% a year earlier, according to Ellie Mae, a company that processes mortgage applications for lenders.\n\nLeslie Appleton-Young, the chief economist with the California Assn. of Realtors, agrees with Myers, though she said she thinks the share of first-time buyers in California will continue to rise modestly going forward as millennials age.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think there can be a surge because affordability is so challenging,\u201d Appleton-Young said.\n\nThose who do buy near the coast often need to come from a wealthy family or have a high income themselves.\n\nRachel Dao, 30, is among those who were ready to settle down in Los Angeles and had the cash to do so after starting her own architecture firm last year. In May, she purchased a home in a gentrifying neighborhood northeast of downtown Los Angeles for more than $700,000.\n\n\u201cI had been on a big project and just got paid,\u201d Dao said. \u201cIt went straight to the down payment.\u201d\n\nOthers are getting help from parents or are cashing out stock options, particularly on the Westside of Los Angeles with its burgeoning tech community.\n\n\u201cI have a lot of tech clients that are getting IPO money,\u201d said Cody Coffman, a Redfin real estate agent on the Westside, who said more and more of his clients are buying their first home.\n\nFor others, the search is tougher, even if they have good jobs.\n\nNate Hennagin and his wife, Rachel, moved to Los Angeles from Massachusetts this year and quickly set out to become homeowners.\n\nThe 29-year-olds even rented a temporary Airbnb, instead of leasing an apartment, because they believed that interest rates and home prices would only rise and they didn\u2019t want to waste any time.\n\nBut their options to stay near work are limited, even though he is a labor attorney and she is a recruiter for a major television network.\n\nThey recently made a $610,000 offer on a $600,000 house in Cypress Park, but lost out. Someone else was willing to pay $150,000 over asking. They\u2019ve since expanded their search to condos.\n\nIf they don\u2019t find a place soon, Nate said, they\u2019ll rent, because he and his wife don\u2019t want to move somewhere that would mean a smaller down payment but require grueling commutes to their jobs in the Miracle Mile and Burbank.\n\n\u201cWe are sort of hitting a wall,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have those savings set aside for the down payment. We don\u2019t have parents who can give us a $20,000 loan.\u201d\n\nandrew.khouri@latimes.com\n\nTwitter: @khouriandrew", "output": "The number of people getting a foot on the Californian property ladder is slowly starting to rise, according to a survey by the California Association of Realtors. 31.7% of properties sold in the state during Q2 2017 were bought by first-time buyers, compared to 29.2% the previous year. Developers are racing to meet demand, with builders' permits for new homes up 58% in the first seven months of 2017 to 9,269, but heavy personal debt loads and high home prices are still preventing many US first-time buyers from finding a home.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "San Leon Oisin Fanning's pay five times 2016 company turnover \n San Leon energy boss Oisin Fanning's pay package was valued at five times the company's turnover last year, according to its newly released-annual report. The report also shows that San Leon's auditors have cast doubt on the oil and gas explorer's future.\n\nFanning's remuneration package for last year was valued at \u20ac1.7m, including salary, bonus and share awards, with the company posting revenue of \u20ac342,000.\n\nLast year, his package outstripped that of Dalata chief Pat McCann and would have put him among the top 10 earners if the company were part of the ISEQ20.\n\nThe company's 2016 accounts were published later than stock market rules in London allowed, resulting in a suspension of trading.\n\nIn this year's annual report, auditors KPMG stated that San Leon's directors had acknowledged the company would need further funding in the next 12 months.\n\nIt is awaiting payments from its stake in a Nigerian oil field - a deal made last year, which was described by the company as transformational. The project operator has run into difficulties making the payments.\n\nKPMG said there were \"material uncertainties, which may cast doubt\" over San Leon's ability to continue as a going concern.", "output": "The boss of beleaguered Irish energy firm San Leon, Oisin Fanning, earned \u20ac1.7m ($2m) last year in salary, bonus and share awards, five times the company's \u20ac342,000 turnover, according to its annual report. San Leon's shares were suspended after it published its 2016 accounts later than stock market rules permitted and its directors have acknowledged the company would need further funding, according to its auditors, KPMG. The oil and gas exploration company is also awaiting payments from its stake in a Nigerian oil field.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Textile separation breakthrough may bring full recycling closer \n HONG KONG \u2013 A significant breakthrough has been announced by the H&M Foundation and Hong Kong researchers in a four-year project to chemically recycle polyester and cotton blended textiles into new polyester fabrics and yarns without any quality loss.\n\nThe joint-partners say this new fibre-to-fibre recycling process \u2013 developed as part of a \u20ac30M funded project \u2013 is another major step towards closed-loop textile processing.", "output": "A new chemical process enabling\u00a0the separation of blended polyester and cotton textiles for recycling\u00a0into new fabrics and yarns has been described as groundbreaking\u00a0by its developers at the H&M Foundation and The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel.\u00a0The process, which researchers claim doesn't\u00a0reduce fabric quality, is being seen as a significant step towards \u201cclosed-loop\u201d processing, in which only recycled materials are used. The process uses heat, water and a small amount of a \u201cbiodegradable green chemical\u201d to separate fabric\u00a0blends in a system that is cost-effective and causes no secondary pollution, researchers say.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Textile separation breakthrough may bring full recycling closer \n \u201cFor too long the fashion industry has not been able to properly recycle its products, since there\u2019s no commercially viable separation, sorting, and recycling technology available for the most popular materials such as cotton and polyester blends,\u201d says Erik Bang, Innovation Lead at H&M Foundation. \u201cThis very encouraging finding has the potential to change that. We are very excited to develop this technology and scale it beyond the laboratory, which will benefit the global environment, people and communities.\u201d\n\nThe aim of the Recycling Revolution program is to find at least one ready technology to recycle clothes made from blend textiles, within the four-year project period.\n\nOne year into the partnership, HKRITA together with Ehime University and Shinshu University in Japan, successfully developed a hydrothermal process to fully separate and recycle cotton and polyester blends. The recovered polyester material can be reused directly, without any quality loss.\n\nThe hydrothermal process uses only:\n\nheat\n\nwater\n\npressure\n\nbiodegradable green chemical\n\nThis fibre-to-fibre recycling method is cost effective, and there\u2019s no secondary pollution to the environment, ensuring the life of the recycled material is prolonged in a sustainable way. The technology will be licensed widely to ensure broad market access and maximum impact.\n\n\u201cBy being able to upcycle used textiles into new high value textiles, we no longer need to solely rely on virgin materials to dress a growing world population.\u201d Edwin Keh, CEO HKRITA\n\nThe H&M Foundation initiated the partnership with HKRITA in September 2016. It is backed by an estimated 5.8 million euros of funding, with HKRITA conducting the research and work to commercialise the outcomes. The Innovation and Technology Fund of the Hong Kong SAR Government also provides additional substantial funding and support. The total project investment is estimated to around 30 million euros during the four-year collaboration (2016-2020), which makes it one of the biggest and most comprehensive efforts ever for textile recycling.\n\nThe collaboration is part of H&M Foundation\u2019s commitment within its focus area Planet, which initiatives all have the aim to safeguard not only the planet but also the living conditions for people and communities around the world.\n\nH&M Foundation is a non-profit global foundation, privately funded by the Stefan Persson family, founders and main owners of H&M group. Its mission is to drive long lasting positive change and improve living conditions by investing in people, communities and innovative ideas. Through partnerships with organizations around the globe, the H&M Foundation drives change within four focus areas; Education, Water, Equality and Planet. In addition to this, the Foundation can also provide emergency relief. Since 2013, the Stefan Persson family has donated 1.3 billion Swedish krona ($177 million/\u20ac144 million) to the Foundation. Learn more at hmfoundation.com.\n\nThe Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel was established in 2006 and is a publicly funded applied research center. It is one of five applied research centers sponsored by the Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. HKRITA engages in applied mid- and down-stream research to support the textile and apparel industries, to drive sustainable improvements, and to drive improvements for society.\n\nThe Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF), administered by the Innovation and Technology Commission, aims to increase the added value, productivity and competitiveness of our economic activities. The Government hopes that, through the ITF, Hong Kong companies could be encouraged and assisted to upgrade their technological level and introduce innovative ideas to their businesses.", "output": "A new chemical process enabling\u00a0the separation of blended polyester and cotton textiles for recycling\u00a0into new fabrics and yarns has been described as groundbreaking\u00a0by its developers at the H&M Foundation and The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel.\u00a0The process, which researchers claim doesn't\u00a0reduce fabric quality, is being seen as a significant step towards \u201cclosed-loop\u201d processing, in which only recycled materials are used. The process uses heat, water and a small amount of a \u201cbiodegradable green chemical\u201d to separate fabric\u00a0blends in a system that is cost-effective and causes no secondary pollution, researchers say.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wal-Mart pledges $30m in hurricane relief \n Palm Bay officer Dustin Terkoski walks over debris from a two-story home at Palm Point Subdivision in Brevard County after a tornado touched down on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017.\n\nWal-Mart on Sunday promised another round of donations to help those people impacted by hurricanes in the U.S. so far this year.\n\nThe big-box retailer has said it will match customer donations, two-to-one, with cash and product donations of up to $10 million. The latest announcement brings the total committed by Wal-Mart toward hurricane relief efforts in 2017 to $30 million.\n\nIn finding a way to use these funds, Wal-Mart has launched a new campaign with the American Red Cross to assist with hurricane relief more broadly.\n\nDuring the run of this campaign, customers can donate to the American Red Cross within Wal-Mart and Sam's Clubs stores, or online. For every $1 given, Wal-Mart will contribute $2, or product of equal value, the company said. Donations will be accepted through Sept. 16.\n\nIn trying to service those communities that need food and water most, Wal-Mart has said it's working to \"quickly\" reopen affected stores in the wake of Hurricane Irma in Florida.\n\nSo far, the Arkansas-based retailer has shipped more than 1,700 truckloads of supplies to those in need.\n\nNotably, Wal-Mart has 8 percent of its brick-and-mortar fleet in Florida, or 375 facilities. Costco has 23 stores in the state, while smaller rival Target operates 122 locations there, according to recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.\n\nOn its website, Wal-Mart has an updated list of closed facilities in Florida and also those in Georgia and South Carolina. A map, last updated Sunday evening, showed one Wal-Mart store opened in Jacksonville, Florida, and five locations open in the utmost Northwest region of the state.\n\nTarget has a similar running list online of store closures, with a slew of Georgia and South Carolina locations impacted, as well.\n\nLater Monday morning, Target announced its pledge of $1 million in cash and in-kind donations to support communities impacted by Hurricane Irma. Home Depot also raised its commitment to $2 million for hurricane aid this season.\n\nIt's been estimated that the potential economic impact from lost retail sales in the \"consumer/retail\" sector from Hurricane Irma is expected \u2014 in total \u2014 to be $1.45 billion, according to weather analytics firm Planalytics.", "output": "Wal-Mart has announced that it will match customer donations of money and products for US hurricane relief two-to-one, up to $10m, bringing the company\u2019s total efforts in this field in 2017 to $30m.  Wal-Mart has also launched a campaign in association with the American Red Cross in order to use these funds. Target has pledged $1m in cash and in-kind donations to assist communities affected by Hurricane Irma. Home Depot has committed $2m to hurricane aid."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Proximity to fast food outlets leads to weight gain in children \n Children who live near fast food outlets are more likely to gain weight compared with those living farther away, new research suggests.\n\nResearchers from the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) tracked the weight of more than 1,500 state primary school pupils aged four to 11.\n\nThe study found children living closer to fast food outlets were more likely to gain a significant amount of weight between the first and last year of primary school.\n\nThe study, which will be published in the Journal of Public Health, claims it is the first to show a link between accessibility to fast food outlets and weight gain over time.\n\nThe study\u2019s lead researcher, Matthew Pearce, said the findings raise important questions about the role of the local food environment and its influence on the diet of young children.\n\nPearce, a former UWE Bristol public health student now working for the NHS, said: \u201cWe know from national data that the number of children classified as obese doubles between the first and last year of primary school. Understanding the reasons for this is important to protect the future health of children.\n\n\u201cObesity is driven by many complex factors. Our study adds to existing evidence that the neighbourhood environment plays an important role in the development of obesity.\u201d\n\nResearchers calculated a \u201cfast food accessibility score\u201d for each child in the study by looking at how many fast food outlets were within about half a mile of their home.\n\nThe study also found a higher density of fast food outlets within poorer neighbourhoods.\n\nThis echoes data recently released by Cambridge University\u2019s Centre for Diet and Activity Research, which found that there are now 56,638 takeaways in England \u2013 more than a quarter of all the country\u2019s food outlets \u2013 with some of the heaviest concentrations of fast food found in England\u2019s poorest and most deprived neighbourhoods.\n\nCaroline Cerny, of the Obesity Health Alliance, told the Guardian when the figures were released that the environment can affect levels of obesity. She said: \u201cDespite the health impact of the obesity epidemic being well known, it is shocking that the number of fast food takeaways is increasing.\n\n\u201cWhether it\u2019s the marketing of junk food on billboards and TV, or the proximity of junk food outlets to schools, we know our environment has a huge impact on levels of overweightness and obesity.\u201d\n\nPearce agrees and is calling for more to be done to help people lead healthier lives.\n\n\n\nHe said: \u201cWhile ultimately it is down to individuals on how they choose to live, it is widely accepted that we live in environments that make managing our weight increasingly difficult.\n\n\u201cWe therefore need national and local policymakers to take decisions that support more favourable conditions that enable people to eat healthier and become more physically active.\u201d", "output": "Children living near fast food outlets are more likely to gain weight, according to research by the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol). The study, which analysed the weight of over 1,500 primary school children aged between four and 11, found that those living closer to fast food outlets were more likely to gain substantial amounts of weight between the first and last years of primary school. The study, which claims to be the first to demonstrate a link between accessibility to such outlets and weight gain, also identified higher densities of fast food restaurants in poorer areas.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UN recognises EcoBioClean technology for oil spill clean-ups \n Janet Angel, CEO of JACOR LLC, has been selected to present a best practices case study discussing the scientific and ecological value of EcoBioClean\u00ae technology before the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on 14 September in Berlin.\n\nThis patented technology could be a safer and less costly way to treat oil spills. The UNEP workshop is intended to advance entrepreneurship and start-up initiatives for sustainable chemistry. Participants will include Nobel laureates and other leaders from the environmental and scientific community.\n\nAngel set about developing the EcoBioClean\u00ae technology shortly after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Her cost-effective, comprehensive green chemistry application reduces a crude oil slick in salt or fresh water to tiny particles. It continues to biodegrade and transform those substances into beneficial materials suitable for aquatic or ground life with total remediation occurring in as little as seven days. The process is analogous to the way micro-organisms break down organic waste into the chemical energy and nutrients needed for cellular maintenance and growth.\n\nSpill cleanup is costly. In 2010, BP spilt over 200 million gallons of crude into the Gulf and spent over US$60 billion in cleanup costs. Treatment of the BP spill via EcoBioClean\u00ae would have cost around US$1.02 billion, approximately one-sixtieth of the cost.", "output": "A company that has developed a technology to clean up oil spills that mimics the way micro-organisms break down organic waste has been invited to a United Nations Environment Programme conference.\u00a0Janet Angel, the CEO of Jacor, developed EcoBioClean, a cost-effective green chemistry application, after the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon spill, during which more than 200 million gallons of crude oil leaked into the Gulf of Mexico, costing more than $60bn to clean up. She will address the gathering about the scientific and ecological value of EcoBioClean technology."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nicotine e-cigarettes linked to heart disease and stroke \n E-cigarettes containing nicotine could increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes, researchers have found.\n\n\n\nA study discovered that vaping devices containing the stimulant could cause a stiffening of the arteries, as well as an increased heart rate and blood pressure.\n\nSwedish scientists recruited 15 healthy volunteers to take part in the experiment, none of whom had used e-cigarettes before.\n\nThe tests found in the 30 minutes after smoking the e-cigarettes containing nicotine, there was a significant increase in blood pressure, heart rate and arterial stiffness.\n\nThere was no such effect in the volunteers who smoked the e-cigarettes without nicotine.\n\nDr Magnus Lundback of the Karolinska Institute, a medical university in Stockholm, said: \u201cThe number of e-cigarette users has increased dramatically in the last few years. E-cigarettes are regarded by the general public as almost harmless.\n\n\u201cThe industry markets their product as a way to reduce harm and to help people to stop smoking tobacco cigarettes. However, the safety of e-cigarettes is debated, and a growing body of evidence is suggesting several adverse health effects.\n\n\u201cThe results are preliminary, but in this study we found there was a significant increase in heart rate and blood pressure in the volunteers who were exposed to e-cigarettes containing nicotine. Arterial stiffness increased around three-fold in those who were exposed to nicotine-containing e-cigarettes compared with the nicotine-free group.\u201d\n\nWhile the effects seen in the tests were temporary, Lundback said that chronic exposure to e-cigarettes with nicotine could have permanent effects.", "output": "E-cigarettes containing nicotine could raise the risk of heart attack and stroke, according to a study by Swedish scientists. The research, based on a sample of 15 healthy volunteers, discovered that use of the devices could cause arteries to stiffen as well blood pressure and heart rates to rise. Although such effects were temporary, the researchers believe that chronic exposure to the nicotine-containing devices could have permanent results. No such effects were identified in volunteers who smoked e-cigarettes without nicotine."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BRIC workers for European textile industry earn half living wage \n SURREY \u2013 Researchers at the Centre for Environment and Sustainability (CES) claim that Western European textile supply chain workers in Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) are earning less than half of the \u2018living wage\u2019. CES says the study shows that while globalisation has made the Western European textile supply chain fairer, more transparent with higher levels of employment, income for workers in BRIC countries are still far below the \u2018living wage\u2019.", "output": "Workers in BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries employed in the supply chain for the western European textile industry are earning under half the living wage, according to research by the University of Surrey. Using a Social Life Cycle Assessment model, which considers the entire lifecycle of a product, the researchers studied living costs in BRIC economies to calculate the cost of a \u201cdecent life\u201d. \u00a0The study which, unlike previous analyses included social security and income tax contributions, found that, on average, the workers would need a 35% wage increase to achieve a \"decent standard of living\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Temperature sensors improve autonomous vehicle hazard alerts \n There are many striking differences between a fence post and a human being, but one may prove particularly useful to robotic vehicles: temperature.\n\nAt least that's what the established thermal imaging firm FLIR and the Israeli startup Adasky think. Both companies are building new thermal sensors for use in autonomous cars, and they believe that the extra data could be used to spot hazards in adverse conditions. Humans and animals on or near the road, in particular, create far more heat than their surroundings.\n\nSome high-end automakers, including Porsche, BMW, and Audi, have been fitting vehicles with thermal imaging sensors from FLIR for several years. The vehicles use them to alert a driver to the presence of animals or people on the road at night, which may not show up within reach of the car's headlights. Those sensors offer an image 320 pixels wide by 240 high.\n\nNow, both FLIR and Adasky hope to achieve a similar result in autonomous cars using new sensors that they're both building.\n\nAdasky today announced a new far-infrared sensor, called Viper, that offers better resolution (640 pixels by 480) at refresh rates of 60 frames per second and can detect temperature differences as small as 0.05 \u00b0C. Adasky's Dror Meiri tells MIT Technology Review that such sensitivity allows the device not just to spot something like an elk on the road, but also to easily discern things like black ice on the surface of a highway. He says the device should be in mass production by 2020.\n\nThe video above shows Adasky's sensor in use on a country road. On the left is a visible-light camera, on the right its thermal sensor. Cyclists, pedestrians, and animals certainly show up far more sharply on the right. And the sharp contrast with surroundings would make it easier for a car to approach those living hazards with caution in a way that lidar, which provides only ranging information, may not.\n\nFLIR is also developing a VGA device for use specifically in self-driving cars. Paul Clayton, director of automotive at FLIR, says that sample units of the sensors are being shipped to some manufacturers for testing this year and that mass-produced sensors could cost \"a couple of hundred bucks.\"\n\nIf you're wondering why another sensor may be required in a driverless car, both companies point to an important, if uninspiring word: redundancy. \"It's an augment, a somewhat redundant sensor that helps classify in bad lighting conditions or weather,\" explains Clayton. We've explained in the past that multiple sensors can allow autonomous cars to make better sense of their surroundings, and the sharp contrast of thermal imaging may enable, say, a glimpse of a human to provide extra context that helps avert a dangerous incident.\n\nEven so, an extra sensor does provide another data stream to process, and because thermal imaging is less widely used on the roads than visible-light cameras and even lidar, the machine-learning systems that discern details from footage will have to catch up. Both firms seem to understand that: Adasky has built its own AI to process data for its customers, and FLIR is putting together a thermal image database that clients can use to train their own neural networks.\n\nAdoption of thermal imaging in autonomous vehicles is likely to come down to budget. Some manufacturers may balk at the expense of yet another sensor, but until cheap lidar sensors offer the quality that automakers might like, the devices could add a useful layer of safety.", "output": "Tech companies are developing thermal imaging sensors for autonomous vehicles to improve their ability to detect live obstacles in poor visibility conditions. American manufacturer FLIR and Israeli start-up Adasky are amongst those developing the temperature-detecting sensors, which they claim can help spot hazards such as humans and animals on or near the road. A number of high-end motor companies including Porsche, BMW and Audi have been fitting FLIR thermal imaging sensors to their vehicles for several years to alert drivers to potential threats. Adasky's new infra-red Viper sensor can also spot hazards such as black ice on the road."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China bans imports of nearly 50 types European soft cheese \n Soft European cheese has fallen on hard times in China. Customs officials have banned a host of soft, mould-ripened cheese for containing \u201ctoo much bacteria\u201d, with authorities reportedly alarmed the mould contained colonies of bacteria that had not been officially approved.\n\nThe ban mainly affects French and Italian cheese, including brie, camembert, gorgonzola and roquefort, as well as the English delicacy stilton.\n\n\n\nSinodis, a distributor of foreign-based cheeses in Shanghai, sent a letter to customers announcing \u201ccheese products containing certain moulds cannot temporarily be imported in China\u201d. The company has stopped importing a laundry list of nearly 50 kinds of cheese since 23 August. The ban started in July in some cities, but was expanded nationwide this week.\n\n\u201cThere is no good reason for the ban, because China considers the same cheese safe if produced in China,\u201d William Fingleton, a spokesman for the delegation of the European Union to China, said in an email. \u201cThis effectively means that China is banning famous and traditional European cheeses that have been safely imported and consumed in China for decades. The entire Chinese market for soft cheeses is now closed.\u201d\n\nChina imported more than \u00a3300m of cheese last year, according to customs data, but the statistics do not specify which varieties made up the bulk of that. Most of the strong, pungent cheeses affected by the ban are unpopular with Chinese people and are mostly consumed by foreign residents.\n\nThe news sent expats scrambling to buy cheese from remaining stocks. Online cheese shop Cheese Republic said in statement confirming the ban: \u201cIn my opinion: no bacteria = fake cheese.\u201d\n\nChinese health regulations permit only a few types of bacteria in dairy products, but there is an exemption for \u201ccultures that are traditionally used for food production\u201d. That exemption does not apply to imported goods, but it is not clear what made authorities crackdown on cheese now.\n\nHard cheese such as cheddar, comt\u00e9, gruy\u00e8re and manchego are unaffected by the new rules, but the arbitrary nature of the ban on soft cheese has European officials worried.\n\n\u201cThe European cheese industry is extremely concerned by this ban,\u201d Fingleton said. \u201cWe are concerned that potentially many other types of cheeses may be affected in the future in the same way.\u201d\n\nThere are currently tonnes of cheese being wasted because it cannot clear customs, Fingleton said. Cheese industry representatives have asked the government for clarification, but have not received any clear answer, he said.\n\nThe EU is currently surveying member states before it lobbies China to update regulations covering cheese.\n\nChina previously banned British cheese in 2014 when the food standards agency complained about hygiene standards at an unnamed dairy, but later lifted the prohibition. Italian mozzarella faced a similar ban in 2008 when the government ordered a recall, believing some products contained carcinogens.\n\nChina\u2019s food safety watchdog, the general administration of quality supervision, inspection and quarantine, and the county\u2019s customs department did not respond to requests for comment.", "output": "China has banned the import of nearly 50 types of European soft cheese, including brie, camembert, gorgonzola and stilton. The ban began in several Chinese cities in July and was implemented nationwide in August after the country's health authorities found they contained bacteria that had not been officially approved. Regulations permit only a few types of bacteria in dairy products, and exemptions for traditional foods do not apply to imports. Tonnes of cheese are reportedly being wasted because it cannot be imported, and the EU is surveying member countries before lobbying China to amend its regulations.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon searches for second HQ as it outgrows Seattle \n Amazon's (AMZN) surprise announcement Thursday that it plans to look for a second corporate headquarters in North America is likely to set off a bidding war among cities and municipalities, eager for a bite at the $38 billion in economic growth potential the company has promised with a second HQ.\n\nThe company gave some clues about what it wants for its cheekily named \"HQ2\" -- a location similar to its Seattle campus that is urban or suburban, well-connected to transit and in a metro area with at least 1 million people. But beyond that, the fact that it's going through a public process and accepting bids suggest it's open to looking far and wide -- and willing to be swayed by generous state and municipal tax breaks whipped up by local governments.\n\n\"It's unusual to go through a [request for proprosal] process, essentially shopping for a new location before any vetting is done on their own for a new location,\" said Dennis Donovan, president of WDG Consulting, a location search company.\n\nThe U.S. has 55 metro areas with a population over 1 million. Excluding Seattle itself and cities in Puerto Rico (an unlikely choice considering the U.S. territory's fiscal issues and legal status), that leaves 53.\n\nThough Amazon specified a city larger than 1 million, most experts predict the behemoth will need a much larger metropolitan area.\n\n\"Amazon is so large that it itself is a place-maker and a place-changer,\" said Susan Wachter, co-director of the Penn Institute for Urban Research at the University of Pennsylvania. \"It cannot put itself down in the middle of nowhere because it would overwhelm whatever was there.\"\n\nThat leaves out college towns like State College, Pennsylvania, or Ann Arbor, Michigan, where more than half of the population is college-educated but which lack proximity to major metro centers, along with their infrastructure.\n\n\"Amazon is a prototypical innovation economy company. It relies on a lot of workers with a lot of technical training,\" said Joseph Parilla, a fellow in the Metropolitan Policy program at the Brookings Institute. \"We're looking at a combination of factors that might make an attractive labor market, like the quantity and quality of the college-educated force.\"\n\nAmong the many factors Amazon listed, that's the one that weighs above all others: talent. All the experts who spoke with CBS News for this story said the size and quality of the potential workforce would be a big factor for the project's location, which promises to hire 50,000 people at six-figure salaries.\n\nThat also means the places Amazon already has fulfillment centers won't necessarily have an advantage because those centers tend to employ hourly workers with lower-skilled people.\n\nA third of U.S. adults have a bachelor's degree, so to find relatively high-educated cities, CBS News looked at metro areas where more than 33 percent of the population has a college degree or higher.\n\nTwenty-six cities fit this criteria:\n\nMetro area State Population Percent with bachelor's degree New York-Newark-Jersey City NY 20,153,634 38.40 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim CA 13,310,447 32.70 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin IL 9,512,999 36.00 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington TX 7,233,323 33.40 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria DC 6,131,977 49.30 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington PA 6,070,500 36.00 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell GA 5,789,700 37.00 Boston-Cambridge-Newton MA 4,794,447 46.00 San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward CA 4,679,166 47.20 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington MN 3,551,036 40.30 San Diego-Carlsbad CA 3,317,749 37.20 Denver-Aurora-Lakewood CO 2,853,077 41.80 Baltimore-Columbia-Towson MD 2,798,886 38.60 Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia NC 2,474,314 33.50 Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro OR 2,424,955 37.90 Pittsburgh PA 2,342,299 33.00 Kansas City MO 2,104,509 35.80 Austin-Round Rock TX 2,056,405 42.60 Columbus OH 2,041,520 35.10 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara CA 1,978,816 48.70 Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin TN 1,865,298 33.60 Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis WI 1,572,482 33.90 Raleigh NC 1,302,946 44.40 Richmond VA 1,281,708 35.20 Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford CT 1,206,836 38.30 Rochester NY 1,078,879 37.30\n\nNote: The Los Angeles metro, where 32.7 percent of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, fell below the educational cutoff, but it was included on this list due to its size and because its entertainment industry is potentially important to Amazon. Source: U.S. Census/American Community Survey, 2015 estimates\n\nBeyond that, the particular qualities that Amazon wants aren't always easy to find in combination -- especially considering the facility's size.\n\n\"You need a place that has enough land to put a site in. That can be a challenge for some of the places with the most sophisticated transit systems,\" said Parilla. Conversely, places with more land, like Atlanta, Denver and Houston, tend to have relatively less transit.\n\nOne thing that likely won't have much of an impact? The subsidies that the state or city offers, experts said -- although tax breaks might make a difference if two top-tier cities competed that were otherwise very similar.\n\n\"I often tell my clients that all the incentives in the world won't make the wrong location right,\" said Bruce Maus, a logistical consultant.\n\nCBS News' Jillian Harding contributed reporting.", "output": "Amazon has outgrown its original headquarters in Seattle, where it's been based for over 20 years, and is looking elsewhere to set up a second base, expected to more than double the size of its footprint. Amazon currently houses around 40,000 employees in Seattle and has driven considerable growth in the area; a similar\u00a0impact is expected\u00a0wherever it chooses to sets up its second HQ.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Uganda sets target of four million Chinese tourists by 2020 \n A Ugandan dance group performing at the tourism expo in China\n\nTOURISM|UGANDA-CHINA RELATIONS\n\nTourism minister, Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu, has said Uganda is targeting four million tourists by 2020.\n\nProf Kamuntu is heading a delegation of government and private sector players at the China Guangdong International Tourism Expo as part of promotional efforts to get at least one million tourists from the world's largest outbound tourist nation.\n\nSpeaking at the sidelines of the expo last weekend, Kamuntu said: \"We are going to embark on an aggressive marketing campaign in this important market,\" he said\n\nThe minister was accompanied by Stephen Asiimwe, the chief executive officer of the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB), staff of the Guangzhou Consulate, led by Ambassador Solomon Rutega, Uganda's consul general in Guangzhou and official from the Uganda embassy in Beijing.\n\n\"In this year's budget, we have included an item for market representation and public relations. We hope that this will help bolster our presence in the Chinese market, increase visibility and awareness of the destination and grow visitor stay and spend in Uganda,\" Asiimwe said.\n\nTourism minister Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu Tourism minister Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu The expo and conference, was held at the Pazhou Exhibition Complex in Guangzhou, the capital Guangdong, China's richest province, with a GDP of $1.15 trillion and a population of over 110 million people.\n\nThe side event was organised as part of ongoing activities by the consulate to create further awareness of Uganda as a favourable tourist destination.\n\nAmbsaador Rutega said since the establishment of the consulate, trade, investment and tourism had increased tremendously.\n\nThe minister is in Guangzhou, as part of his visit to China, during which he will attend the General Assembly of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.\n\nHe will also preside over another consulate-organised conference on promoting Uganda's investment and tourism opportunities in Nanning City, Guangxi province next week.", "output": "Uganda is seeking to attract 4 million tourists from China by 2020, its tourism minister, Ephraim Kamuntu, has said. Kamuntu\u00a0was leading\u00a0a delegation\u00a0to the China Guangdong International Tourism Expo\u00a0to promote his country's\u00a0efforts to attract at least 1 million Chinese visitors.\u00a0\"We are going to embark on an aggressive marketing campaign in this important market,\u201d he said.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hurricane Irma could cost $300bn and raise food prices \n The economic cost of Hurricane Irma could rise as high as $300bn (\u00a3227bn) as the storm lashes Florida, damaging homes, businesses and key crops including orange groves.\n\n\n\nAnalysts said about $2tn of property lay in the storm\u2019s path, and also pointed to the potential impact on US food prices. Florida is the second-largest produce grower in the US and the world\u2019s second-largest producer of orange juice.\n\nTorsten Jeworrek, a member of the board of the German reinsurance giant Munich Re, said on Sunday that Irma was \u201ca major event for Florida and also a major event for the insurance industry\u201d.\n\nThe hurricane has already unsettled the financial markets, sending insurance stocks falling and orange juice futures surging last week. The price of contracts for November deliveries of frozen orange juice concentrate spiked as investors feared the worst after the destruction Irma wrought in the Caribbean.\n\n\n\nBarrie Cornes, an analyst at the stockbroker Panmure Gordon, put the overall economic cost at $300bn, with insurance firms potentially on the hook for between $100bn and $150bn when the clean-up operation gets under way.\n\nFlorida also grows other important crops including tomatoes, grapefruits, watermelons and sugar cane. Irma could wipe out as much as 20% of the state\u2019s citrus crop, a significant part of its economy, analysts have suggested.\n\n01:48 Hurricane Irma's path of destruction - video report\n\nAlan Konn of the Chicago-based commodity trading firm Price Asset Management said: \u201cThe damage to the orange crop is twofold, both short-term disruption but also to the extent crops are completely destroyed.\u201d\n\nIrma could also have a longer-term impact because it takes a few years to grow an orange tree to production, which would limit supply for an extended period, he said in an interview on the financial website MarketWatch.\n\nThe insurance industry is still assessing the cost of Hurricane Harvey, which caused severe flooding in parts of Texas last month. Initial estimates suggest the final bill could be as much as $100bn. That compares with economic damage of $176bn inflicted by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which included $82bn of insured losses, according to the Swiss Re Institute.\n\nRisk modeller Chuck Watson of Enki Research said on Sunday afternoon that Irma looked \u2018pretty grim\u2019.\n\n\u201cDamage the roof of a million homes, which is possible in this storm, and the cost racks up pretty quick,\u201d Watson said. He fears that Florida\u2019s orange and grapefruit crop will probably be \u201cseverely damaged\u201d if the winds over the centre of the state, between Lake Okeechobee and Orlando, are as high as expected.\n\nThe hurricane is \u201cbad news for the Florida insurance market, which is now dominated by smaller firms since the big national companies pulled out after the rash of storms in the mid 2000s,\u201d Watson added.", "output": "Hurricane Irma, which has caused widespread destruction in the Caribbean and Florida, could result in economic costs of \u00a3227bn ($300bn), according to analysts. Up to $2tn of property is potentially in the path of the storm, which could also affect US food prices. Florida is the second largest producer of crops, including grapefruits, sugar cane, tomatoes and watermelons, in the US, and the second-biggest producer of orange juice in the world. Up to 20% of the state\u2019 citrus crop could be eradicated by the storm."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK \u201cviolated\" duty to guard citizens from air pollution: UN \n The UK government is \u201cflouting\u201d its duty to protect the lives and health of its citizens from illegal and dangerous levels of air pollution, according to the UN\u2019s special rapporteur on human rights related to toxic waste.\n\n\n\nBaskut Tuncak issued his warning after a fact-finding mission to the UK in January at the invitation of the government in a report that has been shared exclusively with the Guardian before it is presented to the UN human rights council this week.\n\n\u201cAir pollution continues to plague the UK,\u201d he said. \u201cI am alarmed that despite repeated judicial instruction, the UK government continues to flout its duty to ensure adequate air quality and protect the rights to life and health of its citizens. It has violated its obligations.\u201d\n\nSuch harsh international criticism will be embarrassing for the government, whose air pollution plans have already been ruled illegally poor twice. The latest plan forced by the courts was released in July but condemned as \u201cwoefully inadequate\u201d by city leaders and \u201cinexcusable\u201d by doctors.\n\n\n\nAir pollution causes an estimated 40,000 early deaths every year in Britain and was declared a \u201cpublic health emergency\u201d by MPs in 2016. Air pollution is worst overall in London, but many other places have illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide emitted by diesel vehicles, such as Leeds, Birmingham, Bournemouth and Northampton. Ipswich has higher levels of particulate matter than London.\n\nLondon breached its nominal annual air pollution limits five days into 2017 at Brixton Road in south London. Other known pollution hotspots in the capital include Putney High Street in west London, Oxford Street, Kings Road in Chelsea and the Strand.\n\n\n\nIn his report for the UN, Tuncak assessed how well the UK protects human rights that are infringed by pollution, such as the rights to life, health and safe housing.\n\nVulnerable groups were worst affected by air pollution, he said: \u201cChildren, older persons and people with pre-existing health conditions are at grave risk of mortality, morbidity and disability, with magnified risks among the poor and minorities.\u201d\n\nA government spokeswoman said Brexit represented an opportunity to improve the UK\u2019s air quality standards. \u201cEU policies, from the common agricultural policy to vehicle emissions tests, have damaged the environment. Our \u00a33bn air quality plan will address the dirty air caused by the EU\u2019s failed testing regime, and in ending the sale of new diesel and petrol cars by 2040, the UK is more ambitious than most EU member states including Germany.\n\n\u201cWe now have an opportunity to deliver a green Brexit, ensuring the UK is a global leader in environmental protection,\u201d she said.\n\nAnna Heslop, at ClientEarth, the lawyers who have twice defeated the government on air quality standards, said: \u201cThis damning report with regard to air pollution is unsurprising but no less shocking for that. The UK has illegal levels of air pollution and successive governments have fought us in the courts rather than tackling it effectively.\n\n\u201cWe are glad the report says the government must listen to the experts, including its own, and develop a national network of clean air zones to keep the worst polluting vehicles out of the most polluted areas of our towns and cities. This should happen as soon as possible.\u201d\n\nA new, wide-ranging ClientEarth report argues the government\u2019s claim that all EU environmental laws will be retained after Brexit is misleading. Tuncak\u2019s report criticises the government over other aspects of environmental policy \u201cloopholes\u201d in fracking regulation; the loss of environmental staff due to austerity which has resulted in \u201cserious governance gaps\u201d; and the risks to environmental safety posed by Brexit.\n\nTuncak also warned of the risk that fracking, soon to start in Lancashire, poses to safe water. \u201cUK regulations on fracking are complex, split between several regulators and do not appear to be sufficiently stringent,\u201d he said. \u201cFragmented policymaking allows for loopholes.\u201d\n\nAll the UK\u2019s environmental regulators have suffered due to budget cuts, he found: \u201cThe decreasing financial, technical and human resources due to austerity have created serious governance gaps.\u201d The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has lost a third of its staff compared with 2007.\n\nAnother consequence of austerity was Defra\u2019s ending in March of capital grants to local councils for cleaning up contaminated land sites, which the UN report said posed \u201cpotentially serious health risks\u201d.\n\nTuncak warned that unless the UK\u2019s future green standards equalled those of the European Union, \u201cthe UK could risk becoming a haven for \u2018dirty\u2019 industries and a dumping ground for products failing to meet EU regulations\u201d.\n\nLabour MP Mary Creagh, who chairs the environmental audit committee, said: \u201cIt is vital the government passes a new environmental protection act as soon as possible to protect the lives and livelihoods of millions of people.\u201d Tuncak backs that call in his report.\n\nThe committee warned in January that Brexit could result in key environmental protections being left as ineffective \u201czombie legislation\u201d. Creagh said the UN report highlighted the \u201cgovernment\u2019s lack of clarity about the future of environmental issues after Brexit and how they will stop the UK from becoming a dumping ground for dirty industries and a haven for bad practice\u201d.\n\nTuncak\u2019s report also asks the UK government to \u201creconsider national plans to increase reliance on nuclear energy, considering that long-term storage of nuclear waste is uncertain and poses significant risks to the population\u201d. He criticised the UK\u2019s cuts to legal aid and protection from legal costs which make it \u201cextremely challenging\u201d for victims of environmental harm to seek redress in the courts.", "output": "The UK government has \u201cviolated its obligations\u201d to protect citizens from air pollution, according to a report by the United Nations. Baskut Tuncak, UN special rapporteur on human rights related to toxic waste, warned of potential risks to safe water posed by fracking and urged the UK government to reconsider plans to increase the use of nuclear energy. The UK also needs to match European Union green standards after Brexit in order to avoid \u201cbecoming a haven for \u2018dirty\u2019 industries\u201d, said Tuncak. An estimated 40,000 premature deaths are caused in the UK each year by air pollution."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Plans to set deadline for fossil fuel-powered vehicles in China \n China is preparing to bring an end to the sale and production of fossil fuel vehicles, according to a report in Bloomberg. The country is aiming to use the ban as a way to encourage local automakers into developing electric cars.\n\nSpeaking at an auto forum on Saturday, Xin Guobin, the country\u2019s vice minister of industry and information technology said that regulators are working to come up with a timeline for phasing out the sales and production of the vehicles.", "output": "Chinese regulators plan to set a deadline for auto manufacturers to terminate sales of fossil fuel-powered vehicles. The government is looking to create a timetable with automakers to work out when production and sales should come to a close, said Xin Guobin, vice minister of industry and information technology. The ban is expected to accelerate efforts by EV manufacturers, both Chinese and foreign, to stake a claim in the world's second-biggest economy."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "John Deere buys farming AI company Blue River for $305m \n If you are a weed, we have some somber news.\n\nJohn Deere, the farm equipment company that\u2019s been chasing autonomous technology for more than 20 years, has agreed to buy Blue River Technology, a startup that uses AI to automatically identify and spray herbicide on weeds. The price of a 60-person farming AI startup? $305 million.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBlue River Technology makes a number of farm tools: an automatic precision weed-sprayer, a device that trims lettuce at scale, and software for drones to analyze crops. The company once considered using a Tesla coil to zap weeds, according to Willy Pell, Blue River\u2019s director of new technology, which is objectively a cool idea.\n\nJohn Deere\u2019s tractors have a level of autonomy today\u2014some can steer themselves via help from GPS signals, while image sensors can determine the quality of grain during harvesting. But the company says Blue River\u2019s AI will allow future tractors to understand each individual plant in crops like lettuce and cotton, two areas Blue River has already showcased.\n\nThe acquisition underscores the immense value placed on AI research and development companies in recent years. Twitter infamously paid $150 million for the 11-person Magic Pony Technology in 2016, and in a deal that\u2019s looking more and more like a steal, Google bought the DeepMind research lab in 2014 for more than $500 million.", "output": "Farm equipment provider John Deere plans to purchase farming AI firm Blue River Technology for $305m. The 60-person start-up produces a range of farming tools, including an automatic precision weed sprayer, a lettuce trimmer and drone software for crop analysis. John Deere's tractors already incorporate limited\u00a0autonomous capabilities; the purchase of Blue River\u00a0will help the company build increasing amounts of intelligence into its vehicles.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "RWE applies for permits for Scottish low-carbon heat network \n Construction work on an ambitious project to bring cheap energy to central Glenrothes could begin next year.\n\nA formal planning application has been submitted to Fife Council for the construction of the proposed Glenrothes Energy Network project.\n\nThe \u00a317.1 million initiative, spearheaded by the local authority in conjunction with energy firm RWE and the Scottish Government, aims to supply low carbon heat to a range of businesses, public sector premises and homes through a vast network of underground pipes.\n\nRoss Tulloch, programme manager for the Glenrothes Energy Network, said that getting to the planning permission stage was a huge step for the project.\n\n\u201cSubmitting the full planning application brings us one step closer to offering clean, affordable energy to Glenrothes town centre,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cDesign and preparatory work on the programme continues apace.\n\n\u201cBy the end of the year we\u2019ll know if this project\u2019s progressing to the installation phase and work should begin early in 2018.\u201d\n\nHundreds of homes and dozens of local businesses could benefit from the scheme, which would see a network of underground pipes installed to supply low-carbon heat to buildings in the town centre area.\n\nIt will take advantage of the current heat capacity from the RWE Markinch biomass plant and energy could be provided to the council\u2019s buildings at Fife House and Rothesay House as early as January 2019.\n\nA further 327 homes have also been identified as potential beneficiaries, as well as the Rothes Halls and local library, major retailers, a social and community club and a local church.\n\nPreliminary work has already been carried out in the town, with eight trial pits and 10 bore holes dug throughout the town earlier this summer.\n\nWhile the project will initially focus on the town centre, further phases could see the network expand to more homes and to the south of the town, as far as Pitteuchar West Primary School, Fife College and the Michael Woods Sports and Leisure Centre.\n\nThe Scottish Government has awarded a grant of \u00a38.5 million from its Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme to the project, with Fife Council and RWE providing the rest of the funding.", "output": "Energy company RWE has submitted a planning application for its proposed \u00a317.1m ($22.5m) energy network project in Scotland. The project at Glenrothes is being pursued with the backing of the Scottish Government, which has put \u00a38.5m ($11.2m) towards it, with the remainder coming from RWE and Fife Council. It will use existing heat capacity from RWE's Markinch biomass plant to heat homes and businesses in Glenrothes via a network of underground pipes. Design and preparatory work is underway, and if planning permission is granted, installation is expected to take place from early 2018."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Two thirds of Swedish solar tradable under certificate program \n The amount of installed solar power operating in the Norwegian-Swedish electricity certificate system has increased considerably over the past three years, thanks to a surge in new installations especially in the Swedish renewable energy market.\n\nAccording to provisional figures provided to pv magazine by Johan Lindahl, which is responsible for writing the IEA-PVPS report about the Swedish PV market, the installed capacity of the PV systems connected to the Swedish grid that have received approval to operate in this market has increased from 49.1 MW at the end of 2015 to 94.3 MW at the end of last year. At the end of 2014 and 2013, the PV capacity approved for the electricity certificate system was 24.1 MW and 10.9 MW, respectively.\n\nThe number of produced certificates from solar systems per year increased from 24,544 MWh in 2015 to 45,467 MWh in 2016, while the number of produced certificates eligible kWh per installed power and year grew year-on-year from 499.1 kWh/kW to 537.4 kWh/kW.\n\nAccording to Lindahl, around 24% of the electricity produced from PV in Sweden currently receives certificates. The Swedish PV expert claims there are several reasons which have prevented PV from taking advantage of the electricity certificate system, and why PV system owners refrain from applying. One of the main reasons, Lindahl said, is that several PV system owners believe that the income provided by the certificate scheme is not worth the required extra administrative burden.\n\n\u201cAnother reason for this,\u201d Lindahl explains, \u201cis that the meter that registers the electricity produced by a PV system is often placed at the interface between the building and the grid. This has the consequence that it is only excess production from a PV system that generates certificates and the solar electricity that is self-consumed internally in the building is not awarded any certificates.\u201d\n\nPV system owners, however, may get the certificates on both the excess electricity and on the self-consumed electricity. But to get them also on the self-consumed part an investment in an extra meter that registers self-consumption is needed, and this investment, especially for small-sized installations, in not negligible.\n\nPopular content\n\nThe Norwegian-Swedish joint electricity certificate system for renewable energies received a new push in April, after the governments of Sweden and Norway agreed to extend it through 2030.\n\nThe two countries, which have had a common electricity certificate market for renewable energies since January 2012, reached a compromise that will allow Sweden to add a further 18 TWh of capacity and Norway to add new projects to the scheme only by 2021. Sweden and Norway started to disagree on the future of the program last year, with the first asking for an extension and the second seeking to leave the scheme.\n\nElectricity Certificates, both Swedish and Norwegian, are traded on the Nord Pool exchange with the price agreed between purchasers and sellers. The two countries release tradable certificates to renewable energy producers for every MWh they generate for the first 15 years of a power generator\u2019s lifetime. The scheme is managed by the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) and the Swedish Energy Agency.\n\nAccording to the latest statistics available, Sweden had around 140 MW of installed PV capacity at the end of 2016, while Norway had only 11 MW of solar connected to its power network.", "output": "Just above two thirds of Sweden's installed solar capacity can be traded on the Nord Pool under the certification program agreed with Norway. Approved solar capacity in Sweden has jumped from 49.1 MW at the end of 2015 to 94.3 MW a year later, compared with a total installed base of 140 MW. The barrier to greater use of the certification program is the cost of installing a meter to measure domestically consumed solar generation. Without one, only excess energy that is fed back into the grid is awarded certificates."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Marketers will spend $1.2bn in 2019 on kids digital advertising \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nThe kids digital advertising market is expected to hit $1.2 billion and represent 28 percent of all advertising directed at kids, according to a report by accounting firm PwC. Digital kids company Super Awesome commissioned the report.\n\nIn the past, kids were targeted almost exclusively through TV spending. But the PwC Kids Digital Advertising Report 2017 found that the under-13 audience has shifted its attention to digital media consumption on platforms such as smartphones, tablets, and PCs. The reported measured the ad markets in the U.S. and the United Kingdom.\n\n\u201cThe kids media market is going through the same transition which the mainstream space has been experiencing in recent years,\u201d said Mark Maitland, media strategy partner at PwC, in a statement. \u201cThere are very strong (and structural) tailwinds driving the growth of the kids digital ad market, which we believe could reach 28 percent of total ad spend by 2019.\u201d\n\nImage Credit: PwC\n\nThis market is growing by 25 percent a year, and brands are rapidly shifting their spending on ads to digital. PwC said that increasing data privacy requirements for kids\u2019 online activities (e.g. COPPA in the U.S. and GDPR in Europe) continue to drive demand for compliant digital media technology, where kids are only shown ads that are appropriate for them.\n\nPwC expects some advertisers and brands to move away from publisher-centric relationships and adopt purpose-built media platforms to deliver scale and efficiency. The firm drew attention to the emergence of this \u201ckidtech\u201d space, specialist platforms, and technology combining data privacy with extremely large-scale audience reach.\n\nGrowth is also expected in programmatic advertising aimed at kids. It\u2019s a complex proposition, given the compliance requirements, but one that emerging platforms are now solving. PwC estimates that 10 to 20 percent of digital ad spend for kids will be on compliant programmatic advertising by 2019.\n\nIn an email, SuperAwesome CEO Dylan Collins said, \u201cAfter decades of dominance by TV, the entire sector is going through a structural shift which is clearly going to reshape the landscape over the next few years.\u201d", "output": "Spending on children's digital advertising will increase to $1.2bn in 2019, with digital advertising predicted to make up more than a quarter of all advertising directed at children, according to a report by PwC. It said the shift to\u00a0smartphone, PC and tablet use among\u00a0under-13s\u00a0was behind the trend, while requirements for data privacy for children while\u00a0online were creating a demand for compliant digital media technology\u00a0that ensures children see only\u00a0ads that are suitable. The report also noted that growth was expected in programmatic advertising for kids, as emerging platforms helped marketers conform to\u00a0compliance requirements.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "One in four UK families who rent need loans to pay\u00a0moving costs \n Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nMorning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nOne in four families renting homes in England is falling into hundreds of pounds of \u201cbad debt\u201d due to the cost of moving house, new findings show.\n\nHaving to pay letting fees, removal van hires, cleaning costs and other requirements that come with moving properties has seen thousands of families taking out debt in the form of credit cards, overdraft, bank loans or payday loans, according to a report by housing charity Shelter.\n\nA total of 255,944 private renting families took on such debt the last time they moved, with the cost of moving home amounting to an average of \u00a31,619 across England \u2013 and reaching \u00a31,707 in London.\n\nThe figures show that just 10 per cent of the cost accounted for letting fees, with the rest an accumulation of added costs such as removal van hire, paying double rent and payment for new accomodation in advance.\n\nShelter has warned that Government plans to ban fees to letting agents in England will not resolve the issue, and the charity is calling for the introduction of longer and more stable contracts for renting tenants.\n\nThe findings, based on a YouGov survey of 3,981 private renters in England, also shows that one in five private renting families \u2013 or 322,120 \u2013 have moved home three or more times in the past five years.\n\nAround one in four private renters have children in their household, of which over half have moved between privately rented homes, according to Shelter.\n\nOne private renter, named only as Tracy, has had to move six times in the past seven years with her two children, aged five and seven, and said the cost of constantly having to move home has become a significant burden for her.\n\n\u201cWhen you add up things like removal vans and new furniture, the cost of having to move home all the time really starts to pile up. It seems that unless you have loads of savings, taking on debt from credit cards is pretty much the only way to cover it \u2013 you just don\u2019t have a choice,\u201d she said.\n\nRecommended Number of private renters made homeless has trebled since 2010\n\n\u201cHaving to move home every year or so makes it hard enough for me and my family, without also having to take on these debts which just get bigger and bigger and pile on even more pressure.\n\n\u201cIf I could get a five-year tenancy it would make a massive difference \u2013 I could plan ahead, save money and get a grip on these debts. Not to mention the joy it\u2019d give me and my family to actually have a home of our own for longer than a few months.\u201d\n\nAnother private renter, named only as Emma, said having to keep moving home has driven her and her family further and further into credit card debt.\n\nThe teacher trainee, who rents in Folkestone with her husband and three children, said: \u201cThe first few times we moved we could borrow from family to cover the costs, but we have had to move so often that we now have to use credit cards and loans,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cObviously, unlike with family and friends, these loans have fees and interest attached that can be really hard to pay back. Currently we have about \u00a315,000 in debt because we\u2019re having to move home every one or two years.\n\n\u201cAbout four years ago we took out one lower interest bank loan to try and pay all these debts off, but because we\u2019ve had to carry on moving home, the costs have racked up and again we are back to square one.\u201d\n\nIt comes after an analysis by The Independent revealed that the number of private renters being made homeless has more than trebled under the Conservative Government, with thousands of renters being deemed officially homeless by local councils each month after being evicted by private landlords and struggling to pay rents.\n\nOfficial figures show a huge rise in people becoming homeless at the end of assured short hold tenancies (ASTs) \u2013 the most common agreement used by private landlords \u2013 since 2010, exposing the increasing unaffordability and instability of the private rental market.\n\nPolly Neate, Shelter chief executive, said: \u201cIt\u2019s heart-breaking that families are being forced into unaffordable debt just to cover all the costs of moving house so frequently, thanks to short unstable contracts.\n\nUK news in pictures Show all 50 1 / 50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 10 June 2023 A cyclist trains in the early morning, as hot weather continues, in Richmond Park, London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 June 2023 A performer walks on a tightrope at Covent Garden during a sunny day in London AP UK news in pictures 8 June 2023 A women rides her horse through the river during the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 7 June 2023 The Princess of Wales during a game of walking rugby during her visit to meet local and national male rugby players at Maidenhead Rugby Club PA UK news in pictures 6 June 2023 An aerial view shows the dry bed of Woodhead Reservoir, revealed by a falling water level after a prolonged period of dry weather, near Glossop, northern England AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 5 June 2023 Prime Minister Rishi Sunak onboard Border Agency cutter HMC Seeker during a visit to Dover PA UK news in pictures 4 June 2023 A hot air balloon rises into the sky above Ragley Hall, Alcester, south of Birmingham in central England AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 2 June 2023 Skaters use the mini ramp at the Wavelength Spring Classic festival in Woolacombe Bay in Devon PA UK news in pictures 1 June 2023 The And Beyond installation, during a photo call for the London Design Biennale at Somerset House in London PA UK news in pictures 31 May 2023 Emergency services attending to a blaze at a derelict listed building in Samuel Street, Belfast PA UK news in pictures 30 May 2023 A robot named Stella interacts with visitors during the International Conference on Robotics and Automation ICRA in London AP UK news in pictures 29 May 2023 Dave Hackett and his daughter Daisy, five, explore the laburnum arch in the grounds of Preston Tower, East Lothian, in the warm Spring Bank Holiday weather PA UK news in pictures 28 May 2023 Great Britain\u2019s Nick Bandurak scores their side\u2019s third goal of the game during the FIH Hockey Pro League men\u2019s match at Lee Valley, London PA UK news in pictures 27 May 2023 People enjoy the sunny weather at a park in London AP UK news in pictures 26 May 2023 People drink coffee inside Daleks during MCM Comic Con at the ExCel London in east London PA UK news in pictures 25 May 2023 King Charles III and Queen Camilla during a visit to Enniskillen Castle, Co Fermanagh as part of a two day visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 24 May 2023 Horses enjoy the sunny weather on Middleham Gallops in North Yorkshire PA UK news in pictures 23 May 2023 An aerial view of a yellow rapeseed field in Hemel Hempstead, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 22 May 2023 Manoj Malde and Clive Gillmor kiss after getting married, the first wedding ever at the Chelsea Flower Show AP UK news in pictures 21 May 2023 People enjoy the warm weather as they take punt tours along the River Cam in Cambridge PA UK news in pictures 20 May 2023 Protesters emerge from the sea as Surfers Against Sewage hold a UK-wide paddle-out protest at Brighton West Pier in East Sussex PA UK news in pictures 19 May 2023 Good Karma ridden by Daniel Muscutt (right) wins the Earl & The Pharaoh Novice Stakes at Newbury Racecourse, Berkshire PA UK news in pictures 18 May 2023 Choristers from the Choir of St John\u2019s College at the University of Cambridge look out from the top of the Chapel Tower before performing the Ascension Day carol - a custom dating back to 1902. PA UK news in pictures 17 May 2023 Oxfam activists wearing 'big heads' of G7 leaders during a demonstration in Trafalgar Square, London, highlighting their lack of action to tackle the East Africa hunger crisis ahead of the start of the G7 summit in Japan PA UK news in pictures 16 May 2023 Part of a child\u2019s jacket during a photo call for the China\u2019s hidden century exhibition, which opens at the British Museum PA UK news in pictures 15 May 2023 Viewing assistant and History of Art student Emma Scarr Hall takes a closer look at @Pink Roses\u2019 (1923) by Scottish Colourist artist Leslie Hunter which is estimated at \u00a360,000-80,000 in the forthcoming Bonhams Scottish Art Sale in Edinburgh PA UK news in pictures 14 May 2023 Eva Birthistle, Sarah Greene, Sharon Horgan and Anne-Marie Duff, with the award for Drama Series, for Bad Sisters at the 2023 BAFTA TV Awards in London EPA UK news in pictures 13 May 2023 Singer Loreen performing on behalf of Sweden celebrates with the trophy after winning the final of the Eurovision Song contest 2023 AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 12 May 2023 Leader of the Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer views a cancer tumour under a microscope during a visit to the Francis Crick Institute in north London where he met scientists working on research into lung cancer PA UK news in pictures 11 May 2023 Judging takes during the artisan cheese awards at St Mary\u2019s Church, Melton Mowbray PA UK news in pictures 10 May 2023 A dog joins members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) on the picket line outside HMRC in East Kilbride during a strike in the long-running civil service dispute over pay, jobs and conditions PA UK news in pictures 9 May 2023 Two trains carrying 170 Eurovision song contest superfans arrive into Liverpool Lime Street train station PA UK news in pictures 8 May 2023 Britain\u2019s Prince Louis eats toasted marshmallows as they take part in the Big Help Out, during a visit to the 3rd Upton Scouts Hut in Slough, England, AP UK news in pictures 6 May 2023 King Charles III and Queen Camilla can be seen on the Buckingham Palace balcony ahead of the flypast during the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla Getty UK news in pictures 5 May 2023 Britain's King Charles III leaves after speaking to well-wishers on The Mall near to Buckingham Palace in central London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 May 2023 A night time rehearsal in central London for the coronation of King Charles III PA UK news in pictures 2 May 2023 Teacher members of the National Education Union (NEU) at a rally in Westminster, London, as they stage walkouts across England in an ongoing dispute over pay PA UK news in pictures 1 May 2023 Former US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media on the tarmac after disembarking \"Trump Force One\" at Aberdeen airport on the north-east coast of Scotland AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 April 2023 Handout photo issued by the Big Partnership of walkers at the start of The Kiltwalk 2023 from Glasgow Green. PA UK news in pictures 29 April 2023 England\u2019s flanker Marlie Packer celebrates with the trophy and teammates after winning the Women\u2019s Six Nations Grand Slam at the end of the Six Nations international women\u2019s rugby union match between England and France at Twickenham in south-west London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 28 April 2023 Lucy Williams, from Aberfan, holds her son Daniel Williams, one, as he takes the handbag of the Princess of Wales, during her visit with her husband the Prince of Wales, to the Aberfan memorial garden, to pay their respects to those who lost their lives during the Aberfan disaster on October 21st 1966 PA UK news in pictures 27 April 2023 Teachers on the picket line outside Bristol Cathedral School, College Square, Bristol, as they take strike action in a dispute over pay PA UK news in pictures 26 April 2023 Protesters wait for the arrival of King Charles III and the Queen Consort for their visit to Liverpool Central Library PA UK news in pictures 25 April 2023 Wreaths are laid at the Cenotaph in central London, in commemoration for Anzac Day PA UK news in pictures 24 April 2023 Waves crash over Tynemouth pier on the North East coast of England PA UK news in pictures 23 April 2023 People cross the finish line at the 2023 London Marathon Getty UK news in pictures 22 April 2023 A Wrexham fan in a Deadpool costume ahead of the Vanarama National League match at The Racecourse Ground, Wrexham PA UK news in pictures 21 April 2023 A demonstrator wears a costume as people protest during the Extinction Rebellion's 'The Big One' event, in London, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 20 April 2023 The funeral cortege of Paul O\u2019Grady travels through the village of Aldington, Kent ahead of his funeral at St Rumwold\u2019s Church PA UK news in pictures 19 April 2023 Georgia Harrison, who was a victim of revenge porn, at a demonstration organised by Refuge outside the Houses of Parliament, calling for a violence against women and girls code of practice to be added to the \u2018Online safety bill\u2019 PA\n\n\u201cWe speak to parents every day who want nothing more than to have control over their lives, and provide stability \u2013 both financially and in a settled home \u2013 for their children, but instead are constantly forced into packing up and moving on.\n\n\u201cThe Government can change all this by updating laws to offer renters longer and more stable contracts, giving them and their children a secure place to call home and a brighter future.\u201d\n\nA Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman, said: \u201cEveryone deserves a safe, secure place to live including those renting. That\u2019s why we\u2019re banning letting fees for tenants to reduce costs of moving and have produced a model tenancy agreement to support those who want a longer, more stable agreement.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve also been working with the National Housing Federation and British Property Federation to get their members to offer \u2018family-friendly\u2019 tenancies of three years or more for purpose built rental homes.\n\n\u201cWe know that more needs to be done to boost home building, which is why we\u2019ve doubled the housing budget to \u00a38 billion and putting into action the largest affordable housing programme for 40 years.\u201d", "output": "One in four families in rented homes are taking on\u00a0significant\u00a0debt\u00a0to fund moving house, according to housing charity Shelter. The letting fees, cleaning costs, removal van hire and other expenses associated with moving have\u00a0led families to take on credit card and overdraft debt, bank loans and\u00a0even payday loans. During their last move, 255,944 privately renting families took on debt, with the cost of moving adding up to\u00a0about \u00a31,619 across England and \u00a31,707 in London. Letting agent fees accounted for about\u00a010% of moving costs and Shelter said government plans to ban such fees would not be enough to deal with the issue.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Arizona to incentivise power use when the sun is shining \n Dive Brief:\n\nArizona Public Service (APS) has proposed a slate of new energy programs and rates that will help customers conserve energy and control their usage, including energy storage, demand response and load management programs.\n\nThe proposals include incentives for smart thermostats, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, electric school buses and charging infrastructure, energy storage and water heater timers. The plan also calls for an increase in funding for APS' energy storage program, from $4 million to $6 million.\n\nThe utility is also proposing an educational component to ensure customers know best how to utilize the programs, including rate structures that encourage home pre-cooling, shifting the use of appliances to off-peak hours, and staggering the use of major appliances.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nAPS is rolling out a new generation of load management and efficiency ideas in its service territory, explaining that traditional measures like LED light bulbs and efficient appliances are now commonplace.\n\nStacy Derstine, APS vice president of customer service, said the utility is proposing an integrated set of programs, including education, to ensure that \u201cthe result is increased choice and control for customers when it comes to their energy usage.\u201d\n\nAPS says its new offerings would reward customers for conserving power when it\u2019s most expensive, from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., and would encourage using energy when the state's solar resources are abundantly producing energy.\n\n\"In addition to helping customers save by conserving during peak demand hours, this targeted energy efficiency approach can help better integrate renewable resources and delay the need for future infrastructure,\" the utility said in its announcement. \"The programs work hand-in-hand with APS\u2019s new rate plans to help customers achieve maximum savings.\"\n\nIn addition to the new programs, the utility will continue several current rebates, including programs for residential HVAC, business solutions, new home construction and home performance with Energy Star.\n\nLast month, the Arizona Corporation Commission allowed APS to raise rates and approved a settlement with solar advocates that establishes a new compensation scheme and allows customers to lock in their rate for years.The decision means a typical residential customer will see bills rise 4.5%, or about $6/month.", "output": "Arizona Public Service is set to roll out a slew of measures aimed at encouraging customers to save energy and control usage, while also helping integrate renewable resources into the grid. The programme includes incentives to buy smart thermostats, energy storage and water heater timers and electric vehicle charging infrastructure, as well as electric school buses. The initiative also includes an educational component, enabling customers to optimise their use of the programme, and rewards for those who reduce peak-time energy use."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Real estate insurtech Rhino raises $1.94m in funding round \n Rhino, a New York City-based real estate tech and insurtech startup that provides a security deposit solution for renters and landlords, raised $1.94m in seed funding round.\n\nThe round was led by ff Venture Capital with participation from Lakehouse Ventures, Picus Capital, FJ Labs, Red Dog, angels and real estate owners.\n\nThe company will use the funds to hire new talent, continue building its core technology, and implement a targeted marketing strategy for the New York City market.\n\nLed by Paraag Sarva, co-founder and CEO, Rhino provides a security deposit solution that allows renters to pay a small monthly fee instead of a large security deposit while landlords receive double the protection for the same items typically covered by security deposits. Pricing is personalized for each renter and starts as low as $19/month for a $2,500/month apartment. In turn, Rhino commits to insure the landlord and only seeks reimbursement from the renter after a review of the issue from both sides.\n\nThe company will initially focus on the New York City real estate market, where average rents have reached over $4,000/month in Manhattan.\n\nRhino is partnering with Canopius US Insurance who will underwrite its product.\n\nFinSMEs\n\n07/09/2017", "output": "New York City-based insurtech start-up Rhino has raised $1.94m in a seed funding led by ff Venture Capital, and featuring participation from Lakehouse Ventures and Picus Capital, among others. Rhino has developed a security deposit solution for renters and landlords, initially focusing on New York City. It will use the new funds to expand its team, continue building its core technology, and roll out a targeted marketing strategy.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Renewables hot spots burdened with regional interconnection costs \n Dive Brief:\n\nThe Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week rejected tariff amendment proposals from California's grid operator that would have developed a new class of participating transmission owner for whom low-voltage, generator-interconnection-driven network upgrade costs would be allocated regionally, rather than locally.\n\nRepublicans on the commission, however, were unconvinced the change would allocate the costs of network upgrades to those that benefit.\n\nAt issue is Valley Electric Association, which is one of four participating transmission owners (PTOs) in the California ISO, though it supports only a small percentage of the grid's load.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nThe debate boils down to this: renewable generators see Valley Electric's system as a good place to locate renewable infrastructure \u2014 but it is small, and located in Nevada, and at least one commissioner said its ratepayers should not have to bear the costs of system improvements that will benefit others.\n\n\"The location of Valley Electric has led to a volume of interconnection requests to meet California\u2019s renewable targets that is grossly disproportionate to its customer base,\" former Chairman Cheryl LaFleur wrote in her dissent. \"It is simply unfair to require the 0.27 percent of CAISO\u2019s customer base in Nevada to bear the costs of these interconnections.\"\n\nFor some comparison: Valley Electric has an annual gross load of 545 GWh, according to the commission's order\u2014less than 1% of the system's annual gross load. Pacific Gas & Electric, however, is CAISO\u2019s largest PTO and has an annual gross load of 91,500 GWh.\n\nCAISO's proposal would have set a new \"Certified Small PTO\" for whom low-voltage, generator-interconnection-driven network upgrade costs would be allocated regionally, rather than locally. The interconnection costs for Vallery Electric's system, said LaFleur, \"are not remotely commensurate with the benefits they receive.\"\n\nThe two new Republican members, Chairman Neil Chatterjee and Commissioner Robert Powelson, disagreed.\n\nThey noted that FERC has previously considered proposals regarding alternative cost allocation methodologies for network upgrades assigned to low-load zones. \"However, CAISO has not demonstrated that its proposal allocates the costs of network upgrades to those that benefit from the network upgrades,\" they wrote in FERC's order.", "output": "The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has rejected a proposal by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) to allocate renewable interconnection costs regionally, rather than locally. The Valley Electric system, based in Nevada, has has an annual gross load of 545 GWh, compared to Pacific Gas & Electric, CAISO\u2019s largest participating transmission owner, which has 91,500 GWh. \"It is simply unfair to require the 0.27% of CAISO\u2019s customer base in Nevada to bear the costs of these interconnections\", said former chairman Cheryl LaFleur."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MIT Technology Review releases its 35 Innovators Under 35 list \n MIT Technology Review, as a rule, focuses on the technology first\u2014the breakthrough, the surprise, the accidental discovery with the potential to upend the way we live. Our annual look at 35 outstanding innovators under 35 is a reminder that behind all those innovations are people with dreams, fears, and ambitions. Sometimes they hack away at a problem for years before figuring out a way forward. Sometimes they stumble on a solution they didn\u2019t know they were searching for. We hope these portraits offer a sense of the variety of work being done in technology, and a sense of what\u2019s coming next.", "output": "MIT Review, the magazine published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has unveiled its annual list of 35 Innovators below 35 years of age, covering inventors, pioneers, entrepreneurs, visionaries and humanitarians. Among those listed are Abdigani Diriye, who founded Somalia\u2019s first incubator and start-up accelerator, Rachel Haurwitz, who is overseeing the commercialisation of gene-editing technology CRISPR, Lorenz Meier, who is developing an open-source autopilot for drones, and Fabian Menges, who is working on a method of measuring temperatures at the nanoscale.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Thermal storage lacks a 'celebrity evangelist' \n A vital technology for securing deep greenhouse gas reductions exists and works well, but still hasn't achieved widespread deployment.\n\nThermal energy storage has succeeded in the field for decades. Precooling an insulated vat of liquid can chop an electricity bill and reduce peak load, as companies like Calmac and Ice Energy have shown. An experimental housing development in Canada uses underground thermal energy storage, powered by solar energy in the summer, to cover its heating needs through the frigid Alberta winters.\n\nSuch products address a decarbonization challenge that cleaner grid power alone cannot touch. Buildings consume 70 percent of the electricity produced in the U.S., and emit 40 percent of the nation's carbon emissions. Any holistic attempt to tackle climate change must confront building-sector energy use.\n\nStanford professor Mark Jacobson, for instance, utilizes underground thermal storage as a pillar of his roadmap to decarbonize the whole U.S. energy system, because it reduces overall electrical demand and gas consumption for heating. When a bevy of academics critiqued that study this summer, they specifically called out the reliance on this rarely implemented tool. How can you save the world, the argument goes, with a technology whose real-world use is confined to an obscure housing pilot in Alberta?\n\nBattery energy storage runs into obstacles related to its technological novelty. It's hard to get financiers to back a battery chemistry that hasn't seen much run time and is sold by a startup with a limited balance sheet. Despite that, the sector is booming -- GTM Research predicts a 22-fold increase in U.S. megawatt-hours deployed form 2016 to 2022.\n\nMeanwhile, for thermal energy storage, questions of technological effectiveness are largely settled, but the segment hasn't scratched the surface of its potential impact. Indeed, that potential scarcely registers outside of a handful of companies that have staked their futures on it, and articulate the vision with a near-messianic zeal.\n\n\"I expect thermal will be bigger than batteries,\" said Ice Energy CEO Mike Hopkins, \"because thermal loads are the large loads. They are the problematic loads; they are the loads that don't lend themselves to using electrical storage.\"\n\nMuch has been written about the rise of batteries. Less attention has gone to the thermal storage contingent, but they have their own strategies for growth. Their success could not only help utilities in their quest to subdue duck curves and steadily creeping peaks, but also play a central role in reducing carbon emissions from buildings worldwide.\n\nThe technology\n\nThe basic premise of thermal storage is to convert surplus electrical energy into heat or cold that can be used later.\n\nThat process takes on gridwide significance in light of the growth in peak demand, which utilities across the country attribute to their customers' simultaneous evening air conditioning usage.\n\nBattery storage can serve that demand, but it suffers round-trip inefficiency losses; that's throwing away energy. The materials to store energy thermally cost less than lithium-ion chemistries do and theoretically last longer. The core technology is water in a plastic tank.\n\nPlus, if you freeze that block of ice at night when both the ambient temperature and the cost of electricity fall, it takes less energy and money than doing so in the middle of a sunny, hot afternoon.\n\n\"The notion that you would store energy in the form of batteries for air conditioners is a really inherently bad idea,\" Hopkins said. \"What you really want to do is get these thermal loads operating more efficiently. Make cooling when it's a good time to make cooling.\"\n\nIce Energy integrates its technology into air conditioning systems, to use unwanted noonday solar power or cheap nighttime electricity to precool a home before the evening peak. When electricity supply costs more or a utility is struggling to meet demand, the Ice Bear uses that block of ice to chill the building, instead of consuming electricity.\n\nWhereas Ice Energy serves the commercial and residential markets, mostly in California, Calmac applies similar technology for massive skyscrapers and university campuses. Since the 1980s, the New Jersey company has racked up more than 4,000 customers in 60 countries.\n\nCalmac's IceBank in action: It's a bunch of tanks storing cold liquid. (Image credit: Calmac)\n\nAxiom Exergy applies the concept to grocery stores, reducing the utility bill for keeping food cool, and building in several hours' worth of backup cooling to carry through short outages.\n\nHot thermal storage functions much the same way as the cold stuff: Use excess power to heat up a liquid, then pipe it down to an insulated holding tank until it's needed to heat the building.\n\nThe Drake Landing Solar Community, in Alberta, Canada, uses underground district heating to store solar energy from the summertime. In the 2015-2016 winter season, the community supplied all of its heating needs from stored thermal energy; it supplied more than 90 percent of heating needs this way over each of the last five winters.\n\nIn a rarer variation, the technology allows the stored thermal energy to convert back into electricity. That's what Google's X lab is trying to do with a project dubbed Malta. It would use electricity to both heat up molten salts and cool tanks of liquid; when needed, the process reverses, using the unleashed hot and cold air to spin a turbine and regenerate electricity.\n\nCrucially, thermal storage evades the toxicity and flammability concerns that come with high-powered lithium-ion batteries.\n\n\"Heating up water or making ice aren\u2019t things that anyone\u2019s going to be worried about,\" said Brett Simon, an energy storage analyst at GTM Research. \"These systems aren\u2019t using any reactive or potentially hazardous or flammable chemicals. That could lead people who are more cautious about battery storage to home thermal storage.\"\n\nObstacles to growth\n\nThermal storage has been around longer than advanced battery storage, but it has never broken out of a niche segment. Only a handful of companies install this in the U.S., compared to the dozens now chasing the battery storage market.\n\nCultural predilections play a role here, Ice Energy's Hopkins said. Battery storage only became popular in the last few years, in large part thanks to Elon Musk's knack for capturing the public imagination. That newfound awareness could be transferable.\n\n\"Because they know about lithium, when you talk about other forms of storage, it's not so foreign,\" he said.\n\nThermal storage, though, lacks a celebrity evangelist, and it can't charge a sexy sports car.\n\n\"The thing about thermal storage is it's invisible to the occupants,\" said Calmac CEO Mark MacCracken. \"The people who go into these commercial buildings expect the building to be cool. They have zero understanding of how it's being cooled.\"\n\nCompanies seeking to displace conventional heating and cooling have to reach customers when they need that equipment, because it's not an everyday purchase.\n\nNew-build homes could be a promising market, but for existing homes, the time to buy a new AC unit typically comes as soon as the old one breaks. At that point, the customer has strong incentive to go with what's fastest and easiest, which probably isn't a wonky cooling technology they've never heard of.\n\nSetting aside the consumer awareness challenge, there are technical limitations to be conquered.\n\nOne is getting into the design workflow for major building projects. Typically, MacCracken said, the architect designs a building and asks the engineers to cool it. They look at the peak cooling power needed to cover the hottest day of the year, add a margin for safety and call it a day.\n\nThermal storage requires a different kind of analysis and carries a perception of risk, even if it ultimately costs the same and delivers the same safety factor, MacCracken said. It takes time to break into that industrial workflow on a broader scale.\n\nEven then, the proliferation of thermal storage depends on an economic tradeoff between business-as-usual and shifting demand away from peaks. That implicates rate design, which has proven itself to be an unreliable partner in pitching a product.\n\n\"The number-one problem is uncertainty with the tariffs, with the difference between the daytime and nighttime costs,\" said Mary Ann Piette, director of the Building Technology and Urban System Division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. \"The tariffs change a lot over time, and there\u2019s not enough certainty on the economics.\"\n\nNationwide, time-differentiated electricity rates and demand response programs are gaining in numbers as utilities unpack the possibilities of distributed energy resources. Until those arrive, the benefits of thermal storage to consumers will remain largely theoretical, even if they're already tangible for the grid.\n\nGeography matters\n\nClimate helps determine the effectiveness of thermal storage, more so than it does for batteries.\n\nThe ideal market has a big diurnal swing, with a hot afternoon and a cooler night, Piette said. Desert environs like Arizona and inland California fit nicely.\n\nIn temperate Berkeley or the coastal Pacific Northwest, few homes have or need air conditioning. A residential Ice Cub would be of little use, whereas a battery would still be able to displace electrical load and provide backup power in an outage.\n\nSimilarly, underground thermal storage works brilliantly in frigid Alberta, but less so in a place that stays pretty warm through the winter. That technology also requires a high level of community buy-in: The systems work best when they serve a whole neighborhood or campus.\n\nThat sort of cooperation is hard to achieve short of greenfield housing developments; ripping up the streets to dig under existing developments is a harder sell. District heating has fared well in cold, northern communities with dense populations and a politics of social cooperation -- Scandinavia, basically. Having a master utility for gas, power and steam helps.\n\n\"Owning and operating models [for district heating] are not that common in our urban areas,\" Piette said. \"It is possible to do these things, and I hope over time we can create new business models.\"\n\nDensity and diversity of loads make the proposition more attractive, she added, referencing an Amazon office in Seattle that buys waste heat expelled by a nearby data center.\n\nPartner to move forward\n\nThe thermal storage startups I spoke with were clear on one thing: They need to partner with larger entities to scale.\n\nIce Energy found allies in utility Southern California Edison and independent power provider NRG. SCE awarded a contract for 26 megawatt-hours of distributed, customer-sited thermal storage. That provided the security of revenue needed to start ramping up production. It just left the problem of cashflow.\n\nThe 22-person startup couldn't front the cost of all those Ice Bears and wait 20 years to get paid back. Instead, Ice Energy sold the special-purpose vehicle for the project to NRG, which has a massive balance sheet. NRG technically owns the future returns of the fleet, and pays Ice Energy upfront to install the equipment.\n\nIf all goes according to plan, NRG pockets an easy return on investment with minimal risk: the revenue is contracted through a major utility with a sterling credit rating. It's up to Ice Energy to find businesses willing to host a total of 1,800 Ice Bears for free, enjoying $1,000 to $1,500 in electricity bill savings per year per unit (Ice Energy has deployed a total of 1,200 units since its inception).\n\nThe company also has contracts with two utilities in Massachusetts, and another 400 megawatts in various stages of negotiation, Hopkins said.\n\nThe residential Ice Cub, which replaces a conventional air conditioning unit while adding thermal storage capabilities, started shipping this summer. Hopkins hopes to scale that product through a distribution deal with a major solar installer.\n\n\"Right now, for us, 1,800 seems like a big number,\" he said. \"With the home market, you might see tens of thousands in the U.S. getting deployed.\"\n\nThat home-cooling market should not be underestimated, particularly if thermal storage competes on price but adds more services, said GTM's Simon.\n\n\"If they get 1 percent of the home AC market, that's already going to be much larger than annual home battery sales,\" he noted.\n\nAxiom Exergy is also looking to bigger entities to move its product. In this case: national grocery store chains. The company is developing multi-store rollouts with Whole Foods and Walmart to follow on initial demo installations.\n\n\"I don't see any roadblocks in the foreseeable future because there are so many grocery stores and cold storage facilities out there,\" said Sales Director John Lerch. \"There's always going to be...this need to keep food chilled in order to distribute it everywhere.\"\n\nCalmac, which graduated out of the startup phase a few decades ago, is discussing utility partnerships but doesn't have any yet. The company is also reaching out to a different kind of partner: battery storage companies.\n\nThe pitch is to offer a hybrid product for commercial customers, with thermal storage sized to thermal load and batteries to handle the leftover peak demand. That could achieve savings at a lower per-kilowatt-hour rate than if batteries had to shoulder the heating and cooling load.\n\nThermal storage complements a smarter grid than the one we have today. It will be hard to sell as long as a customer pays the same for a kilowatt-hour at grid-wide peak as at 3 a.m. But as customers become more grid-literate, and utilities start to send more sophisticated price signals to a range of distributed energy assets, demand for thermal storage technology could finally start to warm up.", "output": "Thermal storage, in which energy is stored as either heat or cold, is losing out to battery storage because it doesn't have a high-profile backer of the likes of Elon Musk and doesn't charge sexy sports cars, said ICE Energy CEO Mike Hopkins. The technology has been proven in the field and should overtake batteries because it better suited to large loads over longer periods of time, he said. A housing development in Canada is testing a system to store thermal energy underground in the summer to be released during the freezing Alberta winters. Companies such as Ice Energy and Calmac use power to\u00a0precool\u00a0an insulated vat of liquid that reduces\u00a0peak load."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Governors Rally Around Health Law Fixes as White House Pushes Repeal \n WASHINGTON \u2014 Governors from both political parties told Congress on Thursday that they supported immediate action on modest, bipartisan steps to repair the Affordable Care Act without repealing it, even as the Trump administration continued to encourage efforts to dismantle the law.\n\nTestifying at a hearing of the Senate health committee, governors from Colorado, Massachusetts, Montana, Tennessee and Utah endorsed proposals to stabilize health insurance markets by providing federal money for continued payment of subsidies to insurance companies to offset the cost of discounts provided to low-income people.\n\nThey also urged Congress to give states more latitude to modify some insurance requirements in the Affordable Care Act and to devise their own coverage programs. The subsidy money and the flexibility for states are the two main components of a bipartisan consensus emerging in the Senate.\n\n\u201cCongress should take steps now to prevent the total collapse of the health insurance market\u201d by providing money for the \u201ccost-sharing\u201d subsidies, said Gov. Bill Haslam of Tennessee, a Republican.", "output": "Governors from both political parties told Congress on Thursday that they supported immediate action on modest, bipartisan steps to repair the Affordable Care Act without repealing it, even as the Trump administration continued to encourage efforts to dismantle the law.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Advancing Connected Health for Seniors \n CARE DELIVERY REDESIGN\n\nWhat is the future of how and where we engage consumers in their health and care?", "output": "John Mattison of Kaiser Permanente and Tim Lash, Successful Aging, West Health share their insights and challenges to connect with seniors, address their complex needs and to ultimately achieve better outcomes through more connected health.  Hear from a provider leader and a foundation executive who pioneer connected health solutions assess emerging innovation opportunities for the senior market.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "What Older Americans Stand to Lose if \u2018Dreamers\u2019 Are Deported \n Those executives may have empathy for the beneficiaries of the program, known as Dreamers, as well as a broader interest in more liberal immigration policies to satisfy their labor needs. But the practical effect on their businesses will typically be minimal. The number of workers who benefit from the program is tiny alongside a national labor force of more than 150 million, and the DACA workers are spread out relatively evenly across most industries.\n\nIn health care, on the other hand, the economic impact could be significant, depriving patients of help they depend on and driving up costs for families and taxpayers.\n\nSurveys of DACA beneficiaries reveal that roughly one-fifth of them work in the health care and educational sector, suggesting a potential loss of tens of thousands of workers from in-demand job categories like home health aide and nursing assistant.\n\nAt the same time, projections by the government and advocacy groups show that the economy will need to add hundreds of thousands of workers in these fields over the next five to 10 years simply to keep up with escalating demand, caused primarily by a rapidly aging population.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s going to have a real impact on consumers,\u201d Paul Osterman, a professor at the Sloan School at MIT and author of a new book on long-term care workers, said of the DACA move.", "output": "When the Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it would end an Obama-era program that shielded young undocumented immigrants from deportation, Sherwin Sheik quickly sized up the potential toll on his business.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shedding New Light On Hospice Care: No Need To Wait For The \u2018Brink Of Death\u2019 \n A few weeks ago, Kathy Brandt\u2019s 86-year-old mother was hospitalized in Florida after a fall. After rushing to her side, Brandt asked for a consult with a palliative care nurse.\n\n\u201cI wanted someone to make sure my mother was on the right medications,\u201d Brandt said.\n\nFor all her expertise \u2014 Brandt advises end-of-life organizations across the country \u2014 she was taken aback when the nurse suggested hospice care for her mother, who has advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, kidney disease and a rapid, irregular heartbeat.\n\n\u201cI was like \u2014 really?\u201d Brandt remembered saying, struggling with shock.\n\nIt\u2019s a common reaction. Although hospices now serve more than 1.4 million people a year, this specialized type of care, meant for people with six months or less to live, continues to evoke resistance, fear and misunderstanding.\n\n\u201cThe biggest misperception about hospice is that it\u2019s \u2018brink-of-death care,\u2019\u201d said Patricia Mehnert, a longtime hospice nurse and interim chief executive officer of TRU Community Care, the first hospice in Colorado.\n\nNAVIGATING AGING Navigating Aging focuses on medical issues and advice associated with aging and end-of-life care, helping America\u2019s 45 million seniors and their families navigate the health care system. To contact Judith with a question or comment, click here. For more KHN coverage of aging, click here.\n\nIn fact, hospice care often makes a considerable difference for those with months to live. \u201cWhen someone is further out from death, we can really focus on enhancing their quality of life,\u201d said Rachel Behrendt, senior vice president of Hospice of the Valley, which serves the Phoenix metropolitan area.\n\nNew research confirms that hospice patients report better pain control, more satisfaction with their care and fewer deaths in the hospital or intensive care units than other people with similarly short life expectancies.\n\nWhat should seniors and their families, the largest users of hospice care, expect? It\u2019s fairly well understood that patients forgo curative therapies in favor of comfort care when they enter hospice. Here are additional features:\n\nFour Levels Of Care\n\nHospice providers are required to offer routine care in patients\u2019 homes (this includes seniors who reside in assisted living or nursing homes); continuous care at home for people with out-of-control symptoms such as pain or breathing problems; inpatient respite for families that need a break from caring for a loved one; and general inpatient care for medical crises that can\u2019t be handled in any other setting.\n\nWith continuous care, a nurse must be on-site in the home for at least eight hours a day, helping to bring symptoms under control. Usually, this will happen in one to three days. Respite care has a maximum limit of five days.\n\nSome hospices have their own general inpatient facilities and \u201cit\u2019s a common misconception that patients are sent to inpatient hospice to die,\u201d said Jean Cohn, clinical manager at Montgomery Hospice\u2019s inpatient facility, Casey House. \u201cIn fact, we\u2019re frequently fine-tuning patients\u2019 regimens in inpatient hospice and sending them back home.\u201d\n\nIntermittent Care At Home\n\nRoutine care at home is by far the most common service, accounting for about 94 percent of hospice care, according to the latest report from the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.\n\nWhile services vary depending on a patient\u2019s needs, home care typically involves at least one weekly visit from a nurse and a couple of visits from aides for up to 90 minutes. Also, a volunteer may visit, if a patient and family so choose, and social workers and chaplains are available to address practical and spiritual concerns.\n\nHospices will provide all medications needed to address the underlying illness that is expected to cause the patient\u2019s death, as well as medical equipment such as hospital beds, commodes, wheelchairs, walkers and oxygen. Typically, there is no charge for such gear, although a copay of up to $5 per prescription is allowed.\n\nWhat families and patients often don\u2019t realize: Hospice staff will not be in the home every day, around the clock. \u201cMany people think that hospice will be there all the time, but it doesn\u2019t work that way,\u201d Brandt said. \u201cThe family is still the front line for providing day-to-day care.\u201d\n\nIn assisted living, patients or their families may have to hire nursing assistants or companions to provide supplemental care, since hands-on help is limited. In nursing homes, aides may visit less often, since more hands-on help is available on-site.\n\nSelf-Referrals Are Allowed\n\nAnyone can ask for a consultation with a hospice. \u201cWe get many self-referrals, as well as referrals from family and friends,\u201d said Behrendt of Hospice of the Valley. Usually, a nurse will go out and do a preliminary assessment to determine if a person would qualify for hospice services.\n\nTo be admitted, two physicians \u2014 the patient\u2019s primary care physician and the hospice physician \u2014 need to certify that the person\u2019s life expectancy is six months or less, based on the anticipated trajectory of the patient\u2019s underlying illness. And recertification will be required at regular intervals.\n\nYou Choose Your Physician\n\nYou have a right to keep your primary care physician or you can choose to have a hospice physician be in charge of your medical care.\n\nAt JourneyCare, the largest hospice in Illinois, \u201cwe prefer that the patient keeps their primary care physician because that physician knows them best,\u201d said Dr. Mark Grzeskowiak, vice president of medical services.\n\nThese arrangements require close collaboration. For instance, if a nurse observes that a patient with heart failure is experiencing increased shortness of breath, JourneyCare staff will get in touch with that patient\u2019s primary care physician. The physician is responsible for altering the treatment plan; the hospice is responsible for implementing that plan and giving clear instructions to the patient and family.\n\nConcerns About Medications\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a misconception that you\u2019re going to be medicated to a highly sedated state in hospice,\u201d said Dr. Christopher Kerr, chief executive officer and chief medical officer for Hospice Buffalo Inc. in upstate New York. \u201cThe reality is our primary goal is to increase quality wakefulness. Managing these medications is an art and we\u2019re good at it.\u201d\n\nUse Our Content This KHN story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nFamily caregivers are on the front line since they\u2019re responsible for administering pain medications such as morphine. \u201cAbsolutely, there\u2019s a great deal of fear and anxiety around all the issues associated with giving medications,\u201d said Cohn of Montgomery Hospice. \u201cWe try to reassure caregivers that the doses we start with are very small and we\u2019ll see how the patient reacts and go slowly and deliberately from there.\u201d\n\nBecause most hospice stays are short \u2014 the median length is only 17 days \u2014 and because the diversion of painkillers from people\u2019s homes is a risk, doctors have begun writing prescriptions for a week or two at a time, said Judi Lund Person, vice president of regulatory and compliance for the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. If concerns exist, hospices can have a lockbox for medications sent to the home.\n\nDischarges Are Possible\n\nEstimating when someone is going to die is an art, not a science, and each year hundreds of thousands of hospice patients end up living longer than doctors anticipated.\n\nIf physicians can document continued decline in these patients \u2014 for instance, worsening pain or a noticeable advance in their underlying illness \u2014 they might be able to recertify them for ongoing hospice care. But if the patient is considered stable, they\u2019ll be discharged, various experts said.\n\nIn 2015, nearly 17 percent of hospice patients were so-called live discharges, according to a report from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. Two days before a discharge, hospices are required to give the patient or family members a Notice of Medicare Non-Coverage. Expedited appeals of discharge decisions can be lodged with a Medicare quality improvement organization.\n\nThere are no regulatory requirements governing what hospices should do to facilitate live discharges. Some hospices will spend weeks helping patients make arrangements to receive medications, medical equipment and ongoing care from other sources. Others offer minimal help.\n\nAt The Very End\n\nAlmost 1 in 8 hospice patients don\u2019t get visits from professional staff during their last two days of life, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine last year. And this can leave families without needed support.\n\nSome hospices have responded by creating programs specifically for people who have a very short time left to live. \u201cWe\u2019ve put together a special team for people who are expected to live 10 days or less because that requires a different kind of management,\u201d said Ann Mitchell, chief executive officer of Montgomery Hospice. \u201cInstead of a nurse for every 15 patients, a nurse on this team will have five to six patients and a social worker is available seven days a week.\u201d\n\n\u201cOne-third of our patients are here for less than seven days and often we get them in a crisis,\u201d said Kerr of Hospice Buffalo. \u201cWe\u2019ve had to repurpose our services to address the urgency and complexity of these patients\u2019 needs and that means we have to be ever more present.\u201d Across the board, Hospice Buffalo requires that patients be seen within 24 hours of an expected death.\n\nWe\u2019re eager to hear from readers about questions you\u2019d like answered, problems you\u2019ve been having with your care and advice you need in dealing with the health care system. Visit kffhealthnews.org/columnists to submit your requests or tips.\n\nKHN\u2019s coverage related to aging & improving care of older adults is supported by The John A. Hartford Foundation and coverage of end-of-life and serious illness issues is supported by The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.\n\nKFF Health News' coverage of aging and long-term care issues is supported in part by The SCAN Foundation.", "output": "A few weeks ago, Kathy Brandt\u2019s 86-year-old mother was hospitalized in Florida after a fall. After rushing to her side, Brandt asked for a consult with a palliative care nurse.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers release design for stable, scalable quantum processor \n Coupling Si:P spin qubits to electric fields\n\nThe phosphorus donor in silicon comprises an electron spin S = 1/2 with gyromagnetic ratio \u03b3 e = 27.97 GHz T\u22121 and basis states \\(\\left| \\downarrow \\right\\rangle \\), \\(\\left| \\uparrow \\right\\rangle \\), and a nuclear spin I = 1/2 with gyromagnetic ratio \u03b3 n = 17.23 MHz T\u22121 and basis states \\(\\left| \\Downarrow \\right\\rangle ,\\left| \\Uparrow \\right\\rangle \\). The electron interacts with the nucleus through the hyperfine coupling A \u2248 117 MHz. When placed in a large magnetic field B 0 (\\({\\gamma _ + }{B_0} \\gg A\\), with \u03b3 + = \u03b3 e + \u03b3 n ), the eigenstates of the system are the separable tensor products of the basis states, i.e., \\(\\left| { \\downarrow \\Uparrow } \\right\\rangle \\), \\(\\left| { \\downarrow \\Downarrow } \\right\\rangle \\), \\(\\left| { \\uparrow \\Downarrow } \\right\\rangle \\), \\(\\left| { \\uparrow \\Uparrow } \\right\\rangle \\) (Fig. 1c). The electron and the nucleus can be operated as single qubits by applying oscillating magnetic fields resonant with any of the transitions frequencies between eigenstates that differ by the flipping of one of the spins, e.g., \\(\\left| { \\downarrow \\Uparrow } \\right\\rangle \\) \u2194 \\(\\left| { \\uparrow \\Uparrow } \\right\\rangle \\) for the electron qubit, etc. (Fig. 1c).\n\nFig. 1 Coupling donor spin qubits to electric fields via hyperfine modulation. a Qubit unit cell, in which the electron interface state, |i\u3009, is coupled to the donor-bound state, |d\u3009, by a tunnel rate V t . The solid black line represents the conduction band profile along z. b Bloch sphere of a flip-flop spin qubit coupled to a vertical electric field E z via the hyperfine interaction A. Electron-nuclear singlet and triplet states are denoted by \\(S = \\left( {\\left| { \\downarrow \\Uparrow } \\right\\rangle - \\left| { \\uparrow \\Downarrow } \\right\\rangle } \\right){\\rm{/}}\\sqrt 2 \\) and \\({T_0} = \\left( {\\left| { \\downarrow \\Uparrow } \\right\\rangle + \\left| { \\uparrow \\Downarrow } \\right\\rangle } \\right){\\rm{/}}\\sqrt 2 \\). c Si:P electron-nuclear spin levels, showing standard electron spin resonance (ESR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) transitions, together with hyperfine-enabled EDSR. d Atomistic tight-binding simulations72 (dots) of the electron-nucleus hyperfine interaction, for a z d = 15.2 nm deep donor, as a function of vertical electric field. The solid line is a fit using the simplified two-level Hamiltonian \\({{\\cal H}_{{\\rm{orb}}}} + {\\cal H}_A^{{\\rm{orb}}}\\), which yields V t = 9.3 GHz (see Supplementary Note 1). The insets show the electron ground-state wavefunction, \\(\\left| g \\right\\rangle \\), in the region within dashed lines in a, for three different vertical electric fields. Scale bar is 10 nm Full size image\n\nWe envisage a device where a shallow 31P donor is embedded in an isotopically enriched 28Si crystal at a depth z d from the interface with a thin SiO 2 layer (Fig. 1a). The orbital wavefunction \u03c8 of the donor-bound electron can be controlled by a vertical electric field E z applied by a metal gate on top. It changes from a bulk-like donor state at low electric fields to an interface-like state at high fields33, 34 (insets in Fig. 1d). The hyperfine interaction A(E z ), proportional to the square amplitude of the electron wavefunction at the donor site |\u03c8(0, 0, z d )|2, changes accordingly from the bulk value A \u2248 117 MHz to A \u2248 0 when the electron is fully displaced to the interface (Fig. 1d). Shifting the electron wavefunction also results in the creation of an electric dipole \u03bc e = ed, where e is the electron charge and d is the separation between the mean positions of the donor-bound and interface-bound wavefunctions (d \u2272 z d , see Supplementary Note 1). The induced electric dipole \u03bc e has been largely overlooked in the past, but plays a crucial role in this proposal.\n\nThe key idea is to define a new qubit, called henceforth the flip-flop qubit, described in the subspace spanned by the states \\(\\left| { \\downarrow \\Uparrow } \\right\\rangle \\), \\(\\left| { \\uparrow \\Downarrow } \\right\\rangle \\). Transitions between these basis states cannot be induced by magnetic resonance, because there is no change in the z-component of the total angular momentum. However, the hyperfine interaction, A S \u22c5 I, is a transverse term in the flip-flop basis, since its eigenstates are \\(S = \\left( {\\left| { \\downarrow \\Uparrow } \\right\\rangle - \\left| { \\uparrow \\Downarrow } \\right\\rangle } \\right){\\rm{/}}\\sqrt 2 \\) and \\({T_0} = \\left( {\\left| { \\downarrow \\Uparrow } \\right\\rangle + \\left| { \\uparrow \\Downarrow } \\right\\rangle } \\right){\\rm{/}}\\sqrt 2 \\) (Fig. 1b). Therefore, electrically modulating A(E z ) at the frequency\n\n$${\\epsilon _{{\\rm{ff}}}}(A) = \\sqrt {{{\\left( {{\\gamma _ + }{B_0}} \\right)}^2} + {{\\left[ {A\\left( {{E_{\\rm{z}}}} \\right)} \\right]}^2}} ,$$ (1)\n\ncorresponding to the flip-flop qubit energy splitting, causes an electric dipole spin resonance (EDSR) transition between the \\(\\left| { \\downarrow \\Uparrow } \\right\\rangle \\), \\(\\left| { \\uparrow \\Downarrow } \\right\\rangle \\) basis states35, 36 (Fig. 1c). This transition is faster at the \u201cionization point\u201d, where the electron is shared halfway between donor and interface, since A(E z ) can vary strongly upon the application of a small voltage on the top gate.\n\nElectrical noise and relaxation\n\nSince the qubit operation is based upon the use of electric fields, a natural concern is the fragility of the qubit states in the presence of electric noise. Below we show that there are special bias points that render the flip-flop qubit operation highly robust against noise.\n\nA quantum-mechanical description of the system is obtained by treating also the electron position as a two-level system (effectively a charge qubit; see Supplementary Note 1 for a justification of this two-level approximation), where the vertical position of the electron is represented by a Pauli \u03c3 z operator, with eigenvectors |d \u3009, for the electron at the donor, and |i \u3009 at the interface (Fig. 1a, d). The simplified orbital Hamiltonian reads (in units of Hz):\n\n$${{\\cal H}_{{\\rm{orb}}}} = \\frac{{{V_{\\rm{t}}}{\\sigma _{\\rm{x}}} - \\left[ {e\\left( {{E_{\\rm{z}}} - E_{\\rm{z}}^0} \\right)d{\\rm{/}}h} \\right]{\\sigma _{\\rm{z}}}}}{2},$$ (2)\n\nwhere V t is the tunnel coupling between the donor and the interface potential wells, \\(E_{z}^0\\) is the vertical electric field at the ionization point, and h is the Planck constant. The electron ground |g \u3009 and excited |e \u3009 orbital eigenstates depend on E z (Fig. 1d) and have an energy difference given by:\n\n$${\\epsilon _{\\rm{o}}} = \\sqrt {{{\\left( {{V_{\\rm{t}}}} \\right)}^2} + {{\\left[ {e\\left( {{E_{z}} - E_{z}^0} \\right)d{\\rm{/}}h} \\right]}^2}}$$ (3)\n\nAt the ionization point, the energy difference between eigenstates \\(\\left| e \\right\\rangle = \\left( {\\left| d \\right\\rangle + \\left| i \\right\\rangle } \\right){\\rm{/}}\\sqrt 2 \\) and \\(\\left| g \\right\\rangle = \\left( {\\left| d \\right\\rangle - \\left| i \\right\\rangle } \\right)/\\sqrt 2 \\) is minimum and equal to V t (Fig. 2a), and therefore first-order insensitive to electric noise, \u2202\\({\\epsilon _o}\\)/\u2202E z = 0. This bias point is referred to as the \u201ccharge qubit sweet spot\u201d37 (CQSS\u2014Fig. 2a).\n\nFig. 2 Robustness to electric noise. a Charge, \\({\\epsilon _o}\\), and flip-flop, \\({\\epsilon _{{\\rm{ff}}}}\\), qubit transition frequencies as a function of vertical electric field E z , for B 0 = 0.4 T, A = 117 MHz, d = 15 nm, \u0394 \u03b3 = \u22120.2% and V t = 11.44 GHz. The inset shows the level diagram of flip-flop states coupled to charge states. CT stands for \u201cclock transition\u201d and CQSS for \u201ccharge qubit sweet spot\u201d. b Estimated flip-flop qubit dephasing rate, assuming electric field noise \\(E_{z{\\rm{,rms}}}^{{\\rm{noise}}} = 100\\) V m\u22121. c E z -dependence of flip-flop precession frequency for the three indicated tunnel coupling values. d Flip-flop qubit relaxation rate, with arrows indicating the adiabatic path used for z-gates. e Flip-flop qubit dephasing rate due to E z noise and relaxation, at second-order CTs for each B 0 . f Device structure to tune the tunnel coupling V t of the charge qubit. Scale bar is 30 nm. g V t as a function of right gate voltage, calculated using a finite element Poisson solver (Synopsis TCAD) and atomistic tight biding (NEMO-3D)72. The insets illustrate the NEMO-3D wavefunctions inside dashed region in f, for three right gate voltages V r = \u22121, \u22120.35 and \u22120.27 V. The left gate voltage is V l = \u22120.5 V for all the simulations, and the top gate is biased such that the position of the electron is in between the donor and interface. Scale bar is 20 nm. The donor is assumed to be z d = 9.2 nm below the Si/SiO 2 interface Full size image\n\nConversely, the bare flip-flop qubit energy is expected to depend strongly on E z , through the combined effect of the hyperfine interaction A (Eq. 1) and the orbital dependence of the electron gyromagnetic ratio, \u03b3 e . Indeed, the gyromagnetic ratio of an electron confined at a Si/SiO 2 interface can differ from that of a donor-bound electron by a relative amount \u0394 \u03b3 up to 0.7%38. Therefore, the Zeeman terms in the Hamiltonian must include a dependence of the electron Zeeman splitting on its orbital position, i.e., the charge qubit \u03c3 z operator:\n\n$${\\cal H}_{{B_0}}^{{\\rm{orb}}} = {\\gamma _{\\rm{e}}}{B_0}\\left[ {1 + \\left( {\\frac{{1 + {\\sigma _{z}}}}{2}} \\right){\\Delta_\\gamma }} \\right]{S_{\\rm{z}}} - {\\gamma _{\\rm{n}}}{B_0}{I_{z}}.$$ (4)\n\nWe can also write the hyperfine coupling as an operator that depends on the charge qubit state:\n\n$${\\cal H}_A^{{\\rm{orb}}} = A\\left( {\\frac{{1 - {\\sigma _{\\rm{z}}}}}{2}} \\right){\\bf{S}} \\cdot {\\bf{I}}$$ (5)\n\nIndeed, this simple two-level approximation, shown as a black line in Fig. 1d, reproduces the full tight-biding simulations (yellow dots).\n\nThe overall flip-flop qubit transition frequency as a function of E z becomes:\n\n$${\\epsilon _{{\\rm{ff}}}}\\left( {A,{\\gamma _{\\rm{e}}}} \\right) = \\sqrt {{{\\left[ {{\\gamma _{\\rm{e}}}\\left( {{E_{\\rm{z}}}} \\right) + {\\gamma _{\\rm{n}}}} \\right]}^2}{B_0}^2 + {{\\left[ {A\\left( {{E_{\\rm{z}}}} \\right)} \\right]}^2}} ,$$ (6)\n\nshown in Fig. 2a (dashed line), where we assumed \u0394 \u03b3 = \u22120.2%38. \\({\\epsilon _{{\\rm{ff}}}}\\)(A, \u03b3 e ) shows a steep slope around the ionization point, mostly caused by the E z -dependence of \u03b3 e (the dependence on A is less significant because \\({\\gamma _ + }{B_0} \\gg A\\)). Therefore, while \\({E_{z}} \\approx E_{z}^0\\) is the fastest operation point for the flip-flop qubit driven by a resonant modulation of A, one might expect it to be the most prone to qubit dephasing from charge and gate noise, through the influence of E z on \u03b3 e .\n\nHowever, computing instead the full flip-flop qubit Hamiltonian,\n\n$${{\\cal H}_{{\\rm{ff}}}} = {\\cal H}_{{B_0}}^{{\\rm{orb}}} + {\\cal H}_A^{{\\rm{orb}}} + {{\\cal H}_{{\\rm{orb}}}},$$ (7)\n\nreveals that the qubit transition frequency has an extra bend around the ionization point (Fig. 2a, thick yellow line). This comes from Eq. (5), which provides a transverse coupling g so between the flip-flop and charge qubits (inset in Fig. 2a):\n\n$${g_{{\\rm{so}}}} = \\frac{A}{4}\\frac{{{V_{\\rm{t}}}}}{{{\\epsilon _{\\rm{o}}}}}$$ (8)\n\nAs a result, the electron orbit dispersively shifts the flip-flop qubit by, to second order:\n\n$${D_{{\\rm{orb}}}}\\left( {{E_{z}}} \\right) = \\frac{{{{\\left[ {{g_{{\\rm{so}}}}\\left( {{E_{z}}} \\right)} \\right]}^2}}}{{{\\delta _{{\\rm{so}}}}\\left( {{E_{z}}} \\right)}},$$ (9)\n\nwhere \u03b4 so = \\({\\epsilon _o}\\) \u2212 \\({\\epsilon _{{\\rm{ff}}}}\\), reducing the flip-flop qubit frequency to:\n\n$${\\epsilon _{{\\rm{ff}}}}\\left( {A,{\\gamma _{\\rm{e}}},{D_{{\\rm{orb}}}}} \\right) = {\\epsilon _{{\\rm{ff}}}}\\left( {A,{\\gamma _{\\rm{e}}}} \\right) - {D_{{\\rm{orb}}}}\\left( {{E_{z}}} \\right),$$ (10)\n\nD orb (E z ) is largest around \\({E_{z}} \\approx E_{z}^0\\), since \u03b4 so is lowest (i.e., the charge qubit frequency comes closest to the flip-flop qubit, Fig. 2a) and g so is highest. Equation (10) (thin black line in Fig. 2a) agrees with full numerical simulations of the Hamiltonian in Eq. (7).\n\nSuch a dispersive shift stabilizes the flip-flop precession frequency against noise. To quantify that, we assume a quasi-static electric field noise with 100 V m\u22121 r.m.s. amplitude along the donor-dot direction (z-axis in Fig. 1a). This noise is equivalent to a 1.5 \u03bceV charge detuning noise for d = 15 nm, consistent with experimentally observed values in similar silicon devices39,40,41\u2014see Supplementary Note 3. The estimated\u2014see Methods section\u2014dephasing rates can be as low as \\(1{\\rm{/}}T_2^ * \\approx 3\\) kHz (Fig. 2b), comparable to the ones due to magnetic noise (\\(1/T_2^ * \\approx 1\\) kHz in 28Si nanostructures7). This can be understood from Fig. 2c, which shows the qubit precession frequency dependence on E z , for three different values of V t . For small detunings \u03b4 so , i.e., V t close to \\({\\epsilon _{{\\rm{ff}}}}\\), the dispersive shift around the ionization point is strong, yielding two first-order \u201cclock transitions\u201d (CT), where \u2202\\({\\epsilon _{{\\rm{ff}}}}\\)/\u2202E z = 0 where the dephasing rate is reduced. By increasing V t , the two first-order points merge into a single one in which both the first and second derivatives vanish, yielding the slowest qubit dephasing.\n\nAnother source of errors could come from relaxation via coupling to phonons. This is not an issue for bulk donors, where electron spin relaxation time is \\({T_{1,{\\rm{s}}}} \\gg 1\\) s18. However, due to the particular valley composition of the flip-flop qubit near the ionization point, its relaxation rate 1/T 1,ff due to charge-phonon coupling is enhanced42. We estimate it by noting that, if \\({\\delta _{{\\rm{so}}}} \\gg {g_{{\\rm{so}}}}\\), 1/T 1,ff is equal to the amount of charge excited state in the flip-flop eigenstates43 times the charge relaxation rate42:\n\n$$1{\\rm{/}}{T_{1,{\\rm{ff}}}} = {\\left( {{g_{{\\rm{so}}}}{\\rm{/}}{\\delta _{{\\rm{so}}}}} \\right)^2}{\\rm{/}}{T_{1,{\\rm{o}}}},$$ (11)\n\n$$1{\\rm{/}}{T_{1,{\\rm{o}}}} = \\Theta {\\epsilon _{\\rm{o}}}{V_{\\rm{t}}}^2,$$ (12)\n\nwhere T 1,o is the charge qubit lifetime and \u0398 \u2248 2.37 \u00d7 10\u221224 s2 is determined by the silicon crystal properties42. Therefore, as can be seen from Fig. 2d, the higher the detuning \u03b4 so , the slower the relaxation. In particular, at the second-order CT, the qubit dephasing can be limited by relaxation, \\(1{\\rm{/}}T_2^* = 1{\\rm{/}}2{T_1} \\approx {10^4}\\) Hz. This limitation can be overcome by reducing B 0 (Fig. 2e).\n\nTuning a flip-flop qubit into a clock transition requires the ability to tune the tunnel coupling V t . The latter is difficult to control at the fabrication stage, given its exponential dependence on donor depth, together with oscillations at the atomic scale44 arising from a similar valley interference effect as the one afflicting the exchange interaction16. Indeed, ion-implanting a donor at z d \u2248 15 nm below the interface happens with a vertical uncertainty of order \u00b110nm45, resulting in more than two orders of magnitude uncertainty in V t 44. Therefore, it is crucial to implement a method to tune V t in situ. A possible solution is to displace the location of the interface wavefunction laterally, which in turn modifies the overlap between the donor and interface wavefunctions and therefore V t . This can be done by adding two gates on either side of the top gate, which pulls the donor electron to the interface (Fig. 2f), in such a way that a relative voltage between the gates can modify the interface lateral potential landscape. This gate stack is identical to the well-established scheme for the confinement of single electrons in Si quantum dots10. This technique allows V t to be tuned by at least wo orders of magnitude (Fig. 2g), therefore circumventing the uncertainty in donor depth and V t arising from ion-implantation.\n\nAdiabatic phase control\n\nThe presence of slow dephasing regions is important to control the qubit phase with high fidelity. In our quantum processor, idle qubits are decoupled from electric fields by fully displacing the electron either to the interface or to the donor. Performing quantum operations on the qubit requires displacing the electrons close to the ionization point, which in turn changes its precession frequency (Fig. 2a). As a result, the accumulated phase must be corrected after quantum operations. This is optimally done by moving the electron to the second-order clock transition, therefore minimizing dephasing errors. At this point, the flip-flop qubit phase precesses \\({\\rm{\\\u223c}}{\\Delta _\\gamma }{\\gamma _{\\rm{e}}}{B_0}{\\rm{/}}2 - {D_{{\\rm{orb}}}}\\) faster than its idle point, and therefore any phase correction in a 2\u03c0 period can be applied within tens of ns. The dephasing rate at the CT, on the order of a few kHz, would cause very small errors (<10\u22124). However, while moving the electron from the interface toward the donor, the flip-flop qubit goes through regions of fast dephasing (Fig. 2b), and therefore this operation has to be performed as quickly as possible. It also has to be slow enough as to avoid erros due to non-adiabaticity, which include, e.g., leakage to unwanted high-energy states. These errors depend on the adiabatic factor K, which quantifies the fractional rate of change of the system\u2019s eigenstates (the higher the value of K, the more adiabatic and slower is the process\u2014see Methods section).\n\nIn Fig. 3a, we plot the time dynamics of an initial state \\(\\left| g \\right\\rangle \\otimes \\left( {\\left| { \\downarrow \\Uparrow } \\right\\rangle + \\left| { \\uparrow \\Downarrow } \\right\\rangle } \\right){\\rm{/}}\\sqrt 2 \\) while sweeping E z adiabatically (K = 50) to move the electron from the interface to the second-order CT and back, in order to realize a \u03c0 z-gate. The initial adiabatic set-up part consists of a fast sweep (0.8 ns), allowed by the large charge qubit splitting when \\({E_{\\rm{z}}} \\gg E_{\\rm{z}}^0\\), followed by a slower sweep (3.5 ns), limited by the proximity of excited charge states to the flip-flop qubit when \\({E_{\\rm{z}}} \\approx E_{\\rm{z}}^0\\). The electron then remains at the CT for 60 ns, before adiabatically moving back to the interface. During the total 69 ns, the flip-flop qubit phase is shifted by \u03c0, with adiabatic errors, averaged over a set of initial flip-flop states\u2014see Methods section\u2014around 10\u22124. These errors can be controlled with the factor K, which determines the set-up time (see Fig. 3b).\n\nFig. 3 High-fidelity adiabatic z-gates. a Time-evolution of an adiabatic (K = 50) \u03c0 z-gate on state \\(\\left| g \\right\\rangle \\otimes \\left( {\\left| { \\downarrow \\Uparrow } \\right\\rangle + \\left| { \\uparrow \\Downarrow } \\right\\rangle } \\right){\\rm{/}}\\sqrt 2 \\), showing applied electric field and flip-flop/charge states. Outer brackets denote the expectation value of an operator. \\(\\sigma _{z}^{{\\rm{ff}}} = \\left| { \\uparrow \\Downarrow } \\right\\rangle \\left\\langle { \\uparrow \\Downarrow } \\right| - \\left| { \\downarrow \\Uparrow } \\right\\rangle \\left\\langle { \\downarrow \\Uparrow } \\right|\\) and \\(\\sigma _x^{{\\rm{ff}}} = \\left| { + _x^{{\\rm{ff}}}} \\right\\rangle \\left\\langle { + _x^{{\\rm{ff}}}} \\right| - \\left| { - _x^{{\\rm{ff}}}} \\right\\rangle \\left\\langle { - _x^{{\\rm{ff}}}} \\right|\\), where \\(\\left| { + _x^{{\\rm{ff}}}} \\right\\rangle = \\left( {\\left| { \\uparrow \\Downarrow } \\right\\rangle + {\\rm{exp}}\\left( { - i2\\pi \\epsilon _{{\\rm{ff}}}^{t = 0}} \\right)\\left| { \\downarrow \\Uparrow } \\right\\rangle } \\right){\\rm{/}}\\sqrt 2 \\) and \\(\\left| { - _x^{{\\rm{ff}}}} \\right\\rangle = \\left( {\\left| { \\uparrow \\Downarrow } \\right\\rangle + {\\rm{exp}}\\left( { - i2\\pi \\epsilon _{{\\rm{ff}}}^{t = 0} - i\\pi } \\right)\\left| { \\downarrow \\Uparrow } \\right\\rangle } \\right){\\rm{/}}\\sqrt 2 \\). Fast oscillations between the charge and flip-flop states are due to small deviations from perfect adiabaticity. b \u03c0 z-gate leakage error for different adiabatic set-up times, which are set by the factor K. c \u03c0 z-gate error due to quasi-static E z noise, at the second-order CT at B 0 = 0.4 T, for different noise amplitudes and adiabatic set-up times Full size image\n\nQuasi-static E z noise can increase errors, due to dephasing (Fig. 3c). At realistic noise levels (100 V m\u22121), the gate error rate is found to be <10\u22124. Similar error levels arise due to relaxation, which remains below 3 \u00d7 104 Hz (Fig. 2d).\n\nNote that the presence of clock transitions does not affect the ability to use E ac to resonantly drive the qubit, since the transverse term A(E z ) still responds fully to the electric field (this is similar to the case of magnetic clock transitions, e.g,. in Si:Bi46).\n\nElectric drive of the flip-flop qubit\n\nWe now explain how high-fidelity one-qubit x(y)-gates can be achieved via electric drive of the flip-flop qubit. The fastest one-qubit gates are obtained when the electron is around the ionization point, where \u2202A/\u2202E z is maximum (Fig. 1d). A vertical oscillating electric field of amplitude E ac is applied (Fig. 4a) in resonance with the flip-flop qubit, i.e., \u03bd E = \\({\\epsilon _{{\\rm{ff}}}}\\). A large detuning \\({\\delta _{{\\rm{so}}}} \\gg {g_{{\\rm{so}}}}\\) (Fig. 4b) ensures the least amount of the charge excited state \\(\\left| e \\right\\rangle \\) in the qubit eigenstates, minimizing qubit relaxation via charge-phonon coupling. The flip-flop qubit is still driven, via a second-order process, at a rate (half-Rabi frequency):\n\n$$g_{\\rm{E}}^{{\\rm{ff}}} = \\frac{{{g_{{\\rm{so}}}}{g_{\\rm{E}}}}}{2}\\left( {\\frac{1}{{{\\delta _{{\\rm{so}}}}}} + \\frac{1}{{{\\delta _{\\rm{E}}}}}} \\right),$$ (13)\n\nwhere \u03b4 E = \u03bd E \u2212 \\({\\epsilon _o}\\) and g E is the driven electric coupling rate between the two charge eigenstates:\n\n$${g_{\\rm{E}}} = \\frac{{e{E_{{\\rm{ac}}}}d}}{{4h}}\\frac{{{V_{\\rm{t}}}}}{{{\\epsilon _{\\rm{o}}}}},$$ (14)\n\nwhere E ac is the amplitude of a sinusoidal drive. Equation (13) provides another explanation of why the fastest one-qubit gates are obtained when the electron is at the ionization point: \u03b4 so and \u03b4 E are minimum (\\({\\epsilon _o}\\) is minimum), and g so and g E are maximum (Eqs. (8) and (14)).\n\nFig. 4 High-fidelity electrically driven adiabatic x(y)-gates. a Spatial representation and b level diagram, for electrical drive of a flip-flop qubit, showing partially ionized electron wavefunction and spin arrows. c Time-dependent adiabatic drive amplitude and qubit dynamics of a \u03c0/2 x-gate, for K = 30, B 0 = 0.4 T, \\({E_{\\rm{z}}} = E_{\\rm{z}}^0,\\) and V t = 11.5 GHz. Bottom plot shows flip-flop z state, \\(\\left\\langle {\\sigma _{z}^{{ff}}} \\right\\rangle \\), electron position, \u3008\u03c3 z \u3009, and charge qubit state, \\(\\left\\langle {\\left| e \\right\\rangle \\left\\langle e \\right| - \\left| g \\right\\rangle \\left\\langle g \\right|} \\right\\rangle \\). For the same parameters, d shows the averaged drive power and gate time, and e the error rates for different V t . To estimate the drive power, we assumed a 50 \u03a9 line in which a 1 \u03bcV AC voltage produces a 10 V m\u22121 AC vertical electric field. f Estimated flip-flop qubit \u03c0/2 x-gate error due to quasi-static noise with amplitude \\(E_{z{\\rm{,rms}}}^{{\\rm{noise}}} = 100\\) V m\u22121. g Dependence of gate error rate on the electric noise r.m.s. amplitude and adiabatic factor K (which sets the gate time) Full size image\n\nThe electrical drive can cause some excitation of the charge qubit. It is therefore convenient to turn E ac on/off adiabatically to make sure the charge is de-excited at the end of the gate. Figure 4c shows the E ac time evolution needed for a \u03c0/2 x-gate, where we have assumed an adiabatic factor K = 30, sufficient for leakage errors <10\u22123. E ac increases steadily until a \u03c0/4 rotation is completed, after which E ac is gradually switched off to achieve an adiabatic \u03c0/2 x-gate. An average 4% excitation of the charge qubit causes a ~4 \u00d7 104 Hz relaxation rate of the encoded quantum state (Eq. 12), or error levels close to 10\u22123.\n\nWe then investigate how the total \u03c0/2 x-gate errors depend on the biasing of the electron wavefunction. At the ionization point, \\(E_{z} = E_{z}^0\\), error levels close to 10\u22123 are found over a wide range of V t (Fig. 4e). The K = 30 choice ensures adiabatic errors <10\u22123 with an oscillatory character typical of adiabatic processes47. At small V t (and therefore small detuning \u03b4 so ), the qubit eigenstates contain a substantial amount of charge, causing more errors due to charge-phonon relaxation. Increasing the detuning \u03b4 E with larger V t allows for a faster adiabatic sweep and higher powers (Fig. 4d), yielding shorter gate times and therefore less errors due to quasi-static noise. Still, the incident power is at least three orders of magnitude lower than the one needed to drive donor electron spin qubits, at the same Rabi frequency, with oscillating magnetic fields7, 19.\n\nAs Fig. 4f shows, low error rates are still available away from the ionization point, even though best values are found at \\({E_{z}} = E_{z}^0\\). This is because our gate times are so fast that dephasing, and therefore CTs, do not play a crucial role. Instead, quasi-static E z noise cause errors mainly by modulating the driving strength \\(g_{\\rm{E}}^{{\\rm{ff}}}\\), causing \u201cgate time jitter\u201d. Indeed, the gate time is sensitive to the orbital transition frequency \\({\\epsilon _o}\\) (Eq. 13), and therefore gate errors are minimized close to the charge qubit sweet spot (CQSS), where \u2202\\({\\epsilon _o}\\)/\u2202E z = 0 (Fig. 2a).\n\nFinally, as Fig. 4g shows, lower quasi-static E z noise can cause less errors, provided that the adiabatic factor K is increased, to reduce leakage errors, up to an optimum value where gate times are still fast as to keep noise errors low. Relaxation errors could also be reduced by reducing B 0 (recall Fig. 2e).\n\nA number of other noise sources, including high frequency charge noise, Johnson-Nyquist, and evanescent-wave Johnson noise48 (EWJN) also affect qubits that are sensitive to electric fields. However, as we discuss in Supplementary Note 3, the corresponding error rates are much lower than the ones already previously mentioned\u2014see all estimated error levels in Table 1.\n\nTable 1 Error rates of x(y)-gates from different noise sources as discussed in Supplementary Note 3 Full size table\n\nTwo-qubit coupling via electric dipole interaction\n\nWe now present the method to couple donor spins that lies at the heart of our scalable quantum processor. It exploits the electric dipole that naturally arises when a donor-electron wavefunction is biased to the ionization point (Fig. 5a), due to the fact that a negative charge has been partly displaced away from the positive 31P nucleus. The electric field produced by this induced dipole in turn, modifies the energy of a nearby donor which is also biased at the ionization point, resulting in a long-range coupling between the two.\n\nFig. 5 Robust electric dipole-dipole interactions between two distant flip-flop qubits. a Device scheme for coupling qubits, showing dipole field lines, E dip , produced by the dipole on the left. b Level diagram for two-qubit coupling via electric dipole-dipole interaction. c Lowest molecular eigenstates for the two charge qubits inside dashed rectangle in b. The eigenenergy shift equals D dd = (\u03b4 so,2 \u2212 \u03b4 so,1 )\\((\\sqrt {1+[2g_{dd}/({\\delta _{{\\rm{so}},2}}-{\\delta _{{\\rm{so}},1}})]^2}-1)/2 \\). The eigenstate coefficients are \\(\\beta = \\theta {\\rm{/}}\\sqrt {{\\theta ^2} + 1} \\) and \\(\\alpha = \\phi {\\rm{/}}\\sqrt {{\\phi ^{\\rm{2}}}{\\rm{ + 1}}} \\), with \\(\\theta ,\\phi = \\left[ {\\left( {{\\delta _{{\\rm{so}},2}} - {\\delta _{{\\rm{so}},1}}} \\right) \\pm \\sqrt {{{\\left( {{\\delta _{{\\rm{so}},2}} - {\\delta _{{\\rm{so}},1}}} \\right)}^2} + {{\\left( {2{g_{{\\rm{dd}}}}} \\right)}^2}} } \\right]{\\rm{/}}\\left( {2{g_{{\\rm{dd}}}}} \\right)\\). Effective coupling between two flip-flop qubits as a function of V t,1 = V t,2 = V t , interdistance r (d) and electric field E z,1 = E z,2 = E z (e). The arrows in e represent the adiabatic path followed for two-qubit gates. \\(E_{z}^{{\\rm{0}},2{\\rm{q}}}\\) is the ionization point in the presence of a second qubit, \\(E_{z}^{{\\rm{0,2q}}} = E_{z}^0 - 2{g_{{\\rm{dd}}}}h{\\rm{/}}\\left( {2e{d_{\\rm{i}}}} \\right)\\) Full size image\n\nThe interaction energy between two distant dipoles, \u03bc 1 and \u03bc 2 , oriented perpendicularly to their separation, r, is49 \\({V_{{\\rm{dip}}}} = {\\mu _1}{\\mu _2}{\\rm{/}}\\left( {4\\pi {\\varepsilon _{\\rm{r}}}{\\varepsilon _0}{r^3}} \\right)\\), where \u03b5 0 is the vacuum permittivity and \\(\\epsilon \\) r the material\u2019s dielectric constant (\u03b5 r = 11.7 in silicon). The electric dipole of each donor-interface state is \u03bc i = ed i (1 + \u03c3 z,i )/2, implying that the dipole-dipole interaction Hamiltonian is:\n\n$${{\\cal H}_{{\\rm{dip}}}} = {V_{{\\rm{dd}}}}\\left( {{\\sigma _{{\\rm{z}},1}}{\\sigma _{{\\rm{z}},2}} + {\\sigma _{{\\rm{z}},1}} + {\\sigma _{{\\rm{z}},2}}} \\right)$$ (15)\n\n$${V_{{\\rm{dd}}}} = \\frac{1}{{16\\pi {\\varepsilon _0}{\\varepsilon _{\\rm{r}}}h}}\\frac{{{e^2}{d_1}{d_2}}}{{{r^3}}}$$ (16)\n\nThis electric dipole-dipole interaction is therefore equivalent to a small shift in the equilibrium orbital position of both electrons plus a coupling term between the charge qubits (blue dashed rectangle in Fig. 5b) equal to:\n\n$${g_{{\\rm{dd}}}} = {V_{{\\rm{dd}}}}\\frac{{{V_{{\\rm{t}},1}}{V_{{\\rm{t}},2}}}}{{{\\epsilon _{{\\rm{o}},1}}{\\epsilon _{{\\rm{o}},2}}}}$$ (17)\n\nNote that this interaction can be stronger due to the presence of a metallic interface on top of the qubits, which enhances vertical dipoles\u2014see Supplementary Note 2. Most importantly, since each flip-flop qubit is coupled to their electron position (Eq. 5), the electric dipole-dipole interaction provides a natural way to couple two distant flip-flop qubits.\n\nIndeed, the effective coupling rate between two flip-flop qubits at the ionization point, Fig. 5d, exceeds 10 MHz around two narrow regions. These bands can be understood from the energy-level diagram shown in Fig. 5c. The two charge qubits in Fig. 5b form hybridized molecular states, which are coupled to each flip-flop qubit. The two-qubit coupling rate is maximum when in resonance with a molecular state. However, this regime induces too many relaxation errors due to resonant charge excitation. Therefore, it is best to detune the flip-flop qubits from the molecular states, while still keeping a substantial inter-qubit coupling rate, via a second-order process, equal to:\n\n$$g_{{\\rm{2q}}}^{{\\rm{ff}}} = {g_{{\\rm{so,1}}}}{g_{{\\rm{so,2}}}}\\alpha \\beta \\left( {\\frac{1}{{{D_{{\\rm{dd}}}} - {\\delta _{{\\rm{so}},1}}}} + \\frac{1}{{{D_{{\\rm{dd}}}} + {\\delta _{{\\rm{so,2}}}}}}} \\right),$$ (18)\n\nwhere D dd is the charge eigenenergies shift and \u03b1, \u03b2 the eigenstates coefficients\u2014see Fig. 5c caption.\n\nTwo-qubit gates start with both electrons at the interface, where qubits are decoupled since the electric dipoles and the hyperfine interactions are first-order insensitive to vertical electric fields. Indeed, from Eq. (18), \\(g_{{\\rm{2q}}}^{{\\rm{ff}}}\\) is negligible since g so vanishes and \u03b4 so diverges. The electrons are then simultaneously and adiabatically displaced to the ionization point for a time necessary for an \\(\\sqrt {i{\\rm{SWAP}}} \\) gate, before returning to the interface. In Fig. 6a, we show the dynamics of a two-qubit gate performed with an adiabatic factor K = 30, following the trajectory shown in Fig. 5e. Similarly to one-qubit z-gates, the electron is first displaced in a fast time scale (~0.3 ns) set by the charge qubit parameters (\\({\\epsilon _0}\\) and V t ), followed by a slower sweep (~19 ns) set by the spin-charge coupling parameters (\u03b4 so and g so ), until it reaches the ionization point. The electron remains still for a short time before the whole process is then reversed. In the end, a \\(\\sqrt {i{\\rm{SWAP}}} \\) gate is performed. While some amount of charge is excited during the process, it goes back to its ground state, \\(\\left| {gg} \\right\\rangle \\), with an adiabatic error around 10\u22123.\n\nFig. 6 High-fidelity adiabatic \\(\\sqrt {i{\\rm{SWAP}}} \\) gates between two distant flip-flop qubits. a Time evolution of an adiabatic \\(\\sqrt {i{\\rm{SWAP}}} \\) gate, for K = 30, r = 180 nm, B 0 = 0.4 T, and V t = 11.58 GHz. b Optimized \\(\\sqrt {i{\\rm{SWAP}}} \\) gate error, gate time, and adiabatic factor K. c Optimized error rate arising from quasi-static E z -noise, for different noise amplitudes and adiabatic factor K (which sets the gate time) Full size image\n\nWe quantify the two-qubit gate fidelity in presence of the most deleterious noise types for our qubits, namely quasi-static E z noise and charge-phonon relaxation. For this, we observe that the optimal gate fidelities are achieved when \\({E_{z}}\\left( {{\\tau _{\\sqrt {i{\\rm{SWAP}}} }}{\\rm{/}}2} \\right) \\approx E_{z}^0\\). Similarly to one-qubit x-gates, this happens because \\(\\sqrt {i{\\rm{SWAP}}} \\) gates are sensitive to gate time jitter, and therefore errors are minimized at the CQSS, where \\(g_{{\\rm{2q}}}^{{\\rm{ff}}}\\) is robust against E z noise to first order\u2014recall Fig. 5e and Eq. (18). An optimization algorithm finds the best adiabatic factor K that minimizes errors due to E z noise for each value of V t,1 = V t,2 = V t . The result is shown in Fig. 6b. Smaller detunings \u03b4 so (small V t ) result in shorter gate times, which in turn reduces errors from quasi-static noise. However, this also implies a larger admixture of charge in the qubit eigenstates, which slightly increases relaxation errors. The lowest error rates, ~3 \u00d7 10\u22123 are found at small detunings, V t \u2212 \\({\\epsilon _{{\\rm{ff}}}}\\) \u2212 g dd \u2248 100 MHz (V t \u2248 11.59 GHz). At even smaller detunings, the two-qubit coupling rate becomes too fast, requiring faster adiabatic sweeps to avoid over-rotation (lower K, Fig. 6b) and generating more leakage errors. The gate errors remain within 10\u22123 \u2212 10\u22122 for a wide range of V t . Finally, we estimate in Fig. 6c how noise errors depend on the noise amplitude and adiabatic factor K, which sets the gate time.\n\nOur proposed two-qubit gates are not only well protected against noise, but also robust against donor misplacement. Variations in r, d 1 , and d 2 mainly cause variations in the charge qubits coupling g dd , therefore simply changing the energy separation between molecular charge states (Fig. 5c). However, the coupling \\(g_{{\\rm{2q}}}^{{\\rm{ff}}}\\) between the flip-flop qubits can be kept essentially constant by simply readjusting V t , using, e.g., the method described in Fig. 2f, g. Figure 5d shows that one can keep a constant value of, e.g., \\(g_{{\\rm{2q}}}^{{\\rm{ff}}} = 1\\) MHz for any inter-donor spacing between 180 and 500 nm, by adjusting V t between 11.3 and 11.8 GHz. In other words, since the flip-flop qubit coupling is mediated by a tunable interaction with their respective charge qubits, the inter-qubit interaction does not need to decay with r 3, as one would otherwise get when the dipole interaction couples the qubits directly26, 31. Therefore, two-qubit operations can be turned on between pairs of qubits separated by many sites in a two-dimensional array. This tunable long-range connectivity can be exploited to great advantage in large-scale quantum processors50. The large tolerance in g dd also accommodates very well the donor depth uncertainties inherent to ion implantation45, given the linear dependence of \\(g_{{\\rm{2q}}}^{{\\rm{ff}}}\\) on d i (Eqs. (16) and (17)).\n\nWe conclude that our scheme provides a dramatic reduction in the fabrication complexity, especially compared to schemes that require placing a gate between a pair of tightly spaced donors, such as the Kane\u2019s proposal15, which requires r \u2248 15 nm separation between two 31P nuclear spins. Note that, by relocating the problem of valley oscillations from the exchange interaction15 to the tunnel coupling, we have effectively provided a way in which the delicate parameter can now be tuned using a much simpler gate geometry.\n\nScaling up using circuit quantum electrodynamics\n\nIn order to reach the long-term goal of a large-scale quantum processor, wiring up the control and read-out lines for each individual qubit is not trivial, given the high density in typical spin qubit architectures51. Recent solutions include cross-wiring using multilayer lithography26 or floating gate electrodes inspired by dynamic random access memory systems52. In both cases, using flip-flop qubits with long-distance interactions would result in widely spaced donors and loose fabrication tolerances. In addition, since flip-flop qubits are coupled via electric fields, they could be spaced further apart by using electrical mediators. These include floating metal gates53 or even microwave resonators. Indeed, the use of electric dipole transitions allows a natural integration of donor-based spin qubits into a circuit-quantum electrodynamics architecture43, 54,55,56 (see Fig. 7c for a possible device layout).\n\nFig. 7 Silicon hybrid quantum processor. a Figures of merit summarizing the speed and error rates of different gate schemes presented in this paper, assuming realistic noise sources. b Level diagram for distant flip-flop qubit coupling via a microwave resonator showing photon number states and off-resonant charge states. c Device scheme for coupling qubits via a photonic link. Distant donors, placed next to the resonator center line and biased to their ionization point, are subject to the vacuum electric field E vac of a shared microwave resonator. d Schematic view of a large-scale quantum processor based upon 31P donors in Si, operated and coupled through the use of an induced electric dipole. Idle qubits have electrons at the interface, leaving the 31P nucleus in the ultra-coherent ionized state. Electrons are partially shifted toward the donor for quantum operations. The sketch shows a possible architecture where a cluster of qubits is locally coupled via the electric dipole, and a subgroup thereof is further coupled to another cluster through interaction with a shared microwave cavity (aqua). The drawing is not to scale; control lines and readout devices are not shown Full size image\n\nA full quantum mechanical treatment yields a charge-photon coupling rate given by Eq. (14), with \u03bd E now representing the resonator fundamental mode frequency and E ac the resonator vacuum field, E vac . Again, it is best to have the charge-excited state detuned from the flip-flop transition and resonator photon (see Fig. 7b), therefore minimizing charge excitation while retaining a second-order flip-flop photon coupling given by Eq. (13). Assuming \u03b4 so \u2248 \u03b4 E \u2248 10g so \u2248 10g E , a d = 15 nm deep 31P flip-flop qubit would be coupled to photons at a \\(g_{\\rm{E}}^{{\\rm{ff}}} \\approx 3\\) MHz rate. This is three orders of magnitude faster than the electron-spin coupling rate to a resonator via its magnetic vacuum field57, 58, and comparable to the coupling strength obtained by using strong magnetic field gradients59, 60, but without the need to integrate magnetic materials within a superconducting circuit. This assumes a vacuum field amplitude E vac \u2248 30 V m\u22121, which can be obtained by using tapered coplanar waveguide or high-inductance resonators61.\n\nThe possibility of coupling the qubits to microwave photons provides a path for dispersive qubit readout, as well as for photonic interconnects. Near-quantum limited amplifiers have recently become available to obtain excellent read-out speed and fidelities62. The resonator can also be used as a quantum bus to couple two spin qubits separated by as far as 1 cm (Fig. 7c), a distance given by the mode wavelength. Figure 7b shows the detailed energy-level diagram. To avoid losses from photon decay, the qubits should be detuned from the resonator by an amount much greater than the qubit-photon coupling rates. Assuming \\(\\delta _{\\rm{E}}^{{\\rm{ff}}} = 10g_{\\rm{E}}^{{\\rm{ff}}}\\), where \\(\\delta _{\\rm{E}}^{{\\rm{ff}}} = {\n\nu _{\\rm{E}}} - {\\epsilon _{{\\rm{ff}}}}\\), the effective two-qubit coupling \\(g_{{\\rm{2q}}}^{{\\rm{ff}}} \\approx {\\left( {g_{\\rm{E}}^{{\\rm{ff}}}} \\right)^2}{\\rm{/}}\\delta _{\\rm{E}}^{{\\rm{ff}}} \\approx 0.3\\) MHz yields a \\(\\sqrt {i{\\rm{SWAP}}} \\) gate that takes only 0.4 \u03bcs.", "output": "American and Australian researchers have published a paper in Nature outlining a design for a scalable, silicon quantum processor using electrical interactions to couple and integrate two-qubits logic gates into expandable arrays. The \"flip-flop qubits\" are made up of two phosphorus qubits coupled using donor electron interactions that have\u00a0been extended over longer than normal distances (>150 nm) by microwave resonators. The team claims that the arrangement is much more\u00a0fault- and noise-tolerant than previous designs and can be fabricated using existing silicon chip technology.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "This care center is combining child and senior care \u2014 and the results are beautiful! \n The Bethlehem Intergenerational Center has a unique approach to senior and child care: combine them!\n\nThe center in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is home to day care and senior care facilities, and when these two age groups get together there are benefits to both groups \u2014 not to mention heart-warming interactions.\n\n\u201cWe live in a mobile society, so kids do not have access to their grandparents like they used to,\u201d Sue Davidson, director of the center, told TODAY. \u201cSo having those seniors around that they can build those relationships with is not only heartwarming, but beneficial.\u201d\n\nWith the hope of allowing the old and young to benefit from one another, Davidson and her staff set out to find similar care facilities, as well as research that supported their goals. They quickly found Dr. Shannon Jarrott\u2019s research, and went to visit her program at the University of Virginia, where she had started a program with similar initiatives.\n\n\"We built a hallway that connects the two wings,\" said Davidson. \"The kids call it the pathway because it goes both ways.\" Courtesy Bethlehem Intergenerational Center\n\n\u201cWe know that children benefit from having that consistent, caring adult in their lives,\u201d Jarrott told TODAY. \u201cAnd when seniors are invited to contribute in an age appropriate and ability appropriate manner it gives a role back to them as well.\u201d\n\nDavidson's group took what they saw and traveled the country in search of other programs as well. They took everything that they learned, and developed a care center they felt would benefit their specific community's needs.\n\n\u201cThe caregivers have a safe place where they can enhance their family member\u2019s quality of life,\u201d said Davidson. \u201cIt can give the caregivers a break that they desperately need for themselves.\u201d\n\n\"The older adults tell us that they love to watch the children,\" said Jarrott. Courtesy Bethlehem Intergenerational Center\n\nThe Bethlehem Center launched this program in June, but the children\u2019s program has been around for 46 years. The center operates as a day center for both age groups, and schedules one intergenerational group activity per day with children ranging in age from infancy to kindergarten. The older kids have plenty of time to interact with the elders as well as before and after school.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s lots of activities for them to do, but they can also choose \u2014 one of our little ones taught a senior how to crab walk last week,\u201d said Davidson. \u201cThe sweet thing is they now know each other\u2019s names and they ask for each other. That\u2019s the part that melts my heart.\u201d\n\nJarrott confirmed that her research has consistently shown that elders are still \u201cinterested in being active and contributing members of society.\u201d These programs fulfill that sense of purpose.\n\nJarrott emphasized that elders and children aren\u2019t the only groups that can benefit from intergenerational relationships \u2014 they're great for all ages.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s just something that you can achieve by bringing generations together,\u201d said Jarrott. \u201cI encourage people to take an intergenerational lens to everything that they do.\u201d\n\nAs for the Bethlehem Center, the Grand Rapids community seems to agree. The program has been growing and Davidson is hopeful that it can provide a constant light for the community.\n\n\u201cThe interactions are so real,\u201d said Davidson. \u201cIt is so beautiful.\u201d", "output": "The center in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is home to day care and senior care facilities, and when these two age groups get together there are benefits to both groups \u2014 not to mention heart-warming interactions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "'Ahead of the game': Florida seniors, nursing homes prep for Hurricane Irma \n Story highlights NEW: At least 24 nursing homes and 108 assisted-living facilities across South Florida are evacuating \"They keep very close tabs on us, because this is our life,\" one senior says\n\nCNN \u2014\n\nCypress Village, a senior living facility in Jacksonville, Florida, is Herbert Dreisbach\u2019s home \u2013 and when Hurricane Irma hits, he doesn\u2019t plan to leave his home.\n\nThis will be the first hurricane that he and his wife, Joanne, will experience while living on the third floor at Cypress Village, with a view of a lake and surrounding pine and cypress trees, Dreisbach said.\n\nJoanne and Herbert Dreisbach plan to stay at their senior living community in Jacksonville, Florida, when Hurricane Irma hits. Lisa Brown\n\n\u201cWe are perfectly safe here. This is a very nice, sturdy concrete building, and we feel very secure here, and they are taking very good care of us, so we\u2019re satisfied to stay here,\u201d the 94-year-old said.\n\nThe power might go out, \u201cand I know some of these things might happen to us, but it\u2019s still better than being at a facility that would not be properly prepared to take care of us,\u201d he said just a few hours before a 3 p.m. meeting to inform residents of how to prepare for the hurricane.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re all meeting downstairs for another series of instructions if need be,\u201d he said. \u201cThey keep very close tabs on us, because this is our life.\u201d\n\nLisa Brown says her father's facility is the safest place for him. Lisa Brown\n\nAs Hurricane Irma barrels toward South Florida, Dreisbach\u2019s daughter Lisa Brown knows that staying in his assisted-living community is the safest option for her father, she said.\n\nYet all the way across the country in Palo Alto, California, she still worries.\n\n\u201cFlorida is, in my opinion, a gold standard state in that the Florida Health Care Association, state disaster planners and nursing home staff have been extremely proactive in making sure that facilities are ready for a hurricane,\u201d said Brown, a professor of psychology and director of the Trauma Program at Palo Alto University.\n\nOne benefit is that the association has been \u201creaching out prior to a hurricane to emergency operation center leadership so they\u2019re aware of \u2026 the needs that residents have and there\u2019s no surprises that are taking place when the threat is imminent,\u201d she said.\n\nBrown, who is not involved with the health care association, has conducted research on how hurricane threats and evacuations affect nursing home residents.\n\n\u201cNot all residents, our research clearly showed, should be evacuated. Those who can safely shelter in place may fare much better than those who are physically evacuated,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s not a one-size-fits-all, is the main point.\u201d\n\n\u2018We are right now sheltering in place\u2019\n\nNursing homes and assisted-living facilities across South Florida are preparing for Hurricane Irma to strike, and they have emergency and evacuation plans in place to help keep seniors safe.\n\nThe Florida Health Care Association, a federation representing 81% of the state\u2019s nursing centers, has been hosting daily disaster calls with nursing homes and assisted-living facilities to help them prepare for the storm, association spokeswoman Kristen Knapp said.\n\nAs of Friday morning, at least 24 nursing homes and 108 assisted-living facilities have been evacuated, Knapp said. The association has been monitoring bed availabilities for evacuees across the state, she said, as well as availabilities in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Georgia.\n\nThe Florida Department of Health has coordinated the evacuation of 17 hospitals and 196 non-hospital health care facilities, according to the Florida Division of Emergency Management website.\n\nOn Friday, the Division of Emergency Management issued an executive order giving districts and out-of-state licensed nurses 30-day permission to provide health care services and treatment to Florida nursing home residents who are evacuating, Knapp said.\n\nAdditionally, \u201cif, post-impact, we need more nurses to come in and assist, then out-of-state nurses can come and provide care,\u201d Knapp said of the executive order.\n\nIn Florida, mandatory evacuations orders included parts of Miami-Dade County, Broward County east of US 1, Palm Beach County, low-lying parts of Brevard County and Monroe County, home to the Keys.\n\nIn the case of mandatory evacuations, many facilities are prepared with residents\u2019 medications and other needs.\n\n\u201cEach facility has been instructed to prepare in advance seven to 10 days of medication, oxygen and other medical necessities for each resident. The facility packages the medications, along with the current orders, and sends (them) with the resident in the case of an evacuation,\u201d Knapp wrote in an email.\n\n\u201cPharmacies are refilling medications to ensure that facilities can send an ample supply with the residents,\u201d she said. In other words, \u201cif evacuation is instructed by local or state authorities, residents needing medication will be authorized for refills on any and all medications, regardless of last refill date.\u201d\n\nHoliday Retirement, which owns 30 assisted- and senior living communities across Florida, housing 3,900 seniors, has been working closely with the Florida Health Care Association in preparation, said Lori Colwell, the company\u2019s district vice president of operations for Florida.\n\nAs of Friday afternoon, the only Holiday retirement community under mandatory evacuation orders wasn\u2019t in Florida but rather in Savannah, Georgia, spokeswoman Hannah Rimar said.\n\nThe Hilton Head, South Carolina, facility may be evacuating shortly as well, she said.\n\nHoliday Retirement communities in Florida have buses on standby in case of evacuation, more than 400 cots and linens, three days\u2019 worth of nonperishable foods in addition to twice their normal supply of food, 300 gallons of spring water and generator backups in case the communities lose power, Colwell said.\n\nAs for residents\u2019 medications, the communities have been supplied with a one-week emergency medication supply on top of the 30-day supply they have for residents, Colwell said.\n\n\u201cIf we indeed need to evacuate, we do ask the residents to pack three to five days of clothing,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are right now sheltering in place until we get the evacuation order.\u201d\n\nShell Point Retirement Community, which houses 2,400 senior residents in the heart of Southwest Florida\u2019s Gulf Coast, has two on-site hurricane shelters, spokeswoman Lynn Schneider said.\n\nOn Friday, Schneider said, the community started to move residents into those shelters, and evacuations into the shelters will continue Saturday morning.\n\nBoth shelters are above anticipated storm-surge levels and have emergency generators and emergency food and water supplies, she said.\n\n\u201cShell Point has a detailed, organized hurricane plan that serves as a guideline in the event of a weather-related emergency. Active tracking begins the moment any tropical storm is named,\u201d Schneider said.\n\nShell Point residents also are advised to pack personal evacuation kits that include a two-week supply of medications, a three-day supply of special dietary items and ample portable oxygen supplies, among other necessities, she said.\n\nHow the past helps prepare for the future\n\n\u201cWhile Hurricane Charley directly hit Southwest Florida in 2004, Shell Point evacuated 1,750 residents into its hurricane shelter. Medical supplies, food supplies, water and equipment were set up and a special room was dedicated to keeping residents and employee\u2019s pets safe,\u201d Schneider said.\n\nOften, emergencies of the past help to inform preparation for the future, Knapp said.\n\nFollow CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter.\n\n\u201cHurricane Andrew in 1992 brought much attention to how we prepare for these massive storms, both as individuals and as communities. And then, in 2004 and 2005, eight named storms were the catalyst for new preparedness tools and resources for long term care centers,\u201d she wrote. \u201cIn 2016, Hurricanes Hermine in late September and Matthew in early October caused major power disruptions, evacuations and $1.59 billion in damages between the two storms, and lessons from these storms have been learned and applied.\u201d\n\nFor extreme weather events, Brown said, \u201cI think that everybody benefits \u2013 staff, administration, residents, and family members \u2013 by having a discussion before this type of weather threat occurs, because once it starts to unfold, it\u2019s difficult to have that discussion then. \u2026 Even if you just kind of step through what you would do and how things would unfold, I think you\u2019re ahead of the game.\u201d", "output": "Cypress Village, a senior living facility in Jacksonville, Florida, is Herbert Dreisbach's home -- and when Hurricane Irma hits, he doesn't plan to leave his home.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Largest Assisted Living Chain In U.S. Sued For Poor Care Of Elderly \n About Capitol Desk Capitol Desk delivers the latest in health care policy and politics from Sacramento and around the state. Have an idea? Let us know.\n\nTwenty residents of an assisted living complex in Palm Springs, Calif., missed their medications in a single day because no medical technician was on duty. A woman in a Paso Robles home for seniors pushed her emergency call button after falling in her room and waited 22 hours on the floor with broken bones until staff members responded.\n\nA class-action lawsuit filed last month in a federal district court in Northern California details those incidents and other similar ones, which allegedly occurred in facilities owned by Brookdale Senior Living, the nation\u2019s largest assisted living provider.\n\nThe complaint alleges that inadequate staffing, poor worker training and rising fees are part of a \u201ccallous and profit-driven approach\u201d that has had \u201cdevastating\u201d consequences for Californians living in Brookdale assisted living homes. Residents, it claims, \u201care left without assistance for hours after falling, they are given the wrong medications, they are denied clean clothing, showers, and nutritious food, and they are left in their own waste for long periods of time.\u201d\n\nUse Our Content This story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nRelatives of the seniors involved in the lawsuit declined to comment. The California Assisted Living Association, an industry group, also declined to comment.\n\nBrookdale spokeswoman Heather Hunter said in an email that the lawsuit is \u201cwithout merit\u201d and the company will defend itself \u201cvigorously.\u201d\n\nTennessee-based Brookdale, which operates 1,121 facilities serving about 100,000 patients in 47 states, has encountered similar complaints elsewhere in the country. A class-action lawsuit filed earlier this year in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., alleges that the company does not adequately staff its assisted living facilities and is not providing the care it promises residents.\n\nThe plaintiff in that lawsuit, Gloria Runton, claimed the Brookdale home where she lives had assured her she would get personal care services based on an assessment of her individual needs, but that as those needs grew over time, the level of her care did not increase. At the same time, Brookdale nearly tripled her fees, she alleges.\n\nThe California lawsuit, believed to be the first class-action claim against an assisted living company under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), was filed on behalf of four people currently residing in assisted living homes that Brookdale operates in the state. If the judge certifies the case as a class-action suit, the outcome could affect all residents of Brookdale assisted living facilities in California.\n\nThe lawsuit cites not only the federal disabilities law but also several California statutes, including ones that protect against unfair business practices and financial abuse of elders.\n\nBecause the goal is to win the case, good lawyers often file a number of claims, said Stephen Rosenbaum, a lecturer at the University of California-Berkeley\u2019s law school and a directing attorney for California Rural Legal Assistance, which is not involved in the lawsuit. \u201cWhether the ADA is the strongest claim is unclear from a strategic standpoint,\u201d he said.\n\nRosenbaum said case law has not established exactly how the federal disability law applies to assisted living facilities. It is \u201cironic\u201d that the attorneys in this case are using the disability law to sue Brookdale, given that the company by definition serves people with some kind of disability, he said.\n\nThe California lawsuit alleges that some of Brookdale\u2019s facilities don\u2019t meet federal and state accessibility standards. Some of their bathrooms can\u2019t accommodate wheelchairs, and the company doesn\u2019t have an evacuation or emergency plan for disabled residents, the suit claims. Of the four plaintiffs named in the complaint, three require wheelchairs.\n\nEmail Sign-Up Subscribe to California Healthline's free Daily Edition. Your Email Address Sign Up\n\nIf the case is certified as a class-action lawsuit under the ADA, that would be \u201cbig news,\u201d said William Goren, a Decatur, Ga.-based attorney and consultant who helps clients comply with the law. That\u2019s because of the nature of the law itself, he said.\n\nThe ADA is designed to address the disabled as individuals whose disabilities can be accommodated in different ways, Goren said. But a class-action lawsuit requires the \u201cclass\u201d of plaintiffs to show that they\u2019ve been injured in the same way.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s very, very unusual that you could go in and get a class-action certified under the ADA,\u201d Goren said. \u201cIt can happen, but not often.\u201d\n\nIn California, Brookdale Senior Living runs 89 homes and serves up to 5,000 patients, offering various combinations of independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing.\n\nIn 2014, the company acquired another large assisted living provider, Emeritus, which expanded its presence in California. But the $2.8 billion deal left publicly traded Brookdale with significant staff turnover, declining occupancy and a shaky stock price. A Chinese real estate conglomerate\u2019s recent bid to buy the company reportedly has stalled, creating more uncertainty for Brookdale and the people living in its senior homes.\n\nResidents of Brookdale\u2019s assisted living facilities don\u2019t require the kind of specialized medical care provided in skilled nursing facilities, but they may need help bathing, using the toilet, taking medications, eating or walking. Some residents need walkers or wheelchairs, while others have mild cognitive impairments or dementia. Seniors who require less care and can cook their own meals often choose independent living homes, which Brookdale also operates.\n\nLike many assisted living companies, Brookdale typically charges monthly room and board fees, plus separate charges for additional care, such as help with medications. Its average monthly rate for assisted living, including rent, food and some personal care services, is about $4,000, according to the company\u2019s website.\n\nBoth the California and Florida lawsuits claim that to keep its occupancy levels up, Brookdale accepted assisted living residents who might have required higher levels of care, then failed to provide enough staff to meet their needs.\n\nThe consequences of leaving residents unsupervised can be severe. In one case, a wheelchair-bound resident of the Brookdale assisted living facility in Elk Grove, Calif., rolled herself out an open door and fell off a curb, breaking her neck, according to an investigation by the California Department of Social Services, which regulates assisted living facilities. The April 2 incident merited a civil penalty, still to be determined, according to the agency\u2019s investigator. That episode was not mentioned in the lawsuit.\n\nTony Chicotel, a staff attorney at California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, which is not involved in the suit, said inadequate staffing is a problem at many assisted living facilities.\n\nAssisted living salespeople tell seniors they can meet all their current and future needs, Chicotel said. \u201cBut \u2026 the facility will only staff based on revenue they\u2019re getting \u2026 at least at the big facilities.\u201d The bottom line, he said, is that residents \u201cdon\u2019t get the care they need.\u201d", "output": "Twenty residents of an assisted living complex in Palm Springs, Calif., missed their medications in a single day because no medical technician was on duty. A woman in a Paso Robles home for seniors pushed her emergency call button after falling in her room and waited 22 hours on the floor with broken bones until staff members responded.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK MPs to quiz FCA over listing proposal amid Aramco suspicion \n \n\nThe Financial Conduct Authority is facing questions from MPs about whether political influence was behind proposed City rule changes that could lure the $2tn (\u00a31.5tn) float of Saudi Aramco to London.\n\nAndrew Bailey, the chief executive of the FCA, is being asked by the chairs of two powerful Commons committees whether there were any discussions between the City watchdog and ministers ahead of the consultation on the planned changes.\n\nThe FCA did not mention Aramco when it began consulting on its proposal to create a new category for firms controlled by a shareholder that is a sovereign country. But the plan was immediately seen as an attempt to lower any barriers to the $2tn Saudi oil company picking London for its stock market listing, which could boost the UK in the wake of Brexit.\n\nMajor City investors warned the plans could damage London\u2019s reputation and the matter is now being raised by Nicky Morgan, the Conservative MP who chairs the Treasury select committee, and Rachel Reeves, the Labour MP who chairs the business, energy and industry committee.\n\nIn a joint letter, the two chairs tell Bailey: \u201cWe are interested to explore the rationale for this consultation, particularly given the concerns expressed by shareholders that these proposals would weaken protection for private investors against interference from foreign sovereign company owners.\u201d\n\nThey pose seven questions for Bailey, including \u201cto what extent was the FCA aware of any interest shown by Saudi Aramco in obtaining a UK listing, and if known, how far that interest influenced the consultation?\u201d\n\nThey also ask: \u201cWhat discussions did the FCA (whether at board or working level) have with ministers or officials from government departments in advance of and during the consultation, and in particular on the balance between attracting foreign investment and maintaining the integrity of the UK markets?\u201d\n\nThe committees are being reformed after the July general election and are likely to be formally constituted next week. Both Morgan and Reeves said they would discuss Bailey\u2019s response with their members, signalling further scrutiny from the MPs.\n\nSaudi Arabia is planning to sell off a wide range of assets in the face of a weak oil price. The sale of a 5% stake in Aramco - probably next year \u2013 is key to the plan and could value the entire company at $2tn. The Financial Times reported on Thursday that some changes were made to parts of the economic transformation plan but that these would not affect Aramco\u2019s sell-off.\n\nLondon and New Year are regarded as vying for the listing and in April Theresa May and Xavier Rolet, chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, visited Riyadh to meet Aramco\u2019s chief executive, Khalid al-Falih, who is also the kingdom\u2019s energy minister.\n\nThe FCA proposals would enable state-owned companies to qualify for a premium listing \u2013 which has more onerous corporate governance rules and is valued by investors \u2013 but escape two key hurdles. One relates to how the company and the controlling shareholder conduct deals with each other; the second allows investors a vote on independent directors.\n\nMorgan said: \u201cThe UK has a world-class reputation for upholding strong corporate governance. The FCA must protect this reputation, especially as the City looks to remain competitive and thrive post-Brexit. Any changes mustn\u2019t dilute the protection afforded by the \u2018premium listing\u2019 brand.\u201d\n\n\n\nShe said the FCA\u2019s consultation would be examined by the Treasury select committee, which she was elected to chair after the general election in July.\n\n\n\nReeves said that while it is important for the UK to thrive after Brexit it should not be at the expense of a weaker corporate governance regime. \u201cGetting this balance right will be vital to the UK\u2019s long-term future as a key financial centre and an attractive market-place place for investors. The FCA\u2019s consultation relating to its premium listing regime raises questions about the UK\u2019s reputation for sound corporate governance.\u201d\n\nThe FCA confirmed it had received the letter and that it would reply in due course. At the time of the consultation, Bailey said sovereign owners had different motivations from private sector individuals or companies. The consultation ends on 13 October.", "output": "MPs on two powerful committees will probe the UK's financial regulator on whether political influence was brought to bear on a proposal to loosen listing rules that could have attracted the $2tn flotation of Saudi Arabian\u00a0oil corporation Aramco. The head of the Financial Conduct Authority,\u00a0Andrew Bailey, will face\u00a0the Treasury select committee\u00a0and the business, energy and industry committee on whether the watchdog met ministers before considering the proposal. The FCA didn't mention the company, Aramco, when announcing its intention to explore the plan.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NFL launches subscription streaming service to conquer Europe \n The NFL is betting on a new subscription streaming service as it tries to push further into Europe.\n\nAmerican football has gone from hosting one live game in London to four over the last decade. But now, the NFL is trying to grow its streaming service that charges people \u00a3139.99 ($183) a year for access to more than 300 games on demand a season.\n\nThe Netflix-style Game Pass service has been overhauled for the 61 European markets the NFL operates in ahead of the new season, which started Sept. 7. Subscribers get access to award-winning shows and behind-the-scenes content as well as the option to watch every game. The NFL owns Game Pass, but a joint venture of Bruin Sports Capital, its sports media entity Deltatre and WPP runs the service.\n\nTo survive, sports organizations must own the relationship with their fans, said Alistair Kirkwood, the managing director of NFL UK. \u201cStreaming hasn\u2019t been at the forefront of our business, but increasingly over the next five years, Game Pass will be seen as a major part of our business strategy,\u201d he said.\n\nIt\u2019s a lofty goal for a sport that\u2019s competing outside of its home base and at a time when illegal streaming is rife. Kirkwood believes there\u2019s big value in having a fan database, though. Early results from the content tested on the service during the preseason have been encouraging; the NFL doesn\u2019t disclose numbers but said Game Pass has posted record numbers of people signing up for free seven-day trials and then later purchasing the product, and people have streamed up to 12 live preseason games on some days, said Sam Jones, CEO of the joint venture for Game Pass. Kirkwood is also encouraged by meetings he\u2019s had with Amazon Prime after the two organizations struck a deal earlier this year to stream 11 games to Prime subscribers.\n\nBut James Kirkham, head of sports publisher Copa90, said that to really scale, the NFL will have to create exclusive content that\u2019s tied to the games: \u201cstunning, iconic [film] content, which people will queue up to watch.\u201d\n\nThe NFL has limited popularity beyond the U.S. But Game Pass and Amazon are also exercises in how data has quickly become a currency in sport. Amazon gets data on NFL fans to whom it could potentially sell products and attract sponsors, while the NFL gets the reach of a platform that has at least 66 million subscribers and potential interest from advertisers who want to target sports fans.\n\nYet for all of Amazon\u2019s potential, Kirkwood stressed that the streaming partnership is still just an experiment and downplayed concerns that Amazon\u2019s or Facebook\u2019s moves into sports broadcasting are a threat to the NFL\u2019s own efforts to own a larger slice of the league\u2019s viewership. He believes the NFL will be able to deliver tailored content, targeted to those who want it most, when and how they want it.\n\n\u201cMaybe I\u2019m naive, but I don\u2019t think about what I\u2019m not getting [from deals with the technology players],\u201d he said. \u201cI focus on what I will get, which will be complementary to other platforms we\u2019re on. Facebook Live, for example, will give me something else that maybe our own channels like Game Pass or the BBC won\u2019t get or vice versa.\u201d\n\nIn 2022, the NFL will be at the end of its five-year game plan for streaming in Europe, the same year its lucrative TV rights are up for grabs in the U.S. By then, the league\u2019s executives in each of those 61 markets will have shared so much information with the NFL\u2019s main team in New York that it could be set to capitalize on any interest from the likes of Amazon or Facebook, should it manifest.\n\nPhoto courtesy of NFL UK", "output": "The NFL has launched its subscription-based streaming service Game Pass in Europe as it seeks to expand its footprint beyond the US. For \u00a3139.99 ($183) per\u00a0year, users have access to over 300 games of american football per season, as well as exclusive content. Record numbers of people had taken up the free trial and subscribed, said Sam Jones, CEO of the joint venture for Game Pass. NFL UK has also signed a deal with Amazon Prime to stream 11 games, which could be critical in 2022, when the NFL's five-year plan for streaming in Europe is slated to end.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese solar firms excluded from EU&#39;s minimum price undertaking\n \n The European Commission (EC) has decided to exclude Chinese PV manufacturers AE Solar and Wuxi Saijing from the minimum price undertaking for the import of solar modules from China, according to a document published in the EU Official Gazette on Wednesday.\n\nThe EC said that AE Solar has provided incomplete quarterly reports on its sales, while Wuxi Saijing has set up a trading system with an independent importer, which has allowed the company to sell the solar modules under minimum import prices in Europe after the entry into force of the undertaking. Furthermore, Wuxi Saijing has conducted compensation transactions with the customer, thus circumventing the rules. This would have been confirmed by customs investigations.\n\nThe two Chinese solar manufacturers were not able to provide evidence against the allegations, the EC said. Some invoices of AE Solar and even more of Wuxi Saijing were declared invalid by Brussels authorities. The custom authorities were instructed to impose antidumping and anti-subsidy duties on the companies.\n\nPopular content\n\nCurrently, the EC is conducting a mid-term review of the undertaking, which is expected to investigate the gradual mitigation of the antidumping and anti-subsidy measures over the next 18 months. In July, the Commission had proposed a new mechanism for establishing the minimum import price for solar cells and solar modules manufactured in China. It proposed a timetable on how prices should fall by September 2018. A final settlement is currently being discussed. This should be announced in the autumn.", "output": "Chinese photovoltaic manufacturers AE Solar and Wuxi Saijing have been excluded from the European Commission's minimum price undertaking and have been slapped with anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties, according to the European Union Official Gazette. Both firms had invoices that were declared invalid, while AE Solar had provided incomplete quarterly sales reports. In addition, Wuxi Saijing had entered into an agreement with an independent importer before the minimum price undertaking came into effect, allowing it to sell solar modules under minimum import prices in Europe. It also broke the rules by conducting compensation transactions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Large firms say they're still unprepared for MiFID II \n With less than four months until MiFID II is implemented in Europe, more than a third of large businesses remain unsure if they will meet the deadline.\n\nA survey carried out by communications technology firm TeleWare suggests smaller firms are more likely to be fully compliant with MiFID II come January 2018 than larger firms.\n\nThe poll of 100 senior decision makers across financial services found 28% of firms overall are unsure if they\u2019ll be ready in time, but 38% of firms considered large stated they may not meet the deadline.\n\nOn the other hand, all firms considered small - with less than 10 employees overall - said they are fully confident about being MiFID II compliant by January next year.\n\nSteve Haworth, CEO of TeleWare, explained MiFID II is a complex directive which affects a variety of functions within each business.\n\n\u201cFirms need to look outside of their immediate business to find the compliance answer\u2026 With technology underpinning operations, it\u2019s highly encouraging that firms are investing in this area ahead of January 2018,\u201d he added.\n\nThe research also found 71% of firms questioned investment in IT systems ahead of January 2018, following the European Commission\u2019s decision to delay the regulation.\n\nA separate survey of asset managers carried out by Liquidnet also suggests a lack of confidence about meeting the deadline, particularly around best execution requirements.\n\nJust 6% of buy-side firms surveyed by Liquidnet said they are currently ready to meet MiFID II\u2019s best execution rules.", "output": "More than a third of large companies are unsure if they'll meet the deadline for MiFID\u00a0II's wide-ranging regulatory reforms in January, according to a survey by communications technology firm TeleWare. Findings of the poll of 100 senior decision makers suggests smaller firms are more likely to be fully compliant with the European directive. A separate\u00a0survey of asset managers by Liquidnet found\u00a0just\u00a06% of buy-side firms said they were\u00a0ready to meet MiFID II\u2019s best execution rules.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Deutsche B\u00f6rse, Illuminate lead $5m funding for RegTek.Solutions \n Deutsche Boerse and venture capital firm Illuminate Financial Management have co-led a $5 million funding round for RegTek.Solutions.\n\nLaunched earlier this year and based in New York, RegTek.Solutions is a specialist provider of regulatory compliance software.\n\nIt provides trade reporting tools and software in a bid to improve the quality, transparency and control of regulatory reporting obligations across various jurisdictions.\n\nDeutsche Boerse\u2019s head of market data and services, Holger Wohlenberg, and managing partner at Illuminate Financial Management, Mark Beeston, will become non-executive board members at RegTek.Solutions.\n\nBrian Lynch, CEO at RegTek.Solutions, explained the investment from both parties is \u201creal validation of our offering and prospects of growth\u201d.\n\nHe added: \u201cAs the next bottleneck of regulatory deadlines nears and both sell-side and buy-side firms grapple with adhering to the new rules, we are seeing strong demand across the market for outsourced trade reporting tools.\u201d\n\nAnkur Kamalia, head of venture portfolio management at DB1 Ventures - Deutsche Boerse\u2019s corporate venture capital arm - explained RegTek.Solutions established itself as a reliable service provider with knowledge within the post-trade space.\n\nThe investment made in exchange for a minority stake will be used to scale RegTek.Solutions\u2019 operations ahead of MiFID II.", "output": "German shares and securities marketplace operator Deutsche B\u00f6rse has joined with venture capital firm Illuminate Financial Management in a $5m\u00a0funding round for RegTek.Solutions, which provides regulator compliance software designed\u00a0to improve the quality, transparency and control of regulatory reporting obligations in a number of jurisdictions.\u00a0RegTek.Solutions anticipates a growing need for its services in light of new Mifid II regulations that are due to come into force next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "143 million Americans' private records stolen from Equifax \n Credit reporting agency Equifax announced today (Sept. 7) that hackers stole records containing personal information on 143 million of its customers in the United States.\n\n\u201cOn July 29, 2017, Equifax discovered that criminals exploited a U.S. website application vulnerability to gain access to certain files,\u201d the company said in a statement. \u201cMost of the consumer information accessed includes names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, and in some instances, driver\u2019s license numbers. In addition, credit card numbers for approximately 209,000 consumers.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe company added that 182,000 credit-dispute documents, which contain personal information, were also stolen.\n\nShortly after the announcement, Bloomberg News reported that three executives at Equifax sold nearly $1.8 million worth of company shares after the data breach had been discovered in late July. The company\u2019s stock dropped more than 12% in after-hours trading following the announcement at about 4:30pm ET.\n\nEquifax has created a website to help its customers find out whether their data has been stolen.", "output": "Hackers have stolen masses of sensitive data from Credit reporting agency Equifax. The company revealed that data on 143 million US citizens - nearly half of the country's population - was illicitly accessed; the firm's stock plummeted following the news. The data included social security numbers, birthdays, addresses and credit card numbers. UK and Canadian citizens have also been affected by the breach.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IBM Watson for Oncology 'underdeveloped', claims Stat report \n It was an audacious undertaking, even for one of the most storied American companies: With a single machine, IBM would tackle humanity\u2019s most vexing diseases and revolutionize medicine.\n\nBreathlessly promoting its signature brand \u2014 Watson \u2014 IBM sought to capture the world\u2019s imagination, and it quickly zeroed in on a high-profile target: cancer.\n\nadvertisement\n\nBut three years after IBM began selling Watson to recommend the best cancer treatments to doctors around the world, a STAT investigation has found that the supercomputer isn\u2019t living up to the lofty expectations IBM created for it. It is still struggling with the basic step of learning about different forms of cancer. Only a few dozen hospitals have adopted the system, which is a long way from IBM\u2019s goal of establishing dominance in a multibillion-dollar market. And at foreign hospitals, physicians complained its advice is biased toward American patients and methods of care.\n\nSTAT examined Watson for Oncology\u2019s use, marketing, and performance in hospitals across the world, from South Korea to Slovakia to South Florida. Reporters interviewed dozens of doctors, IBM executives, artificial intelligence experts, and others familiar with the system\u2019s underlying technology and rollout.\n\nThe interviews suggest that IBM, in its rush to bolster flagging revenue, unleashed a product without fully assessing the challenges of deploying it in hospitals globally. While it has emphatically marketed Watson for cancer care, IBM hasn\u2019t published any scientific papers demonstrating how the technology affects physicians and patients. As a result, its flaws are getting exposed on the front lines of care by doctors and researchers who say that the system, while promising in some respects, remains undeveloped.\n\n\u201cWatson for Oncology is in their toddler stage, and we have to wait and actively engage, hopefully to help them grow healthy,\u201d said Dr. Taewoo Kang, a South Korean cancer specialist who has used the product.\n\nadvertisement\n\nAt its heart, Watson for Oncology uses the cloud-based supercomputer to digest massive amounts of data \u2014 from doctor\u2019s notes to medical studies to clinical guidelines. But its treatment recommendations are not based on its own insights from these data. Instead, they are based exclusively on training by human overseers, who laboriously feed Watson information about how patients with specific characteristics should be treated.\n\nIBM executives acknowledged Watson for Oncology, which has been in development for nearly six years, is in its infancy. But they said it is improving rapidly, noting that by year\u2019s end, the system will offer guidance about treatment for 12 cancers that account for 80 percent of the world\u2019s cases. They said it\u2019s saving doctors time and ensuring that patients get top-quality care.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re seeing stories come in where patients are saying, \u2018It gave me peace of mind,\u2019\u201d Watson Health general manager Deborah DiSanzo said. \u201cThat makes us feel extraordinarily good that what we\u2019re doing is going to make a difference for patients and their physicians.\u201d\n\nNewsletters Sign up for Daily Recap A roundup of STAT's top stories of the day. Please enter a valid email address. Privacy Policy\n\nBut contrary to IBM\u2019s depiction of Watson as a digital prodigy, the supercomputer\u2019s abilities are limited.\n\nPerhaps the most stunning overreach is in the company\u2019s claim that Watson for Oncology, through artificial intelligence, can sift through reams of data to generate new insights and identify, as an IBM sales rep put it, \u201ceven new approaches\u201d to cancer care. STAT found that the system doesn\u2019t create new knowledge and is artificially intelligent only in the most rudimentary sense of the term.\n\nWhile Watson became a household name by winning the TV game show \u201cJeopardy!\u201d, its programming is akin to a different game-playing machine: the Mechanical Turk, a chess-playing robot of the 1700s, which dazzled audiences but hid a secret \u2014 a human operator shielded inside.\n\n\u201cJeopardy!\u201d champions Ken Jennings (left) and Brad Rutter watch Watson beat them to the buzzer to answer a question during a practice round in 2011. Seth Wenig/AP\n\nIn the case of Watson for Oncology, those human operators are a couple dozen physicians at a single, though highly respected, U.S. hospital: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Doctors there are empowered to input their own recommendations into Watson, even when the evidence supporting those recommendations is thin.\n\nThe actual capabilities of Watson for Oncology are not well-understood by the public, and even by some of the hospitals that use it. It\u2019s taken nearly six years of painstaking work by data engineers and doctors to train Watson in just seven types of cancer, and keep the system updated with the latest knowledge.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s been a struggle to update, I\u2019ll be honest,\u201d said Dr. Mark Kris, Memorial Sloan Kettering\u2019s lead Watson trainer. He noted that treatment guidelines for every metastatic lung cancer patient worldwide recently changed in the course of one week after a research presentation at a cancer conference. \u201cChanging the system of cognitive computing doesn\u2019t turn around on a dime like that,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have to put in the literature, you have to put in cases.\u201d\n\nWatson grew out of an effort to transform IBM from an old-guard hardware company to one that operates in the cloud and along the cutting edge of artificial intelligence. Despite its use in an array of industries \u2014 from banking to manufacturing \u2014 it has failed to end a streak of 21 consecutive quarters of declining revenue at IBM. In the most recent quarter, revenue even slid from the same period last year in IBM\u2019s cognitive solutions division \u2014 which is built around Watson and is supposed to be the future of its business.\n\nIn response to STAT\u2019s questions, IBM said Watson, in health care and otherwise, remains on an upward trajectory and \u201cis already an important part\u201d of its $20 billion analytics business. Health care is a crucial part of the Watson enterprise. IBM employs 7,000 people in its Watson health division and sees the industry as a $200 billion market over the next several years. Only financial services, at $300 billion, is considered a bigger opportunity by the company.\n\nAt stake in the supercomputer\u2019s performance is not just the fortunes of a famed global company. In the world of medicine, Watson is also something of a digital canary \u2014 the most visible attempt to use artificial intelligence to identify the best ways to prevent and treat disease. The system\u2019s larger goal, IBM executives say, is to democratize medical knowledge so that every patient, no matter the person\u2019s geography or income level, will be able to access the best care.\n\nBut in cancer treatment, the pursuit of that utopian ideal has faltered.\n\nSTAT\u2019s investigation focused on Watson for Oncology because that product is the furthest along in clinical care, though Watson sells separate packages to analyze genomic information and match patients to clinical trials. It\u2019s also applying Watson to other tasks, including honing preventive medicine practices and reading medical images.\n\nDoctors\u2019 reliance on Watson for Oncology varies among hospitals. While institutions with fewer specialists lean more heavily on its recommendations, others relegate the system to a background role, like a paralegal whose main skill is researching existing knowledge.\n\nHospitals pay a per-patient fee for Watson for Oncology and other products enabled by the supercomputer. The amount depends on the number of products a hospital buys, and ranges between $200 and $1,000 per patient, according to DiSanzo. The system sometimes comes with consulting costs and is expensive to link with electronic medical records. At hospitals that don\u2019t link it with their medical records, more time must be spent typing in patient information.\n\nAt Jupiter Medical Center in Florida, that task falls to nurse Jean Thompson, who spends about 90 minutes a week feeding data into the machine. Once she has completed that work, she clicks the \u201cAsk Watson\u201d button to get the supercomputer\u2019s advice for treating patients.\n\nOn a recent morning, the results for a 73-year-old lung cancer patient were underwhelming: Watson recommended a chemotherapy regimen the oncologists had already flagged.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s fine,\u201d Dr. Sujal Shah, a medical oncologist, said of Watson\u2019s treatment suggestion while discussing the case with colleagues.\n\nHe said later that the background information Watson provided, including medical journal articles, was helpful, giving him more confidence that using a specific chemotherapy was a sound idea. But the system did not directly help him make that decision, nor did it tell him anything he didn\u2019t already know.\n\nJupiter is one of two U.S. hospitals that have adopted Watson for Oncology. The system has generated more business in India and Southeast Asia. Many doctors in those countries said Watson is saving time and helping more patients get quality care. But they also said its accuracy and overall value is limited by differing medical practices and economic circumstances.\n\nDespite IBM\u2019s marketing blitz, with years of high-profile Watson commercials featuring celebrities from Serena Williams to Bob Dylan to Jon Hamm, the company\u2019s executives are not always gushing. In interviews with STAT, they acknowledged the system faces challenges and needs better integration with electronic medical records and more data on real patients to find patterns and suggest cutting-edge treatments.\n\n\u201cThe goal as Watson gets smarter is for it to make some of those recommendations in a more automated way, to sort of suggest now may be the time and let us flip the switch\u201d when a promising treatment option emerges, said Dr. Andrew Norden, a former IBM deputy health chief who left the company in early August. \u201cAs I describe it, you\u2019re probably getting a sense it\u2019s really hard and nuanced.\u201d\n\nSuch nuance is absent from the careful narrative IBM has constructed to sell Watson.\n\nAlex Hogan, Ike Swetlitz/STAT\n\nIt is by design that there is not one independent, third-party study that examines whether Watson for Oncology can deliver. IBM has not exposed the product to critical review by outside scientists or conducted clinical trials to assess its effectiveness.\n\nWhile it\u2019s not unheard of for companies to avoid external vetting early on, IBM\u2019s circumstances are unusual because Watson for Oncology is not in development \u2014 it has already been deployed around the world.\n\nYoon Sup Choi, a South Korean venture capitalist and researcher who wrote a book about artificial intelligence in health care, said IBM isn\u2019t required by regulatory agencies to do a clinical trial in South Korea or America before selling the system to hospitals. And given that hospitals are already using the system, a clinical trial would be unlikely to improve business prospects.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s too risky, right?\u201d Choi said. \u201cIf the result of the clinical trial is not very good \u2014 [if] there\u2019s a marginal clinical benefit from Watson \u2014 it\u2019s really bad news to the whole IBM.\u201d\n\nPilar Ossorio, a professor of law and bioethics at University of Wisconsin Law School, said Watson should be subject to tighter regulation because of its role in treating patients. \u201cAs an ethical matter, and as a scientific matter, you should have to prove that there\u2019s safety and efficacy before you can just go do this,\u201d she said.\n\nNorden dismissed the suggestion IBM should have been required to conduct a clinical trial before commercializing Watson, noting that many practices in medicine are widely accepted even though they aren\u2019t supported by a randomized controlled trial.\n\n\u201cHas there ever been a randomized trial of parachutes for paratroopers?\u201d Norden asked. \u201cAnd the answer is, of course not, because there is a very strong intuitive value proposition. \u2026 So I believe that bringing the best information to bear on medical decision making is a no-brainer.\u201d\n\nIBM said in its statement that it has collaborated with the research community and presented data on Watson at industry gatherings and in peer-reviewed journals. Some doctors said they didn\u2019t need to see more research to know that the system is valuable. \u201cArtificial intelligence will be adopted in all medical fields in the future,\u201d said Dr. Uhn Lee, who runs the Watson program at Gachon University Gil Medical Center in South Korea. \u201cIf that trend, that change is inevitable, then why don\u2019t we just start early?\u201d\n\nSo far, the only studies about Watson for Oncology are conference abstracts. The full results haven\u2019t been published in peer-reviewed journals \u2014 and every study, save one, was either conducted by a paying customer or included IBM staff on the author list, or both. Most trumpet positive results, showing that Watson saves doctors time and has a high concordance rate with their treatment recommendations.\n\nThe \u201cconcordance\u201d studies comprise the vast majority of the public research on Watson for Oncology. Doctors will ask Watson for its advice for treating a slew of patients, and then compare its recommendations to those of oncologists. In an unpublished study from Denmark, the rate of agreement was about 33 percent \u2014 so the hospital decided not to buy the system. In other countries, the rate can be as high as 96 percent for some cancers. But showing that Watson agrees with the doctors proves only that it is competent in applying existing methods of care, not that it can improve them.\n\nIBM executives said they are pursuing studies to examine the impact on doctors and patients, although none has been completed to date.\n\nQuestions about Watson have begun spilling into public view, including in a recent Gizmodo story headlined \u201cWhy Everyone is Hating on IBM Watson \u2014 Including the People Who Helped Make It.\u201d The most prominent failure occurred last February when MD Anderson Cancer Center, part of the University of Texas, cancelled its partnership with Watson.\n\nThe MD Anderson alliance was essentially the early face of Watson in health care. The Houston hospital was among IBM\u2019s first partners, and it was using the system to create its own expert oncology adviser, similar to the one IBM was developing with Memorial Sloan Kettering. But the project disintegrated amid internal allegations of overspending, delays, and mismanagement. In all, MD Anderson spent more than three years and $60 million \u2014 much of it on outside consultants \u2014 before shelving the effort.\n\nThe hospital declined to answer questions. But the project leader, Dr. Lynda Chin, in her first media interview on the subject, told STAT about the challenges she faced. Chin left MD Anderson before the project collapsed; a subsequent audit flagged several violations of procurement rules under her leadership.\n\nChin said that Watson is a powerful technology, but that it is exceedingly difficult to make functional in health care. She and her team encountered numerous roadblocks, some of which still have not been fully addressed by IBM \u2014 at MD Anderson or elsewhere.\n\nThe cancer hospital\u2019s first major challenge involved getting the machine to deal with the idiosyncrasies of medical records: the acronyms, human errors, shorthand phrases, and different styles of writing. \u201cTeaching a machine to read a record is a lot harder than anyone thought,\u201d she said. Her team spent countless hours on that problem, trying to get Watson to extract valuable information from medical records so that it could apply them to its recommendations.\n\nChin said her team also wrestled with deploying the system in clinical practice. Watson, even if guided by doctors, is as close as medicine has ever gotten to allowing a machine to help decide the treatments delivered to human beings. That carries with it thorny questions, such as how to test the safety of a digital treatment adviser, how to ensure its compliance with regulations, and how to incorporate it into the daily work of doctors and nurses.\n\n\u201cImportantly,\u201d Chin said. \u201cHow do we create an environment that can ensure the most important tenet in medicine: Do no harm?\u201d\n\nFinally, the project ran into a bigger obstacle: Even if you can get Watson to understand patient variables and make competent treatment recommendations, how do you get it access to enough patient data, from enough different sources, to derive insights that could significantly advance the standard of care?\n\nChin said that was a showstopper. Watson did not have a connected network of institutions feeding data about specific cohorts of patients. \u201cYou may have 10,000 patients for lung cancer. That is still not a very big number when you think about it,\u201d she said.\n\nWith data from many more patients, Chin said, you could see patterns \u2014 \u201csubsets [of patients] that respond a certain way, subsets that don\u2019t, subsets that have a certain toxicity. That pattern would help with better personalized and precision medicine. But we can\u2019t get there without the ability to actually have a way of aggregating them.\u201d\n\nIBM told STAT that Chin\u2019s work was separate from the effort to create Watson for Oncology, which was validated by cancer specialists at Memorial Sloan Kettering prior to its deployment. The company said that Watson for Oncology can extract and summarize substantial text from patient records, though the information must be verified by a clinician, and that it has made significant progress in obtaining more data to improve Watson\u2019s performance. It pointed to partnerships with the health care publisher Elsevier and the analytics firm Doctor Evidence.\n\nTo date, more than 50 hospitals on five continents have agreements with IBM, or intermediary technology companies, to use Watson for Oncology to treat patients, and others are using the genomics and clinical trials products.\n\nBut the partnership with Memorial Sloan Kettering, and the product that grew out of it, resulted in complications that IBM has papered over with carefully parsed statements and misleading marketing.\n\nTae-hyun Cho (right), the first Korean to be treated with assistance from Watson for Oncology, reviews his medical information with oncologists at Gachon University Gil Medical Center. Gachon University Gil Medical Center\n\nIn its press releases, IBM celebrates Memorial Sloan Kettering\u2019s role as the only trainer of Watson. After all, who better to educate the system than doctors at one of the world\u2019s most renowned cancer hospitals?\n\nBut several doctors said Memorial Sloan Kettering\u2019s training injects bias into the system, because the treatment recommendations it puts into Watson don\u2019t always comport with the practices of doctors elsewhere in the world.\n\nGiven the same clinical scenario, doctors can \u2014 and often do \u2014 disagree about the best course of action, whether to recommend surgery or chemotherapy, or another treatment. Those discrepancies are especially wide for second- and third-line treatments given after an initial therapy fails, where evidence of benefits is slimmer and consensus more elusive.\n\nRather than acknowledge this dilemma, IBM executives, in marketing materials and interviews, have sought to downplay it. In an interview with STAT, DiSanzo, the head of Watson Health, rejected the idea that Memorial Sloan Kettering\u2019s involvement creates any bias at all.\n\n\u201cThe bias is taken out by the sheer amount of data we have,\u201d she said, referring to patient cases and millions of articles and studies fed into Watson.\n\nBut that mischaracterizes how Watson for Oncology works. (IBM later claimed that DiSanzo was referring to Watson in general.)\n\nThe system is essentially Memorial Sloan Kettering in a portable box. Its treatment recommendations are based entirely on the training provided by doctors, who determine what information Watson needs to devise its guidance as well as what those recommendations should be.\n\nWhen users ask Watson for advice, the system also searches published literature \u2014 some of which is curated by Memorial Sloan Kettering \u2014 to provide relevant studies and background information to support its recommendation. But the recommendation itself is derived from the training provided by the hospital\u2019s doctors, not the outside literature.\n\nDoctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering acknowledged their influence on Watson. \u201cWe are not at all hesitant about inserting our bias, because I think our bias is based on the next best thing to prospective randomized trials, which is having a vast amount of experience,\u201d said Dr. Andrew Seidman, one of the hospital\u2019s lead trainers of Watson. \u201cSo it\u2019s a very unapologetic bias.\u201d\n\nSeidman said the hospital is careful to keep its training grounded in clinical evidence when the evidence exists, but it is not shy about giving its recommendations when it doesn\u2019t. \u201cWe want cancer care to be democratized,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want doctors who don\u2019t have the thousands and thousands of patients\u2019 experience on a more rare cancer to be handicapped. We want to share that knowledge base.\u201d\n\nAt a recent training session of Watson on Manhattan\u2019s Upper East Side, the tensions involved in programming the system were on full display. STAT sat in as Memorial Sloan Kettering doctors, led by Seidman, gathered with IBM engineers to train Watson to treat bladder cancer. Five IBM engineers sat on one side of the table. Across from them were three oncologists \u2014 one specializing in surgery, another in radiation, and a third in chemotherapy and targeted medicines.\n\nSeveral minutes into the discussion, the question arose of which treatment to recommend for patients whose cancers persisted through six rounds of chemotherapy. The options in such cases tend to be as slim as the evidence supporting them. Should Watson recommend a radical surgery to remove the bladder? Dr. Tim Donahue, the surgical oncologist, noted that such surgery seldom cures patients and is not associated with improved survival in his experience.\n\nThen what about another course of chemotherapy combined with radiation?\n\nWhen Watson gives its recommendations, it puts the top recommendation in green, alternative options in orange, and not recommended options in red.\n\nBut in some clinical scenarios, it\u2019s difficult to tell the colors apart.\n\n\u201cThis is the hard part of this whole game,\u201d Dr. Marisa Kollmeier, the radiation oncologist, said during the training. \u201cThere\u2019s a lack of evidence. And you don\u2019t know if something should be in green without evidence. We don\u2019t have a randomized trial to support every decision.\u201d\n\nBut the task in front of them required the doctors to press ahead. And they did, rifling through an array of clinical scenarios. In some cases, a large body of evidence backed up their answers. But many others fell into a gray area or were clouded by the inevitable uncertainty of patient preferences.\n\nThe meeting was one of many in a months-long process to bring Watson up to speed in bladder cancer. Subsequent sessions would involve feeding it data on real patient cases at Memorial Sloan Kettering, so doctors could reinforce Watson\u2019s training with repetition.\n\nThat training does not teach Watson to base its recommendations on the outcomes of these patients, whether they lived, or died or survived longer than similar patients. Rather, Watson makes its recommendations based on the treatment preferences of Memorial Sloan Kettering physicians.\n\nAt some institutions using Watson, IBM\u2019s lack of clarity on the cancer center\u2019s role causes confusion. Some seem to think they are getting advice from doctors around the world.\n\n\u201cAs we tell the patients, it\u2019s like another consultation, but it\u2019s a worldwide consultation,\u201d said Dr. K. Adam Lee, medical director of thoracic oncology at Jupiter Medical Center, when STAT visited in June.\n\n\u201cReally worldwide,\u201d added Kerri Ward, an oncology nurse at the hospital. \u201cIt pulls from 300 journals, just for oncology, the clinical database, so the national clinical database, journals, textbooks, and then Sloan Kettering is the one that\u2019s feeding in the clinical [information] currently.\u201d\n\nRobert Garrett, the CEO of Hackensack Meridian Health, a group in New Jersey that is using a version of Watson for Oncology, said the information in Watson is \u201cglobal.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you\u2019re a patient that has colon cancer, they have in their database, as I understand it, how colon cancer is treated around the world, by different clinicians, what\u2019s been the most effective treatment for different phases of colon cancer,\u201d Garrett said. \u201cThat\u2019s what IBM Watson brings to the table.\u201d\n\nNone of that accurately depicts how Watson for Oncology works.\n\nSeveral doctors who have examined Watson in other countries told STAT that Memorial Sloan Kettering\u2019s role has given them pause. Researchers in Denmark and the Netherlands said hospitals in their countries have not signed on with Watson because it is too focused on the preferences of a few American doctors.\n\nMartijn van Oijen, an epidemiologist and associate professor at Academic Medical Center in the Netherlands, said Memorial Sloan Kettering is packed with top specialists but doesn\u2019t have a monopoly on cancer expertise. \u201cThe bad thing is, it\u2019s a U.S.-based hospital with a different approach than some other hospitals in the world,\u201d said van Oijen, who\u2019s involved in a national initiative to evaluate technologies like Watson and is a strong believer in using artificial intelligence to help cancer doctors.\n\nIn Denmark, oncologists at one hospital said they have dropped the project altogether after finding that local doctors agreed with Watson in only about 33 percent of cases.\n\n\u201cWe had a discussion with [IBM] that they had a very limited view on the international literature, basically, putting too much stress on American studies, and too little stress on big, international, European, and other-part-of-the-world studies,\u201d said Dr. Leif Jensen, who directs the center at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen that contains the oncology department.\n\nIn countries where doctors were trained in the United States, or they use similar treatment guidelines as the Memorial Sloan Kettering doctors, Watson for Oncology can be helpful. Taiwan uses the same guidelines as Americans, so Watson\u2019s advice will be useful there, said Dr. Jeng-Fong Chiou, vice superintendent of the Taipei Cancer Center at Taipei Medical University, which started using Watson for Oncology with patients in July.\n\nBut he also said there are differences between American and Taiwanese patients \u2014 his patients often receive lower doses of drugs to minimize side effects \u2014 and that his oncologists will have to make adjustments from Watson\u2019s recommendations.\n\nThe generally affluent population treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering doesn\u2019t reflect the diversity of people around the world. The cases used to train Watson therefore don\u2019t take into account the economic and social issues faced by patients in poorer countries, noted Ossorio, the University of Wisconsin law professor.\n\n\u201cWhat it\u2019s going to be learning is race, gender, and class bias,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re baking those social stratifications in, and we\u2019re making the biases even less apparent and even less easy for people to recognize.\u201d\n\nSometimes, the recommendations Watson gives diverge sharply from what doctors would say for reasons that have nothing to do with science, such as medical insurance. In a poster presented at the Global Breast Cancer Conference 2017 in South Korea, researchers reported that the treatment Watson most often recommended for breast cancer patients simply wasn\u2019t covered by the national insurance system.\n\nIBM said it has convened an international group of advisers to gather input on Watson\u2019s performance. It also said that the system can be customized to reflect variations in treatment practices, differences in drug availability and financial considerations, and that the company recently introduced tools reduce the time and cost of adapting Watson.\n\nIn a response to STAT\u2019s questions, Memorial Sloan Kettering said international journals are part of the literature it provides to Watson, including the Lancet, the European Journal of Cancer, Annals of Oncology, and the BMJ. \u201cAs we do in all areas of cancer research, we will continue to observe and study how Watson for Oncology impacts care internationally, follow the evidence, and work with IBM to optimize the system,\u201d the hospital said.\n\nSome hospitals abroad are customizing the system for their patients, adding information about local treatments. Nan Chen, who manages the Watson for Oncology program at Bumrungrad International Hospital in Thailand, said his oncologists use Japanese guidelines, not American guidelines, for treating gastric cancer.\n\nBut he said doctors can find this localization redundant or unnecessary: They are not that interested in being told the same guidance they just taught Watson.\n\n\u201cOur doctors say, this treatment is our own treatment, we know that,\u201d Chen said. \u201cYou don\u2019t need to turn around and put those treatments in Watson, and let Watson tell us what kind of treatment that we are using here in the hospital.\u201d\n\nChen said this modified system is incredibly beneficial, however \u2014 to a hospital in the capital of Mongolia that employs zero oncology specialists.\n\nAt UB Songdo Hospital, of which Chen\u2019s company is a majority owner, doctors are following Watson\u2019s suggestions nearly 100 percent of the time. Patients who otherwise would have been treated by generalists with little, if any, cancer training are now benefiting from top-level expertise.\n\n\u201cThat is the kind of thing that IBM is dreaming about,\u201d Chen said.\n\nIn South Korea, Dr. Taewoo Kang, a surgical oncologist at Pusan National University Hospital who specializes in breast cancer, pointed to another important problem that Watson needs to solve. Right now, it provides supporting evidence for the recommendations it makes, but doesn\u2019t actually explain how it came to recommend that particular treatment for that particular patient.\n\nKang said that, sometimes, he will ask Watson for advice on a patient whose cancer has not spread to the lymph nodes, and Watson will recommend a type of chemotherapy drug called a taxane. But, he said, that therapy is normally used only if the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes. And, to support the recommendation, Watson will show a study demonstrating the effectiveness of the taxane for patients whose cancer did spread to their lymph nodes.\n\nKang is left confused as to why Watson recommended a drug that he does not normally use for patients like the one in front of him. And Watson can\u2019t tell him why.\n\nLouisa Roberts (left) of IBM Watson Health speaks with Merck executive Oliver Maschinsky in the Watson booth at the 2017 ASCO cancer conference in Chicago. Heather Stone for STAT\n\nFor all the concerns, some doctors around the world who use Watson insist that artificial intelligence will one day revolutionize health care. They say that clinicians are realizing concrete benefits \u2014 saving doctors valuable time searching for studies, better educating patients, and undercutting hierarchies in the clinic that might interfere with evidence-based treatment.\n\nIn Taiwan, Chiou said Watson immediately provides the \u201cbest data\u201d from the literature about a treatment \u2014 survival rates, for example \u2014 relieving doctors of the task of searching the literature to compare each possible treatment.\n\nWatson\u2019s information also empowers patients, said Lee, the doctor who runs the Watson program at Gil Medical Center in South Korea. Previously, doctors verbally explained different treatment options to patients. Now, physicians can give patients a comprehensive packet prepared by Watson, which includes potential treatment plans along with relevant scientific articles. Patients can do their own research about these treatments, and maybe even disagree with the doctor about the right course of action.\n\n\u201cThis is one of the most important and significant changes,\u201d Lee said.\n\nWatson also holds senior doctors accountable to the data. At Gil Medical Center, patients sit in a room with five doctors and Watson itself, the interface displayed on a flat-screen television in the so-called \u201cWatson center.\u201d Lee said that Watson\u2019s presence has a huge influence on the doctors\u2019 decision-making process, leveling the hierarchy that traditionally prioritized the opinion of the senior doctor over junior colleagues.\n\nWatson gives the junior physicians quick and easy access to data that might prove their elders wrong, displaying on the screen information such as the survival rate right alongside a recommended treatment. It would be humiliating for senior doctors to continue to push for a different treatment in light of this evidence, Lee said.\n\nAt Manipal Hospitals in India, Dr. S.P. Somashekhar said that while there are some regional disparities in Watson\u2019s recommendations for patients with rectal and breast cancer, those cases are outliers: For the vast majority of patients, the program matched the recommendations given to patients by the hospital\u2019s tumor board \u2014 a group of 20 physicians that typically study their cases for a week and spend an hour discussing them.\n\nThat means that in a handful of seconds, Watson did what it takes 20 doctors over a week to accomplish. \u201cThat is so precious and very highly valuable,\u201d Somashekhar said. \u201cOur physicians cannot discuss every case. For every case we discuss in the tumor board, there are five cases which we cannot discuss.\u201d\n\nWhile those benefits are significant, they fall short of breakthrough discoveries that could predict or eradicate disease.\n\nIBM executives said that doesn\u2019t mean Watson can\u2019t accomplish those feats. Norden, the former deputy health officer for Watson for Oncology and Genomics, said the goal is to ultimately bring together streams of clinical trial data and real-world patient data, so that Watson could begin to pinpoint the best treatments on its own.\n\n\u201cMy own belief is that over time we will be better at measuring and reporting outcomes, and that data will be increasingly influential,\u201d he said. \u201cWhere cancer care is today, I don\u2019t think that any computing system is ready to be let out into the world without a measure of expert human oversight.\u201d\n\nIMMERSION in 360 DEGREES: Click and drag to look around the Watson \u201cImmersion Room\u201d in Cambridge, Mass. Dom Smith/STAT\n\nThe bigger question for IBM is not whether health care will see a revolution in artificial intelligence but who will drive it.\n\nOne former IBM employee says the company could become a victim of its own marketing success \u2014 the unrealistic expectations it set are obscuring real accomplishments.\n\n\u201cIBM ought to quit trying to cure cancer,\u201d said Peter Greulich, a former IBM brand manager who has written several books about IBM\u2019s history and modern challenges. \u201cThey turned the marketing engine loose without controlling how to build and construct a product.\u201d\n\nGreulich said IBM needs to invest more money in Watson and hire more people to make it successful. In the 1960s, he said, IBM spent about 11.5 times its annual earnings to develop its mainframe computer, a line of business that still accounts for much of its profitability today.\n\nIf it were to make an equivalent investment in Watson, it would need to spend $137 billion. \u201cThe only thing it\u2019s spent that much money on is stock buybacks,\u201d Greulich said.\n\nIBM said it created the market for artificial intelligence and is pleased with the pace of Watson\u2019s growth, noting that it and other new business units grew by more than $20 billion in the past three years. \u201cIt took Facebook and Amazon more than 13 years to grow $20 billion,\u201d the company said in a statement.\n\nSince Watson\u2019s \u201cJeopardy!\u201d demonstration in 2011, hundreds of companies have begun developing health care products using artificial intelligence. These include countless startups, but IBM also faces stiff competition from industry titans such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and the Optum division of UnitedHealth Group.\n\nGoogle\u2019s DeepMind, for example, recently displayed its own game-playing prowess, using its AlphaGo program to defeat a world champion in Go, a 3,000-year-old Chinese board game.\n\nDeepMind is working with hospitals in London, where it is learning to detect eye disease and speed up the process of targeting treatments for head and neck cancers, although it has run into privacy concerns.\n\nMeanwhile, Amazon has launched a health care lab, where it is exploring opportunities to mine data from electronic health records and potentially build a virtual doctor\u2019s assistant.\n\nA recent report by the financial firm Jefferies said IBM is quickly losing ground to competitors. \u201cIBM appears outgunned in the war for AI talent and will likely see increasing competition,\u201d the firm concluded.\n\nWhile not specific to Watson\u2019s health care products, the report said potential clients are backing away from the system because of significant consulting costs associated with its implementation. It also noted that Amazon has 10 times the job listings of IBM, which recently didn\u2019t renew a small number of contractors that worked for the company following its acquisition of Truven, a company it bought for $2.6 billion last year to gain access to 100 million patient records.\n\nIn its statement, IBM said that the workers\u2019 contracts ended and that it is continuing to hire aggressively in the Cambridge, Mass.-based Watson Health and other units, with more than 5,000 positions open in the U.S.\n\nBut the outlook for Watson for Oncology is challenging, say those who have worked closest with it. Kris, the lead trainer at Memorial Sloan Kettering, said the system has the potential to improve care and ensure more patients get expert treatment. But like a medical student, Watson is just learning to perform in the real world.\n\n\u201cNobody wants to hear this,\u201d Kris said. \u201cAll they want to hear is that Watson is the answer. And it always has the right answer, and you get it right away, and it will be cheaper. But like anything else, it\u2019s kind of human.\u201d", "output": "IBM's Watson for Oncology, an artificial intelligence programme that was intended to revolutionise the treatment of cancer, is not living up to its marketing hype and needs further development, an investigation by US health news site Stat has claimed. Stat found that Oncology for Watson did not have enough patient data to make independent decisions, while\u00a0a preference for\u00a0US medical methods and a claimed lack of diversity among patients,\u00a0as well as the system's high cost,\u00a0prompted criticism from medical experts outside the country. However, Oncology for Watson was deemed more useful in\u00a0China, where there are fewer oncologists."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "RWE's renewable unit Innogy targeted by Iberdrola \n Spain-based power provider Iberdrola could be interested in acquiring German renewable energy company Innogy, a subsidiary of Germany-based power utility RWE, according to Spanish financial newspaper Expansi\u00f3n.\n\nThe article, which cites unidentified sources within the financial sector, says that Iberdrola has not confirmed its interest in the operation, as it \u201cusually does not comment market rumors.\u201d\n\nRWE said in March it was considering every option for its renewable energy unit, and that it is in talks with market players. At that time, Bloomberg revealed that French energy giant Engie was planning to acquire Innogy. Furthermore, Reuters revealed that an unidentified source from the French government had confirmed that talks were being held, but the banks had not been given mandate to proceed with the operation.\n\nPopular content\n\nRWE, however, is obliged by a 2015 board resolution to maintain a 51% stake in the unit. This means the company could eventually sell only the remainder of the 77% stake it currently holds.\n\nIn May, Reuters estimated the value of Innogy at at \u20ac18.6 billion. Innogy completed the acquisition of German PV power and storage specialist Belectric in January 2017. Through this acquisition, Innogy added much-needed large-scale solar PV and storage capabilities to its portfolio. Belectric\u2019s global portfolio consists of 280 utility-scale solar plants and rooftop arrays, amounting to more than 1.5 GW of installed solar capacity.", "output": "Spanish utility Iberdrola could acquire renewable energy firm Innogy, owned by Germany utility RWE, according to anonymous sources, cited by Spanish newspaper Expansi\u00f3n. Iberdrola said it does not comment on \"market rumours\". Earlier this year, it emerged French energy giant Engie was in talks to purchase Innogy, with an anonymous French government source confirming the discussions, as RWE said at the time it was \"considering every option for its renewable energy unit\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lawmakers Debate How Much Wiggle Room To Give States In Health Care \n One of the few things that Republicans and Democrats broadly agree on is that states should have some flexibility to experiment with different ways to pay for and deliver health care.\n\nBut they disagree \u2014 strongly \u2014 on how much. In fact, Republicans don\u2019t agree with one another on this, and that dissent helped sink efforts this summer to \u201crepeal and replace\u201d the Affordable Care Act. Bridging these divides will help determine the success of a bipartisan effort in the Senate this month to help shore up the individual health insurance market.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve always said not all the wisdom is going to be in Washington,\u201d said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the ranking Democrat on the powerful Finance Committee. \u201cProgressive and conservative folks are going to say \u2018we can do better.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe federal health law includes a provision that allows states to alter some of its rules if they can think of a better way to provide health care to their residents. These are known as \u201cSection 1332 waivers,\u201d bookmarking where they are located in the health law.\n\nThis KHN story also ran in Stat . It can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nBut the law strictly limits how far states can go with their experiments. It includes what are known as \u201cguardrails.\u201d Those limits, said Nicholas Bagley, a health law professor at the University of Michigan, \u201care to prevent states from undermining the Affordable Care Act goal to provide people with comprehensive coverage.\u201d\n\nThe waivers were designed \u201cso blue states can experiment with blue state solutions, and red states can experiment with red state solutions,\u201d said Bagley. \u201cBut to do so and stay within the guardrails is really difficult.\u201d For example, he said, \u201cyou can reallocate the money, but you can\u2019t reallocate it to create losers.\u201d\n\nAt issue is whether to broaden authority for states by revising or eliminating the \u201cguardrails\u201d intended to protect patients and the federal government.\n\nWyden, who authored the 1332 language in the ACA, is skeptical. Under the current rules, he said, \u201cstates can make changes that make health care better. But they can\u2019t go out and make health care worse.\u201d\n\nIt is clear that Republicans in Congress want changes to the provision. The repeal-and-replace bill that passed the House and all those considered in the Senate included some expansion of state authority to waive protections included in the health law. Bagley said the bills \u201cwould have essentially given carte blanche to states to come up with ACA alternatives without any regard to the guardrails\u201d other than the one prohibiting additions to the federal deficit.\n\nAnd Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, who is working on a bipartisan bill, said Wednesday that \u201cDemocrats will have to agree to something \u2014 more flexibility for states \u2014 that some are reluctant to support.\u201d\n\nSo is there a compromise between Democrats who want to maintain the protections and Republicans who want states to have a freer hand?\n\nMaybe.\n\nDavid Anderson of Duke University said one possible source of agreement would be to streamline the federal approval process, starting with the guidance issued by the Obama administration in 2015 that critics said was too restrictive.\n\nUnder the rules set by the ACA, states can use waivers to adjust things like the structure of premium assistance to those with low and moderate incomes or the individual and employer requirements to have and offer coverage. But those changes must meet four key standards: States continue to provide equally comprehensive coverage to at least the same number of people, with no higher out-of-pocket costs and without costing the federal government more than it would spend under the provisions of the ACA.\n\nThe rules around the waivers also make it hard to accomplish a truly comprehensive overhaul of a state\u2019s health care system, as states can\u2019t use them to reach the place where most of the money funding that system comes from: tax breaks for employer-provided insurance and the federal Medicare program. Workers don\u2019t pay taxes on the value of employer-provided insurance, which is estimated to cost the federal Treasury some $260 billion in income and payroll taxes 2017.\n\n\u201cIf you want to reshape your state health insurance market, you\u2019ve got to be able to grab onto the employer market or Medicare, and you can\u2019t\u201d using the waiver procedure, Bagley said.\n\nStates also cannot use Section 1332 to change provisions of the Medicaid and Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program, although they can submit simultaneous waivers to each program under separate Medicaid waiver authority in the law.\n\nSo far, only two states \u2014 Hawaii and Alaska \u2014 have won federal approval for 1332 waivers under the health law.\n\nHawaii has had its own system for providing health coverage based on an employer requirement for coverage since the 1970s. The state\u2019s waiver allows it to use money allocated to help small businesses afford coverage in different ways.\n\nAlaska\u2019s waiver, which was approved this summer, involves a \u201creinsurance\u201d plan that will help spread the costs of the state\u2019s sickest patients more widely. \u201cBy removing high-cost conditions from the risk pool, the benefits of the [reinsurance program] are shared by the entire individual health insurance market,\u201d Lori Wing-Heier, head of the state\u2019s insurance department, told the HELP Committee on Wednesday. In its first year, the program dropped proposed premium increases from 40 percent to \u201cjust over 7 percent,\u201d Wing-Heier said.\n\nMinnesota has applied for a waiver similar to Alaska\u2019s, and approval is expected. Earlier this spring, the Department of Health and Human Services specifically invited states to apply for waivers of that type.\n\nOther states, though, are working on proposals that would make more comprehensive changes. Iowa, for example, wants to dramatically redistribute the money available, with bigger subsidies for the middle-class customers and smaller ones for those with lower incomes. The state says that would help draw more customers into the marketplace so that the risk pool is healthier and the premiums for everyone would decrease. It would also eliminate the help lower-income people get to pay their out-of-pocket medical costs, such as deductibles and copayments.\n\n\u201cThe Iowa waiver on its face pretty brazenly ignores the guardrails,\u201d said Bagley.\n\nOklahoma, which is seeking a waiver for its own reinsurance program, is also working on a plan that would make major changes, including encouraging people to purchase insurance with higher deductibles along with a health savings account.\n\nPart of the difficulty with the waivers is the number of hoops states must jump through to win approval, including passing legislation, seeking public comment and holding hearings around the state.\n\nAnd those are not even the biggest problems, state officials say. \u201cThe part that is stifling states right now is the six-month waiting period before they receive final approval,\u201d Alaska\u2019s Wing-Heier told the Senate panel.\n\nTeresa Miller, former Pennsylvania insurance commissioner, agreed at the Senate hearing, saying, \u201cThe current process is very cumbersome.\u201d\n\nAnderson of Duke University said one key possibility to add flexibility would be to loosen the requirement that state changes not add to the federal deficit. \u201cMaybe they could allow for deficit neutrality over the course of the waiver rather than year by year,\u201d he said, in which case experiments that cost money to begin with but save over time would be allowed.\n\nWyden said he is willing to look at any ideas to make the waivers easier to use.\n\nBut he added that the popularity of state \u201creinsurance\u201d waivers that are lowering premiums shows the waiver provision is working as intended. And, he said, if GOP members try again to roll back coverage using the waiver provision \u201cthey\u2019re going to have to roll over me, then they\u2019re going to have to persuade people\u201d that it meets the 1332 requirements.", "output": "One of the few things that Republicans and Democrats broadly agree on is that states should have some flexibility to experiment with different ways to pay for and deliver health care."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "KBS Realty Advisors set for IPO of US REIT in Singapore \n It\u2019s not unusual for U.S. real estate firms to go public. It\u2019s unusual to do it all the way across the Pacific. California-based KBS Realty Advisors wants to raise around $500 million on Singapore\u2019s stock market by listing some of its U.S. properties as a real estate investment trust through a joint venture with local asset manager Keppel.\n\nThe new public company would include close to a dozen U.S. buildings in cities such as Seattle and Houston, the Wall Street Journal reported.\n\nCanadian insurer Manulife Financial listed a REIT in Singapore last year that raised $470 million and included U.S. properties. Singapore\u2019s stock market includes 40 REITs with a combined market value of $60 billion.\n\nSign Up for the undefined Newsletter SIGN UP By signing up, you agree to TheRealDeal Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.\n\nLast year a KBS-managed REIT became the first U.S. trust to raise bonds in Israel.\n\nKBS\u2019 New York City holdings include a Williamsburg rental building at 424 Bedford Avenue and a Financial District office building at 110 William Street. [WSJ] \u2014 Konrad Putzier", "output": "California-based KBS Realty Advisors is set to launch an initial public offering in Singapore, where it aims to raise around $500m. KBS said it would list US properties in cities including Seattle and Houston as a real estate investment trust (REIT) via a joint venture with local asset manager Keppel. Last year, Canadian insurer Manulife Financial listed a REIT in the country, raising $470m. Singapore\u2019s stock market features 40 REITs that have a combined market value of $60bn."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI has better \u2018gaydar\u2019 than humans: Stanford University \n MODERN artificial intelligence is much feted. But its talents boil down to a superhuman ability to spot patterns in large volumes of data. Facebook has used this ability to produce maps of poor regions in unprecedented detail, with an AI system that has learned what human settlements look like from satellite pictures. Medical researchers have trained AI in smartphones to detect cancerous lesions; a Google system can make precise guesses about the year a photograph was taken, simply because it has seen more photos than a human could ever inspect, and has spotted patterns that no human could.\n\nAI\u2019s power to pick out patterns is now turning to more intimate matters. Research at Stanford University by Michal Kosinski and Yilun Wang has shown that machine vision can infer sexual orientation by analysing people\u2019s faces. The researchers suggest the software does this by picking up on subtle differences in facial structure. With the right data sets, Dr Kosinski says, similar AI systems might be trained to spot other intimate traits, such as IQ or political views. Just because humans are unable to see the signs in faces does not mean that machines cannot do so.\n\nThe researchers\u2019 program, details of which are soon to be published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, relied on 130,741 images of 36,630 men and 170,360 images of 38,593 women downloaded from a popular American dating website, which makes its profiles public. Basic facial-detection technology was used to select all images which showed a single face of sufficient size and clarity to subject to analysis. This left 35,326 pictures of 14,776 people, with gay and straight, male and female, all represented evenly.\n\nOut of the numbers\n\nThe images were then fed into a different piece of software called VGG-Face, which spits out a long string of numbers to represent each person; their \u201cfaceprint\u201d. The next step was to use a simple predictive model, known as logistic regression, to find correlations between the features of those faceprints and their owners\u2019 sexuality (as declared on the dating website). When the resulting model was run on data which it had not seen before, it far outperformed humans at distinguishing between gay and straight faces.\n\nWhen shown one photo each of a gay and straight man, both chosen at random, the model distinguished between them correctly 81% of the time. When shown five photos of each man, it attributed sexuality correctly 91% of the time. The model performed worse with women, telling gay and straight apart with 71% accuracy after looking at one photo, and 83% accuracy after five. In both cases the level of performance far outstrips human ability to make this distinction. Using the same images, people could tell gay from straight 61% of the time for men, and 54% of the time for women. This aligns with research which suggests humans can determine sexuality from faces at only just better than chance.\n\nDr Kosinski and Mr Wang offer a possible explanation for their model\u2019s performance. As fetuses develop in the womb, they are exposed to various levels of hormones, in particular testosterone. These are known to play a role in developing facial structures, and may similarly be involved in determining sexuality. The researchers suggest their system can pick up subtle signals of the latter from the former. Using other techniques, the program was found to pay most attention to the nose, eyes, eyebrows, cheeks, hairline and chin for determining male sexuality; the nose, mouth corners, hair and neckline were more important for women.\n\nThe study has limitations. Firstly, images from a dating site are likely to be particularly revealing of sexual orientation. The 91% accuracy rate only applies when one of the two men whose images are shown is known to be gay. Outside the lab the accuracy rate would be much lower. To demonstrate this weakness, the researchers selected 1,000 men at random with at least five photographs, but in a ratio of gay to straight that more accurately reflects the real world; approximately seven in every 100. When asked to select the 100 males most likely to be gay, only 47 of those chosen by the system actually were, meaning that the system ranked some straight men as more likely to be gay than men who actually are.\n\nHowever, when asked to pick out the ten faces it was most confident about, nine of the chosen were in fact gay. If the goal is to pick a small number of people who are very likely to be gay out of a large group, the system appears able to do so. The point is not that Dr Kosinski and Mr Wang have created software which can reliably determine gay from straight. That was not their goal. Rather, they have demonstrated that such software is possible.\n\nTo calculate the selves of others\n\nDr Kosinski is no stranger to controversial research. He invented psychometric profiling using Facebook data, which relies upon information in a person\u2019s profile to model their personality. The Trump campaign used similar models during last year\u2019s presidential campaign to target voters, an approach which has generated criticism.\n\nDr Kosinski says he conducted the research as a demonstration, and to warn policymakers of the power of machine vision. It makes further erosion of privacy \u201cinevitable\u201d; the dangers must be understood, he adds. Spouses might seek to know what sexuality-inferring software says about their partner (the word \u201cgay\u201d is 10% more likely to complete searches that begin \u201cIs my husband\u2026\u201d than the word \u201ccheating\u201d). In parts of the world where being gay is socially unacceptable, or illegal, such software could pose a serious threat to safety. Dr Kosinski is at pains to make clear that he has invented no new technology, merely bolted together software and data that are readily available to anyone with an internet connection. He has asked The Economist not to reveal the identity of the dating website he used, in order to discourage copycats.\n\nIt is true that anyone wishing to replicate Dr Kosinski\u2019s work to determine intimate traits from faces will face significant challenges in applying laboratory science to the outside world. But they will be helped by ever-growing volumes of data and improving algorithms. \u201cThe latter, over time, inevitably win,\u201d says Alessandro Acquisti of Carnegie Mellon University, who has shown that an individual\u2019s social security number can be discovered using face recognition and online information. For those with secrets to keep, all this is bad news.\n\nDig deeper\n\nLeader:\n\nWhat machines can tell from your face\n\nScience and technology:\n\nResearchers produce images of people\u2019s faces from their genomes\n\nBusiness:\n\nEver better and cheaper, face-recognition technology is spreading", "output": "Artificial intelligence can tell from photographs whether a person is straight or gay, according to research from Stanford University. The study, based on 35,000 images posted on a US dating website, found that an algorithm could correctly identify gay men 81% of the time and gay women 74% of the time. By contrast, human viewers correctly identified orientation in 61% of cases for men and 54% of cases for women. The research has highlighted concerns about the ethical implications of facial recognition software and its potential implications in relation to privacy and discrimination.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI has better \u2018gaydar\u2019 than humans: Stanford University \n Artificial intelligence can accurately guess whether people are gay or straight based on photos of their faces, according to new research that suggests machines can have significantly better \u201cgaydar\u201d than humans.\n\nThe study from Stanford University \u2013 which found that a computer algorithm could correctly distinguish between gay and straight men 81% of the time, and 74% for women \u2013 has raised questions about the biological origins of sexual orientation, the ethics of facial-detection technology, and the potential for this kind of software to violate people\u2019s privacy or be abused for anti-LGBT purposes.\n\nThe machine intelligence tested in the research, which was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and first reported in the Economist, was based on a sample of more than 35,000 facial images that men and women publicly posted on a US dating website. The researchers, Michal Kosinski and Yilun Wang, extracted features from the images using \u201cdeep neural networks\u201d, meaning a sophisticated mathematical system that learns to analyze visuals based on a large dataset.\n\nThe research found that gay men and women tended to have \u201cgender-atypical\u201d features, expressions and \u201cgrooming styles\u201d, essentially meaning gay men appeared more feminine and vice versa. The data also identified certain trends, including that gay men had narrower jaws, longer noses and larger foreheads than straight men, and that gay women had larger jaws and smaller foreheads compared to straight women.\n\nHuman judges performed much worse than the algorithm, accurately identifying orientation only 61% of the time for men and 54% for women. When the software reviewed five images per person, it was even more successful \u2013 91% of the time with men and 83% with women. Broadly, that means \u201cfaces contain much more information about sexual orientation than can be perceived and interpreted by the human brain\u201d, the authors wrote.\n\nThe paper suggested that the findings provide \u201cstrong support\u201d for the theory that sexual orientation stems from exposure to certain hormones before birth, meaning people are born gay and being queer is not a choice. The machine\u2019s lower success rate for women also could support the notion that female sexual orientation is more fluid.\n\nWhile the findings have clear limits when it comes to gender and sexuality \u2013 people of color were not included in the study, and there was no consideration of transgender or bisexual people \u2013 the implications for artificial intelligence (AI) are vast and alarming. With billions of facial images of people stored on social media sites and in government databases, the researchers suggested that public data could be used to detect people\u2019s sexual orientation without their consent.\n\nIt\u2019s easy to imagine spouses using the technology on partners they suspect are closeted, or teenagers using the algorithm on themselves or their peers. More frighteningly, governments that continue to prosecute LGBT people could hypothetically use the technology to out and target populations. That means building this kind of software and publicizing it is itself controversial given concerns that it could encourage harmful applications.\n\nBut the authors argued that the technology already exists, and its capabilities are important to expose so that governments and companies can proactively consider privacy risks and the need for safeguards and regulations.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s certainly unsettling. Like any new tool, if it gets into the wrong hands, it can be used for ill purposes,\u201d said Nick Rule, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, who has published research on the science of gaydar. \u201cIf you can start profiling people based on their appearance, then identifying them and doing horrible things to them, that\u2019s really bad.\u201d\n\nRule argued it was still important to develop and test this technology: \u201cWhat the authors have done here is to make a very bold statement about how powerful this can be. Now we know that we need protections.\u201d\n\nKosinski was not immediately available for comment, but after publication of this article on Friday, he spoke to the Guardian about the ethics of the study and implications for LGBT rights. The professor is known for his work with Cambridge University on psychometric profiling, including using Facebook data to make conclusions about personality. Donald Trump\u2019s campaign and Brexit supporters deployed similar tools to target voters, raising concerns about the expanding use of personal data in elections.\n\nIn the Stanford study, the authors also noted that artificial intelligence could be used to explore links between facial features and a range of other phenomena, such as political views, psychological conditions or personality.\n\nThis type of research further raises concerns about the potential for scenarios like the science-fiction movie Minority Report, in which people can be arrested based solely on the prediction that they will commit a crime.\n\n\u201cAI can tell you anything about anyone with enough data,\u201d said Brian Brackeen, CEO of Kairos, a face recognition company. \u201cThe question is as a society, do we want to know?\u201d\n\nBrackeen, who said the Stanford data on sexual orientation was \u201cstartlingly correct\u201d, said there needs to be an increased focus on privacy and tools to prevent the misuse of machine learning as it becomes more widespread and advanced.\n\nRule speculated about AI being used to actively discriminate against people based on a machine\u2019s interpretation of their faces: \u201cWe should all be collectively concerned.\u201d\n\nContact the author: sam.levin@theguardian.com", "output": "Artificial intelligence can tell from photographs whether a person is straight or gay, according to research from Stanford University. The study, based on 35,000 images posted on a US dating website, found that an algorithm could correctly identify gay men 81% of the time and gay women 74% of the time. By contrast, human viewers correctly identified orientation in 61% of cases for men and 54% of cases for women. The research has highlighted concerns about the ethical implications of facial recognition software and its potential implications in relation to privacy and discrimination.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Solutions proposed to make housing in Australia\u00a0more affordable \n The housing affordability crisis will drag on for at least 40 years unless governments introduce bold new policy, a major report says.\n\nThe damning outlook from the Committee for Economic Development of Australia said government policy at all levels needed to reflect that the Australian dream of owning a home is now over for many people.\n\n\u201cCEDA\u2019s research shows that barring any major economic jolts, demand pressures are likely to continue over the next 40 years and supply constraints will continue,\u201d said Rodney Maddock, CEDA Research and Policy Committee Chairman.\n\n\u201cThis is particularly the case in capital cities with a growing population and where an increasing proportion of Australia\u2019s population are expected to reside.\u201d\n\nWhile the report predicted bad news, CEDA made eight recommendations on how governments could contain the crisis.\n\nProfessor Maddock said he was hopeful the solutions could be adequately implemented in time.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s such an important political issue at the moment, I think that we\u2019re starting to get the more urgent responses that you might want,\u201d he told The New Daily.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not something you can put off forever, because voters are going to get angrier and angrier.\u201d\n\n1. Prioritise shelter for the disadvantaged\n\nThe first solution was for Australia to provide 20,000 new affordable homes for low-income people each year, under the recommendation of Sydney University expert Judith Yates.\n\n\u201cProlonged housing affordability issues will result in more people entering retirement without owning their home and low socioeconomic households pushed to outer or regional areas where transport infrastructure is poor and job prospects are lower,\u201d Prof Maddock said.\n\n\u201cIn the long term this could have budget implications for governments as more people become reliant on government assistance.\u201d\n\n2. Relax planning restrictions to increase housing affordability\n\nThe report recommended relaxing planning restrictions, particularly those imposed by local councils, to make them more consistent and allow for increased density.\n\nOne of the biggest takeaways of the report was that Sydney and Melbourne needed to forego white picket fences for apartments.\n\n\u201cThe point is, if we don\u2019t adjust supply then it\u2019s going to get harder and harder to buy the very limited number of houses that are available in good locations,\u201d Prof Maddock said.\n\n\u201cIf we allow a lot more apartment buildings and a lot more density, then it\u2019ll be like living in London or New York.\n\n\u201cPeople are becoming a lot more accustomed to the idea that we\u2019re going to have a lot more apartment dwelling \u2026 There\u2019s an emotional adjustment going on.\u201d\n\n3. Develop consistent planning and funding for transport\n\nThe report said faster and more convenient transport networks would increase the amenity of outer suburbs and ease congestion.\n\nProf Maddock said we needed to change the structure of our cities to have a range of employment hubs. For example, Parramatta in Sydney\u2019s west has become a secondary business district and decreased the commute time for residents in the outer suburbs.\n\n4. Better legal protection and certainty for renters\n\nThe report said more protections for renters were required as the likelihood Australians rent their whole lives increases.\n\n\u201cIt seems quite likely that many people are going to end up living in rental accommodation for all their lives,\u201d Prof Maddock said.\n\nHe recommended renters be given long-term rental options.\n\n5. Offer incentives to downsize\n\nThe report recommended the government relax rules for means testing income from downsizing, if it freed up more land.\n\nProf Maddock said this change was slowly occurring naturally over time as house prices and land prices continue to rise.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019ll become more sensible for investors to put more houses on a piece of land,\u201d he said.\n\n6. Phase out stamp duty in favour of annual land tax\n\nThe government should begin charging an annual land tax instead of stamp duty, the report said.\n\n7. Review asset tests for retirees\n\nThe report advised the government to review the way pensions, superannuation and housing interacted for retirees.\n\n8. Increase capital gains taxes\n\nTaxing a larger component of capital gains would also make investments less attractive, the report said.\n\n\u201cEasing some of the tax incentives to invest in or retain residential property may also assist,\u201d Prof Maddock said.", "output": "The Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) has said that unless the government introduces new policies, housing affordability will continue to be a problem for 40 years. CEDA said that owning a home will be unattainable for many Australians. The committee has suggested that the government make several changes: prioritise shelter for disadvantaged citizens,\u00a0relax planning restrictions to favour flats over houses; fund and plan transport more effectively;\u00a0protect renters\u2019 legal rights,\u00a0incentivise downsizing,\u00a0replace stamp duty with an annual land tax,\u00a0review the current retiree asset tests\u00a0and\u00a0increase capital gains tax.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Growing demand in central\u00a0US prompts two hirings for\u00a0XL Catlin \n NEW YORK, Aug. 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- XL Catlin's Global Excess Casualty insurance business has realigned its US Central region and appointed new regional underwriting managers to meet continued increased demand for quality excess casualty and umbrella insurance products.\n\nAccording to Barbara Luck, President of XL Catlin's Global Excess Casualty business, \"We've had tremendous success developing and growing client and broker relationships and business throughout the US. Our continued successes are prompting us to make these regional changes. Given the size of the US market and continued increased demand for our excess coverages, we decided to create a North Central and South Central region to better enable our team to deliver more attentive service and delivery of our excess and umbrella liability coverages to brokers and clients. This new regional structure better prepares our team for continued business growth.\"\n\nKevin Nieft has been promoted to Vice President, Underwriting Manager Excess Casualty and will lead the North Central Region. Kevin joined XL Catlin in April 2003 and has held various underwriting positions and most recently was an underwriting director. Prior to joining XL Catlin, Kevin held underwriting positions in Kemper Insurance Company and Fireman's Fund Insurance Company.\n\nMona Carpenter has been promoted to Vice President, Underwriting Manager Excess Casualty and will lead the South Central Region. Mona joined XL Catlin in October 2016 from Swiss Re where she held the position of Vice President Senior Underwriter. Prior to that position, Mona held various underwriting and management positions at AIG and The Hartford.\n\nMs. Luck added: \"We're fortunate to have a deep bench of strong talent to build out our regional leadership. Both Kevin and Mona bring their underwriting expertise of the Excess Casualty product and strong marketplace knowledge and relationships to their new roles. Under their leadership, our North Central and South Central regions are well positioned to take a more geographic focused approach in addressing our broker and client's excess and umbrella liability needs.\n\nHelping a wide range of businesses -- from Upper Middle Market (UMM) to Fortune 1000 companies -- XL Catlin's Global Excess Casualty insurance team provides Lead Umbrella, Excess, Occurrence, Claims Made, Occurrence Reported and Primary Rail and Excess insurance coverages from global access points with underwriting centers in Bermuda, Dublin, Ireland, London, UK and 13 cities in North America. Liability limits up to $100 million are available.\n\nAbout XL Catlin Insurance Operations\n\nXL Catlin insurance companies offer property, casualty, professional, financial lines and specialty insurance products globally. Businesses that are moving the world forward choose XL Catlin as their partner. To learn more, visit xlcatlin.com.\n\nAbout XL Catlin\n\nXL Catlin is the global brand used by XL Group Ltd's (NYSE:XL) insurance and reinsurance companies which provide property, casualty, professional and specialty products to industrial, commercial and professional firms, insurance companies and other enterprises throughout the world. Clients look to XL Catlin for answers to their most complex risks and to help move their world forward. To learn more, visit xlcatlin.com .\n\nView original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/xl-catlins-global-excess-casualty-insurance-business-promotes-new-regional-underwriting-leaders-300512210.html\n\nSOURCE XL Catlin", "output": "Insurer XL Catlin's global excess casualty business has appointed underwriting managers for the north central and south central US regions\u00a0to cope with stronger demand for excess casualty and umbrella insurance products. Kevin Nieft will become vice-president, underwriting manager, excess casualty for north central\u00a0and Mona Carpenter will be vice-president, underwriting manager, excess casualty for south central. XL Catlin's global excess casualty products cover umbrella, excess, claims made, occurrence, occurrence reported\u00a0and primary rail.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow nears completion on \u00a370m Devonport Estate \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nGet the stories that matter to our community straight to your inbox with our Daily Newsletter\n\nThe biggest city regeneration scheme in the South West will be complete when the last few families move into a \u00a370million Devonport estate next month.\n\nDeveloper Redrow has virtually finished construction at the vast 464-property Vision project in what was once the Royal Navy South Yard Enclave.\n\nThe final building, Zone G, on what was the sales office\u2019s car park on the corner of Phelps Road and Chapel Street, is nearly ready.\n\nAnd by October 2017 all homes will be filled on the immense estate and it will be home to more than 1,100 people.\n\n(Image: Penny Cross)\n\nThat will complete the ambitious scheme which Redrow started in 2007, in what was once a dockyard stores area.\n\nBut the firm is keen to point out its legacy will continue, as it has invested in an array of community projects and has provided \u00a3700,000 towards the transformation of the former Devonport Market Hall into a digital industry hub.\n\nAnd it has had a major impact on the economy of he city, with up to 80 construction workers, including apprentices, on the site each day during the decade-long build.\n\n(Image: Penny Cross)\n\nNigel Palmer, managing director for Redrow Homes\u2019 South West division, said: \u201cWe have employed 70 to 80 people here on a daily basis,\u201d he said. \u201cThen there is the spin-offs, money going to the local stores.\n\n\u201cThen there is the legacy, we have invested \u00a3700,000 into the Market Hall, to reinstate the bells and clock tower, and for security and upkeep of the building.\u201d\n\nHe said \u00a33.7million had been paid over in Section 106 payments, contributions made to the local authority.\n\n(Image: Penny Cross)\n\n\u201cThat went to education, transport, highways, and for public areas, such as Granby Green, which benefited from \u00a3250,000.\u201d\n\nThe Devonport Views 42-flat extra-care housing block for older people was paid for by Redrow but managed by Devon and Cornwall Housing.\n\nBut Mr Palmer stressed Redrow had gone beyond it\u2019s statutory obligations, and pumped cash and support into community organisations and events, including St Aubyn\u2019s Church, Devonport Linc, Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Devonport Boxing Club, three primary schools, police cadets, carol festivals, family fun days and poetry events, including sponsorship of the PlymLit literary festival in 2016 and 2017.\n\n(Image: Penny Cross)\n\n\u201cI\u2019m really proud at what the guys have achieved,\u201d Mr Palmer said. \u201cThey\u2019ve done a fantastic job here and left a legacy.\u201d\n\nVision, alongside other neighbouring housing schemes and social enterprise-led business initiatives, has transformed what was once one of Plymouth\u2019s most crime and deprivation-troubled quarters into a pleasant, modern, and prosperous area.\n\nOther projects surrounding Vision include the redevelopment of the former naval base at Mount Wise, and replacement of housing in between it and Vision, and at Granby Green.\n\n(Image: Penny Cross)\n\nSome of this new housing was created by Linden Homes \u2013 where Mr Palmer worked before joining Redrow.\n\nAnd as a \u201cPlymouth boy\u201d, who was educated at nearby Devonport High School for Boys, he\u2019s well qualified to give a view on the area\u2019s improvement.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s transformed the whole area,\u201d he said. \u201cThe West side of Plymouth has changed for the better.\u201d", "output": "Housing developer Redrow will shortly complete construction at the 464 unit Vision regeneration project in Plymouth. The \u00a370m ($93m) project is based at the old site of the Royal Navy South Yard Enclave, and can house over 1,100 residents. The project was initiated in 2007, and involved the provision of \u00a3700,000 by Redrow to transform the former Devonport Market Hall into a digital industry meeting place.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BNP Paribas buys majority stake in Belgian robo-adviser Gambit \n BNP Paribas has made a move into the robo-advisory sector, buying a majority stake in Belgian specialist Gambit Financial Solutions. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.\n\nWhile Gambit will maintain its independence, it will become the preferred partner for robo-advisory solutions for BNP Paribas Group\u2019s retail and wealth management networks.\n\n\n\nLaunched in 2007 as a spin-off from HEC - University of Liege, Gambit has seen its robo-advisory technology rolled out by private and retail banks in Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Switzerland.\n\n\n\nThe firm, which has a 50-strong team, has also recently launched a proprietary business-to-consumer robo-advisor called Birdee.\n\n\n\nFr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Janbon, CEO, BNP Paribas Asset Management, says: \"The partnership with one of the most advanced robo-advisory solutions available in the market is a key milestone in our digital transformation and marks our commitment to delivering quality investment solutions to our clients.\"", "output": "Paris-based banking group BNP Paribas has bought a majority stake in the Belgian robo-advisory specialist firm Gambit Financial Solutions. The company was launched in 2007 as a spin-off from the HEC - University of Liege, and its technology has been used by private and retail banks in Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Switzerland. Under the deal, Gambit will maintain its independence, but will become the preferred partner for robo-advisory solutions for BNP Paribas's retail and wealth management networks."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Social trading platform eToro lets users trade cryptocurrencies \n Social trading brokerage and platform provider eToro today announced in a corporate statement that it is offering clients the opportunity to trade in the five most popular Cryptocurrencies Cryptocurrencies By using cryptography, virtual currencies, known as cryptocurrencies, are nearly counterfeit-proof digital currencies that are built on blockchain technology. Comprised of decentralized networks, blockchain technology is not overseen by a central authority.Therefore, cryptocurrencies function in a decentralized nature which theoretically makes them immune to government interference. The term, cryptocurrency derives from the origin of the encryption techniques that are employed to secure the netw By using cryptography, virtual currencies, known as cryptocurrencies, are nearly counterfeit-proof digital currencies that are built on blockchain technology. Comprised of decentralized networks, blockchain technology is not overseen by a central authority.Therefore, cryptocurrencies function in a decentralized nature which theoretically makes them immune to government interference. The term, cryptocurrency derives from the origin of the encryption techniques that are employed to secure the netw Read this Term directly on its own Trading Platform Trading Platform In the FX space, a currency trading platform is a software provided by brokers to their respective client base, garnering access as traders in the broader market. Most commonly, this reflects an online interface or mobile app, complete with tools for order processing.Every broker needs one or more trading platforms to accommodate the needs of different clients. Being the backbone of the company\u2019s offering, a trading platform provides clients with quotes, a selection of instruments to trade, real In the FX space, a currency trading platform is a software provided by brokers to their respective client base, garnering access as traders in the broader market. Most commonly, this reflects an online interface or mobile app, complete with tools for order processing.Every broker needs one or more trading platforms to accommodate the needs of different clients. Being the backbone of the company\u2019s offering, a trading platform provides clients with quotes, a selection of instruments to trade, real Read this Term.\n\nRegister now to the London Summit 2017, Europe\u2019s largest gathering of top-tier retail brokers and institutional FX investors\n\nEffective immediately, eToro customers can trade the actual underlying assets of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Litecoin and Ripple. The company is already offering access to the five cryptocurrencies, plus exposure to Dash, through its recently launched investment instrument Crypto CopyFund.\n\nBy taking away part of the risk usually associated with trading such exotic assets, eToro allows its clients profit directly from the active exchange rates. Joining over 1,200 assets, trading of the new instruments will be done from the same accounts clients use for other trades, adding a layer of security to the exciting but volatile cryptocurrency market.\n\nThe step confirms that there is significant demand amongst traders for such alternative asset classes, with the launch just one more example of a brokerage jumping on the cryptocurrency bandwagon.\n\nThe list of brokers that have launched cryptocurrency trading pairs in recent months includes Ayondo, Plus500, Avatrade, FXOpen, XTB, JFD Brokers, Instaforex, and many others. As such, it is likely that more retail platforms will follow suit to avoid falling behind their competitors.\n\nCommenting on the launch, Yoni Assia, co-founder and CEO of eToro, said: \"Cryptocurrencies have come of age over the last year, but buying and owning the underlying crypto asset is still very difficult. At eToro, we've already simplified the worlds of trading and investing, and now we have an opportunity to use our experience and expertise to simplify cryptocurrencies. By using our platform, investors benefit from the peace of mind that comes with our long-track record in the cryptocurrency market.\"\n\nFounder of Litecoin Charlie Lee said: \"By making Litecoin available on a safe, simple, and secure platform, eToro will help increase the adoption of Litecoin among a wider audience.\"\n\nFounder and CEO of Digital Currency Group (DCG) Barry Silbert said: \"By showing their support for Ethereum Classic, among others, eToro supports our position that digital currency as an asset class has not only arrived, but is here to stay.\"", "output": "eToro, the social trading brokerage firm, has given a boost to the digital currency sector by enabling customers to trade bitcoin, ethereum, ethereum classic, litecoin and ripple cryptocurrencies on its platform. The move allows clients to benefit from active exchange rates, and is further evidence of the growing demand for alternative asset classes. Ayondo, XTB, JFD Brokers and Instaforex, among others, have also also launched cryptocurrency trading pairs, with market expectations that more retail platforms will follow."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Blockchain wallet partners with Indian exchange UnoCoin \n Leading bitcoin wallet Blockchain has announced that it has teamed up with Indian bitcoin exchange Unocoin to enable Blockchain users across the country to quickly and easily fund their wallets.\n\nWe\u2019ve teamed up with Unocoin to bring users in India an easy and safe way to fund their Blockchain wallets! https://t.co/rsiyxeEiG6 pic.twitter.com/JT6tHQafds \u2014 Blockchain (@blockchain) September 7, 2017\n\n\n\n\u201cMillions of Indians have embraced digital assets as a reliable way to save and transfer money. Together with Unocoin we are committed to making digital currency simple and more accessible throughout India. Whether it\u2019s high fees, untrustworthy service providers, or confusing identity verification procedures, it\u2019s often been a slow and challenging process to get started with bitcoin. Today\u2019s integration is an important step forward in eliminating the friction that many have experienced in buying bitcoin.\u201d\n\n\n\nAccording to the official announcement, Blockchain has integrated Unocoin\u2019s exchange directly within its wallet to give users greater purchasing power without compromising security or control. The integration is currently available to web users. Blockchain said:\n\n\n\n\u201cFor the first time ever, your Blockchain wallet can be funded in just a few clicks by linking your bank account, which is subject to bank transfer speed.\n\n\n\nBlockchain said that it plans to expand the integration to Android and iOS wallet users in the near future.\n\n\n\nFxWirePro launches Absolute Return Managed Program. For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/invest", "output": "Bitcoin wallet Blockchain has partnered with Indian's largest bitcoin exchange Unocoin, enabling customers to transfer funds quickly. The move was an \"important step forward in eliminating the friction that many have experienced in buying bitcoin\"\u00a0and gave users \"greater purchasing power without compromising security or control\", according to Blockchain. The functionality is available only to web users, with mobile integration set to follow.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ILS likely to contribute to reinsurance pricing drop: Fitch \n Pricing in the global reinsurance sector will continue declining throughout 2018 as competition from alternative sources of reinsurance capacity intensifies and margins across the sector deteriorate further, according to analysis by Fitch Ratings.\n\nThe current low-interest rate environment is expected to remain, dampening returns on the investment side of the balance sheet as underwriting profits come under increasing pressure from falling rates and intense competition.\n\nFitch expects pricing in the reinsurance industry to deteriorate in 2018 as alternative capital, or insurance-linked securities (ILS) intensifies the competition for reinsurance business.\n\n\u201cThis will mainly be driven by the collateralised reinsurance segment, where funds are likely to expand their reinsurance capacity at lower pricing margins,\u201d explains Fitch.\n\nFurthermore, Fitch expects that market conditions will likely remain favourable for catastrophe bond issuance in 2018 as investors look to diversify risks, on the back of what\u2019s set to be a record year for cat bond issuance after an impressive Q2 for the expanding sub-sector of the broader ILS arena.\n\nFitch warns of \u201cshrinking headroom\u201d for global reinsurance companies, exacerbated by the impacts of hurricane Harvey and further deterioration of pricing metrics. However, the ratings agency doesn\u2019t expect any substantial impact on ratings over the next 12 to 18 months, but warns that the deterioration of the pricing environment beyond its expectations, could lead to some negative actions.\n\nDiscussing hurricane Harvey, Fitch notes that a relatively light opening six months for catastrophe losses across the industry should assist companies\u2019 as they absorb losses from the event, which brought record-levels of flooding to Houston, Texas.\n\nFitch doesn\u2019t expect the losses to be enough to turn the market from its soft state and have any impact on pricing outside of the directly affected regions, and overall, expects much of the loss to be retained by primary insurers and be more of an earnings event for the reinsurance sector.\n\nHowever, Harvey does leave some companies with perhaps a smaller catastrophe budget for the remainder of the year than desirable, which suggests that above-average catastrophe losses for the remainder of the year could push some firms into a very challenging position, to say the least.\n\n\u201cCombined with low investment yields, which are likely to persist in 2018, the significant decline in premium rates over the last few years has made it harder for reinsurers to write business at a profit margin that exceeds their cost of capital. Their ability to use prior-year reserves to mitigate the pressure on operating profit is also dwindling, and we do not expect firms to be able to maintain reserve releases at their current levels in the medium term,\u201d warns Fitch.\n\nFor the reinsurance companies that Fitch monitors, it expects the group to report a combined ratio of 96.9% in 2018, and an operating ratio of 89.9%. However, should these ratios rise to above 100% and 90%, respectively, in the mid-term, Fitch could revise its rating outlook for the sector to negative.", "output": "The growth of insurance-linked securities (ILS) \u2013 capital market investment vehicles backed by insurance policies \u2013\u00a0will contribute to a further decline in reinsurance pricing\u00a0during 2018, according to Fitch Ratings. ILS and other sources of reinsurance capacity have already dented pricing in the sector. The decline may lead to rating downgrades for some reinsurance companies, Fitch said.\u00a0Conversely, the ratings firm predicts the market for catastrophe bonds will remain\u00a0favourable as investors look to diversify risk.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Renaissance integrates digital resources from Education.com \n Personalized Learning\n\nRenaissance Flow 360 Integrates Teacher-Approved Resources\n\nRenaissance has partnered with Education.com in order to bring teacher-approved digital resources, tools and materials from the online education hub to the Renaissance Flow 360 platform.\n\nTeachers can use Renaissance Flow 360 to track students' level of mastery at the domain, standard, skill and subskill level. Image: Renaissance.\n\nThe pre-K\u201312 learning analytics company launched Renaissance Flow 360 earlier this year to support personalized learning at schools by \u201cconnecting assessment, planning, instruction and practice in one place,\u201d according to a prepared statement.\n\nTo date, an estimated 6.8 million teachers have signed up to use Education.com's digital learning materials, which will now be mapped to Renaissance\u2019s learning progressions. The integration also enables teachers to use Renaissance Flow 360 \"to track a complete view of student\u2019s mastery of state standards and skill level at group or individual levels.\"\n\nThere are more than 30,000 teacher-approved educational resources on Education.com.\n\nThrough the partnership, Education.com joins Achieve 3000, Classworks, Edgenuity, Edmentum and the MIND Research Institute as part of the Renaissance Growth Alliance Partners program.", "output": "US learning analytics company Renaissance has added Education.com to its list of partners, allowing integration of materials from the online education provider to its existing services. The company launched its Renaissance Flow 360 platform earlier this year, to support personalised learning in schools by providing teachers with a means of coordinating assessments with lesson plans to track students' progress. Digital materials from Education.com are currently used by an estimated 6.8 million teachers, and these will now be mapped onto Renaissance's system.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EY and Microsoft partner to provide marine insurance blockchain \n Accounting giant EY said Wednesday that it plans to launch the first blockchain platform for marine insurance, alongside Microsoft , A.P Moller-Maersk and others.\n\nThe distributed ledger will be used to capture information about shipments, risk and liability, and to help firms comply with insurance regulations.\n\nIt will also ensure transparency across an interconnected network of clients, brokers, insurers and other third parties.\n\nEY explained that its decision to secure marine insurance data with blockchain was due to a \"complete inefficiency\" in the sector.\n\n\"The reason we chose marine (insurance) as the starting point for this sort of market is mainly because of its complete inefficiency,\" Shaun Crawford, global insurance leader at EY, told CNBC via phone earlier this week ahead of the announcement.\n\nCrawford said the industry was \"over capacity\" and that there was \"a lot of cost to it.\"\n\nHe added: \"It's facing high administrative burdens of managing and writing claims with a lot of paperwork. All contracts are signed multiple times. They go from ship to ship, port to port, through quite a journey.\"\n\nDistributed ledgers are groupings of data shared across multiple locations without the need for central administrators and other middle men.\n\nThe original blockchain was built to serve as the distributed ledger for bitcoin transactions. But various blockchain experts believe the technology can provide transparency for a multitude of different industries, not just the financial services.\n\n\"We're not talking about a new currency here, we're not talking about money. We're talking about data aggregation,\" EY's Crawford added.\n\nMaersk said the blockchain platform would enable the shipping giant to maintain a smoother relationship with the insurance market.", "output": "EY has collaborated with Microsoft, shipping firm Moller-Maersk and other companies to develop the world's first blockchain platform for marine insurance, aiming to streamline a sector bogged down by \"complete inefficiency\". Shaun Crawford, global insurance leader at EY, said the project aimed to bring transparency to the industry and reduce the high administrative burdens, while capturing information about shipments, risk and liability in a secure manner. The platform will be built by blockchain firm Guardtime using Microsoft's Azure cloud, and is set to be launched in 2018."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Growing demand in China for online US English tutors \n Firms providing overseas internet tutors could share US$165-billion market in five years, says one research report, as parents look to give their children a head start", "output": "Growing demand amongst Chinese parents for online tutors from the US is contributing to a growing market, which could double in value to $165bn in the next five years, according to banking group UBS. Online start-ups include Beijing-based VIPKid, which recruits American teachers to teach online classes to Chinese students. The company has grown to 200,000 students and has revenue projected to reach $765m this year. The company has set up a research institute to process the huge amounts of data gathered from the two million classes taught each month, to help improve their effectiveness.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "House of Representatives passes the Self Drive Act \n On Wednesday, the House of Representatives did something that\u2019s woefully uncommon these days: It passed a bill with bipartisan support. The bill, called the SELF DRIVE Act, lays out a basic federal framework for autonomous vehicle regulation, signaling that federal lawmakers are finally ready to think seriously about self-driving cars and what they mean for the future of the country.\n\n\u201cWith this legislation, innovation can flourish without the heavy hand of government,\u201d said Representative Bob Latta, the Ohio Republican who heads up the Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection Subcommittee, in a floor speech just before the SELF DRIVE Act passed by a two-thirds majority. (And no, I\u2019m not shouting at you\u2014it\u2019s an acronym, for Safely Ensuring Lives Future Deployment and Research In Vehicle Evolution.) The Senate will need to pass its own bill before the legislative framework can become law.\n\nThis seems like a good time for Congress to step in, and the famously regulation-averse tech industry has actually welcomed the legislative clarification. Self-driving vehicles have been testing on public roads since 2010, when Google hit the streets near Mountain View, California. And in the absence of congressional oversight, states have stepped in to regulate them, creating a patchwork of at least 21 different state laws and guidelines with different purposes, definitions, and priorities. This is a serious pain for the growing self-driving industry, which aspires to build cars permitted on all public roads.\n\nThe industry wants the flexibility to experiment, and it says there\u2019s a lot at stake. This came up in every congressional floor speech on Wednesday: Nearly 40,000 people died on American roads in 2016, and the National Highway Traffic Administration says 94 percent of fatal crashes can be attributed to human error. Let\u2019s get rid of the human, and quick, goes the logic.\n\nBut the robocar industry also argues that it\u2019s way too early for Congress to demand strict, particular rules for the vehicles. Companies certainly aren\u2019t selling these vehicles to the public yet, and even the largest AV player, Google\u2019s self-driving spinoff Waymo, only has about 100 Chrysler Pacifica minivans on the road (though that number is growing). In other words: There aren\u2019t that many of these vehicles to regulate, and companies are still figuring out how they should work.\n\nLawmakers, for their part, hope the legislation strikes a balance between allowing tech and car companies to test whatever, wherever, and giving them enough leeway to try stuff out, collect some data, and determine the best way to operate vehicles without a driver.\n\n\u201cWe need to give Congress credit for being both strategic and specific,\u201d says Mark Rosekind, who headed up the National Traffic Safety Administration during the Obama administration and now oversees safety at the self-driving startup Zoox.\n\nSo what\u2019s in the bill? And what\u2019s next? Strap on your seatbelt, and say hello to the robot at the wheel:\n\nOne Reg to Rule Them All\n\nFirst, the legislation works out a way for the federal government\u2019s rules to trump state laws and rules. It officially gives the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration power to regulate vehicle design, construction, and performance\u2014the way it does with, well, normal cars. States still have authority over vehicle registration and licensing, but they\u2019ll have a harder time making demands about what goes on inside the car.\n\nNow that NHTSA officially has the power to regulate these things, the legislation gives it a set of deadlines. It has 24 months to come up with rules about what automakers need to submit to the agency to certify they're serious about safety. And it has a year to figure out what features of a self-driving car will need performance standards. How will you know that a car\u2019s sensor configuration\u2014the combination of lasers and cameras that help it \u201csee\u201d\u2014is safe? What about its cybersecurity fail-safes? Or the way it ensures there\u2019s a passenger in the car before taking off? Quoth NHTSA: TBD.\n\nPrivacy\n\nSecond, the legislation requires autonomous vehicle manufacturers be deliberate about the way they share their passengers\u2019 data. Think about how much a self-driving car company could know about you: where you work, where you live, where you drop your kid off each morning, that you used to go to the gym a lot but stopped about five months ago. Some companies would like to customize these self-driving things to your driving style or preferred nondriving activity. Maybe you like a cautious approach, or to watch a certain kind of show while rocketing toward work. Consumers will probably want that info protected.\n\nUnder this bill, these companies must have \u201cprivacy plans\u201d describing how they'll collect, use, and store data. They\u2019ll also have to lay out how customers will be informed about what\u2019s happening to their data and what they can do if they don\u2019t want it shared with anyone.\n\nExemptions\n\nFinally, the legislation makes it a lot easier for self-driving cars to hit the road. Today, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS, for those who are hip with it) govern how vehicles are designed. And because humans drive the vast majority of cars today, the standards are created with humans in mind. Steering wheels are necessary, as are brake pedals. But a car driven by a computer wouldn\u2019t have those features\u2014in fact, allowing humans to intervene by grabbing the wheel could be dangerous.\n\nToday NHTSA has the power to grant 2,500 FMVSS exemptions each year. This legislation will gradually up that number\u2014by a lot. In year one, the federal agency could grant up to 25,000 exemptions; by year two, 50,000; and by years three and four, 100,000. Meaning: More self-driving cars testing on public roads. It\u2019s about to get much more robot-y up in here.\n\nWhat\u2019s Next?\n\nWell, this is just the first half of this process. Now the Senate has to pass its own bill. Then both houses will work together to come up with compromise legislation that the president can sign. Perhaps easier said than done: A top Senate Democrat told Politico that \u201cthere are a number of differences\u201d between the Senate\u2019s draft and what the House just passed.\n\nAnd then the biggest job of all: NHTSA will need to implement the thing. If the bill passes in its current state, the Department of Transportation and the transportation secretary, Elaine Chao, will have to hit a bunch of deadlines: They have two years to come up with exactly what companies must do to get certified. They\u2019ll have 18 months to kick off the rule-making process for privacy. They have to issue those FMVSS exemptions. And they\u2019ll have to withstand pressure from a bunch of bickering car and tech companies to do it. It\u2019s a big job for a department that doesn\u2019t yet have a nominee for NHTSA administrator\u2014but the future's coming at it, fast.\n\n1UPDATE 6:46 PM ET 9/6/2017: This story has been updated to clarify the legislative process.", "output": "The United States's House of Representatives passed the Self Drive Act on 6 September, laying out the basic federal framework for regulating autonomous vehicles. The legislation gives\u00a0the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rather than states the right to regulate the design, construction and performance of autonomous vehicles. The bill also places limits on self-driving vehicle manufacturers' use of customers' data, requiring the companies to accept \"privacy plans\". Autonomous vehicles must also have anti-hacking software to prevent them being used in terrorist attacks. The Senate will need to pass its own bill before the framework can become law.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "House of Representatives passes the Self Drive Act \n Self-driving vehicles will need to be equipped with cybersecurity technology to prevent them from being used in terrorist attacks, according to legislation passed by the US House of Representatives on Wednesday.\n\nWith substantial bipartisan support in a voice vote, the House approved the so-called Self Drive Act, which seeks to speed the introduction of self-driving vehicles on US roads by streamlining the regulatory process.\n\nA new law does not appear to be imminent, however, as corresponding legislation is yet to be introduced in the Senate.\n\nRecent terror attacks in Charlottesville,, London, Nice and elsewhere have involved vehicles being driven into crowds.\n\nUnder the House bill, self-driving or autonomous vehicles would need to be equipped with defenses against hacking, \u201cunauthorized intrusions and false and spurious messages or vehicle control commands\u201d.\n\n\u201cI am pleased that proper cybersecurity protections are in place in this bill \u2026 to prevent and tackle potential hacks and/or terrorism,\u201d said Yvette Clarke, a Democrat from New York, in a floor speech.\n\nProponents of autonomous vehicles say they will reduce highway deaths, provide greater mobility for seniors and disabled people and cut fuel consumption.\n\nCritics point out that truck driving is one of the most common occupations in the US. According to a May report from Goldman Sachs Economics Research, an estimated 300,000 driving jobs could be lost each year to self-driving technology.\n\nThe House bill asserts federal regulatory authority over \u201chighly automated vehicles\u201d and limits state-by-state oversight. Preventing a patchwork of state regulations from cropping up before mass production of self-driving vehicles gets under way will help the market for the vehicles take hold, industry observers say.\n\nConsumer advocates have expressed concern about constraining the states.\n\n\u201cThe main concern is that it does away with the states\u2019 ability to have any safety standards in place,\u201d John Simpson, spokesman for the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, told the Mercury News. \u201cAll we\u2019ve gotten is some loose guidance.\u201d\n\nSafety on US highways under current rules is poor and deteriorating. Deaths in motor vehicle accidents in 2016 rose by 6% to 40,200, according to National Safety Council estimates.\n\nThe legislation also requires the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to \u201cidentify elements that may require performance standards\u201d including \u201chuman-machine interface, sensors, and actuators\u201d.\n\nThe conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute has criticized the bill, saying that the NHTSA is not equipped to write and enforce cybersecurity standards.", "output": "The United States's House of Representatives passed the Self Drive Act on 6 September, laying out the basic federal framework for regulating autonomous vehicles. The legislation gives\u00a0the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rather than states the right to regulate the design, construction and performance of autonomous vehicles. The bill also places limits on self-driving vehicle manufacturers' use of customers' data, requiring the companies to accept \"privacy plans\". Autonomous vehicles must also have anti-hacking software to prevent them being used in terrorist attacks. The Senate will need to pass its own bill before the framework can become law.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Licensed-via-acquisition? Taxify's ride hail under scrutiny in UK \n Uber rival Taxify is being investigated by Transport for London TfL says Taxify doesn't have a licence. Taxify agrees, but says it bought a company that does.\n\nUnlike other world cities, London is a pretty supportive place when it comes to transport innovation. Transport for London (TfL) has attempted to keep the peace as traditional taxi companies battle it out with private hire challengers like Uber, imposing new rules that ensure service levels remain high no matter what vehicle members of the public choose to ride in.\n\nEarlier this week, Uber's London division found itself in new company thanks to Taxify, a private hire firm that has already made waves across Europe. It promised lower fares and higher payments for drivers, but its arrival has been marred by controversy. City A.M reports that TfL is now \"urgently investigating\" Taxify because it isn't a \"licensed private hire operator\" and could be operating in London without the necessary clearance.\n\nAs it stands, Taxify doesn't have direct approval from TfL. However, it has navigated around the issue by purchasing City Drive Services, a private hire service that already operates in London and has its own licence until 2019. Taxify says it provides its \"app-based booking service\" to City Drive Services, which \"legally\" owns the contracts with drivers, according to Taxify CEO Markus Villig.\n\nTaxify's driver terms clearly state that City Drive Services trades under the Taxify name. They also state that the Taxify platform \"enables users to compare, select from and/or reserve vehicular transportation directly from and with a variety of participating suppliers.\"\n\nWired reports that union representatives aren't happy about the arrangement, either. In a letter to Transport for London and London's deputy mayor for transport, GMB secretary Steve Garelick said that Taxify's decision to acquire its way into London and not advise TfL of a change to licencing conditions appeared \"incompatible with the law\" and questioned whether the startup was \"fit and proper\" to hold a licence in the capital.\n\nTfL's investigation comes shortly after it reissued licences for Uber and Addison Lee to continue their operations. In the past, the authority has issued five year extensions but this time cut them to six months as it mulls over whether to increase licencing costs in order to cover the increasing amount of resources it needs to regulate private hire companies. That won't be good news for Daimler and US ride-hailing company Via, which are set to launch a city-wide shuttle service later this year.", "output": "Taxify, which has recently launched its app-based minicab service in London, is facing investigation from the city's transport authority. Transport for London (TfL) has not approved a licence for the company, which is competing with Uber across European cities. Instead, Taxify has acquired an existing licensed minicab company, which now trades under the Taxify brand. Union leaders have complained about the arrangement, which they say is in breach of the law. TfL recently renewed licences for Uber and Addison Lee to operate in the city, but reduced their terms from five years to just six months."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tunisian solar project aims to power millions of European homes \n An enormous solar park in the Sahara could soon be exporting electricity to Europe if Tunisia\u2019s government approves an energy company\u2019s request to build it.\n\n\n\nThe 4.5GW mega-project planned by TuNur would pipe electricity to Malta, Italy and France using submarine cables in the grandest energy export project since the abandoned Desertec initiative.\n\nKevin Sara, TuNur\u2019s chief executive said: \u201cIf European governments take the Paris accord seriously and want to meet the less than two degrees target for global warming, we need to start importing renewables.\u201d\n\n\u201c60% of Europe\u2019s primary energy is currently imported from Russia or the Middle East. Does the EU really want to be investing in infrastructure that lasts 50 years but which just enables more fossil fuel use?\u201d\n\nThe EU is already considering awarding priority status to an underwater cable linking Tunisia with Italy, and TuNur expects construction work on a \u20ac5bn plant to begin by 2019 in southwest Tunisia.\n\n\u201cWe would target delivering power to the European grid via Malta by 2021,\u201d Sara said. The following year, the first of two cables to Italy could be laid, with a French connection up and running by 2024, he added.\n\nThe resulting solar complex would sprawl over an area three times the size of Manhattan, harnessing the power of the Saharan sun with several towers up to 200m tall.\n\nHundreds of thousands of parabolic mirrors would reflect sunlight onto these towers, heating molten salts within them that would in turn broil water, generating enough steam to power turbines that could electrify 2m European homes.\n\nMap of the planned TuNur solar project. Photograph: Handout TuNur\n\nUp to 20,000 jobs could be created by the private sector initiative, which unites the London-based solar developer Nur Energie with Tunisian and Maltese developers.\n\nBut Chafik Ben Rouine, a spokesman for the Tunisian Economic Observatory, questioned whether the mega-project\u2019s gold would match its glitter.\n\n\u201cOur biggest concern is with TuNur\u2019s credibility as their website says they only have experience with two small solar projects,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have big concerns about their capacity to deliver this project and their financial ability to leverage it.\u201d\n\nFour years ago, the \u20ac400bn Desertec initiative imploded, leaving dreams of a Saharan power battery for Europe in the dust \u2013 and a lasting regional wariness.\n\n\u201cIt seems that a familiar \u2018colonial\u2019 scheme is being rolled out in front of our eyes,\u201d said Hamza Hamouchene, War on Want\u2019s North Africa and West Asia officer.\n\n\u201cProjects like TuNur deny local people control and access to their land, rob them of resources and concentrate the value created in the hands of domestic and foreign predatory elites and private companies.\u201d\n\nTuNur says that it agreed to lease the project\u2019s land from a local tribe which remains \u201cextremely positive\u201d about the project.\n\nWater usage will be restricted to wastewater from a local date tree plantation that would not otherwise be recycled, Sara said. The company also remains willing to supply electricity within Tunisia, which is itself facing power shortages.", "output": "A huge new solar energy park in the Sahara Desert could provide electricity to mainland Europe by 2022 if it is given approval by the Tunisian government. The project is being proposed by TuNur, a company owned jointly by UK-based solar power developer Nur Energie and investors in Tunisia and Malta. It would generate 4.5 GW of electricity from a solar thermal plant three times the size of Manhattan and channel the electricity via undersea cables to Malta, Italy and France. TuNur expects construction work to begin on the \u20ac5bn ($6bn) project in 2019, which will create around 20,000 jobs."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "My physician isn\u2019t in my Medicare Advantage network. What can I do? \n Editor\u2019s Note: Journalist Philip Moeller is here to provide the answers you need on aging and retirement. His weekly column, \u201cAsk Phil,\u201d aims to help older Americans and their families by answering their health care and financial questions. Phil is the author of the new book, \u201cGet What\u2019s Yours for Medicare,\u201d and co-author of \u201cGet What\u2019s Yours: The Revised Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security.\u201d Send your questions to Phil.\n\nKaren: I recently enrolled in a Medicare Advantage (MA) plan, partly because a physician that is part of a university-affiliated practice was listed in the network directory. I was a patient of a doctor in the university practice who is not in the network, but I wished to stay in the university practice for continuity of care. The day my coverage began, I attempted to make an appointment with the physician, but was told by the insurance billing office that none of the physicians in their office is in the network! I spoke with a customer service representative from the MA plan and explained the inaccurate, discrepant information in its online directory. When I inquired about disenrolling, I was told I would have to write a letter with my reasons and, further, that if I switched coverage to another plan, I would have to pay a penalty for a lapse in my Part D drug coverage.\n\nI do not trust the information I am receiving. Is this information accurate? How do I avoid penalties? How do I avoid a lapse in coverage? I don\u2019t want to pay out-of-network charges to continue seeing a physician in the university practice. Is this grounds for changing to another MA plan? It seems unfair that when you enroll in an MA plan you can face a penalty or even lack of any insurance due to the plan\u2019s mistakes.\n\nREAD MORE: How do I get the Medicare coverage I want with the lowest out-of-pocket cost?\n\nPhil Moeller: Karen\u2019s letter describes the kind of problem that has given MA plans a bad public image. The plans are increasingly popular, and now serve a third of all Medicare enrollees. They often provide more complete coverage than basic Medicare and usually cost less than having basic Medicare, a stand-alone Part D drug plan, and a Medigap supplemental plan.\n\nThe accuracy of provider directories has been a problem for some Medicare Advantage plans. They have been criticized for this problem and are taking steps to improve the directories.\n\nA goodly amount of their cost savings stems from their requirement that plan members use doctors and hospitals in their provider networks. Here, the accuracy of provider directories has been a problem for some Medicare Advantage plans. They have been criticized for this problem and are taking steps to improve the completeness and accuracy of the directories. Unfortunately, it\u2019s very hard if not impossible for consumers to know ahead of time which plan networks are likely to be inaccurate. For that reason, I urge people to call their preferred health care providers ahead of time, and ask them if they are in a plan\u2019s network.\n\nAs to your exposure to late-enrollment penalties, I don\u2019t have enough information from you about the timing of your application for the MA plan to be able to comment with certainty on whether the MA plan was justified in what it told you.\n\nIf your enrollment in Medicare was the result of you turning 65, your initial enrollment period should have been seven months, including the three months before your birthday, your birthday month, and three months after your birthday. If your enrollment was the result of leaving a job after you had turned 65, you should qualify for a special enrollment period lasting eight months after the end date of your employer health coverage.\n\nI mention this because your window for getting a Part D drug plan might still not have closed, meaning you would not face late-enrollment penalties if you could get a new Part D plan before your enrollment period ended. Part D penalties begin kicking in once your enrollment windows are closed and you\u2019ve gone 63 days without Part D coverage. So, even if your enrollment window has closed, disenrolling from your current Part D plan might not trigger a late-enrollment penalty if you can obtain new coverage within 63 days of disenrolling. Of course, I don\u2019t know if any of this is relevant to your situation.\n\nThis still leaves you with the broader issue of how to hold the plan accountable for misrepresenting the information in its provider directory. In the pro-consumer world I wished we all lived in, this would be a snap. In the real world, it is anything but that. Plans have a lot of leeway in avoiding accountability for these kinds of decisions. I\u2019ll get to possible remedies in a moment.\n\nIf seems to me that your first order of business is to find a better package of Medicare coverage. This would include finding a stand-alone Part D drug plan that will take effect quickly and thus allow you to avoid the late-enrollment penalty. The penalty, by the way, is only 1 percent a month tacked on to your Part D premium. So, it\u2019s not a lot of money. But it lasts the rest of your life and would be nice to avoid.\n\nI would also call Medicare (1-800-MEDICARE) and find out how quickly your basic Medicare coverage would kick in, and thus how soon you could see your preferred doctors and be covered. Get ready for some frustration here, as it can take a while for this coverage to take effect.\n\nIn the interim, you may face the unpleasant choice of either paying out-of-network rates or going without care.\n\nOnce you\u2019ve attended to these needs, you can explore remedies for your plan\u2019s mistakes. I work with several nonprofits that provide consumer Medicare advice, and might be able to work with you to redress the problems you\u2019ve encountered. The State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) is often the first place to go, although it is more focused on explaining how Medicare works than dealing with private insurance companies. The other two are the Medicare Rights Center and the Center for Medicare Advocacy.\n\nPlease let me know how things go. If you discover an effective way to deal with the errors in your plan\u2019s provider directory, I\u2019d like to share that knowledge with other readers.\n\nDeborah: I know that parents can get Social Security benefits for their children in certain situations. But what about grandparents? My husband and I are raising our grandson because his mother and father have abandoned him. He is 8 years old and has only seen his father maybe three times, and I think that was around 2012. He doesn\u2019t call or write him. His mother lives in the same town as us, a tiny town of about 300 people. But everyone else comes before her own son. Ultimately, we would like to adopt him but we don\u2019t have the money to do so right now.\n\nPhil Moeller: I am so sorry you and your grandson are having to go through this. If you can demonstrate that your grandson is living with you and that you are his primary caretaker and pay for his needs, he should qualify to file for benefits based on one of your earnings records, presumably that of the higher earner. In order for him to file, the person on whose earnings record he is claiming must already have filed for their own retirement benefit. I suggest you call Social Security and find out specific requirements to establish your eligibility for benefits for your grandson. You and your husband also should determine the best Social Security filing strategy \u2013 one that reflects your longer-term needs as well as those of your grandson. If you run into any obstacles, please let me know.\n\nBob \u2013 Ga.: I\u2019m unclear on the dental work that Medicare covers. We are retired and have traditional Medicare and a letter F Medigap policy. We have believed that we could easily pay out of pocket for what we consider routine dental work such as regular cleanings and fillings, so we did not get dental insurance when we retired. Recently my dentist became concerned about a precancerous spot on my tongue. Suppose I need surgery to remove a benign growth on my tongue or for oral cancer? Would that be covered by Medicare? I know the work must be done by someone who accepts Medicare. But does it matter whether a dentist or physician performs the surgery? Or where the surgery is done? In general, what diseases of or injuries to the mouth/teeth/jaw area would not be covered?\n\nPhil Moeller: You are correct that Medicare does not cover routine dental care. Further, while Medicare generally does cover medically necessary care, this is not always the case with dental work. So, I would urge you to work carefully with your health care providers to get prior approval for any indicated procedures before proceeding.\n\nI wish I could give you a nice and neat list of what \u201cdental\u201d diseases or injuries Medicare does not cover, but its explanation of what is covered is hardly a model of clarity.\n\nI wish I could give you a nice and neat list of what \u201cdental\u201d diseases or injuries Medicare does not cover, but its explanation of what is covered is hardly a model of clarity. The agency does have an online form to ask if a procedure is covered. I did not find it useful but perhaps you will have better luck.\n\nIt should not make a difference whether a procedure is done by a DDS or MD, but, as you note, you need to make sure the surgeon accepts Medicare rates for his or her work. You also should make sure the facility where the procedure is performed accepts Medicare, and that any doctors assisting your own do as well.\n\nIf Medicare does cover a procedure, your Medigap plan should operate normally, paying for covered expenses that weren\u2019t fully paid by your basic Medicare.\n\nMichael \u2013 Calif.: I\u2019m retired military and married. We currently have Tricare Prime, and will not turn 65 until 2019. When we do, will we need to apply for Medicare and pay for both Tricare Prime and Medicare? Also, will my wife qualify for free Part A benefits under my Social Security number? The last thing, do we both have to pay for Medicare Part B, or is it a family thing? We are just starting to plan ahead, and don\u2019t understand Medicare.\n\nPhil Moeller: When you turn 65, your Tricare Prime will convert to Tricare for Life, which requires you to get Part B of Medicare. The good news for you is that Tricare does a better job than Medicare of explaining how it works! The bad news is that Part B premiums are $134 a month, and there is no Medicare family plan, so each of you will have to pay. If your wife does not qualify on her own work record for premium-free Part A, she does qualify on yours.\n\nREAD MORE: Social Security says I owe money for Medicare coverage I didn\u2019t get. How do I appeal?\n\nLastly, even if your wife does not qualify for her own Social Security benefits, she can file for a spousal benefit on your record. She can collect up to half of the benefit you would have been entitled to at your full retirement age, even though you filed for retirement earlier than this and received what\u2019s called a reduced benefit. She will get her maximum spousal benefit if she waits until 66 to file for it, which will be her full retirement age.", "output": "I recently enrolled in a Medicare Advantage (MA) plan, partly because a physician that is part of a university-affiliated practice was listed in the network directory. I was a patient of a doctor in the university practice who is not in the network, but I wished to stay in the university practice for continuity of care.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Private payments for hospital care in Indiana are high relative to Medicare, study finds \n The prices that large employers pay for hospital care in Indiana are high relative to national norms and are increasing over time relative to the prices that Medicare pays for the same services, according to a new RAND Corporation study.\n\nThe price of hospital care varied widely among groups of hospitals and hospital systems, ranging from less than two times the rate Medicare pays for the same services to more than 3.5 times what Medicare pays, according to the analysis. The state's largest hospital systems generally command the highest prices.\n\nThe study found the prices paid for hospital outpatient care in Indiana averaged 3.5 times what Medicare would have paid for the same services. Although there are no studies that benchmark the cost of such care nationally, other research has suggested that Indiana has high outpatient hospital costs.\n\n\"The prices that employer-sponsored health plans pay for hospital services in Indiana are unreasonably high, especially for outpatient services,\" said Chapin White, the study's author and a senior policy researcher at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. \"With this information, employers can develop strategies over the next several years to gradually rein in the high prices they pay for hospital services.\"\n\nWhile previous studies have examined the relative cost of hospital care, the RAND study is the first to include details about the prices paid to individual hospitals and health systems rather than reporting results in an aggregated or blinded fashion.\n\nRAND was asked by the Employers' Forum of Indiana to analyze insurance claims data to provide insight into the prices employers pay to hospitals. The goal was to provide information to help employers become better-informed purchasers of health care and stronger advocates on behalf of their employees.\n\nDespite spending more than half a billion dollars on hospital care over a three-year period, the employers that participated in the study previously had only limited information about the prices they pay hospitals for their workers' health care, limiting their ability to negotiate lower prices.\n\nThe RAND study calculated the average prices paid for hospital services in Indiana by analyzing insurance claims data provided by a group of employers that chose to participate in the study. Participating employers provide coverage to 225,000 people, representing about 7 percent of the Indiana population with employer-sponsored health coverage. The study is based on claims for services provided from July 2013 through June 2016.\n\nThe study includes details about the payments to hospitals and hospital systems relative to the payments made by Medicare for the same services. Parkview Health system had the highest prices at 3.7 times the rate paid by Medicare, with Deaconess Health System at the low end with prices at 1.2 times the Medicare rate.\n\nThe overall average price for inpatient hospital care in Indiana was 2.17 times the Medicare rate. A recent study using national data on payments for inpatient hospital care found the average price paid by private plans was 1.75 times the Medicare rate.\n\nThe RAND study found that the relative price of hospital care in Indiana rose over the three-year study period, with particularly steep increases for two hospital systems\u2014Parkview Health and Community Health Network.\n\n\"By itself, increased price transparency will not bring down prices, but it can enable employers and other purchasers to change their health benefit design in ways that reduce costs,\" White said.\n\nThe report suggests two approaches that employers in Indiana can take to reduce the amount they pay for services at the state's hospitals.\n\nOne would be to move away from agreements where employers pay a discount of the charges billed by hospitals. Paying hospitals discounted charges encourages hospitals to aggressively inflate charges, according to the report. A better approach is to contract with hospitals to pay a prospectively determined amount for each procedure, which could be accomplished by paying a fixed multiple of the prices set by Medicare.\n\nA second approach might be to use benefit design to move patients away from high-priced hospitals and health systems to lower-priced providers.\n\n\"Employers play a key role in the U.S. health care system, but to be smart shoppers they need solid information on the care they are buying and the prices they are paying,\" White said. \"Alternative payment models, like shared savings or bundling, get a lot of attention. But this study shows that we also need to focus on the basics, and do more to rationalize prices in existing fee-for-service payment systems.\"", "output": "The prices that large employers pay for hospital care in Indiana are high relative to national norms and are increasing over time relative to the prices that Medicare pays for the same services, according to a new RAND Corporation study.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vital Health Officials You\u2019ve Never Heard Of: Insurance Commissioners In The Hot Seat \n With insurance premiums rising and national efforts at health reform in turmoil, a group of 50 state bureaucrats whom many voters probably can\u2019t name have considerable power over consumers\u2019 health plans: state insurance commissioners.\n\nAs insurers threaten to exit state markets and voters at town halls complain about unaffordable prices, the state commissioners are central characters in the unfolding drama that is America\u2019s health coverage.\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s the worst job to have right now? Insurance commissioner,\u201d said Christopher Koller, a former commissioner from Rhode Island who is president of the Milbank Memorial Fund, a foundation that works to improve health. \u201cThey\u2019re trying to keep the market stable.\u201d\n\nMost are wrestling with how to take on this task amid ongoing political rancor over the fate of the Affordable Care Act. Several commissioners are slated to testify Wednesday before the Senate health committee to talk about market stability and how to ensure patients have affordable health care.\n\nThe political debate highlights the role of this crew of wonk-ish administrators who sometimes preside over underfunded, understaffed offices and whose range of duties usually spans well beyond health care and its myriad complexities.\n\nIn all but one state, the commissioner regulates all types of insurance, and in several he or she might hold other jobs \u2014 such as lieutenant governor (Ohio), state auditor (Montana) and fire marshal (Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia).\n\nMost commissioners have the authority to reject premiums or modify rates they deem excessive. They also have the power of their bully pulpit. Though California Commissioner Dave Jones, for example, lacks the statutory muscle to override insurers\u2019 rate increases, he often uses his position to publicly call out insurers\u2019 premium hikes.\n\nBut critics worry that in some states the position is a revolving door with industry, moving them to do less than they could.\n\n\u201cIt a double-edged sword,\u201d said Sabrina Corlette, research professor at Georgetown University\u2019s Health Policy Institute. \u201cKnowledge of industry \u2026 is very important in the job. [But] \u2026 if someone is coming from and going back to industry, it does raise some red flags about where their interests really lie.\u201d\n\nSometimes a past r\u00e9sum\u00e9 draws increased public scrutiny of a regulator\u2019s actions on issues under the department\u2019s purview.\n\nConnecticut Insurance Commissioner Katharine Wade, who was a Cigna executive before being named commissioner, was fined $500 in June after the state\u2019s Freedom of Information Commission ruled that she improperly withheld documents related to a proposed merger between Aetna and Humana. She is appealing the ruling, her office said, seeking clarity on what they see as a conflict between insurance laws, which require confidentiality for some information, and the freedom of information statutes. The proposed merger was called off in February after a federal court blocked the deal, but not before a state review of Connecticut-based Aetna\u2019s plan drew criticism because of Wade\u2019s past employment.\n\nEleven commissioners are elected and the remainder are appointed and \u2014 as such \u2014 face new political pressures in a highly partisan health care debate.\n\nWhen Julie Mix McPeak, commissioner of Tennessee\u2019s Department of Commerce and Insurance, persuaded Blue Shield to return to areas of the state that it had pulled out of last year, she recalled: \u201cSome critics said I was going out of my way to prop up Obamacare. Others said I wasn\u2019t doing enough because I\u2019m from a red state and that must mean we want Obamacare to fail. But I just want access to coverage.\u201d\n\nHistorically, insurance commissioners have stayed out of political battles, said Tim Jost, emeritus professor at the Washington and Lee University School of Law who also serves as a consumer advocate with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). They see \u201cthemselves as civil servants more than politicians,\u201d he said.\n\nBut, he added, \u201cat least for the moment, it\u2019s more politicized than it has been in the past.\u201d\n\nThe individual insurance market, where about 17 million people purchase their own plans because they don\u2019t get it through their jobs, is the focus for much of this drama.\n\nGOP repeal-and-replace talking points have hammered a message that the individual market \u2014 including these government exchanges \u2014 are imploding. But Democrats counter that though they face difficulties, this is not the case. The insurance commissioners are caught in the middle and have the power to make either narrative come true.\n\nMany had to scramble this summer \u2014 negotiating, offering incentives or just downright pleading \u2014 to get insurers to stay in their markets.\n\nAt one point, there were more than 40 counties nationwide with zero insurers for next year. As of Aug. 24, when insurer CareSource agreed to provide coverage in Ohio\u2019s Paulding County, no more of these so-called \u201cbare counties\u201d remained.\n\nMcPeak and other commissioners also say that cost issues need to be tackled, but there\u2019s no bandwidth to take on these thorny issues because they have to deal with the more immediate problems.\n\n\u201cWe can\u2019t get to affordability if I don\u2019t have a policy for people to buy,\u201d said McPeak. For next year, \u201cI\u2019m telling consumers there will be problems and they will see rate increases. But at least they have an option.\u201d\n\nThese efforts are made more complicated by President Donald Trump\u2019s repeated threats to eliminate subsidies used to lower deductibles for some ACA policyholders, which would raise premiums. Payments are currently being made on a month-to-month basis. It will likely be a topic during the upcoming Senate hearing.\n\n\u201cWe would all like to know what the rules are. When there is uncertainty, it\u2019s difficult to make short- or long-term decisions, said Al Redmer, who was appointed Maryland\u2019s insurance commissioner in 2015 by Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.\n\nAnd the subsidies aren\u2019t the only point of contention, with the partisan divide also reflected among some commissioners.\n\nTrump and Congress are causing uncertainty that is \u201csabotaging the progress we\u2019ve made,\u201d Washington state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler wrote in June. His state strongly embraced the ACA.\n\nKreidler, a Democrat who formerly was a member of Congress, was first elected commissioner in 2000.\n\nIn contrast, Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak, whose state opposed the ACA from the start, has made it no secret that he supports repeal of the law, calling it \u201cthis disastrous experiment.\u201d Doak, a Republican who was elected to the position in 2010 after working for various insurance companies, blamed ACA regulations for \u201cso many insurers dropping out of exchanges or resorting to double digit premium increases.\u201d\n\nCommissioners\u2019 regulatory powers vary by state, depending on the rules state legislators have put in place for them to enforce.\n\n\u201cSome states have comprehensive protections for consumers \u2026 while others have limited protection,\u201d said Claire McAndrew, director of campaign strategy at Families USA.\n\nBut if they are so motivated, consumers can always find means to take an activist role.\n\nPast commissioners, for instance, talk of using the regulatory process itself \u2014 pushing the boundaries in drafting the rules or using a \u201cslow walk\u201d toward their implementation \u2014 to work around these boundaries.\n\nEven so, they face other limits. For instance, staffing levels for their departments are down nearly 6 percent since 2008, according to the most recent NAIC statistics.\n\nThat\u2019s a big disadvantage when contrasted with the \u201cstrength of insurance industry lobby,\u201d said J. Robert Hunter, a former Texas commissioner and now director of insurance at the Consumer Federation of America.\n\nAnd some fail to counter industry influence in legislatures and even inside their own offices, he added.\n\nHe recalls that when he took up his post in Texas, he met with lawmakers in the Statehouse, some of whom were \u201cunabashed\u201d in their support of the insurance industry, warning \u201cwe\u2019ll hurt your budget\u201d if he went too hard on industry.\n\nHe didn\u2019t play ball.\n\n\u201cIf insurers are always happy, something is wrong,\u201d said Hunter. \u201cInsurance commissioners\u2019 jobs are to hold them to account.\u201d\n\nCorrection: This story was updated on Sept. 6 to correct the spelling of Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Katharine Wade. It also adds a description from her office of the dispute she is appealing. The interactive map was updated Sept. 6 to reflect the appointment of a new insurance commissioner in Pennsylvania.", "output": "With insurance premiums rising and national efforts at health reform in turmoil, a group of 50 state bureaucrats whom many voters probably can\u2019t name have considerable power over consumers\u2019 health plans: state insurance commissioners.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Work Toward Bipartisan Fix for Health Markets Begins in Senate \n WASHINGTON \u2014 The chairman of the Senate health committee said Wednesday that he hoped the panel would reach a consensus by the end of next week on a small, bipartisan bill to stabilize health insurance markets and prevent prices from skyrocketing next year under the Affordable Care Act.\n\n\u201cThe blame will be on every one of us, and deservedly so,\u201d if senators fail to reach agreement, said the chairman, Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee.\n\nMr. Alexander laid out elements of a possible compromise at a hearing on Wednesday: Republicans would agree to continued payment of subsidies to insurance companies to compensate them for reducing deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs for low-income people. Democrats would agree to give states freedom to relax some insurance requirements in the Affordable Care Act.\n\n\u201cTo get a result,\u201d Mr. Alexander said, \u201cDemocrats will have to agree to something \u2014 more flexibility for states \u2014 that some may be reluctant to support. And Republicans will have to agree to something, additional funding through the Affordable Care Act, that some may be reluctant to support. That is called a compromise.\u201d", "output": "The chairman of the Senate health committee said Wednesday that he hoped the panel would reach a consensus by the end of next week on a small, bipartisan bill to stabilize health insurance markets and prevent prices from skyrocketing next year under the Affordable Care Act.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "A decade later, older Americans are still going hungry \n Hunger does not respect age. A recent report comparing data from 2007 to 2015 finds 5.4 million people age 60 or older in the U.S., or 8.1 percent, are food insecure. Although this percentage went down from 2014 to 2015, it's still unacceptable, according to a University of Illinois economist.\n\n\"After six consecutive years of increased hunger in seniors since the Great Recession began, the slight drop in 2014 is good news, but not good enough,\" says Craig Gundersen, who coauthored the report. \"And it's important to remember that the decrease is in hunger on the national scale. Some individual states saw an increase.\"\n\nThe report identifies the top 10 states in terms of senior food insecurity rates. \"Seven of those 10 states are in the South, plus New Mexico, New York, and Indiana,\" Gundersen says. The report states that when seniors who experience marginal food security are included, the rates vary from 6.1 percent in North Dakota to 24.3 percent in Mississippi.\n\nGundersen says seniors who reported a disability were disproportionately affected, with 25 percent reporting food insecurity and an additional 13 percent reporting marginal food security.\n\n\"Food insecurity is known to adversely affect a person's health, and the implications can be particularly problematic for seniors,\" Gundersen says. \"Compared to food-secure seniors, food-insecure seniors consume fewer calories, vitamins, and other key nutrients. They are also more likely to experience negative health conditions, including depression, asthma, and chest pain.\"\n\nGundersen says the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as the Food Stamp Program) has been demonstrated to reduce food insecurity. He recommends that policymakers and program administrators pursue efforts to increase participation in SNAP, with a particular emphasis on older adults.", "output": "Hunger does not respect age. A recent report comparing data from 2007 to 2015 finds 5.4 million people age 60 or older in the U.S., or 8.1 percent, are food insecure. Although this percentage went down from 2014 to 2015, it's still unacceptable, according to a University of Illinois economist.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How robots could help bridge the elder-care gap \n Everett Rosenfeld | CNBC\n\nPersonal robots\n\nRound-the-clock care\n\nWhile some tasks remain out of reach of today's robots, such as inserting IVs or trimming toenails, mechanical caregivers can offer clear advantages over their human counterparts. The most obvious one is their capacity to work around the clock. Machines, unlike people, are available 24/7. When used in the home, they can support aging in place. Another plus: Relying on technology to meet day-to-day needs like mopping the floor can improve the quality of time elders spend with family and friends. Delegating mundane chores to robots also leaves more time for seniors to socialize with the people who care about them, and not just for them. And since using devices isn't the same as asking someone for help, relying on caregiving robots may lead seniors to perceive less lost autonomy than when they depend on human helpers.\n\nInteracting with robots\n\nThis brave new world of robot caregivers won't take shape unless we make them user-friendly and intuitive, and that means interaction styles matter. In my lab, we work on how robots can interact with people by talking with them. Fortunately, recent research by the Pew Research Center shows that older adults are embracing technology more and more, just like everyone else. Now that we are beginning to see robots that can competently perform some tasks, researchers like Jenay Beer, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering at the University of South Carolina, are trying to figure out which activities seniors need the most help with and what kinds of robots they might be most willing to use in the near term. To that end, researchers are asking questions like: Do robots need to understand and convey emotion to be accepted?\n\nHow can robots provide social support?\n\nIs it best when machines simulate eye contact with us?\n\nDoes it help if they can converse? But the fact is we don't need all the answers before robots begin to help elders age in place.\n\nLooking ahead", "output": "Despite innovations that make it easier for seniors to keep living on their own rather than moving into special facilities, most elderly people eventually need a hand with chores and other everyday activities.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Egyptian green energy projects boosted by $210m financing \n The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has announced as much as $210 million in debt financing in order to \"tap\" the renewable energy potential of Egypt.\n\nIn a statement on Tuesday, the Beijing headquartered AIIB said the project would comprise 11 solar power plants with an \"aggregate\" capacity of 490 megawatts and would help the country to meet its pledges under the Paris Climate Agreement.\n\n\"Investing in clean, renewable energy is a big part of our strategy to promote a sustainable and low-carbon future for Asia,\" D.J. Pandian, the AIIB's vice president and chief investment officer, said.\n\n\n\n\"We are supporting this project because it contributes to Egypt's renewable energy capacity, and it will help position the country as a regional energy hub, which will have economic benefits for the entire region,\" Pandian added.\n\nIn terms of its environmental benefits, the AIIB said the solar plants would help avoid over half a million tons of CO2 annually.\n\nWorldwide, the potential of solar is significant. The World Energy Council has said that solar energy has a \"big part to play\" in cutting future carbon emissions and \"ensuring a sustainable energy future.\"", "output": "Eleven solar power plants with a capacity of 490 MW are to be built in Egypt, following $210m\u00a0debt financing from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, based in Beijing.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Public Health Emergency Declared In San Diego County Over Hepatitis A Outbreak \n The Board of Supervisors Wednesday unanimously ratified a declaration of a public health emergency in San Diego County related to an outbreak of hepatitis A that has sickened nearly 400 people, 15 fatally.\n\nThe emergency was declared by the county's public health officer, Dr. Wilma Wooten, on Friday to gain further public awareness of the problem.\n\nIn a presentation to the supervisors, Wooten said about two-thirds of the cases have been among people who were homeless and/or illicit drug users. Laboratory testing traced the first cases to last November, and county health officials recognized the outbreak in March, she said.\n\nRELATED: Officials Fumbled With Permits, Pilot Project As Deadly Hepatitis Outbreak Surged\n\nSince then, around 19,000 hepatitis A vaccinations have been given, including more than 7,300 provided to people considered to be at-risk of contracting the disease, which attacks the liver, according to Wooten.\n\nVaccinations for hepatitis A are a two-shot regimen, separated by six months, so it will be a challenge to locate members of the at-risk groups to give them their second inoculations, she said.\n\nSupervisor Greg Cox said the outbreak is just a symptom of the much larger issue of homelessness, which has worsened considerably in San Diego County in the last few years.\n\n\"By taking this action today, we will hopefully be in a position to work with the city of San Diego and other 17 cities to make sure that they're taking the steps that they need to take, that we will be taking the steps we need to take in the unincorporated area, to try to make sure that we provide clean and sanitary facilities for people to wash their hands,\" Cox said.\n\n\"It just kind of re-emphasizes the fact that we need to do a better job as a region \u2014 and I include the county and all 18 cities \u2014 in dealing with the homelessness crisis that we have,\" Cox said.\n\nOver the weekend, the county installed 40 hand-washing stations around San Diego, including in downtown, Balboa Park and near the San Diego River. City officials are putting together a sanitation plan for streets and sidewalks in areas where the homeless congregate.\n\nRELATED: Number Of Hepatitis A Cases In San Diego County Continue To Rise\n\nSan Diego City Councilman David Alvarez urged the supervisors to help open public facilities, and especially restrooms, to the homeless.\n\nAlvarez, who plans to run for supervisor in 2020, criticized city officials for a lack of urgency on the hepatitis A matter.\n\nWooten said health officials were talking with counterparts in El Cajon and planned to meet with officials in other localities where a significant number of people have been sickened with the disease \u2014 Escondido, National City and Vista.\n\nAdditionally, information about sanitation procedures have been sent to food facilities, and fitness and recreation centers that have public pools. She said the disease spreads through contact with microscopic amounts of fecal matter and by sexual contact.\n\nThe county has also distributed 2,400 hygiene kits, she said.\n\nCounty health officials said the number of those sickened by the outbreak is likely to grow because the disease has a long incubation period. Another 44 cases \u2014 including an August death \u2014 are suspected of being hepatitis A, but haven't been confirmed by laboratory testing.", "output": "The Board of Supervisors\u00a0Wednesday unanimously ratified a declaration of a public health emergency in San Diego County related to an outbreak of\u00a0hepatitis A\u00a0that has sickened nearly 400 people, 15 fatally.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hacker group 'Dragonfly 2.0' penetrates US power companies \n A sophisticated hacker group has successfully penetrated dozens of utility companies responsible for supplying power in countries including the U.S., Turkey and Switzerland, a renowned cybersecurity firm warns in a new report.\n\nSymantec said Wednesday that a hacker group being called \u201cDragonfly 2.0\u201d has infiltrated power companies in the U.S. and abroad at an unprecedented scope and poses the risk of potentially sabotaging the Western energy sector.\n\nA hacker group known as Dragonfly began targeting the energy sector as early as 2011 but significantly scaled back its activities after being detected in 2014, according to Symantec. It remerged in late 2015, however, and has ramped-up its operations in 2016 and 2017 as evidenced by recently breaching dozens of targets using the same hacking tools deployed exclusively in the initial attacks, Symantec said.\n\n\u201cThis is the first time we\u2019ve seen this scale, this aggressiveness and this level of penetration in the U.S., for sure,\u201d Eric Chien, technical director of Symantec\u2019s Security Technology & Response Division, told BuzzFeed News.\n\n\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing is them getting into dozens, as far as we know, likely more, of organizations who are basically energy companies. We\u2019re talking about organizations who are supplying power to the power grid,\u201d Mr. Chien added.\n\nDragonfly 2.0 launched its latest wave of attacks in December 2015 by sending malicious emails disguised as an invitation to a New Year\u2019s Eve party to multiple energy sector targets, according to Symantec. The group conducted similar attacks in 2016 and 2017, the report said, and recipients who opened the malicious emails may have inadvertently allowed the hackers to glean sensitive network information useful in future attacks.\n\n\u201cThe original Dragonfly campaigns now appear to have been a more exploratory phase where the attackers were simply trying to gain access to the networks of targeted organizations. The Dragonfly 2.0 campaigns show how the attackers may be entering into a new phase, with recent campaigns potentially providing them with access to operational systems, access that could be used for more disruptive purposes in future,\u201d Symantec said in a blog post.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a difference between being a step away from conducting sabotage and actually being in a position to conduct sabotage \u2026 being able to flip the switch on power generation,\u201d Mr. Chien told Wired. \u201cWe\u2019re now talking about on-the-ground technical evidence this could happen in the U.S., and there\u2019s nothing left standing in the way except the motivation of some actor out in the world.\u201d\n\nThe U.S. Department of Homeland Security is aware of the attacks and said there\u2019s no indication at this time of any threat to public safety, BuzzFeed reported.\n\nSymantec declined to attribute Dragonfly to any specific nation-state but said the group is \u201cclearly an accomplished attack group \u2026 capable of compromising targeted organizations through a variety of methods.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is clear is that Dragonfly is a highly experienced threat actor, capable of compromising numerous organizations, stealing information and gaining access to key systems. What it plans to do with all this intelligence has yet to become clear, but its capabilities do extend to materially disrupting targeted organizations should it choose to do so,\u201d Symantec said.\n\n\u2022 Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.", "output": "Hacker group Dragonfly 2.0 has gained access to\u00a0the systems of several utility companies from the US, Switzerland and Turkey. The power companies have been hacked in a large-scale attack, in a first for the US sector. Security firm Symantec revealed it has also found evidence of sophisticated attacks in Europe and the US targeting national electricity grids and utility companies. There are concerns that Dragonfly 2.0 could potentially gain access and control over power stations.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google and Bertelsmann open 75,000 tech scholarships via Udacity \n How to choose a Pos system for your business?\n\nWhether you are starting a new business or expanding an existing one, choosing the right POS system can make all the difference. In the past, your POS system was a cash register and a credit card machine. Now, however, POS systems contain much more than basic transaction functionality.\n\nDetermine Your Needs\n\nHonestly, assess the size of your business and how large you plan to grow it over the next few years. If you own a small restaurant and never plan to open a second location, then you don\u2019t need multi-location support and you also likely do not need an inventory system that can handle 500,000 unique identifiers. If you are running a small restaurant, chances are, you would be just fine with a POS system that provides basic inventory functionality, timesheet integration, and a table map in addition to basic transaction functionality.\n\nThe reverse is also true; if you own a local chain of restaurants, then you will need multi-location support if you want to be able to manage all of your locations together, rather than running all of the sites separately.\n\nWhat Are The Main Differences Between Small and Large Business POS Systems?\n\nFirst, price is going to be a factor to consider. A POS system designed for a medium or large business is going to demand a premium that is often more than a small business owner can afford or is willing to pay. For larger companies, this cost is worth the extra functionality that these systems offer.\n\nPOS systems designed for small businesses are often robust enough to manage your daily needs, but they are also simple enough that you will not have to dedicate several hours a week to just maintaining your POS system. When you start getting into POS systems for medium and large scale businesses, the initial setup, as well as maintenance, complexity grows immensely. The main sectors for POS systems are Retail and Restaurant business.", "output": "Google is teaming up with German mass media firm Bertelsmann to fund 75,000 scholarships with online education platform, Udacity. Bertelsmann will fund 15,000 specialising in data science while Google will open 60,000 places on programmes aimed at Android and web development, following the success of a similar initiative last year. The scholarships are targeted at bridging the skills gap in Europe, and into Egypt and Israel, as demand for digital skills and IT expertise in continues to grow.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lyft to offer self-driving rides in San Francisco area \n If Uber's scandals, lawsuits, and federal investigations haven\u2019t already driven you into the backseat of its competition just yet, maybe this will: Lyft is launching a fleet of self-driving cars and select customers in the San Francisco Bay Area will be offered free rides in autonomous cars developed and operated by self-driving outfit Drive.ai. (With a human at the wheel for backup, per California law. And common sense.)\n\nLyft and Drive.ai haven\u2019t revealed certain key details about the pilot program\u2014like when it will start (\u201csoon\u201d), how long it will run, how riders will be selected, or how the time of day, weather, and location will determine when to deploy the AV\u2014but the new service provides an opportunity for Lyft to explore how it could fold this new way of moving into its existing service, and secure its place in the future of transportation. \u201cWe really want to understand, what are all the pieces that need to come into place?\u201d says Taggart Matthiesen, Lyft\u2019s product chief. For Drive.ai, a two-year-old self-driving startup, it's a chance to test out its tech and see how real customers interact with its product. \u201cWe\u2019re excited to utilize Lyft\u2019s network of customers,\u201d says Carol Reiley, Drive.ai\u2019s co-founder and president.\n\nTo start, the program will include about a dozen AVs (drawn from Drive.ai\u2019s mixed fleet of Lincoln MKZ and Audi A4 sedans), but that number will grow as the company starts spending the $50 million it recently raised in a Series B funding round led by VC firm New Enterprise Associates. Both companies will collect data from customers (mostly through in-app reviews) about their experience, in the hopes of making sure they\u2019re comfortable, or at least not terrified.\n\nDrive.ai isn't the first autonomous driving developer to start testing with real live customers. Uber started a pilot program in Pittsburgh last year, which it has since expanded to Tempe, Arizona. Google spinoff Waymo launched 100 self-driving Chrysler minivans in Phoenix in April. Nutonomy, a startup that spun out of MIT, is testing cars in Singapore, via a partnership with ride hailing company Grab. Last month, Cruise, a GM-owned company, launched a robo-taxi service in San Francisco for its own employees.\n\nDrive.ai also isn't the first autonomous driving developer to partner with Lyft. The company announced in January 2016 it would work with General Motors to develop self-driving cars. It also hooked up with Waymo and landed a $25 million investment, plus a fleet of cars for self-driving testing from Jaguar Land Rover. In June, the Uber rival partnered with Nutonomy. And in July, it revealed it is developing its own self-driving software and hardware.\n\nMissing out on the shift away from human drivers could easily cripple its future, so Lyft is likely wise to throw an egg into every basket it sees. \u201cWe don\u2019t think a single provider is going to win here,\u201d says Matthiesen. \u201cWe want to work with the best, and work their tech into our platform.\u201d\n\nAnd for San Franciscans tired of their Lyft drivers missing turns and chatting too much, that may be good enough.", "output": "Ride-hailing firm Lyft is partnering with self-driving start-up Drive.ai for a pilot programme to put a fleet of autonomous vehicles \u2013 including human back-up drivers at the wheel \u2013 on to the streets of San Francisco. Although no details about precisely when or exactly where the self-driving cars would take to the roads, it was confirmed customers using them would be offered free rides. The pilot will begin with about a dozen vehicles, before being scaled up, and both Lyft and Drive.ai would collect customer data via in-app reviews."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New York-based finance firms must now have cybersecurity policy \n New York State\u2019s \u201cfirst-in-the-nation\u201d cybersecurity regulation became effective on August 28, 2017.\n\nThe New York Department of Financial Services (\u201cDFS\u201d) cybersecurity regulation requires banks, insurance companies and other institutions regulated by the DFS (\u201ccovered entities\u201d) to implement a cybersecurity program to protect consumer data (see previous coverage). A covered entity is required to have (i) a written cybersecurity policy or policies approved by the entity\u2019s board of directors or a senior officer, (ii) a \u201cChief Information Security Officer\u201d in place to protect data and systems, and (iii) other relevant \u201ccontrols and plans\u201d intended to fortify the safety of the financial services industry.\n\nFirms also will be required to submit a Certification of Compliance annually that concerns the firm\u2019s cybersecurity compliance program. The first such Certificate must be submitted by February 15, 2018. The DFS now requires covered entities to submit notices of certain cybersecurity events to the DFS Superintendent within 72 hours of any occurrence. Covered entities will be able to report cybersecurity events through the DFS online cybersecurity portal. Institutions also will be able to use the portal to file notices of exemption.\n\nDFS Superintendent Maria Vullo commented on the program:", "output": "Banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions in New York state now have to comply with pioneering cybersecurity regulations, which took effect on 28 August. The laws, which are the first of their kind in the country, require firms covered by the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) to have a board-approved, written cybersecurity policy or policies and a chief information security officer in place. In addition, companies must submit an annual Certification of Compliance, with the first due in February 2018. The DFS also requires companies to submit details of cybersecurity events within 72 hours of them happening.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesco deducts \u00a33.4m from plastic bag charity funds \n Millions of pounds in administration costs were deducted from the charitable donations made by Tesco using funds generated from the plastic bag tax, government data has revealed. No other major supermarket made any such deductions, leading senior MPs to urge Tesco to follow their lead.\n\n\n\nThe 5p charge for plastic bags was introduced in England in October 2015 and has led to an 83% reduction in their use, equivalent to 9bn fewer bags. It is also credited with a drop by nearly half in plastic bags found littering beaches.\n\nThe government is clear that it expects shops to donate the proceeds of the 5p plastic bag tax to good causes. The latest official statistics, covering the year to March 2017, show that Tesco sold 637m carrier bags, raising \u00a331.9m in proceeds. But the supermarket giant deducted \u00a33.4m to cover the \u201ccost of administering donations\u201d, equivalent to more than 10% of the total.\n\nTesco topped the list of plastic bags sales but no other company in the top 10 made administration deductions, including Asda, Morrison, the Co-op, Marks and Spencer, Aldi, Iceland and Waitrose.\n\n\u201cThe legislation for the 5p plastic bag charge is clear that the money raised should go to good causes,\u201d said Mary Creagh MP, chair of the environmental audit committee. \u201cFive years after the horsemeat scandal and three years after a false accounting scandal, Tesco finds itself again in the spotlight for doing the wrong thing. They should drop this ridiculous charge immediately.\u201d\n\nNeil Parish MP, chair of the environment, food and rural affairs select committee, said: \u201cAs much money as possible from the plastic bag tax should be going to charitable causes. It would be great to see Tesco follow the lead of other retailers and not deduct admin costs. That would be a very positive step for Britain\u2019s biggest supermarket to take.\u201d\n\nA spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: \u201cThere is clear expectation to donate the proceeds of the plastic bag charge to good causes. We know that \u00a395m raised has been donated to good causes so far and by publishing the data on donations, along with the number of bags distributed, this has the added effect of encouraging retailers to donate to good causes.\u201d\n\nTesco\u2019s spokesman said: \u201cSince launching in 2015, our Bags of Help initiative has provided more than \u00a333m to over 6,400 local community projects. A small proportion of the money raised is used to run and administer the scheme in partnership with the charity Groundwork, who help distribute the money to good causes.\u201d\n\nCompanies can deduct a portion of the revenue to cover \u201creasonable costs\u201d of administering the donations. The spokesman said Tesco\u2019s administration costs included customer communications and the provision of voting tokens and booths which customers use to choose the charities that are supported. The spokesman said Tesco did not profit from money retained for administration.\n\nTesco stopped selling 5p \u201csingle-use\u201d plastic bags on 28 August, instead offering a \u201creusable\u201d 10p bag, which will be replaced free of charge if damaged. The company said the proceeds of the 10p bag sales would continue to fund community projects.\n\nAll employers with more than 250 staff are required to charge customers in England for disposable plastic bags. Legally, retailers can choose whether to donate their bag tax revenue to charity. The government data lists the revenue of some, including Poundstretcher (\u00a3250,000), as \u201cretained by company\u201d. Companies can deduct a portion of the revenue to cover \u201creasonable costs\u201d of administering the donations.\n\nEngland was the last nation in the UK to implement a plastic bag tax following Wales (2011), Northern Ireland (2013) and Scotland (2014), all of which subsequently saw big declines in bag use.", "output": "UK supermarket Tesco deducted \u00a33.4m ($4.5m) in administrative costs from the funds for charitable donations raised through the plastic bag tax introduced in England in 2015, according to government statistics. The deductions equate to over 10% of the \u00a331.9m raised from bag sales in the year to March 2017. No other supermarket in the top ten such companies made deductions. The tax has led to an 83% reduction in plastic bag use, equivalent to 9 billion fewer bags. Tesco ended the sale of 5p bags in August and is now offering only reusable 10p bags."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesco deducts \u00a33.4m from plastic bag charity funds \n These datasets provide the information submitted to government about single use carrier bag charging in England, including the number and proceeds of single-use plastic carrier bags issued/charged by retailers. It includes mandatory data on bags sold under the charge and voluntary data on submitted by retailers.", "output": "UK supermarket Tesco deducted \u00a33.4m ($4.5m) in administrative costs from the funds for charitable donations raised through the plastic bag tax introduced in England in 2015, according to government statistics. The deductions equate to over 10% of the \u00a331.9m raised from bag sales in the year to March 2017. No other supermarket in the top ten such companies made deductions. The tax has led to an 83% reduction in plastic bag use, equivalent to 9 billion fewer bags. Tesco ended the sale of 5p bags in August and is now offering only reusable 10p bags."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers develop catalyst to improve synthesis of amines \n Researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology have developed a new catalyst to improve the synthesis of primary amines (derivatives of ammonia).\n\nIt is claimed that in the future the newly developed ruthenium based catalyst could also impact the development of biofuels and bio-oils.\n\nPrimary amines are industrially important compounds which are used in the preparation of a wide range of dyes, detergents and medicines. Many attempts have been made to use platinum, nickel or palladium catalysts to improve the synthesis of amines, but few have been successful in reducing the formation of tertiary amines and other undesired by-products.\n\nIn a study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the team from Tokyo describe how they\u2019ve developed a \u2018highly selective\u2019 catalyst consisting of ruthenium nanoparticles supported on niobium pentoxide (Ru/Nb 2 O 5 ). The team have demonstrated that the catalyst is capable of producing primary amines from carbonyl compounds with ammonia (NH 3 ) and dihydrogen (H 2 ), with negligible formation of by-products.\n\nAfter discovering the ruthenium based catalyst consistently produces yields of over 90% when converting furfural to furfurylamine in a process known as reductive amination1, Michikazu Hara of Tokyo Tech's Laboratory for Materials and Structures and his team explored how effectively the catalyst could break down biomass in the form of glucose into 2,5-bis(aminomethyl)furan, a monomer for aramid production.", "output": "Researchers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology have made a major breakthrough in the large scale production of biofuels and bio-oils, according to a study in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. The researchers\u00a0used\u00a0a ruthenium-based catalyst to improve the synthesis of primary amines. The team found the ruthenium-based catalyst produced a yield of 93% from a glucose biomass, with virtually no by-products observed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Basketball highlights account wins 6.8m Instagram followers \n A week after the Cleveland Cavaliers traded Kyrie Irving to the Boston Celtics, the popular Instagram sports account House of Highlights posted an NBA clip featuring Irving and then-teammate LeBron James with the caption: \u201cWhen Kyrie got the first flagrant foul of his career defending LeBron.\u201d Irving\u2019s trade ended a tense summer during which the point guard had demanded a trade, reportedly due to a desire to not play with James anymore. And yet, shortly after the clip was published, James endorsed it himself.\n\nNaturally, people noticed. It\u2019s a testament to how popular House of Highlights, a professional and amateur sports highlights factory run by 22-year-old Omar Raja and owned by Turner\u2019s Bleacher Report, has become on Instagram. House of Highlights\u2019 6.8 million followers include big names such as James, fellow NBA superstars Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul, and even Drake \u2014 who probably wishes he played in the NBA.\n\nThose big-name followers, along with the views and engagement House of Highlights gets, are exciting, said Doug Bernstein, vp of social for Bleacher Report. \u201cLeBron, Westbrook, Chris Paul, people in hip-hop, they engage with this account, which is impactful,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s curated cool, a place where you can collect interesting and cool sports videos and put them in one spot. That\u2019s what\u2019s creating culture.\u201d\n\nHouse of Highlights aligns with Bleacher Report\u2019s push to become a lifestyle brand, as CEO Dave Finocchio said on the Digiday Podcast.\n\nHouse of Highlights netted more than 400 million views on Instagram in July, according to CrowdTangle, a social analytics tool owned by Instagram parent Facebook. In the past 12 months, House of Highlights has accrued 3.5 billion views, surpassing competitors such as the individual accounts for ESPN, Fox Sports and Bleacher Report.\n\nThe account got 500 million interactions in the past 12 months and gets an average of 225,000 engagements per post today, making it one of the top 40 most-engaged accounts on Instagram, according to CrowdTangle.\n\nBleacher Report acquired House of Highlights 18 months ago, but Raja still runs the account. He gets as many as 400 submissions daily from users showing off their latest trick shots and impressive athletic feats. Raja also has access to NBA, MLB, college basketball and college football clips that Bleacher Report \u2014 through Turner \u2014 has digital rights to.\n\n\u201cBleacher Report has a highlights team that\u2019s ready to cut clips whenever we see them during the games,\u201d Raja said. \u201cSo if I see something I like, I message the highlight room and ask them to cut a specific clip for me from the game. I do not have to clear with anything with Bleacher Report first. They let me be me.\u201d\n\nIf Raja wants to use a highlight clip that wasn\u2019t submitted directly to him by a user or one that Bleacher Report doesn\u2019t have the rights to, Bleacher Report seeks permission from the clip\u2019s owner before posting, Bernstein said.\n\nSome of House of Highlights\u2019 popularity can be tied to the fact that the NBA is huge on Instagram, something Bleacher Report and ESPN have cashed in on for well over a year. According to Bleacher Report, 60 percent of House of Highlights posts this year have been NBA-related, with these posts averaging roughly 150,000 more video views and 15,000 more engagements per post than NFL posts. (This could partially be because the volume of NBA-related posts far exceeds NFL-related posts on the account.)\n\n\u201cNBA players all have their own personal brands,\u201d said Raja. \u201cRussell Westbrook could have a normal dunk, but the videos perform well because they\u2019re active on Instagram.\u201d\n\nIn the past 12 months, Bleacher Report has also started to make money off House of Highlights, distributing sponsored videos by brands such as Netflix (for its football documentary \u201cLast Chance U\u201d) and Jordan Brand. Here, Raja decides which footage makes the most sense for the account.\n\nEditorially, House of Highlights remains distinct from the Bleacher Report brand and tends to reflect Raja\u2019s own perspective and can be less polished, owing to its user-submitted content.\n\nThe accounts do share content, though. Bernstein estimated that 25 percent of House of Highlights clips make their way to the main Bleacher Report Instagram account, and House of Highlights shares roughly 5 to 10 percent of Bleacher Report posts.\n\nThe distinction between the two accounts has helped Bleacher Report reach a younger audience through House of Highlights. Fifty-two percent of House of Highlights\u2019 followers are 24 and under, compared to 43 percent for Bleacher Report\u2019s main Instagram account, according to Bleacher Report.\n\n\u201cAt Bleacher Report, we always want to be the upstart to ESPN, and I\u2019ve always worried about who the upstart to Bleacher Report would be, and to me, that was House of Highlights,\u201d Bernstein said. \u201cThat was the main impetus in acquiring the account.\u201d\n\nWe\u2019ll recognize the best multi-platform video campaigns at this year\u2019s Digiday Video Awards. Learn more about entering here.\n\nImage via A.RICARDO / Shutterstock.com", "output": "An Instagram account that shares US basketball highlights has become one of the most popular on the sharing platform, with 6.8 million followers. House of Highlights, which was acquired by Turner Sports' website Bleacher Report 18 months ago, has attracted 3.5 billion views in the past year, making it one of the top 40 most-engaged-with Instagram accounts, beating Fox News and Bleacher Report itself. It posts a combination of professional basketball highlights and footage submitted by users of their own trick shots. It enables Bleacher Report to reach a younger audience and now carries sponsored videos.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US studies offer empirical support for personalised learning \n Third grade students study on computers using online learning in the lab at Rocketship SI Se Puede, a charter, public elementary school, on February 18, 2014 in San Jose, California. Melanie Stetson Freeman/The Christian Science Monitor via Getty Images\n\nFormer Microsoft CEO Bill Gates has said repeatedly that one of his favorite ways of teaching kids is by letting them guide their own education, typically with laptops or tablets, and moving the teacher more into the role of coach.\n\nThe style is known as \"personalized learning,\" and a study involving 36,000 students just upheld it as a major driver of improvement in reading and math skills.\n\nSince personalized learning has had scant formal evidence showing its success as a teaching method, the new study also adds some empirical support that Gates and many other techies have been on the right track in their endorsements.\n\nConducted by the education consulting company Education Elements, the study spanned five districts across the US for 2-3 years, tracking how students performed on the NWEA MAP test. On average, personalized learning led to 130% growth in reading and 122% growth in math.\n\nCertain districts saw outsized improvement from the new method. In Alabama's Piedmont City School District, for instance, 72% of students in grades 3-8 hit their target scores on the ACT Aspire standardized test compared to 28% in the 2014-2015 school year.\n\nPersonalized learning has won favor with Silicon Valley types because it blends traditional education with cutting-edge technology. Schools often use both hardware and software to help kids learn at their own pace and in the style they prefer most.\n\nThere's the literacy app Newsela, which is in 75% of US schools and helps kids build reading skills by automatically adjusting the difficulty of the language on each kid's tablet, depending on their reading level. There's also DreamBox, the math education tool backed by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings that performs a similar function for multiplication and division and is used by 2 million kids nationwide.\n\nBoth have research behind them suggesting that kids make noticeable gains in proficiency when they don't feel rushed to keep up with their peers.\n\nKids who use Newsela for four months jump up to 12 percentile points on in-app reading quizzes, regardless of the student's initial ability. DreamBox, in use by 2 million kids, helps kids make bigger improvements in math the longer they use it, a 2016 Harvard study found.\n\nPersonalized learning more generally has seen early validation from researchers.\n\nOne study from the RAND Corporation found that among 62 schools using personalized learning, the majority of kids scored higher in math and reading comprehension compared to kids with teachers who stood at the head of the class and lectured to students all at once. Many who were below-average scorers ended up above-average.\n\nThe study offered evidence that teachers seem to be adjusting to the new style, too, as 70% of teachers said they were more effective having adopted the method. And district leaders seemed to be noticing: 92% of them said teachers were more effective in helping students grasp new material.\n\nBut most importantly, the study found personalized learning helped students: 90% of district leaders said students were more engaged with their education.", "output": "A study of 62 US schools by Rand Corporation showed personalised learning improved most students\u2019 maths and reading levels, and 90% of district leaders said it helped with engagement. On average, personalised learning contributed to growth of 130% and 122% in reading and maths respectively in the NWEA MAP test performance, according to separate study by Education Elements, which involved five US districts and 36,000 students over 2-3 years. Alabama\u2019s Piedmont City School District stood out, with 72% of grade 3-8 students achieving target scores on a standardised test, compared to 28% the previous academic year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GSK and Propeller collaborate further to help\u00a0asthma sufferers \n Propeller Health, which provides a digital solution for respiratory medicine, and pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) are expanding their collaboration, which started in 2015, to prepare for and undertake commercial activities using the Propeller clip-on sensor and software platform for use with GSK\u2019s ELLIPTA Inhaler. Said sensor automatically records medication use, which the Propeller platform analyzes and presents to patients and physicians through its data-driven digital interfaces, providing an in-depth view into adherence.\n\nThe two companies will continue ongoing R&D efforts to collect evidence from the Propeller clip-on sensor and software platform used in conjunction with GSK\u2019s respiratory medicines for asthma and COPD.\n\n\u201cWe are excited to be working closely with GSK to make the sensor for the ELLIPTA inhaler available in our commercial programs, and for the first time, as part of commercial pilots with GSK outside the US,\u201d David Van Sickle, CEO and co-founder of Propeller, said in a statement. \u201cCompanion digital experiences simplify and personalize the management of chronic respiratory disease, and help ensure individuals and their physicians realize the benefits of inhaled medicines.\u201d\n\nThe Propeller platform has been used by patients and physicians in over 55 commercial programs across the United States, including major healthcare systems, payers, employers and other commercial partners. It is compatible with the majority of commonly used asthma and COPD inhaler devices including controller and reliever metered dose inhalers (MDIs), and other inhaler devices \u2014 including dry powder inhalers (DPIs) and soft mist inhalers (SMIs).\n\nThis latest announcement comes on the heels of recent successful CE marking and US FDA 510(k) class II clearance of the Propeller sensor and software program for the ELLIPTA Inhaler, in late 2016.", "output": "Propeller Health, which makes sensors and digital software for monitoring respiratory illnesses, will deepen its partnership with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Through the partnership, Propeller will make its sensor for GSK's Ellipta inhaler commercially available. Additionally, the companies will develop commercial pilots outside the US for the first time. Propeller has already launched more than 55 commercial programmes with major healthcare systems, payers, employers, and other commercial providers across the US. Propeller's sensor records medication use for illnesses such as asthma and COPD, helping doctors to monitor adherence to drug regimes."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cara raises $2m for digestive health 'poop-tech' app \n Cara, a Berlin-based digital health startup has raised $2 million in seed funding led by Atlantic Labs along with a group of undisclosed angel investors. Known as \u201cpoop-tech\u201d, the company has launched the first precision medicine solution for digestive health.\n\nIn 2016, HiDoc Technologies launched the Cara app with the aim to help people with chronic digestive disorders. Today, more than 20% of the world\u2019s population suffer from the Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), reflux and food intolerances. What most of these people have in common, is that they receive conventional one-size-fits-all treatments which only work in some cases or might be ineffective.\n\nSometimes they cause unnecessary side effects. This leads to frustration among patients who are already in a crisis. One-size-fits-all solutions fail because everyone responds differently to the treatments, due to differences in the individual gut microbial fingerprint, lifestyle and environmental factors. Hence, precision medicine is needed to make treatment more effective, reduce side effects and non-responder rates. Last but not least, it will also save costs.\n\nThe team of medical doctors and data scientists at Cara talked to hundreds of patients to figure out the best solution. Together with experts in the field of gastroenterology, some of which have joined the scientific advisory board, they started to understand what is missing in the current system. They launched the food and symptom diary Cara, an app that allows people to track their nutrition, symptoms and other factors like medication and activity. It also provides analysis and actionable insights which empower the user to understand their own body and regain control including a Cara probiotics solution.\n\nBy using the Cara App, the Cara algorithms know how your symptoms evolve and can adjust the probiotic formula. After knowing where the journey should go, Cara will see how an individual\u2019s microbiome is adjusting with every bottle of Cara Biotics. Using symptoms and all other factors tracked in the Cara App, Cara can make an up to date personalized estimate if your microbiome is evolving in a healthy direction.\n\nIn June 2017, Cara was featured on the App Store in Canada, UK, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway in \u2018Hot this week\u2019 and \u2018New apps we love\u2019. Currently, Cara is featured on the App Store homepage in the US, Canada and the Netherlands.\n\nDuring the last few months, the team have been preparing to bring Cara to the next level. Cara will match the right digestive remedies to the right patient by combining microbiome insights with AI and treatment response data.\n\n\u201cPoop tech is the next big thing. Digestive issues are still a taboo topic but we are now making them visible to the public. Digestive diseases are widespread. There are so many people out there suffering from bloating, diarrhea, constipation or stomach pain on a daily basis,\u201d said Jesaja Brinkmann, medical cofounder at Cara in a statement. \u201cUnfortunately, many health practitioners are not up to date with the state-of-the-art treatment options. Also, conventional treatments don\u2019t work for everyone. None of our competitors combine the patient\u2019s individual microbial, lifestyle, environmental and treatment response data as well as predictive treatment outcome algorithms which are needed to learn and offer individualized and appropriate digestive remedies for microbiome optimization and symptom reduction\u201d added Brinkmann.", "output": "Digital health start-up Cara has raised $2m in seed funding in a round led by Atlantic Labs, with participation from undisclosed investors. The Berlin-based company, which launched its Cara app in 2016, aims to help people suffering from irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, reflux and food intolerances, ailments that affect 20% of the world's population. The app\u00a0tracks and treats symptoms by analysing factors such as nutrition, physical activity levels and medication use. The data is used to adjust users'\u00a0Cara Biotics remedy to suit their health needs.\u00a0\"'Poop tech' is the next big thing,\u201d said Jesaja Brinkmann, a medical co-founder of\u00a0Cara.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian publishers rely on data and innovation to fend off rivals \n Publishers are already facing stiff pressure from media giants Facebook and Google in India but they have data and innovative new ad formats to woo brands, say experts.\n\nFacebook recently hit the 2bn mark and India became it's largest market in Asia Pacific by share (32.6%) of users, according to an eMarketer report. According to Cisco, India\u2019s internet users on a whole will rise from 373 million in 2016 to 829 million in 2021 as a result of digital transformation, which will further empower these companies. Publishers quick enough to adapt to digital transformation will be able to attract audiences and brands. This is, however, in the shadow of the omnipresent duopoly, as an IPG Media brands report stated that Facebook and Google are impervious to any advertising recession.\n\nTherefore, to stay relevant, publishers are using technology to get better value for brands for the ads spent online. To find out how, The Drum spoke with Kabir Kochhar, managing partner and business head at The Glitch. He said: \u201cIn a mobile-first India, publishers must use two critical tools to gain a competitive edge - data and innovate ad units. Innovative ad units (such as those provided by companies such as m-canvas) help publishers garner branding budgets especially in a time where its tough competing on performance campaigns with the big boys.\n\nMeanwhile, proprietary datasets can be pooled to better define high value cohorts. Combining this with innovative ad units can allow publishers to increase revenues by segmenting their customer base to best match this high-impact inventory with high value audiences. This allows them to better define their sales strategy splitting direct sales vs. programmatic allocation, efficiently to maximise revenues.\"\n\nThe Drum earlier spoke with Times Internet's Gulshan Verma who said that advertising will follow India's shift to digital. However, despite massive digital penetration, print, press and TV have been the mainstay for marketers in India for many years. It is mainly because of the mass reach they offer and the tried and tested effectiveness.\n\nJohn Thankamony, head of programmatic at Mindshare India, said Indian publishers were using new strategies and technology, including the adoption of header bidding.\n\n\"On the end user front, publishers have been working on content personalization to improve and customize user experience and using tools such as AMP to ensure faster page loads.\n\nOn the adtech front, many publishers are rolling out header bidding, allowing better price discovery across all their buyers, compared to earlier methods. Using their own audience data collection and segmentation practices has allowed publishers to price existing media in distinctive tiers based on the value of these audiences to advertisers. On the operational end of things, programmatic execution, which is picking up in India, allows for streamlined execution, allowing for more efficiencies.\u201d\n\nPublishers are further using data to enhance the value of their inventory online. In the past, they would price their inventory based on the content section in which the ad is situated, and that section, be it sports, lifestyle or news, would attract a certain demographic of users.\n\nJoe Nguyen, SVP of Asia Pacific at Comscore, said being more sophisticated allowed publishers to build up more valuable ad propositions.\n\n\"With technology, publishers can now link the user cookie to other data sources that can inform on other behavioural traits associated with that user cookie. Or they can enrich that ad unit with interest segments derived from the context of the article. These methods help publishers build more scalable, precise and valuable targets, and hence achieve higher cost per mile (CPMs) for their digital inventory. At the same time, advertisers are willing to pay higher CPMs to reach relevant audiences with more relevant messaging in a brand-safe context \u2013 to drive a stronger return on investment,\" he said.\n\nAdvertising expenditure in India is expected to grow at 10% to reach INR 61,204 crore in 2017 over 2016, according to a forecast by GroupM in its report 'This Year Next Year (TYNY)'. It further stated a steady 4.5% growth rate for print ad spends in 2017 which highlights its popularity among publishers.\n\nAccording to Joy Chakraborthy, president of revenue at TV18 & CEO Forbes India, programmatic ads in digital and diversification of solutions, along with targeted ads and content, will lift ad value.\n\nHe said: \"It\u2019s not just the advertisers who are giving it greater attention, but also media owners and publishers. We can safely say that more variety of advertisers will be testing or diving deeper into digital and all round technological advances are and will continue to be the backbone for this. So a continued engagement with technical advances is the way to move ahead together. In the India context, digital will continue to be used as complement TV and print media, as these continue to dominate.\u201d\n\nWhile India's publishers share the same concerns as publishers globally; creating better value for its inventory and fighting increased competition, the potential for growth is still sizeable as more Indians go online. The key will be how quickly publishers can adapt to the digital needs of brands and create value from the data it has on its sought-after audiences.", "output": "The number of internet users in India is set to hit 829 million in 2021, up from 373 million in 2016, according to Cisco, and insiders are warning publishers to be nimble in response to the digital revolution, lest they be edged out by Facebook and Google. Using a combination of innovative ad units and proprietary datasets to help target customers, publishers can more closely match inventory to audience. In addition, the increased use of programmatic ads will result in cost savings, with GroupM estimating total\u00a0ad spend in India will\u00a0grow by 10% to reach INR61,204 crore ($9.6bn) this year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NCI grants $3.8m to develop advanced cancer screening tool \n The National Cancer Institute has awarded a $3.8 million grant to researchers at the University of Utah Health, Intermountain Healthcare and the Huntsman Cancer Institute, enabling them to develop an advanced cancer screening tool.\n\nTheir creation will marry EHR technologies and clinical decision support (CDS) techniques to screen patients for breast cancer and colorectal cancer.\n\nThe tool will pinpoint those who are at high risk for these types of cancer. It will also offer individualized evidence so clinicians and patients can understand proper screening strategies.\n\nResearchers from the Salt Lake City-based organizations will rely on assistance from oncologists, primary care physicians and genetic counselors.\n\n\u201cThe goal of the CDS project is to enable a standards-based and scalable CDS platform for individualized cancer screening to be used across healthcare organizations,\u201d Guilherme Del Fiol and Kensaku Kawamoto, assistant professors of biomedical informatics at University of Utah Health, noted in a statement. \u201cTo achieve this goal, our team of researchers will extend and solidify two well-established open source CDS Web services based on rule logic and information retrieval.\u201d\n\nSuch a vendor agnostic solution seeks to address issues with extant screening techniques. For example, some EHRs don\u2019t have CDS capabilities, and other clinical decision support systems have closed architectures.\n\nScott Narus, Intermountain\u2019s medical informatics director and chief clinical systems architect, said the project will have a positive impact on oncology research.\n\n\u201cWith the collaboration between the University of Utah and Intermountain Healthcare, and the support of the National Cancer Institute, we have the potential to produce a CDS platform that has significant impact on individualizing cancer screening according to the best available evidence,\u201d he said. \u201cOur aim is to improve patient care and outcomes through evidence-based medicine.\u201d\n\nWith assistance from Intermountain, University of Utah Health will develop the tool and demonstrate its effectiveness. Then Intermountain will test it to prove it\u2019s transferable to another organization and EHR system.\n\nIntermountain is no stranger to the evidence-based oncology game. In 2013, it partnered with Syapse, a precision medicine software company, to launch Intermountain Precision Genomics.\n\nPhoto: mathisworks, Getty Images", "output": "The National Cancer Institute has granted $3.8m to researchers at the University of Utah Health, the Huntsman Cancer Institute and Intermountain Healthcare. The funds will allow the scientists to work on developing a cancer screening tool, which will combine clinical decision support techniques with EHR technologies. The tool will be able to effectively and consistently identify those at high risk of developing colorectal or breast cancer."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bayer provides $60,000 funding to four digital health start-ups \n The digital health start-ups selected for funding via Bayer's Grants4Apps Accelerator programme have been revealed.\n\nThe Grants4Apps programme has been running since 2014, making it one of pharma's most well-established digital health funds.\n\nThis year the scheme will foster four start-ups focused on medical adherence, endometriosis, atrial fibrillation, deep vein thrombosis, and ultrasound diagnostics by providing mentoring and 50,000 Euros in funding.\n\nThose selected include London-based firm aparito which combines wearable technology, an app and a dashboard for professionals to transform data capture during clinical trials.\n\nAparito\u2019s tech has been used in rare disease and oncological trials in the past.\n\nNew York-based Oratel Diagnostics has also been selected for its non-invasive test to detect endometriosis \u2013 a debilitating disease causing severe pelvic pain and infertility in girls and women of a reproductive age.\n\nIn most countries, endometriosis is commonly diagnosed using surgery which can take up to seven years for disease confirmation. Oratel\u2019s solution looks to cut the diagnostic time dramatically.\n\nSouth Korean firm Sky Labs has been selected for its device that diagnoses atrial fibrillation (AF) called CART (Cardio Tracker).\n\nAF is a chronic disease that affects one in four over-40s and, if left undetected, can lead to stroke.\n\nThe CART resembles a ring and is worn on the finger. Inbuilt sensors can track heart rate and identify any signs of abnormal activity with the use of software algorithms.\n\nSky Labs is currently working with Seoul National University Hospital to fine tune its algorithms using clinical data from 1000 atrial fibrillation cases.\n\nThe final startup to be selected is London company ThinkSono which uses software to diagnose deep vein thrombosis (DVT).\n\nAcross the EU and US, DVT-related issues cause around 800,000 deaths per year \u2013 more than breast cancer, prostate cancer, AIDS and car accidents combined.\n\nThinkSono\u2019s solution is a portable ultrasound scanner equipped with deep neural network technology that allows for diagnosis of DVT at the point of care.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_31319\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"302\"] Bayer's Reinhard Franzen[/caption]\n\n\u201cWe recognise the huge creative potential outside of Bayer and we believe that combining expertise is key to innovation and success,\u201d said Reinhard Franzen, head of Bayer Pharmaceuticals commercial operations Europe, Middle East and Africa. \u201cThe Grants4Apps Accelerator offers new partnership opportunities in the digital health area with its vibrant development in the past years. We are very excited to welcome the four new startups for 2017.\u201d", "output": "The four start-ups that will be receiving \u20ac50,000 ($60,000) in funding and mentoring via Bayer\u2019s Grants4Apps Accelerator programme have been revealed. They are New York-based Oratel Diagnostics, which has developed a non-invasive test to detect endometriosis; London firm Aparito,\u00a0which combines wearable technology, an app and a dashboard to improve\u00a0data capture during clinical trials; South Korean firm Sky Labs, which has developed a device that diagnoses atrial fibrillation;\u00a0and ThinkSono\u00a0from London, which uses software to diagnose deep vein thrombosis.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Jaguar Land Rover to add electric motor to every vehicle from 2020 \n Jaguar Land Rover has become the latest large carmaker to say it will stop launching new models solely powered by internal combustion engines, two months after Volvo pledged to do so.\n\nThe UK-based manufacturer promised that all new models from 2020 will be fully electric or hybrid, a year later than Volvo\u2019s target, but a big step beyond its unveiling last November of a single electric concept car.\n\nThe plan comes after the Scottish government said it would phase out the need for petrol and diesel cars by 2032, eight years earlier than the UK and French targets of banning sales of new cars with internal combustion engines.\n\nDr Ralf Speth, JLR\u2019s chief executive, said: \u201cEvery new Jaguar Land Rover model line will be electrified from 2020, giving our customers even more choice.\u201d\n\nBut Speth also warned of the unintended consequences of the electrification of cars and arrival of autonomous vehicles. The UK\u2019s 250,000-plus lorry drivers are at risk from driverless technology, with knock-on effects for the UK\u2019s social fabric, he said.\n\n\u201cIn the UK, there are currently more than a quarter of a million lorry drivers. What happens to our society if these lose their jobs? Who pays for them? What happens to the social fabric of the country?\u201d\n\nFurthermore, electric cars\u2019 impact on petrol and diesel demand could hurt oil-producing nations, Speth said. \u201cMany could be forced to impose substantial spending cuts within the next five years, straining living standards and so creating unrest in areas already suffering from instability,\u201d he added.\n\nProtecting privacy in an era of self-driving cars would also be vital, he said. \u201cThe very technology that could liberate us, autonomous vehicles, could become a method of insecurity and enslavement \u2026 Big freedoms could end up creating the big brother state.\u201d\n\nWhile Speth has said he sees battery-powered cars as a way to grow its global workforce of 40,000, the high emissions of the carmaker\u2019s petrol and diesel vehicles mean it has to go electric to meet stringent new European carbon targets.\n\nAverage CO2 emissions from JLR cars were 164g (5.8oz) per kilometre in 2015, well above the UK average of 121.4g. More importantly, they are a long way from the 95g target a manufacturer must hit by 2021.\n\nProf David Bailey, an automotive expert at Aston University, said the company had been slow to wake up to electric vehicles.\n\n\u201cJaguar are playing catchup \u2013 Tesla has stolen a chunk of their lunch, BMW are way ahead as well,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cThe premium end of things is moving more quickly [towards electrification] in part because electric car costs are higher at the moment because of battery costs, so they can absorb that. It\u2019s also because they are heavily dependent on diesel and the market is moving away from diesel.\u201d\n\nJLR, a subsidiary of the Indian conglomerate Tata, makes no electric cars but plans to begin building production versions of its battery-powered SUV next year.\n\nThe I-Pace will have a range of 310 miles (500km), putting it on a par with competition from US-based Tesla but ahead of cheaper options such as the new Nissan Leaf, unveiled on Wednesday.\n\nJLR has indicated that it would like to build an electric car plant in the UK, similar to Nissan\u2019s Sunderland facility, where the Leaf is built, but it has yet to make a concrete commitment. The Leaf is the UK\u2019s bestselling electric model, and this week Nissan revealed its new design and an extended, 235-mile range.\n\nSuch a move would be a significant boost to the British car industry and follows BMW, which in July pledged to build its electric Mini in Oxford. Jaguar sold more than 583,000 cars in 136 countries last year.\n\nIndustry watchers had spotted earlier this year that JLR had trademarked a series of car names that suggested an electric future, although the company will continue to build existing petrol and diesel models beyond 2020.\n\nSpeth told an audience in London that JLR could not pursue its electric ambitions alone, questioning whether the government was doing enough on infrastructure. \u201cWhere is the network of charging points that [electric cars] will require to function? Indeed, where is the power grid that will allow us to build them?\u201d he said.\n\n\n\nMinisters on Thursday announced the launch of a new industry-and-government-backed brand to develop driverless vehicles in the UK. The Meridian hub will coordinate research and development into the technology, paid for by carmakers and \u00a3100m in public funding.\n\nBMW, which has sold 8,000 electric cars in the UK, said on Thursday that it plans to have 25 electrified vehicles on sale by 2025, a dozen of which would be fully electric. The German carmaker boasted that the models would have a range of up to 435 miles, more than double the range of most current electric vehicles.\n\nGovernments keen to tackle air pollution and cut carbon emissions are driving electric car production, alongside falling battery prices.\n\nHowever, a report found that on average, 1.7% of carmakers\u2019 sales were electric vehicles, compared with their own target of 3.6%.\n\nThe Nissan Leaf, the UK\u2019s top-selling electric car. The new model launched this week has a range of 235 miles. Photograph: Okauchi/REX/Shutterstock\n\nThe state of electric cars\n\n\n\nHow many electric cars are there?\n\nWhile electric cars make up less than 1% of new car sales worldwide, there are now more than 2m on the road. Most of them \u2013 90% \u2013 are sold in China, the US and the EU, although some countries are racing ahead, such as Norway, where nearly a third of new cars sold are electric. The key thing is the rate of growth. In the UK, sales of fully electric cars are up 51% this year to date, compared with registrations in 2016.\n\nWhat is driving their growing popularity?\n\nGovernment policy, such as European targets for new cars\u2019 carbon emissions and Chinese subsidies for electric cars, as leaders attempt to solve urban air quality problems and tackle climate change. In November, the EU will discuss tough new carbon targets for 2025, with some campaigners calling for manufacturers to be set a target on the proportion of battery-powered cars they sell.\n\nThe other big reason is that the cost of car batteries has fallen fast. Costs dropped from $1,000 (\u00a3763) per kilowatt-hour of capacity in 2010 to around $300 last year, with some companies edging towards $150, according to Dutch bank ING. Finally, there is now real competition between carmakers trying to outdo one another \u2013 expect more rhetoric and pledges at the Frankfurt motor show next week.\n\nWhat\u2019s the state of the technology?\n\n\u201cThe technology is ready. The ranges are getting longer and new models are being put on the road,\u201d said Julia Hildermeier of campaigners Transport & Environment. The group counted 20 fully electric models on sale in Europe last year, rising to 48 if plug-in hybrids are included. However, there were more than 400 petrol and diesel models. The new generation of electric cars can also go further between charges \u2013 around 200 miles, or more than 300 in the case of premium models. Next up are lorries and freight. Later this month, the US-based Tesla is reportedly planning to announce an electric truck with a range of up to 300 miles.", "output": "UK-based car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has announced it is to end production of solely petrol and diesel vehicles from 2020, and will focus on hybrid and electric vehicles (EVs). The move follows the Scottish government's plans to eliminate petrol and diesel cars by 2032, eight years earlier than the UK and France. Dr Ralf Speth, CEO of JLR, warned of the unintended consequences of electrification on the trucking industry, the impact of EVs on the oil industry, and the need for privacy protection with the rise of self-driving cars."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US text message project aims to help Asian men\u00a0give up smoking \n Researchers at the Georgia State University School of Public Health have received more than $1 million to develop cellphone messaging programs to help smokers kick the habit in China and Vietnam, countries where smoking rates among men are among the highest in the world.\n\nThe five-year project, titled \"Cultural Adaptation and Evaluation of mHealth Interventions for Cessation in China and Vietnam,\" is funded by the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health.\n\nThe lead investigators of the project are Dr. Michael Eriksen, dean of the School of Public Health, and Dr. Jidong Huang, associate professor of health management and policy.\n\nSmoking is an overwhelmingly male habit in the two Asian nations. In Vietnam and China, more than 40 percent of men smoke, while only about 2 percent of women are smokers. By contrast, slightly more than 17 percent of U.S. men and 14 percent of U.S. women smoke, according to the latest edition of The Tobacco Atlas. Combined, China and Vietnam have more than 300 million smokers.\n\n\"This work provides us with an important opportunity to help millions of smokers in these countries to quit,\" said Eriksen. \"And millions of their family members, friends and co-workers stand to benefit from reduced exposure to the dangers of second-hand smoke.\"\n\nAccess to smoking cessation programs is limited in China and Vietnam. However, mobile phones and texting technologies are increasingly popular in the two countries and offer a cost-effective way to reach large numbers of people with so-called mHealth (mobile health) applications.\n\nIn the early phases of the project, researchers will conduct focus groups in Shanghai, China and Hanoi, Vietnam, to develop culturally appropriate and effective smoking cessation messaging. Researchers will test messaging that will be delivered in the Hanoi area via text message services, and in Shanghai via WeChat, a social media application popular in China.\n\nAlso working on the project are public health researchers Dr. Matt Hayat, associate professor of epidemiology & biostatistics, Dr. Claire Adams Spears, assistant professor of health promotion and behavior, and Pam Redmon, executive director of the China Tobacco Control Partnership housed at Georgia State.\n\n\"We have been working to change social norms of tobacco control in China for the past nine years through the China Tobacco Control Partnership, and this project allows us to build upon our previous mHealth cessation interventions in China,\" Redmon said. \"With this project, we will expand the collection of effective anti-smoking messages by including mindfulness concepts, use the innovative platform 'WeChat' to deliver messages in China and expand the cessation intervention to Vietnam.\"", "output": "A team of researchers at Georgia State University have\u00a0secured more than $1m in funding for a five-year programme aimed at encouraging China and Vietnam's 300 million smokers to quit. The initiative will use text messages and China's popular WeChat platform, which are more prevalent than anti-smoking programmes, to deliver culturally appropriate information and support. In China and Vietnam more than 40% of men smoke, compared with 17% of men in the US. The project will begin with researchers devising culturally\u00a0appropriate smoking cessation messages\u00a0to be delivered by text, with the help of focus groups in Hanoi and Shanghai.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Economist discovers messaging app matches Facebook's referral traffic \n Since starting to post to the popular Asian app Line in January 2016, The Economist has grown its following to nearly 1 million in several countries.\n\nAs with The Economist\u2019s approach to other social platforms, the goal of posting to Line was to build audiences in new markets and ultimately drive loyal readers to subscribe. Line wasn\u2019t meant to be a huge traffic driver for the publisher, but it\u2019s finding popular posts drive as much referral traffic to its site as Facebook does, where it has over 8 million followers.\n\n\u201cSome publishers are busy chasing traffic through Facebook and Twitter; it\u2019s not uncommon for these more niche platforms to become an afterthought,\u201d said Sunnie Huang, who recently became the publisher\u2019s newsletter editor after serving as social media writer. \u201cFor us, [Line is] so interesting because of the mix of readers; it\u2019s definitely been worth investing [in it].\u201d\n\nThe Economist\u2019s social media team of 10 people usually all contribute to posting to each social platform. But Line has a dedicated team of two or three people working on it because its audience is more global, and the content needs to be formatted for Line.\n\nWhile the amount of content The Economist posts to its homepage on Line remains the same \u2014 roughly six pieces a day, one every four hours so the global audience will always see something fresh \u2014 the breadth of content has expanded. It has started publishing links on Line from the digital edition and the magazine; now, the Line homepage reflects a more diverse range of content the publisher offers, such as pictures from its image desk, videos from Economist Films or lifestyle articles from its sister magazine 1843. More stories from the Asia section are posted to Line than other social platforms.\n\nThe Economist has increased the number of Line push notifications it sends from three a week to one a day, usually opting for stories related to Thailand or Indonesia, where Line has a big following. Stories about technology also perform particularly well. Some of these are behind the paywall, so they encourage readers to subscribe, but Huang said it was too soon to share how Line directly influences subscriptions.\n\nPush notifications direct users to a small card linked to the story. The cards are created from a template and can feature news photos, charts and illustrations, but the graphics require more design effort than posting links to the publisher\u2019s Line homepage. But the effort pays off, according to Huang, who wrote in a Medium post that these push notifications drive up to 10 times the referral traffic to its site than the homepage links. This works out to roughly the same amount of referral traffic as Facebook and Twitter, but Huang declined to share specific numbers.\n\n\u201cYou can\u2019t compare a push of a story about Thailand (where we have a large following) and a homepage story on something from the archive,\u201d she said. \u201cPush notifications are the most attractive feature for us on Line.\u201d\n\nElsewhere, the publisher uses push notifications in its own app, where it can segment the audience to tailor the pushes, something other publishers are finding useful. No such feature exists for The Economist on Line.\n\nWhile tapping into an Asian market to grow The Economist\u2019s reach was the goal, the platform is gaining ground in the States and the U.K., too, according to The Economist\u2019s readership. The publisher frequently sees the U.S., Canada and the U.K. in the top 10 countries driving Line referral traffic. Further down that list are Syria and Iran, new markets for The Economist.\n\n\u201cWe have found out where [Line followers] come from,\u201d said Huang. \u201cThe next step is to find out who they are and how they consume content differently.\u201d\n\nImage courtesy of The Economist via Facebook", "output": "London-based publication The Economist has revealed it receives as much referral traffic from popular Asian app Line as it does from Facebook, where it has more than 8 million followers, according to The Economist's newsletter editor, Sunnie Huang. She said although the amount of content posted to Line is the same, the content is more diverse, while push notifications send up to 10 times the referral traffic to its site on Line\u00a0than homepage links. Huang said it was too early to determine the impact of Line on subscriptions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ripple opens Indian office, targets remittance markets \n Ripple has opened a new office in Mumbai, India as the company looks to build its presence in the world\u2019s largest recipient country of remittances. Navin Gupta, who worked for two decades in transaction banking, product management and global strategy roles at HSBC and Citibank, has been appointed country manager got Ripple India.\n\n\u201cIndia is the largest recipient of corporate and retail remittance worldwide, totaling close to US$71 billion,\u201d Gupta said. \u201cThe businesses and Indian expatriates sending money into the country want their cross-border payments to be as fast and seamless as payments made within India\u2019s domestic digital payment network.\u201d\n\nHe said Ripple\u2019s instant and cost-effective blockchain-powered payments have the potential to be \u201ca transformative component of India\u2019s economy,\u201d and help bring payments services to the unbanked.\n\nBanking in India is in the midst of a major digital revolution. Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised in 2014 to end \u201cfinancial untouchability\u201d with a scheme to improve financial inclusion. Since this government program was implemented, almost 300 million households have opened formal bank accounts for the first time.\n\nThe Digital India program, launched by the government in 2015, intends to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy, notably by promoting cashless transactions and converting the country into a \u201cless-cash society.\u201d\n\nIn order to support the enormous increase in banking customers, accounts and transactions, the Indian economy has become ripe for growth in the fintech industry. Areas such as mobile banking, payments services, digital lending, point-of-sale, blockchain and cryptocurrencies, are all seen in \u201chyper-growth phase\u201d in the country, according to IBM.\n\nBrad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, said the new Mumbai office will allow the company to \u201crespond to the rapidly-growing demand for frictionless payments by our current customers Axis Bank and YES Bank, as well as other banks and non-banks across the country.\u201d\n\nIn addition to working with Ripple for real-time cross-border payments, YES Bank, one of India\u2019s largest private banks, is also using the Hyperledger Fabric in a blockchain-powered vendor financing solution.\n\nBesides the private sector, the Indian government too is exploring the use of blockchain in various areas, including land registries, government-recorded data security, and banking services. A research group founded by India\u2019s central bank is currently developing a model platform for blockchain technology, which it said will be suitable for different applications relevant to banking\n\nMeanwhile, in the cryptocurrency space, Bitcoin wallet provider Blockchain announced today a partnership with Bengaluru-based bitcoin exchange Unocoin to enter the Indian market by bringing its software platform through its new Indian partner.\n\nUnocoin has around 400,000 users and added 50,000 last month. It has partnered with 1,900 businesses and sees 500 transactions a day with an average value of Rs 30,000 (US$468).", "output": "San Francisco-based firm Ripple has opened a bureau in Mumbai, India, to be headed by Navin Gupta, formerly of HSBC and Citibank. Ripple offers frictionless payments to customers via Axis Bank and YES Bank. India receives around $71bn in corporate and retail remittances, and Gupta said the company's blockchain-powered payments have the potential to be \"a transformative component of India\u2019s economy\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Influencers pay up to $7,500 for fraudulent Instagram blue ticks \n \"I mean if Mashable wants to pay for it, I can get you a blue check over night,\" reads a recent Twitter direct message.\n\nThis is a guy who knows a guy, a middleman in the black market for Instagram verification, where anyone from a seasoned publicist to a 22-year-old digital marketer will offer to verify an account\u2014for a price. The fee is anywhere from a bottle of wine to $15,000, according to a dozen sources who have sold verification, bought verification for someone else, or directly know someone who has done one or the other.\n\n\"These guys pay all their bills from one to two blue checks a month,\" another message from the middleman added later.\n\nThe product for sale isn't a good or a service. It's a little blue check designated for public figures, celebrities, and brands on Instagram. It grants users a prime spot in search as well as access to special features.\n\nMore importantly, it's a status symbol. The blue emblem can help people gain legitimacy in the business of influencer marketing and bestows some credibility within Instagram's community of 700 million monthly active users. It cannot be requested online or purchased, according to Instagram's policies. It is Instagram's velvet rope.\n\nBut it's clear from people who spoke on the condition of anonymity, many of whom have their own blue checkmarks, that a black market for Instagram verification is alive and well.\n\nAnd it's an open secret in the influencer community.\n\n\"It all comes down to money and who you know,\" said one seller, who agreed to go by his first name, James. \"It\u2019s sad, but it\u2019s kind of how life is, you know?\u201d\n\nInstagram has helped create this underground market. While anyone can apply for verification on Facebook(opens in a new tab) and on Twitter(opens in a new tab), Instagram has made itself exclusive and therefore rather elitist. Influencers who have press clippings and work with big brands on sponsorship deals often can't manage to get that elusive blue checkmark, according to several verified and unverified influencers and people who have sold verification.\n\nJames said he got into the market for verification via an Instagram direct message. Previously, he had been buying and selling Instagram accounts that had popular or one-word names, and he decided to message someone with an interesting handle (a.k.a. username). That someone said they were able to take over that account because he worked at Instagram.\n\nAnd that was the start of a side-business. James would find people who would pay for verification, and his friend on the inside of Instagram would make it happen.\n\nHis contact at Instagram charges $1,200 per blue checkmark, and then James will tack on another fee based on the user's apparent interest or other needs.\n\n\"I\u2019ve sold verifications anywhere from $1,500 to $7,000,\" James said.\n\nJames, whose day job is running an internet startup, has sold five badges since he started earlier this year with the help of his friend who works at Instagram. His contact at Instagram charges $1,200 per blue checkmark, and then James will tack on another fee based on the user's apparent interest or other needs.\n\nOnly three of his submissions have been approved, however. James and his contact at Instagram have to submit an official form, and they do not want to get caught.\n\nInstagram is aware of this kind of thing.\n\n\u201cYou are responsible for any activity that occurs through your account and you agree you will not sell, transfer, license or assign your account, followers, username, or any account rights,\" reads a section of Instagram's terms of use(opens in a new tab).\n\nJames said he has heard of several employees getting fired for selling verification or accounts. When Instagram decided to shutdown about 30 accounts related to cannabis(opens in a new tab) last year, a former employee tried charging people up to $7,500 to reactivate them since he still had access to the feature. He was found out, and his access was officially terminated, according to James.\n\nInstagram declined to comment.\n\nA source who was directly connected to a seller said he was not comfortable with sharing the name or any other details about the person he knew in fear of ruining his side-business.\n\n\"He's actually a good friend and legit makes his income this way,\" he said. He personally has been pitched between $3,000 to $7,000 for a blue checkmark.\n\nGetting that blue check is getting harder. Just a year ago, James said his contact at Instagram was able to do five name transfers a week. Now, it's more like two per week and \"maybe one to two verifications,\" he said.\n\nJames isn't the only person that interested Instagram users can go to. One entrepreneur pointed us to Alejandro Rioja. According to Rioja's personal website(opens in a new tab), he's an \"internet entrepreneur, digital marketer, and computer geek.\" His website suggests to connect with him on Facebook Messenger(opens in a new tab), where after the first prompt a user sees he does account verification:\n\nCredit: facebook messenger screenshot\n\nAs described in the thread above with Rioja's Messenger bot, Instagram verification costs $6,000 per account.\n\n\"I work with 2-3 people [at Instagram] depending on their availability. The price is $5k-$8k, which varies depending on how easy it is to verify, i.e. they already have press and are somewhat of a known figure. The Instagram employee takes most of it, 60-80%,\" Rioja wrote in a Twitter direct message.\n\nThe cost for verification is the highest on Instagram because it's the most coveted.\n\nThe cost for verification is the highest on Instagram because it's the most coveted. That's in part because it is the strictest, several sources told us. Business on Instagram can be big. Advertisers may be spending more than $1 billion per year on influencer marketing on Instagram, according to a study by Mediakix(opens in a new tab). An easy way to identify an influencer is via that blue checkmark. It's immediate legitimacy.\n\nInstagram verification is granted through a form that is not publicly available, but is accessible to some people in the tech and media industries. Former employees, current employees, big media and entertainment companies have a portal where they can request name changes and verification, according to several sources.\n\nThey must submit the user's actual name and accounts along with a form of identity (like a passport) and the name of a contact at Facebook or Instagram. That's one way Instagram can hold employees accountable to not misuse their privileges for things like paid verification, according to several sources.\n\nCredit: SCREENSHOT OF INSTAGRAM VERIFICATION FORM\n\nAttachments can be used to show press clippings, which are an important part of getting through the process. Rioja also offers media placement in various publications that also costs thousands of dollars.\n\nWhile someone like Rioja may be the seller, someone at Instagram still needs to approve the request. That's why Rioja says there's a \"money-back guarantee.\"\n\n\"I've verified 12 accounts. I can't share the usernames as my clients don't like this,\" Rioja said.\n\nHere's a step-by-step process of how it works, according to one source who has sold verification and corroborated by two other sources who have bought it:\n\nThere's usually an employee at Facebook/Instagram who is willing to take a bribe or just be a friend. A middleman will be the seller. The middleman receives cash, which may or may not be split with the Facebook/Instagram employee. The friend at Facebook/Instagram submits a verification request and crosses their fingers it gets approved.\n\nThe black market for verification is an open secret among Instagram influencers. The people who have bought verification might not want to admit it to a reporter, but people aren't afraid to share to other social media influencers.\n\n\"I had a friend that did it,\" a tech founder told me. He then texted his friend and asked if they wanted to comment for the story with guaranteed anonymity. The friend confirmed that they paid for verification but declined to comment further.\n\nOnce users have a blue checkmark they also join an exclusive club of people who repeatedly get asked for one, according to several sources who have been asked.\n\n\"It's more bragging about how they can get anything, I guess.\"\n\n\"You end up getting a ton of messages from people asking 'How you got that check mark, bro?'\" said Adam Rose(opens in a new tab), an actor who is verified on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. He got his verifications through the formal processes, without paying any middlemen.\n\nThere are plenty of people who may not be able to help but do love chatting about their blue checkmark.\n\n\"It's more bragging about how they can get anything, I guess,\" said someone who runs a popular YouTube channel and is verified.\n\nAnd anything has its price.\n\nIf you know more about the Instagram black market, send an email to Kerry Flynn at [email protected]", "output": "Influencers who want to obtain Instagram verification \u2013 one of the site's coveted blue ticks \u2013\u00a0are paying thousands of dollars to get the symbol on the black market. Anonymous insiders team up with Instagram and Facebook contacts, who secretly fill out the required submission forms before attempting to verify\u00a0the account themselves. The practice is regarded as an open secret among Instagram influencers, who have found that gaining verification through the proper channels can be elusive. Advertisers spend $1bn annually on influencer marketing on Instagram.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "First 'plot shop' of land for self-builds opens in Oxfordshire \n The UK\u2019s first ever \u2018plot shop\u2019 has been officially opened today (7 September 2017) in the town of Bicester by Housing and Planning Minister, Alok Sharma.\n\nLocated right on the high-street, this one-of-a-kind outlet will sell plots of land on the Graven Hill site in Oxfordshire to those wishing to build their own home \u2013 whether from scratch or through customised design.\n\nOnce complete, the Graven Hill development will be the largest of its kind in the UK, delivering up to 1,900 new self and custom build homes.\n\nBy making it easier to access land and expert advice, Graven Hill\u2019s plot shop promises to pioneer custom and self-build as a mainstream choice for aspiring home owners.\n\nHousing and Planning Minister, Alok Sharma said:\n\nWe need to get creative with how we build our housing in this country, to deliver more of the right homes in the places people want to live. With the opening of the UK\u2019s first \u2018plot shop\u2019, the journey to building your own home can now start on the high-street. As confirmed in our housing white paper, we are committed to doubling the number of custom and self build homes by 2020 \u2013 so that anyone who wishes to design their dream house can do so. Through diversifying the housing market in this way, we can give people greater choice over the homes they live in \u2013 whether that\u2019s buying on the open market or by commissioning and building their dream home.\n\nKaren Curtin, Managing Director of Graven Hill said:\n\nWe are delighted to welcome Alok Sharma in officially opening the Graven Hill plot shop. The shop\u2019s town centre location has proven to be integral to its success since our soft launch this summer, and we invite anyone thinking of building or customising their next home to visit the shop for an informal chat on the options available or arrange a visit to site. The official opening of the shop is significant, not only because the government is recognising the importance of our unique development, but because we are also able to announce that purchasers opting for a Tailored Finish home may be able to access the government\u2019s Help to Buy scheme. Graven Hill is pioneering in the sense that for the first time, new home-buyers have the flexibility to choose between building their own house and custom designing one that meets their individual requirements. To date, over 81% of plots released in Phase 1a have been sold and over the course of the next 10 years, Graven Hill will become a community of 1,900 properties. We are still at the beginning of our journey but with the first occupations imminent there has never been a more exciting time to be involved with self and custom building.\n\nPeter Rogerson, Virgin Money\u2019s Director of Mortgages said:\n\nThe custom build market is a really exciting area of new house building that offers significant growth potential, providing a supply of high-quality homes specifically designed to buyers\u2019 individual requirements. Virgin Money is committed to helping more people achieve their dream of home ownership and we are proud to be the only mainstream mortgage lender offering a custom build proposition. We worked closely with the team at Graven Hill to develop our proposition, and we are delighted to see the new \u2018plot shop\u2019 open to highlight to potential buyers the attractive opportunities available to them.\n\nCustom build\n\nCustom build gives aspiring homebuilders the tools to design the house of their dreams, whilst leaving it to the professionals to build it into reality. The result is your home how you want it \u2013 without the burden and risk traditionally associated with a full self-build project.\n\nThe scheme is hugely popular overseas in Holland and Germany, and has the potential to deliver over 40,000 homes a year in the UK.\n\nSince April 2016, every council across the country has been required to hold a register of those seeking to build their own home. Over 18,000 aspiring custom and self-builders have now signed up to their local registers.\n\nLocal authorities will use their registers as a measure of demand for self and custom build in their areas. The legislation requires local authorities to find and commission sufficient land to match the demand on their registers.\n\nBuilding more homes is at the heart of the government\u2019s plan to fix the broken housing market, as set out in their housing white paper.\n\nSupporting people to design and build their own homes is part of a range of measures introduced to help more people onto the housing ladder and increase housing supply. Since 2010, government-backed schemes have helped over 400,000 households onto the housing ladder.\n\nThe government\u2019s Home Building Fund, launched in October 2016, targets \u00a31 billion in short term loan finance to support small and medium-sized enterprise builders, innovation and custom build.\n\nFurther information\n\nVisit www.gravenhill.co.uk to receive the latest news or to register your interest in the Graven Hill project.\n\nThe Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Bill was first presented to Parliament in 2016 by Richard Bacon MP and placed a duty on local authorities to keep a register of those seeking an interest in bringing forward self and custom build projects.", "output": "The UK's housing and planning minister, Alok Sharma, has opened the country's first \"plot shop\" in Bicester, where people who want to build their own home can purchase land on the Graven Hill site in\u00a0Oxfordshire. Sharma said the government was \"committed to doubling the number of custom and self-build homes by 2020\", and creative ways of building housing were needed to achieve that aim. When complete, Graven Hill will become a community of 1,900 properties, the largest of its kind in the UK.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Diageo prepares for voice-controlled online shopping \n Despite early bets on Amazon\u2019s Alexa, Diageo doesn\u2019t have a voice strategy. The alcohol maker is, however, shifting some of its focus to conversational, long-tail search terms.\n\nDiageo is laying the groundwork for when a large part of its search buying is for voice rather than text, or rather based on the meaning behind a query instead of a specific keyword. Much of Diageo\u2019s early voice search efforts involve brainstorming what naturally spoken questions may be asked about its brands, especially because there\u2019s a chance that cost per click could rise if there is only room for one paid search placement.\n\nBidding strategies aside, Diageo is also considering the feasibility of producing variations of ad copy that deliver the best possible answers. If someone asked for a Moscow mule, for example, not only would Smirnoff need to have copy in place to answer the query, it might also need copy ready if the next question were \u201cWhat vodka should I buy?\u201d or \u201cWhat ingredients are in it?\u201d\n\nThere will come a time when many search queries won\u2019t be \u201cmai tai\u201d in text form; instead, it will be \u201chow to make a mai tai\u201d as a verbal query, said Benjamin Lickfett, head of digital innovation at Diageo. When that happens, Lickfett believes it will be a \u201cwinner-takes-all\u201d market in the sense that searching using personal tools such as Apple\u2019s Siri or Alexa provides instant answers rather than a page with a list of results.\n\nSpeaking to Digiday at an iProspect event on Sept. 6, Lickfett said Diageo was \u201cmaking sure they get the basics right\u201d for voice search. \u201cWe\u2019re looking at the long tail of how voice-based search is different,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve already seen in certain results how things like cocktail recipes work with the combination of voice-triggered search and visual stimulus and positioning our content in the right way to show up there.\u201d\n\nLickfett stressed it is still early for Diageo\u2019s brands in voice search, which comScore predicts will account for 50 percent of all search activity by 2020. Even Google says it\u2019s years away from being able to monetize those queries in the same way it does search, apps, ads and online transactions.\n\nYet Diageo believes that when voice searches are ubiquitous, it will better be able to monetize people\u2019s queries. The brand has long tried to bridge the gap between its online ads and sales, most recently with the launch of shoppable films on Amazon Prime. But for all the bets Diageo has made on e-commerce, it has never had anything it deemed successful enough to scale, which is why there\u2019s so much internal excitement around the potential for voice search.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s hard to talk about voice search without talking about conversational commerce, which is an incredible opportunity,\u201d said Lickfett. \u201cFor us, having conversational offerings based on Alexa skills or people creating cocktails around occasions that they might need our brands for is a really interesting area for us to play in.\u201d\n\nLickfett is eyeing Amazon\u2019s Echo Show, an Alexa-powered device with a display, in particular. He said the Echo Show is of interest because it\u2019s specifically designed for the kitchen, meaning potential opportunities exist for brands like Johnnie Walker and Guinness to appear on the device\u2019s screen.\n\nAlthough the predominant voice behavior is broad information seeking, 25 percent of voice searches have purchase intent (for example, buying or ordering something), according to an iProspect study of over 1,000 respondents across the U.K. It is likely to take time before that translates into any meaningful return on investment for advertisers like Diageo, with only 15 percent of adults in the U.K. using voice search today, per iProspect.\n\nMobile devices are where Simon Tokumine, senior product manager of search at Google, believes voice search will dominate in the coming years. Indeed, more than half (57 percent) of voice searches happen in the U.K. on smartphones, while 13 percent of them occur on smart-home devices, according to iProspect.\n\nMedia analysts have questioned whether voice search could pose a threat to Google\u2019s grip on online media, given it would require an overhaul of how the company makes money from advertising. \u201cMobile devices, for all their successes, are not as easy to use for complex tasks as desktop,\u201d said Tokumine, speaking at the same iProspect event. \u201cIn those situations, it\u2019s about thinking how you can leverage voice to effectively short-circuit all this complexity.\u201d\n\nPhoto courtesy of Addison Group", "output": "UK drinks company Diageo is laying the groundwork for a future in which customers use voice search instead of typing a query into a search engine, and is eyeing Amazon's Alexa technology. \"We\u2019ve already seen in certain results how things like cocktail recipes work with the combination of voice-triggered search and visual stimulus, and are positioning our content in the right way to show up there\", said Benjamin Lickfett, Diageo's head of digital innovation. Voice is predicted to make\u00a0up 50% of all search activity by 2020, but is currently used by only 15% of UK adults.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China buys US mine, consolidates control of rare earth elements \n While rare earths aren\u2019t actually that rare \u2014 there are more REEs in the ground than copper or lead \u2014 they are extremely difficult to mine economically. China has dominated rare earth mining since the 1990s, extracting 85 to 95 percent of the world\u2019s REEs from large clay deposits in the country\u2019s south. When China cut back sharply on REE exports in 2010, it triggered a global price spike, exposing the superpower\u2019s monopolistic grip on materials that are critical to dozens of high-tech industries.\n\nNow a Chinese-led coalition threatens to further tighten control of the rare earths trade with the purchase of the only operational REE mine in America. The Mountain Pass Mine in the California desert south of Las Vegas was a powerhouse producer of REEs from 1965 to 1985, at which point China took over global production and never looked back. Mountain Pass was shuttered from 2002 to 2012 because it couldn\u2019t compete with the low prices coming out of China. After a brief revival from 2012 to 2015, Mountain Pass closed for good in 2016 and its owner, Molycorp, filed for bankruptcy.\n\nThis past June, an investor group with alleged ties to the Chinese government bought the mine for $20.5 million, beating out American bidders including entrepreneur Tom Clarke of ERP Strategic Minerals.\n\n\u201cI think it would be extremely foolhardy to let a Chinese-linked organization go ahead and buy this mine,\u201d said Jeff Ferry, research director with the Coalition for a Prosperous America. Ferry\u2019s group is calling on the US government to block the Mountain Pass sale on both national security and economic grounds.\n\nRELATED: The Secret to a Better Battery Might Just Be Floating in Thin Air\n\nIt\u2019s true that rare earths are critical to US military technology. Elements like yttrium are used in the atomic batteries that power guided missiles. The electrical systems in manned and unmanned aircraft are powered with rare earth magnets. And the lightweight, space-age materials used to make modern jet engines and rocket noses all rely on compounds stabilized with REEs.\n\nCIA director Mike Pompeo told a Senate committee in May that foreign control of REEs was \u201ca very real concern.\u201d\n\nFerry says that the federal government should act \u201cright now\u201d to block the Mountain Pass deal through the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, better known as Cfius (pronounced sih-fee-us). Cfius is an interagency committee charged with protecting vital national security interests from foreign control. It recently blocked the sale of an American semiconductor company to Chinese investors and is considering taking similar action with the Chinese purchase of MoneyGram.\n\nIf the government doesn\u2019t stop the Mountain Pass deal on national security grounds, Ferry thinks that Cfius should expand its mandate to protect American industries from the potential economic harm created by foreign monopolies on these essential raw materials.\n\n\u201cThe fact is, rare earths are used in almost every form of modern electronics, whether it\u2019s smartphones, large motors in wind turbines, or small motors in the latest generation of electric cars,\u201d said Ferry. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars worth of industries that are potentially affected by rare earths.\u201d\n\nRELATED: Seaweed Could Provide a Powerful Boost to Next-Gen Batteries\n\nRare earths are prized for a host of unique properties including magnetism, luminescence, and lightweight strength. Ana de Bettencourt-Dias is a rare earth chemist at the University of Nevada, Reno, where she studies the light-emitting properties of REEs. The very first color TVs used rare earths like europium and terbium to create red and green light, and today\u2019s LED and OLED displays are built with REEs that emit light efficiently and with very high color purity.\n\nBut Bettencourt-Dias says that the biggest and most important industrial application of REEs has to do with magnets, particularly neodymium-based magnets, which are the strongest in the world. Wind turbines use huge neodymium magnets for their power generators, and smaller neodymium magnets are found in computer hard drives and just about every part of your car, from electric windows to audio speakers.\n\nThere are alternatives to REEs for high-tech industrial applications, but they\u2019re less efficient and more expensive. Bettencourt-Dias said that large-scale recycling of electronics could be an alternative source for rare earths, but the cost of physically disassembling smartphones and TVs, and the difficulty of chemically separating rare earths, is still far greater than buying raw materials from China.\n\nThe reality is that too many current and future technologies rely on rare earths \u2014 particularly the engines and batteries for electric vehicles \u2014 to put the genie back in the bottle.\n\n\u201cIf people stop wanting to use things that are powered by electricity, then yes, we can stop using rare earths,\u201d said Bettencourt-Dias, \u201cbut I don\u2019t think that\u2019s going to happen.\u201d\n\nRELATED: Artificial Intelligence Is Poised to Revolutionize Warfare\n\nAccording to the US Geological Survey, America imported around 12,600 metric tons of rare earth compounds and metals in 2016, and nearly all of it originated in China. Although the US buys certain compounds and components from countries like Japan and France, the raw minerals for most of those imports come from China.\n\nGlobal mining production of rare earths in 2016 was 126,000 metric tons. The USGS reports that China mined at least 105,000 metric tons or 83 percent of the total. But that doesn\u2019t take into account illegal \u2014 and environmentally destructive \u2014 REE mines operating all over China. Of the official tally, Australia comes in (a distant) second at 14,000 metric tons or 11 percent of total production.\n\nWhen the Mountain Pass mine was operational in 2015, the US extracted 5,900 metric tons, less than 5 percent of global REE production. But even that small fraction of rare earth production could give the US the independence it needs to protect the vital defense and economic interests of itself and its allies, said Ferry, if the Mountain Pass mine is in American hands.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think the one mine solves all of our problems,\u201d said Ferry, \u201cbut it\u2019s a step in the right direction.\u201d\n\nWATCH: Why We Need Rare Earth Elements", "output": "US non-profit organisation the Coalition for a Prosperous America is calling on the country's government to block the $20.5m sale of the nation's only rare earth elements (REE) mine in California to a Chinese-led coalition. REEs are used in every form of modern electronics, from smartphones to guided missile systems. In 2015, the Mountain Pass Mine yielded 5% of global REEs, whereas China extracts between 85% and 95% of the world's supply.\n \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US hurricane risk models are 'inadequate and out-of-date' \n This, in part, underscores the rare severity of the storm that hovered over the Texas coastline for days. But it also arguably highlights inadequacies in our federal flood risk assessments, since by some calculations Harvey \u201crepresents the third \u2018500-year\u2019 flood in the Houston area in the past three years,\u201d as the UC Davis researchers note.\n\nThat \u201cbasically refutes suggestions that Houston has just suffered from random \u2018bad luck,\u2019\u201d said Nicholas Pinter, associate director of the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences, in an e-mail. \u201cWe scientists are ultra-cautious about reading climate change in any single weather event, and that caution is appropriate. But there is a growing suspicion that the U.S. may be creeping over a meteorological tipping point.\u201d\n\nThe crucial problem is that flood-zone maps are based on historical patterns that are increasingly divorced from the current dangers under changing climate conditions. That, in turn, means that planning policies, building codes, insurance programs, and building patterns based on these assessments can often be dangerously out of date as well. In many cases, we\u2019re constructing cities and flood protections based on the climate of the past rather than the conditions of the future\u2014or even the present. That\u2019s subjecting citizens to ever greater dangers, and society to far higher costs for disaster relief and reconstruction in the aftermath of events like Harvey or, as is looking increasingly likely, Hurricane Irma.\n\nSome scientists have been sounding this warning for years, arguing that flooding and storm risk analysis need to move beyond the \u201cstationary\u201d approach, which assumes that the statistical distribution of events in the past will remain constant moving forward.\n\n\u201cWe can\u2019t extrapolate the past into the future because of changes going on in the system,\u201d says Paul Milly, research hydrologist at the U.S. Geological Survey, and lead author of a 2008 Science paper titled \u201cStationarity Is Dead: Whither Water Management?\u201d \u201cClimate change needs to be considered as a possible factor in the changing risks of floods and other hazardous events,\u201d he says.\n\nA 100-year hurricane rainfall event before 2000 could become a roughly one-in-10-year occurrence by 2081.\n\nAmong other factors, warmer air holds more moisture, and higher sea levels increase the height of storm surges, all of which can amplify the magnitude and destructive capacity of storms.\n\nProgress toward new methodologies, however, has been slow and uneven, in part because of political complexities\u2014and in part because it\u2019s a challenging science. The climate system is highly complex, our knowledge is incomplete, and projection models generally include broad ranges of potential impacts, dependent on future greenhouse-gas emissions, environmental tipping points, and other factors.\n\nBut some scientists are certainly trying to update our understanding of the growing dangers from climate change. Kerry Emanuel, a hurricane researcher and professor of atmospheric science at MIT, recently evaluated the future risk of hurricane rainfall in Boston\u2014and found a stark shift in threat levels as climate change increases the frequency of storms and amount of rain per storm.", "output": "Changing climate conditions have rendered US flood zone maps and planning policies, building patterns and codes, as well as insurance policies \"dangerously out of date\". \"There is a growing suspicion that the US may be creeping over a meteorological tipping point,\" warned Nicholas Pinter, associate director of the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences. Experts have warned the static approach to flood and storm risk, which assumes current and future events will be similar to those of the past, needs to be scrapped in favour of a system taking into account possible climate change."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Watchtower seeks to streamline employer benefits process \n For most of us, the quality of our health and insurance benefits is determined by behind-the-scenes transactions between insurance companies, brokers and the HR person down the hall.\n\nWatchtower Benefits, a Chicago-based startup, wants to make the employer-sponsored insurance market more efficient.\n\nCo-founder Ryan Sachtjen said the process today is entirely manual, requiring brokers to collect data on employee demographics, current policies and how much the insurance company paid out in benefits. The broker sends that data to insurance companies, who use it to put together bids for the upcoming year\u2019s plan.\n\nThose bids come as extensive, text-based documents, and the broker manually extracts the most important insights into a spreadsheet to help employers choose the best plan.\n\nAccording to Sachtjen, it\u2019s a time-consuming, error-prone process that often leaves decisionmakers with incomplete information \u2014 ultimately landing you with a less-than-perfect plan.\n\n\u201cWe want to be a recommendation engine that can help brokers give advice to employers,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to help companies understand how their benefits compare to those of other employers they\u2019re competing against for good talent.\u201d\n\nThe biggest challenge to making it all happen, said Sachtjen, is a lack of data standardization across the industry.\n\n\u201cThese insurance programs are hyper-customized in how they are built for employer groups,\u201d he said. \u201cThat makes it very difficult for consumers to compare offers. Companies even have different terms to explain the same types of coverage within their plans.\u201d\n\nTo standardize the information, Watchtower uses text extraction software to pull out, translate and compare sections directly. The startup is also developing a strategy for using machine learning to aid in standardization as new insurance companies start using the platform.\n\nRight now, Watchtower supports life and disability insurance, but its plan is to move into health, dental, vision and accident insurance as well.\n\nWatchtower\u2019s five-person team combines experience from the insurance industry as well as from tech companies like TurboAppeal, Gogo, SpotHero and Retrofit. The company is currently recruiting for an additional engineer, and expects the team to grow over the next year.\n\n\u201cThe nice thing about our business is that contracts are big enough that we don\u2019t need a ton of new customers to start building revenue,\u201d said Sechtjen.\n\nPhoto by 1871/Gregory Rothstein.\n\nWhat's your startup's story? Drop us a line or tweet us @BuiltInChicago", "output": "Chicago-based start-up Watchtower Benefits has developed a platform that standardises and streamlines the employer-sponsored insurance market. Co-founder Ryan Sachtjen said the current system is \"a time-consuming, error-prone process\". The Watchtower platform uses text extraction software to extract and translate different sections of insurance programmes, and is working on using machine learning to increase standardisation as the business grows. Currently, the firm offers life and disability insurance, but plans to expand into health, dental, vision and accident insurance.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Financial fraud on the rise with US elderly at most risk \n Fraud is a concern for people of all ages, but it's especially hazardous to older adults. In fact, American seniors lose over $36 billion each year as a result of financial abuse, according to a 2015 study by True Link Financial.\n\nYou might assume that only a small minority of elderly Americans are taken by fraudsters, but Allianz Life recently found that roughly 37% of seniors are victims of financial abuse -- a figure that has nearly doubled since 2014. Although seniors suffering from dementia or other forms of mental decline are easier targets, they only account for 45% of the victims.\n\nAmong the people who have been affected by financial abuse, the average loss was about $36,000. For many of these victims, though, losing money is just one of many consequences of financial abuse. In the Allianz survey, caretakers reported that the seniors they cared for expressed anger, depression, guilt, and anxiety after they realized they were victims of fraud, and many of them become more isolated after the incident.\n\nFortunately, there are some warning signs seniors can look for to protect themselves from fraud.\n\nIf you don't trust someone entirely, don't let them near your money\n\nIn fact, most of the time, the scammers are close to their victims. According to the National Adult Protective Services Association, 90% of people who commit financial abuse are family members, friends, or caretakers of their victims.\n\nThese scams can take many forms, but thieves typically start out by acting like they're \"helping\" you. They may say, for example, that they want to open a joint bank account so they can help to manage your finances. Of course, this gives them unrestricted access to your money. They may also ask for your ATM PIN in case you forget it, or they could suggest carrying your credit or debit cards for you so you don't lose them.\n\nSometimes, these requests are legitimate, and the friend or family member can be trusted. But if you have any concerns about this person's trustworthiness, consider it a red flag.\n\nDon't respond to emails asking for money\n\nGetting duped by a stranger is still a risk many seniors face, although it's less common than financial abuse by a friend or family member. Some of these scams are more obvious than others. Most people know not to respond to suspicious emails from princes in Nigeria, so thieves have gotten sneakier.\n\nOther forms of fraud, though, are more difficult to detect. For example, you may receive an email asking for donations to a good cause -- which is common after any type of disaster. The email may even look like it's from a legitimate source, and you may have no way to tell that it's fake unless you look closely at the address it came from. If you're unsure whether the request is legitimate, or if you want to be extra safe, go to the charity's website and donate there, rather than through the email.\n\nDon't let scammers scare you into sending money\n\nAnother common scam is when you get a call from an impostor pretending to be a family member -- typically a grandchild -- who's in trouble and needs you to send money to help. This one is so common it even has a name: The Grandparent Scam.\n\nThe scammer will research your family and learn as much as they can, including names, occupations, and city of residence. You could get a call from someone who claims to be your granddaughter Emily, saying she needs $1,000 because her car broke down on her drive back home to Wichita from Kansas State. In a more frightening version of this scam, \"Emily\" might say that she's been arrested and needs you to send money for bail. Not only might the scammer's story sound pretty believable, but your concern for your grandchild might override your judgement.\n\nIn this scenario, always be listening for clues as to whether the person on the other end of the line is a phony. Ask a lot of questions that only the real family member could answer, such as their favorite childhood toy or their mother's birthday. And if you have another phone handy, give your loved one a call. If they answer, you'll know within seconds whether they're actually in trouble.\n\nNo one likes to think they could be the victim of financial abuse. But the truth is that it can happen to anyone, and older adults are often prime targets. To avoid putting yourself at risk, use common sense, ask a lot of questions, and enlist the help of someone you know you can absolutely trust when you're questioning your judgement.", "output": "Around 37% of US senior citizens have fallen prey to financial scams, a figure that has almost doubled since 2014, according to a survey from Allianz Life. It revealed the average loss incurred by older people was around $36,000, with sufferers of dementia accounting for around 45% of victims. Further, the survey found that older victims of scams felt \"anger, depression, guilt, and anxiety\" and became more isolated as a result.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mexico seeks closer ties with Alibaba as Trump threatens Nafta \n The three countries are currently re-negotiating NAFTA, which underpins Mexico's economy \u2014 the U.S. accounts for 80 percent of its exports.\n\nThe deal comes as Pena Nieto closes a trip to China on trade and investment, and is part of efforts to open new opportunities for Mexico, as President Donald Trump has threatened to kill the $1.2 trillion North American Free Trade Agreement, the foundation of trade for the U.S., Canada and Mexico.\n\n\"By partnering with Alibaba, we can expand Mexico's export options in China and in Asia more broadly, while enhancing Mexican [small- and medium-sized enterprises'] knowledge of e-commerce and cross-border trade,\" said Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto of the memorandum of understanding inked with Alibaba.\n\nMexico's Ministry of Economy and Alibaba will partner to get more Mexican products onto the tech firm's popular e-commerce platforms. The move aims to help Mexico's small- and medium-sized enterprises expand internationally and in China \u2014 the world's largest consumer market with a growing middle class. Alibaba, in turn, will provide its technological expertise on logistics and payments, and it will share analytics to help Mexican firms market better to the Chinese.\n\n\"The idea behind Mexico's current diversification efforts, including going to China, is that, in the event President Donald Trump eventually backs out of NAFTA, we have to be ready to start implementation of plan B, and plan B is China,\" said Adrian Cisneros Aguilar, a lawyer and director-general of Chevaya, a firm that specializes in helping Mexican firms expand in China.\n\nFor a long time, Mexico didn't need to look beyond the U.S. when it came to trade. But on the campaign trail, Trump said he would slap tariffs on both Mexico and China, something that appears to have pushed the two nations closer together. China reiterated during Pena Nieto's trip that it's open to signing a free trade agreement directly with Mexico. Mexican officials have previously echoed similar sentiments.\n\nMore trade with Mexico is something consumers will likely welcome, as many in China have developed a taste for avocadoes, beer and tequila. Avocado exports from Mexico to China, for example, have shot up to more than 10,000 metric tons of the green fruit from 17 metric tons back in 2009, according to Mexican government data cited by ChinaAg, a market research firm.\n\nWhile growing trade with China can offset some of Mexico's reliance on the U.S., there's still a long way to go for replacing the U.S. as the main trade partner \u2014 Mexican exports to China are around $7 billion a year, a far cry from the $300 billion in goods the country sends across the border to the U.S.\n\nBut experts say there are a number of challenges when it comes to a broader economic relationship between China and Mexico. One detail that complicates further trade ties between the two nations is that both are competing for more business with the U.S. The physical distance is also an issue, as China has no shortage of trading partners closer to home.\n\nOn top of that, while a free trade agreement could be a step in the right direction, many Mexican businesses are still inexperienced when it comes to dealing with China's tough business environment.\n\n\"Companies that have never mentioned China are approaching me to say they see, suddenly, it's an option,\" said Cisneros Aguilar.\n\nBut success in the world's second-largest usually requires time and effort \u2014 what works for Mexican companies in Spain won't translate in China, he explained.\n\nUnderstanding the environment is very \"important when it comes to a country like China, which is so culturally different from us,\" Cisneros Aguilar said.", "output": "Mexico is looking for closer ties with Alibaba\u00a0and is seeking a better trade relationship with China, just as the US, Canada and Mexico renegotiate\u00a0the $1.2tn North American Free Trade Agreement, possibly to Mexico's disadvantage. Alibaba and Mexico's ministry of economy are setting up a partnership to get more Mexican products on to Alibaba's e-commerce platforms.\u00a0\"By partnering with Alibaba, we can expand Mexico's export options in China and in Asia more broadly, while enhancing Mexican [small\u00a0and medium-sized enterprises'] knowledge of e-commerce and cross-border trade,\" said the Mexican president, Enrique Pe\u00f1a Nieto. The US accounts for 80% of Mexico's exports.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Huawei global sales overtake Apple for first time \n An attendee uses her smartphone to take a picture of her selfie on the camera app of a P9 smartphone launched by Huawei in India.\n\nHuawei, China's leading smartphone maker, surpassed Apple's global smartphone sales for the first time in June and July, according to analysis by consulting firm Counterpoint Research.\n\nHuawei is now only behind Samsung in sales, and Counterpoint says that's thanks to the company's consistent investment in R&D and manufacturing, as well as aggressive and creative marketing (including this KFC phone).\n\nFigures haven't been released yet for August, though Counterpoint indicates sales for that month also look strong. However, it's worth noting that with Apple's new iPhone releases just around the corner, the iPhone maker is almost certain to get back on top in September.\n\nResearchers at Counterpoint also point out that Huawei has a weak presence in the South Asian, Indian, and North American markets, which \"limits Huawei's potential to the near-to-mid-term to take a sustainable second place position behind Samsung.\" Its strongest market is China, and it's also popular in Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.\n\nHuawei's phones have become popular, thanks to designs with large displays and advanced camera functions. Still, Apple doesn't have much to worry about; Counterpoint says the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus remain the world's best-selling smartphones, while Oppo's R11 and A57 claimed the third and fourth spots, respectively, followed by Samsung's Galaxy S8, Xiaomi's Redmi Note 4X, and Samsung's Galaxy S8 Plus. Surprisingly, despite overtaking Apple in global sales, none of Huawei's phones appear on the Top 10 list.\n\n\"While Huawei climbed to be the world's second largest brand overall, it is surprising to see none of its models breaking into the top rankings,\" said Counterpoint Research senior analyst, Pavel Naiya in a statement. \"While Huawei has trimmed its portfolio, it likely needs to further streamline its product range like Oppo and Xiaomi have done \u2014 putting more muscle behind fewer products.\"\n\nAccording to IDC, Apple shipped 41 million iPhones in the second quarter of 2017, compared to Huawei's 38.5 million. We've reached out to Counterpoint Research for further details on the number of devices shipped in June and July.\n\nMore from The Verge:", "output": "Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei has overtaken Apple in worldwide smartphone sales for the first time, according to Counterpoint Research. Huawei now stands behind only Samsung in terms of global sales figured. Despite the success of the brand overall, no individual phone models ranked among the bestsellers. The release of Apple's new iPhone is imminent, which could put Apple back on top of worldwide sales in September.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Risk of war with Pakistan and China, warns Indian army chief \n India\u2019s army chief said on Wednesday the country should be prepared for a potential two-front war given China is flexing its muscles and there is little hope for reconciliation with Pakistan.\n\nGeneral Bipin Rawat referred to a recent 10-week standoff with the Chinese army in the Himalayas that ended last week. He said the situation could gradually snowball into a larger conflict on India\u2019s northern border. Rawat said Pakistan on the western front could take advantage of such a situation.\n\nThe Press Trust of India news agency quoted Rawat\u2019s remarks at a seminar organised by the Center for Land Warfare Studies, a thinktank in New Delhi.\n\nIndia fought a war with China in 1962 and three wars with Pakistan, two of them over control of Kashmir, since securing independence from Britain in 1947. All three countries are nuclear powers.\n\nRawat said credible deterrence did not take away the threat of war. \u201cNuclear weapons are weapons of deterrence. Yes, they are. But to say that they can deter war or they will not allow nations to go to war, in our context that may also not be true,\u201d the news agency quoted him as saying.\n\nIndia last week agreed to pull troops from the disputed Doklam plateau high in the Himalayas, where Chinese troops had started building a road. The 10-week standoff was the two nations\u2019 most protracted in decades, and added to their longstanding strategic rivalry.\n\nWarfare lies within the realm of reality. Bipin Rawat, Indian general\n\n\u201cWe have to be prepared. In our context, therefore, warfare lies within the realm of reality,\u201d Rawat said.\n\nHis comments came a day after India\u2019s prime minister, Narendra Modi, and China\u2019s president, Xi Jinping, agreed on a \u201cforward-looking\u201d approach to Sino-India ties, putting behind the Doklam standoff.\n\nXi and Modi met on the sidelines of a summit of the Brics emerging economies in the south-eastern Chinese port city of Xiamen. The Brics nations are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.", "output": "India should prepare for a potential two-front war with China and Pakistan as the standoff in\u00a0the Himalayas could develop into a larger conflict with China, which Pakistan would use to its advantage, Indian general Bipin Rawat has said.\u00a0\u201cWe have to be prepared. In our context, therefore, warfare lies within the realm of reality,\u201d he said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Deutsche CEO Cryan warns of robots taking bankers' jobs \n The chief executive of Deutsche Bank has issued a stark warning about the impact of technology, saying a \u201cbig number\u201d of his staff will lose their jobs as robots take over.\n\nJohn Cryan told an audience in Frankfurt: \u201cIn our bank we have people doing work like robots. Tomorrow we will have robots behaving like people. It doesn\u2019t matter if we as a bank will participate in these changes or not, it is going to happen.\u201d\n\nHe also referred to accountants inside the bank who \u201cspend a lot of time basically being an abacus\u201d, who would also be replaced by machines.\n\nIn remarks reported by German publication Handelsblatt at a conference in Frankfurt, Cryan added: \u201cThe sad truth for the banking industry is, we won\u2018t need as many people as today.\u201d\n\nCryan, a Briton who took the helm of Deutsche in June 2015, is in the process of restructuring the bank, which employs 100,000 staff around the world.\n\nCryan is the latest business leader to make predictions about the impact of automation on on banking roles. In 2015, the former chief executive of Barclays described how the industry was facing an \u201cUber\u201d moment, with hundreds of branches closing and a potential halving of the number of jobs in the sector.\n\n\n\nAndy Haldane, chief economist at the Bank of England, has also warned that robots will be able to take on more work with up to 15m jobs in Britain at risk \u2013 not just from the low-skilled jobs traditionally impacted by machinery but also more skilled roles such as administrative, clerical and production tasks.\n\nOthers though have been circumspect. Kallum Pickering, an analyst with Berenberg, has said: \u201cProducers will only automate if doing so is profitable. For profit to occur, producers need a market to sell to in the first place. Keeping this in mind helps to highlight the critical flaw of the argument: if robots replaced all workers, thereby creating mass unemployment, to whom would the producers sell?\u201d\n\nCryan also said that automation might lead to an improvement in jobs. \u201cIf you take an accountant at the bank, a large part of their job is to produce numbers. It takes them three to four weeks to produce an account and then they move to the next one. Wouldn\u2019t it be great, if machines could produce those numbers in just a few hours? Then accountants could analyse the numbers, form valid opinions what those numbers mean and not just produce them,\u201d he said.\n\nCryan also spelt out the opportunity for the Germany financial capital to benefit from Brexit, pointing out the city has the regulatory capability, law firms and consultants and an international airport to take business from London. \u201cThese are all arguments in favour of a move to the banks of the Main when faced with relocating from the banks of Thames,\u201d said Cryan. His colleagues have warned up to 4,000 of Deutsche\u2019s 9,000 roles in the UK could leave after Brexit.\n\nCryan told the conference that Germany and Frankfurt had to decide how much they wanted to benefit from Brexit. \u201cFor months there have been discussions regarding which location is set to profit the most once London is no longer within the European Union. I cannot fully understand this debate because as I see it, the race had already been won before it even began,\u201d he said.\n\nWhile new finance jobs will be created in Dublin, Amsterdam and Paris \u2013 all vying for business leaving London \u2013 none of these have the infrastructure to take on the business. \u201cThere is only one European city which can fulfil these requirements and that city is Frankfurt,\u201d said Cryan.\n\nThe choice was not between Dublin, Paris or Frankfurt but New York, Singapore or Frankfurt. \u201cWhat determines who gets what piece of the cake?\u201d said Cryan. It was not about changing laws or tax subsidies, he added. \u201cIn truth, it is its infrastructure that makes London unique in Europe. In this respect, this is where Germany needs to catch up if wants to take over a large share of the business performed in London.\u201d\n\nHe said Frankfurt needed \u201cmore attractive, urban residential areas, enough international schools and a dozen additional theatres and a few hundred restaurants\u201d.", "output": "Many banking jobs will be lost to robots, Deutsche Bank CEO\u00a0John Cryan has warned, identifying accountancy as ripe for transformation by technology.\u00a0\u201cThe sad truth for the banking industry is, we won\u2018t need as many people as today,\u201d Cryan\u00a0told a conference in Frankfurt. \"In our bank we have people doing work like robots. Tomorrow we will have robots behaving like people.\" Cryan also said technology would take the drudgery out of accountancy, enabling staff\u00a0to concentrate on analysis.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Boeing bumps up forecast for China's aviation purchases by 6.3% \n Boeing has forecast that Chinese airlines will buy 7,240 commercial aircraft worth $1.1 trillion between now and 2036.\n\nThe fresh 20-year outlook, released Wednesday, is a chunky 6.3 percent larger than the plane maker's previous estimate. Boeing said it reflected a firm belief in China's prospects.\n\n\"China's continuous economic growth, significant investment in infrastructure, growing middle-class and evolving airline business models support this long-term outlook,\" said Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, in the report.\n\n\"China's fleet size is expected to grow at a pace well above the world average, and almost 20 percent of global new airplane demand will be from airlines based in China,\" Tinseth added.\n\nBoeing sees the need for 5,420 new single-aisle airplanes through 2036, accounting for three-quarters of total deliveries. For wide-body planes, Boeing forecasts China will require 1,670 new airplanes over the same time period.\n\nIt says passenger airlines will likely focus on smaller and medium sized wide-body aircraft while larger planes will be snapped up by freight operators.\n\nBoeing has estimated that China's outbound travel market will soon reach 200 million passengers annually.\n\nAnd worldwide, Boeing projects the need for 41,030 new commercial airplanes over the next 20 years valued at $6.1 trillion dollars.", "output": "Boeing has estimated the Chinese aviation market will need to add $1tn worth of commercial aircraft by 2036. The forecast, which is 6.3% above its earlier prediction, is part of the company's 20-year outlook, which expects to see demand for 5,420 new single-aisle aircraft and 1,670 new wide-body planes over the two decades. \"China's continuous economic growth, significant investment in infrastructure, growing middle-class and evolving airline business models support this long-term outlook,\" said Randy Tinseth, VP of marketing at Boeing Commercial Airplanes. By 2024, China will have overtaken the US as the world's largest aviation market by passengers, according to the International Air Transport Association."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Africa, China unite to advance green policy \n Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-06 21:00:58|Editor: Yurou\n\nVideo Player Close\n\nby Christine Lagat and Lu Duobao\n\nNAIROBI, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Scientists drawn from prestigious Chinese and African research institutions on Wednesday approved a joint communique to advance green agenda through knowledge sharing in habitat protection, waste management and climate change mitigation.\n\nThe scientists said in a draft communique released after a three-day conference in Nairobi that joint research programs, capacity building and skills transfer will be the building blocks of their future collaboration.\n\n\"Scientists of Africa and China, with the involvement of many national and international partners have taken important steps on an important journey. It will make great contributions to prosperity for the people of Africa and the whole world,\" the scientists said.\n\nMore than 70 scientists and policymakers from ten African countries and China attended the three-day conference to brainstorm on new strategies to promote sustainability agenda in line with objectives of South-South cooperation.\n\nThe conference on climate, ecosystems and livelihoods for Africa was sponsored by United Nations Environment, World Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences and National Natural Science Foundation of China.\n\nDelegates agreed that a robust Sino-African partnership in scientific research, technology transfer and innovations will unleash mutual benefits that include climate resilience, food security and improved human health.\n\n\"Participants agreed that future cooperation should be based on existing institutions, networks and ongoing programs in both China and Africa including centers of excellence,\" said the joint communique.\n\nIt added that that both Chinese and African research institutions should partner to promote awareness on climate, ecosystems and livelihoods while building the capacity of communities to advance the green agenda.\n\nThe joint communique underscored the role of the China-proposed Belt and Road initiative (B&R) in facilitating robust collaboration between Chinese and African scientists in diverse areas like climate research, health, agriculture, energy and habitat protection.\n\n\"The B&R initiatives, following those under the Forum on China-Africa cooperation, have brought China and Africa closer together, with joint research initiatives to explore sustainable development and adaptation to climate variability,\" noted the communique.\n\nBoth African and Chinese scientists are optimistic that their future cooperation will be fruitful given the goodwill from their respective governments.\n\n\"We have invested enormous resources to support capacity building and research in diverse areas like climate change, ecosystems conservation, solid waste and chemicals management across Africa,\" said Feng Feng, Director General of Bureau of International Cooperation at the National Natural Science Foundation of China.\n\nSalif Diop, a member of African Academy of Sciences, was upbeat that strategic collaboration in climate research, agriculture and food security, water, energy and health will unleash prosperity at both ends.\n\n\"We are looking at a pragmatic cooperation with our Chinese colleagues to strengthen research that could rejuvenate action on climate change, hunger, water scarcity and pollution,\" Diop told Xinhua.", "output": "Scientists from China and Africa have partnered to promote environmentally sustainable living by sharing knowledge and research on\u00a0habitat protection, climate change mitigation and waste management.\u00a0\"We are looking at a pragmatic cooperation with our Chinese colleagues to strengthen research that could rejuvenate action on climate change, hunger, water scarcity and pollution\", said\u00a0Salif Diop, a member of the African Academy of Sciences.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "eHealth teams with Square to develop business health insurance \n MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--eHealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: EHTH), which operates eHealth.com, a leading private online health insurance exchange, announced today that it is now providing Square\u2019s small business customers with access to a broad range of health insurance solutions as well as eHealth\u2019s innovative plan comparison tools and robust customer support.\n\nSquare\u2019s point-of-sale service offers tools for every part of running a small business, from accepting credit cards and tracking inventory to real-time analytics and invoicing. Through the Square dashboard, the more than two million small businesses using Square now have access to a co-branded eHealth website offering brand-name small business and individual & family health insurance options.\n\nBy accessing eHealth through the Square dashboard, small businesses can compare health insurance plans online from multiple insurance companies and get customized quotes for their business. At no cost, small business owners can also get personalized help and useful advice from licensed eHealth agents. eHealth has also expanded its offering to enable online applications for small group health insurance with select insurance companies, which enables health insurance applications to be approved in as little as 24 hours in some instances.\n\n\u201cWe are incredibly excited to work with Square and introduce their small business customers to the great health insurance options available to them and their employees,\u201d said eHealth CEO Scott Flanders. \u201cWhether they\u2019re purchasing coverage only for themselves or for their employees as well, a quality health insurance plan is an investment in any small business\u2019s future \u2013 and eHealth has the comprehensive selection and tools they need to find the best plan for their needs.\u201d\n\nForward-Looking Statements\n\nThis press release contains statements that are forward-looking statements as defined within the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These include statements regarding eHealth\u2019s partnership with Square. These forward-looking statements are inherently subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made, including risks associated with: our ability to maintain and perform under the agreement for this partnership; our ability to realize, enroll, service, and retain customers from this partnership; and other factors that could cause operating, financial, and other results to differ, which are described in eHealth\u2019s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K or Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available on the investor relations page of eHealth\u2019s website at http://www.ehealthinsurance.com and on the Securities and Exchange Commission\u2019s website at www.sec.gov. eHealth undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to conform to actual results or changes in intentions or expectations.\n\neHealth\n\neHealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: EHTH) owns eHealth.com, a leading private online health insurance exchange where individuals, families and small businesses can compare health insurance products from leading insurers side by side and purchase and enroll in coverage online. eHealth offers thousands of individual, family and small business health plans underwritten by many of the nation's leading health insurance companies. eHealth (through its subsidiaries) is licensed to sell health insurance in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. eHealth also offers educational resources and powerful online and pharmacy-based tools to help Medicare beneficiaries navigate Medicare health insurance options, choose the right plan and enroll in select plans online through Medicare.com (www.Medicare.com), eHealthMedicare.com (www.eHealthMedicare.com) and PlanPrescriber.com (www.PlanPrescriber.com).\n\nFor more health insurance news and information, visit eHealth's Consumer Resource Center.", "output": "Private US online health insurance exchange eHealth is integrating its services into Square's dashboard, enabling more than two million small businesses to access a range of health insurance solutions. The collaboration allows Square customers to receive personalised help and advice from licensed eHealth agents, while also fast-tracking some small group health insurance applications. \u201cWe are incredibly excited to work with Square and introduce their small business customers to the great health insurance options available to them and their employees\u201d, said Scott Flanders, CEO of eHealth.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Terror attacks spur active shooter insurance expansion \n The specialty active shooter insurance market has grown and evolved over the past 18 months as mass casualty events continue to plague a growing list of cities worldwide.\n\nBeazley P.L.C. is providing liability coverage while Hiscox Ltd., Ironshore Inc. and XL Group Ltd., which does business as XL Catlin, are writing property cover with business interruption. The policies are triggered by an event, and a policyholder does not have to suffer property damage to make a claim.\n\nBeazley launched its product in February 2016, writing business via a consortium with other Lloyd\u2019s of London syndicates managed by Talbot Underwriting Ltd. and Liberty Specialty Markets, said Chris Parker, political violence kidnap and ransom underwriter, political accident and contingency, at Beazley in London.\n\nMaximum capacity is $20 million per risk, and all underwriting and pricing is done by Beazley, which binds on behalf of the other syndicates. The insurer uses a broad definition of weapons, ranging far beyond firearms, and its policy can even be triggered by the brandishing of a weapon without the completion of an attack or bodily injury or property damage.\n\nXL Catlin launched its active shooter coverage in February 2016, the result of two years\u2019 development, according to Ben Tucker, head of U.S. terrorism and political violence insurance for the insurer in New York.\n\nAvailable worldwide, it is written through XL Catlin\u2019s Lloyd\u2019s syndicate, as well as in foreign markets including Singapore and Australia, and it is written in the U.S. on a surplus lines basis. Limits up to $35 million per risk are available, Mr. Tucker said.\n\nHiscox launched its active shooter product in October 2016 and recently broadened its definition of attack in August to include knife and vehicle attacks.\n\nLimits are based on individual clients and submissions, but Hiscox \u201chas the appetite to go up to a $50 million maximum,\u201d said Jennifer Rubin, vice president for war, terrorism and political violence for Hiscox in New York. The policy is available in the U.S. and Europe, including the United Kingdom, and is written on a surplus lines basis through Hiscox\u2019s Lloyd\u2019s syndicate, Ms. Rubin said.\n\nThe Hiscox policy does not have a property damage trigger, so a policyholder can be compensated if it suffers lost business due to an attack on an adjoining business, for example. Coverage also includes a loss of attraction cover, allowing a claim if there was business and income lost due to a police cordon and investigation or other lack of egress or access, Ms. Rubin said.\n\nIronshore\u2019s active shooter coverage was launched in September 2016 along with the company\u2019s Terrorism Crises 360\u00b0 crises management response service, which is provided to all clients of the company\u2019s stand-alone terrorism coverage.\n\nThe product is written on nonadmitted paper, and policyholders electing the active shooter add-on typically buy limits in the $1 million to $5 million range, mainly to cover the cost of business interruption and expenses such as temporary office or work facilities, said James Dover, New York-based senior vice president for war and sabotage at Ironshore Inc., a Liberty Mutual Insurance company.\n\nIronshore follows the U.S. government/ Department of Homeland Security definition of an active shooter situation, which is \u201can individual or group of people actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined or populated area,\u201d according to Mr. Dover. The company does not seek to define the weapon or mode of attack, he added.", "output": "Recent \"mass casualty\u00a0events\", including\u00a0terror attacks,\u00a0have prompted a growth in the speciality active shooter insurance market. Beazley launched its product, which has a maximum capacity of $20m per risk, in February 2016, while XL Catlin launched its active shooter coverage in the same month, with up to $35m available. Hiscox unveiled its policy in October 2016, but recently included knife or vehicle attacks in its definition, while Ironshore launched its Terrorism Crises 360\u00b0 management response service and active shooter coverage in September 2016.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Plans in China to build 100,000 industrial robots p.a. by 2020 \n Industrial robots 'dance' at a booth at the China International Industry Fair at National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai. VCG | VCG | Getty Images\n\nAbout four years ago Jeff Burnstein attended his first China International Robotics Show, the annual Shanghai-based expo now in its seventh year. At the time, Burnstein, president of the Robotic Industries Association, a Michigan-based trade group, wasn't impressed. He said he walked around the show and thought many of the robots on display looked like copies of what American companies were already doing. In today's China a different picture is taking shape, courtesy of a blueprint known as the Made in China 2025 plan. Announced in 2015, the initiative is China's massive government-backed push to be a world leader in a number of high-tech industries, such as medical devices, aerospace equipment and robotics \u2014 the key piece of the country's desire to automate sectors of its economy: automotive manufacturing, food production, electronics and more.\n\nBut to do that, China needs more robots. In addition to the Made in China 2025 plan, the government has also released the Robotics Industry Development Plan, a five-year plan to rapidly expand the country's industrial robotics sector. By 2020, China wants to be able to manufacture at least 100,000 industrial robots annually. The country is racing full steam ahead to a robot-powered future in a push to not only remake its own economy but also to transform into the world's robot capital \u2014 overtaking Japan, Germany and the United States in the process. \"The Chinese are the fastest-growing and largest user of robotics in the world by now,\" said Burnstein. \"The 2025 plan will only accelerate it.\" According to the International Federation of Robots, China is already home to the biggest share of robots, a global market worth about $30 billion. It is currently ranked the No.1 sales market for industrial robots, with the United States coming in at No. 4. (South Korea and Japan are two and three, respectively.)\n\nwatch now\n\nWhile the United States is arguably the worldwide leader in automation in vehicle manufacturing, China is quickly making gains to outstrip the U.S. and other global competitors. Over the first half of this decade, China installed 90,000 industrial robots, or one third of the world's total, compared to 80,000 industrial robots installed between 2010 and 2015 elsewhere in Asia, Europe and the United States combined.\n\nA heated race\n\n\"To reduce the threshold of innovative entrepreneurship, the government provides appropriate financial subsidies for rent, broadband access and public software for new businesses,\" said John Rhee, general manager of the Los Angeles office for UBTECH, a Chinese robotics company headquartered in Shenzhen City that makes humanoid robots for the home.\n\nFast-forwarding market domination\n\nUBTECH is one such company currently benefiting from the Made in China 2025 plan. In April the company signed a \"strategic cooperation agreement,\" Rhee said, with the municipal government of Kunming City in the southwestern province of Yunnan, which will aid the company in robot building and developing artificial intelligence capabilities in Yunnan province for the purpose of making Kunming and other municipalities A.I.-enabled \"smart\" cities. But how quickly China can get itself up to speed in the globally competitive robotics field is still a question, as is the overall effectiveness of the Made in 2025 plan on growing China's robotics industry. \"China can manufacture simple robots but nothing complicated, like the six-axis ones by Japan, Germany and the U.S.,\" said Zi Yang, a China analyst at the Washington, D.C.-based Jamestown Foundation. \"It's hard to close the gap due to several reasons, mainly because of China's lack of innovativeness due to its weak intellectual property laws and government-led projects that focus on quantity over quality.\" Indeed, that push for quantity is one of the aggressive goals China has set for itself in its Made in 2025 plan. By the end of next decade, the country wants to be producing 400,000 industrial robots annually. That's a tall order, considering just a little more than 250,000 industrial robots were sold the world over in 2015 alone, according to the IFR. Some Chinese companies are actively buying the expertise in robotics that has been developed elsewhere. One such company, Midea, closed a $4 billion deal earlier this year to acquire Germany-based Kuka AG, a leading, global robotics supplier for plant and automotive robots with a research and development center in Austin, Texas.\n\nChina's Midea recently acquired Germany-based Kuka AG, a global robotics supplier for plant and automotive robots with a research and development center in Austin, Texas. Source: Kuka Industries", "output": "China wants to go from being a \"low-cost labour source to a high-tech labour source\", thanks to its Made in China 2025 initiative and the Robotics Industry Development Plan. By 2020 the country wants to manufacture 100,000 industrial robots\u00a0annually and it is already the world's largest market for them.\u00a0By 2019, 40% of total worldwide robot sales are forecast to be in\u00a0China, up from 27% in 2015. The country is increasing investment into the sector, as well as offering subsidies, low-interest loans and rent-free land to Chinese robotics companies."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow becomes official partner of Worcester Warriors rugby team \n Midlands Business Jon Robinson\n\nHousebuilder Redrow has become the official partner of Premiership rugby side Worcester Warriors.\n\nThe new deal comes after the club revealed that it was seeking new investment to help support its shareholders.\n\nRedrow supported the club by sponsoring their mascots last season.\n\nSales director for Redrow Homes (Midlands), Pauline Turnbull, said: \"We've built hundreds of homes across Worcestershire in recent years and are currently selling homes at The Orchards in Droitwich and Maple Gardens in Evesham. Clubs like Warriors play a vital role in the local community and so we were keen to team up.\n\n\"We believe children of all backgrounds should be able to enjoy the fantastic experiences of a rugby matchday so we're looking forward to being able to give local youngsters that opportunity through the schemes we'll be running with the club.\"\n\nWarriors head of commercial, Leyton Williams, added: \"We are delighted to secure yet another major, successful organisation to the growing family of Warriors partners.\n\n\"We already have an excellent working relationship with Pauline and her team and this new partnership will help to raise the profile of Redrow Homes even further.\"", "output": "UK housebuilder Redrow has been named the official sponsor of the Worcester Warriors, following the news that the Premiership club was seeking additional investment. Last year, Redrow sponsored the club's mascots. The company is \"keen to team up\", said Sales director for Redrow Homes\u00a0Pauline Turnbull, adding that\u00a0clubs like the Warriors played a \"vital role in the local community\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Limitations in processes to detect chemicals in oilfield wastewater \n By Sara Jerome,\n\n@sarmje\n\nMethods to assess chemicals in oilfield wastewater may not be sufficient, researchers say.\n\nA new study from researchers at the Colorado School of Mines highlights limitations in chemical detection processes used in the oil sector. Published in Trends in Environmental Analytical Chemistry, this area of study is significant to drinking water utilities, advocates, and regulators who seek to understand the ways that energy industry activity may pose a threat to drinking water.\n\n\u201cWe assessed current trends and emerging technologies in analytical chemistry and reviewed their applicability to flowback and produced waters. In addition, we propose under-utilized approaches that may serve as potential solutions to address the issues created by the complex matrices inherent to flowback and produced waters,\u201d the study said.\n\nThe Environmental Defense Fund explained the meaning of the findings in a blog post.\n\n\u201cOilfield wastewater is extremely salty and can contain multiple combinations of many potentially harmful chemicals (approximately 1,600 on a national basis). However, most standard or approved analytical methods available to regulators were designed to work with fresh water. Because oil and gas wastewater is so salty \u2014 sometimes 10 times saltier than seawater or more \u2014 chemists often have to dilute wastewater samples to manage the high salt content,\u201d the blog said.\n\nDiluting the samples may also be diluting chemicals, the blog explained.\n\nBenzene, a cancer-causing petroleum byproduct, is one example.\n\n\u201cIt has a drinking water standard of 5 parts per billion \u2014 that\u2019s 5 cents in 10 million dollars. It really doesn\u2019t take much dilution of a sample to lose that level of precision,\u201d the blog said.\n\nThe upshot is that flawed methods for analyzing chemicals in oilfield wastewater make it difficult to understand what impact it may have on source waters.\n\nThe United States Energy Association, in its materials, notes that the oil and gas industry plays a major role in the global energy sector. Advocates point out that the industry is a major employer.\n\nFor similar stories visit Water Online\u2019s Produced Water Treatment Solutions Center.", "output": "Chemical detection processes commonly used by the oil industry are not designed to work with fresh water, researchers at the Colorado School of Mines have found. In order to manage wastewater's high salt content, chemists have to dilute the sample. But by doing so, they may also be diluting chemicals. It's therefore difficult to understand the impact of harmful chemical byproducts from wastewater, such as benezene, on source waters. The researchers propose using several \"under-utilised approaches\" to manage the complexity of analysing flowback and produced waters."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "More than 5,000 ads from fake accounts identified by Facebook \n Amid ongoing concern over the role of disinformation in the 2016 election, Facebook said Wednesday it found that more than 5,000 ads, costing more than $150,000, had been placed on its network between June 2015 and May 2017 from \"inauthentic accounts\" and Pages, likely from Russia.\n\nThe ads didn't directly mention the election or the candidates, according to a blog post by Facebook's chief security officer Alex Stamos, but focused on \"amplifying divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum---touching on topics from LGBT matters to race issues to immigration to gun rights.\" Facebook declined to discuss additional details about the ads.\n\nFacebook says it had given the information to authorities investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. \"We know we have to stay vigilant to keep ahead of people who try to misuse our platform,\" Stamos wrote in the post. \"We believe in protecting the integrity of civic discourse, and require advertisers on our platform to follow both our policies and all applicable laws.\"\n\nSpeculation has swirled about the role Facebook played spreading fake news during the 2016 election. Senator Mark Warner, vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has gone so far as to wonder whether President Trump's tech and data team collaborated with Russian actors to target fake news at American voters in key geographic areas. \u201cWe need information from the companies, as well as we need to look into the activities of some of the Trump digital campaign activities,\" Warner said recently.\n\nBrad Parscale, digital director of the Trump campaign, has agreed to an interview with the House Intelligence Committee, and maintains he is \"unaware of any Russian involvement in the digital and data operations of the 2016 Trump presidential campaign.\"\n\nWednesday's revelation is a new wrinkle in the ongoing Russia investigations. In July, Facebook told WIRED it had found no indication of Russian entities buying entities during the election.\n\nIn the larger context of political ad spending, even $150,000 is a nominal amount. According to a report by Borrell Associates, digital political-ad spending totaled roughly $1.4 billion in 2016. And yet, this finding exposes what seems to be a coordinated effort to spread misinformation about key election issues in targeted states.\n\nFacebook is remaining tight lipped about the methods it used to identify the fraudulent accounts and Pages that it has since suspended. One search for ads purchased from US internet addresses set to the Russian language turned up $50,000 worth of spending on 2,200 ads. Facebook said about one-quarter of the suspect ads were geographically targeted, with more of those running in 2015 than 2016. According to The Washington Post, some accounts may be linked to a content farm called Internet Research Agency in St. Petersburg.\n\nFacebook said it is implementing changes to prevent similar abuse. Among other things, it's looking for ways to combat so-called cloaking in which ads that appear benign redirect users to malicious or misleading websites once people click through. That allows bad actors to circumvent Facebook's ad review process.\n\nBut while Facebook may be able to limit what people can and can't buy on its platform, it doesn't change the fact that social media has created a stage for anyone looking to spread false information online, with or without ads. As the $150,000 figure indicates, this finding is but a small fraction of a much larger problem.", "output": "More than 5,000 ads designed to \"amplify divisive social and political messages\" were placed on Facebook\u2019s network over a two-year period ended May 2017, according its chief security officer, Alex Stamos. Worth around $150,000, the ads, 25% of which were said to be geographically targeted, likely came from \"inauthentic accounts\" and Pages linked to Russia. Neither the 2016 US presidential election nor candidates were directly mentioned in the ads, Stamos said. Facebook is looking to crack down on \u201ccloaking\u201d, whereby ads redirect users to other sites, as part of its bid to prevent abuse and tighten ad review processes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "PIMCO raises fees on fast-growing active fund \n PIMCO Income Fund, the fastest-growing actively managed U.S. mutual fund, is raising fees at a time most money managers are racing to slash costs paid by investors.\n\nThe $92 billion fund will increase its fees 5 cents per $100 on Oct. 2 for most share classes, according to a filing Thursday, bringing expenses for the institutional-class shares to 50 cents per $100. The change in supervisory and administrative fees is attributed in part to the cost of managing dividends for the growing fund, which has about 5,500 securities in numerous countries and currencies, said Pacific Investment Management Co. spokesman Michael Reid.\n\n\"PIMCO Income Fund has delivered strong performance yet its total expense to investors remains lower than its peer group averages,\" Mr. Reid said in an email. PIMCO Income's peer funds average fees are $1.01 per $100 in assets, according to data on the Morningstar website.\n\nInvestors have been moving money to low-fee, passively managed index funds, raising pressure on money managers to compete by reducing costs. Shareholders added a net $703.4 billion to passively run mutual and exchange-traded funds while withdrawing $214.5 billion from active funds in the 12 months through July, according to Morningstar.\n\nThe average fee paid by investors fell to 57 basis points in 2016 from 61 in 2015 and 65 three years earlier, according to a May report by Morningstar.\n\nOn the passive investing side, big providers such as BlackRock, Vanguard Group, Fidelity Investments and Charles Schwab have cut fees on index funds and exchange-traded funds to as low as 3 or 4 cents for every $100 invested.\n\nPIMCO CEO Emmanuel Roman has said his firm's strategy is to provide benchmark-beating risk-adjusted returns through active management, while charging \"the right level\" of fees.\n\nPIMCO Income, managed by Dan Ivascyn and Alfred Murata, has added $23.5 billion in new investments in the past 12 months, more than any other actively managed U.S. fund, Morningstar estimates. It has returned an average of 7.6% annually over the past five years, outperforming 99% of its Bloomberg peer group.\n\nPIMCO is increasing the Income Fund's Class D fees 11 basis points, according to the filing. The firm is also boosting fees by 5 basis points for Class D shares of the All Asset Fund and the All Asset All Authority Fund.\n\nAt the same time, the firm is lowering fees 11 basis points across share classes on its Unconstrained Bond Fund and 5 basis points on its Emerging Markets Corporate Bond Fund, Emerging Markets Full Spectrum Bond Fund and Global Advantage Strategy Bond Fund. For the PIMCO Total Return Fund, fees are being cut 5 basis points on Class A shares and increased 5 basis points on Class D shares.", "output": "PIMCO is raising the fees on its Income Fund, bucking the trend of asset managers slashing expense ratios for their fund products. The fund has been the fastest growing US active product over the last 12 months. In general, passive funds are still taking in assets at the expense of their active counterparts, pulling in more than $703bn in the US over the past year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Africa urged to seek broad-based economic empowerment in China ties \n China has catapulted from being a relatively small investor in the continent to becoming Africa\u2019s largest economic partner. Africa-China trade is poised to grow 20% year on year making it seem like dragons are the new king of the African jungle.\n\nInvestment in Africa has however been structured around Chinese ownership, with roughly 90% of firms either majority controlled or owned outright by Chinese nationals. There are estimated to be over 10,000 Chinese firms in Africa that have created work for several million Africans. This economic stimulus continues to have significant economic impact in communities riddled with historic economic disparities.", "output": "China is now the largest investor in Africa, writes Johan Hanekom, an expert on strategy, innovation and growth. However, Hanekom points to the fact Chinese nationals own 90% of the firms receiving investment. For the China-Africa partnership to thrive, and prevent economic colonisation, corruption and violence must be tackled, language and cultural barriers addressed, and better wealth distribution sought. He urged African countries receiving aid from China to develop political and economic structures and strategies that ensure broad-based economic empowerment, which will in turn promote political development and better international trade relations, he said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wind turbine makers partner with energy storage companies \n Danish company Vestas Wind Systems is one of the biggest makers of wind turbines in the world, recently surpassing GE\u2019s market share in the US. But as the wind industry becomes more competitive, Vestas appears to be looking for ways to solidify its lead by offering something different. Now, the company says it\u2019s looking into building wind turbines with battery storage onsite.\n\nAccording to a Bloomberg report, Vestas is working on 10 projects that will add storage to wind installations, and Tesla is collaborating on at least one of those projects. Vestas says the cooperation between the two companies isn\u2019t a formal partnership, and Tesla hasn\u2019t commented on the nature of its work with Vestas. But the efforts to combine wind turbines with battery storage offer a glimpse into how the wind industry might change in the future.\n\nThe news about Vestas is just one datapoint in a summer of news about wind and storage projects. In August, offshore wind developer Deepwater Wind announced that it would pair a 144MW offshore wind farm planned for the coast of New Bedford, Massachusetts, with a 40MWh battery storage system from Tesla. Construction on that project is set to end sometime in 2022. According to GreenTechMedia, Spanish wind power company Acciona recently connected two Samsung lithium-ion batteries to a 3-megawatt turbine in Spain, Dong installed a battery on the UK coastline in June to store some offshore wind energy, and Statoil will include a 1MWh lithium-ion battery in its designs for a floating offshore wind farm that will be completed in late 2018.\n\nThe idea of onsite batteries isn\u2019t new\u2014GE\u2019s renewables arm introduced short-term batteries integrated with wind turbines in 2013, and Vestas itself experimented with tying storage to wind turbines in 2012. But turbine manufacturers seem to be more willing to branch out of their wheelhouse lately and contact battery specialists instead of pushing to build batteries on their own.\n\nThe appeal of batteries seems self-explanatory at first glance: the cost of wind-generated electricity is falling fast, leading energy companies to install wind capacity at record rates in the US as well as in China and the EU. Although government subsidies for renewable energy have played a part in the wind boom, developers are just starting to submit proposals for wind projects that don\u2019t need subsidies to be profitable. But in order for wind to become even more competitive, it needs to make up for one glaring drawback: wind turbines can\u2019t generate electricity on demand.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThat\u2019s where batteries come into play. Installations from AES Energy Storage and Tesla have already hit grids in California, but those systems aren\u2019t tied to a specific renewable resource\u2014they store electricity from coal plants and solar panels alike. But proposing a wind farm with onsite storage might make a grid operator consider that proposal a more reliable source of energy.\n\nStill, the limiting factor is the price of storage. A post from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) explains why storage hasn\u2019t been a big part of the equation historically.\n\nThe reality is that, while several small-scale energy storage demonstration projects have been conducted, the US has been able to add more than 60,000MW of wind power to the grid without adding any commercial-scale energy storage. Similarly, European countries like Denmark, Spain, Ireland, and Germany have successfully integrated very large amounts of wind energy without having to install new energy storage resources. In the US, numerous peer-reviewed studies have concluded that wind energy can provide 20 percent or more of our electricity without any need for energy storage.\n\nThat\u2019s because, the AWEA says, flexibility in the form of fast-ramping gas plants or hydroelectricity already exists on most large grids, and \u201cit is almost always much cheaper to use this flexibility than to build new sources of flexibility like energy storage facilities.\u201d\n\nBut the economics of storage may be changing, or at least companies forecast enough of a change in the next five years to justify getting their feet wet on special projects like these. According to Lazard\u2019s 2016 Levelized Cost of Storage report, forecasts show capital costs of chemical battery construction getting much cheaper out to 2020, while more traditional methods of storage, like compressed air and pumped storage, essentially stay flat.\n\nAnd in a statement to Bloomberg on Friday, Vestas said as much, commenting that the impetus for its 10 projects was to find \u201csustainable energy solutions that can lower the cost of energy.\u201d", "output": "Wind turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems' tie up with Tesla to add on-site energy storage to future wind installations is the latest example of wind energy companies looking to add storage to their developments. Deepwater Wind announced last month it was adding a 40 MWh battery storage system from Tesla to a planned offshore wind farm off New Bedford, Massachusetts. Acciona recently connected two Samsung lithium-ion batteries to a 3 MW\u00a0turbine in Spain;\u00a0Dong installed a battery on the UK coastline in June to store some offshore wind energy, and Statoil will add a 1 MWh lithium-ion battery to a\u00a0floating offshore wind farm that will be completed in late 2018."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Drinks industry misleading public over cancer links \n The drinks industry is misleading the public by downplaying and misrepresenting the link between alcohol and cancer \u2013 especially breast cancer \u2013 in a bid to protect its profits, new research claims.\n\nAlcohol firms and \u201cresponsible drinking\u201d bodies they fund are denying that drink causes cancer and distorting the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, in information they provide to consumers, according to the British-led team of international experts behind the findings.\n\nDespite portraying themselves as socially responsible, many drinks producers are also trying to distract attention from alcohol\u2019s well-established role as a key cause of cancer, confuse consumers and blame other factors, it is claimed.\n\nTheir \u201cdenial, distortion, distraction\u201d tactics closely resemble those cigarette companies used to limit exposure of tobacco\u2019s role as a main cause of cancer. They are being deployed in particular on bowel and breast cancer, two of Britain\u2019s most common and most lethal forms of the disease, the academics allege.\n\n\u201cThe alcohol industry appears to be engaged in the extensive misrepresentation of evidence about the alcohol-related risk of cancer. These activities have parallels with those of the tobacco industry\u201d, according to a study by Professor Mark Petticrew, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and colleagues.\n\nThey analysed the accuracy of information about alcohol and cancer carried on websites and in publications produced by 26 drinks producers and \u201csocial aspects and public relations organisations\u201d worldwide they use to advise consumers about alcohol and health. Many were guilty of manipulation of evidence, they concluded.\n\nThe Portman Group and Drinkaware, two UK bodies financed by the alcohol industry, are among those accused of being involved in what the researchers say is systematic \u201cdenialism\u201d of the heightened risks of cancer from drinking.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s extremely worrying that the UK public are not being given independent, honest information about the health risks associated with drinking,\u201d said Katherine Brown, chief executive of the Institute of Alcohol Studies, a thinktank.\n\nFor example, of the 26 sources of material analysed by researchers, 20 either did not discuss alcohol\u2019s role in causing breast cancer, or did so but included inaccurate or misleading information about the link.\n\nMore than 100 studies since 2007 have shown that alcohol, even in moderate amounts, increases the risk of breast cancer. Despite that, the research highlights how information published on Drinkaware\u2019s website last December pointed to a range of other factors as possible causes, including a woman\u2019s gender, age and family history, in what the authors say was a bid to deflect attention from alcohol\u2019s role in increasing cancer risk.\n\nThe industry may be using such tactics because it hopes to increase the amount of alcohol drunk by women and does not want the public to learn about its link with the disease, suggest the authors, whose findings are published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Review.\n\nIARC, the World Health Organization\u2019s cancer arm, and the UK government\u2019s committee on carcinogenicity have both said the evidence showed alcohol increased the risk of cancers of the mouth and throat, larynx, oesophagus, upper aerodigestive tract, breast and liver as well as the colon, rectum and pancreas.\n\nThe findings also claim that both Drinkaware and the Portman Group have sought to play down alcohol\u2019s potentially damaging role in causing cancer by claiming that risk only applies to heavy or binge drinking; confusing the relationship between alcohol and cancer by highlighting a range of other risk factors; and also by stressing the complexity of risk to suggest that there is little evidence of risk, when the opposite is true.\n\nFor example, the brewer SAB Miller\u2019s talkingalcohol.com website \u201cstates inaccurately that there is no link between alcohol and most cancers except for \u2018mainly cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract\u2019 and the liver,\u201d the paper says. Similarly, the Portman Group says that \u201cthe vast majority of cancer types are not associated with alcohol consumption\u201d.\n\nWhile there are more than 200 types of cancer, alcohol is recognised by key medical authorities as a cause of two of the commonest: breast and bowel cancer, which between them result in almost 100,000 new diagnoses a year in the UK alone.\n\nThe Portman Group denied the academics\u2019 claims that it had misrepresented the evidence on alcohol and cancer in its response to the government consultation on updated safe drinking guidelines, unveiled in January last year. They promote responsible drinking and responsible marketing of alcohol, they said.\n\n\u201cIt is vital that academic research and commentary about lifestyle risks is presented fairly, accurately and in context so that people can make rational and informed choices in their everyday lives.\n\n\u201cIn the UK, producers and retailers support many charities and organisations that provide consumers with practical and evidence-based information about alcohol and their health and have a long history of promoting responsible drinking messages,\u201d said John Timothy, its chief executive.\n\nDrinkaware, which aims to educate the public about drinking and reduce alcohol harm, also rejected the claims made about it. \u201cThe Drinkaware website carries extensive information about alcohol and health, all of which has been approved by Drinkaware\u2019s medical advisory panel, which is made up of senior and independent experts,\u201d a spokesperson said.\n\n\u201c[The panel\u2019s] recent review of Drinkaware\u2019s cancer information, which is extensive, has confirmed that the information we are providing accurately reflects the most recent research evidence.\u201d\n\nChris Snowdon, head of lifestyle economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs, accused the authors of cherry-picking quotes that did not fairly reflect scientific evidence. \u201cThis is a diatribe disguised as a study that seeks to create a false narrative in which businesses always lie and anti-alcohol campaigners always tell the truth,\u201d he said.\n\nThe Department of Health rejected the academics\u2019 suggestion that ministers should stop trusting alcohol bodies to inform the public about alcohol and cancer because the findings showed such large-scale distortion and omission of key facts.\n\n\u201cWe are clear on the links between excessive alcohol consumption and cancer, supported by the UK CMOs\u2019 [chief medical officers\u2019] guidelines. Public Health England regularly promotes the message that you can reduce your risk of cancers by making lifestyle changes through national campaigns like One You,\u201d a spokesman said.", "output": "The alcoholic drinks industry is misrepresenting the links between alcohol and cancer, according to a UK-led study by international researchers. The report claims that alcohol firms and the \u201cresponsible drinking\u201d bodies funded by them, including the Portman Group and Drinkaware, are misleading the public through tactics of \u201cdenial, distortion, distraction\u201d that parallel those used by cigarette firms. Such tactics are particularly used in relation to bowel and breast cancer, two of the most common and lethal forms of the disease in the UK. \u00a0\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fossil fuel trade associations sue Illinois over subsidies \n Two trade associations have filed a joint amicus brief in a federal appeals court in Chicago, arguing that the Illinois Zero Emissions Credit (ZEC) program unlawfully discriminates against natural gas and undermines competitive wholesale power markets.\n\nOn Tuesday, the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA) and the American Petroleum Institute (API) urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit to reverse a lower court ruling to dismiss a legal challenge to block Illinois from implementing the ZEC program.\n\nSpecifically, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Electric Power Supply Association, Dynegy Inc., NRG Energy Inc. and Calpine Corp.\n\nThe plaintiffs argued that the ZEC program infringes on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission\u2019s exclusive authority to regulate wholesale power markets.\n\n\u201cIf allowed to stand, the district court\u2019s decision would allow Illinois and other states to enact laws that change the wholesale rates received by electric generation suppliers participating in organized wholesale electricity markets, favoring uncompetitive in-state nuclear generators with subsidies, while discriminatorily depressing the prices received by other suppliers, with the express intention of protecting in-state industry and favoring one fuel source over another,\u201d NGSA and API said in their joint filing.\n\nThe associations said Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania were considering enacting programs similar to ZEC. \u201cThe district court\u2019s decision would throw open the door to an ever-growing patchwork of discriminatory intervention in wholesale markets.\u201d\n\nNGSA CEO Dena Wiggins said the ZEC program \u201cis not only discriminatory, it would have serious adverse consequences for the efficient and unbiased functioning of the nation\u2019s energy markets.\u201d\n\nIllinois Gov. Bruce Rauner signed the Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA) into law last December. FEJA authorized the Illinois Power Agency to award ZECs to electric utilities.", "output": "Two fossil fuel trade associations are pursuing a legal battle to have the Illinois Zero Emissions Credit (ZEC) ruled unlawful. The Natural Gas Supply Association and the American Petroleum Institute claim the state's programme infringes on the authority of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and unfairly favours in-state nuclear generators with subsidies, discriminating against other suppliers. Other states such as Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania are reportedly looking at introducing programmes similar to ZEC, which the trade associations claim would have adverse consequences for the unbiased functioning of the US energy market."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Iberdrola issues \u20ac750m bond to finance Baltic Sea power project \n Spanish energy group Iberdrola SA (BME:IBE) on Wednesday issued a EUR-750-million (USD 895.5m) green bond on the Euromarket to finance and refinance wind power project investments.\n\nMore specifically, the proceeds will go for investments in onshore wind farms in the UK and in the 350-MW Wikinger wind farm in the German Baltic Sea. The offshore wind park is under construction with more than half of the 70 Adwen turbines installed already.\n\nDemand for the green bond surpassed EUR 2.2 billion in the initial phase, which allowed Iberdrola to boost its size by 50% from the initially planned EUR 500 million. More than 150 investors will be taking part in the issue, including a large share of Socially Responsible Investors (SRI).\n\nThe bond matures in September 2027 and bears a coupon of 1.25%.\n\nThe Spanish company has an installed power capacity of 48 GW, of which 28.3 GW is from renewable energy sources.\n\n(EUR 1 = USD 1.19)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Spanish utility Iberdrola has issued a \u20ac750m ($896m) green bond on the Euromarket to finance the 350 MW Wikinger wind farm in the German Baltic Sea as well as onshore wind farms in the UK. Demand for the bond topped \u20ac2.2bn in the initial phase. More than 150 companies, including several socially responsible investors, are expected to take part in the issue. The bond matures in September 2027 and bears a coupon of 1.25%."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sustainable clothing that expands as child grows wins Dyson award \n An origami-inspired range of children\u2019s clothing made from a durable pleated fabric that expands to fit growing babies and toddlers has won its 24-year-old designer a prestigious James Dyson award.\n\nRyan Yasin devised the material using scientific principles he studied for his aeronautical engineering degree, after noting the lack of sustainability in the clothing industry and being frustrated by how quickly his baby niece and nephew outgrew garments he bought for them.\n\nThe London-based postgraduate student aims to make so-called Petit Pli \u201cthe most advanced kids\u2019 clothing in the world\u201d. It is made from distinctive pleated lightweight fabric which is waterproof, machine washable and recyclable, with all garments fitting the three-month to three-year age group.\n\nMost children grow by seven sizes in their first two years, and (according to a recent survey by Aviva) parents spend an average of \u00a32,000 on clothing before their child reaches the age of three. As well as the high cost and limited lifespan, mass production of garments places huge pressure on the environment through waste, water consumption and carbon emissions.\n\nRyan Yasin, designer of Petit Pli clothing range that grow with your child. Photograph: Paul Grover/James Dyson Award\n\nYasin set out to combine technology with textiles in order to fashion durable and practical garments for youngsters to take them through their initial \u201cgrowth spurt\u201d. The babygrow, trousers and tops he has so far created resemble junior versions of sought-after clothing by legendary Japanese designer Issey Miyake.\n\nPetit Pli works by employing the so-called negative Poisson\u2019s ratio, which Yasin studied while at London\u2019s Imperial College. When stretched, materials that have this ratio \u2013 known as auxetics \u2013 become thicker and can expand in two directions at the same time. The phenomenon is already used in stents and biomedical implants. Yasin has to date developed more than 500 prototypes for Petit Pli and plans to use his \u00a32,000 prize money to continue discussions with potential investors and expand the business. Yasin says he is in talks with a major UK retailer and hopes the first clothing will go on sale in the UK within months.\n\nThe clothes are made to stretch to fit children as they grow between three and 36 months old. Photograph: Courtesy of Petit Pli\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s just great to have that backing and recognition of my solution,\u201d he said. \u201cThe prize money is an added bonus, but I know how I will use it. In addition to supporting my R&D, it will help me form an interdisciplinary team of experts to take Petit Pli to the next level: putting it in the hands of parents worldwide and making a tangible difference to the way we consume resources in the fashion industry.\u201d\n\n\n\nYasin has captured auxetic properties in Petit Pli through the use of permanent pleating. The pleats move in both directions, either folding together or expanding, and allowing the garment to move with the child. Heat treatment fixes these properties permanently in place, even through the wash cycle; the garments are designed to be long-lasting and can fold down small enough to tuck in your pocket.\n\n\n\nYasin says he will aim to keep the garments at a competitive price while ensuring everyone along the supply chain is paid ethically.\n\nHis invention will now be entered into the international running for the final leg of the James Dyson Award \u2013 announced in October \u2013 which will give the overall worldwide winner a further \u00a330,000 in prize money.\n\n\n\nThe James Dyson award operates in 23 countries, and is open to university level students and recent graduates studying product design, industrial design and engineering. It recognises and rewards imaginative design solutions to global problems with the environment in mind.", "output": "A range of sustainable children\u2019s clothing inspired by origami, which expands as babies and toddlers grow, has won an international James Dyson award. Ryan Yasin, a 24-year-old designer based in London, used principles he learned during his aeronautical engineering degree to create the Petit Pli range, which is made from lightweight, pleated fabric and is machine washable, recyclable and waterproof. Each garment fits children aged three months to three years. According to Aviva, most children grow seven sizes in their first two years of life, with parents spending an average of \u00a32,000 on clothes before a child reaches three."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "PE firm Clairvest invests in renewable energy for first time \n TORONTO, Sept. 07, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Clairvest Group Inc. (TSX:CVG) (\u201cClairvest\u201d) today announces that it, together with limited partnerships controlled by it, made a growth equity investment in Also Energy, Inc. (\u201cAlso Energy\u201d or the \u201cCompany\u201d). Clairvest, together with limited partnerships controlled by it have partnered with the existing management team who will retain a significant interest in the business.\n\nAlso Energy is a solar monitoring company based in Boulder, Colorado. Also Energy provides software and hardware that enable the monitoring and control of power production and plant operations for commercial, industrial and utility-scale power plants in the United States around the world. The Company was founded by Robert Schaefer, Chief Executive Officer and Holden Caine, Chief Technology Officer who will retain a significant stake in the Company. The opportunity was originated through Clairvest\u2019s domain work in the renewable energy sector.\n\n\u201cOur domain efforts brought us to this exciting company and we have been consistently impressed with this business throughout our diligence. We are committed to support the Company through potential near-term turbulence and we are excited to partner with Robert and Holden to support the next phase of the Company\u2019s growth,\" said Ken Rotman, Co-CEO of Clairvest.\n\n\u201cClairvest is an ideal partner to help us continue to grow. We sought to find a supportive partner to provide capital and expertise to fuel our expansion and we have found just that in Clairvest,\" said Robert Schaefer.\n\nAlso Energy is Clairvest\u2019s 49th platform investment and the fifth investment by CEP V. The Clairvest / CEP V co-investment pool is capitalized at $600 million and focuses on equity investments in growth companies.\n\nAbout Clairvest\n\nClairvest Group Inc. is a private equity management firm that invests its own capital, and that of third parties through the Clairvest Equity Partners limited partnerships, in businesses that have the potential to generate superior returns. In addition to providing financing, Clairvest contributes strategic expertise and execution ability to support the growth and development of its investee partners. Clairvest realizes value through investment returns and the eventual disposition of its investments.", "output": "Private equity firm Clairvest Group has made its first foray into the renewables sector with a growth equity investment in Boulder-based Also Energy. The company provides software and hardware to monitor and control global power production and plant operations for commercial, industrial and utility-scale power plants. As part of the deal, Also Energy CEO Robert Schaefer and CTO Holden Caine will retain a \"significant stake\" in the company."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shell commits to renewable energy with investments \n Shell has long expressed its acceptance of the science of human-induced climate change and its determination to invest heavily in technologies to help enable a global transition to a world of drastically reduced greenhouse-gas emissions. As part of that commitment, Shell continues to fund a variety of research projects at MIT and elsewhere related to renewable energy, energy storage, and ways of capturing and storing carbon emissions from fossil fuel.\n\n\u201cFor some years already we\u2019ve been aware of the energy transition,\u201d Brekelmans said. It\u2019s accelerating, he said, and it\u2019s clear that \u201cit\u2019s time to act, even more so than before.\u201d Already, Shell has made \u201csignificant investments in wind, in solar, in biofuels \u2014 not all of them successful,\u201d demonstrating the need to be careful about how one invests that research money. Because of the complexity of the world\u2019s energy systems and demands, he said, \u201cwe have concluded that this will be a multidecade transition.\u201d\n\nIn the discussion, titled, \u201cIf you had a billion dollars for energy-related R&D, where would you spend it?,\u201d Brekelmans addressed that lofty question and many others about the company\u2019s, and the world\u2019s, energy future.\n\nHarry Brekelmans, the projects and technology director for Royal Dutch Shell, one of the world\u2019s leading oil and gas companies and a founding member of the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI), on Wednesday met with groups of MIT students and faculty members about their work before taking part in a public discussion about energy issues with MITEI co-founder and director Robert Armstrong.\n\nIn introducing the discussion Maria Zuber, MIT\u2019s vice president for research, pointed out that Shell\u2019s CEO Ben Van Beurden recently said that with the right mix of policy and innovation, he sees global demand for oil peaking in the early 2030s or sooner \u2014 and that his next car will be electric.\n\nZuber said that MIT\u2019s Plan for Action on Climate Change calls for finding solutions for decarbonizing the world\u2019s energy systems, aiming for a zero-carbon energy system by the century\u2019s end. To achieve that, she said, MIT\u2019s view is that \u201cthe best chance of success is if a broad range of stakeholders, from industry to government to civil society, engage with each other proactively to address it.\u201d One way of doing that, she said, is through conversations such as this one.\n\nBrekelmans said that Shell\u2019s approach to energy R&D is two-pronged, working in parallel on both near-term and long-term strategies. For the near term, the emphasis is on finding technologies that already exist in other industries that can be adapted and scaled up to have a rapid impact on energy use. The longer-term work deals with new findings in laboratories, that have great potential but that may require many years of work to determine if they can be scaled up to meet a significant portion of the world\u2019s energy needs or to improve the performance of existing energy systems.\n\nWhile the company\u2019s investments in low-carbon energy technologies goes back many years, the mix of research projects they support has evolved over time, he said. One change is that much more of the long-term research is now focused on energy storage systems. These are seen as a key enabling technology to allow for increased usage of energy sources that are inherently variable, such as wind and solar power. \u201cIt was not part of our portfolio 10 years ago,\u201d he said, but is now a significant piece of it.\n\nAnother research area of increasing emphasis is capturing and storing carbon emissions from power plants to reduce their climate impact, he said. But other approaches don\u2019t necessarily have to be high-tech, he said. \u201cWhen we talk about offsets, we increasingly talk about simple things like reforestation,\u201d he told students during his morning meetings.\n\nAnother change, he said, is \u201cin the way we do R&D. Our collaboration with MIT is absolutely fundamental\u201d to Shell\u2019s efforts. \u201cWe know we can\u2019t do it ourselves alone. Much of the progress is happening here and at other institutions.\u201d With the company\u2019s own technology campus in Kendall Square, bordering the MIT campus, \u201cwe are hiring people who have no prior experience in oil and gas but who have a knack for innovation,\u201d he said. Shell\u2019s investments, he said, include providing \u201cseed investments in crazy ideas, to help bring them to the next stage.\u201d\n\nDespite the company\u2019s ongoing commitment to working toward a transition away from greenhouse emissions, Brekelmans said that he and his colleagues \u201call conclude every year that we\u2019re not moving fast enough,\u201d and continue to redouble their efforts.\n\nEmphasizing that their reach and their interests are global, he added that Shell has also recently opened a campus in Bangalore, India, that employs almost 1,000 technologists, as an incubator for new technologies and approaches. The world\u2019s energy systems and needs are very different and highly localized, he said: \u201cAlmost every country is different,\u201d in terms of its needs and the most effective ways of meeting them.\n\nIn the developing world, he said, the company provides aid through the Shell Foundation, helping to bring electricity and other energy supplies to some of the world\u2019s 3 billion people who lack access to reliable power. Among other things, these grants are aimed at helping some developing nations steer toward the use of natural gas rather than coal, as a lower-carbon fuel.\n\nShell \u201cwants to be a voice and a leader\u201d in the world\u2019s energy transition, he said. But along the way, he said, the company must \u201cnot abandon the economic process that made us a leader,\u201d namely the production and distribution of oil and gas.\n\nThe company clearly recognizes the need for some kind of pricing on carbon fuels that reflects their real impact on the world, Brekelmans said. Already, the company \u201cinternally works with a price on carbon,\u201d assuming that this will eventually be part of the economic reality.\n\nAs for what form that pricing should take, whether it\u2019s a carbon tax, a fee-and-dividend, or a cap-and-trade system, he said, \u201cwe are relatively agnostic, as long as we have a price that we can then develop and evolve.\u201d Having some such system in place, he says, is \u201cpreferable to the almost religious debate over what is the best system.\u201d", "output": "A senior executive at Royal Dutch Shell has outlined how the company sees the transition from fossil fuels to renewables as inevitable, and was investing significantly in renewables research. Harry Brekelmans, Shell's projects and technology director, told an audience at MIT that the company has concluded the transition will take several decades, and conceded that not all of the investments it has made in research have been successful. Shell's CEO also recently said that with the right mix of policy and innovation, demand for oil could peak in the early 2030s or sooner."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "DOE invests $10m in fuel cell tech \n Dive Brief:\n\nThe U.S. Department of Energy\u2019s Office of Fossil Energy has selected 16 projects to receive $10.2 million in funding to advance solid oxide fuel cell ( SOFC ) technology.\n\n) technology. LG Fuel Cell Systems \u2014 the largest grant recipient by far \u2014 will receive almost $6 million to deploy a 250-kW integrated fuel cell system on a site provided by Stark State College in North Canton, Ohio.\n\nIt is the second funding news out of the Office of Fossil Energy in as many weeks. In late August, the office promised $50 million for two large-scale pilots for \"transformational coal technologies.\"\n\nDive Insight:\n\nDOE's funding to advance solid oxide fuel cells falls under two categories: core technology development, where it will back 15 projects, and prototype testing, with one project.\n\n\"The applied research projects will address the technical issues facing the cost and reliability of SOFC technology and conduct field testing of an integrated prototype system project intended to validate the solutions to those issues,\" DOE said.\n\nAccording to the agency, SOFCs are \"ideal for carbon capture in that the fuel and oxidant (air) streams can be kept separate by design, thereby facilitating high levels of carbon capture without substantial additional cost.\"\n\nLG Fuel Cell Systems will deploy the 250-kW integrated fuel cell system to operate on natural gas and connect directly to the electric grid. According to DOE, the prototype will incorporate current technologies and operate under \"a range of environmental conditions for at least 5,000 hours to assess progress of system durability, performance, and operating cost.\"\n\nDOE will provide $5.7 million in funding, while the company provides $1.4 million.\n\nOf the 15 technology development projects, all will receive about $300,000 from DOE. Among those projects, Montana State University will seek to develop strategies that use secondary phase materials added to traditional nickel-based cermet electrodes to enhance SOFC anode durability and performance. Redox Power Systems in College Park, Md., will develop critical high-throughput, in-line metrology techniques for evaluating protective coatings for SOFCs.\n\nAnd at the University of South Carolina, researchers will work to develop and evaluate \"novel, lost-cost, durable cathode materials\" to support SOFC commercialization.\"", "output": "LG Fuel Cell Systems has been awarded the lion's share of $10.2m in funding from the US Department of Energy\u2019s Office of Fossil Energy, to develop and advance solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology. LG has been granted almost $6m to test a 250 kW prototype integrated fuel cell system in Ohio, while 15 other groups, including Redox Power Systems and researchers at University of South Carolina, will receive around $300,000. SOFCs \"facilitate high levels of carbon capture without substantial additional cost\", according to the Office of Fossil Energy."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New NQF report considers how to evaluate telehealth initiatives \n Increased investment in telehealth for providers, employers, and payers has become a reality, a forward momentum that is unlikely to be turned around. But even as adoption ticks up and state and national legislatures open the doors for more telehealth use and reimbursement, recent studies have shown mixed results about the efficacy of the technology.\n\nAbout a year ago, in an effort to standardize the conversation around telemedicine efficacy, the Department of Health and Human Services commissioned the National Quality Forum to create a framework for telehealth measures. Now, after receiving and incorporating public comments, that framework has been published.\n\n\"The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) initiated this project, explicitly for the National Quality Forum (NQF) to convene a multistakeholder committee to recommend various methods to measure the use of telehealth as a means of providing care,\" NQF writes in the report. \"The Committee was charged with developing a measurement framework that identifies measures and measure concepts and serves as a conceptual foundation for new measures, where needed, to assess the quality of care provided using telehealth modalities.\"\n\nNQF looked at 68 existing telehealth studies to break down the different measurement possibilities. The resulting document covers live video telehealth, store and forward, remote monitoring, and health apps. It breaks measures down into four broad domains: access to care; cost and financial impacts; patient, provider, and community experience; and effectiveness, including clinical, operational, and technical effectiveness.\n\nAn assessment of telehealth should look at how the technology impacts the need for travel, how it affects the timeliness of care, and what actionable information it creates for caregivers. Other factors to consider include the impact on patient empowerment, care coordination, and the ability of remote monitoring to enhance personalized medicine efforts.\n\nThe 81-page report includes more details on the proposed measures, a series of case studies exemplifying the measures, and a discussion of how these measures interact with MACRA and with other NQF projects.", "output": "A report from the National Quality Forum has been published. The report, commissioned by the Department of Health and Human Services, was designed to create a framework for telehealth adoption. The NQF examined 68 telehealth studies to establish an efficacy measurement framework, studying access to care; patient, provider and community experiences; the cost and financial impact of telehealth; and on the efficacy of telehealth services, including technical, operational and clinical factors. The telehealth services include live video, store and forward sessions, remote monitoring and the use of healthcare apps. The assessment of telehealth\u2019s efficacy must consider how the technology could improve the need for travel, the speed of care and the provision of useful caregiver data. It also requires the assessment of patient empowerment, the coordination of care, and the improvement of personalized medical treatment.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's $24bn online education market set to grow 20% annually \n Analysts believe the best is yet to come for the US$24 billion market, with innovations such as live-streamed lessons enabling teachers to reach out to students in remote areas and smaller cities", "output": "China\u2019s online education sector is predicted to grow 20% annually to reach $41bn by 2019. The education market across the world is due to hit $190bn by the same year. The surge is due to the increase in household spending capital, the lack of educational resources and the relaxing of the one-child policy. Online education firms in China have already seen 144m users join by June alone.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Spending on adaptive learning tech triples to $41m since 2013 \n Summit Public Schools is banking on personalized learning as the wave of the future. Summit Public Schools\n\nOver the past few years, Bill Gates, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings have all endorsed a teaching method known as \"personalized learning.\"\n\nIt involves students guiding their own lessons with the help of technology, while teachers take on more of a coaching role if problems emerge. For its apparent benefits in getting kids up to speed in reading and math, advocates have claimed it could \u2014 and should \u2014 become the future of US education.\n\nBut personalized learning is so new, many teachers still need to learn how it works.\n\nStarting this academic year, one of the largest school networks using personalized learning, Summit Public Schools, is hosting a residency program to address that skills gap. Across eight locations in California, 24 teachers will spend one year learning the skills to personalize students' education in the future.\n\n\"We are modeling teaching through the student learning experience,\" Adam Carter, Summit's Chief Academic Officer, told Business Insider. This year, approximately 330 schools serving thousands of students in 40 states will use the Summit Learning Program in some capacity, whether online or in-person.\n\nSummit residents will learn how to teach personalized learning in the same way kids learn from it. Summit Public Schools\n\nFour days a week, each resident teacher will be paired with a teacher in a Summit school. They'll spend the remaining school day working on their own. All the while, they'll learn about the strategies that makes personalized learning so appealing, according to leaders like Gates and Zuckerberg: Socratic discussions, small group workshops, and self-guided coursework.\n\nThe teachers will also convene in similar groups to learn about the style of teaching they'll be relying on. In that way, Summit hopes to generate a group of teachers that understand personalized learning inside and out because they, themselves, have learned through the method.\n\n\"Not only does this experience build expertise,\" Carter said, \"but is also builds empathy for students.\"\n\nBy putting teachers in the same position as students, Summit expects them to develop greater empathy. Summit Public Schools\n\nSummit doesn't expect personalized learning to become the default mode of instruction in all schools, Carter said. Rather, the network wants to continually adapt to what research says is most effective for helping kids learn, even if that means abandoning personalized learning. Those kinds of insights are determined by things like the needs of a given school and its surrounding community.\n\nThe current research seems to support Summit's model for now. A study published last year found that kids in 62 schools using personalized education scored higher on reading and math standardized compared to kids learning without personalized instruction. Many who were below-average scorers ended up above-average.\n\nIn other countries with successful education programs, the personalized model seems to be a deciding factor in success. Students in Finland and Peru, for example, receive personalized learning through cleverly designed classrooms and mobile devices that allow students to work at their own speed.\n\nResidents in Summit's new program will ultimately earn a California Preliminary Teacher Credential from Summit Public Schools. Summit may also offer teachers a full-time job if they excel in their position.\n\n\"The real barriers to personalized learning have always been structural,\" Carter said. \"What we\u2019re trying to do is provide new structures that are more about students and less about how things have always been done. The desire is there. The know how is there and the systems are there. This is possible.\"", "output": "Adaptive learning technology spending by US school districts has tripled to reach $41m since 2013, according to education tech provider Noodle Markets. Of those funds, 9% was spent on the professional development of teachers. Adaptive learning tech provides students with tailored content, increasing personalisation and helping with self-guided learning. The new system does require increased input from educators in terms of time and assignment preparation;\u00a0however, Summit Public Schools, which serves New Jersey, is hosting a residency programme to train teachers in the skills that they need.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Spending on adaptive learning tech triples to $41m since 2013 \n Dive Brief:\n\nA report from Noodle Markets shows school district spending on adaptive learning technology has tripled to $41 million since 2013, with 9% of those funds spent on teacher professional development, according to EdTech: Focus on K-12.\n\nAdaptive learning tech uses algorithms and data to present students with content matched to their current progress, with the idea being that it simplifies personalized and self-paced learning for teachers.\n\nSome schools have developed simplified workarounds to more specific adaptive tech, using Google Forms and Google Sheets to deliver content to students based on how they respond to questions, and success with adaptive tools has also required some schools and districts to strengthen and expand their infrastructure.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nThe last several years have seen a push to provide students with educational experiences personalized to fit their needs and current progress. And while doing so has long proven effective in some private school models, like the Montessori system, it's been much harder to scale to the often-larger class sizes found in many public schools.\n\nThat's where adaptive learning tech has stepped in, serving as a means of gathering data on students' progress and presenting them with harder content when they're ready to progress or reviewing content at their current level if they're not at that point yet. Used in combination with a flipped learning model, for example \u2014 where the student engages with pedagogical content that would traditionally be delivered in class and engages in discussion or completes assignments or projects during class time \u2014 it has the potential to deliver on that promise.\n\nNotably, however, this can require some additional time commitment on the part of educators, as the model can require additional preparation and deeper assignments on top of the extra one-on-one time with students. As a result, administrators will want to keep in mind the potential for teacher burnout and how to address it when considering such a model.", "output": "Adaptive learning technology spending by US school districts has tripled to reach $41m since 2013, according to education tech provider Noodle Markets. Of those funds, 9% was spent on the professional development of teachers. Adaptive learning tech provides students with tailored content, increasing personalisation and helping with self-guided learning. The new system does require increased input from educators in terms of time and assignment preparation;\u00a0however, Summit Public Schools, which serves New Jersey, is hosting a residency programme to train teachers in the skills that they need.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dentists to poor people: Drop dead \n The women and men who fix your teeth now make more money per capita than doctors . To preserve their high incomes, dentists have historically refused to participate in Medicare because of low reimbursements, and ditto for Medicaid. Now dentists are resolutely \u2014 some would say fanatically \u2014 opposing efforts to let dental hygienists and dental therapists deliver prophylactic care to children, the elderly, and to poor and underserved regions in America.\n\nDentists, who seem like perfectly nice people when you meet them at after-school events or at the grocery store, are carving out a bizarre public persona that is a mixture of Simon Legree, Snidely Whiplash, and Dr. Evil.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe shocking outcome of dentists\u2019 apparent indifference to the less fortunate came in 2007, when 12-year old Deamonte Driver died of an oral infection in Maryland\u2019s affluent Prince George\u2019s County. How unpleasant for the nation\u2019s lawmakers to read the next day\u2019s Washington Post headline: \u201cFor Want of a Dentist: Prince George\u2019s Boy Dies After Bacteria from Tooth Spread to Brain.\u201d\n\nGet Today in Opinion Globe Opinion's must-reads, delivered to you every Sunday-Friday. Enter Email Sign Up\n\nStaff writer Mary Otto wrote that story, and later left the paper to research her just-published book \u201cTeeth: The Story of Beauty, Inequality, and the Struggle for Oral Health in America.\u201d It\u2019s an ungainly title, and it\u2019s a subject that probably feels as foreign to you as it does to me. I bet that most Globe readers brush regularly and make sure their children show up for dental appointments, terrifying though they may be.\n\nOtto\u2019s book is about the other one-third of the country: the uninsured elderly (Medicare doesn\u2019t cover dental check-ups), the tens of millions of children underserved by Medicaid (two-thirds of dentists don\u2019t accept Medicaid patients), and the residents of the 400-plus rural counties that have no dentist at all.\n\nSome dentists and public health types have a solution for these problems: They want to license lower-paid hygienists and dental therapists, so-called \u201cmid-level\u201d practitioners, to deliver baseline care to the needy. Dental associations have been fighting against them tooth and claw, forever.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nEarlier this summer, The Washington Post compared the American Dental Association to the National Rifle Association in its relentless, single-issue attack on state legislators who support mid-level care. The ADA worked hard (and unsuccessfully) to scuttle a plan to let dental therapists treat Alaska Native tribes. \u201cThey went after these Alaskan therapists like they were ISIS,\u201d dentist Jack Dillenberg told the Post. \u201cIt was embarrassing.\u201d\n\nA similar scenario is playing out in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Dental Society is opposing Senator Harriette Chandler\u2019s Senate bill 1169, which seeks to allow dental therapists to treat patients under the \u201cgeneral supervision\u201d of a dentist, after 500 hours of training. The MDS is promoting a more restrictive bill that imposes limits on where therapists can practice, and on how they can be reimbursed.\n\n\u201cThe battle going on in Massachusetts mirrors the battle going on in other states across the country,\u201d says Otto, who will be speaking at the Harvard Dental School on Sept. 12, the same day that Chandler\u2019s bill is scheduled for a joint hearing on Beacon Hill.\n\nLast month the Boston City Council urged the Legislature to pass the Chandler bill. \u201cMore than 530,000 people in Massachusetts live in areas with a shortage of dentists,\u201d Jamaica Plain councilor Matt O\u2019Malley said in an accompanying statement. \u201cBoston residents deserve better, and these mid-level providers can help bring cost-effective dental care to children, seniors, and people with disabilities currently going without it.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAlex Beam\u2019s column appears regularly in the Globe. Follow him on Twitter @imalexbeamyrnot.", "output": "The perception of dental industry providers is negative and likely to continue being so with the antagonism to providing better access to oral care. Dentists make more money per capita than doctors but have steadfastly refused to become Medicare providers due to low reimbursement rates. The main issue at present is the opposition to dental hygienists and dental therapists being licensed by states to deliver prophylactic care to children, the elderly, and to the poor, as well as to underserviced areas across the US. These \u201cmid-level\u201d practitioners could alleviate the coverage crisis and provide remote areas with cost-effective access to care, but dental associations across the US have posed significant opposition to the move.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook VR kits sent to all Arkansas public high schools \n Virtual Reality\n\nAll Arkansas Public High Schools to Receive Facebook VR Kits\n\nFacebook has decided to expand an existing partnership with the Arkansas Department of Education and now plans to bring virtual reality (VR) education to every public high school in the state.\n\nThe original Arkansas Facebook and Techstart Partnership was announced earlier this year and entailed donating 500 VR kits to about 250 schools, educational co-ops and STEM education centers. The classroom VR kits include an Oculus Rift, touch controller, 30 VR viewers and other equipment necessary to participate in the Techstart program \u2014 which combines virtual reality instruction, curriculum support and professional development for educators to give students access to high quality computer science and VR education.\n\nThe Oculus Rift. Image: Oculus.\n\nAccording to a state department news release, around 400 kits were distributed to date. Now, the company will send a kit to all public high schools in Arkansas (totalling around 360 schools).\n\n\u201cWe are appreciative to Facebook for its continued efforts to generate excitement for STEM fields in Arkansas high schools,\u201d said Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson. \u201cFacebook\u2019s generous donation will provide Arkansas\u2019 students with an exciting learning platform that will allow them to have fun while sharpening their computer science skills and exploring STEM careers. Students who utilize this incredible platform will be well-positioned to succeed in our increasingly technology driven economy.\u201d\n\nThe long-term vision of Facebook\u2019s Techstart program is to address the employment gap currently facing the technology industry, or the estimated one million programming jobs that will be open by 2020.\n\nTo learn more, visit the program site.", "output": "Facebook will build on its partnership with the Arkansas Department of Education by offering virtual reality (VR) educational facilities to every Arkansas public high school. Facebook has already donated 400 virtual reality kits to around 250 schools. The kits include Oculus Rift headsets, controllers, computers\u00a0and other necessary equipment for the\u00a0proprietary\u00a0programme. \"Facebook\u2019s generous donation will provide Arkansas\u2019 students with an exciting learning platform that will allow them to have fun while sharpening their computer science skills and exploring STEM careers\", said Arkansas Governor\u00a0Asa Hutchinson.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cruise industry fails to deliver on cleaner ships \n The world\u2019s cruise ships have done virtually nothing to reduce their pollution over the past year, with some still emitting as much particulate matter as 1m cars a day, a report says.\n\nThe annual survey of 63 ships, conducted by the German environment group Nabu, refused to recommend a single one for adequately reducing its environmental impact in 2017.\n\nIt accused the industry of having \u201ccontempt\u201d for the health of its customers, saying companies had reneged on promises to clean up their fleets.\n\n\u201cLast year the sector claimed 23 ships would be operating with soot filters,\u201d said Nabu\u2019s Dietmar Oeliger. \u201cThe truth is not a single filter is working at present.\u201d\n\nThe report\u2019s authors say a mid-size cruise ship\u2019s diesel engine can use 150 tonnes of fuel each day, which would emit as much particulate as one million cars. In December, the Australian government passed a regulation forcing cruise ships in Sydney harbour to use low-sulphur fuel, after residents complained emissions were negatively affecting their health.\n\nThe New South Wales Environmental Protection Agency had earlier warned that docked cruise ships posed a health risk to those who lived near them.\n\n\u201cMany cruise ships emit high levels of fine particles and sulfur dioxide, both of which can be harmful to human health,\u201d it said.\n\n\n\nNabu is calling on all cruise ships worldwide to ban their use of heavy fuel and to install particulate filters on all ships.\n\n\n\nHowever, it said the German companies Hapag-Lloyd and TUI were the only ones to have taken any steps over the past year.\n\n\u201cHapag-Lloyd and TUI share the top position due to the installation of nitrogen oxide catalysts, a small but important step towards cleaner ships,\u201d the report said.\n\nIndustry leaders Costa, MSC and Royal Carribbean were all handed fail grades, along with the British-American company Cunard, which owns the Queen Mary 2.\n\nThe world\u2019s largest cruise ship, Royal Carribbean\u2019s Harmony of the Seas, which can carry 6,3000 passengers, came equal last.\n\n\u201cNo company comes recommended in Nabu\u2019s 2017 cruise ship rankings, which show just how little progress companies have made towards cutting pollution,\u201d the group said in a statement.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe cruise industry\u2019s contempt for the health of its customers and port citizens is underlined by the fact that not one company responded to a simple Q&A supplied by Nabu.\u201d\n\n\n\nIn March last year a London residents\u2019 group said the pollution from cruise liners could prevent the city meeting its EU legal limits on noxious emissions.\n\nThe Brussels-based Transport and Environment group estimates pollution from international shipping caused \u201capproximately 50,000 premature deaths per year in Europe\u201d.\n\n\u201cThrough chemical reactions in the air, SO2 and NOx is converted into fine particles, sulphate and nitrate aerosols,\u201d it said. \u201cTiny airborne particles are linked to premature deaths. The particles get into the lungs and are small enough to pass through tissues and enter the blood.\u201d", "output": "German environmental group Nabu accused the cruise industry of reneging and \"having contempt\u201d for customer health and those living near ports, after ships failed to adequately reduce their environmental impact over the past year. In the group\u2019s survey of 63 ships, none made the recommend list and Costa, MSC and Royal Carribbean and Cunard were all \u201cfailed\u201d, as some mid-sized diesel ships continue to emit particulate matter equivalent to that of one million cars each day. Promised soot filters on 23 ships were still missing and only Germany\u2019s Hapag-Lloyd and TUI took steps toward cleaner ships, installing nitrogen oxide catalysts.\n \n\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wind turbine capacity factors rose 12% since 1993 \n This article first appeared on the BNEF mobile app and the Bloomberg Terminal.\n\nImproving wind turbine performance delivers cheaper power\n\nAverage capacity factors now around 37%, up from 25% in 1993\n\nImproving onshore wind capacity factors\n\nSource: Bloomberg New Energy Finance\n\nThe cost of energy from onshore wind has been tumbling in recent years, in large part due to ever-improving wind turbine designs. Average capacity factors have increased from 25% in 1993 to 37% in 2017. Turbines are getting bigger too, with median capacity increasing from 2MW in 2010 to 2.4MW today. The chart shows this inexorable march, with each dot representing a wind project. Dot size indicates generating capacity and its position on the y-axis its capacity factor. Results were produced from over 2,000 runs of the BNEF Wind Capacity Factor Tool, recently re-published with 87 new turbine specifications.\n\nClients can access the full report and tool here.\n\nBNEF Shorts are research excerpts available only on the BNEF mobile app and the Bloomberg Terminal, highlighting key findings from our reports. If you would like to learn more about our services, please contact us.", "output": "The average capacity factors of onshore wind turbines grew from 25% in 1993 to 37% this year as a result of incremental design improvements, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Median capacity has also risen from 2 MW to 2.4 MW during the past seven years, as a result of the increasing size of the turbines, BNEF said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "H2O-based lithium-ion batteries reduce explosion risk \n Water-in-salt electrolyte. Credit: Jhi Scott, ARL Photographer\n\nResearchers at the University of Maryland and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory have developed for the first time a lithium-ion battery that uses a water-salt solution as its electrolyte and reaches the 4.0 volt mark desired for household electronics, such as laptop computers, without the fire and explosive risks associated with some commercially available non-aqueous lithium-ion batteries. Their work appears September 6 in Joule.\n\n\"In the past, if you wanted high energy, you would choose a non-aqueous lithium-ion battery, but you would have to compromise on safety. If you preferred safety, you could use an aqueous battery such as nickel/metal hydride, but you would have to settle for lower energy,\" says co-senior author Kang Xu, a lab fellow at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory specializing in electrochemistry and materials science. \"Now, we are showing that you can simultaneously have access to both high energy and high safety.\"\n\nThe research follows a 2015 study in Science that produced a similar 3.0 volt battery with an aqueous electrolyte but was stymied from achieving higher voltages by the so-called \"cathodic challenge,\" in which one end of the battery, made from either graphite or lithium metal, is degraded by the aqueous electrolyte. To solve this problem and make the leap from three volts to four, the first author, University of Maryland assistant research scientist Chongyin Yang, designed a new gel polymer electrolyte coating that can be applied to the graphite or lithium anode. The video shows how an interphase precursor water in salt GPE demonstrates extremely low reactivity with lithium metal. Credit: Yang et al.\n\nThis hydrophobic coating expels water molecules from the vicinity of the electrode surface and then, upon charging for the first time, decomposes and forms a stable interphase\u2014a thin mixture of breakdown products that separates the solid anode from the liquid electrolyte. This interphase, inspired by a layer generated within non-aqueous batteries, protects the anode from debilitating side reactions, allowing the battery to use desirable anode materials, such as graphite or lithium metal, and achieve better energy density and cycling ability.\n\n\"The key innovation here is making the right gel that can block water contact with the anode so that the water doesn't decompose and can also form the right interphase to support high battery performance,\" says co-senior author Chunsheng Wang, Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Maryland's A. James Clark School of Engineering.\n\nWater-in-salt gel electrolyte. Credit: Jhi Scott, ARL Photographer\n\nThe addition of the gel coating also boosts the safety advantages of the new battery when compared to standard non-aqueous lithium-ion batteries and boosts the energy density when compared to any other proposed aqueous lithium-ion batteries. All aqueous lithium-ion batteries benefit from the inflammability of water-based electrolytes as opposed to the highly flammable organic solvents used in their non-aqueous counterparts. Unique to this one, however, is that even when the interphase layer is damaged (if the battery casing were punctured, for instance), it reacts slowly with the lithium or lithiated graphite anode, preventing the smoking, fire, or explosion that could otherwise occur if a damaged battery brought the metal into direct contact with the electrolyte. This video shows how when punctured repeatedly with a nail, a four-volt aqueous lithium-ion battery initially maintains its voltage, and no fire, smoke, or explosion occurs. This contrasts with the instantaneous short-circuit and explosive risk of an analogous non-aqueous battery. Credit: Yang et al.\n\nThough the power and energy density of the new battery are suitable for commercial applications currently served by more hazardous non-aqueous batteries, certain improvements would make it even more competitive. In particular, the researchers would like to increase the number of full-performance cycles that the battery can complete and to reduce material expenses where possible. \"Right now, we are talking about 50-100 cycles, but to compare with organic electrolyte batteries, we want to get to 500 or more,\" Wang says.\n\nThe researchers also note that the electrochemical manipulations behind the jump to four volts have importance within battery technology and beyond. \"This is the first time that we are able to stabilize really reactive anodes like graphite and lithium in aqueous media,\" says Xu. \"This opens a broad window into many different topics in electrochemistry, including sodium-ion batteries, lithium-sulfur batteries, multiple ion chemistries involving zinc and magnesium, or even electroplating and electrochemical synthesis; we just have not fully explored them yet.\"", "output": "A research team from the University of Maryland and the US Army Research Laboratory have created a lithium-ion battery that utilises water-salt electrolyte solution that can hit 4\u00a0volts without risk of explosion. Non-aqueous lithium-ion batteries\u00a0provide\u00a0high energy but runs the risk of compromising safety. The researchers used a gel polymer electrolyte coating for the graphite or lithium anodes in its batteries, allowing for slower reactions should damage occur, preventing issues such as fire and explosive reactions."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ruling on UK code breach sees Asda paying back suppliers \n Asda has been forced to pay back hundreds of thousands of pounds to dozens of suppliers after breaching an industry code governing fair dealing.\n\nThe company, named as the worst supermarket in its treatment of suppliers earlier this year, was found to have demanded up front payments worth up to a quarter of the value of annual sales of particular products in order for suppliers to retain their place on the shelf.\n\nSome of those who refused to make these payments, which were greater than those agreed in suppliers\u2019 contracts, were given notice that they would be ousted within as little as four to eight weeks, according to the industry watchdog.\n\nOther changes including cost price reductions were also demanded from suppliers with as little as 24 hours notice under the group\u2019s project renewal plan, designed in partnership with the Bain & Company consultancy to save costs and help cut prices for shoppers.\n\n\n\nThe demands, reported by the Guardian last year, were in breach of the grocery supply code of practice \u2013 government-backed regulations that can attract a fine of up to 1% of UK turnover.\n\nIn a \u201ccode clarification\u201d document published this week, the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA), said it had not decided to launch a formal investigation into Asda\u2019s behaviour or issue a fine.\n\nHowever the regulator, which oversees a government-backed industry code of practice, said a review had found that the Walmart-owned chain had breached \u201cthe overarching principle of fair dealing\u201d in the code with conversations \u201cdesigned to carry an implication of detriment if any supplier declined to agree\u201d to its demands.\n\nThe watchdog said there was no need to launch an investigation. Asda had \u201cproactively engaged with suppliers to rectify any lump sum arrangements, which should not have been made\u201d and put further safeguards in place to prevent any further breaches.\n\nThe GCA report added that the project renewal strategy had been designed by a consultancy commissioned by Asda to achieve cost savings, and it was clear that \u201cthe role of the third party consultants was closely bound up with the issues raised\u201d, as they had been able to achieve bonuses based on the amount of money they were able to save Asda.\n\nThe supermarket said project renewal, launched in late 2015 under former chief executive Andy Clarke, had been Asda-led with support from Bain.\n\nAsda\u2019s current chief executive, Sean Clarke, said: \u201cOur mission is to save customers money through low prices by always securing the lowest possible costs built on a foundation of strong, trusted partnerships with our suppliers and absolutely in line with the groceries supply code of practice (Gscop).\n\n\u201cThe matter raised in the GCA\u2019s case study occurred over a year ago and since then we have significantly strengthened our Gscop compliance programme. We have engaged openly and transparently with the GCA to support her enquiries in keeping with her collaborative approach.\u201d\n\nBain said in a statement: \u201cAs per our company policy, we do not speak publicly about who may or may not be our client.\u201d", "output": "Walmart-owned Asda is to pay hundreds of thousands of pounds back to suppliers, after breaching the grocery supply code of practice that governs fair dealing. UK industry regulator, the Groceries Code Adjudicator, found Adsa charged disproportionate upfront fees, not necessarily those agreed in supplier contracts, and ousted some suppliers at short notice if they refused to oblige. It also made last-minute demands for cuts in cost prices on the back of its project renewal plan designed to cut costs, which it developed with consultancy firm Bain & Company. The grocer avoided both a fine and any formal investigation. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sizmek completes takeover of Rocket Fuel \n Sizmek\u2019s proposed takeover of Rocket Fuel has been given the all-clear following the closure of the publicly-listed adtech outfit\u2019s opportunity to seek alternative offers, with Mark Grether named chief executive officer.\n\nThe merger deal appears to have cleared recent legal objections from parties questioning the value it delivers to shareholders / SIzmek\n\nIn a statement announcing the closure of the deal Grether, claimed the renewed focus of the pair would see it combine data enablement, creative optimization and media execution.\n\n\u201cSizmek\u2019s unique ability to centralize data components in one place, across the entirety of the media plan, combined with Rocket Fuel\u2019s AI-enabled decisioning provides our clients with robust data on the campaign, the consumer, the context, the creative, and the cost,\u201d he added.\n\nPrior to taking the reins at Sizmek, Grether served as its executive chairman after being appointed to the role in February, he was formerly one of the cofounders of WPP\u2019s adtech hub Xaxis, holding the role of chief operating officer while there.\n\nAs Grether steps into the new role of president and chief executive officer of Sizmek, Rocket Fuel\u2019s chief Randy Wootton will assume the role special advisor working with both sets of teams throughout the transition period.\n\nThe proposed takeover was initially announced in July, and approved by Rocket Fuel's board of director, with the consideration period (a stipulation in the deal) initially slated to close by the end of August, although this was later extended until September 5.\n\nThe terms of the deal initially prompted an investigation by law firm Levi & Korsinsky as to whether such a transaction (which saw Vector Capital-backed Sizmek offer $2.60 per share for Rocket Fuel and valued the company at $145m) delivered value for shareholders, although this objection appears to have been resolved.\n\nNeedham & Company, LLC served as financial advisor to Rocket Fuel during the process, with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Professional Corporation as its legal advisor during the process. Meanwhile, Kirkland & Ellis LLP acted as Sizmek\u2019s legal advisor.\n\nAt the time of the initial announcement, the two companies stated: \"The proposed combination with Sizmek brings Rocket Fuel's media optimization and industry leading AI-enabled decisioning to Sizmek's omni-channel creative optimization and data activation platform, marking the next logical step in marketing automation.\"\n\nWith over 20,000 advertisers across 3,600 agencies, in over 70 countries, the combined entity will hope to pose as a preferred alternative to the established market leaders \u2013 a prospect that has been welcomed among some media buyers.\n\nCommenting on the closure of the deal, Erica Schmidt, Cadreon, managing director, North America, and executive vice president, said: \u201cWe are constantly prospecting new ways to reach and impact key audiences.\n\n\u201cThe integration of Sizmek and Rocket Fuel will create enhanced product offerings and enable us to truly optimize campaign performance.\u201d\n\nRocket Fuel was one of the early adtech outfits to trade publicly, listing on the Nasdaq in 2013, and at its heights was valued at $2bn. Although it soon ran into troubles after being embroiled in a high profile \u2018bot fraud\u2019 media scandal, which negatively affected its share price, a blow it found difficult to recover from, as indicated by its axing of 11% of its headcount at the start of the year.\n\nThis was further negatively impacted with Wall Street investors' dulled enthusiasm for adtech stock, which also enhanced difficulties with such adtech outfits reducing their reliance on I/O-based revenue.\n\nSizmek, which was formerly listed on the Nasdaq, was itself purchased for $122m by Vector Capital a little over a year ago, in what was one of the early moves in a relatively recent trend of private equity players making moves in the ongoing mergers and acquisitions in adtech.", "output": "Texas-based firm Sizmek has completed its acquisition of adtech company Rocket Fuel, according to newly-named CEO Mark Grether. The deal, first announced in July, was subject to investigation over whether it offered shareholders value for money. The integrated company now boasts 20,000 advertisers across 3,600 agencies in more than 70 countries, and will see Rocket Fuel chief Randy Wootton appointed as special advisor.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Machine learning used to combat pipeline leaks \n The Keystone pipeline that would move crude oil from Canada through the U.S. to a refinery in Texas has been controversial, but it would only be a fraction of the more than two million miles of pipelines moving oil and gas around the country. Many existing and proposed pipelines spark the same concerns from people as Keystone: the potential for leaks, especially those that go undetected for long periods of time.\n\nExisting detection systems mostly spot large problems, often visually by inspectors walking or flying over a pipeline. Internal systems commonly used in the oil and gas industry rely on computational pipeline modeling, which searches for anomalies in flow and pressure. That works well for large leaks, but falls short in finding smaller ones, of up to one percent of pipeline flow, says Maria Araujo, a manager in the Intelligent Systems Division of the Southwest Research Institute.\n\nEven such a small percentage adds up quickly. She notes that one percent of the flow of the Keystone pipeline is in the neighborhood of 8,000 gallons per day. To improve the efficiency of detection systems, Araujo leads a team taking the technology to the next level using sensors, artificial intelligence, and deep learning. She came to the problem of leak detection while working with machine learning for autonomously driven vehicles.\n\nSensors, cameras and hardware can be fitted to drones for inspection flyovers. Image: Southwest Research Institute\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re not adapting technology,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re using existing technology as building blocks. The problem is very different. With cars, you\u2019re looking for objects. Here, you look for liquids. Gasoline and diesel are transparent to the human eye. How do you differentiate between substances?\u201d\n\nActually, the system looks for a variety of liquids. To begin tackling the challenge, the SWRI team tested four optical sensors: thermal, optical, hyperspectral and short wave infrared. They eliminated hyperspectral and short wave infrared, keeping off-the-shelf thermal and optical systems.\n\nThere\u2019s nothing unusual about using sensors for detecting leaks, but Araujo wanted to improve accuracy. So the SWRI team set out to adapt machine learning techniques, ultimately producing a multiplatform dubbed SLED, Smart Leak Detection System, that uses new algorithms to process images and identify, confirm or reject potential problems. Using feature extraction and classifier training methods, they taught computers to identify unique features across a wide range of environmental conditions.\n\n\u201cThese algorithms thrive on lots of data,\u201d says Araujo. The team produced and collected thousands of images of data such as gasoline, diesel fuel, mineral oil, crude oil and water on various surfaces, including grass, gravel, dirt and hard surfaces such as concrete. The images were shot from numerous angles and under varying conditions from full sunlight to clouds and darkness. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to operate under different environmental conditions,\u201d she adds. \u201cWe found if you train [the system] under certain conditions, it gets tripped up in others, especially shading. Being able to work under shading and different temperatures was a big challenge in modifying algorithms.\u201d\n\nThe ability of the system to provide a reliable fingerprint of small leaks as well as identify non-leak situations greatly increases its accuracy. That\u2019s important because one of the biggest problems in the industry is a false alarm, says Araujo. Pipelines wind their way across long and often remote or underground rights of way. Sending work crews to remote areas and shutting a pipeline down costs a significant amount of money, and operators can dismiss alarms if there were previous false alerts, she says.\n\nSWRI further upgraded the system using deep-learning techniques. The team developed a deep convolutional neural network to process the tremendous amount of data to identify the hazardous liquids. Such techniques have been impractical in most cases, but advances and improvements in multi-core processing hardware are making it more common, say researchers. The final product is a fully autonomous system that can be used without human oversight, says Araujo.\n\nIt can be fitted to pumping station platforms along pipeline routes, often a high-risk location because of the number of valves and equipment that can break. The SWRI team also has installed and successfully tested the system on drones that can fly over long reaches of a pipeline.\n\n\u201cWe simulated pipeline leaks with a high degree of replication to the real world,\u201d she says. The work was done at SWRI\u2019s Forth Worth, TX, campus, using existing piping and systems. The initial goal was to identify the difference between water and hazardous liquids, but it exceeded expectations by differentiating between gasoline, crude oil, mineral oil and diesel, as well as water.\n\nAraujo now is working to adapt the technology to detect pipeline methane leaks in a program with the U.S. Department of Energy\u2019s National Energy Technology Laboratory. The team is using infrared cameras to detect the spectral response of the gas. The deep-learning algorithm also must be reworked, a task she says is much more than an adaptation.\n\n\u201cThis is a very significant \u2018tweak\u2019,\u201d she says. \u201cNow you are trying to detect a plume, something that shifts with the wind. It is a different problem.\u201d\n\nThe goal is to produce an automated small-scale gaseous leak-detection system along the entire natural gas supply chain, including extraction, storage, distribution and transportation.", "output": "Researchers from the Intelligent Systems Division of the Southwest Research Institute have trained artificial intelligence systems to recognise liquids involved in pipeline leaks. Using thermal and optical sensors, the Smart Leak Detection System (SLED) applies algorithms to detect and predict issues. The system can be used without human intervention, and can be fitted to pumping station platforms and drones, avoiding high-risk human monitoring."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Help-to-buy scheme pushes Redrow Homes\u00a0profits to\u00a0record high \n Windfall: Steve Morgan, pictured with third wife Sally Toumi\n\nThe boss of one of Britain's biggest housebuilders was nearly \u00a350million richer last night as the company cashed in from Help to Buy.\n\nPosting a 26 per cent rise in profits to a record \u00a3315million, Redrow chairman Steve Morgan revealed two in five private house sales now come through the Government's mortgage scheme.\n\nThe bumper figures sent shares in the company up 4.4 per cent \u2013 adding \u00a329million to the value of the 29 per cent stake held by Morgan (pictured, right, with third wife Sally Toumi, 48).\n\nThe 64-year-old, who set up Redrow in 1974 and is one of Britain's richest developers, was also promised a dividend payment of \u00a318.3million, taking his gains for the day to \u00a347.3million.\n\nWith Help to Buy making up around 40 per cent of sales at Redrow, Morgan called for it to be extended beyond its current deadline of 2021.\n\n'Help to Buy has boosted housing supply and we look forward to working with the Government to consider the future of the scheme beyond 2021,' he said. 'We certainly hope that it doesn't go away.'\n\nBut critics said the scheme, through which the Government ploughs taxpayers' money into the housing market, has done little to solve the chronic shortage of homes.\n\nInstead, they argue, it has driven up property prices and lined the pockets of developers.\n\n'Help to Buy is boosting the sales prices of houses that probably would have been built anyway,' said Duncan Stott, director of campaign group Priced Out.\n\n'Look at the share prices, look at the profits. Developers have clearly done very well from the scheme.'\n\nHelp to Buy was launched in early 2013 to boost housebuilding in the wake of the financial crisis.\n\nUnder the scheme, families can buy new homes worth up to \u00a3600,000 with deposits of 5 per cent, with the Government providing a loan of 20 per cent interest-free for five years.\n\nRedrow has sold 5,882 homes through Help to Buy, including a record 1,882 last year when revenues rose 20 per cent to \u00a31.7billion.\n\nRedrow proposed a dividend of 17p a share and the stock rose 27p to an all-time high of 647p, making Morgan's stake worth \u00a3695million.\n\nThe company is now targeting revenues of \u00a32.2billion in 2020, profits of \u00a3430million, and a dividend of 32p a share \u2013 enough to earn Morgan more than \u00a334million if his stake remains the same.", "output": "Redrow Homes CEO Steve Morgan has called for the government's Help to Buy scheme to be extended beyond 2021 and revealed two in every five private house sales come via the scheme. The housebuilding firm has sold 5,882 homes through Help to Buy so far in 2017\u00a0and Redrow's profits rose by more than a quarter to a record \u00a3315m ($414m). Critics argue the scheme has done little to ease the housing crisis. \"Look at the share prices, look at the profits. Developers have clearly done very well,\" said Duncan Stott, director of campaign group Priced Out.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "German election forces Merkel to confront smog problem \n With less than three weeks until the German elections, pressure is mounting on Angela Merkel to tackle the deadly smog in a large number of cities or face a court-enforced diesel ban and backlash from millions of motorists faced with plummeting resale values.\n\nMore than 90 cities with excessive levels of nitrogen dioxide pollution could potentially outlaw diesel cars from their centres when the country\u2019s federal administrative court rules early next year.\n\nAddressing the Bundestag for the final time in the parliamentary term on Tuesday morning, the chancellor tried to reassure the owners of Germany\u2019s approximately 15m diesel cars by promising to do \u201ceverything in our powers to make sure there won\u2019t be such bans\u201d.\n\nThe chancellor, who on Monday had also doubled the funds set aside to help cities improve air quality by a further \u20ac500m (\u00a3460m), said her party would pursue alternatives. \u201cWe Christian Democrats don\u2019t work with bans but try to allow a reasonable transition,\u201d she told the chamber.\n\nDespite the potential scale of the damage to the German car industry, the diesel scandal had until this week played a relatively minor role in the election campaign.\n\nMerkel at an election campaign rally in Heidelberg on Tuesday. Photograph: AFP/Getty\n\nBut amid looming judicial threats to ban cars from the most polluted city centres, such as Munich and Stuttgart, the government has been forced to demonstrate that it is taking concrete actions to avert a public relations disaster.\n\nBut legal experts warned the chancellor will probably be forced into an embarrassing U-turn if, as expected, she is re-elected on 24 September.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe court cases are already in motion, and Merkel won\u2019t be able to extricate herself from the process unless she takes drastic action,\u201d said lawyer Remo Klinger, who is working with environmental group DUH to introduce the diesel ban.\n\n\u201cGermany only has two options: a hardware update to make sure that diesel cars are fitted with functioning filters, or an outright ban,\u201d he told the Guardian. \u201cAll other proposals are not worth taking seriously.\u201d\n\n\n\nIn an interview with Der Spiegel magazine over the weekend, Merkel ruled out a hardware update, arguing that it would \u201cminimise the car industry\u2019s financial scope for investing in modern technology\u201d.\n\n\n\nGreen party co-leader Cem \u00d6zdemir accused Merkel of \u201cshedding crocodile tears for German carmakers\u201d, saying \u201cit is your own inaction that is about to introduce a diesel ban by force\u201d.\n\nThe Greens are pushing for a system of \u201cblue plaques\u201d for diesel cars with engines that meet EU emissions limits, which would amount to a ban on an estimated 30-40% of cars that do not. It could allow exceptions for workers who rely on diesel engines for their business.\n\nEnvironmental experts have also criticised Merkel for stating that the air pollution affecting a large number of German cities is only indirectly linked to the emission-cheating software installed by companies which displayed false nitrogen dioxide levels.\n\nQuick Guide Germany and the car industry Show Size and reach Germany often feels like a country set up to serve the car industry. Movers and shakers transfer smoothly between top government posts and car company boards while no fewer than one in seven jobs - around 800,000 - are dependent on the industry. Politicians Angela Merkel is often referred to as the Autokanzlerin - or car chancellor - for her efforts to protect the industry. Others are more closely linked: the governor of Lower Saxony, where Volkswagen is based, is a guaranteed board member. Her predecessor as chancellor, Gerhard Schr\u00f6der, was both. VW also allows Lower Saxony to hold 20% of its shares. Government and industry Former VW board members in politics include Sigmar Gabriel, the foreign minister, and Christian Wulff, the former president. The traffic goes the other way: when Eckart von Klaeden, a senior member of Merkel\u2019s office, left to become Daimler\u2019s chief lobbyist for Daimler, the move was so swift it prompted an investigation by Berlin prosecutors. In one illustration of the close linksStephan Weil, the current Lower Saxony governor, last month admitted sending a 2015 speech on the diesel emissions scandal to VW, on whose board he sits. He said he submitted it for fact checking but denied softening at the company\u2019s request. Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.\n\nMerkel was accused of playing down the emissions scandal by saying that cities would still suffer from excessive pollution levels, even if the cars were not producing such high amounts of poisonous gas.\n\n\n\n\u201cEven if these cars pumped out emissions at approved levels, even if this break down of trust hadn\u2019t taken place, we would still have the environmental problems we have,\u201d Merkel said on Sunday during her televised duel against her Social Democrat rival, Martin Schulz.\n\nDuring the debate, Merkel said she was \u201creally angry\u201d with the car industry, describing the scandal as \u201cquite a shambles\u201d \u2013 but experts accused her of trying to lessen the blame on the car industry.\n\n\u201cI have hardly ever heard such nonsense,\u201d Axel Friedrich, an emissions expert at German Environment Aid, who previously worked for the government. He said Merkel was \u201cout of touch\u201d with the situation on German roads, saying he had tested cars that were pumping out up to 18 times the legal limit of nitrogen dioxide.\n\nFriedrich told the S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung he was convinced air pollution levels would fall by more than 60% to acceptable levels if action was taken. \u201cSeventy per cent of air pollution problems in cities are down to diesel emissions,\u201d he said.\n\nThe EU allows a maximum of 40 micrograms of nitrogen dioxide per cubic metre. In Stuttgart and Munich the figure is at least double that and in a further 51 cities the levels are above 40.\n\nMerkel\u2019s pledge to set up the sustainability fund to allow local authorities to take measures to reduce diesel-related air pollution is her most decisive move so far. With immediate effect she has announced the establishment of a coordination team of government ministries, states and municipalities to advise on projects that can be put in place.\n\n\n\nWarning sign for particulate pollution on a busy road in Stuttgart, Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg. Photograph: Getty/Westend61\n\nBut environmental groups and a number of mayors have been quick to criticise the plans as too little, too late and, apart from the sustainability fund, too vague.\n\nFritz Kuhn, mayor of Stuttgart, the worst-affected German city with emission levels double the limit set by the EU, said the industry \u2013 which had been due to contribute \u20ac250m to the fund \u2013 should be obliged to work with municipalities to solve the problems.\n\nHe said his city was keen to purchase electric buses \u201cbut, on the part of the car industry, no one has given us any offers\u201d, he said. His only option was to refit old buses instead, he said.\n\nMayors have pinpointed buses as a big polluter. Though they make up only 1% of vehicles on the roads, they produce 20% of emissions.\n\nThe diesel car market has fallen significantly since the emission scandal erupted, and has been further affected by the threat of driving bans in cities.", "output": "As the German elections edge closer, Angela Merkel is facing increasing pressure to deal with the toxic smog problems seen in over 90 cities across the country. Merkel could have to push for a court-enforced diesel ban if she fails to deal with the smog. This could have major repercussions from millions of drivers as there are roughly 15 million diesel cars in Germany. Speaking to the Bundestag this week, Merkel reassured motorists that the government is doing \"everything in our powers to make sure there won't be such bans\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scotland to introduce can and bottle recycling scheme \n The Scottish government is planning to introduce a deposit return scheme for bottles and cans.\n\nCustomers would pay a surcharge when purchasing bottles or cans under the programme, which will be refunded when they return them to a shop.\n\nThe Scottish government has been consulting Zero Waste Scotland on the design of the deposit return scheme, which the organisation estimates could save local authorities between \u00a33m and \u00a36m on litter clearance alone.\n\nZero Waste Scotland reviewed schemes in Sweden, Denmark and Norway as part of the consultation.\n\nA Scottish government spokesperson said: \u201cWe have already confirmed that we are looking at new ways to ensure we keep as many valuable materials in circulation for as long as possible and deposit return is one of those options. We have asked Zero Waste Scotland to model a deposit return system to help us assess impacts and benefits.\u201d\n\nZero Waste Scotland received 63 responses in its call for evidence on deposit return scheme design, including those from Coca-Cola, major supermarkets and Scottish environment groups.\n\nAn opinion poll conducted by the Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland revealed that 78% of the Scottish publish are in favour of the scheme, but some major drinks companies disagree.\n\nAG Barr, the maker of Irn Bru, warned that \u201cthe cost to the consumer would be in the region of \u00a3150m extra per year\u201d in its submission.\n\nIt added: \u201cThe scope for fraud in a Scottish DRS is huge. On a small scale we could see people scavenging in bins for containers, as is the US experience. On a medium scale there is the potential for local authority amenity centre looting. And on a larger scale there is the very real possibility of cross-border trafficking of deposit-bearing containers. It costs around \u00a3400 to move a lorry load of cans from England to Scotland. A single lorry could carry 160,000 crushed cans or \u00a332,000 worth of deposits.\u201d\n\nAG Barr put an end to its own 30p deposit return scheme for glass bottles in August 2015, which had been in operation for more than 100 years.", "output": "The Scottish government plans to introduce a scheme for returning bottles and cans to shops to be recycled. Under the scheme, customers will pay a surcharge when purchasing bottles or cans, which will be refunded when they are returned to a shop. The Scottish government has been consulting waste management non-profit Zero Waste Scotland on how the scheme could be introduced. A total 79% of the Scottish public are in favour of the scheme, according to an opinion poll conducted by the Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian edtech NEST Education gains $600,000 in funding \n The Michael And Susan Dell Foundation And Anand Mahindra Have Made A Follow-on Investment In NEST Education\n\nEdtech company, NEST Education (Naandi Education And Support Training) has raised $600K in follow-on funding from the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation and Anand Mahindra, Chairman and MD of the Mahindra Group.\n\nNEST Education has deployed Alphabyte \u2013 The Learning Centre, which are high-quality learning centres for less privileged children. According to an official statement, Alphabyte aims to significantly raise education quality across urban India. With this round of funding, NEST Education aims to grow its outreach to a larger number of students and achieve its goal of educating 10,000 students by FY 2022.\n\nCommenting on the funding, Debasish Mitter, India Country Director, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation said, \u201cNEST, through its blended learning model, is delivering best-in-class education content and solution to underserved students and preparing them to succeed in modern India. We find the ability of NEST to aggregate content from around the world and to deliver multiple products through their centres very appealing.\u201d\n\nNEST Education: Using Technology Physically To Upskill The Underprivileged\n\nRahul Ranjan is the founder and CEO of Gurugram-based Naandi Education and Support Training, NEST. The core leadership consists of Richa Hans who handles the academic development side and Harjot Bains who handles business ops.\n\nNEST\u2019s Alphabyte uses technology to fast-track the learning of every student through customised learning modules that are curated from the best knowledge providers. They have programs catering to IIT-JEE modules, English learning to become job smart, a training programme to teach pre-school internationally and \u2018Genius learning.\u2019\n\nNEST Education is currently operational in three learning centres, two in Gurugram and one in Delhi. As per the website, the company counts entities such as ConveGenius (another startup backed by The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation) and Avanti as their learning partners.\n\n\u201cWe at NEST work towards building an empowered society by creating learning opportunities for different teaching-learning age groups, leveraging best possible EdTech solutions globally. Continued support from our investors and their understanding of social challenges are definitely vital to our motivation and adds value to our operations,\u201d said Rahul Ranjan, founder and CEO.\n\nQueries sent to NEST Education awaited reply at the time of publication.\n\nThe Michael And Susan Dell Foundation And Edtech Funding Connect\n\nThe Michael & Susan Dell Foundation has recently expressed an interest in setting up an incubator for startups who are serving the underprivileged and underserved segments of India. Since 2006, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation has invested more than $172 Mn (INR 1,100 Cr) in non-profit and social enterprises in India. In May 2016, Foundation earmarked an additional $50 Mn (about INR 333 Cr) towards investments in the country over the next three years.\n\nThe foundation has previously backed ConveGenius, an edutainment startup.\n\nEdtech in India has been a relatively slumbering market as compared to fintech and other tech verticals. But, according to the ASER 2016 report, the market for K12 education is significantly higher, with 250 Mn students across 1.4 Mn schools. The next best viable market is vocational training, states a Unitus Seed Fund report on edtech with 16% entrepreneurs preferring the space.\n\nThe report states, \u201cAs of 2013, a dismal 7 per cent of India\u2019s working population had received some sort of vocational training. Fortunately, the Government of India has acknowledged the need to address this issue, and has set itself on an ambitious target to up skill 500 million Indians by 2022 through the National Policy for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship 2015.\u201d\n\nWhile most investors are averse to taking risks in the vocational training space, with investors such as the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and Anand Mahindra, companies such as NEST can hope to take on the mammoth task of skilling/upskilling India\u2019s underprivileged population. As of now, NEST competes with heavily funded startups such as BYJU\u2019s, Toppr, Coursera who have a significant online presence and hope to take a share of the edtech market that has a potential to touch $1.96 Bn by 2021 from where it stands now i.e. $247 Mn.", "output": "Indian edtech firm NEST Education has raised $600,000 in additional funding to increase the number of learning centres it provides to underprivileged children in the country. The funding comes from the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation and Anand Mahindra of the Mahindra Group. NEST currently runs three \"Alphabyte\"\u00a0learning centres in Gurugram and Delhi, which use technology to deliver customised learning modules covering engineering, the English language, and pre-school teaching skills. The funding will help NEST open additional centres and reach\u00a0its goal of educating 10,000 students by 2022.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How I Keep the Topic of Aging Fresh \n Started in 2008 by the former Times reporter Jane Gross, The New Old Age has covered a slew of topics: various kinds of senior care facilities; health decisions from vaccinations (elders don\u2019t get enough) to colonoscopies (elders get too many); and whether it makes sense to move into the same retirement community as your mother.\n\nWe look at broader social trends, like why older adults are getting arrested and shacking up more often, and why they\u2019re not seeing dentists often enough.\n\nOf course, aging ends only one way. So we also talk a lot about advance directives, hospice and other kinds of end-of-life care, and the slowly growing number of states with aid-in-dying laws.\n\nReaders chime in via the comments section, sometimes in droves. Though we expected to hear mostly from caregivers, elders themselves \u2014 increasingly online \u2014 weigh in, too.\n\nColumn ideas come from all over. I read medical and gerontology journals and field suggestions from geriatricians and researchers. My physical therapist told me about an anti-vertigo maneuver. I hear directly from elders and caregivers via Facebook and Twitter. And I sometimes wrote about my father and his transitions, until his death in 2012.", "output": "In 2009, when I took over as primary writer of a New York Times blog called The New Old Age, I figured I could probably keep it going for three years or so. Then, I\u2019d run out of things to say about aging and caregiving.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Karen Clarke devises hurricane claims risk model for insurers \n Catastrophe risk modelling specialist Karen Clark & Company (KCC) has launched a new product designed to allow re/insurers to track potential claims and losses from hurricanes in real-time, while allowing them to analyse key exposure metrics.\n\n\n\nThe live cat (live catastrophe) risk model will help insurance or reinsurance companies and also ILS funds or ILS investors to better understand the potential impacts of approaching hurricanes and developing tropical storm catastrophes.\n\nThe new product is being called RiskInsight\u00ae-lite, and is essentially a slimmed down version of the KCC RiskInsight catastrophe risk modelling platform, designed to help re/insurers better analyse hurricane exposures in real-time.\n\nAs well as providing insights into potential claims and losses from hurricanes in real-time, the RiskInsight-lite platform will also offer re/insurers or ILS users a way to estimate their Exceedence Probability (EP) curves, including probable maximum losses (PMLs) and average annual losses (AALs) at location-level resolution.\n\nKCC said that this product can be made available to users immediately and in time for the approaching major hurricane Irma, which is threatening the Caribbean and U.S. and has recently strengthened into a category 5 storm.\n\n\u201cRiskInsight is an advanced open loss modeling platform that our clients use to build their own scientific models and to customize the Reference Model components such as the damage functions to accurately reflect their actual claims experience,\u201d commented Karen Clark, KCC CEO. \u201cHowever, some companies haven\u2019t yet licensed RiskInsight because they don\u2019t believe they have the sophistication and/or the resources to fully leverage this powerful new modeling platform. With that in mind, we created RiskInsight-lite to provide only the capabilities of the other cat models plus RiskInsight\u2019s unique real time event tracking capabilities.\u201d\n\n\u201cKCC clients have been pleased and impressed with RiskInsight\u2019s ability to provide accurate real time estimates of how many claims they\u2019re likely to experience and average claim severity by location,\u201d added Christopher Mossey, KCC Vice President of Client Development. \u201cBoards and senior executives expect their modeling experts to quickly provide reliable information, so we\u2019re very pleased to offer RiskInsight\u2019s real time capability to more companies as this highly active hurricane season progresses.\u201d\n\nHaving a way to view the potential impact from an approaching hurricane to their underwriting portfolios as early as possible is vital to reinsurance and ILS fund interests.\n\nIt can enable decisions to be taken on buying additional protection, such as live cat ILW\u2019s or other products that can hedge a major hurricane impact.\n\nSuch insight on approaching storms can also help ILS investors to make trading decisions regarding which catastrophe bonds are most at risk and which they should attempt to sell on the secondary market.\n\nHaving access to robust storm analytics can also help re/insurers to make financial decisions, mobilise claims teams and better protect and inform their clients.", "output": "Specialist catastrophe risk insurer Karen Clark & Company (KCC) has created a system that allows insurers to track potential claims from hurricanes in real-time. The risk model, branded as RiskInsight-lite, is a slimmed-down version of the company's existing catastrophe-modelling platform, and will be operational in time for the approaching Hurricane Irma, which threatens the Caribbean and southeastern United States. It enables clients to build their own scientific models to predict the potential impact of an approaching hurricane, allowing decisions to be taken on buying additional insurance, and mobilising claims teams.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Research secrets stolen from UK universities by cyber gangs \n This morning The Times detailed how cyber security breaches at university institutions including Oxford, Warwick and University College London have doubled in the past two years to 1,152 in 2016-17, with cyber criminals targeting scientific, engineering and medical activities; including research into missiles, according to data released after a range of freedom of information requests.\n\nTo what end? Experts fear that this increased targeting of universities and the resulting access to sensitive data, like military and medical research, is being sold to foreign powers.\n\nWhile successful attacks have doubled, thousands more have been thwarted, with one university receiving between 1,000 and 10,000 attempted attacks each month, according to the report in The Times.\n\n>See also: Don\u2019t play the data breach blame game\n\nData from the FOI requests found that the University of Oxford had experienced 515 cases of unauthorised access to accounts last year, while UCL faced 57 cyber attacks in 2016-17.\n\nPaul Cant, VP EMEA at BMC Software, commenting on this, says: \u201cWith the number of cyber attacks on our universities known to have nearly doubled in the past two years, and, in this case, the data that some of them harbour being of critical importance to our national security, watertight digital defences are more essential than ever.\u201d\n\nThe targeted files range in subjects, from medical record to military designs for \u2018stealth fabrics\u2019, which are thought to help \u2018disguise\u2019 military weapons and vehicles.\n\nCarsten Maple, head of computing and director of cyber security at Warwick University, said hackers were targeting intellectual property that had been in development for years.\n\n\u201cIf someone can get that very quickly, that\u2019s good for them,\u2019 Maple said. \u201cCertainly somebody might attack a university and then provide that information to a nation state.\u201d\n\n>See also: Swedish Government\u2019s major data leak: lessons for the enterprise\n\nMaple also said he was concerned with the lack of secure defences concerning cyber-physical attacks, which target areas like hospital heating systems.\n\nHenry Seddon, VP EMEA, Duo Security warns that \u201cthe challenge is that phishing attacks are increasingly sophisticated \u2013 a targeted spear phishing attack can be particularly difficult to spot \u2013 but they can ultimately compromise the security of the entire network. They open the doors to hackers, with stolen credentials, to access an organisation\u2019s system virtually undetected, posing as an authorised user. Worryingly, phishing is now the most popular way of delivering ransomware onto an organisation\u2019s network.\u201d\n\nIndeed, these more sophisticated attacks are a growing trend, with the GCHQ\u2019s National Cyber Security Centre revealing earlier this year that Britain had faced 188 high-level security attacks in three months.\n\nCiaran Martin, director general of cyber security at GCHQ said many of these attacks \u201cthreatened national security\u201d by trying to access foreign policy and defence secrets.\n\n>See also: NHS staff personal data leaked in latest data breach\n\nCommenting on the latest figures of the FOI requests, Shadow Home Office minister, Louise Haigh said that more security investment was needed\n\n\u201cThere should be no compromise on cybersecurity but in difficult financial times many public sector organisations are being left with outdated operating systems.\u201d\n\nCant agrees with Haigh, and says that \u201cAcross both the public and private sector, the threat from hackers is constantly on the rise. And, as prime sources of intelligence and information gathering, this data indicates the desperate need for far greater investment to be ploughed into the cyber defences of our educational institutions.\u201d\n\n\u201cSecOps teams must also ensure they do not buckle under the pressure to patch known vulnerabilities, fortify any barriers to sensitive information, identify any threats, and prevent them from reaching crisis point before it\u2019s too late.\u201d", "output": "British universities are being successfully targeted by hackers, leading to hundreds of data breaches each year. Freedom of Information requests show cybersecurity failures at several major institutions, including Oxford, have doubled in the past two years. Research into energy and military technologies have been high-priority targets. Hackers are also thought to have sought medical records at university hospitals. Experts say most universities have poor defences, which urgently need tightening, as they enable many attacks to go undetected."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hackers hold 26,000 unsecured MongoDB databases to ransom \n Few victims in the latest wave of MongoDB attacks have paid the ransom to regain access to their databases. Image: MongoDB\n\nThree groups of hackers have wiped around 26,000 MongoDB databases over the weekend and demanded victims to pay about $650 to have them restored.\n\nThe new wave of MongoDB ransom attacks marks a resurgence of the massive assault on unsecured instances of the open-source NoSQL database earlier this year. The attacks were discovered by security researchers Victor Gevers and Niall Merrigan.\n\nThe current attacks are being tracked by Gevers and fellow researcher Dylan Katz. According to the 'MongoDB ransacking' Google Docs spreadsheet that the pair are updating, one group using the address 'cru3lty@safe-mail.net' has ransacked over 22,000 MongoDB instances.\n\nThe group left the same generic message for victims. \"We have your data. Your database is backed up to our servers. If you want to restore it, then send 0.15 BTC and text me to email, just send your IP-address and payment info. Messages without payment info will be ignored\".\n\nAt today's rates, 0.15 BTC is worth about $650.\n\nAnother group using the email address 'wolsec@secmail.pro' has left its message on 3,500 wiped MongoDB databases.\n\n\"If you want to recover your data, then send 0.05 BTC to bitcoin-address and send your IP to our email. You don't want that your users/customers to know that you have a data leak, right?\"\n\nFew victims in the latest wave have paid the ransom. Cru3lty has received a total of 0.8 BTC for its efforts and is the only group to have received a payment.\n\nSince the MongoDB attacks started in late December, victims have paid 24 bitcoin to over a dozen different groups that scan the internet for unsecured MongoDB instances and wipe vulnerable databases.\n\n\"So these attackers simply scan entire IPv4 internet for a MongoDB running on port 271017,\" Gevers told ZDNet. \"When they detect these, they then simply try to get access it with a script that automatically deletes the database and creates a similar one with only one record holding the ransom note.\n\n\"The databases that get hacked were running with default settings and were completely exposed to the internet.\"\n\nOne group, called Kraken, which attacked several hundred victims in January and received 11 bitcoin, then sold their ransomware kit to other hackers, according to Gevers.\n\nGevers, who heads up Netherlands-based non-profit security group GDI Foundation, has now helped over 100 victims of these attacks. Despite the good work, this is a tiny fraction of more than 75,000 victims in total.\n\nThe victims who Gevers has been able to help asked him to log in into their servers remotely and even, in few cases, perform a restore or hardening.\n\n\"The most successful case was a database containing three years of leukemia patient data that was being recorded to do research for better treatment plans,\" he said.\n\nMongoDB in January posted an advisory explaining how users should deploy security protections to prevent the attacks, but it appears many users have ignored this information and are paying the consequences.\n\nAccording to Gevers, there are about 21,000 MongoDB unsecured instances and he estimates that 99 percent have been ransacked.\n\nGevers told Bleeping Computer it wasn't clear whether MongoDB users had botched a security setting or whether they were running older versions of MongoDB that don't have secure default settings.\n\nPrevious and related content\n\nMongoDB ransacked: Now 27,000 databases hit in mass ransom attacks\n\nOver a quarter of MongoDB databases left open to the internet have been ransacked by online extortionists.\n\nFirst came mass MongoDB ransacking: Now copycat ransoms hit Elasticsearch\n\nHundreds of unsecured Elasticsearch servers have been wiped in the past few hours in what could be a repeat of the recent mass ransom attacks on MongoDB databases.", "output": "About 26,000 MongoDB databases were wiped in a cyber attack carried out by three groups of hackers recently, who demanded between 0.05BTC and 0.15BTC (around $650) to restore the systems. According to Victor Gevers, who runs Netherlands-based non-profit security group GDI Foundation, an estimated 99% of the 21,000 MongoDB unsecured instances have been hacked, with more than 75,000 victims. The attacks began last December\u00a0and in January, MongoDB warned users in an advisory to deploy protections, but the message appears to have been ignored.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AIG chief Duperreault sees insurtech lowering premiums \n NEW YORK -- Big data and artificial intelligence should help insurers assess risk more efficiently, and that should help reduce costs and drive down premiums for clients, the new CEO of American International Group told The Nikkei recently.\n\nUnderwriters will need to adapt to the rise of insurance technology, or insurtech, said Brian Duperreault, who was appointed chief executive of the U.S. insurer in May. Edited excerpts from the interview follow.", "output": "Greater use of insurtech could help lower premiums for customers, according to the new CEO of American International Group (AIG), Brian Duperreault. He said using\u00a0data and analytical tools is making insurers better at their jobs, but that buyers of insurance would always need some advice in making their decisions. He also said that underwriters will need to adapt to the challenges posed by insurtech in terms of becoming better at using and understanding data.\u00a0Duperreault was appointed in May.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Personal details of 13,000 Perth TAFE students hacked \n The state government has ordered an urgent review of the state's TAFE cyber security systems after hackers accessed the private details of 13,000 students at North Metropolitan TAFE.\n\nEducation minister Sue Ellery told Radio 6PR the breaches occurred on August 28 and September 5 when an unauthorised person gained access to the TAFE's IT system via remote access.\n\nA cyber attack on one of Perth's TAFEs has exposed the state's poor cyber safety record.\n\nThe breaches come two months after the McGowan government announced a revised digital security policy aimed at addressing weaknesses in the security of public sector IT systems repeatedly identified by the state's Auditor General.\n\nMs Ellery said the hacker accessed staff and student details including names and addresses, some encrypted password files and internet protocol addresses.", "output": "Hackers have accessed the personal details of more than 13,000 students at North Metropolitan Technical and Further Education in Perth, according to education minister Sue Ellery. Ellery described the breach\u00a0as \"unsophisticated\", and said there was no evidence that students' financial records had been compromised. Western Australia Auditor General Colin Murphy expressed his frustration at the lack of cybersecurity action taken, despite his repeated warnings.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Verizon offers rewards to mobile customers in exchange for\u00a0data \n A new Verizon Communications Inc. rewards program, Verizon Up, provides credits that wireless subscribers can use for concert tickets, movie premieres and phone upgrades.\n\nBut it comes with a catch: Customers must give the carrier access to their web-browsing history, app usage and location data, which Verizon says it uses to personalize the rewards and deliver targeted advertising as its customers browse the web.\n\nThe trade-off is part of Verizon's effort to build a digital advertising business to compete with web giants Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google, which often already possess much of the same customer information.\n\nEven though Congress earlier this year dismantled tough privacy regulations on telecommunications providers, Verizon still wants customers to opt-in to its most comprehensive advertising program, called Verizon Selects. Data collected under the program is shared with Oath, the digital-media unit Verizon created when it bought AOL and Yahoo.\n\nSince access to data from customers could make it easier to tailor ads to their liking, Verizon hopes the information will help it gain advertising revenue to offset sluggish growth in its cellular business. While it added more than 600,000 wireless subscribers last quarter, the gains came during a period of intense competition that forced it to revive unlimited-data offerings and sacrifice the revenue it generated from pricier plans and overage fees.\n\nVerizon's core wireless business generated $89 billion in revenue in 2016 -- a 2.7% drop from 2015. Meantime, its digital advertising unit brings in roughly $7 billion a year. Verizon has about 4% of the U.S. digital advertising market this year, compared with 41% for Google and 20% for Facebook, according to eMarketer.\n\nWireless competitor AT&T Inc. faces similar challenges as it also tries building an ad-targeting program around its new video services.\n\nVerizon, the U.S.'s largest carrier with more than 114 million subscribers, has been experimenting with targeted-advertising programs for at least five years. Verizon Up, launched in August, is the latest incarnation of its rewards program. Verizon doesn't say how many people have enrolled in Up or Selects.\n\nFor every $300 customers spend on their Verizon bills, they receive one Up credit, which can be used for rewards such as Uber rides, four free months of Apple Music or chances to win tickets to see performers such as Lady Gaga.\n\nVerizon makes it clear during the sign-up process what data consumers are giving up: Information about their demographics and interests, what websites they visit, what apps and features they use, and their location.\n\nThe disclaimer quickly drew criticism in the tech world. Adam Levin, a consumer advocate and founder of data-security firm CyberScout, warned in a column on HuffPost that the \"hidden cost of Verizon's 'free' rewards program is your data.\"\n\nIn an interview, he asked: \"When you think about it, do you really want somebody to know that much about your life?\"\n\nDeli Meeks, a 26-year-old forklift operator in Atlanta, said he doesn't mind Verizon accessing his data. A lot of companies track information, and it helps make advertising more useful, he said. Mr. Meeks used his first reward to secure two tickets to a preseason NFL game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Buffalo Bills.\n\n\"As long as they keep it up, I think I'll stay\" a Verizon customer, he said, \"regardless of the price.\"\n\nGoogle, Facebook and other internet firms possess similar data about their users and disclose it in their privacy policies. But Verizon must walk a more delicate line.\n\nTelecoms are required by federal law to take precautions when it comes to customer data. Verizon doesn't want to risk a consumer and regulatory backlash, as it has in the past, for its data-collection methods.\n\n\"Some of our competitors, they have exactly the same thing, it's just buried in the terms and conditions of the service,\" Diego Scotti, Verizon's chief marketing officer, said of the information tech giants collect. \"We are not hiding anything.\"\n\nGoogle and Facebook declined to comment.\n\nVerizon's program allows customers to opt out of data-sharing after they have signed up for Verizon Up, but it can keep the data for three years.\n\nMr. Scotti said he hopes customers will appreciate the up-front disclosures and that the rewards program will make Verizon customers more loyal.\n\nBut the extra precaution might stifle Verizon's ability to grow the program, said Craig Moffett, an analyst at MoffettNathanson LLC.\n\n\"This just highlights how thorny privacy issues can be for telecom operators,\" he said. \"If they are going to be held to a higher standard than Google and Facebook, either by statute or simply by convention, then it will be very hard for them to effectively compete.\"\n\nWrite to Ryan Knutson at ryan.knutson@wsj.com\n\n(END) Dow Jones Newswires\n\nSeptember 05, 2017 05:44 ET (09:44 GMT)", "output": "US telecoms company Verizon has launched a rewards programme that it hopes will give it access to a rich seam of data from its 114 million Wi-Fi and mobile subscribers, and will boost its ad revenue, which fell by 2.7% in 2016 year on year. Verizon Up offers one credit for every $300 spent by customers, who can cash in the credits for concert tickets, movie premieres and phone upgrades. However, as a telecoms company, Verizon faces stricter regulatory controls over the data, which includes browsing history, app usage and location data, than rivals Facebook and Google."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Democratic Group Plans Attacks on G.O.P. Efforts to Undermine Obama Health Care Law \n \u201cFor the first time, since 2010, we are on offense on health care and we are going to prosecute a campaign on offense to ensure the law never faces the threat of repeal,\u201d said Brad Woodhouse, a veteran Democratic operative who is joining the group to oversee the day-to-day operations on behalf of the health care law.\n\nMr. Woodhouse said the Trump administration underscored the need for the group\u2019s new mission last week, when officials announced that they plan to slash the government\u2019s advertising budget for encouraging people to enroll in the health care marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act. Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services said the advertising budget for the open enrollment period that starts in November would be cut to by 90 percent, to just $10 million.\n\nDemocrats believe the reduction is an effort to destabilize the already shaky insurance markets by making sure that fewer people sign up for coverage. Officials countered that the spending was not necessary because most Americans already know about that the health insurance options that are available.\n\nPresident Trump and Republicans have made no secret of their desire to get rid of the health care law. And they have repeatedly said they believe the insurance markets are failing. In March, Mr. Trump tweeted that \u201cObamacare is imploding. It is a disaster and 2017 will be the worst year yet, by far!\u201d", "output": "For years, Republicans successfully battered Democrats for supporting the Affordable Care Act. But now, a coalition of Democratic organizations believes public opinion has swung their way, and they plan to spend the fall attacking President Trump and Republican lawmakers for attempting to undermine the success of a law that provides health insurance\u00a0to millions of Americans.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Real Reason the U.S. Has Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance \n The basic structure of the American health care system, in which most people have private insurance through their jobs, might seem historically inevitable, consistent with the capitalistic, individualist ethos of the nation.\n\nIn truth, it was hardly preordained. In fact, the system is largely a result of one event, World War II, and the wage freezes and tax policy that emerged because of it. Unfortunately, what made sense then may not make as much right now.\n\nWell into the 20th century, there just wasn\u2019t much need for health insurance. There wasn\u2019t much health care to buy. But as doctors and hospitals learned how to do more, there was real money to be made. In 1929, a bunch of hospitals in Texas joined up and formed an insurance plan called Blue Cross to help people buy their services. Doctors didn\u2019t like the idea of hospitals being in charge, so some in California created their own plan in 1939, which they called Blue Shield. As the plans spread, many would purchase Blue Cross for hospital services, and Blue Shield for physician services, until they merged to form Blue Cross and Blue Shield in 1982.\n\nMost insurance in the first half of the 20th century was bought privately, but few people wanted it. Things changed during World War II.", "output": "The basic structure of the American health care system, in which most people have private insurance through their jobs, might seem historically inevitable, consistent with the capitalistic, individualist ethos of the nation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurtech start-up Finaeo raises $1.85m in seed funding round \n Finaeo, a Toronto, Canada-based insurtech fintech company, closed its $2.25M seed funding round.\n\nThe round was led by Impression Ventures with participation from Toronto-based angel investors, 500 Startups, Robo Ventures and iGan Partners. In conjunction with the funding, Christian Lassonde, Founder and Managing Partner, Impression Ventures, will be joining the Finaeo Board.\n\nThe company intends to use the funds to hire engineers to continue development of the core platform and marketplace.\n\nLed by Aly Dhalla, CEO, and Donald Chu, COO, Finaeo provides financial advisors with a software as a service based platform to automate their back-office administration via a digital assistant powered by a custom-built CRM engine.\n\nThe platform is built for financial advisors, particularly with a focus towards group benefits and individual/voluntary insurance.\n\nFinSMEs\n\n05/09/2017", "output": "Toronto-based insurtech firm Finaeo has closed a CAD2.25m ($1.85m) seed funding round\u00a0led by Impression Ventures\u00a0and featuring participation from 500 Startups, iGan Partners and Robo Ventures. In addition, Christian Lassonde of Impression Ventures will join Finaeo's board. The company has developed\u00a0software aimed at financial advisers, which uses a proprietary CRM engine to automate back-office tasks. The new funds will be used to employ engineers to develop the core platform.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California, Other States To Extend Obamacare Sign-Up Beyond Federal Limit \n California and several other states will exempt themselves this year from a new Trump administration rule that cuts in half the amount of time consumers have to buy individual health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.\n\nIn California, lawmakers are contemplating legislation that would circumvent the rule in future years, too.\n\nThe Trump administration\u2019s rule gives people shopping for 2018 coverage on the federal exchange 45 days to sign up, from Nov. 1 through Dec. 15.\n\nBut in California and some of the other states that run their own exchanges \u2014 Colorado, Minnesota, Washington and Massachusetts, as well as the District of Columbia \u2014 consumers purchasing insurance for themselves this year will have extra time to make decisions.\n\nUse Our Content This story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nIn Colorado, for example, the sign-up period is from Nov. 1 to Jan. 12. In Minnesota, it will start Nov. 1 and run through Jan. 14. In Washington state, it is Nov. 1 through Jan. 15.\n\nConsumers shopping for coverage in California\u2019s exchange, Covered California, will still have the full three months they\u2019ve had in recent years, starting on Nov. 1 and ending Jan. 31. Californians shopping for individual market plans outside the exchange will have those same three months to make up their minds.\n\n\u201cWe want to make sure our consumers have the time they need to find the best plan that fits their needs,\u201d said James Scullary, a spokesman for Covered California.\n\nThe rule that truncated the enrollment period for the federal exchange, published in April by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), gives state-based exchanges the ability to extend the amount of time allowed by tacking a \u201cspecial\u201d enrollment period onto the 45 days set by the federal government.\n\nBecause that flexibility is limited to 2018 coverage, California legislators are taking an extra step to keep the three-month enrollment period for 2019 and beyond. Assemblyman Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg) introduced legislation last week that would ensure a three-month enrollment window for consumers seeking coverage in 2019 and subsequent years.\n\n\u201cWhen the Trump administration issued its new \u2026 rules cutting the ACA\u2019s open enrollment period in half, we knew we had to act,\u201d Wood said. \u201cCalifornians have enjoyed a three-month enrollment period for years, and this change could catch people off guard and not allow them to sign up in time. That would be a travesty.\u201d\n\nHealth policy experts say the federal rule is a political attempt to undermine the viability of the Obamacare insurance exchanges.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s no big secret that the Trump administration isn\u2019t a big fan of the Affordable Care Act or the individual market that it created,\u201d said Dylan Roby, associate professor of Health Services Administration at the University of Maryland. \u201cThere\u2019s just this general intent of the administration to reduce enrollment, reduce \u2026 subsidies and make it a little bit harder for people to enroll.\u201d\n\nThe shortened enrollment window was part of a so-called market stabilization rule rolled out by the Trump administration that also offers insurance companies concessions, including the flexibility to sell some health plans that cover less of the enrollees\u2019 cost of care than currently required by the ACA.\n\nCalifornia\u2019s insurance commissioner, Dave Jones, expressed concern about the impact of a shortened enrollment period in a letter to the federal government in March, before the rule was finalized.\n\nJones\u2019 letter cited research that shows younger people tend to sign up for health insurance toward the end of open enrollment, and that putting up barriers to their enrollment could reduce the number of healthy people in the insurance pool.\n\nThat would \u201cneedlessly destabilize the market\u201d and would \u201cresult in increased premiums for those who do enroll in coverage,\u201d the insurance commissioner said.\n\nShana Alex Charles, an assistant professor of health sciences at California State University-Fullerton, said the pushback by California lawmakers against federal attempts to shorten the enrollment period underscores the state\u2019s commitment to having a marketplace that \u201cactually makes sense.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you want to maximize enrollment, you need to make sure people can get their paperwork together, and have the mindset and the time for people to complete the application,\u201d she said.\n\nThis story was produced by Kaiser Health News, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.", "output": "California and several other states will exempt themselves this year from a new Trump administration rule\u00a0that cuts in half the amount of time consumers have to buy individual health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "To Insure More Poor Children It Helps If Their Parents Are On Medicaid \n Efforts by Republican lawmakers to scale back Medicaid enrollment could undercut an aspect of the program that has widespread bipartisan appeal \u2014 covering more children, research published Tuesday in the journal Health Affairs suggests.\n\nThe study focuses on the impact of Medicaid\u2019s \u201cwelcome-mat\u201d effect \u2014 a term used to describe the spillover benefits kids get when Medicaid eligibility is extended to their parents.\n\nChildren were more likely to be enrolled in public health insurance programs \u2014 specifically Medicaid, which in some states is administered as an expansion of the federal-state Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program \u2014 if their parents were also able to enroll, explained Julie Hudson, a senior economist at the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the paper\u2019s lead author.\n\nUse Our Content This KHN story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nThe findings highlight an underlying tension and a key relationship \u2014 parents\u2019 insurance status and that of their kids \u2014 as Congress moves in coming weeks to reauthorize CHIP, before its funding expires at month\u2019s end.\n\n\u201cChildren\u2019s health policy doesn\u2019t exist in a vacuum,\u201d said Benjamin Sommers, an associate professor of health policy and economics at Harvard University\u2019s public health school. Sommers was not an author on the paper, but he did provide feedback on a preliminary draft. \u201cWe can\u2019t discuss covering kids without considering what other policies are affecting parents.\u201d\n\nAmong the most controversial aspects of the stalled Republican efforts to revamp the Affordable Care Act were provisions to limit Medicaid, the joint federal-state health care program for low-income people. But even if that effort is not revived, congressional Republicans have said they will continue their push to cut back the program.\n\nIn addition, many states are seeking waivers that would let them add other requirements to Medicaid \u2014 demanding beneficiaries undergo drug-testing or meet work requirements, for instance. Those, many analysts say, would likely reduce enrollment.\n\nSuch efforts could affect children who are eligible for Medicaid coverage.\n\nThe paper examines data collected from 2013 to 2015 by the Census Bureau\u2019s nationally representative American Community Survey. It tracked kids up to age 18 who, based on family income, should qualify for Medicaid.\n\nResearchers concluded that the children who benefited most from the welcome-mat effect lived in states that opted to pursue the ACA\u2019s Medicaid expansion, where an estimated 700,000 kids who would have previously been eligible for Medicaid but were not enrolled gained coverage because their parents did, too.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt that it\u2019s the combination effect; when parents find out they\u2019re eligible, it brings in the kids,\u201d said Tricia Brooks, a senior fellow at Georgetown University\u2019s Center for Children and Families, who was unaffiliated with the study. \u201cI don\u2019t think parents intentionally choose not to enroll their children. \u2026 It\u2019s going back to that lack of awareness, of understanding that children would be eligible on their own.\u201d\n\nTo be fair, the study did not account for all CHIP programs or attempt to differentiate the various ways children could gain access to health coverage through Medicaid or CHIP.\n\nRather, noted Sommers, it highlights a broader pattern: \u201cPublic coverage for children \u2026 increased as the Affordable Care Act took effect.\u201d\n\nThat gets at a more fundamental issue, many analysts suggested. The end goal of insuring kids \u2014 generally popular across the aisle \u2014 is difficult. The more controversial policy choices around adult coverage matter a great deal, too.\n\nFor instance, the Health Affairs study suggests that, had every state expanded Medicaid, 200,000 more kids would likely have gained coverage during the two-year period examined. And previous research has suggested that parents and children often have similar insurance statuses.\n\nBrooks also pointed to simplified insurance applications, enhanced outreach and a larger push to enroll parents in health insurance, associated with the ACA broadly and the Medicaid expansion specifically. Those efforts, she said, all could have helped raise awareness about children\u2019s eligibility for insurance as well.\n\n\u201cChildren still are missed, and therefore direct outreach to families may be a really good thing, especially in those situations where parents are also eligible,\u201d said Sara Rosenbaum, a health policy and law professor at George Washington University, who was not involved with the study. \u201cIt\u2019s like added value. It\u2019s a booster.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile, the White House has cut its budget for promoting private marketplace insurance, which some say would add to declines in adult coverage.\n\nIf those changes hit parents, the research suggests, the implications don\u2019t stop there.\n\n\u201cThe authors make a good case here that policies that are helping parents under the Affordable Care Act improve kids\u2019 access \u2014 and moving the opposite way would affect their children negatively,\u201d Sommers said.\n\nKHN\u2019s coverage of children\u2019s health care issues is supported in part by a grant from The Heising-Simons Foundation.", "output": "Efforts by Republican lawmakers to scale back Medicaid enrollment could undercut an aspect of the program that has widespread bipartisan appeal \u2014 covering more children, research published Tuesday\u00a0in the journal Health Affairs suggests.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ACS launches cybersecurity accreditation program \n The Australian Computer Society (ACS) -- the association for the country's IT sector -- has launched a new cybersecurity accreditation program, allowing specialists in the security field to obtain two new certifications.\n\nThe new accreditations are an extension to the ACS Certified Professional and Certified Technologist schemes, and will see cybersecurity experts in Australia able to achieve Certified Professional (Cyber Security) and Certified Technologist (Cyber Security) accreditation.\n\nThe cybersecurity specialisation status will require applicants to demonstrate in-depth capability in a range of areas identified in the globally recognised Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA), ACS president Anthony Wong explained.\n\n\"A key element of cybersecurity is trust. We trust business and government to protect our private and personal data. Establishing a professional certification where applicants must commit to a code of ethics, code of professional practice, and undertake continuing professional development helps provide a level of certainty and trustworthiness,\" Wong said, speaking at the ACS Cybersecurity event in Canberra on Wednesday.\n\nThe ACS expects the two new certifications to provide employers with a guarantee that the cybersecurity individuals they are hiring have the right skills for the role.\n\n\"By employing professionals with a [cybersecurity] certification, businesses and government are demonstrating to consumers that their cybersecurity professionals have undergone a rigorous assessment process, demonstrated a commitment to the highest principles, and are well placed to lift the cyber resilience of their organisation,\" Wong said.\n\nExisting Certified Professionals and Certified Technologists are able to apply to have their certification upgraded through the ACS.\n\nAccording to Australia's Special Adviser to the Prime Minister on Cyber Security Alastair MacGibbon, the accreditation program from the ACS will help remove the current seagull-like approach to hiring cybersecurity professionals, where government, the enterprise, and big business are all \"fighting over the same chip\".\n\nAddressing the ACS in Sydney on Tuesday, MacGibbon said it makes sense that as Australia grows its cybersecurity skills and capabilities, it has the right people involved.\n\n\"It's widely recognised that there's a skills deficit in ICT broadly, but particularly when it comes to cybersecurity,\" he said, noting that the country is missing the point if only tertiary institutions are focused on.\n\n\"We also need to focus on vocational training, and indeed those that are self-taught.\"\n\nHe said Australia needs to create avenues for self-taught individuals to \"come to the side of goodness and light\" to actually protect the communities they operate in.\n\n\"Which is why initiatives like this one are so important for us, because it tries to make sense of the skills that we have and help to standardise those somewhat,\" he explained.\n\n\"A casual observer would say that there has been an awful lot of conflict, an awful lot of overlap, and often some confusion as to what certifications are best to have.\n\n\"Until we actually have the supply right of staff, the supply right of skilled people, we're always seagulls fighting after the same chip that government will sit there and say that it will grow some skills, the private sector might come and offer more money and steal the chip from us, big business will fight over that same person next, and we have this game of inflationary wages -- good for the individual, but bad for business generally -- and of course we have the deficit, we just don't have enough people to be doing the work that's there.\"\n\nSpeaking with ZDNet earlier this year, MacGibbon said he wants the understanding of cybersecurity to be a life skill children of today grow up with, which means taking the conversation to primary school classrooms.\n\nWhile PhD, university, and even high school students should still be gaining powerful knowledge on the threat landscape, MacGibbon would argue that this kind of structure isn't enough to ensure the success of Australia when it comes to cybersecurity.\n\n\"For me, being a successful person in my generation was being able to read and write and do basic maths,\" he told ZDNet. \"What is going to get our kids to be successful in this world is the concept of computation, coding, and communication.\n\n\"If we're going to win when it comes to protecting the Australian way of life, in terms of cybersecurity, then it indeed starts in primary schools.\"\n\nHe also wants those in IT to look at furthering their skills in the cybersecurity sector.", "output": "The Australian Computer Society (ACS) has unveiled its Certified Professional and Certified Technologist cyber security accreditations. The qualifications\u00a0offer\u00a0employers a guarantee of certain skills, and can boost cyber defences, said ACS President Anthony Wong. ACS's programme would help end the \"seagull-like approach\" to employing cyber security professionals, said\u00a0Alastair MacGibbon, special adviser to the Prime Minister on cyber security."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Perils of the Mid-Sized ED \n This post originally appeared on\n\nI know, I know, I spend way too much time ranting about work in the emergency department. But after some recent shifts, my box of rants is full once more. And what I want to point out is the enormous struggle of the mid-sized emergency departments in America today.\n\nI know this is a problem; I work in them, and I know and talk with people who work in them. It's getting harder all the time. So what is a mid-sized ED? For purposes of my discussion, I'd say (depending on coverage) somewhere from 16,000 to 40,000 visits per year. Now that's not scientific, that's just for the sake of discussion, and based on personal experience.\n\nI'd love to hear commentary from readers because I'm trying to figure it all out. But let me start with a story. When I was fresh out of residency, I worked at dear old Oconee Memorial Hospital in Seneca, S.C. Our volume, as I recall, was around 23,000 to 25,000 per year. We had pretty good coverage at first, with three 12-hour physician shifts a day. Patients were sick, but we moved them through. And when I worked nights, I remember that it wasn't unusual for me to lie down about 3 a.m. and sleep until 7 a.m.\n\nFast forward. Even at my current job where I see 19,000 per year, there's barely a night when patients don't come in all night long. So is volume spread out more? Maybe. Are patients sicker? Possibly. I think some of this may be that patients have no primary care, and so they don't even have an option to \"wait 'till morning.\"\n\nIn addition, a large number of patients (in all EDs) are jobless. So in their defense, 3 a.m. is as good as 3 p.m. when you don't have to go to a job in the morning. (I'm not disparaging, but I do think this is true. Think about your teenagers who sit up all night in the summer if they don't have jobs!)\n\nI also wonder if our patients are sicker. I mean, medicine is pretty amazing nowadays, and people who would certainly have died when I was in medical school now repeatedly survive significant heart failure, MI, stroke, pulmonary embolism, respiratory failure, various infections, and all sorts of problems. And when they do, they have to come back to the ED frequently.\n\nFor those with docs in the community, I'm sure the offices are crazy busy all the time. Even those docs have patients they just can't squeeze into appointments. They use the ED. And maybe, just maybe, our patients are much more \"medicalized\" than before.\n\nSo much of what emergency departments see is really psychosocial. Anxiety, depression, suicidality, substance abuse. The numbers of these conditions seem to be exploding, and they can seldom afford primary care, much less mental healthcare. The all-night ED is the place they go.\n\nAnd there is a subset of patients who use the emergency department for entertainment or convenience; rides, snacks, a way to avoid arrest. \"Officer, I ... have ... chest pain!\" These also take time and space.\n\nSo what happens is all of this descends on departments with limited resources and staff. And all day, and all night, one physician or two, maybe a PA or NP, struggle to sift through five or six chest pains alongside two stroke alerts, a suicidal overdose, two septic senior citizens, a dialysis patient who missed two appointments and has a potassium of 10 and a femur fracture. Add to that the family of five with head colds.\n\nSure, this is what we do. We are emergency physicians and nurses and mid-levels. But into this mix, in the mid-sized department, recall that there is: no cardiologist, no neurologist, no psychiatrist or counselor, sometimes no available ICU beds, possibly no pediatrician and definitely no dialysis in the hospital.\n\nThe day is spent sorting, stabilizing, making phone calls, transferring and waiting for ambulance or helicopter to become available. All the while? Sifting through very cumbersome and inefficient computer documentation systems designed for billing, not for flow. And being scrutinized for throughput, time stamps, protocols, national standards, Medicare rules, re-admissions, and all that mess.\n\nI really don't want to sound like a complainer. What I'm concerned about is 1) the safety of the patients and 2) the physical and emotional health of the caregivers. At the end of the day, we're all exhausted. And so much is going on that we can barely find the obvious stuff, much less the subtle things that can also kill.\n\nIt sometimes seems as if departments are intentionally understaffed to save money. I understand that it's expensive to have doctors, nurses, etc. But administrators get mad at folks \"standing around,\" without realizing that in the chaos and suffering of the ED, sometimes it's really important to \"stand around.\" To breathe, to think, to rest, to gather oneself, to look up a condition or problem, to debrief. To eat. To pee.\n\nI think that the world of medicine has descended on the emergency department. I know that we handle it valiantly. But I don't think it's safe, and it's nowhere as unsafe as in the relatively under-staffed and under-equipped mid-sized community hospitals of the world.\n\nI'm proud of what we do. But some days, most days, I wonder how we do it.\n\nEdwin Leap is an emergency physician who blogs at edwinleap.com and is the author of The Practice Test and Life in Emergistan. This post appeared on KevinMD.com.\n\nPlease enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.", "output": "So much of what emergency departments see is really psychosocial. Anxiety, depression, suicidality, substance abuse. The numbers of these conditions seem to be exploding, and they can seldom afford primary care, much less mental healthcare. The all-night ED is the place they go.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "LTC Nurse Residency Results in 86% Retention Rate \n Post-acute care has become an essential component of value-based care. By preparing new nurses through a long-term care residency program, facilities can improve nurse retention, confidence, and competency.\n\nAccountable care organizations, value-based care, and new reimbursement models are changing the healthcare landscape, and with that the role of the post-acute care nurse is evolving as well.\n\n\"It's important that [patients] don't go back to the hospital. So these nurses have to have a different skill level than, maybe, what people perceived long-term care as previously,\" says Edna Cadmus, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, clinical professor at Rutgers University School of Nursing.\n\nThere are few structured programs, however, to help newly licensed RNs develop the expertise needed to successfully transition to practice in post-acute care.\n\nTo address this issue, the New Jersey Action Coalition, is focused on implementing the Institute of Medicine's (now the National Academy of Medicine) Future of Nursing recommendations. It is one of 51 groups doing this work across the country.\n\nCadmus is co-lead of the coalition, which falls under the umbrella of Campaign for Action partnership between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the AARP.\n\n\"We felt there were acute care nurse residency programs in many hospitals, but for post-acute settings and, specifically, long-term care, there had been no evidence of any residency programs out there,\" she says.\n\n\"And we knew that there was a high turnover rate of nurses in long-term care facilities.\"\n\nTurnover among RNs in long-term care facilities nationally was 50% and retention was almost 67%. After the New Jersey LTC residency program, the retention rate of participants was 86%.\n\nLong-Term Care Competencies\n\nThe program launched in 2013 with funding from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and continued until 2016 with additional funding from the New Jersey Department of Health.\n\nThough it wasn't a walk in the park, the coalition recruited thirty-six facilities to participate in the program.\n\n\"Knowing the financial situation of how long-term care is reimbursed, it really was a challenge for us to recruit, but once we explained the return on investment, that helped,\" Cadmus says.\n\nThe participating organizations sent 39 preceptors and 37 new nurses through the program.\n\nPreceptors took five days away from their facilities for training to learn new skills to help them mentor new nurse residents. The new nurse residents were away from the facilities once a week to learn key competencies in geriatric care such as:\n\nFall prevention\n\nNutrition\n\nHydration\n\nManaging pain\n\nPressure injuries\n\nThey also covered components of the Massachusetts Nurse of the Future Nursing Core Competencies like:\n\nCommunication\n\nHow to use technology to leverage care\n\nLeadership development\n\nPatient-centered care concepts\n\nQuality improvement\n\nBoth residents and preceptors obtained dementia care certification and all residents did a quality improvement project for their organization. \"They were giving back but also contributing as a new nurse leader into the organization as a new nurse,\" Cadmus says.\n\nThe Residency Blueprint\n\nThe improvement in turnover was an obvious bonus. \"If you have such a high turnover and you can [start to] keep people you're obviously saving money,\" Cadmus says.\n\nBut the residency had other benefits as well.\n\n\"We surveyed the nurses and found that their confidence as well as their competence increased,\" she says.\n\n\"Usually somewhere around six months is when a new grad is looking to leave their first level of employment. We felt we got them over that hurdle to really kind of get them stable for that first year.\"\n\nStill there are challenges in developing residencies in post-acute care. Unlike acute care organizations which can hire a group of new nurses to go through a residency as a cohort, post-acute care organizations usually hire just one or two nurses at a time.\n\nAnd the setting does not always have a robust career ladder for nurses to climb.\n\n\"When you're in a hospital situation there's a lot of opportunities to move up, to go into a clinical ladder, to try different departments to work in. It's not the same environment in long-term care,\" Cadmus says.\n\n\"So when you think about the new graduate, especially this new generation, they're looking to be able to not only make a difference, but also to have opportunities to change into different roles or to be promoted into different things. If you don't have those opportunities they're out the door.\"\n\nCadmus and her co-authors share their experience with developing and implementing the residency program in the book Developing a Residency in Post-Acute Care. They hope it can serve as a blueprint for others wishing to launch their own residency programs.\n\n\"We've gotten a lot of calls from people asking about how you do it. We're giving you everything you need to know about how to make this work,\" she says. \"That was why we felt it was important to document how to do this. There's no reason why anybody should have to reinvent the wheel.\"", "output": "Post-acute care has become an essential component of value-based care. By preparing new nurses through a long-term care residency program, facilities can improve nurse retention, confidence, and competency.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Axel Springer pan-European news app grows to 13 million users \n One key plank in Axel Springer\u2019s resistance to the duopoly: Upday, an 18-month-old pan-European news app that comes installed on Samsung phones.\n\nIn total, Upday claims it has 13 million monthly users, up from 8.5 million in February, according to its internal analytics platform Localytics. In Germany, Upday\u2019s figures are verified by third-party organizations such as IVW, the German Audit Bureau of Circulation, and research firm AGOF, the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Online Forschung.\n\nThis growth is partly because Upday is available in 16 European countries, where it now has eight editorial hubs, twice the number of hubs it launched with in March 2016. Upday has roughly 50 editorial staffers, double the amount in February, split across its eight European editorial hubs, who verify news and add a local editorial focus to the top global trending stories. Its Berlin headquarters employs around 25 developers and 25 sales and marketing workers.\n\nThe number of publishers it has worked with has nearly doubled to 3,500, too, according to the company. Collectively, Upday drives 4 million visits a day to its publishers, twice as many as it did in February; for some publishers, this amounts to between 5 and 20 percent of referral traffic, the company said. The Android-only app has also grown the number of handsets it\u2019s available on from just the Samsung Galaxy S series to Samsung\u2019s Galaxy A and lower-cost Galaxy J series.\n\n\u201cThe unexpected figure was that retention rate and loyalty was high,\u201d said Upday CEO Peter W\u00fcrtenberger, adding that users are spending five minutes with the app per day. At launch, Upday claimed users spent two hours with the platform a month. This is respectable for a general news app, although not close to the 35 minutes per day users spend on both Facebook and YouTube, according to influencer agency Mediakix. Elsewhere, sports publisher Bleacher Report manages to get people to spend five minutes daily on its app, while women\u2019s lifestyle publisher Bustle manages six minutes a day.\n\nAccording to comScore, Apple News has 10.4 million unique monthly users in the U.K. (although it reported 70 million users via internal figures in November 2016). Upday has recently implemented comScore rankings, and its first full month of figures aren\u2019t available yet, so it\u2019s too early to accurately compare the Axel Springer platform directly to other news apps.\n\nIn the last four months, the platform has shifted focus from growing reach to increasing the time spent within the platform, achieving this by learning more about its users\u2019 interests and tailoring content to them. When readers first use Upday, they are asked to select a number of topic categories. Now, a reader who chose to receive, say, lifestyle content on the platform is then asked whether she\u2019s interested in topics like wellness or nutrition.\n\n\u201cOn top of the explicit choice of categories, we have the implicit ways of understanding what the user is interested in through user behavior because the algorithm is learning,\u201d said W\u00fcrtenberger.\n\nThis also adds more value for marketers.\n\nIn the last two months, Upday has offered pan-European campaigns booked out of its local offices, which W\u00fcrtenberger, who wouldn\u2019t disclose revenue figures for Upday, said is a competitive advantage: Advertisers usually find local partners for each country. \u201cUpday is small in comparison,\u201d he said, \u201cbut it\u2019s a great alternative as an active, European-wide platform for advertising, so it doesn\u2019t all end up going to Google and Facebook.\u201d\n\nSpanish car manufacturer Seat recently ran a campaign in the U.K., France, Germany, Italy and Spain, booked through Upday\u2019s office in Berlin, Germany. The centralized Berlin team tailored the creative to local markets and delivered it programmatically via mobile ad exchange Inneractive. Although, most of Upday\u2019s other campaigns are delivered via independent ad tech firm AppNexus as part of the first implementation of Axel Springer\u2019s global partnership announced in May.\n\nThe campaign, which included display and native formats in every 10 or so cards users swipe through, also drove above industry average on display ad click-through rates. The native ads, which included a number of articles like \u201c5 ways the Seat Ibiza gets you moving,\u201d performed the best, driving a 1 percent CTR, according to Upday. The company also said users spent one minute with the brand story \u2014 the landing page users clicked through from the native ad \u2014 70 percent of users read 75 percent of the landing page brand story and 11 percent clicked on the call-to-action within it.\n\nIn the U.K., a campaign for Penguin Random House designed to encourage more reading among young children was targeted to parents. Two months ago, cross-country campaigns and these targeting capabilities were unavailable.\n\nUpday campaigns typically run between a week and 10 days. So far, clients like Vodafone, Volkswagen and Seat have booked consecutive campaigns. The platform is popular with carmakers, with six out of the top 10 European car manufacturers booking campaigns, W\u00fcrtenberger said.\n\n\u201cFor me, the real value is having effective campaigns with good results,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s an effective way of combining central teams with local know-how.\u201d\n\nImages courtesy of Upday", "output": "Publisher Alex Springer has reported significant growth for its mobile news\u00a0app UpDay, whose user numbers have increased to 13 million, up from 8.5 million in February. Launched in March last year under an exclusive partnership with Samsung, the Android service is now available in 16 European countries\u00a0and employs about\u00a050 editorial staff. The company said it works with 3,500 publishers\u00a0and sends about\u00a04 million visitors\u00a0a day to their sites. Alex Springer is now focusing on increasing users' time on the app above\u00a0the current\u00a0five minutes a day.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Content creators impacted by YouTube brand safety mission \n This past May in New York City, YouTube held a summit for its top 100 or so video personalities, individuals and networks. It was a chance for these creators to get face time with senior YouTube executives and discuss what was happening on the video platform. One issue that some attendees felt YouTube needed to address: declining ad revenue.\n\nA month earlier, YouTube had started using more of its artificial intelligence tools to flag offensive videos on the platform \u2014 a move driven by the so-called \u201cYouTube adpocalypse,\u201d during which many advertisers threatened to curb ad spending on the platform after discovering ads were being shown next to offensive, hateful and violent content.\n\nFour months later, eight creators Digiday spoke with said they\u2019re still feeling the impact of \u201cdemonetized\u201d videos to this day. Some of these creators\u2019 videos might have colorful language, but nothing unsavory, and yet with YouTube\u2019s new ad policies their videos are being swept up with the real muck.\n\nCreators are still hurting\n\nWhen YouTube\u2019s disabling of ads started in March, some top creators saw a significant hit to their ad revenue. Phil DeFranco, who has about 5.6 million subscribers on YouTube, saw ad revenue drop by 30 percent within the first month. H3h3Productions, which has about 4.7 million subscribers, said it was only making 15 percent of what it typically makes month to month on YouTube. (Tubefilter has a breakdown on how widespread and significant the issue was early on in YouTube\u2019s crackdown.)\n\n\u201cWe expect the third quarter to generally start lower due to seasonal trends, but this year, the drop was larger than in past years,\u201d said Evan Bregman, director of programming at Rooster Teeth, which operates a network of owned and partner channels on YouTube including Rooster Teeth and Slo Mo Guys. Collectively, the network reaches 38 million subscribers.\n\nBy May, revenue for most top creators were getting back to pre-apocalypse levels. Of the 100 or so attendees of the creator summit, only four raised their hands when a YouTube exec asked if anyone\u2019s revenue numbers were still taking noticeable hit, according to a YouTube spokesperson.\n\nBut that doesn\u2019t mean the issue has gone away for all creators, especially those that don\u2019t have several-million subscribers and invitations to private summits with top YouTube brass.\n\nTake Hannah Rutherford, a gaming creator within the Yogscast network. Rutherford consistently gets 1 million views per month on her YouTube channel, which has 1.3 million subscribers, according to Tubular Labs. In a tweet, she said she\u2019s now making twice the revenue on Twitch than she does on YouTube, primarily because her YouTube ad revenues have been \u201ctanking\u201d even though viewership has remained flat.\n\nThe issue is even more troublesome for news and social issues creators on YouTube. Real Women Real Stories, for instance, is a small YouTube channel that promotes women\u2019s rights by producing testimonials in which women share stories of trauma. The charity project relies entirely on YouTube advertising to fund its productions. But since its content focuses on sensitive issues such as rape, sexual abuse and sex trafficking, the Real Women Real Stories channel made $10 in YouTube ad revenue in June, down from $2,000 the previous June, according to channel owner Matan Uziel.\n\n\u201cWe want to make sure we bring as much women\u2019s stories forward as we can, but our charitable project is nearly dead because we can no longer pay for productions,\u201d Uziel said.\n\nFlagging sensitive content\n\nThe situation has exposed flaws in how YouTube\u2019s AI disables ads on videos. The general understanding among creators is that YouTube will automatically flag videos, titles and thumbnails that feature graphic, edgy or sensitive imagery and text. This is problematic for gaming creators, who frequently play games with graphic visuals and strong language. It\u2019s also problematic for creators who want to talk about news and social issues. Just because a video covers topics such as terrorism, white supremacy or rape doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s endorsing those ideas.\n\n\u201cWhen I reached out to YouTube to see why our videos were being demonetized, they said it\u2019s because the videos are not advertiser friendly,\u201d said Uziel. \u201cThey came to the conclusion that videos that cover topics such as sexual abuse, rape and women\u2019s issues, in general, could not be monetized.\u201d\n\nThis is a reality of platforms, which try to use technology to police matters that often need a human hand. YouTube\u2019s not alone in this area: Facebook faced criticism when it removed an iconic Vietnam War photo that depicted a naked child running away from napalm bombs. Artificial intelligence doesn\u2019t understand nuance yet, which means videos that cover sensitive topics are going to be swept up with the muck advertisers want to avoid.\n\nThe problem with YouTube is that the AI it\u2019s using is also inconsistent. Rutherford has published 12 gameplay videos of the game \u201cHellblade,\u201d and YouTube cleared 11 videos while disabling ads on one, with no clear explanation as to why. Uziel, meanwhile, found that while YouTube disabled ads on a Real Women Real Stories video titled \u201cThe Harmful Consequences of Objectifying Women,\u201d a video from The Young Turks titled \u201cKidnapped and Sold: One Houseless Woman\u2019s Tale\u201d featured ads.\n\nUziel also found a workaround by reposting videos with the title and subtitles in different languages. For instance, YouTube disabled ads on a video titled \u201cI Was a Sex Slave to Europe\u2019s Elite at Age 6,\u201d but the same exact video with the same title in French, \u201cJ\u2019\u00e9tais une esclave sexuelle pour l\u2019\u00e9lite mondiale \u00e0 partir de l\u2019\u00e2ge de 6 ans\u201d has ads running.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m struggling to understand because they say they can\u2019t monetize topics which relate to women\u2019s issues, but there are videos of those topics that are being monetized,\u201d Uziel said.\n\nOne YouTube rep proposed softening titles and language as a potential solution, Uziel added.\n\n\u201cSince some of the wording could be an automatic trigger for our system which is primarily text-driven, so you might like to try maneuvering the algorithm a little bit. However, we can\u2019t guarantee that your videos will monetize with this change since the content within the videos are still of a sensitive nature. We also recommend that you use caution when describing assault situations in your videos,\u201d said a YouTube channel rep in an email to Uziel.\n\nYouTube\u2019s appeals process is lacking\n\nWith 400 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, according to YouTube, it\u2019s easy to see why most of the vetting is left to algorithms. But creators complain that YouTube has set up a slow and inefficient appeals system.\n\nA recent 58-minute gameplay video Rutherford scheduled to post was flagged by YouTube before it even published. \u201cThere\u2019s not going to be some guy [at YouTube] who goes, \u2018Oh, I\u2019ll watch it now and scan a 58-minute video and get back to you; it\u2019s going to take a while,\u201d Rutherford said in a video.\n\nThough Rutherford has appealed more than 200 videos flagged by YouTube, only two of the videos have been approved by the system so far.\n\n\u201cBack in March we rolled out new controls for advertisers to help them better choose where their ads are placed, and we rely on machine learning to evaluate the millions of videos on our platform to implement those choices,\u201d a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement. \u201cBut no system is perfect, so we encourage creators to appeal for a human review when they feel we got it wrong, and every appeal helps our advertising systems get smarter over time.\u201d\n\nAd-disabled videos on YouTube must get 1,000 views in the span of seven days to qualify for a review, which YouTube says is done so the AI is not slowed down by videos with only a handful of views. This approach hurts smaller YouTube channels, because it removes the ability for creators to make money on the most important stage of a YouTube video\u2019s life cycle: the first seven days. Typically, videos receive 70 percent or more of their views in the first seven days, according to multiple creators.\n\nUnfortunately, there isn\u2019t one easy fix to this problem. YouTube could update its algorithm to factor in a video\u2019s like-to-dislike ratio, which may improve the YouTube API\u2019s ability to make a distinction between an offensive video and a piece that explores sensitive topics, said Ashkan Karbasfrooshan, CEO of WatchMojo. (Facebook, meanwhile, is hiring up to 3,000 human curators this year to scan for and eliminate extremist content.)\n\n\n\nUltimately, the creators\u2019 situation points to the risk of publishing on someone else\u2019s platform, whose own business goals may not be aligned with those who supply the content. YouTube\u2019s goal is to get every advertiser comfortable with advertising on the platform, said a YouTube source. That would certainly benefit most creators on the platform, but not all \u2014 at least within the platform\u2019s current ad guidelines.\n\n\u201cYouTube is trying to balance the needs of advertisers with the needs of creators. Do they always get it right? Of course not,\u201d said Steven Oh, COO of The Young Turks Network. \u201cIt\u2019s a very tough balance to strike, and just as advertisers push for their interests to be protected, creators should do the same.\u201d", "output": "YouTube creators have suffered a severe cut in their advertising revenue as a result of the platform's action to address concerns over offensive and inappropriate content. The company began disabling ads in March, and some content-producers saw falls of 30% in the first month. By May, revenue for the top creators was recovering, but some with fewer subscribers still report significant reductions. The crude and inconsistent nature of YouTube's procedures for flagging inappropriate content and demonetising them have been blamed for the problems.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BBC Worldwide puts sales staff on programmatic training scheme \n BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, is trying to increase its global salesforce\u2019s knowledge on all things programmatic. Starting from last March, the media organization rolled out a rigorous programmatic training program to 100 of its sales staff across 12 markets. The goal: to boost programmatic know-how enough to spot new ways to drive deeper relationships with advertisers across its U.S., Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific markets.\n\nThe training program included a 45-minute online overview of programmatic trading, from its inception to current challenges around transparency and viewability. Staff then learned how BBC Worldwide\u2019s centralized ad tech stack is structured and how the programmatic team uncovers new opportunities for clients, then packages and communicates them to clients. Details on how various programmatic deals are set up \u2014 either for private or open marketplace trading and across its audience extension network \u2014 were included. Staff were also educated on why BBC Worldwide hasn\u2019t adopted the popular header-bidding technique predominantly linked to page-latency concerns. The media organization has held out for server-side bidding and began testing Google\u2019s exchange bidding in Dynamic Allocation tool last week.\n\nThe global leadership team received the training first. The bulk of BBC Worldwide revenue comes from selling popular shows like \u201cDoctor Who\u201d and \u201cPlanet Earth\u201d to international markets. Last year, the commercial arm made over \u00a31 million ($1.3 million) in sales, of which advertising is a portion, though the company doesn\u2019t break out specifics. The company also won\u2019t break out what percentage of advertising revenue comes from programmatic, but by instilling the importance of programmatic trading\u2019s role within its overall commercial business, signoffs on future strategy changes can occur more speedily. That\u2019s the theory, at least.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re constantly developing our ad stack, and that means leadership signoff is vital to enable the way we roll programmatic out across the board,\u201d said David Goddard, global head of programmatic trading for BBC Worldwide. India is the final market due to receive the training.\n\nSince the training\u2019s rollout, programmatic revenues have increased, as have specific deal IDs in multiple markets, and the number of clients has increased, though Goddard wouldn\u2019t provide specifics.\n\nOne of the benefits of having a centralized ad tech stack is that programmatic campaigns run in international markets with skinny local sales teams, and any blockages that can arise from fragmented, local ad tech technologies are reduced. The media organization already had eight dedicated programmatic specialists across 12 markets: three (soon to be four) in the U.K., two in the U.S., one in Canada, one in Singapore and one in Australia. But to scale its programmatic revenue beyond the double-digit growth it\u2019s had so far, it needed to educate the rest of its international sales force and get everyone taking the same approach. That\u2019s something that\u2019s not always easy with products spanning 40 languages.\n\n\u201cSalespeople are our inventory discovery tool,\u201d said Goddard. \u201cMost [ad buyers] buy off data points and decide where media should go from that. But how do you whitelist for English-language BBC sites as well as our BBC Arabic site in the Middle Eastern markets? It comes from a BBC salesperson or expert identifying the right people in local offices and meeting with them to talk through how we\u2019re right for their business.\u201d\n\nThe role of the programmatic specialists will now be to ensure the training that the wider sales staff received is executed fully with clients.\n\n\u201cWe need to ensure everyone who is client-facing has that ability to use the language correctly and understand our clients\u2019 needs in the programmatic space,\u201d Goddard said. \u201cOur direct clients are now our programmatic clients, too; we want to give them that one-stop shop.\u201d\n\nHaving lean but skilled teams in different markets has gone over well with agencies. Matt McIntyre, activation director at Essence, said despite the small size of the London programmatic team, it\u2019s \u201cskilled and knowledgeable in the workings of programmatic and [understands] how to use the opportunities the technology gives them to work with us in a collaborative fashion.\u201d\n\nMcIntyre added that because BBC Worldwide is a well-known brand in nearly every market, pricing is often higher than local publishers, which is a consideration for buyers. \u201cThis may put some buyers off as it looks less efficient on a media plan,\u201d he said, \u201cbut we believe it is important to properly measure your campaigns and understand the net value which BBC Worldwide is driving against your key performance indicators.\u201d\n\nImage courtesy of International Global Communications", "output": "BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the UK's public service broadcaster, is investing in training its worldwide sales force on programmatic advertising. The training will be offered to the corporation's 100-strong sales team across the US, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific markets. It will include a 45-minute overview of programmatic trading and education on how WorldWide's centralised ad tech stack is structured. Last year the trading arm made just over \u00a31bn ($1.3bn) in sales, of which advertising forms a part, although it does not break down the figures. The majority of this comes from sales of popular programmes overseas.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Next outperforms rivals with higher spend on paid search \n Learning from missing out on the online dash for uniforms in the back-to-school rush last year, U.K. retailer Next.co.uk spent more on paid search this year to outperform its larger rivals Sainsbury\u2019s and Marks & Spencer.\n\nResearch from Adthena, an intelligence platform for search, revealed Next rose from the ninth-most-clicked retailer on Google and Bing for back-to-school terms during August 2016 to first in August 2017. It was top of the class for paid search on desktop, winning 25 percent of clicks for back-to-school search terms relating to stationery, school uniforms and school accessories.\n\nBetween July 26 and Aug. 22, Next consistently topped its rivals, though it suffered short-term dips every few days, according to Adthena. However, sharp rises followed each low in the period, which suggests the retailer\u2019s marketers were constantly tweaking the keyword search terms the brand appeared alongside.\n\nNext\u2019s strategy worked because it spent highly on a wide range of keywords and phrases related to the back-to-school theme, said Ashley Fletcher, director of product marketing at Adthena. \u201cThis, combined with quality ad copy, helped to compel users to click through, making them the dominant force,\u201d he added.\n\nThe majority of Next\u2019s paid search activity for back to school was on desktop, with the retailer averaging fifth for the number of mobile clicks, according to Adthena. The focus on desktop was likely driven in part by the retailer\u2019s limited experience on mobile, an issue it is trying to address. It plans to launch 12 international versions of its mobile site in markets such as the U.S. and Australia, which account for 70 percent of its revenue.\n\nInterestingly, Next seemingly opted against building a strategy for organic search results in favor of one that took it to the top of the search-results page as quickly as possible. As a result, it secured less than 7 percent of organic clicks on desktop and mobile, per Adthena. Fletcher said the decision was motivated by the pressure Next would have felt leading up to the start of school to react to the shifting search habits of parents. \u201cOrganic search is a long-term gain where you really need to focus on broader searches to get the volumes, and I don\u2019t think the retailers are nimble enough to prepare for something like that,\u201d he said.\n\nM&S was the dominant back-to-school retailer on desktop last year, yet its spend dropped from 21 percent in August 2016 to 9 percent in 2017, according to Adthena. Like Sainsbury\u2019s, it appears the retailer has opted to push more budget into TV and outdoor ads to drive people to stores. Last month, M&S launched its bid for back-to-school sales with ads across TV, Facebook and YouTube. Meanwhile, Sainsbury\u2019s has pushed its own Tu clothing line with special offers.\n\nAnalysts took Next\u2019s investments earlier this year as a sign that it struggles to respond to growth of online shopping. Its share price has halved since reaching a high in 2015, as the likes of Asos and Topman have harmed its sales.\n\nThe contrast in Next\u2019s approach to the back-to-school seasons in 2016 and 2017 is emblematic of the investments it has made to build an online strategy that stands up to its brick-and-mortar one. The online retailer proactively manages its stores through a combination of profitable openings, extensions and closures. Since the turn of the year, it has introduced several major updates to its virtual store, including a homepage redesign, faster registration times and intelligent recommendations. Before year-end, it plans to quicken checkout times, reducing its checkout process from three pages to two, and further update its homepage and search strategy.\n\nNext did not reply to requests for comment by the time this article was published.\n\nImage courtesy of Next.co.uk", "output": "UK retailer Next won 25% of clicks for back-to-school search terms relating to stationary, school uniforms and school accessories from desktop computers, according to a report from research firm Adthena. The company outperformed its larger rivals Sainsbury's, Marks & Spencer and Tesco thanks to extensive ad\u00a0spending\u00a0on a range of keywords and phrases related to the back-to-school theme, said Ashley Fletcher, director of product marketing at Adthena. Next still lags behind rivals for mobile and organic searches, according to the report.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google rumoured to be building AI business in China \n As the country sets out its ambitious goals to be the world leader in the field by 2030, the US tech giant is quietly looking to get its own foothold established", "output": "Google is thought to be building a team of artificial intelligence (AI) specialists in China, after of job advertisements were noticed searching for key machine learning technicians in Beijing.\u00a0In July, the Chinese government set out a plan to overtake the US and become the global leader in AI by 2030. China's AI application market is projected to grow 50% annually, compared to the 20% forecast across the global market, according to McKinsey. The sector is predicted to be worth\u00a0CNY150bn ($23bn) by 2020, the Chinese government said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dubai development accepting bitcoin for sales of off-plan flats \n watch now\n\nA 250 million pound ($325 million) luxury development has been launched in Dubai \u2014 and the people behind it don't mind if you pay in bitcoin. Announced Wednesday by British entrepreneurs Michelle Mone and Doug Barrowman, Aston Plaza and Residences spans more than 2.4 million square feet and is split across two 40-storey residential towers. Its developers claim that it will be the \"first major development\" to be priced in the virtual currency bitcoin. \"Being a designer for 21 years, it's a real passion of mine as the design side, and it's great to be partnering up together as well to launch this. And this is the first major global development where you can purchase in bitcoin,\" Mone told CNBC in an interview last week ahead of the announcement. \"Previously there's been an apartment here and there's been a house here and there, but never a \u00a3250 million development, so it's really exciting to be involved in.\" Mone founded the lingerie brand Ultimo in 1996 through her company MJM International. She now owns the interior design firm Michelle Mone Interiors, which will be responsible for building main walkways and reception areas.\n\nAston Plaza and Residences\n\nShe is also a lawmaker in the U.K.'s upper chamber of parliament, and was appointed by former Prime Minister David Cameron two years ago.\n\nWhy bitcoin?\n\nMone's partner Barrowman, who is chairman of the Knox Group of companies, said that the pair chose bitcoin as part of the virtual token's emergence as a more \"mainstream\" means of investment. \"I've been invested in the crypto world for the last couple of years really, and it's a sector I've watched grow and emerge,\" the venture capitalist told CNBC in an interview. \"So I see it coming to that stage where the early adopters are giving way to a more mainstream application of cryptocurrency, and therefore it's a logical extension to take land and buildings and effectively offer people the opportunity to pay in cryptocurrency or bitcoin rather than just fiat currency.\" Barrowman said the \"crypto world\" would warm up to the property development as investors who don't wish to live in the property can receive a nine percent return on their investment after completion. \"And that finds favor with how the crypto world operates, they like to be rewarded discounts, on ICOs (initial coin offerings), to allow them to buy into things. And I just think it's quite groundbreaking what we're doing,\" he added.\n\nIt's the currency of the future. Michelle Mone British entrepreneur and parliamentarian\n\nSeveral governmental authorities have expressed concern over a lack of regulation for cryptocurrencies. On Monday, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) was just one of several Chinese authorities to announce a clampdown on initial coin offerings (ICOs). ICOs are used by start-ups to raise funds by flogging off new digital tokens. But, addressing regulatory concerns about the virtual cash, Mone said that she would not be getting involved in bitcoin if it wasn't a trustworthy investment. She said: \"It's the currency of the future. And I think because everything is logged and registered, everything's transparent, that I wouldn't be getting involved in it \u2014 especially from the House of Lords element, I'm a baroness \u2014 so I wouldn't be getting involved in it if it was a kind of 'dodgy' industry.\"\n\nAston Plaza and Residences\n\nShe referred to several laws which have been put in place to try and regulate cryptocurrencies. The Isle of Man, a small independent island between England and Ireland, introduced its own legal framework to force crypto businesses to fall into compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) laws in 2015. Meanwhile, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said in July that federal securities laws could apply to token sales.\n\n'Not a gimmick'\n\nMone refuted the idea that the bitcoin-priced development was a \"marketing gimmick\". \"It's not a gimmick. These people do want to buy things with their bitcoin,\" she told CNBC Wednesday morning. \"So we're here, they can buy a studio apartment, a one bedroom, a two bedroom, they can go online right now \u2026 and buy that apartment within minutes.\" She added: \"These people have had bitcoin right from the very start, years ago, and at the start of the year in January it was (worth) $800 a bitcoin. Now, yes it's dipped slightly, but it's around \u2026 $4,500 at the moment.\" The hit a low of $4,037 on Tuesday, down 20 percent from its all-time high of $5,000 over the weekend.\n\nwatch now\n\nIt managed to make a recovery Wednesday, currently trading at $4,519, according to CoinDesk's price index.\n\nProject to be completed by September 2019", "output": "Aston Plaza and Residences, an Isle of Man firm, has launched a \u00a3250m luxury residential development in Dubai with the option to buy properties in bitcoin. It claims to be the first major development to be priced in bitcoin. The partners, Baroness Michelle Mone and Doug Barrowman, are keen on bitcoin and foresee investors wishing to ditch the volatility of bitcoin for a safe return and a real asset. The development is set to be completed in September 2019 and initial starting prices of the flats are $133,918, or 30 bitcoin. The development includes 1,000 flats and a shopping centre."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mercedes-Benz Van invests $50m in Uber competitor Via \n Daimler\n\nFor almost a decade, Mercedes' parent company, Daimler, has been preparing for a future where fewer people buy a car.\n\nIn 2008, the German automaker launched Car2Go, a car-sharing service that amassed two million members in October 2016.\n\nLast April, Daimler launched Moovel, a series of apps that allow users to book and pay for public transportation and see how well it integrates with other transit options, such as bike- or ride-hailing services, to get to a final destination.\n\nAnd now Daimler is investing in Via in order to launch the ride-sharing service in London by the end of the year and other European cities to follow. Via and Daimler did not disclose the funding amount in its Monday announcement, but Mercedes-Benz Van will invest an additional $50 million in Via as part of the new partnership.\n\nThe Via partnership is just the latest in a series of Daimler investments geared at preparing for the decline of car ownership. Via is essentially an on-demand bus by allowing users to book a ride in a shuttle that's heading in the same general direction.\n\n\"By deepening our cooperation with Via, we are thus taking the next logical step in the context of our strategy for the future and are expanding our range of new mobility services,\" Volker Mornhinweg, Head of Mercedes-Benz Vans, wrote in a statement.\n\nThe percentage of households without a car has increased slightly in the last five years, the most recent data from the American Census Bureau shows. Experts in the auto industry expect the trend to continue as millennials increasingly elect to live in cities where it's expensive to own a car.\n\nA recent study showed people use cars less frequently when a ride-hailing service is available.\n\nDaimler got a head start on the pivot to mobility services, but other automakers have since followed suit. Toyota recently invested in Grab, an Uber competitor in Southeast Asia. General Motors, Ford, and BMW have all launched their own car-sharing services.\n\nIt's still unclear whether or not the death of car ownership is imminent or still a more distant reality.\n\nAlthough no-car households are becoming slightly more common, a 2016 Strategic Vision Study found that millennials would still rather own a car than rely on ride-hailing services. In 2014, millennials bought more cars than Generation X for the first time.\n\nStill, car companies seem to think the threat is big enough to warrant multi-million investments in mobility services. How these services will ultimately affect public transit, congestion, and car-spending habits in the long-term remains to be seen.", "output": "German car maker Daimler has invested an estimated $50m in on-demand shuttle bus service Via though its Mercedes Benz Van division. It plans to launch the service in London by the end of the year before a wider European roll-out. Volker Mornhinweg, the head of Mercedes-Benz Vans, said: \"We are taking the next logical step in the context of our strategy for the future and are expanding our range of new mobility services.\" The move follows General Motors, Toyota, Ford and BMW, which have also launched or invested in vehicle-sharing services."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Microsoft, Google patent tech for identifying trendsetters \n New patents aim to identify and encourage online experts and influencers \u2014 with implications for brands and content creators.\n\nWhere is this data coming from? Start your free trial today Email Where is this data coming from? Start your free trial today Email\n\nThe CB Insights Patent Search Engine surfaced two patents this week that prove Google and Microsoft are eager to inject quantitative tech into the \u201cInfluencer Economy.\u201d\n\nGoogle applied for a patent focused on pinpointing, notifying, and rewarding \u201ctrendsetters\u201d \u2013 aka early consumers of online content that ends up goes viral. In addition, this identification could ultimately help Google predict what content may go viral.\n\nMicrosoft applied for a patent focused on detecting, classifying, and scoring \u201cexperts\u201d for their expertise on specific topics based on their online activity.\n\nBoth patents address common pain points of the social media ecosystem: Consumers want to be recognized for being first to notice and share videos, memes, or other content before they go viral. At the same time, brands want to be able to identify high-value influencers who they can tap into for their social-media marketing and business development efforts. And finally, a system for better predicting virality would also be extremely useful to content creators.\n\nThe new Google and Microsoft patents help put data behind identifying, rewarding, and encouraging social media influence.\n\nInnovation Summit: (N+1) Trends Download this presentation from the CB Insights Innovation Summit to see the technologies, business models and distribution innovations that you should watch for in the next 5 to 10 years. Email\n\nGoogle\u2019s \u201ctrendsetter\u201d patent was filed in May 2017 and published on August 17, 2017. The Microsoft patent was filed in February 2016 and published August 31, 2017. Both patents pose benefits for internet users and the platforms they utilize, but they have as many differences as similarities. We explore the patents in detail later in this post.\n\nBoth patents detail ways to \u201cscore\u201d users for their trendsetting (in the case of Google) and expertise (in the case of Microsoft). Google\u2019s patent makes mention of awarding a digital \u201ctrophy or badge\u201d \u2013 or even a \u201ccoupon or cash\u201d reward \u2013 to an early consumer of content that goes viral. Microsoft\u2019s patent creates an Expert profile for a user once his or her expertise has been identified and classified.\n\nScores, badges, and the like are highly popular among social media users and active members of forums like Reddit and Quora. Much like Twitter\u2019s \u201cVerified\u201d badge, Google\u2019s and Microsoft\u2019s patents could lead to sought-after identifiers for social media users as \u201cExperts\u201d or \u201cTrendsetters.\u201d\n\nBy building a system to identify and reward trendsetting and expertise, Google and Microsoft could also advance network-effect benefits that can help high-value people or content be identified sooner:\n\nGoogle\u2019s \u201ctrendsetter\u201d patent incentivizes internet users to \u201cseek out and share content that they think will become popular\u201d because doing so boosts their potential to earn rewards, or to make said content go viral.\n\nThe Microsoft \u201cexpert\u201d patent creates an Expert Profile for a user once an individual or entity hits a \u201ctopic score over a certain threshold\u201d based on their online activity. If having an expert designation is desirable to the user, he or she could be incentivized to create and share more original content.\n\nOnce implemented, both innovations could also be leveraged for gamification and monetization opportunities around content creation, consumption, and data-sharing. Notably \u201cinfluencer\u201d startups saw a record high in investments this year.\n\nRead on for explanations of the individual patents, and remember when you share this article that the Experts at CB Insights were the Trendsetters who gave these insights to you first.\n\nGoogle Patent: Notifying Users That Were Early Consumers Of Popular Media Content\n\nGoogle\u2019s patent 20170238156 encompasses identifying, notifying, and rewarding individuals (based on historical data) for being among the first X% of users to access a content item of any type \u2013 video, document, image, etc. \u2013 once that item has been ranked as popular or viral, based on the number of times it has been accessed.\n\nThe patent notes two types of trendsetters that could be identified and notified \u2013 \u201ctrendsetters that were responsible for the rise in popularity of a popular content item can be differentiated from those who were merely early viewers of the content item.\u201d\n\nThe diagram below shows how the system could be structured \u2013 envisioning a \u201ctrendsetter platform\u201d and \u201cnotification system\u201d that would be embedded into a content platform, with quotas set to issue notifications or awards at predetermined thresholds or times.\n\nThe system factors in different parameters for judging a user\u2019s status around an interaction with a given piece of content. It also addresses several different use cases that could impact how a content provider rewards a Trendsetter:\n\nSource \u2013 Did Tom introduce the link to the content into the social network, or was he among the first to click the link once it was already introduced?\n\nThreshold \u2013 Is Tom one of the first content consumers to watch the video all the way through? Or one of the first to make it 75% of the way through it?\n\nDemographics \u2013 Is Tom the first person in his city/state to watch the video? Was he among the first X% of men in the US to watch?\n\nThe patent notes that trendsetter status/notifications can be shared at the user\u2019s discretion or if it aligns with the objectives of the content provider.\n\nNotifications can also integrate with additional information on content consumption history to tell \u201cErin\u201d other videos she should watch.\n\nFurther components address the integration of predictive functionalities \u2013 suggesting that ongoing identification and notification of trendsetters could ultimately help content providers predict or infer which ones will ultimately become viral.\n\nMicrosoft Patent: Expert Detection in Social Networks\n\nMicrosoft\u2019s patent 20170249388 focuses exclusively on recognizing and classifying experts for their subject-matter expertise based on their online activity. It notes that social media has made individuals\u2019 niche expertise far more valuable than in prior eras \u2013 making it crucial to ID experts with \u201chigh recall and high precision.\u201d\n\nIn the patent, Microsoft outlines a system that collects and clusters linked topics to differentiate them, detect the type of content, and then process the domain of expertise it falls under.\n\nMicrosoft envisions the process as looking like the figure above, noting that the technology \u201cmay be applicable to any social network structure and should, therefore, work on any software that supports such user structure (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, email, etc.).\u201d\n\nUsing the above structure, the expert detection process would:\n\nIdentify the expertise of a person or entity by analyzing online activity and then categorizing their expertise (or lack thereof) on a given set of topics\n\nCreate profiles that may include shared links, activity timelines, and so on, which are then configured to be searchable so users can be identified based on a granular understanding of their areas of expertise\n\nEnable users to browse and search for expertise data via the \u201cexpert interfaces\u201d\n\nBased on the diagrams in the patent, the system appears to show expertise categories starting broad during the search process, then drilling down into more granular subject matter areas.\n\nIf you aren\u2019t already a client, sign up for a free trial to learn more about our platform.", "output": "Microsoft and Google are investing in technology to help them identify and predict social media trends, patent applications have revealed. Google has applied to patent systems for spotting and rewarding \"trendsetters\" who spot and share content that then gets picked up more widely, which could help the company predict what will go viral. Meanwhile, Microsoft has applied to patent similar systems for identifying social media \"experts\"\u00a0on different topics, based on their activity. Together, the two innovations provide new opportunities for users to be rewarded, and to more effectively monetise content."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow keen to work with government on future of help-to-buy scheme \n Housebuilder Redrow says it\u2019s looking forward to working with government to consider the future of the help-to-buy subsidy scheme beyond 2021. You bet it is. Since former chancellor George Osborne in 2013 committed to helping homebuyers purchase new properties with a deposit of only 5%, Redrow has reported record profits every year.\n\nThe latest annual numbers \u2013 and a share price that has improved threefold since 2013 \u2013 shows how wonderful life has become for big housebuilders. You\u2019d almost think Redrow was producing high-tech consumer gadgets. Operating margins are running at 19% and return on capital employed has hit 26%. About 40% of its private sales are to help-to-buy purchases, which is typical for the sector.\n\nAfter an improvement of a quarter in pre-tax profits to \u00a3315m, the company hiked its dividend by 70% and said there\u2019s plenty left in the tank. Profits will rise to about \u00a3430m by 2020 and the dividend can be almost doubled again \u201csubject to market conditions remaining unchanged\u201d.\n\nThe obvious question is why on earth the government, having spent \u00a34.6bn already, would wish to continue with help to buy after 2021. Yes, the scheme has allowed some people to buy homes who would not otherwise have been able to do so, but the clearest beneficiaries of the stimulus to prices have been housebuilders\u2019 shareholders and executives.\n\nBack in 2013, one justification was the limp state of the mortgage market. That no longer applies. The banks are well-capitalised, high loan-to-value mortgages have returned and the Bank of England these days frets about too much lending, not too little.\n\nOsborne\u2019s other argument was that more demand for houses would increase supply. The numbers suggest modest success, even if some of the increase would have happened anyway. But the point now is that withdrawing help to buy overnight wouldn\u2019t obviously cause the housebuilders to down tools for fear that non-subsidised houses would sell for slightly less. A return of capital of 26% is splendid but it is still worth getting out of bed for 15%.\n\nBefore ministers commit to renewing help to buy on the same terms, they should recall the warning by Lord King, former governor of the Bank of England, in 2014: \u201cThis scheme is a little too close for comfort to a general scheme to guarantee mortgages. We had a very healthy mortgage market with competing lenders attracting borrowers before the crisis, and we need to get back to that healthy mortgage market ... We mustn\u2019t let this scheme turn into a permanent scheme.\u201d\n\nDitching help to buy outright in 2021 may be undesirable since there is a fair case that first-time buyers still deserve a leg-up. But, as even wiser housebuilders concede, too many houses qualify for help to buy. Current ceilings are set at \u00a3600,000 and 20% of the value of mortgage. Both figures could usefully be cut in half before the scheme becomes an addiction.\n\nNo embarrassment of riches for Bell Pottinger\n\nThere\u2019s an intriguing detail to the Bell Pottinger tale, which we have just reported: the now-disgraced PR outfit is understood to have inserted an \u201cembarrassment clause\u201d in its contract with the Guptas to the effect that it expected to be compensated if other clients defected as a result of its work in South Africa.\n\nThe clause suggests somebody at Bell Pottinger was dimly aware of the risk in running a campaign that stirred racial tensions and was deemed unethical and unprofessional by industry trade body, the Public Relations and Communications Agency.\n\nHow, though, did Bell Pottinger ever expect to make a claim? Quantifying the lost earnings would be almost impossible and, as the firm is now discovering, exposure was bound to cause a stampede to the exit by clients. The chance of getting a penny out of the Guptas in these circumstances was always roughly zero.\n\nHellawell slow out of the blocks at Sports Direct\n\nIf Keith Hellawell, chairman of Sports Direct, was serious about the commitment he gave a year ago to earn the respect of outside shareholders, there was one easy course of action open to him: he could have met a few rebels.\n\nIt is amazing, therefore, that one complaint from Hermes echoes last year\u2019s grumble. The fund manager is \u201cgreatly concerned about the lack of one to one engagement\u201d and the \u201cmissed opportunities to build positive and constructive relationships with interested third party minority investors\u201d.\n\nHellawell may still survive Wednesday\u2019s vote, but it doesn\u2019t sound as if he has tried terribly hard to save his job.", "output": "Redrow Homes is looking forward to working with the UK government to outline the future of help-to-buy schemes beyond 2021, the homebuilder has said. The government has already spent \u00a34.6bn ($6bn) on subsidies for those seeking to buy their first home, and will soon decide whether or not to continue the programme. Since the scheme was introduced in 2013, Redrow has reported record profits each year and dividends are up by 70%. The company's profits will rise again to about \u00a3430m by 2020, it said. About 40% of Redrow's sales are help-to-buy purchases.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UTC-Rockwell deal at risk from Boeing's opposition threat \n WASHINGTON - Aerospace giant Boeing raised concerns Tuesday about the merger of US-based industrial conglomerate United Technologies and aviation equipment supplier Rockwell Collins, saying it could use its weight with regulators to scrutinize the deal.\n\nBoeing said it was concerned the deal announced Monday would not be in the best interests of the company.\n\n\"We intend to take a hard look at the proposed combination of United Technologies and Rockwell Collins,\" Boeing said in a statement.\n\nThe company said it is \"skeptical\" whether the deal between two major suppliers to the aerospace industry \"would be in the best interest of -- or add value to -- our customers and industry.\"\n\nIf Boeing decides the merger is \"inconsistent with those interests, we would intend to exercise our contractual rights and pursue the appropriate regulatory options to protect our interests.\"\n\nBoth companies are significant suppliers to Boeing and \"their first priority should be delivering on existing cost, schedule and quality commitments for their customers and ours.\"\n\nIn the $30 billion deal, including debt, United Technologies (UTC) will offer $140(R1812.45) per share Rockwell Collins, or $23 billion in addition to debt recovery.\n\nUTC Chairman and CEO Greg Hayes said the deal would \"enhance customer value.\"\n\nUnited Technologies, headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut, has an annual turnover of $58 billion and employs more than 200,000 people.\n\nUTC's aerospace activities represent a total turnover of $14.5 billion. It already owns Pratt & Whitney which makes aircraft engines and had revenue of $15.1 billion.\n\nRockwell Collins, based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, manufactures electronic equipment for cockpits and cabins. It has annual turnover of $6 billion and employs 19,000 people. Last year it acquired the American group B/E Aerospace for $6.4 billion.\n\nThis latest deal comes after the acquisition of France's Zodiac Aerospace by its compatriot Safran in May.\n\nThe industry changes come as aircraft manufacturers are pressuring subcontractors to lower prices on equipment.", "output": "The proposed $30bn merger of United Technologies (UTC) and Rockwell Collins could be at risk due to strong opposition from aerospace giant Boeing. Boeing said the deal between industrial conglomerate UTC and aviation supplier Rockwell Collins would not be its best interests and warned it could pursue regulatory options to scrutinise the deal. UTC CEO Greg Hayes said the deal would \"enhance customer value\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Third of parasites could be eradicated by climate change \n Climate change could wipe out a third of all parasite species on Earth, according to the most comprehensive analysis to date.\n\nTapeworms, roundworms, ticks, lice and fleas are feared for the diseases they cause or carry, but scientists warn that they also play a vital role in ecosystems. Major extinctions among parasites could lead to unpredictable invasions of surviving parasites into new areas, affecting wildlife and humans and making a \u201csignificant contribution\u201d to the sixth mass extinction already under way on Earth.\n\nThe new research, published in Science Advances, used the collection of 20m parasites held at the Smithsonian Institution\u2019s Museum of National History in the US to map the global distribution of 457 parasites. The scientists then applied a range of climate models and future scenarios and found that the average level of extinctions as habitats become unsuitable for parasites was 10% by 2070, but extinctions rose to a third if the loss of host species was also included.\n\n\u201cIt is a staggering number,\u201d said Colin Carlson at the University of California, Berkeley, who led the new work. \u201cParasites seem like one of the most threatened groups on Earth.\u201d The severity of the impact varied with the different climate scenarios. For example, a 20% loss of parasite native ranges in scenarios where carbon emissions are rapidly cut in the future rises to 37% if emissions continue unchecked.\n\n\u201cParasites are obviously a hard sell,\u201d said Carlson. \u201cEven if you are grossed out by them \u2013 and there are obviously downsides for individual hosts and for humans \u2013 parasites play a huge role in ecosystems.\u201d They provide up to 80% of the food web links in ecosystems, he said. Having a wide range of parasites in an ecosystem also means they compete with one another, which can help slow down the spread of diseases.\n\n\u201cIf parasites go extinct, we are looking at a potential massive destabilisation of ecosystems [which] could have huge unexpected consequences,\u201d Carlson said, with other parasites moving in to take advantage. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t necessarily work out well for anyone, wildlife or humans.\u201d\n\nOne example of the complex role parasites can play is a hairworm that lives in grasshoppers in Japan and tends to lead its host to jump into water, where the grasshoppers become a major food source for rare fish. \u201cIn some subtle ways, parasites are puppeteers,\u201d Carlson said.\n\nThe research analysed more than 50,000 records of the 457 parasite species, which the researchers believe provides a representative picture. But, with more than 300,000 species of parasitic worms alone known to exist, working out the specific impact of parasite extinctions on diseases is complex and remains to be done.\n\n\u201cIt is difficult to summarise the net consequence, as we know so little about most parasites,\u201d Carlson said. \u201cClimate change will make some parasites extinct and make some do better. But we would argue the overall phenomenon is dangerous, because extinctions and invasions go hand in hand.\u201d\n\nAnna Phillips, the curator of the Smithsonian\u2019s parasite collection, said: \u201cAs long as there are free-living organisms, there will be parasites. But the picture of parasite biodiversity in 2070 or beyond has the potential to look very different than it does today based on these results.\u201d", "output": "A third of parasite species could be eradicated by climate change, according to the most comprehensive study of the subject so far. Such an extinction could cause \u201ca potential massive destabilisation of ecosystems\u201d and could make a \u201csignificant contribution\u201d to the ongoing sixth global mass extinction. The research used collections at the Smithsonian Institution to map the global distribution of 457 parasites and then applied a range of climate models. The average level of extinctions was 10% by 2070, rising to a third if loss of host species was also included in the calculations."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tap water across the world contaminated with plastic \n Microplastic contamination has been found in tap water in countries around the world, leading to calls from scientists for urgent research on the implications for health.\n\nScores of tap water samples from more than a dozen nations were analysed by scientists for an investigation by Orb Media, who shared the findings with the Guardian. Overall, 83% of the samples were contaminated with plastic fibres.\n\nThe US had the highest contamination rate, at 94%, with plastic fibres found in tap water sampled at sites including Congress buildings, the US Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s headquarters, and Trump Tower in New York. Lebanon and India had the next highest rates.\n\nEuropean nations including the UK, Germany and France had the lowest contamination rate, but this was still 72%. The average number of fibres found in each 500ml sample ranged from 4.8 in the US to 1.9 in Europe.\n\nThe new analyses indicate the ubiquitous extent of microplastic contamination in the global environment. Previous work has been largely focused on plastic pollution in the oceans, which suggests people are eating microplastics via contaminated seafood.\n\n\u201cWe have enough data from looking at wildlife, and the impacts that it\u2019s having on wildlife, to be concerned,\u201d said Dr Sherri Mason, a microplastic expert at the State University of New York in Fredonia, who supervised the analyses for Orb. \u201cIf it\u2019s impacting [wildlife], then how do we think that it\u2019s not going to somehow impact us?\u201d\n\nA magnified image of clothing microfibres from washing machine effluent. One study found that a fleece jacket can shed as many as 250,000 fibres per wash. Photograph: Courtesy of Rozalia Project\n\nA separate small study in the Republic of Ireland released in June also found microplastic contamination in a handful of tap water and well samples. \u201cWe don\u2019t know what the [health] impact is and for that reason we should follow the precautionary principle and put enough effort into it now, immediately, so we can find out what the real risks are,\u201d said Dr Anne Marie Mahon at the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, who conducted the research.\n\nMahon said there were two principal concerns: very small plastic particles and the chemicals or pathogens that microplastics can harbour. \u201cIf the fibres are there, it is possible that the nanoparticles are there too that we can\u2019t measure,\u201d she said. \u201cOnce they are in the nanometre range they can really penetrate a cell and that means they can penetrate organs, and that would be worrying.\u201d The Orb analyses caught particles of more than 2.5 microns in size, 2,500 times bigger than a nanometre.\n\nMicroplastics can attract bacteria found in sewage, Mahon said: \u201cSome studies have shown there are more harmful pathogens on microplastics downstream of wastewater treatment plants.\u201d\n\nMicroplastics are also known to contain and absorb toxic chemicals and research on wild animals shows they are released in the body. Prof Richard Thompson, at Plymouth University, UK, told Orb: \u201cIt became clear very early on that the plastic would release those chemicals and that actually, the conditions in the gut would facilitate really quite rapid release.\u201d His research has shown microplastics are found in a third of fish caught in the UK.\n\nThe scale of global microplastic contamination is only starting to become clear, with studies in Germany finding fibres and fragments in all of the 24 beer brands they tested, as well as in honey and sugar. In Paris in 2015, researchers discovered microplastic falling from the air, which they estimated deposits three to 10 tonnes of fibres on the city each year, and that it was also present in the air in people\u2019s homes.\n\nThis research led Frank Kelly, professor of environmental health at King\u2019s College London, to tell a UK parliamentary inquiry in 2016: \u201cIf we breathe them in they could potentially deliver chemicals to the lower parts of our lungs and maybe even across into our circulation.\u201d Having seen the Orb data, Kelly told the Guardian that research is urgently needed to determine whether ingesting plastic particles is a health risk.\n\nThe new research tested 159 samples using a standard technique to eliminate contamination from other sources and was performed at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. The samples came from across the world, including from Uganda, Ecuador and Indonesia.\n\nHow microplastics end up in drinking water is for now a mystery, but the atmosphere is one obvious source, with fibres shed by the everyday wear and tear of clothes and carpets. Tumble dryers are another potential source, with almost 80% of US households having dryers that usually vent to the open air.\n\n\u201cWe really think that the lakes [and other water bodies] can be contaminated by cumulative atmospheric inputs,\u201d said Johnny Gasperi, at the University Paris-Est Cre\u0301teil, who did the Paris studies. \u201cWhat we observed in Paris tends to demonstrate that a huge amount of fibres are present in atmospheric fallout.\u201d\n\nPlastic fibres may also be flushed into water systems, with a recent study finding that each cycle of a washing machine could release 700,000 fibres into the environment. Rains could also sweep up microplastic pollution, which could explain why the household wells used in Indonesia were found to be contaminated.\n\nIn Beirut, Lebanon, the water supply comes from natural springs but 94% of the samples were contaminated. \u201cThis research only scratches the surface, but it seems to be a very itchy one,\u201d said Hussam Hawwa, at the environmental consultancy Difaf, which collected samples for Orb.\n\nThis planktonic arrow worm, Sagitta setosa, has eaten a blue plastic fibre about 3mm long. Plankton support the entire marine food chain. Photograph: Richard Kirby/Courtesy of Orb Media\n\nCurrent standard water treatment systems do not filter out all of the microplastics, Mahon said: \u201cThere is nowhere really where you can say these are being trapped 100%. In terms of fibres, the diameter is 10 microns across and it would be very unusual to find that level of filtration in our drinking water systems.\u201d\n\nBottled water may not provide a microplastic-free alternative to tapwater, as the they were also found in a few samples of commercial bottled water tested in the US for Orb.\n\nAlmost 300m tonnes of plastic is produced each year and, with just 20% recycled or incinerated, much of it ends up littering the air, land and sea. A report in July found 8.3bn tonnes of plastic has been produced since the 1950s, with the researchers warning that plastic waste has become ubiquitous in the environment.\n\n\u201cWe are increasingly smothering ecosystems in plastic and I am very worried that there may be all kinds of unintended, adverse consequences that we will only find out about once it is too late,\u201d said Prof Roland Geyer, from the University of California and Santa Barbara, who led the study.\n\nMahon said the new tap water analyses raise a red flag, but that more work is needed to replicate the results, find the sources of contamination and evaluate the possible health impacts.\n\nShe said plastics are very useful, but that management of the waste must be drastically improved: \u201cWe need plastics in our lives, but it is us that is doing the damage by discarding them in very careless ways.\u201d", "output": "Plastic fibres have been found in tap water from across the world, according to research by scientists for non-profit Orb Media. Of the samples from over a dozen countries, 83% were found to be contaminated by microplastics. The US was the country with the worst contamination rate, at 94%, followed by Lebanon and India. European countries including France, Germany and the UK had the lowest levels at 72%. The study led to calls from scientists for research into the impact of contamination by microplastics, which contain toxic chemicals which animal studies show are released in the body, on human health. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK councils to fine parents breaching school parking bans \n Parents across the country face tough restrictions \u2013 and even fines \u2013 over driving their children to the school gates, in a push by councils on road safety and pollution.\n\nAs the new academic year begins, a survey of councils shows many are enforcing laws preventing parking immediately outside the school gates, using CCTV cameras and mobile monitoring vehicles to crack down on parents flouting the rules.\n\nBut some are going further with schemes that close the roads in the immediate vicinity of schools to most traffic during the school run.\n\n\n\nIn some cases, parents could face fines of up to \u00a3130 for driving in the restricted zones.\n\n\n\nOther local authorities are considering \u201cno-idling\u201d zones with fines for parents and carers who leave engines running outside schools.\n\nIn Solihull, West Midlands, a \u201cschool streets\u201d pilot is restricting traffic on streets around three schools at the start and end of the school day, preventing parents and carers driving children to the gates.\n\nTed Richards, cabinet member for transport and highways, said: \u201cWe know that most people do drive responsibly, but it can often be chaotic outside schools at drop-off and pick-up times.\n\n\u201cThe aim of school streets is to create a safer and more pleasant environment for everyone around schools.\u201d\n\nCroydon in south London has also brought in traffic restrictions on roads outside three schools for the morning and afternoon school runs.\n\nAutomatic numberplate recognition cameras scan vehicles passing through the zones and those without permits \u2013 which are free for residents and their visitors \u2013 face a \u00a3130 penalty charge, or \u00a365 if paid within a fortnight.\n\nStuart King, cabinet member for transport and environment, said: \u201cThe temporary numberplate cameras will help our officers make a fair decision on who can drive through the pedestrian zones and who can\u2019t, allowing residents, their visitors, school staff and delivery drivers to go about their business as usual.\u201d\n\n\n\nElsewhere in London, Hackney is planning a school streets trial around five schools, while Camden is piloting a scheme which closes the road outside a school with bollards at the start and end of the school day.\n\n\n\nEdinburgh started restrictions around a number of schools in 2015.\n\n\n\nAnd in the wake of guidance from health bodies suggesting parents should face fines for breaching \u201cno-idling zones\u201d to protect children from pollution, Sheffield city council is consulting on whether to bring in idling fines outside schools.\n\n\n\nPaul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders\u2019 union NAHT, said many parents had to make the school run by car on their way to work, and many schools and surrounding roads were not equipped for this reality, leading to congestion, pollution and road safety issues.\n\nBut he said: \u201cFines are often a blunt tool for councils to use, and can drive a wedge between parents and schools even though headteachers have no role in administering them.\n\n\u201cCouncils must work with schools and local communities to ensure that roads around schools work for everyone,\u201d he said.\n\nFriends of the Earth air pollution campaigner Aaron Kiely described schemes to reduce traffic outside schools as \u201ca positive step towards protecting our children\u2019s health\u201d.\n\nHe said there are \u201cplenty of imaginative ways\u201d to get children to school, including walking buses and riding scooters.\n\nSteve Gooding, director of motoring research charity the RAC Foundation, welcomed children being encouraged to walk to school, but noted: \u201cMany parents juggling the school run and their own commute to work have little choice other than to do the school drop off by car, particularly since fewer and fewer children automatically go to the school nearest to their home.\u201d\n\nSam Jones, campaigner at Cycling UK, warned that without sufficient investment in cycling and walking routes, fining parents represents an \u201call stick and no carrot\u201d approach.\n\n", "output": "UK councils are imposing restrictions, including fines, on parents driving children to school gates in an attempt to improve safety and reduce pollution. Many councils are enforcing laws prohibiting parking immediately outside gates and are using CCTV cameras and mobile monitoring vehicles to identify those breaching such rules. Some councils are also closing roads in the immediate vicinity of schools and imposing potential fines of up to \u00a3130 on those who violate bans. Various health bodies have recommended the introduction of \u201cno-idling zones,\u201d enforced by fines."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mars launches $1bn sustainability and climate plan \n The corporate backlash is growing against Donald Trump\u2019s withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, with Mars launching a $1bn sustainability plan and an M&M\u2019s campaign centred on renewable energy.\n\nIt is the latest climate move by the family owned firm, which emerged as a vocal critic of the US president\u2019s decision to pull out of the 2015 climate pact, saying it was \u201cdisappointed\u201d with the withdrawal and stressing that corporations could not go it alone when it came to tackling climate change.\n\nMars is now rolling out a $1bn (\u00a3771m) investment to help cut greenhouse gas emissions across its value chain by 67% by 2050, run a poverty reduction and sustainability programme for farmers and suppliers, and ramp up food safety and security efforts.\n\nChief executive Grant F Reid said: \u201cThis plan is about not just doing better, but doing what\u2019s necessary. We\u2019re doing this because it\u2019s the right thing to do but also because it\u2019s good business.\n\n\u201cWe expect to have a competitive advantage from a more resource-efficient supply chain, and from ensuring that everyone in our supply chain is doing well.\u201d\n\nThe Snickers, Twix, Milky Way and Skittles maker has also revealed plans to champion renewable energy through its M&M\u2019s brand, featuring images of things such as wind turbines alongside its red and yellow candy characters.\n\nIts sustainability investments and M&M\u2019s campaign were announced ahead of the UN general assembly and climate week which will run from 18 to 24 September in New York.\n\nReid said: \u201cIf we are to help deliver on the targets agreed in Paris and the UN sustainable development goals, there has to be a huge step change.\n\n\u201cWhile many companies have been working on being more sustainable, the current level of progress is nowhere near enough.\u201d\n\nThe Paris agreement aims to prevent the Earth from heating up by 2C since the start of the industrial age.\n\nSince the world has already warmed about 1.1C since the Industrial Revolution, the accord aimed at making sure the threshold was not breached with each nation curbing heat-trapping emissions.\n\nAll but a very small number of scientists say warming is a result of human activity.\n\nThe chief executive added: \u201cMars has been in business for four generations and intends to be for the next four generations.\n\n\u201cThe only way that will happen is if we do things differently to ensure that the planet is healthy and all people in our extended supply chains have the opportunity to thrive.\u201d", "output": "Mars, the global confectionery and pet food company, has launched a $1bn sustainability plan, incorporating a campaign to promote renewable energy centred around its M&M\u2019s brand. The scheme is designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the company\u2019s value chain by 67% by 2050. It will also support poverty reduction and sustainability initiatives for farmers and suppliers, while increasing food safety and security measures. The family-owned firm, responsible for brands including Skittles, Snickers and Twix, has been an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump\u2019s decision to withdraw from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Goldman Sachs to sell 1.78% stake in Dong Energy \n Goldman Sachs Group Inc. GS, +0.18% on Thursday reduced its stake in Denmark's Dong Energy A/S (DENERG.KO) further after agreeing to sell 7.5 million shares in the energy group to institutional investors.\n\nThe shares--equivalent to 1.78% of Dong's existing capital--are being sold at 321 Danish kroner ($51.34) each by Goldman Sachs-controlled New Energy Investment S.a.r.l.", "output": "Goldman Sachs-Controlled New Energy Investment has cut\u00a0its stake in Dong Energy by 1.78% after selling 7.5 million shares in the Danish company to institutional investors.\u00a0The shares were sold for DKK321 ($51.34) each. New Energy Investment retains\u00a02.7% of Dong's share capital.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Air Liquide acquires majority stake in Norwegian biogas firm \n France-headed global gases, technologies, and services provider Air Liquide has announced its acquisition of majority equity in Skagerak Naturgass AS, a subsidiary of Skagerak Energi AS, which is majority owned by Statkraft AS, Europe\u2019s largest renewable power generator. Skagerak Naturgass AS operates a distribution network delivering natural gas to industry and 100 percent biomethane to the Norwegian transport sector through four bio-NGV refueling stations installed in the Oslo region.\n\nAccording to a statement, the new joint venture (JV) allows Air Liquide to pursue its business development in the Scandinavian biogas market, \u201cfirmly aligned\u201d with its aim of harnessing renewable technology for clean transport.\n\nScandinavia constitutes one of Europe\u2019s key markets in the development of sustainable mobility. In Norway, the government has declared targets for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and is committed to phasing out fossil fuel-powered vehicles altogether by 2030.\n\nIn 2014, Air Liquide purchased FordonsGas, a Swedish biogas distribution company that owns and operates a network of 50 compressed biogas (CBG) stations providing customers with fuel from one of the world\u2019s largest biogas liquefaction facilities, which chiefly produces CBG for the Swedish transportation market.\n\nIn February 2017, Air Liquide expanded its presence in the UK market with the acquisition of ENN Clean Energy UK.", "output": "Air Liquide said it is to acquire a majority stake in Skagerak Naturgass, a\u00a0unit of Skagerak Energi for an undisclosed amount.\u00a0The deal will allow Air Liquide to enter the\u00a0Scandinavian biogas\u00a0market.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "North Carolina gas peaker delayed as renewable options weighed \n Dive Brief:\n\nDuke Energy will delay for three years a proposed gas-fired peaker plant that would be built at the site of the Lake Julian coal-powered facility in North Carolina. The development has been pushed back from 2023 to 2027.\n\nAccording to the Citizen-Times, the change is largely the result of lobbying by the city of Asheville, Buncombe County, N.C., and other groups, as part of an Energy Innovation Task Force (EITF) that pressed Duke for more clean energy resources.\n\n(EITF) that pressed Duke for more clean energy resources. More than a year ago there were signs the plant could face issues: Staff at the North Carolina Utilities Commission concluded the plant might not be necessary when completed, given advances in energy technology.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nIt is a partial win for clean energy and environmental advocates \u2014 Duke isn't scrapping the project but instead will delay it for three years. But that will allow time for other resources to be examined, something local stakeholders have advocated.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s great news that they\u2019re postponing this project, but the better course is not to build this plant at all,\" Kelly Martin, EITF task force member and associate director of the Sierra Club\u2019s Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign, said in a statement.\n\nThe task force also included local businesses, nonprofits and environmental groups, including Sierra Club. Members \"recommend ways to reduce peak load in the region through demand response, energy efficiency and clean energy solutions,\" the group explained.\n\nMartin also pointed to North Carolinas large solar potential, and pressed Duke for more energy efficiency programs.\n\nWhen considering the project last year, staff wrote its report that rejecting the plan would allow for \"advances in generation, transmission, and storage technologies\" to fill any potential power needs in the next eight years.\n\nA pair of combined-cycled units being developed at the same site is still on track, according to the Citizen-Times. Those two units are planned to begin generating 560 MW in about two years.", "output": "Opponents of a proposed gas-fired peaker plant in North Carolina have won a partial victory after it was announced construction of the Lake Julian coal-powered facility would be delayed by three years. Owner Duke Energy said the project was not being scrapped altogether, but it would \"allow time for other resources to be examined\". A year ago, staff at the North Carolina Utilities Commission concluded advances in energy technology may render the peaker plant redundant before completion."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "French government sells 111 million shares in Engie \n The French government said late Tuesday that it sold 111 million shares in Engie SA (ENGI.FR) to institutional investors and the company itself for 1.53 billion euros ($1.82 billion).\n\nThe shares represent 4.56% of Engie's total capital.\n\nFrance's state investment agency said it placed 99.9 million shares at EUR13.80 each to institutional investors and sold 11.1 million shares to the energy company at the same price.", "output": "France's state investment agency has said the country's government has sold 111 million shares in utility company Engie, raising \u20ac1.53bn ($1.82bn) to be used in employee savings plans. The move has reduced the state's stake in the company to 24.1% and its voting rights to 27.6%, but it remains the company's majority stakeholder and will continue to offer guidance during Engie's strategic transformation."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lithium Exploration Group may buy two battery patents \n PHOENIX, August 30, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --\n\nLithium Exploration Group Inc. (USOTC: LEXG) announced today that it is engaged in discussions with the owner of two lithium battery patents to partner on the establishment of a lithium technology development company. LEXG intends to establish a subsidiary entity that will hold this intellectual property (IP) as well as others that come available. Currently the discussions center on appointing the inventor to be Chief Technology Officer of the subsidiary entity in order to evaluate market penetration of future IP acquisitions, as well as to support the research and development of new patents in the industry.\n\n\"At our core, we are a technology development company and we want to be on the forefront of the lithium industry. We feel strongly that the SonCav technology will change the way that lithium is extracted from the earth. The SonCav technology is on a great path and, with the visibility of success with our oil and gas investments, we will be able to reinvest those dollars to support emerging technologies across the industry,\" commented CEO Alex Walsh. \"Over the past year, we have begun looking at novel intellectual property that we can assist in bringing to market. The important part for us is building a foundation now from which we can grow. I hope to be able to announce an agreement with this inventor as early as next week.\"\n\nAbout Lithium Exploration Group\n\nLithium Exploration Group is a US-based exploration and development company focused on the acquisition and development potential of lithium brines and other precious metals that demonstrate high probability for near-term production. Currently the company is focused testing the Sonic Cavitation Ltd. technology and the acquisition of oil and gas related assets in the US and Canada. Lithium Exploration Group is traded on the OTC Markets under the symbol LEXG.\n\nWebsite: http://www.lithiumexplorationgroup.com .\n\nSafe Harbor Statement\n\nThis news release contains \"forward-looking statements\". Statements in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements and include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future testing of the ultrasonic technology.\n\nActual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among others, the inherent uncertainties associated with mineral exploration and difficulties associated with obtaining financing on acceptable terms. We are not in control of lithium prices and these could vary to make development uneconomic. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements.\n\nAlthough we believe that the beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions will prove to be accurate. Investors should consult all of the information set forth herein and should also refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in our most recent annual report for our last fiscal year, our quarterly reports, and other periodic reports filed from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.\n\nContact Info:\n\nShanon Chilson\n\n+1-480-641-4790\n\n[email protected]\n\nSOURCE Lithium Exploration Group Inc.", "output": "Lithium Exploration Group is in discussions with the owner of two lithium-ion battery patents with the aim of developing a lithium technology development company. The inventor of the technology will become CTO of the new company, which will be a subsidiary of Lithium Exploration. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Iceye raises $13m for energy-focused satellite system \n Finnish-based SAR microsatellite technology leader on track for 2017 orbital missions.\n\nHelsinki, FINLAND \u2013 August 23, 2017 \u2013 ICEYE, the leader in synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) technology for microsatellites providing expanded access to reliable and timely Earth observation data, today announced $13M in new funding, including an $8.5M financing round led by Draper Nexus. ICEYE will use the latest funding to scale up operations, including manufacturing of the company\u2019s SAR technology built from off-the-shelf components, and launch additional satellites. ICEYE plans to launch the first three microsatellites equipped with SAR sensors over the next 12 months, delivering Earth observation data to select customers shortly thereafter.\n\nThis $8.5M round also included participation from True Ventures, Lifeline Ventures, Space Angels, and Draper Associates. Additional funding was received from Finnish Funding Agency for Innovations, Tekes. Since starting its operations in 2015, ICEYE has secured a total of $18.7M in financing, including investments from the European Union\u2019s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program.\n\n\u201cHaving the support and insight from our investors will not only help ICEYE execute on our vision to democratize access to data worldwide, but it will also allow us to build out brand-new capabilities for our customers and partners,\u201d said Rafal Modrzewski, CEO and co-founder, ICEYE Oy. \u201cICEYE will use this capital infusion to continue growing operations, readying our technology for the next generation of SAR microsatellite constellations.\u201d\n\nWith darkness or clouds covering two-thirds of the planet at any given time, SAR technology delivers reliable imaging where optical imaging cannot. Finland-based ICEYE has developed a unique SAR sensor to offer imaging services anywhere around the globe, anytime, with response times measured in a few hours from acquisition. By enabling economically viable microsatellite constellations, ICEYE\u2019s goal is to expand access to SAR data at a cost and time efficiency that has never before been available to commercial and government entities.\n\n\u201cICEYE has a disruptive value proposition of making Earth observation data and insights available at a refresh rate and cost that is orders of magnitude better than any system out there today. Rafal and his team are unleashing efficiency and innovation across wide sectors of our economy - insurance, construction and transportation to name a few,\u201d said Q Motiwala, managing director of Draper Nexus who will be joining ICEYE\u2019s board. \u201cWe are excited to partner with this incredible, passionate team that is bringing this game-changing technology to market.\u201d\n\nThe commercial Earth observation data that ICEYE provides, underpins value-added services in various industries and can be used across different industries to track changes around the world at any time. ICEYE\u2019s SAR microsatellites can be used in the maritime industry to follow port traffic, in the oil industry to detect oil spills or by the government to monitor illegal logging, as well as fast disaster relief.\n\n# # # # #\n\nMedia Contact:\n\npress@iceye.fi\n\nAbout ICEYE\n\nICEYE aims to provide democratized access to reliable Earth observation data through developing efficient SAR sensors and microsatellites, enabling everyone to make better decisions. Through an imaging service available anywhere around the globe, anytime, and with response times measured in just few hours, ICEYE helps clients resolve challenges in segments such as maritime, disaster management and security and intelligence. ICEYE is on track to be the first organization in the world to launch SAR microsatellites and expects to commence its commercial data operations in the first half of 2018. ICEYE has received funding from the European Union\u2019s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme via the SME Instrument. For more information, please visit: www.iceye.com\n\nAbout Draper Nexus\n\nDraper Nexus is an early stage venture capital fund focusing on Enterprise Tech and Hardware/Industrials. We bring a collaborative approach to work with entrepreneurs who are harnessing technology and data to transform and unlock value in established industries. We leverage our Corporate LP/industry relationships in Japan and the global reach of the Draper Venture Network to create a customer development advantage for our portfolio companies. For more information, please visit: www.drapernexus.com\n\nAbout Draper Associates\n\nDraper Associates is an early stage venture capital firm that encourages entrepreneurs to drive their businesses to greatness, to transform industries with new technologies, and to build platforms for extraordinary growth, jobs, and wealth creation. For more information visit: www.draper.vc\n\nAbout True Ventures\n\nFounded in 2005, True Ventures is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that invests in early-stage technology startups. With capital under management in excess of $1.4 billion, True provides seed and Series A funding to the most talented entrepreneurs in today\u2019s fastest growing markets. The firm maintains a strong founder community and offers innovative educational opportunities to its portfolio, helping entrepreneurs achieve higher levels of success and impact. With more than 200 companies funded and multiple companies acquired, the current True portfolio has helped create over 8,500 jobs.\n\nFor more information please visit: www.trueventures.com\n\nAbout Lifeline Ventures\n\nLifeline Ventures is a Finland-based early-stage venture capital firm founded by serial entrepreneurs. We invest in strong founders in sectors we know by heart from our experience as entrepreneurs. Due to our background, we often start working with founders before they have launched their first product. Our goal is to be the first person the entrepreneur reaches out to in times of trouble and joy. So far, we have invested 70 companies including category-leaders such as Applifier, Enevo, Moves app, Supercell, uBiome, Valkee and ZenRobotics. More information: www.lifelineventures.com\n\nAbout Space Angels\n\nSpace Angels is the leading source of capital for early-stage space ventures. Founded in 2007, our portfolio includes many of the most prominent entrepreneurial space companies in the sector. Through a robust and streamlined web platform, Space Angels provides unparalleled deal access and comprehensible intelligence to its accredited investor members, making it easy to discover, select, and invest in the best space startups. For more information, please visit: www.spaceangels.com\n\nAssets:\n\nOther assets available at https://www.iceye.com/press .\n\nDownload by clicking:\n\n\"An ICEYE render of the first SAR microsatellite deployed in orbit.\"\n\nICEYE logo.", "output": "Finnish technology company Iceye has raised $13m in a funding round led by Draper Nexus, and featuring participation from True Ventures, Space Angels and Lifeline Ventures. Iceye's synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) technology and microsatellites offer reliable imaging of Earth, with applications including detecting oil spills, following shipping traffic or helping develop smart cities. The funds will be used to continue growing operations, said CEO Rafal Modrzewski."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Iceye raises $13m for energy-focused satellite system \n Cleantech Meets Space: A month\u2019s worth of deals changing how we see the planet\n\nHere at CTG, it is our goal to keep our network of investors and corporates up to date with the latest trends, and share our perspective on the industries we cover that are simply doing \u201cmore with less.\u201d\n\nAs an example of one such industry, we are looking at spacetech, satellite networking, and geographic information systems (GIS) as specific areas where venture capital has become increasingly utilized, with significant cleantech relevance.\n\nThrough the billionaire-backed efforts of SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, the space sector has been recapturing our imaginations. But beyond these headlines, there are satellite & GIS companies working on solutions for core cleantech areas, such as agriculture & food, energy efficiency, and water security. This technology is helping to revolutionize changes in these industries, providing access to higher quality data and leading to strategically impactful adaptations.\n\nThis area warrants much more of an in-depth study than this blog (which we will provide in our upcoming October edition of CTG Insights), but in the spirit of \u201csharing what we are seeing,\u201d I want to highlight a few of the satellite companies with cleantech applications that have raised funding in the last month alone (August 2017).\n\nGeospatial analytics company Descartes Labs announced $30 million in Series B funding last month. The round was led by Santa Monica-based VC March Capital, with participation from energy-focused VC Crosslink Capital, agriculture-specialist Cultivian Sandbox, and agricultural commodities giant Cargill.\n\nDescartes Labs\u2019 machine-learning-powered satellite analysis has initially been built around an agricultural forecasting package, with applications ranging from imaging solutions for precision agriculture to macro-level food security predictions. For example, using spectral imaging, the imaging software can measure chlorophyll levels, which are invisible to the human eye, but represent a strong proxy for the health of crops. Despite the current focus, the Descartes Labs data platform can have applications far beyond the agriculture sector, in areas such as shipping & logistics, forestry, and energy infrastructure.\n\nFinland-based ICEYE has raised $13 million in funding, from a cast of investors including both Draper Nexus and Draper Associates, True Ventures, Lifeline Ventures, Space Angels, and the Finnish governmental innovation agency, Tekes. ICEYE\u2019s satellites provide huge amounts of data, which can currently be applied to crucial areas such as preventing illegal logging in South America, port monitoring for increased efficiency in maritime industries, and monitoring crop health.\n\nYet perhaps one of the most tangible areas that this technology can be felt is in smart city planning, where the ways in which cities are changing and growing can be understood instantaneously via satellite data. Armed with this knowledge, city planners can address issues before they become unmanageable, and infrastructure implementation can be introduced accordingly. For example, identifying bottlenecks from road congestion can ease both the environmental footprint of idle motors, or the identification of localized energy usage can provide invaluable information to keep the grid up and running efficiently, reducing the need for coal-powered backup generation.\n\nOn the banks of Lac Leman in Switzerland, Lausanne-based Astrocast is a developer of a low-cost network of nanosatellites for connecting the billions of IoT devices that are proliferating the \u201dIndustry 4.0\u201d revolution. The company raised a $3 million round of seed funding in August from the venturing arm of aeronautical multinational, Airbus, and has also received backing from the European Space Agency and the Swiss government.\n\nWith the recent funding, the company is planning the launch of its 64-satellite constellation (which will potentially be facilitated by another recent venture-funded space company, RocketLabs). When this constellation is in place, it will focus on attracting IoT/M2M systems integrators as customers, with a broad spread of sector applications, including automotive and fleet monitoring, maritime, industrial manufacturing, and water metering companies.\n\nMunich-based CloudEO also raised funds this month, in the form of $2.4 million in seed funding from unnamed investors. The company leverages existing satellites to mine geodata for a range of industries, including forestry, land planning and telecommunications.\n\nInterestingly, the start-up has also launched an independent project, the Cloudeotoken cryptocurrency for geodata, which will enable crowdsourcing, M2M communication, and the exchange of geospatial information through automated smart transactions.\n\nThanks for reading. If you have comments, or want to know more about these companies or the space/cleantech intersection at large, feel free to get in contact with josh.gilbert@cleantech.com. It\u2019s also worth noting that this format of recent funding roundups is something I send out on a weekly basis to CTG Monitor subscribers \u2013 again, if you want to get this kind of detail on a weekly basis, do get in touch.", "output": "Finnish technology company Iceye has raised $13m in a funding round led by Draper Nexus, and featuring participation from True Ventures, Space Angels and Lifeline Ventures. Iceye's synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) technology and microsatellites offer reliable imaging of Earth, with applications including detecting oil spills, following shipping traffic or helping develop smart cities. The funds will be used to continue growing operations, said CEO Rafal Modrzewski."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Spectro Scientific lands $9.6m US Navy contract \n Spectro Scientific, one of the world\u2019s largest suppliers of oil, fuel, and processed-water analysis instrumentation and software, has won a $9.6 million contract from the U.S. Navy to provide fluid analysis equipment and support. In another recognition, the Office of Naval Research named Spectro personnel as finalists for proposing a portable fluid analysis system in a Concept Challenge competition aimed at developing innovative ideas to support the Navy and Marine Corps of the future.\n\nUnder the contract with the Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division (NAWCAD), Spectro will manufacture, test and deliver up to 69 model M-N/W SpectrOil RDE spectrometers to replace and upgrade the Navy and Marine Corp\u2019s oil analysis programs. Technical data, logistics support documents, initial consumables, and maintenance kits/parts will be included. The atomic emission rotrode M-N/W SpectrOil spectrometer is the only oil elemental analyser approved by the US Department of Defense (DoD) Joint Oil Analysis Program (JOAP). It is a compact, rugged, transportable and easy-to-use spectrometer designed to detect and measure metals, contaminants and additives in lubricants, hydraulic fluids and coolants. Accurate, on-site fluid analysis facilitates establishment of proactive maintenance programs and protects crucial mechanical assets from unanticipated failure.\n\nSeparately, in recognition of Spectro\u2019s response to a call from Chief of Naval Research (CNR) Rear Admiral David J. Hahn for innovative ideas on how to keep naval ships, aircraft and personnel at peak readiness, Spectro Vice President of Government Programs Robert Yurko and Chief Technology Officer Dr. Patrick Henning were named finalists for their work in the \u201cEnhancement of a Portable Comprehensive Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) Tool for Aviation Fluid Analysis.\u201d\n\nMr. Yurko and Dr. Henning join representatives of eight other organisations as finalists in the CNR Concept Challenge. The variety of ideas generated will be applied to benefit the Navy and other branches of the armed services.\n\nSpectro has collaborated closely with the armed services for more than 30 years, working initially with the DoD and JOAP on early versions of SpectrOil technology. Mr. Yurko said, \u201cThe contract from NAWCAD confirms that the US Navy places a high value on the quality, reliability and support provided by Spectro fluid analysis technology as it ensures the availability and flight safety of critical aviation assets.\u201d Regarding his and Dr. Henning\u2019s selection as CNR Concept Challenge finalists, Mr. Yurko added, \u201cThis recognition illustrates Spectro\u2019s longstanding and continuing commitment to developing advanced technology solutions for maintainers of aviation platforms as well as equipment across the entire U.S. armed forces.\u201d\n\nSpectro Scientific specialises in analytical instrumentation and software for machine condition monitoring. It is one of the largest global suppliers of oil and fuel analysis instruments to industry and the military worldwide. Industry clients include petrochemical, mining and power generation companies as well as commercial testing laboratories. Spectro Scientific\u2019s extensive product offerings include spectrometers for wear metal analysis, lubricant degradation and contamination analysers, particle analysis instruments and complete turnkey systems for oil or fuel analysis laboratories, all managed by its SpectroTrack or LubeTrak software platforms.", "output": "US tech firm Spectro Scientific has been awarded a $9.6m contract to supply fluid analysis equipment to the US Navy. Spectro will manufacture, test and deliver as many as 69 spectrometers as part of an upgrade of the Navy's oil analysis programmes, as well as providing technical data, logistics support and maintenance supplies. The company's device is the only oil elemental analyser approved by the US Department of Defense.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "3D-printed part certified for oil and gas industry \n Pipeline manifold component from the Safer Plug Company an industry milestone\n\n5 September 2017 \u2013 Lloyd\u2019s Register (LR) today announces the first certification of a part produced through additive manufacturing (AM) for the oil and gas industry.\n\nThe part, a titanium gateway manifold for pipelines, was designed by Surrey, England-based Safer Plug Company (SPC) and built by the AM production company 3T RPD using powder bed fusion. The entire process was overseen and certified by LR using its framework, an industry first that guides manufacturers on AM processes to certify components.\n\n\u201cIn taking on this initiative, LR\u2019s Additive Manufacturing group has truly opened a gateway to the future,\u201d said Ciaran Early, SPC Technical Director. \u201cLR\u2019s pivotal role is to guide suppliers through the codes, standards, controls and best practices to manufacture AM parts, in order that end users will have full confidence that an AM part meets the required level of criticality for that part.\u201d\n\nSPC approached LR more than a year ago in order to provide independent assurance of the manifold\u2019s manufacture, due to the innovative process it went through to design and produce it. The manifold is to be included in an assembly for a suite of pipeline isolation tools, which will include the world\u2019s smallest tool suitable for six-inch diameter pipework.\n\n\u201cThis project is a great example of how innovative companies are making great use of additive manufacturing\u2019s benefits,\u201d said Amelia Stead, LR AM Surveyor and the primary technical lead on the project. \u201cThis part would have been nearly impossible to produce using traditional manufacturing techniques due to its complex internal channels.\u201d\n\nLR\u2019s framework, produced alongside The Welding Institute (TWI), takes into account more than material standards. The manufacturing facility was also assessed by the LR team.\n\n\u201c3T RPD are delighted that certification has been issued,\u201d commented Luke Rogers, New Product Introduction Project Manager for 3T RPD. \u201cWe regularly work with clients in the aerospace, medical and motorsports industries to produce metal parts. Hopefully SPC will set the example and demonstrate how the oil and gas industry can realise the benefits of AM.\u201d\n\nGoing forward, LR will certify the next batch of 10 manifolds produced by SPC and 3T RPD. SPC is now working with LR on a Type Approval certificate which would allow it and 3T RPD to produce the manifolds on demand, as well as the pipeline isolation tools.\n\n\u201cFrom an industry and customer perspective this certification provides added confidence in parts produced by this new technology,\u201d said Dr. Claire Ruggeiro, Director Innovation, Technical and Quality for LR. \u201cThis will undoubtily accelerate the adoption of AM into the oil and gas mainstream. The work we have done with TWI and research undertaken by the LR Foundation-funded PhD students has provided the robust basis for this certification and we look forward to further building our expertise and experience together with the industry pioneers like SPC.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s crucial that new technologies are embraced by the oil and gas industry,\u201d said Andrew Imrie, LR Global Product Launch Manager. \u201cLR is at the forefront of supporting these new technologies, enabling the industry to bring certified products to market with the proper assurance and confidence.\u201d\n\nLR is involved in several AM projects within the nuclear, marine and construction industries as well. It currently operates three joint-industry projects with TWI which are open to companies who\u2019d like to learn more about the AM process.\n\nFor more information, please visit www.lr.org/addtive-manufacturing.\n\nAbout Lloyd\u2019s Register\n\nLloyd\u2019s Register (LR) is a global engineering, technical and business services organisation wholly owned by the Lloyd\u2019s Register Foundation, a UK charity dedicated to research and education in science and engineering. Founded in 1760 as a marine classification society, LR now operates across many energy industry sectors, with around 9,000 employees in the Group across 78 countries.\n\nLR has a long-standing reputation for integrity, impartiality and technical excellence. Our compliance, risk and technical consultancy services give clients confidence that their assets and businesses are safe, sustainable and dependable. Through our global technology centres and research network, LR is at the forefront of understanding the application of new science and technology to future-proof our clients\u2019 businesses.\n\nSource: Lloyd\u2019s Register", "output": "Engineering services provider Lloyd\u2019s Register (LR) has certified the first part manufactured using additive manufacturing (3D-printing) for the oil and gas sector. The titanium gateway manifold for oil and gas pipelines was constructed by the Safer Plug Company in the UK and was overseen by LR in an industry first for independent assurance for 3D printing production. The manifold was built using powder bed fusion and will be used as part of an assembly of pipeline isolation tools."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk TalkTalk launches TV remote to keep kids safe \n Kids love watching their favourite shows on TV. But leaving them unattended while you get the dinner on can be risky, especially if they start playing with the remote.\n\nMost of the time, the worst that will happen is they'll change the channel, but there is the risk that they\u2019ve accidentally deleted your recordings or activated a setting you\u2019ve never seen before.\n\nWith this in mind, TalkTalk has launched a Kids remote for its TV service that works with the \u00a35 a month Kids Boost package. Those that subscribe can launch Kids Zone \u2013 an area of age appropriate on-demand TV shows including Paw Patrol and Fireman Sam \u2013 by using the main TalkTalk TV remote and entering a PIN.\n\nMORE: NOT SURE WHICH TV SERVICE IS RIGHT FOR YOU? FIND OUT EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE DIFFERENT PACKAGES\n\nOnce activated, your children can choose TV shows and play and pause them using the unique circular Kids Remote. Brightly coloured with a wheel that that let's children scroll and a centre button used to select the shows, the remote was designed with the help of 60 school children. Kids are unable to leave the Kids Zone and return to normal programming unless the PIN is entered on the main TV remote.\n\nThere are some great parental controls built-in as well. Using the main TV remote, parents can hide shows they want their children to watch and set viewing hours so the kids zone can\u2019t be accessed out of set time periods.\n\nThere\u2019s also a Bedtime function. When activiated a \u2018sleepy head\u2019 icon will appear on the left hand side of the screen - this starts a five minute countdown to prepare children that the TV is going to sleep.\n\nThe bedtime setting, which can be cancelled from the main remote at any point, takes into consideration the amount of time left on any current programme, so there are no tantrums over not getting to see the end of a show.\n\nThe TalkTalk Kids Remote is priced at \u00a35 while the Kids TV boost costs \u00a35 per month. For more information visit TalkTalk\u2019s website.\n\nLIKE THIS? THEN SIGN UP TO OUR HOMES NEWSLETTER FOR MORE!", "output": "Telecoms company TalkTalk is offering a Kids remote for its television services to limit children\u2019s access to channels. The feature can be added to its \u00a35 a month Kids Boost package, which provides age-appropriate, on-demand shows when a PIN is entered. The service ensures that only appropriate channels will be shown when the remote is being used, removing access to other programming until the PIN is re-entered. Viewing periods can be set\u00a0and there is also a countdown clock to remind children that the television will switch off\u00a0before bedtime.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Canadian Natural buys Pelican Lake assets for $787m \n Oil storage tanks at Pelican Lake.Rene Michaud - Bliss Photographi Share\n\nCanadian Natural Resources Ltd. is buying a major heavy-oil property and other assets from Cenovus Energy Inc. for $975-million in what is expected to be the start of a busy deal season in the oil patch.\n\nCanadian Natural, fresh from acquiring Royal Dutch Shell PLC's oil sands business, is snapping up a field in Alberta called Pelican Lake, which is adjacent to one of its own operations. Cenovus is selling the business as part of a series of planned divestitures that it says could garner up to $5-billion.\n\nCenovus has earmarked the proceeds to pay down debt it incurred to buy Houston-based ConocoPhillips Co.'s interests in several oil sands and natural gas properties for $17.7-billion, a megadeal that's had a rocky reception in the stock market.\n\nSince the company announced the deal in late March, its shares are down 41 per cent as investors bristle at the price and debt taken on by a company that had been financially conservative through the industry downturn. The stock gained 3.3 per cent on Tuesday.\n\nHarsh reaction to the deal is said to have hastened the departure of chief executive officer Brian Ferguson. Mr. Ferguson is to step down in October but will remain an adviser while the company seeks a replacement.\n\nCenovus said it is close to a deal to sell its Suffield shallow-gas assets in southeastern Alberta. Analysts have pegged potential proceeds at up to $600-million. Another two packages of properties \u2013 Palliser in Alberta and Weyburn in Saskatchewan \u2013 are slated to be jettisoned by year end.\n\n\"The divestiture processes for the remainder of our legacy conventional assets are proceeding as expected, with strong interest from potential buyers,\" Mr. Ferguson said in a statement.\n\nPrivate-equity and pension-fund-controlled companies are seen as potential buyers for the remainder of the assets.\n\nCanadian Natural shares rose about 1.5 per cent. The company, the largest of several concerns that count financier Murray Edwards as a large investor, has had a more positive reaction to its last big deal, the $12.7-billion takeover of an oil sands mining operation that pumps out up to 255,000 barrels a day.\n\nToronto-Dominion Bank analyst Menno Hulshof said the transaction is far less significant to Canadian Natural than to Cenovus, as it represents just 1.4 per cent of the buyer's enterprise value.\n\nPelican Lake produces about 19,000 barrels of heavy oil a day. The deal also includes Cenovus's stake in a pipeline in the region as well as undeveloped land.\n\nFor Cenovus, the sale price is fair and represents \"a step in the right direction in restoring market confidence,\" Mr. Hulshof wrote in a note to clients.\n\nThe deal follows an unusually quiet period for oil-patch mergers and acquisitions, as buyers and sellers stayed on the sidelines waiting for some shift in the outlook for oil prices \u2013 either up or down. U.S. crude has hung stubbornly at less than $50 (U.S.) a barrel for more than four months.\n\nThe lack of direction for commodity prices and the end of summer vacation should spell an uptick in deals over the next few months, said Michael Dunn, an analyst at GMP FirstEnergy. The upcoming Cenovus transactions, which involve both light oil and natural gas assets, will be a barometer for the rest of the sector, Mr. Dunn said.\n\nCenovus still faces skepticism that it can hit its target of $4-billion (Canadian) to $5-billion in sales.\n\nRaymond James Ltd. analyst Chris Cox forecasts the company will generate proceeds of $3.8-billion, well short of its targeted range, meaning more operations will be auctioned off.\n\n\"Potentially corroborating this pessimistic outlook, management's indication that additional asset sales are likely to be pursued suggests that proceeds for the remaining packages are unlikely to surprise to the upside,\" he said in a note.\n\nFurther sales could include portions of the newly acquired properties and infrastructure in the Deep Basin exploration region of Alberta, as well as a possible royalty interest in the oil sands, Mr. Cox said.\n\nWith files from reporter Jeff Lewis in Calgary", "output": "Canadian Natural Resources has agreed to buy Cenovus Energy's Pelican Lake heavy oil operations and other assets in northern Alberta for CAD975m ($787m).\u00a0Canadian Natural plans to expand existing heavy oil and polymer operations at Pelican Lake to about\u00a019,600 barrels of oil equivalent\u00a0a day.\u00a0Cenovus has embarked on a divestiture campaign after closing on a $13.3 billion deal with ConocoPhillips earlier this year to acquire full ownership of its oil-sands operations and a production platform in the Deep Basin in northwestern Alberta and British Columbia. The company said it wants to reach deals to sell between C$4 billion and C$5 billion of its conventional oil and natural-gas assets this year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lemonade seen amassing more reinsurance capacity than it needs \n Insurtech start-up insurer Lemonade, one of the most high-profile companies to come out of the insurance technology wave, has recently completed an expansion to its reinsurance program, which sees the firm with a huge $325 million of capacity backing it.\n\nLemonade is utilising reinsurance capital as one of its backers, it seems, with a much larger reinsurance program than its underwriting activities would suggest it actually needs.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m happy to report that we signed a new reinsurance contract a month ago, and many of the leading insurance and reinsurance companies from across the globe joined in,\u201d explained John Peters, Lemonade\u2019s Chief Insurance Officer, in a blog post.\n\n\u201cThis includes two of the top three global reinsurers; expert specialists that reinsure and even write homeowners themselves. From New York, Bermuda, and London, these partners are in the hubs of insurance knowledge and capital,\u201d he continued.\n\n\u201cWe now have up to $325M in reinsurance protection: A LOT for any company, let alone one our size,\u201d he wrote, which we would agree, as based on the underwriting activity at Lemonade the reinsurance program capacity seems perhaps excessive.\n\nThe company said that it has generated $433,000 of earned premium in the first half of 2017, which would suggest gross premiums underwritten of somewhere around $10 million to $15 million, we would presume based on Lemonade also saying that they turned down $10 million of premium by not quoting nearly half of their customers.\n\nSo $10 million of premiums coming in and now $325 million of reinsurance protection, which is way more coverage (more than double) than a small insurer writing that amount of premium (or $2m of revenue as Lemonade claims to have) would typically need to buy.\n\nBut Lemonade is clearly buying reinsurance for numerous reasons, not just for when it faces really major loss events.\n\nIt\u2019s using its reinsurance partners to take attritional claims volatility out of the business, helping it to keep its loss ratio lower and ultimately add efficiency to its operations as a result.\n\nIt\u2019s also using the reinsurance as a buffer to allow it to grow more rapidly, having the program in place will give it the ability and confidence to expand more rapidly we\u2019d imagine.\n\nIt also seems to be using the reinsurance as one of its capital levers, as a way to keep its own balance-sheet a little lighter than a traditional insurer which will be essential for it to compete against industry stalwarts as it grows.\n\nReinsurance is key for any start-up insurer, but perhaps more so for an InsurTech start-up like Lemonade which has a particularly high level of spend on marketing and acquisition, as well as its technology costs, from the start, but a smaller capital base and balance-sheet.\n\nPeters said that the reinsurers participating in this expansion of the Lemonade program have signed on for multiple years and that the placement was oversubscribed", "output": "Insurtech start-up Lemonade has extended its reinsurance programme to a capacity of $325m, greater than its underwriting activities suggest is necessary. The company has signed agreements with multiple global reinsurance firms, stating that it generated around $433,000 in earned premium in H1 2017 alone, indicating gross premiums underwritten standing at around $10m to $15m. It's thought the additional reinsurance capacity has been taken on to iron out claims volatility, to give the company a buffer for expansion and to help keep its balance sheet light."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow launches Mastermove scheme to help homeowners sell quickly \n Sellers in Stafford could soon become buyers with help from Redrow to master a speedy move from old to new.\n\nChurch View offers a good choice of four and five-bedroom homes and, while visitors love both the location and the design of the properties, many are being held back from moving because they have a house to sell.\n\nThe good news is that Redrow\u2019s Mastermove scheme could help homeowners sell up quickly, simply and at full market value, leaving them free to move to a brand new home.\n\nPauline Turnbull, sales director for Redrow Homes (Midlands), said: \u201cThe homes we\u2019re building at Church View offer the best of both worlds in terms of the location and their design. They\u2019re situated off a quiet country road, but are just a few minutes from Stafford town centre in an area well-served by schools.\n\n\u201cFactor in that the homes are as characterful as they are practical and it\u2019s no surprise that people want to live here. However, we\u2019re finding that many of those who want to live here still haven\u2019t sold their current home \u2013 or in some cases haven\u2019t even put it on the market yet. That\u2019s where we can help.\u201d\n\nMastermove is a great solution regardless of whether homeowners are moving to somewhere bigger, smaller or simply more appropriate for their needs.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll arrange the valuations, agree a market value for a quick sale, appoint an agent we know can deliver and monitor their progress,\u201d Pauline explained.\n\n\u201cMastermove is designed to make life easier for our customers, get them sold subject to contract and in a position to reserve the new home they really want \u2013 and we\u2019ll even pay some of the estate agent fees at the end of the day.\u201d\n\nIn some circumstances Redrow may even accept the customer\u2019s existing property in part-exchange, providing its value is at least 35% lower than the brand new Redrow home they have chosen to purchase. If the various criteria can be met Redrow effectively acts as a cash buyer and the customer is free to proceed almost immediately.\n\nCurrent prices at Church View start from \u00a3399,995 and among the properties now available are a four-bedroom Henley and a five-bedroom Marlborough, similar to the show homes.\n\nThe Henley features a combined kitchen, dining and family room, with adjoining utility, plus a separate lounge and a convenient cloakroom.\n\nThe five-bedroom Marlborough offers 1,906 sq ft of well-planned living space including open plan kitchen, dining and family room, utility and separate lounge, plus a study or snug.\n\nIn both styles there are two en-suites, helping to minimise the morning rush for the family bathroom.\n\nRedrow\u2019s neighbouring Priory Park development offers even more to choose from, with three, four and five-bedroom properties available with priced from \u00a3249,995.\n\nBetween Church View and Priory Park there are six professionally designed and decorated, fully furnished show homes to inspire buyers.\n\nFor more information about Church View call 01785 899231 or see www.redrow.co.uk/church. To discover more about Priory Park www.redrow.co.uk/priory or call 01785 899137.", "output": "Home builder Redrow has launched its Mastermove scheme, designed to provide assistance for homeowners looking to sell their properties quickly, without losing market value. Redrow\u2019s Church View properties in Stafford can be purchased through the scheme, which provides property valuations, agreed market values and agent appointments to help potential buyers sell their present property. Redrow may even take the property in a part-exchange transaction, if the property's value\u00a0is 35% lower than that of the intended purchase. The four and five-bed properties in Church View start at \u00a3399,995 ($520,370).\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Asylum seekers in Finland given an identity using blockchain \n Bitcoin has demonstrated how blockchain technology can be used to transmit value between individuals without the need for corporate middlemen. Core to the technology is a software protocol that creates a permanent record of every single Bitcoin transaction. Anyone can access this record, called the blockchain, by downloading the Bitcoin software. Computers running the software all over the world maintain the blockchain, and use it to verify new transactions (see \u201cWhat Bitcoin Is, and Why It Matters\u201d).\n\nBlockchains are seen as a promising avenue for opening new financial opportunities to people who don\u2019t have access to modern financial services. Besides eliminating the need for a traditional financial institution to mediate transactions, they provide a means for creating and securely storing a digital form of identification that can\u2019t be corrupted and is easily accessible from anywhere. That\u2019s why the United Nations is exploring using the technology in its effort to bring legal identification to the more than one billion people who don\u2019t have official documents.\n\nIn Finland, a MONI card can help address several challenges facing asylum seekers, says Jouko Salonen, director of the Finnish Immigration Service. Most importantly, a MONI account functions like a bank account, removing a major barrier to gaining employment. People can use their accounts to buy things, pay bills, and even receive direct deposits from employers. Meanwhile, every transaction is recorded in a public, virtually incorruptible database maintained by a decentralized global network of computers. That enables the Immigration Service to keep track of the cardholders and their spending.\n\nThe technology helps unbanked asylum seekers advance because what is typically keeping them from getting bank accounts and jobs is that they are missing a form of strongly authenticated identity, says Salonen. \u201cWe have found a way to solve that.\u201d\n\nMONI\u2019s technology uses one of a number of public blockchains as the means of transferring value\u2014but in a way that to the users seems like using a debit card. A cardholder can pay for things at Mastercard terminals, or enter a number into a Web form to make payments online. MONI takes care of the cryptographic handshake necessary to execute the digital currency transaction as well as the conversion from digital currency back to fiat currency.\n\nIn addition to the refugee card program, MONI\u2019s service is available to beta testers in Finland, and the company has plans to launch a consumer product soon throughout Europe. An account costs \u20ac2 per month, and the company takes a small fee each time the user makes a purchase, and for international transactions.\n\nAntti Pennanen, MONI\u2019s founder and CEO, likens blockchain technology today to the early Internet, which was only accessible to a select few with the means and technical wherewithal to use it. His says MONI\u2019s technology is somewhat analogous to a modem, which made the Internet usable for more people.\n\nPennanen says word of MONI has spread to refugee camps throughout Europe, and he expects there to be substantial demand among those displaced communities once the service is available in other countries. Ultimately, the company wants to be able to help anyone who can\u2019t access the modern financial system, he says. \u201cOur purpose has always been financial inclusion, and especially to help people in developing countries.\u201d", "output": "Finland is using blockchain to give asylum seekers an identity and access to money. For the past two years, the Finnish Immigration Service has been giving refugees prepaid Mastercards, developed by Helsinki-based start-up MONI, instead of traditional cash payments. The card is also linked to a digital identity on a blockchain, where it is easily accessible from anywhere and cannot be corrupted."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Marathon drops $1.05bn of assets into master limited partnership \n Oil refining and marketing giant Marathon Petroleum Corporation MPC recently divested some of its pipelines and storage assets to MPLX LP MPLX . The move helped Marathon Petroleum to garner proceeds of $1.05 billion from its master limited partnership, which it had spun off in 2012.\n\nMarathon Petroleum has offloaded its entire stake in four jointly owned properties including Explorer Pipeline Co., Lincoln Pipeline LLC, MPL Louisiana Holdings LLC and LOCAP LLC. In each of these properties the company carries 24.51%, 35%, 40.7% and 58.52% interests, respectively. These assets are expected to generate $138 million of adjusted EBITDA in 2018.\n\nThe proceeds of the sale will consist of $630 million in stock and $420 million in cash. The equity portion of the deal will see Marathon Petroleum receive common units of MPLX and general partner units. This will enable Marathon Petroleum to maintain its 2% general partner interest in its master limited partnership. The cash portion of the payment will be drawn from MPLX's $2.25 billion revolving credit facility.\n\nThe divesture is in sync with Marathon Petroleum's strategic objectives. To accelerate value accretion for shareholders and boost growth, Marathon Petroleum is actively engaged in drop-down transactions lately. In March, the company divested of some of its terminal, pipeline and storage assets to MPLX for $2.02 billion. The company also plans to streamline portfolio and enhance core competencies. For the same, it is soon to a take a final call regarding the spinoff of its retail network unit - Speedway LLC. Marathon Petroleum intends to disintegrate into three standalone businesses - retailing, midstream and refining, thereby optimizing shareholder's value and improve focus in each individually unit. The acquisition of assets is also likely to enhance MPLX's scale and diversity and increase its distributable cash flow per unit.\n\nZacks Rank and Key Picks\n\nFindlay, OH-based Marathon Petroleum is a leading independent refiner, transporter and marketer of petroleum products. Shares of Marathon Petroleum have gained 8% year to date, significantly outperforming the industry 's 5% decline. The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).\n\nSome better-ranked players in the same industry are Galp Energia, SGPS, S.A. GLPEY and Par Pacific Holdings, Inc. PARR . Both the companies carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 (Strong Buy) Rank stocks here .\n\nGalp Energia expects year-over-year growth of 191.67% in earnings in 2017.\n\nPar Pacific Holdings recorded positive earnings surprises in three of the last four quarters, with an average beat of 195.26%.\n\nZacks' 10-Minute Stock-Picking Secret\n\nSince 1988, the Zacks system has more than doubled the S&P 500 with an average gain of +25% per year. With compounding, rebalancing, and exclusive of fees, it can turn thousands into millions of dollars.\n\nBut here's something even more remarkable: You can master this proven system without going to a single class or seminar. And then you can apply it to your portfolio in as little as 10 minutes a month.\n\nLearn the secret >>\n\nWant the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report\n\nMarathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC): Free Stock Analysis Report\n\nGalp Energia SGPS SA (GLPEY): Free Stock Analysis Report\n\nPar Pacific Holdings, Inc. (PARR): Free Stock Analysis Report\n\nMPLX LP (MPLX): Free Stock Analysis Report\n\nTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.\n\nZacks Investment Research\n\nThe views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.\n\nThe views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.", "output": "Marathon Petroleum has dropped $1.05bn of assets into its master limited partnership MPLX, follow pressure from activist investor Paul Singer's Elliott Management. The assets in the deal include interests in Explorer Pipeline, Lincoln Pipeline, MPL Louisiana Holdings\u00a0and Locap. The deal is expected to generate about $138 million in 2018 adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "French school uses tech instead of instructors to teach coding \n Paris\n\nWhen you walk into \u00c9cole 42, a teacher-less coding school in Paris, a few things leap out at you: a killer collection of provocative street art, including an illustrated condom machine at the front desk; iMacs as far as the eye can see; and a palpable buzz from the roughly 1,000 students bustling around the building.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIt is week two of la piscine (the \u201cswimming pool\u201d), a one-month, Hunger Games-like test students must endure to get a place at the school. No degrees or special skills are required to apply, and those who are accepted attend for free for three to five years. Around 80% of students get jobs before they finish the course; 100% are employed by the end.\n\nThe school is the brainchild of Xavier Niel, a French billionaire who has so far spent about \u20ac48 million ($57 million) on the Paris campus and an additional $46 million on a school in Silicon Valley. Niel founded Free, France\u2019s second-largest internet service provider, among other ventures. He is a serial entrepreneur who is always looking for the best and brightest talent. In 2013, struggling to find it, he declared that France\u2019s education system was broken and set out to fix one part of it.\n\nThe result is something unlike any other school in France, or elsewhere.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t teach anything,\u201d says Nicolas Sadirac, head of \u00c9cole 42. \u201cThe students create what they need all the time.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAt 8:42 every morning, students get digital projects to complete. They have 48 hours to complete them, so they are always juggling various projects, sort of like in real life. (The name comes from the \u201canswer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything\u201d in the comedic novel The Hitchhiker\u2019s Guide to the Galaxy. The answer is 42.)\n\nSince there are no teachers, it is up to students to figure things out. Everything is graded by peers. Students \u201cmanage their time how they want,\u201d says Sadirac. \u201cIt\u2019s totally self organized.\u201d In education-speak, \u00c9cole 42 is both project-based learning and peer-to-peer learning, on steroids.\n\nThe school is 100% merit based: In the most recent batch of students, 64,000 took a basic online logic test to qualify for entry. More than 20,000 passed, but the school only accepted the top 3,000 due to space constraints. Those 3,000 compete in pools of 1,000 for a month to see who best completes the digital projects; the top third of performers are then admitted. Of those, 5-15% drop out.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWhile the school used to require that students master a set of skills before leaving, it has now ditched that requirement. It used to have year-long groups: it tossed aside that idea too, because students work at different paces.\n\nThe curriculum is gamified: Sadirac describes it as World of Warcraft, but where dungeons have been replaced it with digital projects. There are modules (tech integration, algorithms, AI) and languages (Python, C, Java, Docker-tech). According to Wired:\n\n\u2026to get projects corrected, students must spend \u201ccorrection points\u201d \u2013 which they earn by correcting someone else\u2019s project. If there\u2019s a disciplinary breach, they have to spin a wheel to learn their punishment: \u201cTake orders at the coffee machine\u201d, or \u201cClean the windows with a toothbrush\u201d. Good behaviour earns \u201cwallet points\u201d which can be spent.\n\nAnd in a twist on the assumption that all great innovations start in Silicon Valley, \u00c9cole 42 launched in France before California\u2014its campus in Fremont opened last year, three years after the Paris flagship.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nA day in the life\n\nOn a recent Tuesday, the ground floor of \u00c9cole 42 on Boulevard Bessi\u00e8res in the north of Paris is bustling with students\u2014alone, with headphones, in pairs and groups\u2014hovering around iMacs. Many have colds; it is freezing inside and few have slept properly in the past week.\n\nDownstairs, students are strewn about on air mattresses with sleeping bags, trying to catch a nap; dozens of towels hang on railings along the walls.\n\nNicolas, 22, has been working for up to 12 hours a day. \u201cThe first week I went fast and tried to do too much,\u201d he says, sitting at his computer alongside Celeste, 25, who used to work in infographics. \u201cThe second week I slowed down and tried to think more about what I was doing,\u201d he adds, coughing.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThis self-directed approach is the point of the school. I ask Celeste if she wouldn\u2019t prefer a teacher, or at least some guidance. \u201cSometimes I want a teacher so I can get to the solution faster,\u201d she says. \u201cBut when I get the answer myself its more self-gratifying.\u201d\n\nThere\u2019s a food truck out back, where students gather and smoke cigarettes. Like everything else at the school, this was organized by the students themselves (orders are placed electronically), along with activities like Game of Thrones screenings and more mundane things, like sleeping arrangements. Even the elevator has not escaped the attention of the assembled hackers; it is like a very cramped nightclub, with hip-hop blaring from the speakers and blue and green lights piercing the darkness. \u201cThey hacked it last year so you couldn\u2019t get to any floor,\u201d Sadirac says. \u201cWe just fixed it.\u201d\n\nVisitors to the school have included everyone from former French president Fran\u00e7ois Hollande (who walked amidst sleeping students) to PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and Evan Spiegel of Snapchat.\n\nWho cares about another coding school?\n\nAdvertisement\n\nSchools around the world, from kindergarten up, are scrambling to figure out what skills kids need to thrive in the future. Disagreement abounds about which skills should be prioritized, and how they should be taught, but opinions coalesce around some mix of collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, communication, and initiative (or agency). While many schools incorporate this into legacy teaching systems, few are built with them in mind from the start.\n\nNiel wanted to address two problems: the lack of coding talent in France and the country\u2019s entrenched inequality, which precludes poor kids who do not attend the country\u2019s Grandes \u00c9coles\u2014elite universities\u2014from the best job opportunities. In addressing those issues, he ended up creating a school built around collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, communication, and agency. In other words, a school for the future.\n\n\u201cWhether you have a criminal record, suck at math, say dumb shit, we don\u2019t give a damn,\u201d Niel told Venture Beat. \u201cWe don\u2019t take that into account, we only care about two objective criteria.\u201d Those criteria are logic and motivation.\n\nThis school is different\n\nWhen Sadirac describes \u00c9cole 42, it is easy to forget it is a school he is talking about.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cI would mainly say it\u2019s not about learning.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe think we are an art school.\u201d\n\n\u201cKnowledge is un-useful, dangerous, and removes your freedom.\u201d\n\nAll of this must be put in the context of programming, and how information technology has changed. \u00c9cole 42 is not about learning because learning has traditionally been about mastering a body of content, or set of skills.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cWe should not try to learn and memorize stuff,\u201d Sadirac says. \u201cIt\u2019s dangerous, it makes you less agile.\u201d\n\nGetting information to stick in your brain is complicated and hard. Getting it out, to make way for new way things, can be even harder. Sadirac\u2019s previous job, as it happens, involved retraining adults. The biggest impediment to them learning new things was often unlearning what they already knew. Case in point: around 30% of the students in the swimming pool come with coding experience. After one month, those with experience perform no better than those without it.\n\nAround 30% of the students come with coding experience. After one month, they perform no better than those without it.\n\nHe considers \u00c9cole 42 an art school because programming is more art than science, he says. Two myths that persist about coding is that you have to be good at math and that it is a solitary endeavor. These myths, he argues, are part of what keeps women away from programming. Only 10% of students at \u00c9cole 42 are women; it has started a program to bring in female high-school students during holidays to teach them coding and dispel these ideas.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nKnowledge is \u201cdangerous,\u201d Sadirac says, because of the way technology has changed. Companies first applied digital technology to transform existing processes, which required high levels of organization and knowledge, but not a lot of creativity. Today, as companies reinvent themselves around everything digital, it is programming that reinvents processes. That requires people to work together and think broadly about how to solve real-world problems.\n\nHow it all began\n\nBefore \u00c9cole 42, Sadirac founded Epitech, one of France\u2019s leading programming schools. A foundation approached the school and asked if it would teach coding in some poor areas of Paris.\n\nOne of the students from the coding program ended up at Free, Niel\u2019s internet service provider, which Sadirac says is known for being extremely intellectually demanding. The woman wowed everyone and Niel asked her where she went to school. \u201cI was selling hamsters two years ago,\u201d she said. He recognized that too many people were kept from programming because they weren\u2019t born into the right families. Indeed, according to the OECD, French students report some of the lowest levels of belonging in the developed world, thanks to a highly stratified education system.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nHe teamed up with Sadirac to build \u00c9cole 42.\n\n\u00c9cole 42 is one of many innovative institutions cropping up around the world. In the US, there\u2019s Coursera, Udacity, and Udemy; China has 17zuoye; and the Minerva Project, a highly selective university, educates kids around the world.\n\nOne question, of course, is whether these new models can scale.\n\nIf Niel he can make the \u00c9cole 42 model work in the US\u2014his goal is for the Silicon Valley campus to take in 10,000 students\u2014he will consider opening a branch in China. He told Quartz it\u2019s scalable because it\u2019s a non-profit; he also said starting a school was less stressful than a business, because it is a non-profit.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nOther outposts of 42 have cropped up around the world independently, in Romania, South Africa, Ukraine, and Bulgaria (with two more coming soon in Tunisia and the Netherlands). These schools have to ascribe to the philosophy of free tuition and no prior academic requirements, raising enough money to educate more than 150 kids. If they do that, they get access to the school\u2019s curriculum.\n\nRunning costs for \u00c9cole 42 in Paris are about \u20ac7 million a year, and a bit less than that in the US. Niel says he\u2019ll foot the bill in Paris for a decade; after that, he\u2019s hoping a Mark Zuckerberg-type graduate from the school will take over and pay for things.\n\nSo the model is scalable, if someone very rich is behind it.\n\nKyle Peck, a professor of education and co-director of the Center for Online Innovation in Learning at Penn State, admires \u00c9cole 42, but questions its scope: \u201cThey want to compete at the top rather than offering something for everyone.\u201d Peck also wonders whether the model would benefit from more coaching or expert input. \u201cIt is novices helping novices,\u201d he says about the peer-to-peer system. \u201cThere\u2019s wisdom from experts, and sharing that at appropriate moments\u201d could help optimize learning.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cThere is no issue at all for our students to find a job. We could have 10 times more students.\u201d\n\nThat \u00c9cole 42 is free for those accepted is clearly a plus. But three years is a long time to forego a salary, even if students get internships along the way. In the US, there are around 95 coding boot camps, according to Course Report, where the curriculum is typically much shorter\u2014about 14 weeks\u2014but the cost much higher, at about $14,000. This more traditional model also has its flaws: the report notes that eight coding bootcamps closed this year, including Iron Yard and Dev Bootcamp, both of which had significant financial support. New York Code and Design Academy recently hiked its tuition, but graduates of two of its campuses who don\u2019t get jobs after graduation don\u2019t have to repay the school; those who get jobs pay 8% of their earnings until they settled the $15,000 tuition bill.\n\nThe ultimate gauge of success, of course, is jobs. Niel has been described as a cross between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg \u00e0 la fran\u00e7aise. In Paris, he is a household name; \u00c9cole 42 is also well known. As a result, companies know to come looking for talent at the school. \u201cThere is no issue at all for our students to find a job,\u201d Niel said. \u201cWe could have 10 times more students.\u201d In fact, employers submit digital projects for the students to complete: the French culture ministry wants ideas about how to build a digital museum; the French government wants advanced thinking around cybersecurity; and PSA, the parent company of Peugeot, has asked students to imagine how self-driving cars will change our lives.\n\nComing to America\n\nLast year, Niel opened School 42 in Fremont, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley. A video on the school\u2019s website features a who\u2019s who of Silicon Valley saying it is just what\u2019s needed, including Spiegel of Snapchat, Jack Dorsey of Twitter and Square, and Stuart Butterfield of Slack. \u201cIt takes away the walls,\u201d raved Peter Fenton, a partner at Benchmark Capital. \u201cIt allows for mobility for people with aptitude and potential and motivation.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIn an interview with Bloomberg\u2019s Decrypted, Niel said a major challenge in the US has been that people distrust anything that is free. \u201cWhen it\u2019s free they think there\u2019s something behind it; there\u2019s a trick,\u201d he noted. When \u00c9cole 42 opened, 70,000 kids between the ages of 18 and 30 applied; in the US, it was just a few thousand, Brittany Bir, School 42\u2019s COO, told Ars Technica. When I asked Niel how he planned to make deeper inroads, his response was \u201chelp us,\u201d a plan which somewhat lacks detail.\n\nThere are a few factors, beyond a suspicion of free stuff, that is working against School 42 in the US. It is not accredited and can\u2019t help students with visas. Students tend to be older and already have university degrees, so the lack of accreditation means they can\u2019t put student loans on hold while they\u2019re at School 42. (And American graduates carry staggering debt loads.)\n\nThe biggest challenge, though, will come when School 42\u2019s first crop of graduates try to get jobs. Competition in Silicon Valley is fierce, and Niel does not have the clout he does in France, where he is singlehandedly putting Paris on the map as a global tech hub.\n\nBut for thousands of young people who have limited options, School 42 offers a wealth of opportunity: an education, a community, and real-life skills that are in high demand among employers.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBack in France, S\u00e9bastien Faucher, 25, dropped out of high school and worked in factories around Limoges, earning about \u20ac1,100 a month. \u201cMy life status was not that good,\u201d he said, smoking a Camel, draped in an oversized parka in Paris in July. He came to the swimming pool in hopes of gaining a place at \u00c9cole 42 as a springboard to his dream career: video-game designer.\n\nIt has not been easy. \u201cI wanted to surrender two days ago,\u201d he said. \u201cI cried and cried and cried.\u201d He even went to the train station with a friend, and bought a ticket. But then he realized, \u201cWhen will I have this chance again?\u201d He went back, and got to work.", "output": "\u00c9cole 42 in Paris offers a free merit-based course where students\u00a0teach themselves coding. Students are assigned 48-hour projects and are expected to manage their own time. Although 20,000 of the most recent batch of students passed the logic test required to enter \u00c9cole 42, the school only accepted the top 3,000. The school sets out to address a lack of coding talent in France and the country's inequality. However, the school is not accredited so can't help students with visas. It was founded by French billionaire Xavier Niel who spent $57m on the campus.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Adaptive learning firm Adaptemy unveils ambitious expansion plans \n Secondary school students in Slovakia and Mexico will this month start using digital workbooks which have been created using technology developed by Dublin startup Adaptemy.\n\nOne of only a small number of companies in the world to have developed personalised, adaptive learning technology for use in schools, its software is now being used in five countries and the company is in the process of raising \u20ac1.5m in order to develop global sales.\n\nSince setting up in 2015, Adaptemy has signed contracts with four large educational publishers \u2014 including one in Germany and one in Spain \u2014 which add content to the Dublin company\u2019s technology to create digital workbooks used to supplement textbooks.\n\n\u201cWe estimate that our digital workbooks are now being used by tens of thousands of students in several hundred schools,\u201d said chief executive and co-founder Conor O\u2019Sullivan.\n\nIn Ireland, Adaptemy has partnered with Folens Publishers to create a specific maths product for Junior Certificate called Build Up, which is now being used by 158 secondary schools across the country.\n\nAdaptemy is finalising contracts with two more educational publishers, one in Europe and one in Africa, and is also in advanced negotiations with a publisher in the US. \u201cWe are talking to publishers in 60 countries and have plans to develop sales in Latin America and Europe and also to move in to Asia,\u201d said Mr O\u2019Sullivan.\n\nHe said this type of product marks a significant advance in the use of technology in schools.\n\n\u201cWe are bringing artificial intelligence to the classroom. Our digital workbook provides immediate and personalised feedback to students on their homework and makes suggestions about what to focus on next.\u201d\n\nBelieving this is the way forward in education for the future, Mr O\u2019Sullivan said it has been speculated that the global adaptive learning technology market could be worth \u20ac1.25bn in the next five to 10 years.\n\nMr O\u2019Sullivan and fellow co-founder Conor Flynn originally began working on the technology for a digital workbook while working for Folens\u2019 e-learning company Apierian. \u201cAt that time, nobody really spoke of artificial intelligence in education and the predominant use of technology in classrooms was for digital copies of textbooks,\u201d said Mr O\u2019Sullivan.\n\nSome universities had begun using adaptive learning technology and the two men, one with experience in digital educational publishing and the other a teacher who had worked as a curriculum consultant, were tasked with developing a similar product for schools.\n\nWhen Apierian closed in 2015, they decided the idea for the personalised digital workbook was worth pursuing.\n\nSetting up Adaptemy in 2015 with a staff of five, they raised \u20ac3m. Recognised as a High Potential Start Up company by Enterprise Ireland, they raised an additional \u20ac250,000 and have now increased the staff size to 15.\n\n\u201cOur business model involves partnering with education publisher in each country and adding adaptive and personalised learning technology to their products,\u201d said Mr O\u2019Sullivan.\n\nThe first product was Build Up for Folens, and it was followed by a software product allowing publishers to customise the app for each country and curriculum. This year, Adaptemy launched a product which allows publishers integrate the technology into their existing products across multiple subjects.\n\nUntil now, the technology, which is licensed to publishers on a SaaS (software as a service) basis, has mostly been used for maths and science, but Mr O\u2019Sullivan said he expects to see this broaden. \u201cWe are working on a projects with Dublin City University to create a virtual science lab for schools \u2014 we will be showing the prototype for this at a conference in Bucharest next month.\u201d\n\nR&D is continuing and Adaptemy has started work on developing an adaptive learning solution which can be used by students to learn English.\n\nThe \u20ac1.5m now being raised will be used both for R&D and also to expand sales in new markets.\n\nBy the end of 2018, the company aims to have sales in 12 countries and to have grown the staff size to 20.", "output": "Dublin-based edtech start-up Adaptemy provides students with artificial intelligence (AI)-driven software that offers immediate, personalised feedback on their homework. The software is used in five countries and the company plans to raise \u20ac1.5m ($1.79m) to develop sales in Latin America, Europe and Asia. Co-founders Conor Flynn and Conor O'Sullivan said they are talking to publishers in 60 countries, with the digital workbook\u00a0currently\u00a0being used by tens of thousands of students. In Ireland, Adaptemy has partnered with Folens Publishers to develop a maths-specific product called Build Up\u00a0for students in 158 secondary schools in the Republic .\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Server, hosting file converter sites, hacked multiple times \n (Image: file photo; alternative: Twitter)\n\nThe server hosting dozens of free-to-use online file conversion websites has been hacked several times in the past year using a well-known, easy-to-use exploit.\n\nThe security researcher, who asked not to be named for fear of legal repercussions, told ZDNet that the attacker obtained \"full root access\" to the server and its contents.\n\nThe researcher said the level of access would allow an attacker to quietly exfiltrate any file uploaded to the sites, but said it was \"impossible to tell\" what the shells were for, or if they were in actively used.\n\nThe Paris-based server hosted sites -- including combinepdf.com, imagetopdf.com, jpg2pdf.com, pdftoimage.com, pdfcompressor.com, and wordtojpeg.com, among others -- that let users convert files and documents to other formats.\n\nThese are hardly the most popular sites in the world, but thousands of people use the sites each day, based on various traffic metrics and statistics sites. Key search terms like \"pdf convert\" and \"image convert\" bring up several of the affected sites in the first page of Google search results, giving them an edge over other conversion sites.\n\nThe server was vulnerable to a year-old set of bugs found in the ImageMagick library, a popular tool used to convert images. The bugs, known collectively as \"ImageTragick,\" are extremely easy to exploit -- in one case, as simple as uploading an image file containing four lines of code to the server. The bug is so serious that Facebook paid a record bug bounty to a researcher who found that the social network was vulnerable, and Yahoo stopped using the software altogether. Countless servers and websites remain unpatched to this day.\n\nAs soon as the image is uploaded, the code runs, opening up a bind shell on the server, which listens for commands or code from an attacker's server.\n\nAccording to the researcher, there were three other bind shells open on this vulnerable server.\n\n\"The impact of this incident is concerning to me,\" said the security researcher. \"All data going in or out of the server was being tampered with for months on end without the server owner noticing it.\"\n\nThe list of affected domains includes:\n\nbooktitlegenerator.com\n\ncombinepdf.com\n\ncompressjpeg.com\n\ncompresspng.com\n\ncoollastnames.com\n\ncroppdf.com\n\ncutecatnames.com\n\ncutedognames.com\n\ndjvu2pdf.com\n\ndragonnamegenerator.com\n\nebook2pdf.com\n\nepub2kindle.com\n\nexceltopdf.com\n\nhorsenamegenerator.com\n\nhtml2pdf.com\n\nhtmlformatter.com imagetopdf.com\n\njpg2pdf.com\n\njpg2png.com\n\nmobi2epub.com\n\nodt2pdf.com\n\noptimizilla.com\n\npalettegenerator.com\n\npdf2kindle.com\n\npdf2mobi.com\n\npdf2png.com\n\npdfcompressor.com\n\npdfepub.com\n\npdfjoiner.com\n\npdfmobi.com\n\npdftoimage.com\n\npdftotext.com png2jpg.com\n\npng2pdf.com\n\npngjpg.com\n\npsd2pdf.com\n\npubtopdf.com\n\nringer.org\n\nringtonecutter.com\n\nringtonemaker.com\n\nrtftopdf.com\n\nshrinkpdf.com\n\nsummarygenerator.com\n\nsvgtopng.com\n\ntoepub.com\n\ntopdf.com\n\nunminify.com\n\nwordtojpeg.com\n\nWe tracked down and contacted the owner of the server, who did not provide his name, but he replied with an aggressive response when provided with details of his vulnerable server.\n\n\"That config file is half a year old. If you claim my server still has that problem with Image-f**king-Magick, please send me the new config file,\" said the server owner. \"If you can't, well, you're too late.\"\n\nThe server owner later said he had updated his servers and rebuffed several claims about his server's security.\n\nThere's no easy way to determine if a server is vulnerable unless the server is actively exploited with a malicious image. The security researcher did not retest the server after ZDNet reached out to the server owner for fear of legal repercussions, so there is no way to verify that the sites have in fact been patched.\n\n\"The fact that he has control over sites that are so widely used for manipulating documents, even if they weren't compromised, is really worrying,\" the researcher said.\n\n\"This should be a lesson for all of us,\" the researcher said. \"If you don't want something to be stolen, don't give it away, especially to sites that you don't trust.\"", "output": "A Parisian server, playing host to numerous free-to-use file conversion sites, was hacked several times over the past year. The server\u00a0hosted sites including combinepdf.com and pdftoimage.com, and was attacked using a simple, popular exploit, a security researcher said. The server's owner claimed to have updated his servers properly, dismissing\u00a0claims about flawed security.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ANZ and National Australia Bank launch mobile banking services \n Two Australian banks unveiled updates to their banking services with ANZ Bank launching a voice-based identity service for mobile banking and National Australia Bank (NAB) debuting a chatbot for its business banking service.\n\nThe Voice ID service, developed in partnership with biometrics firm Nuance, enables ANZ customers to make payments of more than A$1000 (or BPAY payments of more than A$10,000) via their mobile using voice recognition.\n\n\n\n\u201cCustomers increasingly want the convenience of banking on their digital devices and this solution delivers that with the added level of voice biometric security,\" said managing director, Custoemr Experience and Digital Channels, Peter Dalton. \"This will be particularly good news for our small business customers who regularly need to make payments of more than $1000 on the go and will only need their voice to authorise those transactions.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile NAB is piloting a chatbot described as a \u201cdigital virtual banker\u201d for its business customers.\n\nAccording to the bank, the virutal assistant can provide answers to more than 13,000 variations on 200 questions based on informaiton taken from genuine customer enquiries. It is currently focused on queries related to business credit and debit cards.\n\n\u201cOur research shows that two thirds of Australian SMEs cite dealing with administrative tasks as taking a lot of effort, and our customers desperately want to spend more time on their business and less time on dealing with admin tasks,\u201d said NAB chief operating officer Antony Cahill.\n\nCahill said that the bank plans to continue developing its chatbot over the coming months and to add to the knowledge bank used to drive its decision-making.\n\n", "output": "Australian financial institutions ANZ Bank and National Australia Bank (NAB) have launched mobile banking services features. ANZ Bank has created a vocal identity feature, while NAB now offers a chatbot for its digital business banking. ANZ\u2019s voice ID service allows payments of more than AUD1,000 ($798) through mobile devices with the aid of biometrics tech from Nuance. NAB\u2019s chatbot virtual assistant can answer over 13,000 variants of 200 common questions to help customers find the information they need more rapidly.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ireland vulnerable to cyber crime\u00a0post-Brexit:\u00a0hacking expert \n When Brexit comes into effect, the island of Ireland could be left incredibly vulnerable from a cybersecurity and data protection perspective, warns the ICTTF president.\n\nWhile Brexit has raised a lot of questions over a potential hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, infosec experts are warning that the discussions so far have been \u201clight on detail regarding any implications or solutions for cybersecurity and data protection\u201d.\n\nThose are the words of Paul C Dwyer, president of the International Cyber Threat Task Force (ICTTF), who said to the The Irish Times that it is now crucial that both governments sit down, discuss and establish an Anglo-Irish taskforce on cybersecurity and data protection.\n\nDwyer said that the group would discuss the biggest data challenges that would arise from the new EU cyber legislation, and how it would then interact with the UK.\n\nHe also warned that businesses are quickly realising that when the deadline of April 2019 comes, the threat posed from a cybersecurity perspective is overwhelming.\n\n\u201cMany Irish and UK businesses don\u2019t want to bet on the negotiations between the EU and the UK going well,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cThe overwhelming array of sophisticated cyberattack techniques and the sheer amount of cyber-criminals, combined with a potential legal impotency post-Brexit, is a real concern for many businesses.\u201d\n\nA proposed model, he added, would look something like the ICTTF that he is a part of, which was formed seven years ago with 4,000 members to protect \u201cchildren, individuals, small businesses, NGOs, enterprises and supporting the efforts of military and the global law-enforcement community\u201d.\n\nElsewhere within the EU, a warning was issued last week (1 September) by Irish MEP Se\u00e1n Kelly for a more rigorous EU cybersecurity strategy to prevent attacks on critical infrastructure, the commercial sector and governments.", "output": "An Anglo-Irish taskforce on cybersecurity and data protection needs to be established post-Brexit, the president of the International Cyber Threat Task Force has warned. Paul Dwyer said the UK and Irish governments should set up a group to explore the\u00a0data challenges\u00a0arising\u00a0from new EU cyber legislation and its consequences for\u00a0the UK. He added that businesses faced an very high risk from cyber attacks after Brexit.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "'Locky' emerges as candidate for 2017's biggest malware campaign \n Locky rose to prominence in 2016 following a number of high-profile infections and at one point became one of the most common forms of malware in its own right. Locky rose to prominence in 2016 following a number of high-profile infections and at one point became one of the most common forms of malware in its own right.\n\nLocky ransomware\u2019s re-emergence with new email distribution campaign has been touted as one of the largest malware campaigns in the latter half of 2017, the media reported. The ransomware, once considered almost defunct, sent over 23 million emails with the malware to the US workforce in just 24 hours on August 28, zdnet.com reported. It was sent with subjects such as \u201cplease print\u201d, \u201cdocuments\u201d and \u201cscans\u201d.\n\nResearchers at US-based cybersecurity firm AppRiver, who discovered the new campaign say it represents \u201cone of the largest malware campaigns seen in the latter half of 2017\u201d. According to the report, the malware payload was hidden in a zip file containing a Visual Basic Script (VBS) file, which once clicked, will download the latest version of Locky ransomware \u2014 the recently spotted Lukitus variant \u2014 and encrypts all the files on the infected computer.\n\nVictims are presented with a ransom note demanding 0.5 bitcoin ($2,300) in order to pay for \u201cspecial software\u201d in the form of a \u201cLocky decryptor\u201d in order to get their files back. Instructions on downloading and installing the Tor browser and how to buy Bitcoin are provided by the attackers in order to ensure victims can make the payment.", "output": "Hackers sent more than 23 million messages infected with Locky malware to the US workforce in 24 hours on August 28, according to cybersecurity firm AppRiver. The emails showed subject lines such as \"please print\" and \"documents\", and contained a file which, when opened, downloads the ransomware, infecting all files on the user's computer. Hackers then send users a ransom note which demands $2,300 to restore their files. Locky malware became well-known in 2016, after a series of high-profile infections.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Protos plans ICO to raise capital for cryptocurrency fund \n LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Protos Cryptocurrency Asset Management today announced its plan to hold an Initial Coin Offering (\u201cICO\u201d) to raise capital for a data-driven crypto hedge fund that will invest solely in cryptocurrencies and tokens. Protos tokens will be a security issued under the exemption from registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to Regulation D.\n\nThe founders of Protos \u2013 Matthew Shaw, Philipp Kallerhoff, and Thomas Kineshanko \u2013 have significant experience in the funds and cryptocurrency space. They have over a decade of combined experience investing in cryptocurrencies, have managed funds of over $1 billion and Protos will be their third vehicle investing in cryptocurrencies. They have collectively managed funds/proprietary investments of over $1 billion, have founded and sold three tech startups for proceeds of $400 million and one investment bank at a valuation of more than $250 million. \u201cWe believe that Protos is taking a unique approach,\u201d said Matthew Shaw, co-founder of Protos. \u201cIn addition to investing in new digital tokens as well as cryptocurrencies, we are among the first funds building a robust database of digital token and cryptocurrency market data and using advanced technical trading strategies.\u201d\n\nProtos intends to apply institutional asset management rigor to cryptocurrency and digital token investing and inform its strategy by capturing and analyzing the necessary market data. The firm intends to also invest in the digital assets of teams that solve difficult problems with highly technical solutions in defensible and scalable markets, building systems to evaluate the underlying data of these teams and their tokens.\n\nThe Protos [Cryptocurrency Asset Management] token will aim to accrue value based on the investment returns that Protos earns through its investments in cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ether and Litecoin, as well as existing and new blockchain-based digital tokens.\n\n\u201cWe are unlocking the second major investing wave in cryptocurrency and once data on the market exists, we anticipate seeing an explosion in trading strategies similar to that experienced in stock trading,\u201d said Philipp Kallerhoff, co-founder of Protos. \u201cWe are driving this second wave with the goal of benefiting our token holders through our crypto trading strategies.\u201d\n\nProtos will invest in the digital assets of the protocols it believes will be the foundational infrastructure and biggest applications in the third major computing revolution.\n\n\u201cThe first revolution was the PC, the second was the Internet, and we feel the third is now distributed applications based on Bitcoin-like cryptographic technology,\u201d said Thomas Kineshanko, co-founder of Protos. \u201cTo invest in the first two computing revolutions you\u2019re required to buy shares in companies, but to invest in the blockchain revolution, you have to purchase tokens.\u201d\n\nThe Protos token, unlike traditional hedge fund and venture capital limited partnership investments, has no lock-up (other than the 12-month holding period for Regulation D purchasers) and will provide liquidity once traded on exchanges. The token\u2019s presale is scheduled for September 25, 2017 and the public ICO is expected to commence on October 17, 2017.\n\nThe offering is being managed by Argon Investment Management LLC, a unit of the Argon Group, a Los Angeles-based investment bank specializing in the field of cryptocurrencies and the ICO market, under the Regulation D Section 506(c) exemption from registration promulgated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.\n\nMore details of the offering will be disclosed in the Offering Memorandum, which is expected to be published on or before October 17, 2017 at https://protos.tokenhub.com.\n\nAbout Protos\n\nProtos Cryptocurrency Asset Management is one of the first data-driven hedge funds in the cryptocurrency and digital token space. The firm was founded by three partners, Matthew Shaw, Philipp Kallerhoff and Thomas Kineshanko, and is the third fund vehicle that the team has put together to invest in cryptocurrencies. The founders have extensive cryptocurreny market experience, in both investing and trading, and have been engrossed in the crypto market since inception. Protos will apply institutional asset management rigor to cryptocurrency and digital token investing and inform their strategy by capturing and analyzing the necessary market data.\n\nAbout The Argon Group\n\nThe Argon Group (the \"Group\") is an investment bank with a focus on digital finance - the emerging cryptocurrency and token-based capital markets. The Group provides financial advisory, placement, and technology services to companies seeking to raise equity, debt, and non-dilutive capital. The Group develops technical placement solutions, including digital tokens powered by advanced smart contracts, which Argon operates through a digital asset placement platform TokenHub.com. For more information, please email info@argongroup.com, follow @theargongroup, visit www.argongroup.com.\n\nAbout the Offering\n\nThe Protos tokens are being offered in the US on a limited basis to a maximum of 99 accredited investors under exemptions from registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 (the \u201cSecurities Act\u201d) pursuant to Regulation D, Section 506(c) under the Securities Act, and the rule promulgated thereunder. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase the Protos Tokens, nor shall there be any offer, solicitation or sale of the Protos Tokens in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The Protos Tokens have not and will not be registered under the Securities Act, the Investment Company Act of 1940 or other applicable state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the US absent registration or pursuant to an exemption from registration requirements of the Securities Act and under applicable state laws.\n\nIn any member state of the European Economic Area, the Protos Tokens are only being offered to qualified investors as defined under Directive 2003/71/EC (as amended, including by Directive 2010/73/EU, and includes any relevant implementing measure in each member state).\n\nThis communication is directed only to persons who (i) are outside the United Kingdom; (ii) are persons falling within Article 19(5) (Investment professionals) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (as amended, the \u201cOrder\u201d), (iii) are persons falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) (High net worth companies, unincorporated associations, etc.) of the Order, or (iv) are persons to whom an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity may otherwise lawfully be communicated (all such persons together being referred to as \u201crelevant persons\u201d). This communication is directed only at relevant persons and must not be acted on or relied on by persons who are not relevant persons. Any investment or investment activity to which this communication relates is available only to relevant persons and will be engaged in only with relevant persons.", "output": "Protos Cryptocurrency Asset Management is planning an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) to generate money for a hedge fund that will invest in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ether and Litecoin. The founders of Protos claim the rise of cryptocurrencies and blockchain is the 'third major computing revolution', which will require investors to purchase tokens rather than traditional shares in companies. Presale of the Protos token is scheduled for 25 September, with the public ICO commencing on 17 October.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Russia considers ban on cryptocurrency mining in apartments \n A law prohibiting the mining of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in apartments could soon be introduced in Russia. Creating new digital tokens increases electricity consumption and temperature in the room, which can be unsafe for residents, according to experts.\n\n\u201cBitcoins are mined with the use of a set of electronic devices, including video cards. Electric networks at blocks of flats are unlikely to stand such consumption; ventilation systems are not able to handle the generated heat, either. This could trigger a fire,\u201d said Presidential Council on the Internet member Ilya Massukh in an interview with RT.\n\nBitcoin mining is the process by which transactions are verified and added to the public ledger, known as the blockchain. It is also the means through which new bitcoins are created.\n\nAnyone with access to the internet and suitable hardware can participate in cryptocurrency mining. Graphics or video cards are more efficient at mining than CPUs.\n\n\"Virtually all computer capacities are not Russian, bitcoin itself is not allowed inside the country. Accordingly, the mined bitcoin tokens go to some external exchanges. All that remains inside the country is the waste of electricity. Quite a doubtful efficiency for the Russian economy,\" the expert said.\n\nAt the same time, some officials disagree, as Internet Ombudsman Dmitry Marinichev said cryptocurrency mining should be encouraged in Russia.\n\nSuch businesses would be better started away from Moscow, preferably in regions with a cold climate and excess electricity, he said.\n\nThe unofficial capital of Russian mining today is the Irkutsk region, where the price of electricity is much lower than in Moscow. Officials in the region told RT they are not afraid of bitcoin miners, as computer systems used to create digital tokens use far less energy than, for example, electric heaters.", "output": "Russian authorities could ban people from mining bitcoin in apartment blocks, citing fears over the impact on local electricity networks. A member of the Presidential Council on the Internet said the number of electronic devices used in the process puts too much pressure on power supplies in blocks of flats, and the heat generated could be a fire risk. However, internet Ombudsman Dmitry Marinichev has said the industry should be encouraged. Much of it takes place in the Irkutsk region, where electricity prices are low, and officials there say the associated computer systems are not a threat.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "YouTube-ripping site agrees to settlement after legal dispute \n Last year, record labels took the popular YouTube-ripping site YouTube-mp3.org to court seeking the pirating website's permanent shutdown and $150,000 per violation. Well, the labels, helmed by the RIAA, have, as of today, won with recent court filings pointing towards a settlement between the two parties.\n\nThese sorts of websites let users download audio and video files from YouTube and in their suit, the RIAA claimed that YouTube-mp3.org had around 60 million visitors and tens to hundreds of millions of illegal downloads per month. When the lawsuit was brought forth, RIAA President Cary Sherman said in a statement, \"It should not be so easy to engage in this activity in the first place, and no stream ripping site should appear at the top of any search result or app chart.\"\n\nThe website's owner has agreed to pay a settlement, though the details of that haven't been released, and a proposed injunction prohibits anyone associated with the website from having anything to do with a \"streamripping\" website in the future. The website domain name will also be given to one of the record labels.\n\nThe proposed judgement and injunction haven't been approved and ordered by the court yet and the website is still up as of writing, but similar sites and apps are already being taken down. As Mac Rumors reports, ProTube was removed from the App Store last week after multiple requests from Google for it to be taken down.", "output": "The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has succeeded in a legal battle to shut down content-ripping website YouTube-mp3.org. Court documents indicate a settlement between the parties, which will see the operators of the website pay damages, hand over the domain to one of the record labels, and desist from running any similar service in future. YouTube-mp3.org, which allows users to rip music and video from YouTube, was facilitating hundreds of millions of illegal downloads per month, according to the RIAA.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Habito raises \u00a318.5 in funding for online mortgage brokerage \n PropTech startup Habito has secured an \u00a318.5m Series B funding round led by Atomico.\n\nThis brings the total amount raised by the London-based digital mortgage broker to over \u00a327.5m.\n\nWhile Atomico led the round, other participants included existing investors Ribbit Capital, Mosaic Ventures and Revolutionary (Ad)Ventures.\n\nHabito, which raised a \u00a35.5m Series A back in January of this year, uses a combination of artificial intelligence and human expertise to select mortgage deals for customers. It analyses over 20,000 mortgage products across 70 lenders in real time.\n\nIt claims to be working with several major retail banks and high street lenders to integrate its technology so it can facilitate real-time mortgage approvals, as well as applications.\n\nThe firm also plans to enter the home and life insurance spaces and is currently developing insurance products that are tailored to the needs of mortgage applicants.\n\nDaniel Hegarty, founder and CEO of Habito, said: \u201cWe remain committed to rebuilding the mortgage industry with the customer at its centre. That means relentlessly improving our product and service, and providing the most convenient, straightforward, and elegant way to apply for a mortgage.\u201d\n\nHe went on to say the new funding round has encouraged the team to accelerate its ambitions.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll continue to invest in an amazing team of engineers, mortgage experts and product designers, to deliver the best mortgage experience in the market,\u201d he concluded.", "output": "Proptech start-up Habito has raised \u00a318.5m ($24.2) in Series B funding to develop its service for identifying mortgage products. The mortgage broker combines artificial intelligence with human experience to identify the best deals. Habito will use the funding to develop real-time mortgage approvals and applications capabilities in partnership with several major retail banks and high street lenders. It will also develop insurance products that suit the needs of mortgage applicants.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook maps hundred of millions of homes \n For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBreaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nFacebook has managed to map hundreds of millions of people\u2019s homes to within five metres.\n\nThe company has been using image-recognition technology, government census numbers and data gathered by space satellites to pinpoint every human-built structure in 23 countries.\n\nIt\u2019s been trying to figure out how populations around the world are distributed.\n\nHow to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Show all 9 1 / 9 How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Lock your profile down If you haven\u2019t done this already, do it now. In Settings, hit the Privacy tab. From here, you can control who gets to see your future posts and friends list. Choose from Public, Friends, Only Me and Custom in the dropdown menu. How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Limit old posts Annoyingly, changing this has no effect on who\u2019s able to see your past Facebook posts. Instead, on the Privacy page, you have to click on Limit Past Posts, then select Limit Old Posts and finally hit Confirm on the pop-up. How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Make yourself harder to find You can stop completely random people from adding you by selecting Friends of Friends from the dropdown menu in the Who can send you friend requests? section of the Privacy page. It\u2019s also worth limiting who can find your Facebook profile with your number and email address. At the bottom of the page is the option to prevent search engines outside of Facebook from linking to your profile. How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Control access to your Timeline You can limit who gets to post things on your Timeline and who gets to see posts on your Timeline too. In Settings, go to Timeline and Tagging and edit the sections you want to lock down. How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Block people When you block someone, they won\u2019t be able to see things you post on your Timeline, tag you, invite you to events or groups, start conversations with you or add you as a friend. To do it, go to Settings and Blocking. Annoyingly, you have to block people on Messenger separately. You can also add friends to your Restricted list here, which means they\u2019ll still be friends with you but will only be able to see your public posts and things you share on a mutual friend's Timeline. How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Review tags One of Facebook\u2019s handiest privacy features is the ability to review posts you\u2019re tagged in before they appear on your Timeline. They\u2019ll still be visible on the News Feed while they\u2019re fresh, but won\u2019t be tied to your profile forever. In Timeline and Tagging, enable Timeline review controls. How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Clean up your apps You can view a list of all of the apps you\u2019ve connected to your Facebook account by going to Settings and Apps. The list might be longer than you expected it to be. It\u2019s worth tidying this up to ensure things you no longer use lose access to your personal information. If you don\u2019t want to log into websites and apps with your facebook account, scroll down and turn Platform off. How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Change your ad preferences You can view a list of everything Facebook thinks you\u2019re into and tinker with your ad preferences by going to Settings and Adverts. A lot more information is displayed on the desktop site than the app, so we\u2019d recommend doing this on a computer. How to stop Facebook from revealing everything about you Download your data Facebook lets you download all of the data it has on you, including the posts you\u2019ve shared, your messages and photos, ads you\u2019ve clicked on and even the IP addresses that are logged when you log in or out of the site. It\u2019s a hell of a lot of information, which you should download to ensure you never over-share on the social network again.\n\nFacebook\u2019s goal is to get as many people connected to the internet as possible, and finding out where so many people live is a major achievement.\n\nIn a blog post published last year, Facebook Connectivity Lab communications systems scientist Tobias Tiecke said the people and homes being mapped in the 23 countries cover \u201cabout one third of the world population\u201d.\n\nThese countries include Kenya, Malawi, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Haiti and South Africa.\n\n\u201cFrom this preliminary analysis, we've determined that slightly less than 50% of the population lives in cities,\u201d he revealed at the time.\n\n\u201cHowever, 99% of the population lives within 63 km of the nearest city. Hence, if we are able to develop communication technologies that can bridge 63 km with sufficiently high data rates, we should be able to connect 99% of the population in these 23 countries.\u201d\n\nThe company is trying to determine the best ways to get different people in different places online.\n\n\u201cShort-range access networks such as Wi-Fi hotspots are suitable for people living close together, while cellular technologies are better for regions where people live farther apart, in isolated houses,\u201d Mr Tiecke and Andreas Gros have explained.\n\n\u201cAdditionally, knowing how communities are located in relation to one another is important for planning backhaul networks \u2014 the links to the internet backbone. Villages lined up along a river or road could be connected by a string of terrestrial point-to-point links, while scattered settlements might require an aerial backhaul solution such as unmanned aerial vehicles or satellites.\u201d\n\nCNBC reports that Janna Lewis, Facebook's head of strategic innovation partnerships and sourcing, seems especially keen on satellites.\n\n\u201cSatellites are exciting for us. Our data showed the best way to connect cities is an internet in the sky,\u201d she said. \u201cWe're trying to connect people from the stratosphere and from space.\u201d", "output": "Facebook is mapping hundreds of millions of homes using image-recognition technology and satellite data, along with government census numbers. The project is part of an effort to understand how populations are distributed, to work out how best to get them online. The company has identified every human-built structure in 23 countries, showing that just under 50% of people live in cities, but 99% of them live within 63km of one. Bridging this gap may require a mixture of terrestrial internet links and satellite connections, which the company is calling an 'internet of the sky'.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Maas Capital to give 100,000 UK homes free solar panels \n 800,000 low-income UK homes to benefit from free solar panels The majority of them will be installed in the north west of England, saving households up to \u00a3240 a year.\n\nOne of the biggest ever green energy schemes in the UK is set to provide clean energy for as many as 800,000 low-income homes over the next five years, renewable energy provider Solarplicity has revealed. As part of a \u00a3160 million investment from Netherlands-based Maas Capital (part of the ABN AMRO Bank), the company will provide 100,000 households with free solar panels over the next 18 months and hopes to reach its target within five years.\n\nThe aim of the \u00a31 billion project is to help individuals and families living in social housing by saving them an average of \u00a3240 a year. The harvested energy won't be free, but offered at a significantly reduced rate. If it meets its potential, the scheme could save tenants up to \u00a3192 million in total.\n\nAlready, 40 \"social landlords\" -- including many local authorities -- are on board, with the majority of them located in the North West. Over 290,000 homes in towns like Oldham and Bradford will benefit from the project, followed by the North East and the Midlands.\n\nThe deal is set to create over 1,000 new jobs for people who will be tasked with installing and maintaining the panels. Solarplicity says that many of the positions will be offered to military veterans, who will be retrained for new maintenance careers.\n\nThe companies involved will profit from the scheme by way of the government's feed-in tariff, which pays households that generate their own electricity via renewable methods. Tenants will contribute towards the energy cost, but they'll also be given low-energy LED bulbs and smart meter in order to better manage their consumption.", "output": "Netherlands-based Maas Capital has announced plans to provide 100,000 British households with free solar panels over the next 18 months, with the aim of extending clean energy to as many as 800,000 low-income families in the next five years. The \u00a31bn ($1.3bn) project is one of the biggest green energy schemes ever to be run in the UK, and is intended to help those in social housing save an average of \u00a3240 a year, with the energy generated offered at a discounted rate."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Judge approves class-action settlement of Gmail privacy lawsuit \n by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, September 5, 2017\n\nA federal judge has tentatively approved a class-action settlement of a privacy lawsuit against Google stemming from its prior practice of scanning email messages in order to surround them with ads.\n\nThe proposed settlement, which was submitted to U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh in July, calls for a three-year injunction that could affect Google's ability to send ads to people based on the content of their emails.\n\n\"The agreement appears to be the result of serious, informed, non-collusive negotiations conducted at arms\u2019 length by the parties\u2019 experienced counsel,\" Koh wrote. She added that the resolution resulted from two mediation sessions, and that the deal doesn't \" improperly grant preferential treatment to any individual or segment of the class.\"\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nGoogle said earlier this year that it will stop scanning emails for ad purposes. The resolution requires the company to \"cease all processing of email content that it applies prior to the point when the Gmail user can retrieve the email in his or her mailbox ... and that is used for advertising purposes,\" but only for three years.\n\nThe deal doesn't call for individual users to receive monetary damages, but allows them to pursue their own lawsuits against Google. The class-action attorneys who brought the case could receive up to $2.2 million.\n\nThe settlement stems from a complaint filed in September 2015 by San Francisco resident Daniel Matera, who alleged that Google violates a California privacy law and the federal wiretap law by intercepting messages without people's consent.\n\nGoogle's terms of service disclosed that it analyzed the contents of email messages for features including \"tailored advertising.\" But Matera alleged that he didn't have a Gmail account, and therefore never agreed to those terms.\n\nKoh rejected a previous settlement that would have required Google to make some technical changes to its scanning system. Koh said at the time that it wasn't clear how those prior terms would remedy the alleged violations of the federal wiretap law or California's privacy statute.\n\nAlthough Google will no longer scan emails for ad purposes, the company still plans to send targeted ads to Gmail users based on data such as their search queries and YouTube viewing histories.", "output": "A US federal judge has provisionally approved a class-action settlement of a Google privacy lawsuit. The proposed settlement relates to Google's practice of scanning Gmail messages to tailor ads to the email's sender, and calls for a three-year injunction. The deal does award individual users\u00a0monetary damages, but could allow them to pursue their own lawsuits against Google. In 2015 Google faced allegations that it violates California privacy law and federal wiretap law by intercepting messages without permission."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CodeClan delivers 150th graduate to employment \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nSign up to FREE email alerts from businessInsider - Business Newsletter sent Mon to Fri, twice each day with a full week's round up every Sat\n\nDigital skills academy CodeClan has now placed its 150th graduate in an industry role within 18 months of placing its first.\n\nCodeClan, launched in October 2015 with the aim of helping to create new software developers, said Euan Ramsay from Glasgow, now recruited by Registers of Scotland (RoS) as a junior software developer, is its 150th graduate to secure an industry job.\n\nRamsay, 37, who previously worked in freelance photography and video production, recently completed CodeClan\u2019s 16-week software development course, which also saw him achieve a Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) Level 8 pass in Software Development.\n\nHe said: \u201cI have got exactly the job I was looking for.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll be working with RoS to maintain their computer systems.\n\n\u201cFrom CodeClan\u2019s networking events, to guest lectures and visits to tech companies, the connection with industry has been fantastic.\u201d\n\nThe Keeper of the Registers of Scotland, Sheenagh Adams, said: \u201cWe\u2019re delighted to welcome Euan to RoS.\n\n\u201cThe skills and experience he has gained during his time with Code Clan will be invaluable as we work towards our goal of becoming a fully digital business by 2020.\n\n\u201cWe are proud to support and nurture our staff, and it\u2019s a pleasure to be welcoming Euan to his first position following his graduation.\u201d\n\nCodeClan launched the 16-week software development course in January 2017, which is being delivered in the Tontine business accelerator building in Merchant City, Glasgow.\n\nLast year CodeClan also secured accreditation from the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) for the Professional Development Award (PDA) in software development at three levels on the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF levels 7, 8 and 9).\n\nAdam Bannon, acting chief executive at CodeClan, said: \u201cOur courses in Edinburgh and Glasgow exist to provide students with the knowledge and skills they need to successfully begin careers in the technology industry.\n\n\u201cWe work with employers to ensure everything that is taught is relevant and fits in with what they are looking for in new starts.\n\n\u201cThe fact Euan is the fifth graduate to be placed with Registers of Scotland shows how highly the courses are regarded in the industry and the benefits that each student is bringing to their respective employer.\u201d", "output": "CodeClan, the digital skills academy, has announced that its 150th graduate has gone on to employment, securing a position at the Registers of Scotland. Launched\u00a0in 2015 with the goal of creating\u00a0more software developers, CodeClan teaches students to become professionals through its 16-week software development course.\u00a0\u201cOur courses in Edinburgh and Glasgow exist to provide students with the knowledge and skills they need to successfully begin careers in the technology industry\",\u00a0said CodeClan chief executive Adam Bannon.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cornell Tech, Microsoft join up for cryptocurrency initiative\u00a0IC3 \n As Cornell Tech officially moves into its new location on Roosevelt Island, software giant Microsoft announced that it will be partnering with the Cornell Tech-based Initiative for Cryptocurrencies and Contracts, otherwise known as IC3.\n\nIC3 involves faculty members from Cornell, Cornell Tech, and the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, as well as faculty from UC Berkeley and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.\n\nAccording to its website, IC3 \u201cuniquely meets the blockchain community\u2019s urgent need for world-class expertise in computer science that spans cryptography, distributed systems, programming languages, game theory, and system security techniques.\u201d\n\nA blockchain is a digital collection where transactions made via cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin, are publicly recorded.\n\nIC3 collaborates with experts from areas such as finance, banking and entrepreneurship to carry out blockchain research and develop faster and more secure developments.\n\n\u201cIC3 was founded to advance blockchain science, technology and applications,\u201d Co-Director of IC3 Prof. Ari Juels, told NewsWise. \u201cWe\u2019re delighted to work more closely with Microsoft\u2019s blockchain experts, who share our vision of blockchain-based solutions for next generation financial services.\u201d\n\nMicrosoft has already done extensive work with blockchain technologies, working to \u201ccreate enterprise tooling around existing open source blockchain solutions, making them more accessible to enterprise development.\u201d\n\nThe news of the IC3 and Microsoft partnership came shortly after Microsoft announced its new blockchain endeavour, the Coco platform. According to Microsoft\u2019s website, the platform is a \u201cnew blockchain framework designed to make it easier to build enterprise networks.\u201d\n\n\u201cAs we continue our journey in blockchain, we have watched and read the work of the IC3 team and are impressed with their thinking and the perspective they bring to the community,\u201d said Yorke Rhodes III, global blockchain business strategist at Microsoft. \u201cWe are very aligned with the approaches IC3 blockchain experts are taking to address scale, simplification and other topics of interest for enterprise adoption.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe synergies in their research fit well with our visions for enterprise scale blockchain solutions,\u201d Rhodes added. \u201cWe are excited to work more closely with IC3 through this membership.\u201d", "output": "Microsoft will partner with the Cornell Tech-based Initiative for Cryptocurrencies and Contracts (IC3) to develop blockchain technology for financial services. The organisations will develop methods to scale, simplify and prepare the technology for enterprise adoption, said Yorke Rhodes, a global blockchain business strategist at Microsoft. The software company recently announced it is developing Coco, a blockchain framework designed to make it easier for enterprises to build networks.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Don't expect stamp duty reform in autumn budget: Savills \n Speculation that the Chancellor will take a fresh look at stamp duty charges in November\u2019s Autumn Budget is again circulating the housing market, with some buyers reportedly putting decisions on hold in the hope rates will be cut. Savills view is that this is highly unlikely unless it is part of a much wider reform of property taxation.\n\nWhile the stamp duty burden on buyers at the top end of the housing market has increased significantly since the first reforms in December 2014, triggering falls in the value of high-value homes and slowing decision-making in the prime markets, the tax is proving a nice little earner for the Chancellor.\n\nFigures published by HMRC show that overall receipts from stamp duty continue to rise. In the second quarter of 2017 the Treasury earned \u00a32.35 billion from stamp duty. 12 months ago that figure stood at \u00a31.98 billion, meaning earnings are up by about 19 per cent year on year (see chart below). Three years ago, receipts stood at \u00a31.82 billion.\n\nAt the same time, sales of homes worth over \u00a31 million have remained remarkably robust, totalling 17,700 in the past year. Sales in the \u00a31-2 million price bracket are actually 4 per cent higher than before the major changes of December 2014, though they have softened by 8 oer cent in the past year. Above the \u00a32million mark, sales fell by -14 per cent in the past year but have definitely not collapsed as some suggest. In the immediate aftermath of the December 2014 reform there was surprisingly little change.\n\nFinally, a high proportion of these top-end sales are paying the extra 3 per cent levied on \u2018additional homes\u2019, further boosting tax receipts from this end of the market. Between \u00a31-2 million a third of sales incurred the 3 per cent surcharge and above \u00a32 million that rises to 44 per cent.\n\nWe don\u2019t believe that autumn will bring a change to stamp duty. Rather, we think that buyers will have to continue to factor the higher rates into their budgets and sellers will have to continue to price realistically to achieve a sale as we go into the autumn market.\n\nQuarterly Stamp Duty Receipts for Residential Property", "output": "While some property buyers may be holding out with the anticipation that stamp duty in the UK will be reduced in the autumn budget, Lucian Cook, director of residential research at Savills, said that it's unlikely unless it's part of wider property taxation reform. HMRC figures reveal that overall receipts from stamp duty are still increasing, with the Treasury earning \u00a32.35bn from it in Q2 of 2017. Sales of homes over \u00a31 million remain robust with HMRC receiving a large portion of revenue from these sales."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Property management software firm Arthur raises $1.48m \n Post navigation\n\nA little known property management software firm, Arthur, has just raised \u00a31,136,000 in its first round of funding, which was oversubscribed.\n\nThe fundraising was managed by chairman Mark Jones who brought in five individual investors. London Business School investor group introduced 11 and the Deloitte Investor group brought in another five, resulting in a total of 21 external backers.\n\nArthur was established in 2014 and has users both in the UK and overseas. It is currently used to manage over 50,000 units by some 4,500 property managers across 27 different countries.\n\nHowever, relatively few agents may have heard of it, as there has so far been almost no marketing spend, no advertising and no PR.\n\nJones said the software was \u201cwell ahead of the competition\u201d.\n\nHe said: \u201cI have watched Arthur\u2019s development since its inception and have been deeply impressed with the firm\u2019s use of innovative technology to build a ground-breaking software platform for property managers.\n\n\u201cOver the last 12 years I have worked in the digital sector, heading up blue chip companies such as Ladbrokes and Lastminute.com, and more recently I have become an investor in Fintech and recruitment businesses. But I have not been this passionate or excited about an investment for a long time.\n\n\u201cI look forward to seeing the highly talented development and management team achieve their ambitions to dominate the property software sector.\u201d\n\nRochelle Trup, one of the founders, said: \u201cThe property software market is changing rapidly, and unlike many of our competitors, Arthur was designed with the 21st century in mind.\n\n\u201cArthur is specifically designed from the ground up to work on as many digital platforms as possible and we are able to do this by not being what is often described as \u2018legacy software\u2019. This also gives us flexibility when improving our system.\n\n\u201cArthur provides a suite of apps that allows property professionals to manage their portfolio from anywhere in the world, where they can connect to the internet. Automated actions can be set for almost everything, from sending a tenant a late rent notice, to a reminder that a gas safety certificate is about to run out.\n\n\u201cThe forecast growth and expansion of Arthur in the UK and internationally will create great returns for our shareholders over the next two to three years.\u201d\n\nArthur was quietly launched in 2014 by David Cummin, and husband and wife team Rochelle and Marc Trup. Currently offering agents a free trial, it integrates with Zapier, which in turn allows integration with many other apps including Facebook and Dropbox.", "output": "UK property management software company Arthur has raised \u00a31.14m ($1.48m) in seed funding through an oversubscribed round with 21 backers. Founded in 2014, the company manages more than 50,000 properties for about 4,500 property managers in 27 countries. The business is predicted to grow in the UK and further afield over the next three years despite a low-key approach to marketing and PR. The software is available as a free trial and is integrated with app task automation software Zapier, which itself integrates with Facebook and Dropbox."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK TV property presenter seeks \u00a350m for 600 sustainable homes \n Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud is seeking to raise up to \u00a350m to build about 600 \u201cbeautiful and sustainable\u201d houses a year in a challenge to the soulless, identikit estates built by conventional developers.\n\nMcCloud\u2019s firm, HAB (Happiness, Architecture, Beauty) is hoping to raise the money through a bond for private investors, promising a return of 4.8% a year over a five-year period.\n\nThe money will be used to buy land and start construction on houses, mostly in the south-west of England, that McCloud promises will be \u201ca pleasure to live in\u201d.\n\nThe bond issue marks a big step-up in housing development by McCloud, now filming his 18th series of the homebuilding and renovation television programme.\n\nUntil now, McCloud has been behind several small projects, with 42 homes built in Swindon, 78 in Stroud and 50 in Winchester. The \u00a350m will help to finance a tenfold increase in development, with sites for 675 homes identified around Bristol, Oxfordshire, Somerset and Wiltshire with a gross value of about \u00a3170m.\n\nMcCloud\u2019s investment scheme comes with a lengthy list of wealth warnings. The bond is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, so investors could lose all their money. The money is locked away for five years, and investors will not find it easy to transfer or sell their holdings during that period. The HAB Bond will be quoted on the Gibraltar stock exchange, which, although governed by EU regulations, means it can be sold only to sophisticated investors, with the minimum investment set at \u00a310,000.\n\nMcCloud said he had spent a decade evolving the concepts his TV viewers are familiar with \u2013 green and sustainable homes, individually designed, from the grand to the sometimes eccentric \u2013 and translating them into homes for a much broader market.\n\n\u201cI sincerely believe grand designs are not the preserve of the one-off or that you have to use straw bales in their construction. The challenge of the next 30 years is for us to build new, and retro-fit old, homes in a socially and environmentally responsible way. We can only do that with critical mass.\u201d\n\nThe challenge of the next 30 years is for us to build new homes in a socially and environmentally responsible way Kevin McCloud\n\nHe said all his schemes would include social housing and designed to have shared public amenities and social spaces. Homes would have \u201chigh thermal mass\u201d so they do not lose heat easily, and estates would include electricity micro-generators, he said.\n\nMcCloud added that he had learned from the small-scale developments built by HAB so far.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve learned that as much as you can be ambitious and wave the flag for sharing and sustainability, the reality is that most people lead very busy lives. It\u2019s important to put in place professional management and keep it modest.\u201d\n\nHe said there would be no \u201cMcCloud premium\u201d on the price of the planned homes, although every scheme so far had been a sellout and \u201cunlike other developers we have never had to discount our homes\u201d.\n\nThe first \u00a310m of the cash raised by McCloud will finance the construction of Elderberry Walk in Southmead, Bristol, which is scheduled to begin later this year.\n\nIt will consist of a range of homes from one-bedroom flats to four-bedroom houses designed around a central, 20-metre-wide \u201cgreen street\u201d linking the surrounding housing to the neighbouring park. HAB aims to turn a derelict city site into a sought-after residential location, with more than 30% of the homes earmarked as affordable to those on lower incomes.\n\n\n\nThis is not McCloud\u2019s first fundraising exercise. In 2013, HAB raised \u00a31.9m of equity crowdfunding from 649 investors, and in January this year picked up another \u00a32.4m with a \u201dmini-bond\u201d offering a much higher rate of interest, at 8%.\n\nInvestors may wonder why HAB is returning to investors so soon after the earlier bond. \u201cWhilst the HAB Land mini-bond was a great success and raised around \u00a32.4m, the potential new sites require a significant increase in funding,\u201d he said.\n\n", "output": "TV presenter and property developer Kevin McCloud's company, Happiness, Architecture, Beauty (HAB) will issue a bond for private investors, to raise \u00a350m ($65m) to construct around 600 \u201cbeautiful and sustainable\"homes in Bristol, Oxfordshire, Somerset and Wiltshire, over five years. The bond, which features warnings that it will not be covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and will be quoted on the Gibraltar stock exchange, among others, is expected to return 4.8% per year. McCloud said the HAB developments would include social housing and shared amenities, but would not come with a 'McCloud premium' on the price."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CBRE to advise University of Manchester development strategy \n CBRE\u2019s UK Development team in Manchester has been appointed to advise The University of Manchester on the development strategy for its North Campus. The team will build on the existing Strategic Regeneration Framework (SRF) and advise on the transformation of the strategically important 11.8 hectare site.\n\nThe University of Manchester is one of the UK\u2019s largest academic institutions, with 39,700 students. It is also one of the largest employers in Greater Manchester with more than 12,000 staff. Since 2004 the University\u2019s commercialisation activities have contributed \u00a3500 million to the UK economy. More than \u00a3300 million of this has come from investment in intellectual property and ventures, and nearly \u00a3200 million from economic benefits generated by its 38 spin-out companies and more than 300 licences.\n\nThe University has embarked on one of the largest capital programmes in UK higher education. This \u00a31 billion, ten-year plan will transform the campus and create world-class facilities for sta\ufb00, students and visitors in support of its global ambitions.\n\nCBRE has been instructed to advise the University on how to maximise the development value of its assets at the North Campus. The regeneration of the site heralds significant opportunities for office, residential, retail, leisure, hotel, research and development, and improved green infrastructure, whilst integrating key heritage assets to create high quality public realm.\n\nCBRE will consult with key stakeholders to develop a vision for the site, using its market-leading team to provide advice on appropriate uses to create a world-class scheme. They will also undertake soft market testing with developers, investors and occupiers to inform the delivery strategy, as well as provide short and long-term strategic advice to appraise the future development.\n\nCBRE has a 100-strong UK Development team combining its market-leading transactional land and advisory specialists across the country. For the first time in the UK, there is a single integrated team capable of providing the full range of advisory and transactional services for developers and investors at every single point of the property life-cycle across all asset classes.\n\nThe University of Manchester\u2019s vision is to be one of the world\u2019s top 25 universities by 2020.\n\nAlistair Chapman, CBRE\u2019s Director of National Land and Development, commented:\n\n\u201cTo be involved in the delivery of the North Campus strategy is an enormous personal and professional privilege. With a major presence in Manchester, we see ourselves as stakeholders in the city and this piece of work provides the building blocks for a truly exciting scheme.\n\n\u201cThe North Campus development represents a once in a life time opportunity for The University of Manchester to further enhance its global reputation, whilst revitalising a major part of the city totalling 11.8 hectares. We are absolutely delighted to be involved with a project of this magnitude and look forward to using our global network to help the University formulate its long term development strategy,\u201d continued Alistair Chapman.\n\nDiana Hampson, Director of Estates and Facilities at The University of Manchester said: \u201cWe are pleased to be working with CBRE on this strategically important initiative as part of our Campus Masterplan.\u201d", "output": "CBRE has been chosen to advise on the development strategy for the University of Manchester's North Campus. The university, one of the UK's largest, has launched a \u00a31bn ($1.3bn) 10-year programme to transform the campus. CBRE will consult with stakeholders over the site, which offers significant professional, residential and retail opportunities. The University of Manchester aims to be one of the world's top 25 by 2020.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Donors shower UC San Diego with record $261 million in gifts \n UC San Diego raised $261 million in private donations over the past year, breaking the previous mark by nearly $49 million as the school begins one of the largest expansions in campus history.\n\nThe university has generated about $950 million through the midway point of a $2 billion, 10-year capital campaign.\n\nThe campaign is helping to fuel historic growth. The campus has added about 6,700 students since 2012, and will add another 4,000 within the next few years, pushing enrollment past 40,000.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe campus will begin the fall quarter on Sept. 25 with an estimated 36,400 students, which would be a record.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve gotten better at raising money because we\u2019re telling our story better,\u201d said Pradeep K. Khosla, the university\u2019s chancellor. \u201cMy goal is to raise $350 million in a single year by the time the campaign ends.\u201d\n\nThe campus works on a fiscal year that ends on June 30.\n\nKhosla said he is particularly proud of a $10.5 million gift that the university received from the Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation of Switzerland. The money will be used to study the composition of human breast milk, which isn\u2019t fully understood even though its known to be a great source of nutrition for newborns, infants and premature babies.\n\nUC San Diego also received $70 million last year from the Tata Trusts of Mumbai to help explore ways to use gene editing to fight insect-borne diseases and make crops more resistant to drought. About half of that money will be spent in La Jolla. The other $35 million will be devoted to a similar program in India that UC San Diego will help shape.\n\nThe campus will have to continue raising large sums to underwrite an expansion that includes major new classroom and laboratory buildings, and thousands of units of student housing.\n\nScience Playlist \u00d7 On Now In a first, scientists rid human embryos of a potentially fatal gene mutation by editing their DNA On Now 10 interesting facts about Mars On Now Kids can add years to your life On Now LA 90: SpaceX launches recycled rocket On Now Ocean temperatures warming at rapid rate, study finds\n\nTwitter: @grobbins\n\ngary.robbins@sduniontribune.com", "output": "UC San Diego raised $261 million in private donations over the past year, breaking the previous mark by nearly $49 million as the school begins one of the largest expansions in campus history.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "County declares health emergency for hepatitis outbreak \n San Diego County declared a local health emergency early Friday night, adding a new level of urgency to a hepatitis A outbreak that has hit the homeless population hardest, killing 15 people and hospitalizing hundreds.\n\nDr. Wilma Wooten, the region\u2019s public health officer, signed the declaration shortly after lawyers finished writing it, bolstering the county Health and Human Services Agency\u2019s ability to request assistance from the state and providing legal protections for a slate of actions that began unfolding across the city earlier in the day.\n\nWorking on a county contract, a private company began delivering portable hand-washing stations Friday morning in locations where homeless residents tend to congregate. Twenty stations were in place by the end of the day and 20 more, a county spokesman said, were scheduled for installation Saturday.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThat effort is to be followed by street-cleaning crews shooting high-pressure water spiked with bleach to remove \u201call feces, blood, bodily fluids or contaminated surfaces,\u201d according to a sanitation plan included in a letter delivered to city government Thursday.\n\nThe cleansing plans, Wooten said, are modeled on similar efforts used to control hepatitis A infections in Los Angeles.\n\n\u201cWe know that L.A. has had no local cases of hepatitis A related to the strain that we\u2019re seeing here in San Diego,\u201d she said. \u201cIt makes sense that, if they\u2019re doing it there and they haven\u2019t had any cases, it could be beneficial here as well.\u201d\n\nIt has been clear for some time that the local outbreak is far beyond ordinary. With 378 cases confirmed to date, it\u2019s the largest surge seen in at least 20 years.\n\nThe first cases linked to the outbreak occurred in November 2016, but there weren\u2019t enough of them until about March for local epidemiologists to know for sure that infections were spreading more quickly than usual. Most hepatitis A outbreaks are associated with specific foods picked or processed under unsanitary conditions. The virus that causes the condition lives in human feces and is spread when people don\u2019t wash their hands thoroughly enough after using the bathroom.\n\nFrom the outset, the public health response to the outbreak has been vaccination and education. Though thousands of doses of vaccine have been distributed to date, that effort has not appreciably slowed infection rates while the number of deaths reported in recent weeks has accelerated.\n\nBecause infections are most common among the homeless who often have no access to sanitary facilities, the county\u2019s efforts began to turn toward hand washing and street cleaning in early summer.\n\nBut that transition has been painfully slow.\n\nAn article earlier this week published by Voice of San Diego pointed out bureaucratic hurdles which have delayed sanitation improvements even as public health nurses pursued a countywide vaccination campaign which targeted the homeless at shelters, while mobile teams explored the more remote locations where those without homes tend to go.\n\nThursday\u2019s letter was the first time the health department gave pointed and unequivocal direction to the city, stating that the municipality should take \u201cimmediate action\u201d to \u201caddress the unsanitary living conditions of the at-risk population.\u201d\n\nThe city responded early Friday morning with a press release that indicated it would work with the county to follow its guidelines, however, it may take 10 days to comply with the street-washing request due to a lawsuit that requires 72-hours notice before the spraying begins.\n\nThe sudden action begs a simple question: Why didn\u2019t all of this start back in late June or early July when the county first talked about hand-washing stations?\n\nSan Diego City Councilman David Alvarez fired off a memo to Mayor Kevin Faulconer Thursday demanding a crisis declaration, expressing his dissatisfaction that the outbreak has continued to claim lives while the city continues to wait for resolution to provide temporary housing which would presumably bring with it better access to the bathrooms and showers necessary to alleviate the current mess on city streets.\n\n\u201cI just assumed the county was doing everything that they could do and that the city was facilitating what the county needed, but that has not been the case,\u201d Alvarez said. \u201cIt just infuriated me that the bureaucracy was getting in the way of doing the right thing.\u201d\n\nCriticism has also come from state Sen. Ben Hueso and the Service Employees Union International which have both said they do not believe the county employs enough public health nurses to meet the demands of the hepatitis A investigation while also handling large children\u2019s health and foster care programs. On Wednesday the state legislature\u2019s Joint Committee On Legislative Audit approved Hueso\u2019s request to determine whether or not the amount of health resources available are adequate. Committee members approved the audit request 10-3, and it is expected to take between four and five months to complete.\n\nThere was a lot of finger pointing between City Hall and the County Administration Center Thursday and Friday. Both sides insisted they were doing what they could in a situation that is unique.\n\n\u201cThere is no precedent for this,\u201d Wooten said. \u201cWe will definitely have a playbook for if we have something like this in the future, but this is the first time we have had something of this nature happen.\u201d\n\nShe added that, in the coming days and weeks, the hand-washing and street-sanitizing efforts underway in San Diego will spread to other cities.\n\n\u201cWe were talking to El Cajon already, and we will be talking to Escondido, Oceanside, National City and Chula Vista soon,\u201d Wooten said.\n\nCorrection\n\nAn earlier version of this story incorrectly reported one additional victim and the month the outbreak was determined. The story has been updated.\n\npaul.sisson@sduniontribune.com\n\n(619) 293-1850\n\nTwitter: @paulsisson", "output": "San Diego County declared a local health emergency early Friday night, adding a new level of urgency to a hepatitis A outbreak that has hit the homeless population hardest, killing 15 people and hospitalizing hundreds.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nurses threaten strike against Tri-City \n Nurses at Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside are threatening to strike over what they describe as policies that have caused the hospital to hemorrhage more than 300 experienced nurses over the last two years.\n\nThe California Nurses Association, a union which represents about 700 registered nurses at the facility, held a rally in front of the hospital Thursday to speak out against hiring practices described as favoring temporary nurses and new nursing school graduates over those who live in the area and who have longer track records of patient care.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s like a revolving door. Some people come, stay for a little bit, and then they leave. The Tri-City board has passed an enormous budget for travel and registry nurses when so many veteran nurses have left,\u201d said Sara Gurling, the union\u2019s chief negotiator for the Tri-City bargaining group.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nTri-City did not respond to a request for comment on the union\u2019s statements Thursday.\n\nThough some nurses connected with the rally made statements that made it seem as if a strike is imminent, that\u2019s not the case. Federal law requires health care workers to give 10 days of notice before walking off their jobs so that hospitals have ample opportunity to bring in temporary replacements and make sure that hospitalized patients are not harmed by a work stoppage.\n\nGurling said that the union\u2019s membership has not yet voted to strike, and no 10-day strike notice has been provided to hospital management or to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.\n\nSan Diego County has been no stranger to strike talk among health care workers. On Nov. 28, 2016, Sharp HealthCare\u2019s 4,800 nurses nearly hit the picket line decrying what they said were below-market wages but called the whole thing off with just hours to go when a satisfactory pay deal materialized.\n\nEarlier that month, Teamsters Local 2010, which represented 218 support employees such as electricians, carpenters and painters at UC San Diego Health, staged a strike over wage disagreements.\n\nGurling declined to say how much of a pay increase Tri-City nurses are seeking during ongoing contract negotiations.\n\nHealth Playlist \u00d7 On Now Video: Leaders urge public to help extinguish hepatitis outbreak On Now San Diego starts cleansing sidewalks, streets to combat hepatitis A On Now Video: Scripps to shutter its hospice service On Now Video: Scripps La Jolla hospitals nab top local spot in annual hospital rankings On Now Video: Does a parent's Alzheimer's doom their children? On Now EpiPen recall expands On Now Kids can add years to your life\n\npaul.sisson@sduniontribune.com\n\n(619) 293-1850\n\nTwitter: @paulsisson", "output": "Nurses at Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside\u00a0are threatening to strike over what they describe as policies that have caused the hospital to hemorrhage more than 300 experienced nurses over the last two years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Medi-Cal programs to the state: Can we stop printing and mailing directories the size of phone books? \n John Baackes, chief executive of L.A. Care Health Plan, is shown with two volumes of its 2017 provider directory, totaling 2,546 pages.\n\nIn Los Angeles County, signing up for Medi-Cal is often followed by a phone book-sized directory landing on your doorstep.\n\nThe 2017 directory for L.A. Care, a local Medi-Cal health plan, is 2,546 pages of doctors\u2019 names listed by city, by specialty \u2014 anesthesiologists, gastroenterologists, ophthalmologists. It includes hours, addresses, phone numbers and languages spoken for each of the thousands of physicians.\n\nThe directory weighs more than 7 pounds. It wouldn\u2019t fit in most mailboxes. And it can quickly become obsolete.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s out of date the minute it comes off the press,\u201d said John Baackes, chief executive of L.A. Care Health Plan.\n\nDoctors frequently change their information or drop in and out of the network, so the health plan updates an online version daily. But for years, health plans across the state have been required to mail these printed directories to people who sign up for Medi-Cal.\n\nFive million people have joined Medi-Cal since it was expanded under the Affordable Care Act in 2014, which means at least as many directories have been mailed out \u2014 at a cost of tens of millions of dollars.\n\nNow L.A. Care and other Medi-Cal managed care plans are asking the state for permission to stop automatically mailing a directory to every enrollee. State officials say they\u2019re reviewing the proposals.\n\nThe push for online directories is an example of how Medicaid programs that ballooned under the law known as Obamacare are refining operations and looking for ways to save money while insuring so many people. It also reveals the sometimes slow pace of change in such a big program \u2014 and the way costs add up quickly when every policy affects millions.\n\nIn 2014, the Affordable Care Act gave states money to expand their Medicaid programs, which insure low-income Americans and are jointly paid for by the state and federal government.\n\nFrom the end of 2013 to the spring of this year, total enrollment in Medi-Cal jumped from 8.6 million to 13.5 million, or more than a third of all California residents, according to state data.\n\nWith that growth also came an increase in the number of doctors willing to take Medi-Cal patients and the size of the directories through which patients can learn who those doctors are.\n\nL.A. Care\u2019s directory was so big this year that it had to be split into two books, each the size of a phone book. Other counties\u2019 have grown as well, but Los Angeles has the most Medi-Cal members \u2014 4 million \u2014 and participating doctors.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s more ridiculous with us because of our size,\u201d Baackes said.\n\nPrinting and mailing cost $9 to $13 for each set of books, according to L.A. Care spokesman Hector Andrade. That puts the tab for the directories sent to the 90,000 people who joined L.A. Care over the last 12 months at roughly $1 million.\n\nUntil this year, L.A. Care was also sending them annually to all Medi-Cal enrollees in the health plan, which totals 2 million. Baackes said they mailed directories for the 5,000 homeless members to the L.A. County social services office, where they\u2019re likely thrown out.\n\nBaackes submitted a proposal in June to the California Department of Health Care Services, which runs Medi-Cal, requesting that the plan be allowed to instead mail a postcard to enrollees with a link to the online directories and an option to be mailed a printed copy.\n\nMedi-Cal health plans across the state, including Health Net and Molina Healthcare, said they were also trying to work with the state to be allowed to provide virtual directories.\n\nState officials said they were reviewing the proposals. A recent change in federal rules should allow them to go through, they said. Medicare, which insures Americans 65 and older, has allowed its managed care plans to email a directory or provide a link on their websites since 2011, said Jack Cheevers, a spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.\n\nCritics of Medicaid, which covers 75 million Americans, say that the program is bloated and unsustainable. Proposals by GOP leaders to repeal Obamacare earlier this year included capping funding for Medicaid, saying the approach would force states to trim costs and find inefficiencies.\n\nBut Baackes said he didn\u2019t think state officials were dragging their feet and that the problem was merely \u201csymptomatic of trying to keep technology up with the rules and regulations.\u201d\n\nChris Perrone with the California Health Care Foundation said state health administrators are regularly looking for ways to reduce expenses. He said they\u2019re probably trying to ensure that patients having to request directories instead of automatically getting them in the mail doesn\u2019t slow down how long it takes to make an appointment with a doctor.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s for lack of incentive that sometimes these things don\u2019t happen,\u201d Perrone said. \u201cStates already have skin in the game.\u201d\n\nMedi-Cal is expected to cost about $107 billion this fiscal year, and the state is on the hook for $38 billion of that, according to state budget.\n\nPerrone said he\u2019s collaborating with Medi-Cal and Covered California, the state\u2019s insurance marketplace, that\u2019s working to reduce big areas of spending: cesarean sections, opioid abuse and low-back pain. Medi-Cal officials have also said they\u2019re working to identify patients who rack up large bills by overusing emergency rooms or because they\u2019re addicted to drugs, so they can direct them to recovery programs or connect them with behavioral health treatment.\n\nL.A. Care has invested in offering free exercise classes and nutrition advice to keep people healthy and prevent costs down the road. It is also trying to cut layers of bureaucracy by contracting with doctors directly, Baackes said.\n\nHe said he thinks the people who work with Medi-Cal patients and doctors daily should tell regulators where money is being wasted and propose ways to increase efficiency.\n\n\u201cI think that\u2019s our obligation to do this,\u201d he said.\n\nsoumya.karlamangla@latimes.com\n\nTwitter: @skarlamangla\n\nALSO\n\nOne child, a $21-million medical bill: How a tiny number of patients poses a huge challenge for Medi-Cal\n\nShe watched her ex-husband end his life under California\u2019s new right-to-die law. \u2018I felt proud\u2019\n\nKnocking on doors, climbing through fences: How L.A. County\u2019s health investigators are out trying to stop syphilis", "output": "The 2017 directory for L.A. Care, a local Medi-Cal health plan, is 2,546 pages of doctors\u2019 names listed by city, by specialty \u2014 anesthesiologists, gastroenterologists, ophthalmologists. It includes hours, addresses, phone numbers and languages spoken for each of the thousands of physicians.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Operators of even low-rated Texas nursing homes get federal cash thanks to deals with public hospitals \n \u201cThe money\u2019s not going to take care of the people they\u2019re supposed to be taking care of,\u201d said Hazel Meaux, a Stowell resident and political activist who has opposed the nursing home transactions. (Ashley Landis - Staff Photographer)\n\nFrom their headquarters in Brooklyn, N.Y., Teddy Lichtschein and Eliezer Scheiner operate some of the most poorly rated nursing homes in Texas. Their small empire has amassed more than $800,000 in federal fines over the past three years.\n\nRegulators reported numerous problems. One patient who fractured his leg waited four days to have his broken bone treated. Another resident, given food he could not chew, choked to death in his wheelchair. An 80-year-old woman with rectal cancer screamed in agony for two weeks before attendants phoned her doctor.\n\nDespite this record, Lichtschein and Scheiner have new partners in the nursing home trade: seven public agencies, which could position the Brooklyn duo for a taxpayer-funded windfall.\n\nBreaking News Get the latest breaking news from North Texas and beyond. Email Address By signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy SUBMIT\n\nA special state program to attract additional federal Medicaid money will bring an extra $69 million to Texas nursing homes this year, with more to come next year. It was supposed to be for government-owned homes.\n\nMuch of it, however, will go to a multitude of private operators \u2014 such as Lichtschein and Scheiner \u2014 who were savvy enough to craft unusual licensing arrangements with governmental bodies.\n\nIn a development wholly unforeseen by state officials, the licenses of more than 300 privately owned nursing homes have changed hands within the past year. They are now held by public hospital districts and hospital authorities.\n\nSome of these homes are hundreds of miles from the districts themselves. Many of them have been repeatedly cited for serious deficiencies.\n\nnurse.home.grafic\n\nThese arrangements were made for the sole purpose of attracting the Medicaid supplements. This additional federal money was intended to improve patient care. But no mechanism has been put in place to enforce that.\n\nThe state failed to require that the money be spent on patients or improvements, no matter how poor a nursing home\u2019s record. Therefore, large portions of it will flow to the original private operators to spend as they please.\n\n\u201cThe rules are flawed in that part,\u201d said Chris Traylor, chief deputy commissioner of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. \u201cWe\u2019re going to be looking to change this program.\u201d\n\nOverhaul, however, will not occur until late next year. Until then, Lichtschein, Scheiner and dozens of other private operators \u2014 many of whom were already turning a profit \u2014 can watch as millions of government dollars come rolling in.\n\nA study released this month determined Texas to have the worst nursing home record in the country.\n\nThe Kaiser Family Foundation\u2019s analysis of federal nursing home rankings found that 51 percent of Texas homes received overall ratings of one or two stars out of a possible five. The rankings are done by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.\n\nNo state had a higher percentage of low-rated nursing homes, the Kaiser study said. The national average is 35 percent.\n\nOne of those one-star homes is the Palo Pinto Nursing Center in Mineral Wells, about 80 miles west of Dallas. It is a Lichtschein-Scheiner property.\n\nIn 2012, state inspectors found that Palo Pinto nursing home staff did little to control a 65-year-old male resident who roamed throughout the home, sexually abusing female patients. Home operators agreed in 2013 to pay a federal fine of $120,000.\n\nSince then, regulators have cited the home for failing to attend properly to patients\u2019 hygiene. An inspector found one resident sitting in the lobby with flies on her. \u201cA strong urine and fecal odor was emanating from her,\u201d the inspector wrote, and her face and hands were dirty.\n\nAn attorney for Lichtschein and Scheiner said the state inspection process is inconsistent and gives an inaccurate picture of their properties. In a written statement, their Texas operating company said it is \u201cconstantly looking for partnerships and relationships that add value to those facilities and their ability to deliver a higher quality experience to their residents.\u201d\n\nAs of late last year, their Palo Pinto home has a new name on its state license: the Palo Pinto County Hospital District, which operates a 74-bed community hospital in Mineral Wells. The arrangement grew out of the state program to bring extra Medicaid money to nursing homes.\n\nRegular Medicaid payments to nursing homes are determined in part by state reimbursement rates. \u201cMedicaid reimbursement for nursing homes in Texas is the worst of all 50 states,\u201d said Harris Brooks, CEO of the Palo Pinto district. \u201cThey\u2019re pretty much eking by.\u201d\n\nFor this supplemental program, the state human services commission restricted participation to \u201cnon-state government-owned\u201d nursing homes. That generally meant those owned by counties and local hospital districts or authorities, which are public bodies supported by local tax revenue to provide health care.\n\nBut owners of for-profit homes \u2014 aided by trade associations and legal counsel \u2014 found a way around the restriction. They simply needed to partner with the hospital districts, even if their homes were not within district boundaries.\n\nStatewide, 94 counties and hospital districts or authorities have signed up for the new payment program. They now hold the licenses to 357 nursing homes. All but 30 of those were formerly private, according to figures from the state Health and Human Services Commission.\n\nMost of the participating hospital districts are relatively small, though not all. The Dallas County Hospital District, which operates Parkland Memorial Hospital, is acquiring the licenses of 12 nursing homes.\n\nThe sheer number of these arrangements caught state officials by surprise. \u201cWe did not anticipate that level of interest and participation,\u201d said Linda Edwards Gockel, a spokeswoman for the commission.\n\nRepresentatives for Lichtschein and Scheiner approached the Palo Pinto County Hospital District with a proposal to participate in the program. Without paying Lichtschein and Scheiner anything, the district became the license holder for seven of their homes.\n\nOnly one of the homes for which it now holds the license is within its boundaries. Most are two counties away.\n\nThough its name is on the licenses, the Palo Pinto district doesn\u2019t own any of the nursing homes\u2019 real estate or any other assets. Nor does it operate the homes. That is retained by Lichtschein and Scheiner, who signed lease agreements with Palo Pinto.\n\nThe biggest change is the enhanced funding. \u201cIt allows us to bring in federal dollars,\u201d Brooks said. Exactly how much money is still unclear, Brooks said, but initial estimates were about $1 million a year per home.\n\nWhen the additional money arrives \u2014 perhaps not until next year \u2014 some of it goes to the hospital district. \u201cWe do get a cut of it,\u201d Brooks said.\n\nMuch of the rest will go to several companies owned by Lichtschein and Scheiner, with no requirement to spend it on better patient care.\n\nState regulators acknowledge this hole in their plan. The next program, to begin by September 2016, will base payments on improvements.\n\nAnother of the Lichtschein-Scheiner homes now controlled by Palo Pinto is the Santa Fe Health and Rehabilitation Center in Weatherford. That's where the patient fell and broke his leg.\n\nHis left leg was \u201cswollen twice the size of the right leg,\u201d records said, but a technician X-rayed the wrong patient, the man\u2019s roommate. The man with the fracture was given only Tylenol for four days until a nurse persuaded a physician to order another X-ray.\n\nBrooks said he is aware of the problems at the homes for which his agency now holds the license. \u201cWe are very concerned over quality issues,\u201d he said. But, he added, \u201cThese are not going to change overnight, and we have only been involved a few months at this point.\u201d\n\nA contractor hired by the Palo Pinto district will employ administrators and monitor the quality of the homes, Brooks said.\n\nThe Palo Pinto district also holds the license for the Benbrook Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, a Lichtschein and Scheiner property in Tarrant County.\n\nIn 2013, a 54-year-old Benbrook resident with cerebral palsy was served lunch in his room. He had \u201ca history of incidents of aspiration and choking,\u201d his records said, so he required a \u201cmechanical soft\u201d diet.\n\nHowever, the attendant gave him hamburger meat. Left unattended, the man choked on the meat, and died of asphyxiation.\n\nCMS, in its most recent assessment, gave Benbrook a one-star \u2014 \u201cmuch below average\u201d \u2014 overall rating. It staffing levels also received a one-star rating.\n\nOne measure of staffing used by CMS is \u201cregistered nurse hours per resident per day.\u201d Benbrook\u2019s score was about half the Texas average and only 36 percent of the national average.\n\nHowever, Brooks said there are no immediate plans to hire more staff. \u201cThe cash flow is not yet available to fund much more increases.\u201d\n\nIn state filings, Lichtschein and Scheiner list their office as a small building on the outer reaches of Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn. Neither of them responded to multiple requests for comment by The Dallas Morning News.\n\nState and federal records show that companies controlled by Lichtschein and Scheiner operate 44 nursing homes in Texas, including nine in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.\n\nMore than three-fourths of their Texas homes have been rated \u201cbelow average\u201d or \u201cmuch below average\u201d by CMS.\n\nLichtschein\u2019s and Scheiner\u2019s Texas homes operate from Advanced Healthcare Solutions, a company they own in Arlington. Nancy Shellhorse, a lawyer for Advanced, said the company disputes the fairness of CMS\u2019s rankings, which are based in large part on information from state regulatory agencies.\n\n\"The current survey and enforcement process is inconsistent and standards are not clearly defined and consistently enforced, which results in an inaccurate portrayal of the quality of care provided in nursing facilities,\" Shellhorse said in a written statement to The News. \"Advanced does not believe that the findings from surveys and investigations that are used for public reporting accurately reflect the quality of care provided by the facilities it operated.\"\n\nThe attorney said Advanced agreed to pay fines to CMS to avoid the expense of litigation, and the settlements were \u201cnot an admission of liability.\u201d\n\nShellhorse also said that the additional Medicaid money will be used for enhancements and improvements at nursing homes. \u201cAdvanced and the nursing facilities that they provide support for continually look for opportunities to improve both the physical plants of the building as well as invest in care programs and health technology,\u201d she wrote.\n\nIn addition to Palo Pinto, Lichtschein and Scheiner also reached similar licensing deals with six other small-town hospital districts. Among them was the Jack County Hospital District, which now holds the license for the Park View Care Center in Fort Worth.\n\nJack County has a population of about 9,000, and the hospital district headquarters is 60 miles from Fort Worth.\n\nAt Park View in 2012, a 54-year-old patient escaped from the home, according to a suit filed in Tarrant County. Unobserved by staff, the suit claims, she left by climbing over a fence around the smoking patio.\n\nEight hours later, Veranda Jimerson \u2014 who had been wearing a heavy black coat on a 98-degree day \u2014 was found dead in some nearby woods. The cause of death was multi-organ failure due to hyperthermia.\n\nThe suit was settled this month.\n\nPark View agreed in 2013 to pay a $134,400 to CMS. In its most recent rankings, CMS gave Park View an overall one-star rating. Park View also received low marks for staffing levels that are well under state and national averages.\n\nFrank Beaman, CEO of the Jack County district, said he had no knowledge of problems at Park View. \u201cActually, I am not aware of the cited deficiencies, as they did not occur on my watch,\u201d Beaman said in an email.\n\nLichtschein and Scheiner\u2019s companies will continue to operate the home while Jack County\u2019s name is on the license. \u201cWe will monitor the quality of the home as part of our overall quality improvement plan,\u201d Beaman said.\n\nThe Coryell County Memorial Hospital Authority in Central Texas has assumed the licenses of 20 nursing homes, including two owned by Lichtschein and Scheiner.\n\n\u201cIt benefits everybody,\u201d David Byrom, CEO of the Coryell authority, said of the state supplemental program.\n\nOne of Coryell\u2019s new properties is Lichtschein\u2019s and Scheiner\u2019s Colonial Manor Nursing Center in Cleburne. CMS fined Colonial Manor $235,000 in September. It was there that the woman with cancer screamed in \u201cuncontrolled, severe pain,\u201d as state records described it, for 14 days before her doctor was called.\n\nByrom said Coryell will spend money to improve quality even if the state does not require it. \u201cWe\u2019re all responsible folks,\u201d he said.\n\nAmong the other homes now licensed to Coryell County is Brentwood Place Three in Dallas, previously owned by a Longview company. The seat of Coryell County, Gatesville, is 135 miles from Dallas.\n\nByrom acknowledged the unlikelihood that Coryell County would send patients to Dallas. He would not say what improvements might soon be made at Brentwood, which has a one-star rating and was fined $146,120 by CMS in 2012.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think we have all the answers to all those questions,\u201d he said.\n\nSome of the homes that are to receive extra money were already showing a profit.\n\nA consultant for the lawyers who sued Park View said Lichtschein\u2019s and Scheiner\u2019s companies \u201chad plenty of resources to rectify these problems and increase staffing if they wanted to.\u201d\n\nSid Gerber, the consultant, wrote in court filings that state reports for 2012 show that the Brooklyn pair\u2019s companies at Park View \u201cpaid themselves $2,441,403 in home office, management and related party costs and fees in addition to a straight line profit of $489,367.\u201d\n\nAt Benbrook, the 2013 cost report\u2014the most recent available\u2014said the home recorded $5,382,947 in expenses against $5,919,839 in total revenue.\n\nLichtschein\u2019s and Scheiner\u2019s companies provided multiple services at Benbrook. For example, the nursing home leased its building for $715,942 a year from BP Tenant LLC, a Lichtschein-Scheiner company. The two also own a company that provides therapy and rehabilitation to nursing home residents, state reports show.\n\n\u201cThey all bill each other,\u201d said Jason Young, the Houston lawyer who filed the Park View suit. \u201cThey\u2019re doing quite well.\u201d\n\nByrom of Coryell County said homes making a profit should not be excluded from the state program to provide additional funds. \u201cI\u2019m not going to be the judge of what\u2019s a fair profit,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s your role or the government\u2019s role.\u201d\n\nAlthough federal money is being used for the state program, it\u2019s unclear if Washington sees the need for increased scrutiny. CMS\u2019s national public affairs office declined to comment on the Texas plan. Nor would CMS comment on whether it is allowable for money intended for patients to be spent elsewhere.\n\nIn 2013, the Winnie-Stowell Hospital District in southeast Texas commissioned a legal opinion on the nursing home program. Austin lawyer Mark D. Chouteau concluded that the hospital district could participate without incurring problems with regulators. That\u2019s because federal involvement on such arrangements has been \u201csporadic and ambiguous,\u201d Chouteau wrote, as well as \u201cisolated and weak.\u201d\n\nHubert Oxford IV, attorney for Winnie-Stowell, said a subsequent outside legal opinion warned that the district could face \"some degree of risk\" by participating in the program. Oxford refused to release the text of that opinion to The News, citing attorney-client privilege.\n\nWinnie-Stowell, with a population of less than 6,000, ultimately assumed the licenses of 13 nursing homes. One of them is in Atlanta, Texas, 260 miles north of district lines.\n\nHazel Meaux, a Stowell resident and political activist who has opposed the nursing home transactions, said much of the new money will go toward attorney\u2019s fees and management contracts.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re just scratching everybody\u2019s back and the money\u2019s not going to take care of the people they\u2019re supposed to be taking care of,\u201d she said. \u201cIt might be legal but it isn\u2019t right.\u201d\n\nAttorney Oxford said the district has implemented a quality assurance program, and necessary funds will be spent on better nursing home care. \u201cWe really think we\u2019re doing it right,\u201d Oxford said.\n\nA sizable portion of the money, he acknowledged, will flow to the district for hospital renovations and equipment unrelated to nursing homes.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a great way for the hospital districts to bring in money,\u201d Oxford said. \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t do it if there wasn\u2019t a substantial return.\u201d", "output": "From their headquarters in Brooklyn, N.Y., Teddy Lichtschein and Eliezer Scheiner operate some of the most poorly rated nursing homes in Texas. Their small empire has amassed more than $800,000 in federal fines over the past three years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shared Savings Program ACOs Reduced Medicare Spending by $1 Billion \n ACOs under CMS\u2019 largest alternative payment model outperformed fee-for-service providers in quality and cost savings within the first three years of program.\n\nAccording to findings reported by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG), accountable care organizations (ACOs) participating in the Shared Savings Program are learning how to achieve greater cost savings over time. The Medicare Shared Savings Program is one of the largest alternative payment models implemented by CMS to reward providers for the quality and value of their services in order to keep patients healthy and lower costs.\n\nThe OIG\u2019s report suggests many positive outcomes of the program, including that one-third of the ACOs that reduced their spending lowered costs enough to receive a portion of the savings. CMS data on quality measures also shows that ACOs generally improved the quality of care they provided, with a rate of 82% performance improvement on the individual quality measures within the first three years of the program. ACOs also outperformed fee-for-service providers on 81% of the quality measures.\n\nA small portion of ACOs are reported to have gone above expectations, reducing Medicare spending by an average of $673 per beneficiary, including spending reductions for high-cost services such as inpatient hospital care and skilled nursing facility care. The OIG reports that these high-performing ACOs\u2019 frequent use of primary care services, which can lower utilization and costs for other care, and cost reductions for services such as emergency department visits, was a factor in their cost savings. These strategies are compared to other Shared Savings Program ACOs and the national average for fee\u2010for\u2010service providers, who showed an increase in per beneficiary spending for key Medicare services.\n\nThe OIG concluded that ACOs show promise in reducing Medicare spending while also improving quality. These improvements come at a critical time, as Medicare spending is predicted to grow to $1.4 trillion by 2027. A large portion of Medicare spending has been attributed to overbilling, with the Medicare program losing more money to this error than any other program government-wide.", "output": "ACOs under CMS\u2019 largest alternative payment model outperformed fee-for-service providers in quality and cost savings within the first three years of the program.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Same Agency That Runs Obamacare Is Using Taxpayer Money to Undermine It \n The Trump administration said on Thursday that it would slash spending on advertising and promotion for the Affordable Care Act, but it has already been waging a multipronged campaign against it.\n\nDespite several failed efforts by Republican lawmakers to repeal it, the Affordable Care Act remains the law of the land. But the Department of Health and Human Services \u2014 an agency with a legal responsibility to administer the law \u2014 has used taxpayer dollars to oppose it.\n\nLegal experts say that while it is common for a new administration to reinterpret an existing law, it is unusual to take steps to undermine it. Here are three ways the health department has campaigned against Obamacare.\n\n1. Redirecting promotional funding\n\nInstead of using its outreach budget to promote the Affordable Care Act, the department made videos critical of the law.\n\nIn June, the health department posted 23 video testimonials on YouTube from people who said they had been \u201cburdened by Obamacare,\u201d including families, health care professionals and small business owners.\n\nScenes from the 23 anti-Obamacare videos on the health department\u2019s YouTube page\n\nWhile it\u2019s not certain where the money for the videos came from, several former health officials who worked in the Obama administration said that they suspect it came from the budget meant to promote the Affordable Care Act.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no other budget that makes sense,\u201d said Lori Lodes, who oversaw outreach efforts under Mr. Obama.\n\nThe Trump administration defended the videos, saying that they were produced to inform Americans about the need for change so that people would have access to affordable health care.\n\n\u201cAs evidenced by these important and educational testimonials, the status quo has made that impossible for millions of Americans,\u201d a department spokeswoman, Alleigh Marr\u00e9, said in July. \u201cThe administration is committed to reforming the current health care system to bring down the cost of coverage, expand health care choices, and strengthen the safety net for generations to come.\u201d\n\nThe Daily Beast reported in July that one of the participants in the videos said he felt he was being pushed \u201cfor a harder line against Obamacare.\u201d\n\nWhile the health department refers to these testimonials as \u201ceducational videos\u201d produced to inform Americans on the need to overhaul health care, some experts question whether they fit that definition.\n\n\u201cThe lines between what is partisan, what is propaganda, and what is educational are nightmarish and subjective,\u201d said Michael Eric Herz, a professor at the Cardozo School of Law in New York who has written about social media and the government.\n\n2. Attacking the law\n\nThe department targeted the Affordable Care Act with a marketing campaign as Republicans in Congress tried to repeal the legislation.\n\nIn addition to the YouTube videos, the department has used Twitter and news releases to try to discredit the health law. Since being sworn in as health secretary on February 10, Tom Price has posted on Twitter 48 infographics advocating against Obamacare, all of which bear the health department\u2019s logo.\n\n\u201cHere, it\u2019s an agency trying to destroy its own program because it opposes it,\u201d said Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University who is an expert on government ethics. \u201cIt is inconsistent with the constitutional duty to take care that the law is faithfully executed.\u201d\n\nThe bulk of Mr. Price\u2019s Twitter posts were from late June to mid-July, when Senate Republicans were trying to pass a bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Once, Mr. Price tweeted five infographics in a single day.\n\nWhen Mr. Price posted anti-Obamacare infographics on Twitter Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Sun. 4 May 22 May 29 June 5 1 June 12 1 June 19 2 1 1 1 June 26 July 3 1 1 1 1 2 2 July 10 1 1 1 July 17 2 5 2 3 Senate repeal vote fails July 24 4 4 1 July 31 1 1 2 Aug. 7 Mon. Tues. Wed. Thurs. Fri. Sat. Sun. 4 May 22 May 29 June 5 June 12 1 June 19 1 June 26 2 1 1 1 July 3 1 1 1 1 July 10 2 2 1 1 1 July 17 2 5 2 3 July 24 Senate repeal vote fails 4 4 1 July 31 1 1 Aug. 7 2\n\nAround the same time, the Trump administration ended $23 million worth of contracts with companies that help people sign up for coverage.\n\nAnti-Obamacare infographics tweeted by Mr. Price\n\nThe language in Mr. Price\u2019s Twitter posts is often even more critical of the health law than what is used in the infographics.\n\nThough the health department\u2019s Twitter account has refrained from criticism, the agency itself has used its news releases to disseminate negative information about the law. Below are excerpts from recent releases.\n\n\u201cYear after year, insurers are finding Obamacare unworkable and are abandoning it in droves.\u201d Health department news release\n\n\u201cObamacare is flawed, failing, and harming the American people with higher costs and fewer healthcare choices.\u201d Health department news release\n\nIn August, five congressional Democrats wrote a letter to Mr. Price demanding detailed information about his plans for marketing and outreach. \u201cRather than encouraging enrollment in the marketplaces, the administration appears intent on depressing it,\u201d the letter said.\n\n3. Deleting information online\n\nThe department removed useful guidance for consumers about the Affordable Care Act from its website.\n\nUnder the Obama administration, the health department\u2019s website contained information to help consumers learn about the Affordable Care Act and how to obtain coverage through the health insurance marketplaces. Much of that information is now gone. Some was removed within hours of President Trump\u2019s inauguration.\n\nA link to a page about the Affordable Care Act disappeared from the health department\u2019s home page the evening of the inauguration, according to a comparison of the sites, shown below.\n\nJan. 19 11:03 p.m. Jan. 19 11:03 p.m. Jan. 19 11:03 p.m. Jan. 20 9:59 p.m. Jan. 20 9:59 p.m. Jan. 20 9:59 p.m.\n\nThe department also changed other areas of the website, removing overviews of the law and links to information on summaries of benefits, emergency services and doctor choice, making it more difficult for consumers to learn about the law.\n\nIt also appears to have erased positive references to the Affordable Care Act, including personal stories about individuals who benefited from the law.\n\nFor example, a video about a Florida man with diabetes who said he was able to enroll in coverage without worrying about his health status was removed from a page about pre-existing conditions. A link to a page about the number of young adults who gained coverage after the law took effect is also gone.\n\nEven before President Trump took office, health insurance markets had serious problems in some states. But Sarah Lueck, a senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank, said the law would not be dying on its own.", "output": "The Trump administration said on Thursday that it would slash spending on advertising and promotion\u00a0for the Affordable Care Act, but it has already been waging a multipronged campaign against it.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "After Harvey, telemedicine connects doctors to displaced patients \n Getting thousands of Houston-area families to shelters has been a massive humanitarian effort. But the aid doesn\u2019t end there: Many of the displaced have chronic medical conditions like asthma or injuries from recent days that need medical attention.\n\nProviders of telemedicine are hoping technology can help step into the breach. At Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, which has begun to take residents displaced by flooding in Houston, emergency-room doctors at Children\u2019s Health, a pediatric hospital based in Dallas, are seeing young patients remotely.\n\n\u201cFor every adult that comes in, there will be about three children,\u201d explained Scott Summerall, spokesperson for Children\u2019s Health. \u201cWe have doctors for adults available at the shelter 24 hours a day, but we don\u2019t have as many pediatric specialists, especially at night.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s thanks to a recently passed law that it\u2019s even possible: In May, Texas became the last U.S. state to allow physicians to see patients by telemedicine without an initial in-person visit.\n\nAnd it\u2019s thanks to a recently passed law that it\u2019s even possible: In May, Texas became the last U.S. state to allow physicians to see patients by telemedicine without an initial in-person visit.\n\nAt the Dallas convention center, patients are slowly trickling in, many of them delayed by still-flooded roads. Plans for the \u201cmega-shelter,\u201d however, indicate that could house up to 5,000 people in coming days and weeks.\n\nIn preparation for that, Children\u2019s Health has set up a telemedicine station from which ER physicians at the hospital can remotely see children at the shelter, via a computer monitor and specially designed equipment for measuring vital signs. The telemedicine station has been in use since Monday.\n\n\u201cWe expect to see a lot of rashes and infections,\u201d said Dr. Stormee Williams, who oversees telemedicine at Children\u2019s Health, and who is working on-site at the shelter.\n\nREAD MORE: Pioneering cancer drug, just approved, to cost $475,000 \u2014 and analysts say it\u2019s a bargain\n\nShe added that flood conditions, like mold in flooded homes, can exacerbate conditions such as asthma. In addition, floodwater may carry viruses and bacteria from dead animals, chemicals, and other contaminants that could cause serious health problems in children if they swallowed it.\n\n\u201cWe have doctors around the country calling in and saying, \u2018I use telemedicine. How can I help?\u2019 But because they are laws and rules about who can practice where, unless they have a license in Texas, they can\u2019t do it.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s also behavioral health issues,\u201d Williams added. \u201cChildren are susceptible to anxiety and depression, especially in a time like this. \u201d\n\nAnd the Dallas shelter will eventually house a pharmacy, which should enable parents to fill their kids prescriptions on-site.\n\nDr. Maeve Sheehan, a pediatrician at Children\u2019s Health, is another of the physicians on-site at the convention center. Telemedicine has helped both the medical and nonmedical workers at the site, Sheehan said.\n\n\u201cWe have a lot of volunteers here, and people, especially kids, get sick at night. This way they can be in touch with emergency room doctors whenever they need help.\u201d\n\nThat, Sheehan said, is a notable improvement over disaster response teams she\u2019s worked on in the past. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have telemedicine for Katrina,\u201d she said. \u201cI was on [call] all night. This time, I don\u2019t have to be. Telemedicine makes a big difference.\u201d\n\nREAD MORE: Houston hospitals may not be back to normal for a month\n\nWilliams said she\u2019s seen an outpouring of support from fellow physicians in the days since the storm hit.\n\n\u201cWe have doctors around the country calling in and saying, \u2018I use telemedicine. How can I help?\u2019 But because they are laws and rules about who can practice where, unless they have a license in Texas, they can\u2019t do it,\u201d she said.\n\nStill Williams hopes that the Harvey response efforts will be the beginning of telemedicine as a regular part of disaster recovery.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m really excited that we\u2019re doing this,\u201d said Williams. \u201cThis is an example of how telemedicine can be used in the most extreme situations, when health care is most needed.\u201d\n\nThis article is reproduced with permission from STAT. It was first published on August 31, 2017. Find the original story here.", "output": "Getting thousands of Houston-area families to shelters has been a massive humanitarian effort. But the aid doesn\u2019t end there: Many of the displaced have chronic medical conditions like asthma or injuries from recent days that need medical attention.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK's first bio-substitute natural gas plant to open next year \n OUR BRANDS\n\nSupporting professionals working across more than a dozen industries and sectors, our leading brands are trusted providers of news, information and research, as well as sources of creative inspiration. They represent the diversity and inclusivity we champion as a business.\n\nThe communities we have built around our brands mean we can offer in-depth commercial insights and data analysis and connect our business partners to new audiences.", "output": "Work has begun on the UK's first commercial plant to convert household waste into bio-substitute natural gas (BioSNG). Located in Swindon and operated by Saxlund International, the \u00a325m ($32m) facility is set to open in 2018 and will process an estimated 10,000 tonnes of household waste annually, producing 22 GWh of BioSNG. Saxlund secured \u00a311m of funding for the scheme through the Department for Transport\u2019s Advanced Biofuels Demonstration Competition."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Florida\u2019s new faces of old age \n This feature is part of Salon's Young Americans initiative , showcasing emerging journalists reporting from America's red states. Read more Young Americans stories .\n\nAs far back as the late 1800s \u2013 when industrialist and developer Henry Flagler and others made the state a viable destination \u2013 people have moved to Florida in their later years. Back then, it was for doctor\u2019s orders \u2013 warm weather was said to possess healing powers. Now, it\u2019s almost a rite-of-passage: retire, then move to the Sunshine State.\n\nAccording to the Pew Research Center, nearly 20 percent of Florida\u2019s population is 65 and older. That\u2019s a sizable chunk of the state\u2019s economy \u2013 and political impact.\n\nBut not all retirees come to Florida, as the saying goes, \u201cto die.\u201d Lately, a lot of them move here to start living, and their days are full of more than shuffleboard and early bird specials. Carolyn and Pat are two of the many seniors who weren't born in Florida but now call the state home.\n\nCarolyn, 62\n\nCarolyn grew up in a \u201cpretty, little town with pretty, little shops and boardwalks\u201d in New Jersey and retired nearly twenty years ago to Largo, about 30 minutes south of Tampa on the west coast.\n\nCarolyn and her husband had inherited a one-bedroom house in one of Florida\u2019s many 55-plus mobile home parks. They were soon kicked out. At 45 and 50, they were considered too young to live there.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not like we\u2019re hooligans who had wild parties every night,\u201d she said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t throw furniture through the windows.\u201d\n\nIn high school, Carolyn had a creative and \u201ceccentric\u201d personality, but it wasn\u2019t until retirement, she said, that the former preschool teacher was able to tap back into her artistic side as an adult.\n\n\u201cWhen people are retired, they don\u2019t have time constraints,\u201d she said, \u201cand they get a chance to do what they want to do.\u201d\n\nThe newfound time has also allowed her to take singing lessons, jewelry making classes and sign up for pottery studio. For an upcoming talent show, she planned to dress as a nun and sing \u201cI Will Follow Him\u201d from \"Sister Act.\"\n\nThis routine is especially funny to her, because she\u2019s an ordained minister.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m trying to be a better person and not take anyone\u2019s inventory like \u2018Well, you did this,'\u201d she said. \u201cWho cares? That\u2019s their business.\u201d\n\nPat, 74\n\nPat moved to Florida when she was near the age of 50 because of an abusive relationship. Her parents lived in the same Largo mobile home park that she lives in now, and she wanted to be closer to them for safety.\n\n\u201cI didn\u2019t realize how strong I was until I walked away from that man,\u201d she said. \u201cI thought if I could do that then, I could do anything.\u201d\n\nFramed swimming ribbons cover her mobile home. Forest-green carpet runs throughout the house. She keeps a dish of chocolate chip cookies wrapped in plastic on her living room table.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think of aging as aging,\u201d she said. \u201cI think of it as experiences.\u201d\n\nPat grew up a tomboy in New Hampshire and still has the accent \u2013 she pronounces party as \u201cpah-ty\u201d and says \u201cidea-rs.\u201d As a teenager, she competed on the swim team and loved it so much she later coached the sport.\n\nEarlier this summer, she took home five first places ribbons in a swim meet. She now hopes to go to the national championships to compete in the 70-to-74-year-old division. All ages, she says, can compete \u2013 there\u2019s even a \u201c90 and up\u201d category. Pat trains about three times a week and said she bikes every day if it\u2019s not too hot.\n\n\u201cI have arthritis, but it\u2019s not going to beat me, I\u2019ll be danged,\u201d she said. \u201cI have a bike, and there\u2019s always the pool.\u201d\n\nAlong with swim practice, Pat spends a good deal of her time in the production of scripted shows with themes such as \u201cCountry Bumpkin\u2019\u201d and \u201cBroadway.\u201d To promote her shows, she invites people from other mobile home parks.\n\n\u201cMy shows are geared to seniors and done by seniors,\u201d she said, adding, \u201cI fill the hall.\u201d", "output": "According to the Pew Research Center, nearly 20 percent of Florida\u2019s population is 65 and older.\u00a0That\u2019s a sizable chunk of the state\u2019s economy \u2013 and political impact. But not all retirees come to Florida, as the saying goes, \u201cto die.\u201d Lately, a\u00a0lot of them move here to start living, and their\u00a0days are full of more than shuffleboard and early bird specials.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "For Vulnerable Older Adults, a Harrowing Sense of Being Trapped \n HOUSTON \u2014 A Holocaust survivor waded waist-deep in flood water. Dozens of people were trapped in a 14-story residence for seniors. A disabled man sat alone at home, without the aide who usually helps him, watching the water rise and unsure if anyone would come.\n\nHarvey was terrifying for millions of people along the Gulf Coast. But it was particularly difficult for the region\u2019s seniors and disabled, many of whom struggled to escape as the water rose. Now, some wait in shelters for chemotherapy, dialysis, pain medication, a pillow. Rescue teams are still evacuating people from their homes.\n\nInside her apartment in a Houston Housing Authority senior residence on Friday, Ida Szydlik insisted that she hadn\u2019t been scared as the water rushed into her building over the weekend, filling the first floor. \u201cWe were just frightened for the other people,\u201d said Ms. Szydlik, 97, as she began to cry. \u201cI was in prayer, but I wasn\u2019t scared, I was too busy praying that this would all go away.\u201d\n\nIt is impossible to be sure how many older people have been affected by the storm, and many experts say it is too early to know how nursing homes are dealing with the impact.", "output": "Harvey was terrifying for millions of people along the Gulf Coast. But it was particularly difficult for the region\u2019s seniors and disabled, many of whom struggled to escape as the water rose.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New leader ready to prepare HIMSS for the approaching silver tsunami \n When Hal Wolf looks at the future of HIMSS, he sees \u201ctremendous opportunities\u201d but he is also keenly focused on the \u201csilver tsunami\u201d that is coming.\n\n\u201cWe must recognize that healthcare systems are going to be financially strapped,\u201d he said in his first interview with Healthcare IT News. \u201cWe have a lot of people living longer and there are going to be fewer people producing GDP.\u201d\n\nWolf, who takes over as President and CEO of HIMSS today, succeeds Steve Lieber, who is stepping down after more than 17 years.\n\nHe\u2019s already given serious thought to how HIMSS needs to change in order to help its membership meet these challenges, some of it based on his experience in healthcare IT leadership roles. He was director of information and digital health strategy at The Chartis Group; chief operating officer of Kaiser Permanente's Federation; and regional CIO at Kaiser Permanente IT in Denver.\n\n\u201cWe have an amazing membership,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd HIMSS has an astounding opportunity to continue to expand its relevancy and its value in healthcare.\u201d\n\nBut the crunch that an aging population will present across healthcare is a challenge he believes will require new approaches.\n\n\u201cI am a huge believer in patient at home,\u201d Wolf said. \u201cPeople will need information not just in the home but globally as well.\u201d\n\nConnecting medical devices, supporting reimbursement systems, and delivering medical records where they\u2019re needed are all at the center of the transformation to home-based care.\n\nHe also believes the membership will have increasing needs to learn about predictive modeling using genomic data. And he sees a need to improve automation of the supply chain.\n\n\u201cWhen we look at how goods are purchased in this space, the process has not been digitized within the provider community,\u201d he said adding that the change can provide tremendous value to the quality of care and help control cost.\n\nWolf believes HIMSS must continue to provide educational value and networking opportunities to its members.\n\n\u201cThe strength of HIMSS membership has always been to facilitate getting members together to share information and best practices,\u201d he said. He places high value on the connections made at events that lead to relationships forming after the event is over. \u201cThe educational piece is critical. That\u2019s what drives our eco-system and that\u2019s why so many of our members are active.\u201d\n\nHe is also firmly behind HIMSS involvement in public policy.\n\n\u201cThis is extremely important. I cannot stress this is enough,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are a trusted source in the United States for public policy.\u201d He is already involved in work to educate the FDA on certification of digital devices and is focused on emerging technologies like blockchain.\n\n\u201cWe have a very important role to play because as a non-profit we have a neutral and judicious view on care and the enablement of technology that is a cornerstone public policy,\u201d he said, adding that he hopes to extend the work internationally, collaborating with HIMSS members who already involved.\n\nHe served as an advisor to WHO (World Health Organization) and has been involved in discussions with the ministers of health in a number of European countries. Most are facing the same challenge of an aging population and a declining economic base.\n\nOne of the traits Wolf shares with outgoing HIMSS President and CEO Steve Lieber: face-to-face meetings have been an important factor in his success. And he intends to continue a heavy travel schedule.\n\nHe is not planning to change his permanent address from Colorado to Chicago, where HIMSS\u2019 headquarters is located. But his lifestyle will remain the same. He said he\u2019ll \u201ccontinue to be living out of United Airlines seat 6B.\u201d\n\nHealthcare IT year in review This was one of our most popular stories of the year.\n\nTwitter: @GusVenditto\n\nEmail the writer: gus.venditto@himssmedia.com", "output": "When Hal Wolf looks at the future of HIMSS, he sees \u201ctremendous opportunities\u201d but he is also keenly focused on the \u201csilver tsunami\u201d that is coming.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New class of drugs targets aging to help keep you healthy \n Story highlights Have researchers found a fountain of youth in senolytic drugs? A new paper calls for clinical trials to test the age-modifying drugs in humans\n\nCNN \u2014\n\nResearchers have turned the spotlight on a new class of drugs that they say could \u201ctransform\u201d the field of medicine \u2013 and the drugs work by targeting aging.\n\nThe researchers, from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, are calling for senolytic drugs to make the leap from animal research to human clinical trials. They outlined potential clinical trial scenarios in a paper published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society on Monday.\n\n\u201cThis is one of the most exciting fields in all of medicine or science at the moment,\u201d said Dr. James Kirkland, director of the Kogod Center on Aging at the Mayo Clinic and lead author of the new paper.\n\nAs we age, we accumulate senescent cells, which are damaged cells that resist dying off but stay in our bodies. They can affect other cells in our various organs and tissues. Senolytic drugs are agents capable of killing problem-causing senescent cells in your body without harming your normal, healthy cells.\n\nSenescent cells play a role in many age-related chronic diseases, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, most cancers, dementia, arthritis, osteoporosis and blindness, Kirkland said. Therefore, senolytic drugs are a possible treatment approach for such diseases.\n\nAs a practicing physician, Kirkland said that he has grown increasingly concerned for his patients who are sick with many of these age-related conditions.\n\n\u201cThe same processes that cause aging seem to be the root causes of age-related diseases,\u201d he said. \u201cWhy not target the root cause of all of these things? That would have been a pipe dream until a few years back.\u201d\n\nIn 2015, scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and the Mayo Clinic, including Kirkland, identified this new class of drugs. In a study published in the journal Aging Cell, they described how senolytic drugs can alleviate symptoms of frailty in mice and extend the length of time the mice are healthy as they grow old.\n\nThen, last year, the researchers demonstrated in a study in Aging Cell that clearing senescent cells in mice can improve their vascular health.\n\nFourteen senolytic drugs have been discovered and are being actively studied, 11 of which Kirkland\u2019s colleagues and their collaborators found, he said.\n\nAre these age-modifying drugs ready for human trials?\n\nScientists have long known that certain processes influence your body\u2019s aging on the cellular level, according to the paper. Those processes include inflammation, changes in your DNA, cell damage or dysfunction and the accumulation of senescent cells.\n\nIt turns out that those processes are linked. For instance, DNA damage causes increased senescent cell accumulation, Kirkland said.\n\nSo an intervention that targets senescent cells could attenuate other aging processes as well, according to the new paper. That is, once such an intervention is tested for efficacy and safety.\n\n\u201cI think senolytic drugs have a great future. If it is proven that it can reduce senescent cells and rejuvenate tissues or organs, it may be one of our potential best treatments for age-related diseases,\u201d said Dr. Kang Zhang, founding director of the Institute for Genomic Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, who was not involved in the new paper.\n\nYet taking senolytic drugs from mouse studies to human ones is a \u201cbig leap,\u201d Zhang said.\n\n\u201cSo we will have to wait for clinical trials to see whether this would work in humans,\u201d he said. \u201cOne possible clinical trial strategy is to test this class of drugs in an age-related disease, such as neurodegeneration, like Parkinson\u2019s disease, to see if it can reduce clinical severity of the disease and improve tissue functions.\u201d\n\nIn the new paper, the researchers wrote that potential clinical trial scenarios include testing whether senolytic drugs could alleviate multiple chronic diseases in a single patient or whether such drugs could treat conditions that involve senescent cell accumulation in one location in the body, such as osteoarthritis.\n\nThey also suggest testing whether the drugs could treat diseases for which there are no medicines proven to slow the progression of that disease, such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a cell senescence-associated disease that affects the lungs.\n\nOther potential clinical trial scenarios include testing whether the drugs could alleviate frailty in older adults or could treat conditions associated with chemotherapy or radiotherapy, since radiation can produce cellular senescence, Kirkland said.\n\nFor instance, \u201cin mice, if you treat one leg with enough radiation, after three months, the mouse has trouble walking. If you give a single dose of these drugs, they\u2019re able to walk quite well, and that persists for two years,\u201d he said. \u201cThese drugs could mitigate the effects of therapeutic radiation.\u201d\n\nCertain experimental cancer drugs already undergoing clinical trials, such as navitoclax and obatoclax, have been shown to have some senolytic properties, Kirkland said. If senolytic drugs prove to be efficient in treating humans and end up available for use, he said, they could cost about the same as some cancer drugs.\n\n\u201cSome of the drugs at the moment are moderately expensive,\u201d he said.\n\nCancer drugs can range in cost from about $20 a month to thousands a month. Venclexta or venetoclax, which has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and has been studied in combination with navitoclax, has a monthly price tag of about $8,000, according to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.\n\n\u201cIf we\u2019re able to reduce hospitalizations \u2026 the savings on the medical care and hospital side might more than offset the cost of these drugs by a longshot,\u201d Kirkland said, though it remains unclear what the dosage options would be for senolytic drugs for short- or long-term use.\n\nWhat the future holds for senolytic drugs\n\nAs for how soon he thinks human clinical trials might commence, Kirkland said doctors could have an idea of how well senolytic drugs work for serious health conditions in about a year and a half or two years.\n\nOnce the drugs are tested in humans, researchers expect many companies to be lining up to develop or manufacture senolytic drugs. Some have already expressed interest.\n\nOne company, Unity Biotechnology, aims to be the first to demonstrate that removing senescent cells can cure human diseases, said its president, Nathaniel David.\n\n\u201cIn the coming decades, I believe that health care will be transformed by this class of medicine and a whole set of diseases that your parents and grandparents have will be things you only see in movies or read in books, things like age-associated arthritis,\u201d said David, whose company was not involved in the new paper.\n\nYet he cautioned that, while many more studies may be on the horizon for senolytic drugs, some might not be successful.\n\nFollow CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter.\n\n\u201cOne thing that people tend to do is, they tend to overestimate things in the short run but then underestimate things in the long run, and I think that, like many fields, this suffers from that as well,\u201d David said.\n\n\u201cIt will take a while,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it\u2019s important to recognize that a drug discovery is among the most important of all human activities \u2026 but it takes time, and there must be a recognition of that, and it takes patience.\u201d", "output": "Researchers have turned the spotlight on a new class of drugs that they say could \"transform\" the field of medicine -- and the drugs work by targeting aging.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Efficient method for cellulosic conversion to glucose discovered \n French and Norwegian scientists have discovered a ground-breaking enzymatic mechanism that could revolutionise biorefining and biofuel production.\n\nThe research focuses on enzymes known as Lytic Polysaccharide Monooxygenases (LPMOs), which in recent years have drastically improved the conversion of cellulose into fermentable sugar (glucose), a pivotal step in the creation of second generation biofuels.\n\nDespite their common use in the commercial production of bioethanol, much ambiguity remains over how LPMOs work at a molecular level. There are also persistent challenges connected to their industrial application, the enzymes unstable under process conditions and their use requiring the costly addition of oxygen.\n\nBastien Bissaro, a guest researcher at NMBU (The Norwegian University of Life Sciences) from INRA, France, and an NMBU team led by Vincent Eijsink have now discovered that the mechanism by which LPMOs break down cellulose is different to previously thought. Most notably, they\u2019ve determined that LPMOs don\u2019t actually need oxygen to function, but hydrogen peroxide, a relatively cheap liquid chemical.\n\nHuge significance\n\nBissaro and Eijsink\u2019s discovery is a game-changer in more ways than one. Scientifically, it contradicts many of the prevailing ideas of biochemistry. From an industry point of view, it shows that the way LPMOs are harnessed in biorefining needs to be reconsidered.\n\nApplying their findings, Bissaro and colleagues show that by controlling the supply of hydrogen peroxide, it\u2019s possible to achieve stable enzymatic cellulose conversion processes, much higher conversion rates than previously thought possible and higher glucose yields.\n\nA statement from NMBU makes the case that the findings, published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, are of great commercial interest. Collaborative work with industrial partners is now underway.\n\nBissaro and colleagues\u2019 findings could have ramifications beyond biomass conversion. LPMOs are abundant in nature, and are known, like hydrogen peroxide, to play a role in bacterial infections.", "output": "A team of researchers have made they are calling a \"game-changing\" breakthrough with an enzymatic mechanism that could revolutionise biorefining and biofuel production. The team examined how lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) work at a molecular level and discovered that, to convert cellulose into fermentable sugar (glucose) \u2013 a crucial step in the biofuel process, LPMOs require hydrogen peroxide and not oxygen, which is more expensive. Using hydrogen peroxide, the team also achieved much higher conversion rates and glucose yields. Collaborative work with industrial partners has already begun. The research was undertaken at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Citigroup prepares to expand wealth management in Australia \n Citi Australia is repositioning its wealth management business to focus on meeting the needs of Australia\u2019s affluent High Net Worth investors.\n\nIn what is a rapidly growing segment of its client base, the U.S. bank has ambitious plans for the country.\n\nAustralia has the third largest pool of high net worth individuals (HNW) in Asia-Pacific (APAC) with more than 230,000 people with $1 million or more in investible assets.\n\nAustralian Ambitions\n\nHaving recently expanded Citi Australia\u2019s wealth management business with new specialist hires the bank has rolled out ambitious plans for the coming years.\n\nThese include the hiring of 100 new relationship managers over the next three years to meet expected client growth and ensure clients have access to a dedicated relationship manager.\n\nDevelopment of new products and solutions including a digital currency account tailored for clients investing and transacting in a range of currencies.\n\nDigital Initiatives\n\nThere will also be continued innovation and investment in digital service platforms and the introduction of more tools including the roll out of video banking, enabling clients to see and speak with their relationship manager and product experts securely via chat, audio and video calls within the Citi mobile app.\n\nThe focus on wealth management in Australia follows similar expansion in APAC, with Citi seeking mid teen growth of its affluent client base in the region in 2017.\n\nCiti currently manages $218 billion across the region and has over 400,000 investment clients.", "output": "US bank Citigroup has revealed plans to expand further into Australia's high-net-worth market, which has grown to\u00a0230,000 individuals. The repositioning includes hiring 100 additional relationship managers, new products, such as a digital currency account for clients working in a range of currencies, the introduction of video banking and other innovations. Australia has\u00a0the third largest pool of high-net-worth individuals in the Asia-Pacific area\u00a0and Citi's move followed\u00a0a successful similar initiative elsewhere in the region.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Huawei's new phone chipset comes with built-in AI processor \n Now that we\u2019ve gotten all the talk about the notebook\u2019s looks and design out of the \u2026\n\nMohon Sekarang", "output": "The Kirin 970, the processor for Huawei's soon-to-be released Mate 10 smartphone, comes with a neural processing unit (NPU) which provides the computing power required for artificial intelligence. The NPU performs 25 times better a quad-core Cortex-A73 CPU cluster, according to Huawei. The Kirin is the first in a series of AI-focused technologies that Huawei plans to release, said Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer Business Group.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Yell to drop Yellow Pages phone directory and go digital only \n Yell has announced the final print cycle of Yellow Pages, marking the company\u2019s full transition to a purely digital business after 51 years in print, to date. The first of the 104 final editions is being distributed in Kingston in January 2018, with the final ever edition distributed in January 2019 in Brighton, back where it all began. Alongside the shuttering of the print edition, Yell said it is committing to help a million businesses be \u201cfound, chosen and trusted by more customers online by 2020\u201d.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re proud of the transformation we\u2019ve made from print to digital,\u201d said Yell CEO, Richard Hanscott. \u201cLike many businesses, Yell has found that succeeding in digital demands constant change and innovation. We\u2019re well placed to continue to help local businesses and consumers be successful online, both now and in the future.\u2019'\n\n\n\nYell is the largest reseller of Google AdWords in the UK and provides a full range of digital media and managed services for businesses, including pay-per-clock advertising, display advertising, websites, social media and directory listings. Over 130,000 businesses currently advertise with Yell, while and Yell.com is used by millions of consumers every month.", "output": "Yell is finally giving up on its printed telephone directory, the Yellow Pages. The move will mark the company's full transition to being online only after 51 years in print. The first of the 104 final editions will be sent out in Kingston in January, with the last-ever edition being distributed in January 2019 in Brighton, where it first launched. More than 130,000 firms advertise with Yell, with Yell.com used by millions of consumers each month.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "RhythmOne RhythmOne confirms $185m YuMe purchase \n Following earlier speculation they were in negotiations, RhythmOne has confirmed it will purchase video adtech outfit YuMe, in a $185m deal building on its RadiumOne purchase earlier this year.\n\nThe company's leadership has now publicly declared that its 2017 acqusitions form part of a strategy to assemble a consolidated adtech offering to take on established players such as Facebook and Google.\n\nUK-based RhythmOne, which is listed on the AIM, today (September 5) confirmed the deal for YuMe, itself listed on the New York Stock Exchange, with the acquisition consisting of one-third in cash, and two-thirds in shares, and expected to close in the first quarter of 2018.\n\nRhythmOne claims that post the closure of the proposed deal, the combined entity will be \u201ca complete end-to-end platform\u201d \u2013 the goal of many of the recent adtech mergers and acquisition (M&A) this year.\n\nA RhythmOne release states: \u201cThe combination of RhythmOne and YuMe will bring together demand-side and supply-side strengths in the fast growing segments of mobile, video, connected TV and programmatic trading.\"\n\nThe note goes on to state that the company\u2019s board of directors have \u201cidentified a window of opportunity\u201d in the adtech sector to build a credible, scaled offering that can pose as a \u201csustainable alternative to entrenched players in the industry.\u201d\n\nA note from its board of directors also goes on to reference to \u201ca contraction in market valuations of public and private companies\u201d in recent years \u2013 something that is likely fueling the number of M&A deals in the sector.\n\nThe note goes on to read: \u201cThe directors believe that, as a result of the acquisition, the company will be a more attractive alternative to the largest networks and exchanges, represented by companies such as Google and Facebook.\u201d\n\nThe release also features a statement from RhythmOne, chief executive, Ted Hastings, it read: \u201cThrough YuMe, RhythmOne gains access to premium video supply including emerging, high-value connected TV inventory, unique customer insights, cross-screen targeting technology and established demand relationships. We believe this combination will give RhythmOne the resources, relationships and talent to drive value for its shareholders, and a true return on investment.\u201d\n\nEarlier in the year, RhythmOne announced it has acquired certain assets of RadiumOne for an undisclosed amount \u2013 although speculation since, has pegged the figure at circa $22m.\n\nSpeaking at the time of the purchase, Richard Nunn, RhythmOne\u2019s chief revenue officer, said the acquisition would provide advertisers with insights, prediction, campaign targeting, execution and measurement.\n\nThe number of M&A deals in the wider digital media sector numbered 115, according to a Results International study. Although the second quarter was not as busy, 102 deals were still scored during the period, it was an increase of 24 on the same period in 2016.\n\nMore recent activity has seen consolidation among adtech players \u2013 as opposed to buys from strategic players, or strategic players \u2013 most notably the proposed takeover of Rocket Fuel by Sizmek, Rubicon Project's purchase of nToggle, and Outbrain's acquisition of Zemanta.\n\nAnother notable trend in this year's adtech M&A has been the growing popularity of companies possessing video capabilities with publicly-listed Tremor Video agreeing to sell its demand-side platform (DSP) to TapTica for $50m. Meanwhile, Europe's largest broadcaster RTL Group announced it was to complete its purchase of SpotX last week, plus earlier in the year Teads sold to US-based telco Altice.", "output": "UK adtech firm RhythmOne is buying video adtech firm YuMe for $185m as part of its merger and acquisition strategy. RhythmOne said the deal will mean the combined firm can provide a consolidated adtech solution, bringing together both demand and supply-side strengths in mobile, video, TV and programmatic trading. The acquisition followed RhythmOne's purchase of RadiumOne assets earlier this year. The deal for the New York Stock Exchange-listed company will consist of one-third cash and two-thirds shares and is expected to complete early next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Joe Media UK invests in podcasts with three new series \n Joe Media U.K. is jumping into podcasting with three podcast series this month.\n\nThe most fully-formed is a weekly hour-long interview series called \u201cUnfiltered,\u201d where presenter and journalist James O\u2019Brien interviews figures from sport, politics, music and entertainment. In the works is also a weekly football podcast series and a weekly entrepreneurial podcast series, both around the one hour mark and distributed across platforms including Soundcloud, Stitcher and iTunes.\n\nJoe Media\u2019s monetization model is to create a product, like a weekly Facebook Live show, and get one brand on board as a sponsor. As yet there are no brands signed up to sponsor these podcasts, said Niall McGarry, owner of Joe Media parent company Maximum Media.\n\n\u201cYou make better money long term off the back of a good product, we\u2019re not answering to private investors so there\u2019s not the pressure to be overly profitable,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re happy to wash our own face and give people the product they want.\u201d\n\nWhile McGarry said it\u2019s unlikely that \u201cUnfiltered\u201d will sign up a sponsor, he\u2019s expecting it to pull in weekly listeners of up to 50,000 in the first four months, with weekly listener numbers reaching a quarter of a million in the longer term. \u201cThe podcast market is still embryonic in the U.K.,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cUnfiltered\u201d presenter James O\u2019Brien has been credited with making radio go viral after short video clips of his radio shows have notched up millions of views on Facebook. Joe Media will also distribute the full podcast episodes on its YouTube channel, where it has 38,000 subscribers, and chop up the best moments to market the podcast on Facebook, where it has 4 million followers, and Twitter. Sponsored brands will also have exposure here.\n\nThis is part of Joe Media\u2019s growth as a distributed media company. A frivolous one-minute long compilation video of TV presenter Richard Madeley can sit happily alongside a four-thousand-word article on gender equality or an hour-long podcast interview on politics. \u201cHumans are more rounded individuals, it\u2019s not just banter central,\u201d said McGarry. This also offers more breadth for advertisers.\n\nJoe Media is currently building its fourth studio to cater for more audio programming. The U.K. operation has 50 employees, currently on LinkedIn it\u2019s advertising for an audio editor and a creative director plus three other roles, McGarry estimates the headcount will reach 80 in the next six months.\n\nThis year McGarry estimates the company will turnover about \u00a33 million ($3.9 million), roughly four times what it brought in the previous year, and it has been \u201cmodestly profitable.\u201d Programmatic is a growing part of its revenue, 70 percent comes from branded content. Of next year\u2019s turnover, which McGarry is estimating at roughly \u00a312 million ($15.5 million), audio will be 15 percent.\n\nWhile in Ireland this year\u2019s turnover is predicted to be \u20ac8.5 million ($10.1 million). Growth has been quick: In May Maximum Media was number 250 in the Financial Times\u2019 list of Europe\u2019s 1,000 fastest growing companies by revenue.\n\nJoe Media has two podcast series in Ireland, with several more planned for launch. \u201cThe GAA Hour,\u201d featuring interviews about the Gaelic Athletic Association has been sponsored by Allied Irish Bank for the last two years. It\u2019s hoping to repeat this success in the U.K.\n\n\u201cAdvertising is bought locally,\u201d points out McGarry. \u201cWe\u2019re creating podcasts for a British market, we\u2019re not going global, that\u2019s not necessarily what a podcast strategy should be. We want to be as big as possible in Britain, brand budgets will come from ad agencies in Britain, they won\u2019t pay for listens around the world.\u201d\n\nImage: courtesy of Joe Media.", "output": "Men's lifestyle publisher Joe Media is expanding into podcasting, and is set to launch three series with a view to each show carrying a brand sponsor. One of the podcasts, Unfiltered, featuring James O\u2019Brien interviewing people in the news, is expected to pull in 50,000 in the first four months, according to Niall McGarry, owner of parent company Maximum Media. He said advertising would be locally led, adding: \"We\u2019re creating podcasts for a British market, we\u2019re not going global, that\u2019s not necessarily what a podcast strategy should be.\" The other two podcasts are understood to be about football and business\u00a0start-ups.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pernod Ricard saves $70m by taking a quarter of ad spend in-house \n Pernod Ricard is part of a wave of marketers taking more media buying in-house.\n\nThe spirits maker has a small team of media buyers buying inventory directly from demand-side platforms such as Adobe Advertising Cloud (formerly TubeMogul) and Google\u2019s DoubleClick Bid Manager. For instance, the business now asks that media agencies use client-preferred DSPs that allows its marketers to log in and manage buys in real time. This way Pernod Ricard controls the contract with the DSP, if not the operation, utilizing the software\u2019s managed service tools to run it.\n\nToday, a quarter of Pernod Ricard\u2019s digital media is bought by its own media buyers rather than its agencies. The company saved \u20ac60 million ($71.5 million) in the the first half of the year, half of it being reinvested back into its advertising. It\u2019s a decision Pernod Ricard told investors last week it wouldn\u2019t have made without the assurances of its own internal expertise.\n\n\u201cWe [Pernod Ricard] had to readjust ourselves to make sure that we speak the same language as our partners and understand what\u2019s going on [with our investments] so that we can then play that back within our marketing,\u201d said Thibaut Portal, who heads up the global media hub. \u201cOur objective is not to buy media at the cheapest cost \u2014 it doesn\u2019t mean anything.\u201d\n\nMedia budget cuts across the package-goods sector may have agencies worried but at Pernod Ricard there are no plans to make any major changes to its own spending. As Gilles Bogaert, the company\u2019s managing director for finance and operations recently told financial analysts, the business is reinvesting a sizeable proportion of corporate-wide savings back into its media budgets. Bogaert explained: \u201cIn total, we estimate that the advertising and promotion efficiencies represent, more or less, half of the \u20ac200 million ($238.3 million) [savings we plan to make between 2016 and 2020]. And as you know, we decided to invest half of the \u20ac200 million ($238.3 million) into advertising and promotion. So net-net impact on the advertising and promotion ratio would be more or less neutral. But with, in reality, more efficiency behind our brands.\u201d\n\nBut the pursuit of those efficiencies will not push media agencies away from Pernod Ricard like some advertisers are alleged to have done, assured Portal. A recent study from the World Federation of Advertisers that revealed some big brands are taking more digital expertise in-house was interpreted by some observers as the latest signal of the gradual disintermediation of the media agency.\n\nHowever, Pernod Ricard\u2019s own burgeoning media expertise is meant to give it a better understanding of its investments, while simultaneously easing the eroding margins of its agencies. Like it has done with its in-house content-production team, Pernod Ricard takes on more of the day-to-day costs of managing its media investments such as adapting content for different channels and localizing assets, while it\u2019s agencies are tasked with the strategy and creative responsibilities.\n\nPortal added, \u201cWhat\u2019s changed is our philosophy of remunerating the added value that the agencies are bringing; we\u2019re remunerating the results and the performance of our investments [as they move down the supply chain]. \u2026 I believe because we have a common set of KPis and dashboards that we share with our agencies it means we\u2019re sharing the same objectives in real time. It resembles a partnership rather than the advertiser being on one side and the supplier on another.\u201d\n\nLooking forward, Portal believes there are still points he and his team must address around viewability and the relevancy of metrics they receive from different partners. It will follow in the footsteps of P&G, Unilever and L\u2019Oreal by coming up with its own viewability standards in the coming months, believing it is \u201ca critical topic to improving our effectiveness.\u201d\n\nPernod Ricard marketers no longer see video views as its key KPI. Instead, they are adjusting to completion rates and targeting to ensure ads are served as completely as possible to the right users. Portal added, \u201cWe\u2019re going more in depth on assessing the real impact of media on sales. We need to close that loop.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s why the company has placed a greater emphasis on collecting its own data over the last two years. The company\u2019s run brand, for instance, has reportedly tested lead-generation ads on Facebook in recent weeks that collect email addresses, according to Adweek. After 10 days, the campaign collected 1,300 new leads and open rates between 43 and 77 percent, per Salesforce.\n\nPortal concluded, \u201cAs a wine and spirits producer with a commitment toward responsible drinking and advertising to people over the legal drinking age, we already have strong mandates around brand safety, fraud and transparency. I\u2019m not saying [this year\u2019s events] are minor issues, but we were well prepared because we\u2019ve been doing it [taking more responsibility of our media strategy] for years.\u201d", "output": "French spirits company Pernod Ricard's media team saved the company \u20ac60m ($71.5m) during H1 2017 by purchasing directly 25% of its digital media, instead of relying on agencies. The savings will be reinvested in the firm's advertising budgets, while the company gains a better understanding of its media investments. Thibaut Portal, head of the global media hub, likens working with agencies to a partnership that works to a common set of goals. \"Our objective is not to buy media at the cheapest cost \u2013 it doesn\u2019t mean anything,\" said Portal.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian trading body pushes measures to promote digital payments \n NEW DELHI: Traders body CAIT today suggested several measures such as tax benefits to both consumer and merchant to promote digital payments in the country.\n\nThe Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said to achieve goals like cashless economy and reaching 2,500 crore digital transactions, the government needs to set up a regulatory authority for digital payment systems.\n\n\"Tax rebates for consumers for certain types of digital payments will be an important step. Also similar benefits should be extended to merchants either in the form of sales tax,\" CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal told reporters here.\n\nThe confederation has prepared a report on universal access to infrastructure and open payment systems. In this, it has also recommended formulation of a digital payments policy.\n\nThe other suggestions include implementation of reward scheme for merchants and consumers; faster adoption of mobile QR code based card acceptance solutions, formation of digital payments board and an authority to monitor Rupay.\n\nKhandelwal said to better encourage universal adoption and socialisation of digital payments, the government should remove requirement for banks to report electronic transactions and make consumers fearless to go for cashless economy.\n\n\"There should be no card refusal and no surcharge should be levied on digital payments as it would act as a deterrent to promote such payments. There is a need to increase POS terminals besides allowing non-bank finance companies to issue digital payments,\" he added.\n\nHe urged the government to implement the recommendations of Watal Committee report on digital payments.\n\n\"Today 96 per cent of transactions are done in cash and our country has only about 25 lakh POS terminals. This needs to increase rapidly,\" Khandelwal said.\n\nThe government had demonetised high value currency (Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes) last November and has been promoting a less cash economy through greater push on digital payments.\n\nThe CAIT will forward these suggestions to the ministries of finance and commerce, and state governments. RR MR", "output": "The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has suggested introducing tax rebates to help promote digital payments across the country. The trading body urged the government to set up a regulator for digital payments to help achieve the goal of becoming a cashless economy. It also suggested setting up a reward scheme for sellers and consumers, and pushing for quicker adoption of QR code-based payment systems.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Co-living developer to let tenants pay rent in bitcoin \n A London property developer is to allow its tenants to pay their deposits in bitcoin \u2013 the first time the virtual currency has been used in the UK residential homes market.\n\nCo-living pioneer The Collective has announced that prospective tenants can pay deposits from Monday in bitcoin. By the end of this year it will also accept rent payments in the cryptocurrency. This is the first time in the UK a major property developer has enabled bitcoin payments. The Collective said it was in response to demand predominantly from international customers.\n\nThe price of bitcoin hit a record high of $4,700 (\u00a33,627) last week, having risen by 350% since the beginning of the year. Bitcoin is the world\u2019s first decentralised currency and is not controlled by any government or bank. While increased global recognition is leading to mainstream adoption, critics warn that \u2013 as a vehicle popular with speculators looking to make a quick buck \u2013 it is volatile, risky and potentially dangerous.\n\nHowever, from Monday The Collective\u2019s online booking form for its Old Oak co-living scheme \u2013 the world\u2019s largest co-living development,with 550 rooms, which launched last May and where rent starts from \u00a3178 a week for a 10 sq m space \u2013 will accept bitcoin deposits. The standard deposit is \u00a3500 \u2013 for all unit types and sizes \u2013 and The Collective has pledged \u201cspot conversion\u201d, which means it will bear any financial risk while holding the deposit, returning it at the original value when the tenancy finishes.\n\nTenants will have the ability to pay their rent using bitcoin from this autumn.\n\n\n\nThe Collective is like a student halls of residence but for people starting their career in London\n\n\u201cThe rise and adoption of cryptocurrency globally, particularly bitcoin, is a fascinating development in how people store value and transact for goods and services worldwide,\u201d said The Collective\u2019s chief executive and founder, Reza Merchant. \u201cWith many savers and investors now choosing and becoming more comfortable with cryptocurrency, people will expect to be able to use it to pay for life\u2019s essentials, including housing deposits and rent.\u201d\n\nHowever, the Association of Residential Letting Agents (Arla) expressed reservations. \u201cThere may be niche parts of the market that would be willing to accept bitcoin in exchange for traditional rental income,\u201d said David Cox, chief executive of Arla Propertymark, but I think the bitcoin and electronic currency market is still in its infancy and the market will need to develop more before it becomes a mainstream payment method for rent.\u201d\n\nThe Collective\u2019s head of technology, Jon Taylor, said: \u201cOne of the biggest barriers to the popularity of bitcoin is making it more consumer-friendly, and we believe this will become established as an easy and convenient way to pay deposits.\u201d\n\nThe Collective\u2019s model is to give tenants a hassle-free life similar to that in a student hall of residence, but for people starting out on their career. Its expanding facilities offer a 21st-century alternative to flat-sharing, the traditional rite of passage for twentysomethings arriving in the capital. Tenancy levels are typically 97.7% and the first Collective baby was born in August, although the family has since had to move out as children and pets are not allowed to live in the building.\n\nThe company recently announced that the London Legacy Development Corporation was set to grant the world\u2019s first \u201cco-living\u201d planning permission for its latest building, a 250-room, 19-storey development in Stratford, east London, which will open in late 2018 or early 2019. It has also acquired a third major site in London\u2019s Canary Wharf.", "output": "London co-living property developer The Collective has become the first UK firm to allow tenants to pay their deposits in bitcoin. The company, which pioneers collective living arrangements for young professionals similar to university halls of residents, will also accept rent payments in the cryptocurrency from later this year. The price of bitcoin hit a record high of \u00a33,627 ($4,700) last week, a rise of 350% since the start of the year, but critics have warned it remains a risky investment. The Association of Residential Letting Agents also expressed doubts about electronic currencies becoming mainstream for rental income.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurtech could save Asian insurers $300bn a year by 2025: UBS \n Privacy Policy\n\nHubbis is committed to safeguarding the privacy of our users while providing a personalised and valuable service. This Privacy Policy statement explains the data processing practices of Hubbis. If you have any requests concerning your personal information or any queries with regard to these practices please contact our Privacy Officer by e-mail at [email protected]\n\nOur site contain links to third party sites which are not subject to this privacy policy. We recommend that you read the privacy policy of any such sites that you visit.\n\nInformation Collected\n\nWe collect personally identifiable information about you (your \u201cData\u201d) through:\n\nthe use of enquiry and registration forms\n\nyour purchase of any our products or services\n\nthe provision of your details to us either online or offline\n\nThe elements of your data that we collect may include:\n\nName\n\nJob title\n\nCompany name\n\nCompany address, phone and fax number\n\nMobile telephone number\n\nE-mail address\n\nEducational history, work experience and other information from your CV if you provide this to us\n\nWe may also collect information that we request from you regarding your use of our service or that we collect automatically about your visit to our sites. Please see our Cookie Policy for more details.\n\nUse and Disclosure of Personal Information\n\nWe use your Data for purposes which may include:\n\nproviding our users with a personalised service\n\nprocessing orders, registrations and enquiries\n\nconducting market research surveys\n\nallowing users to participate in interactive features of our service, where they choose to do so\n\nWe may also disclose your information to business partners and to third party suppliers we engage to provide services which involve processing data on our behalf, successors in title to our business or in accordance with a properly executed court order or as otherwise required to do so by law. We reserve the right to fully co-operate with any law enforcement authorities or court order requiring or requesting us to disclose the identity or other usage details of any user of our sites.\n\nWe also use information in aggregate form (so that no individual user is identified by name):\n\nto build up marketing profiles\n\nto aid strategic development\n\nto manage our relationship with advertisers\n\nto audit usage of the site\n\nWe use technology on some of the pages of our websites, which may record user movements, including page scrolling, mouse clicks and text entered. It will not record financial information such as credit or debit card details. The data we collect in this way helps us to identify usability issues, to improve the assistance and technical support we can provide to users and is also used for aggregated and statistical reporting purposes.\n\nSecurity Policy\n\nHubbis has appropriate measures in place to ensure that our users\u2019 Data is protected against unauthorised access or use, alteration, unlawful or accidental destruction and accidental loss. User Data may be transferred outside Hubbis to data processors such as fulfilment houses but they will act only on our instructions to provide the services required.\n\nTransfer of Data\n\nThe Internet is a global environment. Using the Internet to collect and process personal data necessarily involves the transmission of data on an international basis. Therefore, by browsing Hubbis sites and communicating electronically with us you acknowledge and agree to our processing of personal data in this way. By agreeing to our transfer of your Data to third party organisations for them to send you details of products and services offered (as detailed above) you are deemed to provide your consent to any transfer of your Data to or within any organisation.\n\nUser Access and Control of Data\n\nIf you wish to amend any of the Data which we hold about you, or update your marketing preferences, please contact admin or visit the \u201cContact Us\u201d section of our website.", "output": "The Asian insurance market could make savings of $300bn annually by 2025, thanks to improvements brought about by insurtech \u2013 benefits that would eventually be passed on to the consumer,\u00a0according to UBS. It said mobile apps and online aggregators would help make shopping for insurance easier, while streamlining and increased automation would speed up the claims process, making it more attractive to the underserved Asian market, where only 13% of the population holds insurance policies.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Grab rolls out P2P payments \n Southeast Asian ride-hailing service Grab is venturing further into the payments market, adding a P2P instant fund transfer feature to its app in Singapore.\n\nUsers will be able to transfer 'GrabPay Credits' to one another and, from later in the year, to merchants. Grab says that it aims to team up with more than 1000 firms that are cash-reliant, enabling them to accept digital payments through its GrabPay mobile wallet.\n\n\n\nJason Thompson, head, GrabPay, says: \"Every day, over 75% of Grab users in Singapore go cashless and use GrabPay to pay for rides. Grab users are familiar with using mobile payments for daily transactions, via the Grab app.\n\n\n\n\"Fund transfer is the first step to expand the use of GrabPay as a mobile wallet. Today, users can transfer money to one another; in the coming months, they can look forward to use GrabPay to buy food or other goods and services from physical shops.\"\n\n\n\nGrab has made no secret of its efforts to become \"the #1 universal mobile payments solution in Southeast Asia\". In April, the firm agreed to buy Indonesian digital payments outfit Kudo to boost the GrabPay business.\n\n\n\nMeanwhile, as it asks customers to put faith in its ability to protect their money, the firm has introduced a new six-digit GrabPay PIN as a second factor authentication to make the mobile wallet more secure. Customers with more than $150 worth of credits in their account are required to activate the PIN.\n\n\n\n", "output": "Malaysia-based ride-hailing company Grab has launched GrabPay Credits, a peer-to-peer instant fund transfer feature for its mobile wallet in Singapore. Initially enabling payments between users, before being extended to merchants, Grab aims to tempt more than 1,000 firms to the app. The move is part of Grab's ambition to become Southeastern Asia's universal mobile payments solution, and follows the introduction of a GrabPay authentication PIN to add an extra layer of security to its mobile wallet.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vanguard casts its first vote against Exxon on climate report \n The four hottest years on record were 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, according to government institutions including NOAA and NASA.\n\nIt's official: index fund giant Vanguard Group voted against Exxon Mobil management for the first time to require the oil and gas giant to report on climate change, according to proxy voting records published by Vanguard on Thursday.\n\nThe Exxon Mobil shareholder measure passed at the company's annual meeting earlier this year, a victory shareholder advocates said could not have happened without the vote of Vanguard, though the fund company had refused to reveal its specific company votes before Thursday's official disclosure.\n\nVanguard also voted against management at Occidental Petroleum over a similar climate measure \u2014 also expected based on the results from the Occidental Petroleum shareholder meeting earlier this year. But Vanguard did vote with oil and gas management and against shareholder climate proposals in a majority of 2017 proxy measures.\n\nThe two votes against Exxon and Occidental management contrast with Vanguard's votes against shareholders putting forward climate proposals at Noble Energy , Marathon Petroleum , Devon Energy , Chevon and Kinder Morgan .\n\nVanguard also voted against requiring Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway to report on climate and divest from fossil fuel holdings.\n\nA Vanguard spokeswoman said its decisions have more to do with how the shareholder proposals are worded and not the fund company's commitment to climate policy among its holdings. \"While we believe the issue is real, we may not believe the proposal meets our threshold for support.\"\n\nVanguard, the world's largest index mutual fund manager with $4 trillion under management, has not been known for its shareholder activism, but its influence as an investor is large and growing. The fund giant took in more than $300 billion in 2016, while the rest of the mutual fund industry combined had investor redemptions. \"With Exxon and to a lesser extent Occidental, these votes can also be seen as bellwethers for the entire industry that major investors are expecting action on climate risk disclosure,\" said Jon Hale, the director of sustainability research at Morningstar.\n\nBlackRock and State Street Global Advisors, two other investing giants with large exchange-traded fund businesses, have received higher marks in past years from shareholder advocates for commitment to social and environmental issues. Both voted the same way as Vanguard on Exxon and Occidental.\n\nHale noted that State Street was the strongest voice among the investing giants, voting in favor of six of the seven shareholder climate change measures among S&P 500 energy companies, with the exception of Noble Energy. He said most seemed to be similar in scope.\n\n\"What seems to be going on with Vanguard is that they are giving companies time to make progress towards improving their climate disclosures, but in the cases of Exxon and Occidental, they felt they had already done so and not seen the progress they were expecting. That leads me to believe that these other companies will either have to show improvement this year or we should expect Vanguard to vote for the resolution next year.\"\n\nHe also noted that State Street has been active on this issue for a lot longer than Vanguard.\n\n\"Funds are not immune from the attraction of taking action at a few high-profile companies to put down a marker that companies need to be more transparent about climate risks, in general,\" said Heidi Welsh, founding executive director of the Sustainable Investments Institute.", "output": "Vanguard has voted against Exxon Mobil for the first time to make the oil and gas giant report on climate change. The Exxon shareholder measure passed at the company's AGM earlier this year, according to proxy voting records published by Vanguard. The fund company had previously refused to disclose its specific company votes. Vanguard also voted against management at Occidental Petroleum over a similar measure, but did vote with oil and gas managements in a majority of 2017 proxy measures."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Schroders unveils carbon footprint investment guide \n In order to read this article you will need to subscribe, please click here\n\nIf you already have an account, Click here to login.\n\n---", "output": "UK asset manager Schroders has launched the Carbon VAR model,\u00a0a new addition to its broader investment toolkit. The model helps businesses understand how higher carbon prices could affect their profitability in the future, demonstrating that\u00a0in high-risk sectors such as construction, steel and commodity chemicals, profits could fall by 80%. \"The results don\u2019t bear much resemblance to carbon footprints, underlining the dangers of assuming funds or portfolios with low footprints will be insulated if policies toughen\", said Andy Howard, Head of Sustainable Research at\u00a0Schroders.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "London forecast to be fastest growing market for Chinese tourism \n The number of visitors London attracts from China is expected to double to 330,000 by 2025, according to forecast issued by the office of the UK capital's mayor.\n\nLondon hosted 160,000 tourists from China in 2016, according to London & Partners, the Mayor of London's official promotional agency.\n\nThe predicted 103-percent rise means China is set to become London's fastest-growing major tourism market, followed by India which is expected to rise by 90 percent and the US and the United Arab Emirates which are both projected to grow by 43 percent.\n\nChinese visitors' spending in London is also set to rise 129 percent from 218.5 million pounds ($283 million) last year to an estimated 500.7 million pounds in 2025. Each Chinese visitor spends an average of about 1,800 pounds during their stay in London, twice the 900-pound-per-week gross weekly household income in London.\n\nSpeaking at a launch event for London's Autumn tourism season, the city's Mayor Sadiq Khan said: \"Chinese visitors\uff0dtourists, students, entrepreneurs, and business people -are so important to London being the great city that we are.\" \"I welcome the contribution that Chinese men and women make to our great city,\" he added.\n\nGoldman Sachs Research predicts that the number of Chinese passport holders will increase by 100 million over the next decade.\n\nWorld Bank Departures data also shows rapid growth in China's outbound travelers, from 2.4 annual departures per 100 people in 2005 to 8.5 per 100 in 2015.\n\nKhan was promoting a series of events being held across London over the coming months as part of its Autumn calendar.\n\nThese include the West End opening of hit musical Hamilton; the Museums at Night Festival; the MTV European Music Awards; and the return of the NFL at the Wembley and Twickenham stadiums.\n\nA fifth of all Chinese visitors to London in 2016 arrived between October and December. Over half arrived in the Summer quarter, and around 14 percent arrived in both the Winter and Spring quarters.\n\nKhan also announced the launch of A Tourism Vision for London, a new long-term campaign to promote the capital.\n\nLondon & Partners will collaborate with 100 industry leaders, including Gatwick Airport and Hilton Hotels, to attract more first-time visitors, boost visitor numbers in off-peak periods and harness technology to engage tourists.\n\nPromotional efforts targeting Chinese tourists last year saw record growth in visitor numbers at some of London's attractions.\n\nThe Royal Museums Greenwich\uff0dwhich include the National Maritime Museum, the Queen's House, the Royal Observatory, and 19th Century tea vessel the Cutty Sark -saw a 78 percent year-on-year increase of Chinese visitors in June 2017, following a campaign promoting the museums in China in 2016.", "output": "Chinese tourist visits to London are predicted to double to 330,000 between 2016 and 2025, making London the fastest growing market for China, according to London & Partners. The London promotional agency that works on behalf of the mayor's office also predicted Chinese visits to India will rise by 90% and to the US and the UAE by 43% over the same period. Spending by Chinese visitors in London is expected to rise by 129% from \u00a3218.5m ($283m) in 2016 to \u00a3500.7m ($647m) in 2025. A Chinese tourist\u00a0spends an\u00a0average of\u00a0\u00a31,800 on a visit to the capital.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Manage Damage unveils plan to help cut worker insurance costs \n Risk Dollarisation - breakthrough financial approach for worker health and safety management\n\nSINGAPORE, Sept. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Australian risk advisory firm, Manage Damage presented their innovative approach to reducing costs of worker insurance to global business today in Singapore at the 2017 World Congress on Safety & Health at Work. The Congress is jointly organised by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and International Social Security Association (ISSA), bodies of the United Nations.\n\nJillian Hamilton, Managing Director of Manage Damage, introduced their unique approach within the symposium 'Prevention pays! The role of accident insurance and the return on work reintegration'. The Manage Damage methodology of analysis is of interest globally as countries seek to strengthen the global workforce.\n\n\"Business, international labour organisations and governments have struggled to find ways to define the true cost of non-financial risk as they seek to build a stronger global workforce, our methodology is a world first to prove in fiscal terms that prevention pays,\" said Hamilton.\n\nNon-financial risk targets those areas not measured in financial terms - the support and shared services in an organisation. The full financial position of these services is not usually known as associated costs are either not identified or hidden across operational or financial structures.\n\nThe Manage Damage process analyses the costs such as safety, health, environment, quality and human resources across the whole of business and converts this information into financial terms to be easily addressed by boards and senior leadership.\n\n\"Manage Damage is about reducing risk across the whole of a business. We call our philosophy 'Risk Dollarisation'. Our methodology converts non-financial risk into dollar terms to enable management to more easily address the complex interplay of these factors within a business and reduce associated costs. Management can see where issues lie and where true associated costs are located,\" said Hamilton.\n\nCompanies obtain complete visibility of true damage costs and opportunities to manage the damage are highlighted. This unique approach to 'dollarising' risk reduces the cost of damage and the negative impact on a company's bottom-line.\n\n\"We are seeing great interest from both large business and government globally in our approach. This is an area which has been pushed into the too hard basket by management as it has been difficult to address in clear fiscal terms. Our methodology solves this problem.\"\n\nView original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/australian-company-reveals-new-solution-for-global-worker-risk-300513333.html\n\nSOURCE Manage Damage", "output": "Queensland-based company Manage Damage has unveiled what it has dubbed a \"world first\" solution to reducing the cost of worker insurance for global businesses. Speaking at the World Congress on Safety & Health at Work in Singapore, Jillian Hamilton, MD of Manage Damage, said the company's innovative \"risk dollarisation\"\u00a0distilled all company non-financial information and translated it into financial terms, so \"management can see where issues lie and where true associated costs are located\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's shipbuilders tap into surge in cruise ship tourism \n Chinese Yards Look to Cruise Boom\n\nChinese shipbuilders are increasingly interested in cruise ship building, a segment that accounted for nearly half of global orders last year.\n\nChina\u2019s government has made cruise ship building a major objective in its \u201cMade in China 2025\u201d program, aiming to tap into the $117 billion industry with upgrades to its domestic capacity.\n\nChina Daily reports Fu Chunhong, vice-chairman of the Chinese organizing committee of Marintec China, saying: \"In addition to China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), quite a few other Chinese shipbuilders, such as China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation and China Merchants Heavy Industry, are proactive in cruise liner building.\"\n\nChina's first locally-built cruise ship will be delivered from Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, part of CSSC, in 2023. CSSC is working with Fincantieri and Lloyd\u2019s Register on the project and has also attracted foreign suppliers such as W\u00e4rtsil\u00e4 to set up joint ventures. The order is for two 5,000-passenger cruise ships and is part of a $1.5 billion deal signed in February which includes an option for four more ships.\n\nOther Chinese yards are rumored to be offering discounts of up to 30 percent to win orders. In March, China Merchants won an order for up to 10 vessels for Miami-based SunStone Ships, and Xiamen Shipbuilding Industry won an order from Finland\u2019s Viking Line in April for a cruise ferry. Reuters reports Viking Line\u2019s CEO Jan Hanses, saying he received interest from six Chinese yards, including Guangzhou International Shipyard, Yantai CIMC Raffles and AVIC Weihai Shipyard.\n\nSome European shipbuilders fear China could come to dominate the cruise ship market, much as it has done in cargo ships over recent decades. \u201cThis is a state objective that threatens to cause tremendous distortion in competition,\u201d Reinhard Luken, chief executive of the German Shipbuilding and Ocean Industries Association, told Reuters last month. The Association represents German maritime firms such as shipbuilders Meyer Werft and Meyer Turku.\n\nMitsubishi Heavy Industries stopped building cruise ships last year after its losses on two vessels for Carnival Corporation topped $2 billion.", "output": "A surge in Chinese tourists' love of cruise ships has led to an increase in Chinese shipbuilders targeting the sector, which accounted for nearly half of global orders last year. The Beijing government is encouraging\u00a0cruise ship building as part of its \"Made in China 2025\" initiative.\u00a0\"In addition to China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), quite a few other Chinese shipbuilders, such as China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation and China Merchants Heavy Industry, are proactive in cruise liner building\", said\u00a0Fu Chunhong of\u00a0Marintec China."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aramco uses advanced seismic imaging to re-explore Empty Quarter \n Saudi Aramco is deploying advanced seismic testing technology to explore again areas of the desert known as the Empty Quarter, a move that could help it to raise its proved oil and gas reserves ahead of the planned listing of 5 percent in the company next year, expected to be the world\u2019s biggest IPO ever.\n\nAramco\u2019s crew is exploring an area spanning 15,400 square kilometers (5,946 square miles) around Turayqa\u2014an onshore conventional gas field discovered in 2013, which contains no oil. Part of that desert area has been explored before by Aramco joint ventures with foreign firms, but previous exploration efforts did not find recoverable volumes of oil or gas.\n\n\u201cData processing is ongoing. The area partially covers areas relinquished by some of the joint ventures,\u201d Aramco told Reuters.\n\nAccording to the feature on Aramco\u2019s website, technology has made giant leaps in recent years and \u201cData that would have previously taken 15 to 20 years to collate can now be consolidated in two to three years.\u201d\n\nAccording to industry and technology experts briefed by Reuters, the advanced seismic technology may boost the chances of successful exploration missions, but in order to prove reserves, drilling still will be necessary.\n\nIt is yet unclear if those state-of-the-art technologies will change Aramco\u2019s crude oil and condensate reserves, which Saudi Arabia has been reporting at around 260 billion barrels for decades.\n\nIn Saudi Aramco\u2019s 2016 annual review published last month, crude oil and condensate reserves are placed at 260.8 billion barrels, slightly down from 261.1 billion barrels in 2015.\n\nRelated: Texas Shale Hit Hard By Hurricane Harvey\n\nNow Saudi Aramco must open its books for auditing ahead of the initial public offering, and any significant change in oil reserves will greatly impact the company\u2019s valuation for the IPO. Saudi officials claim the company is worth around US$2 trillion.\n\nEarlier this year, most fund managers were evaluating Aramco at below US$1.5 trillion. That was just before Saudi Arabia cut the tax rate on Aramco to 50 percent from 85 percent, which caused some analysts, including Rystad Energy, to raise their valuation of the Saudi company\u2019s upstream portfolio.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nBy Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com\n\nMore Top Reads From Oilprice.com:", "output": "Saudi Aramco is using advanced seismic technology to look again at assets in the country's Empty Quarter after previously failing to find recoverable amounts of natural gas. The technique analyses the effects of artificially induced shockwaves to build up a three-dimensional picture of the structure of rock to a depth of several kilometres, to help identify locations likely to have oil and gas deposits. Technology has advanced to the degree that \u201cdata that would have previously taken 15 to 20 years to collate can now be consolidated in two to three years\", Aramco said on its website."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow calls for change at Construction Industry Training Board \n Redrow chief executive John Tutte has called for change at the CITB after accusing the training body of not \u201cdelivering what it was set up to do\u201d.\n\nSpeaking to Construction News, Mr Tutte said his firm wanted to see reform at the CITB, although he stopped short of calling for the training body to be scrapped.\n\n\u201cThere is a lot of doubt about the CITB at the moment and there\u2019s no doubt that it\u2019s not been delivering what it was set up to do,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cBut that\u2019s not a great surprise; the CITB was established 60 years ago when the construction sector looked a hell of a lot different from what it does today.\n\n\u201cThere is certainly some concern about the direction the CITB has gone in; it\u2019s not really adapted to the housebuilding market.\u201d\n\nConstruction News revealed last month that the majority of the country\u2019s housebuilders look set to vote against the continuation of the CITB when they have their say on its future this month.\n\nIt is understood that many of the UK\u2019s housebuilders, including HBF members, are lining up to vote to scrap the CITB levy, and thereby opting against continuing with the 43-year-old training board.\n\nWhile he did not reveal which way his firm would vote, Mr Tutte said Redrow\u2019s view was that \u201cthere needs to be change\u201d at the CITB.\n\n\u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean you have to scrap it, but I think it needs some reform.\u201d\n\nMr Tutte was speaking after the housebuilder revealed record results for the year to 30 June 2017, with revenue rising 20 per cent year on year to hit \u00a31.66bn.\n\nProfit before tax rose 26 per cent to \u00a3315m, up from \u00a3250m, giving a pre-tax margin of 19.4 per cent.\n\nLegal completions hit an all-time high of 5,416, up 15 per cent on its previous year.\n\nThe housebuilder\u2019s order book increased 14 per cent to reach \u00a31.1bn, up from \u00a3967m, while employee numbers were up 12 per cent to 2,200.\n\nThe results have led Redrow to update its medium-term guidance, with the company now expecting turnover of \u00a32.2bn by 2020, along with pre-tax profit of around \u00a3430m. Its dividend is also due to increase to 32p per share by 2020.\n\nMr Tutte said the 2020 forecast was \u201cclearly ahead\u201d of its previous guidance, which went as far as 2019, and added that he did not expect \u201ca huge impact\u201d from the UK\u2019s upcoming exit from the EU because of strong demand for housing.\n\nHe added although the housebuilder was concerned about labour supply, he had not seen EU workers \u201cdeserting [Redrow] sites at all\u201d.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re maintaining our level of EU labour, and I\u2019m sure in the end sense will prevail and everybody will realise [EU workers] make a huge and important contribution to the UK housing and construction sectors.\u201d\n\nRedrow also revealed that chairman Steve Morgan would step back into a non-executive chairman role, and will begin the transition from his executive role during the current financial year.\n\n\u201cEight years after returning to Redrow, I have decided to ease back from a full-time executive role towards a non-executive role,\u201d Mr Morgan said.\n\n\u201cThe transition is to take place during the current financial year. It is my intention to continue to focus with the board on the strategic development of the business and I will retain my keen involvement with the product and key important projects.\u201d\n\nCity analysts welcomed the housebuilder\u2019s results, with Liberum upgrading its estimates for the company by 5-6 per cent for its 2018 and 2019 financial years.", "output": "John Tutte, Redrow's chief executive,\u00a0has criticised the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB)\u00a0ahead of a crucial vote on the body's future. Many of the UK's housebuilders are reported to be preparing to vote to scrap the CITB levy, effectively ending the 43-year old training board. Tutte said it is no longer achieving what it was set up to achieve and needed reform, though he stopped short of saying it should be scrapped. His comments came as Redrow announced record results, with pre-tax profit rising 26% to \u00a3315m ($408m).\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Employee fingerprint tech used to mask discontent: Unite \n Sports Direct warehouse staff who say they are unhappy with their working conditions are being identified by their fingerprints and asked to explain their grievances to management, according to the trade union Unite.\n\nThe leisurewear company has introduced a staff survey system at its Shirebrook warehouse, Derbyshire, which was at the centre of allegations of \u201cgulag\u201d conditions last year after a Guardian investigation.\n\nWhen the warehouse\u2019s 3,500 workers clock in, they are asked to press a touchpad featuring a happy or sad face emoji to indicate whether they are satisfied with working conditions.\n\nIf they press sad, they are asked whether they are sure about their decision and, if they press it again, they can be called in by managers to discuss why they did so.\n\nStaff can be identified because the touchpad uses fingerprint recognition technology to identify those who express discontent.\n\nThe Shirebrook warehouse was at the centre of allegations of \u2018gulag\u2019 conditions after a Guardian investigation. Photograph: Bloomberg via Getty Images\n\nUnite said the staff survey system was \u201cbogus\u201d because workers were unlikely to be candid about their feelings if they could then be singled out for questioning.\n\n\u201cPut yourself in their shoes,\u201d said the union\u2019s assistant general secretary, Steve Turner.\n\n\u201cWould you risk having hours withheld, possibly losing your job and being called in by management because you indicated dissatisfaction with your work environment?\u201d\n\nTurner described the survey as \u201ca bogus exercise to gloss over past failures and some of the problems\u201d which he said still persisted at the warehouse.\n\nFrank Field, the Labour MP who chairs of the work and pensions select committee, said an anonymous feedback system would be better.\n\n\u201cAll it will reveal is how brave some staff are,\u201d he said. \u201cWe ought to extend it to MPs and see how they feel about Sports Direct.\u201d\n\nShirebrook became the focus of a parliamentary inquiry last year after a Guardian investigation revealed dismal working conditions, including body searches, pay below the minimum wage and constant fear of sacking for minor transgressions.\n\n\n\nUnite said conditions were still poor and that the \u201cvast majority\u201d of workers were on contracts that guaranteed no more than 336 hours a year.\n\n\u201cWith reports from agency workers of crowded aisles, defective warehouse equipment and products stacked dangerously high, we know that health and safety is still a major cause for concern,\u201d said Turner.\n\n\u201cGimmicks like using emojis do not escape the fact that Sports Direct\u2019s reliance on thousands of insecure agency workers still poses a reputational risk or that many are still owed money for non-payment of the minimum wage.\n\n\u201cSports Direct still has a long way to go to clean its act up and risks the charge of \u2018business as usual\u2019 until it makes temporary agency workers direct permanent employees.\u201d\n\nSports Direct said it had put in place multiple ways to protect staff and allow them to provide feedback.\n\n\u201cWe believe these comments by Unite do not accurately reflect the position at Sports Direct,\u201d said a spokesperson. \u201cWe have a range of different measures in place to protect staff. These include a comprehensive system for staff to provide detailed feedback via an initiative called your company, your voice, plus a workers representative who attends meetings of the board.\u201d\n\nSports Direct also had a \u201cstaff listening group, a staff health and safety committee and a staff wellbeing service\u201d, said the spokesperson.\n\n\u201cWhilst we are disappointed with Unite\u2019s stance we will continue to engage with the union, and we recently contacted Unite on this basis.\u201d", "output": "Sports Direct is using fingerprint technology to identify staff who express dissatisfaction with their working conditions and call them in to see management, according to the Unite union. The sportswear manufacturer, which has been criticised for exploiting staff, has introduced a survey in which workers can press a sad face emoticon on a touchpad to raise concern about their conditions. This then uses fingerprint recognition software to identify the employee, who can then be contacted by management to discuss their concerns. The company says it has multiple ways for staff to provide feedback, and challenged the union's claims."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Category 4 Hurricane Irma approaches Florida and Puerto Rico \n Story highlights New: Puerto Rico under hurricane warning \"If there was a US landfall, we're talking a week from today,\" CNN meteorologist says\n\nCNN \u2014\n\nHurricane Irma strengthened to a Category 4 storm Monday, churning west in the Atlantic Ocean and prompting emergency declarations in Florida and Puerto Rico.\n\nAlthough Irma\u2019s path remains uncertain, the possibility it could threaten the United States led Florida Gov. Rick Scott to declare a state of emergency in all 67 counties in his state.\n\n\u201cIn Florida, we always prepare for the worst and hope for the best, and while the exact path of Irma is not absolutely known at this time, we cannot afford to not be prepared,\u201d Scott said in a statement released late Monday afternoon. \u201cThis state of emergency allows our emergency management officials to act swiftly in the best interest of Floridians without the burden of bureaucracy or red tape.\u201d\n\nScott said on Twitter he spoke to President Donald Trump Monday night. He said Trump \u201coffered the full resources of the federal government as Floridians prepare for Hurricane Irma.\u201d\n\nThe governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rossell\u00f3, declared a state of emergency Monday and activated the National Guard. Hours later, the National Hurricane Center issued an hurricane warning for Puerto Rico.\n\nClasses will not be held on Tuesday in the public education system nor in the University of Puerto Rico, according to a release from the governor\u2019s office. Rossell\u00f3 warned the public on Sunday that the island could feel Irma\u2019s wrath around noon Wednesday.\n\nAs of 11 p.m. ET, Monday, Irma was about 410 miles (660 kilometers) east of the Leeward Islands, the National Hurricane Center said. It is packing maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (220 kph) as it heads west at 13 mph (20 kph). Landfall is expected early Wednesday on the island of Anguilla.\n\nComputer models show the system moving through the Caribbean, and by the end of week, it will turn right toward the north, said CNN meteorologist and weather anchor Tom Sater.\n\n\u201cThere is a small window. If it turns sooner rather than later, we could maybe see the system slide by the East Coast into the ocean, but that window is shutting quickly,\u201d Sater said. \u201cIt definitely looks like we will be impacted by a major hurricane that is a Category 3, 4 or 5.\u201d\n\nTRACK THE STORM HERE\n\nHurricane watches are in effect for the Nrn Leeward Islands. TS force winds are most likely to begin late Tuesday. https://t.co/bMPsoVzZbE pic.twitter.com/62ODI79Pmu \u2014 National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) September 4, 2017\n\nThe hurricane center said swells generated by Irma would begin impacting the northern Leeward Islands on Monday.\n\n\u201cThese swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions,\u201d the hurricane center said.\n\nIn addition to Puerto Rico, a string of Caribbean islands are now under hurricane warnings, including Antigua, Barbuda, Anguilla, Montserrat, St. Kitts, Nevis, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Martin/Sint Maarten and St. Barts, the hurricane center said.\n\n\u201cA hurricane warning means that hurricane conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area,\u201d the hurricane center said. \u201cA warning is typically issued 36 hours before the anticipated first occurrence of tropical-storm-force winds, conditions that make outside preparations difficult or dangerous. Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion.\u201d\n\nAnd Irma will only strengthen this week, CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar said. \u201cOver the coming days, it\u2019s going to get into that warmer water. That\u2019s going to help the storm intensify.\u201d\n\nPuerto Ricans warned\n\nIrma is expected to remain a \u201cdangerous major hurricane\u201d through the week and could directly affect the British and US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, Turks and Caicos, and the Bahamas, the agency said.\n\nPuerto Rico\u2019s disaster management agency, AEMEAD, is monitoring Irma and has opened an information hotline.\n\nFlorida governor says be prepared\n\nIt\u2019s too soon to know the impact Irma could have on the continental United States, where no warnings or watches are in effect.\n\n\u201cRegardless, everyone in hurricane-prone areas should ensure that they have their hurricane plan in place, as we are now near the peak of the season,\u201d the hurricane center said.\n\nChinchar said Irma could affect not just the eastern coast of Florida, but also farther up the East Coast.\n\n\u201cIf there was a US landfall, we\u2019re talking a week from today,\u201d Chinchar said Monday.\n\nGov. Scott urged the state\u2019s residents to ensure their disaster supply kits were ready. \u201cDisaster preparedness should be a priority for every Florida family,\u201d he tweeted Sunday\n\nRead: Hurricane Irma could be next weather disaster\n\nWhy Irma could be especially intense\n\nIrma is a classic \u201cCape Verde hurricane,\u201d meaning it formed in the far eastern Atlantic, near the Cape Verde Islands (now known as the Cabo Verde Islands), before tracking all the way across the Atlantic, CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller said.\n\nAnd Cape Verde storms frequently become some of the largest and most intense hurricanes. Examples include Hurricane Hugo, Hurricane Floyd, and Hurricane Ivan.", "output": "Florida and Puerto Rico have both declared states of emergency as Hurricane Irma, recently upgraded to category 4, approaches. The storm's exact path remains unclear. \"It definitely looks like we will be impacted by a major hurricane that is a Category 3, 4 or 5\", says CNN meteorologist Tom Sater. Orange juice and cotton futures have soared in response to the hurricane threat to the southern states. A number of Caribbean islands have also issued hurricane warnings."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Texo carries out first drone-based LIDAR scan of offshore assets \n Edit page New page Hide edit links\n\nTexo Drone Survey and Inspection, has carried out the first ever Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) survey-grade LiDAR scan of an offshore asset, combined with ground-based Simultaneous Location and Mapping (SLAM) (photo: Texo DSI)\n\nTexo DSI (UKCS) Ltd, the offshore division of Texo Drone Survey and Inspection, has carried out the first ever Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) survey-grade LiDAR scan of an offshore asset, combined with ground-based Simultaneous Location and Mapping (SLAM).\n\nA team from Texo DSI (UKCS) travelled to the Port of Esbjerg in Denmark, from where they went on to scan Paragon Offshore\u2019s HZ1 jack up.\n\nTexo DSI (UKCS) is the only company in the world to have built survey-grade LiDAR scanning technology, with the ability to capture data to a level of below 2mm, onto a bespoke UAV and integrated this with ground-based SLAM.\n\nThis allows the company, which owns and operates the world\u2019s most comprehensive and dynamic fleet of UAVs, to deliver a fully integrated solution to the offshore oil and gas industry. The collaboration between the tailored, state-of-the-art equipment and precision data technology is proving a game changer, with applications in both engineering and asset lifecycle management.\n\nPim Peters, drilling superintendent at Paragon Offshore, says, \u201cThis was an exciting project to be a part of. The big gain for us is improving the quality of our inspections by having more accurate data, rather than relying on eyewitness feedback, and moving to comparative analysis on trends, specifically around corrosion rates.\n\n\u201cIn addition, we can reduce the risk to personnel, with fewer working at height or in confined spaces, as well as having a more efficient set up which has significant economic advantages.\u201d\n\nJohn Wood, chief operating officer, Texo DSI (UKCS), adds, \u201cThis project heralds a new era for precision data collection for oil and gas assets. Our world-leading technology delivers real benefits to the oil and gas industry, driving much needed efficiencies and taking asset information modelling for asset integrity to a new level. Paragon Offshore is already seeing the advantages that faster, accurate, precision data can give them.\u201d", "output": "Oil and gas asset inspection company Texo DSI said it has performed the first survey-grade light detection and ranging (LIDAR) scan of an offshore asset with a drone. Texo's drone used LIDAR and simultaneous location and mapping to scan Paragon Offshore's rig off the coast of Denmark. The analysis provides\u00a0precision data on trends such as corrosion rates\u00a0and enables\u00a0more efficient\u00a0management of\u00a0assets over their\u00a0life cycle. Additionally, using LIDAR scans reduces the risk to personnel who would be required to work at height or in confined spaces, said Pim Peters, drilling superintendent at Paragon Offshore.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Disease concerns rise as Houston deals with toxic water \n Officials in Houston are just beginning to grapple with the health and environmental risks that lurk in the waters dumped by Hurricane Harvey, a stew of toxic chemicals, sewage, debris and waste that still floods much of the city.\n\nFlooded sewers are stoking fears of cholera, typhoid and other infectious diseases. Runoff from the city\u2019s sprawling petroleum and chemicals complex contains any number of hazardous compounds. Lead, arsenic and other toxic and carcinogenic elements may be leaching from some two dozen Superfund sites in the Houston area.\n\nPorfirio Villarreal, a spokesman for the Houston Health Department, said the hazards of the water enveloping the city were self-evident.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no need to test it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s contaminated. There\u2019s millions of contaminants.\u201d\n\nHe said health officials were urging people to stay out of the water if they could, although it is already too late for tens of thousands.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re telling people to avoid the floodwater as much as possible. Don\u2019t let your children play in it. And if you do touch it, wash it off,\u201d Mr. Villarreal said. \u201cRemember, this is going to go on for weeks.\u201d\n\nFlooding always brings the danger of contamination and disease, though epidemics from floods in the United States have been rare. This inundation, which put nearly 30 percent of the nation\u2019s fourth-largest city underwater, will pose enormous problems, both immediately and when the waters finally recede.", "output": "Authorities and residents in Houston, Texas are facing a \"suite of threats\" as the waters dumped by Hurricane Harvey bring fears of fast-spreading disease and contamination. While the Environmental Protection Agency\u00a0has said it will examine two as-yet-unidentified sites in Corpus Christi, where toxic waste could pose a threat to residents, hundreds of thousands of people affected by the natural disaster rely on contaminated private wells for their water, which are not covered by the city's authorities."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gas to become world's primary energy source by 2035: DNV GL \n Oil and gas will be crucial components of the world\u2019s energy future, according to DNV GL\u2019s forecast of the energy transition. While renewable energy will grow its share of the energy mix, oil and gas will account for 44% of world energy supply in 2050, compared to 53% today. Gas will become the largest single source of energy from 2034.\n\nDNV GL\u2019s Energy Transition Outlook (ETO), a forecast that spans the global energy mix to 2050, predicts that global demand for energy will flatten in 2030, then steadily decline over the next two decades, thanks to step-changes in energy efficiency. The fossil fuel share of the world\u2019s primary energy mix will reduce from 81% currently to 52% in 2050.\n\nDemand for oil will peak in 2022, driven by expectations for a surge in prominence of light electric vehicles, accounting for 50% of new car sales globally by 2035. However, the stage is set for gas to become the largest single source of energy towards 2050, and the last of the fossil fuels to experience peak demand, which DNV GL expects will occur in 2035.\n\nGas will continue to play a key role alongside renewables in helping to meet future, lower-carbon, energy requirements. Major oil companies intend to increase the share of gas in their reserves, and DNV GL expect an accelerated shift by 2022 as they decarbonise business portfolios.\n\nWhile demand for hydrocarbons will peak over the next two decades, significant investment will be needed to add new oil and gas production capacity and operate existing assets safely and sustainably. However, the results of DNV GL\u2019s model reinforce the need to maintain strict cost efficiency in order to achieve the margins necessary for future capital and operational expenditure.\n\n\u201cWe have seen impressive and important innovative efforts across the energy industry, resulting in cost saving and efficiency gains. The oil and gas industry must continue on a path of strict cost control to stay relevant. Coming from a tradition of technological achievements, and having the advantage of existing infrastructure and value chains, this industry has the potential to continue to contribute to energy security and shape our energy future,\u201d said Elisabeth T\u00f8rstad, CEO, DNV GL \u2013 Oil & Gas.\n\n\u201cIncreased digitalisation, standardisation and remote or autonomous operations will play a central role in achieving long-term cost savings and improving the oil and gas industry\u2019s carbon footprint. We also expect the industry to turn to innovations in facility design, operating models and contracting strategies,\u201d T\u00f8rstad added.\n\nDNV GL has published a suite of reports on the Energy Transition Outlook, which are available to download free of charge. The main ETO report covers the transition of the entire energy mix to 2050. Three sector-specific supplements will accompany this: an oil and gas supplement and a renewable, power and energy supplement are both available this week. A maritime supplement will be available later this year. DNV GL\u2019s oil and gas supplement considers some of the key trends identified by the company\u2019s model across the sector\u2019s value chain, and explores their implications.", "output": "Gas will become the world's primary source of energy by 2035, according to DNV GL's Energy Transition Outlook. Oil and gas will still make up 44% of the world's energy in 2050, down from 53% at present, according to the forecast. The global demand for energy is expected to level out in 2030, thanks to drastic increases in efficiency. Renewable energy will claim a larger slice of the market, with fossil fuels falling from 81% at present to 52% in 2050."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK retailers linked to child labour and slavery in Indian granite \n John Lewis and Habitat have pulled a range of granite worktops from sale over concerns their supply chains may be tainted with slavery and child labour.\n\nMany other high-street businesses selling granite products such as kitchen worktops, tiles and tombstones are also likely to scrutinise their supply chains after investigators discovered that debt bondage, underage workers and unsafe, unhealthy working conditions are part and parcel of daily working life in Indian quarries.\n\n\n\nIndia is the largest global producer of granite, accounting for 49% of the world\u2019s raw stone export in 2015. Three-quarters of the country\u2019s granite is mined in just three states \u2013 Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka. An investigation of 22 quarries and six waste stone processing sites in these states, recently published by the Dutch organisations India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) and Stop Child Labour, revealed major human rights and labour rights violations.\n\n\n\nThe violations included children under 14 working in waste stone processing, wages tied to extortionate loans, and safety equipment offered only when mining inspections were taking place.\n\nThe quarries\u2019 performance was graded on six criteria: child labour, bonded labour, wages and social benefits, health, safety, and freedom of association.\n\nMore than 30 natural stone companies from the UK, EU, US, Australia and Canada are named in the report as sourcing products from the 22 quarries. None of the quarries has a prevention system for child labour.\n\n\n\nOne particularly problematic product is star galaxy granite, which is famed for its shimmer and often retails for \u00a3300 a square metre. It hails from only one area in the world: Prakasam district in Andhra Pradesh.\n\n\n\nDiewertje Heyl, ICN\u2019s corporate social responsibility officer, told the Observer that the granite belt is located in a specific area in Prakasam, and that quarries are consequently located \u201cside by side\u201d to extract the stone. \u201cThere are a few quarries where conditions are better than others, but by and large the poor conditions we described in the report are representative of the sector as a whole.\u201d\n\nGiven the complexity of global supply chains, and the scale of abuses outlined in the report, it would be \u201calmost impossible\u201d to ensure that any star galaxy granite is free of labour or human rights irregularities, Heyl added.\n\nJohn Lewis told the Observer that \u201cin light of this report and pending further investigation, we have made the decision to remove from sale black/star galaxy granite and are currently investigating all granite sources worldwide\u201d.\n\nThe statement continued: \u201cAs a socially responsible retailer, we require our suppliers not only to obey the law but also to respect the rights, interests and well being of their employees, their communities and the environment. We do not source granite directly. We work with one UK importer who has signed up to the John Lewis code of practice on responsible sourcing, which sets out in detail the standards that we expect our suppliers to meet on labour standards and the environment.\u201d\n\nA star galaxy granite kitchen worktop, taken from the mistermarble website. Photograph: mistermarble.co.uk/products/granite-products/star-galaxy/\n\nHabitat kitchens are sold by the in-store concession K\u00fctchenhaus, which is the UK subsidiary of German company Nobilia. Nobilia is the world\u2019s biggest kitchen manufacturer.\n\nIn a statement, Nobilia confirmed that, although it doesn\u2019t supply the granite worktops sold by its UK subsidiary, \u201cstar galaxy granite samples have been removed from the Habitat stores and Habitat have now stopped selling star galaxy [worktops].\u201d\n\nThe statement continued: \u201cAll products that are sold in a store next to or in combination with Nobilia products (and could therefore be associated with Nobilia) should meet the same high welfare, environmental and quality standards as the products supplied by us and we do not hesitate to take appropriate action if any supplier is found to be in violation of these standards.\u201dThe durability and versatility of granite, which is available in 200 shades, make it the most sought after stone in the world. It is used for everything from government buildings and pavements to kitchen worktops and gravestones, with prices often soaring to \u00a3350 a square metre for premium varieties.\n\nGranite mining can be deadly: constant exposure to dust can cause the incurable lung disease silicosis, which is associated with tuberculosis and lung cancer. Mining accidents are common but often go unreported, and 62% of the workers told researchers they do not receive safety equipment unless there are labour inspections.\n\nYet granite suppliers, many of whom openly claim on their websites that they source from India, often describe their finished products in the most luxurious terms. Cosentino, a Spanish exporter named in the report which operates in 70 countries, boasts of its granite as \u201cworks of art that have required millennia to finish\u201d.\n\nThe ICN report linked half a dozen UK companies \u2013 mistermarble, Grantech, Nile Trading, Blyth Marble, KSG UK and Beltrami \u2013 to the Indian quarries. All six also import star galaxy granite and have showrooms dotted around the country, from which they sell their stone products to individuals, tradesmen and businesses.\n\n\n\nGrantech, based in north Wales and a \u201cdirect importer of granite from around the world\u201d, has been linked in the report to one of the worst performing quarries, where workers are allegedly denied clean drinking water and child labour and debt bondage are rampant. Grantech\u2019s director, Gregg Timothy Ashfield, is also the director of Buckley Memorials, a 250-year-old family business that counts expensive star galaxy granite tombstones among its products.\n\nNone of the six UK companies named in the report responded to requests for comment on their supply chains. The Observer also contacted a number of businesses around the UK selling granite worktops, tombstones and tiles, none of whom responded to requests for comment.\n\n\n\nGerard Oonk, director of ICN and senior adviser of the Stop Child Labour coalition, said: \u201cModern slavery is endemic in the granite industry and the UK market is an important destination for its products. We strongly urge both British stone companies and the UK government to take concerted action in tackling this issue, as real change is needed to save lives. The present Modern Slavery Act is not enough to make this happen alone, because more is needed than just reporting \u2013 and many smaller granite importers are not even obliged to report under this act.\u201d\n\nAidan McQuade, director of Anti-Slavery International, said the report posed \u201cprofound questions\u201d regarding India\u2019s attempts to tackle slavery and child labour.\n\n\n\n\u201cIndian quarrying has long been a byword for abuse and exploitation,\u201d said McQuade. \u201cYet the companies that still source from India\u2019s quarries are notably silent, including in their modern slavery statements, on how they are engaging with the Indian government to obtain the necessary fundamental reform of this sector to ensure that the enslavement of adults and children in quarrying is brought to an end.\u201d", "output": "A number of top UK retailers have withdrawn granite products from sale after they were found to be linked to child labour and abusive practices in Indian quarries. An investigation of 22 quarries and six processing plants found wages tied to extortionate loans, unsafe conditions and instances of children under 14 working on the sites. The joint report by the India Committee of the Netherlands and the Stop Child Labour campaign has prompted John Lewis and Habitat to suspend sales of star galaxy granite, and other suppliers are now examining their supply chains."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "School fruit in England contains multiple pesticide residues \n The free fruit and vegetables provided by the government to millions of young schoolchildren usually contain the residues of multiple pesticides, according to official tests collated in a new report.\n\nIn the last decade, residues of of 123 pesticides were found, while apples and bananas given out recently in schools contained more residues than those sold in supermarkets.\n\nGovernment experts say \u201cnone of the residues are likely to result in any adverse health effects\u201d. But campaigners argue there is great uncertainty about the combined effect of cocktails of pesticides and the increased susceptibility of children.\n\nPesticide Action Network (PAN), which released its new report as children return to school, said a precautionary approach should be taken and that switching the school scheme to organic produce would cost about 1p per child per day.\n\nSince 2004, the Department of Health (DoH) has sought to promote healthy eating by providing one piece of fruit or vegetable every school day to children aged four to six years in England. The School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme (SFVS) reaches about 2.3 million children in 16,300 schools and costs about \u00a340m a year.\n\nThe DoH commissions testing of pesticide residues each term and PAN collated the results from 2005 to 2016. It found that 84% of the 2,238 items tested contained at least one pesticide and 66% contained multiple residues, with as many as 13 different chemicals in extreme cases.\n\nPesticides need to be toxic to kill the pests that destroy food crops and many of those found as residues are known to be harmful to humans. But their effect on health will depend on the dose to which people are exposed and any cocktail effect, The vast majority of the fruit and vegetables tested in the UK contain residues below the maximum level allowed.\n\nPAN also found that the apples, bananas and raisins provided to schools in 2015 contained significantly more pesticide residues than those in tests of produce sold to the public. The reason for this is not known. However, the most commonly found residue, the fungicide imazalil, is discouraged by the Fairtrade scheme now common in supermarkets, while the SFVS bananas are not Fairtrade. Imazalil can cause developmental problems and may be carcinogenic.\n\n\u201cOur aim is not to alarm parents but they do have a right to know what chemicals are in the food being given to their children,\u201d said Nick Mole at PAN. \u201cWhile we applaud the DoH\u2019s efforts to get children eating more fruit and vegetables, our research shows that the produce they are being given is generally worse than on the supermarket shelves. Given how little it would cost to switch the scheme to organic, the government shouldn\u2019t be putting our children\u2019s health at risk.\u201d\n\nValentina Gallo, an epidemiologist at Queen Mary University of London, whose own daughter received fruit and vegetables through the scheme, said: \u201cI think one should be reasonably concerned.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe report found a lot of pesticides, though we don\u2019t know the doses,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is true the cocktail effect may worsen the effect of pesticides and it is very true that children are much more vulnerable to pesticides. However, there is the balancing effect of eating more fruit and vegetables, because this protects against a lot of diseases.\u201d\n\n\u201cBasically we don\u2019t know enough,\u201d Gallo said. \u201cBut there is a gap in research funding because there is a lot of lobbying, with big powers not wanting the research on pesticides to be carried out.\u201d\n\nA D0H spokeswoman said that just because a residue is present, it does not mean that it is harmful to health: \u201cFruit and vegetables supplied through the SFVS follow the same safety and quality legislation as all other fruit and vegetables in the UK. Maximum residue levels are set significantly below a level that could represent a risk to health, with the most sensitive individuals in the population taken into consideration.\u201d\n\nA spokesman for the Food Standards Agency (FSA) said: \u201cThe FSA is confident that pesticide maximum residue levels provide a good level of protection to consumers. On rare occasions when an MRL is exceeded, the FSA will assess if action is necessary to protect consumers.\u201d\n\nThe FSA states that fruit and vegetables that have residues below the maximum legal level should not require washing and that in any case some residues are contained within the produce and therefore cannot be rinsed off.\n\nStudying the impact of pesticides on human health is difficult because deliberately exposing people would be unethical. But a study published last week of more than 500,000 births to women living in a farming region of California found that those who were the most exposed to pesticides experienced a 5-9% increase in problems such as premature births and abnormalities.\n\nAnother recent study, in Canada, estimated that fruit and vegetable consumption prevented many more cancers than the associated pesticide residues caused, but said cutting pesticide exposure was still desirable.", "output": "Free fruit and vegetables given to school children in England under a government scheme contain residues from multiple pesticides, according to a report by the Pesticide Action Network (PAN). Residues from 123 pesticides were identified over the past decade, while apples and bananas distributed in schools contained a greater number of residues than those available in supermarkets. While\u00a0the government claims the residues are unlikely to be harmful, campaigners argue that the combined effect of different pesticides remains unknown. PAN said that using organic produce in the scheme would cost approximately 1 pence per child per day.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How best to predict how much money solar-plus-storage will save \n Increasingly, companies shopping for solar energy solutions now consider supporting these installations with energy storage. But it remains a challenge to run the numbers and prove how much money a solar-plus-storage project will actually save.\n\nTo meet the need for quick and credible calculations, several energy storage vendors, integrators, and software providers have introduced energy storage analysis tools. All these tools claim\u2014in various terms\u2014to deliver accurate projections of the financial value of solar-plus-storage projects. But here\u2019s the rub: What does accuracy mean in each case? Can companies rely on the results of these analyses as a reliable projection of future returns, or do they serve as an indication of possible value?\n\nOften, it\u2019s the latter, because some tools ignore important but hard-to-predict factors, such as future weather and changing load profiles. Their projections are based on best-case scenarios under ideal conditions or with predictable patterns. Yet if a company is going to decide whether to accept or reject a solar-plus-storage proposal based on the analysis provided by one of these tools, the software needs to be able to model the complexity of the real world. And due to that complexity, these tools require the guiding hand of an experienced energy storage professional.\n\nLet\u2019s unpack these two issues:\n\nAccounting for hard-to-predict factors\n\nWeather variability. The challenge of solar PV intermittency is not a problem of the changing position of the sun over a solar array. That impact is rather easy to calculate. It\u2019s the cloud cover over the array that defies easy prediction, and that wreaks havoc on energy bills when facilities incur heavy demand charges because they need to draw power from the grid.\n\nAppropriately sized energy storage can offset such intermittency, but it is impossible to size a system accurately without taking weather into account. A storage system that is too small won\u2019t always meet the need, and demand charges will occur. A system that is too large will be financially infeasible.\n\nModeling weather variability is possible, but it requires analysis of stochastic (random probability), rather than deterministic (fixed probability) processes. Historical weather data is not enough, especially in an era of climate change. Deriving the appropriate stochastic model requires the collection of years of performance data from actual energy storage installations. This is why many of the newer software providers, as well as integrators that don\u2019t own their storage equipment, agree not to talk about the weather.\n\nLoad variability. Most commercial and industrial facilities experience seasonal, daily and even minute by minute fluctuations in their loads. One can make competent assumptions about seasonal changes. Like the weather factor, unpredictable load variability is a reality that is very convenient to ignore.\n\nLoad variability is also a stochastic process, with many factors that can be accurately modeled only with advanced algorithms, derived from copious empirical data and industry experience.\n\nThe human component\n\nMathematical models are never perfect. Neither are people. But together, first-rate analysts and sophisticated algorithms can deliver the best attainable predictive accuracy. While algorithms excel in rapid, multifactor analysis, it takes an experienced human to decide which factors to analyze. Self-service online software tools\u2014some of which are now tantalizingly free\u2014can\u2019t adequately accommodate the idiosyncrasies of a commercial solar-plus-storage project.\n\nExperienced energy storage engineers are uniquely qualified, both to employ advanced energy storage analysis tools and to interpret the results. Ideally, these engineers will also be the ones operating the system, using the same software to refine the charge and discharge parameters and identify opportunities for additional savings when unforeseen circumstances arise.\n\nPerformance guarantees: the litmus test of storage models\n\nThe typical solar-plus-storage buyer would be hard-pressed to formally compare energy storage analysis capabilities based on proprietary algorithms and claims of engineering competence. There\u2019s no easy apples-to-apples comparison in this wide-ranging field. But there is a simple way to assess the legitimacy of an energy storage provider\u2019s claims: Ask for a performance guarantee. Providers that are confident in their projections can stand behind them with a guarantee of compensation if the energy storage system does not meet specified performance projections under actual loads. When providers do offer performance guarantees, their compensation claims should be corroborated with an evaluation of their financial stability.\n\nAs solar-plus-storage installations proliferate, at both the distributed and the utility scales, we will all have much more real-world data about energy storage performance and cost savings. It will be interesting to see how companies leverage that data to make more profitable energy investment decisions.\n\nSean Kiernan is Green Charge\u2019s Vice President and General Manager for Solar and Commercial Energy Storage.", "output": "Companies seeking to invest in solar energy solutions supported by energy storage find it difficult to project the savings storage will bring. Energy storage vendors are increasingly producing analysis tools to help provide the necessary calculations, but these are of varying reliability. Amongst the variables that can cause difficulties are hard-to-predict factors such as weather patterns and changing load patterns. Modelling weather is difficult, and load variability is also subject to constant fluctuations. Faced with these challenges, investors can ask for performance guarantees that provide compensation if the system doesn't meet the expected performance levels."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Europe could triple offshore wind growth \n A tripling of European offshore wind growth needed to meet the Paris Agreement climate goals is realistic between now and 2045, say experts.\n\n\u201cThe political will to support offshore wind goes hand in hand with cost reductions,\u201d said Michael Guldbrandtsen, managing consultant for offshore and manager of the Europe, Middle East and Africa research team at MAKE Consulting.\n\n\u201cIf we continue to see costs dropping, and developers show that they are capable of constructing wind farms at very low subsidy levels, then I think we could see more capacity coming on-line toward 2030.\u201d\n\nThe comments followed a recent warning by Navigant-owned Ecofys that Western Europe will need to install some 230 gigawatts of offshore wind across the Atlantic and North, Baltic and Irish Seas in order to meet the Paris targets on decarbonization of the energy system.\n\n\u201cWith 13 gigawatts installed currently,\u201d said Ecofys, \u201cthe region is far from the required total. To realize this growth, the offshore wind installation rate would have to triple from the current 3 gigawatts a year to approximately 10 gigawatts a year in 2030.\u201d\n\nMichiel M\u00fcller, managing director at Ecofys, also said he believed this was an achievable target. \u201cCurrently, I\u2019m pretty optimistic that this can happen,\u201d he told GTM.\n\n\u201cWhat I\u2019ve seen over the last couple of years is a very strongly increased political commitment to pursue this direction. This is supported by an industry that demonstrates it can decrease its costs significantly in a short period of time, making it very realistic.\u201d\n\nThe Ecofys research was originally published in March and aimed to see how Europe could achieve zero carbon emissions before 2050.\n\nThis would require a 50 percent reduction in total energy demand, compared to 2010, and a full decarbonization of the electricity supply by around 2045.\n\nEcofys restricted its study to countries in north Western Europe, and specifically the British Isles, Benelux, France, Germany and the Nordics.\n\nThe study accounted for the technically and economically feasible growth that might occur in onshore carbon-free generation sources such as biomass, hydro, solar and onshore wind.\n\nIt also assumed no new nuclear plants would be built beyond the already-troubled Flamanville 3 and Hinkley Point C projects, located in France and the U.K., respectively.\n\nWith practically all of Europe\u2019s nuclear fleet due for retirement in the run-up to 2050, this would leave nuclear catering to a miniscule portion of the study area\u2019s grid mix by 2045, compared to a roughly one-third share of electricity generation in 2010.\n\nThese onshore sources would only be able to supply 55 percent of the energy needed by countries in the region, Ecofys calculations showed. The research concluded offshore wind would be \u201cpivotal\u201d in decarbonizing the electricity supply.\n\nOf the 230 gigawatts of offshore capacity required, 180 gigawatts could be installed in the North Sea, Ecofys said. This presents challenges because the North Sea is an important nature area that is used intensively by a wide variety of economic sectors.\n\nEven assuming an average offshore wind turbine size of 8 megawatts, which represents close to the top end of the machines currently on order, around 22,500 turbines would need to be installed in the North Sea to deliver the capacity needed for decarbonization.\n\nThe space is there, said M\u00fcller, but what remains unclear is how so many turbines might affect marine ecosystems and wind resource.\n\nAnother problem is that all this wind power will increasingly need to be shunted back and forth to balance out local peaks and troughs in production.\n\nEcofys calculates between 50 and 80 gigawatts of interconnection capacity might be needed between the British Isles, mainland Europe and the Nordics.\n\n\u201cThe onshore grid is an essential part of the North Sea grid, too, and it needs to cope with new flow patterns,\u201d the consultancy observed.\n\nA final point, not addressed by Ecofys, is how the offshore wind industry might cope with a growing requirement to use floating turbine technologies in water depths that are beyond the scope of traditional foundations.\n\n\"Floating offshore wind remains in its infancy, and this means that it brings with it a number of risks,\u201d said Robert Bates, an assistant underwriter at the renewable energy insurer GCube.\n\n\u201cIn the first instance, the wind turbines and supporting infrastructure need to prove they can perform in what are often challenging marine conditions.\u201d", "output": "Europe is fully capable of tripling its offshore wind growth\u00a0and meeting its Paris Agreement goals by 2045, according to experts. Ecofys recently warned that Western Europe will need to install around 230 GW of offshore wind power to meet the goals set in Paris. It added that offshore installation would need to triple by\u00a02030 to achieve the targets. Ecofys Managing Director Michiel M\u00fcller said he was optimistic this could happen.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ohio may offer $10m in rebates to EV charging hosts \n Dive Brief:\n\nAmerican Electric Power has reached an agreement with the Electric Vehicle Charging Association and several other parties, setting forth a plan to spend almost $10 million on rebates for charging infrastructure in the utility's Ohio service territory.\n\nThe plan calls for 300 level 2 charging stations and 75 direct current fast chargers \u2014 more than doubling the 280 public charging stations in Ohio today, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.\n\nRebates will be provided to site hosts to purchase, own and maintain charging equipment, with emphasis on locating chargers in workplaces, at businesses and on government properties.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nNRDC, a party to the collaborative agreement, said it expects the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to approve the EV infrastructure plan based on its broad support.\n\nIf approved, it would be \"the first public charging station program to be authorized by regulators in the Midwest, paving the way for greater power sector engagement to accelerate the EV market to the benefit of all utility customers,\" the group said.\n\nThe pilot program aims to develop detailed information on the effectiveness of various electric vehicle program design elements, and will help to better develop proposals in the future. PUCO is also sponsoring PowerForward, a proceeding that explores how the state\u2019s utility customers can benefit from distributed resources. And last summer, the city of Columbus won the U.S. Department of Transportation $40 million Smart City Challenge with a proposal that included EV charging infrastructure.\n\nIn addition to AEP, NRDC and EVCA, commission staff, Sierra Club, and the Environmental Law and Policy Center were also involved in the proposal.\n\nAs part of the proposal, AEP will also gather data and publish regular, public reports on several station metrics, including the prices charged, use and their reliability.\n\n\u201cThe stipulation agreement is the result of trust and hard work put in by all parties to reach a scalable, sustainable program to support electric vehicle drivers in Ohio,\u201d EVCA President Terry O\u2019Day said in a statement.\n\nO'Day said the rebate program model has been successfully utilized in other areas of the country, and \"will quickly support drivers with valuable charging programs and low administrative costs.\"", "output": "The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio is expected to approve a plan to offer $10m in rebates for new public charging stations for electric vehicles. Under the agreement worked out between American Electric Power and the Electric Vehicle Charging Association, 300 level two charging stations and 75 direct current fast chargers would be installed, with rebates provided to site hosts to purchase, own and maintain them. The development would more than double the 280 public charging stations in Ohio, and is based on rebate programmes implemented in other parts of the US."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WaveLIFT gains funding to advance artificial lift pump technology \n WaveLIFT has secured funding of over GBP1 million to further develop its Artificial Lift pump technology for the oil and gas sector. The funding is led by Scottish business angel investment syndicate, Archangels, with co-investment from Scottish Enterprise and a private investor.\n\nBased in Stirling, Scotland, WaveLIFT was launched in 2016 to develop conceptual down-hole pump designs for the Artificial Lift arena of the oil and gas industry. This technology is in high demand with 90% of wells requiring a form of Artificial Lift \u2013 which is the use of an artificial means to increase the flow of crude oil, water or gas from a production well.\n\n\n\nWaveLIFT, is headed up by industry veteran, Steve Bruce, formerly Chief Executive of Darcy and Schlumberger, and Simon Munro, formerly of Business Growth Fund (BGF) and equity firm Lime Rock Partners, where he was Chairman. The funding will seek to further develop the technology to address the significant demand from both the conventional and unconventional oil and gas markets which are looking for highly efficient Artificial Lift technology.\n\n\n\nCommenting on the funding round, Steve Bruce, Chief Executive of WaveLIFT, says: \u201cThe need for exploiting the world\u2019s remaining oil reserves has never been greater. With increased exploration costs and reduced profit margins forcing operators to maximise returns from existing portfolios, we are well positioned to take advantage of this opportunity through our innovative Artificial Lift products.\n\n\n\n\u201cThis is an exciting time for WaveLIFT and we are thrilled that our investors are supporting the next stage of our business. Having the funding support of Archangels, the Scottish Investment Bank and private investment will allow us to continue to grow and commercialise our business.\u201d\n\n\n\nNiki McKenzie, Investment Director at Archangels, adds: \u201cArchangels\u2019 investors were keen to lead this funding for WaveLIFT who now require support to meet the growing demand for artificial lift products in the oil & gas sector. Their product is innovative and unique and it has gained positive feedback from some major players in sector. We have been providing growth capital and investing in start-up companies in Scotland for a quarter of a century and we are proud to have WaveLIFT in our portfolio of exciting businesses.\u201d", "output": "WaveLIFT has gained over \u00a31m ($1.3m) in funding for its product for the oil and gas market. The funding round was led by Archangels, a syndicate of businesses, with additional investment from Scottish Enterprise and a private party. The Scottish firm was established in 2016 to manufacture down-hole pump machines for the Artificial Lift sector, with 90% of wells needing an Artificial Lift to function."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Over-the-phone motor policies cost more than those bought online \n Watchdogs and customers blasted the fees, which come on top of spiralling premiums that have soared by a fifth\n\nExclusive: Insurance firms charging an extra \u00a315 to buy or renew policies over the phone instead of online\n\nInsurance giants are charging customers up to an extra \u00a315 to buy or renew policies over the phone rather than online.\n\n1st Central Car Insurance and Autonet Insurance both charge \u00a315 for the privilege of doing business through a call centre.\n\nHastings Direct has a \u00a312.50 call centre arrangement fee, which is in addition to other levies, including \u00a35 for sending documents by post.\n\nWatchdogs and customers blasted the fees, which come on top of spiralling car insurance bills that have soared by a fifth in the past year \u2013 from an average \u00a3577.22 to \u00a3690.35.\n\nImage: Getty) Getty)\n\nThe extra charges have come to light since an industry requirement for greater transparency was introduced.\n\nCaroline Abrahams, of Age UK , said: \u201cThis is undoubtedly rough on the millions of older people who are not internet users, many of whom can ill afford to pay a surcharge.\u201d\n\nComplaint handling group resolver.co.uk said it had received around 1,000 complaints about insurance in the past six months \u2013 with around a quarter relating to admin fees.\n\nImage: Getty Images) Getty Images)\n\nSpokesman Martyn James said: \u201cIt\u2019s absolutely astounding that a business would charge people for speaking to a customer service adviser.\u201d\n\nHastings Direct said: \u201cWe never charge anyone making a general inquiry or existing customers to phone us. Hastings Direct is largely an online insurance broker. A very small number of new customers want to complete the full buying process on the phone.\u201d\n\n1st Central said: \u201cMost insurers charge adjustment fees. We maintain clear communication with our customers to ensure they are aware of this.\u201d\n\nAn Autonet spokesman added: \u201cAll our fees are fully disclosed.\u201d", "output": "Watchdogs and consumers have criticised insurance companies that charge customers for buying or renewing their policies over the phone rather than online. Both 1st Central Car Insurance and Autonet Insurance charge \u00a315 ($19), while Hastings Direct demands a \u00a312.50 call centre arrangement fee. Organisation resolver.co.uk said it dealt\u00a0with about 250 complaints in the past six months\u00a0relating to insurance company administration costs. Hastings Direct said it only charged customers who completed the purchasing process via the phone, while 1st Central and Autonet said they made customers aware of the fees."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "London is insurtech capital as UK attracts record investment \n London remains European centre for InsurTech investment, says Accenture as \u00a3218m is ploughed into the sector.\n\nInvestment in InsurTech in the UK has surged to record levels, according to Accenture analysis of CB Insights data.\n\nAccenture noted that this is a \u201csign of confidence in the UK as a global hub for insurance technology\u201d.\n\nThe figures showed that investment in UK InsurTech has increased to \u00a3218m in the first half of 2017, compared to \u00a37.3m the year before.\n\nAccording to Accenture, the UK\u2019s decision to leave the European Union has not impacted the amount of investment coming into the InsurTech", "output": "London remains the \"undisputed centre\" for insurtech investment, despite the uncertainty wrought by the Brexit vote, according to data from CB Insights. It found H1 2017 investment in the sector was \u00a3218m ($283m), compared with \u00a37.3m the previous year, and 30% of all European insurtech deals were done in the English capital. The report also revealed investors flocked to cloud computing, the internet of things and big data technologies, while the number of deals rose 75% during the first six months of this year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Netherlands allocates 2.3 GW of solar capacity to winning bidders \n The Dutch Ministry of Economy has announced it has selected 4,386 PV projects with a combined capacity of 2,353 MW in the first round of the 2017 SDE+ (Stimulering Duurzame Energieproductie).\n\nThe government-run agency Rijkdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland (RVO), which is managing the SDE+ program, had previously pre-selected PV projects totaling 2,647 MW.\n\nOverall, the RVO has allocated 3,212 MW of renewable energy power generation capacity through the bidding round, the remainder of which is represented by large-scale wind projects totaling 643 MW, biomass projects with a combined capacity of 110 MW, and geothermal projects equaling 50 MW. The remaining 52 MW are represented by other minor renewable energy technologies.\n\nDespite solar boasting a share of 73% of the assigned projects, it will require only 49% of the funds allocated for the incentives, while wind power, which had a share of only 20% of the contracted capacity, will be entitled to receive 38% of the financial resources. PV projects will account for \u20ac2.86 billion, while wind power projects will require funds of \u20ac2.20 billion. Although the RVO had set a budget of \u20ac6 billion for this bidding round, the agency will grant incentives in the amount of \u20ac5.83 billion for all the selected projects.\n\nIn a letter sent to Parliament, in which details of the first round of the program were provided, the Minister of Economic Affairs Henk Kamp stressed that the positive performance of solar, both in terms of allocated capacity and funds, was made possible by the cost reduction achieved by the PV technology over the past few years.\n\nPopular content\n\nThe first round of the 2017 SDE program had three separate windows for submitting project proposals, which were opened on March 7, 13 and 20, and had a maximum tariff for solar of \u20ac0.090/kWh, \u20ac0.110/kWh and \u20ac0.125/kWh, respectively. Subsidies are granted for periods of eight, 12 or 15 years depending on the maximum number of full load hours for each technology.\n\nThe SDE+ compensates for the difference between the cost price of renewable energy and the market value of the energy supplied. Only PV projects with a power greater than 15 kW and a large-scale energy connection are eligible for SDE+ subsidies.\n\nThe \u201cautumn round\u201d for 2017, which will be the second and last round for this year, will be open from October 3 to October 27. The available budget for this round will be \u20ac6 billion.\n\nAccording to figures provided to pv magazine by Peter Segaar, owner of solar website www.polderpv.nl and analyst of Dutch solar market trends, operational ground-mounted PV installations exceeding 50 kW reached just 58 MW at the end of February. Most of the PV projects approved under the SDE+ program, however, have recently been completed. According to Segaar, the large 2016 budget allocations for the SDE+ program are partly realized, and another 600 MW in new PV power stations could be connected to the grid this year.", "output": "The Dutch ministry of economy has selected\u00a04,386 solar projects with a combined capacity of 2,353 MW\u00a0in the first round of this year's plan to stimulate sustainable energy production, known as SDE+. Of the\u00a03,212 MW of renewable power generation capacity allocated through the bidding round,\u00a0\u00a073% will be made up of photovoltaic projects, requiring 49% of the funding. Wind energy will make up 20% of the contracted capacity, but will require 38% of the financing.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Around 87,000 refugees arrive in Bangladesh amid Myanmar crisis \n Rohingya refugees carry an elderly woman from Rakhine state in Myanmar along a path near Teknaf in Bangladesh\n\nA total of 87,000 mostly Rohingya refugees have arrived in Bangladesh since violence erupted in neighbouring Myanmar on August 25, the United Nations said Monday, amid growing international criticism of Aung San Suu Kyi.\n\nThousands of the stateless Muslim minority have fled mainly Buddhist Myanmar and poured over the border since the latest round of fighting broke out.\n\nTheir arrival has piled yet more pressure on already overcrowded camps in Bangladesh and raised fears of a humanitarian crisis as aid agencies struggle to cope with the influx of mainly women and children.\n\nAround 20,000 more were massed on the border waiting to enter, the UN said in a report.\n\nDhaka stepped up border controls after the latest round of violence, but one Bangladeshi border guard told AFP the sheer number of people desperate to enter the country from Myanmar's western state of Rakhine had made it impossible to keep them out.\n\n\"It is bigger than the last time,\" said the guard, who asked not to be named, referring to the influx of refugees that followed an outbreak of violence last October.\n\n\"If it continues then we will face serious problems. But it's impossible to stop the flow: these people are everywhere.\"\n\nMany of the new arrivals lacked shelter from the heavy monsoon rains, and an AFP reporter said hundreds of new makeshift shelters had sprung up on the outskirts of the existing camps in recent days.\n\n\"It has been raining frequently since last week. We have to keep our children safe from being sick,\" said Amena Begum, a newly arrived mother of five.\n\nRakhine has been a crucible of religious violence since 2012, when riots erupted. Scores of Rohingya were killed and tens of thousands of people -- most of them from the Muslim minority -- were forced into displacement camps.\n\nBut the current round of fighting, which broke out when Rohingya militants ambushed security installations, is the worst yet.\n\nMyanmar's army has said nearly 400 people have died in the fighting that ensued, including 370 Rohingya militants.\n\n- 'Shameful treatment' -\n\nOn Monday the office of Myanmar's de facto leader Suu Kyi said the military had fought 90 separate clashes with Rohingya militants since the ambushes.\n\nIn a statement it said more than 2,600 homes had been destroyed in Rohingya villages and 138 houses had been destroyed in non-Muslim villages -- blaming the fires and other damage entirely on the militants.\n\nSuu Kyi is under increasing fire over her perceived unwillingness to speak out against the treatment of the Rohingya, who are viewed as interlopers in Myanmar.\n\nThe Nobel peace laureate, a former political prisoner of Myanmar's junta, has made no public comment since the latest fighting broke out.\n\n\"Over the last several years I have repeatedly condemned this tragic and shameful treatment,\" Pakistani activist and fellow Nobel peace prize laureate Malala Yousafzai said in a statement about the Rohingya crisis on Twitter.\n\n\"I am still waiting for my fellow Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to do the same.\"\n\nThe crisis threatens Myanmar's diplomatic relations, particularly with Muslim-majority countries in Southeast Asia where there is profound public anger at the treatment of the Rohingya.\n\nIndonesia's foreign minister Retno Marsudi met Suu Kyi as well as Myanmar's army chief General Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyidaw on Monday to press for greater efforts to alleviate the crisis.\n\nBangladesh, already home to an estimated 400,000 Rohingya before the latest influx, has also come in for international criticism for pushing people back to Myanmar.\n\nRights groups say this is a contravention of its international obligations.\n\nOn Monday officials on the small island of St Martin's nine kilometres (around six miles) off Bangladesh's coast said authorities had forced 2,011 Rohingya seeking refuge there to leave.\n\nElected official Farid Ahmed said children were among the refugees who were rounded up on Sunday evening before being taken back to Myanmar by boat.\n\n\"Rohingya children were crying. But it is the government order. What can we do?\" Ahmed told AFP.\n\n\"They (Rohingya) said, where should we go? They (Myanmar forces) were killing us there. Our houses were burnt. They were firing at us.\"\n\nScores of people have drowned while attempting to flee the violence, which also killed or displaced ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and other tribal groups allegedly targeted by Rohingya militants.\n\nRohingya refugees rest under a tent in a meadow in Ukhiya, Bangladesh\n\nThe refugees say that many young Rohingya men have stayed behind to fight.\n\nburs-cc/sm", "output": "De facto Myanmar leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is coming under increasing international pressure after 87,000 refugees arrived in Bangladesh to escape fighting and persecution in Myanmar, according to the United Nations. The refugees, mostly women and children, are joining already overcrowded camps, with another 20,000 people waiting at the Bangladesh border, according to a UK report. Myanmar's western state of Rakhine has seen escalating violence since 2012, with no public comment on the latest round of fighting from Suu Kyi.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Jackson Lee adds gadgets to its leisure product \n Gadgets have been added to the portfolio of products on its leisure insurance scheme.\n\nJackson Lee Underwriting has expanded its leisure insurance scheme to include gadget insurance.\n\nGadget insurance will be offered to brokers alongside its specialist leisure policies including caravan, cycle, camera and fishing.\n\nThe policy provides cover for up to three gadgets for breakdown, accidental damage and theft.\n\nSense\n\nNick Mohan, joint managing director for Jackson Lee Underwriting, commented: \u201cGadgets are increasingly excluded from many home insurance policies as a symptom of the", "output": "London-based Jackson Lee Underwriting has added gadgets to its leisure insurance scheme, offering policies that\u00a0cover breakdown, accidental damage and theft for up to three devices. \"Leisure pursuits are ubiquitous\u2026 so it makes complete sense to be able to offer gadget alongside other specialist leisure policies like caravan and cycle. We expect this latest addition to our leisure scheme to prove very popular\", said Nick Mohan, joint managing director for Jackson Lee Underwriting. Jackson Lee's specialist leisure policies are available on its online portal Abel.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers discover algae that convert fats into hydrocarbons \n In France, researchers discovered that certain species of algae can convert fats directly to hydrocarbons that can come in handy for biofuel production. Using sunlight as an input and filtering the contents of algae to leave them with protein solutions with some cell contents, they tested them for how well they converted to fats. They found a set of 10 proteins that existed in all three fractions that were able to convert fats, but one of them was a mystery protein. Once they identified that mystery protein\u2019s gene, they tweaked it and transferred it to bacteria where it converted fats to hydrocarbons. Interestingly, the reaction needed blue light to work and when they switched it to red light, the conversion process stopped. The discovery can lead to many applications that rely on algae fat conversion to hydrocarbons, like biofuel production.", "output": "Researchers in France have stumbled across a mystery enzyme in algae which, when subjected to blue light, was able to convert fats to hydrocarbons. The team found protein solutions made up from the algae containing flavin adenine dinucleotide enabled the creation of hydrocarbons and opened up the possibility of a simple and cost-effective method of producing biofuels using algae and light. The team behind the research believe the enzyme can be modified to produce very different chemical reactions."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers discover algae that convert fats into hydrocarbons \n It's pretty easy to grow vast quantities of microbes. It's a lot harder to convert those microbes into something useful. For example, we've engineered algae that, when starved for nitrogen, will put most of their stored energy into fats. Fats are chemically similar to hydrocarbons, so this is potentially useful for making biofuel. But \"similar\" isn't really good enough; you still need to process the fats before they can be used as a fuel.\n\nBut some researchers may have figured out a way to get biology to convert fats directly to hydrocarbons using nothing more than sunlight. They've identified an enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of fats to long hydrocarbons, which could be used as fuel with no further modification.\n\nFat vs. fuel\n\nGasoline is a mixture of different hydrocarbons, which are molecules that contain only hydrogen and carbon. The simplest hydrocarbons are linear chains, with a backbone of carbon atoms where each carbon is linked to, at most, two others (with two or three hydrogen atoms also linked to each carbon). The chemical processing done in refineries ensures that gasoline mostly contains branched hydrocarbons, wherein some carbon atoms are linked to three or four other carbons.\n\nFats (technically fatty acids) are almost-but-not-quite hydrocarbons. They have long linear chains of carbon atoms, but one of the end carbons is linked to two oxygen atoms. While this may seem like a relatively minor change to a carbon chain that can be 20 or more atoms long, the presence of the oxygen radically changes the chemistry of the molecule. It makes fats more likely to form solids, allows them to mix with water, and turns them into weak acids. All of these properties make fats a terrible option for use in internal combustion engines.\n\nThe obvious solution is to simply lop off the terminal carbon that's linked to those oxygens. Unfortunately, from a chemistry standpoint, the link to that carbon is more robust than the other links further down the chain. In other words, most chemical reactions will simply break the chain somewhere at random in the middle, which is not especially useful. Alternatives for getting rid of the oxygens tend to involve multiple steps, each requiring an input of energy and an efficiency less than 100 percent.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nNote that the last sentence says \"tend to\" and not \"always.\" Last year, French researchers discovered that certain species of algae are able to convert fats directly to hydrocarbons. Their new paper describes how they figured out why these algae are able to do so.\n\nLet there be light\n\nThe conversion process was potentially interesting from a biology perspective as well. That's because it seemed to involve light as an input. Even though almost all life on Earth depends directly or indirectly on sunlight, remarkably few chemical reactions used by life require light as an input. A search of the literature showed a grand total of three reactions, two of which are used for photosynthesis (the third repairs damaged DNA). If the fat-converting process used light to provide energy, then it would be big news for biology.\n\nTo find out, the researchers in France did some old fashioned biochemistry. They took the algae, ground them up, and then ran their contents over a variety of different materials that filter those contents based on different chemical properties, like molecular weight, charge, etc. This left them with a variety of protein solutions, each containing a fraction of the cells' contents, ranging from dozens to hundreds of proteins.\n\nThe researchers tested each of these fractions for the fat-converting activity. In the end, they found three fractions that contained the activity: one with 42 proteins, one with 93 proteins, and one with 709 proteins. Each of these proteins was identified, and the researchers discovered that a set of 10 proteins were present in all three fractions. Nine of these proteins were well known, and we knew what they did. The 10th was a mystery, so the researchers focused on it.\n\nThey identified its gene and tweaked it so that it worked in bacteria. Once it was transferred to the bacteria, they were also able to convert fats to hydrocarbons. And the researchers could switch the conversion on and off by switching from red to blue light\u2014the reaction required blue light to work. They also purified the protein and fed it fat which had had its carbon labelled with a specific isotope. This isotope showed up in carbon dioxide released by the reaction, confirming that the enzyme was simply lopping off the carbon bonded to the oxygen.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nHow does the protein manage this trick, and why does it need light to do it? The blue light it uses turns out to be the wavelengths typically absorbed by a chemical called \"flavin adenine dinucleotide\" (FAD), which is commonly used as a co-factor in many biochemical reactions. And, when the researchers looked at the structure of the enzyme, they found that FAD is present and held in close proximity to the oxygens of the fat molecule.\n\nThe authors think that, in this enzyme, light causes FAD to steal an electron from the fat molecule, leaving it in an unstable state. The fat responds by kicking out a carbon and two oxygens, forming carbon dioxide, a process that's very energetically favorable. After that happens, the remaining hydrocarbon steals the electron back from the FAD, resetting the enzyme for use on another fat molecule.\n\nSo, because it uses light for energy, the system doesn't need to be supplied with a constant source of chemical energy. That makes it much more convenient for use in processing chemicals than other enzymes, where you typically have to keep refreshing a supply of a chemical energy source (like ATP). It also makes the newly discovered enzyme interesting, since there are so few other examples of light-driven enzymes out there to study.\n\nFinally, the whole system works by light-driven electron transfers. And shifting electrons around is a central feature of a huge range of chemical reactions. This leads the authors to suggest that modifications to the enzyme could get it to catalyze very different chemical reactions. So biohackers could potentially have a field day generating new applications for this system.\n\nScience, 2017. DOI: 10.1126/science.aan6349 (About DOIs).", "output": "Researchers in France have stumbled across a mystery enzyme in algae which, when subjected to blue light, was able to convert fats to hydrocarbons. The team found protein solutions made up from the algae containing flavin adenine dinucleotide enabled the creation of hydrocarbons and opened up the possibility of a simple and cost-effective method of producing biofuels using algae and light. The team behind the research believe the enzyme can be modified to produce very different chemical reactions."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Barclays' new DIY investment service hit by\u00a0IT problems \n Barclays (LON:BARC) has been hit with a series of problems at its new DIY investment site, leaving many customers unable to log into their accounts, the Financial Times has disclosed. The website recently replaced the lender\u2019s 30-year-old stockbroking service.\n\nBarclays\u2019 share price has fallen deep into the red this morning, having shed 0.91 percent to 190.40p as of 09:45 BST, underperforming the broader UK market, with the benchmark FTSE 100 index currently standing 0.15 percent lower at 7,427.20 points. The group\u2019s shares have added just under 10 percent to their value over the past year, but have given up some 14 percent in the year-to-date.\n\nThe FT reported on Friday that Barclays had been hit with a series of problems at its new Smart Investor site, leaving many customers unable to log into their accounts and missing transactions. The FTSE 100 group shifted more than 200,000 customers with \u00a314 billion of assets over the bank holiday weekend, from its traditional Barclays Stockbrokers unit, to the new website, designed to appeal to a broader range of customers.\n\nThe newspaper noted, however, that a number of customers had said that they had not received log-in details and were even missing transactions in their account. Customers suffered waiting times of up to an hour to reach Barclays\u2019 customer services, and the bank was forced to turn off its live chat service to free up more staff to deal with the flood of calls.\n\nBarclays explained that customers complaining of missing transactions were likely being affected by changes to limit orders \u2014 orders to buy and sell stocks at specific prices. The bank had told customers before the switch that any limit orders would not be carried over to the new system and would need to be re-entered.\n\nThe news comes as FTSE 100 peer RBS (LON:RBS) signalled that it will invest heavily in IT in an effort to improve reliability for customers, as well as stiffen its defences against hackers.\n\nAs of 10:01 BST, Monday, 04 September, Barclays share price is 190.75p.", "output": "Customers have been locked out of Barclays Bank's new online DIY investment site, which was introduced last week to replace a 30-year-old stockbroking service. The glitch came as the bank moved 200,000 customers to the Smart Investor site, with many unable to log in and others being unable to perform\u00a0transactions, according to a Financial Times report. When affected customers sought to contact Barclays, many were left waiting for up to an hour on hold as staff\u00a0sought to handle the surge of complaints.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tinder becomes top grossing iOS app with Gold launch \n Mobile dating app Tinder has had a solid affirmation of its monetisation efforts by becoming the top grossing App Store app following the global launch of its premium subscription service Gold.\n\nTinder Gold\n\nThe chart measures the top earning apps each day and weighs them accordingly. On top of this, App Annie has shared data showing that the app has been in the top 15 earners for the whole of the year on account of its 2015 service, Tinder Plus providing a solid revenue stream.", "output": "The launch of its premium subscription service has earned mobile dating app Tinder the number one spot on the App Store's chart. Data from insights firm App Annie also revealed that Tinder\u00a0has consistently been in the top 15 earners for the entire year. Tinder's Gold service, which costs \u00a37.49 ($9.71) per month, offers extras\u00a0including the ability to immediately match and message. The service recently launched on desktop.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Half of output from Nigeria's largest power station is wasted \n Biggest Nigeria Power Plant Owed $352 Million by Government (1)\n\nYou must login to view this content.", "output": "Nigeria's largest power plant, Egbin, is owed NGN125bn ($352m) by the Nigerian government, while an ineffective transmission infrastructure means half the plant's output is wasted, according to CEO Dallas Peavey. Out of the 1.3 GW of energy produced by the facility's units, 700 MW is lost due to the overwhelmed grid. According to Peavey, the company is facing financial difficulties as a result of the government's debt, resulting in banks being reluctant to make loans to the company. The Nigerian government has said the NGN125bn debt figure is incorrect."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK news publisher offers advertisers real-time readership data \n ESI Media, publisher of The Independent and the Evening Standard, is giving agencies access to data on its most popular articles in a bid to give advertisers more control over the ads they buy and to build deeper, longer-term relationships with them.\n\nOnce ESI Media grants access, the agencies can view a dashboard, ESI RealTime, of the publisher\u2019s most popular articles across its portfolio, which also includes indy100 and Homes & Property. The dashboard pulls in Chartbeat data on the number of visitors to articles and dwell times, metrics that ESI Media, and other publishers, have used in their newsrooms for years. This can be sorted by publication, device, section (like travel, sport and business), location and referral. This way, a luxury advertiser can book ads against the most popular fashion articles that people in London are reading from social media.\n\nAn agency can make an inquiry about popular articles that meet an advertiser\u2019s needs. A member of the ESI Media ad ops team then follows up on that request. Ads are booked across media and can be served direct or programmatically, so long as the advertiser\u2019s request doesn\u2019t clash with priority campaigns, like homepage or channel takeover.\n\n\u201cI would expect this to win us more business; I\u2019m really bullish on that,\u201d said Jo Holdaway, chief data officer at ESI Media, although she knows not everyone will use the dashboard to book. \u201cIt\u2019s a point of difference to other media owners when it comes to long-term partners.\u201d\n\nOver the next few months, it\u2019s running its first campaign with beer brand Kronenbourg and the brand\u2019s agency Publicis, which requires a little more heavy lifting from the media owner. ESI Media analysts send the articles to ad buyers that are most likely to be read most and fall within the advertiser\u2019s guidelines. Within two hours, the agency returns ad creative relevant to the article. Kronenbourg ads with relevant copy have run on articles about the eclipse and France\u2019s president Emmanuel Macron. Currently, the brand is targeting the most popular articles around the football player transfer window.\n\nA recent popular story about why Liverpool football club didn\u2019t sell player Philippe Coutinho had 3,000 concurrent visitors who spent an average of 80 seconds with the article.\n\n\u201cThe scale is not always huge, but the tightness of targeting is there,\u201d said Holdaway. \u201cIf you book 2 million impressions across the top trending stories, I\u2019d be surprised if you didn\u2019t get that.\u201d ESI Media\u2019s properties have a total 23.5 million monthly unique visitors, out of a U.K. internet population of 50.5 million monthly unique visitors, according to comScore.\n\nArticles about Brexit, Trump and sports events routinely do well, with Brexit content fetching average dwell times of about three minutes. Advertisers that don\u2019t want ads to appear next to stories about terrorist attacks or other news stories can automatically de-list them. Because the ad buy is based on what people are reading, which isn\u2019t necessarily predictable, it\u2019s difficult for the publishers to give benchmarks or guarantees.\n\nHoldaway couldn\u2019t share figures on how well the ads were performing, as the campaign is still running. But she said early signs are encouraging, particularly the click-through rate on formats like its billboard and double MPU.\n\nFor now, only display ads are included in the available inventory, but in the next two months, the publisher hopes to include video pre-roll, too.\n\nESI Media\u2019s tool should bring more flexibility to media buying. Campaigns like the one it\u2019s running with Kronenbourg have a bespoke data element, which can help lead to longer-term relationships. \u201cThere\u2019s been a halo effect beyond how the core product was designed,\u201d said Holdaway.", "output": "The publisher of the Independent and the Evening Standard, ESI Media, is offering advertising agencies access to measurement data on popular articles to help build deeper relationships with brands. Participating marketers can view a dashboard offering real-time metrics, enabling brands to create engaging content tailored to what readers are looking at. Beer brand Kronenbourg and its agency Publicis are among the first clients to use the service, with early results described as \"encouraging\". ESI Media's stable of publications receives 23.5 million monthly unique visitors, according to comScore.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "eBay rethinks digital marketing approach in the UK \n EBay has a perception problem: People think of it as a storefront for used goods, when in fact, over 80 percent of what it sells on the site is new. To help it rebrand and shift people\u2019s thinking, the online retailer launched a global campaign in June. As it rolls out to the U.K. over the coming weeks, social media \u2014 particularly Instagram, Snapchat and influencers \u2014 is set to play a key role.\n\nOn Instagram, for instance, eBay is running dynamic videos, which automatically pull product inventory in real time from its Deals program that is then rendered into the ad format. The ads play between Stories, which are 15 seconds or less, and take up a user\u2019s full mobile screen. It\u2019s too early to share the results of this \u201cincubation test,\u201d eBay said, though the aim is to combine the high engagement in Stories with Facebook\u2019s robust targeting.\n\nOn Snapchat, the brand found the app\u2019s audience much older than it initially expected and the \u201cscale significant,\u201d said Gareth Jones, eBay\u2019s senior director of marketing in the U.K. He recently ran a campaign positioning eBay as a destination for people who need products to help them move, which included cardboard boxes, tape, new sofas, kitchen equipment, paint and furniture. The Home Move Snapchat campaign reached 3.5 million people who were 18 and over, said Jones. Earlier in the year, eBay ran a Mother\u2019s Day lens, which generated 16 million views on the platform \u201cin a few days,\u201d said Jones. More than half (57 percent) of all Snapchat\u2019s users in the U.K. engaged with the content, he added.\n\nUnlike other retailers, eBay\u2019s social efforts must build loyalty around a brand using products that are usually sold within a matter of days. However, the business is turning the ephemerality of its products into an opportunity, tapping into millions of unique stories every month from its sellers\u2019 products. How this plays on each of eBay\u2019s 16 social media platforms varies; on Facebook, for example, eBay mainly pushes time-sensitive promotions and retargeted items that people have previously viewed on the site. On Pinterest, the brand has created over 50,000 pins promoting lifestyle-based products related to relationships, home and garden as well as fashion.\n\n\u201cTV has a big role, but people consume audiovisual content in a myriad of different ways now,\u201d Jones said. \u201cSo we have developed content for linear TV, but also filmed bespoke content for Facebook, Snap, YouTube, etc. For eBay, the days of slicing and dicing the TV ad to squeeze it into shorter formats across social are over.\u201d\n\nThe company\u2019s CEO Devin Wenig envisions eBay becoming a destination for unique goods, while Amazon is the place for everyday products and commodities. For that to happen, the latest campaign, which attempts to position the business as a colorful contrast to Amazon, will need to be mindful of making major changes to what is still the second-most popular e-commerce site in terms of unique monthly visitors, which now top 170 million.\n\nYouGov brand-tracking data from the U.K. underlines eBay\u2019s strong position. In terms of Impression score, which is compiled by asking consumers if they have a positive or negative sentiment about the brand, the business ranks sixth in the sector rankings, only trailing BBC iPlayer and global giants such as Google, YouTube and Amazon. Furthermore, eBay\u2019s Recommend rating (whether you would recommend the brand to someone else) remains comfortably near the top of the sector, suggesting it continues to appeal to both sellers and buyers alike.\n\nEBay\u2019s recent campaigns show it had a successful Christmas period. During this time, its Ad Awareness score (whether a person has seen an ad for a brand in the last two weeks) grew by eight points \u2014 from 9 percent to 17 percent. Since then, the brand has maintained about a 15 percent average Ad Awareness score for the last six months, meaning it is in a strong position for its new campaign.", "output": "eBay is implementing a new digital marketing strategy for the UK roll-out of its latest global campaign. The online marketplace is targeting social media sites and apps with dynamic adverts which incorporate current products from its inventory in real time. The strategy includes bespoke footage filmed specifically for online use, rather than edited versions of TV ads, and seeks to position eBay as a hub for unique items. Meanwhile, tracking surveys show that the company retains a strong position as a trusted brand.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Workplace injury link needed for claims for suicide attempts \n Suicide is not always covered under workers compensation, but experts say in certain cases it can be.\n\n\u201cWhether an employer is liable for suicide or attempted suicide depends upon a causal connection between the emotional state that resulted in those activities and the employer,\u201d said said Robert Buch, Los Angeles-based partner and attorney at Seyfarth Shaw L.L.P. \u201cIn the case of physical injuries which require long care, cause significant pain, and maybe require multiple surgeries, an injured worker can develop something called a functional overlay, which is an emotional reaction to the long recovery process that could cause an emotional state resulting in suicide. In other instances, the question is whether the person has a pre-existing condition that he exhibits at the worksite ... where the employer plays no role but it just happens to be an active stage upon which this suicide occurs. These are medical questions that doctors have to advise us.\u201d\n\nA 2012 study conducted by Abay Asfaw, senior research fellow at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Kerry Souza, epidemiologist in the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations and Field Studies, that examined if injured workers were more likely than non-injured workers to be treated for depression after an occupational injury determined that within 3 months of an injury the odds of injured workers being treated for depression were 44% higher than for non-injured workers.\n\nThis month, a federal appeals court ruled in Leeward Marine Inc.; Hawai\u2019i Employers\u2019 Mutual Insurance Co. v. Director, Office of Workers\u2019 Compensation Program; William B. Kealoha that William Kealoha was entitled to workers comp for injuries from a suicide attempt.\n\nIn 2001, Mr. Kealoha worked for Ewa Beach, Hawaii-based Leeward Marine Inc. During his time as an employee of the company, he fell from a barge to a dry dock and landed on a steel floor, suffering blunt trauma to the head along with many other injuries. In 2003, Mr. Kealoha shot himself in a suicide attempt that he said was a result of his fall and stress stemming from litigation over a workers comp claim related to his injuries. A psychiatrist testified that due to the related trauma, chronic pain and stress, Mr. Kealoha suffered from major depressive disorder. He sought workers comp benefits and would eventually be awarded benefits under the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, according to court documents.\n\nSuicide is compensable when it can be tied to an uncontrollable impulse resulting from the workplace injury, experts say.\n\nIn 2008, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled in Sharon Vredenburg vs. Sedgwick CMS and Flamingo Hilton-Laughlin that Sharon Vredenburg, the surviving spouse of Danny Vredenburg, who committed suicide after a fall caused disc derangement in several locations along his spine, would be awarded workers comp benefits.\n\n\u201cWe conclude that suicides may be non-willful deaths under Nevada's workers compensation law if they are sufficiently causally connected to an industrial injury. In reaching this conclusion, we adopt the chain-of-causation test to determine whether a sufficient causal connection exists,\u201d the court said.\n\nWhile it is possible to receive workers comp benefits in cases involving suicide, experts say these cases can be challenging to prove. There needs be \u201ccausal connection between the stressor and the causation of the suicide,\u201d said Mr. Buch.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s challenging because when you think about it often you don\u2019t know what a person\u2019s history is,\u201d said Dr. Teresa Bartlett, Detroit-based senior vice president, Medical Quality at Sedgwick Claims Management Inc. \u201cYou don\u2019t know if they have a history of severe depression or mood disorders or a prior injury that may have impacted this.\u201d\n\n\u201cAggressive medical management early in a claim is the prevention to a tragedy, there is nothing better than quality care, and keeping an injured worker on a treatment regime is the most beneficial,\u201d she said.", "output": "Suicide is included in US worker compensation insurance when it can be tied to an uncontrollable impulse that results from a workplace injury, several US courts have ruled. However, to prove the right to workers' compensation benefits in suicide cases, there needs to be a causal connection between the stressor and the suicide, said Robert Buch, a partner and attorney at Seyfarth Shaw. Dr Teresa Bartlett, senior VP of medical quality at Sedgwick Claims Management, said that by offering an injured worker quality care, employers can prevent a tragedy."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California development to offer zero-net-energy housing \n California\u2019s largest net-zero-energy housing development is coming next year to the Central Valley.\n\nThird-generation homebuilder De Young Properties unveiled the 36-unit project Tuesday in Clovis, northeast of Fresno. The company has spent years redesigning its signature floor plans to include cost-effective energy efficiency improvements. The goal is to minimize the building\u2019s electrical load and install enough rooftop solar to cover what remains, matching consumption and production over the year.\n\nIn practice, that boils down to improvements in the building envelope, which keeps air conditioning in and summer heat out. That\u2019s not so hard in temperate coastal zones, but it\u2019s a whole different story in the sun-baked Central Valley, which was forecast to hit 108 degrees Tuesday.\n\nCalifornia is driving new home construction to net-zero energy by 2020 through the building code, as part of a broader climate goal to cut greenhouse gases from its economy. The first homes in De Young's EnVision community will be completed in Q2 2018.\n\n\"We know that at some point the state will require everyone to do this. Why not learn it ahead of time, get used to it and figure out how to bring costs down earlier?\" said Executive Vice President Brandon De Young. \"You're spending less on your energy bill, and the home's going to be more comfortable as well.\"\n\nThat quest has attracted some notable allies: Utility Pacific Gas & Electric and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) partnered in the endeavor to gather data on the energy improvements and the broader impact on the grid from this type of development.\n\nAll about the envelope\n\nAchieving this level of load reduction requires a lot more than buying fancier appliances.\n\nReducing the energy load needed for climate control starts with higher density insulation, better insulated windows, an electric heat pump and high-efficiency air conditioning.\n\nOn top of that, De Young added a thicker frame by switching out 2x4 wall studs for 2x6 lumber. That simple change demanded redesign, re-engineering and re-permitting for all the plans.\n\nThe homes sit on concrete slabs, so the duct work for heating and cooling goes in the attic. Historically, attics haven\u2019t been insulated, and can get up to well above the outside temperature in extreme heat. That means the HVAC system uses extra energy to counteract the heat that\u2019s fighting its way into the ducts from the attic.\n\nAll that energy usage, by the way, makes it possible for homes in this area to pay $800 to $1,000 a month for the utility bill, De Young said.\n\nHis way out of the steamy attic scenario: Insulate the roof, rather than the ceiling. This extends the \u201cthermal boundary\u201d and buffers the existing ductwork against the outside heat; the attic stays pretty close to the temperature inside the living quarters.\n\nOnce all that is done, the designers size the solar capacity to match the total annual demand of the house. Homeowners will lease from SolarCity (now Tesla) or buy the system outright as an additional feature on the home.\n\nYes, but is it cost-effective?\n\nDe Young Properties has been iterating models of energy-efficient home packages since around 2009. Since then, De Young said, prices have come down for efficient components.\n\n\"The cost for upgraded windows in 2009 was a pretty significant premium,\" he said. \"If we included it, we had to market the heck out of it to make sure people knew they were buying a better product. Now the windows that were expensive then are pretty commonplace.\"\n\nThe company built its first zero-net-energy pilot home in 2013 and has been optimizing design components to bring costs down since. The upfront premium for one of the new net-zero homes versus a comparable equivalent is down to single digits, De Young said.\n\nWhether that investment succeeds in zeroing out energy bills will depend on a family's consumption patterns, he cautioned (and there are fees that prevent anyone from truly getting to zero). If the monthly bill to beat is $1,000, though, it's hard to see these homes not making a massive improvement for a resident's energy budget.\n\nEPRI's role is to analyze the performance of the homes to verify the cost-effectiveness of the improvements.\n\n\"The ultimate goal is to achieve market transformation that leads to our decarbonization goals,\" said EPRI principal program manager Ram Narayanamurthy. \"Anytime we are trying to push the envelope as we are doing, we have to figure out what works and what doesn't.\"\n\nThat group's work with an earlier net-zero home project built by Meritage in Fontana had a felicitous outcome. The extra cost to achieve net zero was less than $20,000, or about $8 per square foot, Narayanamurthy said. When you break that out into additional monthly mortgage payments versus energy bill savings, the customers save more than they spend.\n\nDe Young's use of basic insulation materials in the attic to drive significant efficiency savings sets it up well for cost-effective performance, he added.\n\n\"It's about how you rethink your standard practice,\" Narayanamurthy said. \"Once you move to the new normal, it's really not that much more expensive.\"\n\nA duck curve in every kitchen\n\nPG&E's involvement may come as more of a surprise, given that an aim of net-zero homes is to minimize the net flow of money from customers to their electric utility.\n\nUnder current regulatory policy, though, PG&E doesn't make a profit on kilowatt-hours sold, said Peter Turnbull, the zero net energy program manager there. Regulators have tasked the utility with increasing both renewable generation and energy conservation, and the De Young project is a test case for both.\n\nPlus, the utility also has a stake in understanding what an influx of net-zero houses means for grid integration.\n\n\"Until you actually do it, there are some unknowns,\" Turnbull said.\n\nEach house will generate its own family-sized duck curve: demand in the morning before work, then an abundance of solar production for the middle of the day and an evening peak as the sun tapers off and residents arrive home after work.\n\nSince these homes aren't configured with battery storage, they could push a lot of kilowatts onto the grid at the same time as all the other solar generation rushes onto the grid. Then again, if the smart appliances and HVAC systems can crank at midday to take advantage of the surplus power, they could prevent irksome solar dumps on the wires.\n\nThe total load of these homes will be considerably smaller than equivalent-sized homes without the net-zero makeover, so that should minimize the broader impact as well.\n\nThere are enough variables here to demand a proper study before drawing conclusions. There's a little over two years left to learn before this becomes standard practice across the world's sixth-largest economy.", "output": "California house builder De Young Properties is to start work on the state's largest zero-net-energy housing development, with completion targeted for Q2 2018. Under the 36-unit scheme, which is backed by Utility Pacific Gas & Electric and the Electric Power Research Institute, homes will be constructed with an extended thermal boundary, as well as specially designed solar capacity. Additionally, when not consuming power\u00a0the buildings can not only plough excess electricity back into the grid, but, with the use of appliances and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning\u00a0systems working at noon, prevent solar dumps on to the grid\u00a0as well."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Universal in talks to sell stake in China's Oriental DreamWorks \n Universal is in talks to sell its stake in Oriental DreamWorks, the China-based joint venture animation company, according to reports.\n\nThe Financial Times reported Monday that Universal has held discussions to dispose of the 45% stake in the venture that it inherited when Comcast acquired DreamWorks Animation last year. The majority 55% holding is owned by Chinese investment and media group China Media Capital.\n\nThe report says that Universal and CMC have disagreed over strategy at the animation company and that it could be scaled down. Universal has its own access to animation production and may have greater priorities in China than a minority interest in an animation studio that has produced only one feature movie, \u201cKung Fu Panda 3.\u201d\n\nThe Financial Times report quoted CMC boss Li Ruigang pointing to strategic differences between the two firms. \u201cI am more focused on just China and less globally, while they want to make films in China for the world. Today the priority of Universal is a theme park in Beijing,\u201d he said.\n\nLast October, the Chinese government announced a surprise antitrust investigation into Comcast-NBCUniversal\u2019s acquisition of DWA. China\u2019s anti-monopoly laws empower the government to investigate foreign deals even if no Chinese companies are involved. It was not clear whether the probe focused on a possible concentration of animation production capacity in foreign hands through Comcast\u2019s ownership of Oriental DreamWorks, or whether the government was more focused on foreign ownership of theme parks in China. Comcast is building a Universal park near Beijing and has a smaller interest in a project in Shanghai. Disney has enjoyed a successful first year with its Shanghai Disneyland, while Fox and Six Flags are also building major parks.\n\nIn March, Variety reported that CMC and Universal were both looking at their options concerning Oriental DreamWorks. These included CMC taking control of Universal\u2019s stake for a face-saving nominal price, and then a possible integration of the business with other firms backed by CMC.\n\nOriental DreamWorks laid off some 40 animators in March. It is understood that other personnel have departed since that time.\n\n\u201cIt is very unlikely that Warner Bros. will step into the mix. They may just be being polite to CMC,\u201d one well-placed source told Variety. Time Warner and Warner Bros. have been long-term investors in CMC\u2019s multiple funds. Warner Bros. also has another joint venture with CMC, the Beijing- and Hong Kong-based Flagship Entertainment, whose mission is to produce films for China and global audiences.\n\nGlendale-based DWA has been re-evaluating the projects in its own pipeline. It canceled \u201cThe Croods 2\u201d and \u201cLarrikins,\u201d which was to have starred the voices of Hugh Jackman and Naomi Watts. \u201cKung Fu Panda 3\u201d failed to perform as well as expected at the box office.\n\nDWA\u2019s own productions with release dates include: \u201cHow To Train Your Dragon 3,\u201d with a March 1, 2019 date; \u201cTrolls 2\u201d on Oct. 10, 2020; and \u201cThe Boss Baby 2\u2033 due for March 26, 2021.\u201d\n\nHimalayan tale \u201cEverest,\u201d due out in September 2019, is the only ODW-backed picture on DWA\u2019s slate currently with a release date. That film is to be co-produced with Oriental DreamWorks, but funding for the film has not been finalized.\n\n\u201cEverest\u201d tells the story of a girl who tries to bring a yeti from the Himalayas back to Shanghai. The film was announced as being directed by Tim Johnson (\u201cHome,\u201d \u201cOver The Hedge\u201d) and Todd Wilderman (\u201cOpen Season 2\u201d) and produced by Suzanne Buirgy (\u201cHome,\u201d \u201cKung Fu Panda 2\u201d). The script was written by William Davies (\u201cHow to Train Your Dragon\u201d).", "output": "Universal has been holding talks about disposing\u00a0its 45% stake in Chinese joint venture Oriental DreamWorks. The move follows disagreements with majority stakeholder China Media Capital (CMC), with CMC boss Li Ruigang telling the paper \"I am more focused on just China and less globally, while they want to make films in China for the world.\" Last year, the Chinese government launched an antitrust investigation into Comcast-NBCUniversal\u2019s acquisition of DreamWorks Animation, which included Oriental DreamWorks as part of the deal.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google creates new metric to show frequency of shopping ads \n by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, September 1, 2017\n\nGoogle has introduced a report to show aggregate product status and a new metric \u2014 absolute top impression share \u2014 showing the frequency of Shopping ads and Local Inventory ads that appear in the first spot on desktop and on mobile.\n\nThe product status report and absolute top impression share aim to identify the gaps in products ahead of the holiday season, but also help marketers to measure a brand's competitiveness in Shopping campaigns.\n\nThe new diagnostics report in AdWords for the products page helps identify the aggregate product status, which shows the current status of an individual product in a campaign, such as products in the \"ready to serve\" or the \"disapproved\" category.\n\nWhen Google disapproves a product in the Merchant Center for any reason, the campaign will not serve up in Shopping. Marketers can see the reason for the disapproval in the product status column. A detailed explanation and information on how to fix it will appear in the speech bubble.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nWhen products serve up in Shopping, internal data from Google conducted in fourth-quarter 2016 found that the left-most ad on mobile Shopping results earns up to three times higher engagement from shoppers. Impressions in this position are called \"absolute top,\" per Google.\n\nThe company defines this as the total number of times the ad has appeared in the No. 1 position in Shopping during the times it would not otherwise have been in this position. For example, if the ad served up in the top spot in the results of eight queries, but was eligible for 20, then the \"absolute top impression share\" would be 40%.\n\n\"Absolute top\u201d impressions include ads from the Shopping carousel on Google search results and are available for both Shopping ads and Local Inventory ads.\n\nIf disapproved, products not eligible to serve up in Shopping campaigns, it can influence the number of shopping results that consumers see when searching on google.com and ultimately reduce the brand's total score.", "output": "Google has created a metric called absolute top impression share (ATIS), enabling marketers to determine which of their products are achieving the most impressions. According to the search giant, products that appear on the left of a carousel perform the best on mobile and desktop. ATIS offers campaigns a percentage score based on the number of times they appeared in that far-left slot, compared to the number of times they could have."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's Legend buys 90% of Luxembourg bank for $1.76bn \n Legend Holdings chairman Liu Chuanzhi attends a news conference on the company's annual results in Hong Kong, China, March 30, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]\n\nLegend Holdings Corp, parent company of the world's biggest PC maker Lenovo Group Ltd, reached an agreement on Friday to buy 90 percent of Banque Internationale a Luxembourg (BIL) for 1.48 billion euros ($1.76 billion), Reuters reported.\n\nIt marks the biggest takeover of a European deposit-taking bank by a Chinese firm so far, as well as Legend's biggest overseas acquisition.\n\nLegend said the acquisition is being made through its Hong Kong subsidiary Beyond Leap Limited.\n\nReuters reported in July that Legend was in talks with Precision Capital to buy a 90 percent stake in BIL. The remaining 10 percent is owned by the Luxembourg government.\n\nFounded in 1856, BIL is the oldest private bank in Luxembourg. It employs more than 2,000 people globally and, as of the end of 2016, managed a total of 37.7 billion euro in assets.\n\nThe deal is an important strategic investment for Legend. Financial services is one of the key target industries for the company, Legend Chairman Liu Chunzhi said.\n\nLiu said that Legend planned to support BIL and its current management, and build BIL into a Luxembourg-based international bank.\n\nThe deal, which has to obtain approvals from regulators including the European Central Bank and Luxembourg's Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier, is expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year.\n\nLegend said the company hoped to expand its financial sector layout in Europe through the deal, and provide services to enterprises participating in the Belt and Road Initiative.\n\nAccording to BIL's annual report, its net profit fell to 110 million euros in 2016 from 134 million euros in 2015, partly due to write-downs and restructuring expenses.\n\nAgencies contributed to this story.", "output": "Chinese investment holding giant Legend Holdings is buying 90% of Banque Internationale a Luxembourg for $1.76bn.\u00a0The acquisition represents the most sizeable takeover by any\u00a0Chinese company of a European deposit-taking bank. The move is\u00a0also the largest overseas deal\u00a0Legend has ever closed. The remaining 10% of the bank is owned by the Luxembourg government.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow part of consortium which plans to build 1,000 homes \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nPLANS for 1,000 new homes near Nantwich are moving forward now that a sale of land in Reaseheath has been completed.\n\nA consortium of builders Taylor Wimpey, David Wilson Homes and Redrow Homes has completed the purchase of a site in Reaseheath, which has planning permission for more than 1,000 properties.\n\nThe plans for the development include affordable housing, land reserved for a district centre and new school as well as large areas of Public Open Spaces including equipped play areas, and open spaces.\n\nThe development will also make financial contributions towards off site highway improvements, primary and secondary schools, and public realm.\n\nIan Harrison, land and planning director at Taylor Wimpey North West, said: \u201cThis development is a long time in the making and we\u2019re delighted to partner with both David Wilson and Redrow to buy this site and bring much-needed housing to the area.\n\n\u201cThe Reaseheath development promises to be much more than just houses \u2013 we\u2019re building a community we want new and existing residents in and around the area to be a part of and proud to live in.\u201d\n\nJason Corner, development director at David Wilson Homes, said: \u201cThis development will provide a positive addition to Nantwich and we are delighted to be working alongside Taylor Wimpey and Redrow.\n\n\u201cThe scheme will provide new homes and community benefits along with highway improvements for the wider area.\u201d\n\nAlex Wood, land director for Redrow Homes (NW), added: \u201cRedrow is proud to be part of the consortium which will create a sustainable new community, complete with homes, school, employment and sports and recreational opportunities in the town, and will deliver significant improvements to the local area in addition.\u201d\n\nThe step forward for the development was welcomed by Nantwich town councillor and Mayor of Cheshire East, Arthur Moran, who said the news of a new school and improvements to the highways are particularly exciting.\n\nCllr Moran said: \u201cWhen we (Nantwich Town Council) were asked to comment on the local plan, it was on of the areas supported by the town council, unlike some of the sites that have since been developed.\n\n\u201cIt is a big development for Nantwich and it will provide a lot of facilities.\u201d\n\nWork on the site will start this summer.", "output": "UK house builder Redrow is among a consortium of companies planning to build up to 1,000 homes near Nantwich in Cheshire. Redrow will work alongside Taylor Wimpey and David Wilson Homes to develop the recently-purchased site in Reaseheath, which will include housing, play areas, a district centre and a new school. The development will also contribute to off-site improvements.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers devise algorithm to improve PV microgrid performance \n A group of scientists from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Chinese Association of Automation is proposing to increase the inertia of PV systems connected to micro-grids through inertia emulation, in order to improve the reliability and stability of the micro-grids.\n\nThe research team claims it has developed a computer-based algorithm that can be integrated with distributed generation setting algorithms to improve dynamic performance and lower implementation requirements.\n\nAccording to the scientists, the algorithm is able to mirror the microgrid's inertia as needed by alternating the system's direct current over specific ranges.\n\nPopular content\n\n\u201cThe inertia emulation is realized by controlling the charging/discharging of the direct current (DC)-link capacitor over a certain range and adjusting the PV generation when it is feasible and/or necessary,\u201d the researches said in their paper, which was published in IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica (JAS).\n\nThe algorithm, the researchers said, can make the microgrid work like a large power grid with large inertia. Simulations performed by the scientists seem to confirm that the solution does work as intended.", "output": "The inertia of PV systems connected to microgrids can be controlled by altering the charging of the direct current, according to scientists from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Chinese Association of Automation. An algorithm is able to copy the microgrid's inertia, which can be changed as required by means of the direct current. According to the researchers, the algorithm can make the microgrid work like a large power grid with large inertia."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China to produce hydrogen fuel cell vehicles for 2022 Olympics \n Hydrogen fuel cell passenger cars will be produced in Zhangjiakou City, Hebei province, to serve the 2022 Winter Olympics to be jointly hosted by the city with Beijing, as an automatic production line of hydrogen fuel cell engines recently went operation, Beijing Daily reported on Sept. 1.\n\nThe production base established with an investment of 1 billion RMB ($152 million) by Beijing SinoHytec Co., Ltd is projected to manufacture 10,000 vehicles a year after construction of all production lines is completed in 2018.\n\nThe hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, with a maximum range of 500 kilometers, can be started at even 30 degrees Celsius below zero, and can be stored at even lower temperatures, which means the vehicles are suitable for the winter weather in Zhangjiakou.\n\nLi Jianqiu, a professor at Tsinghua University, noted that, compared with traditional vehicles that consumes 6 to 8 liters of gasoline every 100 kilometers at a cost of 40 to 50 RMB, the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle consumes only 1 kilogram of hydrogen at a cost of 30 RMB.\n\nAbout 2.04 million diesel trucks in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region are believed to discharge some 6.48 million tons of pollutants each year, while the hydrogen fuel cell vehicles produce zero emissions and are thus environmentally friendly.\n\nIn addition, the hydrogen used as fuel for the vehicles can be discharged in a timely fashion, which ensures safety of the vehicles.\n\nZhangjiakou is advantageous for developing hydrogen energy as it has a demonstration zone of renewable energy and the world\u2019s largest wind power hydrogen production. Producing hydrogen with wind power not only lowers costs, but makes efficient use of the surplus wind power of more than 10 billion kilowatts of the city on a yearly basis.", "output": "Hydrogen fuel cell passenger vehicles are being produced to serve the 2022 Winter Olympics in China. The vehicles will be manufactured in Zhangjiakou City, which is jointly hosting the Games with Beijing. A new production plant is being created with an investment of CNY1bn ($152m) from Beijing-based vehicle tech firm SinoHytec and is expected to produce 10,000 vehicles a year when it is completed next year. The hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are well suited to the local cold climate as they can be started at temperatures as low as -30C.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Jaguar Land Rover reinvents the steering wheel \n The steering wheel as we know it doesn't have a bright future -- in fact, it might disappear altogether as self-driving cars hit the road. Jaguar Land Rover, however, has an idea as to how it might survive. The British automaker has unveiled a concept steering wheel, Sayer, that's designed for an era where cars normally drive themselves and personal ownership is a thing of the past. The wheel would have its own AI system, and would follow you from car to car -- you'd just hook it in to bring your experience with you.\n\nThe AI would largely serve as a concierge. It would link you to an on-demand service club, whether or not you own your car, and would help you get a ride when and where you need it. If there's a must-attend meeting, for example, you could tell the wheel while it's still in your living room and it would figure out when a car needs to arrive and tell you when you might want to take control.\n\nSayer (named after influential designer Malcolm Sayer) will be a core feature on an upcoming concept car, the Future-Type.\n\nWill something like this wheel ever reach production? Probably not. Jaguar Land Rover is making a few assumptions about self-driving cars, such as the likelihood that you'll have a steering wheel and the need to integrate AI into a dedicated device. Your phone and a cloud service might be all you need. Instead, we'd treat this as a thought exercise. It might never come to pass, but it could give engineers something to consider when they design the first wave of autonomous vehicles.", "output": "Jaguar Land Rover has developed Sayer, an artificial intelligence (AI) steering wheel concept, which the company said could ensure the component's survival in an age of self-driving cars. Sayer, which comes with its own AI system, would follow drivers, who would not need to own their own vehicle, from car to car, linking to an on-demand service club or organising transport for users."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow offers homes for 75% of value through scheme \n Home advantage for families in Prestwich\n\nFamilies who fear being forced out of Prestwich by rising house prices are being given a helping hand by Redrow.\n\nThe homebuilder has got a number of properties at its Woodland View development for sale under its unique Advantage scheme, which means they can be bought for just 75% of the market value providing people fulfil a strict criteria.\n\n\u201cWe are very much aware of how hard it can be to get on to the property ladder, so it\u2019s important that our developments offer different ways to help people achieve home ownership,\u201d explains Claire Jarvis, sales director for Redrow Homes (Lancashire).\n\n\u201cAnd it\u2019s why our developments like Woodland View include a range of affordable homes designed to help local people stay in the area, thereby strengthening the community. Communities can be created anywhere, but they are considerably enhanced by people who have lived in the area for many years and whose families have lived here too. They are invested in a place and interested in making it a better place \u2013 for everyone.\u201d\n\nRedrow is offering a range of 24 homes for sale under the Advantage umbrella at Woodland View, off Pinfold Drive. Ten of them will be four-bedroom Kenilworth family-sized homes, of which four are available now.\n\n\u201cIt is important that we don\u2019t just make our Advantage homes available for younger first-time buyers,\u201d adds Claire, \u201cIt\u2019s vital to provide for the family market too, whether that\u2019s to accommodate growing numbers of children or, simply, children who are growing up and need that private space and independence.\n\n\u201cIn an area like Prestwich, which is very much on the up following a massive town centre regeneration scheme, it becomes even more difficult as demand forces prices up even further and people can be left with no alternative but to move away to be able to afford a home of their own.\u201d\n\nThe four Kenilworth homes currently available are offered at the discounted price of \u00a3213,750 \u2013 a massive saving of \u00a371,250 \u2013 for those who fit the specified criteria set by Bury Council within whose authority the homes are being built: that means families who need the extra space with a joint income of circa \u00a360,000 (in order to confirm eligibility, the council will multiply gross annual income by four for single applicants or by 3.5 for joint applications).\n\nFurther qualifying factors include it being the family\u2019s main residence and being able to show a need for the size of home being applied for (ie. a single person or couple will only be able to apply for a two-bedroom property). Certain considerations can be waived if a property has been completed and there is no interest from other qualifying families, but buyers do have to be on the council's affordable housing waiting list to access the homes and they must have lived in the area for at least six months.\n\n\u201cUnlike other incentives like Help to Buy, the 25% discount does not have to be paid back at a later day. All we ask if that people who use Advantage pass the discount on to similar qualifying people when they come to sell,\u201d Claire says.\n\nWoodland View features a range of two, three and four-bedroom homes from Redrow\u2019s Arts & Crafts-inspired Heritage Collection, which combines traditional craftsmanship exteriors based on the popular era with bright, spacious interiors.\n\nThe three-storey Kenilworth townhouse is an integral part of that collection with plenty of period-style features outside and a modern, well-appointed interior within. Its accommodation includes an open plan kitchen and dining area, lounge, cloakroom and laundry room on the ground floor; three bedrooms and a family bathroom on the first floor; and a sumptuous master bedroom with en-suite spanning the entire top floor.\n\nOther properties due to be offered under the Advantage umbrella at a later date include a pair of four-bedroom detached Stratfords, four Broadway three-bedroom terraces and eight two-bedroom apartments, ensuring plenty of variety for local buyers.\n\nOther three and four-bedroom detached open market properties are coming soon.\n\nWoodland View is close to a Tesco superstore and residents can take advantage of the independent shops, bars and restaurants of Prestwich village centre\n\nLess than four miles from Manchester, the development is situated just off junction 17 of the M60, so close to the extensive motorway network. It is also on the doorstep of Phillips Park, with its extensive woodland and open spaces, which makes it ideal for families and professionals who want to commute to work but get that work/life balance for a better quality of life.\n\nPrestwich is part of the Manchester Metrolink Tram system, with regular trams every few minutes during the rush hour, connecting to Manchester in around 17 minutes and Bury in 19.\n\nTo find out more about the Advantage Scheme and qualification, and about Woodland View itself, visit the show home and sales centre, open Thursday to Monday between 10am and 5.30pm; or go to redrow.co.uk/woodlandview.", "output": "UK housebuilder Redrow is offering aspiring homeowners in Prestwich 25% off the market price on one of 24 houses on its Woodland View development, thanks to the company's Advantage scheme. The properties are available to anyone fulfilling the criteria laid down by Bury Council, which include a minimum residency of six months in the area and a minimum joint income of around \u00a360,000 ($77,680). The Advantage scheme does not require customers to pay back the 25% reduction, but rather pass it on when they come to sell.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ReNew Power Ventures is India's largest renewable energy company \n January 2011Gurgaon$200 million$880 millionNAIn a span of six years ReNew Power Ventures has become India\u2019s largest clean energy producer and what has been remarkable is the its ability to raise large rounds of funding.Operating in the infrastructure sector is not easy given the high capex involved, but ReNew and its founder, Sumant Sinha, has done it with remarkable ease. The company is one of the well-funded in not only the renewable energy space, but also across industries in the year 2017.\u201cTo consistently be able to maintain a leadership position in the renewable energy space in India as the leading wind and solar IPP in the country is something that we pride ourselves on. We have a clean capital structure and have established a high degree of credibility which allows us to raise funds faster from marquee investors,\u201d said a spokesperson from ReNew Power Ventures.The company boasts of investors such as Goldman Sachs , the largest shareholder in the company, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Asian Development Bank and Global Environment Fund.The company raised $200 million from JERA \u2013 an equal joint venture between Japan\u2019s largest utility Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) and Chubu Electric Power Co earlier this year. Overall, it has raised $880 million in equity funding till now.The ability to raise equity as well as debt funding successively has helped it become one of the leading renewable energy players in the Indian industry. On the back of this capital, ReNew Power Ventures has quickly scaled up its capacity to 2 GW from 1 GW in the last one year.\u201cWe look forward to maintaining our leadership role in the sector and have at the start of the year been able to commission the largest solar project amounting to 143 MW in the state of Telangana. ReNew Power has added 1GW in the last financial year and we hope to maintain a similar pace of growth in the future as well. However, it will depend upon the upcoming auctions in the wind and solar energy sector. Our commissioned and under construction capacity today is over 3000 MW,\u201d shared the spokesperson.Sinha, whose father is the former finance minister Yashwant Sinha and brother is the current Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, was the COO of wind turbine manufacturer Suzlon Energy before starting up in 2011.The first company in the renewable space to have over 1000 MW in wind and solar capacity, Sinha recently told ET that the company was preparing for an IPO. \"The IPO could be launched within the next 12 months and could be amongst the largest listings of shares in recent times,\" said Sinha to ET. According to estimates, the company is valued at $2billion.However, there are significant challenges for the company. Some of the factors keeping the renewable energy sector in a stranglehold like high tariffs and prohibitory capital costs have been resolved to a great extent, yet payment delays by discoms is affecting the entire chain.Discoms have always been the weak link of the energy chain and have almost brought the sector to its knees many times in the past. And, ReNew wants government to step in and secure the chain.\u201cFor several states, payment cycles have been erratic, there have been delays in payments. In such cases, the risk premium attributed to a state gets increased and is reflected in the levellized cost of energy in subsequent bids. The government must therefore work towards developing a payment security mechanism which ensures payments are made on time,\u201d shared the spokesperson.The PPAs (power purchase agreements), a contract signed between power producers and the distribution companies, have been a most abused agreements in the industry. With discoms running in losses, most of them have shown their inability to honour the agreements which they have made with power producers.\u201cAt the state level, there should be policy consistency which will aid in the prompt signing of PPAs. Discoms should also maintain the sanctity of the signed PPAs and not try to renegotiate or cancel the commitment that has already been made. The government should continue to work on enhancing the process of grid integration of renewables and the must run status of renewables should be protected,\u201d shares the spokesperson.Rating agency ICRA had also recently warned against the renegotiation or cancellation of signed PPAs which are bound to affect the rating of independent power producers like ReNew. State discoms in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh have attempted to walk this road.With technology moving fast, renewable companies are looking at an exciting time ahead. Technological advances like smart grids and storage are two of the things which ReNew management feels will play a big part in disrupting the sector.\u201cStorage, both behind the meter as well as grid scale will emerge as a disruptive force in the Indian market. When the costs eventually come down, we will be able to deploy Giga-Factories for manufacturing of storage technologies in India. This will be a compliment deployment of renewable capacities across the country. A key innovation that is required to provide a fillip to the renewable energy industry is the setting up of a smart grid with an ability to accommodate a large share of renewable energy capacity,\u201d said the spokesperson.Working in an extremely complex segment, the Sinha has insisted on fostering an entrepreneurial culture instead of a bureaucratic way of functioning and this is what, the spokesperson says, has kept the company keep abreast of the competition.With the government planning to generate 175 GW of its electricity through renewable energy, ReNew plans to consistently target 10% of the new capacity added every year in the country.", "output": "ReNew Power ventures has become India's largest renewable energy company and is preparing to go public with an IPO within the next year. Founded in 2011, the company has attracted $880m in equity funding to date, with investors including Goldman Sachs, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Asian Development Bank, and Global Environment Fund. The backing has enabled it to double its capacity from 1 GW to 2 GW in the past year, and the company is reportedly valued at $2bn. Its future plans are based on targeting 10% of the new renewable capacity added in India each year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "3D printing could significantly reduce downtime in offshore O&G \n Additive layer manufacturing technology has gained prominence in the aerospace sector and is being used for the rapid production of prototype parts. Its credibility has quite literally \u2018taken off\u2019 and is now used to build in-flight production components for aircraft.\n\nIts applications are being adopted in other sectors such as medical and automotive as a potentially faster and more economical alternative to traditional manufacturing methods for certain applications. Though it offers huge potential to the oil and gas arena, its uptake so far has been limited. The industry\u2019s risk-averse culture, lack of infrastructure and stringent standards have been cited by leaders as barriers to adoption.\n\nYet, as experienced in other industries, the technical and economic benefits far outweigh the obstacles. The oil and gas industry\u2019s growing focus on operational efficiency in today\u2019s low price climate is slowly driving change and a realisation that the challenges are not insurmountable.\n\nTwo main groups of technologies can be of benefit to the oil and gas industry: powder bed fusion and direct energy deposition. Both use a diverse range of metals in wire and powder form, which can be fused together using lasers, electron beams and electric arcs.\n\nAsset life extension\n\nFor ageing oil and gas assets, replacement components may be difficult to source, require a long lead-time to manufacture and incur significant expense to produce.\n\nStephen Fitzpatrick, senior manufacturing engineer with the University of Strathclyde\u2019s Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) believes the direct energy deposition additive technique called laser metal deposition could be the answer to re-manufacture difficult to weld oil and gas components, such as those made of corrosion resistant steels and heat resistant super alloys.\n\nHe says: \u201cCurrently, no re-manufacturing procedures exist for some high value components, but by applying additive material to a specific area that\u2019s worn; you can extend the life of a component, and increase its functional performance. This could play a key role in enabling oil and gas operators to reinstate their existing old equipment, reduce lead-time, allow options to extend maintenance schedule cycles, and increase functional performance.\u201d\n\nLaser metal deposition is a powder additive manufacturing process where powders are conveyed through a nozzle and a laser is used to melt the layer of powder into a desired shape. According to Fitzpatrick, this process offers many benefits for the oil and gas sector and in particular, for re-manufacturing applications.\n\n\u201cIt has very fast cooling rates, which creates a very fine microstructure,\u201d he says. \u201cThere is also very low dilution and heat-affected zone into the substrate material, meaning that thinnerclad layers can be applied whilst still ensuring that the clad composition is achieved.\n\n\u201cA secondary benefit to lower dilution and a small heat-affected zone is that there will be shallower residual stress profiles, meaning very little distortion of components. This process can be applied very accurately meaning fine features can be achieved with minimal post-process machining. Alloy powders can also be mixed together to create new alloys that can be functionally graded to obtain tailored properties.\u201d\n\nThough this technology has been around for several years, its adoption has been slow, which may be due to a lack of control and insight into the process.\n\n\u201cWith growing research, advanced optics and the availability of high powered lasers achieving the correct parameter windows, the additive process is realising its potential,\u201d Fitzpatrick explains: \u201cThis is particularly relevant for remanufacturing applications where old assets can be reinstated into service to last beyond original design life. In some instances, there is an opportunity to avoid unnecessary scrapping and increase performance to that greater than the original component. Overall, this will have a significant economic impact for oil and gas businesses.\u201d\n\nThe AFRC is currently investigating deploying laser metal deposition for remanufacturing of aging assets, such as shafts, valves and pumps and as an alternative to traditional cladding of valves. A development process is initially undertaken so that porosity is mitigated and the correct parameter windows are identified to provide a quality output. This can then be tested and validated.\n\nBuilding complete parts\n\nThere are other direct energy deposition technologies that could also have a big impact on the industry.\n\n\u201cA lot of oil and gas companies are also looking at wire arc additive manufacturing to start building complete parts,\u201d says Fitzpatrick. \u201cThis method allows you to build a component from nothing to a near net shape state. Again, this isn\u2019t a new process. It makes use of traditional gas metal arc welding techniques to build large structures, and offers the potential of improved material utilisation, extremely short lead times and overall cost reduction.\u201d\n\nThe potential of offshore 3D printing\n\nAdditive layer manufacturing, a form of 3D printing, also offers significant opportunities. The use of powder bed fusion additive processes to manufacture spares for instance, is likely to increase, helping to save costs from not having to carry inventory. Other benefits include being able to rapidly produce complex prototype geometries and the consolidation of various parts into a single manufactured component bespoke to requirements, that may be difficult, if not impossible, to make using standard manufacturing techniques.\n\nAs manufacturing needs not be constrained to a complex fabrication facility, further reaching benefits for the oil and gas industry also include reduced supply chain as well as the future potential to produce parts quickly, when required, on an offshore asset, which could reduce the risk and costs of downtime.\n\nAdditive manufacturing and composite material systems will undoubtedly continue to replace many of the traditional uses of formed metallic parts and materials in the oil and gas industry. However, there are still an important set of conditions when forged and formed components are unquestionably the right answer \u2013 both economically and technically \u2013 to a particular design or manufacture challenge.\n\nResearch carried out by the AFRC has shown that additive manufacturing can offer opportunities to improve existing routes of material production or even to replace some of them. However, further research is needed to fully understand the influence of different process parameters on microstructure and properties of the final product.", "output": "Using 3D printing technology to manufacture spares could drastically reduce offshore downtime in the oil and gas industry. The use of powder bed fusion additive processes is likely to rise, helping reduce costs by extending the lifespan of individual components, and reacting more efficiently to faulty ones. The ability to produce bespoke components like spare parts instantaneously on-site, and a reduced supply chain, will also prove a boon to the flagging industry."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Blockchain solar-energy marketplace Power Ledger raises AUD17m \n Power Ledger, a blockchain-based peer-to-peer renewable energy marketplace, has netted more than $17 million AUD through two POWR token presales. Once it opens to the ...\n\nPower Ledger, a blockchain-based peer-to-peer renewable energy marketplace, has netted more than $17 million AUD through two POWR token presales. Once it opens to the public, the Power Ledger ICO is expected to raise more than $30 million.\n\nThe Power Ledger ICO is Australia\u2019s first initial coin offering, and the Perth-based company has attracted notable investors, including Blockchain Capital and venture capitalist Bill Tai.\n\nThe Power Ledger P2P marketplace, which has already been rolled out to some parts of Australia, allows property owners and organizations to buy and sell solar power over a blockchain-secured network. POWRs, which are ERC20 tokens and thus tradeable on the Ethereum blockchain, can be converted to SPARKZ, the marketplace\u2019s native currency. Users can then trade SPARKZ for units of electricity on the company\u2019s private blockchain.\n\nAccording to a media release, Power Ledger held both a discounted private presale and a public presale. Both of these distribution events had contribution caps, and they raised a total of $17 million AUD, which includes $8.8 million in direct USD investment. On September 8, Power Ledger will begin an uncapped sale, after which they expect to have raised $30 million.\n\nhttps://twitter.com/PowerLedger_io/status/903177331698798592\n\n\u201cDemand has significantly exceeded our expectations,\u201d remarked co-founder and Managing Director Dave Martin. \u201cAs the first Australian ICO, we\u2019ve been breaking new ground, and have been unable to rely on precedent to help us set targets. We initially hoped to raise a conservative AUD$5-$10 million, but the strength of the market response has been phenomenal.\u201d\n\nThe company plans to use the funds to open its marketplace to new platforms, including India and other emerging markets.\n\n\u201cWe want to spread the tokens far and wide, allowing as many potential future users access to them from inception and creating a diverse and powerful network,\u201d Martin added. \u201cWe believe that literally giving power back to the people will catalyze the movement towards peer-to-peer renewable energy trading, which lies at the core of Power Ledger.\u201d", "output": "Australian peer-to-peer renewable energy marketplace Power Ledger has raised more than AUD17m ($13.6m) in presales, ahead of the country's first initial coin offering (ICO). Power Ledger's blockchain technology allows companies and organisations to buy and sell solar power directly over the network. The company said both distribution events had contribution caps, but that the ICO demand \"significantly exceeded\" their expectations. Power Ledger plans to use the funds to expand into India\u00a0and other emerging markets."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vestas partners with Tesla on wind farms that can store energy \n By Anna Hirtenstein\n\nTesla Inc. has partnered with Vestas Wind Systems A/S to figure out how to combine wind turbines and batteries, socking away power during breezy times to use when the air is still.\n\nThis partnership is part of a wider global program run by Vestas, the world\u2019s biggest wind-turbine maker. It\u2019s seeking to add energy storage to its wind farms and is working with a number of other battery makers on about 10 projects in total.\n\nVestas announced its new focus on storage at its latest annual general meeting in April, and the partnership with Tesla was first reported by Denmark\u2019s Borsen newspaper. Chairman Bert Nordberg has said Vestas is seeking a new competitive edge amid consolidation in the industry and after it surpassed General Electric Co. last year to take the biggest market share in the U.S.\n\n\u201cAcross a number of projects, Vestas is working with different energy storage technologies with specialised companies, including Tesla, to explore and test how wind turbines and energy storage can work together in sustainable energy solutions that can lower the cost of energy,\u201d Vestas said in a statement on Friday.\n\nThe broader program started in 2012 with a project in Lem-Kaer, Denmark, with atest project to combine wind turbines and batteries. Vestas said it plans to commission additional projects worldwide.\n\nTesla has recently begun to seek new applications for its batteries beyond its electric cars and Powerwall battery units. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk signed a deal with the South Australian government in July to built a giant energy storage facility to help balance the grid.", "output": "Tesla has joined forces with Vestas Wind Systems to determine how wind turbines and batteries can be combined to store energy that can be used during non-windy periods. Vestas is looking to add energy storage to its present wind farm facilities, working on 10 projects to find a solution with battery manufacturers. Vestas currently has the largest market share among wind turbine makers in the US, ahead of General Electric. Tesla is seeking new opportunities for its batteries beyond electric cars and battery units."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sembcorp buys private-equity stake in Indian renewables venture \n Sembcorp Industries (Sembcorp) will invest $301 million to increase its stake in a renewable energy business in India.\n\nSembcorp's wholly-owned subsidiary Sembcorp Utilities has agreed to acquire IDFC Private Equity Fund III's remaining stake in Sembcorp Green Infra (SGI) for 14.1 billion rupees (approximately S$301 million).\n\nThis comes after Sembcorp Utilities had raised its stake in SGI to 72 per cent for one billion rupees in August this year.\n\nSembcorp said SGI is one of the largest renewable energy providers in India, operating in seven states there.\n\nIt was awarded 250MW in India's first national wind power tender earlier this year, reflecting the strength of its capabilities, said Sembcorp.\n\n\"Buying IDFC's stake in SGI reaffirms Sembcorp's commitment to a long-term presence in India.\n\n\"The deal will allow us to drive SGI's growth as the 100 per cent owner, and increase our investment in a wind and solar generation portfolio that strongly complements our thermal power assets in the country,\" said Sembcorp group president and chief executive Neil McGregor.", "output": "Sembcorp Industries' subsidiary Sembcorp Utilities will acquire IDFC Private Equity Fund III's stake in Sembcorp Green Infra (SGI) for INR14.1bn ($220m) to take complete control of the company. In August, Sembcorp raised its stake in SGI to 72% for INR1bn. As the full owner of SGI,\u00a0Sembcorp Industries will develop renewable power generation and deliver more sustainable electricity to its customers, said Sembcorp group president and CEO Neil McGregor. SGI's combined wind and solar power capacity in operation and under development comes to almost 1,200 MW."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "World Bank to lend $150m to Indian solar project \n IFC likely to lend $150 mn to ACME Jaipur Solar Power\n\nInternational Finance Corporation, the private-sector investment arm of the World Bank, is likely to provide debt financing worth $150 million (around Rs 960 crore) to ACME Jaipur Solar Power Pvt. Ltd to construct a 250 MW solar power plant in Madhya Pradesh.\n\nIFC will provide $50 million by subscribing to non-convertible debentures (NCDs) and mobilise a loan worth $100 million from other lenders, it said in a disclosure. The project is estimated to cost around $200 million.\n\nIn February 2017, ACME Solar Holdings Ltd had won a bid to set up the 250 MW plant at the Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Park in Madhya Pradesh.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nACME Solar is a wholly owned subsidiary of ACME Cleantech Solutions Pvt. Ltd. ACME Jaipur Solar Power, a subsidiary of ACME Solar, will undertake the project development, construction, financing, operations and maintenance of the plant.\n\nThe plant is likely to be commissioned by November 2018 and the power generated will be sold to Madhya Pradesh Power Management Company Ltd and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.\n\nThe Madhya Pradesh government has appointed IFC as the lead transaction adviser to facilitate private investment for the Rewa solar project.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nEarlier this week, IFC proposed to provide debt finance of $150 million (Rs 960 crore) to Actis-owned Solenergi for constructing a 250 MW solar power plant in the Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Park. The park is set to house three units of 250 MW each.\n\nIn 2015, IFC had provided $50 million debt finance to one of ACME Solar\u2019s power plants in Rajasthan. But ACME Solar is no longer associated with the project as it has been handed over to France\u2019s EDF Energies Nouvelles as part of an asset swap, according to the disclosure.\n\nIn November 2016, ACME Cleantech Solutions raised Rs 500 crore ($73 million) from billionaire Ajay Piramal-controlled Piramal Enterprises Ltd and Dutch pension fund APG Asset Management NV to buy out French firm EDF Energies Nouvelle and Luxembourg-based EREN Renewable Energy, which held a 25% stake each in group company ACME Solar Energy Pvt. Ltd.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nACME Solar is an independent power producer, which builds, owns and operates solar power plants in India. It has an operating capacity of over 809 MW solar projects in India.\n\nACME Group was founded by Manoj Upadhyay in 2003. The group is into energy, environmental and telecommunications infrastructure solutions.\n\nIFC has both direct and indirect exposure to Indian companies. It often acts as a limited partner to local private equity and venture capital funds.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIFC joined hands with Tata Group to create the first private sector \u2018green investment bank\u2019 in India, called Tata Cleantech Capital Ltd. In May, IFC said it had planned to invest $40 million in Tata Cleantech.\n\nIFC has emerged as a large investor in the renewable energy space.\n\nLast year, it had invested $125 million in Hero Future Energies.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIFC had also invested in Azure Power and provided debt funding to Actis-backed Ostro Energy.\n\nShare article on Leave Your Comments", "output": "The World Bank's private sector investment arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), is to lend $150m to independent power producer Acme Jaipur Solar Power to build a 250 MW solar power plant in Madhya Pradesh. Acme solar projects in India already have an operating capacity of more than 809 MW. Acme secured $50m of debt finance from the IFC in 2015 for a project in Rajasthan, which was subsequently handed to France\u2019s EDF Energies Nouvelles.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI helps in the fight to spot sex traffickers \n Follow the money APA-PictureDesk GmbH/REX/Shutterstock\n\nAfter Kubiiki Pride\u2019s 13-year-old daughter disappeared, it took 270 days for her mother to find her. When she did, it was as an escort available to be rented out on an online classified web site. Her daughter had been drugged and beaten into compliance by a sex trafficker.\n\nTo find her, Pride had to trawl through hundreds of advertisements on Backpage.com, a site that in 2012, the last date for which stats are available, was hosting more than 70 per cent of the US market for online sex ads. When it comes to identifying signs of human trafficking in online sex adverts, the task for police is often no easier. Thousands of sex-related classifieds are posted every week. Some are legal posts. Other people, like Pride\u2019s daughter, are forced to do it. Working out which ads involve foul play is a laborious task.\n\nHowever, the task is being automated using a strange alliance of artificial intelligence and bitcoin.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nLearn about the future of AI: Join DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis at New Scientist Live\n\n\u201cThe internet has facilitated a lot of methods that traffickers can take advantage of. They can easily reach big audiences and generate a lot of content without having to reveal themselves,\u201d says Rebecca Portnoff at the University of California, Berkeley.\n\nBut a new tool developed by Portnoff and her colleagues can ferret traffickers out. It uses machine learning to spot common patterns in suspicious ads, and then uses publicly available information from the payment method used to pay for them \u2013 bitcoin \u2013 to help identify who placed them.\n\nThe digital trail\n\nThe tool will help not only the investigation and intervention of potential traffickers, \u201cbut also to support prosecution efforts in an arena where money moves with rapidity across financial instruments and disappears from the evidence trail\u201d, says Carrie Pemberton Ford at the Cambridge Centre for Applied Research in Human Trafficking.\n\nThere are about 4.5 million people who have been forced into sexual exploitation. In the US, many of them end up advertised on Backpage, the second biggest classified ad listing site. People list everything from events to furniture there, but it has also become associated with sex ads and sex trafficking \u2013 so much so that the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has said that the majority of child sex trafficking cases referred to them involve ads on Backpage.\n\nNormally, the tell-tale sign that an advert involves trafficking is that the person behind it is responsible for many other adverts across the site. However, this is difficult to spot, as adverts mention the people being trafficked, not the traffickers.\n\nTo identify the authors of online sex ads, Portnoff\u2019s tool looks at the style in which ads are written. Artificial intelligence trained on thousands of different adverts highlights when similar styles have been used, and clusters together likely candidates for further investigation.\n\nThe second step comes via the payment method. Credit card companies stopped the use of their services on Backpage in 2015, leaving bitcoin as the only way to paying for adverts.\n\nEvery transaction made using bitcoin is logged on a publicly available ledger called the blockchain. It doesn\u2019t store identities, but every user has an associated wallet that is recorded alongside the transaction. The AI tool searches the blockchain to identify the wallet that corresponds to each advert.\n\nEvidence for the prosecution\n\nIt is also easy to see when each ad was posted. \u201cWe look at cost of the ad and the timestamp, then connect the ad to a specific person or group. This means the police then have a pretty good candidate for further investigation,\u201d says Portnoff.\n\nOnce the police know which ads are of dubious origin, they can call the numbers on them in the knowledge that they might well be linked to crime. \u201cNarrowing down from the hundreds of thousands of ads online will be very useful for law enforcement officers who have to read through so many ads during an investigation,\u201d says Portnoff.\n\nDuring a four-week period, the research team tried out their tool on 10,000 adverts. It correctly identified about 90 per cent of adverts that had the same author, with a false positive rate of only 1 per cent. One of the bitcoin wallets they tracked down was responsible for $150,000 worth of sex adverts, possible evidence of an exploitation ring.\n\nBackpage has not yet responded to New Scientist\u2019s requests for comment.\n\nThe team is working with a number of different police forces and NGOs with the hope of using the tool in real investigations soon. The work was presented at the Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining in Canada this month.\n\nThe trafficker who kidnapped Kubiiki Pride\u2019s daughter was eventually caught and sentenced to five years in prison. Successfully prosecutions like that are rare, but with Portnoff\u2019s new tool that could soon change.", "output": "The University of Berkeley, California has developed a method of finding human traffickers using machine learning. The technique utilises AI to spot common patterns in ads for sex workers on sites such as Backpage, and tracks the people behind the ads from publicly available data on the payment method, Bitcoin. The only way to pay for an ad on Backpage is through Bitcoin, making the payment traceable through the blockchain to a particular wallet. The technology was tested on 10,000 ads with 90% accuracy, and tracked a wallet that was responsible for $150,000 worth of ads, likely indicating an exploitation racket.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shell to build world\u2019s largest hydrogen electrolysis plant \n Shell is planning to build the world\u2019s largest hydrogen electrolysis plant in Germany\n\nThe project, with ITM Power, will take shape at the Wesseling site of the Rhineland refinery.\n\nWith a capacity of ten megawatts, it would be the largest plant of its kind in Germany and the largest PEM (polymer electrolyte membrane) electrolysis in the world.\n\nIn addition to the production of hydrogen, the technology could also contribute to the stabilization of the electricity grid with an increasing share of irregularly available renewable energies in the energy mix.\n\nShell represented by Shell Deutschland Oil GmbH and Shell Energy Europe Ltd, together with the European consortium partners ITM Power plc, SINTEF, thinkstep and Element Energy, have been invited by the European Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint Undertaking (FCH 2 JU) to prepare a contract to promote the project.\n\nThe Rheinland refinery already uses around 180,000 tonnes of hydrogen per year for its production processes. This is produced by steam reforming from natural gas and water vapor. In the case of electrolysis, on the other hand, water is split into hydrogen and oxygen by means of current.\n\nThe project would enable the construction and operation of an electrolysis with a capacity of ten megawatts. The aim is to test the technology on an industrial scale, to achieve cost synergies and to develop new business models. The electrolysis operated with inexpensive electricity from renewable energies could be a key technology for a potential CO 2 free hydrogen generation in the Rhineland refinery.\n\n\u201cThe planned hydrogen electrolysis would be a step that opens up many possibilities for the future,\u201d says Raffineriedirektor Dr. Thomas Zengerly.\n\n\u201cThe hydrogen produced can be fully integrated into the refinery processes. The site also allows the facility to be expanded at a later stage to deliver hydrogen to potential customers outside the refinery.\u201d\n\n\u201cHydrogen is a promising technology also beyond the direct use as a clean fuel in the transport sector . In the future hydrogen is expected to play an important role in the integration of energy storage and grid balancing. In this way, hydrogen can contribute to the reliability of the energy system with a growing share of irregularly available renewable energies in the energy mix,\u201d said Brian Davis, VP, Integrated Energy Solutions at Shell.", "output": "Shell is heading a consortium that includes ITM Power and SINTEF, which aims to open a 10 MW hydrogen electrolysis plant at its Wesseling refinery site in Germany. The project, the biggest of its kind in the country, and the world's largest polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolysis facility, aims to test the technology on an industrial scale, as well as identify cost savings and develop new business models. \"Hydrogen is expected to play an important role in the integration of energy storage and grid balancing,\" said refinery director Dr Thomas Zengerly."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Three San Diego hospitals fined for patient harm incidents \n Three San Diego hospitals are among 10 across the state penalized Thursday for mistakes that severely injured, or killed, patients.\n\nThe California Department of Public Health levied a total of $618,002 in penalties against the facilities, including $233,650 in financial pain for Sharp Coronado Hospital, Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns and Vibra Hospital of San Diego, for errors which included an attempted suicide, a sponge left inside a patient and a fall-related death.\n\nIt\u2019s the first such penalty for Sharp Coronado, the fifth for Sharp Memorial and the second for Vibra.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAll of the incidents are described in investigative reports which were also released by the state Thursday as part of an ongoing \u201cimmediate jeopardy\u201d program created in 2007 by the state legislature in an attempt to curtail preventable harm in hospitals which are estimated to kill between 210,000 and 400,000 Americans each year.\n\nThe health department periodically penalizes hospitals after investigations are complete and notifies the public of the infractions. The latest batch of penalties involve incidents which occurred across a four-year span from 2012 to 2016.\n\nSharp Coronado received a $47,025 penalty for the most recent incident on the list. According to the state\u2019s investigative report, a man arrived in the hospital\u2019s emergency room on Sept. 24, 2015, and, when asked why he was there, reportedly told a security guard \u201cthat he would only talk to a doctor.\u201d\n\nNearly one hour later, the man was found with a belt around his neck hanging from a hook in the emergency department\u2019s bathroom. A medical team, according to the report, later found that the patient had gone so long without oxygen that he suffered severe brain damage and remained on a breathing machine, a feeding tube in his stomach, when he was discharged 21 days later.\n\nThe situation was made worse when a responding nurse was not able to open the restroom door because it was locked from the inside and the normal tools used to open the lock, usually a \u201cpair of scissors or a dime\u201d according to the report, were not immediately available.\n\nIn a statement, Sharp said it regrets the incident and has made changes.\n\n\u201cThe plan of correction included steps to ensure that all emergency department patients are immediately seen by a nurse and that ED nurses are proficient at emergency access to restroom doors,\u201d Sharp said in a statement.\n\nSharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns in Serra Mesa was fined $86,625 for failing to follow surgical procedures when a woman who underwent a C-section operation on Oct. 8, 2014, was later found to have an 18-inch-square sponge in her abdomen which was not removed before her surgical site was closed. The sponge was not discovered until 11 weeks later, and, by then had caused enough internal damage to require \u201cremoval of scar tissue, (her) right fallopian tube and part of (her) colon,\u201d according to the state\u2019s report.\n\nInvestigators were unable to determine whether the hospital\u2019s policy of counting all sponges before each surgery, and again before closing surgical sites, was followed to the letter. Though interviews with nurses and other technicians involved in the procedure indicated that the employees thought they had followed the procedures, there was no way to prove that was the case because the white board used to track sponge counts is not part of each patient\u2019s medical record.\n\nThe physician who performed the C-section, according to the state, \u201cno longer works at the facility and was unavailable for interview.\u201d It was unclear Thursday what exact circumstances made the doctor unavailable to investigators.\n\nIn a written statement, Sharp said it regrets the sponge slip up and has made changes at Mary Birch from mandatory education to enhancement of \u201csponge audits.\u201d Those audits, the statement said, include \u201cusing clear plastic bags (instead of red biohazard bags) to collect removed sponges for easier visualization and counting\u201d and \u201cimplementation of radio frequency technology which aids in identifying the location of surgical sponges.\u201d\n\nVibra Hospital of San Diego, a long-term care facility in Hillcrest, was fined $100,000 after a patient, who was admitted on Sept 16, 2015, with multiple skin infections, a brain disorder and other serious medical issues, fell in his room on Sept 29. Investigators state in their report that the patient suffered a brain bruise called a subdural hematoma when his head struck the ground. He died on Oct. 2 and investigators later found that nurses assigned to the patient had not conducted a proper fall assessment.\n\nYameeka Jones, the facility\u2019s chief executive, said in an email \u201cVibra Hospital of San Diego places the highest value on patient safety and has worked closely with the California Department of Public Health to remedy the deficiencies.\u201d\n\nFacilities fined by the state Wednesday, in addition to those in San Diego County, include:\n\nKaiser Foundation Hospital, Los Angeles: $75,000\n\nKindred Hospital South Bay, Gardena: $71,250\n\nLoma Linda University Medical Center, Murietta: $42,750\n\nMission Community Hospital, Panorama City, $50,000\n\nSt. Joseph Hospital, Eureka: $40,000\n\nValley Children\u2019s Hospital, Madera: $71,962\n\nHealth Playlist \u00d7 On Now Video: Leaders urge public to help extinguish hepatitis outbreak On Now San Diego starts cleansing sidewalks, streets to combat hepatitis A On Now Video: Scripps to shutter its hospice service On Now Video: Scripps La Jolla hospitals nab top local spot in annual hospital rankings On Now Video: Does a parent's Alzheimer's doom their children? On Now EpiPen recall expands On Now Kids can add years to your life\n\npaul.sisson@sduniontribune.com\n\n(619) 293-1850\n\nTwitter: @paulsisson", "output": "Three San Diego hospitals are among 10 across the state penalized Thursday for mistakes that severely injured, or killed, patients.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Medicare Physician Fee Schedule and Alternative Payment Models \n The current focus on improving Medicare physician payment through a variety of Alternative Payment Models (APMs) is widely perceived as a major shift away from fee-for-service, therefore reducing the importance of improving Medicare\u2019s Physician Fee Schedule (PFS). But even if APMs eventually replace the PFS as the dominant payment methods, key aspects of the fee schedule (or an equivalent tool) will remain important and deserve attention. Not only does the PFS continue to govern nearly $90 billion in Medicare payments annually, it also serves as the basis for, among other things, setting payment rates, making real-time payments to providers, and calculating shared savings.\n\nOn Tuesday, September 26, the Urban Institute, the USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy, and the Actuarial Research Corporation hosted a one-day conference on the evolution and state of the PFS and to consider the movement to new payment models. The conference included four sessions and a brief lunchtime address, and feature experts involved in designing and implementing the PFS 25 years ago, those currently working on improvements to the PFS, and those working to design and implement new APMs and other innovations.", "output": "Even if APMs eventually replace the PFS as the dominant payment methods, key aspects of the fee schedule (or an equivalent tool) will remain important and deserve attention.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trump Administration Sharply Cuts Spending on Health Law Enrollment \n WASHINGTON \u2014 The Trump administration is slashing spending on advertising and promotion for enrollment under the Affordable Care Act, a move some critics charged was a blatant attempt to sabotage the law.\n\nOfficials with the Department of Health and Human Services, who insisted on not being identified during a conference call with reporters, said on Thursday that the advertising budget for the open enrollment period that starts in November would be cut to $10 million, compared with $100 million spent by the Obama administration last year, a drop of 90 percent. Additionally, grants to about 100 nonprofit groups, known as navigators, that help people enroll in health plans offered by the insurance marketplaces will be cut to a total of $36 million, from about $63 million.\n\nThe officials said the administration believed that the cuts were necessary because of \u201cdiminishing returns\u201d from advertising. They said the number of first-time enrollees in Affordable Care Act coverage fell by 42 percent this year, compared with 2016. In addition, they said that many navigator groups failed to meet their enrollment targets last year, despite sometimes receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funds.\n\nThe Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, denounced the cutbacks. \u201cThe Trump administration is deliberately attempting to sabotage our health care system,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen the number of people with health insurance declines and costs skyrocket, the American people will know who\u2019s to blame.\u201d", "output": "The Trump administration is slashing spending on advertising and promotion for enrollment under the Affordable Care Act, a move some critics charged was a blatant attempt to sabotage the law.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How one California county is fighting high-priced surgeries \n Retiree Leslie Robinson-Stone and her husband enjoyed a weeklong, all-expenses-paid trip to a luxury resort \u2014 all thanks to the county she worked for.\n\nThe couple also received more than a thousand dollars in spending money and a personal concierge, who attended to their every need. For Santa Barbara County, it was money well spent: Sending Robinson-Stone 250 miles away for knee replacement surgery near San Diego saved the government $30,000.\n\n\u201cThe only difference between our two hospitals is one is expensive and the other is exorbitant,\u201d said Andreas Pyper, assistant director of human resources for Santa Barbara County, referring to the local options.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAfter years of hospital industry consolidation, frustration with sky-high hospital bills and a lack of local competition is common to many employers and consumers across the country. Fed up with wildly different price tags for routine operations, some private employers are steering patients they insure to top-performing providers who offer bargain prices. Santa Barbara County, with about 4,000 employees, is among a handful of public entities to join them.\n\nThe county has saved nearly 50% on four surgery cases since starting its out-of-town program last year, officials said. The program is voluntary for covered employees.\n\nAt a Scripps Health hospital in the San Diego area, the county paid $61,600 for a spinal fusion surgery that would have cost more than twice as much locally. It avoided two other operations altogether after patients went outside the area for second opinions.\n\nTypically, employers are seeking deals through \u201cbundled payments\u201d \u2014 in which one fixed price covers tests, physician fees and hospital charges. And if complications arise, providers are on the hook financially. Medicare began experimenting with this method during the Obama administration.\n\nSanta Barbara County is among about 400 employers on the West Coast working with Carrum Health, a South San Francisco, Calif., start-up that negotiates bundled prices and chooses surgeons based on data on complications and readmissions.\n\n\u201cNot all surgeons are equal. We don\u2019t want to give Scripps a blank check. That defeats the whole purpose,\u201d said Sachin Jain, Carrum\u2019s chief executive.\n\nSanta Barbara officials try to persuade workers and their family members to participate in its program by waiving co-pays and deductibles. The county pays about $2,700 in travel costs and still comes out way ahead.\n\n\u201cIf that doesn\u2019t speak to the inefficiencies in our healthcare system, I don\u2019t know what does,\u201d Pyper said. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like buying a Toyota Corolla for $50,000 and then going to San Diego to buy the same Corolla for $16,000. How long would the more expensive Toyota dealership last?\u201d\n\nEven as more employers and insurers embrace bundled payments, the Trump administration is applying the brakes.\n\nIn August, Medicare officials proposed canceling mandatory bundled payments for certain surgeries and scaling back the program for knee and hip replacements. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, when he was still a member of Congress, accused Medicare of overstepping federal authority and interfering in the doctor-patient relationship. Hospital trade groups have voiced similar objections.\n\nThat leaves some health-policy experts dismayed.\n\n\u201cThese bundled payments put pressure on medical providers \u2026 and the savings are astonishing,\u201d said Bob Kocher, a former health official in the Obama administration and now a partner in the venture capital firm Venrock.\n\nSanta Barbara County officials said they had no choice after seeing their medical costs soar by 15% in each of the last two years. Like many local governments, it has an older workforce prone to chronic illness, blocked arteries and bum knees.\n\nBut health costs run higher than the state average in this scenic coastal county of about 450,000 people, according to data from Oakland-based Integrated Healthcare Assn. By one measure, the average health insurance premium in the individual market runs $660 a month in Santa Barbara, 27% higher than in Los Angeles.\n\nStill, Maya Barraza, the county\u2019s manager for employee benefits and rewards, knew the program would be a hard sell to workers. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to be away from your family and what\u2019s familiar,\u201d she said.\n\nCottage Health, the county\u2019s largest health system, says it wants to keep patients in town for treatment and follow-up care.\n\nEstablished in 1891, it\u2019s grown from a single hospital to more than 500 beds across three hospitals, and annual revenue hit $746 million last year.\n\nValet attendants greet visitors at two entrances outside the group\u2019s white, Spanish-style hospital in the city of Santa Barbara. In the main lobby, the names of wealthy donors are splashed across one wall, including billionaire investor and Donald Trump confidant Thomas Barrack.\n\n\u201cWe are continually looking at reducing costs and improving quality,\u201d said Cottage Health spokeswoman Maria Zate. \u201cCottage Health has some of the top surgeons in California.\u201d\n\nSixty miles north in Santa Maria, the state\u2019s largest hospital chain, Dignity Health, offers another option: Marian Regional Medical Center.\n\nBoth Cottage and Dignity hospitals in Santa Barbara County have quality scores of fair to excellent for joint replacements, spinal procedures and coronary bypass surgeries, according to three years of Medicare data analyzed by research firm Mpirica Health.\n\nDignity Health didn\u2019t respond to requests for comment.\n\nCarrum tries to help employers like Santa Barbara County find more affordable options. It has struck bundled price deals for various procedures with Scripps hospitals in the San Diego area, Stanford Health Care in the Bay Area and Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, part of the Providence Health chain.\n\nSome companies have gone so far as to send patients overseas for cheaper care, but most employers favor a more regional approach, experts say. Workers still rely on local physicians for follow-up care.\n\nFor some hospitals, there are advantages in offering deep discounts: They get patients they otherwise would never see and are paid in full right after the patient is discharged, avoiding the onerous billing and collections process.\n\nThey also have the financial capacity to offer such sharply reduced prices.\n\nMichael Bark, assistant vice president of payer relations at Scripps Health, said most hospitals significantly mark up their commercial rates for orthopedic procedures and cardiac surgeries to compensate for lower government reimbursements.\n\n\u201cThere are immense profit margins built into those cases,\u201d Bark said.\n\nRobinson-Stone, a former county sheriff\u2019s deputy and a computer support specialist, was initially wary of traveling for her surgery. But the 62-year-old had ongoing pain that kept her from biking, walking her dogs and tending to her fruit trees. Medication and cortisone shots didn\u2019t work, and she had no ties to local surgeons. So she signed up online and was given a choice of six orthopedic surgeons at Scripps Green Hospital in La Jolla.\n\nIn June 2016, she and her husband, Frank Stone, checked in at the Estancia La Jolla Hotel and Spa.\n\nRobinson-Stone met the surgeon on a Wednesday, had the operation the next day and returned to her hotel room by Saturday. She continued physical therapy at the hotel and returned to the hospital a few days later to have the staples removed.\n\nShe was back on her bike within two months and eventually lost about 20 pounds.\n\n\u201cI just celebrated one year from surgery,\u201d she said, \u201cand I\u2019m a happy camper.\u201d\n\nChad Terhune is a senior correspondent for Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent publication of the Kaiser Family Foundation. Heidi DeMarco contributed to this story.\n\nALSO\n\nHailing a breakthrough in fighting cancer, FDA approves gene therapy that functions as a \u2018living drug\u2019\n\nFDA cracks down on clinics selling unproven stem cell \u2018therapies\u2019\n\nGilead is buying Kite Pharma, a cancer-fighting Santa Monica biotech firm, for $11.9 billion\n\nKnocking on doors, climbing through fences: How L.A. County\u2019s health investigators are out trying to stop syphilis", "output": "Sending Robinson-Stone 250 miles away for knee replacement surgery near San Diego saved the government $30,000.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "For older adults with chronic conditions, non-drug behavioral treatments may help \n When we have several chronic health conditions as we age, the symptoms we experience can reduce our quality of life. In fact, having multiple chronic conditions is linked to symptoms that can restrict our ability to perform our daily routines. Some 70 percent of adults over the age of 75 have more than two chronic health conditions. Nearly 55 percent of Medicare recipients who have had a stroke or heart failure have five or more chronic conditions.\n\nIn a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, researchers note that little is known about treating symptoms of multiple illnesses because people with two or more conditions are usually excluded from studies for specific diseases.\n\nThe researchers examined the results of a study that was originally designed to test how well people did after they stopped taking statin medication used to lower cholesterol levels. Their goal was to better understand the outcomes of having multiple diseases, the burden that symptoms placed on older adults, and the effects multiple chronic problems had on older adults' ability to function. In addition, the researchers compared how a having diagnosis of cancer to having multiple chronic conditions affected an older adult's ability to function.\n\nThe study had 381 participants, mostly in their 70s. Nearly 52 percent of study participants had been diagnosed with cancer. People without cancer were diagnosed with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a long-term illness in which breathing becomes more and more of a challenge), congestive heart failure, dementia, renal disease (diseases that affect the kidney), and other chronic illnesses. Most commonly, the participants had combinations of COPD, congestive heart failure, and cardiovascular disease.\n\nThe researchers learned that having multiple chronic conditions was linked to symptoms that could be a burden for people. However, the symptoms did not affect their ability to function. Researchers also learned that people with cancer functioned better than people with multiple chronic conditions.\n\nThe researchers concluded that the total sum of symptoms, rather than the combination of chronic conditions, was linked to an older adult's ability to function well. They suggested that specific symptoms, such as depression and fatigue, might be responsible for the effect symptoms had on a person's ability to function well. Depression and fatigue were proven to worsen other symptoms, note the researchers.\n\n\"Our findings support the growing evidence recommending a shift from disease-specific treatment to addressing the symptoms that result from having multiple chronic conditions,\" wrote the researchers.\n\nMore information: Jennifer D. Portz et al, High Symptom Burden and Low Functional Status in the Setting of Multimorbidity, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (2017). DOI: 10.1111/jgs.15045 Journal information: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society", "output": "When we have several chronic health conditions as we age, the symptoms we experience can reduce our quality of life. In fact, having multiple chronic conditions is linked to symptoms that can restrict our ability to perform our daily routines. Some 70 percent of adults over the age of 75 have more than two chronic health conditions. Nearly 55 percent of Medicare recipients who have had a stroke or heart failure have five or more chronic conditions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New assessment predicts fracture risk for patients in long-term care \n Researchers from Hebrew SeniorLife's Institute for Aging Research have developed and validated a new assessment to predict the risk of falls in long-term care patients. The study on the assessment titled \"Fracture Risk Assessment in Long-term Care (FRAiL)\" was published today in the Journal of Gerontology Medical Science.\n\nThe FRAiL model was developed by following a large cohort of nursing home residents over a 2 year period to identify which risks most often led to hip fractures for those living in a nursing home. By studying a sample of only nursing home residents, the FRAiL model was able to identify those fracture risks which are unique to nursing home residents, and ultimately differ quite a bit from the fracture risks facing seniors living independently.\n\nWhat the study revealed is a collection of characteristics that are significant predictors of hip fracture in nursing home residents. These factors are: older age, white race, female, impaired cognition, independence in the activities of daily living, locomotion independence, urinary continence, previous falls, transfer independence, easily distractible, proclivity towards wandering, and others. For both men and women in nursing homes, it seems that the more independently mobile one is, the more apt they are to fall and incur a hip fracture. This is in direct opposition to seniors who live outside of the nursing home, who are more apt to fall and incur a fracture if they are less independent in their daily living skills.\n\nThe new FRAiL assessment is an important tool for senior long-term care providers as nearly 10% of hip fractures occur among nursing home residents. Of those nursing home residents who incur fractures, 36% will die within 6-months, and another 17.3% will become completely disabled. If service providers can screen for falls risk early on, they may be able to prevent debilitating and life threatening hip fractures before they occur.\n\nSarah D. Berry, MD, MPH and lead author of the study said, \"The FRAiL model is the first clinical tool that could be used to discriminate residents at high risk for fracture and standardize fracture prevention efforts in the nursing home.\"", "output": "Researchers from Hebrew SeniorLife's Institute for Aging Research have developed and validated a new assessment to predict the risk of falls in long-term care patients. The study on the assessment titled \"Fracture Risk Assessment in Long-term Care (FRAiL)\" was published today in the Journal of Gerontology Medical Science.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Soul Purpose: Seniors With Strong Reasons To Live Often Live Stronger \n After making it through the maelstrom of middle age, many adults find themselves approaching older age wondering \u201cwhat will give purpose to my life?\u201d now that the kids have flown the nest and retirement is in the cards.\n\nHow they answer the question can have significant implications for their health.\n\nOver the past two decades, dozens of studies have shown that seniors with a sense of purpose in life are less likely to develop Alzheimer\u2019s disease, mild cognitive impairment, disabilities, heart attacks or strokes, and more likely to live longer than people without this kind of underlying motivation.\n\nNow, a new report in JAMA Psychiatry adds to this body of evidence by showing that older adults with a solid sense of purpose tend to retain strong hand grips and walking speeds \u2014 key indicators of how rapidly people are aging.\n\nWhy would a psychological construct (\u201cI feel that I have goals and something to live for\u201d) have this kind of impact? Seniors with a sense of purpose may be more physically active and take better care of their health, some research suggests. Also, they may be less susceptible to stress, which can fuel dangerous inflammation.\n\nNAVIGATING AGING Navigating Aging focuses on medical issues and advice associated with aging and end-of-life care, helping America\u2019s 45 million seniors and their families navigate the health care system. To contact Judith with a question or comment, click here. For more KHN coverage of aging, click here.\n\n\u201cPurposeful individuals tend to be less reactive to stressors and more engaged, generally, in their daily lives, which can promote cognitive and physical health,\u201d said Patrick Hill, an assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences at Washington University in St. Louis who wasn\u2019t associated with the study.\n\nBut what is purpose, really? And how can it be cultivated?\n\nAnne Newman, a 69-year-old who splits her time between Hartsdale, north of New York City, and Delray Beach, Fla., said she\u2019s been asking herself this \u201con a minute-by-minute basis\u201d since closing her psychotherapy practice late last year.\n\nBuilding and maintaining a career became a primary driver in her life after Newman raised two daughters and went back to work at age 48. As a therapist, \u201cI really loved helping people make changes in their lives that put them in a different, better position,\u201d she said.\n\nThings became difficult when Newman\u2019s husband, Joseph, moved to Florida and she started commuting back and forth from New York. Over time, the travel took a toll, and Newman decided she didn\u2019t want a long-distance marriage. So, she began winding down her practice and thinking about her next chapter.\n\nExperts advise that people seeking a sense of purpose consider spending more time on activities they enjoy or using work skills in a new way. Newman loves drawing and photography. She has investigated work and volunteer opportunities in Florida, but nothing has grabbed her just yet.\n\n\u201cNot knowing what\u2019s going to take the place of work in my life \u2014 it feels horrible, like I\u2019m floundering,\u201d she admitted, in a phone interview.\n\nI didn\u2019t ask myself did I have a larger purpose in life \u2014 I asked myself what gives meaning to my life. Barry Dym\n\nMany people go through a period of trial and error after retirement and don\u2019t find what they\u2019re looking for right away, said Dr. Dilip Jeste, senior associate dean for healthy aging and senior care at the University of California-San Diego. \u201cThis doesn\u2019t happen overnight.\u201d\n\n\u201cPeople don\u2019t like to talk about their discomfort because they think it\u2019s unusual. And yet, everybody thinks about this existential question at this time of life: \u2018What are we here for?\u2019\u201d he noted.\n\nNewman\u2019s focus has been on getting \u201cinvolved in something other than personal satisfaction \u2014 something larger than myself.\u201d But that may be overreaching.\n\n\u201cI think people can get a sense of purpose from very simple things: from taking care of a pet, working in the garden or being kind to a neighbor,\u201d said Patricia Boyle, a leading researcher in this field and professor of behavioral sciences at the Rush Alzheimer\u2019s Disease Center at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.\n\n\u201cEven small goals can help motivate someone to keep going,\u201d she continued. \u201cPurpose can involve a larger goal, but it\u2019s not a requirement.\u201d\n\nOlder adults often discover a sense of purpose from taking care of grandchildren, volunteering, becoming involved in community service work or religion, she said. \u201cA purpose in life can arise from learning a new thing, accomplishing a new goal, working together with other people or making new social connections when others are lost,\u201d she said.\n\nTara Gruenewald\u2019s research highlights how important it is for older adults to feel they play a valuable role in the life of others.\n\n\u201cI think what we often lose as we age into older adulthood is not a desire to contribute meaningfully to others but the opportunity to do so,\u201d said Gruenewald, chair of the department of psychology at California\u2019s Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences at Chapman University. Her research has found that people who perceive themselves as being useful had a stronger feeling of well-being and were less likely to become disabled and die than those who didn\u2019t see themselves this way.\n\nUse Our Content This KHN story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\n\u201cIn midlife, we contribute to others partly because it\u2019s demanded of us in work and in our social relationships,\u201d Gruenewald said. \u201cAs we grow older, we have to seek out opportunities to contribute and give to others.\u201d\n\nSome researchers try to tease out distinctions between having a sense of purpose and finding meaning in life; others don\u2019t. \u201cPractically, I think there\u2019s a lot of overlap,\u201d Boyle said.\n\nAfter Barry Dym, 75, retired a year ago from a long career as an organizational consultant and a marriage and family therapist, he said, \u201cI didn\u2019t ask myself did I have a larger purpose in life \u2014 I asked myself what gives meaning to my life.\u201d\n\nAnswering that question wasn\u2019t difficult; certain themes had defined choices he\u2019d made throughout his life. \u201cWhat gives meaning to me is helping people. Trying to have an impact. Working with people very closely and helping them become much better at what they do,\u201d Dym said in a phone conversation from his home in Lexington, Mass.\n\nIn retirement, he\u2019s carrying that forward by mentoring several people with whom he has a professional and personal relationship, bringing together groups of people to talk about aging, and starting a blog. Recently, he said, he wrote about discovering that he feels freer now to \u201cexplore who I am, where I came from and what meaning things have to me than at any other point of my life.\u201d\n\nAnd therein lies a dilemma. \u201cI feel of two minds about purpose in older age,\u201d Dym said. \u201cIn some ways, I\u2019d like to just shuck off that sense of having to do something to be a good person, and just relax. And in other ways, I feel deeply fulfilled by the things I do.\u201d\n\nWe\u2019re eager to hear from readers about questions you\u2019d like answered, problems you\u2019ve been having with your care and advice you need in dealing with the health care system. Visit kffhealthnews.org/columnists to submit your requests or tips.\n\nKHN\u2019s coverage related to aging & improving care of older adults is supported by The John A. Hartford Foundation.\n\nKFF Health News' coverage of aging and long-term care issues is supported in part by The SCAN Foundation.", "output": "After making it through the maelstrom of middle age, many adults find themselves approaching older age wondering \u201cwhat will give purpose to my life?\u201d now that the kids have flown the nest and retirement is in the cards.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GetInsured takes over ACAExpress in insurtech merger \n GetInsured, a Mountain View, California-based company that makes web tools for easy insurance enrollment, has acquired ACAExpress (and its sister brand Benefit Geek) which work with insurance brokers to facilitate enrollments under the Affordable Care Act. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.\n\n\"ACAExpress has proven technology with astounding traction in the marketplace,\u201d Chini Krishnan, GetInsured\u2019s CEO and cofounder, said in a statement. \u201cIts ability to scale to support seasonal annual enrollment periods is impressive and its reputation among brokers is second to none. Acquiring ACAExpress enables us to extend our technology to the broker community and bring greater efficiencies to Medicare shopping and enrollment, continuing our evolution in the health insurance market.\u201d\n\nThe acquisition will expand GetInsured's business: ACAExpress works with 8,000 brokers and has enrolled more than 500,000 members in insurance plans. It also bolster's GetInsured's expertise in particular areas, including Medicare enrollment.\n\nBuilding on the acquisition, the company plans to release a comprehensive quoting and enrollment platform that will include individual health insurance, Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement, life and ancillary insurance plans.\n\n\u201cMuch like ACAExpress, GetInsured has a solid track record of innovation,\u201d Chris Linville, ACAExpress\u2019s CMO and cofounder, said in a statement. \u201cTogether we are well poised to provide agents and brokers the tools they need to be successful, while pushing through current technological barriers.\u201d\n\nACAExpress will continue to operate out of its Dallas, Texas headquarters. Linville will serve as senior vice president and general manager of Broker Business at GetInsured. Fellow cofounders Don Archer and Kenny West will take on the roles of engineering director and vice president of Broker Engagement, respectively.", "output": "California insurtech firm GetInsured has acquired ACAExpress, a specialist company\u00a0that provides insurance brokers with a streamlined way of processing enrolments under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The deal increases GetInsured's expertise in medical insurance, allowing it to benefit from the systems developed by ACAExpress, which works with 8,000 brokers and has enrolled more than 500,000 members in insurance plans. The company now plans to launch a comprehensive quoting platform covering individual health, life and ancillary insurance plans.\u00a0ACAExpress will retain\u00a0its Dallas base after the merger.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EU scientists create self-repairing machines \n Self-repairing dispenser for engine production developed within the EU-funded SelSus research project by project partner Manufacturing Technology. Credit: Fraunhofer IPA\n\nIn the EU-funded project SelSus, Fraunhofer scientists are collaborating in a consortium with partners from research and industry to develop maintenance technology capable of forecasting machine downtimes in production before they occur. This allows plant managers to rectify faults before the machine breaks down. The system even corrects some defects automatically.\n\nUnforeseen machine failures during ongoing production \u2013 plant managers dread them, technicians detest them and managers just sigh and factor them in. Such incidents prompt frantic repairs, drive up costs, adversely affect delivery reliability and ultimately weaken companies' competitiveness. Yet often the problem is only a small defect or normal wear and tear. However, if left undetected, these can lead to major disruptions and production downtimes.\n\nWhat would be helpful is a diagnostic procedure capable of monitoring the status of all components in the production line, identifying problems and weak points and informing the responsible employee in a timely manner. Based on what's known as a decision-support system, maintenance personnel can then reach a decision and take targeted action to repair the defect. Ideally without having to interrupt production.\n\nPrecisely this is one of the underlying ideas, albeit not the only one, behind the ambitious SelSus project within which the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA is currently researching. \"The aim is not just to monitor the status of the machines and components. Using intelligent software and sensor networks, the plan is to detect potential weak points or signs of wear and tear early enough for the system to be able to predict potential malfunctions,\" explains Martin Kasperczyk from Fraunhofer IPA. The developed diagnostic models also directly provide suggestions or recommendations on how to rectify the problem. Project partner Electrolux in Pordenone, Italy, uses such a decision-support system. The system is capable of predicting with a certain probability potential failures on a press for washing machine facings and of diagnosing actually occurring malfunctions. The data needed to monitor the machine status is partially provided by sensors. They measure values such as energy consumption, temperature, oil pressure, particles in the oil or vibrations. Fraunhofer IPA and the participating consortium have also proved that the technology functions reliably in practice.\n\nThe system repairs itself\n\nThe system is even capable of sending control impulses to individual machines. A welding control on which a sensor has failed, for instance, can continue to work almost seamlessly in a secure mode, without any serious disruptions. The capability for self-repair and sustaining production has also given the project its name. The full project title of SelSus is \"Health Monitoring and Life-Long Capability Management for Self-Sustaining Manufacturing Systems.\"\n\nHowever, first a number of technological hurdles had to be overcome. Martin Kasperczyk says: \"One of the biggest challenges was analyzing the flood of data. After all, we're talking here about predicting malfunctions or breakdowns of machines with a high degree of reliability. You don't get there just by programming a couple of algorithms.\"\n\nBayesian networks and sensor data\n\nThe experts are putting their faith in Bayesian networks. A Bayesian network is a mathematical model that can be used to compute the probabilities of a certain event or state occurring. The model represents a set of variables and their conditional dependencies. With the help of the data collected by the sensors, the software for example computes the probabilities of a specific high-stress cable breaking in the near future and, where applicable, signals that it should be replaced.\n\nBut the SelSus software relies not only on sensors. It also takes the technical characteristics of the machine and its performance parameters into account. This data has to be captured during installation and configuration of the system. Moreover, an extensive test run tells the system how the machine and its components behave in continuous operation and under load. Only then is it ready for use. The software also registers new data, for instance as a result of machine upgrades or deterioration in performance due to wear, enabling the system to learn.\n\nThe complexity of the SelSus concept is also evident from the fact that the software even interacts with operators by analyzing the causes of potential or existing mal-\n\nfunctions and proposing an appropriate course of action.\n\nA system with self-healing capabilities from Coventry\n\nProject partner The Manufacturing Technology Centre from Coventry, UK, has created a system with self-healing capabilities. In an engine production plant, a dispenser is attached to a robotic arm by means of vacuum. If the dispenser encounters resistance, rather than snapping off, it reacts flexibly. It loses the grip produced under vacuum and drops a few centimeters until it is stopped by springs. The springs then draw the dispenser back to its original position. Subsequent calibration ensures the tool is in the correct position \u2013 and after the brief interruption, the work process continues.\n\nPoliticians have long recognized the potential offered by the technology. SelSus has received nearly 5.4 million euros in funding from the European Commission. In addition to Fraunhofer IPA, the project consortium includes renowned industry partners such as automaker Ford, household appliance manufacturer Electrolux, welding technology provider HWH Hamburg and automation specialist IEF-Werner. Other participants are universities, such as Loughborough University and the Instituto de sistemas e Robotica, or ICT providers including HUGIN EXPERT, Advanced Data Processing or Inotec, to list but a few.", "output": "Researchers are developing software which enables machinery to detect potential weak points and, in some cases, make ongoing repairs to prevent expensive shut-downs. Under the Health Monitoring and Life-Long Capability Management for Self-Sustaining Manufacturing Systems (SelSus) project, teams at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA, alongside partners including Ford and Electrolux, have used Bayesian networks to analyse data collected from sensors, as well as the machine's technical characteristics and performance parameters, to calculate the probability of a malfunction occurring."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Falcon adds cryptocurrencies to bitcoin asset management services \n This year several countries have declared Bitcoin as a legal method of payment, including Japan and Russia. This trend suggests that different stock markets will start to substitute some cryptocurrencies for the stock certificate. In addition, some companies have held their initial coin offerings (ICOs) as an alternative to IPOs for funding. Such ICOs are digital platforms with management rights of the digital asset and venture funds. This disruption to the traditional financial system appears to be starting to change the behavior of banks.\n\nThis is signaled by the bank Falcon adding Ether, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash to its blockchain asset management services. This is enabled through a joint venture with Bitcoin Suisse AG. Falcon Private Bank is a Swiss private banking set-up, established over 50 years ago. The bank is based in Zurich, with additional locations in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, London and Luxembourg.\n\nThe reason that Falcon has taken this decision reflects a strategic repositioning. The move means that Falcon banking clients can be provided with blockchain asset management solutions; meaning that customers can exchange and hold Bitcoins via Falcon by using their cash holdings. The need to reposition in the financial market is being considered by some institutions because it presents a threat to the traditional model of banking. Banks are traditionally seen as \u2018buildings\u2019 of storage, requiring considerable infrastructure and centralized operations. In contrast, blockchain disrupts the bank\u2019s centralized nature.\n\nIn contrast to the traditional models, Bitcoin relies on blockchain technology, which comprises three main components. These are: a network of computers, a network protocol and a consensus mechanism. With the application of the technology there is no central authority that ensures the validity of the transaction, and, in most cases, the process is not subject to regulatory oversight.\n\nCommenting on the transformative step, Arthur Vayloyan, who is the Global Head Products & Services, Falcon Private Bank stated: \u201cWe are pleased to add Ether, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash to our services just a month after introducing blockchain asset management solutions with Bitcoin\u201d\n\nThe financier adds: \u201cThe first reactions to our Bitcoin services have been very encouraging and we are convinced that by adding three new blockchain assets we will fulfil our clients\u2019 future needs.\u201d\n\nGiven that, in some sectors, Blockchain technology is directly threatening bank clearing houses and depositary institutions, this is giving some established banking arms pause for thought. The move by Falcon towards embracing digital currency may be the first of many.", "output": "Swiss private bank Falcon has added ether, litecoin and bitcoin cash to its offering of bitcoin asset management services. The move was enabled through a partnership with Bitcoin Suisse and will allow banking clients to use their cash holdings to manage their cryptocurrency assets. Falcon\u2019s bitcoin asset management services have\u00a0been on offer for the past month, with the latest addition part of the institution\u2019s attempt to meet future customer needs.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "XL Catlin adds to its professional liability products \n XL Group Ltd.XL recently introduced two new enhancements in its professional liability insurance services, in its efforts to provide better insurance for professionals. This not only implies an expansion in professional insurance services but also includes Principal Protector Coverage for large design firms.\n\nTechnological advancements in the present have paved new ways of service delivery by architectural and engineering firms. Hence, the design sector is always on the verge of being exposed to evolving risks. Given the dependence of design professionals on technology in the day-to-day project management and client relationship activities, XL Catlin's (the global brand name used by XL Group) Design Professional team is expected to be better armed to serve such customers with this newly added enhancement.\n\nThe professional services provided by the design professional team are inclusive of existing and new evolving technologies that provide various services such as development of software programs, system and applications, database design and maintenance, warehousing data, digital tools etc. It is also involved in website designing as well as hosting various data and application sites. The company would thus cater to such risks by expanding its insurance coverage.\n\nXL Catlin has also introduced Principal Protector Coverage for large design firms, in order to support its clients' corporate social responsibilities. This particular policy offers supplemental services beyond the firm's policy limits for any present, former or retired employees of the firm for claims arising out of laxity by participating in non-profit entities.\n\nXL Catlin has always been proactive in meeting its customers' varying needs through several product upgrades, new product launches etc. Recently, XL Catlin introduced a new Safety Optimization and Aviation Resource Program or SOAR, for its select general aviation insurance clients. This professional insurance coverage is accompanied by a variety of loss-prevention assistance and risk-management assistance inclusive of educational courses and XL Catlin's Contract eGuide.\n\nThe property and casualty (P&C) insurer has been improving its organic profile through strategic initiatives that will boost its client base and enhance its revenues at the same time.\n\nZacks Rank and Share Price Movement\n\nXL Group, Ltd carries Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Shares of XL Group have outperformed the industry in a year's time. While XL Group's shares have gained 27.06%, the industry has registered an increase of 15.64%. Diversified product offerings that are fueling Premiums should continue to drive its shares higher.\n\nStocks to Consider\n\nStocks from the insurance industry worth considering are Atlas Financial Holdings, Inc. AFH , Markel Corporation MKL and Mercury General Corporation MCY . Each of these stocks sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here .\n\nAtlas Financial Holdings engages in underwriting commercial automobile insurance policies in the United States. The company delivered positive surprises two out of the last four quarters, with an average beat of 57.94%.\n\nMarkel Corporation markets and underwrites specialty insurance products in the United States and internationally. The company delivered positive surprises two out of the last four quarters, with an average beat of 21.06%.\n\nMercury General Corporation engages in writing personal automobile insurance in the United States. The company delivered positive surprises in three of the last four quarters, with an average beat of 1.06%.\n\nMore Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!\n\nIt could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.\n\nZacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020 . Click here for the 6 trades >>\n\nWant the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report\n\nXL Group Ltd. (XL): Free Stock Analysis Report\n\nMarkel Corporation (MKL): Free Stock Analysis Report\n\nMercury General Corporation (MCY): Free Stock Analysis Report\n\nAtlas Financial Holdings, Inc. (AFH): Free Stock Analysis Report\n\nTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.\n\nZacks Investment Research\n\nThe views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.\n\nThe views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.", "output": "Insurance group XL Catlin has introduced improvements to its professional liability insurance services to better cater to the needs of design companies, such as architectural and engineering firms. The insurer is enhancing the services provided by its design professional team to cover risks in areas including software development, website design and data storage. It has also introduced principal protector coverage for design firms to cover them for risks arising from involvement with non-profit entities.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Low-paid workers penalised for caring for sick children: TUC \n Bosses are punishing parents for taking their sick children to hospital, according to a \u201cshocking\u201d TUC study that finds many low-paid workers are disciplined for taking time off for childcare.\n\nOne mother who works in retail said: \u201cMy baby stopped breathing and I had to go to hospital \u2013 I got threatened with a disciplinary.\u201d\n\n\n\nAnother mother working in social care said that when she had to rush her son to A&E because he was having difficulty breathing, she received a call from her manager asking when she would be back at work. \u201cSome managers have no sympathy,\u201d she said.\n\nThe report found 42% of parents felt penalised at work if they asked for flexible hours, with some fearing they might lose their job.\n\nA further 47% said they struggled to balance work with parenting, despite legal changes in the past decade intended to make it easier for parents to spend time with their children.\n\nThe TUC based its findings on a survey of more than 1,000 people with combined household incomes of \u00a328,000 or less. Respondents were on a variety of contracts, including some on permanent contracts who also had irregular hours and were only told about shifts at short notice.\n\nThe study found 29% of parents had to use annual leave in the last year when their child was sick. Many workers were unaware of their right to 18 weeks unpaid parental leave if they have held their job for a year.\n\nKirsty Arthur, 27, from Cornwall, works part-time in retail and is on maternity leave. She said: \u201cWhen my son was ill I would take time off work but if you have an absence percentage higher than 3% then you have to go through a disciplinary process. I was only working four shifts a week, so if I missed a few shifts to look after my son then that really pushed my percentage up.\n\n\n\n\u201cSo every time I came back I had to go through that process which was a bit demoralising. And the more times I had to go through that disciplinary process, then the more upset the bosses got with me.\u201d\n\nFrances O\u2019Grady, the TUC general secretary, said: \u201cMany parents fear losing shifts, taking unpaid leave or being viewed badly at work if they need time off to look after their kids. And it is shocking that some mums and dads are being stopped from taking their children to hospital when they are sick.\n\n\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s time the government changed the law so everyone gets at least a month\u2019s notice of their shifts. They need to make sure everyone at work can get the same parents\u2019 rights from day one \u2013 and that everyone knows about those rights.\n\nProf Nicole Busby, the acting head of the law school at Strathclyde University, described the findings as shocking, but said they would come as no surprise to low-paid workers.\n\n\n\n\u201cThere is a right to request flexible work but this is of no practical use to those on zero-hours contracts who often don\u2019t even know their working hours in advance ... Even where it does apply, it is merely a \u2018right\u2019 to ask for a particular arrangement and your employer can refuse on a range of different business grounds.\u201d\n\n\n\nSarah Jackson, the chief executive of the charity Working Families, said: \u201cParental rights are meaningless if parents can\u2019t use them for fear of being seen as \u2018unreliable\u2019, or of getting \u2018special treatment\u2019.\u201d\n\n\n\nWorkers blamed an irregular hours culture, with many saying their employer could change their shift on a whim. One in four (26%) parents said they had their shifts changed at short notice.\n\nThe TUC is calling for all workers to have the right to be notified of their shifts one month in advance. It is campaigning for all working parents \u2013 including those on zero-hours contracts \u2013 to have the same parents\u2019 rights.\n\nThe union said these rights were only available to workers with \u201cemployee\u201d status \u2013 meaning 1.5 million will not have these rights if they become parents.\n\nBusby said: \u201cTo give working parents real choice about how they balance paid work with family commitments, the government needs to ensure that workers are provided with guaranteed working hours and that individuals feel able to ask for suitable adjustments as and when family circumstances require them without fear of repercussions.\n\n\n\n\u201cThere is also a real need for affordable good quality childcare which is accessible for all working parents as this would go some way to removing the daily anxiety experienced by lots of parents.\u201d\n\nA Department for Business spokesperson said: \u201cThe continued strength of our economy is built on the flexibility of our labour market. More than 20 million people in the UK are eligible to request flexible working and businesses must have a legitimate reason to refuse a request.\n\n\u201cWe commissioned Matthew Taylor to review modern working practices to ensure our employment rules and rights keep up to date to reflect new ways of working. We are considering his report carefully and will respond in due course.\u201d", "output": "Low-paid workers in the UK fear punishment for taking time off to care for sick children, according to a report by the Trades Union Congress (TUC). The study of over 1,000 people with maximum combined household incomes of \u00a328,000 ($36,000) found that 42% of parents felt punished for requesting flexible hours. An additional 47% found it difficult to balance work and parenting, while\u00a029% had used annual leave to care for a child. The TUC called for all workers, including those without \u201cemployee\u201d status, to have equal parental rights and for workers to receive one month\u2019s notice of shifts.\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ad exchange MoPub adds viewability support via measurement firms \n MoPub, which helps mobile publishers manage their ad inventory, has released a new version of its software development kit (SDK) with added viewability support from ad measurement providers Integral Ad Science (IAS) and Moat.\n\nThe Twitter-owned mobile ad exchange boasts more than 49,000 apps on its platform, all of which will have the IAS and Moat integration enabled as default.\n\nThe integration was made due the growing importance of viewability amongst marketers and the fact that supporting multiple SDKs can eat up resources, according to a blog post from MoPub\u2019s head of commercial partnerships Meridith Miller. Furthermore, publishers can enable the viewability measurement for their direct campaigns or mediated network partners through the SDK.\n\n\u201cUnlike on the buy-side, viewability is relatively new for in-app publishers,\u201d said Miller. \u201cYet we know from the maturity of the metric on desktop that this data is just as valuable to a publisher as it is to a marketer.\u201d\n\nThe IAS and Moat integration is available to MoPub publishers in the latest version of the MoPub SDK, while buyers can access the platform\u2019s measurable inventory by contacting their account team or DSP partner.\n\n\u201cThis partnership will enable publishers to drive greater revenue potential while providing brands with trusted metrics and actionable insights to improve their in-app buying decisions,\u201d said Jason Cooper, general manager of mobile at IAS. \u201cWe are excited to partner with MoPub to improve transparency in the programmatic in-app market with a scalable solution that benefits both in-app publishers and marketers alike.\u201d", "output": "Mobile ad exchange MoPub has launched a new version of its software development kit (SDK), featuring\u00a0viewability support\u00a0from ad measurement firms Integral Ad Science and Moat. MoPub, which is owned by Twitter,\u00a0offers more than 49,000 apps through its platform, which will all feature the new integration. The move was made to offer greater viewability for customers, particularly as the support of multiple SDKs can use up significant resources.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK lags behind Europe in anti-obesity surgery, claim surgeons \n Thousands more stomach-shrinking operations need to be carried out in the UK, say surgeons, who warn the country is lagging behind the rest of Europe despite the toll being taken on people\u2019s health and warnings that the obesity crisis could bankrupt the NHS.\n\nReducing stomach size prevents people eating more than small amounts at a time, leading to dramatic weight loss. It can also reverse type 2 diabetes, which carries the risk of amputations, blindness, heart attacks and strokes.\n\nFrance, with a population similar to that of Britain, carries out 37,000 obesity operations a year, compared with just 5,000 in the UK. Two countries with far smaller populations \u2013 Belgium and Sweden \u2013 perform 12,000 and 7,000 respectively, while Italy does 8,000.\n\nIt is a safe and cost-effective therapy for a deadly disease, according to bariatric surgeons speaking at an international conference in London. Yet the NHS is dragging its feet, they say.\n\n\u201cThe UK data is overwhelming \u2013 surgery makes a difference to people\u2019s health and we want commissioners to acknowledge this and act accordingly,\u201d said Marco Adamo, a consultant surgeon at University College hospital and the chair of the National Bariatric Surgery Register, which records operations. \u201cSevere and complex obesity is a serious, lifelong condition associated with many major medical conditions, the cost of which threatens to bankrupt the NHS.\u201d\n\n\n\nBariatric surgery costs about \u00a36,000 to \u00a37,000 \u2013 only about a third of the cost of a knee replacement, a procedure which itself is often made necessary by obesity.\n\nProf Francesco Rubino, the chair of metabolic and bariatric surgery at King\u2019s College London, said he used to think it was about cost. \u201cBut more recently I started to grow concerned that this may actually not be the real problem. The cost of bariatric surgery is very often offset by the health benefits, especially in diabetes, within a couple of years. Bariatric surgery is one of the most cost-effective interventions we have in modern medicine,\u201d he said.\n\nInstead, said Rubino, he thought it was about stigma and the judgments passed on obese people. \u201cLooking at the science of obesity today, it is inconsistent with the evidence to conceive of obesity as a lifestyle choice,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is not true that all patients who are obese are basically overeating.\n\n\u201cI would also submit that even if it were all about overeating \u2013 and I don\u2019t believe it is the case \u2013 we don\u2019t forgive obese patients for their poor lifestyle choices although we forgive those, such as smoking, that lead to cancer and transplant surgery.\n\n\u201cIf we start taking the approach that disease associated with lifestyle choice should not be treated by surgical intervention, where are we going to draw the line? Pretty much every disease would have to be associated with lifestyle. I don\u2019t think we should be here to judge.\u201d\n\nResults of a freedom of information request by the British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society and the Royal College of Surgeons revealed in March that weight loss surgery was being rationed in parts of the NHS. Some clinical commissioning groups will not operate on a patient with a body mass index below 50, which is twice the safest weight for their height.\n\nThe surgeons, speaking at the world congress of the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders, said they were operating on patients who had become sicker because they were having to wait so long for the operation.\n\nData collected for the register on 18,528 operations that took place between 2015 and 2017 shows that patients\u2019 average BMI was 47.2. The normal range is 18.5 to 24.9. Two-thirds were not able to climb three flights of stairs without resting.\n\nA year after surgery, more than half had no problem with the stairs. Half of those with type 2 diabetes had seen it disappear and had come off their drugs.\n\nThe National Institute for Health and Care Excellence says the NHS should offer surgery to tackle the diabetes epidemic and there is international agreement among professional organisations that it works. When people are still not getting the treatment they need \u201cthen it becomes clear that misconceptions and the stigma of obesity are the main barriers\u201d, said Rubino.\n\n", "output": "The UK is performing fewer stomach-shrinking operations, which can combat obesity and reverse type 2 diabetes, than the rest of Europe, according to specialist surgeons. France, which has a similar population to the UK, carries out 37,000 such operations each year compared to the UK\u2019s 5,000. Belgium and Sweden, which have smaller populations than the UK, carry out 12,000 and 7,000 operations respectively. Bariatric surgery costs between \u00a36,000 ($7,764) and \u00a37,000, a third of the cost of the knee replacements frequently required due to obesity. Some analysts fear that the UK\u2019s growing obesity crisis could bankrupt the NHS.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Most shippers forsake cargo insurance \n More than 90% of import cargo moves to the US do not have any insurance, according to Steve Fodor, Director at Association For Trade Compliance. Writing in a recent blog, Fodor said that, while cargo insurance costs about 0.5% of a shipment\u2019s value, most importers do not purchase this coverage.\n\nHe reported many reasons why this was the case. The widespread assumption that business insurance covers shipments was usually wrong, Fodor said. \u201cMost insurance policies do not cover cargo in transit, or if they do they place strict limitations on that coverage.\u201d\n\nSimilarly, the assumption that the supplier will have covered the cargo insurance was usually wrong. \u201cThe terms of sale for products purchased determine whether or not the supplier provides insurance coverage. Since most products are\n\npurchased on an FOB basis the supplier is not required to provide insurance coverage. Even shipments purchased under CIF terms are often only insured to the first US port and any damages or losses incurred after that point are not covered\u201d, said Fodor.\n\nFinally, the excuse that \u201cnothing bad has ever happened to any of my shipments\u201d might be true, but just because an importer has not had any past problems was no guarantee that there would not be a loss in future. \u201cDo you want to risk losing tens of thousands of dollars just to avoid paying a small insurance premium? Seems risky to me\u201d, concluded Fodor. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cargo-insurance-who-needs-steve-fodor", "output": "Over 90% of cargo imported to the US is uninsured, according to Steve Fodor, Director at the Association For Trade Compliance. Despite cargo insurance costing around 0.5% of a shipment\u2019s value, most importers do not purchase the coverage due to the assumption\u00a0that business insurance covers\u00a0shipments or that suppliers would already have coverage. In a recent blog post, Fodor questioned the logic of importers who risked \u201closing tens of thousands of dollars just to avoid paying a small insurance premium\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Spotify\u2019s head of video and podcasts exits amid shift in strategy \n Spotify\u2019s global head of content partnerships Tom Calerdone is out, and the music streaming service is getting ready to refocus its video ambitions around its most popular playlists. Calderone, who previously served as VH1\u2019s president, was in charge of building out the company\u2019s video strategy.\n\nA Spotify spokesperson confirmed Calderone\u2019s departure, explaining that he had been transitioning out of his role for the past month.\n\nBloomberg was first to report the departure Thursday, suggesting that the service was \u201cnarrowing\u201d its video ambitions. Spotify\u2019s spokesperson tried to put a different spin on the development, writing:\n\n\u201cWe are focusing our expanding video offerings on RapCaviar, Rock This and other popular Spotify owned and operated playlists. Building out our video and podcast content remains a priority for Spotify and we will have more information to share on our future plans soon.\u201d\n\nLast year, Spotify announced the launch of 12 original shows, including a \u201cCarpool Karaoke\u201d-like show called \u201cTraffic Jams\u201d produced by Russel Simmons\u2019 All Def Digital. However, it doesn\u2019t look like any of these shows ever really caught on with Spotify\u2019s users.\n\nIn a way, Spotify\u2019s decision to refocus its video production around popular music playlists mirrors YouTube\u2019s early forays into original content. Back in 2012, YouTube spent $100 million on getting outside media partners to produce content for the platform, only to find out that YouTube viewers heavily gravitated to videos produced by people already active on the platform.", "output": "The global head of content partnerships at Spotify, Tom Calderone, has left the company. Calderone had been in charge of video strategy, but his departure has left many speculating that the company is moving away from its prior video ambitions. Spotify has said it will focus on video for its owned and operated playlist offerings in future. Calderone was formerly the president of VH1.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Perkins Coie signs with EEA legal group \n Perkins Coie LLP, a US-based international law firm, has announced its inclusion in the Enterprise Ethereum Ethereum Ethereum is an open source, blockchain-based distributed computing platform and operating system featuring smart contract functionality. Created in 2014, Ethereum now stands as the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap at the time of writing.As a decentralized cryptocurrency network and software platform, Ethereum represents the most prominent altcoin. Ethereum also enables the creation Distributed Applications, or dapps. Understanding EthereumEthereum boasts its own programming language, Ethereum is an open source, blockchain-based distributed computing platform and operating system featuring smart contract functionality. Created in 2014, Ethereum now stands as the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap at the time of writing.As a decentralized cryptocurrency network and software platform, Ethereum represents the most prominent altcoin. Ethereum also enables the creation Distributed Applications, or dapps. Understanding EthereumEthereum boasts its own programming language, Read this Term Alliance (EEA) Legal Industry Working Group. The collaboration focuses on educating the legal industry about the benefits of Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Read this Term technology and the development and standardization of core Ethereum-enabled technology.\n\nLearn how to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum safely with our simple guide!\n\n\u201cPerkins Coie, a legal adviser to the EEA since its launch, has been at the forefront supporting evolving blockchain technology,\u201d said Dax Hansen, Chair of the firm's Electronic Financial Services and Blockchain Technology & Digital Currency industry groups. \u201cWith many innovative firms and institutions as partners in this effort, connecting and working with Fortune 500 corporations, startups and experts in the space will expand overall legal industry knowledge on the unique advantages that blockchain technology provides. We are honored to be a member of the EEA Legal Industry Working Group.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe focus of the EEA Legal Industry Working Group dovetails with Perkins Coie\u2019s efforts in advising our financial services clients on the diverse uses of blockchain technology,\u201d said Rick Howell, Perkins Coie\u2019s Chief Information Officer. \u201cBlockchain technology\u2019s potential for changing the legal, financial, regulatory and technological landscape is enormous, and we look forward to collaborating with our partners in this group to implement blockchain technology into business operations and turn blockchain into a mainstream tool.\u201d\n\nThe EEA is an industry-supported, not-for-profit organization established to support Ethereum-based technology best practices, open standards and open source reference architectures. It is meant to help Ethereum evolve into an enterprise-grade technology, providing research and development in a range of areas, including privacy, confidentiality, scalability and security.", "output": "Law firm Perkins Coie has joined the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) Legal Industry Working Group. The group aims to educate the legal sector on the potential benefits of blockchain, as well as the development of standardised Ethereum technology. Perkins Coie will advise its financial service clients on the possible uses of blockchain tech, which has potential to change the legal, financial and regulatory sectors. The EEA is a non-profit organisation designed to encourage best practices for Ethereum.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Airbags could protect humans working with robots \n Making robots that can work safely alongside humans is an important and unavoidable challenge for the manufacturing industry. If something goes wrong with a robot and it confuses a squishy human body with open air, the result might not just be delayed production, but broken bones and torn flesh. In the most straightforward way possible, robots just don\u2019t know their own strength.\n\nBut in order to guard against this sort of mishap, researchers at Germany\u2019s DLR Robotics and Mechatronics Center have been working a reassuringly familiar safety measure: airbags for robots. The scientists came up with this idea back in 2016, but last week published a new video showing how the technology works in a collaborative task \u2014 in their example, assembling a heater pump.\n\nAs the video above shows, the airbag surrounds the robot\u2019s manipulator tool and its sharp edges, automatically inflating when the arm is moving to protect any nearby humans. When the robot needs to use the manipulator, the airbag deflates in less than a second. Lights built into the \u2018bag let nearby humans know when the machine is safe, and built-in pressure sensors detect if it bumps into anyone. A video of an earlier prototype from March shows a researcher testing the efficacy of the system in the most straightforward way possible: by letting it ram into his head.", "output": "German researchers have developed a system of airbags to protect people working with robots from injury. The scientists from the DLR Robotics and Mechatronics Centre came up with the idea in 2016, and have now released a video explaining the system. The airbag inflates automatically around sharp edges when the manipulator arm moves, before deflating to allow the arm to work. The new safety measure complements existing methods such as cameras and sensors which can detect human workers, and force-limited joints that shut down the robot if resistance is encountered."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Monthly podcast audiences grow in the US \n When the IAB kicks off its third annual podcast upfront next week on Sept. 7, it should look and feel very different from previous years.\n\nBefore last year\u2019s event, attendees anticipated the debut of IAB guidelines for the format. This year, attendees have had months to think about market leader Apple\u2019s launch of analytics for podcasts, sample from the bumper crop of branded podcasts that market leaders like Gimlet Media have produced and process the flurry of funding rounds podcasting companies have announced this summer: $7.5 million for Art19, $15 million for Gimlet and another $15 million for HowStuffWorks.\n\nHere is a look at the state of podcasting in five charts.\n\nNearly a quarter of all Americans listen to podcasts regularly\n\nAfter a brief period of slowing user growth, podcasting experienced a small uptick in 2017, rising from 21 percent in 2016 to 24 percent in 2017, according to a report produced by Edison Research and Triton Digital.\n\nNew listeners are highly likely to become regular listeners\n\nPodcasting\u2019s proponents often call it an addictive format. Research released last month by Bridge Ratings Media Research suggests those claims are true. Bridge Ratings found that year over year, light podcast listeners (those who listen to about one show per week) are more likely to increase their consumption than they are to drop off or even to remain the same. A survey of light podcast listeners found that nearly half of them upped their consumption to two to three shows per week.\n\nA separate survey of a group of even lighter listeners, which Bridge Ratings labels \u201cgrazers\u201d (those who listen to one to three shows per month), found 45 percent of them turned into weekly listeners year over year.\n\nStars are emerging\n\nBreakout hits such as \u201cSerial\u201d and pioneering hosts including Marc Maron and Bill Simmons are go-to reference points when discussing podcasting\u2019s popularity. But the reality is that in 2017, the constellation of stars and shows that consistently drive large audiences is growing. The 10 most popular podcasts each average over 1 million downloads per episode, and nearly one quarter of the 100 most popular podcasts gather at least 500,000 downloads per episode, according to a report podcast analytics firm Podtrac published in June.\n\nPlatforms are investing in original content\n\nBecause podcast listeners tend to listen to shows frequently, a growing number of platforms have invested in original programming as a way to attract listeners. 2017 saw Google, Spotify and Tidal all unveil original U.S. programming for their platforms, joining Amazon, Pandora, Scripps-owned Stitcher and Slacker.", "output": "Monthly podcast listenership in the US is up from 21% in 2016 to 24% this year, according to figures produced by Edison Research and Triton Digital. Separate research showed that those who listen to an average of one podcast a week were more likely to increase their consumption than to reduce or maintain it. The ten most popular podcasts each average over a million downloads per episode, and platforms including Google, Spotify and Tidal are now investing in original content.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Conde Nast scales back digital-only Ars Technica \n Cond\u00e9 Nast Britain is winding down its digital-only brand Ars Technica in the U.K. The magazine publisher, which debuted the technology-focused site in the U.K. two years ago, has all but ceased its U.K. operations \u2014 a stark reminder that nothing is certain in digital.\n\nThe site\u2019s U.K. URL will remain for now, but it will be staffed by just one person \u2014 Ars Technica UK consumer editor Mark Walton \u2014 and a mix of freelancers. The publisher confirmed four editorial staffers were laid off. Previously, there were six full-time editorial staffers and a deep bank of freelancers. U.K. editor Sebastian Anthony, who oversaw the site\u2019s British debut, and news editor Kelly Fiveash are among those who have left.\n\nA Cond\u00e9 Nast Britain spokeswoman said Ars Technica will continue in the U.K. and that the cuts are part of an ongoing restructuring. But with just one permanent staffer, it\u2019s unclear how long the site will last. For now, Walton will report directly to U.S.-based Ars Technica founder and editor-in-chief Ken Fisher and Wired Media Group editor Greg Williams.\n\nLaunching a digital-only media brand is tough, and Cond\u00e9 Nast Britain isn\u2019t the only publisher to find that brands successful in their original markets \u2014 like Ars Technica in the U.S. \u2014 aren\u2019t guaranteed longevity in foreign markets. In the last six months, major titles like the Guardian were forced to scale back U.S. operations.\n\nTechnology is a highly saturated market, with specialist titles including Dennis Publishing\u2019s Alphr and other digital native sites like Engadget, The Verge and others all jostling for space. Ars Technica has the additional challenge of having to differentiate from fellow Cond\u00e9 Nast-owned title Wired \u2014 a far more well-established title in the U.K., with 943,000 monthly visitors, according to comScore. That overlap in editorial mandate was never fully resolved, according to people close to the situation.\n\n\u201cArs Technica is online-only in an increasingly challenging digital marketplace for magazine brands,\u201d said Alice Pickthall, media analyst at Enders Analysis. \u201cCond\u00e9 Nast may seek to reshuffle investment toward their stronger consumer brands, such as Wired, which is a similar proposition.\u201d\n\nThat said, traffic on Ars Technica rose steadily for a time. A year in, Ars Technica UK was faring relatively well, claiming 1.5 million monthly users last May. ComScore put the figure at around 652,000, excluding mobile devices during the same month. The editorial team aimed to differentiate by focusing on tech and gaming for high-brow IT and tech specialists when other tech sites were trying to become more mainstream.\n\nThe U.K. site ran separately from its U.S. counterpart, in line with how Cond\u00e9 Nast operates autonomously in different markets, but it shared U.S. stories about generic technology and science that were of interest to both audiences to free up U.K. editorial resources to go deeper on local stories and cover areas like European policy.\n\n\u201cArs Technica had some very good content, which was interesting and often quirky. When they went in depth, they did so very well, probably in a less glossy way than Wired would,\u201d said David Carr, strategy director at DigitasLBi. \u201cBut that wasn\u2019t enough to distinguish them against the bigger brands like Tech Insider, which is like a fire hose on Facebook and other channels. Ars Technica wasn\u2019t playing the clickbait game on social platforms.\u201d\n\nFirst-year shine can only last so long, especially in an area as crowded as digital publishing. After that, the brand didn\u2019t get much sales traction, according to sources close to the situation. Commercial operations have always been lean at the technology title in the U.K., with one core sales director, Ciara Byrne, who left a few months ago to join Cond\u00e9 Nast International\u2019s Vogue Digital team. She wasn\u2019t replaced. After she left, commercial operations were rolled into Wired Media Group, with the idea of having more collaboration between Ars Technica and Wired. Editorial operations remained separate until now.\n\nArs Technica\u2019s U.K. revenue is a combination of programmatic, creative solutions and direct ad sales, according to the publisher. Often, publishers grow ad revenue for smaller international outfits by pushing programmatic sales, but with a niche audience, that was never going to be the core revenue driver for Ars Technica UK. The majority of the U.K. outfit\u2019s revenue was direct ad sales, including deep strategic partnerships with the likes of Microsoft, Google and HP.\n\nBrand awareness was always an issue with local agencies, and some said the offering was overpriced. Offering a global sell was also not appealing to agencies with local U.K. budgets that are always looking to compare titles to local competitors, said Charlotte Tice, head of Affinity at Mindshare. \u201cI remember thinking we would never do anything with them at those prices,\u201d she said. \u201cThey priced themselves like an FT-type brand. That might work if the brand is well-known, but that\u2019s not the case in the U.K. That was their biggest issue; no one knew who they were.\u201d", "output": "Magazine publisher Cond\u00e9 Nast's British operation is cutting back resources at its online-only Arts Technica title, with four editorial staff losing their jobs. The site will now be staffed by just one employee, consumer editor Mark Walton, supported by a number of freelancers. The company says the cutbacks are part of an ongoing restructuring, but doubts have been expressed about the future viability of the title, which launched in 2015 and initially saw readership rise to 1.5 million monthly users. It is reported to have struggled against tech media competitors, including fellow Cond\u00e9 Nast brand Wired.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Another hurricane may hit the US putting Gulf of Mexico at risk \n Forecasters are monitoring the storm as it makes its way across the Atlantic, but it's too early to tell where it might strike.\n\nAs Harvey moves on from southeastern Texas and floodwaters start to recede, meteorologists are tracking another storm brewing in the eastern Atlantic Ocean that they say could potentially approach the United States in the coming weeks.\n\nIrma became a Category 3 hurricane late Thursday afternoon, making it the season\u2019s second major hurricane. The hurricane now packs maximum sustained winds of 115 miles per hour, with stronger gusts.\n\nIrma had already quickly transformed from a tropical storm Wednesday morning into a Category 2 hurricane Thursday afternoon, according to the National Hurricane Center. It exhibits an unusual\u2014but not unprecedented\u2014rate of growth, according to meteorologists.\n\nLike Harvey and other Atlantic hurricanes, Irma started as a tropical wave off the coast of Africa and began a slow, westward churn across the Atlantic. Irma will spend the next few days traveling toward the eastern Caribbean region. Beyond that, it\u2019s still too early to predict exactly where the hurricane will go, meteorologists say.\n\n\u201cWe have plenty of time to watch this,\u201d said Dennis Feltgen, a meteorologist at NOAA\u2019s National Hurricane Center in Miami.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no certainty. It has to go somewhere.\u201d\n\nIrma has met favorable conditions for picking up strength as it moves across the Atlantic. The hurricane is feeding off warm waters, which are typical during this time of year. \u201cThere\u2019s practically no vertical wind shear, which is what would really prohibit storms from forming or strengthening, because it kind of keeps the top separate from the bottom, and they need to be stacked to really strengthen,\u201d said Brian McNoldy, who studies cyclones at the University of Miami\u2019s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.\n\nIrma also hasn\u2019t run into much dry air, which usually chokes off the flow of humid air to storm clouds. \u201cFor a tropical cyclone, you want to ingest as wet and humid conditions as you can find,\u201d McNoldy said.\n\nIrma currently poses no threat to land areas. The hurricane is located about 600 miles west of the Cabo Verde islands, off the northwest coast of Africa. It should reach the Lesser Antilles, a collection of islands in the Caribbean, in the next four or five days, meteorologists say. It\u2019s being steered along by a subtropical high-pressure system that remains parked over the north-central Atlantic all season long. \u201cIf it\u2019s a really strong system up there, it tends to keep hurricanes more toward the west,\u201d McNoldy said. \u201cIf there\u2019s a weakness in it somewhere ... hurricane tracks will find their way north a little bit quicker.\u201d\n\nThe high-pressure system could launch Irma toward any number of targets, including the Bahamas and Bermuda and U.S. states like Florida, North Carolina, and Texas, McNoldy said.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no certainty. It has to go somewhere,\u201d he said. \u201cWe just don\u2019t know where.\u201d\n\nHarvey, now designated as a tropical depression, was, as far as hurricane predictions go, a well-forecasted event; meteorologists warned of the storm\u2019s catastrophic effects several days before it made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane. Harvey met their dire expectations, causing unprecedented flooding, the displacement of thousands, and nearly 40 deaths. Harvey and Irma both formed during peak hurricane season, which runs from mid-August to late October. But Harvey\u2019s devastating aftermath has put any other storm coming down the pike this season under more scrutiny than usual.", "output": "Another hurricane is developing off the US called Hurricane Irma. At present it is a Category 3 hurricane which meteorologists say grew unusually quickly and is still intensifying in the Atlantic with its path as yet unknown. There is the possibility it\u00a0could be a threat in the Gulf of Mexico or the Eastern Seaboard."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's live streaming to surge to $15bn in 2020: Goldman Sachs \n An investor looks at an electronic board showing stock information at a brokerage house in Shanghai on March 16, 2017.\n\nGoldman Sachs predicts two U.S.-listed Chinese stocks, Momo and YY , will surge double-digits on the rapid growth of the video livestream market there.\n\n\"China is leading the world in live streaming \u2013 where individuals broadcast themselves singing, chatting or even eating,\" equity research analyst Fan Liu and a team of other analysts said in a Thursday report.\n\nThe analysts forecast the livestreaming market to grow to $15 billion in 2020, more than seven times what it was just two years ago, and are initiating buy on the two leaders of the market \"after a flurry of startups in the space last year.\"\n\nMessaging app Momo has a strong existing social network, while YY has \"solid content generation capability,\" the analysts said.\n\nShares of Momo closed nearly 7 percent higher Thursday at $38.53 a share, leaving about 45 percent upside to Goldman's $56 12-month price target. Shares of YY gained 5 percent to $74.72, about 35 percent below the analysts' $101 price target.\n\nLivestreaming enjoyed the highest revenue per hour in 2016 (US $)\n\nSource: Goldman Sachs\n\nMomo reached a record 91.3 million monthly active users in the second quarter, according to the Goldman report, while YY had 66 monthly active users for mobile livestreaming and 5.7 million paying users in the second quarter.\n\nTo be sure, both stocks tend to be volatile and are based on business models sensitive to consumer sentiment.\n\nThe Goldman analysts also noted pressure from Chinese regulators could also quickly turn sentiment around.\n\nAmong other major Chinese stocks, Goldman Sachs has a conviction buy rating on Alibaba and buy ratings on Baidu , Ctrip , JD.com , NetEase , Tencent and Vipshop .", "output": "Analysts from Goldman Sachs have predicted that China's video livestream market will grow to $15bn by 2020, more than seven times what it was two years ago. \"China is leading the world in live streaming,\" commented equity research analyst Fan Liu. The analysts are initiating buy on the two leaders of the market - US listed Chinese stocks Momo and YY - which they predict will surge to 45% and 35% respectively due to the rapid growth of the video livestream market. Analysts warned of the potential pressures of Chinese regulators however, and that social media stocks tend to be volatile.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EU task force looks to use blockchain for refugee identification \n The European Union is joining the United Nations in using the Ethereum Blockchain to provide transparent help to refugees.\n\nDetails of the latest meeting of the European Parliament this week show its dedicated distributed ledger (DLT) taskforce set up earlier this year has already spent half its \u20ac850,000 ($1 mln) budget.\n\nDubbed the \u2018Horizontal Task Force on Distributed Ledger Technology,\u2019 a use case defined in the EU\u2019s latest documentation relates to refugee aid in addition to DLT research.\n\n\u201cOne specific use case that ought to be explored is the potential of DLT based solutions for the 10 management of the situation of refugees,\u201d the amendment states.\n\n\u201cMany refugees, and people in refugee-like situations, are unable to prove their identity or access essential services.\u201d\n\nBlockchain, powered by Ethereum, could thus ease the integration process by providing new, more efficient ways of identifying undocumented persons arriving in the EU.\n\n\u201c[...] EU governments in partnerships with other countries and organizations (e.g. NGOs) need innovative solutions to manage increasing flows of migrants and their temporary stay in different countries,\u201d the European Parliament continues.\n\n\u201cDLT applications could lend themselves to such applications on account of their distributed and resilient architecture.\u201d\n\nIn June, the United Nations released plans to use Ethereum to distribute aid to refugees in crisis-hit Syria.\n\nBlockchain Refugees\u2019 Several-Year Journey To Government\n\nEthereum is progressing at breakneck speed with state-sponsored integrations also coming from Russia this week.\n\nMembers of the Ethereum Foundation signed a deal with government-owned bank VEB with an eye to increasing knowledge and propagation of Ethereum Blockchain solutions.\n\nRegistering refugees on the Blockchain meanwhile has been a focus of industry startups for several years. In 2015, BitNation succeeded in documenting the first such arrivals, at a time when government responses were far from set in stone.\n\n\u201cThe refugee crisis in Europe is massive, and will last for years to come with millions of stateless people who can\u2019t open bank accounts, or even take a job, legally,\u201d founder Susanne Tarkowski-Tempelhof told Cointelegraph at the time.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a huge, and urgent vacuum to fill. The governments won\u2019t do it, because they\u2019re in a political deadlock when it comes to immigration.\u201d", "output": "An EU task force is exploring ways of using blockchain technology in the distribution of aid to refugees, to assist with maintaining accurate records. The body was set up earlier this year to look at how dedicated distribution ledger technology could be applied to the management of refugees, and has already spent half of its \u20ac850,000 ($1m) budget. In June, the United Nations announced plans to use blockchain technology to distribute aid to refugees in Syria.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Samsung secures permit to test autonomous vehicles in California \n Electronics giant Samsung is the latest company to get the go-ahead to test self-driving cars on California\u2019s public roads.\n\nThat\u2019s according to the list of companies who\u2019ve agreed to the terms of the Autonomous Vehicle Tester Program from the California Department of Motor Vehicles, which was updated Wednesday. Samsung joins companies such as Apple, Bosch, Delphi, NVIDIA and Waymo, as well as automakers like BMW, General Motors, and Volkswagen.\n\nSamsung already got the OK to test self-driving cars in South Korea\n\nIn May, Samsung received approval to test cars in its home country of South Korea, using software adapted to Hyundai vehicles. That sounds odd because Samsung owns nearly 20 percent of Renault Samsung Motors, which is part of the Renault-Nissan alliance that\u2019s the world\u2019s fourth-largest auto producer. Nissan also has approval to test self-driving cars in California.\n\nBut in 2015, Samsung announced a new division that would focus on self-driving vehicle software, rather than the creation of the entire vehicle.", "output": "Samsung has been given a permit to test autonomous vehicles in California, raising further speculation about its future self-driving vehicle plans. The company already has approval to test autonomous vehicles in its home country of South Korea. In 2015 it announced a new division focusing on self-drive software, rather than creating its own vehicle, despite owning nearly 20% of Renault Samsung motors. Nissan also has approval to test in California, as do\u00a0Apple, Bosch, BMW, General Motors and Volkswagen.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Samsung secures permit to test autonomous vehicles in California \n The California DMV has just updated the list of companies that can test self-driving technologies in the state, and there's one notable addition: Samsung Electronics. In a statement, a company spokesperson confirmed that it's participating in California's Autonomous Vehicle Tester Program. However, he clarified that the Korean conglomerate still has \"no plans to enter the car-manufacturing business.\" Samsung will instead continue to develop sensors that use its AI and deep learning software, as well as other components for autonomous vehicles.\n\nSamsung first got a permit to test self-driving technologies in its home country earlier this year. The chaebol revealed then that it was planning to test the sensors and parts it's developing aboard a Hyundai car. It unfortunately didn't elaborate on what those components can do, but we might find out more details when the company starts testing them in California.\n\nThe number of companies testing on California roads is only bound to grow, especially now that the government is mulling on giving tech titans and automakers exceptions to federal safety rules. Next week, lawmakers are slated to vote on the SELF DRIVE Act that would prevent states from regulating autonomous vehicle designs. If it passes, companies like Waymo will be able to test 100,000 autonomous vehicles, though, in exchange they have to turn in more data to the feds.", "output": "Samsung has been given a permit to test autonomous vehicles in California, raising further speculation about its future self-driving vehicle plans. The company already has approval to test autonomous vehicles in its home country of South Korea. In 2015 it announced a new division focusing on self-drive software, rather than creating its own vehicle, despite owning nearly 20% of Renault Samsung motors. Nissan also has approval to test in California, as do\u00a0Apple, Bosch, BMW, General Motors and Volkswagen.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hurricane Harvey puts those in supply chains at legal risk \n Dive Brief:\n\nDive Insight:\n\nHarvey is not only disrupting supply chains, transport companies and manufacturers \u2014 it's fully shutting them down and exposing them to not only physical and financial harm but also legal risk.\n\nSuzanne Trigg, a partner with Haynes and Boone, said in an interview with Supply Chain Dive that many manufacturers in the Texas Gulf Coast area are initiating force majeure protocols in their contracts, fearing they won't be able to get operations back online in time to meet deadlines.\n\nA force majeure clause permits a supplier to justify failure to meet deadlines, reach production goals, make deliveries or uphold its end of a contract with another company as a result of a natural disaster, \"act of man,\" or \"act of God.\" It is usually a safeguard against litigation, should some unanticipated outside force prevent a company from operating and delivering on its promises.\n\n\"The other thing we\u2019re seeing legally is out right disruption,\" Trigg told Supply Chain Dive.\n\nShe explained that many of the suppliers who have completely shut down operations may not have force majeure conditions clearly outlined in their contracts with buyers, which can lead to litigation after the crisis has passed, as these contracts are sure to be broken when suppliers halt or delay production to accommodate Harvey. Furthermore, the extraordinary amount of pollutants released by local refineries may cause legal problems for supply chains as well.\n\n\"Pollutants [are] being released, more than usual, so the supply chain angle is where the oil and gas were stored and how it was handled and whose fault it was,\" Trigg said. \"What was released in a week is what was expected to have been released over a series of months.\"\n\nJosh Brogan, a vice president at consulting firm A.T. Kearney, told Supply Chain Dive in an interview that he spoke with several manufacturing companies in the Texas Gulf Coast area.\n\n\"From a supply chain perspective, generally speaking there\u2019s not much change that\u2019s happened in terms of planning,\" he said. \"I think manufacturing in the Houston area are kind of in a 'wait and see' position, and are more concerned with the well being of their employees.\"\n\nAs the hurricane begins to wane, however, Brogan believes trucking rates will spike nationwide, but especially in the Houston area as aid is shipped in.\n\n\"There\u2019s going to be heavy pressure on freight lines to keep product moving \u2014 Houston is a pretty well balanced port when it comes to volumes going in and out \u2014 so there\u2019s going to be a heavy reliance on rail and road to move product and a heavy reliance on infrastructure,\" Brogan told Supply Chain Dive.\n\nTrucking rates are likely to stay elevated in the Houston area for a while, as building materials are shipped to repair damaged homes and personal property, according to Brogan, but the ports are unlikely to see as much traffic, as they will equalize fairly quickly once the floodwaters settle.\n\n\"It\u2019s going to take flexibility and ingenuity on everyone\u2019s side to get things up and running,\" Brogan said.\n\nThe likelihood of higher gas prices, combined with higher trucking rates, may be good for the trucking industry, but may stress Houston area supply chains trying to get back on their feet. For local supply chains, checking with suppliers about force majeure contract stipulations is a good way to plan for the next few weeks and avoid misunderstandings and complications that lead to litigation.", "output": "Manufacturers in Texas who have been forced to shut down operations due to Hurricane Harvey are initiating force majeure protocols protecting them against litigation should they fail to meet production deadlines. A force majeure clause permits a supplier to justify failure to uphold its end of a contract with another company as a result of a natural disaster. Many suppliers however may not have force majeure conditions outlined in their contracts. Furthermore, at least two million pounds of pollutants have been released from oil refineries and chemical plants as a result of the damage, which may cause additional legal problems."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China looks to outpace Musk's Hyperloop \n The Hyperloop is getting some Chinese competition.\n\nThe country\u2019s state-run space contractor, China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), announced yesterday (Aug. 30) that it has started research on a \u201chigh-speed flying train\u201d that it says will be able to reach top speeds of 4,000 km per hour (2,485 miles per hour). That is 10 times faster than the world\u2019s fastest bullet train (which is also in China), four times faster than commercial flights, and over three times the speed of sound (1,225 km/h).\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe \u201cflying train\u201d is in essence a passenger pod that uses magnetic levitation and travels through a near-vacuum tube, as CASIC manager Liu Shiquan explained to Chinese media (link in Chinese). The concept is similar to that of the Hyperloop, a futuristic high-speed transportation system envisioned by Elon Musk in 2013. Western startups are now competing to reach the proposed 1,200 km/h speed of the Hyperloop.\n\nEarlier this month, Los Angeles-based startup Hyperloop One, which Musk is not involved with, said its pod reached the speed of 310 km/h during a test. That set a record for a Hyperloop test, which was broken recently when a German team\u2019s version hit 323 km/h.\n\nCASIC claims that its own version of the tube-enclosed system will be the first in the world designed for supersonic speed, though the first step will be hitting top speeds of 1,000 km/h. Musk has suggested that future versions of the Hyperloop would travel faster than the speed of sound.\n\nCASIC says it owns over 200 patents for the project. Eventually it plans to export the \u201cflying train\u201d to countries that are part of China\u2019s \u201cOne Belt, One Road\u201d infrastructure spending spree. It didn\u2019t provide a timetable.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nOf course, reaching supersonic speed too quickly could get uncomfortable. Mao Kai, chief designer of the system, said in an interview (link in Chinese) yesterday with a state newspaper that the train will ensure safety by allowing for acceleration that\u2019s slower than civil aircraft. He dismissed concerns that the tickets will be too expensive for ordinary passengers.", "output": "China's state-run space contractor, China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), has announced plans to develop a \u201chigh-speed flying train\u201d, which it claims will eventually be capable of speeds of 2,485 mph (4,000 km/h). The \"flying train\" concept is similar to Elon Musk's Hyperloop, essentially a passenger pod that uses maglev technology to travel through a near-vacuum tube. Western companies are targeting top speeds of 746 mph. CASIC said it owns over 200 patents for the technology, and will look to export the transport to One Belt, One Road countries. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's State Grid to buy remaining shares of Brazil's CPFL \n A State Grid employee works on an ultra-high-voltage transmission construction in Huainan, Anhui province. [Photo by Song Weixing / China Daily ]\n\nState Grid Corp of China, the country's biggest utility, plans to buy the remaining shares it does not own in Brazilian power group CPFL Energia SA, Sina Finance reported.\n\nIf the deal is successful, State Grid will obtain 100 percent ownership in CPFL, the largest power distributor in Brazil, making a major stride towards its overseas layout.\n\nIn January, the Chinese company acquired a controlling 54.64 percent stake in CPFL and its subsidiary, CPFL Energias Renovaveis SA, for 17.36 billion reais ($5.68 billion).\n\nState Grid is expanding its business globally with acquisitions across the world. Currently, it has invested in Italy, the Philippines, Brazil, Portugal and Australia.\n\nBrazil has been the main battlefield for State Grid's \"going out\" plan. The company purchased 100 percent stakes in Brazil's 12 power transmission firms in December 2010 and December 2012, with a total investment of $1.68 billion.\n\nState Grid runs nearly 7,000 kilometers of transmission line in Brazil, according to Brazil's local media. In addition, another 6,600 kilometers are under construction.\n\nState Grid, which distributes electricity to 1.1 billion people, had a profit of 86.6 billion yuan ($13.1 billion) on revenue of 2.09 trillion yuan in 2016, according to its website.", "output": "The State Grid of China, the country's largest utility, is to purchase the remaining shares in Brazilian power group CPFL Energia that it does not yet own (roughly 45%), giving it 100% ownership if the deal is successful. State Grid acquired 52.64% of CPFL and its subsidiary CPFL Energias Renovaveis in January for $5.68bn. The firm also owns Brazil's 12 transmission firms, covering 7,000 km with a further 6,000 km being built, and has made separate acquisitions in Italy, the Philippines, Portugal, and Australia"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FuchsRohr releases lightweight AluDrill for improved drilling \n Innovative, aluminium alloy FuchsRohr AluDrill drill pipe opens up new possibilities for demanding oil and gas drilling operations. Brought to market by OTTO FUCHS Drilling Solutions (OFDS), the pipe is up to 50% lighter than similarly-sized steel pipe. This low weight translates into increased drilling efficiency while making transportation and handling both easier and less expensive.\n\nDuring a series of shale drilling tests, FuchsRohr Alu Drill has proven its durability and reliability, demonstrating an improved ROP in sliding mode of up to 30% (versus standard steel pipe) through more efficient weight-to-bit transfer. The aluminium alloy\u2019s high yield strength also showed that it can more than handle the demanding shale drilling environment. Its strength-to-weight ratio exceeds that of X80 steel and approaches the range of titanium.\n\nWith a view to the upcoming SPE, the leading trade fair for the offshore sector, Peter Kaufmann, President of OFDS, pointed to another advantage of the light-weight aluminum pipe: \u201cEspecially in offshore operations, the weight advantage reduces freight costs and facilitates transport and handling. At the end of the day, this, in addition to the increase in drilling effectiveness and a reduction in drilling time, can contribute to reduced costs and higher profit margins in the oil and gas industry.\u201d", "output": "FuchsRohr has released its aluminium alloy AluDrill, which is up to 50% lighter than similarly sized steel pipe, making transport easier and cutting freight costs. It has a strength-to-weight ratio approaching that of titanium. In tests, the AluDrill demonstrated an improved rate of penetration\u00a0in sliding mode of up to 30% compared with standard steel pipe.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": " Ciel et Terre to install 2.5 MW of floating PV in Japan \n China\u2019s JinkoSolar will supply the PV modules, while Spanish manufacturer Power Electronics Espana SL has been tapped to provide inverters.\n\nThe French floating PV specialist \u2014 known for its proprietary Hydrelio floating platforms \u2014 is developing the project on a pond in Tsu, Mie prefecture. China\u2019s JinkoSolar will supply the PV modules, while Spanish manufacturer Power Electronics Espana SL has been tapped to provide inverters. Osaka-based Super Tool ECO will handle EPC duties.\n\nAll electricity will be sold to Nagoya-based utility Chubu Electric Power for a period of 20 years at a feed-in tariff (FIT) rate of JPY 24 ($0.22)/kWh. Upon completion in November, the installation is expected to generate 2.27 GWh of electricity per year, according to Ciel et Terre\u2019s website.\n\nSeparately, the company \u2014 which is based just outside of the French city of Lille \u2014 completed a 973 kW floating PV array in Tenri, Nara prefecture. REC Solar supplied the PV modules, while Power Electronics Espana SL provided inverters. Tokyo-based Eco Holdings served as EPC contractor.\n\nPopular content\n\nAll electricity from the project will be sold to regional utility Kansai Electric Power over a period of 20 years at a FIT rate of JPY 27/kWh. The installation is expected to generate roughly 1.07 GWh of electricity per year.\n\nCiel et Terre has worked on numerous floating solar projects, including several installations built in cooperation with Kyocera. Last October, it announced plans to develop Taiwan\u2019s first floating PV project, in cooperation with GermanSolar Asia. The 5 MW array was built on a reservoir near the southern city of Kaohsiung.", "output": "Ciel et Terre has begun work on installing a 2.55 MW floating solar array in Japan. The work is taking place on a pond in Tsu, Mie prefecture, with PV modules coming from China's JinkoSolar, inverters from Spanish specialists Power Electronics Espana and EPC operations looked after by Oska-based Super Tool Eco. The electricity produced will be sold to Nagoya utility Chubu Electric Power at a feed-in tariff of $0.22/kWh, for 20 years. The project is expected to reach completion in November, and should generate 2.27 GWh of electricity annually."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK's solar energy capacity grows by 900 MW in H1 of 2017 \n Official preliminary data from the U.K.\u2019s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has revealed that the country added 900 MW of solar capacity in the first six months of the year.\n\nCumulative installed PV capacity stood at 11,872 MW at the end of 2016, the BEIS data shows, rising to 12,720 MW by June 30. This is preliminary data and is expected to rise, BEIS stressed.\n\nThe main surge of solar installations arrived prior to March 31, which was the cut-off date for the remaining renewable obligation certificates (ROCs) for large-scale solar farms not larger than 5 MW that qualified for a grace period. Between February and March, the data shows, the U.K.\u2019s solar sector added 670 MW, of which 530 MW was added in March alone. Of that figure, two-thirds were built in the 50 kW to 5 MW range.\n\nHowever, since March 31, solar installations have slowed significantly, with less than 100 MW installed in the second quarter.\n\nPopular content\n\nOverall, the U.K. now has 922,509 installations of solar PV, of which 46% \u2013 or 5,890 MW \u2013 is derived from solar farms larger than 5 MW.\n\nResidential rooftop solar PV (systems below 4 kW in size) represent 20%, or 2,502 MW, of the entire U.K. fleet.\n\nThese record levels of cumulative solar capacity are having an impact on the country\u2019s energy mix. Data from Imperial College London found that coal supplied just 2% of the U.K.\u2019s power in the first half of 2017, down from around 40% as recently as 2012. On a handful of days in June, solar, nuclear and wind power met 70% of the country\u2019s energy needs, bringing the U.K.\u2019s carbon intensity of power production below 100g of CO2 per kWh for the first time ever.", "output": "The UK added 900 MW of solar capacity during H1 2107, according to preliminary data from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which said the final figure is likely to be higher. The study showed that 530 MW was added in March alone, but also revealed solar installations have slowed significantly since that date. The study also showed that coal supplied 2% of the UK's power during the first six months of 2017 compared with 40% in 2012. On a few days in June, solar, nuclear and wind power met 70% of the UK's energy needs.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hurricane Harvey highlights the case for distributed microgrids \n Harvey, the hurricane-turned-tropical depression that\u2019s devastated the Texas Gulf Coast, has also driven home the value of off-grid energy systems, from backup generators to microgrids -- and the dire results of failing to have them ready to prevent disasters.\n\nThe floodwaters have killed dozens of people and left tens of thousands homeless, and the storm has also knocked out power for more than 200,000 utility customers from Beaumont to Corpus Christi. While many residents have had power restored, many others are stuck in flooded areas where utility crews can\u2019t even get to, let alone repair the damage.\n\nThat\u2019s left many homes, businesses and industrial facilities no choice but to ride out the outage -- or, if they\u2019ve got them, to turn on their own generators. Most of these distributed energy resources (DERs) are just diesel generators in the garage. In a handful of cases, they\u2019re built into a building\u2019s everyday operations, but can also kick on to keep the power in stores and hospitals running through blackouts.\n\nBut for facilities like oil refineries or chemical plants, on-site power generation and controls are not just convenient, they\u2019re critical -- and their failure could spell catastrophe. That\u2019s the unfortunate situation at the Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, where floods knocked out grid power and two separate backup power systems on Sunday. That\u2019s left a storage site for volatile peroxides without the refrigeration they need to keep from breaking down, emitting noxious fumes, and eventually catching on fire or exploding.\n\nThe 11 Arkema employees left as a skeleton crew at the closed-down plant dealt with the breakdown by transferring the chemicals to nine diesel-powered refrigerated trailers, but eight of those have failed as well, the New York Times reported. Then the employees were forced to abandon their efforts, as the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office requested the evacuation of all people within a 1.5-mile radius of the plant.\n\nSince then, the storage site has been emitting noxious fumes that sent a dozen sheriff\u2019s deputies to the hospital with reports of respiratory irritation, though all have since been released. The EPA estimates that 4,000 people live within a 3-mile radius of the site. Arkema has 66,000 pounds of sulfur dioxide, a highly toxic chemical, and another substance, methylpropene, in large enough quantities to require an EPA risk management plan, the Wall Street Journal reported.\n\nOn Thursday morning came reports of explosions at the site, although county officials and Arkema executives downplayed the threat in a press conference later in the morning, saying that the loud sounds were more likely to be the \u201cpopping\u201d of the vapor release valves on the containers holding the chemicals.\n\nStill, \"When they decompose, they will generate heat; and when they generate heat, there's a possibility of a fire and an explosion,\" company executive Richard Rennard told reporters. \"This is a very serious issue, and we know that.\u201d Houston-area Republican Congressman Ted Poe told CNBC that the site could be without power for up to six days.\n\nIt\u2019s unclear how the plant\u2019s multiple, redundant backup power systems failed. Arkema executives have cited the \u201cunprecedented\u201d nature of this week\u2019s storm, with record-breaking rains and flooding that inundated the site, including its backup generators, in 6 feet of water.\n\nFlooding has also lead to the closure of 16 hospitals across Texas, forcing the evacuation of more than 1,000 patients to facilities that remain open, according to the Department of State Health Services. But some of the state\u2019s biggest hospitals remained open, thanks to multimillion-dollar investments designed to keep floodwaters out and power humming.\n\nThe Texas Medical Center in downtown Houston, for example, has invested $50 million in a network of floodgates that have kept its 50 million square feet of facilities dry and operating through Harvey. It\u2019s also supplied by a combined heat and power and district energy system from Thermal Energy Corp.\n\nThat\u2019s a significant investment, but it pales in comparison to the $2 billion in losses the hospital suffered when it was flooded during Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, the hospital\u2019s president Bill McKeon told PBS.\n\nNot all businesses face such a stark financial incentive to invest in backup power and storm resiliency. But there may be a broader market for distributed backup power systems that earn money and cut costs for customers when the majority of the time the grid isn\u2019t down.\n\nThat\u2019s the business model behind the natural-gas generators running at 63 H-E-B supermarkets across the greater Houston area. Installed and operated for a small fee by microgrid-as-a-service provider Enchanted Rock, these systems provide reduced utility bills for their stores, and offer opportunities for bidding their energy into markets run by Texas grid operator ERCOT.\n\nBut they\u2019re also installed for the express purpose of being able to run in \u201cisland mode,\" disconnected from the grid. Since Friday, 18 of H-E-B\u2019s stores have successfully kept themselves up and running in this mode, feeding their generators from underground natural gas pipelines that haven\u2019t been destroyed by winds or floods.\n\nThis feature has made natural gas the fuel of choice for most of Texas\u2019 microgrid systems, as compared to the diesel fuel that powers most backup generators. Enchanted Rock has built up a fleet of about 130 megawatts of these on-site generators, and has been able to run them in a way that makes them cost-competitive without subsidies, Thomas McAndrew, the company\u2019s founding partner and managing director, said at Greentech Media\u2019s Grid Edge World Forum 2017 conference in June.\n\nMeanwhile, Texas has a few more advanced microgrids, designed to use on-site solar power, energy storage, and building energy controls in a way that reduces their reliance on fossil fuels. Dallas-area utility Oncor has built a showcase microgrid at its operating facility in Lancaster, and a Department of Energy-funded project at Group NIRE\u2019s facility in Lubbock is seeking to control up to 100 devices, including batteries, electric vehicles, controllable HVAC systems, and binary-switched devices such as water heaters and LED lighting controls. These sites are well out of the way of Harvey\u2019s fury, however.\n\nAs the response to Harvey continues, members of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities highlighted the recent approval of Middletown Township\u2019s application for a microgrid feasibility study.\n\n\u201cSuperstorm Sandy and the incredible devastation that continues in the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Harvey should serve as solemn reminders that while we have advanced distribution automation, hardened...distribution systems and improved preparedness, we still need to address local energy resiliency systems like advanced microgrids to complete the resiliency circle to help us prepare for the next emergency,\u201d said Board President Richard Mroz.", "output": "Widespread power cuts across Texas as a result of Hurricane Harvey have highlighted the value of distributed microgrids, which can provide continuity of energy supply in the event of grid failures. A number of companies, such as Enchanted Rock in the Houston area, have installed microgrid systems that run on natural gas and feed power into the grid, but can also operate in \"island mode\" in the event of an outage. Options being trialled elsewhere use combinations of on-site solar, energy storage and building controls to reduce reliance on fossil fuels."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tata Steel offers graphene-coated product for use in construction \n Tata Steel's first graphene-based product is in the market - the company has announced the launch of ready-made graphene-coated stirrups, named Tiscon Superlinks+. Tata Steel's vice-president (steel & marketing), said when four columns are built, the support link is normally supplied by a local mason, which is made of steel. \"But, it usually rusts. We have changed that by coating it with graphene.\"\n\nSuperlink+ reportedly has enhanced corrosion resistance and better bonding strength than other stirrups in the market. Tata Steel has filed seven patent applications in this area of work.\n\nA graphene development cell has been set up by the Company to identify applications and establish new businesses (production units, supply chain and markets). Two advanced material research centers have been established. One is at Chennai, in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology there. The other is at Bengaluru, with the Center for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences.\n\nThe Company commented that as long as graphene is used as a value-add in steel, Tata Steel could work on it. For other applications, it would have to approach other companies.\n\nIn April 2014, Tata Steel signed a strategic partnership with the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to co-develop graphene-coated steel and other innovations. In November 2015, Tata and Talga Resources signed a collaboration agreement to explore opportunities in graphene supply, processing and applications. In May 2016, TS announced its intention to start manufacturing graphene, moving away from a steel company to a materials production company.", "output": "Tata Steel has launched readymade graphene-coated stirrups for use in construction, known as Tiscon Superlinks+, which are the company's first graphene product. Tiscon Superlinks+ offers enhanced corrosion resistance and better bonding strength than rival stirrup products, according to Tata, which has filed seven patent applications and established advanced material research centres in Chennai and Bengaluru. The centres\u00a0will identify more applications for graphene\u00a0and set up production units."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dianrong, FinEX claim Asian first with asset management fintech \n HONG KONG, Aug. 29, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Dianrong and FinEX Asia today announced the launch of Asia's first financial technology (fintech) asset management platform. FinEX Asia was established in 2017 to connect Asian investors with US consumer lending assets, such as credit card loans.\n\nFinEX Asia combines its risk management expertise with Dianrong's advanced fintech capabilities to give Asian investors access to a diverse and attractive portfolio of U.S. consumer lending assets. FinEX Asia's fintech solutions offer advanced risk modeling capabilities, blockchain data security, performance monitoring, and secondary marketplace liquidity.\n\nSoul Htite, Founder and CEO of Dianrong, said, \"When Maggie approached Dianrong as a technology partner only a few months ago, we knew that her business vision and our proven fintech solutions were the perfect match.\n\n\"From start to finish, Dianrong engineers designed, refined and delivered a dynamic fintech platform in a matter of months. Our work with FinEX Asia further demonstrates the flexibility, scalability and speed-to-market of Dianrong's robust fintech capabilities,\" said Mr. Htite.\n\nMaggie Ng, Founder and CEO of FinEX Asia said, \"In collaboration with Dianrong, we have developed a versatile platform that gives investors seamless access to the U.S. consumer lending asset class and facilitates their investments with real-time monitoring and scenario-planning tools.\n\n\"Our fintech solution saw unparalleled speed-to-market thanks to our strong partnership with Dianrong. Now, investors who use FinEX Asia will benefit from our deep risk management expertise, which leverages artificial intelligence capabilities,\" Ms. Ng added.\n\nQualified investors may access the FinEX Asia platform through the company's new website, http://www.finexasia.com. The new investment platform provides easy access to product information, investment options and market analysis.\n\nAbout Dianrong:\n\nDianrong, a leader in online marketplace lending in China, originates US$500 million in monthly assets for 4 million retail lenders. Founded in 2012, Dianrong offers individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises a comprehensive, one-stop financial platform supported by industry-leading technology, compliance and transparency. The company's sophisticated and flexible infrastructure enables it to design and customize lending and borrowing products and services, based on industry-specific data and insights, all supported by online risk-management and operation tools. Dianrong's specific offerings include loan originations, investment products and marketplace lending solutions. Dianrong was also named in 2016 to the executive directorship of the National Internet Finance Association of China, led by the People's Bank of China. Based in Shanghai, Dianrong has 28 offices across China and employs approximately 3,500 professionals, including 600 full-time fintech engineers. For more information, please visit www.dianrong.com/en.\n\nAbout FinEX Asia:\n\nFinEX Asia is the first global fintech platform that connects Asian investors with high-quality, low-volatility asset classes, including U.S. consumer credit. FinEX Asia unlocks the potentials of these quality asset classes for qualified investors and provides them with access to a diverse portfolio of verified overseas assets in a streamlined, one-stop onboarding process. Powered by advanced fintech infrastructure, FinEX Asia's platform offers risk modelling capabilities, blockchain data security, real-time performance monitoring and marketplace liquidity, which investors can leverage to make better investment decisions. FinEX Asia is a strategic technology partner of Dianrong, a leader in online marketplace lending in China. For more information, please visit www.finexasia.com.\n\nSOURCE Dianrong.com\n\nRelated Links\n\nhttp://www.dianrong.com/en\n\n", "output": "Online marketplace lender Dianrong and fintech investment firm FinEX Asia are launching a fintech asset management platform, which they claim will be the first of its kind in Asia. The platform will blend FinEX Asia\u2019s risk management and risk modelling offering with the fintech capability of Dianrong, providing access to US consumer lending assets with tools for real-time monitoring and AI-based scenario planning.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "JBL harnesses Google Assistant to rival Google Home \n Harman audio brand JBL has taken the wraps off a series of new voice-activated speakers during its exclusive press event at the IFA consumer technology tradeshow in Berlin.\n\nThe JBL LINK 10, LINK 20 and LINK 300 all ship with the Google Assistant.\n\nJust like the Google Home, JBL LINK owners will be able to play music and podcasts, organise their calendar and control smart home devices with a few voice commands.\n\nThe smart speakers can also answer general knowledge queries, search for directions, check the latest news and traffic, and translate phrases.\n\nBut unlike the Google Home, the JBL LINK 10 and LINK 20 can be unplugged and taken out the house with you.\n\nThe LINK 10 and LINK 20 boast five and ten hours of battery life respectively.", "output": "Harman audio firm JBL is launching a series of voice-activated speakers, the JBL LINK 10, LINK 20 and LINK 300, all of which are Google Assistant-compatible. The smart speakers will have all the functionality of Google Home, but the devices are portable, equipped with up to ten hours of battery life and waterproofing of up to IPX7. The devices will be available from autumn 2017.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SK Innovation battery extends EV driving range to 500 km \n SK Innovation will start the world\u2019s first commercial production of mid- and large-sized pouch-type NCM 811 batteries that would allow a driving range of up to 500 kilometers for electric vehicles, the company said Thursday.\n\n\n\nNCM 811\u2019s letters and number stand for the chemicals and proportions of the chemicals that make up the battery. The chemicals are nickel, cobalt and manganese.\n\n\n\nStarting in December this year, the new batteries will be supplied for the production of energy storage systems. For EVs, the company will begin supplying the batteries from the third quarter of 2018, it said.\n\n\n\n\n\nA picture of a battery cell being produced (SK Innovation)", "output": "Electric vehicle battery manufacturer SK Innovation will begin the first commercial production of medium and large pouch-type NCM 811 batteries in the world, enabling driving ranges of up to 500 km for EVs. The batteries, named after the metals (nickel, cobalt and manganese) used in the battery and their proportions, will be produced for energy storage systems from December 2017, with supply for EVs starting from Q3 2018. SK Innovation will build the batteries at its Seosan facilities, which have 3.9 GW/h of battery manufacture capacity."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "S&P cautious on profit outlooks for Lemonade, Root, Metromile \n S&P Global Market Intelligence is out with a report questioning three emerging Insurtech platforms. The report states that profitability is elusive for these startups. Mentioning specifically Lemonade, Metromile, and Root Insurance, S&P says that each reported overall net losses in the second quarter, as incurred losses from claims outweighed premium revenues and investment income was not enough to cover the deficit.\n\nOk, so no one would expect startups to be generating any profit as early stage companies typically target market growth for many years. Have you ever heard of Amazon? It took that company six years for its first profitable quarter and even after that point in time, profits remained elusive. But S&P adds the overall picture for U.S. property and casualty insurance industry as a whole is pretty bad. Per S&P Global Market Intelligence\u2019s August 21 calculations, the industry produced a net underwriting loss of $3.68 billion during the quarter, based on data from nearly 2,500 individual P&C entities. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. played a large part in these results, with its P&C group generating a $1.94 billion net underwriting loss.\n\nLemonade is offering Homeowners / renters insurance only (for now). Metromile and Root are gunning for the auto insurance sector. San Francisco-based Metromile offers insurance rates based on the amount of miles driven, without taking into account the driver\u2019s behavior. Ohio-based Root takes driving habits into account, considering not only mileage, but factors like hard braking, dangerous routes, driving regularity and time of day. Metromile adds hardware to a car to gauge driver characteristics. Root uses a mobile App.\n\nS&P says that while Lemonade, Metromile and Root did not turn a profit in the second quarter, the trio continued to grow premiums. Root had the biggest percentage increase in direct premiums written at 245%, though the amount it wrote was the lowest of the three in aggregate terms. Lemonade and Root expanded geographically in the second quarter and have continued to add states since that time. Lemonade launched in New Jersey in August and Root launched in Indiana in July.\n\nThe report added that Lemonade\u2019s and Root\u2019s investment portfolios (excluding cash) consist entirely of U.S. Treasury securities. Lemonade added some more Treasurys in the second quarter, purchasing roughly $840,000 worth, while Root did not make any purchases. Metromile\u2019s portfolio is also mostly composed of Treasurys, though it holds some agency securities as well. It did not report any new purchases during the second quarter.\n\nSo what is the message here? Well, it is really way too early to measure any type of expected financial success. But many (if not most) insurance industry observers believe that this sector of finance is overdue for a digital transformation. And these three companies may be leading the pack.", "output": "Lemonade, Root Insurance and Metromile are mentioned in a report from S&P Global Market Intelligence that cites net losses in Q2 as reason to be cautious on their profitability outlooks. Loss-related claims outweighed premium revenues and investment income \u2013 mostly from US Treasury holdings \u2013 at the three firms, the report said. However, it also noted continued growth in premiums, and geographical expansion at Root and Lemonade. While start-ups aren\u2019t expected to be instantly profitable, S&P suggests the negative backdrop in the US property and casualty sector, which posted a Q2 net underwriting loss of $3.68bn, could create headwinds for the insuretechs."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China to create 'high-speed flying train' for Silk Road project \n China's aerospace agency is researching a \"high-speed flying train\" which will be able to reach top speeds of 2,485 mph (4,000 kmph) - more than three times the speed of sound.\n\nThe China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) is developing a transportation system similar to that of Elon Musk's futuristic Hyperloop system.\n\nThe Chinese agency says it owns over 200 patents for the project and plans in the future to export its hyperloop to countries along its touted modern-day Silk Road.\n\nChina's President Xi Jinping has said the country's multibillion dollar plan to build a modern-day Silk Road will be the \"project of the century\".\n\nThe country's existing high-speed rail network has received billions in investment in recent years, but CASIC's futuristic system will require even more.\n\nPlease use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 0:40 CASIC's planned 'supersonic flying train'\n\nMost hyperloop systems use pods and magnetic levitation to transport passengers through a near-vaccuum tube at potentially supersonic speeds.\n\nPassengers would be transported in a similar way to how discs move over air hockey tables; with exceptionally low friction.\n\nAs the pods near their destination, electromagnets would slow them down and the kinetic energy of the travelling pod would be absorbed back into the system.\n\nCASIC said that its own version of the system will be the first in the world to hit supersonic speed, although no system has yet managed to breach the 767 mph (1,234 kmph) speed of sound.", "output": "The China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) is said to be developing the world's first supersonic transport system, in what China's President Xi Jinping dubbed the \"project of the century\". The system, similar to Elon Musk's Hyperloop, would be constructed along the modern-day Silk Road, and CASIC said it already has more than 200 patents for the project."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ireland's first narrowband IoT network launched by Vodafone \n Vodafone launches first narrow-band IoT network Pro\n\nVodafone has launched Ireland\u2019s first Narrow-band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) network which will facilitate the connections of a wide variety of devices, underpinning the country\u2019s development as a \u2018smart nation\u2019.\n\nLaunched by Minister for Communications, Climate Action & Environment, Denis Naughten, NB-IoT is a low power wide area network (LPWA) technology. It is designed to wirelessly connect millions of devices that have low bandwidth requirements, such as municipal bins, parking bay meters, air quality sensors, and more, that will, Vodafone says, enable society to become smarter and more efficient, massively benefiting citizens as well as businesses. The company predicts that Irish consumers will see a huge variety of products, services and applications enabled by NB-IoT.\n\nNetwork upgrades\n\nVodafone said that in preparing for this rollout, it had upgraded its existing 4G base stations to provide nationwide NB-IoT coverage, which will have the ability to run alongside existing 2G, 3G and 4G networks.\n\nNB-IoT has broad support within the mobile industry, Vodafone reports, from 40 global mobile operators, 27 technology vendors and over 550 mobile IoT innovators.\n\nThe company has been a supporter of these technologies here, with involvement in an industrial IoT project with EMC and others from 2015.\n\nTechnology milestone\n\n\u201cToday\u2019s announcement by Vodafone Ireland is warmly welcomed and I\u2019m delighted to support such innovation,\u201d said Minister Naughten. \u201cThis is a significant technology milestone that holds the potential to connect millions of devices and change the way we use and interact with technology. Ireland continues to be at the forefront of such innovation, with this latest rollout by Vodafone being a true testament to the limitless possibility NB-IoT can offer.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy department is committed to working closely with industry to ensure that digital advancements such as NB-IoT meet the needs of our society, as well as ensuring Ireland punches above its weight when it comes to innovation,\u201d said the minister.\n\nUrgent need\n\n\u201cThe evolution of the Internet of Things,\u201d said Anne O\u2019Leary, CEO, Vodafone Ireland, \u201c means that there is an urgent need for a low-power way to connect thousands of devices. NB-IoT fits the bill perfectly. We are therefore delighted to be the first Irish operator to provide a fully commercial, nationwide NB-IoT network to our customers. Our latest innovation will provide a head start to Irish businesses and consumers in their race to become truly smart and efficient, radically saving time and money\u201d\n\n\u201cThe NB-IoT network is a standards based technology and is deployed in the licenced spectrum which is important from a security perspective. Our service offers specialist security consultancy to provide advisory support and security assessments to ensure that the security and data protection of our customers is protected,\u201d said O\u2019Leary.\n\nTechCentral Reporters", "output": "Ireland's first narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT) network has been launched by Vodafone and the country's Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Denis Naughten. Vodafone said it upgraded its existing 4G base stations to provide nationwide coverage. The low-power, NB-IoT network would help wirelessly connect smart city systems, such as municipal bins, parking bay meters and air quality sensors. \"This is a significant technology milestone that holds the potential to connect millions of devices and change the way we use and interact with technology,\" said Naughten.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Event38 fixed-wing drone\u00a0can fly 10 times\u00a0longer than quadcopters \n While the use of drones for security purposes is becoming more and more popular, customers are yet to reach a consensus on the best UAV solutions out there.\n\nJeff Taylor, President,\n\nEvent 38 Unmanned Systems\n\n\"It is sized to gain the most performance possible without needing a launcher to get it off the ground, making it portable and easy to store.\"\n\nWhile the use of drones for security purposes is becoming more and more popular, customers are yet to reach a consensus on the best UAV solutions out there. This is because, while several companies produce drones, the requirements of the security industry are unique and, often, difficult to implement. For instance, security drones should be able to carry high-quality cameras, analytic solutions, cover large areas and reach locations that are difficult for humans to access.Among these requirements, covering large areas while flying for extended periods is crucial to the effectiveness of a security drone. Multirotor drones, while offering remarkable maneuverability and control, fails at this mostly due to battery consumption issues. So here\u2019s a company that can offer drones that fly longer. Event 38 Unmanned Systems , an Akron, Ohio-based company, specializes in medium-long endurance, single operator drones that don\u2019t require any launch or recovery equipment. The company\u2019s E384 base model can be flown for up to two hours and can carry high-resolution RGB as well as multispectral and thermal payloads. While it\u2019s primarily built for taking still images, Event 38 is currently making a configuration with streaming video and thermal imagery for security purposes.\u201cThe E384 can fly as much as 10x longer than multirotor drones, enough to cover dozens of kilometers linearly or over 1000 acres of mapping,\u201d said Jeff Taylor, President of the company. \u201cIt is sized to gain the most performance possible without needing a launcher to get it off the ground, making it portable and easy to store.\u201dThe model uses a Pixhawk autopilot with the company\u2019s own version of flight and mission planning software. According to Taylor, this combination has been proven through thousands of hours of flight on the E384 in a variety of environments ranging from deserts to jungles and as high as 14,000 feet above MSL (Mean Sea Level).The E384 was designed in response to the demand for a high-endurance airborne platform that is priced for the commercial sector as opposed to military applications. The initial prototypes were made for mapping larger areas that couldn\u2019t effectively be mapped with a multirotor. Over the last five years, Event 38 has built on and improved its product to the point where it has been used in dozens of countries for projects as diverse as glacier monitoring, mapping monkey nests and delivering antivenom in the Amazon.\u201cIn the near term, large scale mapping projects and high endurance applications like security, cargo delivery and research applications will drive our growth,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cIn the long term, regulations allowing flight beyond the line of sight will allow operators to rent their drones to local clients who may have no need or ability to obtain their own drone.\u201dHe added that with developments in artificial intelligence, there are countless potential applications in data analysis aside from improvements to flight efficiency, route planning and obstacle avoidance for the flight software. Some popular applications that are on the cusp of feasibility include counting crops for farmers, identifying people, animals and vehicles in thermal imagery and automatically detecting changes in an area.", "output": "Ohio drone firm Event 38 Unmanned Systems has created a fixed-wing drone that can fly for 10 times as long as the average quadcopter. The E384 base model can fly for two hours and hosts high-resolution RGB imaging alongside multispectral and thermal capabilities. The drone offers increased manoeuvrability over its multirotor counterparts, and does not require a launcher. The device has been tested in challenging environments such as deserts and jungles, and can fly to 14,000 feet above sea level. The drone has been used to monitor glaciers, map monkey nesting sites\u00a0and to deliver antivenom medication in the Amazon.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EY launches shared vehicle ownership platform using blockchain tech  \n EY announced the launch of Tesseract, an integrated mobility platform underpinned by blockchain technology. The Tesseract platform aims to facilitate:\n\nfractional vehicle ownership\n\nshared use\n\nseamless multi-modal transport.\n\nIf it succeeds it will help lay the groundwork for how autonomous vehicle fleets can be owned in the future and provide access to a variety of on-demand mobility options.\n\nRandy Miller, EY Global Automotive & Transportation Leader, says: \u201cThe future of the automotive and transportation industry will be integrated, on-demand, personalized and autonomous. Tesseract is a groundbreaking, innovative platform that benefits every stakeholder across the mobility ecosystem. We want Tesseract to break down barriers to entry for all stakeholders, provide the means for mobility as a service and facilitate a truly integrated ecosystem that puts consumers first in the future mobility marketplace.\u201d\n\nTesseract and mobility\n\nTesseract addresses core mobility issues. These include how to share vehicle ownership with widespread shared-use and how one can integrate a multitude of mobility options. Participants on the platform will necessarily include multiple types of stakeholders \u2013 such as:\n\nOEMs\n\nmobility and transport companies\n\ncities\n\ninfrastructure providers\n\nAll will be participating in the hope of realising opportunities to create new value and revenue streams. Shared ownership combined with consumer demands for expanded mobility services represent an unfulfilled demand. Providing access to the right type of vehicle for their preferred journey, at the right time and place and on demand is the objective..\n\nMiller continued: \u201cTesseract will allow operators to innovate, commercialize and scale new mobility businesses and revenue models. Vehicle utilization will increase, reducing wastage and ultimately creating a greener, more sustainable transport world.\u201d\n\nTesseract and the blockchain\n\nWith Tesseract, single vehicles, fleets and other transport services will be available on the platform. Vehicles and trips will have digital logging provided on the blockchain. Transactions will settle between owners, operators and third-party service providers.This will happen via a single-source, usage-based payment system.\n\nThe Tesseract design means ownership of assets is flexible. Each can be on a full or fractional share ownership basis.\n\nWhat does it mean\n\nThe \u2018new mobility\u2019, where personal ownership of vehicles diminishes in favour of on-demand usage, is just over the horizon \u2013 where it has been for a long time. Yet the horizon does seem to come closer, especially as advanced electronics (computers) become a fundamental part (rather than afterthought) of new vehicles. Tesla may have led the way but others are rushing to follow, most notable with EVs (electric vehicles).\n\nWith new business models, new income streams become possible. Equally, funding of expensive assets \u2013 such as batteries and charging infrastructure \u2013 needs to become easier.\n\nAttracting investors, crowd-funders and everyday users will determine success. Individuals or enterprises will now be able to own a share of a vehicle or fleet of vehicles. But, to \u2018earn money\u2019 from such investments, some mechanism based on usage of vehicles becomes critical.\n\nWith Tesseract, EY addresses an interesting opportunity. The need is clear. Success will depend on the uptake of fractional vehicle usage for one, and EV purchasing in particular.", "output": "EY has laid out a blueprint for the future of autonomous vehicle fleets and fractional vehicle ownership with the launch of Tesseract, an integrated mobility platform based on blockchain technology. The platform would offer single vehicles, fleets and other transport services, with vehicles and trips logged on blockchain, and a single-source, usage-based system for payments. \"Tesseract will allow operators to innovate, commercialise and scale new mobility businesses and revenue models,\" said Randy Miller, EY Global Automotive & Transportation Leader."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google releases preview of ARCore AR development kit \n Posted by Dave Burke, VP, Android Engineering\n\nWith more than two billion active devices, Android is the largest mobile platform in the world. And for the past nine years, we've worked to create a rich set of tools, frameworks and APIs that deliver developers' creations to people everywhere. Today, we're releasing a preview of a new software development kit (SDK) called ARCore. It brings augmented reality capabilities to existing and future Android phones. Developers can start experimenting with it right now.\n\nWe've been developing the fundamental technologies that power mobile AR over the last three years with Tango, and ARCore is built on that work. But, it works without any additional hardware, which means it can scale across the Android ecosystem. ARCore will run on millions of devices, starting today with the Pixel and Samsung's S8, running 7.0 Nougat and above. We're targeting 100 million devices at the end of the preview. We're working with manufacturers like Samsung, Huawei, LG, ASUS and others to make this possible with a consistent bar for quality and high performance.\n\nARCore works with Java/OpenGL, Unity and Unreal and focuses on three things:\n\nMotion tracking : Using the phone's camera to observe feature points in the room and IMU sensor data, ARCore determines both the position and orientation (pose) of the phone as it moves. Virtual objects remain accurately placed.\n\n: Using the phone's camera to observe feature points in the room and IMU sensor data, ARCore determines both the position and orientation (pose) of the phone as it moves. Virtual objects remain accurately placed. Environmental understanding : It's common for AR objects to be placed on a floor or a table. ARCore can detect horizontal surfaces using the same feature points it uses for motion tracking.\n\n: It's common for AR objects to be placed on a floor or a table. ARCore can detect horizontal surfaces using the same feature points it uses for motion tracking. Light estimation : ARCore observes the ambient light in the environment and makes it possible for developers to light virtual objects in ways that match their surroundings, making their appearance even more realistic.\n\nAlongside ARCore, we've been investing in apps and services which will further support developers in creating great AR experiences. We built Blocks and Tilt Brush to make it easy for anyone to quickly create great 3D content for use in AR apps. As we mentioned at I/O, we're also working on Visual Positioning Service (VPS), a service which will enable world scale AR experiences well beyond a tabletop. And we think the Web will be a critical component of the future of AR, so we're also releasing prototype browsers for web developers so they can start experimenting with AR, too. These custom browsers allow developers to create AR-enhanced websites and run them on both Android/ARCore and iOS/ARKit.\n\nARCore is our next step in bringing AR to everyone, and we'll have more to share later this year. Let us know what you think through GitHub, and check out our new AR Experiments showcase where you can find some fun examples of what's possible. Show us what you build on social media with #ARCore; we'll be resharing some of our favorites.", "output": "Google has released a preview of ARCore, its new augmented reality (AR) software development kit (SDK) for Android. The package allows developers to build AR experiences that will work on any phone\u00a0running Android 7.0 Nougat and above, which include\u00a0the Google Pixel and Samsung S8. ARCore works with Java/OpenGL, Unity and Unreal, and includes motion tracking\u00a0of feature points in the real environment and horizontal surface detection, so that virtual objects remain correctly placed,\u00a0and ambient light detection, so that the lighting of virtual objects matches that of\u00a0the real environment.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Renewable energy costs could drop by 50% \n Solar and wind energy have been underestimated by analysts and politicians again and again and again. They have gotten cheaper and scaled up faster than even the most optimistic forecasts of a decade ago, or even a few years ago.\n\nAnd there\u2019s good evidence we\u2019re still underestimating them. In fact, two new reports \u2014 one on solar, one on wind \u2014 make the point vividly. They argue that the radical trends of the last decade are going to continue, which is all that needs to happen for the energy system to tip over from disruption into revolution.\n\nSolar is going to play a much bigger role than most models predict\n\nSo far, official predictions have fallen woefully short of the rise of solar photovoltaic (PV) energy:\n\nThat red line is installed PV capacity. The black lines are forecasts from the International Energy Agency (IEA), blue from the German Advisory Council on Global Change, and green from Greenpeace. Only Greenpeace\u2019s projections have come close, and only recently.\n\nThe graph is from a new commentary in the journal Nature Energy, by researchers from Germany\u2019s Mercator Research Institute. In it, they review the reasons why models have traditionally underestimated PV and then try running a popular model updated with better information. The results are instructive, to say the least \u2014 if they are right, PV could potentially provide fully half of global electricity by 2050.\n\nIn most models that show the world reducing emissions enough to hit the 2\u00b0C climate target, \u201csolar energy emerges only as a minor mitigation option\u201d \u2014 around 5 to 17 percent of global electricity supply in one representative study used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Models tend to be much more bullish on energy from biomass, despite its much lower total potential.\n\nWhy are models still so tepid on PV, despite its record? What are they missing? The researchers hone in on three phenomena that most models fail to properly account for:\n\nPolicy support: For the most part, models can\u2019t or don\u2019t take into account the kinds of tech-specific, country- or state-level policies that have been crucial to PV\u2019s growth \u2014 especially feed-in tariffs (which guarantee homeowners a fixed 20-year return on PV investments) implemented early on in Germany, Spain, Italy, and China. The US used the investment tax credits and net metering. Other countries have other tools, but almost every country has some kind of support for PV. That support has dramatically accelerated its growth and innovation. Rapid learning: The costs for solar PV modules \u201chave decreased by 22.5% with each doubling of installed capacity,\u201d which is a considerably more rapid learning rate than your average tech. (It\u2019s a \u201csteep learning curve,\u201d in the jargon.) Faster capacity growth than expected + faster technological learning than expected = lower prices than expected. Cost increases of competing clean energy sources: Models tend to be wildly optimistic on nuclear power and carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), despite the fact that, unlike PV, those technologies fall short of model projections again and again. The more decarbonization work that models assign to them, the less is left over for PV. Put more bluntly: Models stubbornly keep favoring nuclear and CCS over PV; the real world stubbornly keeps favoring PV over nuclear and CCS.\n\nThere is every reason to think all three of these phenomena will continue to be true in coming years. (The report contains a short but fascinating discussion of all the many technological developments on PV\u2019s horizon \u2014 still tons of room to improve.)\n\nThe researchers see two key challenges ahead, if PV is to continue its rapid expansion. The first is the cost of financing, especially in the developing world. The second is integrating high levels of wind and solar into the grid. (Because wind and solar are variable, they require sophisticated balancing from other sources and grid technologies; I wrote about that challenge in some detail here.)\n\nSay PV can address those challenges and maintain its current rate of learning, improvement, and expansion. What would a more realistic model projection look like?\n\nTo find out, the researchers plugged better cost information and more aggressive cost-curve assumptions into REMIND, a \u201cglobal inter-temporally optimizing energy\u2013economy model that has been extensively used for analyses of climate policies.\u201d\n\nLong story short, here are the results:\n\nThe gray shaded areas show the potential growth of PV, bounded by the lowest and highest historical growth rates. As you can see, this updated model run shows PV wildly outperforming most other model runs (the areas in other colors), eventually providing 30 to 50 percent of global electricity.\n\nNow, there\u2019s no guarantee that PV will continue growing at historical rates. In fact, there are reasons to think wind and solar will run into serious problems as they expand (see this post from Jesse Jenkins and Alex Trembath).\n\nBut even the bottom end of this new forecast (30 percent of global electricity) is a hell of a lot higher than the high end (e.g., 17 percent) on the forecasts the IPCC and the IEA are using. If PV can maintain anything even close to its recent explosive growth, it is going to outperform what analysts expect. Again.\n\nWind costs could drop another 50% and beat natural gas without subsidies, say nerds\n\nThe second bit of happy news comes from researchers at Atmosphere to Electrons, an R&D program for wind power at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).\n\nTheir new paper is primarily about the scientific and technical challenges their team is researching \u2014 high-tech ways to further improve wind turbines and farms. But as part of the exercise, they project just how much wind costs could fall if all those high-tech solutions are implemented. It\u2019s pretty mind-blowing.\n\nThe researchers are pursuing what they call \u201cSystem Management of Atmospheric Resource through Technology\u201d (SMART) strategies \u2014 a cluster of technologies and practices that will allow next-generation wind farms to produce more energy, more reliably, for more hours of the day. Here are the four areas of innovation they are going after, translated into English:\n\nBetter predicting performance through high-fidelity physics modeling (HFM) of local conditions. Better design and control at the plant level by using sensors and real-time monitoring of wind flows as they move through the turbines. Better design and control at the turbine level through \u201cinnovative rotor and drivetrain technology\u201d and scale (i.e., taller towers and bigger blades). Smarter grid integration by giving each turbine the ability to communicate directly with the grid, play a role in its \u201cstability and operational planning,\u201d and offer it various extra services like voltage regulation (don\u2019t ask).\n\nJust how much of a difference would these changes make? To find out, the researchers ran a simulation of a 2030 wind-power plant using all the SMART innovations, operating at a site with roughly average wind resources.\n\nThe result: unsubsidized energy costs ranging from $19 to $32 per megawatt-hour, with an average of around $23/MWh. That is roughly 50 percent lower than today\u2019s wind power costs.\n\nSo after dropping 65 percent between 2009 and today, wind-power costs could drop another 50 percent by 2030. That\u2019s pretty amazing. Energy costs of $23/MWh would make wind competitive with natural gas almost everywhere in America, without subsidies.\n\nOf course, this rosy forecast is somewhat predicated on the DOE continuing to fund this kind of research, which is by no means a sure thing these days.\n\nBut as John Hensley of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) writes, plenty of other analysts are similarly bullish. A survey of wind energy experts last year by Lawrence Berkeley Lab found that they too expected substantial cost drops (though 40 percent by 2030 was their high end). Like solar, wind still has tons of room to improve.\n\nToday\u2019s status quo leads to revolution\n\nIt\u2019s a little odd. Both of these reports offer forecasts that are wildly optimistic relative to the mainstream modeling community, but it\u2019s not because they predict wind and solar are going to have some unprecedented explosion.\n\nThey simply predict that wind and solar are going to keep doing what they\u2019re doing \u2014 keep scaling up, keep improving, keep getting cheaper \u2014 at roughly the same rate they have been. If that happens, solar PV could provide 30 to 50 percent of global power. If that happens, wind power could be 50 percent cheaper by 2030.\n\nIf those things happen, if the status quo continues, it will amount to a renewable energy revolution.\n\nAs I said, there are reasons to think wind and solar will start running into technical and financial challenges as their share of grid power rises. How much those challenges will slow them down is difficult to predict, but they\u2019ll probably slow them down some. Getting to 50 percent wind and solar on a grid would be heroic; getting beyond that will require radical technological, political, and legal changes that go far beyond just wind and solar power plants themselves.\n\nMy own sense of things is somewhat gloomier than these reports suggest. But wind and solar have been defying gloomy predictions for well over a decade now, so maybe they\u2019ll keep doing so.\n\nAs stockbrokers like to say, past performance is no guarantee of future results. There\u2019s no guarantee wind and solar will stay on their current path. But at the very least, it seems like modelers should take continuation of status quo trends as their baseline, their reference case, instead of assuming, over and over, and that wind and solar growth will slow (and being proven wrong, over and over).\n\nIt may seem crazy to say in this day and age, but sometimes a little optimism is warranted.", "output": "Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have found that renewable energy costs could drop by 50% if proposed high-tech solutions are implemented. If advanced wind turbine technology is installed, further energy could be produced more reliably for longer periods throughout the day. The technology includes better physics modelling for performance prediction, better sensor monitoring, improved rotor and drivetrain technology, and smarter grid integration. The researchers\u2019 study of the technology\u2019s implementation found that energy costs dropped to around 50% of current pricing.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scripps to shutter its hospice service \n Scripps Health in San Diego has stopped accepting new hospice patients and is working to transfer existing patients to other area hospice operators.\n\nLess than five years after it started offering hospice care, Scripps Health is poised to shutter the service, notifying patients that they will need to find new providers by mid-September.\n\nIt\u2019s a significant change of course for an organization that has been committed to providing end-of-life care since it stepped in when San Diego Hospice went bankrupt in 2013.\n\nToday, 114 county residents \u2014 most who receive care in their homes \u2014 must choose a new hospice company by Sept. 4. Scripps is working with Escondido-based Elizabeth Hospice, which has expanded its service area to San Diego in recent years and has agreed to hire its employees. However, patients and their families are free to select whichever service they want.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nScripps Chief Executive Chris Van Gorder said Wednesday that his organization is following the law, which requires patients to be presented with a range of local hospice companies that can take over their care.\n\n\u201cWe will work with whoever the patient selects to make sure there is as smooth a transition as possible,\u201d Van Gorder said.\n\nThere is no transfer of cash from one organization to the other, Van Gorder added. Elizabeth, he said, pays nothing for Scripps\u2019 recommendation. The company has agreed to hire all of Scripps Hospice\u2019s 111 workers, including the doctors who oversee day-to-day care, he added. Jan Jones, Elizabeth\u2019s president, confirmed that arrangement. Patients who choose Elizabeth, Van Gorder said, should be able to keep their current caregivers.\n\nWhile 111 workers might seem like a lot for 114 patients, Scripps daily census ran between 150 and 180 before it stopped admitting new patients on Aug. 23. Staff-to-patient ratios are also high because hospice services run 24 hours a day, seven days per week.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve made offers to each of their employees and most of our offers have been accepted,\u201d Jones said, adding that her operation currently has about 500 hospice patients receiving services throughout San Diego County and in southeast Riverside County.\n\nScripps, which operates five hospitals and a slew of outpatient offices across San Diego County, is exiting the hospice business for financial reasons. Van Gorder said that the service has never reached a break-even point, let alone even minor profitability, since the company purchased a small Poway-based hospice in 2013 and began accepting transfers from San Diego Hospice while the organization was under bankruptcy protection.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve lost between $2 million and $3 million per year,\u201d Van Gorder said.\n\nThat amount, he added, has totaled nearly $14 million including a projected $3 million loss this year. While that amount might seem like a rounding error for an organization that lists $2.1 billion in investments on its balance sheet and $2.7 billion in expenses last year, Van Gorder said changes to the way health providers are reimbursed have recently put a crimp on operating revenue. The organization is still profitable, but margins are not as wide as they once were.\n\nHe said he must consider the big picture for his entire organization, and a set of interlocking needs in the future, in deciding which services to continue and which to drop. In some cases, he noted, he has no choice. Every hospital is required, for example, to treat every patient that walks into its emergency room regardless of whether or not they have the ability to pay. In terms of hospice, he said, he was not sure that Scripps could provide the service any better than Elizabeth Hospice does at a lower cost.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t enter any business like this with an intent to make a profit, but we also can\u2019t afford to be running services at a loss when somebody else in the community can run it well,\u201d Van Gorder said.\n\nElizabeth Hospice, though it is much larger than the Scripps operation, also faced losses from 2012 through 2015 but Jones said the operation broke even in 2016 and generated a slight profit in 2017. Jones said that nearly 40 years running a hospice service has taught the organization to watch its expenses very carefully.\n\n\u201cWe operate lean but we also operate very much with mission,\u201d Jones said. \u201cThis is our total focus.\u201d\n\nIn general, hospices tend to operate with single-digit margins, said Jonathan Keyserling, senior vice president for communication and policy at the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.\n\nHe added that there is a nationwide consolidation trend underway.\n\n\u201cWe are seeing smaller hospices form alliances, join up together or merge to achieve some economies of scale in order to purchase equipment and other supplies such as prescription drugs,\u201d Keyserling said.\n\nToday, he said, Medicare pays between $140 and $180 per day for hospice care when a doctor certifies that they have six or fewer months of life left.\n\n\u201cPeople don\u2019t realize it, but when a hospice accepts a patient under Medicare or Medicaid, they\u2019re responsible for all of the goods and services, any equipment supplies and all of the drugs related to their care,\u201d Keyserling said. \u201cJust like the rest of health care, hospice programs are feeling the effects of cost increases whether it\u2019s labor, supplies or gasoline.\u201d\n\nScripps\u2019 exit does not appreciably diminish the supply of hospices operating in the region. Hospice Compare, and online database maintained by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, lists 143 organizations serving the San Diego region, though most are based outside the area.\n\nThe database also rates hospice performance nationwide and both Scripps and Elizabeth Hospice bested national averages in all categories in the most recent survey period. Those categories range from whether patients were checked for pain at the beginning of their care to whether they got timely treatment for shortness of breath.\n\nToday, the local hospice landscape is much different than it was prior to 2013 when San Diego Hospice was still operating and had about 1,000 people on service at any given time. The nonprofit had an international reputation for training physicians in hospice practice, drawing fellows to its Hillcrest facility perched near the edge of the bluffs that overlook Mission Valley.\n\nThe 24-bed facility opened in 1992 with the help of a $18.5 million grant from the late Joan Kroc, the philanthropist and wife of McDonald\u2019s chief, Ray Kroc, and former owner of the San Diego Padres.\n\nScripps purchased the facility during the San Diego Hospice bankruptcy auction for $16.55 million and recently sold it to a Texas real estate development company for $20 million. The company plans to build apartments on the 8-acre property which has sweeping views across Mission Valley and Mission Bay all the way to the Pacific.\n\nThe property is home to tributes to hundreds of San Diegans who died at the hospice. Anyone who wants to remove their loved-one\u2019s memorial from the property before construction begins can contact Scripps coordinator Jamie Nelson at nelson-jamie@scrippshealth.org or (858) 678-6340.\n\nSome are not taking the sale too kindly.\n\nPeter Jensen, whose wife, Janeen, died seven years ago at the hospice, said he does not think Scripps should profit from selling a property that has a philanthropic focus over the years from Kroc\u2019s large bequest to smaller gifts memorialized in tributes placed throughout the grounds.\n\n\u201cIf they\u2019re going to sell it at a profit, I hope they donate it to the next hospice facility that gets built,\u201d he said.\n\nVan Gorder said proceeds from the property sale are being put toward rebuilding Scripps Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest, which does not meet state seismic safety requirements and must be replaced or repaired by 2030.\n\n\u201cWe have been providing community benefit through the hospice that we have been running at a loss for the last four years. I respect that opinion, but the money is going to go back into health services for the community,\u201d Van Gorder said.\n\nTo use the building for inpatient care, millions in additional upgrades would have been required. San Diego Hospice, he said, did not have to make similar upgrades because it had obtained a special grandfathered status that did not transfer with the sale in 2013.\n\nOf course, the parcel never would have been sold at auction if not for San Diego Hospice\u2019s run-in with the federal government, which was investigating allegations of Medicare overbilling. Eventually, the federal government filed a claim for $112 million that made it impossible for the nonprofit to survive.\n\nHealth Playlist \u00d7 On Now Video: Leaders urge public to help extinguish hepatitis outbreak On Now San Diego starts cleansing sidewalks, streets to combat hepatitis A On Now Video: Scripps to shutter its hospice service On Now Video: Scripps La Jolla hospitals nab top local spot in annual hospital rankings On Now Video: Does a parent's Alzheimer's doom their children? On Now EpiPen recall expands On Now Kids can add years to your life\n\npaul.sisson@sduniontribune.com\n\n(619) 293-1850\n\nTwitter: @paulsisson", "output": "Less than five years after it started offering hospice care, Scripps Health is poised to shutter the service, notifying patients that they will need to find new providers by mid-September.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How A Kid\u2019s Summer Job In San Diego Brought Joy To Alzheimer\u2019s Patients \n Kids heading back to school this week are probably telling their friends about what they did over their summer break. Many probably took vacations or camping trips. But one San Diego boy will have a unique story to tell \u2014 his summer volunteering with seniors.\n\nHow A Kid's Summer Job In San Diego Brought Joy To Alzheimer's Patients\n\nEvery Tuesday and Thursday throughout the summer, 9-year-old Tate Phillips, who lives in La Jolla, spent time singing, dancing and making music with seniors at Jewish Family Service\u2019s Balboa Avenue Older Adult Center.\n\n\u201cSomeone plays music, and people dance, and we have entertainers,\" said Phillips. \"It\u2019s really fun, and I just feel like I\u2019m making a difference. I think it helps them interact with people, and get active.\u201d\n\nKatie Schoolov Tate Phillips at the Jewish Family Service Balboa Avenue Older Adult Center, Thursday August 24, 2017.\n\nThe center's special program offers exercise, games, live entertainment and a hot kosher lunch to area seniors Monday through Thursday for four hours. About 80 percent of the participants have Alzheimer\u2019s disease or dementia.\n\nThe program costs $27 and is open to all seniors, regardless of age, religion, or health conditions.\n\n74-year-old Anita Berger has Alzheimer's, and has been coming to the center since January 2016.\n\n\u201cHe makes everybody feel loved and wanted. He gets up and dances with everybody, and calls everybody by name,\u201d she said. \"It just makes me feel young again. I love the music, I love the comradery, and kids like Tate. For us old folks, is just such a refreshing thing. He has is just a real loving little boy. He loves everybody, and everybody loves him.\n\nPhillips' mother, Lara Diamond Phillips, says these are the only friends her son wanted to see all summer.\n\n\u201cIn fact, I don\u2019t think the child has had one play date. His friends have been here at the senior center,\u201d she said.\n\nPhillips\u2019 grandfather, Ronnie Diamond, founded the Older Adult Center 17 years ago. He brought his grandson for a visit one day, and the boy was hooked.\n\nHis mom said she had planned tennis and reading camps for the summer until her son set her straight.\n\n\u201cAnd I could see, it was like fire in his eyes. Like, \u2018You don\u2019t understand. This is what I want to do. This is all I want to do,\u2019\u201d she said. \"I think he brought so much sunshine here, but I think it\u2019s been a gift for our family as well, to watch how much joy it\u2019s brought him, as a parent, it\u2019s been mind-blowing for me.\"\n\nKatie Schoolov Tate Phillips sits with his grandfather Ronnie Diamond in this undated photo.\n\nSaying goodbye to Tate Phillips at the end of summer was bittersweet for Aviva Saad, who is the program coordinator at the center.\n\n\u201cI have hopes that this world is going to be a super better place because of you. Because of you. And we love you.\u201d\n\nBut Phillips said he will be coming back \u2014 on days that his school lets out early.\n\n\u201cI like to do it because it makes me feel happy inside. It makes me feel like I\u2019m doing something good,\u201d he said.", "output": "Kids heading back to school this week are probably telling their friends about what they did over their summer break. Many probably took vacations or camping trips. But one San Diego boy will have a unique story to tell \u2014 his summer volunteering with seniors.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Knocking on doors, climbing through fences: How L.A. County's health investigators are out trying to stop syphilis \n Roberto Rocha has been yelled at and called names. Men have threatened to shoot him. He\u2019s visited jails, knocked on doors and approached strangers across L.A. County \u2014 all in search of syphilis. (August 30, 2017) (Sign up for our free video newslett\n\nRoberto Rocha has been yelled at and called names. Men have threatened to shoot him. He\u2019s visited jails, knocked on doors and approached strangers across L.A. County \u2014 all in search of syphilis.\n\nThe centuries-old disease referenced in Shakespeare plays is making a comeback, and Rocha is trying to stop it, one infected Angeleno at a time. Though its initial symptoms are mild, syphilis can lead to paralysis, blindness and miscarriages if left untreated.\n\nEvery day, Rocha and dozens of other L.A. County public health workers get in their cars to search for people who might have been exposed to sexually transmitted diseases . They believe the only way to end an outbreak is to cure the infected and then find their sexual partners so they can also be treated.\n\nBut the leads Rocha gets on partners can be vague at best: He hangs out at a doughnut shop in the afternoon. He lives somewhere in a three-story apartment building across from a liquor store.\n\nRocha once parked near a freeway bridge where he\u2019d been told he would find a patient\u2019s former partner, armed only with his nickname and a description of his tattoos. Rocha climbed through a hole in a chain-link fence.\n\n\u201cThere were six people living under the bridge in a crevice, and I went in there asking for the person,\u201d he said. \u201cHe happened to be laying there in the corner and I talked to him\u2026. You see a little bit of everything with this job.\u201d\n\nFor years, work such as Rocha\u2019s has prevented infections and even saved lives. Even though their main focus is STDs, public health workers may refer patients to rehab, help them get out of abusive relationships or find them doctors for other ailments.\n\nBut with syphilis rates in the United States the highest they\u2019ve been in decades, experts are taking a second look at what\u2019s causing the new cases and also whether work like such as Rocha\u2019s can actually halt the rapid spread of the disease.\n\n(Angelica Quintero / @latimesgraphics)\n\n\u2018They call you the worst of things\u2019\n\nRocha, 42, wanted to work in public health when he graduated from UC Irvine in 2000. He started out in a lab but didn\u2019t like being cooped up. He took a job with the L.A. County Department of Public Health the following year.\n\nRocha calls patients recently diagnosed with syphilis or HIV , but younger ones usually don\u2019t pick up their phones. So he shows up at their homes or workplaces.\n\nMany don\u2019t want to talk to him. They shout.\n\nRocha leaves a letter with his contact information in their frontyards, or slips it under the doorway. He returns later. Rocha, who was recently promoted to a supervisor role, teaches his underlings this persistence.\n\n\u201cThey slam doors on you, they yell at you, they call you the worst of things,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019ll call you later on.\u201d\n\nWhen Rocha does hear from them, he has to quickly get personal. He needs to know the symptoms of the infection \u2014 where was the sore and when did the patient notice it \u2014 so he can determine if they transmitted it to anyone else. Then he asks them who else they\u2019ve recently had sex with.\n\nSyphilis rates are soaring\n\nWhen Rocha started working at the department, syphilis seemed to be on its way out. Case numbers were so low that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched a nationwide campaign in 1999 to eradicate the disease.\n\nYet syphilis rates have risen almost every year since the new millennium, picking up steam in the last few years. The number of infectious syphilis cases nationwide quadrupled in 15 years to 23,872 in 2015, according to data from the CDC.\n\nThe majority of new infections for years have been in men, particularly gay and bisexual men. This summer, the L.A.-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation erected billboards in the city as well as in Oakland, Dallas and Chicago warning of a \u201cSyphilis Tsunami.\u201d\n\n(Angelica Quintero / @latimesgraphics)\n\nDoctors say people might not notice when they first contract syphilis, because the first symptom is a painless sore that goes away on its own. A rash might come later. Left untreated for years, syphilis can damage internal organs and spread to the brain.\n\nSyphilis can be cured with a shot of penicillin, but it\u2019s causing problems before it\u2019s being caught. In recent years there\u2019s been an uptick in California of ocular syphilis, a rare symptom of the disease that can cause blindness.\n\nSyphilis can also spread from pregnant mothers to their babies and cause miscarriages, stillbirths and deafness.\n\nIn 2015, 142 babies in California were born with congenital syphilis, including 23 in L.A. County. Just three years earlier, there were only 33 babies with congenital syphilis in California and seven in the county.\n\n\u201cI think what\u2019s alarming is that there\u2019s been such a jump,\u201d said Amy Moy of the California-based advocacy group Essential Access Health.\n\nMany blame the rise on underfunding for STD prevention programs. In 2012, more than half of state and local STD programs faced budget cuts, leading to fewer clinic hours and resources, according to the CDC.\n\nPublic health officials also say that gay men are using condoms less as fear of HIV has fallen. Some also speculate that hook-up apps have led to people having sex with more people because it\u2019s easier to find new partners.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s all of those things coming together and creating this perfect storm,\u201d Moy said.\n\nCan anything be done?\n\nYears ago, Rocha visited a 14-year-old girl who\u2019d been diagnosed with syphilis. She had run away from home and was dating a 25-year-old man.\n\nRocha also learned that she was addicted to methamphetamine and that her boyfriend was supplying her. He had tattooed his name on her. Rocha reported the man, who ended up in prison.\n\nWhen he meets with a patient, Rocha doesn\u2019t just ask about sexual habits.\n\nHe inquires about housing and mental health. He might even set up transportation to a drug rehab center. If he\u2019s talking to a patient who\u2019s in jail, he\u2019ll ask how they\u2019re being treated and whether they have access to their medications.\n\nHe wants to get at the root of what\u2019s causing them to engage in high-risk behaviors, he said.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re trying to help them in different ways,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to make sure they\u2019re OK.\u201d\n\nAnother time, Rocha showed up at the home of an 18-year-old who\u2019d just been diagnosed with HIV but hadn\u2019t come out to his parents as gay. He asked Rocha to sit with him while he revealed both pieces of news.\n\nDr. Sonali Kulkarni, medical director for L.A. County\u2019s division of HIV and STD programs, said the work of these disease intervention specialists \u2014 there are about two dozen in the county \u2014 can have a tremendous effect on people\u2019s lives.\n\nBut amid the growth in syphilis cases, health officials are reevaluating this one-on-one approach to STD prevention. It gets patients into treatment, but there\u2019s little evidence that it reduces transmission and syphilis rates overall in the community, she said.\n\nPart of the problem is that people won\u2019t name their partners.\n\nRocha recalled one man who emailed an investigator a list of 100 names and phone numbers of people he\u2019d slept with in the past year. But more often they\u2019re hesitant or don\u2019t know the names of people they\u2019ve had sex with at bathhouses or met online.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re happy if we just get one person,\u201d Rocha said.\n\nKulkarni said they\u2019re thinking about other ways to tackle the disease. Concentrating on patients with HIV is important, because more than half of new syphilis cases are in people who have HIV.\n\nShe also said they might focus their outreach on certain neighborhoods where lots of people have been infected. Additionally, there\u2019s early evidence showing that syphilis patients aren\u2019t connected to each other through a sexual network, but through drug use, she said.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s more room to better understand what we could do to decrease the spread of syphilis,\u201d she said.\n\nFor Rocha, his work has become about much more than STD prevention.\n\nHe recalled visiting the home of a 19-year-old who\u2019d recently been diagnosed with syphilis and HIV. The boy\u2019s grandmother opened the door.\n\n\u201cShe let me into his room. He was skin and bones\u2026. He had stopped eating, stopped doing anything,\u201d he said. \u201cHe thought his world was over.\u201d\n\nThe patient thought HIV was a death sentence. Rocha explained to him that people diagnosed decades ago are living happily today, he said. He told him he could get assistance to pay for the medicines.\n\nRocha headed out of the home and was approached by the boy\u2019s grandmother, who was crying. She thanked him.\n\nTo read the article in Spanish click here\n\nsoumya.karlamangla@latimes.com\n\nTwitter: @skarlamangla\n\nALSO\n\nShe watched her ex-husband end his life under California's new right-to-die law. 'I felt proud'\n\nAn LAPD officer needs a bone marrow transplant. His ethnicity limits his chances of getting one\n\nWhat the Senate healthcare bill could mean for Californians", "output": "Roberto Rocha has been yelled at and called names. Men have threatened to shoot him. He\u2019s visited jails, knocked on doors and approached strangers across L.A. County \u2014 all in search of syphilis.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "For Low-Income Drug Users, Medi-Cal Offers A Fresh Start \n About Capitol Desk Capitol Desk delivers the latest in health care policy and politics from Sacramento and around the state. Have an idea? Let us know.\n\nBreann Johnson stopped using heroin on Mother\u2019s Day this year, determined to end her 13-year addiction. Days later, she began three months of residential treatment in Riverside, Calif. \u2014 all paid for by California\u2019s Medicaid program.\n\nJohnson, who has two young sons, said other inpatient drug rehab programs had refused to accept Medicaid, and she knew outpatient care would not be enough to break her habit.\n\n\u201cI couldn\u2019t stop,\u201d said Johnson, 28. \u201cWith my drug, you are either sick all day or you have to do it to make yourself feel better.\u201d\n\nAs the opioid epidemic burns a path of devastation through communities across the nation, California is leading the way in revamping treatment for low-income residents like Johnson. Before this year, the state\u2019s Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal, covered only limited and episodic care. Now, it pays for a much broader range of treatment including expanded access to medications, inpatient beds, individual therapy and case managers.\n\nThe five-year pilot project, which gives the state flexibility in its use of federal money, was approved in 2015 by the agency that oversees Medicaid. The California project officially started earlier this year. Virginia, Massachusetts and Maryland also have federal permission to expand drug treatment for Medicaid members. Other states, including West Virginia and Michigan, are seeking it.\n\nCalifornia\u2019s drug rehab overhaul makes it easier for Medi-Cal members to get care and improves their chances of long-term recovery, state health officials said. It also aims to reduce costs by decreasing use of emergency rooms and hospitals and keeping drug-addicted enrollees out of jail and out of the child welfare system.\n\n\u201cIt is such a dramatic change to our substance abuse field,\u201d said Marlies Perez, chief of the substance use disorder compliance division at the state Department of Health Care Services. \u201cWe turned off one system one day and turned on a whole new system the next.\u201d\n\nHealth officials and service providers say that with the federal waiver they are finally able to address addiction as a chronic disease. Instead of simply getting short-term outpatient care, Medi-Cal beneficiaries can receive ongoing treatment from detoxification through recovery, tailored to their specific needs.\n\n\u201cThe old traditional way was a rather canned approach to recovery,\u201d said Bruce Copley, director of the Department of Alcohol and Drug Services in Santa Clara County.\n\nThe state does not yet know how much the changes will cost, because the program is open-ended: Anyone eligible for the services in the participating counties can receive them. In previous years, the state has spent about $180 million annually on drug rehabilitation for Medi-Cal beneficiaries. Perez said the state is only beginning to receive bills and is hoping to prove to the federal government that the changes will actually reduce overall costs related to substance abuse.\n\nDrug rehab providers still fear for the future of Medicaid given the ongoing debate over health care in Washington, said Tom Eby, clinical director of Whiteside Manor, a nonprofit residential treatment center in Riverside. If his clients lost their Medicaid coverage \u2014 or the federal government ended California\u2019s drug rehab program \u2014 it could imperil the progress being made, Eby said.\n\nEmail Sign-Up Subscribe to California Healthline's free Daily Edition. Your Email Address Sign Up\n\n\u201cIt would go back to what it was, with these folks dying on the street,\u201d he said.\n\nThirty-eight of the state\u2019s 58 counties have joined California\u2019s Medi-Cal pilot. Riverside and San Mateo started in February. Other counties, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, have come on board since.\n\nThe big increase in the availability of residential care is a significant aspect of the program, since it could reduce the chance of relapse or overdose for those with severe addictions. Previously, Medicaid did not cover treatment in inpatient rehab facilities with more than 16 beds. That resulted in long waiting lists. Inpatient stays typically were paid for by the county, a private insurer or the person being treated.\n\nIn Riverside County, Medi-Cal recipients used to wait more than two months for a bed. Now, many of them get one in a day or two, according to Rhyan Miller, the county\u2019s substance abuse services program administrator.\n\nAt MFI Recovery\u2019s women\u2019s center in Riverside, known as A Woman\u2019s Place, residents now have access to a licensed vocational nurse, a driver to take them to appointments and a discharge planner. They can stay 90 days (with a possible 30-day extension) and longer if they are pregnant.\n\nJohnson said she was grateful to get in without a long wait. If she hadn\u2019t, the Riverside woman said, \u201cI would either be on the streets or dead.\u201d\n\nBrittany Stearns, another resident, said her parents had paid $48,000 for an earlier stay at a private residential treatment center to treat opioid addiction. When she relapsed three years later, the 32-year-old Palm Springs resident knew her parents wouldn\u2019t pay for it again.\n\n\u201cI needed help,\u201d said Stearns, whose 2-year-old daughter, Molly, lives with her at the center. \u201cIf Medi-Cal didn\u2019t pay for this, I am afraid to think about where I would be.\u201d\n\nJohnson and Stearns both completed their residential treatment and are now getting follow-up outpatient care.\n\nPerez, of the health care department, said that although the project is scheduled to run five years, the state does not intend to return to the old way of doing business. It hopes to persuade the federal government to continue allowing spending flexibility. \u201cThis is already impacting not only Medi-Cal but other individuals who are receiving substance abuse disorder services,\u201d she said.\n\nThat\u2019s because clinics have made sweeping changes to meet the new Medi-Cal requirements for participation, including the recruitment and training of new employees. Counties are also now using guidelines set by the American Society of Addiction Medicine \u2014 another condition of participation.\n\nWhen the new program started, thousands of people called in to a substance abuse line for screening and referral, said Miller of Riverside County. That was up from fewer than 200 calls the previous month.\n\n\u201cWe didn\u2019t expect this,\u201d he said. \u201cIt has been absolutely crazy. The sheer numbers of calls completely overwhelmed and also excited us.\u201d\n\nAt Whiteside Manor, director Ron Vervick said the additional reimbursement from Medi-Cal enabled him to hire more counselors, drivers, nurses and intake workers. Many of the residents at Whiteside are homeless and mentally ill. In the past, he said, they didn\u2019t get the care they needed.\n\nOne resident of Whiteside Manor, Kendall Jenkins, sought treatment in early May after years of heavy drinking and drug use that included heroin, methamphetamines and pills \u2014 \u201canything I could get my hands on.\u201d A former college golfer and hotel valet, Jenkins, 30, was homeless off and on, and spent stretches living in his car. He recently left the facility, found work at a hotel and is staying in a sober-living home nearby.\n\nJenkins said that when he learned Medi-Cal would cover his stay at Whiteside, he felt relieved. He was able to participate in individual counseling and group therapy and said the center \u201csaved my life.\u201d\n\nThough he still thinks a lot about using heroin, he knows where he would end up if he did.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not worth it,\u201d he said. \u201cI know I can do this.\u201d\n\nThis story was produced by Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation.", "output": "Breann Johnson stopped using heroin on Mother\u2019s Day this year, determined to end her 13-year addiction. Days later, she began three months of residential treatment in Riverside, Calif. \u2014 all paid for by California\u2019s Medicaid program.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Reinsurer Compre buys Gjensidige Forsikring legacy portfolio \n Compre, the London-based insurance and reinsurance legacy specialist, announced it has acquired a further legacy portfolio from Norwegian insurer Gjensidige Forsikring ASA for an undisclosed sum.\n\nThe portfolio comprises U.S. asbestos, pollution and health hazard (APH) risks underwritten between 1983 and 1985. The deal marks Compre\u2019s 25th individual portfolio acquisition and its second from Gjensidige, after acquiring its marine and energy portfolio in February 2016.\n\nCompre structured the transaction as a loss portfolio transfer followed by a business transfer, which provides finality to the vendor in all respects. The arrangement also provides continuity as Compre currently manages all claims relating to the portfolio.\n\n\u201cIt gives me great pleasure to announce our fifth acquisition of the year and our second from leading Norwegian insurer Gjensidige Forsikring,\u201d said Nick Steer, CEO of Compre.\n\n\u201cCompre has a long track record of successfully managing U.S. APH and this transaction is a further demonstration of our ability to provide large insurance groups with exit solutions for discontinued business.\u201d\n\nAbout Gjensidige\n\nListed on the Oslo Stock Exchange, Gjensidige employs 4,000 people in six countries, offers non-life insurance in the Nordic and Baltic region, and banking, pensions and savings products in Norway.\n\nSource: Compre\n\nTopics Mergers & Acquisitions", "output": "London-based insurance and reinsurance firm Compre has made its second legacy acquisition from Norwegian insurer Gjensidige Forsikring for an undisclosed amount. The deal, Compre's fifth this year, comprises a portfolio of US asbestos, pollution and health hazard risks underwritten between 1983 and 1985, and was structured as a loss portfolio transfer followed by a business transfer. Nick Steer, the CEO of Compre, said the transaction was \"a further demonstration of our ability to provide large insurance groups with exit solutions for discontinued business\". Compre had acquired Gjensidige's marine and energy portfolio last year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trump Administration Wants to Stabilize Health Markets but Won\u2019t Say How \n WASHINGTON \u2014 A Trump administration official said Wednesday that the administration wanted to stabilize health insurance markets, but refused to say if the government would promote enrollment this fall under the Affordable Care Act or pay for the activities of counselors who help people sign up for coverage.\n\nThe official also declined to say whether the administration would continue paying subsidies to insurance companies to compensate them for reducing deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs for low-income people. Without the subsidies, insurers say, they would sharply increase premiums.\n\nThe administration, the official suggested, will do the minimum necessary to comply with the law, which Mr. Trump has called \u201can absolute disaster\u201d and threatened to let collapse.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think we can force people to sign up for the program,\u201d the official said.\n\nThe official said the Trump administration had not set any numerical goals for sign-ups under the health care law, and the official did not know if the administration would do so. President Barack Obama used such goals to motivate a small army of counselors, \u201cnavigators\u201d and assistants who helped millions of people sign up for insurance in the last four years.", "output": "A Trump administration official said Wednesday that the administration wanted to stabilize health insurance markets, but refused to say if the government would promote enrollment this fall under the Affordable Care Act or pay for the activities of counselors who help people sign up for coverage.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Health care watchdog sends urgent alert on potential nursing home abuse \n Editor\u2019s Note: Journalist Philip Moeller is here to provide the answers you need on aging and retirement. His weekly column, \u201cAsk Phil,\u201d aims to help older Americans and their families by answering their health care and financial questions. Phil is the author of the new book, \u201cGet What\u2019s Yours for Medicare,\u201d and co-author of \u201cGet What\u2019s Yours: The Revised Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security.\u201d Send your questions to Phil.\n\nThe government\u2019s health care watchdog office has issued an early alert in advance of its upcoming formal report on egregious abuses of patients at skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) says it found 134 cases of potential abuse and neglect in 33 states, including cases of rape and sexual abuse; more than a quarter of the cases had never been reported to law enforcement authorities.\n\n\u201cDue to the importance and urgency of the preliminary findings,\u201d the office said, \u201cOIG is alerting citizens of potential cases of patient neglect and abuse in these facilities, many of which are temporary residences for our nation\u2019s most vulnerable people.\u201d The alert included a video depicting images of abused patients.\n\nIn an earlier letter to Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the OIG said it had concluded that CMS was not providing needed oversight of the homes, and had not even begun to enforce a six-year-old law designed to protect nursing home residents.\n\n\u201cOIG\u2019s study of adverse events in SNFs found that an estimated 22 percent of Medicare beneficiaries experienced adverse events during their SNF stays,\u201d the letter said. \u201cThese adverse events included infections, pressure ulcers, and medication-induced bleeding. Medical record review determined that 69 percent of these patient-harm events could have been prevented had the SNF provided better care. Over half of the residents harmed during their SNF stays required hospital care to treat the adverse event.\u201d\n\nThe office\u2019s alert announcement urged family members of nursing home residents to be vigilant. \u201cVisit your loved ones often who are in these facilities, ask them if they are being treated properly, and report potential cases of abuse or neglect to your local police and your state\u2019s Medicaid fraud control unit,\u201d the alert said.\n\nPlanning for future health care expenses\n\nFidelity Investments says a typical 65-year-old couple will need to spend $275,000 on health care during the rest of their lives. The big retirement investment firm says in its annual estimate that this total is 6 percent higher than in 2016, and that it includes the couple\u2019s spending on Medicare and other health items, but excludes the cost of long-term care.\n\nThere\u2019s no question that rising health costs are and will be a serious challenge for most of us. However, if you don\u2019t have an extra $275,000 lying around, all is not lost.\n\nIt is doubtful that more than a few percent of Medicare enrollees have that much money bankrolled for their future health needs, and there\u2019s no question that rising health costs are and will be a serious challenge for most of us. However, if you don\u2019t have an extra $275,000 lying around, all is not lost.\n\nPeople don\u2019t spend their health dollars all at once, so totaling up the lifetime tab is not the way such items are handled in the real world. For that view, I\u2019d turn to the consumer spending work done by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Its look at consumer spending in 2015 found that the for the year ended in June of last year, households where the survey respondent was 65 or older spent about $5,750 on health care in 2015.\n\nThis is a very rough approximation of what your expenses may be. First, it\u2019s a household figure. Second, it includes all older Americans. Odds are that single seniors will spend less than this, while couples will spend more. There also will be major differences depending on household income and retirement savers. Folks on Medicaid will pay much smaller amounts, while those at the higher end of the income ladder easily can \u2013 and mostly will \u2013 pay several times the average.\n\nApproximation or not, rising health costs are the major challenge to financial sufficiency in retirement. I doubt you need an \u201cexpert\u201d to tell you how to respond, but here are a few thoughts:\n\nLook at your retirement assets and evaluate how large a chunk may go for health care. How will you live on what\u2019s left? Develop a clear-eyed understanding of how a healthier you could lower your future health care spending. Build a plan with your doctor. Enlist friends to help you keep it. Recognize that Medicare and Medicaid spending is already on track to absorb worrisome and growing shares of the federal budget. Expecting Washington to spend more on such programs, by shifting funds from other uses or raising taxes, is unrealistic. Further, it would be unlikely to produce major changes in the trajectory of government health care spending. Pay a lot more attention to health care costs. New health care cost \u201ctransparency\u201d tools are coming online. Use them. Push back on doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers so you and consumers can help bring price competition to health care. Take full advantage of Medicare\u2019s open enrollment season, which begins Oct. 15 and extends through Dec. 7. It may be possible to save money and improve your health coverage at the same time.\n\nThis week\u2019s reader Q&A\n\nJan: I\u2019m looking for advice on when my husband and I should file for Social Security. He is 66 and retired; I am 64, still work, and make about $150,000 a year in commission income. I will qualify for a $48,000 annual pension when I turn 66. We have $1.7 million in savings, a $600,000 home (our mortgage will be paid off in four years), and no other debt.\n\nPhil Moeller: It doesn\u2019t appear that you need additional current income. If that\u2019s the case, and neither of you have health issues that would shorten your expected life spans, I strongly favor delaying benefits until they reach their maximum amounts at age 70. Given expectations that both of you will live well into your 80s, and that at least one of you likely will live well into their 90s, maximizing Social Security makes sense.\n\nI am assuming neither of you has worked for public employers, that your wages have been subject to Social Security payroll taxes, and that your pension is from a private employer. Otherwise, Social Security\u2019s Windfall Elimination Provision and/or Government Pension Offset might come into play, and could alter your optimal strategy.\n\nIf you do want to generate some Social Security income prior to age 70, there is another approach. It won\u2019t optimize your lifetime benefits, but it may nonetheless be attractive. When you reach 66, your husband would file for his own Social Security retirement benefit. This would make you eligible to file for a spousal benefit based on his earnings record. Under a grandfathered provision of the 2015 revisions to Social Security laws, you would be able to file a restricted application for just your spousal benefit while deferring filing for your own retirement benefit until you turn 70.\n\nIf you haven\u2019t already done so, open My Social Security accounts online and see your lifetime earnings record and benefit projections. This will permit you to estimate the effects of different filing strategies.\n\nI also should note that filing for Social Security requires the claimant to begin receiving Part A of Medicare. If you have a high-deductible health plan with a health savings account (HSA), filing for Medicare makes it illegal to continue making pre-tax contributions to an HSA.\n\nTom \u2013 Ohio: My wife is on Medicare now as secondary coverage. Her employer\u2019s insurance is primary, and it has announced plans to change to a high-deductible health plan with a health savings account. That will be the only plan offered.\n\nWe need to know quickly what she can and cannot do. Her employer thinks this is not an issue. We are concerned about what the effects will be if she does accept this new plan, and what the effects will be if she does not. For example, will Medicare not cover her as her new primary because she \u201cvoluntarily\u201d turned down enrollment in the new employer plan?\n\nPhil Moeller: Under IRS rules, Medicare enrollees may not contribute to a health savings account. This is true even if the person has only the premium-free Part A of Medicare, which everyone receiving Social Security benefits must have.\n\nI am assuming that your wife has only Part A. If this is the case, and she is not receiving Social Security, she could withdraw from Part A and maintain full eligibility for the new HSA plan. She would lose the secondary protection of Part A, of course, but under the circumstances, I\u2019d think this would be the way to go. Perhaps this is why her employer thinks this is not an issue.\n\nHowever, if your wife has Part A because she is receiving Social Security benefits, the only way she could withdraw from Part A is to also withdraw from receiving Social Security benefits. I don\u2019t see how this would make sense.\n\nIn that event, perhaps she could still be in the new health plan, but she would not be able to contribute to the HSA. She would thus be on the hook for all of the plan\u2019s high deductibles. I suppose that\u2019s a \u201csolution\u201d of sorts, but it seems like a bad one to me.\n\nPeople eligible for Medicare who have employer insurance are free to leave the employer plan and sign up for Medicare as their primary insurer. If your wife elected to do this, she would have an eight-month special enrollment period once her employer plan ended. However, I\u2019d urge her to arrange for Medicare coverage to take effect on or before the date her employer coverage ended. The cost of being uninsured, even for a day, can be ruinous.\n\nI\u2019d appreciate knowing how she fares. With more and more employers moving to high deductible health plans, your wife\u2019s quandary will be shared by a growing number of employed seniors.\n\nJohn \u2013 Fla.: Why is our doctor unwilling to certify my wife for a Medicare home health aide? She called her doctor\u2019s office and asked for one. A secretary called back saying. \u201cGo out and hire one and pay for it yourself.\u201d Are doctor\u2019s afraid to go out on a limb? Is it a black mark against the doctor? We cannot afford to pay for this help ourselves, but my wife\u2019s physical condition certainly warrants physical, occupational, and speech therapy.\n\nPhil Moeller: Medicare provides limited home health benefits but, as you\u2019ve discovered, only if a physician prescribes them. I don\u2019t know if her doctor is afraid to go out on a limb or simply does not feel her condition is serious enough to qualify for this benefit.\n\nHere\u2019s a fuller explanation I recently wrote concerning this benefit and the problems people are having in getting access to it. And here is Medicare\u2019s own explanation of the coverage. I hope there is something in here of value to you.\n\nCarla: I am a widow, and will reach my full retirement age of 66 in October. I am thinking of applying for my late husband\u2019s social security, and understand that if I wait until then my benefits will not be reduced by my employment earnings. Also, I have an ex-husband that I was married to for more than 10 years. One of the Social Security representatives told me I could get either a survivor or ex-spousal benefit, whichever is more. Another one told me if my ex is alive I only get half. I am not sure who is right on this. My ex is alive and makes more than my late husband. If the ex-spousal benefit was half of what my ex made, that benefit would be smaller than my survivor benefit. Lastly, are any of these benefits retroactive?\n\nPhil Moeller: Carla, you have asked the kind of complicated question that affects lots of people, and for whom we wrote a whole book about Social Security. On the slight chance that you do not want to read an entire book to find these answers, here is a shorter reply!\n\nBoth survivor and ex-spousal benefits reach their maximum level if you wait to file them until you reach full retirement age.\n\nSocial Security is correct in saying that the most you could ever collect from an ex-spousal benefit is half of what your ex-spouse was entitled to receive when he reached his own full retirement age. This is true whether or not he had actually filed for his benefits at that time.\n\nBecause you turned 62 on or before the beginning of 2016, you are grandfathered under a 2015 Social Security law. If you decided to file for the ex-spousal benefit (assuming your ex- had reached retirement age or you\u2019d been divorced for two or more years), you would be allowed to file what\u2019s called a restricted application for only this benefit. This will permit you to wait until 70 to file for your own retirement benefit, at which time you\u2019d receive an additional payment equal to the amount by which your retirement benefit exceeded your ex-spousal benefit.\n\nSurvivor benefits also can be taken by themselves, thus permitting you to delay your own retirement filing. From what you wrote, it appears that your survivor benefit would be larger than your ex-spousal benefit. If so, that is the one you should take.\n\nAlso, if your ex-husband were to pass away, you could file for a survivor benefit based on his earnings record. If it was larger than your current survivor benefit, you should receive an additional benefit equal to the amount by which your new survivor benefit was larger than the old one. Then, at 70, you still could switch to your own benefit if it was larger.\n\nIf you file for a benefit at your full retirement age, there is no retroactive benefit, so this should not be part of your filing strategy. Lastly, you\u2019re correct that filings made on or after full retirement age are not subject to Social Security\u2019s earnings test reductions.", "output": "The government\u2019s health care watchdog office has issued an early alert\u00a0in advance of its upcoming formal report on egregious abuses of patients at skilled nursing facilities (SNFs).\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "More TV & less physical activity ramps up risk of walking disability \n Older people who watched more than five hours of TV per day and reported three or fewer hours per week of total physical activity had more than a three-fold higher risk of being unable to walk or having difficulty walking at the end of a study that ran for nearly a decade.\n\nThe new study, which assessed all types of sedentary behavior, as well as light, moderate, and vigorous physical activity, observed that prolonged sitting and TV watching was particularly harmful-especially when combined with low levels of total physical activity.\n\n\"TV viewing is a very potent risk factor for disability in older age,\" says lead author of the study Loretta DiPietro, PhD, MPH, Chair of the Department of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences at the George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health (Milken Institute SPH). \"Sitting and watching TV for long periods (especially in the evening) has got to be one of the most dangerous things that older people can do because they are much more susceptible to the damages of physical inactivity.\"\n\nDiPietro and her colleagues analyzed data from the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study, which kept track of men and women age 50 to 71 from six states and two metropolitan areas. All of the participants were healthy at the study's start in 1995-1996. The researchers recorded how much the participants watched TV, exercised or did gardening, housework or other physical activity at the beginning of the investigation, and then followed participants for about 10 years.\n\nAt the end of the study, nearly 30 percent of the previously healthy participants reported a mobility disability-having difficulty walking or being unable to walk at all.\n\nThe researchers observed that:\n\nParticipants who watched 5 or more hours of TV per day had a 65 percent greater risk of reporting a mobility disability at the study's end, compared with those who watched the least amounts of TV (less than 2 hours per day), and this association was independent of their level of total physical activity, as well as a variety of risk factors know to affect mobility disability risk;\n\nIncreasing levels of total sitting and TV time in combination with low (3 hours per week or less) physical activity were especially harmful, resulting in an acceleration of risk;\n\nAmong those people in the most physically active group (greater than 7 hours per week), total sitting of 6 hours per day or less was not associated with excess mobility disability\n\nOn the other hand, within all levels of physical activity, increasing amounts of TV viewing time increased the likelihood of a walking disability in a dose-response manner.\n\nOther studies have found that too much sitting is a health hazard even for older people who meet the moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity guidelines of at least 150 minutes per week. But unlike this study, previous research did not follow people prospectively over a long period of time and did not consider the combined impact of both sedentary time and physical activity.\n\nYounger people might be able to get away with sitting for long periods because they are physiologically more robust, DiPietro says. But after age 50, this study suggests that prolonged sitting and especially prolonged television viewing becomes particularly hazardous. TV viewing in the evening may be especially detrimental to health because it is not broken up with short bouts of activity, compared with sitting during the day, DiPietro adds.\n\n\"We've engineered physical activity out of our modern life with commuting, elevators, the internet, mobile phones and a lifestyle (think Netflix streaming) that often includes 14 hours of sitting per day,\" says DiPietro. \"Our findings suggest that older people who want to remain fit must ramp up their daily physical activity and reduce the amount of time they spend sitting.\"\n\nTo help reduce the risk, DiPietro suggests building more physical activity into daily life. For example, people who sit for long periods in front of a computer should get up every hour and/or switch to a standing desk. Commuters can park the car several blocks away from the office or decide to take the stairs. Older people should walk about as much as possible throughout the day, and everyone should consider binging less on television\u2014or at least marching in place during commercials or in between episodes.\n\n\"To stay active and healthy as you age, move more and sit less\u2014throughout the day\u2014every day,\" DiPietro says.\n\nMore information: The Joint Associations of Sedentary Time and Physical Activity With Mobility Disability in Older People: The NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study. The Journals of Gerontology: Series A, glx122, DOI: 10.1093/gerona/glx122", "output": "Older people who watched more than five hours of TV per day and reported three or fewer hours per week of total physical activity had more than a three-fold higher risk of being unable to walk or having difficulty walking at the end of a study that ran for nearly a decade.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Advocating for clinical wearables, the new normal in healthcare \n \u00b7 Intention \u2013 People are often skeptical of new technology and their possible disruption to workflow, especially in a healthcare setting. Purveyors of these solutions must promote the fact that connected sensing technology was designed with a deep understanding of ourselves, our unmet needs, and the ever-changing healthcare continuum \u2013 it is not an accidental aside to consumer technology.\n\n\u00b7 Education \u2013 For clinical wearables to become a reality, both health systems and patients need to be on board. Once providers and payers fully understand and acknowledge the contribution clinical wearables could make to healthcare worldwide, they will be able to better educate their patients on how to use the technology for an easier, more comfortable experience.\n\n\u00b7 Collaboration \u2013 Deploying clinical wearables on a larger scale requires a collaborative relationship between vendors, providers, payers and patients, where vendors deliver the vision and capabilities while providers, payers, and patients share direct feedback to inform their continued innovation.\n\nWith the above considerations in mind, our next step as an industry should be to create and implement a plan taking into account all parties involved\u2014from development to routine use\u2014for an environment that maximizes the benefits of clinical wearables on a global scale. With 2017 already under way, we must remain persistent and keep moving our initiative forward through education that demonstrates how this technology can lower patient costs, ease physician workloads, and put chronic disease sufferers back in control. Their potential to streamline healthcare industry costs and operations worldwide cannot and should not be ignored.\n\nWith 2018 looming in the not-too-distant future, we must remain persistent and keep moving our initiative forward through education that demonstrates how this technology can lower patient costs, ease physician workloads, and put chronic disease sufferers back in control. Clinical wearables have the potential to streamline healthcare industry costs and operations worldwide cannot and should not be ignored.\n\nPhoto: exdez, Getty Images", "output": "Wearables devices are poised to reshape the patient experience from hospital to home by creating a new normal that puts patients back in charge of their healthcare. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sen. Kamala Harris plans to back Medicare-for-all legislation \n \u2018May you die in pain\u2019: California GOP congressman gets an earful at town hall\n\nRep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) kicks off his Monday morning town hall in Chico. (Phil Willon / Los Angeles Times)\n\n\u201cMay you die in pain.\u201d\n\nThat was the nastiest moment of Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa\u2019s early morning town hall in the Northern California town of Chico on Monday.\n\nThe wish was uttered by an older man who criticized LaMalfa for voting for the House GOP plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. He was also holding a pink sign that read \u201cLackey for the Rich!\u201d\n\nALSO: LaMalfa says the Russia investigation is \u2018a bunch of crap\u2019\n\nThe open hostility and intransigence inside the Chico Elks Lodge came as the political divide in the country has grown more inflamed, with Trump\u2019s election unleashing a wave of both liberal activism and conservative empowerment.\n\nAs a result, Washington\u2019s deeply partisan fights over issues such as health care, immigration and environmental protections have followed members of Congress home, turning once sedate town halls into in-your-face venting sessions that in left-leaning California have Republican House members on the defensive.\n\nLaMalfa stood his ground on stage as person after person ripped into him for his votes and positions on healthcare and climate change, as well as for his unyielding support for President Trump.\n\nA few speakers asked LaMalfa to resign, including one dressed up as the \u201cWicked Witch of the West Coast.\u201d\n\nHeather Calun dressed up as the Wicked Witch of the West Coast in protest. She wants LaMalfa to resign over his vote to repeal Obamacare. pic.twitter.com/rBZXAnjd2l \u2014 Phil Willon (@philwillon) August 7, 2017\n\nMost comments and questions during the hour-long town hall were fairly cordial, although they were laced with plenty of boos and catcalls.\n\nNorma Wilcox, a retired nurse who lives in Chico, also questioned LaMalfa\u2019s healthcare vote. Wilcox told LaMalfa the House plan would take away healthcare for millions of Americans while providing tax breaks to the rich.\n\n\u201cI am open to new ideas,\u201d LaMalfa told her, describing the House GOP bill as a placeholder that everyone expected to be improved during negotiations with the Senate. (The Senate\u2019s healthcare efforts now appear dead.)\n\nBut the Richvale congressman, who represents California\u2019s massive 1st Congressional District in the northeast corner of the state, said he will support only a new healthcare program that provides affordable coverage to middle-class Americans.\n\nLaMalfa said Obamacare is quickly become unaffordable and unsustainable, with premium costs rising and the number of insurance companies offering coverage declining.\n\n\u201cPeople across the board are being hurt by this,\u201d LaMalfa said.\n\nWhen shouts and boos rained down on him, he chastised the crowd saying, \u201cI have the mic folks. Yep, boo away.\u201d\n\nAnn Sisney of Chico told LaMalfa that her son, William, died of an opioid overdose two years ago. She held up a picture of the 19-year-old, asked the congressman to take it, and told him more people will die if GOP leadership in Congress gets its way on healthcare.\n\n\u201cThese are life-and-death decisions that you are making,\u201d Sisney told him.\n\nLaMalfa assured her that Congress was working to find funds to address the nationwide opioid epidemic.\n\nThe Republican congressman also raised the ire of the crowd when he was asked about climate change and the degraded air quality in this stretch of Northern California.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t buy the idea that man-made activity is responsible,\u201d LaMalfa said bluntly.\n\nThe crowd of several hundred did include some LaMalfa supporters, though most stayed silent.\n\nRon Jones, 67, of Paradise said he\u2019s been to a few of LaMalfa\u2019s town halls and all have been dominated by his critics.\n\n\u201cMost of the time people want to ... complain,\u201d said Jones, a self-described conservative, after the event ended. \u201cThe people who support him are quietly in the background.\u201d\n\nLaMalfa does indeed have a lot of support in the district that also overwhelmingly voted for Trump over Hillary Clinton in last year\u2019s presidential election. LaMalfa won his last election by almost 15%, and though he has attracted a few Democratic challengers, the district is not considered a battleground for 2018.\n\nUnlike many California Republican members of Congress, LaMalfa hasn\u2019t shied away from holding town halls, though it\u2019s rarely a pleasant experience for him. He held one in Nevada City in March and another in April in Oroville. No other California Republicans are scheduled to hold town halls during their August recess.\n\nNear the end of Monday\u2019s town hall, a woman criticized LaMalfa for inviting only Christian pastors to provide invocations at his town halls and other events, and urged him to include religious leaders of all faiths.\n\n\u201cIf you want to have your own town hall, you can invite whoever you like,\u201d LaMalfa told her.", "output": "Sen. Kamala Harris will co-sponsor a Medicare-for-all plan proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), she told Californians at a town hall in Oakland on Wednesday.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Study Investigates a Caregiver's Role in Older Patients Approaching End of Life \n Caregivers fill an important role for older individuals who are suffering from disabilities or severe diseases and especially for those at the end of life. Caregivers are responsible for many challenging tasks during the end of life for a patient; however, often go unpaid.\n\nA study published in Health Affairs, used data from the 2011 National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) and the National Study of Caregiving (NSOC) to form a random sample of people at least 65 years old. A total of 8245 people participated in in-person interviews and were asked about their self-care, household, mobility, and medical activities. Those who received assistance for their health were asked about their relationship to the people who assisted them.\n\nA total of 264 of 2423 community-dwelling older adults who received help for health or functioning died within 1 year of the study enrollment and represented an estimated 905,000 people in the United States during 2011. Although an estimated 2.3 million caregivers nationwide had assisted older adults, the majority were unpaid\u2014with only 260,000 paid caregivers assisting with end-of-life care.\n\n\u201cThis work expands knowledge about the scope of end-of-life caregiving and its related challenges by examining all caregivers\u2014both paid and unpaid\u2014who are involved in the care of older adults,\u201d the researchers wrote. \u201cWhile our work confirms the vital role of family and other unpaid caregivers before and during the end-of-life period, we found that paid caregiving support was significantly higher in that final period.\u201d\n\nOf the paid caregivers, 33% were helping a patient with heart disease, 22% with cancer, and 25% for dementia. In addition, 47% of the unpaid caregivers lived in the same household as the older adult, with 14% being spouses. End-of-life caregivers also spent significantly more time helping with mobility, personal care, making the home safer, and obtaining mobility devices.\n\nEnd-of-life caregivers also reported physical difficulty related to their caregiving (35% versus 21%) and no time for themselves (51% versus 40%) when compared with other caregivers; however there were no significant differences in depression, anxiety, or financial difficulty based on survival rates among the groups of caregivers.\n\n\u201cResults from this study confirm the significant and enduring involvement of caregivers in meeting the needs of older adults at the end of life,\u201d the authors concluded. \u201cSupporting the growing population of family and other unpaid caregivers in an urgent public health issue. Our findings indicate that the need for adequate support is especially pressing when older patients and the loved ones who assist them are at their most vulnerable, at the end of life.\u201d", "output": "Caregivers fill an important role for older individuals who are suffering from disabilities or severe diseases and especially for those at the end of life. Caregivers are responsible for many challenging tasks during the end of life for a patient; however, often go unpaid.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Harvey likely to encourage renewal of US flood insurance scheme \n A key Republican said Hurricane Harvey will spur Congress to reach a deal to fund the nation\u2019s flood insurance program before it expires next month, even though divisions persist over how much the federal government should be on the hook for future disasters.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m just hopeful this will provide the urgency and onus to get this bill on the floor,\u201d Jeb Hensarling, a Republican from Texas and chairman of the House Financial Services said in a phone interview Monday. \u201cWe need to make sure we don\u2019t compound a physical tragedy today with a fiscal tragedy tomorrow.\u201d\n\nThe devastating storm in Texas has put a spotlight on the National Flood Insurance Program, which requires the government to foot the bill for most of the water damage done to residential properties. It\u2019s already running a deficit of more than $25 billion and Harvey\u2019s costs are expected to exceed tens of billions of dollars. While Congress has until Sept. 30 to reauthorize the program, lawmakers have been at loggerheads over how to make the program economically sustainable without increasing costs for homeowners.\n\nHensarling\u2019s committee has approved measures that call on private insurers to play a bigger role in the market, which critics have argued will make coverage more expensive and less available. The Texas lawmaker said that most disagreements have been worked out and that he is not in favor of Congress passing a temporary extension of the current flood insurance program because doing so would hurt taxpayers.\n\nBad Plan\n\n\u201cI just don\u2019t think a short-term re-authorization bill gets the job done,\u201d he said.\n\nIn the Senate, several lawmakers from coastal states are teaming up to craft a bipartisan bill. Senators John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, and Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, have proposed a measure that would reauthorize federal flood insurance for six years, while freezing interest payments on accrued debt from the program that\u2019s owed to the U.S. Treasury. Freezing the interest payments would free up funds to help mitigate costs from future disasters, according to the senators.\n\nThe Senate Banking Committee, which oversees funding for the flood insurance program, hasn\u2019t taken up its own bill on the issue. Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, the top Democrat on the panel, said a short-term extension is likely if a deal can\u2019t be reached.\n\n\u201cIt is too early to determine how hurricane Harvey will impact the timeline,\u201d Brown said in an emailed statement. \u201cBut it is likely that Congress will pass a short-term extension to ensure the program doesn\u2019t lapse.\u201d\n\n\u2018Whacking People\u2019\n\nIn the near term, Brown\u2019s prediction is the most likely outcome because disagreements on how to proceed on a broader bill are probably too severe to be resolved quickly, said R.J. Lehmann, a senior fellow at the conservative R Street Institute.\n\n\u201cHarvey should make it clearer that the way we\u2019ve been doing things has not been sustainable and changes need to be made,\u201d Lehmann said. \u201cBut lawmakers are not going to want to whack people who are already suffering from the hurricane with more costs.\u201d\n\nCopyright 2023 Bloomberg.", "output": "Hurricane Harvey is likely to encourage the US Congress to renew the\u00a0National Flood Insurance Programme. The scheme, which expires at the end of this month,\u00a0gives the government responsibility for covering the cost of flooding caused by severe weather events. While there are divisions among ruling Republican Congress members on the the issue,\u00a0Jeb Hensarling, a Republican from Texas and chairman of the House Financial Services, said he was hopeful Harvey would \"provide the urgency and onus to get this bill on the floor\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Rise in mobile ad spend by FMCG, consumer brands to taper in 2018 \n Despite the likes of Unilever and Procter & Gamble slashing advertising budgets, FMCG brands are expected to invest 28% more in mobile advertising this year in the UK than they did in 2016.\n\nOverall, FMCG and consumer brands will spend 11% more on digital ads in 2017 than they did last year, according to eMarketer\u2019s inaugural cross-industry UK ad spend report. Total mobile spend for this category is forecast to hit just shy of \u00a31bn.\n\nThe study follows on from Unilever \u2013 which owns the likes of Dove and Lynx \u2013 deciding to run 30% fewer ads as part of a wider cost-cutting exercise to improve efficiency. The brand has said it also intends to reduce the number of agencies it has (around 3,000) in half.\n\nMeanwhile, Procter & Gamble has clamped down on ad spend to the tune of an estimated $140m per-quarter as it looks to tackle \"ineffective\" digital buys. Earlier this year, the Ariel-owner\u2019s top marketer Marc Pritchard expressed his desire to bring transparency to the \u201cmurky at best, fraudulent at worst\u201d media supply chain if it was to continue investing.\n\nBut, even in the face of more economical digital investment, it appears mobile will continue to take an increasingly larger share of FMCG ad budgets through to the end of the year.\n\nBy 2018, however, the year-on-year increase to mobile ad spend from the FMCG sector will slow from the estimated 28% to around 23.8%.\n\nA recent study from the IAB found that digital ad spend in the UK increased by 17% in 2016 to reach \u00a310.3bn, fueled by the growth of mobile. However, in terms of overall digital ad spend growth, eMarketer has forecast that between 2017 and 2018 there will be a 1.5% fall across industries; down from a projected 11% this year to 9.5% in 2018.\n\nDespite some investment by FMCG-giants, driving much of the growth in the coming months will come from the retail sector. This year alone retail will account for 14.2% of all digital ad spend in the UK, thanks to the rise of e-commerce - especially in the food and grocery sector where pure-play giants like Amazon are muscling in.\n\nMarketing investment in retail will rise by 13.4% to \u00a31.5bn before the year is out, according to the report. Again, mobile is driving the retail industry's ad growth; investment in the medium is poised to balloon by 31% to reach just over \u00a31bn this year.\n\nOther core industries in the UK tracked by eMarketer, will also increase their digital ad spend in 2017, albeit by slightly more modest levels, with with increases ranging from 27% for travel to 30% for automotive.", "output": "FMCG brands in the UK are expected to invest 28% more on\u00a0mobile advertising in 2017 than in 2016, according to eMarketer. Overall, consumer and FMCG brands will spend 11% more on digital advertising, with total mobile spend from this category predicted to be just under \u00a31bn. However, major firms like Unilever and Procter & Gamble have committed to reducing ad spending in a bid to improve efficiency and transparency, and in 2018, mobile ad spend in the FMCG sector is predicted to fall back from this year, with an estimated increase of around\u00a024%.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Microsoft and Amazon unveil tie-up between Cortana and Alexa \n Microsoft has announced a \u201cfirst-of-its-kind collaboration\u201d with Amazon between its voice-enabled virtual assistant Cortana and Amazon\u2019s AI assistant Alexa.\n\nThe collaboration means that Cortana will have be able to access Alexa, while also allowing Alexa to access Cortana.\n\n\u201cAvailable later this year, this collaboration will allow you to access Alexa via Cortana on Windows 10 PCs, followed by Android and iOS in the future. Conversely, you\u2019ll be able to access Cortana on Alexa-enabled devices like the Amazon Echo, Echo Dot and Echo Show,\u201d Microsoft\u2019s Andrew Shuman said in an official blog post.\n\n\u201cCortana users will be able to have Alexa shop on Amazon.com and manage their Amazon orders and access many of Alexa\u2019s third-party skills by asking Cortana to open Alexa, just as Alexa users will have access to Cortana\u2019s world knowledge and helpful productivity features such as calendar management, day at a glance and location-based reminders simply by asking Alexa to open Cortana,\u201d added Shuman.\n\nThe announcement comes amid fierce competition among tech giants to gain market dominance in the new and emerging market of AI-powered voice assistant technology.\n\nMicrosoft partnering up with Amazon suggests that AI powered agents such as Alexa and Cortana could be better off working together instead of directly competing.\n\n\u201cThe world is big and so multifaceted. There are going to be multiple successful intelligent agents, each with access to different sets of data and with different specialized skill areas,\u201d said Jeff Bezos, CEO and founder of Amazon, in a statement today.", "output": "Microsoft and Amazon have announced a groundbreaking collaboration between their respective voice-enabled virtual assistants. As of later this year users of Microsoft's voice-enabled virtual assistant, Cortana, and Amazon\u2019s AI assistant, Alexa, will be able to access both devices' features.\u00a0Microsoft's Andrew Shuman said the crossover would be available from later this year, initially on Windows 10 PCs, before being rolled out to iOS and Android. The move would be\u00a0the first consolidation between tech giants in the voice-activated market as competition to gain dominance increases.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sony introduces LF-S50G smart speaker as\u00a0rival to Amazon Echo \n Sony takes aim at the Amazon Echo - and Apple's forthcoming HomePod - with its new LF-S50G smart speaker\n\nSony has unveiled its answer to the Amazon Echo - a new voice-controlled smart speaker that claims to combine easy access to online information with high-quality sound.\n\nCatchily named the LF-S50G, the speaker connects to the internet over WiFi, and has a 360-degree speaker system, meaning you get the same sound quality wherever you are in the room.\n\nAs well as a full range speaker and a dedicated subwoofer, the speaker also features a \"damped bass reflex duct\" for extra bass, and an \"omnidirectional two stage diffuser\" to help spread the sound in all directions.\n\nSony's speaker come pre-installed with Google Assistant - the same virtual person assistant that runs on the Google Home smart speaker . This allows users to access online information without having to pick up and touch their phone.\n\nImage: PA) PA)\n\nYou can bring the speaker to life by saying \"Ok Google\", and then ask questions like what the traffic will be like on your route to work, set an alarm to wake you up in the morning or retrieve the flight booking details for your next trip.\n\nYou can also check and update your calendar to manage your upcoming appointments, add to your to-do lists, and get general information about the news and weather forecast.\n\nThe speaker will connect to any other Chromecast-enabled smart speakers in the home for a multi room set-up, and can play music, podcasts or radio from services like Spotify, Google Play Music, Pandora, TuneIn and iHeartRadio.\n\nImage: Apple) Apple)\n\nIt can also be used to control a range of smart home devices with Chromecast built-in, such as Nest, Philips Hue and IFTTT, letting you adjust the temperature and lighting with just a word.\n\nBearing a striking resemblance to Apple's recently unveiled HomePod speaker , the S50G comes in either back or white, and has a water repellent coating, so you don't have to worry about placing it on the kitchen worktop. It also has a digital clock display on the front.\n\nIt will be available in the UK from November 2017, priced at approximately \u00a3200.", "output": "Sony has unveiled the LF-S50G, a voice-controlled smart speaker it believes can take on Amazon's Alexa. Available in the UK from November at around \u00a3200 ($257), the LF-S50G has Google Assistant pre-installed, links to the internet via Wi-Fi, can connect with other Chromecast-enabled smart speakers in a user's home, and has a 360-degree speaker system. Apple is expected to launch its HomePod speaker before the end of the year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK\u2019s first commercial lentil crop harvested \n The UK\u2019s first commercial crops of lentils, grown on farms in Hertfordshire, Hampshire, Suffolk, Sussex and Wiltshire are being harvested this week before going on sale in the autumn.\n\nBlazing the trail is Hodmedod, a Suffolk-based pioneer of British-grown pulses and grains founded five years ago, which has worked with UK farmers since 2015 on a series of trial crops leading to 24 acres of organic lentils being picked and packed this season.\n\nThe company is on a mission to reintroduce British-grown beans, peas and pulses and has already won the high-profile backing of chefs and restaurateurs such as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Yotem Ottolenghi, Jamie Oliver and Mark Hix.\n\nMost lentils on sale in the UK are imported from India \u2013 the primary producer \u2013 or Canada, but mass production means they tend to have a bland taste with no trace of the earthy, peppery flavour they should have.\n\nLentils are a notoriously difficult crop and have never been grown on a large or commercial scale in the UK. Low-growing and typically yielding no more than two lentils in each short pod, they need a warm, dry autumn to ripen for harvest. Yet they are thought to have been one of the earliest cultivated \u2018legumes\u2019 in the UK, with traces found on prehistoric sites.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe\u2019d always wanted to grow lentils but were repeatedly told it just wasn\u2019t possible,\u201d said Hodmedod co-founder Josiah Meldrum. \u201cThen we met some inspiring German lentil farmers who told us to just plant them and see what happened. We did and it turns out lentils grow well here, the trick is keeping them weed-free and harvesting them \u2013 skills we\u2019ve been learning over the last few years.\u201d\n\nLentils come in a variety of different colours and sizes, including red lentils and speciality varieties such as Puy lentils (grown in the Le Puy region of France). Hodmedod\u2019s lentils are a mixture of varieties including Rosanna and Flora and the variety grown in Puy.\n\nThe new lentils will be showcased in a pop-up restaurant at London\u2019s Borough Market for the whole of September and at other UK food and drink festivals, including Abergavenny and Aldeburgh. They will also go on sale online and via independent retailers and wholefood shops.\n\n\n\n", "output": "The first commercial crops of lentils to be grown on UK farms will be harvested this week prior to sale in the autumn. Suffolk-based company Hodmedod has worked with farmers since 2015 on a range of pilot crops as part of an attempt to reintroduce UK-grown beans, peas and pulses. The company, whose lentils are organic, has been praised by chefs and restaurateurs including Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Mark Hix, Jamie Oliver and Yotem Ottolenghi. Most lentils sold in the UK are imported from India and tend to have a bland taste due to mass production.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "XL Catlin appoints client distribution head for southeast US \n XL Catlin brought on a new client distribution leader for its Southeast broker and client management operation. W.R. Berkley\u2019s W.R. Berkley Corp.\u2019s Berkley Program Specialists hired a business development executive.\n\n***\n\nArden Young is the new client distribution leader for XL Catlin\u2019s Broker & Client Management arm in the Southeast.\n\nIn his new role, Young will work with XL Catlin brokers and clients in the region, helping them access XL Catlin\u2019s multi-line property, casualty and specialty insurance coverages claims expertise and risk management services. He\u2019ll report to Kimberly Reed, XL Catlin\u2019s Southeast regional leader.\n\nPreviously, Young was with Gallagher Bassett Services, where he most recently served as vice president for business development. Before that, he held various industry risk management positions including as a senior manager in risk management for Georgia Pacific.\n\n***\n\nW.R. Berkley Corp.\u2019s Berkley Program Specialists appointed Michael Greville as vice president and Business Development Officer, effective Aug. 21.\n\nGreville will oversee the new business strategy for the organization, which focuses exclusively on program businesses. He\u2019ll manage prospective program administrator relationships nationally and also interact with key industry groups and also lead the business development team in spotting program opportunities, and in increasing the company\u2019s profile.\n\nGreville is a 27-year insurance industry veteran with experience in areas including sales/distribution management, program management, MGA management, consulting and underwriting.\n\nSources: XL Catlin, W.R. Berkley Corp.", "output": "Arden Young has been named as the new client distribution leader for XL Catlin\u2019s broker and client management arm in the southeastern US. Young, the former VP\u00a0for business development at Gallagher Bassett Services, will report to Kimberly Reed, XL Catlin\u2019s southeast regional leader, and work with XL Catlin brokers and clients in the region, helping them access the firm's\u00a0property, casualty and specialist\u00a0insurance claims expertise, as well as risk management services.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurer uses drone fleet to speed up Hurricane Harvey claims \n USAA has deployed unmanned aerial vehicles and hundreds of adjusters to expedite claims in areas ravaged by Hurricane Harvey.\n\nAbout a dozen of the insurer\u2019s drones are currently flying over Corpus Christi, Texas, where the storm caused the greatest damage over the weekend, a spokesperson said. A recent but publicly undisclosed partnership has given USAA access to a network of pilots and UAVs, Strategic Innovation Director Kristina Tomasetti told Digital Insurance in May.\n\nUSAA has also set up a catastrophe response unit in Corpus Chirsti. Similar to Allstate\u2019s mobile claims center, adjusters equipped with laptops are onsite to assess damage, file claims online, charge electronics for customers and cut checks on the spot.\n\nUSAA says it has received more than 15,000 claims so far from its military customers, primarily via its mobile app and website.\n\nRescue personnel drive past an abandoned pickup truck in floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey in Dickinson, Texas, U.S., on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017. Estimates for damages caused by Hurricane Harvey are climbing with the storm poised to regain strength in the Gulf of Mexico before crashing back on land. Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg\n\n\u201cMembers are utilizing digital channels to file their claims, as expected,\u201d a company spokesperson said. \u201cAdjusters are triaging based on member need.\u201d\n\nThe San Antonio-based company recommends that policyholders begin the claims filing process through its digital channels and not wait for adjusters reach them, as many areas are still inaccessible.\n\nWith Hurricane Harvey continuing to move east along the Gulf Coast as a downgraded tropical storm, USAA is also asking members in Harvey\u2019s path to heed local authorities and take necessary precautions.\n\n\u201cAt this time, we are heavily focused on the members who have already been affected,\u201d the spokesperson said.", "output": "American insurance company USAA is using drones to assess claims in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. The company has deployed about a dozen unmanned aerial vehicles over Corpus Christi in Texas, where the storm caused the most damage, after reportedly entering into a partnership to gain access to a network of pilots and vehicles. The insurer has set up a unit on site to deal with claims, staffed by a team of adjusters with laptops. Thousands of claims have already been submitted, primarily via its mobile app and website."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Qihan launches the Sanbot Nano home robot with Alexa built-in \n An Amazon Alexa-powered humanoid robot could be wheeling its way to a home near you.\n\n\n\nChinese technology firm Qihan launched the Sanbot Nano on Thursday equipped with Amazon's voice assistant that is featured in its Echo speaker.\n\n\n\nThe 2.7 foot robot will go on sale in October for $2,800, and will be available in English and German. Those are the languages that Alexa currently understands.\n\n\n\nQihan's Sanbot Nano is equipped with 50 sensors that helps it avoid obstacles, hear voices, and recognize when someone enters the room.\n\n\n\nUsers can access all the features that Alexa enables such as controlling lights in the home or ordering pizza.\n\n\n\nAmazon first introduced Alexa on its Echo smart speaker in 2014. But the e-commerce giant's strategy has been to license Alexa out to other vendors to get the voice assistant across several devices and even home appliances.\n\n\n\nThis is Qihan's first robot designed for the home. The company's previous humanoid models have been put to use in businesses. For example, the Sanbot Elf was used by the Dubai Police to interview potential candidates.\n\n\n\n\"Sanbot Nano's customized capabilities will make every family feel like they have a personal assistant,\" Ryan Yu, chief marketing officer at Qihan, said in a press release on Thursday.\n\n\n\nQihan is playing in an increasingly competitive but young market of humanoid robots that could grow quickly. The global personal robots market is expected to see average yearly growth of 37.8 percent between 2017 and 2022, reaching $34.1 billion in size, according to Research and Markets data.\n\n\n\nRobots are slowly being trialed in sectors such as hospitality and policing, but are yet to take off in the home. Other competitors like SoftBank with its Pepper robot are also trying to crack the market.", "output": "Chinese technology firm Quihan has launched a humanoid robot for use in the home, incorporating Amazon's voice-controlled personal assistant, Alexa. The Sanbot Nano robot is 2.7 foot high and will retail for $2,800. It is equipped with 50 sensors to help it avoid obstacles, process voice commands and detect when someone enters a room. Quihan has previously developed humanoid robots for use in the workplace, such as the Sanbot Elf, which was used by police in Dubai to interview potential recruits. The global market for personal robots is expected to grow to $34.1bn by 2022."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Future Apple watches may build features into watch fabric \n If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Read our ethics policy\n\nArticle Hero Image\n\nApple is actively investigating methods of embedding electronic components into woven fabric materials, technology that might be applied to Apple Watch strap designs to offload user interfaces into physical space and expand device functionality.\n\nAs noted in a trio of Apple patent applications published on Thursday, the company is continuing exploration into advanced fabric manufacturing technology. Specifically, the documents published today detail methods by which electrical components like buttons, switches and other functional equipment.\n\nAs published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Apple's patent application for \"Three-Dimensional Fabric With Embedded Input-Output Devices\" explores the possibility of utilizing three-dimensional braiding apparatus to create fabric structures with pockets into which electrical parts are disposed. More accurately, these components are installed into small pockets formed into the fabric material during production.\n\nThe invention supports a variety of hardware solutions, including switches, buttons, touch pads, microphones, speakers, vibrators, cameras, status indicators and a bevy of sensors.\n\nApple details a button or switch solution that incorporates layers of fabric and permanent magnets. In one embodiment, two magnets are covered in metal and aligned opposite each other in a fabric pocket. Conductive leads are woven into the fabric and connect the switch to a control module.\n\nTo keep the switch open, the magnets are aligned to repel each other and are placed in a biasing structure formed from springs or foam. Only when the two conductive components are brought together by manual force is the switch circuit closed.\n\nApple specifies the woven fabric component tech can be applied to a removable device case.\n\nA separate filing for \"Fabric With Embedded Electrical Components\" details a method of integrating a variety of components directly into woven materials. Using a customized weaving process and specially designed packages, the invention provides a technique by which parts are locked between weft and warp fibers.\n\nIn some embodiments, a component package containing sensors, LEDs, transducers or other microelectromechanical device is encapsulated in a housing that incorporates fiber guiding structures. For example, grooves or guide posts can be employed to prevent woven fibers from slipping off the package.\n\nElectrical contacts disposed within the grooves, or elsewhere on the package body, act as terminals and interface with conductive fibers interlaced throughout the woven material substrate.\n\nPerhaps more interesting is Apple's third fabric-centric invention that describes a \"Fabric sensing device.\" Combining theories illustrated in the two applications above, this third property details a touch-sensitive textile device capable of detecting changes in capacitive coupling within the woven material.\n\nIn other words, the fabric senses user touch and, in some configurations, force.\n\nIn some embodiments, the fabric may incorporate a capacitive touch sensor configured to detect a user's finger near or at the surface of the textile. Such implementations call for at least two sets of conductive thread to be oriented transverse of each other in the larger material body. This same orientation can be used in resistive sensor stacks that detect touch by monitoring changes in impedance.\n\nAs for force sensing, the IP describes a two-layer touch sensor separated by a non-conductive spacer like monofilament yarn. When a force is applied to one side of the fabric, the conductive layers are pushed together, resulting in a change in capacitance that can be evaluated by a connected sensing circuit.\n\nApple notes the fabric sensing device can be deployed as part of a traditional garment, such as the sleeve of a jacket, but might also be woven into a bracelet or arm band.\n\nWhether Apple intends to build its embedded fabric patents into a shipping product is unclear, but the company is expected to announce a next-generation Apple Watch device at an event next month. Not much is known about the so-called \"Series 3\" wearable, though rumors claim LTE connectivity will be the hardware's headline feature.\n\nMore recent reports say the device will retain the same form factor Apple debuted with the original Watch in 2015, meaning the wearable will likely include a diagnostics port under its strap connector. The interface could potentially give rise to a number of accessories, including aftermarket straps based on today's patent applications, as it supports both power and real-time data transfer.", "output": "Apple has filed applications with the US Patent and Trademark Office for ways of weaving technology into fabrics for use in garments or wristbands, according to recently published papers. Originally filed in March, the documents explore fabric which has sensors or components embedded into it at the production stage, a customised weaving process used alongside specially designed packages and a touch-sensitive textile which could also detect levels of force. Apple is set to announce a new version of its smartwatch\u00a0next month.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Medicare Shared Savings ACOs Save Money, Improve Quality \n With Medicare spending projected to grow to $1.4 trillion by 2027, the federal government is looking for alternative payment models to slow spending growth, and a new report suggests those efforts are delivering.\n\nAccountable care organizations in Medicare\u2019s Shared Savings Program reduced net spending by nearly $1 billion and improved quality metrics over the first three years of the program, a federal audit shows.\n\n\u201cWhile policy changes may be warranted, ACOs show promise in reducing spending and improving quality,\u201d the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services said in its review issued this week. \u201cHowever, additional information about high-performing ACOs would inform the future direction of the Shared Savings Program as well as other alternative payment models.\u201d\n\nMedicare spending is projected to hit $1.4 trillion in 2027, which is more than double the $689 billion spent on the program in 2016. The Shared Savings Program is one of the largest alternative payment models, accounting for $168 billion in Medicare expenditures over its first three years, from 2013-2015.\n\nOIG analyzed beneficiary and provider quality, spending and utilization data over the first three years of the program, which involved 428 ACOs and 9.7 million beneficiaries.\n\n\u201cDuring that time, most of these ACOs reduced Medicare spending compared to their benchmarks, achieving a net spending reduction of nearly $1 billion,\u201d OIG said. \u201cAt the same time, ACOs generally improved the quality of care they provided, based on CMS data on quality measures.\u201d\n\nACOs improved their performance on 82% of the individual quality measures, and outperformed fee-for-service providers on 81% of the quality measures. In addition, a subset of high-performing ACOs reduced spending by an average of $673 per beneficiary for key Medicare services during the review period.\n\nThat contrasts other Shared Savings Program ACOs and the national average for fee-for-service providers showed an increase in per beneficiary spending for key Medicare services.\n\nThe OIG report also found that:", "output": "With Medicare spending projected to grow to $1.4 trillion by 2027, the federal government is looking for alternative payment models to slow spending growth, and a new report suggests those efforts are delivering.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Health Plans Keep Focus on Value as HHS Backs Off Bundling, Payment Reform \n Value-based reimbursement is now less of a focus for Medicare and Medicaid, but health plans will continue to carry the torch. The impact of their efforts may be diminished, however.\n\nHealth plans are committed to moving toward more of a value-based strategy even though the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is backing away from some key programs intended to encourage that approach, says an industry insider.\n\nThe government's retreat from those programs will make it more difficult for health plans to have significant impact on how care is delivered in the country, says Michael Thompson, president and CEO of the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions (formerly the National Business Coalition on Health), a DC-based nonprofit that represents more than 12,000 purchasers employers and 41 million Americans.\n\nCMS announced recently that it will abandon two bundled-payment models and cut down the number of providers required to participate in a third, saying providers wanted more input in the models' designs. Bundled-payment models are meant to incentivize quality care by paying hospitals essentially a lump sum for a particular type or episode of care, with the hospital taking the financial hit for cost overruns due to poor outcomes, readmissions, and errors.\n\nCMS plans to cancel the Episode Payment Models and the Cardiac Rehabilitation incentive payment model, which were scheduled to begin on Jan. 1, 2018. In addition, the geographic mandatory participation areas for the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement, or CJR, model will be cut from 67 to 34 under the proposed rule.\n\nIn the remaining mandatory participation areas, hospitals with fewer than 20 joint replacements over three years will be excluded starting in February 2018, but they can voluntarily participate in the model if they so choose. Up to 470 hospitals are expected to continue to operate under the model, down from 800 if no changes were made.\n\n\"Medicare backing away from some of that is a step backwards, and hopefully a temporary one,\" Thompson says. \"HHS, through Medicare and Medicaid, is one of the largest players in the system, accounting for more than half of all payments, and when they adopt this value-based approach it quickly sets a tone for the entire industry. With them backing away, we're back to where we were with many health plans trying to adopt a value-based approach but not having as much impact.\"\n\nEach health plan can only impact a relatively small population of providers when compared to the influence of Medicare, Thompson notes.\n\n\"Health plans are moving away from the old silos of disease management to more of a total health approach that understands the multiple factors affecting an individual's health and guiding them in the right direction. Medicare's payment reform supported that and gave providers the right incentives, so now it will be up to health plans to carry that effort forward,\" Thompson says.\n\n\"I don't expect health plans to back down at all. Health plans will continue down that path but they won't have the same impact on changing the industry as we would see if everyone, including the biggest player in the market, was doing the same thing.\"\n\nThe loss of HHS dedication to value-based reimbursement will lead health plans to put even more emphasis on engaging consumers in optimal use of resources and achieving better outcomes, Thompson says.\n\n\"We're finding that some of the traditional approaches, those that were more passive in making resources and tools available and letting the consumer use them if they wanted to, are being replaced with more proactive services that engage consumers at the point of service,\" Thompson says.\n\n\"Some of those are being integrated into their call center activities because the plans are realizing that when people engage with their health plan they can be more effective if they understand these resources better, and then the health plan can guide them more effectively.\"", "output": "Value-based reimbursement is now less of a focus for Medicare and Medicaid, but health plans will continue to carry the torch. The impact of their efforts may be diminished, however.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Thiel\u2019s Valar in $10m seed round for point-of-need insurtech Coya \n Coya AG, a Berlin-based insurtech startup, raised over $10m in seed funding.\n\nBackers included Valar Ventures, e.ventures, La Famiglia, as well as angel investors Mato Peric (EPIC Companies, Rocket Internet), Rolf Schr\u00f6mgens (Trivago), Elvir Omerbegovic (Universal Music, Selfmade Records), Marco Knauf (true fruits), Sebastian Diemer (Kreditech, finiata) and Alexander Graubner-M\u00fcller (Kreditech).\n\nThe company intends to use the funds to continue to expand operations hiring new people to build the platform.\n\nCo-founded by Andrew Shaw, Dr. Peter Hagen, and Sebastian Villarroel, Coya aims to provide digital insurance products at the point of need with an AI risk guardian and transparent and personalized cover.\n\nThe company, which has filed a license application with Bundesanstalt f\u00fcr Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin) to become a licensed and regulated insurance carrier, plans to launch its services in 2018, following the approval.\n\nIt currently comprises a team of more than 30 employees with insurance, technology and data science backgrounds, gained at global leaders such as AXA, Citi, HUK-Coburg, Oliver Wyman, Rocket Internet, Wimdu and Zurich.\n\nFinSMEs\n\n30/08/2017", "output": "Insurtech start-up Coya has raised $10m seed capital from investors including La Famiglia, Peter Thiel-backed Valar Ventures, and e.ventures. The Berlin-based firm is looking to provide\u00a0point-of-need, transparent and personalised digital insurance products, complete with an artificial intelligence risk guardian. The funds will be used for hiring to build out the platform."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Garmin embraces contactless payments \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nGarmin has become the latest tech giant to embrace mobile payments, as the GPS navigation and wearables company today announced the launch of Garmin Pay.\n\nThe contactless payments service arrives first on the company\u2019s new $300 V\u00edvoactive 3 smartwatch. Powered by FitPay, a white-label contactless payments platform aimed at the burgeoning wearables and IoT realms, Garmin Pay supports both Mastercard and Visa cards from \u201cmajor issuing banks.\u201d After manually adding your card to the Garmin Pay wallet, you can pay for goods in stores by scanning your wrist at checkout.\n\nBy building both GPS and contactless payments into the device, Garmin is looking to solve a problem familiar to millions of fitness enthusiasts around the world. Why carry your phone and wallet with you on a long run when you can pack your every need into a wrist-worn contraption?\n\n\u201cAnyone who is out and about being active can relate to the struggle of where to stash a credit card or cash, and has had to forgo a post-workout snack or coffee as a result,\u201d explained Garmin\u2019s vice president of worldwide sales, Dan Bartel, in a press release. \u201cWe\u2019re solving that dilemma with Garmin Pay, an exciting feature on the new V\u00edvoactive 3. Use it pretty much wherever contactless payments are accepted, and give yourself one less thing to remember when you\u2019re leaving the house.\u201d\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\nOne point worth noting here is that the V\u00edvoactive 3 doesn\u2019t have music capabilities built in, so if you do like to listen to tunes while pounding the pavement (or the trails), you will still have to carry a secondary device with you. With that in mind, Garmin\u2019s latest watch is capable of controlling music on your smartphone, but it is a shame you\u2019re not able to pack some tracks onto the watch itself.\n\nToday\u2019s news comes just a few days after Fitbit announced its first-ever smartwatch, the $300 Ionic, which promises water resistance, GPS, heart rate monitoring\u2026 and a brand new contactless payments service called Fitbit Pay. To say that the mobile payments space is heating up is something of an understatement, with Samsung Pay, Android Pay, and Apple Pay already vying for consumers\u2019 attentions.\n\nThe wearables market grew 18 percent in Q1 2017, according to a recent IDC report, with Xiaomi and Apple nudging Fitbit into third place in terms of market share. Garmin remains one of the top five wearables companies in the world, however, sitting behind the three aforementioned companies and Samsung.\n\nThe V\u00edvoactive 3 is available in three colors \u2014 black/stainless and white/stainless, which cost $300; and black/slate, which has a suggested retail price of $330. Garmin also announced today the V\u00edvomove HR, which the company calls its first touchscreen hybrid smartwatch.", "output": "Kansas-based wearables firm Garmin has launched Garmin Pay, a contactless payment method which supports Mastercard and Visa issued by popular banks. The technology will first be implemented\u00a0on the company\u2019s new $300 V\u00edvoactive 3 smartwatch, which can be quickly scanned to make payments once card details have been added to the Garmin payment wallet. The announcement comes hot on the heels of a similar product from Fitbit, which sits behind Xiaomi and Apple in terms of market share.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "RTL Group takes remaining stake in ad server SpotX\u00a0for $145m \n German broadcaster RTL Group, which acquired a 65% stake in the video ad server and supply-side platform SpotX in 2014, said Wednesday that it has purchased the remainder of the company for $145 million.\n\nRTL, which houses SpotX with other technology and content assets under a division called the RTL Digital Hub, also plans further ad tech investments.\n\nSpotX and SmartClip, the video distribution platform RTL acquired in March, will collaborate on video ad solutions and identify opportunities for acquisition and partnership to benefit RTL\u2019s larger business.\n\nIn recent months, SpotX has pushed its integrated SSP and ad server businesses, espousing the benefits of a combined system. That\u2019s why, as of the first six months of 2017, 50% of its revenue came from programmatic services, growing 35% YoY. Ad server revenue grew 71% YoY.\n\nSpotX\u2019s revenue grew 2.3% YoY during the first half of the year, based on International Financial Reporting Standards. But, its revenue grew 20% YoY if basing that figure on US GAAP measures.\n\nRTL didn\u2019t break out a specific revenue amount for SpotX, but RTL\u2019s digital businesses totaled 389 million euros, or about $462 million, for the half year.\n\nMeanwhile, SpotX\u2019s managed services declined 48% YoY and accounts for just 23% of total SpotX revenue. Private marketplace deals now make up 49% of SpotX\u2019s video transactions.\n\n\u201cI think you\u2019ve always got to be innovating and planning for the long game,\u201d Mike Shehan, founder and CEO of SpotX, told AdExchanger. \u201cWhen I first signed the deal with RTL, our SaaS-based and ad-serving fees were a blip on the radar. Now, we\u2019re making over 25% of our revenue off of fees, not just percentage of gross media.\u201d\n\nShehan doesn\u2019t expect RTL\u2019s full ownership of SpotX to change its day-to-day operations. But SpotX hadn\u2019t been aggressively expanding, since the financial terms of its original RTL deal were tied to performance.\n\n\u201cThat hampered some of our efforts to do more aggressive things on the corporate development, M&A or partnership front, so if anything, [this deal] has cleared the decks for us to be more aggressive in pursuit of our vision,\u201d he added. \u201cNothing should really change in terms of who SpotX is or our mission.\u201d\n\nRTL has helped SpotX expand its global footprint considerably.\n\nWhen it acquired a majority stake in the company in 2014, SpotX had eight people in its London office. Now, it has more than 80, as well as new offices across Europe and joint ventures with RTL subsidiaries IP Deutschland and RTL Netherlands.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve learned much more about broadcast, as well as the nuances of each market throughout Europe,\u201d Shehan said. On the flip side, \u201cRTL got more access to ad tech, but also exposure to the US market as well. We\u2019ve achieved a lot of goals we originally set out with.\u201d", "output": "Luxembourg-based German broadcast company RTL Group has fully acquired video ad server and supply-side platform SpotX in a deal worth $145m. RTL already bought a 65% share in 2014\u00a0and will house SpotX alongside another acquisition, video distribution platform SmartClip, with the two companies collaborating on video ads and spotting investment opportunities for RTL. During H1 2017, 50% of SpotX's revenue came from programmatic services, and SpotX CEO Mike Shehan said the deal will enable the company to be \"more aggressive in pursuit of our vision\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Novae shareholders approve its $611.5m takeover by AXIS \n AXIS Capital Holdings Ltd.\u2019s planned $611.5 million acquisition of Novae Group plc will be going through.\n\nAXIS, a Bermuda-based specialty insurer, disclosed that Novae\u2019s shareholders on Aug. 29 cast votes 99.97 percent in favor of the acquisition. Novae is a Lloyd\u2019s of London specialty insurer and reinsurer.\n\nThe $611.5 million purchase price reflects a sweetened, final offer that AXIS made about a week ago.\n\nWhen the acquisition closes in the 2017 fourth quarter, the combined company will be a global specialty insurer and reinsurer with more than $6 billion in gross written premiums.\n\nAlbert Benchimol, AXIS president and CEO, said that the combined company will be a $2 billion in insurer and helps move the company forward in a big way.\n\n\u201cThe acquisition of Novae accelerates the growth strategy of our international insurance business,\u201d Benchimol noted in prepared remarks. \u201cWe are excited by the possibilities this presents and look forward to welcoming the Novae team as we work together to achieve our shared ambitions.\u201d\n\nMatthew Fosh, Novae\u2019s CEO, added in prepared remarks that he sees the combined company as \u201csuperbly positioned to compete in the international specialty insurance marketplace.\u201d\n\nThis is the first big acquisition for AXIS since its failed attempt to buy PartnerRe in 2015. After months of back-and-forth, PartnerRe agreed to an unsolicited $6.9 billion bid from Italian Investment firm EXOR. PartnerRe paid a $315 million break-up free to AXIS.\n\nSource: AXIS", "output": "Bermuda-based specialty insurer AXIS's planned $611.5m acquisition of Novae Group will go ahead, following near-unanimous agreement by the latter's shareholders. Novae, a Lloyd\u2019s of London specialty insurer and reinsurer, agreed to the acquisition following a sweetened offer made by AXIS. The deal is set to complete during Q4 2017, and will result in a global specialty insurer and reinsurer boasting more than $6bn in gross written premiums."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook adds popular Latino YouTube shows to Watch video tab \n Facebook is steadily adding shows to its recently launched Watch video tab for mobile, desktop, and TV. Last week, it nabbed a docuseries based on viral blog Humans of New York, which already boasts a massive following on the social network. The same goes for its latest additions -- two new latino shows that have found considerable success on rival video service YouTube. The weekly programmes come courtesy of digital video network Mit\u00fa, and include Mom's Movie Reviews, and What's Good in Your Hood.\n\nIn case you're not familiar with Mit\u00fa, the online media company claims it attracts around 600 million monthly content views. Its output can be found on YouTube, Comcast's Watchable streaming service, and Snapchat Discover. It's also been busy amassing millions of followers across social media, including Instagram, Twitter, and (its biggest platform) Facebook. That success has brought with it the attention of some notable backers -- the likes of Verizon, YouTube network Awesomeness TV, and ad agency WPP have poured $43 million into the company.\n\nMit\u00fa's shows tend to be aimed at Latino millennials, and its Watch on Facebook programmes are no different. Mom's Movie Reviews is cast from the YouTube mold, offering weekly reviews of new movie releases by a (you guessed it) Latina mom and her son. The unscripted comedy series will be available to view on Facebook's Watch every Friday.\n\nThe second show from Mit\u00fa is also an extension of an existing programme, dubbed What's Good In Your Hood. The Watch on Facebook series sees comedian Andrew Santiago visit local American neighbourhoods to sample their cuisine, and highlight the work being done by community members. The focus on food should go down well on Facebook, where clips about grub reign supreme. What's Good In Your Hood also debuts today, with new episodes landing every Wednesday.\n\n\u2014\n\nVerizon owns Engadget's parent company, Oath (formerly AOL). Rest assured, Verizon has no control over our coverage. Engadget remains editorially independent.", "output": "Facebook has added hit Latino shows Mom's Movie Reviews and What's Good in Your Hood to its Watch video service. The programmes are part of Verizon and WPP-backed online media company Mit\u00fa's stable. Mit\u00fa claims it achieves 600 million monthly content views on platforms including YouTube, Comcast's Watchable\u00a0and Snapchat Discover. Facebook recently revealed it had picked up Humans of New York, a documentary series based on the viral blog.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IoT appliances recognised as evidence in forensic crime cases \n The heist was relatively straightforward: Masked men broke into a woman's house and made off with a diamond ring. What they didn't know was that their victim's doorbell doubled as a camera and recorded the men going inside. There was also evidence that the woman's connected light bulbs had turned on while she was at work.\n\nBut all was not lost. The ring was insured for $50,000 US, and using the records from her smart home devices, the woman filed a claim.\n\nHowever, an independent forensic analysis of the devices in her house told a very different story. The house's smart door lock was found to have been unlocked with the woman's phone. And the Wi-Fi alarm system in her home hadn't been tampered with, but rather, deactivated with the woman's code.\n\nSensing a shift in where digital evidence can hide, forensics examiners have started looking beyond smartphones and laptops to a new crop of internet-connected sensors \u2014 and developers of forensics software have been happy to oblige. A handful of companies now advertise support for data generated by activity trackers, GPS navigation systems, drones and even connected cars.\n\nAnd while experts caution that these devices \u2014 often referred to under the umbrella of the Internet of Things (IoT) \u2014 don't always store or even generate the rich troves of behavioural data that people might expect, they've nonetheless given investigators in a range of criminal and civil cases a new and sometimes bountiful source for leads.\n\n\"There are few significant investigations that don't involve electronic information,\" said David Fraser, a privacy and technology lawyer at the Halifax law firm McInnes Cooper. \"And that electronic information is in a bunch more places than it used to be.\"\n\nA smartphone supplement\n\nIn the case of the diamond ring, it was eventually determined that the break-in had been staged. The masked men were actually the woman's cousins. The insurance company denied her claim and, with the help of the results from the independent forensic analysis, charged her for fraud.\n\nThe smart home devices that she thought would support her claim were actually used against her.\n\nErik Laykin, a managing director at financial services firm Duff & Phelps, described the diamond ring scenario during a talk at the RSA Conference in San Francisco earlier this year. He told CBC News it was a real case, but declined to provide further details, citing confidentiality agreements.\n\nCollecting data from connected devices such as the smart speaker Google Home is still new ground for many forensic investigators. (Stephen Lam/Reuters)\n\nThe ability to perform digital forensics on data generated by connected devices has proven valuable in a handful of other cases too. FitBit data has been used to contradict testimony during multiple criminal investigations, for example, and prosecutors used data obtained from an Amazon Echo speaker and a smart water meter in a recent murder case.\n\nBut forensics experts are generally careful not to overstate the amount of information the devices themselves can provide.\n\n\"I think smartphones are still going to be one of your key sources of evidence for most investigations,\" said Jamie McQuaid, a forensics consultant at the Waterloo, Ont.-based software developer Magnet Forensics, while IoT devices are \"really a supplement to that.\"\n\nMost have little onboard storage, meaning that the real trove of data \u2014 the historical usage patterns \u2014 is in the smartphone apps they communicate with, or in the cloud.\n\nOn the device itself, basic settings and account information are the best you're likely to get.\n\nFrom automobiles to assistants\n\nTo augment the data that investigators can already obtain from smartphones and laptops, a handful of companies have started to include support for a range of emerging devices.\n\nMagnet Forensics added support for a handful of connected devices to its smartphone forensics software last fall \u2014 including the Nest thermostat, Amazon Echo, FitBit wearables and OnStar. But rather than interacting with the devices themselves, Magnet's software examines the bits of information that their apps collect and leave behind.\n\nParaben's E3 software works in a similar way, pulling a range of data from apps that are used to communicate with DJI Drones, wearables such as FitBit, and Amazon's Echo.\n\nAnd there are signs that Cellebrite \u2014 a popular Isareli forensics software developer whose clients include both the RCMP and the FBI \u2014 is moving to support connected devices, too. A job posting shows that the company is looking for a senior forensic researcher to work on \"a product that compiles forensic evidence from all mobile devices, PC and IoT devices and help put the bad guys away.\"\n\nJad Saliba, right, and Adam Belsher both left their jobs in 2011 to start the Waterloo, Ont.-based digital forensics company Magnet Forensics. (Matthew Kang/CBC)\n\nIt's not clear whether this is an existing or future product, and Cellebrite didn't respond to a request for comment.\n\nAnd the list goes on. A company called Berla offers one software suite called iVe, which does \"analysis of a vehicle's infotainment and telematics systems\" for a range of popular car models. They also offer another product called Blackthorn, designed to extract data from navigation devices like portable GPS watches, as well as navigation devices used in boats and planes.\n\nBeyond the bread and butter\n\nAt Duff & Phelps, Laykin said he's working on another case, currently in pre-litigation \u2014 a dispute with a builder over a custom-built home with IoT and intelligence throughout.\n\n\"When the owners took delivery, systems didn't function, there were breakdowns, and claims that the builder of the home could eavesdrop and spy,\" Laykin said.\n\nMuch like the case with the diamond ring, he said that confidentiality agreements limit how much more he can say.\n\nOn the one hand, digital forensics companies, such as Magnet and Paraben, acknowledge that they're partly looking ahead to where the market is heading, with the hope that interest in IoT forensics will only continue to grow another line of business to supplement their bread and butter of laptops and phones.\n\nBut on the other hand \u2014 and as people like Laykin and recent cases have shown \u2014 there are people who are already interested in these capabilities today.\n\nAt Paraben, CEO Amber Schroader said her product's early embrace of IoT analysis has been met with skepticism by some \u2014 until they realize that the reality isn't as far away as they might think.\n\n\"And then when it becomes real,\" she said, \"they're like 'Woah, you totally knew that was real.'\"", "output": "Evidence from internet-connected devices is increasingly being used in forensic investigation of criminal cases. Devices collectively known as the Internet of Things (IoT) are giving investigators new sources that can be used to detect crime and prosecute criminals, with data from FitBits, an Amazon Echo speaker and a smart water meter having been used in recent cases. Forensic experts have warned that the small amount of storage in such devices limits their usefulness, with the most useful data being that stored on smartphones.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Marketers turn to less mature markets for short-term margin boost \n Some of the real winners in advertising\u2019s pullback on digital ads are immature markets, which are less transparent than mature markets but offer better returns at far lower costs for advertisers.\n\nIt\u2019s a decision many marketers are making as they attempt to shed any media in markets such as Europe and North America that aren\u2019t growing their businesses in the short term, according to media executives. While digital\u2019s inefficiencies are global, the cost of them to marketers are significantly less in immature regions compared to their mature counterparts.\n\nAs a result, marketers are increasingly moving parts of their budgets into immature markets in Asia and Africa to prop up their margins, while they attempt to deal with growing pressures on transparency in online advertising. Consequently, the considerations for many marketers now as budgets become more geo-transferable via programmatic is what regions will deliver the best return on investment in the short term.\n\nIncreasingly, those places are in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, where fraud and risks of poor measurement abound in some parts. Yet the audiences are larger in those markets, and the prospect of driving sales from advertising is potentially bigger and cheaper, revealed one media consultant, who spoke to Digiday under the condition of anonymity.\n\n\u201cA lot of clients are realizing that moving the dial [with their advertising] in the U.S. and Europe is difficult and expensive and instead are shifting that spend to Southeast Asia, where it might not be really measurable, but they can move the dial quite quickly and at a lower cost,\u201d the consultant said. \u201cI see a lot of budgets moving into Asia.\u201d\n\nDigital ad spending across Southeast Asia\u2019s six key markets \u2014 Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam \u2014 is set to grow 20.4 percent to $2.07 billion in 2017, according to the IAB Singapore and eMarketer. The danger of pumping budgets into markets without robust measurement industries like Southeast Asia is that it could worsen the industry\u2019s transparency woes rather than improve them.\n\nHowever, Steve Hyde, one of the founders of Zenith Media and the founder of recruitment firm 360xec, argued that any marketer moving budgets into immature markets would do so with a closer eye on which investments are working and which aren\u2019t. He said the more short-term-minded advertisers are weighing whether \u201cthey can almost hedge [investments] territory by territory,\u201d which all comes down to \u201cconfidence and results\u201d from making small, short-term adjustments in each market, not full-scale strategic redeployments.\n\n\u201cVirtually no one [among advertisers] is looking beyond six months, and within that period, anything can happen,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot more tweaking [of media strategies] that\u2019s going on because there isn\u2019t the long-term commitment.\u201d\n\nThe latest weak growth forecasts from WPP and Havas demonstrate how advertisers\u2019 shifting spending habits are affecting the wider market. WPP, the largest advertising holding group by sales, revised its growth forecasts earlier this month for the third time this year in part due to \u201cuncertainty and short-termism reducing investment among clients,\u201d WPP CEO Martin Sorrell said. Two days later, Havas scrapped its own growth forecasts for the year.\n\nThe real worry for agencies isn\u2019t that budgets are declining. Pivotal Research predicts big brands will hold the line on ad spend for the remainder of the year. The concern is that budgets are being moved around. The more advertisers move online budgets between markets, the less agencies know what is being spent, meaning they have less confidence in their own forecasts and subsequent investments. It worsens the already precarious situation regarding how big media buying shops spend clients\u2019 money.", "output": "Advertisers are turning to less developed markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East for fresh sources of revenue, despite increased risks of ad fraud, as they look to boost margins. With growing pressures around online ad transparency in the US and Europe, marketers are being drawn to other regions with bigger audiences to drive short-term gains;\u00a0digital ad spend across southeast Asia's key markets is predicted to rise 20.4% to $2.07bn this year. Steve Hyde, a co-founder of recruitment firm 360xec, suggests these strategies are short term and that \"virtually no one is looking beyond six months\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scientists develop efficient selective solar absorber \n New York, NY\u2014August 28, 2017\u2014Researchers led by Yuan Yang , assistant professor of materials science and engineering at Columbia Engineering , along with colleagues at the Department of Chemistry at Columbia University, and Stanford University have developed a new, scalable, and low-cost \u201cdip and dry\u201d method for fabricating a highly efficient selective solar absorber (SSA) that can harness and convert sunlight to heat for use in a wide range of energy-related applications, from heating water and generating steam to residential heating.\n\nThe team\u2019s method is outlined in a new paper, \u201cScalable, \u2018Dip-and-dry\u2019 Fabrication of a Wide-Angle Plasmonic Selective Absorber for High-efficiency Solar-thermal Energy Conversion,\u201d published in Advanced Materials on August 28. The authors determined that the plasmonic-nanoparticle-coated foils created by their method perform as well or better than existing SSAs and maintain high efficiency throughout the day, regardless of the angle of the sun, due to the wide-angle design. They propose that the simple, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly process provides an appealing alternative to current SSA fabrication methods. \u201cWe saw an unmet need for a facile, inexpensive, and sustainable method for fabricating high-performance SSAs,\u201d said Yuan Yang. \u201cWe were pleased that our relatively simple process produced SSAs that performed on par with commercial SSAs and designs reported in other research. To our knowledge, this is the first time a plasmonic SSA has been made using such a process, and the scalability and cost of this approach brings us closer to making solar energy a practical reality for more people.\u201d\n\nHarvesting sunlight for renewable energy remains a primary objective for scientists. Solar-thermal converters, which can absorb light across the entire solar spectrum and convert it to heat at remarkably high efficiencies, offer a highly promising pathway for solar-energy harvesting. However, attaining high-efficiency solar-thermal conversion at low cost remains a challenge. As a surface component of solar-thermal converters, SSAs are ideal because they have contrasting optical properties for solar and thermal radiation. They are very black across all colors of sunlight (from UV to visible to near infrared light) and can therefore absorb almost all the light and become very hot. However, unlike common black surfaces, they are metallic, i.e. non-emissive, when it comes to thermal radiation (mid- to far-infrared light). Heat is therefore not lost as radiation and can be used, for example, to heat water or generate steam. Most SSAs are made using more sophisticated, energy-expensive, or hazardous manufacturing processes such as vacuum deposition or electroplating. This increases both the environmental footprint and cost while limiting their accessibility. As a basis for manufacturing SSAs, the dip-and-dry process is an attractive option, as it yields SSAs that are highly efficient, while bypassing the costs and environmental hazards associated with other approaches.", "output": "US Scientists have developed a new technique for fabricating a highly efficient selective solar absorber (SSA) at a lower cost than existing methods. The research team created the 'dip-and-dry' process, which creates solar-absorbing nanoparticles of copper by dipping strips of zinc into a solution containing copper ions. This is less expensive and hazardous than existing manufacturing methods, such as vacuum deposition or electroplating, and has the potential to be scalable. The SSAs created also showed significantly higher absorption rates at all angles than existing designs, making them better at capturing sunlight throughout the day.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aviva Investors joins managers targeting insurance investments \n Aviva Investors has appointed Iain Forrester to head insurance investment strategy \u2013 a move reflecting growing interest by asset managers in providing services to insurance firms.\n\nForrester takes up a newly created role as Aviva Investors\u2019 head of insurance investment strategy and joins from Standard Life Investments (SLI), a firm which itself recently embarked on a plan to increase its insurance business globally.\n\nBased in London, Forrester reports to John Dewey, head of investment strategy within Aviva Investors global investment solutions division, and he will focus on building outcome-oriented investment strategies for global insurance companies, Aviva Investors said.\n\nAt SLI, Forrester was an investment director in the insurance solutions team, and previously worked within SLI\u2019s parent company, the insurer Standard Life, with responsibility for the investment strategy of the company\u2019s balance sheet assets.\n\nEarlier this year, Axa Investment Managers and Legal & General Investment Management both signalled their intentions to increase their insurance coverage as insurance firms continue to comply with Solvency II, an EU regulation for insurance firms that is expected to lead to an increase in asset management outsourcing.\n\n\u00a92017 funds europe", "output": "Aviva Investors has created a new senior insurance investment role with the appointment of Iain Forrester to head insurance investment strategy\u00a0as it joins other firms'\u00a0expansion into insurance asset management. He moves to the company from Standard Life Investments, which has also\u00a0built up its insurance asset management business.\u00a0Low yields and the Solvency II Directive are among factors that have\u00a0encouraged insurance giants to\u00a0outsource their investments to asset managers, often\u00a0companies with an insurer parent.\u00a0Axa Investment Managers and Legal & General Investment Management have also indicated intentions to increase insurance coverage."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Publishers seek advertisers for sponsored shows on Facebook Watch \n Facebook Watch is barely out of the gate, but publishers are already trying to sell advertisers on sponsored shows on the fledgling video-viewing platform.\n\nBusiness Insider\u2019s lifestyle brand Insider, for instance, has already premiered two shows for Watch, including \u201cThe Great Cheese Hunt\u201d and \u201cIt\u2019s Cool, But Does It Really Work?\u201d Insider is now talking to advertising clients about developing shows that advertisers pay for and distribute inside the Watch environment. Other publishers that Facebook is paying to make shows for Watch also said branded shows are part of their game plans for Watch. This includes news and issues publisher Attn, which has two shows so far on Watch; and food video giant Tastemade, which is creating six shows for the platform.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re excited to do this type of work for clients and use all of the same data that we used to come up with our Facebook series,\u201d said Insider\u2019s editor-in-chief Nicholas Carlson. \u201cWe\u2019re already out in the market talking to clients about great series ideas that they want to bring to life.\u201d\n\nOne agency executive said he\u2019s had \u201cmore serious\u201d conversations with about 10 Watch content partners about doing branded shows. Several clients, too, have expressed interest in doing branded shows for Watch, he added.\n\nFor its part, Facebook confirmed that it doesn\u2019t plan on restricting publishing partners from putting branded shows on Watch \u2014 especially since Facebook\u2019s long-term plans for Watch aren\u2019t to underwrite every show that\u2019s distributed through the platform. A Facebook spokesperson said Watch creators will have the option of distributing sponsored shows by using Facebook\u2019s branded-content tag. Right now, branded content on Facebook can\u2019t feature ad breaks, which Facebook is testing with a limited number of media partners.\n\nNo deals are in place yet, but with Facebook expected to roll out Watch more widely in the U.S. beginning this weekend, it\u2019s unsurprising that publishers would want to involve advertisers. Facebook plans to run mid-roll ads inside Watch, which content partners won\u2019t see revenue from until Facebook has recouped the production costs for the shows. Branded shows paid for by advertisers offer another revenue stream in this environment.\n\n\u201cWe have extensive, ongoing interest from partners wanting to work with us on Facebook, period,\u201d said Matthew Segal, co-founder of Attn, which has worked with advertisers such as Ford and HBO. \u201cI don\u2019t see why that would preclude Watch.\u201d\n\nOne publishing executive, requesting anonymity, said he\u2019s also considering sponsorship and product-integration opportunities within future installments of shows Facebook currently funds. It\u2019s not clear if Facebook would fund future episodes of every Watch show it\u2019s already paid for, which means this exec wants to leave the option open for an advertiser to come in and underwrite the costs of additional episodes.\n\n\u201cWhat Facebook has been explicit about is that in the second run we can sell [the shows] to whomever we please and even do brand integrations,\u201d Segal said. \u201cThat\u2019s something our sales team is actively in the market on.\u201d\n\nFacebook has exclusive \u201cfirst run\u201d rights \u2014 two weeks of exclusivity, sources said \u2014 to the shows it\u2019s already paid for, after which the publishers can distribute the content on other platforms. (This is different from Facebook\u2019s TV shows coming out later this year, which Facebook would fully own the rights to.)\n\nBut with Facebook\u2019s audience size and the fact that Watch offers an environment in which advertisers can be alongside professionally-produced content, advertisers are considering doing branded shows.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve already talked to Facebook, clients and some [Watch] partners about the possibilities [in branded shows],\u201d said Noah Mallin, head of social at MEC North America. \u201cIt\u2019s compelling, and most of that comes down to Facebook\u2019s scale. If they truly want to make something like [Watch] happen on their platform \u2014 and it\u2019s clear that they are taking this pretty seriously \u2014 there\u2019s no reason marketers shouldn\u2019t take it seriously. It\u2019s just a question of integrating it in a way where the content is discoverable.\u201d", "output": "Publishers are talking to advertisers about creating sponsored shows on Facebook's Watch feature. \"We have extensive, ongoing interest from partners wanting to work with us on Facebook,\" said Matthew Segal, co-founder of Attn, which has two shows on Watch. Segal expects that interest will include Watch. Facebook, which has two weeks of exclusivity before publishers can air their content on other platforms, is also testing ad breaks on the channel, while revenue from mid-roll ads will go to brands only when Facebook has recouped its production costs. Watch will be rolled out more widely in the US this month."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Israeli Securities Authority to determine status of ICOs \n The Israeli government has recently announced, through the Israeli Securities Authority panel, that it will begin scrutinizing ICOs more carefully and may potentially regulate them.\n\nThe Securities Authority head, Prof. Shmuel Hauser, has announced the formation of a committee to evaluate whether ICOs fall within the definition of a security as established by the Israeli government.\n\nFurther, the committee has been tasked with making an analysis of cryptocurrency regulations in other countries in order to evaluate the legitimacy of Bitcoin. The committee\u2019s mandate is to create new regulatory policies which encourage alternative funding channels and technological innovation while at the same time protecting investors from unsupervised investments.\n\nUdi Wertheimer, a digital wallet employee, pointed out the substantial policy shift via Twitter:\n\nLooks like @coindesk and others missed this: Israel today announced it'll investigate whether ICO tokens are securities. This is *big*: 1/n pic.twitter.com/d7KzcY9D7K \u2014 Udi Wertheimer (@udiWertheimer) August 30, 2017\n\nThe Israeli announcement brings additional threats of government control in Israel, where many ICOs have been started. The announcement comes after similar scrutiny was announced by the SEC in response to the DAO token sale.", "output": "The Israeli Securities Authority panel has confirmed that ICOs will be carefully examined, with regulation a possibility. A committee has been formed to determine if ICOs fall within the remit of a security, as defined by the Israeli government. The group will also analyse cryptocurrency regulation across other nations to evaluate whether Bitcoin is a legitimate currency, creating regulatory policies to encourage innovation whilst protecting investors.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese construction firm wins $6bn Nigerian hydropower project \n Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) has been awarded awarded a $5.8 billion hydroelectric power plant. Minister of Power, Works and Housing Mr. Babatunde Fashola disclosed that the Chinese Export Import Bank will provide 85% of the funding, and the Federal Government will contribute the rest. The project has an expected completion period of 6 years and is located in the Gembu area of Taraba state.\n\nWhy it is a big deal\n\nOn completion, Nigeria will have 3,050 MW added to its generation capacity. Poor power supply in the country has resulted in businesses and households generating their own power. This adds to operating costs for businesses, and makes goods produced here less competitive compared to countries with less power. Diesel and petrol used to generate power are imported leaving users vulnerable to price increases and currency devaluations.\n\nA sharp devaluation of the Naira last year lead to petrol prices increasing from N97 to N145 last year. The drop in oil revenues has left government struggling to fund essential projects, so the deal is a win- win situation for the country. The project had been in the pipeline since 1972, but was not implemented due to a lack of funds.\n\nConcerns exist\n\nEnvironmental activists have raised queries about the environmental impact of the project. Similar projects that were carried out, often lead to the displacement of entire communities, often with no compensation.\n\nCECCC was established in 1979 by the Chinese government, and operates in several areas including international contracting for railway construction to civil engineering design & consultancy, real estate development, trading, industrial investment and hotel management as well. The company is currently handling several major projects Including the Lagos-Calabar rail project .", "output": "The Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Company has won a $5.8bn contract to build a hydroelectric power plant in Nigeria. The Chinese Export Import Bank will provide 85% of the funds, with Nigeria's federal government contributing the rest. The project, in the Gembu area, is expected to be completed in six years and will add 3,050 MW to the country's electricity generation capacity. The current poor state of power supply in Nigeria forces many households and businesses to generate their own power, adding to operating costs and leaving them reliant on imported fuel."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "InteliLIGHT's LTE connection to improve smart streetlights \n Smart street lighting system gets LTE connection Technology News | August 31, 2017 By eeNews Europe\n\n\n\nWith hundreds of existing projects deployed worldwide, InteliLIGHT is a proven concept employing a range of communication protocols. Having identified NB\u2011IoT as strategically important, Flashnet chose to partner with u\u2011blox on the development of its FRE\u2011220\u2011NB range of NB\u2011IoT compatible luminaire controllers.\n\nThe new family of controllers can be embedded into most luminaire designs and enables the individual remote control (on/off, dimming) of LED street lights with electronic ballasts up to 400W. The smart control offered extends to monitoring a wide range of electrical parameters, the ability for Over The Air (OTA) updates and support for autonomous operation.\n\nThe NB\u2011IoT protocol targets IoT applications that have low bandwidth requirements, as such it is ideal for smart lighting. As part of the LTE family of standards, NB\u2011IoT can be supported within existing LTE infrastructure, offering carrier-grade reliability and security, as well as excellent penetration and stability.\n\n\u201cThe connected street lighting industry already uses a wide range of communication protocols,\u201d commented Lorand Mozes, CEO at Flashnet. \u201cWe believe the industry is ready to adopt NB\u2011IoT and thanks to our work with u-blox we are the first supplier able to offer a robust and fully featured product line-up. By selecting the SARA\u2011N2 modules from u\u2011blox we have been able to bring our FRE\u2011220NB range of NB\u2011IoT connected luminaires to market in a very short period of time, to complement our existing range and offer our customers even greater choice.\u201d\n\nCurrent Flashnet pilot projects are underway worldwide to prove the reliability of NB-IoT technology with plans to turn them into large scale street lighting control implementations. Considering the market potential and the evolution of connected street lighting, Flashnet is expecting to sell a few hundred thousand controllers within 3-5 years.\n\nMore info about Intelilight \u2013 https://intelilight.eu\n\nFlashnet \u2013 www.flashnet.ro\n\nu-blox \u2013 www.u-blox.com\n\nShare:", "output": "Intelligent energy management systems provider Flashnet has developed the world\u2019s first Narrowband IoT (NB\u2011IoT) connected smart street lighting control system. By integrating u\u2011blox' SARA-N2 series of NB\u2011IoT modules with its existing inteliLIGHT remote management solution, the Romanian start-up was able to create a\u00a0new suite of controllers.\u00a0The controllers are capable of remotely dimming LED lights\u00a0and, as part of the LTE family of standards, offer carrier-grade reliability and security, according to the company.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "State-backed Russian bank signs with Ethereum Foundation \n Vnesheconombank, a Russian state corporation, has signed a partnership agreement with Ethereum Foundation for the implementation of Ethereum platform and advance distributed ledger technology-related educational programs.\n\n\n\nAccording to the official release, the agreement was signed by Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin and Vnesheconombank Chairman Sergey Gorkov.\n\n\n\nThe partnership will work towards DLT-related initiatives at Vnesheconombank's Competence Center. The center will particularly focus on implementation of Ethereum blockchain, formation of an expert community on the Ethereum platform, and training specialists in DLT-related fields.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe main tasks of the Center are to accumulate competences and knowledge about innovative technologies, develop platforms for their use in state organizations, training and popularization. This is the first center of such competencies in Russia, the main consumers of its services should be domestic state-owned companies and government bodies,\u201d the release said (loosely translated).\n\n\n\nThe center will be located in Moscow and scheduled to open next month. Gorkov revealed the plan to establish the blockchain research center recently while announcing that it would work with the Russian Ministry of Health to deliver pilot projects using blockchain technology.\n\n\n\n\"We unite the efforts of all interested parties and create the first Competence Center in Russia for state companies and government bodies, forming an ecosystem of innovations. Their skills and achievements here will bring both Russian developers and world leaders in innovative breakthrough industries. We are pleased to supplement VEB's experience and expertise with the competence of Ethereum, the leading developer of block-based platforms,\" said Gorkov.\n\n\n\nFxWirePro launches Absolute Return Managed Program. For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/invest", "output": "Vnesheconombank, the Russian government-owned development bank, will work with Ethereum Foundation on projects related to distributed ledger technology and the implementation of the Ethereum platform. Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin and Vnesheconombank Chairman Sergey Gorkov signed an agreement, according to the official release. The companies will use Vnesheconombank's Competence Centre, set to open next month in Moscow, \"to accumulate competences and knowledge about innovative technologies, develop platforms for their use in state organisations, training and popularisation\", according to a statement.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Speedy Hire Analysts suggest Speedy Hire merger after weak results from HSS \n Shares in stricken construction hire firm HSS fell yesterday as investors bailed out after another profits warning.\n\nIt now expects profits of between \u00a38million and \u00a311million in the second half of the year which puts HSS on course for profits of as little as \u00a3700,000 for the full year after it made losses of \u00a37.3million in the first half.\n\nThe City was hoping for a haul of up to \u00a318million this year and the warning sent shares down 11.7 per cent, or 6.5p, to 49p.\n\nHSS expects profits of between \u00a38million and \u00a311million in the second half of the year which puts HSS on course for profits of as little as \u00a3700,000 for the full year\n\nHSS is now worth just \u00a383.4million having seen its value fall 77 per cent since shares listed on the stock market at 210p each in 2015.\n\nAnalysts suggested the company \u2013 which hires tools and building equipment to tradesmen and DIY enthusiasts \u2013 may benefit from a merger with arch-rival Speedy Hire.\n\nNeil Wilson, senior market analyst at ETX Capital, said: 'Losses are growing too quickly.\n\n'The conditions are challenging and investors are losing patience. So is it time to consider reviving talks for a merger with Speedy Hire?\n\n'An opportunistic bid could work, particularly with the market cap of HSS temptingly low.'\n\nPoor first half results: HSS's turnaround plan still hasn't borne fruit\n\nHSS bosses insisted their turnaround effort was working.\n\nThe listing of HSS in February 2015 netted executives a \u00a310.5million bonanza when they sold shares.\n\nBut the share price slump is likely to raise questions over the wisdom of its stock market float,.\n\nSince going public, HSS has issued three profit warnings and lost two chief executives while market expectations have been repeatedly revised downwards.\n\nHSS blamed the latest figures on brutal cost cuts \u2013 it has axed 68 underperforming branches in the last year, aiming to make annual savings of \u00a313million.\n\nIt is battling to pay off its debts, at \u00a3230.6million despite an \u00a38.2million fall in the previous year.", "output": "Shares in HSS have fallen by 11.7% after investors abandoned the beleaguered tool hire firm following yet another profit warning. HSS is worth just \u00a383.4m ($107m), 77% down since its shares were first listed in 2015. The company\u2019s poor performance has led analysts to suggest a merger with rival firm Speedy Hire. \u201cLosses are growing too quickly. The conditions are challenging and investors are losing patience\u201d, said Neil Wilson, senior market analyst at ETX Capital.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nearly half a million people's pacemakers at risk from hacking \n Patching has long been one of the most tedious chores for those who want to keep their electronic devices secure or up to date. Sometimes, patches require a restart, disrupting your workflow. Sometimes, patches screw up the software, making it unusable. These are just some of the reasons why users normally dread patching.\n\nNow, imagine if you had to patch the thing that keeps you alive.\n\nThat's the situation almost 500,000 people who rely on buggy pacemakers face right now. On Tuesday, the US Food and Drug Administration announced a recall of several vulnerable models of pacemakers made by Abbott, a global health company that used to be known as St. Jude Medical. The recall has the goal of reducing the risk of hackers taking control of the pacemakers, potentially, harming the patients.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nPatients who have one of these devices will have to visit their doctors and update the pacemakers' firmware while the devices are in backup mode, according to an open letter sent by Abbott to doctors. The FDA estimates that around 465,000 patients have a vulnerable pacemaker that needs to be patched, according to the agency's advisory.\n\nLast year, a hedge fund called Muddy Waters warned that the devices could be hacked from up to 50 feet away, an accusation that the fund used to put pressure on the company's stock. While there are no reports that anyone has ever been harmed because of the vulnerabilities that this patch fixes, this is a good reminder that connected medical devices can pose unprecedented risks to patients. In the case of Abbott's pacemakers, it was possible for a hacker to take control of the pacemaker from a relatively short distance to drawn down the batter or accelerate the pace.\n\n\"The FDA reminds patients, patient caregivers, and health care providers that any medical device connected to a communications network (e.g. Wi-Fi, public or home Internet) may have cybersecurity vulnerabilities that could be exploited by unauthorized users,\" the FDA notice reads. \"However, the increased use of wireless technology and software in medical devices can also often offer safer, more efficient, convenient, and timely health care delivery.\"\n\nGot a tip? You can contact this reporter securely on Signal at +1 917 257 1382, OTR chat at lorenzo@jabber.ccc.de, or email lorenzo@motherboard.tv", "output": "Nearly half a million people urgently need to update their pacemakers' software, warns the US Food and Drug Administration, which is recalling several models made by Abbott -\u00a0a global health company that used to be known as St. Jude Medical -\u00a0as they are vulnerable to hacker attacks. Last year,\u00a0hedge fund Muddy Waters warned that these pacemaker devices could be hacked from up to 50ft away.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Major tech companies biggest threat to banking sector: WEF \n Reports\n\n\n\n\n\nFor years Fintech has been the hottest topic of discussion in financial services, with incumbents, regulators, and consumers all asking the same question: \u201cWill small technology-enabled \u2018fintech\u2019 start-ups redefine the way that banks and insurers operate, and upend the competitive landscape of the industry?\u201d\n\n\n\nBuilding on the findings of the 2015 World Economic Forum report \u201cThe Future of Financial Services,\u201d this document considers the evolution and impact of fintech firms on financial services to date and presents a series of contrasting outlooks for the future of the industry.\n\n\n\nOur findings suggest that fintechs have materially changed the basis of competition in financial services, but have not yet materially changed the competitive landscape. They play a critical role in defining the pace and direction of innovation across the sector but have struggled to overcome the scale advantages of large financial institutions.\n\n\n\nOther key findings of the report include:\n\n\u2022 Platforms Rising: Platforms that offer the ability to engage with different financial institutions from a single channel will become the dominant model for the delivery of financial services.\n\n\u2022 Financial Regionalization: Differing regulatory priorities, technological capabilities, and customer needs are challenging the narrative of increasing financial globalization and making way for regional models of financial services suited to local conditions.\n\n\u2022 Systemically Important Techs: Efforts by incumbent financial institutions to emulate the core capabilities of large technology firms will lead to an increasing reliance on those same large technology firms.\n\n\n\nThis report represents the culmination of three years of research into the transformation of financial services prepared by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with Deloitte.", "output": "Technology businesses like Amazon, Google and Facebook are the biggest competitive threat to the banking industry, as they dominate the market for cloud, artificial intelligence and big data services, according to a World Economic Forum report. In contrast, fintech firms have driven innovation but only account for a small share of the financial services market. Major financial companies already rely on Amazon Web Services, for example, and some banks have apps that let customers perform routine transactions on Facebook. Tech giants could exploit the financial sector's reliance on them and leverage\u00a0their own huge data sets, the report noted."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Major tech companies biggest threat to banking sector: WEF \n Much has been made of the rise of fintech\u2014the whizzy startups seeking to upend the banking business. While they\u2019ve helped make the industry more innovative, such firms generally haven\u2019t captured much market share so far, according to a report by the World Economic Forum (WEF). Traditional banks are more vulnerable to competition from another source: tech giants like Amazon, Facebook, and Google.\n\nFinancial firms like insurers and Wall Street banks rely on these technology behemoths for \u201cstrategically sensitive capabilities,\u201d which could backfire if they eventually end up in direct competition, said Jesse McWaters, lead author of the WEF study. In areas of rapid technological advances\u2014cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and \u201cbig data\u201d analytics\u2014the likes of Google, Amazon, and Facebook have far more experience than most banks. It would be difficult for the financial industry to catch up with its own capabilities, if it came to that.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAmazon Web Services, the company\u2019s cloud computing business, is already becoming the backbone for financial services (paywall), with companies like Capital One, JPMorgan, and market-data startup Xignite relying on it for data storage and processing, according to the report. (AWS is even sponsoring a derivatives industry event, suggesting just how far it has come from selling books.) Other banks have Facebook apps that let users do routine transactions and use the social network\u2019s data analytics to target customers.\n\nIf they go head to head with the banks, big tech companies would probably leverage their rich data sets while exploiting the incumbents\u2019 dependence on them, McWaters said. Amazon already offers credit to merchants on its platform, using sales data to measure risk, according to the WEF report. (It can cut sellers off from its platform in the event of a loan default.) It has made more than $3 billion of loans, and is widening the offering.\n\nFor now, big tech companies have mostly stayed at the edges of finance. Wading in more deeply would expose them to heavy amounts of regulation. The WEF report points out that it would also raise thorny questions for policymakers about monitoring anticompetitive behavior and the appropriate use of personal data. Customers themselves could also become a hurdle: They may not want a handful of big tech companies to become even more entrenched in their daily lives.", "output": "Technology businesses like Amazon, Google and Facebook are the biggest competitive threat to the banking industry, as they dominate the market for cloud, artificial intelligence and big data services, according to a World Economic Forum report. In contrast, fintech firms have driven innovation but only account for a small share of the financial services market. Major financial companies already rely on Amazon Web Services, for example, and some banks have apps that let customers perform routine transactions on Facebook. Tech giants could exploit the financial sector's reliance on them and leverage\u00a0their own huge data sets, the report noted."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Soaring prices of parking spaces in China drive\u00a0up home costs \n HONG KONG \u2022 The cost of carparking spaces in new apartment projects in some Chinese cities is soaring as developers roll out their latest secret weapon to counter home-price caps imposed by the municipal authorities.\n\nAs if contending with sky-high homes prices wasn't enough, some buyers are now forced to fork out as much as one million yuan (S$210,000) for carparking spaces in major second-tier cities such as Tianjin, Xiamen, Hangzhou, Nanjing and Suzhou. They are sold with an apartment worth as little as 2.4 million yuan, in bundled deals that make it compulsory for residents to purchase the parking space.\n\n\"There's a price cap on apartments, but not on parking spaces, so we're bundle-selling them with apartments to compensate,\" said a Shanghai-based developer, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue.\n\n\"Recently we sold parking spaces in Xiamen for over one million yuan each. Last year one cost only less than 200,000 yuan,\" he said, referring to spaces in the port city in Fujian province in south-east China.\n\nTo fend off speculators and defuse a housing bubble, major cities across China have slapped a series of restrictions on property markets, including imposing limits on developers' selling prices.\n\nThat has prompted property companies to find ways to ride out the tightening measures or skirt them, including delaying the launch of new home sales in the hope that when the authorities relax some rules, buyers will jump back into the market and they can release more supply at higher prices.\n\nTop-tier cities such as Shanghai and Beijing have seen a surge in carpark prices in the past three to five years, with some asking prices over one million yuan, mostly due to a massive shortage. But second-tier cities are catching up in the past year, and this time driven by bundle-selling, property agents said.\n\nAs China's carpark marketplace is not active and transparent, it is unclear exactly how much average prices have gained in different cities in the past few years.\n\n\"In almost every city with a price- cap policy in place, if they allow developers to bundle-sell carpark spaces, it is happening,\" said Mr Clement Luk, CEO for eastern China at realtor Centaline. \"In the past, in cities like Nanjing and Suzhou, many carpark spaces were below 100,000 yuan, but now many cost over 300,000. Is this a natural price appreciation? Definitely not.\"\n\nHe said the bundling had been adopted to skirt price-cap policies and manipulate selling prices.\n\nThe authorities in Hangzhou, Nanjing and Tianjin did not reply to e-mails for comment. Officials in Xiamen and Suzhou could not be reached by e-mail or phone.\n\nA woman surnamed Tian, who does not own a car, told Reuters she bought an apartment last month in the second-tier city of Hangzhou for 3.4 million yuan. She had no choice but to pay an additional 500,000 yuan for a parking space.\n\n\"The sales person said I could buy an apartment only if I also bought a carpark space, otherwise it's impossible,\" said Ms Tian, who declined to give her full name due to the sensitive issue. She also declined to give the name of the developer.\n\n\"Of course I think bundle-selling is not reasonable, but what can I do? There's a shortage of apartments; developers are the boss.\"\n\nMs Tian said she may buy a car or would consider sub-letting or selling the space if that was an option.\n\nREUTERS", "output": "Property developers in China are using the sale of car parking spaces to get around caps on property prices imposed by local authorities. Buyers in a number of municipalities including Tianjin, Xiamen, Hangzou, Nanjing and Suzhou are faced with being forced to pay extra for parking spaces, with prices up to CNY1m ($151,586). Whilst a number of authorities impose caps on sale\u00a0prices for apartments, there is no such restriction on spaces, leading some developers to introduce 'bundle-selling' to inflate the overall prices for buyers."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus IWG announces plans for six co-working centres in India \n International Workplace Group, which operates co-working office spaces Regus and Spaces in India, will open six centres in the next 7-8 months under the brand Spaces.\n\nAt the launch of a Spaces facility in Chennai, Harsh Lambah, Country Manager, Regus, said the company will launch Spaces in Mumbai next, and will expand to Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata subsequently. The firm has a facility in New Delhi.\n\nThe Chennai facility, that can be availed at \u20b914,000 and \u20b910,000 per month, has 421 work station and 60 private offices.\n\nIn a survey the company conducted, it was found that over 55 per cent of desks are empty at any point of time in a company. \u201cThis is a huge opportunity for us,\u201d Lambah said.\n\nHe said, with work becoming more cloud-based, people are now willing to look at alternatives.\n\nCo-working spaces are cheaper than leasing a place for years together, gives them the flexibility to sign up for a shorter time.\n\nSHARE Copy link\n\nEmail\n\nFacebook\n\nTwitter\n\nTelegram\n\nLinkedIn\n\nWhatsApp\n\nReddit", "output": "International Workplace Group, which operates the Regus office-space company, is planning to open six new centres in India under its Spaces brand. After setting up a facility in Chennai, the company will open sites in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata, in addition to its existing one in New Delhi. The Chennai facility has 60 private offices and 421 work stations that can be hired for as little as INR10,000 ($156) per month. The company said people are increasingly willing to look at flexible office options, with 55% of traditional office desks empty at any given time.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Explosions expected at Texas chemical plant in wake of Harvey \n CROSBY, Texas \u2014 Two explosions shook a flooded chemical plant near Houston early Thursday, sending a plume of black smoke into the air and triggering an intense fire that continued to burn.\n\nAuthorities warned that further blasts were likely to occur on site since chemicals weren't being stored at the appropriate temperatures after the facility lost power following Hurricane Harvey.\n\nResidents in a 1.5-mile radius of the Arkema Inc. plant were first evacuated Tuesday, and the water levels there remain too dangerous for workers to assess the situation from the ground, officials added.\n\n\"That's why we want people to respect [the] radius. It's not over. This is very serious and we know that,\" Richard Rennard, of Arkema Group, said at a news conference.\n\nHe added that the explosions were not massive, and that the pressure building up inside the containers where the chemicals are located eventually produces a \"popping sound.\"\n\nThe smoke that was emanating from the facility irritated the eyes and throats of more than a dozen law enforcement officers who were monitoring the scene, said Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez. Some of them went to the hospital out of precaution.\n\n\"It's basically like standing over a barbecue pit or something like that, where you get smoke in your eyes,\" he added.\n\nThe plant in Crosby, Texas \u2014 about 20 miles northeast of Houston \u2014 was inundated by more than 40 inches of rain from Harvey and has been without electricity since Sunday.\n\nThe plant manufactures organic peroxides commonly used in everyday products like kitchen countertops, industrial paints, polystyrene cups and plates, and PVC piping. The materials must be kept very cool, otherwise there is \"the potential for a chemical reaction leading to a fire and/or explosion within the site confines,\" Arkema said.\n\n#Breaking Just saw plume of smoke over flooded chemical plant in Crosby, TX. Firefighters evacuating us @nbc6 pic.twitter.com/9pN8drDCcq \u2014 Julia Bagg (@JuliaNBC6) August 31, 2017\n\nWithout power or backup generators running at the site, the organic peroxides stored inside nine containers \u2014 described as 18-wheeler box vans \u2014 warmed to dangerous levels, officials said. Arkema Group, one of the world's largest chemical companies, had warned Wednesday that the plant would catch fire at some point \u2014 adding that there was nothing to stop it.\n\nThe fire on Thursday morning from one of the containers sent a plume of smoke about 30 to 40 feet into the air, authorities said. It was not immediately clear how long it would take for the chemicals in the remaining containers to degrade.\n\nWhen asked if the fumes coming from the plant are toxic, Rennard told reporters that the smoke itself is what's potentially dangerous.\n\n\"They're noxious, certainly,\" he said. \"I don't know the composition of the smoke.\"\n\nGonzalez also downplayed any immediate threat.\n\n\"It is not anything toxic,\" he said. \"It is not anything that we feel is a danger to the community at all.\"\n\nBrock Long, administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said at a separate news conference Thursday that evacuations are based on \"plume modeling,\" which is used to predict the geographic extent of a hazard area from an explosion.\n\n\"By all means, the plume is incredibly dangerous,\" Long said of what's occurring in Crosby.\n\nIn a statement issued early Thursday, the France-based company confirmed they had been notified by authorities of the blasts at around 2 a.m. local time (3 a.m. ET).\n\nA map showing the location of the Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Texas. Google Maps\n\n\"We want local residents to be aware that product is stored in multiple locations on the site, and a threat of additional explosion remains,\" the statement said. \"We have been working closely with public officials to manage the implications of this situation.\"\n\nIt added: \"As agreed with public officials, the best course of action is to let the fire burn itself out.\"\n\nThe firm said it made extensive preparations for Harvey, but \"the plant has never experienced flooding of this magnitude before.\"\n\nRelated: Hurricane Harvey Has Left Houston, but the Flooding Continues\n\nShawn Hawthorn, a senior firefighter for the Crosby Volunteer Fire Department, said Wednesday that the plant was difficult to reach because streets in the area were under several feet of water.\n\nEarlier, Arkema spokeswoman Janet Smith told The Associated Press that a blaze was inevitable and any fire \"will be explosive and intense in nature.\"\n\nSeveral deputies who had been close to the plant had complained of \"headaches and dizziness.\"\n\nIn total, 15 law enforcement officers were being observed at the hospital, Bob Royall, an assistant chief with the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office, told TODAY. They were later released.\n\nRoyall said at a news conference that the air is being monitored to try to determine where the smoke might go.\n\n\"Right now, our 1.5-mile-safety zone around this is more than adequate, and until something changes, we're going to continue our same posture,\" he added.\n\nThe Federal Aviation Administration closed air traffic near the site late Wednesday. The National Guard was on the scene, and the Department of Homeland Security set up a command post near the site.\n\nThe incident raises memories of the devastating explosion at a West Fertilizer Co. facility in West, Texas, in April 2013. Fifteen people were killed, and more than 160 others were injured.\n\nSpeaking before the explosions occurred, Richard Rowe, chief executive of Arkema's North America operations, said the fire at the chemical plant wasn't expected to \"pose any long-term impact.\"\n\nJulia Bagg reported from Crosby, Texas. Alex Johnson reported from Los Angeles and Jason Cumming reported from London.", "output": "A blaze at a chemical plant near Houston, due to flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey, was described as inevitable and likely to be explosive, according to owner, Arkema Group. The plant has been without electricity since 27 August and cooling is needed to stop chemical reactions in the plant. The surrounding area was evacuated ahead of several small explosions reported on 31 August and people have been reminded to respect a 1.5-mile radius around the facility.\u00a0An explosion at a Texas fertiliser plant in 2013 killed 15 people and destroyed 500 homes."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Heating bio-plastic paves way for commercial-scale production \n Fibers of a corn-derived, biodegradable plastic developed at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Nebraska researchers and their colleagues have demonstrated a new technique for improving the properties of bio-plastic that could also streamline its manufacturing, making it more competitive with petroleum-based counterparts. Credit: Craig Chandler, University of Nebraska-Lincoln\n\nIntroducing a simple step to the production of plant-derived, biodegradable plastic could improve its properties while overcoming obstacles to manufacturing it commercially, says new research from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Jiangnan University.\n\nThat step? Bringing the heat.\n\nNebraska's Yiqi Yang and colleagues found that raising the temperature of bio-plastic fibers to several hundred degrees Fahrenheit, then slowly allowing them to cool, greatly improved the bio-plastic's normally lackluster resistance to heat and moisture.\n\nIts thermal approach also allowed the team to bypass solvents and other expensive, time-consuming techniques typically needed to manufacture a commercially viable bio-plastic, the study reported.\n\nYang said the approach could allow manufacturers of corn-derived plastic\u2014such as a Cargill plant in Blair, Nebraska\u2014to continuously produce the biodegradable material on a scale that at least approaches petroleum-based plastic, the industry standard. Recent research estimates that about 90 percent of U.S. plastic goes unrecycled.\n\n\"This clean technology makes possible (the) industrial-scale production of commercializable bio-based plastics,\" the authors reported.\n\nNot Easy Being Green\n\nThe approach uses polylactic acid, or polylactide, a component of biodegradable plastic that can be fermented from corn starch, sugarcane and other plants. Though most plastics are made from petroleum, polylactide has emerged as an environmentally friendlier alternative.\n\nYet polylactide's susceptibility to heat and moisture, particularly during the manufacturing process, has limited its use in textiles and other industries. In searching for ways to address the issue, researchers long ago discovered that mixing mirror-image polylactide molecules\u2014generally referred to as \"L\" and \"D\"\u2014could yield stronger molecular interactions and better performance than using just the L or D alone.\n\nNebraska researchers (from left) Wei Li, Yiqi Yang and Bingnan Mu have collaborated with colleagues in China to develop a more robust, biodegradable plastic fiber derived from corn starch. Credit: Craig Chandler, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Conventionally prepared bioplastic fibers before (top left) and after (bottom left) being exposed to moisture, as compared with thermally treated fibers before (near right) and after (far right) the same process. Credit:\n\nBut there was another catch. Convincing a reasonable proportion of the L and D molecules to permanently pair up is difficult, often forcing researchers to concoct costly and complicated matchmaking schemes. Some of the most common involve the use of solvents or other chemical agents whose disposal can cause environmental issues of their own.\n\n\"The problem is that people couldn't find a way to make it work so that you could use it on large scales,\" said Yang, Charles Bessey Professor of biological systems engineering and of textiles, merchandising and fashion design. \"People use nasty solvent or other additives. But those are not good for continuous production.\n\n\"We don't want to dissolve the polymers and then try to evaporate the solvents, and then have to consider reusing them. That's just too expensive (and) not realistic.\"\n\nHeating Up\n\nYang and his colleagues decided to pursue another approach. After mixing pellets of the L and D polylactide and spinning them into fibers, the team rapidly heated them to as hot as 400 degrees Fahrenheit.\n\nThe resulting bio-plastic resisted melting at temperatures more than 100 degrees higher than did plastics containing only the L or D molecules. It also maintained its structural integrity and tensile strength after being submersed in water at more than 250 degrees, approximating the conditions that bio-plastics must endure when being incorporated into dyed textiles.\n\nThe textile industry produces about 100 million tons of fibers annually, Yang said, meaning that a feasible green alternative to petroleum-based manufacturing could pay off both environmentally and financially.\n\n\"So we just used a cheap way that can be applied continuously, which is a big part of the equation,\" Yang said. \"You have to be able to do it continuously in order to have large-scale production. Those are important factors.\"\n\nThough the team has demonstrated continuous production on a smaller scale in Yang's lab, he said it will soon ramp up to further illustrate how the approach might be integrated into existing industrial processes.\n\nMore information: Gangwei Pan et al, Complete stereo-complexation of enantiomeric polylactides for scalable continuous production, Chemical Engineering Journal (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2017.07.068", "output": "Heating plant-derived, biodegradable plastic to several hundred degrees Fahrenheit during production and allowing it to slowly cool improves its resistance to heat and moisture. It also enables manufacturers to bypass the use of solvents and to produce the bio-plastic at a commercial scale equal to petroleum-based plastic, research from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Jiangnan University showed."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Graphene reduces friction of non-liquid lubricant \n A new type of non-liquid lubricant containing graphene reduces friction and wear under conditions found applications including air compressors to missile systems, claim researchers in the US.\n\nDeveloped by researchers at Purdue University, the new liquid-free composite is made from a slurry of graphene, zinc oxide, and the polymer polyvinylidene difluoride.\n\n\u201cIt [graphene] has superior thermal conductivity, high strength and provides ultralow friction,\u201d said Vilas Pol, an associate professor of chemical engineering at Purdue University.\n\nThe nanosize zinc-oxide particles allow the lubricant to stick to the metal surface, and the polymer binds the whole mixture together, said chemical engineering graduate student Arthur Dysart.\n\nSolid lubricants are needed for numerous applications such as air compressors, equipment used in the food industry, space vehicles, gear-and-chain mechanisms, fasteners found in high-temperature environments, and missile systems.\n\n\u201cThe fundamental causes of mechanical failure are friction and wear, so reducing these factors improves the performance and lifetime of many mechanical systems,\u201d said Farshid Sadeghi, Purdue\u2019s Cummins Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering. \u201cDespite 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.\u201d\n\nMakeup & performance of a new non-liquid lubricant\n\nResearchers tested stainless-steel surfaces coated with the new lubricant. \u201cWe tested it under worst-case scenarios,\u201d said mechanical engineering graduate student Abdullah A. Alazemi. Findings were detailed in a research paper published on July 11 in Carbon.\n\n\u201cThe durability and resilience of this adhesive coating suggest exceptional potential as a dry lubricant for high load-bearing applications,\u201d Pol said.\n\nThe 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.\n\nThe research is ongoing, and future work is planned with industrial partners. The researchers applied for a patent through the Purdue Research Foundation\u2019s Office of Technology Commercialisation.\n\nhttps://www.theengineer.co.uk/graphene-metamaterial/", "output": "Researchers at Purdue University have developed a non-liquid lubricant that uses graphene to significantly reduce\u00a0friction. The composite is made up of zinc oxide, graphene and a polymer, polyvinylidene difluoride. Graphene has good thermal conductivity\u00a0and offers\u00a0ultralow friction,\u00a0said Vilas Pol, who worked on the project.\u00a0Raman spectroscopic analysis of wear scars showed that the dry lubricant offered persistent protection for the stainless-steel surfaces it was tested on."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Global warming affecting Antarctic seabed\u2019s biodiversity \n Marine life on the Antarctic seabed is likely to be far more affected by global warming than previously thought, say scientists who have conducted the most sophisticated study to date of heating impacts in the species-rich environment.\n\nGrowth rates of some fauna doubled \u2013 including colonising moss animals and undersea worms \u2013 following a 1C increase in temperature, making them more dominant, pushing out other species and reducing overall levels of biodiversity, according to the study published on Thursday in Current Biology.\n\nThe researchers who conducted the nine-month experiment in the Bellingshuan Sea say this could have alarming implications for marine life across the globe as temperatures rise over the coming decades as a result of manmade greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.\n\nGail Ashton of the British Antarctic Survey and Smithsonian Environmental Research Center said she was not expecting such a significant difference. \u201cThe loss of biodiversity is very concerning. This is an indication of what may happen elsewhere with greater warning.\u201d\n\nSub-zero conditions near the south pole mean there are comparatively few species on the usually frozen land, but below the ice, the relative lack of pollution, traffic and fishing has left an abundance of marine life that divers and biologists compare to coral reefs.\n\nPrevious studies of warming impacts have focused on single species, but the latest research examines an assemblage of creatures.\n\nTwelve identical 15cm sq heat plates were set in concrete on the seabed. Four were warmed by 1C, four by 2C and four left at ambient temperature as a control.\n\nAt 1C, a species of bryozoan moss (Fenestrulina rugula) became utterly dominant on the four plates. Within two months it reduced the evenness and diversity of the species spread. The researchers also found the marine worm Romanchella perrieri grew an average 70% larger than those under ambient conditions.\n\nAt 2C, the results from different plates varied with different growth rates of different species. The researchers speculate that this may be because the higher increase in temperature had a greater shock impact.\n\nWarming by 1\u00b0C drives species and assemblage level responses in Antarctica\u2019s marine shallows.\n\nPhotograph: Courtesy Current Biology\n\nAshton said further longer-term studies should be conducted but the overall trend was already clear. \u201cThe indication of change being more than anticipated is fairly reliable. This is the best data we have to date.\u201d\n\nUntil recently, most of the coverage of temperature rises has focused on the north pole, where the shrinking of arctic ice has been most visibly dramatic. But concerns are growing about the impact of global warming on the far bigger southern ice cap.\n\nEarlier this year, the United Nations weather agency announced that temperatures in the Antarctic recently hit a record high.\n\nAn Argentine research base near the northern tip of the continent recorded a balmy 17.5C in March 2015, the World Meteorological Organisation revealed.\n\nThe vast continent contains 90% of the world\u2019s fresh water, most of it locked in ice that is several kilometres thick. The effects of climate change are not uniform, but concerns grew in July when a trillion tonne block of the Larsen C ice shelf collapsedinto the sea.\n\nThe region is also steadily turning greener due to the increased growth of surface moss. UK-based scientists published a paper in May showing that growth rates of moss have accelerated more than fourfold since 1950.\n\nThe latest study suggests the trend could become more evident on the sea bed as well as the land surface.", "output": "Marine life on the Antarctic seabed, an area known for its rich biodiversity, is more influenced by climate change than previously suspected, according to the most complex study of the area to date. Researchers, who conducted a nine-month investigation in the Bellingshuan Sea, discovered that a 1C increase in temperature led to a doubling of growth rates of certain fauna. This threatened other, less dominant, species and led to an overall reduction in biodiversity. The scientists argue that this could have damaging implications for the world's marine life if global warming continues. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "World\u2019s largest tuna fishery 'betraying' customers \n Consumers of tuna from the world\u2019s biggest fishery are are being \u201cbetrayed\u201d over its sustainability, according to a coalition of scientists, retailers, politicians and campaigners, including Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.\n\nThe vast Western and Central Pacific fishery provides about half of the world\u2019s skipjack tuna, the type most commonly found in cans on supermarket shelves. Some is certified as sustainably caught by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and carries the group\u2019s \u201cblue tick\u201d logo. But the same boats can also use, at other times, unsustainable methods to catch uncertified fish, a contradiction seen as unacceptable by the new On The Hook coalition.\n\n\u201cMSC are betraying the trust of consumers and duping them into purchasing what they believe is truly sustainable tuna,\u201d said Prof Callum Roberts, a leading fisheries expert at the University of York and part of the coalition. Polling by the group showed that 77% of UK consumers who were aware of the MSC believe that vessels that caught MSC labelled products should meet MSC requirements at all times.\n\nRoberts praised the MSC\u2019s past work on tackling overfishing but likened the tuna issue to rewarding a criminal for the days on which he does not commit a burglary: \u201cThe situation is intolerable. The MSC has lost its moral compass.\u201d\n\nFearnley-Whittingstall said: \u201cI rely on the MSC to provide sustainable fish for my restaurants, and so do my customers, and if I am not convinced their certification is reliable I will have to reconsider. It\u2019s time to see some real reform.\u201d\n\nAnother coalition member and a former UK fisheries minister, Richard Benyon MP, said: \u201cLike many, I have long held the MSC in very high regard. That reputation has been hard won around the world but it is squandered quickly. The MSC must urgently review their standard to prevent MSC-certified products being caught alongside unsustainable methods of fishing.\u201d\n\nThe Western and Central Pacific fishery covers the waters of eight island nations, including Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and the Marshall Islands. The use of nets to catch free swimming tuna in the region was certified sustainable by the MSC in 2011 and is set to be renewed this year, according to an independent technical report.\n\nBut the same vessels can also at other times use fish aggregating devices (FADs) \u2013 floating mats that attract life in the open ocean. The MSC\u2019s website says: \u201cIt\u2019s an easy way to fish, but it\u2019s largely a wasteful and destructive one, as many young tuna are caught before they can reproduce, with other species ending up as bycatch.\u201d\n\nRoberts said: \u201cThese things are a magnet for all kinds of things, so there is a whole community of animals [including turtles and sharks] and all of these get caught when the net goes around it.\u201d\n\nClaire Nouvian, president of ocean conservation NGO, Bloom, said: \u201cIt is clear that MSC, by certifying certain parts of a fishery are creating an illusion of sustainability.\u201d\n\nThe MSC said a strict chain of custody requirements ensures that certified and non-certified catch are clearly segregated. On the issue of whether fisheries should be allowed to catch both certified and non-certified fish, the MSC will launch a formal consultation on Friday, with a recommendation going to the MSC board in January.\n\nHowever, standard practice means that fisheries are normally given three years to adapt to new standards, meaning the Western and Central Pacific tuna fishery is very likely to have a new five-year certification before any changes can be made.\n\n\u201cAs a global not-for-profit, we remain committed to our vision for the world\u2019s oceans to be teeming with life, and seafood supplies safeguarded for this and future generations,\u201d said David Agnew, MSC science and standards director. \u201cThe MSC works tirelessly to understand and unite a complex set of often differing views among our stakeholders \u2013 fisheries, retailers, brands, NGOs, scientists, and of course consumers \u2013 and galvanise them all in pursuit of a shared goal that all can benefit from, regardless of their differences.\u201d\n\nPacifical, the marketing company for the Western and Central Pacific tuna fishery tuna, defended its operation in a letter to the MSC on 29 August, in which it said managed FAD fishing could be sustainable and that it aimed aim to get MSC certification for this within five years.\n\nPrinces, a major tuna brand, sources MSC-certified tuna from the Western and Central Pacific fishery and a spokesman said: \u201cMSC is widely recognised as the world\u2019s most robust standard for sustainable fishing. As such, Princes fully supports the MSC and its certification programme.\u201d", "output": "The Western and Central Pacific fishery, which provides around 50% of the world\u2019s most common tuna, has been accused of betraying the trust of customers by a coalition of campaigners, retailers and scientists. The On the Hook coalition argues that while some of the fishery\u2019s skipjack tuna is certified as sustainably caught by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), the same boats are used to catch uncertified fish through unsustainable methods which can trap other marine species. Professor Callum Roberts, a fisheries expert, accused the MSC of having \u201clost its moral compass\u201d."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US natural gas project may be axed as energy storage prices fall \n Pushback against the proposed Puente natural gas plant in California now hinges on whether energy storage could do the job instead.\n\nThe first whack at the question, in a study by the California Independent System Operator, found that storage could provide the needed local reliability, but at 2.7 times the cost.\n\nA GTM analysis of CAISO's calculations, though, found that they rely on lithium-ion cost projections from 2014, which makes them just about ancient history in terms of the fast-moving storage industry. Battery costs keep falling faster than predicted, and in 2014 the industry was barely getting started.\n\nCAISO doesn't have access to proprietary cost data; the grid operator's study makes clear the numbers are more of a ballpark calculation. It's up to the California Energy Commission to decide whether to allow NRG to build its Puente gas plant in Oxnard for 2020, or whether more up-to-date cost data on alternative solutions would be helpful.\n\n\"At a minimum, the prices assumed for energy storage and solar in the CAISO study are not reflective of today's market for either technology,\" said Shayle Kann, head of GTM Research. \"It's always hard for regulators to keep up with markets that are adapting as fast as both solar and storage are, but in particular storage costs are falling fast enough that using data from 2014 is like relying on gas prices from before the shale revolution.\"\n\nEnvironmentalists have rallied to squash Puente, arguing the plant perpetuates a history of Oxnard as a \"sacrifice zone for polluting power plants,\" even though alternatives now exist. The city itself opposes the plant and called it \"expensive, obsolete before it is open\" in comments on the draft of CAISO's study.\n\nThe whole project originated in response to California's policy to phase out old power plants that use ocean water for once-through cooling.\n\nSouthern California Edison selected NRG's bid for the project back in 2014. NRG bills it as a flexible asset to fire up as needed to balance intermittent renewables. It still needs approval from the CEC; an evidentiary hearing to discuss the CAISO study is set for September 14.\n\nIt's not clear that storage will be cost-competitive with the plant. CAISO calls for a mix of short-duration batteries, as well as sizable 9-hour duration systems, a form factor that has not been developed widely.\n\nWhat is clear is that up-to-date cost projections show storage as cheaper than the CAISO study's analysis, and the actual cost of the gas plant could be different from the generic 2014 cost used in those calculations.\n\nWith more accurate cost comparisons, this could become the clearest case yet of storage challenging a gas peaker head-to-head.\n\nThe view from 2014\n\nThe CAISO study calculates a massive price differential to ensure local reliability in the face of impending plant closures: $299 million for a 262-megawatt combustion turbine, $805 million for a combination of distributed and front-of-the-meter storage.\n\nThe grid operator, though, admits that it has constrained insight into battery pricing.\n\n\"As the ISO does not conduct resource procurement, the ISO\u2019s access to cost information is limited to publicly available sources,\" the study notes. As such, it developed \"very high level estimates\" from public documents as a starting point for discussion.\n\nThe storage cost estimates come from a July 2016 study conducted by Navigant for the California Energy Commission. The report forecasts the 2024 installed cost of lithium-ion batteries for four-hour peak shifting applications as $1,940 per kilowatt-AC (see Table 21 on page 41 of study).\n\nNavigant arrived at those numbers via its \"research publications and internal assumptions.\" The exact methodology is not disclosed, but the $1,940 per kilowatt number comes from an earlier Navigant study published in Q3 2014.\n\nAccurately forecasting battery price declines has proven notoriously difficult; prices keep falling faster than expected. Forecasts need to be updated to ensure continued relevance.\n\nPart way through 2014, the storage industry's empirical record looked substantially different than it does today: In the whole previous year, the U.S. deployed only 46 megawatts, compared to an expected 395 megawatts this year, by GTM Research's count. Construction on Tesla's Gigafactory had barely begun. Few utilities were considering storage for large-scale deployment, and long-duration storage was all but unheard of.\n\nThe CAISO study converts the outdated $1,940 per kilowatt-hour rate from Navigant's 4-hour duration storage estimate into $485 per kilowatt-hour, and uses that rate to price out storage solutions with 0.5-hour, 2.5-hour, 4-hour and 9-hour durations.\n\nPricing rates do not necessarily hold constant across different durations. A 0.5-hour battery's design and pricing structure may look entirely different from a 10-hour battery. In fact, it's not clear whether any grid-scale 10-hour batteries have been deployed yet. The economics of such a system could well demand an alternative technology to lithium-ion, like flow batteries.\n\nThe study also assumes a capital cost for solar at $2.65 per watt in 2020, when California prices are below $1.50 per watt today. That inflates the expense of solar-plus-storage included in the roster of alternatives to the gas plant.\n\nMore current estimates predict cheaper storage pricing than the 2014 estimations used in the CAISO study. That still leaves the question of whether storage, even with more accurate price forecasts, can compete with the gas plant.\n\nCan storage compete?\n\nA preliminary analysis of the CAISO study by GTM Research suggests that storage would need aggressive cost declines in order to match the gas peaker, but not so aggressive as to be out of the range of possibility.\n\n\"By our calculation, the energy storage would have to come in around $175 per kilowatt-hour on average in order to beat the estimated cost of Puente,\" Kann said. \"Factoring in its status as a preferred resource and additional values, storage may only have to come within range in order to be considered.\"\n\nThe black line represents local capacity alternative costs using the CAISO study's anachronistically high cost of solar; the solid blue line represents those costs using a conservative estimate of all-in solar costs in California in 2020.\n\nGTM contacted the developers of the largest Aliso Canyon storage facilities to see if they felt capable of competing at this cost threshold. AES Energy storage declined to comment on its internal pricing trajectory. Tesla and Greensmith did not respond in time for publication.\n\nGTM Research predicts an average $277 per kilowatt-hour cost for 4-hour storage systems in 2020. If SCE pursues the storage alternative laid out by CAISO, which totals a whopping 260 megawatts/1,522 megawatt-hours, it would likely come in lower than the average price.\n\n\"This would be a big procurement,\" Kann said. \"You would expect developers to bid aggressively, and so I would anticipate costs would come in below what we expect benchmark pricing to be. Similar to Aliso Canyon and South Australia, this would be a landmark procurement.\"\n\nAdditional savings could come through scale.\n\n\"As you scale up the duration, there are some economies of scale that you can derive with respect to the balance of plant,\" said Kiran Kumaraswamy, market development director at AES Energy Storage.\n\nStorage would be able to perform other valuable services when it isn't managing local capacity needs, Kumaraswamy added. CAISO looked at capacity value, but accounting for revenue streams like ancillary services and soaking up solar overgeneration, and social values like air pollution and greenhouse gas emission avoidance, could close the cost gap with Puente.\n\n\"You need to factor in all those benefits when you do the comparison between the two resources,\" he said.\n\nUnknowns remain\n\nSeveral factors make it hard to draw firm conclusions at this stage.\n\nFor one thing, the gas plant cost that CAISO uses, and that GTM used in the preliminary analysis, is not specific to Puente.\n\nIt's from a 2014 CEC report on estimates of energy system pricing. It's entirely possible that the \"state-of-the-art LEED-certified facility\" NRG wants to build would cost more than the generic cost cited from that report (Table 51, page 138). A deeper analysis would need to consider labor and construction costs specific to the Oxnard location as well.\n\nThe 9-hour storage raises another uncertainty. Grid storage today encompasses half-hour through 4- and sometimes 5-hour storage, with a limited number of longer-duration projects popping up. There is simply no database of 9-hour storage development costs from which to extrapolate.\n\nThe CAISO study could kick off more research into these topics. Simply running the feasibility comparison with storage deserves praise, Kumaraswamy said. The exercise of comparing gas generation resources with storage technology is still pretty novel and sets a good precedent for future grid decisions.\n\n\"I personally haven't seen a similar study that considered other types of resources in manner as detailed as what the ISO has done here,\" he said.\n\nWith storage deemed a feasible alternative, the next battleground will be appropriately defining its cost.", "output": "Estimates of the cost of energy storage used by the California Independent System Operator (Caiso)\u00a0are based on outdated calculations, according to analysis by GTM Research. The finding is significant in the context of the proposed Puente natural gas plant, which is attracting criticism from environmentalists and requires approval from the state's energy commission to proceed. Caiso's projection estimated that storage would cost 2.7 times more than the gas plant, but GTM found its figures were based on outdated 2014 prices, which have rapidly fallen since. It also suggested the costings for the gas plant could be too low.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian government raises $1.4bn from share sale in energy company \n Govt raises $1.4 bn from NTPC stake sale\n\nCredit: Shah Junaid/VCCircle\n\nThe Indian government has raised 91.36 billion rupees ($1.4 billion) from a share sale in state-run utility NTPC Ltd, according to Reuters calculations based on stock exchange data.\n\nThe share sale was part of New Delhi\u2019s asset sales programme to raise funds by paring stakes in state-run and private sector companies to help meet its fiscal deficit target.\n\nIt aims to raise a total 725 billion rupees from such sales during the current financial year to March.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe government, which owned nearly 70 percent of NTPC before the share sale, initially aimed to sell an up to 10 percent stake, or a total of 824.5 million shares.\n\nHowever, it had received bids for about 548 million shares by the end of the two-day auction on the stock exchanges, with institutional investors subscribing to 463.5 million of those.\n\nThe cut-off price per share was set at 168 rupees. Retail investors are being offered a 5 percent discount on the cut-off price.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nShare article on Leave Your Comments", "output": "The Indian government has raised $1.4bn from the sale of some of its shares in power generator NTPC. The government received bids for 548 million shares by the close of the second and final day of the auction, short of its 824 million goal. It had been seeking to sell up to a 10% stake.\u00a0Retail investors are being offered a 5% discount on the cut-off price of INR168. The government is trying to reach fiscal deficit targets by selling\u00a0stakes in state-owned assets.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Use of silicon in oil and gas industry creates poisoning risk \n Over the past several years, silicon has become much more prevalent in the oil and gas industry. Before, refineries relied on silicon compounds in the delayed coking unit to prevent foaming in coker drums. Now, upstream companies are starting to favour silicon for its lubricating ability, which allows companies to move oil quickly through pipelines, as well as load and unload ships faster.\n\nWhile pipeline lubricant applications benefit upstream companies by improving short-term profits and efficiencies, the use of silicon compounds also comes with inherent performance risks for refineries downstream.\n\nSilicon is a contaminant that, when found in crude oil, can work its way into previously unexpected places in the refinery, adversely affecting the units it enters. The result is shorter catalyst cycle lengths, which lead to more frequent reloads and more overall downtime for the unit \u2013 all of which lead to increased expenses and decreased profits.\n\nSilicon: origin and destination in the refinery\n\nSilicon-containing compounds, like polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), are great anti-foam agents in the coking unit\u2019s coker drums, and refineries have known how to effectively plan for its impact on downstream processing. With increased upstream usage, however, silicon is now entering refineries in the crude oil, affecting many more units and types of hydrotreaters, refinery-wide. The presence of silicon in crude oil negatively impacts the whole refinery.\n\nFigure 1 highlights the historical source of silicon in the refinery (the coker), as well as the negative impact of refinery-wide silicon presence. Unless the units (particularly hydrotreaters and hydrocracking units) can be properly defended, catalysts will lose their activity and see a decreased life span.\n\n\n\nFigure 1. Silicon origins and destinations in the refinery.\n\nThe chemistry of silicon\n\nSilicon compounds interact with the alumina base of hydrotreating catalyst. The reaction creates a strong chemical bond, which is difficult to break. This is why silicon is considered a permanent poison.\n\nInstead of interacting with the active metal sites on the hydrotreating catalyst directly, over time the buildup of silicon impedes and prevents access to these active sites. This is what causes a permanent loss in the catalyst\u2019s ability to remove sulfur and nitrogen.\n\nWritten by Peter Piotrowski, Honeywell UOP, USA, and Austin Schneider, Crystaphase.\n\nThis article was originally published in the September 2017 issue of Hydrocarbon Engineering. To read the complete article, please sign in or register for a free trial subscription.", "output": "The oil and gas industry's reliance on silicon as a lubricating material is creating a risk of poisoning, as the chemical contaminant can adversely affect refinery units both upstream and downstream. Research has found that catalysts in hydrotreaters and hydrocracking units that are undefended from silicon have a shorter lifespan, while the chemical bond made by silicon with the alumina base of hydrotreating catalyst is difficult to break, resulting in long-term poisoning."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Senate panel to begin bipartisan hearings on stabilizing health insurance market \n WASHINGTON \u2013 Senators looking for ways to stabilize the individual health insurance market will hear from governors and state health insurance commissioners at their first bipartisan hearings next month.\n\nThe hearings, set for Sept. 6-7, will focus on stabilizing premiums and helping people in the individual market in light of Congress\u2019 failure to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.\n\n\u201cEighteen million Americans, including 350,000 Tennesseans \u2013 songwriters, farmers, and the self-employed \u2013 do not get their health insurance from the government or on the job, which means they must buy insurance in the individual market,\u201d said Sen. Lamar Alexander, the Tennessee Republican who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.\n\n\u201cMy goal by the end of September is to give them peace of mind that they will be able to buy insurance at a reasonable price for the year 2018,\u201d Alexander said.\n\nWashington Sen. Patty Murray, the committee\u2019s top Democrat, said the path to making health care work better for patients and families \u201cisn\u2019t through partisanship or backroom deals.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is through working across the aisle, transparency, and coming together to find common ground where we can,\u201d she said.\n\nThe attempts at a bipartisan approach to fixing health care mark a change in strategy after the failure last month of Republican efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare. The GOP bill was pieced together behind closed doors by a small group of Republican senators, with no input from Democrats and no public hearings.\n\nAlexander has said lawmakers must find a way to stabilize the individual insurance market because millions of Americans will be unable to buy insurance unless Congress acts.\n\nMore:With Obamacare repeal stalled, Senate panel to focus on stabilizing insurance market\n\nMore:Senate Republicans failed to pass Obamacare repeal. Now what?\n\nMore:White House: Government to make health law payments this month\n\nAt the hearings, the committee will hear from state insurance commissioners and governors because they are closest to the problem and can suggest steps that Congress can take to help make insurance available at affordable prices, Alexander said.\n\n\u201cAny solution that Congress passes for a 2018 stabilization package will have to be small, bipartisan and balanced,\u201d he said.\n\nIt also should give states more flexibility in approving insurance policies and fund the cost-sharing reduction payments to help stabilize premiums for 2018, he said.\n\nMurray said it\u2019s important for the committee to hear from state leaders because they \u201cunderstand full well the challenges facing health care today, and many have been outspoken about how the uncertainty caused by this administration has impacted the individual insurance market and therefore families\u2019 premiums for 2018.\u201d", "output": "Senators will listen to state health insurance commissioners and governors in bipartisan hearings for the individual health insurance market, concentrating on stabilizing insurance premiums and helping those on the individual market. Following a lack of progress on the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act, the individual market\u2019s future may be the reasonable, viable alternative. The bipartisan approach could help to stabilize the individual market, given that many Americans will be unable to purchase insurance outside of Obamacare or their workplaces. The hearings should help the committee to gain insight from those closest to state citizens to ensure insurance is given at an affordable price. States will likely gain further flexibility to approve insurance policies, being given cost-sharing reduction payments to balance premiums for the next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Home Health Care: Shouldn\u2019t It Be Work Worth Doing? \n Do you know who is going to care for you when you are old and frail? By current standards, it\u2019s likely to be a middle-aged immigrant woman, with maybe a high school education and little if any training, making $20,000 a year.\n\n\n\nAnd that\u2019s if you are lucky. If you live in rural America, you may already have a hard time finding somebody to look after you. Paul Osterman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology\u2019s Sloan School of Management calculates that if nothing is done to draw more workers into the field, there will be a shortage of at least 350,000 paid care providers by 2040.\n\nThis, I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll agree, makes little sense.\n\nHow to provide long-term care for a fast-aging population poses one of the more convoluted challenges of the American labor market. Care providers \u2014 home health aides, personal care attendants and certified nursing assistants, in the government\u2019s classification \u2014 are expected to be among the nation\u2019s fastest-growing occupations. The Department of Labor\u2019s economists expect about a million more will be added from 2014 to 2024.\n\nAnd yet despite their critical importance to the well-being of tens of millions of aging Americans, one-fourth of these aides live in poverty. The jobs are so unappealing that it is hard to keep workers in them: four in 10 leave the occupation entirely within a year. Many prefer the fast-food business.", "output": "The problem of providing long-term care for the rapidly aging US population will require far more workers than is currently predicted. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology\u2019s Sloan School of Management has found that if home health care work is not made more appealing as an employment choice, there will be a minimum shortage of 350,000 paid care workers by 2040. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Comitt's downhole tool revitalises old wells with new fractures \n \u201cOur analysis helps our customers find what levers drive production.\u201d\u2014Leen Weijers, VP of Engineering for Liberty Oilfield Services\n\nAfter The Oil & Gas Conference\u00ae wrapped up in Denver last week, EnerCom hosted the debut of Oilfield Tech & Innovation Day, where the latest technologies for the E&P industry were the focus.\n\nThe day was designed for both VCs and majors who invest in extraction technologies and for companies who have commercialized technologies that are already improving recoveries and are available for operators now. This story is Part 4 of a recap of Oil & Gas 360\u00ae\u2019s coverage of Oilfield Tech & Innovation Day.\n\nLiberty Oilfield Services\n\nLiberty Oilfield Services is a Denver-based oilfield service company focused on stimulation services to optimize well production. It offers hydraulic fracturing design and execution services. It uses real data to optimize field development and increase production. Liberty Oilfield Services is currently working in the Permian, DJ, Williston, and Powder River basins.\n\nLiberty Oilfield Services has developed multiple technologies such as PropX\u00ae\u2014to reduce dust, noise, and truck traffic; Quiet Fleet\u00ae to reduce noise from fracture activities; and the Spirit Fluid System\u00ae to place more proppant with less gel.\n\nLiberty\u2019s presentation during EnerCom\u2019s Oilfield Tech & Innovation Day gave information on multi-variate analysis for completion optimization and minimizing the cost per barrel of oil equivalent. The company\u2019s examples were based in the Williston area in North Dakota where it is currently working with a new slick water design, larger volumes, and larger pump rates. Liberty\u2019s services ultimately focus on increasing its clients\u2019 EUR and reducing the clients\u2019 costs.\n\nIn its services, Liberty offers completion optimization tools, some of which involve big data visualization, big data statistics, and calibrated fracture and reservoir modeling.\n\nThe company\u2019s analytical focus utilizes petro-physics, completion, and production data sourced from both public and private data sources. The company ultimately incorporates this data into multivariate analysis. The multivariate analysis tool is called Liberty Frac Trends, and can be used to predict production as a function of stage spacing, proppant concentration, average proppant loads, and treatment rates.\n\nThe predictive technology was designed with the intent of allowing Liberty\u2019s clients to optimally design completions and evaluate how changes to any completions parameter might impact the ultimate recovery from that well.\n\nView the Liberty presentation webcast here.\n\nBelgrave Oil & Gas Corp.\n\nBelgrave Oil & Gas Corp. is a private petroleum development company. The company\u2019s primary focus is on the development and application of high impact improved/enhanced oil recovery (IOR/EOR) technology to increase oil and gas production, improve recovery, and prove additional reserves. The company has operated in Canada, China, Colombia, India, Russia, and Trinidad.\n\nThe company believes that conventional primary and secondary recovery methods will only produce about one-third of the oil discovered and that potentially tens of billions of barrels of additional oil remain to be recovered in North America alone.\n\nDuring its presentation, Belgrave Oil and Gas spoke about the potential for air injection EOR, which is often also called fire-flooding or in-situ combustion. The premise of air injection is that air is injected into mature conventional reservoirs to push residual oil towards a producing well. When air is injected into deep, conventional reservoirs hydrocarbons in place are often ignited and heated. The heavier components of the hydrocarbons burn, heating residual oil and allowing it to be pushed out of pore spaces.\n\nWhen coupled with water injection, the combusting oil is pushed both by air, steam and water, and further mobilized towards a producing wellbore. The company believes that utilizing air injection in mature conventional reservoirs will allow companies to reactivate reservoirs that were previously considered uneconomic.\n\nBelgrave said that experiments and field applications for air injection have been successful, and that the technology may have broader applications in other reservoirs. The company compared the new technology to other EOR methods, such as CO2 or surfactant injection, and noted how air injection is less capital intensive and much easier to control.\n\nView the Belgrave presentation webcast here.\n\nComitt Well Solutions\n\nCommit Well Solutions is a downhole tool company that builds technologies oriented towards revitalizing wells. The company said that its primary goals are to maximizing the EUR of existing wellbores, optimize the deployment of operators\u2019 resources, and reduce the use of personnel.\n\nDuring its presentation at EnerCom\u2019s Oilfield Tech & Innovation Day, Comitt spoke about pin-point placement of hydraulic fractures and perforations using its downhole tool, the Excite System.\n\nIn re-fracturing mature wells, the Excite System is meant to create new fractures and apply new completions designs to old wells. The Excite system targets legacy assets that have lost production gradually. By re-fracturing those assets and applying new, better understood completions methods such as increased stages and higher proppant concentrations, Comitt hopes to introduce new production to old wells.\n\nView the Comitt presentation webcast here.\n\nGroundMetrics\n\nGroundMetrics is an oilfield service-company that has designed products and services allowing operators to better characterize their reservoirs. The company provides surveys using its electric field sensors to build an oil saturation profile on a field-wide scale.\n\nDuring its presentation, GroundMetrics spoke about how its sensors and survey technologies can benefit operators and how its technology differs from historic oilfield practices.\n\nBy utilizing an operator\u2019s cased wellbore as a conductor, the company can create an electric field within the reservoir. The manner in which that electric field interacts with the fluids in the reservoir, once detected by the company\u2019s electronic field sensor, can grant an operator an insight into where the most significant amounts of oil remain.\n\nInstead of finding resistivity and saturation profiles along the wellbore alone, GroundMetrics has the ability to do so on a scale that can provide an operator with a better understanding of uncontacted, unproduced zones, flow barriers, and general fluid saturation within the field as a whole.\n\nThis insight into the reservoir saturation profile can help operators with reservoir characterization, offshore characterization, and hydraulic fracturing. The company\u2019s technology can also be utilized for casing diagnostics.\n\nView the GroundMetrics presentation webcast here.", "output": "Comitt Well Solutions has developed a downhole tool named the Excite System, which aims to revitalise old wells that have lost production. Comitt refractures mature assets with improved accuracy and applies new completion\u00a0methods, such as increasing stages and higher proppant concentrations."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trump halts reporting on gender and race pay gaps \n The White House says it will halt a rule that would make businesses report how much they pay workers of different genders and races.\n\nThe announcement takes aim at a major plank of President Barack Obama's equal pay legacy. His administration expanded the scope of the equal employment opportunity survey to include the requirements through an executive action last year.\n\nThe hope was that the change would help illuminate systemic wage discrimination against women and minorities, a problem that persists in part because of limited available data.\n\nBut businesses immediately complained of the administrative strain the regulation would put on their operations and questioned whether the information would be useful or securely handled.\n\nAs was widely expected, Donald Trump's administration sided with them. The memo directing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to stay the rule called it \"unnecessarily burdensome,\" claimed the data lacked \"practical utility,\" and cited privacy and confidentiality concerns, according to the Wall Street Journal(opens in a new tab).\n\n\"I do hope that this decision will prompt a discussion of other more effective solutions,\" said a statement from Victoria Lipnic, acting chair of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the regulatory budgeting group that wrote the memo.\n\nThe government has collected information on the gender and ethnic composition of the American workforce through the survey in question for decades. But companies have never been asked to include corresponding salaries and wages until Obama's executive order.\n\nOnly businesses with 100 or more employees and certain smaller companies with federal contracts are required to submit it.\n\nAdvocates of the policy say it would go a long way toward shining a light on entrenched wage gaps and the patterns necessary to understand them, instead of forcing them to rely on anecdotes that don't always tell the whole story.\n\n\"We\u2019d learn about a pay-discrimination problem because someone saw a piece of paper left on a copy machine or someone was complaining about their salary to co-workers,\u201d said Obama-era EEOC head Jenny Yang at a recent law conference, according to the Journal.\n\nThe White House's decision comes as discussion around gender discrimination has come to a head in Silicon Valley, where women and people of color remain scarce, and company cultures and investment structures are often stacked against them. Google currently faces a labor department probe for \"extreme\" systemic gender gaps, and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick was forced to step down after widespread allegations of rampant sexual harassment within the company.", "output": "Donald Trump\u2019s administration is to halt the introduction of a rule requiring companies with 100 employees or with federal contracts to report their gender and race pay gaps. The rule, proposed as part of President Obama\u2019s equal pay programme, was designed to expose systematic wage discrimination. Firms resisted the move, citing administrative difficulties and security issues. The Trump administration backed such concerns in the memo directing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to cancel the rule, claiming that it was \u201cunnecessarily burdensome\u201d and without \u201cpractical utility\u201d."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google Assistant to expand integration with household appliances \n Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More\n\nGoogle Assistant today announced integrations with a series of products due out soon, from smart speakers to a smart washing machine, dryer, and vacuum.\n\nSmart speakers that will soon be able to speak with Google Assistant include the Zolo Mojo by Anker, TicHome Mini by Mobvoi, and the GA10 by Panasonic. Each is due out later this year and will be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the U.S., and the U.K.\n\nThe announcements were made ahead of IFA, an international consumer electronics show to take place Sept. 1-6 in Berlin. Additional smart speakers and appliances to adopt Google Assistant will be announced in the days to come.\n\n\u201cStarting later this year, with manufacturers like LG, you\u2019ll be able control your appliances, including washers, dryers, vacuums, and more from your Assistant on your smart speaker, Android phone or iPhone,\u201d Google Assistant senior director Abhi Taneja said in a blog post announcing the news.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\nThe products will utilize the Google Assistant software development kit to speak with the AI assistant through devices or issue commands like \u201cOK Google, start vacuuming\u201d or \u201cOK Google, wash my clothes.\u201d\n\nIn addition to appliances announced today, Google is reportedly planning to release a smaller version of the Google Home to compete with Amazon\u2019s Echo Dot at a hardware debut event in October.\n\nThe news comes on the same day as Microsoft and Amazon announced a partnership to provide access to Alexa in Windows 10 PCs and to Cortana through the Echo, Echo Dot, and Echo Show.", "output": "Google Assistant is to offer integration with a range of products including smart washing machines, vacuum cleaners and smart speakers. The products will be able to be controlled via\u00a0Google Assistant, as will\u00a0smart speakers such as Anker's Zolo Mojo, Panasonic's GA10 and Mobvoi's TicHome Mini. The speakers will be released later this year in the UK, the US, Canada, France, Germany and Australia. The integration will allow household appliances to be controlled by voice commands, such as \"Google, start vacuuming.\"\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Panasonic to launch hi-fi speaker to rival Google Home \n At IFA 2017 Panasonic has launched a hi-fi speaker armed with Google Assistant. The Panasonic SC-GA10 aims to supplant the Google Home by, well, sounding better.\n\nThere are two 20mm soft-dome tweeters placed at 45 degrees, which gives a full 180-degree sound field. The 8cm woofer is armed with dual voice coils for more robust bass, as well as a long reflex port. There are even manual and preset EQs. Basically, the Panasonic SC-GA10 claims to put a lot more focus on sound than the Google Home does.\n\nRelated: Amazon Echo review\n\nIt should be just as smart as the Google Home too, as it is fully compatible with Google Assistant. It supports major music streaming apps such as Spotify, Google Play and TuneIn Radio.\n\nYou can also perform basic web searches, make to-do lists, control smart home devices, and enjoy multi-room audio with other Chromecast-integrated speakers. Alternatively, you can get two Panasonic SC-GA10 units and use them in stereo configuration via Bluetooth.\n\nThe Panasonic SC-GA10 will go on sale in early 2018. No price has been announced as yet.\n\nCould the GA10 be your ideal home companion? Let us know on Twitter @trustedreviews", "output": "Panasonic has launched a smart speaker at the technology trade show IFA 2017 in Berlin\u00a0that aims to compete with Google Home by putting more emphasis on sound quality. The SC-GA10 hi-fi smart speaker supports major music streaming apps such as Google Play and Spotify and has two 20mm soft-dome tweeters that give a full 180-degree sound field. The speakers are fully compatible with Google Assistant, allowing the user to perform basic web searches, create to-do lists\u00a0and control other smart home devices. The Panasonic SC-GA10 will go on sale in early 2018 with its\u00a0price to be confirmed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Huadian Fuxin buys parent's assets and targets EM renewables projects \n Left to right: Huadian Fuxin Energy vice president Sun Tao; chairman Huang Shaoxiong; and chief financial officer of the Fujian branch Lin Maoji. Photo: Jonathan Wong", "output": "China's Huadian Group is in talks to sell its solar and wind farms to its renewable energy unit Huadian Fuxin Energy by the end of this year or the beginning of next. The latter company recently posted a modest 0.6% year on year rise in net profits to CNY1.45bn ($218m), and revealed wind power wastage in the Gansu province and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region was down from 23% last year to 16%. Fuxin has also invested in renewable projects in Indonesia and Bangladesh, which it said offer more attractive returns relative to projects in China."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "iPhone accepts WeChat Pay in China for App Store, Music purchases \n In a statement sent to multiple Chinese media outlets today, Apple said iPhone and iPad users in China can now use WeChat Pay as a payment method for App Store and Apple Music purchases.\n\n\"We are glad to offer users in mainland China the option of WeChat Pay for their favorite mobile app or Apple Music products. We continue to be dedicated to provide multiple simple and convenient payment methods for customers within the Apple ecosystem,\" Apple said in an official statement today.\n\nWeChat Pay is the second most popular mobile payments service in China, with an estimated 39.5 percent market share as of the first quarter of 2017, according to Beijing-based research firm Analysys. By comparison, Apple Pay's market share was estimated to have been just one percent in the first quarter.\n\nWeChat itself is an incredibly popular app in China that allows users to pay for services, chat, hail a cab, watch videos, play mini games, and more. Since the app can be installed on Android, some analysts believe WeChat is a threat to Apple by way of reducing the iPhone's competitive advantage in China.\n\nNevertheless, Apple CEO Tim Cook recently said WeChat's creator Tencent is one of its most important developers.\n\n\"I see Tencent as one of our biggest and best developers,\" said Cook, speaking on a conference call in early August. \"They've done a great job of implementing iOS features in their apps, and we're looking forward to working with them even more to build even greater experiences for our mutual users in China.\"\n\nApple has also accepted Alipay, the most popular mobile payment service in China with 53.7 percent market share, since October 2016.", "output": "Apple has announced that iPhone and iPad users in China can now use WeChat Pay as a payment method for App Store and Apple Music purchases. WeChat Pay is the second most popular mobile payments service in China, after Alipay, with an estimated 39.5% market share, compared with Apple Pay's 1% for the first quarter of 2017, according to Beijing research firm Analysys. Despite suggestions WeChat threatens Apple by reducing the iPhone's competitive advantage, Apple CEO Tim Cook said he is \u201clooking forward to working with [Tencent, WeChat's creator] even more to build experiences for our mutual users in China\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Poundland used jobless for unpaid work through government scheme \n Poundland has been criticised for employing jobseekers, without pay, for up to two months under a deal with the government.\n\nSeveral of those who have worked on the scheme told the Guardian they had worked up to 30 hours a week for at least three weeks stacking shelves in Poundland. They were told that the work experience was voluntary but one said: \u201cI had no say in it really.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s not clear how many jobseekers have been used by Poundland under the scheme as the government said it did not collect information centrally and the work experience was managed locally by jobcentres across the country. However, one store in Bolton has taken on 21 placements since last August, according to information provided in response to a freedom of information request by the Boycott Workfare pressure group.\n\n\u201cConsidering it is supposed to be work experience you\u2019d think they would teach you how to work the till. But we have just been stacking shelves all day,\u201d one person on the scheme told the Guardian.\n\nMore than one work experience participant in Bolton said that their local jobcentre had provided a bus pass to cover travel expenses and suitable clothing \u2013 of black trousers and a polo shirt. Poundland paid no wages and made no other contribution. Participants said they were not provided with any paperwork to record the time they had spent in a store.\n\nAll the participants contacted by the Guardian said they had been told they needed to do work experience by a \u201cwork coach\u201d at their local jobcentre. The coach selected Poundland from a list of potential employers.\n\nPoundland said it had signed a deal in January with the Department for Work and Pensions, which oversees the Jobcentre Plus work experience programme, to take jobseekers on work experience on condition that this was voluntary and not part of any benefit assessment.\n\nIt said the programme was designed to \u201chelp provide a taste of the world of work\u201d largely for 18- to 24-year-olds with placements lasting between two and eight weeks and for between 25 to 30 hours a week. Those taking part continue to receive their benefits and store managers had been explicitly briefed that volunteers could not replace any paid employment.\n\n\u201cThis is not work experience, this is work \u2013 and Poundland should pay for it,\u201d said Tanya de Grunwald of the Graduate Fog website, which first revealed the existence of the Poundland work experience scheme.\n\nA spokesman for the retailer said Poundland did not participate in work programmes such as workfare that could lead to benefits being withheld from participants. It said a number of work experience workers had been given a permanent job, but could not say exactly how many.\n\nIn 2013, the chain was at the centre of a legal action against the government by Cait Reilly, a geology graduate, who won a case arguing that it was unlawful to force her to work for free at the budget chain as a condition of her claiming jobseeker\u2019s allowance.\n\nA spokesman for Poundland said: \u201cWe\u2019re sorry some of the people you spoke to felt their time with us wasn\u2019t worthwhile. Our stores try hard to make it a positive experience and we know it has been for many. We\u2019re always open to being told directly how to make it better.\u201d\n\n\n\nA spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions said: \u201cIt\u2019s important that all opportunities \u2013 including those in the retail sector \u2013 are made available to jobseekers to help them move towards permanent work. Work experience is entirely voluntary and gives people the chance to increase their skills and gain vital on-the-job experience, something that businesses really value.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIt said that, ideally, claimants should complete only one work experience opportunity, although it is not clear whether this happens in practice.", "output": "Poundland, the UK discount store, has been accused of employing unpaid jobseekers for up to two months under the government\u2019s Jobcentre Plus initiative. The scheme was designed to provide work experience, but participants told The Guardian that they spent up to 30 hours a week stacking shelves. All participants interviewed by the paper claimed they had been told they needed to complete work experience by a jobcentre \u201cwork coach\u201d. In 2013, graduate Cait Reilly won a case against the government arguing that it was unlawful to force her to work without pay at Poundland in order to claim jobseeker\u2019s allowance."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bahrain refinery uses GE system to desalinate sea water \n To save as much water as possible in the production of oil and eliminate the need to deliver water via tanker truck, the Bahrain Petroleum Company B.S.C. (Bapco) is using GE's advanced mobile water technology to convert seawater into usable, highly pure source water at the Awali refinery.\n\nBapco refines more than 260 000 bpd of crude oil, which is then exported throughout the Middle East, India, the Far East, Southeast Asia and Africa.\n\nUsing GE Water & Process Technologies\u2019 mobile water technology gives Bapco a cost-effective solution for on-site desalination.\n\nYousif Ahmed, Acting Manager, Power and Utilities, Bapco, said: \u201cGE\u2019s mobile water solutions enabled Bapco to convert seawater into high-purity boiler feedwater for refinery use [\u2026] Availing mobile water solutions ensure a continual water supply instead of relying on tank truck deliveries.\u201d\n\nPreviously, the limited in-house distillate water production from the desalination units prompted Bapco to import water using tank trucks to fill up the shortage. This mode of delivery would cause gridlock on refinery roads, and there were associated risks involved in having unusual numbers of tankers inside the refinery operating area.\n\nGE Water & Process Technologies provided a turnkey operations and maintenance solution for this project, with a total of 13 mobile water units including six mobile seawater multimedia filter containers, five mobile seawater reverse osmosis containers, two mobile brackish water reverse osmosis containers and four diesel-operated electrical generators. GE also supplied all mobile pumping skids, tanks and interconnecting piping and cabling. The mobile water fleet started its operation in May 2017 and will continue to produce Bapco\u2019s desalinated water requirements for one year.\n\nKevin Cassidy, Global Leader, Engineered Systems \u2014 GE Water & Process Technologies, said: \u201cFor the Bapco refinery, GE\u2019s mobile water technology produces 136 m3/h of water, which meets the refinery\u2019s high-quality standards [\u2026] Our mobile solutions allow Bapco to desalinate the water on-site and immediately use it for oil refining.\u201d", "output": "In order to reduce the amount of water used in the production of oil, and to reduce the need to deliver water to the facility, Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) has adopted GE's mobile water solutions. Bapco had previously delivered fresh water using tanker trucks as its in-house distillate water production was too slow. GE\u2019s mobile water technology produces 136 m3/h of water for the facility, allowing \"Bapco to desalinate the water on-site and immediately use it for oil refining\u201d, according to Kevin Cassidy, global leader of\u00a0engineered systems at\u00a0GE Water & Process Technologies."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "USA Today tests personalised design based on user habits \n The USA Today Network is taking a page out of Facebook\u2019s playbook by reformatting its digital properties to give users more personalized webpages.\n\nSince April, USA Today has tested a personalized design on its mobile website that serves users different content depending on whether they regularly visit the site or not, landed on an article organically or via search, their location and their viewing habits. Last week, all of USA Today\u2019s mobile web users received the new layout after it was initially only available to 25 percent of users.\n\nUsers who got the new site design spent about 45 seconds on each article they read, while users with a traditional design spent about 25 seconds on each article, said Jason Jedlinski, USA Today Network\u2019s head of digital product. Users with the new design were also more likely to scroll completely through an article, which led them to click through its internal circulation widget at the bottom of its articles about 5 percent more often than users with the old design, according to the publisher. USA Today wouldn\u2019t provide raw numbers and said it doesn\u2019t track visit duration.\n\nAs people continue to flock to social media for their news and information, USA Today wanted to adopt what works on social platforms by serving content in a way that is \u201csort of tailored and gets smarter the more you interact with it,\u201d Jedlinski said.\n\nUSA Today\u2019s attempt to boost engagement through personalized webpages comes at a time when social platforms are taking up people\u2019s attention. Users spend more than 35 minutes per day on both Facebook and YouTube, according to influencer agency Mediakix. Meanwhile, most publishers are happy when users spend five or six minutes in their app per day.\n\nSession length is also becoming increasingly important for publishers as high time spent on-site has become associated with premium offerings. To keep users glued to their properties, publishers are experimenting with various tactics. Bleacher Report got people to spend more than five minutes per day in its app by introducing a tab for Vine-like video loops. The Outline increased time spent per session by 30 percent by embedding 3-D objects into articles. Forbes increased its average session length by nearly 40 percent by redesigning its mobile site to include Snapchat-like cards.\n\nOne example of how USA Today\u2019s new webpages work is that users who rarely visit the site and are referred to it from search have their homepage organized by trending topics like North Korea\u2019s missile test and Hurricane Harvey, while users who regularly visit the site receive a more traditional layout organized around topics like news, sports and money. Another example: A user who regularly reads articles about the same sports team will see articles about that particular team on the homepage more often.\n\nThe new layout was created using the open-source JavaScript library Polymer, which was built by Google developers. Polymer allowed USA Today\u2019s tech team to code elements of its webpages as separate components so that they can be reconfigured on the fly in endless combinations to suit a specific user\u2019s tastes. For about 90 days, a team of 10 developers and engineers spent 60-80 percent of their time working on the launch of this product, Jedlinski said. That same team then spent another four months testing and monitoring the product\u2019s features.\n\nIn the next six months, the company plans to roll out the product to all users across desktop and mobile for not just USA Today but also its local newspaper affiliates like the Detroit Free Press and The Des Moines Register.\n\n\u201cOur goal is really to build a foundation for experimentation and for an adaptive experience that isn\u2019t one-size-fits-all,\u201d Jedlinski said.", "output": "USA Today is introducing more personalised web pages, which give users different content depending on the frequency of their visits, location and viewing habits. The new layout has been launched on its mobile web services, and is being rolled out over the next six months across all its desktop and mobile platforms, including its local newspaper affiliates. In trials earlier this year, the new design, created using Google's Javascript library Polymer, led to increased visit durations, with an average of 45 seconds per article, compared to 25 seconds on the previous layout.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Financial institutions' de-risking puts 700 million at risk \n Photo: Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images\n\nThe current era of political unrest and uncertainty, coupled with the rise of terror and cyberattacks, means that financial institutions have had to adhere to increasingly strict policies to minimize their risk of being involved in money laundering or funding terrorism.\n\nThe regulations and legislation in place work to prevent the cross-border flow of money to criminal groups, creating a more secure financial sector. However, the consequence of these policies can have a far-reaching costly effect on people in poor countries and has given rise to an inadvertent practice known as \u201cde-risking.\u201d\n\nThe Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental policymaking organization aimed at combating money laundering and terrorist financing, defines de-risking as \u201cthe phenomenon of financial institutions terminating or restricting business relationships with clients or categories of clients to avoid, rather than manage, risk in line with the FATF\u2019s risk-based approach.\u201d\n\nSince 2008, banks and businesses working within the finance sector have been required to use a risk-based approach to financial crime; we should be vigilant at identifying and assessing the risks that we are presented with and then developing ways to manage them.\n\nDe-risking is the act of removing banking services from customers who are deemed \u201chigh risk\u201d under the Anti-Money laundering (AML) and Terrorist Financing (TF) legislation. Since these policies were introduced, an increasing number of money transfer operators (MTOs), also known as remittance firms, have closed.\n\nA World Bank study, undertaken at the request of the G20, in 2015 on the de-risking issue noted that \u201c[t]he number of accounts being closed appears to be increasing; both MTOs and banks report an increased trend of closed and/or restricted number of accounts between 2010 and 2014; 46 percent of MTO respondents have received notifications from their banks about the upcoming closure of their accounts.\u201d\n\nA 2016 Dow Jones survey of 812 financial services found that 40 percent of the respondents acknowledged that their companies were de-risking, having closed down a full business line or segment in the past year due to regulatory risk. Another third of the respondents said they were planning or investigating exiting a business line or segment within the next year. \u201cThe main reasons for leaving involve [that] the organization is no longer willing to assume the segment risk and the cost of compliance making the segment unprofitable,\u201d the survey says.\n\nThe FATF notes that the de-risking issue is a complex one, driven by factors such as \u201cprofitability; reputational risk; lower risk appetites of banks; and regulatory burdens related to the implementation of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) requirements, the increasing number of sanctions regimes, and regulatory requirements in [the] financial sector.\u201d\n\nThe UK government\u2019s Anti-Money Laundering Action Plan acknowledges that the total cost of financial core compliance is 5 billion pounds ($5.86 billion) a year.\n\nDe-risking isn\u2019t just affecting small firms. A growing trend has been noticed whereby large global banks are not only limiting, but terminating their relationships with correspondent banks. Between 2014 and 2015, 50 percent of local banks reported a decline in correspondent banking relationships, and 75 percent of international banks admitted that they were scaling back their banking operations. The new conservative approach has seen not only firms, but entire market segments and countries being deprived of financial services; rather than judging each client or case on its individual merit, a broad approach is being taken.\n\n\u201cDe-risking that leads to the loss of correspondent banking services is bad news for all of us. It could: undermine financial system resilience; hinder competition; create obstacles to trade; cause financial exclusion; and promote underground financial channels which will be misused by criminals or terrorists,\u201d said FATF Executive Secretary Mr. David Lewis.\n\nVulnerable Individuals\n\nWhile it\u2019s easy to understand why de-risking is being largely executed, it\u2019s also just as easy to forget that there are segments of a global society that will directly experience the negative impact of the strategy.\n\nIn its study of the de-risking issue, the World Bank said: \u201cRemittances contribute to sustaining the welfare of about 700 million people globally and they often represent the only source of income to provide food, healthcare, housing, and education to migrants\u2019 families.\u201d\n\nMy previous article touched on the enormous figure of remittances sent home by migrants, what the number meant with regards to GDP, and the difference between living and surviving.\n\nThose living in post-disaster situations and relying on humanitarian assistance from nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and charities are also being affected. NGOs and charities have reported that they, too, have experienced difficulties in being able to provide financial assistance due to de-risking efforts that resulted in their accounts being closed, because it has been deemed that they fall outside of the firm\u2019s increasingly narrow risk appetite. Fourteen percent of respondents in the Dow Jones survey said they were considering exiting their business relationships with NGOs and charities.\n\nSMEs in Small or Developing Countries\n\nFirms in small and developing nations rely on their local banks having connections with international financial institutions to supply them with credit to drive their businesses forward.\n\nThese institutions are withdrawing services from local banks in such countries; it\u2019s been previously reported that Caribbean countries have been severely affected by de-risking. These small nations and their industries, such as tourism and agriculture, are export-orientated and rely on correspondent services to serve as channels for revenue generated in other countries, as international money transfers also contribute to the payments these businesses receive\u2014a decline would in turn lead to increased borrowing. However, the Central Bank of Barbados reported that their accounts had been closed by banks in the EU, United States and Canada; Belize and Jamaica have also reported similar circumstances.\n\nAs a result of these account terminations, local firms are unable to pay for services or invest in foreign projects, severely hindering economic development.\n\nLaw Enforcement\n\nIn my previous article, I also touched on the fact that a vast amount of remittance is being sent through unofficial channels, and that it is hard to provide the accurate amount that is sent each year. De-risking is only adding to the problem.\n\nMTOs are being forced to use less transparent methods and avenues, such as bulk exchanges\u2014this threatens economic stability. \u201cThis is a serious concern \u2026 to the extent that de-risking may drive financial transactions into less/non-regulated channels, reducing transparency of financial flows and creating financial exclusion, thereby increasing exposure to money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) risks,\u201d according to the FATF.\n\nThe financial industry must pay closer attention to methods of expanding the use of digital technology such as blockchain, the secure public ledgers that distribute funds in a decentralized way almost instantly, provide transparency and are low cost. These ledgers store sender details securely and have built-in facilities for smart contracts and fundraising for businesses.\n\nStrengthening the risk-based approach with technology, coupled with increased sharing of information, would enable financial businesses and banks to facilitate low-cost and more secure customer identification and due diligence checks.\n\n\u201cWe believe a solution to this issue requires dialogue between countries, regulators and banks, and increased information exchange. This can help clarify regulatory expectations, build trust, facilitate capacity building and highlight best practices,\u201d said Mr. Tao Zhang, deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund.\n\nThe IMF notes that some banks are setting the pace for tackling the de-risking issue:\n\nStandard Chartered, a UK bank with a large presence in Asia, established a correspondent banking training program to help its clients, local banks, and the clients\u2019 clients comply with anti-money-laundering and terrorism financing rules. The program is active in 23 countries. Mexico, a major emerging market economy also affected by the loss of correspondent banking relations, has been active on several fronts. In some countries, privacy laws forbid subsidiaries of the same global bank to exchange information about clients\u2019 risk profiles. So Mexico amended its legal framework to facilitate this cross-border information sharing. It also established a domestic U.S. dollar payment system and uses the central bank\u2019s correspondent banking relations to facilitate transfers.\n\nClear risk rewards are needed, along with a focus on developing innovative solutions that ensure firms are compliant and that individuals in need of financial support, in whichever capacity that may be, are provided with it.", "output": "Financial institutions\u2019 de-risking to reduce risk of exposure to money laundering and terrorist financing is depriving market segments and even countries of financial services, including remittances, which around 700 million people rely on globally as a source of income to provide food, healthcare, housing and education.  A total 46% of remittance firms have received notifications from their banks about the closure of their accounts since the Financial Action Task Force's introduction of anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws in 2010, a World Bank study found."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers create renewable catalyst from palladium and bacteria \n In Illinois, fuels that are produced from nonpetroleum-based biological sources may become greener and more affordable, thanks to research performed at the University of Illinois\u2019 Prairie Research Institute that examines the use of a processing catalyst made from palladium metal and bacteria. Published in the journal Fuel, their findings point to a cheaper, more environmentally friendly and renewable catalyst for processing that uses common bacteria and the metal palladium, which can be recovered from waste sources such as discarded electronics, catalytic converters, street sweeper dust and processed sewage.\n\nThe bio-oil produced in the lab from algae contains impurities like nitrogen and oxygen, but treating it with palladium as a catalyst during processing helps remove those impurities to meet clean-air requirements, Sharma said.\n\nFor the palladium to do its job, the bio-oil needs to flow past it during processing. Previous studies have shown that allowing the oil flow through porous carbon particles infused with palladium is an effective method, but those carbon particles are not cheap", "output": "Scientists in Illinois have developed a renewable fuels catalyst made from the metal palladium and common bacteria. The materials can be recovered from waste sources such as discarded electronics, catalytic converters and processed sewerage, and in tests the catalyst was used to refine bio-oil made from algae. The new method uses the bacteria as a 'biologic scaffolding' for the palladium catalyst in place of commercially-produced carbon particles, which are more expensive. The findings open the possibility of a cheaper and more sustainable process for refining renewable and other fuels.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers create renewable catalyst from palladium and bacteria \n CHAMPAIGN, Ill. \u2014 Fuels that are produced from nonpetroleum-based biological sources may become greener and more affordable, thanks to research performed at the University of Illinois\u2019 Prairie Research Institute that examines the use of a processing catalyst made from palladium metal and bacteria.\n\nBiofuels are made from renewable materials such as plants or algae, and offer an alternative to petroleum-based sources. However, many biofuels are costly to produce because the precursor product, bio-oil, must be processed before it is sent to the refinery to be turned into liquid fuel. Illinois Sustainability Technology Center researcher B.K. Sharma and his co-authors have identified and tested a new processing method.\n\n\u201cBio-oil forms from the same chemical reaction that forms petroleum,\u201d Sharma said. \u201cBut what takes millions of years naturally in the ground takes only minutes in the lab using a process that is very similar to pressure cooking.\u201d\n\nPublished in the journal Fuel, their findings point to a cheaper, more environmentally friendly and renewable catalyst for processing that uses common bacteria and the metal palladium, which can be recovered from waste sources such as discarded electronics, catalytic converters, street sweeper dust and processed sewage.\n\nThe bio-oil produced in the lab from algae contains impurities like nitrogen and oxygen, but treating it with palladium as a catalyst during processing helps remove those impurities to meet clean-air requirements, Sharma said.\n\nFor the palladium to do its job, the bio-oil needs to flow past it during processing. Previous studies have shown that allowing the oil flow through porous carbon particles infused with palladium is an effective method, but those carbon particles are not cheap, Sharma said.\n\n\u201cInstead of using commercially produced carbon particles, we can use bacteria cell masses as a sort of biologic scaffolding for the palladium to hold on to,\u201d Sharma said. \u201cThe oil can flow through the palladium-decorated bacteria masses as it does through the carbon particles.\u201d\n\nTo test the effectiveness of the new method, Sharma and his co-authors performed a variety of chemical and physical analyses to determine if their new processing treatment produced a liquid fuel that is comparable in quality to one made using the commercially produced catalyst.\n\n\u201cWe found our product to be as good or even slightly better,\u201d Sharma said. \u201cWe were able to remove the oxygen and nitrogen impurities at a comparable rate, and yielded the same volume of product using our cheaper, greener catalyst as is observed using the more expensive commercial catalyst.\u201d\n\nThe more costly commercial catalyst has the added benefit that it can be used over and over without extensive processing, whereas the Sharma group\u2019s palladium-on-bacteria catalyst will need to undergo processing to be reused.\n\n\u201cIt is a minor caveat,\u201d Sharma said. \u201cThe fact that we have shown the potential of making refinery-ready crude oil from algae bio-oil using a catalyst that can be prepared from low-grade recycled metals and green and economical bacterial biomass proves that this is a very promising advancement. In addition, this bio-catalyst would work equally well in petrochemical processing.\u201d\n\nThe work was conducted in collaboration with professors Joe Wood and Lynne Macaskie from the University of Birmingham, funded through the Birmingham-Illinois Partnership for Discovery, Engagement and Education program. The Natural Environment Research Council, UK also supported this research.", "output": "Scientists in Illinois have developed a renewable fuels catalyst made from the metal palladium and common bacteria. The materials can be recovered from waste sources such as discarded electronics, catalytic converters and processed sewerage, and in tests the catalyst was used to refine bio-oil made from algae. The new method uses the bacteria as a 'biologic scaffolding' for the palladium catalyst in place of commercially-produced carbon particles, which are more expensive. The findings open the possibility of a cheaper and more sustainable process for refining renewable and other fuels.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI-powered chatbot developed for student satisfaction review \n Artificial Intelligence\n\nAI Chatbot Hubert Talks to Students to Collect Course Feedback\n\nA new AI-driven chatbot is looking to give educators deeper insights from course feedback by starting conversations with students.\n\nHubert uses machine learning to interpret student feedback on courses and instructors, and offer ready-categorized results to administrators, according to information from the Stockholm-based startup company.\n\nEducators can create an account for free to use the chatbot in beta. Once logged in, they will be able to access a dashboard and launch a course evaluation that stays open for seven days. Hubert corresponds with students via e-mail throughout that time. The chatbot is capable of holding conversations with students that surround the following questions:\n\nWhat could the teacher start doing that would improve the course?\n\nIs there something that should stop because it\u2019s not working well?\n\nWhat is working well and should continue in the same way?\n\nThe core goal of Hubert is to reform traditional teacher-surveys and provide more qualitative feedback on a course without creating extra work for instructors. Each time an evaluation is completed, the instructor is notified and receives a unique evaluation link that can be shared with the student. Hubert sends students in the course automatic reminders and chats, compiling a report for the instructor. They can choose to read every response separately as well by downloading them in a detailed CSV-file.\n\nIn the future, Hubert will include more tailored conversations and clarifying questions. There will also be more comprehensive forms of questions.", "output": "An AI-driven chatbot called \u201cHubert\u201d has been developed by a Stockholm-based start-up that aims to give educators deeper insights into course feedback by starting conversations with students. Hubert uses machine learning to interpret student feedback and offer categorised results to administrators. The aim is to transform traditional teacher-surveys and provide more qualitative feedback without creating extra work for instructors."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bitcoin Foundation resists increase in state regulation \n For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBreaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nLlew Claasen, Executive Director of The Bitcoin Foundation, has announced that the organisation has retained legal counsel to advise in its effort to fight against increasing federal and state regulation in the US. The foundation believes that increases in regulation are attempts to \u201ccontrol and stifle the adoption and use of so-called \u2018virtual currencies\u2019 such as Bitcoin.\u201d\n\nIn a press release, Claasen claimed that the organisation\u2019s first priority is to attempt to build a \u201cmore open and diverse dialogue with the US Congress\u201d. The effort is a response to the planned introduction of a bill that aims to bring Bitcoin into the scope of US money-laundering enforcement agencies.\n\nBitcoin is a virtual currency or \"cryptocurrency\" that was created by an unknown programmer (or group of programmers) under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto in October 2008. Unlike traditional forms of currency, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies use encryption techniques to regulate the generation of currency and the transfer of funds. This means that the currency is decentralised \u2013 so no single institution controls the Bitcoin network. At the time of writing, one Bitcoin is approximately worth \u00a33,365.27.\n\nRecommended Bitcoin surges up as it targets people without internet access\n\nBecause of encryption, the use of Bitcoin can remain anonymous. Though receipts of transactions are stored in \"blockchains\", users of the currency do not have their names, address, or other forms of personal information attached to their Bitcoin profiles. While some high street shops and bars accept the currency, many people associate the use of Bitcoin with the buying and selling of illicit services on the dark web.\n\nJust last month two of the dark web\u2019s largest markets \"Alphabay\" and \"Hansa\" were seized in a joint effort from European police, Interpol, the FBI and the DEA. The website\u2019s users bought and sold drugs and chemicals from one another using Bitcoin to protect their identities.\n\nUS Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in response that, \u201cThis is likely one of the most important criminal investigations of the year.\u201d He also claimed that \u201cThe dark net is not a place to hide. We will find you.\u201d\n\nThe Bitcoin Foundation is, however, more optimistic about the future and use of the virtual currency. Their vision is to turn Bitcoin into a globally accepted method of exchanging and storing value which will operate without the need for third parties like banks.\n\nIn the release, Claasen said that, \u201cthe increased regulatory push by federal and state authorities, if it continues, is sure to threaten the existence of the fintech [financial technology] industry nationwide.\u201d\n\nMr Claasen added: \u201cJust as the fintech industry\u2019s use of cryptocurrency was stifled in New York by the adoption of the so-called Bitlicence, it is highly likely that increased regulatory and legislative burdens [placed upon Bitcoin] will have a similar negative impact.\u201d\n\nThe Bitcoin Foundation was founded as a non-profit in September 2012. The body's mission statement is to ensure that every human has the right to privacy in transactions that involve no harm to others and the right to economic participation without a bank account or credit history.\n\nIn their efforts to defend Bitcoin, The Bitcoin Foundation has retained the Ciric Law Firm, PLLC for counsel. The firm is currently challenging the US Department of Financial Services\u2019 \u201cVirtual Currency\u201d regulation (Part 200 of Chapter 1 of Title 23 of the New York Codes, Rules and Regulations), which was promulgated in 2015 and is also known as the New York \"Bitlicence\".\n\nSpeaking to The Independent, Mr Claasen said, \u201cstate and federal legislation creates hurdles for innovation, well in advance of knowing what the impact of the technology is going to be \u2013 or what it enables.\n\n\u201c[The Bitcoin Foundation\u2019s] view is that it is not yet clear what bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are. But by regulating the technology prematurely, you put it into a box it might not fit into later on. It\u2019s not that we don\u2019t believe there\u2019s a time and place to regulate Bitcoin, we\u2019re just saying that it\u2019s too early and that regulation will just do harm to very innovative businesses and technologies.\u201d\n\nWhen questioned on Bitcoin\u2019s potential to be used for fraud, money laundering and the buying and selling of illicit goods, Mr Claasen said, \u201cReports by the European commission in June specifically found that there is very little of that activity, particularly there is very little terrorist funding and money laundering.\u201d\n\nClaasen added: \u201cBitcoin is too hard for criminals to use at the moment. It\u2019s easier for a criminal to use the United States dollar.\u201d\n\nAlongside being the foundation's Executive Director, Mr Claasen is a member of the international marketing advisory boards the CMO Council Advisory Board for Africa, the Customer Experience Board and The Forum to Advance the Mobile Experience. He is also the co-founder of Clicks2Customers, a digital marketing agency with annual billings of over \u00a380 billion.\n\nClaasen made it clear that Bitcoin Foundation, \u201cdoesn\u2019t want to break the system, but it is concerned that the system is already broken.\n\n\u201cBitcoin has the potential to be a store of value that\u2019s outside the control of central banks. In the future, we would like to see more adoption of Bitcoin. It\u2019s not going to be the only currency, and it won\u2019t replace the current system, but among other options it\u2019s a useful case for the future.\u201d\n\nThe venture capitalist from Cape Town claims that Bitcoin is not currently at a stage where there are concerns that it will interfere with global monetary policy.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s immature technology,\u201d he claims. \u201cThere is a perception that it allows unlimited transfer of value, but it can only do three or four transfers a second. The network cannot handle larger transactions. \u201c\n\nA key reason Claasen opposes regulation is because, \u201cit is not possible for governments to take the view they want to regulate Bitcoin. It\u2019s important to understand that a decentralised currency means one which is not under control by anybody.\u201d\n\nBitcoin: Is the virtual currency the new gold standard? Show all 2 1 / 2 Bitcoin: Is the virtual currency the new gold standard? Bitcoin: Is the virtual currency the new gold standard? pg-38-bitcoin-1-alamy.jpg Alamy Bitcoin: Is the virtual currency the new gold standard? pg-38-bitcoin-2-getty.jpg Getty Images\n\n\u201cI understand that regulators need to protect the currency and people from risk. [In the future] regulators will probably regulate at the end points of the cryptocurrency network. I get that, it\u2019s inevitable. Around the world the view is the same. But governments and financial services are already struggling, as in Venezuela, and people need an alternative way.\u201d\n\nLlew Claasen concluded that, \u201cAside from other things, [Bitcoin] is a positive technology. It is not one that seeks to destroy or disrupt. It\u2019s a pity when regulators view it as something that is dangerous.\u201d", "output": "The Bitcoin Foundation has appointed lawyers to fight attempts at greater regulation of the cryptocurrency by US state and federal authorities. The move comes ahead of the expected introduction of a bill to the US Congress aimed at bringing bitcoin into the scope of American money-laundering enforcement agencies. Increased regulation will stifle the use of virtual currencies and create hurdles to innovation, said Executive Director Llew Claasen. He added that while some regulation could be appropriate in future, it is now 'too early', and that governments must understand the nature of a decentralised currency.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Botnet of 300 apps gave hackers access to 120,000 IP addresses \n The proliferation of smart devices being corralled to take down the Web now has some competition, in the shape of swarms of malicious apps installed on thousands of smartphones.\n\nOver the past year, the humble botnet\u2014a collection of devices hacked to work with one another to send debilitating surges of data known as DDoS attacks to servers\u2014underwent a renaissance. The huge number of insecure devices, such as video cameras and printers, that now connect to the Internet provides a hacker\u2019s paradise, and they\u2019ve been increasingly commandeered to take down websites and services. We even made Botnets of Things one of our 10 breakthrough technologies of 2017.\n\nBut nefarious types pulled off a similar trick by spreading 300 malicious apps across the Google Play app store. Ars Technica reports that, once installed, those apps commandeered the device on which they sat to send huge quantities of spoof traffic to websites, ultimately forcing some services offline. According to security researchers at Cloudflare, who helped an industrywide effort to understand the botnet that\u2019s now called WireX, the hackers were at one point able to control over 120,000 IP addresses in 100 countries.\n\nThe botnet, which the researchers call \"one of the first, and certainly one of the biggest, Android-based DDoS botnets,\" has been disabled, and the offending apps removed from the Play Store. But the news does highlight how any large collection of Internet-connected devices can be used as a botnet if hackers have the wherewithal to make it happen.", "output": "Hackers are exploiting the vast number of insecure web-connected devices to create botnets, spread by malicious apps, to attack websites and services. In one instance, 300 such apps were spread across the Google Play app store, to create a botnet called WireX. When installed, the apps took control of the linked devices to send enormous amounts of spoof traffic to websites, forcing some services offline. In the attack, hackers were at one point able to control over 120,000 IP addresses in 100 countries. It has now been disabled, and the apps removed from Google Play."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "DCCC Launches Health Care Facebook Ads in Targeted Districts \n The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is launching a new Facebook ad campaign aimed at nearly all of its 80 GOP targets that highlights the Republican health care bill.\n\nThe ads are targeted at Republicans who voted for the bill \u2014 and even Republicans who voted against it. The committee is delaying launching the ads in the three Texas districts it is targeting in light of the Hurricane Harvey\u2019s devastation. But they will eventually run in those districts.\n\nThe ads, provided first to Roll Call, highlight higher costs for seniors under the GOP plan, known as the American Health Care Act. They will run for one week. A DCCC spokesman declined to comment on how much the committee was spending on the Facebook ads.\n\nThe sponsored post on Facebook shows a picture of two seniors in a hospital room with the text, \u201cThe Republicans\u2019 health care bill would add an age tax to older Americans, allowing them to be charged five times more than younger people. And [lawmaker\u2019s name] supported it.\u201d\n\nThe last sentence will not appear in districts where the GOP House member voted against the health care bill, or in districts with open seat races.", "output": "The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is launching a new Facebook ad campaign aimed at nearly all of its 80 GOP targets that highlights the Republican health care bill. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Telehealth: A Priority For Advancing Quality Health Care \n By Michael Adelberg, Libby Baney, Julie Letwat, Steve Lokensgard and Matthew Rubin (August 29, 2017, 12:34 PM EDT) -- Even with the prospect of Obamacare repeal and replace on the back burner for now, the focus on health care is not yet over. Following August recess, Congress will have less than four weeks to work through must-pass legislation that would fund the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Currently, federal funding for the program \u2014 which covers nearly 8.5 million low- and moderate-income children \u2014 is set to expire on Sept. 30, 2017....\n\nStay ahead of the curve\n\nIn the legal profession, information is the key to success. You have to know what\u2019s happening with clients, competitors, practice areas, and industries. Law360 provides the intelligence you need to remain an expert and beat the competition.\n\nAccess to case data within articles (numbers, filings, courts, nature of suit, and more.)\n\nAccess to attached documents such as briefs, petitions, complaints, decisions, motions, etc.\n\nCreate custom alerts for specific article and case topics and so much more!\n\nTRY LAW360 FREE FOR SEVEN DAYS", "output": "Even with the prospect of Obamacare repeal and replace on the back burner for now, the focus on health care is not yet over. Following August recess, Congress will have less than four weeks to work through must-pass legislation that would fund the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Currently, federal funding for the program \u2014 which covers nearly 8.5 million low- and moderate-income children\u00a0\u2014\u00a0is set to expire on Sept. 30, 2017.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Should we be moving towards offering free telemedicine consults? \n Should telemedicine consultations be given away for free? After all, at $40 a visit, remotely diagnosing and treating patients using technology could drastically lower healthcare costs by replacing a $1,200 emergency room visit for routine care. The cost difference is a compelling argument for free telemedicine.\n\nA 2014 analysis by Willis Towers Watson indicates that telemedicine could save U.S. employers $6 billion per year.\n\nWould free telemedicine visits for health plan members flood the healthcare system with unnecessary consultations that would actually drive costs up? Would the convenience of a telemedicine visit when compared to driving to a physical location result in overuse by patients? Or would it fulfill its promise of saving money by drastically reducing the number of unnecessary visits to emergency rooms at $1,200, urgent care centers at $190, doctor\u2019s offices at $125, and walk-in clinics at pharmacies at $85?\n\nThe fact is telemedicine can replace visits for a laundry list of ailments such as coughs, colds, fever, abdominal cramps, acid reflux, arthritis, joint pain, eye infections, respiratory infections such as laryngitis, bronchitis, sinusitis, or skin problems triggering dermatology visits. It is also being used for psychiatry and other virtual behavioral health visits.\n\nUnanswerable questions about use and misuse make offering and promoting telemedicine by plans and employers a balancing act.\n\nTelemedicine is nearly ubiquitous, but consumer interest is low\n\nNevertheless, employers are adopting telemedicine in high numbers. Telemedicine will be offered by 96 percent of large employers by 2018, according to a survey by the National Business Group on Health. This is corroborated by the 22nd annual Willis Towers Watson Best Practices Survey showing that 94 percent of employers already offer their employees telemedicine or are planning to or considering it by 2019.\n\nAt the same time, consumers are showing little interest. Teladoc reported that employee utilization rates are at just 6.1 percent.\n\nPros and cons\n\n\n\nDr. Allan Khoury, a senior health management consultant with Willis Towers Watson, wrote that employers should consider giving away telemedicine for free. It could be a cost-effective catalyst to increase use.\n\nPlus, telemedicine is becoming even more useful as apps and accessories for smartphones turn them into remote diagnostic tools. For example, companies such as CliniCloud are creating devices that make it possible to check vital signs, hear heart and lung sounds, and perform other routine diagnostic tests remotely and get results immediately.\n\n\n\nThe cautionary note that telemedicine could lead to overuse of telemedicine comes from Rand study in which researchers examined 300,000 claims from 2011 to 2013 for 300,000 beneficiaries of California pension fund and health benefits manager CalPERS. Focusing on acute care such as respiratory infections, the study examined the records of those who received care from telehealth providers, as well as those who received care from a physician\u2019s office or a hospital emergency department.\n\nThe study\u2019s findings revealed that telehealth services were about 50 percent lower in cost than a physician office visit, and less than 5 percent the cost of a visit to an emergency room. However, increased annual spending by $45 per telehealth user outweighed the savings from telemedicine instead of traditional care.\n\nA press release announcing the Rand study noted, \u201cWhile direct-to\u00adconsumer telemedicine services do increase patients\u2019 access to convenient health care, researchers say new strategies such as higher co-pays or targeted marketing may be needed if telehealth is to fulfill its potential as a cost-saving strategy.\u201d\n\nIt is noteworthy that Anthem just announced it will stop covering emergency room visits in Indiana in cases for which the insurer deems are non-emergencies. Expect that more plans will impose rules and incentives to better manage the use of acute care choices. As part of that effort, they may remind their members that telemedicine is an option.\n\n\n\nStill, if we follow the Rand study implications, hypochondriacs could call telehealth professionals endlessly and drive up costs. On the other hand, judicious use by plan members could cut a lot of fat out of health care costs for mundane health care visits.\n\nOne thing is clear. Telemedicine is not yet fully integrated into our health care system. Consumers need incentives to try it. And, plan sponsors need the proper claims management to assure its use is necessary.\n\nWelcome to the Ying and Yang of telemedicine.\n\nPhoto: Ian Hooton, Getty Images", "output": "Should telemedicine consultations be given away for free? After all, at $40 a visit, remotely diagnosing and treating patients using technology could drastically lower healthcare costs by replacing a $1,200 emergency room visit for routine care. The cost difference is a compelling argument for free telemedicine.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Streamlined Tool Speeds Appraisal of Seniors' Postop Risks \n A pared-down, easily administered version of the Vulnerable Elders Surgical Pathways and Outcomes Assessment (VESPA) tool reliably estimates the risk for geriatric and surgical complications in elderly patients, according to a new study published online August 2 in JAMA Surgery.\n\nThe prospective study drew on a cohort of 770 patients (384 women) with a mean age of 77.7 years, all of whom were scheduled to undergo elective surgery in the University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, between July 2008 and January 2011. The most common surgery categories were otolaryngology/oral maxillofacial, plastic, and gastrointestinal.\n\nThe standard VESPA tool includes 14 items. For the current study, the team used an abbreviated version for preoperative assessment of functional status across the five activities of daily living proposed by the American College of Surgeons and the American Geriatrics Society: bathing, transferring, dressing, shopping, and meals. They also inquired about history of falling or gait impairment, as well as depressive symptoms, using the 2-item Patient Health Questionnaire-2. In addition, they administered a 3-minute cognitive examination (Mini-Cog) plus a gait/balance assessment (Timed Up and Go test).\n\nA total of 736 patients underwent a preoperative assessment via the abbreviated VESPA, which was administered by physician assistants in 10 minutes or less.\n\nAdding a novel question on self-care, the researchers also asked participants whether they thought they could manage for themselves on their own after discharge. \"To our knowledge, this is the first study incorporating patients' self-assessed inability to manage themselves after an operation,\" write Lillian Min, MD, MSHS, from the Division of Geriatric and Palliative Medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and colleagues.\n\nDuring evaluation, 105 patients (14.3%) had reported having at least one difficulty with the five activities of daily living, while 270 (38.2%) of 707 patients had self-assessed as being unable to manage postdischarge self-care alone.\n\nAfter surgery, 187 of 740 patients (25.3%) turned out to have either geriatric or surgical complications, with 131 (17.7%) having geriatric complications and 114 (15.4%) having surgical complications. Men were almost twice as likely as women to have geriatric complications (odds ratio [OR], 1.9; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.3 - 2.8) in an unadjusted analysis.\n\n\"Without screening, we would have missed one-fourth of patients with a preoperative functional deficit and 38% with a novel risk factor: those who judged themselves as not being able to manage themselves alone after discharge,\" the investigators write. These two variables both correlated significantly with postoperative complications, a finding that parallels other research on the effect of frailty on surgical outcomes and highlights the advisability of system-wide screening efforts.\n\nThe study combined variables into three composite outcomes: any postsurgical occurrence, including acute renal failure, pneumonia, surgical site infection, unplanned intubation, sepsis, or urinary tract infection; death, or unplanned readmission within 30 days; any geriatric complication such as delirium, pressure ulcer, fall, or malnutrition; and any complication, whether surgical or geriatric.\n\nOn multivariable analysis, the number of reported difficulties with daily activities (OR, 1.3; 95% CI, 1.0 - 1.6), predicted difficulty with postoperative self-care (OR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.0 - 2.2). Apart from male sex, other independent predictors of postoperative complications were a Charlson Comorbidity score of 2 or more (OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.0 - 2.3) and highly complex primary surgery (OR, 7.4; 95% CI, 4.6 - 11.9).\n\nUsing a cutoff score of 9 or higher, the investigators found the shorter VESPA scale had an acceptable specificity for postoperative complications of 76% and a sensitivity of 68%. The evaluation rate, however, steadily declined, from 42.3% of eligible patients during the first 6 months to 10.9% by the end of the study.\n\nThe 10-minute VESPA is in the process of being implemented in the University of Michigan's preoperative clinics. \"We believe it will ease screening and be as effective [as the longer version],\" coauthor Kathy M. Diehl, MD, from the Department of Surgery, told Medscape Medical News. \"Thus far, the reaction from clinicians has been favorable.\"\n\n\"We expect that this more efficient version of the VESPA tool will facilitate sustainability of assessment rates in the future,\" the authors write, adding that further validation is warranted.\n\nThis research was supported by a grant from the University of Michigan Older Americans Independence Act Claude D. Pepper Center. Dr Min also received support from a Pepper Center Research Career Development Core grant and the Hartford Foundation Center of Excellence. The funding sources had no role in any aspect of the study. One author reports holding shares in Ooney Inc. The remaining authors have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.\n\nJAMA Surg. Published online August 2, 2017. Abstract\n\nFor more news, join us on Facebook and Twitter", "output": "A pared-down, easily administered version of the Vulnerable Elders Surgical Pathways and Outcomes Assessment (VESPA) tool reliably estimates the risk for geriatric and surgical complications in elderly patients, according to a new study published online August 2 in\u00a0JAMA Surgery.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Spambot server with data on 711 million email accounts detected \n (Image: file photo)\n\nA huge spambot ensnaring 711 million email accounts has been uncovered.\n\nA Paris-based security researcher, who goes by the pseudonymous handle Benkow, discovered an open and accessible web server hosted in the Netherlands, which stores dozens of text files containing a huge batch of email addresses, passwords, and email servers used to send spam.\n\nThose credentials are crucial for the spammer's large-scale malware operation to bypass spam filters by sending email through legitimate email servers.\n\nThe spambot, dubbed \"Onliner,\" is used to deliver the Ursnif banking malware into inboxes all over the world. To date, it's resulted in more than 100,000 unique infections across the world, Benkow told ZDNet.\n\nTroy Hunt, who runs breach notification site Have I Been Pwned, said it was a \"mind-boggling amount of data.\"\n\nHunt, who analyzed the data and details his findings in a blog post, called it the \"largest\" batch of data to enter the breach notification site in its history.\n\nBenkow, who also wrote up his findings in a blog post, has spent months digging into the Ursnif malware, a data-stealing trojan used to grab personal information such as login details, passwords, and credit card data, researchers have said. Typically, a spammer would send a \"dropper\" file as a normal-looking email attachment. When the attachment is opened, the malware downloads from a server and infects the machine.\n\nBut while spamming is still an effective malware delivery method, email filters are getting smarter and many domains found to have sent spam have been blacklisted.\n\nThe spammer's Onliner campaign, however, uses a sophisticated setup to bypass those spam filters.\n\n\"To send spam, the attacker needs a huge list of SMTP credentials,\" said Benkow in his blog post. Those credentials authenticate the spammer in order to send what appears to be legitimate email.\n\n\"The more SMTP servers he can find, the more he can distribute the campaign,\" he said.\n\nThose credentials, he explained, have been scraped and collated from other data breaches, such as the LinkedIn hack and the Badoo hack, as well also other unknown sources. The list has about 80 million accounts, he said, with each line containing the email address and password, along with the SMTP server and the port used to send the email. The spammer tests each entry by connecting to the server to ensure that the credentials are valid and that spam can be sent. The accounts that don't work are ignored.\n\nThese 80 million email servers are then used to send the remaining 630 million targets emails, designed to scope out the victim, or so-called \"fingerprinting\" emails.\n\nThese emails appear innocuous enough, but they contain a hidden pixel-sized image. When the email is open, the pixel image sends back the IP address and user-agent information, used to identify the type of computer, operating system, and other device information. That helps the attacker know who to target with the Ursnif malware, by specifically targeting Windows computers, rather than sending malicious files to iPhone or Android users, which aren't affected by the malware.\n\nBenkow said that narrowing down of would-be victims is key to ensuring the success of the malware campaign.\n\n\"There is a risk that the campaign can become too noisy, like Dridex, for example,\" he told ZDNet. \"If your campaign is too noisy, law enforcement will look for you.\"\n\nBenkow explained that the attacker can send out a million \"fingerprinting\" spam emails and get a fraction of emails back, but still have enough responses to send out a second batch of a few thousand targeted emails with malware.\n\nThose emails often come days or even weeks later, masquerading as invoices from delivery services, hotels, or insurance companies, with a malicious JavaScript file attached.\n\n\"It's pretty smart,\" Benkow admitted.\n\nAccording to Hunt, who processed the data, 27 percent of email addresses in the data are already in Have I Been Pwned. But he noted a caveat: Because the data has been scraped from the web, some of the data is malformed. He said that while the 711 million figure is \"technically accurate,\" the number of humans involved will be somewhat less.\n\nHunt has made the data now searchable in Have I Been Pwned.", "output": "A giant spambot that contained 711 million email accounts has been discovered in the Netherlands, thanks to a Paris-based security researcher, known as Benkow. The spambot, which is called \"Onliner\", is used to send the Ursnif banking malware into inboxes and has infected more than 100,000 computers all over the world. The Ursnif malware steals personal data such as credit card information, passwords and login details. The sophisticated software is able to narrow down its\u00a0attacks to only those accounts that are vulnerable and sends spam through legitimate servers, making it harder to stop.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Natural gas power plant promises to capture carbon at no cost \n Eight Rivers was cofounded by a pair of MIT alumni: Bill Brown, who was previously a managing director at Morgan Stanley, and Miles Palmer, who worked in aerospace technology at SAIC, a massive defense contractor. As Wall Street banks stood on the verge of collapse in 2008, Brown pitched Palmer on setting up 8 Rivers, saying by his recollection: \"Why don't we get together and do good for a change?\"\n\nThey initially focused on developing clean coal technologies, hoping to tap into some of the energy funds in the 2009 federal stimulus package. But they found companies simply wouldn't buy anything that added costs to the process. They were eventually introduced to Allam, who had been thinking about the potential of using supercritical CO\u2082 to integrate carbon capture into a power plant. He was eventually hired by 8 Rivers and, with other members of its team, he set to work developing the technology necessary to make the process compete with standard, combined cycle natural gas plants.\n\nTo truly do so, the company will have to get pretty close to the capital expenditure construction costs of such plants, which stood at $1,056 per kilowatt of capacity in 2014, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The company expects its first commercial plant to cost around $1,600 per kilowatt, in part due to higher capital expenses, warranties, and other costs associated with a first project of its kind. But they believe they can get costs down to around $1,000 by the time they\u2019ve built five to seven full-scale plants.\n\nEventually, Net Power expects to produce electricity for around $42 per megawatt-hour, on par with combined cycle natural gas without carbon capture. But on top of all that, the company can also sell several by-products to the market, including carbon dioxide. Taken together, those could effectively push energy production costs down to around $20 per megawatt-hour (theoretically even as low as $9 per megawatt-hour).\n\nLocal, state, or federal clean-energy policies\u2014such as carbon taxes, cap and trade systems, and emissions standards\u2014could all improve the economics even further.\n\nNet Power initially intends to act as a licensing company, rather than a developer or operator, selling the technology to utilities, oil and gas companies, and others. The company has already begun conversations and explored potential sites for its first commercial plant, which it hopes will come online as early as 2021.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s always gremlins and you figure them out as you move along,\u201d says Brock Forrest, senior research and development engineer at 8 Rivers. \u201cBut from an engineering and technical perspective, we are confident we will be able to show that supercritical CO\u2082 will be able to generate electricity.\u201d\n\nThere are a few additional caveats to consider: the main market for the captured carbon dioxide would be for use in enhanced oil recovery, where energy companies inject it into aging wells to help free up remaining oil. That suggests the captured gas would continue to contribute at least indirectly to the collection and burning of fossil fuels. Crucially, the extraction of natural gas itself carries environmental consequences as well, including leakage of greenhouse gases, contamination of water tables, and earthquakes triggered by subsequent wastewater disposal.\n\nBut to the degree that Net Power technology could reduce the use of coal, and prevent the release of untold tons of carbon dioxide from natural gas, it very likely adds up to a net environmental benefit \u2014 at least compared to other fossil-fuel power plants.\n\nThis story was updated to correct estimated construction costs.", "output": "Net Power, a new power station in La Porte, Texas, aims to capture the CO2 it produces at no extra cost. The $140m plant uses the so-called Allam Cycle, which instead of heating water to create steam and power the turbines, feeds pure oxygen, carbon dioxide, and natural gas into a combustor, which ignites the gas. The supercritical CO2 created in the process drives the adjacent turbine then goes through a series of compressors, pumps and heat exchangers to recuperate as much of the heat as possible and return the carbon dioxide to the beginning of the cycle. Net Power, due to start operation by December is a collaboration between North Carolina-based technology investor 8 Rivers Capital, plant operator Exelon Generation\u00a0and energy construction firm CB&I."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mind Music Labs dreams of making instruments 'smart' \n \u201cWhat we\u2019re working on is not just the performance. What we believe is that the next revolution is to have every instrument smart and connected\u2026\u201d\n\nMichele Benincaso is the CEO of Mind Music Labs, the Sweden-based startup behind the Sensus Smart Guitar.\n\nYou may know it from the guitar\u2019s unveiling at the Web Summit conference in November 2015; from its success in the Midemlab and Sonar+D startup contests in 2016; or from the instrument\u2019s first stage performance at the Slush conference that November.\n\nHaving raised $220k of seed funding in January this year \u2013 following a previous round for the same amount \u2013 Mind Music Labs is one of a number of companies trying to bring tech smarts to the guitar and other music instruments. See also: Jammy, Magic Instruments, Jamstik+ and FretX.\n\nThat said, Benincaso hopes his company stands out, partly because the Sensus is a proper standalone guitar \u2013 \u201cit\u2019s not just a controller for your computer!\u201d \u2013 and partly because Mind Music Labs has wider ambitions.\n\n\u201cThe smart guitar is the first instrument that is using our technology. But what we have actually developed is a system that can make every music instrument smart. It\u2019s a full embedded system designed for ultra low-latency audio performance,\u201d says Benincaso.\n\nThat provides potential for Mind Music Labs\u2019 technology to be used for a range of instruments and electronic-music devices: not just guitar, and not just instruments made by the company. For now, the company is keeping any plans on this front close to its chest.\n\nBenincaso is happy to talk about the potential that connected instruments have for music education, however.\n\n\u201cMusic education is a huge market. The last figures we saw were that it\u2019s $9bn in the US alone, although that includes a lot of music lessons. But people are wanting to learn in a completely new way too,\u201d he says.\n\nA lot of this comes down to data, he continues, noting that a human teacher giving a lesson in-person can watch a student play, and then give them real-time feedback on what they are doing wrong, and how to fix it.\n\n\u201cBut when it comes to digital learning, you don\u2019t have much data. Apps like Yousician and Uberchord \u2013 which I think are doing great work \u2013 use the microphone of the phone to get the audio coming from the guitar, it\u2019s true, but the app doesn\u2019t know where I am putting my fingers, and if I am holding the guitar right or wrong,\u201d he says.\n\nThis is where Mind Music Labs believes that connected instruments can help music learners: their sensors and connectivity could provide music-learning apps and services with more (and more-useful) data on how they\u2019re being played, rather than just the sound that they\u2019re making.\n\n\u201cIt will open up a completely new world when it comes to education. The instrument will be able to send over wirelessly not only the audio, but all the data that an app like Yousician needs to give the user feedback and a much more complete experience,\u201d says Benincaso.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s the biggest challenge today when it comes to music education: we don\u2019t have enough data on how people play. If we have a connected instrument, we can have access to that data.\u201d\n\nHe also sees the potential for smart instruments to be used together with other devices. For example, smart speakers like Amazon\u2019s Echo and its Alexa voice assistant.\n\n\u201cThink about your Amazon Echo, and Alexa telling you that you need to move the guitar another way and move that finger. That\u2019s very complex to do today,\u201d says Benincaso.\n\n\u201cThe only way to get information from the instrument is via the microphone and the audio coming from the instrument. But so much other data is lost. When we change that, music education technology will have a big jump.\u201d\n\nFor now, Mind Music Labs is continuing to work on the Sensus and the platform that underpins it, while considering what kind of partnerships could take the latter forward. Benincaso is confident about the potential.\n\n\u201cIn 10-15 years from now, every new musical instrument will have its own system and be connected to each other. And it will be like the mobile app world, with SDKs and APIs for people to write all kinds of applications on top of these systems, and will give access to the musicians to interact with all the newest technology like VR, wearable devices and the whole Internet of Things world,\u201d he says.\n\nThat could fuel everything from educational apps to games and virtual-reality experiences, where the audio and associated data from smart instruments is available to developers.\n\nBenincaso draws a parallel with a previous shift in instruments, when acoustic guitars went electric, with amps and other technologies.\n\n\u201cWhen you went from the acoustic to the electric guitar, you went from 30 people in the room to thousands of people. Or even Woodstock, where you had just a bunch of guitar players on stage and 400,000 people getting crazy!\u201d he says.\n\n\u201cMusicians\u2019 needs are a new way of expression using sound, and also the need to engage people and to reach more people. And today, if you want to reach more people, you can\u2019t just get a bigger amplifier. You need to be connected.\u201d", "output": "Mind Music Labs, the Swedish start-up that created a guitar that connects to the internet, has\u00a0developed an internet of things system that can make any musical instrument \"smart\", said CEO Michele Benincaso. The company's Sensus Smart Guitar allows users to add modulations and effects to their music without accessories, computers or speakers. Connected instruments can provide music learners with data on how they play instruments, rather than just the sound produced, Benincaso said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Arc-net and PwC fight food fraud with 'breakthrough solution' \n A Northern Ireland tech company specialising in food traceability is to work with PwC in the Netherlands on a new project.\n\nArc-net, which was founded by former butcher Kieran Kelly, said the venture would create \"a new model for food integrity, supply chain security and compliance\".\n\nThe firm uses blockchain technology to monitor stages in the food production process and guard against food fraud.\n\nBusiness advisors PwC have claimed that food fraud costs the global economy over $40bn every year.\n\nScandals affecting the food chain have ranged from the horsemeat controversy of 2013, to the use of slaughterhouse waste in oil in China in 2014.\n\nMr Kelly, chief executive of arc-net, said collaborating with PwC in the Netherlands would help food brand owners deliver on product and brand security.\n\nHe added: \"PwC has a rich track record in providing leading edge expertise and insights to manage change, navigate complexity and unlock value for their customers.\n\n\"We are extremely confident that this partnership will allow both the arc-net platform and PwC to deliver on our joint commitment to enhance the security and integrity of the food we eat.\"\n\nHans Schoolderman, PwC partner in sustainability and food integrity, said: \"Where many start-ups and others discuss and research the power of new technologies, the arc-net platform offers a proven solution based on the power of blockchain that gives ultimate transparency on safety, quality and integrity of food.\n\n\"The partnership allows us to bring arc-net's breakthrough solution to our clients helping them solve the important challenge of bringing high quality, safe and transparent products to the market and improve the trust we have in the food we eat.\"\n\nMr Kelly has said blockchain technology lends itself well to food traceability. \"It creates trust among ecosystem members, who can validate the information and assets as they transfer,\" he said.", "output": "Irish tech firm Arc-net will work with PwC on a blockchain-based technology solution for battling food fraud in the Netherlands. The project will improve food traceability by using blockchain to trace food products\u2019 passage through the production and supply ecosystem, with information verified frequently to avoid fraudulent activity. PwC has said that food fraud costs the global economy $40bn annually.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "German alliances challenge Facebook-Google duopoly \n The hottest trend in German media: cross-industry alliances that prioritize consumer data privacy and aim to compete with the Facebook-Google duopoly.\n\nAxel Springer, owner of titles like national newspapers Bild and Die Welt, is part of one of Germany\u2019s two high-profile alliances, which also includes auto manufacturer Daimler, insurance juggernaut Allianz and Deutsche Bank. German airline Lufthansa, telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom and IT security company Bundesdruckerei signed on this week, bringing the total number of members to nine.\n\nThe alliance\u2019s goal: to provide a single login for customers across all partner sites that complies with the new data privacy regulations (General Data Protection Regulation), which will be enforced starting next May. Once users have created personal accounts, they can use the same security settings and passwords across member sites. The partners are calling the login the \u201cmaster key,\u201d which is what the login will be referred to when it is marketed to consumers.\n\nThe sign-in platform will be marketed to consumers as \u201cVerimi\u201d \u2014 a mix of the English words \u201cverify\u201d and \u201cme.\u201d A dedicated website explaining the service and how to use it is starting to familiarize people with the initiative before the product\u2019s launch.\n\nVerimi\u2019s prime purpose is to remove lengthy online account management across numerous sites \u2014 a process that will become more complex after the rollout of the GDPR and ePrivacy directive. People can manage the data that businesses have on them this way. Once people register, they\u2019re asked to give \u201cexpress consent\u201d to data being passed on to the alliance\u2019s partner companies, as well as what data they\u2019re OK with passing on. That information will also help ensure any personalized ad targeting that member companies run is GDPR-compliant \u2014 useful insight for media companies and advertisers that want to make sure they don\u2019t target advertising to people who\u2019ve stated they don\u2019t want it.\n\nBy teaming with non-media companies, Axel Springer has taken a different route than a typical media alliance. This way, it can skirt any disagreements that can arise between competitors and stunt progress, which has hindered other media alliances. But Verimi is open-standard, so although Axel Springer is currently the only media group involved, others can join. The goal is to expand the service to other European markets, starting with those in which the founding partners are already present.\n\nThe pledge is to have a working product in market by year-end or the beginning of 2018 at the latest \u2014 just over six months since the initial announcement about it in May. Verimi will run as an independent unit, staffed by 30 people with backgrounds ranging from social media and marketing to data privacy. The companies have hired the team from the open market, rather than sharing existing resources.\n\nThe alliance\u2019s purpose is similar to the other major cross-industry universal login alliance, which German broadcasters RTL Group and ProSiebenSat.1 and internet services provider United Internet lead. Although both alliances have formed to provide a European alternative to the U.S. tech platforms like Google, Facebook and Amazon, attaining mass reach will be the objective for both groups. That will naturally pit them against each other. But the universal login will be the first of many products the Verimi alliance plans to release, though future product details are scant.\n\n\u201cDigitalization is based on simplicity and trust,\u201d said Timotheus H\u00f6ttges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom. \u201cOur aim with Verimi is to offer a practical and ultra-safe online master key. We will ensure that our clients\u2019 digital identities remain within EU jurisdiction and enjoy the security afforded by German data protection rules.\u201d", "output": "German media entities are forming cross-industry alliances to safeguard consumer data and challenge the Facebook-Google duopoly on news. One consortium includes financier Deutsche Bank, automotive firm Daimler, insurance giant Allianz, airline Lufthansa, newspaper owner Axel Springer, telecoms agency Deutsche Telekom and IT security firm Bundesdruckerei. The companies aim to provide a single \"master key\" login across all sites to ensure compliance with the new General Data Protection Regulation from May 2018. The Verimi system is designed to provide a European alternative to sign-in options through Google and Facebook.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Specialist insurer Beazley unveils environmental product in Canada \n New York, July 18, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Beazley, a leading provider of specialist environmental liability insurance, has launched its local environmental coverage in Canada.\n\nNick Bidwell, an experienced underwriter of environmental risks, has joined Beazley to develop business in Canada, focusing on fixed site and operational liability risks. Prior to joining Beazley, Mr Bidwell was the Canadian national underwriting lead for site liability at Zurich. Before that, he held environmental consulting positions at Conestoga-Rovers & Associates/GHD in Canada and WSP Environmental in the UK. He is based in Beazley\u2019s Toronto office.\n\nBeazley covers a wide range of environmental risks including operational coverage for businesses that may face claims for polluting the premises of third parties; professional liability coverage for environmental consultants; protection for ongoing fixed site operations; contractors\u2019 pollution liability; and brownfield site remediation. Key target industries are the manufacturing, industrial, real estate, hospital and educational sectors.\n\nJayne Cunningham, Beazley\u2019s environmental focus group leader, said: \u201cWe\u2019re excited to expand Beazley\u2019s specialist environmental coverage to the Canadian market and look forward to developing creative solutions for local clients. Nick is extremely knowledgeable about the environmental risks faced by local organizations and will help Beazley build local distribution for risks that don\u2019t typically reach the London market.\u201d\n\nBZPR_7_12_17\n\nNote to editors:\n\nBeazley plc (BEZ) is the parent company of specialist insurance businesses with operations\n\nin Europe, the US, Canada, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Australia. Beazley manages six Lloyd\u2019s syndicates and, in 2016, underwrote gross premiums worldwide of $2,195.6 million. All Lloyd\u2019s syndicates are rated A by A.M. Best.\n\nBeazley\u2019s underwriters in the United States focus on writing a range of specialist insurance products. In the admitted market, coverage is provided by Beazley Insurance Company, Inc., an A.M. Best A rated carrier licensed in all 50 states. In the surplus lines market, coverage is provided by the Beazley syndicates at Lloyd\u2019s.\n\nBeazley is a market leader in many of its chosen lines, which include professional indemnity, property, marine, reinsurance, accident and life, and political risks and contingency business.\n\nFor more information please go to: www.beazley.com", "output": "Specialist environmental liability insurer Beazley has taken on a new underwriter to develop the company's environmental services in Canada. Nick Bidwell, who previously worked for Zurich and held a number of environmental consulting roles, will be based in Beazley's Toronto office. The company provides coverage for a range of environmental risks including polluting of third party premises, protection for ongoing fixed site operations and brownfield site remediation. They target services at manufacturing, industrial, real estate, health and education sectors and have specialist subsidiaries across the world."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US on-demand life insurance start-up Bestow raises $2.5m \n Bestow, a Dallas, TX-based developer of an on-demand life insurance platform, raised $2.5m in seed funding.\n\nThe round was led by New Enterprise Associates with participation from Core Innovation Capital, Morpheus Ventures and 8VC.\n\nThe company, which has raised $3.1m in venture capital, intends to use the funds to finalize the platform for launch this fall.\n\nFounded by entrepreneurs Melbourne O\u2019Banion and Jonathan Abelmann, Bestow is advancing a consumer-first life insurance solution, which, driven by analytics and technology, enables users to learn, apply, buy and manage coverage needs on-demand by removing the need for face-to-face interaction, including agent and medical exam requirements.\n\nFinSMEs\n\n29/08/2017", "output": "Dallas-based Bestow has raised $2.5m in seed funding to finalise its on-demand life insurance platform before its launch in the autumn. Bestow's life insurance policies use analytics to allow users to\u00a0buy and manage coverage as they need it. This removes the need for\u00a0meetings with agents and medical exams. The round was led by New Enterprise Associates, with participation from Core Innovation Capital, Morpheus Ventures and 8VC.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TicHome Mini to make Google Assistant 'take anywhere' \n TicHome Mini: SMART SPEAKER. MEET WIRELESS FREEDOM.\n\nThe compact and highly portable disk-like design appears to integrate relatively well into any home decor and just about any setting. Battery-powered and capable of functioning without being plugged in, the TicHome Mini also comes with an interchangeable strap that makes for easy carrying or hanging around the house. Plus, it boasts a splash-proof rating of IPX6, which means that you can use the Mini in your bathroom or by the pool. While you will have to act fast, it won\u2019t necessarily be the end of days if the device gets a little rainwater.\n\nRecommended Videos\n\nLike Google Home, you can activate this smart home device by saying \u201cOK Google\u201d and you will be able to ask about the weather, set alarms, or, if you are in the mood, ask the Mini to tell a joke. If you are looking for more practical applications, Google Assistant can help you schedule events on Google Calendar, manage your to-do list, and more.\n\nAs Google adds more functionality to its A.I. assistant, so too will the TicHome Mini. You can already access a number of third-party content providers, including Spotify, iHeartRadio, Nest, and If This Then That, and the list is only expected to continue growing.\n\n\u201cThe partnership between Google and Mobvoi has opened up opportunities to combine Google\u2019s industry-leading Google Assistant with Mobvoi\u2019s vision for a portable home assistant form factor,\u201d Zhifei Li, CEO and founder of Mobvoi, said in a statement. \u201cWith TicHome Mini we aim to push the boundaries of how and where A.I. impacts our daily lives.\u201d\n\nAfter making its debut at this year\u2019s IFA, the TicHome Mini is now available for pre-sale. Prices begin at $79, or 20 percent off the retail price of $99. The Mini is available in a wide range of colors, including black, white, red, and green.\n\n\u201cWe are excited to make TicHome Mini available to ship for the holidays, so that you can enjoy the best of a portable speaker and the Google Assistant at home while bonding with your family,\u201d Li added. \u201cThrough the TicHome Mini, we bring to you a portable A.I. device which seamlessly integrates into your life.\u201d\n\nUpdate: The TicHome Mini is now available for pre-sale.\n\nEditors' Recommendations", "output": "The portable TicHome Mini from Chinese AI firm Mobvoi is expected to make Google Assistant a take anywhere smart home device when it rolls out this winter. The battery-powered device, which is set to retail for under $100, was designed to be an inexpensive way to introduce AI into daily life; it is activated the same way as Google Home and supports third party services such as Nest and Spotify, with the listed expected to grow as Google adds functionality to its assistant.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon Echo rolls out new multi-room music feature \n Amazon has this week announced the roll-out of a new multi-room music feature to its Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, and Echo Show devices. Enabling users to now synchronise their music playback across multiple Echo devices.\n\nStreaming music from Amazon Music, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, and Pandora, with support for Spotify and SiriusXM available shortly says Amazon. Using the Amazon Alexa App simply create groups of Echo devices and then simply ask Alexa to play on those devices.\n\n\n\nFor instance if you create a group of Echoes called \u201cdownstairs\u201d you can then ask Alexa play your favourite playlist \u201cdownstairs\u201d. Amazon is also rolling out new tools to enable AVS device makers to integrate with Amazon Alexa Multi-Room Music, which are expected to be available early next year. Amazon explains more :\n\nThese new tools enable device makers with connected audio systems to control music playback using Alexa. A customer can then use any Alexa-enabled device \u2013 for example an Echo Dot \u2013 to play music throughout their home on their connected audio systems. Amazon is excited to be working with leading brands on this offering, including Sonos, Bose, Sound United, and Samsung. \u201cAlexa set the standard for voice in smart homes, so working with Amazon to bring voice control to Sonos for the first time was an obvious choice,\u201d said Antoine Leblond, VP of Software, Sonos. \u201cThis has been a close collaboration from the beginning as we\u2019ve worked together to combine the magic of Alexa with the seamless multi-room audio capabilities that Sonos pioneered. We\u2019re proud of the work we\u2019ve done together as Amazon\u2019s first multi-room partner \u2013 all you\u2019ll need is an Alexa-enabled device and playing music out loud on Sonos will be as easy as saying \u2018Alexa, play music in the living room.\u2019\u201d \u201cSound United is constantly striving to provide consumers with the best possible user experience. With AI voice services simplifying how we control our home environments and products, we\u2019re excited Denon, Marantz, and HEOS customers will be some of the first to experience Alexa multi-room audio compatibility and the power of voice control,\u201d said Kevin Duffy, CEO and president, Sound United. \u201cSoon, users will be able to play their favorite song, alter the volume, or change an input in any room where our connected products are placed, simply by asking Alexa to do so.\u201d\n\nSource: Amazon\n\n\n\nLatest Geeky Gadgets Deals\n\nSome of our articles include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, Geeky Gadgets may earn an affiliate commission. Learn about our Disclosure Policy", "output": "Amazon Echo users can now synchronise music playback across multiple devices, in multiple rooms, thanks to the roll-out of its multi-room music feature. Users can now stream music from Amazon Music, TuneIn, Pandora and iHeartRadio across different devices by grouping them together on the Alexa app. Support for Spotify and SiriusXM will be available shortly, according to the company. \u201cSoon, users will be able to play their favorite song, alter the volume, or change an input in any room where our connected products are placed, simply by asking Alexa to do so\u201d, said\u00a0Kevin Duffy, CEO and president at Sound United.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Treebo Hotels secures $34m in series C funding \n Treebo Hotels, a Bangalore-based online budget hotel aggregator has raised $34 Million (Rs 220 crore) in its Series C funding round led by Hong Kong-based investment firms Ward Ferry Management and Karst Peak Capital. Existing investors, SAIF Partners, Matrix Partners India, and Bertelsmann India Investments also participated in the round. Treebo said in a statement that it will invest the fresh funds into enhancing customer experience, building a stronger brand, strengthening its technology team, and expanding its footprint in existing and new cities. The platform currently has close to 300 franchisees operating under its brand across in about 50 cities. Treebo\u2019s previous funding With this round the company has raised a total of $57M in three rounds from multiple investors: Series B: -In July last year, Treebo secured funding of Rs 112 crore (~$16.7M) and said that it will use the funding for expand to more than 60 cities and increasing its inventory 12,000 rooms. It said that it plans to launch a product extension including mid scale and leisure rooms, expanding from its current portfolio of budget rooms. Series A: In June 2015, Treebo raised around $6 million in funding from SAIF and Matrix. The company was started in the same year by former Myntra executives Siddharth Gupta and Rahul Chaudhary, along with Kadam Jeet Jain. Competition Treebo competes with numerous place in budget hotel space, which include OYO Rooms, FabHotels, MakeMyTrip-GoIbibo, Paytm, Booking.com, Hotels.com, Yatra, Airbnb- to name a few. Last month, Gurgaon-based online budget hotel aggregator FabHotels\u2026\n\nPlease subscribe login to read the full story.", "output": "India's Treebo Hotels has raised $34m in series C funding for its online budget hotel aggregator. The Bangalore-based firm, which has about 300 franchisees using its brand in about 50 cities, will use the funding to improve customer experience, boost its technology team and expand its business. The investment round was led by Hong Kong-based investment firms Ward Ferry Management and Karst Peak Capital. Existing investors also participated.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Toyota teams with ride-hail company Grab in southeast Asia \n Toyota has joined forces with ride-hailing company Grab to provide its services throughout Southeast Asia and expand its Toyota Mobility Service Platform (MSPF).\n\nToyota Motor Corporation partners with Grab to expand its Mobility Service Platform\n\nShigeki Tomoyama, senior managing officer of Toyota and president of the Connected Company said: \"Through this collaboration with Grab, we would like to explore new ways of delivering secure, convenient and attractive mobility services to our fleet customers in Southeast Asia.\"", "output": "Toyota has joined up with ride-hailing firm Grab to extend its Toyota Mobility Service Platform (MSPF) across southeast Asia. MSPF provides services such as leasing, telematics insurance, vehicle data analysis and fleet management. Grab will offer MSPF services to its drivers."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Successful MTI pilot brings blockchain to maritime logistics \n A successful pilot programme delivered by logistics technology company Marine Transport International (MTI) demonstrates that the logistics industry will see improved connectivity, efficiency and security thanks to blockchain.\n\nMTI, in conjunction with Agility Sciences, have today released a whitepaper detailing the deployment of their Container Streams system in a supply chain environment. The results of the pilot have been verified by scientists at the University of Copenhagen and maritime technology leads at Blockchain Labs for Open Collaboration (BLOC).\n\nThe project, which has connected supplier, shipper, load point, customs and terminal on a shared blockchain ledger, has far reaching consequences for the logistics industry as it seeks new ways to improve security and profitability. All parties involved in the supply chain benefit from automated data flows as the system allows complete interoperability of data sources, even including legacy systems.\n\nJody Cleworth, CEO of Marine Transport International, said: \u201cThe results of this successful pilot demonstrate the strengths of blockchain technology when deployed to link the various actors in the supply chain. We are confident that firms throughout the logistics industry will see a broad spectrum of benefits stemming from blockchain deployment.\n\n\u201cThe blockchain has proven to be an excellent way of connecting the different parties involved in any supply chain environment due to the transparency and security-by-design of the technology. In recent months the shipping industry has fallen victim to industrial-scale cyber-attacks which have left large shipping lines, such as Maersk, completely paralyzed and unable to serve clients.\n\n\u201cA blockchain-enabled supply chain is highly resilient to cyber-attack \u2013 a copy of the essential shipping data is stored on each node on a decentralised network, meaning that even if one node is compromised, the data is safe nevertheless.\n\n\u201cThe business case for connecting supply chains using blockchain is very strong. As the interface is easily adaptable to existing systems there is a very low barrier to entry. Any type of supply chain business, be it marine-, air-, or land-based, can take advantage of such a system \u2013 the cost savings that we envisage are as high as 90%, as a result of substantially streamlined processes.\u201d\n\nKarim Jabbar, from the Department of Computer Science at the University of Copenhagen, added: \u201cThis pilot demonstrates the great potential for distributed ledger technologies to be used in improving supply chain processes. The Container Streams system is unique in the fact that it does not require the complete replacement of existing systems \u2013 instead, MTI\u2019s solution allows complete interoperability with existing legacy infrastructure. The logistics industry as a whole can expect better visibility, connectivity and cost savings as a result of distributed ledger adoption.\u201d\n\nDeanna MacDonald, CEO of Blockchain Labs for Open Collaboration said: \u201cWe have documented the first phase of this use case, its implications for the maritime industry and the resulting development of a turn-key application ecosystem for global supply chain logistics. However, the future potential of this ecosystem platform will rest upon collaboration from the different actors in these supply chains in order to clearly identify the problems and co-create applications that solve for the collective challenges they are facing today.\u201d", "output": "Marine Transport International (MTI) has successfully tested a blockchain-based logistics programme\u00a0that could improve\u00a0security and efficiency. Working alongside IT infrastructure provider Agility Sciences, MTI has used the Container Streams system to streamline a supply chain, connecting shippers, customs, suppliers, terminals\u00a0and loading point on a shared ledger. The system enables total interoperability of data from all sources, even from legacy systems.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese farmland to be used to build homes for rent \n China is opening up rural land for residential property development in 13 cities that will provide rental housing to ease the pressure on urban accommodation brought about millions of workers that move to the cities. Photo: Justin Jin", "output": "A pilot scheme has been announced by the ministry of land and resources and the ministry of housing and urban-rural development in China that will allow collectively owned agricultural land to be developed into residential properties for lease. The scheme will be introduced to 13 large Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Guangzhou, and aims to stabilise property\u00a0prices, boost the rental market\u00a0and ease the pressure on infrastructure and accommodation caused by massive populations of migrant workers living in inner city slums. China has estimated 100 million migrant workers will move to the cities to take up jobs by 2020.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Proptech Cozy enters rental insurance space with Assurant tie-up \n The renters insurance market has been a hard nut to crack for the industry, but an insurance carrier and online rental service platform hope their partnership may be the secret to breaking through.\n\nCozy, an online property management site for landlords, property managers and renters, has partnered with insurance carrier Assurant to offer renter\u2019s insurance through Cozy\u2019s online property management platform.\n\n\u201cWe started looking at how many people in our market \u2014 the smaller, independent rental owners \u2014 have tenants who carry renters insurance and based on our evidence, it is abysmally low,\u201d said Gino Zahnd, CEO and founder of Portland, Ore.-based Cozy. \u201cWe saw an opportunity to come into the market and educate people why it is important.\u201d\n\nThe Cozy online property management platform handles the entire rental process for landlords \u2014 from online listings, to tenant applications and screenings, to receiving rental payments. And now, it sells renters insurance, too.\n\nThe company was founded in 2012 and currently has 500,000 people signed up for properties through its site in more than 15,000 zip codes across the U.S., according to Zahnd. Cozy\u2019s \u201cbread and butter,\u201d Zahnd said, are individuals who manage or own 20 or less properties, but it does have customers with up to 200-250 units as well.\n\nWith the new partnership with Assurant, tenants of landlords that require renters insurance can obtain Cozy Renters Insurance. Through Cozy\u2019s platform, landlords who want to require renters insurance on a lease check a box in the Cozy system and renters will be offered the Cozy product during their rental agreement transaction. The landlord will be notified when coverage is obtained and sent proof of insurance.\n\nWhen coverage is not required, renters can still opt to see an insurance quote and purchase coverage through Cozy. Renters can pay for their coverage every month when making their rental payment.\n\nCozy Renters Insurance is a baseline policy that covers renters from the unexpected loss of property in case of theft or other damage. The coverage also protects against a renter accidentally damaging the rental or someone else\u2019s property, and covers the cost of repairing damages or replacing belongings.\n\nIt includes $100,000 in liability coverage and $15,000 in personal property, with a $250 deductible. The cost of policies varies from state to state, but averages around $10 to $20 a month. Additional coverage options are available for renters by working directly with Assurant.\n\nZahnd said until now, it has been difficult for landlords and tenants to navigate the renters insurance market and know where to go to get coverage. He says Cozy is at a big advantage because it has a captive audience right there on its platform.\n\n\u201cNo matter how cool or amazing a standalone renters product is \u2014 it\u2019s still not solving the fundamental product for renters and landlords \u2014 the process is still so fragmented,\u201d he said. \u201cNeither party with Cozy has to go out and look for something else.\u201d\n\nAccording to Brian Ellin, vice president of Product for Cozy, the company wanted a simple policy for its rental and landlord users. And because Cozy already has facilitated the relationship between the landlord and the tenant and verified a person\u2019s identity, the basic underwriting information needed to quote and offer a policy is readily available.\n\n\u201cA lot of the questions have already been answered and the renter can get an instant quote,\u201d Ellin said.\n\nZahnd said the idea for Cozy to offer renter insurance came early in the formation of the company, but Cozy only began actively working on bringing that idea to life about 18 months ago when it began approaching insurance carriers.\n\nZahnd said they were met with an openness by the industry, \u201cgenerally speaking,\u201d but that they did have to do a good bit of convincing on why it was a good idea.\n\n\u201cExplaining how this could work to companies that have been around for 100 years or more was a bit of a challenge, but most carriers have a fairly robust technology group,\u201d Zahnd said.\n\nSimplicity and speed on the insurance side were essential to Cozy, so part of its carrier vetting was to understand how quickly the product could be built and how flexible the carrier would be in meeting Cozy\u2019s experience requirements.\n\n\u201cBy no means was it easy,\u201d Zahnd said. \u201cWhen you bite something off like this you have to be stubborn.\u201d\n\nEllin said they found insurance companies were excited by the idea of gaining access to a market that has been traditionally difficult for the insurance industry to tap into once they understood how the product could work.\n\n\u201cThe way that Cozy has taken ownership of that part of the market gives them access that they didn\u2019t have before,\u201d he said.\n\nIn March, Cozy began its partnership with Assurant, which was also looking to further develop its digital capabilities and serve a market segment that has been ignored, said Steven Hein, senior vice president for Assurant, and oversees the company\u2019s Multi-family Housing business.\n\n\u201cWe have been looking in that space for someone to emerge that has the capability and focus,\u201d Hein said. \u201cIt felt like a natural fit between our two organizations.\u201d\n\nAssurant currently offers 1.5 million renter policies nationwide, but Hein said it is a segment that hasn\u2019t had a lot of access or been marketed to. He added only a small minority of residents purchase coverage at all, and that leaves property owners or landlords exposed.\n\n\u201cOur goal is to bring affordable access to coverage and to serve the client\u2019s needs, which is ultimately the landlord,\u201d he said.\n\nHe said the hallmark of the product is the speed with which the coverage can be purchased and that ensures users are not disrupted. \u201cOffering the policy in minutes is something that is essential to the transaction,\u201d Hein said.\n\nZahnd and Ellin said the company\u2019s main priority is to offer a simple policy to get renters covered and ease the burden and exposure for landlords. For now, Cozy doesn\u2019t have any plans to offer additional coverages or expand into other markets, but, Zahnd says, \u201cnever say never.\u201d\n\nTopics Carriers Trends Market Property", "output": "Online property management company Cozy has teamed up with insurance carrier Assurant to offer insurance for renters. Cozy CEO Gino Zahnd said the goal is to educate people on why rental insurance is so important, citing traditionally \"abysmally low\" take-up rates. Cozy was founded in 2012 and currently has half a million people signed up through its site from across the US."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Samsung expands range of consumer IoT devices \n [THE INVESTOR] Aiming to continue leading in technological prowess, Samsung Electronics said on Aug. 30 that its presentation theme at Europe\u2019s largest tradeshow for home appliances will be lifestyles with enhanced connectivity and convenience.\n\n\n\nTwo days before the IFA 2017 kicks off Friday, Samsung Electronics unveiled new flagship consumer electronic products and services for the second half of the year at a series of press conferences.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAn outdoor advertisement shows Samsung\u2019s proposal for lifestyles with enhanced connectivity and convenience at City Cube Berlin, a venue for the IFA 2017 that kicks off on Aug. 30. Samsung Electronics.\n\n\n\n\n\nCalling it the \u201cnew normal,\u201d David Lowes, chief marking officer of Samsung\u2019s Europe business, said, \u201cTo become meaningful, technological innovation should naturally meld into the daily lives of consumers and be able to change their lives.\u201d\n\n\n\n\u201cSamsung is making best efforts to introduce innovative products and services that are going to become a new normal for the lives of consumers around the world.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe Korean tech titan debuted its 43-inch art frame-like TV The Frame for Europe, the first market where it is being launched. The model will be introduced later to Russian and US markets.\n\n\n\nThe release follows the successful launch of bigger Frame TVs -- 55 inch and 65 inch -- in the region in May.\n\n\n\nThe Samsung Frame TV has also become a new platform for the distribution of artworks, providing consumers with content related to the arts through partnerships with renowned art galleries including Prado in Spain.\n\n\n\nSamsung plans to secure up to 1,000 pieces of artwork for its Art Store platform, through which users can purchase art pieces via their TVs by the end of the year.\n\n\n\nAs for technological partnerships, Samsung announced a new alliance for its High Dynamic Range 10 Plus, the company\u2019s visual display technology, with Hollywood studio 20th Century Fox and Japan\u2019s Panasonic to expand application of the technology for visual content on different devices.\n\n\n\nAnother first for the company is the new artificial intelligence-powered washing machine QuickDrive, which cuts washing time by half. Its exclusive Q-Drum consists of a large main drum and a plate in the back that rotates independently.\n\n\n\nUnlike conventional washers that move clothes repeatedly up and down over the course of a cycle, the latest washer moves clothes from top to bottom in the drum, while the plate in the back of the drum introduces a back and forth movement, the company said.\n\n\n\nQuickDrive\u2019s smart AI feature, dubbed \u201cQ-rator,\u201d has a function called Laundry Planner through which the washer recommends an appropriate course when users set a finish time. Another function, Laundry Recipe, recommends the best course according to the amount of clothes. An automatic detergent refill function allows users to order more detergent through Amazon when it runs out.\n\n\n\n\u201cQuickDrive will make significant changes to lives by returning the time spent on household chores back to consumers as spare time,\u201d said Daniel Harvie, head of marketing of household appliances in Europe.\n\n\n\nSamsung also introduced its first cordless stand-type vacuum machine Power Stick with 150-watt vacuuming power, the industry\u2019s most powerful. It has a handle that folds in at up to 50 degrees when reaching under beds or the top surfaces of closets.\n\n\n\nIn addition, the world\u2019s biggest handset manufacturer showed the new wearable devices Gear Sport and Gear Fit2 Pro with enhanced functions for sports, and the cord-free ear set Gear IconX 2018.\n\n\n\nThe smart watch Gear Sport and sports band Gear Fit2 Pro both won the 5ATM water resistance grade. They can be worn while swimming.\n\n\n\nThe Gear IconX 2018 not only enables music streaming, but also provides fitness coaching and health data. If a user owns a Bixby-based Samsung smartphone, the ear set can be linked to the device\u2019s voice-activated AI program, allowing the user to operate the smartphone by issuing verbal commands via the ear set.\n\n\n\nAt the core of Samsung\u2019s new normal for home appliances lies \u201cclever connectivity,\u201d which aims to connect all kinds of devices and appliances, \u201cchampioning impossibility,\u201d the company highlighted.\n\n\n\n\u201cSamsung and about 390 other companies around the world are working to set standards for Internet of Things technologies to connect a countless number of devices in order to maximize user experience,\u201d said Matthew Perry, head of the Open Connectivity Foundation, a global organization for IoT.\n\n\n\nBy Song Su-hyun/The Korea Herald (song@heraldcorp.com)", "output": "Samsung hopes the internet of things (IoT) will become\u00a0\u201cthe new normal\u201d as it increases the range of home appliances it offers with enhanced connectivity. The South Korean tech company has launched a 43-inch TV that is shaped like a\u00a0frame around a work of art and called\u00a0The Frame For Europe, which can display classic works of art and other related content. The company has also launched an AI-powered washing machine, QuickDrive, that can recommend washing plans and automatically reorder detergent. Samsung also offers a range of sport-orientated wearables.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "South Korean robo-advisers lag far behind benchmark Kospi index \n \n\n\n\nRobot brokers aren\u2019t very good\n\nLast March, the Financial Services Commission said it would allow local financial companies to offer their clients investment advice from artificial intelligence programs - instantly dubbed robot advisers. Investors expected a breakthrough in fund management. Higher returns seemed inevitable as artificially intelligent advisers were expected to be using big data analysis and advanced algorithms, the same way that Google\u2019s AlphGo managed to defeat human Go master Lee Se-dol.Months later, the robots don\u2019t seem to be giving their human counterparts much competition. In fact, the returns on their portfolios weren\u2019t even able to keep pace with the recent rise of Korea\u2019s benchmark Kospi index.Currently, there are 30 funds managed by robot advisers at nine asset management companies in Korea, according to KG Zeroin, a fund analysis service, and KB Asset Management. 15 funds have been operating over three months but their average rate of return stood at a measly 1.61 percent. During the same period, the Kospi rose by 2.77 percent.Only three funds out of 15 managed to match or outpace the increase in the index.The gap between the performances gets even wider over the last six months. The average rate of return for 12 funds that have been operating for longer than half a year stood at 4.41 percent. During that period, the Kospi rose by 13.49 percent.Robot-managed funds managed to beat funds managed by mere mortals in only one category, and not by very much.Robot-advisers\u2019 average return over the past six months in investments in local stocks was 14.23 percent while the market average was 13.34 percent. For fund investing in international stocks, robot managers\u2019 six-month average return was 5.61 percent while the market average was nearly double at 11.4 percent.\u201cAlthough launched as robot-adviser funds, most of the funds are not that much different from regular algorithm-based trading,\u201d said Jung Kyu-bong, an analyst at Shinyoung Securities. \u201cOnly a few firms have the technology to pick and choose certain securities to invest in based on an analysis of various type of big data.\u201dAccording to Kim Il-soo, the chief executive of Wizdomain, which has a robot consulting service called Wizbot that analyzes patents held by companies to decide the level of their technology and ultimately their values, most of the funds managed by robot advisers in Korea allocate assets based on similar algorithms. \u201cMost robot advisers do \u2018passive management\u2019 [a type of investment strategy in which managers do not invest aggressively to beat the market index] and focus more on risk management than high returns,\u201d explained Kim. When the Kospi plummeted nearly 4 percent this month due to the tensions between the United States and North Korea, funds by robot-advisers fell by less than one percent, a clear sign of their concentration on risk management.\u201cTwo Sigma [an American asset management firm] utilizes technology in which robot managers select securities to invest in by analyzing big data such as satellite photos or product lists on online shopping malls,\u201d explained Hong Yoong-ki, who is in charge of multi-asset solutions at KB Asset Management. \u201cConsumers [in Korea] expected this type of robot-managed funds but the reality in Korea was that we need some improvement in the technology.\u201dSome analysts say that robot fund managers should be approached as a means to save costs in asset management.\u201cThe forte of robot managers is that customers can receive detailed services such as portfolio management and notifications on external variables at costs cheaper than if [human] fund managers were doing the work,\u201d said Kim Sang Won, director of the smart finance at Daishin Securities. \u201cCustomers interested in [services] by robot advisers should consider this cost-saving element rather than actual returns.\u201dBY CHO HYUN-SOOK [choi.hyungjo@joongang.co.kr]", "output": "Robot adviser-managed funds have underperformed South Korea's benchmark Kospi index. The country's Financial Services Commission permitted local finance firms to offer their clients advice from artificial intelligence (AI) programmes earlier this year. Fifteen AI-managed funds have been operating over three months with an average rate of return of 1.61%, compared with Kospi's rise of 2.77%. Just three of the 15 managed to outpace the index. When the robo-advisers are measured over the past six months their returns are even further behind."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "YouTube announce new features as well as a new logo \n \n\n\n\nWe\u2019ve also introduced apps and services that give you new ways to watch and get even closer to the content and creators you love. Music fans, gamers, and TV lovers each have unique experiences specifically tailored for their favorite content with\n\n\n\nTo put it simply, YouTube\u2019s evolved \u2026 a lot. And we\u2019re not even close to done. Over the last few months we've started releasing updates and will continue to throughout the rest of the year. When all is said and done, we'll bring a new level of functionality and a more consistent look across our desktop and mobile experiences.\n\n\n\nLet\u2019s start with the YouTube mobile app, which is getting a bunch of new features: When YouTube launched 12 years ago, it was a single website that supported one video format, 320x240 at 4:3 aspect ratio. Fast forward to today, and YouTube lets you watch any combination of SD, HD, 4K, 360, 3-D, and live video on nearly every device with an internet connection \u2013 from desktops to phones, tablets to TVs, game consoles, and even VR headsets.We\u2019ve also introduced apps and services that give you new ways to watch and get even closer to the content and creators you love. Music fans, gamers, and TV lovers each have unique experiences specifically tailored for their favorite content with YouTube Music YouTube Gaming and YouTube TV . For families looking for the best way to watch together, we launched the YouTube Kids app. And for fans who want an uninterrupted, ad-free experience, and exclusive original content from creators, there\u2019s the YouTube Red membership.To put it simply, YouTube\u2019s evolved \u2026 a lot. And we\u2019re not even close to done. Over the last few months we've started releasing updates and will continue to throughout the rest of the year. When all is said and done, we'll bring a new level of functionality and a more consistent look across our desktop and mobile experiences.Let\u2019s start with the YouTube mobile app, which is getting a bunch of new features:\n\nClean new design : We\u2019ve made the header white to let content take the lead and moved the navigation tabs to the bottom of the app so they\u2019re closer to your thumbs. We also added new Library and Account tabs that give you easy access to what you\u2019re looking for.\n\n: We\u2019ve made the header white to let content take the lead and moved the navigation tabs to the bottom of the app so they\u2019re closer to your thumbs. We also added new Library and Account tabs that give you easy access to what you\u2019re looking for. Videos that move with you : One of the things we\u2019re working on is bringing gestures to YouTube. Earlier this year, we introduced a gesture that allows you to double tap on the left or right side of a video to fast forward or rewind 10 seconds. Give it a try! We already see billions of double taps per day. And I wanted to give you a sneak peek at another gesture I am really excited about. In the coming months, we'll experiment with a feature that lets you jump between videos with a simple swipe of your hand: just swipe left to watch a previous video or swipe right to watch the next one.\n\n: One of the things we\u2019re working on is bringing gestures to YouTube. Earlier this year, we introduced a gesture that allows you to double tap on the left or right side of a video to fast forward or rewind 10 seconds. Give it a try! We already see billions of double taps per day. And I wanted to give you a sneak peek at another gesture I am really excited about. In the coming months, we'll experiment with a feature that lets you jump between videos with a simple swipe of your hand: just swipe left to watch a previous video or swipe right to watch the next one. Watch at your own pace : Users love that they are able to speed up and slow down the playback of a video on desktop, and we're excited to bring this feature to the mobile app today, so you can enjoy videos at whatever speed you prefer.\n\n: Users love that they are able to speed up and slow down the playback of a video on desktop, and we're excited to bring this feature to the mobile app today, so you can enjoy videos at whatever speed you prefer. Adapt to any video, beautifully : We've also been experimenting with new ways to display all videos in the best possible way. Soon, the YouTube player will seamlessly change shape to match the video format you\u2019re watching, such as vertical, square or horizontal. That means you\u2019ll always get the best viewing experience automatically \u2013 including vertical videos with no black bars on the sides!\n\n: We've also been experimenting with new ways to display all videos in the best possible way. Soon, the YouTube player will seamlessly change shape to match the video format you\u2019re watching, such as vertical, square or horizontal. That means you\u2019ll always get the best viewing experience automatically \u2013 including vertical videos with no black bars on the sides! Browse and discover while you watch: We recently added a feature that lets you view a row of suggested videos while you\u2019re watching in full screen. We're also working on transforming the area below the player so you can browse videos in totally new ways.\n\n\n\n\n\nLooking beyond the YouTube app, we\u2019ve also been\n\n\n\nLooking beyond the YouTube app, we\u2019ve also been working on a new desktop design. And thanks to all the positive feedback, we're now excited to make it available to all our users around the globe starting today! Our new look applies Material Design to YouTube and delivers a fresh, simple and intuitive user experience that lets content shine \u2013 because there's nothing more important than the creators and videos we all love to watch. My favorite feature of this new desktop design is Dark Theme, which turns the background dark while you watch for a more cinematic look.\n\n\n\n\n\nThe bright red cherry on top of this update sundae is a refreshed\n\n\n\nThe bright red cherry on top of this update sundae is a refreshed YouTube Logo and YouTube Icon . Designed for our multi-screen world, the updated Logo combines a cleaned up version of the YouTube wordmark and Icon, creating a more flexible design that works better across a variety of devices, even on the tiniest screens. Why\u2019s it more flexible? When room is limited (say on a smartphone) you can use the brightened up Icon as an abbreviated Logo, which will be seen more easily and read more clearly. You\u2019ll see the new Logo and Icon roll out across mobile and desktop today, and across all our other apps and services soon.", "output": "YouTube has announced a range of new features across its platforms and apps, along with a refreshed logo. On its mobile app, users will be able to swipe left and right to move between videos, change the speed of playback, and browse suggested videos whilst watching in full screen mode. Meanwhile, it has unveiled a new desktop design incorporating a dark background theme and a refreshed YouTube logo and icon that is intended to work better across a variety of devices. Most of the changes have been introduced this week, or will be rolled out soon.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Alexa and Cortana join forces to improve integration \n Alexa and Cortana buddy up in Microsoft / Amazon partnership\n\nAmazon and Microsoft are getting together in order to improve integration between their Alexa and Cortana digital assistants.\n\nAccording to The New York Times, Alexa users will be able to access Cortana, and vice versa, on a range of devices.\n\nThe report does state that this integration will be a little bit awkward initially, however.\n\nWhen using an Alexa device you will have to say \u201cAlexa, open Cortana\u201d to get access to Microsoft\u2019s own digital assistant. If you\u2019re using Cortana you will have to say \u201cCortana, open Alexa.\u201d\n\nFrom this alone it looks a lot like all these companies have done is created skills on each others platforms to enable the basic integration.\n\nWhy should I care?\n\nThe benefit for users is that it will allow Alexa users to get access to some of the more unique aspects of Cortana. Microsoft has built its digital assistant to access Office products.\n\nMicrosoft has built its digital assistant to access Office products. This means that Alexa will get that functionality by tapping into Cortana.\n\nFurthermore, while Microsoft is still tempting developers to create their own Cortana skills, existing Cortana users will be able to call up Alexa to get access to the ones that Cortana is missing.\n\nTech party\n\nThis news has certainly come as a surprise to us at GadgetyNews. Especially as Microsoft is preparing to launch a Cortana speaker with Harman Kardon \u2013 the Invoke. Not only that, it\u2019s preparing to push its digital assistant into cars, thermostats, and more devices.\n\nAmazon, Microsoft, Apple, and Google have all built rival digital assistants. As far as users and developers are concerned there, up until now, have all had strict borders. This partnership signals a move to make them work better together.\n\nThe New York Times reports that Microsoft and Amazon partnered in May last year. Word is that Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, raised the idea with Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, at Microsoft\u2019s CEO summit.\n\nMakes sense\n\nThis Amazon / Microsoft lovefest actually makes perfect sense. Firstly, Microsoft already helps power Alexa queries through its Bing search engine. Secondly, ganging up will certainly pose strong competition against Google\u2019s own assistant.\n\nHowever, after saying that, Bezos is more than happy to welcome Apple and Google and offers similar integration.\n\nMicrosoft and Amazon are planning to fully detail their partnership later today.\n\nWhy not grab an Amazon Echo or Echo Dot right now and get familiar with Alexa?\n\nUPDATE \u2013 official statement from Amazon\n\n\n\nI have just been contacted by Amazon who have confirmed the above.\n\nTheir statement says:\n\nAlexa customers will be able to access Cortana\u2019s unique features like booking a meeting or accessing work calendars, reminding you to pick up flowers on your way home, or reading your work email \u2013 all using just your voice. Similarly, Cortana customers can ask Alexa to control their smart home devices, shop on Amazon.com, interact with many of the more than 20,000 skills built by third-party developers, and much more.\n\nSatya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft says\n\nEnsuring Cortana is available for our customers everywhere and across any device is a key priority for us. Bringing Cortana\u2019s knowledge, Office 365 integration, commitments, and reminders to Alexa is a great step toward that goal.\u201d\n\nJeff Bezos, Founder and CEO, Amazon added", "output": "Amazon and Microsoft are teaming up to enhance integration between their digital assistants, Alexa and Cortana, on a range of devices. The benefit for Alexa users will be able that they can now access some unique aspects of Cortana, such as Microsoft Office products. Meanwhile, Cortana users will be able to use Alexa to access exclusives that Microsoft is unable to offer. \"Together, their strengths will complement each other and provide customers with a richer and even more helpful experience\", said Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Uber appoint former Expedia boss Dara Khosrowshahi as CEO \n Uber has chosen Dara Khosrowshahi, the chief executive of travel company Expedia, to be its new boss, ending a contentious search that has been marred by boardroom spats and leaks.\n\nThe announcement, made on Sunday, comes as the ride-hailing service fights allegations of sexism and racism that led to the ousting of its founder, Travis Kalanick.\n\nKhosrowshahi, a 48-year-old Iranian American who has led Expedia for 12 years, was a surprise appointment who beat Meg Whitman, the chief executive of HP Enterprise, and Jeff Immelt, the former CEO of General Electric, for the job.\n\nThe Expedia CEO has been critical of Donald Trump, tweeting in the wake of his Charlottesville remarks: \u201cI keep waiting for the moment when our Prez will rise to the expectations of his office and he fails, repeatedly.\u201d\n\nEarlier on Sunday, Immelt said via Twitter that he had \u201cdecided not to pursue a leadership position at Uber\u201d, while expressing \u201cimmense respect\u201d for the cab-hailing company and its founders.\n\nI have decided not to pursue a leadership position at Uber. I have immense respect for the company & founders - Travis, Garrett and Ryan. \u2014 Jeff Immelt (@JeffImmelt) August 27, 2017\n\nImmelt stepped down as CEO at GE this year after 16 years running the industrial conglomerate. The 61-year-old did not say why he had pulled out, but the New York Times said that he would not likely have received enough votes from the Uber board to edge ahead of rival candidates.\n\nUber\u2019s eight-member board met over the weekend to decide on a new CEO, the New York Times said. The shortlist of candidates had narrowed to three people \u2013 Whitman, Immelt and Khosrowshahi.\n\nWhitman, 61, had previously said she planned to stay at HP and described speculation over her departure from the IT services group as a \u201cdistraction\u201d. She tweeted last week: \u201cWe have a lot of work still to do at HPE.\u201d\n\n(3/3) We have a lot of work still to do at HPE and I am not going anywhere. Uber's CEO will not be Meg Whitman. \u2014 Meg Whitman (@MegWhitman) July 28, 2017\n\nUber had been searching for an experienced executive to fill the vacuum left at the top by the departure of co-founder Kalanick in June, and to restore confidence in the business following months of chaos.\n\nKhosrowshahi will have to reform the company\u2019s workplace culture following accusations of sexual discrimination and harassment, recruit new executives including a chief financial officer and chief operating officer, and deal with numerous legal wrangles. They include an intellectual property dispute with Waymo, Google\u2019s self-driving car spinoff.\n\nKalanick resigned in June following pressure from investors, just one week after taking an indefinite leave of absence. That leave of absence was not enough for a group of investors who own more than a quarter of Uber\u2019s stock and account for about 40% of voting shares, giving them enough leverage to force out Kalanick when they demanded that he quite the role.\n\nThe San Francisco-based company had asked the former US attorney general Eric Holder to conduct an investigation into the company\u2019s workplace culture. The long list of recommendations for reform included reviewing and reducing Kalanick\u2019s role in the company. Uber is reeling from allegations of workplace discrimination and sexual harassment, revelations of a secret programme to evade law enforcement, lawsuits and other legal challenges brought by drivers, bans on its UberPop service of unlicensed drivers in several countries and a string of departures of high-level executives.\n\nTravis Kalanick resigned as Uber chief executive in June amid mounting shareholder pressure. Photograph: Will Oliver/EPA\n\nThe pressure on Uber and Kalanick became critical after a former employee published a blog post in February describing a workplace rife with gender discrimination and sexual harassment.\n\nThe venture capitalist David Bonderman resigned from Uber\u2019s board of directors in June after making a sexist comment at the all-staff meeting where the Holder report\u2019s recommendations were presented. At least 20 employees were fired over incidents of harassment, retaliation, discrimination and bullying, dozens more were disciplined and a number of complaints remain under investigation by Holder\u2019s law firm, Perkins Coie.\n\nKalanick came under fire for his leadership style when Bloomberg released a video of him berating an Uber driver after the driver had complained about the difficulty making a living with Uber\u2019s falling pay rates. Kalanick apologised for his behaviour in a statement that conceded he needed \u201cleadership help\u201d, and he announced his intention to hire a chief operating officer to assist him in the management of the company.\n\nA number of senior executives have quit the company recently, including president Jeff Jones, who said he left because working at Uber was incompatible with his values; senior vice-president of engineering Amit Singhal; head of policy and communications Rachel Whetstone, vice-president of product and growth Ed Baker and head of finance Gautam Gupta.", "output": "Uber has chosen former Expedia chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi as its CEO, filling the vacuum left by co-founder Travis Kalanick in June. Khosrowshahi, a 48-year-old Iranian American who led Expedia for 12 years, was a surprise appointment who beat the likes of Jeff Immelt, the former CEO of General Electric, and Meg Whitman, the chief executive of HP Enterprise, for the job. Khosrowshahi will be tasked with reforming the company\u2019s workplace culture, recruiting new executives, and dealing with multiple legal battles.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Number of UK drivers without insurance soars due to high premiums \n The number of compensation claims lodged against uninsured drivers has risen for the first time in a decade.\n\nThe rise was revealed yesterday by the Motor Insurance Bureau (MIB), which compensates victims of uninsured drivers and hit and run accidents.\n\nIt fuels fears that spiralling motor insurance premiums, driven by government tax hikes and controversial reforms to serious personal injury compensation, may be putting off more drivers from taking out insurance.\n\nThe MIB said that in the year to July the number of cases submitted to the bureau rose almost 10 per cent from 10,000 to 11,000, having declined from 25,000 in 2004.\n\nIt expects to pay out \u00a3256million this year from the fees it collects from insurers. This equates to around \u00a315 added to the cost of the average motor insurance policy.\n\nThe MIB said that in the year to July the number of cases submitted to the bureau rose almost 10 per cent from 10,000 to 11,000, having declined from 25,000 in 2004 (stock photo)\n\nSeizures of uninsured vehicles are also on the increase, with 145,000 taken off the road in 2016.\n\nAround 58,000 were crushed, or more than 1,000 a week, according to the MIB, which runs the insurance database used by police to check the status of vehicles.\n\nThe bureau said it has launched an investigation into why this has happened and has teamed up with the criminology department of the University of Leicester.\n\nAshton West, chief executive of the MIB, said the latest figures highlight \u2018the devastating impact of uninsured driving on communities and families up and down the country\u2019\n\nHe added: \u2019Whilst we recognise there are a number of factors that could be impacting this increase in claims, increasing insurance costs may be tempting people to take the risk of driving without insurance.\u2019\n\nMotor insurance premiums have risen to record levels, with the average premium jumping by 11 per cent to \u00a3484 over the last year.\n\nAccording to official statistics there are around a million uninsured vehicles on the road, compared with around 38million insured vehicles (stock photo)\n\nYounger drivers pay almost \u00a31,000 on average, according to the Association of British Insurers.\n\nThe steep increase in insurance bills has been driven in part by successive rises in Insurance Premium Tax, which has doubled from 6 per cent to 12 per cent in two years.\n\nInsurers have passed the costs onto customers by hiking their premiums.\n\nGovernment reforms to the \u2018discount rate\u2019 used to calculate compensation for victims of life changing injuries have also pushed up pay-outs, and caused insurers to increase premiums.\n\nEarlier this month car insurer Admiral said this would cost the average motorist up to \u00a360 more a year \u2013 with young drivers facing a \u00a3250 increase.\n\nThe government is now consulting on the controversial reforms and has come under fierce pressure from the insurance industry to reverse the changes.\n\nSteve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: \u2018The fear is that this surge is an unintended consequence of recent sharp rises in insurance premium tax which have resulted in big increases in premiums for all motorists, especially the young.\n\n\u2018If more drivers are trying to dodge soaring costs by not taking out any insurance at all then law-abiding road users will be left to pick up the bill as they see the price of their own policies go up further still.\u2019\n\nThere are around a million uninsured vehicles on the road, compared with around 38million insured vehicles.\n\nBut there are no figures indicating whether the number of uninsured drivers has gone up or down last year.\n\nThe MIB said another potential cause of the rise in claims against uninsured drivers could be the influence of aggressive personal injury claims firms, which encourage victims of motor accidents to pursue compensation.", "output": "Compensation claims made against UK drivers without insurance has soared 10%, marking the first increase in a decade, reveals the Motor Insurance Bureau (MIB). It fears rising motor insurance premiums, driven by reforms and government tax hikes, is putting drivers off taking out policies. Motor insurance premiums have surged\u00a0to record levels, with the average premium rising by\u00a011%\u00a0to \u00a3484 in 2016.\u00a0The MIB, which compensates victims of uninsured drivers and hit and run accidents, is expecting to pay out around \u00a3256m this\u00a0year from fees collected from insurers, which equates to about \u00a315 added to the cost of the average motor insurance policy.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hong Kong residents to get Google Wi-Fi via telecoms tie up \n Wide availability of Google Wifi technology expected to help drive adoption of more \u2018smart home technologies\u2019 across the city", "output": "Google has joined forces with Hong Kong telecoms network operator HKT to offer an advanced mesh Wi-Fi home router solution, Google Wi-Fi, to the city\u2019s residents. The system should help to eliminate \u201cdead zones\u201d for dual-band Wi-Fi in customers\u2019 homes, using various Wi-Fi points that can be installed in different rooms to help strengthen the signal. HKT recently launched an ultra-fast broadband system for Hong Kong citizens through its Netvigator service. Google\u2019s Wi-Fi option is also available in Singapore through telecoms firm StarHub."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EC demand-response regulations \u2018incompatible\u2019 with markets: DNV \n In a study commissioned by the EURELECTRIC industry association, DNV GL has found that a financial model proposed by the European Commission could limit the effectiveness of demand response as a way to ensure a reliable and economically stable energy system.\n\nThe EU directive aims to stimulate the use of demand response in all member states, by bringing a new player; an aggregator, into the electricity value chain. An aggregator is responsible for combining consumer loads and generated electricity, to be traded on the electricity market.\n\nThe criticisms, found in DNV GL\u2019s report Demand Response Activation by Independent Aggregators as Proposed in the Draft Electricity Directive, center on the fact the draft currently prohibits financial compensation to stakeholders who are left at a disadvantage by the independent actions of an aggregator.\n\nThe report recommends that EU Member States be allowed to make their own decision regarding demand response compensation, based on their individual market circumstances, and recommends several possible financial models, which DNV GL says would have significant benefits over the current \u2018no compensation only\u2019 proposal.\n\nPopular content\n\nThe recommended models include requiring the independent aggregator to compensate the supplier \u2013 which would prevent inefficient activations of, placing charges on system users to cover compensation to suppliers or requiring flexible consumers to pay for the amount of energy that would have prevented the need for demand response to be activated.\n\n\u201cThe EU is right to encourage the establishment of independent aggregators to enable more people to benefit from demand response,\u201d says Andreas Schr\u00f6ter, DNV GL\u2019s Executive Vice President for Central Europe and the Mediterranean. \u201cYet by disadvantaging players affected by aggregator-triggered demand response actions, the draft directive effectively makes it possible for aggregators to get a free ride at the expense of others. This could mean consumers are faced with higher tariffs for demand response, limiting its attractiveness and uptake.\u201d", "output": "The European Commission's (EC's) draft proposal on demand response regulations does not abide by market principles, a study from energy consultant DNV GL has found. The directive's aim to stimulate the use of demand response by introducing an aggregator into the electricity value chain could limit financial compensation to suppliers and raise tariffs for customers, DNV GL said. However, by requiring the independent aggregator to compensate the supplier, consumers are more likely to receive the fair benefits of demand supply, said Andreas Schr\u00f6ter, executive VP for Central Europe and the Mediterranean."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Long-distance ridesharing app Buckle Up launched in Australia \n You\u2019ve been there. A lengthy solo drive. Four empty car seats. Nothing but your auxiliary cord for company. Entrepreneur Seb Lindner found himself in that situation driving from Melbourne to the Blue Mountains earlier this year. After failed attempts to fill his car with passengers by advertising empty seats on Gumtree and in closed Facebook groups, Linder identified the need for a safe platform to connect drivers and passengers on the road. In September, Linder will launch Buckle Up \u2013 a ridesharing app and platform with a mission to ease congestion, while connecting like-minded travellers and festival-goers on the road.\n\n\u201cI wanted to tackle the bigger issue of transport and its inefficiency,\u201d Lindner explains. \u201cWith so many spare seats on the road and drivers travelling long distances solo, I wanted to make it easy for people to find drivers or passengers in the one place.\u201d\n\nTo begin with, Lindner hopes to attract those travelling to music festivals and sporting events outside major cities, such as Meredith Music Festival, Falls Festival, and Beyond the Valley. Once the app gains momentum, Buckle Up will expand nationally to connect passengers travelling interstate. Lindner underscores that there will be a strict verification process involved, and security measures in place. First, each rider and driver must sign up via Facebook. All users will be required to upload contact details that will be verified with a photo submission of a driver's licence and vehicle registration number. While these security measures might seem to be a lengthy process, each step is integral to keep the network as safe as possible. \u201cIn the early stages of the app, each user will be manually verified and approved by the Buckle Up team, so we can keep an eye on each driver or passenger and flag anything of concern,\u201d he said. As an extra safety measure, Buckle Up will insure both passengers and drivers for any liability in case of damage to the car, a crash or an emergency.", "output": "Long-distance ridesharing app Buckle Up is set to launch in Australia next month. The app was founded by entrepreneur Seb Lindner after he failed to find a fellow passenger for a long car journey between Melbourne and the Blue Mountains. It will have a strict verification process and security measures to keep users safe. Lindner first hopes to attract people travelling to festivals and sporting events outside major cities, before expanding to include those travelling interstate.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Whatsapp launches verified business accounts programme \n Facebook-owned WhatsApp has launched a pilot that will let businesses communicate with the messaging service\u2019s one billion daily users, with reports suggesting it will launch a dedicated app for small-to-medium businesses (SMB).\n\nFacebook is in the early phases of building a 'business ecosystem' around its sister messenger services / WhatsApp\n\nMore than three years have passed since Facebook agreed to purchase the messaging service for $19bn, and it has now given the first clear indication about how it intends to monetize WhatsApp, with the launch of a verified business accounts program.\n\nThe scheme was announced in a blog post (see below) with the pilot currently limited to a small number of SMBs, although no details related to paid-for opportunities (if any) are currently available at present.\n\nThe post also doesn't outline a rollout schedule for the program, but it does explain that WhatsApp users can ascertain if a business has received verification by a \u201cyellow message inside a chat.\u201d\n\nIn addition, it states that if a user has already included a business' details in their address book, it will appear under the given name within WhatsApp, otherwise the commercial entity will be identified by a name it has chosen for itself.\n\nWhatsApp users can also block specific businesses from contacting them, but will not be able to delete specific messages within a chat once they have started communicating with them, according to the post.\n\nThe post contains little further information, but WaBetaInfo has published an article containing an analysis suggesting the scheme will let participants set their business hours, automate responses, and that a specific Android version of WhatsApp will be available to SMBs.\n\nFurther, Business Insider points to a job listing for a technical specialist specifically catering for the SMB offering.\n\nSpeaking on Facebook\u2019s most recent earnings call, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg told financial analysts that over 250 million people now use WhatsApp Stories daily, and that over a billion use the messaging service each day.\n\n\u201cWe're also working to build a business ecosystem around Messenger and WhatsApp. Messenger and WhatsApp both have large communities, and they're growing quickly, with 1 billion people now using WhatsApp daily. It is still early on the monetization side here,\u201d he said according to a Seeking Alpha transcription.\n\nFacebook chief financial officer, David Wehner, later went on to comment on its separate approaches to monetizing Facebook Messenger (which has already started rolling out an advertising offering) and WhatsApp.\n\n\u201cWhatsApp has demonstrated significant engagement with crossing 1 billion daily actives,\u201d he said. \u201cWe're focused on growing the user base, first and foremost. And then secondly, it's about building organic connections between businesses and consumers. And then third, it's about how do we build monetization around those relationships.\n\nWehner added: \u201cAnd I think there, we're further along with Messenger than we are with WhatsApp. And so, I think you see us rolling out the global beta there with ads. So, I think we'll watch and learn from that. And as we learn things, we can apply them in other areas.\u201d\n\nEarlier this year it was revealed that WhatsApp was in talks with the State Bank of India, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and a number of other financial institutions to integrate payments with the messaging service.", "output": "Whatsapp has launched a verified business accounts scheme in the latest attempt to monetise the Facebook-owned messaging service. The pilot programme is currently available to a limited number of small- to medium-sized enterprises and will mean users can tell if a business has been verified by a \"yellow message inside a chat\". Analysis also suggests that the programme will let participants set their business hours and automate responses."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesla uses polymer paste to stick its solar tiles together \n One of the biggest questions facing Tesla\u2019s new Solar Roof product is how it will overcome the technical and cost-effectiveness challenges that have prevented other building-integrated photovoltaic contenders from breaking into the rooftop solar market.\n\nThis week, Tesla was granted a patent that could help answer some of those questions. The patent, first reported by CB Insights, is for a \u201cmethod for curing conductive paste applied to two adjacent photovoltaic structures\u201d -- i.e., solar cells arranged in a \u201ccascading\u201d or overlapping structure, just like Tesla\u2019s Solar Roof.\n\nWhile it\u2019s not clear if Tesla is using the methods described in the patent for its current Solar Roof production, the concept has been kicking around for some time. The patent application was first filed by SolarCity in May 2016, six months before its $2.6 billion acquisition by Tesla.\n\nIt\u2019s also a much different approach than the standing-seam metal roof developed by SolarCity's R&D unit, code-named \u201cSteel Pulse,\u201d that Tesla CEO Elon Musk reportedly called a \u201cpiece of shit\u201d when he first saw it last spring. Tesla abandoned that project and switched to overlapping solar tiles, a product that was unveiled to the public in October -- although that demo wasn\u2019t actually wired up to generate electricity.\n\nTesla started taking orders in May, and announced the first working installations in August, with Musk and Tesla CTO JB Straubel getting the first ones. It also started releasing pricing data, with an average price of $21.85 per square foot, which is cost-competitive with standard tile or slate roofing products, but still more expensive than today\u2019s solar panels on a cost-per-watt basis.\n\nTiled solar panels also face a core challenge -- getting electricity to flow from one tile to the next efficiently, while protecting against rain, wind, heat and the other rooftop conditions that can erode a system\u2019s performance over time.\n\n\u201cYield and cost of creating the cell-to-cell contact is one of the challenges of the cascaded, or overlapping, cell design,\u201d MJ Shiao, head of Americas research at GTM Research, noted. \u201cIf there's a more efficient and reliable way of doing that, it'll help lower the cost and improve the viability of the design.\u201d\n\nTesla\u2019s new patent attacks the challenge by using a polymer paste to connect the conducting busbars of one shingle to another. This paste both bonds the two overlapping structures physically, and allows electricity to flow from cell to cell, and is meant to be more flexible and resistant to temperature changes than soldered metal connections between cells.\n\nBut its primary innovations center around how it creates this bond between panels, which requires heat ranging from 200 to 600 degrees Celsius, by moving them along a conveyor belt, rather than using a batch or stationary process. It\u2019s what Tesla calls an \u201cexemplary inline thermal curing system,\u201d and according to its patent, it\u2019s better than the two other options available today: convection ovens and heating surfaces.\n\nThe problem with convection ovens is that \u201cthe heating efficiency of such approaches is typically low, because most of the heat may escape to the environment,\u201d the patent states. What\u2019s more, \u201cair must be circulated to ensure that there is effective and even convection occurring on the strips,\u201d and \u201can uneven airflow can result in temperature non-uniformity on the strips.\u201d\n\nHeating surfaces provides more uniformity, but because they need to be cool before the solar cells are placed on them, \u201cheating up and cooling down can take a long time, thus reducing the throughput of the fabrication system,\u201d it noted. \u201cIn addition, heating and cooling of a large thermal mass can consume a large amount of energy, and can cause large thermal stresses to be applied to the tool.\u201d\n\nTesla\u2019s patent describes the two main parts of the system -- the carrier of the solar wafers that runs underneath, and the heating element that sits above. The wafer carrier includes polybenzimidazole (PBI) plastic, a kind of plastic with very low thermal conductivity, to \u201censure that the heat emitted from the heater is mostly trapped between the heater and the substrate carrier and, thus, can efficiently cure the conductive paste.\u201d It also includes a \u201cnumber of components separated by air gaps to allow an individual component to expand when heated.\u201d\n\nThe heating element that sits above the conveyor belt also has a number of features, including a \u201cradiation block\u201d with \u201ca substantially dark colored coating\u201d to improve its efficiency, that \u201ccan include an anodizing coating or a high-emissivity coating,\u201d with a thickness of between 1 and 100 microns.\n\n\u201cA well-designed system that can efficiently heat the strips without damaging the photovoltaic junctions can reduce the time needed for curing the conductive paste to a period between 25 and 60 seconds,\u201d the patent notes.\n\nBy the way, Tesla\u2019s tempered glass solar shingles are using a hybrid of technology from Panasonic and Silevo, which SolarCity bought for $200 million in 2014. That is not the same technology as most of the building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) products we\u2019ve seen come and go over the past decade or so, which have used lower-efficiency thin-film solar materials that have been unable to compete with polysilicon solar panels.\n\nEnergy Conversion Devices went bankrupt chasing the dream of flexible BIPV through its Uni-Solar subsidiary. Even Dow Chemical wasn\u2019t able to make a go with its Powerhouse line of roof shingles with built-in thin-film PV -- it discontinued the product last year.", "output": "Tesla has been granted a patent for a \u201cmethod for curing conductive paste applied to two adjacent photovoltaic structures\u201d, like Tesla's Solar Roof. Tiled solar panels such as those in SolarCity's design face a significant challenge in getting electricity to flow efficiently from one tile to the next,\u00a0all the while protecting the solar cell against the elements. Tesla's new patent tackles the issue by using a polymer paste to connect the conducting busbars of one shingle to another, allowing the electricity to flow from cell to cell.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google accused of pressurising US think tank \n In his book \u201cZero to One,\u201d the tech investor Peter Thiel writes that companies like Google lie to protect themselves. \u201cThey know that bragging about their great monopoly invites being audited, scrutinized and attacked. Since they very much want their profits to continue unmolested, they tend to do whatever they can to conceal their monopoly \u2014 usually by exaggerating the power of their (nonexistent) competition,\u201d he explains. There\u2019s evidence that this kind of exaggeration is carried out by numerous scholars and think tanks funded by Google. According to a 2017 Wall Street Journal investigative report, \u201cOver the past decade, Google has helped finance hundreds of research papers to defend against regulatory challenges of its market dominance, paying $5,000 to $400,000 for the work.\u201d\n\nBut as the nonprofit Consumer Watchdog discovered in February 2009 when it investigated Google\u2019s handling of consumer privacy, the funding from Google comes with strings attached. As the group noted on its website, Google\u2019s director of policy communications, Bob Boorstin, emailed the Rose Foundation (a major funder of Consumer Watchdog) complaining about Consumer Watchdog and asking the charity to consider \u201cwhether there might be better groups in which to place your trust and resources.\u201d Mr. Boorstin later apologized for his attempts to cripple a Google critic, but there is no evidence that the use of this kind of tactic has ended.\n\nThe Wall Street Journal\u2019s report found that since 2009, Google had directly funded 100 papers written by academics and 100 papers that came through think tanks funded by Google. These papers make their way to the congressional committees and regulatory agencies that are charged with overseeing Google\u2019s business, like the Federal Trade Commission.\n\nGoogle\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t Be Evil\u201d suggested that the company valued transparency. But the extent of its influence is anything but transparent. Occasionally this is revealed to the public, such as when the infamous Google Shill List came out during a lawsuit brought by Oracle. Google was forced to disclose that it provided major funding to important organizations like Public Knowledge, Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Computer and Communications Industry Association.\n\nSo when these supposedly neutral organizations weigh in on issues that involve Google, you should take their advocacy with a grain of salt. In the coming months, privacy legislation put forward by Representative Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, and modifications to the Safe Harbor provision in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act advocated by Senator Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio, will come before Congress. Google does not want either of these laws to pass, and you can be sure that papers from major think tanks will be part of the policy discussion.", "output": "Google is facing criticism for its influence over US think tank the New America Foundation. The criticism comes following the firing of scholar Barry Lynn, who wrote an article on New America\u2019s website supporting the imposition of a $2.7bn fine on Google by the European Union for anti-trust breaches. The president of New America, Anne-Marie Slaughter, denies this was the reason for Lynn\u2019s sacking.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Zero-waste Totnes supermarket to expand to London and Birmingham \n An eco-friendly-couple say they have launched zero-waste supermarket where all packaging is completely banned.\n\nBig Happiness Interview: From 'clipping' to fika breaks, try these hacks for a good day\n\n28-year-old Richard Eckersley and his wife Nicola, 27, sell a range of up to 200 pesticide-free products in their store, Earth.Food.Love.\n\nYou don\u2019t have to worry about 5p carrier bags \u2013 as customers are expected to take their own pots, jars and sandwich bags in order to carry anything home.\n\nThe shop opened earlier this year in Totnes, Devon, and has been so successful that the green-thinking couple are now planning to open stores in both London and Birmingham to encourage more people to think of the economy.\n\nThe couple came up with the idea after they discovered Unperfekthaus \u2013 a German anti-waste outlet \u2013 while enjoying a trip to Berlin.\n\nRichard said: \u2018We walked in and immediately thought, why doesn\u2019t this exist in the UK?\n\n\u2018We came back to the UK and decided to open our own sustainable store. We wanted to go somewhere that we felt would make a difference to the local community \u2013 that\u2019s why we moved to Devon.\u2019\n\nThe motto of the shop \u2013 which stocks grains, pastas, and even maple syrup \u2013 is to deliver goods that are \u2018ethical, wholesome and organic\u2019, meaning products such as alcohol and milk are completely off the menu.\n\nEveryday supermarket items such as packets of crisps are also on a strict banned list, as they can have up to seven layers of packaging.\n\nBut this doesn\u2019t seem to deter customers \u2013 as the shop stocks products that people are absolutely loving.\n\n\u2018By far our most popular attraction of the shop is the \u2018grind-your-own\u2019 nut butter machines,\u2019 explained Richard.\n\n\u2018Filled with both almonds and peanuts, you can re-use your nut butter jar again and again and again, each time filling it with delicious, sticky goodness that\u2019s been ground right in front of you.\u2019\n\nAlongside nut butter, Earth.Food.Love stocks items that are locally sourced and biked over by local farmers, such as regionally-grown oats.\n\nThe store\u2019s Zero Waste Lifestyle collection also includes sanitary products, metal shavers that you just need to swap the blade on, and bamboo toothbrushes that have bristles you can replace.\n\nShoppers have to take their own containers which they then fill, weigh and label and pay for what they are buying by the gram \u2013 though the store keeps a supply of compostable paper bags for first-time customers and people who have turned up without their own containers.\n\nDespite the sales, Richard and Nicola say they didn\u2019t set up the shop to make money.\n\nRichard said: \u2018It\u2019s not about price for us. We don\u2019t want to stock items just for the sake of it, it has to be ethical.\n\n\u2018At the same time, we don\u2019t want to compete with local farms \u2013 there are many around here that sell fresh produce already.\n\n\u2018We\u2019re adding products all of time, but the supplier has to be right for us.\u2019\n\nHe continued: \u2018We want to live in a world where consuming doesn\u2019t have to cost the earth.\n\n\u2018We believe returning to these simple ways will benefit not only our health, but the planets too.\u2019\n\nAlongside selling organic, packaging-free products, the shop is also aiding the economy by featuring ethical energy supplied by Gloucestershire-based Ecotricity, who produce clean, renewable gas and electricity.\n\nThis as a whole has encouraged more and more customers to enter the shop, not just to search for products, but to experience something wholesome.\n\nRichard said: \u2018This week we\u2019ve had an influx of tourists popping in to see what the shop is all about \u2013 they\u2019re fascinated.\n\n\u2018But we have a lot of local residents too \u2013 they come in with their own boxes and bags and stock up on what they need.\u2019\n\nSince opening, Richard says the store has inspired many shoppers \u2013 and upon realising this, he and Nicola have produced their very own guide to \u2018setting up your own zero waste shop\u2019, which covers location, budget, suppliers, how to find dispensers and even advice on what to stock.\n\n\u2018In setting up a zero waste shop, you are creating such a huge shift in the way people shop that you are directly influencing positive change, and for that, you should be proud,\u2019 said Richard.\n\n\u2018Remember that it only takes one person to make one change, and the ripple will be felt through the entire ocean.\u2019\n\nMORE : The verdict on vegan halloumi\n\nMORE : A Nirvana-themed vegan caf\u00e9 is opening in Glasgow", "output": "A zero-waste shop in Totnes in the UK has been so successful that its owners are contemplating opening new shops in Birmingham and London. Earth.Food.Love sells up to 200 pesticide-free, ethical products, as well as sustainable sanitary products, shavers and toothbrushes, and requires customers to bring their own bags and containers for produce. Compostable paper bags are available for first-time visitors. Nicola and Richard Eckersley set up their shop after visiting Unperfekthaus, an anti-waste outlet in Berlin. The couple have now produced a guide to \u201csetting up your own zero waste shop\u201d."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Solar-plus-storage beats standalone PV by 2020: NREL \n With so few utility-scale solar-plus-storage projects actually built, we don\u2019t have much data on how their economics work.\n\nNow those companies considering it -- a group that includes all major solar developers -- have a bit more insight, thanks to Paul Denholm and his colleagues at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.\n\nTheir new analysis models the benefit-cost ratio of several solar and storage configurations under present circumstances and projected cases in 2020.\n\nIn today\u2019s market, under the assumptions of the model, standalone PV beats any of the hybrid combinations. Fast-forward to 2020 with an assumed 15 percent solar penetration, and DC-coupled PV-plus-storage with the federal Investment Tax Credit takes the lead.\n\nIn a 2020 scenario with 24 percent solar penetration, standalone PV plummets in value and all types of solar-plus-storage take the lead.\n\nThe real-world economics will change from place to place, but the trend here is clear: As the share of variable solar generation increases, so will the payoff for siting storage in the same place.\n\nThat evidence suggests the data is catching up to the aspirations of the storage industry, which Denholm has been tracking for the last 15 years.\n\n\u201cThe hype might actually be real,\u201d he said. \u201cIf these somewhat conservative projections do come true, then yes, by 2020 solar-plus-storage will be a cost-competitive source of dispatchable energy.\u201d\n\nNot just cost\n\nIt\u2019s easy enough to calculate levelized cost of energy for a solar-plus-storage system, and it will always be more expensive than standalone solar. But that metric fails to capture the additional value that can be gained by adding storage.\n\nIf the developer needs to deliver power for the evening peak, a storage-assisted PV plant will be significantly more valuable than the alternative.\n\nThe authors instead use a benefit-to-cost ratio found by dividing the annualized energy revenue and capacity value of the system by its annualized capital and operating expenses.\n\nThe system modeled is located in Southern California and wields 50 megawatts-AC of PV capacity with 30 megawatts of 4-hour duration storage.\n\nThe researchers focused specifically on this asset\u2019s value for energy and capacity, essentially pitting it against a gas peaker plant. They excluded other uses for storage, like ancillary services or transmission and distribution deferral, meaning the storage can likely deliver even more value than what was modeled here.\n\nMarket distortion\n\nHere\u2019s what the results look like for today\u2019s grid:\n\nBenefit/cost outcomes for PV+storage using 2014 electricity prices and 2016 estimated PV and battery costs. (Image credit: NREL)\n\nThe Investment Tax Credit is working some mischief here.\n\nNotice that without the ITC, the \u201ctightly coupled\u201d DC system, which only charges the batteries from the PV array, ranks among the worst paybacks. That configuration sacrifices revenue from arbitraging cheap grid power.\n\nWhen you add the 30 percent ITC, which is available to storage that only charges from renewable sources, the tight DC system jumps to second best, after standalone PV.\n\nThat\u2019s evidence of market distortion at work. Congress has not passed a standalone ITC for storage. The policy on the books drives developers toward charging their storage from solar alone, even when it might make more sense to charge from cheap grid power at night, for instance.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019re probably not incentivizing the optimal way of using that resource for the ultimate benefit,\u201d Denholm said.\n\nThat raises the chances of stranded assets. What if the industry chases the ITC, only to be stuck with a bunch of arbitrarily limited storage systems when the ITC runs out?\n\nThat\u2019s not a concern, Denholm said, because in most cases, it is possible to unlock grid charging with some tweaks to the storage hardware and software.\n\nThe future is hybrid\n\nStandalone PV wins out in the current market context (as modeled; there are certainly cases where it already triumphs), which features 6 percent solar penetration. The future holds a different outcome.\n\nThere\u2019s a well-established body of literature on the declining marginal value of additional solar power. As the amount of solar generation hitting the grid increases, so does the value of storing that power for use in the evening peak.\n\nThe 2020 case with a 30 percent investment tax credit. (Image credit: NREL)\n\nProjecting storage and solar costs in 2020 with 15 percent solar penetration, the authors find standalone solar losing its edge. The nonexclusive DC-coupled solar-plus-storage beats it, and the tight DC-coupled system with the ITC takes first place, with its benefits almost doubling its costs.\n\nAt 24 percent solar penetration, standalone PV\u2019s benefit-to-cost ratio sinks below 1, meaning that costs outweigh benefits. In that scenario, any combination of solar and storage beats the standalone solar.\n\nIn the same 2020 scenarios run without any ITC, all forms of solar-plus-storage beat standalone solar at 15 and 24 percent penetration.\n\nIn those cases, the unrestricted DC-coupled system has the best value proposition, but it\u2019s very close to the tightly coupled system. That\u2019s because in that grid, much of the power charging the storage will be from solar; the value of flexible charging is not as pronounced as it is today.\n\nThe study fits into the broader body of work documenting how storage can make itself useful as the grid approaches higher renewable energy penetrations. It also jibes with the market conditions we\u2019ve seen so far: A lot of people are talking about pairing these two resources, but few have done it outside of the island grid context. Large-scale projects going through bidding right now would come on-line around 2020.\n\nIn that light, there\u2019s a case to be made for building the hybrid systems before the ITC runs out, knowing that the operational value is only going to grow as solar penetration rises. Once that tax credit is gobbled up, the system can always be changed to operate more flexibly (some might say sensibly) down the road.\n\nJoin GTM for a deep dive into the budding domestic energy storage market at the U.S. Energy Storage Summit 2017. Utilities, financiers, regulators, technology innovators, and storage practitioners will all come together for two full days of data-intensive presentations, analyst-led panel sessions with industry leaders, and extensive, high-level networking. Learn more here.", "output": "Should solar penetration reach 15% by 2020, DC-coupled photovoltaic (PV) solar-plus-storage with the US Investment Tax Credit is cheaper than standalone PV solar, according to research from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). By 2020, with solar penetration at 24%, all types of solar-plus storage beat standalone PV. While the actual economics vary according to location, as the share of variable solar generation increases, so will the value of connected energy storage."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ballard\u2019s Q2 shows fuel cell technology could finally be profitable \n Publicly listed fuel cell companies have yet to post a profitable year. But Canada\u2019s Ballard Power Systems recently announced the next best thing: positive adjusted EBITDA over the trailing 12-month period ending on June 30.\n\nSo, is this another false start for fuel cells, or does it portend profits will soon come to the sector?\n\nBallard was founded in 1979, making this its 38th year of operations and 22nd as a public company. Its North American-listed compatriots -- Plug Power, Hydrogenics and FuelCell Energy -- have been publicly listed for almost as long. Last year, FuelCell Energy CEO Chip Bottone said the company was \"within striking distance\" of profitability, but that goal has yet to be realized. Bloom Energy, meanwhile, remains a private company.\n\nOutgoing GTM editor Eric Wesoff recently noted that there has not been a profitable fuel cell company in his lifetime. Wesoff\u2019s Wall has proven as insurmountable as the one in the popular dragon-infused TV series Game of Thrones, preventing fuel cell firms from crossing into profitable territory for centuries -- although not for lack of trying. Could the wall soon be breached?\n\nBallard Q2 earnings report showed Positive H1 adjusted EBITDA (TTM figures not listed)\n\nBallard\u2019s trailing 12 months\u2019 (TTM) adjusted EBITDA of $0.6 million was based on revenues of $100 million and gross margins of 34 percent. With net losses in this period below $10 million, revenue growth of one-third would put it on the cusp of profitability. The company\u2019s goals to increase revenues by 50 percent and gross margins by 6 percent over calendar-year 2016 (reiterated in its Q2 report) may be designed with this in mind.\n\nThough it provides technical services to four global auto OEMs, Ballard\u2019s rising fortunes appear largely tied to China\u2019s enthusiasm for hybrid battery/fuel cell platforms for heavy-duty transport (buses, trucks and light rail), which mirrors the country\u2019s interest in batteries for light-duty passenger vehicles. These hybrids supplement battery propulsion with modestly sized fuel cell stacks which serve as zero-emission range extenders.\n\nThe company has signed $29 million in contracts to deploy 600 fuel cell engines for Broad-Ocean, a leading Chinese motor manufacturer that has taken a 9.9 percent ownership stake. Ballard has also supplied fuel cells to Yinlong Energy, a battery-electric bus manufacturer (2017 target production: 35,000) that aims for 20 percent of its sales to incorporate fuel cells by 2020. Finally, its joint venture fuel-cell production facility in Guangdong province is contracted to purchase $150 million of membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs, a fuel cell subcomponent) from Ballard over a five-year period, on a take-or-pay basis. While these sums would amount to a rounding error for other industries, they are significant for the fuel cell sector.\n\nThe transformative potential of the Chinese market is underscored by other fuel cell firms\u2019 announcements. Hydrogenics received a $21 million private placement from Hejili, a Chinese limited partnership, and a $50 million contract with Blue-G, a division of Yixing Electric Auto, covering 1,000 fuel cell stacks. Plug Power, fresh off major transactions with Amazon and Walmart, is also testing fuel cell range extenders in China, and their fuel cell forklifts will likely find a receptive market there as well.\n\nFor its part, FuelCell Energy, whose high-temperature molten carbonate fuel cells make it more of a competitor to Bloom Energy, has found its core market in South Korea, where 170 megawatts of its installations have been sited. (From its press releases, privately held Bloom Energy\u2019s installation base appears to have recently topped 200 megawatts.)\n\nFreedom from fossil hydrogen\n\nWhile FuelCell Energy and Bloom can run their systems on biogas, the proton exchange membrane fuel cells used by Ballard, Hydrogenics and Plug Power require pure hydrogen, which would need to be renewably generated for fuel cells to be a climate solution. And with water electrolysis accounting for only about 1 percent of worldwide hydrogen production -- steam methane reforming with its byproduct carbon dioxide being the dominant process -- the \u201crenewable hydrogen\u201d era remains many, many moons away.\n\nWhether despite or due to this challenge, electrolyzer vendors have innovated to achieve significant cost reductions in recent years. Norway\u2019s Nel Hydrogen has recently claimed that cheap electricity and high electrolyzer utilization (and admittedly, fuel taxes) will allow it to provide hydrogen at a lower cost than gasoline in some jurisdictions (see slide 9 in this Nel presentation).\n\nWhile this claim may remain untested for some time, given the paucity of fuel-cell vehicle deployments, Nel has signed a framework agreement with SunPower (see slide 22) for renewable hydrogen production, and has moved forward with a framework agreement for a 100-megawatt electrolysis/power-to-gas plant in France, which will inject hydrogen into the natural gas network. The project is valued at 450 million Norwegian kroner, or about $55 million at current exchange rates, with the possibility of eventual expansion to 700 megawatts.\n\nNel is also developing an intriguing 400-megawatt electrolyzer concept with an unnamed industrial customer to undercut the cost of fossil hydrogen.\n\nSource: Nel Hydrogen, Nel ASA presentation (May 2017), slide 26\n\nWhile overambitious announcements have continued to characterize the hydrogen and fuel cell sectors, Nel\u2019s competitors have also announced higher-capacity electrolyzer platforms (see here and here) in response to client demand, which suggests the economics may be beginning to show promise.\n\nOf course, even cheaply generated renewable hydrogen would be of limited value unless it could be easily transported, which leads us to Japanese engineering firm Chiyoda and its plan to import hydrogen from Brunei.\n\nThe mother of all flow batteries\n\nBy 2020 (presumably in time for the Tokyo Olympics), Chiyoda plans to ship toluene to Brunei, where it will be reacted with hydrogen produced from natural gas to generate methylcyclohexane (MCH). The MCH will be shipped back to Japan, where the hydrogen will be removed, leaving toluene, which will be sent back to Brunei.\n\nCall it the mother of all flow batteries.\n\nFIGURE: Development of Large-Scale H2 Storage and Transportation Technology With Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier\n\nSource: Chiyoda\n\nBy using the hydrocarbons as a liquid organic hydrogen carrier, or LOHC, Chiyoda aims to circumvent the problems of long-distance hydrogen transport. Though the process may seem something like a Rube Goldberg machine, its overriding advantage is its backward-compatibility with ubiquitous, mature petroleum infrastructure. Given expectations of an eventual peak in liquid fuels demand, LOHC processes could one day offer oil companies a way to stay relevant in a post-petroleum world.\n\nFor this pilot project, Chiyoda proposes to transport 210 tons of hydrogen per year to Japan, corresponding to yearly shipments of about 3,500 tons of organic carrier. (By comparison, an oil supertanker can carry upward of 300,000 tons of crude.) A monthly round trip would mean cycling a mere 300 tons of organic carrier between Japan and Brunei, presumably a small enough volume to piggyback off existing shipping flows between the countries.\n\nIn terms of energy delivery, 1 kilogram of hydrogen contains about as much chemical energy as a gallon of gasoline, which weighs about 6 pounds (2.75 kilograms). Methylcyclohexane has roughly the same density, and releases about 6 percent hydrogen by weight when converted into toluene. As such, a gallon of methylcyclohexane would yield up 0.17 kilograms of hydrogen, with chemical energy equivalent to one-sixth of a gallon of gasoline. Even factoring in fuel cells\u2019 greater efficiency at converting chemical energy to work, LOHCs might be hard-pressed to deliver one-third as much work-per-tanker as today\u2019s liquid fuels.\n\nPerhaps in part for this reason, funding awards from ARPA-E\u2019s Renewable Energy Fuels Through Utilization of Energy-Dense Liquids (REFUEL) program have focused on ammonia, which consists of 17 percent hydrogen by weight. Ammonia production is a mature industry, with about half a million tons produced each day (global daily oil production amounts to roughly 10 million tons of crude). Unfortunately, ammonia boils at -30 degrees Celsius, has a pungent odor, and is classified in the United States as toxic by inhalation, all of which could impede its success as a widespread hydrogen carrier.\n\nWhile their time might not come for decades, some form of liquid energy carrier seems likely to play a role in the future: Not all global energy flows can likely be replaced with increased electric transmission capacity. However imperfect the liquid energy carriers of the future may be, their success will probably hinge on compatibility with infrastructure from already globe-spanning industries.\n\nSaluting the supporting cast\n\nStudents of the renewables revolution could be forgiven for questioning the relevance of fuel cells, renewable hydrogen and liquid energy carriers, given the ascendance of wind, solar and now battery storage. But emerging technologies deserve attention precisely because they are still emerging and their future is uncertain. The \"big three\" have enough momentum to saturate their respective markets; their spread and success are largely a given with time.\n\nSo while fuel cells, renewable hydrogen, liquid energy carriers, next-generation nuclear and biofuels, efficiency innovations and other technologies may only ever be the supporting cast of the energy transition, their arc is inherently more interesting. The big three may not bring us all the way to a carbon-neutral world on their own, in which case some of these technologies may step into the spotlight, while others remain in the shadows and still more leave the stage.\n\nThe twists and turns at the bleeding edge of fuel cell technology make for compelling viewing and engrossing speculation, though for an admittedly smaller audience than the big three enjoy. If and when they breach the wall of profitability, perhaps fuel cells will be taken more seriously.\n\n***\n\nMatthew Klippenstein is a consultant in Vancouver, Canada. He does not own shares or conduct business with any of the companies listed above, but once worked for Ballard Power Systems.", "output": "Canada\u2019s Ballard Power Systems recently announced positive adjusted EBITDA over the trailing 12-month period ending on 30 June, suggesting that a publicly listed fuel cell company may eventually post a profitable year. Ballard was founded in 1979 and listed 22 years ago. Its US-listed contemporaries, Plug Power, Hydrogenics and FuelCell Energy,\u00a0have been public\u00a0for almost as long. Last year, FuelCell Energy CEO Chip Bottone said the company was \"within striking distance\" of profitability, but it hasn't reached it yet."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Climate change litigation to increase warn environmental lawyers \n Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nIndependent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nA \"wave of legal action\" over climate change has already begun and cases will become more likely to succeed as the scientists get better at attributing extreme weather events to global warming, activists have warned.\n\nWriting in the journal Nature Geoscience, lawyers from ClientEarth in London and Earth & Water Law in Washington DC said events previously regarded as \u201cacts of God\u201d could increasingly land humans with a bill for damages.\n\nCompanies and their directors, government agencies and others with a duty of care, who fail to disclose relevant information or to plan ahead, could all potentially be in legal trouble.\n\nSeveral legal cases are already underway in the US with a group of young people suing the US federal government for allegedly creating and enhancing the dangers of climate change; coastal communities in California suing fossil fuel companies over sea-level rise; and the New York attorney general\u2019s office investigating ExxonMobil amid claims the company may have misled shareholders about the financial risk posed by climate change.\n\nThe Nature Geoscience article said: \u201cThe question is not whether there will be another wave of climate-related litigation \u2014 the wave is already in motion.\n\n\u201cThe question instead is whether it will be more successful than previous efforts.\n\n\u201cWe expect that evidence from attribution science will catalyse future climate change litigation.\n\n\u201cSuch cases are likely to involve actors such as local government agencies, built-environment professionals, and companies and their directors alleged to have had duties of care or special knowledge about specific climate-related risk.\n\n\u201cClaims are likely to arise when those actors fail to share or disclose relevant knowledge, or fail to take adaptation actions that would have protected those to whom they owed a duty of care.\u201d\n\nAttributing extreme weather events to climate change is difficult. However, recently researchers have been able to show wildfires and other events were significantly more likely because of the rising temperatures.\n\nAnd courts in the US and UK, for example, have already accepted evidence based on probability in other cases.\n\nIn a statement, the article\u2019s authors, Sophie Marjanac and James Thornton, of ClientEarth, and Lindene Patton, of Earth & Water Law, said: \u201cThe science of extreme weather attribution is improving rapidly, and is making important predictions about future weather events.\n\n\u201cThis means the legal duties of those responsible for keeping people, the built environment and the natural world safe are changing too.\n\n\u201cIdentifying the human influence in events once only understood as \u2018acts of god\u2019 will reshape the legal landscape, meaning governments and businesses could be sued if they don\u2019t take action to protect people from floods, heatwaves and other foreseeable climate change risks.\u201d\n\nClientEarth twice successfully took the UK Government to court over substandard plans to bring air pollution down to within minimum safety limits set by the European Union in a timely fashion.\n\nFollowing publication of the Government\u2019s third attempt, it has written to Ministers seeking \u201curgent answers over disturbing holes in court-ordered plans to clean up illegal levels of air pollution\u201d.\n\nIn July, chief executives of 92 green organisations voted ClientEarth as the UK\u2019s most effective environmental campaign group.\n\nThis article has been corrected to state that the young people suing the US government are doing so on the ground that it helped to cause climate change, rather than failed to take action to address it.", "output": "Legal action relating to climate change will escalate and become increasingly successful as scientists become better at attributing extreme weather events to global warming, according to an article in \u201cNature Geoscience\u201d by UK and US environmental lawyers. Representatives of ClientEarth and Earth & Water Law argue that \u201cthe legal duties of those responsible for keeping people, the built environment and the natural world safe\u201d are evolving. Fossil fuel companies are currently being sued by Californian coastal communities in relation to sea-level rises and ExxonMobil is under investigation for misleading shareholders over its exposure to climate change risks."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Solar-plus-storage cheaper than gas peakers by 2025: WoodMac \n A lot can happen in the heat of the moment.\n\nFor South Australia, the stress of a statewide blackout last fall prompted two major purchases in the grid-time equivalent of the blink of an eye. The government procured a 100-megawatt/129-megawatt-hour battery from Tesla, which will be the largest in the world, and a 250-megawatt open-cycle gas turbine (OCGT) peaker plant.\n\nThose projects show that the government is doing something about grid stability. But Wood Mackenzie, GTM Research and MAKE Consulting wanted to figure out if and when energy storage will start to displace gas peakers for cost-effective peak capacity on sheer economics.\n\nSouth Australia makes a useful test case for these questions due to the stark changes underway there.\n\nThe state closed its last remaining coal plant in May 2016. Wind and solar have risen to 46 percent of generation, and are expected to hit 67 percent by 2025. In September, extreme weather triggered the first statewide blackout since the National Electric Market got started in 1998. This caused a great deal of finger-pointing as to which resources caused the failure.\n\nAnother round of blackouts rolled through in February due to load-shedding when high demand coincided with low wind production and limited gas reserves.\n\nIn today's market, neither renewables backed by storage nor standalone storage are cost-competitive with OCGTs for peaking power, according to the analysis.\n\nBy 2025, solar-plus-storage and standalone storage both beat new and existing OCGTs for meeting peak load. By 2035, renewables and storage will be lower-cost than gas for both baseload and peak power, although some OCGTs may still be needed for emergency backup.\n\nThat's heartening news for the storage industry -- and a warning sign for gas.\n\n\"A much smaller proportion of gas is used for peaking than for baseload, so it's a much bigger deal for storage and renewables to displace combined cycle gas turbines than peakers,\" said Shayle Kann, head of GTM Research.\n\nThe data suggests a pathway where niche applications like the Tesla project, which is short-duration and intended for grid reliability rather than peak capacity, pave the way for storage to compete with gas peakers more broadly, and even then threaten baseload gas, he added.\n\nMany storage developers today pitch utility-scale batteries as a more flexible alternative to peaker plants, arguing they avoid the risk of stranded assets that comes with purchasing single-use peakers that might not be needed in 10 years. The storage for baseload pitch hasn't really begun, at least not outside of remote or island grids.\n\nOf course, the evolution of grid operations won't be as neat. Overall gas demand is expected to drop more than threefold by 2025, but month-to-month variability will be considerable. The government will also have to weigh how much it wants to pay to maintain some OCGTs as emergency backup power.\n\n\"If you got rid of gas entirely, you run a risk of an anomalous scenario where there's very little solar generation or wind and you don't have anything dispatchable to replace it,\" Kann said.\n\nFor regular operations in 2025, the amount of storage needed to displace gas peakers is surprisingly manageable.\n\nThe yearly maximum residual demand for gas falls in February, when the wind generation doesn't fully cover the evening peak. By adding 400 megawatts/1,600 megawatt-hours of energy storage, though, the grid could fully displace imports or gas peakers in meeting the evening peak demand, according to the analysis.\n\nThe key there is the 4-hour duration. Short-duration batteries like those used in the Tesla project cannot bulk-shift enough power to displace peakers.\n\nThat is a lot of megawatt-hours in today's terms. But 100-megawatt projects are becoming more frequent, and won't seem as massive by the mid-2020s. The economics are expected to improve, thanks to declining battery costs and cheaper costs to charge.\n\nSouth Australia's grid is unique in how much renewable energy it already has, but these trends should bear out in similar markets where the grid transition pushes out coal and leaves renewables, gas and storage.\n\nThen the question won't be whether renewables and storage out-compete gas power, but rather how to ensure cost-effective reliability when those market forces arrive.\n\nGreentech Media\u2019s two-day U.S. Power & Renewables 2017 conference in Austin, Texas this November will bring together the solar expertise of GTM Research, the wind energy analysis of MAKE, and the broader energy and utilities expertise of Wood Mackenzie, for an end-to-end view across the entire energy market value chain.", "output": "By 2025, solar-plus-storage and standalone storage will be cheaper than new and existing open-cycle gas turbine (OCGT) peaker plants for meeting peak load, according to analysis by Wood Mackenzie, GTM Research and MAKE Consulting. By 2035, renewables and storage will also be cheaper than gas for baseload power, they said. The research was carried out after a state-wide blackout in South Australia led to the purchase of a 100 MW/129 MWh battery from Tesla and a 250 MW OCGT peaker plant."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "University of Saskatchewan patents syngas-creating catalyst \n CLS scientists Yongfeng Hu and Hui Wang. Credit: University of Saskatchewan\n\nCO2 and methane are the most significant greenhouse gases resulting from human activity, said Hui Wang, professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan.\n\nCapturing CO2 and methane emissions from industrial sources and reusing them could reduce the threat on the world's ecosystem by slowing climate change, said Wang, the principal researcher of a paper published in Catalyst Today.\n\nCO2 and methane can be triggered to undergo chemical reactions with each other to create synthesis gas or syngas. Syngas is a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which can be used to synthesize a variety of liquid fuels or ammonia.\n\nThis reaction between CO2 and methane, also called 'dry reforming of methane,' has not been fully scaled-up for commercial use due to lack of an inexpensive and industrially viable catalyst. Catalysts are used to speed up chemical reactions.\n\nWang's research group has patented a technology to make a highly active, stable dry-reforming catalyst from cheap metals including nickel, cobalt, magnesium and aluminum. The current technology provides for making a catalyst in powder form, but the goal of the project is to make the powder form into a sphere-shaped catalyst, which is easier to handle in industrial operations.\n\nTo do this, Wang and his research team used commercially available aluminum-oxide spheres and impregnated them with \"layers\" of the catalyst metals. Several sets of these catalyst balls were made using different techniques to impregnate them with solutions of salt forms of the metals in order to study which technique gave the best results.\n\nThe X-ray absorption spectroscopy facility at CLS enabled the researchers to identify, at the atomic level, which procedures for impregnating the spheres created the best characteristics of an industrial catalyst.\n\n\"Without the CLS we couldn't have been able to fully understand this,\" Wang said.\n\nThe work is an important step toward creating a shaped-catalyst for commercializing the CO2 reforming of CH4 technology.", "output": "Researchers at the University of Saskatchewan have patented a catalyst for synthesising carbon dioxide and methane. The resulting syngas can be used to synthesise liquid fuels or ammonia. The catalyst is made using cheap materials including nickel, cobalt, magnesium and aluminium. Although currently in a powder form, the researchers intend to make the catalyst sphere-shaped to enable it to handle industrial operations more easily."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Romeo Power raises $30m for world's densest battery packs \n By Jonny Tiernan\n\nL.A.-based battery company Romeo Power claims to make \u201cthe world\u2019s most dense battery packs,\u201d and it\u2019s a claim that has led it to generate $30 million in seed funding, without involving venture capitalists. All of the investment came from the management team, unnamed family officers, and people who have invested in the previous startups CEO Mark Patterson has been involved with. Now that\u2019s a gesture of faith.\n\nThe confidence in the company, which only launched in 2016, comes from a number of quarters. First, Patterson has a proven track record of successfully founding and selling companies, including a fraud detection company, InAuth, that was bought by American Express; second, the 190-person team features a wealth of expertise that has experience working for respected giants such as Tesla, Apple, Samsung, and Amazon, so they know what they are doing; and third, the company\u2019s special method of building the lithium-ion batteries yields at least 25% more energy density than a comparable pack.\n\n$65 Million in Orders Placed\n\nWhile Romeo doesn\u2019t make its own battery cells (it sources them from the likes of Samsung and LG instead), it has its own unique method of packing them that sets them apart. According to cofounder and CTO, Porter Harris, the company selects the best cells for a particular application (in a tablet computer or electric car, for example), and then picks out the right container and materials to house and connect them, and then keep the whole thing cool with its own firmware, software, thermal system, and battery system.\n\nIt\u2019s a method that has drawn in a huge level of sales already, with orders totaling $65 million scheduled for delivery in 2018. Its customer list includes motorcycle and forklift manufacturers, robotics companies, automakers, and more. Patterson is aware of the runaway success, as he acknowledged in a statement. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen incredible momentum in a short period, and we\u2019re scaling manufacturing as fast as we can to meet demand,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a massive market opportunity for energy storage technologies.\u201d\n\nPatterson is right about the market opportunity, as even the EV market alone is estimated to reach $32 billion by 2020. With this massively increasing demand for lithium-ion batteries, we can expect Romeo Power to keep charging along.\n\nSign up for Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era \u2014 Podcast: I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014 gasp \u2014 grow. So ... Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014\u2014 grow. So ...", "output": "LA battery provider Romeo Power has raised $30m in seed funding, without any input from venture capitalists. The company claims to manufacture the world\u2019s most energy-dense battery packs, providing 25% more energy than comparable devices. The company, founded in 2016, has $65m worth of orders due to be delivered in 2018, attracting interest from automakers, robotics firms, and forklift and motorcycle manufacturers, amongst others."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wealth manager Equilibrium unveils one-stop-shop investment app \n Wealth management company Equilibrium is on the brink of launching its new one-stop-shop online finance portal MyEQ.\n\nThe Wilmslow-based firm manages over \u00a3700 million of assets for over 850 families and has developed and trialled the cutting-edge portal for their benefit.\n\nEquilibrium Asset Management clients can access MyEQ through laptops, phones, desktops or tablets \u2013 and view their own investment portfolio in one place.\n\nGaynor Rigby, Equilibrium managing partner, said the multi-functional portal will give users a snapshot into their finances, with the added ability to keep track of investments, see a true picture of their net worth and even calculate property values.\n\n\u201cWe are proud to be launching the online portal MyEQ. Equilibrium has been providing expertise on wealth and investment management for more than 20 years to our valued customers \u2013 and MyEQ is a natural addition to our offer,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cWe hope that this will provide an even greater level of customer experience by creating a quick and easy way to access everything from data to documents.\n\n\u201cMyEQ is an exciting product and is essentially a modern-day personal digital financial filing cabinet that will enable our clients to monitor their financial lives minute-by-minute and day-by-day should they want to.\u201d\n\nRigby added: \u201cIt\u2019s important to mention that MyEQ is a financial peace of mind in your pocket. The portal makes sure that your data is safeguarded by using bank-level security and 128-bit encryption.\n\n\u201cThe online portal also provides secure communications with a client\u2019s adviser and allows clients to get a grip on their calendars, not forgetting important financial dates such as premiums due, income receivable, insurance renewals and policy maturities.\u201d", "output": "Equilibrium is about to launch a one-stop-shop online dashboard service for its wealthy clients on which they can see all their investments in one place. The Manchester-based wealth manager's MyEQ will be accessible through laptops, phones, desktop computers and tablets, and will allow investors to see a snapshot of their assets' worth and also to calculate property values. Equilibrium manages \u00a3700m of assets owned by 850 families.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Orange County needs to invest in senior care \n Orange County seniors need our support now more than ever. With the impending cuts in health care on the national level, we will see an increase in the number of seniors requiring care. For Orange County, that means we need to see more from our Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, or PACE. It is a program that is not currently reaching enough of our senior population, but could provide vital benefits for all participants.\n\nOver the next two decades, California\u2019s senior population is expected to grow by nearly two-thirds. Indeed, by 2035, nearly one in four Californians will be age 60 or older, and today in Orange County, 622,907 of our residents are already there.\n\nIn fact, of all 58 counties in California, Orange County has the second-highest number of minority seniors, Medi-Cal-eligible seniors, and non-English-speaking seniors. Therefore, in addition to the vulnerability of old age, many of our seniors face other sources of discrimination and disadvantages due to their ethnicity or language capabilities.\n\nI present these numbers to you because our seniors are a significant portion of our community and population here in Orange County \u2014 and the fastest-growing age group in the County \u2014 and they are not receiving the care they deserve. It is up to us to respond to the needs of this population.\n\nWith health care costs making up the majority of senior expenses, seniors on a fixed income regularly struggle to make ends meet. The average 65-year-old couple with Medicare insurance coverage would still need an average of $276,000 to cover projected medical expenses during the combined remainder of their lives, and that doesn\u2019t even cover most long-term care expenses.\n\nWhile Medi-Cal and the Affordable Care Act have provided vital safety nets and support for these seniors, our cities and counties need to take further steps to protect this population as seniors face potential changes to their current health care status.\n\nHere in Orange County, we have taken such steps in the form of PACE. PACE is a Medicare and Medi-Cal program designed to coordinate and provide all needed preventative, primary, acute and long-term care; social services and rehabilitative services to seniors through one comprehensive program. Furthermore, it does this while helping seniors to continue to live independently, and with dignity, in their communities.\n\nPACE gives seniors an option outside of nursing home care that still provides everything an aging family member might need, including primary care, specialty services, meals, prescription drugs, dental care, recreational therapy and, most importantly, transportation to and from the facilities.\n\nHowever, Orange County does not have enough of these facilities, and while I am confident that the handful of seniors who have used the program here have benefited from them, it is simply not enough. The thousands of seniors in our county need help, and PACE can give it to them. We need more such programs in Orange County.\n\nAs the CEO of the Orange County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, I regularly see the disadvantages that our minorities suffer as they enter old age \u2014 a vulnerable time for all of us, even under the best of circumstances. PACE offers all the services that ensure a good quality of life for seniors. It is critical that we develop more of these comprehensive centers in our community to serve the needs of Orange County\u2019s elderly.\n\nAs a local business advocate serving the Hispanic community, I ask our community and our county to step up for our seniors and support an expansion of PACE programs in Orange County.\n\nReuben D. Franco is CEO of the Orange County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.", "output": "Orange County seniors are likely to require increased care as federal funding looks likely to be cut and the senior population being due to expand by two-thirds in the next 20 years. The county's Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) could be the solution for older residents, however, with the right support. The program is a Medicare and Medi-Cal system that coordinates primary, preventative, acute and long-term care for seniors, as well as overseeing social and rehabilitative services. It also helps older citizens to live independently and gain community support. PACE offers options aside from nursing home care that can still cover all necessary facets of older living, such as primary care, specialized care, food, prescription drugs, oral care, transportation for care and recreational therapy sessions. However, Orange County is lacking support for PACE and other similar services that could radically improve the lives of seniors. Health care costs for the average 65 year old couple, even with Medicare coverage, is around $276,000, and does not cover long term care costs. Not only that, but older residents also face discrimination based on ethnicity and language capacity, making the provision of adequate services even more vital. Providing the present 622,907 residents aged 60 or over with adequate care is important, but even more necessary is the extension of current services for the aging population of the future.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trump rejects Chinese offer to cut steel overcapacity \n US President reported to have dismissed offer of 150 million-tonne reduction despite support from some of his senior advisers", "output": "US President Donald Trump has rejected the Chinese government's proposal to cut steel overcapacity by 150 million tonnes by 2022, according to sources familiar with the matter. Despite several senior advisers' support of the deal, Trump instead urged advisers to find ways to impose tariffs on imports from China, the sources added. Last week, American steel industry executives urged Trump to impose immediate import restrictions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Germany won't meet 2020 emissions target as coal replaces\u00a0nuclear \n This article first appeared on the BNEF mobile app and the Bloomberg Terminal.\n\nDecision after Fukushima disaster has helped coal plants\n\nChance of more government action grows as 2020 target looms\n\nGerman nuclear, coal generation and emissions\n\nSource: Bloomberg New Energy Finance\n\nGermany\u2019s nuclear phaseout, brought about by Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2011 after the Fukushima disaster in Japan, has left the country unable to wean itself off of the dirty coal and lignite power produced by the likes of RWE, Uniper and EnBW. With the anticipated nuclear closings through 2023, the country needs to keep the firm capacity provided by coal to guarantee security of supply. As a result, Bloomberg New Energy Finance expects it will not meet its 2020 emissions target, despite nearly 50% of generating capacity being wind and solar. As it becomes more apparent the target will be missed, and given the precedent of the lignite reserve, the risk of further intervention grows.\n\nClients can access the full report here.\n\nBNEF Shorts are research excerpts available only on the BNEF mobile app and the Bloomberg Terminal, highlighting key findings from our reports. If you would like to learn more about our services, please contact us.", "output": "Germany is unlikely to achieve its 2020 emission-reduction targets because it is replacing baseload power from nuclear facilities with coal-burning plants, according to analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Germany decided to phase out its dependence on nuclear energy following the Fukushima disaster in 2011, forcing the nation to depend more heavily on coal. As a result, Germany's CO2 emissions won't fall fast enough to meet its obligations under the Paris climate accords, even though it generates almost 50% of its energy from renewable sources."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "VCs back immigrant founded start-ups in US \n Though these firms, which include Unshackled Ventures, One Way Ventures, and One VC, were not created in direct response to Trump\u2019s actions, their focus on aiding immigrants is particularly timely and vital now. \u201cAs immigration issues pop up, we\u2019re seeing VCs answer the call and offer immigration counsel [to their portfolio companies],\u201d says Jeff Farrah, vice president of government affairs at the National Venture Capital Association, a Washington, D.C., trade group.\n\nYingzhe \u201cRegi\u201d Fu is one beneficiary of this trend. He approached Unshackled Ventures in early 2016, a few months before he was due to graduate from the University of California, Berkeley, with a master\u2019s in mechanical engineering. As a Chinese citizen who wanted to stay in the U.S. and help some school friends launch a home-automation-technology startup, Fu essentially had two choices: he could seek employment with a large American company that would sponsor his visa or he could convince Unshackled Ventures to support his work authorization so he could concentrate on his startup.\n\nAfter several rounds of pitches, the firm agreed to sponsor Fu and provided his startup with office space, strategic advice, and access to a network of experts in exchange for a small equity stake. Today, Fu is able to work full-time on Togg, which just began deploying its smart-sensor product inside homes. \u201cI\u2019m very grateful for what I have right now,\u201d he says. \u201cI can focus on building my company and not worry about the immigration process too much.\u201d\n\nSince Unshackled Ventures began investing in 2015, it has helped its portfolio company founders, who hail from 16 countries, obtain seven different types of visas through a close partnership with an immigration law firm. Often, the process requires the Palo Alto-based fund to hire its entrepreneurs using H-1B visas, which lets non-Americans who have specialized technology knowledge work in the U.S. for up to six years. In order to provide that service and give its companies hands-on coaching, Unshackled Ventures limits its investments to eight to 10 companies a year, says founding partner Nitin Pachisia. (The firm typically invests up to $300,000 in a company during an angel/pre-seed round and asks for 8 to 15 percent ownership in return.)\n\nOne Way Ventures also plans to assist entrepreneurs with immigration issues when it begins investing in companies in October. However, the Boston-based fund will focus on more-established companies that are raising seed and Series A funding, and founding partner Semyon Dukach says he will likely refer people to lawyers rather than sponsor their visas. (San Francisco-based One VC has made several seed-stage investments while raising its first fund, but declined interview requests because it has yet to officially launch.)\n\nFirms that specialize in immigrant-founded startups do so for several reasons. Typically, the VCs are immigrants themselves, know firsthand how tedious and unpredictable the visa process can be, and want to help people in similar situations. One of Unshackled Ventures\u2019s founding partners grew up in India; the other is the son of Indian immigrants. One Way Ventures\u2019s founding partners are from Russia and Brazil; One VC\u2019s managing director is also Brazilian.\n\nSome of these investors think focusing on immigrants gives them a greater sense of mission and deeper connection to their work. They also tend to believe that immigrants make better entrepreneurs. The VCs attribute this to the personal qualities that compel people to emigrate, as well as those they develop while navigating a new country. \u201cWe think there\u2019s an overall thread between immigrant founders that\u2019s amazing, whether it\u2019s because of their work ethic, determination, grit, or hunger,\u201d says One Way Ventures founding partner Eveline Buchatskiy.\n\nNaturally, these VCs also have financial incentives. They view immigrant entrepreneurs as smart investments, in part because other VCs consider them risky, leaving them underfunded and undervalued compared to their peers. One Way and Unshackled Ventures also point to statistics that indicate how successful these startups can be, such as a 2016 study by the National Foundation for American Policy that found that immigrants founded or cofounded half of the U.S.-based \u201cunicorn\u201d startups that were then valued at $1 billion or more, including Instacart, Slack, SpaceX, and Uber.\n\nUnshackled Ventures\u2019s portfolio also shows encouraging results, with more than half of the 17 companies it has backed already generating revenue. The firm says its invested capital has doubled in value over the past three years, reaping an internal rate of return twice as high as the national average for similar-aged funds.\n\nThe Trump administration\u2019s fixation on immigration may further boost returns. Pachisia says inquiries and referrals to Unshackled Ventures have tripled since the 2016 presidential election. One Way Ventures is still raising capital for its first fund, but has already received a number of e-mails from interested entrepreneurs. \u201cImmigrants\u2019 rights in general are being reduced right now, so this whole issue is getting more attention,\u201d says Dukach.", "output": "Venture capitalists in the US are providing support to start-ups created by immigrants. Such start-ups have been threatened by the Trump administration\u2019s decision to delay a ruling that would have permitted overseas entrepreneurs to remain in the country for five years. Unshackled Ventures, which started to invest in 2015, has supported founders from 16 different countries to obtain visas by working in partnership with an immigration law firm. Immigrants founded or co-founded 50% of US-based \u201cunicorn\u201d start-ups worth at least $1bn, according to a 2016 study."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Renewable projects likely to face a squeeze on debt ratios \n By Angus McCrone, Bloomberg New Energy Finance\u2019s Chief Editor. This article first appeared in BNEF\u2019s \u2018New Energy Deals\u2019 publication, available to clients on the web and on the Bloomberg Terminal.\n\nThe new era of unsubsidized wind and solar projects will mean developers facing a smaller pool of potential lenders, resulting in \u201ca squeeze\u201d on the debt ratios that they have enjoyed up to now, according to BNP Paribas.\n\nThe French bank, which is one of the largest providers of project finance debt for renewable energy plants, with a target to double cumulative lending to 15 billion euros between 2015 and 2020, predicted that projects would be subject to more conservative financing structures in the unsubsidized future. Mark Muldowney, managing director, energy and infrastructure for BNP Paribas, told BNEF in an interview: \u201cThere would be a squeeze on the average ratios that the banks have used in the past.\u201d He added: \u201cOn the debt-equity ratio, this could fall from 80:20 to two-thirds-one-third, but it would be case by case.\u201d\n\nThere would also be implications for the tenors on project finance loans, and for the pricing of that debt, he said. In the last year debt pricing has declined, but this trend could go into reverse as subsidies disappear. Muldowney reported that he is seeing more financing proposals crossing his desk from battery project developers: \u201cTo finance a battery project with debt, you would want a contracted revenue stream and you would not want to take much risk on the medium-term value of batteries.\u201d\n\nRead the Q&A below:\n\nQ: What trends are you seeing in clean energy project finance at the moment?\n\nA: This doesn\u2019t feel like 2007 all over again. For instance, there hasn\u2019t been an enormous return of the syndication market, which is what you would expect if things were getting very frothy.\n\nThere has not been an obvious move in debt-equity ratios in the last year, but pricing has drifted down gently, by 25 basis points or a little more. This reflects the fact that banks remain liquid and want to be involved in the renewable energy project finance market. The reduction has been across Europe, including the U.K., where we have not yet seen any Brexit issue for financing.\n\nWe are doubling our commitment to renewables over the next few years, with a target to increase cumulative exposure for BNP Paribas to 15 billion euros in 2020. There is still a lot of desire on the part of banks to be involved in this market, and interest from institutions to come into it. However, there will of course be new challenges in the unsubsidized era.\n\nQ: How would you expect the project finance lending market to change as we move to an era of no subsidies?\n\nA: If we are moving into a world of merchant deals or PPAs and no subsidies, there is likely to be a smaller pool of equity providers and fewer banks, and lower leverage.\n\nThe last time there was a lot of financing on a merchant basis was at the end of the last century, with combined-cycle gas turbine plants. That ended unhappily for a lot of investors and banks, because of a fall in electricity prices. I think there is enough collective memory in the banking market to avoid a rush into a large amount of merchant debt. For some renewable technologies, it should be a bit easier to get project finance on merchant deals than it is for CCGT plants, with their fuel cost uncertainties. If you have a wind or solar project and can fix the costs of production at a rate that is competitive with whatever the market can produce, you should be able to get some debt on a merchant basis, although it will be less than you got in the subsidized era.\n\nFor a merchant deal, in principle you would have more equity, and that would need to be coming from people who have a view on future power prices.\n\nThere would be a squeeze on the average ratios that the banks have used in the past. There is no shortage of banking capital at the moment, and this is now seen as a mature sector, but unsubsidized deals would be difficult for marginal lenders. On the debt-equity ratio, this could fall from 80:20 to two- thirds-one-third, but it would be case by case.\n\nIf you assume a debt service coverage ratio of 1.2 on P90 wind at the moment, then a move to 1.15 on P90 wind would help to sustain high gearing levels. But the history in the U.K. has been that coverage ratios on the merchant revenue elements of deals have actually risen sharply towards 1.7 to 1.8. You will also see an increase in bank margins as merchant risk rises, but for many lenders increased pricing will not be enough to compensate for greater risk. There might also be a move towards shorter tenors. For a wind or solar project that is unsubsidized but underpinned by some sort of PPA, similar considerations would apply. If the PPA was for just a short period, you would expect the banks to insist on much higher ratios for debt service, and some increase in margins also.\n\nQ: One of the issues in terms of financing new projects is that it is difficult to hedge power prices out for more than a few years, so there is a lack of certainty on revenues \u2013 unless the developer has managed to negotiate a PPA with a corporate customer or a utility. Is there scope for new players to provide electricity price hedging instruments?\n\nA: There is far less liquidity in the power hedging market than a few years ago. There used to be financial investors and utilities providing medium-term liquidity on power prices for a few years out. These markets are not liquid. Getting cover for more than three years out is very hard.\n\nUtilities are the people who logically could provide the hedging, but the accounting treatment of long-term hedges is difficult. But they could provide floors, and that would be very helpful from a debt perspective. Then you can firm up transactions without taking strong views on the peaks.\n\nCorporate PPAs could provide some of the long-term hedging of electricity prices for developers and their investors and banks. However, so far, corporate PPAs have been much more talked about than done. In the future, hedging is likely to come from a combination of utilities as the intermediating parties, and large electricity users. There is no sign of third parties such as the financial sector coming in to offer hedges on the power price.\n\nQ: Are you seeing potential deals in \u2018flexible capacity\u2019 such as battery storage or gas-fired generation?\n\nA: Quite a few battery deals are crossing my desk, but they tend to be quite small, at 20-40 million euros or so. They have gone for all-equity deals so far. To finance a battery project with debt, you would want a contracted revenue stream and you would not want to take much risk on the medium-term value of batteries. It would need a 4-5 year contract with the grid. Otherwise, it would be a speculative project, saying that at the moment it can sell frequency services to the grid. We wouldn\u2019t back it on that basis.\n\nIn the U.K., you would expect to see more gas projects. Quite a lot of them have been developed, for instance by Americans interested in the sector, but it is difficult to get a lot of debt into these projects. Bidding in capacity market auctions has not favored new CCGT so far.\n\nQ: There is quite a bit of talk at the moment about pumped hydro, with people proposing new ideas such as seawater pumped hydro or pumped hydro in disused coal mines. Would BNP Paribas be interested in helping to finance a pumped hydro project?\n\nA: Pumped hydro projects were originally built in the U.K. to deal with a big shock such as the Sizewell nuclear plant going down. The idea was that they could provide electricity with just a few seconds\u2019 notice. For us to lend to a pumped hydro project now, the question marks would be over the uncertainty of revenues and the length of time to build. They are like giant battery projects, so you would have to look at returns relative to the likely future costs of batteries. I suspect they would look quite expensive by comparison. If the grid is happy to contract for services from the pumped hydro project, then fine. But I think they would struggle to get finance if it was on a merchant power basis.", "output": "Wind and solar energy project developers are facing more conservative financing, according to BNP Paribas. A new era of unsubsidised projects will mean there is a smaller pool of possible lenders, leading to lower debt ratios, the bank said. BNP Paribas is one of the largest providers of project finance debt for renewable energy schemes and aims to double cumulative lending to \u20ac15bn ($18bn) by 2020."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China Unicom to develop range of IoT services with Ayla Networks \n China Unicom has announced signing an Internet of Things (IoT) collaboration deal with Ayla Networks that will see the two companies develop various consumer and enterprise solutions.\n\nPlans already in the works for their IoT collaboration include solutions across smart homes, smart hotels, connected cars, artificial intelligence (AI), and intelligent cold chain technology.\n\nBuilding such solutions will \"enhance\" Ayla's IoT platform ecosystem, Ayla Networks co-founder Phillip Chang said, with China Unicom adding that Ayla is an \"ideal partner\" for its IoT program due to its global scale.\n\n\"Ayla's IoT platform provides comprehensive device, cloud, and mobile app connectivity for any kind of product,\" China Unicom said.\n\n\"The Ayla platform not only speeds manufacturers' time to market for connected products, it also handles the intricacies of IoT security, performance, scalability, and interoperability.\"\n\nChang said Ayla Networks and China Unicom's work will see them focus on mobile IoT solutions.\n\n\"With China Unicom's comprehensive high-quality information and communications services, we are particularly excited about developing mobile IoT solutions,\" Chang said.\n\nAyla Networks, which received a funding boost from global networking giant Cisco back in 2014, spruiks its offering as the industry's only end-to-end complete platform for IoT solutions.\n\nIn addition to its Ayla Agile IoT Platform, Ayla also has a mobile app platform; an IoT design kit including hardware, software, access to developers, and support; and an insights offering -- meaning it provides connectivity, security, and analytics solutions.\n\nAlso working for customers including Fujitsu, Hisense, and United Technologies, Ayla Networks has helped developed such products as smart air conditioning, heating, and ceiling fans; connected thermostats; smart smoke and carbon monoxide detectors; a connected weather station; Wi-Fi door locks; smart lighting; and connected water heaters.\n\nChina Unicom in June launched its Global IoT Connectivity Cooperation Initiative, inviting partners to help develop enterprise and consumer IoT solutions.\n\nThe Chinese carrier has also been working on improving its mobile network, last week announcing the launch of a commercial gigabit-speed 4G LTE network, which is now live in Beijing, Guangdong, Shandong, and Hainan while trials are ongoing in the Sichuan, Shanxi, Hubei, Jilin, and Jiangsu provinces.\n\nThe 979Mbps peak-speed network is enabled through the combination of Ericsson's three LTE-Broadcast (LTE-B)-enabling solutions: Evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services (eMBMS); High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC H.265); and MPEG Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG DASH).\n\n\"To accelerate the development of China Unicom's video strategy, Ericsson supported China Unicom with eMBMS in the high-speed train scenario so that passengers could enjoy high-definition video without buffering on the network,\" Ericsson explained.\n\nChina Unicom has similarly been working with ZTE on 5G New Radio (NR) field trials, in July attaining rates of up to 2Gbps for single-user equipment.\n\nZTE made use of its pre-commercial sub-6GHz 5G base station at the 3.5GHz frequency with 100MHz bandwidth alongside Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology during the trial with China Unicom's Guangdong branch.\n\nCompetitor provider China Telecom launched its own open IoT platform with Ericsson in July, powered by the networking giant's global Device Connection Platform.", "output": "State-owned telecoms company China Unicom has partnered with California-based Ayla Networks to develop a range of IoT services. The deal is expected to lead to a range of new consumer and business applications including smart hotels, connected cars, artificial intelligence and intelligent cold chain technology for transporting goods at low temperatures. Ayla received funding from Cisco in 2014 and offers a mobile app platform, an IoT design kit and\u00a0access to developers and support services. It\u00a0works\u00a0with clients including Fujitsu, Hisense and United Technologies. Unicom competitor China Telecom launched its own IoT platform with Ericsson in July.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US landlords of illegally used properties could become liable \n UPDATE 8/28/17 @ 10 p.m.\n\nHUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- The city of Huntington is one step closer to adopting a rule that would crack down on landlords who look the other way when their properties become havens for drug activity.\n\nCity Council had the first reading of the drug house ordinance at their meeting Monday night.\n\nUnder the proposal, landlords could be charged with a crime if their property is involved in two felonies in the span of a year.\n\nThe city would notify landlords and give them the opportunity to evict the problem tenant, but if the landlord or property owner fails to do so, they would face a fine between $100 and $500 per day the nuisance remains in place.\n\nSome property owners have expressed concern that they can't observe or control everything that goes on with the people they rent to, but Chief Joe Ciccarelli emphasized this is meant to be a tool to target a handful of landlords who're just interested in making money and don't care about the problem they're contributing to.\n\nThe second reading of the ordinance is expected to take place in a couple weeks.\n\nORIGINAL STORY\n\nHUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- Landlords and property owners in Huntington may soon have to pay steep fines in an effort to hold them more accountable in the city's drug problem.\n\nThe proposed new rule was discussed at Huntington City Hall by the Public Safety Committee Monday.\n\n\"There's a small handful, less than a half dozen chronic problem landlords who continue to rent to drug dealers and are interested only in the money,\" Chief Joe Ciccarelli said.\n\nIf the ordinance is adopted, following the second felony offense to occur at a property within the span of a year, the landlord or property owner would be looking at paying a $100 to $500 fine per day that tenant is not removed or the property is not cleaned up.\n\n\"These landlords are part of the problem, and to the extent that we can induce compliance with an ordinance like this, I think it would be very helpful,\" the chief said.\n\nCouncilman Charlie McComas is a landlord himself and believes this method could be highly effective.\n\n\"This is an excellent way to get the drug dealers out of those houses,\" McComas said.\n\nOwners of vacant properties would be subject to the same penalty if felonies occur on their locations twice a year.\n\nCity council's first reading of that ordinance is expected to take place at their next meeting in two weeks.\n\nCity Attorney Scott Damron says a similar ordinance has been on the books in Martinsburg for a couple years and has been effective there.", "output": "City councillors in Huntington,\u00a0West Virginia are trying to crack down on landlords who rent houses to drug dealers and users and choose to look the other way. In an effort to curb the city\u2019s drug problem, landlords in Huntington may soon face steep fines of between $100 and $500 a day if their properties become havens for drug activity and they fail to evict the problem tenant. Under the proposed drug house ordinance landlords could also be charged with a crime if their property is involved in two felonies in a year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Climate scientists say Storm Harvey offers warning for future \n Scientists say Harvey may be the soggy sign of future storms\n\nVolunteer rescue boats make their way into a flooded subdivision to rescue stranded residents as floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey rise Monday, Aug. 28, 2017, in Spring, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)\n\nVolunteer rescue boats make their way into a flooded subdivision to rescue stranded residents as floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey rise Monday, Aug. 28, 2017, in Spring, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)\n\nWASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 By the time the rain stops, Harvey will have dumped about 1 million gallons of water for every man, woman and child in southeastern Texas \u2014 a soggy, record-breaking glimpse of the wet and wild future that global warming could bring, scientists say.\n\nWhile scientists are quick to say that climate change didn\u2019t cause Harvey and that they haven\u2019t determined yet whether the storm was made worse by global warming, they do note that warmer air and water mean wetter and possibly more intense hurricanes in the future.\n\n\u201cThis is the kind of thing we are going to get more of,\u201d said Princeton University climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer. \u201cThis storm should serve as warning.\u201d\n\nThere\u2019s a scientifically accepted method for determining if some wild weather event has the fingerprints of man-made climate change, and it involves intricate calculations. Those could take weeks or months to complete, and then even longer to pass peer review.\n\nIn general, though, climate scientists agree that future storms will dump much more rain than the same size storms did in the past.\n\nThat\u2019s because warmer air holds more water. With every degree Fahrenheit, the atmosphere can hold and then dump an additional 4 percent of water (7 percent for every degree Celsius), several scientists say.\n\nGlobal warming also means warmer seas, and warm water is what fuels hurricanes.\n\nWhen Harvey moved toward Texas, water in the Gulf of Mexico was nearly 2 degrees (1 degree Celsius) warmer than normal, said Weather Underground meteorology director Jeff Masters. Hurricanes need at least 79 degrees F (26 C) as fuel, and water at least that warm ran more than 300 feet (100 meters) deep in the Gulf, according to University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy.\n\nSeveral studies show that the top 1 percent of the strongest downpours are already happening much more frequently. Also, calculations done Monday by MIT meteorology professor Kerry Emanuel show that the drenching received by Rockport, Texas, used to be maybe a once-in-1,800-years event for that city, but with warmer air holding more water and changes in storm steering currents since 2010, it is now a once-every-300-years event.\n\nThere\u2019s a lot of debate among climate scientists over what role, if any, global warming may have played in causing Harvey to stall over Texas, which was a huge factor in the catastrophic flooding. If the hurricane had moved on like a normal storm, it wouldn\u2019t have dumped as much rain in any one spot.\n\nHarvey stalled because it is sandwiched between two high-pressure fronts that push it in opposite directions, and those fronts are stuck.\n\nOppenheimer and some others theorize that there\u2019s a connection between melting sea ice in the Arctic and changes in the jet stream and the weather patterns that make these \u201cblocking fronts\u201d more common. Others, like Masters, contend it\u2019s too early to say.\n\nUniversity of Washington atmospheric scientist Cliff Mass said that climate change is simply not powerful enough to create off-the-chart events like Harvey\u2019s rainfall.\n\n\u201cYou really can\u2019t pin global warming on something this extreme. It has to be natural variability,\u201d Mass said. \u201cIt may juice it up slightly but not create this phenomenal anomaly.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re breaking one record after another with this thing,\u201d Mass said.\n\nSometime Tuesday or early Wednesday, parts of the Houston region will have broken the nearly 40-year-old U.S. record for the heaviest rainfall from a tropical system \u2014 48 inches, set by Tropical Storm Amelia in 1978 in Texas, several meteorologists say.\n\nAlready 15 trillion gallons of rain have fallen on a large area, and an additional 5 trillion or 6 trillion gallons are forecast by the end of Wednesday, meteorologist Ryan Maue of WeatherBell Analytics calculates. That\u2019s enough water to fill all the NFL and Division 1 college football stadiums more than 100 times over.", "output": "Tropical storm Harvey, which has caused severe flooding in Houston, was not caused by climate change, according to scientists. However, researchers warn that it is too early to ascertain whether or not the storm was made worse by global warming and note that rising air and water temperatures are likely to lead to more intense hurricanes in the future. \u201cThis storm should serve as warning\u201d, said climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer of Princeton University. Over 15 trillion gallons of rain have fallen in Texas during the storm, with an additional 5 or 6 trillion expected by Wednesday. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gilead to pay $11.9bn for Kite Pharma's CAR-T cancer therapy \n Pharmaceutical firm Gilead Sciences has just put up a cool $11.9 billion to acquire Kite Pharma, which has developed a genetic engineering approach for treating cancers.\n\nThe investment is a clear sign that gene therapy applied to cancer is a powerful\u2014and commercially attractive\u2014new technology. Kite, which is one of our 50 smartest companies of 2017, has developed a pioneering treatment for use against blood cancers such as lymphoma. It takes some of an individual's immune cells, known at T cells, then reprograms their DNA so that they can attack the disease. The resulting CAR-T therapy, as it\u2019s known, is one of several being developed by the likes of Novartis and Juno Therapeutics to treat cancer, and they all appear to show huge promise for curing the disease.\n\nThe move is a clear sign that there\u2019s huge commercial interest in the new form of cancer therapy. But the staggering valuation of Kite also hints at a potential problem for patients wishing to make use of the treatment in the future: cost. Just last week, Kaiser Health News ran a report on the potential pricing of the Novartis version of the therapy, and sources told it that it would \"cost a fortune,\" proving to be \"a quantum leap more expensive than other cancer drugs.\" No official pricing for such therapies has yet been published, but a figure of $649,000 for a one-off treatment has been deemed justifiable for young patients with leukemia by the U.K.\u2019s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.\n\nThat may change over time, though, especially if the the same technique is successfully used to develop treatments for other forms of cancer. The latter is certainly what Gilead is hoping will happen. \u201cWe see it as a nice, sustainable oncology platform for decades to come,\u201d says Gilead CEO, John Milligan, to the Wall Street Journal.", "output": "Pharmaceutical firm Gilead Sciences has agreed to buy Kite Pharma, a company that has developed a gene therapy for treating cancers. Through the deal, Gilead will obtain rights to Kite's CAR-T therapy, a treatment for blood cancers such as lymphoma. The therapy reprogrammes the DNA within individuals' immune cells to attack the disease. Although no official pricing for such therapies has been published, the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has said that $649,000 for a one-off treatment for a young patient with leukaemia is justifiable."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Smartphone camera used to self-screen for pancreatic cancer \n Researchers at the University of Washington have developed an app that could let people self-screen for pancreatic cancer and other diseases via a smartphone selfie. BiliScreen uses a smartphone camera, computer vision algorithms and machine learning tools to detect increased bilirubin levels in a person\u2019s sclera, or the white part of the eye.\n\nJaundice is an early symptom of pancreatic cancer and other illnesses. Jaundice is a yellowing of the skin and eyes from a buildup of bilirubin in the blood. By spotting the build up before it\u2019s detectable by the naked eye, apps like BiliScreen offer a new avenue for screening program to those at risk. In an initial clinical study of 70 people, the BiliScreen app identified cases of concern 89.7 percent of the time, compared to the blood test currently used.\n\nThe app works in conjunction with a 3D printed box that controls the eye\u2019s exposure to light.\n\nSaid lead author Alex Mariakakis: \u201cThe problem with pancreatic cancer is that by the time you\u2019re symptomatic, it\u2019s frequently too late\u2026. The hope is that if people can do this simple test once a month, in the privacy of their own homes, some might catch the disease early enough to undergo treatment that could save their lives.\u201d\n\nCurrently doctors use a blood test to track bilirubin levels. It is seldom given to adults unless there\u2019s outward reason for concern, and administering the test requires a health care professional. That mkes it inconvenient for frequent restesting.\n\nBiliScreen is meant to overcome these challenges, and help determine if a doctor\u2019s visit is in order.\n\nSaid senior author Shwetak Patel: \u201cThe eyes are a really interesting gateway into the body \u2014 tears can tell you how much glucose you have, sclera can tell you how much bilirubin is in your blood\u2026. Our question was: Could we capture some of these changes that might lead to earlier detection with a selfie?\u201d\n\nBiliScreen uses a smartphone\u2019s built-in camera and flash to collect pictures of a person\u2019s eye as they snap a selfie. The team developed a computer vision system to automatically and effectively isolate the white parts of the eye, which is a valuable tool for medical diagnostics. The app then calculates the color information from the sclera \u2014 based on the wavelengths of light that are being reflected and absorbed \u2014 and correlates it with bilirubin levels using machine learning algorithms.\n\nTo account for different lighting conditions, the team tested BiliScreen with two different accessories: paper glasses printed with colored squares to help calibrate color and a 3-D printed box that blocks out ambient lighting. Using the app with the box accessory \u2014 reminiscent of a Google Cardboard headset \u2014 led to slightly better results.\n\nSaid co-author Jim Taylor: \u201cThis relatively small initial study shows the technology has promise\u2026. Pancreatic cancer is a terrible disease with no effective screening right now. Our goal is to have more people who are unfortunate enough to get pancreatic cancer to be fortunate enough to catch it in time to have surgery that gives them a better chance of survival.\u201d", "output": "Researchers at the University of Washington have created an app that allows users to screen themselves for pancreatic cancer by taking a photo with their smartphone's camera. Called BiliScreen, the app uses computer vision algorithms and machine learning tools to detect increased bilirubin levels in a person's eye. In tests, BiliScreen identified increased bilirubin in the blood 89.7% of the time. Pancreatic cancer is usually malignant by the time symptoms are visible; however, BillScreen's monthly test will help identify the cancer while treatment can still be effective, said Alex Mariakakis, the study's lead author."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon gives 1,600 Echo devices to US engineering students \n In Amazon\u2019s latest push into education, the tech giant is encouraging colleges to experiment with its Echo smart speakers and add the devices to their curricula.\n\nThe company is working with Arizona State University, for instance, where it gave 1,600 Echo Dots to engineering students living in a new dorm called Tooker House.\n\n\u201cASU\u2019s main motivation was to develop an opportunity for its engineering students to gain skills in voice technology, an emerging field,\u201d says John German, an ASU spokesperson. The engineering school at ASU has added \"a little bit\" of voice technology to the curriculum of three existing courses this semester, German said. However, the students who received the Echo Dots will \"not at all\" be required to take these courses. The dots are \"literally a gift,\" German says.\n\nThe Amazon Alexa team \u201cmet frequently\u201d with the university, and \u201coffered advice,\u201d says John Rome, ASU\u2019s deputy chief information officer.\n\nThe company also recently set up the Amazon Alexa Fund Fellowship, which so far includes four colleges\u2014Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Waterloo, the University of Southern California, and Johns Hopkins University. The year-long program will give selected students \u201cfunding, access to Alexa devices, and mentoring from an Alexa Science team member to develop an undergraduate or graduate curriculum around one or more of these disciplines,\u201d according to a company blog post.\n\nAnd the company is also running a research competition for universities called the Alexa Prize, in which it will dole out $2.5-million in prizes to teams developing new ideas in conversational artificial intelligence.\n\nAmazon officials imagine a world where their devices are woven into student life, used for things like \u201cordering transportation and setting homework reminders,\u201d says an Amazon spokesperson, who asked not to be named.\n\nThe company has been encouraging developers of edtech software to add support for their smart speakers as well. The company brought a giant inflatable Echo to the annual conference of Instructure, which makes the learning-management system Canvas.\n\nPhil Hill, an edtech consultant and blogger for eLiterate, says he believes Amazon is \u201cplaying the long game\u201d with its Echo strategy, just as many big tech companies do in education.\n\nPhoto Credit: Phil Hill\n\n\u201cAmazon\u2019s strategy is much more about establishing Alexa and the mechanisms and the way that people interact with the virtual world, almost becoming the front end of the next generation of internet access,\u201d Hill says. \u201cThey\u2019re looking to say, people won\u2019t be doing this much on the browsers anymore, they\u2019re going to be interacting with natural language and voice, and we want that to go through us.\u201d\n\nHill says Amazon wants to beat its competitors in the smart-speaker space, Google and Apple, \u201cto the punch\u201d and become the default way people use this type of technology.\n\nSome colleges are experimenting with Echo technology even without direct encouragement or investment from Amazon. At Utah State University, for instance, officials installed an Echo Dot in one classroom that is used by a visually impaired instructor, according to Kevin Reeve, the university\u2019s director of teaching and learning technologies. The devices will connect to hardware in the classroom so instructors can do things like turn on projectors on and lower screens at the front of the room using voice commands.\n\n\"So we decided about a year ago that we wanted to see if we could write our own Alexa Skill to control the classroom technology,\" Reeve says, referring to the ability to add features to the Echo devices. \u201cWe had no idea who to contact at Amazon.\u201d\n\nBut Rice University\u2019s Dan Wallach, a professor of computer science, says he does not see \"anything really substantial\" when it comes to using smart speakers to do things that can easily be done manually, like dimming the lights and lowering the audio. \"I mostly see these things as gimmicks,\" Wallach says.\n\nWallach says he can talk to his phone and wristwatch already, and does that \"very infrequently.\" He adds that he thinks these types of devices will have the most impact in the car, where drivers need to focus on driving as they interact with technology.\n\nHe says that he doesn\u2019t see the devices adding \u201cvery much to anything\u201d in his classroom unless there\u2019s an engineering project doing design for cars.\n\nSzymon Machajewski, who teaches at Grand Valley State University's School of Computing and Information Systems, feels differently.\n\nHe says he wrote a skill for the classroom that focuses on computer flashcards. It has students speaking with Alexa, and quizzing themselves based on the definitions Alexa provides. Students have to say the words that are part of the course\u2019s glossary, Machajewski says.\n\nMachajewski even thinks this type of technology can influence human speech and expand vocabulary.\n\nHill says when he first heard Amazon was going to be doing demos at conferences with Alexa, he \u201cpersonally thought it was going to be a gimmick.\u201d But he says once he saw the demos, he started thinking about how the technology could help faculty and students manage \u201ctheir academic lives much easier.\u201d Getting targeted information without having to sit down in front of a computer is where Hill sees the initial efforts. He says if managing daily life becomes easier for people, they will \u201cstart to get hooked on Alexa.\u201d\n\nDevices like the Echo Dot have gotten criticism when it comes to privacy concerns, since the devices are constantly listening in when they are activated.\n\n\u201cIt raises the question, ok, you have to say, \u2018Alexa, tell me this,\u2019\u201d says Hill, the edtech consultant. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean the device is not listening at all times. It just means it uses the Alexa keyword to trigger a command. Where does that information go? Does Amazon store it? Does it get thrown away?\u201d\n\nHill says then it raises the question: \u201cWhat if a faculty member has one in their office they end up using, and a student comes in to talk to them, but the student doesn\u2019t know that there\u2019s an Alexa device listening?\u201d\n\nGerman, of ASU, says in the discussions the university has had with students so far, the university is \u201cmore concerned than the students are.\u201d He says students are used to mobile technology, and voice devices are not really different from, say, Siri.\n\nGerman says ASU did give students some advice when it comes to using an Echo Dot in a residence-hall environment. For instance, telling them that using purchasing apps without a pin number is \u201cprobably not a good idea,\u201d and telling them how to set their Wake Word so they aren\u2019t interfering with a roommate\u2019s Echo Dot.\n\nReeve, of USU, says he thinks where the biggest privacy concern could come in is if there\u2019s an educational app built that can reveal students\u2019 information that\u2019s protected under FERPA, without them okaying it.\n\nGerman says when ASU students received their Echo Dots, they signed an acknowledgment that like with other digital devices, they need to adhere to the student code of conduct and ASU\u2019s acceptable use policies for campus technology.\n\nBut Wallach, who also manages Rice's computer-security lab, says companies like Amazon \u201cdesperately\u201d try to avoid the problem of their devices \u201crecording something that you didn\u2019t mean.\u201d He adds that Amazon\u2019s devices are supposed to only pay attention when prompted.\n\n\u201cThe listening is supposed to happen locally, nothing over the internet, until you say \u2018hey Alexa,\u2019\u201d Wallach says.", "output": "Amazon has gifted 1,600 Echo Dots to engineering students at Arizona State University. The tech giant has also set up the Amazon Alexa Fund Fellowship, a one-year programme that will give selected students \u201cfunding, access to Alexa devices, and mentoring from an Alexa Science team member to develop an undergraduate or graduate curriculum around one or more of these disciplines\u201d, according to a company blog post. An Amazon spokesperson also suggested that the devices could be used in everyday student life, for \u201cordering transportation and setting homework reminders\u201d. The university wants students to gain skills in voice technology development."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Submarine commerce may open up Arctic trading route \n Recent years have seen a rapid increase in surface shipping operations in Arctic regions but nothing has been done for the subsea commercial shipping. New submarine technology to open up the Arctic Ocean's northern passage for year-round commerce is now technically feasible.\n\nThe voyage above the ice is extremely difficult exacerbated by extreme low temperatures, short warm season, thick icing of exposed topside equipment, changing ice cap movements, and a lack of suitable rescue search operations.\n\nFaster cargo submarines, using direct routes across the Arctic Ocean would require less power and fuel could provide a greater economic advantage than larger more powerful surface ships.\n\nThere is a beautiful, relatively warm ocean just under the thin ice cap that covers the Arctic Ocean that could be used for many types commercial transportation possibilities. Transporting petroleum products such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) would be ideal for this type of shipping.", "output": "Surface shipping in the Arctic has increased dramatically in the past few years, but sub-sea commercial shipping has failed to keep pace. However, newly developed submarine technology could open up the Arctic Ocean\u2019s northern passage to year-round commercial transport. Sub-sea travel is preferable to travelling above water in the region, given sub-zero temperatures, icing problems, ice cap movements and difficulties rescuing ships in distress. Cargo submarines could sail directly across the Arctic Ocean, using less power, making them more economical in terms of fuel usage, and ideal for transporting\u00a0goods like liquefied natural gas."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Allianz trio given jail sentence for selling client data \n Kayleigh Underhill, Andrew Clarke and Reace Bowenwere were approached by brothers Sajaad and Shaiad Nawaz.\n\nThe trio were persuaded to illegally hand them information regarding Allianz Insurance customers who been involved in road collisions. The information was then sent by the brothers to claims management companies.\n\nOnce passed to claims management companies, the customers were cold called and persuaded to commence a personal injury claim.\n\nIn total the trio leaked more than 700 pieces of confidential data.\n\nUnderhill, aged 26, of Laxton Grove, Solihull, was given a 12 month jail term suspended for 18 months and told to pay \u00a31,050 compensation to Allianz Insurance.\n\nClarke, 24, of Elmbridge Drive, Solihull, was given an eight month jail term suspended for 18 months and told to pay \u00a3150 compensation to Allianz Insurance.\n\nBowen, 23, from Birmingham, was also given an eight month jail term suspended for 18 months and told to pay \u00a3300 compensation to Allianz Insurance.\n\nAll three pleaded guilty to bribery offences in February and were sentenced in April when they were also ordered to pay \u00a3540 costs to the court.\n\nSajaad Nawaz, 36, of Brays Road, Birmingham, pleaded guilty in May and was sentenced last week to four months imprisonment suspended for 15 months.\n\nHis brother Shaiad Nawaz, 34, of Eastcote Road, Acocks Green, Birmingham, was also sentenced last week following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court. He was given a six month jail term suspended for 15 months.\n\nThe group\u2019s criminal activity came to light when a report was made to Action Fraud, the national fraud reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime, in November 2015.\n\nThe report was referred to the City of London Police\u2019s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) which used information from the report to identify the five offenders.\n\nDetectives were able to gather evidence to show that Underhill, Clarke and Bowen had regular contact with the brothers via WhatsApp. While at work they would they would write customer data on their notepads, take photographs of this, and then pass the information via WhatsApp to both Nawaz brothers.\n\nThey would also discuss payment for this information in their WhatsApp conversations.\n\nUnderhill, Bowen and Clarke received approximately \u00a3250 per week for the information and their engagement with the bribers.\n\nDetective Constable Daryl Fryatt, who led the case, said: \u201cIt is a criminal offence to leak customer data and any employee who is considering doing this should think twice. Underhill, Clarke and Bowen were all in a position of trust and now have a criminal record and will be unable to work in a range of industries.\n\n\u201cWhilst the Nawaz brothers thought they could make easy money by selling on data, they have now found that it is not that easy and they too have been sentenced as a result of their involvement.\n\n\u201cNone of the offenders considered the consequences of selling this customer data and had no thought around the fact that people would end up receiving cold calls from claims management companies. They completely breached the trust of the customers and took advantage of the position they were in.\"\n\nGraham Gibson, Chief Claims Officer at Allianz Insurance said: \u201cWe are extremely disappointed by the actions of these three individuals and we have worked in close co-operation with the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) during their investigations.\n\n\u201cKeeping our customers data safe from rogue Claims Management Companies is a priority for Allianz and we will work closely with the police to help prosecute those involved in this type of activity.", "output": "Five people, including three Allianz Insurance workers, have been sentenced over taking \u00a37,000 in bribes to pass on customer details. Kayleigh Underhill, Andrew Clarke and Reace Bowen were asked by brothers Sajaad and Shaiad Nawaz to illegally give them data about Allianz customers who had been involved in road crashes. The brothers then sent the information to claims management firms. The group were handed suspended sentences after a trial at Birmingham Crown Court."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US start-up builds tech that lets gamers\u00a0dial down VR nausea \n Companies and researchers have been exploring a slew of potential solutions, from beefing up the resolution of the displays in headsets to limiting your field of view when there\u2019s a lot of motion-related activity going on in the virtual world. And a very young startup called VRemedy Labs is working on an interesting fix of its own: a sort of software-based dial that you can turn up or down to raise or decrease the excitement level\u2014and, it hopes, the resulting nausea\u2014within VR games.\n\nThe company, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is building its own video game to test this out. The game-in-progress, which revolves around rescuing a group of superheroes, includes several kinds of locomotion that tend to make people feel sick in VR, such as flying around with adjustable rocket thrusters in your hands or pulling yourself from one place to another with grappling hooks.\n\nFor now, the startup founders are manually controlling the potentially uncomfortable effects that users experience as they try out the prototype. VRemedy Labs cofounder Richard Oates says one of the things they\u2019re doing is starting players at the highest level of intensity and, if they feel sick, slowly dialing it down (over a period of about 10 minutes) to see if that helps. Then they ramp back up in hopes of finding a sweet spot for the player, adjusting things like your field of view and the number of obstacles that rush past when you\u2019re moving. Eventually, they hope, players will be able to make the adjustments themselves.\n\nTo come up with different comfort levels, VRemedy labs first built a spectrum of nausea that takes into account existing research as well as best practices at the companies selling headsets, such as Rift maker Oculus and Vive makers Valve and HTC. Nish Bhandari, another cofounder, says they try to make the changes between different levels very subtle.\n\nVRemedy Labs expects the game, which it\u2019s calling I Hate Heroes, to be completed next year. Eventually, Oates says, the startup hopes to work with headset makers or release a software tool that game developers can use so their games can be adjustable as well.\n\n\u201cWe want to break the mold of having [VR] experiences that are nauseating and awesome or comfortable and boring,\u201d Oates says. \u201cAnd instead make games everybody can play and play at their own pace.\u201d", "output": "Cambridge, Massachusetts start-up VRemedy Labs is developing a software tool that controls feelings of nausea by enabling virtual reality gamers to dial up or down the levels of motion experienced during activities such as flying around using handheld rocket thrusters. The company is using its own game-in-progress, I Hate Heroes, to refine the technology, with engineers currently controlling the intensity at which the game is played, with a view to users being able to do it themselves. VRemedy Labs is also hoping to work with headset manufacturers or launch a software tool for developers to\u00a0add to their own games.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google offers refunds to advertisers affected by fraud \n Google is issuing refunds to marketers and ad agency partners who used the company\u2019s DoubleClick Bid Manager, after it found evidence of ads running on websites with fake traffic.\n\nHaving informed hundreds of partners about the issue with invalid traffic, Google has offered to reimburse about 7% to 10% of the total purchase an advertiser pays on DoubleClick, the Wall Street Journal has reported.\n\nTo counter such issues, the internet giant is asking the 100-plus exchanges, ad networks and publishers that DoubleClick Bid Manager plugs into to display to ad buyers whether they are willing to refund the entire media spend if ad fraud instances occur.\n\nIt is also working on technology to ensure advertisers automatically receive a full credit back from Google and its partners if incidents of ad fraud occur.\n\nA Google spokesperson told The Drum: \u201cWe can't comment on specific details of ad fraud but the vast majority is filtered in our systems before our advertisers are ever impacted or charged. Maintaining a healthy ads ecosystem and improving transparency in supply chain for our advertisers is an area we continue to invest in significantly.\"\n\n\"Some of those key initiatives include working with the broader industry to make it easier to spot counterfeit ads across the industry through ads.txt. In our own platforms, we\u2019re working with our exchange partners to remove monetary incentives for spammers and increase transparency for buyers.\u201d\n\nAccording to the Bot Baseline report, economic losses due to bot fraud are estimated to reach $6.5bn globally in 2017. This is down 10% from the $7.2bn reported in last year\u2019s study.\n\nGoogle earlier warned a thousand online publishers over bad ads and introduced more ad filters to block content with 'violence, nudity and political satire'.", "output": "Google has offered a refund to agencies and marketers, after DoubleClick Bid Manager ads were hosted on sites with artificially inflated\u00a0traffic. The tech giant will reimburse between 7% and 10% of the affected parties' total DoubleClick spend. Google is also working on a tech\u00a0solution to provide\u00a0a full refund if ad fraud occurs. Around $6.5bn will be lost globally to bot fraud in this year alone, according to website analysts at Bot Baseline.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China finds large gas field in Shanxi province \n Source: Xinhua| 2017-08-24 14:59:39|Editor: Yang Yi\n\nVideo Player Close\n\nTAIYUAN, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- North China's Shanxi Province has discovered a large gas field with an estimated reserve of 545.6 billion cubic meters.\n\nShanxi is a major coal producer and has the country's second-largest known coal reserve. It also has estimated coal-bed gas and shale gas reserves of 12.7 trillion cubic meters.\n\nAuthorities discovered a large coal field in the area bordering Yushe, Zuoquan and Wuxiang counties in 2006. Further exploration found it contained high levels of gas.\n\nSince exploration started in 2015, the field has been estimated to contain 241.5 billion cubic meters of coal-bed gas and 304.1 billion cubic meters of shale gas, said Zhou Jipeng, deputy director of the provincial land and resources department.\n\nShanxi is speeding up gas exploration while reducing coal output as China seeks to power its economy with cleaner energy to reduce pollution.", "output": "North China's Shanxi Province has discovered a gas field with estimated reserves of 545.6 billion cubic metres. Shanxi has estimated coal-bed methane and shale gas reserves of 12.7 trillion cubic metres. A large coal field discovered in Shanxi in 2016 has been found to contain about\u00a0241.5 billion cubic meters of coal-bed gas and 304.1 billion cubic meters of shale gas.\u00a0Shanxi, home to China's second-largest coal reserves, is speeding up gas exploration and reducing coal output as China seeks to reduce pollution.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Saudi team uses light to split water and create hydrogen \n A nanostructured metamaterial with a sunflower-like arrangement can be immersed in water to generate hydrogen gas with superb efficiency. Credit: WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co.\n\nHydrogen gas, an important synthetic feedstock, is poised to play a key role in renewable energy technology; however, its credentials are undermined because most is currently sourced from fossil fuels, such as natural gas. A KAUST team has now found a more sustainable route to hydrogen fuel production using chaotic, light-trapping materials that mimic natural photosynthetic water splitting.\n\nThe complex enzymes inside plants are impractical to manufacture, so researchers have developed photocatalysts that employ high-energy, hot electrons to cleave water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen gas. Recently, nanostructured metals that convert solar electrons into intense, wave-like plasmon resonances have attracted interest for hydrogen production. The high-speed metal plasmons help transfer carriers to catalytic sites before they relax and reduce catalytic efficiency.\n\nGetting metal nanoparticles to respond to the entire broadband spectrum of visible light is challenging. \"Plasmonic systems have specific geometries that trap light only at characteristic frequencies,\" explains Andrea Fratalocchi, who led the research. \"Some approaches try to combine multiple nanostructures to soak up more colors, but these absorptions take place at different spatial locations so the sun's energy is not harvested very efficiently.\"\n\nFratalocchi and his team devised a new strategy using metal nanostructures known as epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) metamaterials that grow with random, fractal needles similar to a tiny pine tree. Inside the cavities formed by the protruding metal branches, the propagation of light slows to a near standstill. This enables the ENZ substance to squeeze all visible light colors to the same nanometer-scale locations.\n\nHowever, optimizing the ENZ material for hydrogen generation proved a protracted process of months. Not every needle-like structure works the same way, which meant the team had to fine tune all fabrication parameters to find the correct disorder for efficient reactions. Then, choosing semiconducting titanium dioxide as a substrate to collect hot electrons required crystals with extremely high purity. Finally, the concentration and position of platinum nanoparticles used to catalytically split water molecules needed to be precisely controlled, depositions that are difficult with ENZ's complex geometry.\n\nThe result was worth the perseverance: experiments revealed the ENZ photocatalyst used broadband light to generate hot carriers within a narrow 10-nm interfacial region for an overall 300% gain in efficiency.\n\n\"Due to the possibility of controlling their absorption, the ENZ nanostructures are ideal candidates for solar-energy harvesting,\" says Fratalocchi. \"We recently engineered an industrial prototype with impressive efficiency, which makes us very optimistic about the future possibilities of this technology.\"\n\nMore information: Yi Tian et al. Enhanced Solar-to-Hydrogen Generation with Broadband Epsilon-Near-Zero Nanostructured Photocatalysts, Advanced Materials (2017). DOI: 10.1002/adma.201701165 Journal information: Advanced Materials", "output": "Researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology have developed water-splitters that use light to cleave water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen gas. The metal nanostructures trap solar electrons and convert them into plasmon resonances. In turn, high-speed metal plasmons help transfer electron carrying particles to catalytic sites where they split water particles. However, the process requires extremely pure crystals of titanium dioxide to collect hot electrons. Additionally, the concentration of platinum nanoparticles used to split water molecules must be precisely controlled."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Russia's BeOne uses blockchain for educational courses \n Russian blockchain start-up BeOne is implementing blockchain technology to online education and course delivery through the development of a distributed ledger backed platform. The BeOne platform is created with the intention of offering users with varying educational backgrounds, a range of online courses across a broad spectrum of domains.\n\nThe platform, currently undergoing closed alpha testing has announced the launch of its ICO campaign to raise funds necessary for building a comprehensive finished product.\n\nUsers of BeOne platform will be able to teach or learn a wide array of skills, including cooking and photography. The platform has been designed with the intention of keeping the needs of students and instructors at its core. The platform aims to simplify the process for online teachers to create and share informative, educational content of various types at a fraction of the cost while receiving higher returns than other similar platforms.\n\nAnother benefit is the massive pool of content available to online students at a comparatively small fee. Users of BeOne can participate in the webinars hosted on the platform, receive one-on-one consultations and get an immediate response to their queries. When it comes to courses, they can purchase a particular module of significance based on their needs, rather than being forced to buy an entire course that may not be of any use to them.\n\nBeOne also enables its users to search for like-minded people and join interest groups to learn in teams. For instructors and course creators, BeOne has a broad range of monetization models that currently charge the lowest commission in the industry, with a cap of 10%.\n\nThe BeOne ICO is set to go live on August 28, 2017, at 12:00 (MSK). During the month-long crowd sale, investors can purchase the platform\u2019s tokens by depositing BTC, ETH, LTC or DASH. The BeOne tokens serve as the mode of transactions on the platform. The platform has set a maximum cap of 10 million tokens out of which 9 million will be available for purchase during the crowd sale.\n\nBeOne has a bonus option in place for early bird investors, with individuals who invest during the first three hours of the ICO receiving a 50% discount on the token purchase. After the first allotment, investors stand to get a 20% discount for the following 72 hours.\n\nFrom all the raised ICO funds, BeOne will invest 50% in marketing, 20% for development, 20% for onboarding instructors and the rest 10% for operating expenses.", "output": "Russian edtech start-up BeOne has held an initial coin offering to fund the development of its educational platform, which is backed by distributed ledger technology. The platform, currently in closed alpha testing, aims to keep the needs of students and instructors at its core, enabling online teachers to create and share educational content at a fraction of the cost of traditional methods, while students can cherry-pick what they want to learn from a massive pool of content.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bitcoin is a commodity not a currency, says Banco de Mexico \n Banco de Mexico (Bank of Mexico) Governor Agust\u00edn Carstens thinks the digital currency Bitcoin should be classified as a commodity rather than as a currency. The bank governor argued that Bitcoin does not meet the existing definition of currency because it is not supported by a government or central bank.\n\nAccording to the report by local Mexican newspaper El Economista, Carstens argued further that since there is nothing to ensure its accounting in a financial system, the virtual currency should be considered as a commodity.\n\nHe also added that the cryptocurrency should be considered as an \u201cissue of cybersecurity\u201d due to its potential in anonymity and use in cybercrime activities.\n\nAs a reaction to economic woes affecting Mexico, as well as potential future problems as a result of US policy, alternative currencies like Bitcoin go up.\n\nDigital currency exchanges in Mexico are thriving and ever-increasing trade is being witnessed.\n\nOther arguments and developments over Bitcoin\n\nCarstens presented his comments on Bitcoin during his lecture at the Mexican Technical University ITAM.\n\nIn his presentation, he also discussed the efforts by the government to regulate financial technologies (fintech) like digital currencies.\n\nHe argued that any technological development in the financial system cannot be the result of innovation alone, but should be implemented in tandem with regulation by the financial regulators.\n\nPrevious position by the Mexican government on Bitcoin\n\nThe Mexican government, through its central bank, has previously expressed its negative views on digital currencies, particularly Bitcoin. In 2014, the Bank of Mexico has announced that virtual currencies are not legal tender in the country, and therefore, illegal.\n\nThe central bank also prohibited the use of the cryptocurrencies by regulated financial institutions in the country due to the inherent risks that are associated with their use. The bank also cited the warnings issued by various central banks around the world on the link between the digital currencies and illegal activities like fraud and money laundering.", "output": "Digital currencies such as bitcoin should not be considered a currency\u00a0as they are not supported by a government or central bank, according to Agust\u00edn Carstens, the governor of the Banco de Mexico. The comments came during a lecture by Carstens\u00a0at the Mexican Technical University, in which he also warned cryptocurrencies should be an \"issue of cybersecurity\"\u00a0due to their use in cybercrime and the potential for anonymous use.\u00a0In 2014\u00a0the Banco de\u00a0Mexico declared virtual currencies were not legal tender. Nonetheless, digital currency exchanges in Mexico are thriving, possibly in part due to the country's economic difficulties.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Maltese insurtech firm raises $2.3m ahead of UK launch \n Sherpa, a Naxxar, Malta-based insurtech startup, raised $2.3m in funding.\n\nBackers included Mehrdad Piroozram, and other unnamed angel investors.\n\nThe company intends to use the funds to expand the team and invest further in proprietary IP.\n\nLed by Chris Kaye, CEO, Greg McCafferty, CFO, and Lachlan Gillies, COO, Sherpa is building an interface that offers a single personalized insurance account for connected consumers covering all their personal risks coupled with a solution for personal risk management.\n\nThe solution will be launched in the UK later this year.\n\nFinSMEs\n\n28/08/2017", "output": "Malta-based insurtech start-up Sherpa has raised $2.3m in funding from investors including Mehrdad Piroozram. Sherpa is developing a platform that offers a\u00a0personalised insurance account for connected consumers covering all personal risks, as well as a solution for personal risk management, set to be released in the UK later this year. The company plans to use the additional funding to expand its team and invest further in proprietary intellectual property."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Calif. Hits Kaiser With $2.2 Million Fine For Failing To Provide Required Medicaid Data \n About Capitol Desk Capitol Desk delivers the latest in health care policy and politics from Sacramento and around the state. Have an idea? Let us know.\n\nCalifornia officials have again slapped health care giant Kaiser Permanente with a multimillion-dollar fine for failing to provide data on patient care to the state\u2019s Medicaid program.\n\nThe $2.2 million fine comes just months after a $2.5 million penalty in January against Kaiser, one of the largest nonprofit health plans in the country. The California Department of Health Care Services said these are the first fines it has imposed against a Medicaid managed-care plan since at least 2000.\n\nThe state agency uses this data on hospital admissions, doctor visits and prescription drugs to help set rates, ensure adequate care is available and monitor how tax dollars are being spent in the $100 billion program, known as Medi-Cal in California.\n\nUse Our Content This story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nKaiser isn\u2019t appealing the latest fine, and the Oakland-based health plan said it expects to deliver the required information by September. (Kaiser Health News, which produces California Healthline, is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.)\n\nThe reporting lapses are surprising given that Kaiser is known industrywide for pioneering the use of electronic medical records and developing data-driven treatment guidelines. But Kaiser has said its systems and technology were not designed to collect information in the format required by the state. The company said the sanctions were in no way related to the quality of patient care.\n\n\u201cWe have recently made significant investments in new technology to help us comply with the new administrative data reporting requirements,\u201d Nathaniel Oubre, Kaiser Permanente\u2019s vice president for Medi-Cal, said in a statement. \u201cWe are committed to full compliance.\u201d\n\nJennifer Kent, Department of Health Care Services director, notified Kaiser of the latest fine in a May 25 letter. She wrote that the insurer was making efforts to resolve the deficiencies, but it still had not complied with state deadlines. One of her deputy directors, Sarah Brooks, said the agency has been trying to get Kaiser to comply with the rules since 2014.\n\nThe state \u201ctakes very seriously its commitment to ensure contract compliance from Medi-Cal managed-care health plans so members can get the care they need,\u201d Brooks said.\n\nBrooks said additional fines may be imposed depending in part on whether Kaiser\u2019s violations put Medi-Cal out of compliance with federal rules. That could force the state to repay money to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which funds the Medi-Cal program jointly with the state.\n\nKaiser is among 22 health plans that participate in the Medi-Cal program. About 80 percent, or 10.8 million, of Medi-Cal\u2019s 13.5 million enrollees are in managed-care plans. Kaiser serves about 700,000 Medi-Cal enrollees.\n\nIn addition to being an insurer, Kaiser runs 39 hospitals across the country and hundreds of clinics. Kaiser operates in eight states and the District of Columbia, but about 70 percent of its 11.8 million members are in California. For 2016, the company had net income of $3.1 billion on revenue of $64.6 billion.\n\nA consumer advocate said it\u2019s disturbing that Kaiser has defied state rules for so long.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve seen Kaiser use their unique model as an excuse for putting themselves outside the law in the past,\u201d said Carmen Balber, executive director of Consumer Watchdog, a Santa Monica advocacy group. \u201cThis demonstrates their hubris.\u201d\n\nIn Medi-Cal managed care, the state pays insurers a fixed amount per enrollee to provide comprehensive care. That\u2019s different from the traditional fee-for-service system, in which the state pays medical providers directly for services rendered.\n\nKaiser has faced other fines from California regulators. In 2013, the California Department of Managed Health Care fined the insurer $4 million for problems with patient access to mental health treatment. In June, the managed-care agency criticized Kaiser again for failing to address long delays in treatment, and it said additional fines were possible.", "output": "California officials have again slapped health care giant Kaiser Permanente with a multimillion-dollar fine for failing to provide data on patient care to the state\u2019s Medicaid program.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lastminute.com launches Travel Insights to allow targeted ads \n Lastminute.com has launched a new tool called Travel Insights that promises to help brands target people with market research surveys within display ad formats that will be served on both its own site and those of third-parties.\n\nIt\u2019s part of the brand\u2019s wider investment into its in-house media business, which opened up to the market last summer under the steerage of Alessandra Di Lorenzo, chief commercial officer of media and partnerships, as a way to protect its revenues against the threat of the digital giants, namely Google but increasingly Facebook.\n\nDubbed The Travel People, it\u2019s effectively an ad tech offering that services both the sell-side businesses of the Lastminute.com group as well as the buy-side for advertisers (its clients).\n\nRevenues for that division are up 30% year-on-year, with some 1500 campaigns from over 300 different advertisers now under its belt.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s going really well,\u201d Di Lorenzo told The Drum. \u201cWhat we\u2019re doing now is building out different things that play on our data strength because at the end of the day, as a publisher, our biggest asset is data. So, we\u2019re taking that and rolling out the Travel Insights product.\u201d\n\nThe Insights tool was born from the group\u2019s acquisition of social travel network WAYN, which used similar technology to gather over 25 million user-generated ideas to enhance its own content offering.\n\nIn this iteration, it will use the Lasminute.com group\u2019s rich first-party data on its 43 million monthly users as well as partnerships with key third-party data providers to provide brands with what it claimed is \u201cunique and valuable insights about their customers.\u201d\n\nWhere Facebook and Google can deliver data against relatively broad categories, Di Lorenzo said that her big pitch to potential clients is \u201cboutique travel data\u201d that can\u2019t be found on the mass market (especially on the hard to reach young, affluent audience).\n\nA \u201cgamified survey\u201d in the form of an ad, hosted in standard IAB formats, will deliver feedback from a cross section of this audience. Participation is encouraged through incentives like automatic entry into a 'Win a Holiday' prize draw or discounts on a trip.\n\n\u201cIf you think about a classic market research study what [a marketer] would do is go out, find people to sign up and [respondents] would give you answers to questions. But we\u2019re using cookie technology [to find the right people] and creating display advertising units with engaging creative and questions which we run on our site or third-party sites. And we do the profiling based on programmatic technology. Which means we have infinite scale,\u201d she explained.\n\n\u201cAsking questions is the most humble and mature way to run a business and every business should be humble enough to ask the right questions. If a marketer thinks they know everything about their customers\u2026 that\u2019s a bit worrying.\u201d\n\nDepending on the client, Lasminute.com anticipates that it will receive between 800 and 2000 responses that are \u201cstatistically relevant\u201d over an average two-week campaign.\n\nThe \u201ccool factor,\u201d Di Lorenzo said, is the competitive pricing which will be priced based on advertising metrics such as number of responses.\n\n\u201cI work closely with the chief marketing officer on planning and buying. So, we buy media for our own brand as well as on behalf of clients. That comes back to the pricing, which is based on response, but the underlying cost for us is the CPM.\u201d\n\nIn the first months of launch it is aiming to sign up tourism bodies, which Di Lorenzo said are lagging when it comes to how they can use digital for consumer insight.\n\nTravel Portland \u2013 the marketing organisation for the city of Portland, Oregon, which has recently received a bump in its marketing budget \u2013 is one of the first organisations to pilot the Insights tool.\n\nIt\u2019s using a survey to provide greater insight into the demographic of potential UK travellers to Portland and to inform its future strategy to increase the number of Brits who visited the city in 2016.\n\n\u201cBut this product could be interesting to any brand that\u2019s trying to sell products or services to travellers,\" she continued.\n\n\"It\u2019s just a different way of actioning and using the data we have at hand. It\u2019s helping brands get information rather than sitting in an office and assuming things.\"", "output": "Lastminute.com is introducing Travel Insights, which will allow brands to target users via market research surveys. These will appear within display ad formats on third party sites as well as Lastminute.com. It represents an investment into the company's own media business, protecting against the likes of digital leaders Google and Facebook. The new venture offers competitive pricing based on metrics and response data.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Why Medicare and Medicaid Can Outmatch Private Plans on Cost \n \u201cWhat kind of insurance you have does affect your access to health care,\u201d said Carrie Colla, associate professor of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice and the lead author of the study. \u201cBut once you\u2019re in front of the doctor, by and large you\u2019re treated the same way as any other patient.\u201d\n\nOne apparent exception found in the study involved the seventh service it examined: cardiac testing before low-risk, noncardiac surgery. This service was provided to 46 percent of Medicare beneficiaries and 26 percent of privately insured patients. The large difference could reflect the fact that cardiac problems are more prevalent among older people. So a doctor with equal concern for all her patients might test Medicare patients at a higher rate for that reason. Nonetheless, such testing is considered low value even for the Medicare population.\n\nAnother recent study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, also found little relationship between insurance status and low-value care. The study found no difference in the rates at which seven of nine low-value services were provided to patients on Medicaid versus those with private coverage. Six were also provided at the same rates for uninsured and privately insured patients.\n\nMoreover, the study found that physicians who see a higher proportion of patients on Medicaid provide the same rate of low- and high-value services for all their patients as other physicians do. This is an important finding because Medicaid pays doctors less than private plans do, raising concerns that higher-quality doctors would tend not to participate in the program.\n\n\u201cDespite concerns to the contrary, Medicaid patients don\u2019t appear to be seeing lower-quality doctors,\u201d said Dr. Michael Barnett, lead author of the study, a physician with the Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital and an assistant professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. \u201cThough raising the prices Medicaid pays doctors may increase physician participation, enhancing enrollees\u2019 access to care, it isn\u2019t likely to change the quality of care patients receive once they are in the doctor\u2019s office.\u201d", "output": "In recent days, Democrats have stepped into the health policy vacuum created by the Republicans\u2019 failure to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Proposals making the rounds include allowing Americans to buy into Medicare\u00a0at age 55 or to\u00a0buy into Medicaid.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Majority of Voters Support Medicaid Work Requirements \n A majority of voters back the idea of tying Medicaid eligibility to employment status as the Trump administration weighs whether to give more states the power to impose work requirements on the government health program.\n\nIn an Aug. 10-14 Morning Consult/POLITICO poll, 1,997 registered voters were asked whether they generally support requiring individuals to have a job in order to be eligible for the program. Fifty-one percent of voters said they support that proposal, while 37 percent said they oppose it. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.\n\nRepublicans in Congress have long sought to reform welfare programs with policies that encourage beneficiaries to be employed. Including welfare-to-work policies in other federal assistance programs, such as the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, has had bipartisan support \u2014 but many Democrats oppose adding a work requirement to Medicaid because it is a health care program.\n\nNo state Medicaid program currently has work requirements on the books, as the policy is illegal under federal law. But the Trump administration is reviewing applications from four states to waive federal law to adopt work requirement programs.\n\nDrew Altman, who, as noted in a 1987 New York Times story, spearheaded groundbreaking work incentive reforms as commissioner of New Jersey\u2019s Department of Human Services in the 1980s, said Americans generally back policies that encourage people to work. The split is over whether they should apply to Medicaid, said Altman, who is now the chief executive officer and president of the Kaiser Family Foundation.\n\n\u201cLiberals and Democrats tend to view Medicaid as a government insurance program and conservatives and Republicans view it as a welfare program, and as a welfare benefit for which there should be a reciprocal obligation,\u201d he said in a Friday interview.\n\nVoters\u2019 views on Medicaid work requirements reflected the ideological divide among policymakers. Sixty-seven percent of Republicans surveyed said they support requiring Medicaid beneficiaries to have a job, while 52 percent of Democrats opposed the idea. A plurality of independents (46 percent) backed work requirements and 36 percent opposed them.\n\nAltman was quick to note that the work requirement programs under consideration are much broader than simply requiring Medicaid enrollees to be employed. Programs requested in the four states \u2014 Arizona, Indiana, Kentucky and Pennsylvania \u2014 would require enrollees to work a certain number of hours per week, or be enrolled in other activities, such as an educational, job training or employment search program.\n\n\u201cIt could be working, it could be looking for a job, it could be training for a job, it could be getting a GED, and there are also a long list of exemptions from those work requirements,\u201d Altman said.\n\nThe actual impact of adding work requirements would be small, Altman suggests, because they would only apply to a small number of Medicaid enrollees. A Kaiser Family Foundation study published in February said 78 percent of beneficiaries belong to families with at least one worker, and 59 percent of enrollees are employed themselves. Most Medicaid enrollees who do not work would be exempt from the requirements because they have a disability or care for a family member.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s actually a very small number of people who would be affected by work requirements, so this is more an ideological debate than it is something that will have a significant effect on the program,\u201d Altman said.", "output": "A majority of voters back the idea of tying Medicaid eligibility to employment status as the Trump administration weighs whether to give more states the power to impose work requirements on the government health program.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Robot caregivers for the elderly could be just 10 years away \n The anthropomorphic robot named hitchBOT sits on the shoulder of Highway 102 to begin its 6000 kilometer cross country journey outside of Halifax, Nova Scotia, July 27, 2014. REUTERS/Paul Darrow\n\nDespite innovations that make it easier for seniors to keep living on their own rather than moving into special facilities, most elderly people eventually need a hand with chores and other everyday activities.\n\nFriends and relatives often can't do all the work. Growing evidence indicates it's neither sustainable nor healthy for seniors or their loved ones. Yet demand for professional caregivers already far outstrips supply, and experts say this workforce shortage will only get worse.\n\nSo how will our society bridge this elder-care gap? In a word, robots.\n\nJust as automation has begun to do jobs previously seen as uniquely suited for humans, like retrieving goods from warehouses, robots will assist your elderly relatives. As a robotics researcher, I believe artificial intelligence has the potential not only to care for our elders but to do so in a way that increases their independence and reduces their social isolation.\n\nPersonal robots\n\nIn the 2004 movie \"I, Robot,\" the robot-hating protagonist Del Spooner (played by Will Smith) is shocked to discover a robot in his grandmother's house, baking a pie. You may have similar mental images: When many people imagine robots in the home, they envision mechanized domestic workers doing tasks in human-like ways.\n\nIn reality, many of the robots that will provide support for older adults who \"age in place\" \u2014 staying at home when they might otherwise be forced to relocate to assisted living or nursing homes \u2014 won't look like people.\n\nInstead, they will be specialized systems, akin to the Roomba, iRobot's robotic vacuum cleaner and the first commercially successful consumer robot. Small, specific devices are not only easier to design and deploy, they allow for incremental adoption as requirements evolve over time.\n\nSeniors, like everyone else, need different things. Many need help with the mechanics of eating, bathing, dressing, and standing up \u2014 tasks known as \"activities of daily living.\" Along with daily help with cooking and managing their medications, they can benefit from a robotic hand with more intermittent things such as doing the laundry and getting to the doctor's office.\n\nA robot hands medicine to a worker at the Interactive Robotics and Language Lab, at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. University of Maryland Baltimore County\n\nThat may sound far-fetched, but in addition to vacuuming robots can already mop our floors and mow our lawns. Experimental robots help lift people into and out of chairs and beds, follow recipes, fold towels, and dispense pills. Soon, autonomous (self-driving) cars will ferry people to appointments and gatherings.\n\nThe kinds of robots already available include models that drive, provide pet-like social companionship, and greet customers. Some of these technologies are already in limited trials in nursing homes, and seniors of course can already rely on their own Roombas.\n\nMeanwhile, robot companions may soon help relieve loneliness and nudge forgetful elders to eat on a regular schedule.\n\nScientists and other inventors are building robots that will do these jobs and many others.\n\nPepper\n\nRound-the-clock care\n\nWhile some tasks remain out of reach of today's robots, such as inserting IVs or trimming toenails, mechanical caregivers can offer clear advantages over their human counterparts.\n\nThe most obvious one is their capacity to work around the clock. Machines, unlike people, are available 24/7. When used in the home, they can support aging in place.\n\nAnother plus: Relying on technology to meet day-to-day needs like mopping the floor can improve the quality of time elders spend with family and friends. Delegating mundane chores to robots also leaves more time for seniors to socialize with the people who care about them, and not just for them.\n\nAnd since using devices isn't the same as asking someone for help, relying on caregiving robots may lead seniors to perceive less lost autonomy than when they depend on human helpers.\n\nInteracting with robots\n\nThis brave new world of robot caregivers won't take shape unless we make them user-friendly and intuitive, and that means interaction styles matter. In my lab, we work on how robots can interact with people by talking with them. Fortunately, recent research by the Pew Research Center shows that older adults are embracing technology more and more, just like everyone else.\n\nNow that we are beginning to see robots that can competently perform some tasks, researchers like Jenay Beer, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering at the University of South Carolina, are trying to figure out which activities seniors need the most help with and what kinds of robots they might be most willing to use in the near term.\n\nTo that end, researchers are asking questions like:\n\nDo robots need to understand and convey emotion to be accepted?\n\nHow can robots provide social support?\n\nIs it best when machines simulate eye contact with us?\n\nDoes it help if they can converse?\n\nBut the fact is we don't need all the answers before robots begin to help elders age in place.\n\nLooking ahead\n\nAfter all, there's no time to lose.\n\nThe Census Bureau estimated that 15% of Americans \u2014 nearly one in six \u2014 were aged 65 or older in 2016, up from 12% in 2000. Demographers anticipate that by 2060 almost one in four will be in that age group. That means there will be some 48 million more elderly people in the US than there are now.\n\nI believe robots will perform many elder-care tasks within a decade. Some activities will still require human caregivers, and there are people for whom robotic assistance will never be the answer. But you can bet that robots will help seniors age in place, even if they won't look like butlers or pastry chefs.\n\nCynthia Matuszek is an assistant professor of computer science and electrical engineering at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.\n\nThis article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.", "output": "Despite innovations that make it easier for seniors to keep living on their own rather than moving into special facilities, most elderly people eventually need a hand with chores and other everyday activities.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Elder Abuse: ERs Learn How To Protect A Vulnerable Population \n Abuse often leads to depression and medical problems in older patients \u2014 even death within a year of an abusive incident.\n\nYet, those subjected to emotional, physical or financial abuse too often remain silent. Identifying victims and intervening poses challenges for doctors and nurses.\n\nBecause visits to the emergency room may be the only time an older adult leaves the house, staff in the ER can be a first line of defense, said Tony Rosen, founder and lead investigator of the Vulnerable Elder Protection Team (VEPT), a program launched in April at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center ER.\n\nThe most common kinds of elder abuse are emotional and financial, Rosen said, and usually when one form of abuse exists, so do others. According to a New York study, as few as 1 in 24 cases of abuse against residents age 60 and older were reported to authorities.\n\nThe VEPT program \u2014 initially funded by a small grant from The John A. Hartford Foundation (a Kaiser Health News funder) and now fully funded by the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation \u2014 includes Presbyterian Hospital emergency physicians Tony Rosen, Mary Mulcare and Michael Stern. These three doctors and two social workers take turns being on call to respond to signs of elder abuse. Also available when needed are psychiatrists, legal and ethical advisers, radiologists, geriatricians and security and patient-services personnel.\n\nThis KHN story also ran in USA Today . It can be republished for free ( details ).\n\n\u201cWe work at making awareness of elder abuse part of the culture in our emergency room by training the entire staff in how to recognize it,\u201d said Rosen. It\u2019s easy for the ER staff to alert the VEPT team and begin an investigation, he said.\n\nA doctor interviews the patient and conducts a head-to-toe physical exam looking for bruises, lacerations, abrasions, areas of pain and tenderness. Additional testing is ordered if the doctor suspects abuse.\n\n\u201cUnlike with child abuse victims, where there is a standard protocol in place for screening, there is no equivalent for the elderly, but we have designed and are evaluating one,\u201d said Rosen.\n\nThe team looks for specific injuries. For example, radiographic images show old and new fractures, which suggest a pattern of multiple traumatic events. Specific types of fractures may indicate abuse, such as midshaft fractures in the ulna, a forearm bone that can break when an older adult holds his arm in front of his face to protect himself.\n\nWhen signs of abuse are found but the elder is not interested in cooperating with finding a safe place or getting help, a psychiatrist is asked to determine if that elder has decision-making capacity. The team offers resources but can do little more if the patient isn\u2019t interested. They would have to allow the patient to return to the potentially unsafe situation.\n\nPatients who are in immediate danger and want help or are found not to have capacity may be admitted to the hospital and placed in the care of a geriatrician until a solution can be found. Unlike with children and Child Protective Services, Adult Protective Services won\u2019t become involved until a patient has been discharged, so hospitalization can play an important role in keeping older adults safe.\n\nDuring the first three months of the program, more than 35 elders showed signs of abuse, and a large percentage of them were later confirmed to be victims. Changes in housing or living situations were made for several of them.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s difficult to identify and measure appropriate outcomes for elder abuse victims, because each patient may have different care goals,\u201d said Rosen, \u201cbut we are working on making a case that detection of elder abuse and intervention in the ER will improve the patients\u2019 lives. We also hope to show that it will save money, because when an elder is in a safe place, expensive, frequent trips to the ER may no longer be needed.\u201d\n\nThe team\u2019s ultimate goal is to optimize acute care for these vulnerable victims and ensure their safety. They plan to work at continually tweaking VEPT to improve the program and to connect to emergency medical, law enforcement and criminal justice services. Eventually, they hope to help other emergency departments set up similar programs.\n\nKHN\u2019s coverage related to aging & improving care of older adults is supported by The John A. Hartford Foundation.\n\nKFF Health News' coverage of aging and long-term care issues is supported in part by The SCAN Foundation.", "output": "Abuse often leads to depression and medical problems in older patients \u2014 even death within a year of an abusive incident. Yet, those subjected to emotional, physical or financial abuse too often remain silent. Identifying victims and intervening poses challenges for doctors and nurses.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Safer Cars Help Keep Older Drivers on the Road \n For example, as someone with arthritic hands (among other body parts), I\u2019m aided by power seats that can be preset two ways: one for my best driving position and the other to ease entry and exit from the car. Other useful features include power windows and mirrors, a thicker steering wheel that is easier to grip, keyless entry, an automatic tailgate closer and a push-button to start (and stop) the engine.\n\nHowever, Mr. Nelson warned drivers of all ages about one feature now in most new cars: the backup camera. While great for older adults with flexibility issues and short people like me who can\u2019t see objects directly behind the car, it won\u2019t detect anything in the blind spot. That is, it cannot see people, vehicles or bicycles approaching the car from the side. The camera is meant to supplement, not replace, a driver\u2019s visual checks. You must still check your mirrors, turn your head if possible and proceed with caution.\n\nThe AAA has created a very useful computerized site to help older drivers identify the makes and models of vehicles within various price ranges that may best suit their particular issues. At SeniorDriving.AAA.com/SmartFeatures, drivers can use drop-down menus to choose among categories like diminished vision, limited upper body range of motion, short stature or overweight, and decreased leg strength.\n\nFor those with various vision problems common among the elderly, for example, features like a high-contrast instrument panel with large number and letter displays, an auto-dimming rearview mirror and glare-reducing side mirrors can enhance driver safety.\n\nSometimes features that auto engineers consider helpful are annoying or distracting for some drivers. Several of the visual or audible warnings in my new car can be turned on or off by the driver.\n\nMs. Schold Davis urged people to \u201cplan to spend time choosing a car and select the latest built-in safety features you can afford.\u201d Noting that \u201cnot all safety features are alike car-to-car,\u201d she said choosing the right car should be individualized according to each driver\u2019s needs. The ultimate goal: \u201cDecrease the likelihood of a crash and cushion against serious injury should a crash occur,\u201d she said.\n\nWith the exception of dementia or certain conditions like serious visual impairment, \u201cthe diagnosis of a medical condition should not determine whether it\u2019s safe for someone to drive,\u201d Mr. Nelson said. \u201cWhat does matter is how you manage your condition \u2014 whether, for example, you have diabetes and keep your blood sugar under control to prevent a blackout.\u201d Manage your health issue properly, and chances are there is a car available that is safe for you to drive.", "output": "More than three decades ago, I fell in love with the first minivan I spotted parked in my Brooklyn neighborhood. Though I was never a \u201csoccer mom,\u201d I travel as if there were no stores at my destination, and here was a car that could carry half a household. And I loved sitting up high, able to see beyond the car in front of me.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI-based app picks emojis based on your facial expression \n Marcin Kmiec, one of Polygram\u2019s cofounders, says the app\u2019s AI works by capturing your face with the front-facing camera on the phone and analyzing sequences of images as quickly as possible, rather than just looking at specific points on the face like your pupils and nose. This is done directly on the phone, using the iPhone\u2019s graphics processing unit, he says.\n\nWhen you look at a post in the app (for now the posts seem to consist of a suspicious amount of luxury vacation spots, fancy cars, and women in tight clothing), you see a small yellow emoji on the bottom of the display, its expression changing along with your real one. There\u2019s a slight delay\u201420 milliseconds, which is just barely noticeable\u2014between what you\u2019re expressing on your face and what shows up in the app. The app records your response (or responses, if your expression changes a few times) in a little log of emoji on the side of the screen, along with those of others who\u2019ve already looked at the same post.\n\nThe app is clearly meant to appeal to those who really care about how they\u2019re perceived on social media: users can see a tally of the emoji reactions to each photo or video they post to the app, as well as details about who looked at the post, how long they looked at it, and where they\u2019re located. This might be helpful for some mega-users, but could turn off those who are more wary about how their activity is tracked, even when it\u2019s anonymized.\n\nAnd, as many app makers know, it\u2019s hard to succeed in social media; for every Instagram or Snapchat there are countless ones that fail to catch on. (Remember Secret? Or Path? Or Yik Yak? Or Google+?) Polygram\u2019s founders say they\u2019re concentrating on using the technology in their own app for now, but they also think it could be useful in other kinds of apps, like telemedicine, where it could be used to gauge a patient\u2019s reaction to a doctor or nurse, for instance. Eventually, they say, they may release software tools that let other developers come up with their own applications for the technology.", "output": "Polygram has launched an app that uses artificial intelligence to analyse users' facial expressions and transform them into emojis in a matter of milliseconds. The app is currently only available for free on iPhone. Users can monitor the reactions to each photo, as well as details of who looked at the post, the duration of the view and location of the viewer. Polygram said the app could be used in telemedicine, and is considering opening it up to third parties."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Intel's new Myrius X vision chip incorporates deep learning \n Today, Intel subsidiary Movidius is announcing the Movidius Myriad X vision processing unit (VPU), a low-power system-on-chip (SoC) intended for deep learning and AI acceleration in vision-based devices such as drones, smart cameras, and VR/AR headsets. This follows up on last month\u2019s launch of the Myriad 2 powered Movidius Neural Compute Stick. As for the Myriad 2, the Myriad X will coexist alongside its predecessor, which was first announced in 2014. Movidius states that the Myriad X will offer ten times the performance of the Myriad 2 in deep neural network (DNN) inferencing within the same power envelope, while the Myriad 2 will remain a lower performance option.\n\nUnder the hood, the Myriad X SoC features what Movidius is calling a Neural Compute Engine, an on-chip DNN accelerator. With it, Movidius states that the Myriad X can achieve over one trillion operations per second (TOPS) of peak DNN inferencing throughput, in the backdrop of the Myriad X\u2019s theoretical 4+ TOPS compute capability.\n\nIn addition, the Myriad X has four more C-programmable 128-bit VLIW vector processors and configurable MIPI lanes from the Myriad 2, as well as expanded 2.5 MB on-chip memory and more fixed-function imaging/vision accelerators. Like the ones found in the Myriad 2, the Myriad X\u2019s vector units are proprietary SHAVE (Streaming Hybrid Architecture Vector Engine) processors optimized for computer vision workloads. The Myriad X also supports the latest LPDDR4, with the MA2085 variant equipped with only interfaces to external memory. In an accompanying launch video, Movidius locates the Myriad X functions on a stylized dieshot.\n\nAnother new function in the Myriad X is 4K hardware encoding, with 4K at 30 Hz (H.264/H.265) and 60 Hz (M/JPEG) supported. Interface-wise, the Myriad X brings USB 3.1 and PCIe 3.0 support, both new to the Myriad VPU family. All this is done within the same <2W power envelope as the Myriad 2, cited more specifically as within 1W.\n\nMovidius Myriad Family VPUs Myriad 2 Myriad X Compute Capacity >1 TOPS >4 TOPS Vector Processors 12x SHAVE Processors 16x SHAVE Processors CPUs 2x LEON4 cores\n\n(RISC; SPARC V8) 2x LEON4 cores\n\n(RISC; SPARC V8) On-chip Accelerators ~20 image/vision processing accelerators 20+ image/vision processing accelerators\n\n\n\nNeural Compute Engine (DNN accelerator) Neural Network Capability 1st Gen DNN Support\n\n(Up to 100 GFLOPS) Neural Compute Engine\n\n(Up to 1 TOPS) On-chip Memory and Bandwidth 2 MB\n\n(400GB/sec) 2.5 MB\n\n(450GB/sec) DRAM Support Max: 8Gb\n\n\n\nLPDDR2 (533MHz, 32-bit)\n\nLPDDR3 (933MHz, 32-bit) Max: 16Gb\n\n\n\nLPDDR4 (1600MHz, 32-bit) DRAM Configurations 1Gbit LPDDR2 (MA215X)\n\n\n\n4Gbit LPDDR3 (MA245X) No in-package memory (MA2085)\n\n\n\n4Gbit LPDDR4 (MA2485) Encoder/Codec VGA, 720p, 1080p, H.264 (software encoder) M/JPEG 4K at 60Hz encoder\n\n\n\nH.264/H.265 4K at 30Hz encoder Key Interfaces 12x MIPI lanes (DPHY 1.1)\n\nUSB 3\n\nSPI\n\nI2S\n\nSD\n\n1GbE 16x MIPI lanes (PHY 1.2)\n\nUSB 3.1\n\nQuad SPI\n\nI2S\n\n2x SD\n\n10GbE\n\nPCIe 3.0 Process 28nm HPC+/HPC/HPM (TSMC) 16nm FFC (TSMC) Package 6.5mm x 6.5 mm (MA215X)\n\n\n\n8mm x 9.5 mm (MA245X) 8.1mm x 8.8mm (MA2085, MA2485)\n\nAt a glance, much of the Myriad X\u2019s extra performance at the same Myriad 2 power appears to come from its new 16nm FFC TSMC process node. In shrinking from a 28nm planar process to 16nm FinFET, Movidius was able to invest the power savings into higher performance as well as more SHAVE processors, accelerators, interfaces, and memory, all in a relatively similar package size. While Intel indeed has its own fabs, Movidius stated that the Myriad X was in development well before Intel acquired Movidius in 2016, and thus 16nm FFC was the technology of choice. This 16nm FFC iteration comes after the Myriad 2\u2019s incarnations on three of TSMC's 28nm process variants: HPM, HPC, and HPC+.\n\nWhile specifics were not disclosed, the Myriad X VPU comes with an SDK that includes a neural network compiler and \u201ca specialized FLIC framework with a plug-in approach to developing application pipelines.\u201d In any case, like the Myriad 2, the Myriad X will be programmable via the Myriad Development Kit (MDK). At this time, there were no details about the reference kit hardware.\n\nAs mentioned earlier, the Myriad 2 will not be replaced by the Myriad X. Last January, the Myriad 2 was described as costing under $10; based on the higher cost FinFET process and additional hardware features, the Myriad X will likely command a higher price for the higher performance.\n\nUpdate (8/28/17): An Intel representative has given an update stating that 8.1mm x 8.8mm are the correct dimensions for the Myriad X VPUs. The original specifications (8.5mm x 8.7mm) that were given out were incorrect. The press kit photo has been updated.", "output": "Intel has announced the Movidius Myriad X vision processing unit (VPU), a low-power system-on-chip designed for use by systems like drones and AR/VR-headsets that require AI-enhanced visual performance. The chip incorporates what Intel calls a \"neural compute engine\", an accelerator that can speed up the deep neural network capabilities of the Myriad X to over one trillion operations a second, all in a footprint of 8.1mm x 8.9mm, with a power consumption of around 1 watt."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook bans advertisers who spread fake news \n Facebook is continuing its crackdown on fake news.\n\nThe social network Monday announced Facebook Pages will no longer be able to advertise on the site if they repeatedly share news articles that are marked as false by third-party fact-checking organizations. Page owners can win back the ability to run ads if they later choose to act responsibly.\n\nThe move would limit one of the big ways that fake news spreads, since paying to boost posts is a big way for publishers to get stories in front of more people.\n\n\"We want people to stay informed on friends, family, and topics they care about on Facebook, and false news damages trust,\" said Rob Leathern(opens in a new tab), product manager at Facebook. \"This is mostly about removing incentivizes for the creation of false news.\"\n\nThis update limits a user's ability to growth hack a Facebook Page, as in gain followers (or Facebook \"likes\") by sharing fake (but highly-engaging) news articles. Paying for Facebook ads allowed these fake news articles to appear in users' News Feeds.\n\nFacebook introduced a partnership with third-party fact-checkers, months after CEO Mark Zuckerberg belittled the impact of fake news on the 2016 presidential election. Shortly after the election, Zuckerberg wrote(opens in a new tab) \"more than 99% of what people see is authentic. Only a very small amount is fake news and hoaxes.\"\n\nSince that claim, Facebook has taken several steps to lessen the abundance of fake news on the network. Other moves include shutting down the bot networks used to defraud advertisers and suppressing links from websites with bad ad experiences.\n\nFacebook has broken up its fight against fake news into three buckets: disrupting economic incentives, building new products, and helping people make informed decisions.\n\nThe most recent change falls into the first category. Still, Facebook remains steadfast against being an arbiter of truth. Pages can regain the ability to advertise and are not banned.\n\n\"It is possible that someone could inadvertently share something, so we want to make sure that it is a repeated behavior,\" Leathern said. \"We want there to be an incentive: good maintenance. If they no longer are sharing [fake] stories, they can regain the ability. A repeated pattern of this occurring has a consequence.\"\n\nFacebook declined to share an exact estimate of the financial impact. The company earned $9.32 billion in the second quarter of 2017, the majority of which comes from mobile advertising\n\n\"I think overall the order of magnitude of the size of this is relatively small,\" Leathern said.", "output": "Facebook will ban advertisers who regularly spread false news stories on its site. Users of Facebook Pages, the company's ad platform,\u00a0will be banned from advertising if they are found to be regularly sharing content flagged as false by third-party fact-checkers. Facebook\u00a0brought the fact-checkers on board as part of its efforts to combat the spread of 'fake news' on the site. The social network is seeking to reduce economic incentives for the creation of false stories, with measures including shutting down bot networks which defraud advertisers, and suppressing links from websites with bad records.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BuzzFeed shifts towards banner ads and away from native content \n Since 2013, BuzzFeed has sidestepped the much-maligned banner ad in favour of native content however, the company is now bringing the format back onto the site to more effectively monetise audiences.\n\nBuzzfeed native ads\n\nBusiness Insider reports that banner ads will now run atop the story and home pages online and in the dedicated app. These will be served up globally through the Google DoubleClick Ad Exchange and Facebook Audience Network.", "output": "Buzzfeed has changed its digital advertising policy and is introducing banner adverts to its homepage and above stories on the site and mobile app. This represents a shift away from its reliance on promoted posts\u00a0and came\u00a0despite banner ads being more vulnerable to ad blocking software. Buzzfeed CEO Jonah Peretti said the quality of programmatic ads has increased and loading times are shorter, and the move would help monetise global audiences. Buzzfeed reached more than 75 million unique users as of July\u00a0and is expected to go public with an IPO next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TerraPay and Instant Cash launch cross-border payments in Africa \n TerraPay and Instant Cash are teaming up to enable real-time cross-border money transfers to mobile wallets, according to a press release.\n\nPowered by TerraPay's global clearing and settlement service for mobile wallets, the partnership will make cross-border money transfer faster and convenient for migrants.\n\nInstant Cash's global agent network expanded their services by offering cross-border transfers to mobile wallets, according to the release.\n\nIn the initial rollout, TerraPay has enabled Instant Cash customers to send remittances to mobile wallets in Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda.\n\nIn Nigeria, migrants can send money to any mobile number as well as bank accounts.\n\nIn Tanzania, migrants will be able to send remittances directly to Vodacom M-Pesa, Tigo Pesa, Airtel Money and Zantel Ezy Pesa wallets.\n\nIn Uganda, the friends and families of the migrants can receive money in their MTN and Airtel Money wallets.\n\nThe service is expected to expand shortly in other countries in Africa which have a significant adoption of mobile money, according to the release.\n\n\"Our strategic partnership will bring the convenience of mobile wallets to the global customer base of Instant Cash, making cross-border remittances faster, accessible and cheaper for the consumers,\" Ambar Sur, founder and CEO of TerraPay, said in the release.", "output": "TerraPay and Instant Cash have launched cross-border cash transfers to mobile wallets in parts of Africa. In its initial rollout, TerraPay lets Instant Cash customers send payments to mobile wallets in Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda. In Nigeria, users can also send money to any mobile number while in Tanzania, customers can transfer funds to directly to Vodacom M-Pesa, Airtel Money, Tigo Pesa and Zantel Ezy Pesa wallets. Ugandan customers can receive cash in MTN and Airtel Money wallets. The companies hope to expand the service to other African countries.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chicago firm offers payments made with a wave of the hand \n Keyo Simplifies Mobile Payments to a Hand Wave\n\nAugust 28, 2017 By: Steven Anderson\n\nI think we can all agree that mobile payments in their current form aren\u2019t exactly complex. Pull out your phone, tap a few commands, maybe even just tap a device against a point-of-sale terminal. A new Chicago firm, as related to the Chicago Tribune, details how mobile payments can be effectively reduced to the wave of a hand.\n\nThe firm behind this advance is Keyo, and it works using biometrics to connect to a credit or debit card. The user\u2019s palm print is the primary focus here, so users can scan their hand and have the card in question charged. Since there\u2019s no personal payment information transmitted to the stores, a potential point of failure in security is removed from the equation, and that makes the process safer. Perhaps most interesting of all, the palm scan is deleted if the account isn\u2019t used in a year, so that helps reduce the chances of inactive account fraud.\n\nThe whole concept started, reports noted, when the company\u2019s CEO Jaxon Klein and his wife went shopping one day, but forgot their wallet. They had a huge list but had to come home empty handed, which led Klein to the notion of an unforgettable wallet. Biometrics made the perfect alternative.\n\nIt\u2019s not out of line to suggest that this would work. After all, you can forget to bring your wallet, you can forget your smartphone, but good luck forgetting your hand. The best part is that this can be just an option, an add-on to a mobile app or the like that makes it an easy backup for those times when you forget your wallet or phone.\n\nThere\u2019s a lot of potential in a platform like this. While biometric payments suffer from a bit of a PR problem thanks to the whole \u201cmark of the beast\u201d concept, as long as these are just an option in a field that includes mobile payments, cash, checks and everything else, it\u2019s just one more advancement like the internal combustion engine or the internet itself.\n\nKeyo has a noteworthy idea here, and it\u2019s already started showing up in some Chicago-area firms. It may well catch on before too much longer, and making payments may be as easy as a wave of the hand.", "output": "Mobile payment company Keyo has developed a palm scanning point-of-sale terminal that enables users to make a purchase by waving their hand. By connecting their palm print to their credit or debit card, customers are able to authenticate transactions without their wallet or smartphone. If a user's account isn't used in a year, the palm scan is deleted to reduce the chance of account fraud. Several Chicago-based firms have adopted the technology.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The latest Alexa killer - a robotic tablet called Temi \n Yossi Wolf, the CEO of robot-maker Roboteam, almost didn't want to call his newest product a robot. When people think of robots, he says, they expect the stuff of science fiction\u2014machines with faces and personalities indistinguishable from humans. Temi, the rolling robot Wolf hopes you'll soon have in your home, looks more like a tablet on wheels.\n\nWolf knows a thing or two about robots, though. For years, his company has built them for the military\u2014the kind of all-terrain bots that can maneuver into sensitive areas, climb through sand and over rocks, help safely defuse explosives. Now, he hopes to bring that expertise into your living room with Temi.\n\nThe easiest way to describe Temi is as a moveable version of Amazon's Echo Show. Summon Temi from across the house and it'll find its way to you, using the same path-planning tech Roboteam built for the Air Force. It uses facial recognition to identify and track you, and plugs into Google's artificial intelligence tools to mimic Google Assistant's functionality. Temi also gives you a hands-free way to video chat, watch TV, or listen to music while you amble around the house.\n\nRoboteam\n\nWolf's not trying to build an artificial best friend or a robo-sidekick; instead, Temi was designed to be a video chat and music machine. Let's say you want to video chat with your grandma. Temi uses voice recognition to make sure it rings your grandmother, facial recognition to keep your face in frame, and a microphone array to make sure you're heard. Right now, Temi mostly works like one of those telepresence robots. But long-term, Roboteam will open up Temi's Android-based software to developers, who can build all sorts of crazy things into the machine.\n\nThe actual robot, Temi, stands 3 feet tall and rolls on four small wheels. It has a 10-inch tablet for a head and a thin, curved body on top of a base that looks like an industrial vacuum. It can roll around for eight hours on battery power, and connects over Wi-Fi, LTE, and Bluetooth. It doesn't have eyes or look human, like Pepper and Kuri and other robots. Temi looks more like a portable massage station, or one of those rolling standing desks.\n\n\"We tried hard not to provide Temi a face,\" Wolf says. When you talk to Temi, your words show up on the screen with a typed response below. That's it. \"Many of the robots, they\u2019re not so much in focus,\" he says. \"They try to be companions, friends, eyes, and hands, and whatever. And I don\u2019t believe the technology is mature enough to replace humans.\"\n\nFor now, Temi is still very much a work in progress. Roboteam's running a small beta test, with plans to expand to 1,000 users this fall and become widely available in late 2018. When it does launch, Wolf says he's committed to selling Temi for less than $1,500. That sounds steep for a tablet on wheels (one that doesn't even vacuum for you!) but Wolf believes Temi can help provide people a better relationship with their technology.\n\n\"We are working so hard, and we are spending so much time looking into a smartphone, we forget to spend time with our family and important people,\" he says. \"I knew that only a robotic device will be able to put you at the center. Only a moving device will really be able to serve you, to come when called.\" Robots may be invading your home, but you're still in charge.", "output": "Israeli start-up Roboteam has developed a device for the home that uses facial recognition technology to track and follow human owners, according to CEO Yosi Wolf. The company, which also makes robots for military use, initially created Temi, which has a tablet interface, to be a video chat and music machine. It uses Google's artificial intelligence tools but Wolf said the company eventually plans to open the technology up to third parties. The current small beta test will be scaled up to 1,000 participants with a view to launching late next year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Airbnb relaxes restrictions to gain access to Singapore market \n Private homeowners in Singapore are currently not allowed to rent out their properties for less than three consecutive months. Before 30 June the minimum lease period was six months, but this was changed to give more choices to visiting academics and students.\n\n\"The revised minimum stay duration will provide these groups with more accommodation options. It will also provide more rental opportunities for property owners seeking to rent out their properties. Hotels and serviced apartments will continue to cater to visitors on shorter stays,\" Singapore's Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said at the time.\n\nHowever, the URA is also reviewing its guidelines to allow short-term rentals, and Airbnb co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk is keen to encourage this.\n\nBlecharczyk told The Business Times that the giving more access to management bodies would help to make neighbours and residents feel comfortable with who was in their building.\n\nSome of the URA's concerns could be alleviated by Airbnb's \"friendly buildings programme\", he told the Business Times.\n\n\"This enables building management to be given visibility into the Airbnb system to see when guests are arriving and departing from that building, what kind of vetting has been done in relation to their backgrounds, as well as set some basic restrictions on how long people can stay and other criteria that the building (management) might care about - so it allows for some customisation,\" he said.\n\nAirbnb may also share the commission on rentals with building management, The Business Times reported.\n\n\"The building (management) can define a service fee that gets collected on each transaction. That money can be set aside to help everybody in the building,\" Blecharczyk told the newspaper.\n\nLandlords who have tenants that want to be Airbnb hosts would benefit, as tenants would need to sign a \"lease addendum\" on hosting terms including how much commission the landlord will earn on the hosts' profit. Landlords would be informed about guest check-in and check-out dates, the number of guests and host earnings.\n\nThe programme has been used in the US and Australia, and is being extended around the world. \"I think it's very relevant to Singapore,\" said Blecharczyk.", "output": "Airbnb may extend its 'friendly buildings programme' to Singapore as it seeks ways to accommodate the country's strict home-sharing rules, according to co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk. Speaking to The Business Times, he said the Singapore's Urban Redevelopment Authority's concerns could be alleviated with the programme, which offers more visibility regarding arrivals and departures, and hinted the company may share some commission with building management.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese edtech MagicEars raises $6m for English tutoring \n MAGICEARS, a Beijing-based English learning startup, has raised its first investment: $6 million from the Bob Xu ZhenEdu Fund and online tutoring company Yuanfudao. According to a press announcement, MagicEars will use the funds to further develop the company\u2019s teaching and research platform.\n\nThe deal comes only a few days after Chinese online tutoring startup VIPKID nabbed a $200 million Series D round, valuing the company at nearly $1.5 billion. \u201cThe demand of online English learning for children has been very clear, and the market size is scaling up,\u201d Jiang Min, vice president of ZhenEdu Fund said in a prepared statement.\n\nInstructors can upload their own teaching videos to the VIPKID platform, where users can pick out who they want to learn from. Meanwhile teachers on MargicEars, who \u201chave a professional English teaching certification\u201d lead virtual classes with about four students at a time. Launched in March 2017, MagicEars aims to reach Chinese students ages 5 to 12, and tuition ranges from around $600 to $1,050 USD.", "output": "MagicEars, the Beijing-based English language tutoring start-up, has raised $6m in first round funding from the Bob Xu ZhenEdu Fund and online tutoring company Yuanfudao. MagicEars will use the funds to develop its teaching and research platform. Launched last March MagicEars teaches English to Chinese students aged five to 12\u00a0via virtual classes. Reflecting the growing demand for online English learning the deal came\u00a0a few days after Chinese tutoring start-up Vipkid\u00a0secured a $200m series D round of funding, valuing the company at nearly $1.5bn.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ZingBox to work with VMware to improve IoT security \n ZingBox Announces Collaboration with VMware\n\nIoT security solution provider ZingBox recently announced that it will collaborate with VMware, a provider of cloud computing and platform virtualization software and services. Together, the two companies aim to bring enhanced security to enterprise IoT implementations.\n\n\"One of the primary goals, and really the only goal [for ZingBox] is to secure IoT devices. What we recognize is that the security infrastructure, the security solutions that have been developed along with the typical IT assets like the laptops and the PCs of the world don\u2019t apply very well to IoT,\" says John Yun, head of marketing at ZingBox. \"We took a fresh look at what the requirements [of IoT] are and developed a security solution specifically for IoT. Our solution is agentless, you don't put any agents on the devices at all, and there's no disruption of communication or any type of performance degradation for these IoT devices.\n\n\"We like to think of it as, we took a totally fresh and revolutionary approach to IoT security. [It's] not something that we're trying to extend from the traditional IT side of the world in the hopes that it applies to IoT.\"\n\nThe collaboration will see Zingbox's agentless solution for IoT security team up with VMware\u2019s Pulse IoT Center solution. According to VMware's website, the Pulse IoT Center solution is \"an end-to-end infrastructure management solution that enables OT and IT organizations to on-board, manage, monitor, and secure their IoT use cases.\" More specifically, according to the website, the solution aims to:\n\nSimplify IoT complexity by enabling easy management across a diverse set of things.\n\nImprove reliability by providing accurate, real-time visibility of thing \"health.\"\n\nAccelerate ROI by streamlining and accelerating how the IoT gets deployed and scaled.\n\nProvide peace of mind by securing IoT infrastructure across things, networks, and applications.\n\n\"VMware [has] a strong focus on IoT, being able to secure those devices as well as manage them and be able to put security in place. The reason that our synergies lined up really well is that we both have a focus towards having a consolidated solution, meaning that you shouldn\u2019t have a separate solution for IT assets and a totally separate solution for IoT assets,\" Yun says. \"You would almost need to have two separate organizations to manage that and somehow hope that they would talk to each other. We very much have a common vision that this is a problem that needs to be solved for the entire organization, not just one department versus another.\"", "output": "ZingBox is partnering with VMware to enhance security on internet of things (IoT) devices. IoT security provider ZingBox said that security software for traditional IT assets such as laptops does not apply as well to IoT. The collaboration with cloud computing provider VMware is intended to improve reliability and secure IoT infrastructure across devices, applications and networks, with the emphasis on a consolidated solution that works both for IT and IoT.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hotel-style properties catch on in London's build-to-rent boom \n N ew homes are being built especially for renters, as reports estimate that nearly a quarter of households are expected to be renting by 2021.\n\nThe build-to-rent sector is worth an estimated \u00a325 billion, according to Knight Frank, and is expected to rise to \u00a370 billion within the next five years as renters continue to be priced out of the housing market.\n\nLondon accounts for half of the 60,000 build-to-rent homes under construction or in the pipeline across Britain, but this serves only a fraction of the expected demand from two million renters in the capital.\n\nThe boom in the capital's build-to-rent sector is resulting in thousands of boutique new homes becoming available.\n\nGood transport links for an easy commute is said to be the top priority for Londoners looking for rental accommodation, even more so than staying within budget.\n\nPrices at the developments we've spoken to start from about \u00a3250 per week, but can swiftly rise depending on location and level of services offered, which can include fully furnished flats with free wi-fi, 24-hour concierge and hotel-style reception.\n\nThe rise of build-to-rent\n\nThe letting market is dominated by buy-to-let investors, with at least three quarters of tenants living in homes managed by private landlords.\n\nHowever, this could all be set to change as build-to-rent developments owned by large-scale corporate landlords are on the rise.\n\nBuild-to-rent is said to offer more variety of homes for renters to choose from and, possibly, more security because tenancy contracts of up to three years are on offer.\n\nEssential Living\u2019s first build-to-rent development, Vantage Point in Islington is set above Archway Tube station and opened in September 2016. Residents have access to a duplex lounge and dining space.\n\nSuch developments will also offer benefits including communal living spaces, gyms, pools and car-sharing facilities, as well as fully furnished accommodation.\n\nThe Knight Frank report reveals that in London more than half of renters are spending more than 40 per cent of their incomes on rent, rising to 62 per cent across the UK.\n\nHowever, the reason for the soaring number of renters is highlighted by separate research from Hamptons International which suggests that it would take more than 18 years for a typical single Londoner to save a 15 per cent deposit to buy a home. Even a couple saving together would take more than 11 years.", "output": "The UK's build-to-rent boom has led to an increase in boutique accommodation that includes communal living spaces, gyms, pools and car-sharing facilities, according to a report by estate agent Knight Frank. It revealed half\u00a0the 60,000 buy-to-rent properties in the pipeline are in London, with\u00a0demand in the capital\u00a0expected to reach two\u00a0million people. In addition, the study found more than half of renters in the capital are spending at least\u00a040% of their income on rent. The build-to-rent sector is worth about \u00a325bn, a figure that is expected to rise to\u00a0\u00a370bn over the next five years."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "San Diego battles deadliest hepatitis A outbreak in decades \n Fourteen people have died from an outbreak of hepatitis A in San Diego, and experts believe it to be the deadliest outbreak of the disease in the US in decades, the Guardian has learned.\n\nIn large part, the victims were homeless people who have had to contend with a lack of 24-hour public restrooms, even though hand-washing is one of the best defenses against infection.\n\nThe number of cases has exceeded other large outbreaks, said a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) spokesperson, and is \u201clikely the most deaths in an outbreak in the US in the past 20 years\u201d, the period in which the CDC has operated its electronic reporting system. In 2003, three people died and at least 124 were hospitalized after eating contaminated salsa at a Pennsylvania restaurant. In 2013, 69 people across 10 states were hospitalized after eating contaminated pomegranate seeds.\n\nYet in San Diego, 264 people have been hospitalized, roughly 70% of them homeless, in an outbreak that began last November, according to local health officials. Nine of the 14 deaths have occurred since mid-July.\n\nThe virus, which impairs liver function, causing jaundice, fatigue, joint pain and, in the most serious cases, death, is largely spread through food or water contaminated by fecal matter. Hepatitis A has a long incubation period \u2013 up to 28 days \u2013 which means people can spread the disease before they\u2019re aware they\u2019re infected.\n\nA county spokesperson said epidemiologists have yet to determine the cause of the outbreak. Contaminated food is often the source of an outbreak, and Dr Rohit Loomba, director of hepatology at the University of California at San Diego, wondered if the source could have been food that groups distribute to homeless residents.\n\n\u201cMy gut feeling is it was a common source where somebody might have given food to a group of homeless individuals,\u201d he said. From there, the virus spread via personal contact. \u201cThey don\u2019t have a clean water supply to wash their hands, and once they have hepatitis A, then they become a source for another person.\u201d\n\nSomeone whose health is already compromised \u2013 by alcoholism, drug use or other illnesses \u2013 faces a higher risk of death from hepatitis A, Loomba said. He recommends that anyone who is homeless should get vaccinated.\n\nExperts say that besides vaccination, thorough hand-washing is the best way to prevent the spread of the illness. But good hygiene is difficult for someone who is homeless, when public restrooms are scarce and few are open 24 hours. This is true of many cities with large homeless populations across the western US \u2013 there are only nine toilets for 1,800 people at night on Los Angeles\u2019 Skid Row \u2013 and not least in downtown San Diego, where the only 24-hour restroom is many blocks from the largest encampments.\n\nChar Beglou eats her breakfast after spending the night in the park. Photograph: Dan Tuffs/The Guardian\n\nOn a recent Friday morning, Eric Arundel and Mike, who declined to give his last name, sat under a shade structure on the edge of Fault Line Park, where homeless people spend time next to high-end condos and bars. A pair of restrooms in the park has remained locked for months, despite the city paying the park\u2019s developer $1.6m to keep them open \u2013 and clean.\n\nMike, who was wearing a baseball cap, tilted his head up to show a reporter his eyes, the whites tinged yellow; he had been told by workers at a clinic to stay hydrated and call 911 if his body aches and fatigue got any worse, and was due to return Monday to hear the results of a blood draw.\n\nThe men listed off names of homeless people who frequented the park and had fallen ill. Some remain hospitalized. One woman\u2019s parents took her home to northern California. No one is sure what happened to a man named Dave, who was taken to the hospital a couple months ago.\n\nDebbie Smith, sitting in a chair near Mike and Arundel, said said she got vaccinated after seeing several people fall ill, and fought with two acquaintances to get treatment. \u201cAs soon as they woke up and their eyes were yellow, I told them, \u2018You better get to the hospital.\u2019\u201d\n\nAfter media reports about the locked restrooms, city officials intervened, telling the developer to keep the restrooms open from 6am-9pm. But several homeless people told the Guardian on Friday that the restrooms were sporadically locked. In an email Friday evening, a city spokesperson said a park official would ensure the restrooms remained opened during posted hours.\n\nThe speed of San Diego\u2019s response has also come under scrutiny.\n\nCounty spokesperson Tom Christiansen said local public health officials are working with the the CDC and California department of public health to try to bring the outbreak under control. Outreach workers are letting people know where to go for free vaccinations and educating people on how to avoid spreading hepatitis A.\n\nAnd the county is in the process of securing a permit from the city to set up hand-washing stations downtown, a process that should be completed this week.\n\nBut homeless advocate Michael McConnell is incredulous that the hand-washing stations weren\u2019t set up months ago, as soon as officials realized there was an outbreak.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m no expert on proper responses to public health crises or viral outbreaks, but what I do see a pattern of is a lack of urgency when it involves homeless people, and this really seems to be no different,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cHow hard is it to make sure there\u2019s additional hand-washing stations?\u201d\n\nThree blocks east of Fault Line Park, where tents and makeshift shelters line the Interstate 5 onramp, a 26-year-old with curly hair and freckles named Sinead Law said that IV drug users were the ones falling ill.\n\nWhile Law was talking, a woman pedaled up on a bike, asking for food. She said she\u2019d just recovered from hepatitis A. \u201cDirty drugs,\u201d she said, when asked how she got it.\n\nA sturdy man named Crash, who said he weathered hepatitis A several weeks ago without needing medical help, thinks that it\u2019s been the last two or three months that the virus has really taken hold.\n\n\u201cNow they can\u2019t get rid of it,\u201d he said.\n\nDo you have an experience of homelessness to share with the Guardian? Get in touch", "output": "San Diego has been hit by the deadliest outbreak of hepatitis A in decades, causing 14 known deaths so far in the area. Since the start of the outbreak last November, around 264 people have been hospitalised;\u00a0around 70% of whom were homeless.\u00a0Hepatitis A has a long incubation period of up to 28 days, hence people can spread the\u00a0disease before they are aware they have been infected.\u00a0The virus\u00a0is primarily\u00a0spread via\u00a0food or water contaminated by faecal matter. The best prevention, besides vaccination, is thorough\u00a0hand-washing, however,\u00a0good hygiene is difficult for the homeless, particularly when\u00a0public restrooms are rare\u00a0and few are open 24 hours.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook Audience Network faces criticism over Breitbart ads \n The volatile political environment has led many programmatic buying platforms to shun Breitbart, but the Facebook Audience Network is still placing ads on the controversial publisher\u2019s website.\n\nOne ad buyer recently discovered that FAN, which uses Facebook data to sell ads on apps and websites outside the social network, placed its client\u2019s ads on Breitbart. The buyer knew it was through FAN because the creative was unique to the ad that ran through the network. The buyer then saw a screenshot taken by the ad activist account Sleeping Giants of this specific ad on Breitbart. After this snafu, the buyer said it\u2019s advising its clients to avoid FAN altogether.\n\nFacebook may not want to appear as if it\u2019s censoring political opinion. But the ad buyer said FAN\u2019s policies give advertisers the impression that websites like Breitbart aren\u2019t included in the network. An email that a Facebook rep sent to the ad buyer states: \u201cWe verify that every publisher follows our Audience Network policies. This includes adherence to the Facebook Community Standards.\u201d And FAN\u2019s policies state that sites in the network must not discriminate against \u201cpersonal attributes such as race, ethnicity, color, national origin, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, family status, disability, medical or genetic condition.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile, Breitbart headlines have claimed that women in tech \u201cjust suck at interviews,\u201d female stars of the \u201cGhostbusters\u201d reboot are \u201cteenage boys with tits\u201d and young Muslims in America are \u201ca ticking time bomb.\u201d\n\nOther tech giants like Amazon and Google regularly serve ads on Breitbart, but those platforms provide more thorough reporting for ad buyers to check where their ads appear. The other qualm that this buyer had with FAN was that, without a list of the URLs where the campaign\u2019s ads ran, the buyer couldn\u2019t confirm its ads were on Breitbart until it started getting called out by activists.\n\nWhile Facebook announced in June that it started testing out giving advertisers publisher placement lists, this ad-buying agency said those reports haven\u2019t been made available to them yet. A Facebook spokesperson said the reports will be rolled out to advertisers within the next three weeks.\n\n\u201c[Facebook\u2019s] black box ad net is touted as a way to use Facebook data to reach premium publishers off their platform, but they don\u2019t release who those publishers are, and they refuse to give reports about where their ads run,\u201d said the ad buyer said while requesting anonymity out of fear of getting on Facebook\u2019s bad side. \u201cAdditionally, you have to trust Facebook\u2019s categories without understanding at a URL level what domains might be included.\u201d\n\nA Facebook spokesperson said that advertisers on FAN can control what publishers their ads appear on because they have the option to block sites they don\u2019t want to run on. The statement also read: \u201cIn addition, we will soon begin reviewing all publishers in the Audience Network on a placement by placement basis. If we find specific placements that are in violation of our policies, we will stop ads from running on those specific URLs.\u201d\n\nThe video below shows a Breitbart banner ad being served by FAN. Above a headline that surrounds Trump adviser Gary Cohn\u2019s name with globe emojis \u2014 the trope of calling Jews \u201cglobalists\u201d or \u201ccosmopolitan\u201d dates back to Nazi Germany and \u201cThe Protocols of the Elders of Zion\u201d \u2014 is an ad for fintech company CNote. Clicking on the ad brings up a page explaining that FAN served the ad. Breitbart did not reply to messages about this story.\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wMUrOMvY-E\n\nKieley Taylor, head of paid social at GroupM, said FAN\u2019s placement of ads on Breitbart \u201cjust reinforces that we\u2019ve made the right call in avoiding buying open web inventory via FAN.\u201d Compared to other buying platforms, FAN lacks transparency and attribution reporting, she said. FAN also lacks an impression tracker to show exactly where ads run, said a rep from ad agency CTP Boston.\n\nDavid Lee, programmatic lead at ad agency The Richards Group, said that given all the hubbub over ads on YouTube appearing against extremist content, continuing to limit reporting while placing ads on a controversial site like Breitbart gives ad buyers the impression that Facebook \u201cdidn\u2019t learn anything from the recent brand-safety issues.\u201d", "output": "Facebook Audience Network (FAN) has been heavily criticised for placing ads on Breitbart. An ad buyer spotted that FAN, which uses Facebook data to sell ads outside the social network, placed its ads on the controversial site; the buyer is now advising clients to avoid FAN. Facebook said that FAN advertisers can control where their ads appear by blocking sites they do not want them to run on, but the buyer contended that FAN was unclear about the fact that Breitbart was included in the package to begin with.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "228 high-rise buildings fail post-Grenfell fire tests \n Tests on the fire resistance of aluminium cladding systems in England currently suggest that at least 228 high-rise buildings, over 18 metres in height, are potential death traps.\n\nThe tests, carried out on behalf of the British government by the British Research Establishment (BRE), are the latest in a hastily arranged series following the catastrophic June 14 fire at Grenfell Tower in North Kensington, London, which killed at least 80 people.\n\nThe tests involved a large-scale test fire on an aluminium composite material (ACM) filled with retardant polyethylene installed with phenolic foam board insulation. Twenty-two buildings are known to use this specific type of cladding, adding to the 206 buildings clad with ACM using differing types of filler and insulation. So far, of systems installed, only those with fire retardant ACM and mineral wool insulation have passed the tests.\n\nNo complete list of the buildings involved has been publicly provided, but all are likely residential tower blocks, each housing hundreds of working people and run either by housing associations or local authorities. The government is reported as having informed the buildings\u2019 owners and recommended remedial measures. If the experience of evacuated residents in London\u2019s Chalcots Estate is a guide, emergency measures amounted to improving fire doors and installing fire stopping measures between flats and floors, and unblocking stairwell ventilation. An unknown number of low-rise and private sector buildings may use the same dangerous combinations of materials.\n\nThe current set of tests is the second conducted on ACM cladding. In the days following the disaster, Conservative Communities and Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid offered free testing of ACM samples to landlords. Initially as many as 530 buildings were thought to have ACM cladding, but early investigations reduced the number to 259, including 240 public sector residential blocks. Landlords were encouraged to submit two 250 x 250 mm ACM samples for testing by the BRE. Of samples eventually submitted, all failed. The test that generated the extraordinary 100 percent failure rate was authenticated as sound by the Sweden Research Institute.\n\nIn July, Javid told Parliament that thus far only the core of the ACM panel was being tested. In response, housing authorities and fire safety commentators demanded supposedly more representative test methods in which a mock-up of a full cladding installation, including the ACM panel, the insulation and fire stopping, should be used. Concerns were raised that potentially safe systems were in danger of being removed from buildings.\n\nHoping, no doubt, for a meaningful reduction in the number of dangerous buildings, Javid called for the new tests, of which six of seven have now been completed by the BRE. But only 13 of 241 buildings covered by the more realistic test have passed, arguably a more devastating outcome than the initial tests, and exposing a regulatory collapse of unprecedented proportions.\n\nEvery single one of the cladding systems now being exposed as deadly had previously been signed off as safe. How can this be?\n\nResponsibility lies with all the major political parties, and successive governments, who over the last three decades have embraced deregulation and privatisation and the subordination of public health and safety to private profit. There are many aspects of this revealed by Grenfell.\n\nIn England now, following years of erosion, there is no unified regime of building inspection run by local authorities retaining any degree of independence from the building companies. Nor is there an arm of government tasked with overseeing building standards.\n\nRather, building contractors themselves can hire an \u201cApproved Inspector,\u201d whose job is not to ensure adherence to a strict set of \u201cprescriptive\u201d standards but to follow looser \u201cfunctional\u201d guidelines assumed to be needed for building safety. A host of private and semi-private organisations, such as the Building Control Alliance (BCA), have sprung up to exploit the regulatory vagueness and loopholes regarding the materials that can be used in any given set of circumstances.\n\nThe BCA advised on three mechanisms whereby a cladding system could be approved, in line with building regulations which stated that external insulation should be of \u201climited combustibility,\u201d defined as \u201cA2.\u201d Option 1 stipulated that all the component materials could simply be of A2 combustibility resistance or better. Option 2 proposed a fire test be set up, that could include inferior products, but if the fire test was deemed safe all was well. Option 3, clearly the easiest, involved a \u201cdesktop\u201d study where cladding materials could be deemed safe without any tests and without any specified combustibility standards merely on the basis of considering similar scenarios. No records of these studies were required to be kept.\n\nEven more reckless were guidelines issued, now withdrawn, by the National House Building Council (NHBC), another private body, closely tied to the building industry, which issues insurance to house builders and offers building inspection advice. According to the BBC, the NHBC simply decided that sub-A2 materials were acceptable based on a review of a \u201csignificant quantity of data from a range of tests and desktop assessments.\u201d\n\nPerhaps most seriously, the BRE, the organisation most directly responsible for fire testing and providing fire safety advice, has itself been compromised. The BRE was established in 1921 as an arm of the civil service tasked with improving house quality. Over the years, the organisation established itself as a reputable, state-funded source of building and fire safety advice, with a degree of independence from the building materials and construction companies. Privatised in 1997, the BRE has subsequently sought to establish itself as a global brand for sale of fire safety advice, drawing in revenue from the very organisations whose products and operations it should be policing.\n\nIn 2016, the BRE issued a report, \u201cExternal Fire Spread,\u201d following studies commissioned by Javid\u2019s Department of Communities and Local Government into the dangers of cladding fires.\n\nThe report, clearly intended to silence growing alarm, is cynical and complacent. The authors complained that high-rise flat fires are \u201cvisually impressive, high-profile and attract media attention.\u201d To avoid the fuss, unsuitable cladding materials should be dealt with \u201cas part of the fire safety risk assessment carried out under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 [12] ...\u201d\n\nThis order, passed under the Labour government of Tony Blair, removed fire safety responsibly from the Fire Service and allowed anyone to set themselves up as a fire risk assessor, regardless of skills, experience or qualifications. In 2010, fire assessor Carl Stokes won the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chealsea fire assessment contract, including Grenfell Tower, by undercutting rivals Salvus Consulting. Stokes was praised at the time for his willingness to \u201cchallenge the Fire Brigade \u2026 if he considered their requirements to be excessive.\u201d\n\nPart one of the BRE report concludes with the assertion: \u201cWith the exception of one or two unfortunate but rare cases, there is currently no evidence from these investigations to suggest that the current recommendations, to limit vertical fire spread up the exterior of high-rise buildings, are failing in their purpose.\u201d", "output": "Almost 230 buildings clad in aluminium systems similar to those used in Grenfell Tower have failed large-scale fire tests, according to research carried out by the British Research Establishment. The private company has complained of the difficulty of dealing with high-rise building fires, saying\u00a0in a 2016 report that they\u00a0were \"visually impressive, high-profile and attracted media attention\".\u00a0The tests followed the fire at Grenfell Tower in London on 14 June, in which 80 people died.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Japan council buys insurance to cover wandering dementia patients \n YAMATO, Kanagawa -- The municipal government here has decided to enter an insurance plan that provides compensation in cases such as accidents stemming from elderly dementia patients wandering onto railway crossings, it has been learned.\n\nThe local authority plans to include the insurance plan idea in its supplementary budget proposal to be submitted to a municipal assembly session that convenes on Aug. 30, claiming that this is the first case in Japan of a municipal government entering this type of insurance plan using public funds. It is expected that the maximum compensation payout under the plan will be 300 million yen.\n\nIn a related case involving Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Central), the railway firm sued the family of a 91-year-old man with dementia who was killed after being hit by a Tokaido Line train in Obu, Aichi Prefecture, in 2007 -- on the grounds that the collision caused train delays. JR Central demanded about 7.2 million yen from the family. The family lost the case in the district and high courts and was ordered to pay out, in what became an issue that gained attention across society.\n\nHowever, in March 2016, the Supreme Court dismissed the liability of the victim's family. Nevertheless, the Yamato Municipal Government has found itself being consulted by concerned families of elderly dementia patients in the city asking, \"If there is an accident, who holds responsibility, and to what extent?\"\n\nAs a result, the municipal government decided to enter an insurance scheme using public funds that covers compensation for such accidents.\n\nThere are 32 railway crossings as well as eight train stations across the city belonging to three railway firms that operate lines such as the Odakyu Line and the Sagami Railway Line. The city will also enter an insurance scheme covering traffic accidents.\n\nElderly people with dementia who are at risk of wandering onto places such as railway tracks, and who have registered with the city's \"wandering senior citizens SOS network\" are expected to be covered under the plan. As of late July 2017, 237 people have registered with this network.\n\nIt is expected that the local authority will include about 3.2 million yen for this plan in its supplementary budget proposal, and will select an insurance company after a bidding process.", "output": "The municipal government of Yamato in Japan has entered an insurance plan using public funds that provides compensation for accidents stemming from elderly dementia patients wandering onto railway crossings. The move follows a 2007 case involving Central Japan Railway that sued the family of a 91-year-old man with dementia who was killed after being hit by a train, on the grounds that the collision caused train delays. The family lost the case in the district and high courts and was ordered to pay out in a case that attracted national attention."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Stock trades timestamped with blockchain that uses atomic clock \n Current EU regulations for time stamping of stock trades require that all trading venues and market participants coordinate their clocks to UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) and that transactions be stamped in milliseconds.\n\nHowever, regulations set to come into effect as of Jan. 3, 2018 require timestamps to be more accurate, traceable and transparent for greater consumer protection.\n\nThis regulation has been met with some concern over what technology can implement the requirements.\n\nHowever, the National Physical Laboratory, the Toronto Stock Exchange (TMX), and UK-based consultancy Z/Yen have come together to bring atomic clock timestamp precision to trades over a Blockchain database.\n\nThe database, called \u2018Atomic Ledger\u2019 timestamps trades within nanoseconds and is completely transparent. It also records time on the atomic clock, providing highly accurate time stamping.\n\nThe group tested the new technology on the Toronto exchange with great success. Having recorded and stamped 20 mln transactions, the results will be analyzed this week.\n\nProfessor Michael Mainelli, executive chairman, Z/Yen Group, says:", "output": "A team of researchers from the National Physical Laboratory, the Toronto Stock Exchange and UK-based consultancy Z/Yen have developed an \"atomic ledger\"\u00a0based on blockchain technology, which can timestamp stock trades to within nanoseconds. The move was prompted by\u00a0European Union regulations that come into force in January, requiring accurate, traceable and transparent\u00a0timestamps. The atomic ledger was tested successfully on the Toronto stock exchange, recording and stamping 20 million transactions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon grows advertising business with self-service platform \n Amazon is growing its ad business, most recently making two big moves that will bring it more revenue.\n\nAgency execs say Amazon is opening up and evolving self-service for Amazon Media Group, its advertising arm that works similarly to programmatic advertising to serve ads to people off Amazon.com. \u201cWhat they\u2019re doing now is opening as a self-service platform to agencies, letting us manage those campaigns,\u201d said one exec, where previously agencies had to go through Amazon\u2019s own manager services.\n\nThe executive said Amazon first approached him about the tool in the third quarter of last year, saying it was in beta. The company told this executive in July that the tool was now open to more brands and agencies, and it was a work in progress with some branding changes coming to it.\n\nAnother agency executive said Amazon has made major advancements this year that make it easier to bid on the platform and report for both first-party and third-party users.\n\nThe second executive also said the company has made widely available an application programming interface for sponsored product ads, increasing the efficiency of bids on the platform, and that similar developments are expected for the AMS platform in the near future.\n\nAn Amazon spokeswoman said that advertising is still a newer part of the business, but the goal for the company is to constantly evolve and update tools available for advertisers \u2014 and the ultimate goal is to make all tools available in self-service.\n\nAmazon\u2019s public page describing its programmatic ad platform says the platform will dynamically deliver ads across Amazon.com and IMDb, as well as other owned and operated sites and apps, on publishers\u2019 sites and through exchanges. The offering, called Amazon Advertising Platform, or AAP, is the company\u2019s proprietary demand-side platform and can use everything from product images from Amazon.com to product review information that can be used for creative.\n\nIn June, Amazon also launched Advertiser Audiences, a self-serve platform that lets brands access audience matching, similar in a few ways to Facebook and Google. The tool allows brands to build audience segments based on data from Amazon.\n\nThe growth of self-serve is a clear move to give more levers and control to marketers and their agencies. Self-serve means more ads, and more ads means more revenue. It\u2019s attractive to agencies because it lets agencies impose their own margins or markups. That inevitably reduces friction and also means more ad options and, therefore, more revenue. \u201cI have heard from reps that this is a major part of their effort to boost advertising,\u201d said one agency executive with knowledge of the matter.\n\nThe second change Amazon made that caused ripples in the seller community was opening up headline search ads to sellers as long as they are brand owners. Headline search ads are largely the most powerful Amazon advertising tool \u2014 second only to sponsored product ads. They appear above the search results when customers search for a particular item, similar to Google Search.\n\n\u201cThis high-performing slot can be a huge difference for brands working to announce and launch new products or defend critical or strategic brand terms,\u201d said one executive. (The third ad type available is product display ads, formerly known as e-commerce ads, which are only open to those who are vendors, that is, sell directly to Amazon)\n\nSome sellers who spoke to Digiday under the condition of anonymity said they are getting $99 coupons and incentives to spend on Amazon Marketing Services, a common tactic for platforms as they grow ad options.\n\nKristin Rae, an entrepreneur and founder of Inspire Travel Luggage, who sells as a third-party seller on the platform, said she doesn\u2019t remember getting credits, but does see headline search ads (part of AMS) advertised to her occasionally. \u201cThis lets me dominate keywords,\u201d she said. \u201cI know I spend the same amount within Amazon and get more targeted return than anywhere else.\u201d\n\nUntil now, third-party sellers, who sell in Amazon\u2019s marketplace, not to Amazon directly, had a number of hacks for accessing AMS. Those in the seller community had a low-performing product \u2014 essentially a sacrificial lamb \u2014 sold via Vendor Central, which would give them a door into AMS. (AMS options like product display ads are only available to vendors.)\n\n\u201cWhile [Amazon is] still years behind monetizing the platform as Google has, the new changes, such as opening up new ad slots, allowing for automated campaign reporting, complex keyword attribution and use have greatly increased efficiency of the channel and allowed strategic brands to steal share from those still struggling with the platform,\u201d said one executive.\n\nAmazon has a growing ad business, although its size is still up for debate. WPP chief Martin Sorrell, who has been one of the loudest voices in the industry on Amazon, estimated last week that the company made $2.5 billion from digital advertising in 2016, while eMarketer put Amazon\u2019s 2016 ad revenue at $1 billion. Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak estimates that Amazon\u2019s advertising business will reach $7 billion in revenue by 2020. Brands are also increasingly using Amazon\u2019s ad platform, especially as the company ramps up its pitch to them.\n\nAnalysts in the industry believe rapid growth on the ad side is probably a priority for Amazon, since that can help ease its other growth issues, especially in its lucrative Amazon Web Services arm. And advertising has a profit margin of 20-30 percent versus the 5 percent that is common for retail, according to analyst Steven Mallas.", "output": "Amazon is seeking to grow its advertising business with the introduction of self-service platforms for marketing clients. The new developments from Amazon Media Group, the company's advertising arm, will give agencies more control over campaigns, cutting out Amazon's own manager services. The company has launched a number of new services and platforms, including audience-matching and opening up headline search ads to brand owners. Amazon's advertising revenue was estimated at between $1bn and $2.5bn in 2016, with some predicting it will reach $7bn by 2020 as brands ramp up their use of the platform.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon's Alexa SDK delivers voice interaction to more devices \n Amazon is trying to help developers bring its Alexa voice interaction technology into more devices with a new offering called AVS Device SDK. It\u2019s a software development kit including C++ code libraries meant to help developers easily connect their devices to the Alexa Voice Service, Amazon\u2019s cloud-hosted voice interaction platform.\n\nIn a blog post announcing AVS Device SDK, Alexa Voice Service Senior Product Marketing Manager Satish Iyer said Amazon has already been working with over 50 companies in a beta program, including Technicolor and smart home startup Senic. Commenting on his company\u2019s experience, Technicolor SVP Alan Mottram lauded the flexibility of AVS Device SDK, saying, \u201cwe\u2019ve been able to quickly and easily integrate Alexa into our software platform.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s the latest step in Amazon\u2019s effort to extend the reach of its Alexa platform as voice-based interaction becomes increasingly important for consumer devices, with the company having launched the Alexa Skills Kit in 2015 and its Amazon Lex program earlier this year, after a trial program in 2016. Now, even as rival device makers are starting to integrate Alexa into their own offerings, Amazon appears intent on bringing its platform to even more products and services.\n\nSource: Alexa Blogs\n\n\u2014\n\n(Originally posted on Mobile ID World)", "output": "Amazon is seeking to expand its Alexa voice interaction platform into more devices with the Alexa Voice Service (AVS) Device software development kit. The kit includes C++ code libraries to allow developers to connect their device to AVS quickly and easily. Amazon has already tested the software with more than 50 firms in a beta programme, including Technicolor and smart home start-up Senic.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MedGenome offers cheap genomic diagnosis to Indians \n Join the community of 2M+ industry professionals Subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights & analysis. Enter Email Download ETHealthworld App Get Realtime updates\n\nSave your favourite articles Scan to download App\n\nBengaluru: MedGenome , a genomics research and diagnostics company, announced completion of $30 million in Series C financing led by Sequoia India and Sofina s.a., with participation by Zodius Capital; Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founder and former CEO of Infosys; and Lakshmi Narayanan , former CEO of Cognizant.The Series C funding will accelerate development of the company\u2019s affordable diagnostics tests and expand the market penetration by increasing customer awareness on the importance of genetic tests. Additionally, the funding will also be used to broaden biomarker discovery programs. Precision medicine is the ultimate goal of clinicians and patients alike which can be enabled through extensive biomarker discovery. We have established leadership in genetic diagnostics for inherited diseases in India. We will now expand DNA based testing to cover infectious diseases like tuberculosis,\u201d said Sam Santhosh, Founder and Chairman of MedGenome, which also has Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) lab in South East Asia, and a CLIA-certified, CAP-accredited sequencing lab in Foster City, CA.The investor partners see this partnership as an exciting opportunity in the development of precision medicine . \u201cWe are excited to continue this partnership that will strengthen its proposition to consumers and doctors in these markets,\u201d Abhay Pandey, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital India Advisors.\u201cThis will broaden the use of genomics-based diagnostics in the Indian healthcare sector, and tap into the value of Indian genetic data for research. We believe MedGenome's efforts will have a definitive impact on healthcare delivery in India and around the world,\u201d said Xiao-Tian Loi, Investment Manager at Sofina.With over a million babies born each year with genetic disorders, India carries a huge genetic disorder burden.", "output": "Medical diagnostic company MedGenome is using new investment financing to advance its affordable diagnostic tests in India. The company recently received $30m from a consortium led by Sequoia India, along with Sofina, Zodius Capital and others, and now plans to improve its DNA-based testing to cover infectious diseases. Investors believe the expansion of\u00a0MedGenome's services will have a positive impact on healthcare delivery in India, where over a million babies are born each year with genetic disorders.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese authorities consider ICO ban \n In China, investors snapped up 2.6 billion yuan ($385 million) worth of new virtual currencies through initial coin offerings (ICOs) in the first six months this year, according to a recent government-backed study. Photo: Visual China\n\nAs Chinese regulators mull ways to curb risks associated with fundraising through new virtual currencies, an outright ban is an option on the table, several regulatory officials told Caixin.\n\nSources said regulators including the People\u2019s Bank of China (PBOC) and China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) are pondering oversight measures on initial coin offerings (ICOs), an increasingly popular means to raise cash or other virtual currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum by issuing a new cryptocurrency.\n\nOver 100,000 Investors in China snapped up 2.6 billion yuan ($385 million) worth of new virtual currencies through ICOs during the first six months this year, according to a recent government-backed study. But as ICOs fall outside existing regulations, the risk of default and of fraud has grown, while raising concerns about a potential bubble.\n\nCurrently, any company can carry out an ICO if they publish a statement of intent and have an exchange to sell the new virtual currency on. Exchanges are usually happy to host a new coin as they earn service fees and may even get an allocation of the new currency before the ICO. In some regions in China, the issuer does not even need to have a registered company or computer program for the cryptocurrency, a bitcoin investor told Caixin.\n\nMany ICO issuers are registered as charity foundations in Switzerland or provinces in China with preferential tax policies, the bitcoin investor told Caixin. In these cases, investors are considered donors.\n\nIn early July, central bank adviser Sheng Songcheng told China Business News that the biggest problem with ICOs was the lack of information disclosure, which can lead speculators to take advantage of investors.\n\nAt a meeting on August 18, officials from China\u2019s central bank and the banking and securities regulators discussed controlling the size of ICOs, strengthening information disclosure, requiring risk warning documents and even a temporary ban, Tencent Finance reported.\n\nBut ICO issuers argue that the new virtual currencies do not give investors equity rights, nor do they promise any future profit. They simply give holders the right to use the product. Because these virtual currencies do not represent the same promises as a stock or bond, they should not be regulated via securities law, the issuers argue.\n\nOther governments have started to regulate ICOs. In the U.S., ICOs fall under the supervision of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Earlier this week, Canada\u2019s securities watchdog also said it plans to treat some cryptocurrencies offered through ICOs as securities. \u201cICO is a liquidity illusion. As long as a product can continuously trade, its value will increase from its previous level,\u201d the bitcoin investor told Caixin.\n\nContact reporter Liu Xiao (liuxiao@caixin.com)", "output": "Chinese regulators and officials from the country's central bank are considering ways to limit the risks associated with initial coin offerings (ICOs), from strengthening information disclosure to temporary and even permanent bans, according to reports. Chinese investors bought more than CNY2.6bn ($385m) of virtual currency during H1 2017, but a lack of regulation in the sector has sparked fears of potential default. Issuers argue digital currencies are not the same as stocks or bonds and should not be treated as such.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Newcastle, Australia adopts smart city plan \n By Stuart Corner on\n\nThe NSW city of Newcastle has adopted a smart city strategy, describing it as a roadmap for creating a smarter and more innovative Newcastle and Hunter Region to maximise opportunities in technology, advanced manufacturing, the digital economy and the creative industries.\n\nThe Newcastle City Council Smart City Strategy 2017-2021 was formerly adopted by the City of Newcastle Council in August following a consultation process that included release of a draft strategy in May. It produced more than 70 submissions, the overwhelming majority of which were positive, according to the council.\n\nThe council says the strategy will leverage the smart city movement to improve liveability, sustainability and economic diversity, develop local innovation, build international profile and attract talent and inward investment to Newcastle. It will also \u201chelp ensure our future city has effective and integrated public transport, nurtures a creative and vibrant community and features best-practice energy and water efficiency.\u201d\n\nThe council\u2019s smart city coordinator Nathaniel Bavinton said the four-year strategy was one element of the broader Newcastle 2030 Community Strategic Plan that aims to create a smart, liveable and sustainable city.\n\n\u201c[The smart city plan] outlines the key priorities and actions to be delivered by council in its commitment to leading Newcastle\u2019s transition to a smart and innovative city,\u201d Bavinton said.\n\n\u201cLike the long-term strategy, the smart city strategy draws on input from \u2013 and the cooperation of \u2013 all levels of government, the community, educational and research providers and business and industry sectors.\u201d\n\nThe strategy says its successful implementation will: improve operational efficiency; achieve higher levels of sustainability; better service local community needs; stimulate economic development activity; increase community inclusion and participation; and position Newcastle as a smart city internationally.\n\nThe strategy is structured around six major focus areas, depicted as what it calls the \u201cSmart City Mandala.\u201d The six focus areas are smart governance, smart environment, smart living, smart mobility, smart people and smart economy. For each of these, the strategy document lists specific initiatives and timeframes to achievement within the four-year timeframe of the overall strategy.\n\nThe strategy document says each focus area within the Mandala is underpinned by a number of supporting sub-strategies that have been \u201cdeveloped through internal and external stakeholder engagement and according to international best practice.\u201d\n\nThe document says the plan is based on the framework of Boyd Cohen, the international urban strategist helping communities, cities and companies adopt smart, innovative and low carbon economies. He is the co-author of Climate Capitalism: Capitalism in the Age of Climate Change, published in 2011, and director of innovation and professor of entrepreneurship, sustainability and smart cities at the Universidad del Desarrollo in Santiago, Chile.", "output": "The Australian city of Newcastle has unveiled a four-year smart city strategy aimed at improving\u00a0standards of living, environmental impact, and the region's economy.\u00a0The project also intends to bolster\u00a0the city's international profile, encourage\u00a0local innovation\u00a0and attract talent and inward investment. The strategy will focus on six areas of interest:\u00a0economy, governance, people,\u00a0living, mobility\u00a0and environment.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Westfield combats Amazon by upgrading digital ads \n Not all malls are floundering in the face of Amazon and e-commerce. Westfield is trying to adapt with plans to spend $1 billion on digital upgrades over the next five years.\n\n\u201cWe want to upgrade our properties in ways that better speak to the way that consumers want to experience a mall environment,\u201d said Charley Delana, Westfield\u2019s head of brand ventures.\n\nWestfield has replaced older ad formats such as ads on escalators with 450 eye-level digital media screens at 17 of its 33 malls across the U.S. meant to show shoppers relevant messages.\n\nThe screens will use cameras and sensors to track how many people pass by and collect real-time demographic data, such as the gender and age, within 20 feet. Westfield is also quantifying how consumers receive the screens\u2019 ads by measuring consumers\u2019 emotional responses and how long they spend in front of the screens. Using this and other web-based data such as weather reports, the screens can adjust the ad content to target individuals to make the ads more efficient.\n\n\u201c[Advertisers] can now see that we\u2019re serving them the right audience, but they can also understand which creative is right at certain times of the day,\u201d said Delana. \u201cWe\u2019re only encumbered, if you will, by the amount of creative that they\u2019re willing to provide us.\u201d\n\nFor instance, if a group of men walk up to the screen and it\u2019s a rainy day, the network can choose to show them one of five Burberry ads that promotes outerwear.\n\nBrands can also choose to live stream from any of the screens and then stream that content to every Westfield property. Next month, Ford plans to roll out a new car at Westfield World Trade Center, Westfield\u2019s newest location, this way.\n\nAt a time when people are glued to their smartphones, the screens aim to grab their attention while in the malls. However, in the future, Westfield plans on incorporating mobile into the strategy by serving ads to consumers\u2019 phones when they are in proximity to the screens.\n\nWestfield is also looking for retailers that are willing to innovate. At Westfield World Trade Center, for instance, it selected retailers that could provide mobile and in-store digital services.\n\nA Credit Suisse study out in June predicted that 25 percent of malls will close in the next five years as Amazon and other e-commerce sites grab market share. Amazon was mentioned in at least 100 earnings calls in the past month. Westfield has 33 properties, down from 67 in 2005.\n\nWestfield isn\u2019t exactly shunning Amazon, though. Westfield has already placed Amazon bookstores in several of its properties and is considering incorporating Amazon Lockers, too.\n\n\u201cWe embrace \u2014 embrace may be too strong of a word \u2014 but we certainly welcome a conversation with Amazon, and we have welcomed Amazon into our centers,\u201d said Delana. \u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019re afraid of them so much as we\u2019re looking to them as an opportunity to figure out how to partner.\u201d\n\nImage courtesy of Westfield", "output": "Shopping centre operator Westfield is planning to spend $1bn on digital upgrades over the next five years, as it seeks to counter the threat from Amazon and other e-commerce providers. The company is replacing older ad formats with digital media screens at 17 of its 33 malls in the US. The screens will use cameras and sensors to track visitors and collect real-time demographic data to tailor appropriate advertising messages to consumers. Westfield also plans to incorporate mobile platforms into the digital strategy by delivering ads to consumers' phones near the screens.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Healthcare IoT cybersecurity targeted by ZingBox and VMware \n ZingBox, a vendor of Internet of Things security systems, will collaborate with VMware, which markets an IoT infrastructure management system, to deliver enhanced security to enterprise Internet of Things implementations.\n\nAccording to Gartner, by 2020, more than 25 percent of identified attacks in enterprises will involve the IoT. The Mirai attack last year was a wake-up call that demonstrated the real-world impact of attacks targeting IoT devices. And the recent WannaCry ransomware and NotPetya ransomworm incidents confirmed that the cybersecurity landscape is changing.\n\nZingBox and VMware said they clearly recognize this cybersecurity trend and seek to properly safeguard an IoT environment that requires adding security at every level of the architecture: software, hardware, network and user.\n\n\u201cOur collaboration will enable IT and OT leaders to increase overall vendor/solution credibility, particularly in manufacturing, retail and healthcare,\u201d said Xu Zou, co-founder and CEO of ZingBox.\n\nThe process of provisioning, managing and securing IoT devices remains a significant challenge for many organizations, said Mimi Spier, vice president, IoT, at VMware. \u201cWe are excited to team up with ZingBox to greatly simplify the security and management of IoT infrastructure,\u201d she added.\n\nThe two companies said they will strengthen IoT security by integrating ZingBox\u2019s IoT personality-based approach with VMware Pulse IoT Center, an IoT infrastructure management system. ZingBox will introduce the element of trust between IoT devices and a vendor-neutral open source SDK by discerning each device\u2019s unique personality and enforcing acceptable behavior based on rules created within VMware Pulse IoT Center, the vendors explained.\n\n\u201cZingBox focuses on IoT security and the need to tighten it at all levels \u2013 software, hardware, network and user access,\u201d said May Wang, co-founder and CTO at ZingBox. \u201cPart of our mission is to educate the healthcare industry about the need for IoT operational analytics and its benefits. This partnership focuses on the benefits of our pre-integrated and pre-validated solution and how it reduces time to value for the end customer.\u201d\n\nThis partnership announcement comes on the heels of ZingBox\u2019s recent announcement of receiving $22 million in its B-series from Dell Venture Capital and Triventures.\n\n", "output": "Internet of things (IoT) security provider ZingBox will partner with cloud computing company VMware to simplify the security and management of IoT infrastructure, said Mimi Spicer, VP of IoT at VMware. As part of the collaboration, ZingBox's IoT security software will integrate with VMware Pulse IoT Center, an IoT infrastructure management system. ZingBox\u00a0will establish trust between IoT devices and open-source code by analysing the security of individual devices and enforcing acceptable behaviour based on fixed rules, the vendors explained.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Airtel's online debit card attracts two million users in India \n The Airtel Payments Bank-Mastercard powered online debit and prepaid card has clocked a milestone, crossing two million users in India within five months of its launch.\n\nThis digital payments solution enables Airtel Payments Bank customers to make secure and convenient digital payments at over 100,000 e-commerce websites and other online portals.\n\nThe online card can be accessed by all Airtel Payments Bank customers via the My Airtel app in the bank section.\n\nCommenting on the development, Shashi Arora, MD & CEO, Airtel Payments Bank said, \u201cWe are delighted with the customer response to our online debit and prepaid cards that further validates the growing acceptance of our digital payments platform in India\".\n\nPorush Singh, Country Corporate Officer, India and Division President, South Asia, Mastercard said, \u201cIt is heartening to see that cards issued by Airtel Payments Bank have clocked such an impressive growth\".\n\nThis achievement comes close on the heels of the recently launched Digital Evolution Index, an exclusive report that was recently commissioned by Mastercard and the Fletcher School at Tufts University. It places India among the Break-Out economies, pointing to the country\u2019s potential to emerge as a full-fledged digital economy.\n\nSrivats.kr@thehindu.co.in", "output": "India's Airtel Payments Bank's online debit and prepaid card, backed by Mastercard, has notched up an impressive two million users within five months of launch, according to Airtel CEO Shashi Arora. The digital payments solution enables the bank's customers to make payments at more than 100,000 e-commerce websites and other online portals, while the online card can be accessed via the My Airtel app."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cricket insurance costs surge as rain stops play in India \n Mumbai: The cost of insuring cricket matches , which accounts for a bulk of the Rs 200-crore sports insurance market in India, has gone up substantially in the last three-four years. Stakes in the country\u2019s most popular game have risen and insurance companies are discovering that a little bit of rain can result in having to pay out large claims.A corporate sponsor of the Indian team has seen its insurance premium bill jump from Rs 1.5 crore in FY17 to Rs 4 crore in FY18 following a large claim in the previous year. Sponsors are only one of the stakeholders in a cricket match \u2014 the others being the association broadcasters and franchisee owners \u201cHardening cricket insurance rates are predominantly driven by loss ratios as most of the policies are bleeding,\u201d said Amit Agarwal of JLT Insurance Brokers at JLT Independent , an insurance broking firm. \u201cFor the same match, there are multiple stakeholders who buy insurance cover. Often claims from multiple insurance policies hit the same insurer or reinsurers simultaneously. Given the multiple stake, a bad spell of rain could cause large losses to the insurer,\u201d said Agarwal.The growth of league matches for a television audience with sponsors has increased the money involved in other sports such as football ( Indian Super League ) and Pro Kabaddi League . Badminton is another sport which is picking up. However, cricket continues to account for 85-90% of the total sports premium in the country.The sports insurance market, less than two decades old, had got a big boost with the launch of the Indian Premier League 10 years ago. The business, which started as a largely reinsurance-driven one, is now led by the country\u2019s largest domestic insurer New India Assurance followed by Oriental Insurance National Insurance and HDFC Ergo .In early days of cricket insurance, non-life companies were cautious, charging high rates and providing limited cover. Companies issued policies like the one-ball bowled cover, where the insurance policy would cease to operate if even a single ball was bowled. In subsequent years, as domestic companies learned the game, more companies participated in sports insurance, which brought prices down.The entry of IPL resulted in the game becoming big business and different stakeholders buying cover to protect their interests. \u201cWhen the insurance company stands to lose Rs 6 lakh per over, there is less room to be flexible about rates.\u201dInterestingly, headline-grabbing events in cricket have not resulted in claims. For instance, the scrapping of the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals did not result in claims to the insured as the actions of the franchise owners were judged to be illegal. Rather, it is inclement weather that results in losses", "output": "Inclement weather during cricket matches in India has seen the cost of insuring against cancellation\u00a0rise from INR1.5 crore ($1.6m) in\u00a02017 to INR4\u00a0crore in 2018. The success of the Indian Premier League means policies are often taken out by multiple organisations, from broadcasters to franchise owners, with subsequent claims spelling huge losses to insurers. \"When the insurance company stands to lose INR6 lakh ($9,400) per over, there is less room to be flexible about rates\", said Amit Agarwal of JLT Insurance Brokers."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Promotions for two Redrow managers in Lancashire division \n Two of Redrow\u2019s construction team have taken on new roles within the company\u2019s expanding Lancashire division.\n\nStuart Bullough and Shaun Phoenix, both awarding-winning members of the Redrow team, have been promoted to construction manager and area construction manager respectively.\n\nFor Stuart Bullough, 44, from Poulton-le-Fylde, it was the second upward move this year, after officially becoming area construction manager in January (although it was a role he has been doing informally already).\n\nThe dad-of-three, who started with Redrow as an assistant site manager in 2003, said he never envisaged getting so far in such a short time: \u201cOf course I am delighted, ecstatic even. But I don\u2019t ever want to stand back and think I\u2019ve done well, or get complacent.\u201d\n\nStuart will continue to oversee eight sites within Redrow\u2019s Chorley-based Lancashire division, gradually increasing to cover its 20-plus developments, as well spending more time in the office and getting involved in board reports, etc.\n\n\u201cI will also deputise for the construction director, and act increasingly as a link between the sites, the area managers and the construction director,\u201d he added.\n\nIt\u2019s a major move for Stuart, who has won a wealth of industry awards including two NHBC \u2018Pride in the Job\u2019 Seals of Excellence when he was site manager at Harbour Village in Fleetwood and Whitehill Meadows in Blackpool.\n\nShaun Phoenix, 39, from Leigh, is now area construction manager for Redrow, taking charge of a number of sites in the Merseyside area, including Summerhill Park\u2019s apartments and houses in Liverpool\u2019s Broadgreen area; Regency Gardens and Regency Manor in West Derby and the refurbishment of three listed buildings on the old Holly Lodge school site; plus Redbridge Park in Fazakerley and a forthcoming new site in Maghull.\n\nIt is the latest move for the father-of-two, who started his career with the homebuilder when he left school at 16 as an apprentice joiner.\n\nThe dad-of-two has progressed steadily up the ranks to site manager, project manager and senior project manager before being appointed to his latest role.\n\nHe said: \u201cIt\u2019s my role to act as the glue between a host of different departments, dealing with the site managers, area sales team and on-site sales staff, as well as helping to resolve technical issues. I\u2019m basically a link between the office and the site.\u201d\n\nKeith Collard, construction director for Redrow Homes (Lancashire), said both promotions were well deserved and fitted with Redrow\u2019s commitment to home-grow talent.\n\n\u201cRedrow enjoys nurturing the talent it has and supporting its people, whether that\u2019s apprentices, graduates, other trainees or people at various stages of their career looking to expand their qualifications and experience,\u201d Keith explained.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s one of the reasons Redrow was the first housebuilder to receive the British Institute for Learning and Development (BiLD) \u2018Quality Mark\u2019 in 2016, recognising the calibre of our approach to training and professional development programmes; and it\u2019s also helped us become a Top 100 Apprenticeship Employer for the last four years.\u201d", "output": "Stuart Bullough and Shaun Phoenix have been promoted to more senior roles in Redrow's Lancashire division. Former area construction manager Bullough is now construction manager and will eventually oversee more than 20 of the division's developments. Meanwhile, Phoenix has been promoted to area construction manager, in charge of sites in the Merseyside area, having previously worked as a senior project manager at the housebuilder.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese internet crackdown forces users to use their real name \n China is cracking down on censorship once again, but this time things are a touch more serious. According to new rules published by China\u2019s main internet censor last Friday, netizens who want to post comments online will now have to register with their real names. They can still use pseudonyms, but those names are tied to their real identities. These new rules come ahead of the communist party\u2019s 19th National Congress, which convenes this autumn and is usually a time when the regime tightens the ship.\n\nHalf of this is nothing new; the Chinese regime has always ordered people to register with their real names and has made attempts to enforce this on various levels over the past three years. This time, however, the difference is that internet companies and service providers are being made responsible for ensuring users stay fully identified. Companies and service providers are also required to report any illegal content they see on any platform to the government.\n\nDespite China\u2019s many attempts to control the internet, users have always found ways to skirt the rules and hide in a degree of anonymity in Weibo (a Chinese microblogging site similar to Twitter) chats and other platforms. And the use of VPNs to bypass China\u2019s firewall has been prevalent there and in other totalitarian countries like Iran and Russia. But even the VPNs are beginning to fall under the relentless pressure of Chinese censorship. As of early August, Apple removed several VPN apps from the iTunes store in China, citing local law.", "output": "New rules published by China's internet censor state that users will have to register their real names if they wish to post comments online. The onus will be on the internet companies and providers to ensure users are properly identifiable; pseudonyms can still be used, but must be linked to real identities. With VPNs even dropping in numbers due to the strict Chinese regime, it seems China is committed to removing privacy from its internet."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Food site Tastemade partners with Smorgasburg in LA and NYC \n Tastemade, born as a social food video media company, is moving deeper into real-life events through a partnership with outdoor foodie market Smorgasburg.\n\nTastemade will sell sponsorships to events at Smorgasburg locations in New York and Los Angeles, such as concerts, food festivals and other events. Tastemade will also sell sponsorships of services at Smorgasburg, where advertisers can sponsor everything from the Wi-Fi to the free filtered water that Smorgasburg offers visitors.\n\nTastemade is already talking to a number of advertisers on Smorgasburg-related deals, said Tastemade co-founder Larry Fitzgibbon. The companies will share revenue from any deals sold.\n\nThe Smorgasburg deal gives the 5-year-old Tastemade a chance to do live events on a regular basis \u2014 a bigger focus area for the company as it looks for ways to diversify its revenue sources beyond digital advertising and platforms that pay it to make shows about food. Smorgasburg, which The New York Times once called the \u201cWoodstock of Eating,\u201d draws between 1 million and 1.5 million attendees per year, an audience that Tastemade and its advertisers can tap into, Fitzgibbon said.\n\n\u201cWhen we are talking to brands, they are always interested in this type of product,\u201d Fitzgibbon said. \u201cBut we don\u2019t want to just do things that pop up and go away; we want some more consistency so we can build programs that run across a longer time frame. It\u2019s also easier to integrate into something that\u2019s already happening than to start something fresh.\u201d\n\nTastemade is best known for overhead cooking videos and other food-related video series on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. The company\u2019s head of programming recently said it now gets more than 2 billion video views per month across platforms. With custom, sponsored events, Tastemade can get in front of more people in a real-world setting. Plus, the move gives Tastemade a slight hedge against the unpredictable nature of ad revenue on social platforms.\n\nFitzgibbon said Tastemade has already done more than 100 live events, including some with advertising clients such as Airbnb and Nike. When Airbnb arrived in L.A., Tastemade turned its Santa Monica-based studio into a mini food market with 30 vendors from around the city. More recently, Tastemade held a dinner on behalf of Nike, which brought together Nike execs, athletes and social influencers. More than half of the events Tastemade has done have been paid for by brands, the company said.\n\nThe partnership also includes creating more videos that feature Smorgasburg and its food vendors, chefs and attendees. Tastemade and Smorgasburg are working on videos that will spotlight businesses, chefs and food trends that come out of Smorgasburg \u2014 vendors have been known to start their food businesses by selling at Smorgasburg before opening restaurants, and the ramen burger came out of this community.\n\nA social clip Tastemade produced about Smorgasburg\u2019s first L.A. market has been viewed more than 2 million times across Facebook and Instagram, indicating that there\u2019s interest in this type of content.\n\n\u201cWe exist almost entirely in real life \u2014 we have an online presence and great social followers, but in the digital and content world, it\u2019s not been at the core of what we do,\u201d said Eric Demby, co-founder of Smorgasburg. \u201cBut we\u2019ve seen the social media food porn craze. And with Tastemade\u2019s huge audience and capacity to create great content, it\u2019s something we can capitalize on.\u201d", "output": "California-based recipe site Tastemade is partnering with Smorgasburg, which runs outdoor food markets in the US,\u00a0to add live events to its activities. Tastemade, which claims to get\u00a0two\u00a0billion video views a month from its food-related video content on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, will sell sponsorship\u00a0relating to events at Smorgasburg markets in Brooklyn and Los Angeles. The two companies are already working on videos spotlighting businesses, chefs and food trends that come out of Smorgasburg. Tastemade has previously been involved in live events featuring brands such as Airbnb and Nike."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Canadian authorities to treat ICO offerings as securities \n In studying a number of cryptocurrencies and upcoming ICOs, Canadian authorities have said that the offerings are similar to the sale of securities and as such should have to abide by the tough rules that exist around them - or seek exemptions.\n\nLegal grey area\n\nWhile digital currencies boom and ICOs pop up with huge regularity across the globe, governments and regulators are trying to incorporate them into an existing legal framework.\n\nRegulators are trying to keep up with the growth in order to create rules to govern them within their borders, while also not stifling the innovative funding model.\n\nThe Canadian Securities Administers, an umbrella group of provincial watch-dogs, has noted that any token whose value is tied to future profits or success of a business should be considered a security.\n\nThis obviously seems to encapsulate ICOs whose value is indeed set and determined by future profiteering and success.\n\nThe regulators said in a statement:\n\n\u201cWith the offerings that we have reviewed to date, we have in many instances found that the coins/tokens in question constitute securities for the purposes of securities laws, including because they are investment contracts.\u201d\n\nIre of the fintech community\n\nThe statement released by the regulators has been labeled as unclear and a little ambiguous, although full of threat and menace.\n\nIt has prompted some of Canada\u2019s leading fintech executive to criticize and seek clarity from the Canadian Securities Administrators.\n\n\u201cThere still is a lot of gray area in terms of the guidance on when a cryptocurrency or token would be a security,\u201d said Daniel Fuke, a partner in the securities and M&A group at Fasken Martineau.\n\n\u201cIt would be nice if we could know from CSA what they were thinking in terms of some of the sub-considerations of the securities law test.\u201d\n\nPressure from the South\n\nSouth of the border, in the US, their securities authority already made a big call when it announced that Blockchain companies must obey federal laws because of the DOA incident.\n\nIn essence, ICOs would be controlled by these securities laws unless a valid exemption could apply.", "output": "Canadian regulators are looking to treat cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings as securities. Any token whose value is tied to future profiteering or success of a company should be considered a security, and as such should have to abide by the same strict rules as securities or seek exemptions, according to the Canadian Securities Administrators."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "3DR deal to provide businesses with UBI drone policies \n We recently reported on Verifly's smartphone app allowing recreational drone users to insure their unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on the fly, by paying for insurance by the hour. Now it seems that drone company 3DR is partnering with Global Aerospace and Harpenau Insurance in order to provide the same service for corporate use. This partnership, announced in a blog post by 3DR, is meant to alleviate concerns for companies primarily using drones in the construction and engineering fields, and any damage or injury that may occur during business hours.\n\nAccording to TechRepublic, this comprehensive insurance intended to cover legal liability and/or damage will be provided to 3DR Site Scan customers, will be underwritten by Global Aerospace, and given to policy holders by Harpenau Insurance. Evan Garmon, a commercial agent at the latter company, claims that engineering and construction are the initial focus of this insurance partnership, and will be worked on first. How will this work, on the customer's end?\n\nApparently, customers will have the ease and convenience of a simple website or app at their disposal, if choosing to use this service. According to TechRepublic, they'll be able to access a self-service portal and choose between several different insurance options, and get a fairly accurate quote within hours before committing to one. This seems like a natural extension of the aforementioned Verifly service, just a little more bureaucratic and, well, serious. Since this is aimed at large corporations with far more legalese to wade through, and potential millions of dollars on the line, the process will naturally be slightly less breezy. That isn't to say that this won't be hugely convenient for companies seeking drone insurance, just that us recreational users have a more relaxing go at it.\n\n3DR's post explains that users of their service will be able to include coverage of \"personal injury (invasion of privacy), non-owned liability (crashing someone else\u2019s drone or a rented drone), medical expenses, premises liability, and damage sustained from any malicious acts,\" as well as getting \"coverage for the drone itself, which covers the cost to repair equipment or to cover the total loss of the platform, payload, or ground equipment.\" This seems like an all-encompassing offer that will most likely appeal to a vast section of companies using UAVs in some form or another to help their business. Customers will even benefit from some more exclusive features that Global Aerospace can provide, such as 'Visual Line of Sight Standard Operating Procedure' which was specifically developed for the company by Unmanned Safety Institute.", "output": "Drone company 3DR is partnering with Global Aerospace and Harpenau Insurance to offer a comprehensive insurance policy aimed at businesses using drones, according to a blog post on the 3DR website. Aimed initially at the construction and engineering industries, the online portal offers several insurance options, which include personal injury, non-owned liability, medical expenses, premises liability, damage sustained from any malicious acts, and coverage for the drone itself. Users will receive a quote within hours of making their selection. Gartner estimates the drone market will be worth $11.2bn within the next three years."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cannabis-linked road deaths surge in Colorado after legalisation \n The number of drivers involved in fatal crashes in Colorado who tested positive for marijuana has more than doubled since 2013, federal and state data show.\n\nA Denver Post analysis of the data and coroner reports provides the most comprehensive look yet into whether roads in the state have become more dangerous since the drug\u2019s legalization.\n\nIncreasingly potent levels of marijuana were found in positive-testing drivers who died in crashes in Front Range counties, according to coroner data since 2013 compiled by The Denver Post. Nearly a dozen in 2016 had levels five times the amount allowed by law, and one was at 22 times the limit. Levels were not as elevated in earlier years.\n\nLast year, all of the drivers who survived and tested positive for marijuana use had the drug at levels that indicated use within a few hours of being tested, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation, which compiles information for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration\u2019s Fatality Analysis Reporting System.\n\nThe trends coincide with the legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado that began with adult use in late 2012, followed by sales in 2014.\n\nHowever, Colorado transportation and public safety officials say the rising number of pot-related traffic fatalities cannot be definitively linked to legalized marijuana.\n\nPositive test results reflected in the NHTSA data do not indicate whether a driver was high at the time of the crash since traces of marijuana use from weeks earlier also can appear as a positive result.\n\nBut police, victims\u2019 families and safety advocates say the numbers of drivers testing positive for marijuana use are rising too quickly to ignore and highlight the potential dangers of mixing pot with driving.\n\n\u201cWe went from zero to 100, and we\u2019ve been chasing it ever since,\u201d Greenwood Village Police Chief John Jackson said of the state\u2019s implementation of legalized marijuana. \u201cNobody understands it and people are dying. That\u2019s a huge public safety problem.\u201d\n\nThe 2013-16 period saw a 40 percent increase in the number of all drivers involved in fatal crashes in Colorado, from 627 to 880, according to the NHTSA data. Those who tested positive for alcohol in fatal crashes from 2013 to 2015 \u2013 figures for 2016 were not available \u2013 grew 17 percent, from 129 to 151.\n\nBy contrast, the number of drivers who tested positive for marijuana use jumped 145 percent \u2013 from 47 in 2013 to 115 in 2016. During that time, the prevalence of testing drivers for marijuana use did not change appreciably, federal fatal-crash data show.\n\nState law does not require coroners to test deceased drivers specifically for marijuana use in fatal wrecks.\n\nAmong The Post\u2019s other findings:\n\nMarijuana is figuring into more fatal crashes overall. In 2013, drivers tested positive for the drug in about 10 percent of all fatal crashes. By 2016, it was 20 percent.\n\nMore drivers are testing positive for marijuana and nothing else. Of the drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2014 who tested positive for cannabinoids, more than 52 percent had no alcohol in their system. By 2016, it had grown to 69 percent.\n\nIn 2016, of the 115 drivers in fatal wrecks who tested positive for marijuana use, 71 were found with the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana in their blood, indicating use within hours, according to state data. Of those, 63 percent were over the state\u2019s limit for driving.\n\n\u201cWe are discouraged by the rising numbers. We had awareness campaigns four months after legalization and thought we were getting out ahead of it,\u201d said Sam Cole, spokesman for the traffic safety division of the Colorado Department of Transportation, where the FARS data for the state is collected.\n\nPointing to a number of different studies, the industry counters that the data is imprecise and does not definitively link fatal crashes to marijuana use.\n\nTaylor West, former deputy director of the National Cannabis Industry Association, said unlike alcohol, marijuana can remain detectable in the blood stream for days or weeks.\n\n\u201cSo all those numbers really tell us is that, since legal adult-use sales began, a larger number of people are consuming cannabis and then, at some point (are) driving a car,\u201d West said.\n\nCopyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.", "output": "The number of drivers involved in fatal collisions in Colorado who tested positive for marijuana has risen 145% between 2013 and 2016, according to federal and state data. Colorado legalised the drug in late 2012. The data does not indicate whether a driver was high at the time of the crash, however, as traces of marijuana can remain in the blood for weeks, therefore it is impossible to state definitively that the drug's legalisation is behind the rising death count."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian renewables can power 70% of homes \n Australia\u2019s renewable energy sector is within striking distance of matching national household power consumption, cranking out enough electricity to run 70% of homes last financial year, new figures show.\n\nThe first Australian Renewable Energy Index, produced by Green Energy Markets, finds the sector will generate enough power to run 90% of homes once wind and solar projects under construction in 2016-17 are completed.\n\nThe index, funded by GetUp through supporter donations, underlines the advance of renewables, despite Australia\u2019s electricity markets still leaning heavily on carbon-emitting coal and gas-fired generation.\n\nRenewables, which made up just 7% of national electricity output a decade ago, accounted for 17.2% last financial year. This jumped to 18.8% last month.\n\nThis is saving the power sector from carbon pollution equivalent to taking more than half of all cars in Australia off the road, according to Green Energy Markets.\n\nThe biggest single source of renewable power remained hydro-electricity (40%), followed by wind (31%) and rooftop solar (18%), the index found.\n\nLess than 2% came from large solar farms, suggesting the best is yet to come from this arm of the renewables industry which has an array of large-scale projects underway.\n\nGreen Energy Markets analyst Tristan Edis said the emergence of renewables, in particular wind and solar, as a \u201csignificant source of power\u201d had ushered in a \u201cconstruction jobs and investment boom\u201d.\n\n\u201cThe renewable energy sector has staged a remarkable recovery, after investment completely dried-up under former prime minister Tony Abbott,\u201d Edis said.\n\nHe said investors had \u201crecovered their confidence under Malcolm Turnbull\u201d, with help also from \u201ca range of state government initiatives\u201d.\n\nEdis said the renewables sector was on track to meet the federal government\u2019s renewable energy target of 20% of total generation by 2020 over a year early, by the end of 2018.\n\nHowever, the renewable jobs boom underpinned by the RET could \u201csoon turn to bust\u201d, he said.\n\n\n\nRenewable investment beyond the RET risked collapsing without the Turnbull government moving forward on chief scientist Alan Finkel\u2019s recommendation for a future \u201cclean energy target\u201d, he said.\n\nAt least 46 large-scale energy projects under construction by the end of June were providing enough work to employ 8,868 people full-time for a year. This figure had surged to 10,000 by July. Most jobs were in NSW (3,018), thanks largely to wind farms, while Queensland (2,625) was next, with 70% of its jobs coming from solar farms.\n\nRooftop solar installations supported a further 3,769 full-time jobs across Australia in 2016-17.\n\nWith most projects underway in Queensland, large solar farms still generated less than 2% of renewable energy in 2016-17, the index found.\n\nGeneration from rooftop solar, which was \u201cback in 2008 little more than a rounding error\u201d, had \u201cgrown spectacularly\u201d, Edis said.\n\nMore than 150,000 systems installed in the last year alone would produce enough energy for 226,000 homes, he said.\n\n\u201cMeanwhile these solar systems will also save consumers $1.5 billion off their electricity bills over the next 10 years.\u201d\n\nMiriam Lyons, GetUp\u2019s energy campaigns director, said that \u201ceveryday Australians are voting with their rooftops\u201d in a move that \u201cheralds the end of the era of big polluting energy companies dominating the market and manipulating prices to fill their own pockets\u201d.\n\n\u201cWho do we have to thank for the renewables boom? Certainly not the federal government,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cInstead we can thank the thousands of everyday Australians who stood up and defended the national [RET] from Tony Abbott\u2019s attacks, who saved [the Australian Renewable Energy Agency] from federal government budget cuts, and who pushed their state governments into showing some leadership on clean energy.\u201d\n\nThe Australian Renewable Energy Index will be published monthly.", "output": "Australia generated enough energy from renewable sources to provide electricity to about 70% of the nation\u2019s households between July 2016 and July 2017, according to a report by the Australian Renewable Energy Index, produced by Green Energy Markets. The figure could rise to 90% once large scale wind and solar projects currently under construction are completed."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian renewables can power 70% of homes \n Inspiring Figures\n\nBetween July 2016 and July 2017, Australia generated enough energy from renewable sources to provide electricity to 7.1 million homes, roughly 70 percent of the country's total households, according to a newly released report produced by Green Energy Markets.\n\nThe Australian Renewable Energy Index is a country-wide report that analyzes the impact of renewables on the nation's overall electricity and energy landscape. August marked the first time the report was released, but the plan is to publish one every month moving forward.\n\nThis month's report provides a clear indication of how far Australia has come in its efforts to bolster renewable and clean energy, as well as how much further it could go.\n\n\u201cThe renewable energy sector has staged a remarkable recovery, after investment completely dried-up under former prime minister Tony Abbott,\u201d Tristan Edis, an analyst from Green Energy Markets, told The Guardian. He added that the report confirms how renewables could become a \u201csignificant source of power\u201d for the country and help the economy by producing \u201cconstruction jobs and investment boom.\"\n\nA Working Alternative\n\nDespite still leaning heavily on coal- and gas-fired power plants for electricity, Australia has stepped up its renewable energy game. The report notes that renewables made up some 17.2 percent of electricity used countrywide during the July 2016 to July 2017 period. That's a huge leap up from the 7 percent output a decade ago. Hydro-electricity accounted for 40 percent of this renewable power, while wind was the second largest source at 31 percent.\n\nConsidering the continent is often bathed in sunlight, the fact that about 20 percent of Australia's renewable energy comes from solar power is likely unsurprising. According to the report, roughly 150,000 small-scale solar systems were installed on rooftops this year. They produced enough energy to supply electricity to more than 226,000 homes, and their installation supported some 3,769\u200b \u200bfull-time\u200b \u200bjobs.\n\nSpeaking of jobs, the country currently has 46\u200b \u200blarge-scale\u200b \u200brenewable\u200b \u200benergy\u200b \u200bprojects under construction, supplying full-time jobs that could employ \u200b8,868\u200b \u200bpeople for a year. When those renewable energy projects are finished, Australia is expected to be able to produce enough energy to power 90 percent of the nation's homes.\n\nOf course, the impact these renewables have on the environment is perhaps even more than notable than their benefit to the economy. During the said financial period, Australia's renewable energy systems slashed a total of 24.5 million tonnes (27 million tons) of carbon dioxide emissions \u2014 that's equivalent to removing 8.1 million cars from the roads.\n\nBased on the finding of this report, Australia is on pace to meet its renewable energy target \u2014 20 percent of total generation by 2020 \u2014 by the end of 2018, making the nation a sterling example for others to follow.", "output": "Australia generated enough energy from renewable sources to provide electricity to about 70% of the nation\u2019s households between July 2016 and July 2017, according to a report by the Australian Renewable Energy Index, produced by Green Energy Markets. The figure could rise to 90% once large scale wind and solar projects currently under construction are completed."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Regus adds 1 million sq ft of freehold space via Basepoint acquisition \n Well, we didn\u2019t see this one coming, especially as it was less than a month ago that International Workplace Group (Regus) reported a 4% profit dip in pre-tax profits in the first half of the year.\n\nPropertyWeek reported earlier today that Regus bought none other than Basepoint Business Centres, one if its largest UK serviced workspace rivals.\n\nIGW\u2019s recent profit dip was blamed on the company\u2019s increased spending to expand its network, and it appears that they intend to keep on \u2018shopping\u2019. Regus\u2019 recent acquisition of Basepoint cost them a staggering \u00a3100m; but it\u2019s also given them an additional 1 million square feet in serviced office space, which will amount to access to over 340 centers in the UK alone.\n\nAmid WeWork\u2019s mind-blowing growth, Regus is getting more and more aggressive with its growth strategy as well, not shying away from large investments as long as they provide significant growth in the short and medium term. In fact, IGW is hoping the Basepoint deal will \u201cbolster its balance sheet as all the Basepoint centres are freehold and fits with its (IGW\u2019s) long-term strategy to increase the proportion of freehold assets in its portfolio relative to leasehold.\u201d We think this is a much needed element to add significant value to Regus and it\u2019s long overdue in our view.\n\nIndustry consolidation is something industry leaders and experts have been expecting and predicting for over a year now, especially from large players like Regus. Indeed, Regus was among the first operators to step up to the plate, acquiring Avanta, Causeway House, BusinessSuites, Spaces, and others.\n\nThe question is, how far will Regus go to remain a dominant player in the flexible workspace market? Profit dips and WeWork\u2019s exponential growth haven\u2019t stopped the company one bit. Yet, the competition is only bound to get stronger as property groups and real estate companies enter the industry, which will make competition more aggressive and it will make it harder for operators to cut good deals with landlords.\n\nEven so, we\u2019re not too worried about the serviced office giant, as they\u2019ve proved time and again through their long-standing industry presence (even when many have been blind to their value) that they know what they\u2019re doing.", "output": "Shrugging off a 4% dip in pre-tax profits for H1 2017, Regus has acquired UK-based rival Basepoint Business Centres in a deal worth \u00a3100m ($130m). The latest in a string of acquisitions, Basepoint\u2019s 1 million sq ft of serviced office space dovetails with IWG\u2019s long-term strategy to increase its proportion of freehold assets."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "OCBC offers P2P payments via social media platforms \n OCBC mobile banking customers can now type into any messaging app - like WhatsApp, Facebook, Gmail and Instagram - to initiate a funds transfer to another mobile number.\n\nThis is possible with the roll-out of OCBC Keyboard, which works within any mobile app to activate the funds transfer. The transfer rides on the OCBC Pay Anyone feature in the OCBC Mobile Banking app.\n\n\"With OCBC Keyboard, we are embedding payments in our customers' lives and making it completely frictionless for them to pay while they go about (with) everyday tasks like chatting on WhatsApp, sending an e-mail, browsing items on Carousell or browsing the Internet,\" said Mr Aditya Gupta, OCBC Bank's head of e-business in Singapore.\n\nUsers need to download the latest version of the OCBC Mobile Banking app and select the OCBC Keyboard as the default keyboard. The keyboard works only on Android smartphones and The Straits Times understands it will not be available on the Apple iPhone.\n\nAfter this one-time set-up, the OCBC Pay Anyone icon will appear on the keyboard that shows up in apps. Clicking on the icon will initiate the payment process.\n\nUsers just need to enter the mobile number of the recipient and the amount to transfer. They must also enter their banking username and password, and a one-time password sent to their mobile phone to authenticate the transaction.\n\nUsers of PayNow will receive the money instantly. PayNow is an instant fund transfer service among seven participating banks which was launched last month that links bank accounts to a mobile phone number or NRIC number.\n\nRecipients who have yet to register for PayNow will receive a Web link via SMS that they click on and enter a sender-supplied six-digit passcode to receive the money in their bank account. As the transfer is via the Fast online inter-bank funds transfer system, the recipient does not need to be an OCBC account holder.\n\nFast has been a feature of the OCBC Mobile Banking app since 2014, allowing its customers to send money directly to any bank account in Singapore using just the recipient's mobile number, e-mail address or Facebook account. It was revolutionary because senders need not know the recipient's bank account details to make a transfer.\n\nLast month, UOB launched a similar keyboard dubbed UOB MyKey. It works on the UOB Mighty app in similar ways as the OCBC Keyboard to allow users to send money instantly via PayNow, using WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. It is also an Android-only feature.", "output": "OCBC Bank has introduced a keyboard that enables mobile banking customers to transfer funds to another mobile number via WhatsApp, Facebook, Gmail and Instagram. After making the OCBC keyboard their default option, users can click an icon to start the peer-to-peer (P2P) payment. Users must enter the recipient's mobile number, the amount they want to transfer, their banking username and password, and a one-time password sent to their mobile. Users of fund transfer service PayNow will receive the funds instantly, while others will receive an SMS with a link to register."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ford and Domino's pretend to deliver pizza in autonomous vehicles \n Ford and Domino\u2019s Pizza are teaming up to test self-driving pizza delivery cars in Michigan, as part of an effort to better understand how customers respond to and interact with autonomous vehicles.\n\nIn the coming weeks, randomly selected Domino\u2019s customers in Ann Arbor, Michigan will have the option to accept pizza deliveries from a Ford Fusion Hybrid autonomous research vehicle. But the car won\u2019t be driving itself.\n\nEach car will be driven by a Ford safety engineer\n\nEach car will be driven by a Ford safety engineer, with other researchers onboard, who will zero in on the last 50 feet of the customer experience.\n\nSherif Marakby, Vice President of Ford Autonomous Vehicles and Electrification, described the project as ethnographic research in an interview with The Verge. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to wait until we get everything done on the tech and remove the driver. We\u2019re trying to start doing the research. We still are working on the technology, because it\u2019s not ready to be put on public streets,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s simulating that the vehicle is in autonomous mode.\u201d\n\nThose who participate in the test can track their order through a Domino\u2019s app and will receive a unique code that matches the last four digits of their phone number to be used to unlock the so-called Heatwave Compartment \u2014 a container that keeps pizzas warm in the back of the car. Information will be communicated through screens and speakers on the exterior of the cars.\n\nphoto: Ford Motor Company\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re interested to learn what people think about this type of delivery,\u201d Russell Weiner, president of Domino\u2019s USA, said in a statement. \u201cThe majority of our questions are about the last 50 feet of the delivery experience.\u201d\n\nAreas of focus include how willing are people to come outside to pick up their orders, the way they approach the car, and how they interact with the screen outside of the vehicle to get the food.\n\nMarakby said this is the first of multiple partnership between Ford and other companies as part of efforts to ramp up autonomous vehicle testing. \u201cThe key thing is that our development is going to benefit from these partnerships,\u201d Marakby said. \u201cWe will incorporate changes when we launch at scale in 2021, whether it\u2019s perishable or non-perishable deliveries.\u201d\n\nFord, like many other carmakers, has invested heavily in autonomous technology, with an eye toward bringing self-driving cars to market by 2021. Earlier this year, the company announced plans to invest $1 billion in Argo AI, an artificial intelligence startup.\n\n\u201cThe human aspect is the most significant piece here. We know we can create technology, but it has to be based on the human element of how we\u2019re using the AVs,\u201d Marakby said.", "output": "Ford has partnered with fast food chain Domino's Pizza to assess how US customers cope with autonomous-vehicle deliveries. Randomly chosen customers in Ann Arbor, Michigan, will have the option to have their food delivered by a Ford Fusion Hybrid \"autonomous\" vehicle, which will actually be driven by a Ford safety engineer. Those who choose the autonomous option will receive a unique code to unlock the Heatwave Compartment, which keeps pizzas warm in the back of the car with\u00a0information relayed through screens and speakers on the exterior of the cars."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Less than third of Harvey's expected losses may be insured \n Hurricane Harvey\u2019s second act across southern Texas is turning into an economic catastrophe \u2013 with damages likely to stretch into tens of billions of dollars and an unusually large share of victims lacking adequate insurance, according to early estimates.\n\nHarvey\u2019s cost could mount to $30 billion when including the impact of relentless flooding on the labor force, power grid, transportation and other elements that support the region\u2019s energy sector, Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler with Enki Research, said in an email Monday. That would place it among the top eight hurricanes to ever strike the U.S.\n\nLess than a third of Harvey\u2019s losses are likely to be insured, Watson said.\n\n\u201cA historic event is currently unfolding in Texas,\u201d Aon Plc wrote in an alert to clients. \u201cIt will take weeks until the full scope and magnitude of the damage is realized,\u201d and already it\u2019s clear that \u201can abnormally high portion of economic damage caused by flooding will not be covered,\u201d the insurance broker said.\n\nMany forecasters were hesitant over the weekend to make preliminary estimates for how much insurers might pay. Researchers were shifting from examining Harvey\u2019s landfall Friday as a roof-lifting category 4 hurricane to the havoc it later created inland as a tropical storm. Typical insurance policies cover wind but not flooding, which often proves costlier. Blaming one or the other takes time.\n\nIn the Houston area, rainfall already has surpassed that of tropical storm Allison in 2001, which wreaked roughly $12 billion of damage in current dollars. In that case, only about $5 billion was covered by insurance, according to Aon.\n\nThose storms are dwarfed by Hurricane Katrina, which struck in 2005 and devastated New Orleans. By some estimates, it inflicted $160 billion in total economic damage. About 47 percent of Katrina losses were covered by the insurance industry, but only about 27 percent is expected to be insured for Harvey, Watson said.\n\nMost people with flood insurance buy policies backed by the federal government\u2019s National Flood Insurance Program. As of April, less than one-sixth of homes in Houston\u2019s Harris County had federal coverage, according to Aon. That would leave more than 1 million homes unprotected in the county. Coverage rates are similar in neighboring areas. Many cars also will be totaled.\n\n\u201cA lot of these people are going to be in very serious financial situations,\u201d said Loretta Worters, a spokeswoman for the Insurance Information Institute. \u201cMost people who are living in these areas do not have flood insurance. They may be able to collect some grants from the government, but there are not a lot, usually they\u2019re very limited. There are no-interest to low-interest loans, but you have to pay them back.\u201d\n\nThe federal program itself is already struggling with $25 billion of debt. The existing program is set to expire on Sept. 30 and is up for review in Congress, which ends its recess Sept. 5.\n\nInvestors Brace\n\nCosts still will likely soar for insurance companies and their reinsurers, biting into earnings. As Harvey bore down on the coastline Friday, William Blair & Co., a securities firm that tracks the industry, said the storm could theoretically inflict $25 billion of insured losses if it landed as a \u201clarge category 3 hurricane.\u201d\n\nPolicyholder-owned State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. has the largest share in the market for home coverage in Texas, followed by Allstate Corp., which is publicly traded. William Blair estimated that, in that scenario, Allstate could incur $500 million of pretax catastrophe losses, shaving 89 cents off of earnings per share.\n\nInvestors began bracing for losses last week. But many didn\u2019t believe that Harvey could wipe out bonds that were issued to protect insurers against storm damage in the region, according to Brett Houghton, a managing principal at Fermat Capital Management. His firm manages more than $5 billion, with allocations to catastrophe bonds.\n\nThe Swiss Re Cat Bond Price Return Index dropped 0.44 percent in the week ended Aug. 25, the steepest decline since January. The benchmark is recalculated every Friday, so it\u2019s unclear how the debt performed as the storm continued through Sunday. Reinsurers, which provide a backstop for primary carriers, also may get burned. That group include Bermuda-based companies Arch Capital Group Ltd., Axis Capital Holdings Ltd. and RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd., according to a note last week from Meyer Shields, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.\n\nInterrupting Business\n\nBusinesses are probably better covered than individuals. Companies across the retailing, manufacturing, health-care and hospitality industries will be seeking reimbursements from insurers for lost revenue during the storm and subsequent repairs, said Aon\u2019s Jill Dalton, who helps manage claims.\n\nBut for Texas\u2019s massive energy industry, it\u2019s still too early to project how badly the storm will disrupt supply and distribution. That\u2019s because the devastation keeps spreading.\n\n\u201cIf it continues to rain, I just don\u2019t think the situation is going to get better any time soon,\u201d said Rick Miller, who leads Aon\u2019s U.S. property practice. \u201cIn fact, it could get a lot worse.\u201d\n\nCopyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.", "output": "Less than a third of the losses from Hurricane Harvey are likely to be insured, given the high proportion caused by flooding, according to Chuck Watson of Enki Research. Many insurance policies do not cover flooding, and only one sixth of homes in the affected region were estimated to have coverage from the federal government\u2019s National Flood Insurance Programme in April, leaving up to one million homes unprotected. Experts said it is too early to predict the impact of the storm on Texas' energy industry."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Farmed salmon suffer hearing loss \n To grasp the wide-ranging impacts of our industrial food systems, take a peek inside a salmon\u2019s ear. That\u2019s what marine biologist Tormey Reimer did when, in 2013 at the University of Melbourne, she began to investigate deformities that were developing on the structures that salmon use to hear.\n\nBony fish species have structures called otoliths in their ears, small crystals that they use to detect sound. Biologists have for decades relied on otoliths to age fish, using them like rings on a tree. But what Reimer saw was an altogether larger, lighter, and more transparent crystal called a vaterite, growing into the otolith and obstructing the fish\u2019s ability to hear. \u201cI did a bit of digging and found it was much more common in farmed salmon than wild,\u201d she says. And, she began to suspect it had something to do with the accelerated growth rates in fish farms.\n\nNow, in a recent paper, she\u2019s confirmed that hunch. By surveying groups of farmed salmon, Reimer discovered that the biggest feature underpinning a salmon\u2019s likelihood of developing vaterites \u2013 beyond diet, and genetics \u2013 was their growth speed. \u201cThe fastest-growing fish were three times more likely to have vaterites than the slow-growing fish,\u201d Reimer says. Farmed fish typically get high-nutrient feed, and are exposed to longer light conditions than they would experience in the wild. Because salmon will eat whenever it\u2019s light, this system creates constantly guzzling fish that grow faster and more efficiently.\n\nReimer still doesn\u2019t know precisely why faster growth leads to vaterite formation; one theory is that it might have something to do with rapid skeletal growth, which could usurp resources intended for the proper development of otoliths. But she does know that fish afflicted with vaterites will have impaired hearing for life. \u201cI see this as one of many puzzle pieces in animal welfare,\u201d she says. \u201cWhat\u2019s surprising is that we\u2019ve known about most of the issues in aquaculture for a really long time, but this is a brand new one that\u2019s just popped up.\u201d\n\nAquaculture has reached such a scale and degree of efficiency that hearing-impaired fish have simply become an artefact of its success. Crowded conditions and disease outbreaks are already problems that the industry has to tackle; adding a human-caused disability to that list takes the concern to a new high. And it\u2019s only likely to intensify.\n\nAquaculture is now the fastest-growing sector of food production. Roughly half \u2013probably more \u2013 of the fish we produce worldwide comes from farms. All this is set against a backdrop of globally dwindling and stagnating wild fisheries, which also increases aquaculture\u2019s desirability on a global stage. What does this mean for the industry\u2019s future, and the welfare of the farmed fish we\u2019ll come to rely on more and more?\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s only so much wild fish you can pull from the ocean, and it\u2019s not going to grow. We need more fish and it\u2019s going to come from aquaculture,\u201d says Rebecca Gentry, a marine ecologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She\u2019s the author on another recent study that explored a different concern in aquaculture: productivity. In the research she found that every coastal country on the planet technically could meet its seafood needs \u2013 and do so sustainably \u2013 via offshore fish farming in only a small portion of its coastal waters.\n\nBy identifying only the most suitable habitat for aquaculture globally \u2013 areas of ocean with the right depth for fish farms, and which exist outside marine protected areas and busy shipping lanes \u2013 Gentry proved that we could produce 100 times our current seafood needs. Crucially, she showed that in countries whose populations experience serious food insecurity, aquaculture can provide a cheap and reliable source of protein. The limits on the success of marine aquaculture aren\u2019t space, which is in abundance, the study concluded. Instead, it\u2019s economics, and governance, that will determine aquaculture\u2019s future.\n\nSalmon farming in Hitra Bay, west of Trondheim in Norway. Each circular net contains some 120,000 salmons. Photograph: Celine Serrat/AFP/Getty Images\n\nAnother major limitation is aquaculture\u2019s poor reputation, marred by problems like the persistent outbreaks of viral disease, which spread rapidly in the close quarters and often beyond the farm enclosures to infect wild fish. The antibiotics and pesticides used to control these outbreaks in turn often pollute the surrounding waters. But as Gentry\u2019s study shows, aquaculture also has the power to solve some of our most pressing food security concerns, because by creating an abundant supply of farmed fish, it lessens the pressure on overfished stocks. \u201cIt\u2019s not black and white. Aquaculture has, and hasn\u2019t, done really well. I mean, mowing down mangroves for shrimp farms \u2013 that\u2019s so red hot, sustainably,\u201d Gentry says. \u201cWe need to step back and think, what is sustainable aquaculture?\u201d\n\nAnd, how does the welfare of of salmon \u2013 and other fish \u2013 slot into that goal? The problem is big enough to consider seriously. In another previous study, Reimer was part of a team that sampled Norwegian hatchery-raised salmon, and discovered that almost all of the fish in the sample were afflicted with vaterites. When she compared the results with studies on other farmed fish, she found that the rate was similarly high. \u201cVaterite has been found in other farmed fish species: in carp, eel, red drum. So I do believe that really any fish that has an otolith and is farmed in a way that maximises growth rate, should be looked at to see if this is affecting them,\u201d Reimer says.\n\nAt such a scale, this should push us to examine the ethics of fish farming as we expand aquaculture, the same way we might do for cattle, poultry, and pigs. \u201cIt may not seem like a big deal to say that many farmed fish are hearing impaired. But if you were to say to someone that a high proportion of the cows you eat are blind in the field, there would be an uproar,\u201d Reimer says.\n\nIt\u2019s true that fish hardly inspire the same degree of affection as the mammals we farm. But it\u2019s more than a question of emotion; it\u2019s also a practical issue that aquaculture companies can\u2019t ignore. Many countries, including the UK, demand the \u201cFive Freedoms\u201d for all farmed animals, including fish. One of these requires that animals be capable of expressing normal behaviours. That\u2019s a freedom that Reimer and colleagues assume that hearing-impaired salmon do not enjoy.\n\nNone of this is intended to undermine aquaculture, she says. \u201cFarmers want to grow fish as quickly as possible and get them to market. I wouldn\u2019t expect aquaculture companies to reduce growth rates.\u201d Instead Reimer hopes for further research to illuminate what\u2019s really going on, perhaps hitting on a way to reduce the risk of vaterites, maybe via diet, while still keeping growth rates intact. \u201cIt\u2019s a good opportunity to put the resources into that research and to get it solved as quickly as possible. Through ignorance, we have let it go on for quite some time.\u201d\n\nCertainly, as aquaculture continues its global spread, we\u2019ll need to find creative and varied solutions to the challenges that will inevitably arise. The case of the deafened salmon is omen-like, crystallising some of the biggest concerns about aquaculture\u2019s future growth. It brings to our plates an uncomfortable awareness about the huge scope of damage that our food systems can create.\n\nAnd yet, if we do it well, aquaculture could also become an invaluable tool for fixing some of the damage we\u2019ve wrought through our traditional fisheries. Pragmatically, Reimer says: \u201cWhile they\u2019re both doing terrible things to the environment, one can be improved. The other cannot.\u201d", "output": "Farmed salmon are developing crystals called vaterites that are obstructing their ability to hear, according to a study by an Australian scientist. Marine biologist Tormey Reimer discovered that faster growing fish were three times more likely to develop the vaterites. As farmed fish receive high-nutrient feed, and are exposed to longer light conditions which boost feeding, they grow more quickly and efficiently. Aquaculture is the most rapidly expanding sector of food production with at least 50% of fish produced worldwide coming from farms. Marine ecologist Rebecca Gentry has proved that the sector could potentially produce 100 times existing seafood needs."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Farmed salmon suffer hearing loss \n World Population Prospects: The 2015 Revision, Key Findings and Advance Tables (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2015).\n\nTilman, D. & Clark, M. Global diets link environmental sustainability and human health. Nature 515, 518\u2013522 (2014).\n\nThe State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2016: Contributing to Food Security and Nutrition for All (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2016).\n\nMaxwell, S. L., Fuller, R. A., Brooks, T. M. & Watson, J. E. M. The ravages of guns, nets and bulldozers. Nature 536, 143\u2013145 (2016).\n\nPelletier, N. & Tyedmers, P. Forecasting potential global environmental costs of livestock production 2000\u20132050. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 107, 18371\u201318374 (2010).\n\nLovatelli, A., Aguilar-Manjarrez, J. & Soto, D. Expanding Mariculture Farther Offshore: Technical, Environmental, Spatial and Governance Challenges Technical Workshop 73 (FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, 2013).\n\nMerino, G. et al. Can marine fisheries and aquaculture meet fish demand from a growing human population in a changing climate? Glob. Environ. Chang. 22, 795\u2013806 (2012).\n\nHall, S. J., Delaporte, A., Phillips, M. J., Beveridge, M. & O\u2019Keefe, M. Blue Frontiers: Managing the Environmental Costs of Aquaculture (The WorldFish Center, Penang, Malaysia, 2011).\n\nTacon, A. G. J. & Metian, M. Fish matters: importance of aquatic foods in human nutrition and global food supply. Rev. Fish. Sci. 21, 22\u201338 (2016).\n\nCampbell, B. & Pauly, D. Mariculture: a global analysis of production trends since 1950. Mar. Policy 39, 94\u2013100 (2013).\n\nPrimavera, J. H. Overcoming the impacts of aquaculture on the coastal zone. Ocean Coast. Manag. 49, 531\u2013545 (2006).\n\nGoldburg, R. J., Elliott, M. S. & Naylor, R. L. Marine Aquaculture in the United States: Environmental Impacts and Policy Options (Pew Oceans Commission, Arlington, Virginia, 2001).\n\nHolmer, M. Environmental issues of fish farming in offshore waters: perspectives, concerns and research needs. Aquac. Environ. Interact. 1, 57\u201370 (2010).\n\nFroehlich, H. E., Smith, A., Gentry, R. R. & Halpern, B. S. Offshore aquaculture: I know it when I see it. Front. Mar. Sci. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2017.00154 (2017).\n\nTroell, M. et al. Does aquaculture add resilience to the global food system? Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 111, 13257\u201313263 (2014).\n\nGodfray, H. C. J. et al. Food security: the challenge of feeding 9 billion people. Science 327, 812\u2013818 (2010).\n\nKapetsky, J. M., Agular-Manjarrez, J. & Jenness, J. A Global Assessment of Offshore Mariculture Potential from a Spatial Perspective (Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, Italy, 2013).\n\nJiang, W. & Gibbs, M. T. Predicting the carrying capacity of bivalve shellfish culture using a steady, linear food web model. Aquaculture 244, 171\u2013185 (2005).\n\nFerreira, J. G. et al. Analysis of coastal and offshore aquaculture: application of the FARM model to multiple systems and shellfish species. Aquaculture 289, 32\u201341 (2009).\n\nFroehlich, H. E., Gentry, R. R. & Halpern, B. S. Synthesis and comparative analysis of physiological tolerance and life-history growth traits of marine aquaculture species. Aquaculture 460, 75\u201382 (2016).\n\nPauly, D. & Munro, J. L. Once more on the comparison of growth in fish and invertebrates. Fishbyte 2, 21 (1984).\n\nPauly, D., Moreau, J. & Prein, M. A comparison of overall growth performance of Tilapia in open waters and aquaculture. In Second Int. Symp. Tilapia Aquaculture 469\u2013479 (ICLARM Conference Proceedings, 1988).\n\nMathews, C. P. & Samuel, M. Using the growth performance index \u03a6\u2019 to choose species aquaculture: an example from Kuwait. Aquabyte 3, 2\u20134 (1990).\n\nAlvarez-Lajonch\u00e8re, L. & Ibarra-Castro, L. Relationships of maximum length, length at first sexual maturity, and growth performance index in nature with absolute growth rates of intensive cultivation of some tropical marine fish. J. World Aquac. Soc. 43, 607\u2013620 (2012).\n\nDuarte, C. M., Marba, N. & Holmer, M. Rapid domestication of marine species. Science 316, 382\u2013383 (2007).\n\nFroehlich, H. E., Gentry, R. R., Rust, M. B., Grimm, D. & Halpern, S. Public perceptions of aquaculture: evaluating spatiotemporal patterns of sentiment around the world. PLoS ONE 12, e0169281 (2017).\n\nBrown, J. H., Gillooly, J. F., Allen, A. P., Savage, V. M. & West, G. B. Toward a metabolic theory of ecology. Ecology 85, 1771\u20131789 (2004).\n\nEdwards, P. Aquaculture environment interactions: past, present and likely future trends. Aquaculture 447, 2\u201314 (2015).\n\nO\u2019Leary, B. C. et al. Effective coverage targets for ocean protection. Conserv. Lett. 9, 398\u2013404 (2016).\n\nHalpern, B. S. et al. A global map of human impact on marine ecosystems. Science 319, 948\u2013952 (2008).\n\nHalpern, B. S. et al. Spatial and temporal changes in cumulative human impacts on the world\u2019s ocean. Nat. Commun. 6, 7615 (2015).\n\nSanchez-Jerez, P. et al. Aquaculture\u2019s struggle for space: the need for coastal spatial planning and the potential benefits of allocated zones for aquaculture (AZAs) to avoid conflict and promote sustainability. Aquac. Environ. Interact. 8, 41\u201354 (2016).\n\nHalpern, B. S. et al. An index to assess the health and benefits of the global ocean. Nature 488, 615\u2013620 (2012).\n\nFAO Global Aquaculture Production Statistics Database Updated to 2013: Summary Information (FAO, 2015).\n\nKrause, G. et al. A revolution without people? Closing the people\u2013policy gap in aquaculture development. Aquaculture 447, 44\u201355 (2015).\n\nKnapp, G. & Rubino, M. C. The political economics of marine aquaculture in the United States. Rev. Fish. Sci. Aquac. 24, 213\u2013229 (2016).\n\nKlinger, D. & Naylor, R. L. Searching for solutions in aquaculture: charting a sustainable course. Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour. 37, 247\u2013276 (2012).\n\nBell, J. D. et al. Mixed responses of tropical Pacific fisheries and aquaculture to climate change. Nat. Clim. Chang. 3, 591\u2013599 (2013).\n\nCheung, W. W. L. et al. Large-scale redistribution of maximum fisheries catch potential in the global ocean under climate change. Glob. Chang. Biol. 16, 24\u201335 (2010).\n\nNguyen, H., Hien, P., Nang, T. & Lebailly, P. Vietnam\u2019s fisheries and aquaculture development\u2019s policy: are exports performance targets sustainable? In ISSAAS 2016: Int. Congress General Meeting (2016).\n\nGolden, C. et al. Fall in fish catch threatens human health. Nature 534, 317\u2013320 (2016).\n\nBelton, B., Bush, S. R. & Little, D. C. Are the farmed fish just for the wealthy? Nature 538, 171 (2016).\n\nB\u00e9n\u00e9, C. et al. Contribution of fisheries and aquaculture to food security and poverty reduction: assessing the current evidence. World Dev. 79, 177\u2013196 (2016).\n\nIPCC Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report (eds Core Writing Team, Pachauri, R. K. & Meyer L. A.) (IPCC, 2015).\n\nFairbanks, L. Moving mussels offshore? Perceptions of offshore aquaculture policy and expansion in New England. Ocean Coast. Manag. 130, 1\u201312 (2016).\n\nNaylor, R. L. et al. Feeding aquaculture in an era of finite resources. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 106, 15103\u201315110 (2009).\n\nRamos, J. et al. Perceived impact of offshore aquaculture area on small-scale fisheries: a fuzzy logic model approach. Fish. Res. 170, 217\u2013227 (2015).\n\nR Core Team R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. (R Foundation for Statistical Computing, 2016); https://www.r-project.org/.\n\nLocarnini, R. A. et al. World Ocean Atlas 2009 Volume 1: Temperature (2010); ftp://ftp.nodc.noaa.gov/pub/WOA09/DOC/woa09_vol1_text.pdf.\n\nRubino, M. Offshore Aquaculture in the United States: Economic Considerations, Implications & Opportunities (US Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2008).\n\nHarris, J. O., Maguire, G., Edwards, S. J. & Johns, D. R. Low dissolved oxygen reduces growth rate and oxygen consumption rate of juvenile greenlip abalone, Haliotis laevigata Donovan. Aquaculture 174, 265\u2013278 (1999).\n\nDiaz, R. J. Overview of hypoxia around the world. J. Environ. Qual. 30, 275\u2013281 (2001).\n\nVaquer-Sunyer, R. & Duarte, C. M. Thresholds of hypoxia for marine biodiversity. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 105, 15452\u201315457 (2008).\n\nBlanchette, C. A., Helmuth, B. & Gaines, S. D. Spatial patterns of growth in the mussel, Mytilus californianus, across a major oceanographic and biogeographic boundary at Point Conception, California, USA. J. Exp. Mar. Bio. Ecol. 340, 126\u2013148 (2007).\n\nPage, H. M. & Hubbard, D. M. Temporal and spatial patterns of growth in mussels Mytilus edulis on an offshore platform: relationships to water temperature and food availability. J. Exp. Mar. Bio. Ecol. 111, 159\u2013179 (1987).\n\nSaxby, S. A. in A Review of Food Availability, Sea Water Characteristics and Bivalve Growth Performance at Coastal Culture Sites in Temperate and Warm Temperate Regions of the World 132 (Department of Fisheries, Western Australia, 2002).\n\nInglis, G. J., Hayden, B. J. & Ross, A. H. An Overview of Factors Affecting the Carrying Capacity of Coastal Embayments for Mussel Culture (National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research, 2000).\n\nLangan, R. The role of marine aquaculture in meeting the future demand for animal protein. J. Foodserv. 19, 227\u2013233 (2008).\n\nPuniwai, N. et al. Development of a GIS-based tool for aquaculture siting. ISPRS Int. J. Geoinf. 3, 800\u2013816 (2014).\n\nKaiser, M. J., Snyder, B. & Yu, Y. A review of the feasibility, costs, and benefits of platform-based open ocean aquaculture in the Gulf of Mexico. Ocean Coast. Manag. 54, 721\u2013730 (2011).\n\nIUCN & UNEP World Database on Protected Areas (2009); http://www.wdpa.org/.\n\nDay, J. et al. Guidelines for Applying the IUCN Protected Area Management Categories to Marine Protected Areas (IUCN, 2012).\n\nWood, L. J., Fish, L., Laughren, J. & Pauly, D. Assessing progress towards global marine protection targets: shortfalls in information and action. Oryx 42, 340\u2013351 (2008).\n\nKeys, A. B. The weight\u2013length relation in fishes. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 14, 922\u2013925 (1928).\n\nFroese, R. Cube law, condition factor and weight\u2013length relationships: history, meta-analysis and recommendations. J. Appl. Ichthyol. 22, 241\u2013253 (2006).\n\nGaspar, M. B., Santos, M. N. & Vasconcelos, P. Weight\u2013length relationships of 25 bivalve species (Mollusca: Bivalvia) from the Algarve coast (southern Portugal). J. Mar. Biol. Assoc. UK 81, 805\u2013807 (2001).\n\nCommission Regulation (EC) No 710/2009 of 5 August 2009 Amending Regulation (EC) No 889/2008 Laying Down Detailed Rules for the Implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 15\u201334 (European Union, 2009).\n\nSim-Smith, C. & Forsythe, A. Comparison of the International Regulations and Best Management Practices for Marine Finfish Farming (New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries, 2013).", "output": "Farmed salmon are developing crystals called vaterites that are obstructing their ability to hear, according to a study by an Australian scientist. Marine biologist Tormey Reimer discovered that faster growing fish were three times more likely to develop the vaterites. As farmed fish receive high-nutrient feed, and are exposed to longer light conditions which boost feeding, they grow more quickly and efficiently. Aquaculture is the most rapidly expanding sector of food production with at least 50% of fish produced worldwide coming from farms. Marine ecologist Rebecca Gentry has proved that the sector could potentially produce 100 times existing seafood needs."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Toxic cloud off UK coast may have been caused by ship \n Authorities investigating the cause of Sunday\u2019s chemical cloud are working on the assumption that it came from a ship in the Channel after environmental monitoring sites picked up a localised spike in pollution levels.\n\nThe Maritime and Coastguard Agency is working with the Environment Agency to establish the source of the cloud, which left 150 people seeking medical treatment and caused the evacuation of Birling Gap beach in East Sussex.\n\nSo far there is no evidence that the cloud came from an inland source, and authorities have also played down speculation that it could have drifted from as far as France.\n\nA source close to the investigation said: \u201cIt might be a ship venting, but let\u2019s wait and see.\u201d\n\n\n\nA satellite imaging agency may have located a possible source of the chemical plume to a boat close to the East Sussex shore. Neodaas, a facility of the UK Natural Environment Research Council that works with the Plymouth Marine Laboratory and the University of Dundee, tweeted images appearing to show a plume coming off a boat on Sunday morning.\n\nOne image showed a plume of around 3.5km long. Neodaas is urging the Met Office to help determine whether wind speeds at the time could have drawn the plume onshore.\n\nTwo pollution monitoring sites on the south coast picked up a quadrupling in ozone levels in a 30-minute period on Sunday afternoon, suggesting the toxic cloud came from a nearby ship.\n\nOne site at Devonshire Park in Eastbourne, and the national monitoring site at Lullington Heath, East Sussex, are both within five miles of Birling Gap.\n\nTimothy Baker, from King\u2019s College London\u2019s environmental research group, which manages the pollution monitoring network for Sussex local authorities, said these readings suggested the source was nearby and offshore because of the wind direction at the time.\n\n\u201cWe are not sure what it was, but there was a very distinct peak: the levels quadrupled at the time that incident was reported. Within the space of about half an hour the readings we were getting from those sites went from 30 up to about 120 parts per billion of ozone,\u201d said Baker.\n\nNo other sites recorded a rise, he said. Similar levels of ozone pollution were reported during the 2003 heatwave, but at the time the levels did not rise so quickly, and no one reported stinging eyes, sore throats and vomiting as they did on Sunday.\n\nBaker said: \u201cThe most likely scenario is that it was either ozone combined with something else, or it is something that has reacted in a similar way to ozone and hence triggered the analysers.\u201d\n\n\n\nHe added: \u201cIt was probably something relatively close. I\u2019ve heard speculation that it may have drifted over from France. The speed of the rise and very isolated points at which it was detected would seem to indicate that was less likely, because the further away the source the more it spreads.\n\n\u201cAll the indications were that the wind was coming in off the sea at the time.\u201d\n\nAsked if the pollution came from a ship, he said: \u201cAll I can say is that it was something that came in off the sea.\u201d\n\nAn Environment Agency spokesman said: \u201cWe are currently investigating any potential onshore sources of the pollution and to date we have not identified anything that could be attributed to the mist and we are liaising with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, who are doing similar investigations offshore.\u201d\n\n\n\nBaker said the source of the cloud was still a mystery. \u201cWe have spent most of the day looking at it and we haven\u2019t got a definitive answer yet. We don\u2019t think it is just ozone that caused it. The monitoring sites don\u2019t record all possible pollutants. If it was an unusual chemical it is possible that it may have triggered a similar reaction within the analyser to ozone.\u201d\n\nNothing was seen on other polluting detectors including those for nitrogen dioxide, Baker said.\n\n\u201cOzone is not an emitted pollutant. It is caused by reactions within the atmosphere. The levels of pollution didn\u2019t indicate that this was a normal reaction, because ozone usually rises slowly and builds to a peak during the middle of the afternoon. This went up to four times what it was in half an hour,\u201d he said.\n\nEast Sussex fire and rescue service said the investigation was likely to take some time.\n\nGas-monitoring equipment used in the aftermath of the incident failed to conclusively identify the gas, it said. It said the expert team investigating the incident concluded that the gas was unlikely to be chlorine \u201cdue to the symptoms and situation described\u201d.\n\nIt added: \u201cAll agencies involved ask that investigators are given time to carry out their work rather than speculate on possible causes.\u201d", "output": "A chemical cloud that appeared over the coast of Sussex in the UK on Sunday, and which forced 150 people to seek medical treatment, could have come from a ship in the Channel. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency, in conjunction with the Environment Agency, is attempting to identify the source of the cloud which led to the evacuation of Birling Gap beach. Two pollution monitoring sites on the coast identified a quadrupling of ozone levels in a half-hour period on Sunday afternoon, increasing speculation that the toxic plume emerged from a vessel."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hurricane Harvey costs could reach $100bn \n With the catastrophic Texas floods triggered by the former Hurricane Harvey expected to worsen, early estimates suggest the financial damage it has inflicted has already run into tens of billions of dollars, and one forecaster has predicted the final bill could be as high as $100bn (\u00a377bn).\n\nThe tropical storm continues to batter south-eastern Texas, where it has so far claimed at least nine lives, and is expected to reach southern Louisiana. Thousands of homes have been flooded, forcing residents to seek emergency shelter. US authorities estimate 30,000 people will need shelter.\n\nSo far, predictions of the final cost of the damage vary widely, although Harvey is expected to be one of the costliest storms in US history. Some analysts are putting the likely damage at $30 to $50bn \u2013 but point out that not all of this sum will be covered by insurance. However, David Havens, an insurance analyst at Imperial Capital in New York, told Bloomberg News the final bill could reach as much as $100bn.\n\nThis compares with economic damage of $176bn inflicted by hurricane Katrina in 2005, which included $82bn of insured losses, and the $75bn economic losses caused by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, of which $31bn was insured. The figures are from Swiss Re Institute.\n\nChuck Watson, of US data analytics firm Enki, said: \u201cHarvey is so destructive not because it was a category 4, but because of the rain and flooding \u2026 I would not be surprised to see numbers approaching $42bn, which would put the storm in the top 10, and at the fringes of the top five, most costly storms in US history.\u201d\n\nAs personal insurance policies tend to exclude flood cover, most of the flood-related claims will be borne by the US National Flood Insurance Programme.\n\nHowever, many people in eastern Texas have failed to buy coverage from NFIP or have let their policies lapse, the New York Times reported. It said many never had to buy flood insurance because their property was not listed as being on a 100-year floodplain.\n\nDonald Trump said the cost of recovery from Harvey \u2013 the first natural disaster during his presidency \u2013 would be \u201cvery expensive\u201d but pledged that \u201cthe federal government stands ready, willing and able to support that effort\u201d.\n\nBarrie Cornes, a London-based analyst at Panmure Gordon, said the wind damage and flooding, which was showing no sign of let-up, was likely to cause total economic losses of $30 to $50bn.\n\nAs for how much of this is insured, Edward Morris and Michael Huttner, insurance analysts at JPMorgan Cazenove, said: \u201cAt this stage, it remains early to provide reliable loss estimates, but something in the $10bn to $20bn range appears likely, and could easily be exceeded given the extent of flood damage.\u201d\n\nLloyd\u2019s of London firms Lancashire, Beazley and Hiscox are expected to be the worst-affected UK insurers. Cornes estimates they face bills of at least \u00a3100m each.\n\nHarvey has swamped the Texas oil industry, which processes a third of America\u2019s oil. Companies including Exxon Mobil have shut down their facilities and it will be weeks before refineries return to full operation. This is likely to push up gasoline prices at the pump.\n\nGoldman Sachs estimates that refinery shutdowns have affected 3m barrels a day, about 17% of refining capacity.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe slow-moving nature of the storm will likely lead to these shutdowns continuing in coming days and may generate persistent damage as well,\u201d Damien Courvalin, the head of energy research at Goldman Sachs, said in a note on Monday morning.\n\nApart from energy, the construction and shipping industries will bear the brunt of the commercial damage, according to the Lloyd\u2019s of London insurance market. It said it was too early to put a figure on the likely damage.\n\nA spokesman added: \u201cIn terms of Lloyd\u2019s exposure, which in Texas includes the construction, energy, marine and hospitality industries, we\u2019ll likely play a key role in the restoration of damaged businesses and communities. In the last five years, the Lloyd\u2019s market has paid out $6.3bn in catastrophe claims payments in North America, so this is an area where we have deep experience.\u201d\n\nAndreas van Embden, an analyst at Peel Hunt, said the US flood programme bears all homeowners\u2019 losses up to $4bn and only transfers 25% of the next $4bn to the private reinsurance market. So if Harvey triggers an $8bn flood loss, reinsurers would face a $1bn claim. He estimates insured losses of up to $12bn.\n\n\u201cWhilst Harvey is a major event we do not see this as being the size of a Katrina or Sandy,\u201d he said.\n\nThe top five natural disasters \u2013 insured losses and (total economic losses)\n\n2005 Hurricane Katrina \u2013 $82bn ($176bn)\n\n2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami \u2013 $38bn ($229bn)\n\n2012 Hurricane Sandy \u2013 $31bn ($75bn)\n\n1992 Hurricane Andrew \u2013 $28bn ($46bn)\n\n1994 Northridge earthquake \u2013 $25bn ($73bn)\n\nSource: Swiss Re Institute\n\n", "output": "The financial cost of the flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey in Texas could range from $30bn to $100bn, according to analysts. The storm could be one of the most expensive in US history, with not all losses covered by insurance. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 resulted in losses of $176bn, including $82bn of insured losses, according to Swiss Re. The majority of flood-related claims for Harvey will be borne by the US National Flood Insurance Programme (NFIP). However, many residents lack NFIP coverage. Lloyd's-owned insurers Lancashire, Beazley and Hiscox are expected to face costs of \u00a3100m ($129m) each."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Greenko mulls bid for $2bn Reliance-owned Mumbai power utility \n MUMBAI: India\u2019s leading renewables company Greenko is in talks with Anil Ambani-led Reliance Infrastructure to acquire its Mumbai electricity business for an enterprise value of Rs 10,000-13,000 crore ($1.75-2 billion), people aware of the discussions said.The Mumbai business caters to 3 million customers, making it the country\u2019s largest private sector integrated power utility, entailing 1800 mw of distribution along with generation facilities, besides over 1,000 km of underground network. The distribution franchise is nine decades old with the licence valid till August 2036.In November 2015, R-Infra entered into a non-binding pact to sell 49% stake in the business to Public Sector Pension Investment Board ( PSP Investments ) of Canada. Those exclusive negotiations lapsed, following which the company engaged with other potential suitors, said sources in the know.Hong Kong-headquartered CLP has also held discussions with Reliance, said a company official on condition of anonymity, but Greenko is believed to be the front-runner. However, no binding agreements have been signed yet, said the sources mentioned above.Spokespersons for R-Infra and Greenko refused comment on what they termed as speculation. \u201cIndia is a primary growth market for CLP Group and the company has built its portfolio steadily for the last 15 years. In line with its growth strategy, the company routinely evaluates different opportunities. The matter in question is speculative and as a policy, we don\u2019t respond to market speculation,\u201d a CLP spokesperson told ET.In FY17, R-Infra\u2019s electrical division (Mumbai and Delhi together) clocked Rs 4,165 crore EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) on the back of Rs 22,556 crore revenues. The Mumbai division accounted for around Rs 9,750 crore revenues and Rs 2,000-2,500 crore EBITDA, sources said. The company does not disclose city-wise breakup.The Mumbai circle licence, along with the generation, transmission and distribution assets, will be carved out and transferred to a subsidiary and then sold, explained the official mentioned above.Within 10 years, Greenko has become India\u2019s largest renewable power producer with 2.5 gigawatts (gw) of operational portfolio of wind, solar and hydropower projects. By September 2017 end, the company plans to raise capacity to 3 gw.The operating portfolio is believed to have generated around $450 million EBITDA in FY17. This arguably places the company among the top 5 private sector owners and operators of power assets across all verticals (coal, renewable and hydro).The privately held company that was previously listed on London\u2019s AIM exchange, counts Singapore\u2019s GIC and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) as key shareholders. Greenko has been making bold bets. Last year, it took over SunEdison\u2019s India portfolio and this year it completed the world\u2019s largest solar project (500 mw) in five months in Andhra Pradesh. In the past 12 months, it has raised $2 billion in equity and debt.Sources said the foray into transmission and distribution along with technologies relating to energy storage will help Greenko derisk its portfolio and control the entire value chain. Both GIC and ADIA will be infusing equity to back this transaction, like they have in the past.CLP entered India\u2019s power sector in 2002. It has grown its wind energy business consistently to become the largest independent producer. It currently operates 3148 mw and has been looking to add 250-300 mw of renewable capacity annually.Since past two years, cash-strapped Reliance Infrastructure has been looking at exiting capex-heavy businesses such as cement and roads to focus on the newer defence division. It has exited cement entirely and is looking at either divesting or listing its roads portfolio.R-Infra\u2019s debt on a consolidated basis stands at about Rs 29,000 crore, which, according to the company brass, is expected to fall to Rs 20,000 crore following various deleveraging initiatives.\u201cThere is no exclusivity with PSP and Reliance is free to talk to or engage with various parties. These are crown jewels, so naturally there is interest from investors from all over. But nothing concrete has taken place,\u201d said an official directly involved, on condition of anonymity. The transaction is likely to reduce Reliance Group\u2019s debt by at least Rs 10,000 crore.\u201cIn power distribution, the company has been able to reduce loss levels significantly in both cities with loss level in Mumbai at ~9% (vs average of 30% for India) and at 13% in Delhi (vs 55% earlier),\u201d said Dhirendra Tiwari and Anish Hariprasad of Antique Stock Broking.\u201cThe sale of cement business to Birla Corporation and the recent filing of DRHP for raising funds through InViT (Infrastructure Investment Trust) and the proceeds from arbitration process are likely to lead to substantial reduction of debt,\u201d felt Mangesh Bhadang of Nirmal Bang Institutional Equities.", "output": "Indian renewables company Greenko is in talks to acquire Reliance Infrastructure's Mumbai electricity business for INR100bn-130bn ($1.75bn-$2bn), said people familiar with the matter. With 3 million customers, the Mumbai business is India's largest private sector integrated power utility. Hong Kong-based utility holding company CLP has also discussed acquiring the Mumbai business with Reliance, however, Greenko is the frontrunner, according to several sources."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon, Facebook and Google match $3m to help Harvey victims \n SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 It took fewer than 24 hours for several tech companies to hit their matching goals of $1 million in funds raised to aid victims of Hurricane Harvey.\n\nFacebook met its $1 million fundraising matching goal within just a few hours, according to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy\u2019s Hurricane Harvey Recovery Fund, which received the funds.\n\nGoogle fulfilled its $1 million matching campaign in under 24 hours, raising funds from Google users and staff for Red Cross efforts in Texas and other affected areas. Its staff donated $250,000 to the American Red Cross, which the company matched dollar for dollar, and Google also made a corporate contribution of $250,000.\n\nAmazon, and its newest acquisition Whole Foods Markets, met its $1 million matching goal within days, the company said..\n\nThe Amazon wish list from the Red Cross gives a sense of the immediate needs of those in flood-ravaged areas: phone chargers and children's bedding. Amazon fulfillment teams in northern and central Texas continue to ship the needed items to Red Cross distribution centers.\n\nApple donated $2 million to the American Red Cross for Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. The company has also pledged to match employee donations two to one.\n\nIn addition, Apple is making it easy for users to donate to the Red Cross via its iTunes page, which now features buttons for donating between $5 and $200. The money is transferred directly to the American Red Cross from iTunes, so those donating won't get a tax writeoff. But they also won't have to do anything more than click a button on a site they probably visit frequently.\n\nAT&T has pledged $350,000 to help communities impacted by Hurricane Harvey. The AT&T Foundation will also match employee donations up to $100,000. In addition, customers can text \u2018HARVEY\u2019 to 90999 to donate $10 to the American Red Cross.\n\nMicrosoft made an initial donation of $100,000 to the Red Cross, with the company and its employees pledging to do more.\n\nMore:Inside the convention center, Harvey evacuees cramped but safe\n\nMore:Humanitarian efforts aim to minimize Harvey's misery\n\nMore:FEMA: Emergency housing for Hurricane Harvey refugees will be 'frustrating' and 'a long process'", "output": "Amazon, Facebook and Google are among the companies making significant donations to help victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas. Google matched the $250,000 donation made to the American Red Cross by its staff, as well as making a corporate gift of $250,000. The company has launched a further $1m matching campaign to encourage donations from staff and users. Amazon will match donations made in its stores or on its website up to $1m. Facebook has pledged to match every dollar raised on its site up to a total of $1m. AT&T and Microsoft have also made donations."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "$9.5bn of city water projects available for investment: CDP \n Research finds cities join companies to lead on water security development following climate change and urban population pressure.\n\nAugust 29, 2017: New research from CDP, the international environmental reporting and data non-profit, today reveals that US$9.5 billion worth of city water projects are now open for investment. Released for World Water Week (27 August \u2013 1 September) CDP\u2019s new infographic report \u2018Who\u2019s tackling urban water challenges\u2019, produced in partnership with AECOM, the global infrastructure firm, and funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, shows the first and most comprehensive dataset of global water action by cities and companies produced to date. Using information gathered from 569 cities and 1,432 companies, each reporting their water management activity, it illustrates how global cities and companies are responding to the escalating challenge of climate change and urban population growth.\n\nThe cities most concerned about their water supply lie in Asia and Oceania (84%); with serious risks also identified in Africa (80%) and Latin America (75%). 63% of North American cities deem climate change a risk to water supply, with fewer cities concerned in Europe (34%). 196 cities reported risks of water stress and scarcity; 132 a risk of declining water quality and 103 a risk of flooding.\n\nFor example, in December 2015 Chennai faced the worst flooding from rain storms in the last 100 years. With a population of 7,600,000, many hundreds of people were killed, millions were without clean water and business operations were severely disrupted. The city is now investing in its resiliency with water conservation education, building a storm water management system and additional infrastructure.\n\nTogether with US$14 billion of water impacts reported from companies, such as loss of production last year, 62% of cities are now working with companies to address water and climate change issues with 80 cities seeking US $9.5 billion for 89 water management projects. Water investment opportunities are greatest in Latin America (US$6.7bn), where Quito, Ecuador is looking for US$800 million to manage their water supply. The city aims to build three hydropower stations and address the contamination of 246km of Quito\u2019s rivers and streams. Development in Latin America is followed by North America (US$2.7bn); Asia and Oceania (US$27.4m); Europe (US$22.3m) and Africa (US$6.19m).\n\nMorgan Gillespy, Head of CDP\u2019s Water Program, said:\n\n\u201cOur report shows just how crucial water management is becoming to our cities. We are seeing critical shifts in leadership from cities and companies in response to the very real threat of flooding, for example, to local economies. Combined with innovation and financial capital, this puts the tipping point for a sustainable economy in reach, and this data shows how important investors are in making this happen. These funds are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of where we must go, with live infrastructure projects currently calling out for US$9.5 billion. Furthermore, in conjunction with investment, we must take a holistic approach to water. Our vision is to achieve a secure and sustainable water supply by 2030 but to get here we need a sharp U-turn in how we manage our natural resources. Water must be recognised as a critical asset at city and board level, so it\u2019s down to us all to build it into our thinking.\u201d\n\n\n\nClaire Bonham-Carter, Principal and City Resilience Lead, AECOM notes:\n\n\u201cFrom our work with cities around the world, water has consistently come up as a key resilience challenge. Many of them, regardless of size, from Mexico City, Mexico to Berkeley, California, are addressing both long-term water supply issues as well as chronic urban flooding. In thinking about the immediate flooding and future water scarcity issues through a resilience lens, we are helping cities to address issues of socio-economic disparity and environmental justice, in addition to solving their technical challenges.\u201d\n\n\n\nExplore how cities and companies are acting on water, the CDP infographic report \u2018Who's tackling urban water challenges\u2019, with case studies and full data is available at www.cdp.net/cities.\n\n\n\n- ENDS -\n\n\n\nFor more information please contact\n\nYasmine Svan\n\nESG Communications\n\nt : +44 (0)7598 148296\n\ne : [email protected]\n\nCharlotte Webster\n\nCommunications Manager\n\nCDP\n\nt: +44 (0)7990 583307\n\ne: [email protected]\n\nNotes to Editors\n\nThe full \u2018Who's tackling urban water challenges\u2019 data set is available at www.cdp.net/cities Water data from companies is from the 2016 CDP Water Report, available at www.cdp.net/water City data is from the 2017 reporting cycle, full data available at https://data.cdp.net\n\nAbout CDP\n\n\n\nCDP is an international non-profit that drives companies and governments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, safeguard water resources and protect forests. Voted number one climate research provider by investors and working with institutional investors with assets of US$100 trillion, we leverage investor and buyer power to motivate companies to disclose and manage their environmental impacts. Nearly 6,000 companies with some 60% of global market capitalization disclosed environmental data through CDP in 2016. This is in addition to the over 500 cities and 100 states and regions who disclosed, making CDP\u2019s platform one of the richest sources of information globally on how companies and governments are driving environmental change. CDP, formerly Carbon Disclosure Project, is a founding member of the We Mean Business Coalition. Please follow @CDP.\n\nAbout AECOM\n\nAECOM is built to deliver a better world. We design, build, finance and operate infrastructure assets for governments, businesses and organizations in more than 150 countries. As a fully integrated firm, we connect knowledge and experience across our global network of experts to help clients solve their most complex challenges. From high-performance buildings and infrastructure, to resilient communities and environments, to stable and secure nations, our work is transformative, differentiated and vital. A Fortune 500 firm, AECOM had revenue of approximately $17.4 billion during fiscal year 2016. See how we deliver what others can only imagine at aecom.com and @AECOM.", "output": "Around two thirds of cities from around the world are teaming up with companies to develop water management projects designed to cope with problems caused by rising urban populations and increasingly scarce water resources, according to a report by environmental non-profit, the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). The study states that $9.5bn of city water projects are now available to investors. Latin America is the region with the greatest opportunities for water investment at  $6.7bn, while the greatest concern about supply is found in cities in Asia and the Pacific, followed by Africa and Latin America."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hotter, wetter US weather is hurting solar output \n Continued warm, wet conditions in the second quarter of 2017 brought a departure from normal global horizontal irradiance, the key variable for PV plant production.\n\nGTM has partnered with Vaisala, a company that monitors solar performance across the U.S., to give the industry a better understanding of how these weather trends are driving solar performance around the country.\n\nThe most recent set of maps evaluate departure from normal solar resource conditions in the second quarter of 2017.\n\nSpring 2017 did not follow the usual climatological script. Rather, following the trend from the first quarter of the year, Q2 overall featured continued warm and wet weather for much of the contiguous U.S.\n\nAs illustrated by Vaisala\u2019s Q2 map, wet and cloudy conditions prevailed in the Northeast, Southwest and Upper Midwest, while clear and dry conditions were experienced in the Southeast and the Plains region. This pattern of above- and below-normal solar conditions across the country is also consistent with extreme temperature and precipitation conditions recorded by NOAA for the second quarter.\n\nThe contiguous United States had its second-warmest year to date, from January to June 2017. Nationally, extremes in maximum and minimum warm temperatures, one-day precipitation totals, days with precipitation, the spatial extent of wetness, and land-falling tropical cyclones were all above average. The U.S. Climate Extremes Index (USCEI) for the year to date was the third-highest value on record, at more than double the average.\n\nOn the regional scale, the Northeast, Upper Midwest, Ohio Valley, Southeast, South and West each had record or near-record high CEI value for the year to date. In the Northeast and Upper Midwest, the number of days with precipitation was significantly above average, leading to lower-than-normal solar resource. One-day precipitation totals and days with precipitation in the Ohio Valley were also well above normal.\n\nParts of the Southeastern U.S. experienced drought conditions at the start of Q2, with wildfires burning in Florida and southern Georgia. They later saw a significant transition with near eradication of drought due to intense rainfall events during the month of June. In the South and the West, single-day precipitation totals showed significant departures from normal conditions with spatial coverage and days with precipitation being well above average.\n\nWarmer-than-normal winter and spring conditions have a direct effect on the energy industry because they reduce energy demand related to heating. As with Q1 2017, energy demand in Q2 was extremely low. For context, the contiguous U.S. temperature-related energy demand during spring 2017 was the fourth lowest in the 123-year period of record, according to data from NOAA\u2019s Residential Energy Demand Temperature Index.\n\nThese conditions also affected the solar industry because wetter springtime weather typically comes with significant cloud cover, reducing the available solar resource. This has the obvious effect of reduced power production and decreased project revenue, but can have the added consequence of bringing negative attention to solar in locations where it may not be politically stable.\n\nOne example is Minnesota, where the solar energy capacity of the state rose 80 percent during the first half of 2017. This was after a consecutive quarter of leapfrog growth as several major solar arrays were switched on. Altogether, Minnesota's solar arrays have the capacity to crank out roughly the same amount of power as one of Xcel Energy's larger natural-gas-fired plants -- at least when skies are clear and sunny.\n\nAnd there lies the challenge. Without the ability to properly attribute weather as the cause of lower-than-expected performance and rougher-than-planned grid integration, the local solar industry runs the risk of backlash from utilities and politicians opposed to the newly installed systems.\n\nLooking at Vaisala\u2019s Solar Performance Map of the second quarter, the observed regional pattern of negative and positive anomalies speaks to the importance of weather impacts on project performance even when the installations are small.\n\nFor more details, read our month-by-month summaries below to learn how specific weather conditions and anomalous patterns throughout April, May and June may have influenced solar production across your portfolio.\n\nApril\n\nA highly variable upper-level circulation sent many troughs and slow-moving closed lows across the contiguous United States (CONUS), which left bouts of cooler weather, heavy precipitation, and severe storms in their wake, especially at the beginning and end of the month. The overall circulation pattern and its widespread above-normal precipitation caused the U.S. to have the second wettest April on record.\n\nWeather across the country this month was dominated by a highly variable jet stream circulation, which dropped above-normal precipitation across much of the country, especially in Hawaii, the West, Plains, Midwest, and parts of the Southeast. Above-normal precipitation in the Pacific Northwest meant three different states experienced their top 10 wettest April within the 123-year record. The associated cloud coverage produced solar resource anomalies of 5 percent or greater below normal for the month.\n\nThese jet stream conditions and their southerly flow funneled moisture from the Gulf of Mexico into the Southern Plains to Ohio Valley, and parts of the Southeast, with heavy rains causing extensive flooding along the mid-Mississippi Valley. North Carolina had the wettest April on record, which threatened some newly installed solar farms and forced their owners to monitor flood plains and deal with groundwork issues.\n\nMay\n\nLike April, May 2017 did not follow the usual climatological patterns. Similar to the previous month, a highly meridional and variable upper-level circulation sent many troughs and slow-moving closed lows across the U.S., which left bouts of cooler weather, heavy precipitation, and severe storms in their wake.\n\nThe highly variable jet stream circulation continued into May with above-normal precipitation across much of the eastern half of the country, especially from the lower Mississippi Valley to the Ohio Valley and central Appalachians. The fronts and upper-level lows triggered periods of severe weather and kept temperatures cooler than normal across much of the central U.S.\n\nCold fronts and low-pressure systems combined with the upper-level lows to create unstable air and dynamics favorable for severe weather. A particularly strong, widespread and severe weather outbreak occurred at mid-month, covering Colorado in a blanket of snow. It also dropped hailstones up to 2.75 inches in diameter onto the NREL research facility in Golden, Colo. Miraculously, out of 3,168 solar panels at NREL\u2019s Research Support Facility, only one sustained damage, a true testament to the resilience of PV technology.\n\nFor areas not in the path of these weather systems, the month was drier than normal, with eight states in the Plains and West having below-average precipitation for May. These drier-than-normal conditions contributed to above-average solar resources, particularly in Montana, which unfortunately does not currently have many solar project installations to take advantage of the excellent conditions.\n\nJune\n\nSolar adoption in the Southeast has taken off. North Carolina moved into second place and Georgia has claimed eighth position on the list of top 10 solar states. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate with the increase in solar plants in these states by bringing sunny weather. Instead, June\u2019s weather negatively impacted available solar resources during what should have been a high-production month.\n\nAreas of heavy rain were observed, especially along the Gulf Coast, with accompanying low solar resource conditions affecting projects in the area. High levels of rain in the South and Northeast meant that five states in these regions ranked in the top 10 wettest category -- Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Vermont.\n\nCold fronts and surface low-pressure systems moving in the jet stream flow east of the Rockies were funneled into the Eastern and Southern U.S. by the long-wave trough, where they tapped moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean.\n\nWithout inhibitors related to the El Ni\u00f1o-Southern Oscillation shearing tropical systems, the Atlantic and East Pacific saw slightly more vigorous tropical cyclone activity than average. The Atlantic hurricane season typically runs from June 1 through November 30, and two tropical systems developed in the North Atlantic during June. The cloudiness and rain which accompanied Tropical Storm Cindy gave several states in the Southeast a cooler-than-normal June, in addition to being wetter than normal.\n\nThe fronts from the North and systems from the South diverged around the mid-Atlantic region, contributing to a sunnier-than-normal month for an area encompassing Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. The system that moved across the West brought rain during the second and third weeks, but the ridge kept most of the West and Great Plains sunnier than normal, and the monthly average was near normal.", "output": "Warm conditions across the US in the first half of 2017 reduced energy demand related to heating. Meanwhile, the significant cloud cover that came with wetter springtime weather reduced the availability of solar resource. These factors reduced power production and projects revenues, which could expose local solar industries to backlash from utilities and politicians opposed to installed systems."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "When given the chance, will patients choose cheaper prescription drugs? \n Functional Functional Always active\n\nThe technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.", "output": "Significant cost savings and changes in drug selection has been linked to reference pricing, which leverages insurer/employer contributions to encourage patients to select cheaper drugs that are as effective as their name-brand counterparts, according to a new study.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The debate over single-payer healthcare in California isn't going away. Here's why \n Members of the California Nurses Association and supporters rally at the state Capitol for a single-payer health plan June 28.\n\nA bill to establish single-payer healthcare screeched to an abrupt halt earlier this summer \u2014 but that hasn\u2019t blunted its continuing influence on California politics.\n\nCalls for a sea change in the state\u2019s healthcare system have proved remarkably durable, even after Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon shelved a measure in June that would have made the state responsible for paying all of its residents\u2019 medical costs.\n\nA recently filed ballot initiative, budding campaigns against sitting lawmakers \u2014 including a recall effort against Rendon \u2014 and new plans for legislators to wrestle with how to achieve universal healthcare have taken shape in recent weeks, and the conversation is poised to take on national heft as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) prepares to introduce a \u201cMedicare for all\u201d measure in the fall.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIt all sets the stage for a combustible coming election year, in which questions about the viability of single payer will be posed to gubernatorial candidates, incumbent lawmakers and new entrants to politics galvanized by the healthcare debate.\n\n\u201cPeople are literally dying because of a lack of healthcare,\u201d said Don Nielsen, government relations director for the California Nurses Assn. \u201cIt\u2019s not a matter of waiting until somebody high enough in the power structure decides it\u2019s time\u2026. The time is now.\u201d\n\nThe nurses group was the prime driver behind the legislation, SB 562, which would have established a single-payer system in California. The plan proposed to largely do away with private insurance companies and instead have the state cover the tab for residents\u2019 healthcare expenses. The proposal\u2019s total cost ranged from $330 billion to $400 billion but passed out of the state Senate without identifying a revenue source to fund it.\n\nWhat would California\u2019s proposed single-payer healthcare system mean for me? \u00bb\n\nThe effort to push through the measure came at a time of increasing awareness \u2014 and growing approval \u2014 of the single-payer concept. Pew Research Center found that nationally, 33% of respondents backed a single-payer healthcare system, a 12-percentage-point bump in approval since 2004. Statewide, the Public Policy Institute of California found in May that 65% of all adults backed the single-payer insurance system that would have been established by SB 562. But that support plunged more than 20 percentage points if the plan would require raising taxes.\n\nFacing the prospect of saddling his caucus with an unpopular tax vote \u2014 or approval of a measure without determining how it would be paid for \u2014 Rendon opted to table the bill in June, igniting an immediate outcry from its supporters.\n\nTwo months later, that ardor has not fizzled. Last week, a new ballot measure was filed with the goal of removing \u201croadblocks\u201d to establishing single payer. The initiative, filed by Dale Fountain, who leads the Facebook group Enact Universal Healthcare for California, would create a special account expressly for healthcare that would be exempt from rules that dictate how the state\u2019s general fund dollars must be spent.\n\nThe initiative also states its purpose is to spur the Legislature to act, since its passage would theoretically underscore public support for single payer.\n\nDays after the initiative was filed, Rendon announced that informational hearings would be held during the fall legislative recess. He said lawmakers would examine a number of healthcare models, such as Medicare for all or an expansion of the Affordable Care Act, to achieve universal healthcare coverage.\n\nSB 562 has become the most widely known single-payer proposal in the state, but it is not the only road map.\n\nJonathan Oberlander, professor of social medicine at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, said that single-payer systems \u2014 broadly defined as those in which the government is the sole payer of healthcare costs \u2014 can vary in financing, benefits and cost-sharing. And single payer is not the only way to achieve universal coverage.\n\n\u201cCountries like Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland and others have universal coverage but not through single-payer arrangements,\u201d Oberlander said. \u201cThe notion that the choice is the U.S. status quo or Canadian-style single payer is a prevalent myth.\u201d\n\nBy providing a forum to hash out the healthcare debate through the fall, the hearings almost certainly will propel the issue into 2018. But the conversation holds political risk: Will Democrats be expected to produce a bill at the hearings\u2019 close? Will their findings satisfy the most zealous advocates?\n\nPeople rally in favor of single-payer healthcare in California outside Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon\u2019s office in South Gate on June 27. (Robyn Beck / AFP/Getty Images)\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t want anybody to have an impression that we\u2019ll do two or three hearings and then, boom, we\u2019ll have a magical solution,\u201d said Assemblyman Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg), one of two Democrats leading the panel.\n\nHe insisted the hearings would not be a meaningless exercise.\n\n\u201cThis is a real effort,\u201d Wood said. \u201cI would hope people would be patient and would learn along with us as we move forward, because there is a lot to learn.\u201d\n\nAssemblyman Joaquin Arambula (D-Fresno), the committee\u2019s co-chairman, said he expects the conversation will spill over to the contest to succeed Gov. Jerry Brown.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s imperative to bring healthcare to that governor\u2019s race,\u201d Arambula said.\n\nThe top Democratic candidates have staked out varying positions on the topic: Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has called a state-level single-payer plan \u201csnake oil,\u201d while Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is backed by the nurses association, has called for universal healthcare but has not yet rolled out a proposal. Treasurer John Chiang has signaled support for the concept of single payer but said he has concerns over implementation.\n\nRendon\u2019s call for hearings was immediately greeted with suspicion from SB 562\u2019s most ardent backers, including those behind a nascent recall effort against him.\n\n\u201cThe speaker\u2019s decision to release this misleading statement at this time demonstrates clearly that the speaker has decided not to change course, but rather that the public pressure that has been brought to bear on Speaker Rendon is succeeding,\u201d said Steve Elzie, an attorney advising the recall proponents.\n\nAlthough the nurses group is not backing the recall, it is keeping the heat on other Assembly Democrats. During the summer break, the union held town halls and knocked on doors in a number of districts. It\u2019s also sent mailers to constituents asking why their representatives aren\u2019t supporting SB 562.\n\nAll signs point to the pressure continuing into 2018, and Nielsen did not rule out recruiting challengers to take on Democratic incumbents.\n\n\u201cAll options are on the table,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a key issue. This is an issue that really should separate the serious progressive politicians from those who are not serious about the issue.\u201d\n\nmelanie.mason@latimes.com\n\nFollow @melmason on Twitter for the latest on California politics.\n\nCalifornia Assembly leader Anthony Rendon\u2019s decision to shelve single-payer healthcare angers progressive activists\n\nQ&A: You asked, we answered. Here are some of our readers\u2019 questions on California\u2019s proposed single-payer plan\n\nUpdates from Sacramento", "output": "A bill to establish single-payer healthcare screeched to an abrupt halt earlier this summer \u2014 but that hasn\u2019t blunted its continuing influence on California politics.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "What Happens If You\u2019re Forced To Switch Health Plans When You\u2019re Sick? \n Joanna Joshua, 39, panicked when she opened a letter from her family\u2019s insurer, Cigna, only to learn it was pulling out of California\u2019s individual market next year.\n\nThe Santa Clarita resident would have no choice but to change health plans.\n\n\u201cWhat am I going to do?\u201d Joshua wondered. Her 2-year-old daughter, Jasmine Winning, needs heart surgery next year because of a rare disease she\u2019s had since birth. The toddler has had two heart operations already because she was born with a malformed heart \u2014 a condition resulting from Heterotaxy syndrome, in which internal organs are not where they should be.\n\nJoshua believes it\u2019s critical to keep the same doctors for her daughter because they know her unique anatomy. Disrupting the relationship between Jasmine and her medical team would be a \u201cthreat to her life,\u201d the girl\u2019s mother said.\n\nUse Our Content This story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nCigna\u2019s decision, along with the recent news that Anthem Blue Cross will pull out of the individual market across a large swath of California, has prompted a key state lawmaker to propose legislation that would help seriously ill patients like Jasmine keep their doctors even if those doctors don\u2019t contract with the new health plan.\n\nAnthem cited market instability, tied to uncertainty about federal policy, as a principal reason for pulling out. Cigna also cited instability. State Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina) said the new bill, which he introduced, would protect vulnerable patients from being harmed by it.\n\n\u201cWe have to make sure there\u2019s stability and some calm [for] the consumer,\u201d said Hernandez, chairman of the Senate Health Committee.\n\nFor people who buy their own insurance and have to switch plans because their insurer is pulling up stakes, the Hernandez bill would require the new plan to cover treatment by the same physicians, even if they are not in the new insurer\u2019s network.\n\nThe provision would apply for enrollees under treatment for a chronic, acute or terminal illness, and in cases of pregnancy. The coverage would be contingent on the doctor accepting the payment offered by the new health plan, and the insurer would have to continue covering the services of that provider for up to one year. The coverage could extend beyond a year if the patient were terminally ill.\n\nSimilar protections already exist for people with job-based insurance policies that are under the purview of state regulators.\n\nJasmine Winning is the poster child for the proposed new law \u2014 literally. If passed, it would be dubbed \u201cJasmine\u2019s Law.\u201d\n\nHer two operations were performed by Dr. Frank Hanley, a pediatric cardiac surgeon at Lucile Packard Children\u2019s Hospital Stanford. Hanley is not covered by other health insurers selling in the ZIP code where Jasmine and her family live, the girl\u2019s mother said.\n\nIndividual policyholders in many other parts of the country could also be scrambling to keep their doctors next year. In Texas, eight health insurers pulled out of the individual market. By next year, Aetna will have completely withdrawn from the 15 subsidized marketplaces where it has sold at one time or another since 2014. Thousands of people in Nevada will not be able to buy subsidized health plans after Anthem pulled back from many counties in that state\u2019s insurance exchange.\n\nThe California bill would also modify an existing law that protects patients awaiting organ transplants. Under current statute, people in job-based coverage who are forced to switch health plans can keep their medical teams for up to a year if they\u2019re on a transplant waiting list. The proposed legislation would apply the same rule to people who buy their own insurance. And it would allow both employer-based and individual market enrollees to keep their doctors even longer if it took more than a year for them to get the transplant. They could receive follow-up care from the same medical team after the procedure.\n\nCalifornia insurers are particularly concerned about the transplant provision of the bill, saying it could allow patients to see out-of-network providers \u201cpotentially for decades.\u201d\n\nMary Ellen Grant, a spokeswoman for the California Association of Health Plans, said in an email that the transplant patient provision would hamper insurers\u2019 ability to manage the cost of care for all their members.\n\nRoughly 6,000 customers who have individual policies through Cigna will have to find new coverage next year, according to the California Department of Insurance. This year, Cigna is selling individual and family coverage in California\u2019s large urban regions, including the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego. It does not sell policies on the state\u2019s insurance exchange, Covered California.\n\nA spokesman for the company, Joe Mondy, said in an email that Cigna is discontinuing service to individual consumers next year because of \u201cthe relative instability\u201d of the marketplace. People who have job-sponsored coverage with Cigna will not be affected by the decision.\n\nCigna\u2019s footprint in the state\u2019s individual market has been shrinking for years, said Janice Rocco, deputy commissioner of health policy at the California Department of Insurance (CDI). That may be due in part to the fact that the company declined to participate in Covered California, she said.\n\nIn California, it has been more common for insurers to pull out from certain geographic areas than to leave the individual market altogether, Rocco said. But complete withdrawal is not unheard of. Right before Covered California opened for business in 2014, Aetna and UnitedHealthcare stopped selling to individuals, though UnitedHealthcare returned temporarily in 2016 before exiting again this year.\n\nNext year, Anthem Blue Cross plans to close shop for almost 300,000 individual policyholders in about half of California\u2019s counties, and will sell only Exclusive Provider Organization plans (EPOs) in the areas where it remains.\n\nHealth consumer advocates say the retreat by the two insurers in California will be a \u201chuge disruption\u201d for patients, and now is the time to protect them with new legislation.\n\nAngela Perry, a policy analyst at Consumers Union, said seriously ill patients should be guaranteed coverage that allows them to stay with providers they know and trust.\n\n\u201cThere may be a treatment plan that\u2019s been designed to go on a long period of time,\u201d Perry said. \u201cChanging the provider \u2026 throws all of the patient\u2019s treatment into disarray.\u201d\n\nJasmine Winning\u2019s mom, Joanna Joshua, doesn\u2019t know what she will do about her daughter\u2019s pending surgery at Stanford next year if she can\u2019t find a plan that will cover it.\n\nThat\u2019s why after getting the letter from Cigna in June, she drove 350 miles up to Sacramento to knock on the doors of state lawmakers.\n\nSen. Hernandez loaned her a sympathetic ear.\n\n\u2018\u201cIt\u2019s not just this kid,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m sure there\u2019s other families that could potentially be facing similar situations.\u201d\n\nThis story was produced by Kaiser Health News, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.", "output": "Joanna Joshua, 39, panicked when she opened a letter from her family\u2019s insurer, Cigna, only to learn it was pulling out of California\u2019s individual market next year. The Santa Clarita resident would have no choice but to change health plans.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Looking Beyond the Obamacare Debate to Improve Health Care \n Obamacare has helped 20 million people gain access to insurance, and it appears to have helped slow the growth in health care costs. But even former President Barack Obama has said that there is still work to be done. The United States spends much more on medical care than other rich countries, like Britain, Australia and the Netherlands, according to a recent Commonwealth Fund report, yet its citizens live shorter lives and suffer from more illnesses and injuries than people in other industrialized nations.\n\nOne option that appears to have gained support among the public is a single-payer system, which proponents like Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren call \u201cMedicare for All.\u201d A Kaiser Family Foundation poll found in June that 53 percent of Americans favor such a system. This was up from 46 percent, according to an average of seven polls conducted in 2008 and 2009. But moving to a single-payer system from one dominated by employer-paid health coverage would be a big leap, and in any case the political climate is clearly not ready for it. Many Democratic voters as well as party leaders like Representative Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer have been reluctant to embrace the idea, and, no surprise, most Republican voters and lawmakers oppose it.\n\nSingle-payer advocates point out that the United States is the only advanced nation without universal health care, which is true. Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland have achieved universal coverage and affordable health care with, essentially, more comprehensive and generous forms of Obamacare that require people to buy insurance, tightly regulate insurers and provide subsidies to the poor and middle class.\n\nState and federal lawmakers are exploring ways to increase coverage and lower costs. For example, the Nevada Legislature passed a bill in June that would have allowed people who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid to buy into that program. The bill, which would have required a federal waiver, did not become law because Gov. Brian Sandoval, a Republican, vetoed it. But the idea has other backers. Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii said on Tuesday that he would introduce a bill that would explicitly allow states to let people buy into Medicaid.\n\nAnother approach would be to let people buy into Medicare at some point before they become eligible for the program at age 65. Hillary Clinton proposed this during her presidential campaign. Congress could also provide more generous subsidies to help middle-class people buy insurance on Obamacare exchanges. At the state level, four million people would gain coverage if Florida, Georgia, Texas and the 16 other states that have not expanded Medicaid under Obamacare changed their minds and opted in.", "output": "Now that Republicans in Congress appear to have at least temporarily abandoned their crusade against the Affordable Care Act, it seems like a good time for lawmakers to come up with plans to fulfill their promises to increase access to health care and to lower costs.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The GOP Has One Last Health Care Plan. It Would Also Cause Millions to Lose Coverage \n Now that Republicans have failed to pass multiple versions of health care bills to repeal and replace Obamacare, or just repeal it, there\u2019s only one GOP health care bill left floating around: one offered by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and cosponsored by Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV).\n\nIn broad strokes, the plan would reduce spending over time by converting Medicaid payments to the states into block grants while gradually reducing federal support. It would also give states more leeway to place limits on health care coverage.\n\nBut an analysis by the liberal-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities published on Thursday finds that the plan would have effects similar to other Republican plans scored by the Congressional Budget Office: \u201cIt would cause many millions of people to lose coverage, radically restructure and deeply cut Medicaid, increase out-of-pocket costs for individual market consumers, and weaken or eliminate protections for people with pre-existing conditions.\u201d\n\nAccording to CBPP, the reductions would hit a handful states especially hard: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and Virginia, plus the District of Columbia. These states embraced expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, and a result account for a large share of spending under the expansion. The Cassidy-Graham bill takes aim at that spending and essentially redirects the money toward non-expansion states, even as it reduces payments overall. Funding for Medicaid expansion would end entirely after 2026.\n\nThis redistributive effort appears to be central to the political strategy behind the bill. Former Sen. Rick Santorum recently told Breitbart that he has \u201cno question that we can get very broad support among the Republican base and frankly this will get support from a Democrat or two. The reason is because of the way that Obamacare is structured, it benefits a handful of states.\u201d\n\nTaking from New York and giving to Alabama may indeed be a winning strategy. That may be why former Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Andy Slavitt recently tweeted that \u201cThe most viable effort 2 repeal the ACA is Graham Cassidy Heller.\u201d\n\nYou can review the CBPP analysis in full here.", "output": "Now that Republicans have failed to pass multiple versions of health care bills to repeal and replace Obamacare, or just repeal it, there\u2019s only one GOP health care bill left floating around: one offered by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and cosponsored by Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV).\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Older patients do not participate in fall prevention activities \n Save\n\nThis article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.\n\nOlder patients do not participate in fall prevention activities\n\nSource/Disclosures Source: Narayan Shakar K, et al. Inj Epidemiol. 2017;doi:10.1186/s40621-017-0114-y ADD TOPIC TO EMAIL ALERTS Receive an email when new articles are posted on . Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on Subscribe ADDED TO EMAIL ALERTS You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.\n\n\n\nClick Here to Manage Email Alerts You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.\n\n\n\nClick Here to Manage Email Alerts\n\n\n\nBack to Healio We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.\n\n\n\nBack to Healio\n\nPatients aged 65 and older who go to the ED for a fall-related injury are not likely to take part in a fall prevention program after being discharged even after receiving a flyer advertising such a program, according to findings recently published in Injury Epidemiology.\n\n\u201cTo better understand older adults\u2019 experience of engaging in fall prevention behaviors after a fall-related ED visit, we investigated postfall behaviors by community-dwelling older adults during the 60 days following an ED visit for a fall or fall-related injury,\u201d Kalpana Narayan Shankar, MD, MPH, of the department of emergency medicine at Boston University Medical Center and colleagues wrote.\n\nResearchers recruited 87 participants aged 65 years and older that presented to an ED with a fall, or fall-related injury, and were sent home with a flyer advertising the Matter of Balance course.\n\nNarayan Shankar and colleagues then conducted follow-up interviews over the phone 60 days after the patient\u2019s ED visit, gathering information on postfall behaviors, attempts to include family and the primary care providers in care, participants registering in a falls prevention program, participants\u2019 attitudes towards falling and any subsequent falls.\n\nResearchers found that:\n\n\u202271% spoke to a health care provider about the fall that led to their enrollment in the study;\n\n\u202246% talked to a family member about things the patient can do to avoid falls;\n\n\u202237% spoke to their health care provider about reducing risk for falls \u2014 the same amount indicated talking to friends about ways to prevent falls;\n\n\u202222% spoke to their health care provider about how medications can affect risk for falls;\n\n\u20222% tried to reach out to a falls prevention program; and\n\n\u20220% attended a falls prevention program, such as tai chi or Matter of Balance.\n\nIn addition, 14% of the participants reported another fall, and 8% said they returned to the ED after the incident.\n\nNarayan Shankar suggested ways that doctors can implement the study\u2019s findings into their practice.\n\n\u201cA falls history should be a regularly asked thing at all primary care physician visits for older adults given its morbidity and mortality,\u201d she told Healio Family Medicine in an interview. \u201cFall prevention is not a one-off conversation and the more providers talk about it, the more patients will view it as an important health topic.\u201d\n\nA different study suggested that an exercise regimen that involves activities of daily living such as walking sideways or bending the knees reduced the risk of falls by 31% in elderly participants.\n\nPAGE BREAK\n\nA third of those aged 65 and older experience a fall, and falls are the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries in this age group, according to a press release, which also stated that in 2015, direct medical costs for such incidents were calculated at between $31.3 billion and $36.8 billion. \u2013 by Janel Miller\n\nFurther reading :\n\nAmerican Geriatrics Society Guideline for the Prevention of Falls in Older People\n\nhttp://www.americangeriatrics.org/files/documents/health_care_pros/JAGS.Falls.Guidelines.pdf Accessed August 21, 2017.\n\nNational Council on Aging\u2019s Program Summary: A Matter of Balance https://www.ncoa.org/resources/program-summary-a-matter-of-balance/ Accessed Aug. 21, 2017.\n\nPreventing Falls: A Guide to Implementing Effective Community-Based Fall Prevention Programs https://www.cdc.gov/homeandrecreationalsafety/falls/community_preventfalls.html Accessed August 21, 2017.\n\nDisclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.", "output": "Patients aged 65 and older who go to the ED for a fall-related injury are not likely to take part in a fall prevention program after being discharged even after receiving a flyer advertising such a program, according to findings recently published in Injury Epidemiology.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How robots could help bridge the elder-care gap \n Despite innovations that make it easier for seniors to keep living on their own rather than moving into special facilities, most elderly people eventually need a hand with chores and other everyday activities.\n\nFriends and relatives often can\u2019t do all the work. Growing evidence indicates it\u2019s neither sustainable nor healthy for seniors or their loved ones. Yet demand for professional caregivers already far outstrips supply, and experts say this workforce shortage will only get worse.\n\nSo how will our society bridge this elder-care gap? In a word, robots.\n\nJust as automation has begun to do jobs previously seen as uniquely suited for humans, like retrieving goods from warehouses, robots will assist your elderly relatives. As a robotics researcher, I believe artificial intelligence has the potential not only to care for our elders but to do so in a way that increases their independence and reduces their social isolation.\n\nPersonal robots\n\nIn the 2004 movie \u201cI, Robot,\u201d the robot-hating protagonist Del Spooner (played by Will Smith) is shocked to discover a robot in his grandmother\u2019s house, baking a pie. You may have similar mental images: When many people imagine robots in the home, they envision mechanized domestic workers doing tasks in human-like ways.\n\nIn reality, many of the robots that will provide support for older adults who \u201cage in place\u201d \u2013 staying at home when they might otherwise be forced to relocate to assisted living or nursing homes \u2013 won\u2019t look like people.\n\nInstead, they will be specialized systems, akin to the Roomba, iRobot\u2019s robotic vacuum cleaner and the first commercially successful consumer robot. Small, specific devices are not only easier to design and deploy, they allow for incremental adoption as requirements evolve over time.\n\nSeniors, like everyone else, need different things. Many need help with the mechanics of eating, bathing, dressing and standing up \u2013 tasks known as \u201cactivities of daily living.\u201d Along with daily help with cooking and managing their medications, they can benefit from a robotic hand with more intermittent things such as doing the laundry and getting to the doctor\u2019s office.\n\nInteractive Robotics and Language Lab, University of Maryland, Baltimore County , CC BY-SA\n\nThat may sound far-fetched, but in addition to vacuuming robots can already mop our floors and mow our lawns. Experimental robots help lift people into and out of chairs and beds, follow recipes, fold towels and dispense pills. Soon, autonomous (self-driving) cars will ferry people to appointments and gatherings.\n\nThe kinds of robots already available include models that drive, provide pet-like social companionship and greet customers. Some of these technologies are already in limited trials in nursing homes, and seniors of course can already rely on their own Roombas.\n\nMeanwhile, robot companions may soon help relieve loneliness and nudge forgetful elders to eat on a regular schedule.\n\nScientists and other inventors are building robots that will do these jobs and many others.\n\nRound-the-clock care\n\nWhile some tasks remain out of reach of today\u2019s robots, such as inserting IVs or trimming toenails, mechanical caregivers can offer clear advantages over their human counterparts.\n\nThe most obvious one is their capacity to work around the clock. Machines, unlike people, are available 24/7. When used in the home, they can support aging in place.\n\nAnother plus: Relying on technology to meet day-to-day needs like mopping the floor can improve the quality of time elders spend with family and friends. Delegating mundane chores to robots also leaves more time for seniors to socialize with the people who care about them, and not just for them.\n\nAnd since using devices isn\u2019t the same as asking someone for help, relying on caregiving robots may lead seniors to perceive less lost autonomy than when they depend on human helpers.\n\nInteracting with robots\n\nThis brave new world of robot caregivers won\u2019t take shape unless we make them user-friendly and intuitive, and that means interaction styles matter. In my lab, we work on how robots can interact with people by talking with them. Fortunately, recent research by the Pew Research Center shows that older adults are embracing technology more and more, just like everyone else.\n\nNow that we are beginning to see robots that can competently perform some tasks, researchers like Jenay Beer, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering at the University of South Carolina, are trying to figure out which activities seniors need the most help with and what kinds of robots they might be most willing to use in the near term.\n\nTo that end, researchers are asking questions like:\n\nDo robots need to understand and convey emotion to be accepted?\n\nHow can robots provide social support?\n\nIs it best when machines simulate eye contact with us?\n\nDoes it help if they can converse?\n\nBut the fact is we don\u2019t need all the answers before robots begin to help elders age in place.\n\nLooking ahead\n\nAfter all, there\u2019s no time to lose.\n\nThe Census Bureau estimated that 15 percent of Americans \u2013 nearly one in six of us \u2013 were aged 65 or older in 2016, up from 12 percent in 2000. Demographers anticipate that by 2060 almost one in four will be in that age group. That means there will be some 48 million more elderly people in the U.S. than there are now.\n\nI believe robots will perform many elder-care tasks within a decade. Some activities will still require human caregivers, and there are people for whom robotic assistance will never be the answer. But you can bet that robots will help seniors age in place, even if they won\u2019t look like butlers or pastry chefs.", "output": "Despite innovations that make it easier for seniors to keep living on their own rather than moving into special facilities, most elderly people eventually need a hand with chores and other everyday activities.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Kenya introduces world\u2019s strictest plastic bag legislation \n \n\nKenyans producing, selling or even using plastic bags will risk imprisonment of up to four years or fines of $40,000 (\u00a331,000) from Monday, as the world\u2019s toughest law aimed at reducing plastic pollution came into effect.\n\nThe east African nation joins more than 40 other countries that have banned, partly banned or taxed single use plastic bags, including China, France, Rwanda, and Italy.\n\nMany bags drift into the ocean, strangling turtles, suffocating seabirds and filling the stomachs of dolphins and whales with waste until they die of starvation.\n\n\u201cIf we continue like this, by 2050, we will have more plastic in the ocean than fish,\u201d said Habib El-Habr, an expert on marine litter working with the UN environment programme in Kenya.\n\nPlastic bags, which El-Habr says take between 500 to 1,000 years to break down, also enter the human food chain through fish and other animals. In Nairobi\u2019s slaughterhouses, some cows destined for human consumption had 20 bags removed from their stomachs.\n\n\u201cThis is something we didn\u2019t get 10 years ago but now it\u2019s almost on a daily basis,\u201d said county vet Mbuthi Kinyanjui as he watched men in bloodied white uniforms scoop sodden plastic bags from the stomachs of cow carcasses.\n\nKenya\u2019s law allows police to go after anyone even carrying a plastic bag. But Judy Wakhungu, Kenya\u2019s environment minister, said enforcement would initially be directed at manufacturers and suppliers.\n\nIt took Kenya three attempts over 10 years to finally pass the ban, and not everyone is a fan.\n\nSamuel Matonda, spokesman for the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, said it would cost 60,000 jobs and force 176 manufacturers to close. Kenya is a major exporter of plastic bags to the region.\n\n\u201cThe knock-on effects will be very severe,\u201d Matonda said. \u201cIt will even affect the women who sell vegetables in the market \u2013 how will their customers carry their shopping home?\u201d\n\nBig Kenyan supermarket chains like France\u2019s Carrefour and Nakumatt have already started offering customers cloth bags as alternatives.", "output": "Kenya has introduced the world\u2019s toughest law against plastic pollution by imposing potential fines of $40,000 or prison sentences of up to four years on those producing, selling or using plastic bags. Over 40 countries, including China, France, Italy and Rwanda have banned, partially banned or taxed single use plastic bags. Many such bags enter the oceans, threatening marine life and entering the human food chain. It has taken over a decade, and three attempts, for Kenya's law to be introduced. Major supermarket chains including Carrefour and Nakumatt have already introduced cloth bags as alternatives."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Smart meters help Texas grid withstand Hurricane Harvey \n Hurricane Harvey\u2019s path of destruction has left hundreds of thousands of Texans without power, and the state\u2019s utilities are facing days, or even weeks, before the floodwaters recede and they can begin to repair the damage.\n\nAs of Monday afternoon, about 290,000 customers were without power in the southeastern parts of Texas, as the hurricane that ripped into the coast on Saturday lingered on as a rain-dumping tropical storm for its third day. The outage numbers are bit lower than the 300,000-plus without power as of Sunday afternoon, but just barely, according to Department of Energy storm updates.\n\nThe DOE\u2019s assessment from the Texas utilities in the storm\u2019s path was simple, but grim. \u201cImpacted utilities have issued statements that they are expecting power outages to last several days. Restoration efforts cannot begin until weather conditions are safe. High rainfall total and flooding could extend restoration times in many affected areas.\u201d\n\nIn the south Gulf Coast, utility AEP is predicting that it could take until midnight on Wednesday to bring power back to 95 percent of its Corpus Christi and Sinton area customers. The rest of its territory isn\u2019t expected to come back on-line until Saturday, and it isn\u2019t even venturing a guess for the coastal cities of Rockport, Port Aransas, Fulton, Woodsboro, Port Lavaca, Lamar and Bayside, where the storm\u2019s damage was most severe. The utility has 2,000 of its personnel working, and they have been joined by 3,000 more from outside the area.\n\nIn Houston, where storm surge and rainfall have flooded major thoroughfares, utility CenterPoint Energy was able to reduce the number of customers without power to about 112,000 as of Monday afternoon. But its outage alert system also included this urgent update: \u201cCenterPoint crews unable to reach many parts of the city due to flooding. Restoration estimates unavailable until travel improves.\u201d\n\nCenterPoint has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in a smart meter network that was keeping it up to date on which customers were without power, according to its Twitter feed, which implored customers that there was \u201cno need to call us about power outages. Smart meters tell us.\u201d But those meters can\u2019t help the utility restore power to flooded city blocks and building basements.\n\nIt has also invested in a fault location, isolation and service restoration (FLISR) system, using a combination of automated and operator-controlled switches on its distribution circuits to reroute power to more customers more quickly after an outage. But the kind of flooding that Houston is experiencing is a disaster of a far greater magnitude than the kind of short-term outages that FLISR is best suited to handle.\n\nEven once crews can access once-flooded substations, they\u2019ll need to wait for equipment to dry out and inspect it for damage before re-energizing it, DOE noted -- a checklist also required of any flooded home or building that wants to turn the power back on.\n\n\u201cThere are likely many transmission substations and distribution substations that are located at low elevations and could be susceptible to floodwaters,\u201d said Ben Kellison, GTM Research chief of grid research. \u201cMy guess would be that this is a major issue, as the equipment in these stations typically is located at ground level.\u201d\n\nIndeed, DOE reported Monday that Entergy Texas wasn\u2019t able to access some of its electrical facilities due to debris and flooding, which was expected to slow restoration for the 7,600 or so customers without power in cities including Beaumont, Dayton, Winnie, Navasota and Cleveland.\n\nCenterPoint also has a fairly large share of underground distribution circuits, nearly 24,000 miles compared to 28,700 miles of aboveground, pole-mounted circuits, Kellison added. While underground circuits are more resilient against hurricane winds, they\u2019re very susceptible to flooding -- and while a handful of key circuits may be equipped with waterproof or weather-resistant gear, most aren\u2019t.\n\nWhile the flooded parts of Texas struggled with a long-range plan to restore power to customers, the state\u2019s transmission and generation system was holding up well as of Monday. State grid operator ERCOT reported that it continued to see widespread transmission outages near the southern Texas cities of Corpus Christi and Victoria. But it was reporting a stable and ample supply of generation to cover its statewide needs, with a margin of 4,639 megawatts as of mid-afternoon Monday.\n\nThat\u2019s a relief, considering that nearly 68,000 megawatts of generation capacity was within Harvey\u2019s path, according to this S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis.\n\nHarvey has also forced the closure of about a quarter of the Gulf of Mexico\u2019s offshore oil and natural-gas platforms and much of the state\u2019s south coast refinery fleet.\n\nThe threat of extreme weather is becoming an increasingly important calculation for energy markets. Join us for the U.S. Power & Renewables 2017 conference in Austin, Texas this November to meet with top regulators, utility executives and technology leaders dealing with the aftermath of Harvey, and applying its lessons to the nation as a whole. The two-day conference will include the solar expertise of GTM Research, the wind energy analysis of MAKE, and the broader energy and utilities expertise of Wood Mackenzie.", "output": "In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, utility service CenterPoint Energy was able to reduce the number of customers without power in Houston by about 112,000 because of investment in its smart meter network, which allowed it to keep up-to-date on which customers were without power. According to its Twitter feed, CenterPoint notified customers that there was \u201cno need to call us about power outages. Smart meters tell us.\u201d"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US states change rules to hamper solar projects \n A 40-year-old federal energy law has been making a lot of news in recent months.\n\nIn June, Montana\u2019s Billings Gazette published a story titled, \u201cHot Mic Records Troubling Conversation About Solar Regulations.\u201d The solar regulation at issue was the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978, or PURPA, which has been an issue of contention at the Montana Public Service Commission for well over a year.\n\nPURPA was designed to be a driver of conservation and renewable energy in response to the energy crisis of the early 1970s. The law requires utilities to purchase energy produced at what are known as Qualifying Facilities (QFs) if they match a utility\u2019s avoided cost. \"Avoided cost\" is defined as the cost equal to or below what utilities have to pay for energy produced by a traditional power plant.\n\nIn Montana, and in several other states across the nation, PURPA has become a major driver for the development of solar projects. It's a new phenomenon, made possible only by the dramatic decrease in solar prices in recent years. Now, the success that large-scale solar has seen as a result of PURPA is starting to cause a stir.\n\nMontana maneuvering\n\nAs we detailed in this story, Montana\u2019s largest investor-owned utility, NorthWestern Energy, filed an application with the public service commission in May 2016, asking it to revise its QF avoided-cost rates, which at the time were $66 per megawatt-hour. The utility feared that the generous PURPA QF rates would prompt a rush of solar projects, an argument supported by the Montana Consumer Counsel, which believed the state\u2019s ratepayers would have to foot the bill for an avalanche of expensive solar PPAs.\n\nWhich brings us back to the hot mic. After more than a year of deliberation, the rates and terms for solar QFs in Montana were scaled back from 25 years of guaranteed pricing to just five, and prices were slashed from $66 per megawatt-hour to about $47 per megawatt-hour, which the solar industry says make it impossible for projects to pencil out economically.\n\nThe reality that these terms would kill solar development in Montana was acknowledged by Bob Lake, one of the Montana Public Service commissioners, during a conversation he didn\u2019t know was being recorded. In a discussion with a staffer about the impact of the QF pricing being slashed Lake said, \u201cAnd at this low price, I can\u2019t imagine anyone getting into it.\u201d\n\nBecause PURPA\u2019s main purpose is to promote renewable energy and conservation, this acknowledgment that the state\u2019s PURPA terms do just the opposite sounded like a violation of the law.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know if that was their intent, to shut out solar, but it was the result of the policy, and the hot mic reveals that they knew the consequences of what they were doing and didn\u2019t care,\u201d said Ed Smeloff, a managing director at Vote Solar, an advocacy group that, along with Earthjustice and the Montana Environmental Information Center, has been an active participant in the commission\u2019s PURPA deliberations. \u201cWe put in the testimony to say that PURPA requires states to encourage the development of QFs consistent with avoided cost, and short contracts are not financeable.\u201d\n\nVote Solar has since joined others in asking the commission to reconsider its decision and has argued that the regulators have violated PURPA, botched the calculation of avoided cost and gone against the Administrative Procedure Act of Montana by not allowing interested parties to weigh in on their decision. Though solar developers and advocacy groups have been at odds with NorthWestern over the PURPA rules, the two may be joining forces to protest the commission\u2019s decision, which also slashed the contract length for the utility\u2019s own projects to just five years of guaranteed rates.\n\nIn early August, a utility executive was blistering in his critique of the commission\u2019s decision. \u201cThe Montana Public Service Commission, or at least a majority of the commissioners, have lost their regulatory minds,\u201d David Hoffman, NorthWestern\u2019s government affairs director, told Montana legislators. \u201cThey\u2019re destroying existing law and they\u2019re out of control.\u201d\n\nLike the solar developers, the utility argues that short contracts make it impossible to build new projects, which NorthWestern and others say are necessary to meet peak demand in Montana. Without sufficient capacity, the utility has to purchase peaking generation on the spot market. Though prices are currently affordable, there\u2019s no guarantee they won\u2019t spike in the future.\n\nHoffman made it clear that the utility could appeal to the state legislature to curb the power of the commission. There\u2019s also the possibility that solar developers could pursue legal action or request further action from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which elected not to intervene earlier this year. But Smeloff believes NorthWestern\u2019s involvement in urging the commission to reconsider its order will carry more weight with regulators.\n\n\u201cIf it was just us, they might ignore it and say, 'Go to court,'\u201d he said. \u201cWith NorthWestern weighing in, they will have to take it seriously.\u201d\n\nA national debate\n\nThe debate over PURPA rules in Montana may have the most drama and intrigue, but it is not the only PURPA discussion taking place, nor the most consequential.\n\n\u201cThe loss of Montana as a PURPA market doesn\u2019t greatly impact our national forecast,\u201d said Colin Smith, a GTM Research solar analyst. \u201cBut if we are looking at the best ways to change PURPA to benefit a state and the renewable energy economy, Montana is a case study in how not to do it. This is how you get into a lot of trouble and hurt yourself in the long run.\u201d\n\nOf far more consequence to the size of the overall U.S. solar market are changes to PURPA in others states, such as North Carolina. North Carolina\u2019s position as the state with the second-largest installed solar capacity in the nation is largely the result of PURPA-driven projects. Over the past year, Duke Energy has pushed state legislators to change how PURPA functions, in particular allowing the utility to procure a set amount of PURPA projects using competitive bidding that was open to the utility itself.\n\nAfter a lot of controversy and debate, the North Carolina legislature passed, and Gov. Roy Cooper signed, a compromise bill that made several changes to how the energy law is enacted. Most notably, its allows competitive bidding, lowers the state\u2019s avoided cost and ensures that accepted projects receive 20-year power-purchase agreements. The law, which also included a controversial 18-month wind development moratorium, set a solar deployment target of 6,800 megawatts by 2020. In a statement, Cooper commended the solar compromise and lambasted the wind moratorium, the impact of which he attempted to lessen with an executive order that ordered the state\u2019s Department of Environmental Quality to continue recruiting and facilitating wind projects during the moratorium.\n\nAccording to Smith, the changes to PURPA in North Carolina are similar to what has also happened in Georgia. \u201cIt does seem that North Carolina is modeling what Georgia Power is doing, to say that projects must still meet FERC guidelines for QFs, but it will be a competitive bidding process and they\u2019ll only procure a certain volume of solar each year,\u201d he said. \u201cI think what they want to do is have more control over the process. In the past, utilities were reactionary in terms of how they were facing this flood of PURPA projects, and now they seem more strategic in how they are pursuing PURPA projects coming on-line or being developed.\u201d\n\nThis approach to PURPA is not what solar developers want -- and many would argue that it flat-out violates the law. But it doesn't signal the death of PURPA projects -- as in the Montana case, or in Idaho, which also changed PURPA contracts in ways that make it virtually impossible to develop solar projects.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a good argument to be made that North Carolina and Georgia are the PURPA cases nobody is talking about,\u201d said GTM\u2019s Smith. \u201cThey have leveraged PURPA regulations for their development and developers have been happy because it has spurred a lot of development. It\u2019s a system that seems to make both the offtaker and the developer happy, but it\u2019s not exactly what PURPA was designed to do in the first place.\u201d\n\nA collaborative approach to PURPA\n\nLater this month, Michigan\u2019s public service commission will hold a final hearing that is expected to cement the state\u2019s approach to PURPA. Though the details won\u2019t be released until after the hearing, for solar stakeholders, the contrast with Montana could not be more stark.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s the exact opposite,\u201d said Smeloff, who has been active in both Montana and Michigan. \u201cThey are doing everything right. The proceeding was initiated by commission staff who saw the opportunity for solar development, because there is not a lot of it now.\u201d\n\nThe commission process involved some back-and-forth between solar advocates and Michigan\u2019s large utilities, Consumers Energy and DTE, about how to establish the avoided-cost rate, but the goal of using PURPA to spur more development was widely shared. Smeloff expects the ultimate result will provide independent solar developers of projects 2 megawatts and smaller the certainty they need to invest.\n\n\u201cWe believe the contracting will give QFs five-, 10-, 15- or 20-year contracts and will establish a standard offer,\" said Smeloff. \"Once developers meet certain conditions, the contracts have to be executed in 15 days. This provides a clear pathway to make projects financeable.\u201d\n\nYet all of this state-level activity around PURPA may end up being eclipsed by another set of regulations entirely. If Suniva and SolarWorld are successful in their trade case, prices for solar might go up enough that the avoided cost will be unobtainable.\n\n\u201cIn that scenario, the cost of systems go up a lot, and I don\u2019t think there are any territories where you will get utility solar at rates below avoided cost,\u201d said GTM\u2019s Smith. \u201cUtilities might continue to procure solar, but not at the avoided-cost rates being set right now.\u201d", "output": "Changes to regulations in a number of US states are having a negative effect on the viability of solar projects. The federal Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) was introduced in 1978 to incentivise renewable energy by requiring utilities to purchase energy from providers whose rates are equal to or lower than traditional power plants, the so-called avoided cost. This has driven increases in solar projects as the cost of production has reduced in recent years. However, some US states are revising the relevant qualifying rates, so that many solar projects no longer stack up economically."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Iberdrola shifts focus as electrification intensifies \n Electricity utility Iberdrola is directing 42% of new investments into networks, hoping to reap the benefits of an economy-wide electrification process currently underway in Europe and across the world, a senior company executive has told EURACTIV.\n\nGonzalo Saenz de Miera, Iberdrola\u2019s Director of Climate Change, has one strong conviction: the electrification of the economy will revolutionise the way people consume energy \u2013 especially in the building and transport sectors which are still massively reliant on oil and gas.\n\nAnd this represents a huge opportunity for Iberdrola, a leading European electricity company, ranked among the top five utility companies worldwide.\n\n\u201cWith the electrification of the economy, we\u2019re going to be players in the whole energy sector, not just the 25% of the energy market covered by electricity right now,\u201d Saenz de Miera told EURACTIV during a recent visit to Brussels.\n\nAnticipating this transformation, the Spanish electricity giant is currently investing some $200 million annually into smart grids and renewable energy solutions, including recharging hubs for electric vehicles.\n\n\u201cOur strategy is to develop distribution networks, which are very important from the point of view of renewables integration. In this process of electrification of the economy, you need to integrate smarter grids to take in distributed generation coming from consumers,\u201d Saenz de Miera explained.\n\nAnd digitalisation is going to be central in that process.\n\n\u201cIberdrola is becoming a digital company,\u201d he declared, adding: \u201cFor all our activities, digitalisation is key \u2013 for distribution, retail, demand management, etc.\u201d\n\nEuropean power grid operators gear up for digital transformation The next wave of digital innovation \u2013 and disruption \u2013 in the electricity sector will rely on artificial intelligence and Blockchain technology, according to the new boss of the European power grid operators association, ENTSO-E, who is drafting an IT roadmap for publication later this year.\n\nSaenz de Miera is far from being a visionary iconoclast. His views reflect a growing consensus among industry players and policymakers that the electrification of the economy \u2013 together with digitalisation \u2013 is now unstoppable.\n\nEstonia, the current holder of the EU\u2019s rotating presidency, believes innovative ICT tools will shape the future energy system, in particular for power grid operators. It plans to drive the point home at a conference in Tallin in early September \u2013 \u2018Where digital meets energy\u2019 \u2013 where policymakers will discuss issues like data management, ownership, and privacy.\n\nEstonia ties electricity talks with digital policy at EU helm Tallin will pay \u201cparticular attention\u201d to the European Commission\u2019s proposal for a new electricity market design, a discussion Estonia sees as part of the wider digital brief as it takes the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union.\n\nCheap power \u2013 \u201can incentive to electrify everything\u201d\n\nThe good news is that Europe is in a good position to become a world leader in the transition to an electrified economy. It has industry leaders in solar, wind and automotive, and has more experience than any other region in the world when it comes to managing variable flows of intermittent renewable power using digital technology.\n\n\u201cSo let\u2019s take advantage of this. Because if we don\u2019t, others will. This is a global trend and a massive business opportunity for Europe and European firms,\u201d Saenz de Miera said.\n\nThere are obstacles, however. In Europe, transport still almost entirely relies on oil-based fuels benefitting from favourable tax regimes. \u201cDiesel and gasoline don\u2019t pay for CO2 and other pollutants, which are causing air pollution in cities. And at the same time, electricity consumers are paying for costs which are not related to the costs of electricity supply. It is important that the polluter pays principle applies there,\u201d he argues. \u201cIf you have these kinds of barriers, you will slow the process of electrification.\u201d\n\nNew electrification alliance seeks top billing in EU\u2019s decarbonisation efforts Industry groups representing sectors as varied as wind and solar power, fuel cell batteries, copper and heat pumps, have clubbed together to launch the Electrification Alliance, with the hope that electricity will be recognised as the main energy carrier in Europe\u2019s decarbonisation drive.\n\nBut the Spaniard believes transport\u2019s conversion to electricity is well on its way and will eventually happen because electric cars need less energy to produce the same thrust. In fact, he believes electric vehicles will be fully competitive \u201cwithin five to six years\u201d.\n\n\u201cSoon, oil will disappear from the energy mix and gas will be the only fossil fuel remaining in the transition \u2013 for transport, for buildings and some industries,\u201d he predicted. \u201cAnd we now have the technologies to have 80% of transport running on electricity\u201d.\n\nThe big challenge for the power sector now is that electricity is becoming cheaper and cheaper, driven by falling costs of renewables. Solar photovoltaic now cost about \u20ac60 to produce per megawatt hour and prices are expected to fall further by 2050, to \u20ac40 or \u20ac30, he pointed out.\n\n\u201cSo there will be an incentive to electrify everything,\u201d Saenz de Miera said.\n\nIn fact, renewable electricity is becoming so cheap at certain times of the day \u2013 in sunny regions, mainly \u2013 that it poses challenges to prices and grid stability, leading to what Californians have dubbed the \u201cduck curve\u201d. Cheap electricity also depresses revenues \u2013 and therefore investments \u2013 in a global power sector in need of $16.4 trillion worth of fresh money in 2014-2035, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).\n\nNew business models\n\nBut Saenz de Miera says cheap electricity won\u2019t be a problem for the industry, which will eventually reinvent itself. \u201cAnd the business model of companies like Iberdrola will have to be adapted accordingly to provide services, not just electricity.\u201d\n\nWith the electrification of the economy, power companies can also expect to verge into new business areas, and grow their potential to offer new services to clients.\n\n\u201cThis will create challenges of course, but there is no way back. We will have to develop new business models but we are already very active thinking about this,\u201d Saenz de Miera said, referring to research on the utility of the future by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).\n\nThese new business models will rely greatly on digital tools providing consumers with real-time information about energy prices and consumption.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m sure there will be apps or programmes that will do demand management for you. That\u2019s why it\u2019s so important to have real-time tariffs because it will give you the signal for when to charge your car battery, for instance, when the price is low.\u201d\n\nSmarter grids are also required to take in increasing distributed generation coming from consumers with rooftop solar panels, he pointed out. \u201cAnd digitalisation is going to be key so we are investing a lot in networks\u201d.\n\nEU champions \u2018people power\u2019 but devil lies in the detail The European Commission\u2019s Winter Package of energy proposals, unveiled yesterday (30 November), is set to boost household and local power generation, but obstacles remain.\n\nRead more with EURACTIV", "output": "Spanish electricity giant Iberdrola is investing approximately $200m each year in renewable energy solutions and smart grids, as it positions itself to become one of the industry's big players, said Gonzalo Saenz de Miera, the company\u2019s Director of Climate Change. Digital technology, including artificial intelligence and blockchain, are set to be among the new wave of innovations, while lower prices will provide an incentive to electrify everything, according to the company. \"Our strategy is to develop distribution networks, which are very important from the point of view of renewables integration\u201d, said de Miera.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's EV strategy led to 'low-quality vehicles' \n China\u2019s electric vehicle industry seems to be well on the road to global dominance. Dig a little deeper and the figures are less impressive than they first appear", "output": "China's electric vehicle (EV) market has been distorted by generous government subsidies that have enabled local manufacturers to churn out thousands of low-quality EVs, while little or no investment was made in the charging infrastructure, according to according to Asian affairs commentator Tom Holland. To redress the balance, Beijing is reducing subsidies from CNY55,000 ($8,322) to CNY44,000, while next year will see the introduction of stricter manufacturing quotas, offering credits to companies who exceed their quotas. However, critics argue local manufacturers will simply sell their credits to fossil fuel-based carmakers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Utilities back new Australian decentralised energy exchange \n Melbourne-based tech start-up GreenSync has officially launched its potentially game-changing trading platform for distributed energy resources \u2013 a technology the Australian Energy Market Operator says will be key to grid stability as another summer approaches and as old coal power continues to exit the NEM and more and more variable renewable energy generation is added.\n\nFirst revealed in its pilot phase in February this year, the platform \u2013 called deX, or Decentralised Energy Exchange \u2013 is an open exchange where energy capacity can be transacted between businesses, households, communities and utilities, and which promises to transform Australia\u2019s energy industry.\n\nThe official unveiling, at an event held in Melbourne on Thursday night, had the enthusiastic backing of AEMO \u2013 AEMO chief Audrey Zibelman delivered a keynote address \u2013 as well as some of the nation\u2019s biggest energy market players, including major network operators, gen-tailers, and retailers.\n\nSpeaking at the event, GreenSync CEO Dr Phil Blythe revealed the deX\u2019s 37 industry partners and stakeholders \u2013 including AGL Energy, EnergyAustralia, United Energy, SA PowerNetworks, ActewAGL and the newly added Energy Queensland.\n\nOther key partners include global tech giants like Tesla, Siemens and ABB, as well as local smart energy innovators Geli and WattWatchers.\n\nThe GreenSync model is particularly promising precisely because of this broad range of support and collaboration the company has gathered over the past six months, including a partnership with Energy Networks Australia that is working on the development of national connection standards.\n\nDeX also has the backing of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, with grant funding announced in February after the platform\u2019s initial development through ARENA\u2019s integration innovation program, A-Lab.\n\nThis network gives GreenSync a major footing in the potentially huge national \u2013 and international \u2013 demand response market, which AEMO\u2019s Ziebelman has said will be vital in the transformation of grids from centralised hub-and-spoke models, to nimble, renewables-based networks where a wide variety distributed energy resources are shared, stored and traded.\n\nAs Blythe explains, deX can be applied to the distributed renewable energy market at a very small level \u2013 such as one suburban street, as the company is currently trialling with UnitedEnergy on Victoria\u2019s Mornington Peninsula.\n\nOr, it can be applied at a much larger scale, such as to encompass the rooftop solar of a whole state, something the company is working to do in its most recently announced deal with Energy Queensland. It has another major state/territory-wide collaboration in the works, that it expects to announce in coming months.\n\nBut ultimately, says Blythe, the idea is that all of the distributed resources across the country would be enrolled in markets like this.\n\nThat amounts to a potentially huge amount of generation capacity \u2013 much of it currently \u201cinvisible\u201d to the energy market operator \u2013 that could be used to help balance the grid. According to the Clean Energy Regulator\u2019s latest data, Australia has installed a total of 6GW (6,000MW) of small-scale renewable energy generators to date \u2013 5.9GW of it rooftop solar.\n\nIn the large-scale renewables market, meanwhile, there is massive 20GW of capacity currently sitting in the development pipeline.\n\n\u201cThis is the first time that industry has come together in this way,\u201d said Blythe. \u201cThis is an opportunity born from our current energy crisis, deX provides a framework to increase customer value, improve system reliability and manage the transition to a renewable energy future.\n\n\u201cI think the industry and the community have been waiting for this and it shows in the level of interest in just six months. We\u2019ve taken all the feedback and we\u2019re unveiling a model that works for everyone,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re painting a vision for how we see deX playing an instrumental role allowing a framework for every industry partner and participant to be able to contract distributed resources similar to\n\nthe way our wholesale markets work today.\n\n\u201cEventually it should encompass all distributed resources.\u201d", "output": "Melbourne start-up GreenSync has unveiled its decentralised energy exchange (DeX), which could transform Australia\u2019s energy industry. DeX offers an open exchange\u00a0in which energy capacity can be shared, stored and sold\u00a0between businesses, households, communities and utilities. It\u00a0is scalable from a local area \u2013\u00a0with a\u00a0trial taking place on a single street in\u00a0Victoria\u2019s Mornington Peninsula \u2013\u00a0to the rooftop solar of an entire state. The technology is key to a stable grid in the era of renewable energy from diversified sources.\u00a0Australia has around 20 GW of renewable capacity in the pipeline, according to the Clean Energy Regulator. Partners in the exchange include local utilities and multinationals."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Inorganic semiconductors produce chemicals from CO2 \n In California, photosynthesis provides energy for the vast majority of life on Earth. But chlorophyll, the green pigment that plants use to harvest sunlight, is relatively inefficient. To enable humans to capture more of the sun\u2019s energy than natural photosynthesis can, scientists have taught bacteria to cover themselves in tiny, highly efficient solar panels to produce useful compounds.\n\nResearchers the University of California, Berkeley are focusing on harnessing inorganic semiconductors that can capture sunlight to organisms such as bacteria that can then use the energy to produce useful chemicals from carbon dioxide and water. They work with a naturally occurring, nonphotosynthetic bacterium, Moorella thermoacetica, which, as part of its normal respiration, produces acetic acid from carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). Acetic acid is a versatile chemical that can be readily upgraded to a number of fuels, polymers, pharmaceuticals and commodity chemicals through complementary, genetically engineered bacteria.", "output": "Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, have used inorganic semiconductors to help non-photosynthetic bacteria synthesise chemicals from carbon dioxide. Photosynthesis in plants provides energy for most of life on earth, but key component chlorophyll is relatively inefficient. Researchers have now taught naturally-occurring bacterium Moorella thermoacetica to work with the semiconductors to more efficiently produce acetic acid. The acetic acid can then be upgraded for use in polymers, pharmaceuticals and some fuels, through genetically-engineered bacteria."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Russian oil fracking method could improve production six-fold \n Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin smiles, with his face smeared with crude oil, during a visit to a Lukoil oil platform in the Caspian Sea near Astrakhan. Reuters/RIA Novosti\n\nRussian scientists and local oil field services companies claim to have created a technology for thermochemical gas fracturing that could be an alternative to hydraulic fracturing and could increase oil production by between 1.7 and 6 times, Russia\u2019s news agency RIA Novosti reports, citing the University of Tyumen\u2019s press service.\n\nIn hydraulic fracturing, rocks are fractured with high-pressure injection of fluids, while the new breakthrough technology, as claimed by Russian scientists and media, is creating chemical reactions in the strata that contain oil.\n\nThe chemicals react and emit heat and gas, which makes extraction easier and lifts well productivity, according to the scientists and researchers.\n\nThe other upside in the technology, the Russians claim, is that the main component in the chemical reactions is ammonium nitrate, which is often used as fertilizer.\n\nAccording to Professor Konstantin Fedorov, Director of the Institute of Physics and Technology at the University of Tyumen and the scientific consultant on the project, the improved well productivity effect lasts between 300 and 1,000 days. Production increases by between 1.7 times and 6 times compared to the initial output level, although the scientists have seen tests with production increases of 10 to 20 times.\n\nThe success rate is close to 100 percent, Fedorov claims, as reported by Russian media.\n\nAccording to the University of Tyumen, the project\u2014partially supported by government funding\u2014had the goal to create an innovative and, more importantly, Russian method of oil and gas production.\n\nThe project partners plan to begin the first tests at operational wells of one of Rosneft\u2019s subsidiaries in September, according to the University of Tyumen.\n\nPlans are that the new technology could also be tested at oil fields of other major Russian companies, including Tatneft, Bashneft, and Gazprom Neft, Sputnik International reports.", "output": "Russian scientists claim to have invented an alternative fracking technique that increases oil production by 1.7 to 6 times, with productivity lasting between 300 and 1,000 days, according to a report by national news service RIA Novosti. The method uses thermo-chemical gas fracturing, which initiates chemical reactions in oil-rich strata that lead to gas and heat emissions for easier extraction, said Professor Konstantin Fedorov, director of the Institute of Physics and Technology at the University of Tyumen, and the scientific consultant on the project. The first official testing of the technique will begin this month at a subsidiary of state-owned oil firm Rosneft."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Liquid-metal membrane tech could accelerate fuel-cell vehicles \n From left, Pei-Shan Yen '16 (PhD),Ravindra Datta, professor of chemical engineering, and Nicholas Deveau '17 (PhD) at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI developed novel sandwiched liquid-metal membranes that could help lower the cost of hydrogen for fuel-cell-powered vehicles. Credit: Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI)\n\nWhile cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells offer clear advantages over the electric vehicles that are growing in popularity (including their longer range, their lower overall environmental impact, and the fact that they can be refueled in minutes, versus hours of charging time), they have yet to take off with consumers. One reason is the high cost and complexity of producing, distributing, and storing the pure hydrogen needed to power them, which has hindered the roll-out of hydrogen refueling stations.\n\nEngineers have long recognized the power\u2014and limitless availability\u2014of hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe. Hydrogen occurs naturally in the environment, but it is almost always chemically bound to other elements\u2014to oxygen in water (H2O), for example, or to carbon in methane (CH4). To obtain pure hydrogen, it must be separated from one of these molecules. Virtually all of the hydrogen produced in the United States is obtained from hydrocarbon fuels, primarily natural gas, through steam reforming, a multi-step process in which the hydrocarbons react with high-temperature steam in the presence of a catalyst to produce carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and molecular hydrogen (H2).\n\nThe hydrogen can then be separated from the other gases through a cumbersome, multi-step chemical process, but the cost and complexity of hydrogen production can be reduced by using a membrane to do the separation. Most of the hydrogen separation membranes currently being developed use the precious metal palladium, which has unusually high hydrogen solubility and permeance (which means that hydrogen easily dissolves in and travels through the metal, while other gases are excluded). But palladium is expensive (it currently sells for about $900 per ounce) and fragile.\n\nFor these reasons, chemical engineers have long searched for alternatives to palladium for use in hydrogen separation membranes, but so far, no suitable candidates have emerged. A pioneering study led by Ravindra Datta, professor of chemical engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), may have identified the long-elusive palladium alternative: liquid metals.\n\nA host of metals and alloys are liquid at the standard operating temperatures found in steam reforming systems (around 500 degrees C), and most of these are far less expensive than palladium. In addition, a membrane made with a film of liquid metal should not be prone to the defects and cracks that can render a palladium membrane unusable.\n\nThe WPI study, published in the Journal of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, is the first to demonstrate that in addition to these advantages, liquid-metal membranes also appear to be significantly more effective than palladium at separating pure hydrogen from other gases, suggesting that they may provide a practical and effective solution to the challenge of supplying affordable hydrogen for fuel-cell vehicles. \"The recent shift to electric cars is irreversible,\" said Datta. The next step after electric vehicles, he and others believe, is hydrogen-fuel vehicles\u2014if the hydrogen supply puzzle is solved.\n\nLike battery-powered electric cars, fuel-cell vehicles have electric motors. The motors are powered by electricity generated inside the fuel cell when hydrogen and oxygen combine in the presence of a catalyst (the only \"waste\" product is water). While they can pull oxygen from the air, the cars must carry a supply of pure hydrogen.\n\nMany researchers have focused on bringing the cost of that hydrogen down by making better and thinner palladium membranes. Some of the most advanced membranes were produced by retired WPI chemical engineering professor Yi Hua \"Ed\" Ma, who, with considerable funding from industry and the U.S. Department of Energy, pioneered a process for binding palladium to a porous steel tube, resulting in palladium layers as thin as 5 to 10 microns.\n\nMaking the palladium layer thin increases the membrane's flux, or the rate at which pure hydrogen moves through it. \"But if a membrane is too thin,\" Datta said, \"it becomes fragile or it develops defects. And the membranes need to be defect-free. If they develop even a hairline crack or a micropore, you have to start over.\"\n\nResearchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) tested a prototype sandwiched liquid-metal membrane with this laboratory set-up. The membrane, a thin layer of gallium sandwiched between porous ceramic supports, selectively separated hydrogen from a mixed-gas stream more efficiently than a comparable palladium membrane. Credit: Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI)/Curtis Sayers\n\nSix years ago, Datta and his students began to wonder whether liquid metals might overcome some of palladium's limitations\u2014particularly its cost and fragility\u2014while also, potentially, offering superior hydrogen solubility and permeance. \"Besides chemical affinity, permeance depends on how open a metallic crystal structure is,\" he said. \"Liquid metals have more space between atoms than solid metals, so their solubility and diffusability should be higher.\"\n\nAfter a literature review revealed no previous research on this topic, Datta successfully applied for a $1 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy to study the feasibility of using liquid metals for hydrogen separation. he and his team, graduate students Pei-Shan Yen and Nicholas Deveau (Yen earned her PhD in 2016; Deveau received his in May), decided to begin their exploration with gallium, a nontoxic metal that is liquid at room temperature.\n\nThey conducted fundamental work that revealed that gallium was an excellent candidate, as it demonstrated significantly higher hydrogen permeance than palladium at elevated temperatures. In fact, laboratory studies and theoretical modeling conducted by the team showed that a number of metals that are liquid at higher temperatures may have better hydrogen permeance than palladium.\n\nWhile liquid gallium showed great promise as a material for hydrogen separation, creating a functioning membrane with the metal proved challenging, Datta said. \"It turns out that liquid metals are very reactive,\" he said. \"You cannot place gallium on a porous metal support, as Professor Ma did with palladium, since at higher temperatures it quickly forms intermetallic compounds that kill the permeability.\" The team discovered that the metal will also react with a number of ceramic materials commonly used as supports in palladium membranes.\n\nThrough modelling and experimentation, they compiled a list of materials, including carbon-based materials like graphite and silicon carbide, that do not chemically react with liquid gallium but that are also wettable by the liquid metal, meaning that the metal will spread out to form a thin film on the support material.\n\nAware that the surface tension of liquid metals was likely to change in response to variations in temperature and the composition of the gases they were exposed to, potentially producing leaks, they decided to insert the metal between two layers of support material to create a sandwiched liquid-metal membrane or SLiMM. A membrane consisting of a thin (two-tenths of a millimeter) layer of liquid gallium between a layer of silicon carbide and a layer of graphite, was constructed in the lab and tested for stability and hydrogen permeance.\n\nThe membrane was exposed to a hydrogen atmosphere for two weeks at temperatures ranging from 480 to 550 degrees C. The results showed that the liquid gallium film was up to 35 times more permeable to hydrogen than a comparable layer of palladium and that diffusion of hydrogen through the sandwiched membrane was considerably higher than for a typical palladium membrane. The test also showed that the membranes were selective, allowing just hydrogen to pass through.\n\n\"These tests confirmed our hypotheses that liquid metals may be suitable candidate for hydrogen separation membranes,\" Datta said, \"suggesting that these materials could be the long-sought substitute for palladium. There are a host of questions that still need to be answered, including whether the small membranes we constructed in the laboratory can be scaled up and whether the membranes will be resistant to substances present in reformed gases (including carbon monoxide and sulfur) that are known to poison palladium membranes.\n\n\"But by demonstrating the feasibility of sandwiched liquid-metal membranes, we have opened the door to a highly promising new area of hydrogen energy research,\" Datta added, \"for there are many other metals and alloys, beyond gallium, that are liquid at 500 degrees C. It is a vast open field, in terms of what materials you might use. Also, it poses a host of interesting scientific questions.\"\n\nMore information: Pei-Shan Yen et al, Sandwiched liquid metal membrane (SLiMM) for hydrogen purification, AIChE Journal (2017). DOI: 10.1002/aic.15658", "output": "Vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells could be more economical by using liquid-metal membrane technology, according to researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, who have been working on alternatives to existing separation membranes that use the precious metal palladium to separate hydrogen from other gases. The high cost of palladium has led to efforts to produce thinner membranes. However, these can be even more fragile and develop defects. The researchers demonstrated the feasibility of liquid metals using gallium sandwiched between layers of silicon carbide and graphite, paving the way to what they believe is a highly-promising area of hydrogen research."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers break 35% solar cell efficiency barrier \n A team of researchers from three leading institutes tested a variety of materials based on III-V elements, in stacked, tandem configurations with silicon bottom cells. A dual-junction solar cell, combining an NREL-engineered gallium arsenide (GaAs) top cell and a silicon heterojunction cell developed by CSEM, was measured at 32.8%, while a triple junction cell also incorporating a layer of indium gallium phosphate (GaInP) achieved 35.9% efficiency.\n\nEfficiency of 32.8% represents a new record high for two junction III-V/Si solar cells, breaking the same research group\u2019s previous record of 29.8% set in 2016. \u201cThis achievement is significant because it shows, for the first time, that silicon based tandem cells can provide efficiencies competing with more expensive multi-junction cells consisting entirely of III-V materials,\u201d says NREL scientist Adele Tamboli. \u201cIt opens the door to develop entirely new multi-junction solar cell materials and architectures.\u201d\n\nTandem cells are a popular area of research in PV, thanks to their potential to push higher efficiencies without forcing the industry to move away from silicon solar cells, where enormous cost reductions have been achieved in recent years.\n\nWhile impressive, these cells are far from being financially viable \u2013 NREL estimates a cost per watt of $4.85 for the GaInP cell, and $7.15 for the GaAs cell, based on 30% efficiency. The scientists estimate, however, that by adjusting to 35% efficiency and incorporating savings from economies of scale that could be achieved through ramping up production, the cost per watt could quickly be reduced to below $1/W. \u201cSuch a precipitous price drop is not unprecedented,\u201d notes NREL. \u201cFor instance, the cost of Chinese made PV modules fell from $4.50/W in 2006 to $1/W in 2011.\u201d\n\nPopular content\n\nNREL goes on to note that, if costs for a III-V solar cell cannot be brought down to these levels, then cheaper materials will need to be sought. The researchers still stress though, that this breakthrough serves as proof of concept for the use of silicon cells in tandem with other high efficiency materials, and the researchers mention that CSEM is also studying the use of perovskite to optimize solar\u2019s cost/efficiency ratio.\n\n\u201cThese records show that combining crystalline silicon and other materials is the way forward if we are to improve solar power\u2019s cost/efficiency ratio,\u201d states Christophe Ballif, Director of CSEM\u2019s PV-center. \u201cIt affirms that silicon HJT solar cells, when integrated into the structure that we\u2019ve developed, can generate multi-junction cell conversion efficiencies over 32%.\u201d", "output": "Researchers from the Swiss Centre for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM), the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Ecole Polytechnique F\u00e9d\u00e9rale de Lausanne (EPFL) have achieved 35.9% cell efficiency with a multi-junction tandem solar cell. Tandem cells can achieve greater efficiencies without the need to bypass silicon solar cells, which have seen dramatic cost reductions. CSEM is also studying the use of perovskite to improve the performance of solar cells."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Starwood Energy sells minority stake in Texas wind farms \n GREENWICH, Conn., Aug. 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Starwood Energy Group Global, LLC (\"Starwood Energy\"), a leading private investment firm focused on energy infrastructure, announced today that it has sold 49% of its interests in the Horse Creek and Electra wind farms to Munich Re Group, advised by its group-internal asset manager MEAG.\n\nHorse Creek and Electra, located in Haskell and Wilbarger Counties, Texas, are identical 230MW wind projects that were constructed by Starwood Energy and began operations in late 2016.\n\n\"We are excited to be partnering with an organization with MEAG's reputation and capabilities. We look forward to the continued success of the Horse Creek and Electra projects, as well as the growth of our relationship with the MEAG team,\" said Himanshu Saxena, Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of Starwood Energy Group.\n\n\"The investment makes an attractive and sustainable contribution to the continued geographical diversification and expansion of our US infrastructure portfolio. Around 200,000 US households are provided with renewable electricity from these wind farms. We are now looking forward to working with our new partner Starwood,\" says MEAG Managing Director Holger Kerzel.\n\nAbout Starwood Energy Group Global, LLC\n\nStarwood Energy Group is a private investment firm based in Greenwich, CT that specializes in energy infrastructure investments, with a focus on natural gas and renewable power generation, transmission, storage and related projects. Through its Starwood Energy Infrastructure Funds and affiliated investment vehicles, Starwood Energy Group has raised approximately $3 billion of equity capital and has executed transactions totaling more than $6 billion in enterprise value. The Starwood Energy Group team brings extensive development, construction, operations, acquisition and financing expertise to its investments. Starwood Energy Group is an affiliate of Starwood Capital Group Global, L.P. Additional information about Starwood Energy Group as well as Starwood Capital Group can be found at www.starwoodenergygroup.com.\n\nSOURCE Starwood Energy Group Global, LLC\n\nRelated Links\n\nhttp://www.starwoodenergygroup.com\n\n", "output": "Private equity firm Starwood Energy Group Global has sold a 49% stake in the Horse Creek and Electra wind farms to Munich Re Group, advised by its group-internal asset manager MEAG. Horse Creek and Electra, located in Haskell and Wilbarger Counties, Texas, are identical 230 MW wind projects that were constructed by Starwood Energy and began operations in late 2016."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Quantum Energy forms joint venture Vitruvian Exploration IV \n HOUSTON, TX--(Marketwired - August 24, 2017) - Quantum Energy Partners, a leading energy private equity firm, is pleased to announce the formation of Vitruvian Exploration IV with industry veterans Richard Lane, John Thaeler and Brian Rickmers. Supported by a $450 million equity commitment from Quantum, Vitruvian IV is actively building a portfolio of high quality, emerging and undeveloped oil and gas assets in North American unconventional resource plays. Vitruvian IV is the third consecutive partnership between Quantum, Lane, Thaeler and Rickmers.\n\nVitruvian IV will initially be focused on the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas. To-date, the Company has acquired or contracted to acquire ~120,000 net acres of undeveloped and highly contiguous leasehold in one of its target areas. This includes the acquisition of Sanchez Energy's (NYSE: SN) recently announced ~70,000 net acre Javelina asset divestment. The acreage acquired by Vitruvian IV possesses world class resource rock properties, is optimally situated for long-lateral development and has no existing midstream dedications which will provide for an optimal long-term development strategy. Vitruvian IV will commence operations on its Eagle Ford assets during the fourth quarter of 2017.\n\nThe Vitruvian IV team is led by Richard Lane as Executive Chairman, John Thaeler as Chief Executive Officer and Brian Rickmers as Chief Financial Officer. Prior to the formation of Vitruvian IV, Lane, Thaeler and Rickmers were the founders and senior leaders of Quantum-backed Vitruvian Exploration II and Vitruvian Exploration III. Vitruvian II acquired, delineated and developed a core position in Oklahoma's SCOOP play which was ultimately sold to Gulfport Energy (NASDAQ: GPOR) in February 2017 for $1.85 billion. Vitruvian III followed a similar strategy on a smaller scale in Oklahoma's STACK play which was sold to an undisclosed buyer in April 2017. Prior to Vitruvian, both Lane and Thaeler were senior executives at Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE: SWN), and Rickmers was Chief Commercial Officer at Newfield Exploration Company (NYSE: NFX).\n\nLane, Thaeler and Rickmers are supported by a highly experienced and seasoned team who provide a strong operating platform to focus on the immediate execution of the Company's strategy. The team has been working together successfully for nearly a decade and has an outstanding track record of creating value in unconventional resource plays.\n\n\"Vitruvian is proud to extend its long-standing partnership with Quantum,\" remarked Lane. \"When we set out to find a financial partner in 2012, we wanted a technically minded, long-term, strategic partner who could help us achieve our goals and maximize value. As evidenced by our past successes with Vitruvian II and Vitruvian III, we found exactly what we were looking for with Quantum.\"\n\nDheeraj Verma, President of Quantum, commented, \"We are very pleased to partner again with Richard, John, Brian and the entire management team at Vitruvian IV. They are a team of talented and motivated individuals who are exceptional at evaluating and then developing unconventional reservoirs. This team has consistently created significant value for all stakeholders through the application of technology and best operating practices in a safe and responsible manner.\"\n\nAbout Vitruvian Exploration IV, LLC\n\nBased in The Woodlands, TX, Vitruvian Exploration IV, LLC is focused on acquiring, developing and operating unconventional oil and gas assets in the United States.\n\nAbout Quantum Energy Partners\n\nQuantum Energy Partners is a leading provider of private equity capital to the global energy industry, having managed together with its affiliates more than $13.5 billion in equity commitments since inception. For more information on Quantum, please visit www.quantumep.com.", "output": "Private-equity firm Quantum Energy Partners has formed a joint venture called\u00a0Vitruvian Exploration IV with industry veterans Richard Lane, John Thaeler and Brian Rickmers supported by a $450m\u00a0equity commitment from Quantum. The JV is focused on emerging and undeveloped oil and gas assets in North American unconventional resource plays,\u00a0starting with\u00a0the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas. It has acquired or contracted to acquire about 120,000 net acres of undeveloped and highly contiguous leasehold in one of its target areas, including 70,000 net acres from Sanchez Energy.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Puma Energy to buy 51% of Admore Gas \n (Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/548915/Puma_Energy_Chishti_Group.jpg )\n\n\n\nAdmore is one of the leading independent Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) in Pakistan with a significant retail network of over 470 sites nationwide. Puma Energy is one of the world's largest independent midstream and downstream oil companies. The acquisition forms part of Puma Energy's global strategy of disciplined investing in fast-growing markets with a high demand for oil products, offering the opportunity to improve local infrastructure, provide supply security and world-class retail propositions to local consumers.\n\nThe joint venture will bring Puma Energy branded retail sites, convenience stores and quality product range to the Pakistan market, and undertake a significant investment programme to develop best-in-class supply chain infrastructure in-country to ensure the future needs of our retail business partners and public customers can be met.\n\nPuma Energy's CEO Pierre Eladari said \"Puma Energy continues to expand into new markets where its proven business model can deliver value to our customers and shareholders alike. Pakistan is on a firm growth trajectory; growth which will place increasing demands on the downstream oil sector. We, together with our new partner, intend to play an important role in the future development of the industry, working with our new stakeholders in government, business and the public to improve the reliability, standards, service and product offering currently available.\"\n\nDavid Holden, the General Manager of the joint venture, said \"We have been greatly impressed by Admore's business, its strategic asset base, its customer portfolio and the excellence of its management and employees. We believe we can bring further benefits with our expertise in retail, logistics and our ability to ensure reliable and secure supply of high quality fuels to our customers.\"\n\nChishti Group Chairman, Amir Waliuddin Chishti commented: \"We believe partnering with Puma Energy will benefit our Admore network, connecting Pakistan to the global market and ensuring security of supply for Pakistan's future growth. We see many opportunities for continued investment in infrastructure and supply to our portfolio of customers.\"\n\nAbout Puma Energy\n\nPuma Energy is a global integrated midstream and downstream oil company active in close to 47 countries. Formed in 1997 in Central America, Puma Energy has since expanded its activities worldwide, achieving rapid growth, diversification and product line development. The company directly manages over 8,000 employees. Headquartered in Singapore, it has regional hubs in Johannesburg (South Africa), San Juan (Puerto Rico), Brisbane (Australia) and Tallinn (Estonia).\n\nPuma Energy's core activities in the midstream sector include the supply, storage and transportation of petroleum products. Puma Energy's activities are underpinned by investment in infrastructure which optimises supply chain systems, capturing value as both asset owner and marketer of product. Puma Energy's downstream activities include the distribution, retail sales and wholesale of a wide range of refined products, with additional product offerings in the lubricants, bitumen, LPG and marine bunkering sectors. Puma Energy currently has a global network of over 2,500 retail service stations. Puma Energy also provides a robust platform for independent entrepreneurs to develop their businesses, by providing a viable alternative to traditional market supply sources.\n\nFor further information visit: http://www.pumaenergy.com\n\nAbout Chishti Group\n\nChishti Group is a renowned Pakistani conglomerate with a diversified business presence across several industry sectors including Healthcare, Education, Financial Services and Oil marketing. The current annual revenue of the Group is above USD 150mn with an employee base of 3,000. In the healthcare and education sectors, the group is successfully running (i) a 300-bed tertiary care hospital providing healthcare facilities, and (ii) the accredited educational institution which is awarding degree programs in MBBS, BDS, Post Graduate and Nursing care. Its full service brokerage business is a leading player in the Equity, Fixed income and Money Market business and is ranked among the top ten in the country. Having transformed and turned around three loss making businesses (due to its strong commitment with the country, excellent human capital and unmatched business execution capability), the group acquired Admore in 2014. Since then, with over 470 retail outlets, Admore has witnessed a significant improvement in terms of supply, storage and corporate governance in a very short period of time.\n\nSOURCE Puma Energy", "output": "Puma Energy has announced a joint venture with Chishti Group in Pakistan and\u00a0will acquire a 51% interest in Admore Gas.\u00a0Admore is an independent oil marketing company\u00a0in Pakistan with a retail network of over 470 sites nationwide. Puma Energy is an independent midstream and downstream oil company.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Recycled bottle turned into lithium-ion battery \n Waste glass bottles are turned into nanosilicon anodes using a low-cost chemical process. Researchers in California have devised a way to re-use glass bottles to develop a lithium-ion battery that demonstrated better performance than currently used energy sources. (Source: University of California, Riverside)\n\nResearchers in California have devised a way to re-use glass bottles to develop a lithium-ion battery that demonstrated better performance than currently used energy sources as part of an ongoing effort to develop batteries that are more environmentally friendly.\n\nA team at the University of California, Riverside led by Professors Cengiz Ozkan and Mihri Ozkan combined the use of waste glass and a low-cost chemical process to develop nanosilicon anodes for high-performance lithium-ion batteries that could potentially be used for electric and hybrid vehicles, as well as a number of personal electronics, they said.\n\nThe research in essence kills two birds with one stone, finding a way to reuse glass that would otherwise become a waste product while also advancing the development of better batteries for next-generation vehicles and devices, said Changling Li, a graduate student in materials science and engineering. Li also is the lead author on a paper the team published in the journal Scientific Reports.\n\n\u201cWe started with a waste product that was headed for the landfill and created batteries that stored more energy, charged faster, and were more stable than commercial coin cell batteries,\u201d he said. \u201cHence, we have very promising candidates for next-generation lithium-ion batteries.\u201d\n\nCengiz Ozkan is a professor of mechanical engineering at UC Riverside while Mihri Ozkan is a professor of electrical engineering. The two have been pioneering a number of projects to create lithium-ion battery anodes from environmentally friendly materials, with previous efforts developing and testing anodes from portabella mushrooms, sand, and fossil-rich earth, Mihri Ozkan said.\n\n\u201cIn the past, we have demonstrated lithium-ion battery anodes fabricated using bio-mass (mushrooms), beach sand, and diatom fossils as nature-abundant precursor materials,\u201d she told Design News in an interview. \u201cSuch natural resources can help reduce the cost of lithium-ion batteries, as well as minimize the carbon foot print from graphite-based anodes in lithium-ion batteries.\u201d\n\nDespite current recycling programs, billions of glass bottles still end up in landfills every year, Ozkan said. This inspired the Ozkans and their team to explore whether the silicon dioxide in waste glass bottles could provide high-purity silicon nanoparticles for lithium-ion batteries, Mihri Ozkan said.\n\nIt turns out that they could, the team found. The benefit of silicon is that silicon anodes can store up to 10 times more energy than conventional graphite anodes. However, the issue has typically been that they expand and shrink during charge and discharge, making them unstable.\n\nResearchers have had some success in reducing the problem by downsizing silicon to the nanoscale. The Ozkans\u2019 team managed to solve the problem by combining an abundant and relatively pure form of silicon dioxide and a low-cost chemical reaction, which resulted in lithium-ion half-cell batteries with significant energy improvements over current battery anodes, Cengiz Ozkan said.\n\n\u201cToday graphite is used as the main commercial material for fabricating the anode electrodes,\u201d he explained. \u201cWe replaced graphite in the anodes with our new nanosilicon material derived from waste glass bottles. In the half-cell configuration, our batteries demonstrate performance about four times higher compared to graphite anode batteries.\u201d\n\nTo create the anodes, the team used a three-step process. First, they crushed and grinded the glass\u2014derived from a bottle at a Starbucks\u2014into a fine white powder, then used a magnesiothermic reduction to transform the silicon dioxide into nanostructured silicon. Finally, researchers coated the silicon nanoparticles with carbon to improve their stability and energy-storage properties.\n\nThe team plans to continue its work to improve the technology for commercial use, as well as explore other eco-friendly battery chemistries and materials.\n\n\u201cWe currently scaled up the battery manufacturing process in our laboratories to pouch scale, which is the format for applications in consumable electronics and electric vehicles,\u201d Mihri Ozkan said.\n\nIn the meantime, the university\u2019s Office of Technology Commercialization has filed a patent application for their latest inventions.\n\nElizabeth Montalbano is a freelance writer who has written about technology and culture for more than 15 years. She currently resides in a village on the southwest coast of Portugal.", "output": "University of California researchers have discovered a way to reuse glass bottles to create more environmentally friendly lithium-ion batteries. The team utilised waste glass and a cheap magnesiothermic reduction process to create nanosilicon anodes to produce high-performance batteries that could be used in electric or hybrid vehicles. The process reduces glass bottle waste and increases energy capacity, with silicon anodes being able to store 10 times more energy than graphite anodes. By creating nano-sized silicon anodes, the batteries avoid issues of unstable expansion and shrinkage."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New cathode improves capacity of magnesium battery \n Schematic of the structural evolution of titanium disulfide at different stages of intercalation. Interlayers are expanded or distorted as different amounts of pillaring molecules, complex cations and solvents are intercalated into the van der Waals gap of a host material at each stage. Credit: University of Houston, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering\n\nMagnesium batteries offer promise for safely powering modern life\u2014unlike traditional lithium ion batteries, they are not flammable or subject to exploding\u2014but their ability to store energy has been limited.\n\nResearchers reported Aug. 24 in the journal Nature Communications the discovery of a new design for the battery cathode, drastically increasing the storage capacity and upending conventional wisdom that the magnesium-chloride bond must be broken before inserting magnesium into the host.\n\n\"We are combining a nanostructured cathode and a new understanding of the magnesium electrolyte,\" said Yan Yao, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Houston and lead author on the paper. \"That's new.\"\n\nThe work was first conceived by Yao and postdoctoral fellow Hyun Deog Yoo in 2014; the project spanned several years and involved scientists from three universities and three national laboratories, working both experimentally and theoretically.\n\n\"Magnesium ion is known to be hard to insert into a host,\" said Yoo, first author on the paper. \"First of all, it is very difficult to break magnesium-chloride bonds. More than that, magnesium ions produced in that way move extremely slowly in the host. That altogether lowers the battery's efficiency.\"\n\nThe new battery stores energy by inserting magnesium monochloride into a host, such as titanium disulfide. By retaining the magnesium-chloride bond, Yao said, the cathode demonstrated much faster diffusion than traditional magnesium versions.\n\nThe researchers report the new battery has storage capacity of 400 mAh/g, compared with 100 mAh/g for earlier magnesium batteries. Commercial lithium ion batteries have a cathode capacity of about 200 mAh/g, said Yao, who is also a principal investigator with the Texas Center for Superconductivity at UH.\n\nVoltage of the new battery remains low at about one volt. That compares to three to four volts for lithium batteries.\n\nThe high voltage, coupled with their high energy density, has made lithium ion batteries the standard. But lithium is expensive and can develop breaches in its internal structure, a condition known as dendrite growths, which can cause the batteries to catch fire. As an earth-abundant resource, magnesium is cheaper and does not form dendrites. Until now, however, it has been held back by the need for a better cathode\u2014the electrode from which the current flows\u2014and more efficient electrolytes, the medium through which the ionic charge flows between cathode and anode.\n\nThis work suggests a solution.\n\nThe key, Yoo said, is to expand the titanium disulfide to allow magnesium chloride to be inserted\u2014a four-step process called intercalation\u2014rather than breaking the magnesium-chloride bonds and inserting the magnesium alone. Retaining the magnesium-chloride bond doubled the charge the cathode could store.\n\nThe magnesium monochloride molecules are too large to be inserted into the titanium disulfide using conventional methods. Building upon their earlier work, the researchers created an open nanostructure by expanding the gaps in the titanium disulfide by 300 percent, using organic \"pillars.\"\n\nThe opening still was small, increased from 0.57 nanometers to 1.8 nanometers, but Yao said that allowed for the magnesium chloride to be inserted.\n\n\"Combined theoretical modeling, spectroscopic analysis, and electrochemical study reveal fast diffusion kinetics of magnesium monochloride cations without scission of magnesium chloride bond,\" the researchers wrote. \"... The large capacity accompanies excellent rate and cycling performances even at room temperature, opening up possibilities for a variety of effective intercalation hosts for multivalent-ion batteries.\"\n\n\"We hope this is a general strategy,\" Yoo said. \"Inserting various polyatomic ions in higher voltage hosts, we eventually aim to create higher-energy batteries at a lower price, especially for electric vehicles.\"\n\nMore information: Hyun Deog Yoo et al. Fast kinetics of magnesium monochloride cations in interlayer-expanded titanium disulfide for magnesium rechargeable batteries, Nature Communications (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00431-9 Journal information: Nature Communications", "output": "A new design for the cathodes of magnesium batteries could offer a safer power source with higher storage capacity. The design rejects conventional ideas of breaking the magnesium-chloride bond, instead inserting magnesium monochloride into a host and keeping the bond intact. That increases storage capacity to 400 mAh/g, four times that of its predecessors, but still only provides one volt in comparison to the three to four volts provided by lithium-ion batteries. Unlike traditional lithium-ion batteries, magnesium batteries\u00a0are not flammable or subject to exploding."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Stretchy fuel cells turn sweat into energy \n IANS\n\nResearchers have developed stretchable fuel cells that extract energy from sweat and are capable of powering electronics, such as LEDs and Bluetooth radios.\n\nIn a paper, published in the journal Energy & Environmental Science, the researchers described how they connected the biofuel cells to a custom-made circuit board and demonstrated that the device was able to power an LED while a person wearing it exercised on a stationary bike.\n\nThe biofuel cell that the Engineers from the University of California, San Diego in the US developed can stretch and flex, conforming to the human body.\n\nThe research led by Professor Joseph Wang, who directs the Center for Wearable Sensors at the university, used a combination of clever chemistry, advanced materials and electronic interfaces.\n\nThe researchers explained that biofuel cells were equipped with an enzyme that oxidises the lactic acid present in human sweat to generate current. This turned the sweat into a source of power.\n\nTo make the biofuel cells flexible and stretchable, the engineers decided to use what they call a \"bridge and island\" structure developed in Professor Sheng Xu's research group.\n\nEssentially, the cell is made up of rows of dots that are each connected by spring-shaped structures.\n\nHalf of the dots make up the cell's anode and the other half are the cathode.\n\nThe spring-like structures can stretch and bend, making the cell flexible without deforming the anode and cathode.\n\nThe basis for the islands and bridges structure was manufactured via lithography and is made of gold.\n\nAs a second step, researchers used screen printing to deposit layers of biofuel materials on top of the anode and cathode dots.\n\nThe researchers' biggest challenge was increasing the biofuel cell's energy density, meaning the amount of energy it can generate per surface area.\n\nIncreasing energy density is key to increasing performance for the biofuel cells. The more energy the cells can generate, the more powerful they can be.\n\nTo increase power density, engineers screen printed a 3D carbon nanotube structure on top the anodes and cathodes.\n\nThe structure allows engineers to load each anodic dot with more of the enzyme that reacts to lactic acid and silver oxide at the cathode dots. In addition, the tubes allow easier electron transfer, which improves biofuel cell performance, the study said.", "output": "Researchers from the University of California have created stretchable fuel cells that can turn sweat from exercise into energy to power electronic devices. The biofuel cells are equipped with enzymes that oxidise lactic acid and generates a current strong enough to power LEDs and Bluetooth radios."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Stretchy fuel cells turn sweat into energy \n Engineers have developed stretchable biofuel cells that extract energy from human sweat to power a range of wearable devices.\n\nBiofuel cells island and bridge structure\n\nThe epidermal biofuel cells, which are claimed to generate 10 times more power per surface area than any existing wearable biofuel cells, are a major breakthrough in the field, which has been struggling to make devices that are stretchable enough and powerful enough.\n\nEngineers from the University of California San Diego were able to achieve this breakthrough thanks to a combination of chemistry, advanced materials and electronic interfaces. This allowed them to build a stretchable electronic foundation by using lithography and by using screen-printing to make 3D carbon nanotube-based cathode and anode arrays.\n\nThe biofuel cells are equipped with an enzyme that oxidises the lactic acid present in human sweat to generate current. This turns the sweat into a source of power.\n\nThe engineers report their results in Energy & Environmental Science. In the paper, they describe how they connected the biofuel cells to a custom-made circuit board and demonstrated that it was able to power an LED while a person wearing it exercised on a stationary bike.\n\nProf Joseph Wang, who directs the Center for Wearable Sensors at UC San Diego, led the research, in collaboration with electrical engineering professor and center co-director Patrick Mercier and nanoegnineering professor Sheng Xu, both also at the Jacobs School of Engineering UC San Diego.\n\nTo be compatible with wearable devices, the biofuel cell needs to be flexible and stretchable, so engineers decided to use a \"bridge and island\" structure developed in Xu's research group. Essentially, the cell is made up of rows of dots that are each connected by spring-shaped structures. Half of the dots make up the cell's anode; the other half are the cathode. The spring-like structures can stretch and bend, making the cell flexible without deforming the anode and cathode.\n\nThe basis for the islands and bridges structure was manufactured via lithography and is made of gold. The researchers then used screen printing to deposit layers of biofuel materials on top of the anode and cathode dots.\n\nThe researchers' biggest challenge was increasing the biofuel cell's energy density.\n\n\"We needed to figure out the best combination of materials to use and in what ratio to use them,\" said Amay Bandodkar, one of the paper's first authors, who was then a Ph.D. student in Wang's research group.\n\nTo increase power density, engineers screen printed a 3D carbon nanotube structure on top the anodes and cathodes. The structure allows engineers to load each anodic dot with more of the enzyme that reacts to lactic acid and silver oxide at the cathode dots. In addition, the tubes allow easier electron transfer, which improves biofuel cell performance.\n\nThe biofuel cell was connected to a custom-made circuit board manufactured in Mercier's research group. The board is a DC/DC converter that evens out the power generated by the fuel cells, which fluctuates with the amount of sweat produced by a user, and turns it into constant power with a constant voltage.\n\nResearchers equipped four subjects with the biofuel cell-board combination and had them exercise on a stationary bike. The subjects were able to power a blue LED for about four minutes.", "output": "Researchers from the University of California have created stretchable fuel cells that can turn sweat from exercise into energy to power electronic devices. The biofuel cells are equipped with enzymes that oxidise lactic acid and generates a current strong enough to power LEDs and Bluetooth radios."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Motor insurance fraud surges amid identity-theft epidemic \n Identity theft has reached epidemic levels in the UK, with incidents of this type of fraud running at almost 500 a day, according to the latest figures.\n\nDuring the first six months of this year there were a record 89,000 cases of identity fraud, which typically involves criminals pretending to be an individual in order to steal their money, buy items or take out a loan or car insurance in their name.\n\n\n\nThe fraud prevention service Cifas, which issued the data, said these crimes were taking place almost exclusively online, and that the vast amount of personal data available on the internet and as a result of data breaches \u201cis only making it easier for the fraudster\u201d.\n\n\n\nSimon Dukes, the Cifas chief executive, said: \u201cWe have seen identity fraud attempts increase year on year, now reaching epidemic levels, with identities being stolen at a rate of almost 500 a day \u2026 Criminals are relentlessly targeting consumers and businesses, and we must all be alert to the threat and do more to protect personal information.\u201d\n\nIdentity fraud is one of the fastest-growing types of cybercrime, and experts say criminals are using increasingly sophisticated tactics. Fraudsters have increasingly been hacking into email accounts and then posing as a builder, solicitor or other tradesperson that the consumer has legitimately employed. Some customers have lost considerable sums after being duped into sending money to the bank accounts of criminals.\n\n\n\nIn many cases, victims do not even realise they have been targeted until a bill arrives for something they did not buy, or they experience problems with their credit rating when applying for a mortgage or loan.\n\n\n\nTo carry out this kind of crime successfully, fraudsters need access to their victim\u2019s personal information such as name, date of birth, address and bank. Fraudsters get hold of this in a variety of ways, from stealing letters and hacking emails to obtaining data on the \u201cdark web\u201d, and exploiting some people\u2019s willingness to share every detail of their life on social media.\n\nThere have been cases of people being targeted after posting a photo of their new debit or credit card on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram \u2013 which means their 16-digit number, expiry date, cardholder name, account number and sort code are all on display, giving a fraudster much of what they need to steal that individual\u2019s identity.\n\n\n\nThe 89,000 identity frauds recorded \u2013 which may underestimate the true situation, as some people are too embarrassed to report incidents and may decide to write off any loss \u2013 is up 5% on the same period last year.\n\n\n\nWhile more than half of all identity fraud cases involve bank accounts and plastic cards, the latest figures show a sharp rise in incidents involving motor insurance: 2,070 during the latest six months, compared with 20 during the same period in 2016.\n\nThe Insurance Fraud Bureau said it believed most of these cases were likely to involve people taking out fake motor policies \u2013 typically bought online from illegal \u201cghost brokers\u201d \u2013 in order to avoid having to buy a genuine policy.\n\n\n\nCifas data is included in official crime statistics, and every day it sends about 800 fraud cases to the City of London police for potential investigation.\n\n\n\nIts advice to consumers includes:\n\n\n\nSet privacy settings across all social media channels, and think twice before sharing details such as full date of birth.\n\n\n\nPassword protect devices. Keep passwords complex by picking three random words, such as \u201croverducklemon,\u201d and add or split them with symbols, numbers and capitals.\n\n\n\nInstall anti-virus software on laptops and any other personal devices and keep it up to date.\n\n", "output": "A surge in identity thefts, described as an epidemic in the UK,\u00a0has been marked by a sharp increase in motor insurance fraud. Of 89,000 identity frauds recorded last year, more than 2,000 were car-insurance related, according to fraud prevention service Cifas. The Insurance Fraud Bureau has said that most involved people taking out fake motor policies to avoid having to buy a genuine one.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Robo-adviser Wealthsimple creates Halal investment portfolio \n Robo-adviser Wealthsimple has launched a new investment portfolio for observant Muslims, a move the company says builds off its success targeting smaller, underserviced groups of investors.\n\nThe Toronto-based wealth management firm says its Halal investing portfolio is designed for those adhering to Islamic laws that prohibit investing in certain companies and financial products.\n\nWealthsimple CEO Michael Katchen hopes the portfolio will resonate with a portion of the public, the same way its socially responsible investment portfolio options launched last year have.\n\n\"With socially responsible investing, people thought it was going to be a such a small niche, that it wouldn't be worth our time, but it turned out to be enormously successful,\" Katchen said.\n\n\"We now see a third of our clients in socially responsible portfolios. We realized there was an opportunity to create solutions for groups of people that were underserviced in the financial services industry \u2014 and in this case, with Muslims who hold certain religious beliefs and really don't have options when it comes to investments.\"\n\nKatchen said there are only a handful of Islamic-compliant portfolio options available in Canada, some of which he said have \"egregiously expensive\" management expense ratio fees upward of more than 2.8 per cent as well as high account size minimums.\n\nWealthsimple's Halal portfolio will have the same fee structure as its other core offerings, with 0.5 per cent on the first $100,000 invested and no account minimum.\n\nMarket size has also figured into its introduction of the portfolio, Katchen said.\n\nWith slightly more than one million Canadians identifying themselves as Muslim in the latest census, representing 3.2 per cent of the total population, \"it's important to us that we go after opportunities that represent growth,\" he said.\n\nWealthsimple designed its Halal portfolio with global index provider MSCI, using a methodology approved by its committee of Shariah scholars.\n\nThe all-equity portfolio, which uses the same passive investment strategy as Wealthsimple's other portfolios, is comprised of 50 stocks designed to maximize diversification and closely track the MSCI ACWI Islamic Index.\n\nThe stocks included in the portfolio are filtered using two processes. A business activity screen filters companies that are directly active in, or derive over five per cent of their revenue from, a prohibited Muslim activity such as alcohol, tobacco, gambling or pork production. A financial screen filters out companies that derive significant income from interest or have considerable leverage.\n\nKatchen said Wealthsimple will continue to launch new products that introduce solutions for investors who are underserviced or improve upon offerings that are already in the market.\n\n\"If you look at our history, we generally try to lead with innovative new products and services a few times a year, so I think you can expect more stuff from us.\"", "output": "Canadian robo-adviser Wealthsimple is offering a new Halal investment portfolio specifically for Muslims. The portfolio will be designed for those following Islamic laws that forbid investment\u00a0in certain kinds of products and\u00a0businesses. The company hopes that the new offering will prove as popular as its socially responsible investment portfolios, which it described as \"enormously successful\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "At least 500 apps taken off Google Play because of spyware fears \n More than 500 Android mobile apps have been removed from Google Play after it was discovered that an embedded advertising SDK called Igenix could be leveraged to quietly install spyware on devices.\n\nMore than 500 Android mobile apps have been removed from Google Play after it was discovered that an embedded advertising SDK could be leveraged to quietly install spyware on devices.\n\nThe SDK, called Igexin, was developed by a Chinese company and may have been used to install malware that could, among other things, exfiltrate logs from devices.\n\nResearchers at mobile security company Lookout said on Monday that the 500-plus Android apps with the Igexin SDK had been downloaded more than 100 million times, though not all of them were infected with spyware.\n\nGames developed for teen-agers that had been downloaded between 50 million and 100 million times were the largest concentration of apps containing the Igexin SDK. Weather apps, internet radio apps, photo editors, educational, health and fitness, travel and emoji apps were also identified by Lookout as classes of apps where the SDK was found.\n\n\u201cWhile not all of these applications have been confirmed to download the malicious spying capability, Igexin could have introduced that functionality at their convenience,\u201d Lookout security engineers Adam Bauer and Christoph Hebeisen wrote.\n\nThe Igexin SDK, and others like it, are often used by app developers to connect to mobile ad networks in order to deliver ads and generate revenue. These services often collect user data that is co-opted to deliver targeted advertising based on their browsing habits and interests.\n\nLookout cautioned that Igexin bucks a trend where malware writers have, of late, been submitting benign apps to marketplaces, and then once on a device download malware or other malicious code.\n\n\u201cIgexin is somewhat unique because the app developers themselves are not creating the malicious functionality\u2014nor are they in control or even aware of the malicious payload that may subsequently execute,\u201d Lookout said. \u201cInstead, the invasive activity initiates from an Igexin-controlled server.\u201d\n\nLookout said it discovered the suspicious behavior of these apps because they were communicating with IPs and servers known to deliver malware. One app, Lookout said, downloaded large encrypted files after making requests to a REST API located at an endpoint used by the Igexin SDK.\n\n\u201cThe encrypted file downloads and the presence of calls within the com.igexin namespace to Android\u2019s dalvik.system.DexClassLoader (used to load classes from a .jar or .apk file) were enough to warrant more in-depth analysis for possible malware hiding in its payload,\u201d Lookout said.\n\nThe researchers said that the app developers were likely unaware of the types of information that could be exfiltrated from devices because of the SDK. The malicious versions of the SDK implement a plugin framework through which the device downloads arbitrary code from the endpoint at http://sdk[.]open[.]phone[.]igexin[.]com/api.php. Commands sent from the endpoint cause the SDK to download and execute payloads, Lookout said.\n\n\u201cThe functionality contained in the downloaded classes is completely under external control at runtime, and it may change at any time and can vary based on any factors chosen by the remote system operator,\u201d Lookout said. \u201cUsers and app developers have no control over what will be executed on a device after the remote API request is made.\u201d\n\nIn addition to moving logs off a device, other plugins can be used to register functionality such as a PhoneStateListener, which will save the time during which calls are made, the calling number and whether the call was ringing, idle, or off the hook.\n\nGoogle, meanwhile, has been out front in marketing its successes, in particular at the RSA and Black Hat conferences. Adrian Ludwig, director of Android Security, said at RSA that Google analyzes its relationships with developers in order to find badly behaving apps.\n\nGoogle said it analyzes aspects of the developer\u2019s business, customer feedback, software code and application behavior. Then it compares those attributes to other seemingly unrelated apps that may also be problematic. Using machine intelligence, Google creates clusters of apps that share similarities. Next, apps and developers that have a high probability of bad behavior are red flagged and human analysis can confirm if there is a security problem.", "output": "More than 500 Android mobile apps have been removed from Google Play after an embedded advertising software development kit (SDK) was found to be vulnerable to being used by hackers to install spyware. The kit, which is known as\u00a0Igexin, was created by a Chinese company and may have been used\u00a0as a vessel for malware that might exfiltrate logs from mobile phones. Mobile security firm Lookout found that the SDK had been downloaded over 100 million times, although not always with malware, with the software commonly used in games aimed at teenagers.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bloomberg, Tradeweb win post-MiFID APA status from UK regulator \n Several major financial services and technology firms have been granted authorisation to operate as approved publication arrangements (APAs) for reporting under MiFID II.\n\nTradeweb, MarketAxess\u2019 Trax, NEX Regulatory Reporting, Bloomberg and the London Stock Exchange\u2019s TRADEcho all received approval from the UK\u2019s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) this week.\n\nAs APAs, those firms will be able to publish reports on trades for post-trade transparency on behalf of clients as required under the impending European regulation.\n\nSimon Maisey, global head of business development at Tradeweb, explained its APA service has already received support from a number of financial institutions.\n\n\u201cMore recently, buy-side firms have shown particular interest in our \u2018Assisted Reporting\u2019 service, which helps them comply with post-trade reporting obligations without having to set up direct connectivity,\u201d he added.\n\nAt Trax, Geoffroy Vander Linden, head of transparency solutions, commented that buy- and sell-side firms have been actively testing their readiness for reporting under MiFID II since November last year.\n\nColin Coleman, head of NEX Regulatory Reporting, described the approval to operate as an APA as an important milestone for NEX Group.\n\n\u201cThe use of APAs will be essential for efficient functioning under MiFID II and we strongly encourage any market participants who have not yet commenced testing to do so immediately to ensure they can continue to trade post 3 January 2018,\u201d he said.", "output": "Several significant financial institutions have been granted permission to offer services as approved publication arrangements under new MiFID II regulation. Tradeweb, NEX Regulatory Reporting, Bloomberg, the London Stock Exchange\u2019s TRADEcho and MarketAxess\u2019 Trax are among the approved companies. The UK Financial Conduct Authority granted authorisation for publishing reports on trades' transparency for clients as part of MiFID II requirements."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SEC suspends First Bitcoin Capital's trading licence \n In a statement that will likely make waves in the cryptocurrency community, the SEC announced it has suspended shares of the publicly traded First Bitcoin Capital (BITCF). The suspension is set to last through September 7 at 11:59AM. Prior to suspension, the share price was at $1.79.\n\nThe statement gave few details but did include the SEC\u2019s concerns regarding the stated value of assets held by the company.\n\n\"The Commission temporarily suspended trading in the securities of BITCF because of concerns regarding the accuracy and adequacy of publicly available information about the company including, among other things, the value of BITCF\u2019s assets and its capital structure.\u201d\n\nThe company has been working in the Bitcoin market, running companies for travel, shopping, and cryptocurrency exchange. They also offer franchise opportunities in Bitcoin ATMs under the name BitCannPay.\n\nSEC position is clear\n\nThe suspension reflects the SEC\u2019s commitment to add additional controls to the cryptocurrency marketplace. The recent statement regarding the DAO token sale, coupled with today\u2019s ruling, indicate the regulator is beginning to take a firmer role in the largely unregulated digital currency market.\n\nThe SEC\u2019s statement regarding ICOs, however, has been met with some confusion given the CFTC\u2019s willingness to clear LedgerX for Bitcoin futures and options trading.\n\nWhile some have embraced the SEC\u2019s hard stand, others see the position as far too restrictive.\n\nThe suspension of a single Bitocin company may have nothing to do with the SEC\u2019s position on Bitcoin as a cryptocurrency. It does however indicate that the SEC is willing to take a stand on cryptocurrency issues. Recent predictions regarding fines and closures of cryptocurrency exchanges have come to fruition, and may signal more to come.", "output": "First Bitcoin Capital has seen its publicly-traded shares suspended by the SEC\u00a0until 7 September 2017. The SEC has said it is concerned about the claimed value of assets held by the company and the quality of available information on its capital structure. First Bitcoin Capital presently operates a cryptocurrency exchange, as well as travel and retail businesses, and a line of Bitcoin ATMs under the BitCannPay label.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snapchat to verify brands and influencers with 'Official Story' \n With more than 100,000 followers on Snapchat, graphic designer Cyrene Quiamco (known as CyreneQ on social) has run influencer campaigns on the platform for brands like Walmart, Samsung and Burger King since November 2014. Yet app parent Snap hasn\u2019t been known for cultivating influencers. CyreneQ rarely received guidance from the company on how she could grow her following and views.\n\nBut on Wednesday, Quiamco received an email from Snapchat saying the company wanted to set up an Official Stories account for her, which is similar to a verified account on Instagram and Twitter. That means her profile will be featured when Snap users search for \u201cart,\u201d for instance, or in curated Live Stories.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m so excited,\u201d said Quiamco. \u201cSnapchat has never verified creators or influencers before \u2014 only celebrity accounts. It\u2019s a huge move from Snap, since it really didn\u2019t show interest in creators a few months ago.\u201d\n\nSnapchat introduced Official Stories in 2015, but the feature was reserved mostly for public figures like Rihanna and Kylie Jenner, agency executives said. Now, the platform is extending Official Stories to influencers.\n\n\u201cSnapchat-only stars have expressed irritation with its neglect of them for a while now and have been leaving in droves for Instagram Stories,\u201d said Marie Cravens, influencer and partnerships manager for We Are Social. \u201cSnapchat is finally trying to woo them back and show [its] appreciation.\u201d\n\nOfficial Stories accounts come with benefits. They feature a emoji symbol selected by the account holder and receive customized filters for special occasions. Perhaps most importantly, Official Stories accounts will be more visible in search results, as discoverability is a big hurdle for both brands and social stars on Snapchat, according to Quiamco.\n\nSnap confirmed it is expanding Official Stories and will include more \u201ctop creators\u201d in the coming months. The company wouldn\u2019t specify how it defines \u201ctop creators.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s been a tough year for Snap, with Facebook-owned Instagram looming. In its first quarterly earnings in May, Snap reported a total loss of $2.2 billion and lower than expected user growth.\n\nGil Eyal, CEO of influencer marketing platform Hypr, thinks Snapchat needs to make a quick shift after two \u201cterrible\u201d quarters. He said there has been a huge decline in influencer marketing on Snapchat from his agency clients over the past year, with the majority shifting to Instagram, because of Snapchat\u2019s lack of analytics and negative news about the platform.\n\n\u201cAfter completely abandoning influencers under the belief that they will stay because of the platform\u2019s cool factor, Snap is understanding that Facebook stole its thunder,\u201d said Eyal. \u201cRemember Vine? It made the same mistakes, alienating its influencers instead of embracing them.\u201d\n\nTom Buontempo, president of agency Attention, said he thinks Snapchat is wooing influencers to boost its stagnant user growth through benefits like Official Stories. And with more content from social stars, more advertising opportunities will emerge on Snapchat.\n\n\u201cSnapchat didn\u2019t realize how fast Instagram brought Stories on board, and creators were moving to that platform,\u201d he said. \u201cSnapchat really needs to change its relationship with content creators to keep its audience engaged. After all, advertisers go where the audience is.\u201d\n\nAgency executives think it might be too late for Snapchat to build trust with content creators, as many already started building a large presence elsewhere. They also predict Snap will give influencers more analytics tools along with Official Stories.\n\n\u201cAt this point, [social stars] have begun moving on. With the amount of monetization opportunities and the relationships that the Facebook and Instagram ecosystem is creating, it\u2019s hard [for Snap] to compete,\u201d said Marco Hansell, founder and CEO of influencer marketing platform Speakr.\n\nSnapchat seems to be making progress in how it collaborates with social stars. Quiamco had a Skype conference call with about five executives on Snapchat\u2019s partnership and product planning team two weeks ago, discussing what features she would need as a Snap creator. The Snap team also suggested it should host such meetings more often.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m really happy that Snapchat is changing 180 degrees,\u201d said Quiamco. \u201cThey asked about the community and were interested in knowing what would make our Snapchat experience better. They also mentioned that they were talking to other creators, not just me.\u201d", "output": "Snapchat will now verify brands and influencers to make it easier for followers to find them on the social media platform. Snapchat will set up \"Official Stories\" accounts, similar to verified accounts on Instagram and Twitter. Until now, verified accounts were only given to public figures and celebrities. The account features an emoji symbol chosen by the account owner, with customised filters for special events, and a higher profile in search results.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Adani cleared of fraud in tax haven case \n India\u2019s customs authority has cleared the Adani Group of illegally siphoning money into overseas tax havens, dismissing one of two sets of power equipment fraud allegations known to be facing the mining conglomerate.\n\nThe judgment this week involved separate Adani Group subsidiaries to those named in similar allegations reported by the Guardian earlier this month, but employed the same alleged company in Dubai and the same modus operandi.\n\nIn the allegations dismissed this week, Indian customs investigators had accused two subsidiaries of the Adani Group of using the Dubai company, Electrogen Infra FZE (EIF), to inflate the price of machinery and equipment for power plant projects in Maharashtra and Rajasthan states.\n\nIt had alleged that EIF charged the Adani Group subsidiaries up to 220% more for the equipment. It claimed the extra money was channelled to a holding company in Dubai owned by Vinod Shantilal Adani, the older brother of Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani.\n\nThe effect of the now-dismissed scheme would have been to move vast sums of money from the Adani Group\u2019s domestic accounts into offshore bank accounts where it could no longer be taxed or accounted for.\n\nIn a judgment dated 22 August, an official from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) appointed to adjudicate the case fully dismissed the allegations.\n\n\n\nThe official, KVS Singh, found that one of the Adani Group subsidiaries, Adani Power Maharashtra Limited, had signed a contract with EIF to supply equipment more than one month before it had been taken over by Vinod Adani.\n\nTherefore the companies \u201cwere not related ... on the date of the signing of the contract\u201d, he concluded.\n\nHe found the other Adani Group subsidiary, Adani Power Maharashtra Limited, had signed the contract with EIF after Vinod Adani had taken control of the company.\n\nBut Singh said the evidence had led him to conclude \u201cthat the same relation has not affected the price [of the equipment] and that the same was at arm\u2019s length\u201d.\n\n\u201cI find that even though I have found that the two entities ... were related, the requirement of relationship influencing the price was not satisfied,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cThus I find that the allegation that the impugned goods were over-valued does not hold water.\u201d\n\nIncome tax officials who had scrutinised the transactions had also concluded that the transactions between EIF and the Adani Group subsidiaries had been conducted at arm\u2019s length, he added.\n\nSingh concluded the increased price that EIF charged the Adani Group subsidiaries could be justified on the grounds the company had provided extended warranties on the equipment it purchased, and had signed stringent supply contracts.\n\n\n\n\u201cEIF had undertaken the risk and financial burden to provide extended warranty over what the [suppliers] had added substantially to the said goods,\u201d Singh said.\n\n\u201cThis additional risk spread over an extended period of time was bound to add a cost premium to the value of the imported goods.\u201d\n\nThe judgment said the Adani Group subsidiaries had chosen to employ EIF to source the equipment based on a competitive evaluation process in which EIF\u2019s bid had been the lowest in price.\n\n\u201cI find that the [Adani Group] has arrived at the price transparently and independently where the price has been finalised based on global tender following international competitive bidding process as prescribed by the Government of India,\u201d he said.\n\nA second set of fraud allegations, detailed by the Guardian earlier in August and valued around 15bn rupees, are still pending adjudication, according to the Times of India.\n\nThe DRI had been contacted to provide an update on the current status of both cases.\n\n\n\nThe Adani Group could not be reached for comment, but said in an earlier statement on behalf of itself, its subsidiaries, and Vinod Adani that it \u201cstrongly denies the allegations of overvaluation\u201d.\n\n\u201cIt is a standard procedure for the group to follow international competitive bidding route for major capital expenditures to ensure transparency and competitiveness in the process. All our transactions are always conducted within the framework of extant regulatory guidelines and provisions,\u201d it has said.\n\n\u201cThe fact that our projects have incurred the lowest cost across central, state and private utility players has gone to establish the robustness of the processes followed by our group.\n\n\u201cIt may be noted that Mr Vinod Adani who is the elder brother of Mr Gautam Adani has been a non-resident Indian for about 30 years and has his own established business interests outside India,\u201d its statement said.\n\n\u201cAdani Group is aware of the investigations being conducted by the DRI, and has fully cooperated, and shall continue to cooperate with the investigating agencies.\u201d", "output": "Adani, the Indian multinational corporation, has been cleared of illegally routing money to tax havens by India\u2019s customs authority. The case was founded on allegations that two subsidiaries of the group inflated power plant equipment prices via the Dubai firm Electrogen Infra. Further fraud allegations involving sums of approximately INR15bn ($234m) are still awaiting adjudication.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK banks anticipate PPI compensation claims following \u00a342m TV ads \n Britain\u2019s banks are bracing themselves for a new wave of compensation claims likely to be sparked by a \u00a342m advertising campaign urging customers to complain about their payment protection insurance policies.\n\n\n\nThe campaign by the Financial Conduct Authority is due to launch on 29 August \u2013 exactly two years before the cut-off point for any fresh PPI claims \u2013 and is being paid for by 18 of the biggest players in the industry.\n\nThe FCA hopes the imposition of the deadline will help the industry draw a line under the scandal. It is by far the UK\u2019s costliest misselling scandal, having forced the industry to set aside more than \u00a343bn to handle the claims and pay compensation, according to calculations by the thinktank New City Agenda.\n\nThe big four banks \u2013 Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Lloyds Banking Group \u2013 are sitting on \u00a36.5bn of funds to cover future claims. Lloyds said in its interim results this month that the unused \u00a32.6bn proportion of its \u00a318.1bn provision was \u201cconsistent with total expected complaint volumes of 5.3m, with approximately 1.2m still expected to be received, including approximately 9,000 reactive complaints per week through to August 2019\u201d.\n\nRBS, which is 71% owned by the taxpayer, has \u00a31.1bn it is yet to use, while HSBC has $1.1bn (\u00a3860m). Barclays has not used \u00a32.1bn out of the \u00a39.1bn it has set aside, which it describes as its \u201cbest estimate of expected PPI redress\u201d.\n\nIn its interim results, Barclays also referred to the advertising campaign starting on 29 August and said its impact is \u201cuncertain but has been considered in Barclays\u2019 provision estimate\u201d.\n\nThe sums also include the potential cost of administering the claims in a scandal that has cost far more than expected. Regulators initially estimated 3 million people might be affected, but four times that figure \u2013 12m \u2013 have so far received \u00a327.4bn in total, according to a tally compiled by the FCA.\n\nWhen Lloyds broke ranks with the industry in May 2011 and started to pay out claims, it set aside \u00a33.2bn which at the time it hoped would be sufficient to tackle the scandal. The bill for Lloyds alone now stands at \u00a318bn.\n\nIan Gordon, an analyst at Investec, said the parts of the unutilised provisions were \u201can estimate of all future redress costs through to August 2019. Will that be enough? My guess is no, but almost enough.\u201d\n\nAn extra \u00a31bn may be needed across the industry \u2013 but, he cautioned, \u201cmost of us have been wrong here many times before\u201d.\n\nUp to 60m policies were sold, the majority before 2005. While 12 million people have made claims, this could equate to between 20m to 24m policies as some customers had more than one.\n\n\n\nThe FCA head, Andrew Bailey, justified the decision not to force banks to write to customers, instead putting the onus on customers. In a comment piece for the Mirror, he said: \u201cWe don\u2019t believe this would work. How many times have you ignored a generic letter through your door?\u201d\n\nBailey added: \u201cMost of us see reminders every day of the PPI scandal from calls on our phone and adverts in newspapers. Yet there remain a large number of people who may be entitled to complain but have not yet made a complaint.\u201d\n\nNick Baxter, independent chair of the Professional Financial Claims Association, said that the FCA data showing \u00a324.7bn had been paid out \u201cpresents the illustration of progress but we\u2019re only part way there\u201d.\n\n\n\nThis is because the FCA\u2019s data does not separate out the interest customers receive from the premiums that are being repaid. About half the total payouts are thought to cover interest which, according to some industry estimates, could push the total misselling bill as high as \u00a3100bn.\n\nClaims management firms have been extremely active in touting for PPI business, often taking a large slice of any compensation they secure for customers. The National Audit Office estimated they have received as much as \u00a35bn.\n\nFor some customers, the deadline represents a second opportunity to receive compensation: 1.2 million customers previously rejected are being told they may have other grounds for complaint. This is because of a crucial court ruling in 2014 \u2013 named after the Paragon customer Susan Plevin \u2013 that means customers can make claims for the commission they paid when the PPI was sold.\n\nThe FCA has said compensation can be paid if the commission was 50% of the cost of the PPI. According to Moneysavingexpert.com more people could receive payments as commission was typically 67% of the value of the policy.\n\nDominic Lindley, policy director at New City Agenda, warns that the deadline to make a claim will be earlier than April 2019 for 5.5 million individuals already contacted by their bank.", "output": "UK banks are likely to face a wave of compensation claims following the launch on 29 August of a \u00a342m ($54m) advertising campaign encouraging customers to complain about payment protection insurance (PPI) policies. The campaign by the Financial Conduct Authority has been paid for by 18 leading providers in the sector. Its launch will take place exactly two years before the final date for fresh claims. The PPI scandal has forced the industry to set aside over \u00a343bn for claims and compensation, making it the most expensive misselling affair in UK history.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon's AI Fashion Designer \n Amazon, meanwhile, is making moves to bolster its apparel business, developing its own clothing brands, investing in high-quality photography for products, and launching Prime Wardrobe, which lets customers try on clothes before buying them. Its Echo Look app will even give you feedback on your outfits.\n\nBut Amazon appears to be pushing that algorithmic approach even further. For instance, one group of Amazon researchers based in Israel developed machine learning that, by analyzing just a few labels attached to images, can deduce whether a particular look can be considered stylish. The software could conceivably provide fashion feedback or recommendations for adjustments. The work is innovative because computers usually require extensive labeling in order to learn from visual information. But in many real-world situations, such as an image posted to Instagram, there might be just one label.\n\nAn Amazon team at Lab126, a research center based in San Francisco, has developed an algorithm that learns about a particular style of fashion from images, and can then generate new items in similar styles from scratch\u2014essentially, a simple AI fashion designer. The approach is crude and hardly ready for Project Runway, but it hints at the possibilities.\n\nThis work uses a cutting-edge tool called a generative adversarial network, or GAN. It consists of two deep neural networks operating in tandem to learn efficiently from raw data. The GAN internalizes the properties of a particular style simply by looking at lots of examples, and it can then apply that style to an existing item of clothing. GANs, which were developed by a researcher on the Google Brain team, are a hot topic in machine learning today (see \u201cInnovators Under 35: Ian Goodfellow\u201d).\n\nBoth these projects were revealed at the workshop organized by Amazon. The event included mostly academic researchers who are exploring ways for machines to understand fashion trends. The company declined to comment on the projects.\n\nSome at the workshop showed how the techniques being developed to track fashion trends could provide broader insights into human behavior. Bala and her colleagues are using information gleaned from Instagram as a form of anthropological research. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to understand how people live their daily lives,\u201d she says. \u201cIt really is unprecedented in human history that we have this extent of visual records.\u201d", "output": "Amazon is developing machine-learning systems to find and react to fashion-forward trends. The systems would scan social media-featured items and other images to understand user preference for style and generate similar fashionable clothing for sale. Amazon hopes to expand its current fashion offering using the technology.\u00a0\u201cThis is completely changing the industry\u201d, said\u00a0Cornell University's\u00a0Kavita Bala.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Marketo migrates marketing products to Google Cloud Platform \n What is Lemon8 and why is everyone talking about it on TikTok?", "output": "Marketing automation company Marketo will be moving its products to the Google Cloud Platform in a multi-year deal with the firm. Marketo's Engagement Platform will merge with Google's G Suite and data analytics offering. The companies will work together to create joint MarTech and AdTech solutions. Marketo currently has over 6,000 business customers for its products, including GE Healthcare and Panasonic as well as Google."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google offers mental health tests to users \n With technology at our fingertips, it\u2019s easier than ever to find answers to questions \u2014 even medical ones. All you have to do is type your query into the Google search bar.\n\nThus, quite fittingly, Google has teamed up with the National Alliance on Mental Illness to give users more access to mental health information.\n\nMore specifically, the tech giant and NAMI are helping educate the population on depression.\n\nWhen Google users in the United States search for \u201cdepression\u201d or \u201cclinical depression,\u201d they will now see a box that reads \u201cCheck if you\u2019re clinically depressed.\u201d\n\nUpon clicking on said box, they\u2019ll be lead to the PHQ-9, a clinically validated questionnaire that tests a person\u2019s level of depression. The assessment, which is private, can help individuals decide if they need to be evaluated in person by their doctor. It\u2019s not, however, intended to serve as a singular diagnosis tool.\n\nIn today\u2019s world, easy access to a tool like the PHQ-9 is greatly needed.\n\n\u201cClinical depression is a very common condition \u2014 in fact, approximately one in five Americans experience an episode in their lifetime,\u201d NAMI CEO Mary Giliberti wrote in a blog post about the collaboration. But only half of people who suffer from depression receive treatment, she added.\n\nBy teaming up, the organizations hope to increase awareness and aid people in getting proper assistance.\n\nThis isn\u2019t the first time Google has dipped its toes into the world of healthcare.\n\nEarlier this summer, it began removing people\u2019s private medical records from its Search results. Just last month, it unveiled Glass Enterprise Edition, a new version of Google Glass that\u2019s catered to the workplace. The technology has been of particular use to various hospitals and health systems, including San Francisco-based Dignity Health and Sacramento-based Sutter Health.\n\nPhoto: ANDRZEJ WOJCICKI, Getty Images", "output": "Tech giant Google has joined forces with the National Alliance on Mental Illness to provide US users searching for the terms \u201cdepression\u201d or \u201cclinical depression\" with a clinically valid questionnaire. The private assessment, called PHQ-9, can help individuals decide if they should seek medical assistance for their depression. The test should also help to raise awareness of the condition, which around one in five Americans experiences in their lifetime.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Robot exoskeletons help children with cerebral palsy to walk \n In the first clip, the boy appears to drag his feet as he walks, while his knees\u2014particularly the left one\u2014stay bent throughout his steps.\n\nIn the second clip, his knees remain bowed inward. But his legs\u2014now clad in a robotic exoskeleton\u2014swing more as they move, and his feet lift off the ground and his knees bend and flex in time with his step.\n\nThe boy is one of seven children with cerebral palsy who were outfitted with exoskeletons in hopes that the robotic devices could improve their crouched posture, making it easier for them to take simple steps. Those steps will otherwise become more difficult over time; 50 percent of people with cerebral palsy stop walking when they reach adulthood.\n\nIn a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine, researchers reported that the exoskeletons helped most participants straighten their legs as they walked, alleviating the permanent knee bend that causes the crouching disorder known as \u201ccrouch gait.\u201d The researchers also found that while the exoskeletons provided support when it was needed, participants were still in control of their own steps.\n\nA test of the NIH pediatric exoskeleton, which was built to provide walking assistance to children with cerebral palsy. Credit: Functional & Applied Biomechanics Section, Rehabilitation Medicine Department, NIH Clinical Center\n\nThe study was an initial attempt to show that exoskeleton technology should be explored further as a tool to help children with cerebral palsy maintain mobility, said Thomas Bulea, a biomedical engineer at the National Institutes of Health and one of the paper\u2019s authors. Now, researchers want to determine whether long-term use of the exoskeleton, including outside of a research setting, could ease crouch gait even when the exoskeleton isn\u2019t being worn. The hope is that such extensive training could enable people with cerebral palsy to walk on their own for much longer.\n\n\u201cWe want to transfer the walking patterns we see with the exoskeleton to walking without the exoskeleton,\u201d Bulea said. \u201cIf we can correct or treat this crouch gait at a young age, then throughout their life, we may be able to increase their mobility.\u201d\n\nCerebral palsy is a neurological condition that leads to problems with movement and coordination. With crouch gait, children can often walk on their own, adapting to taking steps in a crouched position. It\u2019s often treated with therapy, surgery, or injections that relax the knee flexors. But still, as people get older and get bigger, it becomes harder to walk.\n\nThe new research is a long way from showing that exoskeletons would be an effective clinical solution, and many outstanding questions remain.\n\nFor the study, researchers only recruited children who were still able to walk well independently. They want to investigate whether an exoskeleton could help children who have already lost more mobility, as well as with children with other conditions that lead to mobility problems, such as spina bifida or muscular dystrophy.\n\n\u201cIt may be useful for some of those kids, but more severe kids may not benefit,\u201d said Dr. Bruce Dobkin, the director of the UCLA Neurological Rehabilitation and Research Program, who was not involved with the study.\n\nMoreover, there is the concern that exoskeletons may not help preserve mobility as children age. That has also been the case with some surgeries and medications, Dobkin said. In those cases, the interventions may not be worth the effort or cost, in part because children have an \u201camazing ability to compensate\u201d and walk with gait problems while they are still ambulatory, he said.\n\nStill, those are concerns that a longer and larger study could help answer. In this study, six of the seven participants saw improvements in their crouch gait and knee extension, gaining an average of about 13 degrees in knee angle as they stepped. The children also saw improvements over the course of their training sessions, which Bulea said suggests that further gains may be possible with additional exoskeleton use.\n\nThe researchers hope that they can refine the exoskeletons so they can be worn outside the lab. That could provide the amount of training necessary to extend benefits even when the device isn\u2019t being worn.\n\nThe study is one of the first attempts to bring exoskeleton technology to children and adolescents. So far, exoskeleton trials have largely been aimed at restoring movement in adults who were paralyzed after a stroke or spinal injury, including the exoskeleton-wearing man who kicked a soccer ball at the start of the 2014 World Cup.\n\nIn those cases, patients needed the exoskeleton to restore lost movement. But in the new study, the exoskeletons were being used in an attempt to assist children who remain ambulatory and who could still control their own steps. Importantly, the researchers found that the participants maintained their muscle activity while wearing the device.\n\n\u201cThat shows us that these participants were working with the exoskeleton rather than offloading the knee extension to the robot,\u201d Bulea said.\n\nRepublished with permission from STAT. This article originally appeared on August 23, 2017", "output": "A study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine has suggested that robotic exoskeletons can help children suffering from cerebral palsy to straighten their legs as they walk. The condition induces a permanent knee bend in many sufferers, causing a walking disorder known as \"crouch gait\". Trials with the exoskeleton have shown improvements in knee extension and alleviation of crouch gait, but more research needs to be done to see if the technique will have long term benefits."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UAHC funds expansion of McAfee\u2019s bitcoin mining operation \n The cybersecurity and Bitcoin mining firm MGT Capital owned by John McAfee has secured a total of $2.4 mln in new funding. This money will be used to expand the company\u2019s Bitcoin mining operations in the Northwestern U.S..\n\nThe funding was raised from a 10 percent convertible note issued to UAHC Ventures LLC.\n\nWhat is Bitcoin mining?\n\nBitcoin mining is the process used to add transactions to a universal public ledger called the Blockchain. Mining is an energy intensive process and therefore is expensive. As a reward for the miner who creates the next block in the Blockchain, 12.5 new Bitcoin are created and given to the miner.\n\nBrief background of MGT Capital\n\nMGT Capital is led by John McAfee, who established the eponymous anti-virus company in the late 1980s. His software firm was acquired by Intel for $7.6 bln in 2010.\n\nBesides Bitcoin, MGT Capital also mines the digital currencies Ethereum and Ethereum Classic. The company is also involved in the development and production of cybersecurity products and a privacy-oriented phone.\n\nIn a May 2017 interview with Bloomberg, McAfee expressed his full confidence in the profitability of Bitcoin mining, even boasting that his company would be in the black by the end of the year.", "output": "John McAfee\u2019s latest venture, MGT Capital, has raised $2.4m by issuing a 10% convertible note to UAHC Ventures, a newly-formed subsidiary of United American Healthcare. The funds will be used to expand MGT Capital's bitcoin mining operation. McAfee boasted earlier this year that given the profitability of bitcoin mining, his company, which also mines other digital currencies and develops cyber security products, would be in the black by year end.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UAHC funds expansion of McAfee\u2019s bitcoin mining operation \n CHICAGO, Aug. 23, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- UAHC Ventures, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of United American Healthcare Corporation (OTC:UAHC) (\u201cUAHC Ventures\u201d), has partnered with MGT Capital Investments, Inc. (OTC:MGTI) (\u201cMGTI\u201d) by providing a $2 million investment to MGTI, the proceeds of which will be utilized by MGTI to further expand and develop its Bitcoin mining operations.\n\n\n\nIn exchange for UAHC Ventures\u2019 $2 million investment, MGTI has issued UAHC Ventures both a Secured Convertible Promissory Note and a warrant to purchase shares of MGTI\u2019s common stock. Monthly redemption payments due under the financing begin three months following the close of the transaction, and may be made in cash or by converting redemption amounts into shares of MGTI\u2019s common stock.\n\nUAHC Ventures is a newly formed subsidiary of UAHC, created to pursue strategic-investment opportunities in promising growth industries, such as blockchain technologies and digital currency. Mining of Bitcoin and other digital currencies within the digital currency space has experienced immense momentum and growth.\n\n\u201cToday we see Bitcoin and related-mining activities as a promising and fast-growing segment of the digital currency sector. Accordingly, we\u2019ve identified MGT Capital Investments, Inc. as a leader in Bitcoin mining that is uniquely poised to capture market value as it expands its mining operations. As our commitment to making strategic investments through UAHC Ventures continues, we will further explore potential value-adding opportunities in the digital currency space, as they present themselves,\u201d said John Fife, CEO of UAHC Ventures, LLC.\n\nAbout United American Healthcare Corporation\n\nUnited American Healthcare Corporation (\u201cUAHC\u201d), through its subsidiary, UAHC Ventures, LLC, pursues strategic investment opportunities in various growth industries. Additionally, UAHC, through its subsidiary Pulse Systems, LLC, is a contract manufacturing company that provides services to the medical device industry.\n\nUAHC nor any of its existing subsidiaries are an \"Investment Company\" as defined by Section 3(a)(1) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the \"Act\") and are therefore not subject to the regulations contained in the Act.\n\nForward-looking Statements\n\nThis press release contains forward-looking statements. The words or phrases \"would be,\" \"will allow,\" \"intends to,\" \"will likely result,\" \"are expected to,\" \"will continue,\" \"is anticipated,\" \"estimate,\" \"project,\" or similar expressions are intended to identify \"forward-looking statements.\" All information set forth in this news release, except historical and factual information, represents forward-looking statements. This includes all statements about the Company's plans, beliefs, estimates and expectations. These statements are based on current estimates and projections, which involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include issues related to: rapidly changing technology and evolving standards in the industries in which the Company and its subsidiaries operate; the ability to obtain sufficient funding to continue operations, maintain adequate cash flow, profitably exploit new business, license and sign new agreements; the unpredictable nature of consumer preferences; and other factors set forth in the Company's most recently filed annual report and registration statement. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect management's analysis only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly revise these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date hereof. Readers should carefully review the risks and uncertainties described in other documents that the Company files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.", "output": "John McAfee\u2019s latest venture, MGT Capital, has raised $2.4m by issuing a 10% convertible note to UAHC Ventures, a newly-formed subsidiary of United American Healthcare. The funds will be used to expand MGT Capital's bitcoin mining operation. McAfee boasted earlier this year that given the profitability of bitcoin mining, his company, which also mines other digital currencies and develops cyber security products, would be in the black by year end.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Curbing Prescription Drug Prices Through the PBM Model \n Congress and the White House continue to focus on addressing challenges to the U.S. health care system, one of which is the impact of rising prescription drug prices on the financial health of working Americans, state budgets and our economy. Many policymakers are looking for answers, and one such solution is the use of pharmacy benefit managers. This is confirmed by a recent study from the Coalition for Affordable Prescription Drugs and the actuarial firm Oliver Wyman, based on actual Medicare Part D bid information, which finds the current PBM model is already working \u2014 and is expected to produce significant cost savings for the Part D program over the next decade.\n\nAccording to research from the study, titled \u201cSavings Generated by Pharmacy Benefit Managers in the Medicare Part D Program,\u201d Part D costs would run an estimated 58 percent higher without PBM management tools and the pharmacy pricing and manufacturer discounts negotiated by the PBM. In aggregate, this research estimates that PBMs saved the Part D program $47 billion in 2014. And the cost savings expected to be realized over the next decade are even more dramatic. PBMs are projected to save Part D $896 billion between 2016 and 2025. That\u2019s $308 billion more than the net amount the U.S. government spent on Medicare in 2016 and nearly the entire amount paid out to American citizens in Social Security the same year .\n\nTwo-thirds of that Part D savings figure, or $604 billion, will come from PBMs leveraging their scale and clinical expertise to negotiate discounts and price concessions from pharmacies and drug manufacturers. More than $240 billion in savings will stem from PBMs\u2019 effective clinical management of the Part D benefit, including their ability to encourage utilization of lower cost, clinically equivalent treatments, such as generic drugs. The final $49 billion in savings will come from PBM-developed and administered programs and tools that help patients get and take their medicines as prescribed.\n\nThe value that the PBM model offers is needed now more than ever before, given the explosive growth projected in the number of Americans enrolled in Part D \u2014 and the related projected growth in costs. According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, more than 39 million seniors receive coverage for prescription drugs through the Medicare Part D program and the aggregate Part D costs reached $80.5 billion in 2014. By 2025, that price tag is expected to balloon to $215.1 billion, as the number of seniors enrolled climbs to 55 million.\n\nAgainst this backdrop, PBMs can play a critical role in keeping costs in check and ensuring affordable access for all beneficiaries. The Oliver Wyman study estimates that without PBMs, beneficiary premiums would be 66 percent higher. Because of PBMs, the Part D program will save more than $1,800 per year per beneficiary \u2013 benefiting taxpayers and plan enrollees. For context, that figure is roughly what older households spend on food for more than three months .\n\nThe savings that PBMs generate for Part D are also highly encouraging for the employers, unions, health plans and others in the private sector working to keep prescription drug costs in check for their employees and members. This new Part D analysis demonstrates how PBMs work in a large public program and the value they can continue to drive for their partners in the private sector.\n\nThere is clear consensus that the prescription drug marketplace has to evolve and, in particular, has to focus on increasing competition and tackling anti-competitive practices. However, it is in the best interest of America\u2019s seniors, taxpayers and all stakeholders to take note of what is working today, as they explore the solutions of tomorrow. As this new study shows, the proof of the PBM model\u2019s power lies in the numbers: nearly $900 billion in expected savings for the Part D program over the next 10 years. That\u2019s savings that will directly benefit Americans and the U.S. economy \u2013 savings we can\u2019t and shouldn\u2019t leave on the table.\n\n\n\nMeghan Scott is the executive director of the Coalition for Affordable Prescription Drugs, a broad-based group of employers, pharmacy benefit managers, unions, health plans, and public sector employees and retirees who are working together to be part of the prescription for affordable health.\n\nMorning Consult welcomes op-ed submissions on policy, politics and business strategy in our coverage areas. Updated submission guidelines can be found here.", "output": "Congress and the White House continue to focus on addressing challenges to the U.S. health care system, one of which is the impact of rising prescription drug prices on the financial health of working Americans, state budgets and our economy. Many policymakers are looking for answers, and one such solution is the use of pharmacy benefit managers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Getting a Handle on Generic-Drug Prices \n US Pharm. 2017;42(6)(Gen Drugs suppl):\n\nABSTRACT: Although the generic-drug market has experienced overall stable drug pricing since the enactment of the Hatch-Waxman Act, there have been an increasing number of spikes in generic-drug pricing. These spikes are usually the result of a lack or absence of market competition. Specifically, they occur when there are no entrants to generic-drug markets or due to the exit of existing competitors from the markets, often creating a climate for rising prices. While these spikes do not impact the overall national drug spend, they do severely impact patients, who often have no other option but to pay higher prices for the same treatment. Given the moral and economic implications of spikes in generic pricing for the patient population, solutions must be able to address both competition and public need.\n\nThe healthcare and pharmaceutical industries are often viewed from different perspectives. Nevertheless, the pharmaceutical market is based on an economy driven by profitability, and with life-saving treatments and cures on the line, it is no surprise that pharmaceutical corporate decisions are often evaluated using moral and ethical standards. Hence, a question arises: How should we judge the actions of pharmaceutical companies? Should we, without any reservation, extend our country\u2019s principles of free-market capitalism to pharmaceutical companies? Or should we demand that all pharmaceutical companies act only in furtherance of the public good and nothing else? Or is there a middle-ground approach?\n\nUnfortunately, there is no magic answer here. In fact, this dilemma is the result of a \u201chybrid\u201d industry in which both the public\u2019s needs and competitive market forces must be balanced, especially when designing solutions for important issues such as spikes in generic-drug costs. In this article, we will explore the nature of the generic-drug market and pricing. Namely, we will discuss the different factors that impact the level of market competition and its effect on generic-drug pricing, particularly on spikes (we will not, however, explore other factors such as the backlog of abbreviated new drug applications [ANDAs] at the FDA). We will also introduce potential solutions designed to keep spikes in generic pricing at bay.\n\nRobust Competition Creates a Healthy Generic Market\n\nThe enactment of the Hatch-Waxman Act of 1984 led to the creation of a robust generic pharmaceutical market that successfully decreased the prices of generic drugs, partly through the increase in competition among generic-drug manufacturers. In fact, the resulting increase in competition among generic manufacturers has led to decreased drug prices, increased generic utilization, and significant cost savings for purchasers of healthcare. Generic-drug manufacturers\u2019 8% share of the prescription drug market in 1984 jumped to 39% of that same market in just 5 years. Also, the number of generic-drug applications more than doubled between 1984 and 1985, from 470 to 1,069. In addition, generic pharmaceutical companies started to flourish after passage of the Hatch-Waxman Act. For example, the earnings for Mylan grew by 166%, and its stock value grew by 800% in the 18 months following the act\u2019s passage.1\n\nThe enactment of Hatch-Waxman generated increased competition among generic-drug manufacturers, which has led to significant decreases in generic- drug pricing. Just as in a commodities market, due to the fungible and interchangeable nature of the products sold, purchasers often drive down prices by leveraging each competitor\u2019s need to obtain or maintain a sizable market share\u2014and thereby be profitable.2 As a result, robust competition between market players has led to the lowering of drug prices. According to a 2016 GAO (Government Accounting Office) Report to Congressional Inquiry, generic-drug manufacturers reported that competition is the primary driver of generic-drug costs, and that less competition could drive generic-drug pricing upward.2 Also, a recent 2016 IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics report showed that generic-drug pricing decreases after entry into a generic pharmaceutical market results in significant savings during subsequent years. The report also showed that less competition (i.e., lower number of generic-drug manufacturers) results in generic-drug pricing increases.3\n\nAs a consequence of decreased generic-drug pricing, purchasers of healthcare and the public have benefited from increased access and significant cost savings. Under one estimate, of the total 4.4 billion drugs dispensed in the United States during 2015, 3.9 billion were generic drugs, making up 89% of all prescription drugs dispensed in the U.S. that year. In fact, in 2015 alone, the utilization of generic drugs saved Americans $227 billion.4 This is in contrast to annual savings of $100 million per year during the first few years after enactment of Hatch-Waxman, through the Pharmacists\u2019 Incentive Program, where pharmacists were encouraged to drive more generic substitution.1\n\nLack of Competition Increases Generic-Drug Pricing\n\nIn the lack or absence of competition, purchasers of healthcare and the public pay higher prices for generic drugs. According to the 2016 GAO report, generic competition is the key driver for drug pricing, and the lack of generic competition leads to increased drug pricing. The GAO also provided insight into factors that led to a lack or absence of competition: Raw material shortages, production difficulties, consolidation among manufacturers, and the backlog of ANDAs at the FDA contributed the absence of competition.2 Stated slightly differently, \u201cThe most important factor that allows manufacturers to set high drug prices is market exclusivity.\u201d5\n\nOverall Stable Generic-Drug Pricing\n\nLooking at the U.S. generic-drug market as a whole, generic-drug pricing has remained relatively steady. In fact, a recent government analysis shows a modest pricing decrease for a cohort of 1,441 established generic drugs within the Medicare Part D program between 2010 and 2012, followed by a plateau between 2012 and 2015. This represented a 0.7% decrease in generic-drug pricing each quarter between 2012 and 2015.2\n\nAlso, the cost of generic drugs to the U.S. healthcare market is also quite modest, especially when taking into consideration the extensive utilization of generic drugs. Though 88% of prescriptions were filled with generic drugs, the cost of these medications accounted for only 28% of the total drug expenditure. This is in sharp contrast to the impact of a handful of high-cost brand-name drugs. For example, IMS reported that spending on specialty drugs accounted for 73% of the total growth in medication spending in 2013.6 And according to Prime Therapeutics, although only 0.6% of the 4.4 million Prime members with continuous commercial insurance between 2012 and 2015 utilized one or more autoimmune drugs, the autoimmune-drug spend accounted for 10% of the prescription drug spend in 2015.7\n\nIn fact, given that generic drugs generally cost little, are utilized extensively by the public, and have experienced overall stability in pricing, it is unsurprising that even enormous spikes in generic pricing have had a minimal impact on overall prescription and healthcare spending. For instance, an analysis of Medicaid generic-drug spending by Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, showed that generic drugs that experienced a greater than 20% increase in price represented only 14.4% of all generic-drug spending in the Medicaid Program between 2013 and 2014. Also, a 17,714% increase in the price of tetracycline 500-mg capsules accounted for only 0.001% of overall Medicaid prescription spending between 2013 and 2014.8\n\nPricing Spikes Put Patients at Risk\n\nAlthough government and employers may not reel from spikes in generic-drug pricing, it is the patient who is put at harm\u2019s way. According to the HHS, \u201cReview of evidence strongly supports the conclusion that generic-drug prices are not an important part of the drug cost problem facing the nation.\u201d However, \u201c[t]hese spikes are on one hand troubling in that they disadvantage particular patient groups but also sufficiently limited so they exert no sizable influence on overall drug spending.\u201d Using the tetracycline example, before the price spike, the cost for 30 capsules was $1.45. After the price spike, the cost increased to $257.70. Even with insurance coverage, the patient is likely to face increased out-of-pocket costs.8\n\nSevere increases in generic-drug pricing have become increasingly common in recent years. The GAO found that among a cohort of 1,441 established generic drugs (i.e., drugs that existed in generic form continuously and throughout from 2012 to 2015), 315 of them experienced pricing increases of 100% or more. Of those 315 generic drugs, 183 (58%) experienced increases between 100% and 200%. However, 48 of those drugs (15%) experienced increases of 500% or higher, and 15 drugs (4.8%) experienced increases of 1,000% or higher. The GAO analysis also found that the 315 generic drugs drastically increased the average cost of the 1,441 cohort of drugs by 25%. Furthermore, the GAO found that once a generic-drug price increased, the vast majority (71%) of the increased prices persisted for at least 1 year after the initial price increase, and the vast majority (74%) of the highest increases did not decrease in subsequent years.2\n\nNotwithstanding the cost and prevalence of spikes in generic pricing, the patient harm is real, immediate, and often life-threatening. A recent, notorious example is the price increase of the drug Daraprim (pyrimethamine) from $13.50 to $750 per pill, bringing the cost of a bottle of 100 pills from $1,350 to $75,000. Owing to this spike, one mother faced a total cost of $360,000 to treat her infant daughter, who was born with congenital toxoplasmosis. According to a recent U.S. Senate hearing, many patients experienced interruptions or delays in treatment, while some patients even went without treatment as a direct and immediate result of the spike.9\n\nWhat Causes Spikes in Generic-Drug Pricing?\n\nEven within an overall stable market, there have been spikes in generic pricing that resulted in price increases upward of 54,556%. Many have been left to wonder how and why this could happen. Several investigations and analyses have been done to determine the cause and motivations for such extreme increases.\n\nThe U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging conducted one such investigation between 2015 and 2016. Though the investigation focused on egregious increases in pricing, its findings are easily translatable to generic-price increases\u2014that removing competitive market forces creates an environment that promotes, ensures, and sustains drastic spikes in generic-drug pricing. According to the recently released Senate report, there are five central elements to a business model for imposing and protecting spikes in generic pricing. First, the generic drug should have only one source to eliminate competition. Second, the generic drug should be a gold standard (or the best drug available to treat the indicated condition) to ensure sufficient and persistent demand. Third, the specific generic-drug market should be small enough to deter competitors, ensure patient reliance, and prevent any organized resistance from patients. Fourth, the distribution of the generic drug should be controlled through a specialty pharmacy or a closed distribution system to limit the supply of the drug. Lastly, the generic-drug manufacturer should then \u201cprice gouge,\u201d or increase the price as high as possible.9\n\nRecently, in another analysis of the generic-drug market, researchers found an association between generic-market consolidation and generic-drug price increases. Specifically, research showed that as the number of competitors decreased, generic-drug prices tended to increase compared to generic-drug markets with more competition.10\n\nThe GAO also reported on several ways that the level of competition could be reduced in a generic-drug market. First, limited access to active pharmaceutical ingredients could lead to decreased production and, therefore, limited supply. Second, generic products that are more difficult to manufacture could have a low production volume due to the limited entrants to the market and the resources and skills required to manufacture the product (e.g., sterile products, narcotics, liposomal products). Third, market consolidation could result from the lack of profitability or from mergers and acquisitions of generic-drug manufacturers. Fourth, consolidation of buyers could result in lower prices but could also result in the loss of market share for some generic-drug manufacturers, which might drive them out of certain generic-drug markets. Finally, if the generic-drug market served a small population, there might not be enough incentives for new entrants into that particular market, leading to decreased competition.2\n\nIn reviewing the investigations, surveys, and analyses presented above, a general pattern of competition-limiting factors becomes more apparent. Essentially, to keep prices low and for a generic-drug market to work like a commodities market, the number of generic-drug competitors must be maximized. Factors that limit entry into a generic-drug market or push competitors out of a market could lead to increased drug pricing, or perhaps even spikes in pricing. Such factors may include a nonprofitable market, specialized skills or resources required to produce the drug, a generic-drug market that only serves a small patient population, and the merger or acquisition of generic-drug manufacturers.\n\nLeveraging the Hybrid Nature of Generics\n\nEven though there have been numerous solutions proposed over the years, many have been focused on symptomatic relief rather a curative solution, which likely will need to address both the necessity for more competitive market forces and the public\u2019s need over profits. In fact, two recently proposed potential solutions stand out by confronting the needs of both sides of the hybrid nature of the generic pharmaceutical industry. They do this by creating new pathways toward increasing the level of competition and filling the gaps left behind by a profit-driven market.\n\nOne proposal suggests opening up the U.S. generic market to international competition through two avenues. The first step would entail the creation of a single-window, multicountry generic-drug application pathway where generic-drug manufacturers that exist predominantly within markets outside the U.S. would be able to more easily enter the U.S. generic-drug market. The second step would involve the creation of a reciprocal drug-approval pathway in which existing generic drugs not currently marketed in the U.S. would nonetheless be able to obtain generic-drug approval in the U.S. The authors of this proposal suggest that doing so will improve and increase the competitiveness of our generic-drug market.10\n\nAnother proposal creates nonprofit pharmaceutical entities.11 Essentially, instead of working toward profits and satisfying investors, these nonprofit entities would instead prioritize the needs of the public. For instance, many established therapeutic uses exist for many generic drugs that have not been approved by the FDA. If an entity were to pursue clinical studies to validate new and novel uses of existing drugs (e.g., allopurinol used as a renal protectant in patients with diabetes and/or hypertension), this would serve to create new markets and promote competition among generic manufacturers.12 Another function might be to produce drugs that have historically experienced frequent shortages (e.g., sterile normal saline or potassium chloride solutions for intravenous use). Additionally, such entities could even eventually work closely with researchers from the National Institutes of Health and in academia to produce first-in-class innovator drugs.\n\nConclusion\n\nThough the generic-drug market has benefited from competition by generally seeing low and stable pricing, there have been numerous instances of spikes in generic-drug pricing, particularly in markets where there is little to no competition. Even if national healthcare spending remains unaffected, actual lives are adversely impacted by every generic-drug pricing increase. To prevent these spikes, solutions that address both market competition and the public need are required.\n\nREFERENCES\n\n. Lewis RA. The emerging effects of the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984. J Contemp Health Law Policy. 1992;8:361-378. http://scholarship.law.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1539&context=jchlp. Accessed May 3, 2017.\n\n\n\n2. U.S. GAO Report to Congressional Requesters: generic drugs under Medicare. Part D generic drug prices declined overall, but some had extraordinary price increases. August 2016.\n\n\n\n3. IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics. Price declines after branded medicines lose exclusivity in the U.S. January 2016.\n\n\n\n4. Generic Pharmaceutical Association. 2016 Generic Drug Savings and Access in the United States Report.\n\n\n\n5. Kesselheim AS, Avorn J, Sarpatwari A. The high cost of prescription drugs in the United States: origins & prospects for reform. JAMA. 2016;316(8):858-871.\n\n\n\n6. IMS Institute for Health Care Informatics. Medicines use & spending shifts: a review of the use of medicines in the U.S. in 2014. April 2015.\n\n\n\n7. Prime Therapeutics finds autoimmune specialty drug spend has doubled, account for 10 percent of drug expenses. Press release. www.primetherapeutics.com/content/dam/corporate/Documents/Newsroom/Pressreleases/2016/newsroom-autoimmune-pressrelease-092016.pdf. Accessed May 3, 2017.\n\n\n\n8. ASPE Issue Brief: Understanding Recent Trends in Generic Drug Prices. January 2016.\n\n\n\n9. U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging. Sudden price spikes in off-patent prescription drugs: the monopoly business model that harms patients, taxpayers, and the U.S. health care system. December 2016.\n\n\n\n10. Bollyky T, Kesselheim A. The Brookings Institute. Can drug importation address high generic drug prices? www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/wp29_bollykykesselheim_drugimportation.pdf. Presented May 2, 2017.\n\n\n\n11. Goicoechea M, de Vinnesa SG, Verdalles U, et al. Effect of allopurinol on chronic kidney disease progression and cardiovascular risk. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2010;5(8):1388-1393.\n\n\n\n12. Health Affairs Blog. A strategy for lowering brand drug prices: patent buyouts and licensing. http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2017/04/05/a-strategy -for-lowering-brand-drug-prices-patent-buyouts-and-licensing/.\n\nTo comment on this article, contact rdavidson@uspharmacist.com", "output": "Although the generic-drug market has experienced overall stable drug pricing since the enactment of the Hatch-Waxman Act, there have been an increasing number of spikes in generic-drug pricing. These spikes are usually the result of a lack or absence of market competition. Specifically, they occur when there are no entrants to generic-drug markets or due to the exit of existing competitors from the markets, often creating a climate for rising prices. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lawmakers show hesitance in cutting Medicare programs \n The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission last week argued that the federal government could have saved $11 billion by now if it had heeded repeated proposals to cut or freeze payments to skilled-nursing facilities, inpatient rehabilitation centers, long-term acute-care hospitals and home health agencies.\n\n\"Constraining unit prices could create pressure on providers to control their own costs and be more receptive to new payment methods and delivery reform systems,\" MedPAC Executive Director Mark Miller told a House Ways and Means subcommittee, suggesting that profits off of Medicare patients are excessive. Home health agencies and skilled-nursing facilities see profits exceed 15% on average and have for a decade, he added.\n\nMiller's remarks got a cool reception. Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) said an inpatient rehab facility in his district is a crown jewel, and that officials there have told him their overall margin is only 3.6%, and they lose 20 cents on the dollar on Medicare patients. Miller reassured him that there would be extra payments to the outlier pool to make up for ratcheting down the rate across the sector.\n\nMedPAC has asked Congress to cut Medicare payments to home health agencies and inpatient rehab facilities by 5% as well as freeze payments to skilled-nursing facilities for two years during payment reform.\n\nMedPAC does recommend rate increases for some categories, notably, 1.85% for hospitals. Miller testified that it is \"imperative\" for Medicare to restrain payment rates for hospitals.", "output": "The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission last week argued that the federal government could have saved $11 billion by now if it had heeded repeated proposals to cut or freeze payments to skilled-nursing facilities, inpatient rehabilitation centers, long-term acute-care hospitals and home health agencies.\"\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nottingham trials dutch-pioneered energy saving initiative \n Nottingham selected for revolutionary housing approach\n\nHomes in Nottingham been selected as part of a UK first pilot to radically improve older houses using energy saving and energy generation measures.\n\nNottingham City Homes (NCH) has become the first in the UK to adopt the Dutch-pioneered \u201cEnergiesprong\u201d - which upgrades a home with new outside walls and windows, a solar roof, and a state of the art heating system, all in a few days.\n\nThe systems sees a household pay an \u2018Energy plan\u2019 and maintain a flat rate cost for energy, which will not rise significantly when energy bills rise. The affordable model brings houses up to 2050 standards of energy efficiency, and is currently being rolled out in France, Germany, Luxembourg and the US.\n\nJane Urquhart, the council\u2019s Planning, Housing & Heritage portfolio holder, said: \u201cWe\u2019re very excited that Nottingham is at the forefront of this revolutionary approach, which can help tackle both fuel poverty and climate change. Many of our residents live in fuel poverty so creating more energy efficient homes to reduce people\u2019s energy bills is a high priority for us. Our Greener HousiNG programme has seen over 6,000 hard-to-treat homes in both social and private sectors receive energy efficiency measures and this pilot will inform the next steps for our programme to tackle hard-to-treat housing.\u201d\n\nNick Murphy, Nottingham City Homes chief executive, added: \u201cWhile we\u2019re delighted to be part of a UK-first pilot programme, it\u2019s more important to us that we\u2019re creating warmer, more energy efficient homes, which are cheaper to run for residents. The Greener HousiNG programme is dedicated to finding the most efficient and reliable solutions, to help us future proof our housing stock and tackle issues such as fuel poverty. As an added bonus the improvements will greatly improve the look and feel of the area.\u201d\n\nOther pioneering landlords in London, Essex and Devon are set to sign contracts over the next few months.", "output": "Houses in Nottingham will form part of a pilot programme to drastically upgrade older UK homes with energy saving and generation technology. Nottingham City Homes will be the first UK entity to use the Dutch \u201cEnergiesprong\u201d technique, which upgrades homes by replacing outer walls and windows, adding a solar-panel roof, and installing a state of the art heating system in just a few days. The model is affordable,\u00a0with homeowners paying a flat rate, and updates homes to 2050's projected energy efficiency standards.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian payments start-up Ezetap raises $16m \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nEzetap wants to enable businesses in India to accept any form of payment and today announced funding of $16 million to further that goal. Jonathan Soros\u2019 investment firm JS Capital Management led the round, with participation from Jeff Skoll Group, Social Capital, and Horizons Ventures.\n\n\u201cDue to Narendra Modi\u2019s unprecedented demonetization initiative last November, India is experiencing a full-blown digital transformation that\u2019s enabling millions of Indian citizens to electronically transact for the first time in their lives,\u201d wrote Ezetap cofounder and CEO Abhijit Bose, in an email to VentureBeat. \u201cEzetap has done its part by quietly building the infrastructure to support the 100+ million new bank accounts resulting from India\u2019s fintech explosion.\u201d\n\nFounded in 2011, the Bangalore-based startup provides its software as a service (SaaS) solution to more than 200,000 merchants and users across India, according to Bose. These include Airtel, Big Basket, and Urban Ladder. The chief executive claims that by using the Ezetap device, merchants can accept any payment type, including physical cards, online payments, mobile wallets, and QR codes, from any bank using any device or app. The startup charges a monthly fee of Rs. 250 to Rs. 450 (four to seven dollars) per subscriber for its service.\n\nThe concept of leapfrogging technology in emerging markets is well-known by now. Countries like Nigeria, Kenya, and India are prime examples of this disruptive movement, especially when it comes to mobile payments. Bose argues that this gives them a certain edge.\n\n\u201cCountries like the U.S. have relied heavily on credit cards for a long time, which has discouraged the adoption of digital payments technologies,\u201d he wrote. \u201cOn the contrary, India basically started from scratch after the demonetization announcement, so Ezetap\u2019s flexible fintech platform is needed to accommodate new payment technologies unfamiliar to the U.S.\u201d\n\nEzetap isn\u2019t the only startup to be surfing India\u2019s fintech wave. Competitors include Pine Labs, Mswipe, and Alibaba-backed Paytm. Foreign tech companies are also sniffing an opportunity, with Google, Apple, and Samsung doubling down on mobile services in India.\n\nTo date, Ezetap has raised a total of $51 million, and it currently has more than 200 employees. The startup will use the fresh injection of capital to further develop its product and increase sales and marketing.", "output": "Bangalore-based start-up Ezetap has raised $16m in funding in a round led by JS Capital Management, and featuring participation from Social Capital, Jeff Skoll Group and Horizons Ventures. Ezetap provides a \"software as a service\" solution which it claims enables Indian merchants to accept any payment type, from physical cards and online payments to mobile wallets. The latest funds will be used to increase sales and marketing, and in product development.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "10 Questions: Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN \n Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, believes in the importance of creating age-friendly health systems and fostering open communication between healthcare professionals and patients. Since receiving her master's and doctoral degrees in nursing from Boston College, followed by her Geriatric Nurse Practitioner Post-Master's Certificate from New York University in 2001, Fulmer has dedicated her career to the advancement of intra-professional science, education, and practice in order to improve the care of older adults.\n\nShe currently serves as president of The John A. Hartford Foundation, a New York-based organization which promotes high-value, evidence-based healthcare for the elderly, and was recently recognized for her leadership as one of the top 50 Influencers in Aging by PBS's Next Avenue.\n\nHer resume also includes trusteeships for the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation and the Bassett Healthcare System, and she is co-chair of the National Academy of Medicine's Forum on Aging, Disability, and Independence.\n\n1. What's the biggest barrier to practicing medicine today?\n\nCompeting demands and priorities with finite time. Clinicians are working hard to meet the strident demands required to provide evidence-based, value-driven care while at the same time struggling with complex governmental requirements for reimbursement and challenging electronic health record systems. Sometimes it can feel like the personal connection with the patient is diluted.\n\n2. What's the most important healthcare issue that nobody is talking about?\n\nThe healthcare system as it currently operates does not always meet the needs of older adults or support vibrancy as people age. This is an important issue because of the demographic changes that will transform our nation over the next 20 years. Few hospitals and health systems are consistently age-friendly, even though older adults are, and will continue to be, their largest customer base. It's important to create age-friendly health systems that seamlessly provide care across the multiple settings and systems of care, with minimal redundancy and a keen eye for the reduction of unnecessary and unwanted care.\n\n3. What changes, if any, will the Trump administration impose on medical practice?\n\nRight now it's hard to determine how Congress will move forward with the revisions required to adjust the Affordable Care Act in a way that addresses bipartisan concerns. The recent vote that rejected repeal and replace and instead calls for addressing improvement in our current Obamacare will require excellent communication and coordination. Foundations like ours stand ready to help provide the evidence needed to improve care of older adults and all patients in our healthcare system.\n\n4. What country do you think has a better healthcare system than the United States?\n\nThe recent work by the Columbia University School of Public Health under the direction of Jack Rowe with the Research Network on an Aging Society is moving forward with a global aging index to help us better understand the answer to this question. According to their data, Norway and Sweden are ranked more highly for health and well-being of aging populations then the United States. This work is critical given the growing number of older people across the globe.\n\n5. How often do patients ask you about some medical finding they heard discussed by a celebrity doctor?\n\nThis happens all the time and is a perfect opportunity to educate the public more broadly. Usually people are looking for a magic bullet that can help them stave off aging and remain highly functional into late life.\n\n6. Have you ever been afraid of a patient? (If so, can you briefly describe the situation?)\n\nI have had moments where I was afraid, but they always took place when the patient was cognitively impaired and it was my job to figure out how to get out of harm's way. Sometimes the patients were chemically impaired and other times they had severe dementia. Most of us have been there, and the goal in that moment is safety for all.\n\n7. Do you discuss drug costs with patients?\n\nI do \u2013 usually the issue is pricing, not cost!\n\n8. What do you consider the best advice you could offer patients (medical or otherwise)?\n\nWhen you have a doctor's appointment, bring a list of questions and don't be afraid to offend nurses and doctors by asking them. Challenge their answers, and please feel confident that this is a partnership that can only work when both sides are forthcoming.\n\n9. If you weren't a nurse, what do you think you would be doing today?\n\nI can't imagine any other career for me. My PhD has certainly been essential to the advancement of my research career and practice.\n\n10. What is the biggest difference between your expectations of medical practice when you graduated from nursing school and the reality?\n\nI could not have imagined the dramatic advancement in genomics and technology. It has been fascinating and will change the nature of care for the future.\n\nPlease enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.", "output": "Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, believes in the importance of creating age-friendly health systems and fostering open communication between healthcare professionals and patients.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK publishers remain wary about Amazon's server-side headers \n Amazon is more aggressively pitching its server-side header solution to U.K. publishers, but many are confused or unimpressed by its approach.\n\nThe e-commerce giant has provided publishers with header-bidding products for more than four years and revealed it was taking its header tag server-side late last year. U.S. publishers including Bauer Xcel Media and Meredith are already using Amazon\u2019s server-to-server solution, with others interested in testing it. In the last six months, U.K. publishers have been contacted by the Amazon team more about using it.\n\nAmazon wouldn\u2019t share any details about the size and makeup of its U.K. A9 team, the group in charge of pushing publisher products of Amazon\u2019s ad programs, though publishing sources are confident it\u2019s growing.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re plugging their server-to-server solution very hard. We\u2019ve been chased by Amazon for the last nine weeks,\u201d said a publishing exec who spoke on condition of anonymity. \u201cThey offer such great unique demand, so we\u2019re keen to get it implemented.\u201d\n\nHeader bidding has increased page yields for publishers, but it has scale issues. Only so many demand partners can plug in before page latency is affected, even with a wrapper. Server-side solutions remove latency headaches by unburdening the publisher\u2019s header and pushing the auction onto a third-party ad server.\n\nServer-to-server solutions aren\u2019t as widespread in the U.K. as they are in the U.S., and Amazon is trying to capitalize on that momentum, targeting publishers that have or are seeking a server-to-server setup. Those with advanced header-bidding solutions haven\u2019t received as much attention, given Amazon doesn\u2019t like being within other vendors\u2019 wrappers.\n\nWhile some publishers are excited by what Amazon\u2019s unique demand could offer them, others remain cynical about the trade-off. \u201cSo there\u2019s a new vendor in town who wants to take control of our supply and decisioning \u2014 what\u2019s new? This time it just happens to be Amazon,\u201d said another publishing exec who spoke on condition of anonymity. \u201cIt\u2019s not the start of the revolution; the paradigm shift will be stimulated by publishers taking back control for themselves.\u201d\n\nPublishers\u2019 relationship with Amazon goes back years, with the retail giant helping monetize their editorial content with commerce and more recently letting them monetize on its voice-activated home assistant, Echo. Its push into ad tech makes it a front-runner to rival Google and Facebook for digital advertising spend. Amazon can offer differentiated demand compared to other exchanges in what\u2019s become a highly commoditized supply-side platform space because of its mountains of first-party customer data, including shopping-intent data. Added to that, its server-side product could help publishers scale header bidding without causing page latency and integrate video inventory at scale.\n\nBut publishers are wary of the potential conflict of interest with Amazon buying and selling media, and whether it will be agnostic about its demand. \u201cOnly idiots will accept Amazon\u2019s [ad tech] spiel without question,\u201d said one publisher exec, speaking anonymously. \u201cThey need to figure out if they\u2019re an e-commerce company with an ad tech platform or an ad tech company that\u2019s owned by an e-commerce firm. Because if they\u2019re a media-tech firm, that means they need to be totally agnostic with regards to demand, but they won\u2019t give you a proper answer on that if you ask.\u201d\n\nOthers said Amazon is unapologetic about putting its own demands first. \u201cIt\u2019s very much \u2018Our way or no way,\u2019 which is fairly typical of the big U.S. tech firms,\u201d said another publishing exec.\n\nFor now, Amazon doesn\u2019t represent the threat to publishers as it does to broadcasters. What\u2019s more, publishers are accustomed to frenemy-like relationships, which they already have with Facebook and Google, and many are interested in working more closely with Amazon. But unanswered questions remain, and they all center on conflict of interest.\n\n\u201cAny company that owns a media business as well as technology has an incentive to prioritize their own demand. However much those companies try to convince users of their tech that they are agnostic toward demand, the concern will always exist,\u201d said another publishing executive. \u201cThe only way to guard against it is to use truly independent technology, which is easier said than done.\u201d", "output": "Amazon is having to push harder to sell its server-side header solution to UK publishers, despite promises of reduced latency issues. Server-to-server solutions are less common outside the US; however, it appears a lack of independence and answers regarding potential conflicts of interest has made UK publishers wary. The e-commerce firm has offered header-bidding products for over four years, moving its header tag server-side in 2016. While it may be a front runner to Google and Facebook, Amazon is not yet perceived as a threat to publishers, who would seemingly prefer to take back control themselves.  "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Neoenergia closes merger with Iberdrola's Elektro unit \n Spanish energy group Iberdrola (BME:IBE) announced today the closing of the merger of its Brazilian unit Elektro Holding SA with Neoenergia SA, thus creating a company with a substantial renewable energy portfolio.\n\nThe completion comes after the deal was approved by Brazil\u2019s energy regulator Aneel and antitrust watchdog Cade, as well as by the country\u2019s development bank BNDES. Iberdrola now holds a 52.45% interest in the enlarged Neoenergia, while pension fund Previ and Banco do Brasil SA holds stakes of 38.21% and 9.35%, respectively.\n\nThe move brings together Neoenergia and Elektro's electricity distribution, transmission, generation and retail assets and services. Iberdrola described the transaction as \u201cone of the most important corporate operations ever\u201d. The Spanish group has pledged to channel all its investments in Brazil through Neoenergia. In addition, it has committed to list the new company on the stock exchange.\n\nThe enlarged Neoenergia, now being Brazil\u2019s largest electricity utility by number of customers according to Iberdrola, will serve an area with a population of over 34 million people. The company will be active in the wind power segment through Forca Eolica do Brasil. Its total wind and hydropower capacity, either in operation or under construction, total 3,546 MW. The company also has 530 MW of thermoelectric generation capacity.\n\nNeoenergia regulated asset base amounts to BRL 14 billion (USD 4.45bn/EUR 3.77bn). Taking into consideration Elektro\u2019s figures, the larger company\u2019s 2016 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) would have been BRL 3.6 billion, with a revenue of BRL 30 billion, Iberdrola said.\n\nUnder a newly-signed agreement between the stockholders, Iberdrola has the right to appoint the majority of the members of the new company's board of directors.\n\n(BRL 1.0 = USD 0.318/EUR 0.269)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Bilbao-based utility Iberdrola has completed the merger of Brazilian unit Elektro Holding with Neoenergia, following approval from Brazil\u2019s energy regulator Aneel, antitrust watchdog Cade and development bank BNDES. The deal leaves Iberdrola with a controlling 52.45% stake in the newly enlarged Neoenergia, which will be Brazil's largest electricity utility by number of customers. The Spanish firm has pledged to channel all its investments in Brazil through Neoenergia, and is set to list the company on the stock exchange."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Zuma Energ\u00eda secures $600m for largest Mexican wind farm \n Vestas has received a firm order to provide 123 of its V136-3.45MW turbines (pictured) to Zuma Energ\u00eda's 424MW Parque E\u00f3lico Reynosa project in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas.\n\n\n\nThe deal to supply the country's largest wind farm, first flagged last week, takes the Danish manufacturer's order intake from Mexico's energy auctions to almost 500MW.\n\nVestas will also install the project's wind turbines and has signed a 15-year output management service agreeement.Turbine delivery is expected to begin late in 2017, ahead of commissioning in 2018.Mexico wants to generate 35% of its power needs from renewable energy sources by 2024.Image: Vestas", "output": "Mexican renewable energy group, Zuma Energia, has raised $600m to fund the construction of the country's largest wind farm. The\u00a0424 MW Reynosa Wind Farm will be capable of producing enough power to supply 1 million homes, while avoiding roughly\u00a0739,000 tonnes of CO2\u00a0emissions per annum. Zuma Energia was founded in 2014\u00a0and secured the funding through\u00a0Bancomext Banobras, Nafin Santander and EKF."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Zuma Energ\u00eda secures $600m for largest Mexican wind farm \n Growth markets investor Actis has announced its renewable energy arm, Zuma Energ\u00eda, will build the largest wind farm in Mexico.\n\nOn completion, the 424 MW Reynosa Wind Farm is expected to produce enough electricity to power one million homes and, according to Actis, will mitigate some 739,000 tonnes of CO 2 emissions a year.\n\nZuma Energ\u00eda \u2013 formed in 2014, by Actis (80%) and Mesomerica Investments (20%) \u2013 secured US$600 million in financing for the project through Bancomext Banobras, Nafin Santander and EKF. It is expecting to commence commercial operation on the farm in 2018.\n\nThe project is the first to reach financial close on project financing, following a number of electricity auctions, held in Mexico in 2016. The auctions followed the Mexican government\u2019s decision to open its electricity market up to competition, following decades of state control.\n\nAdrian Katzew, CEO of Zuma Energ\u00eda, said, \u201cThis is a great achievement for Zuma. In only three years the company has secured an 800 MW portfolio, reached financial close for its largest project and positioned itself as a leader in Mexico\u2019s renewable energy sector,\u201d\n\nHe said, \u201cWe are currently witnessing the transformation of the country\u2019s energy sector, where renewables are increasingly competitive and a real solution to reach sustainability.\u201d", "output": "Mexican renewable energy group, Zuma Energia, has raised $600m to fund the construction of the country's largest wind farm. The\u00a0424 MW Reynosa Wind Farm will be capable of producing enough power to supply 1 million homes, while avoiding roughly\u00a0739,000 tonnes of CO2\u00a0emissions per annum. Zuma Energia was founded in 2014\u00a0and secured the funding through\u00a0Bancomext Banobras, Nafin Santander and EKF."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Zipline's drone medical delivery service expands to Tanzania \n Its Tanzania service, set to begin in early 2018, will include blood as well as emergency vaccines, medications for HIV and malaria, and emergency supplies like sutures and IV tubes. These products will be delivered by an all-new fleet of fixed-wing drones, or \u201czips,\u201d capable of hauling two kilograms of cargo and traveling 160 kilometers round-trip. According to Keller Rinaudo, Zipline\u2019s CEO, delivery costs will be roughly on par with traditional means of transport.\n\nIn Tanzania, Rinaudo believes, the company\u2019s on-demand model can dramatically improve delivery of products\u2014like vaccines for rabies and tetanus and anti-venom for victims of snakebites\u2014that depend on an uninterrupted temperature-controlled supply chain, known as a cold chain. Because these products are costly to keep and only sporadically in demand, they\u2019re rarely stocked in rural areas. But when they are needed, someone\u2019s life is in immediate danger, and deliveries by road often arrive too late, if at all. Drones, Rinaudo says, offer the best way to deliver such treatment in time.\n\nZipline\u2019s approach to more routine items, such as anti-malarials, anti-retrovirals, and other common drugs, will be slightly different. Here, the company will function as a \u201clast line of defense\u201d to supplement an existing supply chain. In particular, its drones will be available to respond to stock-outs\u2014a common problem in Tanzania, as in much of the developing world, which may result from funding shortages, poor demand forecasting, or logistical bottlenecks. In a 2013 survey, the Tanzanian civil-society group Twaweza found that 41 percent of respondents were unable to obtain prescribed medications at a public health facility. Both Zipline and Tanzanian health authorities are betting that drone deliveries can efficiently fill those gaps.\n\nTanzania, Africa\u2019s sixth most populous country, figured into Zipline\u2019s plans long before Thursday\u2019s announcement. In 2014, Rinaudo and fellow cofounder William Hetzler were both influenced by visits to the country as they looked for ways that Zipline, which was established as a more conventional robotics firm, could help save lives. Ultimately, Zipline launched in Rwanda first: Rwandan authorities were ready, and the country\u2019s size was more manageable. (Rwanda is slightly smaller than Maryland, which means a single hub can service nearly half the country; Tanzania is bigger than Texas.) They piloted the drone-delivery model with blood, a product that expires after 42 days in storage, must be kept refrigerated, and is frequently needed on an emergency basis. Since last October, Zipline drones have made more than 1,400 flights to deliver 2,600 units of blood to 12 Rwandan health facilities. Roughly three-quarters of the deliveries there are for routine restocking, and one-quarter are in response to emergencies.\n\nIn Tanzania, Zipline\u2019s results will be watched closely. Once the country\u2019s first drone distribution center is in operation near the capital, Dodoma, a team composed of researchers from the University of Glasgow and Tanzania\u2019s Ifakara Health Institute will begin to evaluate the service\u2019s impact. In particular, they\u2019ll be looking at facilities\u2019 ability to administer new drone-enabled products, like the rabies vaccines, as well as the impact of airborne logistics in mitigating stock-outs.\n\nStock-outs are \u201ca problem that global public health has tried to solve for like 60 years, which has proven to be intractable,\u201d Rinaudo says. \u201cSo the idea that we finally have a solution, potentially, to solve the problem once and for all is incredibly exciting.\u201d", "output": "Drone delivery firm Zipline has expanded into Tanzania. The Silicon Valley company launched the world\u2019s first national drone delivery service in Rwanda, and has now enabled delivery to over a thousand health facilities in Tanzania in remote and hard-to-reach locations. The company will use four distribution sites to deliver medical products such as vaccines, HIV medications\u00a0and emergency supplies to three areas of Tanzania. The service will begin in early 2018.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Health Insurers Enter Fray in Drug Price Fight \n Health insurers are pushing back against a recent report that accuses them of denying some patients coverage for medical products and procedures, alleging it is part of a campaign by the pharmaceutical industry to distract the public from rising drug prices.\n\nAmerica\u2019s Health Insurance Plans, the nation\u2019s largest trade group for medical insurers, reacted quickly to a study released last week that stated that as many as 24 percent of insured patients with chronic illnesses have been denied coverage for prescribed treatments.\n\nThe analysis, which was commissioned by the Doctor-Patient Rights Project, lays the blame on insurers for adopting cost-containment practices that can delay or prevent people from getting medical products and services they may need. The coalition, founded this year, states on its website that its mission is to prevent insurers from imposing decisions on patients and their doctors.\n\nCoalition members strongly deny any connection to recent advertising blitzes by the pharmaceutical industry pointing criticism of drug prices at other sectors of the health industry, including insurers.\n\nBut the Doctor-Patient Rights Project study does suggest insurers have some blame regarding patients\u2019 rising drug prices, saying that 34 percent of patients who were denied coverage for a medication or procedure were forced to forgo the recommended treatment because the insurer would not cover the cost.\n\nThere are several strategies insurers sometimes employ to keep their costs down. One practice, known as prior authorization, requires a doctor to get approval from a patient\u2019s insurer before prescribing a treatment. Critics of prior authorization say the policy can lead to higher costs for providers because of negotiations between doctors and insurance companies.\n\n\u201cGaining access to prescribed treatments is as challenging to patients as high treatment costs,\u201d the report states.\n\nInsurers say the coalition is tied to pharmaceutical companies, noting that one of the group\u2019s six founding members is the drug maker Amgen Inc. Other founding members, such as the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association, partner with or count pharmaceutical companies as major donors. (To be fair, many health groups receive money from drug companies, which are the biggest spenders on lobbying in the United States, according to OpenSecrets.org.)\n\n\u201cBig Pharma initiated another long-rumored political ad campaign in its attempts to distract from skyrocketing drug pricing,\u201d AHIP spokeswoman Cathryn Donaldson said in an email Monday, adding that instead of spending money on advertising campaigns, pharmaceutical companies should address high prescription drug prices.\n\nThe Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the nation\u2019s largest lobbying group for the drug industry, responded by saying that its members spend millions on researching and developing new drugs each year, which is the industry\u2019s preferred approach to reducing pharmaceutical costs.\n\nPhRMA spokeswoman Holly Campbell said pharma companies spend 20 percent of their revenue on research and development, fueling economic growth and bringing patients new treatments. \u201cIn contrast, the insurance industry invested $0 in R&D and instead spend nearly 20 percent of premium dollars on administrative costs,\u201d she said in a Monday statement.\n\nAmgen, which is a member of PhRMA, said it is simply advocating for physicians, who have long opposed insurer practices that interfere with their treatment plans for patients.\n\n\u201cPhysicians are in the best position to make individual treatment decisions for their patients, so it\u2019s important to preserve doctors\u2019 ability to make treatment decisions in consultation with their patients,\u201d Amgen spokeswoman Kristen Neese said in a email on Tuesday.\n\nThe coverage-denial issue hasn\u2019t been thoroughly studied, leaving unclear the prevalence of the practice or its impact on patients.\n\nBut the Global Healthy Living Foundation, a coalition member that represents people with chronic illnesses, says the issue is common.\n\n\u201cIt should not be this difficult for patients who pay their premiums every month and meet their deductibles to get their insurer to cover the treatments prescribed by their doctors, but this is a new reality that needs more scrutiny,\u201d GHLF co-founder Seth Ginsberg said Tuesday in a statement.\n\nAccording to the report, the study was conducted in March 2017 by polling firm Schoen Consulting, and consists of a \u201crepresentative, nationwide sample of 1,500 Americans,\u201d all of whom had either employer-sponsored health insurance or were on Medicaid or Medicare.", "output": "Health insurers are pushing back against a recent report that accuses them of denying some patients coverage for medical products and procedures, alleging it is part of a campaign by the pharmaceutical industry to distract the public from rising drug prices.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ascend Money's mobile payment platforms expands across Asia \n Ascend Money Targets Southeast Asia\n\nAugust 25, 2017 By: Steven Anderson\n\nIt\u2019s no secret that the southeast Asia is a major market for mobile payments. Since China is included in this package, it could be one of the sweetest pots of market around. That\u2019s a point not lost on Ascend Money, a Thai mobile payments firm whose flagship product, TrueMoney Wallet, recently branched out to five new countries.\n\nTrueMoney Wallet is now available not only in Thailand, but also in Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Vietnam. It\u2019s that second one that\u2019s particularly noteworthy; while each of these represents a significant advance in the field, Indonesia is also a popular target for other mobile payments providers.\n\nYou\u2019ll remember back in April when Ant Financial, the guys behind Alipay, noted plans to take a run at the Indonesian market as well. Indeed, reports note, Ascend Money has been working with Ant Financial to bring TrueMoney Wallet to the Apple App Store, to iTunes, and Apple Music. Plus, Ascend Money has been working with 7-Eleven and several other major brands to bring TrueMoney to the table. The company also plans to step into peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers, along with travel accommodations like booking flights and hotels along with paying for food.\n\nFuture developments aside, TrueMoney Wallet will offer up plenty of services when it arrives. Users have access to money transfers, bill payments, mobile top-up services to keep the phones on in the first place, and both online and offline payments. It\u2019s hoping for a fairly rapid expansion as a result, going from four million users in October 2016 to five million by the end of the year.\n\nThis is a great start, and given that many of these markets are developing markets\u2014even Ant Financial wanted a stab at the Indonesian market\u2014it could represent a chance for Ascend Money to gather up a lot of new users in fairly rapid fashion. While there won\u2019t be a shortage of competitors with a similar idea, TrueMoney Wallet seems to have the features set both current and in development to make a real push on the field.\n\nOnly time will tell just how well this works for Ascend Money, but it seems to have a good plan, and a good shot at taking home substantial new users.", "output": "Thai mobile payments firm Ascend Money has launched its flagship product, TrueMoney Wallet, in five new countries, including the hotly contested Indonesian marketplace. The TrueMoney Wallet offers customers offline and online payments, as well as access to money transfers, bill payments and mobile top-up services. Ascend Money aims to increase its user figures from four million in October 2016 to five million by the end of 2017, and has partnered with Ant Financial to expand its footprint."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Latvians open to higher limit on contactless payments  \n Most people in Latvia would be willing to make contactless payments for amounts larger than the current limit of EUR 10, reports LETA, according to a poll carried out by Swedbank.\n\nAs many as 68% of respondents stated their willingness to make contactless payments for amounts larger than EUR 10, including 34%, for whom the acceptable limit would by EUR 20, 13%, who suggested raising limit to EUR 30, 4%, who would go for a EUR 40 limit, and 17%, who would accept a EUR 50 limit. At the same time, 14% said they would not use a contactless bank card for purchases in excess of EUR 10.\n\n\"There was certain caution when we started offering contactless payments a year ago but today contactless payments have become a routine, just as e-tickets in the public transport or smart access cards in offices of large companies,\" says Swedbank board member Renars Rusis.\n\nSince summer 2016 when Swedbank started issuing contactless bank cards in Latvia, 150,000 customers make contactless payments on a daily basis. Around 300,000 contactless payments are made every month.\n\nThe poll was conducted in cooperation with Snapshots pollster among 700 respondents aged 15-74 years across Latvia.\n\n\n\n\n\nSwedbank is the largest bank in Latvia in terms of assets.", "output": "Around 68% of Latvians want to to be able to make contactless payments for amounts greater than \u20ac10 ($12), with 17% suggesting they would be happy with a limit of \u20ac50, according to a survey by Swedbank, the country's largest bank. In contrast, only 14% said they would not use contactless payments for transactions of more than \u20ac10. Swedbank said around 150,000 customers use contactless payment on a daily basis, and around 300,000 payments are made using the system every month."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Siam Commercial Bank releases two mobile payments apps \n SCB rolls out two mobile applications\n\nSCB president and chief executive Arthid Nanthawithaya (left) with Siripong Preutthipan, chairman of the board at Chatuchak Weekend Market, State Railway of Thailand, after signing a deal to bring a digital platform to the popular market.\n\nSiam Commercial Bank (SCB) has introduced two mobile apps for small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) merchants and shoppers to nudge them towards digital payment channels. The move further aims to make the bank Thailand's largest mobile banking provider.\n\nSCB yesterday launched Merchant mPos, a fully integrated point of sale (POS) platform. The app lets merchants manage their inventory, check daily sales and accept payment through PromptPay.\n\nThe bank also launched the Chatuchak Guide app, which lets buyers accurately search for and find merchants with an intelligent geomagnetic navigation technology, as well as benefit from real-time sales promotions.\n\nSCB has joined forces with the State Railway of Thailand under the digital platform project with the aim of bringing Chatuchak Weekend Market into the 4.0 era. The digital platform is intended to help merchants attract shoppers worldwide.\n\nPikun Srimahunt, senior executive vice-president and head of the SME segment, said the roughly 10,000 Chatuchak merchants are the bank's target audience for using the new digital app.\n\nSome 1,000 merchants are expected to use the app by October, she said.\n\nThe digital platform is intended to support SME sales, business management and operational cost control, while providing them with a more convenient and secure payment system.\n\nThe bank has recently put its focus on educating SMEs about digitalisation in order to strength their long-term business operations.\n\nSME clients who want to join the bank's digital platform are required to open SCB's savings accounts, apply for SCB's mobile banking app and sign up for SCB's PromptPay service.\n\nSCB, the country's second-largest mobile banking provider with more than 4 million users, recently said that it aimed for its number of users to increase to 5.5 million by year-end, overtaking Kasikornbank as the country's largest mobile banking provider.\n\nSCB, the country's third-largest lender by assets, spent 97 million baht developing the mobile app.\n\nSCB plans to collaborate with two large Chinese digital payment service providers, AliPay and wePay, to offer greater payment convenience to tourists from China.\n\nThe bank will adopt more features to boost benefits and convenience for both users and merchants in the next phase.\n\nSCB shares closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 144.50 baht, unchanged, in heavy trade worth 1.56 billion baht.", "output": "Thailand's Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) has launched a pair of mobile apps as it seeks to become Thailand's largest mobile banking provider. The Merchant mPos app, aimed at small and medium-sized enterprise merchants and shoppers, enables businesses to manage inventory, check daily sales and accept payments via PromptPay, while the Chatuchak Guide app uses intelligent geomagnetic navigation technology to help shoppers find merchants. Around 1,000 outlets are expected to have\u00a0signed up for the Chatuchak Guide by October."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "American Idol competitor uses AI to co-create her new album \n A popular YouTube artist has an unusual collaborator on her new album -- artificial intelligence.\n\nPop artist Taryn Southern, who appeared on American Idol in 2004, created the lyrics and melodies for \"I AM AI\" but left most of the other work to software programs.\n\nThe album's first song \"Break Free,\" which was released on Monday, was developed with the help of startup Amper Music. Amper is one of several AI music services Southern is working with on the album, which will debut later this year.\n\nSouthern has only basic piano skills, so she turned to the program to deliver the instrumental part of the song. The AI developed the harmonies, chords and sequences.\n\n\"In a funny way, I have a new song-writing partner who doesn't get tired and has this endless knowledge of music making,\" Southern told CNN Tech. \"But I feel like I get to own my vision; I iterate and choose what I like and don't like. There's a lot more control.\"\n\nSouthern still worked with a producer on her vocals, but the rest of the song relied on Amper's software. She gave the program some guidelines, such as the speed of the song, key signature and preferred instruments. The program then produced a track for her to consider.\n\nAlthough some fine-tuning was still necessary after the AI delivered its part, she arranged what was offered into verses and a chorus.\n\n\"In the past, I'd get into traps of writing songs in a given style or chords I know I like,\" Southern said. \"When working with AI music, everything it spits at me is a surprise.\"\n\nRelated: Farmers turn to artificial intelligence to grow better tomatoes\n\nSouthern said writing the structure of the song is now 20 times faster than when relied on human musicians. She also previously used Apple's GarageBand platform.\n\nSouthern, known for cover songs and some original work, has been posting on YouTube for a decade. Her \"Hot for Hillary\" music video in 2007 has been viewed over 2.3 million times.\n\nHer new work is an example of how AI can complement the human workforce, even as it automates some jobs. Southern said AI has made her more creative than ever.\n\n\"Human creators and human musicians are not going away,\" Amper Music CEO Drew Silverstein said. \"We're making it so that you don't have to spend 10,000 hours and thousands of dollars buying equipment to share and express your ideas.\"", "output": "YouTube artist and former American Idol contestant Taryn Southern has revealed she turned to artificial intelligence (AI) when composing her album I AM AI. Working alongside AI musical services start-up Amper Music, Southern gave a few guidelines such as tempo, key and preferred instruments to the program, which then created the track itself. The Amper program made writing the structure of the song \"20 times faster than [using] human musicians\", said Southern."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nestle's head of integrated marketing switches to publishing \n Tired of the \u201cbroken\u201d advertising model, Nestle\u2019s global head of integrated marketing has jumped the client ship for a role in publishing, joining French media company Konbini as its first ever chief marketing officer.\n\nMichael Chrisment worked four years at Nestle, predominantly managing its Nescafe brand; prior to that, he spent time in top digital marketing roles at fellow FMCG giants Mondelez and Kraft Foods. However, the catalyst to move out of consumer goods marketing and into media has been the realisation that, quite simply, the brand building model that he has spent most of his career working in is failing.\n\n\u201cSomething is broken in advertising and we can\u2019t do it the same way as before,\u201d he recently told The Drum.\n\n\u201cPeople are more in control about what they want to consume and brands have to be much more respectful, collaborative and inclusive when it comes to engaging with people \u2013 especially the youth \u2013 and stop interrupting their [social media] feeds and lives with pure advertising messages.\u201d\n\nAt Nescafe, he tried to pivot the brand towards this kind of thinking. He was responsible for declaring that the \"dotcom is dead\" and moving all of the coffee-maker's digital assets on to Tumblr in the hope of creating a more \"conversational\" relationship with its drinkers.\n\nBut while he\u2019s not lost hope in the industry, he is wanting to play a larger part in \u201creinventing\u201d it and \u201ccontribute a new way of marketing and building brands\u201d.\n\nEnter Konbini.\n\nFounded in France just over 10 years ago, Konbini describes itself as \u201cnew generation media. A leader amongst millennials\u201d that \u201clives and breathes pop culture\u201d.\n\n\u201cWhether it's the written word, imagery or video, we have developed a unique approach to content publication that resonates powerfully with our audience across the world,\u201d its website proclaims. \u201cOur audience is defined by their pioneering attitudes and behaviours, and their ability to influence consumers across the globe.\u201d\n\nA team of 200 work from offices in five cities \u2013 Paris (its epicentre), London, New York, Mexico City and, the most recently established, Lagos \u2013 and are divided into five platform groups: website, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter.\n\nThey create content specifically for each platform and the output \u2013 be it a single social media post, an article or video \u2013 falls under one of 10 editorial pillars (entertainment, inspiration, lifestyle, cinema, music, photography, society, series, environment, and partners).\n\nAccording to its latest figures, the website reaches 150 million unique users a year, 80% of which are \u2018millennials\u2019. On Facebook, where it has a core 3.2 million \u2018fans\u2019, Konbini reaches 100 million people a day and lauds a 20% engagement rate. It has 250,000 followers on both Instagram and Twitter. Chrisment declined to reveal Snapchat figures.\n\n\u201cKonbini are experts in communicating with millennials around the globe. We want to craft intelligent stories that are motivational, educational and tailored to them in a positive way. This is really who we are and what everyone in the company moves towards,\u201d he said.\n\nMichael Chrisment, chief marketing officer, Konbini\n\nWhile easily compared with a BuzzFeed or Vice, Konbini doesn\u2019t have the same level of brand awareness. Rectifying that will be among Chrisment\u2019s chief priorities but alongside the traditional part of this CMO role he has also been charged with developing the publisher\u2019s commercial offering.\n\nIt currently centres around four main pillars. Like most, display remains an important (though dwindling) revenue stream, currently accounting for around 25% of earnings. \u201cQualitative editorial content\u201d is, put simply, sponsored content on a project by project basis and something Chrisment described as \u201ca high development opportunity\u201d. While he was at Nescafe, he inked a six-month tie-up with Konbini in Nigeria \u2013 a region where it historically lagged other brands \u2013 that created \u201chuge engagement, 10 times more than we used to have in the country\u201d and led to a 30% uptick in coffee sales.\n\nThe more unusual commercial mainstays come in the form of \u201cstrategic partnerships on specific verticals\u201d. Konbini will create a complete branded platform, be it a website, Snapchat channel or Facebook Bot, and all the content for it. Coca-Cola, Netflix, Orange and Airbnb are among the clients to have dabbled in partnerships of this ilk.\n\nFor Airbnb, for example, it developed a website called \u2018Secret Doors\u2019 that allowed the user to discover cities based on recommendations from influencers Konbini knew were already liked by its audience. Airbnb reached 2.4 million people, beating the 1.8 million goal and achieved 110,000 page views, almost double the number it had set out to achieve.\n\n\u201cThis is a high priority area,\u201d said Chrisment. \u201cWe have a lot of ask on it.\u201d\n\nThe final strand ripe for development is its full-service offering. Konbini is, Chrisment said, increasingly being asked to take on the role of a traditional advertising agency but right now is incredibly selective about the clients it can manage. Currently, the only one on its books is Orange France which hired the publisher to develop the branding and communications strategy underpinning it for a new service it was launching called Dedicated Us.\n\n\u201cWe need to shift the way [advertisers] go after people and the way we get them to consider brands. And it has to start with what people are interested in; listening to their passion points and giving them content to engage on it,\u201d Chrisment explained, pointing to the success Nescafe saw in Nigeria as proof that \u201centering and addressing passion points of the youth, the brand can be reconsidered\u201d.\n\n\u201cThis is really the approach and traditional advertising agencies haven\u2019t been doing this,\" he added. \"They\u2019ve been developing campaigns and messages around offers but not areas of conversations for brands to play in. We\u2019re doing this and maybe this is where the tension ends.\u201d\n\nGiven how editorial bleeds into commercial content, it has inevitably raised questions of ethics and independence. On this issue, Chrisment said: \"People in the news industry and journalism question this; saying you\u2019re doing informational news linked to a brand so are you still independent? Brands are providers of content and stories as well \u2013 this matters. There are many examples of brands transforming to media publishers.\u201d\n\nChrisment pointed to his peers in FMCG marketing, former Mondelez execs Bonin Bough and Dana Anderson, as being at the forefront in pushing the idea that branded content can be as interesting, entertaining and engaging as a film on Netflix or YouTube video. It all boils down to being relevant.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve offering a radically new approach to brand promotion and really leveraging quality, on trend content that creates relationships with millennials. We\u2019re not doing \u2018Five things\u2026\u2019 or \u2018Grumpy Cats\u2019 that bring a lot of impressions but have no impact. We\u2019re entering a long-term relationships and having a greater impact on people\u2019s lives.\u201d\n\nOn the subject of measurement, Christment is open on the fact that Konbini could be doing more. He wants the publisher to be a \u201cleader\u201d in the way it impacts a client\u2019s commercial objectives and give more back than empty numbers vaguely linked to impressions or reach.\n\n\u201cCurrent methodologies are not enough,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to demonstrate what goes beyond reach and impressions. We can reach and engage but then we see the long-tail impact which travels much further as they react and share and to demonstrate it further and how it impacts sales and purchase behaviour.\u201d\n\nTo do that, it is on the brink of inking a landmark deal with a measurement firm (he declined to reveal which) that will develop a set of KPIs to better measure the performance of promoted content and native advertising.", "output": "Michael Chrisment, Nestle's global head of integrated marketing who once declared \"dotcom is dead\", has taken up his role as French media company Konbini's first-ever chief marketing officer. Commenting on the move into publishing, Chrisment said; \"Something is broken in advertising and we can\u2019t do it the same way as before\".\u00a0At Konbini he will be charged with raising\u00a0the company's brand awareness and developing its commercial offering, and building a complete branded platform and content through strategic partnerships, following the likes of Airbnb, Coca Cola and Netflix.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cloud computing may be about to give way to edge computing \n Fasten your harnesses, because the era of cloud computing\u2019s giant data centers is about to be rear-ended by the age of self-driving cars. Here\u2019s the problem: When a self-driving car has to make snap decisions, it needs answers fast. Even slight delays in updating road and weather conditions could mean longer travel times or dangerous errors. But those smart vehicles of the near-future don\u2019t quite have the huge computing power to process the data necessary to avoid collisions, chat with nearby vehicles about optimizing traffic flow, and find the best routes that avoid gridlocked or washed-out roads. The logical source of that power lies in the massive server farms where hundreds of thousands of processors can churn out solutions. But that won\u2019t work if the vehicles have to wait the 100 milliseconds or so it usually takes for information to travel each way to and from distant data centers. Cars, after all, move fast.\n\n[#image: /photos/5947e0146c638b3847cde2a7]|||||| Jeremy Hsu is a science and tech journalist based in New York. --------- Sign up to get Backchannel's weekly newsletter.\n\nThat problem from the frontier of technology is why many tech leaders foresee the need for a new \u201cedge computing\u201d network\u2014one that turns the logic of today\u2019s cloud inside out. Today the $247 billion cloud computing industry funnels everything through massive centralized data centers operated by giants like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. That\u2019s been a smart model for scaling up web search and social networks, as well as streaming media to billions of users. But it\u2019s not so smart for latency-intolerant applications like autonomous cars or mobile mixed reality.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a foregone conclusion that giant, centralized server farms that take up 19 city blocks of power are just not going to work everywhere,\u201d says Zachary Smith, a double-bass player and Juilliard School graduate who is the CEO and cofounder of a New York City startup called Packet. Smith is among those who believe that the solution lies in seeding the landscape with smaller server outposts\u2014those edge networks\u2014that would widely distribute processing power in order to speed its results to client devices, like those cars, that can\u2019t tolerate delay.\n\nPacket\u2019s scattered micro datacenters are nothing like the sprawling facilities operated by Amazon and Google, which can contain tens of thousands of servers and squat outside major cities in suburbs, small towns, or rural areas, thanks to their huge physical footprints and energy appetites. Packet\u2019s centers often contain just a few server racks\u2014but the company promises customers in major cities speedy access to raw computing power, with average delays of just 10 to 15 milliseconds (an improvement of roughly a factor of ten). That kind of speed is on the \u201cmust have\u201d lists of companies and developers hoping to stream virtual reality and augmented reality experiences to smartphones, for example. Such experiences rely upon a neurological process\u2014the vestibulo-ocular reflex\u2014that coordinates eye and head movements. It occurs within seven milliseconds, and if your device takes 10 times that long to hear back from a server, forget about suspension of disbelief.\n\nImmersive experiences are just the start of this new kind of need for speed. Everywhere you look, our autonomously driving, drone-clogged, robot-operated future needs to shave more milliseconds off its network-roundtrip clock. For smart vehicles alone, Toyota noted that the amount of data flowing between vehicles and cloud computing services is estimated to reach 10 exabytes per month by 2025.\n\nCloud computing giants haven\u2019t ignored the lag problem. In May, Microsoft announced the testing of its new Azure IoT Edge service, intended to push some cloud computing functions onto developers\u2019 own devices. Barely a month later, Amazon Web Services opened up general access to AWS Greengrass software that similarly extends some cloud-style services to devices running on local networks. Still, these services require customers to operate hardware on their own. Customers who are used to handing that whole business off to a cloud provider may view that as a backwards step.\n\nUS telecom companies are also seeing their build-out of new 5G networks\u2014which should eventually support faster mobile data speeds\u2014as a chance to cut down on lag time. As the service providers expand their networks of cell towers and base stations, they could seize the opportunity to add server power to the new locations. In July, AT&T announced plans to build a mobile edge computing network based on 5G, with the goal of reaching \u201csingle-digit millisecond latency.\u201d Theoretically, data would only need to travel a few miles between customers and the nearest cell tower or central office, instead of hundreds of miles to reach a cloud data center.", "output": "US start-ups Packet and Vapor IO are betting that the model of huge out-of-town datacentres will soon become outdated - and that their own micro datacentres will be the bridge to the future. The standard 100 millisecond\u00a0latency time for data requests will not likely be tolerated by self-driving cars and mixed-reality smartphone applications, which need a delay closer to the seven\u00a0milliseconds of human eye-head coordination if perceivable lag is to be avoided. Smaller, optimised data centres that are physically closer to the network\u00a0nodes can provide this - a fact not lost on AT&T, which is considering incorporating compute technology into its cell towers."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Artists pioneer the Airbnb of studios \n Creativity\n\nTwo Artists Created the Airbnb for Renting Studio Space\n\nCasey Lesser\n\nAug 24, 2017 4:27PM\n\nPhoto by Studio von Monkiewitsch/Alexander Schneider. Courtesy of stusu.\n\nSay you\u2019re a Brooklyn-based painter with a studio in Bushwick. The 300-square-foot space gets great natural light, which is key for your practice; it\u2019s located just a few blocks from the subway; and the neighboring units are used by fellow artists, who don\u2019t mind that you blast music at all hours of the night. It\u2019s an ideal scenario. That is, until you start yearning for a change of scenery. What then? A couple years ago, Berlin artist Ralf Dereich found himself in a similar situation. His studio in Neuk\u00f6lln was like a second home, but he had an itch to travel and create elsewhere. He wanted to sublet his own space and find another abroad, but quickly realized that that was easier said than done\u2014there was no one website or app that seamlessly facilitated such sublets. He turned to a friend from art school, Melina Volkmann, and asked her: Why wasn\u2019t there already a service like this, a sort of Airbnb for artists? That conversation led to stusu\u2014a portmanteau of \u2018studio\u2019 and \u2018sublet,\u2019 of course\u2014which Dereich and Volkmann launched in early 2016, billing it as \u201cthe first global platform where artists can sublet their studios.\u201d In collaboration with web developer Sebastian Kempf and graphic designer Tobias Tilgner, they built a website that culls together information on available studio spaces and ultimately makes it easier for artists to seek out inspiration abroad and create work in cities beyond their hometowns. \u201cBefore stusu existed, most artist studio sublets had been advertised at \u2018free listing pages,\u2019\u201d Volkmann explains, referring to websites like Craigslist, where pages for studio sublets are lumped together with various other types of sublets. \u201cWe wanted to improve this status, with the values of a community marketplace\u2014values like trust and certainty.\u201d\n\nPortrait of Melina Volkmann and Ralf Dereich. Courtesy of stusu.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAn important earlier initiative in this space is the Listings Project, begun by Stephanie Diamond in 2003, which helps artists and other creatives find and list studios, homes, and workspaces in over 70 countries, through a weekly email newsletter. Stusu, in contrast, is a \u201chybrid of classic listings page and member-community model,\u201d Volkmann explains. The site is fostering a virtual community of artists who can connect in order to help one another find spaces that will support their artmaking practices\u2014spaces that foster productivity and creativity. Stusu can be used to expedite straightforward sublets\u2014where one artist rents out another\u2019s studio for a period of days, weeks, or months\u2014but also to fill spots in shared workspaces, and even to arrange studio swaps among artists. At the moment, use of the site is free for all parties involved. The founders are currently planning a Kickstarter campaign (scheduled to launch September 1) to keep the site running and to raise funding needed to build out the functionality for a commission-based model. Those looking to find a temporary studio space can log onto stusu, enter their desired city and dates, and then scroll through listings and an interactive map\u2014an interface that will be familiar to Airbnb users. But, rather than number of bedrooms, on stusu users can filter searches by price per day, shared or private spaces, and square footage. To list a studio on stusu, lessors create a profile and a listing, add images and a description of their space, and set their own prices and the minimum rental period. The site\u2019s admins (Dereich and Volkmann) vet listings for quality and clarity, ensuring these spaces are in fact suitable for artmaking. There are currently some 340 studios listed on the site, from Brooklyn to Bangkok, representing a vast range of affordability and amenities.\n\nPhoto by Steffen Jagenburg. Courtesy of stusu.\n\nVolkmann notes that stusu is conscious of the individual needs of artists, and thus aims to represent a variety of flexible spaces, rather than being limited to the classic, traditional concept of an artist studio\u2014four walls, high ceilings, large windows. The site also covers a wide geographic span, especially considering the modest number of studios on the site. While the founders have put a concerted effort into developing a presence in New York and Berlin (each city has over 100 studios listed), a plethora of cities are represented on the site, from Chicago to Cape Town, S\u00e3o Paulo to Singapore. In New York at present, for example, one can find anything from a 75-square-foot shared space in Industry City for $308 per month, to a private, 475-square-foot photography studio in the West Village for $530 per day. In Berlin, options range from a desk in a Neuk\u00f6lln shared studio for under $5 per day for 90 days, to a sprawling, sun-drenched, 1,450-square-foot studio in Friedrichshain that can be used for filming, photo shoots, workshops, or castings, for around $470 per day. Meanwhile, in Cape Town, an artist can rent out a 323-square-foot space on the premises of a business for approximately $303 per month. For those heading to S\u00e3o Paulo, there\u2019s a 130-square-foot studio on the 22nd floor of Oscar Niemeyer\u2019s famed Copan building for $35 per day. In Singapore, there\u2019s an artist homestay available, including a 430-square-foot space for $71 per day. And for someone in search of spiritual inspiration in nature, in a Polish village some 30 meters from Krakow, there\u2019s a 409-square-foot yurt (a circular Mongolian tent) going for \u20ac25 per day. Volkmann emphasizes the artist-first, communal nature of the site, which she and Dereich have developed through first-hand experience. \u201cMost of our feedback comes from artists, who immediately see the purpose and value of our website,\u201d she says. \u201cStusu is an initiative from artists, for artists.\u201d\n\n", "output": "US artists Ralf Deriech and Melina Volkmann have created stusu, a digital platform similar to Airbnb that enables artists to let their studios. Stusu collects data on available studio lets and offers rentals to artists looking for space. The platform replaces the previously unreliable method of listing space on free listing pages, offering a member/community model to encourage artistic connections. The site is currently free to use, with a Kickstarter campaign planned to raise funding for further functionality.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Most powerful US hurricane in 11 years heads for Texas \n Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated, oil refineries are expected to shut down and 700 members of the National Guard are being called up as Hurricane Harvey, the most powerful weather system to hit the US in almost 12 years, barrels towards Texas.\n\nSeveral counties along the Gulf coast, including Nueces county, Calhoun county and Brazoria county, have ordered mandatory evacuations in low-lying areas.\n\nThe Texas governor, Greg Abbott, has activated about 700 members of the state National Guard and put military helicopters on standby in Austin and San Antonio in preparation for search and rescues and emergency evacuations.\n\nHarvey, which is due to make landfall late on Friday, would be the first hurricane to hit the Texas coast since Hurricane Ike in 2008.\n\nThe head of the National Weather Service said the storm posed \u201ca grave risk to the folks in Texas\u201d.\n\n\n\nLouis Uccellini, the NWS director, said Harvey would bring extremely heavy rainfall that causes inland flooding lasting through to the middle of next week, a large storm surge and high winds.\n\n30-second imagery of rapidly intensifying Hurricane #Harvey from GOES-16. pic.twitter.com/b8CFxJdgQD \u2014 NWS Eastern Region (@NWSEastern) August 24, 2017\n\nUS Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials were moving detained immigrants housed in the projected path of the hurricane. In the Gulf of Mexico, oil and natural gas operators had begun evacuating workers from offshore platforms.\n\nThe hurricane is heading for the Texas coast with the potential for up to 3ft of rain, 125mph winds and 12ft storm surges in what could be the fiercest hurricane to hit the US in almost a dozen years.\n\n\n\nForecasters labelled Harvey a \u201clife-threatening storm\u201d that posed a \u201cgrave risk\u201d. Millions of people braced for a prolonged battering that could swamp dozens of counties more than 100 miles inland.\n\nLandfall was predicted for late Friday or early Saturday between Port O\u2019Connor and Matagorda Bay, a 30-mile (48km) stretch of coastline about 70 miles north-east of Corpus Christi. The region is mostly farm or ranchland dotted with waterfront holiday homes and has absorbed numerous Gulf of Mexico storms for generations.\n\nHarvey intensified on Thursday from a tropical depression into a category 1 hurricane. Early on Friday morning, the National Hurricane Center reported it had become a category 2. Fuelled by warm Gulf of Mexico waters, it was projected to become a major category 3 hurricane. The last storm of that magnitude to hit the US was Hurricane Wilma in October 2005 in Florida.\n\nSuperstorm Sandy, which pummelled New York and New Jersey in 2012, never had the high winds and had lost tropical status by the time it struck. But it was devastating without formally being called a major hurricane.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re forecasting continuing intensification right up until landfall,\u201d National Hurricane Center spokesman Dennis Feltgen said.\n\nTypical category 3 storms damage small homes, topple large trees and destroy mobile homes. As in all hurricanes, the wall of water called a storm surge poses the greatest risk.\n\nImagine being on a spaceship, watching this storm barreling down on your family. Fingers crossed for the Gulf Coast. pic.twitter.com/L9eSxdSc1u \u2014 Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) August 25, 2017\n\nOnce it comes ashore, Harvey is expected to stall, dumping copious amounts of rain for days in areas like flood-prone Houston, the nation\u2019s fourth most-populous city, and San Antonio.\n\nThe National Weather Service director, Louis Uccellini, said scientists were \u201clooking at a potentially impactful storm over a two, three, four-day period\u201d.\n\nDonald Trump on Twitter asked people to get ready for the hurricane and posted links to websites for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Hurricane Center and a Homeland Security site with tips for emergency preparedness.\n\nWhite House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president was \u201cbriefed and will continue to be updated as the storm progresses\u201d.\n\nIn Houston, one of the nation\u2019s most flood-prone cities, Bill Pennington was philosophical as he prepared his one-storey home for what he expected would be its third invasion of floodwaters in as many years and the fifth since 1983.\n\n\u201cWe know how to handle it. We\u2019ll handle it again,\u201d Pennington said he told his nervous nine-year-old son.\n\nAlex Garcia bought bottled water, bread and other basics in the Houston suburb of Sugar Land after dropping off his daughter at college. He said grocery items were likely more available in Houston than back home in Corpus Christi, where Garcia, a beer distributor salesman, said stores were \u201ccrazy\u201d.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll be selling lots of beer,\u201d he said.\n\nKim Fraleigh, of Sugar Land, stocked up with five cases of water, three bags of ice and other supplies at a supermarket. \u201cWe\u2019ve got chips, tuna, dry salami, anything that does not require refrigeration,\u201d she said.", "output": "Mass evacuations are underway in Texas as Hurricane Harvey approaches. Harvey could be the most powerful hurricane to hit the US in 11 years, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).\u00a0Catastrophic\u00a0flooding is expected. Oil refineries across the area are shutting down in preparation for the storm, with operators in the Gulf of Mexico are\u00a0evacuating workers from offshore platforms. The hurricane presents\u00a0\u201ca grave risk to the folks in Texas\u201d, according to the NWS.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "More bitcoin machines for London to meet growing demand \n Source: Alphavend\n\nAlphavend, the UK based digital currency ATM operator, has just launched West London's first Bitcoin machine, in Acton Town located a few minutes walk from Acton Town Piccadilly Line Station.\n\nAfter successfully deploying machines in Central London, Scotland, and in Brighton, this latest installation is at the heart of a vast catchment area of West London.\n\nNow, customers from Acton, Ealing, Hounslow, Brentford, Heathrow, Grenwich, Hammersmith, Uxbridge and other key West London districts will no longer have to head into Central London to buy their Bitcoin.\n\nLocated in Dhillonz Convenience Store at 21 Hanbury Rd, Acton, London W3 8RF, the machine will be available from 7am until 8pm seven day a week.With the Bitcoin price now over \u00a33,000, demand is expected to be high.\n\nMore machine deployments are planned in the months ahead to meet the growing demand for Bitcoin in the UK market.", "output": "Growing demand in the UK has led to plans to install more bitcoin machines in London over the coming months. Digital currency ATM operator Alphavend has installed the latest machine in Acton Town, West London, following previous installations in Central London, Scotland and Brighton. The bitcoin price has recently risen to over \u00a33,000 ($3,852), fuelling increased demand for the cryptocurrency."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Diamonds may prevent short-circuits in lithium-ion batteries \n While lithium-ion batteries, widely used in mobile devices from cell phones to laptops, have one of the longest lifespans of commercial batteries today, they also have been behind a number of recent meltdowns and fires due to short-circuiting in mobile devices. In hopes of preventing more of these hazardous malfunctions researchers at Drexel University have developed a recipe that can turn electrolyte solution -- a key component of most batteries -- into a safeguard against the chemical process that leads to battery-related disasters.\n\nYury Gogotsi, PhD, Distinguished University and Bach professor in the College of Engineering, and his research team from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, recently published their work -- entitled \"Nanodiamonds Suppress Growth of Lithium Dendrites\" -- in the journal Nature Communications. In it, they describe a process by which nanodiamonds -- tiny diamond particles 10,000 times smaller than the diameter of a hair -- curtail the electrochemical deposition, called plating, that can lead to hazardous short-circuiting of lithium ion batteries.\n\nAs batteries are used and charged, the electrochemical reaction results in the movement of ions between the two electrodes of a battery, which is the essence of an electrical current. Over time, this repositioning of ions can create tendril-like buildups -- almost like stalactites forming inside a cave. These battery buildups, called dendrites, are one of the main causes of lithium battery malfunction. As dendrites form inside the battery over time, they can reach the point where they push through the separator, a porous polymer film that prevents the positively charged part of a battery from touching the negatively charged part. When the separator is breached, a short-circuit can occur, which can also lead to a fire since the electrolyte solution in most lithium-ion batteries is highly flammable.\n\nTo avoid dendrite formation and minimize the probability of fire, current battery designs include one electrode made of graphite filled with lithium instead of pure lithium. The use of graphite as the host for lithium prevents the formation of dendrites. But lithium intercalated graphite also stores about 10 times less energy than pure lithium. The breakthrough made by Gogotsi's team means that a great increase in energy storage is possible because dendrite formation can be eliminated in pure lithium electrodes.\n\n\"Battery safety is a key issue for this research,\" Gogotsi said. \"Small primary batteries in watches use lithium anodes, but they are only discharged once. When you start charging them again and again, dendrites start growing. There may be several safe cycles, but sooner or later a short-circuit will happen. We want to eliminate or, at least, minimize that possibility.\"\n\nGogotsi and his collaborators from Tsinghua University in Beijing, and Hauzhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China, focused their work on making lithium anodes more stable and lithium plating more uniform so that dendrites won't grow.\n\nThey're doing this by adding nanodiamonds to the electrolyte solution in a battery. Nanodiamonds have been used in the electroplating industry for some time as a way of making metal coatings more uniform. While they are much, much smaller -- and cheaper -- than the diamonds you'd find in a jeweler's case, nanodiamonds still retain the regular structure and shape of their pricey progenitors. When they are deposited, they naturally slide together to form a smooth surface.\n\nThe researchers found this property to be exceedingly useful for eliminating dendrite formation. In the paper, they explain that lithium ions can easily attach to nanodiamonds, so when they are plating the electrode they do so in the same orderly manner as the nanodiamond particles to which they're linked. They report in the paper that mixing nanodiamonds into the electrolyte solution of a lithium ion battery slows dendrite formation to nil through 100 charge-discharge cycles.\n\nIf you think about it like a game of Tetris, that pile of mismatched blocks inching perilously close to \"game over\" is the equivalent of a dendrite. Adding nanodiamonds to the mix is kind of like using a cheat code that slides each new block into the proper place to complete a line and prevent a menacing tower from forming.\n\nGogotsi notes that his group's discovery is just the beginning of a process that could eventually see electrolyte additives, like nanodiamonds, widely used to produce safe lithium batteries with a high energy density. Initial results already show stable charge-discharge cycling for as long as 200 hours, which is long enough for use in some industrial or military applications, but not nearly adequate for batteries used in laptops or cell phones. Researchers also need to test a large number of battery cells over a long enough period of time under various physical conditions and temperatures to ensure that dendrites will never grow.\n\n\"It's potentially game-changing, but it is difficult to be 100 percent certain that dendrites will never grow,\" Gogotsi said. \"We anticipate the first use of our proposed technology will be in less critical applications -- not in cell phones or car batteries. To ensure safety, additives to electrolytes, such as nanodiamonds, need to be combined with other precautions, such as using non-flammable electrolytes, safer electrode materials and stronger separators.\"\n\n###", "output": "Researchers from Drexel University in Philadelphia, US have discovered that using nanodiamonds as an additive in electrolyte solution can prevent the formation and growth of dendrites, which cause short-circuits, meltdowns and fires in lithium-ion batteries. \"It's potentially game-changing\u201d, said Yury Gogotsi, Bach professor in the College of Engineering at Drexel. Lithium-ion batteries are widely used in mobile devices and laptops, as well as electric vehicles."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "High levels of arsenic put 60 million in Pakistan at risk \n Story highlights A study estimates that millions have been exposed to high levels of arsenic in their water supply Regularly drinking contaminated water can have serious health consequences\n\nCNN \u2014\n\nUp to 60 million people living in Pakistan\u2019s Indus Plain are at risk of being affected by high levels of arsenic in the region\u2019s groundwater supply, according to a new study in the journal Science Advances.\n\nAn international team of scientists created a \u201chazard map\u201d of locations at risk using water samples collected from almost 1,200 sites across the country, the majority of them from hand and motor pumps.\n\nUsing statistical modeling, the team also assessed environmental factors that may affect the movement of arsenic and calculated the size of populations at risk of exposure. They concluded that there was widespread arsenic contamination in the Indus Plain, from where 50 million to 60 million people get their groundwater.\n\n\u201cThis alarmingly high number of people likely affected demonstrates an urgent need to test all drinking water wells in the Indus Plain,\u201d the team said in a statement.\n\nThe researchers have urged authorities to treat affected wells accordingly. Arsenic does not have a smell or a taste, and there are no short-term symptoms after consuming it. However, drinking contaminated water regularly could lead to serious illnesses including lung cancer and cardiovascular diseases, the team said.\n\nThe study \u201cdoesn\u2019t mean every well in the area is affected, but the easiest thing to do and the first obvious step is to test each and every well,\u201d said Joel Podgorski of the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, the study\u2019s lead author. \u201cOnce it\u2019s known that a well has arsenic in it, people can shift to a safe water source. Or a filter could be used.\u201d\n\n\u2018Humans have exacerbated the issue\u2019\n\nThe World Health Organization estimates that 200 million people worldwide are affected by arsenic contamination. The organization\u2019s guidelines for concentration of arsenic in drinking water permit up to 10 micrograms per liter; Pakistan\u2019s guidelines allow up to 50 micrograms per liter.\n\nBut use of either measurement would not change the number of people who the team believes to be at risk, Podgorski said, with most supplies in the area breaching 50 micrograms per liter.\n\nPodgorski added that the arsenic naturally occurred in the groundwater but that \u201cit\u2019s possible in some cases that humans have exacerbated the issue.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve alluded in the study to a correlation between arsenic levels and high organic pollution in groundwater,\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes, human and animal waste getting into a shallow well can make the issue worse locally, as it causes a different type of of arsenic release.\u201d\n\nThe team also found a correlation between irrigated areas and high arsenic levels in the water, though Podgorski stressed that this could be a coincidence.\n\nBeyond further testing, the team suggested emergency measures such as health intervention programs for those affected.\n\nThe need to know more\n\n\u201cWe need to know now how many people are affected as well as at risk,\u201d said Mohammad Shamsudduha, a research fellow and hydrogeology expert at University College London who was not involved in the research. \u201cI\u2019m quite convinced by their data, as they\u2019ve collected so many samples.\u201d\n\nFollow CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter.\n\nHe added that the fact that the group has linked contamination to the number of people exposed is impressive. \u201cPreviously, the numbers of those at risk were very speculative. It\u2019s also a study examining arsenic levels in Pakistan at a national level. Much of the data I\u2019ve looked at has been at a local level,\u201d he said.\n\nPodgorski said Syed Ali Musstjab Akber Shah Eqani, a co-author on the study, is collecting further groundwater samples in Pakistan for the team\u2019s next phase of research.\n\n\u201cWe also have in the pipeline a similar study on fluoride levels across Pakistan, which is also an issue,\u201d Podgorski said.\n\nShamsudduha hopes the team\u2019s research will increase awareness of arsenic contamination in Pakistan.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s always a pressure put on officials with a high impact publication and the consequent media coverage,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a dream that every well will be tested before it is sunk, which everyone in this field would recommend, But possibly, this study may trigger policy changes so that testing for arsenic contamination is more common.\u201d", "output": "Around 60 million people are at risk of being affected by high levels of arsenic in the groundwater supply in Pakistan's Indus Plain, a study in the journal Science Advances has warned. The scientists urged authorities to treat the infected wells urgently. Drinking arsenic-contaminated water regularly could lead to serious illnesses such as lung cancer and cardiovascular diseases, and, although arsenic naturally occurs in the groundwater, humans appear to be exacerbating the problem. Studies have revealed a correlation between arsenic levels and high organic pollution, such as human and animal waste, in groundwater.\n\n\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Russian deputy prime minister backs crypto-ruble \n A major Russian politician has called for a Russian state cryptocurrency, revealing himself to be a supporter of the \u201ccrypto-ruble.\u201d In an interview with Russian ...\n\nA major Russian politician has called for a Russian state cryptocurrency, revealing himself to be a supporter of the \u201ccrypto-ruble.\u201d\n\nIn an interview with Russian publication RBC, Igor Shuvalov, Russia\u2019s First Deputy Prime Minister spoke of his support for cryptocurrencies. The senior official specifically called for the creation of a \u201ccrypto-ruble\u201d, a state-backed cryptocurrency that would, according to him, make the Russian economy stronger.\n\nIn roughly translated statements, Shuvalov stated:\n\nI am a supporter, a crypto-ruble must exist\u2026This theme will develop. But it should develop in such a way that the national economy cannot be put under attack, but rather make it stronger.\n\nThe Russian official\u2019s comments come with months of the notable revelation that Russia\u2019s central bank is already working on a national digital currency. Earlier in June, deputy chairwoman at Russia\u2019s central bank Olga Skorobogatova claimed it was only a matter of time before countries adopted national digital currencies, whilst adding that Russia was working on certain pilot projects of its own.\n\nRussia: A Bitcoin Mining Hub?\n\nIntriguingly, Shuvalov also revealed that the Russian government had discussed the possibility of installing and operating mining centers at a state level. While there are no concrete projects yet \u2013 due to a lack of legislation and regulation of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies \u2013 Shuvalov confirmed that prospective locations were sought in regions with an abundance of energy resources. Bitcoin mining is an energy intensive process where profits are gained when the mining rewards exceed the cost of mining resources and electricity costs.\n\nShuvalov told RBC:\n\nWe talked about the future of this sector, given that it is developing so rapidly in the world. Talks included the question of generetocs of electric energy, near which it would be possible to put such [mining] centers.\n\nThese developments come within a year of Russian authorities proposing criminal penalties on bitcoin adopters and miners. In March 2016, the Russian Finance Ministry sought to push a controversial bitcoin ban bill which enforced prison sentences up to 7 years for bitcoin adopters.\n\nAfter spearing the effort to ban bitcoin since 2014, Russia\u2019s deputy finance minister Alexei Moiseev admitted this year that the government may seek to regulate the bitcoin industry in 2018. Such a move would, in effect, recognize and legalize bitcoin in the country.\n\nIn recent months, Russia\u2019s largest online retailer announced plans to accept bitcoin for payments. Russia\u2019s official standards authority has also begun work on developing blockchain standards, ahead of regulations expected to be established in 2019.\n\nFeatured image from Shutterstock", "output": "Igor Shuvalov, Russia\u2019s First Deputy Prime Minister, has called for the creation of a \"crypto-ruble\" to strengthen the country's economy, according to RBC. In an interview, Shuvalov said the Russian government was looking for locations for potential mining centres operated at a state level. Shuvalov's comments follow remarks made by deputy chairwoman at Russia\u2019s central bank Olga Skorobogatova in June, who revealed Russia was working on its own digital currency, at odds with the previous government position of a proposed bitcoin ban.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gambling addiction surges in the UK \n More than 2 million people in the UK are either problem gamblers or at risk of addiction, according to the industry regulator, which warned that the government and industry were not doing enough to tackle the problem.\n\nThe report by the Gambling Commission estimated that the number of British over-16s deemed to be problem gamblers had grown by a third in three years, suggesting that about 430,000 people suffer from a serious habit.\n\nIt also found evidence of an increase in addiction among those playing controversial fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs), which have been criticised for allowing betting shop customers to spend up to \u00a3100 every 20 seconds.\n\nEarlier this year, the government delayed a report on whether to curb FOBTs and limit the spread of gambling ads on television.\n\nWith the Department of Culture, Media and Sport not due to publish its recommendations until October, Gambling Commission executive director Tim Miller warned that neither the government nor the gambling industry were moving fast enough.\n\n\u201cWe have a clear commitment to make gambling fairer and safer and these figures show that this is a significant challenge,\u201d he said. \u201cSuccess will depend upon us, the industry, government and others, all working together with a shared purpose to protect consumers.\n\n\u201cThe pace of change to date simply hasn\u2019t been fast enough \u2013 more needs to be done to address problem gambling.\u201d\n\nThe UK\u2019s leading gambling charity GambleAware, which funds the UK\u2019s only dedicated gambling addiction clinic in London, repeated calls for the industry to increase its funding for addiction treatment.\n\nGambleAware gets around \u00a38m in funding from the industry per year but has called for this to increase to \u00a310m.\n\nEven that figure falls short of the donation suggested by the Responsible Gambling Strategy Board, of 0.1% of the record \u00a313.8bn the industry won from British gamblers last year, or \u00a313.8m.\n\nThe Gambling Commission\u2019s report, which has taken nearly two years to collate and charts gambling addiction up to 2015, found that the rate of problem gambling rose to 0.8% of over-16s from 0.6% in 2012.\n\n\n\nThat suggests an increase of more than 100,000 in the number of problem gamblers to 430,000, although the commission described the rate as \u201cstatistically stable\u201d. The overall number of people in danger rises to more than 2.3 million when including 2 million people deemed to be at low or moderate risk of addiction.\n\nDespite the apparent rise, the Association of British Bookmakers said the commission\u2019s report showed that \u201cproblem gambling levels in the UK are stable\u201d.\n\nIt dismissed concerns of a relationship between addiction and FOBTs, which make up more than half of bookmakers\u2019 annual revenues, pulling in more than \u00a31.8bn a year.\n\n\u201cSeeking to ban a single gambling product will simply lead to the shifting of problem gamblers to other areas rather than addressing the root cause of the issue,\u201d the ABB said. The trade body called for more co-operation in the industry to reduce problem gambling levels.\n\nAccording to the commission\u2019s report, around 11.5% of the people who use machines in bookmakers are problem gamblers, up from 7.2% in 2012.\n\n\n\nA spokesperson for the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, which wants FOBT maximum stakes cut to \u00a32 said: \u201cThe increased rate of problematic gambling associated with FOBTs should alarm policymakers.\n\n\u201cThe bookies have claimed that because the overall population rate of problem gambling is static, FOBTs are not harmful. The data published today, which shows a rate increase, has totally undermined the bookies\u2019 argument.\u201d\n\nCarolyn Harris, Labour MP for Swansea East, said: \u201cThis should be a wake-up call for government as we near the response to the FOBT review in October.\n\n\u201cThis problem is not going away, in fact it\u2019s getting worse. If the industry believes there\u2019s no issue, they\u2019re completely deluded.\u201d\n\nWhile DCMS is understood to be minded to curb maximum stakes on FOBTs, Whitehall sources have previously told the Guardian that the Treasury opposes tough restrictions, fearing the impact on its tax take.\n\nWhile campaigners singled out figures for FOBTs, the commission also found high rates of problem gambling in other parts of the industry.\n\n\n\nSome 15.9% of poker players in pubs and clubs were defined as problem gamblers while the highest proportion was 20.1% in the relatively rare practices of spread betting and the use of betting exchanges. Online casino and slots gaming, one of the fastest-growing forms of gambling, showed a rate of 10.6%.\n\nThe Remote Gambling Association, which represents online firms, said: \u201cCompared to areas like lotteries and bingo, online gambling is usually classified as \u2018harder gambling\u2019 and is always likely to attract a higher proportion of problem and at-risk gamblers and this study reflects that.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe relatively high levels of regulation for online gambling reflect that as well, but it\u2019s something we have to accept responsibility for and proactively seek ways to minimise those risks for all consumers.\u201d\n\nHe said RGA members were working on several initiatives to identify patterns of addiction and intervene earlier.\n\nThe report found that rates of problem gambling, defined as being \u201cto a degree that compromises, disrupts or damages family, personal or recreational pursuits\u201d also vary wildly depending on factors such as sex, age, location and ethnic background.\n\nJust 0.2% of women have a gambling problem, rising to 1.5% among men and 2.3% of men aged between 25 and 34.\n\nCase study: Jason Haddigan\n\nHaddigan became involved in gambling aged nine when an acquaintance starting taking him to poker games, and he turned to crime before then becoming addicted to fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs). He has not gambled for a year and has written a book about his experiences, How and why I conned the bookmakers.\n\n\u201c[The acquaintance] got me to play a game of pool for \u00a3500 when I was nine. When I was 20, [he] had been charged for a \u00a326,000 fraud and was due at crown court. He begged me to go on the run with him so I agreed. Two weeks after being on the road, we stumbled on a scam conning bookies. I got arrested, and went to prison at 22 with him for six months.\n\n\u201cAfter I came out I went on the road with him again though, conning bookmakers. Every bit of money earned went back to another bookmakers. We\u2019d get \u00a31,500 out of Ladbrokes and then gamble it away at William Hill. I went to prison two more times.\n\n\n\n\u201cAged 30, that\u2019s when the machines (FOBTs) came out. They weren\u2019t \u00a3100 maximum stake at the time. You could do hundreds of pounds a spin and I was doing it.\n\n\n\n\u201c[We] got hooked because when we were betting on horses and dogs, you had to wait 10-15 minutes for your race. With problem gamblers like me, we get agitated, we want to hurry up and get the buzz. When you\u2019re playing the machines, you haven\u2019t got to wait so long. It\u2019s 20 seconds, \u00a3100 a spin. It\u2019s absolutely what we wanted.\n\n\n\n\u201cWhen you go to a bookmakers, the machines are full, people aren\u2019t betting on horses and dogs anymore. People are even queueing for the machines. I\u2019ve lost over \u00a3300,000 since they came out, probably more.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve had four failed relationships because of gambling and had to sell a business for \u00a322,000. I put it back into the machines in eight days. I attempted suicide a few years back.\n\n\u201cI started young but when the machines came out, I went to jail more times than before. Because I got hooked on them so bad, I was committing more crime to get more money to play them and I was getting caught and going to prison.\n\n\n\n\u201cIn prison, if you\u2019ve got a drink or drug problem you can go on a course. But there was no help at all for gambling.\u201d\n\n\n\nCase study: Tony Muca\n\nMuca, 38, of Fareham in Hampshire, started gambling on the high street before becoming addicted to online games.\n\n\n\n\u201cI have been gambling since I was 13 with friends and have been addicted since I was 19. I used to gamble on the high street but now I do it online.\n\n\u201cWhen I gamble I love the adrenaline but it has cost me so much money, perhaps \u00a3250,000 over 15 years. I lost most of my friends, which demoralised me and made me start drinking and taking drugs to take my attention away from losing all of my wages.\n\n\u201cI still gamble but not as much, because I have started to understand I can get adrenaline doing other things, like spending my money with people around me. It makes me feel better than winning a bet.\n\n\u201cThere should be easier access to getting help with gambling addiction. If people spend their money on other things it will be good for the economy and the government could gain more if they invest in helping young people.\u201d\n\n\n\n", "output": "Over two million people in the UK are either gambling addicts or risk becoming one, according to a report from the Gambling Commission. The report states that the number of UK adults\u00a0who are \"problem gamblers\" has surged by a third in the past three years to around 430,000, with evidence showing increased addiction rates among users of fixed-odds terminals. Neither the government nor the gambling industry are\u00a0moving fast enough to deal with the rising problem, according to the commission."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shell gets approval for 250 MW Australian solar project \n A 250 MW PV plant in Queensland has received approval from local authority Western Downs Regional Council. The project is proposed by oil giant Shell, who will make final financial assessments and ultimately decide whether or not to go ahead with construction.\n\nThe proposed project, Delga Solar Farm, would be the eighth PV plant approved in the Western Downs regional, according to the local council, and is set to be located 25 kilometers south of the town of Wandoan.\n\nThe council state that Delga Solar Farm would be able to connect to an existing substation, allowing energy to be fed into Australia\u2019s National Grid, and that the construction phase would create up to 800 jobs, with 10 full time positions for the subsequent operation of the plant.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve fully embraced the future of renewables and energy production in our region, and we welcome the proposal of Shell Australia onto the solar energy scene in Western Downs,\u201d says Mayor Paul McVeigh. \u201cThis interest from a leading multi-national energy company to invest in renewable energy in our region is a great boost to the Western Downs\u2019 already impressive energy portfolio.\u201d\n\nPopular content\n\nOther partners in the project have not been revealed at this stage, however, in July Shell invested an undisclosed sum of money in Singapore based PV developer Sunseap, and the two stated plans to partner on \u2018a number of utility-scale projects in the Asia-Pacific region\u2019.\n\nQueensland has seen some major investments in PV throughout 2017, with the Australian Clean Energy Finance Committee backing 200 MW of projects earlier in August.\n\n\u201cThis project marks the eighth solar farm approved by the Council,\u201d continues Mcveigh, \u201cdemonstrating our goal to become the energy capital of Australia.\u201d", "output": "Shell has received approval for a 250 MW solar power plant in Queensland, Australia. The Delga Solar Farm project has been approved by the Western Downs Regional Council and will connect to the national grid through an existing substation. Shell will make a final financial assessment before deciding whether to proceed with construction. Queensland has had a number of solar projects approved recently, with the Australian Clean Energy Finance Committee backing 200 MW of PV projects this year. The new farm would be the eighth approved by the council."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Canberra introduces hybrid and all-electric buses \n \"We see it as a stepping stone to the future. The future is electric, Volvo has electric chassis in development and actually in service in Europe which we are planning on bringing to Australia at some point in the future,\" Volvo Bus Australia's national contracts manager Ian Clarke said.", "output": "Canberra, Australia, is introducing hybrid and electric buses as part of a 12-month trial. The ACT government will lease one of Volvo's hybrid buses and two electric buses from Carbridge, with the trial expected to cost around $900,000 to explore whether the current ACTION fleet should be replaced with the newer technology. Although there are currently six such buses working at Sydney Airport, with 11 to follow at Brisbane Airport, the Canberra trial will be the first on public routes."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Electrofuels could save 2.8 gigatons of CO2 by 2050: Bosch \n The calculation is based on an assumed e-fuels blend of 1% in 2025, 10% in 2030, 40% in 2040 and completely replacing the fossil fuel share by 2050.\n\nAccording to a new study by Bosch, the use of e-fuels\u2014synthetic fuels based on renewable energy\u2014in Europe by 2050 as a scheduled supplement to electrification could save up to 2.8 gigatons of CO 2 : three times Germany\u2019s carbon-dioxide emissions in 2016.\n\n\n\n\n\nTop: Threefold pathway to a de-fossilized powertrain. Bottom: Fuel pathways. Source: Bosch. Click to enlarge.\n\nIf the climate targets set by the Paris conference are to be achieved, CO 2 emissions from traffic worldwide will have to be reduced 50% over the next four decades, and by at least 85% in the advanced economies, Bosch notes.\n\nAchieving our future climate targets calls for other intelligent solutions apart from electromobility. \u2014Dr. Volkmar Denner, chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH\n\nEven if all cars were to drive electrically one day, aircraft, ships, and even trucks will still run mainly on fuel. Carbon-neutral combustion engines that run on synthetic fuels are thus a very promising path to explore\u2014including for passenger cars. In addition, synthetic fuels can be designed to burn practically soot-free. In this way, the cost of exhaust-gas treatment can be reduced, Bosch adds.\n\nA further advantage is that the existing filling-station network can continue to be used. The same applies to the existing combustion-engine expertise. Moreover, even though electric cars will become significantly less expensive in the years ahead, the development of these fuels may be worthwhile. Bosch has calculated that, up to a lifetime mileage of 160,000 kilometers, the total cost of ownership of a hybrid running on synthetic fuel could be less than that of a long-range electric car, depending on the type of renewable energy used.\n\nIt is already possible to manufacture synthetic fuels; Audi\u2019s e-fuels initiative provides an example. (Earlier post.) If the electricity used is generated from renewables (and thus CO 2 -free), such fuels are carbon-neutral and very versatile. The hydrogen that is initially produced can be used to power fuel cells, while the fuels created following further processing can be used to run combustion engines or aircraft turbines. Pilot projects to commercialize synthetic diesel, gasoline, and gas are currently underway in Norway and Germany.\n\nIn addition, because synthetic fuels are compatible with the existing infrastructure and engine generation, achieving a high degree of market penetration would take far less time than electrifying the existing vehicle fleet. Nor will anything change for the drivers of older vehicles, as even classic cars will still run on synthetic gasoline.\n\nAt the moment, producing synthetic fuels is expensive. However, a production ramp-up and favorable electricity prices could mean that synthetic fuels become significantly cheaper. Present studies suggest that the fuel itself (excluding any excise duties) could cost between \u20ac1.00 and \u20ac1.40/liter (US$4.47 to $6.25/gallon US) in the long run.\n\nResources", "output": "Fuels created from converting renewable energy into synthetic hydrocarbons could save the world 2.8 gigatons of carbon CO2 by 2050 if selectively introduced into the transport system, according to research by Bosch. That's equivalent to three times Germany's carbon emissions in 2016. Bosch recommends blending so-called electrofuels into regular gasoline and diesel at a rate of 1% by 2025, 10% by 2030, 40% by 2040 followed by full replacement in 2050. Synthetic fuels don't require any changes to existing engines or delivery infrastructure, creating the potential for high penetration among existing vehicles."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Safe landing is the main challenge for autonomous\u00a0flying cars \n Before you can zip about in a flying car, engineers must solve more than a few problems. Oddly, figuring out how to make a flying car fly isn't among them. The basics of flight were sorted out more than 100 years ago. No, the big challenge lies in making these things fly themselves so you don't have to go through the hassle of earning a pilot's license. Here, too, taking flight isn't the big problem. Landing is.\n\n\u201cTakeoff is fairly scripted,\u201d says Sanjiv Signh, the CEO of Near Earth Autonomy. His company makes sensors and robotic controls for aerial vehicles like drones. \u201cBut the landing site may not be ready to take a vehicle. Maybe something went wrong, and there\u2019s already a vehicle on deck.\u201d\n\nA human pilot would know what to do. But a computer algorithm? It must be programmed. So Airbus, which really is developing an autonomous flying car, tapped the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, company to provide the hardware needed to get it off the ground\u2014and back down again.\n\nAirbus calls its self-flying flying car Vahana, and is working on it at its Silicon Valley outpost A^3 (pronounced \"a cubed\"). The single-seat electric aircraft uses eight propellers mounted on wings that rotate. Vahana takes off and lands like a helicopter but flies like an airplane. Engineers call this VTOL, or vertical take-off and landing, but a growing number of people think it's just the thing for flying cars. Airbus hopes to start flight testing a prototype before the end of the year.\n\nIf all goes according to plan, Vahana will use a Near Earth Autonomy technology called Peregrine. The system, mounted under the fuselage, looks like a shoebox with a dome. It contains lidar, inertial measurement, GPS sensors, and all kinds of processing power. When the aircraft is at an altitude lower than 65 feet, it laser scans the ground in three dimensions, looking for objects bigger larger than 12 inches across, to determine whether the landing spot is clear and safe. If it does spot an impediment\u2014like your jerk neighbor's flying car\u2014it will suggest an alternative LZ and feed that back to Vahana's flight control computer.", "output": "Taking off in a flying car is easy, according to aerial vehicle parts provider Near Earth Autonomy, but landing is not. Autonomous flying cars require specialised software to be able to cope with any problems on landing such as obstructions or difficult conditions, which does not yet exist. The company is developing hardware for Airbus's Vahana, which can take\u00a0off and land\u00a0vertically, using a range of sensors and laser scanners to determine if it is safe to touch down. A working prototype will be produced by the end of 2017 if all goes according to plan.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Bosses of building firms buy discounted homes meant for families \n The airline axed 54 flights scheduled to take off and land at Gatwick Airport on Sunday, while a further 55 were grounded today, causing misery for 15,000 passengers as Britain's hot spell sparked storms. People caught up in the chaos were outraged, claiming there were just two members of staff at the airport who were 'swamped' by thousands of stranded easyJet customers. Sam Spencer, who was due to fly to Nice from Gatwick, told MailOnline: 'The lady at the desk was polite but fairly unhelpful, the man on her radio literally told her: \"Tell them all to s*d off\".' EasyJet has stated that the disruption is 'outside of our control and is considered to be an extraordinary circumstance'. Due to the weather, this means that passengers will not be eligible for flight delay compensation. Suspicious passengers claimed that the issue was due to a lack of air crew - not storms - because rivals at Gatwick such as Norwegian and British Airways are not suffering in the same way. One critic tweeted: 'Why only easyJet? Surely other airlines would cancel their flights because of the weather'.", "output": "The chairman of housing firm Redrow, Steve Morgan, has let four of the six affordable home properties at his company\u2019s Stretton Green development in Cheshire to staff from his estate at the Carden Park Hotel. The homes failed to sell at their original price of \u00a3350,000 each, leading Morgan to purchase all six for \u00a3680,000. Morgan allegedly collects rent of at least \u00a3640 from each home, although the properties were designed to house less well-off families. He retains a significant stake in Redrow through another company, Bridgemere.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "RhythmOne RhythmOne confirms takeover talks with YuMe \n Publicly listed adtech companies RhythmOne and YuMe have issued separate statements confirming reports that they are in negotiations, with any potential deal representing the latest transaction in adtech mergers and acquisitions (M&A).\n\nBoth parties have confirmed the talks but both are adamant that nothing has been concluded\n\nUK-based RhythmOne, which is listed on the AIM, made the first move, issuing a statement confirming it was in talks with YuMe over a potential takeover. \u201cGiven the nature of the discussions, there can be no certainty that any transaction will proceed,\u201d read the company statement.\n\n\u201cA further announcement will be made in due course if and when appropriate.\u201d\n\nYuMe, itself listed on the New York Stock Exchange, subsequently issued a similar statement, which described the negotiations as \u201cYuMe\u2019s strategic alternatives process.\u201d\n\nBoth statements point out that no deal has yet been agreed, with the second statement stating: \u201cYuMe has been engaged in a strategic process in which YuMe continues to consider several value-enhancing initiatives, including remaining as a stand-alone company.\u201d\n\nThe share prices of both companies subsequently rose in the aftermath of the publication of their respective statements, with the revelations coming the same day as DoubleVerify confirmed that it had sold a majority stake to private equity outfit Providence Equity Partners in the latest M&A transaction.\n\nRhythmOne itself took part in earlier adtech M&A activity this year, with the outfit purchasing certain assets of RadiumOne for an undisclosed amount.\n\nAt the time of the acquisition, RhythmOne claimed the purchase would allow it to gain access to customer insights, audience segmentation and targeting technology, and premium demand relationships.\n\nNeither RhythmOne nor YuMe has issued any statement on any efficiencies such a transaction would facilitate.\n\nAlthough the reports come as the US-based company revealed earlier this month that it was turning a corner with the video advertising specialist its best quarter since Q4 2013, during the three months to June 30, with a net income of $4.4m.\n\nAccording to a Seeking Alpha transcript, YuMe\u2019s chief executive officer Paul Porrini told investors at the time that its results during the second quarter of 2017 were 'record achievements.'\n\nHe added: \u201cWe delivered $11m of programmatic revenue in the second quarter, up from $2.1m for the same period last year and $9.4m sequentially. We are encouraged by this rapid growth and adoption, and believe we are well-positioned to capture additional ad spend through our programmatic offering.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile, RhythmOne's latest financial filing issued in March this year demonstrated that it generated revenues of $175.4m for the 2017 financial year.", "output": "Adtech firm RhythmOne has confirmed that it is in discussions about a potential takeover of rival company YuMe. The latter business, a New York Stock Exchange-listed firm, has said that it is reviewing \"value-enhancing initiatives\", which include remaining as a \"standalone company\". Both companies' share prices jumped after the confirmation of the talks. RhythmOne has already made an acquisition this year, with the purchase of some of the assets of data marketing firm RadiumOne.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IAB introduces Podcast Playbook guide to help marketers \n The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has released its first-ever buyer\u2019s guide for podcast advertising, providing insights into audience demographics, listener behaviours, creative treatments, ad formats, delivery and targeting, and ad effectiveness measurement.\n\nThe Podcast Playbook features research confirming the growth of podcasts, the locations people listen to them, the methods of listening to them, the number of podcasts listeners are subscribed to, and more.\n\n\u201cThis playbook will serve as a go-to reference guide to help brand marketers understand podcasts and effectively steer more ad dollars toward opportunities that will deliver in terms of audience reach,\u201d said Anna Bager, SVP and general manager for mobile and video at the IAB. \u201cIn an industry where explosive growth and dramatic change have been endemic, podcasts are having a standout moment. We want to educate marketers on the unique and valuable benefits of advertising on the medium.\u201d\n\nRecent IAB research, conducted by PwC, forecasts that podcast revenues will reach $200m in 2017, up 87 per cent from $119m in 2016. Meanwhile, smartphones, as expected, were found to be the primary device used for listening to podcasts.\n\nIAB also found that 44 per cent of podcast listeners are under 34, educated, wealthy, and likely to be business influencers. In addition, two-thirds of listeners cite high brand recall and nearly the same number say that podcast ads inspired a purchase.\n\n\u201cPodcasts create an especially intimate space for listeners to engage with content because these listeners have made an active choice to download or stream,\u201d said Harry Clark, EVP of Market Enginuity, and co-chair of the IAB Podcast Playbook working group. \u201cThis guide provides advertisers with concise, illuminating insights to the potential of podcasts as an effective ad channel, in terms of podcast audiences, their responsiveness, and the flexibility of the medium\u2019s delivery options.\u201d", "output": "The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) in the US has launched its first guide for podcast advertising, offering expertise in audience demographic targeting, ad formats, delivery, listener behaviour and measurements of ad efficacy. The Podcast Playbook has been released as IAB research found that podcast revenues are due to reach $200m this year, an 87% increase from last year. Podcasts are most frequently accessed on mobile devices, with 44% of listeners under 34 and wealthy. Two-thirds of podcast listeners have good brand recall, with a similar number stating that podcast advertising led them to purchase a product.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AbleTo plans expansion of mental health platform \n AbleTo, a healthcare business working with self-insured employers and health plans to use technology to help people who identify themselves as depressed or coping with anxiety or stress, has closed a $36.6 million Series D round. The fundraise is intended to expand the company\u2019s customer base.\n\nTo date, AbleTo has raised $57.4 million.\n\nBain Capital Ventures led the round with Aetna Ventures. Existing ventures, such as .406 Ventures, Sandbox Industries, HLM Venture Partners, and Horizon Healthcare Services, also took part. Aetna has been an AbleTo customer since 2011.\n\nHere\u2019s how it works. Plan members take a questionnaire to assess their level of need, if any. They are matched with a behavioral health coach and a therapist through a phone or video chat. Goals are set as part of an eight-week personalized program.\n\nAbleTo\u2019s argument for employers is that its approach to behavioral health can boost work performance. A study with Aetna focusing on members with cardiovascular disease with depression found that graduates of AbleTo\u2019s program had a 61 percent drop in absenteeism and a 44 percent decline in people working while sick between October 2015 through May 2016.\n\nEarlier this year, AbleTo CEO Rob Rebak said that it wants to continue to validate its approach through clinical research in areas such as depression, anxiety and diabetes. It also has plans to explore how its technology platform can be applied to areas such as patients newly diagnosed with a chronic condition and the range of emotions that diagnosis can produce.\n\nAnother priority for AbleTo is adding telepsychiatry services to its platform.\n\n\u201cWe are finding that 20 percent to 30 percent of our patients also have a need for some form of a telepsychiatry consult,\u201d Rebak said. The idea is to better balance the services AbleTo provides its customers.\n\nPhoto: phototechno, Getty Images", "output": "AbleTo, a healthcare company that uses technology to help people who identify themselves as depressed or suffering from anxiety or stress, has raised $36.6m in a series D round\u00a0to expand its treatment platform. AbleTo CEO Rob Rebak said that the company\u00a0wants to continue to validate its approach through clinical research in areas such as depression, anxiety and diabetes, and explore how its platform can help patients newly diagnosed with chronic conditions and with the range of emotions that diagnosis can produce. Bain Capital Ventures led the latest funding round alongside Aetna Ventures. To date, AbleTo has raised $57.4m.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lastminute.com and RBS latest brands to remove ads from Breitbart \n Lastminute.com and RBS are the latest brands to pull their ads from far-right news site Breitbart, following reports that close to 2600 advertisers had disassociated themselves from the Steve Bannon-fronted outlet.\n\nRBS and Lastminute.com are the latest advertisers to remove their content from the site\n\nThe brands confirmed to The Drum that have taken steps to ensure their ads would no longer be served alongside content from the publisher. As late as Tuesday (22 August) promotions from both brands were featured on the homepage and above articles on the site in the form of banner ads (served via Google\u2019s ad network).\n\n\u201cWe take placement of our ads very seriously - we do not support any strong opinion which violates the rights of others,\u201d a Lastminute.com spokesperson told The Drum.\n\nRBS, meanwhile, said it also takes the issue \u201cextremely seriously.\u201d A spokesperson added: \"We have suspended all advertising with this website. Our ads are served up through a third party and we are investigating why they have appeared here.\u201d\n\nEarlier this week, activist group Sleeping Giants released a list of almost 2575 companies it claimed have removed their ads from Brietbart news. Sleeping Giants noted that while household names Nestl\u00e9, Uber, Hewlett Packard and Ikea had removed their ads from the site, others like Amazon had not.\n\nThe Next Web cites sources as having said internal pressure is \u201cmounting\u201d for Amazon to blacklist the publisher so that programmatic ads are not served on the site on behalf of the e-commerce giant. On Monday several high-profile Twitter users implored the retailer to distance itself from Brietbart, while other brands, like cookware firm Le Creuset have asked the company to stop showing its products in its display ads on Breitbart.\n\nWhen The Drum visited the site on Thursday (24 August) it was served Amazon ads on two separate occasions, indicating the retailer has yet block the site from its list of accepted publishers with programmatic partners. The ads were for Amazon's own fashion brand and external brands, like Yakoe. The Drum has reached out to Amazon regarding the matter, but at the time of publication had yet to receive a response.\n\nBreitbart, which has previously run such headlines as: 'Birth control makes women unattractive and crazy', \u2018The Confederate flag proclaims a glorious heritage' and 'Gay rights have made us dumber, it's time to get back in the closet', was banned from AppNexus\u2019 ad exchange last year on the grounds of hate speech.\n\nBut, both Facebook and Google\u2019s display networks still serve up ads on behalf of brands around Breitbart content.\n\nFacebook specifically has introduced ways to let advertisers who purchase slots through their marketplace view a list of places where their ads will appear online before they start their campaigns.\n\nWhen approached for further information about Breitbart ad placement, Facebook said that all websites and apps must adhere to its community standards. The company added that it reviews placements within its audience network reactively and that on top of domain blocking it offers brands the ability to block their ads from appearing against certain sensitive topics should they wish.\n\nGoogle similarly enforces its ad policies at a page level so even if a website doesn't breach its policies, it can take action on specific pages if brands make that request. The search giant was unable to comment on its Adsense plug-in with Breitbart.\n\nAmazon's conundrum, and questions about whether Breitbart violates either Facebook or Google's policies, comes amid debates on both brand safety and the role of tech companies in policing the internet.\n\nThe latter came to a head when neo-Nazi website the Daily Stormer was removed from the internet last week after it disparaged a woman who died during protests in Charlottesville. The Daily Stormer's site host, GoDaddy, gave it 24-hours to find a new provider, while Cloudfare - which had been enlisted by the blog to help it prevent cyber attacks - also terminated its contract.\n\nIn a memo to staff, however, Cloudfare's chief executive Matthew Prince later said the whims of tech leaders like himself or Zuckerberg, shouldn't determine what content is available online.\n\n\"I think the people who run The Daily Stormer are abhorrent,\" said Prince, \"but again, I don\u2019t think my political decisions should determine who should and shouldn\u2019t be on the internet.\u201d\n\nBreitbart has recently seen the return of former White House communications chief Steve Bannon to the helm, with the site hailing the return of its \u201cpopulist hero\u201d following an advertiser boycott and apparently plummeting readership in the wake of Trump\u2019s election to the White House.\n\nAccording to a Washington Post report published earlier this summer, the site has been keen to trim back some of its more extreme elements in a bid for mainstream respectability, including the departure of incendiary writer Milo Yiannopoulos.\n\nThe Drum has tried to contact Breitbart about its advertiser exodus, but the publisher didn't respond to a request for comment.\n\nWhen Kellogg's pulled its ad spend from the site last year, the news organization called for a boycott on the FMCG giant's products.", "output": "RBS and Lastminute.com are the latest brands to pull their advertisements from far-right news outlet Breitbart, following reports that almost 2,600 advertisers have already disassociated themselves from the Steve Bannon-fronted website. \u201cWe take placement of our ads very seriously \u2013 we do not support any strong opinion which violates the rights of others,\u201d commented a Lastminute.com spokesperson. RBS stressed that it also takes the issue \u201cextremely seriously\u201d. A spokesperson added: \u201cOur ads are served up through a third party and we are investigating why they have appeared here.\u201d\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gravity4 launches blockchain tech aimed at reducing\u00a0ad fraud \n Advertising technology company Gravity4 has launched its new blockchain marketing cloud token called Lydian, which aims to provide advertising services with increased transaction transparency and reduce advertising fraud.\n\nThe company also wants to combine Lydian with its artificial intelligence (AI) marketing engine, Mona Lisa, launched earlier this year, to transform ad tech by digitising and decentralising the validation of transactions.\n\nLydian is targeted at new companies that have substantial cryptocurrency holdings, but are reluctant to liquidate large sums of cryptocurrencies into fiat currency to purchase services.\n\n\u201cAs technological awareness of blockchain continues to increase, every sector of business stands a chance to be disrupted,\u201d said Gravity4 founder and chief executive officer, Gurbaksh Chahal.\n\n\u201cThere is a tremendous opportunity to utilize blockchain technology to create efficiencies within the ad tech industry.\n\n\u201cBy enabling condition-triggered mechanisms for data to be accessible, it can be shared at scale without any middlemen. Lydian leverages the computing power of the G4 Marketing Cloud, and its data-driven marketing services to provide efficient advertising solutions for the cryptocurrency market.\n\n\u201cThis will allow the community to effectively target customers, with verifiable metrics supporting their campaign efficacy. This will eliminate the need for an intermediary to validate the data integrity or ad serving transaction.\u201d\n\nGravity4 also announced the appointment of Jeffery Seah, former Southeast Asia chief executive officer of Starcom Mediavest to its advisory board, where he will lend his domain and venture capitalist experience to the upcoming token sale for Lydian", "output": "Adtech company Gravity4 has issued a blockchain marketing cloud token that aims to minimise ad fraud by digitising and decentralising the validation of transactions. Called Lydian, the token will enable companies with cryptocurrency holdings to purchase services without liquidating large sums of assets. Florida-based Gravity4 also plans to use Lydian's blockchain to enable brands to directly receive verifiable metrics on their campaigns without the need for an intermediary, said founder and CEO Gurbaksh Chahal."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple Macs\u00a0increasingly targeted by malware attacks \n Malwarebytes has warned Apple Mac users that the days of their devices being relatively safe from malware are long over.\n\nThe security specialist analysed data from millions of its users worldwide and it discovered that Mac and Android ransomware and malware attacks have risen significantly in the past year.\n\nIndeed, Malwarebytes found that more Mac malware had been detected in Q2 2017 than in all of 2016.\n\nMac Malware\n\nAccording to the security vendor, the \u201crapidly rising rates of malware\u201d targetting Mac devices should disperse the popular belief that Macs are impenetrable.\n\nIt cited the recent outbreak of the FruitFly surveillance malware as an example.\n\nFruitfly creates a backdoor that allows attackers to take screen captures and remotely control the Mac system.\n\n\u201cMore malware families have emerged in 2017 than in any other previous year \u2013 and we\u2019re only in August,\u201d warned Malwarebytes. In fact, more new malware families have appeared this year than in any other previous year in Mac history.\n\nTo this end, Malwarebytes has introduced \u2018Malwarebytes for Mac\u2018, which offers real-time protection for Mac users to automatically block and remove cyber threats, including malware, adware and potentially unwanted programs.\n\n\u201cWe carefully designed Malwarebytes for Mac to protect all Mac users from cyber threats and potentially unwanted programs so that they can feel safe and have a Mac that performs like it should,\u201d explained Marcin Kleczynski, CEO, Malwarebytes.\n\n\u201cAntivirus and security awareness is no longer enough defence for Mac users, the growth of Mac malware has made that very clear. We hope that more and more Mac users will come to this realisation and begin to seek out additional defences.\u201d\n\nWould you use a Google Chromebook in your business? Yes, we already do\n\nYes, in the future\n\nNo, but maybe in the future\n\nNo, the cloud OS isn't for us View Results\n\nLoading ... Loading ...\n\nMalwarebytes for Mac includes a real-time anti-malware protection scanner that allows for \u201cultra-fast proactive scanning for malware and spyware in real-time, in addition to flagging potentially unwanted programs and adware.\u201d\n\nAnd Malwarebytes for Mac can either completely replace an existing antivirus solutions or can run alongside any antivirus program. It also boasts a small system footprint that utilises minimal system resources to ensure that Macs run smoothly.\n\n\u201cMac threats are not taken seriously enough in the security community today,\u201d added Thomas Reed, Director of Mac and Mobile, Malwarebytes. \u201cAdware and potentially unwanted programs are becoming a major problem for Mac users. Some very popular apps have been known to carry these threats and despite protections in place, the App Store is not immune to these threats.\n\n\u201cFor example, the recent Proton Remote Access Trojan that plagued Mac users fooled many experienced, security-minded people who became infected. This perpetuates a crucial lesson that, despite what many Mac users think, they are not safe even if they are careful about what they download.\n\n\u201cBeing security-savvy is no longer enough, all Mac users need dedicated protection against malware, adware and potentially unwanted programs.\u201d\n\nAndroid Security\n\nThere was equally grim news for those in the Android community, as ransomware here increased more than 100 percent between Q1 and Q2 2017. Indeed, Malwarebytes data showed that incidences of Android malware increased more than five percent since the start of the year.\n\nAnd to make matters worse, incidents of Android ransomware increased 138 percent in Q2 2017 (April to May) over Q1 (January to March) 2017. Malwarebytes found that Jisut, SLocker and Koler ransomware collectively accounted for nearly 95 percent of these detections.\n\nAnd although Android ransomware is growing at this rapid pace, Trojans and potentially unwanted programs still remain the biggest headaches for Android users.\n\nAndroid Trojans accounted for more than 48 percent of all Android malware detections in the first half of 2017 and potentially unwanted programs accounted for 47 percent of all detections.\n\nQuiz: Do you know all about security in 2017?", "output": "Security specialist Malwarebytes has warned of a rapid rise in malware targeting Mac devices after analysing data from millions of its users worldwide. According to the security vendor, the \u201crapidly rising rates of malware\u201d targeting Apple devices should disperse the popular belief that Macs can't be hacked. \u201cAntivirus and security awareness is no longer enough defence for Mac users\u2026 We hope that more and more Mac users will come to this realisation and begin to seek out additional defences,\u201d commented Marcin Kleczynski, the CEO of Malwarebytes. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Research riches of $1.35bn p.a. may be up for grabs post Mifid II \n MiFID II\u2019s unbundling rules will see brokers battle to capture a share of the $1.35 billion a year equity research and advisory market in Europe, according to research.\n\nGreenwich Associates\u2019 latest study revealed European institutional equity investors generated roughly $2.9 billion in cash equity commissions for the 12 months ended Q2 this year.\n\nOf the $2.9 billion, Greenwich estimated 46% was used to compensate brokers and other providers for equity research and advisory services.\n\nThis suggests once services are unbundled as required by MiFID II, brokers will find $1.35 billion worth of the equity research cash up for grabs.\n\nGreenwich Associates consultant Satnam Sohal, explained capturing a share of that revenue is more important than ever for brokers, \u201csince both the total amount of commissions generated on European equity trades and the proportion of that total used for research are shrinking\u201d.\n\nMarket participants have implied MiFID II\u2019s unbundling requirements will see brokers forced to specialise in either research or trade execution.\n\nA panel at this year\u2019s TradeTech event agreed the move will have a positive impact on the industry as brokers will increasingly demonstrate trade performance and invest specifically in those services.\n\nThe head of investment services at Man Group, Alison Hollingshead, told delegates: \u201cYou need to be an expert in either research or execution because brokers will no longer be paid for both services.\n\n\u201cYou can\u2019t be trading with people to pay for their research anymore, there must be a clear differentiation.\u201d", "output": "Greenwich Associates has valued the equity research and advisory market in Europe at about $1.35bn p.a., giving an indication of the sums at stake when Mifid II regulations force companies to break down the cost of\u00a0analysis in their charges from next year. The company based its estimate on calculations it said showed institutional investors pulled in around $2.9bn in cash equity investment commissions in the year ended 30 June 2017, 46% of which would have been accounted for by research\u00a0and advisory services."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Petya attack highlights gaps in transport industry cyber coverage \n A TNT truck travels a highway. The company recently was hacked. (Graham Richardson/Plymouth Transit)\n\nThe cyberattack that befell FedEx Corp.\u2019s TNT Express unit earlier this summer highlights an ever-increasing risk that many trucking fleets are up against \u2014 and which may not be insured under the typical coverages they carry, insurance industry experts say.\n\nNever was this clearer than in the June cyberattack that hit TNT, a European parcel carrier that FedEx has owned since last year. TNT fell victim to the so-called \u201cPetya\u201d attack, which FedEx said involved the spread of an information technology virus through a tax software product in Ukraine, one place where TNT operates. And the company, by FedEx\u2019s admission, was unprotected.\n\n\u201cWe do not have cyber or other insurance in place that covers this attack,\u201d FedEx said in a statement July 17. \u201cWe are still evaluating the financial impact of the attack, but it is likely that it will be material.\u201d\n\nAs it turns out, FedEx is not alone, said Dan Cook, principal and practice leader at insurance broker TrueNorth Cos., adding that most fleets carry standard coverages to include auto liability, general liability, cargo, crime and workers\u2019 compensation. \u201cSome may also secure crime coverage, to include computer fraud and funds transfer coverage,\u201d he said, but he added that these coverages generally are not intended to provide defense costs and/or indemnity payments if a cyberbreach or malware attack occurs.\n\nBorn\n\nIn a malware or ransomware attack, the goal of a hacker is to shut down a motor carrier\u2019s operating system to extort a payment either to turn the system back on or to prevent the hacker from releasing any personally identifiable information on employees, drivers or clients, Cook said. \u201cThis is essentially what was attempted at FedEx-TNT.\u201d\n\nCyberattacks also are not covered under traditional business interruption insurance in property policies, said Michael Born, vice president and account executive in the cybertechnology practice at insurance broker Lockton Cos.\n\nBusiness interruption insurance covers specific perils such as wind, fire, tornadoes and floods \u2014 perils that would physically affect a company\u2019s operations, Born said.\n\nLopilato\n\nMichelle Lopilato, director of cyber and technology solutions at insurance broker Hub International, said that the rise and success of ransomware such as Petya \u201chas provided malicious actors the ability to monetize data that is not protected, sensitive and confidential.\u201d\n\nFor trucking companies, many of which are relying more and more on their computer systems to manage the transportation of goods, the data could include information on where a driver must go to pick up the next load. That is a risk not only to the carrier\u2019s business but to the shipper\u2019s business as well, Born noted. \u201cEvery company that has a computer system has cyberexposure,\u201d he said.\n\nOne fleet executive, however, said he doesn\u2019t see the value in buying cybercoverage because this type of risk at his fleet is very low.\n\n\u201cCybersecurity is different,\u201d said James Burg, president and CEO of James Burg Trucking Co., noting that such coverage is for when somebody breaks into a system to steal another person\u2019s information. \u201cWe don\u2019t do e-commerce, so we don\u2019t keep anybody\u2019s information.\u201d\n\nFleets Need Security Peace of Mind\n\nOther fleets may need the coverage because they may have sensitive information about their customers and drivers on their servers that could be hacked, said Burg, who also is chairman of American Trucking Associations\u2019 Insurance Task Force.\n\nBut he does not have coverage for someone stealing his employees\u2019 files \u201cbecause I don\u2019t keep it on my server. It\u2019s not there for them to find. They can\u2019t get through my server into a filing cabinet.\u201d\n\nBurg said he does have business interruption coverage and that cyberinsurance hasn\u2019t been raised as an agenda item on the task force.\n\nCyberinsurance is a growing area of focus for some insurers, Born said, noting it\u2019s among the newer types of coverage.\n\nPolicies for cyberbreach and ransomware or malware attacks \u201ccontinue to evolve, and they are significantly better than even policies of 18 months ago,\u201d Cook said. If fleets are relying on an older policy form, for example, \u201cthey are likely not covered for cyberextortion or many of the new cybercrime coverages needed.\u201d\n\nSean Donahue, assistant vice president and underwriter at XL Catlin, a top writer of cyberinsurance, said that XL Catlin created a stand-alone product for \u201cspecific cyber-related incidents and coverages.\u201d It provides business interruption insurance related to a hacking event, he said, noting the catalyst for coverage would be \u201cmalicious software.\u201d\n\nXL\u2019s cyberinsurance policy provides coverage for data protection and privacy risks, both for third-party claims and first-party mitigation costs after a technology or cyberevent, Donahue said.\n\nWith Cyberpolicies, One Size Does Not Fit All\n\nCyberpolicies tend to have various insuring agreements. Business interruption due to a hacking event is part of an insuring agreement under XL\u2019s cyberpolicy as a whole, Donahue said. These agreements also offer coverage for data restoration, cyberextortion and crisis management, such as a company\u2019s public relations efforts after a cyberattack, he said.\n\nLopilato said many fleets should be concerned about cyberrisk losses because they rely on logistics networks to ensure management of their supply chain.\n\n\u201cHacking, malicious software, ransomware and even system failures can target and affect the logistics network and cause a disruption to business operations, resulting in a loss of income, extra expenses paid to get the logistics network up and running again and costs associated with additional time to restore, recollect or re-create lost, stolen or corrupted data assets,\u201d she said.\n\nHowever, cybercoverage, and the terms used on each insurer\u2019s form, can vary, Lopilato said. In addition, cyberrisk policies \u201ccan contain exclusions for war and terrorism.\u201d\n\nCyberpolicies must be customized to a motor carrier\u2019s risks, the experts said.\n\n\u201cFleets should understand the distinction between first- and third-party claims and assess their exposure based upon the number of records they have, their own internal IT platform and backup or disaster recovery plan, and then work to customize their coverage accordingly,\u201d TrueNorth\u2019s Cook said.\n\nMemphis-based FedEx said that the June cyberattack caused lost revenue and higher costs for Netherlands-based TNT, which FedEx bought for $4.8 billion last year.\n\n\u201cAlthough we cannot currently quantify the amounts, we have experienced loss of revenue due to decreased volumes at TNT and incremental costs associated with the implementation of contingency plans and the remediation of affected systems,\u201d the company said in the statement.\n\nTNT Facilities Recovering \u2014 Gradually\n\nFedEx said in July that all TNT facilities were running, but many tasks were being performed manually and customers were experiencing delays.\n\nThe insurance coverages that would apply to the TNT cyberattack, XL Catlin\u2019s Donahue said, are business interruption, data restoration and forensics \u201cdue to the type of ransomware that attacked them and the outages caused by that ransomware.\u201d\n\nHe added that the incident at TNT severely slowed down the processing of packages and shipments. From a business interruption standpoint, that is a third-party exposure because if they\u2019re being relied upon to deliver shipments in a timely manner and are unable to, \u201cthat potentially opens them up to liability.\u201d\n\nFedEx also noted in its July statement, \u201cWhile TNT operations and communications were significantly affected, no data breach or data loss to third parties is known to have occurred.\u201d\n\nFedEx had no additional comment beyond the July statement, a representative told Transport Topics on Aug. 16.", "output": "Most logistics companies are not insured against cyber attacks, said Dan Cook, principal and practice leader at insurance broker TrueNorth. Despite the disruption the Petya ransomware attack caused Fedex's TNT Express in June, crime and fraud coverage held by haulage companies generally doesn't provide for defence costs and indemnity payments that arise from a malware attack.\u00a0Fleets should customise their coverage in line with the number of records they hold and their existing data backup and recovery plan, said Cook.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Singapore's NTUC claims first with road accident-reporting app \n SINGAPORE - NTUC Income unveiled on Wednesday (Aug 16) what it says is an industry-first - a mobile application (app) for its motor insurance policyholders to file an accident report remotely.\n\nThe app will be useful to those who may be hard-pressed for time to file the report in person within 24 hours of an accident as required, said Income.\n\nMotorists in Singapore must do so or risk having their no-claim discount penalised upon renewal of their motor insurance.\n\nWith the app, motorists can connect to Income's 24/7 accident response team, Orange Force, to seek assistance at the accident scene.\n\nThe app also guides users step by step through the accident-reporting process, indicating clearly the specific details required for the submission.\n\n\"Increasingly, customers are embarking on mobile-first lifestyles... It is, thus, important for Income to stay relevant to our customers and to steer ahead as Singapore's leading digital insurer,\" said Mr Pui Phusangmook, Income's general manager for general insurance and group business.\n\nThrough the app, users are required first to verify the date, time and location of the accident. They are then asked to submit a series of photographs, which include:\n\nThose of the accident scene by capturing the vehicles involved in the surrounding areas;\n\nThose that show the damage to user's own vehicle, including the damaged parts and licence plate; and\n\nThose that show the damage to the other vehicle or property, including damaged parts and licence plate.\n\nThe photographs submitted through the app will be watermarked with the time, date and location stamp of the accident in Income's system to authenticate the incident and to legitimise the accident report.\n\nIncome said that to enhance road safety and to mitigate the stress faced by motorists at the accident scene, users of the app can file the remaining information, such as details of the drivers (such as name, NRIC number and mobile number) and other passengers or witnesses where applicable, away from the accident scene.\n\nUpon successful submission of the accident report, a reference number will be given to the user via the app and a copy of the accident report e-mailed to the user by the next working day.\n\nThe app cannot be used to report accidents where motorists or passengers have sustained injuries. In such cases, policyholders should make a police report and go in person to one of Income's accident reporting centres.\n\nAlso, policyholders who want to make an \"Own Damage or Third Party\" claim upon submission of the accident report will need to bring a copy of the accident report to Income's motor service centre or any of its workshops.\n\nAndroid phone users can download the app, called Accident Reporting by Income, from the Google Play Store. The iOS version will be available next month.", "output": "Singaporean insurance cooperative NTUC Income has launched what it claims is an industry first -\u00a0a mobile app for its motor insurance policyholders to file an accident report remotely, provided no injuries are sustained in the accident. The app is expected to appeal to time-limited and mobile-first-orientated\u00a0policyholders that might find it difficult to file a report in person within 24 hours, as is required in Singapore to preserve no-claims discounts. It also allows motorists to connect to Income's accident response team to seek assistance.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "London landlords leaving the mainstream rental market for Airbnb \n Post navigation\n\nAn increasing number of rental properties in London are being used for short-term holiday lets using websites such as Airbnb and are no longer available for long-term renting.\n\nThe claim comes from the Residential Landlords Association which says there has been a 75% increase in the number of multi-listings on Airbnb between February 2016 and March 2017.\n\nMulti-listings are classed as individuals advertising more than one property on Airbnb.\n\nFurther evidence of the change in letting comes from the analysis showing that the number of whole properties and rooms advertised on Airbnb in London available for more than 90 nights a year increased by 23% between February 2016 and March 2017.\n\nThis is despite Airbnb launching a crackdown to better enforce the 90-day rule at the start of the year.\n\nA UK-wide survey by the RLA of almost 1,500 landlords has found that 7% reported that they have now started to offer properties as holiday/short-term lets through Airbnb or a similar platform.\n\nThese are properties that they would have previously been let longer term in the private rented sector.\n\nThe RLA says this could mean some 134,400 private rented homes have moved from the traditional private rental market to holiday or short-let accommodation.\n\nOf those landlords who have moved over to short-term letting, 36% report this is because of the changes to mortgage interest relief which mean landlords being taxed on their income instead of their profit, and tax relief only being available at the basic rate.\n\nOne landlord who has made the move to holiday lets commented: \u201cI didn\u2019t want to do this, but the tax changes have forced me down this route.\n\n\u201cSelling is not an option due to CGT, and this iniquitous tax which is effectively retrospective is unjust in that my buy-to-lets are a business, just like any other. There will be fewer properties available to rent as a result.\u201d\n\nThe RLA is calling on the Government to end what it calls the \u201cperverse incentive\u201d landlords have to move to holiday lets by scrapping the mortgage interest relief changes.\n\nRLA policy director David Smith said: \u201cWith London and the country as a whole in desperate need of new homes to rent in the long term, it is crazy that recent tax changes encourage landlords to move to the short-term holiday let market.\n\n\u201cBy skewing the market, Government policy will serve only to hit the hardest those young people and families who most need a growing private rented sector to meet their needs.\u201d\n\nChange in number of Airbnb multi-listings between February 2016 and March 2017 February 2016 June 2016 March 2017 % change (February 16 \u2013 March 17) Entire home/apartment listings 6,934 9,305 11,595 +67% Private room listings 5,576 7,978 10,342 +85% Shared room listings 234 310 411 +75% TOTAL 12,744 17,593 22,348 +75%", "output": "A rising number of properties in London are disappearing from the mainstream rental market as landlords are attracted\u00a0to Airbnb. Research by the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) suggests a 75% increase in the number of multi-listings, and a 23% rise in the number of whole properties and rooms advertised for more than 90 nights, on Airbnb London between February 2016 and March 2017. The RLA has called on the Government to end what it calls the \u201cperverse incentive\u201d landlords have to move to holiday lets by scrapping mortgage interest relief changes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Money app Revolut to offer cryptocurrency \n Revolut has announced that it is soon to release phase one of its cryptocurrency offering to its customers.\n\nThe London-based start-up has claimed that it has received a lot of feedback on its banking platform, with the possible introduction of cryptocurrencies \u2013digital currency \u2013 repeatedly cropping up.\n\nThe alternative bank is now preparing to introduce the first phase of its cryptocurrency offering on to its platform in the next few weeks.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_2194\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"350\"] The Revolut app and different cryptocurrencies[/caption]\n\nIn phase one, Revolut customers will have the opportunity to buy, sell, send and spend bitcoin, ether and litecoin.\n\nCustomers will be able to instantly exchange any of Revolut's 16 fiat currencies (currency that is legal tender and whose value is backed by the government) into crypto and back at the touch of a button.\n\nThe value of the cryptocurrency will be stored in the customer's Revolut wallet in exactly the same way as the fiat currencies.\n\n\n\nPoll As a broker, what type of client do you feel is currently most underserved by specialist banks? Small business owner Medium-sized business owner Large business owner Vote Results\n\n\n\n\n\nInitially, there will be two key limitations with Revolut's offering, which are:\n\n\u2022 No external loads in crypto?\u2014?you can, however, continue to instantly top-up via your debit/credit card and exchange into crypto.\n\n\u2022 No external transfers in crypto?\u2014?you can instantly send crypto to your peers on Revolut, but your balance will be first converted into fiat if you wish to transfer the balance externally.\n\nRevolut hopes to support external transfer in the near future.\n\n\u201cInternally at Revolut, we've always been fascinated by the possibilities of bitcoin itself, and cryptocurrencies in general,\u201d said Edward Cooper, chief mobile officer at Revolut.\n\n\u201cAs early as 2015, we had actually prototyped several bitcoin solutions.\n\n\u201cThe challenge in implementing crypto was not so much a technical challenge, but one of dealing with how bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are perceived in the financial space, and how this affects partner relationships.\n\n\u201cWe developed our approach to bitcoin and crypto in order to make sure that none of our partners are exposed in any way to the risks traditionally associated with crypto, and to increase awareness and usage among normal users, not just crypto enthusiasts.\u201d\n\nCryptocurrency is an online currency that is decentralised (not controlled by the government or authority).\n\nCryptocurrencies are built on top of a technological layer more commonly known as the blockchain \u2013 a distributed public ledger which securely records and facilitates irreversible peer-to-peer transactions which cannot be (easily) amended.", "output": "Online banking start-up Revolut will begin supporting cryptocurrency within the next few weeks. The platform will begin by adding bitcoin, ether and litecoin to the 16 currencies currently available. Customers will be able to convert money instantly into the digital currencies\u00a0and complete transactions with them. External balance transfers will not initially be possible, although the company expects to introduce this function in the near future.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CRISPR Therapeutics to offer cancer treatment tests in hospital \n A Promising Future\n\nIn a recent development, CRISPR Therapeutics, the subsidiary of CRISPR AG, has signed onto a two-year research collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), to research the use of CRISPR/Cas9 in T cell cancer therapies.\n\nThis comes on the heels of a seemingly-endless list of advances. Two weeks ago, the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing tool successfully removed genetic disorders from human embryos and additionally, successfully extracted HIV from a living organism. It was used to develop semi-synthetic organisms, targeted the \"command center\" of cancer, and even coerced superbugs to kill themselves on the genetic level.\n\nImage Credit: \u0648\u0628 \u06af\u0631\u062f\u06cc\n\nFighting Cancer With Gene Editing\n\nThe application of CRISPR/Cas9 to T cell therapies is expected to address unmet needs in hematologic and solid tumors, masses which from the cells are typically extracted and 'programmed' to recognize and attach to. Leading the scientific work at MGH is the director of the Cellular Immunotherapy Program, Marcela V. Maus, MD, Ph.D. Anticipating the benefits of the collaboration, head of Immuno-oncology Research and Translation at CRISPR Therapeutics, Jon Terrett, Ph.D., told GlobeNewswire:\n\nIt is becoming increasingly clear that CRISPR/Cas9 can play a major role in enabling the next generation of T cell therapies in oncology. By combining our gene editing capabilities with Dr. Maus\u2019 pioneering expertise in T cell therapy, we hope to accelerate our progress toward making these therapies a reality for patients suffering from cancer.\n\nThis partnership is CRISPR Therapeutics' latest step toward advancing immuno-oncology. Terrett was brought aboard in February of this year as the company's leader in this regard.\n\nMaus added:\n\nWe have already seen the profound benefit that T cell therapies can have for certain patients with a specific set of tumor types. Now the potential with gene editing, and specifically CRISPR/Cas9, exists to create improved versions of these cells that may work for a wider variety of patients with a more diverse set of tumor types. I\u2019m glad to see the commitment CRISPR Therapeutics is making to this area, and am excited to collaborate with them.\n\nExpect to see CRISPR/Cas9 expand its applications to include a more diverse spectrum of tumor types and molecular targets, as the revolutionary medical technology carries on.", "output": "CRISPR Therapeutics will collaborate with Massachusetts General Hospital to research the use of the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing tool in T cell cancer therapy. Its application will address deficiencies in hematologic and solid tumours which T cells commonly attach to. By creating improved versions of these cells that work for a variety of patients and tumour types, CRISPR intends to make gene editing for T cell cancer therapies a standard practice, said Jon Terrett, head of Immuno-oncology Research and Translation at CRISPR."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "High-performance AI hardware Brainwave unveiled by Microsoft \n Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More\n\nMicrosoft made a splash in the world of dedicated AI hardware today when it unveiled a new system for doing high-speed, low-latency serving of machine learning models. The company showed off a new system called Brainwave that will allow developers to deploy machine learning models onto programmable silicon and achieve high performance beyond what they\u2019d be able to get from a CPU or GPU.\n\nResearchers at the Hot Chips conference in Cupertino, California showed a Gated Recurrent Unit model running on Intel\u2019s new Stratix 10 field programmable gate array (FPGA) chip at a speed of 39.5 teraflops, without batching operations at all. The lack of batching means that it\u2019s possible for the hardware to handle requests as they come in, providing real-time insights for machine learning systems.\n\nThe model that Microsoft chose is several times larger than convolutional neural networks like Alexnet and Resnet-50, which other companies have used to benchmark their own hardware.\n\nProviding low-latency insights is important for deploying machine learning systems at scale. Users don\u2019t want to wait long for their apps to respond.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\n\u201cWe call it real-time AI because the idea here is that you send in a request, you want the answer back,\u201d said Doug Burger, a distinguished engineer with Microsoft Research. \u201cIf it\u2019s a video stream, if it\u2019s a conversation, if it\u2019s looking for intruders, anomaly detection, all the things where you care about interaction and quick results, you want those in real time,\u201d he said.\n\nHowever, some previously published results on hardware-accelerated machine learning have focused on results that optimize for throughput at the cost of latency. In Burger\u2019s view, more people should ask how a machine learning accelerator can perform without bundling requests into a batch and processing them all at once.\n\n\u201cAll of the numbers [other] people are throwing around are juiced,\u201d he said.\n\nMicrosoft is using Brainwave across the army of FPGAs it has installed in its data centers. According to Burger, Brainwave will allow Microsoft services to more rapidly support artificial intelligence features. In addition, the company is working to make Brainwave available to third-party customers through its Azure cloud platform.\n\nFPGAs let programmers configure hardware optimized to execute particular functions prior to runtime, like doing the math necessary to serve insights from neural networks. Microsoft has deployed hundreds of thousands of FPGAs in its data centers on boards that are slotted into servers and connected to the network.\n\nBrainwave loads a trained machine learning model into FPGA hardware\u2019s memory that stays there throughout the lifetime of a machine learning service. That hardware can then be used to compute whatever insights the model is designed to generate, such as a predicted string of text. In the event that a model is too big to run on a single FPGA, software deploys and executes it across multiple hardware boards.\n\nMicrosoft isn\u2019t the only company investing in hardware that\u2019s supposed to accelerate machine learning. Google announced the second revision of its Tensor Processing Unit \u2014 a dedicated chip for machine learning training and serving \u2014 earlier this year. There are also a slew of startups building dedicated hardware accelerators for use with machine learning.\n\nOne of the common criticisms of FPGAs is that they are less fast or less efficient than chips made specifically to execute machine learning operations. Burger said that this performance milestone should show that the programmable hardware can deliver high performance as well.\n\nIn addition, the performance displayed today is running on brand new hardware, and Burger said that there\u2019s room for Intel and Microsoft to further optimize both the hardware\u2019s performance and Brainwave\u2019s use of it. With further performance improvements, it should be possible for Microsoft to hit 90 teraflops with the Intel Stratix 10.\n\nRight now, Brainwave supports trained models created using Microsoft\u2019s CNTK framework and Google\u2019s TensorFlow framework. Burger said that the team is working on making it compatible with other tools like Caffe. Microsoft hasn\u2019t given a roadmap for when it will make Brainwave available to its customers, but is working towards a future when third parties would be able to bring any trained model and run it on Brainwave.", "output": "Microsoft has unveiled a system called Brainwave at the Hot Chips conference in Cupertino, California that will enable the deployment of machine-learning models that achieve higher performance than they would on CPUs or GPUs. The key to Brainwave is its lack of batching. Instructions are handled by the hardware as they arrive, in real time, allowing for very low latency and very fast return of requests such as a predictive interpretation of a voice command or video stream. The model was demonstrated running at 39.5 teraflops using an Intel field programmable gate array\u00a0chip."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New cancer drug surpasses highest price to date \n Adapted from scanning electron micrograph of cytotoxic T cells attacking a cancer cell (white). Photo via cdc.gov\n\nWhen doctors talk about a new leukemia drug from Novartis, they ooze enthusiasm, using words like \"breakthrough,\" \"revolutionary\" and \"a watershed moment.\"\n\nBut when they think about how much the therapy is likely to cost, their tone turns alarmist.\n\n\"It's going to cost a fortune,\" said Dr. Ivan Borrello at Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center in Baltimore.\n\n[Also: Price explosion for heart drugs cost hospitals millions]\n\n\"From what we're hearing, this will be a quantum leap more expensive than other cancer drugs,\" said Leonard Saltz, chief of gastrointestinal oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.\n\nSwitzerland-based Novartis hasn't announced a price for the medicine, but British health authorities have said a price of $649,000 for a one-time treatment would be justified given the significant benefits.\n\nThe cancer therapy was unanimously approved by a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee in July, and its approval seems all but certain.\n\n[Also: Insurers, Medicaid's 'proof of progress' and pricing require more guidance from policymakers]\n\nThe treatment, CTL019, belongs to a new class of medications called CAR T-cell therapies, which involve harvesting patients' immune cells and genetically altering them to kill cancer. It's been tested in patients whose leukemia has relapsed in spite of the best chemotherapy or a bone-marrow transplant.\n\nThe prognosis for these patients is normally bleak. But in a clinical trial, 83 percent of those treated with CAR T-cell therapy -- described as a \"living drug\" because it derives from a patient's own cells -- have gone into remission.\n\nCAR T cells have been successful only in a limited number of cancers, however, and are being suggested for use as a last resort when all else has failed. As a result, only a few hundred patients a year would be eligible for them, at least initially, said Dr. J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society.\n\n[Also: Despite providers posting prices, patients still not shopping around for services]\n\nThe FDA is scheduled to decide on approval by Oct. 3. The agency is also considering a CAR T-cell therapy from Kite Pharma.\n\nA third company, Juno Therapeutics, halted the development of one its CAR T-cell therapies after five patients died from complications of the treatment.\n\nRather than wait for Novartis to announce a price, an advocacy group called Patients for Affordable Drugs has launched a pre-emptive strike, asking to meet with company officials to discuss a \"fair\" price for the therapy. The Novartis drug has the potential to be one of the most expensive drugs ever sold, said David Mitchell, the patients group's president, who has been treated for multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, since 2010. (The Laura and John Arnold Foundation, which provides some funding for Kaiser Health News, supports Patients for Affordable Drugs.)\n\n\"Many people with cancer look forward with great hope to the potential of your new drug,\" Mitchell wrote in a letter to Novartis. \"But drugs don't work if patients can't afford them.\"\n\nCancer drugs today routinely cost more than $100,000 a year. A combination therapy for melanoma sells for $250,000. Such prices are particularly outrageous, given that taxpayers fund many drugs' early research, Mitchell said.\n\nThe federal government spent more than $200 million over two decades to support the basic research into CAR T-cell therapy, long before Novartis bought the rights.\n\nThe patients group urged Novartis to charge no more for the drug in the U.S. than in other developed countries.\n\nNovartis has agreed to meet with the patients group. In a statement, Novartis said the company is \"carefully considering the appropriate price for CTL019, taking into consideration the value that this treatment represents for patients, society and the healthcare system, both near-term and long-term.\"\n\nNovartis made a significant investment in CAR T-cell therapy, according to the statement.\n\n\"We employ hundreds of people around the world who work on CAR-Ts, we are conducting ongoing U.S. and global clinical trials, and have developed a sophisticated, FDA-validated manufacturing site and process for this personalized therapy.\"\n\nSoaring prices for cancer drugs have led many patients to cut back on treatment or skip pills, a recent Kaiser Health News analysis showed.\n\nThe effect of CAR T-cell therapies on overall health costs would initially be relatively small, because it would be used by relatively few people, Lichtenfeld said.\n\nHealth systems and insurers may struggle to pay for the treatment, however, if the FDA approves it for wider use, Lichtenfeld said. Researchers are studying CAR T-cells in a number of cancers. So far, the technology seems more effective in blood cancers, such as leukemias and lymphomas.\n\nHidden costs could further add to patients' financial burdens, Borrello said.\n\nBeyond the cost of the procedure, patients would need to pay for traditional chemotherapy, which is given before CAR T cell therapy to improve its odds of success. They would also have to foot the bill for travel and lodging to one of the 30 to 35 hospitals in the country equipped to provide the high-tech treatment, said Dr. Prakash Satwani, a pediatric hematologist at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, which plans to offer the therapy.\n\nBecause patients can develop life-threatening side effects weeks after the procedure, doctors will ask patients to stay within two hours of the hospital for up to a month. In New York, even budget hotels cost more than $200 a night -- an expense not typically covered by insurance. Patients who develop a dangerous complication, in which the immune system overreacts and attacks vital organs, might need coverage for emergency room care, as well as lengthy stays in the intensive care unit, Satwani said.\n\nDoctors don't yet know what the full range of long-term side effects will be. CAR T-cell therapies can damage healthy immune cells, including the cells that produce the antibodies that fight disease. Some patients will need long-term treatments with a product called intravenous immunoglobulin, which provides the antibodies that patients need to prevent infection, Lichtenfeld said.\n\nSaltz, an oncologist who has long spoken out about high drug prices, said he applauded the patients group's efforts. But he said he doubts their efforts will persuade Novartis to set a reasonably affordable price.\n\n\"I'm not optimistic that this will have much effect on the company,\" said Saltz. \"There's no market pressure for the company to respond to.\"\n\nHigh drug prices don't just hurt patients, Saltz said. They also drive up insurance premiums for everyone.\n\n\"They affect each and every one of us,\" he said, \"because these costs will be paid by anyone who has any kind of insurance coverage.\"\n\nKHN's coverage of prescription drug development, costs and pricing is supported in part by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation.", "output": "When doctors talk about a new leukemia drug from Novartis, they ooze enthusiasm, using words like \"breakthrough,\" \"revolutionary\" and \"a watershed moment.\"\u00a0But when they think about how much the therapy is likely to cost, their tone turns alarmist.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "To Ensure The Doctor Is Always In, New Panel Tackles Health Worker Shortage \n About Capitol Desk Capitol Desk delivers the latest in health care policy and politics from Sacramento and around the state. Have an idea? Let us know.\n\nHealth and education leaders across California have joined forces with business and labor leaders to address workforce shortages in health care. The new group aims to create a blueprint for policymakers.\n\nThe California Future Health Workforce Commission, unveiled Wednesday, includes two dozen representatives from businesses, organized labor, schools and hospitals. It will meet throughout the year to discuss the state\u2019s current and future health staffing needs and suggest ways to meet them. Its members hope their findings will lead to new policies and greater investment in training health care professionals. They also hope their recommendations will help other states grappling with similar problems.\n\nEnsuring adequate health care staffing is increasingly important because more Californians are insured and schools cannot produce physicians, nurses and other providers fast enough to serve them, said Jeff Oxendine, a dean at the University of California-Berkeley\u2019s School of Public Health and co-director of the commission.\n\nA lack of qualified professionals can also drive health care costs higher by heightening the demand for their services.\n\nThe commission plans to focus on three areas: primary care, mental health and the aging population.\n\n\u201cWe have a greater demand for health services now,\u201d Oxendine said. \u201cWith the aging, increased diversity and the growth of the population, that is only going to put more strain on the system.\u201d\n\nCalifornia\u2019s health care staffing shortages are well documented and projected to widen as the population grows and physicians retire. The state will lack about 4,700 primary care doctors by 2025, according to a recent report by the Healthforce Center at University of California-San Francisco. The Central Valley, Central Coast and southern border areas will be hardest hit, according to the report.\n\nTo ease the shortage of primary care physicians, for example, medical schools could accelerate training so students could graduate faster. To help seniors age in their communities rather than in nursing homes, the state could ensure that home care workers earn more than the current average of about $11 an hour.\n\n\u201cThose who provide this kind of care are for the most part paid a wage that doesn\u2019t particularly command long-term job loyalty,\u201d said Kevin Barnett, senior investigator at the Public Health Institute and co-director of the commission. \u201cLooking at the demographics, we have to come to terms very quickly with that.\u201d\n\nBarnett also cited a growing need for more people to work outside the clinical setting, helping patients with housing, food, transportation and other services that can affect their health.\n\nMany areas, particularly in rural parts of the state, also do not have enough psychiatrists and other behavioral health providers to serve their communities. That creates a burden for patients who may have to travel long distances for mental health care or substance abuse treatment.\n\n\u201cWe still have a ways to go to ensure timely access to quality [behavioral health] services, particularly for our Medicaid populations,\u201d Barnett said.\n\nEmail Sign-Up Subscribe to California Healthline's free Daily Edition. Your Email Address Sign Up\n\nIn addition, the commission plans to address the lack of diversity among health workers. Latinos make up nearly 40 percent of the population but only 7 percent of doctors and 8 percent of nurses are Latino, according to the Medical Board of California.\n\nInforming young people from underserved areas about health careers and providing opportunities to pursue them could help with recruitment and retention of a more diverse workforce, Oxendine said.\n\nHealth employers consider workforce sufficiency to be a \u201cbusiness imperative,\u201d Oxendine said. Increased competition for a shrinking pool of medical professionals drives up costs, he said.\n\nOne of the commissioners, physician Hector Flores, said one of his priorities is to examine whether health care workers can provide services that are better, faster and cheaper. One way to do that could be to have more community health workers and medical assistants working alongside doctors and nurse practitioners, he said.\n\n\u201cTeam-based care is not only better and friendlier for patients, but it also reduces costs overall,\u201d said Flores, chairman of the family practice department at White Memorial Medical Center in Los Angeles.\n\nUniversity of California president Janet Napolitano and Dignity Health president Lloyd Dean will co-chair the commission, which is scheduled to hold its first meeting next month and plans to issue research and recommendations throughout the year for state legislators, schools, health care employers and others.\n\nFour organizations are funding the project: The California Endowment, California Health Care Foundation, The California Wellness Foundation and The Blue Shield of California Foundation. (Kaiser Health News, which produces California Healthline, has received support from each of these organizations.)\n\nThis story was produced by Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation.", "output": "Health and education leaders across California have joined forces with business and labor leaders to address workforce shortages in health care. The new group aims to create a blueprint for policymakers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Success Strategies for Managing Risk-Based Contracts \n Only 23% of net patient revenue comes from value-based payments. In three years, that that is expected to more than double to 48%. Managing financial risk is a must for healthcare organizations.\n\nWith the shift from fee-for-service to value-based payment on the upswing, most finance leaders in the healthcare provider industry are focused on adopting and operating risk-based reimbursement models for medical services. Providers must master essential competencies: assessing risk in patient populations and risk-based payment models, and controlling clinical risk through patient engagement strategies.\n\nA May 2017 HealthLeaders Intelligence Report on Value-Based Readiness surveyed more than 150 providers on their current mix of fee-for-service and value-based payment methods. Currently, 74% of those providers are dependent on fee-for-service payment, while the remaining 26% depend on value-based payment. In three years, providers say that mix will change to 48% fee-for-service and 52% value-based payment.\n\nThe same survey found that 77% of net patient revenue in those provider organizations currently come from fee-for-service, with the remaining 23% being derived from value-based payment. In three years, those sources are expected to change to 52% and 48% respectively.\n\nIn a new HealthLeaders Roundtable Report, Success Strategies for Managing Risk-Based Contracts, learn about these strategies and how you might apply them to your own organizations.\n\nFREE Report Download: Managing Risk-Based Contracts\n\nHere are a few vital questions this report explores:\n\nDo your physicians feel like stakeholders during this transition?\n\nAre your ACO risk-sharing arrangements less predictable than arrangements made with commercial insurers?\n\nWhy did many pioneer ACOs fall by the wayside, and what lessons do they hold for your organization?\n\nAre you using the correct mix of licensed and non-licensed case managers to most efficiently manage populations under risk-based contracts?\n\nPatients face various risks, and this report describes some of the surprising ways these can impact the success or failure of an organization\u2019s risk-based contract. Participants discuss the importance of risk stratification, allowing them to apply more resources to high-risk patients identified through the risk stratification process.\n\nThe panelists describe how data analytics play an important role, but require that organizations go well beyond merely merging claims data with EHR data. Learn how other, non-traditional data can provide the additional insight that could make the difference between success and failure.\n\nAnother hot topic: Medicare Advantage, in part because it has several elements in common with Medicare\u2019s new reimbursement system for clinicians under MACRA. In this report, learn about the keys to success in Medicare Advantage contracting.\n\nOne element, important to any risk arrangement or global payment contract, is tight specialty referral, to control high specialty costs.\n\nFinally in this report, learn how high-deductible health plans are impacting risk-based contracts.\n\nParticipants in this panel include:\n\nAlan Lazaroff MD , co-founder and coding medical director, Physician Health Partners, Denver, CO\n\n\n\nLouis Levitt MD , vice president and physician, The Centers for Advanced Orthopaedics, Bethesda, MD\n\nRick Lopez MD , senior vice president of population health, Atrius Health, Newton, MA\n\nKerri Schroeder , senior vice president and credit products executive, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Seattle, WA\n\nChristopher Cheney (moderator), senior finance editor, HealthLeaders Media\n\nDownload the free report today to learn more.", "output": "With the shift from fee-for-service to value-based payment on the upswing, most finance leaders in the healthcare provider industry are focused on adopting and operating risk-based reimbursement models for medical services. Providers must master essential competencies: assessing risk in patient populations and risk-based payment models, and controlling clinical risk through patient engagement strategies.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Two studies support intensive blood pressure control for long-term health, quality of life \n A medical student checking blood pressure using a sphygmomanometer and stethoscope. Image: Wikipedia.\n\nTwo studies provide additional support for lowering systolic blood pressure to an intensive goal of 120 mmHg - far below the standard guidelines of 140 mmHg - to reduce the risk of heart disease in high-risk patients with hypertension. The new research shows that intensive blood pressure control is well-tolerated by patients and is cost-effective in terms of health-related quality of life and financial costs to the healthcare system.\n\nPublished online in the New England Journal of Medicine on Aug. 24, the findings address ongoing debates that have been simmering since results from the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT) were first reported nearly two years ago.\n\n\"Intensive blood pressure control improves health outcomes in high-risk patients, but it has been unclear whether the approach is cost-effective or if it's well-tolerated by patients compared to standard control,\" says Adam Bress, Pharm.D., M.S., an assistant professor of Population Health Sciences at University of Utah Health who co-led the first, cost-effectiveness study. Bress explains that treatment would not be sustainable in clinical practice if, for instance, it makes patients feel miserable or comes with an exorbitant price tag.\n\n\"Collectively, these results provide strong evidence that intensive control is worth considering in high-risk patients,\" says Bress.\n\nListening to Patient Perspectives\n\nOn average, patients on intensive therapy often took three to four anti-hypertensive medications to reach the lower blood pressure goal, raising concerns that side effects such as light-headedness, dizziness, or fatigue could make the regimen difficult to tolerate.\n\n\"In treating a chronic condition such as hypertension, it is important not only to prevent cardiovascular morbidity and mortality such as heart attacks and stroke, but also to ensure that people under treatment continue to feel well,\" says the second study's lead author Dan Berlowitz, M.D., Chief of Staff at the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital in Bedford, Mass., and a professor at Boston University.\n\nThe second study examined health-related quality of life by having the 9,631 SPRINT participants - about half of whom were on intensive therapy - answer standard questionnaires assessing their quality of life, physical and mental health, and satisfaction with their care during the clinical trial.\n\nParticipants on intensive therapy reported feeling as well as those receiving standard blood pressure control and were equally satisfied with their care. They were also just as likely to maintain their medication regimen, another indication that the treatment was well-tolerated.\n\nA subpopulation considered particularly vulnerable to side effects from intensive therapy, frail participants age 75 and older, also fared well under the intensive approach.\n\n\"Frail, older participants began at lower measures of physical and cognitive abilities,\" explains Mark Supiano, M.D., a co-author on both studies and a geriatrician at University of Utah Health and VA Salt Lake City Health Care System. A total of 2,560 SPRINT participants were in this category.\n\n\"Importantly, intensive blood pressure control did not further decrease quality of life measures compared to standard control even in frail, older adults.\" Additional studies are being carried out to determine the long-term impacts of treatment.\n\nBerlowitz points out that the results don't necessarily mean that everyone with high blood pressure should aim for a goal of less than 120 mmHg.\n\n\"In order for patients to have the future health benefits of intensive blood pressure control while maintaining their current health-related quality of life, clinicians and patients should work together to adjust medications as needed while keeping an eye on symptoms,\" he says.\n\nCounting the Costs of Blood Pressure Control\n\nAnother worry plaguing intensive therapy has been that costs of intensive treatment might overwhelm an already strained healthcare system. Reaching the lower blood pressure goal requires more visits to healthcare providers, and additional medications and lab tests\u2014all incurring expenses that add up over time. And if severe medication side effects land a patient in the hospital, that boosts the price tag even higher and could erode quality of life.\n\nThe cost-effectiveness study reports that the healthcare costs associated with intensive blood pressure control are balanced by gains in health, making it cost-effective over the course of a lifetime. Intensive control costs less than $50,000 for each quality-adjusted life-year gained, a measure of improvements in length and quality of life.\n\n\"The price is one that many experts believe U.S. society is willing to pay, making it a high value investment,\" says Bress.\n\nA research team led by Bress and Brandon Bellows, Pharm.D., M.S., research assistant professor of Pharmacotherapy at U of U Health, modeled intensive and standard treatment in 10,000 hypothetical SPRINT-eligible patients to arrive at the conclusion. They gauged benefits and costs of intensive therapy in the face of uncertainties encountered in real life by incorporating over 250 variables, including a range of health histories and side effects.\n\n\"It's not possible to run clinical trials that last for decades for every type of patient,\" explains Bellows. \"Simulation gives us a way to explore 'what if' scenarios and extrapolate short-term data to estimate a range of expected long-term outcomes.\"\n\nWithin 10 to 20 years after starting intensive treatment, the extra expenses were offset by the cardiac episodes and subsequent treatment costs that were prevented, simulations showed.\n\n\"Intensive blood pressure treatment prevents heart disease, but it requires extra effort from patients and health care providers,\" says co-senior author Andrew Moran, M.D., M.P.H., from Columbia University Medical Center in New York. \"Our study showed that it is a very good value if the treatment is sustained long-term.\"\n\nCo-author Lawrence Fine M.D., Dr.P.H., Chief of the Branch of Clinical Applications and Prevention at the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), says that estimates indicate there are at least 17 million Americans who could benefit from lowering their blood pressure.\n\n\"This current study is important not just because it shows that the long-term benefits of intensive blood pressure treatment outweigh considerations about costs and side effects, but because of its population-wide implications,\" he says.\n\nMore information: \"Cost-Effectiveness of Intensive Versus Standard Blood Pressure Control, \"New England Journal of Medicine (2017). DOI: 10.1056/NEJMsa1616035\n\n\"Impact of Intensive Blood Pressure Therapy on Patient-Reported Outcomes, \"New England Journal of Medicine (2017). DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1611179 Journal information: New England Journal of Medicine\n\nProvided by University of Utah Health", "output": "Two studies provide additional support for lowering systolic blood pressure to an intensive goal of 120 mmHg - far below the standard guidelines of 140 mmHg - to reduce the risk of heart disease in high-risk patients with hypertension. The new research shows that intensive blood pressure control is well-tolerated by patients and is cost-effective in terms of health-related quality of life and financial costs to the healthcare system.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Age Like a Former Athlete \n Being a world-class distance runner in your youth does not guarantee that you will be fit and healthy in retirement. But it helps, according to a new study that followed a group of elite American runners for 45 years.\n\nThe study\u2019s findings raise interesting questions about how we can and should age and the role that youthful activity might play in our health later in life.\n\nAging is one of the great mysteries of life and science. Its chronology is clear: With each passing year, we are a year older. But the biology of the process is murky. Scientists remain uncertain about how and why our bodies change as we age and to what extent such changes are inevitable or mutable.\n\nIn other words, we do not know whether aging as most of us now experience it is normal for the human species or not.", "output": "Being a world-class distance runner in your youth does not guarantee that you will be fit and healthy in retirement. But it helps, according to a new study that followed a group of elite American runners for 45 years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vertical video gains popularity as an advertising format \n by Sarah Maloy , Op-Ed Contributor, August 24, 2017\n\nAs recently as five years ago, vertical video was the enemy of the internet. A \u201cSay No to Vertical Videos\u201d campaign was launched in June 2012, producing a meme, 8 million video views, and dozens of news articles that all seemed to agree on one thing: Vertical video was the worst.\n\n\u201cNot only are the thick black pillarbox bars on either side of the video extremely annoying, but the human eyes are designed to see the world in widescreen. That's why they sit side-by-side, and not on top of each other,\u201d according to a Gizmodo post.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nFast-forward two years, and CNET put out an article in defense of vertical video. Sort of. Titled \u201cThey're stupid, but it's not your fault,\u201d the piece wasn\u2019t so much in favor of vertical videos as sympathetic to users who insisted on capturing them. Still, the format was gaining ground.\n\nThree years later, and we can\u2019t imagine a world without vertical video. It continues to grow year-over-year, with advertisers embracing the video style that all of their customers are already using. Adoption has become vital for the advertising industry, as less than 30% of people will turn their phone to view a horizontal video ad. Even when they do, they\u2019re only watching 14% of the ad.\n\nThe Rise of Vertical Video\n\nDigital ad spend is growing, surpassing TV for the first time in 2016. That growth, which is expected to soar from $83 billion this year to $129 billion in 2021, is primarily driven by mobile. But 35% of annual ad budgets are still spent on TV. This is partly because advertisers haven\u2019t found a format that will allow them to reach digital natives and cord-cutters with the same immersive video experience that TV offers -- until vertical video.\n\nOne of the reasons advertisers are so drawn to vertical video is that it offers 100% share of voice, similar to the experience of watching a commercial on TV. Ads get the full-screen real estate with vertical video, which brands see as a commodity in a world driven by never-ending feeds of content. More and more we\u2019re seeing TV budgets shift to vertical video, where advertisers can retarget audiences and lookalikes, narrow in with interests and demographic targeting, and reach their target consumer at exactly the right time with personalized, relevant content.\n\nBarriers to Entry\n\nAlthough vertical video has many benefits, it\u2019s not without its challenges. This is a new ad format for many marketers, and with that comes a learning curve that most brands are still figuring out.\n\nOne of the biggest barriers to entry for vertical video advertising is a lack of readily available creative in the right specs. For years, advertisers have been repurposing pre-roll and TV creative for social platforms, running video ads that are fine for desktop but not for the 80% of social media use that happens on mobile devices.\n\nAs it becomes clear that vertical video is the way of the present and future, brands are beginning to think of creative from a mobile-first point of view. This will only continue to grow as platform-optimized vertical video continues to outperform its repurposed counterparts.\n\nEven if creative is shot originally for TV or another horizontal format, it can still be transformed to perform well as vertical video, by leveraging graphics and making new use of the screen real estate. Although less of an investment, this is still a barrier of entry for some brands, who may not have access to editing resources in order to optimize social creative.\n\nThe last challenge for marketers looking to take advantage of vertical video is a lack of benchmarks and best practices. This is a new format, and while it\u2019s been shown to be 3x more effective than horizontal video, there are not many standards for success yet in place. There\u2019s much testing to be done, but the brands that start testing now will be ahead of the curve, investing in more effective campaigns from day one.\n\nWhat\u2019s Next for Vertical Video\n\nSmartphone users hold their phones vertically 94% of the time, and vertical views count for over 29% of total consumer view time (up from 5% in 2010). These are facts that marketers and advertisers can\u2019t afford to ignore, and the industry is shifting more toward vertical video every day.\n\nEntertainment brands currently lead the pack in vertical video adoption, acc ounting for nearly 40% of all vertical video ads online. Other industries have a lot of room to grow, with apparel and retail following at just 9% and 7% respectively.\n\nIn the months to come we\u2019ll see even more brands and industries push into the vertical video market, and in the next few years it will become the dominant format for video advertising. Square videos have been the middle ground for more than a year, but with almost every platform now allowing -- and even encouraging -- vertical video, it\u2019s just a matter of time before the improved mobile experience makes us all forget the \u201cSay No to Vertical Video\u201d PSAs.", "output": "Vertical video \u2013 a format once considered annoying or divisive \u2013\u00a0is increasingly attractive to\u00a0social advertising. Smartphone users hold their phones vertically 94% of the time, with vertical views accounting for over 29% of total consumer view time.\u00a0Digital ad spend in the US is\u00a0expected to soar from $83bn this year to $129bn in 2021, which will primarily be driven by mobile. As it becomes clear that vertical video is the way of the future brands are beginning to embrace the video style most of their customers are already using.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Airbnb begins\u00a0partnership with Jet Airways in India \n NEW DELHI: Community-driven hospitality company Airbnb announced its first airline partnership in India with Jet Airways . Airbnb said the announcement adds momentum to the growth of Airbnb's footprint in the Indian market by focusing on establishing a deeper connect with the new age Indian travellers who seek unique travel experiences.\"We are seeing that millenials are seeking newer interesting ways to travel and are keen to break away from the conventional means to seek authentic experiences. We thought of creating an eco system in India where by we can partner with like minded companies like Jet airways which is also an airline of choice when it comes to millenials in India to cater to their needs in a better form,\" said Amanpreet Bajaj, country manager- India, Airbnb.To announce this partnership, Jet Airways is running a contest on its website where 5 lucky winners have a chance to win free couple flight tickets from Jet Airways together with a stay coupon worth Rs 35,000 from Airbnb*. To be eligible for the contest, guests in India need to book a Jet Airways flight to any of the 64 destinations on its network between 23rd August and 01st September, 2017.In another inaugural offer, the first 100 Jet Airways\u2019 guests booking their accommodation with Airbnb via the Jet Airways website, also receive 10% off. In a separate, limited period offer from Airbnb, travellers can get a 10% discount for their Jet Airways flight booking via a promo code.Bajaj added, \"Jet Airways fliers who are also Airbnb travellers will be able to enjoy the added-value they receive from being associated with two dynamic brands.\"Jayaraj Shanmugam, chief commercial officer, Jet Airways said, \"An increasing number of Indian travellers are embracing the fresh and highly personalised experiences that a platform like Airbnb offers. Our focus on being innovative and offering differentiated travel experiences enables us to anticipate the changing needs of our guests and recognise trends much earlier than the market, thus allowing us to offer exciting travel related initiatives. We are delighted to be the first Indian airline to partner Airbnb, and look forward to creating more of such innovative experiences for our guests.\"", "output": "Airbnb will partner with Jet Airways in India to attract travel-hungry millennials, said Amanpreet Bajaj, the company's manager for the country. To launch the partnership, Jet Airways is running a contest giving customers the chance to win free flights and an INR35,000 ($547) voucher for Airbnb. The airline will also offer the first 100 customers to book accommodation with Airbnb via the Jet Airways website 10% off, while Airbnb will offer its customers a 10% discount for their Jet Airways flight.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brands reconsidering approach to cause marketing \n Dove, McDonald\u2019s and Pepsi have all run ads in recent months that touched on hot-button issues including breast-feeding and protests, only to have them backfire. That\u2019s left even those marketers with a long history of aligning themselves with causes worried that people have become too cynical to believe they\u2019re for real.\n\nTake Absolut. It\u2019s been a steadfast supporter of the LGBT community for the past 30 years. Yet when it launched its latest BBH-created ad, which featured men and women \u2014 young and old, from all walks of life \u2014 taking part in a choreographed kissathon, its marketers wondered if the ad would be met with the same outrage Pepsi faced.\n\nFans of the brand who recalled Absolut\u2019s other contributions to the community over the last three decades stood by it after the ad launched. Still, marketers now have to weigh these risks before deciding to link their own brands with social values. If Absolut makes social issues a bigger part of its marketing, it knows it has to back it up.\n\n\u201cNobody knows that more than 40 percent of the glass we use is recycled or that we feed 40,000 cows and 250,000 piglets [with the wheat residue left over from the mash after distillation], but if tomorrow we were to talk about sustainability, then there\u2019s a reason for us to do it,\u201d Absolut\u2019s global brand director, Gaia Gilardini, said.\n\nTelecommunications firm O2 is dealing with the risk by taking a closer look at its marketing. In April, it launched the O2 Planning Hub to help its agency teams in part plan for public backlash to its marketing. This hub includes brand, media and CRM specialists and works together from one office three days a week. O2 also is scrutinizing its campaigns more closely to identify the consumer benefit, said Ian Cafferky, director of brand and marketing communications at O2. \u201cAt every stage of the campaign-planning process, we are asking, \u2018What is the benefit to the customer?\u2019 and KPIs are set accordingly. We seek to balance rational and trading KPIs with higher-order ones around brand love.\u201d\n\nBrands can misfire. Between 2011 and 2014, Diageo tried to associate its Baileys brand with \u201cfemale empowerment.\u201d It soon found people didn\u2019t want Baileys to empower them: Baileys is now back to being sold as an indulgence. Diageo recently elevated its director of culture and entertainment role to help avoid such mistakes, hiring Anne Nosko, who operates at a director level across the company and has media responsibilities.\n\nMindshare\u2019s strategy director Rosie Kitson and client director Robert McFaul, who make up the agency\u2019s brand purpose consultancy, are increasingly meeting with the agency\u2019s clients who have concerns about consumer backlash. The issue is that some brands still align themselves with causes that have no actual connection to their business operations, making consumers increasingly likely to turn on them.\n\nThat disconnect extends to the marketing messages themselves, said Sam Conniff, co-founder and chief purpose officer at youth-led creative network Livity. \u201cMy criticism of some very vocal brands when it comes to purpose is that they\u2019re trying to suggest that this is a new kind of marketing, but these external narratives are not providing sufficient cover to the ground troops of these organizations who are still in a retail ground war, and they are fighting it out on price and promotion,\u201d he said.", "output": "Brands are reassessing marketing campaigns that align them with social causes after adverts for Dove, McDonald's and Pepsi were widely criticised. For example, telecoms firm O2 has introduced a planning hub that prioritises customer benefits to help its agency teams plan for public backlash to marketing campaigns. However, brands that align with causes that have no connection to their business operations may tarnish cause marketing for brands with a long history of supporting social causes."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Medicare Is in Deep Trouble: Here\u2019s How to Rescue It \n Medicare\u2019s trust fund will run out of money in just over 10 years, according to a new report from the program\u2019s trustees. Once that happens, the federal government won\u2019t collect enough in payroll taxes to cover beneficiaries\u2019 hospital bills.\n\nCongress could hike taxes to cover the shortfall. Or it could ration care to save money.\n\nOr it could modernize and restructure Medicare \u2014 by giving beneficiaries means-tested vouchers to buy private insurance. Doing so would protect taxpayers now, preserve the program for future generations and even provide higher-quality care to seniors.\n\nMedicare actually consists of multiple programs that pay for health care for 57 million seniors and people with disabilities.\n\nBeneficiaries don\u2019t pay premiums for Part A, which covers inpatient hospital care. It\u2019s funded primarily by payroll taxes.\n\nFor much of the program\u2019s history, the government collected more in payroll taxes than it paid out to hospitals. These surpluses went into a \u201ctrust fund,\u201d where they were invested in U.S. government bonds.\n\nBut with Part A spending per beneficiary rising 3.5 percent annually \u2014 faster than tax revenue is growing \u2014 those surpluses have turned into deficits. Since 2010, Part A has spent $105 billion more than it collected in taxes. The trust fund has covered these deficits.\n\nBy 2029, the fund will be exhausted. Payroll taxes will only cover about 88 percent of Part A costs.\n\nCosts in Medicare Part B, which pays for doctors\u2019 visits, are also surging. The trustees estimate that Part B spending per beneficiary will increase 5.2 percent annually for the next decade.\n\nUnlike Part A, beneficiaries pay premiums for Part B coverage. But these premiums account for only 23 percent of the program\u2019s costs. The rest comes out of the federal Treasury.\n\nLast year, Medicare cost $349 billion more than it collected in payroll taxes and premiums. This spending squeezes funding for other priorities, like defense and scientific research.\n\nThese deficits will explode in the future. Medicare faces $65 trillion in unfunded liabilities.\n\nDespite its astronomical price tag, Medicare actually underpays health care providers. It reimburses hospitals at just 60 percent of private insurers\u2019 reimbursement rates. In 2016, hospitals lost 9 cents for every dollar they spent treating Medicare beneficiarie s, according to the Medicare Payments Advisory Commission.\n\nBy 2040, half of doctors will lose money treating Medicare patients. Seventy percent of skilled nursing facilities and 80 percent of home health agencies will be in the same position.\n\nThat doesn\u2019t bode well for patients. The trustees\u2019 report notes that providers will either have to \u201cwithdraw from serving Medicare beneficiaries \u201d or \u201cshift substantial portions of Medicare costs\u201d to other patients \u2014 like those with private insurance.\n\nMedicare desperately needs a revamp. Its biggest problem is that seniors have no incentive to control their health care spending, since the government picks up most of the tab.\n\nVouchers would enable poor and middle-income seniors to pick from a variety of private health plans, with different premiums, deductibles, and co-pays. They\u2019d have an incentive to choose wisely, since they\u2019d be spending their own money on top of whatever they received as a voucher.\n\nAnd by means-testing the vouchers, the government would no longer waste billions subsidizing health insurance for the rich, who don\u2019t need taxpayer-funded assistance.\n\nThis idea has attracted bipartisan support in the past. Indeed, three decades ago, a group of congressmen from both sides of the aisle proposed the concept \u2014 but were one vote short of being able to make a recommendation to Congress. The Bipartisan Policy Center and Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget have also voiced support for a voucher system.\n\nFurthermore, it\u2019s already working in another part of Medicare \u2014 the Part D prescription drug program. Under Part D, seniors shop for the privately administered drug coverage that meets their needs and budget. Competition among insurers helps keep costs low. The federal government subsidizes the plans to keep them affordable for beneficiaries.\n\nFrom 2004 to 2013, the program cost $349 billion less than initially projected. Ninety-five percent of seniors report that their Part D coverage meets their needs.\n\nMedicare\u2018s spending isn\u2019t sustainable. Congress can stave off massive tax hikes and benefit cuts by voucherizing the program \u2014 and injecting some much-needed competition into the health care market.\n\n\n\nSally C. Pipes is president, CEO and Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy at the Pacific Research Institute.\n\nMorning Consult welcomes op-ed submissions on policy, politics and business strategy in our coverage areas. Updated submission guidelines can be found here.", "output": "Medicare\u2019s trust fund will run out of money in just over 10 years, according to a new report from the program\u2019s trustees. Once that happens, the federal government won\u2019t collect enough in payroll taxes to cover beneficiaries\u2019 hospital bills.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Regus set to open a new office in Leeds Pinnacle Building \n Yorkshire Property Joshua Hammond\n\nInternational workspace provider Regus plans to open a new Leeds office in The Pinnacle building.\n\nRegus will expand its footprint in the city to five locations by opening in the 18th and 19th floors of The Pinnacle, creating available space of 10,200 sq ft.\n\nOver 150 workstations and a range of flexible working options will be available, including co-working space, several offices of varying sizes, virtual office services and meeting rooms.\n\nRegus expects the facility to be popular with a wide range of users including local small businesses, start-ups and remote workers as well as national firms opening satellite offices.\n\nRichard Morris, UK chief executive of Regus, said: \"Sandwiched between the business and shopping districts of Leeds, the Pinnacle places any size of business in a peak, strategic position in the city.\n\n\"As such, it\u2019s the perfect fit for our flexible workspace proposition which appeals to businesses of all sizes.\n\n\"We know that more and more professionals in Leeds are working flexibly and we are opening a new centre here in response to increased demand for workspace on flexible terms, to fit in with this new way of working.\"", "output": "Workspace provider Regus is looking to open a new office in Leeds, in the Pinnacle building. The decision would see Regus extend to five locations in the city. Richard Morris, UK chief executive of Regus, said: \"Sandwiched between the business and shopping districts of Leeds, the Pinnacle places any size of business in a peak, strategic position in the city\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "YouTube still dominates Facebook for live streaming views \n The explosion of live video means anyone can become a broadcaster, which often results in varying degrees of quality. While still nascent, live-streaming video is becoming more cluttered as more platforms join the fold. Here\u2019s a look at how live streaming is changing.\n\nFacebook Live grabs headlines, but YouTube is still the front-runner\n\nFacebook\u2019s massive reach and financial incentives meant that a lot of brands and media companies charged headfirst into live streaming in 2016. But YouTube is still the No. 1 platform where people view live streams, according to the Media Futures report from research consultancy Magid, with 45 percent of respondents using YouTube to view live-stream video, compared to 24 percent on Facebook Live.\n\nFacebook is responsible for much of the growth in the format, though. A UBS Evidence Lab report via eMarketer from January 2017 found that the amount of live-stream video viewed on Facebook increased from 14 percent to 17 percent over six months. Other platforms have experienced drop-offs; 21 percent of respondents watched live-stream video on YouTube, compared to 16 percent six months later. EMarketer senior analyst Paul Verna suggested this is because the market is still in its infancy, rather than due to poor platform performance.\n\nLive news is more popular than long-form video on video platforms\n\nThe number of places where viewers can live stream is exploding. Reuters Digital News Report split the environments into feed-based social networks like Facebook and Twitter, search-based platforms like YouTube and news websites and apps. It also categorized content as short-form (less than five minutes), long-form (more than five minutes) and live.\n\nShort-form video is the most popular format, according to the report. Live video is more popular than longer-form video on platforms like YouTube, where in a given week, 15 percent of respondents watch live news and 12 percent watch longer news video. On news websites and social media platforms, longer-form news video is more popular than live.\n\nAds have arrived in live video in Europe\n\nThe number of ads within live video formats is growing, albeit from a low base. A FreeWheel report on Europe showed 4 percent of ad views occur in live-stream video content, up 11 percent year over year. The report defines video as clips, which are less than five minutes long, and full episodes, which are longer than five minutes.\n\nThis growth in Europe follows the trend in the U.S. and has been mostly driven by live sporting events, but live news video is growing as a content vertical, according to FreeWheel. In the U.S., 78 percent of live video covered live sporting events; 16 percent was news. In 2016, news made up just 9 percent of live video content.\n\nStreaming services overload\n\nWithout a clear way to monetize live streaming through advertising on social networks, subscriptions and owned and operated platforms are the most viable monetization route. Here, younger people are likely to pay for one, possibly two, different streaming services, of which Netflix remains the dominant player, according to a recent poll on U.S. views from research company Morning Consult.\n\nAccording to the same report, 67 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds subscribe to Netflix, with 28 percent of young people paying for Amazon Prime. The Morning Consult poll found 42 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds believe they are paying too much for streaming services \u2014 21 percent spend from $11 (\u00a39) to $20 (\u00a316) a month \u2014 while 57 percent of young people agree there are too many streaming services.", "output": "YouTube is still the main platform where people view live streams, according to a report by research consultancy Magid, which found 45% of respondents use YouTube to view live stream video compared with 24% on Facebook Live. However, Facebook is responsible for much of the increased popularity of the format. A UBS Evidence Lab report from January found that the amount of live stream video viewed on Facebook increased from 14% to 17% over six months, while other platforms experienced drop-offs."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sparkling wine under threat from climate change \n First it wreaked havoc on our tea, then coffee. Now sparkling wine\u2014both cava and champagne\u2014is under threat from climate change.\n\nA new study in Agricultural and Forest Meteorology looked at grape varieties in northeastern part of Spain, which is famous for producing cava. They found that, as global temperatures continue to rise, it\u2019ll lead to warmer and drier conditions in the region. In turn, grapes will ripen more quickly and that could negatively affect the flavor and aroma of the wine.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nTo arrive at this conclusion, authors used rainfall data between 1998 and 2012 and created mathematical models to predict how three varieties of grapes used in making cava\u2014Macabeo and Paralleda from Spain and Chardonnay from France\u2014would be affected. An earlier ripening period makes cava less acidic and more sugary. Some of that sugar turns into alcohol during fermentation, and makes the drink more alcoholic, too.\n\nSimilar changes are likely to happen to grape harvests in France. Grapes in the region of Champagne that help create the cherished wine are being harvested two weeks earlier than they were 20 years ago. They are also bigger in size, have more sugar, and thus produce a more alcoholic drink.\n\nIf temperatures rise by as much as 5\u2103 by the end of the century, as some models predict, \u201cit could change the fundamentals of the grape varieties,\u201d Thibaut Le Mailloux of the Champagne Committee, a trade association, told the The Telegraph. \u201cIt is absolutely essential to start research now because in 25 years it will be too late.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s not doom and gloom for all. If Spain and France can\u2019t produce as much excellent sparkling wine, wineries further north, such as in England, are readying to pick up the slack.", "output": "Climate change is putting sparkling wine - both champagne and cava - under threat, according to a study in Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. Rising global temperatures could change harvest time and the taste of grapes so dramatically that sparkling wine as we now know it could become extinct."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "P2P exchange out to change global property ownership with bitcoin \n Post navigation\n\nA new global property exchange platform has launched, looking as though it could be the ultimate in proptech.\n\nIt will enable the sale and purchase of UK homes with the digital currency Bitcoin, and create a new type of online land registry.\n\nFor property owners, it offers a type of equity release \u2013 and a way of leveraging the value of their property to the maximum; for property buyers, it offers the possibility of home ownership at half price \u2013 as long as they don\u2019t mind sharing the title deeds. For investors, it gives a way of buying and trading part \u2018shares\u2019 in individual homes.\n\nTheoretically UK homes can now become a globally tradable asset on a peer-to-peer platform which utilises blockchain technology from a firm called TrustMe.\n\nBlockchain is a new type of digital ledger that is said to make it easy to track assets securely.\n\nOne application of this new technology is that property can be virtually \u2018broken up\u2019 into parcels that can be traded on an exchange platform.\n\nThe advantage for home owners is that they can unlock more equity from their homes as they can sell up to 49% of the property whilst retaining occupancy.\n\nThe advantage for buyers is that it greatly lowers the barrier to property ownership \u2013 purchasers can potentially gain occupancy for the purchase of only 51% of the property value.\n\nTrustMe\u2122 Property Exchange and Blockchain Land Registry will enable home owners to trade shares (\u2018property certificates\u2019) in their property on an open market.\n\nClients on the property exchanges will be able to purchase with Bitcoin or fiat currency \u2013 legal tender backed by the government which issued it, but not backed by a commodity \u2013 whilst the 51% owner-occupier continues to live in and manage the property.\n\nThe first exchange is due to happen in London in October, with the next to be launched in Toronto and New York.\n\nLondon is said to have been chosen for the first exchange, as it is host to a buoyant \u00a32 trillion market and has well established property laws, rights and processes.\n\nAntony Abell, co-founder and managing director of TrustMe\u2122, said: \u201cThe London property market, which has, for many people, long been prohibitively expensive, needs to be democratised.\n\n\u201cThe TrustMe\u2122 Property Exchanges will allow existing home owners to unlock the value of their own house or properties and to use these assets as a form of stored liquid wealth, similar to a 30-90 day bank account, by trading as much or as little of their asset as they wish in an efficient, transparent and auditable manner.\n\n\u201cIt has only been the recent advent of the public blockchain that has enabled the trust that people need to be able to allow the most valuable assets that most will ever have in their lives to be leveraged in this way.\u201d\n\nWill it work? Will the public go for it? Is it a gimmick and what could go wrong? Time will tell.", "output": "Proptech firm TrustMe has unveiled its property exchange platform, which will enable shares of UK homes to be bought and sold with bitcoin. The platform allows home owners to release equity by selling up to 49% of their property whilst retaining occupancy. For buyers, barriers are lower, offering the chance to occupy a property by purchasing only 51% of its value. TrustMe will launch its first exchange in London in October, with exchanges in Toronto and New York to follow."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Uber reforms aim to improve choice and flexibility for drivers \n Uber has introduced its latest steps in trying to convince its drivers, and the world, that it\u2019s not a bad place through its 180 Days of Change.\n\nThe latest raft of changes is aimed at improving choice and flexibility for drivers. Drivers can now add up to six personal destinations per day, so they can take fares on their way to places they personally need to be, and they can now set an arrival time for each of their destinations to avoid running late.\n\nOn top of those changes to destinations, drivers will now get \u2018long trip notifications\u2019 \u2013 which let them know if a trip is estimated to take 45 minutes or longer before they accept or decline the journey. In addition, when the jobs aren\u2019t coming in as fast as a driver would like, they can switch between giving rides and delivering food on UberEats \u2013 if they update their driver app and sign up to be an UberEats delivery partner.\n\nFinally, Uber has updated it acceptance rate policy so that declining trips doesn\u2019t impact on driver\u2019s Quest promotions or their account standing.\n\n\u201cFrom more Driver Destinations to innovative \u2018Arrival Time\u2019 settings that get you where you need to be when you need to be there, these features represent a big step forward for work that fits around your life,\u201d said Uber. \u201cWe want everyone who drives with Uber to truly feel that their day belongs to them?that they can earn when and how they want, and that Uber is always there for them.\u201d", "output": "Uber has introduced changes to improve driver choice and flexibility as part of its 180 Days of Change initiative. Drivers can now add up to six personal destinations per day, get \"long trip notifications\"\u00a0and switch between giving rides and delivering food on UberEats. Uber has also updated its acceptance rate policy so that declining trips doesn\u2019t affect\u00a0drivers' Quest promotions or the state of their account. \u201cWe want everyone who drives with Uber to truly feel their day belongs to them, that they can earn when and how they want, and that Uber is always there for them,\u201d said Uber.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple drops plans to build its own self-driving car \n SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 As new employees were brought into Apple\u2019s secret effort to create a self-driving car a few years ago, managers told them that they were working on the company\u2019s next big thing: A product that would take on Detroit and disrupt the automobile industry.\n\nThese days, Apple\u2019s automotive ambitions are more modest. The company has put off any notion of an Apple-branded autonomous vehicle and is instead working on the underlying technology that allows a car to drive itself. Timothy D. Cook, the company\u2019s chief executive, said in an interview with Bloomberg in June that Apple is \u201cfocusing on autonomous systems.\u201d\n\nA notable symbol of that retrenchment is a self-driving shuttle service that ferries employees from one Apple building to another. The shuttle, which has never been reported before, will likely be a commercial vehicle from an automaker and Apple will use it to test the autonomous driving technology that it develops.\n\nFive people familiar with Apple\u2019s car project, code-named \u201cTitan,\u201d discussed with The New York Times the missteps that led the tech giant to move \u2014 at least for now \u2014 from creating a self-driving Apple car to creating technology for a car that someone else builds. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk publicly about Apple\u2019s plans.", "output": "Apple has shifted its attention away from developing commercially available autonomous vehicles, according to an article in the New York Times. Apple is now looking to work with car makers in order to offer its autonomous vehicle technology and has shelved plans to build its own self-driving car. The company is planning to use conventional vehicles fitted with autonomous technology to ferry employees back and forth at its Silicon Valley offices in both Palo Alto and Cupertino."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple drops plans to build its own self-driving car \n These days, Apple's automotive ambitions are more modest. The company has put off any notion of an Apple-branded autonomous vehicle and is instead working on the underlying technology that allows a car to drive itself. Timothy D. Cook , the company's chief executive, said in an interview with Bloomberg in June that Apple is \"focusing on autonomous systems.\"\n\nSAN FRANCISCO \u2014 As new employees were brought into Apple 's secret effort to create a self-driving car a few years ago, managers told them that they were working on the company's next big thing: A product that would take on Detroit and disrupt the automobile industry.\n\nThe project's reduced scale aligns Apple more closely with other tech companies that are working on autonomous driving technology but are steering clear of building cars. Even Waymo, the Google self-driving spinoff that is probably furthest along among Silicon Valley companies, has said repeatedly that it does not plan to produce its own vehicles.\n\nFive people familiar with Apple's car project, code-named \"Titan,\" discussed with The New York Times the missteps that led the tech giant to move \u2014 at least for now \u2014 from creating a self-driving Apple car to creating technology for a car that someone else builds. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk publicly about Apple's plans.\n\nA notable symbol of that retrenchment is a self-driving shuttle service that ferries employees from one Apple building to another. The shuttle, which has never been reported before, will likely be a commercial vehicle from an automaker and Apple will use it to test the autonomous driving technology that it develops.\n\nThe Apple Campus 2 is seen under construction in Cupertino, California in this aerial photo taken January 13, 2017.\n\nApple's testing vehicles will carry employees between its various Silicon Valley offices. The new effort is called PAIL, short for Palo Alto to Infinite Loop, the address of the company's main office in Cupertino, Calif., and a few miles down the road from Palo Alto, Calif.\n\nApple's in-house shuttle service, which isn't operational yet, follows Waymo, Uber and a number of car companies that have been testing driverless cars on city streets around the world.\n\nApple has a history of tinkering with a technology until its engineers figure out what to do with it. The company worked on touch screens for years, for example, before that technology became an essential part of the iPhone.\n\nBut the initial scale of Apple's driverless ambitions went beyond tinkering or building underlying technology. The Titan project started in 2014, and it was staffed by many Apple veterans. The company also hired engineers with expertise in building cars, and not just the software that would run an autonomous vehicle.\n\nIt was a do-it-all approach typical of Apple, which prefers to control every aspect of a product, from the software that runs it to the look and feel of the hardware.\n\nFrom the beginning, the employees dedicated to Project Titan looked at a wide range of details. That included motorized doors that opened and closed silently. They also studied ways to redesign a car interior without a steering wheel or gas pedals, and they worked on adding virtual or augmented reality into interior displays.\n\nThe team also worked on a new light and ranging detection sensor, also known as lidar. Lidar sensors normally protrude from the top of a car like a spinning cone and are essential in driverless cars. Apple, as always focused on clean designs, wanted to do away with the awkward cone.\n\nApple even looked into reinventing the wheel. A team within Titan investigated the possibility of using spherical wheels \u2014 round like a globe \u2014 instead of the traditional, round ones, because spherical wheels could allow the car better lateral movement.\n\nBut the car project ran into trouble, said the five people familiar with it, dogged by its size and by the lack of a clearly defined vision of what Apple wanted in a vehicle. Team members complained of shifting priorities and arbitrary or unrealistic deadlines.\n\nThere was disagreement about whether Apple should develop a fully autonomous vehicle or a semiautonomous car that could drive itself for stretches but allow the driver to retake control.\n\nSteve Zadesky, an Apple executive who was initially in charge of Titan, wanted to pursue the semiautonomous option. But people within the industrial design team including Jonathan Ive, Apple's chief designer, believed that a fully driverless car would allow the company to reimagine the automobile experience, according to the five people.\n\nA similar debate raged inside Google's self-driving car effort for years. There, the fully autonomous vehicle won out, mainly because researchers worried drivers couldn't be trusted to retake control in an emergency.\n\nEven though Apple had not ironed out many of the basics, like how the autonomous systems would work, a team had already started working on an operating system software called CarOS. There was fierce debate about whether it should be programmed using Swift, Apple's own programming language, or the industry standard, C++.\n\nMr. Zadesky, who worked on the iPod and iPhone, eventually left Titan and took a leave of absence from the company for personal reasons in 2016. He is still at Apple, although he is no longer involved in the project. Mr. Zadesky could not be reached for comment.\n\nLast year, Apple started to rein in the project. The company tapped Bob Mansfield, a longtime executive who over the years had led hardware engineering for some of Apple's most successful products, to oversee Titan.\n\nMr. Mansfield shelved plans to build a car and focused the project on the underlying self-driving technology. He also laid off some hardware staff, though the exact number of employees dedicated to working on car technology was unclear.\n\nMore recently, the team has grown again, adding personnel with expertise in autonomous systems, rather than car production.\n\nApple's headlong foray into autonomous vehicles underscores one of the biggest challenges facing the company: finding the next breakthrough product. As Apple celebrates the iPhone's 10th anniversary, the company remains heavily dependent on smartphone sales for growth. It has introduced new products like the Apple Watch and expanded revenue from services, but the iPhone still accounts for more than half of its sales.\n\nIn April, the California Department of Motor Vehicles granted Apple a test permit to allow the company to test autonomous driving technology in three 2015 Lexus RX 450h sport utility vehicles. There will be a safety driver monitoring the car during testing.\n\nWhile many companies are pursuing driverless technology and see it as a game changer for car ownership and transportation, no one has figured out how to cash in yet.\n\nWith expectations reset and the team more focused, people on the Titan project said morale has improved under Mr. Mansfield. Still, one of the biggest challenges is holding onto talented engineers because self-driving technology is one of the hottest things in Silicon Valley, and Apple is hardly the only company working on it.\n\n\n\n", "output": "Apple has shifted its attention away from developing commercially available autonomous vehicles, according to an article in the New York Times. Apple is now looking to work with car makers in order to offer its autonomous vehicle technology and has shelved plans to build its own self-driving car. The company is planning to use conventional vehicles fitted with autonomous technology to ferry employees back and forth at its Silicon Valley offices in both Palo Alto and Cupertino."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple drops plans to build its own self-driving car \n Apple is following the road taken by Waymo, the autonomous vehicle subsidiary of Google-parent Alphabet, and downshifting on its still-unannounced self-driving car project, according to a report in the New York Times.\n\nThe company has been working on its automotive technology under the internal code name \u201cProject Titan\u201d since at least 2014, and once intended to build its own vehicle from start to finish, creating a true \u201cApple Car\u201d.\n\nNow it\u2019s put the car-building side of the project on hold, perhaps indefinitely, as it instead focuses on creating and perfecting the software and hardware necessary to get a self-driving car on the streets.\n\nApple is now planning on working with other car-makers to get its self-driving tech into the garages and driveways of customers, according to the paper. One upcoming example of that collaboration: an autonomous shuttle service that will ferry employees back and forth between the company\u2019s Silicon Valley offices in Palo Alto and Cupertino.\n\nThat project, which will use conventional cars with self-driving kit bolted on, is known as \u201cPail\u201d, standing for Palo Alto to Infinite Loop, the street address of the company\u2019s main campus. The name highlights the delays in the project, since Apple\u2019s main campus is already in the process of being moved to Apple Park, an enormous ring-shaped office down the road.\n\nIt\u2019s a similar switch to that announced by Waymo in December 2016. Then, as the company announced its new name and status, separate from Alphabet\u2019s X labs, it also revealed it was partnering with car firms, starting with Fiat Chrysler, to provide the bodies to go with its brains.\n\n\u201cWe are a self-driving technology company,\u201d Waymo\u2019s incoming chief executive John Krafcik said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been really clear that we\u2019re not a car company, although there\u2019s been some confusion on that point. We\u2019re not in the business of making better cars. We\u2019re in the business of making better drivers.\u201d\n\nAs recently as August that year, the company had been explicitly focused on building its own vehicle, and only releasing its creations to the public when they were capable of full automation, also known as \u201clevel-five\u201d automation.\n\nThat is the tier of competence at which a car can travel from A to B without ever needing human intervention, which engineers at the firm said was crucial for safety. They claimed relying on a human to take control in the rare situations they are required to is less, not more, safe, since it\u2019s nearly impossible to force a passenger in an autonomous vehicle to remain alert enough to drive safely with a moment\u2019s notice.\n\nApple did not respond to request for comment.", "output": "Apple has shifted its attention away from developing commercially available autonomous vehicles, according to an article in the New York Times. Apple is now looking to work with car makers in order to offer its autonomous vehicle technology and has shelved plans to build its own self-driving car. The company is planning to use conventional vehicles fitted with autonomous technology to ferry employees back and forth at its Silicon Valley offices in both Palo Alto and Cupertino."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Thousands of salmon escape from US farm, threatening native fish \n Thousands of Atlantic salmon may have escaped into Pacific waters after a net pen holding 305,000 of the fish was damaged at a farm in Washington state, leading wildlife officials to call for anglers to catch as many of the fish as possible.\n\nThe fish farm\u2019s owner, Cooke Aquaculture, said on Wednesday that several thousand Atlantic salmon may have ended up in the waters around the San Juan Islands after part of a net suffered a \u201cstructural failure\u201d.\n\nThe Canada-based company \u2013 which purchased the 30-year-old farm last year \u2013 blamed Saturday\u2019s incident on \u201cexceptionally high tides and currents coinciding with this week\u2019s solar eclipse\u201d.\n\nThe company initially told wildlife officials that an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 of the fish in the net pen had escaped, but said that the exact number would be determined once tidal conditions improved enough to allow divers to fully assess the farm. On Wednesday, the company told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that the number could be \u201cmuch higher\u201d.\n\n\u201cIt appears that many fish are still contained within the nets,\u201d the company said in a statement. \u201cFarm crews are on site, working to stabilize the farm and to recover as many fish as possible, when conditions permit.\u201d\n\nFishermen in the region \u2013 out hoping to catch Chinook salmon in recent days \u2013 said the Atlantic salmon had already been turning up in their nets. \u201cIt\u2019s a devastation,\u201d Ellie Kinley, whose family has fished Puget Sound for generations, told the Associated Press. \u201cWe don\u2019t want those fish preying on our baby salmon. And we don\u2019t want them getting up in the rivers.\u201d\n\nDespite being listed in Washington State as an invasive species capable of preying on native populations of fish and spreading disease, Atlantic salmon are a major aquaculture species in Washington state as well as in British Columbia.\n\nWashington state\u2019s fish and wildlife department said it was working closely with the company to address the incident. On Tuesday the department encouraged anglers to join them in the effort by catching as many of the fish \u2013 which weigh up to 4.5kg (10lb) as possible.\n\n\u201cOur first concern, of course, is to protect native fish species,\u201d Ron Warren of the department said in a statement. \u201cSo we\u2019d like to see as many of these escaped fish caught as possible.\u201d\n\nAs environmentalists voiced concerns that the Atlantic salmon could crossbreed with the Pacific salmon or compete with them for food, researchers were divided on the potential impact.\n\n\u201cThese things are kind of couch potatoes,\u201d Michael Rust of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration told the Seattle Times. \u201cThey are domesticated. Imagine a dairy cow getting lost out in the Serengeti. It doesn\u2019t last very long.\u201d\n\n\n\nOthers warned that there was not enough research to confidently predict what might happen next. \u201cEverybody wants to know, what does it mean? And the honest answer is we don\u2019t know,\u201d said John Volpe, a University of Victoria professor who has studied Atlantic salmon released in the Pacific. \u201cImpact is definitely on the table. But it runs from something quite modest all the way to something very serious.\u201d\n\nHe pointed to research he had done more than a decade ago which suggested that Atlantic salmon was capable of surviving, spawning and producing viable offspring in Pacific waters. But a dearth of research in recent years meant little was known about how well the fish had managed to establish themselves in the wild.\n\nThis weekend\u2019s escape was large, but not unprecedented, he said, pointing to the deliberate release of Atlantic salmon on the west coast in the early 1900s. A 2001 memorandum from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration noted that during a three-year span in the late 1990s, some 600,000 Atlantic salmon had escaped into the Pacific.\n\nBut this latest incident is different, said Volpe, as it comes at a time when many Pacific salmon populations are struggling to survive against a backdrop that includes urbanisation and climate change.\n\n\u201cThe last thing they need is yet one more challenge to their long term viability,\u201d he said. \u201cGiven the very precarious state of most Pacific salmon populations \u2013 they\u2019re basically teetering on the edge \u2013 you don\u2019t need some catastrophic event to push them over. All they need is a nudge.\u201d", "output": "Thousands of Atlantic salmon may have escaped from a farm owned by Canadian company Cooke Aquaculture in the US\u2019s Washington state after a net was damaged. The company, which blamed the escape on unusual tides and currents related to the solar eclipse, originally estimated that up to 5,000 fish may have escaped, but now admits the number could be \u201cmuch higher\u201d. The fish may have entered Pacific waters where they could prey on native species and spread disease. Anglers are being encouraged to assist by catching as many of the fish as possible.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How nickel mining for EVs is costing the environment \n As countries the world over legislate to phase out petrol and diesel cars, attention is turning to the environmental impact of mining the materials needed for electric vehicle batteries.\n\n\n\nThis additional scrutiny has largely focused on ethical concerns with cobalt and lithium supply chains, despite Tesla CEO Elon Musk\u2019s observation last year that the lithium ion batteries his vehicles use are mostly made of nickel and graphite, with lithium itself merely \u201cthe salt on the salad\u201d.\n\nBut the extraction of nickel \u2013 predominately mined in Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Russia and the Philippines \u2013 comes at an environmental and health cost.\n\nPlumes of sulphur dioxide choking the skies, churned earth blanketed in cancerous dust, rivers running blood-red \u2013 environmental campaigners have painted a grim picture of the nickel mines and smelters feeding the electric vehicle industry.\n\nThe Philippines this year closed or suspended 17 nickel mines because of environmental concerns.\n\nMiners struggling with low nickel prices have welcomed rising demand from an industry that the International Energy Agency estimates will deploy up to 70m electric vehicles by 2025 (pdf).\n\nIt is coming on too slowly for some \u2013 the Ravensthorpe mine in Western Australia became the latest in a long line of nickel projects to be marked for closure in September. But on the same day in the same state, Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP Billiton unveiled plans for a $43m (\u00a333.5m) processing plant to supply 100,000 tonnes of nickel sulfate per year to the emerging battery market.\n\nCarey Smith, a senior analyst at Alto Capital, says BHP Billiton has deep enough pockets to hold on for the electric vehicle boom, but notes it is only doing so after failing to sell its unprofitable Nickel West business due to an estimated A$1bn (\u00a3616m) in environmental clean-up liabilities.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019ve got 40 years worth of slag, which isn\u2019t the cleanest material in world,\u201d Smith says. \u201cIt needs to be disposed of carefully, burying it somehow or covering it with clay.\u201d\n\nSouth32, which spun-off from BHP Billiton in 2015, runs the Cerro Matoso mine in Colombia, where residents of nearby communities and mine workers have reported elevated rates of deformities and respiratory problems associated with exposure to pollution generated by nickel mining and smelting (pdf).\n\nA BHP Billiton spokesperson told the Guardian all the company\u2019s projects met environmental approval requirements.\n\nDr David Santillo, a senior scientist at Greenpeace Research Laboratories, says : \u201cThe mining of nickel-rich ores themselves, combined with their crushing and transportation by conveyor belt, truck or train, can generate high loadings of dust in the air, dust that itself contains high concentrations of potentially toxic metals, including nickel itself, copper, cobalt and chromium.\n\n\u201cWe have to get smarter at recovering and reusing the vast quantities that we have already extracted from the earth, rather than relying on continued pursuit of new reserves of ever poorer quality and at substantial environmental cost.\u201d\n\nFrench carmaker Renault, producer of the Zoe, Europe\u2019s best-selling electric vehicle in 2016, said that it recycles almost 70% of the battery weight, although did not specify what proportion of nickel is recycled.\n\nTesla claims that the nickel in its vehicles is 100% reusable at the end of life, but refused to disclose to the Guardian where the nickel in its car batteries is sourced from.\n\nIn a statement a Tesla spokesperson said suppliers were \u201cthree or four layers removed from Tesla. It is obviously quite difficult to have perfect knowledge about everything that happens this far down in the supply chain, but we\u2019ve worked extremely hard to gather as much information as possible and to ensure that our standards are being met.\u201dRobert Baylis, from the mining consultancy Roskill, says entering the electric vehicle supply chain will see nickel miners attract additional scrutiny over carbon emissions.\n\nA 2009 study published in PLOS One concluded that the global warming potential of mining and processing nickel was the eighth highest of 63 metals over the previous year. However, a 2016 Union of Concerned Scientists study (pdf) found that the manufacture and operation of electric vehicles produced less than half the carbon emissions of comparable petrol and diesel-powered vehicles.\n\nRussian mining giant Norilsk Nickel has responded to pressure on carbon emissions and claims to have reduced its use of coal-fired energy by 49% in 2016 (pdf).\n\n\u201cIt is of strategic importance to us as a key player in the supply chain that is enabling the growth of electric vehicles and clean energy solutions,\u201d says Larisa Zelkova, vice-president at Norilsk Nickel.\n\nThe company has a lot of ground to make up \u2013 its home city of Norilsk is rated one of the most polluted cities in the world, thanks largely to the 350,000 tonnes of sulphur dioxide emitted annually by the city\u2019s nickel factory, which was decommissioned last year. In 2016, Norilsk Nickel made headlines when an overflow of oxidised nickel waste turned the city\u2019s Daldykan river red.\n\nAndy Whitmore of the London Mining Network, a coalition of anti-mining campaign groups, says nickel producers should sign up to international standards such as the Initiative on Responsible Mining Assurance.\n\n\u201cI am not sure that nickel has got the attention it deserves,\u201d he says. \u201cAlthough the mining industry has responded to its critics over the years, mainly we would argue by changes in policies rather than true change in practice, I don\u2019t believe the pressure around [electric] cars has made a difference to date.\u201d", "output": "As adoption of electric vehicles becomes more widespread, the impact of mining the materials required is becoming increasingly apparent. The material is predominately mined in Australia, Canada, Russia, Indonesia and the Philippines. The process of mining nickel-rich ores generates significant amounts of waste material, such as slag and significant amounts of dust, containing copper, cobalt and chromium."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Audi to put rooftop solar panels on future EVs \n Audi has revealed that it has developed some new solar technology with Chinese solar specialist Hanergy that will bring solar roofs to future cars in their electric vehicle range.\n\nThis new solar roof will give Audi\u2019s electric vehicles and extended range and can be used for things like air conditioning heated seats and more.\n\nThin-film solar cells in panoramic glass roofs of Audi models: Audi and Alta Devices, a subsidiary of the Chinese solar-cell specialist, Hanergy, are working together on this development project. With this cooperation, the partners aim to generate solar energy to increase the range of electric vehicles. The first prototype is to be built by the end of 2017. As the first step, Audi and Hanergy want to integrate Alta Devices\u2019 thin-film solar cells into a panoramic glass roof. In the future, almost the entire roof surface is to be covered with solar cells. The electricity they generate will flow into the car\u2019s electrical system and can supply for example the air-conditioning system or the seat heaters \u2013 a gain in efficiency that has a direct positive impact on the range of an electric vehicle.\n\nYou can find out more information about these new solar panels that Audi will be using in their electric vehicles at the link below.\n\nSource Audi\n\n\n\nLatest Geeky Gadgets Deals\n\nSome of our articles include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, Geeky Gadgets may earn an affiliate commission. Learn about our Disclosure Policy", "output": "Audi has partnered with Chinese solar specialist Hanergy to develop new technology to put solar roofs on its electric vehicle (EV) range. It plans to integrate thin-film solar cells into a panoramic glass roof, to give Audi\u2019s EVs an extended range and to power air conditioning and heated seats. The first prototype is expected to be built by the end of 2017."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Uber bookings increase in Q2 despite string of scandals \n For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBreaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nUber on Wednesday reported a 16 per cent increase in quarterly bookings and a smaller loss than the previous period as the ride-services company showed signs of inching toward profitability.\n\nThe shrinking losses reflect Uber's efforts to rein in massive spending on subsidies for both drivers and customers even as it battles rivals in tough markets like South Asia.\n\nThe San Francisco-based company said it lost $645m in the second quarter, 9 per cent less than the $708m loss in the first quarter and 35 per cent less than the $991m loss in the fourth quarter of last year. For all of 2016, Uber lost about $3bn.\n\nRead more Uber hikes taxi fare prices 80% in Hong Kong amid more legal battles\n\nAs a private company, Uber is not required to publicly report its financial results, but earlier this year it began offering a glimpse of its performance by disclosing certain numbers.\n\nThe continued growth in ridership suggests Uber's core business has so far weathered a string of scandals. But the scale of its losses are unprecedented in Silicon Valley and executives have declined to offer a timetable for profitability.\n\nUber is facing allegations of sexual harassment, a lawsuit alleging trade-secrets theft and a federal criminal probe over its use of software to evade city regulators, among other alleged misconduct.\n\nSome investors have eyed Uber's $68bn valuation with scepticism, and four mutual fund investors disclosed this week that they had marked down the value of their Uber shares by as much as 15 per cent.\n\nUber said its gross ride bookings for the second quarter reached $8.7bn, up from $7.5bn in the first quarter. The number of global trips on its service increased 150 per cent over the previous year, with growth strongest in developing markets.\n\nThose numbers include trips in Russia, where Uber last month merged its operations with local rival Yandex.\n\nAdjusted net revenue, which reflects Uber's cut of ride fares, rose to $1.75bn from $1.5bn in the first quarter, Uber said.\n\nSince 2010, Uber has raised more than $15bn from investors, allowing it to operate at a significant loss. The company said it has $6.6bn in the bank, down from around $7.2 bn in the first quarter.\n\nBusiness news: In pictures Show all 13 1 / 13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled \u2013 leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: \u201cEurope\u2019s largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: \"You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share\" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid \u00a33.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a \"bad\" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rue\u2019s contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped \u00a34m off of Flybe\u2019s revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airline\u2019s estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.\n\nJan Dawson, chief analyst at Jackdaw Research, cautioned that Uber's reporting is selective and excludes parts of the business's financial model that may show the company in a less favourable light.\n\n\"There's clearly growth in the numbers reported by Uber here,\" Dawson said, but they should be taken \"with a big pinch of salt.\"\n\nThe company is searching for a new chief executive and also lacks a chief financial officer, highly unusual for a company of its size. The former CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick was ousted in June, and it is unclear how the absence of a CEO will affect the current quarter's financial results.\n\nNews website Axios first reported Uber's second-quarter results on Wednesday.", "output": "Uber has reported a 16% increase in bookings and a reduced loss in Q2 2017, despite the company being embroiled in several harassment cases and a string of million-dollar losses. Uber is dealing with a lawsuit over theft of trade secrets, a federal investigation over evasion of regulators and numerous sexual harassment allegations. Jan Dawson, chief analyst at Jackdaw Research, cautioned that Uber's reporting is selective and that the numbers should be taken \"with a big pinch of salt\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brazil abolishes Amazon reserve containing metal deposits \n The Brazilian president Michel Temer has abolished an Amazonian reserve the size of Denmark, prompting concerns of an influx of mineral companies, road-builders and workers into the species-rich forest.\n\nThe dissolution of the Renca reserve \u2013 which spans 46,000 sq km on the border of the Amapa and Para states \u2013 was described by one opposition senator Randolfe Rodrigues of the Sustainability Network party, as the \u201cbiggest attack on the Amazon of the last 50 years\u201d.\n\n\n\nConservationists said it will open the door for mining companies to enter Renca \u2013 the Portuguese acronym for the National Reserve of Copper and Associates \u2013 which was set up in 1984 and encompasses nine protected areas.\n\n\n\nMore than 20 domestic and multinational firms have expressed an interest in the region which is thought to contain deposits of gold, copper, tantalum, iron ore, nickel and manganese.\n\n\n\nThe government said the reserve is being abolished to attract foreign investment, improve exports and boost an economy that has been struggling to emerge from its deepest recession in decades.\n\nIt claimed the change of status would not affect conservation areas and indigenous territories in the region, but Amazon activists warned commercial exploitation by big companies in the past has been followed by illegal land grabbers, artisanal miners and road builders.\n\nChristian Poirier of Amazon Watch said Temer\u2019s decision had to be seen in the context of wider efforts by his government to erode protected areas, weaken environmental licensing, and diminish indigenous rights in the interests of wealthy supporters in the extractive industries.\n\n\u201cThe abolition of Renca will wreak havoc on the forest and indigenous communities in the interests of the small group of economically powerful groups who are keeping Temer in power,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is the largest assault so far in a package of threats.\u201d\n\n\u201cA gold rush in the region will create irreversible damage to local cultures,\u201d warned Mauricio Voivodic, executive director of WWF-Brazil. \u201cIn addition to demographic exploitation, deforestation, loss of biodiversity and water resources, this could lead to an intensification of land conflicts and threats to indigenous peoples and traditional populations.\u201d\n\nVERGONHA!Est\u00e3o leiloando nossa Amaz\u00f4nia! N\u00e3o podemos destruir nossas \u00e1reas protegidas em prol de interesses privados https://t.co/WvtHdaKYYX \u2014 Gisele B\u00fcndchen (@giseleofficial) August 24, 2017\n\nSince plotting the impeachment of his running mate Dilma Rousseff last year, Temer has moved rapidly to unravel environmental protections to please the powerful agricultural and mining lobbies. The only pause in this policy came earlier this year when Temer vetoed a bill that would have opened up swathes of forest to development. At the time, the president said he was responding to an appeal on Twitter by the supermodel, Gisele B\u00fcndchen.\n\nBut Temer has since approved several similar measures, including the latest one this week, which prompted an angry response from B\u00fcndchen. \u201cSHAME! We are auctioning off our Amazon! We can\u2019t destroy our protected areas for private interests,\u201d she tweeted.", "output": "An Amazonian reserve the size of Denmark has been abolished by Brazil\u2019s president in what one opposition senator has described as the \u201cbiggest attack on the Amazon of the last 50 years\u201d. Michel Temer dissolved the Renca reserve, which spans 46,000 sq km, in a move that campaigners fear will lead to an influx of mineral and mining companies and road-builders. The reserve, which was established in 1984, includes nine protected areas and is believed to contain deposits of copper, gold, iron ore, manganese, nickel and tantalum. Over 20 firms have already expressed interest in the area."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Oaktree Capital makes Vistra Energy its\u00a0largest holding \n According to aggregated second quarter 13F filing data, the second-largest stock buy among significant value funds last quarter was Vistra Energy Corp. ( VST, Financial). Vistra made it into the top 10 thanks to activity from one large investor, Howard Marks (Trades, Portfolio).\n\nDuring the quarter Marks acquired 50.3 million shares of the company at an average price of $16.80 per share, making it the largest holding in his equity portfolio accounting for 25.3% of the $3.34 billion equity portfolio managed by his firm Oaktree Capital Management.\n\nOne of the greats\n\nMarks is one of the greatest value and distressed debt investors alive today, and his ownership of more than 50 million shares of Vistra is a huge vote of confidence in the company and its management. It also signals that he believes the firm is significantly undervalued.\n\nSo what's to like about Vistra?\n\nWell, at first glance there's nothing that stands out. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.6 billion and an enterprise value of $11.2 billion. The company is an energy company that is focused on energy and power generation markets in Texas via two subsidiaries, Luminant and TXU Energy. Luminant generates and sells electricity and related products from its fleet of generation facilities totaling approximately 17,000 megawatts of generation in Texas while TXU Energy sells retail electricity and services to approximately 1.7 million residential and business customers in Texas.\n\nBased on figures for the end of 2016, the company is currently trading at a price-book (P/B) value of 1.1 and a price to tangible book value of 4.2. Wall Street estimates suggest the firm will earn 59 cents for 2017 giving a forward price-earnings (P/E) ratio of 23.7.\n\nRecovering from the lows\n\nVistra's back story is an interesting one. The company was formerly known as TXU and was taken private in 2007 following a leveraged buyout that left the company with more than $40 billion in debt; Berkshire Hathaway ( BRK.A, Financial)( BRK.B, Financial) invested $2 billion in the debt and in 2013 lost nearly half of its investment. Plunging natural-gas prices tipped the company into bankruptcy in 2014. After restructuring, the new, leaner Vistra emerged from the ashes of TXU last year, and after strengthening its balance sheet, the company looks like a cheap defensive investment. Net gearing is around 54% or two turns of estimated 2017 EBITDA. Peers such as NRG ( NRG, Financial), Dynegy ( DYN, Financial) and Calpine ( CPN, Financial) have ratios of around six times.\n\nAs well as a strong balance sheet, the company also has a robust free cash flow, which is estimated to come in at around $745 million to $925 million for 2017, giving a free cash flow yield of around 12.2% at the high end. Wall Street estimates of how much the company could pay out in dividends in the bull case are as high as $2 per share, giving a yield of around 11.4% (a more conservative projection is $1 per share giving a yield of 5.6% and leaving room for expansion through acquisitions).\n\nCheap, high-quality growth\n\nFor Marks, Vistra seems to be a simple bankruptcy recovery play. The company has a strong balance sheet with room for growth as well as plenty of free cash flow, putting the company in prime position to take advantage of the depressed Texas power market. Any recovery in energy prices would be a boon for Vistra. Electricity is around $25 per megawatt/hour in Texas; the 2017 average is expected to be about $30. A $5 per megawatt/hour, or 16%, increase in Texas power prices would lift Vistra\u2019s annual EBITDA by about $270 million.\n\nWhat's more, wholesale supplier Luminant's largest customer is residential supply company TXU, which means income is sticky and Vistra can offer customers better prices through vertical integration.\n\nAs an example of what the company can do, management recently closed a $350 million deal to buy a 1,054 MW gas power plant in West Texas to boost capacity, grid flexibility and give the company exposure to deeply discounted gas supply from the Permian Basin.\n\nDisclosure: The author owns no share mentioned.", "output": "Oaktree Capital Management acquired 50.3 million shares in\u00a0Vistra Energy at an average price of\u00a0$16.80 each, making the company the largest holding in its $3.34bn equity portfolio. Oaktree founder Howard Marks is considered one of the great\u00a0value and distressed debt investors, making the acquisition a significant show of support for\u00a0Vistra, which is\u00a0focused on energy and power generation markets based in Texas."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Musk said to have overruled\u00a0concerns about self-driving cars \n When Elon Musk announced last fall that all of Tesla\u2019s cars would be capable of \u201cfull autonomy,\u201d engineers who were working on the suite of self-driving features, known as Autopilot, did not believe the system was ready to safely control a car, according to the Wall Street Journal.\n\nThe WSJ report sheds more light on the tension that exists between the Autopilot team and Musk. CNN previously reported in July that Musk \u201cbrushed aside certain concerns as negligible compared to Autopilot's overall lifesaving potential,\u201d and that employees who worked on Autopilot \u201cstruggled\u201d to make the same reconciliation.\n\nSome employees have left Tesla over the way the company markets Autopilot\n\nA major cause of this conflict has apparently been the way Musk chose to market Autopilot. The decision to refer to Autopilot as a \u201cfull self-driving\u201d solution \u2014 language that makes multiple appearances on the company\u2019s website, especially during the process of ordering a car \u2014 was the spark for multiple departures, including Sterling Anderson, who was in charge of the Autopilot team during last year\u2019s announcement. Anderson left the company two months later, and was hit with a lawsuit from Tesla that alleged breach of contract, employee poaching, and theft of data related to Autopilot, though the suit was eventually settled.\n\nA year before that, a lead engineer warned the company that Autopilot wasn\u2019t ready to be released shortly before the original rollout. Evan Nakano, the senior system design and architecture engineer at the time, wrote that development of Autopilot was based on \u201creckless decision making that has potentially put customer lives at risk,\u201d according to documents obtained by the WSJ.\n\nWhen reached for comment, a Tesla spokesperson referred back to the company website, where a disclaimer for Autopilot reads that \u201cself-driving functionality is dependent upon extensive software validation and regulatory approval.\u201d\n\nIn between those two particular inflection points mentioned in the report, a driver died while using Autopilot for the first time. Last summer, 40-year-old Joshua Brown\u2019s Model S collided with an 18-wheeler on a Florida highway, killing him instantly. In January of this year, an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found no defects in the Autopilot system, and that the feature dropped crash rates by 40 percent. Meanwhile, the US National Transportation Safety Board is set to vote on the cause of the crash in September.", "output": "When Elon Musk announced last autumn that all\u00a0Tesla\u2019s cars would be capable of \u201cfull autonomy\u201d engineers who were working on the suite of self-driving features, known as Autopilot, did not believe the system was ready to safely control a car, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. Key employees have also reportedly left Tesla over concerns about how\u00a0the company markets Autopilot as a \u201cfull self-driving\u201d solution. A Tesla spokesperson referred to a disclaimer on the company\u2019s website for Autopilot that reads \u201cself-driving functionality is dependent upon extensive software validation and regulatory approval\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Engie buys 605 MW Brazilian wind project from Renova \n Renova Energia SA (BVMF:RNEW11) announced on Wednesday it has signed a deal to sell the rights to the 605-MW Umburanas wind complex project in Brazil\u2019s Bahia state to a unit of France\u2019s Engie SA (EPA:ENGI).\n\nThe Brazilian renewables company said in a statement it will assign the project-related rights, obligations and other covenants to Engie Brasil Energia SA in exchange for a payment of BRL 15 million (USD 4.8m/EUR 4m), subject to adjustments. The deal includes the rights to the 355.5-MW Umburanas I Project, the 108.9-MW Umburanas II and the remaining wind potential in the region.\n\nRenova noted that the sale of the scheme will reduce its capital expenditure (Capex) requirements for the next 18 months, during which period the company was supposed to invest in the Umburanas II Project. That scheme was scheduled for completion by January 2019 under a contract won in an energy auction in 2014.\n\nThe company once again stressed that this development does not affect its ongoing discussions with Brookfield Energia Renovavel SA, a unit of Canadian asset manager Brookfield Asset Management Inc (TSE:BAM.A). Last month, Brookfield Energia Renovavel won a 60-day exclusivity period to conduct due diligence ahead of a possible stake buy in Renova.\n\n(BRL 1.0 = USD 0.318/EUR 0.270)\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Engie Brasil Energia, a unit of French utility Engie, has signed a deal to acquire the 605 MW Umburanas wind complex project from Brazilian firm Renova Energia. The BRL15m ($4.8m) deal includes the 355.5 MW Umburanas I Project and the 108.9 MW Umburanas II, as well as the remaining wind potential in Brazil\u2019s Bahia state region. Renova said the move will reduce its capex requirements for the next 18 months, but does not affect its negotiations with Brookfield Energia Renovavel, a unit of Canadian asset manager Brookfield Asset Management."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Iberdrola enters Mexican solar market with 275 MW of projects \n Iberdrola has begun to build two PV projects in Mexico: Hermosillo Solar Plant, a 105 MW project located in the state of Sonora, and Santiago Solar Plant, a 170 MW project in San Luis de Potosi.\n\nThese projects are Iberdrola\u2019s first moves into large-scale solar, although the company has been active in Mexico for several years, and has already installed around 6 GW of wind and gas generation capacity in the country.\n\nPopular content\n\nThe two PV plants are covered by long term PPAs with private customers, to whom Iberdrola will supply electricity and clean energy certificates. Iberdrola states that it chose Mexico thanks to its \u2018excellent regulatory and solar resource conditions\u2019, and names the country as a strategic location in its internationalization strategy.", "output": "Spanish utility Iberdrola will make its first foray into the Mexican solar market with two large-scale projects: the 105 MW Hermosillo solar plant in the state of Sonora, and the 170 MW Santiago Solar Plant in San Luis de Potosi. Both are covered by long-term power purchase agreements with private customers and add to Iberdrola's existing Mexico portfolio of 6 GW of wind and gas generation capacity."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EON starts first of 60 foundations for Baltic wind farm \n German energy company E.ON says it's deployed the first of 60 \"monopiles\" for a wind farm in the Baltic Sea. Photo courtesy of E.ON\n\nAug. 24 (UPI) -- German energy company E.ON said Thursday it laid the first of the 60 foundations for a wind farm development in national waters of the Baltic Sea. The German company said it's deploying the 60 so-called monopiles about 25 miles offshore. Foundations for a common substation were installed last month and the entire project could start generating energy for German consumers by 2019. Advertisement\n\nNine countries that share a border with the North Sea -- Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden -- agreed last year to improve infrastructure to support offshore wind. Germany leads among European nations in terms of offshore wind energy growth, though Great Britain has more offshore wind capacity installed.\n\nGermany has one of the more ambitious renewable energy objectives in the European Union. Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks stressed the importance of implementing the multilateral Paris climate deal and said in July that \"we intend to further expand our commitment in line with international pledges.\"\n\nThe Arkona wind farm at peak capacity will be able to meet the energy needs of around 400,000 average households from 2019 onwards.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\"Compared to conventionally produced electricity, Arkona will save up to 1.2 million tons of CO2 annually,\" the German company said.\n\nE.ON added it was also introducing new steel foundations for offshore wind farms that have a new coating that prevents corrosion and is therefore more environmentally friendly.\n\nThe Arkona project is the result of a joint venture between E.ON and Norwegian energy company Statoil.\n\n\"Being partner in Arkona windfarm is in line with Statoil's strategy to gradually complement our oil and gas portfolio with profitable renewable energy and other low-carbon solutions,\" spokesperson Elin A. Isaksen said in a statement to UPI.\n\nStatoil is one of the top natural gas suppliers to the German economy.", "output": "German electricity company EON has begun work on the Arkona wind farm, located in the Baltic Sea, by laying the foundations for the first of 60 monopiles. The project, a joint venture between EON and Norwegian firm Statoil, could meet the energy needs of 400,000 German households from 2019 onwards, and save up to 1.2 million tons of CO2 annually."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facts fail Rick Perry's attempts to show Obama killed coal \n When Energy Secretary Rick Perry launched a study of the country\u2019s electric grid earlier this year, he did not hide the fact that the Trump administration hoped the study would help the coal industry.\n\nIn a memo ordering the review, Perry suggested the coal industry was struggling because of \u201ccontinued regulatory burdens, as well as mandates and tax and subsidy policies\u201d \u2014 in other words, President Obama\u2019s environmental agenda. And in remarks following the launch of the study he suggested that America\u2019s electric grid may be unreliable because of our increased reliance on renewable energy, leading to national security concerns.\n\nBut those claims apparently did not hold up under scrutiny. The Energy Department released an official version of the study late Wednesday saying that cheap natural gas prices, driven by a boom in domestic natural gas production, have led to the decline in coal-fired power plants. The report also acknowledges that renewables have not threatened grid reliability.\n\n\u201cWe got into this position because the administration violated one of the cardinal rules they teach young lawyers in law school,\u201d said Don Furman, a former executive at the PacifiCorp electric utility and director of Fix the Grid West, a nonprofit that advocates for renewables. \u201cNever ask a question you don\u2019t know the answer to.\u201d\n\nThe Department of Energy\u2019s report calls for federal support to keep coal-fired and nuclear power plants running, describing the current moment as a \u201ccritical juncture\u201d for many of those struggling plants. The report also suggests that coal and nuclear plants are more reliable in extreme circumstances like natural disasters or cyber attacks because they tend be to located near the places where the power is used and store their fuel on-site, unlike renewable energy plants, the report authors say.\n\n\u201cThe core objective of electricity regulation has always been, and should continue to be, to ensure a reliable and resilient electric supply system,\u201d Perry said in a letter accompanying the study. \u201cIt is important for policy makers to consider their intended and unintended effects.\u201d\n\nPublication of the study, originally scheduled for June, was delayed after a draft showing that renewable energy sources like wind and solar did not threaten reliability was leaked to the media. Renewable energy advocates expressed concern that the administration might change the report along political lines, and the leak created pressure to avoid drastic revisions.\n\nWhat \u2014 if any \u2014 effect the official study will have is far from certain, in part because of the somewhat muted report findings and its disjointed nature. The study authors suggest a number of measures that could keep coal-fired power plants running, including a rethinking of electricity markets and use of the Federal Power Act to \u201censure system reliability and resilience,\u201d which could be a precursor to a moratorium on the closing of coal-fired power plants. (The Trump administration reportedly rejected a request for a moratorium earlier this month). But implementing many of these findings would be unprecedented \u2014 the federal government typically leaves most decisions about electricity production to state authorities. Changing that \u2014 even with a strong scientific basis \u2014 is easier said than done.\n\nWrite to Justin Worland at justin.worland@time.com.", "output": "US Energy Secretary Rick Perry\u2019s attempts to demonstrate that the Obama administration obstructed the coal industry have failed, after a review found that renewable energy was, in fact, a reliable source of grid power. Perry\u2019s view that \u201ccontinued regulatory burdens\u201d, taxes and subsidies from the previous administration, as well as an increased focus on renewable sources, jeopardised the grid was proven to be false by an Energy Department study. The report encourages further federal support for coal and nuclear plants, given their reliability during crises.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Consumers uncertain about using autonomous vehicles \n A lot of people may still have serious reservations about riding in fully autonomous vehicles, a new survey from Gartner indicates.\n\nThe Gartner Consumer Trends in Automotive people surveyed about 1,500 people in the United States and Germany from April through May, and found that 55 percent of the people they spoke to would not ride in a fully autonomous car.\n\nHowever, just over 70 percent would ride in a car that was partially autonomous. Gartner defined partially autonomous vehicles as those that could drive autonomously, but allow a driver to retake control of the car if needed.\n\nAdvocates of autonomous driving have said the technology will actually make driving safer, since statistics indicate human behavior is the major cause of most auto crashes.\n\nBut many consumers familiar with the tendency of other electronic devices to sometimes malfunction or perform erratically still seem to have trouble accepting the idea of being held in a vehicle that could fail.\n\n\"The big issue is that people are afraid of being in vehicles where they cannot exercise some control,\" said Gartner research director Mike Ramsey, in an interview with CNBC.", "output": "Roughly 55% of consumers would not be comfortable riding in a fully automated vehicle, according to the Gartner Consumer Trends in Automotive survey. More than 70% would accept a car that was partially autonomous, though. Automation advocates believe the tech can reduce danger, given that human behaviour is the top cause of crashes. However, consumers have expressed concern over a total lack of control, as well as worrying about the tech malfunctioning or being unable to handle emergency situations."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Real-world climate conditions offer reality check for perovskite \n Research published by AMOLF has shown that in cloudy climates, such as that of northern Europe, tandem perovskite/silicon solar cells do not perform significantly better than standard silicon cells. The research also outlines a series of optimizations to improve perovskite quality, electrical contacts and light management, which could allow the cells to realize their potential and perform at much higher levels.\n\nThe researchers developed a model to simulate state-of-the-art perovskite solar cells, by combining an optical model based on EQE measurements with an analytical electrical model based on current-voltage characteristics.\n\nResults showed that, even with cells rated at higher efficiencies, performance of tandem perovskite/silicon cells would only be marginally higher than that of the silicon cell alone, in the cloudy climates of the test locations in Utrecht, the Netherlands and Denver, USA.\n\nDiscounting all parasitic absorption in the transparent contacts of the perovskite cell, say the researchers, the tandem cells exhibited efficiency advantages of between 1.8% and 3.3%, far less than expected under ideal conditions.\n\nPopular content\n\n\u201cThis has been a surprising finding,\u201d states lead author of the study Moritz Futscher. \u201cWe have always thought that tandem cells operate at lower efficiency under low light conditions, but we are surprised that the effect is this large.\n\nThe research, published in ACS Energy Letters, also shows that tweaking factors such as the parasitic cell resistance, optical losses and nonradiative recombination could boost this efficiency by as much as 14%, including in cloudy or low light conditions.\n\n\u201cPerovskite solar cells have shown breathtaking development in efficiency in recent years,\u201d states the research publication. \u201cYet, our results highlight the need for a concerted effort in material development, device design and light management strategies to further increase the efficiency of perovskite cells, and develop highly efficient perovskite/Si tandem solar cells.\u201d", "output": "Tandem perovskite/silicon solar cells perform only slight better than silicon-only cells in cloudy conditions in the Netherlands and the US, according to researchers from the AMOLF institute in Holland. However, adjustments including parasitic cell resistance, optical losses and nonradiative recombination in the tandem cells can boost efficiency by as much as 14 percentage points to above 38%"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Solar brick powers UK homes \n Just months after the debut of Tesla\u2019s long-awaited Solar Roof tiles, which it has begun installing on the homes of its employees, a group of researchers from the University of Exeter have come up with another BIPV solution \u2013 a glass block, which can be incorporated into the fabric of a building, replacing traditional brick and mortar, and is designed to collect solar energy and convert it to electricity.\n\nThe block, called Solar Squared, has intelligent optics that focus the incoming solar radiation onto small solar cells, enhancing the overall energy generated by each solar cell. The electricity generated in this way is then available to power the building, be stored or used to charge electric vehicles.\n\nThe researchers believe that in addition to powering the building while allowing greater amounts of light in, their blocks provide improved thermal insulation.\n\nSolar Squared has been spun off from the University as an independent start-up company called Build Solar, which is now looking to encourage investment in its patent pending technology to carry out commercial testing, and then aims to take it to market in 2018.\n\nPopular content\n\n\u201cBIPV is a growing industry with a 16% annual growth rate. Setting up a company, which can cater to this growing market shall prove beneficial for the UK economy in the long term,\u201d said Dr Hasan Baig, founder of Build Solar and Research Fellow from the University of Exeter\u2019s Environment and Sustainability Institute.\n\nAs the PV applications for building continue to gain traction, a recent study authored by independent energy consultant Andris Bankovskis, examining BIPV deployment across the U.K., showed that households-as-power-stations could reduce energy consumption by more than 60%, saving the average household over GBP 600 a year.", "output": "UK start-up Build Solar, spun out of the University of Exeter, has developed a building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) solution, a glass brick that collects solar energy and converts it into electricity. The company is now seeking investment to undertake commercial testing with a view to taking a product to market by 2018. Converting households into power stations could reduce energy consumption by more than 60% and save the average household more than \u00a3600 annually, according to a study by independent energy consultant Andris Bankovskis."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Optimism grows in bond insurance market as two majors boost deals \n System unavailable at this time. Please try again later, or call a Fidelity Representative at 800-544-6666.", "output": "Optimism appears to be returning to the bond insurance market, with two of the three main players seeing an increase in business in the first half of the year. Although total deals\u00a0by the three were down 8.5% year on year in the first half, Assured Guaranty said it had been the guarantor of more than half of all transactions and insured $7.01bn of par in 435 transactions in the muni bond market.\u00a0National Public Guarantee also saw an increase in par insurance, up from $376m to $609m. By contrast, Build America Mutual saw its principal amount slide.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "No satisfaction as Rolling Stones insurer denied case dismissal \n This past Monday, August 14, a federal magistrate judge explained to an insurer that \u201cyou can\u2019t always get what you want\u201d when he denied the carrier\u2019s motion to dismiss claims arising from a July 4, 2015 Rolling Stones concert, concluding that the facts in the complaint allege a properly pled claim.\n\nThe claim at issue in Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC v. Global Live, Inc. et al., No. 1:17-cv-01743-JMS-MPB (S.D. Ind. Aug. 14, 2017) involved a claim for defense and indemnity under a general liability policy specifically tailored for the Rolling Stones concert.\n\nIndianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC (\u201cIMS\u201d), and Global Live, Inc. (\u201cGlobal Live\u201d) entered into a Special Event Agreement in April 2015 that allowed Global Live to host a concert featuring the Rolling Stones on July 4, 2015 at IMS\u2019s racetrack. As part of the Special Event Agreement, Global Live was required to provide Event Insurance to IMS. New York Marine and General Insurance Company, also referred to as ProSight Insurance Group, Inc. (\u201cProSight\u201d), issued a commercial general liability policy to Global Live, and the Certificate of Insurance listed IMS as the Certificate Holder.\n\nThe underlying claimants, Pamela and William Shepard, attended the concert and were injured when they tripped over a curb while walking through a tunnel at IMS. They filed suit against IMS alleging that IMS breached its duty of care by failing to provide adequate illumination for business invitees exiting the concert.\n\nIMS subsequently sued Global Live and ProSight alleging claims for breach of contract against both companies and breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing against ProSight. IMS additionally sought a declaratory judgment that ProSight is obligated to provide insurance coverage for any and all claims arising in the underlying lawsuit. Global Live and ProSight moved to dismiss IMS\u2019s complaint for failure to state a claim arguing IMS was not an additional insured under the policy and that coverage is limited to claims arising from Global Live\u2019s negligence, not the negligence of IMS.\n\nAnalyzing only the allegations of the complaint, the court distilled the parties arguments to whether the complaint stated a valid cause of action. The court found that it did, concluding that,\n\nIMS allege[d] in the Complaint that Global Live was obligated under the Event Agreement to obtain event insurance for all claims arising from the Event, that the Policy was to provide coverage for Global Live\u2019s obligations to IMS, that the Policy was to explicitly include IMS \u201cas an additional insured under the Policy,\u201d and that the coverage provided to IMS was to be \u201cprimary to any other coverage(s) available to IMS.\u201d\n\nConsequently, the allegations supported IMS\u2019s claims for breach of contract and breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing. Additionally, the court stated that the resolution for associated issues was better saved for discovery.\n\nWith large performances come large crowds. So, too, comes a large risk of injury and resulting third-party liability claims. While many entertainment-related insurance products are designed to protect producers, promotors, landlords, vendors, and others from first-party losses, such as business interruption and related commercial property losses when events are cancelled or postponed, vendors still need to ensure protection against third-party claims. Companies in the entertainment industry should contact experienced coverage counsel to assist in drafting policy language covering specific events to ensure that they are protected from claims arising from large performances and to pursue the claims, if needed, to ensure that policyholders maximize their insurance coverage.", "output": "The insurer of a Rolling Stones concert has failed in an attempt\u00a0to have a claim arising from the gig\u00a0thrown out of court. The case centres on a couple who were injured when they\u00a0tripped over a kerb\u00a0at a Stones gig in Indianapolis in 2015. They claimed the venue breached its duty of care by failing to provide enough lighting. The venue sued the promoter\u00a0and its insurer,\u00a0New York Marine and General Insurance Company. However, the carrier's\u00a0assertion that the claim was not properly made was dismissed by a federal magistrate judge\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aviation client safety programme unveiled by XL Catlin \n NEW YORK, Aug. 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- To help their aviation clients heighten safety protocols and enhance risk management plans, XL Catlin has introduced its new Safety Optimization and Aviation Resource program or SOAR, for its select general aviation insurance clients.\n\nAccording to Eric Donofrio, North America regional manager of XL Catlin's aviation insurance business, \"Aviation businesses take their safety records very seriously, but building a strong safety culture requires considerable time and attention. Through our SOAR program, we're taking on some of the leg work for our clients, vetting and partnering with pre-qualified vendors and putting together quite a network of aviation safety and training experts.\"\n\n\"In the end, our clients have a lot of choices and easy access,\" said Doug Tibbs, eastern regional manager on XL Catlin's aviation insurance team. \"They can choose a service partner that is right for their business, focusing on areas they want to strengthen or initiate an entirely new risk management strategy to address emerging risks like political and country risk intelligence, kidnap & ransom or perhaps executive etiquette or personal awareness training.\"\n\nThrough partnerships with industry-leading aviation safety and risk management companies, XL Catlin is offering clients access to a comprehensive menu of services and assistance including:\n\nEmergency Response Planning, with options for on-scene accident advice, emergency response drill design, gap analytic and vendor selection, among others.\n\nwith options for on-scene accident advice, emergency response drill design, gap analytic and vendor selection, among others. Crew Training and Survival which various training options for upset prevention and recovery, altitude awareness and hypoxia, motion sickness desensitization, water survival, night vision, situational awareness and spatial disorientation.\n\nwhich various training options for upset prevention and recovery, altitude awareness and hypoxia, motion sickness desensitization, water survival, night vision, situational awareness and spatial disorientation. Executive and Personal Protection including aircraft crew safety training, risk analysis and threat vulnerability assessments, and threat management resources.\n\nincluding aircraft crew safety training, risk analysis and threat vulnerability assessments, and threat management resources. Safety Management with access to resources for safety managing support services, flight data management, flight operations quality, pre-audit support and GAP analysis, management software, among others.\n\nwith access to resources for safety managing support services, flight data management, flight operations quality, pre-audit support and GAP analysis, management software, among others. Crisis Management including help with political & country risk intelligence, security risk assessment & management kidnap & ransom as well as cybersecurity concerns.\n\nincluding help with political & country risk intelligence, security risk assessment & management kidnap & ransom as well as cybersecurity concerns. Upset Recognition and Recovery Training (URRT) including professional helicopter, flight attendant/flight technician, professional jet, professional turboprop, light aircraft training, with the option for custom designed courses.\n\nincluding professional helicopter, flight attendant/flight technician, professional jet, professional turboprop, light aircraft training, with the option for custom designed courses. Professional Presence and Executive Etiquette: Training and development to enhance pilots' skill levels and confidence; dining savvy and conduct; presentation skills and international protocol and awareness.\n\nWith underwriters and dedicated aviation claims specialists based in New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto and Calgary, XL Catlin's North America aviation team offers a suite of aviation insurance coverages for traditional and specialized companies, including major and regional airlines and corporate fleets, through to component manufacturers and fixed-base airport operators.\n\nAbout XL Catlin's Insurance Operations\n\nXL Catlin insurance companies offer property, casualty, professional, financial lines and specialty insurance products globally. Businesses that are moving the world forward choose XL Catlin as their partner. To learn more, visit xlcatlin.com.\n\n\n\nAbout XL Catlin\n\n\n\nXL Catlin is the global brand used by XL Group Ltd (NYSE:XL) insurance and reinsurance companies which provide property, casualty, professional and specialty products to industrial, commercial and professional firms, insurance companies and other enterprises throughout the world. Clients look to XL Catlin for answers to their most complex risks and to help move their world forward. To learn more, visit xlcatlin.com.\n\n\n\nView original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/xl-catlin-looks-to-help-us-aviation-businesses-take-safety-efforts-to-new-heights-with-soar-program-300506657.html\n\nSOURCE XL Catlin", "output": "Insurer XL Catlin has announced a new programme for its aviation clients, aimed at helping them improve their safety and risk management plans. The Safety Optimization and Aviation Resource (Soar) programme uses partnerships with leading aviation safety and risk management companies to offer services including emergency response planning, crew training and personal protection, safety management, country risk assessment and assistance with cybersecurity threats. The North America-based company is aiming the programme at clients from airlines to component manufacturers and airport operators."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sport insurance specialist Protectivity opens e-trade portal \n Sport and leisure specialist says portal gives brokers access to its commercial combined products.\n\nOnline sports and leisure specialists Protectivity Insurance has launched a new e-trade portal system for brokers.\n\nThe insurer stated that the portal would give brokers access to its specialist commercial combined products including sports club, business and event policies.\n\nSports\n\nProtectivity\u2019s commercial director, Andy Brownsell said: \u201cWe are extremely excited to be able to offer brokers an easy-to-use solution for managing their clients and risks.\n\n\u201cOur portal leads the way in bringing a", "output": "Online sport and leisure insurer Protectivity Insurance has launched an\u00a0electronic portal for brokers. The company, which offers sports and leisure products underwritten by XL Catlin, said\u00a0the new system will provide an\u00a0easy-to-use solution for brokers in the sector to manage their clients and risks, and will include products covering\u00a0sports clubs\u00a0and events.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Agents can reap riches from high rollers if they do their homework \n The high net worth (HNW) specialty insurance market is a lucrative and developing segment of the insurance industry. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 25 percent of Americans hold 74 percent of the country\u2019s wealth, and this number is rising. Amassing this wealth takes hard work, determination and time, and the demand for HNW specialists will grow as these individuals become more affluent.\n\nProof of increased prosperity is highlighted by the fact that an estimated one of every 10 homes in the U.S. is worth at least $1 million. Since 2008 alone, the quantity of million dollar homes in America has escalated by four million. As fortunes flourish, there is an opportunity for prosperous clients to enter the specialty market for the first time \u2014 paving the way for a massive opportunity for insurance brokers and agents.\n\nUnderstanding a Lifestyle and Gaining Access\n\nThe affluent individual, in general, has many unique exposures that come with their lifestyle. Becoming an expert in this area requires knowledge of their way of life and experience in asking the right questions to ensure proper coverage.\n\nAnnual risk assessments are imperative and set the stage to find answers to questions about net worth, assets, collections and perhaps the purchase of a summer cottage. Brokers and agents may find more coverage is placed in standard markets than should be.\n\nFor brokers not working with specialty carriers every day, getting approval \u2013 or even access \u2013 can be difficult. HNW carriers want to work with firms who have expertise to underwrite policies properly. Brokers looking to properly insure HNW clients should partner with dedicated experts who understand the needs of wealthy clientele.\n\nIt Takes Time\n\nHigh net worth coverage is not as simple as one phone conversation. It takes time and relationships to build networks.\n\nOnce a broker understands the insurance marketplace and what is available from a coverage, service and risk management perspective, learning the client\u2019s risk tolerance is a subsequent hurdle. The broker or agent should work with a trusted specialty insurance underwriter to tailor coverage and pricing to meet clients\u2019 pre-requisites.\n\nHNW exposures can be similar to commercial exposures, as both may need to insure multiple locations, in-home employees and non-profit work. The main takeaway is this cannot be a one-size-fits-all approach.\n\nNetworking\n\nDeveloping relationships with other professions that serve HNW individuals will provide a better understanding of exposures. Networking with lawyers, accountants and financial advisors can aide in the process. Make a point to ask these professionals what clients request of them. Not all professions can see a liability exposure. A lawyer may be aware of employees on staff and the need for workers\u2019 compensation or disability coverage. A seasoned high net worth specialist can provide additional value, recommending employment practices liability insurance to cover legal costs related to sexual harassment, wrongful termination or discrimination cases \u2013 whether they are legitimate claims or not.\n\nHaving conversations with various professionals and offering valuable advice in high net worth insurance will build trust and showcase expertise, which can open the door for future client recommendations. Being introduced through a reliable source can lower the barrier to entry. High net worth clients spend years building amazing wealth and legacies that need to be protected. Due to the high amount of exposures, brokers need to be educated on all liabilities and dig deep to find the best coverage, working with trusted partners to guide them through the process. As the wealth in America and across the globe increases, so will the need for more high net worth specialists.\n\nTopics Agencies", "output": "Brokers and agents selling insurance policies to high rollers have a lucrative opportunity to tap into a growing market but need to learn more about their potential customers to flourish, according to Heather Posner, assistant VP at Burns & Wilcox in the US. High-net-worth clients'\u00a0needs are different to customers in the\u00a0regular markets and it takes time to understand their risk tolerance and the lifestyle characteristics that will determine what policies best suit each individual, she said. Agents and brokers should also do their homework and\u00a0consult\u00a0with lawyers, accountants and financial advisers on their clients first."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cincinnati extends high-net-worth policies to two more states \n The Cincinnati Insurance company has expanded its Executive Capstone programme for high net worth personal insurance clients to Massachusetts and Washington.\n\nThe Executive Capstone programme offers cover features, limits, and options to tailor insurance for clients with homes valued at more than $1 million, yachts, high-end cars, collector cars and personal articles.\n\nThe programme includes options of up to $50 million umbrella liability cover, employment practices liability endorsement for umbrella liability, green coverage, primary and excess flood, and family shield recovery expenses.\n\nWill Van Den Heuvel, senior vice president of personal lines, said; \u201ceven though Cincinnati Insurance is new to agents and policyholders in Massachusetts, enthusiasm for our Capstone product matches that of many Washington agents who have worked with our business insurance counterparts for the past decade.\n\n\u201cContinuing the steady roll out of this product suite across the country demonstrates our commitment to being a leader in the high net worth personal lines market place.\u201d\n\nAlthough Massachusetts is a new territory for the firm to expand operations into, Cincinnati said Washington agents and business policyholders have been serviced by the firm since 2007.", "output": "High net worth individuals in Massachusetts and Washington can now benefit from Cincinnati Insurance's Executive Capstone coverage as the company rolls the high-earner\u00a0policies across the states. The product is offered to clients with property valued at more than $1m and also covers yachts, high-end cars and collectors cars. Policyholders can opt for $50m umbrella liability,\u00a0primary and excess flood, and family shield recovery expenses."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK-based healthtech Medopad seeks $30m investment \n 2 min read\n\nMedopad, backed by pharmaceuticals giant Bayer AG, is looking to raise new funds, joining a throng of fast-growing UK startups that are applying artificial intelligence to healthcare.A London-based mobile platform for healthcare companies, insurers, doctors and patients, Medopad is working with UBS Group AG to raise as much as $30 million from private investors, according to sources. The business could be valued at a few hundred million dollars after the fund-raising, which is still in its early stages, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private.The new funds will be used to expand Medopad\u2019s analytics and machine learning teams. The company also has a presence in countries such as Germany and in the United States, and it\u2019s considering expanding in Scandinavia and the Middle East. The company has offices in Salt Lake City in the U.S.Representatives for Medopad and UBS declined to comment.The United Kingdom has spawned a number of startups that focus on using artificial intelligence to improve a range of healthcare issues, from diagnosis to drug discovery. Babylon Healthcare Services, which offers a healthcare app using both AI and online consultations, raised $60 million in April. Its backers include the founders of DeepMind and Swedish investor Kinnevik AB.London-based drug-discovery startup BenevolentAI, valued at $1.7 billion and backed by Lansdowne Partners, is one of five private artificial intelligence companies that have reached a valuation of more than $1 billion, according to data firm CB Insights.Medopad was founded in 2011 by Dan Vahdat and Rich Khatib, who attended the University of Oxford. It is expected to reach a market valuation of more than $1 billion, according to a report from consulting firm KPMG. Medopad counts a range of U.K. hospital trusts as clients and has announced partnerships with Bayer and Intel Corp.Its patient-monitoring apps help boost communication between doctors and patients suffering from cancer, cardiovascular disease or diabetes. It also offers an app for health insurance companies to help with reimbursement costs as well as attracting and retaining customers.", "output": "Medopad, a London-based mobile platform for healthcare companies, insurers, doctors and patients,\u00a0is working with UBS Group to raise $30m from private investors. The new funds will be used to expand Medopad\u2019s analytics and machine learning teams. Medopad already has support from Bayer AG and has expanded into Germany and the US.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Washington Post turns to AI to boost native content \n Publishers are running into a wall with so-called native ads. Once seen as the panacea for declining digital ad rates, these ads that are designed to mimic editorial content have turned out to be costly to make and distribute and hard to scale, which makes them a tough sell with advertisers and also eats into publishers\u2019 profit margins. Meanwhile, marketers are also getting more comfortable sidestepping publishers, creating branded content on their own and distributing it themselves.\n\nThe Washington Post is trying to solve the problem with artificial intelligence. It built an ad product called Own that lets brands use their own content but promises to improve its chances of being seen and read (or watched) with the aid of Heliograf, a news-writing bot the Post built for the editorial side.\n\nOwn works by serving an ad to people based on their past reading/viewing behavior on the site. It uses Heliograf to generate a personalized welcome message, as shown in the mockup below. It\u2019s a form of content recommendation, which the Post has done before with its customizable native ad units called Post Cards, but more personalized.\n\nJarrod Dicker, vp of commercial product and innovation at the Post, said Own is aimed at brands that don\u2019t want to pay a publisher to build a custom campaign but still need distribution for their branded content.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a ton of dollars publishers don\u2019t pay attention to because the studios are built to build content that lives on the publisher\u2019s site,\u201d said Dicker. \u201cHowever, many publishers have ignored brands that already have content and want to syndicate it.\u201d\n\nCreating branded content can be a low-margin business for publishers because of the high cost and labor involved, which seems to keep increasing as clients ask publishers for ads that have the latest features like augmented reality and virtual reality. Other ways publishers are trying to get more competitive is by offering to let them run the publisher-created branded content on other sites and by offering more video and other features, said Tom Blim, partner and chief strategy officer at Group SJR.\n\nThe Post\u2019s Own works by automation, which Dicker said should result in 80 to 90 percent profit margins \u2014 comparable to the high rates publishers get for display or pre-roll video.\n\n\u201cNot only are margins extremely high, but this can be done in 24 hours turnaround time,\u201d Dicker said. \u201cSo this is solving for margins and managing turnaround times.\u201d\n\nThe Post is just starting to offer the product to existing clients. Like other Post ad products, Own will be available to other publishers that license the Post\u2019s Arc Publishing content management system.\n\nAt the end of the day, the challenge will be for the Post to demonstrate it\u2019s as good or better than Facebook at distributing branded content by showing it has the desired audience and knows how to make that audience engage with the content, said Andy Seibert, managing partner of Imprint, a custom content arm of branding agency Sullivan.\n\nAnother limitation of Own is the quality of the brand\u2019s content in the first place. When the quality is poor or not a fit for the Post\u2019s audience, the Post will be ready to try to upsell the advertiser to use its brand studio to improve on the campaign. \u201cWe could say, \u2018this doesn\u2019t have a big audience or won\u2019t resonate, and we can make it better,\u2019\u201d Dicker said.", "output": "The Washington Post has built an ad product that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to serve brand-created content to people, based on their past reading behaviour. The product, which is called Own,\u00a0is aimed at brands that require distribution of native ads but don't want to pay a publisher to build a custom campaign, said Jarrod Dicker, vice-president\u00a0of commercial product at the Post. By making native ads more targeted, the Post aims to attract marketers that are decreasing native ad spend in favour of publishing and distributing\u00a0their own content.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Too much vitamin B may increase lung cancer in men, finds study \n Taking too much vitamin B6 and B12 could dramatically increase lung cancer in men, according to a new study.\n\nBy looking at more than 77,000 patients over 10 years, researchers found men who consumed high doses of B6 and B12 (often advertised as an energy-booster) doubled their risk of developing lung cancer. In men who smoked, the risk increased four times, according to results published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology Tuesday. Women who took the same amount of vitamin B didn't see an increased risk.\n\nThe National Institutes of Health recommends adults only consume about 1.5 milligrams of vitamin B6 a day and 2.4 micrograms of vitamin B12. But, vitamin B supplements are available up to 5,000 micrograms per dose. A microgram is one-millionth of one gram.\n\nMore:Breakthrough cancer drug could be astronomical in price\n\nMore:Woman with ovarian cancer gets $417M in Johnson & Johnson baby powder case\n\nMore:The bizarre case of a mom who lied about her son's cancer, being a doctor\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s very easy to get all the vitamin B you need in this country, from eating meats, chickpeas and foods like cereal that are fortified with them, so there really is no reason to supplement your vitamin B intake at these levels, and certainly not for years on end,\u201d Theodore Brasky, who led the study at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center \u2013 Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, said in a statement.\n\nThis research comes after a 2010 study suggested taking vitamin B supplements could lower the risk of lung cancer.\n\nFollow Ashley May on Twitter: @AshleyMayTweets", "output": "Too much vitamin B6 and B12, which are advertised as energy boosters, may dramatically increase the risk of lung cancer in men, a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology has warned. The risk was increased four times if they smoked as well. Women who took the same amount of vitamin B did not have an increased risk.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "DoubleVerify sells \u00a3200m stake to private equity firm Providence \n Digital measurement outfit DoubleVerify has agreed to sell a majority stake to private equity fund Providence Equity Partners in the latest round of adtech mergers and acquisitions.\n\nFormer Starcom Mediavest Group chief executive Laura Desmond is set to join DoubleVerify's board as part of the deal.\n\nThe terms of the transaction have not been publicly disclosed by either party, but media reports have pegged the financial value of the deal at $200m. The DoubleVerify management team is set to continue in its existing guise once the transaction has been closed, with Desmond having been appointed lead director of its board.\n\nWayne Gattinella, president and chief executive of DoubleVerify said Providence Equity has demonstrated an ability to help accelerate the growth of data-led adtech companies.\n\n\"With Providence's sector expertise and strategic insight, DoubleVerify is well positioned to capitalize on the outsized set of market opportunities and to launch new services that define the future of digital advertising engagement,\" he added.\n\nDavis Noell, managing director, Providence Equity Partners, said the growing importance of DoubleVerify\u2019s services in the online advertising market meant the investment posed \u201csignificant opportunities.\u201d\n\nHe added: \u201cThe world's largest brands are facing significant transparency challenges in digital advertising and DoubleVerify\u2019s software and data solutions are helping solve these critical pain points.\u201d\n\nDoubleVerify was founded in 2008 and provides advertisers with third-party measurement in areas such as: the viewability of online ads; brand safety; plus anti-fraud services.\n\nCommenting on the deal, Desmond said: \u201cI've spent nearly two decades working alongside the world's largest brands and have seen first-hand the need for third party measurement from all digital media and social platforms.\u201d\n\nShe added: \u201cToday media quality is the number one issue impacting digital ad performance and DoubleVerify helps to deliver the transparency clients need to make smart and safe advertising investments.\u201d\n\nThe terms of the deal mean that Blumberg Capital will remain an investor in the company, while David Blumberg has also been appointed to the DoubleVerify board of directors.\n\nUpdate:\n\nThe transaction is the latest in the ongoing round of mergers and acquisitions in the ever-evolving adtech sector, with recent weeks witnessing the sale of nToggle to Rubicon Project. This period also saw fellow publicly-listed outfit Rocket Fuel agreeing a sale to Sizmek, Outbrain purchasing Zemanta, plus Tremor Video selling the demand-side platform area of its business to Taptica. Meanwhile, Media iQ struck a similar deal to DoubleVerify\u2019s move with a significant investment from private equity house ECI Partners.\n\nAs brands spend more of their advertising budgets online, plus marketers under increasing pressure to show a return-on-investment for their media spend, the third-party measurement sector is proving more-and-more attractive to investors.\n\nDoubleVerify has spent the last 12 months capitalizing on this trend, inking several measurement deals with high profile outfits such as AOL, Snapchat and GroupM, as well as YouTube. This deal came about after the Google-owned video sharing site incurred the wrath of advertisers following a high-profile investigation which underlined the ongoing problem of ads being served against questionable content.\n\nEarlier this year Moat, an adtech outfit providing similar services to DoubleVerify, sold to Oracle in a deal estimated to be worth in excess of $800m, with industry commentator and adtech advisor Ciar\u00e1n O\u2019Kane, chief executive of ExchangeWire, stating that other providers of third-party measurement services are likely to be the subject of M&A in the near-to-mid term future.\n\nCommenting on the DoubleVerify deal, he added: \u201cAlthough it\u2019s less than the Moat deal, I think it\u2019s a real vindication of the space, and it\u2019s interesting that we have private equity taking more of an interest in it.\n\n\u201cAdtech keeps evolving, and this deal shows that it continues to provide solutions to problems that advertisers need solved,\u201d he added, casting doubt on commentaries espousing the death knell of adtech players.", "output": "Digital measurement company DoubleVerify is to sell a majority stake of \u00a3200m ($256m) to private equity fund Providence Equity Partners. DoubleVerify will appoint former Starcom Mediavest CEO Laura Desmond as lead board member as part of the deal. Providence's involvement will assist DoubleVerify\u00a0in launching \"new services that define the future of digital advertising engagement\", said Wayne Gattinella, CEO and president of DoubleVerify.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurance fraudsters prey on environment disaster victims \n In testimony on Capitol Hill in early August, Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak told federal lawmakers that fraud across all lines of insurance costs the industry an estimated $80 million to $100 million annually.\n\nTestifying on insurance fraud issues at a U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation subcommittee hearing on Aug. 3, Doak represented the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) as chair of the NAIC\u2019s Antifraud Task Force. He told members of the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance, and Data Security that in property/casualty insurance lines alone, more than 10 percent of claims are estimated to be fraudulent.\n\nDoak said contractor and adjuster fraud following natural disasters is one of the more troubling trends faced by state insurance commissioners when it comes to insurance fraud.\n\n\u201cState insurance departments have seen a number of instances of contractor and adjuster fraud recently that have occurred immediately after floods, tornadoes and other natural disasters. Contractors or insurance adjusters have required advance payments from consumers for services or advance assignment of insurance policy benefits. In these cases, the contractors sometimes disappear without ever doing the work. In other cases where repairs are made, the contractor engaging in this conduct does substandard work using substandard materials,\u201d Doak said in his prepared statement.\n\nState insurance departments have seen a number of instances of contractor and adjuster fraud recently that have occurred immediately after floods, tornadoes and other natural disasters\n\nResponding to a question from the subcommittee chairman, Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas, Doak said that unfortunately many of the people who are taken advantage following natural disasters are seniors.\n\nCiting Oklahoma\u2019s experience following the Moore, Oklahoma, tornado in May 2013, after which more than 80,000 claims were filed, Doak said \u201cyou have folks that go through these neighborhoods [who] really prey upon unsuspecting consumers that have never had this size of a catastrophe.\u201d The scammers will put a tarp on roof of a hail or tornado-damaged home, \u201cthen they\u2019ll put liens on [the insured\u2019s] property and they\u2019ll find out later through the claims process that there is a lien on the property.\u201d\n\nAsked by Sen. Moran how such activity constitutes insurance fraud as opposed to other kinds of fraud, Doak explained that \u201cwhen it deals with the insurance policy, when they are doing work and billing it back to the insurance company for some type of fraudulent activity, that\u2019s where it crosses the line into insurance issues. No matter what state they\u2019re in, if they\u2019re getting payment from the insurance companies, that\u2019s where the fraud is happening.\u201d\n\nDoak said that in Moore contractors now are required to be registered with the municipality even if they are from out of state. He called that a \u201cbest practice\u201d that provides consumers with a recourse if disputes occur. Contractors have to register at the local level and \u201cshow they have liability insurance and there\u2019s recourse if someone gets injured on the insured\u2019s property. That there\u2019s some recourse to find them, they\u2019re just not fly-by-night,\u201d he said.\n\nOther insurance-related activities that are of increasing concern include medical equipment and identity theft schemes targeted at seniors, opioid abuse-related insurance fraud, auto windshield replacement scams and life insurance fraud, Doak said.\n\n\u201cThese examples are a few of the recent trends that we have observed, but other fraudulent scams have been around for some time, such as staged auto accidents with the resulting fraudulent automotive and medical claims, faked workers\u2019 compensation claims and arson by homeowners,\u201d he said.\n\nAlso speaking at the hearing, which was titled \u201cInsurance Fraud in America: Current Issues Facing Industry and Consumers,\u201d were Dennis Jay, executive director of the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud; Sean Kevelighan, CEO of the Insurance Information Institute; Tim Lynch, director of government affairs for the National Insurance Crime Bureau and Rachel Weintraub, general counsel for the Consumer Federation of America.\n\nTopics Catastrophe Trends USA Fraud Contractors Oklahoma", "output": "Senators in the US have been told that fraud following natural and environmental disasters are among the more egregious forms of insurance abuse. A\u00a0Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation subcommittee heard that the problem has centred largely\u00a0on contractors and insurance adjusters' activities, part of a broader fraud problem that costs the industry and estimated $80m to $100m annually. In many cases, contractors and adjusters have demanded payment up front to make\u00a0repairs that are never carried out, the subcommittee was told."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Top law firms and schools join Ethereum Alliance \n Will \u201csmart,\u201d automatically executing contracts have a place in the nation\u2019s legal system?\n\nThe Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) announced earlier this week that a group of 14 law firms and academic institutions signed on to join a new wing of the organization called the EEA Legal Industry Working Group.\n\n\u201cLawyers are the ones who are going to be able to take this to the next level and do it in a mature and measured way,\u201d explained Aaron Wright, a professor at Cardozo School of Law and the chairman of the working group, by phone this week.\n\nHonored to be chairing this important new initiative from the EEA. https://t.co/7webemc3xv \u2014 Aaron Wright (@awrigh01) August 14, 2017\n\nThe Enterprise Ethereum Alliance is a group of finance and consulting companies, many of them on the Fortune 500 list, which are looking for ways to incorporate the Ethereum blockchain into the business world.\n\nRepresentatives hail from top law firms and schools, including: Debevoise & Plimpton, Perkins Coie, Cooley, Latham & Watkins, the Department of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s Wharton School and the Duke Center on Law & Technology. They\u2019ll work together on adapting the blockchain to the legal profession.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re going to bring them together in a neutral place to set standards and start thinking about legal agreements,\u201d Wright said. \u201cThere\u2019s a number of regulatory issues with blockchain also so we\u2019ll try to weigh in on that.\u201d\n\nBecause of the open and decentralized nature of the blockchain, Wright sees promise in its ability to broker transactions. Where parties now need a trusted third party to handle a transaction, the blockchain could take the place of the third party, and eliminate the fees that go along with it. Wright sees potential for this in several kinds of law, including real estate and intellectual property.\n\n\u201cInstead of using eBay, we could rely on the blockchain to facilitate that transfer,\u201d he said, as an example of eliminating third parties.\n\nWright expects more firms and schools will join the working group in the coming months, as the Ethereum blockchain matures.\n\nThe Enterprise Ethereum Alliance is led by Bushwick blockchain startup ConsenSys, which is founded by Joseph Lubin, the cocreator of the Ethereum blockchain.\n\nTechnically Media", "output": "Fourteen leading US law firms and university law departments have signed up to a new initiative by the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) to examine how the Ethereum blockchain platform can be used by the legal profession. Companies involved in the new EEA Legal Industry Working Group include Debevoise & Plimpton, Perkins Coie, and Latham & Watkins, whilst Duke University School of Law and the University of Pennslyvania are among the academic participants. They will examine the potential for blockchain to be used in brokering of transactions in areas of law including real estate and intellectual property.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Infosys partners with Purdue University for employee training \n Dive Brief:\n\nInside Higher Ed reports Purdue University recently announced that it has signed a 5-year deal with India-based technology outsourcing firm Infosys to provide on-demand virtual training and research support for its employees. This occurs just months after Purdue acquired the former Kaplan University.\n\nThe purpose of this partnership is to reshape existing curriculum and professional development efforts to increase the skillset of candidates, as there are major technology skill shortages in Indiana and around the country. This also addresses Infosys's commitment to hire 10,000 American workers at four corporate hubs by 2019.\n\nInfosys generates $9.5 billion on revenue yearly and has over 200,000 employees, including 27,000 in America. Indiana is the proposed headquarters for this new venture, which represents around $31 million in conditional tax credits and training grants offered by the state.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nThe move by Indiana's Purdue University to partner with Infosys is not unexpected, given that Infosys has a solid reputation for supporting the development of corporate universities. This gives Purdue University a chance to evaluate the massive amount of curriculum and resources that their purchase of Kaplan University provided, then maximize this learning content for future efforts. It's more cost-effective to build on an already strong foundation.\n\nIn the past, HR Dive has highlighted the efforts the Indiana state government has made to ensure talent gaps will be filled. Indiana and the surrounding region provide examples of the types of talent challenges facing the U.S. right now \u2014 be it automating out certain jobs or finding proper talent for tech-heavy, high-skilled jobs. The Midwest has become somewhat of a hub for these university deals, likely due to that conflict.", "output": "Purdue University in Indiana, USA has agreed a five-year deal with India-based technology outsourcing firm Infosys to offer virtual training and research support to university employees. The partnership is intended to address the major technology skills shortages in Indiana and across the US. The partnership confirms Infosys's commitment to hiring 10,000 US workers at four corporate hubs by 2019. It will also assist Purdue in exploiting resources that it acquired when it bought Kaplan University."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "London\u2019s Borough Market to ban sale of bottled water \n Allow Facebook content? This article includes content provided by Facebook. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'. Allow and continue\n\nLondon\u2019s Borough Market is to introduce free drinking water fountains as part of a new pledge to phase out sales of all single-use plastic bottles over the next six months.\n\nThe renowned foodie haven \u2013 the only fully independent market in the capital \u2013 is aiming to become the UK\u2019s biggest food shopping destination that is entirely plastic-free.\n\n\n\nThe market aims to make all other packaging used by its 114 traders over the 51,272 sq ft site near London Bridge biodegradable and compostable, helping it to achieve zero waste to landfill. Its overall mission is to put every leftover piece of food or packaging to the best possible use.\n\nThe market will also announce it is phasing out the sale of water in single-use plastic bottles \u2013 for sale at the market as well as in cafes and chains on its fringes \u2013 and offering free drinking water from newly installed fountains instead.\n\nA recent Guardian campaign revealed that 38.5m plastic bottles are bought in the UK every day, of which just over half are recycled. At the same time, 16m are put into landfill, burned or otherwise leak into the environment and oceans each day. Plastic bottles can take up to 450 years to break down once they reach the sea.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s great that people are increasingly aware of the health benefits of keeping hydrated, but we\u2019ve been troubled to see increasing numbers of plastic bottles used every day, which damage the environment and add to litter,\u201d said Darren Henaghan, managing director of Borough Market.\n\n\u201cBy using the new Borough fountains our visitors will be able to refill and refresh without having to buy a plastic bottle each time. We are proud to take this significant step forward as part of our ongoing commitment to making Borough Market Britain\u2019s greenest place to shop and hope that others will follow suit.\u201d\n\nThe fountains placed around the market will mean that visitors are never more than a short walk away from free drinking water. Each has two streams of water to drink from and one to refill reusable water bottles. Plans are currently in place to produce Borough Market refillable bottles made from recycled plastic that can be purchased from stalls around the market.\n\nBorough Market is known as the hub of London\u2019s world-class food scene although its history goes back centuries. In June it resumed trading 11 days after three men mounted an attack in and around the market\u2019s bars and restaurants which killed eight people.\n\n\n\nThousands of tourists flow through the market every day, sampling gourmet food from the UK and around the globe at more than 100 shops, stalls and restaurants, alongside a handful of traditional market traders still selling fruit and veg.\n\nThe amount of waste from single-use plastic bottles in London has risen out of control, according to a recent report from the London assembly environment committee. It is calling on the mayor to consider introducing a deposit return scheme and provide free tap water as an alternative.", "output": "Borough Market in London, the capital\u2019s only independent market, is to phase out the sale of single-use plastic bottles at the market and in nearby cafes\u00a0over the next six months and will introduce free drinking fountains as an alternative. The market is also committing to making all packaging used by its 114 traders biodegradable and compostable as part of its goal of zero waste going to landfill. Each day 38.5 million\u00a0plastic bottles are purchased in the UK with just over 50% being recycled and 16 million sent to landfill, burned or otherwise released into the environment and oceans."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Solar capacity to overtake nuclear energy in 2018 \n Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nIndependent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nSolar panel capacity is set to overtake nuclear worldwide for the first time within the next few months, according to expert predictions.\n\nThe total capacity of nuclear power is currently about 391.5 gigawatts but the total capacity of photovoltaic cells is expected to hit 390 gigawatts by the end of this year with demand growing at up to eight per cent per year, according to GTM Research.\n\nWhile this would be a landmark moment for renewable energy, nuclear still generates much more electricity than solar \u2013 nearly 2.5 million gigawatt-hours a year compared to the latter\u2019s 375,000 gigawatt-hours.\n\nStephen Lacey, writing on GTM\u2019s website, said: \u201cIt\u2019s still going to be a record-breaking year for new solar capacity additions \u2013 yet again.\n\n\u201cThe 81 gigawatts expected this year are more than double the amount of solar capacity installed in 2014. And it\u2019s 32 times more solar deployed a decade ago. (In the year 2000, global installations totaled 150 megawatts.)\n\n\u201cOne of the most telling statistics: By 2022, global capacity will likely reach 871 gigawatts. That\u2019s about 43 gigawatts more than expected cumulative wind installs by that date. And it\u2019s more than double today\u2019s nuclear capacity.\u201d\n\nWhile solar accounts for about 1.8 per cent of global electricity generation today, the International Energy Agency has predicted this could rise to 16 per cent by 2050 under a \u201chigh-growth scenario\u201d, which would make it the largest source of energy in the world.\n\nAnd Mr Lacy said: \u201cIn the last three years, growth rates and cost reductions for solar have far exceeded projections. Meanwhile, high costs, slow construction and competitive renewable alternatives are causing the global nuclear industry to falter.\n\n\u201cThe trend lines are becoming clearer every year.\u201d\n\nThe Sun delivers enough energy to the Earth in an hour to provide humans with everything they need for an entire year.", "output": "Solar power will soon overtake nuclear power in terms of output, according to energy researchers GTM Research, with demand for photovoltaic cells rising up to 8% this year alone. At present, nuclear power pumps out around 391.5 GW, where photovoltaic capacity is due to reach 390 gigawatts by the end of 2017. The International Energy Agency believes that solar will generate 16% of all electricity by 2050, making it the largest energy source across the globe."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese start-up Aha School offers VR museum tours to kids \n HONG KONG \u2014 Last weekend: the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay in Paris. By Wednesday: the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the German Historical Museum in Berlin.\n\nAnd that\u2019s just the half of it.\n\nChildren from more than 180,000 Chinese households are on a virtual tour this week of 10 famous museums. The two-hour daily broadcasts combine slick animations, clips from Chinese presenters\u2019 recent trips to the museums and live-streamed commentary from Chinese academics in a Shanghai studio.\n\nThe families each paid Aha School, an education start-up based in Shanghai that produced the shows, the equivalent of $2.85 to watch, and the company is donating the broadcast feed to 174 rural classrooms as a public service.\n\n\u201cThe children here don\u2019t have access to any museums, let alone famous ones,\u201d Ma Xiaoyan, a teacher at the Akeli Center School in a rural corner of the southwestern province of Sichuan, said by telephone. \u201cFor many of them, even going to the closest town is difficult because their families don\u2019t have money for travel.\u201d", "output": "Edtech start-up Aha School has produced a VR broadcast that offers Chinese children a tour of ten world-famous museums. The feed includes live-streamed commentary from Chinese academics, animations, and clips from Chinese presenters' visits to the museums. The families of 180,000 children each paid Aha School the equivalent of $2.85 to watch the broadcast. The company will also donate the footage to 174 rural classrooms as a public service."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese K-12 language-learning service Vipkid wins $200m funding \n Sequoia Capital China has led a US$200 million series D round in Vipkid, a Chinese K-12 online education platform, in what the company calls the largest funding round to date in the nation\u2019s K-12 online education sector. Tencent Holdings Ltd., Matrix Partners China, Yunfeng Capital and Zhen Fund also participated in the round.", "output": "Chinese K-12 educational platform Vipkid has gained $200m in a series D funding round led by Sequoia Capital China. Participants in what was reportedly the largest funding round in China's K-12 online sector included Yunfeng Capital, Matrix Partners China, Tencent Holdings and Zhen Fund. Tencent will work alongside Vipkid to develop cloud services, artificial intelligence and online education facilities, as well as cooperate with the Jack Ma Foundation to provide 100 schools in Chinese villages by the end of 2017. Vipkid offers one-to-one video sessions with US-based language teachers for Chinese children aged\u00a0between five and 12.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FDA Reauthorization Act aims to lower costs of \u2018overpriced\u2019 generic drugs \n Save\n\nThis article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.\n\nFDA Reauthorization Act aims to lower costs of \u2018overpriced\u2019 generic drugs\n\nADD TOPIC TO EMAIL ALERTS Receive an email when new articles are posted on . Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on Subscribe ADDED TO EMAIL ALERTS You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.\n\n\n\nClick Here to Manage Email Alerts You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.\n\n\n\nClick Here to Manage Email Alerts\n\n\n\nBack to Healio We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.\n\n\n\nBack to Healio\n\nDavid Gortler\n\n\n\nThe long-term effects of the FDA Reauthorization Act of 2017 \u2014 signed into law by President Donald J. Trump on Monday \u2014 may include savings in drug-related Medicare expenses due to increased competition encouraged by the FDA by fast-tracking generic competitor approvals, according to an expert.\n\n\u201cAll things considered, this bill is mostly a good thing,\u201d David Gortler, PharmD, FCCP, a professor of pharmacology and biotechnology at the George Washington School of Medicine & Health Sciences and a pharmacology and drug safety expert with the consulting group FormerFDA.com told Healio.com. \u201cIt has been praised by several long time FDA officials and seems to give the FDA more power in several areas. Even President Trump's most vigilant detractors will be hard-pressed to find faults with the FDA Reauthorization Act.\u201d\n\nPassed by the U.S. House of Representatives by a voice vote in July and by the Senate in August, the FDA Reauthorization Act of 2017 (H.R. 2430) aims to reauthorize the Prescription Drug User Fee Act, the Medical Device User Fee Amendments, the Generic Drug User Fee Amendments and the Biosimilar User Fee Act and includes several provisions to improve the FDA\u2019s drug review process.\n\nThe act would ensure the FDA has the tools to deliver safe and effective drugs, devices and treatments to patients more swiftly, according to a press release from the Energy and Commerce Committee.\n\nIn an interview with Healio.com, Dennis R. Cryer, MD, co-convener of the Biologics Prescribers Collaborative and chief medical officer at CryerHealth, said the Biologics Prescribers Collaborative commends the passage of the act, as well as the reauthorization of the Biosimilar User Fee Agreement.\n\n\u201cThe Biosimilar User Fee Agreement provides needed resources for [the] FDA to accelerate patient access to safe and effective biosimilars,\u201d he said. \u201cThis BsUFA reauthorization reinforces FDA\u2019s role to advance treatment options, including biosimilars.\u201d\n\nOne of the significant possible medium- and long-term benefits of the act is the savings in Medicare costs associated with generic drugs that do not have any market competition, according to Gortler.\n\n\u201cWe have seen the prices of some of these historically inexpensive generic \u2018niche\u2019 drugs like pyrimethamine (Daraprim, Turing Pharmaceuticals) randomly go up quite high when they do not have competitors,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are provisions in the FDA Reauthorization Act to give priority review status to generic drug applications to lower the costs of these overpriced drugs, devices or biosimilar compounds.\u201d\n\nAdditionally, Gortler said that there is a \u201ca well-needed provision [in the act] for collecting real-time clinical use data from patients earlier in the development and marketing of a new drug, as opposed to relying solely on clinical trial findings.\u201d\n\nHowever, Gortler noted that the act did little to address important positions still unfilled at the FDA.\n\nPAGE BREAK\n\n\u201cThe FDA has had a long history of not filling key scientific positions at the agency,\u201d he said. \u201cWhile this act did little, if anything, to address the FDA\u2019s hiring problems, it does integrate a Merit System Based Incentive Payment System, which the FDA wants to hopefully maintain employment of its existing scientific staff. This might be my only critique of the act \u2014 FDA employees are already some of the best paid employees in the federal government, with perks [that include] flexible work hours and the ability to work from home up to 2 days per week. Although pharmaceutical industry jobs can pay considerably more, there is a huge risk in job security and a significant difference in quality of life with regards to available free time. I can personally attest to the same, having worked in both capacities.\u201d \u2013 by Ryan McDonald\n\nReferences:\n\nhttps://energycommerce.house.gov/news-center/press-releases/senate-follows-house-passes-bipartisan-bill-reauthorize-fda-s-user-fee\n\nDisclosures: Cryer and Gortler report no relevant financial disclosures.", "output": "The long-term effects of the FDA Reauthorization Act of 2017 \u2014 signed into law by President Donald J. Trump on Monday\u00a0\u2014 may include savings in drug-related Medicare expenses due to increased competition encouraged by the FDA by fast-tracking generic competitor approvals, according to an expert.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "When given the chance to pay less, patients choose cheaper prescription drugs \n Credit: Susan Buck Ms/Public Domain\n\nAs prescription drug spending continues to rise in the United States, along with prices for new and well-established drugs, insurers, employers and patients are searching for ways to cut costs. A new study led by UC Berkeley researchers found that a policy called reference pricing is effective at encouraging patients to spend significantly less on prescription drugs by choosing cheaper drugs over name brand options.\n\nUnder the reference pricing strategy, the insurer or employer establishes its maximum contribution towards the price of therapeutically similar drugs and then the patient must pay the remainder out of pocket. The insurer/employer contribution is based on the price of the lowest-priced drug in the therapeutic class, called the reference drug. In theory, this policy would encourage patients to save money by selecting cheaper drugs that work just as well as their name-brand counterparts.\n\nReference pricing has been implemented across the United States by self-insured employers such as CalPERS, the agency which manages the pension and health benefits accounts for California public employees. Yet little has been known about how the policy has influenced patient spending on drugs. The new study found that reference pricing was associated with significant changes in drug selection and spending for patients covered by employment-based insurance in the United States. In the first 18 months after implementation, employers' spending dropped $1.34 million and employees' cost sharing increased $120,000.\n\n\"With reference pricing, the employer or insurer will make a contribution towards paying for the prescription drug chosen by the patient, and the patient will pay the remainder,\" said lead author James C. Robinson, director of the Berkeley Center for Health Technology at the School of Public Health. \"If the patient chooses a cheap or moderately priced option, the employer's contribution will cover most of the cost. However, if the patient insists on a particularly high-priced option, he or she will need to make a meaningful payment from personal resources.\"\n\nThe study was published in the August 17 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. Previous studies of reference pricing by the Berkeley center examined the strategy's impact on consumer choices and on employer spending on surgical procedures, hospital procedures and tests. The current study was funded by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Genentech Foundation.\n\nThe study analyzed changes in prescriptions and pricing for 1,302 drugs in 78 therapeutic classes in the United States, before and after an alliance of private employers began using reference pricing. The trends were compared to a cohort without reference pricing. The study's dataset included 1.1 million prescriptions reimbursed from 2010 to 2014.\n\nImplementation of reference pricing was associated with a 7 percent increase in prescriptions filled for the low-price reference drug within its therapeutic class, a 14 percent decrease in average price paid, and a 5 percent increase in consumer cost sharing, the study found.\n\n\"Reference pricing changes are what we refer to as the 'choice architecture' of health care,\" Robinson said. \"Patients will have access to health care, but will need to pay attention to the price. Consumer choices in health care will come to resemble consumer choices in other areas, where people will make decisions based on value, which includes both good quality and affordable price.?\"\n\nFuture evaluations of reference pricing will need to assess health outcomes, especially if reference pricing is extended to complex specialty drug classes, the authors note.\n\nThe data suggest that reference pricing may be one instrument for influencing drug choices by patients and drug prices paid by employers and insurers. In the future, pharmaceutical firms that wish to charge premium prices may need to supply evidence of commensurately premium performance.\n\n\"There is huge and unjustified variation within and across geographic areas in the prices charged for almost every test and treatment, drug and device, office visit and hospitalization,\" Robinson said. \"It's not a surprise when one considers that most patients are covered by health insurance and hence do not shop among competing providers on the basis of price. Some providers look at price-unconscious consumer demand and ask themselves, 'Why don't we raise our prices?'\"\n\nMore information: James C. Robinson et al, Association of Reference Pricing with Drug Selection and Spending, New England Journal of Medicine (2017). DOI: 10.1056/NEJMsa1700087 Journal information: New England Journal of Medicine", "output": "As prescription drug spending continues to rise in the United States, along with prices for new and well-established drugs, insurers, employers and patients are searching for ways to cut costs. A new study led by UC Berkeley researchers found that a policy called reference pricing is effective at encouraging patients to spend significantly less on prescription drugs by choosing cheaper drugs over name brand options.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cal State LA Receives $16.6M Dental Health Promotion Grant \n Cal State Los Angeles was awarded a $16.6 million grant Tuesday from the California Department of Health Care Services to promote dental health among low-income children and young adults.\n\nThe university was one of 15 recipients of Local Dental Pilot Project funding, which is part of the Medi-Cal 2020 Dental Transformation Initiative that aims to help those enrolled in Denti-Cal, which provides dental services under Medi-Cal to about 6 million children in California.\n\n\"This grant recognizes our long history of service and engagement in underserved communities,\" Cal State L.A. President William A. Covino said. \"With this grant, we will be able to assist children who desperately need dental care. We're grateful for the opportunity to serve in new ways.\"\n\nThe four-year grant is believed to be the largest in the university's history.\n\n\"Oral health is directly connected with overall health status and well-being across the lifespan,\" said CSULA professor Rita Ledesma, who is a principal investigator on the grant.\n\n\"Oral health can affect academic achievement, self-esteem, relationships, income and quality of life,'' she said. \"The grant provides a unique opportunity to build partnerships with community-based organizations and deliver oral health screening, oral health education and supplemental services to address dental health disparities that children and families experience in our community.\"\n\nCSULA officials said the project will implement educational and intervention strategies for children and young adults in the Los Angeles region and include health screenings. It will also focus on continuity of care and interdisciplinary training of students, agency staff and community members.\n\nThe project will also develop outreach to families who have children with special needs, and American Indian and Alaska native families. CSULA will team with USC and Children's Hospital Los Angeles as partners in reaching out to families with children with special needs.\n\n\"We look forward to joining with USC to carry out this important work,\" said Jose A. Gomez, Cal State L.A.'s executive vice president. \"The knowledge and expertise of our two institutions will serve Los Angeles well.\"\n\n", "output": "Cal State Los Angeles was awarded a $16.6 million grant Tuesday from the California Department of Health Care Services to promote dental health among low-income children and young adults.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Here's how expanding Medicare could set us on the path to universal health coverage \n Thank you for supporting our journalism. This article is available exclusively for our subscribers, who help fund our work at the Chicago Tribune.\n\nWith Republicans seeming to have abandoned their repeal-or-bust attack on the Affordable Care Act, the path to improving Americans' health coverage is wide open.\n\nThat has given the idea of single-payer a jump-start. But it hasn't done much to clarify the most important question: How do we get there from here?\n\nAdvertisement\n\nSeveral routes go through Medicare, an enormously popular program that currently covers Americans 65 and older, many dialysis patients, and the disabled. Indeed, \"Medicare for All\" is a common mantra among single-payer advocates. But expanding Medicare to take up the slack in our health coverage system will create almost as many problems as it solves. And those will have to be addressed. Let's see how.\n\n\"The political ground has shifted in two ways,\" observes political scientist Jacob Hacker of Yale, who outlined a universal healthcare proposal as long ago as 2002. \"During the course of the debate, there was pressure on Democrats to outline a vision of where they wanted to go.\" The result was \"a non-trivial boomlet for Medicare-for-all.\" That concept is at the heart of healthcare plans from Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBut by leaving the ACA in place, the end of the GOP repeal campaign encouraged Democrats to build on the existing law for the next phase of health coverage expansion. \"If the ACA had been completely wiped out,\" Hacker says, \"there would have been more pressure on Democrats to go for single-payer completely.\" Medicare-for-all and the expansion of the ACA, he says, aren't entirely compatible with one another.\n\nMost countries fund healthcare from public, private and out-of-pocket sources, but the U.S. system relies less on public money and much more on private money. (Nation)\n\nBefore going further, a couple of general points: \"Single-payer\" and \"universal coverage\" are often used interchangeably, but that wrong. It's possible to have the latter without the former \u2014 indeed, every major country with universal coverage has multiple payers to some extent, though payments to doctors and hospitals for services typically are much more centrally regulated than in the U.S.\n\nAlmost every industrialized country finances its health coverage through a combination of public, private (typically employer-paid), and out-of-pocket spending. The key difference among them is the share of each category. As the accompanying chart from the Nation shows, the United States funds far more than any other country privately \u2014 at 40% of all healthcare spending, that's nearly three times the share of the runners-up, Ireland (15%), Canada (15%) and France (14%).\n\nThe public share of healthcare spending in the U.S., meanwhile, is well below that of other industrialized countries \u2014 49% \u2014 even though Medicaid and Medicare are two of our biggest government programs. No other country contributes less than 64% of health spending from public funds. That's Switzerland. Countries known for their universal health coverage, such as Britain, France, Japan and the Scandinavian countries, all contribute at least 80% of healthcare costs from the public till.\n\nMedicare isn't as comprehensive as many people believe: That's why a third of enrollees have joined more inclusive Medicare Advantage plans. (Kaiser Family Foundation)\n\n\"In most countries, they basically say, 'You're covered,' and then they figure out how to get money from you or your employer or anybody else to finance your care,\" Hacker says. \"But they don't make your coverage contingent on your ability to hunt down the money and pay for it in advance.\"\n\nThat brings us back to Medicare, which resembles a single-payer program in that reimbursements to doctors and hospitals, along with mandated benefits, are centrally regulated. Part A, which covers hospitalization, is premium-free for most Americans who have paid payroll taxes during their working years. But Part B, which covers physicians, requires a monthly premium based on income, as does prescription coverage under Part D.\n\nA and B charge enrollees deductibles and co-pays, as do some Part D plans. And Parts A and B don't have caps on out-of-pocket spending. That's why about one-third of enrollees choose Medicare Advantage plans, which cap out-of-pocket expenses and offer enhanced benefits, and others buy \"Medigap\" plans, which are offered by private insurers to fill in Medicare's blanks. Both are offered by private insurers.\n\nThe U.S. is roughly in the middle of the pack when it comes to out-of-pocket spending as a share of the total. But it's proper to keep in mind that U.S. healthcare costs are grossly out of line compared with other countries \u2014 at more than $9,000 per capita, its roughly twice the average among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD. That means that American pocketbooks are disproportionately affected by out-of-pocket spending, even at average ratios.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nSo the goal really is universal coverage. Single-payer, in which the government pays all healthcare costs for everyone, is one way to get there, but not the only way. As we wrote in May, when a single-payer plan was before the California Legislature (it failed), \"single-payer almost certainly would be cheaper and simpler than the ridiculous contraption we have now, a mishmash of employer, government and private plans all with different rules and standards\" and is \"favored by a clear majority of Americans in opinion polls, at least in theory.\" But covering everyone is Job One, and figuring out how to pay for it is Job Two.\n\nIn most countries, they basically say, \u2018You\u2019re covered.'...They don\u2019t make your coverage contingent on your ability to hunt down the money to pay for it. \u2014 Jacob Hacker, Yale University\n\nSo traditional Medicare isn't as good as the typical large-employer plan or even ACA plans, which cap out-of-pocket spending. For a non-elderly population, Medicare benefits would have to be expanded to cover such services as pediatric care, maternity and birth control.\n\nThat suggests that replacing existing health coverage with Medicare for all without a lengthy transition period would be a heavy political lift, as Paul Starr of Princeton observed in March, during the heat of the GOP attack on the ACA. \"Medicare-for-all faces two enormous obstacles,\" he wrote. \"Moving everyone under age 65 into Medicare would require a huge increase in taxes; employees who now receive health care as a fringe benefit would inevitably look at those taxes as an additional burden, even if reformers try to assure them that their wages would rise once health care was financed by taxes.\" The second obstacle is seniors' fear that \"extending the program to others will jeopardize their coverage.\"\n\nOvercoming these obstacles would require lengthy political debates over the breadth of coverage and how to distribute costs, especially to the extent that it would involve raising taxes on the rich \u2014 very similar to the debate about those issues during the drafting of the Affordable Care Act and in the seven years since its enactment.\n\nYet some intermediate steps suggest themselves. In an essay published this month in Health Affairs, Hacker, Starr, and Gerard Anderson of Johns Hopkins University suggest making Medicare available on the ACA exchanges, say in any county or region with two or fewer competing private insurers. That would turn Medicare into a sort of public option of the sort that was initially contemplated for the ACA. They also propose that private insurers offering Medicare Advantage plans in any region be \"required to offer such plans within the exchanges as well\" \u2014 a trade-off using the insurers' desire for the profits they reap from Medicare Advantage, which are substantial, to goad them into improving the offerings in the individual exchanges. (We've recommended a similar arrangement that would require insurers bidding for desirable Medicaid expansion contracts in a state to participate in the exchanges.)\n\n\"We know that Medicare Advantage plans already operate in counties where there are no private insurers,\" Hacker says. \"We know how to do this.\" Over time, the Medicare offerings could be expanded into counties with more competing insurers, and eventually nationwide. \"A lot of questions would remain and this is not going to happen overnight be any means, but you can see how it works in discrete steps and moves us in the direction of Medicare for all.\"\n\nAdvertisement\n\nHacker would couple that arrangement with a pay-or-play requirement for employers \u2014 not a mere tax on those that don't offer coverage to their workers, as exists under the ACA's employer mandate, but a requirement that they actually contribute to the cost of their coverage within a Medicare-like system. For small businesses this could be a modest charge, but as Hacker argued in a 2007 version of his \"Health Care for America\" plan, it would ensure that \"no one with a direct or family tie to the workforce would remain uninsured.\"\n\nOther proposals for gradually extending Medicare include lowering the eligibility age from the current 65 in stages \u2014 say to 60 or 55 in the near term. (Starr called this \"midlife Medicare.\") This has the virtue of guaranteeing coverage to a segment of the uninsured population most at risk of heavy medical expenses, since on average they have greater medical needs than younger Americans and even under the ACA can be charged higher premiums. On the downside, they're expensive to cover, which means finding new funding for their care.\n\nThe most important political shift resulting from the failed GOP repeal effort may be the assumption that everyone should be covered. That's implied bythe Congressional Budget Office's determination that the GOP's repeal plans would deprive more than 20 million Americans of their coverage \u2014 a finding that arguably delivered the death blow to the GOP's repeal dream. That shift may finally have put the U.S. on the path to universal coverage, and all we're really arguing about now is how to pay for it.\n\nKeep up to date with Michael Hiltzik. Follow @hiltzikm on Twitter, see his Facebook page, or email michael.hiltzik@latimes.com.\n\nReturn to Michael Hiltzik's blog.", "output": "With Republicans\u00a0seeming to have abandoned their repeal-or-bust attack on the\u00a0Affordable Care Act, the path to improving Americans' health coverage is wide open. That has given the idea of single-payer a jump-start. But it hasn\u2019t done much to clarify the most important question: How do we get there from here?\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Governors Preparing Bipartisan Health Care Plan For Congress To Consider \n In the wake of congressional Republicans' failure to pass a health care bill, two governors from different parties are going to bring their own ideas to Washington.\n\nStaff for Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, are working on a joint plan to stabilize the country's health insurance markets. Kasich told Colorado Public Radio's Colorado Matters that they expect to release it ahead of September hearings in the U.S. Senate. They also intend to get other governors from both parties to sign onto the plan, to show support at the state level.\n\n\"We're getting very close. I just talked to my guys today, men and women who are working on this with [Hickenlooper's] people, and we think we'll have some specifics here, I actually think we could have it within a week,\" Kasich said in a joint interview with Hickenlooper that aired Tuesday.\n\nThe plan will flesh out a set of principles the two men wrote about in an op-ed in The Washington Post, in which they said another one-party health care plan is \"doomed to fail,\" just like the Republican plans considered this year. In the op-ed, they asserted that the best place to start reform efforts is \"to restore stability to our nation's health insurance system.\"\n\nBipartisan health care hearings, including the one the governors will appear at, are set to begin just after Labor Day when Congress returns from its August recess. Lawmakers will be consumed with a number of deadlines involving government funding, though \u2014 sending health care to the back burner.\n\n\"I'm not going to get into specifics with you until we have it all ironed out, but it's not going to be some pie-in-the-sky, way-up-there kind of stuff. There will be things that we will address that will have specific solutions. And one of the things we're finding out is the states do have some power to do some things unique to them, as long as these insurance markets are going to be stabilized,\" Kasich said.\n\nOne specific they agree on and would discuss: changing the Affordable Care Act mandate that employers with 50 or more employees provide insurance coverage. The governors say that number is too low, which deters hiring at small companies.\n\nThey also agree that the possibility of national single-payer coverage is not on the table in their discussions.\n\nIn recent months, Hickenlooper and Kasich have appeared on national television shows to advocate for bipartisan health care reform that includes keeping the Medicaid expansion intact, with both took advantage of in their states. The two governors have even entertained running for the White House on a split ticket.\n\nInterview Highlights With Govs. Hickenlooper And Kasich\n\nOn whether they think health care should be a \"right\"\n\nJohn Hickenlooper: I come from the school that I think it is a right. I'm not sure how much health care is included in that right, but some basic coverage.\n\nJohn Kasich: I don't think that's that important in this. I mean we want everybody to have health insurance. I mean that's how I feel. Is it a right or is it a privilege or whatever? I don't know why that declaration is important ... The question is how do you do it, and that's what we're working on ... Primary care is important. Catastrophic coverage is important. We don't want anybody to get bankrupted because they get sick.\n\nOn what to change about the Affordable Care Act first\n\nHickenlooper: There are several important things, but the probably top one on our list would be this notion of having some sort of reinsurance [using public money to help insure the sickest people] to make sure the high-cost pool is not causing higher rates for all the people seeking insurance on the private markets ... You use reinsurance in almost every type of insurance program to cut off those \"hilltops\" as we say.\n\nOn why this joint effort may gain traction\n\nHickenlooper: \"[The Senate's health committee] is now holding hearings [starting Sept. 5], and hopefully in those hearings we'll get a chance to present, hopefully, what by that point a number of both Republican and Democratic governors think look like good ideas.\"\n\nThe Colorado Matters website has the full transcript.\n\nThis story is part of a reporting partnership with NPR, Colorado Public Radio and Kaiser Health News.\n\nCopyright 2017 CPR News. To see more, visit CPR News.", "output": "In the wake of congressional Republicans' failure to pass a health care bill, two governors from different parties are going to bring their own ideas to Washington. Staff for Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, are working on a joint plan to stabilize the country's health insurance markets.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Why state-level single-payer health care efforts are doomed \n With members of Congress spending the month of August in their home districts, Republican efforts to do away with President Obama\u2019s signature legislative achievement, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), appear stalled, at least temporarily.\n\nHowever, the Trump administration still appears committed to unraveling the ACA. Most prominent are the threats to withhold cost-sharing reductions, which reduce out-of-pocket payments for low-income consumers on the insurance marketplaces. According to the Congressional Budget Office, cutting these payments would drive up health insurance premiums by 20 percent while costing the federal government close to US$200 billion over a decade.\n\nUltimately, the future of the ACA remains murky at best, leaving blue states scrambling for alternatives. One of progressives\u2019 favorite solutions was floated by the California legislature at the height of Republican efforts to repeal the ACA: a plan to develop a single-payer health insurance system. Enthusiastic progressives, reeling from a series of defeats since the election of President Trump, quickly hailed the efforts as a path forward in Trump\u2019s America.\n\nPolicy experts like me were not surprised when efforts in California petered out, not the least due to the massive price tag of $400 billion annually. Californians had been subjected to similar experiences over the decades, going back to the 1910s. Time and time again, efforts at comprehensive health reform have failed in the Golden State and elsewhere, such as Washington and Kentucky.\n\nTo the dismay of progressives, future efforts are likely equally doomed to failure. While states have been innovators with regards to many policies, fiscal issues and regulatory limitations will most likely preclude states from pursuing sweeping health reform. Here is why.\n\nFinancing health reform is challenging\n\nProviding insurance to those who cannot afford it is a costly endeavor, particularly in the United States. Without the financial support from the ACA, which currently provides subsidies in the individual marketplaces and pays for well over 90 percent of the Medicaid expansions, states would be required to allocate funds for this purpose. This would be undeniably challenging.\n\nFor one, many states are still recovering from the Great Recession. Moreover, other important state functions like K-12 and higher education and criminal justice are taking up large parts of states\u2019 budgets.\n\nPerhaps most crucially, unlike the federal government, states are generally not allowed to carry a deficit so budgets need to be balanced in any given year.\n\nThis leaves tax increases as the only solution for states seeking to get more of their residents insured. From an institutional perspective, increasing taxes is a significant obstacle because in most cases this would require a supermajority of the legislature, as well as a willing governor to accomplish. With Republicans by and large unwilling to go this route, this seems exceedingly unlikely in the foreseeable future.\n\nYet even for those states finding a path to increasing taxes, significant obstacles remain. Unlike for health reform at the federal level, residents and businesses have a degree of mobility that allows them to select their location of residency. So increasing state taxes to fund health care expansion could prompt businesses and individuals to locate to other states with lower taxes.\n\nIt would likely also mean that poorer and sicker individuals seeking access to health coverage, particularly from neighboring states, would relocate to these states.\n\nOver time, health reform would thus be financially unsustainable.\n\nHealth reform in a federal system is complex\n\nFinances aside, there are also significant intergovernmental regulatory realities preventing states from moving forward on health reform on their own. Two issues stand out.\n\nFor one, a little-known law called the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, commonly referred to as ERISA, poses the most crucial obstacle. While mostly intended to address retirement and pensions, ERISA also preempts states from regulating companies that choose to self-insure with regard to health care.\n\nSelf-insurance refers to arrangements where companies, instead of relying on insurance company like Blue Cross or Cigna, pay their employees\u2019 medical claims directly. While companies generally contract for the administration of these arrangements, the employing company bears the entire risk. A striking 50 million employees, particularly in large companies, are subject to these arrangements.\n\nSecond, states also do not have full regulatory authority over individuals obtaining coverage through Medicaid and Medicare. States are virtually excluded from regulation for the latter and require the cooperation of the federal government for the former.\n\nCombined, this puts more than 50 percent of insurance markets out of reach for state-based health reform efforts, making it inherently unviable.\n\nSo how did Massachusetts do it?\n\nGiven these limitations, how was Massachusetts able to implement state-based health reform? It took a confluence of fortuitous circumstances.\n\nFirst, there was bipartisan cooperation at both the state and federal level.\n\nMassachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, President George Bush and Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt, all Republicans, were able to come to an agreement with Sen. Ted Kennedy (Democrat of Masachusetts) and Democrats in the state legislature.\n\nBipartisanship also meant that everyone was invested in the project, at the state and federal level, and sought to make a success.\n\nSecond, the federal government was willing to foot most of the bill and provided regulatory support for the state\u2019s effort.\n\nThird, Massachusetts is a relatively wealthy state that already covered a large percentage of its population.\n\nA confluence like this appears highly unlikely under current political realities.\n\nMoving forward with GOP health reform\n\nStates have a long history of developing sound policy solutions. For example, Wisconsin pioneered both unemployment insurance and pension schemes that laid the foundation for federal policies during the New Deal.\n\nYet states are not equally well-equipped to address all policy issues. Comprehensive health reform is one of those issues.\n\nCurrent GOP proposals would do little to overcome the financial and regulatory barriers to state-based reform.\n\nIndeed, states would be further inhibited by significant cuts to the Medicaid program. Moreover, waivers included in the various proposal, in a marked contrast to the ACA, are focused on allowing states to provide less coverage and fewer benefits.\n\nAllowing policies to be sold across state lines, if successful, would further restrict the sovereignty of states to regulate their insurance markets.\n\nRepublican efforts to repeal and potentially replace the ACA may not be dormant for long. The Democratic victory in the Senate in July was a shaky one that could be quickly undone, for example, if Sen. Joe Manchin (Democrat of West Virginia) or Sen. John McCain (Republican of Arizona) choose to leave the Senate. The 2018 election for the Senate also puts Democrats at a significant disadvantage and Republicans may further enlarge their majority.\n\nUnquestionably, progressive legislators will continue to introduce bills aimed at comprehensive reforms. Yet, history and economics tell us that these efforts are unlikely to make much headway. The structural limitations of states in a federal system may confine their efforts to filling in the gaps until the federal government further extends coverage.\n\nSimon Haeder, Assistant Professor of Political Science, West Virginia University", "output": "With members of Congress spending the month of August in their home districts, Republican efforts to do away with President Obama\u2019s signature legislative achievement, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), appear stalled, at least temporarily.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Conflict in South China Sea would have widespread impact on trade \n watch now\n\nSeveral industries are trying to assess what open confrontation in the South China Sea would cost them, and a lot of them don't like what they're finding. The world's second-largest economy is getting more wary \u2014 and more vocal in its opposition \u2014 about increased U.S. naval patrols along the vast body of water, which holds some of the world's busiest trade routes. The U.S. Navy has sailed close to South China Sea reefs, atolls and other areas claimed by Beijing several times in recent months, under the pretext of freedom of navigation operations. In late May, the USS Dewey sailed within 12 miles of the Chinese artificial island Mischief Reef. In July, the USS Stethem passed by the Chinese-administered Triton Island. Then last week, the USS John S. McCain traveled close to Mischief Reef.\n\nA U.S. Navy MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter from the \"Blue Hawks\" of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 78 fires chaff flares during a training exercise near the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) in the Philippine Sea April 24, 2017. Sean M. Castellano | US Navy | Reuters\n\nWatch out for these companies\n\nWith more than $5 trillion of trade flowing through the area every year, any hostility between would hit numerous business sectors, including commodities, logistics, and insurance. \"Conflict between the U.S. and China in the South China Sea would be less about the physical things that can be produced, but more about controlling physical access and the key choke-points around it,\" Stratfor analyst Matthew Bey told CNBC earlier this year.\n\nSatellite image of the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, a fishing-rich area claimed by both Manila and Beijing, on 12 January 2017. USGS/NASA Landsat data/Orbital Horizon/Gallo Images/Getty Images\n\nAlmost every major container shipping company sends vessels through the South China Sea, making all of them vulnerable if Washington and Beijing butt heads, said Bey. \"The ports that would be adversely impacted are the Straits of Malacca, East China straits, straits of Sunda and Lombok.\" Should Trump increase patrols by China's artificial islands as part of his new policy, that could particularly hurt the China National Offshore Oil , one of the the mainland's biggest crude producers, Bey added. Also known as CNOOC, the firm has commercial drilling platforms in the South China Sea and drew international attention in 2014 after placing an oil rig near the Paracel Islands that triggered a major spat between Beijing and Hanoi. CNOOC offered no comment on the matter.\n\nPaying a premium for protection\n\nMaritime insurance rates may spike if insurers identify parts of the South China Sea as a war risk. That means vessels would have to pay a premium to transit the area \u2014 or avoid the area completely, explained Andrew Booker, founding partner of marine specialist Latitude Brokers. However, that scenario remains highly unlikely at present, he added.\n\nwatch now\n\nIt's impossible to estimate how high rates could rise but because there is no premium for transiting the area at present, anything would be an increase, he said.\n\nIf that were the case, trade routes would change and freight costs for each voyage would rise, which could be good news for ship-owners but bad for charterers who pay freight, Booker continued.\n\nCurrencies will depreciate\n\nGeopolitical strains could also weaken the Korean won and the . Financial markets in those countries have a large number of foreign equity investors, and those traders tend to sell shares in the wake of political tensions, explained Khoon Goh, head of Asia research at Australian bank ANZ. When those stock markets take a beating, so do their currencies. If that's the case, Goh predicts the won will fall to 1180 per dollar from 1130 presently, and the Taiwan dollar to hit 31.6 from current levels of 30.2. But the safe-haven Japanese yen would likely benefit amid the overall risk-averse mood, Goh added.\n\nOil climbs\n\nThe South China Sea holds around seven billion barrels of oil and 900 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, but in the event of hostilities, those reserves won't be first in the firing line. The more immediate impact may be a rally in global crude prices. Any conflict could disrupt the movement of energy resources, thus curbing overall supply and pushing Brent crude to around $65 per barrel, said Jonathan Chan, investment analyst at Phillip Futures. Oil futures trade hands at about $52 currently.\n\nNov 2016: A close-up of Chinese construction activities on the Cuarteron Reef, located at the east end of the London Reefs in the Spratly Islands of the South China Sea. DigitalGlobe via Getty Images.\n\nAir freight is considerably more expensive than maritime shipping, and even within countries, overland networks are often not as well-developed. Maritime routes remain the most popular for the transportation of resources, he said.\n\nMetals and minerals to bounce\n\nBeijing imports massive quantities of copper and iron ore, so any blockage or disturbance to transport routes would cause prices of both commodities to spike, according to Chan. \"Iron ore on the SGX Asia Clear could hit $95 per metric ton in the event of escalation,\" Chan said, \"while copper may soar to $6,480 per ton.\" Gold, may rally to $1,450 per ounce, Chan added. That would mark a sharp bounce from its present level of near $1,285.\n\nHappier fish and fishermen\n\nAn estimated 12 percent of the world's fish harvest comes from the South China Sea, where more than 3,000 known species dwell. But fish stocks have been rapidly declining amid Beijing's island-building activities. If Washington can stop Chinese construction and protect the rights of regional fishermen \u2014 especially Vietnamese, Indonesians and Filipinos \u2014 that would be welcomed, said Greg Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The sand and silt plumes created by dredging sand and gravel can kill fish or drive them from the reefs \u2014 a major problem for Southeast Asian fishermen who rely on the creatures for their livelihood. The problem is further exacerbated by China's annual fishing ban, typically between mid-May to early August, in parts of the sea that it administers. \"Chinese dominance has been bad news for Southeast Asian fishermen, as evidenced by the way the Chinese authorities treat Vietnamese fishermen during the 3-month ban,\" Poling said.\n\nWATCH: Why Trump's foreign policy is on a collision course in the South China Sea", "output": "Industries have been trying to assess the damage that an open confrontation in the South China Sea would cause, since, with over $5tn of trade flowing through the area annually, any outbreak of hostilities would affect numerous sectors. Ports at the Straits of Malacca, east China straits and the straits of Sunda and Lombok would be adversely affected, for example. Also, shipping firms and several Asian currencies would be hit, and maritime insurance rates and prices for oil, copper, gold and iron ore are predicted to rise. However, the Japanese yen would be expected to strengthen in more anxious times.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WPP cuts growth forecast as second quarter sales slow \n Sir Martin Sorrell has warned of a global economic slowdown as WPP slashed its growth forecast for the second time, leaving the world\u2019s largest advertising group facing its worst year in a decade.\n\nSorrell said the election results in the UK and US, combined with erratic economic conditions in faster-growth economies such as China, had affected the global advertising market.\n\n\u201cIn the last year or so, growth has become even more difficult to find, perhaps due to increasing social, political and economic volatility,\u201d he said. \u201cFor example with the rise of populism typified by surprise election results in the United Kingdom and the United States and bumpy growth in... Brazil, Russia and China.\u201d\n\nAdvertising and marketing spend by multinational companies is viewed as a bellwether for the global economy, which has enhanced Sorrell\u2019s reputation as a commentator on economic growth given the presence of the consumer goods group Unilever and carmaker Ford on the WPP client list. Sorrell, one of the UK\u2019s best-paid chief executives with a \u00a348m pay packet last year, said that next year is \u201cunlikely to be much different\u201d for a slowing global economy.\n\n\u201cThere seems little reason for an upside breakout in growth in terms of worldwide GDP growth,\u201d he said, adding that while interest rates were likely to rise, they would remain at relatively low levels for \u201clonger than some think\u201d.\n\nSorrell added that Donald Trump\u2019s patchy performance as US president to date has not so far proved to be the boon to business that had been hoped.\n\n\n\n\u201cTrumponomics may well have resulted in an increase in the United States GDP growth rate \u2026 [but] the limitations of the new administration seem to be jeopardising the anti-regulatory, infrastructure and tax reduction programme that was promised,\u201d he said.\n\nWPP\u2019s share price tumbled 11% to \u00a314 on Wednesday after the company made a shock cut in revenue and net sales forecasts, which wiped almost \u00a350m off Sorrell\u2019s paper fortune as it fell from around \u00a3412m to \u00a3365m.\n\nSorrell was forced to cut WPP\u2019s full-year forecasts for the second time this year after reporting a marked deterioration in the second quarter that missed City expectations by some distance. He started the year forecasting that WPP would see growth of 3% but cut this in March to 2% to reflect \u201ctepid\u201d economic growth and weak new business trends.\n\nOn Wednesday, he slashed that even further \u2013 to growth of between zero and 1% \u2013 after reporting that net sales in the first half had fallen by 0.5% to \u00a36.3bn, missing analysts\u2019 forecasts. The City expected growth in the second quarter of 0.5%, but WPP plummeted by 1.7% to \u00a33.2bn.\n\n\n\n\u201cFollowing the pressure on client spending in the second quarter, particularly in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) or packaged goods sector, the full-year revised forecast has been revised down further, with both like-for-like revenue and net sales forecast to be between zero and 1.0% growth,\u201d the company said.\n\n\n\nSorrell said there were no major job cuts planned imminently to help to counter the worsening conditions, pointing out that WPP had shed more than 1,400 staff this year. The job losses, about 1% of its workforce of about 134,000, were largely due to IT changes. \u201cWe are controlling our headcount reasonably well,\u201d he said.\n\nWPP painted a bleak picture of performance beyond the first half with net sales growth running down by 2.6% in July and net sales for the first seven months of the year down 0.8%.\n\nIt means WPP is on track to record its worst year in growth terms since 2009, when the company reported a full-year fall of 8.1% during the depths of the credit crunch.\n\nSorrell said WPP was preparing for Brexit by increasing investment in operations in key European markets, adding that free movement of staff was imperative to maintaining UK growth.\n\n\u201cAbout 17% of the 14,000 to 15,000 people we have in the UK come from the European Union,\u201d he said. \u201cIf there are severe restrictions on their movement inward or outward in the future that will obviously impact our business in the UK. Our response [to Brexit] is to increase investment in France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Those are four of our top 10 markets and we can\u2019t afford to lose influence or position in those markets.\u201d", "output": "Advertising and PR giant WPP is shaping up for its worst year in a decade and has\u00a0cut\u00a0growth forecasts for this year for\u00a0the second time. The firm has reduced its full-year growth forecast for revenue and net sales to\u00a0zero to\u00a01% after starting the year predicting 3% growth. WPP's share price fell\u00a011% following the news. WPP founder and CEO Sir Martin Sorrell blamed the disappointing\u00a0performance on\u00a0the Trump administration's wavering on reform for taxes and regulation, as well as lower demand from FMCG clients and \"bumpy growth in\u00a0Brazil, Russia and China\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "People should be able to sue nursing homes for abuse of elderly patients, lawmakers and activists say \n Healthcare, tax reform and the debt ceiling probably will be among the highest-profile issues when Congress returns from a monthlong recess Sept. 5.\n\nBut Democratic lawmakers and consumer advocates already have served notice that they\u2019re also going to keep a spotlight on protecting people\u2019s right to sue nursing homes for neglect or abuse of elderly patients.\n\nThe Trump administration, through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, announced in June its intent to roll back legal rights for consumers put in place under the Obama administration.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThose rights include prohibiting any nursing home that receives federal funding \u2014 which is most of them \u2014 from requiring that disputes be addressed through mandatory arbitration rather than the legal system.\n\nThirty-one senators have written to CMS Administrator Seema Verma during the August recess calling on her to abandon plans to once again allow nursing homes to include mandatory arbitration provisions in their contracts.\n\n\u201cForced arbitration clauses in nursing home agreements stack the deck against residents and their families who face a wide range of potential harms, including physical abuse and neglect, sexual assault and even wrongful death at the hands of those working in and managing long-term care facilities,\u201d the lawmakers said.\n\n\u201cThese clauses prevent many of our country\u2019s most vulnerable individuals from seeking justice in a court of law, and instead funnel all types of legal claims, no matter how egregious, into a privatized dispute resolution system that is often biased toward the nursing home.\u201d\n\nIn a separate letter, three dozen consumer groups and social justice organizations called the proposed change \u201ccruel\u201d and said it was \u201ca disturbing new direction for CMS, which should be protecting patients, not making it easier for facilities to harm them and cover it up.\u201d\n\n\u201cPlacing a parent or loved one in a nursing home is already one of the most difficult things anyone will ever have to do in life,\u201d they said. \u201cBut forcing the patient or family member to then sign something that violates the resident\u2019s legal rights should they suffer future abuse or serious neglect is a horrific thing to do to families.\u201d\n\nThe attorneys general of California and 15 other states, along with the District of Columbia, also submitted opinions this month calling on CMS to maintain the right to sue as a crucial means of holding nursing homes accountable for the welfare of residents.\n\nA CMS spokesman, requesting anonymity for no particularly good reason, told me the agency stopped accepting feedback on the matter as of Aug. 7 after receiving \u201cover 1,000 public comments.\u201d\n\nHe noted that, under federal law, CMS has three years from release of the proposed change in June to issue a final rule, though a decision could come at any time.\n\nThe nursing-home industry is by no means alone in preferring arbitration for dispute resolution and denying people their day in court. Mandatory arbitration is a routine feature of contracts for telecom companies, credit card issuers and numerous other businesses.\n\nCompanies argue that consumers benefit from faster, cheaper arbitration proceedings, rather than having cases tied up in courts for possibly years and sharing any monetary awards with lawyers.\n\nYet with exquisite irony, the American Health Care Assn., a nursing-home industry group, took its case to court before the Obama administration\u2019s rule could take effect in November. A federal court granted the association\u2019s request for an injunction so the industry\u2019s lawyers could litigate the matter.\n\nMark Parkinson, chief executive of the association, said at the time that \u201cstudy after study shows that arbitration is fair and speeds judgments in a cost-effective manner that benefits those injured more than anyone else.\u201d\n\nIn fact, study after study shows that consumers typically get the short end of the stick in arbitration. The advocacy group Public Citizen found that over a four-year period, arbitrators ruled in favor of banks and credit card companies 94% of the time in disputes with California consumers.\n\nA 2015 study by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that in grievances with financial-services firms, \u201cclass actions provide a more effective means for consumers to challenge problematic practices by these companies.\u201d\n\nOne key reason: Arbitrators\u2019 fees usually are paid by the business, not the consumer. If an arbitrator wants more cases, he or she has a strong incentive to make the company happy.\n\nYou could argue that nursing homes are the last places you want to keep disputes under wraps. Such secrecy clearly does little to promote safety and accountability.\n\nJust as important, litigation provides a public record that other families can use in making their own decisions. Ask yourself: Would you be comfortable placing your parent in a facility that settled a lawsuit over patient abuse?\n\nAs of 2014, there were nearly 16,000 nursing homes nationwide with 1.4 million residents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\n\nA report that year by the Department of Health and Human Services found that 33% of nursing-home residents experienced \u201cadverse events\u201d or \u201ctemporary harm.\u201d Investigators attributed much of the harm to \u201csubstandard treatment, inadequate resident monitoring, and failure or delay of necessary care.\u201d\n\nThe Department of Justice determined that \u201cmost adverse events in nursing homes \u2014 due largely to inadequate treatment, care and understaffing \u2014 lead to preventable harm and $2.8 billion per year in Medicare hospital costs alone.\u201d\n\nSuch shameful stats are why the nursing-home industry is fighting so aggressively to block residents and their families from being able to sue. It has spent about $8 million on lobbying activities over the last two years, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.\n\nIt\u2019s also what the Trump administration is talking about when it says \u2014 as it did in June \u2014 that restoring mandatory arbitration would \u201creduce unnecessary provider burden.\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s a pretty cold-hearted way of saying you\u2019re going to look after the financial interests of an industry that may be abusing hundreds of thousands of seniors annually.\n\nI suspect most nursing-home residents and their kin would say this in response: These companies would have nothing to worry about if they did an adequate job of keeping people safe.\n\nThat\u2019s not too much to ask.\n\nDavid Lazarus\u2019 column runs Tuesdays and Fridays. He also can be seen daily on KTLA-TV Channel 5 and followed on Twitter @Davidlaz. Send your tips or feedback to david.lazarus@latimes.com.", "output": "Healthcare, tax reform and the debt ceiling\u00a0probably will be among the highest-profile issues when Congress returns from a monthlong recess Sept. 5. But Democratic lawmakers and consumer advocates already have served notice that they\u2019re also going to keep a spotlight on protecting people\u2019s right to sue nursing homes for neglect or abuse of elderly patients.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Caregiving needs double as end of life nears \n (HealthDay)\u2014Reliance on caregivers doubles as people near death, and half of those caregivers\u2014typically unpaid family members\u2014report having no time for themselves, a new study indicates.\n\nThe research used a nationally representative sample of about 2,400 older adults in the United States. The study authors found that caregivers provided nearly twice the number of hours of help each week to dying individuals than to those not at the end of life.\n\n\"We were certainly aware when dealing with end-of-life care that families are mostly involved, but we couldn't quantify that prior to this [research],\" said study author Dr. Katherine Ornstein. She's an assistant professor of geriatrics and palliative medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.\n\nMore than 34 million Americans provided unpaid care to an adult aged 50 or older in the past 12 months, according to 2015 figures from the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP. Most caregivers are female.\n\nOrnstein and her team drew from two nationally representative surveys in which caregivers in the United States reported their experiences caring for dying adults over age 65. The researchers contrasted this data with that of other caregivers providing ongoing care.\n\nOlder adults were classified as being at the end of life if they died within 12 months of the surveys' completion.\n\nThe study found that dying adults had an average of 2.5 caregivers assisting them. Those near the end of life received 61 hours of help per week compared to 35 hours of help per week for older adults who weren't at the end of life.\n\nMore than one-third of the end-of-life caregivers reported physical difficulty related to their duties. Just over half reported having no time for themselves. These figures were 21 percent and 40 percent, respectively, for other caregivers.\n\nNearly nine in 10 caregivers are unpaid, according to the study. For end-of-life caregivers who were spouses, nearly two-thirds reported receiving no help from family or friends.\n\n\"What we see now is, on average, there are 2.5 people helping someone at the end of life. You can imagine if they don't have that, it's much more difficult,\" Ornstein said. \"When spouses are serving as caregivers, the majority are reporting doing it alone and have the [most challenging] consequences.\"\n\nBarbara Coombs Lee is president of Compassion & Choices, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization for patients' rights and end-of-life issues. She pointed out that the caregivers surveyed in the new study didn't necessarily know ahead of time that the person they were caring for was at the end of life.\n\nThis lack of awareness may have increased caregivers' stress levels, she said.\n\n\"This told me the caregivers were probably struggling, not knowing this was an end-of-life situation. Our [organization's] research indicates that uncertainty about decision-making is an inherent and extremely powerful source of stress,\" Lee said.\n\n\"I would guess that many of these people didn't know they were dying ... so they pursued heroic, torturous, futile treatment,\" she added. \"Often the default decision [to continue treatment] increases the caregiver burden.\"\n\nOrnstein said she hopes greater awareness of the family burden of caregiving, especially at the end of life, comes from her research.\n\n\"We need to think about expanding access to palliative care services, which can help facilitate the delivery of supportive services to families earlier,\" she added. \"And we can see how we need to provide more paid family leave so families can provide the support we're pretty much expecting them to provide.\"\n\nLee agreed with the need for expanded access to hospice and palliative care.\n\n\"One of the big barriers to access to hospice is [an] information gap,\" Lee said. \"People don't understand that hospice is appropriate to them in their journey in their illness. Palliative care utilization would go up if people had more candid conversations and were privy to information that physicians have but aren't sharing.\"\n\nThe study was published recently in the journal Health Affairs.\n\nMore information: Katherine Ornstein, Ph.D., M.P.H., assistant professor, geriatrics and palliative medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City; Barbara Coombs Lee, president, Compassion & Choices, Washington, D.C.; July 2017, Health Affairs The Family Caregiver Alliance has helpful information for caregivers. Journal information: Health Affairs\n\nCopyright \u00a9 2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.", "output": "Reliance on caregivers doubles as people near death, and half of those caregivers\u2014typically unpaid family members\u2014report having no time for themselves, a new study indicates. The research used a nationally representative sample of about 2,400 older adults in the United States. The study authors found that caregivers provided nearly twice the number of hours of help each week to dying individuals than to those not at the end of life.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HCL Sir Andrew Morris to retire from Frimley Health NHS trust next year \n The chief executive of Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust has declared he has \u2018unfinished business\u2019 despite announcing his decision to retire in February next year after 29 years in charge.\n\nSir Andrew Morris has worked in the NHS for 43 years and is one of the longest standing hospital chief executives in England.\n\nThe 62-year-old said: \u201cIt has been a privilege to work for our local hospitals.\n\n\u201cFor me, healthcare is a people business and I have worked with some outstanding colleagues.\n\n\u201cI am proud of what we have achieved together over the years.\u201d\n\nFrimley Health NHS Foundation Trust is responsible for Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot and Frimley Park Hospital close to Camberley.\n\nSir Andrew joined the NHS in 1974 aged 19, where he progressed through a number of roles in the Midlands and was appointed general manager of Frimley Park Hospital in February 1989 \u2013 becoming its chief executive in 1991.\n\nHe then led Frimley Park\u2019s successful application to become one of the first foundation trusts in 2005.\n\nLast year he led the creation of the Frimley Health and Care Accountable Care System (ACS) in an unpaid capacity and will continue to focus on the ACS in a part-time capacity.\n\nAn ACS aims to bring together GPs, hospitals, physical and mental health services , social care and the voluntary sector in the same area to provide a more coordinated care system.\n\nOn the ACS, he said: \u201cThe NHS has talked about integrated care for a long time but the way the system was set up made it hard to work collaboratively.\n\n\u201cNow we have a chance to make serious progress and we have to do it, not least for our growing older population.\n\n\u201cFor me, this is unfinished business.\n\n\u201cWe have already made great progress with the Frimley system and we have been identified as an area that can pioneer improvements the rest of the country can follow.\n\n\u201cI want to help make that happen.\n\n\u201cFor our patients, it will mean more joined-up services and faster progress in areas that really matter - like making it easier to see a GP and getting faster access to mental health care.\u201d\n\nHe also led the acquisition of Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to create Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust in 2014 and was knighted in January 2015 for services to public health.\n\nThe trust\u2019s chairman Pradip Patel said: \u201cSir Andrew will be a hard act to follow and I am determined to find the right person who can build on the legacy that he will leave behind.\u201d\n\nJim Mackey, chief executive of NHS Improvement, added: \u201cSir Andrew is a great example of what NHS leadership should be.\n\n\u201cHe cares deeply about patient care, the service generally and the staff he leads, and he displays NHS values in everything that he does.\u201d", "output": "Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust's chief executive, Sir Andrew Morris, will retire in February 2018 after holding hospital leadership roles for nearly 30 years. Morris has been employed in the NHS for 43 years\u00a0and is one of the longest standing hospital chief executives in England. The Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust oversees Wexham Park Hospital in Slough,\u00a0Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot\u00a0and Frimley Park Hospital\u00a0near Camberley.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Non-employment in older age is associated with feeling isolated and under-utilised \n Credit: University of Glasgow\n\nCompared to those who work, and in contrast to many popular perceptions, older people who are retired, home-makers, unemployed, or not working because of sickness or disability are more likely to feel that their status results in poorer social and mental engagement and lower self-esteem, according to a new study.\n\nThe research published today, from the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow, explored attitudes towards employment and non-employment in over 1,500 men and women aged 55 to 70 and living in the West of Scotland.\n\nThe study found associations were particularly marked among unemployed and sick or disabled respondents, who also felt that their status was a source of worry and prevented them from feeling in control.\n\nLead author Dr Elise Whitley said: \"There are many individual and societal benefits to extending working lives and the success of future pension systems may be highly reliant on increases in the older workforce and retirement ages. However, recent trends have been towards earlier exits from the workplace, not always through choice.\n\n\"As well as economic benefits, being employed has other advantages including social contact, daily structure, social identity, status, and regular activity and we wanted to understand whether these factors play a role in explaining known associations between not working and poor physical and mental health.\n\n\"Older people who are not working represent a high risk group and, while re-employment may not always be possible, interventions that decrease loneliness, social isolation and boredom, and improve self-esteem offer valuable opportunities to improve health outcomes and promote successful aging.\n\n\"For example, programmes promoting volunteering and community involvement, or widening access to public transport could help to reduce the negative impact not being in employment on the health of older adults.\"\n\nCo-author Dr Frank Popham said: \"By comparing people changing over time from employment to non-employment, our analysis strengthens the evidence of negative social impacts of certain types of non-employment.\"\n\nThe paper, 'Leaving the labour market later in life. How does it impact on mechanisms for health?', is published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.\n\nMore information: Whitley E, Popham F Leaving the labour market later in life: how does it impact on mechanisms for health? Occup Environ Med, 21 August 2017. DOI: 10.1136/oemed-2016-104258 Journal information: Occupational and Environmental Medicine", "output": "Compared to those who work, and in contrast to many popular perceptions, older people who are retired, home-makers, unemployed, or not working because of sickness or disability are more likely to feel that their status results in poorer social and mental engagement and lower self-esteem, according to a new study.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Software bug at subprime loan provider Provident costs it dearly \n Peter Crook, CEO of Provident Financial, resigned in disgrace yesterday as the company's stocks crashed\n\nHundreds of thousands of struggling families have been left in limbo by a mounting crisis at doorstep lender Provident Financial.\n\nShares in the business crashed by 66 per cent yesterday after bosses admitted that a software bug has made it impossible to collect debts from customers.\n\nIt is believed to be the biggest ever one-day stock price fall for a firm in the blue chip FTSE 100 index, wiping \u00a31.7billion off its value.\n\nThe company\u2019s chief executive, Peter Crook, resigned in disgrace.\n\nThe firm was also forced to announce its door-to-door loan division would lose up to \u00a3120million this year, and it will be axing its dividend.\n\nIn a shock update to the stock market, Provident revealed it was being investigated over a potential mis-selling scandal which could ultimately cost up to \u00a3140million.\n\nAnalysts have been closely watching the 137-year-old company, which targets customers with poor credit history, because any problems with repayments are likely to be an early warning sign that Britain\u2019s debt bubble is about to burst.\n\nMost of its 2.5million customers are among the most vulnerable in society. Many do not qualify for standard bank loans and are categorised as \u2018sub-prime\u2019.\n\nBradford-based Provident\u2019s woes began when it launched a \u00a321.6million overhaul of its doorstep collection business \u2013 an operation with 801,000 customers who are typically charged annual interest rates of 535 per cent.\n\nThe company got rid of 4,500 freelance debt collectors and planned to hire 2,500 full-time staff to replace them.\n\nHowever, a recruitment campaign initially fell flat and it was forced to warn two months ago that it had a shortage of staff.\n\nA new computer system was also introduced to make it easier for appointments to be scheduled. But instead of improving efficiency, it has made things far worse because bugs mean meetings are arranged at the wrong time and employees are not sure when they are meant to meet clients.\n\nIn total \u00a31.7billion was wiped off the value of the lender, which deals with some of the most vulnerable in society, marking the biggest one-day fall in a blue-chip FTSE 100 firm ever\n\nThe problem is so bad that only 57 per cent of debts are being collected on time, as opposed to the 90 per cent normally picked up.\n\nIt is also far more difficult to lend out new cash, with weekly lending \u00a39million lower than it was this time last year.\n\nCustomers whose payments are late because of the disaster will not be charged extra interest or hit with any financial penalties.\n\nHowever, many rely on regular visits from Provident staff for credit to tide them over \u2013 meaning the scheduling chaos could leave them dangerously short of cash.\n\nChairman Manjit Wolstenholme, who has taken over day-to-day running of the company after Mr Crook\u2019s departure, said: \u2018We\u2019ve got people on the ground, but we have issues with the software being used by them. Agents are turning up at the wrong time when customers aren\u2019t there.\n\n\u2018It\u2019s not behaving because the data that\u2019s in there isn\u2019t good enough for what we need to do. This is something we should be able to do something about.\u2019 And in a second major bombshell, Provident also revealed that the Financial Conduct Authority is investigating possible mis-selling claims at its credit card business Vanquis Bank.\n\nIt has 1.6million customers, and in addition to letting them borrow money it offers a product called a repayment option plan.\n\nThis allows borrowers to pay a monthly fee so they can freeze their account without incurring extra interest if they run into financial difficulties.\n\nAbout a third of Vanquis customers are believed to have bought the product and they typically pay almost \u00a3155 a year for it.", "output": "About 800,000 UK families have been affected by a software bug at doorstep loan provider Provident Financial, which has stopped the company from being able to collect debts and severely restricted its ability to make new loans. Provident revealed its door-to-door loan division will lose up to \u00a3120m this year. Shares plummeted by 66% this week, wiping \u00a31.7bn off the company's value. Provident is also being investigated over a potential mis-selling scandal. Provident targets customers with poor credit histories and most of its 2.5 million customers do not qualify\u00a0for standard bank loans. CEO Peter Crook has resigned.\n\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Geneformics looking to make genomic data more accessible \n The human genome has been mapped, but the genomes of most humans have not \u2013 at least not yet. When individual genomes are mapped, the world will have a problem: there is simply not enough space in the world\u2019s computer systems to store that data.\n\n\u201cThe mere size of the genomic data\u201d said Rafael Feitelberg, CEO of Petah Tikvah-based Geneformics, is \u201cone of the main inhibitors for genomics to be really ubiquitous in the world.\u201d A sequenced human genome might be 200 to 300 gigabytes of raw data, while an analyzed genome could take up a full terabyte of disk space. \u201cIf you want to create gene banks, the mere size of the data is going to be very, very prohibitive.\u201d\n\nGeneformics, he said, \u201cis all about providing the tools and infrastructure to make genomics data accessible through compression,\u201d Feitelberg said.\n\nThe point of mapping the human genome is not just to know how genes interact in general, but to be able to apply that mapping to individuals. With a mapped genome at one\u2019s disposal, for example, the era of personalized medicine would flourish. Doctors would be able to develop customized medicines for patients, ensuring that the drug will be targeted specifically to deal with the problem without any side effects.\n\nGeneformics now counts among its customers two of the biggest gene-sequencing organizations in the world, Massachusetts-based sequencing company WuXi NextCode and the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney.\n\nGet The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Newsletter email address Get it By signing up, you agree to the terms\n\nOne of the issues in data compression is what happens when it gets decompressed to become functional again. \u201cData compression should be something which is really hidden from them in a lossless and transparent way,\u201d Feitelberg said. \u201cWhat that means from a compression and solution perspective is that we are capable of decompressing the data at high speeds and actually streaming it back to all of these applications in a lossless form. It is equivalent, bit for bit, to the original, uncompressed file.\u201d\n\nGeneformics grew out of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, based on the data compression work of Weizmann computational biologist Eran Segal, who cofounded the company in 2014 with career technologist and current Geneformics chief technology officer Arik Keshet.\n\nFunding has come from investors including Geneformics chairman Dov Moran, who created DiskOnKey, widely cited as the first USB flash drive. Moran and two private equity firms have put about $2.85 million into Geneformics, according to Crunchbase. The company recently released Geneformics D, its first purely cloud-based offering.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nHow it works, said CTO Keshet, is a trade secret. \u201cThis being a young industry, there are really no compression standards as of now. You don\u2019t have your equivalent of JPEG or MPEG\u201d in genomics, he said\n\n\u201cEventually, when this space matures, we expect the standards to be formed. At that point, we will have the technology and the [intellectual property] and the market presence to influence those.\u201d\n\nWhat the company will say, said Feitelberg, is that data savings can be significant. \u201cWith compression, we will reduce the footprint by up to 90 percent. In addition, by having an intelligent tiering at the granular level of the genomic data, then we can even increase those savings more,\u201d he said.\n\nWith its deal with the Garvan Institute, which has one of the largest genomic datasets in the world, the firm is on its way to international success. \u201cIt was a very fruitful partnership in being able to build an infrastructure for them so that as much as they\u2019ll grow, they\u2019ll always grow in a compressed and efficient way,\u201d said Feitelberg. \u201cOur view is that researchers and bioinformaticians shouldn\u2019t ever change the analysis that they\u2019re doing because of data compression,\u201d he said.", "output": "Genome data management company Geneformics is developing tools and infrastructure to make genomics data accessible through compression. The Israeli start-up can compress genomic data by up to 90%, then quickly decompress and stream that data back to applications in a lossless form, it said. The process enables researchers to map individuals' genomes more quickly and at a lower cost, as well as drastically increasing storage capacity."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "5.2 million British adults own multiple properties \n There has been a 30% increase between 2002 and 2014 in the proportion of adults who own multiple properties, rising 1.6m to 5.2m people, according to new analysis published by the Resolution Foundation.\n\nCombined with falling home ownership since the early 2000s, the rise of second home-owning in 21st Century Britain has underpinned the increasing concentration of property wealth within a declining proportion of families. In contrast to the one in ten adults with multiple sources of property wealth, four in ten (40%) adults have no property wealth at all, up from 35% in 2000-02.\n\nThe analysis found that alongside an increase in the number of people with additional property, the average value of assets held in these properties has increased by 20% in real terms between 2000-02 and 2012-14 \u2013 from \u00a3125,000 to \u00a3150,000. The wealth held in additional properties had a gross value of \u00a3760bn in 2012-14 \u2013 15% of the \u00a35.2 trn held in gross property wealth overall.\n\nLaura Gardiner, senior policy analyst at the Resolution Foundation, explained: \u201cMultiple property ownership is still a minority sport, but a growing one that represents a significant boost to the wealth pots of those lucky enough to own second homes. People with second homes not only have an investment that they can turn to in times of need, for instance in later life when care is required, but if the property is rented out they also see a boost to their incomes here and now.\n\n\u201cContrary to the popular narrative, these second home owners are rarely your typical middle-income worker shoring up savings or ordinary retiree boosting pension income. They tend to be baby boomers who are very wealthy indeed relative to their peers, living in the South and East of England.\n\n\u201cWith young people much less likely to own a home at all than their predecessors at the same age, the growing concentration of property wealth among fewer families raises concerns not just for their living standards but for wealth inequality of our country as a whole.\n\nShe added: \u201cRecent steps to increase stamp duty on second homes and reduce tax relief on buy-to-let mortgage are attempts to address this challenge, but policy makers should consider what more can be done to ensure that home ownership doesn\u2019t become the preserve of the wealthy for generations to come.\u201d\n\nGenerational shift\n\nResolution states that there is a clear generational split in terms of who owns second homes, with those in prime age and the early stages of retirement having accumulated the most.\n\nMultiple homeowners are most likely to be baby boomers, the group born between 1946 and 1965 and currently aged 52-71. Boomers account for half (52%) of all the wealth held in additional properties, with far higher additional property asset levels than those now in their seventies and eighties had at the same age. Generation X \u2013 born 1966 to 1980 and currently aged 37-51 \u2013 accounts for a further quarter (25%) of additional property wealth.\n\nBy contrast the millennials \u2013 born since 1981 \u2013 own just three per cent of the additional property assets and are the first group since records began to have less of it than predecessors at the same age had. For example, those born in the 1980s have less than half the additional property assets at age 26 than those born in the 1970s \u2013 an average of \u00a32,600 across all adults born in the 1980s, against \u00a35,500 for those born in the 1970s).\n\nWhile owning an additional property is sometimes depicted as a common way for typical workers to shore up savings or for ordinary pensioners to boost retirement income by letting properties out, the analysis finds that those with a second home are overwhelmingly rich and wealthy.\n\nIt found 88% of additional property owners were in the top half of the wealth distribution, and 79% of adults who earned income from additional properties as landlords were in the top half of the income distribution. Second home owners continued to stand out even when just compared to their peers, for example 82% of baby boomer second home owners were in the wealthiest half of their generation.\n\nRegional differences\n\nThere were also stark regional differences in those who earned income from a second home as a landlord. The majority of landlords (59%) were found in the South West, South East, East of England and London, which were also the areas where incomes and average wealth were highest.\n\nThe latest Rightmove House Price Index predicts annual average increases of 2% in 2018 and 3% in 2019.", "output": "The proportion of UK adults who own multiple properties increased by 30% between 2002 and 2014, from 1.6 million to 5.2 million people, according to research by the Resolution Foundation. The think-tank found that the trend has been accompanied by a fall in overall home ownership since the early 2000s, leading to an increased concentration of property wealth in a smaller number of families. The majority of multiple property-owners are baby boomers, concentrated in London and the South East, the South West and East of England.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Time to Modernize Medicaid\u2019s Broken Waiver Process \n For all the attention on various ways to improve Medicaid\u2019s finances and sustainability in recent months, another key area of Medicaid policy that deserves focus is improving the state waiver process. With all the recent calls for bipartisanship, this should be an area where Democrats and Republicans can work together to improve the program.\n\nMedicaid is a state-federal partnership and a critically-important safety net for millions of our nation\u2019s most vulnerable patients. The program dates back to the Great Society era and will cover up to 98 million people and cost taxpayers more than $600 billion this year alone.\n\nThe Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services\u2019 new administrator, Seema Verma, has a deep background as a Medicaid reformer, and has the unique opportunity to improve the critical program.\n\nSince the creation of Medicaid, the secretary of Health and Human Services has been allowed to waive longstanding provisions of the Medicaid statute. Today, Medicaid waivers are widespread, with virtually all states using waivers to test pilot programs and demonstration projects or enroll patients in managed care or home and community-based services.\n\nIn fact, roughly $1 in every $3 spent under a 1115 waiver and some 7 in 10 enrollees receive their care through a private managed-care plan, often through a managed care waiver. In fact, several state Medicaid programs operate almost entirely under a waiver.\n\nDespite the prevalence and normalcy of Medicaid waivers, the process for states obtaining waivers is needlessly long, cumbersome, and uncertain.\n\nTake my home state of Kentucky for instance. Under the leadership of Gov. Matt Bevin, Kentucky has applied for a waiver to create some flexibility and new policies that are specific to Kentuckians\u2019 needs. The waiver application includes requiring a sliding scale for premiums ranging from $1 to $15 and some work requirements for Medicaid beneficiaries. These reforms would give recipients the opportunity to work themselves off the program \u2014 a groundbreaking idea that, if successful, could serve as a template for other states that want to help people better themselves and transition off the program. Unfortunately, it has been two years and the waiver has not been approved.\n\nAn analysis in 2014 found that CMS takes more than six months to approve a waiver \u2014 with some waivers waiting more than a year for approval. In recent years, it took CMS as long as two full years to process a state waiver the agency ultimately approved. Unfortunately, the real total time frame for a state to receive approval is even longer than these tallies suggest, since official waiver requests are often only submitted for approval after significant preliminary conversations and pre-negotiations with CMS staff.\n\nWe need to streamline the waiver process and grant states more flexibility to do the important work of caring for their populations.\n\nWhile the glacial pace for waiver review may just be \u201cbusiness as usual\u201d for Washington bureaucracy, it represents an unacceptable time frame that impedes state innovation and sound program management. The lengthy review process effectively prioritizes bureaucratic processes over vulnerable beneficiaries who often receive better care through state initiatives allowed under a waiver.\n\nPart of the problem is the \u201cMother, may I?\u201d mentality within CMS that forces states to repeatedly ask permission for even the most banal and routine changes to Medicaid programs. This mindset is likely due in large part to the fact that few of the nearly 400 staff at the Centers for Medicaid and CHIP Services have ever worked for a state Medicaid program, a health care provider, or a managed care plan.\n\nCMCS\u2019 composition may suggest that CMS institutionally faces important limitations, because individual staff lack an important point of view \u2014 the first-hand knowledge about health care operations, which could ultimately better inform the decisions they are asked to make.\n\nCompounding their lack of first-hand experience, the CMS bureaucracy has at times done a poor job of evaluating waivers that receive approval or learning from successful state efforts. While states are required to conduct their own review of waivers, it is not clear how CMS may be using \u2014 or ignoring \u2014 state conclusions about successful models. CMS\u2019s website shows only a handful of state-specific and cross-state evaluations that the agency has conducted over the last 20 years.\n\nEven though CMS has a contracting vehicle for \u201canalytic support and technical assistance for models and demonstration programs,\u201d when CMS tried to examine state-specific demonstration projects, the agency has not always given states fair treatment. For example, in one recent case, CMS allowed a subcontractor to review a state\u2019s waiver \u2014 even though that same subcontractor was on record criticizing elements of the same waiver.\n\nWith a regulatory process like this, it\u2019s little wonder state leaders are warning that managing paperwork to meet CMS demands consumes limited resources that would be better invested in managing the program to serve patients. Some have called for a fundamental overhaul of Medicaid waivers themselves.\n\nA nonpartisan group of the nation\u2019s Medicaid directors recently asked Congress to \u201cprovide flexible options for states to streamline waiver authorities,\u201d saying the problem is that \u201cstates must patch together numerous waiver authorities and coordinate the siloed federal funding streams for these various services and programs.\u201d\n\nEchoing this frustration, governors have underscored the need to fundamentally rethink the role waivers play, noting the 1115 waiver process is not sufficient to enable effective state management of the Medicaid program. In recent months, several governors have called for amending the law on Medicaid waivers.\n\nThis is an area of Medicaid policy that holds bipartisan promise, and I look forward to working together to adopt commonsense reforms to make the waiver process more efficient, predictable, and fair for states. Administrator Verma is taking action to clean up the bloated bureaucracy, but addressing the waiver process will require an act of Congress.\n\nRep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) is vice chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee.\n\nMorning Consult welcomes op-ed submissions on policy, politics and business strategy in our coverage areas. Updated submission guidelines can be found here.", "output": "For all the attention on various ways to improve Medicaid\u2019s finances and sustainability in recent months, another key area of Medicaid policy that deserves focus is improving the state waiver process. With all the recent calls for bipartisanship, this should be an area where Democrats and Republicans can work together to improve the program.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google and youth organisation 4-H to teach coding in 22 US states \n Computer Science\n\nGoogle and 4-H to Establish Coding Program in 22 States\n\nGoogle has offered up a $1.5 million grant to 4-H, the largest youth development organization in the country, to help establish a computer science program in 22 states.\n\n4-H has taught environmental science and engineering concepts to nearly 6 million youth since 1902, according to the organization. Now, through the partnership with Google, the organization is expanding its programs to teach youth \u2014 particularly in areas that lack access to technology \u2014 essential technical skills like coding, as well as soft skills like teamwork and resilience.\n\nThe goal is to equip today\u2019s learners with skills needed for careers that use computer science, since there will only be approximately 400,000 qualified job candidates for more than 1.4 million open tech jobs in 2020.\n\nThe \u201c4-H Computer Science Career Pathway\u201d is designed to ignite interest in computer science, with the ultimate goal of committing to CS-related careers. The partners plan to equip community educators with \u201cfunding, curriculum, training, devices and the support of Google CS experts,\u201d according to the announcement. \u201cAs with most 4-H programs, the effort will feature teen-led, peer-to-peer mentoring.\u201d\n\nMore than 100,000 youth in the following states will benefit from the CS program: Alabama, California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.\n\nInterested individuals can contact their local 4-H office to find out more information about the computer science program.", "output": "The largest youth development organisation in the US, 4-H, is to get a $1.5m grant from Google to go towards creating an educational computer science programme. The organisation plans to roll out to 22 states and expand its current remit to cover coding and teamwork, targeting children with little access to technology. The 4-H Computer Science Career Pathway will provide community educators with funding, training, curriculum and devices to teach around 100,000 young people how to use technology."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK housing market risks further slow-down due to Brexit \n For sale signs in Ealing, west London, 2015. Shutterstock\n\nLONDON \u2014 UK house price growth will slow sharply this year after decades of high growth, according to Countrywide, the UK's largest estate agency group.\n\nIt said growth would slow to 1.5% this year, down from 5% last year, citing Brexit negotiations as \"the biggest risk\" to the market's performance.\n\nThe report forecasted slowing growth in the north of England, the Midlands, and the south, particularly in London, where house prices have grown faster than any other region in the past two decades.\n\nCountrywide Housing Forecasts \u2013 Annual house price growth (%)\n\nCountrywide\n\nThe forecast forms part of a growing consensus that slow price growth has arrived in the UK. A survey released last week by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors found the net balance of surveyors predicting price rises fell to +1% in July, down from +7% in June, suggesting price growth was near zero in the period.\n\nCountrywide said confidence in the market will be volatile as Brexit negotiations continue, and be particularly vulnerable to poor employment figures. It said: \"The outcome of these negotiations is the biggest risk to performance and is weighted to the downside.\"\n\nThe national market has been constrained by tightened mortgage lending as well as political uncertainty relating to Brexit, while price growth in expensive central London has been damaged by hikes to stamp duty last year.\n\nAnalysts say that the predicted return to bigger growth will be driven by a lack of tradeable housing stock, with builders consistently failing to deliver as many houses as there is demand for.\n\nFionnuala Earley, Countrywide\u2019s Chief Economist, said (emphasis ours):\n\n\"Economic conditions for households will remain challenging over the next year as inflation eats into budgets and interest rates begin to rise. In addition, fewer landlord purchasers and the later age at which people buy, is affecting the level of demand. But we expect the UK economy to recover and wage growth to pick up in response to global growth. That, combined with a continued lack of housing supply, will help to support house prices.\n\n\"The housing market is sensitive to confidence which will be affected by the outcome of Brexit negotiations and the implications this will have \u2013 particularly on employment.\u201d", "output": "Growth of London house prices will decline from last year's 5% to 1.5% this year, according to a report from estate agency group Countrywide. Brexit negotiations are the largest threat to the housing market's performance, the company said. Poor employment figures also pose a risk to the housing market, Countrywide added. Meanwhile, tightened mortgage lending has constrained the national market and higher rates of stamp duty have limited price growth in central London.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hershey intends to use virtual reality to drive sales \n The rise of self-checkouts at supermarkets and convenience stores has led to a drastic decrease in the unplanned purchases that are crucial to Hershey\u2019s sales. As a result, the maker of Reese\u2019s Peanut Butter Cups and Almond Joy chocolate bars is trying to trigger impulse candy sales online.\n\nMost candy-buying decisions are made in the aisles rather than at registers. But people still grab sweets while waiting in line for the cashier, so the dwindling number of cash registers means Hershey is missing a chance to nudge consumers into last-minute purchases, said Brian Kavanagh, senior director of retail evolution for Hershey. Purchases used to be all made at the main cash register, but now 60 percent are done at self-checkouts and another 10-15 percent are done through mobile devices, he said.\n\nE-commerce is a single-digit yet growing business for Hershey, according to its quarterly earnings report in July. Re-creating that unplanned purchase online is not easy. While most online shopping today starts with search, people tend not to intentionally search for candy, Kavanagh said.\n\nThe idea is to use new technologies like virtual reality to make shopping interesting, he said. Hershey just started doing a test at its innovation center with an online retailer, which Hershey declined to name, where people put on the HTC Vive VR headset and see different brands and product categories in everyday environments like a living room \u2014 based on the idea that shopping can be done anywhere. When viewers click on a brand or a product category, they see snack options like a bottled tea and a Reese\u2019s peanut butter cup.\n\nKavanagh envisions the possibility of a retailer\u2019s shopping app giving users the option of shopping through a virtual experience. The user could then put on VR goggles, walk around a fake retail environment and shop \u2014 increasing the chances of them stumbling on products like Hershey candy that they wouldn\u2019t have intentionally searched for.\n\nMichael Rucker, co-founder of VR ad platform OmniVirt, said that VR has potential for retailers. With VR, shoppers can try new products that may not be in stock at the store. The retailer can see if a consumer looked at the blue shoes or the black shoes, and on average how long the person needed to look at those shoes before they decided to purchase them, for instance.\n\n\u201cThere is a tremendous amount of data captured through VR, so the opportunity for VR in retail is huge,\u201d said Rucker.\n\nBut for the time being, VR seems to be more hype than reality because the consumer adoption rate is low and the cost for brands to develop an immersive VR experience would be high.\n\nBeyond VR, Kavanagh\u2019s team recently worked with an unnamed grocery chain to create a seasonal aisle on its website. So instead of searching for products on the chain\u2019s website, visitors could browse an online aisle that was organized by theme, such as Easter, and because there were no physical limitations, refrigerated and shelf-stable items could sit side by side. The result was that shoppers discovered items they wouldn\u2019t have necessarily searched for and basket size was three times higher than usual, translating to more sales, according to Kavanagh.\n\nKavanagh\u2019s team also plans to do tests with retailers who send digital reminders to people who order on mobile and pick up in-store. For instance, if a person orders something through a retailer\u2019s app, at checkout the app will send the person a reminder, asking if they want to add items that they\u2019ve bought before.\n\nWhile digital is important, Hershey will continue working with retailers to make candy aisles in physical stores more tempting. The company\u2019s tests show that aisles with eye-catching designs get people to buy more candy that wasn\u2019t on their shopping lists, Kavanagh said.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t want to leave the physical world because brick-and-mortar retail is not dead, and we cannot afford to lose more consumers,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are working hard with our retailers to make the same 60-foot aisle fun and engaging.\u201d\n\nImage courtesy of Hershey", "output": "US chocolate maker Hershey is turning to virtual reality (VR) to bolster flagging in-store sales. The advent of self-checkouts has lead to a fall in unplanned sales of chocolate bought while customers wait in line to pay. Such sales are not easily replicated online, so Hershey hopes to use VR to make shopping more interesting. It has started tests using the HTC Vive VR headset, simulating brands and items in everyday environments. When users select a brand or product, snack options will then also be shown to them.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Erasmus students to receive discounts on Ryanair flights \n Students with a valid ESNcard will be eligible for a 15% discount on eight one-way fares, or four roundtrips, a year.\n\nStudents will also be able to check a bag of up to 15kg for free, and will be offered in-journey deals on the Ryanair app, as well as weekly travel offers.\n\nRyanair has promoted European integration over the past 30 years, said an airline spokesperson, providing young people with the freedom to fly cheaply across Europe.\n\n\u201cThere are a lot of similarities between Ryanair and the Erasmus Student Network, in terms of driving European integration and mobility\u201d\n\n\u201cThere are a lot of similarities between Ryanair and the Erasmus Student Network, in terms of driving European integration and mobility,\u201d he told The PIE News. \u201cAnd the unrivalled breadth of coverage across Europe.\u201d\n\nOver eight million students have flown on Ryanair in FY17, according to the company. And with the 15% discounts and free checked bag, it estimates student savings of around \u20ac600m a year.\n\nHugo Urci\u00f3n, partnerships manager at the Erasmus Student Network, said that with the current geopolitical events both in Europe and beyond, encouraging travel is vital.\n\n\u201cWhat is really important at ESN at the moment is to promote not only just mobility itself but also the multiculturalism that brings this mobility,\u201d he told The PIE News.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s something that helps [students] to understand that basically travelling and mobility and to get to know other cultures and get to know other people is what really matters.\u201d\n\nThe deals will be promoted locally, nationally and internationally, said Urci\u00f3n, with the aim of reaching students both during and before their Erasmus+ experience.\n\nThis partnership is part of Ryanair\u2019s \u2018Always Getting Better\u2019 program, which is now in its fourth year.\n\nIn the past three years the airline has attempted to enhance its services by allowing two free carry-on bags, offering allocated seating, launching a Ryanair USA website and improving functionalities to the mobile app.", "output": "Ryanair is offering Erasmus students with a valid Erasmus Student Network card a 15% discount on eight one-way trips per year, or four round trips in the same time period. Those eligible will also be able to check in a 15kg bag for free, as well as receiving exclusive offers. The offer is part Ryanair's push for European integration, with more than 80 million students having flown in 2017, according to the company. The offer could save students a combined total of up to \u20ac600m ($708m) annually.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Foam used to treat trauma victims gains FDA approval \n RevMedX just announced that the FDA has cleared its XSTAT 12 and XSTAT 30 devices for stopping severe bleeding from knife and gun-shot wounds in the arms or legs. The XSTAT devices are essentially large syringes that can be used to quickly push dozens of tablet-sized highly absorbent pieces of foam into a wound. Once the foam tablets are inside the wound, they quickly expand, blocking the blood from escaping and delivering pressure onto the wound from within. Each tablet contains a radiopaque marker so it can be easily found using X-ray fluoroscopy during surgery.\n\nPreviously, the XSTAT devices have been FDA approved for use in civilian and battlefield situations, but only to treat junctional wounds around the groin and shoulders. The new indication will help more wounds to be quickly treated, hopefully helping to prevent arm and leg loss and even death.\n\nHere\u2019s a quick demo of the XSTAT being used on a leg:\n\nProduct page: XSTAT\u2026\n\nFlashbacks: Xstat Gunshot Wound System Approved by FDA for Use on Battlefield\u2026; The Best Medical Technologies of 2015\u2026; RevMedX Gunshot Hemostasis System and Tourniquet Belt at TEDMED 2014\u2026; XStat Gunshot Wound Dressing Cleared for Civilian Use in U.S\u2026; Johns Hopkins Undergrads Develop Injector to Treat Deep Battlefield Wounds at Junctional Body Sites\u2026; XStat Rapid Hemostasis System for Gunshot Wounds Works in 15 Seconds\u2026;\n\nVia: RevMedX\u2026", "output": "Medical manufacturer RevMedX has gained FDA clearance for devices that stem profuse bleeding from knife and gun-related injuries. The devices, called XSTAT 12 and XSTAT 30, work much like large syringes, delivering large quantities of absorbent foam tablets into wounds. The foam rapidly expands to stem bleeding and put pressure on the wound. The tablets can be tracked and removed using X-ray fluoroscopy during surgical procedures."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Americans who live near oil and gas wells at risk of falling ill \n Living within a mile of active wells has been correlated to increased risk for heart and neurological problems, cancers and adverse birth outcomes\n\nOakland, Calif. - An estimated 17.6 million Americans live within one mile of an active oil or gas well, according to a study published today (August 23), in Environmental Health Perspectives, a peer-reviewed journal published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The study, by researchers at PSE Healthy Energy, a nonprofit research institute; the University of California, Berkeley; and Harvey Mudd College, is the first peer-reviewed nationwide measurement of the number of people living in close proximity to actively producing oil and gas wells.\n\nStudies have found that active oil and gas production degrades the quality of air, surface water and groundwater; contaminates soil; and elevates exposures to noise and light pollution. When people live within a mile of these operations, they have a higher risk of being hospitalized for numerous medical issues, including heart and neurological problems, cancers and increased asthma incidence and severity, according to separate peer-reviewed studies. Residential proximity to these operations has also been associated with adverse birth outcomes, including pre-term birth, lower birth weight, neural tube defects and congenital heart defects.\n\nBut only a few peer-reviewed studies quantifying populations in proximity to these operations have been published, and those studies do not tie pollution emissions to specific types of oil and gas development operations.\n\n\"Our study was specifically designed to determine how many Americans have increased health risks from potential exposure to pollutants emitted from oil and gas development,\" said Eliza Czolowski, a research associate at PSE and lead author on the study.\n\nIn addition to calculating a national population total, researchers produced a state-by-state comparison that revealed several states with especially high percentages of their population living near active wells. West Virginia topped the list, with roughly half -- 50 percent -- of residents living near an active oil or gas well. Oklahoma was close behind, at 47 percent of residents living near active wells. \"When one in two members of a population are potentially exposed to a health risk, that's a significant public-health concern,\" Czolowski said.\n\nAbout a quarter of Ohioans -- 24 percent -- reside near active wells. Texas had the highest number of residents -- 4.5 million -- living near active wells. Children 5 years old or younger, a notable subgroup in the study because of their vulnerability to environmental exposures, number at 1.4 million living near active wells in the U.S.\n\nThe researchers looked at hydraulic fracturing (fracking) wells, which typically use sand, water and chemicals to release oil or gas from rock formations -- a process generally referred to as \"unconventional\" -- as well as active conventional oil and gas wells.\n\n\"Despite the differences in conventional and unconventional oil production techniques, the health risks can be very similar,\" Czolowski said. Many air pollutants, including benzene, formaldehyde and particulate matter, are emitted from both conventional and unconventional operations because they are co-produced with oil and gas, not specifically because a well is hydraulically fractured, Czolowski explained. Emissions of air pollutants from associated activities such as well drilling and truck traffic are also not specific to hydraulic fracturing.\n\nThe researchers note that some of the well data they sought was unavailable. They encourage additional studies that follow similar rigorous, public-health focused methodologies, especially those that take well density -- a variable excluded from their analyses -- into account.\n\nThe study concludes that given the large number of individuals and large percentages of populations potentially exposed to pollutants emitted from oil and gas development, protective regulations and policies should be considered. Health-protective policies could include minimum distances between these operations and places where people live, play and learn, as well as the wide deployment of the best available air pollution-reduction technologies.\n\n###\n\nPhysicians, Scientists and Engineers (PSE) for Healthy Energy is nonprofit research institute dedicated to supplying evidence-based scientific and technical information on the public health, environmental and climate dimensions of energy production and use.", "output": "A study has estimated that 17.6 million Americans live\u00a0within one mile of an active oil or gas well, all of whom have an increased risk of falling seriously ill. The study from PSE Healthy Energy, UC Berkeley, and Harvey Mudd College\u00a0is the first nationwide survey on the matter. It found that living within a mile of hydrocarbon operations meant residents were more likely to suffer\u00a0heart and neurological problems, cancers and asthma. The study also found an association with an increased rate of\u00a0birth defects.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New buoyancy design eliminates vortex-induced vibration \n Edit page New page Hide edit links\n\nSubsea view of helically grooved drill riser buoyancy design (illustration: Trelleborg)\n\nA major milestone is successfully completed under the joint development agreement between Diamond Offshore, Inc. and Trelleborg that focuses on creation of a helically grooved buoyancy design with enhanced performance for drilling riser operations in high current conditions. Test results revealed that, when using the patented design, Vortex Induced Vibration (VIV) is effectively eliminated in high currents, with the added bonus that drag loading on the riser is also reduced to a level comparable with fairings.\n\nIn June of this year, tow tank testing on the patented helically grooved design was performed at SINTEF Ocean\u2019s Tow Tank facility in Trondheim, Norway. The joint facility, under SINTEF and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), is one of the premier hydrodynamic research facilities in the world, allowing testing of the new buoyancy design in the supercritical flow regime representative of offshore current conditions.\n\nAntony Croston, Business Group Director with Trelleborg\u2019s offshore operation in Houston says, \u201cBased on the extensive modelling performed by both Diamond Offshore and ourselves, we were very confident that the design would be fully validated by testing. In reality, the results exceeded even our own expectations.\u201d\n\n\u201cFor many years, fairings have been accepted as the best technical solution for drag and VIV reduction on drilling risers. Their use has come with an operational penalty in the form of increased running and retrieval time, as well as handling issues, especially in harsh weather. We now have an integral concept, which has been proven to match the performance of fairings, without any issues in drilling riser handling and running methodologies,\u201d adds Croston.\n\nThe extensive test program provided valuable hydrodynamic data confirming the design\u2019s drag reduction and VIV suppression performance. Fixed and dynamic drag coefficients of the new design were recorded during separate fixed and free vibration tow testing. Drag coefficients at an average of 0.65 were observed for relevant flow regimes, which is comparable to the performance of riser fairings. This is achieved through the highly successful VIV suppression of the design, effectively eliminating VIV response and subsequent drag amplification in the high excitation response range of offshore drilling risers.\n\nForced motion testing of the helically grooved design was also performed to better understand excitation of the riser under high current conditions and for the development of lift coefficient data for use in analytical fatigue damage prediction programs.\n\nThe helical drag reduction and VIV suppression performance shows strong independence of current speed, which is consistent with the behaviour of an external helical strake. However, the underlying flow physics causing the suppression are quite different, leading to the suitability of the helically grooved design for large diameter drill riser buoyancy.\n\nBoth Diamond Offshore and Trelleborg are delighted with the success of the joint development, which has resulted in the validation of the design through tow tank testing. In addition, Trelleborg has manufactured and delivered two complete strings to Diamond Offshore that have been recently deployed in the Gulf of Mexico. The two companies look forward to making this technology available to the offshore drilling industry to enhance safety and efficiency of operations in environmentally challenging locations around the globe.", "output": "A new buoyancy design effectively eliminates vortex-induced vibrations (VIV) on drilling riser operations in high currents. Diamond Offshore and Trelleborg developed a helically-grooved buoyancy design with improved performance. Tow tank testing was carried out on the design at SINTEF Ocean's facility in Trondheim, Norway, and the results exceeded expectations. Antony Croston, business group director with Trelleborg in Houston, said that the design was shown to match the performance of fairings, but without any issues in drilling riser handling and running methodologies."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Neste Jacobs uses gaming to improve fuel blending training \n Neste Jacobs has released a new product portfolio called NAPCON Games, which will gamify operator training. NAPCON Games can be combined with traditional operator training methods to improve the operator training for the process industry.\n\nThe first game to be launched is a transformational mobile game; NAPCON Games Fuel Blender. This enables players to be in charge of creating the optimal product. In nine different levels with a variety of difficulties, the player is in charge of blending the optimal end-product with the available components and resources.\n\nNAPCON Games Fuel Blender tests the players' skills as a fuel blender and allows them to compete with others to see how their fuel blend stacks up against others based on profit. It is an interactive and engaging way of testing fuel blending skills and to learn more about the different components that go into a fuel blend. This game does not require any previous experience or knowledge of operator work nor fuel blending.\n\n\"Gamifying is a very current topic at the moment and we are now the only company providing gaming solutions for the process industry. The NAPCON Games Fuel Blender is the first new generation game of its kind for basic training of different blending scenarios\", says Jyri Lindholm, Head of Product Management of NAPCON, Neste Jacobs.", "output": "Neste Jacobs has released a product portfolio called Napcon Games to improve operator training in the process industry. Its first product is mobile game Fuel Blender, which lets users create the optimal fuel blend with the available resources and components. It allows players to compete with other users to test their fuel blending skills, based on profitability. The products can be used alongside traditional methods."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk Vodafone said to be in talks with Openreach over fibre network \n Wednesday, Aug 23rd, 2017 (7:58 am) - Score 3,902\n\nLast year \u201cindustry sources\u201d indicated that Vodafone could be planning to build their own \u201cfull fibre\u201d network in the United Kingdom (here). A new report claims that they are now in \u201cearly but serious\u201d talks with Openreach (BT) about the prospect of a joint investment on a \u201clarge-scale\u201d FTTP/H build.\n\nVodafone has only recently re-entered the country\u2019s residential fixed line broadband market, after being absent for several years, and so far they\u2019ve done a good job of generating growth by offering some very affordable bundles. The only low point has been their inability to launch a Pay TV (IPTV) product (no quad-play).\n\nNevertheless it\u2019s been clear for awhile, not least via the operator\u2019s initial but failed discussions of an asset swap with Virgin Media (Liberty Global), that they\u2019d like to go a lot further and perhaps even replicate their FTTP roll-out in Spain. The desire to take on BT is palpable but it\u2019s a tough ask for a side of the market where they\u2019re currently still a minnow (245,000 broadband subscribers) among giants.\n\nDespite this the Mobile dominated operator is known to have been eyeing up Openreach\u2019s new consultation with interest. The latter recently proposed an aspiration to conduct a \u201clarge scale\u201d roll-out of 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP/H) broadband technology, which with the right support could reach up to 10 million UK premises by around 2025 (here); the cost of this has been pegged between \u00a33bn to \u00a36bn (here).\n\nCurrently Openreach only plan to reach 2 million premises with FTTP by 2020 and they claim that to go further would require greater industry collaboration (i.e. new investment, risk and cost sharing models), as well as improved planning and traffic management processes, a friendlier regulatory environment to help protect the investment and an agreement on how mass migration of customers onto the new platform can be achieved.\n\nAccording to the Telegraph\u2018s \u201cindustry sources\u201c, Vodafone are taking the consultation very seriously and appear willing to put some money where their mouth is. The mobile giant is however only keen to target major urban areas, which is hardly a surprise because that\u2019s where most customers\u2019 exist and thus the greatest potential for a return on any investment.\n\nHowever current market regulation could still prove to be a difficult hurdle because Vodafone may well demand some degree of exclusivity over any jointly built infrastructure (e.g. initial sole use of the infrastructure and first access to the fastest speeds etc.), which would obviously upset rival ISPs in a market where Openreach is required to provide fair and equal access. Ofcom could be flexible but only up to a point.\n\nAn Openreach Spokesperson said: \u201cWe have said before that a new, more independent Openreach is open to co-investment models. We\u2019re currently consulting with all of our wholesale customers on the case for a large-scale \u2018full-fibre\u2019 broadband network. As part of this we\u2019re asking about their potential interest in different forms of commitment to new fibre-to-the-premises infrastructure, including co-investment. We are optimistic that this approach will lead to greater openness and collaboration across our industry, which will in turn achieve better outcomes for connected homes, businesses and people throughout Britain.\u201d\n\nIn order to make this viable Vodafone would probably still need to build some scale into their broadband business and that might still require them to gobble an existing ISP. Assuming the prospect of a deal with Virgin Media has been shelved (a natural result of going down the Openreach route) then that only really leaves Sky Broadband and TalkTalk as significant options, both of which piggyback off Openreach\u2019s network.\n\nTalkTalk is financially strained and potentially vulnerable to a purchase. Plus, if the rumours are true, then Sky may also be open to divesting broadband once Fox completes its takeover, although we think that Fox would risk shooting themselves in the foot if they did that (broadcast media is rapidly becoming more broadband centric).\n\nOn the other hand this could all be part of a tactic so that Vodafone can better understand their options before making a final decision on the Openreach or Virgin Media route. We\u2019re all for more FTTP/H but there\u2019s certainly some concern that the market\u2019s diversity could be harmed if fair wholesale access isn\u2019t provided to ISPs, particularly smaller providers. A tough balancing act indeed.", "output": "Vodafone is reported to be in early talks with BT's Openreach service about a joint investment in a large-scale \"fibre to the premises\" (FTTP) broadband network. Openreach is consulting on plans to offer a 1 Gbps service\u00a0to up to 10 million premises in the UK by 2025\u00a0and is open to co-investment models to achieve it. Making this possible\u00a0could require Vodafone to take over an existing internet service provider to add scale, with Sky Broadband and TalkTalk as the most likely options. The latter is thought to be vulnerable to a purchase, and Sky could be open to divesting itself of broadband if its\u00a0takeover by 21st Century Fox goes ahead.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snapchat discourages alcohol brands with age-gating concerns \n Snapchat has a drinking problem. Alcohol brands say they are hesitant to spend money on Snapchat, citing concerns about the platform\u2019s ability to verify that ads are only served to people 21 and up and the overwhelming numbers of younger people who use the app.\n\nRegulations mandate that alcohol brands can only buy ads on platforms and on publishers\u2019 sites where 72 percent of the audience is over age 21. Alcohol advertising in the U.S. increased more than 400 percent from 1971 to 2011, according to a University of Texas at Austin study. Spend was $475 million in 2014.\n\nSnapchat\u2019s users\u2019 ages break down as follows, according to a spokesperson: 22 percent are between 13 and 17; 36 percent (the largest demographic) are 18 to 24; 27 percent are 25 to 34; and over 15 percent are over 35. The company has not released a stat on the 21-plus group. An eMarketer report released this week found that Snapchat will overtake Facebook and Instagram among the 12-to-17 and 18-to-24 age groups in the U.S. this year.\n\nFelix Palau, director of global marketing for Heineken, said the beer maker chose not to have an active profile on Snapchat because he doesn\u2019t think the age filtering is effective enough. \u201cWe haven\u2019t found a way to reach age-appropriate consumers on Snapchat,\u201d he said.\n\nHeineken has experimented with Snapchat around Coachella by using geofenced filters, but according to Nourdin Rejeb, Heineken\u2019s global manager for digital, its paid work with the platform is still in early stages. \u201cWe absolutely want to make sure we don\u2019t expose our content to minors,\u201d he said.\n\nJayme Buonocore, digital director at William Grant & Sons distilleries, said the same: \u201cAt the moment, the Snapchat community skews too young for us to feel comfortable using some of their advertising products,\u201d specifically the filters since they are most likely to be passed around. \u201cI am a big fan of Snapchat as a platform, and I see so much potential there for our brands. We just have to wait for the demographics of the community, or the advertising options, to catch up to our responsibilities as marketers of spirits.\u201d\n\nSnapchat does have age-gating. As of 2013, all new Snapchatters are required to enter their birthdays when creating Snapchat accounts. The percentage of users above 21 has also increased, said brand execs.\n\nThat means brands can limit ads to people 21 and up, but those people can still send Snaps with sponsored geofilters or lenses to underage friends. There is simply no way to verify how old the recipient is, which is the concern.\n\nSailor Jerry, a rum brand owned by William Grant & Sons, used Snapchat for an activation for Fleet Week New York last year. But senior brand manager Josh Hayes said the brand hasn\u2019t done so since. \u201cOur legal department doesn\u2019t like the percentage of younger people that are on Snapchat,\u201d he said. \u201cOur legal department can be a little conservative sometimes.\u201d\n\nFor Campari, the issue is less about being able to advertise on Snapchat than advertising on it successfully. Referencing how other brands have done it, Dave Karraker, vp of marketing at the company, said brands have to build in layers that verify a user\u2019s age at multiple entry points for every activation.\n\nKarraker pointed to Jameson, the first alcohol brand to run national geofilters when it launched an age-gated geofilter last March. It also ran ads within Live Story for St. Patrick\u2019s Day. Jameson had to create multiple layers to ensure that it met age guidelines. According to Jeffrey Moran, vp of influencer engagement and marketing activation at Pernod Ricard, the company went an additional step by putting essentially a \u201cdo not forward to anyone under 21\u201d message on the filter itself. The brand was also very specific and used geotargeting to address certain neighborhoods only for activations for Jameson and its sister brand, Malibu. \u201cIn many ways, we\u2019re trying to be part of the solution to figure out how to fix this and be responsible,\u201d said Moran.\n\n\u201cAny layer has people drop off, any layer between you and your content,\u201d said Karraker. \u201cUltimately, here\u2019s a platform that is clearly a favorite of underage individuals. Why would you focus your efforts over there when I can just go to Instagram, which now has Stories?\u201d\n\nKarraker\u2019s media team felt that Snapchat was resistant to working with alcohol brands in the early days because of its rudimentary age-gating features. Meanwhile, Instagram increased in popularity and released Stories, leading Campari to focus its attention there.\n\n\u201cIn addition, we tend to focus on Instagram because of broad reach, potential for engagement and sharing (not just consumption like Snap), research capabilities and media buying efficiencies,\u201d said Karraker. \u201cInstagram is a better platform for our very visual marketing style for our brands and cocktails and for the sharing of cocktail recipes, which is very important brand-consumption lever.\u201d\n\nUltimately, brands seem to prefer advertising on Instagram, which has more stringent age-gating and doesn\u2019t skew younger \u2014 and has other benefits, such as a larger active user base and more discoverability.\n\n\u201cThe great thing is, as much as I love Snapchat, with Facebook Live and Instagram Stories, we are able to achieve the same thing in different places,\u201d said Hayes.\n\nContributing: Seb Joseph", "output": "Alcohol brands have reported their reluctance to advertise on Snapchat, due to concerns about verifying the age of the social media app's users. In the US, alcohol can only be advertised on platforms where 72% of users are over the legal drinking age of 21, making accurate targeting important. While Snapchat requires users to enter their dates of birth, there is currently no way of verifying the age of recipients of messages. Several alcohol brands are reported to be uncomfortable advertising on a site with such a young demographic, and prefer to use other platforms."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China Minsheng Bank senior executive under investigation \n Minsheng Bank\u2019s Lin Xiaoxuan is under review by the China Banking Regulatory Commission on suspicion of \u2018serious violation of discipline\u2019", "output": "China Minsheng Bank's chief information officer, Lin Xiaoxuan, is being investigated by the Chinese government's banking watchdog. The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) is looking into\u00a0allegations of a \"serious violation of discipline\", as Beijing continues its anti-corruption crackdown on the financial sector. Xiaoxuan had been employed by Minsheng since January, and had his qualifications approved by the CBRC only last week.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Royal Mail trials EVs in London \n Arrival\n\nThe Royal Mail has a fleet of around 49,000 vehicles. On a daily basis these are used to transport mail from individual post boxes and offices to sorting centres, distribution locations and finally the recipients they're intended to be delivered to.\n\nRead more: This electric truck can be built by just one person in four hours\n\nNow, as vehicle manufacturers around the world are concentrating on cleaner vehicles, the Royal Mail is going electric.\n\nThe limited trial, taking place for one year, will use nine prototype trucks from Banbury-based Arrival. The firm, formerly known as Charge Auto, is owned by the creators of the ambitious autonomous racing series Roborace.\n\nFrom today 3.5, 6, and 7.5 tonne trucks will be used in London \u2013 operating out of the Mount Pleasant depot \u2013 to move packages between mail distribution centres in the city and the local area. In a statement, Paul Gatti, Royal Mail Fleet\u2019s managing director, said the vehicles will be used for mail collection from its larger sites.", "output": "The Royal Mail has begun testing electric vehicles (EVs). For one year, the company will use nine prototype vehicles from EV manufacturing firm Arrival to carry mail. The vehicles will begin delivering packages in December, with charging stations installed at delivery offices. The vans have been designed to run for 100 miles, producing zero emissions. The final version of the vehicle will be capable of autonomous travel.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Drug and alcohol misuse on rise among baby boomers \n Urgent action is needed to tackle drink and drug misuse among baby boomers, experts have warned, with a growing body of data from around the world suggesting that substance misuse is increasing among those in their mid-50s and older.\n\nThe call follows the release of recent figures which revealed that in 2015/16 more than half a million adults aged between 55 and 74 were admitted to English hospitals with alcohol-related injuries, diseases or conditions \u2013 more than for any other age group.\n\n\n\nWhat\u2019s more, while risky drinking is on the wane in the UK and Australia, those in the over-50 age bracket buck the trend. By 2020 the number of people receiving treatment for substance misuse problems are expected to double in Europe, and treble in the US, among those aged over 50.\n\n\u201cOverall, whether you look at [hospital] admissions, whether you look at daily drinking, whether you look at deaths, older people \u2013 particularly baby boomers \u2013 are pulling away significantly in their health risks from millennials,\u201d said Dr Tony Rao, a consultant old age psychiatrist at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and co-chair of the Older People\u2019s Substance Misuse working group at the Royal College of Psychiatrists.\n\nWriting in the British Medical Journal ahead of the publication of a forthcoming 2018 report from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Rao and Ann Roche \u2013 director of the National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction at Flinders University in Australia \u2013 argue that more needs to be done to tackle the problem.\n\nBut, Rao warns, the issue goes beyond drinking. \u201cIt is not just about alcohol, it is also about illicit drugs such as cannabis, and it is also about commonly prescribed medications such as opioid painkillers,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is not just a problem in the UK, it is an international problem.\u201d\n\nIndeed, the authors write, \u201cIn Australia, the largest percentage increase in drug misuse between 2013 and 2016 was among people aged 60 and over, with this age group mainly misusing prescription drugs.\u201d Those over the age of 50, they add, have higher rates of illicit drug misuse, particularly cannabis, than younger Australians.\n\n\n\nAmong their suggestions to tackle the problem, the authors argue that programmes should be developed to cater especially for older adults. \u201cAddiction services [in the UK] are being dismantled piecemeal at the same time as older people are experiencing more substance misuse problems,\u201d said Rao.\n\nBetter integration of healthcare is crucial, Rao added, pointing out that those visiting services relating to liver disease or dementia, for example, could also be screened for issues relating to alcohol or drugs and be offered help if needed.\n\nRao added that a 2011 report from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, which he co-authored, advises that due to age-related physiological and metabolic changes, older people should drink no more than 11 units per week; current guidelines recommend no more than 14 units for all adults.\n\nKatherine Brown, director of the Institute of Alcohol Studies said alcohol consumption among baby boomers is a huge worry.\n\n\u201cThis is the first generation of home-drinkers who are far more likely to buy cheap supermarket alcohol than visit their local pub. They are drinking more than their parents and it\u2019s no surprise that their health is starting to suffer as a result,\u201d she said, adding that price increases and tighter controls on alcohol promotions are needed.\n\n\n\nKaren Tyrell, from the alcohol and drug misuse charity Addaction, agreed that better integrated services, as well as those specifically aimed at older adults, are needed to help tackle the issue, pointing out that work from the Drink Wise Age Well project has shown that older adults have different needs to younger people. \u201c[Older adults\u2019] drinking and drug use tends to be around age-related issues, so things like retirement, bereavement [and] being quite lonely,\u201d she said.\n\nUltimately, said Tyrell, the situation among baby boomers is a serious concern. \u201cIt tends to be that society imagines that drink and drugs are problems of the young but actually there are massive problems in older populations,\u201d she said.", "output": "Misuse of drink and drugs by baby boomers is increasing and needs urgent attention, according to Australian and UK medics. Recently released NHS figures reveal that over half a million people aged 55 to 74 were admitted to hospitals in England with diseases or injuries related to alcohol in 2015-2016. The figures were higher than for any other age group, making baby boomers the only generation trending upwards in terms of dangerous drinking. The number of people over 50 treated for substance misuse is expected to double in Europe and treble in the US by 2020.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EU to investigate $66bn Bayer-Monsanto merger \n The European Commission, the European Union\u2019s executive arm, announced Tuesday it has opened an in-depth investigation into Bayer\u2018s proposed $66 billion takeover of Monsanto over \u201cconcerns that the merger may reduce competition in areas such as pesticides, seeds and traits.\u201d\n\nThe controversial merger, if successful, will form the world\u2019s largest integrated seed and pesticide company.\n\n\u201cIt would combine two competitors with leading portfolios in non-selective herbicides, seeds and traits, and digital agriculture,\u201d the commission stated. \u201cBoth companies are active in developing new products in these areas.\u201d\n\nThe commission warned that the acquisition could reduce competition in a number of different markets resulting in \u201chigher prices, lower quality, less choice and less innovation.\u201d\n\nThe commission\u2019s initial market investigation identified three preliminary concerns, as follows:\n\nPesticides\n\nMonsanto\u2019s pesticide product glyphosate is the most sold non-selective herbicide in Europe. Bayer produces glufosinate ammonium, also a non-selective herbicide and one of the very few alternatives to glyphosate. According to the commission\u2019s preliminary investigation, Monsanto and Bayer are two of a limited number of competitors in this field capable of discovering new active ingredients and developing new formulations, including addressing the growing problem of weed resistance to existing products. In addition, the commission will further assess both Monsanto\u2019s activities in biological pesticide products that would compete with Bayer\u2019s existing portfolio of chemical pesticide products, and the parties\u2019 overlapping activities in products that tackle varroa mites, a parasite affecting bee colonies in Europe.\n\nMonsanto\u2019s pesticide product glyphosate is the most sold non-selective herbicide in Europe. Bayer produces glufosinate ammonium, also a non-selective herbicide and one of the very few alternatives to glyphosate. According to the commission\u2019s preliminary investigation, Monsanto and Bayer are two of a limited number of competitors in this field capable of discovering new active ingredients and developing new formulations, including addressing the growing problem of weed resistance to existing products. Seeds\n\nBayer and Monsanto are both active in the breeding of vegetable seeds. The commission\u2019s initial investigation shows that the parties have high combined market shares in a number of these vegetable seeds markets, and that some of their products compete directly with each other. Bayer and Monsanto are also active in the breeding and licensing of seeds for several field crops. Monsanto has the highest market share in oilseed rape seeds in Europe. Bayer, with the highest market share in oilseed rape seeds at global level, is one of the few players with the means to compete intensively in this market. Furthermore, both parties are important licensors of cotton seeds to their competitors in Europe, and both are investing in research and innovation programs for wheat.\n\nBayer and Monsanto are both active in the breeding of vegetable seeds. The commission\u2019s initial investigation shows that the parties have high combined market shares in a number of these vegetable seeds markets, and that some of their products compete directly with each other. Traits\n\nA trait is a characteristic of a plant, such as height, herbicide tolerance and insect or disease resistance, and can be developed in laboratories and introduced in certain plant varieties. The commission\u2019s preliminary investigation indicates that Monsanto has a dominant position in several traits markets worldwide. Bayer is one of the few competitors to Monsanto in certain traits markets, and has notably developed alternative herbicide tolerance traits to Monsanto\u2019s. The commission will investigate in particular whether the transaction could lead to a reduction of competition in these markets, taking into account the existing links between the few worldwide competitors through cross-licensing and through research and development cooperations.\n\n\u201cMoreover,\u201d the commission noted, \u201cthe transaction would take place in industries that are already globally concentrated, as illustrated by the recent mergers of Dow and Dupont and Syngenta and ChemChina, in which the commission intervened to protect competition for the benefit of farmers and consumers.\u201d\n\nBayer and Monsanto submitted commitments in late July to address some of the commission\u2019s preliminary concerns. However, the commission \u201cconsidered these commitments insufficient to clearly dismiss its serious doubts as to the transaction\u2019s compatibility with the EU Merger Regulation.\u201d\n\nMargrethe Vestager, who serves as European Commissioner for Competition, said that \u201cseeds and pesticide products are essential for farmers and ultimately consumers.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe need to ensure effective competition so that farmers can have access to innovative products, better quality and also purchase products at competitive prices. And at the same time maintain an environment where companies can innovate and invest in improved products,\u201d Vestager added.\n\nThe German pharmaceuticals company told Reuters it is still aiming to have the transaction approved by the end of the year.\n\n\u201cBayer looks forward to continuing to work constructively with the commission with a view to obtaining the commission\u2019s approval,\u201d the company said.\n\nThe commission could block the Monsanto-Bayer deal but it has approved both Dow and DuPont\u2019s deal as well as ChemChina\u2019s takeover of Syngenta after major concessions, Reuters reported. The commission has until January to make a decision.\n\nBayer and Monsanto bosses tout the mega-deal as an altruistic plan to improve \u201cthe lives of growers and people around the world.\u201d\n\nBut environmental advocates and consumer groups like the Organic Consumers Association, Farmers Union, Food & Water Watch, Friends of the Earth and others have condemned the plan.\n\nHannah Lownsbrough, the executive director of the consumer group SumOfUs, wrote in the Guardian: \u201cIf approved, the merger would be an extremely risky consolidation of corporate power, not to mention a serious threat to food supplies and farmers around the world. It is essential that regulators properly investigate it and take decisive action before it\u2019s too late.\u201d", "output": "An investigation into Bayer\u2019s proposed $66bn takeover of Monsanto has been launched by the European Commission in relation to \u201cconcerns that the merger may reduce competition in areas such as pesticides, seeds and traits\". If successful, the merger would create the largest seed and pesticide firm in the world. As the commission observes, the merger would also \"take place in industries that are already globally concentrated, as illustrated by the recent mergers of Dow and Dupont and Syngenta and ChemChina\u201d.\n \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bankrupt solar installer Sungevity comes back in merged business \n In the ups and downs of the solar coaster, even the dead can rise again.\n\nCase in point: Sungevity is back.\n\nOakland-based Sungevity, the fifth-largest residential solar installer at the start of the year, combusted in a spectacular bankruptcy in March that resulted in mass layoffs, unpaid accrued vacation days and bounced final checks. The remnants of the company that emerged from bankruptcy assumed the name Solar Spectrum.\n\nThe private equity firm Northern Pacific Group, which bought the assets that became Solar Spectrum, acquired a majority stake in Southern California installer Horizon Solar Power from Oaktree's GFI Energy Group on August 17. Now the plan is to nest the two solar companies under the umbrella of the Sungevity brand, in what could soon become a platform for further solar acquisitions.\n\n\"It was unfortunate what happened with Sungevity, but we believe the brand stands for a lot of positive things,\" said Horizon CEO Frank Kneller. \"Most important to us was their total commitment to the customer and ensuring the customer had a flawless experience.\"\n\nThat's a novel approach for the residential solar industry, which has few healthy models for how to grow sustainably. It's a similar setup to General Motors, which houses separate but related brands like Chevy and Buick. GM also went through a high-profile bankruptcy recently, but people still buy its cars.\n\nWith this merger come national aspirations, which Solar Spectrum inherited from Sungevity. That marks a change of strategy for Horizon, having grown within the borders of California so far.\n\nPairing Horizon's and Sungevity's installations from Q1, the combined company would rank fifth among U.S. residential installers with 1.8 percent national market share, according to GTM Research's PV Leaderboard. The new Sungevity says it has the momentum to reach fourth place by next quarter.\n\nWhy Sungevity?\n\nWhen kick-starting a new solar consortium, branding it with the name of a recently expired giant isn't the obvious choice.\n\nThe leadership team is betting that brighter memories from its 10-year run outweigh more recent history.\n\n\"In its heyday, Sungevity was the undisputed champion of solar customer service,\" said Horizon President Brian Walrod. \"Sungevity did a lot of tremendous things for the industry, and although it didn't end in a great place, it doesn't erase the positive impact that it made.\"\n\nThat positive impact may be lost on those who closely followed the collapse, or the employees who were not paid for accrued vacation time, or whose final checks bounced.\n\n\"Why the hell would anyone bring back that brand?\" was how one former Sungevity employee reacted to the news.\n\nFor those Americans who exercise a less granular understanding of the ins and outs of the cleantech world, the bankruptcy might not have registered. Say what you will about Sungevity, that company knew how to spend money on marketing, and that investment could continue to pay dividends for the new ownership.\n\nThere is a crucial difference between the old Sungevity and the new.\n\nThe former was caught on a treadmill of growth in order to raise money, said William Nettles, executive vice president of strategy and investor relations at Solar Spectrum. The name now belongs to a private equity firm that can afford a longer-term strategy.\n\n\"We have investors who believe in putting their money to work in a smart way and have the patience to make sure that we grow profitably,\" Nettles said. \"I think that is very unique at this time. Investor sentiment toward solar is negative right now. Other investors are sitting on the sidelines.\"\n\nNew allies\n\nSolar Spectrum and Horizon will continue operating as separate companies, but will start working together to enhance growth.\n\nHorizon started in Southern California and has seen six years of profitable growth while expanding to new counties, not new states. The company approaches solar based on its roots in the construction industry, Walrod said. The firm does installation in-house.\n\nThe multi-channel sales approach includes field marketing, door-knocking, digital lead generation, paid leads, direct mail and retail, Kneller said, adding that his team watches the cost of customer acquisition \"daily.\"\n\nSolar Spectrum, active in California and several New England states, specializes in remote sales and installs through a partner network. A signature software program tracks each step from sales to installation.\n\nThat makes for two different but complementary go-to-market strategies, Walrod said. It's feasible that the two could share technology and leads as they pursue different markets with their respective approaches. But the collaboration won't stop there.\n\n\"This will really create a platform for future industry consolidation,\" Walrod said.\n\nThe new platform is already evaluating another acquisition, in fact. In a market with more headlines about companies divesting from solar installation than investing, the Horizon acquisition sent out a beacon of hope.\n\nBut dreams of nationwide expansion raise red flags in this industry.\n\n\"So many of the national residential solar companies, like Sungevity, have gone under in the past two years that it has started to look increasingly like the national model just doesn't work,\" said Allison Mond, a solar analyst at GTM Research. \"That said, Horizon Solar Power is the largest residential company operating solely in California, and it has been doing really well, with double-digit growth and successful reduction of customer acquisition costs despite difficulties across the board in the California market.\"\n\nMoving out of that core market invites new challenges. But the leadership team at least knows what kind of odds they're up against.\n\n\"We want to be smart about it,\" Kneller said. \"The landscape is littered with people who tried to go nationwide.\"", "output": "US residential solar installer Sungevity has emerged from bankruptcy as Solar Spectrum after a merger. Oakland-based Sungevity filed for bankruptcy in March, leading to massive lay-offs. Private equity firm Northern Pacific Group bought the assets that became Solar Spectrum before acquiring a majority stake in Horizon Solar Power in August. Northern Pacific now hopes to merge the two companies under the brand Sungevity, in what may become a platform for more solar buyouts.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Victoria aims high with renewable energy targets \n The southern Australian state of Victoria has this week set the country\u2019s most ambitious renewable energy targets of 25% by 2020 and 40% by 2025, at the same time as the government awarded two large-scale solar projects.\n\nThe Victorian Labor Government announced on Wednesday the introduction of the Victorian Renewable Energy Targets (VRET), the largest renewable energy auction in Australia, and the awarding of contracts for two large-scale solar projects. Australian states have had to lead the way when it comes to renewable energy development and deployment, considering the entrenched loyalty to the country\u2019s coal industry in the Federal Government. South Australia, the western neighbor to Victoria, is one of the world\u2019s leading renewable energy states \u2014 having already achieved its 2020 target of achieving 50% of its electricity from renewable energy sources.\n\nVictoria itself has recently been stepping up as well, and this latest raft of announcements serves to solidify the importance of renewable energy in the state\u2019s future.\n\nThe Victorian Renewable Energy Targets, which will be introduced as legislation into State Parliament this week, will aim to set the country\u2019s most ambitious targets of 25% by 2020 and 40% by 2025. Further, according to the Labor Government, the VRET is expected to cut the average cost of power for Victorians by around $30 a year for households, $2,500 a year for medium businesses, and $140,000 a year for large companies. At the same time, the VRET is expected to boost local jobs into the thousands, attract billions of dollars of investment, and drive a 16% reduction in the state\u2019s electricity sector greenhouse gas emissions by 2034-35.\n\n\u201cMore renewable energy means more jobs for Victorians \u2014 that\u2019s why we\u2019re setting these ambitious targets and promoting investment in this growing sector,\u201d said Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. \u201cRenewable energy creates jobs, drives growth, and protects our environment \u2014 and most importantly, helps drive down power prices for Victorian households and businesses.\u201d\n\nStemming from the VRET will be Australia\u2019s largest renewable energy auction, which will offer up to 650 MW (megawatts) of capacity that could provide clean electricity for the equivalent of up to 389,000 homes \u2014 or, according to the Labor Government, enough electricity to power the secondary cities of Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, as well as the entire Latrobe Valley region.\n\nExpectations are that the first auction will result in investments of up to $1.3 billion and jobs during construction of around 1,250, and ongoing jobs for around 90.\n\nAt the same time, the Victorian Government also announced the winners of a tender to build approximately 138 MW worth of new large-scale solar to help power the state capital\u2019s tram network.\n\n\u201cThe renewable energy sector will now have the confidence to invest in renewable energy projects and the jobs that are crucial to Victoria\u2019s future,\u201d said Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D\u2019Ambrosio. \u201cGovernment investment will be capped to ensure the best value for money for Victorian taxpayers.\u201d\n\nSign up for Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era \u2014 Podcast: I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014 gasp \u2014 grow. So ... Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014\u2014 grow. So ...", "output": "The Australian state of Victoria has become the first in the country to legislate its renewable energy targets. The state introduced proposals this week to put its announced targets\u00a0of 25% renewable energy by 2020 and 40% by 2025\u00a0into law. The government claims meeting the targets would reduce household electricity bills by AUD30 ($24) per\u00a0year and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 16% by 2034. They now plan to use a reverse auction to encourage the construction of new wind and solar projects across the state.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Victoria aims high with renewable energy targets \n The Victorian government has introduced legislation to enshrine its renewable energy targets in law and establish a reverse auction mechanism to build 650 megawatts worth of new projects.\n\nThe premier, Daniel Andrews, announced the Victorian renewable energy targets (VRET) of 25% renewable energy by 2020 and 40% by 2025 in June 2016.\n\n\n\nIf Andrews can negotiate it past the upper house, the legislation introduced to parliament on Wednesday will make Victoria the first state to enshrine both its renewable energy targets and its commitment to invest in renewable energy in law.\n\nThat will send a strong signal to investors, environment minister Lily D\u2019Ambrosio said, and provide certainty for both the energy industry and electricity consumers.\n\n\u201cThese are ambitious yet achievable targets and this is the policy certainty and it\u2019s the right policy that industry has been deeply searching for to make sure they can actually make the right decisions to invest in our state,\u201d D\u2019Ambrosio said.\n\nThe VRET will rely on a reverse auction to encourage the construction of new wind and solar projects in Victoria. D\u2019Ambrosio said modelling by the state government showed it would reduce household electricity bills by $30 a year over the life of the scheme and drive a 16% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2034.\n\n\u201cIn a pure economics sense more supply means cheaper prices and that\u2019s what we will be modelling it on,\u201d she said.\n\nLeading experts agree that renewable energy is the cheapest form of new power generation, D\u2019Ambrosio said.\n\nVictoria has already held a limited reverse auction to commission two new solar plants designed to power Melbourne\u2019s tram network.\n\nThe successful tenders, announced on Wednesday, are the 100 megawatt Bannerton Solar Park near Robinvale in north-west Victoria and a 38 megawatt solar farm at Numerka, near Shepparton.\n\nD\u2019Ambrosio said the new projects would provide 138 megawatts of solar power and create jobs in regional areas. Expressions of interest for the reverse auction for 650 megawatts of renewable energy power generation \u2013 enough to power 389,000 homes or the combined residential areas of Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and the Latrobe Valley \u2013 will open in October.\n\nVictoria has long been critical of the Turnbull government\u2019s commitment to a clean energy target and threatened to work around government \u201cindecision\u201d. The current federal renewable energy target expires in 2020.\n\n\u201cWhat we know is that in the absence of policy certainty and leadership in Victoria it\u2019s up to states like Victoria to fill that void, to make sure that we\u2019re doing everything that we can to drive the transition that is incredibly important,\u201d Andrews said.\n\nEnvironmental groups praised the decision, saying it led the way for other states and territories to enshrine their own targets in legislation and send a strong message they were transitioning away from fossil fuel power.\n\nThe Australian Conservation Foundation climate change campaigner, Suzanne Harter, said leadership was particularly important because of a \u201cpolicy paralysis at a federal level\u201d.\n\n\u201cThe mechanism that the Victorian government is using is a tried and true mechanism,\u201d Harter said. \u201cCoupled with the targets, it sends clear signals to investors and to the sector.\u201d\n\nThe Environment Victoria campaigns manager, Nicholas Aberle, said the legislation showed the promise to get to 40% renewables was not an \u201caspirational target\u201d.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s one thing to want more renewable energy but it\u2019s another thing to create a mechanism to make it happen,\u201d he said. \u201cThe federal government does not have the monopoly over energy policy and if they are going to continue to not take climate change seriously then states are going to step in.\u201d\n\nAberle said new renewable energy projects would have to be spread throughout Victoria to fit within the limits of the existing electricity network and to provide energy security, preventing one severe weather event from taking out the power for the whole state, as a storm did last year in South Australia.\n\nSome places, like the Latrobe Valley, have significant unused transmission capacity because of the closure of the Hazelwood power station, making them an ideal site for windfarms.\n\nIn March the Andrews government announced a $20m tender to build 100mw of battery storage in Victoria by 2018, in time to store power generated by the as yet commissioned renewable energy plants. Three months later, Tesla founder Elon Musk committed to build in South Australia the world\u2019s largest lithium ion battery to store renewable energy.\n\nAberle said the speed with which battery technology was developing had put the goal of 100% renewable energy within reach.\n\n\u201cThis is a really disruptive technology that\u2019s going to completely reshape what our energy sector looks like in the future,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to shape it in a really positive way because it\u2019s going to allow us to get to 100% renewable energy much more quickly.", "output": "The Australian state of Victoria has become the first in the country to legislate its renewable energy targets. The state introduced proposals this week to put its announced targets\u00a0of 25% renewable energy by 2020 and 40% by 2025\u00a0into law. The government claims meeting the targets would reduce household electricity bills by AUD30 ($24) per\u00a0year and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 16% by 2034. They now plan to use a reverse auction to encourage the construction of new wind and solar projects across the state.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HNW homeowners at particular risk of water-leak damage: Chubb \n WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J., Aug. 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- A new survey from Chubb finds that while on vacation, just 19% of homeowners view internal water leak damage as the most concerning home threat, despite the fact that water leaks are a more frequent risk than fire and theft.\n\nExperience the interactive Multichannel News Release here: https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8158951-chubb-homeowner-water-risk-survey/\n\n\"The time between when a leak occurs and when it is discovered is the single greatest factor in determining the amount of damage,\" said Fran O'Brien, Division President of Chubb North America Personal Risk Services. \"As a result, leaks that occur while you're away result in greater amounts of damage, in terms of both cost and severity.\"\n\nInstances of water damage have been rising dramatically. In the past 10 years, the frequency of sudden pipe bursts has nearly doubled. In 2015, water damage accounted for nearly half of all property damage, according to the Insurance Information Institute. Chubb's new Homeowners' Water Risk Survey measures homeowners' attitudes toward home protection, the risks they're most concerned about and what they are overlooking. The online survey of 1,200 homeowners finds that just 8% of homeowners correctly identify August as the month with the most water leak events, and when subsequently heading out on a late-summer vacation, just 22% shut off the water main (despite 88% knowing where it is located within their home).\n\nWhile homeowners are particularly vulnerable during the summer travel season, the study finds many face year-round water exposures. For instance, despite the fact that 91% of homeowners rate themselves as \"vigilant\" or \"doing an okay job\" at preventative home maintenance, and that close to half (45%) have or know someone who has experienced a water leak in the past two years, only 18% have installed a water leak detection device.\n\nOf all homeowners, high-net-worth individuals are particularly at risk. When compared against other income segments, for instance, high-net-worth individuals are the most likely (55%) to report being \"vigilant\" about conducting preventative maintenance, yet are the least likely (26%) to rank internal water leaks as their top home-related concern. High-net-worth homeowners are also the income group least likely to periodically inspect appliance hoses (33% compared to 61% of middle class homeowners, the most of any income group), a frequent cause of internal water leaks.\n\n\"The adoption of certain preventative home maintenance devices, including fire, carbon monoxide and security systems, is standard practice among the majority of all homeowners, regardless of income, as they address what are perceived to be the most common property risks,\" explained O'Brien. \"But internal water leaks are a leading cause of property damage. With 57% of homeowners who have experienced a water leak claim in the past two years spending $5,000 or more on clean up and repair costs\u2014and 15% spending $20,000 or more\u2014many are overlooking their exposure at a significant cost.\"\n\nWhile O'Brien says there are a number of steps homeowners can take to mitigate the risk, she recommends that when they go through their pre-departure process of locking doors and windows, identifying a neighbor to keep an eye on their home, and ensuring some lights are left on, that homeowners also add shutting off the water main to the checklist.\n\nAdditional findings from the survey include:\n\nThe majority of homeowners (63%) cite the threat of relocating for an extended period of time (between one month and a year) as their first or second most potentially concerning water damage-related event. With the window for a quick restoration closing just 72 hours after a leak, extended relocation is a real possibility homeowners must contend with.\n\nA quarter of all homeowners have never had their appliances inspected, despite being the surest way to prevent a leak from occurring.\n\nMany homeowners also cited the loss of irreplaceable items (59%) and repairing structural damage (46%) as the top most potentially concerning water damage-related events.\n\nThe majority of homeowners are unfamiliar with the most common sources of internal water leaks, with close to half (49%) identifying the water heater as the most likely source (independent analyses indicate plumbing supply systems pose the greatest risk).\n\nAbout the Survey\n\nThe Homeowners' Water Risk Survey is the first survey by Chubb measuring homeowners' approaches and behaviors toward internal water leak detection and prevention. Conducted by ResearchNow, an online market research company, the online survey was fielded between July 24, 2017 and July 29, 2017. The results are based on 1,202 completed surveys, of which 25% of respondents were middle class ($50,000 to $99,999), 25% were upper middle class ($100,000-$499,999), 36% were mass affluent ($500,000-$999,999) and 13% were high-net-worth ($1,000,000 or more).\n\nAbout Chubb\n\nChubb is the world's largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company. With operations in 54 countries, Chubb provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance and life insurance to a diverse group of clients. As an underwriting company, we assess, assume and manage risk with insight and discipline. We service and pay our claims fairly and promptly. The company is also defined by its extensive product and service offerings, broad distribution capabilities, exceptional financial strength and local operations globally. Parent company Chubb Limited is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CB) and is a component of the S&P 500 index. Chubb maintains executive offices in Zurich, New York, London and other locations, and employs approximately 31,000 people worldwide. Additional information can be found at: chubb.com.\n\nView original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/survey-finds-close-to-80-of-homeowners-overlook-costly-water-leak-exposure-when-heading-out-on-vacation-300506986.html\n\nSOURCE Chubb", "output": "Just 19% of US homeowners view water leak damage as the most concerning home threat despite water leaks being a more frequent event than fire and theft, according to a survey by Chubb. High-net-worth (HNW) homeowners were found to be particularly at risk and least likely to rank internal water leaks as their top home-related concern. Chubb \u2013 the world's largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company \u2013 reported that water damage has risen dramatically in the past 10 years. In 2015 water damage accounted for nearly half of all property damage, according to the Insurance Information Institute.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Change at the top as LSM president Nick Metcalfe hands over reins \n Chief operating officer Matthew Moore takes up the reins.\n\nLiberty Specialty Markets\u2019 (LSM) president and managing director Nick Metcalf has handed over the running of LSM to Matthew Moore, in a move which the insurer said has been in the planning for several years.\n\nMetcalf retires and Moore takes on both president and MD roles.\n\nMoore said: \u201cI am delighted to be leading LSM in its next phase of evolution.\n\n\u201cI believe that LSM is uniquely placed to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the innovation taking place in the London market, and", "output": "Specialist insurer Liberty Specialty Markets has changed\u00a0its top management team, with Matthew Moore taking over from retiring\u00a0president and managing director\u00a0Nick Metcalfe. Moore has been with Liberty since 2002, when he joined\u00a0as a political risk underwriter. The London-headquartered multinational\u00a0said the changeover had been planned for several years.\u00a0Moore is taking over both the president and managing director\u00a0roles."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Swiss Re expands into contingency, sport risks with new team \n Mr. Cole has over 16 years of experience placing contingency, non-appearance, film and disability risks for wholesale and retail clients. He joined Swiss Re Corporate Solutions in 2012 and has been Head of the North American Contingency team since May 2014.\n\n\"Jonathan's considerable product knowledge and experience across all contingency and disability lines, as well as his extensive global network make him the ideal leader to build our team,\" states Andreas Hillebrand, Head Credit & Special Lines. \"With his proven track record of adding new product offerings and opening up markets, I'm confident he will help us to strategically grow our business throughout the world.\"\n\nAn English national, Mr. Cole holds a Bachelor's Degree from The University in Manchester in the U.K.\n\n\"Our new structure will foster cross-regional collaboration allowing us to better serve our clients and brokers,\" states Mr. Cole. \"I look forward to growing our team and business as we expand our regional footprint and product offering within the contingency and disability space.\"\n\nSwiss Re Corporate Solutions serves the sports and entertainment sectors by providing financial protection from a wide range of risks in the area of contingency and sports personal accident coverage.\n\nAbout Swiss Re Corporate Solutions\n\nSwiss Re Corporate Solutions offers innovative, high-quality insurance capacity to mid-sized and large multinational corporations across the globe. Our offerings range from standard risk transfer covers and multi-line programs, to highly customized solutions tailored to the needs of our clients. Swiss Re Corporate Solutions serves customers from over 50 offices worldwide and is backed by the financial strength of the Swiss Re Group. For more information about Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, please visit corporatesolutions.swissre.com or follow us on Linkedin at linkedin.com/company/swiss-re-corporate-solutions or on Twitter @SwissRe_CS.\n\nSwiss Re Corporate Solutions offers products through companies that are allowed to operate in the relevant type of (re)insurance or financial products in individual jurisdictions. Availability of products varies by jurisdiction. The content of this site is not intended as a solicitation to purchase (re)insurance or non-insurance products.\n\nSOURCE Swiss Re Corporate Solutions\n\nRelated Links\n\nhttps://corporatesolutions.swissre.com\n\n", "output": "Swiss Re has created a contingency and sports personal accident team in New York and has recruited Jonathan Cole to lead it. The team will sell its products globally. Cole, who is British, has spent his career placing contingency, non-appearance, film and disability risks, and will manage the underwriting team in London and New York.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Deceitful US insurer loses appeal against $2.75m damages award \n The circuit court agreed with the district court that there were sufficient facts to find that \u201cCharter Oak did not simply fail to disclose the existence of $900,000 of UIM coverage available to [Ms.] Dziadek, but actively deceived [Ms.] Dziadek and her attorney into believing that there was no such coverage.\u201d\n\nThis story is reprinted with permission from FC&S Legal, the industry\u2019s only comprehensive digital resource designed for insurance coverage law professionals. Visit the website to subscribe.\n\nThe U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has affirmed a decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota awarding an injured woman $2.75 million in punitive damages from an insurance company that had \u201cactively deceived\u201d the woman \u2014 and her attorney \u2014 into believing that no underinsured (UIM) motorist benefits were available to her.", "output": "An insurer has lost its appeal against a $2.75m punitive damages award to a woman who was deceived by the company after being seriously injured in a car accident. A lower court heard the Charter Oak Fire Insurance Company claimed Laura Dziadek\u00a0was not covered when she was involved in the\u00a0accident in a hire car in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in\u00a02008. The insurer\u00a0also failed to send the complete policy, the court heard. The company's actions were only discovered three years after the accident.\u00a0The jury in the trial found the insurer\u00a0liable for deceit and breach of contract.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Japanese health unions battle smoking to cut treatment costs \n In this May 29, 2011 file photo, people consult with doctors on giving up smoking at a shopping center in Tottori. (Mainichi)\n\nCorporate health insurance unions of 18 major companies are setting up a consortium with over 580,000 total members to offer remote outpatient treatment to help people quit smoking.\n\nThe move comes as the unions, faced with financial difficulties, need to reduce high smoking-related medical costs. The group aims to cut the smoking rate by 5 percent by 2020, when the Olympics and Paralympics will be held in Japan, reducing the number of smokers among those insured by company health coverage schemes by some 30,000.\n\nIn July this year, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare for the first time approved of completely remote outpatient treatment for smokers, which does not require face-to-face examinations by doctors, as a health care program as long as it is provided by insurers such as corporate health insurance unions. The latest development marks the first trial of this remote treatment to help people give up smoking.\n\nMany corporate insurance unions are facing financial problems due to Japan's aging society, and need to hold down the number of smokers among their membership as smoking increases overall medical costs. The unions joining the consortium include those for Nissan Motor Co., Japan Airlines Co., Recruit Holdings Co., Nomura Securities Co., Kao Corp. and Konica Minolta Inc., with a total membership of roughly 583,000.\n\nAccording to online health care support firm Linkage, which will undertake the remote treatment, a doctor will examine a patient online via smartphone or computer four times over a span of eight weeks or less, and send anti-smoking pills to the patient at their home or workplace. Public health nurses and other health experts will support the patient online or on the phone, and make sure via email that the patient is refraining from smoking up until the 36th week of the program. The program test run will start in the fall, and the system will be put into full-scale operation in fiscal 2018.\n\nAs companies with production and sales bases in rural areas lack access to medical institutions that offer outpatient treatment for smokers, some find it difficult to continue treatment to give up smoking. The program is also hoped to better the ratio of smokers who successfully quit.\n\nYoshio Nakaie, general manager of Uchida Yoko Health Insurance Association and organizer of the consortium, says the group aims to use information technology to realize health care projects that would be impossible for a single union to implement. He added, \"Reducing the smoking rate by 5 percent will have a huge impact on society.\"", "output": "18 major Japanese companies' health insurance unions in have created a consortium to offer outpatient treatment for smoking addicts. Many of the unions are dealing with financial issues as a result of Japan's ageing population, and hope to reduce the number of smokers among their membership, since\u00a0smoking increases overall medical costs. The group aims to cut the smoking rate by 5% before the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics are held in Japan.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Halliburton and Microsoft want to digitise the oil and gas industry \n Halliburton is entering into a strategic alliance with Microsoft to drive digital transformation across the oil and gas industry. The relationship will combine the expertise of a global leader in cloud and digital transformation with a global leader in exploration and production (E&P) science, software and services.\n\n\u201cHalliburton is focused on delivering intelligent cloud solutions to drive the next generation of efficient oil and gas exploration and production,\u201d says Jason Zander, corporate vice president of Microsoft Azure. \"We are excited to bring the power of Azure\u2019s hyperscale, hybrid and global cloud platform technologies to this alliance to enhance the value chain for our mutual customers.\n\nResearchers and engineers from both companies will leverage and optimize Microsoft technologies in machine learning, augmented reality (AR), user interactions and Industrial Internet of Things, as well as Azure's high-performant infrastructure and built-in computing capabilities to deliver tightly integrated solutions across the energy value chain. Areas of collaboration include: applying deep learning to reservoir characterization, modeling and simulation, building domain-specific visualization for mixed reality, creating highly interactive applications and fueling the digitalization of E&P assets.\n\nAs a first step in the alliance, Halliburton has made DecisionSpace 365 available on Azure, enabling real-time data streaming from IoT edge devices in oilfields and the ability to apply deep-learning models to optimize drilling and production to lower costs for customers. With the power of DecisionSpace on Azure, big compute and predictive deep-learning algorithms will help optimize field assets and enable next-generation exploration and deep-earth models by using software to fill gaps in sensor data, while reducing the number of steps and time required to render models.\n\n\u201cHalliburton is at the forefront of the digital transformation occurring in the E&P industry,\u201d says Nagaraj Srinivasan, senior vice president of Landmark and Halliburton Digital Solutions. \u201cWe believe open architecture and community-based innovation are necessary to drive this fundamental change and we\u2019re proud to work closely with an industry leader like Microsoft to deliver tailored E&P digital business solutions to our customers across the globe.\u201d\n\nThe breadth and depth of this collaboration will allow the companies to apply voice and image recognition, video processing and AR/Virtual Reality to create a digital representation of a physical asset using Microsoft\u2019s HoloLens and Surface devices. Additionally, the companies will utilize digital representation for oil wells and pumps at the IoT edge using the Landmark Field Appliance and Azure Stack.", "output": "Halliburton and Microsoft will work together to develop technologies such as augmented reality, machine learning and the industrial internet of things (IoT) with a mission to digitise the oil and gas industry. Halliburton also wants to expand its cloud capacity on Microsoft's Azure platform to support exploration and production, and stream real-time data from IoT edge devices. Deep learning will be used to optimise drilling and exploration."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "P2P buy-to-let start-up Landbay raises \u00a32.4m \n Landbay, a buy-to-let mortgage lender that uses peer-to-peer technology to fund loans, has closed a \u00a32.4m crowdfunding round.\n\nThe London-based PropTech/FinTech firm raised the funds via crowdfunding platform Seedrs, securing a total amount of \u00a32,440,266.\n\nThis far exceeds the firm\u2019s target amount of \u00a31.5m and brings the total amount raised to date to around \u00a37m.\n\n\u201cThis was a bridge round funded by existing investors. The funds will enable us to continue to expand our operational capacity as we ramp up lending, as well as launch new mortgage and investment products,\u201d said Gray Stern, co-founder and chief commercial officer at Landbay.\n\nThe firm, which currently employs 30 people, previously received investment from Zoopla, Omni Partners LLP and James Sore, who is chief investment officer at investment platform SyndicateRoom.\n\nThe Landbay platform enables people to make property-backed investments with as little as \u00a3100 while buy-to-let landlords can secure mortgages with a simple fee structure and low interest rate.\n\nIt claims to have loaned \u00a351.87m to date across 275 mortgages and boasts an expected return of 3.75% for investors, although this is of course not guaranteed.", "output": "London-based property technology company Landbay has raised \u00a32.4m ($3.1m) from its latest crowdfunding round on the Seedrs platform, exceeding its target of \u00a31.5m and bringing the total raised to date to around \u00a37m. The buy-to-let mortgage lender uses peer-to-peer technology to fund loans, and enables people to make property-backed investments with as little as \u00a3100, whilst offering a simple fee structure and low interest rates on buy-to-let mortgages. The company claims to have loaned over \u00a351m to date, with an expected return of 3.75% for investors."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Proptech course launched by Oxford University Business School \n Post navigation\n\nA new programme by Oxford University\u2019s Said Business School promises to \u201cequip participants with the ability to identify opportunities for disruption in the financial services sector\u201d.\n\nWhile the course is entitled the \u201cOxford Fintech Programme\u201d, it dedicates a whole module to \u2018Proptech and real estate innovation\u2019.\n\nFor industry stalwarts it may seem laughable that proptech can be taught \u2013 but with so much money at stake, surely sharing ideas and exploring innovation in a classroom setting (albeit online) could be the way to avoid expensive mistakes.\n\neasyProperty and Countrywide serve as a reminder of how much money can be spent plotting a proptech path.\n\nIt looks like the course will focus on generating ideas rather than the typical MBA route of looking at past case studies \u2013 of which Purplebricks, Rightmove and Zoopla would be key positive candidates.\n\nExamples of what-not-to-do are often heralded by incumbent voices but nevertheless proptech\u2019s graveyard is littered with many an effort to disrupt estate agency.\n\nMy wife gave me this awesome stat: on average a 4-year-old child asks 437 questions a day.\n\nWhether true or not it makes you think that children learn because they ask and explore. How many estate agents think about the future, let alone ask questions about the shape of their services?\n\nWell, for \u00a32,500, agents can take this Oxford University course delivered in partnership with Get Smarter, an online learning platform.\n\nBeyond proptech, the course covers wider fintech topics including marketplaces, the future of money, and regtech (regulation technology).\n\nThe core focus is disruption, with the first three modules culminating with \u2018Tools for disruptors\u2019.\n\nIt makes you think about all the comments at the bottom of EYE articles stating \u2018facts\u2019 about property transactions and that \u2018outsiders\u2019 with no experience couldn\u2019t possibly succeed.\n\nOn the other side of the argument you have venture capitalists citing examples of file sharing and Apple iTunes disrupting the music publishing industry, websites disrupting travel agencies and the upcoming artificial intelligence disruption of legal services.\n\nThe best defence for estate agents surely has to be better than tens of years of experience doing what they do.\n\nEstate agents, being perennially at the bottom of trusted profession league tables, haven\u2019t traditionally made a good fight of defending themselves.\n\nWhile Purplebricks cites Trustpilot scores, traditional high street estate agents display no auditable proof of customer satisfaction.\n\nAnd yet, surely that is exactly what high street agents have: years of successfully selling homes locally for the best prices.\n\nIn producing this data disclosure on a constant basis, it would be fairly easy to point fingers and say a company merely listing on Rightmove can\u2019t possibly offer a comparable service.\n\nOr on the other hand, it might prove the opposite.\n\nIn any look to the future, having a better handle on answering questions with irrefutable facts and data would put estate agents in a stronger position when others come along looking to \u201cdeduce possible future trends in proptech\u201d.\n\nDetails of the Oxford University course can be found here:", "output": "Oxford University\u2019s business school has launched an \u201cOxford Fintech Programme\u201d with a module dedicated to proptech and real estate innovation. The course will be delivered in partnership with Get Smarter, an online learning platform and aims to equip participants with the ability to identify opportunities for disruption in the financial services sector. Alongside proptech, the course will cover wider fintech topics such as marketplaces, the future of money and regulation technology."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK homes will have to last 2,000 years at current building rate \n Broken housing market means cost of repairs as steep as new builds\n\nCouncils have once again sent warnings about the sluggish rate of housebuilding in England as it was revealed that the average new home will have to last 2,000 years if the current rate of housebuilding and replacement continues.\n\nIn new analysis published by the LGA, it was found that due to this lack of new builds, existing homes must house more people and last for longer, leading to the country spending nearly as much on repair and maintenance of existing homes as it does building new ones. In 2016, for example, \u00a327bn was spent repairing existing homes while \u00a335bn was spent on new builds.\n\nThe LGA went on to explain that one in 10 new homebuyers are dissatisfied with the quality of their home, and that one in six would not recommend their housebuilder to a friend.\n\nLocal authority leaders also raised concern about the private rented sector, where 28% of homes are not in a decent state. Council-run homes, however, are in a better state, with 85% meeting the decent homes standard \u2013 a considerable increase from 70% in 2008.\n\nAs a result, the LGA once again called for a \u201cnational renaissance\u201d in council housebuilding in order to solve the housing shortage and improve the quality of new homes.\n\n\u201cOur country\u2019s failure to build enough homes over the past few decades is putting huge pressure on our existing housing stock,\u201d said Cllr Judith Blake, the association\u2019s housing spokesperson.\n\n\u201cFamilies are having to spend more on rent or mortgages every month and deserve a decent home that is affordable,\u201d she argued. \u201cBut as costs are rising, so is dissatisfaction with the standards of new homes.\n\n\u201cCouncils need to be able to ensure quality through the planning system, and to encourage high standards in rented and owned properties across the board.\u201d\n\nShe also reiterated calls to the government to enable councils to borrow cash in order build new homes and meet requirements in their area.\n\n\u201cTo spark a desperately-needed renaissance in council housebuilding, councils also need to able to borrow to build new homes and keep all receipts from any homes they sell to reinvest in building new homes that are of a good quality and affordable,\u201d Cllr Blake concluded.\n\nTop Image: Duncan Andison\n\nHave you got a story to tell? Would you like to become a PSE columnist? If so, click here.", "output": "UK councils have warned that the sluggish rate of housebuilding in the country means that existing homes must house more people and last longer, leading to the country spending nearly as much on repair and maintenance of existing homes as it does on building new ones. In 2016, \u00a327bn ($34.5bn) was spent repairing existing homes while \u00a335bn was spent on new builds. Analysis by the Local Government Association (LGA) revealed that the average new home will have to last 2,000 years if the current rate of housebuilding and replacement continues."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Soho Estates to offer co-working space in Old Compton Street \n T he property empire built up by the late porn baron Paul Raymond on Thursday unveiled plans to enter the trendy co-working offices market, after profits surged.\n\nDeveloper Soho Estates has agreed a deal that will allow space at 58 Old Compton Street to be used by budding entrepreneurs. They will pay low rents ahead of the building being redeveloped in around six years\u2019 time.\n\nBoss John James, Raymond\u2019s son-in-law, said: \u201cThis will be our first creative hive with shared office space that can be let to London\u2019s fashion, media and tech start-ups at discount rates. We want to support entrepreneurs, particularly as Brexit negotiations get under way.\u201d\n\nThe 8500 square feet will be let to entrepreneur Nick Hartwright for a new shared workspace project.\n\nIt will be let to him at around \u00a325 per square foot. Typical office rents in Soho are closer to \u00a370 per square foot.\n\nWest End redevelopments helped boost the value of the property empire by nearly 40% to \u00a3915.9 million in the year to March 31.\n\nProfits jumped to \u00a3182.6 million from \u00a383.2 million.\n\n\"King of Soho\u201d Raymond died in 2008, leaving a chunk of the estate to granddaughters Fawn and India.\n\nHe had amassed swathes of London real estate using profits from magazines such as Razzle. Soho Estates today owns flats, shops, offices and bars.", "output": "Developer Soho Estates is expanding into the co-working sector with a deal that allows 58 Old Compton Street, central London to be rented out to entrepreneurs. The company will charge low rents as the building is awaiting redevelopment in about six years' time. The value of Soho Estates's portfolio increased by nearly 30% to \u00a3915.9m for the 12 months to 31 March, thanks to \u00a366m of acquisitions and a favourable revaluation of its portfolio. Profits increased to \u00a3182.6m from \u00a383.2m.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Israel army develops AI to predict rocket attacks from Gaza Strip \n The operational research unit of the Military Intelligence Unit \u2014 the software unit of the Israeli army\u2019s J6/C4i Directorate\u2019s Lotem Unit \u2014 doesn\u2019t look like the kind of place where state-of-the art artificial intelligence is being put to work.\n\nThere are no espresso machines, brightly colored couches or views of Tel Aviv from the top floors of an office tower. The unit conducts its work in the backwater of Ramat Gan and has the look and feel of any other army office.\n\nBut the unit is engaged in the same kind of AI work that the world\u2019s biggest tech companies, like Google, Facebook and China\u2019s Baidu are doing in a race to apply machine learning to such functions as self-driving cars, analysis of salespeople\u2019s telephone pitches and cybersecurity \u2014 or to fight Israel\u2019s next war more intelligently.\n\nMaj. Sefi Cohen, 34, is head of the unit, which in effect makes him the army\u2019s chief data officer. As he explains it, his unit\u2019s mission is to provide soldiers in the field data-based insights with the help of smart tools. \u201cWe embed these capabilities in applications that help commanders in the field,\u201d he said.\n\nOne example is a system for predicting rocket launches from the Gaza Strip. \u201cAfter Operation Protective Edge we developed an app that learns from field sensors and other data we collected what are the most likely areas launchers will be set up and at what hours. That enables us to know in advance what will happen and what areas should be attacked in order to fight them more effectively,\u201d he explained.\n\nIn one project the unit built a system based on neural networks whose purpose is to extract from a video a suspicious object and describe it in writing. \u201cIt won\u2019t replace human observers, but instead of looking at five cameras, it will be able to be responsible for dozens,\u201d said Cohen.\n\nCohen said the amount of data at his disposal from the army is \u201cendless, reaching into petabytes (one million gigabytes) in some areas. It also makes use of data from outside sources and the apps it develops use open-source code. \u201cWe return to the world things that we use, \u201cCohen says,\u201d Models that are operational obviously do not go out.\u201d\n\nCohen got his start in combat signals corps. Near the end of his compulsory service he completed a course in Lotem and spent another 10 years at its command and control systems unit. \u201cI\u2019ve always loved algorithms. I was already involved with them in high school and worked in the field. When I saw drafted I wanted to combine the technology with a combat,\u201d he recalls.\n\nCohen set up the unit he now leads with the help of local high-tech executives. \u201cI convinced my commanders that we could use machine learning in combat, and from there I started to bring in more and more people,\u201d he said. The unit now comprises about 20 officers, all of them in the career army and holding advanced degrees in computer science, focusing on AI.\n\nThe unit\u2019s only female member left recently, so for the moment it\u2019s an all-male team. Cohen says most are graduates of the army\u2019s elite Talpiot program; the one who isn\u2019t has a master\u2019s from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology. \u201cEveryone who\u2019s here is the tops. I learn a lot from them,\u201d he said.", "output": "Israel\u2019s Military Intelligence subsidiary, the J6/C4i Directorate Lotem Unit, is dedicated to providing soldiers with data-based knowledge gleaned from smart tools. For example, the unit has created software that predicts\u00a0rocket launches from the Gaza Strip,\u00a0using the petabytes of information it has garnered from the army\u2019s smart equipment. The unit works in similar artificial intelligence\u00a0fields to major tech firms such as Google, Baidu and Facebook, but is using machine learning to enable more intelligent warfare and defence.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Biotech start-ups moving out of US cities due to prices \n Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More\n\n(Reuters) \u2014 The biotech industry is facing high rents and tight lab space in Boston, New York and San Francisco, forcing companies into the suburbs in a sign the \u201clive, work and play\u201d movement into big cities may have hit a roadblock.\n\nFor example, Modern Meadow, a biotech start-up poised to commercially manufacture leather from synthetic animal protein, was looking at a prohibitive $200 million cost to build its own lab in New York City.\n\nInstead, it found existing lab space at the former U.S. headquarters of Swiss drug-maker Roche in Nutley, New Jersey, a scant 12 miles (19 km) from Midtown Manhattan.\n\nModern Meadow also secured $32.2 million in New Jersey tax credits at ON3, as the former Hoffman-La Roche site has been named by its new owner, Prism Partners.\n\nThe start-up\u2019s search for adequate facilities is shared by other biotech firms that are encountering tight lab availability in New York, San Francisco and Boston, which attract the lion\u2019s share of biotech venture capital funding.\n\nTight spaces, big expectations\n\nCities, especially those with powerhouse educational institutions that excel in sciences, are attractive to biotech companies because they provide better collaboration and transition from classroom to commercial production.\n\nThe issue with lab space in these cities is that real estate is very expensive, both to build and operate, said Andras Forgacs, chief executive of Modern Meadow.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t have the time and we don\u2019t have the capital to be in the real estate development business in New York City. That\u2019s not what our investors asked for,\u201d said Forgacs, whose firm has raised $53.5 million from Sequoia Capital and Singapore\u2019s sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings, among others.\n\n\u201cFor start-ups especially it is important to have existing inventory that is virtually move-in ready,\u201d Forgacs said.\n\nHis firm plans to spend $20.8 million in new construction and equipment and grow its workforce from more than 60 employees to 263 at the 116-acre ON3, where Prism envisions a mixed-use \u201cstreetscape\u201d to replace razed buildings and empty lots.\n\nBiotech labs require costly safety features to isolate dangerous agents, exacerbating existing space and cost constraints.\n\nExosome Diagnostics moved to Waltham, Massachusetts from Cambridge two weeks ago, a shift that will reduce rent by three to four times, said Dan Baughman, the firm\u2019s marketing director.\n\n\u201cIt was a no-brainer. It\u2019s infinitely less expensive,\u201d he said.\n\nWaltham also attracted Dragonfly Therapeutics Inc, which looked at more than 40 sites in Cambridge, where it started in 2015. Demand for space was high and the quality low, said Maura McCarthy, Dragonfly\u2019s director of market development.\n\nThe lower cost of housing for employees was a benefit too, she said.\n\nTriple net leases, where the tenant pays taxes, insurance and maintenance, are $78.50 a square foot in Cambridge and drop to $47 in Boston\u2019s inner suburbs, $31 along Route 128 north and west of Boston and then $15 in the outer ring, brokerage Cushman & Wakefield said.\n\nBoston has outpaced the combined number of deals and funding involving pharmaceutical firms in New York, San Francisco and Silicon Valley since 2014, said tech data provider CB Insights.\n\nFunding this year through Wednesday for pharmaceutical firms in Boston is $1.08 billion, compared to the $570.7 million raised for companies in the three other areas.\n\nUrban real estate owners need to understand the burgeoning life sciences industry and be creative when they redevelop sites, said Bill Hartman, a commercial broker at Cushman who helped Modern Meadow relocate.\n\n\u201cFor the foreseeable future life science start-ups and R&D organizations requiring labs will have to look far afield with a creative eye,\u201d Hartman said.\n\n(Reporting by Herbert Lash; Editing by Daniel Bases and Paul Simao)", "output": "Rising rents and limited lab space are forcing biotech start-ups to move out of US cities and into the suburbs. Modern Meadow, which makes leather from synthetic animal protein, has secured lab space in Nutley, New Jersey, and $32.2m in state tax credits after facing a $200m bill to build in central New York City. Exosome Diagnostics, which aims to deliver biofluid-based diagnostics, relocated to Waltham, Massachusetts from Cambridge, to cut its rent by three to four times."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Belize coral restoration threatened by tourism and oil \n Just below the surface of the turquoise sea, coral flutters majestically amid schools of puffed up porcupinefish and fluorescent blue and yellow angelfish.\n\nThe gangly staghorn and fanning elkhorn corals are thriving in swimming distance of Laughing Bird Caye, a tiny Caribbean sandy islet in southern Belize, thanks to a restoration project that is yielding striking results.\n\nMore than 90,000 corals grown in sea nurseries have been planted in shallow reefs, increasing coral cover in these southern warm waters by 35%. Marine creatures are reproducing, and about 90% have survived natural and manmade pressures for almost a decade.\n\nHailed as the most impressive coral reef restoration effort in the Caribbean, its success is linked to a grassroots movement uniting fisherman, tour guides, scientists and environmentalists working to conserve the 700-mile Mesoamerican Reef (MAR) \u2013 the second largest barrier reef in the world.\n\nFor the past decade this interconnected reef \u2013 which stretches from Mexico\u2019s Yucat\u00e1n peninsula to the Bay Islands of Honduras \u2013 has been monitored by the Healthy Reefs for Healthy People Initiative (HRI). At more than 300 sites in Mexico, Belize, Honduras and Guatemala, scientists measure coral cover, fish stocks and fleshy macroalgae \u2013 a nuisance seaweed which competes for space with coral.\n\nAnd despite the huge threats posed by pollution and climate change, a forthcoming HRI report will reveal steady improvements in the overall health of the MAR. Coral cover has risen from 10% to 17.5% since 2006 \u2013 far from great, but much healthier than many other reefs.\n\n\u201cThis is a David versus Goliath battle in which we haven\u2019t yet been squashed,\u201d said HRI founder Melanie McField with the Smithsonian Institution. \u201cWorking at a targeted local and regional level has helped the MAR hold its own and withstand major threats outside our control.\u201d\n\nBut the HRI report, to be published next month, also reveals challenges threatening the reef. In particular, fleshy macroalgae is flourishing at the expense of coral due to rising contamination and dwindling fish stocks.\n\nIn Belize \u2013 once regarded as a visionary in marine management \u2013 the reef is threatened by hotel resorts, inadequate law enforcement and oil extraction.\n\nUnesco declared Belize\u2019s barrier reef system a World Heritage site in 1996. Its diverse ecosystem hosts more than a thousand low-lying islands, the Blue Hole \u2013 a pristine 144-metre (472ft) sinkhole surrounded by coral reef \u2013 and 1,400 species of flora and fauna.\n\nConservation is crucial for this tiny central American country, as around half the population, or 180,000 people, depend on tourism from diving, snorkelling and fishing. The reef generates around 15% of Belize\u2019s GDP.\n\nBut the unbridled sell-off of cayes within so-called marine protected areas, the destruction of mangroves, overfishing and agricultural runoffs have seriously damaged the Belize reef, which has been on the world heritage danger list since 2009.\n\nLaughing Bird Caye lies 12 miles from the southern tip of the scenic Placencia Peninsula, a long land strip which snakes between the sea and a huge lagoon. The vistas, however, are blighted by densely packed hotels, holiday homes, and half-built lodgings abandoned when foreign investment ran dry.\n\nVisitor numbers have surged in recent years, and the toilets on Laughing Bird Caye cannot always cope, so human waste spills into the sea.\n\n\u201cIn a marine protected area in a world heritage site; surely waste management should be a priority,\u201d said marine biologist Lisa Carne from Fragments of Hope, which leads the coral restoration project.\n\nA couple of miles south of the peninsula is Harvest Caye, an island sold to a Norwegian cruise line company which drops off thousands of passengers every month.\n\nThe sale went through despite the government\u2019s own guidelines warning against megaprojects in the area. Environmentalists blame increased boat traffic for a spike in manatee deaths.\n\nThe supreme court ruled that the environmental impact assessment was flawed and community consultations inadequate. The ruling set an important legal precedent \u2013 but came too late to stop the cruise island.\n\nIncreasing tourist numbers to Laughing Bird Caye is putting pressure on the tiny island\u2019s sanitation services. Photograph: Nina Lakhani\n\nAccording to Nadia Bood, the World Wildlife Fund\u2019s reef scientist in Belize, too many tourism projects are approved contrary to environmental regulations.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve got some good laws, which aren\u2019t implemented, and some very outdated ones, where fines for infractions are too low, and there is too much self-monitoring \u2026to protect the Belize reef system the current development pattern has to change,\u201d she said.\n\nNon-compliance is a recurring theme: in 2009, Belize was praised for laws designed to tackle overfishing. These created no-take and no-fishing zones in biodiversity hot spots and a complete ban on fishing grazers like the brilliantly coloured parrotfish. Grazers eat the fleshy macroalgae, so when numbers decline, so does coral cover.\n\nBut the law is not universally enforced.\n\nThe central section of the Belize reef is the only MAR zone rated \u201ccritical\u201d by HRI, largely on account of dangerously low fish stocks. In the southern reef, which includes Laughing Bird Caye, commercial and grazer fish stocks are twice the regional average as no-fishing rules are better enforced.\n\nBut environmentalists fear that Placencia Peninsula is repeating mistakes made on San Pedro town on Ambergris Caye \u2013 widely regarded as an example of how not to develop.\n\nReached by ferry from Belize City, San Pedro has morphed from a sleepy fishing village into the country\u2019s most popular tourist destination where holidaymakers descend to dive, snorkel, fly fish and party. There are no cars on the island, but the grumble of golf buggies is loud and constant.\n\nVisitors produce too much rubbish and waste for the island\u2019s inadequate infrastructure to handle. Consequently, a third of the reef here is covered in fleshy macroalgae \u2013 the worst rate in the MAR; cover coral is only 12%.\n\nSan Pedro also illustrates another dangerous consequence of unchecked development: mangrove destruction.\n\nMangroves, coastline woody shrubs and miniature trees, are complex ecosystems in their own right and vital for healthy reefs. The long snaky roots support and buffer sandy shores, and act as giant nurseries for young fish.\n\nAlmost no mangroves remain around San Pedro as developers cull the amphibious forests to leave sandy beaches. The island is fenced by artificial sea walls, rebuilt increasingly higher to try shield it from big waves.\n\nNew regulations promised in March to restrict mangrove clearance on private and public lands promised have yet to appear.\n\n\u201cDevelopment has gone way beyond the island\u2019s capacity,\u201d said Billy Leslie, president of national tour guides association. \u201cThe government either doesn\u2019t have the right experts, or the experts are telling them what they want to hear.\u201d\n\nThe MAR last suffered a major bleaching event in 1998, but it remains a constant threat. In addition, a new, potentially catastrophic threat hovers over Belize: oil.\n\nIn 2015, leaked documents revealed that offshore oil exploration licences affecting several marine protected areas were secretly issued a few years earlier.\n\nThe government subsequently promised to introduce a ban protecting the Unesco site and a 1km buffer around the reef, a proposal widely derided as unworkable given it would only cover a seventh of the sea. The closest clean-up equipment in Jamaica would take three days to reach an oil spill here.\n\nBut even this half-hearted ban hasn\u2019t been implemented; the temporary moratorium could be lifted at any moment.\n\n\u201cOil and healthy reefs are not compatible,\u201d said McField from HRI. \u201cA spill would be an onslaught on conservation and restoration efforts, the risk is so not worth it.\u201d\n\nFor more information on the reef condition in Belize look for the upcoming 2017 Mesoamerican Reef Report Card at www.healthyreefs.org in late September", "output": "A coral reef restoration off the Caribbean island of Belize is under threat due to oil extraction, tourism and poor law enforcement. The reef was declared a Unesco World Heritage site in 1996, and 15% of the country\u2019s GDP derives from the organic structure. However, the sale of caves within marine protected areas, overfishing and agricultural waste have been responsible for damage which saw the reef added to the world heritage danger list in 2009. A report next month from the Healthy Reefs for Healthy People Initiative will show that rising contamination and falling fish stocks are threatening the coral.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Faketoken malware reported to be targeting ride-hailing services \n Trojan \u201cFaketoken\u201d has resurfaced which is able to steal credentials from popular taxi applications and ride-sharing apps. Trojan \u201cFaketoken\u201d has resurfaced which is able to steal credentials from popular taxi applications and ride-sharing apps.\n\nA new modification of notorious mobile banking Trojan \u201cFaketoken\u201d has resurfaced which is able to steal credentials from popular taxi applications and ride-sharing apps, Moscow-based cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab said on Friday.\n\n\u201cThe new version of \u2018Faketoken\u2019 performs live tracking of apps and, when the user runs a specified app, overlays this with its phishing window to steal the bank card details of the victim,\u201d Kaspersky Lab said in a statement.\n\nThe trojan virus has an identical interface, with the same colour schemes and logos, which creates an instant and completely invisible overlay.", "output": "Trojan virus Faketoken is exploiting ride-hailing and ride-sharing apps to steal the credentials of some Russian users, Moscow-based cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab has said. The trojan overlays a phishing window on certain live apps and then records a user's keystrokes. The modification steals incoming SMS messages, such as one-time verification passwords sent by a bank, by redirecting them to its command and control servers.\u00a0Kaspersky's researchers have also found Faketoken\u00a0attacks on travel and hotel booking apps, Android Pay and Google Play Market.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CMS' olefins separation tech uses less energy \n Compact Membrane Systems (CMS) has unveiled Optiperm\u2122, a membrane-based olefin paraffin separation technology, with a pilot system at the Delaware City Refining Company site in Delaware City, Delaware, US.\n\nCMS claims that the technology represents a significant step in improving the way plastics and chemical precursors are produced and separated, saving energy and creating less waste.\n\nThe aim of the technology is to enable refiners and petrochemical companies to separate and concentrate olefins, and achieve significant return on investment (ROI) by removing bottlenecks, eliminating waste, and creating new value from existing streams, all while capturing energy savings and reducing carbon footprint.\n\nCMS is working in collaboration with DCRC to test and demonstrate this new technology. DCRC has agreed to host CMS' Optiperm Technology Test at the Delaware City Refinery as part of DCRC's ongoing support of the Delawarebusiness community.", "output": "Industrial materials company Compact Membrane Systems has unveiled a way to separate and concentrate\u00a0olefins that it says\u00a0represents a significant step in improving the way plastics and chemical precursors are produced and separated, saving energy and creating less waste.\u00a0A pilot of the system is in use at the Delaware Refining Company site in Delaware City in the US."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers develop new material for membrane in carbon capture \n Some 5,000 years ago when the people of ancient Mesopotamia discovered that smelting tin and copper could produce a material better than either alone, it was the start of a new historical era.\n\nMetals too soft for any practical purpose could now be transformed into a material both malleable when hot and hard when cooled. Animal bones and chipped flint were quickly replaced by new tools and weapons, and the Bronze Age was born.\n\nIt\u2019s a discovery that Easan Sivaniah, researcher at Kyoto University\u2019s Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (ICEMS) cannot help but mention when he discusses his work in the carbon capture and storage (CCS) field.\n\nThe carbon super filter\n\nUsing nano-sized additives \u2013 pioneered by Japanese scientist Susumu Kitagawa \u2013 and a polymer called PIM-1, Sivaniah\u2019s research team has developed new \u2018super filters\u2019 which he claims could make CCS more affordable and more selective than ever before.\n\n\u201cLike the Mesopotamians, we\u2019ve taken two materials which by themselves are okay but together create a much more powerful combination,\u201d he says.\n\nThese super filters differ from the ones commonly used in CCS to separate CO 2 from other gases produced during the combustion process. \u201cYou could just capture everything and stick it underground,\u201d Sivaniah explains, \u201cbut that would mean putting 80% nitrogen beneath the surface, which is pointless. What you want is a technology that can purify carbon dioxide by up to 100%.\u201d\n\n\u201cLike the Mesopotamians, we\u2019ve taken two materials which by themselves are okay but together create a much more powerful combination.\u201d\n\nIn current CCS technology, \u201cthe filters are so slow\u201d, Sivaniah says, \u201cwhich means you need to have a lot of them and a large area in order to deal with the amount of gas that is coming out of the power station. You are talking about millions of meters squared of filter area.\u201d\n\nInstead of simply adding more filters, Sivaniah says the industry should use one that is much quicker. \u201cLet\u2019s say you want to make a cup of coffee for yourself,\u201d he says, as an example. \u201cIf you have a coffee filter and you boil the hot water, you have a cup. But let\u2019s say you want to make a cup for ten people. Now you have a choice. You can either get ten filters that all work at the same speed. This will increase your cost by ten. Or you can get one filter which is ten times faster and makes ten cups of coffee in the same amount of time.\u201d\n\nThe new membrane Sivaniah and his team have created promises to drastically speed up the CCS process without compromising the filter\u2019s ability to separate materials. \u201cWith most filters, the faster something goes through a material the less good it is at separating stuff out,\u201d he explains. \u201cWhat we\u2019ve got is a fast material that can deal with a lot of gas at the same time, but that is still good enough to separate carbon dioxide from nitrogen.\u201d\n\nCapturing carbon dioxide on the cheap\n\nThe key advantage of this, Siavana adds, is cost. \u201cIf you can make your filter ten times or a hundred times faster, that means you don\u2019t need a million meters squared. You need one hundred thousand meters squared, for example. This means you can cut the cost down by a factor of ten just by using a faster sheet of material.\u201d\n\nAs things stand, expense is a major factor turning people away from CCS, and from several aspects. \u201cIn the average-sized power station, which is roughly about 1,000MW, a single stripping unit is going to cost about $2bn,\u201d Siavana says. \u201cIf you times that by all the power stations in the world, what you end up with is a number that is something like half of the gross domestic product of the entire world.\u201d\n\nThis money, Siavana continues, is being used to glean a by-product that companies can\u2019t even sell. \u201cYou are talking about absorbing or cleaning up a material that nobody actually wants,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s not like you are cleaning the water of gold particles which you can sell on somewhere. There is a cost involved but you don\u2019t get a direct payback as a company.\n\nAdditionally, consumers don\u2019t want their energy bills to rise. \u201cWhen you spend more on getting this carbon dioxide out you are increasing the price of electricity,\u201d he says, adding that, \u201cConsumers obviously don\u2019t want to see the price of their electricity go up however much they want to see a reduction in CO 2 .\u201d\n\nOvercoming the \u2018Valley of Death\u2019\n\nPut together, these challenges have led many CCS projects into the dreaded \u2018Valley of Death\u2019 over the past two to three decades. \u201cThere was a recent article in Nature Energy which looked at the history of CCS,\u201d says Siavana. \u201cThe conclusion was that there was a lot of enthusiasm for this stuff. People built their pilot facilities and spent a lot of money. But it never panned out. Everything would get so far but never be implemented to the next level.\u201d\n\nPast failures carrying hefty price tags are creating scepticism over CCS technologies and, while Siavana is confident that his team has an answer to affordable CCS, he accepts that this will mean fighting the growing caution. \u201cYou have an experience factor where people say \u2018we\u2019ve done this and it didn\u2019t work and we\u2019re not prepared to try it again with a different technology\u2019. People\u2019s fingers have been burnt on this.\u201d\n\nStill, while the market may be hesitant for now, Siavana will not be deterred, and as the research team prepares to test this new matrix membrane in the real world, he makes a final clear assertion: \u201cI\u2019m going to set up my own company and make sure it happens.\u201d", "output": "Scientists from Kyoto University, London's Imperial College and City University of Hong Kong have developed a mixed matrix membrane that can make carbon capture and storage (CCS) more affordable. The scientists used nano-sized additives and a polymer called PIM-1 to construct filters that they claim could make CCS more selective, bringing down its cost."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Small-scale solar to displace $2bn of US generation by 2025 \n This article first appeared on the BNEF mobile app and the Bloomberg Terminal.\n\nSolar on U.S. homes and businesses will grow 10% a year\n\nRatio of small-scale solar and battery capacity to total installed capacity\n\nSource: Bloomberg New Energy Finance\n\nBy 2025, over $2 billion worth of U.S. electricity production will change hands from traditional generators to small-scale generation assets. Worldwide, the small-scale solar photovoltaic capacity operated by homes and businesses is predicted to grow consistently as depicted by Bloomberg New Energy Finance in the New Energy Outlook 2017. In countries like the U.S. which face stagnant electricity demand growth, the growth in distributed electricity production will take sales from generators in the wholesale markets and regulated power regions.\n\nClients can access the full report here.\n\nBNEF Shorts are research excerpts available only on the BNEF mobile app and the Bloomberg Terminal, highlighting key findings from our reports. If you would like to learn more about our services, please contact us.", "output": "US energy production worth $2bn is predicted to transfer from traditional sources to small-scale solar generators in homes and businesses by 2025. The lack of growth in overall energy demand in the US and other countries means the increase in distributed electricity production will be at the expense of wholesale markets, according to the projection by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Small-scale solar energy capacity is also projected to grow consistently across the rest of the world."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "JPay offers educational rehabilitation within US prison system \n Education has proven to be the key to rehabilitating incarcerated individuals and reducing recidivism, and the first tablet-based education initiative within the correctional system is reporting that it\u2019s been a great success.\n\nCorrections-related service provider JPay has seen more than 70,400 inmates enroll and over 32,000 college credits earned through its unique digital prison education program Lantern since it was launched in early 2016.\n\nLantern offers college credits for incarcerated individuals through the use of tablets to provide them with \u201cthe opportunity for educational attainment, creating a better chance of success upon release, thereby reducing recidivism,\u201d the company says.\n\nCurrently in prison facilities in Georgia, Ohio, Louisiana, and West Virginia, more than four million education course files have been downloaded onto JPay tablets, which is a subsidiary of Securus Technologies, a US-based prison technology company. JPay offers three tablet size options: seven inches, 4.3 inches (which is designed and priced for inmate ownership), and 10 inches.\n\n\u201cWe believe education is the key to rehabilitation and post-release success. So when we realized we could leverage our extensive network to dramatically expand access to education, it was a no-brainer \u2013 we had to pursue it,\u201d Errol Feldman, CEO of JPay, says in an Aug. 16 press release. \u201cAnd while the program\u2019s success to date has been gratifying, our goal is to extend the digital education revolution to the entire incarcerated population.\u201d\n\nWithin the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC), for example, Lantern has contributed to a 456 per cent increase in graduation rates. The GDC was the first to implement a state-wide digital education initiative using Lantern, giving JPay tablets to more than 50,000 incarcerated individuals. The organization has seen its inmate population in 44 facilities access more than 100 GED prep courses.\n\nAnd in Ohio, the first three inmates to earn their associate\u2019s degree recently graduated this year from the state\u2019s Ashland University using the Lantern platform.\n\n\u201cJPay\u2019s Lantern created digital education opportunities that never existed,\u201d says Jerry McGlone, interim director of the Gill Center at Ashland University. \u201cLeveraging a virtual classroom platform, thousands of incarcerated students have taken basic courses, earned college credits and received college degrees. These students have real hope and can even continue their education with Ashland University once released, an invaluable advantage in the reentry process. We couldn\u2019t have reached these milestones without a transformative program such as Lantern.\u201d", "output": "Technology company JPay, which specialises in services to the US prison system, has reported successful results for its digital education initiative for inmates. The Lantern programme was launched in 2016 and provides education courses that can be downloaded onto the company's own tablet devices. Over 70,000 prisoners have enrolled in the courses, earning more than 32,000 college credits, with more than four million course files downloaded. The programme is aimed at reducing reoffending rates by increasing opportunities for prisoners upon release.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HelioBioSys patents biofuel-producing single cell organisms \n LIVERMORE, Calif.--You might not cook with this sugar, but from a biofuels standpoint, it's pretty sweet. A Bay Area company has patented a group of three single-celled, algae-like organisms that, when grown together, can produce high quantities of sugar just right for making biofuels. Sandia National Laboratories is helping HelioBioSys Inc. learn whether farming them on a large scale would be successful.\n\nThe demand for clean, domestically produced, renewable energy has resulted in a lot of research on algae. Algae is a desirable biofuel source because it doesn't compete with food crops for land, water or other resources. The water used to grow algae is not usually suitable for agriculture. Typically, algae farms aim to produce large quantities of biomass, so they can then be harvested and converted into fuels, chemicals or other bio-based products.\n\nBy contrast, HelioBioSys is working with organisms called cyanobacteria. Until the early 1900s, they were mistaken for algae. Like algae, colonies of cyanobacteria grow in water and have incorrectly been referred to as \"blue-green algae.\" But unlike algae, these marine cyanobacteria excrete sugars directly into the water where they grow. A lot of it.\n\nAccording to Sandia biochemist Ryan Davis, a typical algae operation might grow 1 gram of biomass per liter (0.04 ounces per quarter gallon). Small-scale testing on these cyanobacteria shows they can produce 4 to 7 grams of sugar per liter of biomass (up to 0.25 ounces per quarter gallon) -- an improvement in concentration of up to 700 percent. Therefore, growing cyanobacteria for sugars is more efficient than growing biomass.\n\nFiltering sugar from water is a much simpler and therefore less expensive process than extracting lipids from large quantities of algae mass. Sugar is easy, compared to biomass, to convert into a wide variety of chemicals and fuels. Furthermore, cyanobacteria do not require additional fertilizer to make their sugars. These cost savings could make biofuels competitive with petroleum.\n\nBut first, this group of cyanobacteria's phenomenal sugar production needs to be better understood so it can be maximized. \"In other words,\" Davis explains, \"we're trying to deconstruct the magic sauce in this cyanobacteria consortium and learn what conditions are optimal for large-scale growth.\"\n\nFrom the lab to large-scale farming in Sandia's open raceway test beds\n\nHelioBioSys founders Rocco Mancinelli and David Smernoff say they chose to grow a community of three cyanobacteria rather than focus on a single organism (which is common in algae cultivation) because communal systems more closely resemble nature. Mancinelli and Smernoff say cyanobacteria in communities are stronger and more likely to survive changes in the environment, contamination and predation. Sandia is helping them test this idea.\n\nThe cyanobacteria have already proved successful in closed, controlled, sterile laboratories. Sandia researchers are now growing the cyanobacteria in large raceway systems that resemble long bath tubs. Though the raceways are indoors they are open to the air, so predation could prove a much bigger challenge.\n\nDavis explains, \"Giant bowls of sugar water generally don't last long in nature.\" However, this is where Sandia's expertise in algae cultivation could be helpful, he said. \"We can understand where we can prevent bacterial overload, and stop the sugars from being consumed by things we don't want to grow.\"\n\nUnlike true algae, cyanobacteria have the remarkable ability to \"fix\" nitrogen from the atmosphere, which helps support their growth. This means cyanobacteria can literally pull their own fertilizer out of the air, eliminating the need for costly additional fertilizers.\n\nDavis and his team are trying to understand whether each of the three cyanobacteria primarily performs a specific function for the consortium, such as fixing the nitrogen or producing most of the sugars. Even though the cyanobacteria require sunlight for growth, Davis thinks one of the cyanobacteria could be primarily responsible for acting like a sunscreen, protecting the group against light levels that get too high.\n\nSandia also is evaluating other attributes, such as micronutrient requirements or whether there are certain triggers for sugar production that could be controlled.\n\nIf the work at Sandia is successful, the next step is to test the cyanobacteria outdoors in larger ponds. After proving the technology outdoors, HelioBioSys hopes to license or sell the technology.\n\nSpecial Department of Energy program makes collaboration possible\n\nMancinelli and Smernoff are both microbiologists with unusual backgrounds. They were colleagues at NASA, where they worked on systems that could support human life extraterrestrially. With HelioBioSys, they're now working on clean energy systems that could have positive environmental impacts that support human life here on Earth.\n\nDespite their impressive history and mission, they say that without the Department of Energy's Small Business Vouchers program, getting cyanobacteria-based sugars to market would be unlikely. \"Raising the funds for us to do the research that Sandia can do, with their equipment and facilities and expertise, would otherwise be impossible,\" Smernoff said. \"So to have this program and let a small company like ours access those resources is invaluable.\"\n\nAs a result of the program, HelioBioSys has also partnered with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The laboratory has agreed to deploy their tangential flow filtration unit in Sandia's test beds. The unit is essentially a box with a porous membrane that only allows molecules of a certain size to pass through it. This will allow Sandia to quickly separate and extract sugars from the marine water.\n\nAdditionally, the Berkeley laboratory is studying the viability of these sugars for conversion to biofuels. In addition to biofuels, sugars produced by marine cyanobacteria have the potential to be used as the source material for a long list of products that are currently derived from petroleum. These include plastics, pharmaceuticals, fabrics, nylon, adhesives, shoe polish, asphalt, roof shingles and more.\n\nAs this project draws to a close by year's end, the country could be closer to a sweet future powered by the oldest of microorganisms.\n\n###\n\nSandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. Sandia Labs has major research and development responsibilities in nuclear deterrence, global security, defense, energy technologies and economic competitiveness, with main facilities in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Livermore, California.", "output": "California-based company HelioBioSys has patented a cluster of three individual single-celled organisms. These cyanobacteria produce high quantities of sugar suitable for creating biofuels when cultivated together. Sandia National Laboratories is now working with HelioBioSys to help scale up production. Although the cyanobacteria have thrived in controlled environments, Sandia researchers are testing their hardiness\u00a0in large open-air systems."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Samsung develops Rel\u00fam\u012dno AR for the visually impaired \n If Samsung Electronics has anything to say about it, those with visual impairments will soon be able to use their smartphones to make things a bit clearer. Samsung is launching Rel\u00fam\u012dno, a visual aid application that works in conjunction with the Gear VR.\n\nThe app processes images from videos projected through the rear camera of a smartphone, and makes the images a little more friendly for the visually impaired. Specifically, its major features include magnifying and minimizing the image; highlighting the image outline; adjusting color contrast and brightness; reversing color; and screen color filtering.\n\nThe end effect is that Rel\u00fam\u012dno enables visually challenged people to see images more clearly when they are reading a book or viewing an object.\n\n\u201cRel\u00fam\u012dno will be the life-changer for 240 million of the visually impaired people around the world and we promise a firm and continuing support,\u201d said Jaiil Lee, vice president and head of the Creativity and Innovation Center at Samsung, in a statement.\n\nFor those suffering from a blind spot in their vision, or tunnel vision -- the loss of peripheral vision with the retention of central vision -- Rel\u00fam\u012dno works by remapping unseen images and placing them in the parts of the eye capable of seeing them.\n\nWhen users set the sizes of a blind spot or tunnel vision for the first use, the app automatically places the blind point in the visible surrounding parts and puts images within the \u201ctunnel,\u201d or visible range, thereby helping users who have a visual field defect to see things better. Other visual aids offer similar quality, but Samsung is promising that Rel\u00fam\u012dno will be far less expensive that the competition.\n\nSelected as a C-Lab project last May, Rel\u00fam\u012dno was first designed to help the visually impaired enjoy daily activities such as watching TV and reading books. (C-Lab is a startup business program that nurtures a creative corporate culture and innovative ideas among Samsung employees.) While most C-Lab projects are completed within a year, Rel\u00fam\u012dno will be an ongoing project of sorts, with plans to develop glasses-like products that are perhaps a bit more subtle.\n\nIn Latin, \u201cRel\u00fam\u012dno\u201d means \u201clight up again.\u201d", "output": "Samsung is to launch a visual aid application that works in conjunction with its virtual reality headset Gear VR to help those with visual impairments see more clearly. The Rel\u00fam\u012dno app processes images from videos projected through the rear camera of a smartphone, with its major features including\u00a0magnifying and minimising images, highlighting image outline, adjusting contrast and brightness, reversing colour, and screen colour filtering. It can also fill in users' blind spots. \u201cRel\u00fam\u012dno will be the life-changer for 240 million visually impaired people around the world,\u201d commented Jaiil Lee, the\u00a0head of the Creativity and Innovation Center at Samsung.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Syngenta exporting toxic pesticide to poor countries from UK \n A highly toxic weedkiller not authorised for use in the EU is being exported to developing countries from a UK factory.\n\n\n\nParaquat, a pesticide so lethal that a single sip can be fatal, has caused thousands of accidental deaths and suicides globally, and was outlawed by EU states in 2007.\n\nBut Swiss pesticide manufacturer Syngenta is exporting thousands of tonnes of the substance to other parts of the world from an industrial plant in Huddersfield.\n\nCampaigners have condemned the practice as an \u201castonishing double standard\u201d, while a UN expert said it was deeply disquieting that the human rights implications of producing a substance for export that is not authorised in the EU were being ignored.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe fact that the EU has decided to ban the pesticide for health and environmental reasons, but they still export it to countries with far weaker regulation and far weaker controls, is shocking to me,\u201d said Baskut Tuncak, the UN special rapporteur on toxic wastes.\n\nSyngenta is responsible for 95% of Europe\u2019s exports of paraquat, which it sells under the brand name Gramoxone. The substance can be absorbed through the skin and has been linked with Parkinson\u2019s disease.\n\nSyngenta has exported 122,831 tonnes of paraquat from the UK since 2015, an average of 41,000 tonnes a year, according to export licensing data analysed by the Swiss NGO Public Eye and shared with the Guardian.\n\nSince 2015, when a facility in Belgium stopped exporting paraquat, all EU exports of the pesticide have come from Syngenta\u2019s UK base, according to Public Eye.\n\nAlmost two-thirds of these exports by volume \u2013 62% \u2013 go to poor countries, including Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, Guatemala, Venezuela and India. A further 35% is exported to the US, where paraquat can only be applied by licensed users.\n\n\n\nSyngenta has been manufacturing paraquat at its Huddersfield plant for two decades. In 2014, the company was fined \u00a3200,000 after more than three tonnes of the chemical was spilled in an industrial accident.\n\nA Syngenta spokesman described the Huddersfield spill as a source of regret, but pointed out that nobody had been injured and said there had been no risk to the environment or public.\n\nTo subject countries to pesticides known to cause major health damage or fatality is a clear human rights violation Laurent Gaberell, Public Eye\n\n\u201cParaquat has for half a century been among the world\u2019s most effective and environmentally beneficial herbicides,\u201d said the spokesman. \u201cIt has helped millions of farmers stay productive and competitive.\u201d\n\nHe added that the herbicide is authorised for use in countries with \u201csome of the most demanding regulatory systems\u201d, including the US, Australia and Japan.\n\nBut Tuncak called for tighter controls on the pesticide, which he said is most widely used in developing countries.\n\n\u201cThe impact is often felt outside the countries where companies implicated are headquartered,\u201d Tuncak said. \u201cIt\u2019s a double standard and an example of the need for global controls.\u201cWhile the UK has played a leading role in tackling modern slavery, it has turned a blind eye to the human rights impacts of UK business regarding their toxic supply and value chains.\u201dLaurent Gaberell of Public Eye said: \u201cParaquat causes thousands of poisonings every year in developing countries. The UK bears an enormous responsibility \u2026 To subject individuals of other countries to pesticides known to cause major health damage or fatality is a clear human rights violation.\u201d\n\nNick Mole of the Pesticide Action Network described the practice of exporting chemicals deemed too dangerous to be used within the EU as an \u201castonishing double standard\u201d.\n\nThe EU is not the only region vulnerable to such accusations: China, the world\u2019s largest producer, is in the process of phasing out its use, Mole said.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no reason for it to carry on whatsoever,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s a massive failing in the regulatory system: if a pesticide is banned, it shouldn\u2019t be exported for use in other countries.\u201d\n\nThe industry argues that paraquat is among the most effective herbicides, has few alternatives, and is safe providing it is used properly.\n\nBut Mole said: \u201cThere are plenty of real alternatives \u2013 otherwise we wouldn\u2019t have phased it out in the EU. People can do without it, but it might dent the profits of Syngenta, and they will fight tooth and nail for those profits.\u201d\n\nThe Syngenta spokesman argued that paraquat was not banned by the EU, but said its registration for use in the bloc was annulled by a 2007 European court of justice ruling. \u201cNeither the decision, nor the commission\u2019s interpretation of it, constituted a ban,\u201d he said. \u201cThe court was not qualified or empowered to \u2013 and did not \u2013 reach any conclusion that paraquat was inherently unsafe or dangerous.\u201d\n\nThe ruling found that a 2003 decision to permit the use of paraquat did not \u201csatisfy the requirement of protection of human and animal health\u201d.\n\nA spokeswoman for the Department of Farming and Rural Affairs said the UK is a signatory to the Rotterdam convention, which regulates transfers and labelling of pesticides and other hazardous chemicals.\n\n\u201cThe UK supports global action on hazardous substances which meet the scientific criteria for listing under the Rotterdam convention such as paraquat dichloride,\u201d she said.\n\nOther countries are understood to have blocked the proposal.", "output": "Syngenta, the Swiss pesticide firm, is exporting thousands of tonnes of highly toxic weedkiller paraquat, which was banned in the EU in 2007, to developing countries from an industrial plant in the UK. Paraquat, also known by brand name Gramoxone, has been responsible for thousands of accidental deaths and suicides across the world. According to Swiss NGO Public Eye, Syngenta, which is responsible for 95% of Europe\u2019s paraquat exports, has exported 122,831 tonnes of the weedkiller from the UK since 2015. Almost two thirds of the exports go to developing countries, including Brazil, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Mexico and Venezuela."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hackers targeting e-wallets using stolen phone numbers \n NEW YORK (NYTIMES) - Hackers have discovered that one of the most central elements of online security - the mobile phone number - is also one of the easiest to steal.\n\nIn a growing number of online attacks, hackers have been calling up Verizon, T-Mobile US, Sprint and AT&T and asking them to transfer control of a victim's phone number to a device under the control of the hackers.\n\nOnce they get control of the phone number, they can reset the passwords on every account that uses the phone number as a security backup - as services like Google, Twitter and Facebook suggest.\n\n\"My iPad restarted, my phone restarted and my computer restarted, and that's when I got the cold sweat and was like, 'OK, this is really serious,'\" said Mr Chris Burniske, a virtual currency investor who lost control of his phone number late last year.\n\nA wide array of people have complained about being successfully targeted by this sort of attack, including a Black Lives Matter activist and the chief technologist of the Federal Trade Commission.\n\nThe commission's own data shows that the number of phone hijackings has been rising. In January 2013, there were 1,038 such incidents reported; by January 2016, that number had increased to 2,658.\n\nBut a particularly concentrated wave of attacks has hit those with the most obviously valuable online accounts: virtual currency fanatics like Mr Burniske.\n\nWithin minutes of getting control of Mr Burniske's phone, his attackers had changed the password on his virtual currency wallet and drained the contents - some US$150,000 (S$204,120) at today's values.\n\nMost victims of these attacks in the virtual currency community have not wanted to acknowledge it publicly for fear of provoking their adversaries. But in interviews, dozens of prominent people in the industry acknowledged that they had been victimised in recent months.\n\n\"Everybody I know in the cryptocurrency space has gotten their phone number stolen,\" said bitcoin entrepreneur Joby Weeks.\n\nMr Weeks lost his phone number and about US$1 million worth of virtual currency late last year, despite having asked his mobile phone provider for additional security after his wife and parents lost control of their phone numbers.\n\nThe attackers appear to be focusing on anyone who talks on social media about owning virtual currencies or anyone who is known to invest in virtual currency companies, such as venture capitalists. And virtual currency transactions are designed to be irreversible.\n\nAccounts with banks and brokerage firms and the like are not as vulnerable to these attacks because these institutions can usually reverse unintended or malicious transactions if they are caught within a few days.\n\nBut the attacks are exposing a vulnerability that could be exploited against almost anyone with valuable emails or other digital files - including politicians, activists and journalists.\n\nLast year, hackers took over the Twitter account of Mr DeRay Mckesson, a leader of the Black Lives Matter movement, by first getting his phone number.\n\nIn a number of cases involving digital money aficionados, the attackers have held e-mail files for ransom - threatening to release naked pictures in one case, and details of a victim's sexual fetishes in another.\n\nThe vulnerability of even sophisticated programmers and security experts to these attacks sets an unsettling precedent for when the assailants go after less technologically savvy victims. S\n\nSecurity experts worry that these types of attacks will become more widespread if mobile phone operators do not make significant changes to their security procedures.\n\n\"It's really highlighting the insecurity of using any kind of telephone-based security,\" said Mr Michael Perklin, chief information security officer at the virtual currency exchange ShapeShift, which has seen many of its employees and customers attacked.\n\nMobile phone carriers have said they are taking steps to head off the attacks by making it possible to add more complex personal identification numbers, or PINs, to accounts, among other steps.\n\nBut these measures have not been enough to stop the spread and success of the culprits.\n\nAfter a first wave of phone porting attacks on the virtual currency community last winter, which was reported by Forbes, their frequency appears to have ticked up, Mr Perklin and other security experts said.\n\nIn several recent cases, the hackers have commandeered phone numbers even when the victims knew they were under attack and alerted their mobile phone provider.\n\nMr Adam Pokornicky, a managing partner at Cryptochain Capital, asked Verizon to put extra security measures on his account after he learned that an attacker had called in 13 times trying to move his number to a new phone.\n\nBut just a day later, he said, the attacker persuaded a different Verizon agent to change his number without requiring the new PIN.\n\nA spokesman for Verizon, Mr Richard Young, said that the company could not comment on specific cases, but that phone porting was not common.\n\n\"While we work diligently to ensure customer accounts remain secure, on occasion there are instances where automated processes or human performance falls short,\" he said. \"We strive to correct these issues quickly and look for additional ways to improve security.\"\n\nMr Perklin and other people who have investigated recent hacks said the assailants generally succeeded by delivering sob stories about an emergency that required the phone number to be moved to a new device - and by trying multiple times until a gullible agent was found.\n\n\"These guys will sit and call 600 times before they get through and get an agent on the line that's an idiot,\" Mr Weeks said.\n\nCoinbase, one of the most widely used bitcoin wallets, has encouraged customers to disconnect their mobile phones from their Coinbase accounts.\n\nBut some customers who have lost money have said the companies need to take more steps by doing things like delaying transfers from accounts on which the password was recently changed.\n\n\"Coinbase looks like a bank, stores millions of dollars like a bank, but you don't realise how weak its default protections are until you are robbed of thousands of dollars in minutes,\" said virtual reality developer Cody Brown, who was hacked in May.", "output": "Hackers are stealing phone numbers to gain access to victims' e-wallets. By phoning banks and duping call agents into transferring control of a victim's phone number to their device, hackers are able to reset passwords on any account that uses a phone number as a security backup. Hackers target those who reveal that they own virtual currencies on social media and known investors to virtual currency companies. Bitcoin wallet Coinbase has advised customers disconnect their mobile phones from their Coinbase accounts.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK edtech Sumdog eyes US expansion of its game-based learning \n Whether you're a public sector partner who wants to help local businesses, or a private sector organisation with valuable experience to share, we can help you make a real difference.\n\nWe don\u2019t operate a one-size-fits-all solution. Talk to us about your objectives and we'll tailor our support to suit your needs.", "output": "Edinburgh-based edtech firm Sumdog is looking to expand its services, having raised \u00a31.4m ($1.8m) in funding. Sumdog's gamified programme has helped three million children in the UK and the US boost their performance in maths and English. Having secured the funding from Nesta Impact Investments and the Scottish Investment Bank, the firm hopes to have helped 15 million children by 2022."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scientists develop more accurate liquid biopsy technique \n A collaborative project between scientists in the U.S., Denmark, and The Netherlands has developed a way of spotting bits of DNA in blood that derive from tumors deep in the body. The technology may allow for early detection of cancers before any symptoms arise and earlier than any other existing approach.\n\nThough the fact that tumors shed chunks of DNA has been well known, it\u2019s been difficult to know what mutations to look for in individual patients. False positives can be much too common if one doesn\u2019t look specifically for tumor-related mutations, as benign mutations are way too frequent.\n\nThe team employed a technique called targeted error correction sequencing that scanned through lots of DNA fragments in the blood of a couple hundred individuals with and without cancer. It\u2019s able to figure out which mutations are more probable to be associated with a cell being cancerous and which will probably not cause out of control cellular growth. The investigators were able to identify 62% of 138 patients with stage I and II breast, lung, ovarian, and colorectal cancers.\n\nThough this capability would be much welcome in the clinic, the sequencing and computational requirements to do so are still much too expensive for wide adoption and the technique still has to be proven in wider studies. Nevertheless, the cost of sequencing and computing continues to drop rapidly.\n\nHere are some of the findings from the study published in Science Translational Medicine:\n\n\u201c[A]mong 42 people with colorectal cancer, the test correctly predicted cancer in half of the eight patients with stage I disease, eight of nine (89 percent) with stage II disease, nine of 10 (90 percent) with stage III and 14 of 15 (93 percent) with stage IV disease. Of 71 people with lung cancer, the scientists\u2019 test identified cancer among 13 of 29 (45 percent) with stage I disease, 23 of 32 (72 percent) with stage II disease, three of four (75 percent) with stage III disease and five of six (83 percent) with stage IV cancer. For 42 patients with ovarian cancer, 16 of 24 (67 percent) with stage I disease were correctly identified, as well as three of four (75 percent) with stage II disease, six of eight (75 percent) with stage III cancer and five of six (83 percent) with stage IV disease. Among 45 breast cancer patients, the test spotted cancer-derived mutations in two of three (67 percent) patients with stage I disease, 17 of 29 (59 percent) with stage II disease and six of 13 (46 percent) with stage III cancers.\u201d\n\nStudy in Science Translational Medicine: Direct detection of early-stage cancers using circulating tumor DNA\u2026\n\nVia: Johns Hopkin\u2026", "output": "Researchers have developed a technique to identify cancers by detecting mutated strands of DNA. Scientists from the US, Denmark and the Netherlands developed the screening process, known as targeted error correction sequencing, which scans DNA fragments in the blood of patients and works out which mutations are likely to cause cancerous growth. In the team's experiments, the test identified 62% of 138 patients with stage I and II breast, lung, ovarian and colorectal cancers. However, the technique is currently too expensive to be adopted widely and has yet to be proven in wider studies.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "There's an unforeseen benefit to California's physician-assisted death law \n California\u2019s physician-assisted death law has an unforeseen benefit. (Aug. 21, 2017) (Sign up for our free video newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)\n\nSome doctors in California felt uncomfortable last year when a new law began allowing terminally ill patients to request lethal medicines, saying their careers had been dedicated to saving lives, not ending them.\n\nMany healthcare systems designed protocols for screening people who say they\u2019re interested in physician-assisted death, including some that were meant to dissuade patients from taking up the option.\n\nBut physicians across the state say the conversations that health workers are having with patients are leading to patients\u2019 fears and needs around dying being addressed better than ever before. They say the law has improved medical care for sick patients, even those who don\u2019t take advantage of it.\n\n\u201cOne doctor said we should be able to order the End of Life Option Act without the drugs,\u201d said Dr. Neil Wenger, director of the UCLA Health Ethics Center. \u201cIt really has created a new standard for how we ought to be helping people at the end of life.\u201d\n\nCalifornia last year became the fifth state to allow people with terminal illnesses to request pills from their doctors to end their lives. In the first six months the law was in effect, 111 terminally ill patients ended their lives that way, state officials said.\n\nThe law requires that two doctors agree that the patient has an incurable illness with no more than six months to live and has the mental capacity to make such a decision. Many health systems set up additional protocols for patients who express interest in the law.\n\nAnne Coscarelli, clinical psychologist and director of Simms/Mann-UCLA Center for Integrative Oncology, heads the team of health workers that meets with patients seeking medicines to end their lives. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)\n\nAt UCLA, they\u2019re required to talk to psychologists or social workers, which often reveals concerns that weren\u2019t being addressed, said Anne Coscarelli, a clinical psychologist who heads the team of health workers that meets with these patients.\n\nThe health workers ask patients a variety of questions: what scares them, how they\u2019re feeling, what they\u2019re worried about, what defines their quality of life.\n\nSometimes doctors end up adjusting patients\u2019 medicines or treatments because patients hadn\u2019t before expressed how much pain they were in. Some patients decide to go on hospice earlier than they would have otherwise.\n\n\u201cNot everyone who\u2019s talking about this is saying, \u2018I want this medication.\u2019 They\u2019re saying, \u2018I\u2019m suffering\u2019 or \u2018I\u2019m worried about suffering\u2019 and that becomes the conversation starter ... and it might not come up in any other way,\u201d Coscarelli said.\n\nFirst 6 months of aid-in-dying in California 191 people prescribed lethal medications\n\n111 died from taking lethal medications\n\nOf the 111, 87% were at least 60 years old\n\n96% had health insurance\n\n84% were receiving hospice or palliative care\n\n59% had cancer Sources: California Department of Public Health\n\nApproximately 100 patients at UCLA began the process to receive a prescription in the first 12 months the law was in effect, but only about a quarter ended up getting prescriptions, Wenger said.\n\nCoscarelli said psychologists and social workers have also helped patients come to terms with dying. For some, it can be as simple as getting their legal or financial affairs in order.\n\nOthers have confronted the question of what legacy they will leave behind. Some record video messages for their loved ones. One woman put together a folder for each of her children and grandchildren filled with stories about them and stories about her, Coscarelli said.\n\n\u201cThat becomes something that we can introduce people to in these conversations, whereas they might not have ever thought about it,\u201d she said.\n\nDoctors have sometimes struggled to talk about dying with patients. According to a 2015 Kaiser Family Foundation survey, 89% people believe doctors should discuss end-of-life care with patients, but only 17% had had such a conversation with their health care provider.\n\nBut now, physicians say patients are curious about the law and asking about it, which provides them an opportunity to have these frank discussions.\n\nA study from Oregon, which legalized aid-in-dying 20 years ago, found that though only 1 of 640 terminally ill patients took lethal medications, 1 of 50 talked to their physician about it and and 1 in 6 talked to their families about it.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of need for talk, and talk is something that\u2019s bigger and broader than the actual aid-in-dying itself,\u201d Coscarelli said.\n\nDr. Bob Uslander, who specializes in palliative and hospice care, said that at a recent speaking event in San Diego, he fielded dozens of questions about not just physician-assisted death but also other end-of-life care options.\n\nHe said he thinks the unprecedented interest spurred by the law will lead to more thoughtful planning around death, such as the creation of more advanced care directives.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll get more people to actually make their wishes known and document their wishes,\u201d Uslander said.\n\nThe law still faces heavy opposition from some corners. Many doctors still don\u2019t want to write the prescriptions. A group of doctors has also filed a lawsuit saying that the law essentially decriminalizes assisted suicide and strips terminally ill patients of their protections under state law. A judge ruled earlier this summer that the case would be allowed to go to trial.\n\nDoctors aren\u2019t required to participate in the law and health systems can opt out. At Catholic and church-affiliated hospitals, which make up 13% of all acute care hospitals in the state, doctors are not allowed to prescribe such medications.\n\nBut even at those institutions, requests for the medicines have sometimes helped identify issues that health workers can assist with, said Lori Dangberg, vice president of the Alliance of Catholic Health Care. Patients fear they\u2019ll be a burden on their families, or are scared of what\u2019s to come, she said.\n\nThe Catholic and church-affiliated hospitals have also begun a collaboration with local dioceses to hold workshops on end-of-life matters, she said. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles now offers a workshop on end-of-life care including ethics, palliative and hospice care as well as pastoral care at the end of life.\n\n\u201cI think what this new law has done, it\u2019s really a reminder we need to do a much better job with caring for people through the end of life,\u201d Dangberg said.\n\nDr. Stephen Lockhart, chief medical officer for Sutter Health, said that before the law went into effect, doctors received training in how to talk about aid in dying, but also in other end-of-life options. They had their questions answered by medical ethicists.\n\nHe said that more patients are broaching the topic with their physicians than before. Even patients who have wills or advanced care directives had not always planned out their end-of-life wishes with their families.\n\n\u201cIt takes a certain amount of courage to step into those conversations and ... we have people now stepping into those conversations and they now have the support to move through them,\u201d he said.\n\nALSO\n\nShe watched her ex-husband end his life under California's new right-to-die law. 'I felt proud'\n\nOne child, a $21-million medical bill: How a tiny number of patients poses a huge challenge for Medi-Cal\n\n111 terminally ill patients took their own lives in first 6 months of California right-to-die law", "output": "Some doctors in California felt uncomfortable last year when a new law began allowing terminally ill patients to request lethal medicines, saying their careers had been dedicated to saving lives, not ending them.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "San Diego Seniors Plan Protest Of Proposed Medicare Cuts \n The House Republicans' proposed budget would cut Medicare by $487 billion over 10 years.\n\nA group of San Diego seniors called the Senior Action Movement says no way.\n\nThe group plans to demonstrate Aug. 23 during the afternoon rush hour near the corner of Genesee Avenue and Nobel Drive in La Jolla.\n\nGroup member Aaron Starobin said he doesn\u2019t want to see cuts to Medicare or any other program for seniors.\n\nStarobin said he expects more than 50 group members to protest Wednesday.\n\n\u201cWe are trying to empower seniors throughout the country, to be able to have a voice, to have dignity, and to influence Congress,\" he said.\n\nThe House plan would boost military spending and make deep cuts in so-called non-defense discretionary spending.\n\nThe House Freedom Caucus wants to make even deeper cuts than the House leadership.", "output": "The House Republicans' proposed budget\u00a0would cut Medicare by $487 billion over 10 years. A group of San Diego seniors called the Senior Action Movement says no way. The group plans to demonstrate Aug. 23 during the afternoon rush hour near the corner of Genesee Avenue and Nobel Drive in La Jolla.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New bundled payment models will switch power from hospitals to physicians, Altarum says \n New bundled payment models will shift power from hospitals to physicians, according to the Altarum Institute's vice-president and director of the Center for Payment Innovation.\n\nThis week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released a proposed rule cancelling mandatory programs for care coordination for certain episode payments and for cardiac rehabilitation. Both were scheduled to start on Jan. 1.\n\n[Also: Voluntary participation in bundled payments will continue after CMS cancels mandatory initiatives, experts say]\n\nCMS also made hospital participation in the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement model voluntary in 33 of the 67 mandatory areas.\n\nFrancois de Brantes, vice-president and director of the Center for Payment Innovation at Altarum, said he expects CMS to release more voluntary bundled programs by the end of the year.\n\nThese programs will focus on paying physicians for outpatient care, said de Brantes, who has written against the bundled payment for care improvement initiative in Health Affairs because, in part, he believed it was hospital centric.\n\nFor one thing, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, MD, is a physician who has been an outspoken opponent of mandatory bundles, de Brantes said.\n\n[Also: Trump administration, HHS stepping away from Affordable Care Act promotion, bundled payments]\n\nFor another, with the elimination of joint replacement and cardiac mandatory bundles, physicians only have accountable care organizations left to qualify for advanced alternative payment model bonuses under MACRA, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act.\n\n\"For hospitals, this does have potentially significant implications,\" de Brantes said. \"The focus of the prior administration was on hospitals, CEOs controlling the bundle.\"\n\nEpisode payments are currently triggered by inpatient stays.\n\nNew government models are expected to follow what commercial payers are already doing and pay for bundled reimbursement for care provided outside of the hospital setting, de Brantes said.\n\n[Also: Bundled payment models for cardiac care, joint replacement, delayed]\n\n\"Physician-focused does not require a hospitalization,\" he said. \"It creates a complete shift in the dynamic of who controls and who is the supplier.\"\n\nCurrently, the physician is the supplier because hospitals choose which physicians with which to work.\n\nUnder a physician-focused model, the facility becomes the supplier.\n\n\"What that means for facilities is they better get mean and lean quickly to compete,\" he said.\n\nIn this type of model, hospitals and physicians will collaborate to save money on surgical supplies such as blood units because all members of the care team will have an incentive to cut back on cost.\n\nCurrently, after the 90-day post discharge episode ends, hospitals have no incentive to avoid readmissions, he said.\n\n\"The hospital makes money on crash and burn in the ambulatory sector. There's a counter incentive,\" he said. \"The different dynamic is a conscious policy decision.\"\n\nHospitals will still take on voluntary bundles as they save money and there's evidence they improve care, according to de Brantes.\n\n[Also: Bundled payment models for cardiac care, joint replacement, delayed]\n\nMedicare bundled payments have reduced joint replacement costs, with one system reporting cost reductions of more than 20 percent, according to an August 14 Advisory Board report.\n\nThe cancellation of the mandatory bundles is credit positive for nonprofit hospitals, according to Moody's Investors Service. This is because it gives them more time to prepare for risk-bearing, value-based reimbursement models.\n\nTwitter: @SusanJMorse", "output": "New bundled payment\u00a0models will shift power from hospitals to physicians, according to the Altarum Institute's vice-president and director of the Center for Payment Innovation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Inactivity Toll Worst for Frailest Elders \n Sedentary living seems to take its greatest toll among the frailest older adults, but regular activity may offset those effects, a study published online August 21 in CMAJ has found.\n\nThe mortality risk associated with sedentary behavior, defined as hours spent sitting, was significantly greater for the frailest individuals than for their counterparts who were not as frail, Olga Theou, PhD, from the Division of Geriatric Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and colleagues write.\n\nHowever, sedentary time \"was associated with a higher risk for death only in vulnerable or frail people who did not meet the weekly recommendation for 2.5 hours of moderate physical activity,\" Dr Theou said in a news release.\n\nFor people who met that activity requirement and for those who reported engaging in just 10 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity during the previous 30 days, there was no significant interaction between frailty and sedentary behavior, and sedentary time was not associated with mortality.\n\nDr Theou urged physicians to \"stress the harms of inactivity with all patients, similar to the harms of smoking, to encourage movement. Even something as simple as getting up and walking around the house with a walker or cane can benefit frailer people.\"\n\nCalculating Frailty\n\nThe prospective study used data from the 2003 to 2004 and 2005 to 2006 cohorts of the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The researchers included 3141 participants who were at least 50 years of age at baseline, had a valid score on a 46-item frailty index, and wore an activity monitor (accelerometer) for at least 10 hours a day on 4 separate days. They were followed until their death or the conclusion of the study on December 31, 2011 (mean, 6.5 years; standard deviation, 1.6 years).\n\nParticipants were divided into four groups according to the frailty index score: 0.1 or less (least frail; n = 766), 0.1 to 0.2 or less (n = 1121), 0.2 to 0.3 or less (n = 681), and more than 0.3 (most frail; n = 573).\n\nThe researchers defined low sedentary behavior as sitting for fewer than 7 hours per day during waking hours, intermediate as sitting for 7 to 10 hours per day, and high as sitting for more than 10 hours per day. In addition, the subjects reported if they had engaged in 2.5 hours per week of moderate to vigorous physical activity, or in any vigorous activity for at least 10 minutes during the last 30 days.\n\nThe researchers analyzed the relationship among frailty, activity level, and mortality according to regression models that controlled for a long list of covariables, including age, sex, body mass index, and smoking status, among others.\n\nFrailty, Activity, and Mortality\n\nThere were 550 deaths during the study period. Mortality increased with frailty, from 42 in the least frail group (weighted percentage dead at follow-up, 2.8) to 215 among the most frail (weighted percentage dead at follow-up, 35.3; P < .001).\n\nAmong the least frail, mortality did not vary appreciably according to low, intermediate, or high sedentary behavior: the weighted percentages of those dead at follow-up were 2.9, 2.8, and 2.4, respectively. However, among the frailest individuals, the respective weighted percentages were 20.4, 30.1, and 49.6, respectively (P < .001).\n\nOn Cox regression analysis, \"we found that for those who met the moderate-to-vigorous physical activity requirements and for those who reported vigorous physical activity, there was no significant interaction between frailty and sedentary behaviour, and sedentary time was not associated with mortality,\" the authors write.\n\n\"Thus, among people who are inactive and vulnerable or frail, sitting time increases mortality risk, but among those who are nonfrail or active, sitting time does not affect the risk of mortality,\" they add.\n\nAmong the study limitations was that the researchers were missing activity monitor data for nearly one third of the participants, \"and these participants seemed to have higher levels of frailty,\" the authors write. The missing data reduced the sample size substantially, especially among the frailest group, they explain.\n\n\"Future studies will need to examine the effect of sedentary behaviours on people with higher levels of frailty using other data sets.\" Other limitations included a lack of information on alcohol consumption and income within the cohort, and the possibility of overestimating sedentary time among the frailer individuals.\n\nThese findings show that \"the effect of sedentary behaviours on mortality differs across levels of frailty among people who are physically inactive, with people who are most frail experiencing the greatest impact,\" they conclude. Emphasizing the drawbacks of sedentary behavior, as well as the benefits of exercise, \"is an important public health message that should be part of a larger promotion of the importance of healthy lifestyle behaviors.\"\n\nDr Rockwood reports being a founder and director of DGI Clinical Inc, attended a Roche advisory board meeting regarding outcome measurement for Alzheimer disease, and has received speaker's fees from Nutricia. The remaining authors have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.\n\nCMAJ. Published online August 21, 2017. Full text\n\nFor more news, join us on Facebook and Twitter", "output": "Sedentary living seems to take its greatest toll among the frailest older adults, but regular activity may offset those effects, a study published online\u00a0August 21 in\u00a0CMAJ\u00a0has found.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ethanol production facility opens in Brazil \n The brazilian biofuels industry has welcomed a new player with a grand opening signalling the start of operations at FS Bioenergia, a US$115 million corn-only ethanol production facility located in Lucas do Rio Verde, Mato Grosso. FS Bioenergia is the first large-scale corn ethanol production plant in Brazil and is the result of an international collaboration between Brazilian agribusiness Fiagril and US-based Summit Agricultural Group.\n\nIn its initial phase of operations, FS Bioenergia will annually process 22 million bushels of corn and produce more than 60 million gal. of corn ethanol, 6200 t of corn oil and 170 000 t of valuable feed rations for Brazil's growing livestock industry. By 2018, FS Bioenergia's second phase of operations will increase corn processing and ethanol production two fold.\n\nFS Bioenergia will employ roughly 150 full time workers. In addition to ethanol and co-products for livestock feed, the ethanol facility will generate 60 000 megawatts of electricity to the local power grid.\n\nFS Bioenergia's corn ethanol operation is considered a landmark project in Brazil that will deliver immediate value to the country. First, the plant will offset the country's increasing demand for domestic ethanol, which can't be met by the existing sugarcane ethanol production. Second, the facility will introduce to Mato Grosso valuable fibre and protein co-products known as dried distillers' grains (DDGs), which will serve as high-value feed for the expanding Brazilian livestock industry.\n\n\"This is a transformative moment for both agriculture and the renewable fuels industry in Brazil,\u201d said Marino Franz, founder of Fiagril. \"FS Bioenergia will not only meet Brazil's growing demand for ethanol but it sets the stage for Mato Grosso to become a global leader in the production of corn ethanol.\"\n\nBrazil began sugar cane ethanol production in mid-1970s and today produces approximately 25% of the world's ethanol. Bank of America estimated that annual ethanol sales in Brazil could reach 13.5 billion US gal. in 2022, two-thirds greater than the 8.1 billion gal. estimated in sugar cane ethanol production in 2016. The Mato Grosso region's substantial corn production \u2013 both proven and potential \u2013 make corn-derived ethanol the most viable option to complement existing sugar cane ethanol production and fulfill an annual multi-billion gallon shortfall.", "output": "Brazilian agribusiness Fiagril and US firm Summit Agricultural Group have opened FS Bioenergia, a large-scale corn ethanol production plant in Mato Grosso, Brazil. The $115m facility will initially process 22 million bushels of corn, outputting more than 60 million gallons of corn ethanol. Within a year, FS Bioenergia will double production to meet growing demand for domestic ethanol. The facility will employ about 150 full-time workers and generate 60,000 MW of power for the local grid."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Markel opens trade credit office in Chicago \n REGULATORY DISCLAIMER: This website is owned and operated by Markel Capital Holdings Limited on behalf of the group of the UK-based businesses within Markel International which is the London-based operation of the Markel Group Inc.\n\nMarkel International Insurance Company Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Financial Services Register Number 202570. The company is registered in England and Wales No: 00966670. VAT number 245 7363 49. Registered address, 20 Fenchurch Street, London EC3M 3AZ. Markel Group Inc. is the ultimate holding company for Markel International Insurance Company Limited.", "output": "Markel is opening a trade credit and political risk operation in Chicago. Christen Mizell is transferring from New York to take on trade credit and political risk underwriting responsibility for the Midwestern states, with a special focus on developing strategic broker relationships, supporting existing clients and winning new customers. The opening of Markel's Chicago operation followed\u00a0the company's recent trade credit expansion into Canada.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Blockchain could have prevented Dutch egg contamination problem \n As many as 15 European countries have been affected by the Dutch egg contamination, as well as others around the world. The Food Standard Authority (FSA)\u2019s investigation is currently working hard to remove all contaminated products from UK supermarkets. Initially thought to have affected 21,000 eggs, this figure has now ballooned to over 700,000.\n\nThe grocery supply chain is broad and complex, characterised by many players frequently holding potentially inefficient, manual records. As a result, it is often extremely difficult to map the paths of goods, and supermarkets have a hard task on their hands to unearth the foods and products that are tainted from the infected Dutch eggs.\n\n>See also: Blockchain: separating hype from reality\n\nHowever, blockchain could provide the solution for future scenarios. It is already being used by food suppliers and retailers to prove authenticity and increase consumers\u2019 trust in their brand. But it can also be used to provide complete transparency across a product\u2019s end-to-end supply chain journey. Not only will this help prevent the spread of contaminated goods, but it can also cut down food fraud which is estimated to be worth $40 billion.\n\nProving authenticity and driving quality\n\nThe secure (encrypted) digital ledger provides a level of transparency that most record systems cannot support. The blocks of information are secured by complex algorithms that are hard to hack and cannot be erased or manipulated.\n\nTie this authenticity \u2018stamp\u2019 to a smart tag and retailers have a quick reference of where the product started and where it has ended up. Minimising risk for the consumer and potential damage to a brand\u2019s reputation.\n\nProving goods\u2019 authenticity is just the tip of the iceberg for how blockchain could be used in the grocery sector. Combining the technology with IoT can help brands track the provenance of goods.\n\nFor example, a consignment of mange-tout originating from a Kenyan farm bound for the UK may get \u2018bumped\u2019 from a direct flight from Nairobi to Heathrow and go via Dubai where it spends time on the tarmac during transition between flights. It may hit Heathrow at 10\u00b0C and then spend four hours in a blast chiller getting it back to 4\u00b0C, which will still allow it to pass supermarket quality control.\n\n>See also: Internet of things and blockchains: help or hindrance?\n\nBlockchain, combined with IoT, has the capability to track temperature throughout the chill chain, with each set of readings linked to each other in chronological order and with non-editable timestamps. This helps improve the quality of goods hitting the shop shelves.\n\nCutting costs in the supply chain\n\nAnother of the major benefits of blockchain for food suppliers is not having a need for a third-party payment authentication across the supply chain without losing users\u2019 trust.\n\nIt creates a frictionless and faster process upstream and downstream, lowers costs and significantly and reduces fraudulent interactions. For suppliers in the grocery sector, such as farmers, this means they can directly trade with brands, which will help cut down supplier difficulty. It also removes unnecessary costs paid to banks, making the end cost to brands and consumers more palatable in a very typically low-margin industry.\n\nBuilding a blockchain strategy\n\nAs blockchain is a relatively new technology, there will naturally be some initial teething problems. While a global standardisation for the technology is under way, it would still need to be cleared by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO).\n\nOnce in effect, it would likely impact long-term trade agreements. At a company level, implementation costs, filling the talent gap internally and externally, and conflict management among business partners (as blockchain demands full transparency and smart contracts), are challenges that will likely have to be overcome.\n\n>See also: Blockchain: Helping secure digital identities\n\nFor food suppliers, the long-term benefits of proving the authenticity of products, improving the quality of food and cutting down costs along the supply chain, should outweigh the obstacles.\n\nBusinesses should be exploring blockchain options now, calling on expert help to see how it can fit into supply chain operations. To accelerate adoption, they will also need to establish internal blockchain champions and identify immediate opportunities that boost confidence in the technology and show quick results.\n\nWith consumer expectations for quality and authenticity only set to rise, building a blockchain strategy will be key for maintaining brand reputation, minimising contamination and fighting fraud, as well as boosting margins.\n\nSourced by Scott Clarke, VP and chief digital officer for Retail, Consumer Goods, Travel and Hospitality, Cognizant\n\nThe UK\u2019s largest conference for tech leadership, TechLeaders Summit, returns on 14 September with 40+ top execs signed up to speak about the challenges and opportunities surrounding the most disruptive innovations facing the enterprise today. Secure your place at this prestigious summit by registering here", "output": "The recent contamination of Dutch eggs could have been prevented with the use of blockchain technology. The contamination of as many as 700,000 eggs, which affected up to 15 European countries, has been blamed on the complex grocery supply chain that often relies on inefficient manual records, making it difficult to map the progress of goods. Blockchain technology, already in use by some food suppliers and retailers, offers the potential for complete transparency across the supply chain, helping to prevent the spread of contaminated goods as well as reducing food fraud.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Will transparency in drug pricing force down costs? \n Pharmaceutical companies selling prescription drugs to Californians will now have to submit information about price increases to the state. The new transparency provisions are part of a new groundbreaking law Gov. Jerry Brown signed Monday morning.\n\nSB 17 requires drug manufacturers to submit their reasoning for price hikes of more than 16 percent over two years. Lawmakers say the new law takes aim at ever increasing health costs.\n\nDuring a press conference that ended with the governor signing the measure, the bill\u2019s sponsor, Senator Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina) called it one of the most comprehensive bills in the country. The chair of the senate health committee ended his remarks by challenging Washington lawmakers.\n\n\"I want to challenge our federal officials to do the same thing at a national level,\" said Hernandez. \"So, that we can make sure that every single person in this country, not only has access to health care, but that they can afford their health care.\"\n\nThe provision in the new law to give 60-days\u2019 notice before raising their price goes into effect at the beginning of 2018. Starting in 2019 the state\u2019s insurance regulators will keep an annual list of the 25 mostly costly drugs, the 25 most commonly prescribed drugs, and which 25 drugs\u2019 prices went up the most.\n\nHernandez told KPCC Monday the measure is one step forward to help control the continued rise in health care costs. He calls on federal lawmakers to strengthen the federal requirement to require everyone purchase health insurance and other measure to help stabilize the market.\n\n\"We have to look at how do we bring more competition,\" the state senator said.\n\nUCLA health policy professor Stewart Schweitzer believes to the extent SB 17 creates more competition in the drug market, it could work.\n\n\u201cInsurers\u2014for example\u2014can certainly go out and look more aggressively knowing that the price of a particular product is about to go up sharply,\u201d he said.\n\nSchweitzer worries the part of the new law that will require the pharmaceutical industry to justify raising the costs of their drugs could be misleading.\n\n\"I think it\u2019s not a reasonable step to ask people, 'why are you pricing that so high?'\" he said.\n\nThe UCLA health economist explains there are too many factors that go into a price to completely answer the question.\n\n\"Prices go up because the market is willing to pay that price and that\u2019s true in every single market,\" said Schweitzer.\n\nFor the health insurance industry, the concern is whether they have certainty in their market. Charles Bacchi, president and CEO of the California Association of Health Plans, said while the price of health insurance is set annually, drug costs can change at any time and that creates uncertainty.\n\n\"While this bill isn\u2019t perfect, giving us advanced notice certainly allows us to plan for it much better,\" said Bacchi.\n\n\"This could be the first step in seeing the pharmaceutical industry join with others in the health care system who are starting to see that affordability is a critical concern,\" said Tony Barrueta, senior vice president of Government Relations for Kaiser Permanente.\n\nHe applauds the governor and the legislature what he calls a \"critical response\" to the rising costs of medications.\n\n\"Prescription drugs are running at a much faster rate of inflation than everything else in health care,\" said Barrueta.\n\nBarrueta said the next legislative steps after this new law goes into effect will depend greatly on how pharmaceutical manufacturers respond.\n\n\"If the drug industry responds to this legislation by simply denying the appropriateness of having a little bit more information about what their pricing practices are, either by bringing lawsuits to challenge it or seeking to avoid providing this information, I think we will be looking at potentially more onerous types of public policy proposals,\" he said.\n\nThe pharmaceutical industry has long opposed the measure. Industry leaders say it will hurt innovation and do little to lower consumer costs.\n\n\"SB 17 ignores the reality that spending on prescription medicines remains a much smaller portion of overall health care spending. It also fails to recognize the value that medicines bring to patients and the health care system, as well as the enormous economic contributions that the research-based biopharmaceutical industry brings to the state of California,\" said PhARMA deputy vice president of public affairs Priscilla VanderVeer in a statement.", "output": "As the state legislature returned to work in Sacramento Monday, lawmakers were considering a number of bills intended to restrain the rise of healthcare prices, including one that would require drug makers to notify the public before raising the price of certain medications."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Instinet signs second liquidity streaming deal with Sun Trading \n Instinet has made its second bilateral liquidity streaming agreement with Sun Trading ahead of MiFID II\u2019s systematic internaliser regime.\n\nThe agreement ensures Instinet\u2019s clients gain access to bilateral liquidity from market makers through the firm\u2019s existing connectivity.\n\nIt means users will see additional liquidity to fill the gap between lit venues and large-in-scale blocks, for better pricing and larger-size fills to minimise the footprint in the market.\n\nInstinet added changes to liquidity provision under MiFID II will see the industry shift towards bilateral trading relationships and the registrations of systematic internalisers.\n\nBen Stephens, head of business development for Instinet Europe, explained the addition of Sun Trading as a liquidity provider is a \u2018milestone\u2019 for Instinet\u2019s MiFID II strategy.\n\n\u201cBy managing our clients\u2019 interaction with many sources of liquidity in an anonymous manner, we can essentially personalise their access to the right counterparties in the most efficient way possible,\u201d he said.\n\nSun Trading\u2019s agreement coincides with the launch of the firm\u2019s SI platform which will form the basis of its bilateral trading and quote provision in Europe.\n\nIn June, Instinet made the same liquidity agreement with Virtu Financial. Christiaan Scholtes, head of EMEA markets at Virtu, said at the time changes to the liquidity landscape in Europe led to the firm looking for ways to adapt.\n\n\u201cWe see this relationship as an opportunity to transparently and efficiently provide our risk liquidity to a broader set of participants through Instinet\u2019s high quality, neutral agency platform.\u201d", "output": "Clients of broker and equities trader Instinet will gain access to bilateral liquidity from market makers\u00a0after the company announced a\u00a0bilateral liquidity streaming agreement with Sun Trading, its second such deal. The arrangement, which comes ahead of the new systematic internaliser (SI) regime under January's updated Mifid\u00a0II regulations, coincides with the launch by Sun Trading of its\u00a0SI platform, which will form the basis of its bilateral trading and quote provision services in Europe. Instinet made the same liquidity agreement with Virtu Financial in June.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Warner Bros hires Andrew Hotz from Google for digital campaigns \n Former Google marketing executive Andrew Hotz has been named executive vice president of worldwide digital marketing for Warner Bros. Pictures.\n\nJP Richards, the studio\u2019s exec VP of worldwide marketing and chief data strategist, made the announcement on Monday. Hotz will oversee the division\u2019s domestic and international digital teams, working with the broader marketing team on the design and deployment of digital campaigns to support releases from Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema. Hotz will report directly to Richards.\n\n\u201cDigital marketing provides us new opportunities to reach audiences in sophisticated ways at scale,\u201d Richards sad. \u201cWith our strategic partnerships, technology and data, Warner Bros. can reach and interact with entertainment consumers like never before. Andrew has an incredible background in digital marketing, and we\u2019ll look to him to help us refine and further our digital campaigns, realizing the full potential of our marketing organization as well as the world-class films we market.\u201d\n\nHotz served as head of industry at Google, managing the relationship between Google/YouTube and NBC Universal, and consulting with the studio and networks on digital marketing efforts. He also worked on Google\u2019s TV ads business and managed its relationship with Procter & Gamble. Hotz began his career in production at DreamWorks Animation.", "output": "Warner Bros has appointed Andrew Hotz as executive vice president of worldwide digital marketing. The former Google marketing executive will oversee the division's domestic and global digital teams and work with the wider marketing team on digital campaigns to support Warner Bros and New Line Cinema releases. Hotz served as head of industry at Google, in charge of the relationship between Google/YouTube and NBC Universal.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California's environmental policies defy expectations on profits \n To anyone who believes environmental regulation is poison for profits, California must be infuriating. The state\u2019s pollution policies rarely wilt its perennially blooming economy. For the past nine years, a Golden State-centric think tank Next 10 has been releasing its California Green Innovation Index. The results this year show a continuing trend: For two and a half decades, California\u2019s GDP and population have continued to rise, while per capita carbon dioxide emissions have stayed flat.\n\nBut California isn't done yet. It has two major upcoming goals: reducing emission to to 1990 levels by 2020, and 40 percent below that a decade later. So while California has continued to grow during phase one of its environmental overhaul, it's still a question whether its long-term green ambitions will turn its economy as chilly as a San Francisco summer.\n\nCalifornia has a long been on the leading edge of environmental policy. It all started because Los Angeles had such filthy air that, in 1947, after a lot of public outcry, the city formed its Air Pollution District\u2014the first air quality agency in the US. (The US Clean Air Act didn\u2019t pass for another 15 years!) Over the next several decades, California rolled out green building codes, efficient appliance standards, and cap and trade policies\u2014all aimed at curbing pollution. All the while, the state made it easier for entrepreneurs to do business. This included actions like decoupling electricity sales from revenues, which forced more efficiency into the system. California also has healthy net metering caps, which allow rooftop solar panel owners sell more of their overstock electricity back into the grid.\n\nThe result of all this legislative tinkering: \u201cCalifornia is the most energy efficient economy in the world, and least carbon intensive,\u201d says Adam Fowler, a research manager at Beacon Economics, the firm that produced the Green Innovation Index at Next 10\u2019s behest. And it pays. Fowler says that every $10,000 spent in California results in 55 percent less carbon dioxide than it would in the rest of the US. \u201cWe have a very clear time series showing that the decoupling of fossil fuel use from GDP is possible,\u201d he says.\n\nBut is this just a case of California exceptionalism? After all, not every state's economy is buoyed by abundant natural resources, coastal access to trans-Pacific trade, and the global meccas for both entertainment and technology. Forcing fossil fuels out of a less robust economy might cause a catastrophic recession. In fact, even some Californians aren\u2019t so sure this state can stay on track towards its goal of cutting emissions more than 40 percent by 2030.\n\nOne big concern is whether electric vehicle output can keep pace. If regulations put undue pressure on oil and gas providers, fuel prices could spike, putting California\u2019s green ambitions at odds with its automotive infatuation. And in fact, a rise in vehicle emissions\u20142.7 percent between 2014 and 2015\u2014is probably the report\u2019s biggest surprise.\n\nMost of that came from passenger vehicles, and the cause was a glut in global gasoline. In 2014, prices dipped, and Californians drove an additional 2.7 billion collective miles in 2015. But Fowler says that trends in the automotive industry are changing, oil glut or no. \u201cHyundai is placing EVs at center of product strategy, and Volvo is phasing out conventional engines,\u201d he says. Tesla\u2019s Model 3 and GM\u2019s Volt are beginning to trickle into the mass consumer market. \u201cThese advances aren\u2019t coming from some do-gooder, long-haired hippy with a pipe dream,\u201d says Fowler. \u201cThis is the business community, working in free markets, using innovation to step in and solve problems.\u201d\n\nAh, capitalism. Here to save the world from \u2026 capitalism. After all, western civilization\u2019s drive to grow and grow and grow is what got it into its current fossil-fueled mess. But unlike internal combustion engines, capitalism can run on any type of energy\u2014so long as there\u2019s a lot of it. \u201cCivilization has shifted fuel sources throughout history, and we tend to think of only this recent snapshot of time where intense fossil fuel use was the only way to grow an economy,\u201d says Neol Perry, founder of Next 10. If clean energy can power the economy without bankrupting the world, that would be truly exceptional.", "output": "California has silenced critics of clean energy by proving that environmental regulation is not anathema to profit. For 25 years the state's GDP and population have consistently grown, while per capita carbon emissions remained largely unchanged, according to Next 10's California Green Innovation Index. The Golden State now hopes to cut emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's Grandland buys Italian cladding expert\u00a0Permasteelisa\u00a0 \n Italian cladding specialist Permasteelisa is set to be snapped up by Chinese-based Grandland Group.\n\nPermasteelisa\u2019s parent company, the Toyko-based LIXIL Group Corporation, announced that it had decided to sell 100 per cent of the shares of Permasteelisa SpA to Grandland Holdings Group for \u20ac467m (\u00a3425.7m).\n\nThe specialist contractor has worked on projects including the Shard, Walkie Talkie and 125 Old Broad Street in the UK, as well as high-profile schemes such as the Sydney Opera House in Australia.\n\nThe firm reported an annual turnover of \u20ac1.4bn (\u00a31.27bn) in its most recent accounts.\n\nAccording to Permasteelisa, the firm will continue to target \u201chigh-quality projects\u201d at the top end of the market.\n\nIn April Permasteelisa scooped a preconstruction services agreement with Greenland Group for the \u00a3800m Spire tower in Canary Wharf.\n\nLast month the firm was fined a total of \u00a315m over a series of \u201cdisastrous\u201d safety failures which saw glass shards fall from the 125 Old Broad Street project onto the street below.\n\nRuling on the case, the High Court\u2019s Justice Stuart-Smith found that between 2008 and 2012 there were 17 \u201cspontaneous failures\u201d of glass panes on the building.\n\nCurrent chief executive Riccardo Mollo, who will continue in his role after the takeover is complete, said: \u201cCombining Permasteelisa\u2019s position as a premium leader in the market and its scale across EMEA, North and South America as well as parts of Asia, along with Grandland\u2019s industrial integration capabilities and strength in China, will create an even a bigger player in the curtain wall segment globally.\n\n\u201cWhile Permasteelisa will maintain its operating independence, the opportunities for operating synergies with Grandland are tremendous.\u201d\n\nThe remainder of Permasteelisa\u2019s management team is also due to stay in place after the takeover.\n\nThe sale is subject to regulatory approval in China, the US and Russia.", "output": "China's Grandland Group is to buy 100% of Italian cladding specialist Permasteelisa for \u20ac467m ($548m). Permasteelisa, whose parent company is Tokyo-based LIXIL Group, which is selling the Italian company at a loss, has worked on products such as the Shard in London and the Sydney Opera House. In July, it was fined \u00a315m over a series of safety failures involving glass shards falling from the 125 Old Broad Street project on to the street below.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Live programming key to MMA Fighting's success on Facebook \n Mixed martial arts has been a boon to Vox Media\u2019s SB Nation video efforts.\n\nIn July, MMA Fighting, SB Nation\u2019s site covering MMA, generated 19.8 million views on its YouTube channel and 37.1 million views on its Facebook page, according to Tubular Labs. Those are not necessarily eye-popping view counts, but SB Nation said the amount of time people are spending watching is significant, which speaks to the die-hard fan base of a niche sport. In July, MMA Fighting\u2019s YouTube channel generated 127 million minutes in total watch time, and its Facebook page did 121 million minutes, according to SB Nation.\n\n\u201cMMA Fighting has established itself as a site of record in the sport,\u201d said Kevin Lockland, gm of SB Nation. \u201cRight now, MMA Fighting is certainly among the best \u2014 if not the best \u2014 performing segment of video that we have on SB Nation.\u201d\n\nLockland credited MMA Fighting\u2019s video numbers to in-depth coverage of MMA; video content that includes live, long-form shows and interviews with athletes and other big names in the sport; and a promotional and distribution strategy that splashes this content across YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other platforms.\n\nEvery Monday, MMA Fighting produces a four-hour show called \u201cThe MMA Hour,\u201d which has news and interviews with big names in MMA. The show streams live on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Under a deal between Twitter and Vox Media, SB Nation also streams an exclusive interview on Twitter right after the main broadcast. An hourlong second show, \u201cThe MMA Beat,\u201d features a roundtable discussion among MMA Fighting reporters and other journalists.\n\nSB Nation and MMA Fighting clip segments from these shows after they end and distribute the clips across all of MMA Fighting\u2019s social platforms. Some videos also get published to the flagship SB Nation social pages. Weekly coverage varies, but Lockland said during a fight week, MMA Fighting makes upward of 35 video clips, including original pieces such as fight previews, coverage of weigh-ins and interviews both before and after fights.\n\nThis focus on live and long-form programming has contributed to longer watch times on YouTube and Facebook, Lockland said. On YouTube, the average watch time for \u201cThe MMA Hour\u201d has grown from 16 to 28 minutes per session in the last two years, SB Nation said. On Facebook, SB Nation said total monthly watch time has doubled in the past 12 months.\n\nAs publishers and advertisers focus less on view counts as the primary metric for viewership, watch time and related engagement metrics have grown in importance. SB Nation sister site Vox has also seen growth in time spent with its explainer videos and other long-form videos, which has helped the site grow audiences on YouTube in the past year.\n\nFor MMA Fighting, the shows and other videos are produced by a team that includes support from video staffers who are not exclusively dedicated to MMA Fighting. When MMA Fighting reports from the field, the site typically has a team of one to three people helping to produce content, including reporters such as Ariel Helwani on camera as hosts.\n\n\u201cThe overarching strategy is to bring the fighters and a behind-the-scenes look straight to the fans of the sport,\u201d Lockland said. \u201cIt\u2019s a great sport for doing that because the people involved are very accessible \u2014 more so than other sports.\u201d\n\nImage via Esther Lin, MMA Fighting", "output": "MMA Fighting, Vox Media's site covering mixed martial arts (MMA) under its SB Nation brand, has reported significant increases in viewing times for its videos. In July the site generated 127 million minutes of views on YouTube and 121 million on Facebook, with total monthly watch times on Facebook having doubled in the past year. The site attributes the increase to its production of in-depth coverage of the sport, including long-form live programmes featuring interviews and discussions with MMA personalities. Viewing duration has increased in importance as advertisers focus less on view counts as their primary metric for measuring audiences.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Autonomous vessels pose new challenges for shippers \n Crewless, fully autonomous ships have yet to navigate global waters but R&D is progressing on a number of fronts, while simultaneously the debate about legal implications is moving to the forefront, says Stephen Harris, Senior Vice President of Marsh Global Marine Practice, in a new article in Brink on the development of autonomous shipping.\n\nRising transport volumes, growing environmental concerns, an ever-present focus on cost reduction, a looming shortage of experienced and qualified seafarers, and the rapid technological evolution that now touches every industry, are all serving to drive interest, Harris said.\n\nThe Norwegian government has designated an area for testing autonomous technology in ships, while Rolls-Royce has announced plans to have a remotely controlled, local vessel operating by 2020, with a fully autonomous ship by 2035. The ship would be controlled by a captain in an onshore command centre, with some aspects of operation and navigation automated.\n\nHarris said that, as with any advance in technology, legal and regulatory approvals would be among the first hurdles in making autonomous shipping a reality. For example, the peril \u201cnegligence of master, officers and crew\u201d is a covered peril under British and American marine insurance hull clauses, provided that such negligence has not resulted from a lack of due diligence by the assured, owners or managers. However, Harris noted that this meant deciding whether a \u201ccaptain\u201d sitting at a desk in Copenhagen would be legally/officially considered part of a \u201ccrew\u201d was likely to be viewed differently by various legal jurisdictions as they apply the law to insurance claims for physical loss or damage to the ship.\n\nOther legal questions included what status should be assigned to the programmer who designed the computer system that runs the autonomous ship.\n\nA survey conducted by SAFETY4SEA among maritime stakeholders assessed the challenges associated with the use of autonomous ships and found that navigational risk, cybersecurity and loss of communication were considered to be the greatest challenges facing the development of fully autonomous ships.\n\nOne of the key benefits of remotely controlled ships would be reductions in cost, said Harris. The ships would require fewer personnel and less fuel to complete journeys. If a vessel were fully autonomous, it would eliminate the need for crew facilities on board. This would lead to more space for cargo carriage, which would mean increased profitability for shipping companies using these vessels.\n\nHarris also noted that, without navigation and engineering personnel on board, these ships might also increase human safety. The ship would be largely, if not entirely, controlled from a remote location, meaning the risk to human life from accidents or the loss of the ship would be reduced. The possibility for human error might be reduced if systems are more automated.\n\nHarris said that Marsh predicted that technology such as this was unlikely to completely replace traditional cargo ships in the foreseeable future. Instead, the technology was likely to be used on short shuttle service journeys. \u201cThe uncertainty\n\nregarding the safety of autonomous ships compared to traditional cargo ships will be tested over time. If legal issues can be overcome and the technology is found to be viable, the support of regulators, financial institutions, and customers will be essential to the deployment of these ships in everyday commercial activities\u201d, Harris said. http://www.brinknews.com/drone-ships-will-bring-new-risks-and-rewards/?utm_source=BRINK+Subscribers&utm_campaign=dc2d4d0100-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_08_09&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c3639d7c98-dc2d4d0100-107919225", "output": "Fully autonomous \u2018drone ships\u2019 will present new risks and potential rewards, according to Stephen Harris, senior vice president of Marsh Global Marine Practice. The benefits are huge, but the legal and regulatory implications of crewless vessels will be amongst the first hurdles in making them\u00a0a reality, Harris said. Navigational risk, cybersecurity and loss of communication were considered the greatest challenges to drone ships, according to a\u00a0SAFETY4SEA survey. The liability of programmers who design the software that runs ships would also need to be addressed. \u00a0\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bayern Munich credits social media gains to its New York office \n Three years ago, Germany\u2019s Bayern Munich opened an office in New York City to try to close the gap between its Bavarian roots and global fan base. Up to 20 percent of the value that football clubs bring their sponsors comes from social media exposure, according to Nielsen Sports, and the belief was that a strong following in the U.S. will eventually translate into sponsorship and other revenue.\n\nThe team believes the digital gains it\u2019s made since then are working. The New York-based office feeds the team\u2019s U.S.-only Facebook and Twitter channels, while contributing to the club\u2019s global Instagram and Snapchat accounts.\n\nThe team doubled the club\u2019s Twitter following to about 110,000 followers in the U.S. during the 2016-17 season compared to the previous one, generating over 20 million impressions a month since the start of 2017. Rudolf Vidal, Bayern Munich\u2019s president of the Americas, broke down the club\u2019s digital strategy.\n\nOffline, the club has 126 official fan clubs in 2017 in the U.S. and Canada, up from eight fan clubs in 2014, which makes it the largest network of official fan clubs of any European team in North America. Club members also serve as influencers for Bayern Munich, producing content on a weekly basis for its U.S. Facebook and Twitter accounts.\n\nTo build loyalty, the club also has jumped on real-time marketing the way other consumer brands do, which is one reason that output from its U.S. channels is greater than its English, Spanish and German ones. The team reacts to moments like the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse and responds faster to fan queries.\n\nThe New York office also plans to tap into the social popularity of James Rodriguez, who joined from Real Madrid this summer. The club saw a six-figure increase across all its social media channels the day after it signed Rodriguez.\n\nThe club\u2019s U.S. office also looks for ways to include non-sports personalities in posts when they align with Bayern Munich\u2019s values, as other team accounts such as Arsenal and Manchester United do, and use humor in its social media. For example, when a Manchester United fan took offense to a Bayern Munich tweet earlier this year that featured two of Bayern Munich\u2019s players attempting the popular dab dance, Bayern Munich\u2019s New York office replied with a funny picture of two Manchester United players attempting the same thing.\n\nHowever, Bayern Munich knows humor will only fuel its commercial ambitions so far. It might be a giant in the sport, but beyond Europe, its reach is dwarfed by Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Manchester United. Both Spanish teams surpassed 100 million Facebook fans earlier this year, while Manchester United launched an app in February that brings its MUTV channel to 165 countries. America, particularly New York City, could increase Bayern Munich\u2019s popularity, given the city\u2019s proximity to some of the world\u2019s most commercially astute sporting brands.\n\n\u201cNew York is the epicenter of the sports media industry, which is becoming especially important the more sports, media and technology are converging,\u201d said Vidal. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot that can be absorbed from facing and interacting with these leagues and teams directly in real time that we can both transport back to Munich, but also use to our advantage in building our brand here in the States.\u201d", "output": "German football club Bayern Munich credits its global digital gains to the opening of its New York office three years ago. Up to 20% of the value that football clubs bring their sponsors comes from social media and the club hoped that a strong following in the US would generate sponsorship and revenue. The New York office managed to double Bayern's US Twitter followers to 110,000 during the last season compared with 2015/2016. It also runs the US-only Facebook account and contributes to the club's worldwide Snapchat and Instagram accounts.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China exceeds 2020 solar target after 10.52 GW installed in July \n According to independent solar industry advisory firm AECEA, China has already exceeded its 13th Five-Year-Plan (2016-2020) target of 105GW by installing around 10.52GW of solar in July, after record first half 2017 installations of 24.4GW.\n\nChina\u2019s National Energy Administration (NEA) had previously stated that in the first half of 2017 a total 24.4GW of solar was grid connected. Demand growth in the second half of the year is being fuelled by an expected 5.5GW of \u2018Top Runner\u2019 project deadlines at the end of September, 2017 and a government target of 8GW of \u2018Poverty Alleviation\u2019 schemes through the year.\n\nWith 10.52GW of solar installations in July, AECEA has raised its 2017 forecast and estimates that China might be able to install between 40GW and up to 45GW by the end of the year. This could equate to a 16% year-on-year growth rate but could reach as much as a 30% increase over record installs in 2016.\n\nGrowth of solar was said to be far outstripping other energy sources in 2017. AECEA noted that 1.09GW of new nuclear energy was added in China between January and July, while hydro added 6.69GW and wind added 7.3GW.\n\nChina added a total of 18.84GW of thermal power, yet solar easily surpassed that figure at around 34.92GW in the January to July timeframe.", "output": "China installed 10.5 GW of solar in July, and 24.4 GW in H1 2017, pushing it over the target in the government's thirteenth five-year-plan (2016-2020) to install 105 GW of capacity by 2020. Independent solar industry advisory firm AECEA now estimates that China could install up to 45 GW by year end rather than the 40 GW previously forecast. So far this year, growth in solar energy in China has far exceeded that of other power sources, with 7.3 GW of wind capacity added and 1.1 GW of nuclear, among other sources."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Visit Scotland to launch interactive campaign with Channel 4 \n Channel 4 has partnered with VisitScotland on an interactive TV campaign that invites viewers to take part in and direct a series of ads across a week.\n\nLaunching on E4 on Monday 11th September, the 60-second spots will be broadcast for five successive nights during matchmaking show Celebs Go Dating.\n\nThe deal was brokered by Jack Bridgewater from 4 Sales\u2019 Manchester office. The Chase Films are producing the creative.\n\nIn the campaign, a cast of six young travellers will each day experience a range of activities across Scotland. Each ad will illustrate the past 24 hours of the travellers\u2019 escapades before offering viewers the chance to vote via Twitter for the activity they will undertake the following day, using bespoke hashtags linked to #ScotE4.\n\nWatch the casting ad for the campaign:\n\nThe Twitter poll will remain live for half an hour after the ad has aired, votes will be counted and the production crew will transition to the next location, ready to film the following day\u2019s spot.\n\nA casting ad offering viewers the chance to be one of the six cast members has just launched on E4.\n\nThe campaign supports VisitScotland\u2019s desire to position Scotland as an inspirational destination for millennials.\n\nJane Hector-Jones, group partnerships manager at 4Sales, said: \u201cWe are delighted to be working with VisitScotland to deliver this exciting and innovative first. E4\u2019s key demographic of 16-34 year olds aligns perfectly with VisitScotland\u2019s millennial target market for this unique campaign that will showcase the charms of beautiful Scotland whilst entertaining and engaging viewers.\u201d\n\nFiona Holmes, VisitScotland's assistant marketing manager, added: \u201cScotland is an exciting, contemporary destination, much more than haggis, tartan and Nessie, and that\u2019s exactly what we hope to show in this exciting campaign.\u201d", "output": "Channel 4 has partnered with Visit Scotland to target millennials in an interactive TV campaign that invites viewers to take part in and direct a series of ads. Launching on E4 on Monday 11 September, the 60-second spots will be broadcast over five successive nights during popular matchmaking show Celebs Go Dating. In the campaign six young people will have various experiences around Scotland as they try different activities, with viewers voting via Twitter to choose the activity they will undertake the following day. The campaign aims to present Scotland as an attractive destination to millennials.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wefox's ONE start-up launches digital-only product in Europe \n ONE (part of the Wefox Group) wants to change the way the world uses and purchases insurance and apparently the company is going to launch in September. Starting in Europe, ONE, the newest Insurtech startup, says it will reinvent insurance many different ways.\n\nThe insurance sector is huge yet it has largely been left unfettered by the Fintech revolution. Yes, there are companies like Lemonade, but otherwise many of the erstwhile innovators are more of the same -just repackaged.\n\nONE is on a mission to completely redesign the insurance industry, according to Group CEO Julian Teicke, and their App based platform is coming to smartphone\u2019s everywhere \u2013 soon.\n\nIn a recent posting, Teicke explained;\n\n\u201cInsurance is a massive market. In fact it is the largest industry in the world that has not even slightly been disrupted by technology. Banking has been disrupted, Energy has been disrupted, Services have been disrupted, Health has been disrupted, Software has been disrupted. Insurance is ready to finally be disrupted.\u201d\n\nAnd what will be disruptive about ONE?\n\nSure. We all know that traditional insurance companies are light on customer service (in contrast to their ubiquitous adverts). ONE wants to provide a user friendly, digital only, experience with the following attributes:\n\nCustomer centricity Very fast onboarding process\n\nEasy tailoring \u2013 just a few questions and ONE will tailor the perfect policy for the customer\u2019s needs.\n\n\u2013 just a few questions and ONE will tailor the perfect policy for the customer\u2019s needs. Very simple payment and instant coverage : No paper invoices, no hassle.\n\n: No paper invoices, no hassle. ONE customers will be able to adjust their coverage at ANY time . No new policy or complicated process: Just turn coverage on and off in real time.\n\n. No new policy or complicated process: Just turn coverage on and off in real time. Giving back: ONE customers will not just have to pay \u2013 they will get money back if they contribute to the community. The money can be paid on the bank account, can be used for premium reduction or can be donated to a good cause once per year.\n\nONE customers will not just have to pay \u2013 they will get money back if they contribute to the community. The money can be paid on the bank account, can be used for premium reduction or can be donated to a good cause once per year. Empathy \u2013 The moment of truth is designed just for the customer \u2013 no unnecessary complication. Just report the claim and get instant feedback. This is the service delivery in insurance \u2013 we will wow the customers.\n\nSo can ONE actually provide all of this? And do it at the right price? Geez, it is hard to imagine. I cannot stand my insurance provider(s). Don\u2019t get me started. They are in a heated competition with one of my [traditional] banks for Champion of customer disservice. But I guess we will find out in a couple of weeks if ONE will match their claims. I, for one, hope they live up to their mission. I am probably not alone.", "output": "Insurance technology group Wefox has claimed its new digital start-up, ONE, will disrupt the insurance industry. Insurance, in contrast to banking, energy and services, has \"not even slightly been disrupted by technology\", said Wefox CEO Julian Teicke. The smartphone-based ONE platform, launching in September, aims to provide a more customer-driven approach to insurance, including a simple payment system, flexibility of cover in real time, instant feedback on claims and rewards for customers."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Onshore wind power 25% cheaper in second German auction \n Germany announced the results of its second onshore wind auction this week in which it was revealed a total of 1 gigawatt was awarded at an average cost 25% less than the average price recorded in the first onshore wind auction just a few months ago.\n\nGermany\u2019s Federal Network Agency, the Bundesnetzagentur (BnetzA) published the results of its second onshore wind auction which was completed on August 1, revealing a total of 1,013 MW (megawatts) spread across 67 bids awarded. The auction was significantly oversubscribed, with a total of 281 bids totaling 2,927 MW being submitted overall.\n\nThe average price for the successful bids was 4.28 Euro-cents per kilowatt hour (ct/kWh), and the highest bid accepted was 4.29 ct/kWh, while the lowest price accepted was 3.5 ct/kWh. The average price recorded in this second auction was 25% lower than the average price recorded in Germany\u2019s first onshore wind auction, held earlier this year in May, which recorded an average price of 5.71 ct/kWh.\n\nThe full list of successful bids can be found here.\n\n\u201cThe second auction for onshore wind energy was also marked by a high level of competition,\u201d said Jochen Homann, Bundesnetzagentur President. \u201cThe average price of the bids accepted is more than one cent per kilowatt hour lower than in the first auction. The results confirm the positive experiences from our previous competitive auctions for offshore wind energy and photovoltaic systems.\u201d\n\nCitizen energy companies accounted for 84% of the bids submitted and accounted for 90% of the successful bids, and 95% of the total volume of awarded bids accepted.\n\nA third onshore wind auction round is expected to take place later this year and bring this year\u2019s awarded capacity up to the 2,500 MW expansion rate targeted by the German government \u2014 1,820 MW has already been awarded.\n\nSign up for Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era \u2014 Podcast: I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014 gasp \u2014 grow. So ... Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014\u2014 grow. So ...", "output": "Germany\u2019s Federal Network Agency, the Bundesnetzagentur has announced that its second onshore wind auction has led to a total of 1 GW being awarded at an average cost of 25% less than its first onshore windfarm auction earlier in the year.\u00a0The average price for the successful bids was 4.28 euro-cents per kilowatt hour."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Emmanuel Andr\u00e9 appointed as Publicis chief talent officer \n Publicis Groupe said it has appointed Emmanuel Andr\u00e9 to the new position of chief talent officer.\n\nEmmanuel Andre is joining Publicis as chief talent offier. / http://tbwa.com/pirates/emmanuel-andre\n\nAndr\u00e9, who was most recently international president of TBWA\\Worldwide, will handle talent management and recruitment at Publicis, working directly with the chief executives and chief technology officers in its Solutions business. He will also be in charge of all Publicis learning, development programs and group culture. Based in New York, he will join the management committee and report directly to chief executive Arthur Sadoun. Andr\u00e9 will assume the role on September 18.", "output": "Emmanuel Andr\u00e9 has been appointed to the new role of chief talent officer at Publicis Groupe. Andr\u00e9 will work directly with CEOs and CTOs at its Solutions business, as well as being in charge of all learning and development schemes at Publicis, as well as its group culture. He will start work in the New York-based role on 18 September, reporting directly to CEO Arthur Sadoun.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Katherine Ball announced as land manager for Lancashire division \n A MAJOR part of her job is to secure land for housebuilder Redrow, but the latest asset Katherine Ball has secured is a job promotion for herself.\n\nKatherine, 24, from Wilmslow, has been confirmed as land manager for Redrow\u2019s Lancashire division, after 18 months\u2019 preparation for the role as trainee land manager and, before that, a place on the company\u2019s rotational graduate training programme.\n\nKatherine, part of the Redrow Homes (Lancashire) land team based at Buckshaw Village, Chorley, is delighted with both her promotion and the support she has received from Redrow throughout.\n\n\u201cYou have to work hard and maintain a positive attitude,\u201d says Katherine. \u201cBut with that you get the rewards; and I am lucky to have done that and to have a good team of people around me with whom I really enjoy working.\n\n\u201cI am lucky too in terms of the training I have been given to support me in my role and the encouragement I have had to get the qualifications which will enable me to progress and further my career.\u201d\n\nKatherine originally joined Redrow\u2019s highly regarded graduate training programme after securing a BA in Human Geography from Leeds Metropolitan University. Working across various disciplines she soon found a natural affinity with land and planning, but also enjoyed the interaction with other parts of the business that\u2019s required to successfully pursue a land purchase.\n\nNow, as land manager, she will control a range of land bids for the housebuilder, going through the process of identifying possible sites, negotiating with land owners, acquiring sites and taking them through the planning process.\n\nSays Katherine: \u201cIt involves building good relationships with agents, land owners and consultants; and having a good understanding of Redrow\u2019s portfolio and the sorts of development it wishes to pursue.\n\nKatherine has recently taken a more major role in a number of land acquisitions which are still \u2018under wraps\u2019 but, working with land director Karl Longworth, she was also involved in the purchase of over 20 acres for 245 new homes on land at Garrett Hall, near Mosley Common, in Greater Manchester, where Redrow has begun building homes as part of its Bridgewater View development.\n\n\u201cI love the challenge of my job,\u201d says Katherine, who now lives in Manchester city centre. \u201cI also love the sense of pride when you see homes being built on sites with which you\u2019ve been involved. There is a great sense of achievement in working on a development opportunity which then becomes someone\u2019s home.\u201d\n\nKarl Longworth, land director for Redrow Homes (Lancashire), says: \u201cKatherine very quickly became a valued member of the team. She is eager to learn, hardworking and tenacious in her efforts to help secure the land sites which will become our future developments. Building excellent relationships around her, both inside and outside the company, she personifies Redrow\u2019s reputation for quality and professionalism.\u201d\n\nEncouraged and supported by Redrow, Katherine is now in the final semester of a master\u2019s degree in Real Estate & Property Management, which will enable her to work towards her APC (assessment of professional competence) and the opportunity to become a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).\n\nNurturing young talent in this way and encouraging the professional development of its staff has helped Redrow be the first housebuilder to earn the British Institute for Learning and Development (BiLD) \u2018Quality Mark\u2019, recognising the calibre of its approach to training and professional development programmes. For more on working for Redrow visit www.redrowcareers.co.uk.", "output": "Katharine Ball has been appointed as land manager at Redrow's Lancashire division. In her new role, Ball will control a range of land bids, identify possible sites for acquisition and help landowners go through the planning process. Ball first joined the housebuilder on its graduate training programme, before becoming a trainee land manager at the Redrow Homes land team in Buckshaw Village, Chorley.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vacant Chinese-owned homes raise hackles abroad \n A quarter of Chinese buying property overseas leave their apartments vacant and the majority pay for their purchase with cash, a survey of mainland Chinese customers by investment bank UBS shows.\n\nAnother 25 per cent of overseas property owners use their home on a temporary basis, suggesting about half of the overseas properties owned by mainland Chinese were not fully utilised, the bi-annual survey suggests.\n\nOverseas investment in Australia's housing market has stirred political sensitivities amid concerns offshore buyers are helping fuel Australia's property boom and are leaving homes empty during a housing affordability crisis.\n\nHouse prices in the nation's capital cities have surged almost 44 per cent since 2012, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.", "output": "Around 25% of Chinese people buying property overseas are leaving the premises vacant, while another 25% use the homes only temporarily, according to a UBS survey. A\u00a0majority of Chinese buyers pay for their properties with cash, and 63% of\u00a0Chinese consumers are holding onto the properties for\u00a0investment, according to the report.\u00a0This is increasingly stirring political sensitivities in countries such as Australia, where the surge in Chinese investment is\u00a0causing both a property boom\u00a0and a housing affordability crisis."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CNN follows NBC in launching its own daily Snapchat news show \n CNN has decided to launch its own daily news show on Snapchat, following the success of fellow news outlet NBC News\u2019 own show.\n\nNBC\u2019s \u2018Stay Tuned\u2019 has reached over 29m unique viewers in less than a month since its launch. More than 60 per cent of this audience is under 25 years old, and more than 40 per cent of daily viewers watch at least three days a week. It also managed to amass 1m subscribers in the first two and a half weeks after launching.\n\n\u201cWe had several goals heading into this project, including understanding a platform that will help to define mobile television, and reaching a younger audience that we would likely not reach on our more traditional digital and TV outlets. Stay Tuned has checked both of those of boxes,\u201d said Nick Ascheim, SVP of NBC News Digital.\n\nOn the back of its NBC\u2019s feat, CNN has launched \u2018The Update\u2019 to provide a daily rundown of the biggest news. The show will run at 6pm ET daily, as well as producing breaking news segments.\n\nEach daily show will feature five or more stories from around the world, with reporting from CNN\u2019s news anchors, correspondents and reporters.\n\n\u201cIn today\u2019s news environment, people are hungry for news and they want a quick update of where things are at within one tap of their phone,\u201d said Samantha Barry, executive producer for social and emerging networks at CNN. \u201cSo, we're serving that up, speaking their language and delivering it in beautiful, vertical, mobile friendly video.\u201d", "output": "CNN is launching a daily news show on Snapchat in competition with NBC. NBC's Stay Tuned has reached more than 29 million unique viewers in under a month, with over 60% of the audience being under 25 years old. A million subscribers signed up in the first two and a half weeks after Stay Tuned's launch and over 40% of daily viewers watch at least three days a week. CNN's offering, The Update, will offer a daily rundown of the news, including five or more stories from around the globe provided by CNN's journalists. It will also produce breaking news videos."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's Alipay teams with local start-up to expand in Singapore \n SINGAPORE - China's cashless payment service provider Alipay plans to expand its 20,000 acceptance points in Singapore, and will soon open up the platform to Singapore banking users.\n\nOn Tuesday (Aug 22), it inked a deal with a local start-up to further this ambition.\n\nSingapore start-up CC Financial Services, which promotes its CCPay brand of mobile payments, is the local partner for acquiring merchants to get on the Alipay platform. The primary goal is to better serve the 2.8 million tourists from China yearly.\n\nSaid Mr Melvin Ooi, Alipay's country manager for Singapore, Sri Lanka and Maldives: \"With Alipay, Chinese visitors will find it very convenient to do their shopping, dine and other activities in Singapore... This collaboration with CCPay will provide a platform for merchants to facilitate safe, fast and cashless payments for the Chinese tourists in Singapore.\"\n\nBut it will \"soon\" open up the payment platform to Singapore banking users, said Mr Ooi, declining to provide a timeline. Currently, Alipay users must either have a China banking account for debiting transactions or a China bank-issued credit card.\n\nThe number of acceptance points jumped after Alipay tied up with ComfortDelgro to accept the payment scheme in its 17,000 taxis last month (July). Prime Taxis has accepted Alipay since March.\n\nThe rest of the acceptance points are in Chinatown, Sentosa and Orchard Road. The company wants to expand these to Bugis, Geylang and the heartland, such as in Clementi.\n\nSince its founding in March this year, CC Financial Services has acquired more than 600 merchants contributing to the 20,000 Alipay acceptance points.\n\nThe plan is to grow the number of merchants to 6,000.\n\nSaid Mr Jed Huang, CC Financial Services founder and director: \"The use of the Alipay cashless payment platform will help to revitalise these old shopping centres and, at the same time, attract more locals and tourists to shop here.\"", "output": "China\u2019s Alipay has signed a deal with Singaporean start-up CC Financial Services in a bid to grow its number of acceptance points in Singapore. While improving service for Chinese tourists is a key goal, Alipay also planning to roll out the service to Singapore bank account holders. CC Financial acquires merchants for the Alipay platform; it has bought on 600 since it was founded in March and aims to increase that to 6,000. Alipay currently has 20,000 acceptance points in the country, boosted by the addition of 17,000 taxis in a tie up with ComfortDelgro in July."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Swiss start-up Adaptricity simulates smart power grids \n Issues with grid stability, and the high cost of grid expansion are one of the biggest challenges presented by the energy transition. For renewable energy sources to make up a higher portion of a country\u2019s energy mix, power grids will need to become more intelligent and incorporate different technologies to manage the intermittencies inherent to renewable generation.\n\nSwiss startup Adaptricity looked to address this issue by developing a software solution that can simulate electricity grids, and help operators better understand and plan their networks. This way, says ETH Zurich, grid investments can be made more cost effective.\n\nThe software relies on data collected from smart meters, and can calculate network loads based on this, and simulate how a new energy asset, a PV plant for example, would affect the regional grid.\n\nPopular content\n\nAdaptricity has previously acted as a consultancy with grid operators in Switzerland and Germany, but will now focus on the sale of licenses for its software to grid operators in Switzerland and abroad, which it expects to fully launch in autumn 2017.\n\nETH Zurich also points out that, while the software could prove an essential tool for grid operators, its success is highly dependent on the development of smart grids, and on national energy policy decisions both in its native Switzerland and in other potential markets. \u201cUltimately, politics will decide how much money is put into renewable energy, and thus into intelligent power grids,\u201d states an ETH press release. \u201cThe more politicians push the issue, the better for the smart grid analysts.\u201d", "output": "Zurich based start-up Adaptricity, a spin-off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology plans to launch a software system that can simulate and analyse electrical grids, helping operators and investors deploy renewable energy and storage assets more intelligently.\u00a0The software can calculate network loads based on\u00a0data collected from smart meters, helping to predict\u00a0how a new energy asset would affect the grid."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mizuho first major bank to invest in Japan's student housing \n Spurred by growing demand, Mizuho has said it will put forward 15% of the equity for the fund, which, along with an additional \u00a510bn in debt, it will use to construct university dormitories.\n\nThe remainder of the equity will come from both domestic and international private investors, including trading company Marubeni Corp and real estate firm Tokyo Tatemono Co.\n\n\u201cAlmost all universities are telling us they don\u2019t have enough accommodation for international students\u201d\n\nThe bank has approached 50 universities about providing accommodation for their international students in the last five months, and has \u201cspecific discussions\u201d underway with around 10, according to Shu Takata, deputy general manager of Mizuho\u2019s real estate finance department.\n\nThe bank aims to invest in three projects by the end of March 2018, rising to 10 over the following two years. The developments could include entirely new properties or renovations of existing ones, and each is expected to house around 300 students.\n\n\u201cAlmost all universities are telling us they don\u2019t have enough accommodation for international students,\u201d Takata told Bloomberg.\n\nThe number of international students in Japan hit 239,287 last year and is continuing to grow, driven by government-backed initiatives such as the Top Global Universities project, as the country strives to reach its target of hosting 300,000 international students by 2020.\n\nBut in May 2016, less than a quarter of international students enrolled in Japanese higher education \u2013 22.9% \u2013 lived in student residences provided by their universities or the public sector, according to figures from the Japan Student Services Organisation.\n\nA shortage of accommodation is \u201cone of the major obstacles to the increase of international students in Japan\u201d, according to Hiroshi Ota, director of the Global Education program at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo and an advisor on international students for Hiroshima prefecture.\n\nThough the majority of international students rent private apartments, as the number continues to rise, renting in the private housing sector is \u201cnot a realistic solution for this problem\u201d, Ota told The PIE News.\n\n\u201cRenting in the private housing sector is not a realistic solution for this problem\u201d\n\nIt is not illegal in Japan for landlords to reject foreign tenants, and a Ministry of Justice survey carried out earlier this year showed that of more than 2,000 foreign residents who had looked for housing in the last five years, 40% had at some point been refused because they were non-Japanese.\n\nInsufficient purpose-built student accommodation, combined with barriers to the private rental market, have therefore created a gap in the market for new providers.\n\nThis includes premium pricing options, and student tenants in Mizuho\u2019s developments are expected to pay between \u00a530,000 and \u00a580,000 ($275-$735) per month in rent, Takata said. The average rent paid by international students was around \u00a531,000 in 2016, according to the JASSO statistics.\n\nThe properties will be managed by an external company, which may provide additional facilities for international students. When it first announced its intention to invest in the fund in March, Mizuho said it aimed to also provide services such as assistance with immigration and aeroplane tickets.\n\nOnce construction is completed, the fund will lease its properties to universities for around five years, before selling on its holdings as real estate investment trusts, the group said.", "output": "Japanese bank Mizuho Financial Group has raised a $91.8m fund to enter the student housing market, as growing numbers of overseas students enrol in Japanese higher education. The number of international students in Japan hit 239,287 last year. Mizuho has said it will put forward 15% of the equity for the fund, with a range of investors providing the rest. Much of the accommodation will be in the form of dormitories. Mizuho is the first major Japanese bank to invest in the sector; it is said to have approached about 50 universities and to be in \"specific discussions\" with around\u00a010."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Barclays uses sensors to monitor desk use \n Barclays staff are being monitored to see how long they are at their desks in what the bank described as an exercise to assess office space usage.\n\nAccording to Bloomberg, OccupEye devices \u2013 described as wireless workplace utilisation sensors \u2013 are being used to monitor desk use by employees. The bank said this is to better understand how long people are at their desks, rather than a Big Brother-like measure of staff productivity.\n\nThe wireless heat and motion sensors collect data and report in real-time, with the data being sent to a cloud-based analytics platform. Barclays said that staff and union Unite were notified before the devices, which are placed on the underside of desks, were rolled out.\n\nHowever, according to Bloomberg, Barclays employees said they don\u2019t remember being informed about the boxes. It added that the bank said there have been no official human-resources complaints.\n\nBarclays told Bloomberg: \u201cThe sensors aren\u2019t monitoring people or their productivity \u2013 they are assessing office space usage. This sort of analysis helps us to reduce costs, for example, managing energy consumption, or identifying opportunities to further adopt flexible work environments.\u201d\n\nUnite national officer Dominic Hook said in a statement: \u201cWe were given assurances that the boxes did not monitor individuals or their performance.\u201d\n\nThe union said it \u201cwill keep a close eye on the situation to make sure that the sensors are never used to spy on staff or as a means to measure productivity\u201d.\n\nSensors and data analytics technology for people tracking are also enabling businesses such as retailers and transport hubs to make decisions on the location of facilities and the layout of premises to maximise the use of space.\n\nWith the cost of real estate high in cities such as London, banks will monitor office usage to find opportunities to save money. .... ... .... .... .... ...", "output": "Barclays has installed sensors to monitor desk use by staff in London. The bank claims that the OccupEye \u201cwireless workplace utilisation sensors\u201d are being used to assess the use of office space rather than staff productivity, and that the information they provide could be used to increase flexible working and to reduce energy consumption. The sensors, which detect heat and motion, collect and report data in real-time and then send it to a cloud-based platform. Similar devices are used by Lloyds, but were removed from Daily Telegraph offices following complaints by staff."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SunPower starts back-contact technology manufacturing pilot \n SunPower has built its business on making the highest efficiency solar products commercially available for the rooftop market, based on its Maxeon back-contact technology. But after years of persistent losses, SunPower is shifting gears, not only in terms of its business approach but its technology.\n\nIn late 2015 SunPower unveiled a new module designs based on overlapping cells made from strips of silicon wafers, as a radical departure from its trademark modules based on interdigitated back contact (IBC) cells. However, the company has not stopped working on back-contact technology, and on recent results calls has been describing work on a new IBC cell and module product.\n\nYesterday SunPower provided more information on the factory which will provide this product, which is based in San Jose, California and has already begun making cells. In a press release long on hype and short of details, SunPower stated that this pilot line in its research facility runs from silicon to panel, utilizing a \u201crevolutionary manufacturing approach\u201d \u2013 but does not say what that means.\n\nLess is known about the new technology. SunPower says that the cells \u201cextend on\u201d its X-Series technology, but again has provided almost nothing in the way of details. The most we have is SunPower CEO Tom Werner statement on the company\u2019s recent quarterly results call that SunPower believes the technology \u201cwill significantly reduce cost while maintaining industry-leading performance\u201d.\n\nPopular content\n\nIf it can achieve a higher efficiency, this will be impressive, as X-Series cell have already reached more than 25% efficiency in mass production, the highest level for any mass-produced silicon PV cell.\n\nSunPower will not be rolling out significant volumes from this research facility, as the line only has the capacity to produce 5 MW per year when fully ramped, which SunPower expects in 2018. However, the first customers, including schools, will begin receiving product from the line later this year.", "output": "SunPower Systems has begun producing solar panels based on a new interdigitated back contact (IBC) technology at a research factory in Silicon Valley. SunPower had traditionally used IBC technology until it\u00a0unveiled new module designs in 2015\u00a0based on overlapping cells made from strips of silicon wafers. However, as trailed on recent results calls, it has returned to IBC technology, this time using an undisclosed \"revolutionary manufacturing approach\". The panels\u00a0\u201cextend on\u201d its X-Series technology, it said, without giving further details."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Frogtech Geoscience 'solves' heat flow reservoir-modelling issue \n Australian geoscience company Frogtech Geoscience announces the release of TERRAFLUX, an innovative multi-client heat flow product, providing a unique new approach to assess regional heat flow variability for petroleum system modelling.\n\nTERRAFLUX provides a present-day model for basement heat flow derived from Frogtech Geoscience\u2019s well-known, trademark SEEBASE\u00ae studies.\n\nUnlike a traditional interpolated grid, TERRAFLUX is derived from the integration and interpretation of spatially-continuous geological datasets such as basement composition, basement terranes, crustal thickness, including Frogtech Geoscience\u2019s SEEBASE depth-to-basement map.\n\nTERRAFLUX fills the gaps between scattered conventional heat flow data points geologically, resulting in a laterally variable grid that accounts for the effects of contrasting thermal sources, scales, depths and types. TERRAFLUX expands the basin modelling toolbox and constrains 1D, 2D and 3D modelling in underexplored basins.\n\nTERRAFLUX reduces risk for basin and thermal modelling by constraining modelling assumptions to the specific components that contribute to heat flow, i.e., radiogenic heat contribution from basement, mantle input and local igneous activity, assessing and documenting them independently.\n\nExploration teams, basin modellers and geothermal assessment specialists will strongly benefit from TERRAFLUX\u2019s cost-effective, ready-to-use basement heat flow grid that fast-tracks modelling tasks. Built and calibrated using Frogtech Geoscience\u2019s workflow, tools and databases of basement lithology, heat production and global heat flow, all assessed for quality and reliability, TERRAFLUX is the essential independent and innovative heat flow calibration and benchmarking tool.\n\nTERRAFLUX products are now available for the Gulf of Mexico, South China Sea, North Atlantic and North Sea, Greater Caspian, Black Sea, Onshore North Africa, with additional large undiscovered conventional oil and gas areas, including Guyana-Suriname basin, to be released later in 2017.", "output": "Frogtech Geoscience has released its Terraflux tool, which it says solves regional heat flow variability in petroleum system modelling. Terraflux's calibration and benchmarking tool helps users model basins more quickly by constraining modelling assumptions to the specific components relating to heat flow, such as mantle input, and assessing them independently."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "India Energy Exchange gains SEBI approval for initial public offering \n PE-backed India Energy Exchange receives SEBI nod for IPO\n\nPrivate equity-backed Indian Energy Exchange Ltd, the country\u2019s first exchange for trading of electricity and renewable energy certificates, has received Securities and Exchange Board of India\u2019s approval to float its initial public offering.\n\nIn June, the New Delhi-based company had filed its draft red herring prospectus, which said that the IPO will comprise sale of a 20.83% stake held by existing shareholders.\n\nCiting a person aware of the development, VCCircle had earlier reported that the total issue size will be at Rs 600-650 crore ($93-100 million).\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe Renuka Ramnath-led Multiples Alternate Asset Management \u2013 the private equity arm of Kumar Mangalam Birla-led Aditya Birla Group \u2013 and Madison India Capital, will partially exit their investments.\n\nAccording to the draft prospectus, Multiples had proposed to sell a 9.37% stake in the company, or 2.72 million shares out of the 3.87 million shares it currently holds, while Tata Power Company Ltd will completely exit its 10-year investment by selling 1.25 million shares.\n\nThe public issue will also see non-banking financial companies AF Holdings LLC and Kiran Vyapar Ltd sell their shares, besides former Indian Energy Exchange managing director and CEO Jayant Narhar Deo shedding a small portion of his holdings.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe company will join a clutch of exchanges and financial market infrastructure companies that have either gone public or are planning to do so.\n\nMulti Commodity Exchange of India Ltd had become India\u2019s first exchange to go public, after it listed its shares over five years ago. BSE Ltd was the next to go public in February this year, while rival National Stock Exchange of India is working on its IPO.\n\nPast exits\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIndian Energy Exchange\u2019s valuation of Rs 3,000 crore during the IPO will be better than its March valuation of Rs 2,600 crore, when PTC India Financial Services had sold a 5% stake in the company for Rs 132.54 crore.\n\nIn December 2016, Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Infrastructure had sold its entire stake to an undisclosed buyer to earn multi-fold returns. Reliance Infra had sold a 4.122% stake for Rs 103 crore, nine years after investing Rs 1.25 crore in the energy exchange. The deal valued the company at Rs 2,500 crore.\n\nIn 2015, global multi-stage investment firm Bessemer Venture Partners had partially exited the company by selling its 4% stake to TVS Capital for Rs 80-90 crore. Subsequently, in May 2016, it had completely exited the company through the sale of its remaining 6% stake to Dalmia Group for Rs 130-150 crore, according to VCCircle estimates.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIn March 2016, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd had sold a 4.12% stake in the energy exchange to Motilal Oswal PE.\n\nFor more details on the proposed IPO of India Energy Exchange, click here.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nShare article on Leave Your Comments", "output": "India's private-equity backed Indian Energy Exchange has received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India to go public with an initial public offering involving the sale of a 20.83% stake held by existing investors. A number of private equity firms and power companies will sell some of their shares, as will Indian Energy Exchange's former CEO Jayant Narhar Deo. The flotation will see the company join a number of Indian exchanges that have gone public, with Multi Commodity Exchange of India having been the first to do so over five years ago."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Growth in electric vehicle sales will hurt many sectors: JPMorgan \n Adoption of electric vehicles is set to accelerate, and that's going to run over a lot of losers, including within the auto industry itself, JPMorgan Cazenove said in a note on Monday.\n\nThe shift toward electric vehicles is set to be a multi-year process, but once there's a tipping point, likely on a shift in costs, the transition could take off, JPMorgan analysts said.\n\nThey noted the price difference between traditional internal combustion vehicles (ICVs) and electric vehicles (EVs) was already narrowing as battery prices fall, but prices might not need to fall much for consumers to make the leap.\n\n\"Concerns about scrap values of ICVs may drive consumers towards EVs even before the price differential between the two classes of vehicles closes,\" JPMorgan said.\n\nIt estimated electric cars would take 35 percent of the global market by 2025 and 48 percent by 2030.\n\nThat's going to create some clear losers in an industry that's been spreading its tendrils for more than a century.\n\nFor one, adoption of electric vehicles means much lower maintenance costs for consumers, the analysts said.\n\n\"EVs have 20 moving parts compared to as many as 2,000 in an ICV, dramatically reducing service costs and increasing the longevity of the vehicle,\" the analysts said, adding that it estimated running costs for an electric vehicle can be around 10 percent of an internal combustion one.\n\n\"We see this as a meaningful risk for car dealers who rely on after-sales service for a large chunk of their profitability,\" the note said. \"This should over time reduce the number of vehicles sold as well, in addition to other potential trends, such as automated driving and greater car utilization rates.\"", "output": "The electric vehicle (EV) revolution will create a lot of losers, according to JPMorgan Cazenove, which are likely to include dealer networks, maintenance businesses, lenders\u00a0and oil companies. Although the shift towards EVs is likely\u00a0to be\u00a0gradual, once their price comes down to that of internal combustion-engined cars, sales could start to grow rapidly. JP Morgan analysts noted the price difference between traditional vehicles and EVs was already narrowing as battery prices fall. It is estimated that EVs could take 35% of the global market by 2025.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "You may soon be able to choose the colour of your solar panels \n LEFT: The nanopatterned module appears green, independent of the angle. RIGHT: Schematic of silicon nanoscatterer arrays on top of a sapphire cover slide, integrated into a commonly used solar panel design.\n\nBy stamping dense arrays of crystalline silicon nanocylinders onto solar modules, researchers in the Netherlands have managed to give green energy a green color.\n\nA new study published this week in Applied Physics Letters demonstrates photovoltaic modules with a bright green color, based on silicon heterojunction solar cells integrated with arrays of light scattering dielectric nanoscatterers. The panels show only around a 10% power reduction due to the loss of absorbed green light, paving the way to designing efficient colorful or white building-integrated photovoltaics.\n\n\u201cSome people say \u2018why would you make solar cells less efficient?\u2019 But we can make solar cells beautiful without losing too much efficiency,\u201d said Verena Neder, a researcher at AMOLF and lead author of the paper. \u201cThe new method to change the color of the panels is not only easy to apply but also attractive as an architectural design element and has the potential to widen their use.\u201d\n\nUnlike existing colored solar panels, the nanopatterns give a consistent appearance from different angles, so the panels appear green even from a wide angle.\n\nPopular content\n\nNext, the researchers are designing imprints to create red and blue solar cells. Once they master these three colors, the primary colors of light, they can create any color, potentially even white.\n\n\u201cYou have to combine different nanoparticles, and if they get very close to each other they can interact and that will affect the color,\u201d said Albert Polman, a scientific group leader at AMOLF and senior author on the paper. \u201cGoing to white is a really big step.\u201d\n\nWhile most research to date has focused on increasing efficiency and reducing cost, the latest invention combines efficiency with aesthetics. Among other notable achievements in the field of aesthetic photovoltaic solutions are full-black solar modules and panels with integrated high-definition images.", "output": "By imprinting solar panels with silicon nanopatterns that scatter green light back towards the observer, researchers at the Netherlands\u2019 AMOLF Institute have moved closer to being able to produce solar modules in any colour. The panels have about 10% less power because of the loss of absorbed green light. \u201cThe new method is attractive as an architectural design element and has the potential to widen their use\", said Verena Neder, a researcher at AMOLF. Once imprints are created for red and blue solar cells, the institute will have the primary colours and so will be able to produce any colours."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Solar could meet 25% of India's energy demand: IRENA \n India can raise its renewable energy use to meet a quarter of the country's total final energy demand by 2030, shows a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), outlining areas that can unlock India\u2019s vast renewable energy potential.\n\nAccording to Renewable energy prospects for India, the latest study from IRENA\u2019s REmap program, solar could play a vital role representing the second largest source of renewable energy with 16%, followed by wind at 14%, and hydropower at 7 % of the country\u2019s total final renewable energy consumption by 2030. The list is topped by biofuels, which could be used across the end demand spectrum, such as for transport, electricity generation and heating, accounting for 62 %.\n\nFurthermore, the renewable energy technologies identified in the report would lower demand for coal and oil products between 17 % and 23 % by 2030. Reduced reliance on fossil fuels is showing itself as the only viable option, taking into account India\u2019s limited sources of fossil fuels, which are prompting the country to turn increasingly to imports, thus adding to concerns about security of the energy supply, the actual prices \u2013 as record low Indian solar tariff bids accepted in 2017 (INR 2.44 ($ 0.037)/kWh) mean that solar is now cheaper than coal, and the country\u2019s pledges under the Paris Climate Agreement.\n\n\u201cWith one of the world's largest and most ambitious renewable energy programs, India is taking a leading role in the energy transformation both regionally and globally,\u201d said IRENA Director-General Adnan Z. Amin. \u201cIndia possesses a wealth of renewable resources, particularly for solar and bioenergy development, which can help to meet growing energy demand, power economic growth and improve energy access, as well as boost overall energy security.\u201d\n\nChallenges in sight\n\nIndia\u2019s population and economic growth is expected to increase the number of people living in cities and towns from approximately 435 million in 2015 to 600 million by 2030. Consequently, the country\u2019s total energy demand will more than double by 2030, while electricity demand will almost triple, IRENA notes.\n\nDespite rapid strides in adding power capacity, India continues to be plagued by widespread energy poverty, as reaching rural and remote areas with the necessary transmission and distribution network remains a major challenge. Estimates suggest that 80 million households \u2014 roughly 300 million people \u2014 still have limited or no access to electricity.\n\nPopular content\n\nIn economic terms, the health impact of outdoor air pollution costs about 3% of India\u2019s annual gross domestic product, and indoor air pollution adds significantly to this total. Therefore, the shift to renewables would not only be economically beneficial with regard to creating jobs, but also reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and ensuring cleaner air and water, with savings on health-related costs.\n\nRoad to follow\n\nMeeting India\u2019s electricity demand, which has grown by 10 % a year over the past decade, and attaining the country's economic growth targets will require significant investment in power-generation capacity and related infrastructure, as well as in transport, buildings and industry sectors, creating important opportunities for renewable energy deployment.\n\nIRENA\u2019s report shows that to make the most of its vast sustainable energy potential, investments in India\u2019s renewable energy capacity have to more than double. The country must mobilize affordable financing and adopt new business models; develop a skilled and knowledgeable workforce; and introduce modern renewables-based technologies into people\u2019s daily cooking, cooling and transportation routines. Achieving this will require annual renewable energy investments worth $42 billion over the period to 2030.\n\nIndia will also need to accelerate the transformation of its power system to integrate higher shares of renewables by strengthening transmission grids, reducing grid losses, and in general improving the resilience of the power system by investing in a more flexible system that values demand-response, interconnectors and storage, as well as greater transport and power-sector synergies.\n\nA recent study developed under the U.S.-India bilateral program Greening the Grid showed that India\u2019s bold target of 175 GW of installed renewable capacity by 2022, which includes 100 GW of solar, is attainable because the nation\u2019s power grid can be balanced and adapted to the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources.", "output": "A quarter of India's entire electricity requirements can be supplied by solar power alone, and would be second only to biofuels as the country's main source of renewable energy, according to a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). As part of its roadmap to 2030, the demand for coal and oil would fall by 17% and 23% respectively, while reduced levels of pollution would improve the country's environment and the health of its population. The report also highlights the need to double investments into India's renewable energy capacity to $42bn in the period up to 2030."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Microplastics discovered in deep sea species for first time \n Credit: Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS)\n\nAround half of marine creatures living at depths of more than 2,000 metres in the North Atlantic could be eating microplastic material, marine scientists have discovered.\n\nResearchers at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) in Oban, Scotland sampled deep-sea starfish and sea snails from the Rockall Trough and found microscopic traces of plastic in 48 per cent of those sampled. The levels of plastic ingestion were comparable to those found in species living in shallower coastal waters.\n\nMicroplastics are small pieces of plastic less than 5 millimetres in size and, when ingested by sea creatures, may be passed up the food chain.\n\nAlthough scientists have previously found traces of microplastics in the deep sea, this research, published in the journal Environmental Pollution, is the first time microplastic ingestion in deep-sea invertebrates has been quantified.\n\nA range of plastics were identified; the paper shows how even naturally buoyant substances, such as polyethylene used to make plastic shopping bags, could be found inside brittle stars, sea stars and sea snails.\n\nPolyester was the most abundant plastic identified, mainly in the form of microscopic fibres, and while it is not possible to definitively know its origin, this substance is used widely in clothing and can reach the sea in waste water from washing machines.\n\nCredit: Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS)\n\nLead author on the paper 'Microplastic pollution identified in deep-sea water and ingested by benthic invertebrates in the Rockall Trough, North Atlantic Ocean' is Winnie Courtene-Jones, a University of the Highlands and Islands PhD researcher based at SAMS.\n\nShe said: \"Microplastics are widespread in the natural environment and present numerous ecological threats, such as reducing reproductive success, blocking digestive tracts and transferring organic pollutants to organisms which eat them. More than 660 marine species worldwide are documented to be affected by plastics.\n\n\"There is much evidence of microplastics around coastal waters but little is known about the extent of plastic pollution in the deeper ocean.\n\n\"The deep sea is the largest, but also the least explored part of the planet and may be the final sink for plastics. More work is needed on the wider ocean environment to understand the long term fate of marine plastics.\"\n\nThe study found the quantity of ingested microplastics differed between species but did not relate to the size or feeding habits of the species.\n\nCredit: Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS)\n\nWinnie's supervisor, SAMS deep sea ecologist Dr Bhavani Narayanaswamy, said: \"No longer 'out of sight, out of mind', research into microplastics is rapidly increasing in importance. We are attempting to establish not only how widespread they are, but also how and where they accumulate in animals, and ultimately the impact that they may have on the health of humans.\n\n\"SAMS is increasing its research into microplastics, with two new PhD students joining the team in October; one to look at microplastics in the Scottish marine environment, comparing urban and rural locations, whilst the second student will be attempting to develop airborne sensors that will detect microplastics.\"\n\nThe sampling was done in June 2016 during the annual Extended Ellett Line research cruise on board the RRS Discovery.\n\nMore information: Winnie Courtene-Jones et al. Microplastic pollution identified in deep-sea water and ingested by benthic invertebrates in the Rockall Trough, North Atlantic Ocean, Environmental Pollution (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2017.08.026\n\nProvided by Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS)", "output": "Approximately half of marine creatures living in the North Atlantic at depths of over 2,000 metres could be consuming microplastics, according to the first study of ingestion by deep-sea invertebrates. Researchers at the Scottish Association for Marine Science found plastic in 48% of creatures sampled in the Rockall Trough, similar to the levels of ingestion found in species in shallower coastal waters. Polyester was the most commonly identified plastic and is likely to have entered the ocean via washing machine waste water.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Innowatts raises $6m in series A funding \n HOUSTON, Aug. 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Innowatts, an innovative leader in advanced energy analytics and digital transformation of the utility industry, today announced that the company has raised $6 million in Series A funding from a consortium of three global investors with deep ties to the energy sector and emerging technology. The consortia consists of:\n\nShell Technology Ventures (\"STV\"), is the venture capital arm of Royal Dutch Shell plc (\"Shell\"). With major offices in Europe and the USA .\n\nplc (\"Shell\"). With major offices in and the . Iberdrola Ventures - PERSEO, the corporate venture capital program (CVC) of Iberdrola, the world leader in renewable energy and smart grids, serving over 30 million energy customers globally.\n\nEnergy & Environment Investment Inc., the leading venture capital in Japan to focus in innovation in technology and services in the energy- and resource-related sectors with deep ties to Japan's energy sector.\n\nThe capital raised will be used to strengthen Innowatts' global foothold and drive product innovation across its energy analytics and digital e-Utility\u2122 solution suite. \"We are proud to be represented by such strong names in the global energy sector, each of whom play a strategic role in our vision of creating a smarter and leaner energy value chain. This partnership not just validates the applicability of our solution across different markets of the world but also reinforces the underlying need to translate energy intelligence into actionable and personalized products and services for energy consumers,\" said Siddhartha Sachdeva, Innowatts CEO.\n\nInnowatts began commercial operations in 2014 as a provider of advanced energy analytics for energy providers and consumers, combining AMI enabled customer intelligence with its machine learning and predictive analytics to help reduce cost and personalize the energy experience. Innowatts quickly extended that capability to include a range of scalable \"plug and play\" solutions that have helped transform many conventional utility functions including energy procurement, pricing and rates, customer acquisition/switching, energy efficiency, grid optimization and customer engagement. Today, the Innowatts solution suite analyzes data from over 12 million consumers across both regulated and competitive energy markets, providing actionable intelligence to help energy providers and consumers transform their parts of the energy value chain.\n\nThis funding round provides the capital to extend the reach for Innowatts' core analytics platform, but will also be used to fully commercialize and broaden capabilities of its newly launched e-Utility\u2122 retail energy platform solution. Earlier this year, Innowatts announced the launch of its e-Utility\u2122 solution suite which brought together many of its existing capabilities and solutions into a complete and fully integrated Retail Energy Platform to help current and future energy providers transform the way they manage their business and service customers. The e-Utility\u2122 solution is the first to deliver this kind of \"utility-in-a-box\" alternative to an otherwise costly service and delivery infrastructure while providing an unparalleled and highly personalized experience for its customers.\n\nThe investment round was led by Royal Dutch Shell's venture arm, Shell Technology Ventures. Operating across the full spectrum of the energy sector, Shell has become a dominant player in the procurement and supply of energy to retail providers and large consumers and is committed to furthering the technology innovation across the value chain. Carl Stjernfeldt, North American Venture Manager at Shell Technology Ventures says, \"The Innowatts vision is something that we believe could change the retail energy business. Using analytics to disrupt conventional industry practices is something we've seen in other industries, and Innowatts is at the center of this in the retail energy space.\"\n\nAlso participating in this investment round is Iberdrola Ventures - PERSEO, the corporate venture capital program (CVC) of Iberdrola. \"Iberdrola is truly excited to be a part of Innowatts' future. During the last few years, we have invested heavily in technology and innovation as pillars of our digitization strategy and Iberdrola's digital plan for 2020 is aimed at boosting the turnover thanks to an investment of \u20ac3,100M. The investment in Innowatts, through our corporate VC arm will help us leverage data analytics and machine learning to transform the way energy is bought, sold, managed and consumed,\" said Diego D\u00edaz, Head of Iberdrola's CVC. Iberdrola is a global utility servicing over 30 million customers and has established itself as a clear pioneer and market leader in clean electricity and the deployment of innovative and intelligent smart grid technologies.\n\nEnergy & Environment Investment Inc., Japan's leading clean technology-focused venture capital with deep start up experience also sees Innowatts at the nexus of big data, IT and OT disruption stemming from electricity market deregulation. \"Japan's recent retail energy deregulation has provided our $200 billion utility industry a unique opportunity to structurally transform its operating model, and further its digitalization in energy procurement, marketing, demand response, and energy efficiency. We believe Innowatts is uniquely positioned to be an enabler of that transformation,\" said Shuichiro Kawamura of EEI- Japan.\n\nAbout Innowatts\n\nInnowatts is a Houston based energy technology start-up, focused on building the world's first scalable e-Utility\u2122. Innowatts PowerEASE\u2122 platform analyzes energy consumption data along with other variables to enable energy providers to (a) optimize cost to the levels of up to 30% and (b) build personalized energy products and services for their end-consumers. The Innowatts solution is currently deployed across multiple energy markets, processing data from over 12 million energy meters. For more information, please visit www.innowatts.com.\n\nAbout Shell Technology Ventures\n\nShell Technology Ventures (\"STV\") is the corporate venture capital arm of Royal Dutch Shell plc (\"Shell\"). With major offices in Europe and the USA, STV invests in technology companies to enhance the development of new technologies that have the potential to create substantial deployment value in Shell. Continuing Shell's tradition in venture capital since 1998, STV's investment focus includes oil & gas, renewable green energy technologies, clean tech and IT. STV co-invests with other corporate investors, venture capital funds and angels and will invest in both early stage and late stage (growth capital) companies. For more information, visit www.shell.com/techventures.\n\nAbout Iberdrola Group\n\nIberdrola is a private-owned utility company with over 150 years of experience dedicated to energy generation, networks and retail. Since embarking on its growth and international expansion, Iberdrola has become one of the largest European energy utilities by market capitalization, with a workforce of around 30,000 employees and 30 million customers worldwide. The Group is committed to digitization and smart grids, and has already installed 10 MM smart meters worldwide, concentrated in its core markets of Spain, the U.K., the U.S., Mexico and Brazil. For more information, please visit www.iberdrola.com.\n\nAbout Energy and Environment Investment Inc.\n\nVenture capital in Japan with a deep focus in innovative technology and services in the energy- and resource-related sectors. Since its establishment in 2006, Energy & Environment Investment Inc. has been providing its portfolio venture companies with fast and effective bridge-building to the Japanese energy industry. It has a proven track record in initiating strategic partnerships including cross-border alliances between its portfolio companies and major Japanese energy corporations. www.ee-investment.jp/en\n\nMedia Contact: Aakriti Gupta, aakriti@innowatts.com, Strategy & Market Development\n\nView original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/innowatts-raises-6-million-in-series-a-round-300507615.html\n\nSOURCE Innowatts", "output": "Texas-based energy tech start-up Innowatts has raised $6m in series A funding from a consortium of leading energy investors. The company provides analytics for energy companies and consumers, based on data from over 12 million energy meters. The investment consortium consists of the investment arms of Shell and Iberdrola, along with specialist Japanese venture capital firm Energy & Environment Investment. The funding will be used to enable Innowatts to extend the reach of their core platform and further develop its recently-launched 'e-Utility' retail energy platform.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Autonomous vehicle makers must be ready to fend off hackers \n It reminds me of numerous articles promoting e-mail in the early 1990s, before the newfound world of electronic communications was awash in unwanted spam. Back then, the promise of machine learning was seen as a solution to the world\u2019s spam problems. And indeed, today the problem of spam is largely solved\u2014but it took decades for us to get here.\n\nThere have been no reports to date of hostile hackers targeting self-driving vehicles. Ironically, though, that\u2019s a problem. There were no malicious attackers when the dot-com startups in the 1990s developed the first e-commerce platforms, either. After the first big round of e-commerce hacks, Bill Gates wrote a memo to Microsoft demanding that the company take security seriously. The result: today Windows is one of the most secure operating systems, and Microsoft spends more than a billion dollars annually on cybersecurity. Nevertheless, hackers keep finding problems with Windows operating systems, Web browsers, and applications.\n\nCar companies are likely to go through a similar progression. After being widely embarrassed by their failure to consider security at all\u2014the CAN bus, designed in the 1980s, has no concept of authentication\u2014they now appear to be paying attention. When hackers demonstrated that vehicles on the roads were vulnerable to several specific security threats, automakers responded by recalling and upgrading the firmware of millions of cars. Last July, GM CEO Mary Barra said that protecting cars from a cybersecurity incident \u201cis a matter of public safety.\u201d\n\nBut the efforts being made to date may be missing the next security trend. The computer vision and collision avoidance systems under development for autonomous vehicles rely on complex machine-learning algorithms that are not well understood, even by the companies that rely on them (see \u201cThe Dark Secret at the Heart of AI\u201d).\n\nLast year researchers at CMU demonstrated that state-of-the-art face recognition algorithms could be defeated by wearing a pair of clear glasses with a funky pattern printed on their frames. Something about the pattern tipped the algorithm in just the right way, and it thought it saw what wasn\u2019t there. \u201cWe showed that attackers can evade state-of-the-art face recognition algorithms that are based on neural networks for the purpose of impersonating a target person, or simply getting identified incorrectly,\u201d lead researcher Mahmood Sharif wrote in an e-mail.\n\nAlso last year, researchers at the University of South Carolina, China\u2019s Zhejiang University, and the Chinese security firm Qihoo 360 demonstrated that they could jam various sensors on a Tesla S, making objects invisible to its navigation system.\n\nMany recent articles about autonomous driving downplay or even ignore the idea that there might be active, adaptive, and malicious adversaries trying to make the vehicles crash. In an interview with MIT Technology Review, the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, Christopher Hart, said he was \u201cvery optimistic\u201d that self-driving cars would cut the number of accidents on the nation\u2019s roads. In discussing safety issues, Hart focused on the need to program vehicles to make ethical decisions\u2014for example, when an 80,000-pound truck suddenly blocks a car\u2019s way.\n\nWhy anyone would want to hack a self-driving car, knowing that it could result in a death? One reason is that widespread deployment of autonomous vehicles is going to result in a lot of unemployed people, and some of them are going to be angry.", "output": "Self-driving trucks and taxis may be just a few years away but manufacturers will need to solve problems far more complex than collision avoidance and navigation. Hackers may pose the real obstacle to autonomous vehicles, with some\u00a0fearing\u00a0that unemployed truckers armed with \u201cadversarial machine learning\u201d could dazzle self-driving vehicles into crashing. Sarah Abboud, a spokesperson for Uber, commented: \u201cOur team of security experts are constantly exploring new defences for the future of autonomous vehicles, including data integrity and abuse detection. However, as autonomous technology evolves, so does the threat model.\u201d"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ohio governor backs natural gas and deregulated power markets \n Ohio Gov. John Kasich joined elected officials in northwestern Ohio on Monday to cut the ribbon for one of the state\u2019s largest and most efficient natural gas-fired power plants, announcing his support for the deregulated power market as other generators push for subsidies.\n\nThe Oregon Clean Energy Center is one of the region\u2019s first facilities developed in response to low-cost shale gas supplies produced in the Appalachian Basin, where dozens of other facilities are planned or under construction.\n\nNuclear generators want subsidies from the state to keep their plants online as electricity costs have fallen. Kasich took the ceremony as an opportunity to throw his support behind the natural gas industry, which is lobbying hard to prevent subsidies for nuclear generation.\n\nKasich announced his support for competitive power markets, and said gas-fired power \u201cis the future. I think it\u2019s important that Ohio stay in a deregulated environment, which brings in investors.\u201d\n\nThe 870 MW Oregon Clean Energy Center entered service last month and is now fully operational. Developed by Boston-based Clean Energy Future LLC, the facility is owned by Ares Management LP affiliates and I Squared Capital. Planned upgrades at the plant in Lucas County would increase its output to 908 MW.\n\nClean Energy filed an application with the state in January 2013, and Monday\u2019s ceremony concluded the four-year process, which employed 950 people at the peak of construction. The $800 million plant can provide electricity for more than 700,000 homes.\n\nClean Energy operates or is developing more than 3,000 MW of additional gas-fired power in the state.", "output": "Governor John Kasich has officially opened the Oregon Clean Energy Centre in northwestern Ohio. One of first, biggest and most efficient facilities in the state, the $800m natural gas-powered plant was developed over four years to counter cheaper shale gas being manufactured in the Appalachian Basin. It will have capacity to provide electricity for over 700,000 homes. While nuclear plant operators are seeking state subsidies to keep facilities running\u00a0as electricity costs fall and natural gas becomes more ubiquitous,\u00a0Kasich voiced support for deregulated power markets and tipped gas-fired power to be\u00a0\u201cthe future\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NHS offers shopping discounts to families meeting exercise goals \n Families could be offered discounts on their food shopping, cut-price sports gear and free cinema tickets for hitting exercise targets in a drive to reduce the burden of lifestyle-related illness on the NHS.\n\nThe proposals, for residents to receive rewards if they walk a specified number of steps, form part of NHS England\u2019s plans for 10 new \u201chealthy towns\u201d, intended to address serious healthcare problems including obesity and dementia.\n\nAs well as downloadable apps that reward walking, plans for Halton Lea in Runcorn, Cheshire, include free bikes, an outdoor cinema, sprinting tracks on pavements and outdoor gyms. Residents could receive lessons in how to cook healthily, while a community kitchen could supply food to local schools, hospitals and meals on wheals.\n\nSimon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, said it was crucial that health should be \u201cdesigned in\u201d to the much-needed wave of housebuilding across the country.\n\n\u201cThese practical designs for Halton point the way, uniting young and old in thinking through the sort of communities we want for the future,\u201d he said. \u201cThe NHS makes no apologies for weighing in with good ideas on how the built environment can encourage healthy towns and supportive neighbourhoods.\u201d\n\nThe healthy towns programme was launched in March last year and includes new developments stretching from Darlington to Devon, comprising more than 76,000 homes and 170,000 residents. It is hoped they will establish a blueprint that will be followed elsewhere.\n\nThe initiative is a response to the burden being placed on the NHS by disease linked to sedentary lifestyles. In 2015-16, more than one in five children in reception and more than one in threein year 6 were obese or overweight.\n\nBritain loses more than 130m working days to ill health each year, and a Design Council guide estimates that a quarter of British adults walk for fewer than nine minutes a day.\n\nAs part of the healthy towns programme, a design challenge was launched for Halton because it was felt that as it was at the beginning of its development plans it could make the most of bold new ideas.\n\nThe competition attracted 34 innovative bids from across the world, including the US, Spain, India and Japan, but the winner was the London-based Citiesmode.\n\nIts ideas also include universal wifi, so residents can get in touch with health services from home, and converting a car park into a community square and outdoor cinema to \u201cboost the sense of community and improve mental health\u201d. The final plans for Halton are expected to be ready by January.\n\nMelany Pickup, the chief executive of Warrington and Halton hospitals NHS foundation trust, said it was \u201ca once in a lifetime opportunity to do something truly transformational for our population\u201d.\n\nTam Fry, chair of the National Obesity Forum, said the initiative had the potential to achieve something that 20 years of the Department of Health and others warning about the perils of obesity had failed to do.\n\n\u201cThis project is something which should be welcomed,\u201d he said. \u201cIt should be reviewed thoroughly to see what works and doesn\u2019t work. Who knows, it might come to offer a nugget that may be shared nationwide.\u201d\n\nThe nine other sites, which are at different stages of development, are Whitehill and Bordon in Hampshire; Cranbrook in Devon; Darlington in County Durham; Barking Riverside in London; Whyndyke Farm in Fylde, Lancashire; Bicester in Oxfordshire; Northstowe in Cambridgeshire; Ebbsfleet Garden City in Kent; and Barton Park in Oxford.\n\n", "output": "UK families could receive discounts on food shopping and sports gear as well as free cinema tickets if they fulfil exercise targets under a new initiative designed to reduced strain on the NHS. The plan to develop 10 \u201chealthy towns\u201d forms part of NHS England\u2019s attempt to tackle health issues including obesity and dementia. The initiative, launched in March 2016, covers over 76,000 homes and 170,000 residents and could provide a blueprint for future schemes. The selected sites include Halton Lea in Cheshire, Darlington, Barking Riverside, Bicester and Ebbsfleet Garden City."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Thin-film cadmium and bifacial solar perform best in hot weather \n Solar module manufacturers one-up each other on a regular basis in the quest for the world\u2019s most efficient panel. The results usually come out of laboratories, where the modules undergo precise testing in a controlled environment under standard test conditions (STC).\n\nIn the real world, however, the picture is more nuanced. Field conditions are often a far cry from artificially stable lab environments.\n\nNew results from a recent series of field tests highlight the variation that occurs when technologies are tested side-by-side in different regions, where array design and siting, temperature, humidity, and a variety of other factors influence performance.\n\nThree module test labs, DNV GL, T\u00dcV Rheinland Photovoltaic Testing Lab and Celestica, tracked the performance of 2-kilowatt systems that use one of three technologies: thin-film cadmium telluride (CdTe), n-type silicon bifacial, and crystalline-silicon (c-Si). Modules were selected at random by the labs.\n\nTest sites in Davis, Calif., Tempe, Arizona and Toronto each assessed eight or nine systems with a mix of the different technologies. Data from the arrays were collected for at least a year.\n\nSource: TUV Rheinland\n\nThe CdTe panels, supplied by First Solar, and the first-generation B245 bifacial panel (bifacial-1) produced by Prism Solar performed best in the two hotter environments. The results of the field study lend credibility to technologies that are gaining traction in the market beyond the c-Si, which makes up the majority of solar panels today.\n\nIn Tempe, more than 90 percent of the energy yield was produced at temperatures higher than 25 degrees Celsius, and the highest energy generation happened above 45 degrees Celsius.\n\nNote: Array 1 Prism bifacial; Array 3 unnamed Bifacial; Array 2, 4, 5 c-Si; Array 6-9 CdTe\n\nSource: TUV Rheinland\n\nThe two different bifacial panels show that performance varies by supplier and location, with Prism\u2019s bifacial panel far outperforming the unnamed competitor in Tempe, while the other panel provided a slightly higher performance ratio in Toronto. Bifacial panels can produce power from both sides of the module, capturing direct and indirect sunlight.\n\nThere are various factors that drive bifacial performance, with albedo (the amount of solar energy reflected off of a surface) and row spacing being two important contributors. There is currently no industry consensus on rating methodology for bifacial modules, and manufacturers are using different methods.\n\nAt SNEC 2017 in Shanghai in April, bifacial panels were seemingly everywhere, according to GTM Research solar analysts who attended. Editors at PV Tech commented that given the major players showing off their bifacial panels at SNEC, \u201ca recent niche product could be set for the mainstream, very shortly.\u201d\n\nHowever, the industry needs to solve several key issues that are limiting the product's acceptance prior to bifacial modules being adopted for large-scale usage.\n\nThe field study also backs up First Solar\u2019s competitive advantage claims over traditional crystalline silicon technology. CdTe modules performed well at higher temperatures compared to C-Si modules in Tempe due to the better temperature coefficient of CdTe, the T\u00dcV Rheinland study found. The CdTe modules had STC efficiencies close to those of c-Si, ranging from 13.2 to 14.7 percent. The variability between the First Solar array performance represents the improvement in efficiency and energy yield from Series 3 Black Plus through its Series 4-2.\n\nEven in Davis, where temperatures are not quite as hot as in Tempe, most of the arrays spent at least half their time at temperatures of 25 degrees Celsius or above. Because of those high temperatures, the Davis CdTe arrays also had a performance ratio higher than the average of c-Si panels.\n\nNote: Array 1 Prism bifacial; Array 2, 7-9 c-Si; Array 3-6 CdTe\n\nSource: T\u00dcV Rheinland\n\nThe picture was more muddled in the relatively cold environment of Toronto. The unnamed bifacial panel had the highest average annual DC efficiency of 17.17 percent among all the arrays, while CdTe-1 had the lowest efficiency of 12.82 percent, and another CdTe system had the second-highest efficiency of 14.45 percent.\n\nNote: Array 1 Prism bifacial, Array 2 unnamed bifacial, Array 3 c-Si, Array 4-7 CdTe\n\nSource: T\u00dcV Rheinland\n\nThe findings from the reports do not upend conventional wisdom, but they do highlight the regional variation for each technology in real-world conditions. The results also suggest the potential threats that traditional c-Si products could face as technologies continue to fall in price due to higher volumes, lower balance-of-system costs, and more widespread market recognition.\n\n***\n\nThis article was sponsored by T\u00dcV Rheinland, a global leader in independent inspection services. T\u00dcV Rheinland inspects technical equipment, products and services, oversees projects, and helps to shape processes and information security for companies. Since 2006, T\u00dcV Rheinland has been a member of the United Nations Global Compact to promote sustainability and combat corruption.", "output": "Testing of three solar technologies: thin-film cadmium telluride (CdTe), n-type silicon bifacial, and crystalline-silicon (c-Si) were tested by three labs, DNV GL, T\u00dcV Rheinland Photovoltaic Testing Lab and Celestica, in three locations Davis, California, Tempe, Arizona and Toronto for more than a year. The CdTe panels, supplied by First Solar, and the first-generation B245 bifacial panel (bifacial-1) produced by Prism Solar performed best in the two hotter environments. In Toronto, the unnamed bifacial panel had the highest average annual DC efficiency of 17.17%\u00a0among all the arrays, while CdTe-1 had the lowest efficiency of 12.82%, and another CdTe system had the second-highest efficiency of 14.45%."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI experts lobby UN on lethal autonomous weapons \n As companies building the technologies in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics that may be repurposed to develop autonomous weapons, we feel especially responsible in raising this alarm. We warmly welcome the decision of the UN\u2019s Conference of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) to establish a Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems. Many of our researchers and engineers are eager to offer technical advice to your deliberations.\n\nWe commend the appointment of Ambassador Amandeep Singh Gill of India as chair of the GGE. We entreat the High Contracting Parties participating in the GGE to work hard at finding means to prevent an arms race in these weapons, to protect civilians from their misuse, and to avoid the destabilizing effects of these technologies. We regret that the GGE\u2019s first meeting, which was due to start today (August 21, 2017), has been cancelled due to a small number of states failing to pay their financial contributions to the UN. We urge the High Contracting Parties therefore to double their efforts at the first meeting of the GGE now planned for November.\n\nLethal autonomous weapons threaten to become the third revolution in warfare. Once developed, they will permit armed conflict to be fought at a scale greater than ever, and at timescales faster than humans can comprehend. These can be weapons of terror, weapons that despots and terrorists use against innocent populations, and weapons hacked to behave in undesirable ways. We do not have long to act. Once this Pandora\u2019s box is opened, it will be hard to close. We therefore implore the High Contracting Parties to find a way to protect us all from these dangers.", "output": "Artificial intelligence and robotics experts from across the globe have signed an open letter to the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, warning that the technologies may be used in developing autonomous weaponry. The experts aim to reduce the risk of creating a destabilising arms race and to protect civilian entities from harm caused by misuse. The group warns that lethal autonomous weapons could be the \u201cthird revolution in warfare\u201d, asking that the United Nations prevent and protect against this possibility.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google experiments with free access to FT and NYT news stories \n It's no secret that Google and conventional news outlets have a fraught relationship, and that's in no small part due to the problems publishers have turning Google searchers into paying customers. Why subscribe when you just read an article for free? It might soon give you more incentives to sign up, though. The company is conducting tests with the New York Times and Financial Times that would encourage and streamline subscriptions. They're not necessarily good if you prefer free news, but they might influence your decision if you're sitting on the fence.\n\nMost notably, Google would help publishers find out who might subscribe, determine how much those people are willing to pay and accelerate the subscription process. While it's not clear exactly how this would work, the company tells Bloomberg that it would involve both ad targeting and mobile payment services. Don't be surprised if you can skip some of the usual hassles involved in paying for access.\n\nGoogle is also experimenting with lowering the number of articles you can read for free on a given site when you click its stories in search results. The internet giant currently requires that news sites offer at least three free articles per day if they want to sign up for more prominent positioning, but it's testing lower numbers to see how well they work. You should hear more about this in September.\n\nThere's no guarantee that any of this will help, of course -- there's a good chance that many people will simply avoid reading subscription-focused sites altogether instead of reading the few pieces they do today. However, this might help ease tensions with those publishers who argue that Google has a grudge against any content it can't show (and run ads against) on its search pages. If nothing else, it'll help answer whether or not there's much Google can do to cajole you into subscribing.\n\nUpdate: Google tells us that it isn't testing anything yet regarding subscriptions -- it's still \"very early days\" for that, a spokesperson says, and the company is holding discussions with publishers. The only experiments going on right now are with free access to articles.", "output": "Google is running tests with the New York Times and the Financial Times about potentially reducing the number of free articles on news websites users can read on Google. In the longer term Google and publishers may also experiment with mobile payments and ad targeting as ways of encouraging readers to subscribe. Google currently requires that news publishers offer at least three free articles per day to gain a higher listing.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TokenOne expands to US to tackle identity theft and fraud \n Spies using this method would send their note and the recipient would burn or swallow the page on their \"pad\" after deciphering the text, as the paper was made of celluloid or rice paper.\n\nFor TokenOne users, this means they only need to remember one secret pin and then an app will generate them a unique password upon every use.\n\n\"The problem with passwords is we all have too many of them, so we write them down, or tell someone else,\" Mr Cuff said.\n\n\"From a market perspective, we operate through a distributor in Australia and their resellers and we want to continue to do that here and overseas. We want to go from thousands and tens of thousands of users to millions and what we really want to do is get rid of 100 billion passwords.\"\n\nMaking business more secure\n\nThe consortium tackling fraud in e-commerce is aiming to develop a new set of guidelines to help the retail industry do business more securely.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nA 2016 study by Javelin Strategy and Research found e-retailers were spending more than 7 per cent of their annual revenue combating fraud.\n\nTokenOne, which was founded in 2013, has already been backed by Singtel Innov8, along with some of Australia's wealthiest families and former Commonwealth Bank chief information officer Bob McKinnon.\n\nThe start-up is going through a capital raise at the moment and is near closing a $5 million round, targeting family offices, high net worth individuals and strategic offshore investors, rather than venture capitalists.\n\nThe company has also secured retired FBI assistant director Charles \"Chuck\" Archer to its advisory board.\n\nMr Archer said hundreds of millions of people had been the victim of data breaches due to weak or stolen passwords.\n\n\"From my years using one-time pads myself as an undercover agent in the FBI, TokenOne's clients can be confident they are protected by the most secure alternative to passwords I have seen,\" he said.", "output": "Australian cybersecurity firm TokenOne has been chosen by the US National Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence to take part in a consortium dedicated to combating fraud in the e-commerce sector. TokenOne has used one-time pad principles to generate unbreakable authentication\u00a0codes, and was picked alongside major cybersecurity businesses RSA and Splunk. The consortium will create a set of guidelines for the retail industry to follow for more secure business practices.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Marketers prepare for augmented reality to go mainstream \n This past weekend in New York, the United Nations created a Facebook Live filter for World Humanitarian Day that let users overlay their real-time clips with augmented reality, particularly scrolling copy that told stories about civilians who have been affected by conflict. In Times Square, AR-enhanced videos aired on one of the iconic, commercial intersection\u2019s large billboards. The endeavor was powered by Facebook\u2019s 4-month-old AR system, dubbed Camera Effects Studio, which is getting the attention of brand marketers.", "output": "Marketers are preparing for the introduction of augmented reality (AR) into mainstream advertising, with leading platforms such as Facebook and Snapchat expanding their AR options. Facebook has created a system named the Camera Effects Studio, which can create real-time clips with augmented reality overlays. Snapchat\u2019s virtual overlays are increasingly popular, and Apple's iOS 11 mobile operating system will have new AR feature\u00a0ARKit, when it is released next month. The number of AR users in the US is predicted to increase by 36% between 2017 and 2020.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tencent attributes stellar Q2 results to gaming and ad revenue \n Mobile gaming and advertising revenues were the key drivers behind Tencent\u2019s stellar second-quarter results, with the Chinese internet giant posting 59% growth in revenues and 70% growth in profits.\n\nThe results, which again outstripped analyst expectations, build on a strong first quarter, with the gaming and entertainment giant posting revenue of RMB 56.6bn ($8.4bn) and profits of RMB 18.25bn ($2.7 bn).\n\nTencent\u2019s hugely popular Honour of Kings smartphone game helped boost online games revenues by 39% to RMB 23.86m. While overall revenues for Value Added Services (VAS) grew 43% to RMB 36.8bn year-on-year.\n\nOnline advertising revenues jumped 55% year-on-year to total RMB 10.15bn and media advertising revenues grew 48% to RMB 4.07bn driven by the growth in traffic for Tencent Video and News services.\n\nThe increased popularity of live streaming, video and music helped grow revenues from social networks which topped RMB 12.95bn \u2013 a 51% increase.\n\nWeChat\u2019s total global users grew to 963 million monthly active users, an increase of 19.5% year-on-year and 25 million users compared to Q1. Meanwhile, QQ monthly active users dropped 5.4% to 850 million.\n\nTencent\u2019s payment division Tencent Pay experienced \u201crapid\u201d increase in transactions and along with the company\u2019s cloud services contributed 177% revenue growth year-on-year.\n\nMa Huateng, chairman and CEO of Tencent said the company\u2019s strong revenue growth was enabling it to reinvest in innovations and new technologies, specifically AI.\n\n\u201cWe have also been increasing our investment in cloud services and AI technologies, which will enable us to serve our users and business partners even better into the future,\u201d said Huateng.\n\n\u201cArtificial intelligence is a strategic initiative and we will continue to make long-term investments to strengthen our competence in machine learning, computer vision, speech recognition and natural language processing. Given the intensifying competitive nature of the industry, we expect our investment in new initiatives such as payment, cloud services and AI to increase, enabling us to serve our users and business partners even better into the future,\u201d said a Tencent statement.", "output": "Chinese internet company Tencent has reported strong Q2 2017 results, with revenue growth of 59% and profits up by 70% on a year ago. The company recorded CNY56.6bn ($8.4bn) of revenue\u00a0and profits of $2.7bn. Smartphone games revenue rose by 54% to CNY14.8bn. Online ad revenues rose 55% year on year to CNY10.15bn. Social network revenues hit CNY12.94bn, a\u00a051% increase,\u00a0and messaging\u00a0service WeChat's global user numbers rose to 963 million\u00a0a month.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Multi-episode video performs well on Facebook Watch \n People would rather watch multi-episode video shows and other serialized programming than one-off videos, publishers are finding, which bodes well for Facebook\u2019s new TV-like tab, Watch.\n\nMashable, for instance, has a show called \u201cArt Of The Scene,\u201d which looks at famous movie scenes. The episodes can run for 10 minutes or longer. On Facebook, the series has twice the average watch time of Mashable\u2019s non-serialized, standalone Facebook videos, according to the publisher. Three other Mashable series, \u201cSharp Science,\u201d \u201cBad Days\u201d and \u201cScamalot,\u201d have an average watch time two or three times longer than its non-serialized videos, the company said.\n\nThose numbers have led Mashable to create themed playlists around its standalone videos. For instance, videos about technology and services that make people\u2019s lives easier are now grouped under the \u201cOperate Yourself\u201d playlist. Mashable Studios president Eric Korsh said the publisher plans to create more themed playlists filled with the short clips it\u2019s making for Facebook every day.\n\nNews and issues publisher Attn, meanwhile, has found similar results with its monthly video series \u201cAmerica Versus,\u201d which compares U.S. policies to those in other countries. Views and shares for \u201cAmerica Versus\u201d average 30 times what Attn gets for its one-off Facebook videos, the company said.\n\n\u201cWe have been doing [the monthly release for \u2018America Versus\u2019] for well over a year, and we\u2019re seeing huge dividends,\u201d said Matthew Segal, co-founder of Attn. \u201cIt\u2019s led us to believe that serialized programming on Facebook not only can but does and will work.\u201d\n\nSerialized programming could be an answer to one of Facebook\u2019s biggest problems, which is that people are spending less time on its platform. People \u2014 especially younger people \u2014 are spending more time on Instagram and Snapchat, leading Facebook to launch products such as Facebook Live and Facebook Watch, which are designed to get people to watch longer videos. The average watch time for Facebook Live videos is three times that of on-demand clips, according to Tubular Labs.\n\nSome publishers argue that serialized, multi-episode programming can boost engagement on Facebook.\n\nBabe, a women-focused publisher from Tab Media, has an animated video series called \u201cIs It Just Me?\u201d that depicts text conversations between characters. The average \u201cIs It Just Me?\u201d episode gets more than 129,000 engagements (likes, comments and shares), which is eight times the average number of engagements for standalone Babe videos. What\u2019s more, 60 percent of the show\u2019s Facebook views lasted 30 seconds or longer during its first season (episodes of \u201cIs It Just Me?\u201d range one to two minutes in length).\n\nJoshi Herrmann, editor-in-chief of Tab Media, said Babe has focused on serialized and episodic video series, and it\u2019s paid off: In the past two weeks, the number of engagements per 1,000 fans for Babe is more than 10 times the average number of engagements among 11 competitors, including Bustle, Refinery29, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Teen Vogue and Seventeen, combined. (Tab Media pulled all of the Babe data cited in this story from Facebook\u2019s API.)\n\n\u201cAll Babe has done is basically original videos in a series format instead of the one-off, viral format,\u201d Herrmann said. \u201cThe industry has concluded that you have to go to Instagram and Snapchat to engage people, especially younger users. Our data shows that it\u2019s still possible to get amazing engagement on Facebook.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s the best-case scenario for Facebook, which is banking on multi-episode series for its next big stab at video. The company recently rolled out its Watch platform, which will feature video series from media companies and video creators. Facebook is funding some of this programming, including two shows from Attn and two shows from Mashable.\n\nThere\u2019s still no guarantee that Watch will succeed. Facebook users may have grown accustomed to seeing autoplaying, silent videos in their News Feeds, but they still don\u2019t go to Facebook to explicitly watch videos like they do on YouTube. And while serialized programming might drive up engagement and time spent with video series in the News Feed, people aren\u2019t necessarily going to Facebook to specifically watch new episodes of \u201cAmerica Versus\u201d and other series. In many cases, they know they have watched and enjoyed previous episodes, so they\u2019re more likely to sit through new episodes, said Segal.\n\nBut if Facebook users are willing to spend longer watching episodic video programming \u2014 as they seem to be \u2014 then it suggests that Facebook has a chance to develop a new user behavior on its platform, where people are choosing to go to watch videos.\n\n\u201cThe News Feed is a hits business \u2014 not in the sense of a series, but in the sense of any individual unit of content,\u201d said Korsh. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to create loyalty [in a show] in that environment, but I think Facebook can do it on Watch. That\u2019s why they\u2019re creating this different experience.\u201d", "output": "Viewers on Facebook\u2019s TV-style tab, Watch,\u00a0are preferring multi-episode videos and serial programming over single videos. Facebook has noted twice the average watch time for publisher Mashable\u2019s serialised Art of the Scene\u00a0show over its standalone videos, with new publisher Attn reporting much better results for its monthly America Versus\u00a0video series. The support for serialised programming could be the remedy for Facebook\u2019s retention issue, as viewers spend\u00a0less time on the social platform and more on Instagram and Snapchat.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "YouTube challenges Twitter with Breaking News feature \n YouTube has introduced a \u2018Breaking News\u2019 carousel to its mobile apps and homepage, a move that could indicate parent company Google wants to make it easier for users to source important content on a platform where 300 hours of video are uploaded every minute.\n\nYouTube introduces \u2018breaking news\u2019 feed\n\nThe new section looks similar to a recommended channel on the web homepage, and as a scrollable carousel in the mobile app between suggested videos. It was first pointed out by Android Police.", "output": "YouTube has launched a Breaking News carousel across its mobile app and homepage offerings. The carousel resembles the company's\u00a0Recommended Channel\u00a0section,\u00a0a scroll-friendly carousel in the app between suggested video content. It is not yet known if the news segment is being populated through algorithms.\u00a0The feature could be the first step towards YouTube becoming a contender as a breaking news platform, challenging Twitter's dominance.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Helix and Illumina Accelerator form innovation ecosystem \n Personal Genomics company Helix has partnered up with Illumina Accelerator, a business accelerator focused solely on creating an innovation ecosystem for the genomics industry. As part of the collaboration, they\u2019ll team with entrepreneurs with an eye toward innovation and the development of DNA-driven products and insights for consumers.\n\nThe partnership is all in the family: Helix originally spun out of Illumina in 2015.\n\n\n\nStartups have until Sept. 1 to apply, but there\u2019s expected to be competition: They\u2019ll face a pool of highly qualified companies who\u2019ll be evaluated by the Illumina Accelerator team.\n\n\n\n\u201cFrom an entrepreneur\u2019s perspective, cost pressures, stringent regulatory and data security requirements, and continually evolving sequencing technologies are barriers to designing, developing, scaling up and commercializing DNA-powered products for everyday life,\" Helix CEO Robin Thurston said in a statement. \"Through our collaboration with Illumina Accelerator, we hope to provide breakthrough startups with the resources, infrastructure and support to transform their ideas into compelling consumer applications and services that make genomics relevant and accessible to every person based on their unique interests.\u201d\n\n\n\nLast month, Helix launched the first online marketplace for DNA-powered products that offer insights on ancestry, entertainment, family, fitness, health and nutrition. Helix developed the marketplace by partnering with a wide array of companies, ranging from established healthcare institutions to app developers, to build or enhance their products and services using DNA.\n\n\n\nWhat this means for select startups developing these DNA-centric products is that they\u2019ll now have access to Helix\u2019s team of experts in next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics, applied genomics, software and product development, regulatory affairs, quality assurance, consumer marketing, and business development.\n\n\n\n\u201cIllumina Accelerator is focused on driving value for genomics startups by providing access to vital resources such as capital, sequencing and genomics expertise, coaching, and local lab and office space,\u201d said Dr. Mostafa Ronaghi, Illumina\u2019s senior vice president and chief technology officer and co-founder of illumina accelerator, in a statement. \u201cBy working with Helix during our seventh funding cycle, select startups will have unparalleled access to Helix\u2019s commercial market expertise and sequencing platform for their consumer applications.\u201d\n\n\n\nllumina Accelerator operates on a six-month funding cycle, during which selected startups receive business guidance, seed investment, and access to Illumina\u2019s software, fully operational lab space in the San Francisco Bay Area, sequencing systems and reagents, and match funding through the $40 million Illumina Accelerator Boost Capital.\n\n\n\n\u201cHelix\u2019s mission is to empower every person to improve their life through DNA, and a core component of building our diverse marketplace is to enable innovative developers to integrate DNA insights into their products and services,\u201d said Helix co-founder and vice president Justin Kao in a statement. \u201cWe are proud to collaborate with Illumina Accelerator to stimulate innovation in personal genomics by helping selected startups harness their creativity and build best-in-class DNA-powered products for everyday use.\u201d", "output": "Personal genomics firm Helix has joined forces with Illumina Accelerator to provide an ecosystem for entrepreneurs focused on creating and developing DNA-driven products and consumer insights. Start-ups have until 1 September to apply to be part of the incubator and those selected will gain access to the firms' expertise, resources, support and infrastructure to help them progress their ideas and develop consumer applications and services."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NBC connects with young audiences through Snapchat \n In case you\u2019ve been living under a rock, Snapchat is a free media messaging app where users can share images and short videos with their friends. It\u2019s become very popular with the younger generation, who seem to enjoy endless hours of puking rainbows and making themselves into slices of toast.\n\nIn 2016, media giant NBC decided to capitalize on this popularity by producing original content for some of its hit programs just for Snapchat users. With the vertical video layout of Snapchat, NBC didn\u2019t want to simply resuse video clips from programs. Instead, NBC decided to produce new content.\n\nRecommended Videos\n\nPopular singing competition The Voice was one of the first featured on Snapchat. The series includes clips from the show\u2019s judges, as well as user-generated singing auditions. Prospective contestants can submit clips showcasing their talents at voicesnaps.com, where they will be reviewed by the show\u2019s judges, who will pick some of the hopefuls to perform in the upcoming season.\n\nBut in addition to adding new content for existing shows, NBC has also decided to launch programming that is entirely exclusive to Snapchat, like its show Stay Tuned. First debuted in July, the twice-daily headline news show features around four to five news stories focusing on the day\u2019s most important events. And thus far, it looks to be doing very, very well. According to NBCU, over 40 percent of Stay Tuned\u2019s viewers are watching at least three times a week, and the show already boasts 29 million unique viewers. As TechCrunch points out, that\u2019s about three times the number of viewers who watch NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt.\n\nAround 60 percent of the show\u2019s viewers are under the age of 25, which makes sense given Snapchat\u2019s generally youthful user base. And while it\u2019s still too soon to tell whether or not Stay Tuned is a sustainable success, early signs are quite positive.\n\nAll of this means Snapchat users are getting premiere access to mobile content from their favorite NBC programs, and some new ones, too. It also allows the network to reach millions of fans instantly right in the palm of their hand on an app they\u2019re already using. It\u2019s also a win for NBC\u2019s advertisers who are associated with this premium content and get to reach users in a new and dynamic way. All this is in the hope of reaching a younger audience that simply doesn\u2019t watch television as much anymore, in order to lure them back to the living room.\n\nEditors' Recommendations", "output": "News broadcaster NBC stays relevant to a younger audience through programming that is shown exclusively on social media app Snapchat. According to the company, over 40% of its show Stay Tuned's 29 million unique viewers watch at least three times per week. NBC also broadcasts its non-dedicated content such as The Voice on the platform. Around 60% of viewers are under 25 years of age. The platform is proving a boon to NBC and its advertisers, who can use it to reach a wider audience and a younger demographic."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Self-employed are increasing but small business insurance isn't \n A new survey out of the U.K. shows that self-employment is racing forward, but moves by small businesses to ensure they have insurance in place to address whatever risks may arise is lagging far behind.\n\nA wider spectrum of small businesses \u2013 defined as sole traders or those with fewer than nine employees \u2013 are facing claims than ever before, claims figures from AXA indicate. In fact, the number of claims pushing the million-pound mark on the rise for small firms, suggests a company website post Thursday.\n\nSize certainly seems to matter in what is being described as a rise in the uninsured economy in the U.K. Just four in 10 of the 405 surveyed businesses that began operations in the last three years had insurance (of any kind) in place during that period, AXA reports.\n\nThe most common reason that percentage is not higher, it seems, is that respondents consider themselves \u201ctoo small\u201d or \u201ctoo young\u201d for risk and, in turn, potential claims.\n\n\u201cWe see no evidence in our claims figures that this is the case: we regularly settle injury claims on behalf of microbusinesses that top the million-pound mark,\u201d points out Gareth Howell, managing director of AXA.\n\nSpecifically, 72% of respondents without cover report their business was \u201ctoo small\u201d to need insurance and 25% had not considered coverage at all. For comparison, just 8% say insurance was too expensive and 3% had forgotten to renew.\n\nRelated: Some seasonal small businesses have no insurance coverage heading into summer\n\nAmong other things, Howell expects claims to be affected by \u201ca significant rise in property damage claims, as the value of fixtures, fittings and floorings is going up in British properties across the board.\u201d\n\nThe trend toward self-employment shows no signs of abating, but many remain without any cover. As noted, four in 10 polled businesses have some coverage by their third year, which improves to six in 10 by the fourth year. However, that \u201cstill leaves a large slice of the country\u2019s business activity unprotected.\u201d\n\nAXA reports the most serious gap is in employers\u2019 liability insurance, which covers workplace injuries and illness. The survey found just 41% of those who have taken on eligible staff \u2013 includes full-time, part-time and temporary employees, labour only sub-contractors, volunteers, apprentices and interns \u2013 have this cover.\n\n\u201cWe anticipate that claims against small firms will increase in value, and they are affecting a wider spectrum of occupations than ever before,\u201d Howell points out.\n\nYoung businesses in the economy \u201ccan be less prepared for pitfalls and mistakes than firms that have been around longer. Insurance should be considered an essential piece of financial protection from day one,\u201d he contends.\n\nOther findings include the following:\n\n\u201cnon trade\u201d claims \u2013 related to such things as an employee slipping on a loose carpet, someone hurting their back lifting a heavy parcel, falling from step ladders or even being scalded by a hot drink spill \u2013 have more than doubled since 2014; and\n\njust a quarter of freelance professionals in their first three years of business have professional indemnity cover \u2013 covers costs for compensation following alleged professional negligence, including breaches of intellectual property and data protection laws.\n\nRelated: About half of Canadian small business owners and C-suite execs not confident in secure destruction systems for paper or electronic media: survey", "output": "The number of self-employed workers in the UK is rising but small businesses\u2019 insurance provisions are not keeping up, according to insurer Axa. With the largest risk posed by a lack of liability insurance for workplace injuries and illness, figures from Axa have shown that it regularly settles claims involving\u00a0sole traders or businesses with fewer than nine employees of\u00a0at least \u00a31m. Out of 405 surveyed companies, only four in 10 that had started trading\u00a0within the past three years have\u00a0taken out\u00a0insurance, with the businesses often considering themselves too small or young to experience risk.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk UK residents spend ten hours a year waiting on computers to load \n Loyalty and Marketing News: Load rage \u2013 UK workers wait 10 hours a year for loading PC\u2019s\n\nWe\u2019ve all had the frustration of a computer that dwindles itself awake, but recent research has shown that when totalled up, the time spent is no joke and can be seriously de-motivating. The average Brit will spend the equivalent of nearly two years of their life waiting, including time spent dealing with supermarket queues, delayed flights and waiting impatiently for phones to charge.\n\nFrom a working perspective, if you want to increase motivation then speak to your IT team \u2013 it seems that from the 1500 UK residents surveyed, on average we will spend TEN HOURS a year waiting for laptops and computers to load and 45 minutes every month will be spent waiting for video buffering to stop, according to the study by TalkTalk. At home, or perhaps at work as well, 11 minutes a week will be spent waiting for our phones to update and the equivalent of nine hours a year will be spent twiddling thumbs while TV and films painstakingly download.\n\nWith many of us online shopping, streaming films or watching live TV on the internet while using other devices at the same time, the demands of modern homes have surpassed standard broadband and this may well apply to your workplace.\n\nWaiting time is dead time, and it\u2019s also highly demoralising \u2013 in retail environments, 14 percent of us have spent so long hanging around that they have shouted at a shop assistant and 23 percent have cried in frustration that they were having to wait so long.\n\nLaurent Kretzschmar, Head of Product at TalkTalk said: \u201cWe all lead increasingly busy lives and our time is valuable.\n\n\u201cAlthough technology and connectivity have accelerated so many aspects of our lives, with countless devices all connecting to our internet. Fibre broadband gives you the speed and the bandwidth you need, giving you some precious time back.\u201d\n\nIncentive and Motivation offers the latest news in employee benefits, rewards, incentive programmes and recognition. Discover the best employee engagement platform, learn about communicating your incentives or the latest tech in the HR space. Popular posts:", "output": "A study by TalkTalk has found that the average UK resident will spend 10 hours a year waiting for laptops and computers to load. The study also found that\u00a045 minutes per month are spent waiting for video to buffer. Additionally, 11 minutes each week are spent waiting for phones to update, and nine hours every year are wasted waiting for TV shows and films to download, according to the study. TalkTalk claims that their Fibre broadband offering will slash\u00a0these waiting times.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "San Leon Absence of news noted around San Leon\u2019s accounts and takeover bid \n At the launch of the start of the BoyleSports Irish Greyhound Derby 2017 at Shelbourne Park were three generations of the Byrne family \u2014 Imelda Byrne (84), son Michael (right) and grandson Phillip with their two greyhounds Eva and Catunda Alonso\n\nWhat a week it has been for followers of Providence Resources.\n\nThe oil and gas explorer is drilling two prospects off the south-west coast, and its share price was battered after it struck water at the first.\n\nBy now it should be there or thereabouts at the second target, and some sharp rises in the share price this week got people wondering whether the market was about to hear some good news.\n\nShareholders took to internet message boards to swap theories about what was going on. The movements of the vessels supporting the drillship, the gargantuan Stena IceMax, were pored over in great detail.\n\nIn the end, the week closed with no new news - here's to another week of furious speculation.\n\nAnother company from which news is being awaited is Oisin Fanning's San Leon Energy - where shares are still suspended from trading after it failed to publish its accounts on time, blaming procedural reasons.\n\nThe deadline was June 30 - seven weeks later they still haven't appeared.\n\nThe company said on June 30 that it had received a conditional takeover offer from a Chinese company which expected to be able to make a formal offer within 45 days. No news there either - perhaps this is the week.\n\nCan Eir and SuperValu score telecoms win for the Irish?\n\nEir is trying a new tactic in the battle between phone/broadband/TV providers.\n\nThe elder lemon of the Irish telecoms world has teamed up with SuperValu to become part of the supermarket's loyalty programme.\n\nThe deal will see SuperValu give rewards points to customers who connect their Eir broadband or landline account with their points tally. Points can also be used to claim discounts on Eir bills.\n\nEir has been putting up a big fight against Rupert Murdoch's Sky, John Malone's Virgin and Vodafone in the fiercely-competitive market.\n\nEir is a big player here but it's small fry compared to the global presence of its rivals - likewise SuperValu versus Tesco or the German discounters.\n\nWill this combination prove a win for the Irish?\n\nGoing to the dogs is all sweetness and light again\n\nErgo found itself at Shelbourne Park this week as heats got under way for last year's Irish Greyhound Derby.\n\nIt's been a tough year for the Irish Greyhound Board after its decision to sell off Harold's Cross was greeted with massive protests from disgruntled greyhound owners and breeders. Live racing even ceased at Shelbourne Park - the flagship venue for greyhound racing - for a period.\n\nThe sale process took place with Dr Sean Brady - who readers may remember was chief executive of Irish Sugar when the plant in Carlow was closed - in situ as interim chief executive. Choosing the Department of Education as preferred bidder was a PR bonus - who could be against building more schools? Eventually a deal was worked out and there was no sign of any acrimony at the track on Thursday night. A large contingent from Bank of Ireland was among those present. That bank has just gone to the dogs.", "output": "An absence of news is noted around Oisin Fanning's San Leon Energy, which is yet to publish accounts that were due by 30 June. No further information has been forthcoming from the company which announced on 30 June that it had received a conditional takeover offer from China Great United that was expected to be able to make a formal offer within 45 days.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brands avoid mainstream news sites due to political sensitivities \n Political tensions have reached a point where some brands are perceiving mainstream news outlets as too controversial, leading media buyers to pull ads from those sites.\n\nOne campaign manager at a holding group media agency said a major automaker decided last month to stop serving ads in the news category in case the content didn\u2019t align with the brand\u2019s values. Then, after violence erupted in Charlottesville, Virginia, the agency blocked keywords including \u201cNazis\u201d and \u201cCharlottesville\u201d in programmatic campaigns for the brand. This exec, like the other three media agency executives interviewed for this story, spoke on condition of anonymity due to political sensitivities.\n\nThe executive said the blocked news category contains hundreds of publishers, including foxnews.com, which also is the only mainstream news site that has been on the agency\u2019s blacklist since March.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve singled out Fox News because the client thinks that the site is controversial,\u201d the exec said. \u201cWe blacklisted it, along with sites like Breitbart and Infowars, for brand safety.\u201d\n\nBrands asking their media shops to blacklist spoofed domains and obviously problematic sites like Breitbart from their ad rosters is nothing new. The difference is that now, media buyers are preventing their ads from showing up on any news sites, which would include mainstream ones like CNN and New York Times. Fox News was the only mainstream news site that these sources said was specifically blocked in their programmatic buys by certain clients.\n\n\u201cI think the definition of \u2018mainstream\u2019 is changing,\u201d said a president of a New York-based media agency. \u201cBecause of the news proliferation, we have more content to monitor and determine what is appropriate for the client.\u201d\n\nSome publishers have said that they\u2019ve been able to keep advertisers content by moving their ads to other, non-news parts of their sites. But the executive from the New York-based shop said many brands today don\u2019t want their ads to appear in any news environment, period. One brand recently asked his team to specifically blacklist Fox News because the property is \u201cextremely right-leaning.\u201d \u201cThe brand can get safe eyeballs elsewhere,\u201d said the agency executive. The exec added that there were other reasons the brand stopped advertising on Fox News.\n\nFox News didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment by deadline.\n\nAn svp of a Chicago-based media shop, meanwhile, said some of his clients have decided to pull ads from political coverage altogether. For instance, two financial services clients pulled programmatic ads from politics news on any site.\n\n\u201cIn our experience, Foxnews.com has never been singled out by a client on a programmatic buy \u2014 it is a trusted source for many in the U.S., just as more center-left-leaning sites are trusted by others,\u201d said the executive at the Chicago agency. \u201cThat said, we do blacklist extremely politically divisive sites on both sides of the current debate.\u201d\n\nMedia agency executives said they\u2019re constantly discussing with clients whether to block certain mainstream news sites temporarily or permanently. Eric Bader, managing director of consulting firm Volando, said pairing ads and content has become much more complex. For example, he said, The New York Times would almost never be explicitly put on a blacklist for any top 200 ad spender, but the site still has lots of coverage and commentary on terrorism, violence and racism that some brands want to avoid.\n\nAs for brands boycotting Fox News specifically, Bader thinks doing so is more of a political decision than a practical one because a lot of content on Fox News is apolitical and the site still has a lot of loyal readers.\n\n\u201cAdvertisers may just be using Fox News as a symbol of rejecting offensive content or ideas,\u201d he said. \u201c[It\u2019s] a pretty political move for a brand to publicly reject a publisher, but the calculation is likely to be \u2018better safe than sorry.\u2019\u201d", "output": "Brands have started moving away from\u00a0mainstream news sites to avoid association with specific political views, pulling ads from programmatic campaigns that include mainstream publishers such as Fox News, CNN and the New York Times. Controversial and potentially offensive sites like\u00a0Breitbart and Infowars have long been blacklisted by advertisers, but as brands become more cautious about political image and coverage grows increasingly polarised,\u00a0more traditional news sites are also being blocked.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IC Markets offers CFD bitcoin trading \n IC Markets, an online provider of foreign exchange and CFDs trading, has become the latest broker to add Bitcoin (symbol BTCUSD) trading to its platform. The growing popularity of cryptocurrency trading is prompting retail brokers to add Bitcoin to their range of tradable instruments over the past few months.\n\nLearn how to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum safely with our simple guide!\n\nThe move comes at a period when Bitcoin has been gaining more and more popularity in the trading world. Its price skyrocketed as daily Volatility Volatility In finance, volatility refers to the amount of change in the rate of a financial instrument, such as commodities, currencies, stocks, over a given time period. Essentially, volatility describes the nature of an instrument\u2019s fluctuation; a highly volatile security equates to large fluctuations in price, and a low volatile security equates to timid fluctuations in price. Volatility is an important statistical indicator used by financial traders to assist them in developing trading systems. Traders In finance, volatility refers to the amount of change in the rate of a financial instrument, such as commodities, currencies, stocks, over a given time period. Essentially, volatility describes the nature of an instrument\u2019s fluctuation; a highly volatile security equates to large fluctuations in price, and a low volatile security equates to timid fluctuations in price. Volatility is an important statistical indicator used by financial traders to assist them in developing trading systems. Traders Read this Term remained attractive for traders. The price of Bitcoin has risen from just below $1000 at the beginning of the year to over $4200 as of writing.\n\nThe Bitcoin network did face a challenge at the beginning of this month when it split into two separate blockchains. After the challenge was overcome, the cryptocurrency remained unscathed and the increasing confidence of traders and investors in this market pushed its value to new all time highs.\n\nBowing to the growing popularity of Bitcoin, brokers have started adding cryptocurrency trading to their platforms and IC Markets has become the latest to follow suit. Bitcoin is offered as a CFD, which means that there would not be physical delivery of Bitcoins as in an exchange deal. IC Markets also offers Leverage Leverage In financial trading, leverage is a loan supplied by a broker, which facilitates a trader in being able to control a relatively large amount of money with a significantly lesser initial investment. Leverage therefore allows traders to make a much greater return on investment compared to trading without any leverage. Traders seek to make a profit from movements in financial markets, such as stocks and currencies.Trading without any leverage would greatly diminish the potential rewards, so traders In financial trading, leverage is a loan supplied by a broker, which facilitates a trader in being able to control a relatively large amount of money with a significantly lesser initial investment. Leverage therefore allows traders to make a much greater return on investment compared to trading without any leverage. Traders seek to make a profit from movements in financial markets, such as stocks and currencies.Trading without any leverage would greatly diminish the potential rewards, so traders Read this Term of up to 1:20 on Bitcoin trading.\n\nThe Director of IC Markets, Angus Walker, commented: \u201cWe\u2019re pleased to be giving investors the opportunity to go long or short Bitcoin with an Australian owned and regulated broker. This allows traders to focus on their trading instead of the risks and complexities of using an unregulated Cryptocurrency exchange.\u201d\n\nWith this addition, IC markets hopes to capture some of the cryptocurrency's trading volume, that has seen an explosive growth both in price and market cap over the last few months.", "output": "Online foreign-exchange and CFD trading provider IC Markets has become the latest retail broker to offer bitcoin trading. Traders can go long or short bitcoin with leverage of up to 20:1.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Great Wall Motor Company mulls over bid for Fiat Chrysler \n China\u2019s Great Wall Motor Company has said it is interested in bidding for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, which owns brands including Jeep and the truck maker Ram.\n\nA company official confirmed it was pursuing all or part of FCA after the US publication Automotive News reported that a \u201cwell-known Chinese automaker\u201d had made an offer this month, triggering a jump in FCA\u2019s Milan-listed shares.\n\n\u201cWith respect to this case, we currently have an intention to acquire,\u201d a statement from Great Wall said on Monday. \u201cWe are interested in [FCA].\u201d\n\nI think Great Wall Motor is eyeing a global strategy, not just the United States\n\nSergio Marchionne, chief executive, is seeking a partner or buyer for the Italian-American group to help it manage rising costs, comply with emissions regulations and develop technology for electric and self-driving cars. An acquisition by Great Wall Motor would be audacious, and one of China\u2019s highest profile manufacturing deals to date.\n\nFCA said there had been no approach from Great Wall and was focused on driving ahead with a four-year growth plan.\n\nIt said: \u201cIn response to market rumours regarding a potential interest of Great Wall Motors in the Jeep brand, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles confirmed that it has not been approached by Great Wall Motors in connection with the Jeep brand or any other matter relating to its business.\u201d\n\nEarlier on Monday, two sources said Great Wall had asked for a meeting with FCA, with the aim of making an offer for all or part of the world\u2019s seventh-largest carmaker. Citing an email from Great Wall\u2019s president, Wang Fengying, Automotive News reported that Great Wall had contacted FCA to express interest specifically in the Jeep brand.\n\nThe industry publication said the Chinese company had not made a formal offer or met FCA\u2019s board. Automotive News quoted a spokesman as saying: \u201cOur strategic goal is to become the world\u2019s largest SUV [sport utility vehicle] maker.\u201d \u201cAcquiring Jeep, a global SUV brand, would enable us to achieve our goal sooner and better [than on our own].\u201d\n\nFCA shares rose 3.9% to \u20ac11.12 in early Milan trading, outperforming a flat market. Great Wall Motor shares were up almost 3% in Shanghai.\n\nYale Zhang, head of the Shanghai consultancy Automotive Foresight, commented: \u201cJeep is the most logical choice since (Great Wall) wants to be the largest SUV maker in the world.\u201d Ram could be an option, he added, but \u201cthe Jeep brand is recognised globally. I think Great Wall Motor is eyeing a global strategy, not just the United States.\u201d\n\nA move for FCA or one of its main brands, if successful, would allow Great Wall Motor to accelerate a planned push into the U.S. market, the two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.\n\nThey said Great Wall Motor had been making plans for some time to enter the U.S. market, mainly by upgrading some of its key products and improving branding.\n\nThe company this year launched its Wei brand of potentially US-market-ready vehicles. Wei is the surname of the Great Wall founder and chairman Wei Jianjun.", "output": "China's Great Wall Motor Company is considering entering a bid for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), which owns popular brands including Ram and Jeep, according to a company official. FCA's CEO Sergio Marchionne is said to be looking for a buyer or partner for the company to help it move into line with with emissions regulations, assist with growing expenses, and drive innovation in EVs\u00a0and autonomous vehicles. An acquisition by Great Wall would be a\u00a0significant manufacturing deal, however FCA denied it had been approached by the\u00a0firm in relation to any part of its business."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Saudi payments firm PayTabs raises $20m to expand \n Saudi incorporated online payment processor PayTabs has raised $20m in an investment round to support its expansion efforts.\n\nThe company said in a press statement it planned to expand to more than 20 markets over the next two years in the Middle East and North Africa, Southeast Asia, India, Africa and Europe.\n\nIt will also use the funds for product development in areas including digital payments and engage in acquisitions to boost its product and service portfolio.\n\nPayTabs, which was founded in 2014 and had head operations in Bahrain, said it also expected to create more than 4,000 direct and indirect jobs over the next two years.\n\n\u201cOur mission is to transform the face of financial services in infinite possibilities. PayTabs wants to provide secure and flexible financial solutions to small and medium enterprises, and large corporations to help them flourish and grow their revenue in multiples,\u201d said founder and CEO Abdulaziz F. Al Jouf.\n\nThe participants in the investment round were not disclosed.\n\nMiddle East and North Africa start-ups attracted $140m in investment through 87 transactions in the first half of the year, excluding online shopping platform Souq.com and ride app Careem, according to a recent report by start-up community platform Magnitt.\n\nThe company said the region was in line to match if not exceed last year\u2019s funding in start-ups, with e-commerce (16 per cent), technology (13 per cent) and fintech (10 per cent) the most attractive sectors for investors.", "output": "PayTabs has secured $20m in funding to support plans for expansion across more than 20 markets. The Bahrain-based company will also use the funds to develop its payment platform and expand its product and service portfolio through acquisitions, it said. Over the next two years, PayTabs will create more than 4,000 \"direct and indirect\" jobs, it added. Its expansion plans are focused on the Middle East and North Africa, southeast Asia, India, Africa and Europe."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Goldman Sachs trebles bonds in algorithmic trading programme \n Investment bank Goldman Sachs has expanded the use of algorithmic trading in its fixed income division in a move that will treble the number of bonds included in the programme to 7,000.\n\nThe bank is also planning to spread the use of algorithms from corporate bonds to junk bonds later this year.\n\nThe industry's use of trading algorithms has grown in recent years but has largely been focused on equities and favoured by high frequency trading hedge funds looking to trade at high speeds.\n\nHowever both large investment banks and investors are now looking to expand their use of algorithmic trading to other asset classes in order to automate more of their activity and free up traders for larger and more complex transactions.\n\nGoldman's algorithms trawl the bond market for publicly available pricing data on bonds which is then used to automatically generate prices for investors.\n\nThe technology has \"allowed us to address [thousands of] inquiries in a systematic and automated fashion and enabled our traders to focus more on more challenging situations,\" said Amy Hong, head of market structure and global credit at Goldman to the Financial Times.\n\nGoldman is not alone in its bid to automate more of its bond trading activity. Stricter regulations on the market and tighter capital adequacy rules have cut margins for dealers and investors and led many to overhaul their systems in favour of more automation, particularly around more commoditised parts of the market.\n\nA 2016 survey by Greenwich Associates stated that 80% of US corporate bond investors in the US now use some form of electronic trading.\n\nBut while Goldman has also grown the size of its bond trading activity, becoming one of the top three participants in sub-$1m debt instruments (also known as oddlots) on the bond trading platform MarketAxess, other parts of the bond market are still proving somewhat resistant to the use of wholly electronic trading and some dealing firms are insistent that human intervention is still a necessary part of bond trading.\n\nMichael Healy, co-founder at Millennium Advisors told the Financial Times that his firm uses technology to assist traders pricing bonds, but that execution still requires human intervention. \u201cThe way dealers win more trades, oddlots or otherwise, isn\u2019t by adding incremental automation. You do it by simply pricing more bonds, more aggressively \u2014 the same way dealers have always gained market share.\"", "output": "Goldman Sachs has trebled the number of bonds included in its algorithmic trading programme to 7,000 and is planning to expand into junk bonds from corporate bonds this year. The largest investors are automating more of their activity, freeing up traders to work on larger and more complex trades as they expand from equities into other asset classes.\u00a0Stricter regulations and tighter capital adequacy rules have cut margins and led many to greater automation. About 80% of US corporate bond investors in the US use some form of electronic trading, according to a\u00a02016 survey by Greenwich Associates."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Talk Talk Data breach victims edge closer to lawsuit against TalkTalk \n Lawyers acting for around 50 people defrauded by scammers after a major data breach at TalkTalk in 2014 are discussing their next move, which victims hope could herald the start of legal action against the broadband firm.\n\nLast week the Information Commissioner\u2019s Office (ICO) announced it was fining TalkTalk \u00a3100,000 for failing to look after its customers\u2019 data. The ICO said TalkTalk had breached data protection laws by allowing unjustifiably wide-ranging access to its systems by external companies, including Wipro, an Indian IT services firm it employed to deal with complaints and coverage problems. Staff there had access to large quantities of TalkTalk customers\u2019 data including names, addresses, phone numbers and account details.\n\nThe ICO report referred to 21,000 TalkTalk customers who\u2019d had their data breached. Fraudsters started to ring TalkTalk customers at home, quoting their account numbers, and were able to convince them that they were calling from the broadband firm. Customers, who were used to talking to Indian staff at the telecoms firm, were told there were internet problems that required a fix. The fraudsters conned the customers into giving them access to their bank accounts to make a \u00a3250 payment. Instead, they had their accounts cleaned out.\n\nGraeme Smith lost \u00a32,800 to scammers Photograph: Gary Calton/The Guardian\n\nIn 2015, Guardian Money featured the case of Graeme Smith who lived near Chester-le-Street in County Durham. He lost \u00a32,800 to fraudsters who had obtained his account details. Since then several others have come forward, some of whom have lost larger sums.\n\nTalkTalk has consistently denied responsibility for the frauds, arguing that these customers were duped in the same way as many others are by frauds that plague UK consumers.\n\nLawyers acting for the victims had been waiting for the ICO to rule on the data breach before starting legal proceedings. Sean Humber, a solicitor at information law specialist Leigh Day, who is bringing the group action, said his firm would be speaking to barristers shortly \u201cbefore we make a decision regarding the action\u201d.\n\n\u201cWe welcome the ICO\u2019s recognition of TalkTalk\u2019s failure to protect its customers\u2019 information, leaving them at huge risk of being targeted by fraudsters,\u201d Humber said. \u201cCustomers of all companies, particularly those that hold large amounts of data online, should be able to trust that their personal and private information is safe.\n\n\u201cThe ICO recognised that this data breach was of a kind likely to result in customers being scammed. Those affected may have claims for compensation under the Data Protection Act, and for a breach of their confidence, by arguing that the losses suffered were caused by TalkTalk\u2019s failure to keep their personal information secure.\u201d\n\nTalkTalk said: \u201cWe notified the ICO in 2014 of our suspicions that a small number of employees at one of our third-party suppliers were abusing their access to non-financial customer data. We informed our customers at the time and launched a thorough investigation, which has led to us to withdraw all customer service operations from India. We continue to take our customers\u2019 data and privacy incredibly seriously, and while there is no evidence that any of the data was passed on to third parties, we apologise to those affected.\u201d\n\nTalkTalk customers who have been scammed can contact Leigh Day on 020 7650 1200, or by emailing shumber@leighday.co.uk or abalasingam@leighday.co.uk", "output": "Around 50 victims of the TalkTalk data breach in 2014 are considering legal action against the company. TalkTalk has argued that the customers' losses were not their responsibility, and that the scam closely resembled others run around the UK. Recently the Information Commissioner\u2019s Office fined TalkTalk\u00a0\u00a3100,000 ($129,000) for failing to look after customers\u2019 data.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK scientists develop world's smallest surgical robot \n British scientists have developed the world\u2019s smallest surgical robot which could transform everyday operations for tens of thousands of patients.\n\nFrom a converted pig shed in the Cambridgeshire countryside, a team of 100 scientists and engineers have used low-cost technology originally developed for mobile phones and space industries to create the first robotic arm specifically designed to carry out keyhole surgery.\n\nThe robot, called Versius, mimics the human arm and can be used to carry out a wide range of laparoscopic procedures \u2013 including hernia repairs, colorectal operations, and prostate and ear, nose and throat surgery \u2013 in which a series of small incisions are made to circumvent the need for traditional open surgery. This reduces complications and pain after surgery and speeds up recovery times for patients.\n\nThe robot is controlled by a surgeon at a console guided by a 3D screen in the operating theatre.\n\nAlthough surgical robots already exist, the new creation is much easier to use, takes up about a third of the space of current machines and will be no more expensive than non-robotic keyhole surgery, according to its maker Cambridge Medical Robotics.\n\n\u201cHaving robots in the operating theatre is not a new idea,\u201d said the company\u2019s chief executive, Martin Frost. \u201cThe problem at the moment is that they are phenomenally expensive \u2013 not only do they cost \u00a32m each to buy but every procedure costs an extra \u00a33,000 using the robot \u2013 and they are very large. Many hospitals have to use the operating theatre around the robot. Their size can also make them difficult for the surgical team to use.\n\n\u201cThey are also poorly utilised; they are only really used for pelvic surgery, and can\u2019t be easily adapted to other types of surgery. In some hospitals they are only being used once every other day.\u201d\n\nFor robots to revolutionise surgery, he said, they need to be versatile, easy to use and small so that surgical staff can move them around the operating room or between operating theatres, or pack them away when they are not being used. \u201cOur robot does all of this and is the first robotic arm to be designed specifically for laparoscopic surgery,\u201d Frost said.\n\nOne of the key benefits of the robot is that it works like a human arm and contains technology that detects resistance to make sure the right amount of force is used when the instruments are inside the patient.\n\n\u201cWhen science wants to solve a problem, it often turns to nature,\u201d said Luke Hares, chief technology officer at CMR. \u201cWe took our inspiration from the human arm, the greatest surgical tool in history.\u201d\n\nThe creators looked at the joints within the human arm, he said, in particular the wrist, mapping how they performed a role to allow the hand to move so precisely and flexibly. They then replicated these movements in Versius.\n\n\u201cWhereas traditional industrial robotic arms are large and the wrists have three joints, our robot is the same size as a human arm and has four wrist joints, giving the surgeon an unprecedented level of freedom to operate on the patient from whatever angle they want, versatility and reach,\u201d Hares said.\n\nTo create this sophisticated and state-of-the-art device Versius\u2019s creators used electronics from mobile phones to help the robot \u201cthink\u201d and process information, and gear box technology originally designed for the space industry to help it move. \u201cThe other great benefit is that the robot doesn\u2019t tire like a surgeon can,\u201d said Hares.\n\nThe robot will be launched next spring and, once surgeons are trained, it should be available for procedures on patients by the end of next year.\n\nCMR said it was already working with a number of NHS and private hospitals to introduce the robots. The current global market for surgical robots is worth approximately $4bn a year but this is expected to grow to $20bn by 2024.", "output": "Scientists at Cambridge Medical Robotics have built the world\u2019s smallest surgical robot, called Versius. The robot, which mimics the shape of the human arm, can complete laparoscopic procedures like hernia repairs and throat surgery. Carried out by a surgeon using a 3D-enabled console, the procedures result in fewer complications than traditional surgery, reduce post-surgery pain and speed the healing process. Less bulky and much cheaper than present versions, the robot is expected to launch next spring and be available for patient procedures by the end of 2018."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EU data privacy rules set to create difficulties for AI research \n Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.\n\nMany people wonder why Europe is so keen to protect people's privacy. The reason dates back from WWII, when French and German governments used centralized citizen files to target, and subsequently deport, Jews and other ethnic minorities. Following this, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights included an entire article about the right to privacy, which gave birth to many laws in European countries. The demand for uniform privacy regulations across the continent leads us to the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which will take effect in May 2018.\n\nRelated: FBI: Your Kids' Internet Connected Toys Might Be Spying on Them\n\nIn a nutshell, the GDPR forces companies offering a product or service to a European citizen to follow Privacy by Design principles. It doesn't matter where in the world they are headquartered; if they want to do business in Europe, they will need to comply. The penalty for failing to do so is up to 4 percent of global turnover, which could amount to billions of dollars for large companies. This is why over 93 percent of US companies made this their top legal priority in 2017.\n\nAlthough the GDPR applies to any use of personal data (defined as data that can identify someone directly or indirectly), it poses major challenges to artificial intelligence in particular, as machine learning algorithms often rely on user data to learn to do things.\n\nIn the GDPR there are four principles that makes it virtually impossible to do AI as commonly practiced:\n\nExplicit consent.\n\nCompanies will now have to ask for consent in simple terms, rather than buried in legalese terms and conditions. This creates many challenges, in particular for cloud-based voice assistants. Voice is considered to be personal data, therefore devices that listen ambiently should in theory ask everyone in the room for consent before sending their voice to the cloud. Imagine the nightmare of having 10 people over for dinner, and having your Google Home device asking each of them for consent! One way to solve this is to process the user voice directly on the device instead of sending it to the cloud, therefore avoiding the need for explicit consent.\n\nRelated: These Companies Are 'Falling Short' on User Privacy\n\nRight to be forgotten.\n\nThis means that anyone can ask for their personal data to be completely deleted. While this may be easy for a user account in a database, what happens when the data was used to train a machine learning algorithm? One might argue that the user data is still present in the form of outlier nodes in the neural network, and thus that they haven't been \"forgotten.\" The easiest way to solve this would be to retrain the models without the user data, which is a quite costly process. A better approach would be to find algorithms that can \"unlearn\" specific inputs without retraining over the entire dataset.\n\nRelated: 3 Reasones Why Privacy Matters to Your Business, Your Brand and Your Future\n\nData portability.\n\nI love this one because it means European residents will be able to access all the data a company has about them, and transfer it to another provider. The regulation states that the data subject can ask for her personal data to be transferred directly to a new provider, without hindrance, and in a machine readable format. Just like you can switch mobile providers while keeping your phone number, you will be able to switch social networks or search engines without any loss of data. This breaks the personal data lock-in that many services are using to keep us captive. It also opens the door to a massive data exodus when companies mess up: They would lose their data and hence their ability to train their AIs, while new providers would gain more data and thus improve their own AIs. In effect, it would speed up the demise of bad companies by creating an exponentially increasing gap when people switch over.\n\nRelated: Beyond the Privacy Fine Print: Making Privacy More Transparent\n\nAlgorithm transparency.\n\nThis one is particularly tricky, as it states that European residents have a \"right to explanation\" when an automated decision was made about them. The logic behind it is to avoid discrimination and implicit bias by enabling people to go to court if they feel unfairly treated. But, this would also effectively prohibit the use of deep learning, since it is currently a black box. Many researchers are working on explaining how neural networks make decisions, as this will be a requirement before we can hope for AI to enter areas such as medicine or law.\n\nWhile the above regulations certainly introduce some new problems for those working in AI, the GDPR also creates a lot of opportunity -- by giving people control over their data, while breaking digital monopolies that prevent innovation beyond incumbent companies.\n\nMore than just ethically beneficial for Europe, the GDPR is also a way to reclaim digital territory, and make companies all around the world start respecting a fundamental human right that they have been ignoring for 70 years: privacy.", "output": "The EU's General Data Protection Regulation, due to take effect across Europe in May 2018, will enforce data protection requirements that could obstruct artificial intelligence (AI) practitioners. The legislation's four principles of explicit consent for data usage, the right to be forgotten, the right to personal data portability between companies and algorithmic transparency are designed to make companies show more respect for privacy. However, the principles will obstruct the use of large datasets to train cloud-based neural nets and AI practitioners who do not fully understand how their deep learning networks operate will have difficulty\u00a0complying with the\u00a0algorithmic transparency principle.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "19% decrease in FTSE 100 executive pay: Deloitte \n Median CEO pay package down by almost 20%;\n\nBonus pay-outs are down and 10% of companies have reduced pension allowances for new executive appointments;\n\nIncrease in the number of shares directors are required to hold;\n\n91% of companies received more than 80% votes in support of their remuneration.\n\nThe median pay of FTSE 100 chief executives has fallen by almost 20% from \u00a34.3 million in 2016 to \u00a33.5 million this year, according to a preview of Deloitte\u2019s annual FTSE 100 executive remuneration report.\n\nThe median salary increase remains at around 2%, as it has for the last few years. However, the number of CEOs receiving an increase in excess of three per cent has halved since 2016.*\n\nStephen Cahill, vice chairman at Deloitte, said: \u201cThe fall in executive pay demonstrates that remuneration committees are making a real effort to address shareholder concerns. This is the first cycle where the legislation introduced in 2013 and primarily voted on during the 2014 AGMs will have taken effect. It seems to show that the current legislation is working.\u201d\n\nBonuses and long-term incentives\n\nThe median bonus opportunity of 150% of salary has remained steady in FTSE 100 companies since 2007. However, in the top 30 companies, over the past four years the median bonus opportunity has fallen from 200% to 185% of salary.\n\nThe median potential long-term award has also fallen from 235% to 225% of salary for executive directors in FTSE 100 companies. For the CEOs of the largest companies, the fall in the long-term potential award is more significant, with a decrease of almost 10% from a median of 400% two years ago to 365% this year.\n\nCahill commented: \u201cWe are beginning to see signs that overall pay may be falling, particularly in the largest companies. Alongside the decrease in incentive potential, companies are also beginning to respond to shareholder concerns about pension, with over 10% of companies reducing the pension provision for new executive appointments. Shareholder pressure to simplify remuneration arrangements also accounts for some of this change. For some companies, consolidating a number of different incentive plans has resulted in a decrease in the overall quantum.\u201d\n\nActual bonus pay-outs in respect of performance are also slightly lower this year at 71% of maximum compared with 77% last year. Long-term awards pay out at a lower level than the annual bonus. Awards made in 2014 have typically paid out between 10% and 60% of maximum with a median of 40% and a quarter of these awards did not pay out at all.\n\nImproving remuneration policies\n\nIn the last four years, over half of FTSE 100 companies have increased the number of shares they expect their directors to hold. These guidelines are designed to more closely tie executive salary with the profitability of the companies.\n\nCEOs are now typically expected to hold shares with a value of 2.5 x salary, rising to 4 x salary in the top 30 companies. In fact, directors often hold shares in excess of these guidelines, with half of CEOs and a third of executive directors holding shares with a value of more than 500% of salary.\n\nIt is now commonplace for incentive plan awards to be paid in shares which must be held for a number of years. In four out of five FTSE 100 companies any annual bonus earned is partly paid in shares which are not typically released for three years. In three out of five companies, participants will receive no shares from long-term plans for at least five years. Alongside this, companies are introducing stronger measures to enable them to clawback incentive awards in certain circumstances, after they have been paid.\n\nAll of these changes are designed to better align directors\u2019 pay with the experience of the shareholders. As a result, 91% of companies received more than 80% of votes in support of their remuneration report, with just one company failing to secure a majority.\n\nCahill commented: \u201cDuring the four years since the Government introduced new disclosure requirements, we have seen a very welcome improvement in the level of engagement between companies and their shareholders. With many companies renewing their policies this year we are seeing further moves to incorporate the best practice provisions shareholders now expect. This has meant that, despite predictions of a stormy AGM season, most companies have received a high level of support from their shareholders.\u201d\n\nCahill concluded: \u201cThe current framework is working well and we do not believe further regulation is needed to move things forward. Any future changes, if required, would be better encouraged through the Corporate Governance Code, ensuring that companies have sufficient flexibility to make changes that best support the overall aims of the business.\u201d\n\n\n\nEnd\n\nNote to editors\n\n* Excluding the number of recent appointments where there are planned increases to bring the salary to market levels.\n\n\n\nAbout Deloitte\n\nIn this press release references to \u201cDeloitte\u201d are references to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (\u201cDTTL\u201d) a UK private company limited by guarantee, and its network of member firms, each of which is a legally separate and independent entity. Please see deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of DTTL and its member firms.\n\nDeloitte LLP is a subsidiary of Deloitte NWE LLP, which is a member firm of DTTL, and is among the UK's leading professional services firms.\n\nThe information contained in this press release is correct at the time of going to press.\n\nFor more information, please visit www.deloitte.co.uk.\n\n\n\nMember of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited.", "output": "CEO salaries at FTSE 100 firms fell by 19% to an average of \u00a33.5m ($4.5m) over the last year, down from \u00a34.3m, according to a survey by Deloitte. The decrease resulted from a reduction in the amount executives could earn from bonuses and share plans. Overall, median salaries increased by approximately 2%, but the number of salary increases of 3% or more declined by 50%. Deloitte said that at the largest 30 companies, the \u201cbonus opportunity\u201d had declined from 200% to 185% of salary over the last four years. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "19% decrease in FTSE 100 executive pay: Deloitte \n Pay for Britain\u2019s top bosses has fallen by almost a fifth, suggesting companies may be reining in excessive rewards as the government reviews options for further reform.\n\nThe median pay for chief executives at FTSE 100 companies, which includes bonuses and other long-term incentives, fell 19% to \u00a33.5m in 2016, from \u00a34.3m a year before, a survey by Deloitte found.\n\nTotal pay fell as companies trimmed the amount bosses could earn from bonuses and share plans. Median salaries rose by about 2% but the number of salary increases of 3% or more halved.\n\nThe coalition government introduced rules in 2013 that forced large public companies to put a three-year pay policy to a binding shareholder vote, report bosses\u2019 pay more clearly and show the relationship between the pay of the chief executive and the average worker.\n\nTheresa May promised to introduce further curbs when she campaigned for the Tory leadership last year. Critics said her proposals, published in November and still under review by ministers, were weaker than promised after lobbying by business.\n\nStephen Cahill, Deloitte vice-chairman, said falling pay showed the existing rules were working because last year\u2019s packages were the first drawn up since the 2013 measures. Cahill said: \u201cThe fall in executive pay demonstrates that remuneration committees are making a real effort to address shareholder concerns. It seems to show that the current legislation is working.\u201d\n\nThe Deloitte survey echoes a recent report by the High Pay Centre that calculated average chief executive pay fell 17% last year to \u00a34.5m. But that report said the average employee would have to work for 160 years to earn the annual pay of a FTSE 100 chief executive.\n\nDeloitte said the median amount bosses could earn as an annual bonus last year was 150% of salary \u2013 little changed for a decade. But at the biggest 30 companies the \u201cbonus opportunity\u201d fell from 200% to 185% of salary in the past four years. Amounts on offer under long-term share plans also fell.\n\nPublic anger over bosses\u2019 pay increased during years of falling living standards for ordinary workers. Big shareholders responded by voting against pay deals, leading to a series of revolts at annual meetings last year before May made her pledge.\n\nDeloitte found a calmer set of shareholder meetings this year as nine in 10 FTSE 100 companies had more than 80% support on pay. But shareholders voted against pay reports at Pearson, the educational publisher, and Crest Nicholson, the builder.\n\nTim Roache, general secretary of the GMB union, said the gap between bosses and workers was unfair and bad for the economy.\n\n\u201cThese figures mask the reality of a grotesque pay gap between the rich and the rest that has grown unchecked for years. It\u2019s in everyone\u2019s interest to tackle this inequality. The money earned by ordinary workers is not spent on luxury yachts or hoarded away in tax havens \u2013 it is spent in the high street and in the communities in which they live and work,\u201d he said.", "output": "CEO salaries at FTSE 100 firms fell by 19% to an average of \u00a33.5m ($4.5m) over the last year, down from \u00a34.3m, according to a survey by Deloitte. The decrease resulted from a reduction in the amount executives could earn from bonuses and share plans. Overall, median salaries increased by approximately 2%, but the number of salary increases of 3% or more declined by 50%. Deloitte said that at the largest 30 companies, the \u201cbonus opportunity\u201d had declined from 200% to 185% of salary over the last four years. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scientists remotely control mice using magnetic fields \n Imagine someone remotely controlling your brain, forcing your body\u2019s central processing organ to send messages to your muscles that you didn\u2019t authorize. It\u2019s an incredibly scary thought, but scientists have managed to accomplish this science fiction nightmare for real, albeit on a much small scale, and they were even able to prompt their test subject to run, freeze in place, or even completely lose control over their limbs. Thankfully, the research will be used for good rather than evil\u2026 for now.\n\nThe effort, led by physics professor Arnd Pralle, PhD, of the University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences, focused on a technique called \u201cmagneto-thermal stimulation.\u201d It\u2019s not exactly a simple process \u2014 it requires the implantation of specially built DNA strands and nanoparticles which attach to specific neurons \u2014 but once the minimally invasive procedure is over, the brain can be remotely controlled via an alternating magnetic field. When those magnetic inputs are applied, the particles heat up, causing the neurons to fire.\n\nThe study, which was published in the most recent edition of the journal eLife, includes experiments where were performed on mice. Using the new technique, the researchers were able to control the movement of the animals, causing them to freeze, lock up their limbs, turn around, or even run.\n\nDespite only being tested on mice, the research could have far-reaching implications in the realm of brain research. The holy grail for dreamers like Elon Musk is that we\u2019ll one day be able to tweak our brains to eliminate mood disorders and make us more perfect creatures. This groundbreaking research could very well be an important step towards that future.", "output": "A group of scientists at the University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences has developed a technique for remote-controlling brain function, according to research published in the Journal eLife. Led by physics professor Arnd Pralle, the team implanted custom-built\u00a0DNA strands in mice, allowing neurons to be remotely controlled by an alternating magnetic field. In the experiments, the mice could be made to run, turn around or lock their limbs. The findings could have significant implications for future human brain research.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Adblock Plus wins court case against German media companies \n Last year, Facebook modified its code for presenting ads, so plugins couldn't identify them as ads and block them. Image: Adblock Plus\n\nGermany's Eyeo, the maker of the popular Adblock Plus browser extension that's used by hundreds of millions of people, has won another round of victories over media companies that sued it in the country.\n\nAdblock Plus, as the name suggests, prevents ads from appearing in front of its users' eyes, unless their publishers are on a whitelist of companies that only use \"acceptable ads\". Adblock Plus means ads that don't pop out, auto-play video, and do other annoying things to attract people's attention.\n\nMost controversially, the largest publishers in terms of ad impressions have to pay Adblock Plus a cut of their ad revenue to be on the whitelist -- the standard rate is 30 percent -- although their ads still need to meet the standard criteria for acceptability. The company says 90 percent of those on the list are there for free.\n\nA host of publishers and broadcasters, which depend on advertising for their revenue, have sued Adblock Plus over the past few years, including Axel Springer, Die Zeit, Handelsblatt, RTL Interactive, ProSiebenSat.1 and S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung.\n\nAll failed, with one partial exception: in June last year, Bild publisher Axel Springer got the Cologne higher regional court to rule it was illegal for Eyeo to charge Springer for the privilege of whitelisting.\n\nOn Thursday, a Munich appellate court ruled against RTL Interactive, ProSiebenSat.1 and S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung in their most recent attempts to finally take down Adblock Plus.\n\nCrucially, the court also said the outfit's \"acceptable ads\" whitelisting practices were themselves acceptable. This position contradicts the earlier ruling, by the Cologne court, in the Springer case.\n\nRTL Interactive and ProSiebenSat.1 have been given leave to take their appeals against their fresh defeats to German's highest court, the federal constitutional court in Karlsruhe.\n\n\"With most of the lawsuits, they have a layered approach,\" said Eyeo public affairs chief Laura Sophie Dornheim.\n\n\"First of all they want to get ad-blocking forbidden completely. If that's not possible, they want ad-blocking with whitelists forbidden. For me, this is really just a vehicle to get to Adblock Plus, as it's the only company in German jurisdiction that they can get hold of.\"\n\nHowever, the court did say online publishers are free to take countermeasures against Adblock Plus, for example, by shutting out readers who have the extension active in their browser. Many publishers do that these days.\n\nA year ago, Facebook also started fighting back against ad-blockers by modifying the code for presenting ads on its site, so that the plugins couldn't identify them as ads and block them.\n\nAdblock Plus figured out a way to bypass Facebook's new mechanism, the whole thing went back and forth for a few rounds, and the current status is that Adblock Plus can't block ads on the social network.\n\n\"We are working on a fix, but we want the next solution to be more permanent,\" Dornheim said. \"There are other blockers who do manage to block ads [on Facebook], but they are interfering more with the code of the site, sometimes causing the design of the website to more or less crash or be less usable, and we don't want to do that.\"\n\n\"We respect the publishers' settings and their decisions,\" she added. \"We intentionally do not circumvent paywalls. Publishers have a right to choose who they're serving their content to.\"\n\nPrevious coverage\n\nRead more on ad blocking", "output": "German company Eyeo, which makes the popular Adblock Plus browser extension that prevents ads from appearing in front of users \u2013 has won a victory over media companies that sought to have its software declared illegal. A Munich court has ruled against RTL Interactive, ProSiebenSat.1 and S\u00fcddeutsche Zeitung, which have to pay Eyeo to be on its whitelist of publishers of acceptable ads. The court ruled that Adblock Plus\u2019s \"acceptable ads\" whitelisting practices were acceptable. However, the court also said\u00a0companies are free to take countermeasures against Adblock Plus, such as excluding readers who have the extension active in their browsers."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SIF sets out action plan to integrate sustainability in insurance \n A new report has been released by the global network of insurance supervisors and regulators Sustainable Insurance Forum (SIF) to outline the necessary action to tackle sustainability challenges within the insurance sector.\n\nA new report has been released by the global network of insurance supervisors and regulators Sustainable Insurance Forum (SIF) to outline the necessary action to tackle sustainability challenges within the insurance sector.\n\nSIF, created by UN Environment in December 2016 in San Francisco, is a global platform for knowledge sharing, policy dialogue, international collaboration, and identification of best practices for a sustainable insurance system.\n\nThe report \u2013 Sustainable Insurance, The Emerging Agenda for Supervisors and Regulators \u2013 details the need for the insurance industry to scale its efforts to integrate sustainability factors within the regulation and supervision of insurance companies by 2020.\n\nThe UN initiative Principles for Sustainable Insurance leads the efforts in tackling sustainability challenges across underwriting and investment.\n\nThe report reads: \u201cIn its role as risk manager, risk carrier, and investor, the global insurance sector plays a cornerstone role in the management of sustainability-related risks and opportunities.\u201d\n\nThe report outlines five steps for insurance professionals: initial assessment; deepening risk analysis; improving information; market transformation; and making systemic linkages.\n\nUnderstanding how sustainability challenges apply to the core institutional objectives including the solvency of firms, policyholder protection, or broader implications for financial stability is the main challenge for insurance practitioners, according to the SIF report.", "output": "The Sustainable Insurance Forum (SIF), a global network of regulators and insurance supervisors, has created a report detailing the actions required to integrate sustainability factors in the supervision and regulation of the insurance firms by 2020. The report outlines five steps, including deepening risk analysis, improving information and making systemic linkages. The SIF suggests that understanding the impact of sustainability challenges on core institutional objectives and financial stability is a key challenge for insurance practitioners."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FBI warns companies against using Kaspersky security products \n The FBI has been briefing private sector companies on intelligence claiming to show that the Moscow-based cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab is an unacceptable threat to national security, current and former senior U.S. officials familiar with the matter tell CyberScoop.\n\nThe briefings are one part of an escalating conflict between the U.S. government and Kaspersky amid long-running suspicions among U.S. intelligence officials that Russian spy agencies use the company as an intelligence-gathering tool of global proportions.\n\nThe FBI\u2019s goal is to have U.S. firms push Kaspersky out of their systems as soon as possible or refrain from using them in new products or other efforts, the current and former officials say.\n\nThe FBI\u2019s counterintelligence section has been giving briefings since beginning of the year on a priority basis, prioritizing companies in the energy sector and those that use industrial control (ICS) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIn light of successive cyberattacks against the electric grid in Ukraine, the FBI has focused on this sector due to the critical infrastructure designation assigned to it by the Department of Homeland Security.\n\nAdditionally, the FBI has briefed large U.S. tech companies that have working partnerships or business arrangements with Kaspersky on products \u2014 from routers to virtual machines \u2014 that touch a wide range of American businesses and civilians.\n\nIn the briefings, FBI officials give companies a high-level overview of the threat assessment, including what the U.S. intelligence community says are the Kaspersky\u2019s deep and active relationships with Russian intelligence. FBI officials point to multiple specific accusations of wrongdoing by Kaspersky, such as a well-known instance of allegedly faking malware.\n\nIn a statement to CyberScoop, a Kaspersky spokesperson blamed those particular accusations on \u201cdisgruntled, former company employees, whose accusations are meritless\u201d while FBI officials say, in private and away from public scrutiny, they know the incident took place and was blessed by the company\u2019s leadership.\n\nThe FBI\u2019s briefings have seen mixed results. Companies that utilize ISC and SCADA systems have been relatively cooperative, one government official told CyberScoop, due in large part to what\u2019s described as exceptional sense of urgency that dwarfs most other industries. Several of these companies have quietly moved forward on the FBI\u2019s recommendations against Kaspersky by, for example, signing deals with Kaspersky competitors.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe firms the FBI have briefed include those that deal with nuclear power, a predictable target given the way the electric grid is increasingly at the center of catastrophic cybersecurity concerns.\n\nThe traditional tech giants have been less receptive and cooperative to the FBI\u2019s pitch.\n\nEarlier this year, a U.S. congressional panel asked federal government agencies to share documents on Kaspersky Lab because the firm\u2019s products could be used to carry out \u201cnefarious activities against the United States,\u201d Reuters reported. That followed the General Services Administration removing Kaspersky from an approved-vendors list in early July and a congressional push to pass a law that would ban Kaspersky from being used by the Department of Defense.\n\nKaspersky, which has long denied ever helping any government with cyber-espionage efforts, reiterated those denials.\n\n\u201cIf these briefings are actually occurring, it\u2019s extremely disappointing that a government agency would take such actions against a law-abiding and ethical company like Kaspersky Lab,\u201d a company representative told CyberScoop. \u201cThe company doesn\u2019t have inappropriate ties with any government, which is why no credible evidence has been presented publicly by anyone or any organization to back up the false allegations made against Kaspersky Lab. The only conclusion seems to be that Kaspersky Lab, a private company, is caught in the middle of a geopolitical fight, and it\u2019s being treated unfairly, even though the company has never helped, nor will help, any government in the world with its cyber-espionage or offensive cyber efforts.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe U.S. government\u2019s actions come as Russia is engaged in its own push to stamp American tech giants like Microsoft out of that country\u2019s systems.\n\nRussia\u2019s Quid Pro Quo\n\nIn the briefings, FBI officials also raise the issue of Russia\u2019s increasingly expansive surveillance laws and what they charge is a distinct culture wherein powerful Russian intelligence agencies are easily able to reach into private sector firms like Kaspersky with little check on government power.\n\nOf particular interest are the Yarovaya laws and the System for Operative Investigative Activities (SORM), among others, which mandate broad, legally vague and permissive Russian intelligence agency access to data moving inside Russia with retention periods extending to three years. Companies have little course to fight back. U.S officials point to the FSB, the KGB\u2019s successor, as the cryptography regulator in Russia, and say it puts an office of active agents inside Russian companies.\n\nA Kaspersky spokesperson emphasized that all information received by the company is \u201cis protected in accordance with legal requirements and stringent industry standards, including encryption, digital certificates, firewalls and more\u201d and insisted that \u201cthe company is not subject to these laws and other government tools\u201d like SORM.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe law unquestionably does, however, impact Russian internet and communications providers, which Kaspersky uses. And, after all, it\u2019s the Russian \u201clegal requirements\u201d that raise so many eyebrows.\n\n\u201cIf it comes to the case of Kaspersky being induced to do something which is undocumented and illegal, it\u2019s only then we\u2019re in a slightly different domain [than in the West] and yes, you can assume the Russian government would have ways to induce private industry to do what it wants,\u201d Keir Giles, a Russia expert with the British think tank Chatham House, told CyberScoop. \u201cThis is extremely hard to pin down because by this very nature this official encouragement is clandestine.\u201d\n\nThey show up, say \u2018You\u2019re already breaking the law, now what are you going to do for me?\u2019\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBy design, there is little visibility and public understanding of this opaque world. Many of the accusations pointed at Russia are met \u2014 by Kaspersky\u2019s defenders as well as by civil liberties activists and technologists critical of what they view as gross U.S. government overreach \u2014 with fingers pointed right back at U.S. military and spy agencies.\n\nEva Galperin, the director of cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, believes Western intelligence agencies are engaged in many of the same tactics and must be similarly criticized but that \u201cthe legal and political landscape in Russia is very different.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Yarovaya laws and many of the other internet-related laws in Russia were never meant to be implementable,\u201d she told CyberScoop. \u201cThey were always meant to be overbroad, overreaching and impossible to comply with because this gives the Russian government a place to start whenever they come calling for your data. They show up, say \u2018you\u2019re already breaking the law, now what are you going to do for me?'\u201d\n\nGalperin\u2019s observations on the Russian legal and political landscape mirrors what U.S. officials say in private about intentionally vague laws allowing intelligence officers to have broad abilities and authorities to conduct what U.S. officials see as malicious activity.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThroughout Kaspersky\u2019s leadership ranks, including CEO and founder Eugene Kaspersky, the company is populated with Russian former intelligence officials, some of whom are accused by Western intelligence agencies of continuing in all but name to work for the Kremlin. This is a major point of contention, because Western cybersecurity firms are largely populated by ex-intelligence community employees as well.\n\nWhile much of the public focus has understandably been on Eugene Kaspersky, the U.S. intelligence community places great focus on other executives, including Chief Legal Officer Igor Chekunov. Prior to joining the company, Chekunov was a KGB officer. A Kaspersky spokesperson stressed that Chekunov\u2019s time was \u201cobligatory military service\u201d equivalent to \u201cworking for customs and border protection (CBP), which is under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).\u201d U.S intelligence officials say in briefings they believe the list of individuals within Kaspersky cooperating with Russian intelligence is far longer, but they\u2019ve offered no public evidence as proof.\n\n\u201cOnce you serve in the [Russian] intelligence services, you\u2019re always kind of linked to them,\u201d Zachary Witlin, a Russia analyst at the Eurasia Group, told CyberScoop. \u201cKaspersky is an interesting case though. Eugene built this entire company there, he and plenty of other Russians want it to succeed as a global cybersecurity company because it showcases that Russia does have the talent to have world-class software products. I don\u2019t think they would be immune from the same sorts of oversight that incredibly powerful Russian intelligence agencies have on the rest of the country, but they would have to make a calculation about whether or not they would be putting a major company like that at irreparable risk. In a situation like this, I\u2019m not so sure.\u201d\n\nPurely Political?\n\nIn closed congressional hearings, senators have responded with some punch to the FBI\u2019s work. The chief criticism from Congress, which is anxious to take legislative action, is that the U.S. intelligence community didn\u2019t speak up sooner about the problem. Earlier this year, senior U.S. intelligence officials slammed Kaspersky in an open congressional hearing; Eugene Kaspersky blamed it on \u201cpolitical reasons\u201d rather than any wrongdoing by his own company.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIn the years since suspicion has crept up against Kaspersky, the firm has repeatedly denied that it poses a threat to U.S. security or that it cooperates with Russia or any other government to spy on users. Efforts to reach out to American authorities have repeatedly been ignored or dismissed, the company told CyberScoop.\n\n\u201cCEO Eugene Kaspersky has repeatedly offered to meet with government officials, testify before the U.S. Congress and provide the company\u2019s source code for an official audit to help address any questions the U.S. government has about the company, but unfortunately, Kaspersky Lab has not received a response to those offers,\u201d a company spokesperson said.\n\n\u201cThe company simply wants the opportunity to answer any questions and assist all concerned government organizations with any investigations, as Kaspersky Lab ardently believes a deeper examination of the company will confirm that these allegations are completely unfounded.\u201d\n\nThe issue of a code audit was dismissed as a \u201cpublicity stunt\u201d earlier this year by Jake Williams, an ex-NSA employee who has called the U.S. government\u2019s efforts against Kaspersky \u201cpurely political.\u201d\n\nBeyond Kaspersky, U.S. intelligence officials see a problem that encompasses all of Russia and which, more broadly, impacts relations with tech firms from other countries, most notably China. As with so many other Washington, D.C., conversations of late, however, Russia has taken nearly sole possession of the spotlight that might otherwise be spread more globally.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nUpdate: A Kaspersky spokesperson\u2019s comments on the nature of Chief Legal Officer Igor Chekunov\u2019s KGB service was added.", "output": "The FBI has met with US firms throughout the year to advise against using Kaspersky's cybersecurity products, according to unnamed current and former senior US officials. The US government's allegations that Kaspersky holds deep ties with the Russian government have not been substantiated. Following cyber attacks on Ukraine's power grid last year, the FBI has focused on briefing energy companies and large tech firms. While companies in the energy sector have cooperated with the government, tech firms have resisted the FBI's advice.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Perspectives on Home-based Healthcare as an Alternative to Hospital Admission After Emergency Treatment \n Author Affiliation Amy Stuck, PhD, RN West Health Institute, Health Services, Successful Aging, La Jolla, California;\n\nUniversity of California, San Diego, Department of Emergency Medicine, San Diego, California Christopher Crowley, PhD West Health Institute, Health Services, Successful Aging, La Jolla, California Tracy Martinez, RN West Health Institute, Health Services, Successful Aging, La Jolla, California Alan Wittgrove, MD West Health Institute, Health Services, Successful Aging, La Jolla, California Jesse J. Brennan, MA University of California, San Diego, Department of Emergency Medicine, San Diego, California Theodore C. Chan, MD University of California, San Diego, Department of Emergency Medicine, San Diego, California Edward M. Castillo, PhD, MPH University of California, San Diego, Department of Emergency Medicine, San Diego, California\n\nIntroduction\n\nMethods\n\nResults\n\nDiscussion\n\nLimitations\n\nConclusion\n\nABSTRACT Introduction The study objective was to explore emergency physicians\u2019 (EP) awareness, willingness, and prior experience regarding transitioning patients to home-based healthcare following emergency department (ED) evaluation and treatment; and to explore patient selection criteria, processes, and services that would facilitate use of home-based healthcare as an alternative to hospitalization. Methods We provided a five-question survey to 52 EPs, gauging previous experience referring patients to home-based healthcare, patient selection, and motivators and challenges when considering home-based options as an alternative to admission. In addition, we conducted three focus groups and four interviews. Results Of participating EPs, 92% completed the survey, 38% reported ordering home-based healthcare from the ED as an alternative to admission, 90% ranked cellulitis among the top three medical conditions for home-based healthcare, 90% ranked \u201creduce unnecessary hospitalizations and observation stays\u201d among their top three perceived motivators for using home-based care, and 77% ranked \u201cno existing process in place to refer to home-based care\u201d among their top three perceived barriers. Focus group and interview themes included the need for alternatives to admission; the longer-term benefits of home-based healthcare; the need for streamlined transition processes; and the need for highly qualified home-care staff capable of responding the same day or within 24 hours. Conclusion The study found that EPs are receptive to referring patients for home-based healthcare following ED treatment and believe people with certain diagnoses are likely to benefit, with the dominant barrier being the absence of an efficient referral process.\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\nClinicians, researchers, and government agencies recognize the need to move toward value-based healthcare delivery that supports population health, better matches the needs of an aging population, and reduces the emerging burden of healthcare costs for the U.S.1 Since the release of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) final rule in 2016, providers are increasingly incentivized by Medicare to assume more risk, not only to save money but to provide care that is more person-centered, higher quality, and more affordable. Seniors are also shifting from traditional fee-for-service Medicare to Medicare Advantage plans, the latter of which often provide access to additional benefits such as medications and other services.2\n\nOf the $3 trillion spent per year on healthcare in the U.S., $2 trillion is spent on chronic disease, with inpatient medical care accounting for 31% of nationwide health spending ($1 trillion per year).3 Emergency departments (ED) are the primary entry point for hospital admissions. In effect, emergency physicians (EP) act as gatekeepers in the decision to admit patients to hospitals.4 Specifically, over half of all hospital admissions and nearly 70% of senior admissions occur through the ED.5,6\n\nCurrently, EPs are generally afforded only three disposition options for patients presenting to the ED: (1) discharge, (2) observe, or (3) admit. While admission may represent the most appropriate option for many acute conditions, there also exist risks of \u201cdefault\u201d admissions, where there are simply no other options for a needed course of therapy or monitoring following ED evaluation and management. In some instances, admission may not be the best match for ongoing management of multiple chronic conditions, especially in the frail elderly where there is an elevated risk of in-hospital nosocomial infections, delirium, and falls.7\n\nThere is an emerging need to provide EPs with home-based healthcare alternatives to hospital admission, particularly for the elderly. The first objective of the study was to investigate the level of EP\u2019s awareness about their ability to refer patients to home-based healthcare, and the EPs\u2019 experience, if any, in invoking a home-health referral. The next objective was to uncover EP motivations for considering the use of home health for ED patients versus hospital admission, the type of patients EPs select, and time requirements for an initial home-health visit. The final objective was to gain knowledge, through conducting focus groups and interviews that paired EPs with key ED clinicians and decision makers about the incentives or barriers for using home care as an alternative to hospital admission. An analysis of the potential cost basis for home-based care as an alternative to hospitalization is presented elsewhere.8\n\nMETHODS\n\nStudy Design and Participants\n\nWe used an email survey, a focus group, and interview methodologies to explore knowledge of and willingness to use appropriate and safe home care as an alternative to hospital admission. The research setting included two EDs in an academic healthcare system. One hospital was an urban academic teaching hospital (Level I trauma center) with an annual census of 48,000 visits. The second was a suburban community hospital with an annual census of 27,000 visits. An Emergency Medicine Physician Survey was electronically distributed to all 52 attending physicians practicing in the health system\u2019s EDs between August and September 2014. A total of 48 (92.3%) physicians responded to the survey.\n\nPopulation Health Research Capsule\n\nWhat do we already know about this issue?\n\nWe know that most hospital admissions originate in the ED. We also know that repeated hospitalizations for older adults elevate the risk of nosocomial infections, delirium, and falls.\n\nWhat was the research question?\n\nWhat is the emergency physician\u2019s (EP) perspective on disposition to home-based care following evaluation and management in the ED?\n\nWhat was the major finding of the study?\n\nEPs are receptive to referring patients for home-based care, but few have access to processes for doing so.\n\nHow does this improve population health?\n\nIt shows the potential to reduce hospital admissions from the ED, which could allow more patients\u2014especially seniors\u2014to be cared for at lower cost in the comfort and safety of their own homes.\n\nFor the focus groups and interviews, study participants included three EPs, with the addition of ED leadership overseeing operations and quality, registered nurses (RNs) and social workers (SWs) employed in the ED. The focus of this research was confined to patients being evaluated in the ED.\n\nSelection of Focus Group Participants\n\nThe answers on the physician survey were, in part, used to develop the focus group interview guides. We selected physician participants if, on the survey, they indicated previous experience with referrals to home care as an alternative to admission. Of the 48 EPs who responded, 18 (37.5%) indicated prior experience with referring patients directly from the ED. All focus group participants were selected on their availability to participate during the time frame of December 2014 through February 2015. The study was approved by the institution\u2019s Human Research Protection Program.\n\nStudy Procedures and Data Analysis\n\nSurvey\n\nWe developed survey questions following qualitative data gathered from more than 40 telephone interviews with emergency physicians and nurses, hospital and home-health leaders, case managers, primary care physicians, and health plan administrators from across the U.S. Survey answer choices such as barriers to home-health referrals and conditions amenable to home health were gleaned from these preliminary interviews. We designed the survey questions to gauge EPs\u2019 awareness of and prior experience with referring to home-based care as an alternative to hospital-based care. Physicians were invited to complete the survey via e-mail. The survey consisted of five questions. The first question determined whether EPs had prior experience discharging patients to home-based healthcare directly from the ED. If they answered yes, the next question asked their reasons for this decision. The following two questions ascertained what motivations EPs had for considering a home-based referral, as well as the types of clinical diagnoses they would consider eligible. Finally, the survey inquired about the necessary response time the home-based care staff would need to provide for EPs to consider care at home a safe option.\n\nFocus Groups\n\nThe primary research team conducted three focus groups and four interviews, each approximately one hour in duration, using a discussion guide. Focus groups and interviews were audiotaped and then transcribed verbatim. The research team conducted thematic analysis using a horizontal approach.9 Four members of the research team independently read all focus group and interview transcripts to identify patterns of recurrent concepts. The team then sorted and coded the transcriptions, categorizing comments into major and minor themes based on frequency of similar comments from participants. Major themes and concepts were finalized by consensus.\n\nRESULTS\n\nEmergency Physician Survey\n\nOf the 48 respondents, 30 (62.5%) EPs indicated no prior experience ordering home-based care from the ED. When respondents were asked to indicate the three most important reasons or concerns that might influence their decision to discharge patients to home-based care (10 options were provided), the most common concern reported was \u201cno existing process in place to refer to home-based care,\u201d with 37 (77.1%) physicians rating this in their top three responses. The second most common response was \u201cunavailability of a care coordinator/case manager\u201d; 35 (72.9%) physicians rated this reason among their top three. See Figure 1.\n\nFigure 1 Other reasons listed: Feasibility to get PICC line and appropriate antibiotics delivered (1); Just not something that most of us are familiar with (1); Lack of emergency physician support to execute plan (1); Takes too much time to arrange in a busy ED (1); Unclear if patient\u2019s funding covers services (1).\n\nNext, physicians were asked to indicate the three most important motivators (or advantages) when considering home-based care (five options were provided). The most common motivator reported was to \u201creduce unnecessary hospitalizations and observation stays,\u201d with 43 (89.6%) physicians rating this advantage among their top three. The second most common motivator was \u201creduce risks associated with hospitalization,\u201d with 38 (79.2%) rating this in the top three. See Figure 2.\n\nFigure 2 Other motivators listed: Lower cost for equivalent care (1); Patient preference for care location (1); Preferred by patients and families (1); Reduced healthcare costs (1).\n\nPhysicians were then asked to indicate the top three medical conditions they would consider for home-based care (six options were provided). The three most common medical conditions reported were cellulitis (43 respondents, 89.6%), urinary tract infection (38, 79.2%), and diabetes (33, 68.8%). See Figure 3.\n\nFigure 3 COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; UTI, urinary tract infection.\n\nThe final question asked physicians to indicate how soon a home-based follow-up evaluation by a clinician would need to occur (four options were provided). The most common response indicating the specific time frame within which a physician believed a follow-up evaluation would need to occur was \u201cwithin 24 hours\u201d (21 respondents, 43.8%), followed by \u201cwithin 8 hours\u201d (13, 27.1%). See Figure 4.\n\nFigure 4 Other time frames listed: within 12 hours (4); next day (1); case dependent, for example, airway issues (pneumonia/congestive heart failure/chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) likely require earlier care at 8\u201312hrs, cellulitis 24\u201348hrs, etc. (1).\n\nFocus Group Thematic Analysis\n\nThree focus groups were convened with three participants each: (1) with three EPs, (2) with three EP leaders and, (3) with two SWs and one RN. The four individual interviews were conducted with three EPs and one ED RN. The majority of participating EPs had at least some experience in transitioning patients to home health following evaluation in the ED and believed it was a good option to have available. The major themes derived from the focus groups are discussed below and categorized in the table.\n\nKnowledge and education regarding: Efficacy and outcome data for: Streamlined ED processes Responsive and qualified home care Alternatives to admission Short- and longer-term clinical outcomes Easy to initiate Providers can respond within a short time What home care can provide Patient and family satisfaction Efficient ED workflows Clinicians have skills and expertise to deliver quality care Accessing home care alternatives Patient safety Effective clinician hand-offs TableFour areas of need identified by focus groups queried about the feasibility of transitioning patients from the emergency department to home-based healthcare.\n\nRecognition of a Need for Awareness and Education Regarding Alternatives to Admission\n\nParticipants indicated a gap in education of EPs and nursing staff regarding what options exist for home care and the types of services and treatment that can be provided, stating, for example, that \u201cthere is a simple lack of awareness [that] we can do it this way\u201d and \u201cawareness is a major factor.\u201d In addition, clinicians wanted to know how to access these services from the ED. One participant stated, \u201cThere is no book on case management. There are concepts, there\u2019s a lot of on-the-job training, and it is very situationally different.\u201d\n\nParticipants identified the need, due to staff turnover, for ongoing education of new employees and ED residents in regard to home-based care options. Most agreed that to sustain momentum the education also needed to include frequent reminders because \u201clearning goes away after a few months.\u201d The prevailing message was summed up by this physician participant: \u201cIn the event of a patient who everyone agrees doesn\u2019t necessarily need to be admitted, but has no good alternative, we, the ED physicians, are also not wanting to admit these people. We would love to have an adequate alternative.\u201d\n\nData on the Short- and Longer-Term Benefits of Home-Based Care\n\nParticipants felt there were short- and longer-term benefits of home- and community-based care, stating, for example, \u201cWhatever can be addressed at home should be\u201d; \u201cFrom a social perspective, people do, in my opinion, tend to heal better at home, assuming they have a normal home\u201d; and \u201cThere is a realization of so much of what we do in the hospital can really be done at home with appropriate care-takers, and keeping them in the hospital wasn\u2019t going to do a whole lot different than sending them home with some help.\u201d Recognized benefits of home-based care were accompanied by acknowledgment of risk in sending home patients who still need monitoring or interventions. Most physicians felt the patients would be safe as long as they were assured of timely follow-up. \u201cIf I could know they\u2019d be seen the next day, I still would [send them home],\u201d and \u201cIf I feel that the family and patient are comfortable, I\u2019m not that concerned about medical/legal ramifications.\u201d\n\nThe Need for Streamlined ED Processes to Transition Patients Home\n\nParticipants acknowledged the critical need for streamlined processes to transition patients home from the ED. Currently both process and operational barriers exist. In particular, ED operations include time constraints, and participants indicated adding on time-consuming or complicated processes significantly reduces the likelihood the practice would be adopted. ED-to-home transitions must be easy, streamlined, and time-efficient. One physician stated, \u201cA lot of our patients can be taken care of at home, but just due to logistics \u2026 sometimes it becomes a challenge.\u201d Another EP said, \u201cOften, we\u2019re really busy down there, and we often take the path of least resistance.\u201d Others expressed standardized order sets, protocols, or algorithms would be helpful.\n\nThe strongest recommendation for streamlining was that EDs have someone on site to arrange the transition. The availability of ED case managers\u2014a hard-to-fill position in the hospital due to lack of applicants\u2014was said to be a real problem.\n\nMany explained they\u2019d had difficulty getting assistance even from inpatient case managers. These were several of the comments: \u201cThe physical presence of a case manager or social worker in the ED is critical\u201d; \u201cWe can avoid the inpatient admission with a series of home health visits. We can actually do this. But without the intermediary of a case manager or social worker involved in the ED, this is very difficult to orchestrate\u201d; \u201cI think we just need a steady case manager presence\u201d; and \u201cSome of them [case managers] have amazing concepts of what can be done at home.\u201d\n\nThe Need for Home-Based Care that is Responsive and Provides Qualified Staff\n\nThe need for home-based care to be responsive and provide qualified staff was viewed as extremely important. Some participants discussed challenges in ensuring a qualified home-health workforce. Concern over current compensation structures that may be driving less experienced staff to seek home care jobs was expressed: \u201cMaybe home health doesn\u2019t pay well. Maybe they need to be more comparable to hospitals to have good employees.\u201d\n\nAdditional concepts that arose were clinical oversight immediately following the ED encounter, avenues for reimbursement, and regulatory limitations.\n\nParticipants also discussed barriers that exist in the broader healthcare ecosystem. Regulations and reimbursement can influence where patients are treated. In order to create new options, participants said, for example, that we \u201cmust figure out financial incentives.\u201d Participants articulated that disposition alternatives are limited by what services and treatments get reimbursed and what is easily accessed. Traditional community-based healthcare options (e.g., home health agencies and infusion clinics) typically operate during regular business hours, with little or no responsiveness during the evenings, nights, or weekends. Participants indicated that providing needed care in the most appropriate setting, ED-to-home options need to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Participants admitted that currently \u201cEDs do not have other good alternatives to admission,\u201d and until those options exist EPs will more often than not default to a hospital admission, even if patients do not require hospital-level care. Participants with experience in ED-to-home transitions found the process \u201ceasier if the home health agency is part of the health system.\u201d\n\nThe need for a supportive hospital administration was also seen as key to overcoming system barriers because admissions are the main revenue source for hospitals, and efforts to reduce admissions may not be met with support.\n\nIn the focus groups, one broad category of possible candidates for home healthcare instead of admission were patients needing intravenous antibiotics for diagnoses such as cellulitis, uncomplicated community-acquired pneumonia, and urinary tract infections. Other diagnoses often mentioned were congestive heart failure and lower extremity deep vein thrombosis. Others indicated that in general the elderly would do better at home whenever possible, and that home care would be a good alternative for patients who were refusing admission and requesting to go home. Most participants agreed that at present the decision to arrange for home care to avoid an admission is made on a case-by-case basis.\n\nDISCUSSION\n\nSubstituting more acute home-based care for hospital-based care has been widely adopted in single-payer systems overseas and to a lesser extent domestically within integrated delivery networks and Veterans Administration hospitals.10-12 Studies conducted both in the U.S. and abroad show that providing healthcare services in the home is safe, effective, satisfying to patients and clinicians, and lower in cost. 7, 13-16 One such effort is the Hospital at Home\u00ae model, which shifts acute care out of the hospital and into the home for select patient cohorts. This model substitutes hospital-level care for a similar level of home-based care.7 Broader adoption of this model, especially in non-integrated healthcare systems, has historically been hampered in the U.S. by reimbursement and regulations that have not strongly incentivized short-term, higher-intensity care in the home. Although the body of research on substitutive models demonstrated feasibility, providers seeking hospital-level reimbursement were not successful.17\n\nHome-based healthcare, which includes home health, provides skilled nursing and therapy services following an acute hospitalization. It is a widely used lower-cost option compared to both hospitalization and in-home care by a physician. In the U.S., home health is covered as a benefit, provided to both Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. The Medicare home health benefit requires both a skilled need and patients meeting home-bound criteria. Although home health services in the U.S. are growing, use of this care delivery option is not widely employed as an alternative for hospital-based care directly following care in the ED. However, the benefit does provide coverage for skilled home-based healthcare services and treatments, including those necessary following ED treatment.\n\nPrior to the present study, little was known regarding the extent to which EPs might recommend home-based delivery of acute medical care. Furthermore, it was not well known whether EPs were aware of what health services are available in the home and whether care at home is a safe and effective option. The present study provides insight into EPs\u2019 knowledge and attitudes toward the option of using home-based healthcare directly from the ED. Nearly three quarters of physicians indicated the main barrier was a lack of processes and help to arrange the transition to home care. Given the number of sick and injured patients coming into the ED, physicians expressed a need for a well-trained support network within the ED, including staff with clear guidelines and infrastructure necessary to transition patients smoothly from ED to the home. EPs expressed a strong motivation to reduce unnecessary admissions and the associated risks of hospitalizations. They also identified the types of patients they consider candidates for home care and the time frame during which they would need the patients to be seen at home.\n\nFocus group participants also identified several barriers that must be overcome to make the ED-to-home option more viable. A knowledge gap exists in that 12 of the physicians either did not know home-based care was an option from the ED, had never encountered the situation, or were not familiar enough with the process to be comfortable using it. Participants acknowledged they encounter patients receiving care in the hospital that could as easily be provided in the home. The main challenges were (1) a lack of time in the ED to arrange home health, (2) a lack of knowledge on how to arrange for home health, and (3) a lack of understanding of the kind of services home health can provide.\n\nIn light of recent healthcare outcomes research that has begun to quantify the hazards of hospitalization,18-20 there is growing belief that certain patients, especially the elderly, might fare better at home. If these higher-risk patients are able to avoid hospitalization, it may reduce their exposure to resistant pathogens, noise, unfamiliar environments, and risk of falls and delirium, and can reasonably be translated into better outcomes and patient satisfaction.\n\nLIMITATIONS\n\nSeveral limitations should be considered in the context of this study. First, because the sample size for the survey was small and limited to the relatively narrow setting of an academic medical center, generalizations to nationwide perspectives are beyond the scope of this study. Additionally, individuals selected for interviews that led to development of survey questions were professionals paid for their time to participate. However, these individuals were not informed that their answers would be used to create survey questions.\n\nThe survey was intended to uncover thematic areas, first in a local setting, with the potential for surveying a broader sample, and providing the potential for modification and adjustment of the questions. The interview and focus groups were a small convenience sample of self-selected individuals limited to a single institution. These included only three EPs, and therefore may similarly not be representative of the broader population of EPs and ED RNs and SWs. Regional differences in practice patterns, availability of home-based care, and variability in the number and types of personnel staffing EDs may have further biased the responses of the study participants. Surveying a larger, more geographically diverse group of EPs could provide a more balanced perspective.\n\nCONCLUSION\n\nThis study revealed that EPs are generally receptive to referring patients for home-based healthcare following ED treatment to reduce the incidence of \u201cdefault\u201d hospital admissions. EPs also believe patients with certain diagnoses are likely to benefit and may avoid many of the iatrogenic risks of hospitalization. However, few EPs know specifically what services are available in the home and lack knowledge of the process for invoking an \u201cED to home-based healthcare\u201d transition. While limited statistical inferences can be drawn from the current survey, the results of this study do serve as a conversation starter, and also form the basis for the design of a larger, nationwide survey. Because the study highlights a general willingness on the part of the EP community, future research should therefore further investigate, on a broader scale, what system-level changes could potentially realize the opportunity for EPs to be provided with a broader range of transition options from the ED. Future research should also explore patient and physician satisfaction with alternative disposition options as well as relevant outcome data (e.g. ED bounce-back rates, need for subsequent hospitalization, etc.). With the emergence of value-based payment reform, more incentives are emerging for both physicians and hospitals to provide these additional options in furtherance of high-value care in the most appropriate setting.\n\nFootnotes\n\nSection Editor: David Thompson, MD\n\nFull text available through open access at http://escholarship.org/uc/uciem_westjem\n\nAddress for Correspondence: Amy Stuck, PhD, RN, West Health Institute, Health Services, Successful Aging, 10350 N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037. Email: arstuck@westhealth.org. 6 / 2017; 18:761 \u2013 769\n\nSubmission history: Revision received September 7, 2016; Submitted March 30, 2017; Accepted March 25, 2017\n\nConflicts of Interest: By the WestJEM article submission agreement, all authors are required to disclose all affiliations, funding sources and financial or management relationships that could be perceived as potential sources of bias. No author has professional or financial relationships with any companies that are relevant to this study. There are no conflicts of interest or sources of funding to declare.\n\nREFERENCES\n\n1. Burwell SM. Setting value-based payment goals \u2013 HHS efforts to improve U.S. health care. N Engl J Med. 2015;372(10):897-9.\n\n2. Jacobson GA, Neuman P, Damico A. At least half of new Medicare advantage enrollees had switched from traditional Medicare during 2006\u201311. Health Aff (Millwood). 2015;34(1):48-55.\n\n3. Martin AB, Lassman D, Washington B, et al. Growth in US health spending remained slow in 2010; Health share of gross domestic product was unchanged from 2009. Health Aff (Millwood). 2012;31(1):208-19.\n\n4. Schuur JD, Venkatesh AK. The growing role of emergency departments in hospital admissions. N Engl J Med. 2012;367(5):391-3.\n\n5. Moore B, Levit K, Elixhauser A. Costs for hospital stays in the United States, 2012. HCUP Statistical Brief #181. 2014. Available at: https://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb181-Hospital-Costs-United-States-2012.jsp. Accessed March 30, 2017.\n\n6. Weiss AJ, Wier LM, Stocks C, et al. Overview of emergency department visits in the United States, 2011. HCUP Statistical Brief #174. 2014. Available at: https://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb174-Emergency-Department-Visits-Overview.pdf. Accessed March 30, 2017.\n\n7. Leff B, Burton L, Mader SL, et al. Hospital at home: feasibility and outcomes of a program to provide hospital-level care at home for acutely ill older patients. Ann Intern Med. 2005;143(11):798-808.\n\n8. Crowley C, Stuck AR, Martinez T, et al. Survey and chart review to estimate Medicare cost savings for home health as an alternative to hospital admission following emergency department treatment. J Emerg Med. 2016;51(6):643-7.\n\n9. Borkan J. Immersion/crystallization. Doing Qualitative Research. 2009:179-94.\n\n10. Mader SL, Medcraft MC, Joseph C, et al. Program at home: a Veterans Affairs healthcare program to deliver hospital care in the home. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2008;56(12):2317-22.\n\n11. Montalto M. The 500-bed hospital that isn\u2019t there: the Victorian Department of Health review of the Hospital in the Home program. Med J Aust. 2010;193(10):598-601.\n\n12. Cryer L, Shannon SB, Van Amsterdam M, et al. Costs for \u2018hospital at home\u2019 patients were 19 percent lower, with equal or better outcomes compared to similar inpatients. Health Aff (Millwood). 2012;31(6):1237-43.\n\n13. Leff B, Burton L, Mader S, et al. Satisfaction with hospital at home care. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2006;54(9):1355-1363.\n\n14. Frick KD, Burton LC, Clark R, et al. Substitutive Hospital at Home for older persons: effects on costs. Am J Manag Care. 2009;15(1):49-56.\n\n15. Leff B, Burton L, Mader SL, et al. Comparison of functional outcomes associated with hospital at home care and traditional acute hospital care. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2009;57(2):273-8.\n\n16. Marsteller JA, Burton L, Mader SL, et al. Health care provider evaluation of a substitutive model of hospital at home. Med Care. 2009;47(9):979-85.\n\n17. Siu AL, Spragens LH, Inouye SK, et al. The ironic business case for chronic care in the acute care setting. Health Affairs (Millwood). 2009;28(1):113-25.\n\n18. Davydow DS, Hough CL, Levine DA, et al. Functional disability, cognitive impairment, and depression after hospitalization for pneumonia. Am J Med. 2013;126(7):615-24.e5.\n\n19. Lakhan P, Jones M, Wilson A, et al. A prospective cohort study of geriatric syndromes among older medical patients admitted to acute care hospitals. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2011;59(11):2001-8.\n\n20. Inouye SK. Delirium in older persons. N Engl J Med. 2006;354(11):1157-65.", "output": "Clinicians, researchers, and government agencies recognize the need to move toward value-based healthcare delivery that supports population health, better matches the needs of an aging population, and reduces the emerging burden of healthcare costs for the U.S.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "For Covered California, Uncertainty Is The New Certainty \n About Capitol Desk Capitol Desk delivers the latest in health care policy and politics from Sacramento and around the state. Have an idea? Let us know.\n\nSACRAMENTO \u2014 Covered California\u2019s board made several multimillion-dollar decisions Thursday, all addressing one unsettling theme: uncertainty.\n\nOver and over, board members blamed \u201cuncertainty\u201d at the federal level for interfering with their ability to finalize premiums for 2018 and prepare consumers for open enrollment, which begins Nov. 1.\n\nIn response to that uncertainty, the board agreed to delay a critical decision on 2018 rate hikes, boost Covered California\u2019s marketing budget by more than $5 million and allow its participating insurers to make higher profits in the future \u2014 under certain circumstances.\n\n\u201cThe lack of clarity and direction at the federal level continues to be a challenge,\u201d said Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee. \u201cWhile we are doing our best to manage a difficult situation, we hope Congress and the administration will provide clear guidance on how [they intend] to stabilize the individual insurance market.\u201d\n\nUse Our Content This story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nOne of the most pressing questions facing Covered California and other Obamacare exchanges across the country is whether President Donald Trump will continue to fund critical subsidies that help reduce many consumers\u2019 out-of-pocket expenses.\n\nThe White House announced this week it would fund those so-called cost-sharing reduction payments this month but did not say whether it would continue to do so after that.\n\nCovered California is seeking a long-term commitment to fund the subsidies, which are available only to consumers whose incomes are low enough to qualify and who purchase silver-level plans, the second-least expensive among the exchange\u2019s four tiers of coverage. The subsidies reduce what they pay for medical expenses such as copayments and deductibles.\n\nEarlier this month, the exchange announced proposed average statewide rate hikes of 12.5 percent for 2018. It also floated an additional average surcharge of 12.4 percent on silver plans if the federal government does not commit to making the payments.\n\nCovered California was supposed to decide by the end of this month whether to apply the surcharge next year. But on Thursday, its board announced it will push the deadline to Sept. 30.\n\n\u201cOur hope is that by changing the deadline to allow Congress to act, we will not have to deal with the \u2026 surcharge,\u201d Lee said.\n\nThe surcharge would vary by region and plan, ranging from 8 percent to 27 percent \u2014 on top of the regular annual premium increases, Lee said.\n\nCovered California consumers who receive tax credits to reduce their monthly premiums would not bear the full brunt of the increase, however, because those credits would also rise.\n\nDelaying the decision until the end of September doesn\u2019t leave much time for Covered California \u2014 its health plans \u2014 to finalize rates and prepare consumers to renew their health plans or shop for new ones, said Diana Dooley, board chair and secretary of the state Health and Human Services Agency.\n\nBut the board doesn\u2019t want to raise silver plan rates prematurely, in case Congress acts next month to fund the cost-sharing subsidies on a more durable basis, she said.\n\nIf Congress doesn\u2019t act until the very end of September, \u201cthat will put extraordinary pressure on our system,\u201d she said.\n\nCharles Bacchi, president and CEO of the California Association of Health Plans, said 1.2 million renewal packets will have to be dispatched to enrollees on a very tight timeline.\n\n\u201cIt is going to be a heavy lift, but the plans will work to do the best we can under difficult circumstances,\u201d he said.\n\nThe board also agreed to modify its contracts with participating insurers to allow them to make higher profits in 2019, 2020 and 2021 if they lose money next year as a result of continued uncertainty or changes in existing federal policy.\n\nFor example, one way insurers could lose money is if the federal government stops enforcing the Obamacare requirement to have health insurance, known as the individual mandate, Covered California said.\n\nThe change also requires plans that reap increased profits next year \u2014 again, because of uncertainty or changes in federal policy \u2014 to lower their premiums over the next one to three years.\n\nLee explained that Covered California\u2019s insurers usually make a profit of about 1 to 3 percent annually. But, for example, if one should lose money next year, its profit margin could grow to 6 to 8 percent in the subsequent three years, he said.\n\nAny profit increase would be decided on a case-by-case basis and depend on the amount of the loss, he said.\n\nThe contract amendment would not change any laws or violate any rules, such as the Medical Loss Ratio provision of the Affordable Care Act, Lee said. That provision requires most insurance companies that cover individuals and small businesses to spend at least 80 percent of their premium dollars on medical care and the remaining 20 percent on administration, marketing and profit.\n\nConsumer advocates testified Thursday that they were initially skeptical of the change, but they now hope it will save consumers money in the long run.\n\n\u201cWe like the idea that it is balanced and if [there is profit], it could go to reducing premiums,\u201d said Doreena Wong, project director at Asian Americans Advancing Justice, a Los Angeles-based civil rights group.\n\nIn another move tied to the uncertainty over federal policy, the board agreed to increase its marketing budget by $5.3 million, bringing the total to $111.5 million for 2017-18. The additional money will pay for more radio and television spots, and more direct mail to consumers.\n\nSome of the advertising will target Covered California enrollees who are losing their Anthem Blue Cross plan next year.\n\nAnthem will exit the individual market in 16 of the state\u2019s 19 pricing regions, which will force 153,000 enrollees to find new plans. Anthem cited uncertainty and market instability for its pullout.\n\n\u201cThis open enrollment is going to be our most challenging since year one,\u201d Lee said.", "output": "Covered California\u2019s board made several multimillion-dollar decisions Thursday, all addressing one unsettling theme: uncertainty. Over and over, board members blamed \u201cuncertainty\u201d at the federal level for interfering with their ability to finalize premiums for 2018 and prepare consumers for open enrollment, which begins Nov. 1.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Medicare Unveils \u2018Skeletal\u2019 Site For Hospice Comparison Shopping \n Medicare launched a website aimed at helping families choose a hospice \u2014 but experts say it doesn\u2019t help very much.\n\nThe Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services this week released Hospice Compare, a consumer-focused website that lets families compare up to three hospice agencies at a time, among 3,876 nationwide. Following similar websites for hospitals and nursing homes, the site aims to improve transparency and empower families to \u201ctake ownership of their health,\u201d according to a press release.\n\nThrough the website, families can see how hospices performed in seven categories, including how many patients were screened for pain and breathing difficulties, and how many patients on opioids were offered treatment for constipation.\n\nBut the measurements of quality, which are self-reported by hospices, have limited utility, some experts say. Over three-quarters of hospices scored at least 91 percent out of 100 on six of the seven categories, a recent paper in Health Affairs found. Because so many hospices reported high marks, there is \u201clittle room\u201d for using these metrics to measure hospice quality, argued the authors, led by Dr. Joan Teno at the University of Washington.\n\nThe Hospice Compare grades are based on hospices reporting whether they followed a specific process, such as screening for pain when the patient arrives. This type of metric may lead staff to just check a box to indicate they completed the desired process, resulting in high grades for everyone, which is not helpful for consumers or for quality improvement, the authors wrote.\n\nUse Our Content This KHN story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nMeanwhile, Teno\u2019s other research has found troubling variation in hospice quality, measured by how often hospice staff visit a patient when death is imminent.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s nice that they\u2019re at least beginning to be concerned about hospice quality,\u201d said Dr. Joanne Lynn of the Altarum Institute, a longtime hospice physician and researcher, of CMS\u2019 new website. But \u201cat the present time, it\u2019s of pretty limited value.\u201d\n\nLynn said people trying to choose a hospice would be better helped by other kinds of information, such as the average caseload for hospice staff; what percentage of patients are discharged alive; and whether the hospice predominantly serves nursing home patients or devotes significant resources to at-home care.\n\nThe Hospice Compare website also doesn\u2019t say how often hospices run awry of federal regulations: Inspection reports, which contain verified consumer complaints as well as problems uncovered during routine inspections, are not part of the website, as they are for nursing homes.\n\nRecent hospice inspection reports may be hard to find. Until a recent federal rule change, hospices could go as long as six years without being inspected. By 2018, CMS requires states to increase the frequency to once every three years.\n\nCommon quality measures for hospitals and nursing homes, such as mortality rates, don\u2019t translate well to the hospice setting, where people are expected to die, Lynn noted.\n\nAlthough Hospice Compare is \u201cskeletal\u201d at the moment, Lynn said, it does enable families to search which hospices are near them, and find the hospice\u2019s phone number to start asking questions.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m hoping that it continues to improve over time,\u201d as CMS\u2019 other consumer-focused websites have, she said.\n\nNext year, CMS plans to add family ratings of hospices, including how timely hospice staff were when a patient needed help. CMS is also collecting data on the number of staff visits a patient received in the final week before death. That information should be made public in late 2018, a CMS spokesman said Wednesday.\n\nKHN\u2019s coverage of end-of-life and serious illness issues is supported by The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and its coverage related to aging & improving care of older adults is supported by The John A. Hartford Foundation.", "output": "Medicare launched a website aimed at helping families choose a hospice \u2014 but experts say it doesn\u2019t help very much. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services this week released Hospice Compare, a consumer-focused website that lets families compare up to three hospice agencies at a time, among 3,876 nationwide.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Too Few Patients Follow The Adage: You Better Shop Around \n Despite having more financial \u201cskin in the game\u201d than ever, many consumers don\u2019t make any attempt to compare prices for health care services, a newly released study found.\n\nIn a survey of nearly 3,000 adults younger than 65, about half of the roughly 1,900 who said they spent money on medical care in the previous year reported that they knew in advance what their costs would be. Of those who didn\u2019t anticipate how much they would owe before receiving care, only 13 percent said they tried to predict their out-of-pocket expenses. An even smaller proportion, 3 percent, compared prices from multiple providers ahead of time.\n\nIt wasn\u2019t that survey respondents were ignorant of price differences or didn\u2019t care about them. More than 90 percent said they believed that prices vary greatly among providers, and 71 percent said that the amount they spent out-of-pocket was important or very important when choosing a doctor. Yet most respondents said they didn\u2019t comparison shop or even ask how much they would owe in copayments or other cost-sharing expenses before they turned up for an appointment.\n\nResearchers conducted the online survey in February and March of 2015, dividing respondents into three groups: uninsured, insured in a plan with an annual deductible higher than $1,250 for single coverage or $2,500 for family coverage, or insured in a plan with a lower deductible or no deductible. The results were published in the August issue of Health Affairs.\n\nInsuring Your Health KHN contributing columnist Michelle Andrews writes the series Insuring Your Health, which explores health care coverage and costs. To contact Michelle with a question or comment, click here. This KHN story can be republished for free (details).\n\nThree-quarters of the study participants said they did not know of any resource that would allow them to compare costs, while half said that if a website showing such information were available, they would use it.\n\n\u201cIf price shopping is an important policy goal, it will be necessary to increase the availability of information on price and decrease the complexity of accessing the information,\u201d the researchers wrote. They noted that patients trying to figure out pricing information and their share of the cost must often know specific procedures\u2019 billing codes, the difference between professional fees and facility fees, and the details of how their insurance plan is structured.\n\n\u201cOur results emphasize that simply passing price transparency laws or regulations (as over half of states have done) appears insufficient to facilitate price shopping,\u201d they added.\n\nMost respondents said they did not think there was a relationship between lower cost and lower quality.\n\nOne reason for the lack of shopping activity may be that consumers value the ongoing relationship they have with an existing doctor and don\u2019t want to disrupt that, said Neeraj Sood, professor of public policy at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and one of the study\u2019s authors.\n\nAnother possible explanation is that despite efforts by states, employers and insurers to make price information readily available, shopping for health care services is nowhere near as user-friendly and intuitive as buying something on Amazon or Expedia.\n\n\u201cMaybe right now these tools are so primitive that even though there is a financial incentive to shop, people aren\u2019t doing it,\u201d Sood said.\n\nPeople surveyed were most likely to search out prices before going to a retail or urgent care clinic compared with other care facilities. Consumers who received physical therapy or lab and imaging services were more likely than others to comparison shop for providers, the survey found.\n\nPlease visit kffhealthnews.org/columnists to send comments or ideas for future topics for the Insuring Your Health column.", "output": "Despite having more financial \u201cskin in the game\u201d than ever, many consumers don\u2019t make any attempt to compare prices for health care services, a newly released study\u00a0found.\u00a0In a survey of nearly 3,000 adults younger than 65, about half of the roughly 1,900 who said they spent money on medical care in the previous year reported that they knew in advance what their costs would be.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "In Tennessee, Promoting Enrollment in Tenuous Health Care Plans \n The evidence so far suggests they won\u2019t. The administration recently ended $23 million worth of contracts with two companies that helped people sign up for coverage. It also is cutting the enrollment period in half in most states, to 45 days. A number of advocacy groups that worked closely with the Obama administration to get the word out about open enrollment have heard nothing from the Trump administration about re-upping the partnerships this year.\n\nAll of this has Ms. Barker and other Obamacare enrollment counselors around the nation, many of whom rely on federal grants to carry out their work and to keep their jobs, revving up earlier than usual, and bracing for the strange new challenge of promoting coverage that the president is attacking at the same time. They are not even certain the law\u2019s mandate that most Americans have health insurance or pay a tax penalty will be enforced.\n\nA recent sticky Friday found Ms. Barker passing out fliers about open enrollment at a back-to-school fair in East Nashville. To every parent and grandparent who strolled past, she asked, \u201cYou have health insurance?\u201d Nearby was her favorite prop: a wheel that passers-by could spin with a dial that landed on terms like \u201cdeductible\u201d and \u201cpenalty,\u201d which she cheerfully explained to those willing to listen.\n\nFor the law\u2019s first four enrollment seasons, the Obama administration spent heavily on advertising, recruited celebrities like Katy Perry and companies like Uber to spread the word and scrutinized data to pinpoint potential customers. But this year, community-based enrollment groups, known as navigators, may be largely on their own.\n\n\u201cThis is going to be the heaviest lift we have ever tried to undertake,\u201d said Jessie Menkens, navigator program coordinator for the Alaska Primary Care Association. \u201cWe will be shouting out for people to recognize this really is not over \u2014 that regardless of what deliberations are happening in Washington, this is still truly the law of the land.\u201c", "output": "Sharon Barker isn\u2019t used to recruiting new health insurance customers in deepest summer, long before the enrollment season for the Affordable Care Act. But this year, everything is different.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Time Crunch Among Hurdles for Bipartisan Senate Push to Bolster ACA \n The leaders of a key Senate committee say they are cautiously optimistic about reaching a deal to shore up the Affordable Care Act\u2019s individual marketplaces, but even with a bipartisan effort, it is far from certain whether they can hash out an agreement in time.\n\nThe Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee leaders of both parties have set a self-imposed mid-September deadline for a bipartisan agreement. To keep lingering animosity from the Obamacare repeal fight from seeping into negotiations, Chairman Lamar Alexander has made clear that what he\u2019s seeking is far from comprehensive.\n\nThe bill will have to be \u201csmall, bipartisan and balanced,\u201d the Tennessee Republican said in a statement Wednesday.\n\nAbove all, Democrats want to make sure insurers continue to receive payments that help them cover out-of-pocket costs for some low-income patients. President Donald Trump has threatened to cut off the payments, and the administration has kept insurers on tenterhooks by making them only on a month-to-month basis.\n\nWithout the subsidies, known as cost-sharing reductions, some insurers warn they\u2019ll be forced pull out of the ACA markets or hike premiums. The companies need certainty about payments at the latest by Sept. 27, the final deadline for them to decide whether to sell Obamacare plans in 2018.\n\nIf the committee can reach agreement next month, it would still be a challenge to get a bill through the full Senate and House before the key deadline for insurers. And Trump would still have to sign a bill into law that extends payments he is loath to continue.\n\nThe potential for chaos was highlighted this week when the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released a report estimating average premiums would rise 20 percent next year and the federal deficit would grow by $194 billion by 2026 if the administration stops paying.\n\nWhile some conservative hard-liners want to cut off the CSRs, Alexander and other top Republicans have shown they\u2019re willing to work with Democrats to have Congress extend the payments.\n\nSen. Patty Murray of Washington, the panel\u2019s ranking Democrat, on Thursday called for quick action.\n\n\u201cPeople across the country are facing much higher premiums next year because of uncertainty driven by the Trump Administration, so I hope Republicans will join Democrats to act quickly to protect patients and families from paying more for care they need \u2014 and then continue working in a bipartisan way to make health care more affordable, accessible, and higher quality for all,\u201d Murray said in a statement.\n\nDemocrats also want some sort of reinsurance program, an idea that has bipartisan support and would help insurers pay for their most expensive enrollees.\n\nBut in return for extending CSRs and including reinsurance, Republicans want to give states more authority over their health care systems, and Democrats could balk at some of their proposals.\n\nAlexander has specifically pointed to changing the ACA\u2019s 1332 waiver program, which allows states to opt out of key ACA regulations as long as it doesn\u2019t lead to reduced coverage, skimpier benefits, more expensive insurance or a higher federal deficit.\n\nIn remarks to reporters earlier this month, Alexander noted a proposal that would eliminate all of those requirements besides increasing the federal deficit, in order to give states \u201cmore of an opportunity to approve insurance plans.\u201d The plan, which was included in Senate Republicans\u2019 health overhaul bill, would also bar the administration from rejecting a waiver as long as it doesn\u2019t increase the federal deficit.\n\nDemocrats would likely oppose that proposal, wary of allowing states to undercut key Obamacare requirements without those other conditions in place.\n\nSen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said he\u2019s interested in a proposal from Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) to let states replace Obamacare\u2019s most contentious provision \u2014 the mandate requiring people to purchase health insurance or pay a penalty \u2014 with a system that automatically enrolls individuals in low-cost coverage if they don\u2019t do so on their own.\n\nBackers of this approach argue it would offer comparable coverage to the individual mandate while being less intrusive, allowing people to opt out.\n\n\u201cI think that\u2019s intriguing,\u201d Kaine said earlier this month in a brief interview. \u201cWe ought to have that discussion, but you can\u2019t blow the mandate without something to bring people into the program and do what insurance needs to do, which is to spread risk.\u201d\n\nBut auto-enrollment has raised concerns among some liberal health care analysts, including over how to implement and administer such a system. The outstanding questions cast doubt on whether it could garner enough backing to be included in the stabilization bill.", "output": "The leaders of a key Senate committee say they are cautiously optimistic about reaching a deal to shore up the Affordable Care Act\u2019s individual marketplaces, but even with a bipartisan effort, it is far from certain whether they can hash out an agreement in time.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Evaluation of a Hospital-in-Home Program Implemented Among Veterans \n ABSTRACT\n\nObjectives: To examine the outcomes (ie, costs, hospitalizations, and mortality) associated with a Hospital-in-Home (HIH) program implemented in 2010 by the Veterans Affairs (VA) Pacific Islands Healthcare System in Honolulu, Hawaii.\n\nStudy Design: Retrospective cohort study.\n\nMethods: We obtained medical information for veterans who were enrolled in the HIH program in Honolulu, Hawaii, between 2010 and 2013. For purposes of comparison, we also gathered VA data to identify a cohort of hospitalized veterans in Honolulu who were eligible for, but not enrolled in, the HIH program. Using VA administrative data, we extracted a set of individual-level variables at baseline to account for the differences between program enrollees and comparators. In total, 99 HIH program enrollees and 322 unenrolled veterans were included. We identified 3 sets of outcome variables: total costs of care related to the index event (ie, HIH services for enrollees and hospitalizations for comparators), hospitalizations, and mortality after discharge from the index event. We used a propensity score-matching approach to examine the difference in related outcomes between enrollees and comparators.\n\nResults: The average medical cost was $5150 per person for veterans receiving HIH services, and $8339 per person for veterans receiving traditional inpatient services. The difference was statistically significant (P <.01). There was no statistically significant difference in mortality or hospitalization rates after the index event.\n\nConclusions: This study provides evidence of the potential benefits of a model that delivers acute care in patients\u2019 homes. Considering the emergence of accountable healthcare organizations, interest in broader implementation of such programs may be worthy of investigation.\n\nAm J Manag Care. 2017;23(8):482-487\n\nTakeaway Points\n\nWe evaluated a Hospital-in-Home (HIH) program implemented in Honolulu, Hawaii. Using Veterans Affairs administrative data and a propensity score-matching approach, this study provided further confirmation of the potential benefits of this new care delivery model.\n\nThe costs of HIH services were 38% less than that of comparable inpatient hospitalizations.\n\nThere were no statistically significant differences in postdischarge hospitalization rates or mortality between HIH enrollees compared with veterans who were not enrolled in the program.\n\nWith the reform of Medicare payment models and the emergence of accountable care organizations, there may be more interest in implementing HIH programs.\n\nThe hospital is the traditional place to provide acute care. However, hospitalizations can be costly and may lead to further deterioration in health status among the elderly.1-4 The Hospital-in-Home (HIH) model offers an alternative approach to traditional hospital services.5-8 At the core of the HIH model is the goal of delivering hospital-level care to patients who have developed an acute episode that typically would require inpatient services, but who are medically stable enough to be treated at home.7-9 The common conditions that have been managed through HIH include congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, community-acquired pneumonia, and cellulitis.7,8,10-13 The HIH model has been associated with superior patient outcomes, such as reduced risks of delirium, improved functional status, improved satisfaction among patients and their family members, reduced mortality, reduced readmissions, and significantly lower costs.5,6,12,14-22 These studies vary in research design (eg, randomized trial or observational studies), study populations (eg, patients with different conditions in a variety of healthcare settings), and contrasting study methods and study outcomes.\n\nDespite promising findings, however, the HIH model has not been widely implemented in the United States. One of the barriers to the adoption of this model is the misalignment of financial incentives among patients, payers, and providers under the traditional fee-for-service payment system.7 Such disincentives may not be applicable to integrated healthcare delivery systems that are responsible for discrepancies in the costs and care of defined populations, such as managed care, accountable care, and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) healthcare systems.7\n\nThe Veterans Affairs (VA) health system is America\u2019s largest integrated healthcare system. Its highly integrated medical delivery system aligns both financial incentives and quality care delivery, and thus is motivated to promote an HIH model. In 2010, the VA Office of Geriatrics and Extended Care (GEC) community-based transformational (T-21) programs piloted the HIH model as an alternative to inpatient services. One of the HIH programs was implemented at the VA Pacific Islands Health Care System (VAPIHCS) in Honolulu, Hawaii. This program is unique in that it does not have its own acute care hospital, and instead relies on the Tripler Army Medical Center (TAMC) in Honolulu, to provide inpatient care to its veterans. A steady flow of resources is transferred from the VA to the Department of Defense to reimburse the Army as veterans receive inpatient care from the TAMC, making the financial incentive for the implementation of the HIH program apparent at the VAPIHCS. The aim of our study was to evaluate the costs and related outcomes of this program. It was conducted as an operationally requested quality improvement project that was exempt from Institutional Resource Board review. Approval to publish these results was obtained from the GEC.\n\nMETHODS\n\nThe Honolulu HIH Program\n\nWhen the VAPIHCS implemented the HIH program in September of 2010, the main targeted conditions included heart failure, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cellulitis. To recruit patients, the HIH program staff made repeated and frequent visits to the TAMC and the VA Ambulatory Care Center in Honolulu. The HIH staff communicated with hospitalists, medical residents, discharge planners, and social workers at the TAMC, as well as VHA providers, nurses, and other staff at the facility, and maintained a close working relationship with a home-based primary care (HBPC) facility whose staff would refer eligible patients. A pamphlet was developed with basic information regarding the HIH program and outlining the patient referral process.\n\nOne of the components of the Honolulu HIH program was the substitutive model (ie, it provided hospital-equivalent care in the veteran\u2019s home for those who would have otherwise been hospitalized). The requirement to enroll in the program was that the veteran was living at home and had 1 of the required admitting diagnoses. Veterans were referred to the HIH program from outpatient clinics and the VA HBPC, and were screened by physicians or registered nurses for appropriate diagnoses to ensure that care could be safely provided in the home. Once admitted to the program, veterans received required intravenous (IV) infusions, respiratory treatments, laboratory tests, x-rays, and wound care in the home. They also received daily nursing and physician visits, as needed, and had 24-hour access to an on-call geriatrician. Although no specific age limit was imposed in this study, the HIH program is listed under geriatrics service, and all of the physicians covering HIH are geriatric-trained physicians.\n\nHIH staff ordered and delivered required supplies and medications, scheduled medical transportation, and coordinated care to meet the medical needs of veterans, their families, and caregivers. The HIH nursing staff took calls during duty hours on weekends and holidays, and worked with an outside pharmacy to provide all needed IV medications. Veterans were discharged from the program once symptoms improved; ultimately, they transitioned to their usual primary care providers (PCPs) or HBPC, if necessary. A discharge summary was placed in the Computerized Patient Record System, the patient\u2019s Patient Aligned Care Team was notified, and follow-up care appointments were made with the PCP.\n\nData source. To evaluate the program, we (the GEC Data Analyses Center) followed specific steps. First, basic information was requested from the HIH program director to identify veterans who received care through this program. Social security number (SSN), date of birth, and gender were used to obtain the veteran\u2019s identifier number (ie, scrambled SSN) used in the VA data systems. Dates of HIH program enrollment and disenrollment were also used to define the \u201cactive\u201d period within the program and to establish both the program pre-enrollment phase prior to the trial, and the follow-up period following the program\u2019s completion.\n\nData were then obtained from multiple VA administrative sources via the VA\u2019s Corporate Data Warehouse. Specifically, data included vital status file, enrollment file, patient file, patient treatment file, outpatient file, Ward file, pharmacy file, inpatient treating specialty file, and fee-basis file from January 1, 2007, to September 30, 2013. These files contained demographic information (ie, age, gender, and race), VA enrollment status, and information about VA-provided services or VA-paid services, including the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes, dates of service, medication use, and the costs of VA-provided and VA-purchased services. These VA data were linked by individually scrambled SSNs and compiled chronologically into a single file to track veterans\u2019 utilization of health services.\n\nStudy Populations\n\nThe study population included HIH enrollees who were admitted to the Honolulu HIH program from a noninstitutional location (eg, outpatient clinics or home) between September 2010 and June 2013, and they were compared with a group of veterans who were not enrolled in the program, but were comparable to the enrollees. To identity potential comparators for the study, we used administrative data to include veterans who were not enrolled in the HIH program, but who were admitted to the TAMC for inpatient services from a noninstitutional location between January 2008 and September 2012 in Honolulu, Hawaii. We did not include nonenrollee veterans who had hospitalizations in fiscal year 2013 (FY13) as controls due to the concern of potential bias. Because of the expansion of the program, it is likely that the program enrolled most of the eligible veterans in FY13. Thus, those who were not enrolled during the same time period could be quite different from those who were enrolled. We then identified the primary diagnosis associated with hospital admissions and selected patients whose primary diagnosis was among the set of admission conditions stipulated for HIH enrollees. Furthermore, we identified the diagnosis-related group (DRG) and identified select hospital admissions with low-weight medical DRGs, with the assumption that the HIH enrollees did not have complications. This resulted in the 99 program enrollees and 322 nonenrolled veteran comparators who were identified for the study.\n\nAnalyses\n\nThree sets of outcome variables were evaluated. The first outcome was the total cost of care, including inpatient, outpatient, or pharmacy costs, incurred during the index event. These services were either provided by the VA (ie, DSS data) or paid for by the VA (ie, TAMC-provided inpatient services were captured on fee-for-service files). The duration of the index event referred to the time between the admission and discharge dates of HIH services for enrollees and hospitalizations for nonenrollees. Costs were adjusted to 2013 dollars by the Consumer Price Index. The second set of outcomes included the incidence of 30- and 90-day hospitalizations after the discharge of the index event. The third set of outcomes entailed 30-, 90-, and 180-day mortality after the veteran had been discharged from the index event.\n\nBased on VA administrative data, we extracted a set of individual-level variables at baseline (ie, the admission of the index event) to account for the potential differences between program enrollees and comparators. These variables included individual sociodemographic characteristics (eg, age, gender, race, and VA priority status that determined eligibility for Priority group 1 [veterans with 50% or more service-connected disabilities that precluded employment]), prior VA healthcare utilization (eg, number of inpatient events and total VA-paid costs in the 3, 6, and 12 months prior to the index event). In addition, we utilized VA claims data to obtain the ICD-9-CM codes recorded within the 1-year period prior to the admission of the index event, and identified a set of chronic conditions for each veteran. We also calculated the number of different drug classes used by the veterans within 1 year prior to the index event. We categorized the number of drug classes into 3 groups, including fewer than 5 drug classes (lower 25th percentile), 5 to 10 drug classes, and more than 10 drug classes (upper 25th percentile), to allow for the potential nonlinear relationship between the number of drug classes and outcomes. These individual-level characteristics could be correlated with the outcomes and, thus, the differences in each factor between enrollees and other subjects were considered.\n\nWe used a propensity score-matching approach to examine the difference in related outcomes between enrollees and controls. Specifically, a logistic regression was first estimated to predict the probability of HIH enrollment, based on individual factors we identified at the baseline, as described previously. After obtaining the probabilities, nonenrollees were matched to program enrollees based on the enrollee\u2019s probability of enrollment. (We used a radius-matching approach and required nonenrollees\u2019 probabilities of enrollment to be within the radius of 0.01 of the enrollees\u2019 probabilities). The outcomes were then compared between the 2 groups of veterans with matched probabilities. If there were multiple matched nonenrollees to 1 enrollee, the average difference in outcomes was calculated. The average treatment effect on the treated (ATT) population which represents the average difference in outcomes between the enrollees and matched nonenrollees) was then estimated by averaging over the unit-level treatment effects across matched pairs. The standard errors for the difference in outcomes (ATT) were obtained by a bootstrapping approach with 1000 iterations. The propensity score-matching process was performed by a STATA procedure, PSMATCH2. All the analyses were performed in STATA version 13 (StrataCorp; College Station, Texas) and SAS version 9.3 (SAS Institute Inc; Cary, North Carolina).\n\nRESULTS\n\nThe average age of enrollees was 73 years. As expected, the majority of veterans were admitted for pneumonia, congestive heart failure, diabetes, unitary tract infection, or cellulitis. The remaining veterans were admitted for management of other heart conditions (eg, chronic ischemic heart disease), kidney conditions (eg, pyelonephritis), or infections (eg, osteomyelitis). Similarly, approximately 90% of nonenrollees were hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of cellulitis, pneumonia, unitary tract infection, and heart failure. The DRG weights of these hospitalizations varied between 0.6176 and 0.9938 for nonenrollees. On average, the LOS of HIH services was 9.24 days for enrollees and 6.21 days for inpatient events.\n\nTable 1 presents a comparison of individual characteristics between enrollees and nonenrollees before and after propensity score matching. Individual characteristics were reasonably balanced through the propensity score-matching approach, with the average age being 73 years for enrollees and 74 years for comparators. About 95% of enrollees and 97% of the comparators were male. The prevalence of chronic conditions for the 2 groups was similar, with approximately 24% of both enrollees and comparators experiencing an inpatient event within 90 days of the index event. Overall, the comparators were not sicker than enrollees, and the likelihood of overestimating the effect of the HIH program would be small.\n\nEight enrollees could not be matched with a nonenrollee veteran, and therefore, were not included in the propensity score-matched population. The unmatched enrollees seemed to be sicker than the other enrollees at baseline. For example, on average, they were 7 years older than the other enrollees and had more comorbidities. They also incurred higher healthcare costs prior to the index event than the other enrollees (data were not presented in the table).\n\nThe comparison of the outcomes between enrollees and comparable nonenrollees after the propensity score matching (ie, the ATT population) is shown in Table 2. The HIH program was associated with a 38% reduction in costs compared with an inpatient event. The average cost for HIH services per enrollee was $5150, and the average cost of an inpatient stay among the comparators was $8339 per person. The difference, $3189 (38.2%), was statistically significant (P <.01). The differences in the 30-day and 90-day rehospitalization rates after discharge were not statistically significant (ie, the 30-day rehospitalization rate was 14.3% for enrollees and 12.6% for the comparators; P = .75), and the 90-day rehospitalization rate was 16.5% for program enrollees and 21.4% for comparators; P = .38). The 30-, 90- and 180-day mortality rates were 6.6%, 11,0%, and 13.2%, respectively, for enrollees, and 6.2 %, 14.1%, and 19.7%, respectively, for comparators. These differences were not statistically significant.\n\nDISCUSSION\n\nThe growing population of aging veterans and the increasing demand for inpatient services present a challenge to the VA healthcare system. This study evaluated an HIH program implemented among veterans in Honolulu, Hawaii. It was an observational study, and the identification of the comparison group and evaluation of the outcomes were based on administrative data. A propensity matching approach was applied to account for the potential differences between the enrollees and the comparison group. Although the study population and the study approach were different from previous studies,11,12,14,23,24 the findings were consistent in that we found that the HIH program provided hospital-equivalent care to eligible patients at a lower cost. Unlike some of the similar programs,13,14 the VAPIHCS did not operate an inpatient hospital, and so, creating the program required diligence in planning the care and the provision of special services to be developed from the beginning, including a comprehensive set-up of medical equipment, supplies, and personnel. Many managed care organizations are in a similar position as the VAPIHCS in that they are based in physician groups rather than health systems that operate hospitals, and it is reassuring that a nonhospital can successfully implement an HIH program.\n\nWe followed the HIH enrollees and the veterans chosen as comparators following their discharge from the HIH program or hospital, and did not find any statistically significant differences in mortality or rehospitalizations. On the other hand, it is likely that we underestimated the positive outcomes associated with the HIH program. For older adults, hospitalizations are associated with a high risk of adverse events (AEs), such as delirium, falls, and nosocomial infections.1-3,19,25 These hospital-acquired AEs not only lead to impairment in patients\u2019 health status, but can also be costly.26 Providing acute services at a patient's home, when possible, is a logical way to limit these negative outcomes, and has been found to be associated with better functional status and better quality of life (QOL) compared with those who received hospital inpatient care.15,22\n\nThe HIH model is well aligned with the goal to deliver patient-centered care, and the HIH team identifies each veteran\u2019s specific needs and provides high-quality care to accommodate them in a uniquely personal setting: the veteran\u2019s residence. Veterans can benefit from support of family members while receiving hospital-equivalent services, which could potentially improve QOL and general welfare.\n\nThe HIH model also has the potential to reduce the extent of care discontinuity occurring during an acute episode. For example, instead of sending a veteran to TAMC, the Honolulu HIH staff collaborates with HBPC staff, geriatric healthcare providers, and primary and specialty care staff to provide necessary services in patients\u2019 homes. Such collaboration and coordination facilitates the exchange of information among healthcare providers and ensures that appropriate medical measures are administered to veterans during and after participation in the program.\n\nLimitations\n\nHowever, these findings should be interpreted with caution. Unfortunately, we were not able to assess change in veterans\u2019 functional or cognitive status due to a lack of available data. In addition, we were not able to compare an individual\u2019s satisfaction level with their experience with the HIH program versus hospitalizations. We are also likely to have underestimated the positive outcomes of HIH programs as we only selected hospitalizations with low-weight DRGs, and it is likely that the HIH program provided care to patients with more complicated diagnoses.27 Furthermore, the propensity score-matching approach only accounted for observed factors. This was not a randomized trial, and therefore, it is likely that there were some unobserved differences between enrollees and comparators that could have confounded the effect of the HIH program on outcomes. For example, the severity of individual conditions at admission\u2014which can be related to costs, rehospitalizations, and mortality\u2014may not be completely captured by administrative data. If this is the case, our findings may be biased. However, we have accounted for critical individual-level factors. Furthermore, based on the observed characteristics between enrollees and nonenrollees at baseline, nonenrollees did not seem to be sicker than enrollees, making the likelihood of overestimating the benefits of HIH services low. Last, we only investigated the costs incurred within the VA system. It is possible that veterans in both groups differentially used non\u2014VA-paid services, such as Medicare or Medicaid, which were not captured by our study.\n\nCONCLUSIONS\n\nEarlier studies have demonstrated the success and promise of the HIH model. This program demonstrated that it was possible to build a program without a hospital, and provided a useful example to managed care systems wishing to develop such a cost-effective program. With Medicare payment reform (eg, accountable care organizations) and incentives for providers to administer more efficient care, there may be pronounced interest in implementing programs, such as HIH, more broadly.\n\nAcknowledgments\n\nThe authors would like to thank the Veterans Health Administration\u2019s Office of Geriatric and Extended Care (GEC) Transformational Initiatives for supporting the Hospital-in-Home program. The authors also thank Dr Kenneth Shay and Karen Massey in the VA Office of GEC for their support in the evaluation of the program and comments on the manuscript.\n\nAuthor Affiliations: Geriatrics & Extended Care Data Analyses Center (SC, OI, RM, CSP, BK), Canadaigua, NY; Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Rochester (SC,OI), Rochester, NY; Canandaigua VA Medical Center (SC,OI), Canandaigua, NY; VA Pacific Island Health Care Systems (MLM, PL), Honolulu, HI; Center for Gerontology & Healthcare Research, Brown University School of Public Health (RM), Providence, RI; Corporal Michael Crescenz VA Medical Center (BK), Philadelphia, PA; Division of Geriatrics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (BK), Philadelphia, PA; Health Economics Resource Center and Center for Innovation to Implementation, VA Palo Alto Health Care System (CSP), Menlo Park, CA; Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neonatal & Developmental Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine (CSP), Stanford, CA.\n\nSource of Funding: The Hospital-In-Home program and the evaluation of the program conducted by the National Geriatrics & Extended Care Data & Analyses Center were supported by the Veterans Health Administration\u2019s Office of Geriatric and Extended Care Transformational Initiatives.\n\nAuthor Disclosures: The authors report no relationship or financial interest with any entity that would pose a conflict of interest with the subject matter of this article.\n\nAuthorship Information: Concept and design (SC, PL, MLM, BK, CSP, OI); acquisition of data (PL, RM, MLM, CSP, OI); analysis and interpretation of data (SC, RM, BK, CSP, OI); drafting of the manuscript (SC, BK); critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content (PL, MLM, BK, CSP, OI, RM); statistical analysis (SC, RM, CSP); obtaining funding (OI); administrative, technical, or logistic support (OI); and supervision (OI).\n\nAddress Correspondence to: Shubing Cai, PhD, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Rochester, 265 Crittenden Blvd, Rochester NY 14642. E-mail: shubing_cai@urmc.rochester.edu.\n\nREFERENCES\n\n1. Creditor MC. Hazards of hospitalization of the elderly. Ann Intern Med.1993;118(3):219-223.\n\n2. Brennan TA, Leape LL, Laird NM, et al. Incidence of adverse events and negligence in hospitalized patients. results of the Harvard Medical Practice Study I. N Engl J Med. 1991;324(6):370-376.\n\n3. Leape LL, Brennan TA, Laird N, et al. The nature of adverse events in hospitalized patients. results of the Harvard Medical Practice Study II. N Engl J Med. 1991;324(6):377-384.\n\n4. Pfuntner A, Wier L, Steiner C. Costs for hospital stays in the United States, 2010. Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project website. http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb146.pdf. Published January, 2013. Accessed March 8, 2015.\n\n5. Kuehn BM. Hospital at home program cuts costs, improves patient health and satisfaction. JAMA. 2012;308(2):122. doi:10.1001/jama.2012.7420.\n\n6. Caplan GA, Sulaiman NS, Mangin DA, Aimonino Ricauda N, Wilson AD, Barclay L. A meta-analysis of \u201chospital in the home\u201d. Med J Aust. 2012;197(9):512-519.\n\n7. Leff B. Defining and disseminating the hospital-at-home model. CMAJ. 2009;180(2):156-157. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.081891.\n\n8. Shepperd S, Doll H, Angus RM, et al. Avoiding hospital admission through provision of hospital care at home: a systematic review and meta-analysis of individual patient data. CMAJ. 2009;180(2):175-182. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.081491.\n\n9. Leff B, Burton L, Bynum JW, et al. Prospective evaluation of clinical criteria to select older persons with acute medical illness for care in a hypothetical home hospital. J Am Geriatr Soc. 1997;45(9):1066-1073.\n\n10. Jeppesen E, Brurberg KG, Vist GE, et al. Hospital at home for acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2012;(5):CD003573. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD003573.pub2.\n\n11. Leff B, Burton L, Guido S, Greenough WB, Steinwachs D, Burton JR. Home hospital program: a pilot study. J Am Geriatr Soc.1999;47(6):697-702.\n\n12. Leff B, Burton L, Mader SL, et al. Hospital at home: feasibility and outcomes of a program to provide hospital-level care at home for acutely ill older patients. Ann Intern Med. 2005;143(11):798-808.\n\n13. Mader SL, Medcraft MC, Joseph C, et al. Program at home: a Veterans Affairs healthcare program to deliver hospital care in the home. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2008; 56(12)2317-2322. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2008.02006.x.\n\n14. Cryer L, Shannon SB, Van Amsterdam M, Leff B. Costs for 'hospital at home' patients were 19 percent lower, with equal or better outcomes compared to similar inpatients. Health Aff (Millwood). 2012;(6):1237-1243. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2011.1132.\n\n15. Leff B, Burton L, Mader SL, et al. Comparison of functional outcomes associated with hospital at home care and traditional acute hospital care. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2009;57(2):273-278. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2008.02103.x.\n\n16. Leff B, Burton L, Mader S, et al. Satisfaction with hospital at home care. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2006;54(9):1355-1363.\n\n17. Leff B, Burton L, Mader SL, et al. Comparison of stress experienced by family members of patients treated in hospital at home with that of those receiving traditional acute hospital care. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2008;56(1):117-123.\n\n18. Ricauda NA, Tibaldi V, Marinello R, et al. Acute ischemic stroke in elderly patients treated in hospital at home: a cost minimization analysis. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2005;53(8):1442-1443.\n\n19. Caplan GA, Coconis J, Board N, Sayers A, Woods J. Does home treatment affect delirium? a randomised controlled trial of rehabilitation of elderly and care at home or usual treatment (The REACH-OUT trial). Age Ageing. 2006;35(1):53-60.\n\n20. Caplan GA, Coconis J, Woods J. Effect of hospital in the home treatment on physical and cognitive function: a randomized controlled trial. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2005;60(8):1035-1038.\n\n21. Qaddoura A, Yazdan-Ashoori P, Kabali C, et al. Efficacy of hospital at home in patients with heart failure: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PloS One. 2015;10(6):e0129282. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0129282.\n\n22. Aimonino Ricauda N, Tibaldi V, Leff B, et al. Substitutive \u201chospital at home\u201d versus inpatient care for elderly patients with exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a prospective randomized, controlled trial. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2008;56(3):493-500. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2007.01562.x.\n\n23. Frick KD, Burton LC, Clark R, et al. Substitutive hospital at home for older persons: effects on costs. Am J Manag Care. 2009;15(1):49-56.\n\n24. Ram FS, Wedzicha JA, Wright J, Greenstone M. Hospital at home for patients with acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: systematic review of evidence. BMJ. 2004;329(7461):315.\n\n25. Strausbaugh LJ. Emerging health care-associated infections in the geriatric population. Emerg Infect Dis. 2001;7(2):268-271.\n\n26. Scott DR II. The direct medical costs of healthcare-associated infections in US hospitals and the benefits of prevention. CDC website. http://www.cdc.gov/HAI/pdfs/hai/Scott_CostPaper.pdf. Published March 2009. Accessed July 13, 2017.\n\n27. Liu J, Schwab E, Buxbaum L, Haggerty M, Jang M, Kinosian B. Comparison of adverse event rate between hospital in home and acute inpatient care. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2016;64(suppl 1):S16.", "output": "he hospital is the traditional place to provide acute care. However, hospitalizations can be costly and may lead to further deterioration in health status among the elderly. The Hospital-in-Home (HIH) model offers an alternative approach to traditional hospital services. At the core of the HIH model is the goal of delivering hospital-level care to patients who have developed an acute episode that typically would require inpatient services, but who are medically stable enough to be treated at home.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "'Granny pods' become a solution for retirees with limited budgets \n watch now\n\nLike many boomers, Jane Baldwin faced a difficult question: \"Where do I go next?\"\n\n\n\nThe 67-year-old retiree was living alone in Wyoming, and had grown tired of cold winters. She wanted to be closer to her family in Oakland, California.\n\n\n\nNot ready to give up her independence entirely by sharing a roof with family \u2014 but also unable to purchase another property thanks in part to the Bay Area's notoriously high cost of housing \u2014 Baldwin decided to look no further than the backyard. Her answer was to build a 400-square-foot \"granny pod.\"\n\n\n\n\"I am in love with it,\" said Baldwin. \"I can't foresee leaving here until I'm dead.\"\n\n\n\nThe tiny house is built for accessibility and includes a living room, galley kitchen as well as bedroom. Its hallways and doorways are wide enough for a wheel chair should Baldwin ever need one. All the floors are even eliminating tripping hazards and the shower stall is a walk-in.\n\n400-square-foot \"Granny Pods\" Source: Inspired Independence\n\n\n\nBaldwin's story could become more common. The American population is aging rapidly, with the number of older Americans expected to double in the next three decades, reaching 88 million people by 2050, according to the National Institutes of Health. Of that number, a 2016 Genworth study estimated that 70 percent will need some form of long-term care, something Medicare doesn't cover. It's why deciding where these older Americans will age is often a difficult family conversation fraught with financial and emotional issues.\n\n\n\n\"If people can age in place and age at home it's much healthier, and the family is happier, but it can be very expensive,\" said Carolyn McClanahan, a financial planner at Life Planning Partners in Jacksonville, Florida. \"Granny pods can cost anywhere from $100,000 to $250,000. So you got to weigh longevity in there with it.\"\n\n\n\nWith the cost of skilled nursing care reaching nearly $93,000 a year, a granny pod may make more financial sense if you expect the person living there to stay for several years.\n\n\n\nHowever, it's important to also weigh the individual's cognitive health. Someone with dementia or in need of help with daily tasks is not a good granny pod candidate, McClanahan added.\n\n400-square foot \u2018Granny Pods\u2019. Source: Inspired Independence", "output": "Like many boomers, Jane Baldwin faced a difficult question: \"Where do I go next?\" The 67-year-old retiree was living alone in Wyoming, and had grown tired of cold winters. She wanted to be closer to her family in Oakland, California.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trump Moves to Impede Consumer Lawsuits Against Nursing Homes \n \u201cIndividuals are very vulnerable when they sign contracts to enter a nursing home,\u201d said Kimberly A. Valentine, a lawyer in Orange County, Calif., who has represented scores of nursing home residents. \u201cIn many cases, they are transferred from a hospital, and they are in a nursing home bed for several days before the contracts are even signed. The arbitration agreement may be just one page in a voluminous contract of 30 to 40 pages. Most of the people who come to me have no idea they\u2019ve even signed an arbitration agreement.\u201d\n\nThe Obama administration tried to ban such agreements, saying it was \u201calmost impossible for residents or their decision-makers to give fully informed and voluntary consent to arbitration before a dispute has arisen.\u201d Poor or negligent care at some nursing homes has persisted, even after the facilities have attracted regulatory scrutiny.\n\nBut the Trump administration says the ban on arbitration agreements imposes \u201cunnecessary or excessive costs on providers\u201d of nursing home care. It noted that President Trump, in an executive order, had directed agencies to roll back rules and reduce \u201cregulatory costs.\u201d The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services cited that guidance from the White House in issuing the new proposal.\n\n\u201cUpon reconsideration,\u201d the Trump administration said of the proposed nursing home rule, \u201cwe believe that arbitration agreements are, in fact, advantageous to both providers and beneficiaries because they allow for the expeditious resolution of claims without the costs and expense of litigation.\u201d The money that nursing homes spend on lawsuits could be better used caring for patients, it said.\n\nNursing homes generally welcomed the proposal, but other reaction has been overwhelmingly negative.\n\nThe attorneys general of 16 states, led by Brian E. Frosh of Maryland and Xavier Becerra of California, strongly opposed the Trump administration proposal.", "output": "The Trump administration is pushing to scrap a rule that would have made it easier for nursing home residents to sue nursing homes for injuries caused by substandard care, abuse or neglect, bringing its campaign to relax federal regulations to the delicate business of care for older Americans.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aging Parents With Lots of Stuff, and Children Who Don\u2019t Want It \n As baby boomers grow older, the volume of unwanted keepsakes and family heirlooms is poised to grow \u2014 along with the number of delicate conversations about what to do with them. According to a 2014 United States census report, more than 20 percent of America\u2019s population will be 65 or older by 2030. As these waves of older adults start moving to smaller dwellings, assisted living facilities or retirement homes, they and their kin will have to part with household possessions that the heirs simply don\u2019t want.\n\n\u201cWe went from a 3,000-square-foot colonial with three floors to a single-story, 1,400-square-foot living space,\u201d said Tena Bluhm, 76, formerly of Fairfax, Va. She and her 77-year-old husband, Ray Bluhm, moved this month to a retirement community in Lake Ridge, Va.\n\nBefore the move, their two adult children took a handful of items, including a new bed and a dining table and chairs. But Mrs. Bluhm could not interest them in \u201cthe china and the silver and the crystal,\u201d her own generation\u2019s hallmarks of a properly furnished, middle-class home.\n\nThe competitive accumulation of material goods, a cornerstone of the American dream, dates to the post-World War II economy, when returning veterans fled the cities to establish homes and status in the suburbs. Couples married when they were young, and wedding gifts were meant to be used \u2014 and treasured \u2014 for life.\n\n\u201cAmericans spent to keep up with the Joneses, using their possessions to make the statement that they were not failing in their careers,\u201d wrote Juliet B. Schor, the Boston College sociologist, in her 1998 book, \u201cThe Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don\u2019t Need.\u201d", "output": "Mothers and daughters talk about all kinds of things. But there is one conversation Susan Beauregard, 49, of Hampton, Conn., is reluctant to have with her 89-year-old mother, Anita Shear: What to do \u2014 eventually \u2014 with Mrs. Shear\u2019s beloved set of Lenox china?\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aging healthy and happy during your greater years \n Gina Harkins\n\nUSA TODAY Best Years magazine\n\nLucy Rose Fischer spent much of her life studying aging, but not even decades of academic research fully prepared the retired gerontologist for getting older herself.\n\n\u201cTheoretically, I knew that people were living longer,\u201d she says. \u201cBut what\u2019s really amazing to me is that there is a whole (new) life that starts.\u201d\n\nMany women are expected to live into their 80s, which means a chance at starting new hobbies or watching their grandchildren \u2014 and even great-grandchildren \u2014 grow up. That kind of longevity is still a relatively new concept, and the health care and social systems haven\u2019t quite caught up.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re having more years of good health, but also having more years of various chronic conditions,\u201d says Andrew Scharlach, a professor of aging in the University of California-Berkeley\u2019s School of Social Welfare.\n\n\u201cWe are changing individually much more quickly than our physical and social environments are.\u201d\n\nEven though Fischer, 72, of St. Louis Park, Minn., says she doesn\u2019t love everything about aging, she\u2019s still finding life after retirement to be creatively rewarding. She\u2019s able to focus on her love of creating painted-glass art, and she wrote and illustrated a book about aging called I\u2019m New at Being Old.\n\n\u201cIn a way, it feels like starting over,\u201d she says. \u201cBut the difference between being 15 and 60 when you\u2019re starting a new stage in life is that you have all this experience behind you that you\u2019re able to use.\u201d\n\nA changing society\n\nAn aging population doesn\u2019t come without challenges. U.S. Census Bureau data shows that by the year 2050, nearly 84 million people will be 65 and older. Many in that population will face the risk of chronic diseases, especially as people live long enough to develop them. One in 10 people over age 65 have Alzheimer\u2019s, for example, according to the Alzheimer\u2019s Association, and while overall cancer rates have declined, cancer rates still rise with age, according to the National Cancer Institute.\n\nScharlach says this could weigh on the American health care system, which is not equipped to deal with long-term conditions on a large scale. The Baby Boomer population is aging, he said, but many physicians don\u2019t have experience treating older adults. Access to medical professionals is also on the decline, Scharlach adds, since some communities don\u2019t have enough doctors and nurses, or people can\u2019t afford the high cost of treatment.\n\nThat\u2019s what people like Grisel Rodr\u00edguez-Morales, a health promotion and disease prevention manager at Chicago\u2019s Rush University Medical Center, are trying to change. Her team helps give people the tools they need to \u201cage successfully,\u201d she says, by holding seminars about how to manage their health conditions.\n\n\u201cAs providers, this is new to many of us,\u201d she says. \u201cAs the aging population continues to grow, we want to make sure that we \u2026 are thinking not only about health, but health within the context of aging.\u201d\n\nThat requires not only informing doctors, nurses and other health care providers about the needs of aging adults, but family members and friends, too. That way, they understand that something like depression, for example, is not a normal part of aging, she says.\n\n\u201cIf you saw an 18- or 20-year-old who didn\u2019t want to do anything, you wouldn\u2019t think twice about immediately taking them to the doctor,\u201d Rodr\u00edguez-Morales says. \u201cSo if you see an older adult, why not do the same thing instead of just saying, \u2018Well, they\u2019re old.\u2019\u201d\n\nAs the older population continues to grow, Scharlach says it\u2019s vital that people see beyond age. Americans are slowly starting to value older generations, he says, but there\u2019s still a long way to go.\n\n\u201cHaving popular images that reflect aging as it really is and provide a sense that we can age well and age fully will go a long way,\u201d he adds. \u201cIt\u2019s about seeing that 80-year-old not simply about what they can\u2019t do, but who they are.\u201d\n\nOne of the things Fischer did when she retired was to quit dyeing her hair. Once she accepted her silver hair, she grew to like the look \u2014 along with the tiny crinkles around her eyes.\n\n\u201cThere is a kind of focus on always trying to look younger,\u201d she says, \u201cbut you can be vital at 72 and be beautiful.\u201d\n\nWhen she was studying aging, Fischer and her colleagues at HealthPartners, a Minnesota-based nonprofit health care organization, developed the ALIVE model.\n\nThe acronym stands for five healthy aspects of aging: activity, learning, intimacy, vitality and engagement. Now she tries to apply the model to her own life.\n\nFischer stays active by hiking with her husband and walking her dog. She considers continuing education an important way to exercise her brain. She maintains close, intimate relationships with friends of all ages. Her artwork and positive attitude give her life vitality, and she remains engaged in her wider community and society.\n\nHealthy and happy aging requires a real investment, Scharlach says. Many people plan carefully for their financial futures, he says, but fail to devote time and effort to other aspects of their lives, like Fischer does with her ALIVE method.\n\n\u201cWe have to take care of our body, our mind, our relationships,\u201d Scharlach says. \u201cThere\u2019s that old saying, \u2018If I had known I was going to live this long, I would\u2019ve taken better care of myself.\u2019 There\u2019s enormous truth to those words.\u201d", "output": "Lucy Rose Fischer spent much of her life studying aging, but not even decades of academic research fully prepared the retired gerontologist for getting older herself. \u201cTheoretically, I knew that people were living longer,\u201d she says. \u201cBut what\u2019s really amazing to me is that there is a whole (new) life that starts.\u201d\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cyber crime more lucrative than global drugs trade \n Boss of Dublin-based IT security firm Ward Solutions, Pat Larkin said failure to take cybersecurity breaches seriously was costing some firms hundreds of thousands of euro in the short term following a breach.\n\nHe said it was also having an impact in the medium to long term with share prices dropping and not recovering because of investor concerns over security.\n\nMr Larkin was speaking in the wake of the world\u2019s biggest shipping company admitting it faces a $300m (\u20ac255m) bill following an online breach in June.\n\nDanish shipping group Moller Maersk said it expected a $200m to $300m bill from a cyber attack that disrupted its container shipping operations for weeks.\n\nThe attack contributed to Moller\u2019s $264m loss in the second quarter, highlighting the toll on corporate earnings of a June 27 malware attack.\n\nCyence, which helps insurers measure cyber risk, said economic costs from the attack would total $850m.\n\nMr Larkin said cybercrime was now more lucrative than the global drugs trade.\n\n\u201cCybercrime is now bigger than the drugs trade and firms have to get serious about it. Information security is a continuous journey.\u201d\n\nEuropol, the EU-wide intelligence network, has warned the global impact of cybercrime has risen to $3 trillion, making it \u201cmore profitable than the global trade in marijuana, cocaine and heroin combined\u201d.\n\nA recent survey by British IT research firm Juniper said criminal data breaches will cost businesses a total of $8 trillion over the next five years, due to higher levels of Internet connectivity and inadequate enterprise-wide security. It found that SMEs are particularly at risk from cyberattacks .\n\nJuniper forecasts that the number of personal data records stolen by cybercriminals will reach 2.8 billion in 2017, almost doubling to five billion in 2020.\n\nMr Larkin said boardrooms had to get more informed about the risks of cyber breaches.\n\n\u201cWe are starting to see a much more serious approach thankfully. Historically, information security and risk has been seen as merely an IT department problem. It never really surfaced at executive level. However, the amount of time we are spending at executive briefings is up around 500% in the past three years,\u201d he said.\n\nMr Larkin said the damage that could be done from a perception point of view was damaging enough, but that the long-term effects also had to be considered.\n\n\u201cWhether it is malware or a data breach, the bad PR alone is enough to cause damage. Companies and executives are beginning to understand that. However, it can also have a major impact on a share price post-breach. You see 2-3% being knocked off in the medium term. The ongoing damage is very measurable,\u201d he said.\n\nMr Larkin said executives and their IT departments had to improve communication in order to get better at dealing with cybercrime.\n\n\u201cThere is a communication gap, as in how much is really understood by executives when it comes to technical language by IT professionals. That must get better and companies must work to try and create a common language,\u201d he said.\n\nAdditional reporting,\n\nBloomberg", "output": "The worldwide cost of cyber crime has grown to $3tn, and is now \u201cmore profitable than the global trade in marijuana, cocaine and heroin combined\u201d, according to the EU-wide intelligence network Europol. British IT research firm Juniper found in its own survey that by 2022, cyber attacks will cost a total of $8tn for companies, thanks to lacking cybersecurity and increasingly widespread internet adoption."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's middle class moves from instant noodles to online options \n A man eats noodles served on a high-speed train from Guangzhou to Beijing. China\u2019s demand for instant noodles has dropped 17 per cent over the past four years. Photo: Simon Song", "output": "China's booming middle classes are moving away from instant noodles and towards a healthier diet.\u00a0This coincides with the rise of\u00a0food deliveries via smartphone apps which provide\u00a0quick, easy and inexpensive food of a higher quality. Demand for instant noodles fell 17%\u00a0between 2013 and 2016, according to the World Instant Noodles Association. Uni-President, which provides over a fifth of China's instant noodles, reported a 27% decline in net profit during H1 2017.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurer Sinosure provides finance facility for Sri Lankan LPG hub  \n Aug 21, 2017 (LBO) \u2013 Sri Lanka\u2019s LAUGFS Gas and Standard Chartered have announced the first private sector financing facility supported by China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation (SINOSURE) for the 30,000MT import and export terminal at Hambantota.\n\nThe liquid petroleum gas (LPG) storage terminals by LAUGFS Terminals Ltd., a subsidiary of LAUGFS Gas PLC, is being built with an investment of US 80 million dollars and will be one of the largest LPG import and export terminals in South Asia.\n\nAs a principal party to this transaction, Standard Chartered acted as the coordinating bank, sole facility arranger and lender for the financing facility.\n\n\u201cThis marks a significant milestone for our LPG Terminal project, which is well on track to be commissioned in the 2nd half of 2018,\u201d W K H Wegapitiya, chairman of LAUGFS Holdings said.\n\n\u201cOnce completed, the LAUGFS terminals in Hambantota will garner tremendous economic benefits to our country by helping to position Sri Lanka as a central energy hub in the region.\u201d\n\nThe Hambantota Port is located on a strategic sea route in close proximity to some of the largest emerging LPG markets in the region, such as Bangladesh and Myanmar and the new terminal will operate as a central hub for LPG importing, re-exporting as well as the provisioning to retailers.\n\nSINOSURE is a state-funded policy-oriented insurance company, which provides medium and long term export credit insurance, overseas investment (leasing) insurance, bonds and guarantees concerning foreign trade and a range of other related products.\n\n\u201cThe strategic location of the terminal in the midst of the world\u2019s largest shipping routes will undoubtedly be an enormous advantage that the company can leverage on,\u201d Guo Yilin, deputy general manager of SINOSURE said.\n\n\u201cWe are pleased to be part of this visionary endeavour with the first ever such private sector finance facility in Sri Lanka.\u201d\n\nConstructed by China Huanqiu Contracting and & Engineering Corporation (HQC), the first phase of the LAUGFS LPG Terminal will be of 30,000MT storage capacity, with plans to extend to 45,000MT in phase two.\n\nOnce completed, the facility will consist of above-ground spherical LPG storage tanks, each with a 6,000m3 volume. With the proposed cargo heating system at the existing jetty, the Terminal will be well-equipped to accept VLGCs with refrigerated or pressurized cargo.\n\nLAUGFS has been strengthening its energy presence within the region over the recent few years with the expansion of its LPG downstream businesses to Bangladesh, rapid expansion of its LPG vessel fleet under LAUGFS Maritime, and the setting up of its energy trading arm in Dubai.\n\nJim McCabe, chief executive officer of Standard Chartered Sri Lanka says that they were pleased to arrange and structure a financing facility supported by SINOSURE for the LAUGFS Terminal project.", "output": "Sri Lanka's Laugfs Gas and Standard Chartered, with support from China's Export and Credit Insurance Corporation (Sinosure), have announced the first private sector financing facility for the 30,000 MT import and export terminal at Hambantota, which will become\u00a0one of the largest LPG import and export terminals in south Asia.\u00a0\u201cOnce completed, the Laugfs terminals in Hambantota will garner tremendous economic benefits to our country by helping to position Sri Lanka as a central energy hub in the region,\" said\u00a0W K H Wegapitiya, chairman of Laugfs Holdings."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "McDonald\u2019s UK staff to strike over pay \n Workers at two McDonald\u2019s restaurants in the UK will go on strike on 4 September, the US Labor Day holiday, in an attempt to coordinate action against the fast food giant with allies around the world.\n\nThe announcement of the symbolic date comes after staff at restaurants in Cambridge and Crayford, in south-east London, voted overwhelmingly on Friday to go on strike. They are demanding wages of at least \u00a310 an hour, secure contracts with guaranteed hours and formal trade union recognition from McDonald\u2019s.\n\nThe choice of Labor Day is intended to signify the workers\u2019 solidarity with fast food employees internationally, according to the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU).\n\n\n\nIn previous years, thousands of US fast food employees have participated in Labor Day strikes and demonstrations as part of Fight for 15, a campaign for a $15 (\u00a311.60) hourly wage, coordinated by the Service Employees International Union.\n\n\n\nThe UK action is taking place with the help of organisers from the Unite union in New Zealand, who are visiting the UK to advise the striking workers. Unite has won significant victories, including a $15 an hour minimum wage and legislation outlawing zero-hours contracts, in New Zealand.\n\n\n\nA delegation of workers from Belgium will also be travelling to London to support the UK strike. The BFAWU is calling for international support, and it is hoped that allied unions in other countries will also take part in actions on 4 September. A BFAWU representative said: \u201cIn the past we have had action on every continent.\u201d\n\nIn April, McDonald\u2019s announced it would offer guaranteed-hours contracts to all employees who wanted them. However, the BFAWU claims that workers at most stores were told nothing about this until workers decided to strike. Organiser Gareth Lane said: \u201cAll of a sudden they\u2019ve put it online where workers can see that all workers will have a contract with guaranteed hours by the end of the year. This is a huge victory for these workers who\u2019ve stood up, decided to organise and take this strike action.\u201d\n\nHe said the intention of the action on 4 September was to maintain pressure on the chain to deliver on its offer. \u201cWe don\u2019t trust McDonald\u2019s to deliver these guaranteed hours to workers,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want them to sign, legally, that they\u2019ll give these guaranteed contracts by the end of the year.\u201d\n\nShen Batmaz, one of the McDonald\u2019s workers going on strike in Crayford who is also a political campaigner, said international support had helped bolster workers\u2019 determination to strike. \u201cFor a long time we were told as fast food workers we were really hard to organise because people leave all the time and a lot of us are young people,\u201d she said. \u201cFor us to see there were people doing it, not just in the US but all over the world, we knew it was time for us to come together.\u201d\n\nA spokesman for McDonald\u2019s said on Friday: \u201cWe can confirm that, following a ballot process, the BFAWU have indicated that a small number of our employees representing less than 0.01% of our workforce are intending to strike in two of our restaurants.\u201d", "output": "McDonald\u2019s staff in two UK outlets will strike on 4 September as part of coordinated worldwide\u00a0action against the fast food company. Staff at the restaurants in Cambridge and Crayford voted strongly in favour of the action. Workers are demanding a minimum wage of \u00a310 ($13) per hour, secure contracts and union recognition. Thousands of US fast food workers have participated in Labor Day strikes in previous years, as part of the Fight for 15 campaign\u00a0for an hourly wage of $15.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "JPMorgan Chase pledges $2m to anti-hate groups \n JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon attends a policy forum with President Donald Trump in the State Dining Room at the White House, Feb. 3, 2017, in Washington.\n\nJPMorgan Chase , whose outspoken chairman and chief executive, Jamie Dimon, joined a chorus of other business leaders condemning President Donald Trump's response to the deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, earlier this month, is pledging up to $2 million to anti-hate groups.\n\n\"While there are no simple answers, it is vital that we recommit ourselves to the principles of equality, respect and acceptance,\" said JPMorgan's Peter Scher, a former Clinton administration official who is now the bank's head of corporate responsibility and runs its foundation. He is also the bank's face in Washington, D.C., as chairman of that region.\n\nIt is clear, he said in an internal email Monday, \"that the events of the past week reflect deep divisions across our country and compel us to redouble our efforts.\"\n\nThe planned donation follows similar moves by Apple and 21st Century Fox 's James Murdoch. Last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook pledged $1 million each to the Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center and said the company would match employee donations. Murdoch, head of 21st Century Fox, pledged $1 million to the ADL.\n\nJPMorgan is giving $1 million to be split between the ADL and the Southern Poverty Law Center \"to further their work in tracking, exposing and fighting hate groups and other extremist organizations,\" Scher said the email. JPMorgan is also giving $50,000 to the Charlottesville community foundation and will match employee contributions to the anti-hate groups up to another $1 million.\n\nIn a statement emailed to CNBC later on Monday, ADL's spokesperson said the organization also has received donations in the last week from Uber, MGM Resorts and Bumble, an online dating service.\n\nADL's online donations last week increased six-fold versus the average for 2017 and the amount of funds raised increased 1,000 percent, Betsaida Alcantara, the spokesperson, added. \"We are proud that the great majority of the individual online donations came from first-time donors.\"\n\nRichard Cohen, the president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, said in his own statement emailed to CNBC: \"Now more than ever, America's leading institutions must speak out against white supremacism. While we appreciate JPMorgan Chase's contribution, we are even more grateful for its strong public position against hate and bigotry.\"\n\nBusiness leaders, including Cook, Dimon and Murdoch, have condemned Trump's response to the violence that erupted between white supremacists and counterprotesters during a weekend march earlier this month. Two business councils advising the administration, made up of CEOs and others, disbanded last week as a wave of CEOs quit.\n\n\"I strongly disagree with President Trump's reaction to the events that took place in Charlottesville over the past several days,\" Dimon said in a memo to staff last week. \"Racism, intolerance and violence are always wrong.\"\n\nJPMorgan says its foundation has a tradition of donating money after natural disasters or events that affect communities where it has operations. Last year it donated $300,000 to Orlando, Florida, for recovery efforts after a deadly nightclub shooting, and it matched employee gifts up to another $200,000. The foundation also gave $200,000 for flood relief in Louisiana.", "output": "JPMorgan Chase has pledged to donate up to $2m to anti-hate groups, following condemnation of President Trump\u2019s response to violence in Virginia earlier this month by CEO Jamie Dimon. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Southern Poverty Law Center will receive $1m between them, while the Charlottesville community foundation will receive $50,000. The bank will also match employee donations to the groups up to the sum of $1m. The move follows similar donations from Apple and 21st Century Fox\u2019s James Murdoch. ADL has also announced donations from dating service Bumble as well\u00a0as from MGM Resorts and Uber.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK sees weekly farm pollution breaches \n Lynda and Richard Whittemore bought Quennells farm, in the quiet Sussex countryside, six years ago. They hoped to lead \u201can idyllic lifestyle\u201d, tending their flock of 400 pedigree, grass-fed Lleyn sheep and 45 Highland cattle on 180 acres of farmland.\n\n\u201cWe have an undulating field at the back of the stream, winding to the other corner\", said Lynda. \"Usually it has lovely clear water, with a gentle slope down to the water supply. It\u2019s picturesque...they don\u2019t need troughs, they can walk down to drink the water.\u201d\n\nNext door to their farm was another: Crouchland. But this farm was not a small-scale, pedigree operation like that of the Whittemores. Crouchland is an intensive dairy farm which also processes large amounts of manure, turning it into biogas.\n\nBy 2013 it had installed an industrial-size anaerobic digester - government-subsidised machinery which turns food and agricultural waste into gas which can be sold to the national grid. It began processing waste from 20 local farms and built extra slurry vats in order to store the byproducts.\n\nIn March 2015, Lynda explained, there was a \u201cnasty spill of digestate\u201d - a toxic mix of manure, water and chemicals - linked back to Crouchland farm. It polluted 70 acres of Quennells farm land. \u201cThick, black smelly tarry stuff flowing down our stream,\" she said. \"It was chugging along, killing little frogs, fish and invertebrates. They were wiped out.\u201d\n\nSuch an occurrence is far from a one-off case. A Bureau investigation has found pig, poultry and dairy farms are releasing harmful pollution once a week on average in England and Wales.\n\nWe have documented dozens of instances of manure pouring into waterways, carcasses being illicitly dumped and noxious fumes being emitted, among other infractions - all of which can seriously damage ecological systems, and are often against the law.", "output": "Livestock farms in the UK are causing weekly serious pollution incidents, according to England\u2019s Environment Agency and its devolved partners in Scotland and Wales. Between 2010 and 2016, over 5,300 cases of agricultural pollution occurred in the UK. Even serious incidents may not be prosecuted and the farms responsible may continue to receive subsidies, according to an investigation by The Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Many breaches result from underinvestment in equipment, including slurry stores, and there are fears the situation may worsen if farm incomes decline after Brexit."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers explore making energy from salt water and fresh water \n The idea of getting energy from salinity variant, where freshwater meets seawater, was first considered in the 1970s to be largely forgotten. But over the last few years interest has been resurrected and now a team from Penn State has developed a new hybrid technology to create power using the electrochemical charge created by the meeting of different salt concentrations.\n\nThe team at Penn State aims to harness this charge using a custom built technology made of two cells, one containing saltwater and one containing freshwater. Between the two is an anion-exchange membrane, and there is a nickel hexacyanoferrate electrode in each cell. As the saltwater passes through the cells it creates a charge that can be collected using graphite foil and discharged as electricity.\n\nResearchers predict that the technology could meet up to 40% of the world\u2019s energy needs, if it can be successfully rolled out. But a host of challenges lie ahead before it can be produced on a large scale.\n\nUniting salinity gradient technologies\n\nThis hybrid combines elements of two older methods used in the field: capacitive mixing (CapMix) and reverse electrodialysis (RED). Both have proved inefficient for a number of reasons and this hybrid seeks to adopt the best elements from both.\n\n\u201cOne approach is to use what's called reverse electrodialysis, in which potentials develop across ion exchange membranes,\u201d says Penn State assistant professor in environmental engineering Christopher Gorski. \u201cSo, as saltwater and freshwater are flying through an electrochemical cell this potential develops and then generates a voltage in the cell which can be used to discharge electricity.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe other approach is often referred to as capacitive mixing, in which potentials develop at electrode surfaces,\u201d says Gorski. \u201cAn electrode develops a potential based on the amount of salt in the solution and when the two electrodes are exposed to different salt concentrations, they develop a voltage between the two electrodes of a potential difference. Then that can be discharged to generate electricity also.\u201d While this has proven to be a relatively successful technique, as with RED, it simply doesn\u2019t produce enough power to be viable.\n\nHowever, Gorski and his team believe they may have found a way to yield a far greater amount of energy from salient differences by combining aspects of RED and CapMix. \u201cIn the cell we had electrodes that developed potentials based on the salt concentration, as well as the membrane that developed the potential across it,\u201d says Gorski. \u201cBy combining those two and reconfiguring the cell a little bit, we were able to generate far more electricity than either of those two technologies could do independently.\u201d\n\nThe potential to create more energy\n\nIn a recent test, 12.6W/m2 of membrane power was generated. \u201cIn principle, the amount of power that we could generate was competitive with the best technologies that are out there [currently] that are mainly based on osmotic pressure,\u201d says Gorski.\n\n\"In a recent test, 12.6W/m2 of membrane power was generated.\"\n\nThe team claims that this technology could meet as much as 40% of the world\u2019s energy supply, a bold claim based on the study \u2018Membrane-Based Production of Salinity-Gradient Power\u2019 by Guy Z Ramon, Benjamin J Feinberg and Eric M V Hoek, published in the journal Energy & Environmental Science. The study examined points where river water meets seawater, taking into account both geographical and practical constraints, to estimate how much energy each location could generate.\n\n\u201cWhat goes into that are several assumptions that are probably somewhat impractical, like you'd have 100% efficiency,\u201d expands Gorski. \u201cIf you just look at solar energy, for example, and said that you would assume 100% efficiency, you'd easily provide all of the global demand for energy too, so there's that consideration.\u201d\n\nWhile the previous study gives an indication of the technology\u2019s potential, there are further variables affecting the accuracy of the calculations. \u201cThere are other factors that need to be taken into account, like sea level rise,\u201d says Gorski. \u201cAs you have tides and high tide and low tide, that influences where freshwater and seawater mix and how much pumping energy you need to put into it, so that will probably also reduce that value.\u201d\n\n\u201cI think in a very practical sense, where this technology would be used would be more where you have large cities on coasts, and you have a discharge of wastewater,\u201d he says.\n\n\u201cWe did some back of the envelope calculations and in San Francisco they discharge about 20 billion gallons of wastewater per year to the San Francisco bay,\u201d explains Gorski. \u201cSo, if you just mix that treated wastewater with the seawater, you'd generate about 20% of the electricity that San Francisco needs. So there you have a very controlled water stream that you're mixing with, and that seems feasible to me.\u201d\n\nAlong with wastewater plants, it\u2019s hoped that the hybrid could be incorporated into the infrastructure at desalination plants. As water is desalinated, a salty substance is left over which is usually dumped straight back into the ocean which could instead be used with wastewater to generate power.\n\nMore time for testing\n\nTests of the hybrid technology were very promising but it\u2019s still got a long way to go before it could be rolled out. \u201cOne of the main things is longevity,\u201d says Gorski, explaining that \u201cWe did these experiments using pretty pure solutions and relatively short timescales. But if you wanted to implement this on a pilot-scale plant, you'd want to run it for years, ideally.\u201d\n\nThe brief time period of testing the hybrid leaves a degree of uncertainty over its durability. Furthermore, the lab conditions raise concerns over the membrane\u2019s ability to perform in real-life applications. \u201cIt's not really clear how well the membranes hold up over time, or the electrodes hold up over time when they are exposed to all the random things that are in seawater and freshwater, like small particles, bacteria, strange metals that might get into the water,\u201d says Gorski. \u201cWe don\u2019t know how that will affect their performance over a time. So that's something that we're looking at now.\u201d\n\nAs tests continue, the team is experimenting with various materials for the membrane to ensure the hybrid is as efficient as possible. \u201cWe used nickel and iron, but there's other metals that you can put into it that will change its properties,\u201d says Gorski, and it seems that there is a long way to go from here as, \u201clots of people have studied how those metals influence it and, sort of, the theory behind that, but haven't explored their use for these sorts of materials, these purposes\u201d.", "output": "Researchers at Penn State College of Engineering have developed a technology that uses the meeting of salt water and fresh water to produce electricity. If the technology is successful it could meet up to 40% of the world's energy needs, however, many obstacles would need to be overcome first. Although methods of producing electricity by using\u00a0a saline gradient have been ineffective so far, a combination of earlier approaches\u00a0has the potential to generate a far greater amount of energy, said Penn State assistant professor Christopher Gorski.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "'Digital twins' leverage internet of things for energy industry \n This article first appeared on Bloomberg View and the Bloomberg Terminal.\n\nBy Nathaniel Bullard\n\nIn a prescient 2011 essay, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen declared that \u201csoftware is eating the world.\u201d Six years on, software is eating more of the world than ever \u2014 and it is also creating. One of those creations is digital twins, virtual models of industrial equipment, built up with gigabytes and terabytes of sensor data, that allow companies to remotely monitor the performance of power plants, jet engines and \u2026 well, anything worth monitoring, really. These digital twins will create numerous opportunities for companies and their clients, as well as raise challenging questions.\n\nDigital twins aren\u2019t unique to a particular kind of company, though industrial conglomerates General Electric Co. and Siemens AG are their most visible proponents. The technology represents an evolution within industrial firms and the logical outgrowth of a number of factors that my Bloomberg New Energy Finance colleagues have identified: cheaper and better sensing, processing and data transmission.\n\nIt\u2019s also early days for the technology. Research firm Gartner puts digital twins in the \u201cinnovation trigger\u201d phase of its Internet of Things hype cycle. Still, the potential market for digital twins is already large, even within a select group of energy and transport assets. Consider wind turbines, which have seen 265,000 installed since 2000. Wind turbines alone are a far larger market for digital twinning than the 30,000 jet engines in GE\u2019s digitized fleet.\n\nMany Potential Twins\n\nSelected energy* and transportation assets\n\nSources: Bloomberg New Energy Finance, GE\n\n*Energy assets commissioned since 2000\n\nThe market for digital twins in fossil fuel power plants may seem smaller (BNEF tracks only 477 new coal plants commissioned since 2000), but each one contains dozens, perhaps hundreds, of pieces of equipment that could be digitized. That market will only grow, as the number of devices that can be digitized grows and the cost of digitizing them drops.\n\nSo which industries are best situated to own and operate digital twins? Ed Crooks of the Financial Times explored the industrials-versus-software question in an article this week: In Crooks\u2019 words, \u201cwhat is it exactly that they do?\u201d Is a turbine manufacturer a maker of dumb metal for a software company to optimize? Is software a service and support for industrial operations, or are industrial operations the input to a software-determined set of processes or even businesses?\n\nAnother question: How many digital twins is too many? Take those 265,000 wind turbines and GE\u2019s 30,000 jet engines; both have spinning rotors and can and would need to capture much of the same types of data. Then there are the 15,000 solar projects \u2014 but those projects are each made up of tens of thousands (even millions) of individual solar panels as well as other pieces of equipment. What is the twin of a solar project? Is it the entire plant? The inverter \u201cstring\u201d of hundreds of solar panels? Or will a solar project\u2019s digital twin be a family of twins, so to speak, each a single solar panel? As processing becomes cheaper, as sensors become better, as data transmission becomes both, is there a logical upper limit to how many digital twins the world can have?\n\nA final question: What is the liability paradigm in a world of digital twins? A digital twin could assess an impending failure in a piece of industrial equipment, and a company could fail to act on it. Or a digital twin could fail to predict a failure, and industrial equipment could suffer. Where is the liability in such scenarios?\n\nTo put it another way: Are digital twins the black boxes of the world? And if so, how long before a digital twin is called to testify against its physical counterpart and its corporate operators?", "output": "\"Digital twins\" are allowing energy companies to create virtual models of industrial equipment using sensor data, allowing it to be remotely monitored and enabling impending failures to be detected. Wind turbines may provide the largest potential market, with 265,000 having been installed since 2000. Fossil fuel plants also contain hundreds, or even thousands, of potential pieces of equipment that could make use of digital twins. Issues to be considered include how many individual \"twins\" would be needed for large projects and where liability should fall in the event of equipment failure."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers develop new way to track oil leaks \n Leaks from offshore oil rigs often go undetected for a long time, as even seemingly large quantities of oil are immediately diluted by the surrounding water. Previously developed sensors have lacked the precision to quickly and accurately pick up on oil leaks because of this, often allowing gradual oil releases into the surrounding ecosystem for months at a time.\n\nIn a bid to tackle this problem, the Norwegian Geotechnical (NGI) teamed up with Kjeller Innovation to develop a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) sensor. It is able to collect precise data and make it digitally available in real time to operators monitoring it on the rig.\n\nIt is hoped that the increased monitoring capacity provided by the sensor will help tackle oil leaks and help prevent the environmental and economic disasters they can cause. But what makes it different to previous methods?\n\nA more precise sensor\n\nNGI\u2019s new sensor is based on years of research conducted as part of the IMiRO project. Funded by The Norwegian Research Council this project was designed to investigate in-situ monitoring of hydrocarbons within water.\n\nThe PAH sensor differs from previous techniques for monitoring oil leaks because it is better able to separate pollutants from background hydrocarbons, and then provide a constant stream of information to the rig.\n\n\u201cThe thing that is new with this sensor is that there is a separation of background hydrocarbons and potential leaks before the final measurement is done, which looks at the concentration of the PAH of the sea, to identify those which are toxic compounds that would be dissolved in the water during an oil spill,\u201d says NGI's project manager and technical lead for contaminated sediments Espen Eek. \u201cThis is based on similar principles as earlier methods but with an extra step that improves the method significantly.\u201d\n\nBackground hydrocarbons\n\nOne of the problems sensors have previously faced has been the background levels of hydrocarbons in oceans. Worldwide 40% of oil found in the water comes from natural seeps in the ground, and within North American waters as much as 60% of oil in the water has seeped up from underground.\n\n\"Worldwide 40% of oil found in the water comes from natural seeps in the ground.\"\n\nAlongside naturally occurring oil there is that which comes from human activity unrelated to oil production. Oil from on land vehicles is washed into oceans through rain water, and recreation boats and jet skis often leak oil. These leakages are very hard to quantify as an estimated 80% of spills go unreported, and a still greater amount unnoticed.\n\nBecause of these background hydrocarbons, previous sensors have struggled to precisely identify leaks from oil rigs. \u201cOne of the problems has been the lack of separation that make sensors very vulnerable to other compounds naturally occurring in the water and that are not coming from the oil spills,\u201d says Eek. \u201cThere are various natural organic matters actually in the seawater that are potentially damaging to such measurements. It is why it's necessary to have a more precise method that is at the same time more intricate.\u201d\n\nBy taking into account the levels of hydrocarbons present within the water at any time, the PAH sensor identifies changes caused by leaks more accurately.\n\nThe information about the background hydrocarbons is also hoped to provide a greater general understanding about the waters surrounding offshore rigs. \u201cMore precise environmental monitoring will mean you're able to see which oil producing units cause the least or most environmental impact and you can use information,\u201d explains Eek.\n\nThis information could inform the design and implementation of future rigs to ensure they have a minimal impact on the surrounding environment.\n\nCollaboration for commercialisation\n\nThe NGI now has a prototype of the sensor ready for testing over the course of the next year. \u201cOur plans are to test the prototype in the near shore environment this year and then begin offshore testing next year,\u201d says Eek. \u201cIt's really exciting to see how it's all turned out, and to get it from the lab to the sea is the last, important step.\u201d\n\n\"The NGI now has a prototype of the sensor ready for testing over the course of the next year.\"\n\nTesting will initially begin in the Olsofjord, an inlet in south-eastern Norway, and if it proves successful the sensor will be placed in a fully operational oil field. Its creators are hoping that it will become commercially available within the next few years, helping to minimise oil leaks through early detection and recognition of the most environmentally friendly practises.\n\nIt is here that the collaboration between NGI and Kjeller is particularly important. \u201cCollaborating with Kjeller Innovation has been great because we at NGI have a more technical and environmental focus, a chemical technical focus, and they have a greater focus of commercial marketing,\u201d says Eek. \u201cSo we can just focus on the technical aspects and they will work more with the marketing and the funding part of the project.\u201d\n\nPutting an end spills and leaks\n\nGlobally there are 496 offshore oil and gas rigs in operation today, and operators have made extensive efforts to prevent oil spills. But given the extreme conditions in which they operate, this remains an ever-present challenge.\n\nOil leaks from rigs tend to have a smaller visual impact than oil spills, the largest of which happened during the Gulf War when Iraqi forces released between 252 and336 million gallons of oil into the Persian Gulf. The environmental effects of such a spill are colossal.\n\nWhilst the result of an oil leak is less dramatic, it is nevertheless damaging to the surrounding environment. Even small amount of hydrocarbons can be poisonous to sea creatures and plants. However, because they have been so difficult to track previously, the true effect of constant low-level hydrocarbon pollution is largely unknown.\n\nIn April 2016, an oil rig off the coast of Australia leaked an estimated 10,500 litres over the course of two months. This leak, amounting to 175 litres a day, went unnoticed over the course of the period as works were taking place on the rig. Oil production was therefore halted, as were the hydrocarbon tests within the surrounding waters which would normally have taken place. The leak occurred due to erosion of a well seal, and has drawn criticism from environmental agencies around the world such as Greenpeace Australia. It is events such as this that NGI and Kjeller are particularly hoping the PAH sensor will put an end to, as the leak could have been picked up on much faster with constant monitoring.", "output": "The Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI), in cooperation with Kjeller Innovation, has developed a new way to track oil leaks. The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) sensor measures hydrocarbons in the waters surrounding oil wells, aiming to prevent undetected leaks by gathering accurate data and making it digitally available in real time to operators. NGI has a prototype of the sensor ready for testing over the course of the next year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Solar thermal and storage are going to dictate the power market \n \n\nThe 150MW solar tower and molten salt storage plant to be built in Port Augusta has been made possible by a ground-breaking pricing and contract structure that could help completely reshape Australian power markets, including the end of \u201cbaseload\u201d power as we know it.\n\nThe South Australian government announced last week that it had signed a deal with US company SolarReserve to build the 150MW solar tower with molten salt storage project \u2013 to be known as Aurora \u2013 just a few kilometres from the now closed Northern coal-fired power station.\n\nThe output of Aurora will be around 500GWh \u2013 roughly the same as the annual consumption of the state government and the various assets it owns.\n\nBut it is the unique nature of the contract that explains the difference between what the government will pay SolarReserve ($75-$78/MWh), and what SolarReserve will receive, and will likely serve as a template for more \u201cdispatchable\u201d renewable energy projects in the future.\n\nEssentially, Solar Reserve will provide the S.A. government with some of its needs from other sources in the market when demand and the price is low. Aurora will cover the government for energy and prices when the government\u2019s demand is at its highest, around the middle of the day.\n\nBut because the government can and will get some cheap power elsewhere, Aurora will be able store its solar power in its molten salt storage tanks so it can sell into the market at the system peaks, in late afternoon and early evening, when the market prices are highest, boosting its revenue.\n\nFor those in the market, it is a little like a power purchase agreement where an off-taker takes part of the output, while the rest of the plant goes \u201cmerchant\u201d. But this contract has a lot more flexibility and is more flexible than plants that use traditional cap contracts.\n\nDanny Price, from Frontier Economics, who helped the government design the contract, says it was struck with a mixture of a capacity purchase agreement (CPA) and a hedge, with the CPA designed to break down the fixed costs and the variable costs.\n\n\u201cWe had to have a contract for wide range of technologies,\u201d Price tells RenewEconomy, and the contract structure was designed to level the playing field between dispatchable renewables, which may struggle following loads MW for MW.\n\nAlthough the fine details of the contract are not being released, at least not yet, the significance should not be understated.\n\nSouth Australian energy minister Tom Koutsantonis boasted last week that it would send \u201cshivers\u201d through the spine of the coal industry \u2013 not that there is one left in his state, but there is no reason why this cannot apply in other states.\n\nThere has been great debate about how traditional energy markets, which rewarded baseload power with expensive peaking capacity, could evolve to include renewables with zero fuel costs such as wind and solar.\n\nPrice says rather than redesigning the whole system, this contract structure plays within the current design \u2013 and the ultimate goal is to provide more stability to markets. It also avoids the pitfalls of conventional capacity markets, which have been shown in Western Australia to be disastrous if badly designed.\n\nAurora will have no incentive to do as wind and solar PV farms do, and bid in negative prices to guarantee dispatch, and the fact that it is competing in peak times means it reduces the ability of the thermal players to game the market up to pricing peaks of $14,000/MWh.\n\nWhat\u2019s more, it\u2019s a cheaper technology than gas or new coal. \u201cYou couldn\u2019t even buy the gas for that price \u2013 let alone the capacity,\u201d says Price of the $75/MWh contract price. And new coal, he says, cannot be built for less than $100/MWh.\n\n\u201cWho would build a gas or coal-fired generator if you can get a dispatchable renewable energy technology like solar thermal for $70/MWh? Why would you do it?\n\n\u201cIt is a terrific outcome for the market and for renewable energy. It shows how you can construct a contract to encourage dispatchable renewables.\n\n\u201cIt means we can get a renewable energy technology up that is cheaper than thermal plant. So while the federal government stuffs around on carbon pricing, technology is just taking them over.\u201d\n\nPrice said one of the keys to the project win was the learnings of SolarReserve from its Crescent Dune facility in Nevada, which has been operating for just over a year -\u2013 apart from a few months off-line to deal with a leak or leaks in the molten salt storage tank.\n\nPrice said the key to the technology was the receiver, and it was \u201ca very good technology.\u201d SolarReserve had learned a lot from its first plant, capital costs had fallen 40 per cent, and costs were continuing to come down.\n\n\u201cThe technology is not really a risk. We get the benefit of the learning so far, and we are second cab off the rank.\u201d\n\nPlease read this piece by Simon Holmes \u00e1 Court, which looks at some of the other interesting aspects of this development, particularly his observation that solar thermal technology is already nearing the price predicted by Alan Finkel for 2050, just a few months after the Finkel report was released.\n\nThere are a few things that could still go wrong.\n\nThe current contract price is dependent on the $110 million equity partnership promised by the federal government both before the election and when it was negotiating a tax package with Senator Nick Xenophon, whose dual-citizenship means his immediate political future is now subject to a High Court ruling.\n\nIt is clear, and SolarReserve CEO Kevin Smith said as much in a radio interview on Monday, that the pricing would have to be revisited if that component did not come through.\n\nHe did, however, say that financing has been lined up. It is not thought that renewable energy certificates will contribute largely to the deal.\n\nWhile they are trading round $80/MWh now, they are expected to have fallen dramatically by the time this plant is up and running in 2020, and could have negligible value before they expire in 2030.\n\nSolar towers with molten salt storage, because of their high storage levels, offer the flexibility to offer either continuous power 24/7 (baseload), higher outputs over shorter periods to meet specific demand (such as powering Las Vegas between noon and midnight), or acting as a \u201cpeaking\u201d power station.\n\nThis new South Australian plant appears to be designed to include the last two components. Its nominal capacity of 150MW will likely be reduced to 135MW during the day, where it uses some of its own power to operate and control the sun-following field or mirrors.\n\nBut by being dispatchable in such a way, the solar tower will beat both coal and gas at their own game.\n\nCoal\u2019s big weakness, apart from the fact that it is now dirty and expensive, is that it can\u2019t readily be turned off, which is why loads such as hot water systems are switched on only at night \u2013 to give the coal-fired power plants something to do during the night.\n\nThe arrival of \u201cbase-cost\u201d renewables, however, means that much of the power supply can be delivered by wind and solar at cheap prices.\n\nAnd the emergence of storage in its various forms \u2013 batteries, pumped hydro and now solar towers \u2013 means that output can now be dispatchable, or can be balanced, and can mean manufacturers may no longer have to operate only at night when the power cost is low. Cheap power may be a day-time event.\n\nAurora will not need to operate all the way through the night, although it could. If the government needs power, it will likely buy from other sources at a cheaper price, Aurora will deliver to the government during the day, meet and cover its peak demand, and sell into the afternoon and evening system peaks.\n\nOf course, Aurora is not the only solar thermal project happening in the world right now. SolarReserve is building another plant in South Africa, and other companies are building plant in Morocco, Chile and China.\n\nKeith Lovegrove, director of the Australian Solar Thermal Energy Association, recently returned from a conference in China, where he says the main news is that of 20 announced projects of between 50 and 100MW, three are well under construction and a further five will begin soon.\n\n\u201cThe attached pic is a visit to the Shouhang 10MW molten salt tower system there in Dunhuang,\u201d he says.\n\n\u201cIt looked good (from the outside at least). Right next door that company is well into building the 100MW salt tower system that is one of the three mentioned above. CSP is alive and well in China and maybe has finally a good chance of life in Australia.\u201d\n\nPlease listen to our podcast with Keith Lovegrove and David Leitch, and this article\u2019s author to discuss the solar tower project, its economics, the implications for the market, and what may follow.\n\n(Note: This article has been updated to make it clear that SolarReserve will be buying power on market, and at cheaper prices when demand is low, not the S.A. government. The purchase will be made by SolarReserve as part of its contract to meet the government\u2019s power needs).", "output": "Cheap electricity during the daytime could become a reality in South Australia, thanks to a uniquely flexible deal signed with US firm SolarReserve, whose 150MW solar tower with molten salt storage project \u2013 known as Aurora - looks set to beat coal and gas at their own game. Aurora's high storage levels make it an ideal dispatchable, base-cost renewable, while the deal inked allows SolarReserve to sell power at peak times to third parties. However, the deal is dependent on a $110m equity partnership, which could be at risk following questions surrounding Senator Nick Xenophon's dual citizenship.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Major UK supermarket puts thousands at risk from pig virus \n Sign up to IndyEat's free newsletter for weekly recipes, foodie features and cookbook releases Get our Now Hear This email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nIndyEats email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nPork products sold by a leading British supermarket may have infected thousands of people with a form of hepatitis that can cause liver cirrhosis, according to health officials.\n\nPublic Health England (PHE) researchers attempting to pinpoint a link between 60 people with hepatitis E (HEV) found that they had all eaten own-brand sausages and ready-to-eat sliced ham from an unnamed retailer known as Supermarket X, The Times reported. The research was carried out between 2014 and 2016.\n\nThe study found that between 150,000 and 200,000 people in the UK are infected with HEV each year.\n\n\u201cOnly Supermarket X, especially own brand, was significantly associated with HEV G3-2,\u201d the report said, according to The Times. The report follows a 2011 PHE study, which also found that Supermarket X\u2019s pork products contained the virus.\n\nIn response to the findings, NHS Blood and Transplant has tested blood donations for HEV and plans to screen donated organs and tissue for the virus found in pigs.\n\nPigs in the UK do not have HEV, but the virus has been detected in pork products from Holland, Germany and other mainland European countries.\n\nSources told The Times that they believe Supermarket X was Tesco. However, a spokesperson for the supermarket told The Independent that it works closely with the FSA and PHE to ensure customers can be confident in the safety and quality of the food they buy.\n\n\u201cThis particular research was carried out six years ago on a small number of people, and although it provided no direct link between specific products and hepatitis E, we always take care to review research findings such as this. Food quality is really important to us and we have in place an expert team to ensure the highest possible standards at every stage of our supply chain, as well as providing clear information to customers on how to handle and cook pork in the home to minimise the risk of hepatitis E,\u201d the spokesperson added.\n\nHEV is spread when faeces infected with the virus finds its way into the mouth, usually through food and water, according to the British Liver Trust website. Transmitting the virus from person to person is rare, but it is possible to be infectious for up to two weeks after symptoms show.\n\nThe majority of people infected with HEV experience mild flu-like symptoms, fatigue, abdominal pain, vomiting and aching joints and muscles, which last for a month. However, those with suppressed immune systems may struggle to fight the virus and can experience a chronic infection, liver cirrhosis and neurological damage.\n\nSix healthy breakfast recipes to try Show all 6 1 / 6 Six healthy breakfast recipes to try Six healthy breakfast recipes to try You will need: 1 onion, 1 red pepper, 1 stick of celery, 1 cup of mushrooms, 4 to 6 eggs, 1 habanero chilli (optional), 1 tablespoon of oil, 25g of grated low-fat cheese, 150 ml of skimmed milk, 50g of turkey breast. Add some spinach for an extra boost. Method: 1) Cook your turkey breast so that it\u2019s ready to add to the mix later on. Best to grill it and then chop it up as it\u2019s healthier than shallow frying. 2) Meanwhile, heat the oil and add your onion, pepper, chilli, mushrooms and celery to your pan. Cook these for around five minutes until your veg is nice and soft. 3) Whisk your eggs and milk together in a separate bowl, seasoning with salt and pepper. 4) Add the egg mixture, veg, cooked turkey and cheese to a high-sided baking pan or tin and cook in your oven for around 15 minutes at 170C. 1) Cook your turkey breast so that it\u2019s ready to add to the mix later on. Best to grill it and then chop it up as it\u2019s healthier than shallow frying. 2) Meanwhile, heat the oil and add your onion, pepper, chilli, mushrooms and celery to your pan. Cook these for around five minutes until your veg is nice and soft. 3) Whisk your eggs and milk together in a separate bowl, seasoning with salt and pepper. 4) Add the egg mixture, veg, cooked turkey and cheese to a high-sided baking pan or tin and cook in your oven for around 15 minutes at 170C. DW Fitness Clubs Six healthy breakfast recipes to try Be careful when you buy your porridge, as some brands will cram a lot of sugar in there. Porridge is a good breakfast option as it is renowned for releasing energy slowly, which means you can get to lunch without suffering from a lull. A great source of fibre, potassium and vitamins, bananas are always a good accompaniment to your morning oats. DW Fitness Clubs Six healthy breakfast recipes to try Ingredients: 2 full eggs, 3 egg whites, asparagus, peppers, 50g of smoked salmon Method 1) Boil your asparagus in water for around five minutes. 2) Meanwhile, mix your eggs and egg whites in a jug, and add a splash of skimmed milk. Chop some peppers up and throw them in too. 3) Once your asparagus is cooked, drain it and chop into smaller chunks. Add these to your egg mixture. 4) Whisk your mixture and season with salt and pepper. 5) Pour the mix into a hot pan with a small knob of butter or a teaspoon of quality olive oil. 6) Cook the omelette for around 90 seconds to two minutes. 7) Once the bottom is cooked, take the pan off the hob and place under the grill for another 30 seconds to a minute in order to cook the top. 8) Serve with your smoked salmon. 1) Boil your asparagus in water for around five minutes. 2) Meanwhile, mix your eggs and egg whites in a jug, and add a splash of skimmed milk. Chop some peppers up and throw them in too. 3) Once your asparagus is cooked, drain it and chop into smaller chunks. Add these to your egg mixture. 4) Whisk your mixture and season with salt and pepper. 5) Pour the mix into a hot pan with a small knob of butter or a teaspoon of quality olive oil. 6) Cook the omelette for around 90 seconds to two minutes. 7) Once the bottom is cooked, take the pan off the hob and place under the grill for another 30 seconds to a minute in order to cook the top. 8) Serve with your smoked salmon. DW Fitness Six healthy breakfast recipes to try Greek yoghurt has vast nutritional benefits. Regardless of where you stand on the superfood debate, Greek yoghurt\u2019s credentials speak for themselves. A good source of potassium, protein, calcium and essential vitamins, this food forms an ideal base for a healthy breakfast, especially if you\u2019re trying to lose weight. DW Fitness Six healthy breakfast recipes to try Eggs Florentine is not only a tasty breakfast, it also carries a hefty nutritional punch, particularly when you throw some spinach into the equation. DW Fitness Six healthy breakfast recipes to try So fast and easy to make, yet so effective. Wholemeal toast can be a good breakfast choice, as long as you are sensible with your toppings. Peanut butter is perfect. A good source of \u201chealthy fats\u201d, as well as protein and Vitamin E among other nutrients, a liberal spreading of peanut butter can set you up for the day. DW Fitness\n\nThe report comes after products including salads and sandwiches were recalled from Sainsbury\u2019s, Waitrose, Asda and Morrisons after eggs from Dutch and Belgian farms were found to contain the insecticide Fipronil.\n\nHowever, the Food Standards Agency stressed that Fiprinol is only harmful in large quantities.\n\nFSA chairwoman Heather Hancock said at the time: \u201cThe number of eggs involved is small in proportion to the number of eggs we eat, and it is very unlikely that there is a risk to public health.\n\n\u201cBased on the available evidence there is no need for people to change the way they consume or cook eggs. However, Fipronil is not legally allowed for use near food-producing animals and it shouldn\u2019t be there.\u201d", "output": "A major UK supermarket's own brand of sausages and ready-to-eat ham may have infected thousands of people with Hepatitis E which can result in liver cirrhosis, according to Public Health England. Pigs in Britain do not have Hepatitis E, however, the virus has been found in pork products from the Netherlands, Germany and other European nations.The supermarket has not been named."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK councils have \u2018democratic deficit\u2019 due to gender imbalance \n A gender imbalance across local government has been exposed in a damning report that suggests councils \u2013 especially the new mayoral authorities \u2013 are lagging behind even Westminster in taking steps to improve equality.\n\nThe study, published on Sunday by the Institute for Public Policy Research, reveals that only 33% of councillors and 17% of council leaders in England are women, something the thinktank suggests is causing a \u201cdemocratic deficit\u201d.\n\nIn the new mayoral combined authority boards, only 4% of constituent members \u2013 those with full voting rights \u2013 are women and all six bodies are led by men. The West Midlands, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, the Liverpool City Region and the West of England authorities are all without any female constituent members.\n\nThe IPPR calculates that, to achieve equal numbers of male and female councillors in England, 3,028 more women need to be elected, an increase of more than 50% on the 5,800 or so currently in power. The thinktank estimates that, to achieve parity in gender balance, more than 12,000 women would have to apply for elected positions on councils. The shortfall means many policies that have a direct impact on women\u2019s lives are being drafted at the local level by male councillors with little practical experience of the issues at stake.\n\nThe report, Power to the people? Tackling the gender imbalance in local government & combined authorities, finds that women face a number of barriers to entering local government and progressing into leadership roles.\n\nDespite calls from politicians on all sides for more women to enter politics, the percentage of female candidates selected by parties to stand in council ward elections has flatlined, at around a third, since 2007. By contrast, there have been much faster gains in parliament \u2013 the number of female MPs elected rose by 9% in the 2017 general election compared with 2015. In the past 20 years, the proportion of women councillors has grown by 5%, but at this rate it will take another 68 years to reach equal representation.\n\nJess Phillips MP: \u2018Without a target or a quota, nothing is going to change.\u2019 Photograph: Fabio De Paola/REX/Shutterstock\n\nLabour MP Jess Phillips said it was time to consider a change to the law. \u201cCouncils and public bodies in the future need to look at whether they want to have targets that lead to local action. Without a target or a quota, nothing is going to change.\u201d\n\nDespite a new generation of young women participating in politics, with voter turnout among women aged 18 to 24 reaching 53% at the last election compared with just 44% in 2015, the report finds that political parties are failing to engage more women, with the result that they are less likely to go on to become local councillors.\n\nWomen make up only 38% of Labour party members and only 36% of Conservative party members.\n\n\u201cIt cannot be right in 2017 that there are barely any women represented in the leadership of our newest democratic institutions, the combined authorities,\u201d said Clare McNeil, IPPR associate director. \u201cEfforts made to address this in Greater Manchester and elsewhere are to be welcomed, but radical change is needed if devolution is to be about bringing power to the people, rather than consolidating it among white middle-aged men.\u201d\n\nThe report states: \u201cMany local government policy areas have a much greater impact on women than on men. For example, local government has oversight of childcare provision as well as responsibility for delivering and funding social care. Women, who in 2017 still shoulder the greatest burden of caring responsibilities in the family, are simply more affected by decisions on who gets state-funded care, and how it is delivered.\u201d\n\nThe IPPR wants leaders of political parties to commit to achieving a 50:50 balance in male-female party membership. And it wants authorities to make a commitment that at least 45% of those on combined authority boards are women. If significant progress towards greater gender balance in local government and combined authorities cannot be achieved through these changes, then it says legislation should be introduced requiring elected positions to be filled equally by genders, or with a split of 60:40 or better.\n\n\u201cPolitical institutions and parties must introduce more ambitious quotas to improve representation in the short term,\u201d McNeil said. \u201cAnd local government should do more to encourage women to stand and support them effectively once they have been selected. Without these measures representation will continue to be deeply unequal. Leaders of political parties should back our call to recruit the 12,000 women needed to stand for election to achieve a better gender balance in local government by 2025. This would be a fitting way to mark next year\u2019s anniversary of 100 years since the first women got the vote.\u201d\n\nMarianne Overton, vice-chair of the Local Government Association, believes that \u201cchange will only come about through a mix of support programmes and direct action from political parties to encourage and sustain aspiring female councillors\u201d.", "output": "UK local government has a \u201cdemocratic deficit\u201d due to its gender imbalance, according to a report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). The report shows that just 33% of councillors and 17% of council leaders in England are female. On mayoral combined authority boards, just 4% of constituent members with full voting rights are women, whereas all six boards have male leaders. To achieve equal gender representation, the IPPR estimates that a further 3,028 women must be elected, an increase\u00a0of over half\u00a0on the current figures.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trump lifts ban on plastic water bottle sales in national parks \n The Trump administration\u2019s decision to reverse a ban on the sale of plastic water bottles in some of America\u2019s most famous national parks, including the Grand Canyon, shows \u201cthe corporate agenda is king and people and the environment are left behind\u201d, campaigners have said.\n\n\n\nThe comments come after the administration ended a policy that allowed parks to ban the sale of plastic bottled water in an effort to curb pollution.\n\n\n\nThat policy \u201cwas a win-win for everyone except the bottled water industry, which is only interested in its bottom line\u201d, said Lauren DeRusha Florez, a campaign director for Corporate Accountability International, a group that campaigns against corporate abuses.\n\nThe change means national parks will no longer be allowed to ban plastic bottled water, after Trump administration officials ended a six-year-old policy put in place to curb pollution.\n\n\n\nThe National Park Service, responsible for America\u2019s most celebrated wilderness areas, announced the change in a press release that closely echoed lobbyists\u2019 arguments against the ban.\n\n\u201cIt should be up to our visitors to decide how best to keep themselves and their families hydrated during a visit to a national park, particularly during hot summer visitation periods,\u201d said the acting National Park Service director, Michael Reynolds. He said parks would continue to encourage people to use free bottle filling stations, \u201cas appropriate\u201d.\n\nThe same argument was used by the bottled water industry\u2019s main mouthpiece, the International Bottled Water Association, last year. Members of the lobbying organization include representatives of bottled water giants such as Nestl\u00e9, which sells brands including Poland Springs, Perrier and San Pellegrino in North America.\n\nSix years ago, the parks service encouraged America\u2019s 417 federal parks to end bottled water sales where practical, arguing that the system needed to be \u201can exemplar of sustainability\u201d. Parks that did ban bottled water only did so after installation of water bottle filling stations and a campaign to inform visitors where those filling stations were.\n\nSince 2011, 23 of America\u2019s most famous parks had ended bottled water sales. Those included the Grand Canyon and Zion national park, which together drew 10.2 million visitors in 2016. Last year, 331 million people visited America\u2019s national parks.\n\nPlastic bottles at the Grand Canyon alone comprised 20% of waste, and 30% of the park\u2019s recyclable waste.\n\n\n\nPlastic bottles were also a major contributor to trash that ended up along walkways and \u201cbelow the rim\u201d of the landmark canyon.\n\nAlready, the world consumes more than 1m plastic water bottles per minute, or roughly 20,000 per second. Environmentalists fear the impact of the growth in plastic water bottle sales could rival the effect of climate change, as recycling efforts fail to keep up with demand, and plastic ends up littering coastlines in particular.\n\nSome of the national parks that had made the change included seaside areas, such as Cape Hatteras national seashore in North Carolina and Biscayne national park outside of Miami, Florida.\n\nThe policy change came after just a few months of lobbying by the International Bottled Water Association, which began its campaign in January, after Donald Trump\u2019s inauguration, and spent $80,000 arguing against the \u201cbottle ban\u201d. National parks fall under the Department of Interior\u2019s umbrella, an agency now headed by the Trump appointee Ryan Zinke.\n\nOne of Trump\u2019s most recent appointments to the Department of the Interior is the deputy secretary David Bernhardt, a Colorado-based lawyer, previously with Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, who specialized in water-related litigation. Some lawmakers raised concerns about Bernhardt during his confirmation hearings, just a few weeks ago.\n\n\n\n\u201cHe is another conflict-ridden, climate-dismissing Trump appointee who favors profits over people,\u201d said the liberal Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren during his confirmation hearing. \u201cI am alarmed by his willingness to serve as the corporate rubber stamp that President Trump wants. Mr Bernhardt is a walking conflict of interest.\u201d\n\nBernhardt\u2019s law firm recently represented Nestl\u00e9 in a dispute over a bottling plant in Colorado. Nestl\u00e9 denied even knowing Bernhardt.\n\n\u201cNo one in the General Counsel\u2019s office at Nestl\u00e9 \u2026 has ever met or spoken to Mr Bernhardt and frankly was not familiar with him until these irresponsible claims were made,\u201d the company told the Washington Post.\n\nSeveral of Zinke\u2019s actions have also concerned conservationists. The Department of the Interior is \u201creviewing\u201d rules that govern oil and gas drilling in national parks, such as inside Florida\u2019s Everglades. State officials have also begun lobbying Zinke\u2019s department to allow uranium mining near the Grand Canyon.\n\nIn June, Zinke defended a proposed $400m cut to national parks in Trump\u2019s budget, a slash that would have required staff cuts at 90% of the country\u2019s parks. Zinke\u2019s department is also reviewing whether to cut 27 national monuments declared since 1996, which together encompass 1bn acres of public land.", "output": "President Trump\u2019s administration has reversed a ban on selling water in plastic bottles in national parks. Since the ban was introduced in 2011, 23 parks had already ended the sale of bottled water, which had been responsible for 20% of total waste and 30% of recyclable waste at the Grand Canyon park alone. Environmental groups criticised the decision, which followed an $80,000 campaign by the International Bottled Water Association. Trump recently appointed David Bernhardt, a specialist in water-related lobbying, to the Department of the Interior.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK consumers may have contracted hepatitis from imported pork \n Pork products sold at a leading supermarket may have infected British shoppers with a virus that can cause liver failure and death, it has emerged.\n\nResearchers at Public Health England (PHE) probed the shopping habits of those infected with hepatitis E and found the consumption of ham and sausages from one store, identified only as \u201csupermarket X\u201d, was a recurring feature.\n\nIn a report published last month, the government agency said the virus strain has not been detected in British pigs, and infections could be the result of eating products made outside the UK.\n\nPHE stressed that this \u201cdoes not infer blame on the supermarket\u201d and along with the Food Standards Agency (FSA) said they will not be naming the store.\n\nSince 2010 PHE said there has been an \u201cincrease in the number of non-travel cases\u201d of the hepatitis E virus \u2013 with figures showing infections have risen from from 368 in 2010 to 1243 in 2016.\n\nCaused by the hepatitis E virus, the disease generally results in a mild and short-term infection unless the person has a pre-existing liver disease or is pregnant.\n\nSymptoms of the virus can include feeling flu-like, yellowing of the skin and eyes, tiredness, fever, vomiting and loss of appetite. In rare cases it can cause liver failure and prove fatal.\n\nIn the face of the increasing infection figures, the PHE study looked at 60 individuals with no history of travel outside the UK.\n\nThe Sunday Times reports the research was carried out between 2014 and 2016, and that it is estimated 150,000 to 200,000 Britons are infected with the virus by imported pork every year.\n\nAccording to the newspaper, PHE\u2019s report states: \u201cThe implicated products are pork sausages, which require cooking prior to consumption, and ready-to-eat pre-packed ham.\u201d\n\nResearchers found the unnamed supermarket\u2019s \u201cown brand\u201d sausages were significantly associated with infection.\n\nAn FSA spokeswoman said they are aware of the report\u2019s findings and are reviewing all aspects of hepatitis E infection with other government departments and industry.\n\n\u201cThe risk from acquiring hepatitis E virus (HEV) from eating thoroughly cooked pork or pork products is low,\u201d she said. \u201cAs a precaution, the FSA advises consumers that all whole cuts of pork, pork products and offal should be thoroughly cooked until steaming hot throughout, the meat is no longer pink and juices run clear.\u201d", "output": "Pork products sold by a major supermarket may have infected UK consumers with hepatitis E, which can be fatal, according to Public Health England (PHE). Researchers discovered that of ham and sausages from the store, reported only as \u201csupermarket X\u201d, were consumed by almost all of the infected. The virus has not been identified in UK pigs, implying that the infections may have resulted from eating imported pork. PHE stated that they do \u201cnot infer blame on the supermarket\u201d, which neither they nor the Foods Standards Authority have identified.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mumbai firm closed after industrial waste turns dogs blue \n The state pollution control board shut down the Navi Mumbai-based private company that was releasing untreated industrial waste into the Kasadi river at Taloja, and was discharging residual dye powder into the air and in the water, which was turning dogs in the area blue. HT first reported on August 11 about the dogs mysteriously turning blue, after residents spotted the canines(HT Photo)\n\nHT first reported on August 11 about the dogs mysteriously turning blue, after residents spotted the canines. After local activists filed a complaint with the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), it was discovered that a private company was releasing blue dye into the air and the river water.\n\nOfficials from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) told HT that a closure notice was issued on Friday night and the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) has been asked to cut water supply to the firm.\n\nThe pollution board issued a show-cause notice on Wednesday. However, after witnessing that there were no pollution abatement measures being followed by the firm, it was shut down.\n\n\u201cThere are a set of norms that every industry needs to follow. After our sub-regional officers confirmed media reports that dogs were indeed turning blue due to air and water pollution, we conducted a detailed survey at the plant,\u201d said Anil Mohekar, regional officer, MPCB Navi Mumbai, adding that once they found out that none of the directions under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, were being followed by the private company, closure directions were issued.\n\n\u201cDucol Organics Pvt Ltd. is harming animals and birds in the area. We cannot let such an industry function. We will ensure that the plant does not function from Monday and the decision sets an example for other polluting industries, which may not be following pollution abatement measures,\u201d he said.\n\nAccording to MPCB, the fur of five dogs from the industrial area had turned blue. Veterinarians from a hospital examined all five dogs and admitted one of them to the hospital for pathology tests. A blood report revealed that the dog was healthy, did not have any infection and the blue dye was water soluble.\n\nHowever, animal welfare activist Arati Chauhan from Navi Mumbai Animal Protection cell, who first identified the problem through the pictures of a dog, said shutting down the industry was not a solution as it was not addressing the larger issue of other polluters in the area. \u201cShutting down one industry, as MPCB has done, only results in daily wage labourers losing their bread and butter. There are many other industries in the area that pose a threat to the flora, fauna and a threat of more such cases is a possibility,\u201d she said. \u201cThere is a need for pollution monitoring of all plants and development of adequate green cover around industrial sites.\u201d\n\nSHARE THIS ARTICLE ON", "output": "Ducol Organics, a chemical company based in Mumbai, has been closed by local authorities after untreated industrial waste and dye released by the firm into the Kasadi river turned dogs in the area blue. According to tests on five dogs by veterinarians, the blue dye was water soluble and the animals were healthy. Local animal welfare activist Arati Chauhan called for greater pollution monitoring of all plants in the area.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New York Governor to put congestion pricing on political table \n The need for congestion pricing is greater than ever. New York City\u2019s subway system has degenerated into a stupendous mess after years of neglect and maladministration. It is becoming clear to commuters and politicians alike that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority needs to spend much more money to upgrade its antiquated signaling system, replace dilapidated trains and refurbish worn-down stations, not to mention extend the system to transit-starved neighborhoods.\n\nThat\u2019s where congestion pricing, specifically a proposal known as Move NY Fair Plan, comes in. It is based on the ideas of Sam Schwartz, a former New York City traffic commissioner, and it operates on the principle that everybody who travels to Manhattan should share the burden of easing traffic and improving the transportation system.\n\nMove NY, which Mr. Cuomo is considering, would impose fees on cars and trucks heading south across 60th Street and vehicles that enter Manhattan from the four East River bridges that are currently free. It would lower tolls on outer bridges like the Robert F. Kennedy (still known as the Triborough) and the Verrazano-Narrows that serve areas with few transit options. And it would increase fees on taxi and ride-share trips in much of Manhattan during the busiest times of day. The fees and tolls would be higher on weekdays and during rush hours, and lower at other times. The plan would raise nearly $1.5 billion a year for improving transit services in the city and the suburbs. Cities like London and Singapore have used similar policies effectively.\n\nMr. Cuomo has provided few details about his congestion pricing plan, and it is not clear how closely it will resemble Move NY. The governor says he has been thinking about the idea for months and has been encouraged to move ahead with congestion pricing by the success of a recent experiment in which the M.T.A. lowered some bridge and tunnel tolls at night to prod truckers to shift deliveries to less busy times. Ideally, Mr. Cuomo would borrow heavily from Move NY, rather than adopt just one or two components of that proposal.\n\nThe governor will also need to work hard to win over skeptical elected officials, including Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has previously criticized congestion-pricing proposals and has proposed a tax on the wealthy that would raise much less money than Move NY. But Mr. Cuomo doesn\u2019t have to start from square one. More than two dozen state lawmakers in the Assembly and the Senate have sponsored congestion-pricing legislation. And several local chambers of commerce, labor unions, segments of the for-hire car industry, truckers, transit riders\u2019 organizations and environmental groups have supported Move NY.", "output": "New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and his staff are considering the implementation of fees and tolls for using Manhattan streets, according to the New York Times. Known as the Move NY Fair Plan, the project would impose fees on vehicles crossing several key points in the city, including the four bridges into Manhattan over the East River. The plan is expected to raise $1.5bn every year, which would be dedicated to improving the city's transport\u00a0infrastructure."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Biofuel-run buses launched in Goa \n PANAJI: The Goa government today launched three biofuel-powered buses here on a pilot basis.The project is a part of the state government's comprehensive mobility plan announced in the recent budget.Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar launched the project by taking the first ride in the bus, which will be operated by Kadamba Transport Corporation Limited (KTCL), a state-run body.Talking to reporters later, Parrikar said, \"We had announced that the state will introduce a comprehensive mobility plan for the entire state. Total Rs 150 crore have been earmarked for the purpose in the state budget, which was tabled recently.\"The state government has taken three buses on a trial basis, and depending upon the success their number will increase in the days to come, he added.The buses, which run on bio-gas or ethanol, have been manufactured by Scania Commercial Vehicles India Private Ltd.\"The company will be required to maintain the bus for 15 years. The state government will only operate the bus and collect the ticket and pay the company on per-kilometre basis,\" Parrikar said.\"The ticketing would be done through automated system. The bus will have swiping machines. One can enter the bus after swiping the card,\" he said.The chief minister said the ticket prices would be as per the general rates applicable in the state.", "output": "The Goa government has launched three biofuel-powered buses in a pilot scheme examining the use of the technology. The service will be run by the state-run Kadamba Transport Corporation, and is part of wider state plans concerning mobility."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Car loan market is in danger of bursting, says Bank of England \n A shock fall in new car sales is forcing dealers to offer increasingly high-risk finance deals in a desperate bid to keep the flagging market moving, Bank of England economists warn today.\n\nForecourt saleman are being told by manufacturers to offer bigger discounts to customers as they try to reverse a fall in sales.\n\nThe economists fear the car finance market is now dangerously exposed to a downturn - particularly if car sales start to fall \u2013 and face catastrophic damage if there is an economic shock.\n\nForecourt saleman are being told by manufacturers to offer bigger discounts to customers as they try to reverse a fall in sales\n\nIt is the latest warning that the finance bubble that has spurred the sale of new cars to record levels in the UK, may be about to burst.\n\nDemand for new vehicles has dropped sharply amid a squeeze on living standards and road tax hikes.\n\nThe \u00a358billion car finance industry is now being forced to offer special discounts at flagging dealers, longer loans and lower monthly payments to lure in new buyers.\n\nThe Mail has previously warned of how salesmen were offering cars worth up to \u00a320,000 without asking for a deposit.\n\nAn undercover investigation revealed that a salesman told a 24-year-old how to write a credit check form to ensure he was approved, and another tried to sell a \u00a315,000 Audi to a young man who said he was out of work.\n\nNow, three Bank experts fear car finance companies are playing with fire and their system could crumble if economic conditions take a turn for the worse.\n\n\u2018Although weakening, UK new car sales remain at historically high levels,\u2019 they said.\n\n\u2018That is partly because car manufacturers and their finance houses are increasingly stimulating private demand by offering cheaper (and new) forms of car finance.\n\nThe economists fear the car finance market is now dangerously exposed to a downturn - particularly if car sales start to fall\n\n\u2018As amounts of consumer credit increase, so do the risks to the finance providers.\n\n\u2018These developments make the industry increasingly vulnerable to shocks.\u2019\n\nCar finance has exploded since the economic crisis, fuelled by personal contract purchases deals (PCPs) which appear to give customers a risk-free way of buying a new car on the cheap.\n\nIn these deals, the customer puts down an initial deposit of several thousand pounds and then makes monthly payments for the next three or four years.\n\nThey can then pay a \u2018balloon\u2019 lump sum at the end of the term if they want to own the car, based on its projected value on the second-hand market.\n\nMost drivers instead hand the car back and take out a new contract.\n\nBut after years of surging growth, there are now signs PCPs may have run into trouble.\n\nNew vehicle registrations are expected to fall 2.6 per cent this year, according to industry body SMMT, and by another 4.1 per cent in 2018.\n\nAt the same time, manufacturers are feeling the pain from the fall in the pound, which has driven up the cost of imported cars and components.\n\nBut they feel unable to pass these price rises on because of intense competition, meaning their profits are taking a hit.\n\nPCPs also depend on the value of used cars \u2013 and there are signs that these have fallen slightly in the last year, according to the Bank\u2019s researchers.\n\nThe Old Lady has previously warned that a 30 per cent fall in second-hand prices could cost banks \u00a31.7billion.\n\nAnd last month Alex Brazier, a senior figure who sits on the Bank\u2019s Financial Policy Committee, said firms risk losing money if used car prices fall.\n\nWarning that companies \u2018will want to think very carefully about the risks\u2019, he added: \u2018It\u2019s not difficult to see hwo this could be self-reinforcing. If used car prices were to fall, and PCP purchasers opt to give back their cars as their contracts expire, the supply of used cars onto the market could increase substantially, pushing prices down further.\u2019\n\nIn an effort to shore up the industry, car companies are now offering special deals to get wavering drivers signed up, Bank economists found.\n\nThese so-called variable marketing programmes see dealers which are struggling to hit their targets given leeway to reduce the deposits they ask for, or to cut the interest they charge.\n\n\u2018Manufacturers often vary the amount of cash support to car dealers in order to meet sales,\u2019 the Bank\u2019s researchers said.\n\n\u2018If a manufacturer is falling behind its (typically quarterly) sales budget, cash incentives may be offered to dealerships to meet more demanding targets in the following quarter, in order to clear surplus inventory and get back on track.\n\n\u2018Our intelligence suggests that dealership incentives have increased over the past year.\u2019\n\nAnother trick finance companies are pulling is slashing consumers\u2019 monthly payments by inflating what they expect their car to be worth second-hand when it is given back.\n\nAlthough it makes the deals more attractive, it also increases the risk that these businesses will lose money if used prices suddenly plummet.\n\nAnd there are fears this could happen in coming years because of plans to ban diesel vehicles and a fresh push for electric cars.\n\nSome firms are already struggling to make the money they need from second-hand cars, the Bank staff said.\n\nThese companies are offering longer and longer PCP deals so they get more months of income and need to raise less money when the vehicles are sold.\n\nThe report into car finance was written by Bank employees Tim Pike, Phil Eckersley and Alex Golledge, and published on a website which features research by staff.\n\nIt is not official Bank policy.\n\nAdrian Dally of industry body The Finance & Leading Association said there was no cause for concern.\n\nHe pointed out that total car finance was \u2018pretty insignificant\u2019 when compared to the rest of Britain\u2019s debt pile.\n\n\u2018In an extremely competitive market, it\u2019s good to see operators continuing to react by making offers attractive to buyers,\u2019 he said.", "output": "A sudden drop in new vehicle sales is leading dealers to offer higher-risk finance deals to keep the market alive, Bank of England economists have said. In an attempt to gain customers, sales staff are being asked by manufacturers to offer larger discounts, but economists are warning that the car finance market would be highly vulnerable in the event of an economic downturn. Car finance is\u00a0usually based on personal contract purchase deals that can allow customers to buy a car without even paying a deposit.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Research suggest UK buyers will pay a premium for eco-homes \n Making energy saving improvements to homes could increase values by up to 38% in the UK as the majority of buyers would pay more for an environmentally friendly property.\n\nStudies find that 82% per cent of home buyers would pay more for eco features at a time when housing alone generates 29% of UK emissions, with younger people more willing to do so.\n\nA new report published by leading global real estate advisors CBRE Residential reveals the true environmental impact of residential property. The report also suggests how to create truly eco-friendly homes and considers the long term premiums attached.\n\n\u2018A green home is designed to be environmentally friendly and sustainable. The underlying design focusses on using as little water, energy resources and building materials as possible, and thereby creating a smaller impact on the environment,\u2019 said Jennet Siebrits, Head of Residential Research at CBRE UK.\n\n\u2018The benefits of going green are clear from an environmental perspective. The earth\u2019s resources are limited and we are using more than the earth can regenerate. In 2016, we used around 1.6 times the earth\u2019s resources, with the construction and running of a residential property having a significant impact on the environment,\u2019 she pointed out.\n\n\u2018In most developed nations, household electricity use generally makes up about a third of total electricity consumption. Energy from fossil fuels consumed in the construction and operation of buildings accounts for approximately half of the UK\u2019s emissions of carbon dioxide. Housing alone generates 29% of UK emissions, of which 82% is used for space and water heating,\u2019 she added.\n\nThe report suggests that a fabric first approach to building design would involve using materials and design to maximise the performance of a building. Construction methods and materials used should aim to maximise air tightness, create high levels of insulation, make good use of natural light and solar gain and use the buildings thermal mass to advantage.\n\nIt also suggests that the consideration of the life cycle of materials and products used in the building and their impact on the environment is also becoming increasingly important. Particularly in heavily built-up urban areas, green roofs can form part of an effective sustainable drainage solution by reducing run-off at peak times, and lessening the need for underground drainage at site boundary level.\n\nLooking ahead the development of rechargeable lithium-ion battery packs for in-home use will boost the usage of solar energy but small scale home improvements affecting the fabric of a home can be one of the most effective ways of reducing energy consumption.\n\nThe report points to research conducted by house builder Redrow which found that 63% of home buyers want to purchase a green, environmentally friendly home, and 82% would pay more for a home that allows them to fulfil this ambition to \u2018go green\u2019.\n\nThe study found that more than 25% of buyers would pay at least a 6% premium for a home with sustainable features. Further, a recent UK report by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) found that making energy saving improvements to a home \u2018could increase its value by 14% on average and up to 38% in some regions\u2019.", "output": "Building environmentally friendly homes isn't just good for the climate, 82% would pay more for a 'green' home, while more than a quarter of all UK buyers would pay a 6% premium for a house with sustainable features, according a study by house builder Redrow. Housing is responsible for 29% of UK emissions, and a report from CBRE UK said taking a fabric first approach to building design, and considering the life cycle of materials and products at the construction stage are becoming increasingly important\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New players take a big chunk of Japan's retail power markets \n TOKYO -- New players are climbing the ranks in Japan's deregulated retail power market, collectively surpassing four out of 10 major utilities in household electricity sales.\n\nSince the market's liberalization in April 2016, a swarm of newcomers entered the industry such as oil and gas companies and even telecom businesses. The new players began offering rates about 5% lower on average than major providers, helping them attract households, especially those with heavy power usage.", "output": "Deregulation in the Japanese retail power market has allowed new suppliers to climb the ranks of providers. Since April 2016, when the market was liberalised, companies such as Tokyo Gas, Osaka Gas and JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy have taken up new electricity contracts. About 4.55 million users are understood to have switched to new providers by the end of July, which number about 230 as against the big four major utilities.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian windfarm set for construction following $40m funding \n Construction is set to begin on a world-leading wind, solar, and battery storage hybrid project in north Queensland, after the company behind the 1200MW Kennedy Energy Park, Windlab, raised $50 million through an initial public offer.\n\nIn a statement on Thursday, Windlab said that the successful capital raising meant that financing arrangements for the first 60MW of the project were able to be finalised, and the project was expected to reach financial close and begin construction over the coming few months.\n\nThe capital raising marks a dual win for Windlab, with the Canberra-based CSIRO spin-off set to begin trading on the ASX next week, after closing its IPO \u201cfully underwritten and oversubscribed\u201d on Thursday.\n\nThe company floated 25 million shares at $2 each, the proceeds of which will be divided between existing investors, and phase one of the Kennedy Energy Park.\n\nIt also marks a second win for wind energy this week, which continues to woo private sector investors with its increasingly low cost of power. On the same day as Windlab\u2019s revealed the success of its stock market float, AGL Energy managed to secure a PPA of below $60/MWh for the 453MW Coopers Gap Wind Farm, to be built in Queensland by 2019 after reaching financial close Thursday.\n\nKennedy Phase 1 is a 60MW wind, solar and storage hybrid plant located near Hughenden in Far North Queensland \u2013 a location chosen for its high and consistent wind resource using Windlab\u2019s proprietary Windscape technology.\n\n\u201cHughenden is almost unique in that it enjoys one of the best wind resources in Australia, co-located with one of the best solar resource,\u201d Windlab project director Geoff Burns said in comments last year.\n\n\u201cThe (wind and solar) resources are highly consistent and complementary; when the sun sets the wind ramps up and continues through to the morning after the sun rises. It is this unique characteristic that will allow Kennedy to provide a near base load generation profile.\u201d\n\nPhase one of the project \u2013 which is intended to prove the effectiveness of the wind and solar solution \u2013 will cost around $120 million.\n\nThis is hoped to garner support for a much larger deployment which could include more than 1,000MW of wind and solar of disptachable power to the energy-hungry north of the state..\n\n\u201cWe are delighted with the level of interest and support we have received from investors,\u201d said Windlab chairman and CEO Roger Price in a statement on Thursday.\n\n\u201cIt seems clear that investors understand that renewable energy will quickly become a very significant component of our energy generation mix.\u201d\n\nWindlab said that the configuration, control and energy export characteristics of Kennedy would demonstrate many of the findings and recommendations of the recent Finkel Review, including dispatchable renewable capacity, improved network reliability, and fast frequency response and synthetic inertia.\n\nWindlab identified the location in 2013 and along with its joint venture partner, Eurus Energy Holdings Corporation, has secured all necessary development approvals, and now financial close. Phase one of the project is expected to commence operations in late 2018.", "output": "Energy company Windlab will use AUD$50m ($40m) of funding it raised through an initial public offering to finance the first 60 MW of a wind, solar and battery storage hybrid project in northern Queensland, Australia. The company issued 25 million shares at $1.60 each, the proceeds of which will be divided between the construction of the Kennedy Energy Park's first phase and existing investors. Developed in partnership with Eurus Energy Holdings, phase one of the project will cost around $95m."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ReNew Power Ventures raises $50m to refinance wind projects \n Mumbai: Renewable energy company ReNew Power Ventures Pvt. Ltd has raised around $50 million in debt from Yes Bank Ltd to refinance the debt of one of its wind power projects, said two people aware of the development.\n\n\u201cYes Bank has lent approximately $50 million (Rs321 crore). The money will be used by ReNew to refinance the debt of its Amba wind power project in Madhya Pradesh, which has an installed capacity of around 44 megawatts (MW),\" said one of the two people cited above, on condition of anonymity as he is not authorized to speak to reporters.\n\nThe project has been commissioned recently and is generating cash flows, thus the company decided to refinance the debt of the project, which will help reduce the interest cost being paid by the company, he added.\n\n\u201cAs part of our cost reduction strategy, we keep exploring multiple alternatives like INR bonds, Masala bonds, bank refinancing, etc., and to this effect, to refinance one of our projects in Madhya Pradesh, have tied up with Yes Bank to be the exclusive arranger through the issue of non-convertible debentures,\" said Kailash Vaswani, deputy chief financial officer at ReNew Power, one of the largest renewable energy producers in the country, with operational and under-development projects worth over 3 gigawatts (GW).\n\nYes Bank has been, in the recent times, one of the more active lenders to the renewable sector in India.\n\nIn 2015, the bank announced that it would finance 5GW of green projects over the next five years across renewable energy and energy efficiency projects, including solar power, wind power, biomass, and small hydel projects.\n\nIt also raised capital in 2015 for lending to the renewable sector by issuing green infrastructure bonds worth Rs1,000 crore.\n\nSubsequently the bank issued two more tranches of green bonds. In August 2015, it raised Rs315 crore from International Finance Corp. (IFC), the private sector financing arm of the World Bank, through green bonds. Last year, it raised Rs330 crore through a similar route from Dutch development finance institution FMO.\n\nSeveral other private sector lenders too have taken the green bonds route to raise capital for the renewable sector. In May, Axis Bank raised $500 million through green bonds from the international market.\n\nIndia has a target of installing 100GW of solar power capacity and 60GW of wind power capacity by 2022. The total installed capacity of renewable energy stands at 30GW, of which wind energy projects account for 24GW, solar contributes 5GW and the rest comes from smaller sources such as biomass.\n\nReNew Power, founded by Sumant Sinha, is one of the largest renewable energy producers in the country with operational and under-development projects worth over 3GW.\n\nIn February, JERA Co. Inc. bought a 10% stake in ReNew Power for around $200 million. Set up in 2015, JERA is an equal joint venture between Japan\u2019s largest utility Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) and Chubu Electric Power Co.\n\nReNew Power\u2019s earlier backers include Goldman Sachs, sovereign wealth fund Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and Global Environment Fund.\n\nReNew Power\u2019s recent debt financing transactions include a long-term $390 million debt funding from ADB, a $250 million credit line from Overseas Private Investment Corp. It also raised $475 million through masala bonds earlier this year.", "output": "Renewable energy company ReNew Power Ventures has raised around $50m to refinance the debt of its 44 MW Amba wind power project in Madhya Pradesh, two sources familiar with the matter said. The recently commissioned project has become cash flow positive, which enabled the New Delhi-based company to refinance its debt and reduce the interest cost being paid by the company, a source said. Yes Bank funded ReNew as part of its commitment to finance 5 GW of green projects from 2015 to 2020."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HCL Deadly Japanese fungus outbreak in UK hospitals \n T he outbreak of a potentially deadly fungus at a major London hospital was blamed on \u201clow nursing levels\u201d, the Standard can reveal.\n\nA total of 31 patients were colonised with the so-called \u201cJapanese fungus\u201d Candida auris at King\u2019s College hospital, in Denmark Hill, after it was passed on from a woman patient admitted from the Royal Brompton, the specialist heart and lung hospital in Chelsea, in April 2016.\n\nToday it emerged that more than 200 patients in 20 NHS trusts and private hospitals had been affected, with the intensive care units at the two London hospitals among the worst affected.\n\nThe outbreak at King\u2019s lasted a year and only ended in April. In six cases, the fungus entered the bloodstream, causing an infection.\n\nBoard papers for the hospital\u2019s parent NHS trust in March stated: \u201cWhile the trust is implementing infection prevention and control protocols, it was noted that the spread of the pathogen is affected by low nursing levels.\u201d\n\nCandida auris was first detected in the ear of a patient in Japan in 2009 and has been reported sporadically in England since 2013.\n\nThe rare fungus, or yeast, lives on the skin or inside the body. Some patients carry it without becoming unwell but it can cause infections if it gets into surgical wounds or when urinary catheters or drips are inserted.\n\nLast year the US warned that the fungus, which has a high mortality rate and is resistant to infection control measures, was spreading in US health facilities.\n\nPublic Health England, which this week updated its guidance on dealing with an outbreak, said it appeared to be \u201chighly transmissible\u201d between patients but none of this country\u2019s cases had proved fatal.\n\nPatients who develop an infection are normally isolated but King\u2019s said it had problems identifying it quickly and finding single rooms. Laboratory tests took \u201ceight to nine days\u201d.\n\nAcross the NHS, 35 patients known to be carrying the fungus have been transferred between hospitals. A pilot scheme testing all patients admitted to intensive care was launched in five hospitals last month.\n\nAbout a quarter of detections have been clinical infections, including 27 patients who developed blood stream infections, Public Health England said. It recommends washing patients with chlorohexidine, a disinfectant used before surgery, to treat colonisation.\n\nKings said its critical care units, liver and cardiac wards were the worst hit. Board papers revealed: \u201cThe first case was a patient admitted from the Royal Brompton in April 2016 who was known to be positive on admission and isolated in a side room on the critical care unit and cardiac wards during her hospital stay.\u201d\n\nThe Brompton said its outbreak ended last December. It caused 12 patients to develop an infection. The fungus is believed to have originated from a seriously ill patient admitted to its intensive care unit who was carrying it on the skin.\n\nA spokesman said: \u201cA number of patients have been found to be colonised (carriers) without experiencing any symptoms or harm, and we will continue with the steps we are taking to minimise any possible risks.\u201d", "output": "King\u2019s College Hospital experienced an outbreak of a potentially lethal Japanese fungus outbreak due to \u201clow nursing levels\u201d, according to the facility\u2019s NHS parent trust. Over 200 patients across 20 NHS trusts and private hospitals were affected by the Candida auris fungus, which lasted 12 months and was only eradicated in April 2017. The fungus can cause serious infections if it enters the bloodstream via surgical wounds, catheters or drip applications. The potential for the further spread is high, with 35 patients known to be carrying the fungus having been transferred between hospitals.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "RhythmOne Google to move all app install ads to Universal Ad Campaigns \n by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, August 14, 2017\n\nGoogle says Universal App Campaigns now deliver half of all app downloads across its network, so it is moving all app install advertisement under the umbrella of UAC.\n\nAs of October 16, 2017, all app-install campaigns will run as UAC ads, but its current app-install campaigns will not stop running until November 15, 2017.\n\nGoogle introduced UAC about two years ago to help developers drive app downloads. UAC uses Google\u2019s machine-learning technology to help find customers across Google Play, Google.com, YouTube and the millions of sites and apps in the Display Network based on a marketer's business goals.\n\nThe ads are distributed across multiple Google networks such as Search, GDN and AdMobi, and use a CPA model.\n\nBill Riddell, digital media manager at Chacka Marketing, has been testing UAC with a couple of clients. He says UAC and machine-learning algorithms allow Google to use a variety of signals to identify certain consumers and drive them to complete an in-app action.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nWith the new change, Riddell says Google is releasing two new variants of UAC. One focuses on target cost per acquisition where the marketer tells Google how much they are willing to pay. Google identifies the consumers based on many signals to drive more qualified users at or below the CPA set in the platform.\n\nThe second new version is based on Return On Ad Spend (ROAS). It works in a similar way to the target cost per acquisition, but rather than a CPA target it focuses on revenue and is geared more toward retailers.\n\nThe ability to bid and optimize against a range of goals like CPI, CPA or ROAS has become the major advantage to performance in UAC.\n\nGoogle says advertisers that optimize for in-app actions with UAC, on average, drive about 140% more conversions per dollar than other Google app promotions products.\n\nDevelopers and publishers need to convert their campaigns, so in a post Google details guidelines to help them make the move.", "output": "Google is moving all app install adverts to its Universal Ad Campaigns (UAC) programme. From 16 October, all app install campaigns will run as UAC ads, but existing campaigns will not stop until 15 November. UAC uses machine-learning technology to help app developers find customers across Google Play, Google.com, YouTube and sites in the Display Network, based on a marketer's targets, and was introduced two years ago. Advertisers can bid and optimise against a range of goals, for example, cost per acquisition, using UAC, which enhances ad performance.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BAT accused of exploiting instability to sell in war zones \n British American Tobacco (BAT) has promoted sales of its cigarettes in some of the most fragile, war-torn and unstable countries of Africa and the Middle East, documents seen by the Guardian show.\n\nWhile civilians were being killed and cities ravaged by violence, BAT pursued opportunities to grow its markets.\n\nThe documents describe how cartons of cigarettes were distributed to traders hidden in black bags in Somalia after Al-Shabaab banned sales and threatened punishments under Sharia law between late 2008 and early 2009.\n\nThey also show that BAT made plans to launch in South Sudan just two days before it gained independence from the north after years of destruction from a civil war that left 4 million people displaced.\n\nAnd they tell of a town in eastern DRC that is not on any map, created by BAT to produce and process tobacco leaf, where, according to a whistleblower, millions of dollars were delivered to pay farmers and staff, carried in secretly.\n\nPaul Hopkins and hired gunmen protecting BAT management and local staff in Mogadishu, Somalia. Photograph: Paul Hopkins\n\nThe documents were shown to the Guardian by Paul Hopkins, who was employed by BAT in Africa for 13 years, until he blew the whistle internally on what he describes as unethical conduct; he was later made redundant and left in December 2015. Hopkins tried suing BAT for unfair dismissal but an employment tribunal in London ruled that his employment contract was governed by Kenyan rather than English law preventing him from further pursuing his claim in the UK.\n\nThe Serious Fraud Office said earlier this month that it was investigating his allegations.\n\n\n\nThe details of BAT\u2019s promotion of cigarettes in troubled countries, come as BAT works to raise financing to conclude its purchase of Reynolds American, which will make it the biggest tobacco company in the world. The revelations also follow a Guardian investigation revealing that BAT and other multinationals have used threats against at least eight African nations, demanding they axe or dilute the kind of tobacco control measures that have saved millions of lives in the west.\n\n\n\nHopkins says that fragile states were of interest to BAT, in spite of the practical difficulties and dangers involved in moving cartons of cigarettes and money about.\n\n\u201cIf you have no government, you have nobody annoying you about health warnings and nicotine content,\u201d he told the Guardian. \u201cNo customs. You basically pay your tax to the local militias on the airfield where you are landing.\u201d\n\nAsked by the Guardian if it had avoided local customs duties and paid cash to local militias, particularly in the DRC, BAT insisted that it observes all \u201crelevant laws and regulations\u201d in the 200 countries in which it operates and that it had pre-paid excise duty to the DRC government.\n\n\n\nMillions of dollars\n\nOne of the smaller cash drops, worth $2.5 million, which Paul Hopkins says was taken over the Ugandan border to the BAT town of Auzi in DRC Photograph: Paul Hopkins\n\nHopkins, a former soldier in the Irish Army\u2019s special forces unit, says he was required on several occasions to take millions of dollars in cash into the DRC. He says it was destined for the town of Auzi in the northeast, unnamed on maps.\n\n\n\nAuzi had been built by BAT in the 1950s with a church and a school. It was run by the subsidiary company BAT Leaf. Usually an outside security company took cash into the DRC to pay for the leaf, which was graded in Auzi but then transported through Uganda to Kenya for manufacturing. But while the usual couriers were on leave, Hopkins says he was told to do the run.\n\n\u201cWhen the weather is not bad, you can drive,\u201d said Hopkins. \u201cIt\u2019s about an hour from Arua in Uganda, across wooden bridges and along dirt roads.\u201d\n\nHopkins has a photograph of a huge stack of notes, totalling $2.5m, that he says he picked up in Kampala and took with him on a Cessna plane that took off from a private airfield outside of the city.\n\nHe says he flew to Arua, where a security company employed by BAT supplied him legally with a pistol. Once on the other side of the Congolese border, he said, \u201cI would rent an AK47 for a couple of days.\u201d\n\nBut, he said, \u201cyour best protection was the 40,000-plus farmers [in eastern Congo]. They didn\u2019t want the rebels to get you because you were carrying their money.\u201d He said he would camouflage the dollars in bags of promotional items, such as BAT hats and pens, which he would give away to the rebels.\n\nIn Somalia, the documents show BAT had a strategy to continue selling its cigarettes in spite of warnings by the fundamentalist group Al-Shabaab that it would punish those who sold them under Sharia law.\n\n\n\nA slide from a powerpoint presentation from 22 June 2011 says: \u201cMarket Assumptions. Somalia. The No-Smoking ultimatum made by Al-Shabaab now in effect. Cigarettes are now a black market commodity. Distribution is being made in black paper bags. This resulted in about 16% decrease in IMS in May, with 1st week of June already 23% down compared to plan.\u201d\n\nPaul Hopkins says BAT brand cigarettes were hidden in plastic in Somalia after al-Shabaab banned sales. Photograph: Paul Hopkins\n\nA second slide shows pictures of cartons of BAT brands Sportsman and Royals, packed into unidentifiable gunny bags (hessian sacks) and delivered for sale.\n\nHopkins tells of supplying security for the visits of BAT staff to Mogadishu, where they would check the prominence of BAT branded cigarettes on sale in the war-torn city. He has photographs of them posing with local militiamen, hired to protect them.\n\nSomalia is a profitable market for BAT, he says, because people like the more expensive brands. \u201cThe whole strategy of the marketing department is to get people smoking cheap brands like Sportsman and migrate them up to the global brands like Dunhill that are more profitable. You go into a market with a value-for-money brand that the poor people can afford,\u201d he said.\n\nThat was the strategy in impoverished South Sudan, a new state created after years of war and with millions of people displaced and in dire poverty. Two days before independence was declared on 9 July 2011, BAT met to plan the launch of its cheapest brands in the new state.\n\n\u201cOur strategic intent for this market is to develop sustainable volume initially and the value will come later. The intention is to enter the market with Sportsman and Safari brands which are already widely recognised. The majority of the market is in the Low and Very Low segments,\u201d said the minutes of the Project South Sudan Kick Off Meeting.\n\nA February 2012 document from BAT\u2019s Group Portfolio Management Office \u2013 Strategy & Planning stated that the break-even point would be the sale of 75m sticks for year one. \u201cThe overriding objective of this project was to enter the South Sudan market in Q4 2011 and establish a viable business model with a consumer relevant brand portfolio that delivers a sustainable month on month organic volume growth with the lowest possible investment,\u201d it says.\n\nIn the Middle East also, BAT has nurtured sales in what it describes as \u201cvolatile markets\u201d \u2013 countries emerging out of war or even in the middle of conflict, like Syria. An October 2011 internal BAT publication called ezine says: \u201cThe Middle East continues to deliver outstanding results in a volatile environment. Dunhill has driven strong share growth in the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council region], and both Iraq and Iran have achieved impressive volume increases\u2026\n\n\u201cIn Iraq, [the BAT brand] Kent is growing at a spectacular 80% and consolidating its leading position in the premium segment. In Syria, despite very difficult trading circumstances, Kent has doubled its monthly running rate.\u201d\n\n\u201cFor BAT every person is a potential smoker and every country is potentially exploitable. Fragile states are particularly so because the normal rules do not apply, taxes can be avoided, and cigarettes can still be sold profitably. In other words \u2013 as long as money can be made, anything goes,\u201d said Anna Gilmore, Professor of Public Health at the University of Bath and UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies. \u201cPlus at some point many of the \u2018fragile\u2019 markets will formalise. BAT\u2019s aim is generally to get in there early, get smokers addicted to its products before its competitors and, where relevant, get the best deals on local manufacturing options.\u201d\n\n\u2018As long as money can be made, anything goes\u2019\n\nPaul Hopkins in Somalia. Photograph: Paul Hopkins\n\nMatthew L Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said: \u201cThe allegations against British American Tobacco reflect a company willing to ... exploit any vulnerable population in order to make money \u2013 no matter the consequences.\n\n\u201cAs cigarette sales decline around the world, British American Tobacco sees fragile states as one of the few remaining growth markets for its deadly products. For a company that doesn\u2019t care how it makes its money or what laws need to be broken to ensure future profits, countries experiencing instability present a unique opportunity.\u201d\n\nThe Guardian asked BAT if it had promoted sales of its cigarettes in a number of fragile, war-torn and unstable countries including through under-cover operations, while civil war were ongoing, and if this had allowed them to ignore health warnings and nicotine content.\n\nIn a statement, a British American Tobacco spokesperson said:\u201cWe take our commitment to the responsible marketing of our products very seriously. We have strict, company-wide marketing principles in place to ensure that our products are marketed responsibly, in addition to adhering to all relevant laws and regulations in the 200 markets where we operate.\n\n\u201cSpecifically, we comply fully with the regulations for tobacco products in the DRC \u2013 which have been in place in this country since 2007 \u2013 that prescribes health warnings and health warning sizes, and sets limits for tar and nicotine content. Additionally, in other African countries, including South Sudan, Somalia and Somaliland, where there is no tobacco regulation in place, we voluntarily apply a side panel health warning on all of our products sold in those markets.\n\n\u201cWe fully comply with the relevant tax law in every country in which we operate. Specifically, in DRC, excise on tobacco products is prepaid to the government at the time of ordering excise/tax stamps. This is a process that BAT adheres to strictly for all products it sells in this country.\n\n\u201cIn each market where we are present, we offer consumers a choice of products, which can include local brands, international brands and our global drive brands. Our strict international marketing principles apply, and are adhered to, in each of the 200 markets around the world where we operate.\u201d", "output": "British American Tobacco (BAT) has exploited instability in some of the most war-torn countries in Africa and the Middle East to promote its products, according to material seen by The Guardian. The documents reveal that cartons of cigarettes were smuggled into Somalia following their\u00a0prohibition\u00a0by jihadist group Al-Shabaab, between late 2008 and early 2009. BAT\u2019s plans to launch in South Sudan after a civil war that displaced 4 million people were also revealed, as were the company\u2019s attempts to boost sales in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq and Syria.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Investor group led by Jack Ma to take over Asian unit of insurer \n Yunfeng Financial Group Ltd., co-founded by Alibaba\u2019s founder Jack Ma and Target Media\u2019s founder Yu Feng, plans to acquire a 60% stake in MassMutual Asia in a cash and new-share placement deal. Photo: IC\n\nA group of investors led by a company backed by Alibaba\u2019s founder Jack Ma agreed to acquire the Hong Kong and Macau operations of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. (MassMutual) for $1.7 billion.\n\nYunfeng Financial Group Ltd., co-founded by Ma and Target Media\u2019s founder Yu Feng, said in a statement released on Thursday that it will acquire a 60% stake in MassMutual Asia in a cash and new-share placement deal. The remaining 40% will be acquired by seven other Asian investors including Ant Financial, SINA Corp. and the Singapore government-backed City-Scape Pte. Ltd., the statement said.\n\nThe deal will help Yunfeng expand into insurance and annuity products, and gain immediate access to MassMutual\u2019s much-bigger customer network in Asia, which could facilitate more cross-selling of Yunfeng\u2019s other financial services, such as securities brokering.\n\nThe news sent Yunfeng\u2019s Hong Kong-listed shares up by more than 30% during Friday trading. They ended at HK$6.62, up 5.4% from the previous session.\n\n\u201cThis transaction is a milestone step of Yunfeng Financial Group becoming a financial conglomerate, integrating its existing fintech focused financial services with traditional insurance business,\u201d said co-founder Yu, who is also the chairman.\n\nYunfeng said it will pay MassMutual HK$2.66 billion in cash and notes, and issue HK$5.2 billion worth of new shares \u2014 equivalent to a 25% stake in the company \u2014 to MassMutual. The deal will make MassMutual the second largest shareholder of Yunfeng, after a company indirectly owned by the co-founders.\n\nMassMutual Asia is among the top 10 life insurers in Hong Kong by premium income. In 2016, MassMutual\u2019s income from insurance premiums reached nearly HK$6.9 billion, with assets totaling HK$44.5 billion.\n\nWith a net profit of HK$1.12 billion in 2016, MassMutual Asia\u2019s price-to-earnings ratio is approximately 11.7, making the company slightly cheaper than most other listed insurers in Hong Kong.\n\nMassMutual Asia\u2019s strong distribution capacity and existing customer base will be an asset to Yunfeng\u2019s businesses, Yu said.\n\nThe acquisition may also be a boost to China\u2019s largest internet financial-services provider Ant Financial, which will acquire another 5% stake in MassMutual Asia under the deal. Ant Financial, which is preparing for a public listing, has been forging global partnership in a bid to connect its payment service, Alipay, with more customers.\n\nEddie Ahmed, chairman, president and CEO of MassMutual International, said: \u201cAs part of this transaction, MassMutual, Yunfeng Financial Group and Ant Financial Services Group have agreed to enter into a strategic cooperation agreement to jointly explore future business opportunities.\u201d\n\nContact reporter Liu Xiao (liuxiao@caixin.com)", "output": "Investor group Yunfeng Financial, co-founded by Jack Ma and Target Media\u2019s founder Yu Feng, will acquire a 60% stake in the Hong Kong and Macau operations of Massachusetts-based insurer MassMutual. Asian investors including Ant Financial, SINA and City-Scape, will acquire the remaining 40%. Yunfeng will pay MassMutual HKD2.66bn ($330m) in cash and issue HKD5.2bn in new shares as part of the deal. The investor group will use the deal to expand into insurance and annuity products and access MassMutual's customer network in Asia."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK companies urged to reduce calories in children\u2019s food \n As set out in the plan, PHE will now consider the evidence on children\u2019s calorie consumption and set the ambition for the calorie reduction programme to remove excess calories from the foods children consume the most.\n\nReady meals, pizzas, burgers, savoury snacks and sandwiches are the kinds of foods likely to be included in the programme.\n\nOver the past year, real progress has been made on reducing the level of sugar in many products.\n\nThe Soft Drinks Industry Levy has become law and will come into effect in April 2018 and PHE has formulated a comprehensive sugar reduction programme with the aim of a 20% reduction in sugar in key foods by 2020. Leading retailers and manufacturers have also announced they are, or already have, lowered the amount of sugar in their products as a result of these programmes.\n\nSugar reformulation was a vital first step under the childhood obesity programme, however overconsumption of calories will continue to have a detrimental effect on the health of our children without further action.\n\nAdults currently consume on average between 200 to 300 calories too many each day and children are following suit, with food more readily available than ever before. Reducing calorie consumption from sources other than sugar is critical to reversing the worrying obesity trend, which shows:\n\n1 in 3 children are either overweight or obese by the time they leave primary school\n\nmore children in the UK than previously are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, some as young as 7\n\nchildren from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to be obese\n\nPhilip Dunne, Minister of State for Health said:\n\nToo many of our children are growing up obese, which can lead to serious health complications. We all have a responsibility to help people live healthier lives, but with a third of children leaving primary school obese we must take a comprehensive approach and now focus on excess calories. This can only be done through strong guidance, grounded in evidence \u2013 that\u2019s why we have funded a new \u00a35 million dedicated Obesity Research Policy Unit to understand the deeper causes of obesity.\n\nDuncan Selbie, chief executive of PHE , said:\n\nA third of children leave primary school overweight or obese and an excess of calories \u2013 not just excess sugar consumption \u2013 is the root cause of this. We will work with the food companies and retailers to tackle this as the next critical step in combating our childhood obesity problem.\n\nPHE will publish the evidence in early 2018. Following this it will then consult with the food industry, trade bodies and health non-governmental organisations to develop guidance and timelines for the calorie reduction programme.\n\nThe Department of Health has also funded the \u00a35 million National Institute for Health Research ( NIHR ) Obesity Research Policy Unit at University College London ( UCL ), which will look to develop a deeper understanding on the causes of childhood obesity, including marketing to children and families, social inequalities, and the early years of childhood.\n\nProfessor Russell Viner, Policy Research Unit Director and Professor of Adolescent Health, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, said:\n\nObesity is one of the greatest health concerns of our time and we welcome this considerable and very timely investment from the government. We are delighted that the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health will host the new Obesity Policy Research Unit ( OPRU ). Preventing obesity in early life is key to turning the tide on this modern epidemic.\n\nBackground\n\nThe sugar reduction programme sees Public Health England working with the food and drink industry to remove 20% of the sugar children (up to 18 years of age) consume from the foods that contribute the most sugar to their diets by 2020. Guidelines that set out the approaches the food industry should take to achieve this target were published in March alongside baseline levels of sugar in products. The Soft Drinks Industry Levy comes into effect in April 2018. Drinks with more than 8g of total sugar per 100ml will pay 24p per litre, with drinks between 5g and 8g sugar per 100ml paying 18p. Drink with less than 5g sugar per 100ml are exempt. The free Change4Life Be Food Smart app helps families see the amount of sugar, salt and saturated fat in food and drinks. More information is on the Be Food Smart website. It is estimated 40,000 deaths per year in England are attributable to being overweight or obese (over 10% of all deaths). An estimated 70,000 premature deaths in the UK could be avoided each year if UK diets matched nutritional guidelines.\n\nFor further information on the calorie reduction programme, contact:\n\nFor more information on the new Obesity Research Policy Unit, contact:", "output": "Public Health England (PHE) is calling on companies to reduce the number of calories in foods such as burgers, chips, crisps and pizzas in order to tackle childhood obesity. The call builds on and extends existing efforts to reduce the levels of sugar in food. PHE will investigate the number of calories contained in popular children\u2019s foods and will then issue \u201cstrong guidance\u201d on improvements. A third of children in England currently leave primary school overweight or obese. Over one in 10 deaths, equivalent 40,000 a year, are thought to be due to weight issues.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK companies urged to reduce calories in children\u2019s food \n Public health bosses are urging food manufacturers to make chips, pizzas, crisps and burgers healthier, opening a second front in efforts to tackle childhood obesity.\n\nPublic Health England wants to go further than the focus on cutting sugar by demanding firms that make products eaten regularly by children ensure they are far less fattening by reducing the calories in them.\n\nThe new emphasis on sources of calories from ingredients other than sugar has been prompted by growing concern that children\u2019s waistlines are expanding because they are copying adults by consuming 200-300 calories too many per day.\n\nOver 40,000 deaths a year \u2013 one in 10 \u2013 are linked to people being dangerously overweight, health experts say.\n\nPHE will start by investigating how many calories these types of foods popular with children contain and issue what ministers say will be \u201cstrong guidance\u201d on reformulating them, and exhort manufacturers and retailers to act to improve children\u2019s health.\n\n\u201cA third of our children leave primary school overweight or obese and an excess of calories \u2013 not just excess sugar consumption \u2013 is the root cause of this,\u201d said Duncan Selbie, PHE\u2019s chief executive.\n\nThe move marks the latest stage of the government\u2019s bid to reduce childhood obesity, which has been heavily criticised by health and children\u2019s groups as too weak. Within weeks of becoming prime minister in July last year, Theresa May watered down what under her predecessor David Cameron was due to be a more robust strategy on the subject. Under May it became just a \u201cplan for action\u201d.\n\nThe initiative follows what PHE says is the \u201creal progress\u201d achieved over the past year in persuading manufacturers of sugary foods and soft drinks to cut the amount of sugar in their products. Nestle, Greggs, Starbucks, Kellogg\u2019s and other firms have all pledged to do that, as have the makers of Lucozade and Ribena, and supermarkets such as Waitrose, Sainsbury\u2019s and M&S.\n\n\n\nThey have done so with nine types of sugary foods, including breakfast cereals, cakes, ice-cream, biscuits and yogurt. But health experts claim that the introduction next April of the sugar levy is as key to why some soft drinks ranges are cutting sugar content as their desire to join the fight against childhood obesity.\n\nHowever, health campaigners warn that the drive to make such foodstuffs less calorific, which also includes sandwiches and ready meals, may fail because companies do not have to take part.\n\nPHE\u2019s new calorie reduction plan is \u201cwelcome in principle but short on detail\u201d, said Malcolm Clark, the coordinator of the Children\u2019s Food Campaign.\n\n\u201cBeyond passing a sugary drinks tax into law, the government has so far provided thin gruel for parents and health professionals keen to see significant progress on tackling childhood obesity.\u201d\n\nProf Graham MacGregor, chair of the campaign group Action on Sugar, said the sugar tax should be extended to confectionery.", "output": "Public Health England (PHE) is calling on companies to reduce the number of calories in foods such as burgers, chips, crisps and pizzas in order to tackle childhood obesity. The call builds on and extends existing efforts to reduce the levels of sugar in food. PHE will investigate the number of calories contained in popular children\u2019s foods and will then issue \u201cstrong guidance\u201d on improvements. A third of children in England currently leave primary school overweight or obese. Over one in 10 deaths, equivalent 40,000 a year, are thought to be due to weight issues.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "LendingRobot and NSR Invest form largest alt-lending robo-adviser \n P2P lending robo advisor LendingRobot will join NSR Invest, creating what the company called in a statement \u201cthe largest independent robo advisor in the alternative lending space.\u201d LendingRobot explained in its blog that the \u201cwebsites, operating, and trading systems\u201d of each platform will continue to function as usual for the time being as the companies prepare to combine the two businesses. Formally, the acquisition involves Lend Core, the parent company of NSR Invest, acquiring Algorithmic Inc. and its assets, which include LendingRobot.\n\nThe new entity is expected to bring a variety of new innovations to the P2P alternative lending space, and LendingRobot pointed to its Lending Robot Series Fund, as an example of the types of products customers will see more of in the future. As reported in LendAcademy, the combined company will have more than 8,000 clients and $150 million in assets under management. NSR Invest co-founder and CEO Bo Brustkern will serve as CEO, with LendingRobot CEO and co-founder Emmanuel Marot remaining as a special advisor.\n\n\u201cWe have long respected the work of the LendingRobot team and recognize that our companies are pursuing a common goal,\u201d Brustkern explained. He added that the combination of the two companies will deliver \u201cenhanced capabilities to our combined client bases today, and big plans for the future.\u201d Marot highlighted the fact that the two companies had \u201ctaken different tracts to provide similar services\u201d and that the time had come to marry \u201ccomplimentary strengths.\u201d\n\nLendingRobot provides investors with the opportunity to invest in P2P loans as an asset class. The company\u2019s platform uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to spot loans with risk and return profiles that suit individual investor preferences. LendingRobot automates loan selection to ensure that investor portfolios remain diversified and can be configured to continually-invest sidelined cash. Alternative lending platforms accessible through LendingRobot include fellow Finovate alums, Lending Club and Prosper.\n\nFounded in 2012 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, LendingRobot demonstrated its LendingRobot Dashboard at FinovateSpring 2016. Prior to its acquisition by NSR Invest, the company had raised $3 million in funding from investors including Runa Capital and Club Italia Investimenti.", "output": "P2P lending robo-adviser LendingRobot and NSR Invest will merge\u00a0to create what they claim will be the\u00a0largest independent robo-adviser in the alternative lending space.\u00a0Lend Core, the parent company of NSR Invest, will acquire Algorithmic Inc. and its assets, which include LendingRobot. The\u00a0combined company will have more than 8,000 clients and $150m in assets under management.\u00a0LendingRobot provides investors with the opportunity to invest in P2P loans as an asset class, using\u00a0machine learning to spot loans with risk and return profiles that suit individual investor preferences.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Reddit releases video uploader tool \n The self-proclaimed \u201cfront page of the internet\u201d does not want to be left in the dust by platform giants in the mad dash toward video.\n\nToday, Reddit is releasing a video-uploader tool that lets its users share videos from their personal libraries directly on the platform instead of having to post links or embeds from other social networks. On mobile, users will also be able to record videos directly from their phones and post them to Reddit. The tool also allows users to create and share GIFs.\n\nThe tool is part of an effort by Reddit, which recently raised $200 million \u2014 at a $1.8 billion valuation \u2014 to get deeper into video, and the ad dollars associated with it, with help from a new video product team. The video push also comes at a time when the company hopes to more than double full-time staff \u2014 from around 140 people at the beginning of the year to 300 by the end of 2017, according to Recode \u2014 as it overhauls its website and mobile apps.\n\nWith today\u2019s rollout, advertisers will also be able to upload and promote videos instead of requiring external links or embeds. Right now, advertisers can run promoted posts within the Reddit feeds. On desktop, users have to click on the ad before the video plays, whereas on mobile, the video autoplays with the sound off. There are no plans for a pre-roll product.\n\n\u201cThe benefits of hosting video versus relying on third-party embeds are clear from a technology perspective,\u201d said Emma Witkowski, managing director and digital investment lead for the West Coast and Atlanta at Mindshare North America. \u201cIt presents an opportunity to enable greater integration with verification and technology partners to deliver viewable, brand-safe experiences on Reddit that can be tracked with deeper analytics.\u201d\n\nBut Reddit has something of a minefield to navigate with its new video ad product: On one hand, it has to keep its notoriously ad-averse users happy, and on the other, it needs to convince advertisers to put their ads next to sometimes-risky user-generated content.\n\n\u201c[Reddit\u2019s] very much an afterthought; it\u2019s not something that most of our clients need,\u201d said Greg Smith, managing partner of U.S. digital investment for MEC. \u201cYou can do some great subject-matter targeting, but it\u2019s not where we need to be for straight-up advertising. We have plenty of other places to put advertising that are a little more mainstream and brand-safe.\u201d\n\nReddit hopes that it can lure advertisers by limiting video uploads to communities approved by the company. Beyond that, Reddit\u2019s trying to sell advertisers on the value of \u201cstarting conversations,\u201d according to Zubair Jandali, Reddit\u2019s head of ad sales. Rather than straight advertising, promoting text, videos and GIFs that prompt users to respond tend to be received better by users.\n\n\u201cA brand can direct users to their site or a piece of content and disable comments, or treat it as an opportunity to start a conversation,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen they do the latter, our users are spending an average of over a minute with the ad content.\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s an important stat that Reddit is highlighting as many advertisers have historically hesitated to spend money on Reddit.\n\nJandali said the conversational approach has helped Reddit\u2019s fledgling but growing ad business. While Reddit didn\u2019t disclose revenue figures, the company went from an ad sales team of 10 people a little more than a year ago to 42 today. It expects to grow to 50 by the end of the year, especially now that it has a new native video product to sell.\n\n\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing is users are responding and engaging with our ad content in ways that are surprising most people who don\u2019t work here,\u201d Jandali said.\n\nReddit has gradually rolled out the video uploader within its network of communities, or \u201csubreddits,\u201d starting with a group of 10 \u201calpha\u201d subreddits chosen to test the product five weeks ago. This allowed Reddit to iron out initial bugs before expanding the test to roughly 200 \u201cbeta\u201d partners, which ranged from subreddits for \u201cThe Daily Show\u201d to the \u201chold my beer\u201d meme. Today\u2019s expansion brings video to a majority of \u201csafe-for-work\u201d subreddits, said Alex Le, vp of product at Reddit.\n\n\u201cIt was important to lead with those communities first so we could take into account what they wanted to do with the product,\u201d said Le. \u201cNo two communities were using video in the same way.\u201d\n\nReddit\u2019s focus on its users with the video rollout \u2014 instead of publishers and other video producers \u2014 is intentional. If the company can get a majority of its 300 million monthly visitors to share videos on a daily basis, it would put Reddit on par with video platforms and formats such as Snapchat and Instagram Stories. In the long run, that would make Reddit even more attractive to professional media partners and advertisers.\n\n\u201cThis rollout has been more focused on how conversations can organically develop with video,\u201d Le said. \u201cThat\u2019s the best way to serve brands, partners and publishers. Figure out the organic side first, and then figure out how to invite them into the conversations.\u201d", "output": "Community-based website Reddit has released a video-uploading tool to enable users to share videos directly to the platform, rather than embedding links or social media shares. Reddit recently gained $200m in funding to expand into video and to hire a video product team. Advertisers will also be able to upload and promote videos, and run promoted posts within community feeds on the site.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AppNexus forms strategic partnership with Adyoulike \n Ad tech company AppNexus has formed a strategic partnership with Adyoulike, an in-feed native ad company, to enable advertisers and agencies to deliver personalised native campaigns on its platform.\n\nThe partnership will enable advertisers and agencies to extend their native reach across Adyoulike\u2019s network. Adyoulike\u2019s supply side platform (SSP) will use the OpenRTB 2.3 standard to deliver in-feed native personalised and highly-targeted content programmatically.\n\n\u201cThis partnership with AppNexus is another great demonstration of how native advertising is gaining in importance and how advertisers, agencies and brand marketers can benefit from both using programmatic technology to create highly-targeted campaigns with that of in-feed native advertising to reach greater audiences and access more publishers worldwide,\u201d said Francis Turner, US general manager and chief revenue officer at Adyoulike.\n\nPatrick McCarthy, SVP of marketplace partnerships at AppNexus, added: \u201cAdyoulike has established itself as a leader in the native advertising space, and a valuable partner to bring onto our programmatic platform. With this partnership, we look forward to further scaling native into a major marketing channel.\u201d\n\nEarlier this year, Adyoulike entered into a partnership with open omnichannel ad management company Sizmek to deliver native advertising campaigns across its StrikeAd platform.", "output": "Multinational ad tech firm AppNexus has struck a deal with in-feed native ad business Adyoulike to allow advertisers and agencies to create tailored native campaigns through its platform. Adyoulike\u2019s supply-side platform will provide programmatic native content and advertising for clients.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Group M releases global standards for ad viewability \n WPP's media arm GroupM has announced the global rollout of viewability standards which have been backed by clients including Unilever, Campbell Soup, Shell, Subway and Volvo.\n\nIt's an update to standards that GroupM set in 2014. Then, it required that 100% of the pixels in a display ad must be in view (for any amount of time) and for video, that 50% of the video must be played at the user\u2019s initiation, with the sound on, while 100% in view.\n\nIn what it described as an \"evolution\" for video ads in social and other newsfeed \"environments\" (where the is \"quick scrolling by users\"), it will now require that an ad is 100% of an ad is in view for at least one-second.\n\nGroupM said it will study the performance of ads against this new standard with its global clients and partners, measuring more than 100 data points with DoubleVerify, Moat and IAS across Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest and Snapchat to see which are most meaningful.\n\nIn addition, the global media agency said it is \u201cin active dialogue\u201d with all digital media partners worldwide about viewability measurement and delivery of the new global standards.\n\n\"Our ambition is to offer clients the absolute best quality digital media in every market,\" said John Montgomery, executive vice president of brand safety at GroupM, in a statement.\n\n\"By working with clients and progressive media and technology partners, we can help shape the digital marketplace for the better, as we have seen in the US. It was always our goal to operate around a consistent standard globally and following many months of partner dialogue, now is the right time for us move forward with these enhanced standards that consider the evolution in social and mobile platforms, as well as user behaviors.\"\n\nAaron Fetters, senior vice president at ComScore added that these enhanced metrics will help also marketers properly evaluate the relative value of each screen, and the context in which a campaign is delivered.\n\n\"Only then can media buyers build truly cost-effective campaigns and execute on impactful cross-media strategies,\" Fetters continued.\n\nAccording to global verification providers, as much as 50% of all digital ads are not viewable, representing a significant risk to advertising clients.\n\nUnilever's chief marketing officer Keith Weed said it was in full support GroupM's ongoing assessment in this space \"to reflect changes in consumer behavior and available ad formats and to ensure full accountability and verification.\"", "output": "WPP media arm GroupM has published global viewability standards, with the support of clients such as Campbell Soup, Shell, Unilever, Volvo and Subway. The standards mandate that 100% of ad pixels must be in view for at least one second and that 50% of the video must be played at users\u2019 initiation, with sound on and while\u00a0100% in view. GroupM plans to analyse its clients\u2019 ads against this standard, using tools such as Moat, IAS and DoubleVerify to establish how effective ads are.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pearson and Duolingo to support language learning at universities \n Learning Resources\n\nPearson and DuoLingo Partner on Foreign Language Education\n\nPearson and DuoLingo have partnered in an effort designed to help college and university students learn foreign languages.\n\nDuoLingo offers small foreign language lessons through a gamified experience. Users can earn points for correct answers, participate in timed challenges, lose hearts until they have to start over for wrong answers, and keep track of how many days in a row they have spent time working on their language skills.\n\nThrough the partnership, students at participating institutions will be able to access personalized learning tools built on Pearson content through the DuoLingo platform. The courses will be aligned to the content in Pearson's digital texts and print materials and available to students on iOS or Android devices as well as through the internet.\n\n\"Duolingo is a fantastic out of class supplement to any foreign language curriculum,\" said Anna Szawara, a lecturer at the University of Illinois at Chicago, in a prepared statement. \"It engages students in a variety of language practice modalities and supports their language learning progress.\"\n\n\"Through our partnership with Duolingo, we will combine complementary expertise to increase access to highly personalized and mobile language learning experiences,\" said Paul Corey, managing director for higher education courseware at Pearson, in a news release. \"Our shared goal is to help improve students' academic performance while preparing them for today's global workforce and opportunities that require multilingual skills.\"\n\nCourses in Spanish, French, German and Italian will be supported beginning this fall.\n\nFor more information about DuoLingo, visit duolingo.com.", "output": "Educational companies Pearson and DuoLingo have joined forces to offer college and university students a gamified method for learning languages. The companies will provide personalised learning tools, using Pearson's content delivered on the DuoLingo platform, with point-scoring systems and other game-like features in place to motivate and encourage use. The courses will be delivered through iOS and Android devices, as well as online, for learning Spanish, German, French and Italian.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Seven Stars to launch ICO platform in Q4 \n Seven Stars Cloud Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: SSC) (\"SSC\" or the \"Company\" or \"Seven Stars Cloud\"), today provided an update on NextGen Exchange Group (NextGen\").\n\nAfter passing initial testing, SSC's NextGen which will be the backbone of SSC's Tokenization and Exchange Platform (and will fall under SSC's 2nd Engine, Digital Finance Solutions) will be launching in Q4 2017. As a reminder, SSC announced the purchase of 51% of NextGen Exchange Group on June 12, 2017.\n\nSSC's four monetization methods for asset-backed securities (\"ABS\") are: 1. ICO: tokenization or token issuance; 2. Index issuance and exchange; 3. ETF issuance and exchange; 4. Derivative issuance and exchange. What makes these exchanges different and the first of their kind, is that they combine all of the following: they are FINRA- and SEC-regulated, the products are developed using Big Data & Artificial Intelligence and finally, all ABS products are backed by real assets from industries that are partners and users of SSC's 1st Engine, VPaaS.\n\nAdditionally, SSC today announced a strategic investment in the Delaware Board of Trade Holdings, Inc. (\"DBOT\") (http://dbottrading.com/). DBOT, is an approved and licensed FINRA- and SEC-regulated electronic trading platform with operations in Delaware. NextGen is powered by DBOT's platform, trading system and technology.\n\nMr. John F. Wallace, the former Chairman of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Chairman of the Philadelphia Depository Trust and Vice Chairman of NASDAQ OMX PHLX is Chairman of DBOT and serves as Executive Chairman of NextGen.\n\nAbout Seven Stars Cloud Group, Inc. (http://corporate.sevenstarscloud.com/)", "output": "Seven Stars Cloud Group's NextGen exchange has passed initial testing and will launch in Q4 2017, the company said. The platform will facilitate initial coin offerings through tokenisation or token issuance; index issuance and exchange;\u00a0ETF issuance and exchange; and\u00a0derivative issuance and exchange. SSC claims its products are unique in that they are\u00a0FINRA- and SEC-regulated, the products are developed using artificial intelligence and all asset-backed securities products are backed by real assets from industries that are partners and users of SSC's 1st Engine, VPaaS."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "75% of execs think AI is set to reshape insurance: Accenture \n Insurers harness cloud power and reduce tech debt\n\nWith all the buzz around ChatGPT and generative AI, it\u2019s important to remember that cloud is the underpinning. Insurers will need to replatform by migrating to the cloud to enable innovation and growth through these new and emerging technologies. At the same\u2026", "output": "Professional services firm Accenture\u2019s tech survey, the 2017 Technology Vision for Insurance, found that 75% of executives believe that AI is set to significantly change the insurance industry. AI will change how insurance is processed, automating back-end operations and eventually changing customer interaction with virtual assistance from chatbots. Accenture\u2019s previous research found that 74% of consumers would be content to have insurance advice provided by computers."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Representatives Investigating Rising \n ARTICLE | Politics & Policy\n\nRepresentatives investigating rising MS prices\n\nReps. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) launched an investigation into the rising price of multiple sclerosis drugs, citing increases in price of as much as 1002% over the lifetime of a drug despite growing competition. The committee issued a press release Thursday containing letters sent to Bayer AG (Xetra:BAYN), Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB), Merck KGaA (Xetra:MRK), Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS; SIX:NOVN), Sanofi (Euronext:SAN; NYSE:SNY), Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE:TEVA; Tel Aviv:TEVA) and Roche (SIX:ROG; OTCQX:RHHBY) requesting information about their profits and pricing strategies.\n\nIn the letters, the representatives accuse the manufacturers of \"shadow pricing,\" whereby companies increase their drug prices in response to new more expensive drugs entering the market. As evidence, the representatives cited a 2015 paper published in the American Academy of Neurology. The paper describes increases in the cost of first generation disease modifying drugs that are 5 to 7 times the rate of prescription drug inflation. Specifically, the researchers noted that the cost of first-generation MS drugs Betaferon interferon (IFN) beta-1b from Bayer, Avonex interferon beta-1a from Biogen and Copaxone glatiramer acetate from Teva rose by an average of 21-36% a year, compared to a general prescription drug inflation of 3-5%. Copaxone 20 mg had increased 1002% to a price of $91,401 since its launch in 1996...", "output": "Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) launched an investigation into the rising price of multiple sclerosis drugs, citing increases in price of as much as 1002% over the lifetime of a drug despite growing competition. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Republican-controlled states might be Trump\u2019s best hope to reform health care \n Early on in this year\u2019s health care debate, we wrote about how the interests of Republican governors and their federal co-partisans in Congress would not necessarily line up. Indeed, as Congress deliberated options to \u201crepeal and replace\u201d the Affordable Care Act, several GOP governors came out against the various proposals. Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, for example, held a late June press conference with his state\u2019s Republican senator, Dean Heller, where he criticized the congressional Republicans\u2019 plans to end the Medicaid expansion. On the eve of what proved to be the final vote in the Senate, five GOP governors\u2014Sandoval, plus Larry Hogan of Maryland, Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, John Kasich of Ohio, and Phil Scott of Vermont\u2014announced their opposition to the so-called \u201cskinny repeal\u201d measure ultimately defeated the next day. At the same time, some Republican governors who might have had reason to oppose congressional efforts at key junctures did not do so. Arizona\u2019s Doug Ducey, for example, sided with nearly all Senate Republicans in supporting the \u201cskinny repeal\u201d proposal in order to move debate along, despite the fact that more than 418,000 people in his state benefitted from the ACA\u2019s Medicaid expansion.\n\nThese same dynamics may also affect what\u2019s likely to be the next front in the ongoing health care debate: waivers, which can be valuable policy tools in implementing federal health policy for governors and presidents alike. Waivers under Section 1115 of the Social Security Act have a long history of providing governors with an opportunity to experiment with different methods of Medicaid program delivery. Doing so may allow governors to pursue their own policy agendas and/or address needs specific to their state.\n\nPresidents, meanwhile, also have something to gain by granting state waiver requests. At first blush, this may seem counterintuitive: Section 1115 waivers allow states more flexibility, while scholarship on the presidency emphasizes that, in general, presidents seek to centralize their control over federal policy. Granting waivers from federal law would appear to undermine this goal.\n\nBut this view does not account for the benefits waivers offer presidents. Faced with congressional intransigence, for example, presidents can approve waivers and claim credit for enacting policy reforms when Congress cannot \u2013 as we wrote previously, President Clinton used this approach. In addition, presidents may grant states flexibility via waivers to facilitate adoption of policies that governors may not otherwise implement. The Obama administration\u2019s use of Section 1115 waivers to facilitate state Medicaid expansions is one example of how presidents have used the tool to incentivize behavior within the political constraints facing governors.\n\nThe potential use of waivers to induce state-level policy changes helps explain why presidents do not only grant waivers to governors from their own party. Indeed, of the 84 approved Section 1115 Medicaid waivers from 1993 through present, about 55 percent went to governors of the same party as the president \u2013 meaning, of course, that about 45 percent of approved waivers were granted by presidents for governors in the opposing party. Republican presidents in this time period (George W. Bush and Trump) are slightly more likely to approve waivers for co-partisans: about 59 percent of waivers approved by Republican presidents went to Republican governors, while 52 percent of waivers approved by Democratic presidents (Clinton and Obama) went to Democratic governors.\n\nGiven what we know about the politics of waivers, what should we expect moving forward? Recent analyses of pending 1115 Medicaid expansion waivers\u2014including one from the Kaiser Family Foundation on various provisions and one in the New England Journal of Medicine on partial expansions specifically\u2014suggest that the immediate focus will be shared conservative policy priorities in the face of congressional inaction rather than on inducing policy changes by Democratic governors. The Trump administration, for example, has signaled a willingness to approve work requirements via 1115 waivers. The Obama administration denied waiver proposals that would have imposed similar rules as a condition of expanding Medicaid \u201con the basis that such a provision would not further the program\u2019s purposes of promoting health coverage and access.\u201d However, in March 2017, CMS sent a letter to governors indicating it was interested in Section 1115 waiver applications that proposed work requirements, among other priorities.\n\nAs states submit waiver applications, it will also be important to remember that states\u2019 internal political dynamics can also affect the process. The Trump administration, after all, can make clear what kind of policy changes it would like to see but cannot require states to submit waiver applications. As we wrote in June with respect to various proposals to end the Medicaid expansion, governors\u2019 electoral timelines are different than those of members of Congress and the president, which may influence their choices; of the nation\u2019s 34 Republican governors, for example, 14 are term-limited in either 2017 or 2018. State legislatures can and do insert themselves into the decision-making process as well. Arizona, for example, passed a law in 2015 requiring the governor to apply for an 1115 waiver implementing work requirements and a time limit for beneficiaries, but only after a similar law had been vetoed by the previous governor in 2013.\n\nWhile history suggests that presidents do not always simply rubber stamp waiver applications from governors of their own party and desk reject those from their opponents, the Trump administration has signaled an interest in policy changes, like work requirements, that Democratic governors are unlikely to be enthusiastic about. Particularly given the Republican party\u2019s recent legislative failures on healthcare, Republican politicians at the state and national level \u2013 governors and members of the Trump administration \u2013 face particularly strong incentives to deliver, at least in part, on their party\u2019s promises to enact healthcare reforms. These conditions in turn may create fertile ground for policymaking via waivers in Republican-controlled states.", "output": "arly on in this year\u2019s health care debate, we wrote about how the interests of Republican governors and their federal co-partisans in Congress would not necessarily line up. Indeed, as Congress deliberated options to \u201crepeal and replace\u201d the Affordable Care Act, several GOP governors came out against the various proposals.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China starts anti-dumping investigation into Brazilian chicken \n Chinese famers say the South American country has been selling the meat unfairly below market value on the mainland", "output": "Chinese officials have begun an anti-dumping investigation into broiler products from Brazil, following complaints from Chinese producers that Brazilian exporters have been selling chicken meat below market value. Brazilian chicken accounted\u00a0for over 50% of broiler products supplied to China between 2013 and 2016. China\u00a0is the world's second largest poultry consumer\u00a0and the biggest national consumer of Brazilian meat.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Organic launches cognitive tech division \n Hopping straight into the zeitgeist, Omnicom agency Organic is launching Synthetic, a new division aimed at helping clients use artificial intelligence, machine learning and other aspects of so-called \u201ccognitive technology.\u201d\n\nOrganic COO Keith Pine and chief creative officer Chris Kelly will lead the new division.\n\n\u201cWe started to do some dabbling in cognitive technology for different clients, but really toward the end of last year, we had the realization that if we want to go deeper and broader and do unique things, we needed to do a separate division,\u201d said Pine. \u201cOne of the unique things with this group is we\u2019ve got a hard line between them and the rest of the agency. They\u2019re free from any constraints with space and latitude to think freely in a world where there isn\u2019t anyone saying no.\u201d\n\nCognitive tech is an umbrella term that includes artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning. AI can be something as simple as Facebook recognizing an image of a friend, while machine learning could be an intelligent spam filter. Brands are hoping to use all sorts of cognitive tech in various ways, from media buying (dynamically inserting and serving ads based on performance) to optimizing their websites for customers.\n\nSynthetic has a couple of developers, a designer, a few UX people and a lead. It pulls in resources from the rest of the agency as needed. Every few weeks, it\u2019ll work on a specific experiment; the first is around sentiment analysis and image recognition. Then, it\u2019ll show the results to account leads from different brands, who will show them to clients, if applicable.\n\nThe first to use the new division is American Signature Furniture, an Ohio-based furniture chain with 125 locations and a growing e-commerce business. Organic is using Synthetic on a long-range idea to build cognitive technology into the actual shopping experience, said Steve Haffer, chief innovation officer at the brand.\n\nE-commerce is still about 3 percent of sales in the \u201cbig furniture\u201d category, said Haffer, and the purchase path for such big-ticket items is complex. \u201cWe put tablets in the hands of our store associates. We have so much data; we have data from the website, from our customer service, the cart,\u201d said Haffer. \u201cThis cognitive tech stuff has to fit into the overall architecture of customer experience.\u201d\n\nLooming over this is the threat of Amazon. ASF doesn\u2019t sell its products on Amazon, but Haffer said it has to compete with it. So where Amazon can afford to spend millions experimenting with new technologies, ASF is looking to Synthetic to help evaluate its use of new tech. \u201cThat\u2019s why Organic is interesting; it helps us become a bit more selective about technologies like AI,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to compete with Amazon, innovate at their level, but we can\u2019t really afford to do it like them.\u201d\n\nOrganic, of course, is far from the front-runner here. AI \u2014 a part of the cognitive tech bucket \u2014 is everywhere now. At media agency Crossmedia, new cognitive solutions lead Karim Sanjabi is focused on implementing AI into the agency\u2019s media work. MDC has Born, an agency focused entirely on AI.\n\nBut Organic thinks it will set itself apart by having experimental technology that works before it is presented to clients. \u201cWhat we\u2019re not trying to do is build a ton of technology that would just be redundant in the industry,\u201d said Kelly.", "output": "Omnicom subsidiary Organic has launched a new corporate division to provide AI guidance to its clients, covering machine learning and other types of cognitive technology insight. The division, called Synthetic, will be led by Organic\u2019s COO Keith Pine and Chief Creative Officer\u00a0Chris Kelly. The team will comprise\u00a0developers, UX executives and\u00a0designers. The company will work on sentiment analysis and image recognition for potential introduction to clients."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Christmas trees could die off due to climate change \n The Swiss, who are more aware of climate change than the average Briton because of their disappearing glaciers and snow cover, are also worried about their trees, particularly the Norway spruce.\n\nThe Norway spruce is the mainstay of the Swiss forestry industry but is in danger of dying out this century because of warmer temperatures.\n\nThis spruce is common in Britain, best known perhaps as the classic Christmas tree, but also as a favoured habitat for the red squirrel. What the Swiss have discovered is that an increase in temperature and summer droughts expected this century is likely to kill off most of this spruce in their country.\n\nAnother important tree to the Swiss, the European beech, is also vulnerable to extra warmth and heat. Trees can adapt to climate change but in both these species there is about a 100-year time lapse between generations, so with rapid climate change there is not enough time for adaptations.\n\nThe Swiss are advocating taking seeds of spruce or beech from warmer valley bottoms and planting them higher up the mountains, or importing specimens of these trees from other countries where over centuries they have adapted to warmer drier conditions.\n\nThe alternative, to save the Swiss forestry industry, is to switch to planting other species able to thrive in harsher conditions.\n\nThe beech has also been identified by the UK\u2019s Forestry Commission as the native species most likely to suffer from a warmer, drier, climate. But there has been nothing like the stark warning that has come from Switzerland. Perhaps the time has come for a closer look at the problem.", "output": "The Norway spruce, a tree native to Switzerland, is at risk of dying out in the country amid rising temperatures and increased drought. The species of tree, best known as the classic Christmas tree, is also home to the red squirrel. In addition, the European beech is under threat from warmer temperatures. Authorities say both species can cope with changes in climate, but the current rapid pace leaves the trees no time to adapt. Options include planting the spruce in higher, colder conditions or growing different species entirely."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "LVL Technologies to develop hydration tracker after $6.75m round \n Austin, Texas-based LVL Technologies (formerly known as BSX Athletics) has raised $6.75 million in a self-described Series A round led by the Samsung Catalyst Fund. Maxim Integrated Products also contributed along with other industry investors. This is actually the company's second Series A round; according to a now-deleted blog post on the company's website, it already raised a $2.5 million Series A back in 2013 from six undisclosed private investors. That would bring its total funding to $9 million.\n\nLVL Technologies is focused on building health and fitness wearables that track an additional metric that most market incumbents don't: hydration. The sensor uses infrared light to measure the water content in a user's blood stream, then the device prompts the user in real time to hydrate.\n\n\u201cWater is such a critical part of who we all are,\u201d Dr. Dustin Freckleton, founder and CEO of LVL Technologies, said in a statement. \u201cOur bodies are made up mostly of water and yet our internal thirst drive does a surprisingly poor job of helping us stay properly hydrated. This is manifested in numerous ways, from headaches, to joint pain, impaired exercise performance, lowered mental clarity and so much more. All of these can be improved by better hydration habits.\u201d\n\nIn addition to hydration, LVL's wearable (called LVL One) tracks activity, heart rate, sleep, and self-reported mood. According to the company's website, the device is set to ship in summer 2018.\n\nLVL Technologies has evolved significantly since it launched its first app, runBSX, in 2013. The company originally focused on personalized running coaching. In 2014, it launched BSX Insight, a wearable for athletes that tracks lactic acid buildup, a helpful metric for athletes who want to learn how hard they are working out, compared to how hard they could be working out. The wearable raised $121,000 on Kickstarter. The company says it is still in use by many endurance athletes, including US Olympic competitors.\n\nWith LVL One, the company is looking to push out beyond athletes to create a general interest consumer wearable. That's a hard market to break into right now, but the vote of confidence from a major tech player like Samsung is a promising start.\n\n\"At Samsung, we\u2019ve long believed that wearables will help usher in the next wave of innovation in digital health,\u201d Shankar Chandran, managing director and head of the Samsung Catalyst Fund, said in a statement. \u201cBy measuring important data on hydration - which has eluded the industry for years - LVL Technologies has demonstrated the vast potential of wearables technology, and the impact it can have on consumers\u2019 lives. As a leader in the wearables space, we at Samsung are thrilled to partner with a company that will help us push the boundaries of this technology even further.\u201d", "output": "Health and fitness wearables firm LVL Technologies has raised $6.75m in a funding round led by Samsung Catalyst Fund. The firm\u00a0plans to use the proceeds to build its latest product: a hydration tracker.\u00a0The LVL One device will use infrared light to measure blood water content, then remind the wearer to drink water if they are dehydrated. The wearable will also track heart rate, activity, sleep, and mood, and is expected to ship next summer.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google introduces Questions and Answers feature \n Google has introduced a feature to Maps and Search that helps people find out all they need to know about a location they have searched for.\n\nWith Google\u2019s \u2018Questions & Answers\u2019, people are able to ask questions, get answers, and answer other people\u2019s questions about places on Google Maps. The most informative questions and answers can be upvoted by tapping on the thumbs up icon, and the most upvoted content is placed toward the top of the location listing.\n\nBusiness owners are also able to add frequently asked questions and answers to make sure information is accurate. Furthermore, business owners and in-the-know users are notified when a question is submitted to see if they have the answers.\n\nThe feature is being rolled out to Google Maps for Android and mobile Search users worldwide.\n\n\u201cNo matter where you\u2019re headed or what you\u2019re looking to do, Google Maps and Search highlights the information you need to make quick decisions and discover the world around you,\u201d said Lisa Wang, associate product manager for Google Maps, in a blog post.\n\nDon\u2019t 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 is launching a new feature for Maps and Search, to help people find more information about locations they are searching for. \u201cQuestions and Answers\u201d will allow users to ask questions - and to answer other users\u2019 questions - about locations. The best answers are voted, and the most popular content rises to the top of the place listings. Businesses can also add FAQs, and provide their own answers. The new feature is being rolled out across the Google Maps app for Android and the mobile search app globally."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese short-term consumer debt is surging \n The Chinese government is moving to tackle high debt levels, but the country is still borrowing more, Deutsche Bank said in a report released Thursday.\n\nThat's because short-term consumer debt in China has begun to surge as authorities try to alleviate the high levels of corporate indebtedness. The redistribution comes as Beijing is trying to strike a balance between stability and strength in its economy.\n\nHousehold debt in China is growing \"very fast\" and has accelerated in the last three to four months, according to Deutsche Bank: \"If we focus purely on the consumer lending ... then China has been undergoing something akin to a consumer lending frenzy.\"\n\nAccording to Deutsche Bank, corporate credit has fallen to 45 percent of net new credit, down from 65 percent in the last 10 years. Instead, Beijing is allowing households and governments to borrow more to fund growth, which is targeted for around 6.5 percent in 2017, said the analysts.\n\nNow, short-term consumer credit is growing 35 percent year-over-year, and may hit about 40 percent year-over-year by the end of December at the current trend, Deutsche Bank said.\n\nThe bank said it isn't yet clear where exactly the short-term consumer credit is being deployed, although 70 to 80 percent of that debt has historically been credit card-related. Overall household credit growth in China, the analysts noted, is growing around 24 percent year-over-year.\n\nAt the end of the first half of 2017, corporate the debt-to-GDP ratio fell to 165 percent from the peak of 169 percent in the first quarter of 2016. That was \"more of a 'stabilization' than a significant reduction,\" Deutsche Bank said, calling it an \"explosion\" of growth.\n\nMeanwhile, household and government debt however rose by 8 to 9 percent of GDP.\n\n\"So when viewed in aggregate China is still leveraging up apace,\" the Deutsche Bank report concluded.\n\nThe note came just as the International Monetary Fund warned on Tuesday that China is on a \"dangerous\" credit-expansion path.\n\nThe main cost of stronger growth \"is further large increases in public and private debt,\" the IMF said in its annual review of China's economy.\n\nChina, for its part, has said debt reduction efforts are showing results, but debt levels are still too high. New loans in July fell to the lowest level since November, Reuters reported on Tuesday.\n\nAt the National Financial Work Conference last month, China pledged to refresh its commitment to watching for financial risk.\n\nChina is set to hold its once-in-five years Communist Party Congress in the fall, during which a leadership reshuffle is expected. Analysts say the keyword in the lead-up to the event is \"stability.\"\n\nRecent reports from various sources say that's what's behind the Chinese efforts to cut risky debt.\n\nThe country is also cracking down on shadow banking, a broad category of banking-like services from non-traditional players, which is outside the bounds of normal banking regulation, so it largely goes unregulated.\n\nRegulators are also pushing banks to rein in riskier corporate loans, including short-term credit, Reuters reported in June.", "output": "Borrowing rates in China are sky-high, despite Chinese officials' best efforts to lower the country\u2019s debt levels, according to Deutsche Bank. Even as the government has achieved success in reducing corporate debt, short-term consumer debt has risen 35% over the last year, in a trend which looks set to continue. Credit card borrowing is responsible for an estimated 70-80% of the new consumer debt.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Deloitte Digital names new chief creative officer and buys Acne \n Havas executive creative director Andy Sandoz has been named as the first chief creative officer of Deloitte Digital, which also announced its acquisition of creative agency Acne today (17 August).\n\nThe news proves the consultancy shows no sign of stopping in its bid to take on the creative marketing scene's traditional networks and agencies, having added Market Gravity to its portfolio just two months ago. It snapped up the San Franciscan Heat earlier this year.\n\nSandoz jumps ship from Havas, where he has held the executive creative director title since 2016. He will be based at Deloitte Digital's studio in Clerkenwell, London.\n\nSam Roddick, UK head of Deloitte Digital, explained: \"As the creative side of our business continues to expand to meet demand, it was important that we appoint someone in the UK to help lead the team.\"\n\nSandoz, who founded Work Club in 2007, said he was attracted to the holistic, business-led approach that Deloitte Digital offers clients, which has scope beyond the marketing function.\n\n\u201cMy best work-to-date has been using ideas backed by new technologies to help redefine my clients\u2019 businesses for a better future,\u201d he said. \u201cWith Deloitte Digital we have the ability, credibility and access to totally transform a business.\n\n\u201cI was impressed with the consultancy\u2019s senior relationships and depth of expertise across multiple industries, our strong cultural fit and shared positive vision. This is an exciting point to become part of Deloitte Digital\u2019s creative development.\u201d\n\nAcquiring Acne\n\nSandoz will be tasked with leading Deloitte Digital\u2019s full range of creative services for clients in the UK, which includes overseeing the work of new acquisition Acne.\n\nThe Stockholm based creative agency, founded in 1996, already works clients such as Ikea, Spotify and H&M. Its new owner plans to hire around 80 new employees for the agency, half of which will be based in London.\n\nPaul Thompson, head of Deloitte Digital for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said: \u201cThe acquisition of Acne is an important move towards Deloitte Digital offering a full range of digital and creative services, with clients increasingly looking for a partner with multidisciplinary skills. We aim to deliver our clients\u2019 ambitions, whether that be launching a new strategy, product or service.\n\n\"By combining Deloitte\u2019s deep data and technological expertise, with Acne\u2019s exceptional creative experience, together we will help build brands for the digital age.\"\n\nIts M&A rampage follow similar buys by rival consultancies, with Accenture the most active in recent times having bought Karmarama, Brand Learning, The Monkeys and most recently, Clearhead.\n\nAccording to research released by Results International around merger and activity during Q2 globally in the marcomms sector, Dentsu was the most active with 16 deals completed during that period.\n\nWatch the consultancies speak about their place in the creative sector in our Postcards from Cannes documentary here.", "output": "Deloitte Digital has named its first chief creative officer as former Havas executive creative director\u00a0Andy Sandoz. The company also acquired Stockholm-based creative agency Acne\u00a0as\u00a0part of its strategy to expand into creative marketing. Over the past 12 months it has also acquired\u00a0international design consultancy Market Gravity and San Francisco-based creative agency\u00a0Heat.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Soluble coffee creamer reduces need for packaging \n Researchers develop dissolvable, easy-to-use milk capsules\n\nNummer 094/2017 vom 17. August 2017\n\nHave your coffee without spilling the milk: Researchers at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) have developed a milk capsule that dissolves when placed in a hot drink. Not only does this reduce the consumption of packaging material, the capsules are easier to use than conventional plastic containers. The research group published its findings in the journal \"Chemical Engineering & Technology\".\n\nThe new milk capsules essentially could be compared to sugar cubes filled with milk or condensed milk. \"A crystalline crust forms a type of packaging around the capsules that easily dissolves in hot liquid,\" explains Martha Wellner, who developed the process as part of her PhD studies at MLU\u2019s former Centre of Engineering Sciences under Professor of Engineering Joachim Ulrich.\n\nThe production of the capsules is relatively simple. First a solution of milk and the desired sugar, or any other non-sweet material which gives the coating properties, is produced and placed in a mould. As the solution cools, the excess sugar moves to the edge of the liquid, forming crystals. The milk-sugar solution fills up the interior. Wellner, a nutritional scientist, conducted multiple trials to examine which materials and which cooling processes delivered the best results.\n\nCurrently there are two options for milk containers: sweetened and lightly sweetened. The researchers are still working on an unsweetened sugar free version. The capsules can be produced in various shapes and stored at room temperature. Once the milk has been encapsulated it can keep for at least three weeks. \"Our processes can also be used for other liquids. For example, we can also encapsulate fruit juice concentrate,\" explains Wellner.\n\nJoachim Ulrich came up with the idea of the encapsulation process years ago. His team has been studying crystal formation processes for many years, searching for ways to apply them in industry, for example in the production of pills. \"We have already studied different encapsulation processes as part of other PhD projects, however with other aims in mind,\" says Ulrich. He believes the new, environmentally friendly development has a lot of potential applications. \"For example, the capsules could replace the small, extremely unpractical coffee creamer packaging that is used in great quantities at conferences or on airplanes.\"\n\nThe scientists already registered a patent for the process in 2015; however, there is still no final product on the market. Before this could happen, it has to be investigated whether the milk capsules meet all necessary and legal requirements for groceries in general and also whether the hassle-free containers can be produced as industrial products.\n\nAbout the Publication:\n\nWellner, M. and Ulrich, J. (2017), Design of Dissolvable Milk Containers for Convenient Handling. Chem. Eng. Technol., 40: 1247-1251. DOI:10.1002/ceat.201600714\n\nZum Seitenanfang", "output": "A solid coffee creamer that dissolves when placed in hot drinks and which requires less packaging than current alternatives has been created by food scientists from Germany\u2019s Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU). The \u201cmilk capsule\u201d is produced by placing a sugar \u201ccrust\u201d around the milk which dissolves on contact with hot liquid. The capsules remain fresh for three weeks. Researchers hope to produce a non-sweetened version in the future."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Soluble coffee creamer reduces need for packaging \n Scientists just revolutionized coffee creamer\n\nCoffee, America's favorite beverage, just got a little more convenient thanks to some food scientists with Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU). The researchers have created what they call a milk capsule; it is a puck-shaped solid bit of coffee creamer that dissolves after being put into a cup of hot coffee. Unlike the little cups of liquid creamer that currently exist, you can't accidentally spill the milk capsule on your clothes.\n\nIf you want cream in your coffee at the moment, you have limited options: a large container of fresh cream, a small plastic container of portable liquid cream, or powdered creamer product. Fresh cream, while ideal, isn't practical if you're traveling, at work, or similar. Powdered creamer isn't all the great tasting, and so you'll left with the small plastic containers of cream.\n\nThose, however, are somewhat perilous in terms of transportation and they result in a lot of packaging waste. Addressing both issues is the researchers' new milk capsules, which are shaped something like a puck with a dome. There are multiple benefits, one being that less packaging is necessary for a solid product, and the other being the lack of potential mess.\n\nProduction of the milk capsule is described as being fairly simple, and depends on a 'crust' around milk. In the case of a sweetened capsule, sugar is used to form a crust in a mold with milk in the middle. Putting the capsule in coffee causes the crust to melt, releasing the 'milk-sugar' product into the drink. A non-sweetened ingredient can be used in the place of sugar to produce 'lightly sweetened' milk capsules.\n\nIn the future, the researchers hope to also produce a non-sweetened version that doesn't have sugar for those who don't want it or can't consume it. Milk capsules remain fresh for at least three weeks after production, and so while they're not as shelf-stable as packaging coffee creamers, they're still more convenient than fresh cream or milk. Assuming the now-patented milk capsules can be authorized by regulatory bodies as safe for sale and consumption, we may see them on grocery store shelves.\n\nSOURCE: Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg", "output": "A solid coffee creamer that dissolves when placed in hot drinks and which requires less packaging than current alternatives has been created by food scientists from Germany\u2019s Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU). The \u201cmilk capsule\u201d is produced by placing a sugar \u201ccrust\u201d around the milk which dissolves on contact with hot liquid. The capsules remain fresh for three weeks. Researchers hope to produce a non-sweetened version in the future."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus [2]: Regus' 1979 Marcus Avenue location renovated and close to full occupancy \n \u00ab Back to Facilities Management News Home\n\n\u00ab Facilities Management\n\nNJ Real Estate Firm Renovates NY Property to Attract Large Tenants\n\nLincoln Equities Group LLC (LEG) announced that one of its premier Class A commercial properties on Long Island, 1979 Marcus Avenue, is nearly fully leased. Following an extensive renovation, the four-story, 350,000-square-foot property attracted a number of new tenants to complement its cadre of longtime tenants, including medical organizations Northwell Health and IPRO, regional shipper Liberty Maritime, and international co-working space Regus.\n\n\n\nTenants now occupy over 325,000 square feet of the building, filling up the top three floors, leaving just 12,200 square feet available for lease. The property offers numerous amenities that add to workplace culture and atmosphere, including a full-service cafe, complimentary fitness center, on-site security, 24-hour card access, and a parking deck with more than 1,000 spaces.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe are pleased with the diverse, dynamic group of companies currently leasing one of our prime Long Island office properties,\u201d says Joel Bergstein, President of Lincoln Equities Group. \u201cWe always set out to attract prestigious tenants and we\u2019re excited to continue to provide exceptional amenities to help make their businesses successful.\u201d\n\n\n\nLEG has owned 1979 Marcus for more than a decade and recently led a renovation effort to attract bigger and more lucrative tenants. LEG updated the restrooms, revamped the elevators, upgraded the parking decks, and remodeled the lobby to give the interior of the building a modern feel that complements the sleek, all-glass exterior.\n\n\n\nTenants also benefit from the property\u2019s location within 20 minutes from La Guardia and JFK airports, with easy access to the Long Island Expressway, Cross Island Parkway, Northern State Parkway, Great Neck Station, New Hyde Park Station, Stewart Manor Station and MTA bus service.\n\n\n\n\u201cLEG is happy to offer a distinguished variety of unique leasing opportunities in the region,\u201d says Ken Flynn, Senior Director of Leasing, Lincoln Equities Group. \u201cWhile our 1979 Marcus location is almost fully leased, we have upgraded spaces available at other Long Island properties including 100 Merrick Road, Rockville Center; 114 Old Country Road, Mineola; and 666 Old Country Road, Garden City.\u201d\n\nMore From 5/15/2017 on FacilitiesNet", "output": "Lincoln Equities Group\u2019s four-storey property 1979 Marcus Avenue, Long Island, where Regus is a tenant, is said to have only 12,200 of its 350,000 sq ft left for lease. The building, which is 20 minutes from JFK and La Guardia airports, recently underwent extensively renovations to attract bigger and more lucrative tenants.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook refreshes appearance of News Feed on mobile \n Facebook is making several changes to News Feed to offer a cleaner look, and improve experience and navigation around the centrepiece of its mobile offering.\n\nThe biggest changes to be made include getting rid of Facebook\u2019 famous blue within certain screens and turning comment rectangles into bubbles.\n\nIn changing comments from rectangles to bubbles, Facebook aims to make it easier to see which comments are direct replies to another person.\n\n\u201cEvery person\u2019s News Feed is different and populated with a unique set of stories \u2014 from photos and videos to GIFs and links,\u201d said Facebook. \u201cAnd with so many types of stories available, each feed is more complex than ever. In order to make News Feed more conversational and easier to read and navigate, we\u2019ll be making a few updates to its design over the coming weeks.\u201d\n\nOther changes include colour contrast adjustments, larger link previews, larger icons and circular profile pictures. The overhaul, judging by released images, will give Facebook a much sleeker feel.\n\nDon\u2019t 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": "Facebook is changing the look of its News Feed to improve navigation and experience for mobile users. Facebook will remove the blue shade from certain screen displays and put comments into bubbles instead of rectangles. The changes also include larger link previews, circular profile photos, larger icons and colour contrast adjustments.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cyber attack costs could reach $300m for Maersk \n Maersk shut down a number of its operations due to the Petya cyberattack. Image: Moller-Maersk Group\n\nFalling victim to the global Petya cyberattack is set to cost Maersk, the world's largest container ship and supply vessel operator, up to $300m in lost revenues.\n\nThe Danish transport and logistics conglomerate -- which has offices in 130 countries and almost 90,000 employees -- revealed predicted losses due to the ransomware infection in its second quarter financial report.\n\n\"In the last week of the quarter we were hit by a cyber attack, which mainly impacted Maersk Line, APM Terminals and Damco. Business volumes were negatively affected for a couple of weeks in July and as a consequence, our Q3 results will be impacted. We expect that the cyber-attack will impact results negatively by USD 200-300m,\" said AP Moller-Maersk Group CEO S\u00f8ren Skou.\n\nMaersk was one of the first high-profile victims of the Petya malware epidemic, which originated in Ukraine but spread to bring down IT systems around the world.\n\nThe company's interim report details how it reacted to the attack by immediately shutting down infected networks to contain the malware and prevent its spread. While Maersk's three container-related businesses were taken offline, its energy and other businesses were able to continue operating as normal.\n\nNonetheless, this precautionary measure resulted in what the firm describes as \"significant business interruption during the shutdown period\". The bulk of the financial impact of this disruption will be felt during the third quarter, according to Maersk, due to the temporary loss of revenue in July.\n\nSee also: Ransomware: An executive guide to one of the biggest menaces on the web\n\nTotal lost revenue as a result of the cyberattack is estimated to be between $200m and $300m. However, the firm's overall profit expectations for the year remain unchanged, despite the negative impacts of the Petya attack.\n\nIn response to the attack by the previously unseen variant of Petya malware, Maersk said it has \"put in place different and further protective measures and is continuing to review its systems to defend against attacks\".\n\nMaersk isn't the only company to have reported losses as a result of the attack. Reckitt Benckiser -- the company behind Dettol cleaning products, the Nurofen painkiller, Durex condoms and more -- has predicted \u00a3100m in lost revenue and still hasn't restored all of its IT systems.\n\nFedEx has also said it may not be able to recover all the systems at its TNT Express delivery unit infected during the outbreak. The company said the financial cost of the attack is likely to be significant.\n\nWhile Maersk has taken a financial hit as a result of the cyberattack, the financial report said that \"no data breach or data loss to third-parties has occurred\".\n\nThe cyberattack spread a version of the Petya ransomware modified with a leaked NSA exploit -- the same EternalBlue Windows flaw which spread WannaCry. But unlike WannaCry, researchers have suggested that those behind Petya weren't interested in charging ransoms, but rather in irrecoverably wiping data.\n\nUkrainian police have arrested a 51-year-old man in connection with the ransomware attack.\n\nPrevious coverage\n\nREAD MORE ON CYBERCRIME", "output": "The fallout from the Petya cyber attack will cost container ship and supply vessel company Maersk as much as $300m. The Danish firm confirmed the damage in its Q2 2017 report, saying the attack had affected its Maersk Line, Damco and APM Terminals businesses. The company, the largest in its sector, was one of the first victims of the attack, which began in Ukraine and spread to infect networks all over the world. Maersk was forced to take businesses offline to prevent further damage. The bulk of the financial impact will be felt in the third quarter, Maersk said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Urmet chosen to provide door entry system for Redrow development \n Wed, Aug 16, 2017 11:22 AM\n\nNationwide house-builder, Redrow PLC, has chosen Urmet\u2019s IPervoice IP door entry system for Colindale Gardens, a large mixed-use parkland development of residential units and commercial premises covering 46 acres in north-west London.\n\nUrmet has already supplied its open-platform solution to an initial stage of over 300 apartments in what will ultimately be a community of 2,900 new homes to be completed by 2025. Residents will also benefit from Urmet\u2019s access control system, which is an integral part of the installation.\n\nUrmet\u2019s Elekta steel and Elekta glass IP PoE entry panels were selected by Redrow and were fitted at entrance points in the initial phases. Visitors will use the panels to communicate with residents and the concierge. The panels feature a 3.5-inch colour display and enable the recording of both audio and video messages if no one is at home.\n\nWhen completed, there will be 24 blocks of apartments and townhouses within the landscaped gardens. The site is set in extensive grounds and the panels provide a valuable feature as the display is able to show the visitor a route map to the selected residence. Urmet\u2019s IPervoice also combines door entry with access control. At Colindale, the Elekta panels feature integrated Wiegand 13.56 MHz RFID proximity readers, which allow entry to residents and staff on presentation of a key fob or card.\n\nSite awareness for optimum decision-making\n\nRedrow has also specified Urmet\u2019s switchboard software, which allows concierges to manage calls, receive and create alarms, and send messages on a global, group or individual basis. The software simplifies these functions by presenting concierges with a simple-to-use screen menu, giving them awareness of the whole site, which contributes to overall resident safety.\n\nAs the development progresses, the installers will be able to move the switchboard management software from one building to another, thereby delivering considerable cost-savings for the developer. Using an IP-based system such as Urmet's IPervoice enables multiple apartment blocks to operate from a single software platform on a site-wide network.\n\nUnified solution\n\nRedrow also specified a requirement that the property management software should be able to administer resident services. The respective features of the door entry system and property management software were compared to see how this would be made possible. By using the Max Pro IP touchscreen monitor, Urmet was able to combine both services on one platform. The Max Pro IP touchscreen is powered by Android and allows Urmet to work with other manufacturers installing third-party apps on the device.\n\nUrmet\u2019s MAX IP Android-powered touchscreens have been installed in each apartment. This is a seven-inch tablet-style device that employs the same swipe movements as a smartphone. The MAX IP has a 2-megapixel camera and a 1024x600 pixel 16:9 screen.\n\nCurrent trends are app-driven\n\nMark Hagger, Urmet\u2019s Sales & Marketing Director, said: \u201cTablets and smartphones with multiple apps are in use every day, which makes the Max Pro Android environment familiar to residents.Redrow understood that app-based technology could help simplify a number of the resident services it wanted to achieve. It\u2019s exciting to work with developers who are leading the demand for resident services such as video entry, alongside parcel and facility management and who are willing to quickly adopt innovative manufacturers such as Urmet, who invest in delivering technology solutions.\u201d\n\nHe continued: \u201cHaving truly integrated door entry and access control, plus the switchboard units at Colindale Gardens, means we can make efficient use of the network. Administrative staff have a seamless solution with one point of management and one front-end software set. By providing residents with a touchscreen device that works like a tablet, we have achieved the aim of providing a product that is intuitive from day one.\u201d\n\nDue for completion in 2025, the project will eventually encompass 24 blocks of apartments, townhouses, a health centre, school and neighbourhood centre. Architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios have designed buildings that feature mainly brick elevations, with some of the houses built as three-storey terraced structures. Residents will benefit from walkways, cycle paths, indoor and outdoor gyms, fitness trails, caf\u00e9s, retail spaces and a four-acre central park.", "output": "Redrow has chosen Urmet's IPervoice IP door entry system for the 2,900-home mixed-use development in North West London. The product allows visitors to communicate with residents and the concierge via a 3.5-inch colour display, which also enables the recording of both audio and video if no one is at home.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow New MD in West Country division for Redrow \n Redrow Homes has appointed a new managing director for its West Country division as the company looks to strengthen its presence in the region.\n\nNigel Palmer has been appointed managing director at the company\u2019s divisional head office in Exeter, with responsibility for the developer\u2019s sites across the West Country.\n\nWith a background in land and surveying, Nigel Palmer is keen to lead the expansion of Redrow West Country, the newest division of the national housebuilder which was launched only three years ago.\n\n\u201cMy priority is to continue to build the Redrow brand in the West Country,\u201d said Nigel. \u201cThe division has seen significant success in its first few years and my aim is to accelerate that expansion and increase the number of new homes we deliver each year, targeting prime land in desirable locations for high quality developments.\u201d\n\nNigel joins Redrow from Linden Homes, where he spent the last 15 years as the Commercial Director and Managing Director of Linden Homes Bristol, and more recently as the south west Managing Director.\n\nDevonian Nigel started his career as a Quantity Surveyor in 1984 and, with more than three decades of experience in housebuilding, is well versed in what it takes to be successful within the industry. \u201cI\u2019ve got a strong team to work alongside at Redrow and I\u2019m delighted to have the opportunity to work for a respected national house builder that takes such pride in its product \u2013 Redrow is renowned for delivering quality homes in areas where people want to live and are proud to call home,\u201d Nigel said. \u201cIt\u2019s no accident that five Redrow site managers from this region have just been named among the best in the country. Selected from a pool of 16,000 across the UK they were recognised as creating homes of outstanding quality in the NHBC\u2019s Pride In The Job awards.\u201d\n\nNigel, also a former founding director of South Devon University Technical College, was particularly attracted to Redrow because of the firm\u2019s commitment to addressing the skills shortage, added: \u201dThere is a real issue with the availability of skilled tradespeople and Redrow is working hard to address this with a dedicated apprenticeship programme that is actively driving the number of apprentices into its business. Currently there are 16 trade apprentices in the West Country division along with graduates and trainees across our office, commercial and technical departments.\u201d\n\nBarry Stiles, Redrow Regional Chief Executive said: \u201cWe are delighted to welcome Nigel to Redrow whose experience in the industry over many years will help us deliver our ambitious growth strategy and to meet the demand for high quality homes in sought after locations across the West Country. We look forward to Nigel leading our established team of experienced and talented individuals to ensure they reach their potential and we fulfil our exciting growth plans.\u201d\n\nRedrow West Country currently has 13 live outlets across Devon and Cornwall with several new sites scheduled to open this year. Visit www.redrow.co.uk/westcountry for more details.", "output": "Redrow homes appoint\u00a0Nigel Palmer as managing director in the West Country division, with the goal of strengthening the company's presence in the region. Palmer comes from a land and surveying background and was previously the commercial director at Linden Homes, as well as the South West managing director.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ford aims to rid vehicles of steering wheels \n Lawmakers have cautiously supported automakers' experiments with self-driving vehicles, but they've been split on whether cars need a steering wheel at all times in case humans need to take over. But with more and more concepts ditching control elements (wheels, pedals, gear shifts) entirely, it's likely a matter of time before those wholly autonomous options head to consumers. In the meantime, a patent Ford filed has been published that splits the difference: A wheel and pedals that are completely removable.\n\nFord actually filed the patent in February 2016, and it was awarded to the automaker last week on August 10th, as originally reported by Motor1. It's not a perfect solution, the document notes: Designers will have to reconsider how they implement airbags, which are traditionally situated in the steering wheel. Ford's patent proposes one in both the wheel and dashboard behind it, electronically switching off the latter if the wheel column is locked in.\n\nBut it isn't just about popping a wheel in and out: This redesign would probably require major changes to an automobile's interior, both cosmetically and from a mechanical standpoint. Pretty much everything in a driver's seat has been designed around the steering wheel and column since 1908 when Ford released the Model T.\n\nWhile this is only a patent, it shows that automakers are thinking hard about steering and control compromises that will let them sell autonomous vehicles in countries with different legal requirements -- along with users who might just want to take the wheel from time to time.\n\nUpdate: The post originally said that the steering column is an integral part of any car's frame, which is not accurate. It has been updated with the correct information.", "output": "Ford has been granted a patent that will allow future autonomous vehicles to feature removable steering wheels and pedals. While the American automaker only expects to profit from autonomous vehicles by 2021, the company announced a $1bn investment in Argo AI, a specialist in autonomous vehicle software, earlier this year.  \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Norwegian supermarket sells out-of-date food to reduce waste \n \u201cThey might not taste quite the same,\u201d says Naeeh Ahmed, 37, holding up for inspection a pack of Old El Paso soft tacos. The tower of boxes in front of him are three weeks past their best before date but Ahmed, operations manager at the Best F\u00f8r supermarket in Oslo, says they\u2019ll stay on display for a good few weeks yet. The same goes for the chocolate biscuits precariously piled up in the display \u2013 four weeks past their best before date \u2013 and the packs of Tassimo coffee pods that should have been sold in April. But all the prices reflect the product\u2019s age: half-price for the tacos, two-thirds off the biscuits and, at 30 kroner (\u00a33.66) for 32 pods, the coffee is also less than half its regular price.\n\nIt would be hard to find cheaper food in Oslo than that sold at Best F\u00f8r. They flog the stuff that no one else has been able to get rid off. Products whose season has passed, or which have been overproduced, have been arriving at this small store since October last year when the mainstream Lentusgruppen supermarket chain heeded the call of the Norwegian government and decided to take food waste seriously. They established an offshoot in Oslo, the first of its kind in the city, selling the stuff other stores and suppliers throw away. It\u2019s all up front \u2013 the shop looks like any other, but a large sign informs customers of the slightly different nature of the food down their aisles and in the chillers, which includes chicken fillets frozen a couple of days before going off.\n\nBest F\u00f8r supermarket is the first of its kind in Oslo, selling discounted food that other shops and suppliers would chuck out. Photograph: Daniel Boffey\n\n\u201cMost supermarkets won\u2019t buy products that are within 10 days or so of their expiry date \u2013 it often has to be wasted,\u201d Ahmed explains. \u201cWe thought, \u2018Why don\u2019t we make a place that has that kind of product, that will be beneficial to every party: the consumer, the supplier, and us. A win-win for everybody,\u201d he says.\n\n\u201cSome who believe in the cause are very positive but, any new concept takes a little time in the market. It is going well though \u2026 every person in Norway knows these days that now is the time to do something before it is too late.\u201d One customer, asked why he is shopping in this store, puts it succinctly: \u201cI\u2019m hungry.\u201d\n\nBest F\u00f8r is the latest concept that has taken root in Norway, where collaboration between industry and the government to tackle food waste has sparked a range of innovations designed to make the most of what the country produces. A platform called bestf\u00f8r.no, helps supermarkets identify food at risk of becoming inedible through a digital record of products\u2019 sell-by dates, allowing stores to locate the food that needs a lower price, or alert charities of a load of produce coming their way, without the fuss of searching through the shelves. A new app, foodlist, encourages people to take photographs of food in stores coming to the end of its shelf life, to alert people that it needs to be eaten and where it can be found. A company called SN\u00c5L frukt & gr\u00f8n has popped up selling wonky vegetables, or odd coloured eggs, with a 30% discount. And the Norwegian government says they want more of this, and quickly.\n\nIt was 2010 when the food industry in Norway first started to take the issue seriously, with the encouragement of the state. A country dedicated to tackling climate change was waking up to the fact that its food waste corresponded to emitting 978,000 tonnes of CO2, or about one-quarter of the emissions from Norway\u2019s cars. Industry started to collect statistics on waste through the food chain, from field or factory to the kitchen bin. Labels on products were adapted. \u201cUse by\u201d was changed to \u201cbest before\u201d. Smaller packs of food were sold. Consumers were educated by people in stores about the best way to keep food fresh, and the costs of waste to their household budgets.\n\nBy 2015, edible food waste had been reduced by 12% per person, having risen for the previous five years. But a target of reducing waste 25% by the end of 2015 had not been met. Waste in the country still amounted to 355,000 tonnes a year, 42.1kg of food per person. Norwegians were still throwing away over 11% of fruit and vegetables and about 4% of solid dairy products.\n\nFood waste in Norway amounted to 355,00 tonnes a year in 2015. Photograph: Carolyn Cole/Getty Images\n\nIn 2015 the UN agreed on reducing per capita food waste by half by 2030, and the Norwegians decided to go further. \u201cOur goals are more ambitious than the UN because we are going to reduce food waste by half, all the way down the value chain,\u201d said Norwegian minister for climate and the environment, Vidar Helgesen, of an agreement struck this summer with the food industry.\n\n\u201cWe discussed a ban on food waste but it was decided legislation wasn\u2019t enough,\u201d he added. \u201cIt could lead to the problem being pushed down the value chain. We are collaborating with all the actors in the food industry and we are encouraging people to smell and taste their food before throwing it away. We are setting targets and how the industry gets there is up to them. We are unleashing innovation.\u201d\n\nThe government is insisting that businesses and consumers reduce their waste by 15% by 2020 compared with 2015 levels, and secure a 30% reduction by 2025 to achieve the 50% goal by 2030. Some of what will happen in the coming years, Helgesen says, involves a compromise. \u201cPackaging is important and that leaves us with a dilemma because we want to reduce the use of plastic. A lot of it is about just being sensible.\u201d Helgesen believes people in Norway want to get this right.\n\nBack in the Best F\u00f8r store, Ahmed agrees with the minister that more traders are getting in on the act. There are a couple of similar stores just outside Oslo, he says. He is proud that Norway is pushing the issue. \u201cWe are environmentally friendly people,\u201d Ahmed said, before explaining the idea of a website he is working on with a developer in his spare time. Called Savefood, it would allow individual households to advertise produce that needs to be eaten \u2013 almost like eBay.\n\n\u201cSomebody has to be first,\u201d Ahmed adds, \u201cand it is good if we are the one\u2019s leading the way.\u201d", "output": "The Best F\u00f8r supermarket in Oslo, established in 2016 by supermarket chain Lentusgruppen, is the first in the city to sell discounted food that would be discarded by other shops and suppliers. The bestf\u00f8r.no platform lets\u00a0supermarkets use a digital record of sell-by dates in order to identify food close to its limit. This enables them to lower the price of the items or alert charities that produce will be available. Norway has committed to reducing waste by 15% by 2020, compared with 2015 levels. This figure rises to 30% and 50% reductions by 2025 and 2030 respectively.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New York agreement sets date to increase bitcoin blocksize \n Bitcoin Upgrade at Block 494,784\n\nDuring the month of November 2017, approximately 90 days after the activation of Segregated Witnesses in the Bitcoin blockchain, a block between 1MB and 2MB in size will be generated by Bitcoin miners in a move to increase network capacity. At this point it is expected that more than 90% of the computational capacity that secures the Bitcoin network will carry on mining on top of this large block.\n\nThe upgrade to 2MB blocks has been agreed first during the Bitcoin Roundtable Consensus in Hong-Kong on February 2016, and then ratified by the Bitcoin Scaling Agreement in New York on May 2017. These agreements stipulate the activation of Segregated Witness support and an increase of the maximum base block size from 1MB to 2MB.\n\nSegregated Witness support has been locked-in as a soft fork expected to activate around August 23 2017 (block height 481,824). Bitcoin clients that are not currently SegWit-compatible and wish to benefit from the new type of transaction must perform extensive upgrades to various subsystems, including changes to transaction serialization, signature hash computation, block weight calculation, scripting engine, block validation, a new address scheme, and P2P protocol upgrades. Fortunately Segregated Witness compatibility is opt-in, and existing Simplifed Payment Verification (SPV) wallets and full nodes are expected to continue working without changes after SegWit activates.\n\nReadiness Checklist\n\nThe November 2017 upgrade to 2MB blocks is a hard-fork, but necessary changes are trivial to perform. Some SPV clients are expected to work without any change at all. Most clients will need to tweak only two constants to remain compatible with the new larger blocks:\n\nFor SegWit-compatible clients:\n\nMaximum block weight doubles from 4,000,000 to 8,000,000\n\nSig-ops per block doubles from 80,000 to 160,000\n\nFor non-SegWit-capable clients:\n\nMaximum base block size doubles from 1,000,000 to 2,000,000\n\nSig-ops per block doubles from 20,000 to 40,000\n\nBoth types of clients should add new DNS seeds:\n\nBitPay: seed.mainnet.b-pay.net\n\nOB1: seed.ob1.io\n\nBlockchain: seed.blockchain.info\n\nBloq: bitcoin.bloqseeds.net\n\nTestnet5\n\nFor testing purposes, a new Testnet5 network that builds on the same Genesis block as the existing Testnet3 network has been created. In order to update a client for compatibility with Testnet5, do these changes to existing Testnet3 settings:\n\nPort changes from 18333 to 18555.\n\nNetwork magic changes from 0x0b110907 to 0x6e657400\n\nto BIP-34, BIP-66, BIP-65 and single checkpoint all refer to the block at height 10001 with hash 00000000fb7c0a2aeb5f1244e81921b84b7ac770004543144e10c2284f89bfd8\n\nDNS seeds are available at seed.testnet5.b-pay.net and bitcoin-testnet.bloqseeds.net\n\nBlock size/weight and sig-ops changes above also apply to Testnet5.\n\nCompatible Fully-Validating Node Software\n\nBTC1: https://github.com/btc1/bitcoin\n\nBitcoin Unlimited: https://www.bitcoinunlimited.info/\n\nBitcoin Classic: https://bitcoinclassic.com/\n\nIncompatible Fully-Validating Node Software", "output": "The Bitcoin Scaling Agreement in New York has ratified the Bitcoin Roundtable Consensus's decision to upgrade the maximum base block size from 1 MB to 2 MB, with the block to be created in November. It is expected about 90% of computation capacity will be mined on top of this block. As part of the agreement, bitcoin clients will introduce segregated witness support. Bitcoin clients that are not segwit-compatible and who want to benefit from the new type of transaction must undertake extensive upgrades to various subsystems.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple removes ApplePay from white supremacy and hate group sites \n Apple today has joined the chorus of companies taking a firmer stand against white nationalists and hate groups. According to a new report from BuzzFeed, Apple has disabled Apple Pay support on a handful of websites selling goods pertaining to such groups\u2026\n\nThe report explains that Apple has dropped Apple Pay from websites selling items such as sweaters with Nazi logos, t-shirts emblazoned with \u201cWhite Pride,\u201d and a bumper sticker depicting a car crashing into a crowd of protestors.\n\nApple hasn\u2019t provided an official comment on its decision, only confirming the move. Instead, the company pointed towards its existing Apple Pay guidelines which state that the payment platform can not be used on any site that \u201cpromotes hate, violence, or intolerance based on race, age, gender, gender identity, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation.\u201d\n\nTim Cook addressed the recent string of white supremacy and racist violence on Twitter earlier this week, calling it a moral issue and encouraging people to stand against it:\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve seen the terror of white supremacy & racist violence before,\u201d Cook wrote. \u201cIt\u2019s a moral issue \u2013 an affront to America. We must all stand against it.\u201d\n\nIn a separate tweet, Cook condemned the violent scene in Charlottesville over the weekend, saying that violence and racism have no place in America:\n\nHeartbreaking scenes in #Charlottesville. Violence and racism have no place in America.\n\nPayPal has taken a similar stance against such sites, saying that it was working to block \u201csites that accept payments or raise funds to promote hate, violence and intolerance.\u201d The payment platform has blocked a handful of such sites over the last six months.\n\nThe three sites from which Apple removed Apple Pay have not commented on the decision. The decision on Apple\u2019s part is putting an increased focus on credit card companies to put their foot down, as BuzzFeed notes that Discover has done:\n\nDiscover said in a statement to BuzzFeed News, \u201cIn light of recent events, we are terminating merchant agreements with hate groups, given the violence incited by their extremist views.\u201d\n\nWe\u2019ll update this post if Apple provides an official comment on this decision.\n\nCheck out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:", "output": "Apple has removed ApplePay from several sites with links to white nationalists and hate groups after a similar move by PayPal, according to BuzzFeed. While Apple did not comment directly on the decision, it confirmed the removal of Apple Pay and reiterated its guidelines, which state the platform cannot be used on sites that \"promotes hate, violence, or intolerance based on race, age, gender, gender identity, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation\". The decisions by Apple and PayPal followed recent violence in Charlottesville, Virginia when white supremacists clashed with anti-fascist protesters.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Atlas Genetics raises \u00a32m for sexual health diagnosis technology \n Innovate UK has awarded a \u00a32 million pound contract to Bath-based company, Atlas Genetics, for its diagnostic instrument (io System) and how to best adopt it into UK sexual health clinics.\n\nAtlas\u2019 io system is a molecular diagnostic platform that rapidly diagnoses a broad range of infectious diseases.\n\nAccording to an Atlas spokesman, it offers results within 30 minutes, allowing clinical professionals to perform infectious disease tests that are as accurate as those carried out in hospital laboratories.\n\nThe two-year contract will allow Atlas Genetics to collaborate with Aquarius Population Health, an independent health economics consultancy, and the Applied Diagnostic Research and Evaluation Unit (ADREU) at St George\u2019s, University of London where they will research the benefits of point-of-care testing for sexual health.\n\nThe company wants to further understand how to best integrate its io system into UK sexual health clinical practices and expand its research into diagnostic pathways within sexual health. The funding will also help Atlas develop its Multi-STI (MSTI) test ahead of clinical trials.\n\nThe first of the various studies and evaluations conducted by St George\u2019s using the io system started mid-2015.\n\nAtlas have collaborated with St George\u2019s on variety of other projects including i4i, phase 1 of the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) project, and have also performed the company\u2019s clinical trial for the CT product, eSTI2 project.\n\n\u201cThe (IO) system is not yet commercially available, so while nobody is using the system for patient diagnosis yet, a number of clinics have used the system in a range of different evaluations and usability studies \u2013 St Mary\u2019s, Portsmouth, Taunton, Royal South Hants and in the US, University of Alabama, Birmingham\u201d, the spokesman said.\n\nTariq Sadiq, director of the applied diagnostic and research evaluation unit at St George\u2019s reinforced that it is an innovative approach to better understand and overcome the often complex and substantial challenges to getting cutting-edge technology adopted into the NHS.\n\n\u201cWe believe that there are real benefits to using the io rapid diagnostic platform as patients will be able to receive the appropriate treatment immediately and thereby reduce onward transmission, and ultimately save the NHS time and money\u201d, Sadiq said.\n\nClinics will be able to get patient results in 30 minutes. \u201cThis has numerous benefits including reducing loss to follow-up, immediate treatment of positive patients, less empirical treatment / better antibiotic stewardship and reduction in onward transmission and improvement in the patient experience\u201d, the Atlas spokesman said.\n\nJohn Clarkson, chief executive officer of Atlas said Innovate UK\u2019s commitment to introducing new, pioneering approaches to healthcare validates both their technology and leading role in molecular diagnostics.", "output": "Government-backed Innovate UK has given a \u00a32m contract to diagnostic provider Atlas Genetics to help it incorporate its io System into the UK's sexual health clinics. The io System diagnoses infectious diseases through molecules. The firm claims it provides results in 30 minutes that are as accurate as clinical hospital testing. Bath-based Atlas Genetics will test the benefits of sexual health point-of-care tests, and develop its\u00a0multi-STI test before clinical trials. The funding will also support\u00a0Atlas Genetics'\u00a0continuing collaboration with\u00a0St George\u2019s, University of London."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lack of FTSE 100 board diversity could hamper post-Brexit deals \n Raj Tulsiani, CEO & Co-Founder\n\n\u201cWe founded Green Park in 2006 with a mission to change the face of leadership. We retain that same passion and entrepreneurial spirit today as when we started. Only now, the world is turning towards us.\u201d", "output": "A lack of boardroom diversity in the UK\u2019s major firms could obstruct trade negotiations with countries outside of Europe after Brexit, according to research by executive search company Green Park. The annual study shows that although the number of FTSE 100 companies with no senior ethnic minority representation has fallen from 62 to 58, the number of ethnic minority individuals holding the post of chair, CEO or CFO has fallen by 18%. Rolls-Royce had one of the least diverse senior management teams in the FTSE 100, ranking 90th in relation to employment of women and people of colour.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lack of FTSE 100 board diversity could hamper post-Brexit deals \n Britain\u2019s biggest companies have been told that a lack of diversity in their boardrooms could hinder government plans to increase trade with non-EU countries after Brexit.\n\nThe warning comes as a report shows the number of FTSE 100 businesses with no ethnic minority representation at senior level has fallen from 62 to 58. However, none of the companies have CEOs or chief financial officers who are women from ethnic minority groups.\n\nThe study by the executive search company Green Park found that while there has been a rise in the number of non-white workers in the upper echelons of FTSE 100 companies, there appears to be a glass ceiling at the top levels of management.\n\nGreen Park\u2019s chief executive, Raj Tulsiani, said the findings should be viewed against the backdrop of looming trade talks with dozens of countries outside the EU.\n\n\u201cIn light of the UK\u2019s desire to increase trade with non-EU countries, the ongoing inability of our leading companies to attract and retain leaders from east Asian and African backgrounds should be a matter for serious concern,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cThe UK\u2019s aspiration to be outward looking and open to business with the non-European world is hardly enhanced by the continued lack of challenge in the boards of our leading companies, still statistically and behaviourally dominated by men of similar cultural and educational backgrounds.\u201d\n\nThe study found that the senior management at Rolls-Royce is one of the least diverse in the FTSE 100. The engineering group ranked 90th for employing people from ethnic minorities and women at senior levels.\n\nLast year, a government-backed review of ethnic diversity recommended that Britain\u2019s top companies should bring an end to all-white boardrooms by 2021. The report, led by Sir John Parker, the outgoing chairman of the mining company Anglo American, said businesses were failing to promote sufficient numbers of people from ethnic minority groups to senior positions.\n\nThe results from Green Park\u2019s annual leadership 10,000 survey raises questions over whether this ambition is achievable. While there has been a small decrease in the number of companies with all-white boards, the number of people from ethnic minorities holding one of the most senior roles \u2013 chair, chief executive or chief financial officer \u2013 has fallen by 18%.\n\nThere are three non-white chairs of FTSE 100 companies and four non-white chief executives, according to the survey. Six of the chief executives are women, including Alison Brittain of Whitbread and ITV\u2019s Carolyn McCall.\n\nThere has been a 5% rise in minority representation outside the board, but the figures suggest a problem with progression to the highest levels of FTSE 100 companies, Tulsiani said.\n\n\u201cIt is a positive trend that in the pipeline we are doing better around race, but at the top of the pyramid, we have gone backwards slightly,\u201d he said.\n\nRolls-Royce said it was working to bring more people from diverse backgrounds into its workforce.\n\n\u201cWe are well aware of the need to attract talent from more diverse backgrounds, not only into our business, but into the wider engineering and technology industry. It is particularly challenging to attract BAME [black, Asian and minority ethnic] engineers where numbers across the UK are currently low,\u201d said Heather McVicar, a global diversity and inclusion consultant at Rolls-Royce.", "output": "A lack of boardroom diversity in the UK\u2019s major firms could obstruct trade negotiations with countries outside of Europe after Brexit, according to research by executive search company Green Park. The annual study shows that although the number of FTSE 100 companies with no senior ethnic minority representation has fallen from 62 to 58, the number of ethnic minority individuals holding the post of chair, CEO or CFO has fallen by 18%. Rolls-Royce had one of the least diverse senior management teams in the FTSE 100, ranking 90th in relation to employment of women and people of colour.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US ad association joins brand-safe ad-buying platform\u00a0TrustX \n Cite this articleHide citations\n\nCLOSE\n\nMLA\n\nBilton, Ricardo. \"One of the big advertising groups is partnering with Digital Content Next\u2019s trust-focused ad marketplace.\" Nieman Journalism Lab. Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, 16 Aug. 2017. Web. 5 Jun. 2023.\n\nAPA\n\nBilton, R. (2017, Aug. 16). One of the big advertising groups is partnering with Digital Content Next\u2019s trust-focused ad marketplace. Nieman Journalism Lab. Retrieved June 5, 2023, from https://www.niemanlab.org/2017/08/one-of-the-big-advertising-groups-is-partnering-with-digital-content-nexts-trust-focused-ad-marketplace/\n\nChicago\n\nBilton, Ricardo. \"One of the big advertising groups is partnering with Digital Content Next\u2019s trust-focused ad marketplace.\" Nieman Journalism Lab. Last modified August 16, 2017. Accessed June 5, 2023. https://www.niemanlab.org/2017/08/one-of-the-big-advertising-groups-is-partnering-with-digital-content-nexts-trust-focused-ad-marketplace/.\n\nWikipedia\n\n{{cite web\n\n| url = https://www.niemanlab.org/2017/08/one-of-the-big-advertising-groups-is-partnering-with-digital-content-nexts-trust-focused-ad-marketplace/\n\n| title = One of the big advertising groups is partnering with Digital Content Next\u2019s trust-focused ad marketplace\n\n| last = Bilton\n\n| first = Ricardo\n\n| work = [[Nieman Journalism Lab]]\n\n| date = 16 August 2017\n\n| accessdate = 5 June 2023\n\n| ref = {{harvid|Bilton|2017}}\n\n}}", "output": "The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) in the US has partnered with media industry body Digital Content Next on TrustX, a curated and automated ad-buying marketplace. Launched by Digital Context Next last May, TrustX offers advertisers a brand-secure method for purchasing ad inventory. The marketplace guarantees advertisers that they will only pay for ads that are seen by humans and offers a scorecard that details supply chain costs. ANA, which represents roughly 1,000 advertisers, will join digital publishers including Hearst, Cond\u00e9 Nast, Vox Media and Time as TrustX members.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Phil wins $10m funding for app-based prescription service \n Phil, a San Francisco-based prescription refill and delivery service, has raised $10 million in a round led by Crosslink Capital. Eniac Ventures, Softtech VC, Forerunner Ventures, SV Angel, Silicon Valley Bank, and Transmedia Capital also contributed to the round.\n\nThe startup partners with local pharmacies to provide a technology-powered service that delivers customers' prescriptions directly to their door. The arrangement helps small local pharmacies to compete with large chains while allowing Phil to provide an app-powered prescription service without having to build its own pharmacy.\n\n\u201cWe believe care coordination between doctors, insurance and pharmacies is the biggest hurdle to patients receiving their meds on time, especially so for those who take medications regularly,\u201d Phil COE and founder Deepak Thomas said in a statement. \u201cWith larger chain pharmacies, the consumer experience is often held captive by their business model that requires patients to return to the pharmacy, often multiple times a month. With Phil, we focus on providing a hands-off, concierge experience and rather than building our own pharmacy, we chose to partner with independently-owned pharmacies with strong community roots.\u201d\n\nVia the Phil app, patients can manage prescription and insurance information for themselves and family members and arrange for deliveries. The app is free to use (Phil makes its money off the partner pharmacies) and the company guarantees it will match users' existing co-pay if they switch over.\n\nThe company is also tapped into the changing paradigm of care delivery. In May, Phil announced a partnership with telemedicine company Lemonaid Health allowing patients who see a Lemonaid doctor to have their prescriptions delivered by Phil.", "output": "San Francisco-based healthtech start-up Phil has raised $10m in a funding round led by Crosslink Capital. Phil partners with small pharmacies to offer an app-powered prescription service, enabling patients to manage their own prescription and insurance information, as well as arrange for home deliveries. The service is free to users. Eniac Ventures, Softtech VC, Forerunner Ventures, SV Angel, Silicon Valley Bank and Transmedia Capital also participated in the round.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook adds fundraisers for friends' birthdays \n Facebook has introduced new ways for people to celebrate theirs and their friends\u2019 birthdays on the social network.\n\nNow, US Facebook users will be given the option to give back on their birthdays by creating a fundraiser to accompany their celebrations. Two weeks before their birthdays, users will see a message from Facebook in their News Feed giving them the option to create a fundraiser for any of the 750,000 US nonprofits available for fundraising on the platform. Friends will receive a notification inviting them to support the cause in honour of the special day.\n\nIn addition, Facebook has introduced shareable birthday videos \u2013 similar to the videos that friends can share to celebrate how long they\u2019ve been Facebook friends for. The personalised videos are presented to users on the day of a close friend\u2019s birthday, and can be shared if the user chooses to.\n\n\u201cPeople come to Facebook to send well-wishes and celebrate birthdays with friends. In fact, every day more than 45 million people give birthday wishes on Facebook, which is why it\u2019s important to us to ensure you can celebrate the way you want to,\u201d said Mike Nowak, product director at Facebook.\n\n\u201cBirthdays have always been a part of Facebook, and we hope to continue providing you with a variety of experiences that make celebrating on the platform fun and meaningful for you and your friends.\n\nDon\u2019t 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": "Facebook has given US users the option to fundraise for 750,000 non-profits on its platform as part of friends' birthday celebrations. Two weeks ahead of a friend's birthday, users will receive a message from Facebook in their News Feed which invites them to support the cause. Facebook has also introduced birthday videos which, much like its \"friendship anniversary videos\", collate and animate\u00a0previous posts for presentation on users' timelines.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lockstate's smart locks brick after software update \n The Internet of Things continues to amaze, but unfortunately for all the techno-utopians of the world, it's for exactly the wrong reasons.\n\nThe latest case study in why connecting every little thing to the internet might not be such a good idea is brought to us by Lockstate \u2014 a company that manufactures, among other things, a Wi-Fi enabled smart lock(opens in a new tab) marketed to Airbnb hosts around the world. The device allows for keyless entry and remote monitoring, along with the charming ability to be remotely bricked.\n\nAnd, surprise, that's exactly what happened on Aug. 7 when Lockstate pushed an errant firmware update that left a number of its locks permanently busted. Whoops.\n\n\"We are sorry to inform you about some unfortunate news,\" CEO Nolan Mondrow wrote in an email(opens in a new tab) to those unfortunate enough to be stuck with a nonfunctioning LS-6i. \"Your lock is among a small subset of locks that had a fatal error rendering it inoperable. After a software update was sent to your lock, it failed to reconnect to our web service making a remote fix impossible.\"\n\nThat's right, people who shelled out for a $469 future lock that enables them to track the comings and goings of their Airbnb clients suddenly found themselves forced to return to the old-fashioned days of metal keys and tumblers. And, unfortunately, they're going to be stuck there for a while.\n\nThe LS-6i looking so fancy. Credit: lockstate\n\nThat's because in order to get the system working again, owners have to either completely replace the lock or send it in for repairs \u2014 a process that could take anywhere from five to 18 days. Importantly, however, that doesn't mean people literally can't get through their front doors that entire time.\n\n\"Every one of our locks ships with a physical key,\" explained Mondrow over the phone. \"We have thought about redundancy for access.\"\n\n\"We really feel for those that are affected,\" he added.\n\nThis, of course, isn't the first time that an Internet of Things device has brought with it some unexpected risks. In April, a man had his garage door opener disabled after leaving a bad product review online, and internet-connected (and camera-enabled) vibrators have revealed themselves to be surprisingly easy to hack.\n\nThankfully, for all involved, when it comes to Lockstate's recent misstep, only around 500 locks were impacted. What's more, Mondrow insisted that this was all the result of human error and that the technology itself is solid. Even so, he came close to admitting that nothing in the Internet of Things world can ever be 100 percent foolproof as humans still have to administer the tech.\n\n\"You always have to be aware of the fact that it's people that work with customers and making sure they're well trained.\"\n\nAnd, well, even well-trained people make mistakes. Something to perhaps keep in mind the next time you're shopping for a shiny new internet-connected gadget.", "output": "Around 500 Wi-Fi enabled smart locks have been permanently bricked by a firmware update. Lockstate, the manufacturer of the LS-6i smart lock, issued an apology to customers with malfunctioning security systems. Although the $469 smart lock comes with physical keys, owners of the lock have to completely replace it or send it in for repairs. The locks were commonly used by Airbnb hosts who sought to benefit from its keyless entry and remote monitoring features.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "London affordable homes to be put on fast-track through\u00a0planning \n The mayor of London spelled out his vision to boost the number of affordable homes \u2018from the low of just 13 per cent given permission\u2019 under his predecessor Boris Johnson in a new Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG).\n\nThe new document sets a higher bar for publicly backed developments in London \u2013 half the new homes built on public land in London will have to be affordable to benefit from faster planning permission.\n\nThe move goes some way towards meeting a pledge made in Khan\u2019s manifesto last year, which said he wanted to \u2018set a target for 50 per cent of all new homes in London to be genuinely affordable\u2019.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nPublished yesterday (16 August), the latest GLA guidance also demands that construction on all new housing should begin \u2019within two years of planning permission being granted\u2019 or else developers face detailed scrutiny of the scheme\u2019s financial modelling.\n\nKhan 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 \u2018a share of any unexpected profits being reinvested in more affordable housing\u2019.\n\nCity Hall officials have now written to all London councils urging them to make use of the mayor\u2019s expert viability team if developers try to reduce affordable housing levels after planning permission has been granted.\n\nWhile the mayor has no formal powers to overturn a local council\u2019s 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 \u2018wholly unacceptable\u2019 plans to nearly halve the amount of affordable housing at Battersea Power Station (see AJ 23.06.17).\n\nNew guidance at a glance fast-track planning for private developers providing more than 35 per cent affordable homes on schemes\n\nfast-track planning for schemes on publicly owned land when 50 per cent affordable homes is provided\n\nall new housing to start on site within two years of planning permission or face detailed financial scrutiny\n\nKhan, said: \u2018The housing crisis is the biggest challenge facing Londoners today with too many people \u2013 particularly the younger generation \u2013 being priced out of our city, unable to afford a home.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u2019I\u2019ve been honest with Londoners from the start \u2013 we can\u2019t turn things round overnight. But we\u2019re working hard to tackle the issue every day and we\u2019ve already agreed to put \u00a31.7 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\u2019m 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.\n\nI\u2019m determined we don\u2019t have a repeat of what happened at Battersea Power Station\n\nHe added: \u2019I\u2019m determined to ensure we don\u2019t 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\u2019s why I\u2019ve written to all councils offering City Hall\u2019s expertise in robustly scrutinising applications to ensure we see the new and genuinely affordable homes built that Londoners desperately need.\u2019\n\nResponding to the new guidance, Simon Child, director at Child Graddon Lewis, said: \u2018The Mayor\u2019s continued proactive approach to providing more affordable housing is very welcome, particularly as a realistic way to work with the private sector.\n\n\u2019The 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 \u2013 and reducing the number of \u2013 affordable homes.\u2019\n\nComments:\n\nAnthony Thistleton from Waugh Thistleton Architects\n\n\u2019It 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.\n\n\u2019Offering incentives to provide a decent minimum threshold should start to change the current culture of avoidance\u2019\n\n\u2019Maintaining 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.\u2019\n\nSimon Henley, director Henley Halebrown\n\n\u2018Incentives to create affordable housing are welcome and should include a vision for affordable housing that breeds a sense of solidarity among its inhabitants.\n\n\u2019Affordable 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.\u2019\n\nSarah Bevan, director, Turley\n\n\u2018It 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 \u201clight touch\u201d 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.\n\nOn the face of it, this will appeal to a lot more applicants\n\n\u2018Another positive outcome of the GLA\u2019s 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.\n\n\u2019The 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.\n\n\u2018While 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.\u2019\n\nHeinz Richardson, board Director at Jestico + Whiles\n\n\n\n\u2019Speeding up development and increasing the supply of truly affordable homes is a pressing issue. Sadiq Khan\u2019s 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.\n\nThe two year time limit is a good target, but naming and shaming may not have the desired effect\n\n\u2018It 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.\u2019\n\nJasmine Whitbread, chief executive, London First, the business group behind the Fifty Thousand Homes campaign\n\n\u2019The 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 \u2013 almost one in three in 2016 \u2013 and start to unblock the hold-up. Otherwise, we risk shutting the door on our house-building ambition.\u2019\n\nJames Greenaway, associate director at BuckleyGrayYeoman\n\n\u2019The 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.\n\n\u2019Any intervention which speeds up the planning process and allows the focus to return to addressing the housing crisis is greatly welcomed.\u2019\n\nCraig Casci, senior partner and founder GRID Architects\n\n\u2019If 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.\u2019", "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\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Leasehold ground rents are good source of funds for improvements \n I write in support of Stephen Hill\u2019s letter (It\u2019s 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.\n\nAt Cannock Mill Cohousing Colchester, we have taken matters into our own hands to get the retirement lifestyle we want \u2013 because there isn\u2019t enough choice in today\u2019s 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.\n\nWe have decided that 999-year leases (for both flats and houses) with ground rents of \u00a330-\u00a3100 (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.\n\nIf leasehold houses were banned, we would not have any ground rent income \u2013 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 \u2013 the unintended consequence of well-meant but under-informed legislation.\n\nJane Blackburn\n\nChair, Cannock Mill Cohousing Colchester\n\nJoin the debate \u2013 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 \u00a330 to \u00a3100 ($38-$128). She added any unspent funds were ploughed back into improvements at the retirement living development.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Made in Space demonstrates 3D printing in a thermal vacuum \n Space is indifferent to your suffering. It doesn\u2019t care that it\u2019ll freeze you to death unless you\u2019re wearing a fancy suit, or that even before freezing you\u2019ll suffocate in its vacuum. And it certainly doesn\u2019t 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.\n\nBut a company called Made in Space is indifferent to space\u2019s indifference. In a first, it\u2019s showed that it can 3-D print in a thermal vacuum chamber, which simulates the nastiness of space. It\u2019s a milestone in the outfit\u2019s 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.\n\nThis 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. \u201cOur tactic has been, let's control the environment that's inside the printer, because we can't do anything about what's outside,\u201d says Eric Joyce, project manager of Archinaut.\n\nThe challenge is that Archinaut will have to print out tubes far larger than itself\u2014which 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.\n\nThere'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\u2019s the kind of scale we\u2019re talking about here.\n\nWhy 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.\n\nBut if engineers could build satellites in orbit, they\u2019d 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\u00a0habitat 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."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "A Start-Up Suggests a Fix to the Health Care Morass \n 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\u2019 practices \u2014 and to do so in an nonintrusive and pleasing way. The software\u2019s instructions must also prove financially rewarding for clinics, while still somehow saving money for the overall health care system.\n\nTo do all this, Aledade \u2014 which now operates in 15 states and has relationships with more than 1,200 doctors \u2014 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.\n\nThe 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.)\n\nFor Aledade, the upshot is that it will only make a lot of money if it actually succeeds in reducing health care costs.\n\n\u201cSay Medicare thinks that it\u2019s going to spend $100 million next year on our patients in Kansas,\u201d Dr. Mostashari said. \u201cA lot of this is from bad stuff \u2014 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 \u2014 which we split with the doctors.\u201d", "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.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK company develops drone that plants 60 trees a minute \n 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\n\nSupport SSIR\u2019s coverage of cross-sector solutions to global challenges.\n\nHelp us further the reach of innovative ideas. Donate today.\n\nThe world\u2019s 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\u2014the highest rate in a decade. That means our planet\u2019s 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\u2026\n\nRead 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\u00a0and\u00a0help local communities nurture the resulting saplings\u00a0by\u00a0doing weeding and delivering nutrients and pesticides. The company hopes that its technology will support\u00a0the UN sustainable development goal of halting deforestation\u00a0and is conducting trials in the Amazon region.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "You can get quality elder care but be prepared to pay for it \n Study shows that even states with excellence in care rank in the bottom 20 on cost.\n\nIf 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.\n\nThe 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\n\nSource: Source: Caring.com\n\nConversely, 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.\n\nQuality 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\n\nSource: Source: Caring.com\n\nOn 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.\n\nTomas 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\u00a0by 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.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Primary care clinician shortage expected in California by 2030 \n Dive Brief:\n\nA new report from the Healthforce Center at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) posits California won\u2019t have enough primary care physicians by 2030.\n\nThe report said physician supply will decrease between now and 2030 \u201cin nearly every supply scenario estimated.\u201d The Healthcare Center at UCSF predicted nearly half of the state\u2019s full-time equivalent primary care clinicians will be nurse practitioners and physician assistants by 2030.\n\nThese 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\u2019t happen with the Affordable Care Act.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nThe study said California will be short about 4,700 primary care clinicians in 2025 and about 4,100 primary care clinicians in 2030.\n\nHealthforce 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\u2019t be enough primary care clinicians.\n\nAn 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.\n\nPredicting 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.\n\nAccording 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.\n\nPlus, some specialties have skyrocketed over the past 10 years, which hasn\u2019t been the case for primary care physicians. For instance, doctors of osteopathic medicine have increased 65% since 2006.\n\nHow 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 \u201cscope-of-practice regulations\u201d for nurse practitioners and physician assistants to \u201cmaximize their capacity to provide primary care.\u201d", "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\u00a0Coffman\u00a0said 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\u2019t be enough primary care clinicians. \u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Functions in old age influenced by previous lifestyle \n Credit: Uppsala University\n\n\"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.\n\nThese findings were shown in a study conducted at the Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences at Uppsala University.\n\nThe 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.\n\nThe 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.\n\nSixteen 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.\n\n\"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.\n\nAt 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 \u2264102 cm, as well as high adherence to a Mediterranean-like diet. Similar observations were observed with survival.\n\nSmoking, obesity and an unhealthy diet are risk factors who may affect health, such as COPD, osteoarthritis, brain and cardiovascular disease and cancer.\n\n\"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.\n\nThe Mediterranean-like diet consists of high intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids, fish, fruits, vegetables, cereals and potatoes and less meat and dairy products.\n\nMore 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.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Smartphone app may help older adults manage serious mental illness and chronic health conditions \n 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.\n\nCare 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.\n\n\"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.\"\n\nFollowing 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.\n\nThe 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.\n\nAccording 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.\"\n\nThe 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.\n\n\"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.\n\nThese 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.\n\nDr. 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.\"\n\nMore 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\u00a0describes 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.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The real health care fight is coming, and it\u2019s about seniors\u2019 access \n Editor\u2019s Note: Journalist Philip Moeller is here to provide the answers you need on aging and retirement. His weekly column, \u201cAsk Phil,\u201d aims to help older Americans and their families by answering their health care and financial questions. Phil is the author of the new book, \u201cGet What\u2019s Yours for Medicare,\u201d and co-author of \u201cGet What\u2019s Yours: The Revised Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security.\u201d Send your questions to Phil.\n\nMany 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.\n\nAs things presently stand, we cannot afford to pay for all the care that older Americans will need.\n\nThis 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 \u201ccrisis\u201d \u2013 an elephant that is not only in the room today but took up residence decades ago.\n\nMedicare and Medicaid are the two safety-net programs we now have to provide the care we will need. Unless you\u2019ve 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.\n\nREAD MORE: The fight over Obamacare is over \u2014 for now. What does that mean for seniors?\n\nIf you scratch the surface, you will not find much knowledge in many of these proposals about the realities of an aging population\u2019s future health care needs.\n\nBut 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\u2019t afford to pay for it out of our own pockets.\n\nThe Republicans\u2019 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\u2019s standards.\n\nFaced 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.\n\nOlder 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.\n\nIn 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.\n\nObservational stays\n\nIf 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.\n\nHowever, 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.\n\nFor 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.\n\nNursing home lawsuits\n\nLast 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.\n\nThe 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\u2019s rule and dropped legal efforts to defeat the nursing operators\u2019 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.\n\nHome care funding\n\nMany 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.\n\nIt does cover medically proscribed home care for people who qualify as homebound, meaning they can\u2019t 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.\n\nUnder 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.\n\nMaybe that was true for shoddy providers. But it is hard to accept that Medicare\u2019s 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.\n\nAfter trimming relatively small amounts from Medicare\u2019s 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.\n\nThese 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.\n\nFamilies 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\u2019s efforts to sharply restrict unskilled immigrants could have a dramatic impact on the supply of old-age caregivers.\n\nThere 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.\n\nThis 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\u2019s 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.\n\nOur 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.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google Home matches Amazon Echo with free calls \n 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.\n\nGoogle 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.\n\nThe 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 \u201cOK Google\u201d or \u201cHey Google\u201d followed by \u201ccall (recipient)\u201d. Interestingly, the feature doesn\u2019t support calls to the emergency services.\n\nFor the time being, the call recipient will see the caller\u2019s ID as \u2018unknown\u2019 or \u2018no caller ID\u2019 but Google says it will be possible to display the caller\u2019s 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.\n\nThe 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.\n\nDon\u2019t 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."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AMD releases GPU driver update dedicated to cryptocurrency mining \n 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.\n\nThis 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.\n\nFortunately 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\u2014decreasing hashrate performance with Ethereum mining as the DAG file size slowly increases. This is something that affects both Polaris and Vega.\n\nNathan 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.\n\nThis 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.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shadow Brokers' dump blamed for five million cyber attacks \n 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.\n\nIts 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.\n\n\"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.\n\n\"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.\"\n\nShadow 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.\n\nThe 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.\n\nAlongside 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\u00a0security 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\u00a0included the EternalBlue malware, which was part of the WannaCry ransomware."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Video a growing revenue stream for Heart, Classic FM owner \n Global, home to radio stations like Capital, Heart and Classic FM, has tuned into the revenue opportunities of video, and it\u2019s paying off.\n\nThe 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\u2019s website would mostly feature music videos. Now, each month, across brands, Global\u2019s video team creates up to 600 original videos. Music features heavily: Recent videos on Capital FM, the company\u2019s most popular brand covering chart music, include former One Direction member Liam Payne\u2019s debut live solo performance at Capital FM\u2019s summer ball and the band Rudimental discussing an upcoming V Festival performance. Elsewhere, Classic FM features a youth classical ensemble playing the \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d soundtrack, while rock station Radio X features a 40-minute interview with former Oasis lead singer Liam Gallagher.\n\nVideos are also edited for platforms. Videos from current-affairs talk station LBC have particularly taken off on Facebook in the last year. LBC\u2019s 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\u2019Brien\u2019s monologue last October comparing British Home Secretary Amber Rudd\u2019s Tory conference speech to Adolf Hitler\u2019s autobiography \u201cMein Kampf\u201d was viewed over 3.9 million times on LBC\u2019s Facebook page and got over 60,000 shares.\n\nGrowing reach on platforms only goes so far, though. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be building my commercial strategy around revenue delivered by other platforms,\u201d said Oliver Deane, Global\u2019s commercial digital director. \u201cIt\u2019s about defining what social plays in your business; large amounts of views on social platforms, while there\u2019s no direct significant monetization opportunity as there is on your own platform, [are] still growing the brand.\u201d\n\nOn-platform, these videos generate around 40 million monthly, 30-second non-skippable pre-roll impressions on Global\u2019s sites, via Ooyala\u2019s video player, said Deane.\n\nGrowing 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\u2019s 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.\n\nListeners 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.\n\n\u201cIf someone is loading the Capital FM app, they are going to be listening to music, so [they will] have the sound on,\u201d said Deane. \u201cThat pre-roll delivers a sound-on experience, so we\u2019re seeing a big uptake in advertisers buying that inventory.\u201d (Capital FM\u2019s in-app pre-roll ads are skippable after five seconds.)\n\nThe 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\u2019s site, according to Deane.\n\nImage 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 \u2013 compared to about 30 in\u00a02014. Oliver Deane, Global\u2019s commercial digital director, said 80% of Global\u2019s 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."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI-based energy trader Energi Mine managing \u00a3100m after six months \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nDon't miss a thing by signing up to the MyOldham newsletter here\n\nA new Oldham business is making waves in the energy sector after being oversubscribed for its first round of funding.\n\nWith a background in global energy markets Omar Rahim and Momin Hashmee have joined forces to launch Energi Mine.\n\nThe business utilises Artificial Intelligence (AI) software to procure and trade energy for some of the UK\u2019s biggest companies.\n\nLaunched six months ago, Energi Mine\u2019s 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 \u00a31m will also be realised within the next 12 months.\n\nEnergi Mine\u2019s offices in Oldham include a trading desk where more than \u00a3100m is already under management.\n\nThe 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.\n\nAlgorithms 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.\n\nCEO 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.\n\nCOO 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.\n\nCommenting on the launch Omar Rahim said: \u201cEnergi Mine is a business with the potential to revolutionise the whole sector.\n\n\u201cWe 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.\n\n\"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.\u201d\n\nMomin 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.\n\n\"The resulting impact means eradicating old-fashioned, manual approaches and creating new ways to capture, view and analyse energy data.\n\n\"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.\n\n\"The energy procurement industry is heavily manualised, with a huge reliance on a series of spreadsheets compiled by analysts \u2013 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 \u2013 ultimately leading to greater cost saving opportunities.\u201d\n\nEnergi Mine\u2019s 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.\n\nThe 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 \u00a3100m ($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,\u00a0said co-founder Omar Rahim.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WHO requests help with measles outbreak in Somalia \n Save\n\nThis article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.\n\nWHO calls for urgent support to combat Somalian measles outbreak\n\nADD TOPIC TO EMAIL ALERTS Receive an email when new articles are posted on . Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on Subscribe ADDED TO EMAIL ALERTS You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.\n\n\n\nClick Here to Manage Email Alerts You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.\n\n\n\nClick Here to Manage Email Alerts\n\n\n\nBack to Healio We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.\n\n\n\nBack to Healio\n\nWHO 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.\n\nTo improve outbreak response activities and conduct a measles immunization campaign in November, WHO requires $6.8 million.\n\n\u201cSomalia 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,\u201d said Ghulam Popal, PhD, WHO representative in Somalia. \u201cNormally, 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.\u201d\n\nAccording 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.\n\nTo 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 \u2014 with a cost of $3.36 per child \u2014 of which $6.8 million is still needed.\n\n\u201cWHO has repurposed 800,000 USD internally to start training and microplanning for the measles campaign and exploring,\u201d Gregory H\u00e4rtl, WHO spokesman, told Infectious Disease News. \u201cWe are approaching donors for additional funding.\u201d\n\nConcurrently 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.\n\nDisclosures: 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.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cargo works with Uber to offer convenience products on the move \n 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.\n\nCargo 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.\n\n\"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!\"\n\nMore From ELLE play icon The triangle icon that indicates to play\n\nRiders 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."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MedAware deploying AI to tackle prescription mistakes \n 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\u2019s Innovation Authority, the BIRD Foundation, and the European Commission.\n\nPrescription 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.\n\n\u201cMedAware was purpose built around our commitment to patient safety,\u201d CEO Gidi Stein said in a statement. \u201cEvery 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\u2019ve achieved to date and scale our approach to protect physicians and their patients all over the world.\u201d\n\nThe 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.\n\nThe 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\u2019s Hospital and the Center for Patient Safety and Practice, plus retrospective data from Partners HealthCare BWH and Massachusetts General Hospital.\n\nUsing 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.\n\nWith 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."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UN plan sets out how Sri Lanka could move to 100% renewables \n The UN Development Programme (UNDP) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) just released a joint report called Assessment of Sri Lanka\u2019s Power Sector\u2014100 percent Electricity Generation through Renewable Energy by 2050.\n\nThe UN Development Programme (UNDP) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) just released a joint report called Assessment of Sri Lanka\u2019s Power Sector\u2014100 percent Electricity Generation through Renewable Energy by 2050.\n\nPriyantha Wijayatunga, Director, South Asia Energy Division, said: \u201cADB 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\u2019s 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.\u201d\n\nAccording to the report, Sri Lanka\u2019s installed electricity generation capacity needs will increase from 3,700MW to 34,000MW by 2050.\n\nThe study projects that most of the electricity generation capacity should be wind and solar energy \u2013 with 15,000 MW of wind and 16,000 MW of solar capacity \u2013 and the rest will be hydro and biomass energy.\n\nIn order to ensure the stability of the country\u2019s electricity grid, UNDP and ADB also note that it will be crucial to increase electricity storage capacity.\n\nSuch a shift to renewable sources would allow the country to dramatically decrease its fossil fuel imports and reduce Sri Lanka\u2019s fuel bill by $18 billion cumulatively.\n\n$50 billion of investment will be needed for the country to operate its transition to renewable energy.\n\nSri 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.\n\nAlexandra Soezer, Climate Change Technical Advisor of UNDP added: \u201cUNDP continues to be a pioneering \u2018development\u2019 institute. Knowledge products like these are giving valuable inputs to attaining Sustainable Development Goal 7 on \u2018Affordable and Clean Energy\u2019. We will continue to expand our activities in this field and pave the way for a better tomorrow.\u201d", "output": "Sri Lanka\u2019s 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\u00a0at how the country could\u00a0produce\u00a0100% of its electricity using renewable methods, adding\u00a0that\u00a0it 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.\u00a0Sri Lanka is a member of Climate Vulnerable Forum whose members are committed to adopting renewables-only energy production.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Three Ukrainian lawmakers hold a combined $47m in bitcoin \n 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 ...\n\nThree Ukrainian lawmakers have declared holding a combined $47 million in bitcoin following mandatory disclosures requiring members of parliament to reveal their finances.\n\nAccording to a report from RIA Novosti, the Russian state\u2019s foreign news service, three Ukrainian lawmakers belonging to Ukraine\u2019s ruling party have revealed they hold bitcoin worth a near $50 million combined.\n\nThe three lawmakers are notably members of the \u201cPetro Poroshenko Block\u201d, the report reveals, the majority group of legislators within the Ukrainian Parliament.\n\nDmitry Golubov holds the most bitcoins of the three revealed in the report, with 8,752 bitcoins declared in an online submission. Golubov\u2019s holdings represents approximately $36 million in today\u2019s 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).\n\nBitcoin Legislation\n\nThe disclosures are part of a sweeping anti-corruption reform requiring the country\u2019s senior politicians and lawmakers to declare their wealth publicly. The trio\u2019s disclosures of holding bitcoin comes at a time when Ukraine is making moves toward regulating bitcoin and other digital currencies.\n\nThe National Bank of Ukraine, the nation\u2019s central bank, revealed it would \u201cdevelop a common position on the legal status of Bitcoin and its regulation\u2019 in an announcement this month.\n\nAs 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.\n\nAdding to the flurry of bitcoin-related news in the country, Ukraine\u2019s 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\u2019s most popular cryptocurrency grows among politicians and citizens alike.\n\nFeatured 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."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Solid lubricant reduces friction on steel surfaces \n WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. \u2013 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.\n\nThe 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.\n\n\u201cIt has superior thermal conductivity, high strength and provides ultralow friction,\u201d said Vilas Pol, an associate professor of chemical engineering at Purdue University.\n\nThe 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.\n\nSolid 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.\n\n\u201cThe fundamental causes of mechanical failure are friction and wear, so reducing these factors improves the performance and lifetime of many mechanical systems,\u201d said Farshid Sadeghi, Purdue\u2019s Cummins Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering. \u201cDespite 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.\u201d\n\nResearchers tested stainless-steel surfaces coated with the new lubricant.\n\n\u201cWe tested it under worst-case scenarios,\u201d said mechanical engineering graduate student Abdullah A. Alazemi.\n\nFindings were detailed in a research paper published on July 11 in the in the journal Carbon.\n\n\u201cThe durability and resilience of this adhesive coating suggest exceptional potential as a dry lubricant for high load-bearing applications,\u201d Pol said.\n\nThe 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.\n\nA complete list of the paper\u2019s co-authors is available in the abstract.\n\nThe research is ongoing, and future work is planned with industrial partners. The researchers applied for a patent through the Purdue Research Foundation\u2019s Office of Technology Commercialization.\n\nWriter: Emil Venere, 765-494-4709, venere@purdue.edu\n\nSources: Vilas G. Pol, 765-494-0044, vpol@purdue.edu\n\nFarshid Sadeghi, 765-494-5719, sadeghi@purdue.edu\n\nNote to Journalists: The research paper is available from Emil Venere, 765-494-4709, venere@purdue.edu\n\nABSTRACT", "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\u00a0report\u00a0in the scientific journal Carbon. The team created the\u00a0lubricant 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\u201d, said Vilas Pol, an associate professor of chemical engineering at Purdue University\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple pledges $2m to anti-hate campaign groups \n 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.\n\nCook 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.\n\nApple 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.\n\n\u201cLike so many of you, equality is at the core of my beliefs and values,\u201d Cook wrote. \u201cThe events of the past several days have been deeply troubling for me, and I\u2019ve heard from many people at Apple who are saddened, outraged or confused,\u201d Cook said in the memo, which was shared with USA TODAY.\n\n\u201cWhat 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.\u201d\n\nCook 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.\n\nIn 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\" \u2014 referring to white nationalists that had gathered in a torch-lit rally, and the counter-protesters that demonstrated against them \u2014 were to blame.\n\n\"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.\n\nMore:Trump economic councils disbanded after Charlottesville response\n\nMore:Analysis: Combative Trump returns to form with defense of alt-right\n\nMore:Trump's assertion left wing protesters just as violent as white supremacists in Charlottesville sets off firestorm\n\nTech 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.\n\nFacebook 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\u00a0Spotify 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.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK\u2019s geology may make it unsuitable for fracking \n Fracking for oil and gas in the UK may produce much less fuel \u2013 and profits \u2013 than has been mooted, according to research based on seismic imaging of the country\u2019s underlying geology.\n\nMost of the areas in which deposits of onshore \u201cunconventional\u201d gas and oil are likely to be found were affected by tectonic activity along the Atlantic plate about 55m years ago.\n\nOwing 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.\n\n\u201cThese areas have been lifted up, buckled and depressurised, which has rendered them cooler than the optimal temperatures for oil and gas production,\u201d he told the Guardian. \u201cThe resultant complexity means these are not good places for hydrocarbons.\u201d\n\nUnderhill said that in optimistic assessments of the UK\u2019s shale gas capability, \u201cthe geology has been forgotten, but the geology is fundamental.\u201d\n\nThe 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. \u201cMy challenge is: does the geology stack up?\u201d\n\nThe UK\u2019s 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.\n\nThe body representing the UK\u2019s shale gas industry, UK Onshore Oil and Gas (UKOOG), said more exploration was needed. Ken Cronin, the chief executive, said: \u201cThe 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.\n\n\u201cThis 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.\u201d\n\nUKOOG would not say when the work was likely to be completed, or how Underhill\u2019s work might influence the industry.\n\nQuentin 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.\n\n\u201cProf 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,\u201d Fisher said.\n\n\u201cAlthough 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.\u201d\n\nHe said the only way to find out was through testing. \u201cThe bottom line is that the only way to truly assess the viability is to drill wells, and we need to get on with that.\u201d\n\nStuart 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.\n\nOnly a few small onshore conventional oil fields have been found in the UK, as the other oil and gas has mostly leaked away. \u201cThe 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,\u201d he explained.\n\nAs 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 \u201cit will be extremely difficult to match the low price of shipping imports of shale oil and gas from the US,\u201d Haszeldine said. \u201cSo even if the geology does not sink your economics, the extra UK costs will.\u201d", "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\u2019s geology. In contrast to the US where large and easily accessible shale gas deposits exist, the UK\u2019s 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.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wattwatchers secures $1.6m for home energy use monitoring device \n 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.\n\nThe latest funding was led by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), which manages the Australian government\u2019s 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\u2019s renewable energy agency.\n\nWattwatchers produces a compact, retrofittable energy management device that runs off Wi-Fi or 3G technology to deliver energy data from a user\u2019s 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.\n\nWhile 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\u2019t always the norm.\n\nWattwatchers was founded in 2007, and for 10 years was self-funded through \u201csweat equity\u201d and sales, after founders Chris Bean and Jon Keeble encountered difficulty when trying to secure external investment, according to managing director Gavin Dietz.\n\nDietz says the key to completing this Series A funding round after so long was the team\u2019s determination \u201cnot to give up\u201d on the startup\u2019s vision.\n\n\u201cThe founders before I came on board [a year ago] had tried to raise capital unsuccessfully. You can\u2019t give up,\u201d he says.\n\nDietz 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 \u201cskeptical about going in to\u201d but which turned out to be \u201creally useful in giving us a lot of contacts and exposure\u201d.\n\nThe funds will be used to grow Wattwatchers\u2019 sales and engineering team, to add to their current team of eight, and to \u201cscale up\u201d production runs to lower the cost of the product, which Dietz says is currently available in 10,000 \u2013 15,000 homes across Australia.\n\nThe startup is also looking to consolidate its foothold in Australia, which Dietz says is \u201cone of the best markets in the world\u201d for the adoption of energy-efficient technologies, before launching its offerings internationally in the UK and US markets in coming years.\n\n\u201cAustralia 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\u2019s only 1 million houses in the US with solar power,\u201d Dietz says.\n\n\u201cConsumers have Stockholm syndrome\u201d in relation to energy prices\n\nWhile 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.\n\n\u201cThe energy space is one of the hardest areas for startups to work,\u201d says Dietz.\n\n\u201cI think one of the reasons we [Wattwatchers] are really important is because the one thing that the energy space lacks is data.\n\n\u201cWe produce data [with our device]. To produce data with electricity you need to install a device \u2014 there\u2019s no [other] magical way to do that\u201d he says.\n\nDietz says innovation in the energy sector is stifled because \u201cthe data isn\u2019t free flowing\u201d like it is in the fintech sector. It\u2019s a gap that Wattwatchers aims to fill with its energy-monitoring, data-driven technology.\n\n\u201cI truly believe in the energy space we haven\u2019t seen half the innovation we should [because] the data isn\u2019t free flowing. Fintech does amazing things because that [financial] data has filtered to the top and become real time \u2014 energy still has a long way to go,\u201d he says.\n\nDietz says there is \u201cno doubt\u201d that startups are still looking to \u201ccompletely try to disrupt and innovate how energy is done\u201d in Australia, but points to fundamental structural challenges that currently exist in the energy sector that are inhibiting startups from entering the space.\n\nThese challenges include the fact that the \u201cbig players don\u2019t want to be disrupted\u201d and so will try to edge out startup competition from the market; the lack of data infrastructure available for startups to leverage; and because \u201cconsumers have Stockholm syndrome\u201d 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 \u201cthe best [deal] they can get\u201d.\n\nIn spite of these challenges, Dietz maintains that the future remains bright for budding startups in the sector.\n\n\u201cWhen all those three things start breaking down massively, there will be a huge change in the energy space,\u201d he says.\n\nFollow StartupSmart on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and iTunes.", "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\u00a0that 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.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hyundai to build 300-mile luxury EV Genesis \n 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.\n\nAlong with affiliate company Kia, Hyundai announced eight electric cars and two fuel-cell vehicles coming to market in the near future\u2014a 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.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nToyota has also recently shown signs that it\u2019s 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.\n\nHyundai also told Reuters that it\u2019s developing its first electric vehicle platform\u2014a step toward quickly building multiple electric models in the future.\n\nThe automaker also showed off a \u201cnear-production\u201d 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\u2019t use-specific (like forklifts in Amazon warehouses). \u201cHyundai will achieve economies of scale for fuel cell cars by 2035 at the earliest,\u201d Lee Hang-koo, a senior research fellow at Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade, told Reuters.\n\nElectric vehicles, on the other hand, are quickly gaining critical infrastructure around the world, although they\u2019re 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\u2019s sales by 2025 and are \"making electric plug-ins until hydrogen fuel cell vehicles take hold\".\u00a0The company also revealed that it is developing its first electric vehicle platform."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US researchers use industrial waste to produce hydrocarbons \n Faculty Highlight\n\nAugust 17, 2017 - Applied Innovation\n\nIn a high-ceiling room in professor Markus Ribbe\u2019s lab, a giant still emits pungent vapors from fermenting bacteria. Ribbe, chancellor\u2019s professor of molecular biology and biochemistry at the UCI School of Biological Sciences, and his colleague and wife Yilin Hu, assistant professor of molecular biology and biochemistry, are brewing fuel. They are harnessing nitrogenase, an enzyme derived from a common soil bacteria, to create hydrocarbons from carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. The goal is to produce an affordable, truly renewable biofuel, as well as essential industrial products.\n\nBrewing up a better biofuel\n\nThe world economy still relies on carbon-based fossil fuels. Developing renewable alternatives that can compete with the cheap cost and energy density of fossil fuels is one of the biggest challenges of our time. Continued use of fossil fuels is unsustainable because of their steep and growing environmental costs, and for strategic reasons as well. Newer generations of alternative fuels are becoming more efficient and cost-effective to produce, but they still have technical and scale-up issues, as well as their own environmental costs. Currently, the main gating factor hobbling innovation in alternative fuels is the relatively low price of oil, but that will not always be the case.\n\nRibbe terms his lab\u2019s bacterial fuel factory concept a \u201cfourth generation\u201d solution. The discovery came about quite accidentally. Ribbe, a microbiologist, did his Ph.D. on microbes that can use carbon monoxide as a feedstock. In 2010, his lab was researching the properties of nitrogenase, a catalyst produced by Azotobacter vinelandii, a \u201ccompletely harmless\u201d common soil bacteria that has the ability to affix nitrogen in the soil to plant roots. Nitrogenase is a metalloenzyme, meaning it is metal based; the enzyme can be molybdenum or vanadium-dependent. The nitrogenase enzyme family catalyzes the reduction of nitrogen to ammonia, an important step in the global nitrogen cycle.\n\nIn 2010, Ribbe and his students were performing some simple kinetic experiments with an enzyme variation of nitrogenase. \u201cWe added carbon monoxide, which has always been believed in the field to be an inhibitor of ammonia formation,\u201d Ribbe said. \u201cThe electrons got sucked up by carbon monoxide.\u201d When the students injected some of the enzyme mixture in a gas chromatograph, they saw that it produced ethylene and propane. \u201cAt this point none of us believed it,\u201d Ribbe said. So they did another experiment, labeling the carbon atoms with a specific isotope. Under the chromatograph they found the labeled carbon atoms in the ethylene and propane. \u201cWe were not really looking for this,\u201d Ribbe said. \u201cI would say it was a side discovery which was really the best of our lab.\u201d\n\nRibbe and his students found that this nitrogenase enzyme family could catalyze the reduction of carbon monoxide (CO) or carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) to produce certain hydrocarbons under moderate conditions: normal pressure and ambient temperature\u2014without requiring hydrogen; it can also use waste feedstocks like carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide to do so. \u201cA very important aspect is that it is very environmentally friendly,\u201d Ribbe said.\n\nA bacterial fuel factory?\n\nRibbe hypothesized that the ability to reduce carbon monoxide could be an evolutionary relic of this particular enzyme family, and perhaps, this ancestral nitrogenase could be a link between the carbon and nitrogen cycles on earth. But whatever its antecedents, this peculiar property of Azotobacter vinelandii could potentially be harnessed to generate fuel and essential industrial products.\n\nCurrently, most hydrocarbon products for energy or the production of industrial plastics and rubber\u2014including methane, ethylene, propylene, propane and butane\u2014are synthesized via the Fischer-Tropsch process, a series of chemical reactions that converts a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen into liquid hydrocarbons and requires high temperatures and pressures, and lots of hydrogen to work. Hydrogen is energy-intensive to synthesize, requiring fossil fuels. The Fischer-Tropsch process makes an excessive amount of the greenhouse gas methane as a waste product.\n\nAnother essential industrial process, the Haber-Bosch method, is an artificial nitrogen fixation process. Using high temperatures and extremely high pressure, this process combines hydrogen and nitrogen derived from air over a catalyst to produce ammonia, critical for the fertilizer that enables modern large scale agriculture\u2014and warfare. The Haber-Bosch method also requires a lot of energy, high temperatures and high pressures to work.\n\nNext step: Scale-up and industrialization\n\nRibbe envisions growing the Actinobacter vinelandii bacteria on industrial carbon waste to generate hydrocarbons. He and Hu found that the A. vinelandii strain that expresses the nitrogenase enzyme can produce methane (CH 4 ), ethylene (C 2 H 4 ), ethane (C 2 H 6 ), propylene (C 3 H 6 ), propane (C 3 H 8 ) and butane (C 4 H 10 ).\n\nSo far Ribbe and Hu have optimized the bacteria to pump out the catalyst in greater amounts. Their lab is now engineering the enzyme to make longer-chain hydrocarbons for liquid fuel, with the goal of getting seven to eight chain carbon products. \u201cIdeally, if you could get carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide as feedstocks, you could make them convert this into hydrocarbons,\u201d Ribbe said. The researchers showed that nitrogenase can convert carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide into products like propane and butane. \u201cThis enzyme catalyzes at moderate conditions, room temperature and ambient pressure, and doesn\u2019t need hydrogen,\u201d Ribbe said.\n\nCurrently Ribbe and Hu are ramping up a process conducted in small flasks to a pilot bioreactor of perhaps five liters, and running continuous cultures to figure out how long it takes to produce hydrocarbons efficiently.\n\nAccording to Ribbe, the next steps towards eventual large scale production of fuel and industrial products will be optimizing the reaction and developing bioreactors that can hold large quantities of immobilized nitrogenase enzyme, eventually leading to the manufacture of reactors driven by catalysts that mimic the action of the active site of the enzyme.\n\n\u201cWhat we envision is to build up a bacterial system where we can introduce an enzyme to carbon monoxide that is feedstock-free,\u201d Ribbe said. \u201cBottom line, it is fairly different compared to other approaches to make biofuels.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is amazingly simple,\u201d Ribbe said. \u201cAt this early stage it works at low rates, 1% to 2% conversion of carbon monoxide.\u201d Ribbe noted that the enzyme does this as a secondary reaction. To derive products such as propane, butane and ethylene, it is not necessary to do lipid extraction as with algae-based biofuels, which will save a step in production.\n\nScalability of the process to mass production will be the biggest challenge. \u201cSo far the catalytic numbers are fairly comparable to some Fischer-Tropsch methods,\u201d Ribbe said. \u201cOne question is, how efficient is the catalyst? Industry wants a full conversion of substrate. While the Fischer-Tropsch process does a full conversion, our enzyme currently does a low percentage of conversion at a comparable efficiency.\u201d\n\n\u201cI think this is really a different approach compared to other process that are out there,\u201d Ribbe said. \u201cThe first generation, second generation, all other approaches are limited to fermentation processes. This system can directly convert carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide to hydrocarbons without going through a fermentation process. That is one big advantage.\u201d", "output": "University of California researchers have created hydrocarbons from industrial carbon waste, by applying an\u00a0Actinobacter vinelandii bacteria catalyst. The bacteria is commonly found in soil, and could be used to create affordable,\u00a0renewable biofuel. The application of the bacteria to waste carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide creates methane, ethylene, ethane, propane, propylene and butane. Scale is the largest challenge for adapting the system to large-volume production.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US researchers use industrial waste to produce hydrocarbons \n In California, researchers at the University of California, Irvine envision growing the Actinobacter vinelandii bacteria on industrial carbon waste to generate hydrocarbons. They found that the A. vinelandii strain that expresses the nitrogenase enzyme can produce methane (CH 4 ), ethylene (C 2 H 4 ), ethane (C 2 H 6 ), propylene (C 3 H 6 ), propane (C 3 H 8 ) and butane (C 4 H 10 ).\n\nSo far they have optimized the bacteria to pump out the catalyst in greater amounts. Their lab is now engineering the enzyme to make longer-chain hydrocarbons for liquid fuel, with the goal of getting seven to eight chain carbon products.", "output": "University of California researchers have created hydrocarbons from industrial carbon waste, by applying an\u00a0Actinobacter vinelandii bacteria catalyst. The bacteria is commonly found in soil, and could be used to create affordable,\u00a0renewable biofuel. The application of the bacteria to waste carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide creates methane, ethylene, ethane, propane, propylene and butane. Scale is the largest challenge for adapting the system to large-volume production.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Enel signs $340m tax equity agreement over US wind plant \n Enel Green Power North America Inc. (EGPNA), acting through subsidiary Red Dirt Wind Holdings LLC, has signed a tax equity agreement worth approximately $340 million with MUFG and Allianz Renewable Energy Partners of America LLC for the Red Dirt wind farm in Oklahoma.\n\nUnder the agreement, MUFG and Allianz will pay the above amount to the wind farm owner, Red Dirt Holdings, by purchasing 100% of Class B equity interests in the project.\n\nThis interest will allow the two investors to obtain, under certain conditions set by U.S. tax laws, a percentage of the fiscal benefits of the project. In turn, EGPNA, through Red Dirt Holdings, will retain 100% ownership of the Class A interests and, therefore, management control of the project.\n\nThe agreement also secures the funding commitment by the two investors, while the closing of the funding is expected upon start of the wind farm\u2019s commercial operations. The tax equity partnership will be supported by a parent company guarantee from Enel S.p.A.\n\nThe 300 MW Red Dirt wind project, whose construction started in April, is expected to begin operations by the end of this year. The investment in Red Dirt amounts to approximately $420 million, which is part of the investment outlined in Enel\u2019s current strategic plan.\n\nOnce fully up and running, Red Dirt will be able to generate approximately 1,200 GWh of renewable energy annually, which is equivalent to the energy consumption needs of more than 97,000 U.S. households.\n\nThe energy and renewable energy credits generated from Red Dirt will be sold under two long-term agreements: T-Mobile USA Inc. for 160 MW and the Grand River Dam Authority for 140 MW.", "output": "Acting through subsidiary Red Dirt Wind Holdings, Enel Green Power North America has signed a tax equity agreement for their wind farm in Oklahoma. Worth roughly \u00a3340m, the agreement was made with\u00a0Allianz Renewable Energy Partners of America and MUFG. Allianz and MUFG will purchase 100% of Class B equity interests in the project, allowing them, under certain conditions, a percentage of its fiscal income.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Taiwan looks to Tesla Powerpacks in wake of devastating blackouts \n By\n\nThe government of Taiwan is reportedly planning to approach Tesla about setting up lithium ion battery facilities on the heels of Tuesday\u2019s blackout, the island nation\u2019s biggest power outage since 1999. The facilities would be aimed at storing renewable energy on the island.\n\nTesla is using its lithium ion battery technology to help Australia and California to implement smart grid and grid storage, and we can learn from them in the future,\u201d Taiwan\u2019s Minister of Science and Technology Chen Liang-gee told reporters.\n\nTaiwan\u2019s President Tsai Ing-wen\u2019s has pledged to make Taiwan nuclear energy free by 2025, and the talks of battery facilities with Tesla would be a crucial step in her plans of utilizing more green energy.\n\nChen told reporters that the Taiwanese government would look to potentially form a joint venture with Tesla for the battery project as the government doesn\u2019t have prepared a budget for the project.\n\nTuesday\u2019s blackout reportedly came after \u201cgovernment-run petroleum company CPC Corporation ran into difficulties while replacing the power supply for a control system responsible for sending natural gas to a power plant.\u201d\n\nThe plan is for Taiwan send a team of officials to the U.S. to talk with Tesla in the near future, although Chen would not be leading the talks.\n\n\u201cWe will try to check out whether there is a suitable solution\u2026we will get in touch with them,\u201d Chen said.\n\nTaiwan is just the latest area that is looking to strike a deal with Elon Musk and Tesla.\n\nTesla secured a contract back in July to install the world\u2019s largest lithium-ion battery storage system in South Australia.\n\nThe Australia deal is for a 100-megawatt (129 mWh) Powerpack system to be paired with Neoen\u2019s Hornsdale wind farm.\n\nThe deal first came to a head in March when Musk committed to solving South Australia\u2019s power crisis in 100 days through a Tesla Energy product or the system would be free.\n\nTesla has not commented on the potential Taiwan talks just yet, but if they go well, another area will be joining Tesla\u2019s energy revolution.\n\nTaiwan explores using Tesla Powerpack battery system after blackouts", "output": "The Taiwanese government is reportedly approaching Tesla with a proposal that would see the company setting up lithium-ion battery facilities, after the country suffered its worst power outage since 1999 on 15 August. Tesla's lithium-ion battery technology, which allows for smart energy storage and grid management, is already in use in Australia and the US. Tesla has not yet commented on the situation."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Taiwan looks to Tesla Powerpacks in wake of devastating blackouts \n Taiwan recently suffered from a massive blackout that affected millions of households on the island, resulted in millions in damages, and ended up with the economy minister resigning.\n\nNow the Taiwanese government says that it is reaching out to Tesla to consider a similar solution as the massive 100 MW/129 MWh Powerpack system that Australia ordered from Elon Musk\u2019s company after they had their own power outage issues.\n\nTaiwan\u2019s power outages came after government-run petroleum company CPC Corporation\u2019s natural gas supply system failed at a power plant.\n\nThey now believe that a large energy storage system could help in those situations.\n\nTaiwan\u2019s Minister of Science and Technology Chen Liang-gee told reporters at his office in Taipei today (via Nikkei):\n\n\u201cTesla is using its lithium ion battery technology to help Australia and California to implement smart grid and grid storage, and we can learn from them in the future. We will try to check out whether there is a suitable solution\u2026we will get in touch with them.\u201d\n\nHe added that they plan on sending a team of government officials to the U.S. to talk with Tesla soon.\n\nThey also could use the energy storage capacity to ease their transition to renewable energy. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen\u2019s energy plan includes entirely replacing nuclear power with green energy by 2025. A combination of solar and wind power with energy storage will be needed to make it happen.\n\nTesla entered the Taiwanese market earlier this year when it delivered its first batch of vehicles and opened its first Supercharger in the country.\n\nIt was only selling its automotive products, but now it looks like the company has an opportunity to enter the market with its energy products.", "output": "The Taiwanese government is reportedly approaching Tesla with a proposal that would see the company setting up lithium-ion battery facilities, after the country suffered its worst power outage since 1999 on 15 August. Tesla's lithium-ion battery technology, which allows for smart energy storage and grid management, is already in use in Australia and the US. Tesla has not yet commented on the situation."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Macarthur Minerals to buy 15% of Australian gold and lithium mine \n VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 14, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Macarthur Minerals Limited (TSX-V:MMS) (the \u201cCompany\u201d or \u201cMacarthur Minerals\u201d) is pleased to announce that it will acquire 15% of Yalgoo Exploration Pty Ltd (\u201cYalgoo Exploration\u201d), which owns the Melville Gold Project in Western Australia1.\n\nA photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4a7e47cc-811e-4bbe-822b-adcb29045e5a.\n\nDavid Taplin, President, CEO and Director of Macarthur Minerals commented:\n\n\u201cMacarthur Minerals is excited about acquiring a 15% interest in Yalgoo Exploration which holds tenements prospective for both gold and lithium. The tenements contain the Melville Gold Project with a historical indicated resource of approximately 1.28Mt @ 1.81 g/t for 75,377 ounces of gold and an historical inferred resource of 692,900 tonnes @1.83 g/t for 41,740 ounces of gold. The price of gold is currently at a two-month high, with the today\u2019s spot price at USD$1,288.91 per ounce. Having a stake in a gold project, brings further value to the Company. In addition, the results of the rock chip sampling up to 3.75% Li 2 O show excellent potential for lithium at those tenements.\u201d\n\nYalgoo Exploration Pty Ltd\n\nYalgoo Exploration owns two granted exploration licences (E59/2077 and E59/2140), covering an area of 191 square kilometres (47,161 acres) in the Murchison region of Western Australia (\u201cYalgoo Tenements\u201d). The Yalgoo Tenements are located approximately 500 km north-east of Perth and 220 km east of Geraldton (Figure 1).\n\nYalgoo Exploration is a private company which has been focussed on the exploration and development of the Melville Gold Project, which is located on the Yalgoo Tenements.\n\nMelville Gold Project\n\nThe Melville Gold Project located on exploration licence E59/2077 was previously owned by Australian Securities Exchange listed Prosperity Resources Limited (ASX:PSP) (\u201cProsperity Resources\u201d). In 2004 Prosperity Resources defined a mineral resource for the Melville Gold Project in accordance with The Australasian Code for the Reporting of Identified Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC Code), 2004 (the \u201cJORC Code\u201d).\n\nTable 1 sets out a historical estimate of the Mineral Resource, which was prepared by Ravensgate Mining Consultants for Prosperity Resources in a scoping study dated 30 November 2004.\n\nTable 1 \u2013 Historical Mineral Resource Statement of Melville Gold Project\n\nHistorical Mineral Resources \u2013 1.0 g/t cut-off grade Category Tonnes Grade g/t Ounces Measured Resource Nil Indicated Resource 1,281,400 1.81 75,377 Inferred Resource 692,900 1.83 41,740\n\nThe Mineral Resource for Macarthur Mineral\u2019s purposes, these estimates for the Melville Gold Project are considered to be historical estimates under National Instrument 43-101 \u2013 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (\u201cNI 43-101\u201d) as they were prepared by Prosperity Resources prior to Macarthur Minerals\u2019 involvement with the Melville Gold Project. In addition, these historical estimates do not conform to NI 43-101 for reporting purposes and use categories other than those set out in NI 43-101.\n\nThere are no material differences between the definitions of Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources under NI 43-101 (as defined in the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum) and the equivalent definitions in the JORC Code. Other than as reported in the scoping study dated 30 November 2004, the key assumptions, parameters, and methods used to prepare the historical estimate are not known. There have not been any more recent estimates or data available to the Company with respect to the Melville Gold Project. A review of the geological information needs to be conducted in order to verify or update the historical estimate.\n\nA Qualified Person for the purposes of NI 43-101 has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as a current Mineral Resource or Mineral Reserve and Macarthur is not treating the historical estimate as a current Mineral Resource or Mineral Reserve. As such, the historical estimates should not be relied upon.\n\nAcquisition of 15% of Yalgoo Exploration Pty Ltd\n\nMacarthur Lithium Pty Ltd (\u201cMLi\u201d) has agreed indicative terms of settlement for its proceedings in the Supreme Court of Western Australia against Mining and Metallurgy Process Solutions Pty Ltd (\u201cMMPS\u201d) regarding the first right of refusal granted to MLi in respect of the shares in Yalgoo Exploration under the Mineral Rights Deed between MLi and Yalgoo Exploration (\u201cMMPS Proceedings\u201d). MMPS currently owns 100% of Yalgoo Exploration.\n\nMLi and Mining and MMPS have agreed to settle the MMPS Proceedings, on the following indicative key terms:\n\nNegotiate and enter into a formal deed of settlement.\n\nMLi and MMPS enter into a Shareholders Agreement for Yalgoo Exploration whereby MLi be issued 15% of the issued capital of Yalgoo Exploration, which is a non-contributing interest and cannot be diluted until after there is a decision to mine.\n\nMLi, MMPS and Yalgoo Exploration have agreed to terminate the Mineral Rights Deed 2 , at no cost to MLi, so that Yalgoo Exploration owns all minerals on the Yalgoo Tenements.\n\n, at no cost to MLi, so that Yalgoo Exploration owns all minerals on the Yalgoo Tenements. MMPS to pay MLi $100,000 within 5 days of execution of Shareholders Agreement and satisfaction of conditions precedent, unless waived by the party for who it benefits.\n\nThe acquisition of the 15% interest in Yalgoo Exploration may be subject to regulatory approval.\n\nYalgoo Lithium Project\n\nIn October 2016, MLi conducted a reconnaissance field trip on the Yalgoo Tenements with promising results for lithium. Lithium mineralisation was confirmed in at least two of the pegmatites, with their core quartz zones exposed by small scale mining. Grab rock samples returned up to 3.75% Li 2 O associated with lepidolite in one of these pegmatites and lithium muscovite containing up to 2% Li 2 O in another pegmatite. During this visit, several additional pegmatites, largely composed of blocky feldspar and quartz were noted within a corridor some 1.5 km wide and extending over some 5 km in a NNW-SSE direction, located within a broader corridor some 3 km wide and likely extending over 10 km.\n\nQUALIFIED PERSONS\n\nMr Andrew Hawker, a member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists, is a full-time employee of Hawker Geological Services Pty Ltd and is a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101. Mr Hawker has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.\n\nABOUT MACARTHUR MINERALS LIMITED (TSX-V: MMS)\n\nMacarthur Minerals Limited is an exploration and development company that is focused on developing its lithium exploration interests in Australia and Nevada. Macarthur Minerals is the majority shareholder of Macarthur Australia Limited, which owns significant iron ore and lithium projects in Western Australia.\n\nOn behalf of the Board of Directors,\n\nMACARTHUR MINERALS LIMITED\n\n\u201c Cameron McCall \u201d\n\nCameron McCall, Chairman\n\nTHIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES\n\nNEITHER TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.\n\nCaution Regarding Forward Looking Statements\n\nCertain of the statements made and information contained in this press release may constitute forward-looking information and forward-looking statements (collectively, \u201cforward-looking statements\u201d) within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements in this press release reflect the current expectations, assumptions or beliefs of the Company based upon information currently available to the Company. With respect to forward-looking statements contained in this press release, assumptions have been made regarding, among other things, the timely receipt of required approvals, the reliability of information, including historical mineral resource or mineral reserve estimates, prepared and/or published by third parties that are referenced in this press release or was otherwise relied upon by the Company in preparing this press release. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct as actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include fluctuations in exchange rates and certain commodity prices, uncertainties related to mineral title in the project, unforeseen technology changes that results in a reduction in iron ore demand or substitution by other metals or materials, the discovery of new large low cost deposits of iron ore, uncertainty in successfully returning the project into full operation, and the general level of global economic activity. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty thereof. Such statements relate to future events and expectations and, as such, involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release and except as may otherwise be required pursuant to applicable laws, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.\n\n________________\n\n1 Subject to negotiating and entering to formal documentation.\n\n2 Refer to the Company\u2019s news releases dated August 15, 2016 and October 12, 2016.", "output": "Macarthur Minerals said it will acquire 15% of Yalgoo Exploration, which owns the Melville Gold Project in Western Australia, which has lithium deposits as well as gold.\u00a0Yalgoo Exploration owns two granted exploration licences\u00a0covering an area of 191 sq\u00a0km in the\u00a0Murchison region of Western Australia.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Etiqa launches accident policy for Singapore's army of maids \n Employers can apply for their maid work permit in Singapore either themselves (in person or online), or through an employment agency. We suggest you do this yourself since the process is relatively straightforward, quick, and you won\u2019t have to pay for maid agency fees. Online applications take just 1 day to be processed and can be done from the comfort of your house.\n\n\n\nHelperChoice works with ethical employment agencies to make sure FDWs will not be overcharged. You can contact us at contact@helperchoice.com to get a quotation if you have found a maid you want to hire but are not familiar with the steps of FDW work permit applications.\n\n\n\nAt the same time, employers need to check with their domestic helper\u2019s embassy in Singapore whether any additional documents or procedures are required from the sending government.\n\n\n\nEmployers must also follow several preparatory steps before they are allowed to legally hire their maid. They will have to take out a $5,000 security bond (which amount they stand to lose if employment rules are broken), in addition to buying medical and personal accident insurance for their maids.\n\n\n\nNew employers must attend a brief employer orientation program, while maids should be registered for the Settling-in Programme, which they must attend shortly after arriving in Singapore.\n\n\n\nIf your initial work permit application is successful, you will receive an In-Principle Approval (IPA) letter \u2013 which the worker needs to enter Singapore.", "output": "Etiqa Insurance has unveiled an insurance policy that covers Singapore's thousands of domestic helpers against accidental injury. The company's offering, called ePROTECT maid, comes as the government's Ministry of Manpower urges employers to provide personal accident insurance for their in-home foreign domestic workers. Singapore is home to more than 200,000 foreign domestic workers, comprising around 20% of the city's population.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Etiqa launches accident policy for Singapore's army of maids \n SINGAPORE--(Marketwired - Aug 15, 2017) - Etiqa Insurance has increased the Personal Accident coverage for all the plans under its maid insurance plan ePROTECT maid. This is following the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM) guidelines to implement changes to the Personal Accident Insurance requirements for Foreign Domestic Workers which will take effect from 1 October 2017.\n\nFrom today, Etiqa customers can enjoy higher coverage for Personal Accident cover on their maid insurance plans while enjoying the same competitive premium rates. The Minimum Sum Assured for Accident Death and Permanent Disablement has been revised to $60,000 from the previous $40,000, allowing customers and their helpers to benefit from this added protection.\n\nePROTECT maid by Etiqa enables customers to choose from three options with different premium rates for each plan. Customers can benefit from the highest Personal Accident cover of up to $60,000 for Accidental Death or Permanent Disablement and up to $2,500 for Medical Expenses. In addition, they can claim up to $15,000 per year for Hospitalisation and Surgical Expenses.\n\n\"We are one of the first few players in the industry that provide increased insurance coverage for maids before the changes to MOM's guidelines. By implementing the changes earlier, our customers can benefit from increased coverage, without having to pay additional premiums,\" said Mr. Sue Chi Kong, Chief Executive Officer of Etiqa Insurance Pte. Ltd.\n\nDifferent insurers provide different coverage for Personal Accident Insurance, with some having a narrower definition of accidents and imposing more exclusions. As such, the amount of compensation for accidents may differ even though the circumstances and injuries are the same. MOM requires that Personal Accident Insurance coverage includes all sudden, unforeseen and unexpected incidents that result in the death or permanent disability of the Foreign Domestic Worker.\n\nFor more information, visit www.etiqa.com.sg.\n\nEtiqa Insurance - A Singapore Insurance Company with Asian and International Expertise\n\nEtiqa Insurance Pte. Ltd. is a licensed life and general insurance company registered in the Republic of Singapore and regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). In July 2017, Fitch affirmed the company's \"A-\" rating for its financial strength and stable outlook.\n\nEtiqa has been protecting Singaporeans since 1961 with a range of general insurance solutions that constantly evolve to meet their ever-changing needs. As the appointed insurer for the Housing Development Board (HDB) Fire Insurance Scheme in Singapore, we have been protecting homes since 2009. In August 2014, we added a comprehensive suite of life insurance solutions to our stable of products.\n\nEtiqa is owned by Maybank Ageas Holdings Berhad, a joint venture company that combines local market knowledge with international insurance expertise. The company is 69% owned by Maybank, one of Asia's leading banking groups with more than 22 million customers worldwide in 20 countries; and 31% by Ageas, an international insurance group with 33 million customers across 16 countries and a heritage that spans over 180 years, with a focus to provide world class insurance solutions to consumers in Europe and Asia through market leading joint ventures.\n\nAt Etiqa, we believe in our brand promise of humanising insurance, by placing people over policies in everything we do. We are passionate about helping Singaporeans protect themselves and their loved ones today and helping them plan for a financially secure tomorrow.", "output": "Etiqa Insurance has unveiled an insurance policy that covers Singapore's thousands of domestic helpers against accidental injury. The company's offering, called ePROTECT maid, comes as the government's Ministry of Manpower urges employers to provide personal accident insurance for their in-home foreign domestic workers. Singapore is home to more than 200,000 foreign domestic workers, comprising around 20% of the city's population.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers develop fast-charging 'candycane' supercapacitor \n Credit: Queen Mary, University of London\n\nSupercapacitors promise recharging of phones and other devices in seconds and minutes as opposed to hours for batteries. But current technologies are not usually flexible, have insufficient capacities, and for many their performance quickly degrades with charging cycles.\n\nResearchers at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and the University of Cambridge have found a way to improve all three problems in one stroke.\n\nTheir prototyped polymer electrode, which resembles a candy cane usually hung on a Christmas tree, achieves energy storage close to the theoretical limit, but also demonstrates flexibility and resilience to charge/discharge cycling.\n\nThe technique could be applied to many types of materials for supercapacitors and enable fast charging of mobile phones, smart clothes and implantable devices.\n\nThe research was published in ACS Energy Letters.\n\nThe solution\n\nPseudocapacitance is a property of polymer and composite supercapacitors that allows ions to enter inside the material and thus pack much more charge than carbon ones that mostly store the charge as concentrated ions (in the so-called double layer) near the surface.\n\nThe problem with polymer supercapacitors, however, is that the ions necessary for these chemical reactions can only access the top few nanometers below the material surface, leaving the rest of the electrode as dead weight. Growing polymers as nano-structures is one way to increase the amount of accessible material near the surface, but this can be expensive, hard to scale up, and often results in poor mechanical stability.\n\nThe researchers, however, have developed a way to interweave nanostructures within a bulk material, thereby achieving the benefits of conventional nanostructuring without using complex synthesis methods or sacrificing material toughness.\n\nProject leader, Stoyan Smoukov, explained: \"Our supercapacitors can store a lot of charge very quickly, because the thin active material (the conductive polymer) is always in contact with a second polymer which contains ions, just like the red thin regions of a candy cane are always in close proximity to the white parts. But this is on a much smaller scale.\n\n\"This interpenetrating structure enables the material to bend more easily, as well as swell and shrink without cracking, leading to greater longevity. This one method is like killing not just two, but three birds with one stone.\"\n\nThe outcomes\n\nThe Smoukov group had previously pioneered a combinatorial route to multifunctionality using interpenetrating polymer networks (IPN) in which each component would have its own function, rather than using trial-and-error chemistry to fit all functions in one molecule.\n\nThis time they applied the method to energy storage, specifically supercapacitors, because of the known problem of poor material utilization deep beneath the electrode surface.\n\nThis interpenetration technique drastically increases the material's surface area, or more accurately the interfacial area between the different polymer components.\n\nInterpenetration also happens to solve two other major problems in supercapacitors. It brings flexibility and toughness because the interfaces stop growth of any cracks that may form in the material. It also allows the thin regions to swell and shrink repeatedly without developing large stresses, so they are electrochemically resistant and maintain their performance over many charging cycles.\n\nThe researchers are currently rationally designing and evaluating a range of materials that can be adapted into the interpenetrating polymer system for even better supercapacitors.\n\nIn an upcoming review, accepted for publication in the journal Sustainable Energy and Fuels, they overview the different techniques people have used to improve the multiple parameters required for novel supercapacitors.\n\nSuch devices could be made in soft and flexible freestanding films, which could power electronics embedded in smart clothing, wearable and implantable devices, and soft robotics. The developers hope to make their contribution to provide ubiquitous power for the emerging Internet of Things (IoT) devices, which is still a significant challenge ahead.\n\nMore information: Kara D. Fong et al. Semi-Interpenetrating Polymer Networks for Enhanced Supercapacitor Electrodes, ACS Energy Letters (2017). DOI: 10.1021/acsenergylett.7b00466", "output": "Researchers from Queen Mary University of London and Cambridge University have developed a prototype polymer electrode that could provide\u00a0long-lasting charging for batteries. The prototype, which resembles a candy cane, has capacity storage for energy close to the theoretical limit, but is flexible and resilient enough to handle charge and discharge cycling. The polymer could be used for supercapacitors\u00a0designed to fast charge mobile phones and for use in\u00a0implant devices and \u201csmart\u201d clothing technology."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Influencer marketing set to become more costly on Facebook \n Brands and influencers need to prepare to spend more money on Facebook.\n\nThis week, Facebook started letting social stars turn their paid content into sponsored posts by tagging the brands they are working with and then letting advertisers boost those posts directly without sharing them first. Brands can choose to authorize which creators can tag them in their page settings, and they will also be able to have stats around reach, engagement, total spend and CPM to determine the effectiveness of influencer posts.\n\nAt first glance, it seems like Facebook is simply making it easier for advertisers to run paid promotion for influencer marketing, but the worry from execs is that Facebook\u2019s algorithm will gradually suppress influencer posts if brands don\u2019t boost them.\n\nAnd if brands do boost posts, it would be very expensive for them to run influencer marketing on Facebook, said agency executives.\n\n\u201cMost brands are using influencers on Facebook to rely on their following base for organic reach,\u201d said Matt Britton, CEO for influencer marketing company Crowdtap and former CEO for agency MRY. \u201cBut now, in order for brands to support influencer posts, they have to pay to play. This means that organic reach doesn\u2019t matter anymore, and influencer marketing will not be the same.\u201d\n\nBritton also believes that with this update, an influencer\u2019s audience size will no longer be important on Facebook, which will push brands to work with celebrities rather than 20 individuals who have big followings, for instance. \u201cAt least, celebrities are well-known everywhere, so brands can do influencer marketing with them on Facebook, the same way they run TV ads,\u201d he said. \u201cFacebook just eradicated influencer marketing.\u201d\n\nThis isn\u2019t really unprecedented: Essentially, Facebook is bringing influencer marketing in line with the rest of its ads strategy, one that has largely spurned advertisers\u2019 \u201corganic\u201d postings and asked them to pay to get the results they want. It is also bringing some rigor to influencer marketing.\n\nMegan Jones, senior director of strategy and service for agency January Digital, agreed that with this update, social stars\u2019 \u201cinfluence\u201d is becoming less important number-wise, and influencer marketing on Facebook will ultimately be more expensive for advertisers. But at the same time, Facebook is also returning media control to advertisers because brands can now only pay social stars for their content, not media distribution.\n\n\u201cFacebook influencers need to rethink their business model beyond followers,\u201d said Jones. \u201cNow, they also need to consider how much media spend a brand is willing to place behind their post. They may even need to take some money out of their own pocket to promote themselves.\u201d\n\nFrom an influencer\u2019s perspective, Sarah Peretz, an Instagram creator, thinks that although both brands and social stars now need to allocate more budget to this feature, with a slight increase in budget, social stars now have the ability to reach out to other friends or Pages. \u201cThis feature combines the specificity of audience targeting and the pre-existing reach of influencers, so it is definitely a tool that influencers should consider using as an \u2018add-on\u2019 in campaigns, especially for companies that may be newer to influencer marketing on Facebook,\u201d she said.\n\nChelsea Naftelberg, associate director of content and partnerships for agency Attention, doesn\u2019t believe this update will affect how she approaches influencer marketing on Facebook much because she rarely recommends Facebook alone as a platform for influencer posts. Instead, she recommends it as part of a media mix that often involves a small investment in paid promotion.\n\nBut she said this update helps simplify her workflow. In the past, an influencer would have to add someone from her team as an advertiser on their Page in order to promote with client funds, or her team had to educate the influencer on targeting and reimburse them later. Either way, it was somewhat arduous and complicated, she said. But now, her team can just run the media campaign on its own.\n\n\u201cWith each update, we see ease as well as drawbacks, but in the end, we\u2019re just watching a new industry grow and evolve,\u201d Naftelberg said. \u201cNext year, I would love to see Facebook \u2014 and Instagram \u2014 get a better handle on detecting fake followers and activity on their platforms.\u201d", "output": "Facebook\u2019s latest algorithm update could lead to more expense for brands, as paid content by social media influencers can now be turned into posts to be boosted by tagged advertisers. Brands no longer have to share posts before boosting; however, there is\u00a0concern that influencer posts will not be pushed if brands do not pay to boost them. By turning organic reach into paid reach, influencer marketing could be diminished.\u00a0Megan Jones at agency\u00a0January Digital\u00a0said:\u00a0\u201cFacebook influencers need to rethink their business model beyond followers. They also need to consider how much media spend a brand is willing to place behind their post.\"\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New Zealand's South Island gets first cyber liability underwriter \n South Island gets its first liability underwriter\n\nSouth Island gets its first liability underwriter\n\nAugust 15, 2017\n\nThe technology sector is booming in the South Island, especially Christchurch, Dunedin, Nelson and Queenstown, Delta Insurance\u2019s Karl Samson, the only liability underwriter on the ground in the South Island, says.\n\n\u201cDelta offers much more than insurance for technology risks, they are recognised as market leaders in the broad Liability Insurance market and this ranges from very standard coverages such as Public Liability and Statutory Liability right through to more niche products such as UAV (Drone) insurance,\u201d Samson says.\n\n\u201cBut in particular, Delta\u2019s offerings for technology and cyber liability are a great fit for key South Island technology companies. We are looking to really establish ourselves as a key partner for the technology sector and we\u2019ve just signed up as member of Canterbury Tech to better get to know some of our customers and prospective customers.\n\n\u201cAs well as being a leader in the technology sector, we were also the first in New Zealand to offer a local environmental and pollution risk solution which, covers increasing and problematic risks such asbestos and meth. This type of innovation sets us apart from the rest.\n\n\u201cThis point of difference is leading to a better understanding of South Island businesses and brokers. We want to provide more effective solutions to South Island businesses \u2013 one example is the technology sector,\u201d he says.\n\nDelta is also New Zealand\u2019s only risk management-led cyber insurance provider with a comprehensive panel of IT experts to help clients manage their cyber security risk. This includes access to a free pre-loss cyber risk assessment as well as access to experts in the event of a cyber-attack.\n\nDelta director Ian Pollard says its vital they have someone on the ground such as Samson who is 100 percent aware of the requirements and issues facing brokers in the South Island.\n\nSamson has 12 years\u2019 industry experience, with recent roles at multinational brokerages dealing with a wide range of clients across the South Island, including sole traders, listed companies and government departments. He has a Bachelor of Commerce and Management from Lincoln University.\n\nends\n\n\u00a9 Scoop Media\n\n", "output": "New Zealand's South Island, home to growing tech hubs\u00a0including Christchurch, Dunedin and Nelson,\u00a0has just got its first technology and cyber liability underwriter.\u00a0Delta Insurance\u2019s Karl Samson, an industry veteran with over a decade's experience,\u00a0will also handle pollution and environmental risks in the region. While the company claims to be New Zealand's only risk\u00a0management-led\u00a0cyber insurance provider, Samson said it also manages broader liability insurance."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurtech start-ups urged to seek partners instead of cash \n Startup insurtechs need partnerships more than they need money from insurance carriers, according to one leading venture capitalist actively funding insurance technology firms.\n\nVenture firm XL Innovate\u2019s Martha Notaras told Super Regional property/casualty insurer executives looking to get involved in the insurtech movement that there is plenty of venture capital available already for insurtechs, noting that they got $2 billion in 2016.\n\n\u201cI would really focus on partnering. Part of the reason is, investment is a different set of decisions. There are some very large funds available. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s what the insurtech ecosystem needs most from you,\u201d Notaras advised Super Regional executives at the 2017 Super Regional P/C Insurer Conference last month in Lake Geneva, Wis.\n\n\u201cTo me it feels like that\u2019s a lot harder to defend to your board of directors but when you go down to really becoming a partner to a startup, which you can do on a case\u2011by\u2011case basis \u2014 you find an interesting startup, they\u2019re solving a problem that is a problem that you have.\u201d\n\nNotaras was one of the insurtech panelists at the conference that was sponsored by actuarial services firm Demotech Inc. and Wells Media Group\u2019s Insurance Journal and Carrier Management.\n\nAccording to Notaras, startups are beginning to gain some traction and the interest from venture capitalists (VCs) shows no sign of waning.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s VC money from traditional VCs. There are very large funds from insurers and reinsurers. There\u2019s a lot of money still going in,\u201d she said \u201cThere has started to be some exits. When you see some exits, that is an indication that there will be a continuation of money going in, so I don\u2019t see any slowdown from the front end, in terms of the investments.\u201d\n\nOpen to Partnerships\n\nNotaras, who in 1998 led the DMGT acquisition of RMS, which some consider the first insurtech, has invested in Lemonade, Cape Analytics and Notion among other startups at XL Innovate. She suggested that insurtechs are open to partnering, having come to the realization that they don\u2019t know everything about the industry they are entering.\n\n\u201cA year ago, the insurtechs were saying, \u2018Well, maybe I can go this on my own, and I\u2019m going to be like the fintechs that launched 10 years ago, where they told us that all banks were idiots and they weren\u2019t going to exist anymore,\u201d she recalled.\n\nBut she says the new crop of fintechs is singing a different tune that goes, \u201c\u2018Hey, I can cooperate with banks. This is cool.\u2019 That\u2019s what we\u2019re seeing with the insurtechs. The ecosystem is turning out to be a lot more intertwined than what we expected.\u201d\n\nRobert Mozeika, Munich Re\u2019s Innovation Executive, also an early Lemonade investor, said carriers should recognize that there are many more startups than the ones that get media attention and not all are out to replace carriers.\n\nAccording to Mozeika, it\u2019s unfortunate that attention has focused on a few direct models like Lemonade while there are hundreds of other types of insurtech companies out there looking to help the industry. \u201cThey\u2019re not looking to be a carrier. They don\u2019t have paper. They really want to come in and it\u2019s great opportunity for a partner,\u201d Mozeika said. \u201cThere are many, many more of those type of companies to work with, rather than one or two that seem to be getting all the press.\u201d\n\nMozeika got Munich Re involved in investing in insurtechs including Trov, Lemonade, Root and Slice. He now works with the reinsurance division to match up Munich Re\u2019s client needs with startups in technology, and helps them integrate the insurtech into their operations.\n\nFor pioneer Mozeika, insurtech is more about solving real problems than it is about disruption.\n\n\u201cEven my board of managers, when I was out in Silicon Valley said, \u2018Bob, try to find the truly disruptive things.\u2019 To be quite honest \u2026I don\u2019t believe in just total disruption. If anything, disruption is little incremental things that change over time. Then you look back over the five years, whatever, it morphed into something totally disruptive,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have to work on those little things that improve your process, improve the connection to the customer, make it easier, make it more accessible, make it better to understand and transparent.\u201d\n\nMozeika told the carriers it\u2019s not too late for them to get involved but that they should start sooner rather than later.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s part of the reason why I\u2019m in my new position, is to help our clients get moving in this innovation market and hopefully we can find something we can co\u2011create, co\u2011collaborate together with our clients. That\u2019s why we specifically made this. It doesn\u2019t take much to get started but you really have to get yourself into this. \u201d\n\nHe said joining an accelerator is also an option. His firm is part of the Plug and Play Tech Center accelerator in Silicon Valley.\n\nStart with Data\n\nThe panelists offered some advice for partnering with insurtechs, pointing to data as a good place to start coming to terms with the role of new technologies.\n\n\u201cData is the new oil in this world right now and you need to start accumulating your data,\u201d Mozeika said. \u201cOne of the things I see, many carriers, they don\u2019t even have these new forms of data yet. You\u2019ve got to build a history of these datasets.\u201d\n\nNotaras cautioned that sometimes a discussion around data between traditional carriers and new technologists can get bogged down on what data a carrier is willing to or capable of sharing.\n\n\u201cWhat we\u2019ve often seen is that startups will come and say, \u2018What I need is your claims data,\u2019 and there\u2019s a huge deep breath. But very often what they need is something quite pinpointed within that and there is often a common ground that you can reach.\u201d\n\nThat can be one of the language issues that bear watching in partnerships, she said.\n\n\u201cThere are multiple ways in which people speak different languages. Absolutely one of the biggest ones is the concept of time,\u201d she said. \u201cI can\u2019t overemphasis this. For an entrepreneur, if I call you and I want to talk to you, I meant maybe we could talk tomorrow if you\u2019re not available today. Within the insurance world it definitely feels to me like, \u2018So how is three weeks out next Tuesday? Does that kind of work for you?\u2019 I think that has been a real mismatch.\u201d\n\nIt also helps for the carrier to understand where the startup really is in its development. \u201cNot what they tell you but where are they in terms of their problem definition?\u201d Notaras said. \u201cYou can help them with the problem definition because they are very often super smart people, great experience in technology, not very much knowledge about insurance. So they really do need a depth of understanding about what\u2019s the problem?\u201d\n\nNotaras agreed with Mozeika that data is key but she maintained that some of the upstarts in this area are indeed disruptive. She cited two of her portfolio companies, property data firm Cape Analytic and home telematics firm Notion, both of which provide insurers with better underwriting data.\n\nCape Analytics is disruptive in how it derives its data\u2014 through machine learning from imagery. \u201cYou tell me that\u2019s not disruptive? That feels pretty disruptive to me because it\u2019s absolutely a new channel, but it is the same type of information you\u2019ve used before and, amazingly enough, when you get better property data, you can make a better analysis of your risk management,\u201d she said.\n\nNotion offers insurers information they have not had before. Using telematics it captures activities in the home and lets insurers look inside the home.\n\n\u201cWhen you are a homeowner insurer, you have no idea. From the day that I sign you up, all I know is where you live and, depending on the state, your credit rating, very little else. Now there are a whole bunch of things that I can know and I can understand whether this person is an appropriate risk and a risk I might put in a different bucket,\u201d Notaras added.\n\nNeed to Know Insurance\n\nInsurtechs want the industry\u2019s help to improve their technology, agreed Laird Rixford, president of agency technology firm Insurance Technology Corp., or ITC.\n\n\u201cA lot of these technology startups, they don\u2019t understand insurance,\u201d he said.\n\nHe cited an example of a startup looking at homeowners\u2019 insurance. \u201c[T]hey were like, \u2018We can do it just off the address.\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018No you can\u2019t.\u2019 Dogs, pools, trampolines \u2014 things you can go buy tomorrow and install \u2014 drastically affect rate,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re deer in the headlights for a moment and I\u2019m like, \u2018There are ways to get around this,\u2019 telling them about services that view Google Maps and find pools and as well as supplementary data that is available from companies like CoreLogic.\n\nHe also said carriers can educate startups on how insurance laws and regulations fit into the picture.\n\nInsurtech Investing\n\nAccording to Brian Cohen, an operating partner at Altamont Capital, one of the exciting features of today\u2019s environment for regional and small carriers in particular is that the cost of technology has dropped dramatically.\n\n\u201cYou can literally leapfrog your technology from where it is today to being state of the art, and to do it on a software-as-a-service basis, which is really more of a leasing way to do it, and is a much more efficient and a much more inexpensive way,\u201d said Cohen, who is also chairman of an MGA, Arden Insurance, sits on the board of Access Insurance Co. and previously served as CEO of Pacific Specialty.\n\n\u201cTo me, that would be one thing, if you\u2019re talking in general about insurtech. All of you now can look at things to do what just a few years ago would have been outrageously too expensive for you.\u201d\n\nFor carriers deciding they want to invest, Cohen advised they find entrepreneurs in their very early stages\u2014before people like Notaras and Mozeika get to them. \u201cFigure out what you want,\u201d he advised. \u201cWhat is it that you think you could do a better way?\u201d Perhaps, for example, it is using more and better data for underwriting homeowners. \u201cYou have a lot more data on water issues because they\u2019re your biggest claims. What would you do?\u201d\n\nAfter a carrier figures out what it wants, whether data analytics or something else, it\u2019s time to reach out to insurtechs.\n\n\u201cYou want to look for the ones in the example that I used that are data analytics focused, that are focused on maybe water claims,\u201d he said. \u201cThen start looking for them and find the ones that don\u2019t have a lot of VC money in them and don\u2019t have a lot of PR. Find the ones that are looking for someone like you to get them to where a Martha [Notaras] will get interested, but get in there where you can drive their agenda, where you can have more control.\u201d\n\nApproaching them this way will give a carrier a lot more out of any insurtech innovation \u201cthan just waiting for guys to come to you and try to sell you on what their product is.\u201d\n\nOpportunity or Threat?\n\nPanelists agreed that insurtech is mostly an opportunity rather than threat for agents.\n\n\u201cConsumers are demanding a new way to purchase their insurance. There are new ways to do things. That\u2019s what really I see as insurtech as really doing. The real disruption is the disruption of your lead channel. Traditionally, agencies have been the lead channel for carriers, agreed? That\u2019s where a lot of carriers get their customers, is from the agents,\u201d Rixford said.\n\n\u201cNow these alternative channels are creating a way for those leads to be distributed, either to new ways of selling insurance, or to carriers who have chosen to invest in insurtech, or invest in their future to make sure they\u2019re meeting the needs of when and where a consumer wants to reach them.\u201d\n\nCohen was bullish on what insurtech means for agents and brokers:\n\n\u201cWhat I\u2019d say is insurtech for the agent and for the agent\u2011based distribution channel, this is the golden age. There are things that are coming down the pike that are already here, that are going to allow an agent to be able to do everything that they thought that they couldn\u2019t do before. That is be able to engage with their local customer immediately.\u201d\n\nCohen cited the example of a startup named Engage that simplifies putting online buyers in touch with an agent right from the results of their Google, Bing or other search. \u201cWhat Engage does is, if somebody goes online and they search insurance, auto insurance or commercial insurance, an agent\u2019s face pops up and, if the customer clicks on that agent\u2019s face, they\u2019re immediately connected to that agent,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s been done in the travel business, and it\u2019s being done right now starting in the insurance space.\u201d\n\nMozeika noted that the early hype around insurtech was that insurers had to be \u201cdigital and direct\u201d and the agent was in the way. But that\u2019s not the way it is turning out.\n\n\u201cWhat clearly you saw over the last two years is that the agent\u2019s not going really away anytime soon at all, but you still need to be digital. You still need that better access. If agents want to work with something digital, easier, or less questions, whatever makes their job easier, it\u2019s still going to be worthwhile today,\u201d Mozeika said.\n\nRixford said much of the insurtech that\u2019s available to carriers is also available to agencies and maintained that agencies that adopt new technologies grow because they have more time to sell.\n\nThe ITC executive referred to his own company experience with Google, which dropped its insurance sales venture.\n\n\u201cOne of the things we really pushed for them is that we wanted them to have agents in the mix because single carriers don\u2019t have the pivot. Whenever they\u2019re doing self\u2011fulfillment, they can\u2019t pivot to a different product, can\u2019t pivot, but agents can,\u201d Rixford said.\n\n\u201cGoogle went down, and when they walked away from, and one thing they said, \u201cWe looked at it wrong,\u201d is that having the ability to pivot and have multiple markets and choice for them to sell insurance was really a key benefit of it. I was going, \u2018Well, that\u2019s what agents are.'\u201d\n\nWhile insurtech may not be a threat to agents, what it means for carrier employees is less clear.\n\nIt depends on the line of insurance, according to Mozeika.\n\n\u201cSome of the simpler commodity type, everyone\u2019s looking at auto\u2011underwriting,\u201d he told the carriers. \u201cBut I believe that more complex risks, commercial properties, once you get into that, I think a lot of this is only going to help your employees.\u201d\n\nhe said carriers are always going to need underwriters but their skill set may need to change. \u201cThink about it, in today\u2019s day and age, it\u2019s not just insurtech that\u2019s changing, our industry \u2014 our world is changing. There are new forms of data out there all over the place. If you\u2019re not looking to get that new data in through like Cape Analytics and so on, you\u2019re going to be falling behind the eight ball. But you\u2019re still going to need the underwriting skill there at the end of the day.\u201d\n\nCohen agreed underwriters will still be needed.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think the human underwriter\u2019s going away. I think the tools the human underwriter is going to use are going to be based on AI [artificial intelligence] and machine learning, but they\u2019re going to have a different role. The different role is going to be, they\u2019re going to be an arbiter of last resort. They\u2019re not going to be doing the front end underwriting for risks that are fairly easy to be able to be done,\u201d according to Cohen.\n\n\u201cHumans have a way of screwing things up,\u201d Rixford said. \u201cWe\u2019re forever changing. We\u2019re changing at a rapid pace. You\u2019ve got to keep up with times.\u201d\n\nFuture Insurers\n\nIn the end, they see insurtech making insurers better in the future.\n\nMozeika sees insurtechs helping insurers develop new products to address new risks.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s still a lot more to go in product development. I think partly, with all the new data sets available. Our world is changing,\u201d he said. \u201cOur risk is actually going to change and you have to be at that forefront on that change. That\u2019s what\u2019s going to see on the long haul. \u201d\n\nNotaras sees insurers of the future becoming focused more on risk reduction.\n\n\u201cI would say actually one of the things is they\u2019ll become better insurance companies, where they literally are identifying risks that can be taken out of the system, sharing with the insured knowledge about how to reduce that risk. That could end up that you end up with lower premiums in certain areas, and yet better loss ratios,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cThen you have availability to insure other risks, so I actually think that when you think about the noble purpose of insurance, of enabling business to happen and protecting people, you actually have the potential to close much more of the protection gap.\u201d\n\nFor Cohen the promise of insurtech is in great part that it can help the industry address its recrutiment challenge.\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s exciting to me about insurtech is that finally we have platforms and capabilities and challenging opportunities for young people looking to come into the insurance industry, and we really are fulfilling what insurance is,\u201d Cohen said. \u201cIt\u2019s an information and data analytics business where you get to make decisions and make decisions on taking risks, and if you\u2019re right and you do it well, you can make a lot of money.\u201d\n\nRelated:\n\nTopics Carriers Agencies InsurTech Tech Underwriting Data Driven Property Casualty Artifical Intelligence Google", "output": "Insurtech start-ups should be developing partnerships rather than taking more funding from insurance carriers, Martha Notaras of venture firm XL Innovate has said, after insurtech start-ups received $2bn in venture capital\u00a0in 2016. Notaras, a partner at the firm,\u00a0said\u00a0insurtechs are realising they sometimes\u00a0need the help and expertise of established carriers so partnerships can be more helpful to them than investment. She recommended that carriers \"find an interesting startup, they\u2019re solving a problem that is a problem that you have\u201d and said the insurance ecosystem had turned out to be more intertwined that she had expected.\n\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple earmarks $1bn to spend on original video content   \n Apple dipped a toe into TV. Now it's preparing to do a cannonball.\n\nApple has set aside $1 billion for original video over the next year, according to the Wall Street Journal. The money would go to as many as 10 different shows in an attempt to put Apple on the map alongside Netflix, Amazon, HBO, and many other companies that are making high-end internet-delivered video.\n\nJust where those shows would appear is not immediately clear, as Apple doesn't have a dedicated video platform... yet. The two original shows it has made so far (\"Planet of the Apps\" and \"Carpool Karaoke\") were in Apple Music.\n\nWhat is clear is Apple's growing ambition to create original content, signaling a new era for the hardware-focused company. Apple still derives the vast bulk of its revenue from iPhone sales, with a growing chunk coming from the apps on its devices.\n\nApple's presence in livings rooms has also grown thanks to the success of its Apple TV box, which streams video over the internet.\n\nApple's $1 billion is a huge step toward competing with other tech and media giants, but only about half as much as HBO spent last year, the Journal noted. Netflix will spend around $7 billion on content in 2018.", "output": "Apple has earmarked $1bn to buy or create original video content over the next 12 months, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter. The funding could support up to 10 shows, as Apple attempts to compete with video-streaming services such as Amazon, Netflix and HBO. The content could be offered on Apple Music or a new service entirely dedicated to video, the people said. While Apple's $1bn is around half of HBO's and a fraction of Netflix anticipated $6bn spend this year, it is suggested Apple could easily increase its budget."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK will throw away barbecue food worth \u00a3428m in August \n It\u2019s symbolised by dismal burgers and carbonised sausages served on paper plates with a splatter of ketchup. Yet with the great British summer well under way, Britons are this month set to throw away a staggering \u00a3428m worth of barbecue food, research reveals.\n\nIn August the nation will brave the changeable weather to enjoy nearly 12m barbecues, with people on average either hosting or attending at least two of the seasonal gatherings. The new research from supermarket chain Sainsbury\u2019s shows that hosts typically over-cater to impress friends and family, with more than half (49.2%) putting on a larger than necessary spread.\n\n\n\nSalad leaves, burger rolls, hot dog buns, coleslaw and potato salad are the top five food items most likely to be wasted during barbecue season, the research found, amounting to \u00a336.47 worth of food waste at each event. The total does not include drink.\n\nThe most binned item is half a bag of salad \u2013 contributing to the 178m bags thrown away every year in the UK, according to official figures published recently by the government\u2019s food waste advisory body Wrap.\n\nWith strict new advice from the Food Standards Agency for consumers about staying safe when preparing food for picnics as well as barbecues, consumers may be preferring to chuck it out rather than take risks.\n\nAbout 26.6% of people said they throw away uneaten salad if it\u2019s been left uncovered outside, even for a short time, while 22% complained that \u201cfussy eaters\u201d accounted for some of their leftovers. Another reason for the waste is catering for the \u201cno carbs\u201d brigade; 15% said they ended up with leftover bread rolls and buns because of guests\u2019 dietary choices.\n\n\u201cBritons want to give their guests a fantastic barbecue experience with enough options to please everyone\u2019s tastes,\u201d said Paul Crewe, head of sustainability, engineering, energy and environment at Sainsbury\u2019s. \u201cHowever, a good plan for leftovers will mean hosts can still offer their friends a feast fit to remember without \u2026 food ending up in the bin.\u201d Crewe also suggested hosts could set menus, create doggy bags for guests and make plans to use leftovers to help reduce waste.\n\nThe new report into barbecue food waste is part of Sainsbury\u2019s\u2019 Waste Less, Save More initiative aiming to help customers reduce food waste. As part of the scheme, the supermarket has introduced a new range of packaging for some barbecue essentials such as sausages and added tips on reducing waste to 70 products.", "output": "The UK will throw away \u00a3428m ($550m) worth of barbecue food in August, according to research from supermarket Sainsbury\u2019s. The study shows that 49.2% of barbecue hosts will over-cater, with burger and hot dog rolls, coleslaw, potato salad and salad leaves being the most wasted items. Each of the country\u2019s nearly 12 million barbecues will generate \u00a336.47 of food waste, excluding drink. The most frequently wasted food item is salad, 178 million bags of which are discarded in the UK each year. As part of its Waste Less, Save More initiative, Sainsbury\u2019s has introduced new packaging for some barbecue items.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook releases Messenger AI assistant in four more countries \n How often do you use Facebook? For many people, Facebook is part of their daily routine. They pick up their phone or open their laptop and go straight to Facebook to learn more about what\u2019s going on in the world around them. In fact, Facebook has ingrained itself into our lives so effortlessly that it\u2019s the most visited website in the world, according to Hootsuite.\n\nFurther consider that the average Facebook user spends around 19.5 hours on the platform each month, according to the research. What's more, having a Facebook business page can become a powerful tool for customer acquisition.\n\nWhy your business needs a Facebook page\n\nWith more than two billion monthly active users and Facebook clicks on searches for local businesses increased 23% from February to May, 2020, the reasons for having a Facebook page for your business are almost endless. From connecting with your business\u2019 target market to determining the most effective ad strategy for selling your product or service to your consumers, your business can\u2019t really afford to be without a Facebook page.\n\nFacebook offers a wealth of tools for business owners. Each tool focuses on providing businesses with the opportunity to reach their target audiences and engage with their customers while solidifying their overall presence across the platform.\n\nBusiness Manager\n\nBusiness Manager brings together all of a business\u2019 team members, pages and ad accounts. This puts all this into an easy-to-access and secure place. Plus, Business Manager is free to use.\n\nAds Manager\n\nAds Manager provides you with the tools you need to manage and determine the success of your Facebook page\u2019s ad campaigns. When using Ads Manager, you can also access useful campaign tools such as audience insights.\n\nPage Insights\n\nNever underestimate the power of analytics. Facebook certainly hasn\u2019t.\n\nPage Insights serves as a valuable analytics tool for Facebook business users. Not only do insights allow you to keep up to date on comments, but it also provides valuable data, including your content\u2019s reach and the types of posts and content your followers respond to the most.\n\nMessenger\n\nYour customers crave connection. Facebook Messenger gives them just that. Over 20 billion messages are exchanged between businesses and users monthly on Facebook Messenger and the platform even has over 300,000 active bots on Messenger.\n\nFacebook Pixel\n\nFacebook pixel is a piece of code that works in concert with your business\u2019 website and Facebook page. When a customer takes action on your website after visiting its Facebook page, Facebook pixel reports this action to your account.\n\nThe more conversions Facebook pixel tracks, the better it is at delivering ads to your target audience.\n\nMarketing your business using Facebook\n\nFacebook has over 2.74 billion active users. An increasing number of those users visit the social networking site hoping to connect with useful products, services, and brands.\n\nIn 2020, an estimated 87.1% of U.S. marketers used Facebook marketing to reach their customers. Fortunately, Facebook offers plenty of opportunities for businesses to reach their target audiences using strategically designed Facebook ads.\n\nRELATED RESOURCE From B2B to D2C online sales Create a direct-to-consumer web store with the potential to transform your business FREE DOWNLOAD\n\nLocal awareness ads\n\nFor brick-and-mortar businesses, local awareness ads are key. Simply choose the proximity you\u2019d like to reach around your business and the target audience you want to reach, and Facebook will target those people.\n\nYou can also send people straight to your front door, by adding a \u2018Get Directions\u2019 button to this ad.\n\nSlide show ads\n\nThese are quick and easy video-like ads using marketing collateral you may already have. Unlike most video ads, slide show ads are affordable and take only minutes to create.\n\nCarousel ads\n\nWith a carousel ad, you can give your customers the information they need by showcasing multiple products and services in a single post. If your marketing team\u2019s goal is to showcase a product effectively or highlight a one-of-a-kind service, consider using a carousel ad.\n\nDynamic ads\n\nTo launch a dynamic ad on Facebook, you must have not only a Facebook business page but also a Business Manager account and a Facebook pixel. Dynamic ads allow you to promote products to those who may have browsed your website when they migrate to Facebook, encouraging them to revisit your website and become a paying customer.\n\nLead ads\n\nIn need of a solid email list so you can reach out to your customer\u2019s on additional platforms? Use a lead ad to create contact forms that are pre-populated with a user\u2019s contact information. Gather this information and continue to build connections with your customer base.\n\nCanvas ads\n\nFull-screen, instant-loading mobile ads are known as canvas ads. Think of them as an artificial landing page for your organization.\n\nThese ads aren\u2019t only highly engaging, but they are great for segments of your audience that visit Facebook regularly and also consume a large amount of content while using the platform.\n\nKeep your customers engaged using Facebook\n\nAlthough the social media ecosystem is one that is constantly changing, there is one thing that remains the same: It takes a substantial amount of time and effort to transform your Facebook business page into a completely developed online community.\n\nAt the end of the day, however, ensuring you keep your customers engaged through a Facebook business page can make a huge difference.\n\nCustomize your audience\n\nFrom lookalike audiences that aid organisations to discover more customers, to custom audiences that specifically target those customers you already know of, Facebook provides no shortage of opportunities to customize your business page\u2019s audience and constantly engage with your customer base.\n\nCreate a community of super fans\n\nIf you are talented at real-time communication with your customers, it may be worthwhile considering having a Facebook group associated with your organization\u2019s page. This could be your chance to create a powerful community of super fans, as more than one billion people use Facebook groups regularly, providing your customers with a chance to talk to each other and interact with the brand itself.\n\nFocus on quality\n\nSocial media moves pretty fast, as Ferris Bueller might attest, so if your brand isn\u2019t able to constantly publish eye-catching content or ads, your customers won\u2019t stop and look. Furthermore, when it comes to platforms like Facebook, there\u2019s no time for sub-par content. You\u2019re more likely to keep your core customer base engaged if you put out higher quality content as consistently as possible. Obviously, the more engaged your customer base is, the better your business will be.", "output": "Facebook Messenger\u2019s AI assistant M is now available to users in Australia, South Africa, Canada and the UK. M scans conversations in the messaging service for potential actions or services to recommend to users. In the United States, M is able to show third-party chat extensions that can help with ordering food, choosing\u00a0music or suggesting recipes. Facebook intends to make the\u00a0feature, which was launched in 2015, available globally in due course.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Traditional media ad revenues still ahead of digital in India \n Despite massive digital penetration, print, press and TV have been the mainstay for marketers in India for many years. It is mainly because of the mass reach they offer and the tried and tested effectiveness.\n\neMarketer\u2019s recently forecasted that estimated TV ad spending will account for 39.3% of total media ad outlays this year, with newspapers making up 33.9%.\n\nTo add on to that, by 2018, TV ad revenue will exceed print's, according to a KPMG and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (FICCI) research.\n\nIt further reported that print advertising generated INR201.3 billion ($3.0 billion) in revenues in 2016, newspapers generated INR289.9 billion ($4.3 billion) in overall revenues, while TV was responsible for INR201.2 billion ($3.0 billion) in 2016.\n\nnull null\n\nTo find out how newspapers and TV drive revenue today in India, and why they still lead investment from brands, The Drum spoke with marketing experts from across the industry.\n\nJoy Chakraborthy, president of revenue at TV18 and CEO of Forbes India, commented on the trend: \u201cFor both TV and print, basic revenue is through display sales, innovation/high impact position & non-free commercial time and branded content. There is also a revenue in TV through the syndication model. In addition, there is very stable subscription revenue in TV, as well as in print, which is negligible in digital.\"\n\nEven organisations like Amazon and Flipkart , although fully digital businesses, still use traditional media to get their point across.\n\nAccording to PwC report, titled \u2018India- strong growth in digital segments while traditional media remain resilient\u2019, circulation of newspapers in India has boomed from an average daily unit circulation total of 109.9mn copies in 2009, to 130.6mn in 2013, and is forecasted to keep rising to 161.6mn copies in 2018.\n\nThe report further predicted the rise of CAGR of 7.5% over the five years to 2018, reaching US$5.3bn of spending on newspapers \u2013 for both circulation and advertising. As a result, India\u2019s share of the global newspaper market will increase from 2.4% in 2013 to 3.4% in 2018.\n\nThe Drum spoke with Benedict Hayes, Sociomantic managing director for South East Asia and India, who believes that out of home, print and press are still the largest mediums in terms of ad spend in India, but they are not the main drivers of revenue .\n\nHe added that digital is there to \"compliment\" both the tv and newspaper revenue. He said, \u201cDigital is very much a viable option to deliver revenue to a business, its ability to reach and drive frequency of media exposure, is very much on par with the other advertising channels, and to be frank, will surpass the other mediums in no time at all, as it has done in major western markets.\u201d\n\nAccording to Chakraborthy, while TV and print still drove revenue, thinking about how platforms work together the most effective strategy. He said, \"Yes, today integrated media platforms solutions do help in psychographic targeting as all media platforms co-exist. Thus keeping each medium\u2019s nature in view and marrying a brand\u2019s communication objective accordingly, is how media plans leverage the best from each media platform. \u201c\n\nHe also emphasized on how broadly print and TV still remain favourites for product launches, while for brand building TV is the first choice, backed by digital, print and out of home.\n\nWhile the consumption of digital media may be on the rise for Indian people, and a more integrated approach to channel planning is being adopted be brands, traditional media still stands strong in India, and may do for some time.", "output": "Print, press and TV are the first port of call for Indian advertisers, with digital seen as a complementary service. In 2016, print advertising generated INR201.3bn ($3bn) in revenues, newspapers INR289.9bn, while TV generated INR201.2bn, according to data from KPMG and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce. It is also expected that India's share of the global newspaper market will rise from 2.4% in 2013 to 3.4% in 2018. Despite this, experts have predicted that digital will follow the western model and eventually overtake traditional media.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fish seek out ocean plastic they believe is food \n Fish may be actively seeking out plastic debris in the oceans as the tiny pieces appear to smell similar to their natural prey, new research suggests.\n\n\n\nThe fish confuse plastic for an edible substance because microplastics in the oceans pick up a covering of biological material, such as algae, that mimics the smell of food, according to the study published on Wednesday in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.\n\nScientists presented schools of wild-caught anchovies with plastic debris taken from the oceans, and with clean pieces of plastic that had never been in the ocean. The anchovies responded to the odours of the ocean debris in the same way as they do to the odours of the food they seek.\n\nThe scientists said this was the first behavioural evidence that the chemical signature of plastic debris was attractive to a marine organism, and reinforces other work suggesting the odour could be significant.\n\nThe finding demonstrates an additional danger of plastic in the oceans, as it suggests that fish are not just ingesting the tiny pieces by accident, but actively seeking them out.\n\nMatthew Savoca, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and lead author of the study, told the Guardian: \u201cWhen plastic floats at sea its surface gets colonised by algae within days or weeks, a process known as biofouling. Previous research has shown that this algae produces and emits DMS, an algal based compound that certain marine animals use to find food. [The research shows] plastic may be more deceptive to fish than previously thought. If plastic both looks and smells like food, it is more difficult for animals like fish to distinguish it as not food.\u201d\n\nPlastic debris in the oceans, ranging from the microscopic to large visible pieces, is recognised as a growing problem as it does not readily degrade and hundreds of thousands of tonnes are dumped in the sea annually. Larger pieces have been found in the intestines of whales and seabirds, where they are thought to be potentially fatal, while the smallest pieces have been detected in the guts of even juvenile fish and molluscs. Numerous species of fish eaten by humans have been found to contain plastic, and the effect of eating these on human health is still unknown.\n\nEfforts to reduce marine plastic have so far had little effect: microbeads widely used in cosmetics and other products have been banned in the US, the UK and other countries, but they only solve part of the problem, which is mainly caused by dumping of plastic rubbish. There could be more plastic than fish in the sea by 2050, campaigners have warned.\n\nScientists have struggled to understand exactly how the massive increase in plastics may be affecting the behaviour of fish and marine ecosystems, and how to contain the problem.\n\nA previous paper published in the journal Science that alleged juvenile fish were attracted to microplastics \u201clike teenagers after junk food\u201d was withdrawn earlier this year after controversy. The scientists involved in that paper, who have no relation to the authors of today\u2019s study, were suspected of having exaggerated their data or failed to carry out the purported experiments properly. The new paper did not draw on that publication.\n\n", "output": "Fish appear to be confusing plastic debris with food and actively seeking it out, according to new research. The confusion results from the fact that microplastics in the oceans become covered by biological material, including algae, that smells similar to the natural prey of fish. The study, which saw anchovies responding to ocean debris in the same manner as they do to food, provides the first behavioural evidence that plastics\u2019 chemical signature can be attractive to marine organisms. Fish consumed by humans has frequently been shown to contain plastic, with as yet unknown effects on human health."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "London's appeal to new graduates is declining \n Dick Whittington, Vic Brown, the Three Girls and the crowd in London Irish all moved to the capital to seek their fortunes. Or to escape from the places they grew up in. Either way, as our films and literature tell us, the young and restless tend to up sticks and move and they usually head to London.\n\nThe data we have on movements of people back this up. A report by ONS in 2014 contained this fascinating graph which shows the northern English regions losing their young people. Some move after A-levels but their number is more than offset by an influx of students. As everybody knows, the coolest universities are in the north of England so lots of people want to study there. But, as soon as they get their degrees, they are off back down south, along with their fellow students who grew up in the north. In the year to 2013, there was a net loss of 24,000 21-30 year olds to the rest of England.\n\nA report by Centre for Cities last autumn drew similar conclusions. It shows young people with A-Levels moving to the large and medium-sized cities and graduates moving away again, with London as the main beneficiary.\n\nNet inflow by age and qualification for city groups, 2010-2011\n\nChart by Centre for Cities based on 2011 Census\n\nOnce into their 30s, people start moving out of London. The graduates don\u2019t tend to go back home though. Most of them stay close to London. As the Centre for Cities report notes:\n\nWhile overall London loses older degree-holders to the rest of the country, the majority of these do not tend to go very far. Of the older degree-holders who left London, 69 per cent remained in the Greater South East.\n\nChart by Centre for Cities based on ONS data\n\nThis has been the story of many people I have known. Off to university, somewhere exciting. Swear you\u2019ll never move to London. Move to London because there\u2019s no interesting work locally, vowing that you\u2019ll not stay long. 10 years later still there because you\u2019ve gotten used to the lifestyle and the money. Marry, think about having kids. Move out of London because the schools are better and the houses cheaper. Stay within commuting range because your money-earning potential is still in London.\n\nIt\u2019s a classic English graduate trajectory which sees graduates moving from other regions to London and then to the South-East. As housing market analyst Neil Hudson put it:\n\nLondon imports the young, extracts their value, and then exports their typically middle-aged remains to the provinces! \u2014 Neal Hudson (@resi_analyst) June 22, 2017\n\nBut there are signs that more recent generations don\u2019t want to play this game any more. A report by the Resolution Foundation this week found that the proportion of graduates moving for work has declined over the past decade.\n\nChart by Resolution Foundation\n\nThis map, from the report, is particularly interesting. London still has a net gain of graduates from the rest of the UK but the region with the highest net gain is the South-East.\n\nChart by Resolution Foundation\n\nChart by Resolution Foundation\n\nThe reason for this is that London isn\u2019t attracting graduates from elsewhere in the UK in the same numbers that it once did. As the report cautiously notes:\n\nAlthough net graduate migration to the capital appears to be lower than it was two decades ago \u2013 with last year\u2019s gures showing that it may even have turned negative for the first time since 2004 (we can\u2019t be definitive because the change was statistically insignificant) \u2013 it is too soon to determine if London is becoming a less attractive place for highly-qualified young people. Current trends appear to be pointing that way however.\n\nSo one explanation for this map might be that older generations of graduates who moved to London are still moving out to the South-East but they are not being replaced by new graduates from elsewhere in the UK. The plug hole is still open but the taps are being turned off.\n\nThose who stay in the places where they studied are more likely to join the increasing proportion of graduates that are in non-graduate jobs.\n\nBut perhaps more people are deciding that is a reasonable trade-off. The Resolution Foundation\u2019s living standards report showed the effect that London\u2019s brutal housing costs have on household incomes.\n\nEven with their higher salaries, graduates in London can find that, once they have paid for their housing, they are worse off than some of their friends who stayed at home. Might it be, therefore, that more young people are deciding that the aggro of moving to London just isn\u2019t worth it?\n\nIf there ever was any truth in the stereotype of the freewheeling job-hopping millennial, I suspect it dates from before the recession. Nowadays, as the Resolution Foundation\u2019s Stephen Clarke says, they are spearheading the decline in regional mobility. Perhaps after Brexit, when it will probably become more difficult to recruit graduates from elsewhere in Europe, employers might be forced to offer higher salaries or even move some of their operations to where the graduates are.\n\nThis summer, another cohort of graduates will move to London and start work. It\u2019s a well-trodden path but one that, for whatever reason, fewer young people want to take. Perhaps they have decided that the view just isn\u2019t worth the climb.\n\nAdvertisement", "output": "The number of UK graduates staying in London after their studies have finished is shrinking, largely due to high housing costs, according to a report by the Resolution Foundation. Moreover, millennial graduates are discovering that, even with higher salaries, they can be worse off than if they lived in the north of the country using the measure of net income after housing costs. Increasing numbers of over 30s are leaving London although they tend to stay close to the capital.\u00a0Analysis of the report suggested\u00a0that following Brexit, employers may have to raise salaries to attract graduates or relocate to find employees.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Navigators appoints new president to professional liability line \n James L. Rhyner has been appointed president of the Navigators Pro division of Navigators Management Co., the U.S. underwriting operation. In this role, Rhyner will lead Navigators\u2019 U.S. directors and officers (D&O) and errors and omissions (E&O) businesses. This appointment reflects Navigators\u2019 continued commitment to its U.S. management and professional liability product lines as part of our global portfolio of offerings.\n\nRhyner will be based in Iselin, New Jersey.\n\nRhyner, who has worked in the industry for 30 years, has experience in both insurance brokerage and underwriting. He joins Navigators from Chubb, where he was for more than 13 years, serving as senior vice president, Professional Liability. Prior to Chubb, Rhyner was a partner in Avreco, a professional liability wholesale broker and managing general agent, for almost 15 years, and before Avreco he was at American International Group (AIG).\n\nVincent C. Tizzio, president, U.S. Insurance for Navigators, said Rhyner will play a major role in expanding the firm\u2019s product and service capabilities to continue to differentiate the carrier in the market.\n\nTopics USA Chubb", "output": "Underwriter Navigators is bolstering its management and\u00a0professional liability lines in the US\u00a0with the appointment of James Rhyner as president of its\u00a0Navigators Pro division. Rhyner will head up the firm's\u00a0directors and officers (D&O) and errors and omissions (E&O) businesses in the US. The former Chubb vice president for professional liability will be based in Iselin, New Jersey."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Over 150 EV charge points to be installed in Richmond, London \n Over 150 electric vehicle charge points are set to be installed across Richmond as part of plans to make electric vehicles more practical.\n\nThe points are being rolled out with the help of \u00a3285,000 from the government\u2019s Office for Low Emission Vehicles, which is being distributed as part of the London mayor\u2019s Go Ultra Low City investment programme.\n\nThe funding will provide residential charge points to assist those without access to off-street parking.\n\nThe location of each charge point will appear on commercial charge point maps as well as a dedicated app from the provider, Ubitricity.\n\nRichmond council is also working to install 70 fixed charging units across 21 locations later in the year.", "output": "More than 150 electrical vehicle (EV) charging ports will be installed across the borough of Richmond, London, as part of Richmond Council's scheme to encourage EV adoption. Government funding of \u00a3285,000 ($367,000), under the Go Ultra Low City investment programme, will go toward the installations. Locations will be shown on commercial charge point maps as well as the Ubitricity app; the funding will also provide residential charge points for those without off-street parking. The 150 are additional to the 70 fixed-charging points the council is looking to install across 21 locations by year end."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "San Leon George Soros investing funds into occupied territories \n I recently received this press release from the Kohelet Policy Forum:\n\nMemo: Geroge Soros\u2019s Investments in Occupied Territories\n\nSan Leon Energy\u200b, headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, is an oil and gas exploration company with assets and operations in Albania, France, Ireland, Nigeria, Poland, Spain, and Morocco.\n\nAs part of its Morocco operations, San Leon\u200b drills in Western Sahara. In 2015, the company reported finding gas in its Laayoune-4 well, and announced that it would be applying, in conjunction with Morocco\u2019s Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (ONHYM), for a new eight-year license to continue exploration. When asked about the company\u2019s operations in Western Sahara, San Leon\u2019s lawyer, Daniel Martin, said the company has not talked with the Saharawis since they are \u201cnot a representative people.\u201d\n\nRelated coverage New York\u2019s Celebrate Israel Parade Made Me Proud to Be an Israeli Jew The annual Celebrate Israel Parade in New York City marched down Fifth Avenue this year with a theme of \"Renewing...\n\nGeorge Soros\u2019s investment management companies have held significant shares in San Leon at least since 2010 and till 2016 (latest full Annual Report). Quantum Partners LP\u200b is \u201ca private investment fund that\u2019s operated by Soros Fund Management\u200b.\u201d\n\nSince 2011, when it managed USD 24.5 billion , Quantum is Soros\u2019s family private wealth management fund. In 2011, Quantum Partners LP, \u200bwas the single largest significant shareholder of San Leon energy with 19% of companies shares. In mid-2015, Quantum Partners LP held 8.52% of San Leon, and a year later in 2016, 3.5% .\n\nIt is clear that Soros Fund Management [was] completely aware of San Leon\u2019s massive Western Sahara business activity from the very start. San Leon never hid its Western Sahara business. Further, as early as in 2010, San Leon\u2019s extraction preparations and construction at its Western Sahara sites were completely public .", "output": "George Soros\u2019 stance on investing in occupied territories is challenged by Algemeiner, which pointed to Qantum Partners, a \u201cprivate investment fund\u201d operated by Soros Fund Management and the Soros family private wealth management fund, investing in the Western Sahara via a holding in San Leon, which found natural gas at its Laayoune-4 well in Morocco. The fund was said to have held a 19% stake in San Leon Energy in 2011, which reduced to 3.5% by 2016.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GiveMeSport integrates artificial intelligence for newsgathering \n U.K. sports publisher GiveMeSport has used its proprietary technology to help grow its Facebook audience to an impressive 25 million followers. Now, it\u2019s integrating artificial intelligence from its new owner, Breaking Data Corp., to give it an advantage over competitors.\n\nThe publisher is using AI to play at both ends of the news spectrum \u2014 analysis and reaction pieces as well as breaking news. Before this, most of the publisher\u2019s 2,000 monthly articles, created by 14 full-time and 50 freelance writers, were reaction pieces.\n\nThe new program also frees up writers\u2019 time to focus on longer-form 1,500-word articles, which carry more ad space around them.\n\n\u201cThere are lots of talented artificial intelligence teams globally,\u201d said Nick Thain, CEO of Breaking Data, which acquired GiveMeSport at the end of 2016. \u201cWhere Breaking Data separates itself is by understanding the language of social media, the abbreviations and vernacular, how language is adapting is changing, the first time something like Throwback Thursday was used.\u201d\n\nHere\u2019s how the media company is using artificial intelligence in the newsroom.\n\nNews gathering and event identifying\n\nUsing natural language processing, Breaking Data\u2019s technology scans Twitter every second, sifting through relevant tweets around predetermined keywords, like sports teams, player names, team names, clubs, leagues or sports grounds. This content is filtered and verified; organized into categories like \u201cmajor event,\u201d \u201crelated news\u201d or \u201cmarquee news\u201d; and sent as alerts to journalists in a BreakingSports Slack channel, giving the edit team a head start on announcements, particularly during periods like player transfer windows. GiveMeSport is in the process of using Breaking Data\u2019s technology to pull together other publicly available data sources like Facebook, Reddit and Wikipedia.\n\nCountless social listening tools are available, but Thain explains this platform also highlights potentially inaccurate tweets by identifying trusted and reliable sources: For instance, when it was announced that footballer Neymar would join Paris Saint-Germain for \u20ac222 million ($261 million), the AI platform could track when the content first emerged on Twitter and label the account as a credible authority.\n\nAs the AI platform\u2019s understanding of language grows, it identifies deviations in the norm around specific areas. One hypothesis, said Thain, is that it could scrape the tweets within a one-mile radius of a football stadium. A physical therapist might tweet regularly, then after a tough day might send out a number of tweets complaining about the workload. This change in frequency and topic would be noted and sent as an alert to journalists in the Slack channel, who could then contact the specific club and investigate whether a player has been injured.\n\nManaging Facebook distribution\n\nFacebook is by far the publisher\u2019s biggest distribution platform. GiveMeSport\u2019s journalists also write the Facebook posts and the headlines for their articles. The publisher\u2019s proprietary tech is embedded in the content-management system and scores the writer out of 100 on the likelihood of the post getting high click-through rates or engagement, without the post becoming clickbait. The technology analyzes how the word combination, sentence structure and image will resonate with the intended audience.\n\n\u201cIt could be as simple as identifying a capitalized word in the title, which Facebook users might be fed up with. Or it could identify that Manchester United fans prefer not to be referred to as MU or the Red Devils,\u201d said Thain. \u201cIt supports the writers in what they are naturally skilled to do.\u201d\n\n\u201cDistribution is a science; we don\u2019t want to leave this to chance,\u201d he added. \u201cAI gives us a further advantage.\u201d\n\nTying content to emotion\n\nGiveMeSport is currently undergoing a manual process in which writers tag each story in the CMS according to a range of about 30 predetermined emotions that go beyond happy and sad \u2014 like tribal, debatable or relatable \u2014 to organize the content based on the emotional rewards they satisfy. AI can build out this small analysis to historical data sets. The theory is that understanding this deeper net of emotions and how they connect to users will predict performance.\n\n\u201cSport is all about emotion,\u201d said Thain. \u201cIt\u2019s about feeling that you belong to something, about feeling that you want to tell someone about what you\u2019ve read; it\u2019s about feeling that a story is unmissable or that you relate to the experience within it.\u201d", "output": "Canadian firm Breaking Data is using artificial intelligence to help UK sport news publisher GiveMeSport, which it acquired at the end of 2016, to find real-time breaking news on social media. Its proprietary AI technology scans social media using natural language processing and predetermined keywords, with gathered content sent to GiveMeSport's journalists in the form of news alerts. The software can also verify the accuracy of tweets, while the related content management system helps\u00a0writers to maximise engagement with stories and readership\u00a0without resorting to clickbait.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "DJI to offer drones that don't need an internet connection \n DJI will soon let you fly without data transfer to the net\n\nDJI\u2019s flight control apps are great in that they offer local geofencing data as well as relevant local maps. However, keeping these databases requires routine communication with the internet, and that lends itself to privacy concerns.\n\nSo, the engineers at DJI are coming up with a new local data mode that stops the app from sending and receiving data over the internet. Brendan Schulman, DJI Vice President of Policy and Legal Affairs said: \u201cWe are creating local data mode to address the needs of our enterprise customers, including public and private organizations that are using DJI technology to perform sensitive operations around the world. Local data mode will provide added assurances for customers with heightened data security needs.\u201d\n\nBecause it blocks all data, DJI apps on local data mode won\u2019t get updated maps or geofencing information. Pilots will also not receive notifications of newly-issued flight restrictions or software updates. DJI says it may also result in other performance limitations, but that\u2019s a necessary trade-off for data assurance on sensitive flights.\n\nThe company also states that they do not collect or have access to user flight logs, photos or videos unless the user chooses to share those by syncing flight logs with DJI servers, uploading photos or videos to DJI\u2019s SkyPixel website, or by physically sending the drone in to DJI for servicing.\n\nLocal data mode has been in development for several months and will be included in future versions of DJI apps, starting in the next several weeks. These include the DJI GO, DJI GO 4, DJI XT Pro, DJI Pilot and Ground Station Pro apps, which run on smartphones and tablets that control the drone or connect to the drone\u2019s remote control unit. The local data mode feature may not be available in locations where an internet connection is required or highly advisable due to local regulations or requirements.", "output": "Engineers at Chinese drone firm DJI are developing a local data mode that prevents flight control apps from sending or receiving data over the internet for users with \"heightened data security needs\", according to Brendan Schulman, DJI's vice-president of policy and legal affairs. Local data mode will be available in versions of the DJI Go, DJI Go\u00a04, DJI XT Pro, DJI Pilot and Ground Station Pro apps available from this autumn. The company warned pilots that using the new mode\u00a0may result in some performance limitations, which it\u00a0said were a \"necessary trade-off for data assurance on sensitive flights\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "LA schools look at efficacy of online credit recovery courses \n Researchers have received a $3.26-million federal grant to study the effectiveness of online academic credit recovery programs \u2014 the kind that allow students to make up failed classes and graduate on time \u2014 in the Los Angeles Unified School District.\n\nThe grant, from the research arm of the U.S. Department of Education, will pay for the American Institutes for Research, a nonprofit research group, to study how online makeup courses for Algebra 1 and ninth-grade English compare with retaking the class in person.\n\n\u201cThe growing use of online credit recovery for high school students has outpaced the research,\u201d the grant description reads. \u201cAs concerns mount over whether students actually learn in online courses, and as questions arise about how to best implement online credit recovery, there is a critical need for rigorous evidence about the effective use of online credit recovery for high school students.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nL.A. Unified has dramatically expanded its online and in-person credit recovery programs since 2015 to come closer to its goal of a 100% graduation rate, drawing concern that not all graduates have achieved the same level of subject knowledge. The results of this study, which will focus on roughly 3,000 students from about 15 high schools throughout the district, could answer some questions that critics have about how rigorous the online courses are.\n\nThe students in the study will all be sophomores in the 2017-18 or 2018-19 school years who failed either Algebra 1 or English 9.\n\nThey\u2019ll be randomly split into either a traditional face-to-face course or a \u201cprescriptive blended learning\u201d class that uses material from online course provider Edgenuity Inc., taught with an L.A. Unified teacher in the classroom, said Jessica Heppen, the vice president of research and evaluation at AIR. In those classes, the teacher is responsible for providing individualized instruction in the places where the students need help.\n\nThe goal is to not just compare online and face-to-face credit recovery options, Heppen said, but also to see how online courses differ depending on the school and teacher. Ideally, the blended learning models should allow teachers to spend more time on individual students\u2019 needs, but the researchers want to know \u201cexactly how they do it and how much variation there is across courses and across schools,\u201d Heppen said.\n\nTo compare the outcomes of online and in-person classes, researchers will look at factors such as students\u2019 end-of-course scores, 11th-grade standardized test results, graduation rates and a student experience survey.\n\nThe study will build on a similar one that AIR researchers conducted in Chicago, comparing online Algebra 1 credit recovery to summer school. They determined the online course materials to be more rigorous and found that 76% of face-to-face students passed their credit recovery courses, compared with 66% of online students, Heppen said. But students in the face-to-face classes also scored better on an algebra assessment that AIR developed, and the two groups graduated at the same rates three years later.\n\nThe researchers and L.A. Unified haven\u2019t yet finalized the list of participating schools, but they\u2019ll be spread across the district, said Oscar Lafarga, the executive director of data and accountability for L.A. Unified.\n\n\u201cWe do want to look at the efficacy of online credit recovery courses,\u201d Lafarga said. This study is about \u201cmoving past reading research projects from another city or district and having the ability to have our own students be part of the research.\u201d\n\nReach Sonali Kohli at Sonali.Kohli@latimes.com or on Twitter @Sonali_Kohli.", "output": "A study in the Los Angeles Unified School District is to examine the efficacy of online educational credit recovery courses, following a $3.26m grant from the Department of Education. The aim of the study will be to determine the rigorousness of online courses that give high school students the chance to make up for failed exams compared to face-to-face classes. It\u00a0will also explore how online courses differ between schools. A previous study in Chicago revealed 76% of face-to-face students passed, compared with 66% of online students. The students in the\u00a0study will be those who failed either algebra or English.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Japanese farmer builds AI system to sort cucumbers \n Not much about Makoto Koike\u2019s adult life suggests that he would be a farmer. Trained as an engineer, he spent most of his career in a busy urban section of Aichi Prefecture, Japan, near the headquarters of the Toyota Motor Corporation, writing software to control cars. Koike\u2019s longtime hobby is tinkering with electronic kits and machines; he is not naturally an outdoorsy type. Yet, in 2014, at the age of thirty-three, he left his job and city life to move to his parents\u2019 cucumber farm, in the greener prefecture of Shizuoka. \u201cI thought I was getting old,\u201d Koike told me. \u201cI wanted to be close to my home and my family.\u201d\n\nThe Koikes have been growing cucumbers in Kosai, a town wedged between the Pacific Ocean and the brackish Lake Hamana, for nearly fifty years. Their crop, which fills three small greenhouses, grows year-round. Koike\u2019s father, Harumi, plants the seeds; Koike oversees their cultivation; and his mother, Masako, sorts the harvest. This last job is particularly important in Japan, which is famously discerning about its produce. Nice strawberries can fetch several dollars apiece in some markets, and a sublime cubic watermelon can go for hundreds. Vegetables hold a less privileged place than fruits, but supermarkets rarely stock produce that is at all irregular in shape or size. The Koikes send their better cucumbers, the ones that are straight and uniform in thickness, to wholesalers. The not-so-perfect ones go to local stands, where they are sold at half price. (\u201cThey taste the same,\u201d Koike said.) Masako judges the vegetables one by one, separating them into bins. Though she devotes only half a second to each cucumber, the task takes up most of her work time; on some days, she goes through around four thousand of them.\n\nThe laborious process of categorizing the cucumbers had remained essentially the same for decades, until last spring, when Koike began developing a new approach. It was inspired, in part, by articles he read about AlphaGo, the first computer program ever to beat a human master of the game of Go. Developed by Google DeepMind, the program relied on deep learning, a method for making computations by arranging basic processing units into complex, layered networks, rather like the way that billions of neurons work together to produce the incomparable (for now) intelligence of the human brain. In the past several years, deep learning has proved exceptionally useful for finding patterns in big piles of data; it has been incorporated into Facebook\u2019s facial-recognition algorithms, Amazon Alexa\u2019s language processing, and autonomous cars\u2019 navigation systems. In AlphaGo\u2019s case, the program was fed thirty million images of positions from real games, which it used to help determine which kinds of moves work best. Koike hoped that a similar strategy might help him sort his family\u2019s cucumbers.\n\nMakoto Koike with his parents, Harumi and Masako, at the family\u2019s cucumber farm, in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. The Koikes have been growing cucumbers for nearly fifty years. Photograph Courtesy Makoto Koike\n\nAdvanced A.I. techniques, including deep learning, have traditionally been the province of specialized researchers and moneyed software companies. Recently, though, some of the tech world\u2019s biggest players\u2014including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, Yahoo, Baidu, Yandex, and various universities\u2014have released free, open-source versions of their tools, making A.I. accessible to small-time programmers who aren\u2019t well-versed in the field, such as Koike. For his project, he used TensorFlow, which Google released to the public in 2015. He began by building a custom photo stand, which allowed him to photograph each cucumber from three angles. Then, to analyze the images, he adapted a popular piece of TensorFlow software used for recognizing handwritten numerals. Before he could turn the A.I. loose, though, Koike had to train it. He captured seven thousand photos of cucumbers that his mother had already sorted, then used the data to teach his software to recognize which vegetables belonged in which categories. Finally, he built an automated conveyor-belt system to move each cucumber from the photo stand to the bin designated by the program.\n\nKoike completed his machine last year, and it works\u2014to some degree. It sorts cucumbers with an accuracy of seventy per cent, which is low enough that they must subsequently be checked by hand. What\u2019s more, the vegetables still need to be placed on the photo stand one by one. Koike\u2019s mother, in other words, is in no immediate danger of being replaced, and thus far, she and her husband are none too impressed. \u201cThey are quite severe,\u201d Koike said. \u201c \u2018Oh, it\u2019s not useful yet,\u2019 \u201d they tell him. Tech enthusiasts, meanwhile, have had decidedly more positive reactions, and Koike has been invited to events such as the Maker Faire, in Tokyo, and the CeBIT expo, in Hanover, Germany. There are machines that work better and faster than Koike\u2019s, but they are industrial-sized and -priced affairs. Before the democratization of deep learning, it would have been difficult for someone like him to design such an effective device himself.\n\nKoike sees his system as an encouraging proof of concept, and he is currently at work on a new version, which he hopes will be capable of analyzing more than one cucumber at a time. He also plans to build a gentler conveyor system, to preserve the fragile prickles on the vegetables\u2019 skin, which are considered a sign of freshness. He expects that, within a few years, his A.I. sorter will be nearly as accurate as his mother, freeing her up to do something else. Either way, he told me, he is back in Kosai for the long haul. \u201cThat\u2019s the plan,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll probably die as a farmer.\u201d By the time that happens, the work may look very different.", "output": "A Japanese farmer who left his city job as an engineer to return to his parents' cucumber farm has created an AI system to potentially replace the laborious task of sorting the vegetables manually. Makoto Koike used Google's TensorFlow to build the AI system, which at present has an accuracy rate of only 70% so each cucumber still has to be checked by hand \u2013\u00a0mostly by Koike's mother, who sometimes sorts up to 4,000 cucumbers\u00a0a day. However,\u00a0Koike hopes to improve his system enough to relieve his mother of her duties\u00a0in the future.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cancer Drug Price Increases Cost Medicaid Millions in Extra Spending, Analysis Shows \n An analysis by Kaiser Health News shows that Medicaid incurred billions of dollars in extra spending as a result of price increases for hundreds of common drugs from 2015 to 2016, including decades-old branded drugs and generics used to treat cancer.\n\nThe report, published Monday, lists 313 brand-name drugs and 67 generics that have had their prices raised in 2016, leading to a total of nearly $3.5 billion more in Medicaid spending compared with 2015. While generics are expected to drop in price over time, the price per unit for dozens of these drugs increased by 2- or 3-fold in 2016.\n\nFor instance, potassium phosphates have been used since the 1980s to treat low phosphate levels, including in patients receiving chemotherapy, but their cost to Medicaid is now $6.70 per unit, an increase of 290%. This price hike, which the report states is the result of a shortage that began with a manufacturing facility closure, cost Medicaid an extra $1.8 million in 2016.\n\nOther cancer therapies on the list include temozolomide, an authorized generic oral chemotherapy drug, which was responsible for $2.2 million more in Medicaid spending in 2016. Unsurprisingly, branded drugs had more significant price increases than generics. For instance, the price increase of Neulasta, a brand-name biologic used to treat chemotherapy-associated neutropenia, resulted in $14.6 million in additional 2016 expenditures for Medicaid.\n\nMedicaid\u2019s enrollment total of nearly 69 million beneficiaries means that even small price increases can have large impacts. The painkiller naproxen sodium, sold over the counter as Aleve, saw its price per pill increase from $0.72 to $1.70, which translated into $10.7 million in additional Medicaid spending.\n\nThe report points out that generic status and length of time on market do not insulate drugs from price increases, especially if there are few or no comparable generic competitors available. The FDA has noted this occurrence and has recently stepped up its emphasis on generic drugs as an area where competition and innovation could help bring down prices.\n\n\u201cToo many patients are being priced out of the medicines they need,\u201d said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, in a June blog post where he announced the development of the agency\u2019s Drug Competition Action Plan and called out the ways that brand-name manufacturers game the regulatory system to block generic development.\n\nThe Action Plan outlined shortly thereafter seeks to encourage innovation by allowing an expedited review process for generic products with few or no competitors. The FDA also published a list of drug products without generics that have no patent barriers, as a guideline for manufacturers looking to produce a generic that would receive the new accelerated review.\n\nThis list includes several oncology drugs, such as chemotherapy agents carmustine, lomustine, and teniposide. Another drug on the list, nabilone, is used to treat chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.\n\nThe FDA\u2019s announcement regarding the Action Plan said it had been \u201cbased on data that indicate that consumers see significant price reductions when there are multiple FDA-approved generics available.\u201d As the Kaiser Health News report indicates, increased generic competition could also potentially alleviate the burden on the Medicaid program and taxpayers if it does result in lower drug prices.", "output": "An analysis by Kaiser Health News found that Medicaid incurred billions of dollars in extra spending as a result of price increases for hundreds of common drugs from 2015 to 2016, including decades-old branded drugs and generics used to treat cancer.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trump tweets up a storm on drug prices but delivers little change \n \u201cHis rhetoric is full of fire and fury, but so far the White House has not taken any real action to lower drug prices,\u201d said David Mitchell, president of Patients for Affordable Drugs, which is pushing for policies at the state and federal level to lower drug prices.\n\nTo be sure, Trump\u2019s campaign pledges on reducing drug prices had no buy-in from congressional Republicans who would have to pass legislation to enable Medicare to negotiate drug prices. But the president has authority to take certain steps on his own. He doesn\u2019t need congressional approval, for instance, to move forward with drug importation, or to use Medicare to test new ways to pay for drugs. The administration also has broad authority to intervene when the government has invested in drug research but the manufacturer sets a price that puts it out of reach of many Americans.\n\nAbsent such concrete steps from his administration, many wrote off Trump\u2019s tweets assailing Frazier as more of a personal feud than a sign Trump was preparing to take any action. While pharma stocks had nosedived in response to Trump\u2019s remarks in January, they scarcely budged after his latest threats \u2014 a sign that investors wrote them off.\n\n\u201cWe are still waiting for policy proposals from the White House that might match the rhetoric, but no one is holding their breath,\u201d said John Rother, president of the National Coalition on Health Care, which represents more than 80 groups seeking health system reform, and executive director of the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing, a coalition that includes health insurers, businesses like Walmart, physician groups and others pushing for drug pricing changes.\n\n\u201cSounds like a rant, but not one with any policy intentions. At least for now,\u201d said Ronny Gal, who advises pharmaceutical investors for investment bank Bernstein in New York City.\n\nMost of the steps the White House is considering to tackle drug costs have received underwhelming reviews from those calling for lower prescription pricing and sighs of relief from the powerful pharmaceutical lobby.\n\nA leaked draft of Trump\u2019s executive order on drug prices, obtained by POLITICO earlier this summer, contained few policies that would substantially reduce drug costs.\n\nFor example, the draft calls for allowing federal health programs like Medicare and Medicaid to tie payments for drugs to their \u201cvalue,\u201d as opposed to the volume purchased. The idea is directly promoted by the drug industry and both health policy experts and Wall Street believe it wouldn\u2019t result in lower drug prices.\n\n\u201cWe do not see how a drug company would lose in this effort,\u201d wrote David Maris of Wells Fargo in a note to investors about the idea. Drug companies would simply price their products to make up for any losses that might ensue if a product doesn\u2019t work as well as expected in certain patients.\n\n\u201cOdds are that outcomes-based contracts will do little to ameliorate the crushing cost of drugs in the U.S., and may delay reforms that actually link a drug\u2019s price to its benefits,\u201d wrote Anna Kaltenboeck and Peter Bach of Memorial Sloan Kettering\u2019s Center for Health Policy and Outcomes in an op-ed this summer.\n\nThe administration effort is led by Joe Grogan, director of health programs for the OMB, who spent the last five years as the head of federal affairs for Gilead Sciences \u2014 the drug company that helped ignite the drug pricing debate in 2013, when it set the price of a new hepatitis C treatment at more than $80,000 for a course of treatment.\n\nAnother adviser with strong pharmaceutical industry ties, Tomas Philipson, was appointed Monday to sit on Trump\u2019s Council of Economic Advisers. Philipson, an economist at the University of Chicago, is also a co-founder of Precision Health Economics, a consultancy serving major drug companies like Gilead, Bristol-Myers Squibb and AbbVie that has been accused of blurring the lines of academia and advocacy for for-profit companies.\n\nMedia reports of the administration\u2019s work on an executive order on drug pricing make it appear \u201cthat pharma has captured the process,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cWhat I have seen does more to help pharma keep prices high than help patients by lowering the prices of drugs.\u201d\n\nThe draft executive order also calls for the federal government to come up with ways to reduce out-of-pocket drug spending by consumers. On its face, the proposal may seem to benefit Americans\u2019 pocketbooks, but critics worry this could raise costs to the government and taxpayers. Reductions in out-of-pocket spending don\u2019t force overall price cuts to medicines. It means insurance premiums would likely have to rise to compensate for the lower out-of-pocket costs, while government health care bills would see no benefit.\n\nBeyond the executive order, the Trump team has taken other steps that make people skeptical the administration is serious on drug pricing.\n\nIn July, Medicare proposed lowering the rate it reimburses hospitals and clinics that serve many low-income patients for administering costly drugs. Hospitals say this could impact their ability to treat uninsured or poorly insured patients, while drug companies would continue to receive the same amount for the products.\n\nThe administration says this policy should lead to a decline in out-of-pocket costs for seniors because Medicare patient co-pays are tied to the government reimbursement rate, but patients on private Medicare Advantage plans wouldn\u2019t see any savings, nor would patients who supplement their Medicare insurance.\n\nHospitals say this is just another gift to drugmakers, who have been pushing for a rollback of the program that requires drug companies to give steep discounts on medicines to hospitals serving the poor for years. The draft executive order also calls for curtailing this program.\n\nIf there is one bright spot in the administration\u2019s efforts on drug pricing, most point to new FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who has pledged to take several steps to speed cheaper generic drugs to market. He\u2019s also looking at ways to prevent some anti-competitive behavior that brand-name drug companies use to delay competition from generics.\n\nBut most of Gottlieb\u2019s ideas deal only with getting cheaper copycat medicines to market after government-mandated monopolies expire. These proposals do little to address the high cost of brand-new medicines \u2014 which is where the bulk of drug costs are felt.\n\nBrand-name drugs account for about 12 percent of the medicines sold in the U.S. but about 80 percent or more of the spending on drugs, said Aaron Kesselheim, who studies the costs of medicine at Harvard Medical School.\n\nDemocrats who once saw the president as an unusual Republican ally on the topic say they are not hopeful he is willing to fight the drug industry.\n\n\u201cOn the campaign trail, he said he was all for it. In the Oval Office, he said he was all for it. Fast forward to today, and he has provided zero relief to Americans struggling to pay for their medicine,\u201d said Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), who chairs the House Democrats\u2019 task force on drug pricing and who met with Trump in March to enlist his support for a bill, H.R. 1776 (115), that he was co-sponsoring with Rep. Elijah Cummings, also a Democrat.", "output": "President Donald Trump\u2019s condemnation on Twitter Monday of Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier for what he called \u201cRIPOFF DRUG PRICES\u201d was just his latest rebuke of the drug industry for its soaring prices. But six months into his administration, the president\u2019s rhetoric bears little resemblance to his record.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SCAN Health Plan celebrates 40 years of senior care in Long Beach \n SCAN Health Plan, a nonprofit Medicare Advantage provider, is commemorating 40 years of activity in Long Beach after its founding by a group of local seniors who had had it with the kinds of services they were getting from other providers.\n\n\u201cYou can\u2019t make this stuff up,\u201d SCAN Chief Executive Chris Wing said. \u201cThey were unhappy, not with their health care, per se, but with social services.\u201d\n\nSCAN traces its founding to the efforts of those seniors\u2019 to improve services in 1977. The organization did not function as a health plan in its earliest form. Initially, as the Long Beach Area Geriatric Health Care Council, its founding purpose was to provide case work to seniors seeking aid.\n\nThe organization also used the name SCAN, or Senior Care Action Network, in its early days and claims May 1978 as the first time when the organization\u2019s service coordination efforts were available for an entire month.\n\nSCAN entered the health plan business in the mid-1980s after evolving into a social health maintenance organization.\n\nBy 1990, about 2,500 seniors living in the Long Beach area obtained Medicare plans through membership in the local organization. SCAN had some 37,000 members in 2000 and now counts 186,000 members. Several plan members who have achieved the age of 100 are depicted in portraits that decorate the walls of the nonprofit\u2019s Kilroy Airport Way headquarters.\n\nBesides its management of health plans, the current version of SCAN also collaborates with university researchers and others to publish studies that Wing said he is hopeful will improve geriatric care from coast to coast.\n\n\u201cEvery pilot we do, we want to have an academic medical center verify our outcome,\u201d Wing said.\n\nThis decade\u2019s leadership changes\n\nWing has held his job with the nonprofit since 2011. He came to the Long Beach nonprofit from HealthCare Partners, a for-profit insurer headquartered in El Segundo.\n\nHis arrival came in the midst of a difficult time for SCAN. The year after he was hired, the nonprofit reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice requiring payment of more than $320 million to resolve claims the company accepted overpayments for Medi-Cal and Medicare patients. The settlements followed a multi-agency investigation that revealed actuarial errors the government blamed for Medi-Cal overpayments being made during a time that spanned from 1985 to 2008. A whistleblower also filed a case in 2009 that alleged SCAN undertook actions that led to Medicare overpayments.\n\nSCAN\u2019s leadership went through an overhaul of its senior managers shortly after Wing arrived. The new faces included those of president Bill Roth and chief administrative officer Nancy Monk. Roth is an executive qualified to be SCAN\u2019s next CEO, and Monk is the leader who rebuilt the nonprofit\u2019s compliance program, Wing said\n\n\u201cWe brought in some good people. They brought in some good people,\u201d he said.\n\nResearch outcomes\n\nSCAN announced this past May that research, still in progress, assessed the effectiveness of a program intended to provide at-home mental health care to seniors.\n\n\u201cOur goal is to overcome barriers to getting mental health treatment,\u201d said Dr. Soo Borson, one of the researchers and a former professor at University of Washington School of Medicine.\n\nResearchers worked with patients involved with SCAN\u2019s Independence at Home program to examine a program that involved sending licensed social workers or therapists to provide in-home care to patients living with persistent, mild- to moderate-depression. Seniors and relatives providing unpaid care to seniors could both receive therapies free of charge.\n\nThe cost of care is one of the barriers Borson said researchers want to eliminate. Language barriers and some seniors\u2019 lack of access to personal transportation are others.\n\nPreliminary assessments for the roughly 90 patients who completed the first phase of treatment showed an amelioration of depression and anxiety levels, according to SCAN\u2019s reported results.\n\nBorson expressed optimism other insurers willing to foot the bills for at-home mental health care may also see positive results and \u201cmake this a viable way of giving back.\u201d", "output": "SCAN Health Plan, a nonprofit Medicare Advantage provider, is commemorating 40 years of activity in Long Beach after its founding by a group of local seniors who had had it with the kinds of services they were getting from other providers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California faces shortage of primary-care doctors \n Tracy Seipel\n\nSan Jose Mercury News\n\nCalifornia is heading for a serious shortfall of primary care doctors, physicians\u2019 assistants and nurse practitioners over the next few decades \u2014 a crisis that could force patients to seek medical help for routine illnesses at hospital emergency rooms instead, a new study released Tuesday warns.\n\nThat alternative is among the most troubling scenarios if a predicted shortage of 4,700 primary care clinicians occurs in California by 2025, according to authors of the UC San Francisco Healthforce Center report.\n\n\u201cWe need to ask our (state) leaders: What can we do now to avoid a crisis in the future?\u2019\u2019 said Janet Coffman, associate professor of health policy at USCF, and one of the study\u2019s authors.\n\nThe projected deficits come as more Californians have obtained health insurance since the Affordable Care Act kicked into gear in 2014. But the coming decades also will witness large numbers of primary care doctors and nurse practitioners reaching retirement age, the authors say.\n\nPrimary care clinicians are the front line in patient care, said Coffman, so when people with chronic conditions have good access to primary care, \u201dthey tend to use the emergency room departments and the hospitals less.\u2019\u2019\n\nThe study forecasts that the state would need about 4,700 additional primary care clinicians in 2025 and about 4,100 more clinicians in 2030 to meet demand.\n\nThe Central Valley, Central Coast and Southern border regions \u2014 which Coffman said have fewer opportunities for primary care education and training \u2014 will experience the worst shortages, the study predicted.\n\nForecasts suggest the first two areas will have about 71 primary care clinicians per 100,000 residents, while the Southern border region will have 80 per 100,000 residents, compared to the state average of 86 clinicians per 100,000 residents.\n\nBy comparison, the greater Bay Area is expected to fare better than most other regions of the state, she said.\n\n\u201cWe have more training programs for primary care clinicians,\u2019\u2019 Coffman said, including those at UCSF, Stanford, Kaiser Permanente and the Veterans Affairs, among others.\n\nAnd evidence shows that most family physicians end up practicing within 100 miles of where they train by the time they graduate from residencies in their late 20s and early 30s.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s a time you become more settled,\u2019\u2019 said Coffman.\n\nStill, the biggest challenge continues to be drawing people into primary care careers, when specialty medicine careers usually pay better and may offer more flexible hours, she added.\n\nThe study suggests a number of strategies to address the coming shortage, including: actively recruiting primary care doctors to practice in California; expanding primary care residency programs, particularly in the regions at greatest risk for long-term shortages, and allowing nurse practitioners and physicians\u2019 assistants to work at the highest level of their education and knowledge.\n\nNurse practitioners and physicians\u2019 assistants, for example, make up a larger share of the primary care workforce in rural regions, where primary care doctors are in short supply.\n\nAt the California Academy of Family Physicians, Dr. Jeremy Fish said the group\u2019s members are pleased to see the UCSF study is \u201ctaking seriously the issue of the primary care shortage\u2019\u2019 that the academy has warned about for years.\n\n\u201cThe shortage of primary care clinicians likely will get worse unless the state remains committed to two specific initiatives it began this year,\u2019\u2019 said Fish.\n\nThat includes higher Medi-Cal reimbursements for doctors, and more funding for primary care and emergency medicine physician residency programs, generated by Proposition 56 revenue, which increased taxes on tobacco products. An additional $100 million appropriation by the state legislature will also help fund primary care residencies.\n\nTuesday\u2019s report is the second in a series of three UCSF Healthforce Center reports assessing the adequacy of the state\u2019s primary care workforce, and identifying policies that address the future employment gaps.\n\nDistributed by Tribune Content Agency", "output": "California is heading for a serious shortfall of primary care doctors, physicians\u2019 assistants and nurse practitioners over the next few decades \u2014 a crisis that could force patients to seek medical help for routine illnesses at hospital emergency rooms instead, a new study released Tuesday warns.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Supervolcanoes could become vital source of lithium for batteries \n The Stanford team has come up with a new technique to detect lithium in volcanic lakes that have appeared in calderas \u2013 holes in the ground that were created when supervolcanoes erupted, displacing huge quantities of lava.\n\nLithium, found in the volcanic deposits, has been drawn out into the lake over thousands of years, and gathered as a clay in the lake. But some lakes are more lithium-rich than others, depending on the original magma content, and the key is being able to identify which ones.\n\n\u201cBecause lithium is a very volatile element, it is extremely difficult to measure,\u201d Tom Benson, lead author of the study, says. \u201cYou can't simply measure the whole-rock chemical composition of a volcanic rock, like volcanologists typically do.\u201d\n\nInstead, the team worked out a way to identify how much lithium was in the lake. By extracting tiny blobs of magma that had been trapped in crystals, heating them up and quenching them, Benson could identify the lithium content in the magma.\n\nThe process was fiddly and time-consuming, but it helped reveal a simpler way to find lithium. \u201cWhat this research shows is that the zirconium content of the magmas show a nearly linear relationship with lithium,\u201d says Benson. \u201cWhen the lithium content of the magma is high, the zirconium content is low, and vice-versa.\u201d And zirconium is much easier to measure because it is non-volatile.\n\nSubscribe to WIRED\n\nThe study was based in the US, but the whole world will be facing similar challenges in the future. For example, in the UK, \u201cthe grid-connected energy storage market is expected to expand from total installed capacity of 3 GW at the end of 2016 to 28 GW by 2022,\u201d Marek Kubik, a market director for energy storage systems at AES, says.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a neat study and very interesting,\u201d adds professor Stephen Piercey, from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, who was not involved in the study. \u201cTheir use of micro chemical methods provide a means of documenting what types of volcanoes may have been enriched in lithium, and by association what supervolcanic environments might have the potential for lithium redistribution... as potential sources for lithium extraction.\u201d\n\nPeople living around volcanoes, in places like Iceland, have been harnessing their energy for over a hundred years, using steam from geothermal vents to drive turbines. However, this only works around active volcanoes.\n\n\u201cThe lithium deposits I discuss in this manuscript only occur in old, dormant volcanoes where the caldera lake has drained and exposed the old lake sediments,\u201d says Benson.\n\n\u201cGeothermal is used to provide the energy, and lithium can store the energy; they are not in competition and can actually really complement each other,\u201d he adds. \u201cI think it is important to use both volcanic resources as we strive to develop a global clean energy portfolio.\u201d\n\nThe research is published in Nature Communications.", "output": "Scientists at Stanford University have developed a simple method for detecting levels of lithium in the holes in the ground created when supervolcanoes erupted, known as calderas. The team extracted tiny blobs of magma from volcanic lakes created by the now dormant supervolcanoes and analysed the zirconium levels, knowing if they were high, the lithium concentration would be low \u2013 and vice versa. The results suggested dormant supervolcanoes around the world could provide rich sources of lithium for the batteries used in electric vehicles."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HHS supports Affordable Care Act waivers to shore up Medicaid, reduce premiums \n While the administration supports an end the Affordable Care Act and the program's Medicaid expansion, officials are providing funds to shore up Medicaid coverage and to offer residents in individual states relief from higher premiums.\n\nThe Department of Health and Human Services supports two sets of ACA waivers that provide funding to states, which in turn benefits hospitals.\n\n[Also: Fitch: States will take the lead on Medicaid reform despite ACA repeal and replace failure]\n\nIn Florida, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently approved a renewal of a Section 1115 waiver. Under the program, federal funding for Florida's low-income pool will increase from $607 million to $1.5 billion. Hospitals must put up matching funds through their local government or special taxing districts.\n\n\"This extension has a positive and direct impact on people's lives and their ability to access care,\" CMS Administrator Seema Verma said. \"Florida's program offers an innovative and realistic pathway to tackling some of Medicaid's biggest challenges.\"\n\nThe 1115 waiver is credit positive for the state's not-for-profit and public hospitals because it will help them defray the cost of providing services to uninsured patients, Moody's said in a report released Monday.\n\nThe largest beneficiaries include safety-net hospitals, children's hospitals and providers treating a high percentage of Medicaid, uninsured and underinsured patients. Hospitals are able to access funds for uncompensated care through the federally matched low-income pool.\n\nShands Jacksonville Medical Center and the Public Health Trust of Miami-Dade County in Florida are among the hospitals standing to benefit the most from the waiver extension because they treat a high percentage of low-income patients and because low-income pool funding accounts for the majority of their cash flow, according to Moody's.\n\nFlorida is one of 19 states that elected not to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.\n\nMedicaid expansion also cut down on the amount of uncompensated care provided by hospitals as more people gained coverage. Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia adopted Medicaid expansion.\n\nHowever, the new administration supports waivers, though the federal government is still picking up the tab for coverage.\n\nAlaska will get $323 million over the next five years under a Section 1332 waiver of ACA requirements, according to Politico.\n\nSection 1332 waivers allow states to design state-operated reinsurance programs or high-risk pools.\n\nThe Alaskan waiver puts downward pressure on premium increases in the state's individual market, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price. Without 1332, Alaskan consumers were looking at premium hikes of 40 percent.\n\n[Also: Feds approve Alaska waiver to the Affordable Care Act for high-risk pool reinsurance program]\n\n\"State Innovation Waivers are just one step of many we are taking to inaugurate a new era of state flexibility and innovation in healthcare, and we look forward to more productive work with our state partners,\" Price said in July.\n\nFour other states -- Oklahoma, Oregon, Minnesota and Iowa -- have submitted waiver applications. New Hampshire and Maine are considering similar programs, according to the Politico report.\n\nTwitter: @SusanJMorse", "output": "While the administration supports an end the Affordable Care Act\u00a0and the program's Medicaid expansion, officials are providing funds to shore up Medicaid coverage and to offer residents in individual states relief from higher premiums.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Obamacare\u2019s Bare County Problem Looks Mostly Solved, for Now \n A few months ago, it looked as if large swaths of the country might end up without any insurers willing to sell Obamacare insurance in 2018. But in the last few weeks the \u201cbare county\u201d problem, which President Trump had cited as a sign the markets were failing, has nearly solved itself.\n\nNow, every county in the nation has at least one insurer currently willing to sell coverage for next year.\n\nThe bare county problem had been an unplanned policy hole in Obamacare, which depends on private companies to provide insurance to people who don\u2019t get coverage through a government program or work. The federal government provides subsidies on a sliding scale to help middle-income Americans pay their premiums, but it does not force insurers to offer coverage if they don\u2019t want to. For a while, it seemed there would be a smattering of mostly rural places in the country where no company saw a reason to participate in 2018.", "output": "A few months ago, it looked as if large swaths of the country might end up without any insurers willing to sell Obamacare insurance in 2018. But in the last few weeks the \u201cbare county\u201d problem, which President Trump had cited as a sign the markets were failing, has nearly solved itself.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trump Threat to Obamacare Would Send Premiums and Deficits Higher \n WASHINGTON \u2014 Premiums for the most popular health insurance plans would shoot up 20 percent next year, and federal budget deficits would increase by $194 billion in the coming decade, if President Trump carried out his threat to end certain subsidies paid to insurance companies under the Affordable Care Act, the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday.\n\nThe subsidies reimburse insurers for reducing deductibles, co-payments and other out-of-pocket costs that low-income people pay when they visit doctors, fill prescriptions or receive care in hospitals.\n\nEven before efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act collapsed in the Senate last month, Mr. Trump began threatening to stop paying the subsidies, known as cost-sharing reductions. He said the health care law would \u201cimplode\u201d and Democrats would have no choice but to negotiate a replacement plan. Mr. Trump described his strategy as, \u201cLet Obamacare implode, then deal.\u201d\n\nThose threats continue, though the Trump administration has paid the subsidies each month.\n\nThe nonpartisan budget office has now quantified the cost of the threats and potentially handed Democrats a weapon to force Congress and the administration to keep the money flowing.", "output": "Premiums for the most popular health insurance plans would shoot up 20 percent next year, and\u00a0federal budget\u00a0deficits would increase by $194 billion in the coming decade, if President Trump carried out his threat to end certain subsidies paid to insurance companies under the Affordable Care Act,\u00a0the Congressional Budget Office said\u00a0Tuesday.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AUG 15MORE ON MEDICARE & MEDICAIDCMS cancels mandatory episode payment models, cuts participation in joint replacement model \n The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Tuesday officially announced it is pulling back from mandatory bundled payment models set up under the Obama administration.\n\nCMS is proposing to cancel the episode payment models and the cardiac rehabilitation incentive payment model, which were scheduled to begin on January 1, 2018.\n\n[Also: Trump administration, HHS stepping away from Affordable Care Act promotion, bundled payments]\n\nCMS is also reducing the number of mandatory geographic areas participating in the comprehensive care for joint replacement model, from 67 to 34.\n\nParticipants from the 33 remaining areas may take part on a voluntary basis, CMS said. Voluntary participation in the CJR model is to allow for low volume and rural hospitals.\n\nEliminating these models gives CMS greater flexibility to design and test innovations that will improve quality and care coordination across the inpatient and post-acute-care spectrum, the agency said.\n\n\"Changing the scope of these models allows CMS to test and evaluate improvements in care processes that will improve quality, reduce costs, and ease burdens on hospitals,\" said CMS Administrator Seema Verma. \"Stakeholders have asked for more input on the design of these models. These changes make this possible and give CMS maximum flexibility to test other episode-based models that will bring about innovation and provide better care for Medicare beneficiaries.\"\n\nHealth and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, a physician, has long opposed mandatory bundled initiatives.\n\n[Also: CMS should retain mandatory payment bundles, health policy experts say]\n\nMoving forward, CMS expects to increase opportunities for providers to participate in voluntary initiatives rather than large mandatory episode payment model efforts, including additional voluntary episode-based payment models, the agency said.\n\nThe episode payment models and the cardiac rehab incentive models were designed as mandatory payment models to test the effects of bundling cardiac and orthopedic care beginning in 2018.\n\n[Also: Patrick Conway is leaving CMS to head Blue Cross Blue Shield North Carolina]\n\nThey were established by CMS's Innovation Center, headed by Patrick Conway, MD, who last week announced he was leaving to lead Blue Cross Blue Shield North Carolina as of Oct. 1. Conway also served under the Obama administration.\n\nPublic comment is due by October 16.", "output": "The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Tuesday officially announced it is pulling back from mandatory bundled payment\u00a0models set up under the\u00a0Obama\u00a0administration.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "State standards do little to improve access to specialists in Medicaid \n Credit: Dreamstime\n\nMore needs to be done to eliminate the gap in access to specialty care for Medicaid patients, a new Yale School of Public Health study in JAMA Internal Medicine concludes.\n\nMedicaid patients nationwide have consistently reported less access to specialist medical care than patients with other types of coverage. While some federal regulations have been aimed at improving access to primary care, ensuring access to specialty care has largely been left to state and local agencies with national efforts lagging far behind.\n\nAs a result, many low-income patients find themselves without adequate access to specialty care. This is particularly concerning because, as more adults have joined Medicaid in recent years through the Affordable Care Act, many have chronic conditions that require coordinated specialty care.\n\n\"As millions of individuals have gained health insurance coverage through Medicaid, it is increasingly important that we facilitate access to the full spectrum of services that may be needed by this population. Our study demonstrates that aspirational policies without appropriate monitoring or enforcement are limited in their capacity to ensure access,\" said Assistant Professor Chima Ndumele, Ph.D., the study's lead author.\n\nTo attempt to remedy this, new federal regulations are set to take effect in 2018 that will require Medicaid managed care plans in every state to set standards for specialty care access. These planned standards will include limits on wait time to see a specialist, as well as on distance a patient have to travel to a specialist appointment.\n\nNdumele said the multistate study is the first to compare access to specialty care for Medicaid enrollees before and after the implementation of the types of regulation that are set to take effect next year. Using data from the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey, covering the years 2005-2011, the research team compared responses from Medicaid enrollees regarding access to specialty care in five states that had previously adopted standards with the responses of both commercial beneficiaries in the same states, as well as Medicaid enrollees in matched control states where standards already existed.\n\nThe results revealed little evidence that these standards narrowed the gap in access to specialty care for Medicaid enrollees: overall, 69 percent of Medicaid enrollees and 75 percent of commercial beneficiaries in states without access standards reported that it was easy to get an appointment with a specialist prior to the implementation of access standards, and this gap between Medicaid and commercially insured enrollees persisted after the adoption of standards.\n\nThe findings suggest that the upcoming new regulations alone may do little to improve access, and additional interventions will likely be needed.", "output": "More needs to be done to eliminate the gap in access to specialty care for Medicaid patients, a new Yale School of Public Health study in JAMA Internal Medicine\u00a0concludes. Medicaid patients nationwide have consistently reported less\u00a0access\u00a0to specialist medical care than patients with other types of coverage.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shipper denied claim for hijacked cargo under 'known loss' clause \n In I.T.N. Consolidators Inc v Northern Marine Underwriters Ltd, 2017 WL 2804888 (11th Cir. June 28, 2017), the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit applied the \u201cknown loss doctrine\u201d to deny coverage for a hijacked cargo shipment that was known by the policyholder to be lost prior to purchasing the insurance coverage, report Jason P Minkin and Brian J Watson of BatesCarey LLP in Chicago.\n\nNorthern Marine sold an open cover policy to freight forwarder ITN, and under the policy ITN could insure as many or as few cargo shipments as it chose.\n\nIn November 2007 ITN learned that it failed to obtain insurance coverage for a shipment that had been hijacked. After the hijacking, ITN filed a standard form to obtain coverage for the shipment under the open policy, and then filed a claim for coverage, which Northern Marine denied. In response, ITN filed suit against Northern Marine in federal court in Florida.\n\nThe district court granted summary judgment to Northern Marine, holding that the open cover policy did not cover known losses, such as the one at issue here. ITN appealed. On initial review, the appellate court agreed that the open cover policy did not cover known losses, but remanded the case to the district court to consider whether a new contract had been formed whereby Northern Marine agreed to insure the known loss in exchange for some new consideration.\n\nOn remand, the district court entered summary judgment for ITN, finding that ITN\u2019s payment of premium after it learned of the hijacking constituted an offer to enter a new insurance contract that covered the known loss, which Northern Marine accepted by retaining the premium and continuing to do business with ITN after the claim.\n\nNorthern Marine appealed, arguing that, under new case law reflecting a change in Florida law prohibiting coverage for known losses as against public policy, there was no coverage for the hijacked shipment. The appellate court agreed, explaining that insurance necessarily involves contingencies such that the payment of a non-contingent loss is contrary to the very concept of insurance.\n\nThe appellate court pointed out that there was a public policy of protecting the public from insolvent insurers. The rule against insuring a known loss was part of that public policy, because such insurance contracts risk the solvency of the insurer. Contracts to insure against the known loss were, the appellate court said, against public policy regardless of whether an insurer knows about the loss before it agrees to the contract. Accordingly it was ruled that the policy in this case was unenforceable as a matter of Florida public policy. http://www.batescarey.com/", "output": "Freight forwarder ITN Consolidators was denied an insurance claim for a hijacked cargo shipment when a US Court of Appeals applied the \"known loss doctrine\", arguing that the company was aware of the theft before seeking coverage from insurer Northern Marine Underwriters. The court heard that ITN had taken out an open cover policy with NMU but found it hadn't covered the the lost\u00a0shipment. It then filled in a coverage form and claimed for the loss, which NMU denied. The court said the case touched on public policy as the doctrine existed to protect\u00a0insured parties from insolvent insurers.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australia's Cyclone Debbie insurance loss tally rises to $1.1bn \n According to the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) the insurance and reinsurance industry loss due to Cyclone Debbie has now officially reached AU $1.4 billion (around US $1.1 bn), after the tally of almost 66,000 claims was counted.\n\n\n\nThe new total released this morning from the ICA includes claims covering a wide swathe of Australia that was impacted by Cyclone Debbie, from far north Queensland to northern New South Wales.\n\nThe total remains below the expectations of some in the industry, reinsurance giant Munich Re said that it expects the eventual industry loss from Cyclone Debbie will hit US $1.4 billion, which suggests there will be more claims filed, or that current claims estimates are set to continue rising.\n\nThe latest figure is aligned with the latest estimate from Zurich-based catastrophe risk data aggregator PERILS AG, which at the latest update raised its estimate of insurance and reinsurance losses due to Debbie to AU $1.411 billion.\n\nIn recent days a number of the world\u2019s largest reinsurance firms have said that they saw rates increase for treaties that were affected by losses from Cyclone Debbie at the recent mid-year renewals.\n\nHowever, loss free accounts remained largely flat, so it appears that the loss from Debbie has not been sufficient to cause any major turn in reinsurance pricing for Australian accounts.\n\nOn that note, the ICA reported that an Australian Senate report insurance has supported calls for the Federal Government to invest at least $200 million a year in natural disaster mitigation and resilience measures, while ICA CEO Rob Whelan said that a report concluded that insurance premiums appropriately reflected the level of risk in Australia .\n\nRisk commensurate pricing is a hot topic right now, given the rapid softening seen in reinsurance markets. Primary insurance lines have not experienced the same levels of softening, but in Australia there have been concerns over the years whether the true catastrophe and weather exposure was being priced in.\n\nCyclone Debbie struck parts of Queensland and New South Wales, Australia between March 28th 2017 and early April, with the remnant low from the storm also impacted the North Island of New Zealand with rainfall and flooding, causing property damage there as well.\n\nReinsurance companies have reported losses due to the event, and some ILS fund managers have experienced relatively small hits to collateralized reinsurance contracts and vehicles that have exposure.\n\nAt this time it\u2019s uncertain whether any reinsurer sidecars will pass on any of the Debbie losses to third-party capital. However with Hannover Re reporting it has passed on some of its claims to retrocessionaires, while other reinsurers are likely to have done so as well, there is a good chance the capital markets will pay a reasonable slice of the total loss.", "output": "Cyclone Debbie, which tore through northern Australia in March and April, notched up $1.1bn\u00a0in insurance and reinsurance losses, lower than some insurers\u00a0had anticipated. The latest figures from the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) account for 66,000 claims resulting from rainfall and flooding, which caused massive property damage. Reinsurer Munich Re said it had expected the losses to total $1.4bn, implying that claims will continue to roll in.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Humberts launches online letting agent using Propoly software \n Humberts Lettings Direct launches its new service today and is working with PropTech company Propoly. In February this company was reported to have won \u00a3600,000 investment from Countrywide: a pitch to further potential investors on its behalf by Angel Investment Network claimed that Propoly cut out letting agents.\n\nHumberts has launched an online-only lettings option for landlords with a PropTech firm which has previously operated a service described as \u2018cutting out letting agents.\u2019\n\nHumberts Lettings Direct costs landlords \u00a3199 plus VAT and, controversially, includes marketing the property on OnTheMarket - even though this portal has operated a long-standing policy of not allowing online-only listings.\n\nHLD will also list its online-only properties on Rightmove and on Propoly\u2019s own website.\n\nHLD\u2019s service also includes preparation of a tenancy agreement, registering a deposit, tenant reference, legal protection insurance and access to another online portal which Humberts\u2019 launch statement describes as being \u201can online portal for landlord/tenant interactions.\u201d\n\nThe agency says: \u201cIf at any stage a landlord wishes to move over to the traditional Humberts Lettings department (that is, they need extremely detailed advice or they wish to have a full valuation, viewings, negotiation service and continued management) Humberts will charge in the traditional way but will deduct from the fee the \u00a3199 already received.\u201d\n\nThis follows a similar model to that operated in the sales field for some time by some Countrywide branches.\n\nHLD and the agency\u2019s traditional lettings department are being headed up by Suzanne Diamond, who previously led a 21-branch lettings operation at Curchods.\n\n\u201cHumberts Lettings Direct department will be run from a central location with an experienced manager and team \u2013 landlords using this small fixed fee service will have access to experienced professionals via phone or email to ensure a good level of support\u201d she says.\n\n\u201cThe Humberts traditional lettings service is available from all of our 23 sales branches across the UK and will launch with no tenant administration fees. The two departments will have separate but complementary branding.\u201d\n\nIn recent months Humberts has attempted to shed its rural-centric traditional image.\n\nIn the spring it announced the opening of a central London office and earlier this summer revealed it had attracted \u201csignificant investment from a Gulf consortium\u201d to \u201cstrengthen the brand via traditional expansion and investment in technology.\u201d", "output": "Estate agency Humberts has partnered with proptech firm Propoly to launch online service Humberts Lettings Direct, according to a company statement. For \u00a3199 ($256) plus VAT, landlords have access to preparation of a tenancy agreement, registering a deposit, tenant reference, and legal protection insurance. Online-only properties will be listed on Rightmove, Propoly\u2019s own website and OnTheMarket, despite the latter's policy of refusing online-only listings.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "World Bank-backed catastrophe risk scheme launched in Philippines \n WASHINGTON DC, August 15, 2017\u2014A new catastrophe risk insurance program to help the Philippines better respond to losses from climate and disaster risks was launched by the Government of the Philippines, supported by the World Bank (IBRD, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) and the U.K. Department for International Development.\n\nThe program provides the Philippine peso equivalent of US$206 million in coverage against losses from major typhoons and earthquakes to national government assets, and to 25 participating provinces against losses from major typhoons. Insurance payouts are made when pre-defined parametric triggers are met.\n\nThe Philippines is among the world\u2019s most vulnerable countries to natural disasters. The country is expected to incur, on average, US$3.5 billion in asset losses each year due to typhoons and earthquakes.\n\n\u201cFinancial shocks caused by natural disasters undermine economic growth and poverty reduction,\u201d said Joaquim Levy, Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of the World Bank Group. \u201cThis new insurance program illustrates how the World Bank Group can leverage capital from the market to help governments receive fast cash injections for emergency response and to sustain essential services in times of crisis, empowering local governments to more effectively assist their citizens.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis initiative is a major advancement in the Philippines\u2019 efforts to bolster its resilience,\u201d said Mara Warwick, World Bank Country Director for the Philippines. \u201cIt demonstrates the global leadership of the country in developing innovative financial solutions to mitigate the financial impacts of extreme climate and weather related events, as well as major earthquakes.\u201d\n\nUnder the program, the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), a government-owned insurance agency, provides the government and the 25 participating provinces with catastrophe risk insurance. IBRD acts as an intermediary to transfer GSIS\u2019s risk to a panel of international reinsurers which were selected through a competitive bidding process \u2013 Nephila, Swiss Re, Munich Re via the subsidiary NewRe, Axa, and Hannover Re. Air Worldwide provides the underlying risk modeling for the transaction.\n\nThe program is the first of its kind in the Philippines and builds on six years of intensive partnership with the World Bank, including the preparation of the first catastrophe risk model for the country and the adoption of a Disaster Risk Finance Strategy by the Department of Finance. This is the first time that the World Bank has entered into a reinsurance agreement with a governmental agency, and the first time it is executing a catastrophe risk transaction in local currency.\n\nThis new insurance program will support the country in responding to impacts of severe natural disasters. It acts as the last line of defense, complementing other funding sources such as the national and local disaster risk reduction management funds and contingent credit that protect against less severe natural disasters.\n\nSince 2009, the World Bank has issued, hedged, or facilitated over US$2.5 billion in transactions to transfer earthquake, wind, drought-related and pandemic risks from its borrowing member countries to the capital markets.", "output": "The Philippine government has launched the country\u2019s first catastrophe risk insurance programme, supported by the World Bank and UK Department for International Development. The government and 25 participating regions will be covered for the peso equivalent of $206m for losses incurred in the event of a natural catastrophe, with parametric triggers predefined to determine payouts. The insurance will be provided by the Government Service Insurance System, and the risk transferred to a panel of reinsurers selected by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The southeast Asian archipelago is expected to incur an average of $3.5bn worth of losses annually from typhoons and earthquakes."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mobile take-up of proptech depends on user journey\u00a0and security \n Our entire lives are going mobile, there\u2019s an argument to say we\u2019re already there, so my suggesting that property should go mobile may seem pretty obvious. But the \u2018mobile\u2019 I\u2019m thinking about isn\u2019t limited to viewing listings on an app or receiving live notifications of new matches.\n\nLast week, I had one of those experiences and, above everything else, it\u2019s confirmed my belief that the sooner property goes mobile, the better.\n\nI\u2019m excited to write this piece. I love it when something comes along and delivers that genuine thrill; the thrill of experiencing a game changer.\n\nI\u2019m talking about the entire lifecycle of a property, from the moment it arrives on the market to that which the keys are handed over, and everything in between. That\u2019s my definition of truly mobile.\n\nIt\u2019s a tall order, and leans heavily on the hope that the general public is ready to place enough faith in their smartphone as to use it as their primary tool when house hunting. The way I see it, it\u2019s a potential obstacle that can be overcome with a combination of two things: security and user experience.\n\nWhen it comes to security, it\u2019s simply a case of winning user trust. Many people still have doubts about mobile security, especially with high profile cases of cloud hacking and email leaks.\n\nUsers of Facebook Marketplace, for example, where, if you want, you can sell your house via social media, have received stark warnings about possible security flaws in the platform.\n\nAll of these stories combine and no doubt plant significant seeds of doubt in the consumer\u2019s mind. The technology required to secure mobile activity is, more or less, available, and educating the wider the market will go a long to solve the trust issue.\n\nThe more interesting side of things, in my opinion, is the perfection of the user experience...\n\nThe UX will be the life or death of any mobile product. If it doesn\u2019t make life easier, people just won\u2019t use it. Last week I had the pleasure of experiencing a new mobile service that demonstrates perfectly the standard of UX we should be aspiring to. It comes from virtual reality tours company, EyeSpy 360, and it\u2019s called EyeSpy Live.\n\nAnother level of virtual tours\n\nLaunching in September, EyeSpy Live is a platform, available across all mobile and desktop devices, that takes remote house viewings to a whole new level. To quote their own announcement of the platform:\n\nRather than simply taking a virtual tour around a property, EYESPY LIVE allows agents to join the client in a video chat, where both parties can talk to one another whilst taking the virtual tour. It\u2019s exactly like a property viewing in person, but without actually having to leave the house or office.\n\nI tried it and I can honestly say, it\u2019s brilliant. You can watch, in the video at the bottom of this piece, as I am guided through my very first tour.\n\nThere\u2019s also a lot of chat on the video, between myself and EyeSpy CEO, Andrew Nicholls, about exactly how the platform works, so I really recommend watching it. This is a great example of how a good user experience elevates one product above the rest.\n\nThe agent and the client can both join the tour from independent locations, and both parties have control of movement.\n\nYou can step outside and view the property\u2019s exterior, as well as explore the surrounding area. You can even leave notes and messages throughout the property, perhaps reminders for things that you and your partner should discuss when you take another virtual tour, just the two of you, at a later date.\n\nMobile contracts\n\nEyeSpy Live isn\u2019t the only piece of tech helping take mobile property to the next level. News was announced recently of the first ever property contract to be exchanged on a mobile phone. To quote the Press Release:\n\nIn yet another leading development by the clicktopurchase platform, a London agent has accepted a binding offer on his mobile phone...the property in question was a retail investment in Weymouth town centre, let to SportsDirect.com Retail Limited, available at an asking price of \u00a3900,000 at singerviellesales.com.\n\nIf you like, you can watch the historic moment for yourself in this video.\n\nClicktopurchase has found success in digitising the contract exchanges required for property sales. By taking their technology and ramping it up a gear, they have proven that the mobile phone is a perfectly viable way of conducting transactions and closing deals.\n\nFruitful and accessible\n\nGoing mobile is, I believe, the most fruitful goal for property to pursue. It reduces costs, streamlines lengthy processes and improves customer service; it\u2019s flexible, it\u2019s universal, it\u2019s inclusive; it maximises returns and it\u2019s constantly accessible.\n\nBut it\u2019s always important to remember, the best property technology works hard to keep human interaction at its heart.\n\nWhen it comes to taking property mobile, the goal should not be to replace real people with technology, but to clear the obstacles that currently inhibit interaction between agent and client.\n\nThe most prominent of these obstacles are distance and time; by going truly mobile, property can overcome them both.\n\n*James Dearsley is founder of the Digital Marketing Bureau and a PropTech communicator. To sign up to James\u2019 Sunday PropTech Review, click here.", "output": "The smartphone could be the key to overcoming the property sector's biggest hurdles, with new technology offering secure and exciting user experiences on a mobile platform, according to James Dearsley, founder of the Digital Marketing Bureau. He cited the recent exchange of binding property contracts via mobile as a way of streamlining the buying process, while virtual tours of homes that include real-time interaction with estate agents could offer a way to solve distance-related issues and improve customer service.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Four Dutch airports aim for 100% renewable energy by 2018 \n It\u2019s well-documented that airplanes contribute heftily to global carbon dioxide emissions. But what about airports?\n\nFrom their fluorescent lighting to their perpetually-moving walkways, airports themselves also use large amounts of energy.\n\nAmsterdam\u2019s Schiphol Airport, the world\u2019s 12th busiest airport, which receives more than 60 million people each year, is no exception. In a given year, the airport uses about about 175 million Kilowatt hours of energy, or the equivalent of 50,000 households.\n\nTake Action: Educating Girls Strengthens the Global Fight Against Climate Change\n\nBut now, Schiphol, along with three other Dutch airports, is launching a ~ pilot ~ program to reduce its environmental footprint.\n\nEmbed from Getty Images\n\nThese four airports \u2014 Schiphol, Rotterdam The Hague Airport, Eindhoven Airport and Lelystad Airport \u2014 will run exclusively on renewable energy produced in the Netherlands beginning Jan. 1, 2018, the Royal Schiphol Group announced in a statement Tuesday.\n\n\u201cFor our new energy contract, we wanted nothing but sustainable power generated in the Netherlands,\u201d Jos Nijhuis, President and CEO of Royal Schiphol Group, said in the statements. \u201cAfter all, one thing is certain: aviation can and must be made more sustainable.\u201d\n\nThe renewable energy will be delivered through Eneco Group, a sustainable energy company, who signed off on a 15-year contract with Royal Schiphol Group.\n\nBy 2020, all of the energy will come from newly-build Dutch wind farms. Until then, the energy will come through a combination of newly-built wind farms, such as one in the municipality of Vianen, and already-existing sources of renewable energy within the country, the group said.\n\nEmbed from Getty Images\n\n\u201cWe feel that the most important elements of this collaboration with Eneco are that all the Schiphol Group airports are involved and that additional sustainable energy sources will be developed in the Netherlands,\u201d Nijhuis said. \u201cThis will allow our airports to increase their sustainability and offer economic benefits.\u201d\n\nRead More: These Hybrid-Electric Planes Are Revolutionizing the Future of Air Travel\n\nWhen it comes to renewable energy, the Netherlands is charting a bold path. The country plans to completely eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and to have 16% of its energy produced through sustainable sources by 2023, according to CNBC.\n\nIn June, the Netherlands announced that 100% of its trains now run on renewable energy, a full year earlier than government officials had previously announced it would.\n\nThe Global Goals for Sustainable Development enshrine affordable and clean energy as one of 17 goals for eliminating extreme poverty.\n\nSince 1990, the world\u2019s output of carbon dioxide has been cut by nearly half thanks to advances in clean energy, but the proportion of carbon emissions from air travel is expected to rise \u201csignificantly\u201d as \u201cthe volume of air travel is increasing much faster than gains in flight fuel efficiency,\u201d according to the New York Times.\n\nRead More: South Africa Plans to Have Six Solar-Powered Airports by End of Year\n\nMaking airports more energy efficient is a good way to start addressing air travel\u2019s immense, and growing, carbon footprint.\n\nThe Netherlands is not the first country to embrace sustainability in airports.\n\nAt George Airport in South Africa, 41% of the airport\u2019s energy consumption comes from solar energy, according to NACO, an airport planning and design firm. Worldwide, more than 100 airports produce at least some of their energy from solar power.\n\nIndustry leaders are increasingly recognizing not only the environmental, but also the economic benefits of transitioning to clean energy.\n\nEmbed from Getty Images\n\n\u201cFor the energy transition, it is crucial for the business sector \u2013 which is by far the largest energy consumer \u2013 to embrace sustainability,\u201d Jeroen de Haas, CEO of Eneco Group said.\n\nAs for airports\u2019 primary export \u2014 planes? They too are slowly moving in the direction of sustainability.\n\nHybrid-electric and solar-powered planes could provide an even greater lift for sustainability.", "output": "Amsterdam's Schipol Airport, the world's 12th busiest airport, is looking to run on 100% renewable energy by January 1 2018. Also making the transition are\u00a0Rotterdam the Hague Airport, Lelystad Airport and Eindhoven Airport. The energy will be supplied by Eneco Group, and\u00a0by 2020, all the energy consumed at the airports will come from Dutch wind farms. The Netherlands achieved a clean energy milestone in June of this year, with its train system now being powered by 100% renewables.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US renewables prevented up to 12,700 US deaths \n Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nIndependent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nThe massive increase in wind and solar energy helped prevent the premature deaths of up to 12,700 people over a nine-year period in the US, according to new research which illustrates the wider benefits of ditching fossil fuels beyond limiting global warming.\n\nThe lower carbon emissions were worth billions of dollars as a result of the avoidance of the range of problems caused by fossil fuels, according to a paper about the study published in the journal, Nature Energy.\n\nThe UK Government has pledged that the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles will be banned from 2040 \u2013 a deadline criticised by environmentalists as being too far in the future to make a difference. In contrast, Norway plans to phase out such vehicles by 2025.\n\nAccording to the Royal College of Physicians, about 40,000 deaths a year in the UK are \u201cattributable to exposure to outdoor air pollution\u201d, which has been associated with \u201ccancer, asthma, stroke and heart disease, diabetes, obesity and changes linked to dementia\u201d.\n\nThe worst countries in the world for air pollution deaths Show all 10 1 / 10 The worst countries in the world for air pollution deaths The worst countries in the world for air pollution deaths Ukraine The worst countries in the world for air pollution deaths Bulgaria Rex Features The worst countries in the world for air pollution deaths Belarus The worst countries in the world for air pollution deaths Russia The worst countries in the world for air pollution deaths Armenia The worst countries in the world for air pollution deaths Bosnia and Herzegovina REUTERS The worst countries in the world for air pollution deaths Georgia The worst countries in the world for air pollution deaths Hungary DigitalGlobe The worst countries in the world for air pollution deaths China The worst countries in the world for air pollution deaths Moldova\n\nThe new research, which was funded by the US Department of Energy, found there had been significant declines in major air pollutants between 2007 and 2015.\n\nCarbon dioxide fell by 20 per cent, sulphur dioxide by a staggering 72 per cent, nitrogen oxide by 50 per cent and tiny particles known as PM2.5 by 46 per cent.\n\nWhile some of this was due to fossil fuels being replaced by renewable energy, tougher emission regulations also played a part. Sulphur dioxide emissions fell from nine million tonnes in 2007 to 2.5 million tonnes in 2015 after coal power plants were forced to fit equipment that filters the gas out to meet air quality standards.\n\nThe growth in solar and wind power was dramatic, increasing tenfold from about 10 gigawatts in 2007 to roughly 100GW in 2015.\n\n\u201cFrom 2007 to 2015, solar and wind power deployment increased rapidly while regulatory changes and fossil fuel price changes led to steep cuts in overall power-sector emissions,\u201d the researchers wrote in the paper.\n\n\u201cWe find cumulative wind and solar air-quality benefits of \u2026 $29.7bn to $112.8bn [during 2007 to 2015] mostly from 3,000 to 12,700 avoided premature mortalities.\"\n\nIn 2015 alone, some 1,850 premature deaths were avoided.\n\nThe researchers, led by Dr Dev Millstein of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, also estimated the increased generation of renewable energy was worth between $5.3bn and $106.8bn in \u201ccumulative climate benefits\u201d over the same period.\n\nThese include \u201cchanges to agricultural productivity, energy use, losses from disasters such as floods, human health and general ecosystem services\u201d.\n\nSam Bright, a lawyer at environmental activist group ClientEarth, which has twice successfully sued the Government over sub-standard air quality plans, said it was clear that \"moving away from coal brings major health benefits\".\n\nBut he added: \"It's essential that we make sure we use the opportunity the end of coal gives us to create the energy system of the future.\n\n\"That means replacing coal power stations with renewables, yes, but also making sure energy efficiency is top of the agenda and we build storage and flexibility into the system to lower and manage demand.\n\n\"A cleaner, more flexible energy system will mean fewer emissions of those pollutants that are harming people and our planet.\"\n\nNina Schrank, energy campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said: \"Our energy system is radically transforming. Milestones such as the falling costs of offshore wind and solar, and the first working day without coal in Britain, are coming thick and fast as we move towards a low carbon economy. Now research also suggests that renewable power could be beginning to clean up the air by displacing some fossil fuels, but we need so much more.\n\n\"Our Government should prioritise speeding up the energy transition and making the UK a world leader in clean, green technology. Public opinion polls show that more than three quarters of people in the UK already support renewable energy. It's time to grasp the enormous potential of renewable energy and energy efficiency, which can give us cleaner air, skilled jobs and fair bills, whilst also helping towards our climate targets.\"\n\nThis article has been corrected. Up to 12,700 premature deaths were avoided between 2007 to 2015 inclusive, not in 2015 alone.", "output": "An increase in wind and solar energy contributed to declines in major air pollutants that helped prevent the premature deaths of between 3,000 and 12,700 US residents between 2007 and 2015, research funded by the US Department of Energy found. Levels of carbon dioxide in the US fell by 20% during that period, while sulphur dioxide dropped by 72% and nitrogen oxide declined by 50%, according to the report. Over the same period, US solar and wind capacity grew from 10 GW to 100 GW. The benefits of cleaner air were estimated to be worth\u00a0between $29.7bn and $112.8bn in the period, mainly from the lower mortality rates."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Grindr launches digital magazine to protect brands \n Correction: A quote in this story has been altered to reflect Grindr\u2019s outlook on brand safety.\n\nEven sex apps want to be seen as brand-safe these days.\n\nOn Tuesday, gay hookup app Grindr launched a digital magazine called Into, which had been in pilot mode since March.\n\nBecause Into\u2019s content is less about having sex and more about pop culture, fashion and travel, Grindr hopes its new publishing arm can win over big brands that are otherwise pretty nervous about preventing their ads from appearing next to sexual content. Grindr didn\u2019t deny its app can present brand-safety concerns for advertisers, but emphasized that its new website will open the doors to working with a broader range of brands.\n\n\u201cNot every company wants to advertise in a dating app,\u201d said Peter Sloterdyk, vp of marketing at Grindr. \u201cBut Into\u2019s content is very different from the app. With Into\u2019s launch, we are introducing Grindr as a total lifestyle brand.\u201d\n\nSimilar to ads on Grindr, some of the ads on Into are specifically tailored toward gay men. For instance, its homepage features two ads that promote HIV prevention. Truvada for PrEP, an antiretroviral drug that helps prevent HIV transmission, also has ads within articles.\n\nBut there are also ads from national brands like ice cream maker Halo Top and the FX show \u201cAmerican Horror Story.\u201d Over the next month, about 10 more national brands will run campaigns on the site, said Michele Tobin, vp of brand partnerships at Grindr.\n\nIan Schafer, chief experience officer at Engine and founder of ad agency Deep Focus, believes liquor companies and brands who have supported LGBT pride, like Doritos, will advertise on Into. Since sex isn\u2019t considered to be brand-safe for most advertisers, Grindr was smart to brand its publishing division with a new name, he said.\n\n\u201cWhile many advertisers will not touch sexual content, there is a trend [among ad execs] that advertising to the LGBT community has upside,\u201d said Schafer, who was bullish about the hookup app leveraging its audience to create a new brand. Grindr has 5 million active users per month, according to Apptopia. For comparison, dating apps Zoosk, Bumble and Tinder have 1 million, 3 million and 77 million active users per month, respectively, per Apptopia.\n\nGrindr hired seven full-time editorial people to create content for Into. Former Out magazine editor Zach Stafford is the new website\u2019s editor-in-chief. The content aims to attract millennials, the elusive demographic that advertisers are most thirsty to reach. Among Grindr\u2019s users in the U.S., 64 percent are under 34, according to Apptopia.\n\nInto is entirely ad-supported and relies heavily on display ads. It also serves pre-rolls, as seen below. Branded video and events are coming to the site, said Tobin, who declined to provide a timetable.\n\n\n\nAll of the ads are sold directly, but Into plans to eventually sell its display inventory programmatically. About 30 salespeople from Grindr work part of the time on selling Into inventory.\n\nGrindr\u2019s users spend 54 minutes on the app per day, on average, according to App Annie. To increase the amount of time users spend in the app, Grindr is working on building a tab in its app that would feature Into articles. But the tab won\u2019t launch for several months since its web developers have to reconfigure the app to load the articles natively within the app rather than pulling them from the mobile web, where content takes much longer to load.\n\nInto\u2019s launch comes at a time when screenshot activists have spooked CMOs to pull their ads from any potentially controversial subject that includes not just sex but even hard news. Aside from already having to compete with dating services like Tinder and OkCupid, launching a publishing division means Grindr will also compete with LGBT media stalwarts like Out and Advocate and large digital publishers like HuffPost and BuzzFeed, which have sections on their sites dedicated to LGBT news. But Sloterdyk insists the space isn\u2019t too crowded for a new player.\n\n\u201cWe see a lot of content that is focused on an older generation because [popular LGBT publishers] have been around forever,\u201d he said. \u201cThey paved the way in a beautiful manner, but they are not taking full advantage of that millennial audience.\u201d\n\nPhoto via Grindr", "output": "Gay social networking app Grindr has launched Into, a digital lifestyle magazine it hopes will attract more brands who are nervous about their ads appearing next to sexual content. Peter Sloterdyk, VP of marketing at Grindr, said Into's content would be very different, with brands including Halo Top and FX show American Horror Story already appearing, and 10 further campaigns to follow. Grindr has five million active users per month, and there are already moves to develop a tab to feature Into articles."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lithium discovered in US supervolcanoes \n Most of the lithium used to make the lithium-ion batteries that power modern electronics comes from Australia and Chile. But Stanford scientists say there are large deposits in sources right here in America: supervolcanoes.\n\nIn a study published today in Nature Communications, scientists detail a new method for locating lithium in supervolcanic lake deposits. The findings represent an important step toward diversifying the supply of this valuable silvery-white metal, since lithium is an energy-critical strategic resource, said study co-author Gail Mahood, a professor of geological sciences at Stanford\u2019s School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re going to have to use electric vehicles and large storage batteries to decrease our carbon footprint,\u201d Mahood said. \u201cIt\u2019s important to identify lithium resources in the U.S. so that our supply does not rely on single companies or countries in a way that makes us subject to economic or political manipulation.\u201d\n\nSupervolcanoes can produce massive eruptions of hundreds to thousands of cubic kilometers of magma \u2013 up to 10,000 times more than a typical eruption from a Hawaiian volcano. They also produce vast quantities of pumice and volcanic ash that are spread over wide areas. They appear as huge holes in the ground, known as calderas, rather than the cone-like shape typically associated with volcanoes because the enormous loss of magma causes the roof of the chamber to collapse following eruption.\n\nThe resulting hole often fills with water to form a lake \u2013 Oregon\u2019s Crater Lake is a prime example. Over tens of thousands of years, rainfall and hot springs leach out lithium from the volcanic deposits. The lithium accumulates, along with sediments, in the caldera lake, where it becomes concentrated in a clay called hectorite.\n\nExploring supervolcanoes for lithium would diversify its global supply. Major lithium deposits are currently mined from brine deposits in high-altitude salt flats in Chile and pegmatite deposits in Australia. The supervolcanoes pose little risk of eruption because they are ancient.\n\n\u201cThe caldera is the ideal depositional basin for all this lithium,\u201d said lead author Thomas Benson, a recent PhD graduate at Stanford Earth, who began working on the study in 2012.\n\nSince its discovery in the 1800s, lithium has largely been used in psychiatric treatments and nuclear weapons. Beginning in the 2000s, lithium became the major component of lithium-ion batteries, which today provide portable power for everything from cellphones and laptops to electric cars. Volvo Cars recently announced its commitment to only produce new models of its vehicles as hybrids or battery-powered options beginning in 2019, a sign that demand for lithium-ion batteries will continue to increase.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve had a gold rush, so we know how, why and where gold occurs, but we never had a lithium rush,\u201d Benson said. \u201cThe demand for lithium has outpaced the scientific understanding of the resource, so it\u2019s essential for the fundamental science behind these resources to catch up.\u201d\n\nWorking backward\n\nTo identify which supervolcanoes offer the best sources of lithium, researchers measured the original concentration of lithium in the magma. Because lithium is a volatile element that easily shifts from solid to liquid to vapor, it is very difficult to measure directly and original concentrations are poorly known.\n\nSo, the researchers analyzed tiny bits of magma trapped in crystals during growth within the magma chamber. These \u201cmelt inclusions,\u201d completely encapsulated within the crystals, survive the supereruption and remain intact throughout the weathering process. As such, melt inclusions record the original concentrations of lithium and other elements in the magma. Researchers sliced through the host crystals to expose these preserved magma blebs, which are 10 to 100 microns in diameter, then analyzed them with the Sensitive High Resolution Ion Microprobe in the SHRIMP-RG Laboratory at Stanford Earth.\n\n\u201cUnderstanding how lithium is transported in magmas and what causes a volcanic center to become enriched in lithium has never really systematically been done before,\u201d Benson said.\n\nThe team analyzed samples from a range of tectonic settings, including the Kings Valley deposit in the McDermitt volcanic field located on the Nevada-Oregon border, which erupted 16.5 to 15.5 million years ago and is known to be rich in lithium. They compared results from this volcanic center with samples from the High Rock caldera complex in Nevada, Sierra la Primavera in Mexico, Pantelleria in the Strait of Sicily, Yellowstone in Wyoming and Hideaway Park in Colorado, and determined that lithium concentrations varied widely as a function of the tectonic setting of the supervolcano.\n\n\u201cIf you have a lot of magma erupting, it doesn\u2019t have to have as much lithium in it to produce something that is worthy of economic interest as we previously thought,\u201d Mahood said. \u201cYou don\u2019t need extraordinarily high concentrations of lithium in the magma to form lithium deposits and reserves.\u201d\n\nImproving identification\n\nIn addition to exploring for lithium, the researchers analyzed other trace elements to determine their correlations with lithium concentrations. As a result, they discovered a previously unknown correlation that will now enable geologists to identify candidate supervolcanoes for lithium deposits in a much easier way than measuring lithium directly in melt inclusions. The trace elements can be used as a proxy for original lithium concentration. For example, greater abundance of easily analyzed rubidium in the bulk deposits indicates more lithium, whereas high concentrations of zirconium indicate less lithium.\n\n\u201cWe can essentially use the zirconium content to determine the lithium content within about 100 parts per million,\u201d Benson said. \u201cNow that we have a way to easily find more of these lithium deposits, it shows that this fundamental geological work can help solve societal problems \u2013 that\u2019s really exciting.\u201d\n\nCo-authors of the paper, \u201cLithium enrichment in intracontinental rhyolite magmas leads to Li deposits in caldera basins,\u201d include Matthew Coble, a research and development scientist and engineer at Stanford University, and James Rytuba of the U.S. Geological Survey. The research was partially supported by a U.S. Department of Defense NDSEG Fellowship.", "output": "A new source of lithium, a vital component in batteries for electric vehicles, has been identified in US supervolcanoes by Stanford University scientists. At present, the majority of lithium comes from Australia and Chile, and increasing the quantities available is essential for the development of green tech. Researchers studied the contents of craters left by such volcanoes in parts of the US including Oregon and Nevada, discovering the metal within magma, trapped inside crystals.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Perovskite solar cells enhanced by polystyrene \n The research, published by The Royal Society of Chemistry in the journal Nanoscale, showed that polystyrene particles enhanced stability and slashed the manufacturing costs of solar cells.\n\nIn place of costly polymers, a team of researchers of The University of Manchester has used insulating polystyrene microgel particles to make perovskite solar cells, unlocking further potential of the next generation solar cell technology.\n\nThe research, published by The Royal Society of Chemistry in the journal Nanoscale, showed that polystyrene particles enhanced stability and slashed the manufacturing costs of solar cells.\n\nAs their power conversion is approaching parity with established solar PV technology, perovskite solar cells are becoming more commercially attractive.\n\nHowever, using organometallic halide perovskite as the light harvesting layer instead of silicon makes them vulnerable, as it quickly degrades when exposed to water. These cells also rely on a hole-transportation layer, which promote the efficient movement of electrical current when exposed to sunlight, but is very costly and unstable in the long run.\n\nPopular content\n\nIn this research, the weak points have been addressed using insulating polystyrene microgel particles.\n\n\u201cThe perovskite layer in solar cells is not inherently unstable, but the required hole-transport material is. HTM layers made of congregated polymers are thin, but they are also relatively expensive and contribute a significant portion of the total cost of the solar cell. In this study we used polystyrene, which is 1/10,000th of the cost of polymers to produce, and is also hydrophobic which helps improve the stability of PSCs,\u201d said Brian Saunders, Professor of Polymer and Colloid Chemistry from the school of Materials at The University of Manchester, noting that more research is required to enable the full potential of the existing PSC technology to be realized.", "output": "University of Manchester researchers have successfully used insulating polystyrene microgel particles to produce perovskite solar cells. The replacement material significantly enhanced the stability of the cell, while simultaneously reducing its cost compared to the traditionally-used polymers. Using polystyrene also addressed the issue of water damage when using organometallic halide perovskite, which causes the cells to degrade."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Innogy awarded rights to develop wind projects in north Wales \n Innogy UK Renewables has won the right to develop a large-scale wind project in north Wales through a tender run by Natural Resources Wales (NRW).\n\n\n\nThe developer has been awarded an option to survey land in Alwen Forest near Ruthin prior to making a planning application for an onshore wind farm on land leased to the Welsh government by Dwr Cymru Welsh Water.\n\nNRW said Innogy\u2019s bid featured a strong community element thanks to their collaboration with Community Energy Wales focusing on community shared ownership of the project.As reported exclusively by subscription-only newsletter reNEWS in February, Innogy and Community Energy Wales teamed up to submit a tender bid for the development of a wind farm of between nine and 11 turbines.Welsh government cabinet secretary for environment and rural affairs Lesley Griffiths said: \u201cI\u2019m pleased the successful bid has a strong community benefit which will enable local people to buy into the scheme.\u201cThis approach will ensure that money generated from the scheme will stay in the local community.\u201dIf developed, the wind farm would be located in the TAN8 Strategic Search Area A on the Denbighshire/Conwy border, adjacent to Llyn Brenig.", "output": "Innogy UK Renewables has been given permission to construct a large-scale wind project in north Wales. The developer has been awarded an option that will permit the company to investigate prospective sites in the Alwen Forest. The tender was run by Natural Resources Wales."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ASAE unveils operational risk insurance for US associations \n WASHINGTON, Aug. 14, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- ASAE has launched the ASAE Insurance Source. Created through ASAE Business Services, Inc. (ABSI) \u2013 ASAE's wholly-owned subsidiary, the ASAE Insurance Source is a new platform designed to help associations effectively manage their operational and governance risks.\n\nAll of the products offered through the ASAE Insurance Source have been tailored to include coverage provisions, features, and benefits that reflect and serve associations' unique property and casualty insurance and risk management needs.\n\n\"We can't promise a hazard free operating environment, but we can help associations tap into the tools, insights, and supports they need to successfully manage the risks they face, and the ASAE Insurance Source represents a new approach,\" said ASAE President and CEO John H. Graham, IV, FASAE, CAE. \"ASAE, through ABSI, has been engaged in this important work for many years. With this new platform, we will be able to sharpen our focus on associations' evolving risk needs and continue to add resources in the future.\"\n\nThe ASAE Insurance Source will feature competitively priced insurance solutions, including the newly enhanced ASAE-Endorsed Nonprofit Directors' and Officers' (D&O) Insurance program, the ASAE-Endorsed Association Office Package Insurance program, the ASAE-Endorsed Event Cancellation Insurance program, as well as other insurance offerings exclusively provided by Aon Affinity Nonprofits. ASAE-Endorsed Professional Errors & Omissions liability coverage exclusively provided by AXIS PRO\u00ae[1], a member company of the AXIS group of insurance companies[2], will also be available via the ASAE Insurance Source.\n\n\"The ASAE Insurance Source is another way that ASAE is delivering on its commitment to engage with and support associations as well as those who work in them,\" Graham added.\n\nTo learn more about the ASAE Insurance Source, visit absisolutions.com.\n\nAbout ASAE and the ASAE Foundation\n\nASAE is a membership organization of more than 35,000 association executives and industry partners representing 7,400 organizations. Its members manage leading trade associations, individual membership societies and voluntary organizations across the United States and in nearly 50 countries around the world. With support of the ASAE Foundation, a separate nonprofit entity, ASAE is the premier source of learning, knowledge and future-oriented research for the association and nonprofit profession, and provides resources, education, ideas and advocacy to enhance the power and performance of the association and nonprofit community. For more information about ASAE, visit www.asaecenter.org.\n\nAbout ASAE Business Services, Inc.\n\nThe mission of ASAE Business Services, Inc. (ABSI), is to be the trusted source for essential business services for associations and nonprofits. The wholly-owned subsidiary of ASAE, ABSI supports ASAE's efforts to promote excellence in association management. For more information about ABSI, please visit absisolutions.com.\n\n[1]Coverage is underwritten by a member company of the AXIS group of insurance companies. Coverage may not be available in all states and jurisdictions. This information is for descriptive purposes only and does not provide a complete summary of coverage. Consult applicable policy for specific terms, conditions, limits, limitations and exclusions to coverage.\n\n[2]AXIS Insurance is a business segment of AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE: AXS), a global leader in specialty insurance and reinsurance. Coverages are backed by the financial strength and security of the AXIS Insurance Companies, rated \"A+\" (Strong) by Standard & Poor's and \"A+\" (Superior) XV by A.M. Best.\n\nView original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/asae-insurance-source-offers-associations-property-and-casualty-insurance-risk-management-support-300501845.html\n\nSOURCE American Society of Association Executives", "output": "The American Society of Association Executives has unveiled new insurance products to help associations manage their operational and governance risks.\u00a0ASAE Insurance Source will offer non-profit directors and officers\u00a0coverage, an office insurance product, an event cancellation policy\u00a0as well as other packages. Each can be tailored to an individual association's property and casualty insurance and risk management requirements.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Regus makes a \u2018green\u2019 home for users in Cape Town \n Thank you for being patient. We are doing some work on the site and will be back shortly.", "output": "Regus\u2019\u00a0branch opened in\u00a0Observatory, Cape Town is heralded as being \u201cgreen\u201d, as it is part of Black River Park, which was one of the first offices in the country to gain certified Green Star SA ratings for all its buildings from the Green Building Council of South Africa. The location is said to have easy access to amenities including shops, restaurants, major highways and a CrossFit gym.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Collaborative emergency medicine-primary care model could be solution to boosting rural population health \n Michigan emergency physicians are proposing a new health care delivery model that integrates primary care into a rural hospital's emergency department operations, a place that many who need non-emergent care often end up anyway.\n\nThe proposal was published this week in the Annals of Emergency Medicine, a journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians or ACEP. It touts the idea that emergency departments in small rural hospitals can serve as \"collaborative domains\" of both emergency and primary care by embracing the role that they already play in providing primary care and integrating it as an active part of their operations, the authors wrote.\n\nThe goal is not to replace the existing outpatient rural safety net that typically includes federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics. Instead, it would work alongside community primary care to boost primary care capacity and address social needs wherever the patient shows up for services. Also, through innovations and a more thorough use of rural facilities, they can achieve financial solvency and survivability.\n\n[Also: Texas rural communities endangered as spiral of hospital closures continues with two more]\n\nThe authors highlighted a case study from North Carolina to illustrate how the model might operate. Carolinas HealthCare System Anson in Wadesboro had the opportunity to rebuild their hospital and based their approach on a \"community-focused care model.\"\n\nAnson County's population is a prototypical snapshot of rural America, the authors said. It includes 27,000 residents, two-thirds of which are obese. Also, 30 percent have hypertension and 20 percent have heart disease. Nineteen percent don't have insurance. Only 19 percent have a primary care physician while almost 30 percent of patients who show up at the ED could be treated in a primary care setting.\n\n[Also: CHC launches new hospital collaborative aimed at saving financially struggling rurals]\n\nThe original hospital also mirrored the struggles of many US rural hospitals. The building was an old, 52-bed hospital with an average daily inpatient volume between 3 and 5 patients.\n\nThe final design of the 43,000-square-foot new hospital is built around an ED and primary care clinic that share the same space. There are no walls separating the ED from primary care and all patient rooms are in one bay. The staffing stations are in the middle. The ED operates 24/7 and has 10 beds and one trauma room.\n\nThe primary care side has 11 rooms and an additional space for specialists to treat patients on a rotating basis. Their average volume is 2 or 3 inpatients a night, typically staying between 48 to 72 hours, mostly for observation. Acute patients are transported to larger hospitals.\n\n[Also: Rural hospitals struggling, serving populations with many health disparities, report finds]\n\nTo facilitate patient flow, an ED nurse and a physician assistant screen each patient on arrival to determine what kind of care is needed. The hospital also staffs a patient navigator and uses behavioral health and care coordination services out of their emergency medicine\u2013primary care core.\n\nTo address further challenges like missed appointments, the hospitals offer van service for patients to transport them for visits. The service is coordinated through a patient navigator who schedules the rides. Community advocates in schools, churches and workplaces monitor and report on community needs.\n\n\"Our model leverages the strengths of a diverse health care workforce and is both provider and patient focused. It acknowledges the fact that a rural ED might be the closest point of contact for rural patients. It illustrates how rural EDs and rural hospitals can be optimized to guide patients to the ideal type of care.\"\n\nTwitter: @BethJSanborn", "output": "Emergency doctors in Michigan are proposing a new delivery model for healthcare that will blend primary care with rural hospital emergency departments. This could be the solution for providing rural populations with the healthcare they require, by making emergency providers and primary care practitioners work collaboratively to boost capacity and address social needs. The increasingly innovative healthcare sector could also help to keep both primary care and emergency facilities financially solvent. Rural populations often suffer from a lack of available doctors and emergency care facilities, with patients often lacking insurance or primary care physicians. The new model could help to better triage patients and to provide improved outpatient care, combining transport for patients, providing community advocates and expanding coverage.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk [2]: Wireless WAN failover suggested after rats take down TalkTalk in South London \n Customers of both Sky and TalkTalk were left without service after the incident was first reported on Thursday evening, with both firms apologising for the fault.\n\nSky tweeted to say the service had been restored on Saturday morning, although a number of customers in the UK capital complained they were left unable to establish an internet connection.\n\nSky Help Team tweeted on Saturday morning: \"South London. Engineers have continued to work overnight & will continue through the day. More updates to follow.\"\n\nTalkTalk said affected areas included Balham, South Clapham, Streatham, Tootig, and Vauxhall, with 96 Virgin Media cables damaged overall.\n\nService appeared to be fully restored by Sunday 13 July. A number of customers took to Twitter to complain that the problem had taken too long to fix.\n\nHubert Da Costa, VP EMEA at Cradlepoint, warned operators and businesses should ensure they have in place a reliable failover for situations such as this. Da Costa added: \u201cWhen wired internet connectivity experiences a service disruption businesses are exposed to risks of lost revenue, productivity and customer experience issues. The most effective way of avoiding network downtime is to ensure there is a reliable failover.\n\n\"Upgrading to a more robust wired connection is one possible solution \u2013 but it\u2019s expensive and is still susceptible to outages and service disruption. An alternative option is to bridge the inevitable gap with wireless WAN failover. This option is quick and easy to deploy. Ultimately, when network connections fail, there will be a loss of productivity, brand credibility and revenue. In my experience, there are few businesses that can afford to take that risk.\u201d", "output": "Sky and TalkTalk broadband users in South London were left without service at the weekend after rats chewed through fibre cables. \u201cThe most effective way of avoiding network downtime is to ensure there is a reliable failover\u201c, said Hubert Da Costa, VP EMEA at Cradlepoint, who suggesting bridging the gap to an expensive wired connection upgrade with wireless WAN failover. \u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Stop Treating 70- and 90-Year-Olds the Same \n Every summer around this time, pediatricians\u2019 offices are flooded with children getting the vaccines they need to start another year of school.\n\nDoctors base their advice on which shots patients should get when on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s vaccine recommendations. The guidelines are presented in two schedules, one for children, the other for adults, both divided into subgroups based on developmental biology and social behaviors common at different ages. Unfortunately, there\u2019s a major problem with the guidelines. And it\u2019s representative of a larger failing in our health care system.\n\nThere are 17 subgroupings for children from birth through age 18. That makes sense because, of course, a 6-month-old has had little time to develop immunity, weighs far less than an 8-year-old and is exposed to fewer people than a teenager. There are five subgroups for adults. But all Americans 65 and older \u2014 including the two fastest-growing segments of our population, the 80- to 90-year-olds and those over 100 \u2014 are lumped in a single group, as if bodies and behaviors don\u2019t change over the last half-century of life.\n\nYou don\u2019t need to be a doctor to see that this is absurd. Just as we don\u2019t confuse toddlers with teenagers, or young adults with their middle-age parents, so, too, are we able to distinguish 70-year-olds from the nonagenarians a generation ahead of them.", "output": "Despite there being 17 subgroupings for children between the ages of 0 \u2013 18 years, there are only five subgroups for adults, with Americans aged 65 and older categorized as the same. This method of grouping means that older adults are being treated the same, in spite of the physiological changes that occur within the last 35 years of life. The difference between the \u201cyoung old\u201d and the \u201cold old\u201d is significant, with immune systems becoming weaker in later life, leading to increased rates of hospitalization and susceptibility to infections. Immunizations are less effective, meaning that older adults may require different doses of vaccines, more frequent vaccinations or even vaccines that are entirely different from a biological perspective. Procedures may provide little benefit to older patients, or even cause permanent decline. These issues could be tackled with more specific guidelines for health professionals, covering stressors such as poverty, illness, incarceration or racial prejudice that may prematurely push patients from adulthood into \u201coldhood\u201d. A push for a greater focus on the older generation in medical studies could also help to better tailor healthcare. The CDC should extend childhood and adulthood classifications to include oldhood, and mandate older adults to be included in clinical studies.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK and Indian tech institute work\u00a0on IoT security blockchain \n A UK university has partnered with an Indian tech institute to examine Blockchain protection against future cyberattacks like WannaCry.\n\nCity University London and Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur will work together via a consortium which will focus specifically on arming health care entities and Internet of Things (IoT) components against the effects of international cybercrime.\n\nThe UK\u2019s National Health Service was a major victim of WannaCry earlier this year after hackers found easy prey in the state-run network\u2019s legacy operating systems.\n\n\u201cOur consortium will be exploring the use of a privacy-preserving Blockchain architecture for IoT applications in healthcare data-sharing, using attribute-based encryption (ABE) to provide greater security for the devices,\u201d Muttukrishnan Rajarajan, professor of network engineering at City University said, quoted by local news resource Internet of Business.\n\nResearch into the capabilities of WannaCry internationally cast further doubt on the ability of certain countries, India among them, to resist infection.\n\nIn particular, India\u2019s ATM network could have succumbed to the malicious parties, reports suggested at the time.\n\nRajarajan said that security of IoT devices used in health networks and elsewhere would also form an area of investigation.\n\nOther countries have been experimenting with Blockchain healthcare for some time, notably Estonia, which has sought to put its records on the Blockchain to increase both flexibility and security.\n\nThe NHS also faced calls to meet attackers with Blockchain tools immediately following the hack.", "output": "City University London and the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur will develop a blockchain for internet of things (IoT) applications, with a specific focus on protecting healthcare networks. The blockchain will use attribute-based encryption to improve the security of data shared between IoT devices, said Muttukrishnan Rajarajan, professor of network engineering at City University. This comes after the WannaCry ransomware attacks exposed widespread vulnerabilities in cybersecurity.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lyft looks for new roles for drivers when fleet goes autonomous \n Lyft still sees a place for human drivers in an autonomous fleet There are certain things that self-driving cars just can't do.\n\nThe prospect of self-driving cars is particularly concerning to people who make their living by driving, whether it's a taxi or working for Uber or Lyft. Companies such as Lyft have made no secret about being interesting in adding autonomous vehicles to their fleets. But where does this leave their human drivers? Lyft's product director Taggart Matthiesen told Recode that while the company is focusing on self-driving tech, they will always employ people as drivers.\n\nMatthiesen explains that the company already has an advisory board that is working on how human drivers will fit into a vision of a driverless fleet. Humans can do things that self-driving cars simply cannot, such as help with suitcases or assist passengers with mobility impairments. He explained, \"There are things we're doing beyond getting a passenger from point A to point B, additional services that we as a company can look at.\"\n\nStill, it's likely that eventually that most of Lyft's drivers will eventually be replaced by self-driving tech. Last month, the company announced they were opening a research division in Palo Alto focused exclusively on autonomous vehicles. Human drivers may serve more of a concierge function, taking on passengers that need extra help, while self-driving cars will likely take on the bulk of straightforward rides.", "output": "Ride-hailing company Lyft is working on autonomous driving technology, but plans to keep drivers as well. The company has set up an advisory board that will explore how best to keep drivers employed while operating a driverless fleet, such as by providing assistance with luggage or aiding those with mobility impairments. However, it is still probable that Lyft will replace most drivers with autonomous technology; the company has opened a research division in Palo Alto dedicated to self-driving vehicles."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "House prices in regional UK tech hubs show highest gains \n Technical hubs that create employment are also having an effect on house prices with locations such as Cambridge, Reading and Oxford seeing values rise substantially since 2012.\n\nLondon is known for having a thriving tech sector but other cities in the UK are also benefitting with new research also suggesting that Manchester, Glasgow, Leeds and Liverpool are set to be digital hotspots too.\n\nThe research looked at 30 digital tech hubs, including London, identified in the latest Tech Nation 2017 report and then ranked each city by average house price, number of digital jobs and digital tech sector growth potential.\n\nThe analysis from online estate agents HouseSimple research found that the established tech hubs of Cambridge, Reading and Oxford, with more than 100,000 digital jobs between them, have seen some of the highest property price increases over the past five years of anywhere in the UK.\n\nTheir booming tech economies have resulted in a 43% rise in property prices in Oxford and Cambridge, and almost 54% in Reading since 2012. That compares with a 31% average price increase for the UK over the same period.\n\nThe research also found that two of the emerging digital tech hubs Ipswich and Exeter, have seen the largest average property price rises over the past 12 months, of any of the 30 regional tech hubs, up 8.9% in Ipswich and 8.7% in Exeter, almost double the UK average.\n\nLooking ahead at cities with the highest digital tech growth potential and most affordable property prices, Manchester came out on top with an average house price of \u00a3161,611, more than 60,000 digital jobs and tech sector growth potential of 85%. The report suggests that Manchester is well placed to prosper when Britain leaves the European Union.\n\nGlasgow was next with average house prices just \u00a3119,487, and tech sector growth potential of 81%. However, the city currently has a third of the digital jobs in Manchester. Leeds placed third, with slightly higher average property prices than Manchester at \u00a3171,052, but the second highest tech sector growth potential of any of the regional tech hubs at 92%.\n\nAlthough London has established itself as one of the world\u2019s top tech capitals, average house prices at \u00a3481,345 are three times higher than in Manchester and four times higher than in Glasgow. As a result, London only ranks 19th, with the report suggesting that it is vulnerable to a mass exodus of digital talent to the thriving regional tech hubs where business costs are cheaper and housing is considerably more affordable.\n\n\u2018Britain was described by Chancellor Philip Hammond as an innovation powerhouse and the digital tech sector is predicted to lead the way when we leave the EU. The digital economy is expanding rapidly, creating new jobs and opportunities in cities across the UK,\u2019 said Alex Gosling, HouseSimple chief executive officer.\n\nHe pointed out that while London has been the beacon for the digital tech sector in the UK, it could be affected by the high cost of living and unaffordable property prices has seen an exodus of tech workers and tech businesses.\n\n\u2018With tech start-ups able to tap into a growing pool of highly skilled workers outside the capital, the regional tech hubs are thriving. In fact, according to the latest Tech Nation report 68% of total UK digital tech investment in 2016 was in regional clusters beyond London,\u2019 Gosling explained.\n\n\u2018Regional tech hubs are set to boom over the next few years, as the local digital economies become more established. And the regions best placed to take advantage of the investment being pumped into the digital tech sector will be the ones that can offer not just the best job opportunities but also the best quality of life,\u2019 he added.", "output": "Technology hubs in the UK are having a positive effect on the housing market, with house prices in cities such as Reading, Cambridge and Oxford rising steeply since\u00a02012, according to digital estate agents HouseSimple. The research looked at\u00a030 cities, including London,\u00a0and found there was a 43% rise in house prices in Oxford and Cambridge, with a near 54% rise in Reading, compared with an average increase of 31% across the UK since 2102. In\u00a0newer high-tech\u00a0hubs such as Ipswich, Exeter and Manchester, there has been a rise of up to 8.9% in house prices over the past 12 months.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Management consultants take bigger role in planning media spend \n Management consultancies are turning the trust problem between advertisers and their media agencies into an opportunity to muscle in on the number of budgets increasingly prioritizing planning over buying.\n\nThere\u2019s growing unease about the lack of transparency in media. As a result, management consultancies see a bigger role for themselves in helping marketers spend their money.\n\nMany of Accenture Interactive\u2019s global clients have asked for help in recent months in examining how they buy advertising, said managing director Joydeep Bhattacharya.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re experiencing a lot of requests from clients asking, \u2018How can you make the [media planning] process more transparent\u2019 for the effectiveness of where they\u2019re spending?\u201d Bhattacharya said.\n\nSome of Accenture Interactive\u2019s clients, as a result, have shifted some of their display ad spending to search and video, the latter to do more addressable advertising. The rethink of clients\u2019 digital ad spending coincides with Facebook\u2019s and Google\u2019s efforts to nurture more strategic partnerships. Bhattacharya added, \u201cWhile they\u2019re dominant players, they\u2019re quite aware that if results are not good from where clients are spending their media money, then effectively they will shift from one supplier to another.\u201d\n\nProcter & Gamble and Unilever did this during the last quarter of this year. P&G ran ads on 978 sites between January and May, down 33 percent from the same period in 2016, according to MediaRadar. Similarly, Unilever ads appeared on 540 sites between January and May, down 11 percent from the same time frame last year.\n\nManagement consultants said they\u2019re expecting more of the same as more marketers question why their ads are appearing in the wrong places. Consider Heineken, setting up its own ad server and data-management platform to temper some of those concerns, or Honda\u2019s decision to award its business to independent RPA.\n\nAs the likes of Accenture Interactive, Deloitte Digital and PwC push their way closer to the CMO, they insist it will not be to the detriment of the big media buying shops, whose businesses they are disrupting the most. Between Accenture Interactive\u2019s rush to make programmatic premium by chasing brand-building budgets and Deloitte\u2019s Digital bid to position itself as an objective media buyer in an industry marred by transparency concerns, the trading of media to the consulting groups is a small but key part of a broader plan. They want to be the place advertisers turn to when they want media strategy, media buying and media effectiveness\n\nID Comms, a media-management firm that advises marketers, has noticed consultancies showing up on its projects with global and regional advertisers, including some media pitches. ID Comms said these companies can have sway in directing advertisers in ways that go beyond the limits of the media agency\u2019s role.\n\nHowever, Sam Tomlinson, a partner at PwC, said PwC\u2019s role on similar projects is more nuanced than that. \u201cIt\u2019s often portrayed as consultancies stepping on the toes of media agencies,\u201d he said, \u201cbut you could equally argue that by focusing on digital strategy, those same agencies are moving into our area of expertise.\u201d\n\nWith the heightened scrutiny into digital spending, PwC sees a chance to increase its auditing business, or \u201cmedia assurance\u201d as it calls it. PwC saw a rise in audit requests in the wake of the brand-safety scandal earlier this year.\n\n\u201cRebates are important and shouldn\u2019t be overlooked, but right now, CMOs are probably more concerned with whether their digital ads are being viewed by a human, meet a viewability standard and what sort of content the ad appears alongside,\u201d said Tomlinson.\n\nFor some time, holding companies have been trying to shift their business models from the ruthlessly commoditized trading budgets to more premium planning briefs. This is where the management consultants have played for some time and are now redoubling efforts to shore up ahead of increased competition. Out of 42 U.S. pitches research firm Comvergence has tracked so far this year, 16 have moved to independents. Those 16 accounts totaled more than $2 billion in spend.\n\nCompanies like Accenture Interactive, Deloitte Digital and PwC see a chance to advise advertisers on issues such as effectiveness, commercial value, user attention and inventory quality. They insist that they\u2019re not looking to handle media spending, which is a lower-margin business than the consulting work they do.\n\n\u201cClients are turning to consultancies like Deloitte Digital for this type of service now because we\u2019re a one-stop shop with an ultimate goal of bringing their business ambitions to life,\u201d said Andy Main, CEO of Deloitte Digital. \u201cIt\u2019s fair to say we are a friend to the media-buying industry, not a threat, because we are doing big business transformation projects that talk about its rebranding, which is helpful to the media-buying industries.\u201d\n\nImage courtesy Accenture Interactive", "output": "Advertisers are turning to management consultancies for help in getting more control over their purchasing, as brands become concerned about the lack of transparency\u00a0in the media planning process. Badly placed ads and misleading metrics have engendered a lack of trust between advertisers and media agencies, so consultants\u00a0such as PwC, Accenture Interactive and Deloitte Digital now offer\u00a0clients \u201cmedia assurance\u201d measures like auditing and advisory services to help direct media spending in areas such as programmatic planning. However, consultants have said they are not looking to move into directing media spend as media agencies' margins are lower\u00a0than those of their own services.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese researchers design barrel to manage oil spills \n A barrel designed to spontaneously remove oil from water could offer a rapid and simple remedy to spills at sea.\n\nMillions of gallons of oil enter the world\u2019s oceans each year, yet oil clean-up methods, including floating barriers, sponges and dispersants, are often slow, complex or inefficient.\n\nNow, scientists in China have developed a cylindrical container that, dropped into contaminated water, collects oil through an array of microscopic holes in an aluminium sheet. The outer face of the sheet is fluorinated and highly hydrophobic, attracting oil through the holes, but not water. The inner face is highly hydrophilic and pre-coated with water, preventing exit of the collected oil.\n\nThis two-faced \u2018Janus barrel\u2019 can soak up surface slicks as well as oil droplets dispersed in choppy water. Once collected, the oil can be easily syphoned out of the barrel, which can then be immediately reused. So far, the team have only tested small-volume barrels, but they work quickly. A scaled-up version could collect thousands of litres of oil in minutes.", "output": "Chinese scientists have designed a high-tech barrel that is capable separating oil from water, and could offer a cheap and effective solution to oil spills. Called the Janus barrel, it\u00a0collects oil from water using microscopic holes on its side. The outer surface of the barrel is hydrophobic, meaning that only oil will pass through the holes, while the inner section is hydrophilic, preventing the oil from escaping the container. The equipment can be used again immediately once the oil is siphoned from the barrel."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fennex app turns Apple AirPods into smartphone hearing aids \n The Fennex app, currently free though it may eventually charge for certain features, is still in its earliest days. Mari says today\u2019s version functions like a \u201ccheap hearing aid\u201d: it simply tests your hearing in each ear and uses those results to act as a personalized, adjustable amplifier. If you\u2019re having trouble hearing in a class, for instance, you could place your phone near the lectern while you\u2019re sitting a few rows back and listening in on a pair of AirPods.\n\nBut upgrades are coming, Mari says: the app is slated to gain features that will help reduce unwanted noise and feedback. And beyond helping people who just want to hear better in some situations, the software could eventually work with with Apple\u2019s hardware to serve as a viable alternative to a regular hearing aid for people who have moderate hearing loss, he believes.\n\n\u201cWe want to get as close as we can to hearing aid technology,\u201d he says.\n\nFennex is latching on to a broader trend in using smartphones and earbuds to augment hearing, both for people with hearing loss and for those who simply want to adjust how they hear. Already, there are some similar apps that work with earbuds and smartphones, like Petralex, as well as specialized earbuds that work with their own smartphone apps, like Doppler Labs\u2019 Here One. Unlike hearing aids, which can cost thousands of dollars for a pair, these so-called hearables may cost up to a few hundred dollars on top of the price of a smartphone.\n\nFennex claims to be the only one designed for the AirPods specifically. And since Apple is clearly moving away from the traditional headphone jack\u2014it cut it out of the iPhones released last year and included just its proprietary Lightning connector for charging\u2014it is possible that in the coming years AirPods will become a lot common.\n\nLarry Humes, a distinguished professor of speech and hearing sciences at Indiana University Bloomington, is optimistic that something like Fennex could take the place of a traditional hearing aid for those with mild to moderate hearing loss. He thinks the recent passage of legislation that orders the FDA to create a new class of over-the-counter hearing aids could help, too, as he expects it will lead to a range of hearing-related products that people can get without needing to visit a doctor.\n\nHowever, as Mari knows, it\u2019s clearly a risk to focus on making software for one pair of earbuds, since Fennex can\u2019t control what Apple does with its hardware or the access it gives to developers who want to develop software that works with it.\n\nThere\u2019s also the issue of hearing delays. Fennex works by using the AirPods\u2019 microphones to record sounds in the world around you, after which it sends the audio to the iPhone app for processing and then back to the earbuds. The delay, for now, is 130 milliseconds, which might be fine for listening but is noticeable if you\u2019re trying to engage in a conversation.", "output": "Swiss start-up Fennex has released an app for the iPhone which turns Apple's AirPod wireless earbuds into a cheap hearing aid. The app tests users' hearing in each ear and modulates volume specific to each user's hearing ability. It will soon offer features to help users reduce unwanted noise and feedback, Fennex said. The app is only supported by Apple because an Android phone experiences more latency when processing sound, said Fennex CEO Alex Mari.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mastercard could face \u00a314bn class action in UK \n A proposed \u00a314bn class action lawsuit against Mastercard is being revived after lawyers filed to appeal against a ruling that barred the case from heading to trial last month.\n\nLawyers for former financial ombudsman Walter Merricks have made their application to the UK\u2019s Competition Appeal Tribunal just weeks after it refused to certify his claim.\n\nMerricks\u2019 claim was lodged on behalf of nearly 46 million consumers and alleged that Mastercard\u2019s interchange fees forced consumers to pay higher prices to businesses that accept the credit card over a 16-year period, therefore breaching EU competition law. The damages being sought were more than \u00a314bn.\n\nThe tribunal last month ruled that the case could not proceed through a so-called collective action, saying that even if losses had been suffered and could be estimated across the whole class, there was no way of ensuring that an individual would receive an amount compensating for any loss suffered.\n\nMerricks says that the tribunal should have considered the \u201cclear policy intent\u201d behind the claim against Mastercard.\n\n\u201cIn essence this is a simple case. It has been conclusively established that Mastercard acted unlawfully and anti-competitively in imposing excessive credit and debit card fees,\u201d Merricks said.\n\nHe added: \u201cIf I can establish the total amount of harm that Mastercard has caused to UK consumers, then why should consumers then get nothing at all if I cannot calculate the precise loss that each individual consumer suffered?\n\n\u201cRather than allow consumer recovery, this would reward unlawful conduct by allowing companies to keep their ill-gotten gains.\u2019\n\nMastercard has until 8 September to respond to the filing, after which point the tribunal could decide to hold a hearing on the appeal application before issuing its judgment.\n\nA spokesman for Mastercard, which last month said it welcomed the tribunal\u2019s ruling, said that an appeal against the CAT\u2019s decision would be \u201cwithout merit\u201d.\n\n\u201cConsumers across the UK and around the world derive real value from Mastercard\u2019s payments technology through the benefits of security, convenience and consumer protection.\n\n\u201cWe believe that any appeal or review by Walter Merricks is without merit and that the Competition Appeal Tribunal\u2019s judgment to refuse certification for the proposed collective action was the correct decision.\n\n\u201cMastercard maintains that this claim is completely unsuitable to be brought under the collective actions regime.\u201d", "output": "Mastercard faces the revival of a \u00a314bn ($18bn) class action lawsuit which was barred from heading to trial last month. Lawyers for Walter Merricks, the former financial ombudsman, filed an application to the UK\u2019s Competition Appeal Tribunal after the ruling. Merricks, who claims that Mastercard\u2019s interchange fees breached EU competition law by forcing consumers to pay more to firms accepting the credit card, lodged his claim on behalf of almost 46 million consumers. The tribunal had ruled that the case could not proceed as there was no means of ensuring individuals would receive an amount compensating for their loss."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US K-12 teachers struggle to implement\u00a0personalised learning \n Personalized learning, which gives students a choice in how they receive education, often with technology, has effectively increased students\u2019 college readiness and graduation rates at some schools. But, when implementing personalized learning initiatives, educators have faced many hurdles.\n\nA recent study by Rand of 40 K\u201312 schools with personalized learning initiatives finds that teachers had difficulty implementing the education innovation, reports Education Week. Teachers tell Rand they didn\u2019t have enough time to develop customized lessons or to balance the priorities of offering this kind of instruction versus meeting common standards. The educators report that when students worked at their own pace, many of them worked too slowly.\n\nThe study also reveals that the schools found a lack of high-quality digital instruction materials.\n\nHowever, the Rand study finds that personalized learning provided teachers more one-on-one time with students, which boosted their understanding of where each student stood academically. Students also saw small gains in math and reading scores with a customized education, adding to the hope that with proper implementation personalized learning can be successful.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s important to set expectations. This may not work everywhere, and it requires careful thought about the context that enables it to work well,\u201d says John F. Pane, a senior scientist at Rand, in the Education Week article.\n\nThe Keys to Personalized Learning Success\n\nThe Rand study recommends that state and district policymakers lead the way for personalized learning implementation by allowing for flexibility in course progressions; revising grading policies to fit competency-based standards; and communicating these standards clearly to students, families and educators. The study also indicates that at the district and state levels, policymakers can look to early adopters of personalized learning programs for tips on proper application.\n\nThis is the impetus behind Rhode Island\u2019s Lighthouse Schools Challenge Grant. As part of the state\u2019s effort to foster more widespread personalized learning, policymakers challenged early adopters to submit models of personalized learning that can be adapted on a wide scale. The state\u2019s Office of Innovation aims to offer support for learning efforts, curriculum changes and technology use.\n\nRand suggests that districts and schools provide teachers with the resources and the time to pilot new instructional approaches and collaborate with their peers on new ideas.\n\nFuture Ready Schools\u2019 guidelines indicate that giving teachers the same personalized learning experience for professional development is also quite beneficial.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s promise here,\u201d Pane tells Education Week. \u201cBut, we have to do the scale-up in a way that\u2019s cautious and thoughtful.\u201d", "output": "US K-12 teachers are finding it difficult to implement personalised learning, despite the method being proven to increase students\u2019 readiness to go on to college, according to a study by research firm Rand. Teachers do not have the time or resources to create customised lesson plans or focus on higher level teaching on top of making sure students reached basic standards. Furthermore, many personalised learning programmes\u00a0let some\u00a0students work too slowly. However, the study found personalised learning provides teachers with more individual time with students, giving them\u00a0slightly better scores.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK needs more flexible working and paternity leave: EHRC \n Sweeping employment changes, including advertising all UK jobs with flexible working and giving fathers additional paternity leave, should be made to tackle the gender pay gap, the equalities watchdog has recommended.\n\nOffering flexible hours to all job applicants will help combat pay disparities between men and women, while increasing job opportunities for disabled people, according to the Equality and Human Rights Commission.\n\nThe recommendations form part of a strategy for tackling pay imbalances across gender, ethnicity and disability, outlined in a report published on Tuesday that shows some of the biggest divisions in salaries across the country. The watchdog\u2019s findings come weeks after the BBC revealed a vast disparity between the pay rates of its highest-earning men and women.\n\nCaroline Waters, the deputy chair of the EHRC, said: \u201cWe need new ideas to bring down pay gaps. While there has been some progress, it has been painfully slow. We need radical change now, otherwise we\u2019ll be having the same conversation for decades to come.\u201d\n\nBritain should follow Scandinavian countries in offering working fathers greater levels of paid paternity leave, the report said, which could prompt more men to request flexible working arrangements. This in turn would help alleviate pressure on women to take lengthier breaks or leave their jobs. Research from the Trades Union Congress shows that by 42, mothers who are in full-time work earn 11% less than women without children who work full-time.\n\nDuring the general election campaign, Theresa May pledged to tackle the \u201cinjustice\u201d of the gender pay gap, pay disparity between ethnic groups and discrimination against disabled people. She argued that companies should be made to disclose how pay rates vary by ethnicity, while ministers have promised to take action on the gender pay gap in the public and private sectors. All employers with more than 250 staff will have to publicly report their gender pay gap from next year.\n\nHowever, Labour criticised the government earlier this month for being happy to \u201ctalk the talk\u201d while failing to take action, after the Guardian found that it would take the civil service more than 37 years to achieve pay equality between men and women, amid widening gaps at one in four government departments over the past decade.\n\nFigures in the EHRC report show that while the gender pay gap is 18.1%, there is also an ethnic minority imbalance of 5.7% and a disability pay gap of 13.6%. While the differences are smaller than between men and women, there are stark contrasts for certain groups.\n\nMale Bangladeshi immigrants had the largest pay gap of 48% compared with white British men, while men with epilepsy earn 40% less than those without the condition. Despite these figures, most female ethnic minority groups had a pay advantage over white British women.\n\nResearch from the Resolution Foundation thinktank published earlier this month found that minority ethnic families in the UK earn as much as \u00a38,900 a year less than their white British counterparts.\n\nMen with depression or anxiety have a pay gap of about 30%, while women with mental health problems earn 10% less, according to the EHRC report. The research also shows that women, disabled people and people from ethnic minorities are more likely to be paid less than the \u201cnational living wage\u201d of \u00a37.50 per hour for over 25s.\n\nThe EHRC said the public sector has a smaller gender pay gap than the private sector, while countries across Europe in which higher proportions of fathers take longer-term parental leave tend to have smaller disparities.\n\nLast month, a string of high-profile female BBC employees, including Clare Balding, Emily Maitlis and Kirsty Wark, wrote to the BBC director general, Tony Hall, demanding action. Hall responded by saying he hoped to close the gap at the corporation before 2020.\n\nDr Carole Easton, the chief executive of the Young Women\u2019s Trust, welcomed the EHRC\u2019s proposal for more equal childcare responsibility. \u201cWithout action, today\u2019s young women face a lifetime of unequal pay,\u201d she said.", "output": "The gender pay gap in the UK should be tackled through widespread changes to employment practices, including offering flexible working to all job applicants and additional paternity leave, according to the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The recommendations are part of a strategy to combat pay imbalances relating to disability, ethnicity and gender. The report reveals pay gaps of 18.1% for gender, 5.7% for ethnicity and 13.6% for disability. The largest pay gap was experienced by male Bangladeshi immigrants at 48% compared to white British men. However, most female ethnic minority groups had a pay advantage over white British women."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scientists trialling stem cells implants to cure type 1 diabetes \n Stem cells have been cultured to treat many different of conditions Lewis Houghton/Science Photo Library\n\nLast week, two people with type 1 diabetes became the first to receive implants containing cells generated from embryonic stem cells to treat their condition. The hope is that when blood sugar levels rise, the implants will release insulin to restore them to normal.\n\nAbout 10 per cent of the 422 million people who have diabetes worldwide have type 1 diabetes, which is caused by the body\u2019s immune system mistakenly attacking cells in the pancreas that make insulin. For more than 15 years, researchers have been trying to find a way to use stem cells to replace these, but there have been several hurdles \u2013 not least, how to get the cells to work in the body.\n\nViacyte, a company in San Diego, California, is trying a way to get round this. The firm\u2019s credit-card-sized implant, called PEC-Direct, contain cells derived from stem cells that can mature inside the body into the specialised islet cells that get destroyed in type 1 diabetes.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe implant sits just below the skin, in the forearm, for example, and is intended to automatically compensate for the missing islet cells, releasing insulin when blood sugar levels get too high.\n\n\u201cIf it works, we would call it a functional cure,\u201d says Paul Laikind, of Viacyte. \u201cIt\u2019s not truly a cure because we wouldn\u2019t address the autoimmune cause of the disease, but we would be replacing the missing cells.\u201d\n\nMonitoring the blood\n\nA similar device has already been safety tested in 19 people with diabetes, using smaller numbers of cells. Once implanted, the progenitor cells housed in the device did mature into islet cells, but the trial didn\u2019t use enough cells to try to treat the condition.\n\nNow Viacyte has implanted PEC-Direct packages containing the cells into two people with type 1 diabetes. A third person will also get the implant in the near future. Once inside the body, pores in the outer fabric of the device allow blood vessels to penetrate inside, nourishing the islet progenitor cells. Once these cells have matured \u2013 which should take about three months \u2013 the hope is that they will be able to monitor sugar levels in the blood, and release insulin as required.\n\nIf effective, it could free people with type 1 diabetes from having to closely monitor their blood sugar levels and inject insulin, although they would need to take immunosuppressive drugs to stop their bodies from destroying the new cells.\n\nPlentiful supply\n\n\u201cIf successful, this strategy could really change the way we treat type 1 diabetes in the future,\u201d says Emily Burns of the charity Diabetes UK. A similar way to treat the condition with pancreas cells from organ donors has been in use for nearly 20 years, successfully freeing recipients from insulin injections, but a shortage of donors limits how many people are able to have this treatment.\n\nThis isn\u2019t a problem with stem cells. The embryonic stem cells used to make the progenitor cells originally came from a spare early stage embryo donated by a woman who was having IVF. Because embryonic stem cells, and the progenitor cells made from them, can be multiplied in limitless amounts, Laikind says that, if the treatment works, the method would be able to treat everyone who has the condition.\n\n\u201cA limitless source of human insulin-producing cells would be a major step forward on the journey to a potential cure for diabetes,\u201d says James Shapiro at the University of Alberta, Canada, who has collaborated with Viacyte on this project, and who pioneered the donor pancreas method decades ago. \u201cFor sure, this will in the end prove to be a durable landmark for progress in diabetes care.\u201d", "output": "Scientists from biotech firm Viacyte are trialling a stem cell implant treatment to cure type 1 diabetes. Using embryonic stem cells, the credit card-sized PEC-Direct implants release insulin to return blood sugar levels to normal. The implant is put below the skin of the forearm, and the cells within should automatically balance the body\u2019s system to account for diabetes sufferers\u2019 missing islet cells. The implants are being trialled on two patients, with maturation due within three months. The system could provide a cure for the type 1 disease, which affects 10% of the 422 million diabetes sufferers worldwide.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "3D printing lowers surgery costs and waiting times \n Using 3D printing, a team from the University of California San Diego and Rady Children\u2019s Hospital has reduced surgery time by approximately 25 percent.\n\nThe project focused on treatment of the most common hip disorder occurring in children aged between 9 and 16. The finding of the study are published in the Journal of Children\u2019s Orthopaedics.\n\nEngineers working together with pediatric orthopedic surgeons created surgical planning models using a 3D printer. The study compared the operating time on 5 patients where the 3D printed models were used to a control group of a further 5 patients.\n\nDr. Vidyadhar Upasani, pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Rady Children\u2019s and UC San Diego, is the lead author of the study. Speaking about the results he said, \u201cBeing able to practice on these 3D-models is crucial,\u201d said and the paper\u2019s senior author.\n\nSaving money and time with 3D printing\n\nThe study calculates that by using a 3D printed model to plan the surgery the time savings translate into a cost saving of $2700 per surgery. The models were produced using a moderately priced 3D printer costing $2200. The material cost for each model was approximately $10.\n\nThe research looked at a condition called slipped capital femoral epiphysis. This condition causes the patient\u2019s femur to move against the bone\u2019s growth plate \u2013 leading to deformation. Surgery is required to remove part of the femur and help restore hip function.\n\nPerforming this task in the operating room can be problematic as the areas of focus are not directly visible. Therefore using a 3D printed model to understand the anatomy and challenges of a particular operation in advance is desirable.\n\nPrior to adopting this new approach surgical teams would use X-rays for planning and also during the operation. Using X-ray fluoroscopy in the operating room was not only time-consuming, but also meant additional exposure to radiation for the patient.\n\nFuture research goals\n\nThe work was performed in conjunction with Jason Caffrey, Ph.D. candidate in bioengineering at UCSD, and Lillia Cherkasskiy, currently studying for an M.D. Bioengineering professor Robert Sah, and colleagues were also assisted with the study.\n\nInput data for the 3D prints came from CT scans of the patient\u2019s pelvis. A computer model was then created to visualize the bone and growth plate.\n\nSeeing the benefit of 3D printing, Rady Children\u2019s orthopedics department now has it\u2019s own 3D printer. Dr. Upasani said. \u201cI\u2019ve seen how beneficial 3D models are,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s now hard to plan surgeries without them.\u201d\n\nMembers of the research team are now investigating 3D printed models to assist in the treatment of infant hip dysplasia.\n\nFor all the latest news about 3D printing in healthcare, follow our active social media sites and sign up to the 3D Printing Industry newsletter.\n\nOur 3D printing jobs is launching soon. You can register here.", "output": "Three-dimensional printing has helped cut surgery time and costs at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego. A team from the hospital and the University of California, San Diego used a 3D printer to create surgical training models for treatment of the most common hip problem occurring in children, slipped capital femoral epiphysis. Practice on\u00a0the models saved about $2,700 per operation and reduced surgery time by nearly 25%, according to a study published in the Journal of Children's Orthopaedics.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Virtual reality offers fresh alternatives for therapists \n SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Dawn Jewell recently treated a patient haunted by a car crash. The patient had developed acute anxiety over the cross streets where the crash occurred, unable to drive a route that carried so many painful memories.\n\nSo Dr. Jewell, a psychologist in Colorado, treated the patient through a technique called exposure therapy, providing emotional guidance as they revisited the intersection together.\n\nBut they did not physically return to the site. They revisited it through virtual reality.\n\nDr. Jewell is among a handful of psychologists testing a new service from a Silicon Valley start-up called Limbix that offers exposure therapy through Daydream View, the Google headset that works in tandem with a smartphone.\n\n\u201cIt provides exposure in a way that patients feel safe,\u201d she said. \u201cWe can go to a location together, and the patient can tell me what they\u2019re feeling and what they\u2019re thinking.\u201d", "output": "Virtual reality (VR) is offering therapists a new way of treating patients. Colorado psychologist Dr. Dawn Jewell used exposure therapy to treat a patient who was unable to drive past an intersection where they had been involved in a car crash. But rather than revisiting the site itself, they used a VR service from start-up Limbux, which offers therapy through Google headset Daydream View. The service uses Google Street View to offer exposure in a manner that makes \"patients feel safe\", said Dr. Jewell.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scientists change cell's genetic code for organ repair \n Researchers demonstrate a process known as tissue nanotransfection at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. In laboratory tests, this process was able to heal the badly injured legs of mice in just three weeks with a single touch of this chip. The technology works by converting normal skin cells into vascular cells, which helped heal the wounds. Credit: The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.\n\nResearchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Ohio State's College of Engineering have developed a new technology, Tissue Nanotransfection (TNT), that can generate any cell type of interest for treatment within the patient's own body. This technology may be used to repair injured tissue or restore function of aging tissue, including organs, blood vessels and nerve cells.\n\nResults of the regenerative medicine study published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.\n\n\"By using our novel nanochip technology, injured or compromised organs can be replaced. We have shown that skin is a fertile land where we can grow the elements of any organ that is declining,\" said Dr. Chandan Sen, director of Ohio State's Center for Regenerative Medicine & Cell Based Therapies, who co-led the study with L. James Lee, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering with Ohio State's College of Engineering in collaboration with Ohio State's Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center.\n\nResearchers studied mice and pigs in these experiments. In the study, researchers were able to reprogram skin cells to become vascular cells in badly injured legs that lacked blood flow. Within one week, active blood vessels appeared in the injured leg, and by the second week, the leg was saved. In lab tests, this technology was also shown to reprogram skin cells in the live body into nerve cells that were injected into brain-injured mice to help them recover from stroke. Device instantly delivers new DNA or RNA into living skin cells to change their function. Credit: The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.\n\n\"This is difficult to imagine, but it is achievable, successfully working about 98 percent of the time. With this technology, we can convert skin cells into elements of any organ with just one touch. This process only takes less than a second and is non-invasive, and then you're off. The chip does not stay with you, and the reprogramming of the cell starts. Our technology keeps the cells in the body under immune surveillance, so immune suppression is not necessary,\" said Sen, who also is executive director of Ohio State's Comprehensive Wound Center.\n\nTNT technology has two major components: First is a nanotechnology-based chip designed to deliver cargo to adult cells in the live body. Second is the design of specific biological cargo for cell conversion. This cargo, when delivered using the chip, converts an adult cell from one type to another, said first author Daniel Gallego-Perez, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering and general surgery who also was a postdoctoral researcher in both Sen's and Lee's laboratories.\n\nTNT doesn't require any laboratory-based procedures and may be implemented at the point of care. The procedure is also non-invasive. The cargo is delivered by zapping the device with a small electrical charge that's barely felt by the patient.\n\n\"The concept is very simple,\" Lee said. \"As a matter of fact, we were even surprised how it worked so well. In my lab, we have ongoing research trying to understand the mechanism and do even better. So, this is the beginning, more to come.\"\n\nResearchers plan to start clinical trials next year to test this technology in humans, Sen said.\n\nMore information: Topical tissue nano-transfection mediates non-viral stroma reprogramming and rescue, Nature Nanotechnology (2017). DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2017.134 Journal information: Nature Nanotechnology", "output": "Ohio State University researchers have developed a device which changes the genetic code of cells for treatment inside a patient's body. The non-invasive tissue nanotransfection (TNT) device is placed on the skin, where it can reprogramme cells into elements of any organ using a harmless electrical pulse before being removed. The TNT technology could be used to repair injured or deteriorating\u00a0tissue, giving it potentially revolutionary medical applications\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Photo-sharing app Colorful Balloons trialled by Facebook in China \n Facebook is testing a photo-sharing app called Colorful Balloons in China.\n\nThe social network was banned in China in 2009, but has been working since then to find a way to get reintroduced into the country.\n\nColorful Balloons apes Facebook\u2019s Moments app by allowing users to share photos with friends and family members.\n\nHowever, it doesn\u2019t work through Facebook\u2019s interface but via WeChat, the biggest app in the region, and was released by a local company called Youge Internet Technology.\n\nThe trials were first reported by The New York Times, which described the quiet rollout as \u201cunprecedented\u201d and evidence of how Facebook is trying to \u201csee how Chinese users digitally share information with their friends or interact with their favorite social media platforms.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile, Facebook told The Verge that it is \u201cspending time understanding and learning more about the country in different ways. Our focus right now is on helping Chinese businesses and developers expand to new markets outside China by using our ad platform.\u201d", "output": "Facebook has been trialling its photo-sharing app Colorful Balloons among users in China. The social media platform has been looking for a way to re-enter the Chinese market since it was banned in 2009. Colorful Balloons lets users share photos with family and friends, in a similar manner to Facebook's Moments app, however it works through WeChat rather than Facebook's own interface."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Flo adds $5m to its AI-driven women's health platform \n AI-driven women\u2019s health platform Flo has raised $5 million in a Series A funding round, led by Flint Capital, which, along with Haxus Fund, tossed in $1 million in seed round funding in December 2016.\n\n\n\nOther investors in the Series A round include Natalia Vodianova, a supermodel and social activist who also joined the company\u2019s board of directors, as well as a handful of angel investors.\n\n\n\nSince its launch as a period tracker in October 2015, Flo has attracted over 10 million monthly active users, and is currently adding about million of them each month. Some of the new features include personalized health insights and a closed, anonymous community of experts and peers, which have helped the product evolve into a more comprehensive platform.\n\n\n\nFlo recently added a pregnancy mode, and with the move, it has fashioned an identity for itself as a tailored health solution for women at any stage of the reproductive cycle: teenagers, those willing to conceive, pregnant women, young moms, women going through menopause, etc. Currently, close to 100,000 women get pregnant each month with help from Flo.\n\n\n\n\u201cFlo is a strong tool for preventive medicine, including period tracking, pregnancy mode and more,\u201d said Yuri Gurski, Flo founder and president, in a statement. \u201cUsers can simply download Flo to track periods, but then continue to use it to better understand their body, feel calm and confident about their health. Users enjoy AI-driven personalized health insights based on their logs, and a closed anonymous space to socialize with peers and get experts\u2019 opinion. Most importantly, users\u2019 data is a 100 percent secure and confidential, as the company maintains highest levels of data security standards.\u201d\n\n\n\nWith fresh support from Vodianova, Flo has earmarked the month of September to launch its \u201cLet\u2019s Talk About It. Period.\u201d ad campaign, which will encourage women to speak freely about their bodies, and their physical and mental well-being.\n\n\n\nThe company cites experience as the primary driver behind its swift progress. Among its co-founders are Yuri Gurski, advisor and investor to MSQRD, Prisma and MAPS.ME; the former vice president at Mail.ru, the biggest Internet company in Eastern Europe; and Dmitry Gurski, Max Scrobov, and Andrew Kovzel, who worked together on more than 15 other projects. Advisors and early stage investors include Matvey Timoshenko and Peter Skoromnyi, co-founders of Apalon, a mobile app developer acquired by IAC in 2014.\n\n\n\nThe Series A investment will help the company accelerate its growth, expand its presence into the US market, and perfect its intelligence system to include more accurate and up-to-date content. The company also plans to partner with top medical research centers and universities to advance female health science.\n\n\n\nFlo is available in 20 languages on iOS and Android. The app already holds top position among period tracking apps and other women's health related products in the App Store in over 50 countries, including the US.", "output": "Women's digital health platform Flo has raised $5m in funding to accelerate its growth, expand its presence in the US market and develop its artificial intelligence capabilities. Since the period tracker launched in 2015, Flo has attracted 10 million monthly active users. More recently, the platform has added around one\u00a0million users per month. Flo offers features including personalised health insights, a tracker for women wanting to conceive, and an anonymous forum of experts and peers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Stanford team turns CO2 and water into ethanol \n Stanford researchers Thomas Jaramillo, associate professor of chemical engineering and of photon science and Christopher Hahn, associate staff scientist at SLAC, recently innovated a renewable method of producing the fuel additive, ethanol. This method simply delivers water, carbon dioxide and electricity through a copper catalyst.\n\nUnited States scientists\u2019 common method of manufacturing ethanol uses miles of open terrain to produce fermented corn and other crops. Current agricultural workers use millions of acres of farmland to produce 14 million gallons of ethanol consumed yearly by drivers in the United States. Many automated vehicles operate on a mixture of gasoline and the fuel additive, ethanol.\n\nStanford researchers have created a substitute for the fuel-additive ethanol by modifying copper catalysts to produce ethanol using water and carbon dioxide. This innovation has enticed scientists and current state-of-the-art electrocatalysts will be improved in product selectivity and energy efficiency to make this alternative solution viable for the future.\n\nIn efforts to improve the catalyst\u2019s production abilities for a more sustainable ethanol, researchers stated, \u201cWe show how the coordination environment of Cu surfaces influences oxygenate vs. hydrocarbon formation, providing insights on how to improve selectivity and energy efficiency toward more valuable CO2 reduction products.\u201d\n\nThomas Jaramillo is a professor of chemical engineering at Stanford and a professor of photon science at the SLAC (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center) National Accelerator Laboratory. As the study\u2019s chief investigator, Jaramillo states that one of their main goals is to produce a renewable type of ethanol that doesn\u2019t damage the agricultural market internationally.\n\n\u201cCopper is one of the few catalysts that can produce ethanol at room temperature,\u201d he said in a Stanford news report. \u201cYou just feed it electricity, water and carbon dioxide, and it makes ethanol. The problem is that it also makes 15 other compounds simultaneously, including lower-value products like methane and carbon monoxide. Separating those products would be an expensive process and require a lot of energy.\u201d\n\nScientists hope to create copper catalysts that directly convert carbon dioxide into denser chemicals (such as propanol), with as little waste as possible. To create an innovative source with few byproducts, they must fully understand how the catalysts convert carbon dioxide into water.\n\nStanford scientists conducted a study with Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) using three samples of crystalline copper: copper (100), copper (111) and copper (751) to describe the behavior of single crystals upon the surface.\n\n\u201cCopper (100), (111) and (751) look virtually identical but have major differences in the way their atoms are arranged on the surface,\u201d said Christopher Hahn, an associate staff scientist at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and co-leader of the study to Stanford news reporter Mark Shwartz. \u201cThe essence of our work is to understand how these different facets of copper affect electrocatalytic performance.\u201d\n\nResearchers had produced copper electrodes with single-crystals but for this study, Hahn and his co-workers at SLAC discovered a new way to grow single crystal-like copper on top of silicon and sapphire. This innovation resulted in films of each form of copper with a 6-square centimeter surface, 600 times bigger than typical single crystals.\n\nCopper (100), (111) and (751) proved to be the idealistic samples for a conversion into a renewable ethanol for cars and truck in the United States.\n\n\u201cThe eye on the prize is to create better catalysts that have game-changing potential by taking carbon dioxide as a feedstock and converting it into much more valuable products using renewable electricity or sunlight directly,\u201d Jaramillo said in a Stanford news article. \u201cWe plan to use this method on nickel and other metals to further understand the chemistry at the surface. We think this study is an important piece of the puzzle and will open up whole new avenues of research for the community.\u201d\n\nWe necessitate fuel for our daily transportation and without a renewable source, in the near future, we wouldn\u2019t be able to sustain our environment for further reproduction.\n\nElectrocatalytic technology has the potential to impact climate change by enabling sustainable routes for the production of fuels and chemicals. If we are able to efficiently produce ethanol using these renewable sources (such as electricity), humankind would ascertain a prolonged future.\n\nContact Pratyusha Macherla at pmacherla09 \u2018at\u2019 gmail.com", "output": "Researchers from Stanford University have developed a more renewable method for producing ethanol by modifying copper catalysts to make the substance using only water and carbon dioxide.\u00a0\u201cCopper is one of the few catalysts that can produce ethanol at room temperature,\u201d said Thomas Jaramillo,\u00a0a professor of chemical engineering at Stanford. \"The problem is that it also makes 15 other compounds simultaneously, including lower-value products like methane and carbon monoxide. Separating those products would be an expensive process and require a lot of energy.\" The next step is to\u00a0create copper catalysts that directly convert CO2 into denser chemicals,\u00a0such as propanol, with less waste."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Genome sequencing technique offers precision mutation detection \n Whole genome sequencing using long fragment read (LFR), a technology that can analyze the entire genomic content of small numbers of cells, detected potentially targetable mutations using only five circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in a patient with metastatic breast cancer.\n\nThe study is published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, by Brock Peters, PhD, senior director of research at Complete Genomics Inc. in San Jose, California, and BGI-Shenzhen in Shenzhen, China; John W. Park, MD, professor of clinical medicine, and director of Novel Therapeutics, Breast Oncology, at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF); Hope S. Rugo, MD, professor of medicine and director of breast oncology and clinical trials education at UCSF.\n\nThe Complete Genomics team and colleagues from UCSF evaluated CTCs from two liquid biopsies drawn from a 61-year-old female patient with ER-positive/HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer at two different time points during her course of treatment. First, they isolated 34 highly pure CTCs using immunomagnetic enrichment/fluorescence-activated cell sorting (IE/FACS) technology developed by Park and Mark Magbanua, PhD, at UCSF. Then they used LFR to perform advanced whole-genome sequencing by splitting the genomic DNA from the CTCs into 3,072 individual compartments, with each compartment containing approximately 5 percent of the cancer genome. The DNA in each compartment was subsequently labeled with a unique barcode, the compartments were combined, and the genomic DNA and barcodes were sequenced.\n\n\"From 34 cells we accurately detected mutations present in as few as 12 percent of CTCs, established the tissue of origin, and identified potential personalized combination therapies for this patient's highly heterogeneous disease,\" said Peters.\n\nAccording to Peters, this research is the first application of LFR technology to CTCs. \"LFR subdivides the genome into compartments, allowing us to count the fragments with somatic mutations across all the compartments to accurately quantify the number of mutations present in a population of cells. It also serves to remove false-positive single nucleotide variants,\" explained Peters.\n\n\"LFR, which explores the more than 20,000 genes in the genome and all non-coding regions, is more comprehensive than gene panels, which examine about 100 genes and focus on small genomic regions typically associated with a disease,\" he continued.\n\nBecause prior studies indicate that five CTCs can be expected in about half of the patients with metastatic disease, and evaluating 34 CTCs is cost-prohibitive, Peters and colleagues analyzed five different batches of five CTCs and replicated their findings. The researchers estimated that the cost of their advanced whole genome sequencing technique on five CTCs would be about $3,000 within the next few years, in line with current oncology diagnostic tests.\n\n\"That our sequencing method could detect the most important somatic mutations from just five CTCs in a noninvasive liquid biopsy is important, demonstrating cost-effectiveness and utility in clinical settings,\" said Peters.\n\n\"Our work highlights the importance and utility of using accurate and quantitative whole genome analysis in a clinical setting,\" said Peters. \"We identified targetable mutations that would have been missed by current clinical sequencing strategies. In the near precision medicine future, this type of information will be critical for selecting effective personalized multi-drug treatments.\"\n\nStudy co-author John W. Park, MD, professor of clinical medicine, and director of Novel Therapeutics, Breast Oncology, at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), said, \"We observed that it is possible to develop a robust strategy for liquid biopsy using whole genome sequencing of circulating tumor cells. This approach allows detailed molecular profiling across the patient's entire cancer genome.\"\n\nStudy co-author, Hope S. Rugo, MD, professor of medicine and director of breast oncology and clinical trials education at UCSF, said, \"The IE/FACS allows for exquisite and full-scale isolation of highly pure CTCs with little or no contamination of normal blood cells, thus providing the robustness needed for accurate whole genome sequencing of a few cells. Taken together, the liquid biopsy platform we described in this study suggests a viable approach for minimally invasive yet comprehensive and real-time testing of metastatic cancer in the clinic.\"\n\nAccording to Peters, the main limitations to the study are that only a single patient was studied and none of the suggested possible therapies could actually be tested, emphasizing the need for larger studies.", "output": "Scientists from the University of California have discovered theoretically targetable mutations in a breast cancer patient, using whole genome sequencing. The team were able to isolate and study the 61-year-old patient's liquid biopsies at two stages of her treatment, using only five circulating tumor cells at a time, due to the prohibitive cost of larger batches. The patient is suffering from ER-positive/HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer. The group's findings were published in the Cancer Research journal.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Crest Nicholson partners with A2 Dominion to build ecohomes \n First phase of new Daventry neighbourhood takes major step forward with over 200 homes planned A new neighbourhood in Daventry has taken a significant step forward after Midlands-based homebuilder Spitfire Homes and Crest Nicolson secured reserved matters approval to build 222 properties on land at Malabar Farm. Read more\n\nLast chance for apartment living at Crest Nicholson\u2019s north Surrey developments Local housebuilder Crest Nicholson has just 10 homes remaining at its sought-after Upper Longcross and Walton Court Gardens developments in Surrey. The remaining one- and two-bedroom apartments offer buyers a last chance at purchasing a brand-new Crest Nicholson home in these popular north Surrey towns. Read more\n\nCrest Nicholson secures planning permission as part of wider housebuilding scheme in East Staffordshire Award-winning developer Crest Nicholson has secured planning permission for the latest phase of a Sustainable Urban Extension (SUE) at Branston Locks, Burton-On-Trent, in the beautiful county of Staffordshire, in the centre of England. This phase of the development will feature 284 new homes, and is part of a wider scheme being delivered by multiple developers, to provide a total of 2500 homes, alongside commercial, educational and leisure facilities. Read more\n\nHousebuilder hosts walking bus from local Stoke Gifford development as part of Walk to School Week Local housebuilder Crest Nicholson partnered with St Michaels CofE Primary School on a walking bus initiative as part of Walk to School week. Pupils, parents, guardians, carers, teachers and staff of the school took part in two walking buses on Thursday morning, that began at Crest Nicholson\u2019s Highbrook View and Brooklands Park developments in Stoke Gifford. The two walking buses, which saw young pupils chaperoned on the walk to school, took separate routes to collect a number of pupils en route. Crest Nicholson donated high visibility jackets for the pupils of St Michaels to ensure they could be kept safe along the walk. Read more\n\nCrest Nicholson secures planning approval for next phase at Westwood Park Local housebuilder Crest Nicholson has secured planning approval for the next phase of its Westwood Park development in Coventry. The newest phase will feature 296 new homes, with 40% designated as affordable homes as well as a convenience store, allotments, a play area, multi-use games area and 25 acres of public open spaces. Read more\n\nCrest Nicholson unveils new show home at Horley development Local housebuilder Crest Nicholson has announced the launch of a brand new show home at its Westvale Park development in Horley, Surrey. The four-bedroom \u2018Romsey\u2019 show home has been carefully designed with modern family living in mind by interior designers Clayton & Company, allowing potential home buyers to imagine what life could be like living at Westvale Park. Read more\n\nCrest Nicholson acquire new land at Norton Fitzwarren, Taunton Award winning housebuilder Crest Nicholson has completed on the purchase of a new parcel of land at Norton Fitzwarren, Taunton. Crest currently have a live planning application pending on the site, with construction targeted to commence in 2024, with the potential to deliver more than 300 private and affordable homes. Read more\n\nCrest Nicholson opens doors to view three storey home in Lydney Crest Nicholson has launched a brand new three storey view home at its Mirum Park development in Lydney, Gloucestershire. The award winning housebuilder will be throwing open the doors to its brand new and spacious four bedroom \u2018Filey\u2019 home, set over three floors on Saturday 20th May. Read more\n\nCrest Nicholson organises West Midlands parties to celebrate King\u2019s Coronation Local Midlands housebuilder Crest Nicholson is organising parties for the local communities at its Westwood Park and Blythe Valley developments in the West Midlands to celebrate the King\u2019s Coronation. Read more", "output": "UK housing developers Crest Nicholson and A2 Dominion have released details of their plans for an \u00a380m environmentally-friendly residential scheme in Bicester. The development will see 232 ecohomes built over 25 acres as part of the existing Elmsbrook ecotown, with 30% reserved for affordable housing. The properties will feature rainwater harvesting systems, digital home information systems, solar panels, electric car charging ports and a district heating plant. Construction will begin in 2018, with residents moving in by mid 2019.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Medicaid's budget bursting over climbing prices of older drugs \n Skyrocketing price tags for new drugs to treat rare diseases have stoked outrage nationwide. But hundreds of old, commonly used drugs cost the Medicaid program billions of extra dollars in 2016 vs. 2015, a Kaiser Health News data analysis shows. Eighty of the drugs -- some generic and some still carrying brand names -- proved more than two decades old.\n\nRising costs for 313 brand-name drugs lifted Medicaid's spending by as much as $3.2 billion in 2016, the analysis shows. Nine of these brand-name drugs have been on the market since before 1970. In addition, the data reveal that Medicaid outlays for 67 generics and other non-branded drugs cost taxpayers an extra $258 million last year.\n\n[Also: Insurers, Medicaid's 'proof of progress' and pricing require more guidance from policymakers]\n\nEven after a medicine has gone generic, the branded version often remains on the market. Medicaid recipients might choose to purchase it because they're brand loyalists or because state laws prevent pharmacists from automatically substituting generics. Drugs driving Medicaid spending increases ranged from common asthma medicines like Ventolin to over-the-counter painkillers like the generic form of Aleve to generic antidepressants and heartburn medicines.\n\nAmong the stark examples:\n\nVentolin, originally approved in 1981, treats and prevents spasms that constrict patients' airways and make it difficult to breathe. When a gram of it went from $2.58 to $2.90 on average, Medicaid paid out an extra $54.5 million for the drug. Naproxen sodium, a painkiller originally approved in 1994 as brand-name Aleve, went from costing Medicaid an average of $0.72 to $1.70 a pill, an increase of 136 percent. Overall, the change cost the program an extra $10 million in 2016. Generic metformin hydrochloride, an oral Type 2 diabetes drug that's been around since the 1990s, went from an average 10 cents to 13 cents a pill from 2015 to 2016. Those extra three pennies per pill cost Medicaid a combined $8.3 million in 2016. And cost increases for the extended-release, authorized generic version cost the program another $6.5 million.\n\n[Also: Hepatitis C drug again tops Part D spend list at $7 billion]\n\n\"People always thought, 'They're generics. They're cheap,'\" said Matt Salo, who runs the National Association of Medicaid Directors. But with drug prices going up \"across the board,\" generics are far from immune.\n\nHistorically, generics tend to drive costs lower over time, and Medicaid's overall spending on generics dropped $1.6 billion last year because many generics did get cheaper. But the per-unit cost of dozens of generics doubled or even tripled from 2015 to 2016. Manufacturers of branded drugs tend to lower prices once several comparable generics enter a market.\n\nMedicaid tracks drug sales by \"units\" and a unit can be a milliliter or a gram, or refer to a tablet, vial or kit.\n\n[Also: Congressional hearing examines concerns about oversight, abuse of 340B drug discount program]\n\nOld drugs that became far more expensive included those used to treat ear infections, psychosis, cancer and other ailments:\n\nFluphenazine hydrochloride, an antipsychotic drug approved in 1988 to treat schizophrenia, cost Medicaid an extra $8.5 million in 2016. Medicaid spent an average $1.39 per unit in 2016, an increase of 347 percent vs. the year before. Depo-Provera was first approved in 1960 as a cancer drug and is often used now as birth control. It cost Medicaid an extra $4.5 million after its cost more than doubled to $37 per unit in 2016. Potassium phosphates -- on the market since the 1980s and used for renal failure patients, preemies and patients undergoing chemotherapy -- cost Medicaid an extra $1.8 million in 2016. Its average cost to Medicaid jumped 290 percent, to $6.70 per unit.\n\nA shortage of potassium phosphates began in 2015 after manufacturer American Regent closed its facility to address quality concerns, according to Erin Fox, who directs the Drug Information Center at the University of Utah and tracks shortages for the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.\n\nWhen generics enter a market, competition can drive prices lower initially. But when prices sink, some companies inevitably stop making their drugs.\n\n\"One manufacturer is left standing \u2026 [so] guess who now has a monopoly?\" Salo said. \"Guess who can bring prices as far up as they want?\"\n\nAccording to a Food and Drug Administration analysis, drug prices decline to about half of their original price with two generic competitors on the market and to about a third of the original price with five generics available. But if there's only one generic, a drug's price drops just 6 percentage points.\n\nThe increases paid by Medicaid ultimately fall on taxpayers, who pay for the drugs taken by its 68.9 million beneficiaries. And those costs eat \"into states' ability to pay for other stuff that matters to [every] resident,\" said economist Rena Conti, a professor at the University of Chicago who co-authored a National Bureau of Economics paper about generic price hikes in July. The manufacturers' list prices for the drugs named here also rose in 2016, according to Truven Health Analytics, which means customers outside Medicaid also paid more.\n\nConti said that about 30 percent of generic drugs had price increases of 100 percent or more the past five years.\n\nMedicaid spending per unit doesn't include rebates, which drug manufacturers return to states after they pay for the drugs upfront. Such rebates are extremely complicated, but generally start at the federally required 23.1 percent for brand-name drugs, plus supplemental rebates that vary by state, Salo said. Final rebate amounts are considered proprietary, he noted. \"All rebates are completely opaque \u2026 [it's] \"black-box stuff.\"\n\nFox said drug prices could also jump when a pharmaceutical product changes ownership, gets new packaging or just hasn't had a price increase in a long time.\n\nRecently named FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has made increasing generic competition a core mission. Plans include publishing lists of off-patent drugs made by one manufacturer and preventing brand-name drugmakers from using anti-competitive tactics to stave off competition.\n\nDoctors, pharmacists and patients don't always receive a warning when a price hike is about to occur, Fox said.\n\n\"Sometimes, we will get notices. Other times, it's like a bad surprise,\" she said, adding that the amount of wiggle room for alternatives depends on the drug and the patient.\n\nFollowing some price hikes, doctors can use fewer units of a drug or switch it out entirely, she said.\n\nOfloxacin otic, long used to treat swimmer's ear, became so expensive when generic manufacturers exited the market that doctors started using eye drops in patients' ears, Fox said.\n\nWhen old drugs get more expensive, hospitals try to eliminate waste by making smaller infusion bags and keeping really expensive drugs in the pharmacy instead of stocked in readily available shelves and drawers. But that's not always possible.\n\n\"These drugs do have a place in daily therapy. Sometimes they're life-sustaining and sometimes they're lifesaving,\" said Michael O'Neal, a pharmacist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. \"In this case, you just need to take it on the chin, and you hope one day for competition.\"\n\nKHN's coverage of prescription drug development, costs and pricing is supported in part by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation.\n\nKaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.", "output": "Skyrocketing price tags for new drugs to treat rare diseases have stoked outrage nationwide. But hundreds of old, commonly used drugs cost the Medicaid program billions of extra dollars in 2016 vs. 2015, a Kaiser Health News data analysis shows. Eighty of the drugs -- some generic and some still carrying brand names -- proved more than two decades old.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bitcoin surpasses PayPal in market cap \n The bitcoin price broke $4,000 for the first time over the weekend, and it continued its record-setting run on Monday. The bitcoin market cap soared ...\n\nThe bitcoin price broke $4,000 for the first time over the weekend, and it continued its record-setting run on Monday. The bitcoin market cap soared past $70 billion, initiating an event the cryptocurrency community has been anticipating for years: bitcoin now has a greater total valuation than payment-processing behemoth PayPal.\n\nRecord Bitcoin Price Initiates Flippening\n\nThe bitcoin price rose another 8% on August 14, briefly spiking past $4,300 before settling down to its present value of $4,276. Monday\u2019s trading raised the bitcoin market cap to a staggering $70.6 billion. According to Yahoo Finance, this makes bitcoin $400 million more valuable than PayPal, whose market cap is $70.2 billion.\n\nJust a few months ago, ethereum backers anticipated the \u201cFlippening\u201d: a moment when ethereum would surpass bitcoin to become the most valuable cryptocurrency. Ethereum was unable to achieve that feat before the market correction in July, and bitcoin increasingly separated itself from the pack. With Monday\u2019s events, it now seems clear that the real Flippening we have been waiting for is not another cryptocurrency topping bitcoin; it is bitcoin surpassing one of the world\u2019s most ubiquitous payment processors.\n\nOf course, it remains to be seen whether bitcoin will hold above its current record levels. The bitcoin price has, after all, doubled in the past month, leading some analysts to question whether or not the market is in a temporary melt-up. In any case, today is a monumental day for cryptocurrency and should earn its place in the history books.\n\nCrypto Market Cap Approaches $140 Billion\n\nBitcoin continues to carry the total crypto market cap to record levels. Since surpassing its June peak on August 7, the total value of all cryptocurrencies has reached new heights almost daily. At present, the total cryptocurrency market cap is $139.8 billion.\n\nEthereum Price Continues to Hold at $300\n\nEthereum\u2019s rally has stalled in recent days, leaving the ethereum price hovering at $300 while bitcoin continued to climb. At present, the ethereum price is $302, a 4% gain over Sunday\u2019s low of $289. Ethereum maintains a market cap of about $28.5 billion.\n\nAltcoin Markets Generally Positive\n\nThe altcoin markets were generally positive on Monday, with only two coins in the top 10 declining more than 1%. The Ripple price saw a welcome advance following a disappointing week; it increased by 4% to $0.173. Like ethereum, bitcoin cash continues to hold at about $300, although its market cap is just over $5 billion. The IOTA price led the top 10 with a 16% increase, lifting it to the 5th place spot in the market cap rankings.\n\nThe litecoin price declined 1% to about $46, while NEM dipped 3.6% to $0.258 and the 7th-place ranking.\n\nAugust has been an incredible month for NEO. Just last week, NEO became the 10th cryptocurrency to attain a $1 billion market cap. Since then, its value has more than doubled to $2.3 billion. NEO briefly rose to 5th in total market cap, but it has since settled down to 8th.\n\nBitcoin Dominant Once Again\n\nOn Monday, bitcoin once again claimed a dominant market status, meaning bitcoin accounts for more than half of the total crypto market cap. Bitcoin\u2019s gains came at the expense of nearly every other major cryptocurrency. Ethereum\u2019s share of the market declined to 20.4%, while Ripple\u2019s dropped below 5% for the first time since April. Litecoin\u2013whose percentage of the market had climbed past 2.5% in July\u2013is now just 1.7%.", "output": "Bitcoin has surpassed the market cap of PayPal, giving the cryptocurrency a larger total valuation than the payment processing giant. The bitcoin market cap hit $70.6bn shortly after its price broke the $4,000 mark for the first time. This makes bitcoin $400m more valuable than Paypal, which has a market cap of $70.2bn, according to Yahoo Finance."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The secret recipe behind the launch price of a drug \n Plenty of people have been talking about drug pricing, from the president to the media and pharmaceutical CEOs, but few talk about how companies determine these incredibly specific, and often incredible, price tags.\n\nIt raises many eyebrows when a company chooses to charge $750,000 a year for a drug. But even for those drugs with more down-to-earth prices, have you ever questioned how a drugmaker could come up with a wholesale acquisition cost (WAC) of, say, $9,548 per month?\n\nWhile it may seem that pharma companies are \"sticking their fingers in the air to check the wind,\" Sanofi\u2019s Head of Policy Cybele Bjorklund asserted to BioPharma Dive that pricing is anything but arbitrary. It\u2019s a bit of science, a dash of art and more than a few secret ingredients.\n\nSanofi is just one of the many companies that has come out and taken a proactive, transparent stance on drug pricing. Bjorklund, who joined Sanofi only several months ago after a previously life in Washington policy making, was an integral part of establishing the French drugmaker\u2019s new pricing principles.\n\nThese principles have committed the company to being more transparent about drug prices, limiting the increases in prices on older drugs to match the national health expenditures (NHE) growth projection and providing a clear rationale for how drugs are priced at launch \u2014 all things the industry as a whole has been loathe to do.\n\nWhile pricing principles like these are a step in the right direction, the ingredients baked into drug pricing are gathered much earlier in the process.\n\nMix in market research\n\nThe process all begins with market research, a term that encompasses a wide variety of techniques that pharma companies use to determine at which price point to launch their drug onto the market.\n\nOne of these many market research techniques includes mapping out both the current commercial landscape as well as the competitive pipeline.\n\n\"We look at the treatment landscape \u2014 what else is available or anticipated at the time of launch? This to me, put more simplistically, means are we a first-in-class or are we a \"me-too\" or even somewhere along the line of the continuum of care,\" said Bjorklund.\n\nThe presence of older, low-cost treatments or newer alternatives on the market for a certain disease is major factor in how a drug can be priced. Take the cholesterol market, for instance. Statins have been some of the best-selling drugs in the world for decades. These drugs work reasonably well and can be used in a majority of patients. They are also largely available as generics and don\u2019t put a hurt on people\u2019s wallets.\n\nEnter: PCSK9 inhibitors. This new class of drugs provided a huge step up in innovation, as well as arguably better efficacy. But due to the availability and effectiveness of statins, the market simply hasn\u2019t been willing to bear their $14,000-plus price tags, and these drugs have failed to gain much commercial traction.\n\nLooking at the pipeline is important too. A battle is currently playing out in the migraine space as four drugs from a new class called CGRP inhibitors are making their way through the development and regulatory framework.\n\nAll four of these drugs have the potential to hit the U.S. market over the next two to three years, making pricing a tricky prospect for developers. While Amgen and Novartis' Aimovig (erenumab) is likely to be first of these drugs approved, the companies will have to be particularly careful how they price the drug, which could be undercut by a lower cost (and equally effective) offering within months of approval. They will also have to be careful about not pricing the drug too low, leaving money on the table.\n\nThis competitive landscape research, as well as tapping other stakeholders like patients, doctors and payers all begins around the start of Phase 2 testing \u2014 though it can vary depending on therapeutic area. By this time, companies typically know if they have a compound that should work and are ready to evaluate the value proposition.\n\nThis includes patient focus groups to see what the needs of patients are that have not been met \u2014 perhaps there are therapies that only address some symptoms of a disease but not others, or maybe current therapies have terrible side effects. Maybe patients just need a more convenient way to take a drug, or maybe there aren\u2019t any treatments at all. These are all the sorts of questions that pharma companies want to know the answers to when thinking of a drug's added value.\n\nCompanies also begin engaging primary care doctors and specialists, inquiring about their current prescribing practices, asking about the most common complaints of patients and trying to find where treatment gaps are.\n\nThese are all necessary steps to determine what the differentiated value of a product will be \u2014 something that is particularly important to payers.\n\nSometimes companies get it wrong. Over a decade ago, Pfizer Inc. brought an inhalable insulin to market, dubbed Exubera. The pharma giant believed it had a blockbuster on its hands, and was thrilled to beat out competition from both tiny biotechs and other big pharmas.\n\nBut their excitement was short-lived. While type 2 diabetes patients aren\u2019t especially eager about the daily injections needed to administer insulin, the mode of administration isn\u2019t actually at the top of the list of complaints for these patients. Exubera flopped and Pfizer pulled it from the market after just 11 months of sales, admitting defeat.\n\nTake the temperature of payers\n\nThe role of payers like insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) has become increasingly important in recent years. Payers have largely become the gatekeepers to the market and their decisions to cover a drug on their formulary or include it as a preferred product can mean the difference between a blockbuster and a never-was.\n\nFor example, Novo Nordisk A/S has seen the market share of its blockbuster GLP-1 antagonist Victoza (liraglutide) drop by nearly 20% in recent quarters as major PBMs have opted to include a competitor from Eli Lilly & Co. instead.\n\nFor this reason, conversations with payers begin at the same time as those with patients and doctors. Payers often have their own panels of experts that will weigh in for pharmaceutical companies.\n\nThere is even an industry standard form that payers require to help them evaluate the value of a drug as well. The form \u2014 called the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Form for Formulary Submissions \u2014 is over 95 pages and addresses everything from clinical benefits to economic benefits to the place of therapy in treatment (as well as a variety of other concerns). It is not an easy form to fill out and often requires a team of people to complete.\n\nBut there are other factors that go into pricing as well \u2014 the things that Bjorklund refers to as the \"unique factors bucket.\" This includes potential post-marketing regulatory commitments like large, costly cardiovascular outcomes trials or other things like special training for physicians.\n\nDon\u2019t mistake salt for sugar\n\nOne major misnomer about how drug prices are set at launch may actually be the fault of the industry. The industry line \u2014 from companies to lobbying groups \u2014 is that the cost of innovation is high and therefore drug prices need to be at a level to pay for the expense of research and development.\n\nBut pharmaceuticals aren\u2019t like most other goods. Prices aren\u2019t set based on what it cost to actually \"make\" the product. You, as a consumer, aren\u2019t paying to help a pharma company directly recoup its cost of development.\n\nDrugs often take more than a decade to go from concept to patient, a path typically termed as \"bench to bedside.\" During that time, a product is likely to change hands a number of times, going from the lab bench of a researcher at a university to preclinical testing at a biotech to development at a big pharma and potentially even commercialization by another partner. All of this time and changing ownership makes determining the actual cost of developing a single drug nearly impossible to determine.\n\nWhen the industry says they need drug prices to be high to pay for the cost of development, they really mean to support the future cost of innovation and drugs that may come to market years or even decades later.\n\nThe other major misconception when it comes to drug prices is that the price pharmaceutical companies set is the price patients pay for a drug \u2014 this is just not the case.\n\nThe wholesale acquisition cost, or WAC, is what pharma companies spend all this time and market research toiling over. But negotiations with payers apply often multiple layers of discounts to this price. Insurance co-pays further muddy the pricing waters.\n\nSo next time you read about the $9,500 drug, remember that there was a team of people who spent years trying to get the recipe just right.", "output": "Plenty of people have been talking about drug pricing, from the president to the media and pharmaceutical CEOs, but few talk about how companies determine these incredibly specific, and often incredible, price tags.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "InternetQ Investors throw SoundCloud a much-needed lifeline \n Still Uploading\n\nFollowing up earlier reports of an imminent stockholder vote on a last-minute investment deal to keep SOUNDCLOUD afloat, the company has announced an agreement to secure significant investment from global merchant bank THE RAINE GROUP and investment company TEMASEK, VARIETY reports. Also in the deal, former VIMEO CEO KERRY TRAINOR is named CEO and ex-VIMEO exec MICHAEL WEISSMAN is named COO.\n\nSOUNDCLOUD co-founder/CEO ALEXANDER LJUNG stays on as Chairman Of The Board, while co-founder ERIC WAHLFORSS remains Chief Product Officer.\n\nA company statement announced: \u201cThe investment will ensure a strong, independent future for SOUNDCLOUD, funding deeper development and marketing of its core tools used by millions of audio creators \u2014 musicians, DJs, producers, labels, managers and podcasters \u2014 that fuel SOUNDCLOUD\u2019s one-of-a-kind, creator-driven listener experience.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow in its 10th year, I\u2019m proud to say SOUNDCLOUD stands as an indispensable part of global music culture,\" LJUNG said. \"I look forward to fully dedicating my time to leading the board and helping drive SOUNDCLOUD\u2019s long term strategic vision, and forging strategic partnerships and connections with industry partners and our one-of-a-kind creative community. With KERRY\u2019s love of music and sharp business acumen, I know SOUNDCLOUD is positioned for continued success for many years to come.\u201d\n\n\u201cAs a huge fan of the SOUNDCLOUD platform since its founding, I deeply admire what ALEX and ERIC have built,\" TRAINOR said. \"There is only one SOUNDCLOUD and its importance to creators and music culture is undeniable. I\u2019m very excited to join this talented team and build the next chapter of growth around SOUNDCLOUD\u2019s mission to empower audio creators. I look forward to sharing more about our plan and path forward in the months ahead.\u201d\n\n\u201cSOUNDCLOUD is a unique and essential music platform for new and developing artists,\u201d RAINE GROUP partner FRED DAVIS said. \u201cFor 10 years, SOUNDCLOUD has been the birthplace of genre-breaking musical movements in Electronica and Hip-Hop. We are excited to partner with TEMASEK on this investment and are confident our involvement can ensure it remains the most artist-friendly music creation and streaming platform in the world.\u201d\n\n\u00ab see more Net News", "output": "Troubled music-streaming community site, SoundCloud, has secured investment from The Raine Group and Temasek; ex-Vimeo execs Kerry Trainor and Michael Weissman, will become CEO and COO respectively as part of the deal. The platform is said to have burned through over $230m in funding and $70m in debt, as it failed to monetise its offering and shifted its focus to challenge Spotify. After laying off 40% of its staff in July, SoundCloud was seeking $169.5m at a pre-money valuation of $150m, compared to a $700m valuation in previous rounds.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mandatory bundled payment programs could be stopped \n UPDATE: The CMS released the proposed rule on Tuesday. The proposal reduces the number of mandatory geographic areas for the joint bundled payment program and cancels the cardiac bundled payment program model.\n\nIn reaction to the cancellation of the cardiac bundled payment program, American College of Cardiology President Dr. Mary Norine Walsh stated, \u201cThe [ACC] will continue to work with CMS on opportunities for clinicians to participate meaningfully in Advanced Alternative Payment Models. As we move from volume-based care to value-based care, the path forward is challenging and we must work together to find solutions.\u201d\n\nDive Brief:\n\nHHS is proposing to eliminate some mandatory bundled payment programs, including those for heart attacks and those for hip and femur fractures, according to a rule title posted late last week.\n\nThe bundled payment programs have been delayed multiple times, and the cardiac bundled payment program was set to begin in January 2018.\n\nEliminating the bundling programs would also remove one of the ways providers can qualify for MACRA\u2019s 5% advanced payment model bonus, Axios reported.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nThe attempt to stop the programs isn\u2019t much of a surprise, considering the frequent delays and HHS Secretary Tom Price\u2019s multiple statements criticizing mandatory bundling programs. Price has said the programs are high-risk and take needed flexibility away from providers.\n\nThe American Hospital Association has resisted the mandatory programs, saying they are moving too quickly and have not been tested enough. The organization isn\u2019t opposed to bundled payment in general, but many policy experts say the programs need to be mandatory for systemic change to be achieved, and for reliable research on the results. Those results have been mixed so far, but are mostly positive. Bundled payments have been shown to reduce costs without sacrificing care quality.\n\nThe bundled payment programs were a product of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, which recently lost its director, Patrick Conway, to Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina.\n\nStill, the model isn\u2019t likely to go away, Archway CEO David Terry recently told Healthcare Dive. Bundled payments are positive for providers and aligns their interests with those of payers and patients, he said.\n\n\u201cIn this scenario, acute care will ultimately constitute a smaller component than currently, so hospital payments could well shrink,\" he said. \"However, if hospitals take the appropriate action they can sustain and even grow their bottom lines by more coordinated and prudent use of resources.\u201d", "output": "HHS is proposing to eliminate some mandatory bundled payment programs, including those for heart attacks and those for hip and femur fractures, according to a rule title\u00a0posted late last week.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "JPMorgan joins Vanguard, Jupiter in absorbing research costs \n JP Morgan Asset Management will pay for the cost of external research under MiFID II instead of passing on the costs to its clients.\n\nThe move was confirmed in a statement seen by The TRADE which said research costs will be \"paid for by the business and not by MiFID II client accounts\".\n\nJP Morgan is the latest asset manager to choose this method of compliance ahead of MiFID II\u2019s unbundling requirements, alongside Vanguard, M&G, Aberdeen and Jupiter.\n\nThe statement explained a \u2018substantial\u2019 amount of resources is already committed to the internal research department at JP Morgan Asset Management and there will be no changes to the internal teams due to the policy change.\n\n\"We also utilise external analyst research where we believe it can add value to client portfolios,\" JP Morgan added.\n\nThe majority of asset managers currently receive research paid for through execution commissions or commission sharing agreements, rather than paying for it directly.\n\nThis method is not allowed under MiFID II and unbundling could potentially see huge costs transferred to the buy-side.\n\nDeutsche Asset Management recently created its own internal research division in a bid to control its research costs come January 2018.\n\nDeutsche\u2019s research unit will help fund managers identify investment opportunities and provide clients with regular analysis on macro-economic developments.\n\nLast month, Barclays became one of the first investment banks to put a price on its research, through a tired structure costing anywhere between \u00a330,000 and \u00a3350,000.", "output": "JP Morgan is to join firms including Vanguard, M&G, Aberdeen and Jupiter in absorbing the costs of research following the implementation of European Union rules next year requiring the unbundling of research costs\u00a0from fees charged to clients. The Trade has reported that\u00a0it has seen a document that said\u00a0research costs will be \"paid for by the business and not by Mifid\u00a0II client accounts\". The note is also said to claim\u00a0that substantial resources are already committed to the research department and that there would be no changes to internal teams\u00a0after the change\u00a0comes into effect."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trump Administration Extends Deadline For Insurers To Decide On Obamacare Markets \n The Trump administration is giving insurance companies an extra three weeks to decide whether to offer insurance plans through the Affordable Care Act markets, and how much to charge. The extension comes as insurance companies wait for President Trump to decide whether he will continue to make payments to insurance companies that are called for under the Affordable Care Act but that some Republicans have opposed.\n\nThe payments \u2014 known as cost-sharing reduction payments \u2014 reimburse insurance companies for discounts on copayments and deductibles that they're required by law to offer to low-income customers. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the payments this year would be about $7 billion.\n\nTrump has said he may end the reimbursements, which he calls \"bailouts,\" and has been leaving insurers to wonder month to month about whether they will receive a check.\n\nA White House spokesman says Trump is \"working with his staff and his Cabinet to consider the issues raised by the CSR payments.\"\n\nThe U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says it is offering the extra time so insurance companies can plan ahead in case the government decides to end the payments. In a memo Friday, the agency said many states are now requiring companies to file their rates for 2018 on the assumption that they won't be reimbursed.\n\nSeveral companies say that without the cost-sharing payments, their rates will see double-digit increases. For example, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina says ending the payments would push its rates up 14.1 percent.\n\nAnd Marc Harrison, CEO of Intermountain Healthcare, which covers 173,000 people in Idaho and Utah, says premium increases could be \"astonishing.\"\n\nStill, he says, his company will stick with the Obamacare markets. \"These are our patients. We're not going anywhere. We're going to keep trying to figure this out.\"\n\nThe HHS memo says \"there have been no changes regarding HHS's ability to make cost-sharing reduction payments to insurers.\"\n\nBut it then says the agency intends to change the ACA's risk adjustment program to compensate for the loss of cost-sharing payments.\n\nThe changes are technical and complex, but Timothy Jost, professor emeritus at Washington & Lee University's law school, says in a Health Affairs blog that the memo just deepens the confusion.\n\n\"We still do not know if all of this is needed or not \u2014 the Trump administration has not made up its mind,\" he says.\n\nThe cost-sharing payments have been at the center of a political battle over the Affordable Care Act since before President Trump took office.\n\nHouse Republicans opposed to the health law sued then-President Barack Obama, saying the payments were illegal because Congress hadn't appropriated money for them. A judge agreed but allowed the administration to continue making the payments during an appeal.\n\nNow that Trump is in the White House, and Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act have failed, many Republicans are urging the president to continue the payments rather than undermine the health care markets.\n\nCopyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.", "output": "The Trump administration is giving insurance companies an extra three weeks to decide whether to offer insurance plans through the Affordable Care Act markets, and how much to charge. The extension comes as insurance companies wait for President Trumpto decide whether he will continue to make payments to insurance companies that are called for under the Affordable Care Act but that some Republicans have opposed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Doctor Shortage Under Obamacare? It Didn\u2019t Happen \n When you have a health problem, your first stop is probably to your primary care doctor. If you\u2019ve found it harder to see your doctor in recent years, you could be tempted to blame the Affordable Care Act. As the health law sought to solve one problem, access to affordable health insurance, it risked creating another: too few primary care doctors to meet the surge in appointment requests from the newly insured.\n\nStudies published just before the 2014 coverage expansion predicted a demand for millions more annual primary care appointments, requiring thousands of new primary care providers just to keep up. But a more recent study suggests primary care appointment availability may not have suffered as much as expected.\n\nThe study, published in April in JAMA Internal Medicine, found that across 10 states, primary care appointment availability for Medicaid enrollees increased since the Affordable Care Act\u2019s coverage expansions went into effect. For privately insured patients, appointment availability held steady. All of the gains in access to care for Medicaid enrollees were concentrated in states that expanded Medicaid coverage. For instance, in Illinois 20 percent more primary care physicians accepted Medicaid after expansion than before it. Gains in Iowa and Pennsylvania were lower, but still substantial: 8 percent and 7 percent.\n\nThough these findings are consistent with other research, including a study of Medicaid expansion in Michigan, they are contrary to intuition. In places where coverage gains were larger \u2014 in Medicaid expansion states \u2014 primary care appointment availability grew more.", "output": "When you have a health problem, your first stop is probably to your primary care doctor. If you\u2019ve found it harder to see your doctor in recent years, you could be tempted to blame the Affordable Care Act.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Behind the Scenes, President Trump Is Still Working to Dismantle Obamacare \n Don't want to wait? Click here.\n\nChanged your mind? Visit TIME.com instead.", "output": "Efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare may have fizzled in Congress \u2014 at least for now \u2014 but President Donald Trump is doing plenty to undermine the health care law as open enrollment approaches this fall.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Health Invest Finland Raises $1.5M for Smart Wearable Device for Elder Care \n Health Invest Finland Oy, a digital health firm has raised $1.5 million in funding led by Finnish funds Kuus Invest O\u00fc, Viavan Oy, and European business angel investors. The company plans to utilize the funding to accelerate the deployment of it\u2019s My+Care\u2122 (MyPlusCare) cloud-based health and wellbeing service solution targeted for the elderly care market globally.\n\nAccording to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the number of elder persons (aged 65 years or over) is expected to more than double from 841 million people in 2013 to more than 2 billion in 2050. More than $30 billion is spent annually in the US on healthcare related to falls, which is the leading cause of death due to injury among the elderly.\n\nFounded in 2014, Health Invest develops and deploys intelligent technologies and solutions for intelligent healthcare delivery. Based on patented innovations from Mostafa Hanifi, the chief technology officer of Health Invest, My+Care is a networked system that receives patient data from proprietary smart wearable device and wireless beacons that are networked to caregivers through a mobile app that details personalized reports to a network that can include hospitals, relatives, companies, doctors and clinics, and others. Using the My+Care\u2122 Cloud, facilities can manage networked communication in real-time.\n\nMy+Care enables diverse, flexible IoT interaction of all Bluetooth devices within third-party IT environments. With machine learning, My+Care can learn from each specific user; the longer the wristbands are used, the more accurately they detect irregularities in human behavior or subtle changes that could indicate an underlying medical issue.\n\nHealth Invest is already operating in Europe and Asia, and has plans to expand in the US market later this year. Additionally, the company plans has 2018 expansion plans for China.\n\nIn addition to the funding, the company has announced a partnership with CellMark Medical, a division of CellMark AB, to accelerate deployments of Health Invest\u2019s My+Care. CellMark\u2019s expertise in medical device distribution, logistics and sales support will enable My+Care to gain traction with healthcare facilities around the world.\n\n\u201cThe sign of a civilized society is how well it treats its weak and elderly citizens. We live in a world that cannot accommodate an aging population without adapting healthcare to readily available technology. The value of elder care, globally, needs to rise to meet a rapidly growing set of demands for more effective real-time care,\u201d said Kalle Soderholm, CEO of Health Invest in a statement. \u201cThe development of our My+Care service-solution is specifically aimed at treating the needs of all stakeholders in the elder care market with an intelligent set of tools that can learn and adapt dynamically to the needs of patients and health organizations.\u201d", "output": "According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the number of elder persons (aged 65 years or over) is expected to more than double from 841 million people in 2013 to more than 2 billion in 2050. More than $30 billion is spent annually in the US on healthcare related to falls, which is the leading cause of death due to injury among the elderly.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Munich Re dismisses likelihood of total disruption by insurtech \n As a flurry of InsurTech and FinTech startups continue to enter the global insurance and reinsurance industry, undoubtedly some will be very good and should be promoted for the industry, however, they will not be able to disrupt the entire risk transfer space, according to Torsten Jeworrek, Munich Re\u2019s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Reinsurance.\n\nSpeaking during the reinsurance giant\u2019s half-year 2017 press conference, CEO of Reinsurance, Jeworrek, discussed the company\u2019s partnership with the growing InsurTech and FinTech world, which is ultimately looking to disrupt the value chain and increase efficiency for both sides of the equation by incorporating new and innovative technology into the insurance and reinsurance value chain.\n\n\u201cSo-called InsurTechs are mushrooming in this marketplace, and you see among the many thousands in existence there will be some which are very good,\u201d said Jeworrek.\n\nDespite the persistent influx of InsurTech startups Jeworrek explained that he doesn\u2019t foresee that they will be able to disrupt the entire market, \u201cI don\u2019t think this will happen,\u201d he said, citing difficult and complex coverage areas such as oil, or Mexico, for example.\n\nHowever, \u201cthere are individual models for platforms, data models, service models for customers, which we should know and which we should promote. So, our line is that we are ready to take into account this disruption in our business, and even promote it, because this means we are going to create a business for the future,\u201d he continued.\n\nJoachim Wenning, Chairman of the Board of Management at Munich Re, explained that a digital transformation will impact the entire industry at some point, adding that the reinsurer is waiting for a good opportunity as it was more likely to acquire a FinTech or InsurTech startup to streamline its operations than expand its set of insurance entities.\n\nMunich Re does invest in InsurTech and FinTech startups, but according to a Bloomberg article that cites Jeworrek, startups are currently generating premiums for the firm in the single-digit million euros. When you consider the scale, reach and size of the reinsurer, and the fact these startups are only generating single-digit million euros in premiums, it raises the question of how the reinsurer values these investments within its overall portfolio.\n\nUndoubtedly, there will be winners and losers in the InsurTech game, on both the technology side and the re/insurance side, but it is becoming increasingly evident that technology and insurance will get closer and closer together in order to improve the market for carriers and consumers.", "output": "Insurtech start-ups are providing valuable services to the insurance sector but they can never disrupt the entire value chain, Munich Re CEO Torsten Jeworrek has said. The reinsurance giant is keen to engage with those companies that can make a real difference, but Jeworrek doesn't believe they can fully replace established insurers, citing sectors such as oil and countries such as Mexico as particular challenges. Chairman\u00a0Joachim Wenning said the company would consider investment in insurtech firms that can help streamline its existing business rather than expand its operations and the company does\u00a0already invest\u00a0in insurtech start-ups."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "A recorded do-not-resuscitate directive significantly increases the likelihood of dying where one chooses \n An end-of-life plan that includes a recorded do-not-resuscitate directive significantly increases a person's chances of dying where she chooses. A brief research report is published in Annals of Internal Medicine.\n\nMost persons report that they would prefer to die at home or in hospice care, but more persons in England die in a hospital than in these settings (48 versus 29 percent). Researchers at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and Imperial College London analyzed routinely collected electronic health records (EHR) to identify the determinants of achieving preferred place of death.\n\nInitially developed as the Electronic Palliative Care Co-ordination System for London, United Kingdom, the Coordinate My Care (CMC) service enables persons to create a digital urgent care plan with their clinicians that is electronically accessible to all health and social care professionals involved in a patient's care. The researchers analyzed health records for more than 9,000 patients with CMC plans and found that more than 75 percent of them died in their preferred place and almost all of them (97.8 percent) preferred to be cared for and die outside of the hospital. In addition, clear limits to treatment were associated with achieving preferred place of death. Those with a recorded do-not-resuscitate order were 76 percent more likely to die in their preferred place than those with a recorded for-resuscitation status.\n\nAccording to the researchers, these finding suggest that conversations about end-of-life care, including care limits, can be considered a positive gateway to achieving a patient's wishes for their future care.", "output": "An end-of-life plan that includes a recorded do-not-resuscitate directive significantly increases a person's chances of dying where she chooses. A brief research report is published in Annals of Internal Medicine.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CMS Must Ensure Seniors Have Access to Diabetes Prevention Resources \n The scourge of type 2 diabetes across the United States costs American taxpayers billions of dollars every single year. Diabetes and diabetes-related treatment is one of the biggest drivers of rising health care costs for every payer \u2014 with Medicare spending more on treating those with the disease every year. This is particularly true in rural America, as the prevalence of diabetes and coronary heart disease is approximately 17 and 39 percent higher in rural areas than urban areas.\n\nPolicymakers from both sides of the aisle recognize this reality, and have embraced the challenge of confronting a preventable, but devastating, epidemic. Last month, for the first time in the agency\u2019s history, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services laid out proposed rules to reimburse providers to proactively prevent chronic disease by paying for the evidence-based Diabetes Prevention Program for eligible beneficiaries. Last year, the CMS Actuary certified that this program both improved quality of care and reduced costs for Medicare.\n\nBut unfortunately, the proposed rule missed a huge opportunity to extend access to this benefit to the area most in need: rural America.\n\nIn the July 13 rule, CMS proposed only making in-person DPP providers eligible for reimbursement, despite enormous evidence that virtual providers can achieve equal, or even better, results with senior populations. In addition, CMS\u2019 sister agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has been recognizing digital programs for more than two years while also collecting data demonstrating these programs\u2019 effectiveness.\n\nBy excluding virtual DPP from Medicare, CMS has tilted the scales in favor of seniors that reside in urban areas with easy access to brick and mortar programs; even urban and suburban seniors with transportation issues may not be able to access this critical benefit if the proposed rule goes unchanged. Seniors in rural areas may have no reasonable option to access a qualified DPP.\n\nThe disparity of access becomes abundantly clear when examining the list of in-person programs registered with the CDC.\n\nIn Texas, there are many in-person options for seniors in Dallas, San Antonio and Houston. A senior living in Abilene, however, would need to drive or find transportation to Fort Worth or Lubbock to participate in an in-person program, requiring at least four hours of driving for per week. Seniors in rural areas of states like Georgia, Nevada, New Mexico, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah and Kansas will be in similar situations, many with a minimum of two hours of driving on a weekly basis to access an in-person location \u2014 if they can drive at all.\n\nThis formulation sets up unnecessary and prohibitive barriers to millions of Medicare beneficiaries who could benefit from DPP programs.\n\nThe distinction between in-person and virtual programs is not supported by the findings of the CMS Actuary. To determine whether DPP should be offered to all eligible Medicare patients, the CMS Actuary evaluated the ability of the DPP curriculum to reduce seniors\u2019 risk of type 2 diabetes, not the setting in which the curriculum was offered. Medicare Advantage plans and dozens of commercial insurers have specifically examined the virtual delivery of DPP and found cost savings, reduced incidence of diabetes and very satisfied program participants. Even if the Actuary was unmoved by these facts, the office now has access to CDC data that would confirm virtual programs\u2019 efficacy with seniors. The Actuary can and should consider this data when preparing the updated program certification needed prior to implementation of the expanded benefit.\n\nThere is still an opportunity for CMS to embrace tech-forward, patient-centered solutions to this problem.\n\nIn its final rule, CMS should include virtual DPP providers as eligible for reimbursement, to ensure that all eligible seniors have access to qualified programs.\n\nSeniors in rural areas should not be required to travel long distances to participate in an in-person DPP, or forgo the service altogether. Instead, they should be empowered to access preventive care where they live, as long as that virtual DPP provider has met CDC and CMS standards. These seniors should be encouraged to remain active parts of the communities in which they reside, supplemented by online communities. From a system perspective, including these seniors via virtual programs will be necessary to achieve the scale necessary for the potential cost savings.\n\nCMS has an opportunity to embrace technology, empower patient choice and expand access to preventive care for millions of American seniors. The agency should seize it.\n\nSean Duffy is the co-founder and CEO of Omada Health, a digital behavioral medicine company that is one of the country\u2019s largest CDC-recognized providers of the National Diabetes Prevention Program. Sean holds a BS in neuroscience from Columbia University, was an MD/MBA candidate at Harvard, and worked at Google and IDEO before founding Omada Health.\n\nMorning Consult welcomes op-ed submissions on policy, politics and business strategy in our coverage areas. Updated submission guidelines can be found here.", "output": "The scourge of type 2 diabetes across the United States costs American taxpayers billions of dollars every single year. Diabetes and diabetes-related treatment is one of the biggest drivers of rising health care costs for every payer \u2014 with Medicare spending more on treating those with the disease every year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Asset managers urged to put technology experts in C-suite \n The asset management industry must do more to have technologists in executive positions and leverage their skills to use technology strategically, rather than see it as a cost centre or an operational function.\n\nResearch from financial technology company Calastone found 40.4% of the top 100 ASX-listed companies have technologists in executive and board positions - a fourfold increase from 7.4% in 2011.\n\nWhile the significant jump is positive, there are still gaps in the financial services sector - particularly in asset management, Calastone marketing director Andrew Tomlinson said.\n\nAsset managers should do more to take advantage of the great opportunities and value technology presents to them, Tomlinson said.\n\nIf they don't, there are the potential threats on the horizon of other players that could disintermediate the market, he added.\n\nTomlinson said the asset management community has a core specialism in terms of how to manage and build funds and ascertain growth for clients investing in them - but how they reach investors is a different challenge.\n\nWhether these businesses are running technology as a strategic or operational function, today it's seen as \"a very big cost base.\"\n\nOther research has demonstrated all too often the paradox of the more money sunk into technology, the less efficient the businesses become because they end up buying plug-ins and add-ons to core systems. This drives up maintenance costs and ultimately becomes \"a huge overhead\" that prevents businesses from growing, he said.\n\nEmpowering the right people with the IT background would mean having someone who knows how to leverage new technologies in terms of what to build, buy in, who to partner with, and steer some of those strategic decision for the organisation, Tomlinson added.\n\nParticularly in financial services, companies are \"buying and buying new services\" as opposed to firstly having the foresight of understanding of how things will look in three to five years' time.\n\nCalastone Australia and New Zealand managing director Sarah Hayward added: \"For the managed funds segment, the scale and speed at which new technologies such as blockchain, robo-advice and machine learning are challenging business models makes adding technologists to strategic levels a corporate imperative.\"\n\n\"The industry has much to learn from other sectors including banking, music and retail in reassessing the structures, people and partners required to adapt and drive future competitiveness,\" Hayward said.", "output": "The Australian asset management industry has been warned that it must do more to introduce technologists to their businesses as core personnel, rather than viewing them as cost centres or operational functions, fintech company Calastone has said. The speed of technological change means firms risk making costly mistakes without their expertise. Calastone\u2019s research has found that 40.4% of top 100 ASX-listed firms have technologists in executive or board positions. While this is an improvement from 7.4% in 2011, there are still areas of the financial services sector, such as asset management, where they are underrepresented.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WeChat campaign for Maxim mooncakes generates 100 times ROI \n Maxim's, one of the biggest mooncake retailers in Hong Kong, has tapped into WeChat moments ads to sell its mooncake products for the first time, and the result has been promising.Two hours after Maxim\u2019s WeChat moments ad launch, over 7,000 boxes of Maxim\u2019s mooncakes were sold, with an average sale of 3,500 boxes per hour versus 1,333 boxes before the launch of WeChat moments ads.The ad also achieved an 8% click-through rate (CTR) with 91% click-to-sale conversion rate, reaching a record-breaking business performance of 100x ROI.WeChat told Marketing that Maxim's winning formula includes the time which the promotion was rolled out, as well as the convenient buying and sharing experience it provided.The campaign aims to strengthen awareness of the mooncake products, and further converse users to actual sales on WeChat Pay.The promotion on the platform was rolled out before the official mooncake launch of Maxim's. The early-bird discount generated buzz on the platform.Customers were then encouraged to click on the link on the WeChat moments ads, in which they would be able to buy the mooncake through wallet purchase, or send mooncake e-coupons to friends and families.[gallery link=\"file\" size=\"full\" ids=\"188182,188181,188183,188177,188178,188179,188180\"]\"As a pioneer advertiser of WeChat moments ads in Hong Kong, we find this new digital advertising channel effective at building awareness of our mooncake products, successfully conversing users to actual sales on WeChat Pay and bridging the gap from ad awareness to business results,\u201d said Raymond Tong, chief operating officer (headquarters and branded products) of Hong Kong Maxim's Group.\"Mobile social communication apps have become integral to our daily lives and we've seen enormous growth in WeChat's user base in Hong Kong,\" added Poshu Yeung, vice president of Tencent International Business Group. \"With our social ads\u2019 sophisticated targeting capabilities to reach consumers, we are proud to support Maxim's in rolling out its moments Ads campaign, helping to drive both awareness and business results of its signature products through WeChat moments.\"", "output": "Hong Kong-based mooncake retailer Maxim received 100 times its return on investment for an advert for its products that it launched on WeChat moments. In the two hours after the launch Maxim sold 7,000 boxes, compared with 1,333 boxes an hour without the ad. The ad, which offered an early-bird discount, received an 8% click-through rate and a 91% click-to-sale conversion rate. The ad's success came from its timing and the convenient buying and sharing experience it provided, WeChat said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Eko Devices develops digital stethoscope \n BERKELEY, Calif. \u2014 He could have been surfing in Cabo. Instead, Tyler Crouch, then a 21-year-old mechanical-engineering student, spent spring break of 2013 building a digitized stethoscope and thinking, \u201cThis better be worth it.\u201d\n\nSince then, he and two classmates from the University of California, Berkeley, have formed a company \u2014 Eko Devices, which is based here \u2014 raised nearly $5 million and sold 6,000 digital stethoscopes, used in 700 hospitals. The wireless stethoscopes can transfer a patient\u2019s heart rate and other vital signs directly to Eko\u2019s secure portal, where it can, among other things, be shared with other doctors for a second opinion.\n\nNow they have built something with a potentially larger market: It is the Duo, a digital stethoscope for home use, which could change how heart patients are monitored, the entrepreneurs say. It is scheduled to become available by prescription in the fall.\n\nThe product, which fits in your hand, combines electrocardiogram, or E.K.G., readings and heart sounds into a device that allows patients to monitor their health at home and send data to their physicians.", "output": "California-based Eko Devices has developed a digital stethoscope and accompanying software for home use. Eko has already sold some 6,000 wireless stethoscopes to around 700 hospitals, capable of sending a patient's information directly to a secure portal. Duo, Eko's new product, combines electrocardiogram readings and heart sounds in one device, allowing\u00a0patients to monitor their health at home and send readings directly to doctors. Duo is due to be available on prescription in the US by the autumn.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cheshire East Council to fine landlords for poor housing \n Cheshire East Council's housing enforcement policy is to be strengthened to try and ensure that residents in rented accommodation get the best housing standards with the right fire protection in place.\n\nPrivate landlords, including social housing landlords, face civil penalties of up to \u00a330,000 following the introduction of the 2016 Housing and Planning Act, which came into force in April this year.\n\nLandlords can also be ordered to make rent repayments if inspections reveal sub-standard housing conditions or failures in safety protection measures, including fire protection.\n\nThe new legislation requires local authorities to develop and document their own policy on when to apply sanctions, with each case determined on its merits.\n\nCivil penalties can be used as an alternative to prosecution for a number of offences under the 2004 Housing Act, including:\n\nFailure to comply with an improvement notice for hazards such as excess cold, falls, domestic and personal hygiene and fire;\n\nOffences relating to houses in multiple occupation;\n\nOvercrowding.\n\nThe civil penalties are different from fixed penalties in that they are applied after the landlord has failed to carry out corrective actions and all other procedures, including appeals, have expired.\n\nWhile \u00a330,000 is the maximum fine, civil penalties can be as low as \u00a31,000 but will be calculated on the degree of culpability and potential or actual harm.\n\nRent repayment orders can also be applied where a landlord has failed to obtain a licence for a property in multi-occupancy, has threatened a tenant, illegally evicted a tenant or failed to comply with a banning order.\n\nCouncillor Ainsley Arnold, cabinet member for housing and planning, said: \"We want to make sure as a council that landlords in the borough, and their tenants, are aware of the measures that are being taken to ensure that housing in the rental market is of a high standard and meets the required criteria for health and safety.\n\n\"Poor housing can lead to health risks, especially from damp properties, and in some cases it is children who can be placed at risk.\n\n\"As a council we take our responsibilities for housing standards in all sectors very seriously.\"", "output": "Cheshire East Council will fine landlords between \u00a31,000 ($1289) and \u00a330,000 for failing to meet housing standards outlined in 2016's Housing and Planning Act. The council will issue penalties for failure to comply with an improvement notice for hazards, offences relating to houses in multiple occupation, and overcrowding. In line with 2016's legislation, the council may also order landlords to pay back rent if inspections bring to light\u00a0poor safety protection measures or inadequate conditions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook uses Onavo app data to track rivals \u2013 and take them over \n You may have only recently discovered that Snap isn't having much luck attracting new users, but Facebook knew months before -- and there's a chance you helped it find out. The Wall Street Journal has learned just how Facebook has been using app usage data from Onavo Protect, the VPN-based security app from its Onavo team, to see how Snapchat adoption has changed over time. The social network looked at aggregated info about the frequency and duration of app use to determine that Snapchat use slowed down soon after Snapchat-like Instagram Stories became available. In other words, Facebook knew it could double down on its anti-Snap strategy within just a few months.\n\nThis isn't the first time Facebook has used Onavo's app usage data to make major decisions. The info reportedly influenced the decision to buy WhatsApp, as Facebook knew that WhatsApp's dominance in some areas (99 percent of Android phones in Spain had it) could cut it out of the loop. Likewise, it added live video after seeing how people used Meerkat and Periscope.\n\nTo be clear, Facebook isn't grabbing this data behind anyone's back. The company says Onavo Protect is explicit about what info it's collecting and how it's used, and that apps have incorporated market research services like this \"for years.\" The odds are slim that many people read these disclosures before using Protect, but anyone who was concerned could have found them. The revelation here is more about how Facebook uses that information rather than the collection itself.\n\nAll the same, it's that collection that has some observers nervous. Former Federal Trade Commission CTO Askhan Soltani tells the WSJ that Facebook is turning customers' own data against them by using it to snuff out competitors. Meanwhile, tech lawyer Adam Shevell is concerned that Facebook might be violating Apple's App Store rules by collecting data that isn't directly relevant to app use or ads. Apple isn't commenting on whether or not it is.\n\nNo matter what, the news underscores just how hard it is for upstarts to challenge Facebook's dominant position. How do you compete with an internet giant that can counter your app's features (or simply buy your company) the moment it becomes popular? This doesn't make Facebook immune to competition, but app makers definitely can't assume that they'll catch the firm off-guard.", "output": "Facebook turned to VPN-based security app Onavo Protect to see how Snapchat use changed after it launched Instagram Stories, according to the Wall Street Journal. Facebook was able to see that Snapchat use slowed after rival Instagram Stories was launched by using\u00a0aggregated data on the frequency and duration of the app obtained from Onavo Protect. The data would have been useful to Facebook in helping it plan\u00a0future investment in\u00a0Stories.\u00a0App usage data is also thought to have influenced Facebook's decision\u00a0to buy WhatsApp by making it aware of the strong competition it posed\u00a0in some territories."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Robotics-focused ETF passes $1bn assets milestone \n ROBO, believed to be the first robotics and automation exchange traded fund, has reached a new milestone in terms of its assets under management.\n\nIndex provider ROBO Global, which has holdings in more than 100 listed companies, says investors have embraced its dedicated focus on robotics, automation and artificial intelligence.\n\nThe ROBO Global Robotics & Automation Index ETF recently surpassed $1 billion in assets under management, and its managers say it has achieved the psychologically significant benchmark less than four years after launching.\n\nThe ETF tracks the ROBO Global Robotics & Automation Index, which is the brainchild of a team that says it is \u201cdeeply entrenched in the robotics industry who created the innovative methodology\u201d.\n\nThe Index and subsequent ETF aims to offer investors access to the entire value chain of robotics, automation and artificial intelligence.\n\nThe ROBO Global Robotics & Automation Index is comprised of 83 global companies from 14 countries in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East and is said to offer almost no overlap with traditional equity indices.\n\nROBO crossed the $1 billion assets under management mark last week, on August 8. Combined with a growing number of funds in Europe and Asia also tracking the ROBO Global Index total assets under management is now well over $1.6 billion, says the company.\n\nTravis Briggs, CEO of ROBO Global US, says: \u201cAs the Index provider to ROBO, we\u2019d like to sincerely thank the investors who have embraced our methodology and placed their trust in our boutique firm.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t take that lightly, and that\u2019s why we have assembled the premier robotics investing team and advisory board to singularly focus on this sector and investor return.\n\n\u201cOur Index was carefully constructed to give our investors diversified access to the large, mid and small-cap companies that are at the forefront of the robotics revolution that is changing the way we consume goods and how companies conduct business.\u201d\n\nROBO Global licensed its Index to leading turnkey ETF platform Exchange Traded Concepts to develop the ETF.\n\nBriggs says: \u201cWe are grateful to ETC for their support and for a wonderful partnership over the years.\u201d\n\nJ. Garrett Stevens, CEO of ETC, says: \u201cExchange Traded Concepts is fiercely supportive of our partners who come to us looking to take an innovative idea to the next level.\n\n\u201cThe market has spoken, and there is clearly an appetite for pure play exposure to the robotics industry, a concept that appeals to retail investors and financial advisors, as well as institutional investors.\u201d\n\nShare this: Print\n\nFacebook\n\nLinkedIn\n\nReddit\n\nTwitter\n\nTumblr\n\nPinterest\n\nSkype\n\nWhatsApp\n\nTelegram\n\nPocket\n\n", "output": "An exchange-traded fund, thought to be the first dedicated entirely to investing in robotics and automation, has reached assets under management totalling $1bn. The ETF, which tracks the ROBO Global Robotics & Automation Index reached the benchmark four years after launching. The index comprises 83 companies that seem to offer no overlap with traditional indexes."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple looking to push Apple Watch into health insurance market \n Apple and Aetna held a series of secret discussions last week to bring Apple's health and fitness-tracking smartwatch to millions more people connected to Aetna, according to three people familiar with the matter.\n\nThe insurer, which covers 23 million, offers an Apple Watch to its 50,000 employees as part of its corporate wellness program. Now, Aetna is negotiating with Apple on a plan to offer a free or discounted Apple Watch, Apple's wearable device, as a perk to its members.\n\nThe invitation-only meetings took place in Southern California on Thursday and Friday, according to the people. Those in attendance included executives from Aetna and Apple, as well as hospital chief medical information officers across the country.\n\nApple's Myoung Cha, who has the title \"special projects, health,\" led the discussions, said one of the people. The move by Aetna is part of its push to increase customer interest in a healthier lifestyle and a better tracking of diet, said one of the people.", "output": "Apple has met with health insurance company Aetna to discuss issuing a free or discounted Apple Watch to some of the insurer's 23 million customers, according to anonymous sources. The move would enable the insurer's customers to become more invested in a healthy lifestyle and improve their diet by tracking what they eat, said one of the sources. Meanwhile, Apple is working on introducing non-invasive blood sugar monitoring to its hardware. Aetna became the first insurer to offer its employees the Apple Watch in 2016."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brexit talks will impact ability to source building materials \n Top of the list for construction import and export are electrical wires. Credit: Shansekala Istock\n\nFor the working life of most architects in practice today, imported products have formed a large part of what they have eventually specified. Somewhere between 20% and 25% by value of the materials used in UK construction come from abroad. It\u2019s not just specialist items that you can\u2019t get at home that are imported. It\u2019s not just exotic or fancy stuff. Sure, we imported \u00a3100 million worth of glazed ceramic tiles from Spain and \u00a333 million of unglazed ceramic tiles from Italy in 2016. And timber makes up a large slice of what\u2019s imported, which is fair enough as we don\u2019t grow enough in the UK. Intriguingly though, the biggest building material category for imports is electrical wires. More than \u00a31.7 billion worth was imported last year. China sells us the most (17% by value in 2016), but it comes from all over the world, Italy, Turkey, Germany, Poland, USA, Netherlands, even Egypt. And we see the stuff all over the world too. \u00a3720 million worth of electrical wires was exported. Lamps and fittings came in as the second largest category imported, at just under \u00a31 billion, followed by sawn timber (thicker than 6mm) at \u00a3840 million. Steel and aluminium structures, paints and even relatively cheap stuff for its weight, like bricks and concrete blocks, are imported. The top 25 imports and exports of building materials can be seen in Table 1 (a and b).\n\nTable 1 (a and b)\n\nIn cash terms the total amount of building materials imported is estimated at \u00a315.5 billion for 2016, which is what you\u2019d expect if you followed the historic trends. Construction\u2019s demand for imported products is longstanding and relates directly to output. More or less, in each of the last 40 years, for every \u00a310 of construction output roughly \u00a31\u2019s worth of building materials is imported. Not all is used by the construction industry, however, some will go to DIY stores and in-house maintenance teams.\n\nChart 1\n\nThe closeness of this relationship can be seen in Chart 1. It seems extraordinary that it has held so tight for so long given that over time there will have been significant variation in the mix of imports, what we build, the nations from which we imported, the costs of production of products and exchange rates. Leaving for another day curiosity over what binds this relationship so fast, the big thing that all the above shouts is that the UK\u2019s construction industry is tied intimately into global trade. So what does this all mean for architects? Unless there are extraordinary (although what defines extraordinary today?) U-turns made in many quarters, from April 2019 onward the UK\u2019s trade relationships will be fundamentally changed. The transition to a post-EU trade regime may all go smoothly. But there are distinct signs that there will be plenty of hiccoughs on the way. This may spell both temporary and long-term problems for those sourcing materials. Falling Sterling Meanwhile, in the shorter term UK firms have to deal with the consequences of the sudden fall in the value of the pound in the wake of the EU referendum. The effect has been to create large inflationary forces as the price of imports rise when paid for in Sterling. Chart 2 illustrates the scale of the fall in the pound relative to both the US dollar and the Euro.\n\nTable 2\n\nWorking out the impact of weaker Sterling on import prices is far from straightforward. The data are a bit hit and miss and the speed at which inflation finds its way into the system is far from evenly paced within product streams, let alone between them. Terms of purchase will vary, some firms will hedge, while others will have bought well in advance. And the materials will be sourced from a range of countries operating in a range of currencies. Still, armed with some data kindly supplied by the Construction Products Association showing the volumes and values of imports of building materials in recent quarters, collected by HMRC, we can make a stab at gauging the overall jump in prices since the plunge in the pound. There are a number of ways we might do this. We could take averages (mean) for products over the latest two quarters, Q4 2016 and Q1 2017 to get an indication of roughly where prices stand three to nine months from the referendum and compared these with the average over pre-referendum quarters, for which we have six. Note we will ignore Q3 2016. We could possibly use the median of the six pre-referendum quarters to avoid volatility effects. Or we could do a straight Q1 2017 versus Q1 2016, which might take out some seasonal effects. These are all crude in purist terms but they will yield some indication, although we should note that there will always be some volatility in import prices, both up and down, for individual products categories, especially when they are linked strongly to energy prices. The three different approaches come up with different answers, but they all say the same thing. There has been a steep rise in prices since the EU referendum. You\u2019d expect some inflation over what is effectively 15 months within the calculations. The Eurostat data tracks materials costs in local currencies for residential building. It shows the Euro countries experiencing inflation below 4% in construction materials. The UK saw rises of about 6%, significantly higher. If the differential is mainly down to imported materials this suggests the big leap in prices.\n\nChart 2", "output": "Brexit talks are set to have a potentially damaging impact on the UK construction industry, according to the Royal Institute of British Architects. In a blog post, it warned that prices have already risen since the referendum decision in 2016, and average prices for raw materials could rise between 12% and 20%. The knock-on effect could force companies to buy cheaper alternative materials, while a bad Brexit outcome could impede the flow of goods between the UK and other countries, increasing pressure on the industry.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK mortgage lending holds steady\u00a0so far this year \n First time buyer activity continued to grow in the UK in June with lending to this sector up by 26% compared to the previous month and up 9% year on year.\n\nThe latest figures from UK Finance show that this equated to 36,000 loans, up 22% month on month and 6% year on year.\n\nThe data also shows that home owner remortgage activity totalled \u00a36 billion, up 5% by value on May and 7% year on year with loans totalling 34,300, up 5% month on month and 6% on a year ago.\n\nGross buy to let totalled \u00a33 billion, up 3% on May and up 3% compared to June 2016. These equated to 19,700 loans, up 3% month on month and 6% year on year.\n\nOn a non-seasonally adjusted basis, UK Finance data shows that mortgage lending in the second quarter also rose. Home buyers borrowed \u00a334.4 billion, up 18% quarter on quarter and 24% on the same quarter in 2016.\n\nWithin this, first time buyers borrowed \u00a314.8 billion, up 18% and 10% while home movers borrowed \u00a319.6 billion, up 19% and 21%. Home owner remortgage activity totalled \u00a316.9 billion, down 11% by value on the first quarter but up 1% on a year ago.\n\nGross buy to let totalled \u00a38.4 billion, down 6% compared to the first three months of the year but up 5% on the second quarter of 2016.\n\n\u2018June\u2019s figures show a busy month in the mortgage market, with home movers having their highest monthly activity levels for over a year and an especially high number of loans for first time buyers,\u2019 said Paul Smee, head of mortgages at UK Finance.\n\n\u2018Buy to let activity remains subdued compared to its 2015 peak but consistent month to month since stamp duty changes in April 2016. But there are also signs of a softening market and we are not anticipating that this performance will be sustained in the second half of 2017,\u2019 he pointed out.\n\n\u2018A slightly lop-sided market could well show some growth in house purchase lending but alongside reduced remortgage and buy to let activity,\u2019 he added.\n\nThe figures also show that affordability metrics for first time buyers saw the typical loan size increase from \u00a3137,000 in May to \u00a3139,000 in June. The average household income increased to \u00a341,000 from \u00a340,500. This meant the income multiple went up from 3.58 to 3.59.\n\nThe average amount borrowed by home movers in the UK increased to \u00a3180,000 from \u00a3177,000 the previous month, while the average home mover household income increased month-on-month from \u00a354,900 to \u00a355,200. The income multiple for the average home mover went up to 3.39 from 3.37.\n\nBuy to let activity was driven by remortgage lending which accounted for over two thirds of total lending. Buy to let house purchase and remortgage activity in June remained consistent with monthly levels seen since the change on stamp duty on second properties introduced in April last year.\n\nJeremy Duncombe, director of the Legal & General Mortgage Club, pointed out that the figures show that a year on from the European Union referendum, the mortgage market has remained stable in the face of ongoing political uncertainty.\n\n\u2018As these figures show, lending remains buoyant and buyers are mostly undeterred. For borrowers who are unsure about the market, professional advice has been crucial in helping to make the right choices and find the best mortgage deal amidst the political upheaval,\u2019 he said.\n\n\u2018Long term affordability issues continue to have an impact though. Although house price inflation is at its lowest level in four years and beginning to align with inflation, lack of supply and the barrier of stamp duty is still leaving many hopeful first-time buyers facing a mountain to climb. Increasing housing supply and addressing the possibility of a stamp duty exemption for first and last time buyers must remain at the top of the Government\u2019s housing agenda,\u2019 he added.", "output": "The UK mortgage market has remained stable despite the upheaval and uncertainty since the Brexit vote, according to Jeremy Duncombe, the director of the Legal & General Mortgage Club. His comments followed figures from banking representatives group UK Finance, which demonstrated the first-time buyer sector had grown by 26% to 36,000 loans in June\u00a0compared with the previous month, while mortgage lending in Q2 reached\u00a0\u00a334.4bn ($44.2bn), a rise of 18% on the previous quarter\u00a0and 24% up\u00a0on the same period in 2016.\u00a0Buy to let borrowing reached \u00a38.4bn, down 6% compared with Q1 but up 5% on the second quarter of 2016.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shell's plan to decommission Brent oil field angers Greenpeace \n The Brent oil field in the North Sea neatly bookends the history of oil and gas production in the UK.\n\nBrought online in 1976 during an energy crisis, Brent at its peak produced half a million barrels a day. Four decades on, with production on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) in terminal decline, this iconic field \u2013 which lends its name to the international crude price benchmark \u2013 is being decommissioned.\n\nOperated by Shell, Brent is situated midway between the Shetland Islands and Norway, and is served by four huge platforms \u2212 Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta. Of the four, only Charlie still produces oil.\n\nThe platform topsides housing the accommodation block and drilling structures are anchored to the sea bed by much taller \u2018legs\u2019, which stand in 140m of water. The proposal by Shell to leave these 300,000t concrete bases from Brent Delta has prompted furious reaction from environmentalists.\n\n\"Shell is asking the UK Government for permission to leave behind the rig's huge concrete legs, and the oil residues they contain, to cut costs,\u201d stated Greenpeace UK's chief scientist Dr Doug Parr.\n\n\u201cUnder the OSPAR regulations, oil firms can only dump this infrastructure if they can prove that's more environmentally sound than attempting to remove it. Shell hasn't produced any useful evidence to this effect and seems instead anxious to wriggle out of the proper process.\n\n\u201cThe government should not bend the rules for the sake of Shell's profits but uphold hard-won international laws. Shell and other oil firms have squeezed billions out of their platforms, driving climate change in the process. The least they can do is to take full responsibility for the clean-up.\"\n\nConcrete evidence: the environmental challenges of decommissioning\n\nEnvironmental concerns centre upon residual or \u2018attic\u2019 oil entombed in huge concrete storage cells within Brent Delta\u2019s legs as well as hydrocarbons that accumulated during the production phase.\n\n\u201cShell is developing technology to remove any hydro-dynamically trapped oil that is a threat to the marine environment,\u201d explains Duncan Manning, Shell\u2019s business opportunity manager for Brent.\n\n\u201cThe second type of oil is sediment at the bottom of the cells composed of roughly 25% sand, 25% oil, and 50% water. We took samples to understand the composition and engaged with multiple stakeholders including Greenpeace to develop options.\n\n\"The four Shell platforms have paid over \u00a320bn in today\u2019s money in tax during their lifetime.\"\n\n\u201cThese cells are made of reinforced concrete 60m high, 20m wide and 1m thick, and will last more than 700 years. Extract sediment to the surface, shipping it to shore, recycling and removing a proportion to landfill for treatment would be an incredibly time consuming and technically challenging process. The safety of personnel in undertaking this work is also a key factor.\n\n\u201cWe concluded that leaving the oil in place was the right thing to do. Shell\u2019s Independent Review Group concurred, agreeing that the effect on the environment of the recovery, transport, treatment and disposal of the oil would be far greater than the minimal impact of leaving it in place.\u201d\n\nLessons from Brent Spar: stakeholder engagement and OSPAR exemption\n\nTwo decades on from the Brent Spar debacle, when Shell\u2019s plan to sink an oil storage buoy sparked protests by Greenpeace and petrol boycotts in Germany, the company says it has learned its lesson.\n\n\u201cShell\u2019s stakeholder engagement began in 2007,\u201d says Manning. \u201cFor the past ten years we have engaged with more than 180 organisations and 300 individuals including fishermen, academics, community groups and environmental NGOs. Since the mid-1990s operators are required to make decommissioning and removal instrumental in the design of oil and gas platforms. So, there are definitely lessons that we have taken on board.\u201d\n\nThe OSPAR regulations protecting the marine environment in the North Atlantic forbid the dumping of legacy installations or leaving them wholly or partly in place. Shell is applying for an exemption.\n\n\u201cOSPAR acknowledges that there are significant difficulties with the removal of certain infrastructure including gravity-based structures and jackets over 10,000t,\u201d explains Manning. \u201cAs long you can make a case and justify the rationale you can seek a derigation from these clean sea bed regulations.\n\n\u201cThe Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy breaks that down into five categories; impact on sea users, technical feasibility, safety, environmental impact and cost. Taking the factors into consideration, Shell concluded that leaving the legs in place makes sense. We\u2019ve even broken down the five categories into 12 sub-divisions to better explain our case to stakeholders.\u201d\n\nThe Guardian reports that just five exemptions have been issued by OSPAR for 124 installations decommissioned since the rules came into force in 1998. Is Manning confident Shell will prevail?\n\n\u201cThe application is very much ongoing,\u201d he explains. \u201cWe have finished the public consultation and now Shell will respond to each of the many comments, make any changes to our decommissioning programme and then go back to the UK Government, which will engage with OSPAR on our behalf. We also received a 20-page letter from eight NGOs, which we also need to respond to, but we require further clarity from them on what they propose. Once we have that, we\u2019ll move forward.\u201d\n\nTaxing times: the tax relief debate and Pioneering Spirit\n\nDismantling Shell\u2019s Brent infrastructure will take ten years and cost billions. Oil companies are given between 40% and 75% tax relief on clean-up costs, a policy that has angered campaigners, who argue it amounts to yet another fossil fuels subsidy. Manning is quick to spring to Shell\u2019s defence.\n\n\u201cOil and gas operators are expected to pay tax on the total income of any field minus full lifecycle costs, which include setting up, operating and decommissioning the infrastructure,\u201d he argues. \u201cWe get decommissioning tax relief based on the tax regime during the production phase. Brent Delta is positioned in a high tax regime, so we receive around 70% relief on decommissioning.\n\n\"Oil companies are given 40% and 75% tax relief on clean-up costs, a policy that has angered campaigners.\"\n\n\u201cHowever, a third of that that goes back to the Treasury in the form of corporation and income tax. The four Shell platforms have paid over \u00a320bn in today\u2019s money in tax during their lifetime, so while we do attract tax relief it is a tiny percentage of the money that\u2019s already been paid to the Treasury.\u201d\n\nIn May, the world\u2019s largest floating vessel, Pioneering Spirit, lifted the 24,200t topside of the Brent Delta platform \u2013 a new world record \u2013 and carried it to a recycling centre 700km away in Hartlepool.\n\nOver the next ten years \u00a317.6bn will be spent to completely or partially remove more than 100 rigs on the UK and Norwegian continental shelves. More than 1,800 wells are scheduled to be plugged and abandoned and 7,500km of pipeline decommissioned. For Shell, it represents a mammoth task.\n\n\u201cBrent decommissioning is large and complex because there are four platforms with three different designs \u2013 three gravity-based and one steel jacket,\u201d explains Manning. \u201cDelta was the first where we\u2019ve completed the entire process and we are learning and improving from platform to platform.\n\n\u201cThe topside of Brent Delta is being recycled and we are switching focus to Brent Bravo. We have plugged the wells, isolated the reservoir from the surface and are preparing the platform for lifting. With Alpha, we are nearly halfway through plugging the wells, after which will prepare it for lifting. Brent Charlie is still producing but we will soon start the reservoir isolation phase on the final rig.\u201d\n\nAnd with that Shell\u2019s presence in the Brent field will end, 40 years after the oil first started flowing.", "output": "Shell has submitted plans to the UK government to decommission its Brent oil field in the North Sea. The field, which has been in operation since 1976, now produces oil from only one of its four platforms. Shell wants to leave the 300,000-tonne concrete bases that support the platforms behind, angering Greenpeace campaigners that warned the oil residues they contain could be harmful. Shell said\u00a0it is developing a technique for removing the residual \u201cattic\u201d oil, but maintains that leaving it would be safe for marine life. Shell will have to win an exemption from regulations before the bases are allowed to stay."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Streaming platform Britbox now available on US Amazon Prime \n BritBox, a collaborative subscription streaming platform backed by BBC Worldwide and ITV, is now available to US Amazon Prime members who can sign-up for $6.99 a month and a seven-day free trial.\n\nIn return for parting with their dollars anglophile customers will be granted access to thousands of hours of British TV\n\nIn return for parting with their dollars anglophile customers will be granted access to thousands of hours of British TV shows such as Dr Who, Poirot and Upstairs Downstairs, as well as movies like Pride and Prejudice.", "output": "US Amazon Prime members can now access BritBox, a subscription streaming platform supported by BBC Worldwide and ITV, for $6.99 per month. The service is offering a seven-day free trial, allowing users to watch popular British TV shows. The platform also hosts newly commissioned shows\u00a0and offers instant access to recently broadcast episodes of soap operas. The platform can be accessed through the Prime Video app.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Infiniti Prototype 9 has a Nissan Leaf motor in a racing body \n Infiniti is far from the first luxury automotive brand to show off an electric car concept in the wake of fending off Tesla and other startups, but Nissan\u2019s upscale division has taken the 2018 Leaf\u2019s heart and run in a very different direction.\n\nThis is the Infiniti Prototype 9, a design concept due to be shown this week at the 2017 Pebble Beach Concours d\u2019Elegance near Monterey, California. But under the vintage-looking clothes of the Prototype 9, lies the powertrain from the 2018 Nissan Leaf.\n\nSpend all your charge on a racetrack and Infiniti says the Prototype 9 should last up to 20 minutes\n\nA 148-horsepower electric motor, with 236 pound-feet of torque, and a 30kWh battery, powers the rear wheels through a single-speed transmission, according to Infiniti. Interestingly enough, that sounds a lot like the electric motor that\u2019s set to power the front wheels of the new Leaf, based on vehicle specifications that were leaked last week. Therefore in this Infiniti design project, it\u2019s billed as a \u201cnext-generation EV powertrain.\u201d\n\nStill, its performance may bode well for the upcoming Nissan Leaf. Infiniti says the Prototype 9 has a top speed of 106 mph, with a 0\u201362 time of 5.5 seconds. Spend all your charge on a racetrack and Infiniti says the Prototype 9 should last up to 20 minutes (without actually giving a number of miles it might last).\n\nThe Infiniti Prototype 9 is packing Nissan\u2019s newest EV technology under a striking body, mixing old and new. But why does it look like a 1940s racecar? After all, Infiniti doesn\u2019t have a mid-20th century racing history because it was a brand created in 1989.\n\nThe technology underneath is destined for a Nissan dealership very soon\n\nAlfonso Albaisa, Infiniti\u2019s senior vice president of global design, says the Prototype 9\u2019s look was inspired by the fantasy of \u201c\u2018chancing' upon an unrecognized race car, hidden away for decades in a barn, deep in the Japanese countryside.\u201d Therefore, it bears a heavy resemblance to the German and Italian racecars from the 1930s and \u201840s, even if Infiniti\u2019s designers in Japan tried to infuse cues from the brand\u2019s production cars in the front and sides.", "output": "The Infiniti Prototype 9 from Nissan\u2019s luxury automotive subsidiary has used the 2018 Nissan Leaf electric motor under a high-end racing car exterior. The 148 hp vehicle is powered by a 30 kWh battery and has a top speed of 106 mph and a 0-60 mph time of 5.5 seconds. The vehicle\u2019s style is distinctly 1930s-1940s in a bid to evoke the look of historical racing cars. The Infiniti Prototype 9 does not yet have a release date."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google secures search engine status on iOS for $3bn \n Everyone and their grandmother, who might have just received an iPhone and is still getting used to it, probably hate one iOS quirk that Apple \u2026", "output": "Google has paid Apple $3bn for the right to remain the default search engine for Apple's products. Apple's standard search engine, Safari, is owned by Google, despite the rivalry between Android and iPhone. Google's search engine is widely considered the best, so the deal benefits both parties, with Apple providing the best possible user experience and Google receiving the most available exposure."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fibre optic cable designed for mining keeps dust and water out \n Digital applications are becoming more important to the mining sector, and as Conventional optical interfaces are sensitive to contamination, HARTING has developed a solution.\n\nThe industry requires high bandwidths to cover long distances, making the use of fibre optic cable essential, but since conventional optical interfaces are very sensitive to contamination, a hardy and reliable solution has had to be developed.\n\nHARTING\u2019s solution for data transportation under these extreme conditions is the Expanded Beam Cable Assembly. The assembly\u2019s high bandwidth allows the high-definition video signals used to control the boring machines and associated equipment to be safely and securely transmitted. The fibre is contained in a connector housing that cannot be penetrated by dust, water or other environmental factors.\n\nThe hermaphroditic mating design of the expanded beam connectors ensures that regular disconnection and re-connection of the cabling in these environments is simpler than standard fibre optic cabling. The length of the optical connection is as simple as connecting an additional cable, with no need to spend time organising the laying direction or adding additional adaptors. As a result, the new assembly saves time and money by eliminating the need to match different mating faces in the field.\n\nApart from application in the mining sector, HARTING's Expanded Beam Cable Assembly can also be used to link networks in other harsh and intensive environments, including outside broadcast events, concert and music festival stage installations and container ports.", "output": "Harting\u2019s Expanded Beam Cable Assembly enables high-definition video signals that are used to control boring machines and associated equipment to be transmitted in harsh environmental conditions where standard fibre optic cabling may fail."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "LNG/diesel fuelling truck developed by US partnership \n Chart has announced that it has joined forces with Ground Force Worldwide (GFW) to launch the first dual LNG/diesel fuelling truck.\n\nThe vehicle was designed and constructed specifically for a large rock quarry customer in Florida, US. The customer is reportedly using the vehicle to fuel its recently converted fleet of haul trucks, which were retrofitted with LNG conversions.\n\nChart claims that the truck is based on a Kenworth T800 and Chart\u2019s Orca unit. Originally developed as an efficient way to deliver packaged atmospheric gases, the latest incarnation of this unit bears testament to its longevity and durability.\n\nNeither company has worked together before, and this project was GFW\u2019s first venture into LNG and cryogenics. Chart claims that \u2013 with the mining sector increasingly interested in LNG, and the major truck original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) developing LNG and LNG/diesel hybrid haulers \u2013 there is the potential for this partnership to grow.", "output": "Mining equipment manufacturer Ground Force Worldwide has partnered with international LNG services provider Chart Industries to launch the first dual LNG/diesel fuelling truck. The vehicle is based on a Kenworth T800 truck\u00a0and Chart\u2019s Orca unit, and will go into service at a rock quarry in Florida.\u00a0Chart claimed\u00a0that with major industries such as mining becoming more interested\u00a0in LNG as a fuel source, there is significant potential for the\u00a0partnership to grow."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "RWE to cofire biomass at two Dutch coal-fired power plants \n ADVERTISEMENT\n\nOn Aug. 14, Germany-based RWE AG released second quarter financial results. A quarterly financial report released by the company briefly discusses plans to cofire biomass at two coal-fired power plants.\n\nWithin its quarterly presentation, RWE said its executive board decided earlier this year to retrofit its two Dutch hard coal-fired power plants Amer 9 and Eemshaven to cofire biomass. According to the company, the Dutch state approved subsidies of up to \u20ac2.6 billion ($3.5 billion) for the two plants. Along with the retrofitting, the company said subsidies will also finance the additional expenses for procuring fuel. RWE said the funds will be received over an eight year period.\n\nAccording to RWE, the subsidies are allocated so that Amer 9 can achieve a biomass ratio of 80 percent, rather than the previous 35 percent, with Eemshaven able to achieve a ratio of approximately 15 percent.\n\nThe 643 MW Amer 9 power station has been in operation since 1993. The twin unit at Eemshaven has a capacity of 1,554 MW and has been generating power since 2014.\n\nIn its report, RWE said it plans to use a total of 2.5 million metric tons annually at the two facilities, which will lower carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 4 million metric tons. Biomass will be sourced from Europe and North America and will satisfy the requirements of Dutch sustainability protocol.", "output": "German energy company RWE said it plans to retrofit its Amer 9 and Eemshaven coal-fired power stations in the Netherlands to increase the amount of biomass they can burn. The 642 MW Amer 9 will raise its biomass ratio to 80% from 35%, while the 1,554 MW Eemshaven will\u00a0achieve 15%.\u00a0The Dutch government has approved subsidies of up to $3.5bn."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lithium iodide doesn't solve lithium-air charge cycle issues: MIT \n Battery researchers agree that one of the most promising possibilities for future battery technology is the lithium-air (or lithium-oxygen) battery, which could provide three times as much power for a given weight as today\u2019s leading technology, lithium-ion batteries. But tests of various approaches to creating such batteries have produced conflicting and confusing results, as well as controversies over how to explain them.\n\nNow, a team at MIT has carried out detailed tests that seem to resolve the questions surrounding one promising material for such batteries: a compound called lithium iodide (LiI). The compound was seen as a possible solution to some of the lithium-air battery\u2019s problems, including an inability to sustain many charging-discharging cycles, but conflicting findings had raised questions about the material\u2019s usefulness for this task. The new study explains these discrepancies, and although it suggests that the material might not be suitable after all, the work provides guidance for efforts to overcome LiI\u2019s drawbacks or find alternative materials.\n\nThe new results appear in the journal Energy and Environmental Science, in a paper by Yang Shao-Horn, MIT\u2019s W.M. Keck Professor of Energy; Paula Hammond, the David H. Koch Professor in Engineering and head of the Department of Chemical Engineering; Michal Tulodziecki, a recent MIT postdoc at the Research Laboratory of Electronics; Graham Leverick, an MIT graduate student; Yu Katayama, a visiting student; and three others.\n\nThe promise of the lithium-air battery comes from the fact one of the two electrodes, which are usually made of metal or metal oxides, is replaced with air that flows in and out of the battery; a weightless substance is thus substituted for one of the heavy components. The other electrode in such batteries would be pure metallic lithium, a lightweight element.\n\nBut that theoretical promise has been limited in practice because of three issues: the need for high voltages for charging, a low efficiency with regard to getting back the amount of energy put in, and low cycle lifetimes, which result from instability in the battery\u2019s oxygen electrode. Researchers have proposed adding lithium iodide in the electrolyte as a way of addressing these problems. But published results have been contradictory, with some studies finding the LiI does improve the cycling life, \u201cwhile others show that the presence of LiI leads to irreversible reactions and poor battery cycling,\u201d Shao-Horn says.\n\nPreviously, \u201cmost of the research was focused on organics\u201d to make lithium-air batteries feasible, says Michal Tulodziecki, the paper\u2019s lead author. But most of these organic compounds are not stable, he says, \u201cand that\u2019s why there\u2019s been a great focus on lithium iodide [an inorganic material], which some papers said helps the batteries achieve thousands of cycles. But others say no, it will damage the battery.\u201d In this new study, he says, \u201cwe explored in detail how lithium iodide affects the process, with and without water,\u201d a comparison which turned out to be significant.\n\nThe team looked at the role of LiI on lithium-air battery discharge, using a different approach from most other studies. One set of studies was conducted with the components outside of the battery, which allowed the researchers to zero in on one part of the reaction, while the other study was done in the battery, to help explain the overall process.\n\nThey then used ultraviolet and visible-light spectroscopy and other techniques to study the reactions that took place. Both of these processes foster the production of different lithium compound such as LiOH (lithium hydroxide) in the presence of both LiI and water, instead of Li2O 2 (lithium peroxide). LiI can enhance water\u2019s reactivity and make it lose protons more easily, which promotes the formation of LiOH in these batteries and interferes with the charging process. These observations show that finding ways to suppress these reactions could make compounds such as LiI work better.\n\nThis study could point the way toward selecting a different compound instead of LiI to perform its intended function of suppressing unwanted chemical reactions at the electrode surface, Leverick says, adding that this work demonstrates the importance of \u201clooking at the detailed mechanism carefully.\u201d\n\nShao-Horn says that the new findings \u201chelp get to the bottom of this existing controversy on the role of LiI on discharge. We believe this clarifies and brings together all these different points of view.\u201d\n\nBut this work is just one step in a long process of trying to make lithium-air technology practical, the researchers say. \u201cThere\u2019s so much to understand,\u201d says Leverick, \u201cso there\u2019s not one paper that\u2019s going to solve it. But we will make consistent progress.\u201d\n\n\u201cLithium-oxygen batteries that run on oxygen and lithium ions are of great interest because they could enable electric vehicles of much greater range. However, one of the problems is that they are not very efficient yet,\" says Larry Curtiss, a distinguished fellow at Argonne National Laboratory, who was not involved in this work. In this study, he says, \"it is shown how adding a simple salt, lithium iodide, can potentially be used to make these batteries run much more efficiently. They have provided new insight into how the lithium iodide acts to help break up the solid discharge product, which will help to enable the development of these advanced battery systems.\u201d\n\nCurtiss adds that \u201cthere are still significant barriers remaining to be overcome before these batteries become a reality, such as getting long enough cycle life, but this is an important contribution to the field.\u201d\n\nThe team also included recent MIT graduates Chibueze Amanchukwu PhD \u201917 and David Kwabi PhD \u201916, and Fanny Bard\u00e9 of Toyota Motor Europe. The work was supported by Toyota Motor Europe and the Skoltech Center for Electrochemical Energy Storage, and used facilities supported by the National Science Foundation.", "output": "MIT researchers have found that lithium iodide, a compound in lithium air batteries, may not be suitable for use. In previous tests, researchers introduced lithium iodide to address lithium air batteries' need for high voltages to charge, low efficiency, and poor cycle lifetimes. Lithium-air batteries provide up to three times the power-to-weight ratio of lithium-ion batteries. However, the addition of lithium iodide was unable to prevent limited charging-discharging cycles and irreversible reactions, the MIT researchers found."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aberdeen stocks to be removed from LSE in final stage of merger \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nSign up to FREE email alerts from businessInsider - Business Newsletter sent Mon to Fri, twice each day with a full week's round up every Sat\n\nThe \u00a311 billion merger between two of standard-bearers of the Scots financial sector Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management (AAM) has cleared its final regulatory hurdle after the deal was rubber stamped at Edinburgh's Court of Session.\n\nThe completed formality means that shares in AAM will be suspended from trading at the close of business today before they are cancelled from the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday morning.\n\nTo complete the deal and create the merged entity Standard Life Aberdeen, a copy of the court order must be delivered to the Registrar of Companies in Scotland, which is expected to happen on Monday.\n\nAt which point the tie-up will become effective.\n\nAnnounced in March after a run of outflows from AAM, the merger aims to achieve savings of \u00a3200 million a year, with about 800 jobs expected to be lost over a three-year period from a global workforce of 9,000.\n\nThe deal creates a global fund management giant with some \u00a3670bn of assets. Under the merger, each AAM share held by investors will be exchange for 0.757 shares in Standard Life, which were valued at 426.8p a piece at the close of trading yesterday.\n\nFigures earlier this week from Standard Life, led by chief executive Keith Skeoch, revealed a 6 per cent rise in operating profits to \u00a3362m for the six months to the end of June, while assets under management edged up 1 per cent to \u00a3362bn.\n\nStandard Life's last results as an independent company before its merger with AAM were overshadowed by outflows of \u00a35.6bn from its flagship Global Absolute Returns Strategies (Gars) fund in the first six months of the year.\n\nStandard Life Aberdeen will be jointly headed by Skeoch and his counterpart at AAM, Martin Gilbert.\n\nThe group will be chaired by Standard Life chairman and city grandee Sir Gerry Grimstone, with AAM\u2019s chairman Simon Troughton serving as deputy.", "output": "Shares of of Aberdeen Asset Management have been suspended and will be cancelled from the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday, in the final stage of the asset management giant's merger with Standard Life. The deal cleared its last legal obstacle last week when a court in Scotland gave its approval for the company being combined with Standard Life to form Standard Life Aberdeen. The \u00a311bn merger creates an entity with about \u00a3670bn in assets, though 800 jobs are expected to disappear.\u00a0\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "End-of-week tiredness causes crashes on UK roads \n Friday is the most common day of the week for car crashes, new figures show.\n\nEvidence shows there are more road accidents on a Friday than on any other day of the week.\n\nAnalysis of more than 700,000 traffic accidents in Britain by Direct Line Car Insurance found that drivers have a 14% higher chance of being involved in a collision on Fridays than the average day.\n\nThe riskiest hour on the roads is 5-6pm, with 9% of all incidents occurring in that period, according to the study.\n\nAdvertisement Hide Ad\n\nAdvertisement Hide Ad\n\nMotorists are least likely to be involved in an accident on Sundays when there are 24% fewer crashes than average as there are fewer vehicles on the road.\n\nThe research revealed that the total number of crashes fell by 8% between 2011 and 2015.\n\nGus Park, a managing director at Direct Line Car Insurance, said: \"Towards the end of the week we are often tired, rushing to get home or away for the weekend, and this can lead to people not paying as much attention to the road conditions and their surroundings.\n\n\"It is important people remain vigilant every time they get behind the wheel - for their own safety and that of other road users.\"\n\nAdvertisement Hide Ad\n\nAdvertisement Hide Ad\n\nOffice for National Statistics figures for personal injury accidents reported to police between 2011 and 2015 were analysed for the research.\n\nHere are the average daily number of road accidents in Britain, according to the study:\n\n* Monday: 397.1\n\n* Tuesday: 419.8\n\n* Wednesday: 419.1\n\n* Thursday: 424.0\n\n* Friday: 453.2\n\n* Saturday: 363.3", "output": "British drivers are more likely to suffer a crash on a Friday, when they are more tired and less attentive to road conditions, according to a study by Direct Line car insurance. It found that there was a 14% greater than average risk of crashing at the end of the week, with 5pm-6pm being the most dangerous time of the day. The safest day of the week is Sunday, according to the study, when motorists are 24% less likely than to be involved in a collision because there are fewer vehicles on the road.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow shows off home in its film for dog owners \n A Wrea Green business woman has taken the lead role in a new Redrow film offering top tips for making a house move smooth for homeowners and their four-legged friends,\n\nAlison Gledhill runs the Blackpool and Preston franchise of Barking Mad, a national \u2018home from home\u2019 dog sitting service.\n\nShe says: \u201cMoving house can be stressful for dogs, with a change in routine and environment, and so much going on with boxes being packed leading up to the move and the moving day itself.\n\n\u201cWith people\u2019s busy lifestyles, much as they love their dogs \u2013 most of whom are very much a member of the family nowadays \u2013 they can be forgotten until the last minute. But there are ways to make it less stressful and to ease the transition into their new home.\u201d\n\nAlison is no stranger to change herself.\n\nShe began her business 12 years ago after a career spent working for the Civil Service, for the Benefits Agency and HMRC. Alison says: \u201cMaybe it was my mid-life crisis but I hit 40 and wondered whether I wanted to carry on in the Civil Service until I retired, and the answer was no.\u201d\n\nAlison, who has two dogs and a cat herself, had decided she wanted a career change but didn\u2019t know what, until one day when she was looking to buy a book. She says: \u201cWhen I opened the Yellow Pages looking for bookshops it fell open on the Barking Mad page and I thought it sounded interesting.\n\n\u201cI loved the idea and, when I looked further into it, the business locally was up for sale. It all fell into place.\u201d\n\nNow instead of sitting in an office every day, Alison matches host families with those looking for someone to look after their pets while they go away on holiday and transports them from and to their home-from-home.\n\n\u201cI have gone from sitting in a stressful office environment to speaking to people about their dogs and their holidays; I\u2019m doing something I love. And the business is doing very well as people prefer to leave their dogs in another family home, being cared for and pampered while they go away.\n\n\u201cHost families are often retired people or widows and widowers who want the companionship of a dog and the pleasure of walking them and looking after them, without taking on the full-time commitment of having one.\u201d\n\nThe film was shot in the show home at Redrow\u2019s Ricksby Grange development, in Wrea Green, which offers a range of four-bedroom family homes from the homebuilder\u2019s award-winning Heritage Collection, with prices from \u00a3299,995.\n\nClaire Jarvis, sales director for Redrow Homes (Lancashire), said: \u201cIn the past we\u2019ve focused on moving home with children but we realise that a lot of our customers have pets too, so thought it would be good to provide them with some help and advice.\n\n\u201cWrea Green, with its lovely green spaces \u2013 including Lancashire\u2019s largest village green \u2013 and the nearby beaches of Lytham St Anne\u2019s and Blackpool, make it the kind of place that attracts dog owners looking for the perfect place to live, so Ricksby Grange was the ideal filming location.\u201d", "output": "A show home at Redrow\u2019s Ricksby Grange development, in Wrea Green, Lancashire, serves as the backdrop for a Redrow film offering homeowners tips on how to make moving home less stressful for their dogs. The film is fronted by local woman, Alison Gledhill, who owns the Blackpool and Preston franchise of Barking Mad.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BlackRock in one of Australia's biggest solar financing deals \n RCR Tomlinson has secured the $315 million contracts to build the Daydream and Hayman projects, adding to its rapidly growing line-up of solar construction contracts. Chief executive Paul Dalgliesh said RCR now has over half a gigawatt of large-scale solar projects on its order book and more than 1 GW in an earlier stage of development.\n\nThe CEFC is lending about $90 million to the two projects as part of a syndicated debt facility with CBA and French investment bank Natixis, BlackRock is providing equity towards the solar farms, one of which - Daydream - is underpinned by a 13-year power purchase deal with Origin Energy, while the second is being financed on a merchant basis.\n\nThe two projects will have the ability to incorporate storage down the track, supporting the flexibility and security of the power grid, according to Federal Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg.\n\nFor Edify, which will retain 10 per cent in the two plants, the deal extends its line-up of solar projects in Australia, where it is also pursuing storage ventures. Chief executive John Cole described the partnership with BlackRock as \"a real coup\" for Edify and said it is a major step towards bringing solar renewable power into the mainstream investment space in Australia.\n\nWhile BlackRock has participated in more than 90 solar projects over the last few years, involving 1056 MW of capacity, the Queensland projects will be its first in Australia.\n\n\"The move into Australia represents a key part of the firm's long-term renewable power strategy, by which we continue to invest in attractive markets in order to provide a flow of addressable investment opportunities for our clients,\" global head Jim Barry said.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBlackRock joins a host of other global investors such as Goldman Sachs that are backing renewables projects in Australia, although others such as Capital Dynamics see the risk around solar and wind projects still as too high because of the typically short duration of power sales contracts here.\n\nThe news comes as local battery producer Energy Renaissance confirmed it has selected Darwin for a planned large battery manufacturing plant in Australia, effectively giving the Northern Territory a mini \"Gigafactory\".\n\nThe Renaissance One factory will be the Southern Hemisphere's first lithium-ion battery plant, producing an annual capacity of 1 gigawatt-hours of systems to be sold into the Australian and south-east Asian markets. The first cells are set to come off the factory line by late 2018.\n\nThe selection of Darwin came after a two-year examination of potential sites around Australia, said Energy Renaissance, which is partly owned by CIMIC Group's UGL as well as the NT government and a US-based manufacturer. A final location has yet to be selected but it is likely to be at East Arm.\n\nTesla's Gigafactory being built in Nevada will eventually have a capacity to produce 150 GWh a year of batteries, while Boston Energy & Innovation, chaired by former Macquarie banker Bill Moss, is studying Townsville for a plant producing about 15 GWh a year.", "output": "BlackRock Real Assets will buy 90% of two solar projects in Queensland from developer Edify Energy. The 150 MW Daydream and the 50 MW Hayman solar farms will include 2 million solar panels with work beginning immediately and production slated for next year. RCR Tomlinson has won $315m of contracts to build the two projects, giving it over half a GW of large-scale solar projects on its order book and more than 1 GW in an earlier stage of development."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow takes over from Miller Homes on Hackwood Farm site \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nNever miss a story and read the latest headlines with our free email updates\n\nDesigns have been submitted for the first phase of hundreds of new homes that are set to be built on farmland on the edge of a Derby suburb.\n\nRedrow Homes East Midlands has submitted an application to Derby City Council containing details of the designs of the properties that it intends to build at Hackwood Farm, off Radbourne Lane, on the outskirts of Mickleover.\n\nThey cover a range of house types, including detached, semi-detached properties and townhouses.\n\nAccording to the designs that have been submitted as part of the application, the properties make up Redrow\u2019s \u201cHeritage Collection\u201d and have names such as Avon, The Richmond, The Marlborough and The Marlow.\n\nIn total, 370 properties will be built on this part of Hackwood Farm - with Redrow intending to build 89 homes, accessed from Starflower Way, in the first phase.\n\nOutline planning permission for the development was granted by the city council in 2015 - despite strong opposition from local residents.\n\nThat successful application was lodged by Miller Homes - but, with Redrow submitting the designs for the properties, it would suggest that the developer leading the scheme has since changed.\n\nRedrow Homes East Midlands came into being earlier this year after Radleigh Homes was sold to Redrow.\n\nIt retained Radleigh\u2019s Pride Park base, which is now home to Redrow Homes East Midlands.\n\nMiller\u2019s first application for 370 properties at Hackwood Farm was turned down by the city council as the authority\u2019s planning committee decided it would have a \u201csevere impact\u201d on local highways and would not be well connected enough to Mickleover district centre.\n\nHowever, the developer returned with another application, which was passed after officers said that those issues had been addressed.\n\nIt is not the only housing scheme planned for Hackwood Farm. Successful applications have previously been lodged for hundreds more properties - and the total number that will be built is thought to be around 700.\n\nMiller already has outline permission from the city council for 40 homes and a primary school and it has successfully applied to South Derbyshire District Council for permission for 290 homes.\n\nHackwood Farm is just one of a number of housing schemes planned for the outskirts of Mickleover.\n\nLast month, work started on 288 homes on a development called Four Acres, a site next to the A516, which is accessed by a controversial new traffic island.\n\nLooking for a new job? Visit our amazing jobs website here\n\nBarratt Homes and David Wilson Homes are the developers involved in that scheme, which is expected to be completed by 2020.\n\nAnd, this week, Richborough Estates announced that it had sealed an \u00a311.9 million deal to sell land on the edge of Mickleover, which has planning permission for 252 homes, to Bloor Homes.\n\nAs well as the properties, the 34-acre development, which will be accessed via Ladybank Road, will include a play area and an \u201cextensive\u201d public open space.", "output": "Redrow has submitted design details to Derby Council as part of its application to build 89 homes in the first phase of its 370-property Hackwood Farm development, on the outskirts of Mickleover. Despite strong opposition, Miller Homes was granted permission to develop the site in 2015, hence the submission from Redrow suggests a change in the lead developer. In total, around 700 properties are thought to be planned for Hackwood Farm, after successful applications were lodged by several developers. Barratt Homes, David Wilson Homes and Bloor Homes are also planning other housing schemes on the outskirts of Mickleover.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google moves further into health monitoring with Senosis purchase \n Google CEO Sundar Pichai. AP\n\nGeekWire reports that Google has acquired Senosis, a Seattle-based startup that's been making mobile apps to identify and monitor health conditions without the need for additional hardware.\n\nFronted by Shwetak Patel, a computer science and electrical engineering professor at the University of Washington, the company has developed tools to detect jaundice in infants and measure hemoglobin in your blood (to screen for diseases like anaemia) using just your phone's camera.\n\nAnother app uses the mic to help diagnose lung problems like asthma and cystic fibrosis. If approved by health regulatory agencies, these apps could make it easy to deploy wellness solutions in developing countries without the need for expensive hardware, testing labs and accompanying personnel.\n\nThe acquisition will likely help Google boost its efforts to tackle health issues as part of the company's plans for world domination. Its AI firm, DeepMind, has been working on machine learning tech to detect eye conditions and help fight blindness. The search giant also gathers fitness data on users' phones and from wearable trackers.\n\nIt's worth noting, though, that Google hasn't commented on the acquisition or said where it will place the Senosis team, which counts a little over a dozen people. GeekWire's source said that they might be retained in Seattle to work with Google and form the backbone of a digital health project.", "output": "Senosis, a company that specialises in hardware-free health monitoring, has been purchased by Google. Seattle-based Senosis specialises in turning smartphones into monitoring devices that collect health data to diagnose and collate information about\u00a0a range of medical conditions. The company's apps record data on metrics\u00a0such as pulmonary function and haemoglobin counts.\u00a0The acquisition supports Google's continuing push into\u00a0digital health.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Developers must be more open about new projects, says Shelter \n Regular readers of our blog \u2013 or followers of our work on housing supply \u2013 will have repeatedly heard our calls for increased transparency within housebuilding. One particular area where this is vital is when it comes to the murky world of viability assessments.\n\nThese assessments are used to reduce the affordable housing provision and other community contributions that a developer has to make on a scheme.\n\nRecently we saw (and wrote about) a particularly egregious example of this in relation to Battersea Power Station, but sadly it\u2019s also something we see all too often across the country.\n\nHowever, despite viability assessments being used to take away community assets, communities themselves rarely see them as they are almost always kept confidential.\n\nThis is, quite clearly, a system that has no place in 21st century Britain, where openness and transparency are things we should be ensuring wherever possible.\n\nThe impact of a viability assessment can be severe. For example, it has recently come to light that the redevelopment of Hornsey Town Hall in Haringey, North London will \u2013 thanks to concerns over viability \u2013 potentially deliver no on-site affordable housing as part of the 149 home development. This is despite the London Borough of Haringey having a planning policy that targets 40% affordable housing. Had the developer met the local authority\u2019s requirement, there would be 59 new, affordable homes for the local area.\n\nAs in most local authority areas, the reasons the developer provided to show why they can\u2019t deliver any affordable homes in their viability assessment are confidential, and the version published on the council website is heavily redacted.\n\nHowever, by copying and pasting into a Word document, it\u2019s possible to produce the full version of the document, which reveals some of the incredible numbers involved.\n\nFor example, the proposed profit that the developer feels they need to make to take on the scheme is 19.05% \u2013 and their assessment is that they cannot do this while delivering any affordable housing.\n\nThis is on a scheme where 27 parking spaces will be sold at a price of \u00a320,000 each, and where the overall sales value of the scheme is estimated at over \u00a3118 million (to save on the maths, that means the profit they are working to is over \u00a322 million).\n\nIt is particularly disappointing that this is happening when the developer knew that the council\u2019s policy was to include 40% affordable housing. Knowing this, they should have factored it into their plans from the very beginning \u2013 rather than seeing it as something to be reduced as needed.\n\nNow, it is important to make two things clear:\n\nDevelopers should be allowed to make a profit \u2013 of course they should, but in ensuring they make profit they shouldn\u2019t be squeezing out affordable housing The developer\u2019s assessment of the scheme\u2019s viability might well be fair \u2013 it may be that redevelopment with the policy-compliant level of affordable housing isn\u2019t possible. However, the evidence to support this should be public for the local community to understand and scrutinise. Where local people aren\u2019t getting what they would otherwise reasonably expect, they have to know why, and be able to question it\n\nWhat we want is for communities to be able to scrutinise developments in their area properly. This means making sure that viability documents are available without redaction.\n\nThe accidental release of the Hornsey Town Hall viability assessment also proves that scrutiny by local communities would take place. For example, the local councillors for the development have now sent an open letter to the developer asking for further information on some of the specific points. Having seen the viability assessment, they are now making sure that their community is getting the best outcome \u2013 and this is exactly what should be happening.\n\nIn addition, transparency over viability would help to restore public trust in housebuilding. While the development industry remains murky and hidden, we cannot be surprised when local communities are distrustful and unlikely to support new schemes.\n\nFortunately, the need for transparency in this area of development does seem to be gaining traction.\n\nIn the Housing White Paper, the government made good noises about increasing the level of transparency in the development industry. In addition, some councils have taken a lead in trying to bring this to viability. For example, in Greenwich where viability assessments are now made public with no redactions.\n\nThe Mayor of London is also taking positive action. The Homes for Londoners Supplementary Planning Guidance makes it clear that where developers won\u2019t meet a 35% affordable housing threshold they must explain this through a viability assessment that \u2013 apart from in certain circumstances \u2013 will be made public.\n\nWe can still go further though. As set out in Shelter\u2019s New Civic Housebuilding proposals, what we really need is a much clearer and more transparent national approach to viability. As we\u2019ve outlined before, the current approach is far too flexible and discretionary. A more robust approach would provide more certainty for builders, local authorities, and communities \u2013 and help to restore desperately-needed trust in new home building.", "output": "Property developers should have to publish the evidence they rely on in making viability assessments of how much affordable housing they can afford to include in new developments, according to a Shelter blog post. It also said that while developers should be allowed to make a profit that should not be at the expense of squeezing out affordable housing. In most local authority areas the reasons why developers cannot afford to deliver affordable homes in a given development are confidential. The comments were prompted by the accidental release of an unredacted viability assessment of the\u00a0Hornsey Town Hall development in north London.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Merck CEO quits Trump manufacturing council \n One of America's most prominent black CEOs quit President Trump's manufacturing council on Monday over Trump's initial failure to condemn white supremacists.\n\nKenneth Frazier of Merck (MRK) said in a statement: \"America's leaders must honor our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy.\"\n\nWithin minutes, Trump attacked him on Twitter, saying Frazier's resignation will give him \"more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!\"\n\nLater Monday, Trump targeted Merck in a second tweet.\n\n\".@Merck Pharma is a leader in higher & higher drug prices while at the same time taking jobs out of the U.S. Bring jobs back & LOWER PRICES!\" he said.\n\n.@Merck Pharma is a leader in higher & higher drug prices while at the same time taking jobs out of the U.S. Bring jobs back & LOWER PRICES! \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2017\n\nFrazier did not mention the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, in his statement, but he did say that \"as a matter of personal conscience, I feel a responsibility to take a stand against intolerance and extremism.\"\n\nThat appeared to be a reference to Trump's statement over the weekend blaming violence \"on many sides\" after neo-Nazis and white nationalists clashed with counter-protesters.\n\nFollowing two days of criticism, Trump on Monday called out the KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists as \"evil\" and \"hate groups\" that are \"repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.\"\n\nRelated: Merck CEO helped get black inmate off death row\n\nFrazier is one of the country's most prominent black corporate executives and was the only black male CEO named to the council in January. Before joining Merck, Frazier was a lawyer who helped free a black death row inmate falsely accused of murder.\n\nHis exit marks another rebuke to Trump from corporate America. Trump's June 1 decision to leave the Paris climate accord led Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk to step down from the manufacturing panel as well as a separate business advisory council.\n\nDisney (DIS) CEO Bob Iger similarly quit the business advisory council, and Goldman Sachs (GS) CEO Lloyd Blankfein used his first-ever tweet to slam Trump's Paris decision.\n\nPaul Polman, the chief executive of Unilever, which owns the Dove and Axe brands, praised Frazier for standing up \"for the moral values that made this country what it is.\"\n\nFrazier appeared at the White House just last month to promote an agreement between Merck, Pfizer (PFE) and Corning (GLW) to create 1,000 jobs.\n\nNow that Ken Frazier of Merck Pharma has resigned from President's Manufacturing Council,he will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES! \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2017\n\nTrump formed the manufacturing council a week after his inauguration as part of a push to create jobs. At the time, the White House hailed the council, including Frazier, as \"some of the world's most successful and creative business leaders.\"\n\nRelated: CEOs keep turning on Trump\n\nAt the group's first meeting in January, Trump shook Frazier's hand after the CEO talked up efforts to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. for a cancer drug.\n\n\"That's very good,\" Trump said at the time.\n\nWall Street seemed unfazed by Trump's attack. A fund that represents biotech stocks climbed 1% on Monday morning. Trump has in the past caused drug stocks to drop by threatening to bring prices \"way down.\"\n\n--CNNMoney's Patrick Gillespie contributed to this report.", "output": "Kenneth Frazier, CEO of pharmaceutical company Merck and one of the most high-profile black CEOs in the US, has resigned from Donald Trump\u2019s manufacturing council, following the president\u2019s failure to condemn the white supremacists involved in the weekend\u2019s fatal violence in Virginia. Although Frazier did not specifically mention the events in Charlottesville, he stated that \"as a matter of personal conscience, I feel a responsibility to take a stand against intolerance and extremism\". Frazier\u2019s departure follows previous resignations from the council by Bob Iger and Elon Musk, CEOs of Disney and Tesla respectively."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Proptech Credas uses\u00a0facial recognition for rent ID checks \n Post navigation\n\nA new firm is using real-time facial recognition technology with the aim of helping letting agents meet their Right to Rent obligations.\n\nStart-up company Credas claims its facial recognition software can speed up ID verification and is the first of its kind in the UK.\n\nAgents can verify essential ID documents and match the photos on those documents with the actual person, in real-time, by using an app.\n\nBy texting or emailing a link to the app, potential tenants can verify themselves from anywhere, and at a time that suits them.\n\nThe technology can verify up to 4,000 types of ID, and records each verification on a secure cloud-based platform \u2013 also helping agents to comply with the new General Data Protection Regulations being introduced next May.\n\nCredas has been set up Rhys David, former executive at Gocompare.com, who has more than 15 years\u2019 experience in technology processes and innovation.\n\nHe said: \u201cSince its implementation in 2016, the Right to Rent legislation has increased costs and time spent verifying tenants for many private landlords and letting agents. Having to physically check that the photo ID matches the tenant can be difficult if they are relocating from another part of the UK. Credas solves all of these problems in one handy app.\n\n\u201cOur pioneering technology puts the UK\u2019s most accurate verification tool at our clients\u2019 fingertips, for a fraction of the cost of building this kind of application in-house. The technology is incredibly flexible and we also offer integration options, to enable letting agents to hook up their own CRM to our verification engine.\n\n\u201cWe believe that Credas will revolutionise the way landlords and letting agents verify potential tenants.\u201d\n\nThe verification process consists of three simple steps \u2013 a selfie, a photo of the photo ID, and a \u2018liveness\u2019 test, to ensure that the person is actually present when the verification photo is being taken.\n\nCosts to agents depend on the number of verifications required \u2013 the more there are the lower the price \u2013 but will range between \u00a31 and \u00a35.\n\nBusinesses can buy as required, or pay monthly subscriptions.", "output": "Proptech start-up Credas, founded by ex-Gocompare.com executive Rhys David, has developed facial recognition technology that the firm said \"will revolutionise the way landlords and letting agents verify potential tenants\". The verification app, the first of its kind in the UK, matches photos on essential documents with a \"live\" picture of the prospective tenant, with all data stored on the cloud. \"The technology is incredibly flexible and we also offer integration options, to enable letting agents to hook up their own CRM to our verification engine,\" said David.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "London land acquisitions up 48% on previous quarter \n Some \u00a3722 million of development land sales in London were completed in the second quarter of the year, a substantial increase of 48% on the previous quarter, new research shows.\n\nIt is the strongest quarter of sales since the vote to leave the European Union in June 2016 and indicates that investors, including those from overseas, are in the market and this is expected to continue, according to the report from real estate advisors CBRE.\n\nThe analysis report reveals that three deals in the second quarter were above \u00a3100 compared with none in the first quarter of the year. It suggests that political uncertainty acted as a drag on development land sales during 2016, but the rebound in activity during the first half of this year demonstrates the re-emerging appetite for development land in London.\n\nThe two most significant deals of the quarter were similar in nature, both were over \u00a3150 million and involve sites for mixed use development in Southbank. The first site, in the Vauxhall, Nine Elms and Battersea opportunity area was purchased by Chinese developer R&F properties for a residential led mixed-use development.\n\nThis follows the company\u2019s purchase of Queens Square Croydon in the first quarter for \u00a359 million, another residential led development opportunity. The second site, One Waterloo, was purchased by the developer HB Reavis with planning permission for a 950,000 square foot speculative office led mixed use development.\n\nLooking forward, the report says that the sales pipeline remains strong, with a substantial amount of land either under offer or exchanged. At the end of the second quarter it is estimated there is another \u00a31.5 billion in the pipeline, significantly higher than the \u00a3602 million estimated at the end of 2016.\n\nThe sale of New Covent Garden Market, which recently exchanged contracts to Chinese conglomerate and property developer Dalian Wanda for \u00a3500 million, is expected to help define this year\u2019s market when it completes.\n\nAs with the first three months of the year, almost all the land purchased in the second quarter is intended for mixed-use development, both office and residential, with many located in areas earmarked for large scale regeneration.\n\n\u2018It also reflects greater caution in current market conditions, with developers looking for opportunities in a diverse range of sectors rather than focusing on one area in particular,\u2019 the report says.\n\n\u2018Looking forward, we expect land sales across London to remain above average for the remainder of 2017. Overseas investors will continue to take advantage of current market conditions whilst also capitalising on the current exchange rate,\u2019 it points out.\n\n\u2018Both international and domestic developers are seeking sites in central London, particularly in the West End where lot sizes are typically smaller, but supply is markedly constrained,\u2019 it concludes.", "output": "The second quarter of 2017 was the strongest for sales of development land since the Brexit vote in June 2016, with \u00a3722m ($793m) of sales in London completed, according to a report by property adviser\u00a0CBRE. The figure was a 48% increase on the previous quarter. The two most significant deals for Q2 were both above \u00a3150m and located south of the river. The report\u00a0said the land purchased was mixed use, reflecting \"greater caution in current market conditions\". The report also said deals in the pipeline amounted to \u00a31.5bn, far beyond the \u00a3602m estimated at the end of 2016.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Comparison Creator launches gadget insurance aggregation site \n Protect Your Gadget price comparison website has been developed to compare multiple brands.\n\nProtect Your Gadget has been launched by Comparison Creator, a software development company which specialises in product comparison.\n\nAccording to Comparison Creator the website is the only gadget insurance comparison website in the UK.\n\nBrands\n\nThe firm explained that the service compares multiple brands and allows consumers to review policies based on the cover provided - including accidental damage, multi-gadget cover, mechanical breakdown and whether or not family cover is provided.\n\nThe", "output": "Gadget insurance has entered the world of the aggregators, with Comparison Creator launching price comparison website Protect Your Gadget for customers to insure smartphones, tablets and other personal items. Developed by software writer Comparison Creator, the site will launch in the UK and has already been taken up by Gocompare.com, which carries a link for the site. The service will aggregate policies that offer accidental damage, multi-gadget cover, mechanical breakdown.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Asian factory farms risking global health: FAIRR \n The use of antibiotics in factory farms in Asia is set to more than double in just over a decade, with potentially damaging effects on antibiotic resistance around the world.\n\nFactory farming of poultry in Asia is also increasing the threat of bird flu spreading beyond the region, with more deadly strains taking hold, according to a new report from a network of financial investors.\n\nUse of antibiotics in poultry and pig farms will increase by more than 120% in Asiaby 2030, based on current trends. Half of all antibiotics globally are now consumed in China alone. The Chinese meat and animal feed producers New Hope Group and Wen\u2019s Group are now among the 10 biggest animal feed manufacturers in the world.\n\nThe growth of Asian meat production in intensive units is also producing a rise in greenhouse gas emissions from the food chain, with emissions likely to rise by more than 360m tonnes, the equivalent of running 100 coal-fired power plants for a year. There are knock-on impacts such as deforestation, as China\u2019s need for animal feed is responsible for more than a third of Brazil\u2019s soybean production.\n\nThe report, Factory Farming in Asia: Assessing Investment Risks, comes three years after a meat scandal in China, in which suppliers to McDonalds, KFC and others were found to be using dirty meat and products past their sell-by date. It also comes in the midst of a growing food scandal in Europe, which has required the recall of millions of eggs tainted with harmful chemicals, and as concerns have been aired over the impact of Brexit on imports of farm products to the UK.\n\nAsian food companies have rapidly expanded their meat production in response to growing populations and the tastes of the rising middle class, but this expansion has come to the detriment of food safety.\n\nJeremy Coller, of Coller Capital, said: \u201cInvestors have a big appetite for the animal protein sector in Asia. But the growth is driven by a boom in factory farming that creates problems like emissions and epidemics, abuse of antibiotics and abuse of labour. Investors must improve the management of sustainability issues in the Asian meat and dairy industries if they want to avoid a nasty bout of financial food poisoning.\u201d\n\nHowever, the report also found that deploying modern techniques could assist in reducing the impact of factory farming \u2013 for instance, by using barcodes to enable consumers to check the provenance of eggs, by reducing greenhouse gases and improving the health of livestock.\n\nAvian flu is an increasing threat, with the latest strain to take hold in China, H7N9, proving more deadly than previous strains. It has already killed 84% more people in the four years since its emergence than the H5N1 strain that came to public attention in 2006. Affected industries in China include suppliers to McDonalds and Walmart. An outbreak of bird flu in South Korea in 2016-17 resulted in the cull of a fifth of the country\u2019s flock.\n\nThe growth of Asian meat production in intensive units is producing a rise in greenhouse gas emissions Photograph: China Photos/Getty Images\n\nThe authors of the study recommended that investors assess the risks of food production in the assets they hold, as financial firms can persuade the companies they fund to make improvements in their supply chain. But they said awareness among investors was currently too low and should be raised.\n\nPrevious food scandals have damaged the finances of multinational companiessuch as McDonalds and KFC. Jaideep Panwar, sustainability and governance manager at APG Asset Management Asia, said: \u201c[This] reminds investors to keep a close eye on the long-term risks of food assets in Asia.\n\n\u201cThe evolution of what are now early stage regulatory moves in Asia, supplier conditions introduced by international brands and import restrictions can have an impact on the productivity of Asian producers and their access to markets. Investors will assess the ability of companies in the meat supply chain to position themselves ahead of these risks.\u201d\n\nMelissa Brown, partner at Daobridge Capital in Hong Kong, added: \u201cFew issues are as politically sensitive in Asia as food safety. Yet far too many food sector equities have been priced as if [these] risks don\u2019t matter and that good risk management won\u2019t be recognised in the market.\u201d\n\nThe report was published on Monday by the international investment network FAIRR and the Asia Research and Engagement consultancy.", "output": "Asian factory farms are expected to increase their use of antibiotics by over 120% by 2030, threatening a rise in global antibiotic resistance, according to a report from international investment network FAIRR and the Asia Research and Engagement consultancy. At present, half of all antibiotics consumed globally are used in China. The report, which calls on investors to assess the risks of food production in their assets, also claims that poultry farming in Asia is increasing the risk of bird flu epidemics. Intensive meat production in the region could also increase greenhouse gas emissions by over 360 million tonnes."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Uber operations suspended for one month in Philippines \n The Philippines government on Monday ordered US company Uber to suspend its operations in the country for a month for continuing to accredit new drivers despite being ordered by the government to stop.\n\nThe transportation network company, which has a strong presence in the Philippines market, must halt the operation of its online booking application for a month starting Monday, the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board was quoted as saying by Efe news.\n\nThe measure comes after the state body ordered Uber on June 26 to stop accrediting new drivers amid attempts to regulate the thriving private sector transport industry in the country, where public transportation is poor.\n\nOut of the approximately 120,000 private transport vehicles (most of which are operated by Uber and Grab) plying on the country's roads, barely 7,000 have proper accreditation.\n\nThe state agency's decision created a stir on the social media in the country, where several users complained that the measure could lead to overcrowded taxi services.\n\n--IANS\n\nAlso Read Philippines' Army Chief named Secretary of Interior, Local Government Philippines government cancels peace talks with rebels Militants behead German hostage in Philippines Death toll in Philippines clashes climbs to 95 Children fighting for IS in Philippines conflict: Army Access to Heritage Line Metro stations to be limited Telephone subscribers in India grew 0.49% in June Inflation rises as food, fuel prices rise (Roundup) HCL launches AI-powered services for enterprises China warns of trade war with US\n\nsoni/dg", "output": "Philippine regulator the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board has ordered Uber to cease trading in the country for a month. The government has accused the US ride hailing service of accrediting new drivers, despite orders to desist in June. Approximately 7,000 drivers out of 120,000 in the Philippine private transport sector have proper accreditation. Critics of the move have expressed concern that it could lead to a shortage of taxis.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Thomson Reuters revamps Eikon with an eye on Mifid II \n Source: Thomson Reuters\n\nThomson Reuters has integrated and enhanced its robust research capabilities on its flagship financial desktop Eikon as part of its ongoing commitment to help financial institutions manage impending MiFID II research unbundling requirements set to be implemented in January, 2018.\n\nThese are part of a series of research unbundling enhancements that Thomson Reuters will continue to make in 2017 through new products and third-party partnerships.\n\nThe new Thomson Reuters MiFID II Entitlements Solution features upgraded entitlement granularity to meet brokers\u2019 flexible segmentation requirements. It provides seamless entitlement request and response functionality for the sell-side and buy-side through our Research Management Console, and a comprehensive Research Entitlement API for contributor CRM integration. Furthermore, to support buy-side clients\u2019 regulatory reporting requirements, Thomson Reuters has also enhanced its readership reporting systems with better usage tracking.\n\nMiFID II imposes a series of new restrictions and structures on research use by financial institutions, specifically how research is paid for and managed by the institution. The rules effectively eliminate free research or research paid based on specific trading or investing decisions. To help clients navigate these research unbundling challenges, Thomson Reuters Eikon research solutions provide users the ability to objectively assess sell-side analyst quality, manage entitlements to external research, gain insights quicker through improved research discovery, and effectively evaluate a firm\u2019s research team.\n\n\u201cThe unbundling requirements are a game-changer with respect to the research segment of the financial services industry, forcing companies to radically alter what are long-standing business practices,\u201d said Mahesh Narayan, head of portfolio management and research, Thomson Reuters. \u201cOur established research capabilities make Thomson Reuters well-positioned to provide unbiased and powerful solutions that help clients navigate and comply with MiFID II research unbundling requirements. In addition to developing our own products, as an open platform, we are committed to partnering with third-parties that adds further value to our Eikon users.\u201d\n\nPowered by Thomson Reuters Intelligent Tagging, and using Eikon\u2019s Advanced Research Search, and Search & Discover capabilities, Eikon users can quickly and easily find the most relevant and valuable research through analyst rankings, specific themes, companies, individuals, data points, keywords and other related search topics.\n\nThomson Reuters is one of the largest aggregators of real-time research in the world and offers a comprehensive portfolio of research-related products for both the buy-side and sell-side. Thomson Reuters Eikon provides unbiased sell-side analyst performance evaluation focusing on analyst accuracy as well as relative analyst ranking by security and sector. Through Thomson Reuters StarMine investment analytics, buy-side professionals can utilize an analyst score card and rankings to make and/or justify broker section decisions. As a leading provider of content distribution services to the sell-side Research community, Thomson Reuters is committed to continued improvement in research entitlements and controls, to ensure that research content is distributed to clients according to its contributors\u2019 exact needs as market regulations evolve.\n\nThomson Reuters is committed to providing its clients with solutions to meet the full range of MiFID II regulations. Recently announced initiatives to help its clients achieve MiFID II compliance include: a partnership with BestX for FX transaction cost analysis; the launch of an enhanced analytics platform for best execution and SI determination (Velocity Analytics 8.0); plans to provide a holistic set of MiFID II services including multi-asset best execution, SI (Systematic Internaliser) determination, market data aggregation and bespoke reference data services; a collaboration with Tradeweb for APA (Approved Publication Arrangement) services; and enhancements to its Tick History feed.", "output": "Thomson Reuters has revamped research capabilities on its Eikon financial desktop product with an eye on Mifid II, the suite of\u00a0European Union regulations due in January that will require firms to unbundle research fees from transactions charges. The changes will enable buy-side and sell-side\u00a0users to better manage their research usage, the company said. As part of the move, Eikon will support buy-side firms' reporting requirement.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Reposit CEO quits proptech start-up, without a replacement \n Post navigation\n\nOne of the founders of deposit replacement scheme Reposit has left the proptech firm.\n\nCurran McKay has stepped down as chief executive of Reposit just a year after launch.\n\nHe posted on LinkedIN last Wednesday: \u201cFollowing a fantastic two years working with Reposit, I have made the decision to leave the business.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve learned a huge amount through co-founding the company and I\u2019m excited for my next challenge. I\u2019m very proud of what we have achieved with Reposit so far and I wish the team future success as they continue to make renting fairer.\u201d\n\nIt is unclear where he is going or who his replacement will be.\n\nHis name was still displayed on the Reposit website on Friday but Companies House documents show he resigned as a director on August 4.\n\nA spokesman for Reposit said: \u201cFollowing two years as chief executive, Curran McKay has stepped down from Reposit for personal reasons, effective immediately.\n\n\u201cWe are grateful for all Curran\u2019s hard work building Reposit alongside co-founders Jude Greer and Brendan Short, and we wish him success in the future.\n\n\u201cAside from that, July was our best month yet with a record number of Reposits processed, and August looks like it will be even better.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re proud to be making renting fairer for the UK\u2019s tenants and have some exciting new projects in the pipeline for the second half of 2017.\u201d\n\nRather than a deposit, Reposit, which launched in August 2016, lets tenants pay a non-refundable fee of one week\u2019s rent.\n\nReposit\u2019s service then provides six weeks\u2019 worth of cover to the landlord for damages, unpaid rent, cleaning costs and any other charges normally associated with deductions from a security deposit.", "output": "Reposit CEO Curran McKay has quit the proptech start-up just a year after launch. Co-founder McKay, who is stepping down for personal reasons, had worked for the deposit replacement scheme for two years and said he was \"very proud\" of what it had achieved in making renting fairer. Reposit lets tenants pay a non-refundable fee of one week's rent instead of a deposit. It then offers six weeks' worth of cover to the landlord for unpaid rent, damages and any other costs associated with a deduction from a property rental deposit.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Up to 35,000 barrels of crude oil leak into Kuwaiti sea \n Oil analysts estimate about 35,000 barrels of crude may have leaked into waters near a Kuwaiti-Saudi offshore oilfield.\n\nEmergency workers battled on Sunday to contain an oil spill near a joint Kuwaiti-Saudi oilfield in the Gulf.\n\nNo official reports were available on the source or size of the leak in the waters off Kuwait\u2019s southern coast, near the joint Kuwaiti-Saudi offshore Al-Khafji oilfield.\n\n\u201cEmergency oil teams are still struggling to put an oil spill near Kuwait\u2019s southern Ras Al-Zour area under control,\u201d said Kuwait Petroleum Corporation spokesman Talal al-Khaled in a statement carried by the official KUNA news agency.\n\nREAD MORE: The price of oil \u2013 It\u2019s bad news for the Middle East\n\nKuwaiti media quoted local oil experts as saying the spill originated from an old 50-km pipeline from Al-Khafji.\n\nThey estimated as many as 35,000 barrels of crude oil may have leaked into the waters off Al-Zour, where Kuwait is building a massive $30bn oil complex that includes a 615,000-barrel-per-day refinery.\n\nSaudi Arabia and Bahrain, located south of Kuwait along the Gulf coast, said the spill had not reached their waters.\n\nSaudi Arabia put into action a \u201ccrisis management plan\u201d and was conducting an aerial survey of its oil plants along the coast, said a statement published by the official SPA news agency .\n\nThe Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said teams from Saudi Arabian Chevron and Oil Spill Response Limited were cleaning the coastal waters.\n\nKuwait is a major producer of oil and gas, which make up about 95 percent of its export revenues.", "output": "Emergency workers from Saudi Arabian Chevron and Oil Spill Response are battling to clean up an estimated 35,000 barrels of crude oil which leaked from a pipeline into into the waters off Al-Zour, according to a statement from Kuwait Petroleum Corporation spokesman Talal al-Khaled. The spill is at the site of a $30bn oil complex that includes a 615,000-barrel-per-day refinery. Saudi Arabia and Bahrain confirmed the leaked oil had not reached their waters."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mobile nano spectrometer identifies dangerous chemicals \n Credit: University of North Texas\n\nGuido Verbeck, UNT associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, patented an algorithm that works with a high-tech tool to detect the location of chemical streams. Now, he's using it in technology that can detect not only chemicals, but biological threats. His newest device, a mobile nano spectrometer, can be used in a moving vehicle to investigate attempts at creating biological warfare, examine environmental concerns, find clandestine laboratory locations, protect military bases and determine the toxicity of HAZMAT spills.\n\n\"This device can target aromatic compounds such as biofuels, chemicals used in oil and gas procurement, drugs and even determine disease states,\" Verbeck says. \"This is the first technology of its kind that can detect both chemical and biological threats at the same time.\"\n\nVerbeck's latest version of the detection tool \"breathes\" the air through a sensor to detect dangerous compounds and can fractionate a plasma source to determine if biological weapons are present. He is testing the technology at a missile base to fine tune it for detection of everything from anthrax and ricin to deadly viruses that could decimate populations.\n\n\"We wanted to develop an instrument with a higher throughput,\" he says. \"This version allows for rapid response \u2015 three second detection of chemicals and biological agents. It's also made for ease of use. You don't have to be a scientist to operate it.\"\n\nVerbeck's goal is to create a software for the system that prevents the need for viewing data and, instead, provides up front information that can be processed in real time. He's currently working with Thermo Fisher Scientific, a world leader in biotechnology product development that has provided a $2 million grant, to get this patent \u2015 and two others \u2015 executed.\n\n\"I currently hold 12 patents for modified mass spectrometers and my nanomanipulator,\" Verbeck says. \"My goal is to have 50 percent of them active. At this time, three are. When Thermo Fisher puts these three into action, I will have met that goal.\"\n\nVerbeck says he understands the potential for civil liberty concerns with this type of technology and is working closely with Kimi King, a UNT political science professor and civil rights expert, to pursue grants from the National Institute of Justice.\n\n\"I'm being proactive. I want to make sure this technology is developed in the best legal way possible,\" Verbeck says.\n\nVerbeck has already received his first royalty check of $10,000 for his chemical detection algorithm patent.\n\n\"This is only the first check,\" Michael Rondelli, associate vice president for innovation and commercialization in the Office of Research and Innovation, says. \"We expect a lot more as this exciting new technology gets to marketplace.\"\n\nVerbeck says a strong partnership with the university's technology transfer team, which is led by Rondelli, was a major factor in the commercial success.\n\n\"As researchers, we can keep doing our work without losing any stride thanks to UNT's tech transfer office,\" Verbeck says. \"Product output needs to continue to be a focus at UNT so our ideas can translate from the laboratory to the real world. We're still building up that profile.\"", "output": "A University of North Texas professor of chemistry and biochemistry, Guido Verbeck, has developed a piece of technology that is capable of detecting environmental chemical and biological threats. The mobile nano spectrometer can be used in a moving vehicle to assess environments that may have hazardous materials (hazmat) in them. It\u00a0targets\u00a0\"aromatic compounds such as biofuels, chemicals used in oil and gas procurement and can even determine disease states\", says Verbeck.\u00a0By \"breathing\" in the air, the detection tool is capable of sensing dangerous chemical compounds and can detect secret laboratories and assess the toxicity of hazmat spills."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Political unrest in Kenya after allegations of electoral fraud \n Protesters burnt shacks to the ground in a Nairobi slum as violent demonstrations against Kenya's presidential election results flared for a second day\n\nKenya's defeated opposition faced mounting calls at home and abroad to calm their supporters Sunday after claims of election rigging sparked violent protests that left at least 16 people dead.\n\nOdinga's flashpoint strongholds in western Kisumu and Nairobi's slums were quiet Sunday, with signs life was returning to normal after two days of running battles with police, who in some cases fired live ammunition to disperse protesters.\n\nBut UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged thwarted presidential candidate Raila Odinga to \"send a clear message to his supporters urging them to refrain from violence\", a message echoed by British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.\n\nThe anger erupted on Friday night after President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the victor by a large margin over Odinga following an election pollsters had described as too close to call.\n\nOdinga's National Super Alliance (NASA) coalition has insisted their candidate is the rightful winner, saying he was robbed of victory through hacking and manipulation of an electronic vote tallying system.\n\nHowever calls for them to take their grievances to court, while Kenya's foreign partners heap congratulations on Kenyatta, have left them isolated and under mounting pressure.\n\nOdinga, 72, a mainstay of the Kenyan opposition since the 1980s, has been silent since his loss was announced, but was due to address supporters in Nairobi's Kibera slum on Sunday afternoon.\n\nHis party officials have said they will neither back down nor take their grievances to court, as they did in 2013 when Odinga also cried foul over his loss.\n\n\"We will not be cowed, we will not relent,\" NASA official Johnson Muthama told reporters on Saturday.\n\nIn Nairobi's Mathare slum, shops and markets slowly began opening and there was no sign of police or protesters on Sunday.\n\n\"We want to hear Raila. We want to hear what he has to say. It's him who will guide us. If he tells us to go on the streets, we will go on the streets. If he wants us to stay home, we will stay stay home,\" said 25-year-old hairdresser Humpfrey Songole in Mathare.\n\nKenya: post-electoral unrest\n\n- 'Exercise restraint' -\n\nAccording to an AFP tally, 16 people have died since the result was announced Friday.\n\nSeven of those were in the west, which was also calm Sunday morning.\n\n\"We have three bodies that were taken to the main mortuary in Kisumu, we also have one in Homa Bay, and there's one in Migori and two in Siaya,\" a senior police officer said on condition of anonymity, as he is not permitted to speak to the media.\n\n\"These are people killed in the confrontations with officers since Friday night,\" said the officer.\n\nNewly elected Kisumu governor Anyang' Nyong'o -- father of actress Lupita Nyong'o -- urged police to withdraw and allow people to peacefully protest the \"stolen election\".\n\nNine people have died in the capital, including a young girl whose family said she had been shot in the back while playing on a balcony in Mathare as police opened fire on protesters.\n\nThe Doctors without Borders (MSF) charity said on Twitter that it had treated 54 wounded people in its clinics.\n\nThe post-election violence is the worst since a disputed 2007 poll which Odinga claimed was stolen from him. That led to two months of protests and ethnic killings which left 1,100 dead and 600,000 displaced.\n\nRaila Odinga has tried four times to win the Kenyan presidency\n\nBritain's Johnson called on Kenya's opposition to \"exercise restraint\" to ensure calm.\n\nThe European Union's foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini urged the opposition \"to respect the results and to use legal means available for appeals and complaints.\"\n\nIn another blow to the opposition, local election observer group ELOG, which deployed 8,300 observers and conducted a parallel tallying operation, determined Kenyatta had won with 54 percent -- the same figure given by the electoral commission.\n\n- 'Zero-sum game'-\n\nKenyan media also urged Odinga to address his base.\n\n\"NASA must direct its supporters to stand down, no matter how justified it feels that the presidential tally was rigged,\" wrote the Standard newspaper in an editorial, while slamming the police response to protests.\n\nInterior Minister Fred Matiangi denied that police had fired on \"innocent protesters\", saying officers had clamped down on \"criminal elements\" taking advantage of the tension to loot and rob.\n\nPolitics in Kenya is largely divided along tribal lines, and the winner-takes-all nature of elections has long stoked communal tensions.\n\nOdinga's ethnic Luo supporters -- and their allies from other groups -- believe they have been denied political power by elites from the Kikuyus, the same ethnic group as Kenyatta, the country's biggest community.\n\n\"The reason elections have become a trigger for violence is the relationship between power and prosperity. It is a zero-sum game and winning becomes a life and death matter, hence losing is not an option,\" wrote the Daily Nation in its editorial.", "output": "UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson are among those calling for calm in Kenya following violent protests in the country after the defeat of Raila Odinga, leader of the National Super Alliance\u00a0(NASA) coalition in the recent election. Sixteen people have died since the announcement of President Uhuru Kenyatta's 54% victory, while NASA party officials have refused to \"back down nor take their grievances to court\". It is the fourth time Odinga has lost a presidential race.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "13,000 Newham landlords don't declare rental income \n Up to 13,000 landlords in just one London borough have been identified as failing to declare their rental income, prompting estimates that unpaid tax in the capital is costing the public purse nearly \u00a3200m.\n\n\n\nNewham council in east London, the first to introduce a compulsory borough-wide licensing scheme for landlords in 2013, shared their names and property addresses with HM Revenue & Customs. Newham, which has 27,000 registered landlords, said it understands that 13,000 had not registered for self-assessment, which is generally required if a property owner receives \u00a32,500 a year or more in rent. HMRC would not confirm the figure.\n\nThe council estimated that unpaid tax by landlords is costing the public purse nearly \u00a3200m in London \u2013 and far more nationally.\n\n\n\nIn a letter sent to the chancellor, Philip Hammond, the mayor of Newham, Sir Robin Wales, said: \u201cIt is our understanding that, to date, up to 13,000 Newham landlords are of interest to HMRC, where there are discrepancies between declared income and our records, with potentially significant financial implication for the exchequer.\u201d\n\nNewham is battling with the Department for Communities and Local Government to have its licensing scheme renewed, following a 2015 clampdown by the government, which said licensing imposes \u201cunnecessary additional costs\u201d on landlords. Neighbouring borough Redbridge has already had its application for landlord licensing rejected.\n\nWales told the chancellor in his letter: \u201cOur core grant funding has halved since 2010-11, that\u2019s less money for our schools, less money for social care, and less money for housing. I urge you to assess the additional benefits of Newham\u2019s licensing scheme in assisting the exchequer to address tax evasion by landlords.\u201d\n\nNewham said it understands that HMRC is currently contacting local landlords who have failed to register their rental revenues. The tax authorities have the power to claw back unpaid tax over 20 years, with penalties of up to 100% of the tax demanded.\n\nIn a statement, HMRC said: \u201cWe are working with the London Borough of Newham as part of the Let Property Campaign. This work has generated \u00a3115m in additional and previously unpaid tax and interest.\u201d\n\nThe Treasury did not respond to a request for comment.\n\nHMRC\u2019s Let Property Campaign was launched in 2014 amid concerns that up to 1m buy-to-let landlords are not declaring their rental income. HMRC said at the time that it believed landlords were avoiding around \u00a3550m in tax, although Newham\u2019s experience may suggest that the figure could be much higher.\n\nNewham said it has instigated 1,135 prosecutions for housing crimes \u2013 70% of all such prosecutions in London. It has banned 28 landlords, served 2,170 notices to improve properties, and recovered \u00a32.6m in additional council tax.\n\nBefore Newham began mandatory landlord licensing, it had estimated that the borough had 30,000 private properties rented out by around 5,000 landlords. But as a result of the licensing process, it discovered 50,000 rental properties owned by 27,000 separate landlords.\n\nNewham has among the highest levels of private renting in the UK. Between 2006 and 2016, the share of the total housing stock in the borough owned by private landlords leapt from 21% to 46%, with just 23% of homes now owner-occupied.\n\nLiverpool, Waltham Forest, Barking and Dagenham, and Croydon have all introduced compulsory licensing schemes following Newham\u2019s success, but other boroughs hoping to match them have run into opposition from central government.\n\nSince 2015, local authorities have been forced to apply to the secretary of state for permission to license landlords if the scheme affects more than 20% of the homes in the borough or its geographical area.\n\nHousing minister Brandon Lewis wrote to local authorities in March 2015 to warn them of an amendment to licensing rules. He said: \u201cThe blanket licensing approach adopted by some local authorities has major drawbacks. This is because it impacts on all landlords and places additional burdens on reputable landlords who are already fully compliant with their obligations, thereby creating additional unnecessary costs for reputable landlords which are generally passed on to tenants through higher rents.\n\n\u201cThe vast majority of landlords provide a good service and the government does not believe it is right to impose unnecessary additional costs on them, or their tenants. Such an approach is disproportionate and unfairly penalises good landlords.\u201d\n\nHowever, Newham said its licensing had won the support of 90% of local residents, and that the the vast majority of landlords have had to pay just \u00a3150 for a five-year licence. However its fee for new landlords is planned to rise to \u00a3400. Liverpool charges \u00a3400 for the first property and \u00a3350 for each additional property.\n\n\n\nNewham\u2019s scheme comes to an end in December, and because of the restrictions imposed in 2015, it has been forced to apply for permission for another five-year period. The council made a formal application to the government to continue its scheme last month.", "output": "As many as 13,000 landlords in the London borough of Newham have failed to declare their rental income, triggering estimates the UK is losing out on nearly \u00a3200m ($257m) across the capital in\u00a0unpaid tax. Newham was the first local authority to bring in a compulsory borough-wide licensing scheme in 2013, with\u00a027,000 registered landlords. Newham council\u00a0shared names and addresses with HM Revenue & Customs, accusing\u00a013,000 landlords of failing to register\u00a0for self-assessment. HMRC have not confirmed the figure.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Drought in Ethiopia kills two million animals \n The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has said that two million animals have been lost to a \u201cdevastating\u201d drought in Ethiopia.\n\nThe UN agriculture agency said that the drought had devastated herders\u2019 livelihoods as it exhausted pastures and water sources.\n\nIt said the current food and nutrition crisis was significantly aggravated by the severe blow to pastoral livelihoods.\n\n\u201cFor livestock-dependent families, the animals can literally mean the difference between life and death \u2013 especially for children, pregnant and nursing mothers, for whom milk is a crucial source of nutrition.\n\n\u201cWith up to two million animals lost so far, FAO is focusing on providing emergency livestock support to the most vulnerable pastoralist communities through animal vaccination and treatment, supplementary feed and water, rehabilitating water points, and supporting fodder and feed production\u201d.\n\nFAO stressed that supporting the herders to get back on their feet and prevent further livestock losses was crucial in the Horn of Africa country, where hunger had been on the rise.\n\n\u201cThe drought has led to a significant number of animals dying or falling ill, particularly in the southern and south-eastern regions of the country, as other areas recover from previous seasons\u2019 El Ni\u00f1o-induced drought,\u201d the UN agency warned.\n\nIt also said that drought-hit pastoralists were facing reduced milk production, rising malnutrition, and had limited income-earning capacity and severely constrained access to food.\n\nREAD: FADAMA III: 3 programmes executed in Anambra state \u2013Coordinator\n\nAbdoul Bah, FAO Deputy Representative in Ethiopia, said \u201cSome 8.5 million people \u2013 one in 12 people \u2013 are now suffering from hunger; of these, 3.3 million people live in Somali Region.\n\n\u201cIt is crucial to provide this support between now and October \u2013 when rains are due \u2013 to begin the recovery process and prevent further losses of animals. If we don\u2019t act now, hunger and malnutrition will only get worse among pastoral communities.\u201d\n\nAccording to Bah, by providing supplementary feed and water for livestock, while simultaneously supporting fodder production, FAO seeks to protect core breeding animals and enable drought-hit families to rebuild their livelihoods.\n\nIn addition to FAO-supported destocking and cash-for-work programmes to provide cash for families, he said animal health campaigns would be reinforced to protect animals, particularly before the rain sets in \u2013 when they are at their weakest and more susceptible to parasites or infectious diseases.\n\nBah said FAO urgently required $20 million between August and December to come to the aid of Ethiopia\u2019s farmers and herders.\n\n\u201cFAO has already assisted almost 500,000 drought-hit people in 2017 through a mix of livestock feed provision, de-stocking and animal health interventions,\u201d he said.\n\nThe support was courtesy of the Ethiopia Humanitarian Fund, Switzerland, Spain and Sweden through FAO\u2019s Special Fund for Emergency and Rehabilitation Activities, the UN Central Emergency Response Fund, as well as FAO\u2019s own Early Warning Early Action fund and Technical Cooperation Programme.", "output": "The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has called for $20m in aid to help Ethiopia's farmers and herders, whose livestock have been devastated by droughts caused by El Ni\u00f1o. The UN agriculture agency said two million animals had been lost, putting vulnerable pastoralist communities at risk of hunger. \"It is crucial to provide this support between now and October \u2013 when rains are due \u2013 to begin the recovery process and prevent further losses of animals. If we don\u2019t act now, hunger and malnutrition will only get worse,\" said Abdoul Bah, FAO Deputy Representative in Ethiopia."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Sun scores with fast turnaround football video campaign \n In the increasingly competitive space of branded content, The Sun is trying to stand out with speed.\n\nDuring the FA Cup between January and May this year, the News UK title ran a branded-content campaign with Procter & Gamble razor brand Gillette, publishing half a dozen videos, one for the best goal from each of the six rounds of the tournament, within hours of the goal. The videos were overlaid with football statistics and exclusive commentary from football commentators.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re a newsroom \u2014 we have got a very quick turnaround; we\u2019re set up for that,\u201d said Derek Brown, head of video at News UK. \u201cBranded content has always been a bit of a drawn-out process: You make it over two weeks, then you send it away, then you work on amends and you\u2019re sick of it by the time it\u2019s done.\u201d\n\nThe top goal for each round was picked from dozens of matches and deliberated over through a few hundred messages on a WhatsApp group between Gillette, its agency Starcom and The Sun. Once chosen, the publisher\u2019s data scientist pulled in feeds from sports data company Opta to overlay precision stats like the speed of the ball, the angle of the kick, the distance from defenders \u2014 \u201cstuff football fans get off on,\u201d said Brown.\n\nSome of the videos were getting up to 2 million views, helped with some social boosting, and thousands of comments and shares. Gillette paid six figures for the campaign.\n\n\u201cIt was one of our bigger video deals of the year, and we did well out of it,\u201d said Brown, \u201cboth financially and from a learning point of view.\u201d\n\nThis way of working is risky, however. Brown admits being nervous, particularly as the campaign relied on elements out of the publisher\u2019s control.\n\nIn one instance, the matches in the round didn\u2019t yield any captivating goals until 9 p.m. local time on March 13 when Chelsea\u2019s N\u2019Golo Kant\u00e9 scored against Manchester United. The video was completed by 1 a.m. on March 14 and published on The Sun\u2019s site, using News UK-owned ad tech company Unruly to serve the videos in relevant article pages and on Facebook by 6 a.m.\n\n\u201cA lot of stuff could have gone wrong,\u201d said Brown. For instance, some goals were only caught by cameras positioned too high in the stadium to capture the shot in detail, and jumping fans obstructed the view of other goals.\n\nFor years, The Sun has paid for nonexclusive rights to show FA Cup match content on its site and mobile devices. The Gillette deal allowed it to monetize this content for the first time, rather than simply publishing it for audiences.\n\nNews UK is planning other quick-turnaround video brand campaigns. The publisher has offered video as branded content in earnest for a little over a year, and its video team has grown from about 10 to 30 people in the last six months.\n\n\u201cPeople still think of us as a print company,\u201d said Brown. \u201cNews UK will be a video company sooner rather than later; in order to establish that, we need to win repeat business and have clients coming back for the second and third year.\u201d\n\nImage courtesy of News UK", "output": "The Sun used this year's FA Cup to launch a quick-to-market branded content video campaign. The Sun published half a dozen videos, one for the top goal from each of the tournament's six rounds, as part of a campaign with Procter & Gamble razor brand Gillette. The videos included football statistics and exclusive commentary, and were published within hours of the goals. Some of the videos received up to 2 million views and marked the first time the Sun had managed to monetise its FA Cup content. Gillette is understood to have paid a \"six-figure\" sum for the campaign.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Buzzfeed launches live weekday morning news show on Twitter \n BuzzFeed will be launching a weekday live morning show on Twitter, as part of the content deal signed with the microblogging platform in May.\n\nAM to DM, launching on September 25, is aimed at reimagining the way that people consume news today, and will be produced and directed by BuzzFeed.\n\nBuzzFeed\u2019s reporters, editors, and special guests will give viewers the day\u2019s top stories from all categories across the world \u2013 breaking news in real-time based on what\u2019s being said on Twitter. The show \u2013 which is sponsored by Wendy\u2019s, Bank of America, and Toyota \u2013 will be hosted by BuzzFeed Books editor Isaac Fitzgerald and BuzzFeed News\u2019 executive editor of culture Saeed Jones.\n\n\u201cTwitter is where people turn to see what's happening in the world every morning and BuzzFeed News is a vital source of that information for many of our users,\u201d said Anthony Noto, Twitter COO. \u201cWe are excited to collaborate with BuzzFeed to bring their fresh approach to a live morning show broadcast alongside the real-time conversation on Twitter.\u201d\n\nThe live stream will be free globally to both logged-in and logged-out users on Twitter and connected devices. It will air weekdays from 8-9am ET via @BuzzFeedNews.\n\nIn addition to BuzzFeed\u2019s deal with Twitter, it will also be producing shows for Facebook\u2019s \u2018Watch\u2019 platform, which will be home to original programming created for the social network.\n\nDon\u2019t 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": "US media company BuzzFeed has partnered with Twitter to launch a daily news programme, called AM to DM, set to premiere on 25 September. The show will examine the day\u2019s top stories, based on what's trending and being discussed on the social media outlet. The feed will air every weekday on the BuzzFeed News twitter page. Buzzfeed is also set to produce content for Facebook\u2019s \u2018Watch\u2019 channel.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Solar panels may be susceptible to cyber attacks \n With the rise of internet-connected devices, it seems that the threat of any piece of our lives being hacked is growing exponentially. The prospect of a smart, interconnected energy grid being vulnerable to attack by malicious hackers has lead to many experts warning that safeguards should be put in place before we move too far in that direction, but a new study says that even the energy generating devices themselves could be vulnerable.\n\nDutch researcher Willem Westerhof found that the inverters in solar panels, the part that converts the electricity generated by the panels into electricity that can be used by the grid, had 17 different vulnerabilities that could be taken advantage of by hackers.\n\nThe issue is that the inverters are internet connected, which means that hackers could potentially remotely access and control the inverters, altering the flow of electricity which could overload the system and cause instability in grid. That instability could then cause power outages. A field study to test this idea found that it was indeed a possibility though Westerhof is not releasing the details of his findings lest any potential criminals are looking for inspiration.\n\nThe good news is that several inverters would have to be compromised at once to cause any significant issues in the grid and even then it would be unlikely to cause a total black out. The even better news is that this is preventable.\n\nWhen new solar panels are installed, users should change any default passwords. The other really hack proof solution is to disconnect the inverters from the internet, which would remove the weakness completely.\n\n\"Solar producers should seek to isolate the products from the internet ASAP,\" said Dave Palmer, director of technology at cyber-security company Darktrace to the BBC. \"And [they should] also review their physical access security to reduce the risk of a local attack from someone physically breaking into their facilities.\"\n\nThis is yet another example of how having everything connected to the internet, while really convenient, also introduces a host of new problems. For a clean energy smart grid to really take off, we'll need protections in place, even down to the lowly power inverter.", "output": "Flaws within solar panel equipment may allow hackers to target national electricity grids, according to Dutch researcher Willem Westerhof. Westerhof warned that there are up to 17 vulnerabilities\u00a0within internet-connected inverters, the devices that convert solar power to electricity for national power grids, that could be remotely targeted\u00a0by malicious\u00a0individuals. It would be possible for a hacker to control the devices and alter the flow of power which, if done on a large scale, would pose\u00a0serious consequences to power grid stability, although it is doubtful that it could cause blackouts."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Texas ready to require separate insurance for abortion \n Politics & Government Bill Requiring Separate Health Insurance For Abortions Close To Becoming Law In Texas Women would pay separate health insurance premium for coverage of non-emergency abortions, including those sparked by rape, incest. Reply\n\nAUSTIN, TX \u2014 In their ongoing quest to make abortion in Texas prohibitive if not outright illegal, Texas conservatives controlling the state Legislature advanced a bill requiring women to pay a separate health insurance premium for coverage of non-emergency abortions.\n\nCritics call the measure \"rape insurance,\" and it's close to becoming law. The Senate last week gave initial approval to House Bill 214 toward requiring women to pay the additional premium if they choose a health plan to cover abortions outside of medical emergencies, as the Texas Tribune and numerous other media outlets reported. The proposed law doesn't include exceptions for instance of fetal abnormalities, incest or rape. The bill now awaiting the governor's signature is expected to become law this week.\n\nPassed on a 20-10 vote, the bill is among three abortion-related priorities of Gov. Greg Abbott, who called a special summer session of the Legislature in compelling lawmakers to hammer out issues that didn't gain substantive steam during the regular session (along with a so-called \"bathroom bill\" to regulate which bathrooms transgender people are allowed to use). Once the measure secures final approval in the Senate, it goes to Abbott's desk for his signature. Another abortion-related bill requiring doctors and health care facilities to report amplified details about abortion complications to the state cleared both chambers on Friday, as the Tribune noted.\n\nIn justifying their \"rape insurance\" bill, Republican backers posit that abortion opponents shouldn't have to subsidize the procedure through their own insurance plans. The bill was authored by Rep. John Smithee, a Republican from Amarillo. Arguing the proposed law is likely to primarily affect low-income women, members of the minority Democratic party tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to include the aforementioned exceptions of fetal abnormalities, incest or rape. Their efforts were to no avail given the commanding control of the chamber by conservative lawmakers for whom opposition to abortion is a key political plank.\n\nThe measure is the latest initiative by state Republican lawmakers that amounts to a deterrent in getting abortions in Texas. Gov. Abbott championed an earlier measure that will require the burial or cremation of fetal tissue in lieu of sanitary disposal (at considerable financial cost to women). Texas also tried passing a stringent (many say draconian) set of requirements for abortion providers in Texas that would've led to the closure of three-quarters of the state's remaining women's health clinics offering abortions among their services. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately struck down the most restrictive parts of the Texas law pertaining to women's health clinics in June 2016 ruling.", "output": "Conservative lawmakers in Texas are poised to pass legislation requiring women to pay a separate insurance premium for abortions. The state senate has given the nod to the move, which critics have called \"rape insurance\"\u00a0as the proposal\u00a0doesn't include exceptions for instance of fetal abnormalities, incest or rape."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Group practices find MIPS too complex, burdensome \n Dive Brief:\n\nNearly half of the group practices responding to a recent Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) survey said they spend more than $40,000 per full-time physician every year to comply with federal regulations.\n\nThe practices rated the Medicare Quality Payment Program (QPP) as most burdensome, followed by lack of electronic attachments for claims and prior authorization; audits and appeals; lack of EHR interoperability; and payer use of virtual credit cards.\n\nMGMA said the main themes from the survey were regulatory and administrative burdens drawing resources from patient care; the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) is too complex and doesn\u2019t give practices enough clinical benefit; and practices are increasingly dependent on third-party vendors that are not held to the same rules and mandates.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nHealthcare leaders and physicians looking to loosen regulation requirements will certainly find a friendly ear in the current HHS. The CMS in June released a request for information asking for comments on reducing regulatory burdens of the Affordable Care Act, and has made examining and perhaps eliminating some regulations a priority.\n\nThe practices MGMA surveyed had particularly unfavorable opinions of MIPS, with 73% of them saying it \u201cdoes not support our practice\u2019s clinical quality priorities\u201d and the same percentage rating it as either \u201cvery\u201d or \u201cextremely\u201d complex. More than 40% said they are reporting the full set of MIPS data, about 30% are reporting some data and 20% are reporting the minimum required to avoid a penalty.\n\nOne respondent said: \u201cThe resources it will take to comply with MIPS are absurd, and the only thing the program measures is the ability to meet documentation requirements.\u201d\n\nThe CMS is aware of concerns surrounding the QPP and has worked to ease the transition from the sustainable growth rate. In June, the agency proposed exempting more small providers and stated it will continue to focus on greater flexibility.\n\nMGMA surveyed 750 group practices with between and six and 20 physicians last month. This is the first survey the organization has performed on overall regulatory burden. With a receptive audience in the current administration, it plans to continue the practice.", "output": "Nearly half of the group practices responding to a recent Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) survey\u00a0said they spend more than $40,000 per full-time physician every year to comply with federal regulations.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Forget about single-payer healthcare. This California congressman has the real solution: Medicare for all \n Dreaming of a state-run single-payer healthcare system? Wake up and enter the real world. Want universal healthcare for all Americans? Medicare for all is the solution.\n\nNot this year or next, but possibly in the future \u2014 when Democrats recapture the presidency and Congress.\n\nThat\u2019s the clear-eyed, pragmatic fight to engage in, and one advocated by U.S. Rep. John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove), a longtime healthcare warrior.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cMedicare is far, far more efficient than private insurance companies,\u201d he said. \u201cUsing the tax system to collect money for healthcare delivery is extremely efficient. No profits. No commissions. No advertising.\u201d\n\nGaramendi, 72, earned his healthcare credentials decades ago. He has been fighting for universal coverage since Jerry Brown was governor the first time.\n\nThe congressman, whose mostly rural district covers the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and spreads into eight counties, was first elected to the state Assembly in 1974. Later, he moved to the state Senate, where he headed the Health and Welfare Committee.\n\nGaramendi became California\u2019s first elected state insurance commissioner and won legislative passage of a bill to create a commission that would have devised a universal healthcare system. But Gov. Pete Wilson vetoed the measure. Garamendi\u2019s reform plan, however, became the model for President Clinton\u2019s ill-fated healthcare proposal in 1993.\n\nIn 1994, Garamendi ran for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, advocating a top-to-bottom healthcare overhaul. He lost to then-state Treasurer Kathleen Brown, Jerry\u2019s sister.\n\nAfter a stint as Clinton\u2019s deputy Interior secretary, Garamendi again was elected insurance commissioner, later became lieutenant governor and left for Congress in 2009.\n\nSo Garamendi has paid his healthcare and political dues. A dawn-to-midnight workaholic who grew up on a cattle ranch in the Sierra gold country, he has won and lost but always spoken his mind.\n\nAnd he believes California has virtually no chance of going it alone on a single-payer system with the state handling everyone\u2019s healthcare coverage.\n\n\u201cIt would be very difficult, particularly given the present federal government,\u201d he told me.\n\nThat\u2019s an understatement. It would require permission by the Republican-controlled Congress and President Trump for California to use federal Medicare and Medi-Cal money to finance its own healthcare system. That\u2019s not possible.\n\nPlus, let\u2019s face it, there are about 6 million California seniors on Medicare. They\u2019re frequent voters. Think they\u2019re going to trust Sacramento to take over their Medicare coverage? Think again.\n\nDr. Steve Tarzynski, president of the California Physicians Alliance, agrees.\n\n\u201cThe reality is that at the moment, a single-payer bill cannot pass\u201d the Legislature, he wrote in a recent Times opinion piece. \u201cFighting for one in the immediate term is a waste of time.\u201d\n\nMaybe in the future, he continued. But for now \u201cmillions of California voters with relatively good insurance coverage and those on Medicare are fearful of a radical change in their protections.\u201d\n\nThe state Senate blindly passed an exorbitantly expensive \u2014 $400 billion a year \u2014 single-payer bill June 1. Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) wisely quashed it, calling the measure \u201cwoefully incomplete.\u201d Now bellicose single-payer bullies are threatening to recall him.\n\nBrown already had dismissed the measure.\n\n\u201cWhere do you get the extra money?\u201d the governor asked. \u201cI don\u2019t even get it.\u201d\n\nFormer Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who is running for governor, called the bill \u201csnake oil.\u201d\n\nSingle-payer pushers in Sacramento \u2014 the California Nurses Assn. \u2014 tried to sell their skimpy proposal as Medicare for all. But in reality it was just the opposite. It would have wiped out Medicare in California, grabbed the federal money and forced seniors into the new state program.\n\nUpdates from Sacramento \u00bb\n\nGaramendi wrote an op-ed piece for the Sacramento Bee advocating an eventual Medicare-for-all program nationally. It would be \u201cby far the simplest solution\u201d to achieving universal coverage, he said.\n\n\u201cMedicare is one of our most trusted and popular government programs,\u201d he asserted. \u201cFor more than 50 years, Americans have trusted Medicare to provide care to the elderly and disabled, funded by the payroll taxes of American workers\u2026. Medicare spending rises at a much slower rate than private insurance\u2026. It could be modified and expanded to cover more people\u2026.\n\n\u201cIt is an idea whose time is coming.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s coming, but it\u2019s not here yet \u2014 not with Trump and the GOP controlling Washington.\n\nUnlike single-payer, Medicare for all would allow beneficiaries to buy supplemental private insurance, as many seniors do now.\n\nGaramendi told me he wouldn\u2019t attempt to increase current benefits. Nor would he try to cover immigrants here illegally. Those would be poison pills politically.\n\nFor people fearful of government-run healthcare \u2014 the old \u201csocialized medicine\u201d bugaboo \u2014 Garamendi notes that much of America already is covered by government insurance.\n\nThere are more than 46 million seniors and 9 million disabled on Medicare. About 75 million are enrolled in Medicaid for the poor, called Medi-Cal in California. Roughly 22 million federal, state and local government employees benefit from government-funded healthcare. So do 1.3 million military personnel. That totals almost half the population.\n\nIn California, the main focus should be on pressuring Congress to retain and patch up the Affordable Care Act, which has reduced the number of uninsured in this state from roughly 7 million to less than 3 million. The GOP\u2019s repeal threat has been beaten back, but it isn\u2019t dead.\n\nThe governor and Legislature can keep making incremental healthcare improvements in California by continuing to restore Medi-Cal benefits that were severely cut during the recession.\n\nBut forget about single-payer. Awaken from the midsummer night\u2019s dream, truly a nightmare.\n\ngeorge.skelton@latimes.com\n\nFollow @LATimesSkelton on Twitter\n\nALSO\n\nGov. Brown is right about the \u2018sanctuary state\u2019 bill: Protect law-abiders and help boot the bad guys\n\nGov. Brown\u2019s climate change deal was a lesson in compromise that should be studied in the White House\n\nAs cap-and-trade evangelist, Gov. Brown shows he\u2019s the most effective politician Sacramento has seen in a long time", "output": "Dreaming of a state-run single-payer healthcare system? Wake up and enter the real world. Want universal healthcare for all Americans? Medicare\u00a0for all is the solution.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "A Cancer Conundrum: Too Many Drug Trials, Too Few Patients \n With the arrival of two revolutionary treatment strategies, immunotherapy and personalized medicine, cancer researchers have found new hope \u2014 and a problem that is perhaps unprecedented in medical research.\n\nThere are too many experimental cancer drugs in too many clinical trials, and not enough patients to test them on.\n\nThe logjam is caused partly by companies hoping to rush profitable new cancer drugs to market, and partly by the nature of these therapies, which can be spectacularly effective but only in select patients.\n\nIn July, an expert panel of the Food and Drug Administration recommended approval of a groundbreaking new leukemia treatment, a type of immunotherapy. Companies are scrambling to develop other drugs based on using the immune system itself to attack cancers.", "output": "With the arrival of two revolutionary treatment strategies, immunotherapy and personalized medicine, cancer researchers have found new hope \u2014 and a problem that is perhaps unprecedented in medical research.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How the Trump administration is spending millions to shore up Obamacare \n The White House said Thursday it applauds the stabilization efforts even as Trump steps up the pressure on the Senate to resume efforts to try to pass legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare.\n\n\u201cWe support the Secretary\u2019s efforts to give states flexibility to create solutions to relieve the burden of Obamacare that has skyrocketed premiums and reduced coverage choices for the American people,\u201d said a spokesman.\n\nThe Alaska waiver, drawn up late in the Obama administration in one of the reddest states in the country, was approved this summer under Trump\u2019s HHS secretary, Tom Price.\n\nState officials pioneered the idea of a stabilization fund when the only insurer in the state\u2019s Obamacare market threatened to raise premiums by more than 40 percent or quit altogether because it was spending more money on sick people\u2019s medical bills than it received from premiums.\n\nA bill passed last year by the heavily GOP state legislature set up a $55 million state program, funded through an existing tax on insurers, to reimburse insurers for high-cost enrollees.\n\nState officials went on to win federal funding this summer from the Trump administration through a provision of Obamacare that lets states develop their own health plans as long as they meet certain criteria, such as covering the same number of people and not adding to the deficit.\n\n\u201cThe Alaska example was a microcosm for what could be a successful program,\u201d said Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), noting that 2018 average premiums in that state are set to fall for the first time in five years even though his state has among the highest health costs in the country.\n\nThat program is likely to take on renewed importance now that GOP repeal efforts have foundered and more states undertake efforts to fix their insurance markets in the face of double-digit premium increases and declining insurer participation. The roots of those problems include GOP moves to undermine the law in ways that hit insurers\u2019 bottom lines and Democratic overconfidence in the number of young and healthy people who would sign up for coverage.\n\nCiting the Alaska model, Price encouraged states in March to stabilize their markets by channeling state and federal money to insurers to offset the costs of treating the most expensive patients \u2014 not unlike other risk-reduction programs built into the Affordable Care Act that conservatives derisively called \u201cbailouts.\u201d\n\nFour other states \u2014 Oklahoma, Oregon, Minnesota and Iowa \u2014 now have waiver applications in the pipeline as a way to keep insurers in their markets and limit premium increases.\n\nIn addition, New Hampshire and Maine are considering similar programs.\n\n\u201cI think it is a recognition by many Republican policymakers \u2026 that some market stabilization programs can be a good thing,\u201d said Aviva Aron-Dine, a former top Obama HHS official now with the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.\n\nThe state officials seeking approval for stabilization plans for 2018 \u2014 among them, Obamacare critics and supporters \u2014 are unified by their pragmatic approach.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not a political issue anymore,\u201d said Lanhee Chen, a Republican health care adviser at the Hoover Institute who is a proponent of using Obamacare waivers to let states better tailor the health care law to fit their own needs.\n\n\u201cAt least for the intermediate term, as many Republicans have said, Obamacare is probably going to be the law,\u201d Chen added. \u201cThe administration has to figure out what its posture is.\u201d\n\nA handful of senators and a few dozen House members have also started discussions on a bipartisan national Obamacare fix, but it\u2019s too soon to know whether legislation will come together this fall. But even Republicans in Congress who are wary of that effort support greater state flexibility \u2014 a hallmark of Price\u2019s philosophy.\n\n\u201cThere could be far greater flexibility for states to pursue innovative solutions,\u201d said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), one of the Hill\u2019s most determined Obamacare critics. But he\u2019s made it clear his top priority is taking steps to lower premiums, not having Congress spend more money on insurers to stabilize Obamacare markets.\n\n\u201cAs a component in a repeal of Obamacare and an expansion of consumer choices and competition, those stabilization funds have an appropriate place,\u201d Cruz explained. \u201cAs a standalone, that\u2019s the wrong solution.\u201d\n\nOther Republicans who praise Alaska\u2019s approach favor making it simpler for other states to enact plans to bring down premiums.\n\n\u201cThe waiver authorities already provided for in the ACA law, they were never really granted. They were never really used,\u201d said Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, another critic of Obamacare who is open to state-initiated fixes. \u201cSo that might be one of those reforms that we could be looking for.\u201d\n\nEven blue states like Oregon that embraced the health law are seeking ways to prevent unsustainable price increases.\n\n\u201cIt was a total no-brainer for us,\u201d said Jake Sunderland, of Oregon\u2019s Department of Consumer and Business Services, which drafted a reinsurance program and estimates the state would receive $30 million a year in federal funds.\n\nOregon still has a competitive marketplace, but the state has seen insurers leave the market or scale back where they offer plans, in part because Obamacare patients were sicker than expected.\n\nAverage premium increases on Oregon\u2019s individual market have topped 20 percent in each of the past two years, according to state regulators. Though seven insurers are expected to sell Obamacare-compliant plans in the individual market in 2018, state officials said they want to intervene now to prevent a mass defection of insurers.\n\n\u201cThe reason why a year ago we started exploring how to stabilize the market is because we didn\u2019t want to get to that point,\u201d Sunderland said.\n\nMinnesota found itself in a similar spot. The state saw competition among insurers decline, and health plans capped enrollment. The state, which committed roughly $540 million over two years to fund its reinsurance program, is asking HHS to provide between $138 million and $167 million for 2018.\n\nState officials said the federal government has sent positive signals about the plan, which was the second to be submitted, behind Alaska\u2019s. Oklahoma and Iowa are preparing to submit theirs to HHS in the coming weeks.\n\n\u201cI am not a big fan of the Affordable Care Act and the mandate,\u201d said state Rep. Joe Hoppe, a Republican who sponsored the Minnesota legislation. \u201cBut we need to have a safety net for people.\u201d", "output": "President Donald Trump has threatened to blow up Obamacare. But his own administration is separately dangling hundreds of millions of dollars before states to bail out their insurance markets.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China to take part in UN sanctions against North Korea \n China says it will stop importing North Korean coal, iron ore, fish and other goods in September as it implements UN sanctions.\n\nThe UN Security Council, including China, backed a new resolution last weekend imposing fresh sanctions on the rogue state in retaliation for its controversial nuclear programme.\n\nThe sanctions aim to block $1bn worth of North Korean exports - about a third of its total exports.\n\nThe Chinese government said the imports would stop on 5 September.\n\n:: North Korea defector: We follow Kim Jong Un because we're scared\n\nPlease use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 0:48 N Korea defector on Kim's brutal regime\n\nIt came as US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford said military options were being prepared against the North if diplomatic and economic sanctions failed.\n\nThe office of South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Mr Dunford had made the comments in a 50-minute meeting to discuss North Korean provocation.\n\nLast week, President Trump said he was ready to unleash \"fire and fury\" if North Korea continued to threaten the United States.\n\nTensions have increased over fears North Korea is close to achieving its goal of putting the mainland US within range of a nuclear weapon.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nPlease use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 1:39 What would happen if N Korea attacked Guam?\n\nNorth Korea has threatened to fire missiles into waters off the coast of the US overseas territory of Guam, in the Pacific.\n\nIt said the launch would coincide with annual drills involving US and South Korean forces, taking place later this month.\n\nThe North's state news agency said about 3.5 million students and workers had volunteered to fight alongside the military to defend their country from the US.\n\nChina, meanwhile, has appointed a new special envoy for the North Korean issue.\n\nPlease use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 3:54 Trump: N Korea should be 'very, very nervous'\n\nChina is the country's closest ally, but has been angered by its missile tests and repeatedly pressured and berated by President Trump, who wants it to be far tougher on its neighbour.\n\nPresident Xi has urged restraint and told Washington and Pyongyang to avoid words or actions that could worsen the situation.\n\nSouth Korean President has also called for a peaceful solution, saying there must not be another war on the Korean Peninsula.", "output": "China has revealed that from 5 September it will stop importing certain North Korean goods, including coal, iron ore and fish, as part of fresh sanctions backed by the UN Security Council. Aiming to block around one third of North Korea's exports, worth roughly $1bn, the sanctions come at a time of increased tension between the small dictatorship and US President Donald Trump, who threatened North Korea with \"fire and fury\" last week and has been critical of China's lack of action against its unpredictable neighbour."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "End-of-life advice: More than 500,000 chat on Medicare\u2019s dime \n JoNel Aleccia\n\nKaiser Health News\n\nThe 90-year-old woman in the San Diego-area nursing home was quite clear, said Dr. Karl Steinberg. She didn\u2019t want aggressive measures to prolong her life. If her heart stopped, she didn\u2019t want CPR.\n\nBut when Steinberg, a palliative care physician, relayed those wishes to the woman\u2019s daughter, the younger woman would have none of it.\n\n\u201cShe said, \u2018I don\u2019t agree with that. My mom is confused,\u2019\u201d Steinberg recalled. \u201cI said, \u2018Let\u2019s talk about it.\u2019\u201d\n\nInstead of arguing, Steinberg used an increasingly popular tool to resolve the impasse last month. He brought mother and daughter together for an advance-care planning session, an end-of-life consultation that\u2019s now being paid for by Medicare.\n\nIn 2016, the first year health care providers were allowed to bill for the service, nearly 575,000 Medicare beneficiaries took part in the conversations, new federal data obtained by Kaiser Health News show.\n\nNearly 23,000 providers submitted about $93 million in charges, including more than $43 million covered by the federal program for seniors and the disabled.\n\nUse was much higher than expected, nearly double the 300,000 people the American Medical Association projected would receive the service in the first year.\n\n'A good thing'\n\nThat\u2019s good news to proponents of the sessions, which focus on understanding and documenting treatment preferences for people nearing the end of their lives. Patients and, often, their families discuss with a doctor or other provider what kind of care they want if they\u2019re unable to make decisions themselves.\n\n\u201cI think it\u2019s great that half a million people talked with their doctors last year. That\u2019s a good thing,\u201d said Paul Malley, president of Aging with Dignity, a Florida non-profit that promotes end-of-life discussions. \u201cPhysician practices are learning. My guess is that it will increase each year.\u201d\n\nStill, only a fraction of eligible Medicare providers \u2014 and patients \u2014 have used the benefit, which pays about $86 for the first 30-minute office visit and about $75 for additional sessions.\n\nNationwide, slightly more than 1% of the more than 56 million Medicare beneficiaries enrolled at the end of 2016 received advance-care planning talks, according to calculations by health policy analysts at Duke University. But use varied widely among states, from 0.2% of Alaska Medicare recipients to 2.49% of those enrolled in the program in Hawaii.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s tremendous variation by state. That\u2019s the first thing that jumps out,\u201d said Donald Taylor Jr., a Duke professor of public policy.\n\nDocs still learning\n\nIn part, that\u2019s because many providers, especially primary care doctors, aren\u2019t aware that the Medicare reimbursement agreement, approved in 2015, has taken effect.\n\n\u201cSome physicians don\u2019t know that this is a service,\u201d said Barbie Hays, a Medicare coding and compliance strategist for the American Academy of Family Physicians. \u201cThey don\u2019t know how to get paid for it. One of the struggles here is we\u2019re trying to get this message out to our members.\u201d\n\nThere also may be lingering controversy over the sessions, which were famously decried as \u201cdeath panels\u201d during the 2009 debate about the Affordable Care Act. Earlier this year, the issue resurfaced in Congress, where Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, introduced the Protecting Life Until Natural Death Act, which would halt Medicare reimbursement for advance-care planning appointments.\n\nKing said the move was financially motivated and not in the interest of Americans \u201cwho were promised life-sustaining care in their older years.\u201d\n\nProponents like Steinberg, however, contend that informed decisions, not cost savings, are the point of the new policy.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s really important to say the reason for this isn\u2019t to save money, although that may be a side benefit, but it\u2019s really about person-centered care,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s about taking the time when people are ill or even when they\u2019re not ill to talk about what their values are. To talk about what constitutes an acceptable vs. an unacceptable quality of life.\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s just the discussion that the San Diego nursing home resident was able to have with her daughter, Steinberg said. The 90-year-old was able to say why she didn\u2019t want CPR or to be intubated if she became seriously ill.\n\nRelated:\n\nHow safe is your Medicare?\n\nReaders weigh in: Medicare, Obamacare are not the only options\n\n\u201cI believe it brought the two of them closer,\u201d Steinberg said. Even though the daughter didn\u2019t necessarily hear what she wanted to hear. It was like, \u2018You may not agree with your mom, but she\u2019s your mom, and if she doesn\u2019t want somebody beating her chest or ramming a tube down her throat, that\u2019s her decision.\u201d\n\nJoNel Aleccia can be contacted at jaleccia@kff.org or follow her on Twitter: @JoNel_Aleccia\n\nKHN\u2019s coverage of end-of-life and serious illness issues is supported by The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.\n\nKaiser Health News, a non-profit health newsroom whose stories appear in news outlets nationwide, is an editorially independent part of the Kaiser Family Foundation.", "output": "The 90-year-old woman in the San Diego-area nursing home was quite clear, said Dr. Karl Steinberg. She didn\u2019t want aggressive measures to prolong her life. If her heart stopped, she didn\u2019t want CPR.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "PropTech HouseSimple caught falsifying figures in promo email \n Post navigation\n\nAn online agent has withdrawn claims from a promotional email it sent out only last Thursday.\n\nHouseSimple said in the marketing email that it saved vendors \u00a35,594, and that it took only 25 days to get a property to completion.\n\nIt used the same figure, 25 days, to say that is how long it took to get a property to Sold Subject to Contract.\n\nAn agent who received the promotional email queried where the information had come from to substantiate the 25-day completion claim.\n\nEYE was told by a spokesperson: \u201cThe 25 days figures were based around a Rightmove Index report and HouseSimple\u2019s own reporting system.\n\n\u201cBut it appears the data was from January 2016 and the claim was removed from all marketing materials \u2013 or should have been \u2013 because it needs to be updated with this year\u2019s figures.\n\n\u201cIt seems the claim was still in automated emails \u2013 which this reader received \u2013 and it shouldn\u2019t have been. It has now been removed.\u201d\n\nThe claim as to saving sellers \u00a35,594 has also been removed, EYE was told.\n\nHowever, only a fortnight ago, HouseSimple defending this saving, saying the claim was the same one made in TV advertising which had been cleared by Clearcast.\n\nBelow is a screengrab of part of the promotional email sent out last Thursday.", "output": "UK proptech company HouseSimple has withdrawn claims that it took just 25 days to get a property to completion. The figure appeared in a marketing email. HouseSimple removed the claim from all material after an agent questioned its source. The company added that the data was from January 2016 but has now been updated. Also removed was a claim that the service saved vendors \u00a35,594 ($7,202).\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook buys Fayteq post-production video effects company \n In the same week as it announced its entry to the video market, Facebook has confirmed the purchase of Fayteq, a company that specializes in post-production effects \u2013 a move suggesting that it wants to further premium content on the social network.\n\nDetails of the deal have not been publicly disclosed, although a Facebook spokesperson has confirmed the purchase with press. The startup is Germany-based, with its LinkedIn page suggesting that it has between 11-50 employees, and a statement on Fayteq\u2019s website claiming that its \u201cproducts and services are not available for purchase.\u201d\n\nThe addition of post-production capabilities to Facebook\u2019s stack, reports suggest that Fayteq specializes in both the addition and removal of objects to video content, would further its strategy of enhancing animated content on the network.\n\nEarlier this week it announced the launch of a dedicated video tab in a redesign of the social network where it plans to host original or licensed content; a move that many industry observers interpreted as a direct challenge to Google-owned YouTube.\n\nThe update means that the social network\u2019s 2 billion registered account holders will now be presented with a \u2018watch\u2019 tab from which a range of shows, many of them funded directly by Facebook, will be on offer.\n\nContent curation is based on the social signals indicated by Facebook users, with Facebook typically encouraging social interaction around the content. Upon launch, programming from media outlets such as Mashable, Axel Springer-owned Business Insider, among others, is available, with the social network understood to be helping to co-fund said efforts to better popularize the update.\n\nFacebook has not publicly discussed its plans to monetize the service, but the social network has been using mid-roll video ads since the early part of 2017.\n\nPresently, there have been no public disclosures on how Facebook plans to utilize the capabilities of Fayteq, but media companies are already experimenting with the capability to introduce product placement in a post-production environment.\n\nEarlier this week, The Drum caught up with Accenture\u2019s head of research and development to discuss its plans to roll out product placement technology that can seamlessly insert a brand into online video, including the ability to replace existing labeling (see video below).", "output": "Facebook has announced it has\u00a0acquired\u00a0post-production effects specialist Fayteq. The purchase of the German start-up\u00a0suggested Facebook is keen to focus on more premium content on the network, although no details of the deal have been released publicly. Facebook has also announced the addition of a video tab called Watch that will feature in a redesign of the platform, which could become a direct competitor\u00a0to Google's YouTube.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian solar thermal facility to provide power at AUD78/MWh \n SolarReserve has been selected by the government of South Australia state to develop a 150MW solar thermal project at Port Augusta.\n\n\n\nConstruction of the A$650m (US$511m) facility, dubbed Aurora, will start next year and is expected to be completed in 2020.\n\nThe government has signed a power purchase agreement with the US company for the supply of energy from the project for 20 years.Aurora will provide 100% of the Australian state's power needs, with the government set to pay an expected levelized price of A$75/MWh, and no more than A$78/MWh.\"We are supporting this nation-leading renewable energy project because it will deliver more competition into our energy market and put downward pressure on power prices for households and businesses,\" South Australian premier Jay Weatherill said.", "output": "US solar thermal company SolarReserve is to build a 150 MW project in Port Augusta, South Australia. The Aurora Solar Energy Project will cost AUD650m ($511m) and will incorporate eight hours of storage in the form of molten salt. SolarReserve was chosen by the South Australian government as the lowest-cost option among the shortlisted bids and will cost no more than AUD78/MWh. Construction will begin next year with delivery expected in 2020."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snapchat discloses how much it paid for Placed acquisition \n Snapchat has been making some intriguing moves into location measurement and now the company is revealing how much it paid to acquire data company Placed.\n\nAccording to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today, the Venice, Calif.-based company snapped up Placed for $135.2 million in cash.\n\n\u201cThe company was acquired to enhance advertising effectiveness,\u201d read the filing. \u201cWe are currently in the process of valuing the assets acquired and liabilities assumed in the transaction.\u201d\n\nWhile Placed is run independently and has separate guidelines in place to protect its data and privacy, the two companies have already hinted at how", "output": "Snapchat paid $135m in cash for location-based data company Placed, according to documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The media company intends to use the deal to improve the effectiveness of its advertising campaigns, the filing said. Placed, which is independently managed, has kept its own data-sharing, privacy and security guidelines in place. The acquisition will help Snap develop revenue streams outside the advertising it sells within Snapchat. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Foreign investment pushes HK housing market up further in 2017 \n The amount of residential property-related transactions rose by 43 percent in 2Q17 to 18,892, pushing process higher. The boom in financial services and Hong Kong\u2019s role as an intermediary between certain sectors of mainland China\u2019s economy and the rest of the world, are attracting fixed investment from overseas.\n\n\"In view of the likely positive developments on both the external and domestic fronts, the Hong Kong economy is expected to attain further solid growth in the rest of the year,\" the Chinese government said. \"The generally benign global economic environment remained supportive to external demand.\"\n\nTotal Hong Kong exports of goods rose an annualized 5.6 percent, whilst exports of services rose 2.3 percent. Consumer spending rose by 5.3 percent, whilst the jobless rate dropped to 3.1 percent. Hong Kong investment rose by 8 percent year-on-year. The firm macro fundamentals suggest the economy is in a good shape, however, housing market dynamics might suggest this robust expansion might be peaking out.\n\nThe sharp increase in housing prices might start draining the international investors\u2019 urge to allocate capital in Hong Kong. The broader economic growth in Hong Kong is thus exposed to a possible slowdown in the coming quarters.\n\n\"But if we are right that interest rates in the city will rise over the months ahead, it could precipitate a slump in the city's property market,\" Chang Liu of Capital Economics said. More than 90 percent of new mortgage costs in Hong Kong are based on the interbank rates, therefore an increase in interest rates \"would lead to a sharp downturn in private consumption and real estate investment.\"", "output": "Foreign investment has supported Hong Kong\u2019s housing market run in 2017, despite a crackdown by mainland China to curb corporate sector debt. The Centa-City Leading Index for residential property is up 11% this year, following a 50% rise between 2011 and 2016. However, housing affordability deteriorated further in Q2, with a Chinese government report showing mortgage spending accounted for 67% of income compared to 56% in Q2 2016, and while house prices continued to rise, the rate slowed. The number of residential transactions dropped to half the 20-year average in July sitting at 3,515, according to official statistics."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Foreign investment pushes HK housing market up further in 2017 \n GDP in the city was up 3.8 per cent in second quarter on back of strong stock and property markets and improved global environment", "output": "Foreign investment has supported Hong Kong\u2019s housing market run in 2017, despite a crackdown by mainland China to curb corporate sector debt. The Centa-City Leading Index for residential property is up 11% this year, following a 50% rise between 2011 and 2016. However, housing affordability deteriorated further in Q2, with a Chinese government report showing mortgage spending accounted for 67% of income compared to 56% in Q2 2016, and while house prices continued to rise, the rate slowed. The number of residential transactions dropped to half the 20-year average in July sitting at 3,515, according to official statistics."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snapchat names Rocket Fuel as certified partner \n Predictive marketing platform Rocket Fuel has been named a Snapchat Certified Partner, bringing inventory such as custom filters, long-form video, app install and web view to brands looking to advertise to Snapchat\u2019s 143m users \u2013 as of the company\u2019s Q2 2017 earnings report.\n\nBeing a partner, Rocket Fuel can enable advertisers to measure the success of their ad units, while also getting to Rocket Fuel\u2019s existing support for connected TV, instream and outstream video, and full episode player.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re excited to integrate Snapchat into our predictive marketing platform, allowing Rocket Fuel brands to use its highly engaged audience, unique ad formats and measurement,\u201d said Randy Wootton, CEO of Rocket Fuel. \u201cOur goal is to provide brand marketers with the most well-rounded video solution that also allows them to take advantage of our industry-leading AI and moment scoring technology so they can seamlessly connect with the right person at the right moment with the right message in today\u2019s often noisy digital environment.\u201d\n\nThe integration will be available to Rocket Fuel customers in all markets where Snapchat has a presence.\n\nDon\u2019t 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": "Snapchat has named predictive marketing platform Rocket Fuel as a certified partner. Rocket Fuel will offer Snap Ads with attachments such as long-form video or web view, custom filters and web view to brands wanting to advertise to Snapchat's 166 million daily active users. It also lets advertisers \"seamlessly connect\" with users and measure the success of their ads. The tech will be available to Rocket Fuel customers in every market where Snapchat has a presence.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snapchat names Rocket Fuel as certified partner \n Predictive marketing platform provider Rocket Fuel has been named as a Snapchat Certified Partner, significantly increasing its audience reach and demographic segments available to brands, while also allowing them to use Rocket Fuel\u2019s existing support for connected TV, in-stream and out-stream video, and full episode player.\n\nWith more than 166 million daily active users reported globally as of the first quarter of 2017 on Snapchat, the integration will allow marketers using Rocket Fuel\u2019s predictive marketing platform to take advantage of this audience.\n\nIn addition, they will benefit from Snapchat\u2019s ad formats and its new measurement tools via one of the most comprehensive video solutions for brands and their agencies. The new capabilities include:\n\nSnap Ads, which are full-screen, 100 per cent viewable, and have audio on by default.\n\nFilters, which can be customised and allow brands to be where their products are bought, thought about, or consumed.\n\nSnap Ads with attachments, which include Long-Form Video, App Install, and Web View, to allow brands to drive towards specific experiences from a Snap Ad.\n\nRandy Wootton, CEO at Rocket Fuel, said: \u201cWe\u2019re excited to integrate Snapchat into our predictive marketing platform, allowing Rocket Fuel brands to use its highly-engaged audience, unique ad formats and measurement.\n\n\u201cOur goal is to provide brand marketers with the most well-rounded video solution that also allows them to take advantage of our industry-leading AI and moment scoring technology so they can seamlessly connect with the right person at the right moment with the right message in today\u2019s often noisy digital environment.\u201d\n\nThe integration will be available to Rocket Fuel customers in all markets where Snapchat has a presence.", "output": "Snapchat has named predictive marketing platform Rocket Fuel as a certified partner. Rocket Fuel will offer Snap Ads with attachments such as long-form video or web view, custom filters and web view to brands wanting to advertise to Snapchat's 166 million daily active users. It also lets advertisers \"seamlessly connect\" with users and measure the success of their ads. The tech will be available to Rocket Fuel customers in every market where Snapchat has a presence.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Asset management funds make bids on Indian telecoms towers \n (This story originally appeared in on Aug 12, 2017)\n\nKOLKATA/MUMBAI: The race to acquire the 20,000 towers owned by Vodafone India and Idea Cellular is intensifying. Boston-based American Tower Corp. (ATC), Canadian alternative asset management fund Brookfield and local infrastructure fund IDFC Project Equity Infra have each submitted bids in the $1.1-1.2 billion range for the towers, with a decision likely in a few weeks, three people aware of the matter told ET.The bids come as Vodafone India and Idea, respectively the country\u2019s second and third-largest mobile carriers, are reckoned to have started integrating networks following their merger plan getting the antitrust regulator\u2019s approval, they said. \"The bids for Vodafone India\u2019s 10,926 standalone towers have been submitted to Morgan Stanley, while those for Idea\u2019s 8,886-odd standalone ones have been submitted to Bank of America-Merrill Lynch,\" said one of the people cited above.Vodafone\u2019s own towers are reckoned to be valued at $650-700 million, while Idea\u2019s are pegged at $500-550 million, the second person cited said.There were 15,418 tenants on Idea\u2019s 8,886 standalone towers at a tenancy ratio of 1.7 while there were 15,846 tenants on Vodafone India\u2019s 10,926 towers at a tenancy ratio of 1.5, according to an investor presentation by Idea on March 20, following the announcement of its proposed merger with Vodafone India. ET has seen this presentation.Morgan Stanley and Bank of America-Merrill Lynch are managing the captive tower sales for Vodafone India and Idea, respectively. The people cited above said a final decision on the sale of the combined tower portfolio is likely in a few weeks and is expected to be a Vodafone-Idea joint decision.\"Any decision to sell the towers separately or collectively will hinge on whichever format commands a higher enterprise valuation as both Vodafone India and Idea will try to secure the best monetisation deal for their standalone towers in the run-up to integration of their networks,\" said a third person.Vodafone and Idea \"could demand a premium\" if they decide to sell their combined tower portfolio on the ground that the buyer will \"enjoy the advantage of scale with a wider network of towers,\" the person said.", "output": "Three companies have submitted bids in the race to buy 20,000 Indian telecoms towers. Boston-based American Tower, Canada's Brookfield Asset Management and Indian infrastructure fund IDFC Project Equity Infra have all submitted bids for the towers, currently owned by Vodafone India and Idea Cellular. After their merger plan received the antitrust regulator's approval, the two mobile carriers have started integrating their networks.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fracking boom drives\u00a0up price of frac sand \n The North American shale boom owes its success to the hydraulic fracking techniques that unlocked previously inaccessible hydrocarbons.\n\nAnd successful fracking depends on proppant \u2014 in most cases quartz sand, which is suspended in water and chemical solutions and pumped into the fractured formation.\n\nWhile exploration and production companies have been fracking for decades, the practice has increased exponentially in the unconventional gas rush \u2014 as has consumption of frac sand.\n\nAnalysts at Credit Suisse project demand for frac sand to surge to 73 million tons in 2017, up 30% over the 2014 peak in demand.\n\nPhoto: Wisconsin Geological & Natural History Survey\n\nAll of the factors that make for an ideal frac sand are met in western Wisconsin. Jay Zambito, Wisconsin Geological & Natural History Survey\n\nArticle continues below the advert\n\nThe spike is due not only to a significant rise in the number of completions but also to the type of wells being drilled in the shale plays - very long horizontals completed with...", "output": "The US fracking boom is pushing the price of frac sand to new highs. Frac sand, or proppant, is integral to the fracking process. Normally, this means quartz sand held in\u00a0chemical solutions, which is then pumped into the hydraulic fracture to keep it open. Credit Suisse analysts predict demand will\u00a0rise to 73 million tons this year, an increase 30% from 2014's peak demand.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian developers' shares drop after shell company crackdown \n Shares of Parsvnath Developers, Pincon Spirit, Signet Industries and three others plunged up to 20 per cent after trading resumed at their counters today after the Securities Appellate Tribunal stayed the curbs imposed on these companies.\n\nShares of Parsvnath Developers tumbled 9.81 per cent to Rs 21.15 \u2014 its lower circuit limit \u2014 on the BSE. Shares of Pincon Spirit slumped 19.96 per cent to hit its lowest trading permissible limit for the day at Rs 57.35.\n\nSignet Industries plummeted 19.96 per cent to Rs 8.94 \u2014 its lower circuit limit. SQS India BFSI plunged 15.86 per cent to Rs 422, its 52-week low.\n\nBesides, shares of two companies \u2014 Kavit Industries and Kkalpana Industries (India) Ltd \u2014\u2014 listed only on the BSE also tanked 4.90 per cent to hit its lowest trading permissible limit for the day at Rs 36.80 and 19.92 per cent to Rs 30.35 (lower circuit), respectively.\n\nBoth the NSE and BSE had on Friday said trading will resume in the shares of Parsvnath Developers and three others from Monday after the SAT stayed curbs imposed on these companies. Besides, shares of Kavit Industries and Kkalpana Industries will also start trading, BSE had said.\n\nThe shares of these companies will be moved out of GSM (graded surveillance measures) framework and will be available for trading with effect from August 14, the exchanges had said in similarly-worded circulars.\n\nThe move came after the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) on Friday stayed the trading restrictions imposed on these companies, which figured in a list of 331 \u201csuspected shell companies\u201d referred by the government to SEBI.\n\nSHARE Copy link\n\nEmail\n\nFacebook\n\nTwitter\n\nTelegram\n\nLinkedIn\n\nWhatsApp\n\nReddit", "output": "Shares in Indian developers Parsvnath Developers, Pincon Spirit, Signet and others have dropped by up to 20% after a crackdown on shell companies. The Securities Appellate Tribunal recently upheld trading restrictions on the companies, which featured on a list of 331 \"suspected shell companies\" referred by the Indian government to the Securities and Exchange Board of India."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Away finds organic, user-generated content key to Instagram \n One of the most engaging posts that Away, the direct-to-consumer luggage maker, has had on Instagram features a yellow suitcase appears in front of a wall of tiles on Italy\u2019s Amalfi Coast. \u201cThere\u2019s yellow. Then there\u2019s Amalfi lemon yellow,\u201d the post reads.\n\nBut the post wasn\u2019t created by Away\u2019s social team but by a travel buff who happens to be a fan of the brand. Its user-generated posts like these that have helped Away grow 10-fold in the past year, to nearly 100,000 followers today. Out of 676 Instagram posts, 600 are user-generated that have reached 15 million users organically.\n\n\u201cWe see people all over the world from a sub-Saharan desert, or to the Great Wall of China or Galapagos Islands, actually staging these photo shoots with their bag and sharing it on social media,\u201d said Jen Rubio, who co-founded Away with colleague Steph Korey in 2015 after working as the head of social at Warby Parker.\n\nAway also places paid ads on Instagram, but Rubio said organic posts and user-generated content are how most people find out about the brand. That\u2019s why Away separates its paid-post operation from the social team\u2019s organic posting. \u201cThe content that works well on paid digital marketing isn\u2019t the content that works well on organic social media,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s been really important for us to differentiate those two things.\u201d\n\nEarned content platform Olapic found that 76 percent of consumers believe the content ordinary people share is more honest than branded advertisements. \u201cIt\u2019s better content than we could ever do ourselves,\u201d said Rubio.\n\nUnlike other brands, though, Away doesn\u2019t solicit submissions from followers. Starbucks, for instance, gathered user content from its White Cup Contest in 2014. Rubio said followers tag Away in their Instagram posts because the brand shares them. \u201cEven when we had 500 to 1,000 [followers on Instagram], we were sharing their own photos,\u201d said Rubio. \u201cWe\u2019ve ingrained and embedded this behavior of sharing with our community.\u201d\n\nAway\u2019s hope is for this kind of content to position it as not only a luggage brand but as a travel brand. \u201cThe posts that do [really] well are the posts showing context in travel,\u201d Rubio said. In July, Away also launched a quarterly print magazine all about travel.\n\nOther than user-generated content, Away\u2019s Instagram feed contains in-house shots of the brand\u2019s luggage, which ranges from $225 to $300. Away announced its new white luggage in Instagram Stories last week by having artists draw, paint or doodle their own creations on the bags. This is one way to encourage followers to share their own creations in photos without overtly asking for them. The brand also hosts giveaways and contests for followers, often offering up limited-edition suitcases. In March, for instance, the brand gave away two mini versions of its millennial pink line.\n\nInfluencers and brand deals also play a role. In March, Away worked with entrepreneur Poppy Jamie and actress Suki Waterhouse on a line of millennial pink luggage and published pink posts to promote it. The brand did the same in May for a partnership with \u201cDespicable Me 3\u201d on a yellow limited-edition Minion suitcase.\n\nAway has worked with Instagram influencers @tyfrench (65,500 Instagram followers) and @vivaluxuryblog (678,000 followers). The product has also been photographed with celebrities like Jessica Alba, Mandy Moore and Karlie Kloss, prompting People magazine to publish the post \u201cThis Is the Carry-On Every Celeb Is Toting.\u201d And it doesn\u2019t hurt that Jay-Z is an investor.\n\nRubio said the brand never pays for endorsements. Away does, however, take influencers on trips to promote the brand with them. Two have been planned so far: one to the Catskills and another to Stockholm. \u201cIt results in a ton of great content.\u201d", "output": "Most customers of luggage brand Away find out about the brand through organic posts and user-generated content on Instagram, according to the company. Although Away places ads on Instagram, user-generated content is \"better than we could ever do ourselves\", said co-founder Jen Rubio. The company also draws on influencers and brand deals. However, rather than pay influencers, it offers them trips to promote the brand, Rubio said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "DeLorean is developing a flying car \n \u201cRoads? Where we\u2019re going, we don\u2019t need roads,\u201d Doc Brown says, before flipping down his reflective goggles and launching his nuclear-powered DeLorean into the air.\n\nIf you think you've heard that line too many times, try being Paul DeLorean. He's not just the nephew of John DeLorean, founder of the short-lived automaker that's now best remembered for its car's starring role as a time machine in the Back to the Future movies. He is the CEO and chief designer of DeLorean Aerospace, the company he founded in 2012 to develop a real life flying car.\n\nEarlier generations of DeLoreans worked as coach builders, so although he may cringe at the name recognition he has accepted it. \u201cWe\u2019ve been in transportation forever\u2014it\u2019s in my blood,\u201d he says.\n\nThat heritage has led him into one of the hottest areas of transportation development today. He plans to build a two-seat vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) personal air transport vehicle (what the rest of the world calls a flying car). That moves him well out of sci-fi movie cliche territory and into the company of Uber, Airbus, Darpa, Larry Page, and a ton of startups.\n\nExperts working in the field say that, as far-fetched as flying cars sound, the confluence of new lightweight materials, better batteries, and sophisticated computer controls means these visions\u2014like Uber's plan to launch a flying fleet in Dubai by 2020\u2014aren't unrealistic.\n\nAdd the business model of ride-sharing, which removes the up-front purchase cost, and there's even a business case for getting these things to work in cities. The really tricky part, though, will be figuring out how to safely deploy these things, especially when it comes to air traffic control and certification.\n\nDeLorean Aerospace\n\nDeLorean\u2019s DR-7 aircraft doesn\u2019t look as outlandish as some concepts, but that's not saying too much in this field. It has two sets of wings, a pair up front and another at the back, plus some winglets underneath. Two large ducted fans, mounted along the center line, front and back, swivel from horizontal for takeoff, to vertical for forward flight.", "output": "DeLorean Aerospace has announced plans to build flying cars. The two-passenger DR-7 aircraft is 20-feet long, 18.5-feet wide, entirely autonomous and powered by an electric motor. It has two sets of hinged wings and two large rotating ducted fans, which swivel to facilitate both vertical take-off and horizontal propulsion. While still in the R&D stage, two models have been produced and DeLorean is looking to compete a full-sized prototype for testing within a year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers discover new enzyme to increase biofuel production \n Seed oil is made out of lipids\u2014small molecules found in fats, oils, waxes and membranes that make up the boundaries of all living cell components. They also store a lot of energy. The scientists identified a new enzyme, named PLIP1, or Plastid Lipade 1, that interacts with lipids inside the chloroplast.\n\nMichigan State University researchers are experimenting with harvesting seed oil to make biofuels. In a recent study published in the journal The Plant Cell , the researchers show that the chloroplast, where plant photosynthesis occurs, also participates in new ways to provide seed oil precursors.\n\nThe enzyme breaks down lipids that make up the chloroplast\u2019s internal membranes, the thylakoids, to be precise. The use and recycling of lipids keeps chloroplast membranes adjusted to developmental or environmental changes. \u2014Kun Wang, lead author\n\n\n\nPLIP1 degrades internal chloroplast membranes surrounding the thylakoids. The left-over lipid products are transported to the endoplasmic reticulum, where they eventually turn into seed oil. Photo courtesy of MSU. Click to enlarge.\n\nLeftover lipid products are transported to the endoplasmic reticulum where they become building blocks for seed oil. Previously, it was thought that seed oil production is largely based in the endoplasmic reticulum.\n\nNow, we are finding that the chloroplast is responsible for 10% of seed oil precursors. That might seem like a low number. However, seed oil comes from many sources, and the main one is responsible for 20 to 40% of final product. So, 10% is significant. \u2014Kun Wang\n\nWang wants to increase the level of PLIP1 in biofuel-targeted plants, so they produce more seed oil. PLIP1 is that it is found in most land plants, which makes it easy to experiment on different species, Wang added.\n\nInitial testing has unexpectedly led to a smaller plant with more oil per seed but fewer seeds, and higher defense activity.\n\nIt seems oil production and plant defense functions don\u2019t coexist well. We have a few ideas to bypass this limitation, and we\u2019ve already filled out a patent application to try a new strategy to increase seed oil yield, using PLIP1. \u2014Kun Wang\n\nResources", "output": "Researchers at Michigan State University have identified an enzyme that increases the production of seed oil, which can be made into biofuels. Called Plastid Lipade 1, the enzyme is found in most plants. However, stimulation of its growth results in fewer overall seeds and higher defence activity in the plant, said researcher Kun Wang. The researchers have filed a patent application for a strategy to improve seed oil yield, Wang added.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wal-Mart builds online advertising with more third-party adverts \n has been quietly building up its online advertising business, opening up a new revenue channel for the retail giant.\n\nAccording to KeyBanc's Ed Yruma, Wal-Mart's website has started to show banner ads by third-party sellers more frequently, with links to product pages or vendor websites. Historically, Wal-Mart's online ads have highlighted its own products or discounts, Yruma said.\n\nOn top of that, Wal-Mart has recently started linking its in-store and online shopping data, giving more in-depth data that advertisers could play with, he said. Wal-Mart already offers plenty of online ad options, including display media, native ads and programmatic buying programs.\n\n\"We believe Walmart recently began intensifying focus on its advertising business,\" Yruma wrote in a note published this week.\n\nWal-Mart's push into the online advertising space is another sign of growth for the company's e-commerce business. It also signifies a new potential battleground against its rival Amazon, which has been drawing a lot of attention for its own advertising business.\n\nWal-Mart's e-commerce business has grown robustly in recent quarters, more than 60 percent year over year. Although online sales are estimated to account for only a tiny fraction of its total revenue, Wal-Mart has made it clear that it plans to build its online business, and the company has a number of e-commerce startups in recent months as well.\n\nGiven Wal-Mart's online sales and traffic is much smaller than Amazon's, it's unlikely Wal-Mart's advertising business is generating significant revenue yet. Amazon advertising is one of the company's fastest-growing businesses, estimated to be growing more than 50 percent annually, and analysts expect it to generate more than $3 billion in revenue this year.\n\nBut Yruma says Wal-Mart's ability to merge its massive in-store data with its growing online shopping data could make it a more attractive advertising option going forward. Not many companies have the mix of data Wal-Mart can offer.\n\n\"There's a lot happening within physical stores, so being able to merge those two data sets will be incredibly important going forward,\" Yruma said.", "output": "Wal-Mart's website has begun showing a greater number of banner ads from third-party sellers, said Ed Yruma, an analyst at KeyBanc. Additionally, Wal-Mart has started to connect\u00a0its in-store and online shopping data to offer advertisers a more in-depth picture of customer behaviours, Yruma said. Wal-Mart's\u00a0online ad options include programmatic buying plans, native ads and\u00a0display media.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Continental offers new braking concept for electric vehicles \n The technology company Continental has expanded its solution portfolio for electric vehicles, developing the New Wheel Concept to meet the specific requirements of these vehicles.\n\nThe wheel rim consists of two aluminum (Al) parts, the inner Al carrier star with the Al brake disk and the outer Al rim well with the tire. In contrast to conventional wheel brakes, the New Wheel Concept brake engages the Al disk from the inside. This allows it to have a particularly large diameter, which benefits the braking performance.\n\nTo increase the vehicle\u2019s range, deceleration in the EV generates as much electricity as possible through recuperation (= braking using the electric motor), so the wheel brake is used less frequently. The corrosion-free Al brake disk also prevents the formation of rust (as is normal on cast-iron disks) which can impair the braking effect.\n\nThanks to the lightweight material, the New Wheel Concept reduces the weight of the wheel and brake, enabling lightweight construction in EVs. Advantages of the concept are much easier wheel and brake pad changes and that the disk is not subject to wear.\n\nRethinking the wheel\n\nThe New Wheel Concept is based on a new division between the wheel and the axle. Here the wheel consists of two parts, the aluminum carrier star, which remains permanently bolted to the wheel hub, and the rim well, which is bolted to the star. The wheel brake is fastened to the wheel carrier of the axle and engages from the inside with an annular aluminum brake disk, which in turn is bolted to the carrier star. The internal brake permits a wide brake disk friction radius, since the space available in the wheel is optimally utilized. During its development, the New Wheel Concept\u2019s braking performance was initially designed for medium and compact class vehicles. In accordance with today\u2019s requirements for this application, the brake is sturdy and fulfills all the established criteria \u2013 although it is used much less frequently in an EV.\n\nThe dual New Wheel Concept also reduces the weight of the wheel and brake and reduces service costs due to a lifetime brake disk and an easy brake pad change.\n\n\u201cIn EVs, it\u2019s crucial that the driver expends as little energy as possible on the friction brake,\u201d says Paul Linhoff, Head of Brake Pre-Development in the Chassis & Safety Business Unit at Continental. \u201cDuring a deceleration, the momentum of the vehicle is converted into electricity in the generator to increase the vehicle\u2019s range. That\u2019s why the driver continues to operate the brake pedal \u2013 but it certainly doesn\u2019t mean that the wheel brakes are active too.\u201d\n\nThe deceleration torque of the electric motor is only no longer sufficient by itself when the driver brakes more energetically, or braking also has to carried out with the non-driven axle for driving dynamics reasons. The wheel brake is needed in this situation \u2013 and it must be available.\n\n\u201cDrivers want to be able to rely on a consistent braking effect \u2013 and too much rust on the brake disk in particular can really make this difficult,\u201d Linhoff emphasizes. The reason behind the reduced performance is less friction between the brake pad and the brake disk. The automatic emergency braking function also has to fully rely on the availability of the friction brake effect.\n\nIn perfect harmony \u2013 material and design\n\nThe design of the New Wheel Concept uses the strengths of lightweight aluminum material for the brake. Thanks to the long leverage effect on the large brake disk, relatively low clamping forces are enough to provide a high level of braking efficiency \u2013 and since aluminum is a very good heat conductor, the heat generated in the disk during braking is quickly dissipated.\n\nThe design enables the use of a large aluminum brake disk and solves the problem of bad braking performance due to corroded brake disks.\n\nContinental assumes, after the results of the initial practical tests, that the Al disk itself is not subject to wear, unlike cast-iron disks. With the New Wheel Concept, abrasion only takes place on the pads, and the design of the Concept makes replacing them \u2013 and the wheels \u2013 much easier.\n\nThe New Wheel Concept has yet another positive: \u201cBecause the brake disk is fixed on the outside and the brake engages from the inside, the brake caliper can be designed particularly light and stiff. The force is transmitted largely symmetrically into the center of the axle, and this has a favorable effect on the noise behavior of the brake,\u201d says Linhoff \u2013 and that\u2019s a side effect which is particularly attractive in a quiet EV.\n\nContinental will also demonstrate the New Wheel Concept during the Frankfurt Motor Show.", "output": "Automotive technology company Continental has developed a braking system that conserves power and helps improve the range of electric vehicles. The braking system engages the brake disc from the inside, which enables it to have a large diameter. In turn, this process improves the brakes' efficiency. Additionally, the lightweight aluminium brake disc prevents rusting which can impair the brakes' performance."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Alibaba signs agreement to provide online housing rental platform \n PTI\n\nChina's e-commerce giant Alibaba has signed an agreement with its home city government in Zhejiang province to use the company's technology to create an online system for house rentals.\n\nThe system will cover apartments put up for rent from all sources \u2014 the government, individuals, real estate developers and agents, according to the agreement signed earlier this week.\n\nPeople seeking rental housing in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang province, will be able to use the application and website created by Alibaba for every stage in the process, from searching for apartments to signing contracts and payment, state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.\n\n\"Information on apartments, user reviews, and credibility ratings of owners, renters and agents will all be shared,\" said Han Junqing, director of Hangzhou Real Estate Registration Center.\n\nThe smart house renting system, as it is called, will be supported by Alibaba's big data, online payment technology, and commerce credit system and can prevent fraudulent deals, sources with the government and Alibaba said.\n\nChina's housing rental market in major cities has been dominated by real estate agents, and fraud and disputes are not unusual. Though some big real estate companies already have apps, the information is not shared with others.\n\nApartment seekers have to repeatedly compare offers from different apps, and these companies lack a mature credit system comparable to Zhima Credit from Alibaba subsidiary Ant Financial.\n\nThe Chinese government is prioritising the development of its rental market to rein in runaway home prices in the country's big cities.\n\nHangzhou is among the first 12 cities chosen by the central government to take bold reforms to boost the rental market.", "output": "China's biggest e-commerce company Alibaba has signed a deal to offer an online housing rental platform in its home city, Hangzhou. The smart housing rental system will cover flats advertised by sources including the government, developers and individuals. \"Information on apartments, user reviews, and credibility ratings of owners, renters and agents will all be shared\", according to Hangzhou Real Estate Registration Center director Han Junqing."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fake Instagram influencers con brands \n Fraud is becoming a real problem in influencer marketing, an industry that is valued at over $1 billion.\n\nOne way fraud often appears is through bots. As brands and agencies focus on \u201cmicro-influencers,\u201d those with followers under 100,000, those same influencers are also likelier to turn to bot followers to inflate authenticity.\n\nA study by Mediakix completed this week found the problem goes deeper: Brands are spending money on influencers who have artificially inflated their followers.\n\nIt\u2019s a common tactic. As Digiday has previously reported, marketing executives say they see a practice of buying accounts and engagement often. Viral Nation, a social influencer talent agency, told Digiday it received 50-100 influencer applications on a daily basis, and 20-30 percent of them have used bots on Instagram.\n\nHere\u2019s how the study worked. Mediakix made two fake Instagram influencer accounts whose followers were entirely fake \u2014 they were purchased followers with fake engagement \u2014 and applied those influencers to campaigns on platforms.\n\nFor the first account, @calibeachgirl310, the company hired a model and made content as a lifestyle influencer named Alexa Rae who lived in California.\n\nThe second account, @wanderingggirl, was made with stock photos entirely, posing as a travel and photography influencer named Amanda Smith who posted pictures from exotic locales.\n\nBoth accounts bought up to 15,000 followers at a time \u2014 it cost between $3 and $8 to buy about 1,000 followers. Instagram did not flag the rapid growth of the account, according to Mediakix. In total, @wanderingggirl got 30,000 followers and @calibeachgirl310 got 50,000 followers in two months.\n\nBoth accounts then managed to secure four paid brand deals, according to Mediakix. The company did not disclose which brands they were, but said the deals were with a swimsuit company, an alcohol brand and a food and beverage brand (which worked with both accounts). Digiday verified that the brand deals \u2014 which offered both money and free product \u2014 were real, using screenshots provided by Mediakix off the record.\n\nFor Mediakix, which itself does influencer marketing for brands, the report, which is one among many research reports it has put out, is a way to make people aware of the problem (and also tout its own capabilities).\n\n\u201cI would imagine bots have gotten more sophisticated and Instagram struggles to identify it. We want to call it out to the industry. Obviously, we do this for work brands. We would like to do [influencer marketing] well,\u201d said Evan Asano, CEO of Mediakix.\n\nInstagram is aware of the bot issue. Its guidelines prohibit users from posting repetitive comments and artificially soliciting likes and followers. Since bots run off hashtags, Instagram also has a limit on the number of hashtags one can use, according to a company spokesperson, who also told Digiday that \u201cspam accounts make up a very small fraction of Instagram\u2019s monthly active user base.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe take spam, inauthentic and other abusive behavior very seriously and have a number of teams dedicated to detecting fraudulent behavior and shutting it down,\u201d the rep said. \u201cWe consider services that automate likes or follows to be spam, and we will continue to aggressively remove them from the platform per our policy.\u201d\n\nInstagram also said that internal estimates show that spam accounts make up a small fraction of its monthly active user base. The company has over 700 million users.", "output": "Brands are spending money on influencers who have artificially inflated their followers, according to a report from influencer marketing agency Mediaklix. To trial whether fake accounts would receive brand deals, the company created two fake Instagram accounts and bought thousands of followers for them both. Although 15,000 followers were bought at a time, Instagram did not flag the rapid growth of the accounts, Mediakix reported. Both accounts were then able to secure four paid brand deals each. Instagram's policy considers services that automate likes or follows to be spam and removes them from its platform, the photo sharing app said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "20 major world banks saw \u00a3264bn misconduct costs over five years \n Fines, legal bills and the cost of compensating mistreated customers reached \u00a3264bn for 20 of the world\u2019s biggest banks over the five years to 2016, according to new research that raises doubts about efforts by the major financial services players to restore trust in the sector.\n\nThis figure is higher than in the previous five-year period \u2013 when the costs amounted to \u00a3252bn \u2013 and is up 32% on the period 2008-12, the first time the data was collated by the CCP Research Foundation, one of the few bodies that analyses the \u201cconduct costs\u201d of banks.\n\nThe report said the data showed that 10 years on from the onset of the financial crisis, the consequences of misconduct continue to hang over the banking sector.\n\nThe latest analysis shows that in 2016 the total amount put aside by the banks surveyed rose to more than \u00a328.6bn \u2013 higher than in the previous year when there had been a fall from a peak of \u00a363bn in 2014.\n\nChris Stears, research director of the foundation, writes in the latest report: \u201cTrust in, and the trustworthiness of, the banks must surely correlate to, and be conditional on, banks\u2019 conduct costs. And persistent level of conduct cost provisioning is worrying.\n\n\u201cIt remains to be seen whether or not the provisions will crystallise in 2017 [or later] and what effect this will have on the aggregated level of conduct costs.\u201d\n\nTwo UK high street banks \u2013 Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group \u2013 are in the top five of banks with the biggest conduct costs.\n\nRBS set aside extra provisions for fines and legal costs largely related to a forthcoming penalty from the US Department of Justice for mis-selling toxic bonds in the run-up to the financial crisis.\n\nThat residential mortgage bond securitisation mis-selling scandal is responsible for \u00a366bn of the costs incurred during the five-year period and the single largest factor, according to the foundation.\n\nThe payment protection insurance scandal, which is the main reason Lloyds Banking Group is in the list, caused the banks to set aside \u00a327bn during the period. Lloyds has set aside more than \u00a317bn to tackle the mis-selling of PPI.\n\nRoger McCormick, managing director of the foundation, said: \u201cIt\u2019s reasonable to assume that the long-running sorry tale of payments and provisions for PPI must come to an end eventually although UK banks made additional provisions for PPI mis-selling of more than \u00a31.5bn midway through 2017.\u201d\n\nThe foundation uses five-year rolling periods to try to provide a long-term analysis of the costs that banks face to rectify past mistakes, a major theme of the last 10 years, when they were also hit by penalties for rigging foreign exchange markets and interest rates (Libor).\n\n\u201cAs has been the case since the first table, we find ourselves wondering when, if ever, the level of conduct costs will start to decrease,\u201d said McCormick.\n\n\n\nHe noted that the 2016 figures showed a rapid decline in fines from the Financial Conduct Authority, which issued fines worth \u00a3819m in the first six months of 2015 alone, as a result of the market-rigging scandals.\n\nTop of the table are major US banks Bank of America, which dominates the table because of its previous bill for the toxic bond mis-selling scandal, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley.\n\nThe figures include money set aside for future penalties by the 20 banks and fines and other costs they have incurred to tackle regulatory and legal claims.\n\nStears said there would not be zero conduct costs but added: \u201cThe question is at what average level will these costs settle? And, moreover, is that level acceptable to the banks, their shareholders and the public?\u201d", "output": "The cost of compensating mistreated customers reached \u00a3264bn ($342bn) for 20 of the world\u2019s largest banks over the five years to 2016, according to data collated by the CCP Research Foundation. The figure is higher than the \u00a3252bn for the previous five years, a 32% increase. Two UK banks, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds, are among the five with the highest conduct costs due to controversies over mortgage bonds and the payment protection insurance scandal respectively. The other banks in the top five are Bank of America, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lab-grown meat may not solve industry problems: Gizmodo \n Some folks have big plans for your future. They want you\u2014a burger-eatin\u2019, chicken-finger-dippin\u2019 American\u2014to buy their burgers and nuggets grown from stem cells. One day, meat eaters and vegans might even share their hypothetical burger. That burger will be delicious, environmentally friendly, and be indistinguishable from a regular burger. And they assure you the meat will be real meat, just not ground from slaughtered animals.\n\nThat future is on the minds of a cadre of Silicon Valley startup founders and at least one nonprofit in the world of cultured meat. Some are sure it will heal the environmental woes caused by American agriculture while protecting the welfare of farm animals. But these future foods\u2019 promises are hypothetical, with many claims based on a futurist optimism in line with Silicon Valley\u2019s startup culture. Cultured meat is still in its research and development phase and must overcome massive hurdles before hitting market. A consumer-ready product does not yet exist and its progress is heavily shrouded by intellectual property claims and sensationalist press. Today, cultured meat is a lot of hype and no consumer product.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cMuch of what happens in the world of cultured meat is done for the sake of PR.\u201d\n\n\u201cMuch of what happens in the world of cultured meat is done for the sake of PR,\u201d Ben Wurgaft, an MIT-based post-doctoral researcher writing a book on cultured meat, told Gizmodo. Wurgaft finds it hard to believe many predictions about cultured meat\u2019s future, including the promise of an FDA-approved consumer product within a year.\n\n\n\nThe truth is that only a few successful prototypes have yet been shown to the public, including a NASA-funded goldfish-based protein in the early 2000s, and a steak grown from frog cells in 2003 for an art exhibit. More have come recently: Mark Post unveiled a $330,000 cultured burger in 2013, startup Memphis Meats has produced cultured meatballs and poultry last and this year, and Hampton Creek plans to have a product reveal dinner by the end of the year. (Memphis Meats declined to be interviewed for this story, and all quotes attributed to them come from prior reporting.)\n\n\n\nBecause many in the cultured meat industry see this meat as cruelty-free, animal rights groups have become more vocal about cultured meat in its recent past. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals offered a one million dollar prize for whoever could \u201cproduce commercially viable quantities of in vitro (lab-grown) chicken meat\u201d in 2008. That contest\u2019s deadline lapsed in 2014, but in 2016 a non-profit called the Good Food Institute spun off of animal rights organization Mercy for Animals. The GFI\u2019s mission is to promote what they call \u201cclean meat,\u201d or \u201cmeat that is produced through cellular agriculture\u201d instead of slaughter, Bruce Friedrich, the Good Food Institute\u2019s executive director told Gizmodo. Today, several startups have entered the cellular agriculture space, many of whose founders are vegan or who tout their product\u2019s presumed ethical superiority. (Memphis Meat\u2019s website explicitly states that their product is not vegetarian or vegan, though it has been promoted by the GFI and vegan company employees have said they would eat their own product.)\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cWe have a food system that isn\u2019t working, people are eating food that degrade their body, a billion go to bed hungry every night,\u201d Josh Tetrick, CEO of the controversial food company Hampton Creek, told Gizmodo. He proposed that all these crises could be solved \u201cwith plants\u201d but since \u201cpeople love meat,\u201d cultured meat can help. The problem is real: Meat consumption continues to increase, and could increase by \u201c4 percent per person over the next ten years,\u201d according to Ensia reporting. Livestock represent approximately 15 percent of man-made greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.\n\n\n\nBut first, startups need to actually launch the consumer product, which means overcoming critical production and distribution challenges before even thinking about selling it as a reasonable, affordable alternative to slaughtered meat.\n\n\u201cThe important point is that no one has done this at scale yet.\u201d Existing cost estimates relying on prototypes \u201care based on existing extrapolation of lab-scale processes that aren\u2019t just unsustainable, but also not an accurate representation of what this would look like,\u201d Eitan Fischer, director of Cellular Agriculture at Hampton Creek told Gizmodo.\n\nFor now, we know that the meat is made by growing animal-derived cells in the lab and harvesting the meat after a month or so. Part of that scale-up includes developing industrial bioreactors for growing the meat\u2014eventually, cultured meat producers hope the process will look a lot like the beer brewing, where cells grow in big tanks. (Bioreactors as large as 20,000 liters exist for other purposes, but would need to be designed specifically for growing cow, chicken or pig cells.) Companies are mum about their progress on these bioreactors. Hampton Creek told Gizmodo that they had a bioreactor and explained how the scale-up might work, but would not give details on the size.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cThe reality is that we don\u2019t have a product yet. It\u2019s taking quite some time and there are still hurdles to overcome on getting there.\u201d\n\nAnd yet, cultured meat startups love bringing up slaughtered meat\u2019s greenhouse gas emissions. \u201cWith plants providing nutrients for animal cells to grow, we believe we can produce meat and seafood that is over 10x more efficient than the world\u2019s highest volume slaughterhouse (a 1,000,000-square foot facility in Tar Heel, N.C.). All this without confining or slaughtering a single animal and with a fraction of the greenhouse gas emissions and water use,\u201d Hampton Creek CEO Josh Tetrick wrote on a LinkedIn post this past June.\n\nBut despite what you may have heard, the evidence as to whether cultured meat is better for the environment is inconclusive. \u201cOn the environmental studies, the work that\u2019s been done is very preliminary,\u201d Hampton Creek\u2019s Fischer said. A 2011 study estimated that the product might produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions, but use about the same amount of energy as the European pork industry. One 2015 study found potential environmental benefits in China, but another 2015 estimate found it could use just as much energy as animal-based meats. The common theme is uncertainty.\n\nIt seems that the very idea that cultured meat will be better for the environment than slaughtered meat doesn\u2019t just require new means of food production, it requires the world around it to change in order to sustain it\u2014for the products to be made and shipped predominantly with renewable energy, for example.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWhen Memphis Meats discusses the environmental benefits on its website, given the inconclusive data, these claims seem reliant on optimism. \u201cWhen people tell stories about cultured meat one of the things they do is quickly fill in blanks on the page around the meat,\u201d said Wurgaft. He thinks that some stakeholders treat cultured meat as an object on which they can hang other hypotheticals about the future.\n\nAs far as cultured meat\u2019s other big promise\u2014meat without murder\u2014it is also uncertain. The most talked-about hurdle in slaughter-free meat production is how to feed the cells. The agricultural industry treats cows like little factories: plants consume solar energy, cows consume plants, cows turn solar energy into energy consumable by humans. Like cows, cells grown in a culture must be fed too. The most prevalent option is a serum made from the blood of calf fetuses called fetal bovine serum\u2014clearly not a vegan or slaughter-free option. Expensive and proprietary replacements exist as Good Food Institute senior scientist Liz Specht showed me, but every cultured meat company\u2019s Holy Grail is an affordable serum without animal products.\n\n\u201cWe have validated our first process and created Memphis Meat without fetal bovine serum,\u201d Steve Myrick, VP of Business Development at Memphis Meats told Gizmodo a few months ago. \u201cWe\u2019re in the process now of applying that to all of our product. That\u2019s one of our proudest accomplishments.\u201d What that serum is actually made from, neither they nor Hampton Creek would say, citing intellectual property claims. But Mike Selden, CEO of cultured fish startup Finless Foods, told me that it \u201cwas a pretty black and white path to fully identifying the necessary growth factors\u201d required to create a slaughter-free serum substitute. \u201cOnce they\u2019re identified, we can produce them in transgenic yeast, bringing cost of a blended product (not 100% fish, part plant matter) down to about $100 a pound.\u201d\n\nStill, the bulk of crucial facts surrounding cultured meat\u2019s progress are obscured as intellectual property, despite claims of a \u201ctransparent production process\u201d from Memphis Meats, for example. The nature of being a business requires hidden details\u2014about the serum, the bioreactors, and how all of those animal cells are going to stick together\u2014much like the secret formulas of Coca-Cola or KFC\u2019s chicken. Hampton Creek has just announced that they are \u201cin talks\u201d to license these propriety methods to \u201csome of the world\u2019s biggest meat companies.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nDespite our inability to truly assess the current state of cultured meat, press coverage alone would make you think that the future will be \u201cfull of lab-grown meat.\u201d I am just as guilty as the rest for fueling the hype.\n\n\u201cI think that it\u2019s pretty lofty to be trying to sell a product to a group that you\u2019re not a part of.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere has been a lot of news coverage for almost seven years now, even in times when there wasn\u2019t a lot of new things going on,\u201d Mark Post, Professor of Vascular Physiology at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, co-founder of Mosa Meat and creator of the first cultured hamburger, told Gizmodo. \u201cIt seems a bit excessive. It\u2019s either one way or the other. It\u2019s negative for reasons that are not traceable but there\u2019s no particular evidence, it\u2019s just feelings, or it\u2019s very positive which is more related to high expectations and wishful thinking. The reality is that we don\u2019t have a product yet. It\u2019s taking quite some time and there are still hurdles to overcome on getting there.\u201d\n\nToday, estimates for the launch of the first consumer product range from Hampton Creek\u2019s 2018 claim to Memphis Meat\u2019s 2021 claim. Many industry observers think these dates are overly optimistic, though this could depend on the initial price. But oversell in coverage isn\u2019t new\u2014in interviews with Gizmodo, at least three different commentators cited Alexis Madrigal\u2019s 2013 chart in The Atlantic. It demonstrates that predicted dates on plenty of estimates for when in vitro meat would hit the shelves have passed.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIndustry observers not involved in the startups are skeptical for lots of different reasons. Several, in interviews with Gizmodo, said that waves of speculation prevented productive conversation about how this never-before-eaten food would be scaled and regulated by the FDA, and how it would evolve.\n\nSome said that the vegan mindset felt uncomfortable. \u201cIt seems strange that vegans would be trying to market a product to non-vegans,\u201d Erin Kim, Communications Director at New Harvest, a non-profit that funds open science cultured meat projects, told Gizmodo. \u201cI think that it\u2019s pretty lofty to be trying to sell a product to a group that you\u2019re not a part of.\u201d\n\nOther in the industry were concerned that the secrecy that comes along with IP (intellectual property) claims could induce fear in the public. \u201cI\u2019m frightened about the ways that genetically modified [food] entered the public, which was more related to IP and ownership than science and technology,\u201d said Isha Datar, New Harvest\u2019s Executive Director. \u201cI found that cultured meat could be transformative but didn\u2019t want the same thing to happen with it [as it did] with GMOs.\u201d\n\nDatar also thought it surprising to apply West Coast Silicon Valley startup thinking to the traditional middle-America meat world. Tetrick from Hampton Creek told Gizmodo that the company entered the cultured meat space because he wanted to reduce industrially-produced meat consumption in Trump country. Aren\u2019t these regions already distrustful of the liberal coastal elite? Why would they buy this liberal meat?\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThis is a small industry making huge promises about what the future of meat will look like. Of course, startups need to make lofty promises (and hit goals) so they may continue to be funded. But in this case, we don\u2019t know whether the solution they\u2019re offering will actually be the best.\n\n\u201cThe idea that one or more companies will suddenly solve the problem in the next couple years is insanity. We\u2019re just kind of balancing the imperfection versus the urgency.\u201d\n\nWhile confident that his company would hit the 2018 deadline, Tetrick, Hampton Creek\u2019s CEO, agreed with the concerns. \u201cThe idea that one or more companies in Silicon Valley and Israel will suddenly solve the problem in the next couple years is insanity,\u201d he said, nor did he think cultured meat was a perfect solution. \u201cWe\u2019re just kind of balancing the imperfection versus the urgency. Given all the challenges around it\u2014technical, cultural, regulatory\u2014it\u2019s worth a bet.\u201d\n\nStill, overly positive press and ethical optimism can make us dream of a world that doesn\u2019t yet exist, where all meat is brewed in a bioreactor, instead of a future where we pursue other options that solve the problems of industrial agriculture. It\u2019s exciting that a version of the future feels like it\u2019s around the corner, but folks have been writing about lab-grown meet since at least 2003, without a commercial product to show for it. It doesn\u2019t exist yet, at least not in a way that you, a consumer, can eat it.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cWhere I think we veer more into \u2018bad\u2019 territory is when the kind of imagination offered by this technology might also limit us. I don\u2019t think in vitro meat is \u2018the\u2019 future of meat,\u201d Christina Agapakis, biologist and creative director of Gingko Bioworks, a synthetic biology company that produces custom microbes, told Gizmodo. \u201cIt might be a future of meat, but I think the way food and technology will mix will be much more complicated than any one current vision might offer.\u201d", "output": "Expectations of lab-produced meat, which could meet increased consumer demand while reducing livestock emissions, are unrealistic, according to Gizmodo. Intellectual property considerations make it hard to track progress in the field,\u00a0though it appears that lab processes are not yet sustainable on a larger scale. The evidence for the environmental benefits of cultured meat is also inconclusive, and\u00a0an affordable, animal-free alternative to the serum used to feed cells, made from the blood of calf foetuses, has not yet been invented, according to the publication.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shell and Exxon censured over 'misleading' gas ad in Netherlands \n The Dutch advertising watchdog will on Tuesday censure Shell and Exxon for claiming that natural gas was \u201cthe cleanest of all fossil fuels\u201d in an advert earlier this year.\n\nIt will be the second time this summer that the Netherlands advertising standards board has ruled against the fossil fuels industry, after it slapped down Statoil in June for calling gas a \u201cclean energy\u201d and \u201clow emissions fuel\u201d.\n\nIn a bid to pre-empt the latest ruling, online versions of the advert were changed a few weeks ago to redefine gas as \u201cthe least polluting fossil fuel\u201d.\n\nThe Dutch watchdog waived punitive action against the NAM company, which is part-owned by Shell and Exxon, in that light.\n\nPaul de Clerk of Friends of the Earth Europe, which co-filed the complaint with Milieudefensie, said: \u201cThis clear ruling by the advertisement standards board is of great importance. Time after time we see how oil and gas companies are misleading citizens and politicians.\n\n\u201cThey want us to believe that gas is clean and they support the transition to renewable energy. Behind the screens we see how the same companies lobby against this transition. To prevent catastrophic climate change we need to end the dependency on all fossil fuels \u2013 including gas. \u201d\n\nThe issue is highly contentious, after a Trump administration push for gas to be described as a \u201cclean technology\u201d at a G20 summit in July split the meeting.\n\nThe US disassociated itself from the final communique, inserting text into the document saying that it would help countries \u201caccess and use fossil fuels more cleanly and efficiently.\u201d\n\nBut gas is seen by many policy-makers as a \u201cbridging fuel\u201d to a renewable-powered future and the EU\u2019s research wing has also described it as a low carbon energy source, making about \u00a3100m available for research grants on that basis.\n\nNatural gas emits around half as much carbon dioxide as coal when burned, although this is still far more than from renewables.\n\n\n\nBut the picture is less clear when it includes methane \u2013 a short-lived but much more potent greenhouse gas \u2013 which one recent study found was being emitted by gas plants at levels up to 120 times higher than reported to US regulators.\n\nThe ruling by the Dutch Advertising Code Authority, which the Guardian has seen, found that \u201cthe absolute term \u2018cleanest fossil fuel\u2019 is not in line with the MRC [Dutch advertising code].\u201d\n\n\n\n\u201cIt is suggested that fossil fuels can be clean in that they do not cause environmental damage. It is firm \u2013 and recognised by NAM \u2013 that that suggestion is not correct.\u201d\n\nAntonetta van Beem, a spokeswoman for NAM, said her company\u2019s decision to change the advert was not an admission that the original had been misleading.", "output": "A Dutch advertising watchdog has censured Shell and Exxon after the companies claimed that natural gas was \"the cleanest of all fossil fuels\" in advertising earlier this year. Natural gas is considered by many to be an alternative to hydrocarbon resources, as it releases only half as much CO2 as coal when burned. However, the gas also emits methane when burned, which is a significant greenhouse gas.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aramco\u2019s IPO could be affected by climate change says thinktank \n An error occurred. Please try again.\n\nSaudi Aramco\u2019s initial public offering (IPO) could be \u201cstrongly\u201d influenced by climate change, according to a new report.\n\nAccording to Oil change International\u2019s new briefing many analysts believe that Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman\u2019s $2trillion estimate of the state backed venture\u2019s value was \u201cunrealistic\u201d.\n\nInstead the thinktank claims a more realistic estimate would be somewhere in the range $1 \u2013 1.5trillion.\n\nHowever, one of the unanswered questions, which the group hopes to answer, is how moves to decarbonise the energy system will affect the IPO\u2019s valuation.\n\nResearchers looked at three factors: how oil price will affect Aramco\u2019s valuation, how Aramco\u2019s oil production will compete with that of international oil companies (IOCs) in light of constrained demand and how Aramco\u2019s reserves relate to carbon budgets.\n\nThe thinktank concludes that a the \u201cbest-case estimate\u201d for the value of Aramco could be between 25% to 40% lower in the IEA\u2019s safer-climate scenarios.\n\nAnd, the research is said to have found that, if oil prices stay at $50 in real terms, Aramco\u2019s value could be reduced to less than $700 billion, 55% below the base case.\n\nThe summary of the briefing states: \u201cThe IPO is thus a real test of whether investors are thinking seriously about climate change.\n\n\u201cA high valuation, say above $1 tn, would indicate they are betting on a failure to address climate change, through an expectation of high future oil demand. Investments in the IPO could then be at significant risk.\n\n\u201cThe question of whether Aramco is advantaged relative to international oil companies (IOCs) because of its low production cost depends on the shape and timing of climate policy.\n\n\u201cIf governments continue to drag their feet on reducing emissions, IOC production will remain viable for longer, and assuming governments ultimately act to keep warming below 2 degrees, a large proportion of Aramco\u2019s reserves may be left unburned.\n\n\u201cHowever, this scenario would also entail rapid emissions cuts later, forcing down prices within investment timescales of 15-25 years, and causing significant destruction of oil company assets. As such, it creates the greatest financial risk to all.\u201d\n\nThe paper, written and researched by Greg Muttitt and Hannah McKinnon claims that if the IPO realises a value at the higher end of the likely range (for example, above $1 trillion), its investors could face significant risk from climate policy.\n\nThey add: \u201cIf it comes out lower, this may raise questions of whether IOCs are overvalued.\n\n\u201cIf fully extracted and burned, Saudi reserves would have a profound impact on the climate.\n\n\u201cEmissions from Saudi reserves would amount to 112 Gt of carbon dioxide, one seventh of total global emissions in a 2\u00b0C carbon budget, or one third of total global emissions in a 1.5\u00b0C carbon budget.\n\n\u201cThe problem is not so much Aramco on its own, but Aramco in combination with IOCs, which constantly explore for and open up new reserves, to replace what they have extracted.\u201d\n\nAnd the briefing warns that \u201crigorous scrutiny\u201d of new investments in fossil fuels is needed.\n\nThe report states: \u201cIf IOCs continue to add new oil and gas, Aramco\u2019s reserves stand to push the world beyond climate limits: after carbon budgets are exhausted, there will still be strong economic incentives to extract them due to their low cost.\n\n\u201cThe world is rapidly approaching climate limits. There is an urgent need for rigorous scrutiny of any new investments in fossil fuels, not least of the partial listing of the world\u2019s largest oil company.\u201d", "output": "The valuation of Saudi oil company Aramco at $2trn by Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman is unrealistic, according to a report by thinktank Oil Change International. The thinktank proposed\u00a0a price in the range of not more than $1.5trn. The report considers the impact of moves towards carbon reduction on the company\u2019s initial public offering (IPO) and concludes that the \u201cbest-case estimate\u201d for Aramco\u2019s value could be 25% to 40% lower under the International Energy Agency\u2019s climate recommendations. The report states that \u201cthe IPO is thus a real test of whether investors are thinking seriously about climate change\u201d."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Innogy expands Irish renewables portfolio with windfarm purchase \n German energy company Innogy has entered the Irish market having acquired a wind farm site in Co Kerry for an undisclosed sum.\n\nThe 10.2MW Dromadda Beg wind farm will have three turbines, which received planning approval in May 2014. Permission was applied for by Peter and Helen O'Brien, who are directors of Glenmore Forestry Services Ltd.\n\nConstruction on the Listowel site is due to begin in September, with commissioning of each of the 144.5m turbines scheduled for the second half of 2018.\n\nHaving signalled plans to enter the Irish market when the company launched its initial public offering (IPO) in 2016, Innogy set up an Irish subsidiary in September of last year. At that time it appointed a country manager who now has four staff working with him.\n\nREAD MORE\n\n\"When we launched our IPO last year Innogy outlined its intention to increase its renewables footprint by entering new markets and new technologies, and the purchase of Dromadda Beg highlights our commitment to this,\" its chief executive Peter Terium said. \"To grow its renewables business Innogy intends to invest between \u20ac1.5 billion and \u20ac1.7 billion from 2017 to 2019.\"\n\nCathal Hennessy, the managing director of the company's Irish subsidiary, outlined some of the group's Irish growth plans.\n\nRenewable energy targets\n\n\"We are also in the process of acquiring further wind projects in Ireland. We plan to grow our onshore wind business to include greenfield developments and consented sites right through to the acquisition of operational wind farms, and we are excited to play a key role in supporting Ireland to deliver its renewable energy targets.\"\n\nInnogy currently operates onshore wind farms in Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Italy, where it serves around 23 million customers.\n\nThe Frankfurt-listed company is majority owned by German utilities giant RWE. Following Innogy\u2019s IPO in 2016, RWE retained 75 per cent of the company, with asset management firm Blackrock the second largest shareholder with 5 per cent.\n\nInnogy\u2019s spin-off in 2016 combined RWE\u2019s renewable, network and retail operations into a separate publicly-traded entity.\n\nWith capability to generate enough electricity to supply 3 million homes, Innogy primarily operates in the renewable energy sphere. It also retails electricity and gas in addition to managing power lines and gas lines around the world.\n\nPortfolio expansion\n\nDetails of the investment in Co Kerry comes as Greencoat UK Wind said it had acquired the Slieve Divena wind farm in Co Tyrone as part of a \u00a3105 million (\u20ac115m) deal.\n\nThe London-listed renewable infrastructure fund which invests in wind farms has entered into an agreement to purchase both the 30MW wind farm in Garvaghy, Co Tyrone, and the North Hoyle wind farm five miles offshore in Liverpool Bay from institutional investors as part of its multimillion pound portfolio expansion.\n\nThe 12-turbine Slieve Divena wind farm in Tyrone, which was commissioned in 2009, was originally developed by SSE and sold on to the Infinis group in 2011. It is estimated to produce enough electricity to power over 16,000 homes in the North.\n\nGreencoat UK Wind expects its latest acquisition projects to complete in August 2017, and will boost its net generating capacity to 547MW.", "output": "Innogy, a German energy company, has entered the Irish power market following its acquisition of a windfarm in County Kerry. The 10\u00a0MW windfarm, called\u00a0Dromadda Beg,\u00a0will have three turbines and is expected to be commissioned in 2018. Innogy has stated that it has further interest in expanding its renewable portfolio across Ireland. \"We plan to grow our onshore wind business to include greenfield developments and consented sites right through to the acquisition of operational wind farms\", said Cathal Hennessy, the managing director of the company\u2019s Irish subsidiary.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EDF offers free solar panel pilot scheme \n If you want solar photovoltaic panels on your home but don\u2019t have the money for them, EDF Energy is offering to install a free system \u2013 complete with storage batteries \u2013 if you agree to buy the subsidised power it generates for 20 years.\n\nThe French-owned energy giant is looking for 100 homes to trial its Sunplug scheme, which is being offered in conjunction with established solar supplier Lightsource.\n\nTo sign up you need to have a large, unshaded south-facing roof at a pitch of about 35 degrees. If you are accepted, the company will install the largest solar panel system the roof can take \u2013 a 16-panel setup will generate 4kW \u2013 plus an LG storage battery that lets you use the power that\u2019s generated during the day in the evening.\n\nIn return, EDF gets to keep the feed-in tariff paid by the government, which is worth about \u00a3150 a year. It also keeps the export tariff \u2013 around \u00a350 a year. The householder is contractually bound to pay Sunplug 9.9p per kilowatt hour for each unit of electricity they use from the panels and battery. This is a little cheaper than what you would pay if you bought green electricity from the grid. For example, green supplier Good Energy charges 15.5p, with a standing charge averaging 26p a day.\n\nThe advantage could come in future years as the price demanded by Sunplug can only rise by the retail prices index or 2.5% \u2013 whichever is lower. If the price of grid electricity rises substantially over the next 20 years, users will make considerable savings.\n\nHowever, if they don\u2019t, some users will be left wondering why they bothered. So this scheme is likely to appeal to anyone who wants green electricity at fixed prices over the next two decades.\n\nThe other significant benefit comes at the end of the 20-year term, when the householder is given ownership of the system, which should continue to generate substantial free power.\n\nRobin Melvin, head of innovation at EDF, says about 50 households have signed up for the trial and that he is looking for another 50 to join, at which point its success will be evaluated.\n\nHe says users should not have a problem with their mortgage company \u2013 previously an issue with free solar installations \u2013 as the package is compliant with Council of Mortgage Lenders guidelines and big lenders are on board with the deal. The top-up electricity most households will need can be bought from any supplier at normal rates.\n\nIf you decide to move house during the 20-year term, he says the deal can be passed on to the new owner, or the seller can buy the system out. The prices are pre-agreed on a sliding scale \u2013 it will cost \u00a35,500 to exit the initiative after 10 years.\n\nIf you like the idea of the scheme and have the money to buy it outright \u2013 probably the best option \u2013 Sunplug will sell you a 3kW (12 panels) system for \u00a36,999 and a 4kW (16 panels) one for \u00a37,499. You get to keep the feed-in tariffs and export payments, benefit from the electricity savings and also get the crucial battery.\n\nIn-house storage batteries are seen as the next big thing in renewable energy and are increasingly being offered by suppliers alongside electricity generating panels as they allow households to use double the power they produce \u2013 they can access it when they need it in the evenings.\n\nLast week, Ikea announced it is going to sell solar PV/battery installations, in conjunction with Solarcentury, at similar prices. It is offering a system that generates 3.24kW from \u00a36,925. It estimates that homeowners can pay off the capital invested in the system in roughly 12 years through feed-in tariffs and lower electricity bills, assuming they have the right kind of roof.\n\nSo what\u2019s the Money verdict? Solar PV systems are still a good investment if you have the money upfront, the right roof and location, and if you plan to stay in the house for a long time. The case for the free Sunplug deal is less clear. To us, it looks too heavily weighted in favour of the company. If it offered some free electricity each day or other incentives, that would make the scheme more attractive.", "output": "EDF Energy is offering its customers solar panels for free, complete with energy storage kits, if they agree to buy the subsidised power generated from that solar energy for 20 years. The French energy company wants to trial 100 homes in its Sunplug scheme, in conjunction with solar-cell supplier Lightsource. Assuming the customers have the correct angle and direction of roof, it is expected that homeowners would be able to pay off the capital for the system in 12 years through feed-in tariffs and reduced energy bills.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HNW loss adjuster group Criterion bought by Charles Taylor \n Charles Taylor Adjusting Ltd (CTA), subsidiary of Charles Taylor plc, has acquired Criterion Adjusters Ltd, Criterion Surveyors Ltd and Criterion Claims Management Ltd (together, Criterion) a group of specialist loss adjusting, surveying and claims management businesses, for a maximum consideration of \u00a313.1m. Criterion focuses on the UK high net worth (HNW) property, fine art and antiques insurance sectors. Charles Taylor paid \u00a35.3m in cash on completion to acquire 100% of the equity of the three Criterion businesses. A further payment of \u00a31.0m has been made to shareholders to reflect the net cash position of the company and to enable them to settle directors\u2019 loans owing to Criterion.\n\nDeferred consideration of up to \u00a37.8m will be paid, based on business performance over the three years following completion, of which 50% will be paid annually over the three years, with the remaining 50% held back and released on the fifth anniversary of completion.\n\nThe initial consideration has been funded by a \u00a35m increase in facilities with RBS and HSBC. As of March 31st 2017 the combined gross assets of Criterion were \u00a32.8m. Criterion generated aggregated revenue of \u00a34.3m and profit before tax of \u00a31.8m in the year to March 31st 2017.\n\nCharles Taylor said that the transaction marked \u201can important step forward in delivering CTA\u2019s business model and strategy\u201d, and that CTA was diversifying its business into closely related profitable and stable property and casualty (P&C) loss adjusting sectors, such as the HNW market, \u201cwhile retaining its market leading position in the aviation, energy and marine sectors\u201d. The company said that the strategy was designed to increase regular, repeatable income streams for CTA, while reducing the working capital requirements over time.\n\nCTA expects to benefit from business referrals from Criterion to its other adjusting teams globally and to the wider Group\u2019s other businesses such as Charles Taylor TPA and CEGA. Criterion will continue to trade under its existing name. The business will be led by its current management and its clients will continue to be served by their existing teams. Criterion\u2019s Managing Director, Chris Monks, and Operations Director, James Long, will continue in their existing, respective roles.\n\nCharles Taylor group CEO David Marock said that the acquisition marked \u201canother important step forward in our strategy to grow by developing new professional service business lines, which are closely-related to our core business, both organically and through carefully targeted acquisitions and investments.\u201d\n\nCTA chief executive Damian Ely said that \u201cthe acquisition of Criterion is part of our strategy to diversify our loss adjusting business into closely related specialist P&C markets. HNW loss adjusting provides steady revenues which will help to balance the less predictable income streams from our other business lines. The nature of the work also means that Criterion\u2019s working capital requirements are lower than is normal in our existing aviation, energy and marine markets.\u201d", "output": "Charles Taylor Adjusting has purchased the Criterion group of loss adjusters, claims managers\u00a0and surveyors, expecting to benefit from its new acquisition's\u00a0specialisation in serving high-net-worth (HNW) customers, which will offer\u00a0predictable streams of income to balance those of\u00a0its own core business lines. CTA intends to retain \"its market leading position in the aviation, energy and marine sectors\", the company said. The Criterion group\u00a0focuses on the UK's HNW\u00a0property, fine art and antiques insurance sectors.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aon app assesses US firms' captive insurance needs \n Aon launches captive feasibility app\n\nAon has developed an app, Aon Captivate, for clients to assess whether a captive is the right solution for them through a full feasibility study.\n\n\n\nThe app allows clients that are interested in captive insurance to evaluate what benefits a captive could provide their organisation.\n\n\n\nThe feasibility study is split into four sections, including a feasibility assessment, benefit assessment, benchmarking and cash-flow benefit.\n\n\n\nThe first three sections only require responses to pre-defined question sets, while the fourth requires some limited corporate data such as lines of insurance and their respective estimates loss picks, the corporate weighted average cost of capital and typical federal and state tax rates.\n\n\n\nAfter the study is complete, a report will be sent to the client that summarises the question responses, data entered and the resulting information and calculations.\n\n\n\nThe report then provides a focal point for internal discussions on whether to explore a captive further.\n\n\n\nThe app is currently only available in the US.", "output": "Insurance professional services firm Aon is offering a US-based app named Aon Captivate to enable clients to assess whether captive insurance is the right option for them. The app provides a feasibility assessment, benefit assessment,\u00a0benchmarking\u00a0and cash flow benefit analysis. The process requires responses to questions and select corporate data, and will provide clients with a report that summarises and analyses the data.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scientists demonstrate potential for personalised cancer vaccine \n Please note that some translations using Google Translate may not be accurately represented and downloaded documents cannot be translated. Dana-Farber assumes no liability for inaccuracies that may result from using this third-party tool, which is for website translation and not clinical interactions. You may request a live medical interpreter for a discussion about your care.", "output": "Scientists from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have created a personalised vaccine called NeoVax for the treatment of cancer. The technique targets specific neoantigen molecules of cancerous tumour cells and generates highly specific immune responses, which could help to provide a more tailored approach to the treatment of the disease. The proof-of-principle treatment was tested on melanoma patients and had negligible side-effects.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gene-editing technique RCas9 targets RNA-based diseases \n Until recently, the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technique could only be used to manipulate DNA. In a 2016 study, University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers repurposed the technique to track RNA in live cells in a method called RNA-targeting Cas9 (RCas9). In a new study, published August 10 in Cell, the team takes RCas9 a step further: they use the technique to correct molecular mistakes that lead to microsatellite repeat expansion diseases, which include myotonic dystrophy types 1 and 2, the most common form of hereditary ALS, and Huntington's disease.\n\n\"This is exciting because we're not only targeting the root cause of diseases for which there are no current therapies to delay progression, but we've re-engineered the CRISPR-Cas9 system in a way that's feasible to deliver it to specific tissues via a viral vector,\" said senior author Gene Yeo, PhD, professor of cellular and molecular medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine.\n\nWhile DNA is like the architect's blueprint for a cell, RNA is the engineer's interpretation of the blueprint. In the central dogma of life, genes encoded in DNA in the nucleus are transcribed into RNA and RNAs carry the message out into the cytoplasm, where they are translated to make proteins.\n\nMicrosatellite repeat expansion diseases arise because there are errant repeats in RNA sequences that are toxic to the cell, in part because they prevent production of crucial proteins. These repetitive RNAs accumulate in the nucleus or cytoplasm of cells, forming dense knots, called foci.\n\nIn this proof-of-concept study, Yeo's team used RCas9 to eliminate the problem-causing RNAs associated with microsatellite repeat expansion diseases in patient-derived cells and cellular models of the diseases in the laboratory.\n\nNormally, CRISPR-Cas9 works like this: researchers design a \"guide\" RNA to match the sequence of a specific target gene. The RNA directs the Cas9 enzyme to the desired spot in the genome, where it cuts DNA. The cell repairs the DNA break imprecisely, thus inactivating the gene, or researchers replace the section adjacent to the cut with a corrected version of the gene. RCas9 works similarly but the guide RNA directs Cas9 to an RNA molecule instead of DNA.\n\nThe researchers tested the new RCas9 system on microsatellite repeat expansion disease RNAs in the laboratory. RCas9 eliminated 95 percent or more of the RNA foci linked to myotonic dystrophy type 1 and type 2, one type of ALS and Huntington's disease. The approach also eliminated 95 percent of the aberrant repeat RNAs in myotonic dystrophy patient cells cultured in the laboratory.\n\nAnother measure of success centered on MBNL1, a protein that normally binds RNA, but is sequestered away from hundreds of its natural RNA targets by the RNA foci in myotonic dystrophy type 1. When the researchers applied RCas9, they reversed 93 percent of these dysfunctional RNA targets in patient muscle cells, and the cells ultimately resembled healthy control cells.\n\nWhile this study provides the initial evidence that the approach works in the laboratory, there is a long way to go before RCas9 could be tested in patients, Yeo explained.\n\nOne bottleneck is efficient delivery of RCas9 to patient cells. Non-infectious adeno-associated viruses are commonly used in gene therapy, but they are too small to hold Cas9 to target DNA. Yeo's team made a smaller version of Cas9 by deleting regions of the protein that were necessary for DNA cleavage, but dispensable for binding RNA.\n\n\"The main thing we don't know yet is whether or not the viral vectors that deliver RCas9 to cells would elicit an immune response,\" he said. \"Before this could be tested in humans, we would need to test it in animal models, determine potential toxicities and evaluate long-term exposure.\"\n\nTo do this, Yeo and colleagues launched a spin-out company called Locana to handle the preclinical steps required for moving RCas9 from the lab to the clinic for RNA-based diseases, such as those that arise from microsatellite repeat expansions.\n\n\"We are really excited about this work because we not only defined a new potential therapeutic mechanism for CRISPR-Cas9, we demonstrated how it could be used to treat an entire class of conditions for which there are no successful treatment options,\" said David Nelles, PhD, co-first author of the study with Ranjan Batra, PhD, both postdoctoral researchers in Yeo's lab.\n\n\"There are more than 20 genetic diseases caused by microsatellite expansions in different places in the genome,\" Batra said. \"Our ability to program the RCas9 system to target different repeats, combined with low risk of off-target effects, is its major strength.\"", "output": "Researchers from UC San Diego School of Medicine have used the gene-engineering technique RCas9 to remove problematic RNAs that appear in microsatellite repeat expansion diseases, including hereditary ALS and Huntington\u2019s disease. The RNA sequences can repeat incorrectly, preventing the production of critical proteins and forming knots called foci that lead to the diseases. The researchers used the CRISPR-Cas9 system to deliver gene therapies to specific tissues. However, the researchers still need to investigate the potential for the viral vectors they use to create an immune response when\u00a0delivering the RCas9 to cells, which will require further testing.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "3D printed artificial skull bone saves life \n How Medtronic uses nitinol to improve the structure and effectiveness of heart devices Tim Laske, VP of research and business development for Medtronic\u2018s cardiac ablation solutions business, discusses the challenges of designing devices for the heart and explores the properties of nitinol. The heart is often one of the most underappreciated aspects of human anatomy, and its atrial appendages are often overlooked even in cardiac anatomy. These delicate\u2026 [\u2026]\n\nA new dimension of manufacturing With ACOPOS 6D, B&R heralds a new era of manufacturing. Shuttles carry individual products freely through the machine, powered by magnetic levitation. Gone are the days when conventional transport systems imposed rigidly defined timing on the production process. ACOPOS 6D enables economical small-batch production with frequent changeover between products of different designs and dimensions. ACOPOS\u2026 [\u2026]\n\nLVADs save lives: So why aren\u2019t more available? Kyree Miller, a 30-year-old college student, navigated seven long years of heart failure with the assistance of an Abbott HeartMate left ventricular assist device (LVAD). \u201cBefore I got my LVAD, there was no way I was getting on a plane. Before I got my LVAD, there was no way I was going back to work.\u2026 [\u2026]\n\nQ&A with John Mazzola, Vicarious Surgical\u2019s first chief operations officer Capping off a medtech career spanning more than three decades, John Mazzola had only been retired from Becton Dickinson for about a week when Vicarious Surgical co-founder and CEO Adam Sachs hired him to lead strategic manufacturing planning. One year later, the surgical robotics developer has promoted Mazzola to the newly created position of chief\u2026 [\u2026]\n\nNew ethylene oxide rules could trigger sterilization consolidation \u2014 and new options The largest commercial sterilizers will likely absorb the costs of new ethylene oxide (EtO) regulations \u2014 and could consolidate smaller competitors, according to a new analysis from Moody\u2019s Investors Services. Tighter controls on EtO emissions would increase capital spending and operating costs for all commercial sterilizers who use the toxic gas, which is the most\u2026 [\u2026]\n\nContract manufacturer PDC partners with David Schnur Associates NEWS RELEASE: PDC Announces Partnership with David Schnur Associates Collaboration to enhance access to precision micro injection molding, delivering innovative manufacturing solutions for minimally invasive medical devices Scottsdale, AZ: PDC, a leading contract manufacturer specializing in micro injection molding and supported by Vance Street Capital, is excited to announce its partnership with David Schnur Associates\u2026 [\u2026]\n\nSpine device developer taps 3D printers for guides and bone models NEWS RELEASE: Mighty Oak Medical Revolutionizes Spinal Surgery Outcomes with 3D Printing HP Multi Jet Fusion Technology Enables Personalized 3D Printed Models and Tools to Improve Pedicle Screw Placement and Spinal Fusion Procedures Mighty Oak Medical and HP collaborating on patient-specific 3D printed models and guides manufactured using HPs Jet Fusion printers. Mighty Oak Medical\u2026 [\u2026]\n\nSterilization startup Phiex adds ex-Medtronic chief medical and scientific officer as advisor Retired Medtronic Chief Medical and Scientific Officer Dr. Rick Kuntz has joined Phiex as an advisor as the medical device sterilization startup works toward commercialization. Phiex is developing a new method for medical device sterilization using a dry powder that generates chlorine dioxide gas inside product packaging. The company sees a big opportunity to offer\u2026 [\u2026]\n\nGoogle Cloud partners with Mayo Clinic on generative AI Google Cloud and Mayo Clinic will team up on generative AI for healthcare, the two organizations said today. They intend to develop new capabilities for healthcare organizations to increase productivity, automate repetitive tasks and make administrative processes more efficient. Mayo Clinic and Google Cloud said they are also working with several unidentified healthcare organizations through\u2026 [\u2026]\n\nMGS Manufacturing buys Technolution A/S NEWS RELEASE: MGS MFG. Group acquires Danish product design firm Technolution GERMANTOWN, Wis. (June 6, 2023) \u2013 MGS Mfg. Group, Inc. (MGS), a global provider of integrated manufacturing solutions for complex, high-precision plastic components for Healthcare and Pharma applications, announced today that it has acquired Denmark-based Technolution A/S (Technolution), a fast-growing consultancy and development company within\u2026 [\u2026]", "output": "A physician from New Jersey, Dr. Guarav Gupta, used 3D printing to replace a patient's missing skull bone during an emergency surgery. The doctor requested a 3D printed implant from Johnson & Johnson\u2019s DePuy Synthes company, saving a patient who was suffering from swelling on his brain\u2019s frontal lobe that required immediate intervention.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Speedy Hire Speedy Hire collaborates with cricket club chasing a world record \n A cricket club in Rodley will bowl through the night in an attempt to smash its own Guinness World Record tomorrow (Saturday August 12).\n\nFollowing last year, which saw Rodley Cricket Club successfully set the Guinness World Record for the most overs bowled in 8 hours (they achieved 734), the team will be attempting an even bigger challenge this year.\n\nThe club, which is in the Bradford and District Cricket League, will make the attempt at its home ground in Rodley during the club\u2019s open weekend, which is taking place from today (Friday August 11) through to Sunday August 13.\n\n- Advertisement -\n\nThe team will attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the most overs bowled in 24 hours. For the club to beat the record, they will have to complete an incredible 2,000 overs \u2013 equating to consistently bowling six balls every 45 seconds over the 24-hour period.\n\nAlex Riddell, organizer and Rodley Cricket Club Social Secretary, said:\n\n\u201cWe love a challenge here at Rodley Cricket Club. After smashing last year\u2019s amazing Guinness World Record we thought \u2018how can we top that this year\u2019? The answer was obvious to me \u2013 go bigger and better! We will be bowling and batting through the night, under lights provided by our fantastic event sponsor Speedy Hire, to try and beat the ridiculously tough record of 2,000 overs. It\u2019s going to be a huge challenge, but we\u2019re lining up some cricket legends to come down and help us break the record \u2013 watch this space!\u201d\n\nSteve Bradbury, Chairman at Rodley Cricket Club, added:\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s amazing that Rodley Cricket Club could be double Guinness World Record Holders. How huge our annual open weekend has become is another sign of how far the club has come. Until three years ago we had no clubhouse, 30 players and no junior teams. We\u2019re now proud to have a cracking clubhouse, three senior teams and five junior sides with more than 80 kids playing cricket regularly! We are really excited to give all 60 of our youngsters a chance to take part in something really fun and become double Guinness World Record holders.\u201d\n\nThe Guinness World Record attempt will begin at around 6pm tomorrow and will be opened by England and Yorkshire cricket players.\n\nRodley Cricket Club\u2019s 2017 Open Weekend, which this year is held in collaboration with Speedy Hire, aims to raise the profile of the club and raise vital funds to support their ever-growing junior cricket setup.\n\nAs well as the Guinness World Record attempt, the Club will put on a fun and family-friendly weekend full of live music, the \u2018Scruffs Dog Show\u2019, food and drink stalls, and junior cricket activities. The event expects to bring around 1,000 visitors to the club throughout the weekend.", "output": "This year, Rodley Cricket Club's Open Weekend, starting\u00a0Friday 11 August, is being held in collaboration with Speedy Hire, and aims to raise the club's profile and funds for its junior cricket setup. The team is looking to break its own Guinness World Record, to bowl the most overs in 24 hours, targeting 2,000\u00a0- six balls every 45 seconds. Last year it broke the record for the most overs bowled in eight\u00a0hours, achieving\u00a0734. The weekend is expected to attract around 1,000 visitors,\u00a0and features live music, the \u2018Scruffs Dog Show\u2019, food and drink stalls, and junior cricket activities.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Spaces signs lease on first Midwest location in Chicago \n Thank you for supporting our journalism. This article is available exclusively for our subscribers, who help fund our work at the Chicago Tribune.\n\nThis four-story brick building on Halsted Street, which is across from the NewCity development, will be the site for a Spaces co-working office. Amsterdam-based Spaces has leased three floors in the building, in the Goose Island neighborhood. An Ethan Allen furniture store is planned for the ground floor. (SVN Chicago Commercial )\n\nAmsterdam-based co-working company Spaces has leased three floors of a North Side loft office building, the first of as many as 10 Chicago-area locations it plans to open in the next 18 months.\n\nSpaces has leased 27,110 square feet in the building on Halsted Street, the company said. The space, which is in the Goose Island neighborhood, will open in the first quarter of 2018, according to Michael Berretta, vice president of network development for Americas Spaces.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe Netherlands firm is looking at other potential locations in Chicago's suburbs and in other areas of the city including the Fulton Market district, with plans to have six to 10 offices open in the area by the end of 2018, Berretta said.\n\nSpaces is the newest entrant to a Chicago-area co-working market that continues to expand, even amid an expected consolidation of the industry.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nCo-working providers typically sign long-term leases with office landlords, and then lease out smaller portions \u2014 which can range from a single desk to a dedicated office for dozens of workers \u2014 on short-term deals.\n\nLed by the industry behemoth WeWork, co-working firms have gobbled up Chicago office space in recent years.\n\nThere was more than 1.1 million square feet of Chicago-area space occupied by co-working firms in 2016, a number expected to rise above 1.5 million by the end of this year, according to data from Newmark Knight Frank and Chicago Creative Space. The total was just 48,619 square feet in 2007.\n\nBut as larger, well-capitalized providers have grown to provide vast networks of spaces throughout the country and world, some companies have scaled back. Already this year, New York-based Grind has closed down its space in the Loop, and California-based NextSpace shuttered its River North spot.\n\n\"The larger operators offer a scale that's hard to compete with,\" said leasing broker Matt Ward, a senior managing director at Newmark, who is not involved in the Spaces deal. \"We think consolidation will continue to happen, and eventually there will be two or three large providers.\"\n\nThe Halsted Street deal is the first in the Midwest for Spaces, which plans to expand from 14 to 40 North American spaces by the end of 2018.\n\nThe brick building, where an Ethan Allen furniture store is planned on the ground floor, is across the street from the NewCity retail and apartment complex. It is just south of the intersection of Halsted and Clybourn Avenue, where there is a Red Line CTA station and an Apple store.\n\nThe four-story building is owned by Chicago-based developer Newcastle Limited. Newcastle bought the building from TASC for $8 million in 2014 and redeveloped the building. TASC is a nonprofit that provides services for people with substance abuse and mental health issues.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nNewcastle was represented in the lease by Chad Schroedl of SVN Chicago Commercial. Spaces was represented by Bill Rogers and Kerry Gilar of Jones Lang LaSalle.\n\nSpaces is controlled by the same holding company that owns Luxembourg-based Regus, which acquired Spaces in 2015. Regus also provides short-term offices, but it provides corporate-style suites rather than the open, loft-style feel found in most co-working spaces.\n\nSpaces members also can use Regus offices for meetings in other areas of Chicago, or when visiting other cities. Regus has 46 Chicago-area locations, Berretta said.\n\n\"What differentiates us from other co-working companies is, we've already got a network of 3,000 locations globally, and almost 1,200 in North America alone,\" Berretta said. \"We've found our customers, whether it's a large corporation or a small startup, want the flexibility to utilize spaces in several locations.\"\n\nrori@chicagotribune.com\n\nTwitter @Ryan_Ori", "output": "Spaces is entering the Chicago market, leasing 27,110 sq ft\u00a0over three floors in a four-storey loft office block on Halsted Street, which is owned\u00a0by developer Newcastle Limited.\u00a0The location is expected to open in Q1 2018, and the firm plans to open six to 10 locations in the Chicago area over the next 18 months. While data from Newmark Knight Frank and Chicago Creative Space predicts co-working firms in Chicago will occupy over 1.5 million sq ft by year end, up from 1.1 million sq ft in 2016, smaller operators are said to have found it difficult to scale and compete with larger firms, and consolidation in expected.\u00a0Spaces members can also use Regus' offices for meetings, including the firm's\u00a046 Chicago area locations.\n\n\u00a0\n\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sapply signs deal with Maestro and Falcom to push IoT devices \n The new deal is part of a strategic push into the IoT space.\n\nSapply has inked a distribution agreement with Maestro and Falcom in Australia to bring its range of IoT solutions to market. Falcom became a part of Maestro in 2014, forming a global group of machine to machine specialists.\n\nThe new distribution agreement is part of the valued-added distributor\u2019s technology strategy to make a bigger push into the IoT space.\n\nAccording to Sapply, having established itself in the enterprise market has allowed it to build its expertise in IoT products, having identified both the need and the growth potential.\n\nSpecifically, it mentioned that its partnership with DIGI International two years ago, caused it to experience increasing demand to be able to provide a broader range of solutions that meet a wider variety of usage situations.\n\nSapply added that the new distribution deal with Maestro and Falcom is a \u201cperfect complement\u201d to the DIGI International portfolio.\n\n\u201cMaestro and Falcom meet a specific need in the industrial automation, utilities and transportation. Sapply is currently engaged in conversations to broaden the offering further with ranges of accessories such as antennae,\u201d it said.\n\nSapply sales director, Gordon Taylor, said the deal is part of its IoT strategy, having recently also formed an IoT division.\n\n\u201cWe are excited to invest in this growing market,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cOur experience to date has strongly reinforced the need for value added distribution in IoT as we spend a large amount of our time educating our partner resellers so they can more effectively operate in this market, as well as actively engaging in conversations with end users to position the various solutions so they end up with the best solution for their needs.\u201d\n\nTaylor added that even though the market varies from its enterprise solutions, it will utilise its skills and experience in this new field.\n\n\u201cWhilst it\u2019s a different market to our established enterprise solutions, what we have found is that the skills we have used to build our partner enterprise brands are exactly the skills we need to use in this new and exciting market,\u201d he added.", "output": "IT company Sapply has signed a deal with payments enabler Maestro and wireless solutions firm Falcom to offer a range of internet of things (IoT) solutions. The distribution agreement will help spread Sapply\u2019s technology across the IoT\u00a0market.\u00a0\u201cMaestro and Falcom meet a specific need in industrial automation, utilities and transportation. Sapply is engaged in conversations to broaden the offering further with ranges of accessories such as antennae,\u201d Sapply said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Liability unclear after palm oil spill at sea closes HK beaches \n Hong Kong has cleaned nearly 90 tonnes of palm oil from the beaches of Lamma Island after a collision last Thursday August 3rd between two ships in the Pearl River Delta estuary, \u201ca few tens of miles\u201d southwest of Hong Kong. The white blobs of palm oil started showing up on the coast on Sunday August 6th, mostly on the southern shores of Hong Kong Island and outlying Lamma Island. There appears to have been a significant delay between the time of accident, which happened in China, and the Hong Kong authorities being notified. Guangdong province authorities told local officials of the spill at noon on Saturday August 5th, two days after the accident.\n\nHowever, Chinese officials asserted that, because it was not known on Thursday or Friday that the spill would affect Hong Kong, technically there had been no delay in the notification. Guangdong authorities said that they only realized it might affect Hong Kong after it had begun cleaning up the mess. Hong Kong authorities claimed that around 1,000 tons of the solidified oil had spilled from a cargo ship involved in the collision and that between 200t and 300t had hit the beaches of Hong Kong. The water at a popular tourist destination fishing village was photographed as covered in palm oil and rubbish. A total of 13 beaches in Hong Kong have been shut down. The Environment Bureau said that the government was discussing the legal liability for the disaster with the shipping company involved, which it declined to identify.\n\nAlthough palm oil is non-toxic, and preliminary government laboratory results from water samples taken at 11 of the affected beaches showed that oil content in the water was extremely low, the decaying matter could harm marine life by triggering the growth of algae and fuel red tides when temperatures start to rise next week. If the oil has been contaminated by toxins, it could also harm endangered green sea turtles or dogs who eat it.\n\nMarine pollution law expert Zhu Ling, of Polytechnic University, told South China Morning Post that information on the ownership of the boats involved would be important in deciding which jurisdiction would handle damages claims. Zhu said that, if the owners were mainland China companies, the Hong Kong government could claim damages through the mainland legal system. http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/2105996/whatyou-need-know-about-oil-spill-affecting-hong", "output": "Liability for a palm oil spill that closed 13 beaches in Hong Kong has yet to be established after the slick spread to the city's shores following a collision between two vessels in China's Pearl River Delta. About 1,000 tonnes of the oil was shed and 90 tonnes has been removed from Hong Kong's beaches, including tourist hotspots. Hong Kong authorities were not alerted for two days about the crash, which happened within 50 miles of the city. The shipping company involved has not been identified, creating uncertainty about which jurisdiction would handle damages claims.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Japanese tuna farm uses\u00a0AI and IoT to improve accuracy \n - Memorandum Concluded with NTT DOCOMO and Information Services International-Dentsu -\n\nSojitz Corporation has signed a memorandum with NTT DOCOMO, INC. (\u201cNTT DOCOMO\u201d) and Information Services International-Dentsu, Ltd. (\u201cISID\u201d) through Sojitz\u2019s subsidiary Sojitz Tuna Farm Takashima (\u201cSTFT\u201d), to conduct tests verifying the use of IoT and AI in improving efficiency within their tuna aquaculture business. They will begin testing feed optimization with NTT DOCOMO and automated fish-counting technologies with ISID.\n\n\n\nSTFT buys juvenile tuna, shipping them as adults after 3 years of maturation in an ocean pen. As conditions inside the pen can change dramatically by the day, STFT must determine feeding amounts, methods, and timing accordingly. They currently do this based on experience alone, and this has led STFT to seek ways of raising accuracy for these aspects of the feeding process.\n\n\n\nNow with NTT DOCOMO\u2019s assistance, STFT will introduce sensors equipped with IoT technology to obtain readings on water temperature and other data, visualize that data using an application, and utilize AI to fully analyze correlation and relationships between data. In this way, they aim to figure out the optimal conditions for raising tuna in the wild, optimize feed amounts and timing, and improve the pen environment.\n\n\n\nAdditionally, STFT will work with ISID to more efficiently and accurately ascertain the number of fish present at the farm, creating an automated fish counting system using deep learning-based image analysis technology. STFT needs to know the number of fish in order to decide feeding amounts, raising methods, shipment loads, and shipment timing, as well as raise productivity, cut costs, and estimate sales. Presently, STFT relies on video cameras to count the fish, and they have been struggling with how to reduce labor and raise accuracy. STFT hopes this automated counting technology will solve both of these problems.\n\n\n\nThrough these verification tests, Sojitz aims to better visualize STFT\u2019s tuna-raising expertise through the use of IoT and AI, developing systems with NTT DOCOMO and ISID to raise efficiency of their aquaculture business and contribute to the advancement of Japan\u2019s aquaculture industry.\n\nRelated Information:\n\n\n\n\n\nNTT DOCOMO, INC. \u2013 Company Overview\n\nEstablished 1991 Head Office 11-1, Nagatacho 2-chome, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo\n\nSanno Park Tower Representative Director Kazuhiro Yoshizawa, President & CEO Main business Communications business, \u201csmart life\u201d\n\nInformation Services International-Dentsu, Ltd. \u2013 Company Overview\n\nEstablished 1975 Head Office 17-1, Konan 2-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo Representative Director Setsuo Kamai, President & CEO Main business Consulting services; custom system development; sales and support of software; outsourcing, operation and maintenance services; IT equipment sales and others\n\nSojitz Tuna Farm Takashima \u2013 Company Overview", "output": "Japanese tuna farmer Sojitz Corporation\u00a0has signed an agreement with tech firms NTT DOCOMO and Information Services International-Dentsu to begin testing the use of internet of things (IoT) and AI in their tuna fish farm business. The facility will be optimised using automated fish-counting technology and other devices to monitor feeding. The farm will be equipped with sensors connected to the IoT to read data, with AI programmes used to analyse the correlations between the data sets collected.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IBM to offer IoT courses to telecoms professionals in India \n NEW DELHI: Technology major IBM has joined hands with the Telecom Sector Skill Council (TSSC) to upskill students and young professionals in the telecom industry to prepare them for new emerging technologies such as big data, cloud, Internet of Things (IoT), mobile application development, data science and business analytics.IBM and TSSC will offer paid courses designed by technology experts from IBM and domain specialists from TSSC.These one-week courses will offer access to relevant IBM software and platforms, including IBM Cloud, IBM Watson IoT platform, Big Data Solutions as well as mobile application development tools.Upon successful completion of the programme, students and young professionals will be certified by IBM Career Education and TSSC.\u201cThe partnership with TSSC is an attempt to bridge the capability gap in the marketplace. It is impossible for a company like to do us individually. For the scale, we are doing this with TSSC. This is the initiative to take those capabilities on scale in the India\u2019s telecom market,\u201d Karan Bajwa, Regional General Manager, IBM India / South Asia, told ETin an interaction.", "output": "IBM has paired with India's Telecom Sector Skill Council (TSSC) to provide training in the internet of things (IoT) to young professionals and the wider telecoms industry. The partnership will provide one-week courses taught by experts from both organisations covering IBM software such as IBM Cloud, Big Data Solutions, IBM Watson's IoT platform and mobile app tools. Students will be awarded certification from IBM Career Education and TSSC on successful completion of the training.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Texas power market may need rethink as renewables hurt profits \n This is the time of year power generators make their money.\n\nMuch like retailers that depend on a short holiday season to keep them in the black, power generators in Texas rely on the hottest days of summer, when air conditioners run flat-out, electricity supplies become short and prices in wholesale markets spike hundreds of times above their normal levels.\n\nBut those spikes are fewer and further between as new sources of electricity, particularly wind, enter the market, shaving peak prices and squeezing profits of power companies. As a result, companies say, they are cutting investments in maintaining and modernizing plants and starting to plan shutdowns - developments that have analysts, regulators and the state's grid manager, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, concerned about future shortages that could affect the power system's reliability.\n\n\"Nobody saw this coming,\" said Ed Hirs, an energy economist and professor at the University of Houston. \"What ERCOT is concerned about is \u2026 not having enough electricity for when you need it, for whatever reason.\"\n\nThe threat has become serious enough that the Public Utility Commission will launch a workshop Thursday on what changes the state might need to make to protect the reliability of the power grid - that is, ensuring the lights go on when people flip the switch. The issue is the design of the state's wholesale electricity market, adopted 15 years ago, hasn't kept up with changes in the power industry, which relies more on intermittent renewable sources, particularly wind and increasingly solar, and less on traditional generation.\n\nThe state needs coal, natural gas and nuclear plants to meet electricity demand, but the problem for power companies is they only make money when their plants are running, not while waiting for the wind to stop blowing and the sun to stop shining. In the past, earnings from summer price spikes more than covered the costs of maintaining plants that operated at less than full capacity and kept companies profitable.\n\nBut that's no longer the case as spikes come less frequently, reducing the incentives for companies to keep plants operating or ready to operate. ERCOT has had to invoke its emergency authority to postpone the shutdown of a power plant - a rare move - and negotiated an agreement with NRG last year to keep operating its Greens Bayou plant east of Houston to protect system integrity.\n\n\"There is a lot of uncertainty,\" said Robbie Searcy, ERCOT's spokesperson. \"We do expect that some plants will retire. We don't know which ones or when.\"\n\nReliability is not only becoming an issue in Texas, but also in Washington where the Trump administration, pledged to revive the fortunes of coal, has ordered studies on the impact renewable energy has on reliability of the power grid. All this reflects one of the challenges of deregulating electricity: finding market mechanisms that not only increase choice and lower prices, but keep the system reliable.\n\nLone state\n\nIn regulated systems, the costs of keeping plants on the sidelines until needed are built into rates set by utility commissions. But deregulated markets have to find other incentives to ensure enough generation is available if demand spikes.\n\nThe most common method is a capacity market, in which companies get paid, based on competitive bidding, for keeping idle generation ready to run. Think of it like a pro sports team, in which players get paid for sitting on the bench.\n\nTexas has the only competitive electricity market in North America without a capacity market. Since 2002, when the state deregulated electricity, Texas has relied on price spikes, euphemistically called \"scarcity pricing,\" to make it worthwhile for companies to keep extra generating capacity at the ready.\n\nOn the hottest days of summer, soaring demand can create temporary shortages in wholesale markets, driving prices from an average of $25 a megawatt hour into the thousands of dollars, leading to a lucrative payoff for generators able to quickly supply the market. Consumers are often insulated from these spikes, but the higher costs eventually filter down to their bills.\n\nThis system has shown cracks over the years, leading the Public Utility Commission to lift a cap on wholesale prices three times - from $3,000 in 2013 to $9,000 in 2015 - to provide incentives to power generators to invest in their plants and maintain back-up generation. In 2014, the PUC approved an additional surcharge to be paid to power companies when supplies are scarce.\n\n\"ERCOT'S market only works if the price is right,\" said William Hogan, director of the Harvard Electricity Policy Group, which studies competitive electricity markets.\n\nConsumers gain, but \u2026\n\nBut power companies, struggling to remain profitable in an era of low electricity prices, say even the higher cap and surcharge are proving inadequate, in large part because scarcity pricing kicks in less often as wind and solar, as well as new transmission, brings more supply into the market. This can be good for consumers' electric bills, but the danger comes if power companies don't make enough money to justify the costs of operating their plants.\n\nPower executives say they are approaching that point.\n\nNRG lost $891 million in 2016, following a $6.4 billion loss in 2015, which the company blamed in part on its significant operations in Texas. Calpine's profit fell more than 60 percent to about $90 million.\n\nChris Moser, NRG's senior vice president of operations, said he expected far more plant closures in coming years than expected by ERCOT, which estimates companies will shut down plants with a total capacity of 840 megawatts, enough to power about 17,000 Texas homes. ERCOT, he noted, received notices that companies would retire 354 megawatts between 2009 and 2016, but power companies shut down at least 10,800 megawatts.\n\nIt's difficult to make such a forecast because in Texas, plants only need to give 90 days notice before shutting down. ERCOT, whose system is not connected to other grids by traditional transmission, updates its reports as companies submit notices of plant shutdowns.\n\n\"The market was literally built for a different world than we have today,\" Moser said.\n\nCapacity limit\n\nTexas' major merchant power companies - among the largest in the nation - have been forced to transform themselves in the face of persistently low natural gas prices, the rise of renewable energy and the high costs of operating coal and nuclear power plants. They have announced mergers, sales, spinoffs and a greater focus on retail electric subsidiaries in an attempt to stay profitable.\n\nYears ago, Texas companies like NRG, Calpine, Luminant and Exelon pushed the Public Utility Commission to adopt a capacity market, without which, they warned, power companies would lack incentives to build plants or maintain old ones, possibly resulting in reliability problems.\n\nIn 2012, a consulting company hired by ERCOT suggested that Texas adopt a capacity market, among other options. Later that year, former Chairwoman Donna Nelson issued a memo agreeing with the report and the companies, and suggested the agency consider adopting a capacity market.\n\n\"Two years ago, we started this discussion because investment in generation was not keeping pace with increasing demand,\" Nelson wrote. \"If the wholesale electric market within ERCOT fails to attract sufficient investment, the electric reliability of Texans is threatened.\"\n\nExaggerated claims\n\nBut after more than a year of debate, the issue fizzled in the face of strong objections from industrial power users, who said such a market would unnecessarily raise rates. They claimed that future demands on Texas' electric grid were exaggerated and ERCOT has been able to find plenty of power.\n\nMeanwhile, wind continues to shatter power generation records, accounting for about 20 percent of ERCOT region's power capacity in 2016 and projected increase to around 23 percent by the end of this year. In a report released in June, the PUC warned power companies they should expect to operate their plants less in the future as more wind and solar come online.\n\nPaying power companies to act as backups for renewable sources would keep Texas' power mix diverse and stave off a reliability crisis, said Tom Alley, the vice president of research at the Electric Power Research Institute, a Washington nonprofit funded by the electric utility industry.\n\n\"But there is no economic driver to do that other than the capacity fleet,\" he said, referring to reserve energy that companies in other states get paid to run, like getting paid for time sitting on the bench. \"The greatest challenge is that we don't have a way to value diversity and we don't have a way to value flexibility.\"", "output": "Texas power companies are cutting investment\u00a0in modernising their plants\u00a0and considering\u00a0shutting down\u00a0facilities in response to competition from new sources of electricity. The state's grid manager, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, along with analysts and regulators have become increasingly concerned that there could be\u00a0future shortages. Power stations have relied on \"scarcity pricing\" \u2013 hiking prices during periods of peak demand \u2013 to maintain profits. However, spikes in pricing are becoming less common because of extra competition from renewable energy. The\u00a0Public Utility Commission is to launch an inquiry into the reliability of\u00a0the power grid and the design of the wholesale electricity market."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple patent suggests iPhones to be used to gather health data \n Using CB Insights\u2019 patents search engine, we surfaced a newly granted patent that suggests the iPhone cameras of the future may help users detect health data and measure physiological conditions.\n\nWhere is this data coming from? Start your free trial today Email Where is this data coming from? Start your free trial today Email\n\nEarlier this week, Apple won approval for its patent application for a new \u201cElectronic Device That Computes Health Data.\u201d But the technology depicted in the patent renderings isn\u2019t a new wearable health tracker or medical device \u2013 it\u2019s an iPhone.\n\nThe filing, which describes how Apple devices may be utilized as health sensors, lists applications such as tracking blood hydration, body fat content, oxygen saturation, and many others.\n\nComing on the heels of the Apple\u2019s Q3\u201916 acquisition of personal health data platform Gliiimpse, the newly-granted patent is yet another sign of Apple\u2019s ambitions to turn the iPhone \u2013 or any of its consumer devices \u2013 into a health device.\n\nGet the 76-page APPLE IN HEALTHCARE Report Download the free report to see how Apple is revolutionizing the healthcare market and where it\u2019s headed next. Email\n\nThe patent says the new health-computing technology could be equipped to \u201ca smart phone, tablet computer, mobile computer, digital media player, wearable device, or other electronic device\u201d to detect health data \u201cwithout making the user obtain access to a dedicated fitness and/or wellness device.\u201d\n\nThe filing describes how a camera, an ambient light sensor, and a proximity sensor can work together in Apple\u2019s technology to glean information on changes in blood from the user\u2019s touch. (A finger is illustrated throughout the renderings, but the filing notes that an ear, palm, or other body part could be used as well).\n\nThe blood data, specifically blood-volume, can then be used to compute health data on the user\u2019s pulse rate, \u201cperfusion index,\u201d and more \u2013 enabling users to track information on areas such as heart function, body fat, and blood pressure. Noting that some of technological implementations may use \u201celectrical contacts\u201d for more advanced electrical measurements, the filing mentions health-detection capabilities ranging from electrocardiogram (ECG) readings to measuring a user\u2019s \u201cemotional state.\u201d\n\nApple\u2019s interest in medical devices and health-data management aren\u2019t new: The company recently partnered hearing assistance company Cochlear to launch the first iPhone-compatible cochlear implant sound processor (hearing aid), and the HealthKit app, which comes pre-loaded on iOS, includes tools to help users log body measurements, health records, sleep patterns, and health records.\n\nThe newly granted patent suggests that the HealthKit could be integrated with more verifiable, trackable personal data to make iOS into a personal health record \u2013 especially now that the Apple Watch is running Core Bluetooth, enabling it to seamlessly communicate with bluetooth-powered glucose monitors and other specialized medical tools. Taken together, these initiatives fuel Apple\u2019s potential to capture more new opportunities in the clinical healthcare and insurance markets.\n\nIf you aren\u2019t already a client, sign up for a free trial to learn more about our platform.", "output": "Apple has gained approval for a patent application for an \u201celectronic device that computes health data\u201d. The filing describes Apple devices potentially being used for health monitoring purposes, such as tracking body fat, oxygen saturation, blood hydration and more, using a finger or other part of the body to give readings. Apple recently acquired personal health data platform Gliiimpse, which could be incorporated into new capabilities for the tech firm\u2019s products.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Canadian Solar and EDF partner for solar project in Brazil \n PV power company Canadian Solar and EDF Energies Nouvelles announced Thursday that both companies have partnered to develop the 92.5MW Pirapora III photovoltaic project in Brazil \u2014 through the sale of 80% interest in the site by Canadian Solar to EDF EN do Brasil, EDF Energies Nouvelles\u2019 local subsidiary.\n\nThe 92.5MW installation has started construction and is expected to reach commercial operation by the fourth quarter of 2017.\n\nCanadian Solar will supply modules for the project from its 380MW modules factory set in Brazil, while EDF EN do Brasil will manage both construction and operations phases of the site.\n\nEDF EN do Brasil previously acquired an 80% interest from Canadian Solar in both the 191.5MW Pirapora I and 115 MW Pirapora II project. Once commissioned in 2018, the three projects will form the largest solar PV installation in operation in Latin America with a combined generation capacity of 400MW.\n\nThe 92.5MW project will generate 188 GWh per year and will contribute to Brazil\u2019s goal of obtaining 23% of its energy from non-hydro renewable sources by 2030.\n\nDr. Shawn Qu, chairman and chief executive officer of Canadian Solar, said: \u201cWe are proud to be working with EDF EN on a third project in Brazil. We have now partnered with EDF EN on all three of our projects in Brazil that were awarded long-term PPAs, totaling close to 400 MWp. We value our strategic partnership with EDF EN and look forward to continuing our successful collaboration on other opportunities in the future, as we expand our quality solar project pipeline globally.\u201d", "output": "Photovoltaic company Canadian Solar has partnered with EDF Energies Nouvelles to develop a 92.5 MW solar facility in Brazil. Canadian Solar will sell an 80% interest in the site to EDF's local subsidiary, EDF EN do Brasil, and supply modules from its factory in Brazil."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "LG to release home IoT applications in India next year \n LG Electronics India (LGEI) is in talks with several mobile network service operators to form a partnership to roll out IoT-based products. LG Electronics India (LGEI) is in talks with several mobile network service operators to form a partnership to roll out IoT-based products.\n\nSouth Korean consumer electronics major LG plans to introduce products based on Internet of Things (IoT) technology in the home appliances segment by early next year, says a top official of the company\u2019s Indian arm.\n\nLG Electronics India (LGEI) is in talks with several mobile network service operators to form a partnership to roll out IoT-based products.\n\n\u201cMay be by the end of this year or early next year our first IoT product would be introduced in India,\u201d LGEI Managing Director Ki Wan Kim told PTI.", "output": "Electronics business LG aims to roll out internet of things (IoT) home appliance products in India by early 2018. LG Electronics India is in discussions with mobile network service operators to provide IoT products in India, following the launch of similar ranges in South Korea. LG Electronics India will offer appliances that are equipped with LG HomeChat and SmartThinQ, which\u00a0allow\u00a0the operation of home devices through smartphones.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Engie deal to prepare Indian rooftops for solar panels \n France\u2019s Engie, a global energy firm intent on ramping up its renewable footprint, is reportedly in talks with a leading Indian roofing manufacturer to develop a new suite of solar-ready rooftop designs as it seeks to explore opportunities in India\u2019s all-but stagnant rooftop PV market.\n\nAccording to Live Mint, Engie and Everest Industries Ltd are holding discussions on how best to plug India\u2019s solar rooftop blackhole. Despite ostensibly working towards a 2022 target of 40 GW of rooftop PV, India currently has little more than 1 GW distributed generation (DG) solar installed.\n\nThe problems facing the sector are manifold, but perhaps the most obvious drawback is the lack of suitable rooftops capable of supporting a stable and profitable PV array. According to Live Mint, some 60% of all rooftop space in India is unsuitable for solar given their sub-par design and construction, while last year at the Renewable Energy India Exhibition, pv magazine learned that in cities up to 80% of rooftop space is flat and/or shaded by other buildings.\n\nExact details of Engie\u2019s plan are sketchy \u2013 the company has refused to comment on the \u2018rumors\u2019 \u2013 but Everest Industries did say that it has begun a solar roofing business and is in talks with a number of companies regarding this.\n\nOne mooted approach would be the development of integrated solar roofs, where the cells are embedded into rooftop shingles. Tesla recently unveiled such a model in the U.S., and while the technology is not really new, the lower price points are.\n\nPopular content\n\n\u201cWe are still some time away from solar roofs in India,\u201d an anonymous source with information on the discussions told Live Mint. \u201cWhat Everest and Engie are looking at now are solar-ready roofs that are suitable for solar rooftop projects from the viewpoint of design, load and angle. There is a lot of opportunity in this space given the government\u2019s push for solar.\u201d\n\nEngie\u2019s solar subsidiary Solairedirect has built up an 810 MW portfolio in India already, while Engie itself is hoping to expand its Indian solar footprint to 2 GW by 2019. The ambition from India\u2019s government is bold, but despite setting that 40 GW target, few experts currently operating in India believe that it can feasibly be met on time, not least a parliamentary standing committee, which expressed its doubts last week about the \u201cunrealistic\u201d target.\n\nDespite the introduction of net metering policies issued by all state electricity regulatory commissions across India, there has so far been very little in the way of DG PV uptake, particularly at the residential level. This reluctance is also due to a lack of viable financing options for homeowners and \u2013 despite a growing middle-class \u2013 a lack of awareness of the need for privately owned solar energy.\n\nResidential PV in India needs to first reach the \u201cnice to have\u201d stage, before it can truly fulfil its potential, other industry experts believe.", "output": "French energy firm Engie is said to be in talks with Indian company Everest to develop rooftops that can accommodate solar panels. India has a target of 40 GW of rooftop solar by 2022, up from 1 GW today. That goal is hindered by a lack of suitable rooftop space, with between 60% and 80% either unsuitable for construction or in shade. Engie, whose subsidiary Solairedirect has already built up an 810 MW portfolio in India, aims to expand its solar footprint in the country to 2 GW by 2019."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Here's why competitiveness in generic drug market is at Risk \n In this video\n\nShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via Email\n\nHere's why competitiveness in generic drug market is at risk: Industry expert\n\nCNBC's Meg Tirrell speaks with Chip Davis, Association for Accessible Medicines president, about generic drugs facing pricing pressures.", "output": "CNBC's Meg Tirrell speaks with Chip Davis, Association for Accessible Medicines president, about generic drugs facing pricing pressures\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Medi-Cal Sued For Pushing Patients Into Managed Care Despite Judges\u2019 Orders \n Alondra Diaz can\u2019t get enough of Elmo and Barney, and she adores picture books.\n\nThe 14-year-old, who will enter high school next week, has several complex and debilitating medical conditions, including epilepsy, microcephaly and a mitochondrial disorder. Her long-standing team of doctors \u2014 a neurologist, geneticist, orthopedist, pediatrician and others \u2014 is primarily based at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where Diaz lives.\n\nBut Diaz may lose access to that team because of a recent move by the state agency that administers Medi-Cal, California\u2019s version of the Medicaid health insurance program for low-income residents.\n\nLike Medicaid programs in many states that want more budgeting certainty or hope to save money, Medi-Cal is shifting many patients like Diaz, with complex conditions, into managed care plans. The plans agree to cover enrollees for a fixed amount per month. But in doing so, they often rely on narrow networks of physicians that do not include the patients\u2019 doctors.\n\nUse Our Content This story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\n\u201cThe care and the attention that she gets and has been getting would not be the same,\u201d said Diaz\u2019s mother, Maria Colin, 45, who spoke through a Spanish-language interpreter. \u201cInstead of going forward, she would be going backward in her development.\u201d\n\nThirty-nine states use managed care to cover all or part of their Medicaid populations, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. (California Healthline is produced by Kaiser Health News, an editorial independent publication of the foundation.)\n\nIn 28 of those states, at least 75 percent of Medicaid beneficiaries were enrolled in managed care last year, and those numbers are likely to increase. About 80 percent of California\u2019s 13.5 million Medi-Cal members are now in managed care.\n\nIn January, the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) overturned a ruling by an administrative law judge that would have allowed Diaz to stay in the traditional form of Medi-Cal \u2014 known as fee-for-service \u2014 and keep her doctors. Instead, the department said she must switch to a managed care plan with which her doctors do not contract.\n\nTwo health consumer advocacy groups, Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County and Western Center on Law and Poverty, sued DHCS Tuesday to help Diaz and the dozens of other Medi-Cal members who\u2019ve had similar rulings overturned by the state.\n\nThe lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that the department is contradicting doctors\u2019 opinions and illegally reversing decisions by administrative law judges that would allow patients with complex medical conditions to remain in fee-for-service Medi-Cal.\n\n\u201cAs a result, they\u2019re putting our clients at great medical risk,\u201d said Mona Tawatao, senior attorney for Western Center.\n\nThe department said it does not comment on pending litigation.\n\nIn fee-for-service Medi-Cal, patients can see any doctor who accepts them, and providers are reimbursed for each medical service or visit. Under managed care, the state contracts with health plans to deliver benefits to enrollees and pays them a fixed monthly premium to cover the expense of doing so \u2014 a payment system known as \u201ccapitation.\u201d\n\nManaged care encourages providers to offer preventive care and to scrutinize every test or treatment, since they bear financial risk if they go over budget.\n\n\u201cA [monthly] capitation payment provides a relative amount of budget certainty,\u201d said Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors.\n\nBut budget concerns are not the only reason to move patients to managed care, he said. Medicaid enrollees \u201ctend to be the sickest, the frailest, the most medically complex and most expensive patients in the country,\u201d and their medical care needs to be managed, he said. \u201cYou really want some kind of entity or some kind of organized involvement in how to best provide comprehensive, holistic care to that patient.\u201d\n\nBut shifting to managed care comes at a price for some patients: They must remain within the plan\u2019s network of providers, and that can mean losing their medical team.\n\nThat is the case with Diaz.\n\nIn California, Medicaid patients who are slated to move into managed care can appeal by filing a \u201cMedical Exemption Request.\u201d\n\nAs part of that process, the enrollee\u2019s doctor must submit \u201cevidence that [the patient] is unstable and that \u2026 treatment cannot safely be transferred to a managed care plan physician(s) of the same specialty or specialties,\u201d according to DHCS.\n\nAn exemption lasts up to 12 months when approved, \u201cand is dependent on an individual\u2019s unique situation,\u201d said department spokeswoman Carol Sloan.\n\nFrom October through December 2016, the most recent quarter for which data are available, the department approved 66 percent of exemption requests and denied 34 percent.\n\nWhen Medical Exemption Requests are rejected, members can then take their case to an administrative law judge, as Diaz\u2019s family did.\n\nFor several years, Diaz\u2019s Medical Exemption Requests had been approved by the department. But it rejected her latest request in July 2016, her mother, Colin, said.\n\nColin appealed to an administrative law judge on behalf of her daughter, and the judge ultimately agreed that Diaz should remain in fee-for-service Medi-Cal under the care of her existing medical team.\n\nDiaz\u2019s \u201ctreating physician certified that she has not stabilized to a level that would enable her to change physicians and begin receiving care from a plan provider without deleterious effects,\u201d the judge wrote.\n\nBut the health care department, in its January order reversing the judge\u2019s decision, asserted that \u201cthere is no evidence of clinical or physical instability. \u2026 The beneficiary is currently stable for transfer to a managed care plan.\u201d\n\nThe lawsuit targets such reversals, arguing that in overturning the judges\u2019 decisions, the department is not abiding by its own rules.\n\nIn the past two years, roughly 130 Medi-Cal patients \u2014 primarily in Los Angeles County \u2014 have had decisions in their favor overturned by the department, said Ella Hushagen, a staff attorney for Neighborhood Legal Services.\n\n\u201cWhen there\u2019s evidence from the treating physician that the patient is too unstable to move into a managed care plan, the department is not following that standard,\u201d Tawatao said. \u201cThe department should follow the rules.\u201d\n\nThe suit seeks redress for Medi-Cal recipients who have already had judges\u2019 decisions overturned, as well as those who may appeal in the future. It covers most Medi-Cal recipients, including those in Los Angeles County, Tawatao said. Some beneficiaries may not be affected because they live in counties with different medical-exemption rules, she said.\n\n\u201cThese are people who are very fragile, with rare diseases and conditions for which there appear to be very few specialists,\u201d Tawatao said.\n\nDiaz and her family are working separately with Neighborhood Legal Services to contest the department\u2019s reversal. The soon-to-be ninth-grader remains in fee-for-service this month while that appeal is pending, Hushagen said.\n\nDiaz was placed in managed care for a few days earlier this month before advocates got her out. During that time, she couldn\u2019t get her epilepsy medication refilled, and the mobile nurse who visits her three times a week didn\u2019t have authorization to help.\n\nMeanwhile, Diaz\u2019s medical needs mount. She had to start using a wheelchair last year after she kept falling and doctors discovered her right leg was longer than her left.\n\nHer doctors are now investigating whether she has petit mal seizures every night when she sleeps. Her last grand mal seizure landed her in the hospital in October.\n\nIf she moves to managed care, \u201cwe would have to start all over again with new doctors. It\u2019s like starting from scratch,\u201d Colin said. \u201cThat\u2019s time wasted that she needs to be spending with her doctors receiving treatment.\u201d\n\nThis story was produced by Kaiser Health News, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.", "output": "Alondra Diaz can\u2019t get enough of Elmo and Barney, and she adores picture books. The 14-year-old, who will enter high school next week, has several complex and debilitating medical conditions, including epilepsy, microcephaly and a mitochondrial disorder. Her long-standing team of doctors \u2014 a neurologist, geneticist, orthopedist, pediatrician and others \u2014 is primarily based at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where Diaz lives.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "From Home Alone to the CARE Act: Collaboration for Family Caregivers \n This spotlight discusses the Caregiver Advise, Record, and Enable (CARE) Act, which became law in 40 US states and territories in four years. The groundbreaking 2012 report, Home Alone: Family Caregivers Providing Complex Chronic Care, funded by The John A. Hartford Foundation, drove policy adoption and is still currently underway in several states.\n\n\n\nIn addition to the CARE Act, the Home Alone report inspired the creation of the Home Alone AllianceSM, and the creation of key resources and tools to improve outcomes and experiences for family caregivers as they navigate the health system and providing care at home.\n\nPrevious Report:\n\nFrom Home Alone to the CARE Act: Collaboration for Family Caregivers (PDF)", "output": "The 2012 report Home Alone: Family Caregivers Providing Complex Chronic Care,\u00a0funded by The John A. Hartford Foundation,\u00a0broke new ground by uncovering the complex medical/ nursing tasks that family caregivers are performing with little guidance or support.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BlackBerry unveils strategy to become secure IoT provider \n JAKARTA -- For a decade or so before the market for touchscreen smartphones took off around 2010, BlackBerry's hand-held communication devices were ubiquitous among thumb-jockeying executives trying to keep in touch with the office outside working hours.\n\nAfter several recent failed attempts to launch new phones and operating systems to compete against Apple, Google and Samsung Electronics products, the company that \"made the modern cellphone,\" as BlackBerry's CEO John Chen puts it, is hoping to become the main supplier of secure applications and software for the next generation of internet-linked devices -- the much- touted \"internet of things\" -- from web-connected self-driving cars to \"smart\" domestic appliances that are expected to take off over the coming decade.", "output": "BlackBerry is seeking to become a supplier of secure applications and software to support the internet of things (IoT), from connected cars to smart domestic appliances, according to CEO John Chen. Speaking at an event in Jakarta organised by the American and Canadian chambers of commerce, Chen revealed the firm had inked a seven-year deal with car maker Ford and wanted BlackBerry to become \"the number one secure communications [provider] in IoT\", adding that \"a\u00a0car without proper security or anti-hacking [systems] will become a weapon\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chronic Care Management Gets Mixed Reviews \n More than 2 years after Medicare launched its Chronic Care Management (CCM) payment policy, researchers are finding mixed reviews.\n\nThe program that began in January 2015 reimburses providers for CCM components that happen outside an office visit, but providers have been slow to get on board, and early uptake was less than 5%.\n\nFindings from a new study published online July 28 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine shed light on what is holding them back.\n\nAnn S. O'Malley, MD, a senior fellow at Mathematica Policy Research in Washington, DC, and colleagues report that during the first 15 months, uptake was 4.5%. Of 224,187 noninstitutional primary care providers that billed Medicare, only 10,022 billed for CCM services.\n\nResearchers conducted semistructured telephone interviews from January to April 2016, with 71 respondents (60 billing and nonbilling providers and staff knowledgeable about their practices' CCM participation and 11 professional society representatives), to find out where they saw strengths and weaknesses of the program.\n\nThe interviews occurred with practices of varying sizes, urban vs rural status, ownership type, and specialty. They indicated many plusses, including mostly positive feedback from patients. CCM encourages patients to adhere to treatment, improves access to care team members, and improves continuity of care. Patients like having a specific point of contact, according to the findings.\n\n\"Although some providers had initial concerns that CCM might hinder patient\u2013primary care provider continuity (if other specialists billed for CCM services), only one provider had experienced this problem,\" the researchers write.\n\nReimbursement for Upfront Costs Falls Short\n\nBut interviewers also heard about considerable barriers. Professional society representatives and both billing and nonbilling providers said reimbursement was not enough to cover upfront costs of staffing, particularly those for hiring a care manager, modifying workflow, and the time needed to care for complex patients.\n\nUnder CCM payments policy, providers may bill for 20 minutes of clinical staff time once per month per patient for out-of-office care management and coordination.\n\n\"Some respondents reported that practice staff usually spent 45 to 60 minutes on each CCM patient each month \u2014 and several hours on the most complex patients,\" the researchers write.\n\nOthers said infrastructure problems held back the exchange of health information among providers, and electronic health records were not able to adequately document and update care plans.\n\nTo bill, practices must have a certified electronic health record, assign a clinician to each patient, maintain a care plan in collaboration with the patient, communicate with other health professionals, and manage medications.\n\nPotential Is There\n\nAri Hoffman, MD, from the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, writes in a related commentary published August 7 that the program has unrealized potential.\n\n\"[W]e know that CCM, done right, can decrease hospitalization and [emergency department] visits over time, with an estimated $101-per-participant reduction in Medicare spending.\"\n\nHe says negatives for providers include substantial documentation and active billing, instead of the automatic per member/per month payments used in patient-centered medical homes. Under CCM, providers must bill for each beneficiary each month that they deliver CCM services.\n\nNegatives for patients include part B coinsurance payments, he notes.\n\n\"One in seven Medicare beneficiaries have no supplemental coverage, and they are disproportionately black, poor, and disabled,\" Dr Hoffman writes. \"Not only is the coinsurance ineffective at achieving the goal [of using effective services], but it contributes to health inequity.\"\n\nHe points out that a limitation of the study is that researchers interviewed only four nonbilling providers.\n\n\"[T]hese findings suggest that further improvements in the CCM payment policy that reduce barriers to uptake and ensure best practices have the potential to reduce costly utilization, improve outcomes, and save money, the holy grail of healthcare value,\" Dr Hoffman concludes.\n\nFunding for data collection and analysis was provided under a contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The authors and Dr Hoffman have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.\n\nJ Gen Intern Med. Posted online July 28, 2017. Article full text. Published online August 7, 2017. Commentary full text\n\nFor more news, join us on Facebook and Twitter", "output": "More than 2 years after Medicare launched its Chronic Care Management (CCM) payment policy, researchers are finding mixed reviews. The program that began in January 2015 reimburses providers for CCM components that happen outside an office visit, but providers have been slow to get on board, and early uptake was less than 5%.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "On Health Care, Who Needs Congress? \n Two years ago, a small number of corporate chief human resources officers, led by American Express, Verizon and Macy\u2019s, met to figure out if they could come up with a better way to provide coverage for their workers at more affordable rates. Individual companies had done all they could to improve the system, but each hit a wall. There was only so much one company could accomplish on its own. One year later, 21 companies with a total of four million employees began an effort to change the way they paid for health care.\n\nNow 41 major corporations that represent over six million workers and retirees have joined together to reform the private-sector health care system. Our companies are diverse, representing pretty much every sector of the economy. Known as the Health Transformation Alliance, we\u2019re troubled by the number of middlemen who drive up the price of care, and by the soaring costs of prescription drugs.\n\nThe members of the alliance spend $25 billion on health care and, as a result, have a lot of data that helps us identify trends. By studying where the money goes and its impact on patient health, we can see what treatments, which doctors and hospitals, and which medical networks get the best results. Data analysis from IBM is turning what used to be a blizzard of paperwork into a road map for the future.\n\nThere are things data can tell us that individuals have a hard time learning on their own. For example, if data tell us that 50 percent of patients who visit a particular hospital suffer a relapse for a particular medical condition while only 25 percent of patients who visit a crosstown hospital have a relapse for the same illness, we want our employees to know that \u2014 and if possible, to use the hospital with the better results. The data can save lives.", "output": "Regardless of whether Congress enacts health care reform, the private sector isn\u2019t waiting. Health care for our employees is too expensive, and the employer-based system must be reformed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Only Half of Medicare Advantage Members Understand Their Plan \n Integration and care coordination are key dissatisfiers for members of Medicare Advantage plans, and insurers are missing a huge opportunity for growth, says a J.D. Power study.\n\nAlthough members are more satisfied overall with their Medicare Advantage plans in 2017, still only slightly more than half of members (54%) completely understand how their plan works, according to a newly released J.D. Power study on Medicare Advantage plans.\n\nAnd even though enrollment has been growing steadily\u2014more than 33% of all Medicare beneficiaries are now enrolled in Medicare Advantage--the study found that health plans are missing a significant pre-marketing opportunity for the over-60 age group, many of whom will transition to Medicare by age 65.\n\nIn fact, the proportion of the population age 65+ in the U.S. is projected to increase from 14% to 21% over the next 20 years, which represents an opportunity for plans to capture market share as more people become Medicare-eligible. However, the survey found that only 11% of members in the 60+ age cohort had received any communications from their health plan regarding moving from current coverage to a Medicare Advantage plan.\n\nAmong the 11% who have received premarketing contact from their health plan, overall satisfaction scores are 52 index points higher than among those who received no marketing contact (762 vs. 710, respectively, on a 1,000-point scale). Also, fewer members understand how their prescription drug coverage works than they did last year.\n\n\u201cMedicare Advantage plans represent a significant growth opportunity, but many health plans are not maximizing that potential,\u201d said Valerie Monet, senior director of the insurance practice at J.D. Power, in a press release.\n\nMember responses indicated that progress can be made in satisfaction levels in part by better coordination of care by health plans. Only 34% of members indicated that their plan was able to effectively help them with care coordination.\n\nAnother big factor in member satisfaction is the degree to which members see their doctor as a trusted partner in their medical care. Though health plans may have limited impact on this factor, the issue is related not so much to the soft skills of the clinician, but with assistance in navigating the myriad of healthcare providers involved in their care and managing the associated costs, suggesting a role for health plans.\n\nOverall member satisfaction in 2017 held steady with an average score of 799, which is nine points higher than the same study found in 2016. This is the third year of the study for the global market research company, which is based on survey responses from 3,442 Medicare Advantage members from the 12 largest Medicare Advantage plans from around the country.\n\nIt measures satisfaction based on six factors (in order of importance): coverage and benefits (25%); customer service (19%); claims processing (15%); cost (14%); provider choice (14%); and information and communication (12%).\n\nKaiser Permanente ranks highest in Medicare Advantage member satisfaction for a third consecutive year, with a score of 852, which is 49 points higher than the second-ranked plan.\n\nKaiser outperforms all other plans across five of the six factors that comprise the overall satisfaction index. Highmark ranks second with a score of 803 and Humana ranks third with a score of 794.", "output": "Although members are more satisfied overall with their Medicare Advantage plans in 2017, still only slightly more than half of members (54%) completely understand how their plan works, according to a newly released J.D. Power study on Medicare Advantage plans.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Senior citizens aren't pulling any punches at their weekly boxing program \n Residents in a senior living community in Rancho Santa Margarita are proving they can pack a punch.\n\nFor nine months, the senior living community in Park Terrace has held a weekly boxing program with Gary Ballard, a former professional boxer who once fought for the IBF World super middleweight title.\n\nBallard, who has fought professionally in South Africa and the U.S., retired from his boxing career in 1998 and focused on becoming a personal trainer.\n\nSince then, he has formed Ballard Fitness, his personal training and kickboxing gym that operates one mile from Park Terrace.\n\nBallard also founded Rock Steady Boxing of Orange County after becoming an affiliate of Rock Steady Boxing, a national nonprofit that provides boxing programs for people battling Parkinson\u2019s disease.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve seen the benefits of boxing for people with Parkinson\u2019s and then I got connected with the people at Park Terrace because someone told me I should go check it out,\u201d Ballard said.\n\nEach week at Park Terrace, Ballard sees about a dozen residents arrive to lace on gloves and start swinging.\n\n\u201cEvery great boxer has a story about how he or she achieved victory, and our residents are no different, as they are able to overcome hurdles and shape their own triumphs in the ring,\u201d Park Terrace executive director Jerry Church said in a statement. \u201cTypically, you wouldn\u2019t think of seniors boxing at a senior living community, but we\u2019re proud to offer such a unique program.\u201d\n\nAt a class last month in Park Terrace, a row of chairs in a large room were set up for residents in a semi-circle and piles of boxing gloves lay in one corner.\n\nResident Russ Walvoord stepped inside with his own pair of black boxing gloves.\n\nHis wife, Lori Walvoord, also a Park Terrace resident, said he\u2019s been there for the classes since the beginning.\n\n\u201cAt this point in time, his capability is limited,\u201d Lori said during a phone interview. \u201cHe still does some artwork and he walks a lot, but one of the highlights of his week is boxing. He\u2019s one of those who remains on his feet and spars with Gary.\u201d\n\nAfter residents took a seat, Ballard said he would begin leading everyone through a few warm-ups.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not so much about doing a killer workout as it is about just getting them moving,\u201d Ballard said. \u201cThey certainly feel empowered. It\u2019s a morale booster.\u201d\n\nTogether, the trainer and his prospective boxers began lifting their knees and rolling their shoulders.\n\nBallard tapped Walvoord in his seat and said,\u201cCome on, Russ! Come on!\u201d\n\nWalvoord rose to his feet, balled his bare hands and began to throw jabs at Ballard\u2019s core.\n\n\u201cWith the gloves on, Russ!\u201d Ballard said with a smile. \u201cWith the gloves!\u201d\n\nLori Walvoord said she sometimes attends the programs to see her husband and the others box with Ballard.\n\n\u201cI like to see the focused energy,\u201d she said. \u201cIt gives a certain amount of release for people with whatever is going on with them. Gary\u2019s doing a wonderful job.\u201d\n\nAfter warm-ups, Park Terrace staff helped everyone strap on their gloves while Ballard put on a pair of boxing mitts and showed them how to jab with just their left hand.\n\nThe boxer got on his knees to meet the seated residents at eye level. As he moved from person to person, each took turns swinging into his mitt.\n\nSome who were lounging back in their seats suddenly sat up straight when Ballard came in front of them.\n\n\u201cHaa! Haa!\u201d they would holler with each punch.\n\nHe moved to the final seat in the row where his last boxer gave him a blank stare. He pounded his mitts together twice before turning them to face her.\n\nAfter a few seconds, she threw her left hand into his mitt. Her lips cracked into a smile.\n\n\u201cYou better watch out for me,\u201d she told Ballard.\n\nBallard demonstrated a few more boxing moves with Park Terrace resident Harry Dismuke, who volunteers to help Ballard during the program.\n\nThe group took up the rest of class by learning how to jab with their right hands and how to deliver a one-two punch with both hands.\n\n\u201cFor some, things can feel really mundane and uninspired, and they probably didn\u2019t feel like coming here,\u201d Dismuke said. \u201cBut when they get out, they\u2019re probably glad they came.\u201d\n\nAfter class, residents emerged from their seats, smiling.\n\nDismuke waited for everyone else to exit the room before he walked toward the door.\n\n\u201cWell, time for my yoga class,\u201d Dismuke said.\n\nHe turned and said, \u201cI\u2019m only kidding.\u201d\n\nAlexandra.Chan@latimes.com\n\nTwitter: @AlexandraChan10", "output": "Residents in a senior living community in Rancho Santa Margarita are proving they can pack a punch. For nine months, the senior living community in Park Terrace has held a weekly boxing program with Gary Ballard, a former professional boxer who once fought for the IBF World super middleweight title.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Neither bills nor advancing age can dim the glow of a drummer's dream \n Steve Hideg moves through his small East Hollywood apartment with tiny shuffle steps, as if to avoid a fall. His slacks are creased, his shirt pressed. It doesn\u2019t cost money, he says, to hold your head high.\n\nHideg, almost 86, is blind in one eye and deaf in one ear. He\u2019s carried that burden since a childhood injury, when he and his family took cover in the cellar of their home as bombs thundered down on Budapest. Lately the good eye isn\u2019t so good, so he keeps a big magnifying glass handy, but Hideg has bigger challenges than that.\n\nHis rent is roughly $1,000 a month, and his Social Security income is about $900 a month.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a total miracle how he exists,\u201d says one friend.\n\nThe secret is disciplined austerity, occasional help from buddies, and a once-weekly job as a jazz drummer \u2014 a job that feeds Hideg\u2019s soul. When the DWP shut off his power briefly, Hideg borrowed a camping light from a friend. A $300 gas bill gathered dust until a buddy covered it.\n\n\u201cHello, my angel,\u201d Hideg called out one day to a woman who knocked at his door and delivered a tray of food from St. Vincent Meals on Wheels.\n\nSometimes, that\u2019s his only food in a day.\n\nLeft: Steve Hideg, 85, lays out three suits in his apartment in East Hollywood. Right: Hideg shaves in the bathroom of his apartment where he has lived for 25 years. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)\n\nCalifornia is robust in countless ways, its economy ranked among those of the richest nations in the world, and yet millions struggle to survive the double blow of flat wages and high housing costs. It\u2019s the great Golden State paradox, an escalating calamity and public policy failure with no fixes on the near horizon as the retiree population explodes.\n\nAnd yet Hideg, unbowed, has risen above it all by remaining faithful to a dream and honoring a different measure of prosperity. As one friend of his put it, in his mind, he\u2019s a rich man.\n\nIstvan \u201cSteve\u201d Hideg was hungry, shoeless, scared, brave, a child of war. He was just a boy in 1943, when his father was killed on military duty. Hideg and his mother, brother and sister struggled through bleak, lean years of economic and political upheaval, and a meal often was nothing more than a smear of lard on a scrap of bread.\n\n\u201cWe put a little salt and paprika on it,\u201d Hideg says. \u201cI kind of learned how to survive.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s a skill, or maybe a frame of mind, that has endured.\n\n\u201cEven when I have only one meal in a day,\u201d Hideg says, \u201cI\u2019m never hungry.\u201d\n\nAs a teen, Hideg worked at the concession stand of a Budapest movie theater and ducked in, at every opportunity, to catch a glimpse of the films. There, in black and white, was a world he\u2019d never imagined.\n\nJozsi Baky, left, helps Steve Hideg at the Alpine Village Swap Meet in Torrance to sell some of his belongings for food and medicine. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)\n\n\u201cI saw Louie Armstrong!\u201d Hideg says of the jazz giant. \u201cHe sang \u2018Jeepers Creepers\u2019 to a horse!\u201d\n\nThat was in the 1938 movie \u201cGoing Places.\u201d Another American classic, the 1941 hit \u201cSun Valley Serenade,\u201d made Hideg ache with desire to become a musician and to escape iron-fisted postwar Hungary. In \u201cSerenade,\u201d the Glenn Miller Orchestra played \u201cChattanooga Choo-Choo\u201d and the swinging \u201cIn the Mood.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhewwwww, that did it for me,\u201d Hideg says, still jazzed 70 years later. \u201cI fell in love with this whole country and its music. To me, it was the sound of freedom.\u201d\n\nHis brother bought him a snare drum like the one Hideg had seen in the village his parents grew up in. There, with no newspapers and scant communication with the outside world, the drum was a siren call to villagers who gathered to hear the messenger deliver the news of the day.\n\nHideg studied the moves of drummers Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa, got a job in an electronics factory and joined all three of the company bands. He later became a full-time musician and worked with a circus band for a while, but the songbook wasn\u2019t to his liking and the government deemed Western music the enemy of the people.\n\nIn 1956, blood spilled as Hungarians revolted against Soviet control. Hideg and his wife, a pianist, risked execution as they fled Budapest under cover of darkness. They sneaked past Russian infantry and escaped first to Austria and then New York City in early 1957. Hideg got a job as a janitor, and after work he\u2019d race to Birdland and other Manhattan jazz clubs to see his heroes.\n\nIn 1961, he and his wife loaded up their old DeSoto and headed west, flat broke, stopping at bars along the way to play for food and gas money, Hollywood or bust.\n\nSteve Hideg, 85, on drums and Tom Pedrini on bass at their Saturday morning workshop in Hollywood on July 29. Hideg gets together with his friends and has a music workshop each Saturday morning. (Video by Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)\n\nHe hustled, schmoozed, hung out at the musicians\u2019 union, started at the bottom.\n\nAnd he made it.\n\nA young man who had grown up with so many restrictions was playing a kind of music with no rules.\n\nIn the good years, there was the Steve Hideg big band and Steve Hideg and The Continentals. When TV game shows had live music, Hideg played in the \u201cTruth or Consequences\u201d band. He toured for several years with Pat Collins, a hypnotist with a popular show. He played in Florida and put in several years in Vegas.\n\nHe never made great money or played with big stars. But to his own astonishment, Hideg was living out his fantasy in the city that had manufactured the dream. He developed a talent as a contractor, stringing together bands for all occasions. In his scrapbook is a copy of a check he got after playing a birthday party for Dustin Hoffman.\n\nThere were struggles along the way \u2014 no musician gets through the grinder unscathed. When Hideg\u2019s wife became ill and they couldn\u2019t afford to pay for her care, she went back to Europe to live with family in Austria, where she died young. Hideg himself fought through cancer and now battles macular degeneration.\n\nHe never married again, which made it easier to grab road jobs when they came up and he was young enough to handle the toll. He has lived in the same apartment now for 25 years, a time in which the market for live music \u2014 especially big band and straight-ahead jazz \u2014 has withered. Hideg was getting by just fine when he served as live-in manager at his apartment building, but he got too old for the job a few years back, and the bills keep coming.\n\nBut his pride is undiminished.\n\nWearing a suit and tie Steve Hideg, 85, carries his drums into Callender\u2019s Grill before his gig in Los Angeles. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)\n\n\u201cI did not come to this country to be a burden on the state,\u201d says Hideg, who has resisted signing up for many entitlements available to seniors.\n\nHe chose the musician\u2019s life, he says, and has no regrets. If he has a message for others, Hideg tells me, it\u2019s that doing something you love will serve you well. And another thing: Don\u2019t hesitate to ask friends for help if you need it.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s not a shy guy, but it\u2019s not easy for him\u201d to accept money, says Hideg\u2019s longtime buddy Laszlo Cser, a retired musician and L.A. City College professor. \u201cLately he\u2019s more willing to go along.\u201d\n\nLouis Kabok, a local bass player who knew Hideg in Hungary, fled at about the same time. He says his friend\u2019s high spirits in the face of hardship and advancing age don\u2019t appear to be an act.\n\n\u201cTo tell you the truth, I never met another person in my life who has his kind of attitude,\u201d says Kabok. \u201cHe just has an idea of the way he wants to live his life, and he\u2019s doing it.\u201d\n\nIndeed, for all his troubles, Hideg glows. His silver hair is as thick as his Hungarian accent. His grin is young, timeless and broad, the grin of a man who\u2019s in on a secret.\n\nWhatever day it is, the weekend is coming soon, and Hideg lives for Friday and Saturday.\n\nHe can\u2019t bang the skins in the quiet environs of his apartment building, so every Saturday, he stays drummer fit with a two-hour workout at Stein on Vine in Hollywood, the legendary music shop where he jams with gray-bearded buddies and it\u2019s the 1950s all over again.\n\nBetter yet, Hideg\u2019s Friday night gig is coming up, and he knows, without doubt, that the music he loves will live forever.\n\nTop left: Sometimes, a tray from St. Vincent Meals on Wheels is his only food for the day. But Hideg has stays faithful to a different measure of prosperity. Top right: I can't believe I m still doing what I love, says Hideg, carrying his drums out of his apartment as he heads to a gig. He lives for Fridays and Saturdays. Bottom: A woman walks past Hideg's drums sitting outside Callender's Grill in Los Angeles. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)\n\nPhillip Williams, a pianist and singer, met Hideg at a party eight years ago and asked if he wanted to sit in with his band on Friday nights at Callender\u2019s Grill. That\u2019s a high-end, mid-city Marie Callender\u2019s with live jazz several nights a week.\n\nHideg has been with Williams ever since.\n\nThe Hungarian octogenarian they call \u201cCool Cat\u201d is old school in his respect for the art and the audience. Before his gig, Hideg showers and shaves, puts on a suit, cinches the tie and arranges the pocket square hanky just right, like one of the pros in the big bands he once saw in the movies.\n\n\u201cI love getting ready, I love carrying the drums, I love setting them up, I love everything about it,\u201d Hideg tells me.\n\nHe drives to work in a 1992 Mazda van that Williams gave him when his old Aerostar conked out, and he is smiling when he walks into the restaurant and begins setting up.\n\nTypically, several terrific local musicians drop by and sit in with the band. Williams knows the lyrics and music to hundreds of songs and plays what strikes him, from pop to serious jazz, and he generously features each of his sidemen. He likes calling \u201cSatin Doll\u201d because there\u2019s a short solo in it for Hideg, who is twice the age of the others in the band and always seems to be having twice the fun.\n\nOn an up-tempo number, Williams motions for me to circle behind the piano so he can whisper me something.\n\n\u201cLook at this guy go,\u201d Williams says as Hideg taps out an elegant patter, never loud, never showy, riding the groove just right and always in the service of bandmates and the music.\n\n\u201cThis is adding minutes to his life,\u201d says Williams. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m his doctor.\u201d\n\nHideg plays jazz drums at Callender\u2019s Grill in Los Angeles. \u201cI love getting ready, I love carrying the drums, I love setting them up, I love everything about it,\u201d Hideg said. Top: Hideg plays jazz drums at Callender's Grill in Los Angeles. \u201cI love getting ready, I love carrying the drums, I love setting them up, I love everything about it,\u201d Hideg said. Bottom left: Enrique Mendoza, 6, left, talks with Hideg during a break Friday night at Callender's Grill in Los Angeles. Right: Bill Melendres, Gary Urwin, Hideg, center, and Allan Walker on sax play jazz Friday night at Callender's Grill in Los Angeles. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)\n\nIn the quiet of his apartment, I had asked Hideg if he worries about anything. What if the rent goes up? What if his good eye can\u2019t be saved? What if he can\u2019t drive much longer?\n\n\u201cI live my life by three principles I learned as a Boy Scout. Faith, hope and love,\u201d he said before reminding me he has everything he ever wanted.\n\n\u201cAnd I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m still doing what I love.\u201d\n\nHis struggle is real, said Hideg.\n\n\u201cBut it\u2019s a beautiful struggle.\u201d\n\nHideg looks though papers in his apartment in East Hollywood. He gets by on disciplined austerity, occasional help from friends and his once-weekly job as a drummer. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)\n\nsteve.lopez@latimes.com\n\nfrancine.orr@latimes.com", "output": "Steve Hideg moves through his small East Hollywood apartment with tiny shuffle steps, as if to avoid a fall. His slacks are creased, his shirt pressed. It doesn\u2019t cost money, he says, to hold your head high.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Let's end ageism \n Ashton Applewhite | Networked Books, 2016 | Book This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism My book explains where ageism comes from, describes the damage it does, shows what an all-age-friendly world might look like, and concludes with a call to action. You\u2019ll find what one reader dubbed \"lightbulb moments\" on almost every page, and it\u2019s fun to read. Don\u2019t take my word for it; check out the reviews.\n\n\n\nMargaret Morganroth Gullette | University of Chicago Press, 2011 | Book Agewise: Fighting the New Ageism in America Written by the renowned cultural critic who coined the term \"age studies,\" this book that radicalized me by placing ageism in a social and economic context. Two favorite quotes: \"Enticements to look younger\u2014like enticements to look whiter or thinner\u2014could finally be rejected as bigotry,\" and \u201cCultures truly interested in pleasure don\u2019t romanticize inexperience.\u201d\n\nMargaret Cruikshank | Rowman & Littlefield, 2009 | Book Learning to Be Old: Gender, Culture, and Aging \"Aging is a process socially constructed as a problem,\" writes age scholar Peg Cruikshank, who examines the class bias behind terms like \"successful\" and \"productive\" aging, debunks the myth that an aging population threatens the non-old, and critiques the medicalization of old age. We don\u2019t reduce childhood and middle age to physical conditions; why do it later on?\n\n\n\nRobert N. Butler | PublicAffairs, 2008 | Book The Longevity Revolution Geriatrician Bob Butler, who coined the term \"ageism,\" won the Pulitzer Prize for his first book, Why Survive: Being Old in America. This book, his last, offers a social and economic blueprint for making the most of the 20th century\u2019s longevity boom.\n\nGenerations, the Journal of the American Society on Aging | Fall 2015 | Article \"Ageism in America: Reframing the Issues and Impact\" Mainstream takes on ageism in the US today, how it affects our well-being and our wallets, and which research and policy agendas would reduce age discrimination.\n\n", "output": "It's not the passage of time that makes it so hard to get older. It's ageism, a prejudice that pits us against our future selves -- and each other. Ashton Applewhite urges us to dismantle the dread and mobilize against the last socially acceptable prejudice. \"Aging is not a problem to be fixed or a disease to be cured,\" she says. \"It is a natural, powerful, lifelong process that unites us all.\"\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "4 Ways Going to the Doctor Is Radically Changing \n The future of health care in the U.S. is far from settled, but how people receive it now is also undergoing a revolution. Health records are antiquated, there\u2019s a shortage of primary care physicians and access to birth control and emergency contraception is limited in some places.\n\nHealth and technology companies operating largely outside of the standard health care system are attempting to solve these and other problems with alternative approaches. Whether they have staying power remains to be seen, but here are four compelling methods on the rise.\n\nVideo chatting your doctor\n\nIt can take more than three weeks to get an appointment with a new doctor, but now, people in all 50 states can visit a physician through their smartphone. \u201cTelemedicine has been touted as the next big thing for several years, and I think it\u2019s finally getting to a stage where adoption is kicking in,\u201d says Hill Ferguson, CEO of Doctor On Demand, an online video chat app. The app provides a platform for more than 1,000 doctors and more than one million users, Ferguson says.\n\nWhether that means obtaining a prescription from your couch or chatting with a therapist for 10 minutes at the office, video chat visits are becoming increasingly common: By 2020 there could be an estimated 45.6 million virtual consultations performed in the U.S., according to data and analysis company IHS Markit. Adoption of telemedicine in health care has increased from about 54% in 2014 to 71% in 2017, and the use of telemedicine in health care increased 9% from last year, according to April 2017 research from HIMSS Analytics, a global healthcare IT market research group.\n\nGet our Health Newsletter. Sign up to receive the latest health and science news, plus answers to wellness questions and expert tips. Please enter a valid email address. * The request timed out and you did not successfully sign up. Please attempt to sign up again. Sign Up Now An unexpected error has occurred with your sign up. Please try again later. Check here if you would like to receive subscription offers and other promotions via email from TIME group companies. You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy Thank you! For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder.\n\nTelemedicine is also becoming a greater part of health care treatment in rural areas, and more hospitals are embracing video consultations. A May 2017 study found that from 2004 to 2014, use of telemedicine for mental health visits among rural Americans on Medicare increased an average of 45% per year. Virtual medicine is becoming more specialized, too; Maven, a digital clinic catering to women that launched in 2015, offers lactation specialists and midwives, for example.\n\nThere are some downsides to telemedicine. Rather than seeing a consistent doctor or team of health care providers, telemedicine apps connect people with physicians that happen to be available, though some allow users to chat with specific doctors they like. Some research suggests that virtual visits may not necessarily reduce health care spending, since more people may obtain care for minor illnesses they wouldn\u2019t have otherwise, and some doctors argue that reimbursement in some states isn\u2019t enough to invest in the technology. But while it may never fully replace in-person appointments, telemedicine could help cut down on unnecessary and costly trips to the emergency room, especially now that more insurance companies are covering digital appointments. Medicaid offers some level of reimbursement in 48 states including D.C., and most private insurers do as well.\n\nBirth control delivered to your door\u2014even without a prescription\n\nSeveral online services are making it easier for people to get access to birth control and other reproductive health needs, like Plan B or PrEP, by delivering them. Companies like Nurx allow people to order birth control online without a visit to a doctor\u2019s office. (Instead, a doctor remotely reviews the request.) Nurx prescribes and delivers more than 40 brands of birth control pills, as well as the ring, patch and emergency contraception. Shipping is free, and if people have insurance, the service is free. For people without insurance, it\u2019s priced at $15 per month.\n\nMORE: Getting an Abortion With Telemedicine Is Safe, Study Says\n\nHans Gangeskar, the CEO of Nurx, says that while they\u2019re trying to lower the price, Nurx is still a cheaper option than paying for a doctor\u2019s appointment and contraception. \u201cIt\u2019s a two-to-three minute online interaction,\u201d says Gangeskar. Other similar services include PRJKT RUBY and The Pill Club.\n\nPay-per-month personalized care\n\nMedical centers that accept cash, rather than insurance, are on the rise, and they now number in the thousands. These primary care practices are a way for Americans to get around high-deductible insurance plans. While some centers charge flat fees for each procedure, another model is gaining popularity. A clinic in San Francisco called Forward offers comprehensive health exams and around-the-clock access to doctors for a monthly membership fee.\n\nMORE: Why (Almost) Everyone Is Embracing the Digital Doctor\n\nForward does not accept insurance. Instead, members pay $149 a month for access to doctors\u2019 appointments, vaccines, generic medications, blood tests, genetic screenings, around-the-clock chat privileges with a doctor and other services provided on site. By working outside the insurance model, Adrian Aoun, the CEO and founder of Forward, says the company is beholden to patients instead. \u201cWe are the opposite of traditional health care,\u201d he says. \u201cYou can come in as often as you need\u2014instead of seeing your doctor once or twice a year, they\u2019re in your pocket.\u201d\n\nSome experts take issue with Forward\u2019s use of full-body imaging scanners, due to the negative consequences of over-screening where there is always a risk for false positive results and over-treatment. But Roeen Roashan, a senior analyst for digital health at IHS Markit, says he believes that if the cost could be brought down to closer to $99, the approach could take off. \u201cMore people will disconnect from institutional health care and go to these independent providers who have nothing to do with the government,\u201d Roashan says.\n\nThe return of house visits\n\nA centuries-old health care approach is popular again. Concierge medicine, where a doctor visits patients at their home, is regaining traction.\n\nHeal, a medical concierge company available in California, Washington D.C. and Northern Virginia, has been called the \u201cUber for Doctor Housecalls.\u201d Users download the Heal app and schedule an appointment with a primary care physician who will visit them in their home (or wherever they are). \u201cTraditional healthcare is mired in bureaucracy, inefficiency and overload, so doctors push papers rather than see patients,\u201d says Nick Desai, CEO and co-founder of Heal. \u201cPatients either overuse the ER or avoid doctors altogether. Understanding the home environment and having more time with patients translates to savings for all.\u201d\n\nHeal doctors are available seven days a week, and the service accepts insurance from major providers. Without insurance, an appointment is not cheap, at a flat fee of $99. Heal is currently available in 200 cities, and over the next year, Desai says he plans for Heal to be launched in 8 to 10 more. Other medical groups are taking advantage of the concierge model, too. In August, the Home Centered Care Institute announced that it is launching an education program to train 5,000 new doctors how to care for elderly people in their homes. Training programs include prominent hospitals like the Cleveland Clinic and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.\n\nContact us at letters@time.com.", "output": "The future of health care\u00a0in the U.S. is far from settled, but how people receive it now is also undergoing a revolution. Health records are antiquated, there's a shortage of primary care physicians and access to birth control and emergency contraception is limited in some places.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon pays \u00a315m in tax on European revenues of \u00a319.5bn \n Amazon has defended its tax payments after publishing figures showing that it spent just \u00a315m in tax across the entire European continent in 2016, despite posting revenues of \u00a319.5bn.\n\nAmazon defends paying a mere \u00a315m in tax across Europe on revenues of \u00a319.5bn\n\nIn the UK meanwhile Amazon succeeded in halving its HMRC tax bill to just \u00a37.4m from \u00a315.8m on a year-on-year basis in 2016, defying a rise in turnover which increased from \u00a3946m to \u00a31.46bn.", "output": "Online retail giant Amazon has defended its European tax payment of \u00a315m ($19.4m) in 2016, despite posting revenues of \u00a319.5bn, blaming its slim profit margins for the discrepancy. In the same year in the UK, Amazon paid \u00a37.4m in tax on year-on-year revenues of \u00a315.8m. The payments have sparked another debate over whether large multinational corporations are bending the rules surrounding tax avoidance. Last year, a judge ruled Amazon's use of a tax haven in Luxembourg was legal, saving the company $1.5bn.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Obamacare Premiums Are Set to Rise. Thank Policy Uncertainty. \n The increases are not just about Mr. Trump and policy uncertainty. Insurers are also raising rates for the reasons they usually do. Health care costs are expected to go up in 2018, as they do every year. And an Obamacare tax on health insurance plans that was temporarily postponed is scheduled to kick in next year.\n\nThe sticker price of insurance matters to a minority of Americans. Only about 10 percent of Americans buy their own insurance, and most of those receive government subsidies that shield them from price increases. Kaiser estimates that in most of the places where prices are going up, the amount people with subsidies will pay for insurance will go down. Still, hefty premium increases are a big pocketbook hit to the approximately 10 million Americans who buy their own insurance and are ineligible for subsidies. And they are a good indication of the health of the Obamacare market, which Mr. Trump frequently assails as failing or dying.\n\nThe study looked at only one city in each state, and cities tend to be the places where Obamacare works best, because of larger populations and more choices of doctors and hospitals. Many of the most expensive and shaky markets tend to be in rural areas. It will take time before we know what their prices will be. But there are still a few rural counties with no insurer willing to offer coverage next year.\n\nThe proposed rates aren\u2019t yet final. Regulators in some states may force them lower \u2014 or, in rare cases, higher. And insurance companies could have some flexibility to make last-minute changes if policy certainty emerges soon. Insurers still have several weeks to decide if they wish to exit Obamacare\u2019s markets for next year altogether.\n\nAfter failing to pass a big health care overhaul bill last month, congressional leaders have begun discussing possible steps to stabilize the Obamacare markets, steps that could calm insurer worries and cause more to stick around. But Ms. Cox is skeptical that such action would have a big impact on next year\u2019s prices. Insurers are locked into a process of rate calculations and approvals that make it hard for them to change their prices substantially at this point.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s getting to be very late in the game for there to be changes to premiums,\u201d she said.", "output": "Insurers are making final decisions about their Obamacare rates for next year. So far, it looks as if many of them will be building in an uncertainty tax. The Kaiser Family Foundation has compiled proposed insurance prices for coverage in 21 large American cities next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gene editing technique bolsters xenotransplantation hopes \n Growing human transplant organs in pigs has become a more realistic prospect after scientists used advanced gene editing to remove threatening viruses from the animals\u2019 DNA.\n\nPorcine endogenous retroviruses (Pervs) are permanently embedded in the pig genome but research has shown they can infect human cells, posing a potential hazard.\n\nThe existence of Pervs has been a major stumbling block preventing the development of genetically engineered pigs to provide kidneys and other organs for transplant into human patients.\n\nThat hurdle may now have been cleared, according to new research reported in the journal Science.\n\nResearchers in the US used the precision gene editing tool Crispr-Cas9 combined with gene repair technology to deactivate 100% of Pervs in a line of pig cells.\n\nWhat is Crispr? Crispr, or to give it its full name, Crispr-Cas9, allows scientists to precisely target and edit pieces of the genome. Crispr is a guide molecule made of RNA, that allows a specific site of interest on the DNA double helix to be targeted. The RNA molecule is attached to Cas9, a bacterial enzyme that works as a pair of \"molecular scissors\" to cut the DNA at the exact point required. This allows scientists to cut, paste and delete single letters of genetic code.\n\nPiglets cloned from the fibroblast (connective tissue) cells turned out to be Perv-free.\n\nDr Luhan Yang, co-founder and chief scientific officer at the biotech company eGenesis, said: \u201cThis is the first publication to report on Perv-free pig production.\n\n\u201cWe generated a protocol to enable multiplex genome editing, eradicated all Perv activity using Crispr technology in cloneable primary porcine fibroblasts and successfully produced Perv-free piglets.\n\n\u201cThis research represents an important advance in addressing safety concerns about cross-species viral transmission. Our team will further engineer the Perv-free pig strain to deliver safe and effective xenotransplantation.\u201d\n\nThe scientists first mapped the Pervs present in the pig genome, identifying 25 in total. Tests demonstrated that pig cells could infect human cells with Pervs in the laboratory. The viruses could then be transmitted to other cells not exposed to pig tissue.\n\nWhether or not Pervs would actually cause diseases in humans is unknown, but they are considered an unacceptable risk.\n\nOther endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) in humans have been suggested to play a role in cancers and autoimmune disorders, although evidence for this is lacking. Their involvement in multiple sclerosis and motor neurone disease has also been proposed.\n\nBritish expert Professor Ian McConnell, from the University of Cambridge, said the research was a \u201cpromising first step\u201d.\n\nHe added: \u201cSuccessful transplantation of tissues and organs from animals to man, known as xenotransplantation, has been one of the goals of modern medicine for the last 20 years.\n\n\u201cThe safe use of pig organs such as kidneys in xenotransplantation has been seen as an approach which could be used to overcome the shortage of donor organs in human transplantation.\n\n\u201cThe problem is that all pig cells carry cancer viruses embedded in their DNA. These are known as endogenous retroviruses which, although normally silent, can be activated to become fully infectious for human cells when pig cells carrying these retroviruses are co-incubated with human cells.\n\n\u201cSince xenotransplantation involves long-term intimate cell-to-cell contact the potential for the species jump of retroviruses for the entire life-time of the transplants is a very real one.\u201d", "output": "Researchers at biotech company eGenesis have used precision gene editing tool Crispr-Cas9 to eliminate 100% of porcine endogenous retroviruses (Pervs) in a line of pig cells, according to a report in the journal Science. The development could pave the way to xenotransplantation, the transplanting of pig organs into humans, a move which has been previously avoided as it is widely believed Pervs may cause diseases in humans. The research has been called a \"promising first step\" by Dr Luhan Yang, co-founder and chief scientific officer at eGenesis.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Benchmark Capital files lawsuit against Uber founder Kalanick \n For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBreaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nOne of Uber\u2019s biggest investors is suing the company\u2019s former chief executive, Travis Kalanick, accusing him of perpetuating fraud in order to \u201cincrease his power over Uber for his own selfish ends\u201d.\n\nBenchmark Capital filed a lawsuit on Thursday in which it accuses Mr Kalanick of concealing problems from the Uber board of directors and scheming to keep power after he was forced to step down as chief executive in June following a series of scandals.\n\nThe suit lays bare a tussle for power at the top of the $68bn (\u00a352bn) startup, with Benchmark seeking to remove Mr Kalanick from Uber\u2019s board and prevent him from involving himself with the business. Uber still has yet to find a replacement for Mr Kalanick as chief executive.\n\nBenchmark owns 13 per cent of Uber, a stake that is estimated to be worth $9bn.\n\nMr Kalanick swiftly hit back on Thursday, issuing a statement in which he said the legal action was \u201ccompletely without merit and riddled with lies and false allegations\u201d.\n\nA spokesperson for Mr Kalanick said Benchmark was \u201cacting in its own best interests contrary to the interests of Uber\u201d and denounced the legal action as a \u201ctransparent attempt to deprive Travis Kalanick of his rights as a founder and shareholder\u201d.\n\nThe lawsuit adds to a litany of problems for Uber. The company faces separate legal action over allegations it obtained trade secrets from Google parent Alphabet\u2019s self-driving car unit. That scandal saw Uber sack the head of its own self-driving unit, former Google engineer Anthony Levandowski, in May.\n\nA string of sexual harassment accusations against Uber employees also led to the departure of several top executives earlier this year.\n\nMr Kalanick and other senior figures are also accused of improperly obtaining the medical records of a woman who was raped by an Uber driver in India.\n\nIn the latest lawsuit, Benchmark alleges that Mr Kalanick concealed what he knew about these problems and others. He then gained more power at the company by convincing the board to create three extra seats that only he had the right to fill.\n\nThe venture capital firm says these board seats were obtained fraudulently because Mr Kalanick was not honest about what he knew. He appointed himself to one of the seats after he was ousted as chief executive. The other two remain vacant.\n\nBusiness news: In pictures Show all 13 1 / 13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled \u2013 leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: \u201cEurope\u2019s largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: \"You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share\" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid \u00a33.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a \"bad\" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rue\u2019s contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped \u00a34m off of Flybe\u2019s revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airline\u2019s estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.\n\nIn the lawsuit, Benchmark said it would not have allowed Mr Kalanick the right to extra seats if it was aware of the \u201cgross mismanagement and other misconduct at Uber\u201d.\n\n\u201cKalanick\u2019s improper role on the board threatens the sound management of Uber during this critical period,\u201d the suit states. \u201cMoreover, the value of Benchmark\u2019s investment in Uber is significantly threatened by Kalanick\u2019s continued presence on the board.\u201d\n\nBenchmark is seeking an injunction to prevent Mr Kalanick from appointing new directors, asserting he had agreed to give up those rights when he stepped aside.\n\nThe lawsuit, which is filed in Delaware Chancery court, was first reported by news website Axios.", "output": "Benchmark Capital, one of the biggest investors in ride-hailing service Uber, has filed a lawsuit against founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick, claiming he created seats on the company board that only he could fill after concealing what he knew about various issues affecting Uber. In papers filed at Delaware Chancery Court, Benchmark Capital, which owns a 13% stake in Uber, worth around $9bn, said had it been aware of the \"gross mismanagement and other misconduct at Uber\" it would not have allowed him to have the seats. Kalanick said the suit was \"riddled with lies and false allegations\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snap not where analysts predicted in terms of revenue or users \n Snapchat has had a bad few months. But its dancing hotdog is doing great, with 1.5 billion views.\n\n\"Our dancing hotdog is most likely the world\u2019s first augmented reality superstar,\" said Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel in the first five minutes of the company's earnings call on Thursday.\n\nThat's about the last of the good news.\n\nSnap stock plummeted on Thursday after revealing that its past few months did not live up to expectations.\n\nSnap Inc. missed analysts' two big estimates: revenue and daily active users. Snap reported $181.7 million this quarter while analysts predicted revenue of $186 million, according to FactSet(opens in a new tab).\n\nSnapchat, Snap's core product, now boasts 173 million daily active users, less than what analysts had pegged it at 175 million.\n\nNot so good. The stock dropped by more than 13 percent in after-hours trading, adding to its already brutal run since it begin publicly trading on the New York Stock Exchange in March.\n\nMeanwhile, Facebook has continued its quest to crush Snap Inc. Instagram Stories now has more daily users than Snapchat overall. Facebook just released Watch, original shows not unlike what you see on Snapchat Discover.\n\nIt's more of the same since Snap became a public company. It blew its first-ever earnings in May with shares dropping 25 percent after its numbers were released.\n\nIn somewhat good news, Snap is continuing to increase revenue per user, an important metric for all tech companies. Snap reported $1.05 per user, up from $0.50 the year prior and $0.90 in the last quarter.\n\n\"Our existing customers are spending more money with us. We still have a lot more room to grow,\" said Chief Strategy Officer Imran Khan, referring to the company's advertising clients.\n\nMore than 60 percent of ad impressions are now from Snap's self-service and API platforms, meaning lower costs for the advertiser and for Snap. That's very good news for growth going forward.\n\nSpiegel also tried to assure investors of his faith in his company, saying he and his cofounder Bobby Murphy have agreed not to sell any of their shares until the end of the year.\n\nIt's been a tough run for Snap. The company is running against Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and his army of engineers. Facebook began its slaughter with the release of Instagram Stories, a similar experience to one of Snapchat's core feature, in August last year. That's pushed once loyal Snapchat users to use Snapchat less and Instagram more, like Mashable's own Damon Beres and professional creators, as Mashable first reported with data from social analytics company Delmondo.\n\nFacebook hasn't stopped there. It's since pushed more similar experiences like selfie masks and other augmented reality lens. At Facebook's annual conference in April, Zuckerberg essentially invited developers to help him compete against Snapchat.\n\nSnap CEO Evan Spiegel has pressed on, with reports saying he has told his team to \"focus\"\u2014and not worry about Facebook.\n\n\"Regarding product pipeline, very excited about that. It\u2019s what we love to do over here. We\u2019re having a great time,\" Spiegel said on Thursday's call with analysts.\n\nStill, Facebook remains a big issue for Snapchat since they are both advertising businesses pulling from the same pool of digital advertising dollars.\n\nSnapchat has tried to convince advertisers and analysts of its worth by pitching its unique audience. Snapchat users are more loyal, Spiegel has argued, because the app doesn't do much growth hacking\u2014unlike other internet platforms and apps.\n\nOne analyst on the call noted it seemed that Snapchat has done growth hacking since he had received mobile notifications.\n\n\"We've been sending notifications like that since 2014 so not sure since you're just seeing that now,\" Spiegel said.\n\nThe analyst then asked what Spiegel meant by growth hacking, if he wasn't referring to push notifications.\n\n\"There are plenty examples online if you want to go for a Google,\" Spiegel said.\n\nThat didn't impress.\n\n\"I didn\u2019t even understand his response,\" someone said on the call, most likely referencing Spiegel and probably thinking he was on mute.\n\nBut there's some hope for Snap in the future: hardware. Snap released Spectacles, its video-camera sunglasses, in November and reported selling $8 million worth in the first three months of 2017. Snap reported making $5.4 million from Spectacles in the second quarter.\n\nThat's small in comparison to its overall revenue of $181.7 million this quarter. But Snap is also focused on mergers and acquisitions, Chief Financial Officer Drew Vollero said on the call, and that includes hardware companies.\n\nMashable reported Snap recently acquired a company that sells a selfie-taking drone, which would provide another revenue stream.\n\nFor now, there's dancing hot dogs.", "output": "Shares in Snap fell by more than 13% after it was revealed the company missed analysts' predictions for both revenue and user growth this quarter. During an earnings call, the social media site reported Q2 revenue of $181.7m, compared with a predicted $186m, and growth to 173 million daily active users, instead of the estimated 175 million. However, CEO Evan Spiegel said revenue per user was $1.05 over the quarter, up from 50 cents in the same period in 2016, while sales of video-camera sunglasses Spectacles hit $5.4m for Q2 2017.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snapchat's next tech product could be selfie drone \n Snap Inc. has a hardware division, but the only tech product you can buy is a pair of sunglasses. That could soon change.\n\nSnapchat's parent company has bought Zero Zero Robotics, which currently sells a selfie-taking drone called Hover Camera at Apple retail stores and online, according to two sources familiar with the situation and multiple communications about the acquisition observed by Mashable.\n\nA separate source with direct knowledge of the matter confirmed the companies are in talks but denied that the deal has been finalized.\n\nThe Information(opens in a new tab) reported(opens in a new tab) in August the two companies were in talks regarding an acquisition. Mashable has learned the deal officially closed this summer, according to two sources with knowledge of the deal, and that Snap Inc. has not publicized it and has not allowed the team behind Zero Zero Robotics to speak out about it.\n\nSnap declined to comment. Zero Zero Robotics did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\n\nThis secrecy is typical of Snap, a company that has kept the majority of its other acquisitions quiet until they were outed by the press or until Snap released a feature that was developed, in part, through that acquisition (for example Snap Maps).\n\nThe terms of the deal were not confirmed, but Techcrunch(opens in a new tab) reported(opens in a new tab) that the deal was for between $150 million and $200 million.\n\nSnap Inc. owning Zero Zero Robotics could mean a new feature for Snapchat. The experience could be quite like Spectacles where users can take 10-second videos and upload them to their account. Hover Cameras can take selfies or other aerial videos, which users could later share on Snapchat.\n\nThe deal also points to Snapchat's evolution as a \"camera company\" beyond smartphones, a step that could help the company differentiate itself from competitors like Facebook and Instagram.\n\n\"Snap is unpredictable. Nobody really knows what they do.\"\n\nDifferentiations from Facebook are something that analysts and investors are begging for from Snap Inc. They've watched the stock fall from $27 per share to below $14 as Facebook releases similar products, the most similar being \"Instagram Stories\" and the latest being Facebook Watch, a competitor to Snapchat Discover. All of those features compete for digital advertising dollars.\n\n\"Snap is unpredictable. Nobody really knows what they do. They have this app, but they call themselves a camera company,\" said James Brumley, analyst at InvestorPlace.com(opens in a new tab). \"For now, they are not a camera company. They are in ad sales.\"\n\nFor now, hardware is only a small fraction of Snap's business. Spectacles comprised the majority of Snap's $8.3 million in \"other\" revenue reported in May for the first quarter of 2017. Snap generated $149.9 million overall for the quarter.\n\n\"[Spectacles'] $8 million doesn\u2019t really compare to [Snap's] ad revenue. It doesn\u2019t hurt, but if they are going to become a hardware company and start selling cameras, they need to do a lot more it,\" Brumley said.\n\nWith Hover, Snap is bringing in another revenue source beyond what it makes from digital ads within Snapchat and from selling Spectacles. Hover sells for $499.95 online on Apple.com and in Apple retail stores. If it keeps the Apple partnership, it also gives Snap another point of sale option.\n\nSome of Snap Inc.'s most notable features have been constructed via acquisitions and then integrated into its core product. We compiled some of Snap's acquisitions, matched with their similar products:\n\nVergence Labs \u2192 Spectacles\n\nBitstrips \u2192 Bitmoji in Snapchat\n\nVurb \u2192 Search bar\n\nPlaced \u2192 Location tracking in ads\n\nZenly \u2192 Snap Maps\n\nCimagine \u2192 Augmented reality tech\n\nFlite \u2192 Ad tech\n\nSeene / Obvious Engineering \u2192 3D selfies\n\nLooksery \u2192 Lenses\n\nScan.me \u2192 QR scanning\n\nAddLive \u2192 video chatting\n\nSnap also recently acquired the team behind Strong.codes to support cybersecurity efforts.\n\nZero Zero Robotics would not be Snap's first acquisition of a drone company. Snap acquired Ctrl Me Robotics, a Los Angeles-based drone manufacturer, for under $1 million, according to (opens in a new tab)BuzzFeed(opens in a new tab). Ctrl Me also worked with movie studios to produce drone footage.", "output": "Snap has acquired drone company Zero Zero Robotics, in a deal reputedly worth between $150m and $200m, according to insider sources. The drones, which currently retail for $499.95 online in the Apple store, not only offer Snap a new revenue stream but a point of sale option with Apple. Sales of Spectacles, Snap's previous hardware acquisition, made up the majority of its $8.3m Q2 2017 revenue. The acquisition could also point to Snap moving into the camera industry, a market not explored by rivals Instagram and Facebook.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "News Corp suffers $817m loss in 2017 \n For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBreaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nRupert Murdoch\u2019s News Corp recorded an $817m (\u00a3629m) loss in the full 2017 financial year due to a fall in the value of its UK and Australian newspapers.\n\nRevenue declined from $8.29bn to $8.12bn, a 2 per cent drop reflecting lower print advertising revenues and foreign currency fluctuations.\n\nThe company said a charge of $785m reflected the write-down of UK and Australian newspapers.\n\nMr Murdoch\u2019s Australian media arm looks set to carry out major cost-cutting operations. A repeat of the $40m cuts from 2017 is set to continue into 2018.\n\nUp to 70 photographers in News Corp\u2019s Australia arm were made redundant in May, including forced lay-offs for subeditors and designers.\n\nRevenue from its digital news and information arm rose steadily at 3 per cent, primarily driven by digital subscription services from titles such as The Times and The Sunday Times.\n\nThe Wall Street Journal recorded over a million paid subscribers in the full financial year.\n\nNews Corp wrote down the value in Foxtel, an Australian pay TV company, in which it has a 50 per cent stake. The company also slashed the value of The Australian, The Daily Telegraph and The Herald Sun titles it owns in Australia by 40 per cent.\n\nSpeaking on fake news disrupting main stream media, chief executive Robert Thomson said he believed News Corp prompted digital platforms to address a \u201cdysfunctional content eco-system, in which the fake and the fraudulent have flourished\u201d.\n\nHe added: \u201cWe are now in advanced discussions with those platforms over the creation of payment mechanisms for news of verified veracity.\u201d", "output": "Revenue at News Corp fell 2% to $8.12bn in the 2017 financial year, a loss of $817m, which the company said was due to a drop in the value of its newspapers in the UK and Australia. The media company, owned by Rupert Murdoch, said it had reduced the values of The Australian, The Daily Telegraph and The Herald Sun titles by 40%, while its Australian media arm plans to continue a $40m cost-cutting programme into 2018. In contrast, revenues from News Corp's digital news and information arm rose 3%.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IoT security can be 'outsourced' to cloud VPNs \n A number of technology companies are highlighting the potential for cloud services to protect vulnerable devices from automated cybersecurity threats, in comments to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration on President Trump\u2019s new initiative to mitigate botnets.\n\nThe cloud can be used to help protect Internet of Things by providing scaled security services, according to Microsoft.\n\n\u201cBecause IoT devices will be plentiful and cannot be realistically managed individually by people, they should be connected to cloud services or utilities providing...", "output": "Companies including Microsoft, Cloudflare and Akamai have said firms offering cloud services could help to protect against automated cyber attacks, in comments to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Microsoft suggested that connecting internet of things devices to the cloud would enable security at scale, Cloudflare argued even unpatched devices could be made safe from botnet attacks using the cloud, while Akamai said moving cybersecurity to the cloud would take pressure off businesses'\u00a0IT staff."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Absence of legacy issues could help insurtech flourish in Asia \n To continue reading the full article and get full access to the InsuranceAsia News platform, please enquire about a subscription.\n\nYour company may already have a corporate license in place.\n\nAlready a Subscriber? Please Login", "output": "Although insurers in developed markets have been faster to invest in insurtech, a lack of legacy issues in Asia may ultimately enable the region's insurers to better exploit new technologies. \"One of the biggest challenges for incumbent insurers is whether it is possible to fully modernise a legacy insurance business,\u201d wrote Murray Raisbeck, global co-leader of fintech at KPMG in a report. \"It may be more efficient to build a greenfield, purely digital insurer.\" Observers point to China's Zhong An as a model for Asian development, which has benefited from the Chinese regulator supporting insurtech that focuses\u00a0on\u00a0risk transfer rather than investment.\u00a0\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Millennials can't afford homes as they 'spend too much partying' \n Be careful about how often you decide to travel to celebrate the special brides and grooms in your life \u2014 it may cost you your first home.\n\nThe average bachelor party costs each attendee $1,532 and the average bachelorette party $1,106, including accommodation, nights out, gifts and travel, a new study from real-estate site Zillow found, and millennials attend an average of three such parties a year over the course of their peak wedding-attending ages. Going to three such parties over a three-year period amounts to $13,788 spent on visiting marrying friends, or 24% ($56,000) of the down payment on an average home.\n\nAlso see:This is why millennials can\u2019t have nice things (or save any money)\n\nAs all these costs continue to go up, brides and grooms should be extra cognizant of costs when planning their bachelorette parties, said Erin Lowry, millennial personal finance expert. \u201cYou should consider your friends\u2019 budgets, especially if you\u2019re getting married in your early to mid-20 before people may have settled into careers and gotten any debts under control,\u201d she said. \u201cA bachelorette party may be a once-in-a-lifetime event for the bride \u2014 but it\u2019s not for the attendees.\u201d\n\nThe study, which doesn\u2019t even account for the costs of attending the weddings themselves, comes as homeownership has hit new lows in recent years, down to 64% in 2017 from its peak of 69% in 2006 among U.S. adults. This decrease is driven largely by millennials, 35% of whom own a home today compared with 42% just a decade ago.\n\nWhat every cannabis investor should be paranoid about\n\nAnd yet 65% of millennials consider owning a home part of the American dream and there are obviously more roadblocks than just extravagant bachelor and bachelorette parties are preventing them from achieving it. Millennials make up a large part of the $1.44 trillion in total student loan debt in the U.S., according to Student Loan Hero, a site that helps people pay off their student loans. Job instability and low wages also weigh heavily on that generation.\n\nDon\u2019t miss: As weddings become more elaborate, guests send more regrets\n\nHowever, that doesn\u2019t mean millennials won\u2019t ever buy homes, said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com. \u201cThere is much gnashing of teeth in the real-estate community about millennials not buying homes to the extent they did, but the reality of it is that many millennials who haven\u2019t bought yet will skip the starter home when they do,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are investing in education and career mobility and will have greater buying power at the point they settle down to buy a home.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile, they should budget their extraneous costs \u2014 whether they\u2019re vacations, weddings, or bachelorette parties \u2014 or begin to turn down invites. \u201cWeddings are expensive, whether it\u2019s yours or attending somebody else\u2019s \u2014 you\u2019ve got to set limits around your spending so as not to jeopardize future financial goals,\u201d McBride said.", "output": "US millennials who attend three hen parties a year for three years will spend $13,788, the equivalent of a quarter of the down-payment on an average home, according to real-estate site Zillow. The study came as US home ownership hit a new low, with 35% of\u00a0millennials owning their homes, compared with\u00a042% 10 years ago. While some argue job instability, large amounts of student loan debt and low wages are obstacles to younger people entering\u00a0the housing market, others said millennials are choosing to invest in education and career mobility first and will have greater purchasing power when they do decide to settle down."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chatbot created by Shake Shack can answer 300 questions \n Shake Shack has launched a chatbot that will answer customers\u2019 most burning questions, such as whether their local Shake Shack is open at 10 p.m. or if its burger patties are organic.\n\nThe chain rolled out the chatbot to Facebook Messenger and Twitter Direct Message. It can answer the 300 most-asked questions by customers. The goal, said Phil Crawford, vp of information technology at Shake Shack, is to extend the brand to wider audiences on Facebook and Twitter.", "output": "US fast food chain Shake Shack has launched a chatbot capable of answering up to 300 questions on Facebook Messenger and Twitter Direct Message, as it seeks to expand its audience on the social media sites. The bot, which was developed over four months through conversational intelligence platform Conversable, cannot take orders yet, though the company said it's looking for ways to add that functionality\u00a0in an imitation of similar bots launched by Pizza Hut, Papa John\u2019s and Denny\u2019s.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US publishers cash in on back-to-school rush \n As publishers experiment more with commerce, some are taking advantage of the back-to-school shopping season. American consumers are expected to spend $83.6 billion during this back-to-school season, up 10 percent from last year, according to the National Retail Federation commissioned. That\u2019s below the $655 billion spent on Black Friday, per the National Retail Federation but more than the $1 billion spent on Prime Day or the $3.5 billion spent on Cyber Monday last year, two digital shopping events publishers have started taking more seriously.\n\nThe number of publishers doing back-to-school posts declined this year to 253 from 268, but the clicks they drove grew slightly, from 39,399 to 40,325, according to Skimlinks. Here\u2019s how a number of commerce-curious publishers are approaching back-to-school.", "output": "US publishers are making the most of back-to-school fever as consumers are expected to spend $83.6bn this year on school supplies, 10% more than in 2016, according to data from the National Retail Federation. Although the number of publishers posting back-to-school content has declined, the number of clicks they received rose from 39,399 to 40,325. To attract customers, Buzzfeed is set to use identity-based posts, while brands such as Vogue have turned to Instagram Stories.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fossil fuel projects grab 46% of UK's \u00a36bn overseas energy spend \n The UK has spent more than twice as much overseas support on fossil fuels projects as on renewable ones so far this decade, according to research commissioned by the Catholic aid agency Cafod.\n\nThe Overseas Development Institute, which analysed the figures, found that 46% of Britain\u2019s \u00a36.1bn energy spending in developing countries between 2010 and 2014 went on oil, coal and gas-fired schemes, compared with 22% for renewable energy projects.\n\nOverall, fossil fuel support increased by nearly \u00a31bn this decade compared with the previous five years, with a staggering 99.4% of UK export finance support directed towards \u201cdirty\u201d energy investments.\n\nCafod called on the government to clarify how it would bring public support for overseas projects into line with climate commitments under the Paris agreement.\n\nDr Sarah Wykes, Cafod\u2019s lead energy analyst, said: \u201cTo tackle climate change we have to leave fossil fuels in the ground and switch rapidly to renewable sources of energy.\n\n\u201cYet the UK carrying on a business as usual spending pattern overseas in recent years suggests a huge inconsistency in policy and a missed opportunity to promote greater investment in renewable technologies, as the Department for International Development (DfID) has tried to do through its spending.\u201d\n\nWhile UK export finance uses public funds to bolster British exports, DfID\u2019s energy spending \u2013 32% of which went to renewables compared with 22% for fossil fuels \u2013 is intended as overseas aid.\n\nThe top five beneficiaries of UK energy support this decade were Brazil, Vietnam, Turkey, India and the Russian Federation, according to the ODI figures.\n\nOf the money earmarked for fossil fuels, oil and gas received a total of 87% of UK funds, with 9% going to coal.\n\n\u201cIt doesn\u2019t make sense for there to still be any public money going into fossil fuels overseas, whether that\u2019s through aid money, loans or export finance to support British companies operating overseas,\u201d Wykes said.\n\nAid agencies see support for small-scale solar and wind projects as vital for connecting poor communities in remote areas to electricity grids.\n\nBut only 8% of British aid spending aimed to improve energy access for the poor, Cafod said, despite the UK having signed up to a UN sustainable goal of ensuring universal energy access for all by 2030.\n\nTwenty-nine per cent of UK energy aid in 2010-14 went to investments using fossil fuels and renewables, or where the energy source could not be identified. One per cent was spent on nuclear power and 2% on energy efficiency.", "output": "Almost half the money (46%) the UK government has given to developing countries to support energy schemes between 2010 and 2014 was spent on oil, coal and gas-fired projects. Just 22% of the \u00a36.1bn ($7.9bn) went on renewable energy, according to research by Catholic aid agency Cafod. It found fossil fuel support had risen by \u00a31bn this decade, with the Russian Federation and Turkey among the nations benefiting. Sarah Wykes, Cafod\u2019s lead energy analyst, called on the government to \"clarify how it would bring public support for overseas projects into line with climate commitments under the Paris agreement\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Third norovirus outbreak on a Sun Princess cruise ship  \n A norovirus outbreak has struck at least 91 passengers on a Sun Princess cruise ship.\n\nThe affected people were treated for gastro after the ship docked in Brisbane on Thursday morning.\n\nA Queensland Health spokesman told Daily Mail Australia: 'Metro North Public Health Unit is aware of at least 91 cases of gastro on board a cruise ship that berthed in Brisbane this morning.\n\nA norovirus outbreak has struck 91 passengers on a Sun Princess cruise ship (above, file photo)\n\n'We have been advised that on-board testing has found norovirus to be the cause of the illness.'\n\nIt comes after 140 passengers came down with gastro in February after a Sun Princess cruise returned from a 14-day trip around New Zealand.\n\nA fortnight before that, there was another outbreak on the vessel during a previous cruise.", "output": "Passengers on a Sun Princess cruise ship have been hit by an attack of norovirus while docked in Brisbane, with 91 falling ill. The outbreak happened after 140 passengers came down with gastro in February on a Sun Princess cruise around New Zealand\u00a0and a fortnight before that, there was another outbreak on the vessel during a previous cruise."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Benchmark\u2019s Uber board seat threatened after firm sues Kalanick \n SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 A group of investors in the ride-hailing company Uber has formed an alliance to push Benchmark, a major shareholder, off the company\u2019s board of directors, the latest escalation of a public feud in Uber\u2019s top ranks.\n\nIn a letter sent to Benchmark on Friday, Shervin Pishevar, a venture capitalist at Sherpa Capital, demanded that the firm surrender its seat on the Uber board and sell its shares in the company to outside investors, according to a copy of the letter obtained by The New York Times.\n\nThe request came a day after Benchmark filed a lawsuit against Travis Kalanick, Uber\u2019s former chief executive, accusing him of fraud, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. Mr. Kalanick resigned as chief executive in June in the face of a shareholder coup led by Benchmark.\n\n\u201cWe do not feel it was either prudent or necessary from the standpoint of shareholder value, to hold the company hostage to a public relations disaster by demanding Mr. Kalanick\u2019s resignation, along with other concessions, on a few hours\u2019 notice and within weeks of a personal tragedy, under threat of public scandal,\u201d said the letter, which was signed by Mr. Pishevar and claimed to represent other shareholders.", "output": "Benchmark, a major Uber shareholder, is facing an alliance of other investors who hope to remove the company from Uber\u2019s board of directors. The move is a response to Benchmark\u2019s decision last week to file a lawsuit against Travis Kalanick, Uber\u2019s former CEO, accusing him of breach of contract and fiduciary duty as well as fraud. Shervin Pishevar, a venture capitalist at Sherpa Capital, sent a letter to Benchmark on Friday, demanding that the company sells its shares in Uber and surrender its seat on the firm\u2019s board."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New York considers carbon pricing for state's energy market \n Imagine what would happen if the utilities buying the electricity to power our homes and businesses had to pay more for it depending on how much carbon pollution the power plants supplying the power pumped into the atmosphere? A report issued today for the state of New York takes a look at how such a \"carbon adder\" might work, providing insights for the rest of the country as well.\n\nGiven the magnitude of the challenge represented by climate change, policymakers need to assemble as many effective tools in their climate toolbox as possible if we\u2019re going to efficiently cut carbon at the pace scientists say is necessary. With that in mind, the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) today released a report authored by the Brattle Group that provides guidance on how New York could potentially integrate a state-established carbon price into NYISO\u2019s electricity markets.\n\nAn accompanying cover letter, co-signed by New York State Department of Public Service (DPS) CEO John Rhodes (who also chairs the state\u2019s Public Service Commission) and NYISO CEO Brad Jones, outlines an inclusive and transparent stakeholder process (kicking off on September 6th) to further explore this promising new mechanism. Just as important, it proposes significant framing principles on how any such mechanism\u2014if ultimately adopted and implemented\u2014could better harmonize NYISO\u2019s wholesale markets with New York State\u2019s many successful clean energy and climate initiatives. New York also would be the first state to implement this method for putting a cost on carbon pollution.\n\nWhile we are still sifting through the 70-plus page report, and will certainly offer more extensive perspectives later, this blog provides a first take on some of the most important overarching themes from NRDC\u2019s viewpoint.\n\nThe concept of a carbon adder is laudable and worth exploring. And it has clear potential to cut carbon pollution\u2014but only if the state and NYISO get the design right, and in the process avoid some important legal and policy pitfalls.\n\nWhat the heck is a carbon adder, anyway?\n\nIdentifying and incorporating the cost of carbon pollution into electricity generation can be an important tool in efficiently cutting carbon emissions; policies like the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states\u2019 Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) (which is on the cusp of a major decision on what that program will look like post-2020; more on that here) and California\u2019s Cap and Trade program are emblematic examples. As with the nine-state RGGI, which includes New York, a carbon adder would lead to power plant carbon reductions. But they work differently: RGGI sets an enforceable/binding cap on total carbon emissions, while a carbon adder puts a price on each ton of carbon. Importantly, done right, they can work in concert.\n\nHere\u2019s how a carbon adder would work. Let\u2019s say a natural gas generator offers to sell electricity in the NYISO power market for $20/megawatt-hour (MWh). The average amount of carbon emitted per megawatt-hour is one-half of a ton for many gas plants, so if New York set a $40 per ton carbon price, that half-ton of pollution would cost $20. The generator would add that $20 to its offer price, resulting in a total offer of $40 to produce one megawatt of electricity for one hour. NYISO, the entity that dispatches electricity to utilities, selects the cheapest generation options first, which under an adder would increasingly be those with no or low carbon pollution. NYISO accepts offers, ranked by cost from lowest to highest, as needed to satisfy total demand.\n\nIf the generation from the gas plant in the example above were selected, the plant owner would receive the market clearing energy price (highest price during a specific period) minus the cost of the carbon adder. The carbon adder revenues would go elsewhere, such as to support state clean energy programs.\n\nWhy implement a carbon adder?\n\nA carbon adder is a technology-neutral and transparent mechanism to differentiate between power plants based on their specific carbon pollution profiles. In that way it helps to incorporate the cost and environmental impacts of carbon pollution into electricity markets. It also can capture the locational difference in value of cleaner technologies. As NYISO\u2019s most recent Power Trends report demonstrates, downstate New York has a much dirtier energy supply mix than upstate.", "output": "New York state is considering the introduction of a state-established carbon price into the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO)'s electricity markets. The New York State Department of Public Service and NYISO have outlined a stakeholder process to explore charging utility\u00a0companies in line with the amount of carbon emitted by power plants supplying the power. The revenues NYISO would gain\u00a0from the introduction of a \"carbon adder\" would be used elsewhere, such as to support state clean energy programmes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Israeli entrepreneur funds Colorado-based start-ups \n In a unique international partnership, the Israeli government and a Colorado-based venture capital fund will start a new program to bring to Colorado Israeli startups that focus on water, energy and transportation.\n\nThe Israel-Colorado Innovation Fund is a venture capital firm established in April by Gili Elkin, an Israeli citizen but a native of Berkeley, Calif., who worked in Silicon Valley representing venture capital firms. After moving back to Israel for a short period of time, she decided to try her hand in Colorado, a place she believes is fertile ground for new companies.\n\n\u201cI moved here because of the fast-growing startup ecosystem here in Colorado,\u201d Elkin said. \u201cBecause it\u2019s not as crowded as Silicon Valley, I believe startups have a better chance to stand out here.\u201d\n\nThe fund, which was spearheaded by some of Colorado\u2019s leading energy and water executives and backed by Innosphere, a Colorado startup accelerator, has a annual budget of $4 million. This year, six companies are being given grants totaling $1.5 million.\n\nThe Israeli Innovation Authority will match funds put up by Elkin\u2019s firm, an agreement that is the first of its kind, she said. Previously, the innovation authority has not partnered with an agency or firm outside Israel. Elkin attributed the partnership due to Gov. John Hickenlooper\u2019s support for the idea.\n\nDuring a launch event Monday, Kathleen Staks, executive director of the Colorado Energy Office, discussed the partnership, according to a transcript of her comments sent by Elkins. Staks said the partnership builds on the water industry efforts Hickenlooper started in 2015 with the Colorado Water Plan and his executive order committing the state to climate action.\n\n\u201cAs Colorado\u2019s population continues to grow, effective means of managing and treating water will become increasingly vital,\u201d Staks said Monday. \u201cOur state is always eager to advance its position in the sectors (of energy, water, and transportation) through innovation and partnership.\u201d\n\nEach selected startup receives between $500,000 and $1 million. Elkin said the venture is still raising funds, but it has several commitments and expect to reach its target soon.\n\nBeyond funding, the program also supports the startups after moving to the Colorado by helping to connect them with the U.S. market.\n\nIsrael is a world leader in startups; the country has the most per capita and the second highest concentration of startups in the world, behind Silicon Valley.\n\nThe Israel-Colorado Innovation Fund will invest in 10 to 15 companies during four-year investment periods, but the commitment extends to a decade. After funding, companies receive networking support to help initiate growth in the U.S.\n\n\u201cOur vision is to turn Colorado into the \u2018Silicon Mountain\u2019 of water, energy and transportation (WET) sectors,\u201d Elkin said. \u201cBy growing here, we will attract global leaders and players in the U.S. to come to Colorado to look at the innovation from Israel.\u201d", "output": "The Israeli Innovation Authority and a US venture capital fund run by a US-based Israeli entrepreneur are working together to support Colorado-based start-ups working in the energy, water and transport sectors. The Israeli-Colorado Innovation Fund was founded by Israeli citizen and Colorado resident Gili Elkin. The fund has already given six grants totalling $1.5m, with each individual start-up gaining between $500,000 and $1m, with any funds given being matched by the Israeli Innovation Authority.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's gold jewellery market at 5-year low as tastes shift \n Other luxuries grow, lower karats now \"dominant trend\" for China's gold jewelry...\n\nCHINA's huge gold jewelry demand faces a continued fall thanks to younger consumers changing tastes, according to the latest analysis from leading specialists, writes Sam Williams at BullionVault.\n\nPreferences among younger gold buyers are disrupting gold's largest consumer market, recent data show, as competition from luxury alternatives purchases grows.\n\nFigures from both Thomson Reuters GFMS and competitors Metals Focus show a persistent fall in Chinese gold demand since 2013's surge, which coincided with the sharpest drop in global prices in three decades.\n\nBetween April and June 2017 China's gold jewelry demand set its lowest quarterly total in 5 years, according to the most recent report from the mining-backed World Gold Council.\n\nBased on data from independent consultancy Metals Focus, it shows demand down 5% compared with Q2 2016.\n\nLooking at so-called millennials \u2013 the generation reaching adulthood after the year 2000 and now entering its 30s \u2013 \"younger consumers continue to pull away from the tradition of 24k gold,\" explains the Council's latest Gold Demand Trends report, in what its analysts say \"remains the dominant trend\" of the Chinese gold jewelry market.\n\nMeasured in the ancient purity of karats, 24k gold is virtually pure, with 22k meaning 92% pure and 18k only 75% fine.\n\nA previous survey by the market-development organization showed that China's millennial consumers are much more likely to buy lower karatage gold than their predecessors, with 39% of demand for 18k gold in 2015-16 was driven by millennials, compared with only 7% from 51-65 year olds.\n\nAs the fine-gold content of pieces bought by households decreases in the world's largest consumer market, China will see \"erosion in the volume of jewelry demand,\" says the World Gold Council.\n\nBut the market faces a potentially larger threat from changing tastes in luxury goods as a whole according to analysts Thomson Reuters GFMS.\n\n\"The lower affinity to gold adopted by the younger Chinese generation compared to their precedents played a major role in the decline in gold demand,\" the consultancy said last month in its latest Gold Survey 2017 update.\n\n\"Diamond and platinum are becoming strong competitors in Tier 1 cities,\" warned the World Gold Council in a 2016 report on China's jewelry market , with gold's prior success becoming a reason to buy other items.\n\nSome 70% of those surveyed for that report owned gold jewelry, but \"millennials crave exclusive indulgences,\" says Roland Wang, managing director of World Gold Council China.\n\nOnly 35% of those consumers surveyed said they intended to purchase gold jewelry in the ensuing 12 months, not far above the 25% and 27% reported for platinum and diamond purchases respectively.\n\n\"Demand in China for extremely rare fancy-colour diamonds is still robust ,\" says Efraim Zion, advisory-board chairman of the Fancy Colour Diamond Index, a non-profit organisation which promotes the diamond trade.\n\nIncreased demand for coloured gemstones, even as demand for gold falls, represents \"quite a noticeable change happening in China,\" agrees Chaoqiu He, founder of Hong Kong jeweller, Qiu Fine.\n\nAlso \"hindering\" China's gold jewelry market \"is a growing preference for designer, luxury fashion, and smartphones in urban areas,\" finds consultancy Research and Markets in their Global Gems and Jewelry Market 2017-2021 report.\n\nSimultaneously, \"the definition of what constitutes luxury is expanding beyond physical possessions to include experiences,\" reports the Financial Times.\n\n\"Luxury brands are now competing with the plastic surgeon and the luxury travel agent,\" it quotes Erwan Rambourg, global co-head of consumer and retail at HSBC in New York.\n\n\"For a similar price you can have a Louis Vuitton handbag, a facelift or a trip to the Maldives.\"\n\nThis view is backed by research from Agility Research & Strategy, listing the top three priorities of wealthy Asian millennials as \"health, travel and spending time with the family.\"\n\nIn response to changing consumer preferences, Hong Kong-listed Chow Tai Fook (HKG:1929) \u2013 the world's biggest jeweler by market capitalisation (US$7bn) \u2013 has recently introduced a 22k collection aimed at \"younger\" consumers and priced 'per piece' instead of be weight, the traditional pricing method across East Asia and the Indian sub-continent.\n\nLooking at the \"3D hard gold\" segment \u2013 made by a \"sophisticated technique\" which solves pure gold's \"softness\" and enables manufacturers to produce large, hollow pieces up to 24k \u2013 \"total fabrication volume has grown more than ten-fold in recent years,\" reports GFMS, as fabrication techniques evolve to \"enable more sophisticated designs.\"\n\nHowever, best estimates are that gold produced using this method still accounts for less than 10% of total gold sold by China's jewelry industry.", "output": "China's gold demand has hit a five-year low. This comes as gold prices have faced the largest drop in thirty years. Changing tastes of\u00a0China's millennials are to blame, says BullionVault's Sam Williams, as the industry faces increasing competition from alternatives to the precious metal.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk Flurry of TV sports packages as streaming services impact \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nOur free email updates are the best way to get headlines direct to your inbox\n\nThe way you watch football is about to get a whole lot cheaper.\n\nBT and Talk Talk have launched flash sales in a bid to combat the revamp of Sky Sports.\n\nSky launched a raft of new channels earlier this month in a bid to entice customers.\n\nViewers are now able to pick and choose which ones they want from \u00a318 per month.\n\nBT has responded by offering existing customers its BT Sport channels free for 12 months to stop fans switching to Sky.\n\nThe package includes BT's 4K UHD channels as well as Champions League and Europa League football.\n\nThe deal also includes Premier League and FA Cup games as well as the Ashes series in Australia.\n\nTalk Talk has responded with an offer for existing customers to add Sky Sports for just \u00a38.50 a month for 18 months.\n\nThe deal comes with no contract and can be cancelled at any time but does not include Sky Sports News or Sky Sports Mix, or the HD channels.\n\nWhy is there a price war?\n\nPremier League football begins this weekend and broadcasters are increasingly under pressure to secure subscriptions.\n\nSky Sports and BT Sport have the rights to Premier League games but streaming services such as Kodi means many have moved away from traditional methods of watching.\n\nNew streaming services from the likes of Amazon and iFollow, which has a deal with the Football League to show matches abroad, are also putting the traditional broadcasters under pressure.\n\nPay-per-game services such as NowTV that allow access to Sky Sports for \u00a36.99 per game have also increased the options available to fans.\n\nLast month Sky launched ten new channels to offer fans a better choice. Football will get two channels, there will be individual channels for both cricket and golf while a further new channel called Sky Sports Arena will show other sports such as rugby and tennis.\n\nAt present, new subscribers have to pay \u00a349.50 for the cheapest sports package whereas the cheapest new package will be \u00a318 - although the entire Sky Sports bundle will be considerably more costly.", "output": "TalkTalk and BT have launched deals ahead of the Premier League kick off to keep pace with a revamped Sky Sports, which recently added 10 new channels, and as streaming and pay-per-game services like Kodi, Amazon, iFollow and NowTV lure\u00a0viewers away from traditional ways of watching. TalkTalk customers can add\u00a0Sky Sports for \u00a38.50 a month for 18 months, which can\u00a0be cancelled at any time but\u00a0does not include HD channels, Sky Sports News or Sky Sports Mix. BT is offering customers its Sport channels free for 12 months, including 4K UHD channels and Champions League and Europa League football.\u00a0\n\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Payment in gold bullion made illegal to combat tax evasion schemes \n Companies will no longer be able to pay employees their salaries in gold bullion in the first use of a new law designed to combat \u201cmorally repugnant\u201d tax avoidance schemes.\n\nAn expert tax avoidance panel has ruled that paying employees in gold is a \u201ccontrived\u201d tax avoidance scheme designed to \u201cfrustrate the intent of parliament\u201d in cracking down on such practices.\n\nIt is the first application of the general anti-abuse rule (GAAR) panel since it was introduced by former chancellor George Osborne in 2013 as part of a package of measures to tackle tax evasion.\n\nThe ruling means HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will be able to take action against both companies and employees seeking to take advantage of the \u201cartificial and abusive\u201d gold bullion schemes.\n\nHMRC said accountants had created schemes designed to \u201cdisguise remuneration to individuals through paying them via a series of transactions buying and selling an asset, commonly gold bullion\u201d.\n\n\u201cThey have a theoretical obligation to pay the value of the asset to a trust at some point in the future \u2013 it is claimed that this obligation makes the payment non-taxable. However, in instances seen by HMRC so far, the individual has actually taken cash, thus supporting the HMRC view this is a payment of earnings.\u201d\n\nPeople used to be paid in all sorts of assets - hay, wine, Persian carpets, Turkish lira, gold bullion, platinum\n\nThe Revenue said it was delighted with the ruling. \u201cHMRC has already made clear that gold bullion avoidance schemes don\u2019t work and that we will challenge these schemes wherever possible,\u201d it said. \u201cToday\u2019s publication has wide-reaching impacts and reinforces the power of the GAAR in tackling abusive tax avoidance.\u201d\n\nHMRC was unable to say how many people had sought to have their salaries paid in gold.\n\nBill Longe, a tax expert at accountants RSM, said the gold bullion scheme dates back decades. \u201cPeople used to be paid in all sorts of assets \u2013 hay, wine, Persian carpets, Turkish lira, gold bullion, platinum \u2013 all these arrangements were freely available and a means of avoiding tax and National Insurance contributions on bonuses.\u201d\n\nOne gold bullion scheme seen by accountancy news website CCH Daily suggested that: \u201cOne option is for your company to pay your net of tax wages in \u2018money\u2019s worth\u2019, which means other than cash. For instance, we discussed the example that you could ask your company to pay you in gold sovereigns.\n\n\u201cYour company could buy a coin and use it as part payment of your wages, the value would be its cost and the balance of wages would be paid from the bank account. You could then sell your coin if you wanted to add to the money received from the company.\u201d\n\nThe GAAR panel said that schemes were a \u201cclear case of associated taxpayers seeking to frustrate the intent of parliament by identifying potential loopholes in complex interlinking anti-avoidance legislation and arranging a series of intricate and precise steps to exploit those loopholes so as to gain an unexpected and unintended tax \u2018win\u2019\u201d.\n\nThe panel said that on reviewing the schemes they found \u201cno reason for the steps to involve gold, other than for tax purposes\u201d.\n\n\u201cHad cash been used and gold not been involved, other than the saving of fees in relation to the purchase and sale of the gold, neither the company nor the employees would have been in a substantially different economic or commercial position \u2026 In our view the steps in this case involving gold are abnormal and contrived,\u201d it said.\n\n\u201cIt should not come as a surprise that we conclude the steps taken are not a reasonable course of action.\u201d|\n\nWhen he introduced the GAAR rule, Osborne said: \u201cMost wealthy people pay their taxes \u2013 and without them we could not begin to afford the public services on which the country depends. But under the last government, it was the boast of some high earners that, with the help of their accountants, they were paying less in tax than their cleaners. I regard tax evasion and, indeed, aggressive tax avoidance, as morally repugnant.\u201d", "output": "Payments made to employees using gold bullion will no longer be permitted under British law to tackle issues of tax avoidance. The ruling is the first from the general anti-abuse rule (GAAR) panel, created in 2013 to better handle tax evasion. HM Revenue and Customs will be able to take legal action against businesses and their employees that seek to abuse gold bullion schemes for tax purposes."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google gives advertisers more control over ad placing \n Google is refining the options it gives advertisers for excluding categories of sites from their display network campaigns on the Google Display Network.\n\nWith this change, several current site category exclusions are being eliminated or recategorized, and a couple of new ones are being added. As of last week, several exclusions are no longer available for new Display campaigns. In early 2018, all existing campaigns will be switched over to the new settings automatically.\n\nGoogle began showing an alert in the site category exclusions menu last week. Users with older campaigns may see the following options, shared on Twitter by digital marketer Steve Seeley:\n\nNewer campaigns show an updated version of the site category exclusion options.\n\nWhat is changing?\n\nThere are five primary changes, outlined in a support page:\n\nRoll-up: The \u201cCrime, police, and emergency,\u201d \u201c Military and international conflict\u201d and \u201cDeath and tragedy\u201d categories are being rolled up into the \u201cTragedy and conflict\u201d exclusion category.\n\nNew: There is a new category for \u201cSensitive social issues,\u201d which includes content \u201crelated to discrimination and identity relations, scandals and investigations, reproductive rights, firearms and weapons and more.\u201d\n\nNew: Another new category is \u201cContent suitable for families.\u201d Note that if you exclude \u201cGeneral audiences (DL-G),\u201d that will also exclude content suitable for families.\n\nRemoved: The gambling and error pages categories are being eliminated, since Google already restricts ads on those types of content.\n\nRemoved: The Forums, Social networks, Photo-sharing pages, and Video-sharing pages options are going away, too. Instead, Google recommends using \u201cDigital content labels\u201d such as Mature audiences and Content not yet labeled, and other \u201cSensitive content\u201d exclusions to restrict ads from showing on various types of user-generated and social content.\n\n(In the new AdWords interface, Site category options are called Content options.)\n\nWhy is Google making these changes?\n\nThe changes relate to the announcements earlier this spring and summer of changes Google is implementing in response to advertisers pulling their ads from YouTube after ads were found appearing next to extremist content.\n\nThis latest update is part of a larger update to simplify the management of exclusions and align Display and Video controls. An earlier update added the ability to set exclusions at the account level rather than just at the individual campaign level.\n\nA Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land that the company is recommending advertisers use the Digital Content and Sensitive Content Labels to achieve their \u201cbrand suitability\u201d goals rather than many of the individual category exclusions.\n\nWe have a running timeline related to Google and YouTube\u2019s brand safety announcements and updates on Marketing Land.\n\nNext steps\n\nGoogle recommends advertisers make adjustments to existing campaigns manually by the end of the year, ahead of the switch in 2018.", "output": "Google is changing its advertiser options on the Google Display Network, redefining site categories that can be excluded from display network campaigns. By early 2018, all existing campaigns will operate under the new settings. The changes include introducing the \u201cTragedy and conflict\u201d category, which will include \u201cCrime, police and emergency\u201d, \u201cMilitary and international conflict\u201d and \u201cDeath and tragedy\u201d; the creation of \u201cSensitive social issues\u201d and \u201cContent suitable for families\u201d; and the removal of gambling and error pages, as well as social network, photo-sharing and video-sharing options. The changes will help to tackle the accidental display of ads next to extremist content.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Duolingo raises further $25m alongside chatbot launches \n The funding will be used to grow its product development and accelerate its hiring, the company has said.\n\nThis latest injection comes as a Series E round of funding, led by Ohio-based venture capital firm Drive Capital, increasing total funds the company has raised since launching in 2012 to $108.3m.\n\nCurrently, Duolingo is working on developing its use of artificial intelligence, according to Sam Dalsimer, a spokesperson at Duolingo, after launching chatbots for conversational practice on the app.\n\n\u201cEventually we hope to replicate the quality of a human language tutor through the use of artificial intelligence\u201d\n\n\u201cEventually we hope to replicate the quality of a human language tutor through the use of artificial intelligence,\u201d he told The PIE News. \u201cThis will allow anyone to receive the highest quality education, regardless of their financial means.\u201d\n\nAnd due to popular demand, Duolingo launched a Japanese language course in May this year.\n\nThis development has set a precedent for more Asian languages to be available on the app, said Dalsimer. The company plans to roll out Mandarin later this year, followed by Korean at some point in the future.\n\n\u201cIt took a considerable amount of time and work to develop new ways to teach character-based languages,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cBut that work laid the foundation to teach other Asian languages. There is huge demand among our users and around the world for a way to learn these languages for free,\u201d Dalsimer added.\n\nChris Olsen, founding general partner at Drive Capital, the source of the $25m investment tranche, said Duolingo has \u201cset itself apart as the hands-down market leader in language education\u201d.\n\n\u201cDuolingo is fast becoming a mainstream consumer brand,\u201d he said.\n\nWith 200 million users, it has become the most downloaded education app worldwide.\n\nIt is also continuing to roll out its Duolingo English Test, which finalised its pilot phase before the 2016/17 admissions cycle. It has now been taken up by over 90 educational institutions globally.\n\nEnglish for Spanish speakers is overwhelmingly the app\u2019s most popular language, with 125 million users, followed by Spanish for English speakers, and French for English speakers with 97 million users and 57 million users, respectively.\n\nFollowing this latest injection of funds, the company has been valued at $700m.", "output": "Language learning app Duolingo has raised $25m in a series E funding round led by Drive Capital to develop its free courses and hire more staff, the company has said. Duolingo is preparing to launch courses for learning Mandarin and Korean. The company is also developing artificial intelligence for its recently launched chatbots in a bid to replicate the experience of a human language tutor. Since it was founded in 2012, Duolingo has raised $108.3m from investors. Duolingo has 200 million users worldwide.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fears Trump administration will overrule climate change report \n WASHINGTON \u2014 The average temperature in the United States has risen rapidly and drastically since 1980, and recent decades have been the warmest of the past 1,500 years, according to a sweeping federal climate change report awaiting approval by the Trump administration.\n\nThe draft report by scientists from 13 federal agencies concludes that Americans are feeling the effects of climate change right now. It directly contradicts claims by President Trump and members of his cabinet who say that the human contribution to climate change is uncertain, and that the ability to predict the effects is limited.\n\n\u201cEvidence for a changing climate abounds, from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the oceans,\u201d a draft of the report states. It was uploaded to a nonprofit internet digital library in January but received little attention until it was published by The New York Times.\n\nThe authors note that thousands of studies, conducted by tens of thousands of scientists, have documented climate changes on land and in the air. \u201cMany lines of evidence demonstrate that human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse (heat-trapping) gases, are primarily responsible for recent observed climate change,\u201d they wrote.", "output": "Scientific researchers from 13 federal agencies who authored a report on climate change fear it may not be approved for release by the Trump administration because it contradicts assertions by the president and his colleagues that humanity\u2019s contribution to climate change is uncertain. The report states that evidence of climate change \u201cabounds\u201d, and that thousands of studies have concurred that human activities \"are primarily responsible for recent\u00a0observed climate change\". The National Academy of Sciences has already approved the draft."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Assetz and LOGOS partner for logistics hubs across India \n BENGALURU: Property developer Assetz and LOGOS Group , a logistics real estate company, has entered into a partnership to build and manage specialised logistics and industrial parks in India.As part of the deal, Logos will invest $400 million in equity capital to set up the logistics platform, named LOGOS India to focus on the key logistics hubs of Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.\u201cLOGOS has significant experience delivering institutional quality logistics assets in the Asia-Pacific region. We are excited to bring that experience to India through LOGOS India,\u201d John Marsh, joint managing director, Logos said in a statement.Based in Sydney, LOGOS was started at the turn of the decade and has operations across Australia, China, Singapore and Indonesia. Its major investors include Australian bank Macquarie and Ivanhoe Cambridge, a real estate unit of CDPQ, Canada\u2019s second largest pension fund.LOGOS India is in process of raising capital from third-party investors for buying land and developing warehousing facilities over the next four to five years.\u201cAssetz has a long history of partnering to enhance the growth of our business. I am confident that this association with LOGOS will deliver a market leading warehousing and logistics business in India,\u201d Ben Salmon, co-founder and chief executive of Assetz, said.LOGOS\u2019 investment follows that of private equity firm Warbug Pincus , which entered into a $250 million joint venture with Bengaluru-based Embassy Group two years back.Ascendas-Singbridge has also entered into a partnership with realty firm Firstspace Realty while Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and Everstone Group\u2019s industrial and logistics real estate development platform was announced in May, showing the growing interest of private equity and pension funds in India\u2019s largely unorganised warehousing sector, which is expected to change after GST.", "output": "Property developer Assetz and logistics real estate firm LOGOS Group are working together to create dedicated logistics and industrial parks across India. There will be an equity capital investment of up to $400m to create the platform, called LOGOS India. The parks will be based major investment centres across the country, including Mumbai and Chennai. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Accenture uses AI to customise product placement in videos \n Accenture\u2019s R&D division has spent the last year developing breakthrough product placement technology that can seamlessly insert a brand into online video, including the ability to replace existing labelling.\n\nThe management consultancy, which has ambitions of further embedding itself into the media industry following several high-profile acquisitions in recent months, claims its latest offering could be a billion-dollar revenue generator within just five years; provided it can land deals with original content creators, like Netflix and Amazon.\n\nTalks with regulators are already underway and patents also currently pending, Accenture is now pitching its latest programmatic video tool as a solution to the \"inevitable\" negative impact of adblocking and positioning it to advertisers as a much-needed evolution of the well established practice of product placement, promising developments in audience evaluation.\n\nAfter the product was debuted at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, The Drum caught up with Alex Naressi, managing director at Accenture Interactive, to gauge how the latest offering will mean commercial tie-ups between content creators and brands are no longer interruptive.\n\nMore AI disruption\n\nThis is not the first time that inserting brands into programing during the post-production process has been attempted. For instance, Channel 4 tried it back in 2012 by manually inserting the PG Tips logo onto mugs of tea being drunk by contestants on Deal Or No Deal.\n\nHowever, Accenture has sought to disrupt the space by using advances in adtech and artificial intelligence (AI) as a way to rapidly scale and personalise the products and logos that might appear in content.\n\n\u201c[We wanted] to [be able to] monetise huge back catalogues of existing video content as well as offer content creators a way to place advertising in a non-disruptive way, open it to the marketplace and give them the benefit of a programmatic platform,\u201d said Naressi.\n\n\u201cWe believe this could be a billion-dollar opportunity. We\u2019re moving fast in this space, casting a very wide net and talking to clients across industries and [content owners] that have a huge back catalogue of content they are struggling to monetise or only monitise through interruptive ways [like pre-roll]. We\u2019ve filed several patents to protect the invention and create the prototype which we can now take to brands.\u201d\n\nCracking the nut\n\nAccenture sees this offering working in two ways. Chiefly that brands will buy product placement programmatically for the same reasons as they previously would \u2013 to get in front of a certain demographic all watching the same thing.\n\nHowever, it also sees it being used in a more granular way; specifically, as a more sophisticated retargeting tool. Say a person has been browsing online for a new Apple phone; they might then watch an episode of Orange is the New Black on Netflix and that same phone they\u2019d been looking at could appear on a character's table or in the form of an advert on a billboard in the background of a scene.\n\nThis is entirely theoretical as Accenture has yet to sign any deals with content creators, media agencies, or advertisers. It\u2019s still trying to navigate the thorny issue of how something like this is regulated. But it nonetheless claims the capabilities are there for it to be done and, more importantly, be done well.\n\n\u201cThe first breakthrough was changing the logo on a video of an aeroplane. It was hard to work with because it was very shaky and [due to] the position of the logo, so we had to consider a lot of unpredictable movements, trees passing by, and the blur that happens with the depth of field,\u201d continued Naressi.\n\n\u201cBut we managed to crack the nut and change the logo to just about anything,\u201d adding that it can also detect surfaces to put objects on \u201cas if it was there when it was filmed\u201d.\n\nTo get to the stage where this can happen in a matter of seconds, Accenture is using an artificial intelligence to scan scenes in a piece of content for where a brand could be placed.\n\n\u201cIt doesn\u2019t replace the human understanding but it helps if, for instance, the brand doesn\u2019t want to be associated with a particular setting or object.\u201d\n\nAnd despite the rumblings that Accenture is out to create its own programmatic platform for clients, it said this solution will be able to connect within existing programmatic networks within both agency and client walls.\n\nCounting eyeballs\n\nUnlike traditional product placement, whereby a brand will permanently appear in a piece of content at a fixed cost, Accenture is offering the ability to make both the duration of the placement and the cost flexible. And AI is helping to determine that cost; the human eye has a limited field of view and it has developed a way to determine the value of the placement based on how close it is to a viewer\u2019s centre of attention.\n\n\u201cInstead of eye tracking in the traditional way (40-50 people using eye tracking device and watching a video to create a heat map) what we\u2019ve done is train AI to behave like a human and simulate human attention. Long story short, this can be helpful in terms of trying to understand an impression. If there\u2019s a lot of attention in the centre, then a placement far from it will have little to no value and vice versa,\u201d explained Naressi.\n\n\u201cThis is a complete breakthrough and we have a patent pending just on this capability,\u201d\n\nCatching the white (and red) whale\n\nThe success of this will be predicated on Accenture\u2019s ability to convince content owners to give them access to their video catalogues \u2013 be it vloggers on YouTube or the likes of Amazon and Netflix, Accenture is casting a wide net to find those willing to hand over the keys.\n\n\u201cWe need to have the content owners on board. There are several ways to allow them to keep control of the placement; at a granular level they have to be able to filter and select which placement they\u2019re open to putting on their content. It\u2019s about altering their content and most content owners will want to have control of that. So, we\u2019re offing some flexibility,\u201d said Naressi.\n\nHe went on to reveal that Netflix \u201cwas the one that popped up in our heads months ago\u201d as an ideal client as it\u2019s in the position of being both owner and distributer of content. It also has a catalogue of films and TV series from its early experiments with original programming when product placement might not have been an option that Naressi suggests is ripe for monitisation.\n\n\u201cIt could be a completely new business model for Netflix. It could have a free version and premium, and the free would have this placement. The spectrum is wide in terms of where we can take it,\" he said.\n\nAs new users to Amazon Prime Video and Netflix plateau, how to more effectively monitise existing subscribers may lead it to consider such pitches from Accenture. Signing up other content owners won\u2019t be so easy. As one agency exec pointed out; if it wants to work with YouTubers, it will need to ink a deal with Google and convince the tech giant of the revenue gains that would make it worthwhile.\n\nNaressi declined to go into detail about the advertisers it was approaching, but reiterated it\u2019s approaching brands across industries, including FMGC, sports, telco sectors. \u201cThere are a lot of conversations happening but we\u2019re still at an early stage,\u201d he said.\n\nAside from finding the right partners, the next biggest barrier to success is regulation. Admitting that it could take nearly a decade until it really scales, Accenture claimed to be working with regulators right now to ensure the processes are in place to protect privacy and signpost content accordingly.\n\n\u201cThis is really sitting at the intersection of traditional product placement \u2013 which is very mature industry and has a lot of regulation already \u2013 and programmatic. It\u2019s probably too early to say as it\u2019s a completely new channel so we must work with the regulators to essentially make it happen in the best way possible,\" Naressi said.\n\n\"From my perspective, this will come gradually to ensure we, for example, make it clear that the content will include targeting or retargeting and that we offer a way to opt out of it. Ultimately I think that\u2019s it\u2019s probably too early to say.\u201d\n\nBut do marketers really need it?\n\nWhile talk of pending patents and revolutionising a predominantly analogue sector of marketing make for an intriguing pitch, the reality for many agency execs The Drum spoke with is that this kind of tool simply isn\u2019t solving an immediate problem of evaluation that many advertisers already using product placement are faced with.\n\nMeanwhile, the issue of effective measurement and brand safety still exist in other mediums where programmatic technology is used and will need to be addressed fully by Accenture if it's to convince the industry this is worth testing.\n\n\u201cProduct placement on TV shows isn\u2019t done hugely in the UK because it\u2019s so regulated but, more pertinently, because no one has really worked out how to put a value on it from an advertiser point of view. It\u2019s difficult to know what it gives to an advertiser\u2019s communication plan because it\u2019s so hard to measure,\u201d said Dan Keat, director of investment at m/SIX.\n\n\u201cMy concerns with Accenture are that if it\u2019s difficult to measure [product placement] on something with the scale of terrestrial TV, what would be the incentive for advertisers to do it on a more micro, targeted level? In theory, it\u2019s a good idea but just because the tech is good doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s going to deliver a strong part of a communications plan and in turn deliver business results.\u201d\n\nIt was a sentiment echoed by Essence managing director Mark Syal, who said quite simply that \u201cthere is no killer need for this\u201d as demonstrated by the limited use of technology already available that can place products into content post-edit.\n\n\u201cFor expensive, on-off deals, brands spend a lot of time considering the quality of content and the environment they\u2019ll end up in. If it\u2019s a series of micro-deals, you need the scale to aggregate and then how to you predict the environment you\u2019ll end up in?,\" Syal asked.\n\n\"There are brand safety issues now with programmatic advertising and we have a tonne of companies monitoring this for [advertisers]. This is a whole new untested system based on an AI-algorithm, which sounds a bit vague, but maybe [Accenture] have cracked it.\u201d\n\nLikewise, Nnamdi David, media strategy director, at MullenLowe Mediahub said the jury was out. \u201cThe fact is that product placement while often effective (many brands have done it successfully for years) the value is largely subjective and the process is irregular, often needing clearance from a number of stakeholders. Simplifying and automating to an extent will bring benefits, however the nuanced context of the placement is a job every advertiser would want human judgement on,\u201d David suggested.\n\n\u201cA watch out for us, would be to ensure that the advertiser or the agency can create controls over the context and behaviour of the buy. Whilst this may affect scalability, we believe it\u2019s imperative that a brand is maximised within the format in order to truly gain that unfair share of attention.\u201d\n\nAfter revealing the technology in Cannes, Accenture is planning to further roadshow its technology at the Dmexco trade show scheduled to take place in Germany in September.", "output": "Accenture has developed an AI-based tool that can place branded products into online video without disruption, giving advertisers the capacity to replace extant branding. The company believes the technology will bring in billions within just five years, if agreements with companies like Amazon and Netflix can be secured. The programmatic video tool is being hailed as the next step in the evolution of product placement, providing a way around dwindling revenues affected by adblocking.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ASOS launches visual search technology for iPhone users \n \n\nOnline fashion retailer ASOS has launched new visual search technology within its iOS app, rolling the feature out to all its UK customers. iPhone users will now be able to use the smartphone app to instantly search through 85,000 products using just a photo.\n\nCustomers will be able to use any image from their phone camera roll to search through ASOS\u2019 range, including pictures of friends, photos from magazines or screenshots from social media. The visual search tool will appear as a camera icon within the app\u2019s search bar, and also enables users to quickly snap an item of clothing they see when they\u2019re out and about to look for it on ASOS.\n\nASOS was founded in 2000, and initially focused on enabling customers to buy items of clothing they had seen on television and in films, but quickly evolved into one of the world\u2019s leading fashion retailers. The company now employs a tech team of 900 people, with plans to add 200 more next year.\n\nThe firm has embraced mobile as it has grown, and today sees 80 per cent of UK traffic and 70 per cent of orders arrive via a mobile device. The iOS app is one of the highest-rated shopping apps in the Apple app store, and customers average 80 minutes per month spent browsing within it.\n\n\u201cWe know this is where our customers are and it\u2019s how they interact with us every day, so we are always looking for ways that are mobile native to make their experience even better,\u201d said Andy Berks, digital product director at ASOS.\n\n\u201cEver since ASOS was founded, we have been driven by using innovation to delight our customers and improve their lives in little ways. But our technology has always been in their service, and never just for its own sake. Our latest tech, visual search, is a case in point: inspiration can strike you anywhere and at any time \u2013 whether it\u2019s a photo in a magazine, scrolling through an Instagram feed or even on a local street corner.\n\n\u201cNow, with just a couple of taps of their mobile device, ASOS customers can capture that fleeting moment and instantly search our 85,000 product lines to find the item that\u2019s inspired them \u2013 or similar \u2013 at just the right time.\u201d\n\nASOS\u2019 focus on technology will continue, with its developers strengthening its AI-powered recommendation engine and holding regular internal hackathons to develop new customer-centred innovations. An Android version of the visual search tool is planned for rollout in the UK soon.\n\nDon\u2019t 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": "ASOS, the online fashion retailer is providing iPhone users in the UK with a visual search option that will use a single photograph to parse 85,000 items. The app will scan the image, search its database for clothes matching those worn in the picture, and direct customers to where they can buy the items. Any image from a phone\u2019s gallery can be used to search the\u00a0catalogue. 80% of the company\u2019s UK traffic is generated through mobile, with 70% of orders made on a mobile device.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Microsoft releases framework for corporate blockchain use \n Source: Micorosft\n\nMicrosoft Corp. on Thursday announced the Coco Framework, a first-of-its-kind innovation that will advance enterprise adoption of blockchain technology.\n\nCurrent blockchain protocol technology requires complicated development techniques to meet the operational and security needs of enterprises. The Coco Framework reduces this complexity, and when integrated with blockchain networks addresses critical needs for commercial adoption like high-transaction speed, distributed governance and confidentiality. Providing these foundational capabilities opens up more complex, real-world blockchain scenarios across industries \u2014 like financial services, supply chain and logistics, healthcare and retail \u2014 further proving blockchain\u2019s potential to digitally transform business.\n\n\n\n\u201cBlockchain is a transformational technology with the ability to significantly reduce the friction of doing business,\u201d said Mark Russinovich, chief technology officer of Azure at Microsoft. \u201cMicrosoft is committed to bringing blockchain to the enterprise. We have listened to the needs of our customers and the blockchain community and are bringing foundational functionality with the Coco Framework. Through an innovative combination of advanced algorithms and trusted execution environments (TEEs), like Intel\u2019s Software Guard Extensions (SGX) or Windows Virtual Secure Mode (VSM), we believe this takes the next step toward making blockchain ready for business.\u201d\n\n\n\nWhen integrated with a blockchain network, key benefits of the Coco Framework include these:\n\n\n\nTransaction speeds of more than 1,600 transactions per second\n\nEasily managed data confidentiality without sacrificing performance\n\nA comprehensive, industry-first distributed governance model for blockchain networks that establishes a network constitution and allows members to vote on all terms and conditions governing the consortium and the blockchain software system\n\n\n\n\u201cWe are thrilled to work with Microsoft to bring blockchain to the enterprise,\u201d said Rick Echevarria, vice president, Software and Services Group and General Manager, Platforms Security Division at Intel. \u201cOur mutual customers are excited by the potential of blockchain. Intel is committed to accelerating the value of blockchains powered by Azure on Intel hardware, by improving the scalability, privacy and security of the solutions based on our technologies.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe Coco Framework by design will be compatible with any ledger protocol and can operate in the cloud and on premises, on any operating system and hypervisor that supports a compatible TEE. Initial Coco Framework implementations will include R3 Corda, Intel Hyperledger Sawtooth, J.P. Morgan Quorum, and Ethereum.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe R3 Corda platform was built for enterprises. We designed it with the financial industry from the ground up to solve real business problems, but we also knew it had to be deployable and manageable in today\u2019s complex IT landscape,\u201d said David E. Rutter, CEO of R3. \u201cNo other distributed ledger technology platform is as interoperable or easily integrated, and partnering with Microsoft is another milestone in our mission to facilitate a world of frictionless commerce.\u201d\n\n\n\nA technical white paper and demonstration are available today for business leaders and developers looking to learn more about the Coco Framework. Microsoft will launch the framework on GitHub in 2018 as an open source project and will work with customers and partners, as well as the blockchain technical and business communities, to continue advancing foundational blockchain technology.", "output": "Microsoft has developed the Coco Framework, an innovation aimed at making blockchain ready for businesses. Set to be released as an open-source project on Github in 2018, the Coco Framework offers speeds of more than 1,600 transactions per\u00a0second, an industry-first distributed governance model and easily managed data confidentiality. In addition, Microsoft said it can be integrated with any ledger supporting compatible trusted execution environments.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Connecticut multi-listing services merge to cover 98% of homes \n This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate\n\nThe phones were abuzz on a recent morning at the Norwalk offices of the newly rebranded SmartMLS headquarters. Staff members fielded calls from real estate agents across the state who are adjusting to the new platform that, for the first time, features the majority of Connecticut\u2019s home listings all in one place.\n\nIt\u2019s been a little more than a week since the new platform debuted and, aside from a few growing pains, it\u2019s been a clean transition combining the two companies that together back the majority of the state\u2019s real estate community, said SmartMLS co-CEO Kathy Elson.\n\nThe merger that resulted in SmartMLS, which has offices in Norwalk and Wallingford where its predecessor companies were based, was announced this spring after just a few months of negotiations. \u201cWe did this in record time,\u201d SmartMLS President Michael Barbaro said in an interview.\n\nThe merger represents the industry\u2019s attempt to stay relevant as home buyers and sellers increasingly look to online resources such as Trulia and Zillow for consolidated sets of information during their home searches, SmartMLS leadership said.\n\n\u201cConsumers demand one-stop shopping, and in almost every other industry that\u2019s available,\u201d Barbaro said. \u201cI believe we\u2019ve answered consumer demand. Consumers want to be able to shop in a broad manner, and we\u2019ve given them what they want with one complete data set.\u201d\n\nSmartMLS includes almost all home listings in the state, except for some in Darien, Greenwich and New Canaan, which operate independent listing services for their agents. The information is only accessible by member Realtors.\n\nA long time coming\n\nRealtors who want to help clients buy or sell homes outside of those three communities have all transitioned to SmartMLS, which is the merged operations of the Greater Fairfield County CMLS and The Connecticut Multiple Listing Service. SmartMLS covers all eight Connecticut counties, roughly 96 percent of the state\u2019s Realtors and between 95 and 98 percent of home listings in the state, Barbaro said.\n\nPrior to the merger, real estate agents had to choose to become a member and pay fees to either or both of the organizations to see the home listing associated with each.\n\n\u201cThis makes Realtors\u2019 lives easier,\u201d Elson said, adding that discussions first rose 10 to 12 years ago. \u201cIt\u2019s the best thing for Connecticut real estate.\u201d\n\nWithin the real estate community, the consolidation has been a long time coming, according to Cynthia Hughes, the secretary of the Northern Fairfield County Association of Realtors and an agent with Coldwell Banker in Danbury.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s almost like a piece of history because people have been wanting this for a long time. This is amazing - it\u2019s the real deal,\u201d Hughes said. \u201cThe MLS is the main industry tool used by Realtors. It\u2019s the only true, definitive database of properties on the market.\u201d\n\nThe consolidated database will be more cost-effective and efficient, she added, as agents who were previously a member of both don\u2019t have to pay fees to two entities.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m licensed to sell and show homes anywhere in Connecticut, from Danbury to Willimantic, but my MLS searches had been limited. I\u2019d have to join the other MLS services in order to see the homes,\u201d she said.\n\nOthers echoed Hughes\u2019 positive outlook. \u201cI like being able to have access to the rest of the state now,\u201d said Tammy Felenstein, who\u2019s the Stamford-based executive director of sales for Halstead Real Estate. \u201cIt gives us more information and more accurate information.\u201d\n\nSetting an example\n\nSmartMLS markets itself as ranking among the nation\u2019s 20 largest multiple listing services by membership. Across the country, there\u2019s a trend of consolidation in the real estate industry which is likely to continue.\n\n\u201cThe trend in the industry is to eliminate borders,\u201d Elson said, adding the \u201cdoor is open\u201d for Darien, New Canaan and Greenwich if they opt to join.\n\nPeg Koellmer, owner of Realty Seven in Wilton and president of the Mid Fairfield County Association of Realtors based in Westport, expressed hope that eventually all three will consider the option.\n\nIn Greenwich, at least, that\u2019s not looking likely. In December, the Greenwich Association of Realtors, which operates the town\u2019s MLS, discussed the option but \u201cthere was no inclination to do anything at that time, said Theresa Hatton, GAR executive vice president.\n\nSince the SmartMLS merger was announced, Greenwich Realtors have contacted Hatton to ensure they would not be participating, she said.\n\n\u201cOur brokerages are not the same brokerages that are found across the state, she said. \u201cOurs are mostly New York City-based, so when we talk to them, they didn\u2019t care what the rest of state was doing because it doesn\u2019t affect them so much.\u201d\n\nHome buyers seldom look for properties in both Greenwich and places like New Haven or Groton, Hatton said, so the larger data set provided by SmartMLS is irrelevant to GAR members.\n\nReal estate transacts differently here than in most other parts of the state,\u201d she said, adding that Greenwich would consider a merger between metro New York City markets, she said.\n\nIn the future, MLS mergers may go beyond state borders and encompass regions, Barbaro said.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s definitely an appetite for that. Though locales may prevent that. But, in my opinion, that\u2019s the direction we\u2019re heading,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re setting an example for the rest of the country in Connecticut and we hope they\u2019ll follow. Consumers desire and expect it.\u201d\n\n\u2014 Includes reporting by Chris Bosak, Paul Schott and Alexander Soule.\n\nContact the writer at mbennett@greenwichtime.com; Twitter @Macaela_", "output": "Real estate platform SmartMLS, created from the merger of the Greater Fairfield County CMLS and the Connecticut Multiple Listing Service, has begun operations, covering all eight counties in Connecticut, and between 95% and 98% of home listings in the state, according to SmartMLS's president, Michael Barbaro. The platform, which estate agents pay a fee to access, offers a one-stop shop for consumers and is intended to make life easier for estate agents by unifying the two services.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Disney acquires BAMTech, aims to launch sports streaming in 2018 \n The Walt Disney Company announced today that it has agreed to acquire majority ownership of BAMTech, LLC and will launch its ESPN-branded multi-sport video streaming service in early 2018, followed by a new Disney-branded direct-to-consumer streaming service in 2019.\n\nUnder terms of the transaction, Disney will pay $1.58 billion to acquire an additional 42% stake in BAMTech\u2014a global leader in direct-to-consumer streaming technology and marketing services, data analytics, and commerce management\u2014from MLBAM, the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball. Disney previously acquired a 33% stake in BAMTech under an agreement that included an option to acquire a majority stake over several years, and today\u2019s announcement marks an acceleration of that timetable for controlling ownership.\n\n\u201cThe media landscape is increasingly defined by direct relationships between content creators and consumers, and our control of BAMTech\u2019s full array of innovative technology will give us the power to forge those connections, along with the flexibility to quickly adapt to shifts in the market,\u201d said Robert A. Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company. \u201cThis acquisition and the launch of our direct-to-consumer services mark an entirely new growth strategy for the Company, one that takes advantage of the incredible opportunity that changing technology provides us to leverage the strength of our great brands.\u201d\n\nThe ESPN-branded multi-sport service will offer a robust array of sports programming, featuring approximately 10,000 live regional, national, and international games and events a year, including Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, Grand Slam tennis, and college sports. Individual sport packages will also be available for purchase, including MLB.TV, NHL.TV and MLS Live.\n\nThe new service will be accessed through an enhanced version of the current ESPN app. In addition to the multi-sport service, the ESPN app will include the news, highlights, and scores that fans enjoy today. Consumers who are pay TV subscribers will also be able to access the ESPN television networks in the same app on an authenticated basis. For many sports fans, this app will become the premier digital destination for all their sports content.\n\nThe new Disney-branded service will become the exclusive home in the U.S. for subscription-video-on-demand viewing of the newest live action and animated movies from Disney and Pixar, beginning with the 2019 theatrical slate, which includes Toy Story 4, the sequel to Frozen, and The Lion King from Disney live-action, along with other highly anticipated movies. Disney will also make a significant investment in an annual slate of original movies, TV shows, short-form content and other Disney-branded exclusives for the service. Additionally, the service will feature a vast collection of library content, including Disney and Pixar movies and Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD television programming.\n\nWith this strategic shift, Disney will end its distribution agreement with Netflix for subscription streaming of new releases, beginning with the 2019 calendar year theatrical slate.\n\nPlans are for the Disney and ESPN streaming services to be available for purchase directly from Disney and ESPN, in app stores, and from authorized MVPDs.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re very proud of the content distribution innovations driven by MLBAM and BAMTech over the past 15 years,\u201d said Commissioner of Baseball Robert D. Manfred, Jr. \u201cMajor League Baseball will continue to work with Disney and ESPN to further grow BAMTech as it breaks new ground in technologies for consumers to access entertainment and sports programming.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis is an exciting validation of our team, its achievements and the customer-centric platform it\u2019s built,\u201d said Michael Paull, Chief Executive Officer of BAMTech. \u201cYet, we\u2019ve merely scratched the surface of what can be accomplished in a future where we combine Disney and ESPN\u2019s world-class IP and our proprietary direct-to-consumer ecosystem.\u201d\n\nThe BAMTech transaction is subject to regulatory approval, and upon closing, Mr. Iger will serve as Chairman of the BAMTech Board. MLBAM and NHL will continue as minority stakeholders in BAMTech, with seats on the Board. Mr. Paull will report to Kevin A. Mayer, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, The Walt Disney Company. John Skipper, ESPN President and Co-Chairman, Disney Media Networks, will manage the new ESPN-branded service.\n\nThe BAMTech transaction is expected to be modestly dilutive to Disney\u2019s earnings per share for two years. Additional dilution as the Company implements its direct-to-consumer strategy will be dependent on the Company\u2019s licensing approach and the level of investment in original programming.", "output": "The Walt Disney Company is buying a majority stake of BAMTech, a direct-to-consumer streaming tech firm. In 2018, Disney plans to offer a video streaming service for sports under the ESPN brand. The company will also premiere a streaming platform\u00a0in 2019, featuring its most popular animated films. Having already purchased a 33% stake in BAMTech, Disney only has to buy a 42% stake to take control of the firm. The deal\u00a0will cost Disney $1.58bn.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pizza Hut focusing on digital delivery tech \n Ordering pizza doesn\u2019t mean calling Pizza Hut anymore. You can go to the company\u2019s website or download an app, then track your delivery. You can speak your order to Amazon Echo by saying, \u201cAlexa, ask Pizza Hut for a pizza.\u201d You\u2019ll soon able to do the same on Google Home.\n\nThe Yum! Brands-owned pizza chain with 13,000 restaurants in 130 countries has been playing tech catch-up at a time when its competitors like Domino\u2019s consider themselves more like e-commerce companies than fast-food chains.\n\n\u201cWe are always a pizza company, but we view tech as a way to help customers get better pizza,\u201d said Chris Dargis, chief e-commerce officer for Pizza Hut U.S. \u201cPizza Hut understands that digital, especially mobile, is where consumers are, and we want to step up the game around that.\u201d\n\nDargis has hired web developers, engineers, user experience designers and product managers. Today, tech is Pizza Hut\u2019s biggest department, with more than 200 full-time employees, roughly double its size in November.\n\nThis week, Pizza Hut introduced its first U.S. loyalty program that rewards online customers with points for every dollar spent on food. This May, the company developed a pizza-delivery tracker that automatically sends consumers texts when their orders are received, their pizzas are being made and their orders are on their way. In April, Pizza Hut made its pizza builder \u2014 a desktop and mobile tool that lets you customize pies by size, sauce, cheese and toppings \u2014 faster and more intuitive. In December, Pizza Hut also made it possible for people to order on Amazon\u2019s home device Echo.\n\nLisa White, associate editor for Restaurant Business, said fast-food takeout and delivery has grown sharply in the past three years, especially among younger people. Domino\u2019s was early in bringing technology to ordering, and Pizza Hut is moving fast to give consumers multiple ways to place orders, she said.\n\n\u201cPizza Hut is offering not only customization with their food, but customization in how you order it, whether it be through Facebook, a mobile app or tracking your order online,\u201d said White.\n\nThese digital efforts come as Pizza Hut\u2019s business is struggling. In the first two quarters of this year, Yum! Brands reported same-store sales losses for Pizza Hut while its two other restaurant brands, Taco Bell and KFC, grew. David Gibbs, president and CFO for Yum! Brands, said in an earnings call in May that the company would spend around $130 million in 2018 on the chain\u2019s equipment, delivery technology, e-commerce and advertising.\n\nPizza Hut spent around $237 million on paid media last year, compared to $201 million in 2015, according to Kantar Media, and Yum! Brands said it would increase Pizza Hut\u2019s media spend by $25 million for the rest of this year and $12.5 million for 2018, Gibbs said in the earnings call last month.\n\nTo transform its business, the Plano, Texas-based Pizza Hut must compete with other tech firms, financial institutions and local startups for talent. Dargis said the company has a strong work culture and growth potential in its favor.\n\n\u201cWhen it comes to digital, the pizza category that requires quick delivery outpaces other categories,\u201d he said. \u201cSo if you want to work for a consumer brand, pizza is a great vertical.\u201d", "output": "Pizza Hut is turning to technology to help stop a sales decline. The pizza chain has recruited developers, UI designers and engineers to work on its digital platform, doubling the size of its tech department in under a year. Recently, Pizza Hut has launched an online loyalty programme, rolled out delivery trackers for customers, streamlined its pizza builder web tool and enabled users of Amazon Echo devices to place orders with them. \"Pizza Hut is offering not only customisation with their food, but customisation in how you order it\", said\u00a0Lisa White, associate editor for Restaurant Business.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Imaging technique produces 3D scans of live embryos \n When imaging histology samples using a microscope at high resolution, 3D scans are often acquired by shining a flat beam of light through the target volume. While this has allowed for a multitude of discoveries, the technique still suffers greatly from the light scattering through the sample and washing out the sharpness of the image. This is most noticeable in thicker specimens that require light to travel through a lot of material. Tagging markers can be used to overcome some of this fuzziness, but they are often incompatible with the future viability of a living sample. Now researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a new imaging technique that significantly improves the quality of such microscopy images by controlling and taking into account the scattering of the light.\n\nDubbed as gradient light interference microscopy (GLIM), the technology modulates the depth of the sample through which the light beam is allowed to penetrate through. Light is passed through at different intensities, effectively lighting up different volumes of the sample. The sample is also rotated to allow the scanning system to image it from different angles. All this data is then compiled and a 3D rendering is generated by a computer.\n\nTo wow the world with the new capability, the Illinois researchers were able to peer into a live embryo of a cow at high resolution and without harming the organism.\n\nA bit about the technology according to a study abstract in Nature Communications:\n\nGLIM exploits a special case of low-coherence interferometry to extract phase information from the specimen, which in turn can be used to measure cell mass, volume, surface area, and their evolutions in time. Because it combines multiple intensity images that correspond to controlled phase shifts between two interfering waves, gradient light interference microscopy is capable of suppressing the incoherent background due to multiple scattering.\n\nStudy in Nature Communications: Gradient light interference microscopy for 3D imaging of unlabeled specimens\u2026\n\nVia: University of Illinois\u2026", "output": "Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a method to improve the quality of microscopy images by allowing for the scattering of light, and tested it by scanning a live embryo, according to Nature Communications. Using gradient light interference microscopy (GLIM), the team was able to suppress light scattering by passing it through a sample at different intensities, before using the data to build up a 3D image. The researchers demonstrated GLIM's abilities by examining a cow foetus at high resolution, without harming the animal in any way.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Great British Chefs uses research to lift\u00a0branded content sales \n The branded-content supply has become crowded. So U.K. foodie site Great British Chefs is trying to stand out by offering in-depth audience research.\n\nThe site, featuring articles and recipes by its editorial staff and network of Michelin-star chefs, has always hosted some form of branded content since its launch in 2010. It boasts an above-average 80 percent renewal rate for campaigns with brands, which typically last about 12 months with seasonal peaks. According to branded-content platform Polar, the majority of publishers see renewal rates between 25 and 50 percent.\n\nGreat British Chefs started taking consumer research more seriously 12 months ago after a number of ad campaigns revealed a disconnect between what brands thought they knew about their audience and audience behavior.\n\nThe publisher regularly surveys its readers on their food-buying and cooking habits and compares them to the rest of the country with third-party research. For starters, the research found that while 15.5 percent of the U.K. classifies themselves as committed foodies, fully 59 percent of the publisher\u2019s audience falls into this category. With key advertisers, Great British Chefs tracks specific aspects of its audience more regularly and maps this onto a national picture.\n\nGreat British Chefs\u2019 branded-content sales have increased more than 35 percent this year, largely thanks to this research. The publisher said this research helped it win a \u00a3200,000 ($260,000) campaign last year, its biggest to date. It expects to make \u00a32 million ($2.6 million) in 2017, about three-quarters of it coming from branded-content deals.\n\n\u201cWe start with deep insight into a segment of U.K. consumers, help brands understand which area is most relevant, what content consumers are looking for, then design the content to trigger the right engagement for audiences,\u201d said Ollie Lloyd, Great British Chefs founder and former Unilever brand marketer.\n\nFor pasta brand Barilla, Great British Chefs surveyed readers on the ingredients in their cupboards and how often they cook with them. The publisher then came up with easy weekday pasta recipes, articles and how-to videos about cooking with rarely used ingredients, like rabbit. Ad placements also supplemented the campaign.\n\nTen months after working with Barilla, which re-entered the U.K. market last year, Great British Chefs found 11 percent of its audience buys the brand regularly, compared to 4 percent at the national level.\n\n\u201cFor publishers who want deep strategic partnerships with brands, the ambition cannot just be click-through rates,\u201d said Lloyd. \u201cIf you claim to own an audience, you need show movement, whether that\u2019s purchase, equity or awareness.\u201d\n\nGreat British Chefs joins other publishers that have formalized their audience research work, like Vice and Quartz.\n\n\u201cIt opens up deals, then secures the right conversation. It builds loyalty and helps us secure renewals,\u201d said Lloyd.\n\nImage courtesy of Great British Chefs via Facebook", "output": "Food site Great British Chefs has increased branded content sales by more than 35% this year after using research to develop a deeper understanding of its audience. The company regularly surveys its readers, enabling brands such as Barilla to sell its products to 11% of the Great British Chefs audience, compared with 4% nationally. \"We start with deep insight into a segment of UK consumers, help brands understand which area is most relevant, then design the content to trigger the right engagement for audiences,\u201d said Ollie Lloyd, the site's founder and a former Unilever brand marketer.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "European ad industry to create viewability standard \n 38 Shares Share\n\nThe vexed question of who, if anyone, sees online ads has maybe moved on a bit. The European Viewability Steering Group (EVSG), a cross-industry body originally formed towards the end of 2015 by the Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe (IAB Europe), the European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) and the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), has announced the launch of a supposedly comprehensive European Viewability Certification Framework.\n\nThis includes the publication of the first set of European Viewability Measurement Principles and will soon be followed by the launch of a Request for Proposals (RFP) process to identify suitable auditors across the region. Which is a nice job for someone.\n\nThe Measurement Principles have been created to help reduce discrepancies in the data provided by different viewability measurement tools.\n\nIts definition of a viewable impression is:\n\nA served ad impression can be classified as a viewable impression if the ad was contained in the viewable space of the browser window, on an infocus browser tab, based on pre-established criteria such as the percent of ad pixels within the viewable space and the length of time the ad is in the viewable space of the browser. It is recognised that an \u2018opportunity to see\u2019 the ad exists with a viewable ad impression, which may or may not be the case with a served ad impression.\n\nScreen Media Daily\n\nClear so far? Maybe. You\u2019ll note there\u2019s no mention of the minimum time spent viewing the ad, not yet anyway. And, rather crucially, this only pertains to desktops although a version for mobiles is promised later in the year.\n\nEACA Media Agencies Council chair Jon Chase says: \u201cEACA are committed to helping shape and implement the drive towards improved viewability measurement standards across Europe and beyond. The ultimate objective being to establish a fully viewable digital ad environment. Whilst other challenges in the digital advertising ecosystem also require increased focus, reducing data discrepancies between the different viewability tools is a crucial step towards enhanced accountability and trust in digital media metrics.\u201d\n\nIAB Europe\u2019s Alison Fennah says: \u201cWith digital ad spend surpassing \u20ac40bn it\u2019s ever more critical to reinforce the quality of the digital advertising environment to underpin the delivery of free content. Ensuring that viewable impressions are measured correctly and consistently is a key first step. This initiative is designed to enable Europe\u2019s varied markets to collaborate and create regional standards and deliver local growth.\u201d\n\nWFA global head of marketing services Rob Dreblow says: \u201cWhilst advertisers investing online often work with their own definitions of a viewable impression, it is critical to have a baseline of quality in terms of how to measure a genuine opportunity to see. Building on the excellent work in the US and UK, we hope this initiative will serve to help markets around the world reduce discrepancies and improve the quality of viewability measurement as this project develops into global guidance.\u201d\n\nLet\u2019s hope so. \u20ac40bn is an awful lot of money to disappear (possibly) down an online drain. Online advertising has helped to build some of the world\u2019s biggest companies \u2013 Facebook and google for example \u2013 and it\u2019s beyond odd that nobody (apart from them) seems to know what they\u2019re selling.", "output": "The European Viewability Steering Group, an organisation for the regulation of advertising viewability, has launched the European Viewability Certification Framework, and a first set of measurement principles. It states a viewable impression is an \"ad contained in the viewable space of the browser window, on an in-focus browser tab, based on pre-established criteria such as the percent of ad pixels within the viewable space and the length of time the ad is in the viewable space of the browser\". However, it does not specify length of time viewed, and only applies to desktops.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ThirdEye unveils AR smartglasses for education \n Augmented Reality\n\nThirdEye Debuts 3-Screen AR System for Education\n\nEducation will shortly have a new option in the augmented reality (AR) segment. A company that has built its reputation in the defense industry is releasing a bundle that includes AR smartglasses and an app that allows for remote instruction. ThirdEye's X1 \"smartglass\" is a headset that allows the wearer to experience a 1,280 x 720 pixel binocular display that is equivalent to viewing a 90-inch screen at 10 feet.\n\nCoupled with the company's enterprise application, users can receive instruction through a three-screen view. When wearers look straight ahead, the view is clear; they see what's in front of them. With a turn to the left, wearers view a video screen allowing them to communicate with and view a remote person. With a turn to the right, users see \"data\" screens, displaying instruction. For example, if somebody is repairing a piece of equipment, he or she can share the view with a remote person, communicate with that individual and then view a diagram with the part circled that needs to be dealt with next in the process.\n\nIn the case of education, ThirdEye suggested that the glasses can be programmed to guide a student across campus, to help identify components in a textbook illustration or to instruct virtual operations such as medical procedures. Currently, the company is developing custom education AR content \u2014 including 3D AR renderings of course curriculum and interactive campus tours where AR information is overlaid onto the user's point of view.\n\nCurrently, the company is taking pre-order contact information. The shipping date and pricing haven't been announced.", "output": "Tech firm ThirdEye has developed augmented reality glasses which could be used in education. The X1 offers\u00a0unimpaired vision when the wearer looks straight ahead, but turning the head allows video communications or access to data. ThirdEye suggested the glasses could be programmed to instruct virtual surgical procedures or enable a student to navigate a campus. No release dates or pricing details for the X1 have been announced.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI developed to spot and track student plagiarism \n A few years back, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling penned a detective novel titled The Cuckoo\u2019s Calling under the pen name Robert Galbraith, choosing to conceal her own identity. When people started to notice a couple of stylistic similarities between the \u201ctwo\u201d authors, experts were called in to investigate \u2014 in the form of some smart AI software. Its conclusion? That Rowling was indeed Galbraith, and the author of the book in question. She subsequently revealed her ploy online.\n\nJump forward to 2017, and a publicly available AI application called Emma Identity promises to do the same thing for whoever needs it. It\u2019s the world\u2019s first web application capable of determining the authorship of a particular text based on a person\u2019s writing style.\n\nRecommended Videos\n\n\u201cTo run the check, one needs to upload a text of at least 5,000 words by one author,\u201d CEO Aleksandr Marchenko told Digital Trends. \u201cThen Emma analyzes and learns the author\u2019s writing style, and can determine whether all the subsequent texts you upload belong to the same author. The technology will render its verdict in the form of a percentage.\u201d\n\nMarchenko explained that the technology combines natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning with the techniques of stylometry, a study of linguistic style rooted in the 15th century. He claims that the result is an AI that\u2019s capable of exhibiting 85 percent accuracy in correctly determining an author.\n\n\u201cMore than 50 mathematical parameters stand behind every author\u2019s writing identity,\u201d he continued. \u201cSo the issue is of a striking complexity: it\u2019s extremely difficult to define and assess style features of a vexing number of authors, and to implement the extracted knowledge into an NLP technology. Our team of researchers, scientists and engineers have set out to create an algorithm that could surmount that challenge and develop such a technology that could operate on minimal sets of texts and reach an accuracy level worthy of a successful commercial product.\u201d\n\nWhile you may simply want to upload some sample texts for fun, Marchenko thinks that the real benefit of Emma Identity will be as an anti-plagiarism tool for use in schools, colleges, and universities. It could also be useful in fields like publishing and as a tool for law enforcement. Historians and literature researchers could also benefit from it.\n\nWell, we guess \u201cplagiarist\u201d is yet another job to suffer in the face of the AI takeover! Is nothing sacred?\n\nEditors' Recommendations", "output": "Artificial intelligence application Emma Identity can identify authorship of a text from a sample of 5,000 words by combining natural language processing, machine learning, and stylometry. The tool analyses a series of mathematical parameters that underlie an author's particular writing style to determine their identity with 85% accuracy, said Emma CEO Aleksandr Marchenko. Schools, colleges, and universities will be able to use Emma Identity as an anti-plagiarism tool, Marchenko said. The publishing, law enforcement, and research sectors could also benefit."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Orlando commits to fully renewable power by 2050 \n US city Orlando has approved on Tuesday the new target of reaching 100 per cent clean and renewable energy by 2050.\n\nUS city Orlando has approved on Tuesday the new target of reaching 100 per cent clean and renewable energy by 2050.\n\nOrlando is 40th US city to make the commitment, and the largest city in Florida to join the movement.\n\nCarol Davis, Co-President of the League of Women Voters of Orange County (LWVOC) \u2013 which leads the First 50 Coalition \u2013 said: \u201cToday, Orlando takes its place on the regional, state and national stage as a forward-thinking city committed to a healthier, sustainable future. This is a first, important step, and we plan to continue to support and encourage the city to follow with concrete measures that solidify this commitment.\u201d\n\nBuddy Dyer, Mayor of Orlando, had already signed the Mayors National Climate Action Agenda a few months ago, and has been involved in various green energy initiatives, including the Sierra Club\u2019s Mayors for 100% Clean Energy campaign.\n\n\u200bBeverlye Colson Neal, President of the NAACP\u2019s local branch \u2013 a key member of the First 50 Coalition \u2013 said: \u201cWe stand in support with the Orlando city commission in realizing the importance of renewable energy to it residents by taking the necessary actions to begin the transformation. We look forward to working with the city to educate the residents of the importance and advantages of renewable energy as we move into the future.\u201d\n\nPhil Compton, Senior Organizing Representative with the Sierra Club\u2019s Ready for 100 Campaign in Florida, and a member of the First 50 Coalition, also said: \u201cAll across our state and our nation, cities are committing to a future powered by 100 percent clean and renewable energy for all. Today, Orlando joins this growing movement of cities that are ready for 100 percent clean, renewable energy.\n\nIt is hoped that Orlando\u2019s commitment will encourage other cities to do the same.", "output": "Orlando, Florida's largest city, has announced its goal of using 100% renewable, clean energy before 2050. The decision makes Orlando the 40th city in the US to commit to the target. \"This is a first, important step, and we plan to continue to support and encourage the city to follow with concrete measures that solidify this commitment\u201d, said Carol Davis, Co-President of the League of Women Voters of Orange County.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Intel to construct and test over 100 autonomous vehicles \n Intel isn't wasting any time now that it officially owns Mobileye. The Mobileye team has unveiled plans to build a fleet of 100 or more self-driving vehicles to conduct tests in both its native Israel as well as the US and Europe. They'll meld Mobileye's sensor, mapping and driving technology with Intel's computing platforms, data center tech and 5G wireless to make Level 4 autonomous cars (they can do all the driving themselves but may ask for intervention) that talk to the cloud. They won't be tied to any one brand -- sorry, BMW. As Intel explains, it's as much about selling the concept as actual experimentation.\n\nThe fleet will show would-be customers how self-driving cars behave in real-world circumstances, including mapping and safety features, and will give Intel a better way to talk to regulators. Intel wants to prove that its self-driving tech can work around the world, and that it can tweak its formula to suit what companies want\n\nIt'll take a while before you see the fruits of this effort. The first vehicles don't deploy until later in 2017, and the magic 100 mark is coming \"eventually.\" And of course, any customers sold on the tech will take a while after that to make use of it. Still, it's an important step toward a widely available platform for self-driving cars.", "output": "Following its acquisition of Israeli sensor company Mobileye, Intel intends to roll out over 100 fully autonomous\u00a0test vehicles by the end of 2017. The company aims to use the vehicles to attract would-be customers to self-driving cars, by demonstrating the full capabilities of both their computer systems and Mobileye's advanced self-driving technology. The fleet will not be tied to any specific brands, instead including a variety to showcase the dexterity and flexibility of Intel's platform.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hospitals Slashed Use Of Two Heart Drugs After Huge Price Hikes \n Even before media reports and a congressional hearing vilified Valeant Pharmaceuticals International for raising prices on a pair of lifesaving heart drugs, Dr. Umesh Khot knew something was very wrong.\n\nKhot is a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, which prides itself on outstanding heart care. The health system\u2019s pharmacists had alerted doctors about the skyrocketing cost of the drugs, nitroprusside and isoproterenol. But these two older drugs, frequently used in emergency and intensive care situations, have no direct alternatives.\n\n\u201cIf we are having concerns, what is happening nationally?\u201d Khot wondered.\n\nAs it turned out, a lot was happening.\n\nFollowing major price increases, use of the two cardiac medicines has dramatically decreased at 47 hospitals, according to a research letter Khot and two others published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.\n\nUse Our Content This KHN story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nThe number of patients getting nitroprusside, which is given intravenously when a patient\u2019s blood pressure is dangerously high, decreased 53 percent from 2012 to 2015. At the same time, its price per 50 milligrams jumped thirtyfold, from $27.46 in 2012 to $880.88 in 2015.\n\nThe use of isoproterenol, key in monitoring and treating heart-rhythm problems during surgery, decreased 35 percent as the price per milligram rose from $26.20 to $1,790.11.\n\nThe drugs, which are off patent, have long been go-to medicines for doctors.\n\n\u201cThis isn\u2019t like a cholesterol medicine, these are really, very specialized drugs,\u201d said Khot, who is lead author on the peer-reviewed research letter. When patients get the drugs, \u201cthey are either sick beyond sick in intensive care or they\u2019re under anesthesia [during] a procedure.\u201d\n\nValeant bought the drugs in early 2015 from Marathon Pharmaceuticals. Valeant announced a rebate program last year to lower the price hospitals paid for the drugs. And Valeant\u2019s Lainie Keller, a vice president of communications, said the company is committed to limiting price increases.\n\n\u201cThe current management team is committed to ensuring that past decisions with respect to product pricing are not repeated,\u201d Keller said in a statement Wednesday.\n\nErin Fox, who directs drug information at the University of Utah Health Care, said the letter reveals \u201cexactly what a lot of pharmacists have been talking about. When prices are unsustainable, you have to stop using the drug whenever you can. You just can\u2019t afford it.\u201d\n\nFox said her Utah health system removed isoproterenol from its bright-red crash carts, which are stocked for emergencies like heart attacks. Nitroprusside is more difficult to replace.\n\n\u201cIt is one if you need it, you need it,\u201d Fox said. \u201cThat\u2019s exactly why the usage has not gone down to zero even with the huge price increases.\u201d\n\nCleveland Clinic leaders spent months investigating each drug\u2019s use and potential alternatives, Khot said.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re not going to ration or restrict this drug in any way that would negatively impact these patients,\u201d Khot said, adding that he hopes to do more research on how the decreased use of both drugs affected patients.\n\nDr. Richard Fogel, a cardiologist and electrophysiologist at Ascension, a large nonprofit hospital chain with facilities in 22 states and the District of Columbia, told a Senate committee last year that the cost of the two drugs alone drove a nearly $12 million increase in Ascension\u2019s spending over one year.\n\n\u201cWhile we understand a steady, rational increase in prices, it is the sudden, unfounded price explosions in select older drugs that hinder us in caring for patients,\u201d Fogel said.\n\nThe NEJM letter also analyzed two other drugs \u2014 nitroglycerin and dobutamine \u2014 that remained stable in price as a control group. The number of patients treated with nitroglycerin, a drug used for chest pain and heart failure, increased by 89 percent, but Khot warned that the drugs can\u2019t always be used as substitutes.\n\nKHN\u2019s coverage of prescription drug development, costs and pricing is supported in part by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation.", "output": "Even before media reports\u00a0and a\u00a0congressional hearing\u00a0vilified Valeant Pharmaceuticals International for raising prices on a pair of lifesaving heart drugs, Dr. Umesh Khot knew something was very wrong.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Study shows meaningful use spurred hospital EHR adoption \n Dive Brief:\n\nThe Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act\u2019s meaningful use incentive program spurred a big surge in hospital EHR adoption, a new analysis in Health Affairs concludes.\n\nThe researchers looked at national hospital data before and after the program\u2019s implementation and found annual gains in EHR use at eligible hospitals went from 3.2% before meaningful use to 14.2% after. By contrast, increases at ineligible hospitals went from 0.1% to 3.3%.\n\nThe findings suggest HITECH could be a model for driving adoption of other novel technologies, the authors say.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nThe researchers caution that the law has not been a complete success. \u201cReal challenges remain, particularly in the domains of interoperability and usability,\u201d they write. \u201cNonetheless, speeding the national timeline of hospitals\u2019 EHR adoption was a key first step toward digitizing the health care system and facilitating the transition to paying for value.\u201d\n\nThey note EHR adoption among eligible hospitals grew by eight percentage points per year from 2010 to 2015, pushing hospitals past the halfway point. \u201cThere are likely very few other policies that have driven such substantial change in such a short period,\u201d the authors add.\n\nHowever, while HITECH and meaningful use appear to have ramped up adoption of meaningful use, it may not account for all the gain, the researchers note. Some of hospitals\u2019 success with the program could be because the EHR market was more mature than the market for ambulatory EHR products, they say. Hospitals may have an organizational advantage over physicians in understanding and responding to complex incentive programs like meaningful use, they add.\n\nIn 2015, 96% of nonfederal acute care hospitals possessed a certified EHR and 84% had at least a basic EHR system, according to a survey released last year by Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. The survey also showed eight out of 10 small, rural and critical access hospitals had basic EHR, but adoption lagged in children\u2019s and psychiatric hospitals.\n\nFor all states, basic EHR adoption rates in 2015 were over 65%, or about six in 10 hospitals.", "output": "The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act\u2019s meaningful use incentive program spurred a big surge in hospital EHR adoption, a new analysis in Health Affairs\u00a0concludes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Could MACRA Be Key to Fixing Healthcare? \n A system that encourages shared savings and shared risk between health plans and providers could address many of the Affordable Care Act's problems. Health plans are likely to move away from fee-for-service payments to a managed care approach, one analyst says.\n\nThe government could be sitting on a solution to the healthcare debate and not even realize it, suggests one analyst. The act that finally fixed a problem threatening to bankrupt physicians every year could show the way to fixing the Affordable Care Act, he says.\n\nThe Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) may provide a roadmap and policy vehicle to address questions of quality, cost, accessibility, says Bruce A. Johnson, JD, a shareholder with the Polsinelli law firm in Denver, CO.\n\nRelated: MACRA 2018 Proposed Rule Reflects New CMS Flexibility\n\nMACRA is based on the idea of shared risk and shared savings, and Johnson says the same theory could be applied to the ACA. Health plans are already moving in that direction, without waiting for the government to lead, he says.\n\nKnown as the \"doc fix,\" MACRA is a recent bi-partisan legislative action that eliminated a nearly 20-year-old problem with how Medicare set payments to physicians. Congress passed the act in 2015 to put an end to an annual drama in which physicians faced huge Medicare pay cuts, 21% that year, if legislators didn't take emergency measures to stop it for another year.\n\nBy fixing the problem, MACRA eliminated substantial uncertainty about the stability of Medicare related to physicians leaving the program because they couldn't make enough money \u2013 similar to how profitability issues have driven health plans out of the state exchanges.\n\nRelated: MACRA - Easing Physician-Practice Pain Points\n\nMACRA introduced performance-based reimbursement by rewarding practices that participate in alternative payment models (APMs) such as accountable care organizations (ACOs), and through a merit-based incentive payment system (MIPS).\n\nThe first couple of years focused specifically on Medicare-only programs, but then in future years some of the MACRA models include consideration of commercial populations, he notes.\n\nA health system with a Medicare-only population may not meet the MACRA requirements for and APM and the associated rewards, but MACRA could allow them to create relationships with commercial payers, he says.\n\n\"As they bundle together more people receiving similar types of care, combining Medicare, Medicaid and commercial, the organizations may be able to qualify as an APM,\" he says.\n\nThat would benefit the health system financially but also health plans, Johnson says. By working with providers to reduce costs and improve outcomes, they could conceivably share in the savings offered by a MACRA-style arrangement.\n\n\"Health plans are incrementally trying to move toward different forms of shared savings programs and some level of risk for providers. We're seeing United and the Blues doing some of that, and clearly Medicare Advantage plans are in one way or another willing to have providers take risks through capitation or basically managed care,\" Johnson says.\n\n\"That is probably a long term strategy. The timeline MACRA has laid out for implementation may be too aggressive because I don't think the health plans have plan types and resources to change that fast, but I think the trajectory is going to be a move from fee-for-service to shared financial risk over time.\"", "output": "A system that encourages shared savings and shared risk between health plans and providers could address many of the Affordable Care Act's problems. Health plans are likely to move away from fee-for-service payments to a managed care approach, one analyst says.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The doctor will analyze you now \n As a child growing up in rural Alaska, Vera Starbard was diagnosed with major depression. She\u2019d been sexually abused by her uncle and was plagued by thoughts of suicide. By the age of 10, she\u2019d already spent time as an inpatient in a psychiatric hospital. \u201cIt was a really dark time,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I didn\u2019t feel like it was ever going to get better.\u201d\n\nBut when she was 11, things changed. Her family moved to Anchorage, and they joined the Southcentral Foundation, a health care provider for native Alaskans. The foundation was launching a new approach to health care\u2014one that wove mental health into the rest of its primary care.\n\nFor Vera, that meant every checkup included a mental health evaluation. Her primary care team included a psychologist or social worker who offered care on-site. There were a variety of group counseling programs to choose from. Every person she saw had her health record, there were no outside charges, and there was never a wait to make an appointment.\n\nPerhaps most important, accessing mental health treatment was as easy as going to her regular doctor, and there was no stigma attached: Her mental health services were provided at the same time and in the same place as other medical care, just like heading down the hall for an X-ray or blood test.\n\nIn Anchorage, she still had a lot to work through, and difficult times ahead. But today, at age 35, she says that Southcentral\u2019s approach to mental health care saved her life. \u201cThere\u2019s a higher than not probability that I would have committed suicide without the resources at my disposal,\u201d she says.\n\nVera Starbard at home in Anchorage, Alaska. A victim of sexual abuse as a child, she credits the easy access to behavioral health care at Southcentral Foundation with helping her overcome profound depression. | Ash Adams for POLITICO\n\nIt's a truism that the mind and the body are connected, but the U.S. health care system has long treated them as separate\u2014with separate doctors, separate hospitals, separate payment systems. That\u2019s a major reason people with acute mental illnesses don\u2019t get help. Ditto for chronic conditions like depression and anxiety. People may not seek help because of stigma. They may not find it because there are too few providers and they are too hard to locate. Or people don\u2019t have health insurance, or can\u2019t afford the co-pays, or lose interest when faced with a long wait.\n\nThe result is that many people who need mental health care aren\u2019t getting it. According to a recent article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, nearly 18 percent of adults surveyed in 2015 reported having a mental, behavioral or emotional disorder. And 20 percent of respondents said either they or a family member had needed mental health care but didn\u2019t get it, either because they couldn\u2019t afford it, their insurance wouldn\u2019t cover it, they were afraid or embarrassed, or they had no idea where to go.\n\nAt the patient level, this means people with mental health issues suffer when they don\u2019t need to. And at the policy level, there are huge reasons to fix this, primarily the high long-term cost of untreated mental illness. Mental health plays a big role in chronic conditions like hypertension, obesity and diabetes. \u201cYou can go ahead and give all the insulin you want,\u201d says Donald Berwick, former head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, founder of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and a big proponent of behavioral health integration. \u201cIf you\u2019re not addressing the attendant behavioral health issues, you\u2019re not just missing the chance to reduce suffering, you\u2019re reducing the chance to save a lot of money.\u201d\n\nIn part because of their Alaska Native heritage, which puts a high value on spiritual health, the leaders of Southcentral recognized decades ago that behavioral health is tightly linked with bodily health. So they became one of the early adopters of integrated care. They embedded treatment for mental and emotional ills in their primary care practices, and found that patient satisfaction rates skyrocketed and usage of medical care went down, saving millions of dollars while improving patient outcomes.\n\nIn the nearly 30 years since Southcentral hired its first psychologist, pretty much every study has shown that integrating mental health care into medical care results in better patient outcomes and lower costs. A few years ago, analysts at actuarial firm Milliman estimated that integrating medical and behavior heath care could shave $26 billion to $48 billion each year from the nation\u2019s health care costs.\n\nBut adoption has been slow, in part because of the way much health insurance is structured. Mental health is often a separate benefit, if insurance pays anything at all. Doctors are paid more for procedures on sick people. They get less if they keep their patients healthy and out of the hospital.\n\nOf all the structural problems in the U.S. health care system, the segregation of mental health care from the rest of medical care is arguably the most costly, both financially and in terms of patient health. With new pressure to find ways to bend the curve of health care costs, and the growing burden of chronic disease and worker disability, perhaps no policy could have as much bang for the buck as finally integrating mental and physical health care.\n\nIN THE MIDDLE of the 20th century, mental illnesses weren\u2019t considered illnesses per se; fully debilitating illnesses were seen as \u201cinsanities\u201d and their sufferers often confined against their will in special mental hospitals. Illnesses that were less debilitating\u2014milder depressions, say, or anxiety or substance abuse\u2014were viewed as weaknesses of will, often ignored by medical professionals. Payment followed suit; for mental health providers it was low, for primary care providers it was essentially nonexistent.\n\nPeople had to either figure out a way to live with their conditions, or suffer as their illnesses got more acute. The arrival of more effective medications for mental illnesses opened things up a bit\u2014doctors could write a prescription, and patients could feel better without months or years of talk therapy. Still, several studies in the 1980s showed that many patients didn\u2019t get treatment, with as many as one-half of patients saying no when their doctors suggested they get mental health care.\n\nThe search was on for something better. In the early 1990s, private foundations and the federal government, through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, began funding clinical studies around the country. Could primary care providers be trained to recognize depression, and get their patients treated? Would that make a difference? The studies showed the answers were yes and yes. In 1996, the Institute of Medicine published a suggestion\u2014integrate primary and behavioral health care so that patients would get diagnosed and treated by their doctors or via direct referral to a behavioral health specialist as part of their routine medical care. Big health care systems like Kaiser Permanente and the Veterans Administration began experimenting with integrating behavioral health care in some locations.\n\nPhysician's assistant Ingrid Carlson examines 6-month-old Milo Rebne. Southcentral Foundation's exam rooms have comfortable chairs and minimal equipment \u2013 the idea is to encourage conversation between health providers and patients, or in this case Milo's mom, Heather Lee Rebne. | Ash Adams for POLITICO\n\nSouthcentral Foundation was ahead of the trend, having started thinking about integrating its care in 1985. CEO Katherine Gottlieb, an Alaska Native who won a MacArthur \u201cgenius\u201d grant award for her work at Southcentral, says there was a simple reason: \u201cWe did a survey of our community.\u2019\u2019\n\nSouthcentral asked community members to rank their health care priorities among choices like cancer care, diabetes, obesity and behavioral health. The top five priorities, says Gottlieb, were all related to behavioral health\u2014child sexual abuse, child neglect, domestic violence, behavioral health counseling and addictions.\n\nSo Southcentral forged forward with its goal of making patients with behavioral health issues feel welcome. It built an airy new primary care center that looks as much like a mountain lodge as it does a place to get medical care. Huge windows frame the snowcapped peaks of the nearby Chugach Mountains, and the halls are filled with Alaska Native art\u2014beadwork, blankets, dolls, carvings and paintings of totem animals such as ravens, orcas and eagles. There\u2019s an expansive lobby designed to host community gatherings. Foundation planners say the setting sends the message that the health of the community directly relates to the health of each of its members.\n\nToday, a patient with a history of mental illness, like Vera, gets evaluated by her doctor whenever she comes in for a medical appointment. If Vera seems anxious or depressed, the doctor might talk to her about it, or call in the behavioral health consultant. But the same goes for patients without a history of behavioral problems. A diabetes patient who has stopped taking his pills, for instance, might find himself in a 20- or 30-minute discussion with his primary care doctor about ways to deal with anxiety or depression. The primary care doctor or the behaviorist on the team might suggest more formal counseling, or the request might come from the patient. When hospital care is needed, patients are sent by their care team, and they return to that care team when they get out.\n\nThe system puts mental illnesses into the realm of routine health care. \u201cWe know that for tons and tons of people, stigma is a really big deal in behavioral health,\u201d says Douglas Eby, vice president of medical services at Southcentral and one of the many staffers who\u2019ve been there since the beginning. \u201cBut getting behavioral health during your visit with your primary care provider, or by the guy down the hall, at the same place and maybe during the same visit\u2014then it\u2019s nothing different, and not likely to be stigmatized.\u201d Your employer won\u2019t find out, and your buddies won\u2019t see your truck parked outside a mental health office. Integrating behavioral health care into a medical setting normalizes it, he says.\n\nSouthcentral takes things a step further, with several innovative group therapy programs, some of them building on Native American culture\u2014\u201clearning circles\u201d where people talk about how they dealt with internal conflict and about how to resolve their feelings. Vera attended an intensive one-week group therapy session where people shared memories of domestic violence, abuse and neglect. \u201cThat was the week I figured out I could be happy,\u201d she says. Family, faith and friends also helped, but what she learned at Southcentral was instrumental. \u201cThat was the start of not being a victim anymore, of seeing that there was light at the end of the tunnel and I wouldn\u2019t always be depressed.\u201d\n\nSouthcentral\u2019s administrators credit integration for lowering hospital admissions and visits to the emergency room by more than a third between 2000 and 2015. In a recent survey, 97 percent of patients said they were satisfied with the care. In 2011, the foundation was awarded a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for delivering top-quality care for less cost than the vast majority of U.S. providers.\n\nTHE BIGGEST CHALLENGE all along, says CEO Gottlieb, has been money.\n\nSouthcentral gets by on a combination of private insurers and government programs including Medicare, Medicaid and the Indian Health Service. But most of them don\u2019t pay much for mental health care, and they don\u2019t pay anything at all for some of the counseling and group sessions the foundation offers. So Southcentral subsidizes behavioral health care with savings from the medical side, and it gets grants as well.\n\nTOP: A mask in the lobby of the primary care building at the Alaska Native Medical Center. Beadwork, sculpture, and paintings are intended to make the foundation\u2019s 65,000 patients feel connected to their native Alaskan heritage. BOTTOM: Behavioral health consultant Emily Degroot speaks with patient Elizabeth Pawluk. | Ash Adams for POLITICO\n\nPayment is a challenge across the country.\n\nA landmark study of 113,452 patients in 102 group practices within the Intermountain Healthcare system in Utah and Idaho showed how much can be saved by integrating mental health care. Some practices included mental health care in a \u201cmedical home.\u201d In other practices, patients were referred to outside therapists. Annual medical costs were $515 higher per year for patients who did not get mental health services through their primary providers.\n\nWhile the benefit to patients was clear, the study had a second conclusion\u2014that providers lost money by integrating mental health. As physician Thomas Schwenk noted in an accompanying editorial, during the 2010-13 study period the integrated practices received $115 less per patient per year than the traditional practices, because payment was based on procedures and office visits. Since patients in the integrated practices needed less medical care, the doctors made less money.\n\nSuch payment practices are common, and Schwenk wrote that it\u2019s going to take \u201ca profound change in the fundamental structure of the U.S. health care delivery system\u201d to integrate behavioral health care into the primary care environment. That would take heavier reliance of payments going to groups of doctors caring for groups of patients, not piecemeal payments for individual services.\n\nThere\u2019s broad support for behavioral health integration within the health care community and in Congress; there are few critics on record, and no one is lobbying against it. The trade association for companies that provide health care services to people in insurance plans, the Association for Behavioral Health and Wellness, is a big booster. Patient groups love it for the access it gives, and for the destigmatization. Supporting health care reform that favors behavioral health care is a major legislative priority for the National Alliance for Mental Illness, which represents people with mental illnesses and their family members.\n\nAndrew Sperling, a lobbyist for NAMI, echoes the conclusion that the chief challenge is money. According to a SAMHSA estimate, Medicare spent $29 billion on mental health care in 2016, and the Medicaid bill was $67 billion. Sperling would like to see more for various demonstration programs. And if funds for Medicaid are cut, \u201ca lot of the innovation we\u2019ve seen with primary behavioral health integration would be stifled,\u201d he says.\n\nStill, some doctors and other providers are not totally on board. Many psychiatrists today don\u2019t accept Medicare or other insurance, making access still a problem. And primary care practitioners and behavioral health workers may need training in how to work in an integrated system. \u201cPeople who become cardiologists and rheumatologists and all the other \u2018\u2013ologists\u2019 get minimal instruction in behavioral health,\u201d says Berwick.\n\nPsychologists and social workers may also have to be retrained, says Berwick\u2019s IHI colleague Mara Laderman. Mental health consultants in integrated care systems work differently. \u201cThey\u2019re focused on action-oriented problem solving over one session or a couple of 20-minute sessions, as opposed to having a more longitudinal therapeutic relationship,\u201d she says. \u201cYou know, that 50-minute, hour appointment.\u201d Southcentral\u2019s Eby confirms that\u2014he says they have to look long and hard for people willing to give care outside of those 50-minute boxes.\n\nLEFT: A garden with Alaska Native traditional healing plants outside Southcentral Foundation\u2019s primary care facility. Patients, including those with behavioral health issues, can ask for a referral to one of the traditional healers employed by the foundation. RIGHT: Health care providers use a bulletin board to send the message that patients are in charge. | Ash Adams for POLITICO\n\nSOLVING THESE PROBLEMS will take more than money; it will require changing the culture of medicine. Many groups are moving in that direction; the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association and other groups have policies promoting integrated care and offer information to their members on how to adopt it.\n\nThe federal government supports a multitude of initiatives designed to promote behavioral health care integration. The Affordable Care Act set aside money for model projects. Close to a billion dollars has been granted for programs that will promote behavioral health care, like setting up patient-centered medical homes within Medicaid. And starting last January, Medicare has been paying physicians for behavioral health care management and consultation. There are new billing codes that allow physicians to charge for helping their patients get behavioral health treatment, managing their patients\u2019 care, and working with psychiatrists.\n\nAuthors of an article in the New England Journal of Medicine say it\u2019s a \u201cmajor step forward\u201d and predict millions of beneficiaries will benefit and that there will be millions of dollars in savings. There could be a ripple effect: Medicare often serves as an example to other insurers.\n\nSouthcentral Foundation leaders are often invited to speak at conferences or to health care organizations in the Washington, D.C., area, and when they do, they usually stop by Capitol Hill or federal agencies to talk about the benefits of providing mental health care in a primary care setting. Douglas Eby\u2019s trips have led him to believe that there will be more support in the future for fully integrated systems.\n\n\u201cWe are popular with the whole political spectrum,\u201d he says. \u201cWe cut costs like crazy and emphasize self, and family, so Republicans love us. Democrats love us because we\u2019re all about community and social factors and reforming the pillars of society so that everyone has improved access to care. When we walk into different political offices, we emphasize different parts of the system so that they can hear our story in their words and values, but it is all very true and the truth is the same truth.\u201d\n\nConversations are a key part of the relationship between providers and patients -- called \"customer-owners\" -- at Southcentral Foundation. Physician\u2019s Assistant Ingrid Carlson speaks with customer-owner Taylir Kueter, 20. | Ash Adams for POLITICO\n\nBerwick, with plenty of experience on Capitol Hill when he was head of CMS, is concerned about protecting funding for some of the demonstration projects in the current chaos of health care funding. But in the long run, he says, integrating behavioral health into primary health care is inevitable. \u201cLook, we\u2019ve got to solve the health care cost problem,\u201d he says.\n\nIn Anchorage, Vera Starbard is watching with interest. Until recently, she figured that all health systems offered mental health care right along with primary care. \u201cThat\u2019s literally what I had grown up knowing as health care.\u201d\n\nBut recently, she\u2019s seen several friends who are not part of Southcentral struggle to get mental health services. One friend, who, like Starbard, had been sexually abused, struggled for months to get approval from her health insurance company. Then her friend\u2019s intended counselor stopped taking new patients. \u201cI\u2019m only now seeing how good integrated care is,\u201d says Starbard. \u201cWe definitely took it for granted.\u201d\n\nJoanne Silberner is a freelance health writer based in Seattle.\n\nAuthors:", "output": "As a child growing up in rural Alaska, Vera Starbard was diagnosed with major depression. She\u2019d been sexually abused by her uncle and was plagued by thoughts of suicide. By the age of 10, she\u2019d already spent time as an inpatient in a psychiatric hospital. \u201cIt was a really dark time,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I didn\u2019t feel like it was ever going to get better.\u201d\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Improving mental health treatment could reduce deaths among older adults at risk for suicide \n According to the World Health Organization, suicide rates for men over the age of 70 are higher than in any other group of people. In 2015, almost 8,000 older adults committed suicide in the U.S., and the proportion of suicides is higher among older adults than younger people. When older adults try to commit suicide, they are more likely to be successful compared to younger adults. This is why suicide prevention strategies are especially important for older men and women.\n\nHospital emergency departments (EDs) are caring for an increasing number of people with mental health concerns, including thoughts or actions related to suicide attempts. For example, nearly half of the older adults who committed suicide had visited an ED in the year before their death. However, when healthcare providers see older adults in the ED, some may be too quick to assume that the warning signs for suicide are just a natural part of aging. As a result, many older adults may not get the help they need to address suicidal thoughts. These facts prompted a team of researchers to study older adults seen in EDs and the related risks for committing suicide. Their study was published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.\n\nThe researchers reviewed ED records from 800 people, including 200 older adults. They discovered that:\n\n53 percent of older adults had a chief complaint involving \"psychiatric behavior\" (behavior relating to mental illness or its treatment), compared to 70 percent of younger adults.\n\n93 percent of older adults had documented suicidal thoughts in the past two weeks compared to 79 percent of younger adults.\n\n17 percent of older adults reported attempting suicide in the past two weeks compared with 23 percent of younger adults.\n\nLess than 50 percent of the older adults who showed warning signs for suicide following screening received a mental health evaluation, compared to 66 percent of younger adults in the same situation.\n\nOnly 34 percent of older adults who had attempted suicide or had suicidal thoughts were referred to mental health professionals, compared to 60 percent of younger adults.\n\nThe researchers concluded that improving responses to suicide risk detection, as well as improving mental health treatment for older adults at risk for suicide, could reduce deaths from suicide among older adults.\n\nIf you know someone in a crisis or who is suicidal, try to get the person to seek help immediately from an ED, healthcare provider, or mental health professional. If you are thinking about harming yourself or attempting suicide, tell someone who can help right away by calling 911 or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (800-273-8255).\n\nSource: http://www.healthinaging.org/blog/older-adults-may-need-better-follow-up-after-emergency-room-screenings-for-suicide/", "output": "According to the World Health Organization, suicide rates for men over the age of 70 are higher than in any other group of people. In 2015, almost 8,000 older adults committed suicide in the U.S., and the proportion of suicides is higher among older adults than younger people. When older adults try to commit suicide, they are more likely to be successful compared to younger adults.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Study Shows Poor Oral Health Contributes to Senior Malnutrition \n A new study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society has named poor dental hygiene as a contributing factor for malnutrition in elderly Americans. With around 47.2% of all adults above the age of 30 already suffering from some form of periodontal disease, there is significant concern that there is a widespread contributor to poor nutrition and poor health that is not adequately being treated.\n\nThe study was performed by researchers from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and aimed to determine what were the key risk factors associated with older adult patients who were receiving emergency care as the result of malnutrition and related medical issues.\n\nTwo hundred fifty-two patients, all 65 and older, were selected for the study across North Carolina, Michigan, and New Jersey. Those selected were then screened for malnutrition and asked about the possible risk factors.\n\nThe study found that 12% of the people in the study suffered from malnutrition. That number is in line with previous estimates. The number was slightly higher in North Carolina, prompting researchers to note that North Carolina has the third highest rate of elderly individuals living below the poverty line.\n\nAdditionally, the study found that over half of the study participants had some form of dental problems, and perhaps more significantly, those with dental issues were three times more likely to experience malnutrition.\n\nPoor dental health is a problem that poses significant challenges for seniors, but also one that is not easily fixed. Colin Burks, who is a medical student at UNC and the lead author of the study, explained.\n\n\u201cImproving oral health in older adults will be more challenging but also important. Medicare does not cover dental care.\u201d Burks said to Dental Tribune. \u201cFixing dental problems not only makes it easier for these individuals to eat healthy food but also can improve their self-esteem, quality of life and overall health. We need affordable methods of providing dental care for older adults.\u201d\n\nThe fact that Medicare does not include dental insurance is key to understanding why so many seniors struggle with their dental health. With long-term treatment (28-35 days) using http://www.lbwr.org/ambien/ Ambien at doses up to 10 mg, the most frequently observed side effects associated with its use and statistically significantly different from placebo side effects were dizziness (5%) and a feeling of drug intoxication (3%). The average retirement age is 63 years old in the U.S., but the average life expectancy is almost 79 years. That means seniors have almost 16 years of either paying for dental care out of pocket, paying for a private insurance plan, or not receiving dental care at all.\n\nSome states, like California, have taken to offering some seniors access to medicare-styled dental care programs. But as KUSI News reports, there are a number of serious concerns about the underfunding of the state\u2019s Denti-Cal program.\n\nUntil a time when dental care is more widely accessible to seniors, it seems likely that malnutrition problems will continue.", "output": "A new study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society has named poor dental hygiene as a contributing factor for malnutrition in elderly Americans. With around 47.2%\u00a0of all adults above the age of 30 already suffering from some form of periodontal disease, there is significant concern that there is a widespread contributor to malnutrition and poor health that is not adequately being treated.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Increased risk of slavery in supply chains due to migrant crisis \n The migrant crisis has increased the risk of slavery and forced labour tainting supply chains in three-quarters of EU countries over the past year, researchers have found.\n\nRomania, Italy, Cyprus and Bulgaria \u2013 all key entry points into Europe for migrants vulnerable to exploitation \u2013 were identified by risk analysts as particularly vulnerable to slavery and forced labour.\n\nThe annual modern slavery index, produced by Verisk Maplecroft, assessed the conditions that make labour exploitation more likely. Areas covered by the index include national legal frameworks and the severity, and frequency, of violations. Countries outside Europe, such as North Korea and South Sudan, were judged to be at the greatest risk of modern slavery, but the researchers said the EU showed the largest increase in risk of any region over the past year.\n\n\u201cIn the past, the slavery story has been in supply chains in countries far away, like Thailand and Bangladesh,\u201d said Dr Alexandra Channer, a human rights analyst at Verisk Maplecroft. \u201cBut it is now far closer to home and it is something that consumers, governments and businesses in the EU have to look out for. With the arrival of migrants, who are often trapped in modern slavery before they enter the workplace, the vulnerable population is expanding.\u201d\n\nThe International Labour Organisation estimates that 21 million people worldwide are subject to some form of slavery.The biggest global increase in the risk of slavery was in Romania, which rose 56 places in the index and is the only EU country classified as \u201chigh risk\u201d.\n\nTurkey came a close second, moving up 52 places, from medium risk to high risk. The influx of hundreds of thousands of Syrians fleeing war, combined with Turkey\u2019s restrictive work permit system, has led to thousands of refugees becoming part of an informal workforce, said the study.\n\nThe government, which is focused on political crackdown, does not prioritise labour violations, further adding to the risk. Over the past year, several large brands from Turkish textile factories have been associated with child labour and slavery.\n\nThe picture in Romania is more complex, researchers said. The country\u2019s high risk category reflects more severe and frequent instances of modern slavery, but also reflects a greater number of criminal investigations in Romania, usually in collaboration with EU enforcement authorities.\n\nBoth Romania and Italy, which rose 17 places, have the worst reported violations in the EU, including severe forms of forced labour such as servitude and trafficking, the study said.\n\nThe EU, on average, remains at medium risk of modern slavery, the index said.\n\n\n\nIt found that even the EU\u2019s largest economies were not immune. The UK, which introduced the Modern Slavery Act in 2016, has experienced a slight negative shift in its scores, moving from low risk to medium.\n\n\u201cIt is marginal change, but the driver in the UK is [lack of] enforcement,\u201d said Channer.\n\n\n\nShe said that while there have been positive changes in the UK, such as the expanded powers and remit of the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, new data revealed gaps in the UK\u2019s labour inspectorate. In Germany, which has also experienced an upward shift in its score, there was an increase in recorded trafficking and servitude violations.\n\nA Guardian report this week revealed that the modern-day slave trade has taken root in Britain, with multiple trials exposing how Sports Direct had unwittingly used slave labour. More than 100,000 migrants entered Europe by sea in the first seven months of 2017, 82% of whom landed in Italy, according to the International Organisation for Migration. Arrivals in Greece have fallen since the EU-Turkey deal, but the country is host to significant numbers of migrants. It rose 16 places in the index.\n\n\n\nDue to the geographical shift in migrant sea arrivals, analysts expect the risk of modern slavery to worsen in Italy over the next year, with agriculture a major sector of concern.\n\nThe five worst countries globally, rated at extreme risk of modern slavery, were North Korea, Syria, South Sudan, Yemen and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.\n\nThe chief manufacturing hubs of Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand all featured in the extreme or high risk categories. However, India and Thailand have improved their scores, due to better efforts to enforce slavery-related laws.", "output": "There is an increased risk of slavery and forced labour in supply chains in three-quarters of EU nations due to the continuing migrant crisis, researchers have warned, adding that the increase in risk in the EU is the\u00a0largest of any region worldwide\u00a0over the past year.\u00a0Countries identified as most vulnerable are Romania, Turkey, Italy, Cyprus and Bulgaria.\u00a0\u201cIn the past, the slavery story has been in supply chains in countries far away, like Thailand and Bangladesh.\u00a0But it is now far closer to home and is\u00a0something that consumers, governments and businesses in the EU have to look out for,\" warned\u00a0Dr Alexandra Channer at Verisk Maplecroft."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon will find the best agents in an area using open data \n This means customers can get quotes and referrals from Amazon for real estate agents just as they get for electricians, plumbers and others.\n\nIn the US, this will allow someone to ask their computer device Amazon Echo (Alexa) to make appointments with the top agents in their area. Not using a web site or even a mobile phone, just talking to the device in their home.\n\nWith many tens of millions of Echos already in homes in the US, and shortly coming here, customers will literally be able to say: \"Alexa, find me good local agents in my area who have sold the most properties like mine at the best prices.\"\n\nAlexa-type services\n\nAnd Alexa will send referrals, or set up appointments, using the Amazon marketplace as a reference.\n\nIt can do this because it will know a lot about an agent's potential customers and their houses because, as they interact with it, it builds up knowledge about them, and because the world is moving to open data.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWith open data, customers control their own data and enable others to access it, data such as all the transactions they have made from their bank accounts, to their second-by-second electricity usage. And data on the type of properties they own and what repairs and maintenance has been done on them.\n\nAs an agent, are you ready for a world where your customers' data enables intelligent services such as Alexa to find them the best service providers? Where the data on you and your performance is open and available to be queried and become part of a conversation your customers are having with a device on their kitchen benchtop?\n\nThe way to be ready is to be aware of your strengths, to have data to back up why you are successful, and to engage with these technologies as they arrive so you understand how to work with them, or compete with them as you see fit.\n\nThe Amazon marketplace, for example, will need to recruit good agents and will need proof of those agents effectiveness.\n\nBig data models\n\nIt will probably hugely reduce the referral fees charged by some of the operators in Australia, but will require agents and agencies to work inside its ecosystem.\n\nEmbracing an understanding of what it is, having the data to validate that you are effective, benchmarking yourself against the competition, then marketing yourself on your strengths will prepare you for its arrival.\n\nThe same approach will work with other technologies, from big data models that predict who will list and when, to internet of things solutions monitoring properties in real time and allowing for maintenance delivered by local providers, where the property orders the maintenance, not the owner.\n\nGreg Dickason is executive general manager technology for property data company Corelogic", "output": "Amazon is set to use open data to bolster its foray into the real estate sector, and companies looking to partner with the retail giant need to be at the top of their games, according to Greg Dickason, executive general manager of technology for Corelogic. Writing in Financial Review, he said customers using Amazon's Alexa voice-activated assistant to search for houses could be hugely disruptive to the industry, and urged real estate agents to embrace and understand the transformation in order to be a part of it.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "General Motors launches low-cost EV for Chinese market \n GM is expanding its electric aspirations and launching a super-compact, cheap EV \u2014 but it's only coming to China.\n\nThe automaker's Chinese Baojun brand just launched(opens in a new tab) its first mass-market electric car, the E100, for only about $5,300 USD after estimated local and national subsidies. The tiny two-seater looks like one of Mercedes-Benz's smart cars (which has its own EV in the works(opens in a new tab)), a design which GM claims is the perfect size for Chinese commuters looking for a compact, low-maintenance set of wheels.\n\nThe E100 doesn't provide a ton of range or power, but that's not what GM/Baojun are aiming for here, especially at the low price point. The lithium-ion battery has an estimated range of about 96 miles per charge and takes about 7.5 hours to power up, so this is definitely a vehicle meant to be plugged in overnight between commutes.\n\nThe E100's speed tops out at about 62 mph, so it won't be winning any races. All versions of the car will have a 7-inch screen and Wi-Fi, while an upgraded premium version will offer a touchpad, air filter, and keyless entry for an undisclosed fee.\n\nCredit: GM/Baojun\n\nCredit: gm/baojun\n\nCredit: gm/baojun\n\nThe E100 is already a hit, according to GM: The automaker claims that over 5,000 people registered for the first 200 cars available, overwhelming the launch supply. Baojun will soon have more cars ready for the demand, starting sales in the Guangxi region.\n\nThose certainly aren't Tesla Model 3-level specs \u2014 but the E100's price, which is less than a fifth of the much-discussed $35,000 starting point for the much-hyped \"affordable\" Model 3 in the U.S., could make it a much more accessible car for the general public in the Chinese market.\n\nBaojun, which is owned by GM's SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture, won't be offering the E100 outside of China, however, so EV enthusiasts in the US won't have a shot at a compact battery powered car for under $10,000.\n\nGM will instead directly compete with Tesla's Model 3 in the U.S. with its all-electric Chevy Bolt, the well-received EV that is slowly spreading to all markets after launching in limited quantities on the West Coast since last year. The Bolt is much bigger than the E100, with more range and a much higher price tag, at about $30,000 after incentives.", "output": "General Motors has launched an electric vehicle exclusively for the Chinese market. Released under the automaker's Chinese brand, Boajun, the E100 has two seats, a range of 96 miles, a top speed of 62 mph and will cost roughly $5,300. While it has been compared with Tesla's Model 3 with its 310-mile range and $30,000 price tag the cars are in different segments with the latter competing with BMW, Mercedes and GM's Chevy Bolt."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Property crowdfunding grows as services mature \n While commercial real estate crowdfunding firms haven\u2019t disrupted the market, the top players have worked to continue to raise capital and find ways to make their bets.\n\nThere are some situations where there are gap equity requirements that are well-suited for crowdfunding, for example. Crowdfunding might be a viable alternative for a property with a maturing legacy CMBS loan that requires extra equity in order to complete a refinance.\n\n\u201cI also think it is really going to be the best fit for properties that are well below institutional investor\u2019s radar screen,\u201d says Jay Maddox, a principal in the capital markets group at real estate services firm Avison Young in Los Angeles.\n\nMaddox was an early adopter of real estate crowdfunding. He originated and closed a $3.2 million crowdfunded construction loan for a retail project in Arizona with Fundrise in 2015.\n\nThe introduction of crowdfunding sparked speculation that crowdfunding platforms would leverage technology to cut out the middle man in sourcing debt and equity capital. \u201cIt hasn\u2019t been the big disruptor that a lot of us were expecting when crowdfunding first burst onto the scene,\u201d says Maddox.\n\nAnd while the sector is poised for further expansion, there are still some significant hurdles in the path of growth. Sponsors are wary of execution and funding risk, he adds.\n\nHowever, as crowdfunding marketplaces are getting bigger and more investors are coming onboard, the power to raise equity through this marketplace is growing, says Tore Steen, co-founder and CEO of CrowdStreet Inc. Initially, many sponsors have been looking to raise $1 million to $2 million as a supplement to their existing base of investors. Those levels are now moving to $3 million to $5 million. CrowdStreet\u2019s largest equity raise on a single offering to date was close to $8 million. \u201cThere could be a day down the road where players that have traditionally raised money for institutional investors could be looking at this retail channel as a supplement, or even as an alternative when it gets big enough,\u201d says Steen.\n\nIn addition, as more sponsors try crowdfunding they are realizing it may be an efficient way to raise capital from retail investors, adds Steen. \u201cIt is teaching them the power of leveraging technology for a fundraising process that has been done for decades now in a very offline, manual way,\u201d he says. Sponsors are recognizing that they need to innovate in the way they deal with their own investors on their own websites, he adds.\n\nNew kid on the block\n\nCrowdfunding is still the new kid on the block in the commercial real estate capital world.\n\nAlthough it remains a fragmented niche that is difficult to quantify, research firm Massolution had estimated the size of the global real estate crowdfunding industry at $3.5 billion in 2016. Massolution is no longer tracking real estate crowdfunding transaction volume, but top sector players claim they are seeing a pattern of rising volumes.\n\nRealtyMogul emerged as one of the early players in real estate crowdfunding. Since the firm launched in 2013, it has raised more than $280 million in equity through its online real estate investing marketplace.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re entering a space where, historically, there has been no opportunity to invest in real estate online through either private placements or public non-traded REITs,\u201d says Elizabeth Braman, senior managing director at RealtyMogul. So a big part of the heavy lifting for crowdfunding firms is re-educating a marketplace and investor base that the product is available, she says.\n\nCrowdStreet is another real estate crowdfunding platform that is on track to reach over $150 million in equity fundraising on its online platform this year. That volume is more than double the $80 million the company raised during its first two and a half years, from when it launched in April 2014 through the end of 2016. \u201cWe have spent a lot of time on content development here at CrowdStreet to educate investors about this asset class that they traditionally have never invested directly into,\u201d says Steen.\n\nCurrently, CrowdStreet has more than 25,000 registered investors on its marketplace. In addition, among its active investors, over 55 percent are repeat investors.\n\neREITs provide bigger reach\n\nCrowdfunding firms such as RealtyMogul are also fueling growth with online \u201ceREITs\u201d that allow them to target a bigger pool of non-accredited investors. Currently, RealtyMogul has 135,000 registered users on its platform, including both accredited and non-accredited investors.\n\nInitially, crowdfunding firms were limited to marketing offerings only to accredited investors through Reg D 506(b) private placements or through Title II of the Jobs Act 506(c) general solicitations. \u201cThat has been our bread and butter. We have been raising capital from the accreds in our database for the first three years of business,\u201d says Braman. Generally, these private placement offerings have target capital raise amounts of between $1 million and $5 million, she adds.\n\nIn 2015, Congress passed Title IV of the Jobs Act that now allows crowdfunding firms to market offerings directly to non-accredited investors via Reg A+ offerings, which are structured as online REITs. RealtyMogul launched its first online REIT last year, and as of its July 5 filing with the SEC, MogulREIT I had raised $17.5 million from both accredited and non-accredited investors.\n\nCrowdfunding firms are hoping to use eREITs to pull more money away from the non-traded REIT sector, which has seen fundraising slide in part due to new regulations and increased transparency on what has historically been a high front-end load fee structure. Traditionally, non-traded public REITs have had high fee loads of 10 to 15 percent. In comparison, crowdfunding firms have been able to leverage their direct-to-investor online platforms to offer no or very low fee structures.", "output": "Property crowdfunding platforms are increasing transaction volumes despite sponsors' wariness of execution and funding risk. While many initial crowdfunded opportunities sought between $1m and $2m, to complement their existing investment from more traditional providers, they are now raising between $3m and $5m. Crowdfunding may soon be a popular alternative to raising equity from institutional investors, said Tore Steen, co-founder and CEO of real estate crowdfunding platform CrowdStreet. Massolutions estimated that the global real estate crowdfunding industry was worth $3.5bn in 2016.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Autonomous 'drone ships' bring new risks to maritime industry \n Illustration: Rolls Royce/Flickr/CC\n\nCrewless, fully autonomous ships (sometimes referred to as \u201cdrone ships\u201d) have yet to navigate global waters, but research and development are progressing on a number of fronts. At the same time, debate about the legal implications is moving to the forefront.\n\nInterest is driven by a combination of rising transport volumes, growing environmental concerns, an ever-present focus on cost reduction, a looming shortage of experienced and qualified seafarers, and the rapid technological evolution that now touches every industry.\n\nThe steps now being taken in developing autonomous and smart technology in shipping could someday make fully autonomous shipping a reality. Consider that shipping research firm DNV GL unveiled its plans for a crewless cargo ship as far back as 2014. Meanwhile, the Norwegian government has designated an area for testing autonomous technology in ships, paving the way for further research into the adoption of these ships.\n\nRolls-Royce Plans for Fully Autonomous Ship\n\nAmong the companies leading the way on autonomous shipping is Rolls-Royce, which announced plans to have a remotely controlled, local vessel operating by 2020 with a fully autonomous ship some 15 years later. The company said the ships will be cheaper and safer to operate and will be able to carry more cargo than their crewed counterparts. The ship would be controlled by a captain in an onshore command center, with some aspects of operation and navigation automated. The company said it is drawing on experience and advances from technology areas including driverless cars, sensors, connectivity, and communications.\n\nLegal Issues and Other Risks\n\nAs with any advance in technology, legal and regulatory approvals will be among the first hurdles in making autonomous shipping a reality. The legal debate has become fertile ground for maritime lawyers. For example, consider what\u2019s known as \u201cnegligence of master, officers and crew.\u201d This is a covered peril under British and American marine insurance hull clauses, provided that such negligence has not resulted from a lack of due diligence by the assured, owners or managers. Thus deciding whether a \u201ccaptain\u201d sitting at a desk in Copenhagen would be legally/officially part of a \u201ccrew\u201d is likely to be viewed differently by various legal jurisdictions as they apply the law to insurance claims for physical loss or damage to the ship.\n\nThat\u2019s only the start of the legal issues. What status should be given the programmer who designed the computer system that runs the autonomous ship? Where does liability fall? With fully automated vessels, could ship owners claim coverage for loss or damage to the vessel caused by the negligence of programmers?\n\nThese are debates that the insurance industry needs to have before people start ordering these vessels.\n\nBeyond the legal issues, other traditional and emerging risks will need to be considered and mitigated by ships\u2019 operators. A survey conducted by SAFETY4SEA among maritime stakeholders assessed the challenges associated with the use of autonomous ships and found that navigational risk, cybersecurity and loss of communication were considered to be the greatest challenges facing the development of fully autonomous ships.\n\nSafety, Vessel Performance and Savings\n\nWhile fully autonomous shipping may be years away, more immediate implications will be felt by the industry around data transfer, communication, navigation, surveillance, and repair/maintenance. Advances in these areas could improve shipping efficiency and reduce the impact of external threats, human error and operational costs.\n\nGreater monitoring of vessel performance: New and emerging technology can be used in the shipping industry to remotely monitor conditions of the cargo on board the ship and help to raise any issues more quickly. As a result, the possibility for litigation with cargo owners if cargo arrives damaged or ruined would be reduced.\n\nSome shipping lines already use similar technology to monitor the performance of the vessel\u2019s engines, while other machinery is constantly monitored by its manufacturers. This is often done from offices located on the other side of the world, where it is possible to detect the failure of parts or identify excessive wear to avoid breakdown.\n\nCost reductions: If remotely controlled ships are brought into use, one of the key benefits to the industry would be the resulting cost reductions. These ships would require fewer personnel and less fuel to complete journeys.\n\nIf a vessel is fully autonomous, it would eliminate the need for crew facilities\u2014such as sleeping quarters\u2014on board. This would lead to more space for cargo carriage, which would mean increased profitability for shipping companies using these vessels.\n\nReduced risk to human life: Without navigation and engineering personnel on board, these ships might also achieve the benefit of increased human safety. The ship would be largely, if not entirely, controlled from a remote location, meaning the risk to human life from accidents or the loss of the ship would be reduced.\n\nIn addition, the possibility for human error, which is widely thought to be a contributing factor in more than 70 percent of all accidents at sea, may be reduced if systems are more automated.\n\nMurky Waters to be Tested\n\nThe move toward greater automation in the shipping industry is inevitable; however, we predict that technology such as this is unlikely to completely replace traditional cargo ships in the foreseeable future. Instead, the technology is likely to be used on short shuttle service journeys. For example, ferry operations could be an area where fully autonomous vessels may be commercially viable at some point.\n\nThe uncertainty regarding the safety of autonomous ships compared to traditional cargo ships will be tested over time. If legal issues can be overcome and the technology is found to be viable, the support of regulators, financial institutions, and customers will be essential to the deployment of these ships in everyday commercial activities.", "output": "\"Drone ships\" that would be capable of sailing without a crew\u00a0are causing increasing concern in the maritime industry. Besides the legal, regulatory and cybersecurity risks, there are worries about rising transport volumes, environmental impact and a\u00a0shortage of qualified and experienced\u00a0staff. Rolls-Royce is already planning fully autonomous ships, hoping to have a remotely piloted\u00a0vessel sailing by 2020, with a fully autonomous ship available by 2035.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese developers take legal action against Apple over App Store \n A group of 28 developers in China filed a case accusing Apple of abusing its market position by removing their apps from the App Store without reason and charging high fees for in-app purchases, Financial Times (FT) reported.\n\nThe case, which claims Apple treats Chinese developers unfairly compared with those in the US, adds to the smartphone giant\u2019s woes in the mainland, where sales have dropped sharply over the past 18 months.\n\nLin Wei, an attorney at Beijing-based Dare & Sure, which submitted the case, claimed Apple acts in favour of its business partners: \u201cWhen companies that are important to Apple allege that certain apps infringe on their rights and should be taken down, Apple will do so with very little evidence or even no evidence,\u201d wrote Dare & Sure in the complaint, according to FT.\n\nApple removed 58,000 Chinese apps in June as part of a worldwide crackdown on illegitimate apps, with local developers saying they did not receive sufficient explanation for app deletions, the newspaper said.\n\nMainland developers have also complained about Apple\u2019s fee for in-app purchases, with the US-headquartered company taking a 30 per cent share of the purchases. This practice has also been questioned by European companies.\n\nTop earner\n\nConsumers in China have access to the App Store, while Google\u2019s Play Store is blocked. China generated more revenue for the App Store in 2016 than any other country, according to IDC.\n\nLin also claimed the App Store is not legally registered in China, so isn\u2019t licensed to provide internet content, FT said.\n\nApple\u2019s revenue in greater China fell 10 per cent year-on-year in its fiscal Q3 ending 1 July.\n\nThis case is the latest obstacle Apple faces in China. The company announced in late July it will remove \u201csome\u201d VPN applications from the App Store in China, following new regulations to crack down on VPN services which bypass the country\u2019s massive firewall to access overseas sites.\n\nIn mid-July Apple said it will set up its first data centre in China to comply with the country\u2019s more restrictive cyber security law requiring global companies to store information locally.", "output": "A group of 28 Chinese app developers have filed a complaint against Apple, accusing it of abusing its market position and treating them unfairly compared with developers in the US. The suit alleges that\u00a0Apple has\u00a0removed apps from local developers\u00a0from the App Store without reason and charged high fees for in-app purchases. Apple removed 58,000 Chinese apps in June. According to the FT, Beijing firm Dare & Sure, which submitted the case, said: \u201cWhen companies that are important to Apple allege certain apps infringe on their rights and should be taken down, Apple will do so with very little evidence.\u201d"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurer finds older siblings are worst drivers in UK \n Older siblings are rubbish at driving, a study has found (Picture: Getty Images/Metro.co.uk)\n\nIf you\u2019re an older sibling then you\u2019re a menace to the roads.\n\nIt might sound like a tenuous link, but according to new research eldest children are more likely to speed, get fined and have road traffic accidents.\n\nArmy corporal who raped female soldier said condom made it 'fine'\n\nIn contrast, younger siblings are apparently the best drivers in the UK.\n\nA study by Privilege Car Insurance into the driving habits of 1,395 motorists has revealed that 89% of older siblings are likely to speed, 35% to get fined, 47% likely to annoy other drivers by cutting them off, and 46% likely to cruise in the middle of the road.\n\nUgh.\n\nEldest children even admit to putting makeup on while driving (17%) and using their phone (30%) at the wheel, even though it\u2019s now illegal.\n\nAnd they do all of these at a higher rate than their younger siblings. Because of this, older brothers and sisters have been involved in more minor and major car accidents than both middle and youngest children.\n\nMust be an eldest sibling (Picture: Getty Images)\n\nAnd if you\u2019re an only child wondering where you fit into all of this, don\u2019t fret.\n\nAlthough the stereotype dictates that only kids are selfish, they\u2019re actually among the most considerate road users.\n\nArmy corporal who raped female soldier said condom made it 'fine'\n\nThey are the least likely to hog the middle or outside lane, or to cut someone else off on the road.\n\nCharlotte Fielding, head of Privilege DriveXpert, said: \u2018Sibling rivalry is a famous family issue, in particular when arguing over who is the better driver.\n\n\u2018Younger drivers with DriveXpert telematics policies are given a score based on their safe driving ability.\n\n\u2018This technology can not only encourage safe driving and reward those who do so with lower insurance premiums, but can also help siblings decide once and for all who is best behind the wheel.\u2019", "output": "Almost half of drivers who are older siblings are likely to annoy or cut up other drivers, while 89% are prone to speeding, according to a survey by Privilege Car Insurance. Almost a third of elder siblings admitted using a mobile at the wheel, while 17% applied make-up, both of which are illegal. In contrast, the survey revealed only children were least likely to hog the middle or outside lanes, or cut someone else off. The study found younger siblings to be the best drivers in the country.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook pulls the plug on Snapchat clone Lifestage \n Facebook has pulled the plug on its teen-focused Lifestage app \u2013 that was intended to work as a direct rival to Snapchat \u2013 almost a year after its launch.\n\nThe app was created to help teens connect with other classmates at their school through the use of selfies and videos, as opposed to direct messaging. It also blocked anybody who listed their age as over 21 from accessing anything more than their own profile \u2013 though there were no age verification tools or checks, so you could enter any age. This, as you\u2019d expect, led the app to receive a lot of criticism surrounding privacy \u2013 one person even dubbing it as \u201csorta creepy\u201d shortly after the app\u2019s release.\n\nThough the app never really took off, as Facebook would\u2019ve hoped. The app paved the way for the Snapchat-like features we now see in the main Facebook app and Instagram.\n\n\u201cWe originally launched Lifestage to make it easier for teens in the US to connect with others at their school by creating a video profile with content for all of things that make up their identity,\u201d a Facebook spokesperson told Business Insider. \u201cTeens continue to make up an important part of the global community on Facebook, and we've learned a lot from Lifestage. We will continue to incorporate these learnings into features in the main Facebook app.\u201d\n\nOn top of killing off Lifestage, Facebook has also discontinued the Facebook Groups app for Android and iOS, instead fully shifting its focus to groups in the main Facebook app and on Facebook.com.\n\nDon\u2019t 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": "Facebook has closed down its controversial teen-focused Lifestage app after a year of operation. Aimed squarely at Snapchat's user base, Lifestage enabled teens to use pictures and videos to connect with schoolmates. However, the lack of age controls led to concern around the feature. A spokesperson for the social media giant said: \"Teens continue to make up an important part of the global community on Facebook, and we've learned a lot from Lifestage\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Save Your Monkey claims south Asian first with insurance chatbot \n Save Your Monkey predicts rapid digitalisation of the insurance industry\n\n\n\nin near future\n\nSaveyourmonkey.com, Sri Lanka\u2019s pioneering Insurtech startup which began operations earlier this year, announced their official launch following the trilingual launch of Sri Lanka\u2019s first Digital Insurance Agent, \u2018Amaya\u2019. The startup aims to change the traditional perception of procuring an insurance policy as being a tedious legal obligation via digitalisation, and tested its platform and new ideas such as \u2018Amaya\u2019 in the market following the soft launch in February this year.\n\n\n\nAmaya, the innovative brainchild of the Save Your Monkey team, was initially developed in English and is the first of its kind insurance chatbot in the South Asian Region. \u2018Amaya\u2019 is a fun and easy way for customers to choose their insurance policy online and became immensely popular among users over the last few months while still at its testing stage. Following this wide spread interest, the saveyourmonkey.com team jumped to action and worked to launch the \u2018Amaya\u2019 in all three languages to make it relevant and accessible to all Sri Lankans.\n\n\n\nSpeaking on the official launch of saveyourmonkey.com and the latest development with Amaya, Chathura Jayatissa, Founder and CEO of saveyourmonkey.com said, \u201cAs we launch officially, we have made it our mission to change the public perception that procuring an insurance is a tedious task. Amaya was designed using AI (Artificial Intelligence) components to respond to customer inquiries effectively and provide them with the best advice for their requirements. We named the chatbot \u2018Amaya\u2019 in order to make our customers feel at ease and to make them feel like they are chatting to a friend. With the AI components at work, Amaya interacts with customers as an actual person and thus quickly became popular among our customers.\u2019\u2019\n\n\n\nAmaya is a first of its kind not only in Sri Lanka but also in the region. While the rest of the world has experienced rapid technological advancements in the insurance industry, things have been slow to progress in this part of the world. \u201cThat\u2019s why we wanted to introduce the digital revolution to the insurance industry in Sri Lanka. Because of the tedious process of procuring and the confusion that always surrounds insurance, many tend to overlook the value and purpose of an insurance policy. As \u2018Amaya\u2019 has already borne testimony, we are confident that our tech based solutions will introduce a more customer-centric and cost effective approach to the conventional insurance business. We are happy to be at the forefront of this change,\u201d added Jayatissa.\n\n\n\nSaveyoumonkey.com is the creation of three young entrepreneurs driven by a genuine passion to make an impact. With the clear vision of transforming Sri Lanka\u2019s insurance industry into a more technologically advanced and progressive industry, they have already introduced a number of new innovations and reveal that much more is in the pipeline. Their Road Side Assistance App which is another first in the industry is one such product that is soon to be launched.\n\n\n\nProgressing fast towards making their dream a reality, Save Your Monkey has successfully laid the foundation for their mission within the last few months. As a result they have collaborated with a number of insurance companies such as HNB General, Sri Lanka Insurance, Janashakthi, LOLC Insurance, Amana Takaful Insurance, Fairfirst, Ceylinco VIP and Continental Insurance. Additionally, the company has also partnered with top-tier automobile servicing, transport, technology and communication firms like Exide, Smart Wheels, Laugfs Car Care, Autodrome Plc and Uber to provide value added services to its clientele.", "output": "Insurance customers in Sri Lanka can now take advantage of the south Asian region's first artificial intelligence-driven digital insurance agent, Amaya. The trilingual service launched by insurtech start-up Saveyourmonkey.com is described as a \"fun and easy way for customers to choose their insurance policy online\". The service will interact with customers as if Amaya was a \"friend\", said founder and CEO Chathura Jayatissa. The company has collaborated with insurers including HNB General,\u00a0Amana Takaful Insurance and Fairfirst as\u00a0well as car servicing, transport technology\u00a0and communications firms to\u00a0provide value-added services."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook raises game against dishonest, unacceptable ads \n Facebook is taking aim at scammers who use bait-and-switch tricks to sneak sketchy ads past its inspectors.\n\nHackers have long been able to bypass the social network's rules against ads for things like diet pills, pornography, and gambling through a practice called \"cloaking.\" Cloaked ads are made to link to a different page when clicked by the company's vetting team.\n\nNo longer, Facebook says. The company has built new artificial intelligence software to detect cloaking attempts and added more people to its review staff to identify them manually.\n\n\"We don't want these bad actors and these negative experiences on the platform whatsoever,\" says Facebook product director Rob Leathern, who's in charge of policing the site for nefarious activity. \"The effects it has on people--it's jarring, it's a bad experience--so we're committed to addressing it.\"\n\nHow 'cloaking' works, according to Facebook. Credit: Facebook\n\nThe company has been working to choke off these sorts of schemes for years by bulking up its vetting capabilities. But it's been much more public about its misinformation battles in general in recent months because of public scrutiny on its role in spreading fake news and pressure from advertisers who are skeptical of its black-box metrics.\n\nWhile cloaking clearly remains a headache for Facebook's enforcers, it's gotten much harder to pull off, according to various hacker forums. Doing so now requires a list of all the various IP addresses and traffic fingerprints of Facebook's review teams and third-party partners as well as knowledge of how its automated systems work.\n\nStill, it's easy to find websites that purport to offer such services. Many of them come with a disclaimer about their risky nature.\n\n\"Cloaking isn't magic, and it isn't some get-rich-quick thing,\" one of these warnings reads. \"It\u2019s a war between the marketer and the ad networks [and] search engines\u2014a constant back and forth.\"\n\nIt\u2019s a war between the marketer and the ad networks [and] search engines\u2014a constant back and forth.\n\nFacebook hopes that its latest crackdown will finally up this risk to the point where it no longer makes economic sense for marketers to even try.\n\n\"We want to increase the costs for these scammers so they have less incentive,\" Leathern said. \"We want to make it clear to the bad actors out there that we're ramping up enforcement--we'll take down ad accounts, we'll take down pages.\"\n\nThe push is part of a broader effort to drum out misleading content of any kind from the platform that Facebook's been publicizing heavily since last year's presidential election. Other moves have included shutting down vast bot networks used to defraud advertisers, suppressing links from websites with bad ad experiences, and adding warning labels to links from sites that tend to get low ratings from reputable fact-checkers.", "output": "Facebook is taking on the bad actors who get past its rules against ads it deems unsuitable by launching artificial intelligence software that detects the use of \"cloaking\". \"We want to increase the costs for these scammers so they have less incentive,\" said Facebook product director Rob Leathern, who added sites that breached the rules would be taken down. The move is part of a broader campaign to eliminate misleading content, following criticism of the amount of fake news on the social network. \"Cloaking\" is a technique scammers use to trick Facebook's vetting process into thinking their ads are legitimate."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US in danger of debt-ceiling crisis in October \n Sometime in October, the United States is likely to default on its obligation to pay its bills as they come due, having failed to raise the federal debt ceiling. This will cost the Treasury tens of billions of dollars every year for decades to come in higher interest charges and probably trigger a severe recession.\n\nThe debt ceiling is politically imposed, and the decision not to raise it, and therefore to choose to default, is also political. It\u2019s something America has avoided in the past. This time, though, will be different.\n\nThis country has hit the debt ceiling once, in 1979, and then largely by accident and only to a minor extent. But even that foot fault was estimated to cost the United States about 0.6 percent in higher interest costs for an indefinite period. More recently, congressional debt ceiling brinkmanship in 2011 led Standard & Poor\u2019s to downgrade the credit rating of the United States.\n\nAn increase in Treasury interest rates of just 0.2 percent a year would cost the government about $400 billion over the next 10 years. It also would lead to higher borrowing costs for American businesses, because borrowing rates are set by reference to Treasury rates. Moreover, each month holders of tens of billions of dollars in valid claims against the United States would go unpaid, triggering a major recession.", "output": "The US is at risk of defaulting on its obligation to pay its bills this October, revealing that a debt-ceiling crisis is a genuine\u00a0danger, according to an op-ed piece by Edward D. Kleinbard in the New York Times. A default\u00a0would cost the US Treasury tens of billions every year in higher interest charges for years to come and could ignite a severe recession.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurers see opportunity in India's growing sales of art \n Art and valuable insurance\n\nNumerous high networth individuals buy and hold art as connoisseurs. There are also a number of investor-collectors who view art as a good financial investment. While they were earlier wary of insuring their collection for fear of disclosing details to a stranger, times are well and truly changing. Art and other valuables are highly vulnerable to perils like fire, burglary, theft, flood, malicious defacing, and accidents even when they are either stored, displayed, exhibited or in transit. This has unveiled a huge market for insurance companies, who are vying for a slice of this top-dollar space. The target customers include business promoters, corporate honchos, sport personalities, movie actors and their families.\n\n\"Given that art and other valuables are increasingly considered as an asset class, demand for art insurance is poised to grow in the future. The estimated value of art that can be insured in India is about Rs 6,000 crore,\" Mukesh Kumar, executive director, HDFC Ergo General Insurance, told DNA Money. Only a small segment is covered with art insurance policies since there is lot of undisclosed art/valuables in the Indian market, he said.\n\nThe items insured under 'art and valuable insurance' usually include fine arts, paintings, expensive carpets, watches, clocks, expensive furniture, chandeliers, statutes, sculptures, books, expensive and antique jewellery (gold / silver/ diamond), Kumar said.\n\n\"The sum insured for each and every art and other valuables need to be fixed at the time of inception of the policy which would be the value to be agreed by insured and insurer based on the valuation certificate from a professional valuer,\" Rakesh Jain, CEO, Reliance General Insurance, said. There is no standard premium rate, but it depends primarily upon coverage to be offered, type of assets to be insured, security and protection measures available at the premises, sum insured per article or per location, whether it is kept at one place or moved to different places for exhibition.\n\nSanjay Datta, chief-underwriting, claims & reinsurance, ICICI Lombard said the claim experience has not been adverse on this line of business where HNIs, corporates ,and gallery owners are the company's main customers. \"The premium is calculated on a certain percentage basis applied on a total painting cost and the premium rate depends on the risk,\" he said.\n\nNarrating an instance of how art insurance plays out, Jain said a Rs 3-lakh value sculpture of a client accidentally fell down while shifting within the office premises. Surveyors observed that the sculpture got broken in to three pieces and lost its identity, beyond possibility of rectification. In view of the same, the surveyor's report was obtained and the claim was processed for Rs 2.9 lakh.\n\nSome insurers like TATA AIG have exclusive policies to cover highly valuable items. Parag Ved, executive vice president - consumer lines, Tata AIG General Insurance said, \"As part of the Private Client Group policy which deals with insuring personal assets & valuables, we at TATA AIG provide insurance cover for jewellery & collectibles like artwork, watches, antiques, wine, pens, rare stamp & coin collection.\" There are comprehensive 'all risk' coverages to insure virtually any fine collectible or valuable \u2013from a diamond necklace to Raja Ravi Verma painting, Ved said.\n\nPrivate Client Group, built on experience, both globally and locally, tries to curate a thorough protection plan suited to an individual or family's requirement to safeguard their prized possessions. \"India, till recently had a lot of undeclared wealth and ultra HNIs were sceptical of insuring their private collection for fear of disclosing such details to an outsider. But as customer awareness is building, we are seeing a significant more number of inquiries and demand for such customized covers,\" Ved said.\n\nInterestingly, standard property insurance policies like fire policy do not cover such items for their market value as these values are notional and subjective. If at all the coverage is taken under fire policy, it would be limited to the intrinsic cost of material used and would exclude the sentimental value part, experts said.", "output": "With an estimated $940m worth of declared art in India, insurance firms are beginning to tap the nation's growing high net worth market. \"Given that art and other valuables are increasingly considered as an asset class, demand for art insurance is poised to grow in the future\", said Mukesh Kumar, executive director at HDFC Ergo General Insurance. The true value of the Indian art market is thought to be significantly larger than $940m, with many works of\u00a0art and valuables undeclared."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook, Amazon continue to squash start-ups, monopolise markets \n In just 10 years, the world\u2019s five largest companies by market capitalization have all changed, save for one: Microsoft. Exxon Mobil, General Electric, Citigroup and Shell Oil are out and Apple, Alphabet (the parent company of Google), Amazon and Facebook have taken their place.\n\nThey\u2019re all tech companies, and each dominates its corner of the industry: Google has an 88 percent market share in search advertising, Facebook (and its subsidiaries Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger) owns 77 percent of mobile social traffic and Amazon has a 74 percent share in the e-book market. In classic economic terms, all three are monopolies.\n\nWe have been transported back to the early 20th century, when arguments about \u201cthe curse of bigness\u201d were advanced by President Woodrow Wilson\u2019s counselor, Louis Brandeis, before Wilson appointed him to the Supreme Court. Brandeis wanted to eliminate monopolies, because (in the words of his biographer Melvin Urofsky) \u201cin a democratic society the existence of large centers of private power is dangerous to the continuing vitality of a free people.\u201d We need look no further than the conduct of the largest banks in the 2008 financial crisis or the role that Facebook and Google play in the \u201cfake news\u201d business to know that Brandeis was right.\n\nWhile Brandeis generally opposed regulation \u2014 which, he worried, inevitably led to the corruption of the regulator \u2014 and instead advocated breaking up \u201cbigness,\u201d he made an exception for \u201cnatural\u201d monopolies, like telephone, water and power companies and railroads, where it made sense to have one or a few companies in control of an industry.", "output": "Start-ups such as Snap, Blue Apron and Houseparty are struggling in the face of fierce competition from Facebook and Amazon. Both Snap and Blue Apron are to report earnings imminently, with investors said to be bracing themselves, as both stocks have declined since their IPOs. It is suggested that the aggressive stance of Facebook and Amazon is making it increasingly difficult for start-ups to grow fast enough to avoid being squashed or acquired. This has led to an increasing number of calls to break up or regulate companies like Facebook, Amazon and Google to stop them monopolising markets."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WannaCry raised awareness of cyber risk: CFC Underwriting \n CFC Underwriting\u2019s Graeme Newman considers how public cyber attacks such as the WannaCry hack are helping brokers have the right conversations about digital crime with their clients.\n\nLast year the National Crime Agency revealed that cyber crime had officially overtaken traditional crime in the UK. Where once it was masked bandits holding up bank tellers, we\u2019re now seeing teenagers stealing cash from businesses from the comfort of their bedroom.\n\nCFC\u2019s own claims experience backs this up. We saw a 78% rise in cyber claims in 2016 with just over a third caused by simple phishing scams rather than sophisticated cyber crime.\n\nPerhaps more importantly 90% of our claims by volume", "output": "Cyber attacks such as the recent WannaCry hack are raising awareness of cyber risk, enabling brokers to have more discussions about digital crime with clients, according to CFC Underwriting. The National Crime Agency said that cyber crime overtook traditional crime in the UK last year, which is confirmed by CFC's experience. CFC noted that enquiries rose 50% in the month following the WannaCry attack and it saw a 78% rise in cyber claims last year. Cyber insurance policies are reflecting the alterations in threat, now covering both the immediate financial costs and the specialist help that may also be necessary."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Energy, chemicals companies highly vulnerable to cyber attack \n The recent WannaCry ransomware attack, which affected hundreds of thousands of computers and caused disruption to major infrastructure including the UK\u2019s National Health Service, has highlighted the vulnerability of outdated industrial control systems used in energy production and chemical manufacturing.\n\nExperts have warned in the past that the computers controlling chemical plants, factories and power stations all have the potential to be compromised. And now there is some indication that cyber criminals are increasingly viewing them as a target. James Scott from the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology in the US says over 350 incidents targeting energy company critical infrastructure were reported to the US Department of Homeland Security between 2011 and 2015. Furthermore, in 2016, 108 cyber-espionage attacks were reported against manufacturing facilities.\n\n\u2018As the antiquated legacy technology supporting chemical and petrochemical systems ages, the networks become exponentially more vulnerable to the hyper-evolving cyber-threat landscape,\u2019 he tells Chemistry World.\n\nAlan Woodward from the University of Surrey, UK, who advises the government on cybersecurity, says the risks, or at least awareness of the risks, have increased in recent months. \u2018What WannaCry showed was that ransomware does not just hit a computer on which some unsuspecting person opens a booby-trapped attachment, but is able to \u201cworm\u201d its way around an internal network to affect any vulnerable, attached device.\u2019\n\nEven in plants and factories whose control systems are separated from the internet, Woodward says, this \u2018air gap\u2019 can easily be inadvertently bridged by plugging in an infected USB stick, for example.\n\nAs the antiquated legacy technology ages, the networks become exponentially more vulnerable\n\n\u2018The networks rely on outdated technology that is \u201cFrankensteined\u201d with modern Internet of Things devices,\u2019 says Scott. This can provide a route for hackers to exploit vulnerabilities in the system. In June, for example, ransomware infected a European petrochemical plant\u2019s network via a coffee machine connected to the internet.\n\nPotential catastrophe\n\nThe consequences of such attacks could range from \u2018minor disruption of a process to a major catastrophe\u2019, says Raheem Beyah, a computer scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, US. Recent examples of cyberwarfare have shown that malware can be used to target energy infrastructure and damage equipment. The infamous Stuxnet worm \u2013 developed by the US military in the early 2000s to attack an Iranian nuclear power plant \u2013 disrupted uranium enrichment by tampering with centrifuges.\n\nAnd a recent attack on Ukraine\u2019s power grid at the end of 2016 is believed to have used a sophisticated piece of software called Industroyer/Crash Override that Beyah explains is \u2018designed in a modular fashion and has the ability to send legitimate industrial control system commands\u2019.\n\nThere\u2019s no reason why similar approaches couldn\u2019t be used to target other types of control systems. For example, Beyah\u2019s research group recently used simulations to show how malware could theoretically be used to poison water supplies with chlorine by hijacking a water treatment plant. Although this was just a proof of concept, it highlights the potential consequences if cyber defences fall short.\n\nUpdating defences\n\nOne issue the WannaCry attack drew attention to is the danger of using outdated operating systems, as the ransomware was designed to attack vulnerabilities in historic versions of Windows. The use of outdated systems is rife in industrial control systems, Scott says. \u2018Many chemical and petrochemical facilities still rely on Windows XP or earlier versions, which have publically known vulnerabilities and are no longer supported by Microsoft or security applications. These companies lack the technology and skilled Information security personnel to secure systems, detect incidents, or mitigate or remediate breaches.\u2019\n\nWoodward explains that industrial control systems have a particular problem in that they are sometimes not set up to be upgraded. \u2018Some manufacturers do not enable embedded systems (even those running standard operating systems like Windows) to be upgraded by end users, [and] the company that built the control systems can take some time to respond,\u2019 he says. To address this, and ensure they are protected against attacks, companies need to invest in modernised systems and make sure they have a strategy to keep them updated.\n\nThese companies lack the technology and skilled Information security personnel to secure systems\n\nClose monitoring of their network is also crucial, Beyah says, so that any hint of an attack can be stopped in its tracks. \u2018If the networks are monitored, then malicious activity can be detected before a system is compromised or before a catastrophic even is imminent.\u2019", "output": "Out-of-date technology is leaving facilities in the energy and petrochemical sector at risk of ransomware attack, said James Scott from the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology\u00a0in the US. These facilities are becoming growing targets for cyber-espionage attacks, even if the computer systems are separate from the internet, as other methods such as infected USB sticks could be used. By updating the system and its network, facilities can prevent catastrophic events that could be harmful to human life."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Stonehenge Growth Capital invests in solar company PosiGen \n BRIDGEPORT, Conn, Aug. 10, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Stonehenge Growth Capital today announced a new investment in PosiGen that will enable the solar company to expand operations in Connecticut and provide clean energy technology to hundreds of low- to moderate-income Connecticut households.\n\n\n\nA photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/dc457ca6-ecf1-434b-8ab7-eea9a399e29f\n\nStonehenge Growth Capital, a subsidiary of Stonehenge Capital Company, made the $5 million investment through the Invest CT program. Solar panels installed by PosiGen have already reduced the energy cost burden faced by over 10,000 families across four states, including Connecticut, New York, Louisiana and Florida. Stonehenge\u2019s investment will allow PosiGen to provide an additional 750 rooftop solar panel systems to further reduce Connecticut households\u2019 energy costs. The electricity generated from these panels is used to heat, cool and illuminate homes in an eco-friendly and affordable way.\n\n\u201cWe are thrilled to partner with Stonehenge Growth Capital to further expand our footprint across the state of Connecticut while sustainably lowering utility costs for a large and underserved community,\u201d PosiGen CEO Thomas Neyhart said.\n\nWith a focus on impact investing, Stonehenge is pleased to support a project that offers financial benefits for local households along with broader benefits for the environment.\n\n\u201cThe team at PosiGen is poised to transform the way families think about solar energy to an easy, affordable and environmentally conscious alternative for their homes,\u201d said Stonehenge Growth Capital Managing Director Charles Haberkorn. \u201cPosiGen\u2019s ability to reach low-income households, traditionally unable to access the solar panel market, makes the company a leader in the clean energy space.\u201d\n\nThe Invest CT program mandates that 25 percent of all capital associated with the program is invested in green technology. Connecticut has committed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent below 2001 levels by 2050, and the addition of 750 solar panel systems will help the state to continue to meet its goals. Construction of the new solar systems is now underway.\n\nAbout Stonehenge Growth Capital\n\nStonehenge Growth Capital is a subsidiary of Stonehenge Capital Company LLC and has the capacity to provide venture capital, private equity and mezzanine debt to companies led by experienced management teams with a passion for innovation and the pursuit of high-growth opportunities. With a flexible and creative financing approach, the Growth Capital team seeks to develop customized financing solutions based on a company\u2019s unique strategic and financial plan. Stonehenge Growth capital offers institutional resources to a variety of businesses from small entrepreneurial companies to multistate corporations. The Growth Capital team been investing in small businesses since 1993 with over $1.0 billion invested across venture capital, private equity and debt funds. To learn more about Stonehenge Growth Capital, please visit www.stonehengecapital.com.\n\nAbout PosiGen\n\nHeadquartered in Jefferson, Louisiana, PosiGen is one of the nation\u2019s leading residential solar, energy efficiency and energy education providers for low- to moderate-income families. PosiGen has more than 10,000 residential customers, over 150 direct employees and supports more than 120 employees through its contractors in Louisiana, Connecticut, New York and Florida. PosiGen's unique services and products make solar energy affordable to homeowners of all income levels, and offer individuals, families and businesses the opportunity to achieve greater fiscal autonomy and energy independence by lowering their utility bills. To learn more about PosiGen, please visit www.posigen.com.", "output": "Louisiana-based solar provider PosiGen has received a $5m investment from Stonehenge Growth Capital. The funding will allow PosiGen to install 750 rooftop solar panel systems to homes in Connecticut, reducing household energy costs in and greenhouse gas emissions. The company already provides solar panels to over 10,000 households across the US. Connecticut has agreed to reduce emissions by 80% from 2001 levels by 2050, and hopes the construction of the new panels will contribute to meeting that target. The investment was made through the State's Invest CT\u00a0programme.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Distributed solar power fund raises $350m \n WESTPORT, Conn., Aug. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- True Green Capital Management LLC (\"TGC\"), an institutional asset manager specializing in distributed power generation, with a current focus on commercial photovoltaic solar, announced it has closed its latest discretionary fund, True Green Capital Fund III, L.P. (the \"Fund\", \"Fund III\"). The Fund reached its hard cap of $350 million and was oversubscribed. The Fund's Limited Partners include a diversified institutional investor base of leading endowments, foundations, investment advisors' clients, fund-of-funds, family offices, and insurance companies.\n\n\"We are pleased to announce the closing of Fund III following the success of our predecessor Fund II which closed in 2015 and is fully invested. Our proven investment strategy offers institutional investors the opportunity to participate in the fast growing commercial and industrial distributed solar power generation markets, providing a reliable income stream and combining strong upside potential with prudent downside protection,\" said Dr. Panos Ninios, Managing Partner of TGC.\n\n\"Solar technology has improved to the point where it is price competitive with traditional power generation infrastructure and provides energy consumers with power price certainty for decades to come. We are pleased that our institutional investor base has shown confidence in TGC and in an asset class that is both good for the environment and their investment portfolios,\" said Bo Wiegand, Partner at TGC.\n\nTGC seeks to deliver superior risk-adjusted returns and has developed a scalable, proprietary organizational and portfolio construction process that aims to combine the certainty of long-term fixed-price contracts with highly rated creditworthy partners augmented by the upside offered by power sales, environmental credits and real asset optionality. As part of this process, TGC has developed a privately negotiated pipeline of approximately $1.5 billion in projects.\n\nTo date, TGC has deployed approximately 30% of its Fund III capital in a portfolio of pre-identified projects, continuing its innovative investment strategy of self-originating, building and financing renewable energy electric power infrastructure projects. The existing investment portfolio consists of commercial and sub-utility scale solar power plants, including one of the largest roof-top installations in the world. The projects have contracted offtake agreements providing municipal utilities, military bases, universities, and corporate clients with clean, renewable energy at a fixed price. True Green Capital expects to deploy Fund III over the next 1-2 years across similar investment opportunities in the U.S.\n\nAbout True Green Capital Management LLC\n\nTrue Green Capital Management LLC is a specialized energy infrastructure asset management firm based in Westport, Connecticut with over $500 million in private equity capital under management. TGC has an operating portfolio of approximately 150MWs of distributed solar power generation assets across nine states including New Jersey, California, Massachusetts, Idaho, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Tennessee, and Vermont. The firm was founded in 2011 and is led by a team of investment professionals with a proven investment track record and a demonstrated capacity to originate, finance, construct and operate infrastructure investments.\n\nTrue Green Capital is currently focused on the approximately $2 trillion distributed power generation market with an emphasis on the sub utility scale solar power segment. Thanks to rapid advancements in technology, the cost of distributed power generation, including solar, is now on par with traditional electricity generation sources and in many U.S. states it represents one of the few sources of new power generation infrastructure that can be added to the power network quickly, reliably and cost efficiently. TGC believes the continued increase of power prices and decreasing entry costs of distributed power generation technology will continue to lead to compelling investment opportunities which provide a stable cash flow stream with little to no correlation to the broader markets. To learn more, visit www.truegreencapital.com.\n\nCONTACT:\n\nPanos Ninios, Managing Partner\n\nTelephone: 203-557-6224\n\nmedia@truegreencapital.com\n\nView original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/true-green-capital-management-successfully-closes-latest-fund-reaching-hard-cap-of-350-million-300502768.html\n\nSOURCE True Green Capital Management LLC", "output": "True Green Capital Management, a Connecticut-based specialised energy infrastructure asset management firm, has raised $350m for its discretionary fund True Green Capital Fund III. The oversubscribed fund reached its hard cap, with endowments, foundations, fund-of-funds, family offices and insurance companies among the investors. Just under a third of the fund has been deployed for renewable energy\u00a0infrastructure projects, while the company's existing portfolio includes one of the largest roof-top installations in the world."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "$10bn flood, storm losses reveal Asia's coverage shortfall: Aon \n Billions of dollars of catastrophe and severe weather losses in Asia in July 2017 have highlighted the size of the insurance and reinsurance protection gap in the region. Flooding and storms in Asia caused well over $10 billion of economic losses during the month, while storms in Turkey and the United States drove the insurance industry loss for the month.\n\n\n\nReinsurance broker Aon Benfield\u2019s catastrophe modelling unit Impact Forecasting reveals a story of \u201crelentless seasonal flooding\u201d across the month of July, resulting in many fatalities and widespread damage across parts of Asia.\n\nChina felt the effects of the funding most acutely, with around 200 people reported dead or missing while hundreds of thousands of properties were damaged or destroyed.\n\nChina\u2019s Ministry of Civil Affairs reported the combined economic flood damage at more than US $10 billion during a six-week stretch through late June and July 2017, with much of the impact in the Yangtze River Basin.\n\nAs ever insurance and reinsurance penetration in China remains low and the industries expectation is that the insured loss will be very low, likely well below US $1 billion.\n\nJapan also experienced heavy flooding after Tropical Storm Nanmadol made landfall, with over 2,600 homes and other buildings damaged or destroyed due to extensive flooding and landslides in the regions of Fukuoka, Oita, Shimane, Kumamoto, and Hiroshima prefectures. Economic losses in Japan from this flooding is expected to near US $1 billion.\n\nWhile insurance penetration is higher in Japan this flooding alone is not anticipated to have much, if any, impact on the reinsurance arrangements of Japanese domestic insurers. This weeks Typhoon Noru could exacerbate the flooding losses though, however it\u2019s too early to know the extent of the economic impact of that event.\n\nAdditionally in Asia, hundreds of millions of dollars of economic damages were reported due to monsoon rains in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, where hundreds were said killed and major damage caused to structures, agriculture and infrastructure.\n\nFinally, season rainfall in Thailand also killed at least 23 people and caused economic damage in excess of US $300 million, while a European flooding event in northern Switzerland resulted in insurance claims payouts of nearly US $90 million.\n\nAs we\u2019ve written previously, Turkish insurers are expecting combined insurance claims payouts of US $440 million due to the two severe storm outbreaks, with the resulting hail and flooding.\n\nMeanwhile adding to the insurance and perhaps reinsurance toll from the month of July, severe thunderstorms and related flooding struck areas of the U.S. Midwest, Plains, Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and the Desert Southwest. Tornadoes, hail, torrential rain, floods and strong winds all caused a combined economic and insured losses that Impact Forecasting expects will reach into the hundreds of millions of dollars.\n\nAs ever, the events in Asia demonstrate the fact that insurance penetration remains woefully low in many areas.\n\nClaire Darbinyan, Impact Forecasting Associate Director and Meteorologist, commented on July\u2019s global catastrophe activity; \u201cThere was no shortage of global natural disasters during July, though the vast majority were reported in Asia where enhanced seasonal monsoon rainfall over China and throughout South Asia led to significant flooding that caused considerable loss of life, and billions of dollars of damage to property and agriculture.\n\n\u201cIn addition, three tropical cyclones in the region enhanced the monsoonal flow to trigger further flooding in multiple countries. Given low levels of insurance penetration in the region, the majority of these losses are expected to be uninsured, highlighting the considerable protection gap and the potential for re/insurers to further offer their specialist risk management skills.\u201d\n\nOther natural hazard events to have occurred elsewhere during July include:\n\nMajor severe weather events were noted in Canada, China, and Europe.\n\nOfficials in Italy reported that prolonged drought conditions has cost the economy some EUR2.0 billion (USD2.3 billion) in economic losses. Production of vegetables, fruits, cereals, vines, and olives were all impacted by the abnormally dry conditions which prevailed across the country during the first half of 2017.\n\nExtreme heat and drought conditions led to wildfire damage across parts of the United States, Canada, Portugal, France, and the Balkans.\n\nTropical Storm Talas made landfall in Vietnam, causing USD44 million in economic damage.\n\nStrong earthquakes were recorded in the Philippines, Greece, Turkey, and China.\n\nA winter storm brought high winds and flooding to New Zealand; damage estimated in the millions (USD).\n\nThe full July catastrophe report can be downloaded here.", "output": "Catastrophic flood and storm losses of more than $10bn in Asia have demonstrated a significant gap in insurance and reinsurance protection coverage, according to reinsurance broker Aon Benfield. Insurance and reinsurance in Asia has not seen widespread adoption, with insured loss expected to fall far below the $1bn expected in the US. \"The majority of losses are likely to be uninsured\", said meteorologist Claire Darbinyan, offering an opportunity for \"re/insurers to further offer their specialist risk management skills\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EIV Capital ploughs $47m into gas from cow manure facility \n Thank you for supporting our journalism. This article is available exclusively for our subscribers, who help fund our work at the Chicago Tribune.\n\nAMP started as a company that turned the animal waste from 15,000 cows at Fair Oaks Farms in 2011 into a usable, renewable energy source. (Fair Oaks Farms)\n\nAMP Americas, a Chicago company that makes commercial trucking fuel from cow manure, announced Thursday a $47 million private equity investment from Houston-based EIV Capital.\n\nLaunched in 2011 out of Fair Oaks Farms in northwest Indiana, AMP started as a company that turned waste from 15,000 cows into a usable, renewable energy source. Since then, AMP has expanded its sourcing to include other waste products as it markets and sells compressed natural gas, or CNG, an often cheaper and cleaner fuel than diesel.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAMP CEO Grant Zimmerman said the company will use the new capital to launch a second renewable natural gas production operation at another Midwest dairy site that it won't yet name. It also plans to add to its existing network of CNG stations across eight states operated under its ampCNG segment, Zimmerman said.\n\n\"We are using (the $47 million) to primarily invest in new renewable natural gas projects at dairy farms,\" he said. \"We will also use it to fund an expansion of our CNG business with a particular focus in California.\"\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAMP has 19 ampCNG stations with plans to open a 20th this fall, Zimmerman said. Its stations are located along interstates including I-10, I-65, I-75, I-55 and I-30, with its closest station to Chicago located in Fair Oaks, Indiana.\n\nThe Energy Information Administration estimates that CNG produces, on average, about 28 percent less carbon-dioxide emissions than diesel or gasoline. A gallon of CNG from one of AMP's Indiana stations currently costs less than $2.30. In comparison, the national average of a gallon of diesel fuel is about $2.50, according to AAA's most recent figures.\n\n\"Growth in our early years was fueled by $4 diesel prices,\" Zimmerman said. \"Even with diesel prices now much, much lower, compressed natural gas is still less expensive than diesel on a per-gallon basis or per-mile basis in almost the entire country.\"\n\nWhile CNG may be cheaper than diesel for commercial trucking in terms of fuel, it can still be costly for the commercial trucking industry, at least initially. A CNG-compatible tractor-trailer can cost between $30,000 and $50,000 more than a diesel one, Zimmerman said. But tax benefits can reduce that cost, he said.\n\nAdditionally, trucking companies can eventually save thousands of dollars from reduced fuel prices over the lifetime of a single truck, Zimmerman said.\n\nBesides its ampCNG and its Renewable Dairy Fuels segments, AMP also operates a sourcing, marketing and risk-management businesses called ampRenew.\n\nAMP has 16 employees, Zimmerman said. He would not comment on revenue. Since launching, AMP has raised $57 million in total funding, according to the company.\n\nEIV Capital is a private-equity firm that focuses on the energy industry.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nRobert Holly is a freelance writer.\n\nTwitter @robertwadeholly", "output": "Houston-based private-equity firm EIV Capital has invested $47m into AMP Americas, which turns cow manure and other waste products into compressed natural gas (CNG), a cleaner alternative to diesel.\u00a0The new funds will be used to set up a renewable natural gas production operation at an as-yet-unnamed Midwest dairy site, AMP said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Investors settle ownership of world's largest offshore wind farm \n Norway\u2019s oil major Statoil has signed a swap agreement with UK\u2019s energy firm SSE and with German company Innogy to revise the ownership of the four offshore wind projects off the east coast of Yorkshire in the UK that comprise the world\u2019s largest offshore wind development, Dogger Bank.\n\nUnder the deal, Statoil gets half of the equity interest in three out of the four individual projects. The Norwegian company will hold 50 percent in Creyke Beck A and B, as well as 50 percent Teesside A, while Innogy will own 100 percent of Teesside B. The other 50 percent in the Statoil-held projects will be owned by SSE.\n\nEach of the four projects has an agreed target installed capacity of 1.2 GW, for a total of 4.8 GW of the Dogger Bank development, which is expected to be able to provide renewable energy to up to 5 million homes in the UK.\n\nAccording to Forewind, the Statoil-SSE-Innogy consortium that had pursued the project so far, the new ownership agreements mean that the projects will now be progressed towards Financial Investment Decisions by their respective owners.\n\n\u201cDogger Bank represents a unique opportunity for the UK to develop secure, sustainable and cost-competitive energy from its world-class wind resource and the asset constitutes a very important element in Statoil\u2019s strategy to gradually complement our oil and gas portfolio with profitable renewable energy solutions,\u201d Irene Rummelhoff, Statoil\u2019s executive vice president for New Energy Solutions, said in the company statement.\n\nRelated: How Much Fuel Does It Take To Get To The Moon?\n\nStatoil has a strategic ambition to allocate 15-20 percent of its annual investments towards new energy solutions in 2030, the Norwegian group said in its Energy Perspectives 2017 report.\n\n\u201cStatoil supports the Paris agreement. We believe that being able to produce oil and gas with lower emissions, while also growing in profitable renewables, will give competitive advantages and provide attractive business opportunities in the transition to a low carbon economy,\u201d CEO Eldar S\u00e6tre said.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nBy Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com\n\nMore Top Reads From Oilprice.com:", "output": "Statoil, SSE and Innogy have agreed the ownership structure of the 4.8 GW Dogger Bank offshore wind development off the east coast of the UK. Statoil and SSE will own 50% each of Creyke Beck A and B, and Teesside A, while Innogy will own 100% of Teesside B. Each of the 1.2 GW projects are more than twice the size of the next largest offshore wind farm, according to Forewind, the consortium made up of the three investors in Dogger Bank."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Solutions emerging to deal with spent EV batteries \n The drive to replace polluting petrol and diesel cars with a new breed of electric vehicles has gathered momentum in recent weeks. But there is an unanswered environmental question at the heart of the electric car movement: what on earth to do with their half-tonne lithium-ion batteries when they wear out?\n\n\n\nBritish and French governments last month committed to outlaw the sale of petrol- and diesel-powered cars by 2040, and carmaker Volvo pledged to only sell electric or hybrid vehicles from 2019.\n\nThe number of electric cars in the world passed the 2m mark last year and the International Energy Agency estimates there will be 140m electric cars globally by 2030 if countries meet Paris climate agreement targets. This electric vehicle boom could leave 11m tonnes of spent lithium-ion batteries in need of recycling between now and 2030, according to Ajay Kochhar, CEO of Canadian battery recycling startup Li-Cycle.\n\nRecycling gap\n\nHowever, in the EU as few as 5% (pdf) of lithium-ion batteries are recycled. This has an environmental cost. Not only do the batteries carry a risk of giving off toxic gases if damaged, but core ingredients such as lithium and cobalt are finite and extraction can lead to water pollution and depletion among other environmental consequences.\n\n\n\nThere are, however, grounds for optimism. Thus far, the poor rates of lithium-ion battery recycling can be explained by the fact that most are contained within consumer electronics, which commonly end up neglected in a drawer or chucked into landfill.\n\nThis won\u2019t happen with electric vehicles, predicts Marc Grynberg, chief executive of Belgian battery and recycling giant Umicore. \u201cCar producers will be accountable for the collection and recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries,\u201d he says. \u201cGiven their sheer size, batteries cannot be stored at home and landfilling is not an option.\u201d\n\nEU Regulations, which require the makers of batteries to finance the costs of collecting, treating and recycling all collected batteries, are already encouraging tie-ups between carmakers and recyclers.\n\nUmicore, which has invested \u20ac25m (\u00a322.6m) into an industrial pilot plant in Antwerp to recycle lithium-ion batteries, has deals in Europe with both Tesla and Toyota to use smelting to recover precious metals such as cobalt and nickel. Grynberg says: \u201cWe have proven capabilities to recycle spent batteries from electric vehicles and are prepared to scale them up when needed.\u201d\n\nProblem solved? Not exactly. While commercial smelting processes such as Umicore\u2019s can easily recover many metals, they can\u2019t directly recover the vital lithium, which ends up in a mixed byproduct. Umicore says it can reclaim lithium from the byproduct, but each extra process adds cost.\n\nThis means that while electric vehicle batteries might be taken to recycling facilities, there\u2019s no guarantee the lithium itself will be recovered if it doesn\u2019t pay to do so.\n\n\n\nInvestment bank Morgan Stanley in June said it forecast no recycling of lithium at all over the decade ahead, and that there risked being insufficient recycling infrastructure in place when the current wave of batteries die. \u201cThere still needs to be more development to get to closed loop recycling where all materials are reclaimed,\u201d says Jessica Alsford, head of the bank\u2019s global sustainable research team. \u201cThere\u2019s a difference between being able to do something and it making economic sense.\u201d\n\nSecond life for batteries\n\nFrancisco Carranza, energy services MD at Nissan, says the fundamental problem is that while the cost of fully recycling a battery is falling toward \u20ac1 per kilo, the value of the raw materials that can be reclaimed is only a third of that.\n\n\n\nNissan has partnered with power management firm Eaton for its car batteries to be re-used for home energy storage, rather than be recycled, and this economic problem is a big reason why. \u201cCost of recycling is the barrier,\u201d says Carranza. \u201cIt has to be lower than the value of the recovered materials for this to work.\u201d\n\nThe lack of recycling capacity is \u201ca tragedy\u201d, says Amrit Chandan, a chemical engineer leading business development at Aceleron, a hi-tech British startup looking to transform end of life batteries. \u201cIt takes so much energy to extract these materials from the ground. If we don\u2019t re-use them we could be making our environmental problems worse,\u201d he says.\n\nAceleron, like Nissan, thinks the answer lies in re-using rather than recycling car batteries \u2013 for which the company has patented a process. Chandan says car batteries can still have up to 70% of their capacity when they stop being good enough to power electric vehicles, making them perfect \u2013 when broken down, tested and re-packaged \u2013 for functions such as home energy storage.\n\nFresh from recognition by Forbes as one of the 30 most exciting hi-tech startups in Europe, Aceleron is looking for investors to help it roll out pilot projects. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be a storm of electric vehicle batteries that will reach the end of their life in a few years, and we\u2019re positioning ourselves to be ready for it,\u201d says Chandan.\n\nThis is not the only alternative. Li-Cycle is pioneering a new recycling technology using a chemical process to retrieve all of the important metals from batteries. Kochhar says he is looking to build a first commercial plant to put 5,000 tonnes of batteries a year through this this \u201cwet chemistry\u201d process. However, it is early days for the commercial exploitation of this technology.\n\nLinda Gaines, transportation system analyst and electric vehicle battery expert at the Argonne National Laboratory in the US says: \u201cThe bottom line is there\u2019s time to build plants\u201d. \u201cBut\u201d, she adds, \u201cwe don\u2019t know what kinds of batteries they\u2019ll be yet. It would help if the batteries were standardised and designed for recycling, but they\u2019re not.\u201d", "output": "The growth in popularity of electric vehicles will cause a rise in the number of discarded lithium-ion batteries, with as few as 5% of such batteries currently being recycled in the EU. EU regulations make car manufacturers responsible for\u00a0collecting, treating and recycling the\u00a0batteries, which can weigh up to half a tonne.\u00a0In response, recycling giant Umicore has partnered\u00a0with Tesla and Toyota to recover metals such as cobalt and nickel, and\u00a0Nissan has collaborated with power management firm Eaton to repurpose batteries for home energy storage. CEO of recycle start-up LiCycle, Ajay Kochhar, predicts there could be 11 million tonnes of spent batteries by 2030."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Agricultural insurtech Crop Pro raises $8m in series A round \n Crop Pro Insurance, a Des Moines, Iowa-based agriculture-focused insurance provider, raised $8m in Series A funding.\n\nThe round was led by Finistere Ventures and Seed 2 Growth Ventures with participation from GuideOne Insurance. In conjunction with the funding, Sanjeev Krishnan, CIO and managing director, at S2G Ventures, and Arama Kukutai, managing director and co-founder at Finistere Ventures, will both join the Crop Pro Board.\n\nThe company will use the funds to expand its team and speed the development of products and services.\n\nLed by Chairman Billy Rose and President Joe Young, Crop Pro Insurance is a technology company that serves the traditional crop insurance market while developing and providing risk management solutions that address emerging markets, preparing agents and growers for future changes in agriculture.\n\nCrop Pro, a Managing General Agent (MGA) platform specializing in Federal and private crop insurance, currently operates in the Mid-West states through a network of independent agents.\n\nFinSMEs\n\n08/08/2017", "output": "Crop Pro Insurance, an agricultural insurtech firm, has raised $8m in a series A funding round. Led by Seed 2 Growth Ventures and Finistere Ventures, the funding will be used to enlarge its team and develop its products and services. As part of the deal, the CIO and managing director of S2G Ventures, Sanjeev Krishnan, and the managing director and co-founder of Finistere Ventures, Arama Kukutai, will join the board of the Des Moines-based company. Crop Pro Insurance offers risk management solutions for both the traditional market and emerging markets.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Income protection companies move into employee wellness market \n Employee health benefits must be used to cut insurance costs and reduce the risk of ill health at work, argues Paul White, senior consultant at Punter Southall Health & Protection.\n\nWellbeing services often come as standard added-value employee health benefits provided alongside group risk and healthcare insurance products.\n\nThis includes services such as employee assistance programmes (EAPs), second medical opinions, virtual GPs, carer support, workplace health screening, and support from experts in musculoskeletal problems, cancer and cardiovascular health. These benefits are sometimes seen as non-essential add-ons or \u201cbells and whistles\u201d.\n\nAlthough HR health professionals are familiar with these services, they are still, arguably, much under-used and there is untapped potential for their use across other departments such as risk and OH.\n\nAdded-value employee health benefits used to be the preserve of group income protection (GIP) and, to a certain extent, group life providers. Now the individual income protection (IP) market is beginning to turn its attention to such services, recognising the potential value to the employee and not just the employer.\n\nBritish Friendly, for example, launched its Mutual Benefits programme in February 2017, providing its income protection members \u2013 many of whom are self-employed \u2013 with access to a range of GP, physiotherapy, counselling, diet and lifestyle-related services provided by its support partner Square Health.\n\nIn the group insurance market, some corporate cash plan providers are now providing wellbeing services. HealthShield recently announced the launch of a suite of health and wellbeing initiatives on its corporate cash plans for both existing members and new. Aimed at reducing absenteeism and presenteeism, these initiatives include physiotherapy triage, cancer screening, workplace health screening and support for care in the home following a hospital stay.\n\nLinking employee health benefits to insurance premiums\n\nThese are all valuable services for employers as early intervention and rehabilitation applications. But there is also now a school of thought that these services should be linked to general insurance, integrating efforts to reduce sickness absence management and claims reduction across HR and risk managers, plus OH professionals. In effect, linking employee benefits with employers\u2019 liability.\n\nThe rationale is that if all these departments worked more closely together, added-value benefits could not only be used much more to help ensure early intervention and rehabilitation, but they could also be used in the battle to stem the rising tide of employers\u2019 liability (EL) claims within some companies.\n\nCurrently, about one in four EL claims is for stress-related illness, according to a report by the Chartered Insurance Institute\u2019s (CII\u2019s) New Generation Underwriting Group entitled \u201cIs stress the elephant in the boardroom?\u201d\n\nThere is little data on EL claims aside from that in the CII report, but what is available shows that overall average costs have increased from \u00a310,000 in 2010 to \u00a360,000 in 2012, the most recent figures available. Subsequent anecdotal evidence suggests that this rate of increase has continued. Although the average cost of claims has remained fairly stable, the volume is rising.\n\nAccording to some industry experts, this growth might correspond with the decline in the number of employer liability claims for whiplash injuries. Past government reforms restrained the activities of solicitors specialising in whiplash, leading them to consider other potentially lucrative areas such as mental health because, like whiplash, it is difficult to diagnose.\n\nAnother factor is that it has become more difficult in recent years to achieve successful stress claims in employment tribunals, putting a potential burden on EL insurance as an alternative.\n\nAn ongoing increase in claims would bring with it an inevitable knock-on effect on British businesses in terms of costs, not to mention the reputational impact and loss of productivity that comes with failing to get to grips with workplace stress.\n\nSo where do added-value employee health benefits fit in? As the recording and analysis of absence hot spots becomes more sophisticated across companies, HR, OH and risk specialists have an opportunity to collaborate on information sharing and putting in place targeted interventions.\n\nRole of employers in improving wellbeing\n\nGiven that industry experts have extolled the virtues of added-value benefits for many years, why are employers failing to realise the benefits? One factor is the assumption in the UK that the state will provide.\n\nAttitudes are changing in this regard, but it will take further support from the Government to get the message across to British business and employees that there is little available in terms of state welfare benefits. Employers will be increasingly expected to provide such benefits and the Government needs to make this explicit.\n\nIt is for this reason that Group Risk Development (GRiD), an industry group that aims to improve the uptake of group protection benefits in the UK, has called for added-value benefits to be used much more by employers to help tackle some of the biggest causes of employee absence, such as workplace-related stress.\n\nGRiD made several key recommendations to help encourage more employers to provide GIP in its response to the joint Department of Work and Pensions and Department of Health\u2019s \u201cWork, health and disability Green Paper: improving lives\u201d published in November 2016.\n\nTop of the recommendations was that the Government should campaign to raise awareness among employers and employees that sickness benefits provided by the state are only a safety net and there is a definite need to make extra provision.\n\nThe submission stated: \u201cThe Government has played a significant role in raising awareness of the need to save for retirement and a similar approach is needed for sickness absence. Group income protection provides great support to employers and employees, and raising awareness is key in contributing to greater take-up.\n\n\u201cAs it offers valuable access to cover for people with long-term health conditions and disabled people, group income protection is a great support for recruitment and retention, with policy features specifically designed to support the retention of people with health conditions.\u201d\n\nThe submission highlighted to Government what GRiD believes are important features of GIP, which could help keep employees in the workplace after illness or accident, and reduce the overall burden on the state benefits system. These include personalised and tailored early intervention and rehabilitation via added-value benefits.\n\nHR and occupational health should work together\n\nThere is much that HR and OH can do now to ensure employers use group risk and healthcare benefits already in place.\n\nThe simplest and quickest action is to train line managers to identify any potential employee health and wellbeing hot spots and keep HR informed at an early stage.\n\nEqually, when an employee phones in sick, there should be a system in place to record this, together with the reason, and a process to inform HR from day one if possible. Too often, HR only gets to know about sickness absence a few days or even weeks down the line.\n\nIf deemed appropriate, interventions could be put in place from the start. Risk managers can also be alerted to potential problem areas, working with HR to help nip issues in the bud.\n\nMore sophisticated employee health benefits\n\nGone are the days when added-value benefits simply meant putting an EAP in place for all employees to help tick the duty of care box and then promptly forget about it. The services available via GIP providers are becoming more sophisticated.\n\nIn addition to the obligatory EAP, added-value services can include: medical second opinions; eldercare support services; and access to independent experts in mental health, cancer, musculoskeletal problems, chronic fatigue and pain.\n\nTo improve engagement with all of these services, some providers also offer communications help and expertise.\n\nGenerali-UK, for example, recently designed and built a communications hub, which allows HR to produce various types of employer-branded employee communications material.\n\nThe hub also includes free access to seminars on healthy diets and lifestyles via online platform WebEx, staff newsletters and online meetings. Plus, employers can get management consultations as part of healthcare management technology Optum.\n\nThe provider has also launched wellbeing investment matching. Where employers have identified a specific new initiative for their workforce \u2013 virtual GPs, for example \u2013 and want to finance it, the insurer will consider contributing to the initiative based on the likely short and medium term outcomes for the GIP population. The new feature helps minimise outlay for the employer while ensuring that their wellbeing needs are being met.\n\nProviders can often introduce companies and their GIP members to a range of additional services, available at preferential rates, such as interactive health kiosks and on-site workshops.\n\nNone of these services should be considered non-essential \u201cbells and whistles\u201d. The next step is to look at ways to ensure information gathering and sharing across HR, risk and OH.\n\nThis involves breaking down of long-held barriers between these professions. But the market is slowly moving towards this and employers would be well advised to start considering how it can be achieved.\n\nPaul White is senior consultant at Punter Southall Health & Protection.", "output": "Individual income protection providers are now looking to move into the employee health benefit market, with British Friendly launching its Mutual Benefits earlier this year. It offers members, many of whom are self-employed, services such as access to GPs, physiotherapy, counselling, diet and lifestyle-related services. Corporate cash plan providers are also now providing wellbeing services, with HealthShield recently announcing a range of initiatives. According to consulting firm Punter Southall Health and Protection, employee health benefits can be used to lower insurance costs and\u00a0reduce the risk of staff members developing illnesses at work, and it\u00a0believes wellbeing insurance services are underused, despite providing added-value."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Battery storage, smart grids, energy efficiency investment jumps 25% \n This year is proving to be the year of investing in innovative energy technology. Mercom Capital Group reports that in the first half of 2017, over $1 billion in venture capital and private equity funding has been invested in battery storage, smart grid and energy efficiency companies worldwide, exceeding the first-half funding benchmarks in 2014, 2015, and 2016.\n\nMercom Capital Group, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, surveyed the combined venture capital funding (including private equity and corporate venture capital) and mergers & acquisitions across 89 companies in three separate sectors \u2013 Battery Storage, Smart Grid, and Energy Efficiency. Total investments in these areas amounted to $1.03 billion across the first half of 2017, a marked 25% jump from $807 million in the first half of 2016.\n\nWhere are the largest investments being made?\n\nChina\u2019s Microvast Power came out on top across all sectors, bringing in $400 million for its battery storage growth plan. Rounding out the top five venture capital-funded companies were View Dynamic Glass (efficiency) with $100 million, ChargePoint (smart grid) with $82 million, Actility (smart grid) with $75 million and Kinestral (efficiency) with $65 million.\n\nOverall, the battery storage sector collected the largest amount of funding of the deals reported at $480 million over 18 deals, whereas the highest number deals took place among smart grid companies \u2013 22 total over the first half of this year, amounting to $304 million. The energy efficiency sector brought in $242 million through 20 deals that were reported.\n\nBreakdown by sector\n\nWithin the battery storage sector, Microvast\u2019s deal was followed by Massachusetts-based Vionx Energy with investors supporting its long- duration energy storage solution, as well as British battery maker Moixa Technology. The sector is seeing a notable upward trend compared to this time last year, at $179 million across 20 deals. Top investors included CITIC Securities, CDH Investment, and National Venture Capital.\n\nThe smart grid sector saw a minor dip in investment from $331 million over 29 deals in 2016 to $304 million over 22 deals this year. However, there was a big jump to 13 M&A transactions, up from 5 at the same time last year. In Q2 alone, 17 investors contributed to smart grid venture capital funding rounds, with Actility securing funding from Creadev, Bosch, Inmarsat, Idinvest, Bpifrance, Ginko Ventures, KPN, Orange Digital Ventures, Swisscom, and Foxconn, and ChargePoint raising funds from Siemens.\n\nEnergy efficiency also saw a slight drop, from $297 million in 23 deals last year to $242 million in 20 deals in 2017. While France-based Kinestral saw the largest overall investment, CIMCON Lighting secured the top venture capital deal in the sector, raising $15 million from Energy Impact Partners. In Q2, six investors contributed to venture capital funding of energy efficiency overall.\n\nAll in all, it\u2019s been an exciting six months for some of the most groundbreaking actors in battery storage, smart grids and energy efficiency. We\u2019ll be keeping a close watch to see what the year-end brings for companies in these sectors and in the sustainable energy industry as a whole.\n\n[View source.]", "output": "More than $1bn was invested in global battery storage, smart grids and energy efficiency by venture capital and private equity during H1 2017, up 25% from the same period last year, according to a report by Mercom Capital Group. China\u2019s Microvast Power came out on top of all three sectors, attracting $400m to its battery storage products. View Dynamic Glass (efficiency) drew $100m, ChargePoint (smart grid) took in $82m, Actility (smart grid) raised $75m\u00a0and Kinestral (efficiency) attracted $65m."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Toyota to trial hydrogen-fuelled trucks with 7-Eleven \n Specific Themes for Studies on Energy Conservation and CO 2 Emissions Reduction\n\nDistribution\n\nFuel cell trucks, in which the refrigeration/freezer unit, and the truck itself, are powered by fuel cells, will be introduced as refrigerator/freezer trucks for stores with the goal of reducing CO2 emissions.\n\nStore Operation\n\nAn energy management system, combining already-installed solar power generators and the items listed below, will be introduced to enable greater energy conservation and CO2 emissions reduction.\n\nIntroduction of stationary hydrogen generator utilizing an automotive fuel cell unit\n\nUnder consideration is the utilization of a fuel cell power generator as a power source at stores with hydrogen stations.\n\nIntroduction of stationary rechargeable batteries utilizing rechargeable batteries for automobiles\n\nA stationary rechargeable battery system which uses rechargeable automobile batteries will be introduced to stores and may be used as an emergency power source during disasters, in addition to possible applications for energy conservation and CO2 emissions reduction.", "output": "Toyota and 7-Eleven are teaming up in Japan for a trial of refrigerated delivery trucks powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Some 7-Eleven stores may\u00a0also get stationary hydrogen generators for refuelling hydrogen fuel cell vehicles as well as stationary\u00a0rechargeable battery systems to that may be used as emergency power sources.\u00a0As of July 31, 7-Eleven has 19,638 stores in Japan, including 2,528 in Tokyo."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Massachusetts developers create sarcasm-detecting bot \n Living\n\nCall Me, Beep Me: A Case For The Burner Phone At The Club\n\nFor too long, the image of burner phones has been associated with cheating husbands and Walter White in Breaking Bad. After all, burner phones are traditio", "output": "Researchers from MIT have created an automated bot that can detect sarcasm. The scientists happened upon the technology while developing a way to automatically filter out racism online. The bot uses deep learning to recognise patterns in emoji. During training, the bot scanned\u00a055 billion\u00a0tweets, and was able to identify sarcasm with 82% accuracy, where humans achieved only 76%. The discovery could be the first step on the road to the identification of human emotion by AIs and digital devices."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Buzzfeed Germany strengthens news coverage for upcoming election \n With Germany\u2019s federal election coming up Sept. 24, BuzzFeed Germany is pushing further into news and politics coverage, following the playbook of its U.S. and U.K. news teams that have debunked fake-news stories spreading on social media.\n\nIn April, BuzzFeed hired Daniel Drepper as editor-in-chief. Drepper co-founded Correctiv, the not-for-profit organization Facebook partnered with to fact-check stories. He\u2019s tasked with building BuzzFeed Germany\u2019s news team, which will have five people once another position is filled, roughly the same number as BuzzFeed Germany\u2019s entertainment team.\n\n\u201cBuzzFeed understands the internet,\u201d Drepper said. \u201cI want to combine serious news reporting and the lessons BuzzFeed has learned in the last few years.\u201d\n\nDrepper pointed to three articles from his team in the last few months that he said have performed well: One uncovered a fabricated story about the Germanwings plane crash in 2015; another reported the number of police injuries was exaggerated during protests at the G-20 summit, which other national news sites picked up and published; and the third revealed that seven out of the 10 most viral stories on Facebook about German Chancellor Angela Merkel are fake.\n\nThe increased focus on hard news comes as 3-year-old BuzzFeed Germany has struggled to gain viewers and advertisers in Germany with its focus on quiz-like content and irreverent humor.\n\nSo far, with more focus on listicles and entertainment coverage, BuzzFeed hasn\u2019t pulled big audiences in Germany. In June, it had 3.5 million monthly unique visitors, out of an internet population of about 57 million, according to comScore. BuzzFeed does distribute across 30 platforms. At BuzzFeed Germany\u2019s launch, then-editor-in-chief Juliane Leopold said she hoped to grow its social media following beyond 1 million users before introducing more news coverage. As of Aug. 9, BuzzFeed Deutschland has less than 500,000 Facebook fans. Twitter, which has also struggled to take hold in Germany, only brings BuzzFeed Germany about 9,000 followers.\n\nBut BuzzFeed Germany has to compete with long-established local publishers like Gruner + Jahr, plus local digital competitors like Heftig, with more than 2 million Facebook followers, and homegrown social platforms.\n\nAlthough BuzzFeed Germany\u2019s follower count and the number of articles it publishes to Facebook is less than local competitors, data from NewsWhip shows Facebook engagement on each of its posts is greater. It\u2019s not uncommon for smaller audiences to be more engaged.\n\nStill, without much reach, BuzzFeed Germany has struggled to gain relevance with some advertisers.\n\n\u201cThe offering from BuzzFeed is just too narrow. You need a holistic role for the brand to play rather than single campaigns, but you can\u2019t cover that with a small team,\u201d said Norman Wagner, managing director of MediaCom Beyond Advertising.\n\n\u201cThe requests for native advertising on BuzzFeed in our agency are still quite limited,\u201d said Kristin Seidler, content manager at Havas Media, adding that she expects the demand for native advertising in general to grow in the next two years as audiences become harder to reach.\n\nPartly this is because BuzzFeed\u2019s London-based business team handles sales and monetization across Europe, which can be a barrier in gaining traction among local agencies. It has run ad campaigns in Germany for the last year with brands like Volkswagen, Diageo and Universal Pictures. However, Wagner said BuzzFeed recognizes cultural nuances, pointing to BuzzFeed spinoff Einfach Tasty (which translates to \u201cEasy Tasty\u201d), which is focused on healthy eating rather than the cheese-stuffed foods its U.S. counterpart features \u2014 and its 2.4 million Facebook followers.\n\nHistorically, Germany has been a tricky market for international companies, including those in classified, display and social media, to establish themselves, said Alex DeGroote, \u200emedia analyst at Cenkos Securities, adding that the threshold for listicle content in Germany is lower than in BuzzFeed\u2019s other markets.\n\nMore in-depth journalism could improve BuzzFeed Germany\u2019s image, said Wagner. \u201cBuzzFeed\u2019s site doesn\u2019t have the quality touch,\u201d he said. \u201cIt looks like, \u2018I know the mechanics of how to get traffic.\u2019 It doesn\u2019t look like, \u2018I can do good journalism,\u2019 yet.\u201d\n\nStill, the early signs of BuzzFeed\u2019s foray into more political journalism are encouraging, partly because readers can see the novelty in BuzzFeed\u2019s coverage compared to its three years of entertainment content, according to Drepper. \u201cPeople don\u2019t expect us to do news. Seeing it come from BuzzFeed means they are giving us more credit than they would a traditional newspaper,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re on a quest to convince people to keep us in mind; we\u2019re trying to enforce it through our deeper analysis.\u201d", "output": "Buzzfeed Germany is focusing on its political coverage in advance of the federal election on 24 September. The company's priority is debunking fake news stories, which have been implicated in interference\u00a0with recent political events. Buzzfeed has struggled to gain traction in Germany with its regular content, and is seeking to expand its readership\u00a0with more traditional\u00a0journalism in a bid to compete with well-established local publishers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesla secrecy has analysts estimating Model 3 battery costs \n There has been a lot of speculation, more recently through documents released by the EPA, about Tesla Model 3 battery pack options since the company first refused to confirm their energy capacities in an attempt to dissociate them from the vehicle\u2019s options.\n\nBut now CEO Elon Musk added to the debate and says that the pack options are \u201cjust over 50 kWh\u201d for the standard version, which is expected to enable 220 miles of range, and about 75 kWh for the \u201clong range\u201d version, which Tesla claims can enable 310 miles of range.\n\nMusk made the comment during a conference call hosted by Goldman Sachs for bondholders following Tesla\u2019s new bond issuance yesterday, according to sources who were at the event.\n\nThe information is especially important to investors who are attempting to estimate the cost of the Model 3 in an attempt to model ways that Tesla can achieve its targeted 25% gross margin on the vehicle.\n\nFor example, at $150 per kWh, the Model 3 battery packs would cost between $7,500 and $11,250 per vehicle. A few dollar difference per kWh or a few kWh difference per battery capacity can make a significant overall impact on the cost of the electric car.\n\nAs we reported earlier today, Musk refused to disclose Tesla\u2019s battery cost but he insists it is ahead of the competition.\n\nTesla had previously disclosed that its battery pack cost was \u201cbelow 190$ per kWh\u201d and they aim for Gigafactory production to reduce the cost by 35%. Musk also said that he would be disappointed if they don\u2019t bring the cost below $100 per kWh by the end of the decade.\n\nDuring the call, Musk also expressed concerns over battery cell supply potentially creating a bottleneck for Model 3 production and even suggested that Tesla could push customers toward the smaller battery pack option, which require significantly fewer cells.\n\nThey are sort of already doing this with the $9,000 premium for the ~75 kWh long range battery pack over the standard option, which starts at $35,000.\n\nAt this point, Tesla is not entirely sure of the demand for each version because only the long range is available and the fact that the standard version has been pushed a few months can have an impact on the demand, which could shift once both versions are in full production.\n\nThe company started taking the preferences of reservation holders in an attempt to model demand for each version, as well as the upcoming dual motor powertrain, which is due next year on the Model 3.", "output": "Tesla CEO Elon Musk told analysts on a call with Goldman Sachs this week that the two pack options on the Model 3 are \u201cjust over 50 kWh\u201d for the standard version, which is expected to enable 220 miles of range, and about 75 kWh for the \u201clong range\u201d version, which Tesla claims can enable 310 miles of range. However, he refused to disclose the cost of the batteries while\u00a0insisting it is ahead of the competition."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "English Premier League opens door to Amazon, Facebook and Twitter \n The executive chairman of the English Premier League has opened the door for the likes of Amazon, Facebook and Twitter to pick up the broadcast rights to the league from BT and Sky.\n\nBetween them, BT and Sky paid \u00a35.14bn for three seasons of rights in 2015, and with the rights due to come to an end at the close of the 2018/2019 season, the Premier League is expected to start taking offers for 2019 onwards later this year.\n\n\u201cWe envisage anybody, really, being able to come along and bid for those rights,\u201d Richard Scudamore told The Times. \u201cWe would need some distribution criteria and to make sure it was readily available across platforms and everything else, but as long as it was widely available and distributed properly, we wouldn\u2019t rule those out.\u201d\n\nThe news will leave a bitter taste in the mouths of traditional sports broadcasters that were already hit just days ago when Amazon won the rights to ATP World Tour tennis for the next five years from Sky.\n\nIf one of the online giants do pick up the rights to the Premier League, it\u2019s likely it will be at the expense of either Sky or BT, rather than both of them. With an ambition to show at least half of the 380 Premier League games in the future, it is logical that the Premier League will maintain having at least two broadcast partners \u2013 and you can expect at least one to still be TV-based.\n\nDon\u2019t 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": "The executive chairman of the English Premier League has released broadcasting rights for league games from 2019 onwards, as BT and Sky\u2019s monopolies come to an end after the 2018/19 season. Amazon, Twitter, Facebook and more will have the option of bidding for the rights to broadcast, unwelcome news to traditional sports broadcasters who have already lost the ATP World Tour\u00a0to Amazon for the next five years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Adding 3D objects to articles increases view time for\u00a0The Outline \n The Outline is making the most of having its own proprietary content-management system.\n\nAlong with comics, video games and Snapchat-like \u201ccard\u201d stories, The Outline is venturing into other flashy areas like 3-D and choose-your-own-adventure-style content to get people to spend more time on-site.\n\nOver a month, developers built a 3-D tool for The Outline\u2019s CMS. Two weeks ago, the publisher embedded a 3-D object into one of its articles for the first time. The top of a story about drug-related deaths at music festivals featured a 3-D pill that users could spin around using their mouse, as seen in the video below.\n\nThe Outline\u2019s average user session is about three minutes, but for this article, users stayed on page about 30 percent longer than usual, said Josh Topolsky, CEO and founder of The Outline. Users spent a disproportionate amount of their time at the top of the article where the pill was located, which led him to conclude the 3-D object drove the increased engagement.\n\nBecause The Outline controls its publishing software from soup to nuts, it can experiment with new media formats that are difficult to integrate into an off-the-shelf CMS, Topolsky said.\n\nSince embedding a 3-D object led to more time spent on page, The Outline expects to use 3-D more frequently. In its CMS, the 3-D tool works similarly to how photo or video embeds work. An editor uploads a file for the 3-D object, and the CMS integrates it within the article.\n\n\u201cIt isn\u2019t like, \u2018Holy shit, I can\u2019t believe someone built this,\u2019\u201d said Topolsky, while downplaying the difficulty of embedding 3-D objects into stories. \u201cIt is more of a cool asset that has been underutilized on the internet, and it is part of the process of figuring out how to tell stories in a new way.\u201d\n\nFor now, The Outline\u2019s developers will create the 3-D files that get loaded into its CMS. But as it begins to use 3-D objects more frequently, it will experiment with getting files for 3-D models from third-party firms like TurboSquid.\n\nHaving the option for 3-D allows the publisher to tell stories in an interactive way. For example, if it did a story on chair design, it could embed 3-D files of various types of chairs for users to click on rather than listing the information in a block of text, Topolsky said.\n\nThe Outline is also working on a choose-your-own-adventure feature. The idea is that users will receive a question and several answers they can click. Each answer the user clicks on will serve a different piece of content. After the content is served, the user will get another prompt, which surfaces another set of answers, each of which elicits its own piece of content.\n\n\u201cWe aren\u2019t just re-creating a magazine on the internet,\u201d Topolsky said. \u201cWe\u2019re at the next step of trying to use data to see how [new media formats] impact an audience.\u201d", "output": "Digital media company The Outline has added a 3D tool in its proprietary content management system, giving the publisher the ability to embed 3D objects in its articles. The new feature has led to a 30% longer page view time for the first article with the image, with viewers spending a disproportionate time at the top of the page where the 3D image was inserted. The Outline intends to use 3D images more frequently as a result.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "America\u2019s Dental Crisis: Thousands Cross into One Mexican City for Treatment \n Millions of Americans don\u2019t have dental insurance and those who do say it doesn\u2019t cover enough. The town of Los Algodones, Mexico \u2014better known as \u201cMolar City\u201d \u2014 has become a destination for those seeking treatment, at a fraction of the cost.Aug. 6, 2017", "output": "Of the 5,000 residents of Los Algodones in Mexico, 600 are dentists working at over 300 practices, offering dental care to Americans unable to afford the USA\u2019s high prices. With 114 million Americans lacking dental insurance, \u201cMolar City\u201d is the last resort for treating dental issues. In the winter, over 7,000 Americans per day make the trip to Los Algodones for treatment, using deals found online to get cheaper procedures.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Most of Snapchat's shows fall within unscripted, reality TV or news \n Snapchat Discover has quickly become the newest home for reality TV and other nonfiction video series.\n\nOf the 22 Snapchat shows that have premiered since last fall \u2014 when Snap ramped up its shows initiative in earnest \u2014 almost all of them have fallen within the unscripted, reality TV or news genres. This includes Snapchat\u2019s newest show, \u201cArtist Pass,\u201d a documentary series from Billboard that goes behind the scenes with musicians as they prepare for a big performance; E!\u2019s \u201cAsk Kylie,\u201d which stars Kylie Jenner; and \u201cStay Tuned,\u201d a twice-daily news show from NBC News.\n\nShows remains a huge commitment for Snap, which plans to have as many as three shows airing per day on Snapchat Discover by year-end, according to the company.\n\nSnap hasn\u2019t explicitly said it\u2019s only looking for nonfiction programming, but news, documentary and reality TV genres seem to be a focus.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re leaning more toward a reality, unscripted and documentary focus for series,\u201d said Nick Cicero, CEO of Delmondo, which has pitched Snap show concepts. \u201cWe\u2019ve also received interest from record labels and celebrities who are reaching out to say they\u2019re interested in creating a show concept for Snap.\u201d\n\nSnap has a few narrative shows in the works, including an animated comedy series with Conan O\u2019Brien\u2019s \u201cTeam Coco.\u201d These are expected to roll out later this year as the company expands the lineup of shows to include animation, scripted dramas and comedies, said a Snap source.\n\nBut it makes sense that Snap would pursue nonfiction genres and show formats for its initial foray into TV-like programming \u2014 it\u2019s what users are accustomed to. It\u2019s also a fast way to build an audience.\n\n\u201cReality breeds reality,\u201d said Peter Csathy, founder of media advisory firm Creatv Media. \u201cSnapchat users already showcase their own lives, so it makes sense that Snapchat would showcase the lives of celebrities \u2014 that interest is embedded in Snapchat\u2019s DNA.\u201d\n\nThere appears to be an audience for this type of programming. A+E Networks\u2019 \u201cSecond Chance,\u201d where former couples revisit their breakups, averaged 8 million viewers per episode by the end of the first season, a 100 percent growth from the first episode.\n\n\u201cIn creating \u2018Second Chance,\u2019 we focused closely on Snap\u2019s unique audience makeup and the kind of content that really resonates with them,\u201d said Paul Greenberg, evp and gm of 45th & Dean and FYI at A+E Networks.\n\nVertical Networks\u2019 \u201cPhone Swap,\u201d which is Snapchat\u2019s most popular show so far, averaged more than 11 million viewers per episode. On the news front, \u201cGood Luck America,\u201d a Snap-produced political series, averaged 5.2 million viewers in its second season, according to Snapchat. E! News\u2019 entertainment news show \u201cThe Rundown,\u201d meanwhile, averages 8 million viewers per episode, with some episodes clearing 10 million viewers, E! News said. (Snapchat counts a view as soon as the episode is clicked on and starts playing, whereas Facebook counts a view at 3 seconds \u2014 and why online video and linear TV are not comparable.)\n\nAdvertisers are also experimenting with reality TV-style programming on Snapchat. Earlier this year, The Recording Academy aired a four-episode, man-on-the-street-style game show to promote the Grammys to Snapchat users. The show came close to being distributed on Snapchat Discover, but ultimately aired on The Recording Academy\u2019s personal Snapchat account.\n\nMore recently, Marriott released \u201cSix Days, Seven Nights,\u201d a travel show that follows different influencers as they travel around cities. Unlike The Recording Academy, Marriott has released episodes of the show, which run for three minutes apiece, as ads inside Snapchat Discover.\n\nEven here, the focus is on celebrities and influencers within a nonfiction setting.\n\n\u201cIf you\u2019re thinking about original scripted and narrative character development, unless you have a recognizable person attached to the show and are promoting the show outside of Snapchat, the ability to successfully launch such a show is difficult,\u201d said Cicero. (Delmondo produced branded shows for The Recording Academy and Marriott.) \u201cSnap\u2019s looking at celebrities, athletes, influencers and other prominent individuals who can immediately deliver viewership from the first episode.\u201d", "output": "Snapchat Discover has seen nearly all of its 22 new shows fall with the unscripted reality TV genres, with shows such as Artist Pass, Ask Kyle and Stay Tuned all fitting the bill. Companies are looking to showcase celebrities and music, and are targeting the responsive audience for Snapchat Discover that has shown interest in this type of programming. The most popular shows average between 8 million and 11 million viewers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nasdaq joins SIX to develop OTC blockchain concept \n Nasdaq and SIX Swiss Exchange have teamed up to provide blockchain technology for SIX\u2019s OTC structured products business.\n\nThe project will be integrated with several systems currently managed by SIX using Nasdaq\u2019s blockchain architecture stack.\n\nSIX said the partnership will be an opportunity to gain first-hand experience regarding the implementation of the technology and its uses in the post-trade world.\n\nChris Landis, division CEO SIX Swiss Exchange, added the exchange operator is keen to explore innovative technologies like blockchain.\n\n\u201cWorking together with Nasdaq reinforces our commitment towards being an exchange at the technology forefront,\u201d he said.\n\nSIX extended its technology contract with Nasdaq in October last year marking the tenth year of collaboration between the two companies.\n\nAs part of this, SIX extended the X-stream INET trading technology across equities, ETFs, structured products, fixed income markets, as well as NASDAQ\u2019s SMARTS surveillance and pre-trade risk management tools.\n\nNasdaq\u2019s head of market technology, Lars Ottersg\u00e5rd, added the latest project with SIX is a \u201cprime opportunity to explore and implement blockchain technology in a controlled, highly collaborative environment\u201d.", "output": "SIX Swiss Exchange and Nasdaq will develop blockchain technology for SIX\u2019s OTC structured products business, in the latest project shared between the long-term collaborators. The initiative, which will integrate with several existing systems, was an \"opportunity to gain first-hand experience regarding the implementation of the technology and its uses in the post-trade world\", according to SIX.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Toxic 'sea sawdust' found near Canary Island beaches \n Tourists have been warned to avoid blooms of toxic microalgae that have been propagating in the hot weather off Spain's Canary Islands.\n\nBeachgoers have emerged from the warm sea waters scratching themselves after brushing against the tiny algae, also known as sea sawdust.\n\n\"Since the end of June, we have seen episodes of massive efflorescence (or bloom) of microalgae, sometimes reaching as far as bathing beaches,\" said Juan Aleman, director of public health for the Canaries.\n\nHe said its proliferation was a \"natural, temporary phenomenon\" which would eventually disappear.\n\nBut he warned it contained a toxin which can lead to skin irritation and dermatitis.\n\n\"Hence one must avoid coming into contact with it in the water and on the sand,\" said Mr Aleman.\n\nImage: The algae, also known as sea sawdust, can lead to skin irritation and dermatitis\n\nHe added no beaches had been closed because of the algae.\n\nHowever, AFP reported that it had found several have been closed to swimmers in recent weeks, including the popular Teresitas beach at Santa Cruz de Tenerife.\n\nMarta Sanson, professor of plant biology at the University of La Laguna in Tenerife, said ideal conditions, including an increase in water temperature, were allowing proliferation of the microalgae.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThis includes a dust cloud sweeping in off the Sahara which is rich in iron, a nutrient which micro-organisms like, she said.\n\nEarlier this week, an Australian teenager was bitten by flesh-eating bugs during a night-time dip in the ocean at Brighton Beach in Melbourne.\n\nHe emerged with blood streaming from his feet and ankles after being attacked by what are believed to have been sea lice.", "output": "The waters around Spain's Canary Islands have seen blooms of a toxic microalgae, which has thrived on warmer sea temperatures and iron-rich dust clouds from the Sahara. While the phenomenon has been described as natural and temporary, tourists have been warned the algae contains a toxin which can lead to skin irritation and dermatitis. The Juan Aleman, director of public health for the Canaries, urged people to avoid contact with the algae."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Useless Ethereum Token has a market cap of $105,000 \n Useless Ethereum Token (UET) is a cryptocurrency and operates on the Ethereum platform. Useless Ethereum Token has a current supply of 3,965,716.09795 with 0 in circulation. The last known price of Useless Ethereum Token is 0.01342498 USD and is up 0.00 over the last 24 hours. More information can be found at https://uetoken.com/", "output": "A token created using the ethereum ERC20 smart contract called Useless Ethereum Token is trading at $0.03 and has a market cap\u00a0of $105,000\u00a0at the time of writing. The token is a response to the valuations that Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) have generated in recent months,\u00a0with its own ICO raising $40,000 in three days in June. The website questions why\u00a0investors would put money into the token,\u00a0reminding people that it \"does absolutely\u00a0nothing of value\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesla to use Samsung batteries in Australian storage project \n Back in July, Elon Musk secured Tesla a contract for the world's largest lithium-ion battery thanks in no small part to a guarantee it would be running within 100 days of the contract being signed, or it would be free.\n\nThe battery will help ensure South Australia no longer has to suffer repeated blackouts when major storms hit, but in order to do that, Tesla needs to build a 100-megawatt battery quickly.\n\nGigafactory 1 in Nevada is still in the process of coming online for battery cell production and only began producing them in the first quarter of 2017. Panasonic is Tesla's main battery supplier, but those batteries almost all end up inside Model S and Model X vehicles. We also can't forget Tesla needs to ensure a supply of battery cells is available for its Powerwalls and Powerpacks.\n\nWith Tesla already the largest consumer of rechargeable batteries, it should come as no surprise the company had to look elsewhere for battery cells for the South Australian project. According to Electrek, it's Samsung who won out and the South Korean company's battery cells will be used for the world's largest rechargeable battery. Tesla will provide everything else that's required.\n\nTo put the scale of this order with Samsung into context, during the last quarter Tesla required 97MWh of energy storage to fulfill all commercial Powerpack orders. For the 100 megawatt South Australia battery, 129 MWh of energy storage is needed. All of that capacity will be provided by battery cells produced at Samsung SDI.\n\nSamsung will be pleased with securing such a large order, but also for having the foresight to develop its own '2170' battery cell announced back in January. 2170 is the latest battery cell format used by Tesla and Panasonic, so by producing a compatible alternative Samsung made itself an obvious choice for future projects where supply is tight.", "output": "Tesla is set to use Samsung lithium-ion batteries in the world's largest battery energy storage project in South Australia that was commissioned to helped the region deal with regular blackouts."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Children should be encouraged to develop cyber skills online \n Parents should be encouraging their children to spend more time online in order to \u201csave the country,\u201d the former head of GCHQ has said.\n\nRobert Hannigan, who was head of Britain\u2019s surveillance agency between 2014 and 2017, said that the UK was struggling to keep up with competitors when it came to cyber skills.\n\nHe said parents should not feel guilty if teenagers spend hours of their summer holidays in front of a screen.\n\n\u201cThe assumption that time online or in front of a screen is life wasted needs challenging,\u201d Hannigan said. \u201cIt is driven by fear.\u201d\n\nThe call comes days after the children\u2019s commissioner warned parents that they should intervene to stop their children overusing social media and consuming time online \u201clike junk food\u201d.\n\nIn an interview with the Observer, Anne Longfield said that parents should \u201cstep up\u201d and be proactive in stopping their children from bingeing on the internet during the summer holidays.\n\nWriting in the Telegraph, Hannigan disagreed. \u201cIf you are spending a disproportionate amount of your holiday unsuccessfully attempting to separate your children from wifi or their digital devices, do not despair.\n\n\u201cYour poor parenting may be helping them and saving the country.\u201d\n\nThe opinions come after a report said that children in all age groups are spending ever-longer periods online, according to Ofcom. Children aged five to 15 are spending 15 hours a week online.\n\nHannigan argues that young people need to explore the digital world just as they explore the physical world, in order to fully develop the kinds of skills both the country and they as individuals will need in the future.\n\nHe said: \u201cThis country is desperately short of engineers and computer scientists, and lacks the broad \u2018cyber skills\u2019 needed now, never mind in the next 20 years. The baseline of understanding is too low and often behind our competitors.\n\n\u201cIf we are to capitalise on the explosion of data that will come through the \u2018internet of things\u2019, and the arrival of artificial intelligence and machine learning, we need young people who have been allowed to behave like engineers: to explore, break things and put them together.\n\n\u201cArguably that is what children always did in their summer holidays. The difference today is that they will want to explore, experiment and break things digitally.\u201d\n\nHe also said that parents should attempt to catch up and improve their own cyber skills, suggesting they buy a Raspberry Pi.\n\n\u201cYou could build it with your children and learn at least the concept of computer coding; there are plenty of free guides on the web,\u201d he said.", "output": "Robert Hannigan, former head of GCHQ, has called on parents to let their children spend hours of the summer holidays online, and said the skills teenagers learn could one day benefit the country. \"This country is desperately short of engineers and computer scientists, and lacks the broad \u2018cyber skills\u2019 needed now, never mind in the next 20 years,\" he said. His comments fly in the face of children's commissioner Anne Longfield, who called for parents to minimise the time their children spend online."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google makes publishers aware of failing ads \n Publishers that have fretted about Google\u2019s plans to unleash an ad-blocking version of Chrome in 2018 can now see if their own sites\u2019 ads will be blocked by the tech giant.\n\nOn June 1, Google rolled out its Ad Experience Report, a tool it\u2019s using to evaluate and score websites based on their ad creative and design. It provides screenshots and videos of ads that have been identified as annoying to users, such as pop-ups and autoplaying video ads with sound, and \u201cprestitial\u201d ads with countdown timers.\n\nSo far, Google has identified about 700 sites as warranting corrective action out of around 100,000 sites it\u2019s reviewed so far. Half of the roughly 700 got a \u201cfailing\u201d status and the other half a \u201cwarning.\u201d Pop-ups were the most common problem Google found, accounting for 96 percent of violations on desktop and 54 percent on mobile.\n\nMost of these sites are out of the mainstream, such as entertainment sites checkthesevideos.com and full-serie.biz. But a couple dozen are a who\u2019s who of traditional media. Those listed as failing include Forbes; Tronc-owned Orlando Sentinel, Sun-Sentinel and Los Angeles Times; Bauer Xcel Media\u2019s Life & Style and In Touch Weekly; The Wrap; Chicago Sun-Times; Tribune Broadcasting\u2019s Fox 13 Now; and Sporting News.\n\nA similar number of mainstream sites got warnings. They included Kiplinger, Gizmodo Media Group\u2019s Lifehacker, The Jerusalem Post, The San Diego Union-Tribune, Cox Media Group\u2019s WSB-TV in Atlanta, Tronc\u2019s Baltimore Sun and Chicago Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, the U.K. Independent, The Daily Caller, Reader\u2019s Digest, All You, Smithsonian, New York Daily News, Salt Lake Tribune and CBS News.\n\nGoogle underscored that it hasn\u2019t hashed out all the enforcement details yet. One aspect of the plan that may raise alarms with publishers is that Google hasn\u2019t ruled out filtering all of a failing site\u2019s ads \u2014 not just the offending ads. Google also didn\u2019t specify what exactly would lead a site to be labeled \u201cfailing.\u201d It said \u201cwarning\u201d would apply to publishers with \u201ctwo or more violations\u201d but that these sites wouldn\u2019t be blocked.\n\nOnce the new version of Chrome with the ad filter launches next year, Google said it would pull ads from failing publishers\u2019 sites if they don\u2019t fix the violations within 30 days. Google is using the Better Ads Standards set by the Coalition for Better Ads, an alliance of heavy-hitters in advertising and media such as Unilever, GroupM and The Washington Post that was formed to clean up digital advertising. Google is a founding member of the coalition.\n\nThe tool is meant to give publishers a way to fix their sites well before Google launches its Chrome ad blocker and to give advertisers and their representatives a way to avoid having their ads run on sites that have a poor user experience. Google also said publishers can use the tool to request a new review after they fix their sites and report if they think they were unfairly identified as having violations.\n\nAlong with Google\u2019s ad blocker news, Apple recently said it would update its Safari browser to block video ads that autoplay and stop ad tracking. The platform giants\u2019 moves are seen as a response to users and a way to ward off ad blocking, but publishers see them as a way to solidify control over the platforms\u2019 own digital ad market share, which has grown at the expense of publishers.\n\nCritics also say Google shouldn\u2019t be the arbiter of how publishers monetize their sites (while protecting its own revenue by leaving alone its ads on YouTube and by paying the popular ad blocker AdBlock Plus to make sure its own ads aren\u2019t blocked). No one would argue that users enjoy autoplay video, but the concern is that clamping down on it has a disproportionate impact on independent publishers. It\u2019s worth noting that many of the flagged sites belong to single-title companies or are legacy publishers that are struggling to modernize. Tronc\u2019s digital ad revenue has been dwindling. The Daily News is said to be losing millions a year.\n\nSo far, publishers would seem to have little choice but to do what Google wants, though. Ben Gerst, Tronc\u2019s svp of product development, said the company was focused on a better experience for users and advertisers and that it was working with Google and implementing changes to meet the Coalition\u2019s standards. Grant Whitmore, evp of digital at the Daily News, said the paper\u2019s warning status was related to an ad tech partner and in-image ad that was supposed to meet industry ad standards but was somehow getting flagged, and that the publisher was working with Google to resolve it.\n\nA spokesman for Lifehacker, meanwhile, raised the specter of misidentification, however, saying: \u201cOur Kinja publishing platform has always taken a very audience-centric approach to how we integrate advertising and we believe that practice will ultimately benefit our sites ahead of any upcoming changes in the market, including the new version of Chrome. We don\u2019t believe Lifehacker.com is currently out of step with existing U.S. better ad standards.\u201d\n\nAll publishers are embracing the user experience mantra, but getting there is another matter. Paul Likins, vp of revenue operations at American Media Inc., whose Men\u2019s Fitness and National Enquirer sites were cited for violations, said it\u2019s not always clear from Google\u2019s tool what the violation is, making it confusing for publishers trying to fix them. And fixing them means replacing the revenue generated by offending ads, which isn\u2019t easily done. Google\u2019s approach feels \u201cheavy-handed,\u201d but publishers have to comply, lest they risk not just repercussions from Google but advertisers, who used to clamor for \u201cdisruptive\u201d ads, he said.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re all trying to fix this, but we\u2019re moving from a vendor-based business model,\u201d he said. \u201cIt takes time, money and resources.\u201d\n\nPaul Vincent is founder of Neuranet, a tech company that helps publishers comply with Interactive Advertising Bureau specs for fast-loading, non-invasive ads. He said an unintended consequence of a company like Google being the arbiter of the web is that small publishers may just throw up their hands and hand over more of their tech needs to Google, thinking that\u2019ll at least ensure their sites won\u2019t be blocked.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s gotten too much power over what\u2019s acceptable,\u201d he said of Google. \u201cWhen it makes these releases, it can have a massive effect across the industry and sometimes contributes to its dominance because of the confusion.\u201d", "output": "Tech giant Google is allowing publishers to see which of their ads will disappear on the new ad-blocking version of Chrome. The Ad Experience Report tool allows publishers to see how their website fares in terms of ad creative and design, taking into account irritating ads, like\u00a0pop-ups. Google found that of the 100,000 sites it reviewed, 700 sites are failing\u00a0or have been given a warning\u00a0on ad quality, with pop-ups being the most common offender. Those failing include traditional media outlets such as Forbes, the Los Angeles Times and InTouch Weekly, amongst others.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "JTC launches first regulated crypto-denominated fund in Jersey \n We value shared ownership We operate around the principle that if our people have a stake in the business, they will do a better job for our clients.\n\nWe invest in people Over 83% of our employees hold a relevant professional qualification or are working towards this through our dedicated JTC Academy.\n\nWe embrace technology We operate a variety of best-in-class systems to deliver and maintain an impeccable standard of administration and use technology to innovate in both service delivery and efficiency.", "output": "Wealth services firm JTC Group has launched the world's first regulated cryptocurrency-denominated fund in Jersey for the trade of virtual currencies and participation in initial coin offerings. Established in partnership with offshore law firm Carey Olsen and Jersey-based investment manager Global Advisors, the specialist fund will only be open to professional investors and high-net-worth individuals. The fund is regulated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission under the new Jersey Private Fund regime. Jersey treats cryptocurrencies as an asset class, rather than a currency, and requires JTC to carry out due diligence on investors as part of its regulatory regime."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bill Gates-backed battery start-up returns from bankruptcy \n Another UK company installing the batteries touted its advantages on Energy-Storage.News by saying it \u201ccosts the same\u201d as lithium-ion, but can be cycled twice as many times as the majority of those more commonly available batteries.\n\nAquion announced just before last weekend that operations had resumed at the company and that it had emerged from Chapter 11 status, the bankruptcy protection law under which it had been compelled to file agreements.\n\nWith deployments into off-grid markets and \u201cstrategic\u201d projects in territories like Japan starting to appear, the company had been tipped for big things before the Chapter 11. Founder and CTO Jay Whitacre was even awarded half-a-million dollars that came with the Lemelson-MIT Prize, which honours technological innovations that can \u201cimprove the world\u201d from mid-career inventors for the AHI battery.\n\nSome commentators argued that Aquion had been unprepared for a market in which lithium-ion prices had fallen even more rapidly than forecast and was simply unable to compete, despite the technological strong points of its devices and systems.\n\nNew owner is unnamed US-majority investor", "output": "Pittsburgh-based company Aquion Energy, which counted Bill Gates among its original backers, has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy and resumed manufacturing of its energy storage batteries. The firm, which filed for bankruptcy in March, has developed a battery using a novel electrolyte which has a chemical composition similar to salt water. It has been described as the \"safest, cleanest, and lowest cost\" battery technology in the world."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Binary options business slumps as regulators tighten control \n The latest benchmark created by the Finance Magnates Intelligence Department and CPattern reveals that binary options deposits and withdrawals have dropped by more than 50% during the first six months of 2017.\n\nIn what seems to be the lowest point in almost a year, the average trader deposited $309 in June, compared with $1388 in January \u2013 a 78% slide. When comparing with February\u2019s data (this year's strongest month), the slide is even more evident - 85%.\n\nThe slide in the first deposit benchmark (FTD) \u2013 the average first-time deposit by new traders \u2013 is a little less dramatic, remaining at 30%. However, compared to the end of 2016, the drop is almost 50%.\n\nA similar trend can also be seen in the average withdrawal of funds from the binary options accounts. During June, traders withdrew some 57% less than they did during January this year.\n\nIt\u2019s safe to assume that these conclusive figures are a product of the continuing decline of the binary options industry. This trend came to a head around the last two quarters as a result of new regulatory frameworks in the European Union, Australia, Israel and other jurisdictions. This has already knocked out some of the industry\u2019s strongest players, such as Banc De Binary, 24option and IQ Option.\n\nIn the retail Forex Forex Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation\u2019s currency into another nation\u2019s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world\u2019s largest tradi Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation\u2019s currency into another nation\u2019s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world\u2019s largest tradi Read this Term industry, the same indicators remained roughly at the same level, and sometimes even spiked, during these six months. The average first time deposit and the average withdrawal grew by more than 27% and 8%, respectively, from January to June 2017. The average deposit slightly declined by 11% in the same period.\n\nThe research and analysis work conducted for preparing this index was powered by the retention automation firm CPattern.\n\nThis is the latest publication from the FM Traffic Indices \u2013 a new cross-industry benchmark. In today\u2019s business world, big-data analysis and access to objective information sources are crucial to success. Unfortunately, until now it has been very difficult and costly, if possible at all, to find any reliable benchmarks for operations in social, FX, binary options and CFDs trading.\n\nFor this reason, the Finance Magnates Intelligence Department has launched a new project, creating a set of indices encompassing various aspects of the Online Trading Online Trading Online trading represents the trading of fiat currencies, digital currencies, commodities, stocks and indices, where traders and investors intend to make a profit, via the purchase or sale of the aforementioned products. This is done through an electronic network, made accessible by brokers in the form of an online trading platform or hub.Online trading continues to see a rapid growth year on year, due to a number of reasons. Firstly, the number of brokers offering their services, with more mone Online trading represents the trading of fiat currencies, digital currencies, commodities, stocks and indices, where traders and investors intend to make a profit, via the purchase or sale of the aforementioned products. This is done through an electronic network, made accessible by brokers in the form of an online trading platform or hub.Online trading continues to see a rapid growth year on year, due to a number of reasons. Firstly, the number of brokers offering their services, with more mone Read this Term industry. These indices will provide you with unique data points gathered by our analysts that will serve as a valuable knowledge base for your decision making.", "output": "The Finance Magnates Intelligence Department and retention automation firm CPattern have reported that binary options withdrawals and deposits have both fallen by more than 50% in the first half of this year. In June, the average trader deposited just $309, a drop of 78% from January's $1,388. The first deposit benchmark (the average first deposit from a new trader) slumped by 50% compared with\u00a0the end of 2016. In June, traders took out 57% less than they did in January. The decline in the binary options industry is partly attributable to\u00a0new regulatory frameworks in the EU, Israel and Australia."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lightstone app tells brokers when a car accident has happened \n The designers say the app has been developed to improve information gathering after an accident and speed up any subsequent claim.\n\nUK software company Lightstone Systems has launched a new app that sends the details of a driver\u2019s motor accident directly to their broker in real time.\n\n\n\nCalled Mercury Incident Reporter, the app delivers information such as damage to vehicles, injuries, persons involved, witnesses and police attendance coupled with notes, photographs and video recordings direct to the broker.\n\nThe information is stored on a cloud-based dashboard platform called Aurora.\n\nAccording to the makers, to help and", "output": "UK software company Lightstone Systems has launched Mercury Incident Reporter, an app that delivers information on\u00a0drivers' car accidents to their insurance provider in real time. Details of damage to vehicles, injuries, people involved, witnesses and police attendance are stored on a cloud platform called Aurora, along with notes, photographs and video recordings of the incident. To save time and minimise effort, the app automates data collection and enables data to be input in whatever order is most convenient for the user.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK should ease stamp duty for first-time buyers: Localus \n Three steps to reform of Stamp Duty for first-time buyers\n\n09/08/2017\n\nIn response to today\u2019s report on Stamp Duty by the London School of Economics and the VATT Institute for Economic Research, the think-tank Localis has issued the following statement, ahead of publication of its own report into \u2018Disrupting the housing industry\u2019 which will be released in October.\n\nJack Airey, senior researcher at Localis writes:\n\nThe issue of Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) as a bottleneck on the housing market has been framed as one affecting pensioners.\n\nIn reality there is a need for greater reform of this levy in support of first-time buyers, for whom these liabilities \u2013 often unexpected and in need of payment within a month of purchase \u2013 can, alongside estate agent fees, represent a serious barrier to home ownership.\n\nThe average purchase price of a home bought by a first-time buyer is \u00a3205,170 which brings a SDLT liability of \u00a31603.[1] In London the equivalent figures are \u00a3402,692 and \u00a310,134.\n\nWe believe there is a good case for government to ease the burden on first-time buyers and assist those who need support in the buyer market in three main ways.\n\nFirstly, first-time buyers could be allowed to transfer liability to their point of onward sale. Assuming their home gained value, this would result in a higher amount payable in tax. They would also have to pay SDLT if purchasing another home. However, it removes the upfront burden to home-ownership.\n\nSecondly there is scope to waive for first-time buyer\u2019s SDLT liability on the first \u00a3250,000 of the property cost. Although the tax is a substantial revenue raiser for government, raising \u00a311.7bn last year, the proportion paid by first time buyers is relatively low.\n\nLast year nearly one third (29%) of new homeowners bought properties below the \u00a3125,000 threshold for paying tax, almost half (45%) bought homes within the \u00a3125,000 to \u00a3250,000 threshold with around a quarter (26%) taking ownership of properties in the \u00a3250,001 to \u00a3925,000 range. We estimate the cost to the Exchequer of waiving SDLT liability on the first \u00a3250,000 for first-time buyers would be \u00a3596m, or 5% of last year\u2019s total Stamp Duty take.\n\nThirdly, the government could introduce a mechanism by which SDLT is paid in instalments. Spreading the cost of the tax over a longer period would greatly reduce the initial upfront costs to the first-time buyer.\n\nAssuming a residential property is being bought freehold as an individual (i.e. not as a company or trust), we have calculated in the table below what spreading the tax liability over five, ten and fifteen years would mean to a first-time buyer.\n\nCost of home Upfront SDLT due Annual cost if paid in equal instalments over five years Paid over ten years Paid over fifteen years \u00a3100,000 \u00a30 \u00a30 \u00a30 \u00a30 \u00a3200,000 \u00a31,500 \u00a3300 \u00a3150 \u00a3100 \u00a3300,000 \u00a35,000 \u00a31,000 \u00a3500 \u00a3333 \u00a3400,000 \u00a310,000 \u00a32,000 \u00a31,000 \u00a3666 \u00a3500,000 \u00a315,000 \u00a33,000 \u00a31,500 \u00a31,000\n\n______________\n\n[1] Author\u2019s calculations using HMRC\u2019s SDLT calculator, using average purchase prices from Halifax (2017) \u2013 Number of first-time buyers reaches 10-year high", "output": "The UK government should consider easing the burden of stamp duty tax on first-time buyers, according to think-tank Localis, following the publication of a report by London School of Economics and the VATT Institute for Economic Research. In a statement, Localis suggested allowing first-time buyers to transfer the cost onto the point of onward sale, waiving the duty altogether for the first \u00a3250,000 of the property cost, or allowing payment in instalments.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Modern Fertility to release comprehensive fertility test \n Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More\n\nModern Fertility is trying to spark a conversation about fertility. The young San Francisco-based startup wants to educate women about their bodies and hormonal levels, and today announced funding of $1 million, led by First Round Capital, with participation from Box Group, Y Combinator, and angel investors.\n\n\u201cThe main problem that we are trying to solve is that women don\u2019t have good information about their fertility,\u201d said Modern Fertility cofounder and CEO Afton Vechery, in an interview with VentureBeat. \u201cIt\u2019s something women think about and often stress about, but there\u2019s no good way to \u2018check in\u2019 and understand your ability to have kids in the future.\u201d\n\nVechery and her cofounder, Carly Leahy, created a personalized fertility test women can take at home. Customers prick their finger, put four drops of blood on the included card, and ship it to CLIA-accredited labs. Results are available online after five to seven days through Modern Fertility\u2019s personalized dashboard. These results are reviewed by a medical practitioner who provides a layer of interpretation to help women understand what their hormone levels mean.\n\nThe startup measures up to 10 fertility hormones, including the anti-mullerian hormone (AMH), which is generally a good indicator of a woman\u2019s ovarian reserve (how many eggs she has), and prolactin, which can impact the embryo\u2019s ability to implant. If a woman is taking a contraceptive, Modern Fertility will vary the hormone panel accordingly.\n\nImage Credit: Modern Fertility\n\nWomen can preorder the test starting today for $149 \u2014 it is expected to ship by the end of this year, according to the cofounders. In the meantime, if customers want to take the test now, they can do so in approved labs. \u201cThese are the same tests that are used in clinics today as part of an initial consult,\u201d said Vechery.\n\nThere are many other fertility startups out there, which shows how important femtech, or female technology, is becoming. Whether it\u2019s fertility tracking apps like Clue, Glow, or Natural Cycles, or at-home fertility monitoring devices like Ava, the market is there.\n\nBut Modern Fertility claims to be addressing a different segment. Rather than focusing on women who are actively trying to conceive by tracking their ovulation peaks, the startup comes in much earlier, before these women start trying to have children.\n\n\u201cWe spend our lives talking about prevention rather than preparing for pregnancy,\u201d said Leahy. \u201cThe concept should be introduced early on, like your pap smear.\u201d\n\nBut what about women who don\u2019t want to have kids? \u201cSome women still really want to know more about their bodies and how these hormones affect them,\u201d said Vechery. \u201cSome of the hormones we test are specific to fertility but also women\u2019s health more broadly.\u201d\n\nAfter all, we track our fitness and our food, so why not track our fertility and hormones?\n\nFounded in 2017, Modern Fertility is part of Y Combinator\u2019s current batch and will be pitching its concept in less than two weeks at YC\u2019s demo days. This initial round of funding will be used to build up the team in San Francisco.\n\n\u201cThere is a huge movement towards personalized medicine and patient empowerment in health care,\u201d wrote First Round Capital partner Phin Barnes, in an email to VentureBeat. \u201cAnd yet, state of the art advice around one of the most important decisions a woman can make is, \u2018just have them before you are 35\u2026\u2019 Modern Fertility will provide the information women need to map out their lives in their own, modern way.\u201d\n\nWhile direct-to-consumer health care does empower patients, it can also be a very slippery slope. After several FDA smackdowns, highly publicized startups like 23andMe and Theranos have become cautionary tales for those in the health tech world.\n\nModern Fertility isn\u2019t concerned about those kinds of pitfalls, as it only carries out FDA-approved clinical tests that are reviewed by a medical practitioner. But the conversation about what a patient should do with the results is still missing. Finding out you might be infertile can be devastating, no matter how clear and explicit the results are on your computer screen. So encouraging women to discuss their results with a doctor or gynecologist will hopefully be a top priority for Modern Fertility and others in the field.", "output": "Start-up Modern Fertility wants to help women learn more about their hormones and bodies, and has just raised $1m in funding led by First Round Capital, with Box Group, Y Combinator and angel investors. CEO Afton Vechery believes that women \"don't have good information about their fertility\". Modern Fertility, which was founded earlier this year, can measure up to 10 fertility hormones, which can aid women in finding out more about their hormones and level of fertility. The test costs $149 and can be pre-ordered now and are also available in approved labs.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Parents urged to limit children's social media consumption \n The children\u2019s commissioner has warned parents that they must intervene to stop their children overusing social media and consuming time online \u201clike junk food\u201d.\n\nAs web use reaches record highs among children, Anne Longfield has attacked the new methods social media giants are using to draw them into spending more time staring at tablets and smartphones. In an interview with the Observer, she said that parents should \u201cstep up\u201d and be proactive in stopping their children from bingeing on the internet during the summer holidays.\n\nLaunching a campaign to help parents to regulate their children\u2019s internet use, she said time online should be balanced in the same way that parents regulate their children\u2019s diets. \u201cIt\u2019s something that every parent will talk about especially during school holidays \u2013 that children are in danger of seeing social media like sweeties, and their online time like junk food,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cNone of us as parents would want our children to eat junk food all the time \u2013 double cheeseburger, chips, every day, every meal. For those same reasons we shouldn\u2019t want our children to do the same with their online time.\n\n\u201cWhen phones, social media and games make us feel worried, stressed and out of control, it means we haven\u2019t got the balance right. With your diet, you know that, because you don\u2019t feel that good. It\u2019s the same with social media.\u201d\n\nHer warning comes after a report said that children in all age groups are spending ever-longer periods online. The internet overtook television as the top media pastime for British children last year, according to the media regulator Ofcom. Children aged five to 15 are spending 15 hours a week online.\n\nLast year the time three- and four-year-olds spent online increased from six hours 48 minutes to eight hours 18 minutes a week, while 12- to 15-year-olds now spend more than 20 hours online.\n\nFacebook Photograph: Thomas White/Reuters\n\nLongfield said children should be helped to understand that sites encourage them to click on another game or video based on what they had just played. She had been pressuring Facebook to make it easier for children to report things they are worried about or switch off certain features.\n\nShe also criticised a feature on Snapchat, known as the Snapstreak, that she said encouraged children to increase their internet use. A streak is created when friends share photos over three consecutive days, but it is destroyed if a day is missed. Longfield compared the feature to a chain letter.\n\n\u201cYou find children saying to parents that they have 30 people that they have to do every day and if they don\u2019t, they drop the streak, and everyone will see,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd then \u2013 does that mean they don\u2019t like me any more? It\u2019s almost like chain letters. There are children who say they can\u2019t not be online, and I think that\u2019s really worrying.\n\n\u201cI want Facebook and all the other social media companies to be as proactive as they can about creating a good place and a safe place for kids to be. At the same time I want them to stop using the algorithms and the targeting that get kids addicted \u2013 all those things that we know can be very stressful and very destructive. However, it doesn\u2019t mean that parents themselves can step aside and wait for that to happen.\u201d\n\nLongfield said it was not helpful to recommend an absolute time limit on how long children should be online. Instead, she is announcing a \u201cdigital five-a-day\u201d campaign, designed to advise parents and children on a healthy online diet. Rather than switching off the wifi, parents should help children to use their internet time to learn new skills, interact positively with friends and be creative.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re not saying it\u2019s parents\u2019 fault, or that they should tell their children what to do, because ultimately this is part of life. All of those kids will have grown up with that being the normality. But we do think there is a role here for parents to step up, to stop waiting for others to come up with the solution, be that government or [social media] companies. We want [children] to feel informed, confident and empowered, and have the confidence to say, \u2018no, I\u2019m not going to do that\u2019. That same confidence we want for children, we want for parents, too.\u201d\n\nShe said Facebook and other social media giants \u201care not coming forward at quite the speed I would like them to\u201d on making it easier to protect children.\n\n\u201cThere is so much more they could do,\u201d she said. \u201cThese are clever, clever people, who know their industry well, their tech abilities well. They can do things if they want that I don\u2019t even know exist, and there are some very good examples of them using their expertise, for example by spotting people who have suicidal tendencies. But they are not doing [enough] yet.\u201d\n\nSnapchat and Facebook declined to comment.", "output": "The UK's children's commissioner Anne Longfield has called on parents to do more to limit youngsters' internet access. Longford has launched a campaign called \"digital five-a-day\u201d, which aims to encourage parents to find educational and informative things to do on the internet. A recent report by Ofcom found that children between the ages\u00a0five and\u00a015 spend 15 hours a week online.\u00a0Longford compared excessive internet use to junk food, and\u00a0said she wanted social media sites to \"stop using the algorithms and the targeting that get kids addicted\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Countryside Properties to buy back freeholds sold to E&J estates \n Hopes of a breakthrough for householders trapped in the leasehold scandal are rising after a major developer agreed to buy back some freeholds and axe ground rent clauses.\n\nCountryside Properties, which sold some of the freeholds on its houses to the ground rent company E&J Estates, has agreed to buy a number of them back with a view to releasing homeowners from clauses where ground rents double every 10 years.\n\nE&J Estates has also \u201cresolved not to purchase any further leasehold houses\u201d following recent media coverage.\n\nTwo weeks ago the Guardian revealed the scale of E&J Estates\u2019 ground rent business, with companies controlled by one man, James Tuttiett, holding the freehold to as many as 40,000 homes around England and Wales.\n\nA letter dated 4 August from E&J Estates tells leaseholders that it has sold the freehold to their leasehold house back to the developers. It says: \u201cWe are writing to you with regard to recent media coverage \u2026 and concerns that have been raised on leases with 10-year doubling ground rent clauses.\n\n\u201cWe have been working with Countryside to resolve the issue. As a consequence, we have completed the sale of the freehold on your property back to Countryside.\u201d\n\nE&J also issued an apology to worried householders. In the letter, it said: \u201cWe are sorry for any concerns that your leasehold may have caused you and the time it has taken for us to put in place the mechanism for resolution.\u201d\n\nOne householder on an estate built by Countryside shared the letter with others on the National Leasehold Campaign Facebook page. \u201cBrilliant news for our estate today \u2026 long way to go but a step in the right direction.\u201d\n\nAnother said: \u201cDevelopers are in a state of complete confusion and disorder.\u201d\n\nCountryside said in a statement: \u201cWe have conducted a comprehensive review of properties we have sold on a leasehold basis and have concluded that the vast majority of these homes carry little or no financial risk to the occupier. However, for a small number of leases, we recognise that the 10-year doubling of ground rents increases too quickly and have taken action to address this issue.\u201d\n\nHowever, campaigners said the deal did not go far enough. Sebastian O\u2019Kelly, of Leasehold Knowledge Partnership, said: \u201cIt seems the deal only applies to four to five sites where E&J Capital Partners are the freeholders and where ground rents double every 10 years only.\n\n\u201cThose Countryside Properties sites where ground rents double every 15 years appear to be excluded from the deal. Also, the deals have not been done where the freeholder is Adriatic Land.\u201d\n\nThe deal from Countryside will increase pressure on other developers to offer compensation to householders. Many complain that their properties have become virtually unsaleable because of onerous clauses in their ground rents.\n\nThe government is in the early stages of a consultation on the future of leasehold, with plans to ban the sale of leasehold houses and reduce ground rents on new flats close to zero.\n\nMeanwhile, horror stories of homebuyers with extraordinary ground rent clauses continue to emerge, with many of the worst cases being secondhand apartments rather than new-build leasehold houses.\n\nOne buyer of a ground-floor conversion flat in east London, who wishes to remain anonymous, contacted the Guardian after discovering that his ground rent will rocket.\n\nHe bought the leasehold flat just two years ago, with a ground rent set in 2004 at \u00a3250 a year. \u201cDue to the doubling, the final 10 years of the lease will incur \u00a3128,000 per year.\u201d He requested to buy out the freehold but has been given a quote of more than \u00a3100,000.\n\n\n\n\u201cAnnoyingly, we have only discovered the true extent of this problem because we are selling our flat. We were at no point told by our original solicitor that this clause existed or would be a problem. Neither did they inform our lender (who almost certainly would have refused our mortgage application had they known).\n\n\u201cWe have accepted a good offer, but I suspect it\u2019s all about to fall through. Once the purchaser\u2019s solicitor noticed the clause, they asked us to inquire with the freeholder as to whether we could remove the clause via a deed of variation. The freeholder quoted a premium of \u00a3100,000 to do so. We\u2019ve just passed this information onto the purchaser. I expect they will run a mile.\u201d\n\n\n\n", "output": "UK developer Countrywide Properties has agreed to purchase a number of freeholds it sold to E&J Estates with exorbitant ground rents, liberating homeowners from a clause which would see their ground rent double every decade. While the move has been welcomed, others say it does not go far enough, as homeowners with ground rents that double every 15 years are not covered, nor are deals between Countrywide and freeholder Adriatic Land."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Home rental insurtech firm Jetty raises $11.5m in series A \n Jetty, a NYC-based provider of finance and insurance products products, raised $11.5m in Series A financing.\n\nThe round was led by Valar Ventures, with participation from original seed investors Ribbit Capital, SV Angel, BoxGroup, and Red Swan.\n\nCo-founded by President Luke Cohler and CEO Mike Rudoy, Jetty initially provides a suite focused on solving the problems both consumers and landlords experience during a home rental process. Jetty Passport Deposit, Jetty Passport Lease, and Jetty Renters Insurance products enable consumers to meet the requirements of posting an expensive security deposit, finding a lease guarantor, and obtaining renters insurance.\n\nThrough Jetty, consumers can protect their collections, accessories, and electronics, as well as can insure themselves from the risks of bed bugs, or theft that may occur during a home-sharing experience.\n\nThe company today offers all three products in 131 states; Jetty Renters Insurance and Jetty Passport Deposit products are available in California. Jetty Passport Products are available in 25 states; and the company is in the process of making the all three products available nationwide by the end of the year.\n\nFinSMEs\n\n08/08/2017", "output": "Insurance and financial products provider Jetty has raised $11.5m in series A funding to make its products available to all US states. Jetty's products help customers to provide security deposits, find a lease guarantor and obtain renters' insurance. Customers of the New York City-based company can insure their possessions and their health from events that may occur during a home-sharing experience. The round was led by Valar Ventures."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Buyers can now initiate real estate bankruptcy in India \n NEW DELHI: You can now initiate bankruptcy proceedings against the developer in certain cases if you don\u2019t get your commercial property or service apartment on time.A recent judgment against AMR Infrastructure has upheld that buyers are entitled to be recognised as financial creditors , wherein the developer had promised \u2018assured returns\u2019 as a part of the deal.However, the matter has raised questions about initiating bankruptcy proceedings, given that financial creditors have a say in negotiating the debt recast. In the case of real estate projects, there could be thousands of eligible financial creditors.Most experts are of the opinion that it will be difficult to hold a committee of creditors as required under the bankruptcy law if even 1% of these buyers attend any meeting. Souvik Ganguly of Acuity Law said, \u201cIf such creditors can collectively account for even 25% of claims, they could potentially interfere with the functioning of the committee of creditors. That has implications for the extent of influence lenders can exercise.\u201dAn email sent to AMR Infrastructure did not elicit a response till press time. The judgement in case of AMR was passed by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), which set aside previous verdicts of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Delhi and upheld considering realty buyers as financial creditors.The NCLAT said, \u201cThe claim should be considered by the interim resolution professional (IRP) and the committee of creditors, in accordance with provisions of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016.\u201d", "output": "India's National Company Law Appellate Tribunal has ruled that, in certain situations, buyers of real estate are recognised as financial creditors and can begin bankruptcy proceedings against developers. The judgement overturned\u00a0previous decisions by the the National Company Law Tribunal, and could open the floodgates to thousands of eligible creditors. \"If such creditors can collectively account for even 25% of claims, they could potentially interfere with the functioning of the committee of creditors\", said Souvik Ganguly of Acuity Law.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MGM COTAI appoints OMD, Xaxis to head up media strategy \n MGM China has appointed a combined team from OMD and Xaxis to handle its media strategy for the company\u2019s new US$3.3 billion integrated resort in Macau, MGM COTAI, which will be launched during the fourth quarter of this year.J Walter Thompson, which was appointed as agency of record in January, led the selection of the two media specialists, and will oversee the partnership as the integrated agency lead.OMD will be responsible for integrated media strategy, planning and buying in Guangzhou and Hong Kong and also oversee all ATL, search and social assets across Hong Kong and China.Xaxis will handle all programmatic display and video advertising across targeted territories in Asia Pacific.\u201cThe strong team we have assembled with JWT, OMD, and Xaxis will bring the innovation and creativity behind MGM COTAI to life throughout the launch campaign\u201d, said Sarah Rogers, senior vice president of strategy & corporate responsibility of MGM.\u201cIn OMD, we have a highly experienced integrated entertainment resorts partner with a geographic footprint that suits the MGM challenge,\u201d says Rollo Gwyn-Jones, group account director at J. Walter Thompson Hong Kong. \u201cUsing the Xaxis platforms, we are able to take an extremely calculated and qualified approach to achieving not just reach, but targeted lead qualification and conversion.\u201d\u201cWe are delighted with the opportunity of working closely with JWT and Xaxis to launch MGM COTAI which promises to be one of the most innovative and creative luxury destinations in the region. We will leverage the power of the collaboration to deliver ground-breaking work for MGM COTAI, driving their growth and visibility,\u201d said Deric Wong, CEO OMD Hong Kong.\u201cWe are extremely honored to have been selected by MGM COTAI to play a big part in the launch of its exciting new integrated resort. Having our outcome-based programmatic media solutions paired with the audience-led dynamic creative approach designed by JWT, we look forward to driving the highest return of investment for our client partner,\u201d said Andy Chung, MD Xaxis Hong Kong.", "output": "Integrated communications agency OMD and digital media platform Xaxis have been selected to manage MGM China's media campaign for the MGM COTAI, a $3.3bn integrated resort set to launch later this year\u00a0in Macau. While Xaxis handles video advertising and programmatic display, OMD will deal primarily with integrated media strategy. \"We will leverage the power of the collaboration to deliver ground-breaking work for MGM COTAI, driving their growth and visibility\u201d, said OMD CEO Deric Wong.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow helps Newport Pagnell FC's prospects for promotion \n Redrow Sales Consultant Loriana Dirienzo-White with Ian Ford - Newport Pagnell FC Head of Football.\n\nThe Willen Road based non-league side plays in the United Counties Premier League but has an ambitious five-year growth plan which could see the club jump up two levels, but to reach that goal, it needs to upgrade its home ground.\n\nRedrow Homes is building new homes at Priory Mews on Tickford Street, less than two miles from the club and has offered home town support, covering \u00a31,000 in architect\u2019s fees to design the upgraded facilities.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAdvertisement\n\nHead of football, Ian Ford, said: \u201cNewport Pagnell Town FC has big ambitions for the future and aim to improve the stadium and win promotion to the Southern League this season.\n\nTo be eligible for promotion, improvements need to be made to the club\u2019s ground, including a new stand, new turnstiles and a new toilet block.\n\nIan added: \u201cThe project is a five year one \u2013 the hope is by next April we can get the ground ready to play at the next level and then next season strengthen the team with a higher playing budget, to get up a division and start the journey.\u201d", "output": "Redrow Homes has offered to pay the \u00a31000 architect's fee for designing and upgradeing Newport Pagnell Football Club's stadium. The team plays in the\u00a0United Counties Premier League,\u00a0but has ambitious goals of two promotions within 5 years. This will require improvements to the stadium, including\u00a0a new stand, new turnstiles and a new toilet block.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI talent shortage targeted by Andrew Ng's online learning course \n Andrew Ng is a soft-spoken AI researcher whose online postings talk loudly.\n\nA March blog post in which the Stanford professor announced he was leaving Chinese search engine Baidu temporarily wiped more than a billion dollars off the company\u2019s value. A June tweet about a new Ng website, Deeplearning.ai, triggered a wave of industry and media speculation about his next project.\n\nToday that speculation is over. Deeplearning.ai is home to a series of online courses Ng says will help spread the benefits of recent advances in machine learning far beyond big tech companies such as Google and Baidu. The courses offer coders without an AI background training in how to use deep learning, the technique behind the current frenzy of investment in AI.\n\n\u201cThis sounds naive, but I want us to build a new AI-powered society,\u201d Ng tells WIRED. \u201cThe only way to build this is if there are hundreds of thousands of people with the skills to do things like improve the water supply for your city or help resource allocation in developing economies.\u201d\n\nNg\u2019s new courses cost $49 a month and are offered through online-education startup Coursera, which he cofounded in 2012 and where he still sits on the board. Ng says the project has left him enough time to start two other \u201ccool\u201d new projects in AI, so conjecture about what he\u2019s up to continues.\n\nWith his new courses, Ng is offering a solution to a problem he helped create. His prominence comes from work on deep learning at Stanford and Google\u2019s X Labs that helped prove machine learning could do transformational things for businesses. In a 2012 paper, he and coauthors described a system that learned to recognize cats in still images from YouTube without human help. Now there aren\u2019t enough people with machine learning skills to go around.\n\nA recent McKinsey report on the potential of artificial intelligence cited a shortage of talent as a problem for US companies. A study of job ads from April found more than 10,000 vacancies in the US for people with AI or machine-learning skills.\n\nNg isn\u2019t alone in targeting the AI skills gap. Coursera rival Udacity will refund your tuition if you don\u2019t get a job within six months of completing its machine-learning engineer course. More than 100,000 people have started a deep learning course offered by Fast.ai, a startup focused on widening use of AI. Large tech companies such as Google and Facebook offer free software and documentation to help people use machine learning.\n\nResults from the frontiers of AI research may get more attention, but work on transforming machine learning from wizardry into plumbing has more immediate implications. \u201cDeep learning is getting amazing results in just about every area it\u2019s applied to, but there are a lot of areas where it hasn\u2019t been applied much,\u201d says Rachel Thomas, a cofounder of Fast.ai. If the burgeoning AI education industry enables more companies to use techniques like machine learning, it could change many parts of the economy.", "output": "Artificial intelligence (AI) researcher Andrew Ng has launched an set of online courses that teach coders how to use deep learning. Called Deeplearning.ai, the courses cost $49 per month and are provided by edtech start-up Coursera. The courses aim to address a shortage of AI skills and build an \"AI-powered society\", Ng said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow site manager wins Pride in the Job Quality Award \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nIt's more important than ever to stay informed - Get the free CheshireLive newsletter direct to your inbox\n\nThe site manager responsible for building a new community of up to 2,000 homes on what has been described as the last farm field in Ellesmere Port has scooped a quality award.\n\nRedrow\u2019s Ian Robertson, 33, gained a Pride in the Job Quality Award for his leasehold development.\n\nMr Robertson was among a record number of the housebuilder\u2019s employees to receive the prestigious industry award from the National House Building Council (NHBC) for his work at Ledsham Garden Village in Little Sutton.\n\nMr Robertson, who lives in Liverpool, said: \u201cI\u2019m over the moon that we\u2019ve managed to achieve this award at the first possible time we could for Ledsham Garden Village.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve been on this site since it launched last year and it\u2019s an amazing development that the whole team work really hard on and it\u2019s fantastic that it\u2019s been recognised.\u201d\n\nPrior to working at Ledsham, he was site manager at a now sold out development elsewhere in Cheshire and before that an assistant site manager also in the county.\n\nJohn Tutte, Redrow\u2019s chief executive officer, said: \u201cWe\u2019re very proud of all of our winning site managers and that a record number have been recognised for the second year running. The fact we count 27 of the industry\u2019s best site managers amongst our colleagues is a reflection of the high standards we uphold across Redrow.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a rigorous judging process and only the best in the business achieve the Quality awards. The fact we continue to improve year-on-year demonstrates our commitment to continually improving the high build quality of our homes.\u201d\n\nThe awards have been highlighting excellence in the field for more than 35 years and are dedicated to recognising site managers who achieve the highest standards in housebuilding.\n\nJudging for the awards includes spot checks on the day-to-day running of sites plus an assessment across almost 40 areas of site management including each manager\u2019s technical knowledge, consistency in the build process, leadership and organisational skills.\n\nMr Robertson will discover this autumn whether he has progressed to the next stage of the competition and won a Seal of Excellence which would put him in the top 130 elite. The flagship new development is set to cover 105 hectares off Ledsham Road.", "output": "Ian Robertson, a 33-year-old site manager for Redrow, has received a Pride in the Job Quality Award from the National House Building Council for his work at Little Sutton's Ledsham Garden Village.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aon Benfield results add to catastrophe bond growth optimism \n Another insurance broker has concluded that insurance-linked securities are reaching record issuance levels.\n\nAon Securities, Aon Benfield\u2019s investment banking division, determined that catastrophe bond issuance for the 2017 second quarter hit $6.38 billion across 20 transactions, a record for quarterly issuance. According to Aon\u2019s update, the last record was $4.49 billion in the 2014 second quarter.\n\nIn July, Willis Towers Watson came to a similar conclusion. Willis Towers Watson\u2019s investment banking business known as Willis Towers Watson Securities found that ILS issuance reached what it said was a record-breaking $6.3 billion in the 2017 second quarter, with property catastrophe bond capacity issued through 36 tranches. Like Aon Benfield, Willis Towers Watson said that the number surpasses the previous record set in the 2014 second quarter, which it also tallied at about $4.5 billion.\n\nAon Benfield said that the second quarter results, combined with the Q1 2017 issuance of $2.17 billion also broke a record. That $8.55 billion total beat any other previous first half for ILS issuance as well as any previous annual period, it said. Previously, ILS annual issuance hit a record in 2007 at $8.38 billion, Aon Benfield said.\n\nWhat drove this surge? Aon Benfield said that the second quarter saw a surge in strong investor demand, and also different public entities came to market during the second quarter. Also, the market got much bigger.\n\n\u201cDuring the second quarter we saw a large amount of maturing limit being renewed, which contributed to the record-breaking issuance figures,\u201d Paul Schultz, CEO of Aon Securities, said in prepared remarks. \u201cHowever, there was still a significant expansion in the overall market as a result of new sponsors, favorable pricing, and the ability of alternative capital to provide high levels of market capacity.\u201d\n\nMany bonds issued during the second quarter were upsized from initial guidance, Aon Benfield said. That included Kilimanjaro II Re, which upsized to $1.25 billion, a jump of more than 100 percent that made it the quarter\u2019s largest issuance and the third largest catastrophe bond ever.\n\nAlso, six different public entities came to market in the second quarter bringing with them $2.2 billion of catastrophe bond issuances, according to Aon Benfield.\n\nSource: Aon Benfield", "output": "Catastrophe bond issuance in Q2 2017 reached $6.38bn across 20 transactions at Aon Securities, Aon Benfield's investment banking branch. The figure smashed the firm's Q2 2014 record of $4.49bn. Growing investor demand and a rise in public entities coming to market underpinned the rising demand for issuances, Aon Benfield said. The overall market for catastrophe bond issuance also grew due to favourable pricing, new sponsors and the availability of alternative capital."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI's role at the wellhead 'will be limited' \n Production and reservoir engineers are well acquainted with the constant grind of firefighting that defines so much of well management. Effective operation of an asset is an ongoing, complex challenge that requires operators to navigate through an intricate web of process interdependencies to maximize production rates, maintain asset integrity and maximize ultimate recovery.\n\nUntil recently, the upstream industry has largely invested in development projects and drilling activities. However, at the current $50/bbl to $55/bbl price, growth through the drillbit can be less attractive. Capital projects have either been terminated in favor of acquisitions and divestitures or put on hold while operational headcount is reduced.\n\nAs a result, the pressure is on for engineers to anticipate production issues before they happen, to operate proactive and agile business processes and to have a clear and up-to-date view of the current state of producing assets to make more informed, on-target decisions faster.\n\nBut what tools will empower these engineers to get the job done?\n\nIn a time when operations are awash in disconnected data and engineers are continually asked to do more with less, emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning are claimed as a panacea for addressing operational inefficiencies. Artificial intelligence and machine learning can provide brilliant macro learning observation and insights. However, at the equipment/well level, they can be time-consuming to implement and lack resilience to change.\n\nAdditionally, there is always effort to build or train the models, a function today that is performed largely by data scientists due to the maturity and complexity of the available tools. Context, experience and tacit knowledge all still count. Even when an artificial intelligence solution is appropriate, the subject matter experts need to be part of the equation.\n\nWhile artificial intelligence can be a source of information to the engineers, it is only one of many tools available (e.g., metering, well and subsurface models, production accounting, etc.). Rather than adding another gadget into an already-bulging toolkit, engineers need to simplify and consolidate what they do have to achieve something new: operational intelligence.\n\nOperational intelligence\n\nData are everywhere. SCADA data, production accounting information, drilling and completions information, maintenance and reliability data, well header data, information from spreadsheets\u2014the list goes on and on. Not only is there a ton of data that has a ton of value to any engineering function or optimization activity (the old adage of \u201cyou can\u2019t optimize what you don\u2019t measure\u201d), but it also is disjointed in most cases because disparate systems are used to capture it.\n\nKnowing what information to look for and how best to use it become immediate challenges for subject matter experts like production engineers and technicians. That\u2019s why it is important to help engineers be more effective individually and as a team. Providing a centralized reference model of all relevant information relating to an asset gives engineers a rapid and reliable foundation for their workflows.\n\nThe industry then needs to provide the tools for interpretation (calculations), diagnostics (analytics) and surveillance (complex event processing and notifications). Adding value here means enabling engineers with self-service capabilities to leverage available data in context and capture their institutional knowledge and subject matter expertise (as opposed to it being stored in a spreadsheet) so that they don\u2019t have to go back to IT to obtain and understand those data.\n\nShifting the paradigm from ad hoc or reactionary firefighting activities to proactive automated surveillance routines with self-service diagnostics opens up a new world of optimization opportunities.\n\nThis allows a single engineer to watch for multiple events customized to the current operating conditions. On notification of an important event, users can view their own diagnostic displays to further investigate the cause of the production issue. All of this allows engineers to understand and interpret data themselves, to see and identify leading indicators to mitigate risk, or reduce its duration in the worst case\u2014and to do it faster.\n\nArtificial intelligence and machine learning are new sources of data, insights and events. All too often the people selling these solutions skip over the need to include the human intelligence that exists in the business.\n\nHere\u2019s where a single data environment and exception- based surveillance processes come in.\n\nA single data environment brings together data from disparate sources and connects it to digital representations of the physical assets, giving production engineers and technicians a one-stop self-service environment for configuring rules and performing key analysis. Exception-based surveillance processes provide a 24/7 watch over company assets and trigger alerts and tasks when predefined events occur, allowing personnel to manage more wells and fix problems in less time.\n\nA practical example: foreign materials. Salt, scale, paraffin and other materials have a tendency to build up in produced water wells. This buildup occurs slowly over time and can hinder production if an acid treatment isn\u2019t mobilized in due course.\n\nThis is a scenario where operators could use field data capture information, an injection curve and SCADA data to monitor the pressure-flow correlation against the curve over time.\n\nUsing the derived operational intelligence, users could then create a rule that would provide prioritized notifications showing the event in context long before material buildup became a serious issue, giving them plenty of time to plan the intervention activities needed to keep production rates at their highest.\n\nThere is still much opportunity to be had in better enabling subject matter experts to optimize production or manage the constraints from the producing assets. Establishing an effective self-service operational intelligence program will deliver immediate benefits and reinvest the knowledge into a foundation that can enable any artificial intelligence program. There is no doubt that the ongoing application of artificial intelligence technologies brings about new perspectives and benefits to production within the oil and gas industry.\n\nThere are significant opportunities through self-service operational intelligence to consolidate, contextualize and capture subject matter expertise. By leveraging the connected data, calculations and events within the operational intelligence environment, the artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions will be more comprehensive and on target.\n\nImproved profitability will happen when data from across the enterprise is brought together and presented to the right people and the right systems at the right time. Businesses should consolidate a strategy that better empowers subject matter experts to deliver benefits while establishing the data foundation for an artificial intelligence program.\n\nIn addition to the benefits provided by operational intelligence, artificial intelligence tools can adopt that same data foundation investment to identify incremental opportunities and provide insights to engineers and operators.", "output": "Artificial Intelligence should be seen as one tool among many, rather than as a panacea for operational inefficiencies at the equipment/well level, according to Grant Eggleton of P2 Energy Solutions. The industry can use artificial intelligence to streamline processes and improve performance, but AI can be time-consuming to train and lack resilience to change, he said. Existing tools, such as\u00a0metering, well and subsurface models and\u00a0production accounting, can all be used to\u00a0create self-service operational intelligence programmes, which would then provide a foundation for AI development, he said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tencent credit check takes mobile payments battle to Alibaba \n More scores that rate your trustworthiness are coming to China\u2019s internet\u2014which is great for a quick discount, but concerning for civil liberties.\n\nTech giant Tencent is gradually testing and expanding its \u201csocial credit\u201d system that will give users a numeric rating based on their spending habits and social connections, two years after rival Alibaba launched its own social credit system. A source familiar with the matter this week confirmed that Tencent expanded its pool of \u201cbeta test\u201d users for Tencent Credit, the name of its social credit system. The beta test users were given access to the service on QQ, a Chinese chat app.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAccording to media reports (link in Chinese), users must input their real names and Chinese ID numbers to reveal their scores, which ranges between 300 and 850. The company breaks down that score into five sub-categories: social connections, consumption behavior, security, wealth, and compliance. It\u2019s very similar to Sesame Credit, the social credit system run by Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial, which was launched officially in 2015.\n\nTencent did not respond to Quartz\u2019s inquiries about how its scores were calculated and how data for these categories was extracted.\n\nFor both Tencent and Alibaba, there are several incentives to launch social credit schemes. For one, China\u2019s consumers are massively underserved in the financial sector\u2014most financial services cater to large businesses, and no credit rating company has achieved ubiquity for individuals. It\u2019s also a marketing opportunity\u2014users who spend more time or money on Alibaba and Tencent services can increase their scores and get benefits. For example, Ant Financial recently launched a scheme with Ofo, a popular bike-sharing company, allowing users to ride bikes without first paying a deposit.\n\nIn the past two years, Tencent\u2019s share of China\u2019s mobile payments has skyrocketed thanks to swift adoption of WeChat payments, at the expense of Ant Financial, once the dominant online payments provider through the Paypal-esque Alipay.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBut there\u2019s also a political component to social credit scores in China. Beijing has urged local governments and private companies to develop a social credit system, both to address underbanked citizens and to determine who is qualified to get loans, and also to \u201cencourage trust.\u201d Tencent and Alibaba were both part of a group of companies that in 2015 received government permission to launch social credit pilot programs.\n\nFor now Alibaba and Tencent\u2019s credit score systems remain in their early stages. Yet the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s strong hand in driving the initiative, coupled with its track record for online surveillance and censorship, has led some to fear that an Orwellian system (link in Chinese) is brewing\u2014access to any number of goods, services, and privileges might be dependent on a single score.\n\nBut much, if not most, of its data for people will come from social media. Tencent\u2019s chat apps, WeChat and QQ, have 938 million and 861 million users, respectively (pdf). They know who our friends are, what we read, what games we play, what we chat about privately, and what we post on public social feeds (Alibaba has some of this data too, but not to the same extent). One of the descriptions (link in Chinese) of how Tencent tracks \u201csocial connections\u201d states it observes \u201cnotices from people in their network, primarily from social account information, to determine \u201cwhether social behavior is healthy.\u201d", "output": "Chinese mobile payments provider Tencent will create a credit scoring system to rival e-commerce giant Alibaba's Sesame Credit. Offered by Ant Financial, the payment arm of Alibaba, Sesame Credit uses data on customers' financial histories to judge their ability to pay back loans and other debts. Tencent will test a similar service before releasing it as part of its mobile payment services. Such credit scoring systems have become popular in China, where younger consumers lack a credit history that would enable them to pay for services such as hotel rooms without a deposit."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hispania in talks to sell \u20ac500m office portfolio \n La Socimi participada por George Soros est\u00e1 a punto de cerrar la venta de una veintena de edificios de oficinas para centrarse en su negocio hotelero.\n\nTodo listo para la venta de la cartera de oficinas de Hispania, una de las operaciones m\u00e1s esperadas por el mercado inmobiliario. A falta de cerrar los \u00faltimos flecos, la Socimi participada por George Soros est\u00e1 a punto de firmar un acuerdo con Swiss Life para la venta de una veintena de edificios de oficinas por unos 510 millones de euros, seg\u00fan indican a EXPANSI\u00d3N fuentes del mercado.\n\nLa cartera de oficinas de Hispania est\u00e1 distribuida entre Madrid -donde se ubican 16 inmuebles, as\u00ed como dos plantas de oficinas en dos edificios y un activo en desarrollo-, Barcelona y M\u00e1laga, con cinco y un inmueble, respectivamente.\n\nEn la operaci\u00f3n, que podr\u00eda cerrarse en las pr\u00f3ximas semanas o, incluso d\u00edas, han participado las consultoras CBRE, JLL y el despacho de abogados Freshfields, que han asesorado a Hispania, mientras que Swiss Life ha contado con el asesoramiento de Aguirre Newman y Garrigues.\n\nSeg\u00fan la \u00faltima informaci\u00f3n aportada por Hispania, la cartera de oficinas de la Socimi a cierre del semestre ten\u00eda un valor de 584 millones de euros. Esta valoraci\u00f3n inclu\u00eda el edificio de Aurelio Men\u00e9ndez, vendido en junio a un family office por 37,5 millones de euros. Hispania mantiene el compromiso de finalizar la ejecuci\u00f3n de la obra pendiente en este activo, que estima completar en noviembre, fecha en la que se ejecutar\u00e1 la venta del edificio.\n\nSin incluir el activo de Aurelio Men\u00e9ndez, Hispania cuenta con casi 182.000 metros cuadrados de superficie bruta alquilable de oficinas, de los que casi 21.300 metros se ubican en el distrito financiero de Madrid. Adem\u00e1s, tiene otros 116.852 metros cuadrados en edificios de oficinas en la zona prime secundaria. En Barcelona, cuenta con 39.506 metros cuadrados y en M\u00e1laga, con 4.288 metros cuadrados.\n\nDe acuerdo con la \u00faltima informaci\u00f3n publicada por Hispania, el nivel de ocupaci\u00f3n en estos edificios es del 84%, con una renta mensual media de 13,8 euros por metro cuadrado.\n\nHispania reconoci\u00f3 esta ma\u00f1ana en un hecho relevante al mercado que est\u00e1 negociando la venta de activos de oficina y a\u00f1adi\u00f3 que mantiene contactos con, entre otros, Swiss Life, aunque matiz\u00f3 que todav\u00eda no ha alcanzado ning\u00fan acuerdo al respecto.\n\nDesinversi\u00f3n\n\nCon esta operaci\u00f3n, la compa\u00f1\u00eda gestionada por Azora da un paso m\u00e1s en su estrategia de desinversi\u00f3n en residencial y oficinas para centrarse en el negocio hotelero, en el que seguir\u00e1 invirtiendo antes de ponerlo a la venta.\n\nEn este sentido, Hispania comunic\u00f3 en febrero su intenci\u00f3n de mantener su objetivo inicial de vender todos sus activos, de manera individual, en carteras o a trav\u00e9s de una venta o cambio de control en la compa\u00f1\u00eda, antes de marzo de 2020, fecha en la que se cumplen seis a\u00f1os de su salida a Bolsa. En el marco de esta estrategia, los accionistas decidieron extender el periodo de inversi\u00f3n hasta el pr\u00f3ximo 31 de diciembre.\n\nAdem\u00e1s de George Soros, que controla un 16,7% a trav\u00e9s de Soros Fund Management, participan en el capital de Hispania los fondos Fidelity Management and Research (7%), Tamerlane (6%), BW Gestao De Investimentos (3,6%), BlackRock (3,3%) y AXA Investments (3%).", "output": "Hispania is looking to sell its \u20ac500m office portfolio to Swiss Life in order to focus more on its hotel business. The portfolio includes 16 buildings in Madrid and others in Barcelona and M\u00e1laga, and the deal could close within weeks or even days.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Generic Drug Prices Are Falling, but Are Consumers Benefiting? \n This article was written through collaboration between The New York Times and ProPublica, the independent, nonprofit investigative journalism organization.\n\nNot all drug prices are going up.\n\nAmid the public fury over the escalating costs of brand-name medications, the prices of generic drugs have been falling, raising fears about the profitability of major generic manufacturers. Last week, Teva Pharmaceuticals reported that it had missed analysts\u2019 earnings estimates in the second quarter and planned to lay off 7,000 workers. Its share price plummeted 24 percent in one day as investors worried there was no end in sight.\n\nShare prices of other generic drugmakers also declined, as did those of wholesalers, which profit from the sales of generic drugs and have said they expect prices to continue declining.\n\nMylan, another large generic drugmaker, will report its second-quarter earnings on Wednesday. Mylan also sells the EpiPen, the brand-name allergy treatment whose price increases have stoked outrage over the past year, but the company\u2019s primary business is as a seller of generic drugs.", "output": "Not all drug prices are going up. Amid the public fury over the escalating costs of brand-name medications, the prices of generic drugs have been falling, raising fears about the profitability of major generic manufacturers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New FDA Working Group to Bolster Generic Competition \n ARTICLE | Politics & Policy\n\nNew FDA working group to bolster generic competition\n\nFDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has created a working group of senior FDA staff who will look for ways to increase generic competition beyond the steps he has already set in motion. His idea is to reinvigorate FDA's enforcement of the Hatch-Waxman Act to ensure there is robust generic competition to branded drugs as soon as patents have expired.\n\nIn congressional testimony and at a public meeting in July, Gottlieb said some drug companies are \"gaming the system\" to maintain sales at premium prices long after generics should have lowered prices. Steps Gottlieb has initiated so far include crafting policies to prevent innovators from using REMS to block generic competition (see BioCentury, June 23). ...", "output": "FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has created a working group of senior FDA staff who will look for ways to increase generic competition beyond the steps he has already set in motion. His idea is to reinvigorate FDA's enforcement of the Hatch-Waxman Act to ensure there is robust generic competition to branded drugs as soon as patents have expired.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Transparency struggles continue as few shop around for best prices, take advantage of transparency tools, studies show \n Two new studies published in Health Affairs show that while Americans support the idea of shopping around for the best prices on healthcare services, they aren't doing much of it.\n\nIn the first study, authors surveyed a national sample of 2,996 nonelderly adults who had received medical care in the past 12 months with the goal of finding out how frequently patients are shopping around for prices and the challenges they may face.\n\nResults showed only 13 percent of those who had out-of-pocket costs at their last episode of care had sought information on the potential costs beforehand, and a mere three percent had compared costs across different providers.\n\n[Also: Battle over price transparency rages in Ohio, where new laws like Ohio's Healthcare Price Transparency Law are in limbo]\n\nHowever, the lack of shopping seemingly was not fueled by a rejection of the idea. Nor did there seem to be any widespread belief that higher costs meant better quality. Rather, the issues had to do with knowing how and where to shop around, and loyalty to their current providers. Constraints imposed by health insurance provider networks also factored in here. Results showed 75 percent said they didn't know of a resource that would let them compare costs among providers. However, 53 percent said they would be likely or very likely to use a website to shop for care if one was made available to them.\n\n\"If price shopping is an important policy goal, it will be necessary to increase the availability of information on price and decrease the complexity of accessing the information. Patients often must know specific procedure or diagnosis codes to obtain prices, and differentiating between professional and facility fees makes the process even more difficult.\"\n\n[Also: Price transparency for inpatient labratory tests has little effect on clinician ordering behavior, JAMA says]\n\nA separate study showed that simply offering a price transparency tool doesn't necessarily do the trick either. Authors for this study looked at claims data for California Public Employees' Retirement System beneficiaries as well as a control population consisting of non-CalPERS Californians who were commercially insured by Anthem.\n\nBoth populations were offered a price transparency tool in the form of a website and app that let patients compare prices and out-of-pocket spending for in-network healthcare providers. It also provided some quality information. The tool focused on shoppable services including lab tests, office visits and advanced imaging. Overall, the tool was not associated with lower spending, as only 12 percent of employees offered the tool actually used it in the first 15 months it was available. Also, using the tool was not found to be related to lower lab tests or office visits.\n\n[Also: Barriers to improving cost transparency in cancer care identified by Penn Medicine]\n\nThe average price paid for imaging services rendered after a price search was done was 14 percent lower than the price for imaging services where no price search was done. However, only 1 percent of those who received advanced imaging conducted a price search, the study said.\n\n\"For price transparency tools to have a more substantive impact on spending, a much larger percentage of patients would have to use the tools, and there would need to be a broader array of services, in addition to imaging, for which patients could effectively use price information,\" the authors wrote.\n\nTwitter: @BethJSanborn", "output": "Two new studies published in Health Affairs show that while Americans support the idea of shopping around for the best prices on healthcare services, they aren't doing much of it.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Taking A U-Turn On Benefits, Big Employers Vow To Continue Offering Health Insurance \n The shrinking unemployment rate has been a healthy turn for people with job-based benefits.\n\nEager to attract help in a tight labor market and unsure of Obamacare\u2019s future, large employers are newly committed to maintaining coverage for workers and often their families, according to new research and interviews with analysts.\n\nTwo surveys of large employers \u2014 one released Aug. 2 by consultancy Willis Towers Watson and the other out Tuesday from the National Business Group on Health, show companies continue to try to control costs while backing away from shrinking or dropping health benefits. NBGH is a coalition of large employers.\n\n\u201cThe extent of uncertainty in Washington has made people reluctant to make changes to their benefit programs without knowing what\u2019s happening,\u201d said Julie Stone, a senior benefits consultant with Willis Towers Watson. \u201cThey\u2019re taking a wait-and-see attitude.\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s a marked change from three years ago, when many big employers \u2014 those with 1,000 employees or more \u2014 contemplated ending medical benefits and shifting workers to the Affordable Care Act\u2019s marketplaces.\n\nUse Our Content This KHN story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nIn 2014, only 25 percent of big companies were \u201cvery confident\u201d they would have a job-based health plan for employees in 10 years, according to the Willis Towers Watson survey.\n\nThis year, 65 percent expected to offer health benefits in a decade. And 92 percent said they were very confident a company-based health plan would exist in five years.\n\nMany managers once eyed Obamacare marketplaces as workable coverage alternatives despite the law\u2019s requirement that employers offer health insurance, analysts said.\n\nBut problems with marketplace plans, including fewer offerings, rising premiums and shrinking medical networks, have made employers think twice, they said.\n\nAnother big reason to maintain rich coverage is \u201cthe strength of the economy,\u201d said Paul Fronstin, director of health research at the Employee Benefit Research Institute, an industry group. \u201cEmployers are doing what they have to do to get the right workers.\u201d\n\nUnemployment has fallen from 9.9 percent when Obamacare became law in 2010 to 4.3 percent last month, which equaled a 16-year low reached in May.\n\nWith such a steep decline, he added, \u201cemployers are thinking, \u2018We need to offer this benefit for recruitment and retention.\u2019\u201d\n\nSecond Thoughts On High-Deductible Plans\n\nCompanies are even rethinking the long-standing expedient of shifting a portion of rising medical costs to employees through high-deductible plans and a greater share of the premium bill, other research shows.\n\n\u201cEmployers are beginning to recognize that cost sharing has its limits,\u201d said a June report from PwC, a multinational professional services network. Low unemployment and competition for workers mean \u201cemployers have less appetite for scaling back benefits and continuing with a plan design that has proven largely unpopular.\u201d\n\nAt Fidelity Investments, a Boston-based financial firm with more than 45,000 employees, worker contributions have grown to about 30 percent of total health costs.\n\nJennifer Hanson, the company\u2019s benefits chief who sits on NBGH\u2019s board, doesn\u2019t see that continuing.\n\nAs costs grow, \u201cif you continue to shift more of a bigger number to employees, health care becomes unaffordable,\u201d she said in an interview. \u201cAs employers, we really do need to pay attention less to who\u2019s paying for what and more to how much everything costs.\u201d\n\nMore than half of Americans with job-based insurance face deductibles \u2014 out-of-pocket costs for most care before insurance kicks in \u2014 of more than $1,000 for single-person coverage. Family deductibles can be much higher.\n\nHigh On The To-Do List: Controlling Drug Costs\n\nBig employers\u2019 planned changes for next year focus on controlling drug costs and improving health results through telemedicine and steering patients to efficient, high-quality hospitals, noted the Willis Towers Watson report and the NBGH survey.\n\nEmployer health costs continue to rise, but not at the double-digit clip seen for many plans sold to individuals and families through the ACA marketplaces.\n\nEmployers expect health costs to increase 5.5 percent next year, up from 4.6 percent in 2017, according to the Willis Towers Watson report.\n\nCompanies in the NBGH survey predicted health costs will rise 5 percent next year, up from an average 4.1 percent increase for 2016.\n\nThat\u2019s still far faster than inflation, which is less than 3 percent, and overall wage growth.\n\nBy many accounts, soaring costs for specialty pharmaceuticals used to treat cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, hemophilia and other complex conditions are the biggest factor.\n\n\u201cThese are very expensive drugs,\u201d said Brian Marcotte, NBGH\u2019s CEO. \u201cThey cost thousands or tens of thousands per treatment.\u201d\n\nOften these drugs require infusion into the blood in a clinical setting, which can drive up their price tag.\n\nFor instance, hospital-based infusions have been found to cost as much as seven times more than those performed in, say, a doctor\u2019s office.\n\nEmployers are working hard to steer patients to the least expensive, appropriate site, Marcotte said.\n\nBig employers are also offering more on-site nurses and doctors; setting up accountable care organizations with incentives for doctors and hospitals to control costs; and striking deals with particular hospitals for high-cost operations such as transplants and joint replacements, the NBGH survey found.\n\nJob-based insurance covers some 160 million people younger than 65, according to Census and Labor Department data, far more than the 10 million or so insured by plans sold through Obamacare marketplaces.\n\nGovernment employers and companies with at least 500 workers, which historically have been more likely to offer health benefits than smaller employers, cover more than 90 million employees and dependents.\n\nWillis Towers surveyed 555 large employers with about 12 million workers and dependents. NBGH surveyed 148 large companies with more than 15 million employees and dependents.", "output": "The shrinking unemployment rate has been a healthy turn for people with job-based benefits. Eager to attract help in a tight labor market and unsure of Obamacare\u2019s future, large employers are newly committed to maintaining coverage for workers and often their families, according to new research and interviews with analysts.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "What happens when you introduce four year olds to an eldercare home \n Lying on the floor pretending to roar like a lion can do wonders for an elderly man's well-being. That's not a scientific fact, but it was one of the surprising and memorable moments we observed while making a television program which introduced a group of very young people with residents of a retirement village.\n\nThe two episodes of Old People's Home for 4 Year Olds set out to explore the increasing isolation of older people within our communities.\n\nThe impact of young children and older people sharing daytime care facilities has already been shown to be generally positive. But this was the first time an experiment was undertaken within the UK to measure the impact of inter-generational interaction on the health and happiness of the older group.\n\nTen four-year-old children and 11 people in their late 80s were brought together for six weeks in a new nursery set within a retirement community in the city of Bristol. Before we started, the elderly participants were measured on their cognition, mood and depression, as well as physical abilities including balance and the ability to get up and walk (\"Timed Up and Go\"). These measurements were taken again at three weeks and once more at the end of the six-week programme.\n\nThe programme consisted of a timetable of activities in which the two generations were given time and space to engage physically and socially. It included games, occasionally requiring individuals to get down on and off the floor, walking outdoors, picnicking and participating in indoor activities using a variety of craft and art work. The final week also included an inter-generational sports day and a short theatrical production.\n\nAfter three weeks, the halfway point, there were noticeable improvements in the residents' measurement scores. Final measurements revealed significant improvements in the majority of metrics, with 80% percent of residents showed improvement in the \"Timed Up and Go\". Grip strengths were up generally and activity tracker scores showed that the residents had become increasingly active over a 24-hour period. On sports day, one woman who could not recall the last time she ran, was seen sprinting off with her companion four-year-old in order to beat the competition.\n\nAt the start of the experiment, nearly all of the residents were identified as depressed, two of them severely. After six weeks, none of them was registered as depressed. They had completely changed their outlook on life and in their hope for the future. Even the most sceptical person within the group, who had been heard to say \"I can't really see it making any great difference to us\", admitted that the children had brought \"great joy\".\n\nLifting spirits\n\nThis was not a scientific trial or a traditional academic research project. It was a social experiment involving a very small group of people. But the results showed marked changes in the residents' physical ability and mood.\n\nWhen you get very old you become less mobile, friends die, and you can't get out to meet people. If you live in a care home, the only younger people you see every day are staff. That's why depression is the epidemic of old age \u2013 and it's important for us to present opportunities for them to meet young people.\n\nChildren are open minded. They love attention and take an interest in adults. At the same time, children learn quite mature skills from adults, so this inter-generational engagement is reciprocal.\n\nYou can't cure arthritis completely, but you can increase confidence and, with the help and encouragement of the children, we saw our older folks doing things they never imagined they'd do again \u2013 jumping, dancing and rolling around on the floor.\n\nAs a consequence of our television experiment, significant developments are underway within the trust which took part in the program. Contact with the children and their families has been encouraged and continued. They are investigating additional ways to increase socialisation of the residents with surrounding communities. And plans are even in place to build a permanent nursery in one of the trust's homes.\n\nMany older adults live depressed lives in isolation with sadness, hopelessness, and negative feelings toward the self. This experiment has shown that, within a short timeframe \u2013 and where people share a similar vision of intergenerational mixing \u2013 it is possible to bring about significant enhancement in the well-being of older people.", "output": "Lying on the floor pretending to roar like a lion can do wonders for an elderly man's well-being. That's not a scientific fact, but it was one of the surprising and memorable moments we observed while making a television program which introduced a group of very young people with residents of a retirement village.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Employer-based US health insurance likely to stay despite ACA row \n Are employees worried about losing their health insurance from their employer? The ongoing political turmoil around \u201cObamacare\u201d all but guarantees they\u2019ll still be able to do that.\n\nAsk Walt Rowen, whose business is etching glass but whose experience managing century-old, family-owned Susquehanna Glass makes him something of an expert on health care. He\u2019s provided coverage to employees, then canceled it, steering them to the health insurance exchange. But with those premiums rising, Rowen this year is again covering his 70 or so workers under the umbrella of employer-sponsored health insurance.\n\nEmployer-provided health insurance is so ingrained in the American workplace that people expect it to continue even as politicians thrash out the role of government in health care. That\u2019s according to polling, business owners and consumers. And in a nearly saturated labor market, employers don\u2019t want to give workers a reason to work somewhere else.\n\n\u201cI think a company \u2014 any size company \u2014 would be incredibly afraid to just cancel its insurance policy and say the hell with it,\u201d says Rowen, whose company is located in Columbia, Pennsylvania. He said that could result in employees fleeing, especially in states where the Affordable Care Act insurance markets are weak.\n\nWith the GOP crusade to repeal and replace \u201cObamacare\u201d failing, the federal mandates that people have insurance and that employers with more than 50 workers provide it seem likely to stay in place in the foreseeable future. The Trump administration on Tuesday pledged to keep working with Congress on a rewrite. \u201cObamacare\u2019s mandates saddled many with health care costs they simply couldn\u2019t afford,\u201d said White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders.\n\nFor now, the Trump administration is considering whether to continue paying the law\u2019s cost-sharing subsidies, which have helped lower premiums. Without those subsidies, it\u2019s estimated that premiums will rise and insurers will leave markets.\n\nThe ACA requires companies with 50 or more full-time employees to provide insurance to employees and their dependents. The Kaiser Family Foundation says nearly 96 percent of companies of that size already were offering coverage before the law took effect in 2014. Nearly 35 percent of companies with fewer than 50 workers also were offering insurance.\n\nRemoving the employer mandate wouldn\u2019t sit well with a wide swath of the American public.\n\nA poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research says 61 percent oppose revoking the requirement, including 58 percent of Republicans.\n\nWorkers have been getting their health insurance through their employers for decades, since the U.S. government exempted employer-paid health benefits from wage controls and income tax during World War II.\n\nNearly 90 percent of workers are in companies that provide health benefits, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation/HRET annual survey in 2016. Taking into account dependents, roughly half of Americans are covered by employer-based insurance.\n\nLarge companies \u201cneed to attract and retain employees and they\u2019d be at a competitive disadvantage if they stopped offering health benefits,\u201d said William Kramer, executive director for national health policy for the Pacific Business Group on Health.\n\nAs a result, human resource consultants say it\u2019s likely that businesses will remain committed to offering coverage. Some experts question whether the ACA\u2019s employer mandate makes much, if any, difference when there\u2019s a solid business case for providing health care: With unemployment low and the labor market tight, benefits give employers an advantage in recruiting and retaining the best workers.\n\n\u201cWhat kind of message are you giving to employees if you say, \u2018I\u2019m going to take this away?\u2019 Are you really willing to risk losing people?\u201d asks David Lewis, CEO of OperationsInc, based in Norwalk, Connecticut.\n\nEven if the employer mandate had been repealed, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that larger companies would have been hard-pressed to cancel their health benefits, although some smaller firms would have done so.\n\n\u201cAs soon as you take it back, you cause massive employee dissatisfaction,\u201d said Jay Starkman, CEO of Engage PEO, a human resources provider whose clients include many small and mid-sized businesses.\n\nRowen, the glass business owner, says his health insurance decisions had less to do with the employer mandate than with cost and employee retention.\n\nIn the four years before the ACA took effect, Susquehanna Glass had fewer than 50 employees and saw its premiums rise between 15 percent and 20 percent a year. \u201cWe were fiddling all the time trying to keep our health care costs for our employees as affordable as possible,\u201d Rowen recalls.\n\nHe hired an expert to help his employees find insurance on the exchange in Pennsylvania. Lower-paid employees qualified for subsidies, while higher-paid workers could afford plans or went on their spouses\u2019 plans, he said. In some cases, Rowen gave bonuses or raises to help workers afford insurance.\n\nHe says he owed a penalty of about $40,000 for not providing insurance \u2014 less than the six figures he thinks he would have paid to provide group insurance.\n\nBut by 2016, he said, his workers were complaining that their premiums were increasing. Susquehanna Glass by that time had grown to about 70 employees \u2014 enough to qualify for less-expensive group plans joined by medium-sized businesses. Many of his new employees were younger and less expensive to insure. He found that purchasing group health insurance would cost just over $100,000 \u2014 not as much as he\u2019d feared.\n\n\u201cIf they were not able to get an affordable one with me and they found another company that does offer one,\u201d he says, \u201cThey might be forced to make the decision to leave me.\u201d\n\nRosenberg reported from New York. Associated Press Writers Michael Rubinkam and Emily Swanson contributed to this report.\n\nCopyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.\n\nTopics Trends Talent", "output": "The political row in the US over the future of Obamacare is unlikely to bring an end to employer-based health insurance provisions, according to polls, business owners and consumers. A strong jobs market will mean employers will be reluctant to pull any perks that might see them lose staff. Proposals to end employers' roles in health insurance are opposed by a majority of Americans, aligning with a 2016 poll which showed that almost 90% of US workers are enrolled in such schemes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurance giants accused of climate policy double standard \n A climate activist group is calling out a handful of European insurers for having significant holdings in fossil fuels despite pledges by the companies to be more climate friendly.\n\nA report released today alleges that Allianz, Generali, Munich Re, Swiss Re and Zurich continue to hold at least $361 million of assets collectively in companies that are planning to develop 97,000 megawatts of new coal power plants.\n\nUnfriend Coal, a coalition of climate activists, put out a sort of \u201cput your money where your mouth is\u201d report examining the climate and coal policies of the insurers ahead of half-year media reports due this month from Allianz (Aug. 4), Swiss Re (Aug. 4), Munich Re (Aug. 9) and Zurich (Aug. 10).\n\nThe release of the report is timed to put the information in the hands of financial journalists and analysts just ahead of when the carriers are reaching out to the media and public to talk about their financial results for the first half of the year, according to one of the authors of the report.\n\n\u201cCoal investments and climate risk have financial implications for insurers,\u201d said Peter Bosshard, coordinator of the Unfriend Coal coalition and director of the finance program for the Sunrise Project. The Sunrise Project is an Australian group that\u2019s part of the coalition, which includes Friends of the Earth France, Greenpeace Switzerland, Re:Common (Italy) and Urgewald (Germany).\n\nThe report is part of a broad movement on myriad fronts to get the financial industry away from coal and fossil fuel investments.\n\nThe G20s Financial Stability Board last year issued recommendations for companies to disclose how they manage risks to their business from climate change and greenhouse gas emission cuts.\n\nThere are also efforts in the U.S. to get insurers to disclose their investments in coal from some state regulators, who say that coal and fossil fuels are at risk of being stranded due to regulatory trends and falling prices for alternative fuels. However, those efforts haven\u2019t gone unchallenged.\n\nThe $361 million of investments highlighted in the report are in coal companies that are expanding their capacity \u2013 that figure does not include investments in coal companies that aren\u2019t expanding, Bosshard said.\n\nOnly investments in expanding coal concerns were examined because investing in this expansion undermines the goal of the Paris agreement, which is to curtail greenhouse gases and reduce reliance on dirty fuels, he said.\n\nThe $361 million in assets held by Allianz, Generali, Munich Re, Swiss Re and Zurich in companies that are planning to capacity are in 20 countries, including China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Poland.\n\n\u201cIf completed these projects would make it impossible for the world to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement,\u201d Unfriend Coal states in its report.\n\nEuropean Insurers Not Necessarily Ahead in Divesting Fossil Fuel Investments\n\nOn its face, the report appears goes counter to the popular notion that European insurers are ahead of their counterparts when it comes to divesting in fossil fuels and environmentally conscious investing.\n\nOthers who have compiled reports on investments in fossil fuels have lauded European insurers for being more progressive on climate change than their U.S. counterparts. And unlike many European insurers, the U.S. PC industry mostly reacted with silence to President Donald Trump\u2019s decision to withdraw the country from the Paris climate change accord.\n\nBosshard said the report shouldn\u2019t be taken as an indication that European insurers are falling behind.\n\n\u201cWe see the European insurers as leaders in this field,\u201d Bosshard said. \u201cThey have taken action, we recognize that. But their effort is not yet consistent. There are a lot of gaps and contradictions.\u201d\n\nCeres, a sustainability advocate that also produces reports on climate change and the insurance industry, applauded the authors of the report and encouraged further assessments that take into account both energy transition and physical impact risk of climate change.\n\n\u201cMany of the world\u2019s largest insurers remain potentially highly exposed to climate change risk, and its negative effects on companies\u2019 assets and liabilities,\u201d said Cynthia McHale, director of the Ceres insurance program. \u201cScenario analysis can be particularly helpful to companies when assessing climate change, as outcomes are highly uncertain and they will play out over a long period of time.\u201d\n\nMany of the insurers being called out not only have significant investments in coal, but they continue to underwrite new coal power plants, according to the report.\n\nWhile Allianz, Munich Re and Swiss Re are in the process of divesting their assets from the coal sector, so far only France\u2019s AXA has also stopped underwriting coal companies in which it no longer invests. AXA is also the only carrier divesting third-party assets which it manages from the coal sector, according to the report.\n\nThe group couldn\u2019t offer specific underwriting data to expand on its allegations.\n\nThe report also calls out Zurich and Generali for taking little to no action to distance themselves from coal.\n\n\u201cZurich so far hasn\u2019t taken any active policy on coal,\u201d said Bosshard, who believes the carrier could divest easily since it has so little of its overall investment in coal.\n\nZurich\u2019s coal holdings make up less than 0.5 percent of its total bond portfolio, according to the report.\n\nHowever small the percentage, the total of Zurich holdings in coal appear to be large. The company currently holds bonds of at least $164.7 million in coal companies, and its portfolio includes major exposure to coal mining and power companies with a bad environmental track record like Duke Energy, Glencore and BHP Billiton, according to the report.\n\nZurich Insists Coal Investments Are Limited\n\nA spokeswoman from Zurich offered the following emailed statement when asked for a comment for this article:\n\n\u201cZurich\u2019s exposure to coal is very limited both on the insurance business and investment sides. With regard to fossil fuels and the energy sector in general, we continue to act responsibly in both our investments and insurance for this sector. Rather than systematically exclude certain assets or business sectors, it is better to engage with customers to understand their business and operations, and work together to ensure responsible and sustainable business practices are in place.\u201d\n\nThe spokeswoman also noted that Zurich has nearly $2 billion invested in green bonds to date. In addition to its green bond investing practices, the carrier has also been called out for other environmentally friendly measures it has taken. That includes its new 783,800-square-foot corporate campus in a Chicago suburb, which has garnered high recognition for its environmental design and building sustainability.\n\nSpokespersons for Munich Re, Swiss Re, Generali and Allianz were all reached out to for comment. Those queries were not immediately returned.\n\nAllianz was a main focus of the report for continuing to manage large coal assets for third parties through its investment funds, making Allianz is the most active investor in the expansion of global coal capacity, according to authors of the report.\n\nThe report shows that Allianz is holding $241 million in equity and bonds of coal companies that are still expanding.\n\nBosshard acknowledged that Allianz has taken big steps to divest from coal, but he said the company still has large investments funds at play in the coal sector.\n\n\u201cThey take pride in having divested their own resources, but they\u2019re really offering a platform to keep this industry alive,\u201d he said.\n\nSwiss Re is another company that has taken great strides to rid itself of coal investments, but the company continues to invest in tar sands in Canada and in pipelines like Keystone, TransMountain and Dakota Access, according to the report.\n\nUnfriend Coal is evidently not done with pressing the insurance industry to be more environmentally friendly.\n\nThe group is currently working on a scorecard on investing in and underwriting fossil fuels that will rank 25 of the world\u2019s leading insurers, which it plans to publish in November, according to Bosshard.\n\n*This story appeared previously in our sister publication Insurance Journal.", "output": "Allianz, Generali, Munich Re, Swiss Re and Zurich have been targeted by a climate activist group for investing in fossil fuels despite their claims of being environmentally friendly. Unfriend Coal said the insurers hold at least $361m of assets linked to companies that are developing coal-fired power production and that some underwrite new coal power plants. The message was timed to coincide with the insurers' latest results announcements. While Zurich responded by saying its coal exposure is limited and that it acts responsibly, the other insurers offered no comment.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurers help recover stolen masonic sword from auction house \n The Mark Provincial Sword of Kent, an important ceremonial sword belonging to the Provincial Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of Kent, has been recovered from an auction house in London.\n\nThe sword was stolen from a Provincial Officer during a brazen home invasion in March 2016 while the occupants were asleep. Opportunistic thieves initially targeted the keys to two vehicles, one of which contained the sword, awaiting transportation back to its home in Whitstable.\n\nOne of the vehicles was recovered but the contents had never been located until this June when a researcher from the Masonic Library and Museum in Norfolk spotted the sword being offered for sale at a London based auction house specializing in the sale of antique arms, armor and military items.\n\nThe Mark Province of Kent contacted their insurance company, who in turn reached out to Art Recovery International (ARI), an organization that specializes in recovering stolen and looted works of art. ARI took the case on a pro-bono basis. With the aid of the Metropolitan Police Service (Bromley Borough), an unconditional surrender of the sword was negotiated with the dealer who had consigned the sword for sale.\n\nWhen questioned, the dealer recalled purchasing the sword at a car boot sale in Ford, West Sussex, but neglected to retain the license plate number of the car offering the lot.\n\nNo arrests have been made.\n\nThe ornately carved and bespoke Masonic swords are valuable among collectors and often uniquely inscribed with their provenance. ARI is disappointed with the level of due diligence performed by the art trade prior to selling objects in their galleries or sales rooms.\n\n\u201cA cursory internet search reveals a 2016 posting about this theft. I urge the art market to get with the program and search stolen art databases such as the non-profit Artive Database (artive.org) before accepting works for sale. It is imperative, as well, that victims of crime report their losses to these databases for the due diligence process to work effectively,\u201d said Art Recovery\u2019s Christopher Marinello.\n\nSource: Art Recovery International", "output": "A ceremonial sword stolen from a masonic organisation in the UK has been recovered after being spotted on sale in an art auction. The Mark Provincial Sword of Kent was returned to the Provincial Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of Kent\u00a0after the owners' insurers called in Art Recovery International, an organisation that tracks stolen art. The sword was being kept in a van that was stolen from outside a London home last year. The Masonic Library and Museum in Norfolk saw it being offered for sale at an auction house and contacted the insurance company."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers produce 200 litres of fuel from solar energy and CO2 \n The compact pilot plant used in the SOLETAIR project is designed for decentralized production, fits into a shipping container, and can be extended modularly. (Photo: VTT)\n\nProduction of liquid fuels from regenerative electric power is a major component of the energy turnaround. The first 200 l of synthetic fuel have now been produced from solar energy and the air\u2019s carbon dioxide by Fischer-Tropsch synthesis under the SOLETAIR project. Here, INERATEC, a spinoff of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), cooperates with Finnish partners. The mobile chemical pilot plant that can be used decentrally produces gasoline, diesel, and kerosene from regenerative hydrogen and carbon dioxide. It is so compact that it fits into a shipping container.\n\n\u201cSuccess of the energy transition needs innovations generated by research extending from fundamentals to applications,\u201d says Professor Thomas Hirth, KIT Vice President for Innovation and International Affairs. \u201cThe success of SOLETAIR reflects the importance of international research networks that tackle global challenges and develop applicable solutions.\u201d\n\nThe SOLETAIR project started in 2016. This summer, a decentralized plant network was established. It consists of three components. The \u201cDirect Air Capture\u201d Unit developed by the Technical Research Center of Finland (VTT) captures carbon dioxide from air. An electrolysis unit developed by Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT) uses solar power to produce the required hydrogen. Afterwards, carbon dioxide and hydrogen are first converted into reactive synthesis gas at high temperature and then into liquid fuels in a microstructured chemical reactor. This reactor, the core of the plant, was developed by KIT and extended to a compact plant commercialized by INERATEC. For the first time, the complete process from photovoltaics and capturing carbon dioxide from air to fuel synthesis has been set up to demonstrate its technical feasibility.\n\nThe pilot plant has a production capacity of up to 80 l of gasoline per day. In the first campaign now completed, about 200 l of fuel were produced in several phases to study the optimum synthesis process, possibilities of using the heat produced, and product properties. The compact plant is designed for decentralized production, fits into a shipping container, and can be extended modularly.\n\nIn June 2017, the plant network was opened officially by Jamie Hyneman. Hyneman is honorary doctor of the project partner LUT and hosts the \u201cMythBusters\u201d science television series. The special effects expert is entrepreneur, innovator, and patent holder himself. His program has contributed significantly to making science and engineering more popular. The US American develops safety technologies for industry and the public space. When opening the SOLETAIR pilot plant, he impressively demonstrated the improved combustion and ignition properties of the synthetic fuel produced compared to conventional fuel. For the cut-together video on the opening and demonstration, click:\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOWQh9T_W64\n\nINERATEC GmbH is a spinoff of KIT and develops, builds, and commercializes compact chemical facilities for gas-to-X and power-to-X applications. The spinoff is supported under the EXIST research transfer program of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. Last week, INERATEC won the third prize in the category of \u201cEmission Reduction, Processing, and Separation\u201d in the Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg 2017 competition for the Environmental Technology Award.\n\nUnder the national research alliances of \u201cEnergy Lab 2.0\u201d and \u201cNeo-Carbon Energy,\u201d KIT, INERATEC, and VTT intensify their cooperation for the investigation and development of innovative energy systems based on renewable energy sources, novel storage technologies, and the conversion of renewable power into chemical energy carriers. Together with other project partners, KIT and INERATEC also study decentralized production of high-quality synthetic fuel from air and renewable power under the \u201cPower-to-X\u201d Kopernikus project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.\n\n\u201cThe energiewende will only be a success, if we pool our know-how and jointly strengthen the competencies of European industry in the energy sector,\u201d VTT scientist and SOLETAIR project head Dr. Pekka Simell says. \u201cIn this respect, innovative startups, such as INERATEC, play a key role,\u201d Professor Roland Dittmeyer, Head of KIT\u2019s Institute of Micro Process Engineering, adds.\n\nThis summer, the power-to-liquid pilot plant was built on the LUT campus and connected to the solar power plant there. The SOLETAIR project will expire in mid-2018 and is funded with EUR 1 million by the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (Tekes). Information obtained in the course of the project will be used for the commercialization of the technology. This will give rise to new business models for the more efficient utilization of local surpluses of renewable power, heat use concepts, use of carbon dioxide, or decentralized synthesis of chemical fuels and interim products. In future, the process may essentially contribute to reducing carbon dioxide emissions of traffic.\n\nMore information:\n\nhttp://soletair.fi/news/finnish-demo-plant-produces-renewable-fuels/\n\n\n\nhttp://www.kit.edu/kit/english/pi_2016_156_power-to-liquid-pilot-operation-of-first-compact-plant.php\n\nVideos of the opening ceremony:\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOWQh9T_W64 (short)\n\n\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d0uiqxjEOE (long)\n\nMore about the KIT Energy Center: http://www.energy.kit.edu\n\nBeing \u201cThe Research University in the Helmholtz Association\u201d, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 9,800 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 22,300 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.", "output": "Scientists have produced 200 litres of synthetic fuel from solar power and carbon dioxide in the air. The fuel was produced in a mobile and compact pilot plant as part of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology's Soletair project. Small enough to fit in a shipping container, the plant can be used for decentralised production of petrol, diesel and kerosene from regenerative hydrogen and CO2. Currently the pilot has a production capacity of 80 litres a day."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Southeast US saw six times global sea level rise from 2011-2015 \n For people in the southeastern United States, and especially in Florida, who feel that annoying tidal flooding has sneaked up on them in recent years, it turns out to be true. And scientists have a new explanation.\n\nIn a paper published online Wednesday, University of Florida researchers calculated that from 2011 to 2015, the sea level along the American coastline south of Cape Hatteras rose six times faster than the long-term rate of global increase.\n\n\u201cI said, \u2018That\u2019s crazy!\u2019\u201d Andrea Dutton, one of the researchers, recalled saying when a colleague first showed her the figures. \u201c \u2018You must have done something wrong!\u2019 \u201d\n\nBut it was correct. During that period of rapid increase, many people in Miami Beach, Fort Lauderdale and other coastal communities started to notice unusual \u201csunny-day flooding,\u201d a foot or two of salt water inundating their streets at high tide for no apparent reason.", "output": "The sea level on the Southeast US coastline rose six times faster between 2011 and 2015 than the worldwide average, according to research from the University of Florida. Scientists argued that the intersection of two large-scale atmospheric patterns, El Ni\u00f1o and the North Atlantic Oscillation, had resulted in the drastic rise. If the claim of links between specific atmospheric patterns and high sea levels is validated, the discovery might help researchers to predict tidal flooding more accurately, and to provide warnings to potentially affected communities months in advance.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Using fibre optic technology to improve shale efficiency \n Much of what the industry knows about operating in the North American unconventional oil and gas plays has come through trial and error \u2014 not a bad way to learn in most circumstances, but hard to justify in a climate of intense pressure to cut exploration and production costs.\n\nIn the drive for greater efficiency, drilling and completions teams are looking for ways to optimise well spacing, fracturing stage spacing, perforation cluster density and the distribution of frac fluids and proppants.\n\nMaking", "output": "Ziebel, a Norway-based oil and gas diagnostics company, has developed a carbon rod that uses multiple optical fibres to gather data on the completion design of a well. The rod combines temperature and acoustic sensing to collect real-time information to help monitor the results of fracking and determine which zones have been effectively stimulated. It also helps identify how close neighbouring wells should be spaced through interference testing. Ziebel aims to develop an extended reach rod, but must first improve energy conversion to its well tractor. Currently, Ziebel's Z-System technology can travel 5,000 ft horizontally."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Evolving chemical tracers increase shale production \n At its most basic, a chemical tracer allows operators to see the flow-back from each stage of a well.\n\nIn an unconventional well, which may have four dozen or more stages, operators can find this quantitative measurement useful.\n\n\u201cPutting tracers in the well is neat, but I want a better well. I want to make money from it. I don\u2019t want to do it just because I like science,\u201d says Dave Bucior, Tracerco\u2019s Reservoir business development manager.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s nice to say that I got 10% of the oil from stage five and 20% of the oil from stage seven, but I want to know why stage seven gave me 20%, and why stage five gave me 10%.\u201d", "output": "Shale production's growing complexity requires more evolved chemical tracers to find correlations between the stage production of oil and the geophysical data of a well. While only 15 tracers per well were required to identify how operational efficiency could be improved five years ago, now wells more commonly use 50 tracers, said Dave Bucior, Tracerco's Reservoir business development manager. Oil and gas diagnostics company Tracerco seeks to develop more environmentally friendly chemical tracers that work for different types of well."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Arizona to install battery storage instead of power line upgrade \n Dive Brief:\n\nArizona Public Service and AES Energy Storage plan to deploy 2 MW, 8 MWh batteries in a community northeast of Phoenix to defer investment on a 20-mile transmission line.\n\nThe project will provide local generation to residents of Punkin, Arizona, during 20 to 30 peak power demand days per year, offsetting the need for an upgraded line. On other days, it will provide grid services to APS.\n\nThe companies say the project is one of the first in the nation to be proposed solely for its ability to cost-effectively defer a transmission investment, marking an advancement for the use of batteries as alternatives to traditional utility infrastructure.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nLike most non-wires alternatives, the new APS storage project stems from a grid infrastructure problem.\n\nModest yet persistent load growth in the town of Punkin was set to overload the sole transmission line serving the community in the middle of the Tonto National Forest about 90 minutes drive from Phoenix.\n\n\"We had creeping load growth,\" Erik Ellis, APS manager of energy technology assessment, told Utility Dive in an interview. \"You're talking about a town where, every year, 1% or 2% growth occurs and over time you start to approach the limits of your conductor to carry the current to the residents of that town.\"\n\nMuch of the 21 kV radial feeder crosses \"pretty rugged terrain,\" Ellis said, \"so for a lot of reasons \u2014 for cost, for sustainability, also just in terms of overall challenge of doing a big project like that \u2014 a battery made a ton of sense.\"\n\nThe project will provide local generation to Punkin on 20 to 30 peak demand days a year. \"The rest of the time the conductor is fine,\" Ellis said.\n\nOn other days, the batteries will provide other grid services for APS, such as shifting renewable generation to peak hours. \"In the spring and the fall the battery will be available to soak up low cost, negatively priced solar on the system at those times and then discharge it when the value of the power is much higher,\" Ellis said. \"All those savings accrue to our customers.\"\n\nInstead of a multi-year transmission construction project, deploying the batteries is expected to take 12-15 months from planning to operation. And rather than planning a transmission line to accommodate 20 to 30 years of expected load growth, the batteries allow APS to make a shorter-term investment.\n\n\"A battery allows you to make a much more incremental step \u2014 meet the near-term, five-to-seven year need, and then monitor what's happening in the community,\" Ellis said. \"If it turns out we didn't project enough growth then we can turn around and respond to that.\"\n\nAPS will own and operate project under a 10-year maintenance agreement with AES. The storage company will provide augmentation services over that time to keep the batteries running at nameplate capacity, and the facility is designed to be expanded if higher load growth creates a need.\n\nPricing details were not released, but Ellis said the facility \"saves our customers a fair amount of money.\"\n\n\"When we ran the economics in this Punkin center case it came out pretty clearly in favor of the battery,\" he said.\n\nThe utility says the project represents one of the first \"pure\" transmission deferment plays for storage in the country. While a number of DER projects list infrastructure deferral as a benefit, the Punkin project's size and specific function make the value proposition for storage as a non-wires alternative clear.\n\n\"[NWAs have] been talked about in the industry for a long time and the reality is a lot of those savings everyone talks about are not as big when you get down to the actual numbers,\" Ellis said. \"Here we're talking about millions of dollars in poles and wires that we won't build in lieu of putting down this battery.\"\n\nAPS is already familiar with AES batteries, installing two 2 MWh facilities last year. And there's more where that came from: The utility's 15-year integrated resource plan calls for the addition of 500 MW of energy storage.", "output": "Arizona Public Service (APS) has partnered with AES Energy Storage to install a 2 MW, 8 MWh battery storage project outside the town of Punkin. The town was in danger of overloading the sole transmission line that served it on numerous occasions so it was decided that \"for cost, for sustainability \u2026 a battery made a ton of sense\",\u00a0according to Erik Ellis, APS manager of energy technology assessment. The battery pack system will provide energy on 20 to 30 peak demand days a year, thus deferring the need for more investment in the transmission line."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Private equity swoops in as power companies shed assets \n A tough market for merchant generators could be a fertile field for private equity investors.\n\nThe merchant power business model is distressed and headed for a \u201csecond round of bankruptcies,\u201d a recent study by Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP and the Power Research Group finds. Merchant generators like Calpine, Dynegy and NRG Energy are struggling with heavy debt loads and low power prices. That has prompted asset sales by the likes of Dynegy and NRG Energy, with private equity again stepping up as a buyer.\n\nIn July, Dynegy reached an agreement to sell three plants totaling 935 MW, one to Rockland Capital, and two to Starwood Energy Group Global. That same month, Dynegy closed on the sale of two plants to another private equity group, LS Power. And, in an effort to shed $13 billion of debt, NRG in July said it plans to sell 6,000 MW of its conventional generation and 50% to 100% of its renewable energy assets.\n\nIt is a cyclical pattern, a function of the forward curve for gas and power prices, Paul Maxwell, a director in the energy practice at Navigant, told Utility Dive. When these assets become distressed, \u201cprivate equity steps in for the short term,\u201d he said.\n\nPrivate equity firms are known for their relatively short term outlook \u2014 typically about five years \u2014 but for the most part they also do not labor under the quarter-to-quarter earnings pressure of publicly traded companies. They can afford to make a bet on the commodity cycle and wait it out. Right now the commodity cycle favors private equity, not merchant generators.\n\nIn April, a report by Moody\u2019s Investors Service said the PJM Interconnection could join California and Texas as the next wholesale power market to see distressed power prices. Low natural gas prices have forced many coal plants out of the market in PJM, but a new crop of even more efficient gas plants could begin to force older gas plants to retire, Moody\u2019s analyst Toby Shea wrote.\n\nUtilities are increasingly shying away from the weak demand and low prices of the merchant market, but for private equity it spells opportunity, one they have been building up to for years.\n\nOver the past several years, private equity firms have amassed billions of dollars in funds aimed at the energy sector. Energy Capital Partners in April 2014 closed a $5 billion fund that will target a range of energy sector assets. ArcLight Capital Partners, which targets North American energy infrastructure assets, closed a $5.5 billion fund in July 2015. Riverstone closed a $7.7 billion fund in June 2013. Starwood Capital in January 2014 closed a $983 million energy fund. LS Power Equity Advisors in February 2014 closed a $2 billion energy fund. And in May 2016, Brookfield Asset Management of Canada raised $25 billion, including $12 billion for its infrastructure fund and $3.5 billion for its private fund.\n\nOther private equity houses appear to be gearing up for power sector investments.\n\nPegasus Capital Advisors in June hired former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy and an operating advisor. At the time, Pegasus founding partner and chairman, Craig Cogut, touted McCarthy\u2019s expertise in two sectors the firm focuses on \u2014 sustainability and wellness. And last year, Pegasus hired David Crane, the former head of NRG Energy, as a senior operating executive. Crane led NRG\u2019s creation of its renewable energy yieldco that is now being sold.\n\nIf private equity\u2019s steps into an investment at the bottom of the commodity cycle, the other part of that strategy is being able to exit at the top of the cycle. In some cases an exit is effected when another private equity firm steps in. There are several power sector assets that have traded hands multiple times. Otherwise, it requires an investor with different objectives.\n\nMaxwell said those entities are likely to be investors with longer term outlooks, such as pension funds and foreign investment funds, that are willing to pay a premium in order to earn a higher return. Among them he sees investment funds from South Korea, Japan and Canada.\n\nThe next tier of buyers, Maxwell told Utility Dive, would be utilities. For a regulated utility, fuel prices are not as much of a concern because those costs are a pass-through to customers. And, depending on the market, some utilities are interested in adding capacity. He mentioned utilities in the Southwest and possibly the Southeast. But in jurisdictions where there are organized power markets, such as California and PJM, buying generation assets may not be as attractive because there is less control over capacity prices.\n\nThe group that Maxwell puts at the bottom of the list of possible buyers are the investor owned merchant generators. By and large, he said, \u201cthey are not in a position to buy. They are retrenching to improve their financials and are going to be sellers.\u201d", "output": "Low power prices and heavy debt loads are prompting merchant generators to shed assets, providing rich pickings for private equity firms, according to a study by Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP and the Power Research Group. The study revealed the sector's ability to bet on and wait out troughs in the commodity cycle enabled private equity companies to amass billions of dollars\u00a0aimed at energy sector funds. In recent years, companies such as Energy Capital Partners, Riverstone\u00a0and Brookfield Asset Management of Canada have all closed funds targeting\u00a0the power sector."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New Iberdrola projects to add 600 MW of renewable energy in US \n Iberdrola SA (BME:IBE) expects to put on stream nearly 600 MW of wind and solar power capacity in the US by the end of this year, the Spanish power utility said on Tuesday.\n\nIberdrola\u2019s US unit Avangrid Renewables is currently working on the construction of four wind projects, namely the 131-MW Tule plant in California, the 75-MW Twin Buttes II park in Colorado, the 298.2-MW El Cabo complex in New Mexico and the 30-MW Deerfield plant in Vermont. In addition, the company is in the initial stages of construction work for a 56-MW photovoltaic (PV) plant in Oregon, to be called Gala.\n\nMost of the projects already have long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with local companies.\n\nIberdrola says that the addition of the fresh capacity is seen to help it strengthen its presence in the US where it claims to be the third largest wind power company. The Spanish group has been operating in the US since 2015 through Avangrid Inc (NYSE:AGR), a company in which it has an 81.5% stake. Avangrid owns almost 6,200 MW of installed wind power capacity in the US.\n\nChoose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!", "output": "Spanish power company Iberdrola is building four wind projects and a solar energy facility in the US that\u00a0will\u00a0add a total of\u00a0600 MW of new output during 2017, as part of a drive to strengthen its presence in the country. Via its US unit Avangrid Renewables, projects in California, Colorado, Vermont and New Mexico\u00a0are all under construction and have power purchase agreements with local companies in place, while Iberdrola is also at the early stages of building work on a 56 MW photovoltaic project in Oregon.\u00a0Iberdrola has claimed to be the third largest wind company in the US."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Poor offshore wind conditions hurt EON\u00a0earnings \n Unfavourable wind conditions in the UK reduced Eon\u2019s adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) from offshore wind by 36% to \u20ac128m in the first half of 2017, compared with \u20ac201m in the period last year.\n\n\n\nSales from offshore wind also declined to \u20ac321m this year from \u20ac333m in the first six months of last year.\n\nOutput from offshore wind in Germany increased, mainly because of better wind conditions at the 302MW Amrumbank West project, but this was partially offset by grid congestion, Eon said.Eon generated 2.1bn kilowatt-hours of electricity from offshore wind in the first half of the year, the same as last year.There was better news for Eon in onshore wind and solar, which saw adjusted EBIT increase 45% to \u20ac77m in the first six months of 2017 from \u20ac53m last year.Sales in onshore and solar also improved, growing to \u20ac389m in the first half of this year from \u20ac347m in 2016.Eon said the main reasons for the increases were better wind conditions in the US, the commissioning of the 200MW Colbeck\u2019s Corner wind farm in Texas last year and higher earnings from equity interests in the US.Output from the sector was 5.6bn kWh in the period, up from 5bn kWh last year.Overall, Eon\u2019s renewables sales increased to \u20ac710m from January to the end of June, compared with \u20ac680m in the same period last year.However, adjusted EBIT from renewables as a whole fell 19% to \u20ac205m this year from \u20ac254m in 2016, Eon said.The company said it expects to make a final investment decision in the third quarter of this year on the 201MW Stella onshore wind farm in the US, and has about 500MW on track for completion in 2017 in North America.Eon added that it has 800MW of offshore wind on schedule to be operational over 2018 and 2019.Overall, Eon\u2019s adjusted earnings for the first half of 2017 were down 12% to just under \u20ac1.8bn, from more than \u20ac2bn last year.Sales also fell to \u20ac19.6bn this year, from over \u20ac20.2bn in 2016.", "output": "Revenue from EON's UK offshore wind farms fell by more than a third to \u20ac128m ($151m) during H1 2017, compared to \u20ac201m during the same period in 2016, thanks to sub-optimal wind conditions. Sales were also slightly down year-on-year at \u20ac321m. However, better conditions in Germany and the US saw H1 onshore and solar sales rise by \u20ac30m to \u20ac710m YoY."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Telehealth Expansion Would Hardly Change Medicare Costs, CBO Says \n The telehealth provisions of the Chronic Care Act of 2017 would have a relatively small effect on Medicare spending over the next 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). This bill is one of several measures with telehealth components that are pending in Congress.\n\nThe Senate version of the legislation, S. 870, would expand the use of telehealth services for Medicare beneficiaries, partly by lifting the geographic limitations that Medicare now imposes on these services.\n\nFor example, the bill would increase the ability of accountable care organizations (ACOs) to receive Medicare payments for telehealth services, beginning in 2020. It would eliminate the geographic component of the originating site requirement and would allow ACOs to receive Medicare payments for telehealth supplied in a patient's home. The CBO estimates that this provision would increase Medicare spending by about $50 million from 2018 to 2027.\n\nS. 870 would also remove the geographic restriction for telestroke services, starting in 2021. Telestroke consultations can save lives by allowing neurologists in remote locations to examine and diagnose patients quickly, while there is still time to treat stroke victims effectively.\n\nThe CBO estimated that if the bill passed, the percentage of strokes occurring in Medicare patients in nonrural areas that would be handled via telestroke services would increase from 6% in 2021 to 14% in 2027.\n\nAs a result, the CBO analysts said, Medicare spending by both federal and nonfederal providers would increase in the year in which a patient received telestroke services and would decline in subsequent years. This would include a rise in post\u2013acute care (PAC) costs during the 90 days after hospital discharge because more patients would go to PAC facilities who would otherwise have died. Long-term care costs, however, would decline because fewer people would be discharged with disabilities.\n\nMedicare doesn't cover long-term nursing home care, so much of these savings would accrue to patients, private payers, and state Medicaid programs, not to the federal government, the CBO said. However, it noted, the federal government would participate in Medicaid savings in the long run.\n\nThe CBO concluded that increased telestroke coverage under the bill would eventually reduce Medicare spending. But from 2018 to 2027, expansion of these services would increase spending by $180 million.\n\nThe legislation would also widen coverage of telehealth for Medicare beneficiaries who belong to Medicare Advantage plans. Under current law, these plans cannot offer telehealth coverage that exceeds what is available to traditional Medicare enrollees unless they obtain special waivers. In that case, they must use rebates that they now receive from Medicare to cover the extra costs. These rebates \u2014 which must be spent on supplemental benefits \u2014 are awarded to plans that submit bids below the program's benchmark costs for a geographic area.\n\nIn place of this system, the Chronic Care Act would allow Medicare Advantage plans to include the estimated cost of telehealth services in their yearly bids to Medicare for contracts covering 2020 and subsequent years. However, the plans could not use telehealth services to show the adequacy of their provider networks.\n\nThe CBO found that when private payers paid for telehealth services, the effects on overall spending \u2014 either up or down \u2014 tended to be small. Its analysts estimated that this provision would reduce direct Medicare spending by $80 million from 2018 to 2027.\n\nIn 2016, consulting firm Avalere Health estimated the costs of another bill that would expand Medicare's coverage of telehealth, the CONNECT for Health Act, which was reintroduced in Congress last spring. Avalere analyzed the provisions of an earlier version of that bill and found that it could yield net savings of $1.8 billion for Medicare over the course of 10 years.\n\nThe original version of the CONNECT for Health Act \u2014 like the current version \u2014 had much more sweeping telehealth provisions than does the Chronic Care Act. Even so, the wide gulf between Avalere's prediction and the CBO findings raises the question of whether telehealth would really save much money or simply result in better care.\n\nThe full text of the report is available on the CBO website.\n\nFor more news, join us on Facebook and Twitter", "output": "The telehealth features in the Chronic Care Act of 2017 would only have a minimal effect on Medicare spending over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office has confirmed. The bill is one of many that feature telehealth that are currently being considered by Congress. S. 870, the Senate version of the bill, proposes an expansion of telehealth service for Medicare beneficiaries, eliminating the location limits that the current Medicare system mandates for telehealth services. The bill would offer greater access to telehealth service reimbursement for accountable care organizations (ACOs) from 2027 and would allow them to receive reimbursement from Medicare for telehealth supplied in patient\u2019s own homes. This would increase spending on Medicare by approximately $50m from 2018 to 2027. Telestroke services would also be free of geographic limitations from 2021, allowing neurologists based in remote locales to examine patients quickly enough to alleviate the damage from strokes. The Congressional Budget Office has said that if the bill should pass, the percentage of strokes suffered by Medicare beneficiaries in nonrural areas that could be treated through telestroke services would increase from 6% to 14% by 2027. Federal and non-federal providers of telestroke services would see an increase in spending for the year of providing the service to patients before there would be a decline due to lower post-acute care costs after hospital discharges. Long-term costs would be lower, despite an increased spend of $180m in the years between 2018 and 2027.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "DocFlight puts Chinese patients in touch with US doctors \n When Sally Wang\u2019s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer a few years back, she struggled to figure out how to get her the best medical help available.\n\nEven with assistance from others, including a federal judge she clerked for, it was still a challenge for the 34-year-old who spent a career in the healthcare field.\n\n\u201cSo that got me really thinking about if that was this difficult for me, what would it be like for other people who are not medically inclined and don\u2019t have the training in the field and don\u2019t have the connections,\u201d Wang told NBC News.\n\nThat experience led Wang, a Harvard graduate with a joint law degree and master\u2019s of public health, to co-found a company in 2015 called DocFlight, for which she serves as CEO.\n\n\u201cGenerally in almost all the cases, our physicians have recommended a change, at least a tweak, in the course of therapy.\"\n\nWang\u2019s startup counts itself among the firms based in the United States that deal in the domain of telemedicine, sometimes called telehealth, which uses technology to remotely connect doctors and patients otherwise separated by physical distance.\n\nGlobally, it\u2019s a burgeoning area of medicine forecast to grow even bigger. Estimates on telemedicine\u2019s market size vary according to research firms that study it. Market Data Forecast, one such research company, projects it will more than double from $25.53 billion in 2015 to $57.92 billion in 2020.\n\nIn the U.S., telemedicine has become increasingly popular with patients and doctors. Someone sick in a rural area far away from a hospital, for instance, can still receive care through a virtual visit with a physician. Others with illnesses like colds or the flu can do the same without leaving home, all for less than it might cost for a physical visit.\n\nBut DocFlight is different, Wang said, in that it focuses on patients thousands of miles away in China.\n\n\u201cIn China, people get just a few minutes with the doctor,\u201d explained Wang, who was born in Nanjing and raised in Queens, New York. \u201cIt\u2019s very hard to uncover everything when you have so little time.\u201d\n\nSally Hwang, co-founder and CEO of DocFlight, a company which uses technology to remotely connect doctors and patients otherwise separated by physical distance. Courtesy of DocFlight\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s also hard to access the best doctors in China. It takes a lot of connections,\u201d she added.\n\nWith a population close to 1.4 billion, China has been grappling with an ailing healthcare system that the government is trying to reform.\n\nA joint report last July by the World Bank Group, World Health Organization, and several Chinese government agencies recommended that China continue moving its healthcare model toward one focused on primary care and away from a \u201chospital-centric model that rewards volume and sales.\u201d\n\nWithout changes to China\u2019s healthcare system, the joint report projects that health spending there will increase from roughly $3.5 trillion yuan (US$520.9 billion) in 2014 to $15.8 trillion yuan (US$2.35 trillion) in 2035.\n\nBut for a couple of thousand U.S. dollars, DocFlight affords patients in China access to its network of several hundred physicians in the U.S. from top-flight hospitals, according to Wang. That includes Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and NYU Langone Medical Center, among others.\n\nThe virtual visit, which Wang likened to a health consultation, typically works like this: DocFlight learns about the patient\u2019s condition through an intake system, then makes a match with an appropriate specialist. Medical records are translated first by computer, then reviewed for accuracy by a human, according to Wang.\n\nAt a scheduled time, the patient in China comes online; DocFlight has its own translator, staff, and doctor in the U.S. on the other end of the video platform, while a licensed physician in China can also participate.\n\nAfter any follow-up questions about the patient, findings and recommendations are summarized by the U.S.-based physician, according to Wang. The consultation usually takes around 45 minutes.\n\nDocFlight's patient portal page. Courtesy of DocFlight\n\n\u201cGenerally in almost all the cases, our physicians have recommended a change, at least a tweak, in the course of therapy,\u201d she said.\n\nFor one middle-aged woman in China who recently used DocFlight, the visit ended up making a world of difference, according to Wang.\n\nDiagnosed with infectious pneumonia, the patient was on a respirator at home in China, and her condition was not improving, Wang said.\n\nHer family, seeking a second opinion, reached out through a friend to Wang a few months back. DocFlight matched the woman with a top pulmonologist in New York, who agreed to see her through an online video consultation.\n\nAn evaluation of her CT scan, a kind of specialized X-ray, and medical records translated into English revealed something startling, Wang said \u2014 she had been misdiagnosed in China.\n\n\u201cOur expert, before he took a very close look at it, also thought that it could be infectious,\u201d Wang explained. \u201cBut he was baffled by the fact that...they had tried a lot of antibiotics and the patient wasn\u2019t getting any better.\u201d\n\nA couple of weeks after her DocFlight consultation, the woman was better and remains healthy, Wang said.\n\nTelemedicine is not without its critics. Some point to the limitations of doctors unable to physically examine a patient through a video screen. Others worry about misdiagnoses and how they\u2019re handled.\n\nFor DocFlight, Wang said its doctors don\u2019t write prescriptions, nor do they provide treatments or perform procedures. The company does still protect its physicians with malpractice insurance, Wang noted.\n\n\u201c[We] also help with insurance. A lot of Chinese buy catastrophic insurance, so when they\u2019re really sick, they do have this lump sum to help them pay for the medical expenses.\u201d\n\nThe American Medical Association last June adopted new ethical guidance on telemedicine in an effort to help physicians understand how their responsibilities to patients \u201cmay play out differently\u201d than under a traditional setting at a hospital or doctor\u2019s office.\n\n\"The new AMA ethical guidance notes that while new technologies and new models of care will continue to emerge, physicians' fundamental ethical responsibilities do not change,\" board member Dr. Jack Resneck said in a news release at the time.\n\nWhile companies like DocFlight open up top medical experts in the U.S. to patients in China, some worry that such services benefit only the affluent, thus widening China\u2019s healthcare inequality gap.\n\nNearly 40 percent of China\u2019s population fell into the low-income category, meaning their disposable income amounted to $2,100 per year, CNBC reported in November, citing a report from the Economist Intelligence Unit.\n\nBut the same analysis also showed that China, based on income measures, is poised to become a middle-class society by 2030.\n\n\u201cWe can\u2019t say that we can help everybody, but we can certainly at least serve those in the middle class, which is the vast majority of the Chinese population,\u201d Wang explained.\n\n\u201cThere is also help with insurance,\u201d she said. \u201cA lot of Chinese buy catastrophic insurance, so when they\u2019re really sick, they do have this lump sum to help them pay for the medical expenses.\u201d\n\nIn the meantime, one way DocFlight is trying to aid those in China unable to afford its services is by offering patient guides online for free, which Wang said the company is in the process of publishing.\n\nDocFlight's \"Find Doctors\" page. Courtesy of DocFlight\n\nThat literature, she said, translates English-language articles, papers and publications about the latest in medicine and gold-standard treatments in the U.S. into Chinese.\n\nStill, Wang believes DocFlight presents a more affordable option to Chinese patients than so-called medical tourism, in which the wealthy travel overseas for expensive medical treatment, often spending upwards of tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket.\n\nDocFlight also arranges such trips to the U.S. for Chinese patients seeking medical treatment, though Wang added that they also have the option of being treated back home in China.\n\nThe good news, Wang said, is that China invests in state-of-the-art equipment to run medical tests, a key to making accurate diagnoses. But the country\u2019s healthcare system still incentivizes dispensing drugs and performing medical procedures over good patient health outcomes, a model that China is trying to reform, according to the joint report.\n\nCosts for unnecessary treatments ordered by doctors can thus mount up fast.\n\n\u201cWe can\u2019t say that we can help everybody, but we can certainly at least serve those in the middle class, which is the vast majority of the Chinese population.\"\n\n\u201cThat,\u201d Wang said, \u201cwe can stop before the patients are talked into doing them. We could potentially save them [DocFlight patients] money.\u201d\n\nSince its founding two years ago, DocFlight has had a few dozen patients, usually seeing those with chronic diseases or cancer, according to Wang.\n\nShe said DocFlight is trying to expand its patient base by working with referral sources in China. Those groups, Wang said, can reach about 10 million patients.\n\nIt\u2019s also collaborating with Chinese hospitals, according to Wang, including one in Shanghai that specializes in dermatology, a branch of medicine that lends itself well to telemedicine visits.\n\nBeyond China, Wang said she sees DocFlight possibly expanding to other countries where gaps are present in medicine and healthcare.\n\n\u201cWhen I started this company, I really just wanted to be helpful to these patients,\u201d Wang said. \u201cAnd I ultimately believe that this is the way that will make the company successful.\u201d\n\nFollow NBC Asian America on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr.", "output": "Telemedical start-up DocFlight, founded by Harvard graduate Sally Wang, connects American doctors via remote means to Chinese patients in an attempt to alleviate a lack of medical coverage. In China, getting access to the best healthcare providers is difficult without connections and patients often only get a few minutes with doctors. China has been trying to reform its healthcare system, but the sheer scale of its population of 1.4 billion people\u00a0makes that very challenging. Telemedicine is predicted to increase in value from $25.53bn globally\u00a0in 2015 to $57.92bn in 2020.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Polluted California lake used as algae biofuel source \n Scientists from Sandia National Laboratories are working to see if one of California\u2019s most polluted lakes can be turned into a profitable source of algae biofuel.\n\nThe 350-square-mile Salton Sea in Southern California has elevated levels of nitrogen and phosphorus due to agricultural runoff. Algae thrives in these conditions, something which causes a host of environmental problems. The team from Sandia are now looking to harness this algae both to provide a new biofuel source, and clean the lake of pollutants.\n\nKey to their solution is algae\u2019s prolific, exponential growth, and Sandia-Labs patented fermentation process. The scientists from Sandia, with funding from BETO, hope that the Salton Sea Biomass Remediation (SABRE) project will help determine whether algae biofuels can play a key role in solving the US\u2019 diverse energy needs.\n\nJust a few months into the research, Sandia biochemist Ryan Davis is optimistic about the prospects. \u201cThe early results we\u2019re already getting from the Salton Sea appear to be superior to results from similar algae systems. It\u2019s really promising,\u201d he said in a statement.\n\nNew method\n\nThe first phase of the project saw Sandia scientists test a new method for producing algae, called an \u2018Alga Turf Scrubber\u2019 floway system, which is used to grow a collection of native algae species. The system pulses water from the lake in waves across a sloped floway. The algae consume the nutrients, meaning clean water is then released out the other side.\n\nLow maintenance, solar powered pumps designed by Sandia power the system, while periodic farming of the algae can be done using farming equipment, according to a statement. Early results from testing in Texas suggest turf scrubbers can produce a quantity of algae comparable to the popular raceway form of algae cultivation.\n\nBy producing algae native local to the area, the new system is more resistant to pathogens and predators. Meanwhile, it also helps address the main criticism of algae as a biofuel source \u2013 that it uses too much water.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s water and then there\u2019s water,\u201d Davis said. \u201cWe\u2019ve shown that we can grow algae in turf scrubber systems using water full of nasty components. And it still thrives.\u201d In other words, there isn\u2019t much that can be done with this water until the pollutants are removed.\n\nDouble benefit\n\nIn an ironic twist, the team from Sandia hope that the SABRE algae growing project could actually help manage harmful, unchecked algae growth.\n\nAlgae blooms covering the surface of the Salton Sea cause a host of environmental problems, most notably in the thousands of asphyxiated, dead fish found on the banks of the lake each year. Causing significant ecological damage, these algae blooms have even been connected to the death of sea birds in the area.\n\nThe SABRE project has seen Sandia construct a turf scrubber on one of the main tributaries feeding the Salton Sea. The team have found that the algae growing inside the turf scrubber feed on and remove the chemicals in the water as it passes through. Sandia hopes that in doing so, a significant amount of the chemicals responsible for algae growth will be removed.\n\nTo find out more about the biofuels market come and visit the tenth Biofuels International Conference & Expo. Register now for Biofuels International 2017 for two days of essential learning to network with experts, sharpen your biofuels knowledge and improve your skills, on 4-5 October.", "output": "Researchers from Sandia National Laboratories are using one of California's most polluted lakes to discover whether it could be turned into a profitable source of algae biofuel. The 350-square mile Salton Sea in southern California is heavily\u00a0polluted because of\u00a0agricultural runoff\u00a0causing high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus. The Salton Sea Biomass Remediation (Sabre) project will use an \"Alga Turf Scrubber\"\u00a0floway system, in which\u00a0water from the lake is pulsed\u00a0in waves across a sloped floway where native algae are grown. The algae consume the chemicals, which means clean water is then released the other side. The system runs on\u00a0solar power.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EToro exchange merges crypto and stock trading on same platform \n Cryptocurrency and stock trading are fundamentally different from one another. In conventional stock trading, investors create a diverse portfolio of equity in certain companies, trading stakes in public corporations. In cryptocurrency trading, however, investors and traders prefer to invest in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum as long-term investments.\n\nLeading cryptocurrencies and crypto-assets including Bitcoin and Ethereum are still at their early stages in development. The entire cryptocurrency market, which is valued at over $110 billion, is still dependent on a large group of speculative investors that have invested in crypto currencies to expose themselves to the new asset class and to learn more about cryptocurrencies in general.\n\nThe vast majority of investors in Bitcoin perceive the digital currency as a long-term investment, safe haven asset, digital gold and a currency. Many traders utilize Bitcoin as both a digital currency to transact on online marketplaces, offline merchants with Bitcoin visa debit cards, and as a peer to peer payment method to send money efficiently, with low transaction fees and no mediators.\n\nHence, apart from a small group of traders that attempt to test the short-term trends of leading cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum through technical analysis and publicly available market information, the majority of investors in Bitcoin and Ethereum are long-term investors and traders.\n\nThe stock market is significantly different from the cryptocurrency exchange market in the sense that most try to utilize high-performance trading platforms to day-trade and profit off movements within a short period of time. More to that, to be able to trade public stocks, investors either are required to become accredited investors or invest through stock brokers. In the cryptocurrency market, anyone can invest in cryptocurrencies without boundaries.\n\nFor instance, through ShapeShift, any trader can purchase a wide range of cryptocurrencies using Bitcoin. The initial purchase of Bitcoin can be facilitated through Bitcoin exchanges by bank transfers, over-the-counter deposits and in some countries including South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and the Philippines, bank ATMs, convenience stores, and subways.\n\nThere exist distinctive merits in both stock and cryptocurrency trading. Both markets are highly liquid and offer innovative trading platforms such as eToro, a trusted social trading platforms utilized by millions of active users, that enable investors and traders to invest in stocks and cryptocurrencies without having to undergo a strict accreditation process.\n\nMore importantly, on the eToro platform, through its social trading platform, users, investors, and traders can copy the portfolio of successful traders through the CopyFund and benefit from the success of top investors.\n\nBoth stock and cryptocurrency markets offer opportunities for investors and traders to drive high profits with limited resources and capital. It will be beneficial for traders to operate on a platform such as eToro that offer both stock and cryptocurrency trading platforms so that alternative trading methods can be tested in both markets.\n\nImage Credit: Pixabay, No Attribution Required", "output": "The eToro exchange puts cryptocurrency and stock trading together on the same platform, meaning alternative trading methods can be tested in both markets. EToro lets investors and traders invest in stocks and cryptocurrencies without having to go through a strict accreditation process. It also lets users copy the portfolios of successful traders through its CopyFunds product to help them benefit from the success of top investors.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ultra Lithium buys three lithium-brine assets in Argentina \n VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 08, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ultra Lithium Inc. (TSX-V:ULI) (\u201cULI\u201d or \u201cthe Company\u201d) is pleased to announce it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 100% interest in three Lithium Brine properties (the \u201cProperties\u201d) covering 22,176 hectares, located in the Antofagasta region, Province of Catamarca in Argentina. The three properties are comprised of 11 mining licenses and are in addition to the La Borita claim block acquisition announced on June 27, 2017. These properties are located within the \u201cLithium Triangle,\u201d a region which holds over 50% of the world\u2019s lithium resource.\n\n\n\nBelow is a summary of the three properties:\n\nAmelia Property: Comprised of 3 mining licenses Amelia I-III, covering 5,400 hectares located in the northern part of Salar de Antofalla, a lithium, potassium deposit historically explored by Rio Tinto and in the vicinity of Albemarle Corporation\u2019s Salar De Antofalla property. Laguna del Salitre / Laguna de Aparoma Property: Comprised of two licenses covering 5,400 hectares, located about 80 km to the south of the Salar del Hombre Muerto partly owned by FMC Lithium. Archibara / Laguna Verde Property: Comprised of six mining licenses Archibara I-III, and Laguna Verde I-III, covering 11,376 hectares located about 80 km to the north of Albemarle\u2019s project.\n\nUnder the terms of agreement signed on June 20, 2017 between Luis Manuel Alvarez (the Vendor) and the Company, ULI will pay the following:\n\n2,486,040 Argentinian Pesos (approximately USD $155,378) to the Mining Secretariat of Catamarca for outstanding canon fees upon signing the agreement. USD $30,000 after due diligence is completed. USD $1,980,000 in four equal quarterly payments commencing 270 days from signing the agreement to acquire 100% rights on the Property.\n\nThe Vendor will retain a 2.5 % royalty.\n\nDr. Weiguo Lang, CEO of Ultra Lithium, stated that, \u201cThe acquisition of La Borita Property opened up doors for the Company to acquire a sufficiently large area to carry out lithium exploration in a very promising and strategic region within the world known Lithium Triangle. We are very thankful to Mr. Alvarez for having confidence in Ultra Lithium to give this opportunity for acquiring his other lithium licenses. These properties are in the vicinity of a producing mine operated by FMC Corporation, and other deposits owned by Galaxy Lithium and Albemarle, a leading lithium producer in the world. We have developed a work program to complete bench scale testing on La Borita to produce lithium brine concentrate, and to carry out systematic sampling on each mining license. The sampling results will enable us to prioritize further exploration work.\u201d\n\nQualified Person\n\nThe technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Afzaal Pirzada, P.Geo., a qualified person, as defined by NI 43-101 who works as Vice President Exploration of the Company.\n\nON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS\n\n\u201cKiki Smith\u201d\n\nKiki Smith, CFO\n\nAbout Ultra Lithium Inc.\n\nUltra Lithium is an exploration and development company with a focus on the acquisition and development of lithium assets. The Company is currently holds brine exploration properties in Catamarca, Argentina and Nevada, USA and hard rock spodumene type lithium property in Ontario, Canada.", "output": "Canadian company Ultra Lithium has agreed to buy three lithium-brine assets covering 22,176 hectares in Argentina's Catamarca Province. The assets consist of 11 mining licences and are located in the \"Lithium Triangle\", which holds more than 50% of the world's lithium stocks."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Reduced overheads helped IWG's interim results for H1 2017 \n Iwg (LSE:IWG)\n\nHistorical Stock Chart\n\nFrom Jun 2018 to Jun 2023\n\nTIDMIWG TIDMTTM\n\nRNS Number : 3379N\n\nIWG PLC\n\n08 August 2017\n\n8 August 2017\n\nIWG plc - INTERIM RESULTS ANNOUNCEMENT - SIX MONTHSED 30 JUNE 2017\n\nIncreased investment activity on strong returns, improving sales momentum and excellent overhead performance\n\nIWG plc, the global leader in the fast-growing Workspace-as-a-Service (\"WaaS\") sector, today announces its half year results for the six months ended 30 June 2017.\n\nKey financial highlights:\n\n-- Continued strong post-tax cash returns. Return on pre-2013 investment of 23.3%(i)\n\n-- Net growth capital investment more than doubled to GBP179.7m, including approximately GBP110m on property\n\n-- Group revenue was stable(ii) at GBP1,169.7m with revenue momentum improving through the period as IWG returned to growth in Q2\n\n-- Sequential quarterly recovery in mature revenue performance with positive growth anticipated for the second half\n\n-- Gross profit before growth and closures increased GBP7.1m. Including growth and closures gross profit declined GBP13.9m to GBP211.3m\n\n-- Overheads reduced 14%(ii) ; down 210bp as a percentage of revenue to 10.6%\n\n-- Operating profit down 13%(ii) to GBP87.0m (down 2% at actual rates) after additional growth investment\n\n-- Cash generation (before net growth capital expenditure, share buybacks, and dividends) of GBP87.4m\n\n-- Prudent financial position maintained with net debt of GBP306.5m (0.8x net debt:LTM EBITDA)\n\n-- 13% increase in interim dividend to 1.75p (H1 2016: 1.55p), reflecting confidence in long-term outlook\n\n-- We anticipate strong cash generation in the second half of the year\n\n% change % change constant GBPm H1 2017 H1 2016 actual currency currency ------------------------------------------------ -------- ------- ---------------- --------- Revenue 1,169.7 1,077.6 8.5% (0.4)% Gross profit 211.3 225.2 (6)% (13)% Overheads (124.3) (136.5) (9)% (14)% Operating profit (Inc. JV) 87.0 89.1 (2)% (13)% Profit before tax 80.8 84.3 (4)% Earnings per share (p) 6.9 7.2 (4)% Dividend per share (p) 1.75 1.55 13% EBITDA 190.5 177.7 7% (3)% Post-tax cash return on Investment (i) 23.3% 23.6% Down 30bp Cash flow before net growth capex and dividends 87.4 141.7 (38)% Net debt 306.5 173.8 Net debt : EBITDA - Last 12 months (x) 0.8 0.5 ------------------------------------------------ -------- ------- ---------------- ---------\n\n(i) Calculated as: EBITDA less amortisation of partner contributions, less tax based on EBIT, less net maintenance capital expenditure / growth capital less partner contribution. Returns based on those locations open on or before 31 December 2012. Prepared on a last twelve-month (LTM) basis to 30 June 2017 and for 2016 on the 12 months to 31 December 2016.\n\n(ii) At constant currency\n\nKey operational highlights\n\n-- Returns on new investment benefitting from operational scale and further efficiencies, on-going focus on disciplined investment, risk management and maintaining flexibility\n\n-- Benefitting from the introduction of the new field structure during 2016\n\n-- Further network expansion and improvement in network quality, with 149 new locations (115 organic) added in H1 2017. Now in 2,996 locations (up 2% from December 2016), with 481,773 workstations (up 7%) as we intensified the use of space\n\n-- Significant focus on the roll out of our large co-working format, Spaces, with 23 new locations and 5 new countries added in H1 2017\n\n-- Increased visibility on net growth capital expenditure for the whole of 2017. Pipeline visibility as of 28 July 2017 of approximately GBP240m, representing 310 locations, 5.8m sq. ft. of additional space (c.12% growth in space) and property investments (c. GBP110m)\n\n-- Increasing traction on partnering deals, accounting for approximately half of the organic openings\n\nMark Dixon, Chief Executive of IWG plc, said:\n\n\"It is a very exciting time for our industry and, as market leader, we will continue to benefit from the structural growth in the Workspace-as-a-Service market globally.\n\nAs expected the improving trend in sales activity at the beginning of the year has led to a gradual improvement in revenue growth throughout the first half, with IWG returning to growth in Q2. Current sales activity remains robust and we are therefore confident that our mature business will see growth over the second half of 2017.\n\nAgainst the backdrop of improving sales trends we have made the decision to invest in our network to deliver additional earnings growth and shareholder value creation over the medium-term. In this regard, we decided to opportunistically acquire properties as well as further accelerate our growth. The underlying capital efficiency of our business more broadly has improved as IWG is increasingly working with partners in expanding its business. This is also reflected in our pipeline.\n\nWhile IWG's exciting category of Workspace-as-a-Service continues to develop at pace and attract investment on the back of growing customer demand, we remain focused on reinforcing our competitive advantage through the quality of our network, quality of service, technology and cost benefits from scale.\n\nGiven the gradual improvement in revenue growth, while continuing to control costs, we anticipate strong cash generation in the second half of the year.\n\nThese trends, together with the positive outlook for our industry, are reflected in our decision to increase the interim dividend by 13%, and maintain our progressive dividend policy.\"\n\nDetails of results presentation\n\nMark Dixon, Chief Executive Officer, and Dominik de Daniel, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer, are hosting a presentation today for analysts and investors at 9.30am at CityPoint, 1 Ropemaker Street, EC2Y 9HT.\n\nFor those unable to attend the presentation, please contact Jessica Ayres to obtain details for the webcast or conference call: jayres@brunswickgroup.com or +44 (0) 20 7396 7466\n\nFor further information, please contact:\n\nIWG plc Tel: +41 (0) 41 723 2353 Brunswick Tel: +44(0) 20 7404 Mark Dixon, Chief Executive Officer 5959 Dominik de Daniel, Chief Financial Officer & Nick Cosgrove Chief Operating Officer Simone Selzer Wayne Gerry, Group Investor Relations Director\n\nChief Executive Officer's review\n\nWe continue to strengthen our market leading position in the Workspace-as-a-Service (\"WaaS\") sector which is benefitting from strong structural growth. Our strategy is clearly focused on addressing this opportunity which is being augmented by an increasing awareness of our industry and significant investment among sector participants.\n\nAfter demonstrating an appropriate degree of restraint last year in growing the business, we are now in a more attractive environment to accelerate growth with the addition of 149 new locations. This has increased our global network to 2,996 locations, which is unrivalled. We are particularly pleased with the quality of this growth. We have partnered with more companies that own and fund real estate to bring these investors to our fast-growing global customer base and become part of our industry leading network. We are now rapidly rolling out our larger co-working format, Spaces. 23 new Spaces locations were added in the first half and with our existing global network we have been able to introduce this format quickly into 5 new countries. Our growth pipeline for Spaces is very strong and continues to gain momentum, with approximately 50 Spaces co-working locations planned for 2017. We remain focussed on developing all our formats and the overall pipeline visibility for the group for the whole of 2017 is strong at approximately GBP240m representing 310 locations.\n\nDuring 2016 we implemented significant changes to our field structure and we are now seeing the benefit of these actions with sales activity building momentum through the first half of 2017. The new structure, along with our on-going actions to improve the efficiency of the business, has strengthened our cost leadership. The global scale of our business and the operational efficiency this drives, further improves our competitive advantage and provides for a more resilient business model.\n\nIn the six months to June 2017, we have achieved another excellent performance on overheads. Our overhead costs significantly reduced in absolute terms and we improved the ratio of overhead costs to revenue by 210bp from 12.7% in the first half of 2016 to 10.6% for this half year.\n\nWe are pleased with the strong financial returns, greater operating efficiency, improving sales activity and the increase in our network growth and quality. We remain in a strong financial position and have the resources available to deliver our strategy. These all place the Group in an even stronger position to address the significant structural growth opportunity in flexible workspace. We can continue to improve our competitive advantage to provide a more resilient business model.\n\nWe are confident that IWG, as market leader, will continue to prosper in the attractive WaaS sector.\n\nIn-line first half financial performance\n\nThe last 12-month post-tax cash return on net growth capital expenditure achieved from locations opened on or before 31 December 2012 was 23.3%, a similarly strong return for the same estate in 2016 and at a level well above our cost of capital. Rolling forward one additional year group, the last 12-month post-tax cash return on investment from locations opened on or before 31 December 2013 was 21.5% (2016: 21.5%).\n\nGroup income statement\n\n% Change % Change (actual (constant GBPm H1 2017 H1 2016 currency) currency) =================================== ======= ======= ========== ========== Revenue 1,169.7 1,077.6 8.5% (0.4)% Gross profit (centre contribution) 211.3 225.2 (6)% (13)% Overheads (124.3) (136.5) (9)% (14)% =================================== ======= ======= ========== ========== Operating profit(1) 87.0 89.1 (2)% (13)% =================================== ======= ======= ========== ========== Profit before tax 80.8 84.3 (4)% =================================== ======= ======= ========== ========== Income tax expense (17.5) (16.9) Profit for the period 63.3 67.4 (6)% ----------------------------------- ------- ------- ---------- ---------- EBITDA 190.5 177.7 7% (3)% =================================== ======= ======= ========== ==========\n\n(1) After contribution from joint ventures\n\nGroup revenue increased 8.5% to GBP1,169.7m (H1 2016: GBP1,077.6m). At constant currency rates this represented a decrease of 0.4%. This is an improvement on the first quarter performance which showed a decline of 1.5% at constant currency and reflects the total business moving back into positive growth for the second quarter with year-on-year growth of 0.6% and a pleasing sequential growth in quarterly revenues of 3.5%. Mature revenue declined 2% year-on-year at constant currency. As anticipated the constant currency rate of revenue decline in the mature business reduced in the second quarter to 1.5% year-on-year as we experienced an improvement throughout the quarter. Sequentially Q2 over Q1, mature revenue was up 2.1% with eight of our top ten countries showing sequential growth in the second quarter. Several countries, including the US, Canada, Germany and Japan, turned into positive growth year-on-year at the end of the second quarter and some countries, like the Netherlands, Spain and Italy, were growing significantly throughout the period.\n\nThe 13% constant currency reduction in gross profit to GBP211.3m (H1 2016: GBP225.2m) primarily reflects a significantly higher year-on-year movement in the losses from a greater number of new locations opened and a negative impact from closures that contributed positively in the corresponding period. The gross profit from the mature business of GBP230.2m (H1 2016: GBP223.1m), represents a decrease of 5% at constant exchange rates. Overall, we maintained a strong mature gross margin of 20.8% (H1 2016: 21.5%).\n\nGross margin\n\nRevenue GBPm Gross margin % ================ ================ H1 2017 H1 2016 H1 2017 H1 2016 ================= ======= ======= ======= ======= 2014 Aggregation 955.2 915.7 22.2% 24.9% New 15 153.6 121.2 11.9% (4.2)% New 16 48.7 8.5 (22.0)% (62.4)% ================= ======= ======= ======= ======= Pre-17 1,157.5 1,045.4 19.0% 20.8% New 17(1) 9.0 - (78.9)% - Closures 3.2 32.2 (34.4)% 23.0% ----------------- ------- ------- ------- ------- Group 1,169.7 1,077.6 18.1% 20.9% ================= ======= ======= ======= =======\n\n(1) New 17 also includes any cost incurred in 2017 for centres which will open in 2018.\n\nAs anticipated there was a strong performance on overheads with an absolute reduction to GBP124.3m (H1 2016: GBP136.5m). In line with our strategic objective, overheads as a percentage of revenue have reduced 210bp to 10.6% (H1 2016: 12.7%). This cost leadership and our unrivalled network scale, we believe, provide an important advantage in an increasingly competitive landscape. This excellent performance on overheads helped to mitigate the impact on operating profit, which decreased from GBP89.1m to GBP87.0m, down 13% at constant currency (down 2% at actual rates), from the reduction in gross profit.\n\nWe have again converted our operating profit strongly with cash flow after maintenance capital expenditure, but before investment in growth, dividends and share repurchases, of GBP87.4m. This remains a positive feature of our business model. After taking the increased net growth capital expenditure of GBP179.7m and after paying dividends of GBP32.5m and spending GBP36.0m buying our own shares as a further hedge against the cost of the exercise of employee share awards, Group net debt increased from GBP151.3m at 31 December 2016 to GBP306.5m at 30 June 2017. This represents an underlying Group net debt : LTM EBITDA leverage ratio of 0.8 times, which reflects our continued prudent approach with respect to the Group's capital structure.\n\nWe invested GBP179.7m in net growth capital expenditure during the period, adding a further 149 new openings to the network, which stood at 2,996 locations at the end of the half year. This net growth investment is considerably higher than the GBP83.1m we invested in the first half of 2016. This reflects both the reacceleration of our growth programme and the, previously announced, acquisition of freehold and long-leasehold properties which have flexible workspace operations which increased our pipeline visibility by approximately GBP100m, in addition to a small number of individual property purchases. We are pleased that we again see attractive opportunities to grow our business. In addition, we are encouraged with the traction we have achieved in partnering with property owners and investors, with approximately half of the 115 organic openings involving this approach. Another important focus area is the roll out of our Spaces co-working format. During the six months to June 2017 we have opened 23 Spaces locations taking the total to 44. We have also increased the geographic footprint of our Spaces format by opening in new countries like France, Italy, India, Israel and Switzerland, in addition to adding further locations in existing countries like the UK and US. The pipeline for Spaces is very strong and we anticipate approximately 50 locations being added in total this year. With our global network, we can quickly and efficiently introduce the Spaces format into other new markets globally.\n\nRegional mature performance\n\nOn a regional basis, mature(2) revenue and contribution can be analysed as follows:\n\nMature gross margin Revenue Contribution (%) ================== ================ ===================== GBPm H1 2017 H1 2016 H1 2017 H1 2016 H1 2017 H1 2016 ============= ======== ======== ======= ======= ========== ========= Americas 472.7 431.1 92.9 86.0 19.7% 19.9% EMEA 245.6 226.4 54.6 52.6 22.2% 23.2% Asia Pacific 179.7 164.4 36.9 33.2 20.5% 20.2% UK 209.0 213.2 45.4 50.3 21.7% 23.6% Other 1.8 1.8 0.4 1.0 Total 1,108.8 1,036.9 230.2 223.1 20.8% 21.5% ============= ======== ======== ======= ======= ========== =========\n\n(2) Centres open on or before 31 December 2015.\n\nAmericas\n\nThe Americas continues to be our largest business region. Total revenue increased 0.4% at constant currency to GBP494.0m (up 12.8% at actual rates). Mature revenue declined 2.4% at constant currency to GBP472.7m (up 9.6% at actual rates). Individual country performances remained mixed. The US business turned into a positive position in the second quarter with good sequential improvement in the total business. Canada had a recovery in its mature business from the end of the first quarter, which provided positive momentum overall for the first half. The sequential profile for the total business in Canada was stronger. We experienced continued weakness in LATAM where the most significant markets of Brazil and Mexico continued to weaken throughout the first half due to macroeconomic and geopolitical issues. Although in the case of Mexico, the rate of decline reduced through the period.\n\nAverage mature occupancy for the region was 75.9% (H1 2016: 75.6%). The gross profit margin remained solid at 19.7%.\n\nWe added 32 new locations during the first half, over 50% through partnering deals. Within the Americas the US was the main focus of growth with just over half of these locations being added there. These US openings were evenly split between our Spaces co-working format and our other formats. Approximately a third of the total locations added were in LATAM, with Brazil the focus following the conclusion of a portfolio deal with a large property owner. All these new locations in LATAM were varying forms of partnering deals. We also opened in Trinidad and Tobago through a partnering agreement. In total, we had 1,236 locations in the region at 30 June 2017. The average number of available workstations increased from 169,828 to 186,009, with a total of 189,221 at the period end.\n\nEMEA\n\nOur EMEA business has made good progress. Total revenue increased 4.1% to GBP264.0m at constant currency (up 15.1% at actual rates). Mature revenue on a constant currency basis declined 1.9% to GBP245.6m but was up 8.5% at actual rates. Individual country performances varied. The Netherlands, Spain and Italy contributed strongly throughout H1 2017 and Germany moved back into growth in the second quarter. Russia, Turkey and France have experienced challenging market conditions, although in the case of Russia the benefits of the actions taken to restructure are now starting to come through. Some smaller markets in the Middle East and Africa continued to face challenges.\n\nOccupancy on the Mature business increased from 75.4% to 77.3%, reflecting the continued maturation of the newer year group additions within the mature business. The gross profit margin declined from 23.2% in the first half of 2016 to 22.2% for the six months to 30 June 2017, primarily an effect of mix. For example, in Russia, strong occupancy was maintained but pricing has been under significant pressure, as previously announced, and the benefit of restructuring phasing in over time.\n\nDuring the first half, we added 56 new locations, taking the total number of locations to 842. Almost 40% of these new locations were established via partnering deals. We opened six Spaces co-working locations during the period and introduced it into four new countries, France, Italy, Israel and Switzerland. The average number of workstations increased from 89,539 to 101,576. At period end we had 105,887 workstations.\n\nAsia Pacific\n\nTotal revenue in Asia Pacific improved 0.4% at constant currency to GBP191.3m (up 11.2% at actual rates). Revenue from the region's mature business on a constant currency basis declined 1.4% to GBP179.7m. At actual rates, mature revenue increased 9.3%. Individual market performances in the region have been varied. Our business in Australia has grown throughout the first half and our performance in Japan moved back to growth in the middle of the second quarter. In China, we have experienced an easing in the rate of decline during the first half.\n\nMature occupancy increased from 70.1% in the comparable period for 2016 to 73.4% for the six months to June 2017. The gross margin improved to 20.5% (H1 2016: 20.2%).\n\nAsia Pacific has grown in the period with 19 new locations being added to take the total locations in the region to 607. Two thirds of these new locations were partnering deals. Over 40% of the new locations were in Japan and half of these were Regus Express formats. Three new Spaces were opened in the region, one in Japan and two in India. The average number of workstations increased from 93,501 to 99,331. At the end of the period we had 100,467 workstations.\n\nUK\n\nTotal revenue in the UK decreased 7.5% to GBP218.6m reflecting the impact of closures and lower occupancy in the remaining estate. Mature revenue was down 2.0% to GBP209.0m (H1 2016: GBP213.2m).\n\nMature occupancy in the first half was 72.9% compared to 75.8% in the corresponding period in 2016. Our UK business has continued with its space optimisation programme and this has resulted in a 7% increase in the average number of available workstations within the mature business during the first 6 months of 2017. With the decline in mature revenue on a relatively fixed cost base in the near-term, the mature gross margin reduced to 21.7% (H1 2016: 23.6%). The UK, whilst already a very operationally efficient business, has further contributed to the strong overhead performance.\n\nDuring the first half of 2017 42 locations were added to the UK network compared to 8 locations in the comparable period in 2016. These locations are primarily in the South of England and very complementary to our existing UK network. They also broaden our product offering in the UK in terms of price point, geographic presence and type of workspace. We added five new Spaces locations and now have seven in the UK. Total average workstations increased from 72,775 to 76,561 with 86,198 at the period-end.\n\nOutlook\n\nIt is a very exciting time for our industry and, as market leader, we will continue to benefit from the structural growth in the Workspace-as-a-Service market globally.\n\nAs expected the improving trend in sales activity at the beginning of the year has led to a gradual improvement in revenue growth throughout the first half, with IWG returning to growth in Q2. Current sales activity remains robust and we are therefore confident that our mature business will see growth over the second half of 2017.\n\nAgainst the backdrop of improving sales trends we have made the decision to invest in our network to deliver additional earnings growth and shareholder value creation over the medium-term. In this regard, we decided to opportunistically acquire properties as well as further accelerate our growth. The underlying capital efficiency of our business more broadly has improved as IWG is increasingly working with partners in expanding its business. This is also reflected in our pipeline.\n\nWhile IWG's exciting category of Workspace-as-a-Service continues to develop at pace and attract investment on the back of growing customer demand, we remain focused on reinforcing our competitive advantage through the quality of our network, quality of service, technology and cost benefits from scale.\n\nGiven the gradual improvement in revenue growth, while continuing to control costs, we anticipate strong cash generation in the second half of the year.\n\nThese trends, together with the positive outlook for our industry, are reflected in our decision to increase the interim dividend by 13%, and maintain our progressive dividend policy.\n\nMark Dixon\n\nChief Executive Officer\n\n8 August 2017\n\nChief Financial Officer's review\n\nReturn on investment\n\nOur strategy remains focused on driving cash returns that achieve our post-tax cash payback criteria, which typically is within four years. For the last 12 months to 30 June 2017, the Group has delivered a post-tax cash return of 23.3% in respect of locations opened on or before 31 December 2012 (23.6% on the same estate for the 12 months to 31 December 2016). Incorporating the centres opened during 2013, the Group delivered a post-tax cash return of 21.5% in respect of all locations opened on or before 31 December 2013 (the equivalent return for the 12 months to 31 December 2016 on the same estate was also 21.5%).\n\nThis strong level of post-tax cash return performance reflects the continued focus on efficiency and productivity, and the economies of scale on overheads that we enjoy as we continue to grow the business.\n\nThe table below shows the status of our centre openings by year of opening, with pleasing progress in the development of returns for centres added in 2013, 2014 and 2015 as they continue to progress towards full maturity.\n\nPost-tax cash return(1) on net investment by year group - LTM to 30 June 2017\n\n09 & Year of opening earlier 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 ----------------------------- -------- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ------- ------ (3.6)% Post-tax cash return 24.3% 26.7% 19.5% 19.7% 15.4% 13.3% 6.5% (19.2)% (3) ----------------------------- -------- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ------- ------ Net growth investment on locations opened in year(2) GBPm 557.4 52.0 76.1 140.2 236.9 159.2 258.0 131.0 205.9 ----------------------------- -------- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ------- ------\n\n2016 Post-tax cash return on net investment by year group - 12 months to 31 December 2016\n\n09 & Year of opening earlier 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 ----------------------------- -------- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ------ ------- ---- (15.8%) Post-tax cash return 25.0% 31.1% 21.3% 16.6% 13.9% 10.0% (2.6)% (4) - ----------------------------- -------- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ------ ------- ---- Net growth investment on locations opened in year(2) GBPm 562.1 52.5 77.4 142.0 238.6 159.9 259.0 130.8 26.7 ----------------------------- -------- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ------ ------- ----\n\n(1) These returns are based on the post-tax cash return divided by the net growth capital investment. The post-tax return is calculated as the EBITDA achieved, less the amortisation of any partner capital contribution, less tax based on the EBIT and after deducting maintenance capital expenditure. Net growth capital investment is the growth capital after any partner contributions. We believe this provides an appropriate and conservative measure of cash return.\n\n(2) These amounts relate to net investment based on the year of opening of the centre. Depending on the timing of opening, some capital expenditure can be incurred in the calendar year before or after opening. These amounts are also adjusted for net investment relating to closures.\n\n(3) 2017 return on net growth investment is based on the actual results for the six-months to 30 June 2017 on investment made in 2017 up to 30 June.\n\n(4) 2016 return on investments made in 2016 is based on the results for the period that the locations were open.\n\nDeveloping the network\n\nAfter approaching 2016 with a high degree of caution, we see 2017 as an opportune time to reaccelerate our growth programme. We continue to apply maximum focus to the investment decision process, which remains critical to our ultimate success in meeting our stringent financial hurdles. In the six months to June 2017 we invested GBP179.7m of net growth capital expenditure. This investment included approximately GBP110m on property. In total, we added a further 149 locations to the network, less than a quarter of which came from acquisitions. These locations added approximately 2.7m sq. ft., taking the Group's total space globally to approximately 49.8m sq. ft. as at 30 June 2017.\n\nOf particular note in this first half has been the increased traction with partnering deals and the roll out of our Spaces format. Approximately half of the 115 organic openings were partnership deals and approaching 40% of the total new additions. We opened 23 Spaces in the first half, taking the total number of Spaces open at 30 June 2017 to 44. Being on average larger, these 23 new Spaces locations added 0.7m sq. ft., representing 26% of the total space added.\n\nBy continuing to invest in developing our network we are increasing the depth and breadth of our geographic scope, our ability to address different styles of working and price points. This is a major differentiator for IWG and provides a competitive advantage as well as building further resilience into the business.\n\nWe have a good pipeline of new openings and many more are capital light opportunities through partnering deals. Consequently, we anticipate increasing the proportion of our leases with partners that are variable in nature. Currently over 50% of the organic locations in the pipeline are through partnering deals. As of 28 July, we had visibility on net capital expenditure so far for the whole of 2017 of approximately GBP240m, representing approximately 310 locations, including approximately 50 Spaces, and approximately 5.8m sq. ft. of additional space.\n\nOperational developments\n\nWe continued to further simplify our operational processes in the field and fine tune the significant changes made in 2016. We have centralised more activities which is aided by the roll out of local shared service centres.\n\nWe are now seeing the benefit of the changes implemented last year which justifies our belief that these were the right actions to take and that they would bring major benefits to the Group.\n\nFinancial performance\n\nGroup income statement\n\n% Change % Change (actual (constant GBPm H1 2017 H1 2016 currency) currency) =================================== ======= ======= ========== ========== Revenue 1,169.7 1,077.6 8.5% (0.4)% Gross profit (centre contribution) 211.3 225.2 (6)% (13)% Overheads (124.3) (136.5) (9)% (14)% Joint ventures - 0.4 =================================== ======= ======= ========== ========== Operating profit 87.0 89.1 (2)% (13)% Net finance expense (6.2) (4.8) =================================== ======= ======= ========== ========== Profit before tax 80.8 84.3 (4)% Income tax expense (17.5) (16.9) Effective tax rate 21.7% 20.0% =================================== ======= ======= ========== ========== Profit for the period 63.3 67.4 (6)% =================================== ======= ======= ========== ========== Basic EPS (p) 6.9 7.2 (4)% Depreciation & amortisation 103.5 88.6 EBITDA 190.5 177.7 7% (3)% =================================== ======= ======= ========== ==========\n\nRevenue\n\nGroup revenue decreased 0.4% at constant currency to GBP1,169.7m (H1 2016: GBP1,077.6m), an increase of 8.5% at actual rates. The first quarter revenue decline for the total business was 1.5%, which highlights a stronger second quarter performance. All the regions, apart from the UK, contributed positive growth in the second quarter. The UK did however reduce the decline in its revenue over the second quarter. Generally, we experienced a gain in momentum as we moved through the second quarter, including in the UK. This demonstrates that the increase in sales activity we had previously reported is now starting to filter through into our revenue numbers. A similar experience has been seen in the mature business. Mature revenue (from the 2,616 like-for-like locations added on or before 31 December 2015) declined 2.0% at constant currency to GBP1,108.8m (H1 2016: GBP1,036.9m), up 6.9% at actual rates. This represents an improvement in the deceleration in the pace of year-on-year growth in the second quarter compared with the first quarter from 2.5% in Q1 to 1.5% in Q2. Mature revenue momentum was gathering pace throughout the second quarter. The Americas and Asia Pacific were notable contributors to this improving performance. Mature occupancy was 75.1% (H1 2016: 74.4%).\n\nGross profit\n\nGroup gross profit decreased 13% at constant currency rates to GBP211.3m (H1 2016: GBP225.2m), down 6% at actual rates. The reduction in Group gross margin from 20.9% to 18.1% reflects a 70bp reduction in the mature margin to 20.8%, a substantial higher level of initial losses from the new centre additions and an GBP8.5m negative swing year-on-year from closures.\n\nGross margin\n\nMature New Closed centres centres centres Total GBPm H1 2017 H1 2017 H1 2017 H1 2017 =================================== ======== ======== ======== ======== Revenue 1,108.8 57.7 3.2 1,169.7 Cost of sales (878.6) (75.5) (4.3) (958.4) =================================== ======== ======== ======== ======== Gross profit (centre contribution) 230.2 (17.8) (1.1) 211.3 =================================== ======== ======== ======== ======== Gross margin 20.8% (30.8)% (34.4)% 18.1% =================================== ======== ======== ======== ======== Mature New Closed centres centres centres Total GBPm H1 2016 H1 2016 H1 2016 H1 2016 =================================== ======== ======== ======== ======== Revenue 1,036.9 8.5 32.2 1,077.6 Cost of sales (813.8) (13.8) (24.8) (852.4) =================================== ======== ======== ======== ======== Gross profit (centre contribution) 223.1 (5.3) 7.4 225.2 =================================== ======== ======== ======== ======== Gross margin 21.5% (62.4)% 23.0% 20.9% =================================== ======== ======== ======== ========\n\nFurther overhead efficiency gains\n\nAs anticipated, we have achieved further scale benefits and reduced overheads in absolute terms as we see a full half year benefit of the reductions made during 2016 and no repetition of the costs incurred and expensed last year to achieve the improved efficiency. The process of centralising more activities, globally and regionally, into dedicated service centres continues and is instrumental in being able to increasingly unlock the benefits of our unmatched scale. Therefore, despite further network growth, total overheads declined by 14% at constant currency to GBP124.3m (down 9% at actual rates). As a percentage of revenue, total overheads declined from 12.7% in the first half of 2016 to 10.6% for the first six-months of 2017. This also represents a further improvement on the 10.9% achieved in the second half of 2016 and the full year outturn of 11.8%. Our continuing strong focus on overheads will be important in the current market environment.\n\nOperating profit\n\nThe achievement of a further absolute reduction in Group overheads has helped to mitigate much of the reduction in the first half gross profit. As a consequence, Group operating profit decreased 13% at constant currency to GBP87.0m (H1 2016: GBP89.1m) (down 2% at actual rates). Consequently, the Group operating margin decreased 90bp from 8.3% in the six months 30 June 2016 to 7.4% in the first half of 2017, which is a function of the normal initial losses on a larger number of new locations in the network.\n\nNet finance expense\n\nThe net finance charge for the six months to 30 June 2017 increased to GBP6.2m from GBP4.8m for the corresponding six-months in 2016. Net debt at the end of June 2017 was higher at GBP306.5m compared with GBP173.8m at 30 June 2016, this primarily reflects the acceleration of investment activity, including the acquisition of a number of freehold and long-leasehold properties with flexible workspace operations, we announced in May, along with the repurchase of shares. Notwithstanding the higher level of net debt, we reduced the cash cost of our borrowing compared to the first six months of 2016, reflecting the lower funding costs in general on our credit facility. Also, the net finance cost for the first half of 2016 was positively impacted by a favourable foreign exchange movement, most notably in June following the weakness of sterling after the result of the UK Referendum on EU membership. The foreign exchange impact in the six months to June 2017 has been materially lower.\n\nTax\n\nThe effective tax rate for the six months to June 2017 was 21.7% (H1 2016: 20.0%). We anticipate that the tax rate this year will be approximately 20.0%.\n\nEarnings per share\n\nGroup earnings per share reduced marginally in the first six-months to 6.9p (H1 2016: 7.2p), a decrease of 4%. This reflects the lower level of post-tax profitability in the period which was partly mitigated by a reduction in the weighted average number of shares outstanding in the period. Diluted earnings per share for the six months to June 2017 were 6.8p (H1 2016: 7.1p).\n\nThe weighted average number of shares in issue for the first six-months was 919,189,471 (H1 2016: 931,328,502). The weighted average number of shares for diluted earnings per share was 932,916,702 (H1 2016: 949,079,315). During the first half of the year, the Group purchased 11,280,000 shares for GBP36.0m, designated to be held in treasury to satisfy future exercises under various Group long-term incentive schemes. This represents a significantly greater investment than in the corresponding period in 2016. Over the same period, the Group reissued 4,045,944 shares from treasury to satisfy such exercises.\n\nCash flow and funding\n\nCash generation continues to be a positive feature of our business model. Cash generated before the investment in growth capital expenditure, dividends and share repurchases totalled GBP87.4m in the first six months of 2017 (H1 2016: GBP141.7m). This is lower than for the comparable period as the six months to June 2016 benefitted from some specific programmes undertaken to unlock working capital, which resulted in an additional inflow of approximately GBP45.0m. In addition, we have experienced some of the normal timing differences that can occur around the half year.\n\nGroup net debt increased from GBP151.3m at 31 December 2016 to GBP306.5m at 30 June 2017. This increase comes after a significant step-up in our growth programme. Net growth capital investment increased from GBP83.1m in the first half of 2016 to GBP179.7m for the six months to June 2017. This reflects an underlying reacceleration of our growth programme, particularly in our generally larger and more designed Spaces co-working format, and the acquisition of properties. We have continued to invest in maintaining and refreshing our existing locations. We also paid the 2016 final dividend of GBP32.5m and spent GBP36.0m on buying our own shares as a further hedge against the cost of the exercise of employee share awards.\n\nWe have continued to maintain a prudent approach to the Group's capital structure. This half year net debt position of GBP306.5m represents a Group net debt : LTM EBITDA leverage ratio of 0.8 times, even after the significant acquisition in the second quarter. A leverage ratio of 0.8 times remains well within the range we consider appropriate for our business model and significantly below our bank covenant limitation.\n\nOur GBP550m Revolving Credit Facility continues to provide adequate funding headroom to execute our strategy. During the first half of 2017 we further improved the debt maturity profile by extending this facility to 2022 (previously 2021), with a further option to extend until 2023. The facility is predominately denominated in sterling and can be drawn in several major currencies.\n\nCash flow\n\nThe table below reflects the Group's cash flow:\n\nGBPm H1 2017 H1 2016 =================================================== ======= ======= Group EBITDA 190.5 177.7 Working capital (11.7) 50.3 Less: growth-related partner contributions (30.6) (23.7) Maintenance capital expenditure (44.8) (33.6) Tax paid (11.6) (20.2) Interest paid, net (5.8) (9.9) Other items 1.4 1.1 =================================================== ======= ======= Cash flow before growth capital expenditure, share repurchases and dividends 87.4 141.7 Gross growth capital expenditure (210.3) (106.8) Less: growth-related partner contributions 30.6 23.7 =================================================== ======= ======= Net growth capital expenditure(1) (179.7) (83.1) Total net cash flow from operations (92.3) 58.6 Purchase of shares (36.0) (7.5) Dividend (32.5) (28.9) Other financing activities 3.7 (4.2) Opening net cash/debt (151.3) (190.6) Exchange movements 1.9 (1.2) Closing net debt (306.5) (173.8) =================================================== ======= =======\n\n(1) Net growth capital expenditure of GBP179.7m relates to the cash outflow in first six-months of 2017. Accordingly, it includes capital expenditure related to locations added in 2016 and to be added in 2018, as well as 2017. The total net investment in the 2017 and 2018 additions amounts to GBP206.2m so far.\n\nForeign exchange\n\nThe Group's results are exposed to translation risk from the movement in currencies. During first half of 2017 key individual currency exchange rates have moved, as shown in the table below. Following the June 2016 UK Referendum on EU membership sterling weakened against our key trading currencies. This weakness prevailed through the first half of 2017 and provided a boost to the translation of our significant international earnings.\n\nForeign exchange rates\n\nAt 30 June Half year average ==== ========== ==== =================== ===== Per GBP sterling 2017 2016 % 2017 2016 % ================= ==== ========== ==== ========= ======== ===== US dollar 1.30 1.34 (3)% 1.27 1.42 (11)% Euro 1.14 1.21 (6)% 1.16 1.27 (9)% Japanese yen 146 138 6% 142 158 (10)% ================= ==== ========== ==== ========= ======== =====\n\nRisk management\n\nEffective management of risk is an everyday activity at IWG and, crucially, integral to our growth planning. The principal risks and uncertainties affecting the Group remain unchanged. A detailed assessment of the principal risks and uncertainties which could impact the Group's long-term performance and the risk management structure in place to identify, manage and mitigate such risks can be found on pages 27 to 32 of the 2016 Annual Report and Accounts.\n\nRelated parties\n\nThere have been no changes to the type of related party transactions entered into by the Group that had a material effect on the financial statements for the six-months ended 30 June 2017. Details of related party transactions that have taken place in the period can be found in note 11.\n\nDividends\n\nA final dividend of 3.55p per share for 2016 was paid by IWG on 26 May 2017 following shareholder approval (2016: 3.10p).\n\nIn line with IWG's progressive dividend policy, the Board has increased the 2017 interim dividend by 13% to 1.75p per share (H1 2016: 1.55p). The interim dividend will be paid on Friday, 6 October 2017 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on Friday, 8 September 2017.\n\nDominik de Daniel\n\nChief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer\n\n8 August 2017\n\nCondensed Consolidated Financial Information\n\nInterim consolidated income statement (unaudited)\n\nSix months Six months ended ended 30 June 2017 30 June 2016 GBPm Revenue 1,169.7 1,077.6 Cost of sales (958.4) (852.4) ---------------------------------------- -------------- -------------- Gross profit (centre contribution) 211.3 225.2 Selling, general and administrative expenses (124.3) (136.5) Share of profit of equity-accounted investees, net of tax - 0.4 ---------------------------------------- -------------- -------------- Operating profit 87.0 89.1 Finance expense (6.3) (4.9) Finance income 0.1 0.1 ---------------------------------------- -------------- -------------- Net finance expense (6.2) (4.8) ---------------------------------------- -------------- -------------- Profit before tax for the period 80.8 84.3 Income tax expense (17.5) (16.9) ---------------------------------------- -------------- -------------- Profit for the period 63.3 67.4 ---------------------------------------- -------------- --------------\n\nInterim consolidated statement of comprehensive income (unaudited)\n\nSix months Six months GBPm ended ended 30 June 2017 30 June 2016 Profit for the period 63.3 67.4 Other comprehensive income: Other comprehensive income that is or may be reclassified to profit or loss in subsequent periods: Cash flow hedges - reclassified to the income statement - 2.1 Cash flow hedges - effective portion of changes in fair value - (0.4) Foreign currency translation differences for foreign operations (17.8) 60.0 --------------------------------------------------------- -------------- -------------- Items that are or may be reclassified to profit or loss in subsequent periods (17.8) 61.7 --------------------------------------------------------- -------------- -------------- Other comprehensive (loss)/income for the period, net of tax (17.8) 61.7 Total comprehensive income for the period, net of tax 45.5 129.1 --------------------------------------------------------- -------------- -------------- Earnings per ordinary share (EPS): Six months Six months ended ended 30 June 2017 30 June 2016 Basic (p) 6.9 7.2 Diluted (p) 6.8 7.1\n\nThe above interim consolidated income statement and interim consolidated statement of comprehensive income should be read in conjunction with the accompanying notes.\n\nInterim consolidated statement of changes in equity (unaudited)\n\nIssued Treasury Foreign Hedging Revaluation Other Retained Total share shares currency reserve reserve reserves earnings Equity capital translation GBPm reserve ------------------- --------- --------- ------------- --------- ------------ ---------- ---------- -------- Balance at 1 January 2016 9.5 (42.9) 7.4 (2.1) 10.5 15.3 586.0 583.7 Total comprehensive income for the period: Profit for the period - - - - - - 67.4 67.4 Other comprehensive income: - - - 2.1 - - - 2.1 Cash flow hedges - effective portion of changes in fair value - - - (0.4) - - - (0.4) Foreign currency translation differences for foreign operations - - 60.0 - - - - 60.0 -------------------- --------- --------- ------------- --------- ------------ ---------- ---------- -------- Other comprehensive income, net of tax - - 60.0 1.7 - - - 61.7 -------------------- --------- --------- ------------- --------- ------------ ---------- ---------- -------- Total comprehensive income for the period - - 60.0 1.7 - - 67.4 129.1 -------------------- --------- --------- ------------- --------- ------------ ---------- ---------- -------- Transactions with owners, recorded directly in equity: Share based payments - - - - - - 1.4 1.4 Ordinary dividend paid (note 3) - - - - - - (28.9) (28.9) Purchase of shares - (6.6) - - - - (0.9) (7.5) Proceeds from exercise of share awards - 4.5 - - - - (3.8) 0.7 -------------------- --------- --------- ------------- --------- ------------ ---------- ---------- -------- Balance at 30 June 2016 9.5 (45.0) 67.4 (0.4) 10.5 15.3 621.2 678.5 -------------------- --------- --------- ------------- --------- ------------ ---------- ---------- -------- Balance at 1 January 2017 9.2 (2.9) 97.6 (0.3) 10.5 15.3 612.6 742.0 -------------------- --------- --------- ------------- --------- ------------ ---------- ---------- -------- Total comprehensive income for the period: Profit for the period - - - - - - 63.3 63.3 Other comprehensive income: Foreign currency translation differences for foreign operations - - (17.8) - - - - (17.8) -------------------- --------- --------- ------------- --------- ------------ ---------- ---------- -------- Other comprehensive (loss)/income, net of tax - - (17.8) - - - - (17.8) -------------------- --------- --------- ------------- --------- ------------ ---------- ---------- -------- Total comprehensive income for the period - - (17.8) - - - 63.3 45.5 -------------------- --------- --------- ------------- --------- ------------ ---------- ---------- -------- Transactions with owners, recorded directly in equity: Share based payments - - - - - - 1.2 1.2 Ordinary dividend paid (note 3) - - - - - - (32.5) (32.5) Purchase of shares - (36.0) - - - - - (36.0) Proceeds from exercise of share awards - 11.5 - - - - (8.1) 3.4 -------------------- --------- --------- ------------- --------- ------------ ---------- ---------- -------- Balance at 30 June 2017 9.2 (27.4) 79.8 (0.3) 10.5 15.3 636.5 723.6 -------------------- --------- --------- ------------- --------- ------------ ---------- ---------- --------\n\nOn 19 December 2016, the Group entered into a court approved Scheme of Arrangement. As a result of the Scheme of Arrangement shares in Regus plc were cancelled and shares in the new Group holding company, IWG plc, were issued on the basis of one IWG plc share (nominal value one pence) for one share previously held in Regus plc (nominal value one pence). As a result, the shareholders of Regus plc became the shareholders of IWG plc. The establishment of IWG plc as the new parent company was accounted for as a common control transaction under IFRS and consequently the aggregate of the Group reserves have been attributable to IWG plc.\n\nAt 30 June 2017, treasury shares represent 8,404,755 (30 June 2016: 20,514,246) ordinary shares of the Group that were acquired for the purposes of the Group's various employee share option plans. During the period 11,280,000 (30 June 2016: 2,707,545) shares were purchased and 4,045,944 (30 June 2016: 2,683,912) were utilised to satisfy the exercise of share options by employees. At 8 August 2017, 8,162,001 treasury shares were held.\n\nThe revaluation reserve arose on the restatement of the assets and liabilities of the UK associate from historic cost to fair value at the time of the acquisition of the outstanding 58% interest on 19 April 2006.\n\nOther reserves include GBP37.9 million arising from the Scheme of Arrangement undertaken on 14 October 2008, GBP6.5 million relating to merger reserves and GBP0.1 million to the redemption of preference shares partly offset by GBP29.2 million arising from the Scheme of Arrangement undertaken in 2003.\n\nThe above interim consolidated statement of changes in equity should be read in conjunction with the accompanying notes.\n\nInterim consolidated balance sheet\n\nAs at 30 June As at 31 December 2017 2016* GBPm Notes (unaudited) Non-current assets Goodwill 4 677.8 685.3 Other intangible assets 45.9 52.8 Property, plant and equipment 1,318.5 1,194.4 Deferred tax assets 28.7 29.3 Other long term receivables 82.5 83.7 Investments in joint ventures 13.1 13.6 ---------------------------------- ------- --- -------------- ------------------ Total non-current assets 2,166.5 2,059.1 Current assets Trade and other receivables 557.6 517.1 Corporation tax receivable 35.8 34.8 Assets held for sale 6 - - Cash and cash equivalents 7 85.6 50.1 ---------------------------------- ------- --- -------------- ------------------ Total current assets 679.0 602.0 Total assets 2,845.5 2,661.1 ---------------------------------- ------- --- -------------- ------------------ Current liabilities Trade and other payables (incl. customer deposits) 873.0 875.2 Deferred income 285.3 276.4 Corporation tax payable 22.4 17.7 Bank and other loans 7 10.6 7.8 Provisions 4.3 6.0 Liabilities held for sale 6 - - ---------------------------------- ------- --- -------------- ------------------ Total current liabilities 1,195.6 1,183.1 Non-current liabilities Other payables 532.9 532.1 Non-current derivative financial liabilities 0.1 0.3 Bank and other loans 7 381.5 193.6 Deferred tax liability 4.7 2.4 Provisions 3.1 3.4 Provision for deficit on joint ventures 3.2 3.4 Retirement benefit obligations 0.8 0.8 Total non- current liabilities 926.3 736.0 Total liabilities 2,121.9 1,919.1 Total equity Issued share capital 9.2 9.2 Treasury shares (27.4) (2.9) Foreign currency translation reserve 79.8 97.6 Hedging reserve (0.3) (0.3) Revaluation reserve 10.5 10.5 Other reserves 15.3 15.3 Retained earnings 636.5 612.6 ---------------------------------- ------- --- -------------- ------------------ Total equity 723.6 742.0 Total equity and liabilities 2,845.5 2,661.1 ---------------------------------- ------- --- -------------- ------------------\n\n* Based on the audited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2016.\n\nThe above interim consolidated balance sheet should be read in conjunction with the accompanying notes.\n\nInterim consolidated statement of cash flows (unaudited)\n\nSix months ended Six months ended GBPm 30 June 30 June Notes 2017 2016 Profit before tax for the period 80.8 84.3 Adjustments for: Net finance expense 6.2 4.8 Share of profit on equity-accounted investees, net of income tax - (0.4) Depreciation charge 97.7 82.3 Loss / (gain) on disposal of property, plant and equipment 1.0 (0.6) Loss on disposal of assets-held-for-sale - 0.1 Impairment of intangibles assets 1.5 - Impairment of assets-held-for-sale - 2.0 Amortisation of intangible assets 5.8 6.3 Amortisation of acquired lease fair value adjustment (1.4) (1.5) (Decrease) / increase in provisions (2.0) 0.6 Share based payments 1.2 1.4 Other non-cash movements 1.2 (2.4) ---------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------- --------------------------- Operating cash flows before movements in working capital 192.0 176.9 ---------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------- --------------------------- (Increase) / decrease in trade and other receivables (42.5) 23.2 Increase in trade and other payables 30.8 27.1 Cash generated from operations 180.3 227.2 ---------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------- --------------------------- Interest paid (5.9) (10.0) Tax paid (11.6) (20.2) Net cash inflows from operating activities 162.8 197.0 ---------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------- --------------------------- Investing activities Purchase of subsidiary undertakings (net of cash acquired) 12 (37.6) (0.3) Proceeds on the sale of assets-held-for-sale - 3.1 Dividends received from joint ventures - 0.1 Proceeds on sale of property, plant and equipment 5 0.2 13.9 Purchase of property, plant and equipment 5 (156.3) (150.7) Purchase of intangible assets (1.1) (2.5) Interest received 0.1 0.1 Cash outflows from investing activities (194.7) (136.3) ---------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------- --------------------------- Financing activities Net proceeds from issue of loans 7 458.0 385.8 Repayment of loans 7 (327.1) (404.0) Settlement of financial derivatives - (7.0) Purchase of shares (36.0) (7.5) Proceeds from exercise of share awards 3.4 0.7 Payment of ordinary dividend 3 (32.5) (28.9) Cash inflows / (outflows) from financing activities 65.8 (60.9) ---------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------- --------------------------- Net increase / (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents 7 33.9 (0.2) Cash and cash equivalents at beginning\n\nof period 7 50.1 63.9 Effect of exchange rate fluctuations on cash held 7 1.6 10.9 Cash and cash equivalents at end of period 7 85.6 74.6 ---------------------------------------------- ------ --------------------------- ---------------------------\n\nThe above interim consolidated statement of cash flow should be read in conjunction with the accompanying notes.\n\nNotes to the Condensed Interim Consolidated Financial Information (unaudited)\n\nNote 1: Basis of preparation and accounting policies\n\nIWG plc is a public limited company incorporated in Jersey and registered and domiciled in Switzerland. The Company's ordinary shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange. IWG plc owns an international network of business centres which are utilised by a variety of business customers.\n\nThe unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial information as at and for the six months ended 30 June 2017 included within the half yearly report:\n\n-- was prepared in accordance with International Accounting Standard 34 \"Interim Financial Reporting\" (\"IAS 34\") as adopted by the European Union (\"adopted IFRS\"), and therefore does not include all disclosures that would otherwise be required in a complete set of financial statements. Selected explanatory notes are included to understand events and transactions that are significant to understand the changes in the Group's financial position and performance since the last IWG plc Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2016;\n\n-- was prepared in accordance with the Disclosure and Transparency Rules (\"DTR\") of the Financial Conduct Authority;\n\n-- comprise the Company and its subsidiaries (the \"Group\") and the Group's interests in jointly controlled entities;\n\n-- do not constitute statutory accounts as defined in section 434 of the Companies Act 2006. A copy of the statutory accounts for the year ended 31 December 2016 has been filed with the Jersey Companies Registry. Those accounts have been reported on by the Company's auditors and the report of the auditors was (i) unqualified, and (ii) did not include a reference to any matters to which the auditors drew attention by way of emphasis without qualifying their report. These accounts are available from the Company's website - www.iwgplc.com; and\n\n-- the condensed consolidated interim financial information was approved by the Board of Directors on 8 August 2017.\n\nIn preparing this condensed consolidated interim financial information, the significant judgments made by management and the key sources of estimation of uncertainty were the same as those that applied to the Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2016. The basis of preparation and accounting policies set out in the Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2016 have been applied in the preparation of this half yearly report, except for the adoption of new standards and interpretations effective as of 1 January 2017, which did not have a material effect on the Group's financial statements, unless otherwise indicated.\n\nThe following standards, interpretations and amendments to standards were applicable to the Group for periods commencing on or after 1 January 2017:\n\nIAS 7 Disclosure Initiative - Amendments to IAS 7 Recognition of Deferred Tax Assets for Unrealised losses - Amendments IAS 12 to IAS 12 Various Annual Improvements (2012 - 2014 Cycle) ------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nExcept for IFRS 16 Leases, the following new or amended standards and interpretations that are mandatory for 2018 annual periods (and future years) are not expected to have a material impact on the Company:\n\n1 January IFRS 9 Financial Instruments 2018 1 January IFRS 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers 2018 1 January IFRS 16 Leases 2019 ------- ------------------------------------- ---------\n\nThe adoption of IFRS 16 will result in the recognition of a significant right-of-use asset together with corresponding lease liabilities. The Group is in the process of quantifying the related impact through a detailed analysis of the Group's lease arrangements. The Group has not early adopted any standard, interpretation or amendment that has been issued but is not yet effective.\n\nSeasonality\n\nThe majority of the Group's revenue is contracted and is therefore not subject to significant seasonal fluctuations. Demand based revenue (from products such as Meeting Rooms and Customer Services) is impacted by seasonal factors within the year, particularly around summer and winter vacation periods. This fluctuation leads to a small seasonal profit bias to the second half year compared to the first half. However, this seasonal bias is often hidden by other factors which drive changes in the pattern of profit delivery such as the addition of new centres or changes in demand or prices.\n\nGoing concern\n\nAfter making due enquiries, the Directors have a reasonable expectation that the Group has adequate resources to continue operational existence for the foreseeable future and therefore continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the accounts.\n\nNote 2: Operating segments\n\nAn operating segment is a component of the Group that engages in business activities from which it may earn revenues and incur expenses, including those that relate to transactions with other operating segments. An operating segment's results are reviewed regularly by the chief operating decision maker (the Board of Directors of the Group) to make decisions about resources to be allocated to the segment and assess its performance, and for which discrete financial information is available.\n\nThe business is run on a worldwide basis but managed through four principal geographical segments: Americas; Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA); Asia Pacific; and the United Kingdom. These geographical segments exclude the Group's non-trading, holding and corporate management companies. The results of business centres in each of these regions form the basis for reporting geographical results to the chief operating decision maker. All reportable segments are involved in the provision of global workplace solutions.\n\nThe Group's reportable segments operate in different markets and are managed separately because of the different economic characteristics that exist in each of those markets. Each reportable segment has its own discrete senior management team responsible for the performance of the segment.\n\nThe accounting policies of the operating segments are the same as those described in the Annual Report and Accounts for the Group for the year ended\n\n31 December 2016. The performance of each segment is assessed on the basis of the segment operating profit, which excludes internal revenue, corporate overheads and foreign exchange gains and losses arising on transactions with other operating segments.\n\nAmericas EMEA Asia Pacific United Kingdom All other Total segments ------------- GBPm Six 2017 2016 2017 2016 2017 2016 2017 2016 2017 2016 2017 2016 months ended 30 June ------------- ------------ ------------ ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- --------- -------- ---------- ------------ Revenues from external customers 494.0 438.0 264.0 229.4 191.3 172.0 218.6 236.4 1.8 1.8 1,169.7 1,077.6 Revenues from internal customers - - - - - - 0.4 0.5 - - 0.4 0.5 ------------- ------------ ------------ ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- --------- -------- ---------- ------------ Segment revenues 494.0 438.0 264.0 229.4 191.3 172.0 219.0 236.9 1.8 1.8 1,170.1 1,078.1 Reportable segment profit before tax 57.8 53.9 31.0 24.4 20.3 18.0 38.3 49.0 (10.9) (7.3) 136.5 138.0 Reportable segment assets 1,761.8 1,326.4 581.1 519.2 375.8 389.4 976.9 954.9 25.6 1.5 3,721.2 3,191.4 Reportable segment liabilities (1,733.2) (1,284.2) (758.7) (646.5) (435.6) (416.4) (888.0) (931.2) (16.5) (0.1) (3,832.0) (3,278.4) ------------- ------------ ------------ ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- --------- -------- ---------- ------------\n\nReconciliation of reportable segment results to published statements:\n\nSix months ended Six months ended GBPm 30 June 2017 30 June 2016 -------------------------------------------- ----------------- -------------------- Reportable segment profit 136.5 138.0 Elimination of inter-segment revenue (0.4) (0.5) Corporate overheads (49.1) (48.8) Share of post-tax profit of joint ventures - 0.4 Net finance expense (6.2) (4.8) -------------------------------------------- ----------------- -------------------- Published Group profit before tax 80.8 84.3 -------------------------------------------- ----------------- -------------------- At 30 June 2017 GBPm Assets Liabilities Net assets/(liabilities) ------------------------------------------ ---------- ------------ ------------------------- Reportable segment results 3,721.2 (3,832.0) (110.8) Exclude: Segmental inter-company amounts (1,030.5) 2,116.5 1,086.0 Corporate overheads (excluding amounts due to/from reportable segments): Cash 56.9 - 56.9 Deferred taxation 16.7 - 16.7 Bank and other loans - (369.3) (369.3) Other 81.2 (37.1) 44.1 ------------------------------------------ ---------- ------------ ------------------------- Published Group total 2,845.5 (2,121.9) 723.6 ------------------------------------------ ---------- ------------ ------------------------- At 30 June 2016 GBPm Assets Liabilities Net assets/(liabilities) ------------------------------------------ ---------- ------------ ------------------------- Reportable segment results 3,191.4 (3,278.4) (87.0) Exclude: Segmental inter-company amounts (756.3) 1,653.7 897.4 Corporate overheads (excluding amounts due to/from reportable segments): Cash 41.8 - 41.8 Deferred taxation 25.6 - 25.6 Bank and other loans - (230.7) (230.7) Other 67.3 (35.9) 31.4 ------------------------------------------ ---------- ------------ ------------------------- Published Group total 2,569.8 (1,891.3) 678.5 ------------------------------------------ ---------- ------------ -------------------------\n\nThere have been no changes to the basis of segmentation or the measurement basis for the segments since 31 December 2016.\n\nNote 3: Dividends\n\nEquity dividends on ordinary shares paid during the period:\n\nGBPm Six months ended Six months ended 30 June 2017 30 June 2016 ----------------------------------------- ----------------- ----------------- Final dividend for the year ended 31 December 2016: 3.55 pence per share (2015: 3.10 pence per share) 32.5 28.9 ----------------------------------------- ----------------- -----------------\n\nNote 4: Goodwill and indefinite life intangible assets\n\nAs at 30 June 2017, the carrying value of the Group's goodwill and indefinite life intangible assets was GBP677.8 million and GBP11.2 million respectively\n\n(31 December 2016: GBP685.3 million and GBP11.2 million respectively). The last annual review of the carrying value of the goodwill and indefinite life intangible was performed as at 30 September 2016 and will be reassessed during the last quarter of 2017. There are no indicators of impairment in the period ended 30 June 2017.\n\nNote 5: Property, plant and equipment\n\nDuring the six months ended 30 June 2017, the Group acquired assets with a cost of GBP156.3 million (30 June 2016: GBP150.7 million). Assets with a net book value of GBP1.2 million (30 June 2016: GBP13.3 million) were disposed of during the period for GBP0.2 million (30 June 2016: GBP13.9 million).\n\nCapital expenditure authorised and contracted for but not provided for in the accounts amounted to GBP41.3 million (30 June 2016: GBP34.8 million).\n\nNote 6: Assets and liabilities held for sale\n\nDuring 2016 the Group disposed of specific assets and liabilities acquired as part of the Avanta Services Offices Group plc acquisition in accordance with the agreed settlement with the United Kingdom Competition & Markets Authority for a consideration of GBP3.3 million. There were no assets and liabilities held for sale as at 30 June 2017 and 31 December 2016.\n\nAt June 2016 GBPm ------------------------------ ------- Assets Goodwill 0.7 Property, plant and equipment 0.5 -------------------------------- ------- Assets held for sale 1.2 -------------------------------- ------- Liabilities Trade and other payables (0.9) -------------------------------- ------- Liabilities held for sale (0.9) -------------------------------- ------- Net assets held for sale 0.3 -------------------------------- -------\n\nThere is no cumulative income or expense included in other comprehensive income relating to the net assets held for sale.\n\nNote 7: Analysis of net financial resources\n\nAt 1 Jan Cash flow Non-cash Exchange At 30 June GBPm 2017 changes movement 2017 Cash and cash equivalents 50.1 33.9 - 1.6 85.6 Gross cash 50.1 33.9 - 1.6 85.6 --------------------------- --------- ---------- --------- ---------- ----------- Debt due within one year (7.8) (2.7) - (0.1) (10.6) Debt due after one year (193.6) (128.2) (60.1) 0.4 (381.5) (201.4) (130.9) (60.1) 0.3 (392.1) --------------------------- --------- ---------- --------- ---------- ----------- Net financial liabilities (151.3) (97.0) (60.1) 1.9 (306.5) --------------------------- --------- ---------- --------- ---------- -----------\n\nCash, cash equivalents and liquid investment balances held by the Group that are not available for use (\"Blocked Cash\") amounted to GBP10.6 million at\n\n30 June 2017 (31 December 2016: GBP11.3 million).\n\nOf this balance, GBP7.0 million (31 December 2016: GBP9.6 million) is pledged as security against outstanding bank guarantees and a further GBP3.6 million\n\n(31 December 2016: GBP1.7 million) is pledged against various other commitments of the Group.\n\nThe Group acquired debt of GBP60.1 million as part of an acquisition during the current period.\n\nNote 8: Financial instruments\n\nThe fair values of financial assets and financial liabilities, together with the carrying amounts included in the consolidated statement of financial position, are as follows:\n\nAt 30 June 2017 At 31 December 2016 ----------------------------- --- -------------------- --------------------- Carrying Carrying amount Fair value amount Fair value GBPm GBPm GBPm GBPm ----------------------------- -------- ---------- --------- ---------- Cash and cash equivalents 85.6 85.6 50.1 50.1 Trade and other receivables 450.3 450.3 418.5 418.5 ---------------------------------- -------- ---------- --------- ---------- Financial assets(b) 535.9 535.9 468.6 468.6 ---------------------------------- -------- ---------- --------- ---------- Non-derivative financial liabilities(a) : Trade and other payables (144.6) (144.6) (136.5) (136.5) Customer deposits (424.9) (424.9) (421.0) (421.0) Bank loans & other corporate borrowings (378.2) (378.2) (193.6) (193.6) Other loans (13.9) (13.9) (7.8) (7.8) Derivatives financial liabilities: Interest rate swaps * Outflow (0.1) (0.1) (0.3) (0.3) - - * Inflow - - ----------------------------- -------- ---------- --------- ---------- Financial liabilities (961.7) (961.7) (759.2) (759.2) ---------------------------------- -------- ---------- --------- ---------- Unrecognised gain - -\n\n---------------------------------- -------- ---------- --------- ----------\n\n(a) All financial instruments are classified as variable rate instruments.\n\n(b) Financial assets are all held at amortised cost.\n\nThe carrying amount of financial assets and liabilities not measured at fair value is considered to be a reasonable approximation of fair value.\n\nThere has been no change in the classification of financial assets and liabilities, the methods and assumptions used in determining fair value and the categorisation of financial assets and liabilities within the fair value hierarchy from those disclosed in the annual report for the year ended 31 December 2016.\n\nThe Group maintains a GBP550.0 million revolving credit facility provided by a group of international banks with a final maturity in 2022, with a further option to extend to 2023.\n\nThe debt provided under the bank facility is floating rate, however, as part of the Group's balance sheet management and to protect against a future increase in interest rates, GBP70 million and $30 million were swapped into a fixed rate liability for a three-year period with an average fixed rate of respectively 0.7% and 1.8% (excluding funding margin).\n\nThe GBP550 million credit facility is subject to financial covenants relating to EBITDA, and EBITDA plus rent to interest plus rent. The Group is in compliance with all covenant requirements.\n\nNote 9: Share based payment\n\nDuring the period the Group awarded 1,200,000 options (2016: nil) under the Share Option Plan, 1,095,406 share awards (2016: 1,038,179) under the Performance Share Plan and 383,664 share awards (2016: nil) under the Deferred Share Bonus Plan.\n\nNote 10: Bank guarantees and contingent liabilities\n\nThe Group has bank guarantees and letters of credit held with certain banks amounting to GBP141.6 million (31 December 2016: GBP151.7 million). There are no material lawsuits pending against the group.\n\nNote 11: Related parties\n\nThe nature of related parties as disclosed in the consolidated financial statements for the Group for the year ended 31 December 2016 has not changed.\n\nManagement fees received Amounts owed by related Amounts owed to related GBPm from related parties party party ---------------- ------------------------- ------------------------ ------------------------ 2017 Joint Ventures 1.4 8.4 1.1 2016 Joint Ventures 1.5 12.1 10.2\n\nAs at 30 June 2017, GBPnil of the amounts due to the Group have been provided for (31 December 2016: GBPnil). Transactions with related parties did not have a material effect on the financial results for the six months ended 30 June 2017.\n\nDuring the period the Group acquired goods and services from a company indirectly controlled by a director of the Company amounting to GBP42,949\n\n(30 June 2016: GBP10,542).\n\nCompensation paid to the key management personnel of the Group will be disclosed in the Group's Annual Report and Accounts for the year ending\n\n31 December 2017.\n\nNote 12: Acquisitions of subsidiaries and non-controlling interest\n\nCurrent period acquisitions\n\nDuring the six month period ended 30 June 2017 the Group made a number of acquisitions for a total consideration of GBP42.7 million.\n\nBook value Provisional on acquisition fair value recognised GBPm on acquisition -------------------------------------- ---------------- ------------------------ Net assets acquired Intangible assets - - Property, plant and equipment 97.7 97.7 Cash 5.5 5.5 Other current and non-current assets 0.1 1.4 Current liabilities (5.0) (5.0) Non-current liabilities (60.2) (60.2) -------------------------------------- ---------------- ------------------------ 38.1 39.4 Goodwill arising on acquisition 3.3 -------------------------------------- ---------------- ------------------------ Total consideration 42.7 Less: Contingent consideration 0.7 -------------------------------------- ---------------- ------------------------ 42.0 -------------------------------------- ---------------- ------------------------ Cash flow on acquisition Cash paid 42.0 -------------------------------------- ---------------- ------------------------ Net cash outflow 42.0 -------------------------------------- ---------------- ------------------------\n\nThe goodwill arising on the above acquisitions reflects the anticipated future benefits IWG can obtain from operating the businesses more efficiently, primarily through increasing occupancy and the addition of value adding services. GBPnil of the above goodwill is expected to be deductible for tax purposes.\n\nIf the above acquisitions had occurred on 1 January 2017, the revenue and net retained loss arising from these acquisitions would have been GBP7.8 million and GBP 0.1 million respectively. In the period the equity acquisitions contributed revenue of GBP1.5 million and net retained profit of GBP0.5 million.\n\nThere was GBP0.7 million contingent consideration arising on the above acquisitions. Contingent consideration of GBP1.1 million (2016: GBP0.3 million) was also paid during the current year with respect to milestones achieved on prior year acquisitions.\n\nThe external acquisition costs associated with these transactions were GBP1.8 million.\n\nFor the acquisitions in 2017, the fair value of assets acquired has only been provisionally assessed at the reporting date. The main changes in the provisional fair values expected are for the fair value of the leases (asset or liability), customer lists and plant, property and equipment. The final assessment of the fair value of these assets will be made within 12 months of the acquisition date and, any adjustments reported in future reports.\n\nNote 12: Acquisitions of subsidiaries and non-controlling interest (continued)\n\nPrior period acquisitions\n\nDuring the six month period ended 30 June 2016 the Group made a number of small acquisitions for a total consideration of GBP2.5 million.\n\nBook value Provisional Final fair on acquisition fair value value recognised recognised on acquisition GBPm on acquisition ------------------------------------- ------------------------- ------------------------- ------------------------- Net assets acquired Intangible assets - - - Property, plant and equipment 1.1 1.1 1.1 Cash 1.0 1.0 1.0 Other current and non-current assets 2.2 2.2 2.2 Current liabilities (4.4) (4.4) (4.4) Non-current liabilities - - - ------------------------------------- ------------------------- ------------------------- ------------------------- (0.1) (0.1) (0.1) Goodwill arising on acquisition 2.6 2.6 ------------------------------------- ------------------------- ------------------------- ------------------------- Total consideration 2.5 2.5 Less: Fair value adjustment of historical investment in acquired joint venture (2.5) (2.5) Less: Contingent consideration - - ------------------------------------- ------------------------- ------------------------- ------------------------- - - ------------------------------------- ------------------------- ------------------------- ------------------------- Cash flow on acquisition Cash paid - - ------------------------------------- ------------------------- ------------------------- ------------------------- Net cash outflow - -\n\n------------------------------------- ------------------------- ------------------------- -------------------------\n\nThe goodwill arising on the above acquisitions reflects the anticipated future benefits IWG can obtain from operating the businesses more efficiently, primarily through increasing occupancy and the addition of value adding services. GBP0.5 million of the above goodwill is expected to be deductible for tax purposes.\n\nThere was no contingent consideration arising on the above acquisitions. Contingent consideration of GBP0.3 million was also paid during the six month period ended 30 June 2016.\n\nThe external acquisition costs associated with these transactions were GBPnil.\n\nThe prior year comparative information has not been restated due to the immaterial nature of the final fair value adjustments recognised in 2017.\n\nNote 13: Events after the balance sheet date\n\nThere were no significant events occurring after 30 June 2017 affecting the condensed interim financial information of the Group.\n\nSTATEMENT OF DIRECTORS' RESPONSIBILITIES\n\nThe Board of Directors approved this document on 8 August 2017.\n\nThe Directors confirm that to the best of their knowledge this unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial information has been prepared in accordance with IAS 34 as adopted by the European Union and that the Interim Management Report herein includes a fair review of the information required by DTR 4.2.7 and DTR 4.2.8 of the Disclosure and Transparency Rules.\n\nAfter making enquires, the Directors have a reasonable expectation that the Group has adequate resources to continue in existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing this Interim Management Report.\n\nThe Directors of IWG plc are listed in the Group's Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2016.\n\nA list of current Directors is maintained on the IWG plc website: http://www.iwgplc.com/about-us/board-of-directors\n\nBy order of the Board\n\nMark Dixon Dominik de Daniel Chief Executive Officer Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer\n\n8 August 2017\n\nThis half yearly announcement contains certain forward looking statements with respect to the operations of IWG plc. These statements and forecasts involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend upon circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward looking statements and forecasts. Nothing in this announcement should be construed as a profit forecast.\n\nKPMG Telephone +353 1 410 1000 Audit Fax +353 1 412 1122 1 Stokes place Internet www.kpmg.ie St. Stephen's Green Dublin 2 D02 DE03 Ireland\n\nIndependent Review Report to IWG plc\n\nIntroduction\n\nWe have been engaged by the company to review the condensed set of consolidated financial statements in the half-yearly financial report for the six months ended 30 June 2017 which comprises the Condensed Consolidated Income Statement, the Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income, the Condensed Consolidated Statement of Financial Position, the Condensed Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity, the Condensed Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows and the related explanatory notes. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the EU (\"IFRSs\"). Our review was conducted in accordance with the Financial Reporting Council's (\"FRCs\") International Standard on Review Engagements (\"ISRE\") (UK and Ireland) 2410, 'Review of Interim Financial Information Performed by the Independent Auditor of the Entity'.\n\nConclusion\n\nBased on our review, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the condensed set of consolidated financial statements in the half-yearly report for the six months ended 30 June 2017 is not prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with IAS 34 as adopted by the EU and the Disclosure and Transparency Rules of the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority.\n\nBased on our review, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the condensed set of consolidated financial statements in the half-yearly report for the six months ended 30 June 2017 is not prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with IAS 34 as adopted by the EU.\n\nBasis of our report, responsibilities and restriction on use\n\nThe half-yearly financial report is the responsibility of, and has been approved by, the directors. The directors are responsible for preparing the half-yearly financial report in accordance with the Disclosure and Transparency Rules of the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority. As disclosed in note 1, the annual financial statements of the Group are prepared in accordance with IFRSs as adopted by the EU. The directors are responsible for ensuring that the condensed set of financial statements included in this half-yearly financial report has been prepared in accordance with IAS 34 Interim Financial Reporting as adopted by the EU. Our responsibility is to express to the company a conclusion on the condensed set of consolidated financial statements in the half-yearly financial report based on our review\n\nWe conducted our review in accordance with the Financial Reporting Council's International Standard on Review Engagements (UK and Ireland) 2410 Review of Interim Financial Information Performed by the Independent Auditor of the Entity. A review of interim financial information consists of making enquiries, primarily of persons responsible for financial and accounting matters, and applying analytical and other review procedures. A review is substantially less in scope than an audit conducted in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland) and consequently does not enable us to obtain assurance that we would become aware of all significant matters that might be identified in an audit. Accordingly, we do not express an audit opinion.\n\nWe read the other information contained in the half-yearly financial report to identify material inconsistencies with the information in the condensed set of consolidated financial statements and to identify any information that is apparently materially incorrect based on, or materially inconsistent with, the knowledge acquired by us in the course of performing the review. If we become aware of any apparent material misstatements or inconsistencies we consider the implications for our report.\n\nThis report is made solely to the company in accordance with the terms of our engagement to assist the company in meeting the requirements of the Disclosure and Transparency Rules of the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority. Our review has been undertaken so that we might state to the company those matters we are required to state to it in this report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the company for our review work, for this report, or for the conclusions we have reached.\n\nCliona Mullen 8 August 2017\n\nFor and on behalf of KPMG\n\nChartered Accountants, Statutory Audit firm\n\n1 Stokes Place\n\nSt.Stephen's Green\n\nDublin 2\n\nD02 DE03\n\nIreland\n\nOther Information\n\nSegmental analysis - management basis (unaudited)\n\nSix months ended Americas EMEA Asia Pacific UK All other Total 30 June 2017 segments --------- -------- ------------- ------- ---------- -------- Mature(1) Workstations(4) 166,644 88,207 88,755 70,027 - 413,633 Occupancy (%) 75.9% 77.3% 73.4% 72.9% - 75.1% Revenue (GBPm) 472.7 245.6 179.7 209.0 1.8 1,108.8 Contribution (GBPm) 92.9 54.6 36.9 45.4 2.1 231.9 REVPOW 3,738 3,603 2,759 4,095 - 3,568 2016 Expansions(2) Workstations(4) 14,648 9,991 8,792 3,883 - 37,314 Occupancy (%) 50.0% 60.9% 47.6% 60.3% - 53.4% Revenue (GBPm) 18.3 13.8 10.2 6.4 - 48.7 Contribution (GBPm) (6.7) (1.6) (2.0) (0.4) - (10.7) 2017 Expansions(2) Workstations(4) 3,955 3,070 1,493 2,470 - 10,988 Occupancy (%) 15.3% 32.3% 16.1% 60.7% - 30.4% Revenue (GBPm) 1.7 3.9 0.8 2.6 - 9.0 Contribution (GBPm) (5.1) (1.3) (1.2) 0.5 - (7.1) Closures Workstations(4) 762 308 291 181 - 1,542 Occupancy (%) 66.1% 47.4% 71.1% 74.0% - 64.3% Revenue (GBPm) 1.3 0.7 0.6 0.6 - 3.2 Contribution (GBPm) - (0.2) (0.9) - - (1.1) Totals Workstations(4) 186,009 101,576 99,331 76,561 - 463,477 Occupancy (%) 72.5% 74.2% 70.2% 71.9% - 72.3% Revenue (GBPm) 494.0 264.0 191.3 218.6 1.8 1,169.7 Contribution (GBPm) 81.1 51.5 32.8 45.5 2.1 213.0\n\nUnallocated contribution (GBPm) - - - - - (1.7) REVPAW (GBP) 2,656 2,599 1,926 2,855 - 2,524 ---------------------------- --------- -------- ------------- ------- ---------- -------- Period end workstations(5) Mature 166,983 89,061 88,795 72,045 - 416,884 2016 Expansions 14,331 9,647 8,833 3,926 - 36,737 2017 Expansions 7,907 7,179 2,839 10,227 - 28,152 Totals 189,221 105,887 100,467 86,198 - 481,773 ---------------------------- --------- -------- ------------- ------- ---------- --------\n\nSegmental analysis - management basis (unaudited) (continued)\n\nSix months ended 30 Americas EMEA Asia Pacific UK All other Total June 2016 segments --------- ------- ------------- ------- ---------- -------- Mature(1) Workstations(4) 163,181 86,658 88,748 65,329 - 403,916 Occupancy (%) 75.6% 75.4% 70.1% 75.8% - 74.4% Revenue (GBPm) 431.1 226.4 164.4 213.2 1.8 1,036.9 Contribution (GBPm) 86.0 52.6 33.2 50.3 1.8 223.9 REVPOW 3,494 3,465 2,642 4,306 - 3,451 2016 Expansions(2) Workstations(4) 3,795 1,919 1,748 2,470 - 9,932 Occupancy (%) 17.7% 22.4% 24.7% 59.0% - 30.1% Revenue (GBPm) 1.7 1.1 1.6 4.1 - 8.5 Contribution (GBPm) (3.5) (1.4) (0.8) 0.4 - (5.3) Closures(3) Workstations(4) 2,852 962 3,005 4,976 - 11,795 Occupancy (%) 69.3% 64.8% 75.5% 78.0% - 74.2% Revenue (GBPm) 5.2 1.9 6.0 19.1 - 32.2 Contribution (GBPm) (0.4) (0.2) 0.9 7.1 - 7.4 Totals Workstations(4) 169,828 89,539 93,501 72,775 - 425,643 Occupancy (%) 74.2% 74.1% 69.5% 75.4% - 73.3% Revenue (GBPm) 438.0 229.4 172.0 236.4 1.8 1,077.6 Contribution (GBPm) 82.1 51.0 33.3 57.8 1.8 226.0 Unallocated contribution (GBPm) - - - - - (0.8) REVPAW (GBP) 2,579 2,562 1,840 3,248 - 2,532 -------------------------- --------- ------- ------------- ------- ---------- --------\n\nNotes:\n\n1. The mature business comprises centres opened on or before 31 December 2015. 2. Expansions include new centres opened and acquired businesses.\n\n3. A closure for the 2016 comparative data is defined as a centre closed during the period from 1 January 2016 to 30 June 2017.\n\n4. Workstation numbers are calculated as the weighted average for the period. 5. Workstations available at period end.\n\nPost-tax cash return on net investment (unaudited)\n\nThe following table provides the post-tax cash return on net investment on a 12 month rolling basis. Additional information is also provided to reconcile some of the key numbers used in the return calculation back to results presented in the half year announcement.\n\n2017 & 2013 2018 Description Aggregation 2014 Expansions 2015 Expansions 2016 Expansions Expansions Closed Total --------------- -------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------- ------ ------- Post-tax cash return on net investment 21.5% 13.3% 6.5% (19.2%) (3.6%) - 13.1% ---------------- -------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------- ------ ------- Revenue 1,694.5 223.1 306.0 76.0 9.1 16.8 2,325.5 Centre Contribution 393.7 41.9 32.7 (25.3) (7.7) (0.4) 434.9 Loss on disposal of assets 0.8 - - - - 3.2 4.0 ---------------- -------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------- ------ ------- Underlying centre contribution 394.5 41.9 32.7 (25.3) (7.7) 2.8 438.9 Selling, general and administration expenses (152.0) (28.0) (45.5) (20.0) (3.7) (1.4) (250.6) ---------------- -------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------- ------ ------- EBIT 242.5 13.9 (12.8) (45.3) (11.4) 1.4 188.3 Depreciation and amortisation 126.4 24.0 36.6 16.3 2.3 3.8 209.4 Amortisation of partner contributions (34.6) (7.0) (8.4) (5.3) (0.6) (0.1) (56.0) Amortisation of acquired lease fair value adjustments (3.2) (0.3) 0.8 - - (0.3) (3.0) ---------------- -------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------- ------ ------- Non-cash items 88.6 16.7 29.0 11.0 1.7 3.4 150.4 Taxation (1) (48.5) (2.8) 2.6 9.1 2.3 (0.3) (37.6) ---------------- -------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------- ------ ------- Adjusted net cash profit 282.6 27.8 18.8 (25.2) (7.4) 4.5 301.1 Maintenance capital expenditure 86.1 6.4 5.4 - - - 97.9 Partner contributions (32.2) 0.3 (3.5) - - - (35.4) ---------------- -------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------- ------ ------- Net maintenance capital expenditure 53.9 6.7 1.9 - - - 62.5 ---------------- -------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------- ------ ------- Post-tax cash return (GBPm) 228.7 21.1 16.9 (25.2) (7.4) 4.5 238.6 ---------------- -------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------- ------ ------- Growth capital expenditure 1,235.6 206.1 323.8 192.6 231.4 - 2,189.5 Partner contributions (173.0) (46.9) (65.8) (61.6) (25.2) - (372.5) ---------------- -------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------- ------ ------- Net investment (GBPm) 1,062.6 159.2 258.0 131.0 206.2 - 1,817.0 ---------------- -------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------- ------ ------- (1) Based on the EBIT at the Group's long term effective tax rate of 20% Movement in growth capital expenditure - For the period ended 30 June 2017 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- ------ ------- 2017 & 2013 2018 GBPm Aggregation 2014 Expansions 2015 Expansions 2016 Expansions Expansions Closed Total --------------- -------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------- ------ ------- December 2016 1,247.4 207.0 325.0 183.7 30.0 - 1,993.1 2017 Capital expenditure - - - 8.9 192.0 - 200.9 Properties acquired - - - - 9.4 - 9.4 Centre closures (2) (11.8) (0.9) (1.2) - - - (13.9) ---------------- -------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------- ------ ------- June 2017 1,235.6 206.1 323.8 192.6 231.4 - 2,189.5 ---------------- -------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------- ------ ------- (2) The growth capital expenditure for an estate is reduced by the investment in centres closed during the year. Movement in partner contributions - For the period ended 30 June 2017 ------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- -------------- ------ -------\n\n2017 & 2013 2018 GBPm Aggregation 2014 Expansions 2015 Expansions 2016 Expansions Expansions Closed Total --------------- -------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------- ------ ------- December 2016 174.8 47.1 66.0 52.9 3.3 - 344.1 2017 Partner contributions - - - 8.7 21.9 - 30.6 Centre closures (3) (1.8) (0.2) (0.2) - - - (2.2) ---------------- -------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------- ------ ------- June 2017 173.0 46.9 65.8 61.6 25.2 - 372.5 ---------------- -------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------- ------ ------- (3) The partner contributions for an estate is reduced by the partner contributions for centres closed during the year. EBIT Reconciliations ------------------------------------------------- --------------- For the period ended (GBPm) H2 2016 H1 2017 Total --------------- -------------- --------------- --------------- EBIT 98.8 89.5 188.3 Loss on disposal of assets (1.5) (2.5) (4.0) Share of profit on joint ventures (4) (1.2) - (1.2) ---------------- -------------- --------------- --------------- June 2017 96.1 87.0 183.1 ---------------- -------------- --------------- --------------- (4) Refer to the Group Income Statement on page 11 Capital Expenditure --------------------------------------------------------- -------- ------- ----- For the period ended (GBPm) H2 2016 H1 2017 Total --------------------------------------------------------- -------- ------- ----- Maintenance capital expenditure 53.1 44.8 97.9 Growth capital expenditure 121.6 210.3 331.9 -------- ------- ----- - - - * Reinvestment in mature centres * 2015 expansions(3) 12.4 - 12.4 * 2016 expansions(3) 79.2 8.9 88.1 * 2017 expansions 29.9 201.1 231.0 * 2018 expansions 0.1 0.3 0.4 - - - * Properties acquired - - - * Proceeds on property disposals --------------------------------------------------------- -------- ------- ----- Total capital expenditure 174.7 255.1 429.8 Analysed as * Purchase of subsidiary undertakings (5) 8.6 37.6 46.2 * Purchase of property, plant and equipment (5) 163.1 156.3 319.4 * Purchase of intangible assets (5) 3.0 1.1 4.1 * Settlement of acquired debt (6) - 60.1 60.1 --------------------------------------------------------- -------- ------- ----- (5) Refer to the Group Cash Flow Statement on page 14 (6) The acquired debt of GBP60.1 million, which was settled in H1 2017, is included in the repayment of loans in the Group Cash Flow Statement on page 14.\n\nThis information is provided by RNS\n\nThe company news service from the London Stock Exchange\n\nEND\n\nIR OKODDCBKDNFK\n\n(END) Dow Jones Newswires\n\nAugust 08, 2017 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)", "output": "IWG announced interim results for H1 2017, which showed revenues of \u00a31,169.7m, helped by a return to growth in Q2 and a significant reduction in overheads, which as a percentage of revenue were down 210 basis points to 10.6%. This helped to\u00a0mitigate the impact on operating profit (which fell from \u00a389.1m to \u00a387.0m) from a reduction in gross profit (down \u00a313.9m to \u00a3211.3m including growth and closures).\u00a0Post-tax cash returns were strong with a 23.3% return (calculation specified) on pre-2013 investment. Net debt increased as did\u00a0net growth capital investment, which more than doubled to \u00a3179.7m, including around \u00a3110m on property.\u00a0The interim dividend increased 13% to 1.75p. With 149 new additions, the group's global network stood at\u00a02,996 locations. Spaces added 23 locations in H1, moving into five new countries, and 50 further locations are planned for 2017.\u00a0\n\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Podcasting app Anchor can now turn audio into shareable videos \n Here\u2019s a small but very real problem that podcast creators run into: Once an episode is published, the creator probably wants to promote it. But on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, all they can really do is post a link. There\u2019s no easy way let their followers listen to an interesting snippet of the podcast from right inside of most social apps.\n\nAnchor, a shortform podcasting app, is trying to solve that with a new feature it\u2019s launching today. The app now lets podcasters automatically turn their recordings into into stylish video clips, complete with voice transcriptions. Podcast creators can then post those clips to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and other social platforms that allow video to be embedded, so that people can check out the podcast without having to leave the app. In fact, they won\u2019t even have to turn on audio, because they can just watch the transcription roll by.\n\n\u201cAudio is really tough to share on social media.\u201d\n\nThe video clips have been in testing with a small number of users, including Crooked Media (home of Pod Save America) and The Verge (which, full disclosure, is the site you\u2019re currently reading). You can see an example above. The videos can be exported in portrait, landscape, or square format, to fit whichever platform they\u2019re being sent to.\n\n\u201cLiterally since we started Anchor, one of the biggest things we heard from podcasters is that audio is really tough to share on social media,\u201d says Mike Mignano, Anchor co-founder and CEO. Though Anchor is largely home to amateurs who may have less interest in promoting their podcasts than the people behind a large network like Crooked Media, Mignano tells The Verge that he thinks both \u201ctop-tier podcasters and someone just getting started on Anchor\u201d will find value in the app\u2019s new tool.\n\nI think the clips are a good solution for podcast creators looking for ways to promote their shows. I ended up listening to some snippets I otherwise would have missed, because they were posted to Twitter, which I check all the time. But there are some big limitations at launch. The main one is that these videos are all or nothing right now. You have to transform the entire podcast into a video. There\u2019s no way to pick out just one interesting snippet, which to me seems more ideal. You could hook people with something catchy and have them click through for more.\n\nAnd while Anchor\u2019s automatic transcriptions are good, you\u2019ll still end up having to edit them a bit. One test clip that Anchor sent The Verge, using audio from our own channel, missed several words and incorrectly identified several others, like \u201cyour\u201d for \u201cyou\u2019re\u201d and \u201chere\u201d for \u201chear.\u201d That\u2019s a hard thing to get right, but editing it later wouldn\u2019t be as bad if you were able to pull out a shorter clip.", "output": "Shortform podcasting app Anchor is launching a new feature that will allow podcasters to turn their recordings into video clips with transcriptions. The clips can be shared on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, allowing potential listeners to experience the episode without having to follow an external link.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Electric vehicle manufacturers may start buying into lithium mines \n \"If you think about the investment required downstream in battery making and car making capacity the capital being deployed is huge \u2013 billions and billions of dollars.\n\n\"So the idea they might spend a couple of hundred million at the raw material end to assist in security of supply makes a lot of sense.\"\n\nMr Rule said the companies were keen to diversify the supply chain away from China, secure production from about 2025 and be able to deal directly with the miners, rather than the lithium chemical converters or battery companies.\n\n\"They are very active right now and they have been for the past couple of months,\" he said.\n\n\"We are talking to them about an offtake agreement for Sal de Vida \u2013 10 years and a pre-payment. Then we don't have to go and debt fund anything... they may come in for a small portion of equity. That is how we are hoping to do it and then they have guaranteed supply.\"\n\nThe adoption of electric vehicles and energy storage systems, which use lithium-ion batteries, has boosted demand and pricing for lithium over the last couple of years.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nA string of Australian companies are racing to get projects into production to meet the spike in demand but some analysts forecast, even with the new production, demand will exceed supply into next decade.\n\nGalaxy already operates the Mt Cattlin mine in Western Australia. Pilbara Minerals is developing the Pilgangoora lithium project in Western Australia, which it expects to commence production in the second quarter of 2018.\n\nMr Brinsden said the Perth-based company already had a \"healthy level of engagement\" with large upstream players keen to discuss the security of future supply.\n\n\"They do genuinely want to talk about the supply base and where it is going to come from,\" he said.\n\n\"They are paying a lot more attention to it than they might have historically. I think the worm has turned and there is an issue in the industry with respect to that supply base and I wouldn't mind betting that you start to see some of those bigger organisations try and get a seat.\"\n\nMuch of Pilgangoora's production is already covered by offtake contracts, a trend which Mr Rule said was making the manufacturers anxious.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nOf about 200 lithium producers and developers globally, Mr Rule said one car manufacturer said only 10 companies met its supply criteria - including production quality, availability, management team and balance sheet strength.\n\n\"They are concerned because it is such a long lead time for them to get the electric vehicle process happening they don't want to get caught without access to that so they want to lock away enough supply of LCE to give them all the batteries that they need,\" Mr Rule said.\n\n\"They are really concerned.\"\n\nSupply chain integration has already begun to emerge at the other end of the lithium industry. Producers of lithium chemicals have teamed up with Australian miners to get new operations into production and integrate them with the plants that convert the spodumene concentrate produced at West Australian mines into the lithium chemicals used in the batteries.\n\nElsewhere at the Diggers and Dealers conference, Roy Hill Holdings chief executive Barry Fitzgerald said the company's namesake iron ore project was close to achieving its nameplate production rate of 55 million tonnes a year, after being set back by challenges during the ramp-up.\n\nIn the month of July, Roy Hill, which is majority-owned by Gina Rinehart, said the project ran at an annualised rate of about 53 million tonnes.\n\n\"We are comfortable we are well on the path to overcoming the issues,\" Mr Fitzgerald said.\n\n\"As we get closer we will find perhaps one or two other smaller ones but we are far more comfortable [that] we know the beast.\"\n\nMr Fitzgerald said the Pilbara iron ore project had been selling a product, which met its targeted ore grade of about 61 per cent iron. Despite the slower than targeted ramp-up the company's relationships with its customers and financiers remained strong, he said.", "output": "Investments in lithium mines from electric vehicle and battery manufacturers seeking to secure their supply chain will be the lithium sector's next catalyst, said Ken Brinsden, managing director at mining company Pilbara Minerals. Manufacturers are \"really concerned\" that they will be caught without access to lithium as demand for electric vehicles grows, said Alan Rule, CFO of lithium miner Galaxy Resources. Rule has already discussed selling a portion of equity for its Sal de Vida mine with several manufacturers."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Rental car woes worsen as used-auto values fall, ride-hailing rises \n One line item on Hertz Global Holdings Inc.\u2019s second-quarter results may hold the key to understanding one of the main reasons for car-rental stocks\u2019 deep, longstanding underperformance.\n\nHertz\u2019s net depreciation per vehicle per month rose to $353 in the U.S. in the second quarter, or 27% higher than the $278 in net depreciation in the second quarter of 2016.\n\nThe company pinned that, in part, to declining residual values.\n\nCompanies such as Hertz HTZ, +3.39% and rival Avis Budget Group Inc. CAR, +2.56% , which reported late Monday, also missing expectations, have to offload thousands of cars they retire from their rental fleets every year.\n\nThe used-car market is oversupplied in the U.S., mostly due to an uptick of new-car leases, and those cars ending in the used-car market after their leases end.\n\nWorse-than-expected first-quarter results in May brought Hertz shares to their lowest in seven years at the time, and at the heart of the share underperformance were concerns about the depreciation of its cars as well as broader worries about ride-hailing companies denting rental-car demand.\n\nHertz late Tuesday reported an adjusted net loss of $52 million, or 63 cents a share, in the second quarter, versus a net income of $35 million, or 41 cents a share, in the same period last year.\n\nRevenues for the second quarter reached $2.2 billion, compared with $2.3 billion in the second quarter of 2016. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected an adjusted per-share loss of 20 cents on sales of $2.2 billion.\n\nHertz said in a statement it had made \u201csignificant progress\u201d in the first half of 2017 with its turnaround plan, but \u201cthe hard work always comes before\u201d a payoff as reflected on the quarterly results, which also showed increased spending.\n\nDespite that decrease in residual values, Hertz said it \u201cstayed on course with its fleet optimization plan, selling 35% more vehicles year-over-year and onboarding a richer mix of model year 2017 vehicles,\u201d the company said in the statement.\n\nHertz shares rallied nearly 4% after hours Tuesday, after falling 6.3% during regular trading.", "output": "Full-year profit for Avis may be as low as $2.40 a share, down on its previous estimate of $3.50 a share, the car rental company said. The announcement comes as the rising popularity of ride-hailing companies and falling used-vehicle prices cut into revenues across the car-rental market. Rival car rental company Hertz posted its third straight quarterly loss of $158m."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook aims to reduce unintentional clicks on mobile ads \n With research suggesting that over half of all clicks on mobile ads are mistaken, Facebook has today (8 August) announced an initiative designed to limit the likelihood of users clicking on ad units unintentionally.\n\nThe update to its Facebook Audience Network includes policy clarifications on unintentional clicks, product changes to invalidate them, and proactively pausing implementations that exhibit abnormal click behavior, according to the online giant.\n\nBrett Vogel, Facebook, product marketing manager, made the announcement in a blog post where he outlined some of the activities he had planned, adding that \u201cad placements that are built to drive unintentional clicks run counter\u201d to its goal of creating a healthy advertising ecosystem.\n\nFor instance, Facebook will measure the amount of time a user spends on an ad unit \u2013 or \u201cdrop off rates\u201d \u2013 to assess whether-or-not a user has intentionally clicked on that ad.\n\n\u201cWe found that people who click on an Audience Network ad and spend less than two-seconds on a destination page almost always clicked accidentally. Moving forward, we will no longer count clicks categorized as unintentional. We will continually refine and adjust this threshold as we gather more data and signals,\u201d reads the post.\n\nThe transparency initiative will also include using its analytics systems to detect \u201cinflated clickthrough rates\u201d to assess if publishers have created ad placements that deliver value to advertisers.\n\n\u201cWhen we see abnormal behavior, such as an inflated (CTR), we'll automatically pause placements to protect people and advertisers. We'll also inform publishers so they can make necessary changes,\u201d added Vogel.\n\nTo clarify the updates in its policies, Facebook has provided a best practice guide where publishers using its third-party ad network (Facebook Audience Network) to sell their inventory can keep abreast of the updates.\n\n\u201cGoing forward, we'll be experimenting with more ways to reduce the number of unintentional clicks by looking further into bounce rates, additional metrics, and trying to prevent users from accidentally clicking in the first place,\u201d reads the post.\n\nResearch published last year claimed that over 60% of clicks on mobile display ads are accidental, with 'fat thumbs' identified as the prime culprit.\n\nThe study, polled 500 adult mobile users across the US between January 18 to 25, 2016, and focused on several aspects of mobile banner ad engagement. 69% of those surveyed identified at least one occasion where they had clicked on a mobile banner ad (within mobile web or app).\n\nMeanwhile, 60% said that they typically click on banner ads while on a smartphone or tablet, and 'it\u2019s usually by accident' due to the device\u2019s small screen size. A mere 16% claimed they click on mobile banner ads because they 'like the company, product or service being promoted'. The research also found that even less of those surveyed (13%) said they do so because 'the ads are interesting.'", "output": "Facebook has announced updates to its Facebook Audience Network, which aim to cut down on the number of unintentional ad clicks. To achieve this, the company will time how long a user spends on an advertisement, which will determine whether the click was intentional or otherwise. Facebook product marketing manager\u00a0Brett Vogel said in a blog post that people who click on an advert and spend \"less than\u00a0two seconds on a destination page almost always clicked accidentally\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Findel Sports Direct boss increases stake in Goals Soccer Centres \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nGet our FREE Newcastle United newsletter emailed daily to your inbox by subscribing below\n\nNewcastle United owner Mike Ashley has continued to build on his retail empire by snapping up more shares in Goals Soccer Centres.\n\nThe billionaire entrepreneur and Sports Direct boss, has increased his holding in the five-a-side football pitch chain, which has North East sites, to around 4.7%, up from 3.8% \u2013 and shares in both firms rose following the announcement.\n\nThe shares deal was confirmed to shareholders in stock market announcements by both Sports Direct and Goals Soccer Centres, in the form of a notification of major holdings.\n\nShares in Goals Soccer Centres rose 8% in early trading.\n\nLast month Mike Ashley\u2019s retail empire Sports Direct continued to build up holdings in fellow high street names after picking up a 26% stake in struggling Game Digital.\n\nThe shares purchase came a month after Game issued a profit warning, having bemoaned a challenging high street trading period and the poor stock availability of Nintendo Switch.\n\nThe billionaire has a history of snapping up stakes in struggling high street firms.\n\nHe also now has stakes in Debenhams, French Connection and Findel, as well as 10 Agent Provocateur stores.\n\nIn April it was also announced that Sports Direct had seized control of US retailers Bob\u2019s Stores and Eastern Mountain Sports in a $101m (\u00a378m) debt deal. The billionaire tycoon acquired the chains by buying up the debts of their parent firm Eastern Outfitters, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February.\n\nThe deal will see Mr Ashley take charge of around 50 retail stores in the US under the Bob\u2019s Stores and Eastern Mountain Sports fascias, which sell clothing, sportswear and camping equipment.\n\nThe company also upped stakes in Umbro-owned Iconix Brand Group and doubled its stake in Indiana-based footwear retailer Finish Line in June \u2013 the second time the firm boosted its stakes in the businesses. The firm has 13.25% of the issued common stock of Iconix and 18.85% of the stock of Finish Line Inc.\n\nMeawhile, Mr Ashley has declared Sports Direct to be on track to become the \u2018Selfridges of sport\u2019, through its new generation of stores.\n\nThe business has ploughed \u00a3300m into property in the last year, acquired stores and new brands in the UK and overseas and opened several flagship stores, including one in Sunderland.", "output": "Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley has increased his stake in Goals Soccer Centres, the five-a-side football pitch chain, from 3.8% to 4.7%. Shares in both firms rose on the announcement. Ashley also has stakes in Findel, Game Digital, Debenhams, French Connection\u00a0and Agent Provocateur, plus US retailers Bob\u2019s Stores and Eastern Mountain Sports, after buying the debts of their parent firm Eastern Outfitters, which filed for Chapter 11 in February.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Designer brands put their names to luxury Miami towers \n Designers have long been drawn to Miami, with Gianni Versace, Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger all having owned homes there over the years.\n\nBut today, the Miami real estate market is hotter than ever among the fashion set \u2014 especially in a business sense. Fendi, Armani and Missoni are plastering their names on superluxury residential towers springing up across the city after having dabbled in the hotel world. Meanwhile, hard-core fashion followers (or in some cases their generous spouses looking for an original gift) appear willing to drop millions of dollars on apartments in the designer-branded buildings.\n\nSetting the trend is Armani, which has partnered with developers Dezer Development and The Related Group on Residences by Armani/Casa in Sunny Isles Beach. The 56-story C\u00e9sar Pelli-designed building, comprising 308 apartments priced between $2 million and $15 million each, isn\u2019t due for completion until 2019, but already 72 percent of the apartments have been sold.\n\nGil Dezer of Dezer Development is no stranger to branded buildings, having worked on six with Donald Trump (before he became President, of course). He recently completed the Porsche Tower in Miami, the world\u2019s first condominiums to have elevators that take residents directly to their apartments while sitting in their cars. \u201cI was in Dubai when I stayed at the Armani Hotel and I said, \u2018This is wow. We need to bring this to America,\u2019\u201d he said.\n\nHowever, he admitted that it was a challenge to convince the famed Italian fashion house to take part. \u201cIt was not easy. They do their homework very well. We can do more damage than good as Armani is doing $9 billion a year in sales. They don\u2019t need the few bucks that I\u2019m going to give them. This is more about that they want to have a real strong presence and it helps their brand and it also helps sell [their] furniture.\u201d\n\nDezer finally succeeded in persuading the Italian company to license their brand to him and today Armani is designing all the communal areas and for an additional cost to the buyer can also offer interior design, at about $300 a square foot. For the largest apartments, that works out at just over $1 million.\n\nArmani has complete control of the interior design of the wider building, with Dezer admitting he has had to become \u201copinionless\u201d on it. And, as with everything his company does, Giorgio Armani is personally involved. \u201cHe\u2019s actually very involved, which is good and bad,\u201d admitted Dezer. \u201cIt\u2019s good because we get his stamp of approval, so we really know it\u2019s an Armani thing and not just slapping a brand on. But we have to wait for him to get off his boat to approve something and we have to wait for him to fly here and fly there. Even if we need to approve an ad, he approves everything.\u201d\n\nThree blocks south of Bal Harbour, Fendi Ch\u00e2teau Residences, a 12-story, 58-unit boutique building, has attracted a range of buyers since it was completed last year (only four apartments are left), including some devoted Fendi shoppers. \u201cWe have some buyers that are truly, truly Fendi lovers who normally furnish everything Fendi. We had somebody who purchased a unit for his wife as a gift for their anniversary and he designed everything in Fendi because she loves the brand,\u201d said Helen Ashford of the Ch\u00e2teau Group, the developer.\n\nAt $6.5 million for a three-bedroom apartment, these pads \u2014 which come with a use of a communal indoor spa, private chef, cinema and children\u2019s room \u2014 have the highest starting prices of all the fashion-branded residences in Miami, with a penthouse setting buyers back as much as $25 million.\n\nMeanwhile at the budget end of the market (if one can call half-a-million dollars budget), is Missoni Baia, a partnership between the Italian fashion family and OKO Group, the Miami-based property development firm founded by Russian billionaire real estate mogul Vladislav Doronin, in the up-and-coming Edgewater neighborhood.\n\nPrices at the 57-story, 249-unit building overlooking Biscayne Bay, which is yet to break ground but is due for completion in the summer of 2020, range from $500,000 to $3.5 million. When it is ready, the communal areas will be decked out in Missoni\u2019s trademark colorful designs, while residents will have access to five pools. Like Armani and Fendi, Missoni will decorate apartments at an additional cost.\n\nAnd finally, also jumping in on the trend to join the apartment fray in Sunshine City is Karl Lagerfeld. The couturier has designed a lobby in The Estates at Acqualina, twin, 50-story luxury towers with 245 units that come complete with an ice rink and traders\u2019 room where apartments cost between $4 million and $9 million.\n\nMuch like Armani, Lagerfeld has complete design control and is very hands-on. \u201cThe guy is legendary. He has come up with enormous creative solutions for our lobbies. Everything in the lobby will be his touch,\u201d said South African-born developer Jules Trump of The Trump Group (no relation to the President). \u201cKarl\u2019s aesthetic, in particular, will be appreciated and valued by our guests, who desire an incomparable level of opulence, luxury, design and style.\u201d\n\nWhy Miami?\n\nDubai, Beijing and London are among other cities that are home \u2014 or soon will be \u2014 to residential buildings with interiors designed by famous fashion houses. But Miami is at the heart of this booming trend, partly a result of slowing luxury residential sales and political and economic uncertainty. Combined, these trends have made competition tougher and Miami developers more determined than ever to make their projects stand out.\n\n\u201cI see it as a way that developers are trying to differentiate themselves among all the competition in new development. Before this, it was cars with the Porsche Tower and the Aston Martin Residences and then the use of \u2018star-chitects\u2019 and famous interior designers,\u201d said Jonathan Miller, chief executive officer of appraisal firm Miller Samuel.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not enough to say that I have the most beautiful building, the best views or the most welcoming lobby. They have to differentiate and they have to go to another level. We haven\u2019t seen much of that in other U.S. markets. If it proves to be an effective branding mechanism, we will absolutely see it elsewhere.\u201d\n\nYet its effectiveness is still uncertain. While sales figures seem healthy (not all buildings have released data), satisfaction levels remain to be seen \u2014 and won\u2019t be until the new owners have settled in.\n\nJay Parker, ceo of Douglas Elliman Real Estate Florida, said while Armani, Fendi and Missoni are recognizable and influential brands synonymous with luxury, what remains unclear is whether the quality of the fashion houses\u2019 products will carry over into all aspects of the residential developments from the food to service.\n\n\u201cWhen people buy in Ritz-Carlton, the level of service is established. We don\u2019t know that yet with Armani or the others,\u201d he said. \u201cAfter all, fashion houses are not expected to influence the service element as much as the design element.\u201d\n\nAs for why these big fashion houses want a slice of residential real estate, Robert Burke, the chairman and ceo of retail consultancy Robert Burke Associates, said one of the biggest desires of any label is to be a lifestyle brand and \u201cthis just allows them to be even more of a lifestyle brand because ultimately that\u2019s what people are living.\u201d", "output": "Designer brands Fendi, Armani and Missoni have each given their name to luxury towers in Miami. Armani partnered with Dezer Development and the Related Group to build a 56-storey building that houses 308 apartments priced between $2m and $15m. Meanwhile, Fendi Ch\u00e2teau Residences, a 12-storey, 58-unit boutique building, was completed last year. The apartment block offers apartments at $6.5m and penthouses at $25m. In partnership with Miami-based property development firm OKO Group, Missoni is developing a 57-storey, 249-unit building that will offer apartments priced from $500,000 to $3.5m.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GS Yuasa claims new battery will double electric vehicle range \n OSAKA -- Japan's GS Yuasa will begin mass producing as early as 2020 lithium-ion batteries that double the driving range of small electric vehicles.\n\nLithium Energy Japan, a joint venture with trading house Mitsubishi Corp. and carmaker Mitsubishi Motors, will develop the cells, which will be produced at its plant in Shiga Prefecture and supplied to automakers in Japan and Europe.", "output": "GS Yuasa will start mass production of lithium-ion batteries that it said will double small electric vehicle (EV) driving ranges by 2020. The batteries will be developed by Lithium Energy Japan, a joint venture between trading house Mitsubishi Corp. and Mitsubishi Motors, and be supplied to car makers in Japan and Europe. The battery would extend the driving range of the Mitsubishi i-MiEV compact from 170 km (106 miles) per charge to some 340 km, comparable to that of a larger car with a bigger battery."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FDA moves to stop genetic editing technique for embryos \n On Friday, the FDA sent Zhang a strongly worded letter saying he must stop marketing the technique in the U.S. The move is a sign that the federal government is taking a hard line against the development of technologies to make genetically altered babies, even in cases where doing so would prevent severe disease.\n\nAccording to the FDA, Zhang then requested a meeting with the agency to ask permission to carry out a clinical trial using the technique in the U.S. The agency subsequently denied the meeting. Zhang has since been marketing his fertility procedure to women with certain genetic diseases and older women having trouble conceiving through a new company called Darwin Life. The creation of the company was first reported by MIT Technology Review.\n\nModifying embryos in a lab is not illegal under U.S. law as long as federal funds are not used to carry out the work. But implanting one in a woman\u2019s womb so that a baby can develop is prohibited. Since December 2015, Congress has barred the FDA from accepting research applications that involve a human embryo that has been \"intentionally created or modified to include a heritable genetic modification.\" The FDA letter also says Zhang did not have permission to export the embryo. New Hope Fertility Center did not respond to a request for comment.\n\nZhang\u2019s technology, called \"spindle nuclear transfer,\" was initially performed on the eggs of a Jordanian woman to prevent her from passing on a serious neurological disease to her children. The woman and her husband previously had two children who died from the condition, called Leigh syndrome, which is caused by faulty mitochondria.\n\nAs a result of the procedure, the woman gave birth to a child that technically has three genetic parents, since healthy mitochondria in the hollowed-out donor egg has its own DNA. The baby wasn\u2019t the first to be born with three genetic parents\u2014more than a dozen babies were born with an older three-person IVF technique in the 1990s before the FDA intervened and decided to regulate the procedure like a new drug. The treatment was never approved.\n\nSome evidence suggests that malfunctioning mitochondria are one reason why older women can\u2019t easily produce viable eggs, which is why Zhang thinks using a young egg will help. The idea is controversial, though, since it\u2019s unknown whether children born using this method will have long-term side effects. Zhang told MIT Technology Review in June that he was in the process of assessing a handful of women over 40 who may be able to benefit, but that he would have to go outside the U.S. to do the procedure.\n\nA similar treatment was approved in the U.K. late last year, but only when a couple is at very high risk of having a child with a life-threatening genetic disease. Clinics wishing to perform the procedure must first obtain a license from the U.K. government.\n\nLeigh Turner, a bioethicist at the University of Minnesota who first called attention to the FDA letter to Zhang, says prohibitions on this kind of research encourage rogue scientists to \"look for settings with lower regulatory standards.\"", "output": "The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has told a New York-based doctor that clinical trials to test a genetic modification technique must not go ahead. Dr. John Zhang's method, which involves using three people's DNA to genetically edit embryos, helped a couple have a healthy child last year.\u00a0The technique made use of in-vitro fertilisation, transferring DNA from the mother's egg into a second hollowed-out egg, donated by a younger woman. The embryo was then fertilised with the father's sperm and inserted into the womb. The FDA has warned Zhang to stop marketing the method in the US.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Regus signs 11-year lease on 10,200 sq ft at Pinnacle Leeds \n The Leeds office of global property consultancy Knight Frank has advised on the leasing of the 10,200 sq ft of quality space to Regus at Pinnacle Leeds, the city centre\u2019s tallest office tower.\n\nRegus, the leading UK serviced office provider, is taking floors 17 and 18 on an 11-year lease.\n\nEamon Fox, head of Knight Frank\u2019s office agency team in Leeds, who are marketing the building, commented: \u201cWe are delighted to have concluded this letting at one of the city\u2019s most popular office buildings. Prominently located at the heart of Leeds city centre in Albion Street, the Pinnacle is a landmark building, which is perfectly located between the city\u2019s historic professional core and the retail quarter.\n\n\u201cThe building has recently undergone a comprehensive refurbishment and offers high quality, flexible and open plan office space boasting breath-taking panoramic views over Leeds city centre. We are delighted to welcome a well-known name like Regus to the Pinnacle in one of the most significant deals in the Albion Street corridor this year.\u201d\n\nSpeaking on behalf of Regus, CEO Richard Morris said: \u201cOur decision was simple to move here and reflects our strong endorsement of the qualities of the Pinnacle. The building is home to a dynamic mix of businesses and is recognised as the prime location within Leeds city centre, providing ideal working space, value and excellent amenities.\n\n\u201cWe expect our new Leeds facility to be popular with a wide range of users including local small businesses, start-ups and remote workers, as well as national firms opening regional offices and global businesses establishing a footprint in the city.\n\n\u201cThe new site will offer a range of flexible working options for businesses and professionals including co-working space, virtual office services, meeting rooms which are bookable by the hour, and a wide range of private offices of varying sizes,\u201d said Mr Morris.\n\nAmong other Pinnacle office occupiers are Barnett Waddingham LLP, Optimisa Research, Schlumberger, FRP Advisory, Steer Davis Gleave and Blue Fin Insurance.\n\nRetail and leisure tenants in the Pinnacle Podium include Joy, Superdrug, Nourish, Next, Pret a Manger, Greggs, Roxy Lanes and Tesco Express.\n\nNigel Doherty of property consultancy Doherty Baines, who advised Regus, added: \u201cIt is the perfect location for both staff convenience and client entertainment, Pinnacle is right next door to the flourishing Trinity Leeds shopping centre and is also surrounded by many of the city\u2019s finest bars, restaurants and high street retail stores.\u201d", "output": "Regus has signed an 11-year lease on 10,200 sq ft of space at the Pinnacle building on Albion Street, Leeds. The serviced office provider will occupy the 17th and 18th floors of the city centre's tallest office tower, which recently underwent a comprehensive refurbishment. In addition to a number of retailers, other occupants in the Pinnacle include Barnett Waddingham LLP, Optimisa Research, Schlumberger, FRP Advisory, Steer Davis Gleave and Blue Fin Insurance.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Most global oil trade uses eight vulnerable maritime chokepoints \n Photo: STR/AFP/Getty Images\n\nAbout 61 percent of the world\u2019s oil supply moves through a handful of vulnerable maritime chokepoints, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).\n\nSome of these eight chokepoints are so narrow that restrictions are placed on the size of the vessel allowed to navigate through them. Most chokepoints can be circumvented by using other routes, but in some cases no practical alternatives are available, the EIA said. Rerouting to avoid chokepoints can result in substantial disruption, often requiring ships to detour by thousands of miles and adding significantly to transit time.\n\nThe world\u2019s energy markets rise and fall on reliable transport routes. \u201cBlocking a chokepoint, even temporarily, can lead to substantial increases in total energy costs and world energy prices,\u201d the EIA said. \u201cChokepoints also leave oil tankers vulnerable to theft from pirates, terrorist attacks, political unrest in the form of wars or hostilities, and shipping accidents that can lead to disastrous oil spills.\u201d\n\nHere\u2019s a brief look at the eight chokepoints:\n\nThe Strait of Hormuz\n\nThis is the world\u2019s most important chokepoint. In 2015 about 30 percent\u201417 million barrels a day (b/d)\u2014of all seaborne-traded crude oil and other petroleum liquids flow through this strait. In 2016 that figure jumped to a record high of 18.5 million b/d.\n\nAbout 80 percent of the crude oil moved through this chokepoint went to Asia markets, the EIA estimates. The strait can handle the largest oil tankers in the world, but it could be subject to geopolitical uncertainty at any time. Iran has previously made noise about disrupting traffic in the strait; at one point Tehran threatened to mine the waterway. And in 2015 it blew up a full-size model of a U.S. aircraft carrier in the strait.\n\nThere are bypass options, but most aren\u2019t operational. Only Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have pipelines that can ship crude outside of the Persian Gulf and have the additional capacity needed to bypass the strait, the EIA said.\n\nStrait of Malacca\n\nThis is the shortest passageway, connecting the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean. This route supplies oil to China and Indonesia, two of the fastest growing economies in the world, and is the primary chokepoint in Asia. Some 16 million b/d flowed through here in 2016, making it the second most important energy passageway.\n\nThe Strait of Malacca is among the most narrow chokepoints in the world, measuring only 1.7 miles at its widest point. \u201cIf the Strait of Malacca were blocked, nearly half of the world\u2019s fleet would be required to reroute around the Indonesian archipelago,\u201d the EIA said. \u201cRerouting would tie up global shipping capacity, add to shipping costs, and potentially affect energy prices.\u201d\n\nComplicating matters, the region is now a hotspot for piracy and maritime kidnappings.\n\nThe Suez Canal\n\nThis passageway accounted for about 9 percent of the world\u2019s maritime oil trade in 2015 or 5.5 million b/d.\n\nThe canal was expanded in 2010 to allow 60 percent of all tankers in the world to pass through, the EIA said. Although the region is subject to political unrest, the fall of Hosni Mubarak in 2011 hardly deterred shipping. Still, security remains an issue. A planned rocket attack on cargo ships passing through region was thwarted in 2013.\n\nBab el-Mandeb Strait\n\nIf the Bab el-Mandeb Strait were closed, it could keep tankers in the Persian Gulf from reaching the Suez Canal, diverting them around the Cape of Good Hope, another of the world\u2019s chokepoints. An estimated 4.8 million b/d flow through this strait en route to Europe, the United States and Asia, the EIA said.\n\nThe strait is another restricted passageway, only 18 miles wide at its narrowest point, which limits tanker traffic to two, 2-mile-wide channels, the EIA said.\n\nTurkish Straits\n\nThe Turkish Straits are important for shipping oil from the Caspian Sea region; however, the straits have seen declining volumes since 2011, falling to 2.4 million b/d in 2016. Oil moving through these straits supplies Western and Southern Europe.\n\nThe straits are only a half mile wide at the narrowest point, making them among the most difficult waterways to navigate larger vessels.\n\nThe Panama Canal\n\nIronically, the canal isn\u2019t a significant route for U.S. oil, and its recent expansion is unlikely to significantly change crude oil and petroleum product flows, the EIA said. Only about .9 million b/d flow through the canal.\n\nThe narrowest point of the canal is only 110 feet wide, which means larger super-tankers have to avoid it entirely.\n\nThe Danish Straits\n\nThis passageway is a crucial one for Russian-based oil exports to Europe, connecting the Baltic Sea to the North Sea. An estimated 3.2 million b/d of crude flowed through here in 2016.\n\nCape of Good Hope\n\nThe cape isn\u2019t technically a chokepoint, but its status as a major global trade route qualifies it as chokepoint as it\u2019s responsible for about 9 percent, or 5.8 million b/d, of all the maritime oil trade.\n\nThe cape is also a standard alternate route for ships traveling westward wanting to bypass the Bab el-Mandeb Straits or the Suez Canal. However, diverting around the cape increases cost and shipping time\u2014as much as 15 added days in transit to Europe and 10 days to the U.S.", "output": "Nearly two-thirds (61%) of the global oil trade passes through eight vulnerable maritime chokepoints, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has said. Some of these are so narrow that restrictions are placed on the size of vessel permitted to navigate through them, it added. And while some chokepoints can be circumvented by rerouting, others cannot, leading to substantial disruption to shipping time and increases to energy prices, the EIA warned. Chokepoints listed in the report include the Strait of Hormuz, the most significant one, the\u00a0Suez Canal and associated pipeline, the Strait of Malacca and the Panama Canal.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Viome applies machine learning to microbiome management \n Viome, which has developed technology aimed at balancing microorganisms in the gut, has landed $15 million in capital.\n\n\n\nThe funds will go towards the launch of the company\u2019s at-home health kit, which targets the microbiome. Microbiome refers to microorganisms, such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses, in the human body.\n\nViome is led by CEO Naveen Jain, innovator, philanthropist and founder of Moon Express, Intelius, TalentWise and InfoSpace. It was founded by Jain and a group of entrepreneurs.\n\nThe company is currently operating as an early beta program with several thousand customers using the product.\n\nViome uses proprietary technology licensed through the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Viome identifies and quantifies all microorganisms in the gut \u2013 and analyzes what they are doing. By applying machine learning to this analysis, the produ then recommends personalized nutritional recommendations to balance the gut microbiome inside the body.\n\nThese results offer the users a view into their health and the nutrition they need to prevent many of today's chronic illnesses, company executives say.\n\nViome has 45 employees located in Cupertino, Los Alamos, and New York. The company was founded by a group of entrepreneurs in science and technology that includes innovator, philanthropist and founder of Moon Express, Intelius, TalentWise and InfoSpace, Naveen Jain.\n\nThe series A funding takes Viome's total funding to $21 million, led by Khosla Ventures with participation from Bold Capital Partners. Khosla Ventures, led by managing partner Vinod Khosla, which will receive one seat on the Viome board.", "output": "US healthtech firm Viome has raised $15m in a series A funding round, led by Khosla Ventures with participation from Bold Capital Partners, which takes its valuation to $21m. The cash injection will be used to help launch Viome's at-home health kit, currently in beta testing\u00a0with several thousand people using it. The\u00a0proprietary technology, backed by artificial intelligence, analyses all the bacteria in the human gut\u00a0before recommending personalised nutritional changes to balance the micro-organisms' environment and help to prevent illnesses.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "City and property push UK wealth past \u00a310tn \n New report proposes ways to encourage savers to invest and put their money to work, along with new 'Britannia Bonds' and giving all fifteen year olds \u00a31500 to invest for their future\n\nOver 14 million working age adults in Britain are not saving at all, and over 26 million British adults do not hold adequate rainy day or pension savings, according to a new report from the Social Market Foundation think tank.\n\nThe report, called \u2018Saving Better\u2019, also found that savers are holding more than \u00a3200 billion in cash above and beyond the \u2018rainy day\u2019 level \u2013 which is defined as three months\u2019 worth of income. This means that over the last five years they have lost out on \u00a394 billion of returns if they had invested this money in the FTSE 100, or \u00a340 billion of returns if they had invested in peer to peer loans.\n\nThe report, which is supported by peer to peer lender, RateSetter, recommends several measures to address the tendency for people to hold their savings in cash, rather than invest it for potentially higher returns:\n\nThe policy framework for saving and investing should be fully reviewed by the government and reformed to better encourage people to diversify how they save and invest.\n\nThe government should allow for up to 25% of its Future Britain Funds and National Productivity Investment funds to be held by British retail investors. The investments should be renamed \u201cBritannia Bonds\u201d and should be actively marketed to the public as an opportunity to invest in the future of the UK. This could lead to investment worth at least \u00a330 billion over the next five years, delivering greater funding for infrastructure.\n\nThe Government should create a \u2018Fund at Fifteen\u2019 scheme, using money saved by reducing ISA allowances to give all 15 year olds \u00a31,500 to invest in a range of asset classes, supplemented with real life financial education.\n\nThe report\u2019s author, SMF senior researcher Matthew Oakley, said:\n\n\u201cDespite the best attempts of policy makers, regulators and consumer groups, UK households do not save enough \u2013 and those who do save are losing out on billions of pounds in interest by keeping their money in cash.\n\n\u201cThere is are clear links between saving, wellbeing, living standards and economic growth and the UK\u2019s poor saving performance is a major social policy concern.\n\n\u201cThe Government should act to make saving wisely second nature. Marketing its Future Britain and National Productivity Investment Funds to retail investors as Britannia Bonds could give savers access to \u00a330 billion worth of assets over the course of the Parliament.\n\n\u201cGiving each 15 year-old \u00a31500 to invest from 2020 would ensure all young people have at least some financial assets, and would teach them the value of saving and investing wisely.\u201d\n\nRydian Lewis, RateSetter CEO and founder, commented:\n\n\u201cIt is clear that an alarming number of people are not saving at all, but in addition, even those that are diligently putting money away are being short changed by holding their money in close-to-zero return cash accounts.\n\nMoving surplus cash into investments like peer to peer loans, and accepting some risk in exchange for the prospect of better returns, could have added tens of billions of pounds to people\u2019s wallets and purses over the last 5 years, which might in turn have spurred them on to put even more money away.\n\nThe government should make sure the savings and investment policy framework itself is not acting against the best interests of savers by discouraging them from putting their money to work in assets such as equities, bonds and peer to peer lending.\u201d\n\nENDS\n\nNotes to editors\n\nThe report can be read here: https://www.smf.co.uk/publications/saving-better/\n\nAbout the Social Market Foundation\n\nThe Social Market Foundation (SMF) is an independent, non-partisan think tank. We believe that fair markets, complemented by open public services, increase prosperity and help people to live well. We conduct research and run events looking at a wide range of economic and social policy areas, focusing on economic prosperity, public services and consumer markets. The SMF is resolutely independent, and the range of backgrounds and opinions among our staff, trustees and advisory board reflects this. https://www.smf.co.uk\n\nAbout RateSetter\n\nRateSetter has grown from start-up in 2010 to a platform that has originated more than \u00a32bn of loans to individuals and businesses across the UK. It has over 250,000 active investors and borrowers, making it one of the largest FinTech business in the UK. RateSetter pioneered many firsts in peer-to-peer lending, including the Provision Fund model.\n\nAll borrowers pay a risk-adjusted premium into the Provision Fund, which reimburses investors in the event of a borrower default. The Provision Fund has a 100% track record to date, but capital is at risk and RateSetter is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.\n\nAnother innovative feature of RateSetter is that the interest rate on the platform is set by the supply and demand of money, not by the platform itself. The aspiration is that this rate will become a benchmark rate for money.\n\nIn 2014, RateSetter became the first peer-to-peer lender to launch with a retail licence in Australia. In November 2016, the platform won Best Peer-to-Peer Lender in the FT and Investors Chronicle Wealth Management Awards for the third year running. RateSetter was the highest-rated platform by Which? readers in 2015, 2016 and 2017. RateSetter is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.\n\nMore info is available at www.ratesetter.com. Follow us on Twitter @RateSetter.\n\nInterviews/media enquiries\n\nFor interviews with SMF experts, please contact SMF communications manager Mercedes Broadbent on mercedes@smf.co.uk // 020 7222 7060", "output": "The UK\u2019s wealth has passed \u00a310tn ($13tn) due to increasing house prices and a City boom, according to a survey by Lloyd\u2019s Bank\u2019s private banking division. The research shows that the country\u2019s total household wealth increased by \u00a3892bn last year, with half of that increase coming from the property and financial markets. The disclosure will fuel the debate about inequality within the country. A report from thinktank the Social Market Foundation on Tuesday revealed that 14 million working age adults in the UK were not saving and over 26 million adults had insufficient rainy day or pension savings."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "City and property push UK wealth past \u00a310tn \n A booming City and rising house prices provided a double boost to Britons holding assets in 2016 as they pushed the nation\u2019s wealth through the \u00a310tn mark, according to a new survey.\n\nLloyds Bank\u2019s private banking arm said total household wealth in the UK increased by \u00a3892bn last year \u2013 with the property and financial markets each responsible for half the rise.\n\nNews of the 9% jump in the value of the assets from \u00a39.6tn to \u00a310.5tn during 2016 is likely to rekindle the debate about the UK\u2019s wealth inequality. Previous surveys have shown that a tenth of adults own half the nation\u2019s wealth, while 15% own nothing or have negative wealth.\n\nThe Bank of England has acknowledged that the richest 10% of Britons gained most from the money creation programme known as quantitative easing, since the increase in the supply of credit boosted demand for financial assets. Since the better off held a greater proportion of these assets, 40% of the gains of rising share and bond prices went to the richest 5% of households.\n\nIn a separate report released on Tuesday, the Social Market Foundation said more than 14 million working age adults were not saving at all, and more than 26 million adults did not hold adequate rainy day or pension savings.\n\nLloyds said the value of assets had risen far faster than prices or incomes over the past decade. The \u00a33.9tn increase in the value of residential property and financial assets owned by UK residents represented a 59% rise, whereas prices rose by 39% and gross household income was up 37%.\n\n\n\nOther surveys have come up with higher estimates of total household wealth, but Lloyds said its figure excluded non-residential property and assets held by charities and other non-profit institutions.\n\nThe survey said average house prices rose by 4.9% during 2016 and an additional 183,000 homes were added to the stock of private properties to buy and rent. This resulted in housing wealth contributing an estimated \u00a3431bn to the overall increase in wealth. The total value of financial assets \u2013 such as bank and building society deposits, government bonds, shares in companies, life assurance and pensions held by households \u2013 increased by a \u00a3461bn, or 8%.\n\nSarah Deaves, private banking director at Lloyds Bank, said: \u201cFor many people, their overall wealth is locked up in assets that they hold for the longer term like their homes, their pensions, ISAs and investments. With rising house and equity prices, net worth has increased substantially in the past decade, growing by \u00a3143,000 per household on average.\n\n\u201cIncreasing levels of wealth are clearly positive for households, but with recent changes, like pensions freedoms, it also highlights the increasing importance of proper financial planning, especially as people approach and move into retirement.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe Halifax, an arm of Lloyds Bank, said in its monthly snapshot of the property market that house price inflation had eased since the turn of the year. Prices in January were 5.7% higher than a year earlier but by July the annual rate of increase had fallen to 2.1%.\n\nIn the three months to July, the Halifax said prices fell by 0.2%. It added that this was the fourth month in succession that prices had been dropping on a quarterly basis \u2013 the first time this had happened in five years.\n\nRussell Galley, the managing director of the Halifax bank, said the annual house price increase was the lowest seen since April 2013.\n\n\u201cThe rise in the employment level by 175,000 in the three months to May helped push the unemployment rate down to 4.5%, the lowest since June 1975. However, this improvement in the jobs market has not, as yet, boosted wage growth, resulting in earnings rising at a slower rate than consumer prices,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cThis squeeze on spending power, together with the impact on property transactions of the stamp duty changes in 2016 now being realised, along with affordability concerns, appear to have contributed to weaker housing demand.\n\n\u201cHowever, a continued low mortgage rate environment, combined with an ongoing shortage of properties for sale, should help continue to support house prices over the coming months.\u201d", "output": "The UK\u2019s wealth has passed \u00a310tn ($13tn) due to increasing house prices and a City boom, according to a survey by Lloyd\u2019s Bank\u2019s private banking division. The research shows that the country\u2019s total household wealth increased by \u00a3892bn last year, with half of that increase coming from the property and financial markets. The disclosure will fuel the debate about inequality within the country. A report from thinktank the Social Market Foundation on Tuesday revealed that 14 million working age adults in the UK were not saving and over 26 million adults had insufficient rainy day or pension savings."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Off-exchange trade pools pose threat to UK equities market: FCA \n By Richard Crump (August 4, 2017, 2:46 PM BST) -- Trading in controversial off-exchange venues known as dark pools could damage the U.K.'s equity market if the value of orders exceeds 17 percent of total trading, according to a research paper published by Britain's financial services watchdog....\n\nStay ahead of the curve\n\nIn the legal profession, information is the key to success. You have to know what\u2019s happening with clients, competitors, practice areas, and industries. Law360 provides the intelligence you need to remain an expert and beat the competition.\n\nAccess to case data within articles (numbers, filings, courts, nature of suit, and more.)\n\nAccess to attached documents such as briefs, petitions, complaints, decisions, motions, etc.\n\nCreate custom alerts for specific article and case topics and so much more!\n\nTRY LAW360 FREE FOR SEVEN DAYS", "output": "Off-exchange trading, or \"dark pools\", poses a threat to the UK's equities market, according to a research paper by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The financial services watchdog warned that market quality starts to deteriorate when the value of orders in dark pools reaches\u00a0between 11% and 17% of total trading. The overall value of dark trading will not be allowed to overstep 8% for each stock after EU financial securities rules, known as Mifid II, come into effect next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Young adult premature death on rise in northern England \n We examined long-term trends in mortality in the North and South of England, focusing on the age groups most affected by northern excess mortality. Between 1965 and 2010, national mortality declined while the northern excess remained consistent for most age groups. Among adults aged 25\u201344, however, northern excess mortality increased sharply from the mid-1990s onwards due to a stall in the North of the long-term decline in mortality. By 2012, following the Great Recession of 2008\u20132009, four decades of declining premature mortality in both North and South England had stalled, a pattern not seen following earlier recessions.\n\nThis study analysed mortality data over five decades for England's population, enabling differences in long-term trends between North and South to be examined in full. Measuring inequalities between two large, meaningful geographies of around 25 million people each allowed us to minimise the effects of errors in population estimates, and more precisely to examine age group specific mortality. While the classification of smaller geographies into North or South is to some extent arbitrary, it reflects boundaries of administration and political responsibility, as well as established social, economic and cultural divisions. This dichotomous approach does not, however, allow us to account for heterogeneity within each region. Within the South for example, London concentrates political and economic resources. We have not examined causes of death, which limits the conclusions we can draw about the underlying drivers of the disparities, although the relative ranking of causes of death for different age groups is the same across all regions of the country. 21 We also have not measured the changes over time in potential social, economic, behavioural and demographic determinants (eg, migration, smoking rates and unemployment), as this was beyond the scope of the study. Finally, in our analysis of recessionary periods we have not examined other periods of economic or social insecurity.\n\nInterpretation of findings\n\nIn common with other advanced industrial nations, mortality rates consistently fell across all regions of England in the second half of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st. Premature mortality rates in the North steadily converged on\u2014but remained substantially higher than\u2014rates in the South throughout a period that included three recessions and multiple changes in political administration, with a total of 23 years of Labour and 22 years of Conservative government. However, the same uniform pattern of converging mortality was not apparent in all age groups. For the 25\u201334 and 35\u201344 age groups there were distinct phases: between 1965 and 1985, mortality rates fell more quickly (from a higher baseline) in the North, closing the North-South gap to 12% in the 35\u201344 age group and completely in the 25\u201334 age group. This was followed by a decade when the long-term decline in mortality rates among young adults halted nationwide, with little change in regional disparities. However, from the mid-1990s northern excess mortality increased by 25 percentage points in the 25\u201334 age group and by 23 percentage points in the 35\u201344 age group. Underlying this rapid divergence was an increase (ages 25\u201334) or plateauing (ages 35\u201344) of mortality rates in the North at the same time as mortality rates in the South started to decline again. Because deaths in the under 45s are relatively uncommon, these patterns are concealed in whole population mortality rates, which are dominated by older age groups. However, the consequences for the population, in terms of years of life lost, are grave.\n\nPrior to the Great Recession of 2008\u20132009 there were no obvious effects of recessionary periods on either long-term trends in mortality or on inequalities in mortality between North and South, even in the working age population. For example, the divergence in mortality rates for young adults between North and South began in 1995, 4 years after the 1990\u20131991 recession, and continued for another decade through a period of sustained economic growth. It is possible, however, that overall mortality figures conceal different trends for specific causes of death; analyses of previous economic crises found that increases in cardiac deaths were counterbalanced by reductions in respiratory deaths.22\n\nDuring the 2008\u20132009 recession, there was again no obvious change in underlying trends in mortality, but from 2012 the historical decline in under 75 mortality rates plateaued in both the North and the South. Within the under 75s, this overall pattern is reflected equally in North and South England for the 25\u201334 and 45\u201354 age groups; however, for the 35\u201344 age group the gap is widening due to a decline in mortality post-2012 not seen in the North. It remains to be seen whether the overall plateauing is a transient phenomenon, or whether years of improving premature mortality are fading and existing wide regional disparities are persisting or worsening.\n\nThe extended period of austerity following the 2008\u20132009 recession has raised concerns about detrimental impacts on population health,23 particularly the health of disadvantaged socioeconomic groups and more economically precarious regions.18 However, the divergent trends in mortality we noted in the 1990s and early 2000s suggest that inequalities can increase rapidly during periods of sustained economic growth. Similar patterns have emerged in the USA (and have been similarly concealed by overall mortality patterns), where mortality rates in white non-Hispanic women aged 45\u201354 started to increase in the late 1990s.24\n\nExplaining the rapidly widening divide in young adult mortality between North and South over the past two decades will require detailed analysis of specific causes of death and the plausible explanations, including epidemiological, social, economic and migratory factors. The most common causes of death in this age group are suicide, poisoning, land transport accidents and liver disease. Over the age of 40, other causes become increasingly common; ischaemic heart disease in men and breast cancer in women.21 The recent rises in mortality rates noted above in the USA were driven by rapid increases in suicide, poisonings and chronic liver disease\u2014increases that were heavily concentrated in less educated populations.24 In the UK, suicide rates declined nationally throughout the 1990s and 2000s, but this general fall may have concealed different regional and socioeconomic trends. The rapid increase in suicides from 2008, and its concentration in areas of high unemployment, suggests that already wide health inequalities affecting England are worsening.18 The age-standardised rate for alcohol-related deaths in the UK has increased since 1994. Although the rate peaked in 2008 and has subsequently fallen, the 2014 rate is still higher than that observed in 1994.25\n\nSome commentators on the nation's growing inequalities conclude that the transition from premature mortality driven by infectious diseases in the Victorian era to chronic diseases today means that the era of effective state intervention\u2014which included the great public works of sanitation, housing reform, immunisation and universal healthcare\u2014is past, and that responsibility for addressing current disparities now lies with the individual.26 Following this logic, the government would do no more than provide education and some behavioural nudges, particularly in the case of the violent and self-destructive causes of premature mortality that afflict young and middle-aged adults. However, the strong social and geographical patterning of trends in premature mortality points to structural defects that lie beyond the control of the individual, demanding collective action and a strong policy response.\n\nFuture policies may be distracted from addressing inequalities due to the pan-regional nature of the apparent plateau in declining premature mortality and the reversal of declining elderly mortality.27 Doing so would ignore the persistent North-South divide and the potential population health gain from addressing it effectively.", "output": "More young adults are dying prematurely in the north than the south of England, and the gap is increasing, according to a study from the Universities of Manchester and York. In 1965, there were 8% more deaths amongst 25-34 year olds in the north than in the south. This gap fell to 2.2% in 1995, but rose to 29.3% in 2015. For those aged 35-44, the gap was 21% in 1965, 3.3% in 1995 and almost 50% in 2015. The reasons for the trend are unclear, but the authors of the study are calling for greater investment in the north."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Young adult premature death on rise in northern England \n More young adults are dying before their time in the north of England than the south \u2013 and the gap is widening, a study has revealed.\n\nResearchers say that since 1965, about 1.2 million more people have died before the age of 75 in the north of England than in the south, taking into account differences in population.\n\nAnd the team warns that the gap in premature deaths is growing larger \u2013 revealing a particularly \u201calarming growth\u201d among younger adults and those nearing middle-age.\n\n\n\n\u201cBetween the ages of 25 and 44 there have been rising inequalities,\u201d said Iain Buchan, professor in public health informatics at the University of Manchester and a co-author of the study.\n\nWhile it is not clear what is behind the trend, Buchan said the findings highlight the need for policies to increase investment in the north of England\n\n\u201cThere is higher attainable health in the north, as shown by the higher attained health in the south \u2013 therefore invest in the north,\u201d he said.\n\nPublished in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health by Buchan and colleagues at the University of Manchester and the University of York, the latest study built on previous work by the group, which looked at trends between 1965 and 2008. The new study extended the findings to 2015, to cover the period since the recent recession.\n\nTo investigate the north-south divide, the team split England into \u201cnorth\u201d and \u201csouth\u201d, with the latter comprised of the East, South East, South West and London. Using data from the Office for National Statistics, they then combined figures on the numbers of deaths in each region with population estimates.\n\nOverall, premature deaths fell in both the north and the south in the second half of the 20th century. However the study revealed that the decline has levelled off for both since 2010 \u2013 the same year at which the rate of increase in life expectancy in the UK began to stall, according to recent research.\n\n\u201c[It is a] stagnation of five decades of improving mortality,\u201d said Buchan.\n\nBy drilling down into the figures by age group, the team then revealed the widening of the gap among younger adults.\n\nOnce factors including age, population size and sex were taken into account, there were 8% more deaths among those aged 25-34 in the north in 1965 but just 2.2% more in 1995. However in 2015, 29.3% more 25-34-year-olds died in the north than the south.\n\nFor those aged 35-44, the number of deaths was almost 21% higher in the north in 1965, falling to just 3.3% higher in 1995 before rising to almost 50% higher than the south in 2015.\n\nThat, said Buchan, suggested the south was doing better at tackling common chronic disease deaths that typically start to become more common from the age of 40.While the authors do not explore the reasons behind the deaths, they note that the most common causes of death among young adults include suicide, poisoning, traffic accidents and liver disease.\n\nAnd although the research did not find any obvious effects of economic recession on the trends, Buchan said investment in the north was of paramount importance.\n\n\u201cA sticking plaster might be education, improvement of interventions around alcohol misuse and the other common causes associated with young people\u2019s deaths \u2013 but that doesn\u2019t tackle the root cause of the social and economic environment,\u201d he said.\n\nSir Michael Marmot, professor of epidemiology at University College London who was not involved in the study, said that the research showed the north-south divide has been amazingly persistent. \u201cIt is really astonishing how long it has gone on for,\u201d he said, adding that other research has shown that the divide is worse for those of lower socio-economic status.\n\nWhile Marmot said that it was difficult to link changes in mortality to changes in government policy \u2013 not least because it is not known what the lag times might be \u2013 he said it was highly likely that the disadvantage in the north was social and economic. He added that the 2010 Marmot review laid out a six-point strategy for combating inequality that including better early childhood development, better working conditions and education.\n\n\n\nRichard Wilkinson, co-founder of the Equality Trust and emeritus professor of social epidemiology at the University of Nottingham, said he was not surprised by the results, pointing out that inequalities rose during the 1980s, and added that austerity was making the north-south divide worse. \u201cThe main cuts are to the cities, the labour areas, which need [money] most,\u201d he said.\n\n\n\nA government spokeswoman said: \u201cThe causes of health inequalities are highly complex but we are taking action by addressing the root social causes, promoting healthier lifestyles and improving the consistency of NHS services etc.\n\n\u201cThis government is committed to creating a society where everybody gets the opportunity to make a success of their hard work - regardless of where they are from.\u201d", "output": "More young adults are dying prematurely in the north than the south of England, and the gap is increasing, according to a study from the Universities of Manchester and York. In 1965, there were 8% more deaths amongst 25-34 year olds in the north than in the south. This gap fell to 2.2% in 1995, but rose to 29.3% in 2015. For those aged 35-44, the gap was 21% in 1965, 3.3% in 1995 and almost 50% in 2015. The reasons for the trend are unclear, but the authors of the study are calling for greater investment in the north."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New study shows how to account for social disparities in health care costs \n Credit: CC0 Public Domain\n\nA first-of-its kind payment formula developed at the University of Massachusetts Medical School recommends allocating some health insurance dollars for patients in vulnerable communities and for those subject to social risks, in addition to their medical issues. Adjusting for these risk factors redistributes funds in the health system, which can be used in community settings to address underlying causes that often lead to costly hospitalizations and visits to the emergency room.\n\n\"A payment formula that accounts for medical problems but ignores social risk will underpay for treating vulnerable populations, potentially exacerbating already existing inequalities,\" said Arlene S. Ash, PhD, professor of quantitative health sciences and the study's author. \"We describe a model to ensure that plans get more money for enrolling patients with greater medical and social needs.\n\n\"These reallocated funds could be used to support innovations, such as purchasing a home air conditioner for someone at high risk of hospitalization for breathing problems, or providing culturally appropriate cooking classes so families can prepare diabetes friendly meals.\"\n\nMassHealth, the combined Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in Massachusetts providing access to care for the state's most vulnerable residents, is the first to implement a model that adjusts payments to managed care organizations for socially vulnerable patients. Although data for measuring social risk is limited, MassHealth's model now recognizes the additional resources needed for patients with unstable housing, those living in highly stressed neighborhoods, and those with various kinds of disabilities whose needs are not fully captured by their medical diagnoses. MassHealth's current payment model uses existing Medicaid data and reproducible methods to improve payment equity and support care for vulnerable beneficiaries.\n\n\"As people put their hopes in alternative payment methods to handle rising health care costs, it's important to have a conceptual framework that does not exacerbate current inequalities,\" said Ash. \"Just as we started adjusting for medical complexity thirty years ago, so that the sickest patients would have access to the care they needed, this study shows how to account for social disparities in health care costs.\"\n\nUsing 2013 data from MassHealth for over 800,000 members, Ash and colleagues scanned enrollment and insurance claims looking for variables such as ethnicity, housing issues, mental health, substance use, disability, and English language limitations, which might be useful for predicting medical costs. A key finding was that people who moved more than once in a year used over $500 more health care dollars than formulas that only accounted for medical risk. The researchers also mapped enrollee addresses to US Census data to calculate a neighborhood-level score that summarizes the prevalence - among near-neighbors - of social risk factors such as very low incomes, no access to a car, single parent households, public assistance and unemployment.\n\nThe study found that health costs for residents in the most stressed neighborhoods were about 23 percent higher than those in the least stressed neighborhoods - a differential that was mostly accounted for greater medical risk. However, Ash and colleagues were only able to eliminate the last 5 percent of underpayment for those living in the most-stressed neighborhoods by including the neighborhood stress score in the payment formula.\n\n\"We need to build a health system that recognizes and pays for these and other social risks, so as to encourage and enable networks of medical and community-based practitioners to work together to help socially-vulnerable people become more healthy,\" said Ash. \"This study is a first step in that direction.\"\n\nMore information: Arlene S. Ash et al. Social Determinants of Health in Managed Care Payment Formulas, JAMA Internal Medicine (2017). DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.3317 Journal information: JAMA Internal Medicine", "output": "A first-of-its kind payment formula developed at the University of Massachusetts Medical School recommends allocating some health insurance dollars for patients in vulnerable communities and for those subject to social risks, in addition to their medical issues. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pinterest jumps on the video advertising bandwagon \n A year after tests with advertisers began, Pinterest is rolling out video ads to all advertisers targeted for both search results and feeds.\n\nPinterest joins a growing number of companies including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Snapchat that are gunning for lucrative video dollars. But while marketers have scrutinized measurement and inaccurate stats and platforms have rushed to keep pace, Pinterest is hoping to side-step at least some of the initial measurement issues by inking deals with Moat and Nielsen that allow marketers to vet metrics through third parties.\n\nPinterest", "output": "Pinterest is following in Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Snapchat's footsteps by launching video ads for advertisers, with third-party metrics available as standard. Pinterest has signed deals with Moat and Nielsen to offer transparency, although it has yet to undergo a full-blown audit from the Media Rating Council. Internal data from the San Francisco-based site revealed 75% of consumers say they\u2019re likely to watch videos with topics that interest them, while 80% of users watching Pinterest videos said they helped teach them something.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Getting patients to shop for health care is a tough sell \n Americans extol price shopping for health care as a prudent idea, yet few actually do it even when given the means to, according to the findings of two separate studies led by investigators at Harvard Medical School.\n\nResults of the two analyses, published in the August issue of Health Affairs, cast doubt on the increasingly popular notion that empowering consumers to price shop could help stem the tide of rising healthcare spending, the research team said.\n\n\"The idea is that if you give consumers good information about prices\u2014and make sure they have 'skin in the game' through high deductibles or co-pays\u2014they will choose lower-priced providers and services, and market forces will drive spending and prices down,\" said Ateev Mehrotra, a health care economist and physician in the HMS Department of Health Care Policy. \"That's the theory. We wanted to see how it works in reality. Turns out, reality is a bit more complicated than that.\"\n\nOne study, which analyzed utilization of a comparison shopping tool by consumers, revealed that few used the tool to choose lower-cost options. Offering the tool resulted in no difference in the net cost of care at the population level.\n\nThe other study, a national survey of people's attitudes toward comparison shopping for health services and their shopping behaviors, showed that while the majority favored price shopping, a mere 3 percent actually compared prices across providers.\n\nPolicy makers have shown growing interest in the idea that unleashing the power of market competition through price shopping can rein in rising health care costs. Many policies have been designed to use price shopping as the engine of change, such as insurance policies designed to include high deductibles and large co-pays or mandates in more than half of U.S. states that require insurance companies, providers, and employers to give consumers transparent pricing information so that potential shoppers can compare costs.\n\nMehrotra, who is an associate professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School and HMS associate professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, worked with colleagues at Harvard Medical School, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the University of Southern California to conduct a nationwide survey of 3,000 people who had recent out-of-pocket health expenses.\n\nOnly 13 percent of respondents had sought information about their expected spending before receiving care, and just 3 percent had compared costs across providers before receiving care. Notably, the research found, the low rates of price shopping do not appear to be driven by opposition to the idea of comparison shopping: The majority of respondents said they believed price shopping for care was important and did not believe that more expensive providers necessarily offered higher quality of care. The most common reason for avoiding price shopping was reluctance to switch physicians, with 77 percent of respondents citing this as a factor. Additionally, 75 percent of people in the survey said they did not know of a price comparison resource. This is despite many efforts by states to make prices more easily accessible.\n\nWould the situation be different if people were offered a price transparency resource?\n\nUnlikely, according to the results of the second study, which looked at whether access to a price comparison tool could spark change in consumer behavior among a group of California public employees. For that study, Mehrotra teamed up with Sunita Desai, a Marshall J. Seidman Fellow in Health Care Policy at HMS and colleagues at Harvard Medical School, the Harvard Chan School, the Center for Innovation at the California Public Employees' Retirement System and HealthCore.\n\nThe researchers focused on employee spending for a set of services, including lab tests, office visits, and advanced imaging services, that were more \"shoppable\" on the price comparison tool. A mere 12 percent of employees who were offered the tool used it at least once in the 15 months after it was introduced. Use of the tool did not result in lower overall prices for lab tests or office visits. While patients who shopped were able to purchase less expensive services, overall, so few consumers shopped that access to the tool didn't make a dent in lowering outpatient spending.\n\nThe results echo and expand on an earlier study by the same team published in JAMA last May, which found that access to a similar price transparency tool was not associated with lower health care spending.\n\nTaken together, the researchers said, the results of the two new studies add to growing evidence that it may be more difficult than believed to use \"consumerism\" to drive down health care costs. The researchers noted that future efforts to encourage price shopping will likely require different benefit designs other than deductibles along with tools that are both easier to use and easier to access.\n\n\"Tweaking health plan benefits to give people more incentive to shop for lower-priced care options and making the price comparison tools easier to use might encourage more people to price shop,\" said Desai, the lead author of the latter study.\n\n\"As it stands now, our findings suggest that the current set of transparency laws and online tools have a limited impact on health care price shopping, and even less impact on overall spending or prices,\" Mehrotra said. \"The evidence we've found doesn't support the enthusiasm that policy makers have had for these tools.\"", "output": "Americans extol price shopping for health care as a prudent idea, yet few actually do it even when given the means to, according to the findings of two separate studies led by investigators at Harvard Medical School.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facing Trump Subsidy Cuts, Health Insurance Officials Seek a Backup Plan \n J. P. Wieske, the deputy insurance commissioner in Wisconsin, said that two companies, Anthem and Molina Healthcare, were leaving the state\u2019s marketplace in 2018 and that two others, Humana and UnitedHealth, exited in previous years. As a result, he said, more people will be enrolled in smaller local health plans that could be more affected by a termination of federal subsidy payments.\n\n\u201cCarriers left in the Wisconsin market are smaller, local plans,\u201d Mr. Wieske said. \u201cParticular carriers could have huge surges in population, going from 7 or 8 percent of their business in the individual market to 30 or 40 percent. If that\u2019s the case, if it\u2019s 30 or 40 percent of their business in the individual market, that\u2019s obviously a gargantuan risk.\u201d\n\nThe risks for consumers are also high, Mr. Wieske said. \u201cConsumers,\u201d he said, \u201ccould be stuck in a zombie plan, an insurer that is essentially no longer able to do business in the worst-case scenario, or consumers may have to move to another insurer with different health care providers.\u201d\n\nOfficials in many states must decide this month on insurance rates for next year.\n\n\u201cWe are holding off making those decisions until the very last possible minute,\u201d said Julie Mix McPeak, the Tennessee insurance commissioner. \u201cIn doing so, we are really making it difficult for consumers who need information about open enrollment \u2014 who\u2019s participating in the market and what the rates might be. We don\u2019t know the answers to any of those questions.\u201d\n\nThe uncertainty stems not only from the White House and Congress, but also from federal courts.\n\nHouse Republicans challenged the cost-sharing payments in a lawsuit in 2014. A federal judge ruled last year that the Obama administration had been illegally making the payments, in the absence of a law explicitly providing money for the purpose. The case is pending before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which has held it \u201cin abeyance\u201d at the request of House Republicans and the Trump administration.", "output": "Congress is on vacation, but state insurance commissioners have no time off. They have spent the past three days debating what to do if President Trump stops subsidies paid to insurance companies on behalf of millions of low-income people.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Medicare Advantage Spends Less on Care, So Why Is It Costing So Much? \n The Medicare Advantage program was supposed to save taxpayers money by allowing insurers to offer older Americans private alternatives to Medicare. The plans now cover 19 million people, a third of all those who qualify for Medicare. Enrollee satisfaction is generally high, and studies show that plans offer higher quality than traditional Medicare. But the government pays insurers more than they pay out for patient care \u2014 in some years, it turns out, a great deal more.\n\nConcern about Medicare Advantage\u2019s cost has found sharp expression in a recent suit brought by the Justice Department charging UnitedHealth with excessive billing of the government. While that suit plays out, research published by the National Bureau of Economic Research provides context.\n\nThe study, released in January, found that the revenue Medicare Advantage plans received in 2010 exceeded the amount they paid out for medical care by a hefty 30 percent. At more than $2,000 per enrollee per year, that probably topped $20 billion dollars, nearly all from federal payments, not enrollee premiums. The study relied on Medicare Advantage billing data obtained from three large insurers across 36 states, a type of data the government doesn\u2019t yet release.\n\nParadoxically, even though Medicare Advantage plans cost taxpayers more than traditional Medicare, they spend less on care. In fact, one of the motivations of the program is to capture that lower spending as savings for taxpayers. It hasn\u2019t worked out that way.", "output": "The Medicare Advantage program was supposed to save taxpayers money by allowing insurers to offer older Americans private alternatives to Medicare. The plans now cover 19 million people, a third\u00a0of all those who qualify for Medicare. Enrollee satisfaction is generally high, and studies show that plans\u00a0offer higher quality\u00a0than traditional Medicare.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "To Cut or to Reform Medicaid? \n The GOP\u2019s attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act has generated intense opposition and run into repeated roadblocks on Capitol Hill, despite advancing many worthy reforms. The proposals are right to allow individuals without pre-existing conditions to obtain insurance from a freely-competitive market, right to shift able-bodied individuals from Medicaid to the exchanges, and right to restructure Medicaid so that the largest share of its funds is not captured by the wealthiest states that need it least.\n\nYet, the $904 billion in aggregate spending cuts incorporated in the most recent bill have fueled bitter opposition to the proposed reforms. The GOP has long struggled to balance its objectives of enhancing competition and personal responsibility with a desire to immediately save money. Well-designed institutions save money over the long-term, but a haste for savings has ensured that the main thing many states, providers, and individuals see in the GOP\u2019s reform proposals is the prospect of having to make do with less.\n\nThe blueprint for the GOP\u2019s 2017 attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act was laid out by Speaker Paul Ryan in his June 2016 proposal, \u201cA Better Way.\u201d That white paper proposed \u201cmore choices, lower costs, greater flexibility\u201d in health insurance, set out the case for reforming Medicaid into a per capita allotments for states, and argued for transforming Medicare into a \u201cfully-competitive market-based model\u201d.\n\nFollowing President Donald Trump\u2019s election, the \u201cpremium support\u201d proposal to cut funding for Medicare was dropped \u2014 but a core tension remained between the belief that reforms could improve the structure of health insurance, and the desire to generate immediate savings for taxpayers.\n\nThere was much merit in the Senate GOP\u2019s proposal to repurpose the exchanges into a dedicated safety-net for low-income individuals and those with pre-existing conditions, allowing a competitive market provide affordably-priced insurance to most individuals at premiums priced in proportion to their health care needs. But combining this reform with $46 billion of cuts from the $86 billion expected to be spent in 2026 on premium and cost-sharing subsidies for these plans raised legitimate concerns (only partially allayed by $19 billion in proposed stabilization funding) about whether the exchange would retain much appeal for the 81 percent of enrollees who currently receive subsidies. It also undermined the argument that exchange plans could serve as a satisfactory replacement for the expansion of Medicaid to able-bodied adults earning less than 138 percent of the poverty line.\n\nIt is hard to justify the system established by the ACA, by which the federal government pays for 90 percent of the cost of providing Medicaid services to able-bodied childless adults, but only 50 to 75 percent for disabled, the elderly, and pregnant women. Similarly, it makes little sense to finance the provision of health care for the poor through a system of matching funds which distributes the most money to the wealthiest states. But the coupling of fixes to these issues with aggregate funding cuts meant that GOP proposals to establish a more deliberate allocation of resources were easily beaten back by an alliance of hospitals, physicians, and state politicians who stood to lose money, without being counterbalanced by others who stood to gain.\n\nThe competing priorities of structural reform and fiscal retrenchment have long struggled for supremacy in conservative health policy proposals. The 2003 Medicare Modernization Act was perceived by many conservatives as showing the danger of paying too much for reform, and did much to foster the Tea Party insurgency within the GOP.\n\nIn the 2000 presidential election, Vice President Al Gore had pledged 50 percent federal assistance for a standalone drug benefit as a Part D to Medicare. George W. Bush responded with a proposal to subsidize 25 percent of the cost for private Medicare plans to add drug coverage, as a means of enticing beneficiaries into capitated plans. In order to avoid a Democratic filibuster, the Republican-led Congress eventually adopted the structure of Gore\u2019s proposal, to be administered privately, with a 75 percent subsidy.\n\nThe MMA nonetheless succeeded in its core reform goals (slowing the cost of employer-sponsored insurance premiums and making private plans the most attractive choice for a growing section of Medicare enrollees), but the $100 billion annual cost of adding prescription drugs to Medicare was high.\n\nAttempting health care reform through reconciliation, Republicans need not spend billions to secure Democrats\u2019 support, but this time they have erred in the other direction. The health care reform proposed by the House GOP was scored as reducing federal spending by $119 billion over 10 years. Congressional budget rules required the Senate bill\u2019s cuts to exceed that amount.\n\nThe most recent version of the Senate bill was estimated to reduce the deficit by $420 billion over 10 years, but if it fails to pass into law, it will save taxpayers $0. It was reported that Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was looking to spend $200 billion of this as \u201ccandy\u201d, to secure support for the bill. That effort, financed by a reduction of the tax cuts included in the bill from $701 billion to $484 billon, appears to have failed. Yet, much room remains to reinstitute subsidies withdrawn by the Senate bill, to ensure that the bill\u2019s worthy structural reforms are not overwhelmed by the cuts they threaten to impose.\n\nThe experience of MMA may suggest that it is possible to do too much to sweeten a pill; but the experience of this year reminds us that it is also possible to do too little.\n\nChris Pope is a senior fellow in health policy at the Manhattan Institute.\n\nMorning Consult welcomes op-ed submissions on policy, politics and business strategy in our coverage areas. Updated submission guidelines can be found here.", "output": "The GOP\u2019s attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act has generated intense opposition and run into repeated roadblocks on Capitol Hill, despite advancing many worthy reforms. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Republicans on recess hold town halls, are met with constituents angry about health care \n As lawmakers head back to their districts for the August congressional recess, many of them are bracing to hear earfuls from their constituents over national healthcare policy during their latest round of town hall meetings.\n\nWith the Republicans\u2019 failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act this summer and with the cost of healthcare continuing to rise (as it has been for decades), lawmakers will struggle to pivot attention away from healthcare and to the next item on their agenda: tax cuts.\n\nIn Durango, Colorado on Friday, Republican Sen. Cory Gardner was thrown off his guard at a town hall meeting that was supposed to focus on environmental policy. Instead, he faced a packed room of frustrated constituents who shouted at him for his support of his party\u2019s efforts to repeal the ACA.\n\n\u201cWhy on Earth did you vote for the Republican [health] care bill when the vast majority of your constituents opposed it?\u201d one man asked the first-term senator as the crowd cheered, according to The Denver Post.\n\nIn his first in-person town hall meeting in more than a year, Gardner replied that he won on the promise he would vote to repeal and replace President Barack Obama\u2019s signature piece of legislation. Gardner voted in favor of every Republican attempt to pass some form of ACA repeal, including one that would have repealed the law without providing a replacement.\n\nDuring a telephone town hall meeting on Aug. 2, Gardner faced a barrage of questions that were critical of his voting record, including from some participants who supported ACA repeal but were angry that the Republicans couldn\u2019t get it done.\n\nOn Saturday, Tennessee Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen faced a packed auditorium in Memphis where constituents raised their concerns about tax reform, immigration and healthcare.\n\n\u201cI would like to see the Democrats and the Republicans reach across the aisle and work out a workable, efficient health insurance system,\u201d one man in attendance said, according to WHBQ-TV in Memphis.\n\nDuring a town hall meeting last week, supporters and detractors of the Affordable Care Act kept the issue front and center with Colorado Republican Rep. Mike Coffman, showing just how much the issue is on voters\u2019 minds.\n\n\u201cHow do you address a problem when you don\u2019t know what it feels like?\u201d one woman said at the meeting, according to The Wall Street Journal, underscoring the point that members of Congress who are much wealthier than the average American enjoy taxpayer-subsidized health care. Members of Congress and congressional staffers are qualified for taxpayer subsidized gold-level health insurance through an exchange in Washington D.C. that is used by local small businesses. They also benefit from low-cost subsidized routine care through the Attending Physician of the United States Congress, which is staffed by U.S. Navy officers and personnel.\n\nAs Congress attempts to move on to tax cuts and the 2018 fiscal year budget, critics and supporters of ACA don\u2019t appear to be willing to follow.", "output": "As lawmakers head back to their districts for the August congressional recess, many of them are bracing to hear earfuls from their constituents over national healthcare policy during their latest round of town hall meetings.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How to get long-term care at home without busting the bank \n The vast majority of older adults receive long-term care at home, not in nursing homes. But few people plan for this expense.\n\n\n\nNor do they see long-term care insurance as a viable option because it's expensive and is often seen as protection against the cost of nursing home care.\n\n\n\nThat should change, some experts contend. If the long-term care insurance industry focused more on helping people cover home-based services, they argue, policies would be more affordable, and potentially appealing.\n\n\n\n\"Long-term care, for most people, is a home care problem,\" said Bill Comfort, who owns Comfort Long Term Care, a brokerage based in St. Louis and Durham, N.C.\n\n\n\n\"It makes sense to insure people for the likelihood of where care is going to be needed first which is at home,\" agreed Deb Newman, president of Newman Long Term Care in Richfield, Minn., outside Minneapolis.\n\n\n\nGenworth, one of the nation's leading long-term care insurers, acknowledged that this position is supported by industry claims data.\n\n\n\n\"Primarily, we are seeing people utilizing home care and a smaller and smaller percentage using nursing home care,\" said Beth Ludden, Genworth's senior vice president for long-term care insurance products.\n\n\n\n\"People think, 'While I might start out needing care at home, eventually I'll need to be in a facility,'\" Ludden continued. \"But that's not something we see in our data. For the most part, people are able to stay at home for the whole time.\"\n\n\n\nCurrently, more than 6 million older Americans are thought to have a \"high need\" for long-term care, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. That's defined as requiring daily assistance with two activities (eating, bathing, toileting, dressing, continence or transferring from a bed to a chair) that lasts at least 90 days or a need for substantial assistance due to severe cognitive impairment.\n\n\n\nAbout 52 percent of adults reaching age 65 today will need these services 26 percent for two years or less; 12 percent for two to four years; and 14 percent for more than five years, the HHS report projected.\n\n\n\nYet fewer than 10 percent of older adults have purchased long-term care insurance, which has declined in popularity as premiums skyrocketed and insurers exited the market over the past decade. Whether the industry can fix its major problem affordability remains to be seen.\n\n\n\nFrom a consumer's perspective, if your goal is covering several years of home-based care, not nursing home care, you can purchase a less expensive policy without all the bells and whistles that drive up costs, Newman suggested.\n\n\n\nA 55-year-old couple buying a policy of this kind say, $4,000 a month in benefits for each person, for a maxiumum of three years, with a 1 percent compounded annual inflation protection provision from Mutual of Omaha would pay $2,380.05 a year in premiums, according to a quote from Minnesota that her firm provided. It's common for policyholders to pay premiums for 10 or 20 years before claiming benefits. Terms are similar in many other states.\n\n\n\nHow much help in the home might this policy provide?\n\n\n\nAccording to 2016 data compiled by Genworth, the average annual cost for care provided by a home health aide was $46,332, compared with $82,128 for a semiprivate room in a nursing home. That translates into $3,861 a month, for 44 hours of home care a week the equivalent of slightly more than six hours of care, seven days a week.\n\n\n\nThat might not be enough for seniors with serious, disabling illnesses, but it can provide much-needed relief to unpaid family caregivers who could otherwise be on call nonstop.\n\n\n\nWhat happens if someone ends up needing nursing home care?\n\n\n\nYou might consider what's known as a \"qualified long-term care partnership policy\" a plan available in every state except Alaska, Hawaii, Illinois (where a program has been approved but policies aren't available yet), Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Mexico, Vermont and Washington, D.C. (The Mutual of Omaha quote above is for a partnership policy.)\n\n\n\nThese little-known insurance products are designed to help consumers preserve their assets if they become seriously ill, need nursing home care and seek to become eligible for Medicaid, which pays for nearly half of nursing home costs in the U.S.\n\n\n\nTo qualify for Medicaid, most states require that an individual have no more than $2,000 in assets; couples are allowed to have up to about $120,000, so that a well spouse doesn't become impoverished. With a partnership policy, every dollar received in long-term care benefits is exempted from Medicaid's asset test and protected from seizure by the state.\n\n\n\nIn other words, if you get $200,000 in benefits from a partnership policy and your state has an asset limit of $2,000 for Medicaid, you can keep $200,000 in assets plus the $2,000 allowed and still meet your state's asset test, said Scott Olson, co-founder of the LTCShop.com, a brokerage based in Camano Island, Wash.\n\n\n\nHe noted that partnership policies don't guarantee Medicaid eligibility and you'll still have to meet whatever income standards your state sets for Medicaid. (Many, but not all states, allow people to \"spend down\" to qualify, using their income to pay for institutional care.)\n\n\n\nBill Nickerson, 63, of Las Vegas, one of Olson's clients, purchased a partnership policy three years ago because it lets him \"retain control of my financial assets, even if I have to be cared for.\" Another plus: The policy \"permits me, if I decide to stay home, to take a certain amount of the monthly amount and give it to someone who I choose to provide care for me, even if that person is a family member.\"\n\n\n\nThere's no reliable national data about how many people with partnership policies end up going on Medicaid to cover nursing home care. Nor is there good data about the number of these policies that have been sold or the benefits paid out to date.\n\n\n\nDavid Guttchen, who directs the Connecticut Partnership for Long-Term Care, the first such program in the country, is skeptical about policies with benefits that will cover only a portion of expected costs. (Four states, including Connecticut, were the first to launch partnership programs and have special rules.)\n\n\n\n\"You absolutely need to know what the average home care and nursing home costs are for your state, to get a sense of what your exposure might be,\" he said. \"If you don't buy meaningful benefits, you're wasting your premium.\"\n\n\n\nIf you've been able to cover a good amount of home care but your policy won't cover nursing home care, you've gained some protection, for a while, but you could still pay an enormous amount out-of-pocket going forward, if Medicaid isn't an option.\n\n\n\nIt's a gamble because people can't be sure what kind of care they'll need in the future, or for how long, or what the future of Medicaid will look like, said Michael McDonnell, an insurance broker in Petaluma, Calif. Before buying any policy, consult with an elder law attorney or independent financial adviser, he recommended.\n\n\n\nWe're eager to hear from readers about questions you'd like answered, problems you've been having with your care and advice you need in dealing with the health care system. Visit khn.org/columnists to submit your requests or tips.\n\n\n\nKHN's coverage related to aging & improving care of older adults is supported by The John A. Hartford Foundation and coverage of aging and long-term care issues is supported by The SCAN Foundation.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "output": "The vast majority of older adults receive long-term care at home, not in nursing homes. But few people plan for this expense. Nor do they see long-term care insurance as a viable option because it's expensive and is often seen as protection against the cost of nursing home care.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "VFS Global to launch MOOC with AI-powered learning paths \n The new venture claims to break new ground in the MOOC sector, by using artificial intelligence to personalise students\u2019 learning path.\n\nVFS provide \u201cidentity management\u201d for governments and immigration services around the world. Its move into the MOOC market comes amid frustrations connected to identifying students in online-only environments.\n\nAlongside VFS\u2019s provision of security techniques and technologies, they offer physical bases around the world. These are currently utilised for visa processing, but will be used for final examinations and possible classroom teaching in the new venture.\n\n\u201cI was particularly interested in their claim that they can identify strengths and weaknesses of individual learners\u201d\n\nOxademy hope to address the lack of personal contact and personalisation that can be a weakness for massive open online courses.\n\nIts AI technology aims to adapt content to the students\u2019 needs, by automatically understanding the areas individuals are struggling with. For example, when a student is taking longer than average to read a passage of text, the AI will amend the future course content immediately.\n\nFounder and CEO of Oxademy Syed Shahzad said by adopting technological leaps VFS-Oxademy will increase the effectiveness of MOOC learning.\n\n\u201cWe are bringing learning to people instead of people to learning and it\u2019s done by embracing the latest technologies available in digital human interaction and by using a huge amount of data,\u201d he said.\n\nSpeaking to The PIE News, founder of MoocLab, an online learning reviews website, Carolyn McIntyre said the innovations VFS-Oxademy claim to bring to the MOOC sector could prove to be a key development.\n\n\u201cI was particularly interested in their claim that they can identify strengths and weaknesses of individual learners, and base content on those specific strengths and weaknesses,\u201d she said. \u201cIf that goes as deep as the content within an individual course then that becomes very interesting.\u201d\n\nVFS-Oxademy will also provide an app, which they say will prompt students outside of learning hours.\n\nThe new VFS-Oxademy will offer postgraduate courses, such as MBAs or master\u2019s of Science in Organisational Leadership, as well as executive education programs, such as the Global Leadership Program.\n\nThese will be available in both fully online formats, and blended courses, which will involve some classroom sessions alongside online teaching.\n\nVFS-Oxademy said its AI and cloud technology will also be used outside of direct learning, to allow students to undertake work placements without travelling long distances.\n\nOX360 will facilitate \u2018virtual work placements\u2019, which the company said \u201cwidens the pool from which companies can recruit work placements\u201d.\n\nVFS-Oxademy hope to partner with HEIs across the globe to offer affiliated courses online.\n\nOxademy currently has links with Kazan Federal University in Russia, where it provides modules for the MBA program; and with Northwood University in the US.", "output": "Identity management provider VFS Global will launch a massive online open course which uses artificial intelligence to personalise students' learning paths. Developed in partnership with UK edtech start-up Oxademy, the course tailors its content to individual students by identifying areas they struggle with. The companies will also offer cloud-based technology that enables students to undertake work placements without travelling long distances."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Low Medicaid rates limit beneficiaries' access to assisted living facilities \n More than 700,000 elderly and disabled Americans receive health care in residential care communities, such as assisted living facilities. As the population ages, this number will grow. A new study by RTI International found that low Medicaid payment rates for services in assisted living and similar settings discourage residential care providers from serving Medicaid beneficiaries, which limits their access to community-based residential care.\n\nThe study found that some residential care settings limit the number of Medicaid residents they serve or decrease operating expenses in ways that may also reduce quality of care.\n\n\"Medicaid payment rates only cover services in residential care settings; they do not cover room and board,\" said Michael Lepore, Ph.D., senior health policy and health services researcher at RTI and lead author of the study. \"One of the access barriers is the difficulty that Medicaid beneficiaries have paying for room and board in residential care settings because of their low incomes. This situation dissuades residential care providers from serving Medicaid beneficiaries.\"\n\nResidential care settings are community-based homes or facilities that offer room, board and care services, the most popular being assisted living. Compared to nursing homes, these settings often are less institutional and are often the preferred setting. If Medicaid beneficiaries with long-term service and support needs cannot access residential care settings, then nursing homes may be their only option, ultimately costing taxpayers more money because Medicaid payment rates for nursing homes are higher.\n\nThe study, published in the Journal of Housing for the Elderly, found barriers that influence Medicaid beneficiaries' access to state-licensed residential care include Medicaid reimbursement rates for services, the supply of Medicaid-certified residential care settings and beds, and policies that affect room and board costs for Medicaid beneficiaries.\n\nResearchers examined Medicaid policies in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, interviewed subject-matter experts, and conducted four state case studies informed by reviews of state policies and stakeholder interviews.\n\n\"States need to ensure their Medicaid rates for residential care services are sufficient to maintain an adequate supply of these settings and beds available to Medicaid beneficiaries, while also safeguarding quality of care and taxpayer resources,\" Lepore said. \"Higher Medicaid rates may encourage more residential care settings to serve Medicaid beneficiaries, which may help reduce nursing home use by older adults and people with disabilities and potentially reduce Medicaid spending on long-term services and supports.\"\n\nMore information: Michael Lepore et al, Medicaid Beneficiaries' Access to Residential Care Settings, Journal of Housing For the Elderly (2017). DOI: 10.1080/02763893.2017.1335669\n\nProvided by RTI International", "output": "More than 700,000 elderly and disabled Americans receive health care in residential care communities, such as assisted living facilities. As the population ages, this number will grow. A new study by RTI International found that low Medicaid payment rates for services in assisted living and similar settings discourage residential care providers from serving Medicaid beneficiaries, which limits their access to community-based residential care.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Commonwealth Bank faces world\u2019s first climate disclosure lawsuit \n The embattled Commonwealth Bank is being sued by shareholders for what they say is a failure to properly disclose the risks to the business posed by climate change.\n\n\n\nThe case will be the first anywhere in the world to test in court how companies are required to disclose climate change-related risks in their annual reports, and follows calls by shareholders, regulators and central banks around the world for greater clarity.\n\nThe papers were filed on Tuesday, after which the federal court will decide how the case should proceed.\n\nThe claim, brought by lawyers at Environmental Justice Australia on behalf of Commonwealth Bank shareholders Guy and Kim Abrahams, says the bank\u2019s 2016 directors\u2019 report did not adequately inform investors of climate change risks.\n\nIt also seeks an injunction to stop the bank making the same omissions in future annual reports.\n\nThe move comes six months after the Australian financial regulator warned climate change poses a material risk to the entire financial system, and called for companies to report on climate change-related risks as financial risks.\n\nThe sorts of risks the Commonwealth Bank might face as a result of climate change are diverse, said David Barnden, a lawyer at Environmental Justice Australia.\n\n\u201cCBA has exposure to the Australian economy in general. We could be talking about anything from extractive projects to the housing market, which might face risks from sea level rise,\u201d Barnden said.\n\nReputational risks for the bank as the economy moves away from fossil fuels could also be significant, Barnden said, with the shareholders raising concerns about the bank\u2019s position on funding Adani\u2019s proposed Carmichael coalmine and associated infrastructure.\n\n\u201cThere is an aspect of the claim that looks at the reputational and financial risks the Carmichael mine might pose to the bank,\u201d Barnden said. \u201cWe say that CBA ought to have known of those risks and should tell investors what its plans are with respect to the mine and if it is considering financially supporting the mine.\u201d\n\nAnother part of the claim focuses on the Commonwealth Bank not disclosing any climate-related risks as major or material risks. \u201cWhen the bank talks about major or material risks to the bank, we say it should be talking about climate change,\u201d said Banden.\n\nIn February, Geoff Summerhayes from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, gave a speech saying that business needed to stop reporting on climate change as a purely ethical or environmental issue and begin seeing it as a financial problem. He said: \u201cLike all risks, it is better they are explicitly considered and managed as appropriate, rather than simply ignored or neglected.\u201d\n\nAnd in June, the G20\u2019s Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), led by Bank of England governor Mark Carney and former mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg, recommended banks disclose lending to companies with carbon-related risks.\n\nThe report recommended banks and other organisations include climate-related risks in their audited annual financial statements.\n\nThe proposals were supported by nearly 400 institutional investors controlling US$22tn in funds.\n\nEmma Herd, chief executive of the Investor Group on Climate Change in Australia, said putting climate-related risk into the heart of financial reporting means it is treated very differently by the company.\n\n\n\n\u201cIt means that you have a different level of internal governance processes, a higher degree of audit and scrutiny and you report the information in a much more robust and detailed way,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s stepping it up a notch in terms of how seriously companies treat the data.\u201d\n\nHerd said a lot of companies \u2013 not just banks \u2013 would be watching the case for potential implications any decision might have for their reporting requirements.\n\n\u201cFor banks as well as all companies, this is an area that is moving very quickly,\u201d Herd said. \u201cAnd certainly from the investor perspective the bar keeps getting raised in terms of what is considered adequate disclosure in terms of climate-related financial risk.\u201d\n\nThe case focuses on sections 297 and 299A of the Corporations Act. Section 297 says annual financial statements must present a \u201ctrue and fair view\u201d of the financial position and performance of the company. Section 299A says the financial report must contain enough information to allow people to make an informed assessment of the company\u2019s financial position, business strategies and future prospects.\n\nGuy Abrahams, one of the claimants and a chief executive of not-for-profit Climarte Inc, said in a statement: \u201cWe bought Commonwealth Bank shares more than 20 years ago as an investment in our children\u2019s future.\n\n\u201cWe are deeply concerned about the serious risks climate change poses to the environment and society. The bank should tell investors about the risks climate change will have on its business.\u201d\n\nThe Commonwealth Bank has been contacted for comment.", "output": "Australia\u2019s Commonwealth Bank is being sued by shareholders over an alleged failure to disclose its exposure to climate change-related risks. The case, brought on behalf of shareholders Guy and Kim Abrahams by lawyers at Environmental Justice Australia, will be the first in the world to test the requirement for such disclosure in a court of law. It will argue that the bank\u2019s 2016 directors\u2019 report failed to provide adequate information about the exposure and will also seek an injunction to prevent similar omissions from future reports."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Caltech develops effective process for CO2 to renewable fuels \n A team of chemists have discovered a new way to produce carbon-based liquid fuels from CO 2 .\n\nThe new additive, identified by a team of scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), selectively converts CO 2 \u00ad fuels containing multiple carbon atoms, a step towards producing renewable liquid fuels which are not derived from coal or oil.\n\n\"The results were quite shocking,\" says Jonas Peters, Bren Professor of Chemistry at Caltech and director of the Resnick Sustainability Institute, who jointly led the research in collaboration with Theodor Agapie, professor of chemistry at Caltech. \"Usually, in these types of reactions with CO 2 , you see a lot of by-products like methane and hydrogen. In this case, the reaction was highly selective for the more desirable fuels that contain multiple carbons -- such as ethylene, ethanol, and propanol. We saw an 80 percent conversion to these multi-carbon fuel products, with only 20 percent or so going into hydrogen and methane.\"\n\nPostdoctoral scholars Ruud Kortlever and Hsiang-Yun Chen and former postdoc Zhiji Han, carried out the research under the supervision of Peters and Agapie. The results have been published in ACS Central Science.\n\nTo find the perfect combination for making multicarbon fuels, the team experimented with a mix of different chemicals in the lab. They used an aqueous solution and a copper electrode, which served as both a catalyst and source of energy in place of the sun. The group added CO 2 to an aqueous solution and a copper electrode, as well as a class of organic molecules called N-substituted arylpyridiniums, which formed a very thin deposit on the electrode. This film, dramatically improved the fuel-making reaction, selectively producing the desirable chemicals ethanol, ethylene, and propanol.\n\n\"It's easy to make hydrogen under these conditions, so usually we see a lot of it,\" says Agapie. \"But we want to disfavor the hydrogen production and favor high-energy density liquid fuels with carbon-carbon bonds, which is exactly what we get in our experiments.\"\n\nThe next step is for the team to determine how the additives enhanced the reaction. They also plan to test different additives, to see if they can further improve the selectivity for the desired fuels.\n\nUltimately, the team hope that the information they\u2019re gaining could contribute towards the development of alternative fuels made from sunlight, CO 2 and water, instead of oil.\n\n\"Nature has stored solar energy in the form of oil over a long period of earth history via a process that takes millions of years,\" says Peters. \"Chemists would like to figure out how to do this much faster.\"", "output": "Scientists from the California Institute of Technology have developed a method to selectively produce carbon-based fuels from CO2, according to ACS Central Science. The teams added CO2 to an aqueous solution and a copper electrode, as well as organic molecules called N-substituted arylpyridiniums. This created a thin deposit on the electrode, a film which \"dramatically improved\" the reaction to create fuel, and selectively produced 80% ethanol, ethylene and propanol, and 20% hydrogen and methane. The results are a step towards renewable liquid fuels."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "YouTube lets users send direct message videos from within the app \n YouTube announced a new addition to its app to help make it easier to share videos. You\u2019ll now be able to direct message any videos on the site to friends and family through private conversations.\n\nPrior to the update, users would have to send videos to another person by copying and pasting the link into another messaging platform. Starting Monday, August 7, you can send and receive videos by sending them directly to someone. You can also carry on a conversation, send emojis, reply with another video, and invite others to join in on the group chat.\n\nRecommended Videos\n\nAll your existing conversations can be accessed in a new tab called \u201cShared\u201d on the YouTube mobile app. To start using it, you\u2019ll have to invite your friends from your contacts via SMS or by sending an invitation link through a social network, email, or messaging app.\n\nThe format looks a lot like Instagram\u2019s direct message feature. If there\u2019s a video you\u2019d like to send, simply tap on the arrow below the video and a list of contacts will show up. You can either send it directly to one person or select multiple people \u2014 up to 30 \u2014 to create a group chat. You can also include a message before sending it in the text box available underneath the list of people you\u2019re sending it to.\n\nThe new feature is similar to Google Messenger \u2014 later rebranded as Android Messages. The app allows you to communicate with anyone by using SMS and MMS, among others. You can send group texts along with pictures, audio messages, and videos without having to leave to exit the app.\n\nThe goal with YouTube\u2019s new feature is apparent \u2014 keep users watching videos and engaging on the platform. Rather than having to switch back and forth between apps only to send videos, the sharing option lets you send an unlimited amount to all your friends by tapping a button. It might actually keep you on the app longer than planned.\n\nThe company has been testing the feature since last year, and rolled out the beta version to users in Canada this past January. YouTube\u2019s blog post explains that after receiving feedback it performed further tweaks before releasing the final product. The YouTube update is gradually rolling out globally on Android and iOS.\n\nEditors' Recommendations", "output": "A YouTube update lets users send videos to family and friends directly from within the mobile app. People used to have to send a video by copying and pasting the link into another messaging platform. Now users can send and receive videos by direct message, meaning they can also have a conversation, reply with another video and invite others to join a group chat. Conversations can be accessed in the new Shared tab on the YouTube app.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Faraday Future signs lease for California factory to build EV \n Faraday Future is running on fumes. But it\u2019s still running.\n\nThe Gardena-based luxury electric car start-up raised $14 million in emergency funding and will lease an old factory near Fresno that will enable it to turn out 10,000 cars a year.\n\nThe company has dramatically lowered its ambitions. Its goal now is to try to remain solvent enough to start manufacturing and selling the FF 91, a powerful, technology-packed luxurious electric sedan with a base price expected to top $100,000.\n\nAs recently as last year, the company had plans to turn out 150,000 cars a year from a massive new $5-billion assembly plant near Las Vegas.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThose plans were dashed when the company\u2019s primary investor, Chinese entrepreneur and LeEco Chief Executive Jia Yueting, ran into severe financial difficulty in his home country, including a government-decreed freeze on assets. Faraday financing dried up, and the Las Vegas factory never got off the ground.\n\nLast week, a two-year-old investment firm called Innovatus Capital Partners handed Faraday $13.75 million on a one-year loan, but not before laying claims to Faraday\u2019s Gardena headquarters as collateral. The cost of the loan was not made public.\n\nFaraday\u2019s new factory sits along a two-lane road in Hanford, a town of 55,000, and a railroad crossroads. Armstrong Rubber Co. first opened the building in 1962 to manufacture tires. In 1985, Italian tire-maker Pirelli bought the factory but shut it down in 2001, citing foreign competition and lower wage rates in Brazil and Venezuela.\n\nThe building has been mostly empty since, though late last year a medical marijuana supplier sought city permission to use it as a grow farm and processing plant, provoking a debate over morals versus economic development in the conservative community. The company bowed out in March after the city said it would wait until after the Nov. 18 election to decide.\n\nThen Faraday stepped in. About 400 of Faraday\u2019s 1,000 Gardena employees volunteered to drive to the Hanford site on Saturday to \u201csee it, touch it, work on it, paint an FF sign on it,\u201d said Stefan Krause, the company\u2019s chief operating officer, who joined Faraday in March.\n\nA Deutsche Bank and BMW veteran, Krause is on the hunt for capital to keep Faraday alive. The recently borrowed $14 million is peanuts against the tens to hundreds of millions of dollars Krause must raise.\n\nAn assembly plant and a schedule for production will help, he said: \u201cFor investors, it makes it more real.\u201d The Hanford plant covers a million square feet with a section more than 300 yards long once used for tire making, the right shape and length for an auto assembly line.\n\nWhen Krause came in last March, he saw how much time and money a brand new plant would require, and steered the company in a new direction. The need for speed is urgent, he said. \u201cIt\u2019s strategically important to be the second (luxury electric car) after Tesla.\u201d\n\nA luxury electric car start-up based in Silicon Valley, Lucid Motors, is also seeking new capital as it races against Faraday and others, including Lynk & Co., a new luxury electric car maker in China that plans to sell in the U.S. through Volvo dealerships.\n\nIf Faraday\u2019s plans are met, the first production cars will come off the line headed for customers by the end of next year.\n\nruss.mitchell@latimes.com\n\nTwitter: @russ1mitchell", "output": "Electric vehicle (EV) maker Faraday Future has signed a lease on a former tyre factory in Hanford, California. The company has been pushing ahead with its plans to build a luxury EV, the FF 91, but has struggled with funding and recently pulled out of building a factory near Las Vegas. It is said to have received a $13.75m emergency loan from Innovatus Capital Partners, but will need many millions more to meet its promise of delivering a market-ready FF 91 by the end of 2018, which is expected to have\u00a0a base price of more than $100,000.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Faraday Future signs lease for California factory to build EV \n Faraday Future announced on Monday that it has signed a lease on a turn-key manufacturing facility in Hanford, California, south of Fresno. The company has been hyping its plans to build a luxury electric vehicle called the FF 91 that would compete with high-end Teslas, but it has struggled with funding and production. Faraday recently pulled out of plans to build a massive factory north of Las Vegas as well as plans to negotiate a deal for another new factory location in Vallejo, California.\n\nAccording to the Los Angeles Times, Faraday Future received an emergency loan from an investment firm to the tune of $13.75 million, using a claim to the company\u2019s Gardena, California headquarters as collateral. The company will need to raise millions more to deliver market-ready FF 91s by the end of next year, as it has promised to do. Stefan Krause, Faraday Future\u2019s Chief Operating Officer, told the Times that having an assembly line will attract additional investors, as it \u201cmakes it more real\u201d for them.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe warehouse being leased was originally a tire factory, first built by Armstrong Rubber Co. in 1962 and purchased by Italian tire maker Pirelli in 1985. Pirelli shut the factory down in 2001 for economic reasons, and tenants have been various since then, most recently including a potential pot-growing operation.\n\nThis weekend, the electric vehicle manufacturer invited its employees out to the site. More than 300 showed up, according to Faraday Future\u2019s press release, to help \u201cbegin the process of site clean-up and embrace the company\u2019s new manufacturing home.\u201d\n\nThe company cited the turn-key nature of the Hanford factory, which does seem like a better fit for Faraday Future than previous plans to build all-new facilities. \u201cAfter Saturday\u2019s event, Faraday Future will continue the process of site preparations, including planning, refurbishment, and permitting,\u201d a company press-release noted. \u201cFollowing the move-out of current tenants in late November, the company expects significant movement to ramp-up on site in early 2018.\u201d\n\nThe manufacturing facility is a million square feet \u201cand will employ up to 1,300 workers, over three shifts, over time,\u201d the company added.\n\nFaraday Future\u2019s VP of Global Manufacturing, Dag Reckhorn, also commented, \u201cOur new production facility is the latest demonstration of our commitment to getting FF 91 on the road by the end of 2018. Despite significant headwinds on the path ahead of us, we are laser-focused on that one key milestone.\u201d", "output": "Electric vehicle (EV) maker Faraday Future has signed a lease on a former tyre factory in Hanford, California. The company has been pushing ahead with its plans to build a luxury EV, the FF 91, but has struggled with funding and recently pulled out of building a factory near Las Vegas. It is said to have received a $13.75m emergency loan from Innovatus Capital Partners, but will need many millions more to meet its promise of delivering a market-ready FF 91 by the end of 2018, which is expected to have\u00a0a base price of more than $100,000.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ranker doubles average viewability figures over 15 months \n Since advertisers are demanding that ads be seen, listicle publisher Ranker made several tweaks to its webpages to boost its number of viewable ads.\n\nThe publisher made its ads more viewable by removing slideshows, running ads that only load once they are in view and getting stricter about the ad creatives and exchanges it will allow on page, which led to a 60 percent decrease in page-load time. Over the past 15 months, Ranker doubled its average viewability rates from about 35 percent to more than 70 percent, said Clark Benson, CEO and founder of Ranker. All figures are from Ranker, citing Google.\n\nThe improved viewability has also contributed to a 64 percent increase in Ranker\u2019s desktop CPMs and an 87 percent increase in its mobile CPMs over the past 12 months. While several factors \u2014 having faster-loading pages, using different exchanges and market conditions outside Ranker\u2019s control \u2014 affected the increased ad rates, the improvement in viewability was the largest single factor, Benson said.\n\nIn May 2016, Ranker averaged 43 percent viewability on desktop and 31 percent viewability on mobile. Mobile viewability was worse than desktop because Ranker\u2019s slideshows had worse viewability on mobile. Mobile screens aren\u2019t big enough to fully display the slideshow\u2019s image and an ad when a user landed on the page. Unless the user scrolled, mobile slideshows were a drag on viewability.\n\nAmong the various steps Ranker took to increase viewability, eliminating slideshows had the biggest impact. Getting rid of the format increased mobile viewability by 11 percentage points and brought it more in line with Ranker\u2019s desktop viewability, Benson said.\n\nAccording an Integral Ad Science survey, about 70 percent of advertisers transact on viewability. So increasing mobile viewability was imperative for Ranker since about 90 percent of its 25 million unique visitors came from mobile last month, according to comScore. Ranker gets 92 percent of its ad revenue from programmatic.\n\nTo further boost viewability, Ranker adopted lazy-loading ads, which only show an ad once it is viewable. This step increased viewability by 7 percentage points, Benson said.\n\nLazy-loading ads helped improve Ranker\u2019s page-load speeds. Ranker also cut off slow exchanges and restricted the amount of code it would accept on ad creative. These factors together contributed to a 60 percent improvement in how long it takes Ranker to render content on mobile devices, from 1.2 seconds to 0.5 seconds.\n\nWhile pushing for viewability has driven ad revenue for Ranker, Benson acknowledged the risk of unintended consequences. Viewability mandates have led to more ad clutter and reductions in how long ads are in view.\n\nRanker\u2019s viewability quest hasn\u2019t led to more ad clutter since it only allows one sticky ad per user session, and the ad units it cut to boost page speed were among its most intrusive. But time spent per session has declined about 10 percent, from 3.9 minutes to 3.5 minutes, since the slideshows it eliminated used to keep users on page longer.\n\nCutting out slideshows and slow-loading ad units also contributed to a drop in the number ad impressions per session by 36 percent for desktop and 41 percent for mobile. But the increases in CPMs offset this, Benson said.\n\n\u201cWe feel the end result is better for user experience, but it wasn\u2019t a clean, easy process,\u201d Benson said.", "output": "Listicle publisher Ranker has doubled its average viewability figures over 15 months by tweaking its webpages to boost the number of viewable ads. The Los Angeles-based firm\u00a0improved ad visibility by running ads that load only when in view, removing slideshows and getting stricter about the ad creatives and exchanges it allows on page. The moves led to a 60% decrease in page-load time, meaning average viewability rates rose from about 35% to over 70%, Ranker CEO Clark Benson said. The changes contributed to an 87% increase in mobile CPM.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK government set to impose fines for cybersecurity failures \n British organisations could face fines of up to \u00a317m, or 4% of global turnover, if they fail to take measures to prevent cyber-attacks that could result in major disruption to services such as transport, health or electricity networks.\n\nBut the proposals, which are being considered as part of a government consultation launched on Tuesday, say that financial penalties will be used as a \u201clast resort\u201d and not applied if organisations facing an attack can prove they assessed the risks adequately.\n\nThe move comes after the NHS became the highest-profile victim of a global ransomware attack, which resulted in operations being cancelled, ambulances being diverted and patient records being made unavailable.\n\nThe coordinated attack that infected a large number of computers across the health service was linked to WannaCry malicious software.\n\nThe issue came to the fore again after a major IT failure at British Airways left 75,000 passengers stranded and cost the airline \u00a380m \u2013 although the company blamed a power supply issue rather than a cyber-attack.\n\nThe consultation will also focus on system failures, with requirements for companies to show what action they are taking to reduce the risks.\n\nThe digital and culture minister, Matt Hancock, said: \u201cWe want the UK to be the safest place in the world to live and be online, with our essential services and infrastructure prepared for the increasing risk of cyber-attack and more resilient against other threats such as power failures and environmental hazards.\u201d\n\nThe consultation is on the Network and Information Systems directive to be implemented from May 2018, which is part of a \u00a31.9bn national cyber-security strategy.\n\nThe Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said it also wanted to see action to detect attacks, develop security monitoring and raise staff awareness, as well as ensuring incidents were reported immediately and that systems were in place for recovery. Workshops will be held where organisations can give feedback.\n\nCiaran Martin, the chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre, said organisations needed to do more to increase cyber security.\n\n\u201cThe NCSC is committed to making the UK the safest place in the world to live and do business online, but we can\u2019t do this alone,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone has a part to play and that\u2019s why since our launch we have been offering organisations expert advice on our website and the government\u2019s Cyber Essentials Scheme.\u201d\n\nThe penalties proposed for flaws in network and information systems are similar to those proposed for data protection.", "output": "UK companies which do not take adequate measures to prevent cyber attacks, leaving infrastructure services such as transport or health exposed, could face financial penalties in a draft proposal from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport. Although dubbed a last resort, fines of up to \u00a317m ($22m) or 4% of global turnover could be imposed. The proposal is part of a recently launched government consultation on the Network and Information Systems directive, set to take effect from May 2018.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "News site Quartz achieves 90% renewal rate for branded content \n Publishers\u2019 branded-content campaigns have painfully low renewal rates. One way Quartz has managed to buck that trend is by giving technology insights and research to agencies and brands.\n\nTo formalize this approach, Quartz launched the Quartz Innovation Lab in January, where creative staffers spend a certain portion of their time working on projects like this about every six weeks.\n\nThe results have helped the creative services team, Quartz Creative, build deeper relationships with existing clients including HPE, sometimes leading to projects that didn\u2019t involve any of Quartz\u2019s media or its owned and operated properties. The Lab is part of an approach to help brands and agencies that\u2019s led to a renewal rate of 90 percent for branded content, nearly three times higher than the industry average, per MediaRadar data. Since Quartz launched five years ago, it has executed over 540 campaigns for more than 150 brands, according to a company spokesperson. The company defines its renewal rate not over a set period of time but whether a client returns to do more work.\n\n\u201cContent isn\u2019t the thing that advertisers need every single time,\u201d said Joy Robins, Quartz\u2019s svp of global revenue and strategy. \u201cWhen an agency is looking for something ownable, really specific to a larger theme or brand challenge, we start that.\u201d\n\nIt also helps being open to clients\u2019 suggestions. For example, Quartz overhauled the Quartz Index, a product that sprang out of a request for proposal from the financial services firm Blackrock, when Blackrock wanted to renew that product.\n\nBut broadly, Quartz is getting its high renewal rate by helping agencies and brands stay on top of technological advances. That can mean doing more than branded content, such as building a chatbot, called Hugo, for HPE, which Quartz built with DigitasLBi.\n\nCompetition for branded-content budgets has never been more competitive. The number of publishers offering branded content swelled from 15 in 2013 to more than 600 last year, according to MediaRadar. That buyer\u2019s market has helped keep renewal rates for branded-content programs down around 33 percent last year, according to MediaRadar.\n\nQuartz focuses its research projects, which it calls sprints, on topics it expects clients will be interested in, or that already interests an agency it\u2019s worked with before. Helping those agencies, which brands typically hire to help them think about emerging platforms, businesses or technologies, helps Quartz get to the table first, said Zazie Lucke, Quartz\u2019s vp of marketing.\n\nOver time, the expectation is that these research projects will lead Quartz to strike more retainer-like relationships with brands or agencies, as sophisticated publishers\u2019 content studios are seeking to make revenue flow more consistent.\n\nRobins said Quartz isn\u2019t trying to become a full-service agency, though, because it sees its research and tools as a benefit to agencies.\n\nJeff Malmad, a managing director at Mindshare North America who worked with Quartz on a panel presentation at CES that came from an Innovation Lab, said that while he keeps numerous publishers close at hand when thinking about branded-content programs for his clients, few third parties deliver actionable information like Innovation Lab\u2019s insights. Asked how many publishers or brands deliver insights that actually go directly into work for clients, Malmad said, \u201cThey\u2019re few and far between.\u201d", "output": "New York-based business news publisher Quartz has achieved a 90% renewal rate for branded content \u2013 defined as a client returning to do more work. Publishers' campaigns tend to have very low renewal rates but Quartz addressed that by offering technology insights and research to brands, supported by its Quartz Innovation Lab. The lab has enabled\u00a0the creative services team to build\u00a0deeper relationships with existing clients, leading to the development of further projects. The approach led to the increased renewal rate, which is nearly three times higher than the industry average, according to MediaRadar data.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New York Times focuses on push notifications to drive traffic \n In June, The New York Times dropped seven emojis \u2014 two taxis, two hot dogs, a pencil, a heart and the Statue of Liberty \u2014 in a mobile push notification to promote its magazine\u2019s all-comics issue on city life. Eric Bishop, who oversees push at the Times, said he started out thinking three emojis would be good (and already more than the Times had ever put in a push), but Jake Silverstein, the magazine\u2019s editor, argued for more, saying: \u201cI think we can make this even more fun and delightful.\u201d\n\nThe push is a constrained medium, with limits on characters and visuals. But because push is becoming so important as a way to drive traffic to articles, the Times and other publishers are finding new ways to (ahem) push its expressive limits.\n\nWhen the Times set up a dedicated push notifications team two years ago, its pushes were basically headlines without much context. Since then, it\u2019s tried to make them more conversational and contextual, keeping in mind the personal nature of the lock screen and knowing people may just want to read the push and not click through.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been trying to let our hair down a little \u2014 to be more internet-y,\u201d Bishop said.\n\nThe Times isn\u2019t alone in trying to make its pushes more conversational. CNN, too, has experimented with this approach, treating the push as appointment reading and pushing out stories that aren\u2019t necessarily breaking but tap into interests people feel strongly about, like parenting.\n\nThe Times has a three- to eight-person team on its news desk that handles pushes, among other things. The team sends out around three a day on a typical day, or on really busy days, as many as eight or 10. But it spread the word about why pushes matter, and it\u2019s worked. Individual reporters now lobby for their stories to be pushed; notifications\u2019 wording are labored over in Slack; and even masthead editors get involved.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a big change for the newsroom to be thinking so much about push,\u201d Bishop said. \u201cI\u2019m getting emails from reporters. That never happened before. And certain editors are pushing notifications all the time.\u201d\n\nIncreasingly, the notifications are being written collaboratively or by the reporters themselves, especially when the story in question is a sensitive one. Political reporter Nicholas Confessore has emerged as an in-house expert. His \u201cSpecial Report: The wealthiest American families have built a private tax system for the rich. Here\u2019s how it works.\u201d push was a top performer for the Times.\n\nLike so many aspects of distributing news, publishers still are at the mercy of platforms when it comes to pushes. On Apple News, for example, where publishers can turn on notifications, some stories don\u2019t render well, so the Times may not push those. Apple and Android have different push systems and features (Android devices display fewer words than Apple devices, for example), so publishers have to write pushes with both platforms in mind.\n\nStill, at a time when publishers\u2019 traffic is increasingly coming through social side doors, the pushes still are an important way to get people to publishers\u2019 own mobile apps, where they control the experience and monetization. A good push will drive three or four times as many swipe-throughs to the Times\u2019 app.\n\n\u201cAny time we push anything, you see a big spike in readership on a story,\u201d Bishop said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s not uncommon for half of the traffic in the app to come from the push.\u201d", "output": "The New York Times is focusing on push notifications to increase mobile web traffic. The Times and other publishers are increasingly finding more expressive ways to use push notifications, including the use of emojis to make them more conversational in appearance. The Times sends up to 10 notifications on a busy day and also pushes stories that tap into issues readers feel strongly about, such as parenting, rather than just breaking news. Pushes are an important way for publishers to get readers to their own apps, where they can control monetisation and user experience.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Heineken prioritises Google and Facebook over TV advertising \n Heineken is shifting dollars from TV to Google and Facebook as the digital platforms become the new preferred way to reach mass audiences.\n\nThe brewer is rethinking the role of platforms long touted for their ability to deliver highly personalized messages. Digital (especially Google and Facebook) is a mass medium for Heineken, and as such, it\u2019s increasingly using them to reach the most people in a broad target demographic.\n\nSimilar to how Procter & Gamble said it\u2019s fine-tuning how it\u2019s using Facebook to target potential customers, Heineken doesn\u2019t think reach versus targeting is an either-or question; it\u2019s just seeking the right balance. In some markets, that\u2019s meant spending more on digital than it does on TV, according to Nourdin Rejeb, Heineken\u2019s global manager for digital.\n\nRejeb said Heineken is increasingly inclined to spend most of its media budget with Facebook and Google, albeit with wider parameters for ad targeting. He said the brewer has viewed both platforms as mass reach channels for some time but that it\u2019s getting more focused than ever on reach.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re seeing in some cases digital spend is overtaking TV spend like a lot of brands because we\u2019re realising that\u2019s where consumers are spending most of their time,\u201d Rejeb said. \u201cThat\u2019s not to say TV isn\u2019t important to us because it is; it\u2019s just that the increase is definitely going to the digital.\u201d\n\nMost big brands like Heineken have gone from viewing advertising on Facebook and YouTube as a way to spur conversation around viral content to using it to catch hundreds of millions of people\u2019s attention. While the scale is now there on these platforms (Facebook has around 2 billion monthly users), the brewer has struggled to get its ads viewed on the social network.\n\nIn the U.S., for example, many of Heineken\u2019s videos on Facebook are viewed for less than three seconds. To counter this, Heineken has pushed all its messaging to the start of videos to get people to stop scrolling. The brewer is trying to limit its Facebook ads to six seconds, the length that Facebook has said is ideal, citing a recent test with Tropicana.\n\nToday\u2019s ad climate has many brands questioning whether they have overspent on digital. P&G made headlines when it axed $140 million worth of digital ads in the last quarter, questioning the ads\u2019 effectiveness. Still, the brewer is upping its spend with Facebook and Google, saying they provide creative support.\n\n\u201cThey obviously want our money as well, but the work we\u2019re doing with both is working,\u201d Rejeb said. \u201cFor us, those two partners are very critical.\u201d\n\nHeineken also is spending more time learning how its ads can capture people\u2019s attention. To that end, it\u2019s investing in ad and marketing tech. It\u2019s building an ad server that will let it reserve large amounts of inventory directly from publishers or ad networks. It also plans to build a data-management platform where it can access and manage data, such as cookie IDs and mobile identifiers, to create targeting segments for its ad campaigns.", "output": "Heineken has begun to prioritise Google and Facebook over TV advertising. The brewing giant is increasingly going digital, albeit with wider parameters, as it seeks to strike the right balance between reach versus targeting. Digital ad spend was overtaking TV in some cases, as consumers move online and away from fixed programming, said\u00a0Nourdin Rejeb, global manager for digital at Heineken. The brewer is also investing in ad and marketing tech to learn how its ads can capture users' attention.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus WeWork enjoys 'incredible demand' in China \n The world\u2019s largest co-working space provider is on the verge of pushing much further into China in coming months, WeWork Asia\u2019s managing director said in Beijing ahead of the Wangjing branch opening. This came the same day as the company announced its acquisition of Singapore\u2019s Spacemob as part of a $500 million expansion plan in Southeast Asia. Both announcements come only two weeks after the company received $500 million from SoftBank and Hony Capital for its China war chest.\n\nWeWork\u2019s seventh mainland China location, in Wangjing, is almost ready to open and has seen the fastest take up of rental out of any of the company\u2019s buildings anywhere in the world. Almost 1,500 workers will move in in one day. After the company\u2019s arrival in China a year ago, this will be the third location in Beijing, while Shanghai, the regional HQ, currently has four with two more locations under way. There are two locations in Hong Kong at present.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll definitely go a lot deeper in Beijing and Shanghai and Hong Kong. The product is much more valuable the deeper you get into a city. You have more of a community,\u201d WeWork Asia Managing Director Christian Lee told TechNode. \u201cThere is the next set of cities in China that are incredibly important, whether it\u2019s for Chinese startups, large Chinese companies, or companies coming into China. So for sure Shenzhen and there\u2019s probably a list of three or four other cities that we\u2019re actively exploring. So I think you\u2019ll see us in another five cities in the next 12 months.\u201d\n\nHowever, the goal is not just to saturate Chinese cities with stylishly furnished break out areas and easy-to-use coffee machines. According to Lee, success is about \u201chow many companies, not how many buildings.\u201d\n\nRight up to today, WeWork has been on an investment spree with deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars across Asia. Today they announced a $500 million plan to expand into Southeast Asia and South Korea, which includes the acquisition of Singapore\u2019s Spacemob. On July 26, WeWork announced a deal with Japan\u2019s SoftBank and China\u2019s Hony to create a $500 million war chest for China expansion, after previous injections of $300 million and $430 million from SoftBank. WeWork is creating a joint venture with the investment fund in Japan, while it has formed separate entities for China and for Southeast Asia.\n\nThe Colliers International APAC Flexible Workspace Report 2017 states that: \u201cAppetite from operators for new centers is stronger than ever and we should see 30% growth in take up year on year. With changes in the way people work, there appears to be strong end user demand to underpin this growth.\u201d\n\nAnd it\u2019s China that is proving the most welcoming. \u201c[Our buildings in China] are getting to 90-100% occupancy almost faster really than anywhere else in the world,\u201d said Lee. \u201cThere is an incredible amount of demand for this kind of space.\u201d\n\nLocal competition? Not a problem, according to Lee. \u201cWe don\u2019t really think about the local co-working market to any great length. We really look at what we\u2019re building as a global platform and there\u2019s no one today that has the global learning we have, in terms of design and global community\u2014that\u2019s what we give to our members.\u201d\n\nThe company now has around 170 employees in China, where it uses the same approach to getting a local perspective as everywhere else in the world. \u201cWhen we started we sent three people from WeWork over and their main mission was to hire a local team: local community team, local designers, local real estate team to really help us navigate China from a local perspective,\u201d said Lee.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve had to tailor. China is much more mobile-centric than other countries are so our app and how we integrate with WeChat, Alipay is different. Meetings tend to be much larger than meetings in the United States. With every building we open, we\u2019re getting better,\u201d said Lee.\n\nThe work spaces are proving useful to foreign companies trying moving into China. Around 70-80 percent are local Chinese members, with 20-30% international members tending to be enterprise members. In terms of being able to continue to support clients within a global platform as China tightens its requirements for data handling and access to foreign networks, Lee remains bullish. \u201cWe have a very large team of lawyers to make sure everything is working okay,\u201d he said, adding that the local team includes provision for government relations.\n\nWhile co-working space operators in China struggle to turn a profit, WeWork would only go so far as to say: \u201cWe don\u2019t break out financials. When you look at the investors that we have\u2014Softbank, Hony\u2014they clearly believe that there is significant potential for this business and we think that there is significant potential in China.\u201d\n\nThe company\u2019s efforts seem to be paying off. An international user of one of WeWork\u2019s other Beijing locations, Guanghua Lu, was very positive about the firm\u2019s setup in China.\n\n\u201cRent is going up in Beijing quite a lot so we\u2019re actually saving RMB 60,000 by moving into WeWork as it\u2019s all bundled\u2014there are no unknown costs of printing, electricity, internet. It\u2019s all the best of everything, the best printers, the fastest internet,\u201d Sarah Keenlyside, founder of the Bespoke Travel Company told TechNode. \u201cCoffee is included, and Jing A beer\u2014it allows me to offer my staff benefits without that being an out-of-pocket cost. It even makes accounting easy as it\u2019s literally just one cost.\n\n\u201c[Operating in Beijing has] been quite difficult. There are always problems with the internet in China, there\u2019s often little technical hitches. When you\u2019re a small company it wastes a lot of your staff time. WeWork does all that for you.\u201d\n\nOn whether there\u2019s any noticeable localization, Keenlyside could only think of the local touch added to the free TGIM (Thank God It\u2019s Monday) breakfast: baozi, jiaozi, noodles and zhou are on offer. It\u2019s the international element that is more important. \u201cBeing able to use any WeWork all over the world, that is just an incredible benefit for a small company. We\u2019ve just expanded to Tokyo and they should be there before Christmas. The fact I can use that space in Tokyo is a massive benefit and so much cheaper than trying to rent somewhere,\u201d said Keenlyside.\n\n\u201cFor a company like us that wants to be an international company like them, the fact that we can grow along with them is really exciting.\u201d", "output": "WeWork is enjoying strong demand in China, according to\u00a0WeWork's Asia managing director, Christian Lee, and has\u00a0just opened its seventh branch in the Chinese mainland, in Wangjing. According to the\u00a0Colliers International\u00a0APAC Flexible Workspace Report 2017:\u00a0\u201cAppetite from operators for new centres is stronger than ever and we should see 30% growth in take-up year on year.\" Lee noted\u00a0that WeWork is enjoying \"90-100% occupancy in China almost faster than anywhere else in the world\". \u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mazda cracks petrol compression engine to improve efficiency 30% \n Fresh on the heels of last week's tie-up with Toyota, Mazda announced on Tuesday that it has finally made a breakthrough in gasoline engine technology. Mazda is calling it Skyactive-X; we know it better as homogeneous charge compression ignition, or HCCI. It should mean a 20- to 30-percent boost in efficiency compared to Mazda's current gasoline direct-injection engines, and we may well see it in the next revision to the Mazda 3.\n\nHCCI engines have been one of those \"if only\" technologies for some time now. Kyle Niemeyer first covered the idea back in 2012 for Ars as part of a deep dive into new engine tech that could help meet looming efficiency requirements for automakers.\n\nIn essence, HCCI is an attempt to run a gasoline engine like a diesel instead. Rather than squirt fuel into a cylinder\u2014done directly, at high pressure, in the case of Mazda's current gasoline engines\u2014then ignite it with a spark, the fuel and air are well-mixed and then compressed to achieve the bang in suck, squeeze, bang, blow.\n\nBecause the fuel and air are so well-mixed, combustion should happen simultaneously at multiple points within the cylinder's volume, burning more evenly, at a lower temperature, with fewer particulates or nitrogen oxides in the exhaust than a normal spark-ignited gasoline engine or a diesel engine. Making it work is apparently much harder than describing it; at various times, General Motors, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Ford, Honda, and Bosch have all tried their hand at the technology to little avail.\n\nBut Mazda is nothing if not stubborn when it comes to eclectic engine technologies; after all, it bravely persevered with the rotary engine for decades. In January, there were signs that it had made real progress with HCCI, and today we have the confirmation as part of a broader announcement from Mazda about its new long-term sustainability plan. Another element of the plan\u2014given the catchy title \"Sustainable Zoom-Zoom 2030\"\u2014is to start introducing EVs and hybrids \"in regions that use a high ratio of clean energy for power generation or restrict certain vehicles to reduce air pollution.\"\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThis engine still has spark plugs!\n\nThe new HCCI engines will still use the good-old spark plug; for some operating conditions, it's better to run it as a conventional spark-ignition engine. Mazda says it has perfected the control issues that let the engine know when to transition between spark ignition and when things can be leaned-out enough to use HCCI, and it's calling it \"spark controlled compression ignition.\"\n\nThe engines will also be supercharged, so they will be torquier than the current Mazda gasoline-powered engine range, and they'll be cleaner and more efficient. (Mazda's press release says that, volume for volume, they should be comparable to its current turbodiesel range in that regard.)\n\nReuters reports that Mazda also plans to keep HCCI to itself, although we wonder if that applies to its new best friend Toyota.\n\nWe know there is a vocal population who would like to see OEMs like Mazda give up development of new internal combustion engine technology altogether, focusing instead on fully switching over to battery electric vehicles. These days, national governments are throwing out dates like 2030 and 2040 for banning new fossil-fueled vehicles from sale.\n\nBut 2040 is a ways off, and if William Gibson has taught us anything, it's that the future is not evenly distributed. Certainly in the mid-term, there will be a use for hydrocarbon-fueled vehicles, particularly outside of dense urban corridors where average journeys are shorter and recharging infrastructure is thicker on the ground. So anything that makes those vehicles cleaner and more efficient ought to be viewed as a good thing.", "output": "Mazda Motor has developed a compression ignition petrol engine, something that has confounded researchers from General Motors, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Ford, Honda, and Bosch at various times. The technology allows petrol engines to act more like diesel engines with a resultant bump in fuel efficiency of 20% to 30%. (For a more technical description of how the engine works, please see the Ars Technica article below).\u00a0Mazda said it wants to begin selling vehicles with the SkyActiv\u00a0engine from 2019."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scientists discover toxic new byproduct of coal burning \n Our hypothesis is that the great majority of Magn\u00e9li phases in the environment are derived from TiO 2 minerals present in coal. This is strongly suggested by both the circumstantial evidence presented above concerning the spatial and temporal relationships between Magn\u00e9li phases and coal-fired power plants (over 1000 \u00b0C, locally reduced environments resulting from areas of incomplete combustion in the firebox), as well as the synthesis of Magn\u00e9li phases under the conditions of our heating experiments (over 900 \u00b0C, TiO 2 with pulverized coal under a N 2 atmosphere). It is also important to consider the possibility of generating Magn\u00e9li phases during coke production. Coke, typically made under highly reducing conditions from low-sulfur, low-ash bituminous coal at temperatures similar to those used in this study (over 900 \u00b0C), should result in Magn\u00e9li phases production. As mentioned in the Introduction, coke made from coal is used to produce 70% of the world\u2019s steel.\n\nTiO 2 naturally occurs in coal as anatase, rutile, and brookite, the three mineral TiO 2 polymorphs, whereas Magn\u00e9li phases have never been reported in any rank of coal, or coal origin. In summary, Swaine30 summarized Ti associations in coals, noting that Eskanazi31 called for an organic association of Ti. While an organic association may be the case in peats and low-rank coals, Finkelman11 found anatase and rutile in bituminous coals. Ketris and Yudovich12 acknowledge this mixed affiliation, placing Ti among the weakly or moderate coalphile elements. The levels of TiO 2 in coal vary, but generally are found within a range from roughly a few tenths of a percent, to a few percent, by weight. For example, Hower and Bland13 and Hower et al.14. found the TiO 2 content in the Pond Creek coal in eastern Kentucky to vary between 0.13\u20136.52%, with the highest amounts found in association with relatively high concentrations of Zr (as zircon, ZrSiO 4 ) in clastic-origin lithotypes. Similar trends were noted in eastern Kentucky\u2019s River Gem15 and Elswick16 coals.\n\nIt should be noted that we have considered the possibility that Magn\u00e9li phases result from TiO 2 polymorphs, especially anatase, due to its common use in the catalytic beds of modern coal-fired power plants in the combustion gas exhaust stream. These beds are designed to minimize/eliminate NO x in the exhaust stream, commonly using anatase/rutile to provide favorable chemical conversion of these toxic emission gases present depending on the type of coal that is burned. Any release of the titanium oxides in the gas stream during years of service would be trapped by the plant\u2019s electrostatic precipitators along with the fly ash exhaust component that it is designed to collect. However, such a scenario does not account for two factors. First, anatase/rutile used in these catalytic beds (e.g., P25) lack Magn\u00e9li phases. Second, the temperature of gases in this part of the power plant are many hundreds of degrees too low to generate Magn\u00e9li phases. Temperatures of at least 900 \u00b0C were needed in this study to convert anatase/rutile to Magn\u00e9li phases, with that temperature easily exceeded in the combustion chamber of a power plant. Therefore, TiO 2 used in catalytic beds should not be a source for titania suboxides from coal-burning power plants.\n\nIt should also be noted that burning municipal solid waste is becoming more and more common worldwide, and the production and/or fate of nanoparticles (including TiO 2 in commercial products) during this incineration is of growing interest (e.g., refs 32, 33). Many incineration protocols use temperatures below what we have found to be conducive to Magn\u00e9li phase production under highly reducing conditions (<900 \u00b0C). In addition, our preliminary experiments to date using P25 starting material in the presence of sewage sludge under N 2 at 900 and 1000 \u00b0C produced rutile exclusively (as measured by powder XRD). However, some incineration is driven by burning coal at temperatures well in excess of 1000 \u00b0C, and here we would expect the production of Magn\u00e9li phases both from the TiO 2 in the coal itself and any in the waste. Given a 2014 estimate that 8600 metric tons of nanomaterials are incinerated annually on a global basis34, and that TiO 2 nanomaterials would be some fraction of this, and that high temperature incineration using a carbon-based fuel would be some fraction of this, the production of Magn\u00e9li phases due to incineration is several orders of magnitude less than our estimated Gt levels of Magn\u00e9li phase generation due to industrial coal-burning (see Discussion below). Therefore, waste incineration is not expected to be a significant contributor to Magn\u00e9li phase production relative to coal-burning power plants.\n\nSchindler and Hochella35 very recently identified Magn\u00e9li phases in soils proximal to Cu-Ni-sulfides smelters and refineries in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Although the identified nano-size Magn\u00e9li phases only occurred as minute traces of material in mineral surface coatings, its discovery in this setting suggests that these phases can also form during the reductive smelting and refining of metal-bearing ores in the presence of coke, coal, or carbon monoxide. In this scenario, this also opens the possibility of Magn\u00e9li phases originating from TiO 2 polymorphs present in the ore being smelted and refined. Hence, the anthropogenic formation of Magn\u00e9li phases may not be limited to coal-burning power plants and likely also coking facilities. Nevertheless, further study is needed, and this paper has concentrated on coal-burning power plants due to their tremendous and still growing abundance in the industrial world.\n\nWith the seeming ubiquity of incidental Magn\u00e9li phases from coal combustion, in fact it is quite the opposite for naturally occurring Magn\u00e9li phases. Such naturally occurring instances are very rarely recognized. Magn\u00e9li phases have infrequently been observed in lunar rocks, as oxygen deficient, blue \u201crutile\u201d36, 37. Further, Magn\u00e9li phases have been suspected or identified, for example, as rare Ti oxide phases in interplanetary dust particles38, in carbonaceous chondrite meteorite matrices39, and in micrometeorites in Antarctic ice particles40. Aside from these extraterrestrial origins, the only Earth-bound natural occurrence that we could locate in the literature comes from Pedersen and R\u00f8nsbo41 who discovered \u201cmudstone xenoliths\u201d exposed in one location on the central coast of western Greenland where andesitic magma likely flowed into shallow water underlain by a carbonaceous mudstone, resulting in high temperature (about 1200 \u00b0C), low confining pressure (close to five bars), extremely reducing (producing native iron), pyrometamorphosed sediment xenoliths where anatase/rutile grains were transformed to Magn\u00e9li phases.\n\nGiven our assessment that the overwhelming majority of nanoscale Magn\u00e9li phases found in the environment are from industrial coal-burning, it is possible that these Magn\u00e9li phases could be used as a tracer for the global distribution of coal-burning solid-state emissions. Scientists have been working on using various source apportionment techniques for tracking coal-burning emissions using isotope geochemistry, chemical fingerprinting, and modeling to differentiate coal ash contamination from other contaminant sources in the environment (e.g., see refs 42,43,44). This is a very difficult task due to the extraordinary complexity of environmental chemistries and physical matrices. A unique fingerprint to trace the distribution of coal ash components around the globe is still lacking. More specific tracers are also needed for medical diagnoses, especially in the study of lung disease due to the severity of this problem as discussed in the Introduction of this article.\n\nTherefore, Magn\u00e9li phases are presented here as a new tracer candidate for coal-burning power plant and likely coke production/smelting plant emissions, both fluvial and aeolian. Such a tracer could be used alone, or in combination with other source apportionment techniques mentioned above. Perhaps the strength of a Magn\u00e9li phase tracing method is in its surprising simplicity and ease of use. This stems from the confluence of a number of fortunate occurrences and processes that work together to provide such a method. TiO 2 mineral phases are essentially a ubiquitous accessory phase in all coals worldwide, generally varying from a tenth of a percent to several percent, by weight. Combustion of the coal, with included TiO 2 minerals which are never intentionally targeted for separation from the coal due to their relatively benign nature, and at temperatures over 1000 \u00b0C under locally reducing conditions, very quickly produces Magn\u00e9li phases. Although worthy of a separate study, the grain sizes of the Magn\u00e9li phases generated should be quite variable, although in this study, using TEM as the critical identification and tracking tool, we have selected for submicron grains. These Magn\u00e9li phases are then entrained with the many other gaseous and condensed matter components of the plant emission stream. Some fraction of these phases will leave the plant with the gaseous stream (from virtually none to a significant proportion, depending on the plant design and efficacy of its emission-control systems). The remainder will end up in the collected ash components, to be later stored in impoundments or landfills, or recycled into various ash-containing products (concrete/cement, wallboard, road fill, etc.). In all of these possibilities, the incidentally produced Magn\u00e9li phases are entering some aspect of the environment, and are immediately or eventually (through secondary processes, e.g., wallboard disposal in a landfill, or incinerated) subject to transport via natural aeolian or fluvial process, and often a combination of the two.\n\nThe organismal and ecological environments that these Magn\u00e9li phases enter lack the occurrence of Magn\u00e9li phases, given their extraordinary rarity in natural systems. On the other hand, we estimate the production of Magn\u00e9li phases due to industrial coal-burning to be enormous over the last two centuries since the Industrial Revolution. Considering ballpark, but well-founded estimations of coal productions in modern times1, accounting for the great majority of coal that has ever been used, one can say that on the order of a few hundred gigatons (Gt) of coal has been burned by humans. We can also estimate from existing observations and data that coal contains on the order of an average of 2% TiO 2 , and that, on average, a coal will produce roughly 15% residual ash (both of these estimates are ours, from our personal estimations from the vast coal mineral and ash literature, and our own experience). While the conversion efficiency of TiO 2 minerals to Magn\u00e9li phases in the burning process is not known, we can say that, at least in the size range of up to several hundred nanometers (as observed in this study among 22 ashes collected from around the United States and China), most of the titania has been converted to Magn\u00e9li phases.\n\nConsidering all of this, we are still left with on the order of a Gt of Magn\u00e9li phase production via industrial coal-burning over the last few centuries to be spread via the atmosphere and hydrosphere around the planet. The bottom line is that if one observes these highly unusual, easily recognizable phases in selective searching with a TEM, whether in or on soils, river/estuary water or sediments, city streets, stormwater ponds, human lung tissue, or wherever else, that portion of the environment has been very likely impacted by these phases and other solid state components in a similar size range from the sources that have been described herein. The reach of these small physical components (e.g., naturally occurring nano-sized inorganic solids) is global, as is well-known and documented10.\n\nUntil now, and as described in detail above, titania suboxides were not known to be widely distributed in the environment, and to our knowledge have not been used in commercial products with wide distribution20. This explains why toxicity testing had not been initiated and underscores why an understanding of the particles\u2019 toxicity potential is now needed. In comparison, the nanoparticles of the polymorphs of TiO 2 are widely used in commercial products, from paints to makeup to sunscreens, among other uses, and as expected, the toxicity of these nanoparticles have been widely studied. TiO 2 nanoparticle toxicity has been extensively examined in the context of freshwater and marine environments and in organisms belonging to several trophic levels45,46,47,48. It is generally thought that oxidative stress is the primary mechanism of acute toxicity to developing organisms due to the ability of forms of TiO 2 to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) when irradiated49,50,51,52. ROS leads to cell death via protein, lipid, and DNA damage45, 46, 48. There is also evidence that sub-chronic exposure to adult zebrafish causes neurological effects associated with spatial recognition memory and behavior52. Several studies implicate TiO 2 nanoparticle coating, shape, size, and aggregation properties as confounding variables to these nanoparticle\u2019s bioavailability and toxicity45, 46, 50, 53. This is especially relevant in studies using zebrafish models because of the protective chorion (an acellular enclosure) encompassing the developing fish between 0\u201348 hpf. Though its permeability has not been thoroughly characterized, the zebrafish chorion is a known barrier to the uptake of many contaminants, including metallic nanomaterials29, 54,55,56,57. Studies aiming to characterize the toxicity of metal nanoparticles commonly remove the chorion prior to exposure to ensure particle bioavailability during early stages of development when organisms are most sensitive to environmental stressors29, 54, 56, 57. In fact, in additional experiments with chorionated zebrafish embryos in this study (data not shown), we failed to observe significantly reduced survival after exposure to P25 and P25-900 \u00b0C nanoparticles at concentrations up to 1000 ppm; these results corroborate the references cited above, demonstrating the protective effect of the zebrafish chorion barrier to titanium oxide nanomaterial bioavailability. The chorion is also commonly removed in screening assays investigating the toxicity potential of pharmacological agents or other chemicals; for these purposes, the dechorionated embryonic zebrafish is a high-throughput and robust vertebrate model54, 56, 57.\n\nTherefore, in this first study of titania suboxide toxicity, we were primarily interested in reporting the inherent toxicity of the P25-900 \u00b0C (Magn\u00e9li phase) particles in the absence of the embryonic zebrafish protective chorion barrier (i.e., toxicity relevance to aquatic animal gills or terrestrial animal lungs). We observed significant reductions in embryo survival following acute exposure to these particles in the absence of SSR, but not following co-exposure to P25-900 \u00b0C and SSR. These results are in stark contrast to those of P25, in which the detrimental effects are primarily attributed to the material\u2019s photo-induced toxicity due to the generation of ROS as described above. In contrast, the reason for the toxicity of Magn\u00e9li phase titania suboxides is not known, this being the first time that a formal biotoxicity study has been conducted for these materials. Whatever role Magn\u00e9li phases play in and around biological systems is expected to be fundamentally different than TiO 2 phases. Unlike the wide band gap semiconducting, UV absorbing TiO 2 phases, Magn\u00e9li phases are narrow band gap semiconductors (see above), with electrical conducting properties similar to carbon/graphitic materials20. Additionally, these variably defective materials are expected to have interesting and important ionic conductivity and catalytic properties that still need to be thoroughly explored.\n\nThe immediate relevance of this work is aquatic organism exposure under conditions of limited solar radiation co-exposure, but there are also translational implications for human health. Of particular interest is the reactivity of Magn\u00e9li phases in human lung alveolar membranes considering their accessibility to this critical and vulnerable portion of our physiology, and the fact that their biological reactivity likely does not depend on solar radiation co-exposure.\n\nOverall, Magn\u00e9li phases are a newly recognized incidental nanomaterial in the environment with very wide distribution, allowing it to be a new candidate for tracing the distribution of industrial coal-burning solid-state emissions worldwide. In addition, while we provide an initial assessment of Magn\u00e9li phase toxicity using an established exposure regimen and animal model, this situation also clearly invites further toxicity studies aimed at comprehensive characterization of Magn\u00e9li phase toxicity at sublethal concentrations and investigations of potential mechanisms of action. New toxicity pathways in micro- to macro-organisms, including humans, are likely to be found.", "output": "A new coal byproduct that poses potential risks to human health has been discovered by scientists investigating the aftermath of a coal-ash spill in North Carolina. Researchers discovered a material composed of titanium and oxygen, which proved toxic when ingested by zebrafish. The scientists, who discovered the material as far away as China, expect analogous effects in animals, including humans. Identifying the locations where the titanium materials appear could also enable scientists to map the distribution of the effects of coal-burning and coke production."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian Greens call for re-regulation of power market \n As Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull prepares to browbeat big electricity retailers in Canberra, the Greens have unveiled their own plans, calling for a price cap on soaring power bills.\n\nThe government has touted Wednesday's meeting in Canberra as a chance to pressure major retailers to increase pricing plan transparency to give consumers a clearer path to the cheapest options and avoid some of the pain of huge tariff hikes.\n\nThe Greens' plan, though, would have the government go much further, giving states where retail electricity prices are currently deregulated \u2013 Victoria, NSW, South Australia, parts of Queensland \u2013 until the end of 2017 to re-regulate prices. States would be able to set up public retailers to boost competition.\n\nShould the states fail to act, the Commonwealth could order the Australian Energy Regulator to set prices.", "output": "The Australian Greens have put forward a policy that would cap soaring energy prices. The proposal\u00a0would force states in which retail electricity prices are currently deregulated\u00a0to re-regulate\u00a0by the end of 2017. Under the legislation, should the states of Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, and Queensland fail to re-regulate, the Australian Energy Regulator would be permitted to set energy prices itself.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GM launches autonomous ride-hailing service in San Francisco \n It\u2019s always been a bit weird that San Francisco, the cradle of autonomous research, has been missing from the list of cities that boast their own self-driving ride-hailing services. Autonomous cars are prowling the streets of cities like Pittsburgh, Phoenix, and Singapore \u2014 and soon enough Boston \u2014 offering rides to ordinary people through services like Uber, NuTonomy, and Waymo. And poor San Francisco has been left out of the mix \u2014 until now.\n\nCruise, the self-driving subsidiary of General Motors, announced today that it was launching a beta version of an app to hail one of its self-driving cars for daily trips. The service is available seven days a week, allowing Cruise to evaluate how people use autonomous vehicles as a primary transportation service. There\u2019s a catch, though: the app is only available to Cruise\u2019s employees for now.\n\nCruise Anywhere... if you\u2019re a Cruise employee, that is\n\nBy limiting the service to Cruise\u2019s employees, the company says it wants to start small before it considers expanding to more users. This makes sense, as most companies that operate self-driving cars are just now figuring out how to deploy them publicly. Uber is offering rides to a limited number of people in Pittsburgh and Arizona; Waymo (n\u00e9e Google) is conducting its public program in Arizona as well; and NuTonomy is offering trips in Singapore and will soon launch in Boston in partnership with Lyft.\n\nCruise\u2019s service, called \u201cCruise Anywhere,\u201d is currently being used by about 10 percent of the company\u2019s 200 San Francisco-based employees, with more being enrolled each week. (There\u2019s currently a waitlist.) GM employees who are based in Detroit are also eligible for rides, when and if they are in the city.\n\nImage: Cruise\n\nImage: Cruise\n\nCruise has been operating a fleet of all-electric Chevy Bolts equipped with self-driving cameras and sensors on public roads in San Francisco for months now. So it makes sense that it would eventually launch a publicly available ride-hailing service at some point. While we\u2019re not there yet, GM did announce in June that it had completed production on 130 additional all-electric autonomous vehicles at its assembly plant in Michigan. It\u2019s not difficult to see Cruise giving the green light to non-employee trips in the near future.", "output": "Cruise, the autonomous vehicle subsidiary of General Motors, has announced that it is launching a beta version of a ride-hailing app specifically for its self-driving vehicles in San Francisco. However, the app is only currently available for Cruise employees. Called Cruise Anywhere, the service is available seven days a week, and it is used by roughly 10% of Cruise's San Francisco-based workforce of 200.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "European offshore wind must triple to reach Paris goals: Ecofys \n If Europe is to fall in line with the Paris Climate Agreement intention of limiting global warming to 1.5\u00b0C above pre-industrial levels, the region must significantly increase its rate of growth for offshore wind development, tripling it at the very least.\n\nThese are the primary conclusions published by Michiel M\u00fcller from leading international energy and climate consultancy, Ecofys, who penned an article for Energy Post last week explaining that \u201cEurope will need a fully decarbonized electricity supply by 2045\u201d and that \u201cRenewables are essential to making this happen,\u201d specifically, M\u00fcller argued that \u201coffshore wind from the North Seas region will be pivotal for realising a 100% decarbonised electricity supply in less than 30 years.\u201d\n\nM\u00fcller\u2019s argument is based on research done between Ecofys and its parent company, Navigant, which looked at offshore wind generation in the North Sea for the ten countries surrounding the North Sea \u2014 France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Specifically, a white paper published in March by Ecofys and Navigant concluded that 15% of the North Sea region\u2019s total electricity demand could be supplied by offshore wind energy by 2030. This integrated \u2018North Sea Grid\u2019 is believed to be the only way to achieve the growth necessary to help meet the Paris Climate Agreement targets.\n\nThe research from Ecofys and Navigant determined that the total available onshore generation from various renewable energy sources \u2014 wind, solar, bio, hydro, and a little bit of nuclear \u2014 would only be able to provide up to 55% of the required capacity to meet the Paris Agreement targets. This leaves 45% needed to be covered by offshore wind, which translates into approximately 230 GW (gigawatts) \u2014 180 GW generated in the North Sea, and the remaining 50 GW in other seas such as the Baltic and Irish Seas, as well as the Atlantic Ocean.\n\nThere is currently only 13 GW worth of offshore installed in the region, requiring a massive turning of the screws to increase the rate of delivery. Ecofys and Navigant explains that the installation rate would have to triple from the current 3 GW a year to approximately 10 GW a year.\n\nBut, as has been pointed out repeatedly this year, this sort of growth cannot be achieved by one nation alone, and requires national collaboration, coordination, and interconnectivity between North Sea nations. Interestingly, a report published in July by the World Energy Council (WEC) Netherlands posited a similar solution, explaining that the North Sea must play a crucial role in the energy transition ahead for northwestern Europe \u2014 a transition which could result in between \u20ac100 billion and \u20ac200 billion in economic value for neighboring regions in the transition away from fossil fuels.\n\n\u201cThe opportunities and diversity thereof in the North Sea are huge,\u201d said Jeroen van Hoof, the chair of WEC Netherlands. \u201cThe Energy Transformation in the North Sea creates new industries. We can benefit from huge economic advantages by installing large wind farms. Also, a co-ordinated removal and smart re-use of former oil and gas assets can generate new economic activities. The potential is significant.\u201d\n\nThe main point from all that has been published this year regarding the North Sea\u2019s potential, however, is the desperate need for cooperation and interconnectivity between the North Sea\u2019s bordering coutnries. As M\u00fcller concludes in his Energy Post article, before the demand for interconnection \u201ccan be addressed on the technical level, it will be the collaborative connection between the involved countries and public and private stakeholders that counts.\u201d\n\n\u201cDeveloping a long-term spatial planning strategy and a robust 2045 roadmap for flexibility options will be two of the key steps to meeting the Paris goals. Joint strategic planning will secure operational security during and beyond the energy transition.\u201d\n\nThe full article from Energy Post can be read here \u2014 and I recommend you do.\n\nSign up for Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era \u2014 Podcast: I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014 gasp \u2014 grow. So ... Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014\u2014 grow. So ...", "output": "To meet the demands of the Paris Climate Change agreement, Europe needs to triple its offshore wind installation rate to 10 GW per year by 2030, according to Michiel M\u00fcller of environmental consultancy Ecofys. Writing in Energy Post, M\u00fcller said to achieve a 100% decarbonised electricity supply within 30 years, an integrated North Sea grid was the best way to generate the 45% increase in capacity required to power the 10 countries around the North Sea. He also called for a \"new level of collaboration, coordination, and interconnectivity\" between the nations to make the project a reality.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "European offshore wind must triple to reach Paris goals: Ecofys \n To support the Paris Agreement\u2019s goal of limiting temperature increase to 1.5\u00b0C, Europe will need a CO 2 -neutral electricity supply by 2045. A target we cannot meet unless we ramp up Europe\u2019s offshore wind capacity, says Michiel M\u00fcller from consultancy Ecofys, a Navigant company. The company\u2019s energy experts calculated that the current offshore wind installation rate would have to triple to get this goal within reach. They argue that an integrated North Sea Grid is the only way to achieve this growth at lowest possible cost while maximizing benefits to the environment.\n\nTo meet the goal agreed at the Paris climate change conference in December 2015, Europe will need a fully decarbonized electricity supply by 2045.\n\nRenewables are essential to making this happen. The joint energy team of Ecofys and Navigant have investigated Europe\u2019s renewable generation resources and find that offshore wind from the North Seas region will be pivotal for realising a 100% decarbonised electricity supply in less than 30 years.\n\nIn their analysis, the experts looked specifically at the ten countries around the North Sea \u2013 France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Ireland, and the United Kingdom \u2013 that cooperate in the EU-supported North Seas Countries Offshore Grid Initiative established in 2009.\n\nSuch growth in offshore wind cannot be realised through individual efforts\u2014it is possible only through a new level of collaboration, coordination, and interconnectivity between the North Seas countries\n\nTo determine the required offshore capacity for the whole region, the team started with the 2045 electricity demand per country and assumed a complete phaseout of fossil-fueled electricity generation, as well as a started retirement of nuclear. We assumed that current operational nuclear plants will be decommissioned and not replaced after their lifetime. Thus, the only nuclear plants around by 2045 will be new ones that are in an advanced planning stage today.\n\nThe Ecofys and Navigant consultants then determined the total available onshore generation capacity by means of several scenario studies and identified how much of the Paris-compatible electricity generation capacity can be met on land. The countries\u2019 joint onshore generation resources (wind, solar, bio, hydro, and remaining nuclear)could provide up to 55% of the required capacity. This leaves 45% to be covered by offshore sources and translates into an offshore wind target of approximately 230 GW for the North Seas countries. [ 180 GW of that capacity could be generated in the North Sea, and the remaining 50 GW in other seas like the Baltic and Irish Seas and the Atlantic.\n\nWith 13 GW installed currently, however, the region is far from the required total. To realise this growth, the offshore wind installation rate would have to triple from the current 3 GW/year to approximately 10 GW/year in 2030.\n\nLong-term spatial planning\n\nSuch growth in offshore wind cannot be realised through individual efforts\u2014it is possible only through a new level of collaboration, coordination, and interconnectivity between the North Seas countries. In addition to its role as a natural habitat, the North Sea is intensely used as a place for fisheries, tourism, military zones, oil & gas infrastructure, and shipping, and therefore of vital importance to the region\u2019s economy.\n\nWhile there is sufficient space to develop the required offshore wind capacity (current estimates indicate that some 10% of the North Sea surface will be required for offshore wind, based on a wind farm intensity of 5-6MW/km2), a careful balance must be maintained, ensuring maximum benefit to the environment and cost-efficient development of both wind farms and associated infrastructure.\n\nThe analysis shows that Great Britain and Ireland have a need for import capacity of roughly 30 GW, while continental North Western Europe has a deficit of 25 GW\n\nHarnessing and preserving the environment of the North Sea region requires constructive collaboration among all sectors. The potential offshore grid could support the marine biodiversity through new protected areas for wildlife and extended migratory corridors.\n\nThis requires a shared long-term view by all North Sea countries. A joint spatial planning strategy is needed to reflect changes in use (e.g., decommissioning of oil & gas) and ensure a cost-efficient utilization of the resource, aligned with offshore and onshore grid development and environmental protection.\n\n50 GW-80 GW interconnector capacity required for grid balancing\n\nLong-term planning will also have to go into securing the stability of such new infrastructure. With higher shares of renewable energy, the stability of the grid heavily depends on an increase in flexibility options. A crucial enabler for a flexible power system is a well-developed network, or in the case of the North Sea offshore wind-dominated system, an infrastructure with increased levels of interconnectivity.\n\nBased on a high level adequacy assessment, we determined the likely reliable capacity that would be available. Ecofys investigated peak demand situations for the three sub-systems around the North Sea: Great Britain and Ireland, continental Northwestern Europe, and the Nordics.\n\nThe team analysed how much wind power is available at minimum wind conditions with regard to climatic data and the geographical spread of wind parks. Comparing the results with the available onshore resources, dispatchable generation and flexibility from demand and storage, they deducted the margin each of the three \u2018sub-systems\u2019 has. A negative margin shows a need to interconnect to regions with more resources.\n\nWith the phaseout of fossil-fueled electricity generation the dispatchable generation capacity drops from a level of 64% in today\u2019s generation mix to approximately 25%\n\nThe analysis shows that Great Britain and Ireland have a need for import capacity of roughly 30 GW, while continental North Western Europe has a deficit of 25 GW. An overall level of 50 GW-80 GW of interconnection capacity will be required for the North Seas area.\n\nGrowth of interconnection capability requires a careful evaluation of the cost-benefit analysis approach. A new methodology to value grid stability could incentivize interconnector capacity. Current planning practice often limits the level of offshore interconnections to save operational costs. Today\u2019s main methodology, approved by regulators and the European Commission, compares the cost for a new interconnector with the carbon and fuel cost savings it will bring about.\n\nAfter 2030, these savings will be less of an incentive when renewables plants \u2013 with zero marginal and no carbon costs \u2013 are dominating the market. Interconnectors, however, will still be crucial as they give flexibility in stressed system conditions and periods of scarcity, and thus provide security of supply. The current methodology does not express this benefit. The task therefore demands a new way of thinking: business cases will have to be redefined to include societal and environmental profits.\n\nMore flexibility options\n\nThe transition to a decarbonised electricity supply marks the end of dependence on conventional reserves. This will also mean a significantly reduced dispatchable capacity and calls for a steep increase in flexibility options.\n\nWith the phaseout of fossil-fueled electricity generation, the dispatchable generation capacity drops from a level of 64% in today\u2019s generation mix to approximately 25%, primarily from hydro and bio, in the 2045 system.\n\nA transition to new, cost-effective flexibility sources such as storage, demand response, power-to-gas/heat, and ancillary services from renewables is already underway. The use of these new flexibility sources will become essential in the 2045 scenario to ensure a constant, instantaneous supply/demand balance.\n\nDeveloping a long-term spatial planning strategy and a robust 2045 roadmap for flexibility options will be two of the key steps to meeting the Paris goals\n\nThis means that a more realistic and robust potential estimate and roadmap are needed than currently available forecasts, to plan demand response, small-scale storage and large-scale storage by 2045. This should not be based purely on industry-push figures, but also on making the tradeoff of some of these projects with interconnection levels. With flexibility options becoming both more significant and affordable, e.g., the demand for interconnection could go down and in turn further increase the need for flexibility options.\n\nHowever, before this demand can be addressed on the technical level, it will be the collaborative connection between the involved countries and public and private stakeholders that counts.\n\nDeveloping a long-term spatial planning strategy and a robust 2045 roadmap for flexibility options will be two of the key steps to meeting the Paris goals. Joint strategic planning will secure operational security during and beyond the energy transition.\n\nEditor\u2019s Note\n\nMichiel M\u00fcller is a Managing Director at Ecofys, a Navigant company, and an offshore wind energy expert. He has published two white papers on the topic and presented the above findings at the European Commission\u2019s North Seas Energy Forum 2017. Find the full presentation here.\n\n[adrotate banner=\u201d78\u2033]", "output": "To meet the demands of the Paris Climate Change agreement, Europe needs to triple its offshore wind installation rate to 10 GW per year by 2030, according to Michiel M\u00fcller of environmental consultancy Ecofys. Writing in Energy Post, M\u00fcller said to achieve a 100% decarbonised electricity supply within 30 years, an integrated North Sea grid was the best way to generate the 45% increase in capacity required to power the 10 countries around the North Sea. He also called for a \"new level of collaboration, coordination, and interconnectivity\" between the nations to make the project a reality.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Avanta India plans to expand to capitalise on office-share trend \n With plug-and-play offices becoming more robust in the real estate sector, Avanta India, a business centre provider, is looking to cash in on its popularity.\n\nThe company, which has five business centres in Delhi NCR, said it is planning add four more by next year.\n\n\u201cWe will launch our Mumbai centre shortly. We are also looking at Pune, Bengaluru and Hyderabad,\u201d Nakul Mathur, MD Avanta India said, adding that the company would invest \u20b910 crore for its expansion.\n\nMathur said Avanta is also in talks with various developers to open business centres. \u201cWe have close to 1.25 lakh sq ft of space under operations currently and about 1,400 desks across the five centres which are operational. We lease out space for both long and short term,\u201d he said.\n\nAvanta provides a comprehensive set of services featuring multiple kinds of spaces and virtual as well as digital assistance. \u201cWe are looking to set up large office spaces (20,000 -30,000 sq ft) to suit the requirement of our clients,\u201d Mathur said.\n\nBusiness centres typically take space from developers and convert them into fully equipped serviced work spaces.\n\nMathur said a chunk of its client base was corporate and the balance from start-up segment.\n\nSHARE Copy link\n\nEmail\n\nFacebook\n\nTwitter\n\nTelegram\n\nLinkedIn\n\nWhatsApp\n\nReddit", "output": "Avanta India, is looking to capitalise on the popularity of plug-and-play offices by extending its number of business centres in Delhi NCR from five to nine by 2018. A centre is also set to open in Mumbai and the firm, which currently has 125,000 sq ft of space, plans to spend 10 crore rupees ($1.6m) on expansion, eyeing Pune, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, according to MD Nakul Mathur. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Invitae to expand services\u00a0into whole life genetic testing \n San Francisco-based genetic diagnostics company Invitae has acquired Good Start Genetics and CombiMatrix, expanding Invitae\u2019s portfolio to include prenatal and pediatric testing. It\u2019s part of their long-term plan to make genomic testing routine.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re building a company for the coming genomic era that includes genetic capabilities through all phases of life,\u201d said Invitae CEO Sean George in a phone interview.\n\nInvitae offers a wide range of genomic panels to detect anomalies that could contribute to heart disease, cancer, neurologic disorders and other conditions. In Good Start, Invitae picks up expertise in carrier screening and preimplantation genetic testing. CombiMatrix also provides preimplantation testing, as well as panels to analyze miscarriages and pediatric developmental disorders.\n\nInvitae is issuing 1.65 million shares of stock, paying $18.3 million in cash and assuming $6 million in debt for privately-held Good Start. CombiMatrix shareholders will receive around $27 million in common stock.\n\nSpun off from Genomic Health in 2012, Invitae initially focused on adult inherited diseases and has gradually expanded their portfolio. They now enter a crowded field that includes LabCorp (which acquired Sequenom last year), Illumina, Progenity and others. George believes Invitae\u2019s ability to \u201cdo the hard things\u201d will carry them through these market battles.\n\n\u201cWe are building a technology engine to win the race of scale,\u201d said George. \u201cWe are looking to the OB market and the perinatal space to extend our platform\u2019s capabilities. But more importantly, in order to move the world away from the current disease-by-disease, test-by-test market, it\u2019s managing genetic information for an individual over the course of their life.\u201d\n\nGood Start appealed to Invitae for their cost-effective pre-implantation screening and diagnosis. CombiMatrix brings specific expertise in chromosomal microarrays. In addition, the companies could expand Invitae\u2019s marketing reach.\n\n\u201cThe two together have a pretty good commercial presence in the IVF and reproductive medicine sector,\u201d said George. \u201cCombined, especially with our capabilities, I think it\u2019s fair to say we are immediately the number one player in the IVF, reproductive medicine segment for genetic information.\u201d\n\nThese acquisitions add around 150 people to the Invitae payroll, a 20 percent workforce increase. George notes they are always looking around for potential acquisitions but will probably take a breather to focus on moving new products to market. Ultimately, Invitae wants to be the company that mainstreams clinical genomics.\n\n\u201cWith the broad capabilities we now have at all stages of life, we expect to get traction in this new age of genomic medicine, where all this information can be brought to bear,\u201d said George. \u201cThe first company to have broad capabilities across all of it and to continue to lower the cost basis and deliver that information is likely in position to truly bring genetics into medicine for everybody.\u201d\n\nPhoto: mediaphotos, Getty Images", "output": "San Francisco-based genetic diagnostics company Invitae has acquired Good Start Genetics and CombiMatrix to add prenatal and paediatric testing to its services. Good Start offers carrier screening and preimplantation genetic testing, while CombiMatrix provides preimplantation testing as well and also panels for analysing miscarriages and paediatric developmental disorders. Invitae is aiming to be a\u00a0leader in supplying genetic information for\u00a0in-vitro fertilisation and reproductive medicine. Invitae will pay $18.3m in cash and assume $6m in debt for Good Start, and will issue $27m in common stock to CombiMatrix shareholders. Invitae wants to expand its genetic services to all stages of life.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Coinbase to credit users with Bitcoin Cash after lawsuit threat \n Earlier this month, an activist group formed by Coinbase users created the Coinbase Bitcoin Cash Lawsuit Portal, to file a lawsuit against the world\u2019s largest Bitcoin wallet platform and exchange if they declined to credit users with Bitcoin Cash (BCH).\n\nThe issue has now been resolved as Coinbase released an official company announcement to clarify that all account holders before Aug. 1 on Coinbase will be credited with BCH. Coinbase director of communications David Farmer wrote:\n\n\u201cWe are planning to have support for Bitcoin Cash by Jan. 1, 2018, assuming no additional risks emerge during that time. Once supported, customers will be able to withdraw Bitcoin Cash. We\u2019ll make a determination at a later date about adding trading support.\u201d\n\nCoinbase even plans to integrate BCH trading later in 2018, which not a lot of Bitcoin exchanges have done. So far, the big three Bitcoin exchanges in China including BTCC, Huobi, OKCoin and the South Korean Bitcoin exchange market\u2019s two largest trading platforms Bithumb and Korbit have integrated BCH support.\n\nWas the Coinbase lawsuit realistic?\n\nThe Coinbase Bitcoin Cash Lawsuit Portal threatened the Bitcoin industry\u2019s only billion dollar company with a class action lawsuit led by attorney Priyanka Ghosh-Murthy. She confirmed Fortune that a complaint on invoking negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and unjust enrichment will be filed in Florida.\n\n\u201cMeanwhile, an attorney named Priyanka Ghosh-Murthy told Fortune she intends to file a complaint\u2014invoking negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and unjust enrichment\u2014in Florida by the end of the week,\u201d Fortune reported.\n\nHowever, prior to the Aug. 1 hard fork, Coinbase, as well as its digital assets exchange arm GDAX, clarified in official company blog posts that they don\u2019t intend to support the BCH fork. The two companies emphasized that they are not confident if they can support it securely.\n\nAdam White, vice president of GDAX, stated:\n\n\u201cThis means if there are two separate digital currencies \u2014 Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCC) \u2014 customers with Bitcoin stored on GDAX will only have access to the current version of Bitcoin we support (BTC). Customers will not have access to, or be able to withdraw, Bitcoin Cash (BCC). Customers who wish to access both Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCC) need to withdraw Bitcoin stored on GDAX before 11:59 p.m. PT July 31, 2017. If you do not wish to access Bitcoin Cash (BCC) then no action is required.\u201d\n\nConsidering the fact that Coinbase did clarify to its users prior to the hard fork execution that the two companies will not be supporting BCH, whether the lawsuit would have been realistic still remains in question.\n\nAlready, Coinbase and GDAX have published updates on their stance on Bitcoin Cash and the two platforms may even integrate BCH trading by early 2018.", "output": "Coinbase has told users that all account holders before August 1 will be credited with bitcoin cash (BCH) after it faced the threat of a lawsuit. An activist group formed by Coinbase users threatened to file a lawsuit earlier this month if the bitcoin wallet platform and exchange declined to credit users with BCH. The issue was later resolved when Coinbase released an official announcement, adding that it plans to support for BCH by 1 January 2018. It also plans to integrate BCH trading later next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Councillor concerned over Poulton, Lancashire developments \n The site in Carr Head Lane\n\nAlf Clempson is concerned about damage being caused by building traffic and the use of thousands of tonnes of hardcore to stabilise land.\n\nCoun Clempson has repeatedly stated his opposition to a number of developments, including one now being built by Redrow in Carr Head Lane.\n\nAdvertisement Hide Ad\n\nAdvertisement Hide Ad\n\nAnd he says works going on at the site show the challenges of developing the land, and nearby sites including Holts Lane, where planning permission was granted for more homes.\n\nHe said: \u201cI\u2019ve heard they have had to take tonnes and tonnes of hardcore onto the site, just to stabilise the road, that\u2019s just for the road.\n\n\u201cGoodness knows what you\u2019ll need to build the houses. This is not good land to build on, neither is Holt Lane, we\u2019re starting to see that. Near the site we\u2019ve had pavements repeatedly damaged and repaired because of lorries.\u201d\n\nCoun Clempson says Poulton will suffer from over development and hopes home builders might think again.\n\nAdvertisement Hide Ad\n\nHe said: \u201cOn two of the sites planning permission has been gained for them to be sold on to developers.\n\n\u201cI would hope anyone might think twice about these plots.\n\nAdvertisement Hide Ad\n\n\u201cIf all the development goes ahead you\u2019ll get 1,000 new homes around Poulton, the town can\u2019t cope.\u201d\n\nCoun Clempson is disappointed that Redrow boss Steve Greenhalgh turned down an invitation to hold talks over the site.\n\nThe firm said it had made the site manager\u2019s contact details available for concerned residents.\n\nAdvertisement Hide Ad", "output": "Councillor Alf Clempson, has voiced concerns over damage from building traffic and thousands of tonnes of hardcore being used to stabilise land for housing developments in Poulton, Lancashire, including one being built by Redrow in Carr Head Lane. He claims the land is not good to build on, citing the amount of hardcore required, and suggests the market town will suffer from over development, with further permission granted for more homes on nearby sites, including Holts Lane. Clempson was disappointed Redrow MD (Lancashire) Steve Greenhalgh turned down an invitation to hold talks over the site. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "South Korean tech employees mining bitcoin with store electricity \n Earlier this week, Yongsan Electronics Market, an iconic center in South Korea which houses some of the largest electronic retailers and South Korean headquarters of major computer manufacturers including ASUS, officially banned Bitcoin mining after discovering that some of its smaller stores have used Yongsan Electronics Market\u2019s electricity to mine Bitcoin.\n\nBitcoin mining craze\n\nLocal sources including Hankyung revealed that some stores established mining equipment to mine Bitcoin with the market\u2019s electricity. Employees of certain computer retail stores even had normal CPUs running overnight mining Bitcoin.\n\nOwners of computer stores and electronics retailers submitted formal complaints to the Yongsan Electronics Market management and expressed their concerns over overheating computers posing as a potential fire hazard.\n\nIn fact, in early 2013, many cryptocurrency enthusiasts in South Korea tried to mine Litecoin, which had significantly lower difficulty levels than Bitcoin, with normal CPUs or computers. After days of running Litecoin mining software, some reported that the motherboards of their laptops melted due to extreme overheating.\n\nIn a public statement, the Yongsan Electronics Market announced:\n\n\u201cRunning of Bitcoin mining equipment results to significant consumption of electricity within the center. If electric consumption reaches its limit, electricity costs will drastically increase and they will have to be covered by merchants, computer stores and electronic retailers within the center. Some merchants and stores submitted formal complaints that due the rapid increase in electricity consumption caused by Bitcoin mining, air conditioners stopped functioning properly.\u201d\n\nDuring an investigation, the Yongsan Electronics Market management discovered that some stores that were initially rented out as computer stores were being used as Bitcoin mining centers, with ASIC miners and GPUs in racks placed throughout the space. The management further revealed that consumers and clients passing through stores that had Bitcoin mining equipment running felt a drastic increase in temperature in the area.\n\n\u201c100 ASIC miners running simultaneously\u201d\n\nThe Yongsan Electronics Market management noted that one store had $300,000 worth of ASIC miners and GPUs running full time, 24/7, to mine Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.\n\n\u201cOne store had over 100 ASIC miners running simultaneously, which led to an unexpected rise in energy consumption,\u201d the management added.\n\nBitcoin mining, which once was a lucrative business and industry, has become increasingly difficult to profit from.\n\nMajor mining pools including Antpool, which is operated by arguably the most influential Bitcoin mining equipment manufacturer in the industry Bitmain, also struggle to record high-profit margins despite exponential development in ASIC miners and Bitcoin mining equipment.\n\nLast month, Cointelegraph previously reported that the South Korean government has officially legalized and approved Bitcoin as a remittance method, similar to the Philippines.\n\nWhen the South Korean government and financial regulators fully legalize and regulate the South Korean Bitcoin exchange market, clarity on Bitcoin mining will also be provided.", "output": "Yongsan Electronics Market, a shopping centre in South Korea, has banned bitcoin mining after it found some stores were using its electricity to mine the cryptocurrency. Once store ran $300,000 worth of ASIC miners and GPUs around the clock to mine bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, the electronics market said. The rapid increase in electricity consumption caused air conditioning units to stop functioning properly, it added.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Autonomous vehicles get dangerously confused by graffiti \n While car makers and regulators are mostly worried about the possibility of self-driving car hacks, University of Washington researchers are concerned about a more practical threat: defacing street signs. They've learned that it's relatively easy to throw off an autonomous vehicle's image recognition system by strategically using stickers to alter street signs. If attackers know how a car classifies the objects it sees (such as target photos of signs), they can generate stickers that can trick the car into believing a sign really means something else. For instance, the \"love/hate\" graphics above made a computer vision algorithm believe a stop sign was really a speed limit notice.\n\nIt's easy to see the potential problems. You could make these stickers using a printer at home, so anyone from dedicated attackers to pranksters could try this. It might lead to a crash the moment someone alters the sign, but it could also produce long-term chaos -- picture your city closing a road until maintenance crews can scrape the stickers off a sign.\n\nThere are ways to fight this. The research team suggests using contextual information to verify that a sign is accurate. Why would you have a stop sign on the highway, or a high speed limit on a back road? We'd add that local governments could also install signs that use an anti-stick material, or put them out of reach. Whatever happens, something will have to change if passengers are going to trust self-driving cars' sign-reading abilities.", "output": "Autonomous vehicles could completely ignore road signs should they be damaged or covered in graffiti, researchers from the University of Washington have said. The scientists gained access to visual recognition software used in self-driving vehicles and found that simple manipulation of signs by anyone with access to a printer could cause vehicles \"to misbehave in unexpected and potentially dangerous ways\". For example, a stop sign with graffiti added was misread as a speed-limit sign."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Arsenal's Emirates Stadium aims for 100% sustainability \n Join our growing army of changemakers and get unlimited access to our premium content\n\nAnnounced late last week, the deal will see Octopus Energy power Arsenal\u2019s Emirates Stadium using renewable energy generated across an array of solar farms operated by the energy start-up firm.\n\nThe move follows a year-long trial at Arsenal which boosted the club\u2019s use of renewable energy. Arsenal\u2019s chief executive Ivan Gazidis noted that it was \u201cimportant\u201d that football clubs take steps in this area.\n\nOctopus Energy\u2019s chief executive Greg Jackson added: \u201cThe technology to create electricity from renewable sources is now so efficient, that we can offer \u2018green\u2019 energy to our customers which is cheaper than many \u2018non-green\u2019 tariffs. Being green doesn\u2019t have to cost the earth.\n\n\u201cWe have been delighted to work with such an awesome club as Arsenal, and are looking forward to continuing our partnership into the future.\u201d\n\nWhile the deal with Octopus Energy makes Arsenal the first Premier League club to switch to 100% renewables to power a stadium, the club has previously implemented various sustainability initiatives at the ground in Ashburton Grove.\n\nThe Emirates Stadium is fitted with water recycling systems, while all surplus or waste food is sent to an anaerobic digestion (AD) plant, which is turned into energy that is then fed back to the club. The use of voltage optimisation equipment and LED lights have also reduced power use by up to 20%.\n\nGunning for green\n\nThe club\u2019s former midfielder Mathieu Flamini is also making waves in the low-carbon market, after revealing an eight-year secret plan that has seen him set up a market-leading biofuel technology firm in a sector worth up to \u00a320bn.\n\nThe French footballer set up GF Biochemicals in 2008, and it is reportedly a leader in developing levulinic acid (LA) \u2013 a green alternative to oil that can be used in biofuels, cosmetics, plastics and food preservatives.\n\nElsewhere in the Premier League, newly-promoted Newcastle United is pursuing a \u201ccarbon positive\u201d status and recently installed a combined heat and power (CHP) system at its own St James Park Stadium, to reduce the football club\u2019s emissions by more than 390 tonnes every year.\n\nOn the back of Manchester City Football Club partnering with an energy storage company earlier this year, edie took a closer look at how the club incorporated sustainable business practices into its multi-billion pound transformation, in line with its rise up the Premier League table.\n\nMatt Mace", "output": "Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal FC, has become the first Premier League stadium to run on 100% renewable energy. Arsenal extended\u00a0its deal with supplier Octopus Energy, which sells the club energy generated at wind farms. This comes after a year-long trial at the football club, with chief executive saying it was \"important\" to edge towards renewable energy.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NMU replaces computer policy with all-in-one cyber cover product \n The new policy replaces NMUs existing computer offering.\n\nNMU has launched a computer, data and cyber policy insurance.\n\n\n\nThe provider detailed that the new policy would replace its existing computer offering.\n\n\n\nIt noted that the frequency of data breaches - the theft, loss or mistaken release of private information, was on the rise.\n\nCover\n\nAs such the all in one policy covers: hardware (including portables) and data corruption which provides protection for assets, data breach expense, cyber crime, cyber liability and cyber event, and, loss of business", "output": "NMU has launched an all-in-one cyber insurance policy for small businesses that will cover policyholders for data and hardware corruption, protection of assets, data breach expenses, cyber crime, cyber liability and cyber event as well as loss of business income. The policy replaces its earlier computer coverage product and has been launched in response to an increase in data breaches. \"Data breaches aren\u2019t just a big business problem; small and medium-sized businesses with fewer data security resources are particularly vulnerable,\" said executive director Nick Limb.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Allianz's LV purchase will reduce competition, warn brokers \n However, experts also see opportunities rising from the merger.\n\nFollowing the announcement from Allianz that it has bought 49% of LV\u2019s general insurance business, brokers have stated that the coming together of the two providers will reduce choice in the personal lines market.\n\nAllianz noted that the move will see the insurers join forces to create a \u00a31.7bn premium personal lines business under the LV brand, with the insurer planning to own 69.9% long term, paying \u00a3713m in total.\n\nWhile brokers were not surprised by the deal, following market speculation", "output": "Allianz's purchase of 49% of LV\u2019s general insurance business will decrease potential choices in the UK's personal lines sector, brokers have said. The insurance companies' partnership will create a \u00a31.7bn premium personal lines business operating under LV branding, with Allianz planning to eventually own\u00a069.9% of LV for \u00a3713m in total. Brokers are concerned there will be a lack of variety in underwriting, with a small market to choose from."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WPP to double Snapchat investment \n WPP will double its spend on Snapchat this year, investing an estimated $200m according to the network\u2019s chief Sir Martin Sorrell.\n\nSnapchat\n\nIt comes after WPP tripled its investment into the platform in 2016. Its clients spent $90m on Snapchat last year, around $60m more than it predicted would be spent on the app.", "output": "WPP is set to double spending on Snapchat this year, with an investment of around $200m. Last year WPP tripled investment in the social platform, with clients spending $90m compared to an expected $30m. However, budgets going into Snapchat pale in comparison to the $6bn spent on Google or the $2bn\u00a0on Facebook by advertisers. Snapchat CEO Sir Martin Sorrell said that WPP spent\u00a0$1.7bn on Facebook in 2016, and expects its 2017 investment will be upwards of\u00a0$2bn."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Catella expects sustainable real estate funds to prosper in 2018 \n \u00d7 Expand Dr. Thomas Beyerle Dr. Thomas Beyerle \u2018Today, there are around \u20ac2.73b invested in so-called sustainable property funds in Europe,\u2019 said Thomas Beyerle, head of group research at Catella.\n\nSustainable real estate funds are on the rise, according to Catella\u2019s latest market tracker \u2018Sustainable funds in the real estate industry \u2013 a look at Europe\u2019, published this month.\n\nIn particular, investors are focusing on sustainable funds in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, according to Catella, which expects them to grow to \u20ac3.2b by 2018.\n\n\u2018Today, there are around \u20ac2.73b invested in so-called sustainable property funds in Europe,\u2019 said Thomas Beyerle, head of group research at Catella. \u2018At first glance, that looks like a lot, but overall in Europe the volume is around \u20ac11.04tr., so these products are carving out a niche existence.\u2019\n\nCatella has identified nine property funds that are managed as sustainable funds, according to Beyerle. In Germany, property funds account for 17% of the sustainable investment market, compared to 20% in Switzerland and just 1.7% in Austria, according to Catella.\n\nLast month (June), Catella Real Estate launched an open-ended sustainable private real estate fund together in conjunction with the Bank im Bistum Essen (BIB) and the Bank f\u00fcr Kirche und Diakonie (KD-Bank).\n\nThe fund - known as KCD-Catella Nachhaltigkeit Immobilien Deutschland - is an investment vehicle designed for religious, charitable, welfare, and church-related institutions and foundations. It will have an investment volume of \u20ac260m, including 30% gearing and will mainly invest in \u2018Top 7\u2019 cities and in metropolitan regions, such as university cities, in Germany. In May, Catella acquired its first office building for the fund, a 3.920 sqm building in Frankfurt for just under \u20ac20m.\n\n\u2018This is the first open-ended fund we have launched for two church banks,\u2019 said Dr. Tim Schomberg, head of Business Development Institutionals at Catella Real Estate. \u2018The banks approached us about launching the fund because they had already invested in earlier funds of ours. We created a sustainability monitor for them, tailored to meet their Christian, clerical, ethical code. We could also roll out the sustainability monitor to other funds in the future.\u2019\n\nPotential properties for the fund will be analyzed using the sustainability monitor designed by Catella in partnership with the Institut f\u00fcr Markt, Umwelt und Gesellschaft (IMUG), which considers factors such as energy efficiency, value retention, climate protection, water consumption and user well-being.\n\nUp to 60% of the fund will invest in offices, with an additional 40% maximum invested in retail. The fund can also invest 10% to 20% in residential stock and up to 20% in properties with charitable, welfare, or social utilization.", "output": "Catella's recently published \"Sustainable funds in the real estate industry - a look at Europe\" suggests that the number of sustainable real estate funds is increasing. Investors seem particularly keen to focus on such funds in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, with Catella expecting the market to grow from \u20ac2.73bn to \u20ac3.2bn by next year. In German, property funds make up 17% of the sustainable investment market, with 20% in Switzerland and only 1.7% in Austria."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chicago hotels are outsourcing room service meals to local chefs \n Thank you for supporting our journalism. This article is available exclusively for our subscribers, who help fund our work at the Chicago Tribune.\n\nRichard Jones, executive chef at the Public House gastropub in Chicago, talks about partnering with an off-site hotel to provide room service to hotel guests. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune) (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)\n\nHotel room service has always been a tough sell.\n\nIt's expensive both to order and to operate, looks extravagant on a business traveler's expense report, and for most people, goes against the very point of travel: to get out and explore new sights and cuisines. Room service revenue industrywide is down more than 25 percent since before the recession, according to CBRE, a commercial real estate firm.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nStill, some members of the traveling public want the option of food delivered to their rooms, and hotels are eager to offer solutions that will differentiate them from competitors without breaking the bank.\n\nFor a few Chicago hotels, that has meant delivering meals to guest rooms through partnerships with a popular local gastropub, a cult-favorite burger chain and a hometown service that delivers organic, chef-made meals.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\"The economics of running a food and beverage operation can be a strain, so (some hotel operators) are looking for more creative ways to serve guests,\" said Scott Berman, the U.S. hospitality and leisure practice leader at PwC.\n\nWhile hotels and food providers generally don't reveal financial details of these partnerships, the benefits are clear. It gives the hotels a valuable marketing tool in offering food delivery without the high cost of producing it themselves, and provides added exposure and a broader customer base for the restaurant or food delivery company.\n\nThe Kinzie Hotel in Chicago's Near North neighborhood didn't have to stray far to find a room service provider. The hotel inked a deal with gastropub Public House, which sits next door. Public House is now the sole provider of room service meals to the hotel, for lunch, dinner or a pared down menu for late night.\n\nSliders prepared at Public House restaurant, 400 North State Street in Chicago, are nearly ready for transport to the nearby Kinzie Hotel on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017. Guests at the Kinzie can order room service meals from Public House. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)\n\nAndrew Eck, the hotel's general manager, says Public House works well for the hotel because of its varied menu and \"essential Chicago\" feel.\n\n\"I thought the chance to partner with a trendy gastropub and take advantage of their popularity with locals was exciting for the people that weren't able to explore the city as much or wouldn't get to experience Public House in person,\" Eck said. No money changed hands in the partnership.\n\nAn in-room order from Public House comes with an automatic 20 percent gratuity included and a delivery fee of $3.50.\n\nStaff from the hotel and the restaurant have met frequently since starting the service last year to perfect the offering and solve any problems quickly, Eck says. But so far, he said they haven't had to make major adjustments to offerings or service. The food is served on plates used in the restaurant, instead of in takeout containers, to improve the perception by guests, Eck said. He estimates that about 20 to 30 room service orders are placed on busy nights at the 215-room hotel.\n\nPublic House meals are delivered to the hotel by restaurant staff and brought up to a guest's room by employees of the hotel. Eck said guests order from other delivery services very rarely, in part because the Public House menus are featured so prominently in guest rooms.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nRichard Jones, executive chef at Public House restaurant, oversees preparation of a meal for delivery to the nearby Kinzie Hotel on Aug. 2, 2017, in Chicago\u2019s Near North neighborhood. Guests at the Kinzie can order room service meals from the gastropub. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)\n\nRoom service is an important draw for the Kinzie's business travelers, who often don't have time to go out to restaurants, or travel to Chicago in the winter months, when eating in the warmth and comfort of a hotel room seems more appealing than trudging through snow to eat out, expense account or not.\n\nEck estimates that about 30 percent of the Kinzie's rooms are filled with business travelers in the summer. That figure swells to about 70 percent in the winter.\n\nA new Shake Shack restaurant on the ground floor of the Chicago Athletic Association Hotel in the Loop meant a new option for guests to order from, and marked the first time that the burger and custard chain had ever done room service.\n\nMike Bravo, left, a delivery driver with the Eat Purely food service, delivers a meal Aug. 2, 2017, to a guest at Hotel Chicago on Chicago\u2019s Near West Side. The service offers a handful of chef-made organic meals each day that can be delivered in 30 minutes. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)\n\nShake Shack spokeswoman Kristyn Clark said the partnership, which began last August, is unique to this hotel and isn't expected to be replicated at other Shake Shack locations.\n\nHotel Chicago on the Near West Side, which opened in April of last year, doesn't have a built-in restaurant and initially filled the gap by offering guests 10 percent off at neighboring Park Tavern and Angel's, a Mexican restaurant. But General Manager Imran Jivani also wanted a healthy and quick delivery option for the large number of young people and medical professionals who stay at the hotel because of its proximity to the Illinois Medical District and the United Center. Hotel Chicago and the Kinzie are both owned by Westmont-based Portfolio Hotels and Resorts.\n\nChicago-based meal delivery service Eat Purely turned out to be a \"perfect fit,\" he said. Eat Purely offers a handful of chef-made organic meals each day that can be delivered in 30 minutes.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nHe estimates between 5 and 10 percent of guests in the 116-room hotel use the service regularly, and many order multiple meals that can be refrigerated and microwaved in their rooms. As with the Kinzie, no money changes hands in the The Hotel Chicago-Eat Purely deal.\n\n\"People have loved it,\" he said. \"It works for any discerning customer or someone who wants all the bells and whistles.\"\n\nEat Purely meal delivery may also be a way of helping hotel guests break out of their routines.\n\nChicago visitors tend to stick to the familiar when staying at hotels in the city, according to delivery company DoorDash. The most popular restaurants for DoorDash hotel deliveries in Chicago are The Cheesecake Factory and Buffalo Wild Wings. But those hotel dwellers willing to try local restaurants most frequently chose Doc B's, Duck Duck Goat, Big Bowl, The Chicago Diner and Big Star, according to the company.\n\nWhile smaller boutique hotels have found solutions to their room service dilemmas, large chains have been experimenting with partnerships too.\n\nHyatt Centric, a Hyatt chain aimed at younger travelers, launched a \"Restaurant to Go\" service in which guests could order from restaurants or an express menu and have food delivered to their rooms in 20 minutes. As part of that program, the brand formed a pilot program with Grubhub to provide room service delivery from a curated set of restaurants at its hotels in Miami; Park City, Utah; and Long Beach, Calif. Local hotel employees picked seven to 10 restaurants for each property, and ordering goes through a customized webpage that's provided at check-in.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nGrubhub wouldn't offer financial details of its partnership with Hyatt, but said that hotel guests tend to spend more on orders overall.\n\nSandra Cordova Micek, senior vice president of global brands at Hyatt, said the collaboration has been \"received enthusiastically,\" and that the hotel chain is \"looking forward to evolving the relationship.\"\n\nsbomkamp@chicagotribune.com\n\nTwitter @SamWillTravel", "output": "Several hotels in Chicago are delivering meals to guest rooms through partnerships with local restaurants. The deal enables hotels to offer food delivery without producing it themselves and provides the food delivery company exposure to a broader customer base. Gastropub Public House, the first participant in the scheme, hasn't made major adjustments to its offering or service since it partnered with the Kinzie Hotel in Chicago's Near North neighbourhood, the hotel's general manager said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Perceptions of Aging Are Shared Across the Generations \n Photo via Pixabay\n\nBy Joey Collado\n\nWESTliving, the organization that operates the senior living community that I manage, is a private family business founded through the efforts of Gary and Mary West. The Wests are also philanthropists and committed to successful aging.\n\nThey have established a nonprofit institute that funds research into successful aging and develops solutions to support seniors and their quality of life. The Gary and Mary West Health Institute recently shared some interesting findings regarding our perceptions of aging.\n\nTheir study showed that the things that concern us most about aging remain stable throughout our lives.\n\nPeople\u2019s fears about don\u2019t differ much regardless of what generation they\u2019re from. What that means to you, if you have aging parents, is that they\u2019ll likely have the same concerns as you and your Millennial children. That should be comforting. It means you\u2019ll all be able to find common ground in conversations about maintaining your parents\u2019 quality of life as they age.\n\nThe study found that memory loss, financial security and health issues are the top three concerns across all generations, followed closely by worries about losing independence or having to move to a nursing home.\n\nAnother interesting finding was that people in their 30s through 50s have a negative perception of whether government programs meet the needs of seniors, whereas seniors who have been exposed to the programs feel more positively about them. This should also come as a relief to adults with aging parents as it indicates that a little more awareness could go a long way toward easing worries about the services and programming available to their parents.\n\nThe study reports, \u201cAbout a third of adults in their 30s, 40s and 50s do not think such government programs are meeting the needs of seniors, compared to 26 percent of people in their 60s and 14 percent of people in their 70s or older.\u201d\n\nResearching options for our aging loved ones should bring relief as we become more informed about the variety of programming available and can advocate for their unique care needs. Ensuring a stable environment from a financial, health and emotional perspective is essential, as is privacy and accessibility to activities that respect independence needs.\n\nWhen we commit to helping our elderly loved ones live their lives to the fullest\u2014what we call inspired aging\u2014we focus on creating opportunities to be mentally, physically and socially engaged and emphasize independence. It sounds like common sense to us, but it helps to see research confirm it.\n\nThe study was conducted by the West Health Institute and NORC at the University of Chicago and can be found online.\n\nJoey Collado is the General Manager at The Montera, a San Diego County senior living community offering independent, assisted, memory, dementia and short term stay care.", "output": "WESTliving, the organization that operates the senior living community that I manage, is a private family business founded through the efforts of Gary and Mary West. The Wests are also philanthropists and committed to successful aging.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Paying doctors more \u2014 now will they treat more poor Californians? \n It seems like a simple solution. Raise what you pay doctors for treating low-income patients, and they\u2019ll treat more of them.\n\nAll those waits for appointments and physician shortages that have long plagued the state\u2019s low-income health insurance program\u2014a program that one out of every three Californians now relies on\u2014could be remedied with a simple dose of economics.\n\nBut in health care, nothing is that simple.\n\nYes, while debate over the future of Obamacare waxes and wanes in Congress, California doctors are happily preparing for their first state pay increase in Medi-Cal in 17 years. Physicians and advocates for low-income patients pried a $325 million raise from a reluctant Gov. Jerry Brown, who was skeptical that a doctor pay increase would translate to better care.\n\nEven so, civil rights groups and some California labor unions are suing the state to pay doctors significantly more\u2014the latest in a long history of legal actions that blame meager Medi-Cal reimbursement rates for delays in patient care.\n\nOne way or another, California doctors are likely to get a pay raise soon. Here\u2019s what you need to know about how physicians may respond\u2014and how it could impact the ability of 13 million Californians to see the doctors they need, when they need them.\n\nHow tough is it for Medi-Cal patients to get the care they need?\n\nOverall, Medi-Cal patients have a tougher time getting the care they need than similar patients in other states, where the same program goes by its federal name, Medicaid. Recipients outside California are more likely to have visited a specialist and received a flu vaccination than recipients in California.\n\nMedi-Cal recipients also were about 5 percent more likely to report delaying care because of difficulty getting an appointment.\n\nUsers of private insurance and Medicare (the federal health program for older people) typically fare better than Medi-Cal patients. Medi-Cal enrollees were more than twice as likely as adults with employer-sponsored insurance to use the emergency room as a usual source of care\u2014a costly problem for the state.\n\nAccess problems are most severe for certain in-demand specialties such as psychiatry, which are even harder to come by for rural patients.\n\nCalifornia has legally binding standards for access to care, including a maximum of a 15-day wait for specialist appointments and no more than a 90-minute drive to care for rural patients.\n\nUnfortunately, the state has trouble collecting the data it needs to see if health plans it contracts with are actually complying with those standards.\n\nThis isn\u2019t to say Medi-Cal is in utter disarray. Nearly 80 percent of Medi-Cal enrollees say the program provides access to most of the medical care they need. Interestingly, Spanish-speaking Latinos are among the groups most likely to report a positive experience with the program.\n\nBut without better data, it\u2019s very difficult to know who\u2019s doing the best and worst jobs of giving patient access\u2014and how much difference higher reimbursements really make.\n\nSo just how stingy has California been to doctors?\n\nCalifornia ranks 48th among all states in what it pays physicians for treating Medi-Cal patients, according to a recent and widely cited Urban Institute study. For primary care physicians, California ranks next to last\u2014only Rhode Island pays less.\n\nThose comparative rankings, however, are less definitive than they seem. They\u2019re based on what the state pays on the \u201cfee-for-service\u201d portion of Medi-Cal, which only comprises about 20 percent of the program\u2019s patients. Like the name entails, in \u201cfee for service\u201d the state pays doctors directly based off the services they provide: x dollars for a physical, y dollars for an MRI.\n\nThe remaining 80 percent of patients are in Medi-Cal managed care organizations\u2014private health networks that receive a flat rate from the state for each patient they serve. The hope is that they can tamp down costs more effectively than the state could do on its own. Those managed care plans in turn contract with doctors\u2014and those contract terms are confidential.\n\n\u201cThe whole contracting process creates a black box and we don\u2019t really know what\u2019s going on in there,\u201d says Gerald Kominski, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.\n\nThat makes it more difficult to easily incentivize those doctors to take on more patients. In fee-for-service, you can simply raise rates or target bonuses to certain physicians. In managed care, there\u2019s a middleman.\n\nWhile we don\u2019t know precisely what the vast majority of Medi-Cal providers are being paid, it\u2019s safe to assume that for most doctors it\u2019s far less than employer-sponsored private insurers or Medicare.\n\nMedi-Cal\u2019s reimbursement rate for primary care has been just 41 percent of Medicare\u2019s\u2014meaning physicians have a much greater financial incentive to take on patients from Medicare than Medi-Cal.\n\nPaying doctors more is going to entice them to see more patients, right?\n\nMost research suggests that yes, raising reimbursement rates is associated with better patient access. States where Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements are about equal typically see higher provider participation rates in Medicaid than California.\n\n\u201cIt may not be a simple linear relationship, but it\u2019s fairly linear,\u201d says Janet Coffman, associate professor of public policy at UCSF. \u201cBut you have to be a little careful extrapolating that out, especially to managed care.\u201d\n\nIn fact, a recent experience with the rollout of the Affordable Care Act illustrates why. Rightly anticipating a massive swelling of Medicaid rolls, the Obama administration temporarily boosted Medicaid reimbursement rates to Medicare levels in 2013 and 2014 in the hopes of attracting more physicians to participate in the program.\n\nBut research was mixed: Some studies found that appointment availability increased for new Medicaid patients in certain states, while other states reported no increase in doctors willing to take on new Medicaid patients, and no uptick in patients seeing a primary care doctor.\n\nAdvocates for higher Medicaid reimbursements blame the mixed results on the flawed rollout of the pay raise\u2014many doctors didn\u2019t see the money they were promised for years after the policy was announced. Physicians also knew the increased payment rates were only temporary in most states, diluting the incentive to take on more low-income patients.\n\nThat\u2019s the same obstacle California faces in structuring its own supplemental payments to Medi-Cal providers.\n\nDoctors consider a lot more when deciding to take on poor patients\n\nA marginal increase in reimbursements can be easily outweighed by the administrative strain of dealing with Medi-Cal. That\u2019s especially true for providers without a lot of back office support, who could have difficulty making sure claims are paid on time. Many physicians also fear the risk of so-called \u201cclawbacks,\u201d when Medi-Cal recoups reimbursements paid to providers after a policy change or legal action.\n\nMany doctors decide it\u2019s just not worth it.\n\n\u201cIf you\u2019re a physician, you have to ask yourself, what is the administrative burden on me, how hard is it going to be for me to get paid from a Medi-Cal (managed care organization) plan, how easy is it going to be to get referrals?\u201d says UCSF\u2019s Coffman. \u201cThese administrative things matter.\u201d\n\nGeography also plays a part. If you work in a predominantly low-income community, you may have little choice but to see Medi-Cal patients. If you work in a richer area, you have more discretion. Rural areas like San Joaquin County or the northernmost stretches of the state, where Medi-Cal access is harder to come by, have a difficult time attracting doctors regardless of what type of insurance their residents have.\n\nSo how is the state planning to do this?\n\nDuring negotiations with legislative leaders during budget season, the Brown administration expressed doubts about how higher payment rates translated to better patient access.\n\n\u201cThe department has always indicated that funding and rates are only one element of access, and whether this will change access is a question,\u201d says Mari Cantwell, chief deputy director of health care programs at the California Department of Health Care Services.\n\nThe state had options for how to distribute the $325 million in extra reimbursements approved in the budget. It could have tried to funnel payments to certain geographic areas in dire need of more physicians. It could have targeted specialty fields where doctors are in high demand. Or it could have offered higher reimbursement rates for treating new Medi-Cal patients.\n\nInstead state health officials opted for a simpler approach\u2014raising reimbursement rates across the board an average of 60 percent for all office visits, regardless of what type of doctor the patient sees or where the doctor works.\n\nThe result: Medi-Cal reimbursements for office visits will rise to about half of what Medicare pays, maybe more. While that sounds like a big jump, we\u2019re talking about fairly nominal amounts per office visit. The biggest reimbursement raise\u2014for seeing a new patient with complex illnesses\u2014is $50.\n\nThe state also raised reimbursement rates for psychiatrists, given a severe shortage of Medi-Cal providers.\n\nStill, the California Medical Association lobbied hard for the increase. This association of doctors calls it a cautious step in the right direction.\n\nCalling the state\u2019s plans for paying doctors more \u201cencouraging,\u201d medical association spokeswoman Joanne Adams wrote in an email that her organization would be \u201cstaying engaged\u201d because how the program was carried out would determine its results.\n\nCalifornia designed its plan to pass muster with federal health officials, who must approve the plan and have passed recent regulations limiting how states can direct extra payments to managed care organizations. The raises for providers in managed care programs will be similarly structured to the proposals in fee-for-service.\n\nIf approved, the payments would go into effect retroactively from July of this year.\n\nThe Brown administration also reserves the right to freeze the reimbursement raises should the federal government make major cuts to Medi-Cal. While that likely won\u2019t affect this year\u2019s payments, the money coming to doctors in future years is less secure.\n\nCALmatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics. For more data points reporting by Matt Levin, go here", "output": "It seems like a simple solution. Raise what you pay doctors for treating low-income patients, and they\u2019ll treat more of them. All those waits for appointments and physician shortages that have long plagued the state\u2019s low-income health insurance program\u2014a program that one out of every three Californians now relies on\u2014could be remedied with a simple dose of economics.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Rocky Road Ahead for California Single Payer Proposal \n Despite rumors of its death, \"the Healthy California Act,\" a bill that would create a massive single payer system for nearly all 39 million Golden State residents, is alive and essential. It's just waiting for enough political will that will bring it back for legislative hearings, and ultimately, passage later this year.\n\nAt least, that's what its proponents, including the California Nurses Association (CNA) and groups of frustrated physicians, passionately insist.\n\nSome may now be complacent because the state is no longer in panic mode. They sense that last month's defeat of efforts to repeal Obamacare voided the threat that billions in federal cuts would cripple California's Medicaid funds and marketplace subsidies.\n\nBut the CNA (the Healthy California Act's key backer) and other supporters are certain the federal guillotine remains sharply suspended over the state's federally funded health programs.\n\n\"Just because the (repeal/replace) bills were defeated doesn't mean they've gone away,\" said Don Nielsen, the CNA's government relations director. \"[Sen.] Lindsey Graham [R-S.C.] is working on another version.\" Additionally, Donald Trump has tweeted threats he will end federal subsidies for insurance companies and not enforce the individual mandate, both established under rules of the Affordable Care Act, Nielsen said.\n\nBest Fix for Broken System?\n\nPeople forget how broken California's system still is, he said. Even with the ACA, some 2.7 million people in the state remain uninsured and, for another 12 million, out-of-pocket expenses place many of their medical needs out of financial reach, he said. The Healthy California Act would make healthcare their right.\n\nBut the bill, SB 562, has been characterized by many as dead on arrival since late June, when state Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D) shunted it to a committee, though it had passed with fanfare June 1 in the state Senate, 23-14.\n\nRendon did that, he said, because it contains severe gaps and controversial provisions.\n\nPerhaps foremost among them: the bill doesn't say how its estimated $404 billion annual cost would be financed.\n\nNor does it indicate how the new system would control costs, or deal with the possibility that the Trump administration could reject the necessary federal 1332 waiver, allowing the state to divert Medicare and Medicaid funding -- an estimated $225 billion a year -- into a Healthy California Trust Fund, which would become the sole payer to qualified fee-for-service providers.\n\nThe bill has broad support from patient advocacy groups, teachers, churches, and many larger cities. Advocates note that employers would no longer pay huge sums to buy health coverage for their workers.\n\nBut far too many of its provisions make many important stakeholders unhappy.\n\nThe possibility that new employer fees would be required to fund the program make the bill especially unpopular with the Chamber of Commerce, agribusiness, and taxpayer groups. The state's insurance industry, represented by the California Association of Health Plans, would be essentially run out of business. Asked for comment, the CAHP referred to its June 1 press release that contends the plan would be too expensive.\n\nThe bill would, for example:\n\nEssentially eliminate all health insurance companies, such as Kaiser Permanente, which covers some 8.5 million Californians. Their services would be relegated to cover the few that were not offered by Healthy California. Kaiser could still provide services like other hospital systems.\n\nEliminate the need for employer-sponsored insurance policies, an estimated $100 billion to $150 billion a year.\n\nCover all medical expenses for patients served in any typical healthcare setting, regardless of immigration status, with the exception of military personnel.\n\nEliminate all patient premiums, co-payments, co-insurance, deductibles, or cost-sharing, which some worry would lead to unnecessary visits and overutilization.\n\nCover more services than what many medical plans typically cover today, such as vision, dental, long-term, and substance abuse care.\n\nAllow patients to select any qualifying provider, eliminating the concept of networks.\n\nAllow Healthy California to negotiate prescription drug pricing.\n\nFederal Assent Required\n\nThe bill could come up again when the legislature reconvenes August 21, or in committee session next spring. Efforts are apparently underway to amend the bill in back rooms, sources said. But whether compromises will go far enough is doubtful.\n\nAsked by the CNA to study the issue this spring, a University of Massachusetts Amherst research group's May report suggested several ways Healthy California could work as a national model.\n\nFirst, its $404 billion cost could be pared to $331 billion through efficiencies: removing administrative overhead, lowering pharmaceutical prices through negotiation, better management of provider fee structures, and by reducing unnecessary and inefficiently delivered services, missed disease prevention opportunities, and fraud.\n\nIn addition to Medicare and Medicaid dollars rerouted to Healthy California, the report identified two other possible sources of funding: a new gross receipts tax of 2.3% applied to all businesses with more than nine employees and a new sales tax of 2.3%, exempting housing, utility, and food used at home and certain services, the report said.\n\nBut a key concern is that federal 1332 waiver. Only two have ever been granted, to Hawaii last December and Alaska a week ago.\n\nTed Mazer, MD, president-elect of the California Medical Association (CMA), suggested that it's naive to believe \"the federal government would turn over every federal dollar that it puts into healthcare over to the hands of California to do with it as they saw fit as a single payer ... Nobody had bothered to ask the federal government, 'would you consider that?'\"\n\nHe also noted that pressure to do something at the state level has diminished, with the ACA still intact for the foreseeable future. \"The uncertainty of what may come from Washington is still concerning,\" he said, \"but for the time being the removal of threats to cut Medi-Cal payments ... makes California less pressured to find another system immediately.\"\n\nThe two key lawmakers who introduced the California bill, Democrat senators Toni Atkins and Ricardo Lara, declined to respond to requests for comment on the bill's chances.\n\nBut diehard support among some physician groups remains.\n\nThere's the California Physicians Alliance, a non-profit group whose platforms include advocacy for a single payer system. Member James Kratzer, MD, a solo-practice pediatrician in Fresno, said he's tired of dealing with 600 sets of insurance plan rules that cover different drugs, require different co-pays, and cover different services that are impossible to keep straight.\n\n\"Insurance companies inconsistently deny various services,\" he said, adding that the same plan will deny a benefit for one patient in the morning but allow it in the afternoon.\n\nSan Francisco family practice physician Jeff Gee, MD, advocates single payer conversion because insurance companies have become \"my silent partner in the room. They pretty much guide decisions regarding diagnosis and treatment, referrals, who I can consult, and how soon I could see patients back ... what drugs I could order and tests.\"\n\nHis clinical expertise, he said, is \"second-guessed by Aetna, and Blue Cross, while not contributing anything to the clinical encounter.\"\n\nDocs Divided\n\nBut the Healthy California bill is far from universally popular among physicians.\n\nSome physicians that have modeled their practices under Medicare and insurance plan risk-bearing models, where they're paid flat rates for episode based care, are nervous about a single payer disrupting their practices.\n\nThe current bill \"doesn't incorporate any type of integrated delivery system model,\" said William Barcellona, senior vice president for government affairs for CAPG, which represents 300 multispecialty group practices in 32 states with bundled or capitated risk-bearing models.\n\n\"It's really more about what I call 1950s Marcus Welby-style medicine: independent solo practitioners practicing in a fragmented model,\" which may increase costs and impair continuity of care.\n\nAnd Joseph Scherger, MD, vice president of a 60-physician primary care group at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, said he doesn't think Americans (even those in California) are ready for a one-size-fits-all system for healthcare payment.\n\n\"We could sort of say that Kaiser [Permanente] got it right, and so now everybody in California will now have Kaiser. That might be a solution. But that's not America. America likes choice and variety and freedom, and wouldn't want to be forced into something like a Kaiser. So no, I don't see any real type of solution right now.\"\n\nThe CMA has not taken a formal position on the bill.\n\nMazer noted that California is often seen as a bellwether by clinicians in other states. He's heard doctors express concern that any significant movement of single payer legislation in a state as big as California could pressure their states to do the same. \"Then they'd be stuck doing something that they can't afford or manage.\" Others have said a single payer system in California would attract un- and under-insured people from other states to move there, with potentially major adverse consequences.\n\nNielsen of the CNA thinks Rendon should relent, and let the bill be heard in open debate and then amended, but he declined to say what compromises his groups would be willing to accept.\n\n\"The legislative process is where all of these questions should be answered,\" he said. \"Let's develop the political will.\"\n\nPlease enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.", "output": "Despite rumors of its death, \"the Healthy California Act,\" a bill that would create a massive single payer system for nearly all 39 million Golden State residents, is alive and essential. It's just waiting for enough political will that will bring it back for legislative hearings, and ultimately, passage later this year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Health reform driving payer-provider partnerships \n Payers and providers have for decades stayed in their silos, leading to a more fractured and adversarial healthcare system. That relationship, however, is starting to soften for many in the industry. Payer-provider partnerships put the two groups on the same team in hopes of reducing costs and improving care and outcomes through sharing data and better communication.\n\nA major driver of these partnerships is the move away from fee-for-service payments and toward valued-based payments and population health management.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been tracking these partnerships for many years now and of the approximately 200 that have launched in the last five years, 92% are emphasizing value-based compensation in some shape,\u201d Thomas Robinson, partner at Oliver Wyman, told Healthcare Dive.\n\nThe payer-provider partnerships popping up across healthcare vary in type, size, location and model. There are 50/50 joint ventures with co-branding, and less intensive partnerships like accountable care organizations (ACO), patient-centered medical homes (PCMH), pay for performance and bundled payments. Oliver Wyman found the partnerships can be broken down depending on providers\u2019 appetite for risk.\n\nThe differences are endless, but they all focus on improving care for the individual patient. They do this through close communication between stakeholders, better interoperability and data-sharing, using data analytics to track patients and reducing administrative burdens.\n\nKeys to partnerships: Trust, communication and a focus on the patient\n\nThe first step in these partnerships is building trust between payers and providers. Robinson said that can be difficult, as payers and providers may have an fractured relationship. Payers and providers can overcome differences by aligning around the big issues as early as possible, and establishing the right governance model.\n\nChuck Lehn, president of Banner Health Network, told Healthcare Dive a successful joint venture allows each organization to offer its administrative strengths and have a clear understanding of its roles and accountabilities.\n\n\u201cIn our experience, we have found that streamlining the administrative pieces of our product can lead to better efficiency and a great member experience,\u201d said Lehn.\n\nBrigitte Nettesheim, president of transformative markets for Aetna, told Healthcare Dive partnerships necessitate a culture change, and participants need to understand they\u2019re both in it for the long run. This requires aligning responsibilities and carefully crafting, negotiating and planning down to the most minute detail before the partnership is signed and executed.\n\nAnother key is communication. Lehn acknowledged that communicating across systems and platforms between two organizations and healthcare providers requires time, attention and resources. In a successful partnership, both sides need to communicate regularly and invest in technology, such as portals, so the two sides can share data seamlessly.\n\nCaring for the whole patient works best when payers and providers share data, so there is improved care management, better interventions and better analytics around population health. This requires a capital commitment, so there is communication between not only payers and providers, but also between those two groups and patients, said Robinson.\n\nThe two sides can go much deeper into care for patients by going beyond claims. In partnerships, payers shouldn't have to wait for claims to see how their members are doing and doctors shouldn't have to hope that their patients tell them when they have received care elsewhere. All of that data should be shared freely and promptly.\n\n\u201cMost communication has been traditionally centered around transactions. That's just not sufficient anymore.\" James Leatherwood Marketing Communications Manager at Availity\n\nJames Leatherwood, marketing communications manager at Availity, told Healthcare Dive.\n\nIn addition to regular back and forth, payers and providers need regular meetings, whether monthly or quarterly, that focus on strategic issues about the partnership, said Leatherwood.\n\nThe third part of a successful partnership is aligning incentives that focus on keeping people healthy and creating a positive healthcare experience, said Robinson.\n\nPartnerships must provide patients the right incentives, integration, investment, insight and innovation to work with the plan to deliver improvements across cost, quality, outcomes and experience, said Robinson.\n\n\u201cThe point of these partnerships is to create something new, rather than just building the same old offerings with a narrow network. Successful partnerships will take the opportunity to innovate around the product and experience now that the incentives, insight, investment and integration are all for it,\u201d said Robinson.\n\nPartnerships to watch\n\nPayers that are involved in partnerships vary from new players in the payer space like Oscar Health and Bright Health to large, established insurers like Aetna, various Blues and Cigna.\n\nHere is a handful of the closely watched partnerships:\n\nAetna is one payer to watch in the partnership arena. Nettesheim said the company has committed to moving 75% of its contracts to value-based arrangements by 2020. Aetna is currently at 48%.\n\nAetna and Banner Health agreed on the partnership in October 2016 and have been laying out the groundwork before its launch this month in Maricopa and Pinal counties in Arizona. The two companies hope to expand the program statewide ultimately.\n\nTo prepare for the partnership, Tom Grote, who became CEO of Banner | Aetna joint venture in May, told Healthcare Dive that Banner Health and Aetna have developed joint operating committees, including marketing/sales and population health, that include members from both organizations.\n\nThe partnership looks to improve consumer experience by fully integrating providers, Aetna and administrative services, while eliminating redundancies in care and administrative problems. Aetna and Banner Health expect streamlining care and services will lead to savings for patients and employers.\n\nNettersheim said the partnerships are about \u201ceach side playing to its strengths, aligning incentives and driving scale.\u201d\n\nThe two companies have worked together for more than five years on a separate ACO. The ACO has resulted in nearly $10 million in savings, a 24% drop in avoidable surgical admissions and increased generic drug prescribing rates by 4%, according to Aetna.\n\nGrote said the key to partnerships is a common vision between the entities and leadership that healthcare needs to move to a value-based system.\n\n\u201cIf we keep the customer \u2014 the end user \u2014 in mind and build partnerships with that as our North Star, we believe we will have a more successful, efficient and collaborative health system,\u201d said Grote.\n\nNettersheim said most provider-sponsored health plans formed since 2010 haven\u2019t shown a profit yet. In some cases, this is because they aren't yet able to scale up to what is needed to create profits.\n\nAetna\u2019s partnerships with Banner, Allina and Sutter Health are still too new to find results, but Nettersheim is confident that Aetna\u2019s partnerships will achieve scale by offering stability, expertise, volume and market power.\n\nAnother partnership to watch is Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan\u2019s (BCBSM) PCMH, which is the largest medical home project in the country. The model is part of BCBSM\u2019s Value Partnerships, which works with physician organizations and hospitals to improve patient care and provide value to members and customers.\n\nThe PCMH program isn\u2019t a 50/50 co-branded joint venture like Banner | Aetna, but is an example of a less intensive partnership looking to have a similar result. The PCMH started nine years ago and includes 4,692 physicians in 1,709 practices. There are PCMH practices in 81 of Michigan\u2019s 83 counties.\n\nThe idea of a PCMH began a decade ago as a way to improve care and outcomes while cutting costs. The model has primary care physicians leading care teams, which include specialists, that focus on each patient by tracking conditions and making sure patients get care \u201cat the appropriate time and in the most appropriate setting,\u201d according to BCBSM.\n\nThe payer said they have seen success. This year, PCMH practices are performing better than other practices. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan said PCMH practices have seen 19% lower rate of emergency room (ER) visits for adults; 23% lower rate for primary care sensitive ER visits for adults; 25% lower rate of ambulatory care sensitive inpatient stays for adults and 15% lower rate of pediatric ER visits.\n\n\u201cIf we keep the customer \u2014 the end user \u2014 in mind and build partnerships with that as our North Star, we believe we will have a more successful, efficient and collaborative health system.\u201d Tom Grote CEO of Banner | Aetna joint venture\n\nA recent Health Services Research report also found that hospital per-member per-month cost was reduced by 17.2% and emergency department per-member per-month cost was reduced by 9.4% for Blue Cross PCMH patients with asthma, angina, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, high blood pressure and congestive heart failure.\n\nTom Leyden, director II of the Value Partnerships Program at BCBSM, told Healthcare Dive members actively engaged with their primary care physicians are seeing better outcomes. What\u2019s made the BCBSM program a success is \u201cstrong relationships that have been cultivated within the Michigan healthcare community,\u201d he said.\n\nLeyden said providers want to be active participants in system transformation.\n\n\u201cThis requires ongoing support from the payer and demonstrated evidence of practice transformation and clinic results from the provider community,\u201d said Leyden. \u201cAdministration of these programs is an integral aspect of measuring performance.\u201d\n\nLeyden said the payer strives to make the programs as manageable as possible because physicians need to perform many administrative tasks on an ongoing basis. BCBSM regularly solicits feedback from providers during quarterly meetings and phone calls, emails, webinars and in-person meetings on what\u2019s working, what\u2019s not and what needs to be changed.\n\nBarriers to overcome\n\nOne barrier that still needs resolution in partnerships is moving providers away from phone communication. Availity recently published a survey of 40 health plans and more than 400 practice- and facility-based providers that found respondents said phone communication is the preferred way for providers to communicate with payers.\n\nLeatherwood said a more efficient way is a queue system. In this system, a provider could check the status of all claims and get alerts when they need to provide more information. The system would allow providers to look in one queue, update the claims information and then move on with their day. Payers would have their own queue and would get alerts when providers have questions. This would reduce phone calls and create immediacy.\n\nLeatherwood said the healthcare system is stuck in a \u201cchart chase\u201d between providers and payers, and moving to an automated queue system would be a gamechanger.\n\nAnother big question is whether partnerships can scale. Expanding these partnerships beyond local or state boundaries may be difficult. Grote said partnerships are intensive and require close relationships, so joint ventures work best on a regional or state level.\n\nIt\u2019s still too early in the process to say how partnerships will morph down the road. There are many different types of partnerships and more are likely to develop depending on locations, providers, payers and needs.\n\n\u201cI think in the near-term what we\u2019re going to see is larger healthcare providers are going to be more strategic, working directly with payers. The health plans are going to be more interested not just in working with the staff level, but executive levels,\u201d said Leatherwood.", "output": "Payers and providers have for decades stayed in their silos, leading to a more fractured and adversarial healthcare system. That relationship, however, is starting to soften for many in the industry. Payer-provider partnerships put the two groups on the same team in hopes of reducing costs and improving care and outcomes through sharing data and better communication.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "High intensity interval training can reverse frailty at advanced age, preclinical study finds \n Credit: University at Buffalo\n\nGrowing older may not have to mean growing frail. A preclinical study has revealed that brief periods of intense physical activity can be safely administered at advanced age, and that this kind of activity has the potential to reverse frailty.\n\nPublished in the Journal of Gerontology A in June by University at Buffalo researchers, the study is the first to investigate whether a novel, short-session regimen of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) can be safe and effective in older populations.\n\nThe study was conducted on two groups of a dozen mice, each 24 months old, which correlates roughly to 65 years old in human terms. All the mice had been sedentary up until that age. While cautioning that the study was done in mice, the authors state that the results could have significant application to humans.\n\n\"We know that being frail or being at risk for becoming frail puts people at increased risk of dying and comorbidity,\" said Bruce R. Troen, MD, senior author on the study with Kenneth L. Seldeen, PhD, who is first author.\n\nTroen is professor and chief of the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine in the Department of Medicine, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB, a geriatrician with UBMD Internal Medicine, and a physician-investigator with the Veterans Affairs Western New York Health Care System. Seldeen is research assistant professor of medicine at UB.\n\n\"These results show that it's possible that high-intensity interval training can help enhance quality of life and capacity to be healthy,\" Troen said.\n\nThe results were striking with mice exhibiting \"dramatic\" improvements in numerous measurements, including strength and physical performance.\n\nNo longer frail\n\nOne of the most significant findings was that by the end of the study, five of six mice found to be frail or pre-frail at baseline improved, and four were no longer frail.\n\n\"Those four mice who had exhibited the kinds of deficits that correlate to frailty in humans improved to a completely robust level,\" said Troen. \"The HIIT actually reversed frailty in them.\"\n\nTroen and Seldeen developed mouse equivalents for measures that assess human frailty, including ways to evaluate grip strength, endurance and gait speed, so that they could establish baseline levels and then compare those with results once the study was complete.\n\n\"Because the performance measures for the mice are directly relevant to clinical parameters, we think this program of exercise is quite applicable to humans,\" said Troen. \"We're laying a foundation so we can do this in people and so we can understand how to tailor it to individuals so they can successfully implement this.\"\n\nSimilar to the way that an athletic trainer might individualize a fitness program for a client, Troen and Seldeen tailored intensity levels to each mouse.\n\n\"While the mice are genetically identical, they aren't phenotypically identical,\" Seldeen explained, \"so we customized the exercise program to each mouse, first finding out what each one was capable of at baseline, and then increasing or decreasing the intensity depending on the performance of the mouse during the study.\"\n\nHIIT was well-tolerated\n\nThe 10-minute exercise program involved a three-minute warm-up, three intervals of one minute of high intensity and one minute at lower intensity, and a final minute of higher intensity on an inclined treadmill. The exercises were done three times a week over 16 weeks. All exercises were well-tolerated by the mice.\n\nThere were dramatic improvements in grip strength, treadmill endurance and gait speed. The mice showed greater muscle mass and an increase in total mitochondria, the energy factories of cells.\n\n\"Increased mitochondrial biomass allows you to utilize oxygen more efficiency,\" Troen explained. \"With HIIT, we saw both mitochondrial increase and an improvement in muscle quality and fiber size in these mice.\"\n\nAs to why HIIT results in such significant benefits to those who engage in it, Troen said that it has to do with the stress to which it subjects the body.\n\n\"Exercise stresses the system and the body can respond beneficially,\" he explained. \"We believe that the intensity of individualized HIIT provides a more significant but manageable stress so the body responds more robustly to these short, vigorous periods of exercise.\n\n\"In other words, you get more bang for your buck.\"\n\nTroen and Seldeen cautioned that anyone considering HIIT should check with their physician first.", "output": "Growing older may not have to mean growing frail. A preclinical study has revealed that brief periods of intense physical activity can be safely administered at advanced age, and that this kind of activity has the potential to reverse frailty.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Social isolation, loneliness could be greater threat to public health than obesity, researchers say \n Credit: CC0 Public Domain\n\nLoneliness and social isolation may represent a greater public health hazard than obesity, and their impact has been growing and will continue to grow, according to research presented at the 125th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association.\n\n\"Being connected to others socially is widely considered a fundamental human need\u2014crucial to both well-being and survival. Extreme examples show infants in custodial care who lack human contact fail to thrive and often die, and indeed, social isolation or solitary confinement has been used as a form of punishment,\" said Julianne Holt-Lunstad, PhD, professor of psychology at Brigham Young University. \"Yet an increasing portion of the U.S. population now experiences isolation regularly.\"\n\nApproximately 42.6 million adults over age 45 in the United States are estimated to be suffering from chronic loneliness, according to AARP's Loneliness Study. In addition, the most recent U.S. census data shows more than a quarter of the population lives alone, more than half of the population is unmarried and, since the previous census, marriage rates and the number of children per household have declined.\n\n\"These trends suggest that Americans are becoming less socially connected and experiencing more loneliness,\" said Holt-Lunstad.\n\nTo illustrate the influence of social isolation and loneliness on the risk for premature mortality, Holt-Lunstad presented data from two meta-analyses. The first involved 148 studies, representing more than 300,000 participants, and found that greater social connection is associated with a 50 percent reduced risk of early death. The second study, involving 70 studies representing more than 3.4 million individuals primarily from North America but also from Europe, Asia and Australia, examined the role that social isolation, loneliness or living alone might have on mortality. Researchers found that all three had a significant and equal effect on the risk of premature death, one that was equal to or exceeded the effect of other well-accepted risk factors such as obesity.\n\n\"There is robust evidence that social isolation and loneliness significantly increase risk for premature mortality, and the magnitude of the risk exceeds that of many leading health indicators,\" said Holt-Lunstad. \"With an increasing aging population, the effect on public health is only anticipated to increase. Indeed, many nations around the world now suggest we are facing a 'loneliness epidemic.' The challenge we face now is what can be done about it.\"\n\nHolt-Lunstad recommended a greater priority be placed on research and resources to tackle this public health threat from the societal to the individual level. For instance, greater emphasis could be placed on social skills training for children in schools and doctors should be encouraged to include social connectedness in medical screening, she said. Additionally, people should be preparing for retirement socially as well as financially, as many social ties are related to the workplace, she noted, adding that community planners should make sure to include shared social spaces that encourage gathering and interaction, such as recreation centers and community gardens.\n\nMore information: Session 3328: \"Loneliness: A Growing Public Health Threat,\" Plenary, Saturday, Aug. 5, 3-3:50 p.m. EDT, Room 151A, Street Level, Walter E. Washington Convention Center, 801 Mount Vernon Pl., N.W., Washington, D.C.", "output": "Loneliness and social isolation may represent a greater public health hazard than obesity, and their impact has been growing and will continue to grow, according to research presented at the 125th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Caregiving Is Hard Enough. Isolation Can Make It Unbearable. \n \u201cI was dumbfounded,\u201d Ms. Sherman-Lewis said. \u201cIt\u2019s O.K. for other people\u2019s little grandchildren to be running around sometimes. What am I supposed to do, keep him in a crate in the car?\u201d\n\nLike so many caregivers, she has discovered that along with the abandoned career, the hands-on tasks, the medical scheduling, the insurance tussles and the disrupted sleep, she faces another trial: social isolation.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s hurtful,\u201d she said. \u201cYou need friends more than ever.\u201d\n\nBut where are they? Betsey Brairton, 48, cares for her mother, Sue, in rural Olean, N.Y. The elder Ms. Brairton, 79, suffers from spinal stenosis, arthritis and lingering damage from a stroke, so she has limited mobility. \u201cWe hardly go anywhere, and nobody comes here,\u201d said her daughter. When she does leave for an hour or two, she\u2019s afraid to put down her cellphone.\n\nThough a couple of friends occasionally invite her out for dinner, \u201cI can\u2019t commit to anything, in case my mom is having a bad day,\u201d Ms. Brairton said. She has begun to worry that when she does spend time with others, her narrowing life leaves her with nothing interesting to say.\n\nThose who work with caregivers know this phenomenon well, especially when the cared-for person has dementia, a particularly arduous responsibility.", "output": "For years, Marcy Sherman-Lewis went to a beauty salon in St. Joseph, Mo., every few weeks for a haircut and highlights. It had become something of an ordeal to prepare her husband, Gene Lewis, for this outing; he has Alzheimer\u2019s disease, at 79, and helping him shower and dress, insert hearing aids\u00a0and climb into the car was a very slow process.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Why robots are the way of our aging future \n This piece originally appeared in New America Media Elizabeth Payne wrote this article for Canada\u2019s Ottawa Citizen with the support of a journalism fellowship from New America Media, The Gerontological Society of America and the Silver Century Foundation .\n\nSAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Paro closes its watery eyes, tilts its head and emits a soft cry. The robotic harp seal \u2014 the world\u2019s best-known therapeutic robot \u2014 is the creation of Japanese scientist Takanori Shibata, but its voice is made in Canada. Shibata recorded the baby harp seal, which became the voice of Paro, on Quebec\u2019s Magdalen Islands.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a Canadian seal,\u201d said Shibata, who showed off his cuddly creation at the world\u2019s largest gathering of experts in the field of aging this week in San Francisco.\n\nParo, now used to help dementia patients and others in 30 countries around the world, is a huggable face of the high-tech future of aging. The burgeoning field is known as gerontechnology.\n\nEases stress for dementia patients\n\nParo, which has been used in Japan and through Europe since 2003, has helped demonstrate that technology can be used and embraced in previously-unheard-of ways for eldercare. The robot seal, which responds to touch and makes eye contact, has been found to reduce patient and caregiver stress, to stimulate interaction between patients and caregivers and to improve the socialization of patients. It has also been found to reduce the need for medication in some cases.\n\nIt\u2019s not all as warm and fuzzy as Paro, but technology \u2014 from smart homes, to health monitoring devices, to virtual reality therapy, to autonomous transportation, to technological advancements not yet dreamed of \u2014 are all part of the future of aging, according to experts.\n\nHeld in San Francisco, the World Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics, devoted an entire day this week to technology, a first for the gathering. It came complete with a \u201cstartup alley\u201d and pitch competition designed to bring the worlds of academia and startups together. Among pitches: a virtual reality program designed to bring a little bit of the outdoors to the institution-bound elders.\n\nTechnological advances have made many new aging technologies possible, said William Kearns, president of the International Society for Gerontechnology. Robots have a particular appeal.\n\n\u201cA robot can be a far more persuasive way to get a person to behave in a certain way \u2014 such as exercising \u2014 than an iPad or a cellphone,\u201d Kearns said.\n\nCanada\u2019s federally funded aging and technology network, AGE-WELL (Aging Gracefully across Environments using Technology to Support Wellness, Engagement and Long Life), helped organize the event among a range of universities and organizations in North America.\n\nAndrew Sixsmith, scientific director of AGE-WELL, said Canada is becoming a world leader in the field.\n\n\u201cThe Canadian government has had the foresight to invest in this sector because they realize there is an aging population, and we need solutions that are going to address the challenges and the opportunities that brings,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cWe are very keen in terms of the real-world impact of what we want to do, but also to demonstrate to the rest of the world that Canada can take a lead in this. I think Canada has put a lot of effort and investment into this and, down the line, that is going to pay off in terms of how it can benefit Canadian research, Canadian older people, the Canadian economy, but also benefit the rest of the world as well.\u201d\n\nImproving overall wellbeing\n\nJoseph Coughlin, founder of AgeLab at MIT, predicted smart homes, robots and more will change the way people live and age.\n\n\u201cIt is not about reminding me to take my meds, it is about having overall wellbeing and enabling me to do things, to improve the quality of life, not simply to extend it,\u201d he said. \u201cWe should understand we are designing a lifestyle.\u201d\n\nCoughlin predicted the coming generation of elderly will demand technology to help support them and enhance their lives.\n\n\u201cAre you going to be as polite as your parents?\u201d he asked. \u201cNo, you are going to expect a pill, a product or a policy to insure you live longer better because you have seen it your whole life.\u201d\n\nAlong with potential, the field of gerontechnology comes with challenges: Among them, the ethical issues of increased surveillance on the elderly and the fear that technology will replace the need for human interaction.\n\nSixsmith talked about the need for further study about the implications of increased surveillance of the elderly \u2014 particularly in their own homes.\n\n\u201cThe home environment has always been the domain in the individual, the space where you can be free from the observation of others. The introduction of surveillance technology breaks that boundary, and this is significant,\u201d he stated.\n\nBeyond nanny cams installed by concerned family members to watch elders is a future in which implanted tracking devices become more common. That raises new questions, said Coughlin.\n\nCoughlin asked, \u201cWhere is privacy and dignity in all of this? How far do I push your dignity in order to ensure your safety? The new question is going to be: To chip or not to chip?\u201d", "output": "Paro closes its watery eyes, tilts its head and emits a soft cry. The robotic harp seal \u2014 the world\u2019s best-known therapeutic robot \u2014 is the creation of Japanese scientist Takanori Shibata, but its voice is made in Canada. Shibata recorded the baby harp seal, which became the voice of Paro, on Quebec\u2019s Magdalen Islands.\u200b\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Older women are in worse financial shape than before, data says \n Maurie Backman\n\nThe Motley Fool\n\nThough the fact that women typically earn less money than men has always spelled trouble on the retirement front, recent data reveals that most women don't have the knowledge necessary to make long-term financial decisions. Specifically, only 18% of retirement-age women could pass a basic quiz on planning for the future, whereas 35% of men could do the same.\n\nBut that's not the only negative piece of data on women and retirement to come out lately. According to new research from the George Washington University Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center, women in their 50s are more financially fragile today than they were a generation ago. Not only has debt doubled for women in their 50s since the early 1990s, but twice as many 50-something females have less than $25,000 in savings. And that's a real problem, because women who are already in their 50s are generally looking at just 10 to 15 years to eliminate debt before retirement and catch up on building a nest egg. When we throw in the fact that women tend to live longer than men, and therefore require more savings, it becomes all the more critical for older female workers to clean up their finances while they still have an opportunity to do so.\n\nWhy older women struggle to save\n\nIt stands to reason that the less money you earn, the less you'll have available to save. Now the wage gap numbers (meaning, the extent to which men out-earn women) tend to bounce around from year to year, but generally speaking, women are said to earn anywhere from $0.77 to $0.83 for every dollar taken in by their comparably qualified male counterparts. This means that even if they save the same amount of their salaries percentage-wise, they're still apt to lag behind men. It's no wonder, then, that women typically have less money available during retirement.\n\nFurthermore, because women earn less, it's difficult for them to pay off debt once they incur it. And new data tells us that females' debt problems may begin as early as college, with women borrowing $3,100 more, on average, than men to finance an education. As such, it takes women almost two years longer, on average, to repay their student loans.\n\nThe bad news in all of this, obviously, is that the above research spells trouble for women on many fronts. The good news, however, is that women have options for overcoming the obstacles they face and improving their finances, both now and in the future.\n\nA proactive approach to a healthy financial future\n\nDespite their lack of retirement-planning knowledge, women are generally good investors, and a lot of that boils down to their tendency to ask questions, be patient, and take a disciplined approach to building wealth. That said, it's clear that women still have some catching up to do -- especially those in their 50s who have yet to amass $25,000 for retirement. If you're one of them, your best move is to ramp up your savings rate immediately and get as much cash into your IRA or 401(k) as possible.\n\nIf you're 50 or older, you can contribute up to $6,500 a year to the former and a rather generous $24,000 a year to the latter. Even if you can't max out either of these limits, saving $5,000 a year for 15 years will give you an additional $108,000 to work with in retirement, assuming your investments are able to generate a relatively conservative average annual 5% return during that decade and a half.\n\nFurthermore, if you're offered a 401(k) through your job, increasing your savings rate will help ensure that you're able to capitalize on whatever matching incentive your employer offers. And that's an easy way to snag some extra cash for the future.\n\nAt the same time, you'll want to work on knocking out debt (especially the non-mortgage kind) so that those payments cease to hang over your head once retirement rolls around. If your current income doesn't allow you to rapidly rid yourself of debt, it pays to consider a side job. Another option, of course, is to cut back on certain living expenses to free up that cash, whether it's downsizing your home or forgoing certain luxuries for a couple of years, like cable or restaurant meals.\n\nNo matter what steps you take to save more and owe less, the key is to act while you still have some time left on your side. It's your best hope for retiring on time and not struggling financially during your senior years.\n\nThe Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.\n\nThe Motley Fool is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news, analysis and commentary designed to help people take control of their financial lives. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.\n\nOffer from the Motley Fool:The $16,122 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook\n\nIf you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known \"Social Security secrets\" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $16,122 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. Simply click here to discover how to learn more about these strategies.", "output": "Though the fact that women typically earn less money than men has always spelled trouble on the retirement front, recent data reveals that most women don't have the knowledge necessary to make long-term financial decisions. Specifically, only 18% of retirement-age women could pass a basic quiz on planning for the future, whereas 35% of men could do the same.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese surgeons successfully implant 3D-printed sternum in boy \n Aug 7, 2017 | By Tess\n\nA team of doctors from the Shanghai Children\u2019s Medical Center in China have successfully implanted a 3D printed sternum shell into a six-year-old boy with a rare congenital problem. The medical center is affiliated with the School of Medicine at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University.\n\nAbu, a six-year-old from China\u2019s XinJiang province was born with a rare congenital malformation of his sternum which caused his heart to essentially hang in his abdominal cavity. The serious condition, which can be seen from looking at the child\u2019s chest, led doctors to believe that Abu would only live to the age of two.\n\nSix years later, however, Abu is still alive, though he does face his share of hardships. To keep him safe, his mother has kept him from activities that most children partake in, such as sports and games. His delicate condition has also prevented him from going to school.\n\nLast month, Abu\u2019s case was brought to Dr. Zhang Lei from the Shanghai Children\u2019s Medical Center, who, with a dedicated team from Zepu County and the Kashi Second Hospital, made a plan to treat and save the young child.\n\nOn July 17th, Abu and his mother arrived at the Shanghai Children\u2019s Medical Center for a consultation with a team of cardiothoracic, cardiovascular, and cerebrovascular disease specialists. The team discovered that Abu was suffering from five different deformities, making his case one of the rarest congenital malformations they had ever seen and one of the rarest in the world (with only about 200 cases reported).\n\nIn addition to his sternal defects, Abu also had an endocardial defect on the external portion of his heart, a right ventricle double outlet, a pulmonary valve stenosis, and a tricuspid regurgitation.\n\nWhile the most ideal time to operate on someone with such a condition would be at a much younger age (between 1 and 2 years), the doctors believed there was hope for Abu as he demonstrated a stable situation with oxygen saturation of about 90%. The goal was to protect the child\u2019s heart with a 3D printed sternum shell which would encage the external heart.\n\nThe 3D printed sternum shell was 3D printed from a biocompatible PEEK material and was designed specifically for Abu\u2019s anatomy. According to the doctors, the material does not adhere to other organs and tissues easily, making it suitable for the procedure and for follow-up treatments.\n\nThe implantation was recently completed and the doctors say it was an overall success, though they will have to do regular follow ups with the young patient to keep tabs on his recovery. Abu is expected to begin school in the near future.\n\nPosted in 3D Printing Application\n\nMaybe you also like:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "output": "Surgeons have transplanted a 3D-printed sternum into a six-year-old boy at Shanghai Children\u2019s Medical Centre in China. The boy was suffering from one of the rarest congenital malformations in the world. The sternum shell\u00a0was printed from a biocompatible PEEK material, which doctors said was suitable for the procedure and for follow-up treatments as it did not adhere to other organs. The patient, who was not expected to survive past his second birthday, will attend school for the first time in the near future.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google employee claims \u201cbiological causes\u201d behind tech gender gap \n New York (AFP) \u2013\n\nAdvertising Read more\n\nGoogle found itself at the center of controversy Sunday after an employee in a leaked internal document claimed \"biological causes\" explained the lack of women in tech industry leadership roles.\n\nThe screed -- dubbed \"sexist\" by US media -- revived the simmering debate over a culture of sexism and lack of diversity in tech sectors.\n\n\"I'm simply stating that the distribution of preferences and abilities of men and women differ in part due to biological causes and that these differences may explain why we don't see equal representation of women in tech and leadership,\" read the 3,000-word fulmination by an anonymous male software engineer.\n\nAccording to the author, natural aptitudes of men allow them to become better computer programmers. Women, he said, have more \"openness directed towards feelings and aesthetics rather than ideas\" -- meaning they \"prefer jobs in social or artistic areas.\"\n\nIn response to the leaked memo, Danielle Brown, Google's new vice president of diversity, told employees in an email that \"it's not a viewpoint that I or this company endorses, promotes or encourages\".\n\n\"Changing a culture is hard, and it's often uncomfortable,\" she said.\n\nBrown added, however, that \"part of building an open, inclusive environment means fostering a culture in which those with alternative views, including different political views, feel safe sharing their opinions.\"\n\nThe controversy comes as increasing numbers of women are going public with complaints of gender-based discrimination in Silicon Valley.\n\nUber's embattled chief executive Travis Kalanick resigned earlier this year under pressure from investors seeking to clean up the company's allegedly toxic corporate culture.\n\nHis departure capped a rocky period for the global ridesharing giant, which has been roiled by disturbing reports of cutthroat workplace conditions, harassment and discrimination.\n\n\u00a9 2017 AFP", "output": "A Google employee has claimed that \u201cbiological causes\u201d are responsible for the lack of women in leadership roles in the tech sector, according to a leaked internal document. The document, written by anonymous male software engineer, claims that men have\u00a0a greater natural aptitude for computer programming, whereas women \u201cprefer jobs in social or artistic areas\u201d. Google\u2019s new vice president of diversity, Danielle Brown, emailed employees, stating that such an opinion was \u201cnot a viewpoint that I or this company endorses, promotes or encourages\". The leak follows a number of accusations by women of gender-discrimination in Silicon Valley."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bats steps up exchanges spat over closing auctions \n Bats Global Markets has hit back at rival exchange operators in the US after they attacked its plans to launch an alternative to closing auctions.\n\nThe New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq wrote to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) claiming Bats\u2019 proposal could impair price discovery performed by both at closing auctions, fragment the market at close and increase risk.\n\nBats wrote to the SEC addressing the claims made by its rivals and said the US regulator and other international authorities had granted approval for similar market closing mechanisms to NYSE, Nasdaq and Chi-X.\n\n\u201c[Bats] questions the validity of the NYSE\u2019s and Nasdaq\u2019s concern since both Nasdaq and NYSE Arca, an affiliate of the NYSE, currently conduct closing auctions in securities listed elsewhere on a daily basis,\u201d the letter said.\n\nFirst announced in May this year, the Bats Markets Close (BMC) was developed following increasing demand from industry participants frustrated by rising closing auction fees on other exchanges.\n\nClosing auction fees have increased between 16% and 60% at NYSE and Nasdaq respectively, as volume executed in those auctions has increased over 70% between 2012 and 2016.\n\nBats said the BMC process was developed to \u2018challenge this dynamic\u2019.\n\nIt allows traders to route market-on-close orders to BMC on Bats\u2019 BZX Exchange where they are pre-matched with other market-on-close orders and then executed when the closing price is published.\n\nThis method allows market participants to trade at the closing price for a \u2018fraction of the cost\u2019.\n\n\u201cBoth Nasdaq and NYSE seem to be comfortable with creating duelling closing auctions themselves but they are unwilling to allow for a non-disruptive closing process when it creates competitive pressures on their revenues,\u201d Bats added in its letter to the SEC.", "output": "Bats Global Markets has defended its pending market closing product, the Bats Market Close, after the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq claimed the proposal could impair the price discovery they perform at closing auctions. Although Nasdaq and NYSE create closing auctions, they are unwilling to allow a non-disruptive closing process that puts competitive pressures on their revenues, Bats said in its letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Bats' product allows market participants to route market on-close orders to its BZX Exchange, where they are executed for a \"fraction of the cost\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "German broadcasters take on Facebook,\u00a0Google with unified login \n Broadcasters have become the latest media companies in Germany to challenge the market dominance of tech giants Google, Facebook and Amazon.\n\nTwo of the country\u2019s biggest broadcasters, RTL Group and ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE, have formed an alliance with an ISP called United Internet to create a unified registration and login service for consumers. The point is to make it easier for people to control what data media and advertising businesses have from them \u2014 the rules around which will be much stricter after new European data privacy laws (General Data Protection Regulation) kick in next May. Berlin-based fashion e-commerce giant Zalando has also signed up to join the service.\n\nThe founding partners reach a combined 45 million monthly unique users, according to Germany\u2019s online federation of marketers AGOF. Their registered users will be able to create a single ID and use the same details to log in across all four aforementioned sites (and any other company that signs up to be part of the synchronized login), and they can manage all their own settings via a unified data privacy center. That means every time a person visits a site across any of the media company\u2019s online portfolios, they\u2019ll be able to login with the same details or stay logged in.\n\nThe consensus among media outlets across Europe is that the new data privacy laws will be advantageous to walled gardens like Amazon, Facebook and Google, but also Apple and Microsoft, which have massive amounts of login data from users across devices. In theory, it\u2019ll be easier for those tech giants to communicate new data-tracking consent requirements than it would any publisher or commerce business that doesn\u2019t have mass logged-in or registered audiences.\n\n\u201cWith our alliance, we are adding substantial value for the customer,\u201d said Thomas Ebeling, CEO of ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE, in a statement announcing the partnership. \u201cAt the same time, we are strengthening the German digital market by counterbalancing the monopolistic and unclear algorithms used by U.S. players.\u201d\n\nMixed history\n\nPublisher alliances have a checkered past, though. In theory, by combining audience data, resources and inventory, premium publishers can better compete for digital ad revenue with the likes of Google and Facebook. But disparate business models and ways of tracking user data, along with internal bureaucracy and external concerns over losing competitive edge have suffocated alliances.\n\nBut the German alliance is different from past alliances, at least in theory. For starters, the aim is to create an open standard that any company can use with the added confidence that it is GDPR-compliant. That also means disagreements between partners won\u2019t slow it down. It\u2019ll basically be a self-serve solution that other companies can choose to plug into if they wish but won\u2019t need partners to manage.\n\n\u201cBeing composed by the publishers but managed as a separate entity is a really important factor and is what\u2019s usually missing and results in [taped]-together alliances,\u201d said Alessandro De Zanche, head of global product and strategy, data activation at research firm GfK and former News UK exec.\n\nAlso, each alliance partner\u2019s data will remain strictly separate, recognizing not every company wants to share their data with everyone, said Valeria Klassen, a member of the alliance\u2019s project team, from RTL Group.\n\n\u201cWe won\u2019t create a central data pool. Users will have the total ownership of their data and decide by themselves, which data they want to provide to which partner of the Log-in-Alliance. Therefore, every company will host the provided data separately. That\u2019s why it is so different from other initiatives.\u201d said Klassen. \u201cEvery digital service will be able to use the service with the accordant standards, set and developed by the foundation. Companies participating in the alliance will have the opportunity to work on these standards and improve them continuously. It gives an alternative to people who don\u2019t necessarily want Google or Facebook to be tracking their data, an alternative, that is compliant with the GDPR,\u201d she added.\n\nThe hurdles\n\nKlassen said the aim is to have the alliance ready by early 2018. But Germany has a vastly different media market from the U.K. and U.S., and big projects can risk not keeping up with market demand. \u201cGermans have a tendency to over-engineer,\u201d said independent publisher consultant Oliver von Wersch. \u201cThey\u2019ll need to be quick. They need to get their other partners who are going to join it on board probably by September if they\u2019re to start implementation by May 2018.\u201d\n\nThe alliance is also at the mercy of the ePrivacy directive, which affects how easily companies can track cookies, and its terms are still being hammered out in Brussels. \u201cWe can only go so fast because of that,\u201d said Klassen.\n\nFor now, the alliance is focusing on recruiting other German partners, though some believe it needs international partners if it\u2019s to really challenge the global tech platforms like Google, Facebook and Amazon. But other European Union countries, subject to the European Commission, will watch with interest \u2014 including the U.K. \u201cThere is first-mover advantage in something like this,\u201d said public policy consultant Nick Stringer. \u201cIt\u2019s something U.K. publishers will be watching keenly.\u201d", "output": "Two of Germany's biggest media companies, ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE and RTL Group, have joined forces with internet services provider United Internet and fashion site Zalando to create a standardised registration and login service for consumers. The aim is to\u00a0\"counterbalance\u00a0the monopolistic and unclear algorithms\" used by Facebook, Google and Amazon. The \u00a0strategy is set to be compliant with the EU General Data Protection Regulation, which comes into effect next year,\u00a0and will not involve pooling user data. However, the project will need\u00a0to make quick progress\u00a0to meet its roll-out date of May 2018 and could be delayed by the yet-to-be-finalised\u00a0ePrivacy directive.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Alcohol should be banned in supermarkets: New Zealand medics \n The New Zealand Medical Association has called for a ban on selling alcohol in supermarkets, saying that having it next to groceries and food normalises a dangerous drug.\n\nWine and beer have been widely available in most supermarkets around the country since 1990, although spirits can be bought only in bars and off-licences.\n\nThe New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA) said having alcohol in supermarkets normalised the drug, and made buying it cheap and easy \u2013 meaning people put a bottle of sauvignon blanc in their trolley alongside their bread, milk and toilet paper without a second thought.\n\nAccording to the association well over half a million New Zealanders consume alcohol in a hazardous way, with many emergency rooms filled on Friday and Saturday nights with alcohol-related admissions.\n\nThe NZMA believes it is the government that is best placed to crack down on heavy consumption \u2013 a position supported by many health and social policy academics and Alcohol Healthwatch.\n\n\n\nDr Kate Baddock, the chair of the association, said evidence suggested alcohol was worse than methamphetamine, marijuana and heroin, because it was a cheap, addictive, psychotropic drug.\n\n\u201cAlcohol contributes to domestic violence, many cancers, and car accidents,\u201d said Baddock, who pointed out supermarket alcohol was an everyday \u201ctemptation\u201d for alcoholics trying to stay sober. \u201cIf you are putting alcohol next to your bread and milk, you are essentially saying having alcohol is the same as having bread and milk on a daily basis.\u201d\n\nNew Zealanders are binge-drinkers who consume 10 litres of pure alcohol a year, says Nicki Jackson, the director of Alcohol Healthwatch. That amount is the same as Australia, but more than the US and Canada and less than the UK and Ireland.\n\nMost supermarkets in New Zealand sell alcohol and competition is stiff. Wine can be bought for as little as NZ$7 (\u00a34) a bottle \u2013 or $1 per standard drink.\n\nIn Britain, alcohol is also widely available in supermarkets but in Australia there are tougher restrictions, with alcohol only sold in some supermarkets under special circumstances.\n\nJackson said allowing supermarkets to sell alcohol was an attempt to convert New Zealanders to a Mediterranean drinking culture \u2013 having it available \u201ceverywhere\u201d \u2013 that had backfired badly.\n\n\u201cWhen wine came into our supermarkets in 1989 you can see this exponential growth in wine consumption ... we are Anglo-Saxon and you can\u2019t change cultures overnight, and having alcohol widely available did not change our culture, it harmed it.\u201d\n\nThe cost of \u201cmopping up\u201d alcohol-related harm was NZ$5bn a year, said Jackson, which included police call-outs, injuries and long-term health effects.\n\nProfessor Sally Casswell, a professor of public health and social research at Massey University said she supported a ban on alcohol in supermarkets.\n\n\u201cTreating wine in this context as an ordinary part of the shopping experience is a normalising process. There is also some evidence about the impact of alcohol marketing in retail outlets on children ... in New Zealand children are exposed to alcohol marketing on 85% of their visits to supermarkets.\u201d\n\nCaswell said selling alcohol only in specialist stores combined with strong regulation would be an \u201cideal\u201d situation; as is the case in Norway.\n\nA spokeswoman for Foodstuffs, the parent company of New Zealand\u2019s largest supermarket chains, said there were already strong restrictions in place on purchasing alcohol in its stores.\n\n\u201cThe majority of our customers are responsible consumers, and we think buying alcohol with food is a responsible way of shopping.\u201d said Antoinette Laird from Foodstuffs NZ.", "output": "The New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA) has said that the sale of alcohol in supermarkets should be banned, arguing that it normalises a damaging drug. Although spirits can only be purchased in the country in bars and off-licences, wine and beer have been sold in most supermarkets since 1990. The NZMA claims that over half a million people in New Zealand consume alcohol in a dangerous manner. at a cost of NZ$5bn ($3.7bn) a year. Chair of the NZMA, Dr Kate Baddock, said that research indicated that alcohol was more dangerous than heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine because of its cheapness.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mizuho partners with Nomura to bring AI to derivatives contracts \n Mizuho Bank has completed a project with Nomura Research Institute using artificial intelligence to eliminate certain derivative contract procedures.\n\nNomura was approached by Mizuho to develop the project and examine the realistic applications of AI, as the standard derivative contract procedure has traditionally included various manual and archiving processes.\n\nThe proof-of-concept found optional character recognition can digitise contracts from ISDA and the system can define, extract and archive the data into a format that is more easily accessible.\n\nBoth firms said as a result, the time it takes analysts to register ISDA contract information into the system was \u2018significantly decreased\u2019.\n\nMasahiro Ueki, SVP of legal and compliance and global markets coordination at Mizuho, also expects the system to maintain a high-level of understanding of ISDA contract operations.\n\nHiroyuki Nakayama, general manager of financial business planning at Nomura Research Institute, added: \u201cWe continue to learn new and exciting applications for the technology that we are seeking to implement further through strong partnerships.\u201d\n\nMizuho Bank intends to continue working with Nomura to develop a fully-fledged system service for all derivative contract operations.", "output": "Japan's Mizuho Bank has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) proof-of-concept platform with Nomura Research Institute that has \"significantly decreased\" the amount of time needed to register International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) contract information. The project set out to examine the realistic applications of AI to replace the laborious manual processes involved in some derivatives contract procedures. The AI system is also expected to maintain a high\u00a0level of understanding of ISDA contract operations\u00a0and the two companies are now working on a fully-fledged system service for all derivatives contract operations."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Passive investing is 'devouring capitalism', warns hedge fund boss \n Billionaire Paul Singer is warning of a growing and menacing threat: passive investing.\n\n\u201cPassive investing is in danger of devouring capitalism,\u201d Singer wrote in his firm\u2019s second-quarter letter dated July 27. \u201cWhat may have been a clever idea in its infancy has grown into a blob which is destructive to the growth-creating and consensus-building prospects of free market capitalism.\u201d\n\nAlmost $500 billion flowed from active to passive funds in the first half of 2017. The founder of Elliott Management Corp. contends that passive strategies, which buy a variety of securities to match the overall performance of an index, aren\u2019t truly \u201cinvesting\u201d and that index fund providers don\u2019t have incentive to push companies to change for the better and create shareholder value.\n\nElliott, whose main hedge funds manage $33 billion, is best known for its high-profile activist and distressed wagers, including leading a group of holdout creditors seeking repayment for positions in Argentine debt. One of Singer\u2019s most recent campaigns \u2014 a bid to buy power distributor Oncor Electric Delivery Co. \u2014 has pitted him against billionaire Warren Buffett.\n\n\u201cIn a passive investing world, small shareholders have little-to-no voice and no realistic possibility of banding together, while the biggest shareholders have no (repeat, no) skin in the game so long as the money manager does not underperform the index by five-hundredths of a percentage point, in which case the customer calls up the money manager and starts yelling,\u201d the letter said. There\u2019s a real likelihood that passive investing \u201cand its apparent stability, is unsustainable and brittle.\u201d\n\nSinger\u2019s Elliott Associates fund rose just 0.4 percent in the second quarter, bringing gains for the first half to 3.5 percent, according to the letter. While it made money in bets on distressed securities during the quarter, the fund lost on commodities and portfolio protection related to interest rates, equities and credit.\n\nIn a wide-ranging letter that touched on topics from safe spaces to infrastructure spending, Singer said the fund was trying to navigate \u201cuncharted waters\u201d amid continuing accommodative monetary policy.\n\nThe letter said that while economic optimism stemming from the Trump administration\u2019s pro-business agenda may contribute to rising markets, central bankers probably played a bigger role.\n\nA de-linkage of stock and bond prices may be coming soon, if an expanding economy spurs inflation, making yields unsatisfactory to investors. Growth and inflation may climb together if rising rates are seen as a sign of confidence in the economy.\n\n\u201cThe Fed\u2019s (and other major central banks\u2019) obvious determination not to let equity markets fall may be the chief underpinning of investors\u2019 willingness to hold (and accumulate more) equities even at current relatively elevated levels,\u201d the firm said.\n\nMore highlights from the letter:\n\n\u2022 On whether the labor market is tight: \u201cShort answer: no,\u201d Singer wrote. Long-term government benefit programs provide strong disincentives for people to work or even seek employment, and these people often disappear from employment statistics. It\u2019s hard for workers to be retrained, he said. Slow wage growth demonstrates that there\u2019s more slack in the job market than there may appear.\n\n\u2022 On Chinese debt: In the event of a Chinese financial collapse, \u201clarge flows of capital during any unwind of highly leveraged institutions and structures would go coursing through the global economy and financial system like a wild tsunami,\u201d Singer wrote. Even if the government were successful at instituting capital controls, this would remove China from the demand side of the global economic picture.\n\n\u2022 On safe spaces: Singer said in the letter that safe spaces are created so \u201cfragile-as-eggshells students are not \u2018assaulted\u2019 by opinions or thoughts that differ from those in their \u2018Little Red Books.\u2019\u201d He compares this to central bankers who are \u201ctreating every single hiccup and little twitch in global stock markets as worthy of calming words and the promise of action \u2018as needed.\u2019\u201d\n\n\u2022 On commodity trading: Trading in this area was unprofitable in the second quarter, led by losses in crude oil and U.S. natural gas. Losses were partially offset by gains in European natural gas and power and metals trading.\n\nElliott\u2019s largest distressed positions, in alphabetical order: Caesars Entertainment Operating Co., Drillships Ocean Ventures Inc., Energy Future Holdings Corp., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Nortel Networks Corp.\n\nThe firm\u2019s largest equity positions: Arconic Inc., Bank of East Asia Ltd., BHP Billiton Ltd., Citrix Systems Inc. and Hess Corp.", "output": "The founder of Elliott Management hedge fund, Paul Singer, has warned of passive investing \"devouring capitalism\". Singer stated in his company's Q2 letter that in a world focused on passive investing, \"small shareholders have little-to-no voice\" and big investors have \"no skin in the game\", adding that passive investing is \"unsustainable and brittle\". Almost $500bn have flowed from active to passive funds in the first half of this year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Salmonella outbreak spreads\u00a0across US \n Update 8/4/2017: The CDC reports that after advanced lab testing, the Salmonella strain called Salmonella Thompson is in fact linked to the multi-state outbreak. Therefore, two types of the bacteria found on Maradol papayas \u2014 Salmonella Kiambu and Salmonella Thompson \u2014 are causing widespread illness.\n\nThe number of cases has increased from 47 to 109; included in these cases are 35 hospitalizations (which has nearly tripled from the CDC's last report of 12). The death toll remains at one. Six more states have reported illnesses: Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Wisconsin. This now makes a total of 18 across the country.\n\nThe CDC still recommends that people don't eat any Maradol papayas.\n\nMore From Good Housekeeping play icon The triangle icon that indicates to play\n\nOriginal 7/24/2017: As of Friday, CNN reports that a deadly salmonella outbreak called Salmonella Kiambu, linked to yellow Maradol papayas, has infected 47 people across 12 different states (Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Maryland). Twelve people total have been hospitalized, and there has been one reported death from New York City.\n\nAccording to the CDC, the government, along with \"public health and regulatory officials in several states,\" and the FDA are investigating the multi-state flare-up.\n\nThe first reported cases of the illness began on May 17 and lasted until June 28. Of those infected, the median age is 27 \u2014 ages ranged from less than 1 year to 95 \u2014 and 67% are female.\n\nThe CDC notes that illnesses reported after June 23 might not yet be included in the total count, as it takes an average of two to four weeks for illnesses to be linked to the outbreak. Cases, therefore, are predicted to increase.\n\nThe Caribe\u00f1a brand of Maradol papayas from Mexico, distributed by Grande Produce in San Juan, Texas, is believed to be connected to this surge of salmonella. However, additional brands are expected to be related to the outbreak as well.\n\nThis content is imported from twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. Outbreak: 47 sick, 12 hospitalized w/ Salmonella linked to yellow Maradol papayas. Do not eat & throw away. https://t.co/6DoGtnyPp5 pic.twitter.com/bXqukEtkKN \u2014 CDC (@CDCgov) July 21, 2017\n\nThe FDA warns that \"Maradol papayas are green before they ripen and turn yellow, so consumers should not eat Caribe\u00f1a brand regardless of the color.\"\n\nThey posted this Facebook message earlier today, showing what the identifying sticker from the brand looks like:\n\nThis content is imported from Third party. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.\n\nHealth officials found that of the five confirmed cases in Maryland, they all claim to have eaten Caribe\u00f1a brand Maradol papayas from the same store the week prior to symptoms.\n\nSamples collected from these infected people and the grocery store (left unnamed) were reported to test positive for Salmonella Kiambu and Salmonella Thompson. But it's unclear whether or not the Thompson strain is directly linked to the outbreak.\n\nAccording to the CDC, symptoms \u2014 diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps \u2014 begin 12 to 72 hours after being exposed to salmonella bacteria. The illness usually lasts from four to seven days and those at highest risk of infection are young children under 5, older adults and those with weakened immune systems.\n\nMaradol papayas are \"a large, oval fruit that weighs 3 or more pounds, with green skins that turn yellow when the fruit is ripe. The flesh inside the fruit is salmon-colored,\" reports the CDC.\n\nIt recommends that \"consumers not eat, restaurants not serve and retailers not sell Maradol papayas until we learn more.\" It also recommend to sanitize whenever possible, and when in doubt, throw them out.\n\nIf you have any of symptoms related to salmonella, you should seek medical attention immediately.\n\nGoodHousekeeping.com has reached out to Grande Produce, distributor of the Caribe\u00f1a brand of Maradol papayas, and will update this post if we hear back.\n\n[h/t CNN]", "output": "A lethal salmonella strain called Salmonella Kiambu, linked to Maradol papayas, has broken out in 12 different US states, including Massachusetts, New York, and Texas. Since May\u00a0there have been\u00a0109 known cases, 35 hospitalisations and one death resulting from the disease.\u00a0Mexico's Caribe\u00f1a, a brand of Maradol papayas, has been specifically linked to the contamination, though other\u00a0brands are thought to be related to the outbreak. The FDA is investigating.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dogecoin community continues philanthropic projects \n About The Author\n\nDariusz has been closely following the world of cryptocurrencies since 2014. He has been somewhat of a crypto-evangelist, trying to educate more people on the exciting realm of cryptocurrency.", "output": "Dogecoin, the community that sent the Jamaican bobsled team to the 2014\u00a0Winter Olympics,\u00a0is bucking the gloomy digital currency news trend and continuing with its philanthropic works, all based on donations from community members, according to Reddit. These include an initiative aimed at supplying homeless people with socks, a project which distributes milk to Brazilian homeless shelters, and a scheme in which shibes (users) can buy socks with a dogecoin pattern at a reduced retail price, which they are calling an ESO, or Early Sock Offering.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "E! uses Snapchat Discover for new show with Kylie Jenner \n Maybe it was only a matter of time until E! and a Kardashian made a show together for Snapchat Discover.\n\nOn Aug. 12, the NBCUniversal-owned E! will debut a new show on Discover called \u201cAsk Kylie.\u201d \u201cAsk Kylie\u201d will have the Kardashian sister answering fan questions on topics ranging from online bullying to family drama to her cosmetics empire. The show will be a companion to the \u201cLife of Kylie\u201d reality TV series, which was set to debut on E!\u2019s cable channel on Aug. 6. \u201cAsk Kylie\u201d will have six episodes lasting three to five minutes and will air weekly on Saturdays leading into new episodes of Jenner\u2019s TV show on Sundays.\n\n\u201cAsk Kylie\u201d is the second Snapchat show from E!, which also airs the twice-weekly entertainment news show \u201cThe Rundown\u201d on the platform. E! has another half-dozen or so Snapchat show ideas and formats in development, said John Najarian, evp and gm of E! News.\n\n\u201cWe look at Snapchat as a way to reach an audience that we can\u2019t necessarily reach because they don\u2019t necessarily watch TV,\u201d said Najarian. \u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity to have the E! brand reside on a platform that\u2019s certainly tapping into a new audience.\u201d NBCU is an investor in Snap, parent of Snapchat.\n\nA successful first show on Snapchat Discover with \u201cThe Rundown\u201d seems to have validated E!\u2019s decision to create original content for the platform. Since premiering last fall, \u201cThe Rundown\u201d has had 70 episodes, and episodes are now averaging 8 million viewers, according to E! Some episodes have topped 10 million viewers, with about 75 percent of viewers between the ages of 13 and 24, Najarian said.\n\nThese numbers make \u201cThe Rundown\u201d one of the most popular shows on Snapchat Discover, alongside Vertical Networks\u2019 \u201cPhone Swap,\u201d which averaged 11 million viewers per episode during its first season; and A+E Networks\u2019 \u201cSecond Chance,\u201d which averaged 8 million viewers per episode.\n\nWith E!\u2019s next show centering on a Kardashian, it expects to find an audience for \u201cAsk Kylie.\u201d With 175 million followers across Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter, Jenner is one of the most popular celebrities on social media. Snap and E! wouldn\u2019t break out how many followers Jenner has on Snapchat, but the reality TV star is a popular presence on Discover, with many Daily Mail Snapchat Discover editions leading with her on the cover photo.\n\n\u201cThe Kardashians grew up on our air, and Kylie\u2019s obviously a big part of the Snapchat ecosystem in terms of her own personal account,\u201d said Najarian. \u201cWith the TV show launching on our network on Aug. 6, it made sense to think of doing something that\u2019s dedicated to the Snapchat audience.\u201d\n\n\u201cAsk Kylie\u201d will have more of a reality-TV show feel than the zippy news-rundown style of \u201cThe Rundown.\u201d As such, E! hired four people to produce the show. (For comparison, \u201cThe Rundown\u201d has six producers.) These are just the people entirely dedicated to the shows, however, as they also receive support from E!\u2019s editorial and production departments when needed.\n\n\u201cWe wanted to bring in a producer who was passionate about Kylie and the Kardashians, but they\u2019re all working with the rest of the E! News digital infrastructure,\u201d said Bryce Kristensen, head of NBCU\u2019s digital content lab.\n\nOne thing \u201cAsk Kylie\u201d won\u2019t do is aggressively try to drive tune-in for the \u201cLife with Kylie\u201d TV show.\n\n\u201cThe audience doesn\u2019t need to be hit over the head,\u201d said Kristensen. \u201cHer presence is so big you don\u2019t need to use traditional tune-in [tactics] that a lot of people use.\u201d", "output": "NBC Universal-owned broadcaster E! will air a second show featuring Kylie Jenner on its Discover channel, following this week's premiere of Life of Kylie. Beginning on 12 August and airing every Saturday, Ask Kylie will comprise six episodes in which the reality star answers fans' questions. E! scored a hit on Snapchat with last year's The Rundown, with episodes attracting an average of eight million viewers. \"We look at Snapchat as a way to reach an audience we can\u2019t necessarily reach because they don\u2019t watch TV\u201d, said John Najarian, general manager of E! News.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US talent firm WME-IMG secures $1bn from Canada Pension Plan \n WME-IMG secures $1bn funding\n\nUS-based talent management and sales outfit WME-IMG is set to receive more than US$1bn in investment, which will be partly used to fuel further acquisitions.\n\nThe US$1.1bn funding, which is coming from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Singapore\u2019s sovereign wealth fund GIC, values the business at around US$6.3bn.\n\nWME-IMG\u2019s majority shareholder Silver Lake Partners revealed the news to investors yesterday and said it would be using the cash injection to fund new acquisitions.\n\nThe agency will also buy out minority partners in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which it bought for US$4bn last year, and enable senior management to take cash out of the business.\n\nIt is the latest investment in the entertainment and sports agent giant, following injections from Fidelity and Japan\u2019s SoftBank last year. The latter deal valued the company at US$5.5bn.\n\nWME-IMG has been expanding its TV activities over recent years and recently secured international sales rights to BBC America thriller Killing Eve.\n\nIt also agreed a deal with Agatha Christie Productions to become international distributor for its forthcoming slate of Christie dramas.\n\nThe company, which was formed when WME bought IMG in 2013, also appointed former NBA exec Michael Ma to oversee its recently launched joint venture in China.\n\nThe JV was formed in June 2016 with Sequoia Capital China and partners including Tencent in an attempt to expand its entertainment activity in the country.", "output": "Talent management business WME-ING has secured $1.1bn of investment from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, GIC, which will value the agency at $6.3bn. WME-ING plans to use the funds to buy out minority partners in the Ultimate Fighting Championship that it acquired in 2016 for $4bn, fund acquisitions and enable partners to take cash out of the business. WME-ING has also been expanding its TV activities, picking up sales and distribution rights to international programming.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US Agriculture Department censors use of phrase \u2018climate change\u2019 \n Staff at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have been told to avoid using the term climate change in their work, with the officials instructed to reference \u201cweather extremes\u201d instead.\n\nA series of emails obtained by the Guardian between staff at the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), a USDA unit that oversees farmers\u2019 land conservation, show that the incoming Trump administration has had a stark impact on the language used by some federal employees around climate change.\n\nA missive from Bianca Moebius-Clune, director of soil health, lists terms that should be avoided by staff and those that should replace them. \u201cClimate change\u201d is in the \u201cavoid\u201d category, to be replaced by \u201cweather extremes\u201d. Instead of \u201cclimate change adaption\u201d, staff are asked to use \u201cresilience to weather extremes\u201d.\n\n\n\nThe primary cause of human-driven climate change is also targeted, with the term \u201creduce greenhouse gases\u201d blacklisted in favor of \u201cbuild soil organic matter, increase nutrient use efficiency\u201d. Meanwhile, \u201csequester carbon\u201d is ruled out and replaced by \u201cbuild soil organic matter\u201d.\n\nFirefighters battle a wildfire in California. Photograph: Noah Berger/AP\n\nIn her email to staff, dated 16 February this year, Moebius-Clune said the new language was given to her staff and suggests it be passed on. She writes that \u201cwe won\u2019t change the modeling, just how we talk about it \u2013 there are a lot of benefits to putting carbon back in the sail [sic], climate mitigation is just one of them\u201d, and that a colleague from USDA\u2019s public affairs team gave advice to \u201ctamp down on discretionary messaging right now\u201d.\n\n\n\nIn contrast to these newly contentious climate terms, Moebius-Clune wrote that references to economic growth, emerging business opportunities in the rural US, agro-tourism and \u201cimproved aesthetics\u201d should be \u201ctolerated if not appreciated by all\u201d.\n\nIn a separate email to senior employees on 24 January, just days after Trump\u2019s inauguration, Jimmy Bramblett, deputy chief for programs at the NRCS, said: \u201cIt has become clear one of the previous administration\u2019s priority is not consistent with that of the incoming administration. Namely, that priority is climate change. Please visit with your staff and make them aware of this shift in perspective within the executive branch.\u201d\n\nBramblett added that \u201cprudence\u201d should be used when discussing greenhouse gases and said the agency\u2019s work on air quality regarding these gases could be discontinued.\n\nOther emails show the often agonized discussions between staff unsure of what is forbidden. On 16 February, a staffer named Tim Hafner write to Bramblett: \u201cI would like to know correct terms I should use instead of climate changes and anything to do with carbon ... I want to ensure to incorporate correct terminology that the agency has approved to use.\u201d\n\nOn 5 April, Suzanne Baker, a New York-based NRCS employee, emailed a query as to whether staff are \u201callowed to publish work from outside the USDA that use \u2018climate change\u2019\u201d. A colleague advises that the issue be determined in a phone call.\n\nSome staff weren\u2019t enamored with the new regime, with one employee stating on an email on 5 July that \u201cwe would prefer to keep the language as is\u201d and stressing the need to maintain the \u201cscientific integrity of the work\u201d.\n\n\n\nIn a statement, USDA said that on 23 January it had issued \u201cinterim operating procedures outlining procedures to ensure the new policy team has an opportunity to review policy-related statements, legislation, budgets and regulations prior to issuance\u201d.\n\nThe statement added: \u201cThis guidance, similar to procedures issued by previous administrations, was misinterpreted by some to cover data and scientific publications. This was never the case and USDA interim procedures will allow complete, objective information for the new policy staff reviewing policy decisions.\u201d\n\nKaveh Sadeghzadeh of the Natural Resources Conservation Service added that his organisation \u201chas not received direction from USDA or the administration to modify its communications on climate change or any other topic\u201d.\n\nTrump has repeatedly questioned the veracity of climate change research, infamously suggesting that it is part of an elaborate Chinese hoax. The president has started the process of withdrawing the US from the Paris climate agreement, has instructed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to scrap or amend various regulations aimed at cutting greenhouse gases, and has moved to open up more public land and waters to fossil fuel activity.\n\n\n\nThe nomenclature of the federal government has also shifted as these new priorities have taken hold. Mentions of the dangers of climate change have been removed from the websites of the White House and the Department of the Interior, while the EPA scrapped its entire online climate section in April pending a review that will be \u201cupdating language to reflect the approach of new leadership\u201d.\n\nAllow Scribd content? This article includes content provided by Scribd. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'. Allow and continue\n\n\u201cThese records reveal Trump\u2019s active censorship of science in the name of his political agenda,\u201d said Meg Townsend, open government attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity.\n\n\u201cTo think that federal agency staff who report about the air, water and soil that sustains the health of our nation must conform their reporting with the Trump administration\u2019s anti-science rhetoric is appalling and dangerous for America and the greater global community.\u201d\n\nThe Center for Biological Diversity is currently suing several government agencies, including the EPA and state department, to force them to release information on the \u201ccensoring\u201d of climate change verbiage.\n\n\n\nWhile some of the changes to government websites may have occurred anyway, the emails from within the USDA are the clearest indication yet that staff have been instructed to steer clear of acknowledging climate change or its myriad consequences.\n\nUS agriculture is a major source of heat-trapping gases, with 15% of the country\u2019s emissions deriving from farming practices. A USDA plan to address the \u201cfar reaching\u201d impacts of climate change is still online.\n\nHowever, Sam Clovis, Trump\u2019s nomination to be the USDA\u2019s chief scientist, has labeled climate research \u201cjunk science\u201d.\n\nLast week it was revealed that Clovis, who is not a scientist, once ran a blog where he called progressives \u201crace traders and race \u2018traitors\u2019\u201d and likened Barack Obama to a \u201ccommunist\u201d.", "output": "Officials at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have been told to use the term \u201cweather extremes\u201d instead of \u201cclimate change\u201d in their work, according to emails seen by The Guardian.  An email from the director of soil health, Bianca Moebius-Clune, lists terms to be avoided. \u00a0Among the other phrases blacklisted are \u201creduce greenhouse gases,\u201d which is to be replaced by \u00a0\u201cbuild soil organic matter, increase nutrient use efficiency,\u201d and \u201csequester carbon,\u201d which is to be replaced by \u201cbuild soil organic matter\u201d.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shell to sell electricity directly to large UK enterprises \n Fossil giant Shell has entered the UK industrial and commercial (I&C) power supply market.\n\nOfgem\u2019s register of supply licence applications alerted market participants to the move some weeks ago.\n\nSince then the company had refused to comment on its plans, citing a close period due to financial results. However the company today confirmed the move via a statement.\n\n\u201cThe decision to offer power supply directly to end users in Great Britain\u2019s industrial and commercial sector reinforces our strategy to boost our position in Europe\u2019s electricity market,\u201d said Jonathan McCloy, general manager North West Europe, Shell Energy Europe. \u201cIn addition to supplying Shell\u2019s assets in Great Britain, we intend to supply power to other large industrial complexes from early next year.\u201d\n\nThe firm has been active in power trading and wholesale markets in Great Britain for several years and said it will continue to provide wholesale gas and power to existing independent energy retail counterparties.\n\nShell\u2019s move follows that of Vattenfall into the industrial and commercial markets, where some incumbents are struggling to turn a profit.\n\nRelated stories:\n\nSwedish giant Vattenfall enters UK business energy market\n\nBritish Gas business energy supply profits wiped out\n\nPower prices to remain low to 2020: Moody\u2019s\n\nClick here to see if you qualify for a free subscription to the print magazine, or to renew.\n\nFollow us at @EnergystMedia. For regular bulletins, sign up for the free newsletter.\n\nShare this article: Tweet\n\nEmail\n\n\n\n\n\nPrint\n\nWhatsApp\n\n\n\n", "output": "Royal Dutch Shell has confirmed that it has joined the UK industrial and commercial (I&C) power supply market. \u201cThe decision to offer power supply directly to end users in Great Britain\u2019s industrial and commercial sector reinforces our strategy to boost our position in Europe\u2019s electricity market,\u201d said Jonathan McCloy, general manager North West Europe, Shell Energy Europe. Shell has been active in power trading and wholesale markets in the UK for several years. Its shift into retail energy follows a similar move by Vattenfall."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ethnic pay gap obscured by BBC gender row: The Guardian \n As the row over the BBC\u2019s gender pay gap escalated last month, I found it fitting that most of my conversations were taking place in a very specific forum. A few years ago, in response to the paucity of senior female journalists of colour, and the sense we were being excluded from other gender-focused networks, we set up our own group. It\u2019s informal \u2013 not limited to ethnic minority women, but women of all backgrounds who are committed to equality \u2013 and for the last few weeks it has been abuzz.\n\nThe main debate has not been the existence of a gender pay gap \u2013 that came as a surprise to no one \u2013 but how a renewed focus on gender inequality can still leave questions of race inequality languishing in the dark. Take, for example, the fact that so many senior BBC women felt content to sign their name to a letter calling for immediate action on gender disparity by the BBC without so much as mentioning the ethnic pay gap. This felt like feminism taking one gigantic leap backwards \u2013 to the 1980s, perhaps, when Kimberl\u00e9 Crenshaw so famously coined the term \u201cintersectionality\u201d to highlight the fact that \u201cwomen of colour are invisible in plain sight\u201d.\n\nEthnic minority journalists are in a specifically bad place when it comes to BBC pay parity. Among those earning the top 24 salaries there was not a single ethnic minority person. Of the 10 who did make the list, none were in the top 24. The extent of inequality will be further revealed, no doubt, when World Service salaries are revealed.\n\n\n\nAn internal review of pay disparity between the domestic BBC and its World Service was due in the spring, but is yet to be published. The Guardian reported earlier this week that not a single presenter at the World Service is expected to earn over \u00a350,000. If that sounds like a perfectly decent salary for a star news anchor, compare it with the \u00a3600,000 Huw Edwards takes home every year.\n\n\n\nThe apparently low pay of World Service journalists needs to be taken in the context not just of a service that, over the past five years, has increased its global audience by 80 million, but also one that is regularly drawn upon to give more credibility to the BBC\u2019s poor performance on increasing diversity. Every time the BBC is asked for its diversity stats, it rolls out the relatively high number of BME staff at the World Service, bumping its overall figure up to 14%. This looks and feels like bulking up diversity on the cheap. \u201cFake diversity\u201d, as Lenny Henry said.\n\n\n\nOne of the best articles about this was published in the Financial Times by leader writer Abhishek Parajuli, who I had the pleasure of meeting, coincidentally, at the BBC recently. He and I were on the sofa discussing various Sunday morning issues with two talented anchors, Sean Fletcher \u2013 who is black \u2013 and Emma Barnett \u2013 who is female, and whose names, incidentally, were both conspicuously absent from the list of best-paid presenters.\n\n\n\nYet as it emerged this week that FT journalists \u2013 men and women \u2013 are threatening strike action in response to their own gender pay gap, I can\u2019t help but wonder how many non-white journalists are included in their activism, the state of the ethnic pay gap included in their cause.\n\n\n\nPart of the problem with all this is that the media organisations reporting the problems of pay equality and intersectional disadvantage have their own crosses to bear. The industry as a whole has intractable problems around diversity. As of 2016, British journalism remained 94% white. There is evidence that things have got worse, not better, that the industry remains \u201csorely lacking diversity\u201d and that people from non-privileged backgrounds are being priced out.\n\nThe number of minority journalists is increasing at entry level, but there are major issues with retention. This is why, when Tony Hall points to entry-level statistics in response to the poor diversity figures at the Corporation, those of us further up know that is not a solution in itself. Who can forget Panorama reporter Raphael Rowe\u2019s farewell email, after being \u2013 he said \u2013 \u201cpushed out\u201d after 15 years, claiming that diversity at the Corporation was \u201cthe worst he had ever known\u201d.\n\nYou have to be the greatest athlete of all time, apparently, to garner any significant attention towards the dire state of race equality in the media, and society as a whole. Enter Serena Williams, who in a personal essay this week lamented that black women in America earn 17% less than their white female counterparts. \u201cEven black women who have earned graduate degrees get paid less at every level. This is as true in inner cities as it is in Silicon Valley,\u201d wrote Williams. \u201cWe are going to have to fight for every penny.\u201d\n\nThere are similar data for the UK \u2013 black African women, for example, have seen virtually no progress in closing the gender pay gap between them and white men since the 1990s, which according to the Fawcett Society, still stands at 19.6%.\n\nI noticed that Williams made her remarks about the US pay gap on \u201cBlack Women\u2019s Equal Pay Day\u201d. The fact that, in the UK, most of us have never even heard of such a thing, says it all really.\n\n******\n\nOne of the most powerful arguments in favour of diversity in journalism is the contribution that people with a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives make to the quality of media output. I seriously doubt, for example, that anyone versed in the social politics of post-imperial India could have produced a piece of journalism as nauseating as the Daily Mail\u2019s recent ode to \u201cA Corner of Wiltshire Where The Raj Never Died\u201d. It tells the story of a \u201chighly intelligent Countess\u201d and her \u201cloyal Indian houseman\u201d. This Indian man, known as \u201cMuthu\u201d, has spent 60 years in servitude to his white, aristocratic mistress, a vocation without which \u201chis life would have little purpose\u201d. I\u2019m confident that anyone with either lived, or learned, experience of the problematic legacy of Empire would have imploded at the sight of this article. It\u2019s one of the best examples of the radical need to diversify newsrooms I think I have ever seen.", "output": "The ethnic pay gap has been obscured by discussions of gender pay disparity, including those resulting from the recent controversy around BBC salaries, writes Afua Hirsch in The Guardian. When senior BBC women signed a letter calling for action on the gender pay gap, they failed to mention the equivalent ethnicity gap, despite the fact that there was not one\u00a0person of colour in the list of those receiving the top 24 salaries. An internal review of pay disparities between the World Service and the UK-based BBC is expected to show that not a single World Service presenter earns over \u00a350,000.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Biomethane and gas-powered lorries to be tested\u00a0in UK \n The trucks in trial range from 12 to 44 tonnes, and are all new to the UK market. The trial will road test the HGVs across 10 different vehicle configurations, generting data on vehicle performance, fuel efficiency, reliability and cost.\n\nCenex\u2014the UK\u2019s first Center of Excellence for low carbon technologies\u2014 announced its involvement in the UK\u2019s largest trial of biomethane-fueled trucks. Led by Air Liquide and funded in part by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) in partnership with Innovate UK via the recently launched Low Emission Freight and Logistics Project ( earlier post ), the \u201cDedicated to Gas\u201d trial will see large fleet operators\u2014including Kuehne + Nagel; Wincanton; ASDA; Brit European, Howard Tenens and Great Bear\u2014test the effectiveness of 81 dedicated gas-powered heavy goods vehicles (HGVs).\n\nTrial vehicles running on compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) are expected to reduce CO 2 emissions by up to 8%, and those run on biomethane can expect to see a 70% reduction in CO 2 emissions, compared to a similarly sized diesel HGV.\n\nThe trial will also test the effectiveness of a new cryogenic trailer refrigeration technology. The liquid nitrogen cooling system promises to reduce the high energy demands of refrigeration units, further reducing HGVs CO 2 and air quality emissions.\n\nThe project aims to demonstrate lower-emissions technology innovation into the UK\u2019s logistics industry and HGV fleets, which account for 17% of all UK road transport emissions.\n\nWorking in partnership with Air Liquide, the project lead Cenex will manage all data analysis and project dissemination, update a dedicated gas vehicle hub website, and organize informational workshops for participating fleet operators and interested members of the industry. Participating fleets will be supported by technical experts who will collate comprehensive data via telematics systems provided by Microlise and PEMS testing by Emissions Analytics, providing a complete analysis of the potential benefits of dedicated gas technology compared to diesel.\n\nDedicated to Gas is part of the Low Emission Freight and Logistics Trial, funded by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) in partnership with Innovate UK. In January 2017, OLEV announced that 20 trial projects were to receive funding of \u00a320 million to demonstrate new technologies and to encourage the widespread introduction of low and zero emission vehicles to UK commercial fleets.\n\nThis study follows on the Low Carbon Truck Demonstration Trial, which wrapped up in December 2016, and was led by a Cenex-Atkins study team. That \u00a323.4-million (US$30.5 million) program funded 12 discrete projects with 35 participating companies (including fleets, emission testing companies, station providers, universities and product developers).\n\nBy July 2016, 371 vehicles were deployed and 15 refueling stations were commissioned or upgraded. The majority of the trucks (96.5%) operated on dual fuel diesel/gas, 3% operated on dual fuel diesel/UCO and the remainder (1.5%) were dedicated gas vehicles. 82% of the trucks had retro-fit systems and the remaining trucks either had Volvo factory fitted dual fuel systems or were Scania dedicated gas trucks. 95% (353) of the trucks were Euro V, with the remaining 5% (18) being Euro VI.", "output": "The largest trial of biomethane-fuelled trucks is set to take place in the UK, led by Air Liquide and with the involvement of Cenex, the country's first centre of excellence for low-carbon technologies. Major British fleet operators, including retailer Asda, will test 81 gas-powered heavy goods vehicles in 10 different configurations, with Cenex managing all data analysis and project information dissemination. Emissions from a biomethane-powered lorry could be about 70% less than from a diesel-engined one. The programme will also study new cryogenic trailer refrigeration technology. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Biomethane and gas-powered lorries to be tested\u00a0in UK \n Part of Office for Low Emission Vehicles and Innovate UK\u2019s Low Emission Freight and Logistics Trials, six major UK fleet operators will road test the latest gas-powered heavy goods vehicles\n\nLoughborough, UK \u2013 2 August 2017: Cenex \u2013 the UK\u2019s first Centre of Excellence for low carbon technologies \u2013 today announced its involvement in the UK\u2019s largest trial of biomethane-fuelled lorries. Led by Air Liquide \u2013 world leader in gases, technologies and services for industry and health \u2013 and funded in part by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles in partnership with Innovate UK via the recently launched Low Emission Freight and Logistics Project, the \u2018Dedicated to Gas\u2019 trial will see large fleet operators including Kuehne + Nagel, Wincanton, ASDA, Brit European, Howard Tenens and Great Bear, trial the effectiveness of 81 dedicated gas-powered heavy goods vehicles (HGVs).\n\nThe five lorries being trialled range from 12 to 44 tonnes, and are all new to the UK market. The trial will road test the HGVs across 10 different vehicle configurations, creating a wealth of valuable data on vehicle performance, fuel efficiency, reliability and cost. Trial vehicles running on compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) are expected to reduce CO 2 emissions by up to 8 per cent, and those run on biomethane can expect to see a 70 per cent reduction in CO 2 emissions, compared to a similarly sized diesel HGV.\n\nThe trial will also test the effectiveness of a new cryogenic trailer refrigeration technology. The liquid nitrogen cooling system promises to reduce the high energy demands of refrigeration units, further reducing HGVs CO 2 and air quality emissions.\n\nThe project aims to demonstrate lower-emissions technology innovation into the UK\u2019s logistics industry and HGV fleets, which account for 17% of all UK road transport emissions. Working in partnership with Air Liquide, the project lead, Cenex will manage all data analysis and project dissemination, update a dedicated gas vehicle hub website, and organize informational workshops for participating fleet operators and interested members of the industry. Participating fleets will be supported by technical experts who will collate comprehensive data via telematics systems provided by Microlise and PEMS testing by Emissions Analytics, providing a complete analysis of the potential benefits of dedicated gas technology compared to diesel.\n\nSteve Carroll, Head of Transport at Cenex, said: \u201cCenex have a long history of supporting natural gas and biomethane use in the transport sector, and we are excited to be part of such an innovative trial demonstrating and assessing the performance of the latest advancements.\u201d\n\n\u201cAs a world leader in sustainable, reliable, and safe gas power, Air Liquide is hopeful that this trial can bring much needed new fuel sources to the UK\u2019s HGV fleets,\u201d said Daniel Lambert, Commercial Director, at Air Liquide Advanced Business & Technologies UK. \u201cOEMs are working hard to bring promising zero emissions technologies to the new lorries they design, but without real life road testing by big fleet customers, these technologies will not be able to impact CO 2 emissions in a big way. We look forward to leading this innovative trial, and sharing the results with other HGV fleet operators across Europe and the globe.\u201d\n\nJohn Rogerson, Fleet Operations Manager, ASDA, concluded: \u201cAs a company committed to sustainable, low emissions transportation, ASDA is proud to be part of the select group of operators trialling new low emissions HGVs in the UK for the first time. We are excited to work with Cenex, Air Liquide and our other project partners to hopefully demonstrate the impact low-emissions HGV technology can have on the entire industry, while infusing the latest technology into our fleet and reducing our overall carbon footprint.\u201d\n\nNotes to editors:\n\nDedicated to Gas is part of the Low Emission Freight and Logistics Trial, funded by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) in partnership with Innovate UK.\n\nIn January 2017, OLEV announced that 20 trial projects were to receive funding of \u00a320m to demonstrate new technologies and to encourage the widespread introduction of low and zero emission vehicles to UK commercial fleets. The Low Emission Freight and Logistics Trial will help the UK meet its CO2 reduction targets \u2013 and represents another step towards the government\u2019s target for all new cars and vans to be zero emission by 2040.\n\nAbout Cenex\n\nCenex, the UK\u2019s first Centre of Excellence for Low Carbon and Fuel Cell technologies, operates as an independent not-for-profit consultancy and research organisation. It specialises in the delivery of projects which support innovation and market development to accelerate the shift to a low emission economy.\n\nBy encouraging the early market adoption of low emission and fuel cell technologies in automotive applications, Cenex aims to assist the UK automotive supply chain with competing in global markets, as well as showcasing UK expertise to encourage inward investment.\n\nCenex has an established track record of delivering multi-year programmes and shorter-term projects associated with low carbon vehicles and infrastructure, working with a range of public and private sector clients.\n\nAbout Air Liquide\n\nThe world leader in gases, technologies and services for Industry and Health, Air Liquide is present in 80 countries with approximately 67,000 employees.\n\nAs part of its contribution to the energy transition challenge, Air Liquide advanced Business & Technologies (aB&T) drives innovation in clean transportation and offers natural energy sources to replace fossil fuels.\n\nAir Liquide aB&T has over 100 years\u2019 experience in the storage, piping, dispensing, vaporisation, engineering, manufacturing & maintenance of gas systems. The combination of biomethane & station supply creates a complete end-to-end solution for our customers, increasing competitiveness and sustainability.\n\nAir Liquide aB&T already owns & operates more than 50 bio-LNG/CNG refuelling stations in Europe, and our network is growing rapidly, with the UK one of the key target markets.\n\nCenex\n\nSue Glanville/Cate Bonthuys\n\nCatalyst Communications\n\nTel: +44 (0)771 581 7589/ +44 (0)774 654 6773\n\nsue@catalystcomms.co.uk / cate@catalystcomms.co.uk", "output": "The largest trial of biomethane-fuelled trucks is set to take place in the UK, led by Air Liquide and with the involvement of Cenex, the country's first centre of excellence for low-carbon technologies. Major British fleet operators, including retailer Asda, will test 81 gas-powered heavy goods vehicles in 10 different configurations, with Cenex managing all data analysis and project information dissemination. Emissions from a biomethane-powered lorry could be about 70% less than from a diesel-engined one. The programme will also study new cryogenic trailer refrigeration technology. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Contaminated alfalfa made into biomass fuel \n In Idaho, researchers at the Idaho National Laboratory are taking alfalfa contaminated with inorganic bromide and figuring out what farmers can do with the otherwise useless bales, like biomass fuel. The alfalfa was contaminated from methyl bromide, a highly toxic pesticide after a potato pest issue led to its spraying on fields, but that meant the alfalfa can\u2019t be fed to cattle as it was causing them to have lesions, stillbirths and other health issues. Researchers are hoping to help farmers with bales and tons of alfalfa that can\u2019t be used by converting it into biomass fuel that local potato processing companies can use for daily operations in their coal-fired plants.\n\nHowever, locals wanted to make sure it was safe to burn since they wondered if it was hurting cows, what would it do to people when burned. Researchers burned alfalfa at their facility and monitored the air to ensure bromide wasn\u2019t being released. The results showed bromide in the ash but not in the air making it a good candidate for biomass fuel instead of destined for a landfill.", "output": "Researchers at the Biomass Feedstock National User Facility of the Idaho National Laboratory (INL are studying how farmers can use contaminated alfalfa as a combustible fuel. After bromide-filled alfalfa began to contaminate livestock, farmers were left with a glut of the crop. State officials asked the facility to explore uses for the crop as a fuel. Burning alfalfa releases a similar quantity of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as coal, but unlike fossil fuels, it returns freely available carbon to the air, said INL Advisory Engineer Michael Clark."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Farmers Insurance puts fleet of assessment drones to the sky \n Farmers Insurance disclosed it has started using a fleet of drones to help facilitate the claims process for customers reeling from roof damage after major storms.\n\nThe drone launch follows a series of field test that helped determine the best way to use drones along with Farmers\u2019 existing claims operation. Plans call for using the technology now to help with residential property damage enhancements.\n\nAn initial rollout will focus on areas most impacted by hailstorms and other severe weather events.\n\n\u201cWe believe our new drone program will help improve response time and safety for our claim representatives during their evaluations, and ensure Farmers maintains a leadership position in the insurance industry,\u201d Keith Daly, chief claims officer for Farmers Insurance, said in prepared remarks.\n\nKespry is supplying Farmers\u2019 initial squadron of drones. The company is based in California and focused on technologies such as fully-automated industrial drone systems. Farmers said the Kespry drones will help it move more quickly and safely to gather rooftop imagery and data, generate analytic reports, supplement ladder assist capabilities and resolve more claims with greater efficiency and accuracy.\n\nFarmers added it will use its own FAA-licensed drone operators for the drone claims process. These individuals are also Farmers-trained claim representatives, the insurer added.\n\nThe technology itself includes high-resolution, 3D imagery that can detect granule loss and other physical damage data of residential roofs. Farmers claim representatives will get access to comprehensive roof dimensions and automated damage detection, with onsite availability of rooftop imagery made possible in minutes.\n\nInsurers including Munich Re\u2019s Hartford Steam Boiler, Erie Insurance, AIG, USAA and State Farm have tested the use of commercial drones for property inspections, underwriting and loss prevention work.\n\nSource: Farmers", "output": "A fleet of drones armed with high-resolution 3D-imagery cameras has been deployed by Farmers Insurance to assess the roofs of homes damaged in major storms. Farmers said it had put the Kespry vehicles into operation sooner than planned after field tests proved their capabilities. The drones are being operated by FAA-licensed drone pilots who are also trained in damage assessment. Farmers said the deployment will speed up the claims process and make assessments quicker and safer. The drones also generate analytic reports and supplement ladder assist capabilities."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow's intentions for Shropshire site opposed by former Verve guitarist \n But after settling in to a home overlooking green fields in Newport, Mr McCabe and his partner Caron were horrified to learn that up to 300 homes were being planned for the land next to them.\n\nThe site, between the Beechfields estate and the A41 Newport Bypass, is one of 100 areas supposed to be protected from development by Telford & Wrekin Council.\n\nBut that has not stopped developers Redrow from consulting the estate's residents on a scheme for two, three and four bedroom houses.\n\nLast week they distributed leaflets to residents setting out their aims.\n\nMr McCabe said if the development went ahead the new homes would destroy one of the reasons people the very reason people chose to live in Newport - the green spaces.\n\n\"When I was growing up I would be climbing trees and playing outside with friends, rather than sat at home watching TV and that is what I want for my son,\" said Mr McCabe, 44.\n\n\"This is one of the many reasons we came to Newport from London, but that could be under threat.\n\n\"My son is only five, and he is really getting behind us, as he doesn't want to see any of the wildlife hurt or disturbed by these houses.\n\n\"As a member of the junior branch of the RSPB he is particularly worried for the future on the rich and varied bird population the area supports.\n\n\"If the plans do go ahead, it would be solid housing from the canal right up to the Chetwynd area of the town.\n\n\"We want to ensure that Newport does not succumb to the fate of many towns where indiscriminate greenfield development has been allowed to destroy the very qualities that originally made those areas special.\"\n\nTelford & Wrekin's Local Plan for development says 3,499 homes will be built in Telford & Wrekin between now and 2031 on 17 sites.\n\nHowever 100 green sites are to be avoided, with \"green guarantees\".\n\nMr McCabe's partner, Caron Malcolm, 49, said: \"From what we now understand the proposed site is part of the green area under the local plan, which is pretty much the trump card as regards opposing planning permission.\n\n\"So we feel much more optimistic than when we received the leaflets last week.\n\n\"However, we need to show a solid opposition to this that is not in the interest for the locality, the environment or Newport as a whole.\n\n\"Despite the Local Plan these once people have an investment in development they will try to exploit any loopholes possible so it is important to keep active and show that from all sections of the Newport community this is a firm no.\"\n\nMr McCabe has set up a Facebook page to oppose the plans and residents have until October 23 to take part in the public consultation.\n\nLinda Bright, spokeswoman for Redrow said: \"We are inviting comment from local people on two proposed planning applications for land either side of Plough Lane.\n\n\"This is in advance of us submitting an outline application to Telford and Wrekin Council for up to 170 new homes at Oak View, off Kestrel Close, and up to 110 homes at Heritage Fields, off Forton Road.\n\n\"We envisage providing a wide range of homes to suit everyone from first time buyers to families. Should these schemes go ahead then they would bring with them a proportion of affordable homes, employment and other community benefits as yet to be negotiated with the local authority.\n\n\"It's a sustainable location, just off the A41 and with easy access to the local amenities of Newport. We hope to submit an application by the end of October and it will include a masterplan for the whole site and a traffic assessment report.", "output": "Former Verve guitarist Nick McCabe is rallying support to oppose a proposal from Redrow, which is said to have distributed leaflets to residents in Newport, Shropshire setting out intentions to build up to 300 homes on the site between the Beechfields estate and the A41 Newport Bypass, which is next to McCabe's home. The area is supposed to be one of 100 protected by \"green guarantees\" from Telford & Wrekin Council. \"We are inviting comment from local people on two proposed planning applications for land either side of Plough Lane,\" said Linda Bright, spokeswoman for Redrow.\n\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Six-figure claims not unusual when Brits fall ill overseas: ABI \n Travel insurers say six-figure medical bills are \"not uncommon\" when British holidaymakers need emergency medical treatment while abroad.\n\nNearly 3,000 travellers needing treatment in another country are helped by insurers every week typically, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI). Around \u00a3200 million is paid out each year to help people who fall seriously ill overseas.\n\nThe ABI said a claim for treating a stroke in the United States cost \u00a3768,000 - a figure that would take someone more than a quarter of a century to earn on an average UK salary. The bill included \u00a360,000 for an air ambulance back to the UK.\n\nThe US, which attracts 3.8 million UK visitors a year, has some of the highest medical costs, the ABI said.\n\nIn another case, \u00a3252,000 was spent treating a brain haemorrhage and broken shoulder suffered by a traveller when he fell off a bicycle.\n\nThe ABI said: \"Six-figure medical bills are now not uncommon.\"\n\nElsewhere around the world, examples of emergency medical bills faced by British travellers which have been paid out by travel insurers include:\n\n:: \u00a3136,000 for treating complications following an insect bite in Chile. This included paying for a nurse to escort the traveller home.\n\n:: \u00a3125,000 to pay for surgery following a jet-ski accident while holidaying in Turkey.\n\n:: \u00a381,000 to cover ongoing costs of treating a holidaymaker who contracted pancreatitis in Greece.\n\n:: \u00a374,000 paid to treat a brain haemorrhage in Cuba.\n\n:: \u00a360,000 to treat injuries suffered in a road accident in El Salvador. This included \u00a333,000 for an air ambulance back to the UK.\n\nThe ABI said the cost of the average medical claim, at \u00a31,300, increased by 40% between 2011 and 2016.\n\nIt has launched a new guide to travel insurance at www.abi.org.uk to help travellers ensure they have the right insurance to cover any \"sky high\" overseas medical bills and emergency repatriation to return home.\n\nWhen travelling in Europe, the free European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) gives holidaymakers access to state-provided healthcare available to a resident.\n\nBut it is not a substitute for having travel insurance because it will not cover all medical costs, or the cost of emergency repatriation back to the UK. For example, from Spain, an air ambulance can cost \u00a325,000, the ABI said.\n\nMark Shepherd, assistant director, head of property, commercial and specialist lines at the ABI, said: \"Incredibly an estimated one in four travellers still travel without insurance, despite the fact that the average cost of a single trip policy can be less than what a family spends on snacks at the airport.\n\n\"With a wide range of competitively priced policies available, shop around, don't forget to disclose any pre-existing medical conditions, and remember that the cheapest policy may not be best for your needs.\"", "output": "UK holidaymakers are filing health insurance claims that occasionally reach six figures, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI), as it warned tourists to ensure their protection covers \"sky high\" medical bills. One stroke victim was charged \u00a3768,000 ($1m) after treatment in the US, the ABI said. The claim was one of about 3,000 made each week by UK travellers, which have\u00a0pushed the UK's annual claims total to approximately \u00a3200m. The average travel insurance claim has risen 40% in the past five years to \u00a31,300, the ABI claimed."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China insists Indian soldiers must leave disputed\u00a0border region \n China has demanded India immediately remove troops from the border amid an increasingly tense stand-off in the remote frontier region beside the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.\n\nThe Chinese foreign ministry on Thursday said India had been building up troops and repairing roads along its side of the border next to the mountainous Indian state of Sikkim.\n\nThe stand-off ratchets up tension between the neighbours, who share a 2,175 mile (3,500km) frontier, large parts of which are disputed.\n\n\u201cIt has already been more than a month since the incident and India is still not only illegally remaining on Chinese territory, it is also repairing roads in the rear, stocking up supplies, massing a large number of armed personnel,\u201d said a foreign ministry statement from Beijing.\n\n\u201cThis is certainly not for peace.\u201d\n\nEarly in June, according to the Chinese interpretation of events, Indian guards crossed into China\u2019s Donglang region and obstructed work on a road on the plateau.\n\nThe two sides\u2019 troops then confronted each other close to a valley controlled by China that separates India from its close ally, Bhutan, and gives China access to the so-called Chicken\u2019s Neck, a thin strip of land connecting India and its remote north-eastern regions.\n\nIndia has said it warned China that construction of the road near their common border would have serious security implications.\n\nNo country should underestimate the Chinese military\u2019s confidence Chinese defence ministry\n\nThe Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, is to visit China early in September for a summit of leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.\n\nIndian officials say about 300 soldiers from either side are facing each other about 150 meters (yards) apart on the plateau.\n\nThey have told Reuters that both sides\u2019 diplomats have quietly engaged to try to keep the stand-off from escalating, and that India\u2019s ambassador to Beijing is leading the effort to find a way for both sides to back down without loss of face.\n\nChinese state media have warned India of a fate worse than the defeat it suffered in a brief border war in 1962. China\u2019s military has held live fire drills close to the disputed area, it said last month. On Friday the official China Daily said in an editorial that China was not in the mood for a fight, noting how the stand-off had been \u201cunusually restrained\u201d.\n\n\u201cHowever, if good manners do not work, in the end it may be necessary to rethink our approach. Sometimes a head-on blow may work better than a thousand pleas in waking up a dreamer,\u201d the English-language paper added.", "output": "China has demanded that India remove troops from a plateau next to the mountainous Indian state of Sikkim, which borders China. The nations share\u00a0a 2,175 mile frontier, of which large sections are disputed.\u00a0China's foreign ministry has said that \"India is still not only illegally remaining on Chinese territory, it is also repairing roads in the rear, stocking up supplies,\u00a0massing a large number of armed personnel\". Indian officials said about 300 soldiers from either\u00a0side are facing each other 150 metres apart on the plateau. This followed accusations by China that Indian guards had crossed into China and obstructed work.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wolf Warriors 2 dominates Chinese box amid Hollywood blackout \n watch now\n\nBlockbusters like \"Dunkirk\" and \"Spider-Man: Homecoming\" may have received the thumbs up from moviegoers around the world this summer, but they aren't yet making any waves in China. That's because of China's annual \"Hollywood blackout,\" which is when the country initiates an undeclared ban on the release of all foreign films during specific periods of the year. A summer tradition of sorts, the blackout usually takes place during the lucrative holiday months when students go on vacation. The blackout also tends to be enforced during China's week-long Lunar New Year national holiday in the first half of the year. While the Hollywood blackout is unofficial, the absence of foreign films scheduled for release in the country around the middle of July to late August this year suggests the regulation is already in effect. Neither a representative for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor its State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television immediately replied to a request for comment on the practice.\n\n$134 billion in U.S. wages\n\nHow China consumes \u2014 or doesn't \u2014 American entertainment is of major importance to the U.S. film and television industry, which is the world's largest and supports around 2 millions jobs in the country with a reported $134 billion in wages. Although box office growth decelerated in China in 2016, Reuters calculations showed the country contributed $1.8 billion in revenues to the 20 highest grossing Hollywood films. For comparison, all U.S. box office sales stood at $11.4 billion in 2016. And while it is challenging to determine whether the blackout significantly decreases Hollywood blockbusters' revenues on the mainland, the most obvious impact is the delay in China release dates for some major films.\n\nI suspect (the blackout) keeps the Chinese film industry buoyant, which then allows its players to have more negotiating power with Hollywood. Felicia Chan senior lecturer at the University of Manchester\n\nOne of the affected films this year is Marvel's \"Spider-Man: Homecoming,\" which is slated for a Sept. 8 release in China, according to movie review site Douban. That's around two months after the film's July 7 U.S. debut. The movie has reportedly grossed more than $633 million globally. Other foreign films, such as war drama \"Dunkirk\" and science fiction \" Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets\" are expected to be screened on the mainland more than a month after their releases stateside. Typically, major Hollywood pictures open on the mainland either on the same date as in North America or slightly after their U.S. releases, according to The Hollywood Reporter. While there is little official documentation available on the Hollywood blackout, the Chinese government first enacted the regulation in 2004, China Market Research Group Principal Ben Cavender told CNBC.\n\nwatch now\n\nThe action had been taken to give the Zhang Yimou-directed \"House of Flying Daggers\" a boost at the local box office and was a new form of regulation compared to the foreign film quota, which had been in existence for much longer, said Cavender. Naturally, the blackout serves to boost the performance of domestically produced films in the mainland market as competition from foreign titles is reduced. Data from research firm EntGroup showed that local titles like \"Wolf Warrior 2,\" \"The Founding of an Army\" and \"Brotherhood of Blades 2\" dominated the Chinese box office in the week that ended on July 30. The only Hollywood film on the top-grossing list is \"Despicable Me 3,\" which had been released in China on July 7, likely before the blackout on foreign film releases began. In comparison, five foreign films occupied the top-10 spots in the week that ended on June 25 \u2014 before the Hollywood blackout. Success for domestically produced titles, however, is not guaranteed even when the foreign competition is removed. The trend in historical box office records show that, when there is no ban in effect, the one or two foreign films released in China tend to absorb up to 90 percent of revenues from ticket sales during a given week, Cavender said. In comparison, when the blackout is enforced, several domestic films tend to share relatively even portions of the market. The blackout is sometimes framed as an ideologically driven piece of regulation, but its existence is likely linked to more pragmatic thinking. That could include giving China-made films more of a chance to be seen, according to Felicia Chan, a senior lecturer at the University of Manchester. \"I'm not sure if 'preventing too much Western influence' is an argument any more at the Chinese box office, given the numbers Hollywood blockbusters are hitting in China ... I suspect (the blackout) keeps the Chinese film industry buoyant, which then allows its players to have more negotiating power with Hollywood,\" Chan added.\n\n'The Founding of an Army'\n\nThis year, there's an additional dimension to the summer Hollywood blackout: the 90th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army on Aug. 1. Given the occasion, most domestically produced films released the week before the event at least paid lip service to themes such as patriotism and self-sacrifice. To illustrate: Even though audiences might have flocked to the cinema for its well-choreographed fight scenes, the plot of action flick \"Wolf Warrior 2\" revolved around a Chinese special forces agent who comes out of retirement to fight American mercenaries.\n\nActors Zhu Yawen, Liu Ye and Huang Zhizhong attend a press conference for \"The Founding of an Army\" in Beijing, China. VCG | Getty Images\n\nThe state-backed \"The Founding of an Army\" \u30fc a historical epic set in 1927 about events that led to founding of the PLA \u30fc was described in glowing terms by Xinhua as an inspiration to local youth across the country. The film is the final installment of the \"Founding of New China\" trilogy. While official coverage of the film by the Chinese media was positive \u30fc a moviegoer told Xinhua that it motivated young people in China to \"strive for (their) Chinese dream\" \u30fc media outlets outside of the mainland adopted a different tone. Notably, the South China Morning Post called the film \"tone-deaf\" in its review, and others deemed it a propaganda film. In addition to the blackout in place, cinema chains in China were reportedly directed by media regulators to screen \"Founding\" on a minimum of 45 percent of their screens for the film's opening day, The Hollywood Reporter said, citing sources. Despite those extra regulations, \"Wolf Warrior 2\" beat \"Founding\" at the box office, taking in $142 million in its opening week. The latter grossed just $28.9 million, data from EntGroup reflected.\n\nWhy foreign studios aren't running scared\n\nStill, even the ad hoc nature of the Hollywood blackout is unlikely to spook foreign studios from wooing Chinese audiences. While the specter of piracy remained \u2014 Chinese moviegoers could turn to less-than-legal means of watching films yet to be released on the mainland \u2014 foreign production houses are, by now, largely accepting of the blackout. The appeal of the market centers on a shift in behavior in the world's second-largest economy. Over the last two years, Cavender said, consumers have gradually transitioned from aspirational consumption to focusing on experiences. That is, activities like going to the movies now make up major budget items for Chinese consumers, Cavender said, adding that they're more willing to spend if there are quality movies.\n\nwatch now", "output": "Wolf Warriors 2 has become a Chinese box office hit, making \u00a3181m in one week, and beating Hollywood blockbuster Dunkirk to the global box office no.1. The film is set in an African war zone, and focuses\u00a0heavily on Chinese patriotism, with the tagline:\u00a0\"Anyone who offends China will be killed no matter how far the target is\". Indeed, the film hits cinemas during the annual \"Hollywood blackout\" in which an undeclared ban on all foreign films is enacted.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GE and Engie plan 119 MW South Australian windfarm \n Two of the world\u2019s largest energy companies, French giant Engie and American conglomerate GE, have announced plans to build a 119MW wind farm in South Australia, 160km north of Adelaide.\n\nThe two companies announced the agreement on Friday, to supply and install 32 wind turbines at the Willogoleche Wind Farm, adding yet another project to a state already shooting above 50 per cent renewable energy.\n\n\n\nJ\u00e9r\u00f4me P\u00e9cresse, President & CEO of GE Renewable Energy, said the company was working on nearly $2 billion in wind farm projects, representing more than 900MW generation capacity.\n\n\u201cThis is an incredibly important region for GE globally, and we are committed to supporting Australia to achieve its renewable energy goals while maintaining reliable and affordable electricity supplies to businesses and households across the country,\u201d he said in a statement.\n\nThe wind farm is the third major project to be announced for the state recently, alongside Reach Solar\u2019s 220MW PV project at Bungala, near Port Augusta, and the Nexif Energy\u2019s 212MW Lincoln Gap wind farm, also near Port Augusta.\n\n\u201cWe have seen tremendous momentum in the Australian wind industry this year,\u201d said GE Australia chief Geoff Culbert in a statement.\n\n\u201cThis will be our fourth wind farm to begin construction in 2017, with more than 300 GE turbines either operating or under construction across the country, capable of powering the equivalent of more than 500,000 Australian homes with renewable energy.\n\n\u201cIt is encouraging to see more projects like this reach financial close, and we look forward to continuing to bring the best renewables technology to Australia.\u201d\n\nFor Engie, the wind farm at Willogoleche will be its second wind project in Australia, and the first time it has worked with GE on a renewables project in Australia. It also mirrors the shift the company is undertaking globally, from fossil fuels to renewable energy generation.\n\n\n\nIn March, Engie shut down one of Australia\u2019s largest coal-fired generators, the Hazelwood brown coal power plant it majority owns in Victoria\u2019s Latrobe Valley, in line with its company-wide strategy to gradually end all coal activities.\n\n\u201cThis is a key project for ENGIE as it tackles the major challenges in the energy transition and moves us towards a decarbonised, decentralised and digitised energy system,\u201d said acting Engie Australia CEO Matt Donaldson.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s great to be working with GE, a company with a similar mindset where digital is at the heart of everything it does. This ensures solutions are future-proofed and our customers enjoy world-leading technology that meets their energy needs.\u201d\n\nThe project will use a a combination of GE\u2019s 3.8MW turbines (24) and its 3.4MW turbines (8), with a tip height of 150m above ground level and a blade rotor diameter of 130m.", "output": "French energy company Engie and American firm General Electric have declared their intention to construct a wind farm in South Australia. Located\u00a0160km north of Adelaide and capable of providing 119MW,\u00a0the facility will be made up of 32 wind turbines, installed at the\u00a0Willogoleche Wind Farm. This comes amid increasing global pressure to develop effective means of generating sustainable, renewable energy."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Experts disagree over Musk's Hyperloop hyperbole \n Elon Musk\u2019s plans for magnetically-levitated pods are back in the news after South Korea signed an agreement to develop a full-scale Hyperloop testbed, with the intention of ultimately building a system to zip across the country in 20 minutes.\n\n\n\nSlovakia, Abu Dhabi, the Czech Republic, France, Sweden and Indonesia are also interested in building their own Hyperloops.\n\nMusk claims Hyperloop pods will be faster than trains, safer than cars and much less damaging to the environment than aircraft. But is building an entirely new \u201cfifth mode\u201d of transport (after planes, trains, cars and boats), complete with its own unique infrastructure, the most sustainable solution to our transportation problems?\n\n\u201cMusk always talks about how to change the world\u2019s energy systems as much as its transportation systems,\u201d said Bent Flyvbjerg, an economist specialising in mega-projects at Oxford University\u2019s Sa\u00efd Business School. \u201cThe Hyperloop fits in well in that respect, shifting transport away from carbon to renewables.\u201d\n\nAlthough Hyperloop is still almost entirely theoretical, apart from a few small-scale experiments, academics have been crunching the numbers since Musk first proposed it in 2013, when he offered the technology free for anyone to use.\n\nFaster, cheaper, cleaner\n\nEarlier this year, scientists at Nasa\u2019s Glenn Research Centre in Ohio examined the Hyperloop concept from a technical and cost perspective. They concluded that \u201cestimates of energy consumption, passenger throughput, and mission analyses all support Hyperloop as a faster and cheaper alternative to short-haul flights [of 250 to 500 miles].\u201d\n\nHyperloop\u2019s benefits really kick in, though, when you consider its environmental benefits. A feasibility analysis by the US Department of Transportation (DOT) estimates that Hyperloop routes could be up to six times more energy efficient than air travel on short routes, and over three times faster than the world\u2019s fastest high-speed rail system.\n\nThe high-pods would also be more eco-friendly than road vehicles, according to researchers at the Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg. Last year, they calculated the effects on road traffic of building a 300km Hyperloop in northern Germany dedicated to freight. They quantified the impact of removing thousands of trucks from the road, including reduced air and noise pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, congestion and road accidents.\n\n\n\nEven though a Hyperloop in cloudy Germany could not run solely on solar power, it could still avoid emitting up to 140,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year, according to the study, as well as up to 0.2% of Germany\u2019s entire production of air pollutants like methane, nitrous oxides and dust. Overall, the Hyperloop could produce up to \u20ac900m (\u00a3805m) of value in reduced pollution, accidents and congestion each year \u2013 equal to a third of its estimated \u20ac2.7bn initial investment.\n\nToo much hype?\n\nHowever, others think that Musk\u2019s estimates for building a Hyperloop system are, like his confidence in a \u201cverbal approval\u201d for a route between New York City and Washington DC, hopelessly naive.\n\nMusk put a price-tag of about $17m per mile on a Hyperloop in California. But when Nicolas McLean, an engineer at the University of Queensland, analysed the cost of building a similar Hyperloop along the eastern coast of Australia he concluded, \u201cthe cost of the overall system was roughly 10 times larger than Musk\u2019s initial prediction \u2026 which relied on undeveloped or immature technology\u201d.\n\nA feasibility analysis by DOT last year was similarly sceptical: \u201cCost estimates for a land-based Hyperloop system may appear lower than other modes, but as the technology is still conceptual and in very initial testing, there is uncertainty in both the underlying infrastructure needed to operate a system and the cost to construct it.\u201d\n\nThis may be ignoring the Musk factor, thinks Flyvbjerg: \u201cWe know that Musk is very cost conscious, and he has already proven himself capable of getting good engineers to work for him.\u201d Flyvbjerg thinks that Musk could reduce costs by locating Hyperloop stations beneath airports, and by improving tunnelling technologies.\n\nMusk recently launched The Boring Company, a firm that aims to reduce the cost and increase the speed of building tunnels by a factor of 10. \u201cTunnel boring machines themselves are only a few decades old, and are still very bespoke, slow and expensive,\u201d says Flyvbjerg. \u201cMusk needs to demonstrate that there is another way of doing things that is fast, cheap and modular.\u201d\n\nNone of these words is synonymous with public transportation projects, which often take decades and billions of taxpayer dollars to realise. \u201cNobody has been able to deliver this kind of infrastructure in a way where it\u2019s profitable, so subsidies have always been needed,\u201d says Flyvbjerg.\n\nThat could play to Musk\u2019s strengths. In 2015, the LA Times calculated that Musk\u2019s rocket, electric car and solar power companies had benefited from nearly $5bn (\u00a33.8bn) in government funding, in the form of grants, tax breaks, discounted loans, rebates and environmental credits.\n\n\u201cI wouldn\u2019t bet my money on being able to make something like the Hyperloop financially viable,\u201d says Flyvbjerg. \u201cBut that\u2019s OK. We subsidise all sorts of other infrastructure so why not the Hyperloop, if we think there\u2019s an environmental or business case for it?\u201d", "output": "Nicolas McLean, engineer at the University of Queensland, has disputed Elon Musk's claims\u00a0that\u00a0hyperloop technology could be more safe than cars, quicker than trains, less more eco-friendly than air-travel. Scientists at Nasa\u2019s Glenn Research Centre in Ohio concluded that hyperloop offered a faster and cheaper alternative\u00a0to short-haul flights, and\u00a0Musk said that a Hyperloop would cost roughly $17m per mile in California. McLean, however, calculated\u00a0that\u00a0\u201cthe cost of the overall system was roughly 10 times larger than Musk\u2019s initial prediction\u201d when considered on Australia's east coast.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bottle deposit scheme would cut marine pollution: Green Alliance \n The scale of plastic pollution plaguing our oceans is alarming. Eight million tonnes of the stuff is being lost to the sea each year. At least 136 species of marine life are affected by plastic entanglement, and many more still \u2013 at least 250 species \u2013 ingest plastic pieces that can be a million times more toxic than the water around them. We are one of those species, with European shellfish consumers ingesting around 11,000 bits of microplastic every year.\n\nThankfully, the government is acting. Last month, environment secretary Michael Gove highlighted Defra\u2019s existing 5p carrier bag charge as a success (which we estimate tackles one per cent of the plastic problem) and committed to a microbeads ban for some products (which could tackle a further one per cent, if extended to all products). But, with less than two per cent of plastics addressed by actions so far, more action is clearly needed and Mr Gove has said he is looking for solutions. He announced an exploration of \u201cnew methods of reducing the amount of plastic \u2013 in particular plastic bottles \u2013 entering our seas.\u201d\n\nWe think the answers are already here. And that they are simple. At the beginning of the year we published an infographic that highlighted the scale of the problem:\n\nOur new analysis now shows the five actions that could prevent nearly two thirds of the plastic pollution from ever reaching the sea.\n\nA third in one step\n\nThe single most effective action would be to recycle all plastic bottles, which account for 33 per cent of marine plastic litter, through a deposit return scheme.\n\nThis would involve a small charge being placed on drink containers at the point of sale (between 5p and 20p) that can later be redeemed when the packaging is returned to an authorised centre or the original seller. Such schemes are widely implemented abroad and can virtually eliminate beverage litter. In Germany, for instance, nearly 100 per cent of plastic bottles are returned for recycling, compared to only 57 per cent in the UK.\n\nA few more steps\n\nBut the government should not stop with drinks containers. Alongside a deposit return scheme, it could take four other actions that, when added together, would reduce the UK\u2019s contribution to the marine plastic problem by almost a third more. These are:\n\nEnforcing Operation Clean Sweep. This is an international, industry led programme to prevent nurdles \u2013 the small pellets used to manufacture nearly all plastic products \u2013 from spilling into the environment. In other words, it prevents industrial pollution. At present, this voluntary initiative has no enforcement mechanism. Making it mandatory and enforcing it would prevent a further nine per cent of plastic pollution. And, as it is an industry led initiative, it should be welcomed by businesses for removing a potential source of reputational risk.\n\nThis is an international, industry led programme to prevent nurdles \u2013 the small pellets used to manufacture nearly all plastic products \u2013 from spilling into the environment. In other words, it prevents industrial pollution. At present, this voluntary initiative has no enforcement mechanism. Making it mandatory and enforcing it would prevent a further nine per cent of plastic pollution. And, as it is an industry led initiative, it should be welcomed by businesses for removing a potential source of reputational risk. Enforcing existing maritime waste bans. As the UK leaves the Common Fisheries Policy, it should apply the techniques used by Norway to enforce a ban on fish discards. These can be adapted to stop plastic waste being thrown overboard from ships. In Norway, discarding is deterred through a coastguard patrol presence and a similar catch quota management scheme in the North Sea involves remote electronic monitoring with on board CCTV cameras. These measures could be complemented by mandatory GPS tracking of vessels, mandatory reporting of gear losses and monitoring through aerial footage. This would address a further eleven per cent of plastic pollution.\n\nAs the UK leaves the Common Fisheries Policy, it should apply the techniques used by Norway to enforce a ban on fish discards. These can be adapted to stop plastic waste being thrown overboard from ships. In Norway, discarding is deterred through a coastguard patrol presence and a similar catch quota management scheme in the North Sea involves remote electronic monitoring with on board CCTV cameras. These measures could be complemented by mandatory GPS tracking of vessels, mandatory reporting of gear losses and monitoring through aerial footage. This would address a further eleven per cent of plastic pollution. Upgrade waste water treatment plants with sand filters. When synthetic clothes are washed, minute plastic fibres are washed into the waste water. These are too small to be captured by the standard treatment systems. Sand filters, already used in the United States, capture these fibres before they get into the ocean. Fitting these to waste water treatment plants would tackle a further nine per cent of plastic pollution.\n\nWhen synthetic clothes are washed, minute plastic fibres are washed into the waste water. These are too small to be captured by the standard treatment systems. Sand filters, already used in the United States, capture these fibres before they get into the ocean. Fitting these to waste water treatment plants would tackle a further nine per cent of plastic pollution. Expand the UK\u2019s ban on microbeads to all products. Over 680 tonnes of plastic microbeads are used as exfoliants or abrasives in UK products every year. The government\u2019s proposed ban only covers rinse-off products like face and body washes, and not leave-on products like deodorants and sunscreen. Nor does it address microbeads used in non-cosmetic products. Addressing this loophole would prevent a further one per cent of plastic pollution.\n\nSo if Michael Gove wants to move solutions from a drop in the ocean to making a real splash in his first few months as environment secretary, and fulfil his wish to protect the sea from more plastic pollution, the easy answers are already here.\n\nSee the infographics and references.\n\n[Image: Bottle bank? by Ben Salter from Flickr Creative Commons]\n\nShare this: Tweet\n\n\n\nEmail\n\n\n\n", "output": "The introduction of a bottle deposit scheme would be the most effective way of reducing plastic litter in oceans, according to UK environmental thinktank Green Alliance. The group says that 33% of marine pollution comes from drinks bottles and that a deposit scheme similar to those in Australia, Europe and north America would capture 95% of such items. The group is also calling for enforcement of a voluntary industry initiative to reduce pollution from plastic \u201cnurdles\u201d or pellets, as well as the upgrading of wastewater plants to capture microplastic fibres and the expansion of the ban on microbeads.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bottle deposit scheme would cut marine pollution: Green Alliance \n Plastic marine litter could be cut significantly if the government adopted a bottle deposit scheme as part of five key actions to tackle pollution of the oceans, a green thinktank has said.\n\nThe single most effective action to reduce plastic pollution in the seas would be a container return scheme along the lines of those run in large parts of Europe, north America and Australia, according to a new analysis by Green Alliance. In such schemes, a small tax is added to recyclable and reusable containers at the point of sale, which consumers can reclaim by returning them.\n\nThe thinktank says its own research \u2013 using data from Australian analysis \u2013 shows 33% of plastic marine pollution comes from littering of drinks bottles.\n\nThey say a deposit scheme would capture about 95% of littered plastic bottles \u2013 reducing marine litter by almost a third.\n\nGreen Alliance said announcements by the new environment secretary Michael Gove promising to tackle marine litter, and his announcement that the government is to legislate to ban microbeads in cosmetic products, were a step forward.\n\n\n\nBut it said the government could go further by adopting its five key measures.\n\nAs well as a deposit scheme, they are calling for the government to:\n\nEnforce Operation Clean Sweep \u2013 a voluntary industry initiative to reduce pollution from plastic pellets known as nurdles \u2013 responsible for 9% of marine plastic pollution.Enforce existing maritime dumping bans.\n\nUpgrade wastewater treatment plants with sand filters to catch microplastic fibres from synthetic clothes when they are washed.\n\nExpand the ban on microbeads to all products \u2013 not just cosmetic rinse-off face washes and other wash-off products.\n\nThe Guardian revealed new figures last month which show a million plastic bottles are bought every minute across the globe and that production will increase 20% by 2021. Fewer than half of the bottles bought in 2016 were collected for recycling and just 7% of those collected were turned into new bottles. Instead most plastic bottles ended up in landfill or in the ocean.\n\nDustin Benton, acting policy director of Green Alliance, said: \u201cIt is depressing to visit a beach that is covered in plastic and downright scary to learn that the seafood you are eating might be contaminated by plastic pollution.\n\n\u201cThe popularity of the microbeads ban and plastic bag charge shows the public is up for tackling these problems.\n\n\u201cThe government should listen, introduce a bottle deposit scheme and enforce rules on sources of industrial waste.\u201d\n\nThey compared the leakage into the marine environment of nurdles, used as raw material in industrial processes, as a clear case of industrial pollution.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t stand for that anywhere else. We should not stand for it with plastic,\u201d said Benton.\n\n\n\nBetween 5m and 13m tonnes of plastic leaks into the world\u2019s oceans each year to be ingested by sea birds, fish and other organisms, and by 2050 the ocean will contain more plastic by weight than fish, according to research by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.\n\nExperts estimate plastic is ingested by 31 species of marine mammal and more than 100 species of sea birds.\n\n\n\nIn an interview with Sky, Gove indicated he supported a bottle deposit scheme. He told the broadcaster it was a \u201cgreat idea\u201d, but said it was important to make sure it would work properly before guaranteeing its implementation.\n\n", "output": "The introduction of a bottle deposit scheme would be the most effective way of reducing plastic litter in oceans, according to UK environmental thinktank Green Alliance. The group says that 33% of marine pollution comes from drinks bottles and that a deposit scheme similar to those in Australia, Europe and north America would capture 95% of such items. The group is also calling for enforcement of a voluntary industry initiative to reduce pollution from plastic \u201cnurdles\u201d or pellets, as well as the upgrading of wastewater plants to capture microplastic fibres and the expansion of the ban on microbeads.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sinclair Pharma 12.6% CAGR predicted for global dermal filler market to 2023 \n Global Dermal Fillers Market Overview\n\nThe Dermal Fillers Market Size was estimated at USD 5.1 Billion in 2022 and is projected to grow from USD 5.50 Billion in 2023 to USD 10.11 Billion by 2032, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.90% during the forecast period (2023 - 2032). Increased interest in plastic surgery and the growing need for minimally invasive techniques are key market drivers contributing to market growth and revenue.\n\nSource: Secondary Research, Primary Research, MRFR Database, and Analyst Review\n\nDermal Fillers Market Trends\n\n\n\nThe growing interest in plastic surgery is driving the market growth\n\n\n\nThe rising interest in plastic surgery drives Market CAGR for dermal fillers. The increasing number of face surgeries performed by both men and women is expected to impact the market's development over the evaluation period significantly. Recently, individuals have searched for less invasive and less painful treatments to achieve a more youthful and healthier appearance. Because invasive cosmetic operations can have a variety of hazards and also demand the patient take more time to recuperate from the surgery. American Society of Plastic Surgeons reported that roughly $13.2 Mn aesthetic operations were performed in the US, with collagen fillers accounting for $3.4 Mn of those treatments in 2020. Such compelling figures demonstrate the considerable growth in demand for cosmetic operations.\n\nAdditionally, the market saw substantial potential due to the increasing demand for less invasive procedures. Businesses are releasing a variety of novel items to fulfill rising demand, which is expected to increase the rate of growth in the future years. One of the major advancements in the worldwide industry is that practically every demographic has expressed a curiosity for these non-intrusive or minimally invasive treatments. This is especially true for men, who increasingly use cosmetic operations to improve their appearance. A rising number of men are discovering that aging and gravity may harm how they look at their facial characteristics. As a result, males are turning to face filler treatments for their efficiency in wrinkle reduction.\n\nFurthermore, technical advancements in medical cosmetic supplies drive market expansion. A rise in unhealthy habits has resulted in early aging, leaving people self-conscious about their looks and increasing the demand for dermal filler treatments. Moreover, cosmetic procedures are employed in various uses, such as lip enlargement, cheek volume reconstruction, and face revitalization, which increases the requirement for dermal filler goods.\n\nThe coronavirus epidemic is expected to have a detrimental influence on the worldwide market. The market is anticipated to decline by 40% in 2020 compared to 2019. Several cosmetic establishments and clinics were closed during the worldwide shutdown. The increasing prevalence of coronavirus limits the number of cosmetic procedures, which negatively influences the growth of the dermal fillers industry. The economy rebounded following the pandemic in 2021, as the globe gradually relaxed the COVID-19 rules due to a decrease in the overall number of confirmed cases. Major firms such as AbbVie Inc. and Revance Therapeutics saw an increase in their aesthetics offering as consumer interest in injectable therapies increased internationally.\n\nFor instance, the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery estimated 4,315,859 hyaluronic acid filler treatments were performed worldwide in 2019. This represents a 15.7% rise over the comparable period of 2018. A rise in aesthetic operations is also predicted to contribute to market growth. Therefore, it is anticipated that demand for Dermal Fillers will increase throughout the projection period due to the rising interest in plastic surgery. Thus, driving the Dermal Fillers market revenue.\n\nDermal Fillers Market Segment Insights\n\nDermal Fillers Type Insights\n\nThe market segments of dermal fillers, based on type, includes hyaluronic acid, polymers & particles, calcium hydroxylapatite, and collagen. The hyaluronic acid category dominated the market, accounting for 35% of market revenue (USD 1.8 Billion) in 2022. The growing market for hyaluronic acid and products based on it is mostly due to its safety and durability. In addition, significant firms providing hyaluronic acid treatments in rapidly expanding regions will boost the overall market growth.\n\nDermal Fillers Application Insights\n\nThe dermal fillers market segmentation, based on application, includes facial line correction treatment, face-lift, and lip treatments. The lip treatments category generated the most income of about 47% (USD 2.4 billion) in 2022. An increasing desire for aesthetic attractiveness and increased beauty sensitivity within women, led by the growth of less invasive treatments, are expected to propel the sectors throughout the projected timeframe.\n\nFigure 1: Dermal Fillers Market, by Application, 2022 & 2032 (USD Billion)\n\nSource: Secondary Research, Primary Research, MRFR Database, and Analyst Review\n\nDermal Fillers Brand Insights\n\n\n\nThe market segmentation of dermal fillers, based on brand, includes juvederm, radiesse, and restylane. The juvederm dominated the market, accounting for 45% of market revenue (USD 2.2 Billion) in 2022. The Restylane category is expected to grow quickly during the projected timeframe.\n\nDermal Fillers Regional Insights\n\nBy region, the research provides market insights into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Rest of the World. The North American Dermal Fillers market will dominate, owing to increased demand for cosmetic solutions and the growing use of non-invasive or partially invasive procedures in this region. In addition, expanding clinical studies into developing novel skin-friendly beauty items will boost the market growth during the projected timeframe.\n\nFurther, the major countries studied in the market report are the US, Canada, German, France, the UK, Italy, Spain, China, Japan, India, Australia, South Korea, and Brazil.\n\nFigure 2: Dermal Fillers Market Share by Region 2022 (USD Billion)\n\nSource: Secondary Research, Primary Research, MRFR Database, and Analyst Review\n\nEurope region\u2019s Dermal Fillers market accounts for the second-largest market share due to the increased requirement for minimally invasive procedures to enhance facial beauty, along with the approval of products and accessibility throughout the area will boost market share. Further, the German market of Dermal Fillers dominates the market share, and the UK market of Dermal Fillers is anticipated to grow rapidly in the European region during the projected timeframe.\n\nThe Asia-Pacific Dermal Fillers Market is anticipated to grow significantly during the projected timeframe because of the increased need for aesthetically pleasing facial items and non-invasive cosmetic treatments, boosting market demand in the APAC region. Moreover, China\u2019s market of Dermal Fillers holds the largest market share, and the Indian market of Dermal Fillers is anticipated to expand rapidly in the Asia-Pacific region.\n\nDermal Fillers Key Market Players & Competitive Insights\n\nLeading market players invested heavily in research and development (R&D) to scale up their manufacturing units and product lines, which will help the market of Dermal Fillers to grow and expand worldwide. Market participants are also undertaking various organic or inorganic strategic approaches to strengthen and expand their footprint, with important market developments including new product portfolios, contractual deals, mergers and acquisitions, capital expenditure, higher investments, and strategic alliances with other organizations. Businesses are also coming up with marketing strategies such as digital marketing, social media influencing, and content marketing to increase their scope of profit earnings. The Dermal Fillers industry must offer cost-effective and sustainable options to survive in a dynamic market.\n\nManufacturing locally to minimize operational expenses is a key business strategy manufacturers use in the Dermal Fillers industry to benefit customers and capture untapped market share and revenue. The Dermal Fillers industry has recently offered significant advantages to the medicine and service industry. Major players in the Dermal Fillers market, including Galderma Laboratories, LP (Switzerland), Allergan (Ireland), Merz Pharma (Germany), Dr. Korman Laboratories (Israel), Sinclair Pharma (UK), Teoxane Laboratories (Switzerland), Suneva Medical (US), SciVision Biotech Inc. (Taiwan), Medytox (South Korea), are attempting to expand market share and demand by investing in research and development (R&D) operations to produce sustainable and affordable solutions.\n\nSinclair Pharma is a multinational aesthetics firm headquartered in London, a subsidiary of Huadong Medicine Ltd. The firm provides a range of complementary cosmetic pharmaceutical medicines emphasizing collagen stimulation for excellent quality, long-lasting, and minimally intrusive treatments. Sinclair Pharma reported in April 2022 that Perfectha Lidocaine was granted the European CE mark for its use in wrinkle reduction, face contouring, and density regeneration. This CE accreditation allows Perfectha Lidocaine to launch in the UK and with all significant European markets.\n\nAllergan Aesthetics, an AbbVie subsidiary, creates, produces, and sells top companies and goods such as face injections, figure contouring, and cosmetic surgery. Allergan's collection includes the most complete, rooted-in-science aesthetic solutions in the market. Allergan Aesthetics, an AbbVie subsidiary, partnered with Luminera, a privately owned aesthetics firm with a product line and pipeline of superficial filler products, in October 2020. According to the terms of the agreement, Allergan Aesthetics acquired Luminera's entire dermal filler portfolio and its research and development pipeline, significantly boosting its top dermal filler offering with its Juvederm filler assortment.\n\nKey Companies in the market of Dermal Fillers include\n\n\n\n\n\nGalderma Laboratories LP (Switzerland)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAllergan (Ireland)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMerz Pharma (Germany)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr. Korman Laboratories (Israel)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSinclair Pharma (UK)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTeoxane Laboratories (Switzerland)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSuneva Medical (US)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSciVision Biotech Inc (Taiwan)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMedytox (South Korea)\n\n\n\n\n\nDermal Fillers Industry Developments\n\nApril 2022:Sinclair Pharma reported in April 2022 that Perfectha Lidocaine was granted the European CE mark for its use in wrinkle reduction, face contouring, and density regeneration. This CE accreditation allows Perfectha Lidocaine to launch in the UK and with all significant European markets.\n\nFebruary 2021:Allergan Aesthetica, along with CollPlant, established a research and worldwide commercial partnership in February 2021 to utilize their plant-based recombinant human collagen (rhCollagen) in conjunction with Allergan's unique technologies to create and commercialize dermal and connective tissue fillers.\n\nOctober 2020:Allergan Aesthetics, an AbbVie subsidiary, established a partnership with Luminera, a privately owned aesthetics firm having a product line and pipeline of superficial filler products, in October 2020. According to the terms of the agreement, Allergan Aesthetics acquired Luminera's entire dermal filler portfolio and its research and development pipeline, significantly boosting its top dermal filler offering with its Juvederm filler assortment.\n\nDermal Fillers Market Segmentation\n\nDermal Fillers Type Outlook\n\n\n\n\n\nHyaluronic acid\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPolymers & particles\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCalcium hydroxylapatite\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCollagen\n\n\n\n\n\nDermal Fillers Application Outlook\n\n\n\n\n\nFacial Line Correction Treatment\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFace-Lift\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLip Treatments\n\n\n\n\n\nDermal Fillers Brand Outlook\n\n\n\n\n\nJuvederm\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRadiesse\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRestylane\n\n\n\n\n\nDermal Fillers Regional Outlook\n\n\n\n\n\nNorth America\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nUS\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCanada\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEurope\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGermany\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFrance\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nUK\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nItaly\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSpain\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRest of Europe\n\n\n\n", "output": "Sinclair Pharma is named among key players in the global dermal fillers market, which is predicted to see a CAGR of 12.6%\u00a0growing from $4,450m in 2016.to $10,008.4m\u00a0by 2023, according to \u00a0Market Research Future. The market's growth is attracting a host of new companies. While the number of males undergoing facial injectable surgery\u00a0is growing rapidly, women account for ~91% of the surgeries. Americas, driven by North and Latin America, remains the top market, followed by Europe, dominated by\u00a0France although the UK is the fastest growing market. AsiaPac\u00a0is expected to see\u00a0a CAGR of 13.1% whilst growth in MEA\u00a0is likely to be limited.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cyber cover accelerates growth of captive insurance \n The captive insurance market continues to remain \u201cresilient, effective, efficient and profitable,\u201d with rising premiums and lower combined ratios compared with the traditional insurance market as it further expands to cover evolving risks such as cyber liability, according to a new report by A.M. Best Co. Inc.\n\nBest\u2019s captive insurance composite ended 2016 with pretax profits up 15.8% over 2015 to $1.6 billion, including more than $803 million in underwriting profit, according to the report released by the Oldwick, New Jersey-based rating agency on Wednesday.\n\n\u201cAlthough captives are not intended to be profitmaking entities, their earnings are viewed as insurance expense savings that stakeholders would otherwise pass on to traditional commercial insurers,\u201d the report stated.\n\nIn 2016, premiums increased modestly by 3.2%, reversing the slight declines of recent years, largely due to growth in medical professional liability and commercial multi-peril, according to the report.\n\nDespite some catastrophe-related events in 2016, the captive insurance composite\u2019s results outpaced the operating and underwriting results of the commercial casualty composite, with net premiums written, pre-tax operating income and policyholder surplus reaching all-time highs, according to the report. The captive insurance composite\u2019s combined ratio improved from 86.9% in 2015 to 82.9% in 2016, while its five-year average combined ratio of 88.2% compares favorably with the commercial casualty composite\u2019s 100.1% average over the same period.\n\n\u201cAlthough their mission is to break even, the CIC has had an excellent track record on profitability thus far and A.M. Best believes that, barring any unforeseen issues, results for the captive group should remain favorable in 2017,\u201d the report said. \u201cSome margin compression is inevitable owing to the prevailing low interest rate environment. However, captive insurers are not typically focused on high rates of return, but on loss control and capital preservation.\u201d\n\nCaptives ensure availability and price stability and provide stakeholders with solutions and flexibility when emerging market issues such as cyber liability dictate enhanced coverage, according to the report. Direct premiums written by captives on cyber coverage rose 63.7% to $8.8 million in 2016, with paid losses of $1 million last year.\n\nMeanwhile, the regulatory environment continues to evolve, with the New York State Department of Financial Services implementing both new and revised cybersecurity regulations, according to the report.\n\nThe governor of Vermont signed legislation this year to add agency captives \u2014 a reinsurance company owned by an insurance agency or brokerage \u2014 to the list of captives already allowed in that state.\n\n\u201cA.M. Best believes the inclusion of agency captives highlights the push by the insurance industry in recent years to get closer to their insureds,\u201d the report said. \u201cMany agents have long-standing relationships, with profitable books of business. Agency captives will allow them to continue to control that relationship by working with an unrelated primary carrier while sharing in the risk by participating in the fortunes of the business written.\u201d\n\nSome domiciles have enacted legislation that allows for dormancy status, giving the captive sponsor the ability to declare a captive dormant to save time and the costs of maintaining the captive, according to the report.\n\nRecently, self-procurement taxes \u2014 taxes on premiums paid to non-admitted insurers \u2014 have played a major role in domicile selection, as one general interpretation of the Non-admitted and Reinsurance Reform Act \u2014 part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act \u2014 is that the entire tax is owed to the home state rather than being split among the states in which the risk is covered, the report noted.\n\n\u201cAccordingly, this interpretation provides an even greater incentive to have a captive domiciled in the home state, to avoid the entire self-procurement tax,\u201d the report said. \u201cWith tax reform and a Dodd-Frank repeal being possibilities under the new administration, changes may very well be on the horizon. However, the House of Representatives\u2019 proposed Financial CHOICE Act suggests no changes to the NRRA so for now self-procurement taxes will continue to play an important role in captive domicile selection.\u201d\n\nThe number of captives in key North American domiciles grew by 4.4% in 2016, while both new formations and closings declined, according to a recent report from Strategic Risk Solutions cited by Best.\n\n\u201cOf particular note is the growth in North Carolina, which began licensing captives at the end of 2013,\u201d the Best report said. \u201cThe state has been aggressive in implementing laws favorable to captives and is now the sixth largest domicile by number of total captives. States continue to enact captive-friendly bills in the hopes of their domicile being selected to help increase much needed revenue.\u201d", "output": "Captive insurance \u2013 coverage provided by the insured's creation of a special purpose\u00a0company \u2013\u00a0is growing at a faster pace than the traditional market on the back of demand for protection from\u00a0emerging risks such as\u00a0cyber attacks, a report by New Jersey-based ratings agency AM Best has said. Its captive composite gauge showed\u00a0the market grew 15.8% last year to $1.6bn, outpacing\u00a0the operating and underwriting results of the commercial casualty composite sector. The market remains \u201cresilient, effective, efficient and profitable\u201d, the report said.\u00a0Premiums increased 3.2%\u00a0due in part to growth in medical professional liability and commercial multi-peril, according to the report.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Enbala Power Networks receives $5.5m investment from Zoma Capital \n Enbala Power Networks, a Vancouver, CA-based provider of virtual power plant (VPP) and distributed energy resource management software (DERMS), received an approx. $5.5m investment from Zoma Capital.\n\nZoma\u2019s investment marks the second close of Series B financing, bringing the Series B total to $17.5m. Enbala had announced a $12M Series B venture capital financing earlier in 2017 from ABB Technology Ventures, Chrysalix Venture Capital, GE Ventures, National Grid, and Obvious Ventures.\n\nZoma Capital is the investment arm for the family office of Ben and Lucy Ana Walton, based in Denver. Zoma Capital invests in a broad range of market-based sustainable solutions addressing environmental and social problems, with an emphasis on energy, water and community development and with a geographic focus on Colorado and Chile.\n\nLed by President and CEO Arthur \u201cBud\u201d Vos, Enbala provides a real-time energy-balancing platform which captures and aggregates available customer loads, energy storage and renewable energy sources to form a network of continuously controlled energy resources. The platform dynamically optimizes and dispatches these resources to respond to the real-time needs of the power system \u2013 all without impacting customer operations.\n\nFinSMEs\n\n03/08/2017", "output": "Enbala Power Networks, a Canadian provider of virtual power plant and distributed energy management software, has received an investment of approximately $5.5m from Zoma Capital, which has stakes in a range of sustainable technologies. Enbala provides a real-time energy-balancing platform that captures and aggregates available customer loads and\u00a0stores energy to form a network of continuously controlled energy resources. The platform optimises and dispatches these resources in response\u00a0to the real-time needs of the power system."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hawaii approves its largest battery-connected solar farm \n HONOLULU (AP) - The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission has approved a contract to build the largest solar farm connected to a battery system in the state.\n\nState regulators last Friday approved the contract between Kauai Island Utility Cooperative and AES Distributed Energy Inc. to build the 28-megawatt solar photovoltaic plant with a 20-megawatt, five-hour energy storage system.\n\nWhen construction is complete, the facility will be the largest solar-plus-utility-scale-battery system in Hawaii and have the capacity to power roughly 8,500 homes. The utility cooperative expects it to be finished by late 2018, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported (https://bit.ly/2f7S0hS ).\n\nApproval of the facility will boost the cooperative\u2019s renewable energy generation so it makes up more than than 50 percent of the utility cooperative\u2019s energy portfolio, said David Bissell, the president and CEO. The cooperative is working to reach that goal in the next 18 month, he said.\n\nAES is set to build, operate and maintain the facility over the course of its 25-year contract with Kauai Island Utility Cooperative.\n\nKauai Island Utility Cooperative said in its application that it will save members more than $97 million over the life of the project.\n\nThe facility will dispatch stored energy to help Kauai Island Utility Cooperative\u2019s system ramp up to meet the power needs during afternoon and evening peak electricity demand periods and reduce the need for nighttime generation that traditionally relies on oil-fired plants.", "output": "The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission has agreed to permit the construction of the largest solar farm connected to a battery system in the state. The contract between Kauai Island Utility Cooperative and AES Distributed Energy\u00a0includes building a 28 MW solar plant\u00a0with a five-hour energy storage system. When completed the farm will be the largest such facility in Hawaii and will provide power for about 8,500 homes. AES will operate and maintain the facility over the 25-year contract.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cities must ban all cars, including electric vehicles: UK adviser \n Cars must be driven out of cities to tackle the UK\u2019s air pollution crisis, not just replaced with electric vehicles, according to the UK government\u2019s top adviser.\n\nProf Frank Kelly said that while electric vehicles emit no exhaust fumes, they still produce large amounts of tiny pollution particles from brake and tyre dust, for which the government already accepts there is no safe limit.\n\nToxic air causes 40,000 early deaths a year in the UK, and the environment secretary, Michael Gove, recently announced that the sale of new diesel and petrol cars will be banned from 2040, with only electric vehicles available after that. But faced with rising anger from some motorists, the plan made the use of charges to deter dirty diesel cars from polluted areas a measure of last resort only.\n\nKelly\u2019s intervention heightens the government\u2019s dilemma between protecting public health and avoiding politically difficult charges or bans on urban motorists. \u201cThe government\u2019s plan does not go nearly far enough,\u201d said Kelly, professor of environmental health at King\u2019s College London and chair of the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants, official expert advisers to the government. \u201cOur cities need fewer cars, not just cleaner cars.\u201d\n\nMinisters were forced to produce an air pollution plan after being sued twice in the courts over illegal levels, but it was criticised as \u201cwoefully inadequate\u201d and \u201clacking urgency\u201d by city leaders and \u201cinexcusable\u201d by leading doctors. The government\u2019s own research showed the fastest and most cost-effective measure to cut the nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution largely caused by diesel engines is to charge dirty cars to enter urban areas.\n\nElectric vehicles emit no NO2 but do produce small particle pollution from the wear on brake discs and tyres and by throwing up dust from roads. A recent European commission research paper found that about half of all particulate matter comes from these sources.\n\n\u201cWhile governments don\u2019t currently pay much attention to particulate matter, it is in fact highly polluting, with strong links to cardiopulmonary toxicity,\u201d said Kelly in an article in the Guardian.\n\nThe Royal College of Physicians estimates that 29,000 people die early each year from particle pollution, more than the 23,500 premature deaths attributed to NO2. The combined total is 40,000 because some people are harmed by both pollutants. NO2 levels are illegally high in most urban areas, allowing legal action to be taken, but small particle levels are not.\n\nThe legal limit in England and Wales for particulate matter is two and a half times the World Health Organisation\u2019s (WHO) guideline set in 2005 and which has already been adopted in Scotland. London\u2019s air is above the WHO limit but below that in England and Wales, said Kelly: \u201cSo it\u2019s legal but unhealthy.\u201d In any case, both the UK government and the WHO agree there is no safe level of small particle pollution.\n\nKelly said enabling people and goods to move easily and cheaply around cities such as London is crucial, especially as their populations are growing fast, and backed better public transport as the solution: \u201cThe safe and efficient movement of people around the capital can only be achieved through a clean and expanded mass transit system \u2013 served by buses, overground train and the underground system \u2013 and by as much active transport in the form of walking and cycling as is feasibly possible.\u201d\n\n\u201cEncouragingly, attitudes toward car ownership do appear to be changing, with younger Londoners increasingly replacing little-used vehicles with car club membership and ride-sharing apps,\u201d he said.\n\nOliver Hayes, Friends of the Earth air pollution campaigner, said: \u201cElectric cars are critical in the fight against climate change and deadly air pollution, but they\u2019re not a panacea. We must now build the infrastructure that reassures ordinary people that cycling and walking is safe, and invest in public transport that is consistently clean, cheap and reliable.\u201d\n\nA government spokeswoman said: \u201cReducing roadside pollution is a priority for this government \u2013 which is why we have committed \u00a33bn to help towns and cities take action against harmful [NO2] emissions caused by dirty diesels. Next year the government will publish a comprehensive Clean Air Strategy which will address other sources of air pollution.\u201d\n\nKelly said the traffic pollution problems facing the UK affect cities around the world, which are also increasing rapidly in size. \u201cBy 2050, nearly two-thirds of the world\u2019s population will live in urban areas. How we manage and plan for growing urbanisation will be key to so many global aspirations from improving air quality and human health, maintaining economic success and combatting climate change.\u201d", "output": "Cars must be removed from cities, rather than replaced by electric vehicles, according to the UK government\u2019s leading adviser on air pollution. Professor Frank Kelly commented that while electric vehicles do not produce exhaust fumes, they are still responsible for tiny pollution particles produced by brake and tyre dust for which there are no safe levels. Recent research from the European Commission discovered that nearly 50% of all particulate matter comes from these sources. An estimated 29,000 people die prematurely in the UK each year from particle pollution, more than the 23,500 who die from NO2 pollution."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Enel reaches agreements for portfolio of solar plants \n Through its subsidiary Enel Green Power Espa\u00f1a (EGPE), Enel Group has secured a deal to develop a 339MW portfolio of solarpower plants in Spain.\n\nThe deal was awarded following the closing of a tender that aimed to collect 3,000MW of energy from renewable sources. This tender was part of the Spainish Government's plan to help the country achieve its target of consuming 20% of its energy from renewables by 2020.\n\nEnel Group is set to invest around \u20ac270m to develop the new solar facilities, which will be situated in Murcia and Bajadoz regions.\n\nThe proposed solar capacity will complement the 540MW of windpower capacity that EGPE was awarded in May this year.\n\n\"Enel Group is set to invest around \u20ac270m to develop the new solar facilities.\"\n\nEnel Group Global Renewable Energies head Antonio Cammisecra said: \u201cThis new milestone confirms our commitment to green energy in Spain, a country that continues to offer growth opportunities for our renewable projects.\n\n\u201cTogether with the wind capacity awarded in May, this 339MW of solar capacity will support our renewable footprint in Spain, while also contributing to the country\u2019s push to achieve its green energy goal.\u201d\n\nScheduled to be operational by 2019, the proposed plants will sell their output in the Spanish pool market.\n\nThe Spanish Government will also provide incentives, by means of yearly capacity payments, to guarantee a steady return over the 25 years of the facilities\u2019 lifetime.\n\nImage: Solarpower generation. Photo: courtesy of minoru karamatsu/Flickr.", "output": "Enel Green Power Espa\u00f1a has secured the rights to develop a 339 MW suite of solar power plants across Spain. The agreement was part of the Spanish government's plan to use renewables for 20% of its energy consumption by 2020. The investment will cost roughly \u20ac270m ($317m). The company also announced through its subsidiary that they have reached an agreement to develop a 90 MW photovoltaic project in Ribera do Piau\u00ed, in North-eastern Brazil."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Enel reaches agreements for portfolio of solar plants \n The government of the Brazilian state of Piau\u00ed has announced Enel Green Power Brasil Participa\u00e7\u00f5es Ltda., the Brazilian unit of Italian energy company Enel, was granted environmental authorization for a 290 MW PV project it is planning to build in Ribera do Piau\u00ed, in the microregion of Alto M\u00e9dio Canind\u00e9, northeastern Brazil.\n\nThe local environment department Secretaria Estadual de Meio Ambiente do Piau\u00ed (SEMAR) has also granted approval for the construction of a 500 KV transmission line to connect the facility to the country\u2019s electricity network.\n\nAccording to SEMAR, the PV plant consists of seven sub-units, which are owned by four special purpose vehicles: Enel Green Power Nova Olinda B Solar S.A; Enel Green Power Nova Olinda C Solar S.A; Enel Green Power Nova Olinda Sul Solar S.A and Enel Green Power Nova Olinda Norte Solar S.A.\n\nThe $300 million project was selected by the Brazilian energy agency EPE in the second auction for wind and solar power projects (Leil\u00e3o de Reserva), which was held in August 2015. Enel previously announced that construction of the plant had started in June.\n\nPopular content\n\nTwo of Enel\u2019s solar projects in Brazil achieved grid connection in early June. Both located in the town of Lapa, the Bom Jesus da Lapa (80 MW) and Lapa (78 MW) projects will supply energy to the country\u2019s grid under a 20-year PPA.\n\nAccording to Enel, its local susbidiaries Enel Green Power Brasil and Enel Brasil have an installed renewable energy generation capacity of 1,306 MW in Brazil. Of this capacity, 401 MW comes from wind power plants, while solar has a share of less than 200 MW. Hydropower plants still accounts for the majority of this capacity with over 893 MW. Enel also has currently 442 MW of further wind projects and over 600 MW of PV installations under development in Brazil.", "output": "Enel Green Power Espa\u00f1a has secured the rights to develop a 339 MW suite of solar power plants across Spain. The agreement was part of the Spanish government's plan to use renewables for 20% of its energy consumption by 2020. The investment will cost roughly \u20ac270m ($317m). The company also announced through its subsidiary that they have reached an agreement to develop a 90 MW photovoltaic project in Ribera do Piau\u00ed, in North-eastern Brazil."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "German government and car makers agree to 'save diesel' \n German ministers and carmakers meet to 'save diesel'\n\nBERLIN (Reuters) \u2014 German politicians and car bosses agreed on Wednesday to overhaul engine software on 5.3 MM diesel cars to cut pollution and try to repair the industry's battered reputation.\n\nHowever, environmentalists said the plan - almost two years after Volkswagen admitted to cheating US diesel emissions tests\u2014was too little, too late, and vowed to press ahead with legal action aimed at banning polluting vehicles.\n\nChancellor Angela Merkel's government has come under mounting pressure for not doing enough to crack down on vehicle pollution and for being too close to powerful carmakers.\n\nThe issue has become a central campaign topic ahead of next month's national election, prompting the government to summon car bosses to try to avert moves in some cities to force bans on diesel vehicles.\n\nJustice Minister Heiko Maas said the agreement was only a first step, warning that bans on diesel vehicles could not be ruled out and urging car makers to focus more on consumers.\n\n\"The legal requirements for clean air remain in effect,\" he told Thursday editions of Germany's daily newspaper Bild.\n\nMinisters have been wary of angering the owners of 15 MM diesel vehicles and damaging an industry that is the country's biggest exporter and provides about 800,000 jobs.\n\nPoliticians stopped short of demanding costly mechanical modifications to engine and exhaust systems and said they had agreed for now on software updates for 5.3 MM cars.\n\n\"We expect a new culture of responsibility from carmakers,\" Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks, from the centre-left Social Democrats, told a news conference, also adding the software updates were just a first step in cutting emissions.\n\n\"There is much to make good\u2014to the environment, to people in cities, car owners and not least to the security of the car industry in Germany and its hundreds of thousands of jobs.\"\n\nHendricks criticised the VDA automakers lobby for putting out a statement proclaiming a deal two hours before ministers spoke to the media. She added the VDA's comment that the deal was \"unique in Europe and the world\" lacked humility.\n\nThe stakes have increased for German carmakers in recent weeks. Britain and France have announced plans to eventually ban all diesel and petrol vehicles and Tesla has launched its first mass-market electric car.\n\nMeanwhile, top German manufacturers BMW, Daimler, Audi, Porsche and VW are being investigated by European regulators for alleged anti-competitive collusion.\n\nLOST TRUST\n\nThe DUH environmental group said the initiative had failed as software updates would only result in a cut of about 2%\u20133% of emissions of toxic nitrogen oxides (NO x ), adding it would pursue court cases for diesel bans in 16 cities.\n\n\"Today's summit is bad news for hundreds of thousands of people who will get sick and 10,600 who will die prematurely due to NOx each year,\" DUH head Juergen Resch said in a statement.\n\nThe VDA said the software updates should cut NOx emissions by 25%\u201330% for those cars affected, reducing pollution at least as much as possible driving bans.\n\n\"The car industry knows it has lost a lot of trust. We must and will work on winning back that trust,\" VDA president Matthias Wissmann said.\n\nTransport Minister Alexander Dobrindt said a refusal by foreign carmakers to participate in the plan was \"completely unacceptable.\"\n\nCarmakers also agreed to fund incentives aimed at encouraging consumers to trade in older diesel cars that cannot be helped with software updates.\n\nThe VDA said the software updates would cost VW, Daimler and BMW together at least 500 MM euros ($593 MM), while scrapping incentives would be much more expensive.\n\nEvercore analyst Arndt Ellinghorst said the costs were manageable for the industry, but cautioned: \"What the agreement doesn\u2019t do is restore consumer confidence in diesel engines.\"\n\nGerman car sales data on Wednesday showed diesel car sales fell 12.7% in July. Now diesel makes up only 40.5% of new car sales in Europe's largest car market, down from 46% at the end last year.\n\nAn opinion poll published on Wednesday by Die Welt newspaper showed 73% of Germans want politicians to take a tougher line with the car industry on air pollution.\n\nVW's emissions test cheating\u2014which was exposed by US regulators\u2014led to a string of revelations that showed diesel vehicles from most manufacturers release far more NO x gases on the road than in laboratory tests used to assess their safety.\n\nBut cutting back on NOx pollution is causing another headache for carmakers, which were betting on diesel technology to help cut carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions to meet climate change rules. Diesel engines are up to 20% more fuel efficient than petrol equivalents.\n\nFalling sales of diesel cars have led to an increase in CO 2 emissions, Germany's KBA motor authority said on Wednesday. Average emissions per vehicle rose 0.4% in July to 128.4 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer, it said.\n\nReporting by Emma Thomasson and Andreas Cremer; Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal and Edward Taylor; Editing by Keith Weir and Robin Pomeroy\n\nRelated News\n\nFrom the Archive", "output": "German ministers and car manufacturers have agreed that there will be an overhaul of the engine-management software on 5.3 million diesel vehicles in an attempt to improve emissions and the car industry's damaged reputation. Justice minister Heiko Maas said the agreement was only the first step, however, environmentalists have said it is too little, too late and have said that they will continue with legal action aimed at banning the cars. The government is hoping the measure will be enough to deter cities from banning diesel vehicles.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple's Safari update will boost Facebook, Amazon and Google \n \u201c Data-Driven Thinking\u201d is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media.\n\nToday\u2019s column is written by Auren Hoffman, CEO at SafeGraph.\n\nIn September, Apple will release new changes to Safari with iOS 11 called \u201cIntelligent Tracking Prevention.\u201d These changes will have large effects on the ad tech industry and create new winners and losers.\n\nIn short, the iOS 11 changes will really help the big guys, are neutral to the small guys and significantly hurt the mid-size guys.\n\nA Recap\n\nToday, all Safari browsers essentially block third-party cookies that are dropped by domains other than the domain of the URL to which the user browsed. But the browsers reward first-party cookies with lots of privileges. This has been good for well-known sites, but also for large ad networks that get lots of clicks because a click gets routed through the ad network domain and becomes a first-party cookie.\n\nIOS 11 will change the concept of a \u201cfirst-party cookie.\u201d The new first-party cookie comes with a ticking clock. In the first 24 hours, the cookie acts exactly like it used to \u2013 and can be used for retargeting. So, if you go to jetblue.com and search for a beach vacation, you can be retargeted for that beach vacation for exactly 24 hours. It is just like Jack Bauer racing against the clock before the world explodes.\n\nFor the first 30 days, the new first-party cookie lets you login on-site so you don\u2019t have the annoyance of re-entering your password if you go back to the site 15 days later.\n\nIf you have not gotten back to the site in 30 days, your first-party cookie expires.\n\nThe Losers\n\nTraditional ad networks: Slightly negative impact. Because Safari has not enabled third-party cookies for a long time, many ad networks will not be affected by the iOS change because they were already unable to participate in the Safari economy. They might suffer a bit because this move will likely lower the price of Safari inventory and raise the price of Chrome and Internet Explorer inventory, both of which promote third-party cookies.\n\nLarge retargeters and demand-side platforms (DSPs): Very negative impact. This class of third-party ad networks received a lot of clicks, which resulted in first-party cookies for a large percentage of their users. Now the number of first-party cookies they have access to could decline by more than 98% in Safari.\n\nPublishers: Very negative impact. As mentioned, some of the largest high-dollar bidders of Safari inventory, including large retargeters and DSPs, will stop bidding on Safari. The average CPM price for Safari should decline significantly. Publishers, especially higher-end publishers that cater to wealthy iOS users, will be stuck with many low-dollar bidders, less relevant ads and potentially unhappy users who have to see even more annoying ads.\n\nThe Winners\n\nFacebook and Amazon: Very positive impact. Not surprisingly, Facebook and Amazon are the big winners in this change. Most of their users come every day or at least every week. And even the mobile users click on links often, which, on Facebook, takes them to a browser. These companies will also be able to buy ad inventory on Safari at lower prices because many of the high-dollar bidders will go away.\n\nGoogle: An initially negative impact that will be positive in the long term. Google\u2019s long-term gain will have short-term pain. That\u2019s because most of the off-property ads are in the doubleclick.net domain and not google.com. We should expect Google to merge these domains so that everything is under the google.com domain \u2013 but that will take time to fully roll out. On the flip side, we should see more ad money flee people using Safari browsers, which means likely a bigger advertiser ecosystem on Android and Chrome.\n\nTo recap, the iOS 11 changes really help the big guys, are neutral to the small guys and significantly hurt the mid-size guys.\n\nFollow Auren Hoffman (@auren) and AdExchanger (@adexchanger) on Twitter.", "output": "Apple's forthcoming update to its Safari browser, due for release in September, is set to be good news for Facebook and Amazon, but disastrous for large retargeters and publishers. The iOS 11 update will put a 30-day limit on first-party cookie privileges, leading to a potential 98% reduction in access to first-party cookies for demand-side platforms and leaving publishers with more low-dollar bidders. In contrast, Facebook and Amazon will be able to purchase ad inventory on Safari at lower prices, while Google will benefit in the longer term from ad spend fleeing Safari."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "XL Catlin appoints former Boston Marks CEO Watts to aviation team \n TORONTO and NEW YORK, Aug. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- XL Catlin has strengthened its North America Aviation Insurance team with the following key appointments:\n\nCanada:\n\nDavid Watts , named Vice President, Canadian Aviation Manager, Canada . Mr. Watts joins XL Catlin from Boston Marks London where he has served as Chief Executive Officer.\n\n, named Vice President, Canadian Aviation Manager, . Mr. Watts joins XL Catlin from Boston Marks London where he has served as Chief Executive Officer. Alex Barker , assumes management responsibility of the Aviation team in Calgary reporting to David Watts .\n\n, assumes management responsibility of the Aviation team in reporting to . Stephanie Hope , joined as Aviation Underwriter, Calgary . Ms. Hope joins from Charles Taylor plc where she most recently served as Loss Adjuster.\n\nUnited States:\n\nTimothy Bartos , appointed Vice President Senior Underwriter, New York . Mr, Bartos most recently served as New York Regional Aviation Manager at AIG.\n\nCommenting on the appointments, Eric Donofrio, Head of North America Aviation said: \"We are relentlessly focused on securing the best talent to continue to serve our brokers and clients with innovative products and top level service. Both David and Timothy are experienced underwriters and leaders, an excellent addition to our teams in Canada and the U.S.\"\n\nNick Greggains, Country Manager, XL Catlin, Canada added: \"Alex's promotion is in recognition of his hard work and leadership and we are delighted to have Stephanie join our growing team of Canada market experts. Our North American Aviation team has exceptional technical knowledge and experience in their relevant fields, and with the addition of David at the helm in Canada we will continue to deliver on our promise and market leading portfolios.\"\n\nXL Catlin offers a comprehensive suite of Aviation insurance options. We can offer multi lines within aviation for individual clients. Coverage extends to traditional and specialized companies from component manufacturers to airport operators.\n\nAbout XL Catlin Insurance Operations\n\nXL Catlin insurance companies offer property, casualty, professional, financial lines and specialty insurance products globally. Businesses that are moving the world forward choose XL Catlin as their partner. To learn more, visit xlcatlin.com.\n\nAbout XL Catlin\n\nXL Catlin is the global brand used by XL Group Ltd's (NYSE:XL) insurance and reinsurance companies which provide property, casualty, professional and specialty products to industrial, commercial and professional firms, insurance companies and other enterprises throughout the world. Clients look to XL Catlin for answers to their most complex risks and to help move their world forward. To learn more, visit xlcatlin.com .\n\nSOURCE XL Catlin\n\nRelated Links\n\nhttp://xlcatlin.com\n\n", "output": "XL Catlin has appointed David Watts as aviation manager for Canada, as the speciality insurer makes changes to its north American aviation business. Watts, who was the CEO of Boston Marks London, will be joined by Alex Barker, who will have responsibility for the aviation team in\u00a0Calgary, and Stephanie Hope, who will be\u00a0aviation underwriter in the Canadian city. The company\u00a0has also appointed Timothy Bartos as vice-president senior underwriter in\u00a0New York."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Reining in pharmaceutical costs \n This analysis is part of USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative on Health Policy , which is a partnership between the Center for Health Policy at Brookings and the University of Southern California Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics. The Initiative aims to inform the national health care debate with rigorous, evidence-based analysis leading to practical recommendations using the collaborative strengths of USC and Brookings.\n\nKaren Van Nuys Executive Director, Life Sciences Innovation Project - Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics, USC Dana Goldman Leonard D. Schaeffer Director's Chair - Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics Distinguished Professor of Public Policy, Pharmacy, & Economics - Sol Price School of Public Policy and USC School of Pharmacy Nonresident Senior Fellow - Economic Studies, Center for Health Policy I Ian D. Spatz Adjunct Professor - Sol Price School of Public Policy, USC\n\nMost Americans believe that President Trump and the Congress should make lowering the cost of prescription drugs a priority. With strong support among Republicans, Democrats and Independents, policy fixes that can slow the rapid rise of prescription pharmaceutical costs may be among the few areas where bipartisan cooperation is possible. Even so, many of the most prominent policy proposals lack consensus and, if recent experience with health reform is any indication, could result in continued political battles.\n\nIt doesn\u2019t have to be that way. Rather, the administration and lawmakers should prioritize four actions that could engender more cooperation and improve health over the long-term:\n\nEncourage competition in the market for generic drugs to keep prices in check Reduce regulatory barriers to value-based pricing to better align the price of drugs to their benefits Review the incentives provided to brand-drug manufacturers to balance rewards to innovation without creating unnecessary barriers to competition. Introduce greater transparency in the pharmaceutical distribution system to ensure that returns are justified across all players\n\nEncourage Competition in Generic Drug Markets\n\nAlthough generic drugs, which make up 88% of the prescriptions written in the United States, remain the segment of the pharmaceutical market with low prices, recent high-profile examples of large price spikes for non-patented medicines such as Mylan\u2019s Epi-Pen (which contains a generic drug) and Turing\u2019s Daraprim have raised legitimate concerns among patients and payers. While the overall generic market works well, these incidents generally occur when there are few suppliers for an unpatented drug, resulting in weak competitive pressure to keep prices low. Fixes in this area should thus focus on enhancing competition in generic drug markets. (We have argued some of these ideas elsewhere.)\n\nFirst, the FTC should enforce existing anti-trust measures more aggressively, particularly when it comes to mergers and acquisitions among generic drug manufacturers. Going beyond enforcement of existing laws, bill HR749 was introduced in the House of Representatives earlier this year to enhance competition in generic markets by expediting the FDA review of new generic drugs in markets with few competitors, and by awarding (tradable) priority review vouchers to manufacturers who introduce new drugs in markets with weak competition. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb is reportedly investigating ways to prioritize applications for generic drugs that currently have fewer than three competitors, which the agency claims is a crucial benchmark for pricing.\n\nCommissioner Gottlieb has also floated plans to drive up competition by publishing a list of the 180 brand-name drugs no longer under patent and without any current generic competitors, as well as working to get through the agency\u2019s backlog of 2,640 generic drug applications within a year.\n\nThere are additional proactive measures worth exploring, such as a national stockpile of critical watchlist drugs, similar to the US Pediatric Vaccine Stockpile program. Purchasing drugs to supply such a stockpile would encourage manufacturers to stay in otherwise tenuous markets, and the stockpile itself could be drawn down in the event of a supply disruption brought on by manufacturer exit or other cause.\n\nAn alternative to the stockpile would be a government purchase commitment for drugs on the watchlist, essentially guaranteeing manufacturers of these drugs a minimum revenue. This could be implemented through non-recourse financing, in which the government guarantees a loan in the amount of what the manufacturer would earn if some previously established quantity of a drug was sold at a minimum price. If the manufacturer sells the product at that price or higher, they repay the loan in full. If a lower price must be charged to sell that quantity, the government forgives the difference. Thus, manufacturers in watchlist markets can be confident they will not suffer large losses, making them more willing to enter and remain in those markets as a result.\n\nFinally, the FDA should explore the option of declaring a de facto drug shortage when the price of critical drugs increases dramatically. While the current drug shortage program at FDA focuses on shortages due to manufacturing issues and other supply chain interruptions, it could be expanded to inaccessibility brought on by dramatic price increases.\n\nReduce Barriers to Value-Based Pricing\n\nValue-based health care \u2013 also known as pay-for-performance \u2013 has risen to the top of the health policy agenda as we seek ways to improve quality while controlling spending. Value-based pricing seeks to better align incentives between payers and providers.\n\nRecent experience in Medicare shows promise. Medicare implemented value-based payment for hospitals a few years ago, with reimbursement based in part on how well the hospital performed on three sets of measures: process of care, patient satisfaction, and mortality. Medicare\u2019s separate readmission policy financially penalizes hospitals for excessive readmissions for patients who entered the hospital with heart failure, pneumonia, or a heart attack. And recently, the federal government reaffirmed and strengthened its commitment to value-based payment by promising that 85% of all Medicare fee-for-service payments will be based on quality and value in 2016.\n\nWe have not seen similar progress in pharmaceuticals. For decades, manufacturers and insurers in the United States have relied on a price-per-dose model \u2013 the pharmaceutical analog to fee-for-service. Like fee-for-service, such a model can distort incentives for payers and patients. For example, in the case of stand-alone prescription drug plans in Medicare, price-per-dose arrangements penalize insurers who encourage patient-benefiting adherence.\n\nValue-based pricing offers a solution. Contracts can take many forms, and different versions have been proposed (and even piloted) elsewhere. Important examples include:\n\nOutcomes-based pricing, wherein the price paid to manufacturers is based in whole or part on patient benefits as measured by clinical or financial measures. Clinical measures may include laboratory values or patient-reported results. Financial measures may include other health care interventions avoided, such as hospitalization. Despite the challenges to implementing such pricing, one-quarter of payers have entered into at least one such arrangement. Indication-based pricing, wherein the price of a drug depends upon which disease it is being used to treat. Novartis\u2019 interleukin-1 inhibitor canakinumab (Ilaris) was originally approved in 2009 to treat a group of very rare autoinflammatory diseases, and costs $16,000 per dose. However, further trials have demonstrated that the drug is also effective in reducing the risk of stroke, heart attack and death in patients with a prior heart attack and inflammatory atherosclerosis, a much broader population. The drug\u2019s per-dose value, however, is likely to differ in its cardiac application from that in the autoinflammatory diseases for which it is already being prescribed, and its pricing should reflect those different values. Under current legislation, the price of a drug cannot depend on its application, meaning that Novartis would have to charge the same price for the drug in all indications for which it is approved. Drug licensing schemes, wherein a drug manufacturer sells a license for a large lump-sum payment that entitles licensees to unfettered supply of the drug for a fixed time period at zero or very low cost (see more detail here). Money-back guarantees, wherein drug companies provide refunds for patients who try a drug but see no clinical benefit. This variation of outcomes-based pricing has the potential to shift the risk of non-performance from the payer and patient to the drug manufacturer. A prime example is Amgen\u2019s recent deal with Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare that provides a refund if patients who are taking their cholesterol-lowering therapy suffer a stroke or heart attack.\n\nSeveral steps must be taken before value-based pricing arrangements can be implemented broadly. Some may be accomplished through regulation, but others may require legislation. First, a \u201csafe harbor\u201d should be created to exempt value-based arrangements from the regulations that currently discourage their development, such as Medicaid best-price rules, anti-kickback provisions under the Stark rule, and FDA restrictions on manufacturer communications prior to drug approval. Regulators must provide a clear definition of the attributes that constitute a value-based pricing arrangement to ensure that the safe harbor will protect legitimate agreements and not reward arrangements that are designed to merely avoid regulation.\n\nGiven its size and role in piloting payment reforms, Medicare should be an important player in advancing value-based pricing. The silos between the Medicare Part A, B, and D programs create barriers to innovative pricing for expensive outpatient drugs whose value derives from reducing hospitalizations or other inpatient expenditures. Medicare Advantage plans, which integrate coverage for drug, inpatient and outpatient expenditures, may be better testing grounds.\n\nBut ultimately, the private sector may prove more promising here, as evidenced by the previously mentioned deal between Amgen and Harvard Pilgrim, the partnership established last year between Eli Lilly and Anthem, and similar arrangements between Novartis and other insurers. We look forward to learning how these private sector experiments play out, as well as seeing them proliferate as that evidence develops.\n\nReview Incentives for Innovation\n\nWhile pricing in generic drug markets has raised concerns, it is branded drugs that are the primary drivers of drug spending. But unlike in the generic market, manufacturers\u2019 pricing power based on protection from competition is intentional \u2013 having been enshrined in Article I of the Constitution as part of the patent clause \u2013 and extended by Congress into other areas through the Orphan Drug Act and FDA-enforced market and data exclusivity. Policies that lower prices of brand drugs send important signals to companies that would invest in R&D. This could negatively impact future health, which is generally not a consideration in generic markets.\n\nIn fact, high prices for innovative drugs are one element in a complex innovation ecosystem that seeks to balance the interests of current patients who need access to today\u2019s new (and expensive) drugs, and those of future patients for whom today\u2019s new drugs will be low-priced generics, but who will need entirely new innovative drugs. For this reason, we believe that interventions in branded drug markets deserve especially careful deliberation and study. Because the financial and health stakes are so large, it is little surprise that intense lobbying has limited \u2013 and will likely continue to limit \u2013 action. The 1984 Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act, popularly known as Hatch-Waxman, presents a model for making progress on these difficult issues.\n\nThat law, which created our modern generics industry, represented a carefully thought-through pathway that rebalanced the trade-off between savings today and innovation tomorrow, and has been accepted by both industry and consumers. In that agreement, patients gained access to affordable generics while industry gained new incentives for research and development. It is time for renewed attention to this balance.\n\nIn the three plus decades since Hatch-Waxman, we have learned much about where drug discovery incentives may be inadequate as well as excessive. For example, it is now well-established that drug discovery for rare diseases is very responsive, perhaps overly so, to market opportunities offered by the FDA.[1] We believe that it is time to re-kindle the spirit of Hatch Waxman, and better align reimbursement with health outcomes to reward truly innovative products and to ensure that \u2014 in the long-run \u2014 all Americans have access to these discoveries through a robust generic market. We recommend that the administration convene a blue-ribbon committee of scientific and economic experts to study the evidence and develop recommendations regarding branded drug pricing, giving particular focus to the interaction of the patent system and the market exclusivity provided under FDA law. Several approaches have already been suggested in the media and elsewhere, and the committee should weigh them and other ideas together to develop a carefully considered set of recommendations.\n\nThe patent system has been at the core of providing drug companies with the limited protection from competition that they need. Yet patents have come under criticism lately in studies that find mixed evidence that they increase innovation (see here, here, here, and here), raising the question: might alternative systems for protecting returns, including stronger or longer grants of market or data exclusivity, be more straightforward and effective? For instance, exclusivity rewards continued innovation with existing drugs, while patents only encourage innovation on drugs whose patents haven\u2019t expired. And the current patent system may inhibit the development of drug compounds that have lost their patent protection, or drugs with very long development times.\n\nThus, market exclusivity might reinvigorate an entire chapter of now-dormant-yet-promising research. This was the reasoning behind the 1983 Orphan Drug Act, which gave manufacturers incentives, including seven years of market exclusivity and a combination of Federal grants and tax credits to support clinical trials, to develop highly specialized drugs for rare diseases. However, the model has raised questions about its tendency to produce very expensive drugs, from Ceredase, an early iteration of treatments for the rare metabolic disease Gaucher, to Exondys 51, which the FDA approved in 2016 to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Both drugs cost approximately $300,000 per year.\n\nIntroduce Sunshine into the Drug Distribution System\n\nAnother key consideration when it comes to brand-name drug pricing is the pharmaceutical supply chain. One recent study suggests that, for every $100 spent on retail drugs in this country, about $41 goes to parties in the distribution chain: insurers, wholesalers, pharmacies, and benefit managers. But the drug pricing system is complex and opaque\u2014brand-name drug prices differ among care settings and among coverage options, and different purchasers pay different amounts for drugs based largely on their ability to influence the selection of drugs from among competing brands within a drug class. The discounts negotiated are important to those paying for drugs but are confidential and it is unclear the degree to which they are passed through to consumers, who care most about their premiums and out-of-pocket costs\u2014often a fixed copayment or coinsurance for those with drug coverage.\n\nThis complex and non-transparent system allows competition to regulate prices but can lead to market distortions. For instance, the system could potentially reward growing differences between gross (list) prices and net prices\u2014those that reflect negotiated rebates and discounts. This may drive the selection and use of drugs with larger net vs. gross differences by increasing margins for middlemen such as wholesalers, pharmacists, and pharmacy benefit managers. While each plays a crucial role in the drug distribution chain, each will also act to maximize profits even where the health system as a whole may not benefit.\n\nPayers need to review this issue to ensure that their purchasing practices and supply chain agreements are delivering the most value for consumers. Greater simplicity and transparency may be tools to help get there, but further regulation may be needed to eliminate distortions that are beyond the reach of individual payers to address.\n\nConclusion\n\nWhen it comes to pharmaceutical spending, there is a fundamental tension between short-run policy solutions and the long-term interests of the public. We have ample evidence that blunt policy solutions could seriously harm innovation, just as we are making progress against some of the most pernicious diseases like cancer and Alzheimer\u2019s. But more Americans are struggling to afford the innovative medicines that could bring them healthier, more productive, longer lives. The goal of any intervention is to ensure an innovation ecosystem that simultaneously balances the interests of current patients who need access to today\u2019s new (and expensive) drugs, and those of future patients for whom today\u2019s new drugs will be low-priced generics, but who will need entirely new innovative drugs of their own.\n\nIan Spatz is a senior advisor to Manatt Health, an interdisciplinary health care consulting practice, and a board member with the Patient Assistance Network Foundation. Karen Van Nuys and Dana Goldman both consult for Precision Health Economics, a health care consultancy that provides services to health insurance, pharmaceutical, biologic and health care technology companies, and holds equity in its parent company, Precision Medicine Group. With the exception of these affiliations, the authors did not receive financial support from any firm or person for this article or from any firm or person with a financial or political interest in this article. They are currently not an officer, director, or board member of any organization with an interest in this article.\n\n[1]The House-passed bill to reauthorize PDUFA (FDARA) contains provisions aimed at correcting some of the Act\u2019s previous weaknesses.", "output": "Most Americans believe that President Trump and the Congress should make lowering the cost of prescription drugs a priority. With strong support among Republicans, Democrats and Independents, policy fixes that can slow the rapid rise of prescription pharmaceutical costs may be among the few areas where bipartisan cooperation is possible.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Q&A with Ubl: Accelerate competition to slow drug price increases \n Stephen Ubl wants to accelerate competition in the drug industry. That, he said, is one way to slow the pace of price increases for pharmaceuticals, not to mention keep such rogue actors as Martin Shkreli and Turing Pharmaceuticals in check. Ubl, who took over as CEO of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America in late 2015, would also like to see the federal government make it easier for drugmakers to venture into the value-based payment world. Ubl recently stopped by Modern Healthcare's Chicago offices to meet with the editorial team. The following is an edited transcript.\n\nModern\u200b Healthcare:\u200b The\u200b industry's\u200b competitive\u200b landscape\u200b has\u200b been\u200b something\u200b that\u200b Dr.\u200b Scott\u200b Gottlieb\u200b has\u200b focused\u200b on\u200b since\u200b becoming\u200b commissioner\u200b of\u200b the\u200b Food\u200b and\u200b Drug\u200b Administration.\u200b What's\u200b your\u200b take\u200b on\u200b potentially\u200b introducing\u200b more\u200b generics\u200b into\u200b the\u200b field?\u200b\n\nStephen\u200b Ubl: Much of the negative press attention focused on the industry over the last year or two has been focused on these types of examples, whether it's Martin Shkreli and Turing or Valeant and the common denominator is they are old drugs, they are off patent, where there is a lack of effective competition.\n\nWe have been quite supportive of steps that the FDA could take, including clearing the backlog at the agency. I came out of the medical device industry before joining PhRMA. There is a bit of an analogous situation, in that the device industry is denominated by midsize and smaller firms and a lot of generic manufacturers, keeping in mind that they are not inventing the product. Where they fall down generally is in manufacturing the product. And we think the FDA could take a more forward-leaning posture in engaging with those manufacturers to help them resolve manufacturing issues.\n\nIf you look at the incentive structures that Congress has enacted in the past in our space, whether it is for orphan drugs or pediatric drugs, we know how to create incentives for market entry. And we think those hold promise as well in the generic space, so whether there are tax incentives or manufacturing incentives or other incentives that could encourage other manufacturers into the market, we think that's the best way to address these regulatory arbitrage situations.\n\nMH:\u200b Are\u200b there\u200b specific\u200b ones\u200b that\u200b come\u200b to\u200b mind?\n\nUbl: The backlog is the most straightforward one. You want to create a system where an entrepreneur or a competitor can eat Martin Shkreli's lunch, but it is hard to do that if it takes four to five months to get a competitor product on the market. Beyond that, I think, structurally, greater incentives. There is also a relationship, as well, to the user-fee agreements. Making better use of real-world evidence we think holds great promise in terms of shortening development cycles and bringing products to market more expeditiously.\n\nMH:\u200b Competition\u200b is\u200b seemingly\u200b what's\u200b being\u200b focused\u200b on,\u200b but\u200b it's\u200b not\u200b the\u200b only\u200b answer,\u200b and\u200b it\u200b is\u200b not\u200b 100%\u200b successful\u200b either.\u200b Even\u200b with\u200b some\u200b drugs\u200b in\u200b the\u200b marketplace\u200b that\u200b have\u200b four\u200b or\u200b more\u200b competitors\u200b on\u200b the\u200b generic\u200b side,\u200b does\u200b it\u200b necessarily\u200b mean\u200b that\u200b prices\u200b are\u200b going\u200b to\u200b come\u200b down?\n\nUbl: Several months after I joined PhRMA, we issued a 10-page policy document that looks at all the areas of the ecosystem\u2014the FDA and the reimbursement arena and so forth\u2014to try and address affordability. We have to acknowledge that patients are paying more for their healthcare and they are paying more for their drugs. But it is a systems question at many levels. Drug spend is actually moderating pretty significantly. Looking at Express Scripts data for 2016, drug spending is up about 3.5% and net prices are up about 2.8%. What's not moderating is patient out-of-pocket spending for medicines. It has gone up to nearly 50% since 2013. All of this against a backdrop of increasing rebates and discounts that our members are negotiating with PBMs and plans. Rebates and discounts have nearly doubled over the same time period to over $100 billion. The question for us is, how do we create incentives for patients to benefit at the point of sale and more directly benefit from these negotiations between our members and other stakeholders?\n\nOne of the other areas I have tried to prioritize is value-based approaches and contracting. There have been a handful of these arrangements and there are public policy barriers and operational barriers. On the policy side, Medicaid best-price reporting rules. You are going to have differential reimbursement based on how the product performs for a particular patient, which means the reimbursement could theoretically be zero. You don't want that reimbursement rate necessarily to reset your Medicaid best price. There has to be some exceptions built in to these arrangements that factor that in.\n\nIf you look at the Office of Inspector General guidance, it's nearly 20 years old and was built in a fee-for-service world. So, for example, if our members want to offer a novel discount, say package several oncology agents together and offer a bundled rate, that is currently against the law, or if they want to provide transportation services or adherence programs. The OIG historically has viewed those as inducements to use the product. As you move to capitated models where our members are taking greater risk, we don't think that makes a lot of sense.\n\nMH:\u200b On\u200b a\u200b broader\u200b level,\u200b should\u200b there\u200b be\u200b more\u200b transparency\u200b on\u200b what\u200b the\u200b list\u200b prices\u200b are,\u200b what\u200b discounts\u200b are\u200b being\u200b negotiated,\u200b and\u200b how\u200b that\u200b translates\u200b ultimately\u200b to\u200b the\u200b final\u200b price?\u200b\n\nUbl: We have advocated for transparency that patients can really use. We have done our own research, other people have as well and, in general, patients want to know if their physician is in their network. Is the hospital in the network? What is my out-of-pocket cost going to be? Is the drug I need covered? Is it on the formulary that I can access?\n\nThere is obviously room for more transparency in the system. There is a point at which research shows that the complete transparency leads to other distortions of the marketplace that are not helpful. It is a convoluted system and we have been quite outspoken in the need to evolve the pricing model away from a system where three pharmacy benefit managers control 80% of the market. Plans are suing PBMs, state attorneys general are looking at these dynamics. A lot of the fees that PBMs charge are tied to list price. So there is clearly room for change and we think we should be moving away from those types of a rebate discount arms race, if you will, to a better more informed value-based discussion.\n\nMH:\u200b Looking\u200b at\u200b reauthorization\u200b of\u200b the\u200b Prescription\u200b Drug\u200b User\u200b Fee\u200b Act,\u200b do\u200b you\u200b foresee\u200b that\u200b as\u200b a\u200b potentially\u200b positive\u200b outcome\u200b and\u200b continuing\u200b the\u200b research\u200b surrounding\u200b some\u200b of\u200b these\u200b drugs,\u200b especially\u200b with\u200b how\u200b it\u200b is\u200b structured\u200b around\u200b specific\u200b tiers\u200b of\u200b scaling?\u200b Do\u200b you\u200b think\u200b they\u200b are\u200b appropriate\u200b as\u200b they\u200b are?\n\nUbl: We are really excited about PDUFA, and the potential transformative effect it could have, particularly, building on the 21st Century Cures Act and other initiatives that the commissioner is undertaking. Taken together, all of those things hold terrific promise. In terms of overall drug costs, as long as it takes $2.5 billion in 10 years to get a product to market, it is going to be challenging. So, looking at ways to modernize and reduce those development cycles is really important.\n\nMH:\u200b If\u200b the\u200b user\u200b fees\u200b go\u200b up,\u200b as\u200b proposed,\u200b could\u200b that\u200b squeeze\u200b out\u200b some\u200b of\u200b the\u200b smaller\u200b companies\u200b that\u200b wouldn't\u200b be\u200b able\u200b to\u200b accommodate\u200b such\u200b fee\u200b hikes?\n\nUbl: I've not heard that concern.\n\nMH:\u200b If\u200b the\u200b review\u200b process\u200b is\u200b streamlined,\u200b how\u200b do\u200b you\u200b balance\u200b that\u200b with\u200b the\u200b concerns\u200b on\u200b safety,\u200b quality\u200b and\u200b efficacy?\n\nUbl: There are improvements that can made without sacrificing the FDA's gold standard around safety and effectiveness. And we have already seen that, for example, in the cancer space, whether it is novel clinical trial designs or better use of real-world evidence. It is going to be increasingly possible to measure a product's performance after approval and set up this virtuous dynamic where we are capturing information real-time and adjusting parameters accordingly.\n\nIt's not in the industry's best interest, either, to have a bar set in a way that the product doesn't perform in the marketplace. We have a mutual interest in ensuring that the regulatory process remains robust, and yet, again, we have emerging machine learning and other disciplines that are evolving and giving regulators more confidence because they really will be able to capture real-time information in the marketplace in a non-controlled, non-clinical trial setting.\n\nMH:\u200b How\u200b much\u200b advocacy\u200b has\u200b PhRMA\u200b been\u200b doing\u200b on\u200b the\u200b 340B\u200b drug\u200b discount\u200b program?\n\nUbl: We have been quite public in our views of the 340B program and reforms that we would like to see in terms of the outpatient proposal the administration made. We don't think (the CMS' proposed payment cuts) goes far enough. We would like to see the program fundamentally reformed to restrain its growth and to ensure that patients benefit more directly from the discounts.\n\nThe 340B program has grown exponentially. It was a program that was initially intended for about 100 hospitals that now 2,500 hospitals can use to access discounts in the neighborhood of 30% to 50%. We don't question the underpinning of the need for this program. But, again, it would be nice to see the benefit flow to the patient more directly.", "output": "Stephen Ubl wants to accelerate competition in the drug industry. That, he said, is one way to slow the pace of price increases for pharmaceuticals, not to mention keep such rogue actors as Martin Shkreli and Turing Pharmaceuticals in check. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Under Trump, Hospitals Face Same Penalties Embraced By Obama \n About Capitol Desk Capitol Desk delivers the latest in health care policy and politics from Sacramento and around the state. Have an idea? Let us know.\n\nAmid all the turbulence over the future of the Affordable Care Act, one facet continues unchanged: President Donald Trump\u2019s administration is penalizing more than half the nation\u2019s hospitals for having too many patients return within a month.\n\nMedicare is punishing 2,573 hospitals, just two dozen short of what it did last year under former President Barack Obama, according to federal records released Wednesday. Starting in October, the federal government will cut those hospitals\u2019 payments by as much as 3 percent for a year.\n\nMedicare docked all but 174 of those hospitals last year as well. The $564 million the government projects to save also is roughly the same as it was last year under Obama.\n\nIn California, Medicare penalized 221 hospitals, or 74 percent of those it evaluated. All but 13 had been penalized last year as well. Medicare penalties reached into 42 counties, including 60 hospitals in Los Angeles County. Ten or more hospitals were penalized in Alameda, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties. The average California hospital penalty was 0.56 percent, below the national average.\n\nHigh rates of readmissions have been a safety concern for decades, with one in five Medicare patients historically ending up back in the hospital within 30 days. In 2011, 3.3 million adults returned to the hospital, running up medical costs estimated at $41 billion, according to the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.\n\nGet The Data MEDICARE HOSPITAL PENALTIES YEARS 1 To 6 Medicare is penalizing hospitals that see patients return to the hospital too soon after being discharged. Medicare reduces what it pays each hospital per patient, per stay. Medicare Readmission Penalties By Hospital (.csv)\n\nMedicare Readmissions By State (.csv) Questions about republishing our content? Click here.\n\nThe penalties, which begin their sixth year in October, have coincided with a nationwide decrease in hospital repeat patients. Between 2007 and 2015, the frequency of readmissions for conditions targeted by Medicare dropped from 21.5 percent to 17.8 percent, with the majority of the decrease occurring shortly after the health law passed in 2010, according to a study last year in the New England Journal of Medicine conducted by Obama administration health policy experts.\n\nSome hospitals began giving impoverished patients free medications that they prescribe for their recovery, while others sent nurses to check up on patients seen as most likely to relapse in their homes. Readmissions dropped more quickly at hospitals potentially subject to the penalty than at other hospitals, another study found.\n\n\u201cThe sum of the evidence really suggests that this program is helping people,\u201d said Dr. Susannah Bernheim, the director of quality measurement at the Yale/Yale-New Haven Hospital Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, which measures readmission rates for Medicare.\n\nBut the pace of these reductions has been leveling off in the past few years, indicating that the penalties\u2019 ability to induce improvements may be waning.\n\n\u201cPresumably, hospitals made substantial changes during the implementation period but could not sustain such a high rate of reductions in the long term,\u201d the New England Journal article said.\n\nAn analysis by Bernheim\u2019s group found no decrease in the overall rate of readmissions between 2012 and 2015, although small drops in the medical conditions targeted by the penalties continued.\n\n(Story continues below.)\n\n\u201cWe have indeed reached the limits of what changes in how we deliver care will allow us to do,\u201d said Nancy Foster, vice president for quality at the American Hospital Association. \u201cWe can\u2019t prevent every readmission. It could be that there is further room for improvement, but we just don\u2019t know what the technique is to make that happen.\u201d\n\nThe Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program was created through a section of the ACA designed to use the purchasing power of Medicare to reward hospitals for higher quality. Those penalties, along with other ones aimed at improving hospital care, have been spared the partisan rancor over the law, and they would have continued under the GOP repeal proposals that stalled in Congress. But they have also been largely ignored.\n\nDr. Ashish K. Jha, a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said the fight over abolishing the Affordable Care Act has drowned out talk about how to make the health care system more effective. \u201cWe\u2019ve spent the last six months fighting about how we\u2019re going to pay for health insurance, which is one part of the ACA,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s been almost no discussion of the underlying health care delivery system changes that the ACA ushered in, and that is more important in the long run to be discussing because that\u2019s what\u2019s going to determine the underlying costs and outcomes of the health system.\u201d\n\nThe readmission penalties are intended to neutralize an unintended incentive in the way Medicare pays hospitals that had profited from return patients. Medicare pays hospitals a lump sum for a patient\u2019s stay based on the nature of the admission and other factors. Since hospitals generally are not paid extra if patients remain longer, they seek to discharge patients as soon as is medically feasible. If the patient ends up back in the hospital, it becomes a financial benefit as the hospital is paid for that second stay, filling a bed that would not have generated income if the patient had remained there continuously.\n\nUse Our Content This story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nBecause of the way the readmission penalty program was designed, it is not surprising that the new results are so similar to last year\u2019s. As before, Medicare determined the penalties based on readmissions of the same six types of patients: those admitted for heart attacks, heart failure, pneumonia, chronic lung disease, hip or knee replacements or coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Hospitals were judged on patients discharged between July 2013 and June 2016. Because the government looks at a three-year period, two of those years were also examined in determining last year\u2019s penalties.\n\nThis year, the average penalty will be 0.73 percent of each payment Medicare makes for a patient between Oct. 1 and Sept. 30, 2018, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis. That too was practically the same as last year. Forty-eight hospitals received the maximum punishment of a 3 percent reduction. Medicare did not release hospital-specific estimates for how much lost money these penalties would translate to.\n\nMore than 1,500 hospitals were exempted from penalties this year as required by law. Those include hospitals treating veterans, children and psychiatric patients. Critical access hospitals, which Medicare also pays differently because they are the only hospitals in their areas, were excluded. So were Maryland hospitals because Congress has given that state extra leeway in how it distributes Medicare money.\n\nOf the 3,241 hospitals whose readmissions were evaluated, Medicare penalized four out of five, KHN\u2019s analysis found. That is because the program\u2019s methods are not very forgiving: A hospital can be penalized even if it has higher than expected readmission rates for only one of the six conditions that are targeted. Every non-excluded hospital in Delaware and West Virginia will have their reimbursements reduced. Ninety percent or more will be punished in Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York and Virginia. Sixty percent or fewer will be penalized in Colorado, Kansas, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, South Dakota and Utah.\n\n(Story continues below.)\n\nSince the readmission program\u2019s structure is set by law, the administration cannot make major changes unilaterally, even if it wanted to.\n\nCongress last year instructed Medicare to make one future alteration in response to complaints from safety-net hospitals and major academic medical centers.\n\nThey have objected that their patients tended to be lower income than other hospitals and were more likely to return to the hospital, sometimes because they didn\u2019t have a primary care doctor and other times because they could not afford the right medication or diet. Those hospitals argued that this was a disadvantage for them since Medicare bases its readmission targets on industry-wide trends and that it hurt them financially, depriving them of resources they could use to help those same patients.\n\nBernheim noted that despite those complaints, safety-net hospitals have shown some of the greatest drops in readmission rates. In October 2018, Medicare will begin basing the penalties on how hospitals compared to their peer groups with similar numbers of poor patients. Akin Demehin, director of policy at the hospital association, said, \u201cWe expect the adjustment will provide some relief for safety-net hospitals.\u201d\n\nMedicare is planning to release two other rounds of recurring quality incentives for hospitals later this year. One gives out bonuses and penalties based on a mix of measures, with Medicare redistributing $1.9 billion based on how hospitals perform and improve. The other, the Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program, cuts payments to roughly 750 hospitals with the highest rates of infections and other patient injuries by 1 percent.\n\nUpdate: This story was updated on Aug. 3 to add a quote from Dr. Ashish Jha.\n\nThis story was produced by Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation.", "output": "Amid all the turbulence over the future of the Affordable Care Act, one facet continues unchanged: President Donald Trump\u2019s administration is penalizing more than half the nation\u2019s hospitals for having too many patients return within a month.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Let\u2019s Stop the Bickering and Fix the Health Care System \n If either of us were building the American health care system from scratch, we\u2019d probably end up in different places.\n\nWe have contrasting ideas \u2014 one of us is a Democrat, the other a Republican \u2014 about what ails the system and how to reshape it. But this is not the time for more partisan fighting. It\u2019s time to build a better system, even if incrementally, because that\u2019s what the American people deserve. It\u2019s time to put aside blame and stabilize a health care marketplace where premiums are expected to rise by more than 15 percent in most states and millions of people are worried about obtaining or affording coverage.\n\nThis week the 43-member House Problem Solvers Caucus \u2014 which we lead and which is almost evenly split between Democrats and Republicans \u2014 released a carefully drafted compromise to shore up the struggling insurance exchanges.\n\nUltimately, everyone had to give a little and endorse provisions that purists in both our parties may not like. This is how American democracy is supposed to work, even if it has not for quite some time.", "output": "If either of us were building the American health care system from scratch, we\u2019d probably end up in different places. We have contrasting ideas \u2014 one of us is a Democrat, the other a Republican \u2014 about what ails the system and how to reshape it. But this is not the time for more partisan fighting.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New bipartisan Obamacare push faces steep climb \n \u201cLamar Alexander and Patty Murray shepherded a bill through \u2014 [the update to] No Child Left Behind \u2014 that made the school-choice people happy and made the teachers unions happy, so stranger things have happened,\u201d said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.).\n\nAlexander and Murray want a bill to stabilize the Obamacare insurance markets in time for next year\u2019s plans. Lawmakers who are warm to the idea agree the contours would combine expanded state flexibility for Republicans with market stability \u2014 such as funding critical Obamacare cost-sharing subsidies \u2014 for Democrats.\n\nRepublicans will seek a more flexible 1332 waiver \u2014 an existing Obamacare provision that allows states to make changes to the law\u2019s requirements, according to GOP sources. Democrats say funding the approximately $7 billion annual payment to insurance companies to help cover low-income people is the minimum requirement for a deal. The Trump administration has said it is ready to pull the monthly payments at any time in response to the failed repeal effort, a move that could immediately drive companies off the exchanges and further undermine the Obamacare markets.\n\nAlexander says he\u2019s ready to fund the program, but adds \u201cit also should include greater flexibility for states in approving health insurance policies. Any solution that Congress passes for a 2018 stabilization package would need to be small, bipartisan and balanced.\u201d\n\nBut first, Alexander needs to win over skeptics in his own party, which is coming off an exhausting and ultimately fruitless effort to repeal and replace Obamacare. Other Republicans have likened the cost-sharing program to a \u201cbailout\u201d for insurance companies.\n\nSeveral conservative senators, as well as President Donald Trump, haven\u2019t given up on repealing the law outright. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Paul have balked at any proposal that aims to fix Obamacare rather than roll it back.\n\n\u201cI think it would be a serious mistake to bail out the insurance companies instead of honoring our promise to repeal Obamacare,\u201d Cruz said.\n\nSenate GOP leaders have made clear that they\u2019ve tried everything on Obamacare and are ready to move on. But they\u2019ve left the door open to any Obamacare bill that has the votes. Alexander and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are close friends, and it is unlikely the chairman would move forward with a bipartisan bill if his leader was opposed.\n\n\u201cShow me 51 or show me 60, I guess, and I\u2019m happy to talk,\u201d said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas).\n\nAlexander and Murray \u2014 who have made deals on the No Child Left Behind update, the 21st Century Cures Act and an updated Medicare payment policy, among other things \u2014 have their work cut out for them. The HELP Committee is a diverse mix of Republicans and Democrats representing a cross-section of ideological spectrums. On the Republican side, HELP has conservatives Tim Scott of South Carolina and Pat Roberts of Kansas, the libertarian Paul and moderates Murkowski and Collins. On the other side of the dais are the Senate\u2019s most liberal Democrats \u2014 Warren and Sanders \u2014 and more moderate lawmakers, such as Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.).\n\nShould Alexander and Murray get a bill through committee, it would have a strong shot at passage in the full Senate. The group will need to find common ground quickly \u2014 Alexander has set a mid-September deadline to strike a deal propping up the Obamacare markets, in hopes of speeding a bill through Congress by the end of a month. That leaves just a few weeks for the committee to hold hearings, negotiate a stabilization package and then win broader Senate support on an issue that Republicans and Democrats have fought over for nearly a decade. Staff is expected to work on the plans while members are in their home states in August.\n\nDemocrats and Republicans have starkly different visions for the future of the health care system, and there\u2019s little appetite on either side to give in. That means crafting a narrow bill that props up Obamacare in the short term without shaping the longer-term debate.\n\n\u201cIf you start piling on everybody\u2019s pet priorities, it\u2019s a dangerous path to go down,\u201d said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), an advocate for single-payer health care. \u201cJust because Chairman Alexander and I don\u2019t agree on the Affordable Care Act doesn\u2019t mean that either of us think that lighting the individual market on fire is a good idea.\u201d\n\nStill, it remains unclear what qualifies as neutral ground. Both sides have floated funding stabilization efforts, either through a federal reinsurance system or by sending more money to the states. And Kaine said he\u2019s intrigued by a proposal from Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Collins to automatically enroll individuals in basic health plans.\n\nBut Republicans remain loath to pour more money into Obamacare without a clear path toward rolling back some of its regulations \u2014 a suggestion that still makes Democrats nervous.\n\n\u201cThe notion of flexibility to the states, I think that\u2019s good,\u201d Kaine said. \u201cBut sometimes flexibility to the states leads to a race to the bottom line. Sometimes flexibility to the states is actually perceived by the states as the feds just pushing off hard decisions on them.\u201d\n\nDemocrats are already pushing back on Alexander\u2019s suggestion that a compromise bill fund cost-sharing subsidies for only a year.\n\n\u201cSolving the CSR problem for a year doesn\u2019t keep the insurance companies in,\u201d said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), one of the Senate\u2019s strongest Obamacare defenders. \u201cIf we\u2019re going through the trouble of bringing Republicans and Democrats together to forge a compromise, let\u2019s do it for more than one year.\u201d\n\nFor now, though, some rank-and-file lawmakers are just excited hearings have been planned.\n\n\u201cI love it,\u201d Murkowski said of the hearings. \u201cSmart people making good things happen.\u201d\n\nCollins, who with Murkowski played a pivotal role in sinking the GOP\u2019s repeal bills, was equally enthusiastic: \u201cLamar Alexander is a master at getting bills through.\u201d", "output": "There\u2019s never been a major bipartisan Obamacare bill, and the path to passing one now \u2014 after the death of Senate Republicans' repeal effort \u2014 is steep. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, and ranking Democrat Patty Murray of Washington are up against both time and history in their race to stabilize the shaky Obamacare markets and solidify their status as the chamber\u2019s top deal-makers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Protein at all 3 meals may help preserve seniors' strength \n (HealthDay)\u2014Eating protein at all three daily meals, instead of just at dinner, might help seniors preserve physical strength as they age, new research suggests.\n\nThe Canadian study found that protein-rich meals evenly spread throughout the day staved off muscle decline, but did not increase mobility, in older people.\n\nStudy co-author Stephanie Chevalier said, for seniors, \"The important point is to create three meal occasions with sufficient protein to stimulate muscle building and greater strength, instead of just one.\"\n\nChevalier is an assistant professor of medicine at McGill University in Montreal.\n\nThe functional decline associated with aging often leads to falls, mental impairment and loss of independence. Chevalier's team wondered if more evenly distributed protein consumption might be tied to better physical performance and a reduced rate of decline.\n\nTo find out, they tracked more than 1,700 relatively healthy Quebec men and women, aged 67 to 84, who were all enrolled in a three-year study.\n\nThe participants provided dietary information and underwent yearly hand, arm, and leg strength testing. They were also tested for mobility.\n\nOver the three years, the researchers found that both men and women saw their overall physical performance worsen, with muscle strength fading more significantly than mobility.\n\nBut those who consumed protein more evenly throughout the day appeared to retain greater muscle strength\u2014though not greater mobility\u2014than those who consumed most of their protein late in the day.\n\nHowever, Chevalier stressed the researchers only observed an association between protein distribution and muscle strength, not a direct cause-and-effect relationship.\n\n\"In other words, we cannot conclude that older people had greater strength because they were ingesting protein evenly distributed at every meal,\" she said.\n\nEstablishing direct proof would require more research, she said.\n\nStill, the study finding held up regardless of the total amount of protein consumed, she noted.\n\nPrior research has indicated that adults of all ages should consume a minimum of 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. (To convert pounds to kilograms, divide your body weight by 2.2.)\n\nFor a 155-pound man, that would add up to about three ounces of protein a day, Chevalier said. Spread across breakfast, lunch and dinner, that would mean about one ounce of protein at each meal. A 130-pound woman would require a little less than one ounce per meal.\n\nThe U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Dietary Guidelines call for those over age 50 to consume 5 to 7 ounces of protein foods daily.\n\nIn general, one ounce of meat, poultry or fish or one egg or one tablespoon of peanut butter, one-quarter cup of cooked beans or one-half ounce of nuts or seeds qualify as an ounce of protein, according to the USDA.\n\nAn outside nutrition expert offered one explanation why the new findings might work.\n\n\"Muscle protein is constantly being broken down and built back up. We need protein in our diet daily to make this happen,\" explained Lona Sandon, a dietetic educator.\n\nThat's true at any age, but in late life muscle protein tends to break down faster than it builds up, added Sandon, an assistant professor of clinical nutrition at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.\n\nAlso, research has shown older adults require a higher amount of protein, she said.\n\n\"Eating protein throughout the day seems to be a means to stay in a positive protein balance longer than just eating most of your protein for the day in the evening meal,\" said Sandon.\n\nSandon said distributing protein intake evenly throughout the day is likely beneficial to everyone, young and old.\n\nMuch of the research in this area stems from sports nutrition studies, she added. \"This research has also shown a benefit to spreading protein throughout meals over the day for increased muscle mass and strength benefits in active individuals and adults,\" she added.\n\nHowever, she cautioned that eating protein alone is not an anti-aging silver bullet.\n\n\"You can't just eat a steak and suddenly have bulging biceps,\" she said, noting the need for some level of physical activity or resistance training as well.\n\nThe study was published in the July issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.\n\nMore information: Stephanie Chevalier, R.D., Ph.D., assistant professor, department of medicine, McGill University, and associate member, school of human nutrition, MUHC-Research Institute, Montreal, Canada; Lona Sandon, Ph.D., RDN, LD, program director and assistant professor, department of clinical nutrition, School of Health Professions, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas; July 2017 The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition There's more on seniors and nutrition at U.S. NIH Senior Health. Journal information: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition\n\nCopyright \u00a9 2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.", "output": "Eating protein at all three daily meals, instead of just at dinner, might help seniors preserve physical strength as they age, new research suggests. The Canadian study found that protein-rich meals evenly spread throughout the day staved off muscle decline, but did not increase mobility, in older people.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "eazyScripts gets $2M to help telemedicine providers e-prescribe \n Chicago-based eazyScripts, a provider of e-prescribing software for telemedicine, has completed $2 million in Series A financing through private equity firm Bluff Point Associates.\n\n\n\nThe company\u2019s e-prescribing solution was built to address the specific needs of telemedicine providers, aiming for a user experience that\u2019s fast and efficient. EazyScripts said its clients are saving time, increasing patient volume and improving patient and provider satisfaction.\n\n\n\nIts user interface, striving for modernity, enables providers to begin using it without any training, and it\u2019s adaptable to a provider\u2019s preferences, running on desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.\n\n\n\nProviders can send an electronic prescription in a matter of seconds, the idea being that they can put a greater focus on patients\u2019 health outcomes. EazyScripts also offers secure electronic prior authorization and medication adherence options\n\n\n\n\u201cThis will be my second opportunity to work with Bluff Point Associates. We are very pleased that they believe in our growth potential as much as we do,\u201d said Reed Liggin, eazyScripts\u2019 CEO, in a statement. \u201cWe see tremendous interest and excitement among telemedicine providers for our e-prescribing platform. The availability of this funding will allow us to capitalize on market opportunities, and rapidly move forward with our product enhancement strategy.\u201d\n\n\n\nAs part of the transaction, Bluff Point Associates Managing Director Kevin Fahey will join the eazyScripts Technology Board of Directors.\n\n\n\n\u201cHaving worked with Reed Liggin during the funding and acquisition of his former company, RazorInsights, we are confident that his leadership will be instrumental in the future success of eazyScripts,\u201d said Fahey in a statement. \u201cWe are very excited about this partnership and believe that eazyScripts is well positioned for tremendous growth and taking e-prescribing to the next level.\u201d\n\n\n\nBluff Point Associates is a private equity firm based in Westport, Connecticut. It actively invests in the healthcare information services sector, as well as information services companies supporting the banking, trust, securities, retirement and wealth management sectors of the financial services industry", "output": "Chicago-based eazyScripts, a provider of e-prescribing software for telemedicine, has completed $2 million in Series A financing through private equity firm Bluff Point Associates. The company\u2019s e-prescribing solution was built to address the specific needs of telemedicine providers, aiming for a user experience that\u2019s fast and efficient.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The future of U.S. caregiving: High demand, scarce workers \n By Mark Miller\n\nCHICAGO (Reuters) - If you are hovering around retirement age today, you will be closing in on your eighties in the year 2030. With any luck, you will be healthy and mobile - but imagine for a moment that you are not. Let's say a debilitating illness requires that you receive care in a nursing home.\n\nIt is an unsettling future to imagine. But now ask yourself this - who will take care of you? The United States is headed toward a severe shortage of caregivers - paid and unpaid - in the decades ahead, according to human resources expert Paul Osterman. A professor of human resources and management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management, Osterman is the author of a new book, \"Who Will Care for Us: Long-term Care and the Long-Term Workforce\" (Russell Sage Foundation, 2017), which examines trends in the labor force market for caregivers.\n\nHis conclusion? \u201cIt\u2019s an absolute train wreck waiting to happen.\u201d\n\nOur aging population will push up demand, although Osterman notes that roughly half of demand for care will come from younger, disabled people.\n\nHe examines the projected rising demand for care in the coming decades, and then matches up the demand side with trends in the labor force for paid certified nursing assistants (CNAs) and home care workers, including the availability of unpaid family and friends - the most common source of care for many people.\n\nHe finds that in 2030 there will be a national shortage of 151,000 paid direct care workers and 3.8 million unpaid family caregivers. By 2040, the shortfall will be much larger: 355,000 paid workers, and the family and friends shortfall will be a shocking 11 million.\n\n\"These are conservative estimates,\u201d Osterman said in an interview. \u201cThey assume no changes in immigration policies, and that family members will be willing to provide care at the same rate they do today - that\u2019s not likely, due to smaller families and more geographic dispersion.\u201d If family caregivers become more scarce, that can only put further pressure on demand for paid care.\n\nDAMAGING IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN\n\nThe Trump administration\u2019s crackdown on immigration in the United States will only worsen the situation. In 2015, 18 percent of CNAs and 27 percent of home care aides were immigrants, Osterman estimated, citing Census data. Among immigrant home aides, 24 percent each come from Central America and Asia, 23 percent come from the Caribbean and 10 percent are from Africa.\n\nBut he cautions that the impact of a shrinking immigrant labor pool will be uneven, due to the huge variation in immigration patterns among the states. \u201cNew York and California have very large immigrant populations, but it would probably have very little impact in a state like Ohio,\u201d he said.\n\nThe highest percentages of home care aides who are immigrants are found in New York (64 percent), New Jersey (47 percent) California (46 percent), Florida (38 percent) and Texas (22 percent). By contrast, just 8 percent of the home care aide workforce in Ohio are immigrants; in Georgia, the figure is 12 percent.\n\nOsterman also does not believe a crackdown on undocumented workers would affect the caregiving labor market much. Young men make up a very large part of the undocumented population and nationally, nearly 90 percent of direct care workers are female. \u201cUndocumented workers as a group are unlikely to be a dominant source of labor for these jobs,\u201d he said.\n\nCaregivers earn very low wages - median income for CNAs in 2015 was $20,000, and home care aides earned a median of $15,000, according to Census data. Normally, a labor shortage would resolve itself by putting upward pressure on wages - which would bring more workers into the field. But in this case, the impact on wages - and the caregiving shortage - will be uneven, Osterman said.\n\nTwo-thirds of long-term care in the United States is funded by the federal Medicaid program, with the remainder paid through private commercial insurance or out of pocket. Medicaid payment policies vary widely among the states, but Osterman worries that in many states, care facilities funded by cash-strapped Medicaid programs will not be able to boost wages.\n\n\"It\u2019s difficult for wages to rise because they are set bureaucratically according to Medicaid reimbursement rates,\u201d he said. Meanwhile, wages in the high-end private payer market will rise, with a corresponding impact on the cost of care and insurance.\n\nOsterman\u2019s book is not completely doom and gloom. He holds out hope that we can attract more workers to caregiving by making the occupation more attractive. One needed change, he said, is attitudinal. Many key actors in the profession - doctors, hospitals, regulators, legislators and insurance companies - simply do not demonstrate respect for direct care workers, which is an obstacle to improving the job.\n\nThe second challenge, he writes, is the complexity of our care delivery system and its financing mechanisms, both of which make reforms difficult to implement.\n\nOsterman also argues for restructuring the roles of caregivers. Currently, new caregiving workers receive only about two weeks of job training; expanding that could open the door to broader responsibilities.\n\n\"In some states, a caregiver can\u2019t administer eye drops, or help with wound care,\u201d he said. He thinks caregiving workers could be trained to help with responsibilities like physical therapy, or coaching people with diabetes on eating and exercise.\n\nThat could attract more workers, he thinks, and save money in the healthcare system by shifting tasks away from higher-paid workers such as nurses.\n\n\u201cThe point of my book is not to be nice,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s really a financial case for doing this, and an argument for an important social policy.\u201d\n\n(Editing by Matthew Lewis)", "output": "If you are hovering around retirement age today, you will be closing in on your eighties in the year 2030. With any luck, you will be healthy and mobile - but imagine for a moment that you are not. Let's say a debilitating illness requires that you receive care in a nursing home.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Regus' Spaces to open new Arlington, Virginia location in November \n Camps are just the beginning of what\u2019s in store at Art House 7 this summer. We\u2019re thrilled to offer an array of exciting classes for both kids and adults!Rediscover your creativity with some of our AH7 favorites, such as drawing, hand-sewing, modern embroidery, and our popular 3-week Jump into Crochet classes. But that\u2019s not all! We\u2019ve added some fresh and exciting options to our summer class selection, guaranteed to spark your imagination.\n\nTo enhance your artistic journey, we have intensified some of our Ceramics: The Wheel classes to a full 3-hour duration. This extended time allows for more creativity and skill development in each class session. If you\u2019re eager for a captivating twist, give Contemporary Still-Life Drawing & Painting a go. Or why not try an immersive outdoor painting adventure? We have a unique opportunity for you to bring your painting skills to life while learning and creating in the great outdoors with our Landscape Painting: Studio and Plein Air class!\n\nWe invite you to visit our website and explore our full Summer Session schedule, brimming with a diverse range of classes and camps. Classes and camps begin June 20th. Unleash your inner artist, broaden your horizons, and embark on a summer adventure like no other. Let\u2019s make this a summer to remember at Art House 7!", "output": "Regus plans to open its Spaces concept, which targets tech firms, in the former Artisphere in the Rosslyn section of Arlington, Virginia\u00a0this November. The firm agreed to terms on 45,000 sq ft of space at the 1101 Wilson Boulevard site owned by Monday Properties last August. The\u00a0location is expected to feature 22,000 sq ft of office space, plus an event space, outdoor patio and gym. Spaces also opened a\u00a0large co-working space in D.C.\u2019s Uline Arena\u00a0in April.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Takaful premium growth slows as oil slump affects Gulf states \n Growth in gross premiums in the Islamic (takaful and Islamic cooperative tawuni) insurance sector in the GCC slowed significantly to less than 1% in 2016, according to a report published yesterday by S&P Global Ratings.", "output": "Declining oil revenues have contributed to a slowdown in premium growth of takaful, or Islamic insurance, in the Gulf states to less than 1% last year. The drop from as much as 20% annual growth in previous years is also attributed to a plateauing of pricing, according to S&P Global Ratings. Although earnings were higher for the insurers, S&P warns profits were unevenly spread across the sector and that the capital and credit strengths of some companies have been eroded.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Rimmel eyeliner campaign uses Facebook AR app \n Cosmetics maker Rimmel London experimented with augmented reality in June 2016 when it let users virtually try on makeup using an app. Now, Rimmel is hoping to widen the audience for the same idea using Facebook Stories.\n\nOn Wednesday, the Coty-owned brand launched interactive filters on Facebook\u2019s new Camera Effects platform. In Facebook\u2019s in-app camera, users say \u201cwow\u201d to cycle through four different Rimmel eyeliner looks on their faces. They can then take a photo of their favorite style and share it to Facebook Stories.\n\nIt\u2019s been hard to get people to use AR via apps because there\u2019s a high bar to getting people to download a new app, but the hope is that with Facebook, it will reach a wider audience. \u201cThis is allowing us to take a lot of the learnings we had with the app-based model and make it more scalable,\u201d said Fred Gerantabee, global vp of digital innovation at Coty.\n\nRimmel wouldn\u2019t say how many users have downloaded the free \u201cGet the Look\u201d app, but according to the Apple App Store, only 15 people have rated it, not enough for the store to display an average.\n\nDevelopers can use Facebook\u2019s AR Studio to create custom effects at no charge, which is also cheaper than building an app. Gerantabee said on Snapchat, meanwhile, similar filters \u201care notoriously expensive and usually run for one or two days, or a week at best.\u201d\n\nRimmel is one of the early adaptors of Facebook\u2019s AR technology. At Facebook\u2019s annual F8 Developer Conference in April, Facebook announced it would share its Camera Effects API with a closed beta group of developers. U.K.-based augmented reality agency Holition, which worked with Rimmel to develop the try-on effects, was one of the developers invited to be part of the beta group.\n\nIt\u2019s unclear when Facebook will open the beta group to others and begin monetizing the technology. \u201cThese tools are still in the early days, so we will work to optimize both the Camera and the Camera Effects Platform for people first,\u201d said a Facebook spokesman. \u201cIn the future, if appropriate, we will consider paid ways for businesses to participate.\u201d\n\nOther brands such as soccer club Manchester United, game developer EA, Nike and Rimmel\u2019s sister brand Gucci have experimented with the AR effects. Nike used the technology to overlay a sweatband on a user\u2019s head and pull in a map of their running route.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s always a risk to introduce something new,\u201d said Gerantabee. \u201cBut the great thing about playing in platforms like Facebook and Instagram, and even Snapchat, is that you are adding functionality to things people are already using.\u201d", "output": "Cosmetics brand Rimmel London has launched interactive filters on Facebook\u2019s new Camera Effects platform in its latest foray into augmented reality (AR), following a June 2016 campaign. Using the same technology behind Rimmel\u2019s Get the Look app, Facebook users say \"wow\"\u00a0before having four different Rimmel eyeliner looks superimposed on their faces. Rimmel is hoping to reach a wider audience with the Facebook campaign than its Get the Look app, which has not been reviewed enough times to be given an average, according to Apple's App Store.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nesa plans to raise ZAR85m for South African solar projects \n The NIH fund invests in a portfolio of commercial rooftop solar energy projects.\n\nNesa Investment Holdings (NIH) has opened its second capital raising round, providing investors with an opportunity to invest in SA's renewable energy sector.\n\nThe fund invests in a portfolio of commercial rooftop solar energy projects and related technologies, and earns revenue through operating, renting and maintaining these projects to its clients.\n\nNIH says the initial round of capital raising in the first quarter of 2017 quickly yielded R10.5 million, 65% of which has been invested successfully in projects currently under way.\n\nNIH is a 12J venture capital company co-managed by Nesa Capital and CreoVision. It was established in the first quarter of 2017 as a vehicle for providing innovative funding of rooftop solar photovoltaic (solar PV) projects on commercial and industrial buildings.\n\nThe venture capital company says it has an additional qualified investment pipeline of R40 million, of which it has received R20 million in letters of intent or term sheets from clients requesting funding for their solar projects.\n\nIt expects to raise a further R85 million in the third quarter of 2017, due to the growing demand for the technology in the market.\n\nPeter Frolich, director of NIH, says modern solar technology has advanced in leaps and bounds. \"Increases in production outputs and costs efficiencies mean industries, households and ultimately countries will be powered by the sun in the not-too-distant future.\n\n\"As finite fossil fuels become depleted, installed solar capacity can provide an alternative and clean energy source and alleviate the burden on already strained installed power grids around the world.\"\n\nHe points out that SA's power grid is especially strained, with its growing population and rising energy costs.\n\nAccording to Frolich, costs of solar PV projects are dependent on the size of the installation, but can cost anywhere between R500 000 to approximately R50 million.\n\n\"As SA is still in the early adoption phase of solar PV and the sector still relatively unregulated, the market is finding its feet and gradually trusting the technology. Clients are looking for performance assurances to mitigate their risks when investing in a solar system,\" Frolich says.\n\n\"There is no shortage of demand for projects in the market as developers recognise the numerous benefits of energy harnessed by solar PV. However, not every project is a viable investment, and the NIH team's strict appraisal process of investigating financial, engineering and sustainability elements determines whether or not to proceed with offering funding.\"\n\nDescribing the investment strategy, Frolich says NIH invests in small-scale embedded renewable energy projects. Income is generated through the operation, maintenance, renting and/or sale of power generated to underlying clients.\n\nHe points out the typical rental term is between five and 15 years, but the client has the option at any time to buy the system outright. The rental fee is structured so that it is equal to or lower than the savings generated from the solar system.\n\nInvestors of the fund are allocated shares that receive dividends derived from the rental income generated by NIH's portfolio.\n\n\"A transition from coal-powered energy production to renewable energy is critical to the sustainability of the South African energy grid, and the environment. National power utility Eskom is currently installing additional power capacity, but new and sustainable energy sources are key to reduce operational costs and facilitate growth,\" Frolich concludes.", "output": "South Africa's Nesa Investment Holdings (NIH) expects to raise ZAR85m ($6.4m) in the third quarter after raising ZAR10m in Q1, 65% of which has been deployed in solar projects currently underway. NIH invests in commercial rooftop solar energy projects and related technologies, and has a qualified investment pipeline of ZAR40m, including ZAR20m in letters of intent or term sheets from clients."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "No hack no payment: court backs refusal to pay for email scam \n A tool and die manufacturer that lost $800,000 when it fell victim to \u201cspoofing\u201d emails cannot recover under the computer fraud provision of its insurance policy because it was not a \u201cdirect\u201d loss \u201cdirectly caused\u201d by the use of any computer, says a federal court ruling.\n\nOn March 18, 2015, the vice president of Grass Lake Michigan-based American Tooling Center Inc. sent an email to one of the company\u2019s vendors requesting copies of all outstanding invoices, according to Tuesday\u2019s ruling by the U.S. District Court in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in American Tooling Center Inc. v. Travelers Casualty and Surety Company of America.\n\nThe vice president received emails purportedly from the vendor instructing ATC to send payment for several legitimate outstanding invoices to a new bank account, according to the ruling.\n\nWithout verifying the new banking instructions, ATC wire-transferred about $800,000 to a bank account that was not, in fact, controlled by the vendor.\n\nBut by the time the fraud was detected, the funds had been transferred, and the wire transfers could not be retracted. ATC eventually paid the vendor about $400,000, according to the ruling.\n\nATC filed a claim with its insurer, Hartford-based Travelers, which denied coverage on the basis the loss was not a \u201cdirect loss\u201d that was \u201cdirectly caused by the use of a computer\u201d as required by the policy.\n\nATC filed suit seeking coverage. The District Court agreed with the insurer. Intervening events \u201cbetween ATC\u2019s receipt of the fraudulent emails and the transfer of funds (ATC verified production milestones, authorized its transfers and initiated the transfers without verifying bank account information) preclude a finding of \u2018direct\u2019 loss \u2018directly caused\u2019 by the use of any computer,\u201d said the ruling.\n\n\u201cThere was no infiltration or \u2018hacking\u2019 of ATC\u2019s computer system,\u201d said the ruling, also. \u201cThe emails themselves did not directly cause the transfer of funds; rather, ATC authorized the transfer based upon the information received in the emails,\u201d said the ruling, in granting Travelers summary judgment dismissing the case.", "output": "A court has ruled in favour of insurer, Travelers, after it refused to pay a claim to a company that was stung by a spoof email scam. American Tooling Center was lured into transferring $800,000 to the scammers' bank account in the belief it was paying legitimate bills to a vendor. The company sued Travelers after the insurer baulked on the grounds that ATC\u00a0didn't suffer\u00a0a\u00a0\u201cdirect loss\u201d that was \u201cdirectly caused by the use of a computer\u201d, and couldn't be treated as the victim of computer fraud. The court agreed, saying ATC\u00a0had not been hacked."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian state urged to launch newborn insurance \n KOCHI :Since most insurance companies in the country do not have products tailored for child healthcare, the Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP), Kerala chapter, has submitted a proposal to the state government to introduce a scheme for newborns till they reach the age of one.:\u201cWe have submitted the proposal and government is considering it. This will help if any congenital disease is detected in newborns,\u201c said Dr MN Venkiteswaran, president, IAP , Kerala chapter. The state chapter had in the past tied up with United India Insurance Company Ltd to provide medical insurance to a child till the age of one but it failed to get a good response.Children do get cover under the family insurance scheme but the numbers are less. \u201cJust about six per cent children admitted in our hospital have any type of medical insurance,\u201c said Sanjeev Singh, medical superintendent, AIMS.\u201cOnce speciality hospitals for children register a growth in the state, we can start a conversation with insurance companies to introduce customised products for children,\u201c said Dr Harish Pillai, CEO, Aster Medcity. KIMS Hospital said they have introduced insurance scheme for newborns.", "output": "The government in the Indian state of Kerala has been urged to provide a healthcare insurance policy for\u00a0babies up to the age of one. The Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP) made the proposal to cover a shortfall in childcare provisions contained in\u00a0commercial insurance plans. The IAP said that a tiny proportion of children admitted to hospital in the state were covered under any policy, and added that if adopted the proposal may eventually stimulate insurance companies into providing childcare products.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brands that object to being sold on Amazon have few options \n Whether a retailer wants its products to be sold on Amazon or not, the brand will most likely end up being listed on the platform by third-party sellers. Those independent vendors \u2014 which are typically unauthorized by brands \u2014 are becoming a headache for many retailers.\n\nIn late July, Amazon reportedly contacted thousands of third-party vendors about participating in its Fulfillment by Amazon program, in which Amazon would buy their inventory at full price and then sell those products on its site. The move incensed Birkenstock CEO David Kahan, who wrote in a letter to Birkenstock retailers that the company prohibits its retail partners from reselling even a single pair of Birkenstock sandals on Amazon.\n\n\u201cI have never in my 25+ years in this industry ever heard of a retailer on such a scale as Amazon, actively soliciting other retailers for a brand\u2019s inventory in the case of such brand not choosing to sell them,\u201d Kahan wrote.\n\nDespite Birkenstock\u2019s efforts, its sandals are still sold on Amazon today. And that\u2019s the case for many brands that don\u2019t want to be sold on Amazon. If a product is in high demand, Amazon will get it from distributors and third-party sellers, said Matt Sargent, svp of retail for consulting firm Magid Associates. The best thing for brands to do might be to work with Amazon to limit their risk.\n\nSince Amazon seems to get its way, not working with the retail giant is risky because it means retailers have no recourse if a third-party seller provides a low-quality image or an erroneous product description of the brand on Amazon, according to Eric Heller, founder of retail agency Marketplace Ignition, and James Thomson, partner of Amazon account management firm Buy Box Experts and former head of Amazon Services.\n\nSo a brand should at least participate in Brand Registry \u2014 in which a company can register as the sole brand owner on Amazon and submit the proper product information for each item \u2014 to make sure product images and descriptions are accurate, they said.\n\nBrand Registry has its limits, though.\n\n\u201cThe root cause of the Amazon problem is a brand\u2019s distribution problem,\u201d said Thomson. \u201cAt most companies, their director of e-commerce and director of sales are competing with each other. Brands should control their overall distribution strategy, and Amazon is just a byproduct.\u201d\n\nFor the first six months of this year, third-party sellers accounted for over half of the items Amazon was selling. Last year, Amazon generated nearly $23 billion in third-party seller service revenues, compared to $16 billion a year prior, according to Statista.\n\nThose third-party sellers are enrolled in Amazon Marketplace (where members use the Seller Central portal), and they can participate in Fulfilled by Merchant or FBA. Most third-party sellers would choose the latter because Amazon handles the shipping on their behalf and FBA members are Prime-eligible (items are designated on the product page and at checkout with the Prime logo) by default, according to Heller.\n\nMarketplace lets Amazon expand its assortment and outsource merchandising while small retailers get high visibility on the platform, Sargent said.\n\nAmazon Marketplace makes it harder for brands to manage their product distribution. For instance, Nike decided in June to directly sell a limited product assortment on Amazon because third-party sellers were listing Nike on Amazon anyway, including fakes. Hair color brand Madison Reed, on the other hand, limited sales of its products to its own site, QVC, Sephora and Ulta, but it\u2019s now available on Amazon because of third-party sellers. Amazon started rolling out a brand gating program in August 2016 to prohibit third-party merchants from selling certain established brands like Microsoft and Burberry, but companies not on the list still suffer due to unauthorized sellers.\n\nA brand cannot run a test buy to see where the warehouse of a third-party seller is because if the seller uses FBA, Amazon handles the shipping, according to Thomson.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s almost impossible for brands to get away with Amazon because everyone can set up an account as a third-party seller and disguise their identity,\u201d he said. \u201cIf a brand only sells in its own stores, it may be able to control the distribution. But what if I divert products? I can go to Seller Central and resell the item, or if I\u2019m a professional product diverter [someone who acquires products at scale outside of authorized distributors], I will use the new Vendor Express program.\u201d", "output": "Brands that refuse\u00a0to allow their products to be sold directly by Amazon\u00a0should join it anyway\u00a0or run the risk of their inventory being sold on Amazon via third parties, according to industry insiders. Registering with the Brand Registry offers a partial solution as it ensures product images and descriptions are accurate, but Amazon's control of product distribution through Amazon Marketplace makes it harder for brands to manage stock. During the first half of this year third party sellers accounted for more than half the items available on Amazon.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Africa Renewable Energy Initiative rows with major donors \n Enabled by Asoko Insight\u2019s proprietary datasets and broad in-country research footprint, we deliver hard data, in depth-analysis and written reporting to answer your research needs.\n\nAsoko\u2019s Digital Engagement solution addresses the challenge by combining Asoko\u2019s deep data-set on African companies, its strong brand recognition among African executives and its best-in-class digital engagement infrastructure.\n\nCompliance Support\n\nAsoko Insight can support your compliance information needs in 25+ African countries. Whether it is the straightforward and rapid acquisition of transcripts and scans of official documents or doing a deep report on Ultimate Beneficial Ownership.", "output": "Civil society organisations from 25 African countries have accused the European Commission and France of gaining \"premature, undue approval of their [electricity] projects\" via the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI). They also accuse AREI of moving away from its principles of \"sustainable development, enhanced wellbeing and sound economic development\" and\u00a0the board of directors has come under fire for a lack of transparency. The initiative aims to bring clean energy to Africa, with the first phase, aiming at 10,000 MW of power, due to begin this year. The organisations also object to the EU and France pushing to be on AREI's board.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Group Nine Media wins more views by showing fewer viral videos \n Since publishers are at the mercy of algorithms when it comes to making articles and videos catch fire, Group Nine Media has focused on limiting its duds rather than trying to make videos go viral.\n\nViral videos used to be a bigger part of Group Nine\u2019s views. In June 2016, videos with more than 10 million views drove 37 percent of the publisher\u2019s total social video views, according to Tubular Labs. This past June, that percent was down to 19 percent of its total social video views.\n\nSince reducing its reliance on viral hits, monthly video views have gone up year over year by 59 percent to 4.6 billion in June, per Tubular. In the same period, the number of videos it published per month increased 34 percent, to 2,670.\n\nWhile Group Nine \u2014 a holding company that includes digital publishers Thrillist, NowThis, The Dodo and Seeker \u2014 formed in October, its brands existed before, so these statistics compare like properties. The company\u2019s social video views have quickly grown. In 2014, the properties it now owns had just a few a million video views per month, said Ashish Patel, svp of audience development and insights at Group Nine, but the company\u2019s thinking is that its current approach is more sustainable.\n\n\u201cYou generally don\u2019t want to pore over your mistakes; you want to psychologically brush them under the rug and move on,\u201d Patel said. \u201cBut viral hits are out of our control, and it\u2019s more clear what we can do to eliminate [poorly] performing content.\u201d\n\nGroup Nine increased the views on its less popular videos by testing multiple versions of the same video, Patel said. It found that videos of talking heads needed lots of text to keep users interested, while videos with more interesting visual imagery performed worse with added text.\n\nIt also discovered that unless the camera angles alternate at the beginning of a video, mobile users quickly click out of videos featuring a person speaking directly to the camera, Patel said. That\u2019s why, as seen in this video featuring former Vice President Al Gore, the camera angle frequently changes to keep users\u2019 attention.\n\nAnother tactic that helps prevent users from exiting a video of a person speaking is to split the screen with another image. The videos below are essentially identical, but the first video starts with a split-screen image, while the second video shows just a single image. Juxtaposing two images for just a few seconds at the start of the video increased views by 36 percent.\n\nGroup Nine is becoming less beholden to viral videos at a time when going viral has lost some of its appeal. Viral publishers like Upworthy and Distractify, which relied heavily on social platforms, were left exposed after algorithm changes led to inconsistent traffic. Elite Daily\u2019s parent company wrote down the entirety of its investment in the millennial-focused publisher, leading to Elite Daily\u2019s sale to Bustle. Viral Thread is eliminating \u201cviral\u201d from its name and rebranding itself as VT.\n\nPhoto via Group Nine", "output": "New York-based digital media holding company Group Nine Media has increased its monthly video views by 59% year-on-year to 4.6 billion in June, following a decision to focus on improving poorer-performing content instead of relying on viral videos. Ashish Patel, senior vice-president of audience development and insights at Group Nine, revealed that, during research, the company discovered videos featuring talking heads with plenty of text, alternating camera angles at the start of a video and split screens helped maintain viewer engagement."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vice separates in-house agency from Vice Media team \n Vice Media U.K. is separating the Virtue team, its in-house agency, from its Vice Media team.\n\nVirtue, with 70 staffers in the U.K., used to centralize its creatives, strategists and account managers so they could work on Vice digital work that\u2019s distributed on Vice Media\u2019s own channels, and Virtue work that can also be distributed on clients\u2019 own platforms.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re clarifying the work we\u2019re doing from an operational, organizational and financial point of view,\u201d said Matt O\u2019Mara, CEO of Vice Media U.K.\n\nThe separation will help Virtue grow its business with clients that might not typically opt for distribution on Vice channels.\n\nVirtue, which launched in 2006, has run branded-content campaigns with Chanel, Timberland and Lululemon in the past year. Lululemon used Virtue\u2019s creative and strategic services for the global ad campaign \u201cThis is Yoga,\u201d which showed the principles of yoga, such as meditation and self-discipline, being used by regular people, but it didn\u2019t run on Vice Media\u2019s properties. Priya Matadeen, gm of Virtue U.K., estimates roughly half of Virtue\u2019s branded-content clients don\u2019t distribute across Vice Media\u2019s channels.\n\n\u201cWe are a better partner if we don\u2019t mandate that,\u201d she said.\n\nIdeally, closer direct client relationships could lead to more retainer-based partnerships with brands, which can last for months, rather than sporadic campaign-by-campaign work. Virtue, which operates an agency model, bills by the hour for creative work. By contrast, Vice Media has a pricing model more typical of media buys either through CPM, sponsorships, co-creation or production investment.\n\n\u201cCreative work is demanding in terms of resource,\u201d said Sanjay Panchal, senior director in the partnerships and emerging media team at Essence. \u201cIf [Virtue] does more speculative work, it could want some element of a retainer to cover that.\u201d\n\nWhile most publishers have in-house branded content solutions, the creative is often an add-on to the media buy. U.K. publisher Great British Chefs is another that believes its strategy and audience insight is valuable enough on its own and is working with Kellogg\u2019s to realign its strategy in the U.K., India and Mexico, but it is not running any advertising or media placement.\n\n\u201cSome clients buying our agency capabilities have had a tendency to think they get media distribution as a product of doing that; that\u2019s not the case,\u201d said O\u2019Mara. \u201cIn the world of more transparency for brands and clients, this sets out the ideation and process in a fit-for-purpose and modern way.\u201d\n\nThe company hopes to complete delineating the teams in the next month, in time for Rob Newlan\u2019s arrival to the new role of CEO for Virtue in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Newlan is coming from Facebook, where he delivered brand campaigns, and worked at Unilever, Diageo and Coca-Cola before that.\n\nSeparating the teams will mean filling gaps to ensure each team can still perform creative and strategy work. For instance, the creative director is positioned at Vice Media, leaving a vacant post at Virtue. Virtue has also created a client services department rather than have project managers deal directly with clients, Matadeen said.\n\n\u201cBigger clients need more process and rigor in order to deliver the right work for them,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need enough process to function like the big boys, but not too much to stifle the creativity out of the whole place.\u201d\n\nImage via Vice", "output": "UK-based firm Vice Media is splitting its in-house agency Virtue from its main team, allowing the former to grow its business. It is hoped the separation will be complete in time for the arrival of of its new CEO for Virtue in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Rob Newlan. The split will also bring other changes, including the creation of a client services department at Virtue.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Warner Bros. digital studio focuses on short-form series \n The market for short-form digital series is booming, with a growing number of video-streaming and social platforms seeking entertainment content to attract young viewers that spend a lot of their time on mobile devices. Warner Bros., one of the most prolific TV producers in the world, wants a piece of that action.\n\nTwo years ago, Warner Bros. created Stage 13, a digital studio focused on making short-form shows for emerging platforms. In June, Stage 13 premiered its first digital series, \u201cSnatchers,\u201d on Verizon\u2019s Go90 streaming platform. The show, which spans eight episodes, is a horror comedy about a \u201cstatus-obsessed\u201d high schooler who loses her virginity only to discover she\u2019s pregnant with an alien baby.\n\n\u201cBesides super-serving a young, multicultural audience, we\u2019re all in the same business: looking to reach audiences anywhere, at any time,\u201d said Diana Mogollon, svp and gm of Stage 13. \u201cWe saw an opportunity in short-form content, which meant episode lengths anywhere between five to 15 minutes, with the sweet spot being in the 10- to 12-minute episode range.\u201d\n\nThis is far different from what Warner Bros. is primarily known for. For the coming 2017-18 TV season, Warner Bros. Television will be producing more than 35 prime-time shows \u2014 all with hour- or half-hour-long episodes \u2014 ranging from \u201cThe Big Bang Theory\u201d for CBS to \u201cWestworld\u201d for HBO.\n\nBut even in the era of peak TV, there are opportunities to sell shows to digital newcomers seeking short-form video series, including Verizon\u2019s Go90, Comcast\u2019s Watchable, Facebook and Snapchat. Top digital publishers, including BuzzFeed, Mashable and Bleacher Report, are feeding the demand by building their own studio businesses.\n\n\u201cSnatchers\u201d is one of 11 scripted and unscripted shows that Stage 13 has completed. For the others, the studio is in discussions with a range of distributors, said Mogollon. \u201cThis is a time when everyone wants great content \u2014 just look at Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram, and how they\u2019re creating opportunities to showcase video,\u201d said Mogollon.\n\nStage 13 sits under the Warner Bros. Digital Networks Group, which includes the cartoon subscription streaming service Boomerang, the Korean drama subscription service DramaFever, gaming-focused YouTube network and studio Machinima, LeBron James\u2019 Uninterrupted and Ellen DeGeneres\u2019 Ellen Digital Ventures. Mogollon and Stage 13 can work closely with other companies in this portfolio, which she said gives Stage 13 an advantage over other studios.\n\nAs is the case with any digital unit owned by a major media company, Stage 13 is described as a startup \u2014 its Los Angeles headquarters aren\u2019t even on the Warner Bros. lot. The studio has more than a dozen employees with backgrounds in independent film, cable TV, music and digital entertainment.\n\n\u201cThe way Kevin [Tsujihara, Warner Bros. CEO] and Craig [Hunegs, Warner Bros. Digital Networks president] framed it was: This is a startup, go off the lot; you\u2019ll get the funding and resources you need, but let\u2019s make sure there\u2019s no red tape holding you back,\u201d said Mogollon.\n\nImage via Stage 13", "output": "Warner Bros. is embracing the short-form digital TV series, with episodes lasting between five and 15 minutes. This follows\u00a0the launch of Snatchers, which airs on Verizon\u2019s Go90 streaming platform. Via its digital studio start-up Stage 13, part of the broadcaster's Digital Networks Group, Warner Bros. is set to provide content for Facebook, Comcast\u2019s Watchable and Snapchat, ahead of rival short-form digital publishers BuzzFeed, Mashable and Bleacher Report."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Codecademy launches paid service \n This summer has seen two prominent coding bootcamps close because they couldn\u2019t make their business models work. Meanwhile, a major provider of free online educational resources for those learning to code announced new paid options that company leaders hope will make its business sustainable.\n\nCodecademy aced the first part of the Silicon Valley playbook, which says to first attract masses of users. The company claims 45 million people have registered to use its free materials. But they hadn\u2019t solved the revenue part of the equation, says Zachary Sims, the company\u2019s CEO. In fact, back in late 2015 the company got to a point of \u201calmost certain death\u201d unless it found a way to get at least some users to pay. (The company has raised $42.5 million since it started in 2011.)\n\nSims says that after talking with users, and running quiet tests, they\u2019ve settled on a three-tier set of paid offerings that essentially break the tasks of traditional teachers into distinct parts at different prices. The cheapest option is the ability to get a live person to answer questions by chat when a student gets stuck (that costs $20 per month). The second option is to go through a course with a cohort and attend weekly live video seminars and get assignments graded (for about $200 per course). The highest-price offering includes all of that support, plus the chance to set up a weekly one-on-one video chat with a mentor during the course (for $500 per course).\n\nThe company says all of the free resources will remain free.\n\nSims says what he\u2019s doing is \u201ca completely different business\u201d than in-person coding schools like Dev Bootcamp, which is closing shop at the end of the year. Because Codecademy has no expensive classroom space and is fully online, he says, \u201cfrom the start our business was designed to scale.\u201d\n\nLaceyBathala is one of the first students to try the new Pro courses, after finding the pilot version of the paid offerings when she was Googling how to learn SQL, a language she needed for a new job.\n\nIt took her about three weeks to go through the course, and she frequently used the on-demand help. Throughout her work day, she would take breaks from her duties to go through the course\u2019s short interactive exercises, and she\u2019d finish about one lesson per day that way. \u201cAs a working mom of two and wife and wanting to further my career, it was perfect,\u201d says Bathala, who is 35 and working remotely for Microsoft from Plano, Texas.\n\nOf course, Bathala already had a basic understanding of coding. Sims says he hopes the paid versions will also appeal to a broad audience, even those who don\u2019t aspire to be fluent coders but want to understand technology better for their jobs.\n\nIt\u2019s not clear how big that \u201ccasual coder\u201d audience is. (For every essay arguing that everyone should code, you can find a hot take refuting the idea.) Of course there\u2019s plenty of competition for paid online coding bootcamps. And it will be interesting to see whether people will try to use these low-cost options as a replacement for an in-person bootcamp, which cost an average of $11,400, according to Course Report.\n\nThe new paid offerings also turn Codecademy into a competitor to Coursera and Udacity, which started out offering free Massive Open Online Courses but later pivoted to put more energy into paid options.\n\nCodecademy officials say that the pilot phase of the paid offerings over the past 18 months has already brought in $6 million in revenue.", "output": "New York-based Codecademy has launched three paid options running alongside its free coding courses, following quiet testing and discussions with users. The move put the company into competition with Coursera and Udacity. The options range from $20 per month to $500 per course, and have already brought in $6m in revenue, following the recent closure of two prominent coding bootcamps. Codecademy claims it has registered 45 million free users."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Offensive content displayed on hacked billboard in Cardiff \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nSign up here to get the CardiffOnline newsletter sent straight to your inbox\n\nA big screen in Cardiff\u2019s main shopping street was reportedly hacked with images of swastikas and messages about \u2018Shariah\u2019 appearing.\n\nThe giant billboard in Queen Street was allegedly hacked on Tuesday night by a group who claimed on social media that they \u201chad a little fun\u201d.\n\nA poster on the thread Politically Incorrect, on internet site 4chan, wrote on Twitter: \u201cSome Anons from /pol/ were able to hack into a billboard in Cardiff, Wales.\n\n\u201cAs you can see, they had a little fun.\u201d\n\n(Image: @polNewsForever)\n\nImages of a swastika and a message that read \u201cWarning. This is a Shariah controlled zone. No alcohol. No gambling. No porn\u201d were projected onto the board above the Superdrug store in the busy street in the heart of the capital \u2013 just as thousands of children are off school during the summer holidays.\n\nThere were also images of memes and a poster which read \u201cBig Brother is watching you\u201d, according to the social media account.\n\n(Image: @RTBiscuit)\n\nA South Wales Police spokesman said they were investigating the incident after receiving a number of calls from concerned bypassers.\n\nIn a statement they said: \u201cOn Tuesday evening South Wales Police received a number of calls relating to concerns regarding messages being displayed on the screens in Queen Street, Cardiff.\n\n(Image: @polNewsForever)\n\n\u201cWe alerted the city council and will investigate any crimes which may have been committed.\u201d\n\nThe billboard is operated by blowUP media, who have been contacted for comment.\n\nA spokesman Cardiff council said: \u201cThe council has contacted the company that own and operate the advertising screen. The screen was switched off at midnight on Tuesday night.\u201d", "output": "South Wales police are investigating after hackers took over a billboard in Cardiff\u2019s Queen Street, and posted content including images of a swastika and Donald Trump. Passers by reported the incidents to the police. Cardiff council subsequently switched off the screens. The perpetrators are members of alt-right forum 4chan, according to the site's twitter account."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "European heatwave threatens food crops \n Eleven southern and central European countries have issued extreme heat warnings amid a brutal heatwave nicknamed Lucifer, with residents and tourists urged to take precautions and scientists warning worse could be still to come.\n\nAuthorities in countries including Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia are on red alert, the European forecasters\u2019 network Meteoalarm said, and swaths of southern Spain and France are on amber.\n\nAs temperatures in many places hit or exceeded 40C (104F) in the region\u2019s most sustained heatwave since 2003, emergency services are being put on standby and people have been asked to \u201cremain vigilant\u201d, stay indoors, avoid long journeys, drink enough fluids and listen for emergency advice from health officials.\n\nAt least two people have died from the heat, one in Romania and one in Poland, and many more taken to hospital suffering from sunstroke and other heat-related conditions. Italy said its hospitalisation rate was 15% above normal and asked people in affected regions only to travel if their journey was essential. Polish officials warned of possible infrastructure failures.\n\nA spokeswoman for Abta, the UK travel trade organisation, reinforced the advice for holidaymakers, saying they should take sensible precautions, keep hydrated by drinking plenty of water, stay out of the sun in the middle of the day, and follow any advice issued by health authorities in specific destinations.\n\nA cyclist waits to cross a road next to a thermometer showing 41C in Valencia, eastern Spain. Photograph: Manuel Bruque/EPA\n\nThe heatwave, now in its fourth day and expected to last until next Wednesday, follows an earlier spell of extreme temperatures last month that fuelled a spate of major wildfires, exacerbated droughts in Italy and Spain, and damaged crops.\n\nThe highest temperature on Thursday was 42C in Cordoba, Spain, and Catania, Italy. Split in Croatia also hit 42.3C on Wednesday. The spell is forecast to peak at the weekend with temperatures of 46C or higher in Italy and parts of the Balkans.\n\n\n\nAuthorities in Italy, which is suffering its worst drought in 60 years, have placed 26 cities on the maximum extreme heat alert, including Venice and Rome. Many of Rome\u2019s fountains have been turned off, and last week the city only narrowly averted drastic water rationing.\n\nIn Florence, the Uffizi art gallery was temporarily closed on Friday when the air-conditioning system broke down. In Hungary, keepers at Budapest zoo cooled down two overheating polar bears with huge ice blocks.\n\nTemperatures along parts of Croatia\u2019s Adriatic coast, including Dubrovnik, were expected to hit 42C during the day. In the Serbian capital of Belgrade there were reports of people fainting from heat exhaustion.\n\nHighs in Spain, including in popular holiday resorts on the Costa del Sol and on the island of Majorca, are set to reach 43C this weekend, with extreme conditions also forecast in Seville, Malaga and Granada. Ibiza and Mallorca could hit 42C, Spain\u2019s Aemet meteorological service warned.\n\n\n\nWhile Europe\u2019s record high is 48C, set in Athens in 1977, current temperatures are in many places as much as 10-15C higher than normal for the time of year and likely to result in more fatalities, experts have said.\n\n\n\nEurope\u2019s record-breaking 2003 heatwave resulted in more than 20,000 heat-related deaths, mainly of old and vulnerable people, including 15,000 in France, where temporary mortuaries were set up in refrigerated lorries.\n\nSuch spells of extreme heat in southern Europe could be a foretaste of things to come. French researchers last month predicted summer conditions in some of the continent\u2019s popular tourist destinations could become significantly tougher.\n\nSzeriy, a polar bear at Budapest zoo, has been given blocks of ice to combat the heat. Photograph: Attila Kisbenedek/AFP/Getty Images\n\nWriting in the journal Environmental Research Letters, the scientists said if a similar \u201cmega-heatwave\u201d to that of 2003 were to occur at the end of the century, when average temperatures are widely expected to be noticeably higher after decades of global warming, temperatures could pass 50C.\n\nThe researchers noted that climate models suggest \u201chuman influence is expected to significantly increase the frequency, duration and intensity of heatwaves in Europe\u201d and said their modelling suggested that by 2100, peak summer temperatures could rise by between 6C and 13C against historical records.\n\nThe village of Conqueyrac in the Gard department of France hit 44.1C on two occasions in the summer of 2003, the highest temperature ever recorded in the country, meaning \u201cthe record maximum value could easily exceed 50C by the end of the 21st century\u201d, the scientists concluded.\n\nThe current extreme temperatures, coupled with strong winds, have fanned wildfires that have already caused more than 60 deaths this summer in Portugal and caused widespread damage in southern France, Greece and Italy.\n\n\n\nAbout 300 firefighters and military personnel were fighting 75 wildfires on Friday in Albania, with firefighters also busy in Serbia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Croatia, Greece and the French island of Corsica.\n\nChildren cool off in water on a square in Tirana, Albania. Photograph: Malton Dibra/EPA\n\nIn Italy, fires killed a 79-year-old woman in the central Abruzzo region and forced the closure of the main Via Aurelia coastal motorway that runs northwards from Rome to the Italian Riviera.\n\nThe country\u2019s winemakers have started harvesting their grapes weeks earlier than usual due to the heat. The founder of the Slow Food movement, Carlo Petrini, said no harvest in living memory had begun before 15 August.\n\nThe heatwave is likely to cost Italy\u2019s agricultural sector billions of euros, with as many as 11 regions facing critical water shortages. Olive yields in some areas are forecast to be down 50% and some milk production has fallen by up to 30%.\n\nBosnian officials said the heatwave and drought had nearly halved agricultural output, which represents 10% of the country\u2019s economic output, and Serbia said its corn production could be cut a third.\n\n", "output": "Eleven countries in central and southern Europe have warned citizens of the Lucifer heatwave, which has seen temperatures exceed 40C. The heatwave is the most sustained and dangerous since 2003, when over 20,000 people died. Last month, French researchers predicted that if a similar \u201cmega-heatwave\u201d to the 2003 event occurred towards the close of this century, global warming could see temperatures on the continent exceed 50C. Italy\u2019s agricultural sector faces losses of billions of euros, while Bosnia has lost 50% of its agricultural output and Serbia will see corn production fall by a third."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Newham council to start rating lettings agents \n Post navigation\n\nThe local authority which set up the first borough-wide mandatory licensing scheme of every rental property is to launch the UK\u2019s first letting agents\u2019 rating scheme. Effectively, it will publicly name and shame bad agents.\n\nNewham Council\u2019s declared aim is to protect residents and landlords from rogue agents.\n\nThe London borough\u2019s mayor, Sir Robin Wales, and cabinet have approved plans to rate all of the borough\u2019s letting agents from zero to five stars (where five is the best), and then publish the list in full on the council\u2019s website.\n\nThe list will offer potential tenants and landlords all the information they need to pick the best and most professional agents.\n\nThey will also know which agents have in the past failed to refund deposits, pass on rental income, charged unjustified and astronomical fees or failed to address complaints.\n\nThe ratings are based on the results of Newham\u2019s Fair Lettings Project, which over two years has seen all letting agents in the borough audited by the council.\n\nThe audit considered performance, compliance with the law, delivery of best practice, and customer feedback. It resulted in the award of a star rating for each agency.\n\nThe Fair Lettings Project has seen businesses up their game and 71% (109 businesses) are three stars or above, while 29% (43 agents) remain non-compliant and fall below three stars.\n\nOnce the star ratings are determined each agency is informed of their result and given 21 days to appeal if they think the information is wrong or out of date.\n\nAt the end of the appeal period, a table of all letting agents and their star rating will be published in full on the council\u2019s website. Renters and landlords will be encouraged to avoid any agents rated below three stars.\n\nThe letting agents rating scheme is designed to run alongside Newham\u2019s Private Rented Sector licensing scheme, which has resulted in more than 1,100 prosecutions of criminal landlords.\n\nSir Robin said: \u201cThe extreme demand in the private rented property sector is being exploited by some unscrupulous letting agents, who rip off landlords and tenants.\n\n\u201cWe have seen tenants charged outrageous fees and had deposits withheld, and landlords who never see the rent that is due to them.\n\n\u201cThe law gives us limited powers to act against these cowboys, but by scrutinising their activity, and sharing information with our residents and landlords, the ratings should see the unscrupulous agents pushed out of business, while professional and hard-working agents are rewarded.\u201d\n\nNewham\u2019s borough-wide mandatory licensing scheme has since been widely copied across the country, suggesting that other local authorities will be looking closely at Newham\u2019s approach to letting agents.", "output": "The London borough of Newham will launch the UK\u2019s first rating scheme for letting agents, publicly naming rogue agents in an effort to protect its residents. The borough has already mandated a licensing scheme for every rental property and the new system will ask tenants to rate letting agents from zero to five stars, with the results published on the council\u2019s website. The list will inform potential tenants and landlords of all the information they might need when choosing a reputable letting agent\u00a0and will provide data on whether agents have failed to return deposits, charged\u00a0unjust fees or ignored complaints.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "L&G America offers life insurance quotes based on selfies \n Life Insurance Company Partners with Lapetus Solutions to Launch Innovative Website to Produce a Life Insurance Quote Based on a Selfie Photo\n\nLegal & General America has launched an easy and engaging way to obtain a life insurance quote: simply submit a photo of yourself, otherwise known as a \u2018selfie\u2019, and let technology do the rest.\n\nSelfieQuote.com provides a life insurance quote by estimating an individual\u2019s age, gender, and body mass index (BMI) using an individual\u2019s selfie photo. Legal & General America is the first in the life insurance industry to roll out the selfie-quoting technology. This groundbreaking digital experiment, now in beta phase, is made possible through a partnership with Lapetus Solutions, Inc (LSI), the science and technology company that created the new facial analytics technology. Utilizing their platform, Legal & General America is able to analyze a selfie to provide an indicative quote for life insurance. A customer can then provide exact answers, update the amount of desired life insurance, and receive a personalized quote based on accurate information. Customers can then apply for a term life policy online which takes just a few minutes.\n\n\u201cThis could revolutionize the life insurance application process for millions of consumers, as it allows for a much more engaging user experience while also showing in a matter of seconds how affordable a life insurance policy can be,\u201d said Jim Galli, Executive Vice President, Business Strategy and Innovation for Legal & General America.\n\nThe initial beta launch of SelfieQuote will be available for a limited time. Insights from this experiment will determine if selfie-quoting will become a permanent feature on LGAmerica.com. Users can test-drive this feature at SelfieQuote.com. Learn more about SelfieQuote on Legal & General America\u2019s Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.\n\nAbout Lapetus Solutions Inc.\n\nLapetus Solutions is a science and technology growth company developing tools and platforms that enable industries relying on life event prediction to reduce and replace their dependence on traditional assessment methods with faster, more cost-effective and accurate results. Lapetus has a team of internationally recognized scientists in Biodemography, Facial Analytics, Health, Aging and Data Science. Learn more at www.lapetussolutions.com.\n\nAbout Legal & General America\n\nLegal & General America (LGA) is part of the worldwide Legal & General Group. For over 65 years, the Legal & General America companies have been in the business of providing financial protection through life insurance for American families. The Legal & General America companies are Banner Life Insurance Company and its subsidiary William Penn Life Insurance Company of New York. With more than $48 billion in new coverage issued in 2016, LGA is ranked in the top ten of U.S. life insurers and ended 2016 with in excess of $678 billion of coverage in force with almost 1.2 million U.S. customers. LGA shares Legal & General\u2019s independent financial strength ratings: A+ Superior from A. M. Best and AA- Very Strong from Standard and Poor\u2019s and Fitch. To learn more, visit www.lgamerica.com.\n\nSource: Legal & General America", "output": "Legal & General America claims to have invented a new way to give a life insurance quote by asking customers to provide\u00a0a selfie. Its website, SelfieQuote.com,\u00a0estimates a person's\u00a0age, body mass index and gender based on selfies and generates an indicative quote. Customers then provide more precise answers to receive accurate quotes, and can apply for a life insurance policy online in just a few minutes.The programme, which is in beta, was created with the aid of facial analytics technology from Lapetus Solutions."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese government may force Anbang to sell Waldorf Astoria hotel \n When Anbang Insurance Group Co. agreed to buy New York\u2019s iconic Waldorf Astoria hotel for $1.95 billion in 2014, the world took notice. It was a defining moment in the global rise of China Inc., a deal that would help kick off one of the greatest acquisition sprees in history.\n\nBut now the Waldorf, along with more than $10 billion of Anbang\u2019s other deals, could become symbols of corporate China\u2019s rapidly shrinking global ambitions. Chinese authorities have asked the embattled insurer to sell its offshore assets and bring the proceeds back home, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the details are private.\n\nThe unprecedented request marks an escalation of China\u2019s clampdown on its biggest overseas dealmakers, which until now has focused on slowing the pace of new takeovers and prodding domestic lenders to pay more attention to their exposure. While there\u2019s no indication that the four other active acquirers singled out by China\u2019s banking regulator in June face similar pressure, the Anbang request underscores President Xi Jinping\u2019s determination to rein in debt-fueled investments and restrict capital outflows before a key leadership reshuffle later this year.\n\n\u201cAnbang\u2019s days as one of China\u2019s most influential firms are clearly over, and asset sales are part of that transformation,\u201d said Christopher Beddor, an associate at political risk consulting firm Eurasia Group. \u201cIt\u2019s abundantly clear that the power of the state is increasing vis-a-vis private firms.\u201d\n\nAnother Setback\n\nFor Anbang, it\u2019s another setback in what has been a remarkable fall from grace. The company rose from obscurity to global prominence in just over a decade until its chairman, Wu Xiaohui, was detained by investigators in June, becoming the most high-profile target of an industrywide crackdown on risky investment practices.\n\nIt\u2019s not clear yet how Anbang will respond to the government\u2019s request on overseas asset sales, said the people, who didn\u2019t mention the Waldorf Astoria or any other specific foreign holdings. Anbang hasn\u2019t received such a request and \u201cat present has no plans to sell its overseas assets,\u201d the company said in an emailed statement.\n\nAnbang\u2019s Deal Spree Leaves It With These Assets Around Globe\n\nAnbang\u2019s October 2014 agreement to buy the Waldorf, which set a price record in the American hotel industry, catapulted the once-obscure insurer onto the global stage. Over the next two years, Anbang bought real estate and financial services companies in Asia, Europe and North America, including Strategic Hotels & Resorts and an office building in midtown Manhattan to house Anbang\u2019s U.S. headquarters.\n\nThe insurer\u2019s rise was fueled by sales of lucrative investment products that offered among the highest yields in the industry. But Anbang\u2019s buying binge fizzled as Chinese authorities cracked down on such products this year, part of a wider campaign to rein in financial risks before the Communist Party\u2019s twice-a-decade leadership reorganization.\n\n\u201cAuthorities clearly do not want other insurance companies to copy Anbang\u2019s growth model, which relies on short-term products,\u201d said Steven Lam, a Hong Kong-based analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. \u201cThe signal from the government is very strong on proper asset-liability management and being responsible to policyholders.\u201d\n\nIn June, Chinese regulators stepped up scrutiny of other serial dealmakers such as HNA Group Co., Fosun International Ltd. and Dalian Wanda Group Co., asking banks to report their exposures to the companies. At a conference on financial regulation convened by President Xi in July, policy makers pledged to rein in corporate borrowing and said that preventing systemic risk was an \u201ceternal theme.\u201d\n\nChinese acquisitions, even by firms under regulatory scrutiny, haven\u2019t completely come to a standstill. On Friday, Shanghai-based Fosun, whose businesses range from insurance to pharmaceuticals, said it agreed to team up with a state-backed dairy producer to buy French margarine maker St Hubert for 625 million euros ($733 million). HNA, which has taken on least $73 billion of debt as it transformed from a small regional carrier into a global conglomerate, recently announced it will buy the operator of one of Brazil\u2019s busiest airports.\n\nStill, the pace of deals has fallen dramatically. After a record $246 billion of announced outbound takeovers in 2016, cross-border purchases plunged during the first half of this year. Announced Chinese acquisitions of overseas assets fell 37 percent to $99.9 billion, from $157.9 billion in the same period last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.\n\nAs the government\u2019s tolerance for debt-funded deals wanes, some firms have already begun selling assets. Wanda, led by billionaire Wang Jianlin, agreed in July to sell most of its Chinese theme parks and hotels for $9.4 billion.\n\nPotential Buyers\n\nAnbang\u2019s U.S. assets, which in addition to the Waldorf Astoria include trophy properties such as New York\u2019s JW Marriott Essex House and the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco, may be attractive to sovereign wealth funds because of their prestigious profile, said Lukas Hartwich, a lodging analyst at Green Street Advisors LLC. Blackstone Group LP, which sold Anbang the bulk of the insurer\u2019s U.S. real estate and has previously bought back assets it sold near market tops, would also be an \u201cobvious candidate\u201d as an acquirer, Hartwich said. A Blackstone representative declined to comment.\n\n\u201cThese are mostly really nice hotels,\u201d Hartwich said. \u201cThe Waldorf is more of a turnaround play to return the hotel to its former glory.\u201d\n\nIf China exerts strong pressure to sell, whoever buys is likely to negotiate a discount. \u201cAll the potential acquirers know there\u2019s blood in the water and that\u2019s not usually a strong bargaining position to be in as a seller,\u201d Hartwich said.\n\nThe Waldorf Astoria may potentially be appealing to a residential developer. Anbang shut the hotel down in March to convert most of the property into luxury condominiums. Christopher Nassetta, chief executive of the hotel\u2019s manager, Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., said on the company\u2019s earnings call last week that the project is on track. He said Anbang has told Hilton it has the financial capability to complete the conversion, which is scheduled to take about three years. The market for New York luxury condos has softened as the supply of such properties mushroomed.\n\nHilton is unlikely to buy back the Waldorf, having spun off its real estate into Park Hotels & Resorts Inc. in January. Park Hotels is focused on internal growth and New York isn\u2019t one of the spinoff\u2019s key expansion markets.\n\nCopyright 2023 Bloomberg.\n\nTopics USA New York China", "output": "Anbang Insurance Group may be forced to sell the\u00a0Waldorf Astoria hotel in Manhattan\u00a0as part of a crackdown by Chinese authorities, which are seeking to bring money tied up in overseas corporate assets back to the country. China is looking to slow takeovers and force domestic lenders to limit their exposure to overseas deals, and over $10bn of Anbang\u2019s assets are currently under scrutiny by the government, which has asked\u00a0that they be sold and the investment repatriated. The company said it has not received any request to sell the\u00a0Waldorf Astoria and had \"no plans\" to sell other overseas assets.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "South African\u00a0farm calls for\u00a0action after bird flu outbreak \n Calls for govt to intervene after another bird flu outbreak\n\nA second outbreak of avian influenza on an astral poultry breeding farm in Mpumalanga has been confirmed.\n\nJOHANNESBURG - A local poultry farm that\u2019s confirmed a second outbreak of bird flu has called on government to take swift action as it did with the maize industry when it was hit by the fall army worm.\n\nA second outbreak of avian influenza on an astral poultry breeding farm has been confirmed.\n\nThat outbreak has since been dealt with and the farm is under quarantine. However, there\u2019s been an isolated outbreak at another farm in Mpumalanga.\n\nAstral Foods says there are a number of poultry farms in the Welbedacht area and this outbreak could pose a threat to its operations there.\n\nBut Astral adds that the lessons learnt from the first outbreak will be used to stop the spread of the bird flu virus.\n\nThe company says this new outbreak is unrelated to the June outbreak at its farm in Villiers and is isolated.\n\nIt says the virus has impacted one shed on the Welbedacht farm and is being managed.\n\nAstral Foods also says it would like the government to better assist the poultry industry by regulating the use of vaccination programmes.\n\nThousands of chickens have been culled in the country since bird flu was detected in Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the Free State earlier this year.\n\n(Edited by Winnie Theletsane)", "output": "South African poultry farm company Astral Foods has called on the government to act quickly to limit the spread of bird flu\u00a0after a second outbreak was confirmed at one of its farms. Astral Foods said the outbreak had\u00a0been contained and dealt with. The farm in question is in quarantine and the incident is not related to June's outbreak at its farm in Villiers. Bird flu has been detected in Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the Free State this year, prompting the cull of thousands of chickens. Astral also urged the government to\u00a0do more to regulate vaccination programmes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "23andMe to research the role of genetics in mental illness \n The Food and Drug Administration approved the first home DNA tests Thursday that let people find out if they have a genetic risk for certain diseases.\n\nThe FDA decision allows home DNA test company 23andMe to directly market its gene tests for 10 diseases, including Parkinson\u2019s, Alzheimer\u2019s and some rare blood diseases.\n\n\u201cThese are the first direct-to-consumer (DTC) tests authorized by the FDA that provide information on an individual\u2019s genetic predisposition to certain medical diseases or conditions, which may help to make decisions about lifestyle choices or to inform discussions with a health care professional,\u201d the FDA said in a statement.\n\n\u201cConsumers can now have direct access to certain genetic risk information,\u201d said Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, director of the FDA\u2019s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, which approves these kinds of tests.\n\n\u201cBut it is important that people understand that genetic risk is just one piece of the bigger puzzle. It does not mean they will or won\u2019t ultimately develop a disease.\u201d\n\nRelated: Stop Selling Home DNA tests, FDA Tells 23andMe\n\nA person\u2019s genes almost never make for a 100 percent risk of any disease. Instead, many different genes usually interact with a person\u2019s lifestyle and other factors to cause disease. For instance, the National Institute on Aging (NIA) notes that many genes are involved in developing Alzheimer\u2019s disease, and it\u2019s not clear how much each one raises the risk.\n\nRelated: 23andMe Faces Class Action Lawsuit in California\n\n\u201cIt is unlikely that genetic testing will ever be able to predict the disease with 100 percent accuracy, researchers believe, because too many other factors may influence its development and progression,\u201d the NIA, one of the National Institutes of Health, says on its website.\n\n\"It does not mean they will or won\u2019t ultimately develop a disease.\u201d\n\nAnd some genetic mutations are inherited, some develop before birth, and some occur as people live their lives. How, where and when these changes develop can affect whether such changes causes disease.\n\nRelated: Smoking Permanently Scars Your DNA\n\nSamples are prepared for DNA testing at the Genetic Institute Nantes-Atlantique (IGNA) on Dec. 10, 2015 in Nantes, western France. Home DNA testing company 23andMe got a go-ahead from the FDA to market a home genetic test for 10 diseases. Georges Gobet / AFP-Getty Images\n\nThe FDA\u2019s decision, which is sure to stir up controversy, is a big turnaround from 2013, when the FDA singled out 23andMe, ordering the company to stop marketing its over-the-counter gene test.\n\n23andMe is especially aggressive in marketing its home tests, usually offered as saliva tests that customers can send in for analysis.\n\nThis test does not include checks for genes that predispose people to cancer. They look instead for DNA variation involved in 10 conditions:\n\nThe FDA says these are all serious conditions and customers must first click an acknowledgement that they understand the results could cause them anxiety, a spokeswoman said. \"The 'opt-in' page includes links to recommendations from professional medical associations on the benefits and risks of genetic testing for users to read before deciding whether to receive test results,\" the FDA spokeswoman, Tara Goodin, said via email.\n\nRelated: Mutant Gene Protects Against Heart Attack\n\nNew York University bioethicist Art Caplan says he is surprised the FDA approved the home tests, given the questions that still surround even genetic tests done by physicians.\n\n\"So much remains unknown, both about the accuracy of testing and the ability of consumers to process genetic information without counseling or help,\" Caplan said.\n\n\"Even physicians have a difficult time knowing how to interpret genetic test risk information. So this decision may wind up frightening as many people about genetic risk as it does empower them.\"\n\nKathy Hibbs, chief legal officer at 23andMe, said the company had changed the tests to address those issues.\n\n\"We had to conduct studies to show that consumers drawn from abroad swath of society could understand and use the product appropriately,\" Hibbs told NBC News. \"We call those \u2018user comprehension\u2019 studies. We conducted those and submitted them to FDA to demonstrate that Americans can access and understand and use the product in a safe and effective way.\"\n\nHibbs says the tests will explain that having -- or lacking -- a genetic predisposition to a disease does not make for perfect certainty. \"We provide information on how to access genetic counseling, although we don\u2019t provide genetic counseling ourselves,\" she said.\n\n\"Even physicians have a difficult time knowing how to interpret genetic test risk information.\"\n\nAnd the FDA says the test will recommend that customers \"speak with a healthcare professional, genetic counselor, or equivalent professional before getting the results of the test.\"\n\nMedical geneticist Dr. Robert Green of Harvard University said people who buy the test tend to understand the risks. \"We're moving as a society toward empowering people with health related information and this is, I think, a welcome step, along that journey,\" Green said.\n\nCaplan says it's also not clear what privacy people have and how well 23andMe could safeguard their test results, or even their actual samples.\n\nRelated: How Much Cancer is Due to Genes?\n\nThe FDA said it reviewed the tests through a new process.\n\nConsumers can expect more such tests to hit the market now.\n\n\u201cIn addition, the FDA intends to exempt additional 23andMe genetic health risk tests from the FDA\u2019s premarket review, and genetic health risk tests from other makers may be exempt after submitting their first premarket notification,\u201d the FDA said.\n\n\u201cA proposed exemption of this kind would allow other, similar tests to enter the market as quickly as possible and in the least burdensome way, after a one-time FDA review.\u201d", "output": "The Food and Drug Administration has given its approval for the DNA test company 23andMe to market its gene test for ten diseases, including Alzheimer\u2019s and Parkinson\u2019s. The approval makes 23andMe the first direct-to-consumer test provider for predisposition to medical diseases or conditions. The tests will offer insight into genetic risk, but will not be a confirmed diagnosis, as tests cannot provide predictions of diseases with 100% accuracy.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Purplebricks responds to BBC investigation across two programmes \n Post navigation\n\nPurplebricks this morning issued a statement to the Stock Exchange following yesterday\u2019s You and Yours, and Watchdog programmes.\n\nIt reads as follows:\n\nThe Board of Purplebricks Group plc notes the recent share price movement.\n\nThe Group was the subject of two BBC features on Wednesday 2 August relating principally to the clarity of the deferred payment facility available to customers, the Group\u2019s compliance with a recent Advertising Standards Association (\u201cASA\u201d) ruling, and alleged exaggerated claims by some of its Local Property Experts about levels of instructions and/or sales they had obtained.\n\nThe Board is confident that disclosure of the terms and nature of the deferred payment facility, provided by Close Brothers, are clear and transparent. The registration and acceptance process of the facility has been reviewed by the Property Ombudsman and by the Trading Standards Institute and no issues were raised or changes requested. The Group has received complaints relating to the payment terms and facility from only 0.2 per cent of customers.\n\nFurthermore, from the last 47,000 facility agreements entered into by customers only two complaints were considered by the Financial Ombudsman and in both cases neither were upheld.\n\nThe purpose of the facility is to offer Purplebricks\u2019 customers an alternative to immediate payment on instruction, and the majority of customers take up this option. The facility comes with no additional cost or interest to the customer.\n\nIn the context of the small number of cases where customer feedback has indicated that the disclosure does not match Purplebricks\u2019 high standards for transparency, the Group has nevertheless committed to enhance the clarity of its notification to customers accordingly.\n\nWith regard to the ASA ruling, Purplebricks has previously sought to quantify to potential customers in its marketing literature the levels of savings that they might on average achieve based on publicly available data, such as the Which survey on estate agent commission levels. In a ruling in 2016, the ASA requested that Purplebricks no longer refer in its marketing to an indicative average saving, based on the premise that this could prove misleading.\n\nThe Group had in any case already decided to remove references to this figure from its marketing materials. The BBC drew attention to examples of a standard email format that inadvertently still included the savings figure. The Group immediately removed this reference and apologises for this oversight.\n\nThe BBC also aired claims that certain LPEs have provided exaggerated instructions and/or sales figures for their respective areas.\n\nWhilst Purplebricks has not had access to the precise data and areas being reviewed by the BBC, the Board believes that the figures provided by the LPEs concerned have fairly reflected the performance of the teams operating in those areas. However, the Group has committed to ensure through its ongoing training that LPEs are clear about the statistics that they use and the territories and postcodes to which they are referring.\n\nMichael Bruce, founder and Chief Executive of Purplebricks, commented: \u201cThe Board and the Group are committed to the highest levels of customer service and disclosure, and we believe this is reflected in the business\u2019 sales growth and the high levels of customer satisfaction evidenced by its 23,000 Trustpilot reviews with an average score of 9.5 and its rating of Excellent. The Group is the most positively reviewed estate agent in the UK.\n\n\u201cWe seek to satisfy and surpass our regulatory obligations at all times, and where we find circumstances where we have fallen short we seek to rectify these situations at the earliest opportunity. The Purplebricks\u2019 offering has already saved consumers in the UK tens of millions of pounds when selling their properties, and we are focused on building on this position still further.\u201d", "output": "Online estate agent Purplebricks has issued a defensive statement, following discussions on the BBC\u2019s latest features on the company. You and Yours and Watchdog recently aired investigations into the firm, causing its share price to drop. The statement, given to the London Stock Exchange, stated\u00a0that Purplebricks is \u201cconfident\u201d that the disclosure on deferred payment facilities is \u201cclear and transparent\u201d. The company maintains that the Property Ombudsman and the Trading Standards Institute have given their approval, with only two complaints ever lodged and dismissed from the prior 47,000 facility agreements."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indonesia wants to accelerate oil spill lawsuit \n Jakarta: One of Indonesia's most senior ministers has called on Attorney-General George Brandis to help speed up a class action on behalf of thousands of seaweed farmers who claim their crops were devastated by a 2009 oil spill.\n\nMore than 13,000 seaweed farmers from East Nusa Tenggara, one of the poorest regions in Indonesia, launched a $200 million class action against PTTEP Australasia in the Federal Court in Sydney last August.\n\nMaritime Coordinating Minister Luhut Pandjaitan told reporters he understood the class action, which is being run by Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, was taking place right now in Sydney.\n\n\"I just tried to reach George Brandis to ask their support in order to speed up this process,\" he said. \"It's been ... nearly eight years. It's too long.\"", "output": "Almost seven years after an oil spill near Semau Island in Indonesia, seaweed farmers in the region are calling on Australian Attorney General George Brandis to speed up the AUD200m ($158m) class-action lawsuit launched in August last year. Thousands of seaweed farmers from East Nusa Tenggara, one of Indonesia's poorest regions, said their industry has been devastated by the oil spill.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Green & Black\u2019s issues first non-organic, non-Fairtrade chocolate \n Green & Black\u2019s is launching its first UK chocolate bar that is neither organic nor Fairtrade-certified.\n\nThe move by the organic chocolate maker \u2013 owned by US food giant Mondel\u0113z International, parent of Cadbury \u2013 is likely to further undermine the Fairtrade movement amid concerns about a proliferation of rival alternatives.\n\nFounded in 1991 as a pioneering organic brand, Green & Black\u2019s is famous for its Classic bars, which have \u201corganic\u201d displayed prominently on wrappers under the company\u2019s logo. But the new Velvet Edition dark chocolate bars going on sale in UK supermarkets this month makes no claim to be organic.\n\nThe Fairtrade logo has also been ditched as the cocoa beans for the range have been sourced via a certification scheme called Cocoa Life, set up by Mondel\u0113z. The US confectionery giant says Cocoa Life will be a \u201cworld-leading\u201d alternative with the scale and clout to help more struggling farmers growing cocoa in developing countries.\n\nThe familiar blue and green Fairtrade mark \u2013 a gold standard of ethical trading and arguably the world\u2019s most trusted food certification scheme \u2013 is also being removed from Cadbury\u2019s Dairy Milk range this month. By 2019, Cadbury\u2019s entire chocolate range in the UK and Ireland \u2013 including Flake, Twirl and Wispa \u2013 will display the Cocoa Life branding. Green & Black\u2019s Classic range will be expanded and relaunched next year, but will remain both Fairtrade-certified and organic, made from cocoa beans from the Dominican Republic.\n\nSome 1.65 million farmers and workers in more than 74 developing countries benefit from the Fairtrade system, which guarantees decent working conditions and a minimum price. In the UK it is administered by The Fairtrade Foundation \u2013 an independent certification body that licenses the use of the ethical label on 5,000-plus products, from coffee and tea to bananas and flowers.\n\nRecently, the UK\u2019s biggest Fairtrade retailer, Sainsbury\u2019s, came under fire from charities and ethical campaigners for dropping the Fairtrade label on its own-brand tea.\n\nGreen & Black\u2019s was founded by Craig Sams and Josephine Fairley in their west London flat. Its best-selling Maya Gold bar received the UK\u2019s first Fairtrade mark in March 1994. The brand was bought in 2005 for an estimated \u00a320m by Cadbury, which was later acquired by Mondel\u0113z (formerly Kraft Foods) in 2010.\n\nGreen & Black\u2019s Maya Gold received the UK\u2019s first Fairtrade mark in March 1994. Photograph: Catherine Shaw/The Observer\n\nSams and Fairley, retained by Mondel\u0113z as paid consultants, said \u201csupply chain issues\u201d meant it was not possible to source a sufficiently large volume of cocoa beans \u2013 from Ghana in west Africa \u2013 for the new range. Velvet Edition is aimed at consumers who find the flavour of traditional dark chocolate too rich.\n\n\n\nSams denied the move spelled the death knell for Fairtrade, saying Cocoa Life was \u201cFairtrade with knobs and whistles on\u201d. He also pointed out that Fairtrade was a partner in Cocoa Life.\n\nBut Rachel Wilshaw, ethical trade manager for Oxfam GB, warned: \u201cThere is a risk of shoppers being left confused as some brands and retailers move away from the Fairtrade scheme to introduce their own certification schemes. With the Fairtrade mark on products, consumers are clear about what they are getting.\u201d\n\nBrad Hill, Fairtrade strategy manager at the Co-op, added: \u201cAs a customer-facing business we have concerns around the introduction of yet more ethical schemes which will easily be confused with Fairtrade and the benefits Fairtrade has delivered.\u201d\n\nIn 2009, Cadbury announced its Dairy Milk brand would be made from Fairtrade cocoa. But last November, it said it would be rolling out the Cocoa Life scheme across the entire Cadbury range.\n\nMondel\u0113z claimed the $400m (\u00a3302m) scheme was already helping 92,000 cocoa farmers, and the organisation\u2019s goal is to reach 200,000 cocoa farmers and one million people in six key cocoa-growing countries by 2022. Independent verification showed that farmers\u2019 incomes had increased by 49% under Cocoa Life compared with farms not in the scheme, Mondel\u0113z added.\n\nGlenn Caton, northern Europe president at Mondel\u0113z, insisted the company was sticking to Green & Black\u2019s founding principles. \u201cGreat taste, high quality and a commitment to sustainability \u2013 we will never compromise on those promises, and remain loyal to the brand\u2019s heritage,\u201d he said.\n\n", "output": "Green & Black\u2019s, the organic chocolate maker owned by Mondelez International, parent company of Cadbury, is releasing its first chocolate that is neither organic nor Fairtrade. The new Velvet Edition dark chocolate bars, which will be available in UK supermarkets this month, will not carry the Fairtrade logo as the cocoa has been sourced via Mondelez\u2019s own certification scheme, Cocoa Life. Cadbury\u2019s Dairy Milk range will also remove the Fairtrade mark this month.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Millions of European eggs contaminated with toxic insecticide \n Millions of eggs are being recalled from shops and warehouses in Germany and the Netherlands and being blocked from sale in Belgium after some were found to contain high levels of a toxic insecticide banned from use in the production of food for human consumption.\n\nAbout 180 Dutch farms have been temporarily shut down and a criminal investigation has been launched as authorities seek to establish the scale of the problem.\n\nA European commission spokeswoman, Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, told reporters in Brussels: \u201cThe eggs are blocked. The contaminated eggs have been traced and withdrawn from the market and the situation is under control.\u201d\n\nTests of chicken droppings, blood and eggs showed high levels of the insecticide fipronil, a common ingredient in veterinary products for getting rid of fleas, lice and ticks, but banned from being used to treat animals destined for human consumption.\n\nAccording to the World Health Organisation, the highly toxic substance can damage the liver, thyroid glands and kidneys if ingested in large amounts over time.\n\nBelgian prosecutors are said to be examining the client list of two companies in Flanders specialising in the production and supply of anti-lice agents to Dutch and Belgian farms, among others. It is feared the illegal substance was mixed with an insecticide used legally in the keeping of chickens to improve its effectiveness.\n\nThe Dutch newspaper Trouw suggested one of the companies may have had clients in the UK, France and Poland, although there is no suggestion so far that contaminated eggs are being sold in those countries.\n\nThe Dutch daily newspaper de Volkskrant reported that the illegal mix had been used on farms in the Netherlands for more than a year. The Dutch food and product safety board, the NVWA, told the newspaper it was unclear whether contaminated eggs had been sold to customers over that period. \u201cWe have no way of checking because the eggs have been eaten,\u201d a spokesman said.\n\nOn Monday, the NVWA warned consumers that one batch of eggs \u201chad such elevated levels of fipronil that their consumption would present a serious public health risk\u201d. They advised that eggs from at least 27 other farms should not be eaten by children.\n\nThe extent of the scandal has since grown. \u201cWe are still estimating the number of farms which have been affected, and the analysis of 600 samples is still ongoing,\u201d a spokesman for the NVWA said.\n\nOn Thursday, the Netherlands\u2019 two largest supermarket groups, as well as the German supermarket group REWE, said they were removing some eggs from their shelves. \u201cWe want to give our clients total transparency,\u201d the German company said in a statement.\n\n\n\nCustomers of the German chain who had already bought Dutch eggs have been told they can return them and be reimbursed. Lidl and Aldi have removed some Dutch eggs from their shelves.\n\nAround a million eggs destined for Germany were recalled from the border with the Netherlands this week.\n\nThe German agriculture minister, Christian Schmidt, called a \u201ccrisis teleconference\u201d with his counterparts in German states where the insecticide had been detected.\n\nIt has been reported that 2.9m eggs from companies believed to have used the fipronil anti-lice agent were delivered to Germany before 22 July, when exports were blocked, although many of them remained in packing stations.\n\nBelgian media, citing the Flemish organisation that represents chicken and rabbit farmers, said several dozen Belgian producers had had their products blocked because of ongoing inspections.\n\nThe president of the Dutch poultry producers\u2019 union, Hennie de Haan, warned against an overreaction. \u201cIf other retailers follow the example of REWE, then the disaster cannot be overlooked\u201d, she said. \u201cIf this is temporary, it is still possible to catch up, but if it takes longer then the entire Dutch sector, including traders, is bankrupt. You do not just find a market for 4.5bn eggs a year.\u201d\n\nThe Netherlands has almost 1,000 lay hen factory farms producing 11bn eggs a year, of which more than half are exported, mainly to Germany.\n\n\n\nThe Dutch food and product safety board has been criticised its handling of the scandal. At first officials said there was no danger to human health, before issuing a warning about certain batches of eggs. Its deputy director was subsequently reported as saying that consumers should avoid eggs altogether until tests for a banned pesticide had been completed.\n\nThe board expects to complete tests on eggs from 180 farms which used the contaminated pesticide by the end of the week.", "output": "Millions of eggs have been recalled from sale in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands after they were discovered to contain high levels of the toxic insecticide fipronil. A criminal investigation has been launched in the Netherlands, where 180 farms have been closed. Fipronil is commonly used in veterinary products to counter fleas, lice and ticks, but is banned from use on animals that will be consumed by humans. The World Health Organisation states that the insecticide can result in damage to the kidneys, liver and thyroid glands.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus [3]: Jet.com doubles HQ in Regus-occupied Waterfront Corporate Center III, Hoboken \n By the BF Staff\n\nFrom the March/April 2016 Issue\n\nSJP Properties has announced that e-commerce venture Jet.com (Jet) has agreed to expand its headquarters at Waterfront Corporate Center III in Hoboken, New Jersey. Jet will be commencing its build out that will double the size of its corporate offices by an additional 40,000 square feet, for a total of 80,000 square feet. The third and final building within SJP\u2019s best-in-class, mixed-use business center, Waterfront Corporate Center III was developed by SJP in partnership with USAA Real Estate Company, and recently achieved LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.\n\nJet is the latest e-commerce venture led by Marc Lore, former CEO and co-founder of Diapers.com and parent company Quidsi. Jet launched in July 2015, bringing a significant number of jobs to Hoboken. Scott Peck, SIOR and Brian Wilson of Resource Realty represented Jet in its recent expansion at Waterfront Corporate Center III. SJP Properties was represented in-house by Senior Vice President Peter Bronsnick.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re excited to continue working with SJP Properties to expand Jet\u2019s space on the Hoboken waterfront,\u201d said Marc Lore, Jet\u2019s founder and CEO. \u201cWe have an innovative, tech-focused office that is helping lead the Hoboken tech community. SJP has also been supportive of our commitment to being cost efficient and smart with how we expand our footprint in phases that reflect our growth as a company.\u201d\n\n\u201cJet\u2019s rapid growth at Waterfront Corporate Center III follows NICE Systems\u2019 decision to relocate here, further illustrating Hoboken\u2019s position as a top destination for the regional technology community, which benefits significantly from access to the area\u2019s highly skilled labor pool,\u201d said Steven J. Pozycki, CEO of SJP Properties. \u201cWe have created an environment here in Hoboken where businesses can flourish in world-class office facilities without sacrificing access to transportation, amenities and commerce.\u201d\n\nSituated within the heart of Hoboken\u2019s master-planned, pedestrian-friendly waterfront, Waterfront Corporate Center is the city\u2019s most successful mixed-use development. The three-building complex comprises 1.5 million square feet of Class A commercial space adjacent to the W Hoboken Hotel and just steps from Hoboken Terminal\u2019s NJ TRANSIT, PATH, NY Waterway Ferry and Light Rail connections.\n\nIn addition to Jet and NICE Systems, a prestigious roster of leading-edge companies calls Waterfront Corporate Center home, including Marsh & McLennan, Thomson Reuters, RMS and Octapharma. Pearson Education occupies 200,000 square feet to serve as the lead tenant of Waterfront Corporate Center III, which also houses collaborative workspace provider Regus. Additionally, Del Frisco\u2019s Restaurant Group recently opened its popular Del Frisco\u2019s Grille at Waterfront Corporate Center III. The complex houses an on-site, state-of-the-art fitness center, Crunch Fitness, as well as the Wicked Wolf restaurant, Jos A. Bank, FedEx and Chase Bank. Last year, childcare learning center Kiddie Academy signed a lease to occupy a portion of the complex\u2019s retail space.\n\nEnhancing Waterfront Corporate Center III\u2019s position as one of the state\u2019s preeminent business addresses are highly efficient floor plates and floor-to-ceiling glass windows that permit natural light to penetrate deep into the floors and offer unobstructed New York City and Hudson River views. SJP has incorporated energy-efficiency and air quality control features throughout to provide a healthier and more sustainable work environment for the building\u2019s tenants. Additionally, the building features an underground parking garage, providing tenants with covered parking access.\n\nALLIED SPECIALTY FOODS EXPANDS IN VINELAND\n\nAllied Specialty Foods is investing more than $14 million in a new 75,000-square-foot facility located on 8.8 acres in the Vineland Industrial Park. The expansion is expected to add another 70 jobs to the company\u2019s 130 current employees. The company\u2019s existing facility includes two sites totaling about 2.8 acres. Prior to the decision, they had been considering a relocation to Delaware.\n\n\u201cAllied Specialty Foods, Inc. has called the state of New Jersey home for more than 20 years, and we are thrilled that it will continue to be headquartered in Vineland for the next 20 years and beyond,\u201d said Paul Litten, President and Operating Partner. \u201cThis new and larger location will become the headquarters and total operating plant for our company. The additional space will enable us to expand our \u2018Individual Quick or Flash Freeze\u2019 manufacturing operations and add cold and frozen storage space.\u201d\n\n\u201cOur current Vineland facility has reached maximum capacity,\u201d Litten continued. \u201cWe have already started purchasing new equipment, which is in addition to the $14-million investment. Once we are up and running in the new facility, we expect to be the number one steak sandwich supplier in the country.\u201d Current plans are for the new site to be operational in the 4th quarter of 2016.\n\nAs part of the company\u2019s expansion project, the New Jersey EDA provided Allied Foods with a Grow New Jersey Assistance Program award worth an estimated $13.7 million, which is directly tied to the creation of new jobs. In addition, the company received a $3.5-million loan from the Vineland UEZ program repayable over 20 years.\n\n\u201cAllied Foods has been a staple in Vineland for decades, and its expansion brings a new infusion of jobs and economic benefits to the region,\u201d said New Jersey Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno. \u201cWe are so pleased that they decided not only to remain in the Garden State but also to grow in the Garden State.\u201d\n\nVineland\u2019s Director of Economic Development Sandy Forosisky said, \u201cWe are thrilled that Allied Specialty Foods is staying in Vineland, expanding operations, and adding more jobs. This is a great way to start off the new year. We are also excited at the opportunity to find a new business who might be interested in acquiring Allied\u2019s existing facility.\u201d\n\nFounded in 1956, Allied Foods produces and distributes USDA-approved thin-sliced steak and chicken products. Company sales in 2015 were estimated at approximately $50 million.", "output": "E-commerce venture Jet.com is to double the size of its headquarters at \u00a0SJP Properties' Waterfront Corporate Center III site in Hoboken, New Jersey, to 80,000 sq ft. The building is also home to Regus, Pearson, which is the lead tenant with 200,000 sq ft, and\u00a0a recently-opened Del Frisco\u2019s Grille restaurant. The Waterfront Corporate Center lists NICE Systems, Marsh & McLennan, Thomson Reuters, RMS and Octapharma among its tenants, has an on-site fitness centre, Crunch Fitness, several banks and childcare learning centre,\u00a0Kiddie Academy, in a portion of its retail space.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FTSE 100 CEOs earn 160 times average wage, despite 17% pay drop \n Political pressure, public disapproval and campaigning all combined to restrain pay at the top in 2016. But what next?\n\nReality bites: Average FTSE 100 CEO pay packet drops by 17% in the past year\n\nSlowdown in CEO pay welcome, but huge gap remains between the top and the rest\n\nAn annual assessment of FTSE 100 CEO pay packages released today shows that rewards at the top have dropped by almost a fifth, but still remain extraordinarily high.\n\nThe analysis, from the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development, and the High Pay Centre, the independent think tank, shows that the average FTSE 100 CEO now receives an annual pay package of \u00a34.5 million. This represents a 17% drop from \u00a35.4 million in 2015. While this may represent a significant drop in CEO pay packages, it would still take the average UK full-time worker on a salary of \u00a328,000 (median full-time earnings) 160 years to earn what an average FTSE 100 CEO is paid in just one year and 1,718 years to earn what Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, received last year alone (\u00a348.1 million).\n\nKey highlights from the CIPD and High Pay Centre\u2019s analysis include:\n\n\u2022 In 2016, the pay ratio between FTSE 100 CEOs and the average pay package of their employees was 129:1 \u2013 so for every \u00a31 the average employee is paid, their CEO receives \u00a3129. In 2015, the ratio was 148:1.\n\n\u2022 60 of the FTSE 100 CEOs are paid more than 100 times the typical annual pay of a UK worker which currently stands at \u00a328,000 per year (mean earnings).\n\n\u2022 In contrast to the generous pay packages awarded at the higher levels, just over a quarter of the FTSE 100 are accredited by the Living Wage Foundation for paying the voluntary living wage to all their UK-based staff.\n\n\u2022 There are just six female FTSE 100 CEOs. While women make up 6% of the FTSE 100, they earn just 4% of the total pay. Male CEOs in the FTSE 100 earned on average \u00a34.7 million last year, compared with \u00a32.6 million on average for women.\n\nPeter Cheese, chief executive of the CIPD, said:\n\n\u201cWe have to hope that the reversal in rising executive pay is the beginning of a re-think on how CEOs are rewarded, rather than a short-term reaction to political pressure. The fall in executive pay is a step in the right direction, but it\u2019s still happening within an overall reward system where average wages in the UK have been flat. Our analysis also shows a clear gender pay disparity at the top, with female CEOs receiving less than their male peers. Quite rightly this issue of fairness is increasingly being called out and this needs to be addressed at all levels of businesses.\n\n\u201cRather than focusing predominantly on share price or short term profit, we need a much more balanced scorecard for performance that also takes account of other indicators of success such as investment in people, social responsibility and accountability, and long-term value creation. High pay must be addressed as part of the much broader review of UK corporate governance.\u201d\n\nStefan Stern, director of the High Pay Centre, said:\n\n\u201cWe have finally seen a fall in executive pay this year, in the context of political pressure and in the spotlight of hostile public opinion. This is welcome, but the response has been limited and very late. It is also, so far, a one-off. We need to see continued efforts to restrain and reverse excess at the top. And we should beware the ratcheting up of pay lower down the FTSE league table as CEOs and remuneration committees \u2018chase the median\u2019. This helps nobody but a few lucky top execs\u201d.\n\nBusiness Minister Margot James said:\n\n\u201cIt remains this government\u2019s firm commitment to build an economy that works for everyone, making Britain one of the best places in the world to work, invest and do business.\n\n\u201cWe have been very clear that to achieve this ambition businesses should be run responsibly, including ensuring executive pay is properly aligned to performance as outlined in the Corporate Governance Reform green paper.\n\n\u201cThis report shows encouraging signs that the UK\u2019s largest firms are already making progress in this area and our responsible business reforms, which we will publish shortly, will help to enhance the public\u2019s trust and confidence in big business.\u201d\n\nThe CIPD/High Pay Centre\u2019s analysis highlights how the gap between the highest and lowest FTSE 100 pay packages has closed as companies \u2018chase the median\u2019, which currently stands at \u00a33.45 million. The average pay packages of the 25 highest paid CEOs have dropped by 24% to \u00a39.4m in 2016. Conversely, the 32 lowest paid CEOs in the FTSE 100 have seen an increase in their overall package. The CIPD and High Pay Centre are warning that this trend of \u2018chasing the median\u2019 needs as much attention from the Government and investors as is given to earners at the top end of the scale.\n\nFurther findings from the CIPD/High Pay Centre analysis include:\n\n\u2022 Median FTSE 100 CEOs\u2019 pay in 2016 was \u00a33.45 million, a drop from recent years and marginally higher than \u00a33.39 million in 2010.\n\n\u2022 Comparing the median pay of a FTSE 100 CEO to that of a full-time worker, the pay ratio stands at 122:1, or 149:1 when compared against all UK employees.\n\n\u2022 This ratio rises to 132:1 when comparing the average or \u2018mean\u2019 pay of a FTSE 100 CEO with that of a full-time worker across the whole UK economy.\n\nTo advocate fairer and more ethical approaches to pay and reward, the CIPD and High Pay Centre have recommended that all publicly listed companies should be required to:\n\n\u2022 publish the ratio between the pay of their CEO and median pay in their organisation, within the context of their overall reward strategy.\n\n\u2022 have employee representation on their remuneration committee.\n\n\u2022 establish a human capital development sub-committee with a wider remit to focus on all aspects of people, culture and organisation to provide better insight and guidance to the Board and beyond.\n\nIn addition, the CIPD and High Pay Centre are recommending that the Government should set voluntary human capital (workforce) reporting standards to encourage all publicly listed organisations to provide better information on how they invest in, lead and manage their workforce for the long-term.\n\nNotes\n\n\u2022 The full report \u2013 Executive Pay: review of FTSE 100 executive pay packages \u2013\n\nwill be available to download from 00.01 Thursday 3 August 2017 at: www.cipd.co.uk/execpay or at www.highpaycentre.org/pubs/cipd-high-pay-centre-survey-of-ftse100-ceo-pay-packages-2016\n\nMethodology (full detail available in the report)\n\n\u2022 When referencing the CEO pay package this refers to the \u201csingle figure\u201d as is required to be disclosed in annual reports following government reforms in 2013, i.e. pay including salary, bonuses, incentives and employer pension contributions.\n\n\u2022 We focused our research on the top 100 FTSE companies as at 22 March 2017 and analysed the information published in their annual reports for the financial year ending in 2016. For further details on the methodology, see the full report.\n\nThe CIPD is the professional body for HR and people development. The not for profit organisation champions better work and working lives and has been setting the benchmark for excellence in people and organisation development for more than 100 years. It has a community of over 140,000 members across the world, provides thought leadership through independent research on the world of work, and offers professional training and accreditation for those working in HR and learning and development. www.cipd.co.uk\n\nThe High Pay Centre is an independent non-party think tank established (in 2012) to monitor pay at the top of the income distribution and set out a road map towards better business and economic success www.highpaycentre.org", "output": "FTSE 100 CEOs earned 160 times the average wage in 2016, according to the High Pay Centre\u2019s annual survey of executive pay. The average pay for top CEOs last year was \u00a34.5m ($6m), compared with average full-time earnings of \u00a328,200. However, average CEO pay did fall by 17% from \u00a35.4m over the year. Male FTSE 100 CEOs earned on average 77% more than their female peers, with the two groups earning \u00a34.7m and \u00a32.6m respectively. The FTSE 100 currently contains just 30 female executive directors and, of the UK\u2019s top 100 companies, 77 have none at all."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FTSE 100 CEOs earn 160 times average wage, despite 17% pay drop \n Ordinary employees would have to work for 160 years to earn the average remuneration of FTSE 100 chief executives in 2016, according to new research.\n\nThe average take home pay for the bosses of Britain\u2019s top stock market-listed companies was \u00a34.5m last year, according to the High Pay Centre\u2019s annual survey of top executive pay. This compares to Office for National Statistics figures showing average annual earnings of \u00a328,200 for full-time employees in the year to April 2016.\n\nThe report also shows that male FTSE 100 bosses earned 77% more on average than their female counterparts last year.\n\nAlthough the sample size is small, with only six female FTSE 100 chief executives last year, details of the huge pay gap in British boardrooms will reignite the debate on female remuneration, after the BBC was criticised for revealing a third of its 96 top earners are women and the top seven are all men.\n\nMale chief executives at FTSE 100 companies earned an average \u00a34.7m last year compared with \u00a32.6m on average for women, according to the High Pay Centre.\n\nPeter Cheese, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, which co-authored the report, said: \u201cOur analysis . . . shows a clear gender pay disparity at the top, with female chief executives receiving less than their male peers.\n\n\u201cQuite rightly this issue of fairness is increasingly being called out and this needs to be addressed at all levels of businesses.\u201d\n\nThe data shows that while just six of the FTSE 100 chief executives were women in 2016, they earned just 4% of the total pay. There are still just 30 female executive directors in the FTSE 100 and 77 of Britain\u2019s top 100 companies have no female executive directors at all.\n\nEmma Walmsley is the new head of GlaxoSmithKline. Photograph: HANDOUT/AFP/Getty Images\n\nThe six female chief executives who were running FTSE 100 firms in 2016 include Alison Brittain, boss of Whitbread which runs coffee chain Costa and budget hotel group Premier Inn, Veronique Laury of B&Q owner Kingfisher, and Alison Cooper, from cigarette giant Imperial Brands.\n\nThe others were Liv Garfield, boss of water firm Severn Trent, Royal Mail boss Moya Greene, and Dame Carolyn McCall from budget airline easyJet - the former chief executive of Guardian Media Group who will take over at ITV in the new year. They were joined this year by Emma Walmsley, the new chief executive of drugs firm GSK.\n\nIn response to initiatives such as the Davies Review for Women on Board and the 30% Club, which campaigns for greater representation of women on boards, there has been an 8% increase in the number of females on the pay committees of FTSE 100 boards.\n\nIt is these committees that determine the renumeration of bosses. However, there are nine firms that have no women on their remuneration committees.\n\n\n\nThis year\u2019s report highlighted one positive trend \u2013 the average pay of a chief executive has fallen by 17% from \u00a35.4m to \u00a34.5m over the year.\n\nBut it would take the average worker 1,718 years to accrue the \u00a348.1m annual remuneration of Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of marketing firm WPP, who is Britain\u2019s highest paid FTSE 100 boss.\n\nSome of the biggest pay climbers this year include Nicandro Durante, chief executive of British American Tobacco, whose total pay rose from \u00a34.5m to \u00a37.6m. It was announced this week that the Serious Fraud Office has launched an investigation into the firm over bribery allegations in Africa.\n\nArnold Donald, boss of holiday firm Carnival, earned just over \u00a322m in 2016, the year the firm was ordered to pay a fine of \u00a332m for illegally polluting the seas. This was up from \u00a36m in 2015.\n\nTim Roache, GMB general secretary, said: \u201cWe all know we live in a very unequal society \u2013 but these figures really bring home the scandalous gulf between rich and the rest.\n\nWorking people create the wealth in this country and they are sick and tired of fat cat bosses getting all the cream, especially when everyone else suffers squeezed living standards\n\n\u201cWorking people create the wealth in this country and they are sick and tired of fat cat bosses getting all the cream, especially when everyone else suffers squeezed living standards.\u201d\n\nAnn Francke, chief executive of the Chartered Management Institute, also warned: \u201cHigh-profile cases of runaway executive pay and \u2018rewards for failure\u2019 have fuelled a breakdown of trust in business that needs to be rebuilt.\n\n\u201cWe need to introduce a fairer ratio between executive and average pay. We also need transparent reporting and stronger remuneration committees to make sure executive pay packages are based on long-term evaluation of performance.\u201d\n\nOrganisations may have found it harder to justify executive pay hikes at a time when workers are struggling to make ends meet.\n\n\n\nCheese said: \u201cWe have to hope that the reversal in rising executive pay is the beginning of a re-think on how chief executives are rewarded, rather than a short-term reaction to political pressure.\n\n\u201cThe fall in executive pay is a step in the right direction, but it\u2019s still happening within an overall reward system where average wages in the UK have been flat.\u201d", "output": "FTSE 100 CEOs earned 160 times the average wage in 2016, according to the High Pay Centre\u2019s annual survey of executive pay. The average pay for top CEOs last year was \u00a34.5m ($6m), compared with average full-time earnings of \u00a328,200. However, average CEO pay did fall by 17% from \u00a35.4m over the year. Male FTSE 100 CEOs earned on average 77% more than their female peers, with the two groups earning \u00a34.7m and \u00a32.6m respectively. The FTSE 100 currently contains just 30 female executive directors and, of the UK\u2019s top 100 companies, 77 have none at all."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook custom audience feature allows brands to target users \n Facebook is adding a feature that will allow brands to target ads to users who have RSVP\u2019d to brand events.\n\nFacebook is going to let advertisers target users who have RSVP'd to events.\n\nFacebook rep confirmed the plan to The Drum after screenshots were posted on Twitter, but chose not to comment further.", "output": "Facebook has announced a feature that allows brands to target users with ads, if that user has sent an RSVP to the\u00a0brand\u2019s event. The \u201cEvents\u201d custom audience feature will allow advertisers to target users that have engaged with arranged events, whether the user has responded as \u201cinterested\u201d or \u201cgoing\u201d, and can narrow down potential leads\u00a0using those parameters. Facebook confirmed the new feature in discussions with The Drum.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Future: Property Tech conference confirms 2018 London show \n It will be the fourth annual event of its kind; in May this year there were 812 delegates from 386 companies and 20 countries. Angels Media - publisher of Estate Agent Today and Letting Agent Today - was the conference media partner.\n\nThe highly-popular FUTURE:PropTech conference, regarded as the leading event for showcasing and debating industry technology, has been confirmed again for next year.\n\nGary Chimwa, organiser of the event, is planning something bigger and better in central London in 2018 with a promise of 1,200 delegates, over 100 speakers and more than 60 brand showcases demonstrating innovations.\n\n\u201cDigital transformation is now without doubt a critical part of the strategy of any forward looking company within the property sector. Indeed the new maxim is now Location, Location, Innovation\u201d he says.\n\nChimwa believes the event offers a platform for leading PropTech startups and entrepreneurs to mix with the more traditional property sector.\n\nThere are more details here.", "output": "The Future: PropTech conference organisers\u00a0have\u00a0confirmed\u00a0it will take place next year in central London, with the promise of \"1,200 delegates, over 100 speakers and more than 60 brand showcases demonstrating innovations\". The 2017 event, held in May, attracted 812 delegates from 386 companies and 20 countries. Organiser Gary Chimwa said: \"Digital transformation is now without doubt a critical part of the strategy of any forward-looking company within the property sector. Indeed the new maxim is now 'location, location, innovation'.\"\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK politicians aren't fixing empty homes crisis: The Guardian \n Empty property bought by investors to sit unused is a scandal the Guardian has exposed this week, finding 1,652 in the Grenfell borough of Kensington and Chelsea alone.\n\nNot long ago I interviewed a long-time upmarket estate agent in Knightsbridge, opposite Harrods, who told me she begged foreign buyers to agree to rent out their vacant properties, to no avail. They always refuse. She describes the change she has seen in those streets over recent years, as they turn dark at night, no lights on, with so many mothballed houses sitting there as gold bullion in the bank, not homes for anyone. The area is dying, she says, warning that all the reasons that made it desirable will be lost. John Healey, Labour shadow housing minister, says there are some 200,000 long-term vacant properties, including \u201cthose bought and left empty by speculative investors,\u201d in the wealthiest areas.\n\nWhat happens at the top end of the market knocks on all down the chain \u2013 and what\u2019s happening at the bottom is a disaster. Report after report chronicles the downward plunge. Last week the Joseph Rowntree Foundation reported on an alarming acceleration in evictions, mostly from the burgeoning private rented sector, two-thirds in London. The average age of private renters\u2019 \u201chead of household\u201d is now 40, and 36% of private renters have children who live insecure lives, frequently moved out and away from their schools. Over a quarter are in officially substandard conditions, yet spend an ever higher proportion of their low incomes on rent \u2013 in London 45%.\n\nThe local government association reports 120,000 families in temporary accommodation, a three-fold increase since 2014, rising at the rate of one secondary school per month. Councils with a statutory duty to house the homeless face heavy losses: Inside Housing found that Brent loses \u00a3178 a week for each family in a B&B. That\u2019s no surprise, as the Osborne/Duncan Smith housing benefit cuts, cap and freeze mean state support no longer covers the rent. Far worse is about to strike as the yet harsher universal credit is rolled out, with more waves of evictions anticipated.\n\nAll this we know. The housing crisis reaches up into middle-income families and well above, as children can no longer afford to buy what their parents took for granted in their youth. Since 2010 there are nearly a million fewer home-owning households. At last it may be becoming a hot political issue: Labour\u2019s manifesto plans were popular, promising 100,000 new social homes a year, minimum three-year private tenancies and rents capped to rise by no more than inflation. Labour would rightly suspend the right-to-buy disaster that has turned a third of flats in council estates into expensive private rentals.\n\nBy the next election, Labour needs to raise housing to the top of the agenda, with a real sense of national emergency. But with 64% of households secure home-owners, and 80% of the high-voting, Tory-leaning retired owning their own homes, that\u2019s a hard task. There is no mystery about housing, no insoluble problem. All that\u2019s required, as with most of Britain\u2019s great social dysfunctions, is the political will to do something about it. Consider Harold Macmillan building 350,000 council homes a year \u2013 yes, council housing \u2013 and Labour\u2019s 100,000 seems modest.\n\nAbove all, every effort should be made to freeze the housing market, and the intention announced to stop prices rising by more than inflation. Government has plenty of levers: lift the cap on council tax bands, so property pays today\u2019s rate, not one last set in 1991. Declare that any future rise in property values above inflation will accrue capital gains tax: there is no good reason for people\u2019s homes to swell in untaxed value. If the market were chilled, over time housing would stop being used as a nest egg, or gold bullion, and become just another commodity, like food, where buying or renting would become neutral choices.\n\nEvery effort should be made to freeze the housing market and stop prices rising by more than inflation\n\nThe Guardian today analyses how other countries are choking off the buy-to-leave luxury vacant property disease: Vancouver charges 1% of the value every year for any property left empty for six months, sending owners \u201cscrambling to rent\u201d. Councils could be set free to impose whatever extra tax they choose on empty property, so long as it is loudly earmarked for building more housing for others. There would be a Daily Mail stink raised about any new taxes on an \u201cEnglishman\u2019s castle\u201d, especially on people\u2019s own homes, but also on second homes. All second home-owners, my family included, should be prepared to pay high enough local taxes to contribute to housing others.\n\nThe great question is whether this profoundly unequal, often ungenerous-minded country can change itself into something better. Do we have the politicians with the moral heft and the persuasive skills to convince enough voters that those, especially of my generation, who have accumulated unimaginable unearned wealth just by buying a house cheaply when we were young, should be willing to help redistribute it not just within our own families, but among those whose families never shared in this undeserved property bonanza? If not, the wealth and property gap will go on widening and Britain will be an ever worse place to live.", "output": "UK politicians lack the will to to solve the country's social housing crisis, reported Polly Toynbee in The Guardian. She called on the government to freeze the housing market by preventing prices rising beyond inflation levels and lift council tax band caps, as well as imposing a capital gains tax on homes whose value rises faster than inflation. Toynbee also cited a Canadian policy of imposing a 1% value-based tax on properties vacant for more than six months, which could reduce the number of empty homes around the country.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "London to double electric car charge points in 2018 \n T he prospect of thousands of electric cars driving round London\u2019s streets came a step closer today as Sadiq Khan announced a \u00a34.5 million investment in 1,500 new charging points across the capital.\n\nTransport for London and the capital\u2019s town halls will roll-out the new green charging infrastructure - which will almost double the number of points - over the course of 2018.\n\nIt comes after the Government last week announced a ban on sales of petrol and diesel cars from 2040 to help tackle the country\u2019s toxic air problem.\n\nBut Mr Khan, environmentalists and some motoring experts accused it of falling short of what is needed to deal swiftly with toxic air \u2014 which is blamed for a death toll of about 9,000-a-year in the capital alone.\n\nThe chosen boroughs - 25 of London\u2019s 32 - will each receive up to \u00a3300,000 of government cash to install the standard charging points, which take between four and eight hours to charge a family car, in residential areas.\n\nTown hall officials will now identify sites where charging points could be installed. Some of the cash could be spent on new approaches such as using lamp posts as the base and power supply for charge points, which would be cheaper and quicker to roll out with less impact on the streetscape.\n\nThey believe the scheme will help motorists without access to off-street parking to make the switch from polluting vehicles to zero-emissions ones more easily. More money will follow next year if the scheme is successful.\n\nThe new points will be in addition to the network of 150 rapid charge points for taxis and commercial fleets that TfL is installing by 2018.\n\nMr Khan, who wants all new road vehicles driven in London to be zero emission by 2040, said: \u201cThis substantial investment in electric charging points will make a real difference, making electric vehicles an easier and more practical option for Londoners across our city.\n\n\u201cWe have a bold ambition to make London\u2019s transport system zero emission by 2050, and working with boroughs to roll out more charging infrastructure is a vital part of making this a reality.\u201d\n\nThe money for this tranche of charging points comes from the Government\u2019s Office for Low Emission Vehicles\u2019 \u2018Go Ultra Low City\u2019 scheme.\n\nBut the Mayor called on ministers to \u201cstep up\u201d their investment in charging infrastructure so every Londoner could consider going electric over coming years.\n\nJulian Bell, London Councils\u2019 transport and environment spokesman, said: \u201cImproving London\u2019s air quality by reducing emissions is a real priority for our city. It is unacceptable that 9,000 people a year die early in London due to air pollution.\n\n\u201cSo it is great to see London boroughs bidding to invest in conveniently located electric vehicle charging points. This will help to ensure we have infrastructure in the right places to make it easier for people across the capital to choose electric vehicles.\u201d\n\nThe only boroughs not to receive the funding are Barking & Dagenham, Bromley, Enfield, Harrow, Hillingdon, Kingston and Sutton.\n\nMr Khan\u2019s draft transport strategy also aims for all taxis and minicabs to be zero-emissions capable by 203 and buses by 2037, while London\u2019s entire transport system would be zero emission by 2050.\n\nHe has called for a national diesel scrappage scheme although ministers are understood to believe it would be too expensive.", "output": "London will see a \u00a34.5m ($6m) investment in 1,500 new charging points for electric cars, according to an announcement by the city\u2019s mayor, Sadiq Khan. The infrastructure, which will nearly double the number of existing points, will be launched by Transport for London and the city\u2019s town halls across 2018. The scheme will operate in 25 of London\u2019s 32 boroughs, each of which will receive \u00a3300,000 to install the points. The new charging points will be in addition to the 150 rapid charge points for taxis and commercial fleets also set for installation by 2018.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fruit Street Health uses\u00a0telemedicine for diabetes prevention \n Fruit Street Health, a digital health and telemedicine company currently focused on delivering a digital diabetes prevention program, has raised $3 million in new funding from physician investors. Dr. Jeremy Tucker, a senior emergency medicine physician on the board of directors of Fruit Street, led the round, which brings the company's total funding to $8.4 million.\n\nRaising money from physicians, rather than from venture capitalists, has been a strong intentional preference since the company's founding in 2013. CEO Laurence Girard expounded on the philosophy in a recent Huffington Post editorial.\n\n\"Most venture capitalists will never interact with a patient, much less hold a medical degree,\" Girard wrote. \"VC investors do not use your product. Our investors commonly use our product with their patients and provide valuable feedback we can use to continuously improve our product.\"\n\nBased in New York, Fruit Street offers a telemedicine service to providers that allows them to monitor patients via wearables, mobile apps and virtual visits. The clinician can pull up the patient's aggregated data on a virtual whiteboard during the teleconference and discuss it with them.\n\nThe platform incorporates a number of connected health devices including wireless scales, Fitbits, blood pressure cuffs, and glucometers, as well as a mobile app for taking pictures of food that the company describes as \"Instagram-like\".\n\nThe company is one of many diabetes prevention programs (some digital and some in-person) that works with DPP marketplace Solera Health. Diabetes Prevention Programs are backed by a good deal of efficacy data, going back to a landmark 2002 study of in-person DPPs. As of last year, the DPP has the distinction of being the first (and so far only) chronic disease prevention program that's reimburseable by Medicare.\n\nIn addition to working with health insurance companies through Solera, Fruit Street also licenses tech to physicians to engage patients who are obese, overweight, or otherwise at risk for Type 2 diabetes. Two years ago, Fruit Street launched a program with CS Mott Children's Hospital at the University of Michigan to help address childhood obesity among patients.", "output": "Digital health and telemedicine firm Fruit Street Health has raised $3m in funding in a round led by company board member Dr. Jeremy Tucker. The New York-based outfit uses wearables, mobile apps and virtual visits to monitor patients who are part of its digital diabetes prevention programme, working in partnership with Solera Health. Fruit Street also licenses the technology to doctors wishing to engage with patients at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Quality and customer service from Redrow slammed by Garstang homeowners \n Robin Watson reported problems, including flooding, at his home in Clematis Drive\n\nHomeowners in the Canal View development, near to Bonds Lane, have told of picking up the keys to find leaks, gaps in the guttering, rain water inside their homes, gaping holes in their driveways and gardens that are not fit for purpose\n\nIn some cases, buyers say they have discovered more than 100 faults in their homes and waited months for a builder to fix them.\n\nAdvertisement Hide Ad\n\nAdvertisement Hide Ad\n\nOthers say they have paid thousands of pounds out of their own pocket to correct \u2018inadequate\u2019 work led by developers Redrow Homes.\n\nThe flooding from the garden in Mr Robin Watson's home in Clematis Drive in Garstang, part of the Redrow Canal View development\n\nBeleaguered homeowners today said they have been left in despair as they continue to battle countless problems.\n\nMum-of-one Sara Miekle, who lives in Primrose Way, said she \u2018cannot wait to sell up,\u2019 just a year after moving into her four-bedroom Canterbury-style home.\n\nSarah and her nine-year-old son moved to Garstang in May 2016 and she estimates spending around \u00a33,000 in external and internal repairs.\n\nAdvertisement Hide Ad\n\nShe said: \u201cSome of the problems Redrow did return to fix but I still have broken guttering. If it carries on it will penetrate the walls.\n\nThe flooding from the garden in Mr Robin Watson's home in Clematis Drive in Garstang, part of the Redrow Canal View development\n\nAdvertisement Hide Ad\n\n\u201cMy concern now is what else is going to crop up next month, in a year.\u201d\n\nRobin and Louise Watson, who moved from Walton-le-Dale, near Preston, had settled for a home in Fulwood but were drawn to Redrow\u2019s Canal View development for the \u2018ideal location on an open space\u2019.\n\nThey eventually bought a Welwyn property in Clematis Drive.\n\nEx-banker Mr Watson said: \u201cWe settled on a completion date of October 28 but were told this may be delayed by a few days.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement Hide Ad\n\nThe Watsons were finally given a move date of December 2, having had to arrange temporary rental accommodation and pay for additional storage for their furniture. But they were unable to access the property, which had a hole in the driveway for a lampost.\n\nThey say the property was riddled with a catalogue of problems.\n\nAdvertisement Hide Ad\n\nThis week Mr Watson reported rainwater running on the inside walls of the property. They have also experienced flooding in their garden.\n\nBuilders have returned on more than one occasion to add further drainage on the site. It is understood a building inspector from the National House Building Council was also invited to the site to give an assessment.\n\nAdvertisement Hide Ad\n\nMr Watson added: \u201cWe have in our lives owned 17 properties, nine of those homes were new and we have previously bought with Redrow. We turned to them again for their high quality delivery but the customer service this time has been shocking to say the least.\u201d\n\nRedrow spokesman Matt Grayson said: \u201cCustomer satisfaction is very important to us. When snagging issues are raised, our customer service team will put plans in place to address them.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re aware of a complaint raised by one particular customer in Garstang. However, the customer is in direct correspondence with our company solicitor and we\u2019re unable to comment further.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement Hide Ad\n\nNeighbours in surrounding Leathercote, who had reservations over the expansion of the building, have also shared their anger at Redrow\u2019s response to concerns over the state of repair of the overall development, which they claim has not been properly maintained.\n\nAdvertisement Hide Ad", "output": "Homeowners have expressed anger over the quality and poor customer service from Redrow relating to properties in its Canal View development in\u00a0Garstang. Problems with the new builds are said to range from leaks and\u00a0gaps in guttering to holes in driveways and flooded gardens. Some have reportedly waited months for \"a catalogue of problems\" to be fixed, others claim to have carried the cost of fixing \"'inadequate\u2019 work\" themselves, to the tune of thousands of pounds. After one year in a four-bed\u00a0Canterbury-style home, one tenant said they \"cannot wait to sell up\". Another called local Redrow representatives' attitude towards residents \"absolutely outrageous. You get zero response.\"\n\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Data accidents an increasing cause of cyber losses: Beazley \n Beazley, a cyber and data breach response global insurance provider, released its Beazley Breach Insights findings based on its client data in the first six months of 2017.\n\nRansomware attacks continued their rise in the first half of 2017, up by 50 percent over the first half of 2016.\n\nHacking and malware attacks (of which ransomware attacks form a growing part), continue to be the leading cause of breaches, accounting for 32 percent of the 1,330 incidents that Beazley Breach Response Services helped clients handle in the first half of the year.\n\nHowever, accidental breaches caused by employee error or data breached while controlled by third party suppliers continue to be a major problem, accounting for 30 percent of breaches overall, only slightly behind the level of hacking and malware attacks. In the healthcare sector these accidental breaches represent, by a significant margin, the most common cause of loss at 42 percent of incidents.\n\nThis continuing high level of accidental data breaches suggests that organizations are still failing to put in place the robust measures needed to safeguard client data and confidentiality. Since 2014, the number of accidental breaches reported to Beazley\u2019s team has shown no sign of diminishing. As more stringent regulatory environments become the norm, this failure to act puts organizations at greater risk of regulatory sanctions and financial penalties.\n\nIn June, the BBR Services team worked closely with insured clients to provide legal and forensics services in response the international NotPetya ransomware attacks. The ability to respond quickly to ransomware attacks is especially critical for healthcare organizations due to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) treating all ransomware attacks as a presumed breach.\n\n2017 Data Breach Trends:\n\nSchoolyard errors\n\nUnintended disclosures caused 26 percent of breaches in 1H 2017 in the higher education sector. While slightly down on the 28 percent recorded in 1H2016, this still represents a quarter of all breaches which could be mitigated through more effective controls and processes. Hacks and malware accounted for nearly half of higher education data breaches in the first six months of 2017 (43 percent), roughly even with the 45 percent of breaches caused by hacking in the same period in 2016. Of these, 41 percent were due to phishing.\n\nMistakes in healthcare\n\nUnintended disclosure \u2013 such as misdirected faxes and emails or the improper release of discharge papers \u2013 continued to drive the majority of healthcare losses, leading to 42 percent of industry breaches in 1H 2017 equal to the proportion of these breaches in the industry in 1H 2016. Hacks and malware accounted for only 18% of healthcare data breaches in 1H 2017, compared to 17 percent in 1H 2016.\n\nUnintended disclosures among financial services firms\n\nUnintended disclosure \u2013 sending bank account details or personal information to the incorrect recipient \u2013 grew to 29 percent in H1 2017 from 25 percent in H1 2016, a level that has remained consistent since 2014. Hacks and malware were on a downward trend representing 37 percent of breaches in 1H 2017compared to 46 percent of breaches in H1 2016.\n\nProfessional services on the wrong track\n\nAt first glance, professional services firms appear to have greater internal controls in place with unintended breaches accounting for 14 percent of all incidents, well below the average for the period in question. However, the trend is tracking adversely, up from 9 percent in H1 2016. Firms in the sector were not immune to hacking and malware attacks, with these incidents accounting for 44 percent of breaches in the time period compared to 53 percent in 1H 2016. Social engineering scams, including W2 fraud and requests for fraudulent wire transfers, were a large driver of attacks at the beginning of 2017.\n\n\u201cUnintended breaches account for one-third of all data breach incidents reported to Beazley and show no signs of abating,\u201d said Katherine Keefe, global head of BBR Services. \u201cThey are a persistent threat and expose organizations to greater risks of regulatory sanctions and financial penalties. Yet, they can be much more easily controlled and mitigated than external threats. We urge organizations not to ignore this significant risk and to put more robust systems and procedures in place.\u201d\n\nSource: Beazley Group", "output": "Accidental breaches of cyber security accounted for almost as many incidents as hacking and malware attacks, according to a study by cyber insurance specialists Beazley. Criminal breaches made up 32% of the 1,330 incidents Beazley responded to during H1 2017, where 30% were unintentional\u00a0breaches. The study also found 42% of accidental disclosures were in the healthcare sector, compared with\u00a026% in higher education, while professional firms made up 14%. The figures demonstrate that companies needed to implement more robust defences, Beazley said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk Post Office adds 60,000 customers as Fuel Broadband deal completes \n The Post Office has today completed its acquisition of ISP Fuel Broadband, adding 60,000 customers to its UK network.\n\nPrior to the migration, Blighty's Post Office had about 460,000 telecoms customers. ISP Review has reported that 180,000 of those are broadband subscribers. It did not disclose how much cash was splashed on the deal.\n\nFuel and the Post Office already use a wholesale service from TalkTalk.\n\nAt the end of last year the Mirai botnet affected hundreds of thousands of TalkTalk and Post Office broadband customers.\n\nMeredith Sharples, director of telecoms at Post Office, said: \"The acquisition demonstrates our commitment to further growth in the telecoms business.\"\n\nThe Post Office said the acquisition demonstrates its transformation into \"a sustainable and relevant business for UK communities\".\n\nIn 2012 Fujitsu, alongside Capita, signed a five-year deal with the Post Office to provide its \"next-generation network (NGN) broadband experience combined with enhanced customer care and billing solutions\".\n\nUnder the deal, said to be worth up to \u00a3500m, Fujitsu also partnered with TalkTalk to deliver its network and with MDS for advanced consumer billing.\n\nHowever, Capita was booted off the deal two years early after insiders said it missed a number of service-level agreements. \u00ae", "output": "The Post Office has added 60,000 customers to its 460,000-strong UK telecoms customer base with the completion of its Fuel Broadband acquisition. Ahead of the deal, ISP Review reported that 180,000 of the Post Office's telecoms customers were broadband subscribers.\u00a0The Post Office and Fuel already use a wholesale service from TalkTalk,\u00a0which partnered with Fujitsu in 2012\u00a0under a five-year deal reportedly worth\u00a0\u00a3500m signed by the Post Office that included the provision of a next-gen broadband network and other services such as customer management and billing from MDS.\u00a0Terms of the Fuel deal were not disclosed.\u00a0\n\n\u00a0\n\n\u00a0\n\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "myOwn claims Australian first with health-life insurance product \n AIA and GMHBA launch new brand: myOwn.\n\nmyOwn is a first-of-its-kind product in the Australian insurance market, offering customers a health insurance policy bundled with the AIA Vitality health and wellness program.\n\nThe brand is the product of an alliance between the life insurance company AIA Australia and health fund GMHBA.\n\nThe innovative myOwn brand will actively reward members who stay healthy by participating in the AIA Vitality program.\n\n\u201cWith myOwn offering health insurance with AIA Vitality, we support people to know their health, improve their health and enjoy the rewards,\u201d said Damien Mu, CEO of AIA Australia & New Zealand .\n\nThe best part is that these rewards are more than just a sense of feeling good. Those who take out health insurance with myOwn can get an upfront 5% discount on their premiums by gaining AIA Vitality Silver status.\n\nThe benefits don't stop there. Members can earn themselves Woolworths vouchers and Hoyts cinema tickets, get discounts on flights and cash back from some of Australia's biggest gyms.\n\n\u201cWe believe that myOwn and AIA Vitality can help consumers get healthier and provide them with more value for money,\u201d Mu said.\n\nEarning rewards with AIA Vitality is relatively straightforward. All members need to do is participate in approved activities that are beneficial for their health, such as eating well, preventive screenings and physical activities.\n\nCompare more health insurance options from Australian funds\n\nWhy compare health insurance with Finder? We don't ask for your phone or email to see prices.\n\nWith 1 click, you can open your results to nearly every fund in Australia.\n\nYou pay the same price as going direct \u2013 we charge no fees. Compare cover from 30+ funds\n\nCompare health insurance for free Compare prices from 30+ Aussie funds in under 30 seconds. Get started\n\n[/fin_hide]", "output": "Life insurance company AIA Australia and health insurance not-for-profit fund GMHBA have partnered to launch what they claim is a\u00a0first-of-its-kind product: insurance cover combined with the AIA Vitality health and wellness programme. Named myOwn, it offers subscribers an initial 5% discount on premiums by gaining AIA Vitality Silver status, and offers a range of earned rewards, including flight discounts and cinema tickets, to those who participate in \"approved activities\" that are beneficial for their health.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Anthem\u2019s Retreat Leaves Californians With Fewer Choices, More Worries \n About Capitol Desk Capitol Desk delivers the latest in health care policy and politics from Sacramento and around the state. Have an idea? Let us know.\n\nBill Daitchman got some bad news this week: His insurer is breaking up with him.\n\nDaitchman and his wife, who own a graphic design business in Santa Cruz County, each pay $350 a month for a health insurance plan from Anthem Blue Cross on the Covered California exchange. But Anthem announced Tuesday it\u2019s pulling out of most of the state\u2019s individual markets, citing the uncertainty swirling around the Affordable Care Act.\n\nAnd that vexes Daitchman, 59. First, there\u2019s the possibility that a new insurer will charge more for coverage. Second, he has kidney disease. Will he lose the doctors who know him and his needs? He\u2019s especially reliant on the nephrologist he\u2019s seen since 2006.\n\n\u201cInvariably when you lose policies, you lose those relationships,\u201d said Daitchman. \u201cYou get what\u2019s available at that point. You get the doctors they offer.\u201d\n\nThe move by Anthem, the nation\u2019s second-largest health insurer, means about 153,000 Californians like Daitchman, who buy insurance on the California exchange, must look for new plans for 2018. That\u2019s more than 10 percent of Covered California\u2019s total enrollment of 1.4 million. Fewer than half of Anthem policyholders on the exchange \u2014 about 108,000 customers in the California marketplace \u2014 will be able to renew their Anthem policies.\n\nThe insurer\u2019s decision marks a significant turnabout.\n\nAnthem led the state exchange in enrollment during its first two years, starting in 2014 with 30 percent of enrollees. Now its share of the market has dwindled to 19 percent, state officials said Tuesday, and that could plummet to single digits next year as exchange policies are canceled.\n\nAnthem had long sold policies across the state, from large markets such as Los Angeles to rural, mountainous counties like Inyo and Mono, which often had few insurers to choose from.\n\nBut next year, Anthem will sell to individuals only in about half of California\u2019s counties, including Santa Clara, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Tulare, and most of the region north of Sacramento up to the Oregon border. Many of these markets are the least populous, limiting the insurer\u2019s financial risk.\n\n\u201cThis was not an easy decision for us,\u201d Brian Ternan, president of Anthem Blue Cross in California, said in a message posted online.\n\n\u201cThe market for these plans has become unstable,\u201d Ternan wrote. \u201cAnd with federal rules and guidance changing, it\u2019s no longer possible for us to offer some of those plans.\u201d\n\nIn an email, company spokesperson Tony Felts explained that planning and pricing affordable health plans \u201chas become increasingly difficult\u201d amid uncertainty about such things as the availability of cost-sharing subsidies for low-income marketplace enrollees.\n\nAnthem\u2019s pullback also affects approximately 144,000 individual policyholders outside the state exchange, who will have to find new plans next year \u2014 unless they were grandfathered into a plan they bought before the Affordable Care Act was implemented. But the retreat does not touch the company\u2019s other insurance customers, such as people with Medi-Cal, Medicare or employer-based plans.\n\nMany Wall Street analysts and investors cheered Anthem\u2019s retreat in California. Ana Gupte, a health care analyst at Leerink Partners, said these \u201csurgical extractions\u201d minimize the risk that potential losses from exchange plans drag down overall profits. Big insurers also increasingly sense more opportunity and growth in other government markets, such as Medicaid managed care and Medicare Advantage plans.\n\nKathy Hempstead, director of health coverage issues at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said even well-functioning state exchanges like California\u2019s are not immune from the contentious debate over the federal health law.\n\n\u201cIn general, the national commercial carriers have all but completely left the ACA-compliant individual market this year,\u201d she said. \u201cThe returns are not that great and they have better opportunities elsewhere. It is probably too much aggravation for what they can make.\u201d\n\nAnthem\u2019s two biggest competitors, UnitedHealth and Aetna, had already announced their exits from most Obamacare marketplaces nationwide.\n\nAnthem has been making similar moves in other states. The company has already announced it will exit the ACA exchanges next year in Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin, three of the 14 states where it sells exchange plans. The insurer also plans to reduce its exchange presence in Nevada. In some states, the company gives the same reasons for pulling back: changing federal rules, a shrinking market for individual insurance and an overall lack of marketplace predictability.\n\nEmail Sign-Up Subscribe to California Healthline's free Daily Edition. Your Email Address Sign Up\n\nEven with Anthem\u2019s retrenchment in California, the Golden State will remain more competitive than many others. For 2018, Covered California said more than 82 percent of consumers will have more than three plans to choose from and 96 percent will have at least two insurers to pick from.\n\nCovered California Executive Director Peter Lee said the state exchange \u201cplayed a very active role\u201d in encouraging Anthem to stay in three of California\u2019s 19 insurance regions.\n\nLee said the insurer must be able to make money to stay in the marketplace in the long run.\n\n\u201cAnthem was in a position \u2026 to pause and take a step back,\u201d said Lee. \u201cWe hope they\u2019ll step back forward in future years.\u201d\n\nLee emphasized that California\u2019s marketplace is still \u201cviable and competitive,\u201d with all 11 insurance carriers this year set to participate next year, if not to the same extent as before.\n\nCovered California staff members will help Anthem enrollees find new plans, Lee said, and some may be able to keep their doctors. Eighty-four percent of Anthem\u2019s providers are available through other insurance products, he said.\n\nHealth insurance expert Shana Alex Charles noted that the areas where Anthem is pulling out have a lot of competition. Some have six or more health insurance carriers.\n\n\u201cIt is just another reminder that we are dealing with for-profit businesses,\u201d said Charles, assistant professor in the health science department at California State University-Fullerton. \u201cBusinesses want less competition. They want to be the only players in the market.\u201d\n\nRobert Laszewski, a Virginia-based health care consultant, said Anthem was turning its back on longtime customers in California and other key states despite making repeated commitments to regulators over the years about its staying power.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s all quite puzzling,\u201d he said. \u201cIf Anthem was under financial stress and needed to do it that would be one thing. But they are making incredible amounts of money.\u201d\n\nLast month, Anthem reported a second-quarter profit of $855.3 million, up 10 percent over the same period a year ago.\n\nThis story has been updated.", "output": "Bill Daitchman got some bad news this week: His insurer is breaking up with him. Daitchman and his wife, who own a graphic design business in Santa Cruz County, each pay $350 a month for a health insurance plan from Anthem Blue Cross on the Covered California exchange. But Anthem announced Tuesday it\u2019s pulling out of most of the state\u2019s individual markets, citing the uncertainty swirling around the Affordable Care Act.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "More providers looking into home care programs \n Dive Brief:\n\nAs providers look for ways to boost quality while reducing costs under value-based reimbursement, many see home-based care as one solution.\n\nOn Tuesday, the Home Centered Care Institute launched the HCCI Centers of Excellence for Home-Based Primary Care to bring high-quality primary care to more Americans. Participants include Cleveland Clinic and Mount Sinai.\n\nMeanwhile, Mount Sinai Health System is teaming up with Contessa Health to expand Mount Sinai\u2019s hospital-level care at home program, Mobile Acute Care Team (MACT), to new markets.\n\nDive Insight:\n\nUnder the HCCI initiative, participating institutions will train clinicians and practice managers using a home-based primary care curriculum developed by a cadre of nationally recognized thought leaders. The curriculum covers foundational principles, economics, operations and clinical care. The goal is to increase the home-based primary care workforce by 5,000 over the next five years.\n\nCenters of excellence and house call programs that participate in the training will be asked to contribute to a data registry of best clinical and operational practices compiled by HCCI.\n\nHCCI has identified eight COEs for the program:\n\nCleveland Clinic;\n\nIcahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai;\n\nMedStar Health\u2019s Medical House Call Program;\n\nNorthwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine;\n\nPerelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania;\n\nUniversity of Arizona Center on Aging;\n\nUniversity of Arkansas for Medical Sciences; ans\n\nUniversity of California, San Francisco.\n\nBy partnering with Contessa, Mount Sinai plans to extend its MACT program \u2014 currently limited to Medicare patients with specific acute medical conditions who would otherwise require inpatient care \u2014 to patients with other forms of health coverage and additional conditions. The health system is also looking at adding a postsurgical care at home option.\n\nMACT has treated 600 patients since the program launched in November 2014.\n\nThe interest in home-based care comes as new technologies, from remote sensors and monitors to connected scales and blood pressure cuffs and telemedicine are allowing the elderly and others with chronic conditions to remain in their homes.\n\nFor example, New York-based Hometeam leverages a mobile care management technology platform to bring trained professional caregivers to seniors and other needing home care. The platform automates scheduling, caregiver/client matching, billing and payroll. \u201cOur overhead is 80% lower than the rest of the industry, and we invest the savings in higher salaries for our caregivers,\u201d Ashish Prashar, director of policy at Hometeam, told Healthcare Dive earlier this year.\n\nHospitals are also using palliative care teams to reduce avoidable costs and rationalize end-of-life care so that patients get only the care they want and need. Through a comprehensive assessment, teams can determine an appropriate care plan and align it with the patient\u2019s and family\u2019s needs. Such teams also do home assessments ensure continued treatment after the patient leaves the hospital.", "output": "Under the HCCI initiative, participating institutions will train clinicians and practice managers using a home-based primary care curriculum developed by a cadre of nationally recognized thought leaders. The curriculum covers foundational principles, economics, operations and clinical care. The goal is to increase the home-based primary care workforce by 5,000 over the next five years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ONC focuses on creating interoperability between health systems \n Interoperability (pronounced IHN- tuhr -AHP- uhr -uh-BIHL- ih -tee) is the ability of different systems, devices, applications or products to connect and communicate in a coordinated way, without effort from the end user. Functions of interoperable components include data access, data transmission and cross-organizational collaboration regardless of its developer or origin. Similar to compatibility, interoperability helps organizations achieve higher efficiency and a more holistic view of information.\n\nInterconnected systems can vary in degree of interoperability. Types of interoperability include:\n\nSyntactic interoperability: Systems that can communicate successfully through compatible formats and protocols. Tools that facilitate syntactic interoperability are recognized formatting standards, such as XML and SQL. This is also sometimes referred to as structural interoperability.\n\nSemantic interoperability : This is the ability of systems to exchange and accurately interpret information automatically. Semantic interoperability is achieved when the structure and codification of data is uniform among all systems involved.\n\n: This is the ability of systems to exchange and accurately interpret information automatically. Semantic interoperability is achieved when the structure and codification of data is uniform among all systems involved. Cross-domain or cross-organization interoperability: This refers to the standardization of practices, policies, foundations and requirements of disparate systems. Rather than relating to the mechanisms behind data exchange, this type only focuses on the non-technical aspects of an interoperable organization.\n\nData exchange between applications, databases and IT systems is crucial for the growth of modern technology, such as the IoT. Approaches to improving or achieving interoperability include conducting compatibility tests, engineering products with a common standard and using the same technology, coding language or syntax across multiple systems when appropriate.\n\nInteroperability by industry\n\nHealthcare: Within the healthcare ecosystem, interoperability is used to optimize and standardize the quality of medical care. This industry relies on multiple sources of information, such as laboratories, clinics, pharmacies, hospitals and primary care providers, which use multiple systems to record this information. Therefore, health information technology systems should be interoperable to allow the relevant exchange of electronic health records (EHR) and more comprehensive healthcare to patients.\n\nTelecommunications: In telecommunications, interoperability is when different services are able to operate effectively and accept services from other systems. Components of telecommunication compatibility are typically signal availability, scale of the network, frequencies and equipment coverage. For example, interoperability is needed for successful communication of two-way radios. ITU-T is the standard used in international telecommunications to achieve interoperability.\n\nSoftware: Interoperability in software refers to the functionality of different programs to exchange information, share files and use the same protocols. Java is often considered a highly interoperable programming language for software as it can run and execute on any program with a Java virtual machine (JVM).\n\nSearch: Search interoperability allows users to accurately collect information from multiple sources using only one query. This allows organizations to make more effective use of large amounts of data and supports data mining.\n\nMilitary and public safety: In this setting, interoperability is defined as the ability for multiple sectors of law enforcement to communicate effectively during emergencies, standardize training efforts or coordinate the execution of tasks.\n\nGovernment: Exchange of electronic data between multiple government organizations across the world can be difficult. Interoperability helps close the gap created by language barriers and varying format specifications to help public administrations collaborate.\n\nBenefits of interoperability", "output": "Efforts to create interoperability between health systems and stop data blocking have been going on for some time now. Although there are some isolated examples of interoperability\u00a0in healthcare, in general, experts agree it still is not widely happening.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus WeWork's 'sky high' valuation may be supported by diversified base: CBInsights \n WeWork just became the 6th most valuable startup in the world. Though its $20B valuation looks sky-high, it could be justifiable if the unicorn's projected revenue targets and ambitious expansion plans come to fruition this year.\n\nWhere is this data coming from? Start your free trial today Email Where is this data coming from? Start your free trial today Email\n\nWith WeWork\u2018s latest funding mega-round bringing the unicorn to a whopping $20B valuation with $2.76B in total funding to-date, investors have long been speculating whether the company merits such a high valuation. We\u2019ve examined previous unicorn valuations including Dropbox, Airbnb, and Blue Apron and compared WeWork\u2019s current and projected valuation data, using CB Insights\u2019 Enhanced Valuation capability, against those posted by a few of its public-market counterparts. Specifically, we looked at Boston Properties, Vornado, and IWG plc (dba Regus).\n\nget the full 43-page wework report Download the free report on WeWork\u2019s strategy to dominate co-working, and potentially disrupt commercial real estate at large. Email\n\nVALUATION TIMELINE\n\nThroughout its funding history, WeWork has only seen uprounds with multiple leaps in its valuation. WeWork first gained its unicorn status in Q1\u201914 with a $1.59B valuation after raising a $157M Series C round from notable investors including Benchmark Capital and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. WeWork\u2019s valuation has continued to rise with their most recent valuation of $20B (as noted by the dashed line in the chart below), after a Series G \u2013 II round from Japan-based SoftBank Group and undisclosed investors in Q3\u201917. These funding rounds position the company to expand into Asia, specifically Japan and most recently China. WeWork also just opened their first India office and announced ambitious expansion plans for Latin America.\n\nThis latest valuation also ties WeWork with Palantir as the 6th most valuable startup in the world, after SpaceX, Airbnb, Xiaomi, Didi Chuxing, and Uber.\n\nThis latest valuation ranks WeWork just above real estate incumbents Boston Properties, Vornado, and Regus (not pictured on the below graph). WeWork surpasses Vornado\u2019s market cap of $17.8B (as of 07/17/17) by over 12%. Boston Properties, which trades at a valuation around $18B, trails second to WeWork.\n\nBoston Properties reportedly has 43.7 million total square feet in-service and 164 total properties while CEO Adam Neumann has stated that WeWork has 180 buildings globally for WeWork and 2 buildings for WeLive. WeWork has not reported how much square footage the company controls, but it\u2019s been estimated to be around 3 million in New York City alone.\n\nPRICE/SALES MULTIPLE\n\nWe examined multiples of WeWork, Boston Properties, Vornado, and Regus. With a $20B valuation based on its latest Q3\u201917 round of financing and projected annual revenue of $1B for 2017, we calculated a 20x price-to-sales multiple. Its multiple would be well over twice the size of Boston Properties, which has a price-to-sales ratio of 7.37. WeWork\u2019s multiple is nearly 18x the size of co-working incumbent Regus, WeWork\u2019s most similar competitor.\n\nThough WeWork\u2019s multiple may seem inflated (for reference, Blue Apron\u2019s was 2.51 at the time of its IPO), its revenue growth dramatically exceeds that of its public competitors. With an estimated revenue of $532M for 2016 and $1B projected revenue for 2017, we calculated 88% year-over-year growth.\n\nIn comparison, WeWork\u2019s public counterparts have seen little revenue growth. Vornado has seen less than 1% revenue growth while both Boston Properties\u2019 and Regus\u2019 revenue are decreasing. Obviously, though, WeWork\u2019s revenue is a fraction of public real estate companies\u2019 revenue, with competitors bringing in $2.5B or more. Additionally, WeWork\u2019s revenue growth is dependent on whether the company hits its projected $1B revenue target for 2017.\n\nWEWORK VALUATION CRITIQUE\n\nBelow, for context, we outline some of the more common reasons investors argue that WeWork is over-valued:\n\nReal estate, not tech: WeWork is funded as if it were a tech company, but many real estate incumbents and investors believe that WeWork is simply occupying a niche within the real estate market of \u201cspace-as-a-service.\u201d Though many have doubted the merit of its frequent mega-rounds, WeWork has been growing like a tech company and similarly to other highly valued tech companies, WeWork has attracted funding based on its promise of future growth over their current earnings. WeWork\u2019s CEO Adam Neumann has historically refrained from placing the company within tech or real estate and has instead referred to WeWork as a \u201ccommunity company,\u201d a categorization which the company is now reconsidering.\n\nWeWork is funded as if it were a tech company, but many real estate incumbents and investors believe that WeWork is simply occupying a niche within the real estate market of \u201cspace-as-a-service.\u201d Though many have doubted the merit of its frequent mega-rounds, WeWork has been growing like a tech company and similarly to other highly valued tech companies, WeWork has attracted funding based on its promise of future growth over their current earnings. WeWork\u2019s CEO Adam Neumann has historically refrained from placing the company within tech or real estate and has instead referred to WeWork as a \u201ccommunity company,\u201d a categorization which the company is now reconsidering. Heavy market dependencies: WeWork\u2019s success is dependent on the health of both the tech and real estate industries. While the company\u2019s flexible contracts may be ideal for small companies, WeWork would inevitably face trouble leasing their spaces if startups began to dry up or if the real estate market experiences a downturn similar to the 2008 financial crisis. However, the historical precedent set by public competitor Regus\u2019 strong performance in 2009 suggests that co-working spaces actually perform well during economic downturns, as firms tend to be wary of making large overhead commitments and thus prefer short-term leases. Additionally, WeWork has expanded its client base from small startups to large corporates like IBM, thus mitigating potential risks of being unable to sustain rental agreements.\n\nWeWork\u2019s success is dependent on the health of both the tech and real estate industries. While the company\u2019s flexible contracts may be ideal for small companies, WeWork would inevitably face trouble leasing their spaces if startups began to dry up or if the real estate market experiences a downturn similar to the 2008 financial crisis. However, the historical precedent set by public competitor Regus\u2019 strong performance in 2009 suggests that co-working spaces actually perform well during economic downturns, as firms tend to be wary of making large overhead commitments and thus prefer short-term leases. Additionally, WeWork has expanded its client base from small startups to large corporates like IBM, thus mitigating potential risks of being unable to sustain rental agreements. Lack of tangible assets: WeWork does not currently own any property; the company takes long-term leases and rents those properties out at a higher value than their lease payments by adding rental and office management fees (cleaning, internet, events, etc.) begging the question how a company with such a high valuation doesn\u2019t own any tangible assets. However, the company recently raised several hundred million for a real estate investment fund, and has announced its intention to buy buildings where they are leasing space.\n\nWeWork does not currently own any property; the company takes long-term leases and rents those properties out at a higher value than their lease payments by adding rental and office management fees (cleaning, internet, events, etc.) begging the question how a company with such a high valuation doesn\u2019t own any tangible assets. However, the company recently raised several hundred million for a real estate investment fund, and has announced its intention to buy buildings where they are leasing space. Ultimately not disruptive: Many WeWork skeptics believe that the company is not truly creating a new business model and may end up following the normal ups and downs of the economy. Regus, for example, has been in the co-working space for years and shares a very similar business model with WeWork. However, the company has been pursuing massive revenue opportunities beyond the traditional co-working model. If WeWork can demonstrate substantial revenue from new areas such as WeLive and facilities management and even fitness, which are presumably estimated in their 2017 $1B revenue run-rate, they would be disrupting the traditional co-working model and differentiating themselves from incumbents such as Regus or other private co-working companies such as Chinese co-working unicorn UrWork.\n\nDefenders of WeWork\u2019s rich valuation note that the company is bringing in revenue by providing core services and community benefits, growing their enterprise sales (which account for 30% of new business), expanding globally, and diversifying their revenue streams as previously mentioned. Though not time-bound, Neumann has indicated that WeWork has eventual plans to IPO, as echoed by the company\u2019s recent restructuring. WeWork\u2019s 2017 performance and revenue growth will likely dictate the timing of their decision to go public.\n\nRegardless of whether its valuation is fair, it\u2019s clear that WeWork has captured deep investor and public interest. As the Trends chart below shows, \u201cWeWork\u201d exceeds that of its public competitors in news mentions. The company\u2019s news mentions spiked to an all-time high of 48 in June 2017.\n\nIf WeWork can manage to hit its $1B projected revenue target for 2017, continue increasing enterprise sales, and successfully diversify its revenue streams locally and abroad, the company definitely has a shot to justify its $20B valuation.\n\nIf you aren\u2019t already a client, sign up for a free trial to learn more about our platform.", "output": "CBInsights suggests WeWork could disrupt the co-working model if it pulls off its 2017 $1bn revenue run-rate, which presumably factors in a more diversified base than competitors like Regus, whose revenues are cited as falling. The report refers to WeWork's diversification into other areas with WeLive, facilities management, and fitness, plus the fact that it has established a real estate investment fund with the intention of buying some of the properties it inhabits. If these areas can help it to make its projection, CBInsights believes WeWork could justify its \"sky high\" $20bn valuation, which make it currently the sixth most valuable start-up behind SpaceX, Airbnb, Xiaomi, Didi Chuxing, and Uber.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Capitol Shocker: Democrats and Republicans Start Working Together on Health Care \n Something unusual and important is happening in Congress: Republicans and Democrats are working together to improve the health care system. And they\u2019re doing so in defiance of President Trump, who appears determined to sabotage the Affordable Care Act and the health insurance of millions of people.\n\nThis surprising if modest burst of bipartisanship comes just days after the Senate failed to pass a Republican bill to repeal important provisions of the A.C.A., or Obamacare. On Monday 43 members of the House outlined a proposal to strengthen the insurance marketplaces created by the 2010 law. On Tuesday Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray, the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said they would hold hearings and introduce a bill to cut premiums and encourage insurers to sell policies on the marketplaces for 2018.\n\nIt is, of course, impossible to know if such efforts will succeed. Even if they result in legislation, Republican leaders could refuse to bring it to the floor for a vote. Having treated Obamacare as a political pi\u00f1ata for seven years, Republicans might find it hard to actually help the program. Another danger is that Mr. Trump and his health and human services secretary, Tom Price, could try to pre-emptively weaken the marketplaces through administrative measures. Still, it\u2019s good to see politicians actually doing their jobs. The sight of members of both parties working together in the public interest is uplifting, especially after the long partisan campaign to take insurance away from so many Americans.\n\nContrary to Mr. Trump\u2019s tweets, Obamacare is not collapsing. But it needs work, and some insurance markets are in trouble. Insurers have said they will no longer sell policies in 20 counties in Indiana, Nevada and Ohio, and many are proposing to raise premiums because of the uncertainty created by Mr. Trump\u2019s threats. Experts say insurers could withdraw from even more counties, especially in rural and suburban areas, if the president sabotages the law.", "output": "Something unusual and important is happening in Congress: Republicans and Democrats are working together\u00a0to improve the health care system. And they\u2019re doing so in defiance of President Trump, who appears determined to sabotage the Affordable Care Act and the health insurance of millions of people\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "White House Increasingly at Odds With Republicans on Health Care \n Congressional Republicans have shifted from discussing repeal of the Affordable Care Act to talking about how to bolster the 2010 law \u2014 but the Trump administration continues to flirt with undermining it.\n\nThe White House, still reeling from Senate Republicans\u2019 failure last week to undo former President Barack Obama\u2019s signature domestic achievement, on Wednesday again raised the possibility of not making key Obamacare payments that are owed to insurers, known as cost-sharing reductions. President Donald Trump hasn\u2019t publicly said whether he would continue the payments or cut them off this month.\n\n\u201cThe president\u2019s attitude is fairly simple: If people are suffering, and they are, and they will continue to suffer because we have not repealed or replaced Obamacare, why shouldn\u2019t insurance companies similarly suffer? That\u2019s his point,\u201d Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said on CNN. \u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s an unfair or unreasonable position for the president of the United States to take.\u201d\n\nBy taking a hard-line approach, Trump is going up against industry groups, governors, Democrats and senior members of his own party. They all want Trump to stop threatening to cut off the payments, which help insurers reduce the financial burden of health care for low-income enrollees.\n\nTrump\u2019s views are also at odds with the electorate, with most voters opposing his calls to \u201clet Obamacare fail.\u201d Fifty-nine percent said they would rather have both parties work together to make Obamacare better, compared with twenty-five percent of voters who back Trump\u2019s strategy, according to a July 20-24 Morning Consult poll. GOP voters were more evenly split, with 42 percent saying Republicans in Congress should let the ACA fail, while 43 percent said they should work to make it better.\n\nInsurers warn that ceasing CSR payments would force them to flee the exchanges \u2014 or at the very least hike premiums significantly. For instance, California announced Tuesday that premiums for its ACA plans are projected to rise by an average of 12.5 percent next year, an increase that state officials blamed in part on uncertainty caused by the Trump administration\u2019s policies.\n\nOn Wednesday, governors of both parties urged the administration to reverse course and commit to funding the insurer payments in the future to stave off any more rate hikes.\n\n\u201cIt is critically important to provide insurers and states with certainty that CSRs will be funded,\u201d the National Governors Association said in a statement. \u201cGovernors urge immediate action to stabilize the individual marketplace, protect consumers from rising premiums and prevent additional insurers from exiting the market.\u201d\n\nStill, some hard-liners in Congress are wary of continuing the CSR payments.\n\n\u201cThe path to lowering premiums is more competition, more choices, more options, more consumer freedom,\u201d Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told reporters Wednesday. \u201cThe answer is not millions more dollars of subsidies for insurance companies.\u201d\n\nThe deadline for insurers to file premium prices is Aug. 16, and insurers must decide whether to participate in the Obamacare exchanges by Sept. 27.\n\nThe uncertainty surrounding the payments is only furthering momentum in Congress for a bipartisan fix on health care.\n\nThe Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee plans to begin a series of hearings starting the week of Sept. 4 in an effort to hash out a bipartisan bill to stabilize the ACA exchanges. Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander hopes the resulting legislation will include at least a one-year extension of the insurer payments. During a hearing on Tuesday, the Tennessee Republican urged Trump to agree to make the CSR payments in August and September, giving Congress a window to pass the legislation.\n\nIn the House, a bipartisan group of more than 30 lawmakers, known as the \u201cProblem Solvers Caucus,\u201d has also outlined a plan to give Congress authority over the CSRs.\n\nMore than half of voters (54 percent) want federal funding to continue for the ACA \u2014 rather than cutting off funding and risking a negative impact to health insurance markets, according to the poll from last week. Twenty-seven percent disagreed.", "output": "Congressional Republicans have shifted from discussing repeal of the Affordable Care Act to talking about how to bolster the 2010 law \u2014 but the Trump administration continues to flirt with undermining it.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Medicare savings program fails to improve medication use, adherence \n Save\n\nThis article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.\n\nMedicare savings program fails to improve medication use, adherence\n\nSource/Disclosures Published by: Source: McWilliams JM, et al. JAMA Cardiol. 2017;doi:10.1001/jamacardio.2017.2172. ADD TOPIC TO EMAIL ALERTS Receive an email when new articles are posted on . Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on Subscribe ADDED TO EMAIL ALERTS You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.\n\n\n\nClick Here to Manage Email Alerts You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.\n\n\n\nClick Here to Manage Email Alerts\n\n\n\nBack to Healio We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.\n\n\n\nBack to Healio\n\nExposure to the Medicare Shared Savings Program was not associated with increased medication use or adherence among patients with CVD and diabetes, according to recent findings.\n\n\u201cAccountable care organizations (ACOs) in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) are eligible for shared-savings bonuses if spending for their patient population falls below a financial benchmark,\u201d J. Michael McWilliams, MD, PhD, of the department of health care policy at Harvard Medical School, and colleagues wrote. \u201cImproving medication use and adherence may be additionally attractive to ACOs as a strategy to achieve savings because the MSSP does not include Part D prescription drug spending in an ACO\u2019s spending or benchmark. Thus, increasing patients\u2019 use of prescription drugs to improve performance on quality measures or to lessen the need for nondrug services may support greater shared-savings bonuses than other quality improvement efforts or substitutions that require increases in certain nondrug services.\u201d\n\nMcWilliams and colleagues used fee-for-service Medicare claims from 2009 to 2014 as a comparison for the for the cohorts of ACOs entering into the MSSP in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Depending on drug class, the person-years analyzed ranged from about 4.5 million to 10.8 million.\n\nThe researchers assessed drug use (at least one prescription filled) and adherence (proportion of days covered) for six drug classes: statins, ACE inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers, beta-blockers, thiazide diuretics, calcium channel blockers and metformin.\n\nCompared with non-ACO participants, there were no significant changes in medication use for participants in MSSP ACOs except for a slight differential increase in the use of thiazides for hypertension in the 2013 entry cohort (adjusted differential change, 0.5 percentage points; 95% CI, 0.1-0.8; P = .01).\n\nThere were no significant changes in proportion of days covered, except for beta-blockers in the 2012 ACO cohort (adjusted differential change, 0.3 percentage points; 95% CI, 0.1-0.5; P = .003) and for metformin in the 2012 and 2013 ACO cohorts (adjusted differential change, 0.5 percentage points; 95% CI, 0.1-0.9; P = .01 for both).\n\n\u201cThrough its third year of operation, the MSSP has been associated with minimal increases in the use of or adherence to common antihypertensive, lipid-lowering and hypoglycemic medications that improve [CV] outcomes,\u201d the researchers wrote. \u201cWe could not analyze the effects of the MSSP on [BP], cholesterol or glucose levels directly because performance on disease control measures is reported only for ACOs and only after the start of ACO contracts, but our findings suggest that reported improvements in disease control among ACOs may reflect ongoing trends due to factors other than ACO contract incentives.\u201d \u2013 by Cassie Homer\n\nDisclosures: McWilliams reports being a paid consultant to Abt Associates in an evaluation of the ACO Investment Model. Two other authors report ties to CVS Health.", "output": "Exposure to the Medicare Shared Savings Program was not associated with increased medication use or adherence among patients with CVD and diabetes, according to recent findings.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Inappropriate med use high in cognitively impaired seniors \n (HealthDay)\u2014Many nursing home residents with cognitive impairment or dementia have potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) use, with PIM use more likely among frail individuals, according to a study published online July 28 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.\n\nLaura C. Maclagan, from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Toronto, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study using data for 41,351 individuals with cognitive impairment or dementia aged 66+ years who were newly admitted to a nursing home between 2011 and 2014. Medication information was obtained at admission to nursing home and in the subsequent 180 days, and the prevalence of PIM use was estimated.\n\nThe researchers found that 44 percent of residents with cognitive impairment or dementia were on a PIM and there was variation in prevalence by frailty (38.7, 42.8, and 48.1 percent for non-frail, pre-frail, and frail, respectively; P < 0.001). Many residents discontinued PIMs following admission; however, PIMs were also introduced, with 10.9, 10.1, 6.6, and 1.2 percent newly started on antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, anticholinergics, and H 2 -receptor antagonists, respectively. Frail residents had a similar risk of PIM discontinuation as non-frail residents for anticholinergics, but they were more likely to be newly prescribed benzodiazepines, antipsychotics, and anticholinergics, after adjustment for other characteristics.\n\n\"Interventions to support deprescribing of PIMs should be implemented targeting frail individuals during the transition to nursing home,\" the authors write.\n\nCopyright \u00a9 2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.", "output": "Many nursing home residents with cognitive impairment or dementia have potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) use, with PIM use more likely among frail individuals, according to a study published online July 28 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Satchel Health adds another $1.5M for its post-acute-focused telemedicine platform \n Nashville, Tennessee-based Satchel Health has picked up another $1.5 million in funding, less than a year after its million-dollar angel round. Existing investor NueCura Partners contributed along with an unnamed group of local investors. This brings the company's total funding to about $2.5 million.\n\n\u201cThe board\u2019s decision to seek an additional round of funding is a result of an increasing need for better, more convenient care options, particularly in the post-acute care space,\u201d CEO Lanson Hyde, who just took over a few months ago, said in a statement. \u201cThis latest investment round validates the work Satchel Health has done to develop a solution to meet these needs, and ensures we will continue to the have the necessary means to further evolve our care platform to address ongoing changes in healthcare delivery.\u201d\n\nSatchel Health is a provider-facing telemedicine company that connects clinicians to patients in nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities, or at home. It uses two-way video as well as connected stethoscopes, pulse oximeters, EKGs, and dermatoscopes. The company also tracks the use of the system and analyzes that data to improve efficiencies and eliminate waste.\n\nWhen a patient at a post-acute care facility needs immediate care, a nurse logs into the system and completes a dynamic questionnaire. A dispatcher uses that information to select the best clinician for the encounter based on specialty and availability. Then the patient can immediately begin a telemedicine visit with the doctor, using the suite of connected tools to better inform the visit.\n\nThe company, which launched in 2015, is deployed in a number of post-acute care sites across the country. It originally operated under the name Octovis and was working on a Google Glass-based offering, but the company pivoted after the leadership realized the limitations of the technology and discovered how ripe the post-acute care space was for innovation, according to a profile in the Nashville Business Journal.", "output": "Satchel Health is a provider-facing telemedicine company that connects clinicians to patients in nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities, or at home. It uses two-way video as well as connected stethoscopes, pulse oximeters, EKGs, and dermatoscopes. The company also tracks the use of the system and analyzes that data to improve efficiencies and eliminate waste.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Medicare Proposal to Better Align Payments Deserves Broad Support \n When it comes to health care services, many Americans assume that the government pays for health care the same way consumers pay for products in the retail setting. A consumer buying a bag of chips at Grocery Store A would expect to pay a comparable price for that exact same bag of chips at Grocery Story B three blocks away. In most cases, this would be true.\n\nThe same cannot be said for America\u2019s health care system. Under current payment policies, a Medicare patient pays dramatically different costs for the exact same outpatient procedures delivered in different settings. For the administration of chemotherapy drugs, for example, the current Medicare payment to a hospital outpatient facility is more than double the rate paid to a community cancer clinic ($137 vs. $281). And, since Medicare patients are responsible for a portion of these charges, this disparity results in higher out of pocket costs for Medicare patients.\n\nThis has long been the case in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule policy under which providers are reimbursed for outpatient care services. The current system pays hospital outpatient departments (HOPD) more than their physician-owned counterparts for the exact same services, allowing hospitals to rake in higher profits. This illogical cost differential is due to hospital payment rules that HOPDs are permitted to follow despite their off-campus, often distant locations from the hospitals themselves.\n\nThis may not seem like a big deal to those of us in urban and suburban areas, where a plethora of care options exist. But imagine being a Medicare patient in a more rural place, where there are no private physician practices nearby offering more affordable options \u2014 only a hospital outpatient department. As a result, both taxpayers and Medicare patients are stuck paying higher prices for the same services urban beneficiaries are getting for a lower cost.\n\nTo address these disparities, the Alliance for Site Neutral Payment Reform (the Alliance) has been advocating for payment parity across the Medicare program, calling for payment reforms that make the site of service a nonfactor in the cost of care. It shouldn\u2019t matter where a patient decides to receive medical services, pricing should be affordable and reimbursement comparable across all settings.Fortunately, CMS\u2019s recently proposed PFS rule for FY2018 recognizes the importance of this, addressing the issue head on with a new proposed payment rule that promotes fairer competition between the two options and makes hospital outpatient services more affordable for taxpayers and patients.\n\nFortunately, CMS\u2019s recently proposed PFS rule for fiscal year 2018 recognizes the importance of this, addressing the issue head on with a new proposed payment rule that promotes fairer competition between the two options and makes hospital outpatient services more affordable for taxpayers and patients.\n\nUnder current Medicare policy, newly built or acquired HOPDs are reimbursed at a rate based on 50 percent of the Outpatient Prospective Payment System rate, which still provides a much higher payment than the same care offered in the physician practice setting. CMS\u2019s proposed PFS rule for 2018 would change that. The proposed rule for next year would reduce the PFS rate for new hospital outpatient care services by half, reimbursing HOPDs at 25 percent of the OPPS rate. This would better align payments with the physician-office setting and reduce out of pocket costs for Medicare beneficiaries.\n\nThe proposed rule for next year would reduce the PFS rate for new hospital outpatient care services by half, reimbursing HOPDs at 25 percent of the OPPS rate. This would better align payments with the physician-office setting and reduce out of pocket costs for Medicare beneficiaries. Further, it would help calm an alarming trend in health care marketplace consolidation that is reducing patient access to community-based services. Because HOPDs currently receive higher reimbursement for services, they are economically incentivized to scoop up struggling independent practices and fold them into their hospital system where they can receive higher reimbursement rates.\n\nFurther, it would help calm an alarming trend in health care marketplace consolidation that is reducing patient access to community-based services. Because HOPDs currently receive higher reimbursement for services, they are economically incentivized to scoop up struggling independent practices and fold them into their hospital system where they can receive higher reimbursement rates.\n\nThe Alliance commends CMS for their efforts to lower patient out-of-pocket costs, decrease Medicare spending and better align reimbursement for care in different settings. We feel that the same services should be paid for in the same way, regardless of where the patient happens to seek treatment. We are pleased to see CMS and lawmakers recognizing site neutral payment as an easy, common sense reform that protects patients and reduces spending.\n\nRandy Broun is the president and chairman of the board of directors for Oncology Hematology Care Inc. in Cincinnati, Ohio.\n\nMorning Consult welcomes op-ed submissions on policy, politics and business strategy in our coverage areas. Updated submission guidelines can be found here.", "output": "When it comes to health care services, many Americans assume that the government pays for health care the same way consumers pay for products in the retail setting. A consumer buying a bag of chips at Grocery Store A would expect to pay a comparable price for that exact same bag of chips at Grocery Story B three blocks away. In most cases, this would be true.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Kanye West sues Lloyd's over cancelled event payout \n Rapper Kanye West has filed a $10m (\u00a37.55m) lawsuit against insurance firm Lloyd\u2019s of London, alleging that the company is withholding payments in the wake of a tour that West infamously cancelled in November 2016 \u2013 and that Lloyd\u2019s are claiming West\u2019s \u201cuse of marijuana\u201d is a factor in the stalled payment.\n\nWest drew headlines during the Saint Pablo tour, particularly after he voiced support for Donald Trump on stage in San Jose. After another bizarre concert in Sacramento, where he made a rambling speech castigating Jay-Z, Beyonc\u00e9, Mark Zuckerberg and Hillary Clinton, he left the stage after three songs, and then cancelled the final 21 concerts of his tour, refunding ticketholders. He was hospitalised for \u201cexhaustion\u201d, spending eight days at a psychiatric centre in Los Angeles.\n\nIn the lawsuit, West\u2019s touring company Very Good Touring writes that they haven\u2019t been given \u201cany indication if they will ever pay or even make a coverage decision, implying that West\u2019s use of marijuana may provide them with a basis to deny the claim and retain the hundreds of thousands of dollars in insurance premiums paid by Very Good.\u201d His lawyer Howard King said that the marijuana accusation was an \u201cunsupportable contention\u201d.\n\n\n\nThe lawsuit also alleges that Lloyd\u2019s fed confidential information about West to news outlets, and states that the insurers\u2019 own selected doctor asserted that West\u2019s mental condition was \u201cdisabling\u201d enough to prevent him from continuing the tour.\n\nA spokesperson for Lloyd\u2019s of London said the company wouldn\u2019t comment on active cases.", "output": "Lawyers for US rapper Kanye West have filed a $10m lawsuit against Lloyd's of London, alleging the insurance company is withholding payment following West's cancelled tour in November 2016, and that Lloyd's has claimed the star's \"marijuana use\" was behind the non-payment. West's lawyer Howard King said the drug accusation was an \u201cunsupportable contention\u201d, while a spokesperson for Lloyd\u2019s of London said the company does not comment on active cases."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Home insurance start-up Kin raises $4m in funding round \n Kin Insurance, a Chicago, IL and Miami, FL-based home insurance startup, secured $4m in funding.\n\nInvestors included Commerce Ventures, Omidyar Network, 500 Startups, Chicago Ventures and Portag3 Ventures, as well as angels including founders and alumni from other top tech companies such as Avant, Square, Capital One, Linkedin and Facebook.\n\nThe company is using the funds to expand operations.\n\nFounded in 2016 by fintech veterans Sean Harper, Lucas Ward and Sebastian Villarreal, Kin Insurance has built a data and technology platform for customers to get home insurance insurance products online. Kin is built on modern technology without paper and legacy IT systems, and does not rely on local brokers for distribution.\n\nThe company has launched Kin Insurance in its first state, Florida.\n\nFinSMEs\n\n01/08/2017", "output": "US home insurance start-up Kin Insurance has raised $4m in a funding round that included participation from Commerce Ventures, Chicago Ventures, Omidyar Network and 500 Startups, among a host of angel investors. Kin Insurance has developed an online platform offering users an array of home insurance products. Kin Insurance has now launched in Florida.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Esure Esure on track to deliver at the positive end of 2017 guidance \n Esure\u2019s motor reinsurance bill went up 33% on a like-for-like basis when its programme renewed on 1 July, the company revealed in its first-half results.\n\nThe increase was caused by the cut to the Ogden discount rate.\n\nThe industry is expecting Ogden to drive a large motor excess-of-loss reinsurance rate increase when programmes come up for renewal, with talk of 100% rate rises. Most UK motor programmes renew on 1 January, but some renew on 1 July.\n\nEsure said its 33% increase equates to \u00a310 a vehicle. The company said: \u201cThe increase in reinsurance costs compares favourably to market estimates and reflects the group\u2019s low risk approach to underwriting, low large loss propensity and strong, long term relationships with its reinsurer panel.\u201d\n\nIt added: \u201cThe group has successfully implemented price increases across its motor portfolio in the first half of the year to help mitigate against the increased cost of reinsurance.\u201d\n\nThe company said its home reinsurance programme also renewed on 1 July, but there were \u201cno material changes\u201d to that programme.\n\nEsure chief executive Stuart Vann said: \u201cI am really pleased with the outcome of our reinsurance renewal on 1 July which is testament to our focused underwriting approach and strong relationships with our reinsurance panel.\n\n\u201cAs indicated earlier in the year, we have increased prices in the first half of the year which mitigate this increased cost to the business, whilst continuing to grow.\u201d", "output": "Raising prices and a 40% increase in trading profit from the motor segment (\u00a341.8m ($55.4m)) helped to drive Esure's H1 2017 pretax profit from continuing operations up 44.6% YoY to \u00a345.1m.\u00a0The group's interim results showed year-on-year increases in gross written premiums (22.8% to \u00a3393.3m) and\u00a0in-force policies (8.8% to 2.258 million). Its combined operating ratio rose 2.6 percentage points\u00a0to 96.6% and its solvency II capital ratio was 153%. The interim dividend rose from 3p to 4.1p per share,\u00a0reflecting a payout ratio of 70% of EPS, including a 20% special dividend. Esure's motor reinsurance bill rose 33% (like-for-like) -\u00a0\u00a310 per vehicle -\u00a0when it renewed on 1 July, due to the reduced Ogden discount rate. No material changes were noted around the renewal of its home insurance programme.\n\n\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurers face order to pay settlement for trademark infringement \n Three insurers should have been ordered to defend a policyholder in a trademark infringement suit, and now may have to pay the case\u2019s settlement, says a federal appeals court, in overturning a lower court ruling.\n\nThe insurers are New York-based Allied World Assurance Co. (U.S.), San Antonio, Texas-based Colony Insurance Co. and Phoenix-based Crum & Foster Specialty Insurance Co., according to Tuesday\u2019s ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco in Crum & Forster Specialty Insurance Co. v. Wildwood USA L.L.C.; Brian Heinze v. Allied World Assurance Co. (U.S.); Colony Insurance Co.; Repar Corp.\n\nSilver Spring, Maryland-based Repar began distributing agricultural pesticides containing the active ingredient tebuconazole in 2008 and obtained a trademark for it, Tebucon, according to court papers in the case.\n\nMr. Heinze, who founded Roseburg, Oregon-based Willowood, formed a joint venture with Repar\u2019s primary stockholders in late 2007, according to court papers.\n\nIn 2011, Willowood stopped purchasing tebuconazole for Repar, but continued to use the Tebucon trademark. Repar then filed suit in U.S. District Court in Eugene, Oregon, charging Willowood with trademark infringement and breach of contract.\n\nIn ensuing litigation, the District Court held Willowood\u2019s insurers were not obligated to defend the company in the case.\n\nAfter the case was settled for $453,625, the District Court said in a February 2016 ruling the insurers were also not obligated to indemnify the settlement. The case was then appealed to the 9th Circuit.\n\n\u201cThe Insurers\u2019 polices each cover injury arising from \u2018use of another\u2019s advertising idea in your \u201cadvertisement,\u201d\u2019 said a unanimous three-judge panel.\n\n\u201cOregon courts broadly interpret the term \u2018arising out of\u2019 in this context \u2026 The District Court should therefore have granted summary judgment to Willowood with respect to the obligation to defend and we remand with instructions to do so,\u201d the ruling said.\n\nThe panel furthermore said there is documentation from attorneys and Willowood\u2019s chief executive officer \u201call indicating that the Repar settlement was at least in part based on covered breach of implied contract claims.\n\n\u201cThis was sufficient to create a triable issue on whether the settlement was for a covered claim,\u201d said the ruling, in remanding the case for a trial on that issue.", "output": "A US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has overturned a decision from February 2016, which ruled insurers Allied World Assurance, Colony Insurance and Crum & Foster Specialty Insurance were not obliged to defend nor indemnify a policyholder in a trademark infringement case involving former joint venture partners Repar and Willowood. The original hearing\u00a0centred on the continued use of\u00a0of the name of a brand of pesticide and was settled for $453,625.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Advisers fear the day Amazon begins to offer investment guidance \n News that Amazon is buying Whole Foods has some financial planners envisioning a transformed advice industry if the internet giant buys its way into the business of delivering personal financial services.\n\nThe prospect is not much of a stretch given the online retailing behemoth already does lending \u2014 to the tune of $1 billion to small businesses over the last year \u2013 as well as payments and credit cards.\n\n\u201cAmazon has the trust and rapport built with millions of Americans,\u201d said Julia Carlson, chief executive of Financial Freedom Wealth Management Group. \u201cThey have the ultimate distribution system set up, so if they wanted to launch something, it\u2019s pretty easy for them since they have the people and their trust.\u201d\n\nForward-thinking advisers say the entrance of a firm like Amazon or Google in the financial advice space would likely appeal mostly to the masses, but it would probably cause advice prices to go down and demands for delivering financial services faster to go up for all.\n\n(More: Whole Foods-Amazon deal \u2014 which funds have the biggest stakes in the merger?)\n\nThe biggest threat from Amazon would be if it partners with an established firm like a Fidelity Investments or The Vanguard Group, advisers said. Such a union would help Amazon with the compliance concerns that tend to keep firms out of highly regulated industries like financial services, and it would offer financial street cred.\n\nHaving the benefit of a respected financial name brand would likely erase hesitations that consumers might have in thinking about Amazon as an expert in handling their life savings.\n\n\u201cAmazon is certainly changing a lot of industries,\u201d said Rose Price, a partner at VLP Financial Advisors. \u201cDepending on what pieces of financial planning they deliver through technology and how they partner with or buy other firms, they could revolutionize how quickly advice is delivered.\u201d\n\nInvestors, especially young ones, increasingly want answers to their financial questions supplied on demand.\n\nWhat would be easier or quicker than asking Alexa, Amazon\u2019s virtual personal assistant, \u201cIs this mutual fund a good investment for me?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s instant, no waiting a month to fit into my schedule,\u201d Ms. Carlson said. \u201cI would be concerned about that disruption in the industry.\u201d\n\nIn addition to speed of delivery, one of Amazon\u2019s advantages in all its businesses is the internet retailer\u2019s use of data to predict what the consumer wants and needs.\n\n(More: In the future, advisers will be at customers\u2019 beck and call)\n\nSome experts believe Amazon \u2014 or another big internet master like Google \u2014 could dip its toes into the advice business by buying or creating a financial aggregator like Mint.com, which consumers use to organize all their financial assets in one place.\n\nThat would be valuable data for Amazon if it were to take the next step of selling advice.\n\n\u201cAggregation is the window into one\u2019s financial life,\u201d Ms. Price said. \u201cIf you can access someone\u2019s aggregated assets, you will already know what people hold and you can send them personalized information and offers and you might get them to act.\u201d\n\nSome advisers believe the entrance of Amazon could spark a new age of financial consciousness if the firm is able to teach the importance of basic financial management to the masses.\n\n\u201cThey have an opportunity to change for the better the landscape of financial planning in America,\u201d said Matthew Ramer, principal at MOR Wealth Management. \u201cThere is a huge sea of people who need basic budgeting help.\u201d\n\nOf course, if Amazon\u2019s guidance steers investors in the wrong direction, the firm could harm a giant swath of people.\n\n(More: Are regulators equipped to monitor robo-advisers as fiduciaries?)\n\n\u201cAmazon has a great opportunity to provide resources I couldn\u2019t give,\u201d Mr. Ramer said. \u201cBut the firm could also help people destroy their financial lives if they do it wrong.\u201d", "output": "Amazon could revolutionise the financial advice sector by partnering with an established firm such as Fidelity Investments or the Vanguard Group and offering its own financial advice services. That's the opinion of advisers, including Julia Carlson, CEO of Financial Freedom Wealth Management Group, in an interview with Investment News. Amazon's expertise in\u00a0using\u00a0data to predict customers' needs, combined with the speed of Alexa, its virtual personal assistant, in answering questions could make\u00a0the retail giant a formidable competitor, driving down\u00a0prices for advice and increasing\u00a0demand."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IKEA begins selling home-storage batteries in UK \n Ikea wants you to look on the sunny side.\n\nThe Swedish home furnishing retailer is entering the solar power storage market. It announced Tuesday that it is partnering with solar company Solarcentury to sell solar batteries to help UK homeowners save on electricity, an indication that power storage is becoming much more accessible.\n\nThe Ikea Solar Battery Storage starts at \u00a33,000 (roughly US$3,970), or \u00a35,000 (roughly $6,612) for homeowners who have solar panels already installed and want to add a battery. Solar panels and battery storage purchased together from Ikea starts at \u00a36,925 (roughly $9,160), a sum homeowners can see saved in roughly 12 years, Ikea said.\n\n\"With energy bills already going up 15% this year, there's never been a better time for customers to take back control of their electricity bills and maximise their savings by switching to solar and solar storage,\" Ikea's Hege Saebjornsen said in a statement.", "output": "Swedish home furnishing retailer IKEA is partnering with solar panel manufacturer Solarcentury to sell solar batteries to UK homeowners. A solar panel and battery storage package is available for \u00a36,925 ($9,160), with payback on the investment usually within 12 years. Standalone batteries start at \u00a33,000."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurtech disrupter Lemonade expands to New Jersey \n Lemonade, the insurance company powered by artificial intelligence and behavioral economics, is now available throughout New Jersey, marking the fourth state in its nationwide expansion strategy.\n\nResidents of New Jersey can now buy homeowners and renters insurance at lemonade.com or through the Lemonade app, joining New York, California and Illinois. The insurance company has received a total of 13 state licenses and plans to continue to launch state-by-state in the coming months, according to a company press release.\n\n\u201cAs Lemonade continues its nationwide rollout, we have a special place in our heart for New Jersey,\u201d said Lemonade Cofounder Shai Wininger in the release. \u201cWe received endless requests to launch there after our New York launch from consumers who work in New York but live across the Hudson, and many of our own team are native Jersey residents. So [this] launch feels like a natural next step.\u201d\n\nLemonade is a licensed insurance carrier, offering homeowners and renters insurance powered by artificial intelligence and behavioral economics. It works to digitize the insurance process and aims for zero paperwork. It is also a Certified B-Corp, where underwriting profits go to nonprofits.\n\nThe company takes a flat 20% fee, treating premiums as belonging to the insured, not the insurer. It then returns unclaimed money during its annual Giveback. Giveback is a feature of Lemonade in which leftover money each year is donated to a cause customers care about. The 2017 Giveback saw more than 10% of Lemonade\u2019s revenue go to 14 different causes chosen by the Lemonade community.\n\nSource: Lemonade Insurance Company\n\nRelated:\n\nTopics New York New Jersey", "output": "Insurance technology firm, Lemonade, has continued its US roll out expanding to its fourth state, New Jersey. The firm writes policies for renters and homeowners using a platform driven by artificial intelligence and behavioural economics. It charges a flat 20% fee and views premiums as belonging to the insured, rather than the insurer. Lemonade has licences to operate in 13 states and already launched in New York, California and Illinois."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cyber insurance chasm opens amid lack of risk pricing, education \n WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Aug. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Threat Sketch, a leading expert in cyber risk assessment, today announced a new white paper analyzing the cyber insurance market titled, \"An Overview of the Cyber Insurance Market.\" This paper is the result of research into the field of cyber insurance and the role it plays in overall cyber security measures for small to medium businesses.\n\n\"At Threat Sketch, our priority is providing products and services to help small to medium businesses prevent and prepare for cyber attacks,\" said Rob Arnold, CEO of Threat Sketch. \"Through our work we found serious gaps in awareness of the threat of cyber attack, but also in education on the types of services available to businesses. This white paper is the result of our ongoing research to help eliminate that gap and provide the education and services these businesses need.\"\n\nIn the paper, Threat Sketch reports first that regardless of how many cyber initiatives a company puts into place, the risk of cyber attack cannot be eliminated. In fact, cyber attacks continue to grow, with a 36 percent increase in ransomware attacks worldwide. In addition, many business insurance policies do not cover cyber attacks. While cyber insurance policies have been around for more than 20 years, fewer than 10 percent of U.S. businesses are thought to purchase these policies.\n\nThe white paper reports three primary reasons for the discrepancy between the need for cyber insurance policies and the businesses purchasing these policies. One is the lack of a reliable data model for insurance companies to appropriately price cyber insurance policies. The other two factors are a lack of education presented to insurance agents and consumers.\n\nThe white paper includes information on how to bridge this education gap, as well as a look at how cyber insurance is an integral part of a business's cyber security solutions. The Threat Sketch Risk Assessment, a high-level, strategic cyber risk assessment developed specifically for small to medium-sized businesses, can help close this gap. \"During development of our risk assessment product, we ran into some of the same issues underwriters encounter, specifically the problem of sparse data sets that didn't fit traditional risk formulas,\" Arnold said. \"Our experience in sourcing and interpreting this highly technical data can help insurance issuers better manage their underwriting activities.\"\n\nClick here to download your free copy of the entire white paper.\n\nAbout Threat Sketch -- Founded in February 2015, in Winston-Salem, NC, Threat Sketch provides tools that enable small business owners and executives to evaluate and manage cyber security at a strategic level. The executive team brings decades of IT, risk analysis, financial/economic and project management experience and expertise to provide tailored, strategic counsel to a wide variety of small business clients. To learn more call 844-487-4757, or visit www.threatsketch.com.\n\nMedia Contacts\n\nLiz Ericksen, Customer Journey Manager\n\n[email protected]\n\n844-487-4757 ext 803\n\nRob Arnold, Threat Sketch CEO\n\n[email protected]\n\nSOURCE Threat Sketch LLC", "output": "Fewer than 10% of US companies are thought to have purchased cyber insurance policies, according to a white paper by cyber risk assessors Threat Sketch. This demonstrates a failure of education and understanding, according the the report. Hacks are on the rise, with a 36% increase in ransomware incidents this year, the company said in \"An Overview of the Cyber Insurance Market\". It blames the shortfall\u00a0on the\u00a0absence of a reliable data model to price policies and a lack or education on the threat among insurance agents and consumers."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Conde Nast branded content outperforms traditional video ads \n by Sara Guaglione , August 2, 2017\n\nA new neuro-science study commissioned by Cond\u00e9 Nast found its branded content was more effective than traditional video advertising on YouTube and Facebook.\n\n\u201cWe commissioned this study to find out how our branded content performs against both traditional video ads as well as editorial and [user-generated] content. What we\u2019ve found is that Cond\u00e9 Nast\u2019s custom content creates emotional connections that positively impact brand perception among next generation consumers,\u201d stated Josh Stinchcomb, chief experiences officer at Cond\u00e9 Nast.\n\nCond\u00e9 Nast teamed up with market research firm Neuro-Insight to monitor 200 people who had either visited one of Cond\u00e9 Nast\u2019s sites or followed one of its brands on social media in the past two weeks.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nThey were shown fashion, finance, beauty and auto branded content as they watched YouTube videos or scrolled through their personal Facebook accounts.\n\nA proprietary brain-mapping technology, called Steady-State Topography (SST), measured the speed of participants\u2019 responses in various parts of the brain linked to feelings and decisioning while watching Cond\u00e9 Nast\u2019s branded content, Stephanie Fried, who oversaw the study and is Cond\u00e9 Nast\u2019s EVP of research, analytics and audience development, told Publishers Daily.\n\nThe technology measured memory encoding and emotional intensity effectiveness. Memory encoding measures activity in the brain responsible for storing memories and exercises for the long term (more than few minutes). Emotional intensity relates to the strength of an emotion experienced, \u201cand helps us understand which elements trigger a strong emotional response,\u201d Fried said.\n\nShe said these metrics have been \u201cvalidated scientifically\u2026 as an indicator of purchase.\u201d\n\nThe study found that on YouTube, Cond\u00e9 Nast's branded content is 60% more effective for memory encoding than traditional YouTube pre-roll.\n\nOn Facebook, Cond\u00e9 Nast custom content was 17% more engaging than Facebook content overall. It was also more effective than brand-promoted content, \u201ccreating extremely strong memory impressions for the brands,\u201d according to a statement.\n\nWhen delivered by Cond\u00e9 Nast brands, the branded content performs 72% higher above brand impact targets.\n\nGoing forward, Fried said the findings will help Cond\u00e9 Nast \u201cdevelop the right content/storytelling for the right brands on the right platforms through the right distribution methods.\u201d", "output": "Cond\u00e9 Nast has learned that its own branded content is 60% more effective than traditional YouTube pre-roll, and 17% more engaging than Facebook content overall, according to a scientific study performed by market research firm Neuro-Insight. The study monitored the responses of 200 people using brain-mapping technology. The results revealed Cond\u00e9 Nast's custom content was creating extremely strong memory impressions for the brands.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon uses YouTube stars for e-commerce makeover show \n YouTube star Rosanna Pansino Tumblr Amazon is planning a home makeover show featuring YouTube stars\n\nThe show, 'Overhaul,' will feature furniture and other products people can buy on Amazon.com\n\nIf the model proves successful, it could trigger a trend of shows blending entertainment and commerce\n\nAmazon is planning a home makeover show that will be designed to help the retailer sell products.\n\nThe e-commerce behemoth has partnered with Kin Community, a web video production/ad company, to produce \"Overhaul,\" a six-episode show that will feature several YouTube stars having their home's made over.\n\n\"Overhaul\" is being hosted and co-produced by Christiane Lemieux, founder of DwellStudio.\n\nWhile the show is designed to be entertainment, it will also be loaded with products people can buy on Amazon, including furniture sold by Lemieux's companies. It will live on a special hub on Amazon.com where people can easily click to purchase items in the show, as well as more affordable alternatives.\n\n\"The goal with this show is to both inspire and entertain,\" said Kin Community CEO Michael Wayne. \"It's unique in that it combines the power of Kin's creator community, the award-winning quality of our production studio and commerce.\"\n\n\"Overhaul\" is scheduled to premiere in September. The first two episodes feature YouTube baking star Rosanna Pansino and beauty blogger Teni Panosian. In addition to the six episodes, each of the featured digital creators will produce videos showing their home after being made over, which will be distributed on their YouTube channels and other social platforms. These videos will also drive people to Amazon to shop for featured products.\n\nAmazon, of course, has made a big splash in recent years producing and distributing prestige TV shows like \"Transparent\" and \"The Man in the High Castle.\" But those series ostensibly exist to sell Amazon Prime subscriptions.\n\nWhile Amazon has featured commerce-related video content on its site for a while from companies like the female focused Stylehaul, this is the first time it's produced a show explicitly designed to facilitate shopping.\n\nAmazon's new show Overhaul will feature YouTube stars getting home makeovers Amazon\n\nKristiana Helmick, director of home innovation at Amazon, said the idea for the series was born out of Amazon's ongoing retail partnership with Lemieux.\n\n\"Amazon Home is constantly looking to innovate and find ways to bring our customers inspiration when searching for products,\" said Helmick. \"The 'Overhaul' series is a great opportunity to provide our customers with some curation and guidance when searching through our large selection of products and we continue to look for new and different ways to do that. ... This is the first time Amazon has had a co-branded storefront tied to a video series.\"\n\nIf successful, \"Overhaul\" could spark an potent trend, one that Amazon would be uniquely positioned to exploit. For years, people in the media world have talked about a future where you can watch your favorite show and buy a character's outfit (the talk has been around for so long, the example many have used was \"you'll soon be able to buy Ross's shirt on \"Friends.\")\n\nKin Community was originally built as a web video company focused on women. In recent years, it's evolved into a boutique multi-channel network, working with YouTube talents like Pansino and Hannah Hart to produce and distribute original shows, and also help them connect with marketers. Last year, Kin raised $13.5 million in new funding.", "output": "Amazon has partnered with web video production and ad firm Kin Community to create its first show specifically designed to encourage online shopping. Overhaul, a new six-part series in which the homes of YouTube stars are revamped, will be broadcast from September on a special Amazon.com hub, with each episode filled with items viewers can click to purchase on Amazon, alongside affordable alternatives."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pollution absorbing tunnels could be placed on UK roads \n Major roads could be turned into tunnels covered with pollution-absorbing material in an effort to cut emission fumes and improve air quality.\n\nHighways Agency officials are studying a Dutch scheme in which cantilevered canopies are constructed over the most polluted sections of road to prevent local residents breathing in noxious car fumes.\n\nPoor air quality is reported to kill as many as 40,000 people a year prematurely in the UK, and levels in many areas regularly breach European legal limits. The government has twice had its plans to tackle the issue ruled illegal by the courts.\n\nThe tunnel plans are outlined in an air improvement strategy plan to help reduce pollution. Officials say they are investing millions of pounds in new technology to improve air quality around roads in the next five years. The Department of Transport predicts traffic volumes are expected to increase by 55% between 2010 and 2040.\n\n\u201cThe best solution to accommodating the extra traffic on our roads, without negatively impacting on air quality, is cleaner low-emission vehicles. In the meantime we are investing \u00a3100m to test new ideas including less-polluting fuels and road barriers which can absorb harmful emissions,\u201d said an agency spokesman.\n\n\u2018\u2018We have identified that a cantilever barrier or canopy, which is a tunnel-like structure designed to prevent vehicle emissions, might be a possible solution, though the air quality benefits of this are still to be fully understood. We are now working with the Dutch Roads Authority to measure air quality around an existing cantilever barrier on their network.\u2019\u2019\n\nHighways officials said they have also trialled two different types of barriers. The first, featuring wood panels 4 metres and 6 metres high, were fitted to the M62 near junction 18 in Manchester.\n\nA second trial, which is ongoing, features a 3 metre high fence coated in a mineral polymer material capable of absorbing nitrogen dioxide. \u201cThe results from the monitoring of this trial will help us understand if this has been a success with the potential to implement it on the rest of our network,\u201d said a Highways Agency spokesman.\n\nA Highways England spokesman said on Wednesday they were also carrying out emission testing from a range of diesel vehicles using a new type of fuel believed to help improve emissions on both motorways and urban driving.\n\nTo help boost electric car use they will aim to ensure that 95% of the roads network will have a vehicle charging point every 20 miles.", "output": "Major roads in the UK could be covered with cantilevered canopies designed to absorb pollution. Officials from the Highways Agency are studying a scheme in the Netherlands which uses such canopies on the most polluted sections of roads to protect local residents from emission fumes. Two forms of canopy have been trialled in the UK. The first, made from wood panels, was sited in Manchester on the M62. The second, ongoing,\u00a0trial features a fence coated with a mineral polymer which absorbs nitrogen dioxide. Each year, 40,000 people die prematurely in the UK due to air pollution.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Standard Life sells entire holding in Sports Direct \n Sports Direct has lost its biggest independent investor as some fund managers fear the crisis-hit retailer is incapable of addressing its corporate governance issues.\n\nThe Guardian has learned Standard Life, the largest independent investor at last year\u2019s annual meeting, has bailed out of the stock, selling its entire 5.8% holding, and Aviva said it had sold down its stake.\n\nBoth had been vocal critics of the firm, which on Thursday released its annual report before the annual meeting next month.\n\nThe future of chairman Keith Hellawell hangs in the balance after he promised to step down if most of the minority shareholders did not back his re-election.\n\nIn January, 54% of independent shareholders failed to reappoint the former West Yorkshire chief constable, the second time they had voted against him in four months. He was saved by the support of the Sports Direct founder and chief executive, Mike Ashley.\n\nInvestors have expressed concerns over the dominance of Ashley, the firm\u2019s excessive pay rewards, and poor treatment of workers.\n\nOne fund management firm, which did not want to be named, said: \u201cWe are concerned about the direction of travel at the firm and what will happen next.\u201d\n\nA Sports Direct spokesman declined to comment on Standard Life selling its stake.\n\nHowever, the annual report shows Sports Direct has taken a series of steps to address its problems.\n\nStaff are now able to give feedback online and flag issues of concern. \u201cAll contributions received are read by senior management,\u201d the annual report says. \u201cImprovements as a result of this dialogue include changes to working arrangements, free wifi in canteens and the introduction of English lessons.\u201d\n\nKeith Hellawell, chairman of Sports Direct. Doubts remain about his future at the sportswear retailer. Photograph: Reuters\n\nSports Direct employs a large number of workers at its main Shirebrook warehouse who do not have English as their first language.\n\nIts staff forum has been replaced by a \u201clistening group\u201d that consists of workers drawn from Shirebrook. Management attend monthly meetings during which there is an open forum including matters raised by agency employees.\n\nIt is also launching a health and wellbeing service for staff. This comes after 110 ambulances or paramedic cars were dispatched to the Shirebrook between January 2013 and April 2016, with 50 cases classified as life-threatening.\n\nA Guardian investigation in 2015 prompted a parliamentary inquiry last year, in which MPs likened the depot to a Victorian workhouse.\n\nThe annual report says: \u201cThis will facilitate a health worker providing training for a team of our people who will become welfare guardians for their fellow staff. The past two years have been tough on our people and protecting our people remains a priority.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe firm has also been working with Derbyshire police to provide advice over anti-drug policies and anti-hate crime initiatives.\n\nHellawell said: \u201cWe have made positive progress across the business as we continue to strive to ensure that all our people are treated with dignity and respect.\n\n\u201cFY17 has been a transitional year for the company and for our people. It is my firm belief that Sports Direct is a company of which Britain can rightly feel very proud.\n\n\u201cI hope that the progress we have made over the last 12 months will be taken into account by shareholders prior to the next shareholder vote at our AGM in 2017.\u201d\n\nIt was enough to impress one investor, who said: \u201cThey have made great strides but there is only so much you can do in 12 months.\u201d\n\nThe report also lists a range of risks that could harm the business. Ashley is defending the business from cyber-attacks with \u201cexternal penetration testing\u201d and on Brexit he has begun \u201cnegotiations with lenders\u201d and is monitoring \u201cmovements in customer behaviour\u201d.\n\n", "output": "Standard Life, the largest independent investor in Sports Direct, has sold its entire 5.8% holding in the retailer due to fears the company is incapable of dealing with its corporate governance difficulties. Aviva has also reduced its stake in the firm. Both investors had strongly criticised Sports Direct, which has faced a series of scandals relating to poor treatment of workers and excessive pay awards. The position of chairman Keith Hellawell is now in doubt following his promise to step down if the majority of the minority shareholders did not support his re-election."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Electronic tagging of cattle could boost productivity: NFU \n Blog: Could bovine EID drive efficiency in the supply chain?\n\nAs a member of the Defra Traceability Design Board we\u2019ve been looking at how the industry could mandate the introduction of EID tagging alongside the introduction of a new replacement database to record animal movement history.\n\nWe believe that moving to digital reporting, recording and EID for cattle has the potential to drive the single biggest efficiency gain for both Defra and the supply chain. Existing paper-based systems, although functional, are now seen as a little clunky, time-consuming and can be prone to transcription errors. EID would allow almost real-time digital recording of data.\n\nThe benefits are significant: reduced handling to read tags improving health and safety on farms and at processing sites and markets reducing costs and errors.\n\nHowever, the potential of linking real-time movement history to management information is where the big wins will come \u2013 this might include assurance status, lifetime medicine history, health status and feedback from processors on inspection and classification data to finishers and rearers that could really drive productivity gains.\n\nHow we introduce EID is of course the challenge. A phased approach will no doubt be necessary whereby calves registered from a point in time would be EID identified. This would remove the need for a cattle passport as the tag would \u2018talk\u2019 in real time to the database. This database would hold all the animals\u2019 movement history alongside the date of birth, breed, sex, dam ID and holding of birth.\n\nFurther phases could see a date in time where animals that move off the holding would need to be EID identified and then so do those animals that remain on farm.\n\nThe aim would be to keep the transitional period relatively short so the benefits of EID is realised by all in the supply chain, as soon as possible.", "output": "Electronic identification (EID) of cows would vastly increase the efficiency of cattle supply chains, writes John Royle, the NFU\u2019s chief livestock adviser, in a blog for NFU Online. The Defra Traceability Design Board believes that the introduction of EID, in addition to digital reporting and recording, could provide \u201cthe single biggest efficiency gain for both Defra and the supply chain\u201d. Current paper-based systems are slow and error-prone, whereas EID would enable almost real-time data recording. The most significant productivity gains would come from the linking of real-time movement history to information management. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers find former analyses of concrete corrosion fall short \n New Taminabr\u00fccke view from below. Credit: flickr/Kecko/CC BY 2.0\n\nWill reinforced concrete bridges still be standing for years to come, or has corrosion already set in? ETH scientists have discovered that previous concrete samples were too small to allow a reliable statement on the condition of reinforced concrete.\n\nTaminabr\u00fccke opened in June this year following four years of construction. At 475 metres, the reinforced concrete bridge is the longest arch bridge in Switzerland. This is a construction created to last numerous generations, one that will carry vehicles safely across the deep gorge between Pf\u00e4fers and Valens for decades to come. But as with any infrastructure project made from reinforced concrete, here too the ravages of time are ready to do their worst. Reinforced concrete may enable architecturally impressive structures, but as both experience and numerous worldwide studies confirm, the material is prone to harmful environmental influences, such as CO2 in the atmosphere and de-icing salt in particular. Over the years, chloride from the salt penetrates the concrete until it eventually reaches the steel reinforcement and the armouring iron begins to rust.\n\nReinforced steel structures are checked regularly to detect damage early and prevent corrosion \u2013 the destruction of steel by penetrating chlorides. This is a big and increasingly important job when all the bridges, tunnels and buildings made from reinforced concrete between the 1950s and the 1970s in Switzerland are taken into account.\n\nAnd the older the structure, the higher the risk that the reinforcing steel in the concrete will corrode. De-icing salt is used to keep bridges, streets and tunnels free of ice in winter, but over the years leads to a greater chloride content in concrete; the mix of cement, water and rock pieces is naturally alkaline with a high pH value that actually protects the steel inside from rust and corrosion.\n\nAn expensive problem\n\n\"Corrosion is responsible for up to 90 percent of damage to reinforced steel structures,\" explains Ueli Angst, professor at the Institute for Building Materials. \"And with more and more structures reaching a critical age, the annual cost of repairs in Switzerland could amount to between CHF 5 billion and CHF 20 billion.\" Switzerland is not the only country with this expensive problem. Most of the industrialised world is faced with similar challenges. After all, concrete is the most-used manufactured material worldwide. Some years ago in the US, it was calculated that the cost of corrosion could represent 3 to 5 percent of the country's GDP \u2013 not including indirect costs, such as congestion or loss of production.\n\nConsidering these high costs and the large number of structures in question, accurate assessment of the condition of reinforced concrete structures \u2013 including if and when repairs are required \u2013 is hugely important. Along with visual appraisal and non-destructive examination methods, extraction of concrete samples is another key process, as ETH professor Bernhard Elsener \u2013 who focusses on the corrosion and durability of building materials \u2013 explains: \"The chloride concentration in the samples is calculated in the laboratory. If the sample exceeds the critical threshold of 0.4 percent relative to cement weight, not just near the surface but in the deeper levels, the assumption to date has been that corrosion could soon set in and that repairs were required.\"\n\nThese small samples are typically about 5 to 20 centimetres, a practical size for handling in the laboratory. However, a current study by the two ETH professors shows that the conclusions drawn from examinations are incorrect in many cases. \"In our research project, we examined reinforced concrete specimens of various sizes and discovered that corrosive chloride concentration was far more apparent in smaller samples and subject to larger fluctuations than in larger specimens,\" explains Angst.\n\nNew critical threshold\n\n\"Concrete is not a homogeneous material. The size effect of corrosion can be directly accounted for by these differences,\" explains Angst. \"Only the analysis of a larger specimen, say a metre long, will allow a realistic assessment of the condition.\" This is difficult for practical reasons, so the two ETH materials experts have developed a mathematical formula that allows conversion of the critical threshold in a certain specimen to any other size \u2013 thus replacing the fixed critical threshold of 0.4 percent used until now.\n\nBut the results of the ETH study do not just apply to laboratory examination of concrete samples. The findings are also relevant for the use of sensors that can be built into reinforced concrete structures to monitor corrosion. These sensors are usually small and have tended to provide overly optimistic data. For more precise forecasts, sensors of a greater size or number are in order.\n\nThe scientists believe that the only way to prevent corrosion damage entirely is to switch to expensive high-alloy steel. \"This costs about ten times more than normal reinforcing steel,\" says Elsener, \"yet when you look at the subsequent costs of regular inspections and repairs it could work out cheaper in the long run.\" This is particularly true when you consider the increased use of blended cements \u2013 with as-yet unknown durability properties \u2013 as a measure of reducing CO2 emissions.\n\nMore information: Ueli M. Angst et al. The size effect in corrosion greatly influences the predicted life span of concrete infrastructures, Science Advances (2017). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1700751 Journal information: Science Advances", "output": "Swiss researchers have found that some previous analyses of concrete corrosion were inadequate. Writing in Science Advances, scientists from the science and engineering university ETH Z\u00fcrich said that previous concrete samples were too small to obtain a reliable assessment on the condition of reinforced concrete. The material is vulnerable to environmental damage from CO2 in the air and de-icing salt. Ueli Angst, a professor at the Institute for Building Materials,\u00a0said corrosion is behind up to 90% of damage to reinforced steel structures, meaning that the yearly cost of repairs in Switzerland alone could be up to CHF20bn ($20.5bn).\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Severe Amazon droughts linked to human action \n If you are like me, you picture the Amazon region as an ever lush, wet, tropical region filled with numerous plant and animal species. Who would imagine the Amazon experiencing drought? I mean sure, if we think of drought as \u201cless water than usual,\u201d then any place could have a drought. But what I tend to envision with respect to drought is truly dry.\n\nPeople who work in this field have a more advanced understanding than I do about drought, how and why it occurs, its frequency and severity, and the impact on natural and human worlds. This recognition brings us to a very interesting paper recently published in Scientific Reports, entitled Unprecedented drought over tropical South America in 2016: significantly under-predicted by tropical SST [sea surface temperature]. So, what did this paper show?\n\n\n\nWell, the Amazon region does encounter periodic droughts. There was one in 2005, another in 2010, both of which were 100-year events, and the most recent one in 2015-2016. The authors of this study, Amir Erfanian, Guiling Wang, and Lori Fomenko, all from the University of Connecticut, measured drought in three ways. They quantified the precipitation deficits and water storage on the ground. They also used two different vegetation measures of drought. The results showed that the most recent drought was unprecedented in severity. The video below shows a brief visual overview of the findings of this paper:\n\n\n\nExtreme drought in tropical South America.\n\nBut the authors really wanted to know why the drought occurred in the first place and why it was so severe. Droughts in the Amazon region are mainly driven by surface water temperatures in the neighboring oceans, particularly in the El Ni\u00f1o/La Ni\u00f1a region. So, the authors looked at the relationship between changes in precipitation and sea surface temperatures in tropical oceans. They found that warmer than usual water in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans was the main driver for the reduced rainfall during the three extreme droughts in the past decade.\n\n\n\nThe authors also found that the water temperatures alone could not adequately explain the size and severity of the 2015-2016 drought. This suggests that there are other factors involved as well. To be clear, the authors found that the relationship between water temperatures and drought worked well for prior droughts (the 2005 and 2010 droughts as well as 1983 and 1998 droughts, also El Ni\u00f1o years) but fell apart in 2015-2016. That is, using the relationship, the predicted 2015-2016 drought should not have been nearly as severe or as large as it was. The paper also reports that the 2015-2016 drought clearly exceeded that of the 100-year events in 2005 and 2010. So, in approximately one decade, this zone has had three 100-year events. Quite astonishing.\n\nSo why was SST unable to explain the 2015-2016 drought, like it had for past events? Part of it has to do with land-use changes. That is, human changes to the land surface such as deforestation. Another part is related to warming from greenhouse gases. It is clear that land-use changes can affect drought. As farmers deforest, for instance, they convert woodlands and forests into agricultural land. This changes not only the darkness (reflectivity) of the land, but it also impacts the transfer of water to and from the atmosphere (evapotranspiration).\n\nOne might ask how warming affects droughts. As air temperatures increase, air is able to evaporate water more rapidly and dry out surfaces. At the same time, air can contain more water vapor so that when rain does occur, it is more often in heavy downpours. These two changes underlie what is referred to as an accelerated hydrological cycle. Simply put, man-made warming is accelerating the movement of water through the ecosystem, which can cause drought even if precipitation does not decrease. Warming also causes changes in the large-scale patterns of air motion (atmospheric circulation) that reduces rainfall in this region.\n\nDr. Guiling Wang Photograph: Christopher Larosa\n\nI communicated with the senior author, Dr. Wang, who told me:\n\nSince oceanic forcing could not fully explain the severity of the latest drought, one will have to account for the roles of greenhouse gas warming, land use land cover changes, and/or dynamic ecosystem feedback in order to advance the understanding, attribution and prediction of extreme droughts in this region. The frequent recurrence of severe droughts in the recent decade may be a precursor of what the future might have in store for this regional climate and ecosystem.\n\nSo why do we care? Well, for a number of reasons. First of all, droughts in this part of the world create an increased risk for desertification and fire occurrence and hurt the region\u2019s ecosystem, harm trees, and accelerate the release of carbon dioxide. We know that the 2005 drought, which was a 100-year event, led to a record number of wildfires and increased emissions. We also know that similar consequences occurred five years later during the 2010 drought. Similarly, smaller droughts in Brazil in 2007 and 2012 caused widespread water supply problems, particularly in densely populated locations.\n\nTo make a long story short, investigating these additional factors may help better explain the most recent Amazon drought. Simply using the past relationship between SST and drought was not a sufficient explanation. This finding, and the recognition that droughts present real consequences for both human societies and natural ecological systems, should motivate us to take actions to reduce harm in the future.", "output": "The Amazon has experienced three 100-year droughts, or events that have a 1% chance of occurring in any given year, in the past decade, according to research from the University of Connecticut. The last drought, which began in 2015, was of unprecedented severity. Droughts in the region are primarily driven by surface water temperatures in nearby oceans, particularly in the El Ni\u00f1o/La Ni\u00f1a area. However, while this factor was the main cause of the latest droughts, it does not explain the intensity of the third event. Researchers believe such intensity resulted from factors including deforestation and warming from greenhouse gases."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Foxconn division to make batteries for California's Primus Power \n One among a small handful of redox flow-based energy storage system providers crossing the line from pilot phase into commercial deployment that includes the likes of VIZn, Redflow and RedT, Primus Power released its latest range of storage systems, EnergyPod 2, in February this year. The devices use zinc bromide battery chemistry generally targeting energy storage duration of around five hours.\n\nThe company received a US$32 million funding boost in March when it garnered investment from groups including Matador Capital from Saudi Arabia. That cash injection made Primus the chief recipient of venture capital funding in energy storage in the first quarter of this year, according to VC funding and M&A reports from Mercom Capital.\n\nIn a recent interview with Energy-Storage.News, Nancy Pfund of social impact investing firm DBL Partners also pointed out that one of Primus Power\u2019s energy storage systems has been installed on a pilot basis at Microsoft\u2019s HQ. Pfund said it demonstrated the commercial potential of the technology.\n\nPfund, who was one of the earliest VC investors in Tesla before it floated on the stock exchange called that project \u201cvery significant in terms of signalling that part of the toolkit for corporations to reduce costs by going renewable and achieve their sustainability goals \u2013 a big part of that toolkit \u2013 is the battery or the storage architecture\u201d.\n\nChinese market proximity", "output": "California flow battery maker Primus Power has entered into a manufacturing services agreement with Foxsemicon, a subsidiary of Chinese company Foxconn, to assemble and test its EnergyPod batteries in China. The aim is to accelerate customer shipments into the country, where the energy market is set to take off, while Primus Power said Foxsemicon's \"engineering capability, global purchasing power and in-house fabrication, assembly and testing\" would help reduce manufacturing costs.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Statoil builds first floating wind turbines off Scottish coast \n One of the enormous turbines being towed out to sea. Roar Lindefjeld / Woldcam via Statoil\n\nThis summer five wind turbines are being towed out into the North Sea, where they will be the first ever floating offshore wind farm.\n\nThe turbines, built in Norway this year, have been dragged across the ocean to Scotland, where they will start working just off the coast.\n\nThe project \u2014 known as Hywind Scotland \u2014 cost a total of NOK 2 billion (\u00a3193 million, or $253 million).\n\nIt is expected to generate enough power for 20,000 households when it starts producing energy later this year, according to Statoil, the Norwegian state energy company behind the project.\n\nTake a look at the slides below to see how the turbines work, and why an idea once dismissed as \"crazy\" is coming to life.", "output": "Norwegian state energy company Statoil has constructed the world's first floating offshore wind farm, for use about 30 km off the Scottish coast. The NOK2bn ($253m) Hywind Scotland project, set to be operational this year, comprises five wind turbines, designed to sit on the surface of the water and capable of generating 6 MW each \u2013\u00a0with enough combined electricity output to power 20,000 UK homes. \"Some people thought we were crazy when we put a giant wind turbine on top of a floating spar structure and towed it out to sea,\" the company said in a statement."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FMC Lithium raises outlook second time this year \n PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --\n\nSecond Quarter 2017 Highlights\n\nConsolidated revenue of $657 million , up 7 percent versus Q2 '16\n\n, up 7 percent versus Q2 '16 Consolidated GAAP earnings of $0.56 per diluted share, up 14 percent versus Q2 '16\n\nper diluted share, up 14 percent versus Q2 '16 Consolidated adjusted earnings per diluted share of $0.48 , up 4 percent versus Q2 '16\n\n, up 4 percent versus Q2 '16 Agricultural Solutions segment earnings of $96 million , down 5 percent versus Q2 '16\n\n, down 5 percent versus Q2 '16 Lithium segment earnings of $24 million , up 47 percent versus Q2 '16\n\n, up 47 percent versus Q2 '16 Narrowing guidance range for 2017 adjusted earnings per diluted share to $2.30 to $2.50 1,2\n\nFMC's previously announced transactions with DuPont on track to close on November 1, 2017\n\nFMC Corporation (NYSE: FMC) today reported second quarter revenue of $657 million, which is an increase of 7 percent year-over-year. On a GAAP basis, the company reported earnings of $0.56 per diluted share in the second quarter, or $75 million, which is 14 percent higher than the GAAP earnings of $0.49 per diluted share, or $65 million, in the second quarter of 2016. Second quarter 2017 adjusted earnings per diluted share were $0.48, which excludes approximately 24 cents attributable to the reporting of Health and Nutrition in discontinued operations.\n\nLogo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111101/NE97440LOGO\n\nPierre Brondeau, FMC president, CEO and chairman said: \"FMC delivered another solid quarter. In Ag Solutions, we saw strong volumes in Latin America and successful new product launches into Asia. Lithium earnings increased by over 45 percent, on higher pricing. Our lithium hydroxide expansion began selling product to customers in the second quarter and will be at full run rate by the fourth quarter.\"\n\nFMC Agricultural Solutions\n\nFMC Agricultural Solutions reported second quarter revenue of $583 million and segment earnings of $96 million. Second quarter segment revenue increased 6 percent year-over-year, with volume increasing 10 percent, partially offset by a 4 percent decline in price. Segment earnings decreased 5 percent compared to the second quarter of 2016, with price and geographic mix shift having the largest negative impact.\n\nAgricultural Solutions full-year segment revenue is forecasted to be in the range of $2.3 billion to $2.4 billion, an increase of 3 percent at the mid-point compared to 2016, and full-year segment earnings are expected to be in the range of $415 million to $445 million, an increase of 8 percent at the mid-point. 2 Segment earnings margin is expected to be approximately 20 percent in the second half of 2017. Third quarter segment earnings are forecasted to be in the range of $100 million to $120 million, an increase of 22 percent at the mid-point compared to the prior year quarter.\n\nFMC Lithium\n\nFMC Lithium reported second quarter segment revenue of $74 million, an increase of 17 percent from the prior-year quarter. Segment earnings increased 47 percent to $24 million in the quarter versus $17 million in the prior-year quarter. Significantly higher prices and improved mix were partially offset by increased costs.\n\nThe outlook for Lithium for the full year has been increased. Segment revenue for the full year of 2017 is forecasted to be in the range of $340 million to $360 million, an increase of 33 percent at the mid-point compared to 2016, while full-year segment earnings are expected to be between $115 million and $125 million. This revised forecast for full-year segment earnings represents an increase of $10 million versus prior guidance and an increase of over 70 percent at the mid-point compared to the prior year. Third quarter segment earnings are expected to be in the range of $30 million to $35 million, an increase of approximately 85 percent at the mid-point compared to the prior year quarter.\n\n2017 Outlook\n\nFMC expects adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of $2.30 to $2.50 for the full year 2017, excluding any benefit from the pending DuPont (NYSE:DD) Crop Protection transaction.1,2\n\nUpdate on Transactions with DuPont\n\nFMC continues to expect both the Crop Protection and Health and Nutrition transactions with DuPont will close on November 1, 2017.\n\nWebcast and Supplemental Information\n\nThe company will post supplemental information on the web at www.FMC.com, including its 2017 Outlook Statement, definitions of non-GAAP terms and reconciliations of non-GAAP figures to the nearest available GAAP term.\n\nAbout FMC\n\nFor more than a century, FMC Corporation has served the global agricultural, industrial and consumer markets with innovative solutions, applications and quality products. Revenue totaled approximately $3.3 billion in 2016. FMC employs approximately 6,000 people throughout the world and operates its businesses in three segments: FMC Agricultural Solutions, FMC Health and Nutrition and FMC Lithium. On March 31, 2017, FMC announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire a significant portion of DuPont's Crop Protection business and to sell FMC Health and Nutrition to DuPont. Closing is expected to occur in the fourth quarter of 2017. For more information, visit www.FMC.com.\n\nSafe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Act of 1995: Statements in this news release that are forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning specific factors described in FMC Corporation's 2016 Form 10-K and other SEC filings. Such information contained herein represents management's best judgment as of the date hereof based on information currently available. FMC Corporation does not intend to update this information and disclaims any legal obligation to the contrary. Historical information is not necessarily indicative of future performance.\n\nThis press release contains certain \"non-GAAP financial terms\" which are defined on our website www.fmc.com. In addition, we have also provided on our website at www.fmc.com reconciliations of non-GAAP terms to the most directly comparable GAAP term.\n\nAlthough we provide forecasts for adjusted earnings per share and adjusted cash from operations (both of which are non-GAAP financial measures), we are not able to forecast the most directly comparable measures calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP. Certain elements of the composition of the GAAP amounts are not predictable, making it impractical for us to forecast. Such elements include, but are not limited to, restructuring, acquisition charges, and discontinued operations and related cash activity. As a result, no GAAP outlook is provided.\n\nOutlook excludes any earnings from the pending acquisition of a significant portion of DuPont's Crop Protection business, as well as Health and Nutrition which is reported in discontinued operations.\n\nFMC CORPORATION CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME (LOSS) (Unaudited, in millions, except per share amounts) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended June 30 June 30 2017 2016 2017 2016 Revenue $ 656.8 $ 615.3 $ 1,252.8 $ 1,221.7 Costs of sales and services 422.4 379.9 802.2 770.3 Gross margin 234.4 235.4 450.6 451.4 Selling, general and administrative expenses 126.4 110.6 236.1 220.7 Research and development expenses 32.0 33.2 60.2 67.4 Restructuring and other charges (income) 6.9 9.1 15.2 18.6 Total costs and expenses 587.7 532.8 1,113.7 1,077.0 Income (loss) from operations 69.1 82.5 139.1 144.7 Equity in (earnings) loss of affiliates (0.1) \u2014 (0.2) \u2014 Interest expense, net 17.2 15.2 32.9 31.0 Income (loss) from continuing operations before income taxes 52.0 67.3 106.4 113.7 Provision (benefit) for income taxes 3.3 20.5 12.7 40.9 Income (loss) from continuing operations 48.7 46.8 93.7 72.8 Discontinued operations, net of income taxes 26.6 20.2 (142.2) 42.9 Net income (loss) $ 75.3 $ 67.0 $ (48.5) $ 115.7 Less: Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests 0.6 1.8 1.0 2.2 Net income (loss) attributable to FMC stockholders $ 74.7 $ 65.2 $ (49.5) $ 113.5 Amounts attributable to FMC stockholders: Income (loss) from continuing operations, net of tax $ 48.2 $ 45.0 $ 92.7 $ 70.6 Discontinued operations, net of tax 26.5 20.2 (142.2) 42.9 Net income (loss) $ 74.7 $ 65.2 $ (49.5) $ 113.5 Basic earnings (loss) per common share attributable to FMC\n\nstockholders: Continuing operations $ 0.36 $ 0.34 $ 0.69 $ 0.52 Discontinued operations 0.20 0.15 (1.06) 0.32 Basic earnings per common share $ 0.56 $ 0.49 $ (0.37) $ 0.84 Average number of shares outstanding used in basic earnings per share computations 134.2 133.9 134.1 133.9 Diluted earnings (loss) per common share attributable to FMC\n\nstockholders: Continuing operations $ 0.36 $ 0.34 $ 0.69 $ 0.52 Discontinued operations 0.20 0.15 (1.06) 0.32 Diluted earnings per common share $ 0.56 $ 0.49 $ (0.37) $ 0.84 Average number of shares outstanding used in diluted earnings per share 135.6 134.6 135.3 134.4 Other Data: Capital additions $ 15.2 $ 22.4 $ 26.7 $ 45.3 Depreciation and amortization expense $ 22.5 $ 24.7 $ 46.1 $ 49.6\n\nFMC CORPORATION RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES RECONCILIATION OF NET INCOME (LOSS) ATTRIBUTABLE TO FMC STOCKHOLDERS (GAAP) TO\n\nADJUSTED AFTER-TAX EARNINGS FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS, ATTRIBUTABLE TO FMC\n\nSTOCKHOLDERS (NON-GAAP) (Unaudited, in millions, except per share amounts) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended June 30 June 30 2017 2016 2017 2016 Net income (loss) attributable to FMC stockholders (GAAP) $ 74.7 $ 65.2 $ (49.5) $ 113.5 Corporate special charges (income): Restructuring and other charges (income) 6.9 9.1 15.2 18.6 Non-operating pension and postretirement charges (income) (4.1) 1.2 (8.7) 2.3 Acquisition-related charges 20.7 5.0 29.9 12.4 Income tax expense (benefit) on Corporate special charges (income) (8.1) (4.5) (12.5) (9.7) Discontinued operations attributable to FMC stockholders, net of income taxes (26.5) (20.2) 142.2 (42.9) Tax adjustment 1.2 6.5 6.6 16.1 Adjusted after-tax earnings from continuing operations\n\nattributable to FMC stockholders (Non-GAAP) $ 64.8 $ 62.3 $ 123.2 $ 110.3 Diluted earnings per common share (GAAP) $ 0.56 $ 0.49 $ (0.37) $ 0.84 Corporate special charges (income) per diluted share, before tax: Restructuring and other charges (income) 0.05 0.06 0.11 0.14 Non-operating pension and postretirement charges (0.03) 0.01 (0.06) 0.02 Acquisition-related charges 0.15 0.04 0.22 0.09 Income tax expense (benefit) on Corporate special charges (income), per diluted share (0.06) (0.03) (0.09) (0.07) Discontinued operations per diluted share (0.20) (0.15) 1.05 (0.32) Tax adjustments per diluted share 0.01 0.04 0.05 0.12 Diluted adjusted after-tax earnings from continuing\n\noperations per share, attributable to FMC stockholders (Non-\n\nGAAP) $ 0.48 $ 0.46 $ 0.91 $ 0.82 Average number of shares outstanding used in diluted adjusted 135.6 134.6 135.3 134.4\n\n____________________ (1) The Company believes that the Non-GAAP financial measure \"Adjusted after-tax earnings from continuing operations attributable to FMC stockholders\", and its presentation on a per share basis, provides useful information about the Company's operating results to investors and securities analysts. Adjusted earnings excludes the effects of corporate special charges, tax-related adjustments and the results of our discontinued operations. The Company also believes that excluding the effects of these items from operating results allows management and investors to compare more easily the financial performance of its underlying businesses from period to period. (a) Three Months Ended June 30, 2017: Restructuring and other charges (income) represents $0.2 million associated with our FMC Agricultural Solutions segment. Additionally, restructuring and other charges (income) includes charges of continuing environmental sites treated as a Corporate charge of $3.3 million and other Corporate charges of $3.4 million. Three Months Ended June 30, 2016: Restructuring and other charges (income) includes charges of $5.9 million representing adjustments to severance and asset write-offs primarily associated with the integration of Cheminova with FMC Agricultural Solutions. Additionally, restructuring and other charges (income) includes charges of continuing environmental sites treated as a Corporate charge of $2.5 million. Remaining restructuring and other charges includes net miscellaneous charges of $0.7 million. Six Months Ended June 30, 2017: Restructuring and other charges (income) represents $4.7 million of exit costs related to the termination of our interest in a variable interest entity that was previously consolidated and part of our FMC Agricultural Solutions segment. Additionally, restructuring and other charges (income) includes charges of continuing environmental sites treated as a Corporate charge of $5.6 million and other Corporate charges of $4.9 million. Six Months Ended June 30, 2016: Restructuring and other charges (income) includes charges of $8.9 million representing adjustments to severance and asset write-offs primarily associated with the integration of Cheminova with FMC Agricultural Solutions. Amounts also include $4.2 million associated as a result of the Argentina government's action to devalue its currency. Additionally, restructuring and other charges includes charges of continuing environmental sites treated as a Corporate charge of $9.1 million. Remaining restructuring and other charges includes net miscellaneous charges (income) of $(3.6) million. (b) Our non-operating pension and postretirement costs are defined as those costs related to interest, expected return on plan assets, amortized actuarial gains and losses and the impacts of any plan curtailments or settlements. These costs are primarily related to changes in pension plan assets and liabilities which are tied to financial market performance and we consider these costs to be outside our operational performance. We exclude these non-operating pension and postretirement costs from our segments as we believe that removing them provides a better understanding of the underlying profitability of our businesses, provides increased transparency and clarity in the performance of our retirement plans and enhances period-over-period comparability. We continue to include the service cost and amortization of prior service cost in our Adjusted Earnings results noted above. We believe these elements reflect the current year operating costs to our businesses for the employment benefits provided to active employees. (c) Charges related to the legal and professional fees associated with the planned or completed acquisitions. Amounts represent the following:\n\nThree Months Ended June 30 Six Months Ended June 30 (in Millions) 2017 2016 2017 2016 Acquisition-related charges Legal and professional fees $ 20.7 $ 5.0 $ 29.9 $ 12.4 Total Acquisition-related charges (2) $ 20.7 $ 5.0 $ 29.9 $ 12.4\n\n____________________ (1) Represents transaction costs, costs for transitional employees, other acquired employees related costs and integration-related legal and professional third-party fees. These charges are recorded as a component of \"Selling, general and administrative expense\" on the condensed consolidated statements of income (loss). (2) Acquisition-related charges for the three and six months ended June 30, 2017 relate to the previously announced definitive agreement to acquire a significant portion of DuPont's crop protection business, while charges for the three and six months ended June 30, 2016 relate to the integration of Cheminova with FMC Agricultural Solutions, which were completed at the end of 2016.\n\n(d) The income tax expense (benefit) on Corporate special charges (income) is determined using the applicable rates in the taxing jurisdictions in which the corporate special charge or income occurred and includes both current and deferred income tax expense (benefit) based on the nature of the non-GAAP performance measure. (e) Three and Six Months Ended June 30, 2017 and 2016 Discontinued operations include the results of FMC Health and Nutrition as well as provisions, net of recoveries, for environmental liabilities and legal reserves and expenses related to previously discontinued operations. Assets held for sale under U.S. GAAP are required to be reported at the lower of carrying value or fair value, less costs to sell. We expect a significant gain on the FMC Health and Nutrition assets to be sold to DuPont and therefore these assets held for sale are reported at carrying value. However, the fair value of the Omega-3 business, which was previously part of the broader FMC Health and Nutrition reporting unit, is significantly less than its carrying value, which includes accumulated foreign currency translation adjustments that would be reclassified to earnings upon completion of sale. As a result, we recorded an impairment charge of approximately $185 million ($165 million, net of tax) during the three months ended March 31, 2017. On June 22, 2017, we announced that we signed a definitive agreement to sell the Omega-3 business. As a result, the fair value of the Omega-3 business was revised in the three months ended June 30, 2017 to reflect the sales price. The impairment charge for the six months ended June 30, 2017 was approximately $171 million ($151 million, net of tax). (f) We exclude the GAAP tax provision, including discrete items, from the Non-GAAP measure of income, and instead include a Non-GAAP tax provision based upon the projected annual Non-GAAP effective tax rate. The GAAP tax provision includes certain discrete tax items including, but are not limited to: income tax expenses or benefits that are not related to ongoing business operations in the current year; tax adjustments associated with fluctuations in foreign currency remeasurement of certain foreign operations; certain changes in estimates of tax matters related to prior fiscal years; certain changes in the realizability of deferred tax assets and related interim accounting impacts; and changes in tax law. Management believes excluding these discrete tax items assists investors and securities analysts in understanding the tax provision and the effective tax rate related to ongoing operations thereby providing investors with useful supplemental information about FMC's operational performance.\n\nThree Months Ended Six Months Ended June 30 June 30 (in Millions) 2017 2016 2017 2016 Non-GAAP tax adjustments: Revisions to our tax liabilities due to finalization of prior year tax returns $ (0.8) $ 0.1 $ (0.8) $ 1.6 Revisions to valuation allowances of historical deferred tax assets (3.5) \u2014 (0.1) \u2014 Foreign currency remeasurement and other discrete items 5.5 6.4 7.5 14.5 Total Non-GAAP tax adjustments $ 1.2 $ 6.5 $ 6.6 $ 16.1\n\nRECONCILIATION OF NET INCOME (LOSS) (GAAP) TO ADJUSTED EARNINGS FROM CONTINUING\n\nOPERATIONS, BEFORE INTEREST AND INCOME TAXES (NON-GAAP) (Unaudited, in millions) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended June 30 June 30 2017 2016 2017 2016 Net income (loss) (GAAP) $ 75.3 $ 67.0 $ (48.5) $ 115.7 Restructuring and other charges (income) 6.9 9.1 15.2 18.6 Non-operating pension and postretirement charges (4.1) 1.2 (8.7) 2.3 Acquisition-related charges 20.7 5.0 29.9 12.4 Discontinued operations, net of income taxes (26.6) (20.2) 142.2 (42.9) Interest expense, net 17.2 15.2 32.9 31.0 Provision (benefit) for income taxes 3.3 20.5 12.7 40.9 Adjusted earnings from continuing operations,\n\nbefore interest, income taxes and noncontrolling interests\n\n(Non-GAAP) (1) $ 92.7 $ 97.8 $ 175.7 $ 178.0\n\n___________________ (1) Referred to as Adjusted Operating Profit.\n\nRECONCILIATION OF CASH PROVIDED (REQUIRED) BY OPERATING ACTIVITIES (GAAP) TO\n\nADJUSTED CASH FROM OPERATIONS (NON-GAAP) (Unaudited, in millions) Six Months Ended June 30 2017 2016 Cash provided (required) by operating activities (GAAP) $ 205.0 $ 160.1 Transaction and integration costs related to acquisitions (9.0) (12.4) Adjusted cash from operations (Non-GAAP) (1) $ 196.0 $ 147.7\n\n___________________ (1) The Company believes that the Non-GAAP financial measure \"Adjusted cash from operations\" provides useful information about the Company's cash flows to investors and securities analysts. Adjusted cash from operations excludes the effects of acquisition-related cash flows. The Company also believes that excluding the effects of these items from cash provided (required) by operating activities allows management and investors to compare more easily the cash flows from period to period.\n\nFMC CORPORATION INDUSTRY SEGMENT DATA (Unaudited, in millions) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended June 30 June 30 2017 2016 2017 2016 Revenue FMC Agricultural Solutions $ 582.8 $ 552.0 $ 1,113.2 $ 1,098.1 FMC Lithium 74.0 63.3 139.6 123.6 Total $ 656.8 $ 615.3 $ 1,252.8 $ 1,221.7 Income from continuing operations before income taxes FMC Agricultural Solutions 95.7 100.7 178.7 182.7 FMC Lithium 24.2 16.5 45.8 31.4 Segment operating profit (a) 119.9 117.2 224.5 214.1 Corporate and other (27.2) (19.4) (48.8) (36.1) Adjusted earnings from continuing operations, before interest,\n\nincome taxes and noncontrolling interests (Non-GAAP) $ 92.7 $ 97.8 $ 175.7 $ 178.0 Interest expense, net (17.2) (15.2) (32.9) (31.0) Corporate special (charges) income: Restructuring and other (charges) income (6.9) (9.1) (15.2) (18.6) Non-operating pension and postretirement (charges) income 4.1 (1.2) 8.7 (2.3) Acquisition-related charges (20.7) (5.0) (29.9) (12.4) (Provision) benefit for income taxes (3.3) (20.5) (12.7) (40.9) Discontinued operations, net of income taxes 26.6 20.2 (142.2) 42.9 Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests (0.6) (1.8) (1.0) (2.2) Net income (loss) attributable to FMC stockholders $ 74.7 $ 65.2 $ (49.5) $ 113.5\n\n____________________ (a) Referred to as Segment Earnings. (b) Below provides the details of restructuring and other (charges) income by segment.\n\nThree Months Ended June 30 Six Months Ended June 30 2017 2016 2017 2016 FMC Agricultural Solutions $ (0.2) $ (5.9) $ (4.7) $ (12.5) FMC Lithium \u2014 \u2014 \u2014 (0.6) Corporate (6.7) (3.2) (10.5) (5.5) Restructuring and other (charges) income $ (6.9) $ (9.1) $ (15.2) $ (18.6)\n\n(c) See Note (b) to the schedule \"Reconciliation of Net Income (Loss) Attributable to FMC Stockholders (GAAP) to Adjusted After-Tax Earnings from Continuing Operations, Attributable to FMC Stockholders (Non-GAAP)\" for further details on the components that make up this line item. (d) See Note (c) to the schedule \"Reconciliation of Net Income (Loss) Attributable to FMC Stockholders (GAAP) to Adjusted After-Tax Earnings from Continuing Operations, Attributable to FMC Stockholders (Non-GAAP)\" for further details on the components that make up this line item. (e) See Note (e) to the schedule \"Reconciliation of Net Income (Loss) Attributable to FMC Stockholders (GAAP) to Adjusted After-Tax Earnings from Continuing Operations, Attributable to FMC Stockholders (Non-GAAP)\" for further details on the components that make up this line item.\n\nFMC CORPORATION CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (Unaudited, in millions) June 30, 2017 December 31, 2016 Cash and cash equivalents $ 113.2 $ 64.2 Trade receivables, net of allowance of $28.5 in 2017 and $17.6 in 2016 1,442.3 1,692.5 Inventories 546.3 478.9 Prepaid and other current assets 261.4 232.1 Current assets of discontinued operations held for sale 1,122.6 381.5 Total current assets $ 3,485.8 $ 2,849.2 Property, plant and equipment, net 538.3 538.1 Goodwill 501.0 498.7 Deferred income taxes 237.2 242.1 Other long-term assets 1,222.0 1,175.6 Noncurrent assets of discontinued operations held for sale \u2014 835.6 Total assets $ 5,984.3 $ 6,139.3 Short-term debt and current portion of long-term debt $ 192.5 $ 94.2 Accounts payable, trade and other 433.5 317.4 Accrued customer rebates 347.8 246.7 Guarantees of vendor financing 65.2 104.5 Accrued pensions and other postretirement benefits, current 7.1 7.1 Other current liabilities 356.2 609.3 Current liabilities of discontinued operations held for sale 139.6 59.0 Total current liabilities $ 1,541.9 $ 1,438.2 Long-term debt, less current portion 1,592.3 1,798.8 Long-term liabilities 823.4 841.6 Long-term liabilities of discontinued operations held for sale \u2014 67.7 Equity 2,026.7 1,993.0 Total liabilities and equity $ 5,984.3 $ 6,139.3\n\nFMC CORPORATION CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Unaudited, in millions) Six Months Ended June 30 2017 2016 Cash provided (required) by operating activities of continuing operations $ 205.0 $ 160.1 Cash provided (required) by operating activities of discontinued operations 55.1 64.4 Cash provided (required) by investing activities of continuing operations (51.2) (45.0) Cash provided (required) by investing activities of discontinued operations (12.8) (14.7) Cash provided (required) by financing activities of continuing operations: Net borrowings (repayments) under committed credit facilities \u2014 \u2014 Increase (decrease) in short-term debt (4.0) (59.4) Financing Fees (11.0) (0.7) Proceeds from borrowings of long-term debt 97.9 2.8 Repayments of long-term debt (200.7) (50.8) Issuances of common stock, net 14.3 2.1 Excess tax benefits from share-based compensation \u2014 0.4 Transactions with noncontrolling interests (0.5) \u2014 Dividends paid (44.3) (44.3) Other repurchases of common stock (1.5) (1.2) Cash provided (required) by financing activities (149.8) (151.1) Effect of exchange rate changes on cash 2.7 1.3 Increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents 49.0 15.0 Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of year 64.2 78.6 Cash and cash equivalents, end of period $ 113.2 $ 93.6\n\nView original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fmc-corporation-announces-second-quarter-2017-results-300497812.html\n\nSOURCE FMC Corporation", "output": "FMC Corp. has raised its outlook for its lithium unit for the year again, after increasing it on 2 May. It now\u00a0sees unit revenue\u00a0for 2017 at $340m-$360m, up from $325m-$365m and $115m-$125m from $100m-$120m.\u00a0FMC Lithium reported second quarter segment revenue of $74m, a 17%\u00a0YoY increase. Profit rose\u00a047% YoY to $24m.\u00a0Significantly higher prices were partially offset by increased costs.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tighter Medicaid budgets threaten home care \n Susan Jaffe\n\nKaiser Health News\n\nTen years ago, a driver ran a stop sign as Jim McIlroy rode into an intersection on his motorcycle. Serious injuries left McIlroy paralyzed from the chest down. After spending some time in a nursing home, he returned to his home near Bethel, Maine.\n\nMcIlroy does most of his own cooking since Maine's Medicaid program paid for a stovetop that he can roll his wheelchair underneath to reach the food-prep area. His new kitchen sink has the same feature. Wheelchair-friendly wood flooring has replaced McIlroy\u2019s wall-to-wall carpeting.\n\nThe alterations plus a personal care aide \u2014 all paid for by Medicaid \u2014 enable McIlroy to stay in his house that he and his wife, who has since died, \"worked really hard to own,\" he said. The arrangement saves Medicaid roughly two-thirds of what it would cost if he lived in a nursing home.\n\nMcIlroy depends on the federal-state program\u2019s growing support of home-based care services \u2014 along with 2 million elderly or disabled Americans who rely on them to live at home for as long as possible. That crucial help could face severe cuts if congressional Republicans succeed in their push to sharply reduce federal Medicaid funds to states.\n\nStates can choose whether to offer Medicaid services at home, but nursing home coverage, which is more expensive, is a required benefit. Optional benefits lsuch as home services would probably be first to go if states face budget troubles, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) warned in an analysis in May.\n\nChildren with special health needs, older adults and people with disabilities greatly value home- and community-based assistance, said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Aging.\n\n\"That\u2019s why I am deeply concerned with proposals that would significantly cut Medicaid, forcing governors and state legislators to confront difficult budget choices, including how to maintain these critical, but optional, services,\u201d said Collins, one of three Republicans whose votes early Friday helped defeat the Senate\u2019s \u201cskinny repeal\u201d measure that would have scuttled the Affordable Care Act.\n\nThough home services are not a required part of Medicaid, they represent a large share of Medicaid spending. Medicaid expenses for long-term care consumed a third of the Medicaid budget nationwide in 2015, and more than half of that amount went to optional home-based care, according to a government report. Nursing homes got the rest.\n\n\"Staying at home is so incredibly important,\" said McIlroy, 73, who grows cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes on the deck of his house. \"You can do what you want to do when you want to do it, and you don't have to share a room with somebody else and have your meals brought to you.\"\n\nDemand for home-based services is outpacing supply. In Maryland, more than 20,000 people were on a registry awaiting openings for Medicaid home-based services last month. About 160,000 older or disabled people across the country waited for home services in 2015, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation report last year. (Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent program of the foundation.)\n\nEsther Ellis, who lives outside Los Angeles, received a new mattress this year from Partners in Care, a non-profit group that runs four of the 38 sites in California's Multipurpose Senior Service Program and provides Medicaid-funded home services.\n\nThe mattress helps relieve her back problems after surgery. Partners also provided a couch, a microwave and an emergency call button to summon help that she wears as a pendant around her neck.\n\n\"If it wasn't for them, I don't know what I would do,\u201d said Ellis, 79.\n\nAdvocates argue that home-based services can make a big difference for health. \"It's all well and good to discharge people from the hospital with a list of medications to take,\" said Camille Dobson, deputy executive director of the National Association of States United for Aging and Disabilities, which represents state departments of aging. \"But if they go home to a refrigerator that doesn't work so that they can't store their medications or have no way to get to their appointments, all of that great medical intervention goes for naught.\"\n\nMedicaid home services usually include a visiting nurse or nurse practitioner, a home health aide or someone to help with dressing, eating and other daily activities, light housekeeping and transportation to doctor's appointments. That's just the beginning.\n\nThe programs also pay for home modifications, which include minor renovations such as grab bars in the bathroom to prevent falls and wider door frames to accommodate wheelchairs. To overcome potentially treacherous stairs, states may provide wheelchair ramps and some \u2014 including California and Ohio \u2014 will install a stair glider or chairlift.\n\nCarolyn Gilliland, 81, has lived in her home in central Ohio's farm country since she was 4. She receives home-based services to help with chronic health problems through a Medicaid managed-care plan called MyCare Ohio. It provides two weekly visits from a nurse, a personal care aide and a chairlift to reach her second-floor bedroom. Until it was installed in April, she couldn't go upstairs.\n\n\"It relieves the stress on my knees,\" she said.\n\nHome health services, plus any appliances, electronics and other items, must be medically necessary and part of an individual care plan. Recipients must receive Medicaid and in most cases must be sick enough to qualify for nursing home care.\n\nAmong them is Cynthia Dutil, 60, who lives near Waterville, Maine. Because she has cerebral palsy, she depends on a personal care aide for help with dressing and other daily activities. Maine's home-based services program provided a small food processor to puree her foods, a large-print keyboard for her computer and a two-sided toothbrush.\n\nDutil said she lives life on her terms. She began to explain why she prefers that to living in a nursing home but stopped mid-sentence. \"How much time do you have?\"\n\nKaiser Health News, a non-profit health newsroom whose stories appear in news outlets nationwide, is an editorially independent part of the Kaiser Family Foundation.\n\n***\n\nFor more information about Medicaid home-based services, go to www.eldercare.gov or call 1-800-677-1116.", "output": "Approximately two million senior or disabled US citizens depend on federal programs such as Medicaid to provide home-based care services that allow them to avoid care home living for as long as possible. However, should congressional Republicans succeed in their bid to significantly decrease federal Medicaid funding to states, this could be put in serious jeopardy. States presently choose if they will offer Medicaid services at home, but Medicaid mandates the pricier nursing home coverage as a required benefit. Home-based services are likely to be the first to be halted if states' budgets are under pressure, according to the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP). Home and community-based assistance significantly help children with special health needs, elderly adults and those with disabilities, leading to concerns that there will be a serious shortage of assistance available. Despite home services not being part of the required Medicaid offering, they still represent a large proportion of Medicaid expenses. Long-term care represented a third of the national Medicaid budget for 2015, and over half of that amount was spent on optional home-based care. Demand for these services is fast outstripping supply, with waiting lists growing increasingly over time. Those in support of home-based services believe it can make a huge difference in terms of patient health. Medicaid home services generally offer patients a visiting nurse or nurse practitioner and a home health aide to help with daily tasks such as dressing and eating, light housekeeping and medical transportation. The programs also provide funding for home modifications designed to make daily living more feasible, such as installing ramps or chair lifts.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Serendipity Labs teams with Dallas billionaire on co-working space \n WeWork is a real estate business that acts like a technology company. It's backed by powerful Silicon Valley venture capitalists, hires data scientists and DevOps engineers and sports a valuation that's about 20 times annual revenue.\n\nJohn Arenas is taking a very different approach with his co-working business Serendipity Labs. Founded in 2011, a year after the launch of WeWork, Serendipity is sticking with investors who live, sleep and breathe real estate.\n\nSerendipity, based in Rye, New York \u2014 30 miles north of WeWork's Manhattan headquarters \u2014 has just raised $11.3 million from investors, including billionaire Craig Hall, one of the top real estate developers in Dallas. The company disclosed the financing in a filing on Monday.\n\n\"All of our investment to date has been from strategic capital and not venture capital,\" Arenas said in an interview with CNBC. The business is focused on the \"shift from long-term conventional leases to flexible, variable real estate. To do that you need to find your way a bit,\" he said.\n\nArenas has been in the market for decades. He was an executive at Regus from 2001 to 2004, joining through the sale of Stratis Business Centers, where he had been CEO for five years. In 2005, he started on-demand workplace start-up Worktopia and sold it in 2011.\n\nHis company is currently running far behind WeWork in terms of size. WeWork has 203 locations in 50 cities, while Serendipity has six locations. But WeWork's $20 billion valuation has brought with it multiple stories of missed revenue targets and reeled in profit forecasts.", "output": "Dallas real estate developer, billionaire Craig Hall, has joined the board and participated in an $11.3m financing round in co-working operator Serendipity Labs, according to a filing made by the company on Monday. Serendipity is also teaming up with Hall to open a 29,000 sq ft space at KPMG Plaza at HALL Arts, which will be its first office in the Dallas area, where Hall's firm owns over 3 million sq\u00a0ft\u00a0of office space. Serendipity reportedly has 100 locations in its development pipeline, and\u00a0CEO John Arenas\u00a0likened the firm's model to the hotel industry, looking to combine\u00a0company-owned buildings in major cities and franchises in smaller markets.\n\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CFC saw 44% jump in cyber insurance demand after WannaCry \n Newly released data from cyber insurance provider, CFC Underwriting, has revealed that the WannaCry cyber attack in May was the biggest source of cyber insurance enquiries for the first half of the year. In the four weeks following the attack, weekly enquiries dramatically increased by nearly 50%.\n\nBeyond the initial media coverage of WannaCry, headlines continued to report the ongoing impact of the ransomware attack. It was reported that the attack had links to China, and highlighted that it was the biggest ransomware attack the world had seen to date. It is highly likely that sensationalist headlines such as these were behind the sharp and sustained increase in enquiry rates.\n\n>See also: Cyber insurance in the spotlight \u2013 what WannaCry taught us\n\nVery recently, the possible financial impact of cyber events has also been widely reported, which is no doubt contributing to businesses considering purchasing cyber cover. Lloyd\u2019s of London issued a report last week which warned that a serious cyber attack could cost the global economy $120bn, as much as catastrophic natural disasters.\n\nAt CFC\u2019s annual Cyber Symposium at the end of last year (November 2016), almost a quarter of cyber insurance professionals in attendance (23%) said that the \u201cfear factor\u201d of an impending and costly attack played a significant part in the growth of their cyber book in 2016.\n\nBut this \u201cfear\u201d is now being realised by actual significant losses. For example, British consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser lost an estimated \u00a3100 million in the recent NotPetya ransomware attack, and even the smallest firms can face costs in the hundreds of thousands after an attack.\n\nIndependent research conducted for CFC earlier this year highlighted the top three elements of cyber crime that concern small businesses \u2013 theft of funds, inability to operate due to system outage, and damage to reputation. Yet 48% still do not have an incident response plan in place.\n\n>See also: Cyber insurance \u2013 a growing requirement?\n\nGraeme Newman, chief innovation officer at CFC Underwriting commented: \u201cWe\u2019d expect to see an uptick, but this really was an unprecedented jump and then sustained interest, compared to previous high profile attacks. Much like a physical flood, businesses could see water running down the street and past their front door, prompting them to take action to guard against a similar threat.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhile headline-grabbing attacks such as these spur businesses into action, we\u2019re no longer living in a world where cyber insurance can be a reactive afterthought. Security can only go so far in protecting against a cyber event \u2013 companies must have the right policy and response team in place should they fall victim to an attack. The value of intangible assets now generally outstrips the value of tangible assets on corporate balance sheets and businesses must be ready for this new wave of crime.\u201d\n\nThe UK\u2019s largest conference for tech leadership, Tech Leaders Summit, returns on 14 September with 40+ top execs signed up to speak about the challenges and opportunities surrounding the most disruptive innovations facing the enterprise today. Secure your place at this prestigious summit by registering here", "output": "CFC Underwriting said that enquiries for cyber insurance jumped 44% in the four weeks after the WannaCry ransomware attack wreaked havoc for companies across the globe. Fear of an impending cyber attack is being realised by the likes of British consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser, which said it lost an estimated \u00a3100 million in the recent Petya ransomware attack. However, 48% of firms still do not have an incident response plan in place.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "South Korean lawmaker proposes regulation of bitcoin trading \n < \uc800\uc791\uad8c\uc790 \u24d2 \uc11c\uc6b8\uacbd\uc81c, \ubb34\ub2e8 \uc804\uc7ac \ubc0f \uc7ac\ubc30\ud3ec \uae08\uc9c0 >\n\n\uc2dc\uc7a5 \uaddc\ubaa8\uac00 \uae09\uaca9\ud558\uac8c \ucee4\uc9c0\uace0 \uc788\uc9c0\ub9cc \u2018\uaddc\uc81c \uc0ac\uac01\uc9c0\ub300\u2019\uc5d0 \ub193\uc5ec \uc788\ub358 \ube44\ud2b8\ucf54\uc778 \ub4f1 \uac00\uc0c1\ud654\ud3d0\ub97c \uaddc\uc81c\uc758 \ud2c0 \uc548\uc73c\ub85c \ub04c\uc5b4\ub4e4\uc774\ub294 \ubc95\uc548\uc774 \ubc1c\uc758\ub410\ub2e4. \ubc95\uc548\uc774 \ud1b5\uacfc\ub418\uba74 \uc55e\uc73c\ub85c \ube44\ud2b8\ucf54\uc778, \uc774\ub354\ub9ac\uc6c0\uacfc \uac19\uc740 \uac00\uc0c1\ud654\ud3d0\ub97c \uac70\ub798\ud558\ub294 \ub4f1 \uc601\uc5c5\ud65c\ub3d9\uc744 \ud560 \ub54c \uae08\uc735\ub2f9\uad6d\uc758 \uc778\uac00\ub97c \ubc1b\uc544\uc57c \ud55c\ub2e4.\uad6d\ud68c \uc815\ubb34\uc704\uc6d0\ud68c \uc18c\uc18d \ubc15\uc6a9\uc9c4 \ub354\ubd88\uc5b4\ubbfc\uc8fc\ub2f9 \uc758\uc6d0\uc740 \uac00\uc0c1\ud654\ud3d0\uac70\ub798\uc5d0 \ub300\ud55c \uaddc\uc815\uacfc \uc774\uc6a9\uc790 \ubcf4\ud638 \uc81c\ub3c4\ub97c \ub9c8\ub828\ud558\ub294 \u2018\uc804\uc790\uae08\uc735\uac70\ub798\ubc95\u2019 \uac1c\uc815\uc548\uc744 \ubc1c\uc758\ud588\ub2e4\uace0 1\uc77c \ubc1d\ud614\ub2e4. \uac00\uc0c1\ud654\ud3d0\ub294 \uc9c0\ud3d0\ub098 \ub3d9\uc804\ucc98\ub7fc \ubb3c\ub9ac\uc801 \ud615\ud0dc\ub97c \uac16\uc9c0 \uc54a\ub294 \ub514\uc9c0\ud138 \ud1b5\ud654\ub2e4. \ud22c\uc790 \ub300\uc0c1\uc73c\ub85c \ub5a0\uc624\ub974\uba74\uc11c \uc62c\ud574 \ucd08 \ub300\ube44 \uac00\uaca9\uc774 100~200% \uc774\uc0c1 \ub6f0\uc5b4\uc624\ub974\uace0 \uc788\uc9c0\ub9cc \ud22c\uc790\uc0ac\uae30\ub97c \uc608\ubc29\ud558\ub294 \ubc95\u00b7\uc81c\ub3c4\uc801 \uc7a5\uce58\ub294 \uc804\ubb34\ud55c \uc0c1\ud669\uc774\ub2e4.\uac1c\uc815\uc548\uc740 \uac00\uc0c1\ud654\ud3d0\uc640 \uac00\uc0c1\ud654\ud3d0\ucde8\uae09\uc5c5(\ub9e4\ub9e4\u00b7\uac70\ub798\u00b7\uc911\uac1c\u00b7\ubc1c\ud589\u00b7\uad00\ub9ac\uc5c5)\uc758 \uc815\uc758\ub97c \uaddc\uc815\ud558\uace0 \uc788\ub2e4. \ub610 \uac00\uc0c1\ud1b5\ud654\ucde8\uae09\uc5c5\uc790\uac00 \uac01\uac01\uc758 \uc5c5\uc744 \uc6b4\uc601\ud558\uae30 \uc704\ud574\uc120 \ucd5c\uc18c 5\uc5b5\uc6d0 \uc774\uc0c1\uc758 \uc790\ubcf8\uae08\uc744 \uac16\ucdb0 \uae08\uc735\uc704 \uc778\uac00\ub97c \ubc1b\ub3c4\ub85d \ud588\ub2e4.\uac00\uc0c1\ud654\ud3d0\uac70\ub798\uc18c \uaca9\uc778 \uac00\uc0c1\ud1b5\ud654\uac70\ub798\uc5c5\uc790\ub294 \uc774\uc6a9\uc790\ubcf4\ud638\ub97c \uc704\ud574 \uac00\uc0c1\ud1b5\ud654\uc608\uce58\uae08\uc744 \ubcc4\ub3c4 \uc608\uce58\uae30\uad00\uc774 \uc608\uce58\ud558\uac70\ub098 \ubcf4\ud5d8, \uc9c0\uae09\ubcf4\uc99d\uacc4\uc57d\uc744 \uc774\uc6a9\ud574 \ud53c\ud574\ubcf4\uc0c1\uacc4\uc57d\uc744 \uc758\ubb34\uc801\uc73c\ub85c \ub9fa\ub3c4\ub85d \ud588\ub2e4.\ubc15 \uc758\uc6d0\uc740 \u201c\uac00\uc0c1\ud1b5\ud654\uc774\uc6a9\uc790 \ubcf4\ud638\ub97c \uc704\ud55c \ubc95, \uc81c\ub3c4\uc801 \uc7a5\uce58 \ud544\uc694\uc131\uc774 \uc81c\uae30\ub418\uace0 \uc788\ub2e4\u201d\uba70 \u201c\uac00\uc0c1\ud1b5\ud654\uc758 \uc815\uc758\uaddc\uc815\uc744 \ub9c8\ub828\ud558\uace0 \ucde8\uae09\uc5c5\uc758 \uc778\uac00\uc5d0 \ub300\ud55c \uaddc\uc815\uc744 \uc2e0\uc124\ud574 \uc774\uc6a9\uc790\ub97c \ub450\ud141\uac8c \ubcf4\ud638\ud558\ub824\ub294 \uac83\u201d\uc774\ub77c\uace0 \ubc1d\ud614\ub2e4. /\uad8c\uacbd\uc6d0\uae30\uc790 nahere@sedaily.com", "output": "A lawmaker from South Korea's Democratic Party has proposed an amendment to the Electronic Financial Transactions Act that would make virtual currencies subject to the country's regulatory framework, according to a member of the National Assembly's political affairs committee. The amendment would require cryptocurrency traders to seek permission from authorities for their activities.\u00a0To protect users, the amendment would also require virtual currency traders to have a cryptocurrency deposit reserve of at least KRW500m ($445,000).\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Foxtons cites Brexit vote as factor in 64% fall in H1 profits \n Profits at London-focused estate agent Foxtons have plunged by 64%, hurt by slowing demand and increased economic uncertainty.\n\nFoxtons said pre-tax profits in the first half of this year dropped to \u00a33.8m from \u00a310.5m in the same period of 2016. Group revenue fell 15% to \u00a358.5m in the period.\n\nOnce known for its pioneering coffee shop-style outlets and fleet of Mini cars, Foxtons floated in 2013 ahead of a market peak and has since failed more than once to meet market expectations.\n\nThe company has been warning since 2014 that double-digit price rises and strong demand in London were cooling, hitting its profits.\n\nFoxtons chief executive Nic Budden blamed \u201cunprecedented economic and political uncertainty\u201d for the fall in profits.\n\nSales revenue crashed 29% to \u00a322.2m in the period, with Foxtons saying the performance was set against a surge in the first quarter last year, when transactions were brought forward ahead of the stamp duty surcharge on buy-to-let investments and second homes.\n\nThe estate agent again also pointed to \u201cinflationary pressures on household incomes\u201d.\n\nBudden said in March that the London market was \u201cseverely impacted\u201d by the Brexit vote, which he claimed had led to a \u201csubstantial reduction in property sales transactions\u201d.\n\nThe numbers come after official figures showed annual house price growth cooled down further in May.\n\nBritain\u2019s housing market has slowed sharply since last June\u2019s vote to leave the EU, when prices were growing by almost 10% a year.\n\nThe UK\u2019s third-largest housebuilder, Taylor Wimpey, said earlier that it believed the risk of material impact on the market from the EU referendum in the short term has significantly reduced.\n\nRevenue from lettings, a strong area for the firm that could be hit as the government introduces a ban on one-off tenant fees, fell by 2% to \u00a332.1m.\n\nThe letting fees, which are to cover the cost of conducting viewings, verifying references and drawing up contracts, have become an increasingly important money-earner for the industry, averaging \u00a3337.\n\nLettings now represent 55% of Foxtons\u2019 revenue.\n\n\u201cAs the lettings market grows, it is becoming more complex too, with significant new regulation, legislation and tax changes introduced in recent years,\u201d the company said in a statement.\n\nIn the longer term, while recent political events have produced uncertainty for buyers and sellers, Foxtons said it expected London to remain a highly attractive property market for both sales and lettings.", "output": "London-focused estate agent Foxtons said H1 pre-tax profit\u00a0fell 64% YoY to \u00a33.8m, citing\u00a0the \"unprecedented economic and political\" turmoil of the past two years. The Brexit vote \"severely impacted\" the London housing market, with property sales dropping significantly, it said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Study links 59,000 suicides to climate change in India \n Warming due to climate change has triggered over 59,000 farm-related suicides in the past three decades, a study has revealed that shows high temperatures and low rainfall during growing season substantially impact annual suicide rates. The study also finds the southern region of India tends to have the most severe increase in suicide for a given change in temperature.\n\n\u201cThese are deaths that would not have occurred, had the warming we\u2019ve observed in the historical climate record not taken place,\u201d University of California, Berkeley, researcher and author of the study, Tamma Carleton, told The Indian Express in an email interview. \u201cSuicide is a heartbreaking indicator of human hardship, and I felt that if this phenomenon were in fact affected by a changing climate, it would be essential to quantify its effect and consider this relationship as we build climate policy for the future.\u201d\n\nAlthough the Indian Government\u2019s recently announced a $1.3 billion climate-based crop insurance scheme motivated as suicide prevention policy, the study states that \u201cevidence to support such an intervention is lacking.\u201d However, Carleton acknowledges that given the limited availability of data, the study cannot directly speak to particular policy solutions that are actively being debated in India.\n\nThe study \u2018Crop-damaging temperatures increase suicide rates in India\u2019 published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on July 31 showed that \u201cwarming a single day by 1 degree Celsius during India\u2019s agricultural growing season leads to roughly 65 suicides across the country, whenever that day\u2019s temperature is above 20 degrees Celsius.\u201d Further, warming a day by 5 degrees Celsius has five times that effect. The study relies on data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), \u201cwhich contains the universe of reported suicides in the country from 1967 to 2013.\u201d Carleton said that data used in the study from the NCRB does \u201cnot differentiate between farmers and other occupations\u201d since the occupation of suicide victims was not listed until very recent years.\n\n\u201cThere were not sufficient data with this occupational information to conduct my analysis. Therefore, I use all suicide records going back to 1967 to estimate the impacts of the climate,\u201d she said. \u201cIf in fact farmers and agricultural workers are more affected by the climate than other occupations, my estimates would be a lower bound on the true effect that is applicable to these vulnerable populations.\u201d\n\nCarleton pointed out that the southern states of India \u201ctend to be hotter on average, and also tends to have a higher average suicide rate in all years.\u201d The study states that Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, three of which are in southern India, \u201cnot only have severe suicide responses to temperature, but also exhibit large negative impacts of temperature on yield.\u201d\n\n\u201cI show in my analysis that in these locations, crop yields also tend to experience the largest damages for a given increase in temperature,\u201d Carleton said. \u201cThese findings suggest that where crop yields are most vulnerable to temperature increases, suicides also respond more strongly to those same temperatures,\u201d she said.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWhile optimists often suggest that societies will adapt to warming, Carleton\u2019s research has found no evidence to suggest communities acclimatize to high temperatures, or become more resilient as they get richer. \u201cThere are many possible impediments to adaptation that keep communities from being able to reduce the impacts of temperature as the climate warms,\u201d Carleton told The Indian Express, adding existing evidence from other locations where researchers study a range of other types of climate impacts suggests a variety of reasons: high costs of adaptation, poor incentives to adapt, limited access to credit for financing adaptations, difficulty in planning for future risks, incorrect or limited information about the benefits of adaptation, weak government institutions, and poor access to technologies might play substantial roles.\n\n\u201cIn the Indian context, many of these barriers to adaptation could be at play, and I hope that future research will help uncover effective means of enabling effective adaptive strategies,\u201d she said. The study indicates that \u201cheat drives crop loss\u201d and predicts a \u201cripple effect throughout the Indian economy.\u201d\n\nCarleton said that rising incomes realized through economic growth are often thought to enable populations to reduce the negative effects of climate. \u201cHouseholds with more economic resources may be able to invest in heat-tolerant seeds, pay the up front costs of irrigation technologies, or take up crop insurance, while poorer households may be unable to adopt such adaptive strategies,\u201d she said.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cI tested the hypothesis that as India\u2019s national income rose, the sensitivity of suicides to temperature fell. Likewise, increases in average crop yields could have weakened the link between temperature and suicide by providing agricultural households with more savings and hence more resilience in light of an adverse climate event,\u201d Carleton told The Indian Express. \u201cHowever, I found that these forms of adaptation were not taking place, as the effect of temperature on suicide is virtually identical in recent years as it was over 40 years ago.\u201d", "output": "A University of California study has linked 59,000 suicides to the effects of climate change in India over the course of three decades. The research found a correlation between difficult periods of high temperatures and low rainfall during crop growing season and increased rates of suicide, with rates being more severe in the southern region of India. A single day\u2019s increase in temperature by one degree Celsius leads to approximately 65 suicides across India, according to the report. The Indian government has launched a $1.3bn climate-based crop insurance scheme to tackle suicide rates, but the study found that evidence to support the scheme was \u201clacking\u201d."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Climate change and ISIS seen as greatest global threats: Pew \n People around the globe identify ISIS and climate change as the leading threats to national security, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. The survey asked about eight possible threats. While the level and focus of concern varies by region and country, ISIS and climate change clearly emerge as the most frequently cited security risks across the 38 countries polled.\n\nISIS is named as the top threat in a total of 18 countries surveyed \u2013 mostly concentrated in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the United States. A substantial number of these countries have endured deadly terrorist attacks claimed by the Islamic militant group.\n\nIn 13 countries, mostly in Latin America and Africa, publics identify global climate change as the topmost threat. It is the second-ranked concern in many other countries polled.\n\nCyberattacks from other countries and the condition of the global economy are named as major threats by global medians of 51% each. Cyberattacks are the top concern in Japan and second-highest concern in places such as the U.S., Germany and the UK, where there have been a number of high-profile attacks of this type in recent months.\n\nPeople in Greece and Venezuela view the health of the international economy as the leading threat to their countries, perhaps reflecting these nations\u2019 economic struggles in recent years. Many countries surveyed in the Middle East and Latin America name economic turmoil as their second-greatest concern.\n\nThe influx of refugees, which was of particular concern in Europe in 2016, is seen as a major threat by a median of 39% across the 38 countries. It is the top threat in only one country, however: Hungary.\n\nGlobally, a median of about one-third view the power and influence of the U.S., Russia or China as a major threat. America\u2019s influence is a top concern in Turkey. And in South Korea and Vietnam, eight-in-ten or more name China\u2019s power and influence as a major threat. Meanwhile, among the countries surveyed, fears of Russia are most acute in Poland.\n\nThese are among the major findings of a Pew Research Center survey conducted among 41,953 respondents in 38 countries that was conducted from Feb. 16 to May 8, 2017.\n\nIn general, there has been little change in the global threat assessment since the last time these questions were asked. But worries about the U.S. and its power and influence have increased in many countries in Europe and around the world since the election of Donald Trump. (For more, see here, and for a broader assessment of Trump\u2019s impact on the international image of the United States, see the June 26 report, \u201cU.S. Image Suffers as Publics Around World Question Trump\u2019s Leadership.\u201d)\n\nWorries about the global economy align with concerns about national economies\n\nAcross the 38 countries surveyed, there is a strong positive association between overall negative perceptions of the national economy and general assessment of the global economy as a major threat. For example, in Greece, 98% say their nation\u2019s economic situation is bad and 88% name the condition of the global economy as the top threat. By contrast, only 12% in the Netherlands say their national economy is bad, with a corresponding 21% who name the worldwide economy as a great concern.\n\nTop threats by global region\n\nThe story of global threats in 2017 is partly regional in nature. Although ISIS and climate change are frequently cited as major threats, publics in particular countries and regions vary in the intensity and focus of their concerns.\n\nISIS is clearly the primary concern among the issues tested in Europe. Many Europeans also see climate change as a major threat to their countries.\n\nIn the Asia-Pacific, the Islamic State group and global warming rise to the top as major concerns, but a median of roughly half (52%) also worry about cyberattacks. A median of 47% across the region say China\u2019s power and influence is a major threat.\n\nAmong people across the Middle East and North Africa, ISIS is the top threat in four of the five countries surveyed, including 97% who name it as a major threat in Lebanon. People in the Middle East are also concerned about the condition of the global economy and the power and influence of the U.S.\n\nIn sub-Saharan Africa, people are most concerned about climate change, but other threats such as the refugee crisis, ISIS, cyberattacks and the global economy are concerns of around half or more across the six nations surveyed.\n\nRegionally, Latin Americans show the greatest concern about climate change. It is the top threat in six of the seven nations surveyed. But they also worry about the global economy. In all Latin American nations surveyed \u2013 including Venezuela and Brazil, two nations that have seen economic hardships recently \u2013 at least half say that the condition of the global economy is a serious threat to their country. (For more on economic and political problems in Brazil, see \u201cHow Brazilians view their country\u2019s economic and political crises.\u201d)\n\nIn Europe and U.S., ISIS is seen as a major threat\n\nAcross 10 European nations, the U.S., Canada and Russia, majorities in most countries name ISIS as a serious threat to their countries. This includes a median of 74% across the European countries who say that ISIS is a major threat to their nation. The same number in the U.S. (74%) name ISIS as a top threat to their country. Relative to the other threats tested, people are especially worried about the Islamic State group in France (88%), Italy (85%) and Russia (58%).\n\nWhile ISIS is the top threat in most of these countries, global climate change is also a pressing concern, especially in Spain (89%), Sweden (64%) and Canada (60%), where this issue tops the list. Across the 10 EU countries, a median of 64% say global climate change is a major threat. A slim majority in the U.S. (56%) see global climate change as a major threat.\n\nWhile half or more in seven of these 13 countries see cyberattacks from other countries as a major threat, in no country is it named as the top threat. Still, in the U.S. and Germany \u2013 both countries that have been targets of major attacks over the past year \u2013 71% and 66% respectively see cyberattacks as a major threat. And across the 10 European countries, 54% say cyberattacks are a major concern. But only around a third in Russia agree (34%).\n\nThe large number of refugees coming from places like Iraq and Syria is named as the top threat in only one European country, Hungary, where 66% say the movement of refugees is a major threat. Worries about the refugee threat have somewhat abated in Europe over the past year. In spring 2016, a median of 49% said refugees were a major threat, compared with 41% who say this in 2017.\n\nFewer people in Europe see the condition of the global economy as a major threat. But in Greece, which has been mired in economic crisis for close to a decade, 88% name the global economy as a major threat, making it the topmost choice in that country. And 72% in Spain share the same level of concern about the economy.\n\nWhile Russia\u2019s power and influence are not named as the greatest threat in any of the countries polled in Europe or North America, there is particular concern in Poland (65%). And 47% in the U.S. see Russia as a major threat, but there is a partisan divide: 61% of Democrats say Russia\u2019s power and influence is a major threat, compared with only 36% of Republicans. Across all of Europe, a median of 41% perceive Russia as a major threat.\n\nU.S. power and influence is seen as a major threat by a median of 31% across Europe. Spain, however, is an outlier, with 59% worried about the U.S. In six European countries surveyed and Canada, worries about American power and influence are up since 2016. (For more on this trend, see here.)\n\nChina\u2019s power and influence are seen as a major threat by a modest median of three-in-ten across Europe.\n\nDemographic divides in Europe, U.S., Canada and Russia on top threats\n\nWithin the countries of Europe and North America, concern over many of the listed threats differs substantially between demographic groups. One of the starker divides is that of political ideology.\n\nThe most significant differences by ideology are on the refugee threat. In all of the countries surveyed in Europe and North America, those on the political right are more concerned about the large number of refugees coming from the Middle East than those on the left. For example, in Germany, 51% on the right say that the movement of refugees is a major threat, versus only 14% who say this on the political left. A similar divide exists in the U.S. between self-described conservatives (60% say refugees are a major threat) and liberals (14%).\n\nIn Europe, there is also a pattern of more concern about the refugee threat from those who favor right-wing populist parties. In France, for instance, supporters of Marine Le Pen\u2019s National Front (FN) are roughly twice as likely to be concerned about the refugee threat (65%) as are those who do not support FN (32%). Similar divides exists between supporters and detractors of Alternative for Germany (AfD); the United Kingdom Independence Party; the Party for Freedom (PVV) in the Netherlands; and the Sweden Democrats.\n\nA similar right-left divide also exists for those who see ISIS as a major threat. In Canada, 59% on the right say that ISIS is a major threat, compared with only 33% of those on the left. Significant political divides on the ISIS threat also exist in the U.S. (a 22-percentage-point difference) and seven other EU countries.\n\nOn the threat of global climate change, there is a reverse pattern, with those on the political left in some countries more concerned about it than those on the right. This is most stark in the U.S., where 86% of liberals say climate change is a major concern, versus only 31% of conservatives. But this left-right divide also exists in Canada, the Netherlands, the UK, Sweden and Germany, though not to the same extent as in America.\n\nIn views of ISIS as a threat, there is also a divide by age. In seven countries in Europe, North America and Russia, people ages 50 and older are much more concerned about the threat from the extremist group than are the young. For example, in the Netherlands, 78% of people 50 or older say that ISIS is a major threat to their country, while only 46% among Dutch youth say the same.\n\nAnd on the refugee threat, there is a significant educational divide in all of the countries surveyed in Europe and North America. People with a secondary education or less tend to be more worried about an influx of Middle Eastern refugees, compared with people who have more education. The divides are particularly large in the UK (+21 percentage points) and France (+20), where educational splits played a large role in recent national elections and referenda.\n\nIn Asia-Pacific, views of top threats vary\n\nAcross seven Asia-Pacific nations surveyed, a median of 62% see ISIS as a major threat and 61% see global climate change in the same light. About half across the region see cyberattacks and Chinese power as a major challenge. Fewer are very concerned about the global economy, refugees or American and Russian power.\n\nHowever, threat assessments vary considerably across the region. ISIS is seen as the top threat in Indonesia, the Philippines and India. Though ISIS also tops the list in Australia, there are similar concerns about climate change as a major threat. Japanese are most concerned by cyberattacks from other countries. South Korea and Vietnam, for their part, rate China\u2019s power and influence as the top threat facing their nations.\n\nConcern about refugees from countries like Iraq and Syria, as well as Russia\u2019s power and influence, is quite low across the Asia-Pacific region. Worries about U.S. power and influence, meanwhile, vary substantially. Majorities across South Korea, Japan and Indonesia see American power as a major threat. In Australia, the Philippines, Vietnam and India, roughly a third or less see the U.S. in a similar light.\n\nIn Australia, there are significant ideological differences in views of global threats. These divides are widest on global climate change and ISIS \u2013 compared with people on the right, those on the left are 52 percentage points more likely to see climate change as a major threat to Australia, but 42 points less likely to say the same about ISIS. Australians on the left are also more likely to see American power and influence as a major threat, but worry less about refugees and cyberattacks.\n\nIn Middle East and North Africa, overwhelming concern about ISIS\n\nAcross the Middle East and North Africa, ISIS is seen as the leading threat in all four countries in which the item was tested. This sentiment is nearly universal in Lebanon, with 97% saying ISIS poses a major threat to their country. Large majorities in Tunisia (79%), Jordan (76%) and Israel (63%) agree.\n\nWhile the condition of the global economy does not rise to the top of the list in any one country, a median of 59% across the region feel it poses a major challenge and it is the second highest international concern in Lebanon, Tunisia and Jordan. A median of 50% in the region are very threatened by U.S. power, 48% by refugees and 44% by climate change. Fewer see cyberattacks (median of 40%), Russian power (35%) or Chinese power (20%) as major threats.\n\nA year after a failed coup attempt blamed at least in part on the U.S., 72% in Turkey say American power and influence is a major threat to their country. This figure is up 28 percentage points since 2013, when just 44% named U.S. power and influence as a major threat. People in Turkey are also worried about the refugee issue (64% major threat), which has spilled over their borders in recent years.\n\nIsrael stands out among the Middle Eastern countries surveyed for its lower levels of concern about each international threat tested. While 63% of Israelis see ISIS as a major threat, about four-in-ten or fewer name any other issue as a major challenge. Within Israel, Jews are more concerned than Arabs about refugees from places like Iraq and Syria (44% vs. 22%), ISIS (66% vs. 53%) and Russian power and influence (29% vs 19%).\n\nIn Lebanon, views of U.S., Russian and Chinese influence break along religious lines. A large majority of Shiites (67%) feel threatened by U.S. power and influence. Fewer Lebanese Sunnis (44%) and Christians (35%) feel the same way. These views align with overall views of the U.S. \u2013 only 7% of Shiites have a favorable opinion of the U.S., compared with 36% of Sunnis and 59% of Christians. When it comes to Russian power, concerns flip: Sunnis (56%) are more likely to see Russia\u2019s power and influence as a major threat than are Christians (32%) and Shiites (13%).\n\nIn Latin America and Africa, climate change is top threat\n\nPew Research Center surveys have shown consistently high concern about climate change in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa. Today, climate change is seen as the top international threat in six of seven Latin American countries surveyed and four of six sub-Saharan African countries.\n\nIn Latin America, a median of 74% name global climate change as a major threat to their country. Chileans are particularly concerned about climate change, with 86% saying it poses a major threat to their nation, followed by Peruvians (79%) and Argentines (76%). A median of 61% name the condition of the global economy as a major concern and 54% name cyberattacks. Rounding out the top five threats are U.S. power and influence (median of 47%) and ISIS (40%). Few see refugees (median of 31%), Chinese power (25%) or Russian power (23%) as a large threat.\n\nVenezuela is the only Latin American country surveyed in which economic worries match the level of concern over climate change. A majority of Venezuelans (56%) name the condition of the global economy as a major threat, virtually tied with the 55% who say the same about climate change. In five of the six remaining Latin American nations surveyed, the condition of the world economy ranks as the second-greatest threat.\n\nConcern about U.S. power is relatively low in Latin America, but this is not the case in Mexico. Roughly six-in-ten Mexicans say U.S. power and influence is a major threat to their country, which comes amid steep drops in U.S. favorability and confidence in the U.S. president in Mexico.\n\nIn sub-Saharan Africa, a median of 58% believe global climate change is a major threat to their country. Climate change is the top international threat in Kenya (76%), Tanzania (64%), South Africa (59%) and Senegal (56%).\n\nClosely trailing climate change is concern about refugees from places like Iraq and Syria (median of 55%), ISIS (54%), cyberattacks (53%) and the condition of the global economy (51%). Ghana and Nigeria are the only two nations in sub-Saharan Africa whose preeminent worry is not climate change \u2013 they instead see ISIS as their top threat. And on the economy, more than half in Kenya (70%), Tanzania (61%) and Nigeria (53%) are concerned.\n\nThere is little concern throughout sub-Saharan Africa about the power and influence of the U.S., Russia or China. In no country does even half the population name these issues as a major threat.", "output": "Climate change and ISIS are seen as the two greatest threats to global security by people throughout the world, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center. The international economy and Cyberattacks came next on the list. People in a third of the 38 countries surveyed cited the power of China, Russia or the US as a significant worry. The survey reflected a minimal shift in global threat perception since the previous research in 2016. However, researchers did identify an increase in global concern about the influence of the US since the election of President Trump."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Climate change and ISIS seen as greatest global threats: Pew \n Story highlights Many countries pointed to the power and influence of the US, Russia or China as a threat There's been a worldwide spike in concern about the US and its power and influence since the election of Donald Trump\n\nWashington CNN \u2014\n\nPeople across the world see the terror group ISIS and climate change as the two biggest threats to global security, according to an international survey by the non-partisan Pew Research Center.\n\nCyberattacks and the health of the international economy follow closely, while people in one third of the 38 countries surveyed said that the power and influence of the US, Russia or China is a major concern.\n\nWhile Pew researchers found little change in the global threat perception since their last survey, they did see a worldwide spike in concern about the US and its power and influence since the election of President Donald Trump.\n\nAcross Europe, 31% said US power and influence is a major threat in 2017. In Spain, the number was 59%. Compared to 2016, concern about the US had risen in six European countries and Canada.\n\nIn Turkey, people told researchers that the single greatest threat to their national security is the US. They weren\u2019t asked about the threat of ISIS.\n\nCyberattacks\n\nAmong Americans, ISIS is the greatest concern, followed by cyberattacks, climate and Russia\u2019s power and influence. Russians listed ISIS first as well, followed by the global economy, US power and influence, and the large number of refugees leaving Middle Eastern countries such as Syria and Iraq.\n\nISIS also ranked first for most Middle East nations, as well as countries that are struggling to deal with self-proclaimed affiliates of the group and European countries that have seen attacks by the group on their home soil.\n\nAcross the board, the second most troubling threat was global climate change, with people in 13 countries flagging it as their greatest concern.\n\nCyberattacks also ranked high. After US intelligence agencies pointed to Russian interference during the bruising election season, Americans cited cyberhacks as their second highest concern.\n\nRussia as a threat\n\nThe survey also found that 47% of Americans see Russia as a major threat, but there is a partisan divide in responses. While 61% of Democrats see Russia\u2019s power and influence as a major threat, only 36% of Republicans feel that way.\n\nIn Germany and the UK, where there have also been high-profile cyberattacks in recent months, cybercrime also ranked second. In Japan, it was the top concern.\n\nIn countries where the economy is in bad shape, people were more likely to identify the global economy as a major threat, the survey found. In Greece, 98% of people said their national economy was in bad shape, and 88% pointed to the state of global economy as the country\u2019s top threat.\n\nThe report also found that people\u2019s concerns varied according to the region where they lived.\n\nRegional differences\n\nIn the Asia Pacific, people\u2019s top concerns are about ISIS and global warming. But 52% worry about cyberattacks and 47% named China\u2019s power and influence as a major threat. They were not asked about North Korea.\n\nIn sub-Saharan Africa, climate change, ISIS and the global refugee crisis were top concerns. In the Middle East, people were focused on ISIS, unsurprisingly, but also about the state of the global economy and the reach and influence of the US.\n\nLatin Americans were most concerned about climate change \u2013 six out of seven countries named it as the top threat \u2013 but the global economy also ranked high.\n\nAnd in Europe, the US, Canada and Russia, ISIS topped the list, but climate change is a pressing concern. It ranked first as a national threat in Canada, Sweden and Spain. In the EU countries, 64% said it was a major threat. In the US, 56% said global climate change was a major threat.\n\nResearchers spoke to 41,953 respondents in those 38 countries between February 16 and May 8, 2017.", "output": "Climate change and ISIS are seen as the two greatest threats to global security by people throughout the world, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center. The international economy and Cyberattacks came next on the list. People in a third of the 38 countries surveyed cited the power of China, Russia or the US as a significant worry. The survey reflected a minimal shift in global threat perception since the previous research in 2016. However, researchers did identify an increase in global concern about the influence of the US since the election of President Trump."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HKEX to use blockchain for pre-IPO companies of the 'new economy' \n The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is planning to launch a new private market to provide early stage companies with a blockchain-based share registration and transfer platform for the conduct of pre-IPO financing off-exchange and clear of the regulatory remit of the Securities and Futures Ordinance.\n\nSet for launch in 2018, the HKEX Private Market will serve as a \u201cnursery\u201d for early stage companies before they are ready to enter public markets.\n\n\n\nIn an open letter soliciting feedback on the proposals, HKEX chief Charles Li says the new venture will aim to create a supportive ecosystem in Hong Kong for early-stage startups and their investors.\n\n\n\nIt's part of a package of measures launched by the Exchange to reform the existing Growth Enterprise Market and cater for an emerging class of 'new economy' companies, creating three separate boards with a staggered approach to regulatory restrictions. This will entail the new unrelated private market, a lightly-regulated 'New Board Pro' for professional investors, and a publicly available 'New Board Premium', with stringent listing criteria and profits requirements.\n\n\n\n\"Hong Kong has to find ways to...change its DNA. These creative and new economy companies represent the future and we have to make Hong Kong a welcoming home for these companies and their investors from China and everywhere else,\" says Li. \"The key principle is to identify companies whose businesses are in sectors where people rather than investment capital is the key, and creativity, innovation, technology, intellectual property, and new ways of commerce in totality are the primary drivers for its growth and business successes.\"", "output": "The Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) has announced plans to launch a private market using blockchain to provide a platform for pre-IPO companies. Launching next year, the HKEX Private Market will take care of early stage businesses in its ecosystem before they head into the public markets, offering support for start-ups entering the wider world and catering for \"new economy\" companies.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Likelihood of achieving Paris climate targets just 5% \n There is only a 5% chance that the Earth will avoid warming by at least 2C come the end of the century, according to new research that paints a sobering picture of the international effort to stem dangerous climate change.\n\n\n\nGlobal trends in the economy, emissions and population growth make it extremely unlikely that the planet will remain below the 2C threshold set out in the Paris climate agreement in 2015, the study states.\n\nThe Paris accord, signed by 195 countries, commits to holding the average global temperature to \u201cwell below 2C\u201d above pre-industrial levels and sets a more aspirational goal to limit warming to 1.5C. This latter target is barely plausible, the new research finds, with just a 1% chance that temperatures will rise by less than 1.5C.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re closer to the margin than we think,\u201d said Adrian Raftery, a University of Washington academic who led the research, published in Nature Climate Change. \u201cIf we want to avoid 2C, we have very little time left. The public should be very concerned.\u201d\n\nGovernments settled on the 2C threshold partly through political expediency but also because scientists have warned of severe consequences from sea level rise, drought, heatwaves and social unrest should the temperature rise beyond this.\n\nSuch risks have been underscored by a separate study, also released on Monday, that shows unabated climate change will cause around 60,000 deaths globally in 2030 and 260,000 deaths by 2100. The study, by the University of North Carolina, found that rising temperatures will exacerbate air pollutants that will particularly threaten those with existing conditions.\n\nAccording to the University of Washington study, there is a 90% likelihood that temperatures will rise between 2C and 4.9C by 2100. This would put the world in the mid-range warming scenarios mapped out by the UN\u2019s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It negates the most optimistic outcome as well as the worst case, which would see temperatures climb nearly 6C beyond the pre-industrial era.\n\nRather than look at how greenhouse gases will influence temperature, the new research analyzed the past 50 years of trends in world population, per capita gross domestic product (GDP) and carbon intensity, which is the amount of carbon dioxide emitted for each dollar of economic activity.\n\nAfter building a statistical model covering a range of emissions scenarios, the researchers found that carbon intensity will be a crucial factor in future warming. Technological advances are expected to cut global carbon intensity by 90% over the course of the century, with sharp declines in China and India \u2013 two newly voracious consumers of energy. However, this decline still will not be steep enough to avoid breaching the 2C limit.\n\nThe world\u2019s population is expected to grow to about 11 billion people by 2100, but the research found that this will have a relatively small impact upon temperatures as much of this growth will take place in sub-Saharan Africa, which is a minor contributor of greenhouse gas emissions.\n\nIt has long been acknowledged that emissions cuts promised under the the Paris agreement would not be sufficient to avoid 2C warming. However, it is hoped that periodic reviews of commitments will result in more severe reductions.\n\nDonald Trump\u2019s pledge to remove the US, the world\u2019s second-largest emitter, from the accord has cast a large shadow over these ambitions.\n\n\u201cEven if the 2C target isn\u2019t met, action is very important,\u201d said Raftery. \u201cThe more the temperature increases, the worse the impacts will be.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe would warn against any tendency to use our results to say that we won\u2019t avoid 2C, and so it\u2019s too late to do anything. On the contrary, avoiding the higher temperature increases that our model envisages is even more important, and also requires urgent action.\u201d\n\nRaftery acknowledged that a breakthrough technology could \u201cdramatically\u201d change the outlook but noted that major advances of the past 50 years, such as the computer, robotics, hybrid cars, the internet and electronic fuel injection, have improved carbon efficiency steadily at around 2% a year, rather than in huge jumps.\n\nAndrew Dessler, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University who was not involved in the study, said the research\u2019s conclusions were \u201creasonable\u201d but said it was difficult to assign a precise probability to future temperature rises.\n\n\u201cI agree that staying below 2C and 1.5C are unlikely and very, very unlikely, respectively,\u201d he said. \u201cBut this research gives a false sense of rigor. Tomorrow someone could invent a carbon-free energy source that everyone adopts.\n\n\u201cIf you look at technology adoption and action taken on the ozone layer and acid rain, it\u2019s clear these things can change faster than people predict.\u201d\n\nDessler said the falling cost of renewable energy would be a major factor in reducing emissions but further impetus would be needed through new actions such as a price on carbon.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s like you\u2019re driving and about to collide with the car in front of you,\u201d he said. \u201cYou want to hit the brakes as fast as you can. The later you wait, the more painful it\u2019s going to be.\u201d\n\nJohn Sterman, an academic at the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative, said the research was an \u201curgent call to action\u201d. MIT research has shown that emissions cuts in the Paris agreement would stave off around 1C of temperature increase by 2100 \u2013 findings misrepresented by Trump when he announced the US departure from the pact.\n\nSterman said the US must \u201cdramatically speed the deployment of renewable energy and especially energy efficiency. Fortunately, renewables, storage and other technologies are already cheaper than fossil energy in many places and costs are falling fast.\n\n\u201cMore aggressive policies are urgently needed, but this study should not be taken as evidence that nothing can be done.\u201d", "output": "The likelihood of the Earth achieving the 2C warming target set by the Paris Climate Agreement is just 5%, according to research from the University of Washington. The chance of achieving the Agreement\u2019s aspirational target of a 1.5C rise is just 1%. The research also found there is\u00a0a 90% likelihood of temperatures increasing by between 2C and 4C by 2100. Researchers studied trends in population growth and per capita gross domestic product to estimate the increases. Carbon intensity, a measurement of the amount of CO2 emitted per dollar of economic activity, was identified as a key factor in future increases.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Demand for co-working space shores up HK's lease market \n Email Sign Up For Our Free Weekly Newsletter\n\n\n\n\n\nSign Up Free | The WPJ Weekly Newsletter Relevant real estate news.\n\nActionable market intelligence.\n\nRight to your inbox every week. Go Thank you for your interest!\n\nYou will now be receiving our Weekly Real Estate Newsletter.\n\nReal Estate Listings Showcase\n\nAccording to JLL's latestreport, returning office stock arising from expiring leases led to a net withdrawal of 16,000 sq. ft in the Grade A office market in June 2017. Yet despite the contraction of the occupier market, the leasing activity remained robust, led by demand from co-working and serviced office operators seeking out expansion opportunities.The last few months has seen an unprecedented amount of take-up from the co-working sector with both new entrants and traditional occupiers. \"In a market where net demand growth has been thin, the arrival of co-working space operators represents a welcome source of new demand for the leasing market,\" says Paul Yien, Regional Director of HK Markets at JLL.Last year, JLL helped WeWork secure a flagship location along Jaffe Road in Causeway, leasing 93,000 sq. ft over nine floors at Tower 535. Since then, the market has seen a number of other operators, including some of the city's incumbent serviced office operators establishing and announcing plans to set up new locations in the city. Regus, for example, has reportedly just pre-committed 26,800 sq. ft at Lee Garden Three in Causeway Bay. Naked Hub, a Shanghai-based operator, has planned to expand in Hong Kong and has leased sixteen floors with 55,000 sq. ft at EIB Centre (will be renamed to Bonham Circus) in Sheung Wan.The growing popularity of co-working offices in Hong Kong is not only being driven by start-ups but also increasingly by larger corporate occupiers looking to better utilize their real estate within the city; taking advantage of the greater flexibility, convenience and savings that can be provided by operators.\"As most Grade A offices in Central may be beyond the reach of the business models adopted by co-working space operators, the impact of these new market entrants will be felt more in Grade B offices and office markets outside of Central. Landlords may also consider bringing in co-sharing office operators into their portfolios to help broaden their tenant base,\" Denis Ma, Head of Research at JLL, points out.Beyond co-working space operators, PRC banking and finance firms continued to be the key drivers of leasing activity in Central, accounting for about 46% of all new lettings in terms of floor area. China RE Asset Management relocated and expanded in-house by 11,200 sq. ft at Three Exchange Square while a Mainland China investment company leased 10,800 sq. ft at 181 Queen's Road Central.Rents in Central advanced 0.3% m-o-m, surpassing the record highs set in 2008. Rents in all other major office markets remained broadly stable against tight vacancy rates.", "output": "Robust demand from co-working and serviced office operators has shored up leasing activity in Hong Kong, according to JLL's latest monthly market monitor report, which showed returning office stock from expired leases led to a net withdrawal of 16,000 sq ft of grade A office space in June.\u00a0Growing popularity of co-working offices, a\u00a0series of arrivals, including\u00a0WeWork's flagship 93,000 sq\u00a0ft location at Tower 535 Jaffe Road in Causeway, and activity among incumbents like Regus, which recently pre-committed 26,800 sq\u00a0ft at Lee Garden Three in Causeway Bay, have delivered \"a welcome source of new demand for the leasing market,\" said JLL's Regional Director of HK Markets, Paul Yien.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mystro app allows drivers to easily switch between Uber and Lyft \n Like many drivers of ride-hailing services, Herb Coakley knew working for both Uber and Lyft could maximize his earnings.\n\nRoughly two thirds of drivers work for at least two services, according to a survey of more than 1,000 drivers from a popular industry blog, The Rideshare Guy.\n\nBut Coakley realized toggling between two phones and the apps was inefficient and required a lot of dexterity while on the road. Many drivers log into separate phones to increase their odds of getting ride requests. But they have to remember to turn the other one off once a ride is accepted to avoid more requests from popping up.\n\nHe took matters into his own hands and built Mystro, an app that pulls ride requests from both services into one platform.\n\nMystro, an Android app for now, allows drivers to set preferences for which rides they want or don't want to accept. For example, they can filter out UberPOOL requests, rides that are more than 5 minutes away and passengers with ratings below 4.8. And it promises that drivers will earn 30% more using its service.\n\n\"Drivers feel they don't have a lot of control, and we give them some [of it] back,\" he said.\n\nMystro automatically accepts trips that meet preferences and sets other ride-hailing apps to offline until the trip is complete.\n\nRelated: Uber-like carpooling is coming to NYC taxis\n\nCoakley said his idea proved more difficult to execute than anticipated because Mystro doesn't have access to Uber or Lyft's servers. It took about two years for Coakley, who has a background in physics and filmmaking, to find developer and cofounder Matt Rajcok. He built Mystro without plugging into Uber or Lyft's APIs.\n\nCoakley declined to discuss how Mystro collects information from Uber and Lyft, but said the company does not violate privacy policies.\n\nMystro has raised $120,000 in funding from Y Combinator, where it is currently participating in its elite three-month accelerator program. It also raised $100,000 from one of Coakley's passengers, a Google employee who was intrigued by the concept. The app, which launched in February 2017, has 10,000 users to date.\n\nLast month, Coakley began monetizing the app. Drivers can opt to pay $11.95 monthly or $99.95 a year, which includes expedited tech support. A free version of the app gets drivers access to Mystro for 10 trips each week.\n\nCoakley aims to add additional on-demand services to its platform like DoorDash and Postmates in the future. He also hopes Uber and Lyft will eventually integrate with the app.\n\n\"We can help Uber and Lyft with retention problems,\" he said.\n\nUber is currently campaigning to quell driver dissent and make itself a more attractive company for employees. It is running an ongoing \"180 Days of Change\" initiative, a corporate cleanup effort that's rolling out changes to improve its service for drivers.\n\n\"We're all friends here,\" Coakley said. \"We're all just trying to make our community safer and more efficient.\"", "output": "Android app Mystro provides a single platform for drivers to receive requests from ride-hailing services Uber and Lyft. The app, which doesn't use Uber or Lyft's APIs or servers, enables drivers to filter passengers by their proximity and rating. Mystro refused to discuss exactly how the app gathers data from Uber and Lyft, but maintains it does not breach privacy policies. Those using the app earn 30% more, according to the company. About two thirds of drivers use at least two ride-hailing services, according to a report from industry blog The Rideshare Guy."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Italian ski resort closes roads to boost cyclotourism \n A ski resort in Italy is experimenting with closing sections of its mountain roads in an effort to become a mecca for road cyclists during the summer season.\n\nAlta Badia in the Italian Dolomites has hosted three \u201cbike only\u201d days this summer to boost its cyclo-tourism credentials and capitalise on the trend for closed-roads sportives.\n\nThe scheme, which sees some of the most famous climbs in road cycling closed to motor vehicles, has attracted thousands of riders to the region and could be expanded beyond the resort.\n\nThe Unesco world heritage site is best known for its high-end ski resorts but has hosted large road and mountain bike events for years, including regular appearances in the Giro d\u2019Italia.\n\nThe 31st edition of the Maratona dles Dolomites, one of the largest mass participation rides in cycling, was hosted in Alta Badia last month and was bookended by the closed-road free ride days.\n\nSportives, which allow amateur riders to experience closed roads in settings similar to professional cyclists, have exploded in popularity over the last decade.\n\nThe Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 which took place last weekend hosted about 28,000 riders who covered up to 100 miles (160km) on closed roads through the capital and into the countryside of southern England.\n\n\n\nSimilar events are held almost every weekend around the UK and Europe. But the sportive phenomenon has been criticised for over-crowding rides and commercialising the sport.\n\nThe craze for closed roads without a timed course to cover, such as the one trialled in Alta Badia, could be seen as a way to avoid oversubscribed sportives.\n\nThe latest bike-only day in July closed the Campolongo, Falzarego and Valparola mountain passes, all roads that featured in the last two editions of the Giro d\u2019Italia.\n\nThe stretch of road closed to cars was 51km long, included almost 1,300 metres of climbing, and was closed to traffic from 10am to 3pm.", "output": "Italian ski resort Alta Badia is temporarily closing parts of its mountain roads in order to attract road cyclists during the summer season. The resort, in the Italian Dolomites, has this summer hosted three \u201cbike only\u201d days which have attracted thousands of riders. The scheme could now be extended beyond the resort. \u201cSportives\u201d, which enable amateur cyclists to experience closed road settings\u00a0resembling those used by professionals, have become increasingly popular over the past decade.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Instagram Stories boasts impressive growth on first birthday \n It might be hard to believe, but Instagram Stories is already turning one year old.\n\nInstagram\u2019s Snapchat clone hits its first anniversary today, and the Facebook-owned app has spent much of 2017 heavily investing in bringing vertical video and augmented reality filters to the format. As a result, Instagram is growing rapidly, adding 50 million daily users in just two months to hit 250 million daily users in June. In comparison, Snapchat\u2019s own platform had just 166 million as of the first quarter of this year, according to the company\u2019s most recent quarterly earnings.\n\nWhen it first introduced Stories last year, Instagram was immediately accused of copying Snapchat as a way of siphoning its growing user base ahead of its inevitable IPO back in February.", "output": "Instagram Stories, the Facebook-owned company's year-old photo sharing feature, counts more than 250 million daily users. Meanwhile, rival Snapchat attracts 166 million daily users. Additionally, Stories is used for 32 minutes each day by those under 25, and 24 minutes per day for over 25s, while Snapchat claims 30 minutes per day for under 25s and 20 minutes per day for over 25s. Since Instagram announced its daily usage outstripped its rival's, the share price for Snapchat's parent company, Snap, has dipped to an all-time low of $12.67. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US scientists develop graphene-based catalyst to split water \n Scientists at Rice University and the University of Houston have developed a catalyst that can simplify the splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen to produce clean energy. The electrolytic film is a three-layer structure of nickel, graphene and a compound of iron, manganese and phosphorus. The foamy nickel gives the film a large surface, the conductive graphene protects the nickel from degrading and the metal phosphide carries out the reaction.\n\nThe film was developed to overcome barriers that usually make a catalyst good for producing either oxygen or hydrogen, but not both simultaneously - as is often the case with regular metals. The team explained that normally, a hydrogen evolution reaction is done in acid and an oxygen evolution reaction is done in base. This work produced one material that is stable whether it's in an acidic or basic solution. In addition, the team used rather common materials in lieu of the usually-required platinum and other costly materials.\n\nThe new catalyst also requires less energy, the team said. The overpotential (the amount of energy required to trigger electrocatalysis) is small, and quite competitive with other materials. The lower it is, the closer you come to making it as efficient as possible for water splitting.\n\nGraphene, the atom-thick form of carbon, is key to protecting the underlying nickel. One to three layers of graphene are formed on the nickel foam in a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) furnace, and the iron, manganese and phosphorus are added on top of that, also via CVD and from a single precursor. Tests compared nickel foam and the phosphide both with and without graphene in the middle and found the conductive graphene lowered charge-transfer resistance for both hydrogen and oxygen reactions. The manganese adds a level of protection as well.\n\nThe researchers said the material is scalable and should find use in industries that produce hydrogen and oxygen or by solar- and wind-powered facilities that can use electrocatalysis to store off-peak energy.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIt may also be adapted to produce other advanced materials. \"Our method could be widely applicable to a large number of metal phosphide materials for catalysts\u00e2\u0080\u0094not just for water splitting, but for a range of things,\" the scientists said.", "output": "Researchers at Rice University and the University of Houston have developed a catalyst that can ease the process of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen to create energy. Using an electrolytic film made of three layers \u2013 one of graphene, one of nickel and one a compound of iron \u2013 simultaneously, unlike most catalysts used in electrolysis, means that less energy is needed to trigger the catalyst. The material is also scalable and could be used by renewable energy projects to store energy, said the researchers."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New York's Food52 platform\u00a0finds\u00a0new ways to draw in advertisers \n Seemingly every publisher has a content studio to chase branded content revenue. Food52 is among the publishers trying to find ways to differentiate, like BuzzFeed with its sponsored quizzes and Bloomberg with sponsored interactive features. One of Food52\u2019s challenges is that food content is everywhere now. Advertisers are also moving away from clicks as a way to measure branded content\u2019s effectiveness in favor of ads that people spend a lot of time with or are shown to drive sales.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re getting more and more requests that we want to tie this branded content into a sales research study,\u201d said Sam Stahl, CRO at Food52. \u201cEveryone\u2019s getting more sophisticated and saying, \u2018We\u2019re spending all this money on branded content; we need to see it\u2019s resulting in ROI.\u2019\u201d", "output": "New York-based food website Food52 has devised a number of editorial features aimed at improving advertisers' return on investment. It has sold space on its menu generator to an advertiser, which will offer custom recipes as well as the standard ones, and its hotline will provide sponsor's answers as well ones from site users. Another feature Food52 is pitching is a recipe game. Chief revenue officer Sam Stahl said the ad rate is \"significantly higher\" for its tools compared with standard native ads.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian government to use social media in tax assessments \n A photo of your shiny new car on Instagram or the Facebook post about your chic holiday cottage may lead India's taxman to your door.\n\nStarting next month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government will begin amassing a warehouse of virtual information collected not just from traditional sources like banks but also from social media sites, as it looks to match residents' spending patterns with income declarations, said people familiar with the matter. Officials will be able to spot those who pay too little tax without raiding offices and homes as they currently do, the people said, asking not to be identified citing rules on speaking with the media.\n\nBuilt over seven years at a cost of about Rs. 100 crores ($156 million), 'Project Insight' will complement the world's largest biometric identity database and India's most ambitious tax overhaul as policy makers try to get more people to pay up. While the economy is among the fastest-growing in the world, revenues aren't keeping pace, bloating Modi's budget deficit and triggering anxiety about over-zealous tax sleuths.\n\n\"Data analytics is the way forward for tax administrations across the world,\" said Amit Maheshwari, managing partner at accountancy firm Ashok Maheshwary and Associates near New Delhi. \"This will also put an end to harassment by tax officials as there will be no public interface. Perceived randomness in scrutiny will come to an end.\"\n\nCountries including Belgium, Canada and Australia are already using big data to unearth tax evasion that may have gone undetected without technology. India's efforts resemble the UK's 'Connect,' which is estimated to have cost some GBP 100 million. Since its inception in 2010, it has prevented the loss of GBP 4.1 billion ($5.4 billion) in revenue and the number of criminal prosecutions has risen to 1,165 from 165 a year, the London-based Institute of Financial Accountants said in a December 2016 report.\n\nIndia's Finance Ministry spokesman D.S. Malik declined to comment on Project Insight. The government said last year it had contracted L&T Infotech - an arm of India's largest engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro - to help build the network and boost voluntary compliance.\n\nThis is a long term project for L&T Infotech, chief executive officer and managing director Sanjay Jalona said, without specifying a time frame. The company has agreed to the build-own-operate-transfer model, which means that while it will be running the project and earning revenues during the contract period, it will ultimately transfer the network to the government once the contract runs out. India's tax-to-GDP ratio is about 17 percent compared with 25 percent for most Asian countries, according to government data.\n\nCompliance will rise 30 percent to 40 percent during the first phase of the project, the people said. During this time all existing data - including credit card spends, property and stock investments, cash purchases and deposits - will be migrated to the new system and a central team will send postal or email blasts to prod residents to file tax declarations. There will be no physical interaction, they said.\n\nThe second phase will be rolled out by December, during which data analytics will mine, clean and process the information. Individual spending profiles will be created and inquiries will be more targeted. In the last phase, which will go live around May 2018, advanced systems will be used to predict future defaults and flag risks.\n\n'Safeguards are must'\n\nSome analysts recommend that the government use its tools for tax forecasting. Data analytics could show how much business has slumped in a certain town following a flood, for example, which would help authorities better assess aid requirements as well as predict local revenues and plan finances.\n\nThe scope of the project has also led to concerns in a country where the government has repeatedly told the Supreme Court it doesn't consider privacy to be an absolute right. The OECD studied 21 countries that use technology to detect tax fraud and said in a March 31 report that while such methods offer a win-win by making compliance cheaper as well as boosting revenue, they must be accompanied by legislative measures and taxpayer consultation.\n\n\"Safeguards are must,\" said Rahul Garg, head of direct tax at PwC India. \"It has to be seen how effectively data, which has become invaluable, is used for governance.\"\n\n\u00a9 2017 Bloomberg L.P.", "output": "India will launch a new initiative next month aimed at increasing its 17% tax-to-GDP ratio by using data from social media sites and banks to build up a picture of residents' spending habits, according to anonymous insiders. Project Insight, which has been seven years in the making and cost $156m, will work alongside the world's largest biometric identity database and dovetail with India's planned tax overhaul. The big data model is similar to those used by Belgium, Canada and Australia, and will be rolled out in three phases.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Kickers shoes urgency to purchase campaign pays off \n The U.K. licensee of the Kickers shoe brand, Pentland Brands, wants to make shoppers so concerned about missing out on items on its sites that they feel compelled to make purchases.\n\nOne way the brand is creating FOMO is through persistent visual reminders of what people are viewing on Kickers\u2019 site.\n\nWhen shoppers visit product pages on the Kickers site, online performance specialist Yieldify serves them with a notification that shows how many other people have viewed the same item in the past 24 hours.\n\nThis creates an \u201curgency to purchase,\u201d said Rob Burr, digital commerce manager at Pentland Brands. During the test month in April, the percentage of people who saw the counter next to a product and went on to buy the item versus those who didn\u2019t see the counter reached what the brand deemed a \u201cstatistically significant\u201d level, leading it to stop the test and serve the campaign to all the site\u2019s visitors for the next two months. Between April and June, the campaign generated a 17.9 percent conversion rate, enough for Pentland\u2019s marketers to greenlight it for their brands such as Canterbury and Boxfresh in the coming months.\n\nBurr said the tactic was \u201cjust the nudge\u201d shoppers need toward making their purchases \u201cwithout having to offer a discount.\u201d Bringing urgency to the company\u2019s product pages is, as he sees it, a conversion strategy that doesn\u2019t necessarily give away margin. The need to continue that momentum was highlighted in Pentland Brands\u2019 latest financial results, which were buoyed by its relationship with retailers such as JD Sports, deals where the shoe maker\u2019s margins are slimmest.\n\n\u201cWe want to attract and develop a loyal customer base that are not only focused on the cheapest price,\u201d Burr said. \u201cIt\u2019s challenging because a large part of our business is wholesale, in that customers we sell to range from Amazon to Sports Direct. We have to work much harder in that regard because our margins are being pushed all the time, and so the more tactics like [FOMO] that we can engage in \u2014 whether that\u2019s through CRM or social \u2014 the better.\u201d\n\nConsequently, the footwear manufacturer has piloted other conversion drivers on the Kickers site in recent months such as free delivery and free gifts instead of discounts. A low-cost free gift can be as effective at driving a conversion as a discount, said the retailer. When visitors attempted to leave the Kickers site in April, they were shown a notification offering free delivery and a free Kickers bag with their purchases. The company said this performed \u201cespecially well on mobile,\u201d delivering an 88.3 percent conversion rate during the trial period.", "output": "Pentland Brands, owner of the Kickers footwear range, has revealed that creating an urgency to purchase led to a 17.9% conversion rate during testing between April and June this year. The company is looking for ways of engaging customers without offering discounts, such as by telling them how many other people have viewed a product in the past 24 hours. Pentland also revealed the offer of free delivery and\u00a0a free bag was a success among mobile users, resulting in an 88.3% conversion rate during the same trial period.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Baillie Gifford enters ethical sector with Positive Change\u00a0fund \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nSign up to FREE email alerts from businessInsider - Business Newsletter sent Mon to Fri, twice each day with a full week's round up every Sat\n\nEdinburgh-based fund management giant Baillie Gifford has launched its first ever fund focused solely on companies making a positive social impact in areas such as education, the environment and healthcare.\n\nThe firm, which has funds under management amounting to over \u00a3166bn, claims that the new Positive Change fund differs from other socially-oriented vehicles in that it specifically invests in companies who make contributing towards a more sustainable and inclusive world a core business aim.\n\nTop holdings in a new fund include Tesla, the electrical car and energy storage pioneer and Alphabet, parent company of Google.\n\nPortfolio construction is driven by bottom-up stock selection covering themes like social inclusion and education, environmental needs, and healthcare and quality of life.\n\nPart of the Investment Association's Global sector, Baillie Gifford said the goal of the fund was to outperform the MSCI All Country World index by 2% annually over five-year rolling periods.\n\nThe fund is relatively concentrated, holding between 25 and 50 stocks at any one time, while portfolio turnover is expected to be below 20% per year over the long term.\n\nA team of six investment managers from different teams across the venerable investment manager and two corporate governance specialists will be responsible for managing the vehicle, which was seeded earlier this year with \u00a35m from the Baillie Gifford partnership and is now open to external investors.\n\nLee Qian, investment manager within the international equities team and one of the managers of the Positive Change fund, said: \"We believe businesses and innovations have the potential to make tremendous improvements to people's lives.\n\n\"We further believe companies seeking to effect positive social and environmental change will see rising demand for their products and services and are therefore naturally growth companies.\n\n\"By focusing on a subset of those companies that enjoy sustainable competitive advantages and are run by committed management teams, we aim to deliver attractive investment returns over the long term.\"\n\nThe fund, domiciled in the UK, has an estimated ongoing charge of 0.65% for class B shares.", "output": "Scottish fund manager Baillie Gifford has launched the Positive Change fund, its first vehicle for investing specifically in companies that contribute to a \"sustainable and inclusive world\". Baillie Gifford said the fund's goal was to outperform the MSCI All Country World index by 2% a year, over five-year rolling periods. Lee Qian, an investment manager at the firm, said: \"We believe companies seeking to effect positive social and environmental change will see rising demand for their products and services and are therefore naturally growth companies.\" The firm has \u00a3166bn ($217bn) of assets under management and holdings include Alphabet and Tesla.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Vungle and Amazon cooperate to bring users to Fire tablets \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nVungle and Amazon are working together on user-acquisition campaigns to the online retailer\u2019s Fire tablets. In doing so, it is bringing attention to the little-noticed growth of Amazon\u2019s devices. Market researcher IDC said that adoption of Amazon devices increased 1,200 percent in 2016. This could help developers improve their monetization and reach on Amazon devices.\n\nThe Vungle SDK for the Amazon Appstore will be available in September.\n\n\u201cFire tablet users are a rapidly growing and sought-after audience. With Vungle\u2019s support for Fire tablets, our advertisers can now tap into this valuable user base,\u201d said Vungle CEO Zain Jaffer. \u201cWe have made a strategic investment in our support for the Amazon platform, and Vungle is the first video performance marketing platform developers can use to monetize their apps across all major app platforms: Fire OS, Android, iOS and Windows.\u201d\n\nThe support means that publishers and advertisers can reach both gamers and non-game consumers with relevant, targeted advertising on more devices around the world.\n\nAt least one developer I spoke with said they weren\u2019t that excited about moving their games over to the Fire tablets, and that means running ads on Fire isn\u2019t that attractive.\n\nI asked why Jaffer thought support for the Fire tablets was important. He replied, \u201cAmazon is a growing force in advertising. It made nearly $1.4 billion in advertising revenue last year and is expected to reach $1.8 billion this year. While that\u2019s only a fraction of the ad market right now, our customers tell us that the Amazon Appstore has great user value. In fact, for many it represents an important part of their overall revenue. We expect this will continue to increase.\u201d\n\nHe added, \u201cAdditionally, Vungle complements Amazon\u2019s existing business in several ways, which will benefit both companies and our mutual developers. Any chance to work with them more closely is an exciting opportunity for us, and it opens more doors for our advertising and publishing partners.\u201d", "output": "Performance marketing platform Vungle is partnering with Amazon to acquire users for the retail giant's Fire tablets. Vungle enables developers to monetise their apps across Windows, Fire and Android OS. The plaform, which is releasing a software development kit in September, aims to enable advertisers to engage gamers and non-gamers alike, amid a growing market for Amazon devices.\u00a0Adoption of Fire rose 1,200% in 2016, according to researcher IDC.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "$25m extorted from ransomware victims in 2 years \n Security\n\nRansomware Extorts $25 Million in Payments over 2 Years\n\nA team of researchers from New York University (NYU), University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and Google estimates that victims of ransomware have paid out more than $25 million over the last two years.\n\nThe team, which also included researchers from Chainalysis, a blockchain analysis firm, examined 300,000 files from more than 30 different kinds of ransomware and tracked blockchain payments to estimate the amount and scale of money paid by victims. Their findings were presented at the Black Hat USA 2017 conference.\n\nDanny Yuxing Huang, a Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science and Engineering UCSD and one of the researchers on the project, tracked bitcoins as they moved from potential victims to ransomware operators and from ransomware operators to coin exchanges, perhaps for liquidation.\n\n\"By masquerading as a part of the ransomware infrastructure,\" said Huang in a prepared statement, \"I also gathered statistics on infected computers, such as the number of infections over time, and the geographical distribution of infected machines.\"\n\nLast year was the first year ransomware was a multi-million-dollar industry, according to the researchers, and it wasn't necessarily the most well known ransomware that accounted for that growth.\n\nThe WannaCry attack, for example, generated seemingly endless headlines as it froze hospitals and more than 10,000 other organizations out of their own records, but it only pulled in about $140,000, good for the 11th spot on the list of ransomware with the largest payouts.\n\nThe researchers also noted that WannaCry wasn't true ransomware, but wipeware, as victims were not able to retrieve their data even after paying the ransom.\n\nLocky and Cerber grabbed fewer headlines than WannaCry, but they're raking in money at $7.8 million and $6.9 million, respectively, in paid ransoms to date.\n\nLocky is also notable for being the first ransomware to generate more than $1 million in monthly payments.\n\n\"Locky's big advantage was the decoupling of the people who maintain the ransomware from the people who are infecting machines,\" said Damon McCoy, assistant professor of computer science at NYU, in a prepared statement. \"Locky just focused on building the malware and support infrastructure. Then they had other botnets spread and distribute the malware, which were much better at that end of the business.\"", "output": "Over the last two years, ransomware victims have paid out at least $25m, with lesser-known viruses Locky and Cerber responsible for $7.8m and $6.9m\u00a0respectively, according to researchers at New York University, Google and the University of California, San Diego. Their findings, which will be presented at this year's Black Hat USA conference, also revealed 2016 was the year in which the ransomware industry\u00a0was generating multiple millions of dollars\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Robots do five times more work than humans: Credit Suisse CEO \n The CEO at Credit Suisse has expressed his confidence in robotics to continue cutting costs after making gains in the second quarter this year from \u2018intense\u2019 restructuring.\n\nSpeaking on the quarterly earnings call, Tidjane Thiam, told investors the bank introduced 58 robots into production so far this year, anticipating 150 in total by year-end.\n\n\u201cIn operations, a robot manages five times more transactions than a human being,\u201d he said.\n\nWithin the global markets business at Credit Suisse, Thiam confidently stated the firm is on track to cut costs to CHF 4.8 billion for the full year.\n\nOutsourced resources have decreased around 23% since December 2015 and 80% of those are under managed capacity contracts. The bank said it is looking to move two-thirds of these to managed services to bring about a further 30-40% of savings.\n\nGlobal markets produced CHF 3.2 billion in net revenues in the first half of this year, up 15% compared to the same period last year. Thiam described this as \u201ca very important milestone for us,\u201d despite its fixed income trading sales plummeting 29% year-on-year.\n\n\u201cThe difficult environment for equities sales and trading continued in the second quarter with lower market volatility and a continued low level of client activity, particularly in equity derivatives, albeit the performance in cash was more resilient year-on-year,\u201d he said.\n\nEquity derivatives, a traditionally strong area for Credit Suisse, particularly in Asia, was hit hard by the low volatility.\n\nThiam explained: \u201cWe\u2019re not getting those revenues. And we have a continued upside of connecting APAC market better with the wealth management business.\n\n\u201cThere's a strong demand from our clients to access our trading platform, and there is much more we can do there.\u201d\n\nChief financial officer at Credit Suisse, David Mathers, revealed plans to move the emerging market finance and derivatives businesses into a formal partnership of international wealth management and the Swiss Universal Bank.\n\nHe said the partnership will \u2018substantially\u2019 increase the diversity of product offerings for clients and improve the integration between the trading businesses and its private banking flows.", "output": "Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam has given his blessing to the bank's use of artificial intelligence platforms, saying they've helped cut costs, and asserted that robots can manage \"five times more transactions than a human being\". The lender has already deployed 58 robots this year and plans to introduce about 100 more by the end of December. Such automation will continue to be used to cut costs, said Thiam."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mapp Digital to challenge larger marketing companies \n Mapp Digital, the Marlin Equity-backed holding company housing the remnants of Teradata\u2019s marketing tech stack, wants to take some business from the larger marketing clouds.\n\nOne way it hopes to get there is by attracting upper mid-market and enterprise buyers like KFC and Infiniti that are looking for a modular marketing cloud with managed services \u2013 not just an all-in-one SaaS stack.\n\nMapp, which launched last fall, aims to be a marketing services provider for clients who may not have the expertise to manage their marketing platform in-house.\n\nAbout 30% of Mapp\u2019s revenue is generated through partners like agencies and consultants.\n\n\u201cOur competitors do well with clients that have an army of marketers and data scientists who want the most features, don\u2019t care if they use it all and are willing to pay a lot for it,\u201d said Mike Biwer, CEO of Mapp Digital, who joined the company in 2015 when Marlin Equity acquired the BlueHornet email platform.\n\nMapp claims that unlike established marketing clouds caught in a \u201cfeature war,\u201d its stack is fully integrated.\n\nIt also says assets like its data management platform (Teradata acquired the Dutch DMP FLXOne in 2015) are more affordable than its competitors\u2019 offerings.\n\nAnd, should a client lack the resources to deploy and maintain a DMP in-house, Mapp can hook it up with its services arm or partners.\n\nBut despite its claims of being fully integrated, components of the Teradata mar tech stack are made up of older technologies like the email system eCircle, which was founded in 1999.\n\nAnd if Teradata couldn\u2019t successfully pull off a mar tech rollup, how does Mapp Digital expect to get it done?\n\n\u201cI think other things got in the way and [Teradata] never achieved full synergies and the integration that they wanted,\u201d Biwer acknowledged. \u201cThankfully we\u2019re able to seize that opportunity with Mapp, but we realize in some cases the platform is not as modern as we want it to be.\u201d\n\nWith Marlin\u2019s backing, Mapp is doubling down on user experience to make its technology platforms more intuitive.\n\nIt also is hiring a CTO with \u201cdeep expertise\u201d in machine learning and artificial intelligence and will invest \u201cheavily\u201d in R&D, Biwer said.\n\nFor Mapp to compete long-term, it won\u2019t be as bottom-line-focused as other PE deals that ended in divesture, according to Biwer.\n\n\u201cI think a lot of companies have fallen in the trap of having to improve the bottom line at a level that was probably detrimental to their success,\u201d Biwer said. \u201cWe want to be a strong, independent business within the Marlin portfolio, but to grow the business as fast as possible.\n\n\u201cWe aren\u2019t overly constrained to just trying to drive profitability. We\u2019re more focused on execution.\u201d", "output": "Marketing services provider start-up Mapp Digital, backed by Marlin Equity, aims to attract mid-size clients looking for a modular marketing cloud with managed services, but who may lack the skills necessary to manage their platform themselves. CEO Mike Biwer said the company's stack is fully integrated, and comes at a lower cost than rivals, but also admitted \"in some cases the platform is not as modern as we want it to be\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "JPMorgan approves global rollout of AI-driven trade execution bot \n Are Artificial Intelligence (AI) programs more efficient than traditional buying and selling methods? JPMorgan is the latest bank to pursue research into this field, developing a first generation bot to execute trades across its global Equities Equities Equities can be characterized as stocks or shares in a company that investors can buy or sell. When you buy a stock, you are in essence buying an equity, becoming a partial owner of shares in a specific company or fund.However, equities do not pay a fixed interest rate, and as such are not considered guaranteed income. As such, equity markets are often associated with risk.When a company issues bonds, it\u2019s taking loans from buyers. When a company offers shares, on the other hand, it\u2019s selling pa Equities can be characterized as stocks or shares in a company that investors can buy or sell. When you buy a stock, you are in essence buying an equity, becoming a partial owner of shares in a specific company or fund.However, equities do not pay a fixed interest rate, and as such are not considered guaranteed income. As such, equity markets are often associated with risk.When a company issues bonds, it\u2019s taking loans from buyers. When a company offers shares, on the other hand, it\u2019s selling pa Read this Term algorithm business. Per the group\u2019s latest trial however, the AI utility known as LOXM was shown to demonstrate improved efficiency over existing means, per an FT report.\n\nThe London Summit 2017 is coming, get involved!\n\nExactly what this means for the broader equities industry is simply a matter of conjecture at this juncture. Robotic trading or the use of AI rather has long been seen as a natural evolution amongst financial firms. However, humans have retained an integral focus at all major venues even as the industry moves towards more algo-focused trading regimes.\n\nLOXM is in control\n\nJPMorgan had been developing its own AI, LOXM, which was given a trial run for its European equities segment. More specifically, the AI has been live since Q1 2017 with early performance analysis yielding positive returns. The performance has evidently been so successful that the lender is green lighting its launch for Q4 in Asia and the US across its platform.\n\nIndeed, David Fellah of JPMorgan\u2019s European Equity Quant Research team, commented: \u201cSuch customisation was previously implemented by humans, but now the AI machine is able to do it on a much larger and more efficient scale.\u201d\n\nMany other lenders have been tinkering with AI capabilities as well, though a Q4 launch would make JPMorgan one of the industry\u2019s first to go live. The move is an endorsement for LOXM, whose central role is to execute client orders with optimized speed at the best price.\n\nCost efficiency driving innovation\n\nThis has been achieved through Machine Learning Machine Learning Machine learning is defined as an application of artificial intelligence (AI) that looks to automatically learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed. Machine learning is a rapidly growing field that also focuses on the development of computer programs that can access data and use it learn for themselves.This has many potential benefits for most industries and sectors, including the financial services industry. Machine Learning ExplainedMachine learning can be explained Machine learning is defined as an application of artificial intelligence (AI) that looks to automatically learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed. Machine learning is a rapidly growing field that also focuses on the development of computer programs that can access data and use it learn for themselves.This has many potential benefits for most industries and sectors, including the financial services industry. Machine Learning ExplainedMachine learning can be explained Read this Term techniques, i.e. using lessons it has learnt from billions of past trades on a simulated and real-time basis. Consequently, the AI has learned how to effectively reconcile a range of issues, including avoiding market price movements via the jettisoning of large equity stakes.\n\nIronically, the investments in LOXM as well as other AI initiatives were originally designed to help curtail costs for existing functions at investment banks. While hardly the only pioneer in this field, JPMorgan\u2019s efforts and research appears to be paying early dividends, which can help cut down tremendously on multiple time consuming human-designated tasks, such as client post-trade allocation requests, among others.\n\nA broader industry adoption could also yield a windfall for other banking segments, including gains across automatic hedging, market making, and others.", "output": "JPMorgan has given the go-ahead for full deployment of its LOXM artificial intelligence trade execution bot after successful tests earlier this year. The system is expected to go live in Asia and the US in Q4, having been tested in the European equities sector. Driven by machine learning, based on analysis of billions of past trades, LOXM is said to have learned how to deal with a range of issues, including avoiding market price movements by jettisoning large equity stakes.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Improved lending conditions lead to Liverpool office boom: CBRE \n Liverpool is experiencing a boom in commercial property investments, with CBRE\u2019s North West team playing a key role in several of the city\u2019s most recent and high-profile transactions, including the sales of the iconic Royal Liver Building and the Grade 11 Listed, Exchange Flags development.\n\nThe global property experts highlight Liverpool\u2019s emergence as a hot spot for property investment, which over the past 18 months has seen major assets changing hands in deals totalling more than \u00a3300m.\n\nA recent and pivotal transaction was the sale of the iconic Royal Liver Building in February this year. CBRE advised on the sale, the very first time in the building\u2019s history, attracting global investor interest before selling at \u00a348 million to property giant Corestate, 30% in excess of the quoting price. The Grade I Listed building, owned by the Royal London Mutual Insurance Society, was put on the market for \u00a340m in October.\n\nVictoria Hill, Regional Director at CBRE\u2019s Debt & Structured Finance division explains that securing debt for such transactions is now increasingly achievable. \u201cAs recently as a year ago, there would have been fewer lenders and terms would have been more conservative as it was a large lot size for the City. However, the City now has robust demand and supply dynamics for lending, and this transaction has put Liverpool firmly on the map..\u201d\n\nVictoria adds, \u201cIt was a privilege to work with such an experienced borrower and to share our expertise in the domestic debt market for their debut UK investment.\u201d\n\nCorestate\u2019s decision to invest in Liverpool shows its confidence in the city\u2019s economy \u2013 and has sparked a wave of interest from other global investors. As the UK\u2019s fourth largest city, Liverpool boasts a young and highly educated population, thanks to having one of the highest student retention rates in the UK. The city is also home to more than 500,000 businesses within one and a half hours of the city centre.\n\nIn CBRE\u2019s recent research study on the Creative Regions, Liverpool ranked highly for the quality of its universities, from both a teaching and research perspective. It\u2019s also a city expected to see above average rates of growth in employment within the creative industries. The city also fared well in CBRE\u2019s Law in The Region\u2019s study in 2016, where it is was one of four key cities that formed a second tier of legal centres outside the capital, alongside Edinburgh, Glasgow and Leeds.\n\nCBRE also acted for Hudson Advisors on the \u00a345million sale of Exchange Flags offices and are currently advising the Knowledge Quarter Partnership, Liverpool\u2019s largest proposed development project.\n\nCBRE\u2019s Building Consultancy team has worked across all Three Graces, including Cunard Building and the former offices of Mersey Docks and Harbour Board. The team has been instrumental in the preservation of the Royal Liver Building over the past 10 years having provided strategic advice, designed and project managed significant conservation projects in addition to providing strategic investment advice.\n\nThe Building team is currently providing conservation and building survey advice, design and project management in connection with a significant external refurbishment of the RLB\u2019s neighbouring property, the Grade II* Listed Tower Buildings, which was also designed by the architect, Walter Aubrey Thomas, responsible for the RLB.\n\nA major extension to Liverpool\u2019s \u201cKnowledge Quarter\u201d could see investments totaling almost \u00a31bn, according to the city\u2019s Mayor. The area is part of Joe Anderson\u2019s \u201cMayoral Development Zones\u201d*\n\nThe Mayor is also hugely supportive of Everton Football Club in respect of a new city-centre stadium, tipped to be a transformational project on the waterfront. CBRE is part of Everton Football Club\u2019s advisory team on the much-anticipated scheme.\n\nNeil Kirkham, Director of CBRE\u2019s Office Agency team, comments:\n\n\u201cCBRE has transacted approximately \u00a3250m worth of property across Liverpool and Merseyside in the past two years. It is an exciting time to live and work here, as illustrated by our pipeline of projects. Interest from Investors and occupiers have reached unprecedented levels in recent times, a reflection of the significant rental growth potential due to the lack of supply and the excellent demographic and economic factors to retain and attract talent\u201d\n\nCBRE\u2019s Office Agency team has completed more than 165,000 sq ft of deals in the central business district over the last 12 months with more than 48% of market on floor area. More than 76 deals were done, equating to 63.87% of deals done in the City.\n\nOut of town, CBRE has completed 136,416 sq ft of deals, including the largest acquisition in the market for Kura at Caspian House, Atlantic Park, totalling 34,983 sq ft. 30 out of town deals were completed overall, which account for almost half of total deals (47.5%) transacted.\n\nThe Liverpool team also completed the largest central business district arms length letting in 2016 at 22,572 sq ft to Armstrong Solicitors in The Plaza. The team was retained on key city centre assets, including Royal Liver Building, 4 St Paul\u2019s Street, The Plaza, India Buildings, Watson Building, One Derby Square and 43 Castle Street.\n\nAcquisitions totalling 177,000 sq ft were completed in the last year for Pershing Bank of New York, HP, Regus, HSBC, Cable & Wireless, Lloyds Register of Shipping, Hitsearch and KURA and the team actively sought accommodation for RCP, Alder Hey, The Football Pools, Sportspesa, Asics, Barclays, Wood Group and Lloyds Banking Group.\n\nJohn Dunlop, Director of CBRE\u2019s National Land & Development team, adds:\n\n\u201cLiverpool struggled to attract the same institutional interest as other regional centres in the early stages of the current residential cycle; so it\u2019s exciting to see it become a hot investment area and play a part in its progress. Over the past 12 to 18 months, we\u2019ve been involved in many high profile residential projects, including the pre-sale of Promenade Developments, Baltic Triangle residential scheme to Hermes-Countrywide JV, Vista. This represents the largest residential transaction in Liverpool City Centre this decade.\u201d\n\nThe National Land and Development team in Liverpool has also been instrumental in key deals across the City, including selling the freehold interest and leasehold investment in King\u2019s Dock Mill to Grainger for a client of Investec and putting Liverpool University\u2019s Dale Hall campus in Mossley Hill under offer for residential development.\n\nThe team was also instructed by Sportech to dispose of its current offices in Walton and advised the business on its move to City Centre office space. Your Exclusive Developments instructed the team to source funding and JV partners hired the team for their development portfolio in the Baltic Triangle. A forward funding partner was also secured for MODA Living\u2019s residential development at Liverpool Waters.\n\nLiverpool continues to thrive and realise its billing as the next big property hot spot, with the city becoming a prime target for savvy developers and attracting significant inward investment. The city has also benefited this year from the election of a new metro mayor, putting is alongside only a handful of other UK cities (including Birmingham, Manchester and London), that will benefit from strategic management of resources across the wider city region.", "output": "Improved and \"robust demand and supply dynamics for lending\" has enabled Liverpool, the UK's fourth-largest city, to become a hotspot for property investment, according to commercial real estate services firm CBRE. The past 18 months have seen deals totalling more than \u00a3300m ($394m) take place, among them the \u00a348m sale of the iconic Royal Liver Building.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Americans think insurers should penalise smokers more than obese  \n Americans may prefer to see health insurance rates increase for smokers than for people who are significantly overweight.\n\nJustin McCarthy, an analyst at Washington-based Gallup Inc., has published data supporting that conclusion in a summary of results from a new consumer consumption habits survey.\n\nGallup based the results on telephone interviews with 1,021 adults in all 50 U.S. states conducted in early July. The company also conducted a similar survey in 2003.\n\n(Related: Many Support Higher Premiums for Smokers)\n\nAbout 43% of the participants said they approve of the idea of charging smokers higher rates. Just 37% approve of the idea of charging significantly overweight people higher rates.\n\nAmericans may be tougher on smokers because they have more sympathy for those who are overweight, McCarthy writes.\n\nAmericans may also believe that smoking has a bigger effect on health care costs than obesity does, McCarthy writes.", "output": "Americans believe that insurance companies should charge higher premiums for smokers than severely obese people, according to a survey of consumer habits by Gallup. The study found that more than 40% of the 1,021 adults surveyed thought insurers should penalise smokers, while 37% said very overweight people ought to be charged more. Gallup analyst Justin McCarthy said the figures may be lower for obesity because Americans have more sympathy for their condition. They may also think that smoking incurs greater healthcare costs than obesity, he said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Reining in Drug Prices: Easier Said than Done \n WASHINGTON -- Some of the so-called solutions for reducing the price of prescription drugs are not as easy as they seem, experts said at a panel here hosted by the Alliance for Health Policy.\n\nIdeas such as having the federal government negotiate drug prices or allowing importation of prescription drugs from other countries \"sound good, but they're probably not going to work, or get through Congress,\" former House member Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said at the event on Friday. \"So we need to look at the problem in a more narrow way in order to get bipartisan support.\"\n\nAlthough no \"silver bullet\" exists for lowering drug costs, there are some ideas worth considering, said Waxman, chairman of Waxman Strategies, a consulting firm here. For instance, in markets where no generic version exists for a particular drug, \"Maybe we can look at policies that might provide targeted incentives FDA can implement to generate competition. The FDA can reach out and try to get a generic to come in and compete, or provide proactive government monitoring and oversight of pharmaceutical markets so it will be aware of the fact we're getting into a single-source drug that would drive up the price.\"\n\nThe FDA also could help by getting rid of the generic applications backlog, said Joel White, president of the Council for Affordable Health Coverage. \"We've got a backlog of 4,000 generics at FDA so we need to do a better job of getting these products on market quicker.\" Passing the FDA Reauthorization Act would be a good first step, and [FDA commissioner Scott] Gottlieb indicated he's going to aggressively work to eliminate that backlog.\"\n\nAnother barrier to the creation of generic drugs is risk evaluation and mitigation strategies (REMS) -- the special prescribing requirements used to limit distribution of certain drugs, such as those that include a risk of birth defects. \"Drugmakers hide behind REMS to say they won't make samples available to generic manufacturers so they can make a bioequivalent drug,\" said David Mitchell, president and founder of Patients for Affordable Drugs. He noted that the CREATES Act introduced by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) would make such behavior illegal.\n\nReducing Anticompetitive Behavior\n\nAnother problem to be fixed is anticompetitive behavior that undermines competition, such as \"pay for delay\" deals in which a brand-name drugmaker pays a generic firm to delay entering the market after the brand-name drug's patent expires, Waxman said. \"There's no reason to have pay for delay -- I don't see a value in allowing [it].\"\n\nAnd the pharmaceutical distribution system \"doesn't make central pricing information available to patients or providers and payers at the point of care,\" which could help patients choose which drug to take, he added. \"Furthermore, patients, providers, and payers lack information about the effectiveness of drugs at the critical point when decisions are made. So perhaps we could look at greater transparency policies for drug pricing information, or invest in comparative effectiveness research.\"\n\nFinally, \"We could change federal law, which imposes limitations on states' authority to negotiate prices for Medicaid, or implement other price-related measures, like letting states operate pharmacy benefit management (PBM) organizations to leverage their negotiation powers,\" said Waxman. \"These are just some ideas -- we're not recommending them, but putting them out there for consideration.\"\n\nEncouraging Value-Based Payment\n\nPayers are interested in value-based payment for drugs, but to do that, existing laws such as \"best price\" laws, anti-kickback laws, and the Stark self-referral law would need to be changed, White said. \"And to make those arrangements more fruitful, we need more infrastructure and data investment.\"\n\nSteve Miller, MD, chief medical officer of Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefit manager, gave an example of his company's use of paying for value. \"We started the price war for hepatitis C drugs; we were able to get the price down to an [incredible] extent,\" he said (The hepatitis C treatment Solvadi cost close to $100,000 in 2014). \"The old treatment for hepatitis C was ribavirin and interferon; that used to be $35,000. We now have the price of the current crop of hepatitis C treatments at $35,000, which is cheaper than they are in Europe.\"\n\nTo get that price, \"we guaranteed that patients would be adherent to the drug or we'd refund anything that the plan sponsor had paid toward the drug,\" Miller explained. \"We had to innovate; we had to develop predictive models to tell which patients would take the drugs, we had to develop cellphone apps and letter campaigns. To be very frank, I got the price down so low I could send a nurse to your house and shove the pills down your throat if I had to. And we were able to achieve adherence of 92%, better than in the clinical trial.\"\n\nMiller urged more use of electronic systems. \"We need to be compelling doctors to electronically prescribe, because they often can see the benefit design and see what's on the formulary,\" he said. \"We also need controlled substances to be electronically prescribed. Electronic banking drove fraud and waste out of the banking industry -- electronic prescribing of controlled substances can do the same.\"\n\nConsider the Overall Picture\n\nRobert Zirkelbach, executive vice president of public affairs for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), urged the audience to consider the overall picture when it comes to drug costs. \"In 2014, we did have a spike in drug costs -- there were a record number of new approvals, including a hepatitis C drug, and fewer medications went off patient that year than is typical,\" he said. \"But what people often forget is that in the 3 years prior to that, prescription drug spending was essentially flat, and since then, prescription drug cost trends have moderated significantly.\"\n\n\"Our system does a really good job of holding down costs for payers and the system as a whole, but it's not doing enough to make sure we're holding down costs for patients,\" he said. \"Our own study found that brand-name companies only retained 63% of the list price of a medication -- that means 40% is going back to insurance companies, PBMs, the government, or other parts of the supply chain.\"\n\nWhen it comes to the government's involvement, it's interesting that although Medicare can negotiate with many types of providers, \"there's only one place where they can't negotiate -- drug benefits,\" Waxman said. Even with the advent of Medicare's Part D drug benefit, \"it's quite amazing when suddenly Medicare is buying drugs for beneficiaries and bringing in millions of new patients, but it can't get a discount for all the patients that are there.\" Instead, Medicare has contracted with health plans to run the drug benefit programs, \"and each plan [runs] a PBM system, and ... nobody knows what happens when a PBM gets a discount.\"\n\nBut there are drawbacks to having Medicare negotiate prices, Zirkelbach argued. \"We know what happens when governments get into the business of setting formularies and setting prices. In every situation where that happens around the world, patients have less access to the newest, most innovative treatments.\"\n\nWaxman disagreed. \"I don't think we're at that point, but to say that it never can be done effectively, and you can't get access to breakthrough medications, I don't think is an accurate statement.\"\n\nPlease enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.", "output": "Some of the so-called solutions for reducing the price of prescription drugs are not as easy as they seem, experts said at a panel here hosted by the Alliance for Health Policy.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Older workers most vulnerable to workplace deaths \n Older people are dying on the job at a higher rate than workers overall, even as the rate of workplace fatalities decreases, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal statistics.\n\nIt\u2019s a trend that\u2019s particularly alarming as baby boomers reject the traditional retirement age of 65 and keep working. The U.S. government estimates that by 2024, older workers will account for 25 percent of the labor market.\n\nGetting old \u2014 and the physical changes associated with it \u2014 \u201ccould potentially make a workplace injury into a much more serious injury or a potentially fatal injury,\u201d said Ken Scott, an epidemiologist with the Denver Public Health Department.\n\nGerontologists say those changes include gradually worsening vision and hearing impairment, reduced response time, balance issues and chronic medical or muscle or bone problems such as arthritis.\n\nIn 2015, 35 percent of fatal workplace accidents involved a worker 55 and older.\n\nIn 2015, about 35 percent of the fatal workplace accidents involved a worker 55 and older \u2014 or 1,681 of the 4,836 fatalities reported nationally.\n\nWilliam White, 56, was one of them. White fell 25 feet while working at Testa Produce Inc. on Chicago\u2019s South Side. He later died of his injuries.\n\n\u201cI thought it wouldn\u2019t happen to him,\u201d his son, William White Jr., said in an interview. \u201cAccidents happen. He just made the wrong move.\u201d\n\nThe AP analysis showed that overall workplace fatality rate for all workers \u2014 and for those 55 and older \u2014 decreased by 22 percent between 2006 and 2015. But the rate of fatal accidents among older workers during that time period was 50 percent to 65 percent higher than for all workers, depending on the year.\n\nThe number of deaths among all workers dropped from 5,480 in 2005 to 4,836 in 2015. By contrast, on-the-job fatalities among older workers increased slightly, from 1,562 to 1,681, the analysis shows.\n\nDuring that time period, the number of older people in the workplace increased by 37 percent. That compares with a 6 percent rise in the population of workers overall.\n\nRuth Finkelstein, co-director of Columbia University\u2019s Aging Center, cautions against stereotyping. She said older people have a range of physical and mental abilities and that it\u2019s dangerous to lump all people in an age group together because it could lead to discrimination.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m just not positive that 55-70 year olds need so much more protection than workers 52-20, but are all those people needing protection now? Yes, absolutely. We are not paying enough attention to occupational safety in this country.\u201d\n\nHow to Protect Older Workers from Injuries on the Job\n\nThe AP analysis is based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics\u2019 Census for Fatal Occupational Injuries and from one-year estimates from the American Community Survey, which looks at the working population. It excludes cases where the cause of death was from a \u201cnatural cause,\u201d including a heart attack, stroke among others.\n\nAP also examined the number and types of accidents in which older workers died between 2011, when the bureau changed the way it categorized accidents, to 2015:\n\nFall-related fatalities rose 20 percent.\n\nContact with objects and equipment increased 17 percent.\n\nTransportation accidents increased 15 percent.\n\nFires and explosions decreased by 8 percent.\n\n\u201cWe expect that there will be more older workers increasing each year and they will represent a greater share (of the fatalities) over the last couple of decades,\u201d said Scott, the Denver epidemiologist. \u201cThis issue of elevated risk is something we should be paying close attention to.\u201d\n\nAn Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found in 2013 that 44 percent of older Americans said their job required physical effort most or almost all of the time, and 36 percent said it was more difficult to complete the physical requirements of their jobs than it was when they were younger.\n\nTesta Accident\n\nWilliam White Jr. said his father had been working in the same Chicago-based warehouse for over a decade and was a manager when he fell to his death on Sept. 24, 2015.\n\n\u201cMy dad was the best at what he did. He\u2019s the one who taught me everything I know,\u201d the 26-year-old Chicago resident said. \u201cHe went up to get an item for the delivery driver and the next thing you know he made a wrong move and fell. The job is fast-pace and everybody is rushing.\u201d\n\nThomas Stiede, principal officer for Teamsters Local 703, said White knew the safety procedures and can\u2019t understand why White didn\u2019t wear a safety harness. \u201cHe was a very conscientious employee,\u201d he said, his voice cracking with emotion.\n\nTesta Inc. was fined $12,600 by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for failing to provide safety training. The company declined to comment for this story.\n\nThe same year White died, the fatal accident rate in Illinois for older workers was 4.5 per 100,000 workers, 60 percent higher than the comparable rate for all workers.\n\nIn most states, the fatal accident rates for older workers were consistently higher than comparable rates for all workers.\n\nNevada, New Jersey and Washington had the greatest percent increase in fatal accident rates for older workers between 2006 and 2015.\n\nThe three states with the biggest percent decrease were Hawaii, Oregon and Vermont.\n\nEight states saw their overall workplace fatality rate drop, even as the rate for older workers increased: Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New York, Texas, Utah and Washington.\n\nIn two states \u2013 North Dakota and Wisconsin \u2013 the trend was reversed; older worker accident rates got smaller while the accident rate overall increased.\n\nZooming in to metropolitan areas, Las Vegas ran counter to the national trend.\n\nIn 2006, the fatal accident rate among older workers in the Las Vegas metropolitan area was lower than the rate among all workers. But by 2015, the rate of deaths among older workers more than doubled even as the rate among all workers declined.\n\nTransportation Incidents\n\nTransportation accidents account for a large portion of fatal workplace incidents among both older workers and workers in general.\n\nIn one such incident, Ruan Qiang Hua, 58, died last Nov. 21 from injuries suffered in a forklift accident at Good View Roofing and Building Supply warehouse, according to the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration. After a bag or mortar fell from the pallet, Qiang backed up and rolled off a ramp. The forklift tipped over and Qian was crushed when he jumped off.\n\nThe agency fined the San Francisco-based company $62,320 for allegedly failing to ensure that forklift operators were competent and wore seat belts.\n\nThe company is appealing the penalties, according to OSHA.\n\nRecords show that Hua was not properly trained or certified as a forklift operator. Video of the incident showed he was not wearing his seatbelt. Other video from the worksite showed that other forklift operators also had not used their seat belts and that the employer failed to install a curb along the sides of the ramp to prevent the lifts from running off the ramp.\n\nThe company declined to comment for this story.\n\nIn California, the 2015 rate of fatal accidents was 3.4 per 100,000 workers for older workers, 60 percent higher than the rate for all workers.\n\nThe AP analysis showed that older workers were involved in about 1 in 4 fatal workplace accidents related to fires and explosions from 2011 to 2015.\n\nIn April 2014, Earle Robinson, 60, and other employees were doing maintenance work at Bryan Texas Utilities Power Plant, about 100 miles north of Houston, when there was a loud explosion. Workers called 911 and pleaded for help.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s in bad shape. He\u2019s got a lot of facial burns,\u201d according to a transcript of the 911 calls. \u201cHe\u2019s got some pretty bad burns.\u201d\n\nRobinson was taken to a hospital in Houston and died days later.\n\nThe company declined to comment for this story.\n\nThe year Robinson died, the fatality rate among older workers in Texas was 6.1 per 100,000 workers \u2014 43 percent higher than the accident rate for all workers.\n\nThe National Center for Productive Aging and Work is pushing for changes in the workplace to make it safer for older workers.\n\n\u201cWe advocate to make workplaces as age friendly as possible,\u201d said co-director James Grosch.\n\nFor example, increased lighting helps older workers whose eyesight has weakened with age.\n\nHe said the center is emphasizing productive aging. \u201cHow people can be more productive,\u201d he said. \u201cHow their wisdom can be leveraged in a workplace.\u201d\n\nThe year-old center is part of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.\n\nEDITOR\u2019S NOTE \u2014 Maria Ines Zamudio is studying aging and workforce issues as part of a 10-month fellowship at The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, which joins NORC\u2019s independent research and AP journalism. The fellowship is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.\n\nRelated:\n\nCopyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.\n\nTopics Texas Commercial Lines Business Insurance", "output": "Older workers are more likely to die on the job. Worsening vision and hearing, reduced response times, balance issues and chronic medical, muscle or bone problems make them more vulnerable to serious accidents, according to analysis of US statistics by the Associated Press. The data raises concerns as governments raise retirement ages around the world. Workers over 55 accounted for more than a third of fatal\u00a0workplace accidents in 2015, and that figure may rise as estimates suggest older\u00a0workers will make up a quarter of the workforce by 2024.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Republicans in Congress Bypass Trump to Shore Up Health Law \n WASHINGTON \u2014 Congressional Republicans moved on Tuesday to defuse President Trump\u2019s threat to cut off critical payments to health insurance companies, maneuvering around the president toward bipartisan legislation to shore up insurance markets under the Affordable Care Act.\n\nSenator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the influential chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, announced that his panel would begin work in early September on legislation to \u201cstabilize and strengthen the individual health insurance market\u201d for 2018. He publicly urged Mr. Trump to continue making payments to health insurance companies to reimburse them for reducing the out-of-pocket medical expenses of low-income people.\n\nIn the House, two Republicans, Representatives Tom Reed of New York and Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania, teamed with Democrats to promote incremental health legislation that would also fund the cost-sharing subsidies.\n\nThe moves were a remarkable response to the president\u2019s repeated threats to send health insurance markets into a tailspin. They offered tangible indications of cooperation between the parties after Republican efforts to scrap the Affordable Care Act collapsed in the Senate last week, all but ending the seven-year Republican quest to overturn President Barack Obama\u2019s signature domestic achievement. Lawmakers from both parties concede that the health law needs improvement, as consumers face sharp premium increases and a shrinking number of insurance options in many states.", "output": "Congressional Republicans moved on Tuesday to defuse President Trump\u2019s threat to cut off critical payments to health insurance\u00a0companies, maneuvering around the president toward bipartisan legislation to shore up insurance markets under the Affordable Care Act.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Medicare payment program impacts costs, quality of care \n Save\n\nThis article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.\n\nMedicare payment program impacts costs, quality of care\n\nSource/Disclosures Source: Chen LM, et al. JAMA. 2017;doi:10.1001/jama.2017.9643. ADD TOPIC TO EMAIL ALERTS Receive an email when new articles are posted on . Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on Subscribe ADDED TO EMAIL ALERTS You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.\n\n\n\nClick Here to Manage Email Alerts You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.\n\n\n\nClick Here to Manage Email Alerts\n\n\n\nBack to Healio We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.\n\n\n\nBack to Healio\n\nUnder the Medicare Physician Value-Based Payment Modifier Program \u2013 a mandatory pay-for-performance program for physician practices \u2013 practices that served socially high-risk patients saw lower costs and quality while practices that served medically high-risk patients saw increased costs and lower quality during the first year, according to data published in JAMA.\n\n\u201cDespite the growth of ambulatory pay-for-performance programs, there is concern about unintended consequences, like disproportionately penalizing practices that care for complex patients,\u201d Lena M. Chen, MD, MS, from the division of general medicine in the department of internal medicine at the University of Michigan and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at HHS, and colleagues wrote. \u201cThere are no prior studies of the [Medicare Physician Value-Based Payment Modified] Program and little is known about performance patterns.\u201d\n\nIn this cross-sectional observational study, researchers examined the association between performance and the social or medical risk of patients treated at physician practices during the first year of the mandatory Medicare Physician Value-Based Payment Modified (PVBM) Program. Exposures included high social risk, meaning the practices had a high proportion of patients eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, and high medical risk, meaning the practices had high mean Hierarchical Condition Category risk score among fee-for-service recipients.\n\nThe researchers measured quality and cost z scores using PVBM data from payments made in 2015 based on performance of large physician practices in the U.S. that care for fee-for-service Medicare patients in 2013. Higher z scores indicate better performance on quality while lower scores indicate better performance on costs.\n\nOf 899 physician practices with more than 5 million Medicare beneficiaries, 547 practices were categorized as low social and medical risk, 128 as high medical risk, 102 as high social risk and 122 as both high social and medical risk. Analysis showed that low risk practices performed the best on the composite quality score (z score, 0.18; 95% CI, 0.09-0.28) compared with each of the high-risk practices (high social risk: \u20130.86 [95% CI, \u20131.17 to \u20130.54]; high medical risk: \u20130.55 [95% CI, \u20130.77 to \u20130.32]; high social and medical risk: \u20130.78 [95% CI, \u20131.04 to \u20130.51]; P < .001 across all groups).\n\nExamination of the composite cost score showed that high social risk practices performed best ( \u20130.52; 95% CI, \u20130.71 to \u20130.33), while low risk had the next best cost score (\u20130.18; CI, \u20130.25 to \u20130.1), followed by high medical and social risk (0.4; CI, 0.23-0.57), and high medical risk only (0.82; 95% CI, 0.65-0.99) (P < .001 across all groups). Patterns of total per capita costs related to fewer bonuses and more penalties for high-risk practices. The total costs per capita were $9,506 for low risk practices, $13,683 for high medical risk, $8,214 for high social risk and $11,692 for high medical and social risk.\n\nPAGE BREAK\n\n\u201cBetter understanding of the disparities in ambulatory programs may become increasingly important under the [Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS)], which is modeled after parts of the PVBM Program and replaces it,\u201d Chen and colleagues wrote. \u201cFindings from this study suggest that if current performance patterns persist, practices that serve a high proportion of socially or medically complex patients may fare poorly under the MIPS.\u201d \u2013 by Savannah Demko\n\nDisclosures: Chen reports receiving an honorarium from the NIH; grants from Blue Cross BlueShield of Michigan Foundation, the AHA, and the University of Michigan MCubed Program; being part of the Michigan Value Collaborative with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan; and serving as an advisor at the HHS. Please see the full study for a complete list of all other authors\u2019 relevant disclosures.", "output": "Under the Medicare Physician Value-Based Payment Modifier Program \u2013 a mandatory pay-for-performance program for physician practices \u2013 practices that served socially high-risk patients saw lower costs and quality while practices that served medically high-risk patients saw increased costs and lower quality during the first year, according to data published in JAMA.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Many Still Sidestep End-Of-Life Care Planning, Study Finds \n Before being deployed overseas for the Iraq War in 2003, Army reservist Don Morrison filled out military forms that gave instructions about where to send his body and possessions if he were killed.\n\n\u201cI thought, wow, this is mortality right in your face,\u201d Morrison, now 70, recalled.\n\nWith his attention keenly focused on how things might end badly, Morrison asked his lawyer to draw up an \u201cadvance directive\u201d to describe what medical care he did and did not want if he were unable to make his own decisions.\n\nOne document, typically called a living will, spelled out Morrison\u2019s preferences for life-sustaining medical treatment, such as ventilators and feeding tubes. The other, called a health care proxy or health care power of attorney, named a friend to make treatment decisions for him if he were to become incapacitated.\n\nNot everyone is as motivated to tackle these issues. Even though advance directives have been promoted for nearly 50 years, only about a third of U.S. adults have them, according to a recent study.\n\nInsuring Your Health KHN contributing columnist Michelle Andrews writes the series Insuring Your Health, which explores health care coverage and costs. To contact Michelle with a question or comment, click here. This KHN story can be republished for free (details).\n\nPeople with chronic illnesses were only slightly more likely than healthy individuals to document their wishes.\n\nFor the analysis, published in the July issue of Health Affairs, researchers reviewed 150 studies published from 2011 to 2016 that reported on the proportion of adults who completed advance directives, focusing on living wills and health care power-of-attorney documents.\n\nOf nearly 800,000 people on whom the studies reported, 36.7 percent completed some kind of advance directive. Of those, 29.3 percent completed living wills, 33.4 percent health care proxies and 32.2 percent were \u201cundefined,\u201d meaning the type of advance directive wasn\u2019t specified or combined the two.\n\nPeople older than 65 were significantly more likely to complete any type of advance directive than younger ones, 45.6 percent vs. 31.6 percent. But the difference between people who were healthy and those who were sick was much smaller, 32.7 percent compared with 38.2 percent.\n\nThe Medicare program began reimbursing physicians in January 2016 for counseling beneficiaries about advance-care planning.\n\nThis study doesn\u2019t incorporate any data from those changes. Rather, it can serve as a benchmark to gauge improvement, said Dr. Katherine Courtright, an instructor of medicine in pulmonary and critical care at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the study\u2019s senior author.\n\nThere are many reasons that people are reluctant to sign a living will. State forms vary, but they generally ask people to spell out what medical intervention they want under various circumstances.\n\n\u201cMany people don\u2019t sign advance directives because they worry they\u2019re not going to get any care if they say they don\u2019t want [cardiopulmonary resuscitation],\u201d said Courtright. \u201cIt becomes this very scary document that says, \u2018Let me die.\u2019\u201d\n\nLiving wills also don\u2019t account for the fact that people\u2019s wishes may change over time, said Dr. Diane Meier, a geriatrician and the director of the New York-based Center to Advance Palliative Care.\n\n\u201cIn some ways, the public\u2019s lack of excitement about this is related to the reality that it\u2019s very hard to make decisions about the kind of care you want in the future when you don\u2019t know what that will be like,\u201d Meier said.\n\nSometimes as patients age and develop medical problems they\u2019re more willing to undergo treatments they might have rejected when they were younger and healthier, Meier said.\n\n\u201cPeople generally want to live as well as they can for as long as they can,\u201d Meier said. If that means going on a ventilator for a few days in order to get over a bout of pneumonia, for example, many may want to do that.\n\nBut if their living will says they don\u2019t want to be put on a ventilator, medical staff may feel bound to honor their wishes. Or not. Although living wills are legal documents, medical staff and family members or loved ones can reinterpret them.\n\n\u201cAt the moment, I\u2019m very healthy,\u201d Morrison said. If he were to become ill or have a serious accident, he said, he\u2019d want to weigh life-saving interventions against the quality of life he could expect afterward. \u201cIf it were an end-of-life scenario, I don\u2019t want to resuscitated,\u201d he said.\n\nIf someone\u2019s wishes change, the documents can be changed. There\u2019s no need to involve a lawyer in creating or revising advance directives, but they generally must be witnessed and may have to be notarized.\n\nAlthough living wills can be tricky, experts have no reservations about recommending that people have a health care proxy. Some even suggest, for example, that naming someone for that role should be a routine task that\u2019s part of applying for a driver\u2019s license.\n\n\u201cTreatment directives of any kind all assume we can anticipate the future with accuracy,\u201d said Meier. \u201cI think that\u2019s an illusion. What needs to happen is a recognition that decisions need to be made in real time and in context.\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s where the health care proxy comes in. Just naming someone isn\u2019t enough, though. To be effective, people need to have conversations with their proxy and other loved ones to talk about their values and what matters to them at the end of life.\n\nThey may tell their health care proxy that they want to die at home, for example, or that being mobile or able to communicate with their family is very important, said Jon Radulovic, a vice president at the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.\n\nSome may opt to forgo painful interventions to extend their lives in favor of care that keeps them comfortable and maintains the best quality of life for the time that remains.\n\n\u201cThe most important thing is to have the conversation with the people that you love around the kitchen table and to have it early,\u201d said Ellen Goodman, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer who founded The Conversation Project, which provides tools to help people have conversations about end-of-life issues.\n\nMorrison said he\u2019s talked with his health care proxy about his wishes. The conversation wasn\u2019t difficult, he said. Rather than spell out precisely what he wants done under what circumstances, Morrison is leaving most of the decisions to his health care proxy, if he can\u2019t make his own choices.\n\nMorrison said he\u2019s glad he\u2019s put his wishes down on paper. \u201cI think that\u2019s very important to have,\u201d he said. \u201cIt may not be a disease that I get, it may be a terrible accident. And that\u2019s when [not knowing someone\u2019s wishes] becomes a crisis.\u201d\n\nPlease visit kffhealthnews.org/columnists to send comments or ideas for future topics for the Insuring Your Health column.\n\nKHN\u2019s coverage related to aging & improving care of older adults is supported by The John A. Hartford Foundation.\n\nKFF Health News' coverage of aging and long-term care issues is supported in part by The SCAN Foundation.", "output": "Before being deployed overseas for the Iraq War in 2003, Army reservist Don Morrison filled out military forms that gave instructions about where to send his body and possessions if he were killed. \u201cI thought, wow, this is mortality right in your face,\u201d Morrison, now 70, recalled.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Leafy Greens May Guard Against Brain Aging \n Eating a diet full of lutein-rich foods, such as kale and spinach, in middle age may guard against age-related cognitive impairment, new research suggests.\n\nIn a study of 60 adults aged 25 to 45 years, investigators assessed levels of lutein \u2013 a nutrient that accumulates in both brain and eye tissue \u2013 using macular pigment optical density (MPOD).\n\nResults showed that higher vs lower levels of lutein were associated with significantly greater attentional inhibition.\n\nIn addition, neural responses in the older participants who had high lutein levels/MPOD scores were similar to those in the younger participants.\n\n\"This study reiterates the importance of a healthy diet across the life span,\" lead author Anne M. Walk, PhD, Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, told Medscape Medical News.\n\n\"Previous research has shown that eating lutein-rich foods such as leafy green vegetables, eggs, and avocados has health benefits for individuals. Our work suggests that the benefits of a healthy diet may extend beyond physical health and improve cognitive processing as well,\" said Dr Walk.\n\nShe added that the nutrient also appears to play a protective role, because participants with greater lutein levels \"were able to engage more cognitive resources to complete their tasks.\"\n\nThe findings were published online June 9 in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.\n\nOptimal Cognitive Processing\n\nIn previously published research, the investigators found that for children with higher levels of lutein and zeaxanthin, scores on tests of academic performance were higher than for their peers with lower levels of these retinal carotenoids.\n\nIn addition, Dr Walk noted that a lot of previous research has focused on the link between lutein intake and optimal cognitive processing in older adults.\n\n\"Although most people tend to think of aging as something that happens in older adulthood, there is some research that shows that cognitive decline can actually begin earlier in the life span,\" she said.\n\n\"We wanted to explore the possibility that lutein may be protective against cognitive aging not only in older adults or in those who may already be showing signs of decline but in middle age, closer to the time in life where decline may begin.\"\n\nThe researchers enrolled 60 participants aged 25 to 45 years (mean age, 33.8 years; 52% women) and who lived in a single region of Illinois. A macular densitometer was used to measure MPOD.\n\nA randomized, two-stimulus \"oddball\" task measured selective attention; the Eriksen flanker test measured attentional inhibition; and the go/no-go task measured response inhibition.\n\nA Neuroscan Quik-cap was used to record EEG activity during the tasks in order to provide event-related potential (ERP) analysis. \"The ERP variables of interest for all tasks were the peak amplitude and peak latency at the PZ electrode, where P3 is maximal in typical healthy adults,\" the investigators note.\n\nYounger Brains\n\nOn the oddball task, age was inversely associated with accuracy of response to frequent/standard stimuli, meaning scores were higher for those who were younger (P = .04). MPOD was associated with increased reaction time (P = .004) and \"inverse efficiency to target stimuli\" (P = .047).\n\nThe latter finding suggests that the participants with high MPOD scores \"likely adopted a response set strategy in which they responded more slowly\" than those with lower MPOD scores, note the investigators.\n\nOn the other hand, flanker test results showed that the participants with higher MPOD scores were significantly more likely to efficiently process information on incongruent trials than those with lower scores (P < .02), suggesting that this effect may depend on tasks with high attentional-inhibition demands.\n\nERP data showed that for those whose MPOD values were higher, amplitudes during incongruent flanker trials were larger (P = .045).\n\nIn addition, \"the neuro-electrical signature of older participants with higher levels of lutein looked much more like their younger counterparts than their peers with less lutein,\" said Dr Walk in a release.\n\nSeveral performance indexes showed that age itself was linked to less efficient cognitive processing. However, hierarchical linear regression analyses showed that when MPOD was added as a model variable, neither age nor MPOD significantly predicted peak amplitude, \"suggesting that the relationship between age and PZ peak amplitude is at least partially accounted for by MPOD,\" the researchers note.\n\nThere were no significant associations between the factors and go/no-go response-inhibition results.\n\nSelective Benefits\n\nOverall, \"the benefits of greater retinal carotenoids appeared to be selective for intraindividual variability and attentional resource allocation during the flanker task, rather than in the oddball or the go-nogo tasks,\" write the investigators.\n\n\"Since previous research has established an association between lutein found in the eye and cognitive abilities in older adults, it is not entirely surprising to see a similar effect in middle-aged adults,\" Dr Walk said.\n\n\"However, it is important to establish this link in middle-aged and younger adults so that we can get closer to discovering optimal recommendations for lutein intake across the life span.\"\n\nDr Walk added that taken together, old research, this study, and the investigators' previous study on lutein and school performance show that carotenoids seem to be beneficial in all age groups.\n\n\"While the extent of the effects of lutein for people in various developmental stages needs to be established in further research, our studies suggest that it is important for both children and adults if they want to maintain optimal cognitive processing abilities.\"\n\nCoinvestigator Naiman A. Khan, PhD, professor of kinesiology and community health, who is also at the University of Illinois, reported in the release that the investigators are now working on intervention trials.\n\nAlthough this study focused on attention, \"we also would like to understand the effects of lutein on learning and memory. There's a lot we are very curious about,\" said Dr Khan.\n\n\"Compelling Data\"\n\nCommenting on the findings for Medscape Medical News, Elizabeth Johnson, PhD, Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts, noted thatwhile research on a link between lutein and cognitive function \"is relatively new,\" it was first described in 2008.\n\nDr Elizabeth Johnson\n\n\"It's only been about a decade, but since then the data are accumulating and fairly consistent. And what I like is that different laboratories are finding the same thing using different methods, different populations, and different age groups,\" said Dr Johnson.\n\nAlthough the current study used cross-sectional data to suggest an association, \"the interventional trials with lutein have happened,\" she said.\n\n\"So I believe there's a lot of compelling data telling us that lutein is important for cognitive function. And certainly the clinical data, the epidemiology, and the observational data all point to the same thing: that it's important through the life span.\"\n\nDr Johnson and colleagues have previously measured carotenoid levels in infants who died. She noted that their findings suggest lutein might also be important in neurodevelopment.\n\nThey are now working on mechanistic studies of lutein in the brain and hope to present their results soon.\n\nWhen asked if she was at all bothered by the fact that the current study was funded in part by an avocado organization, Dr Johnson said no. \"I think these boards should know more about their product and if there are risks or benefits to it. They should be interested in the science behind components that are contained in their product.\"\n\nHowever, she added that \"it would have been nice\" if the investigators had assessed the participants' specific diet intake.\n\nThe study was funded by the University of Illinois and by the Hass Avocado Board. Dr Walk and the other study authors have reported no relevant financial relationships. Dr Johnson reported that she \"does lutein research on cognitive function\" and receives funding from the Center for Nutrition Learning and Memory. She has also in the past coauthored articles with some of the investigators on the current study.\n\nFront Aging Neurosci. Published online June 9, 2017. Full article\n\nFollow Deborah Brauser on Twitter: @MedscapeDeb . For more Medscape Psychiatry news, join us on Facebook and Twitter .", "output": "Eating a diet full of lutein-rich foods, such as kale and spinach, in middle age may guard against age-related cognitive impairment, new research suggests. In a study of 60 adults aged 25 to 65 years, investigators assessed levels of lutein \u2013 a nutrient that accumulates in both brain and eye tissue \u2013 using macular pigment optical density (MPOD).\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Markerstudy launches classic car, motorhome insurance \n New offering to cover prestige motor vehicles including classic cars and motorhomes.\n\nMarkerstudy is set to launch a new scheme, aimed at mid to high net worth clients, on individual executive and prestige motor vehicles.\n\nThe business stated that the offering, available from 1 August, will cover multi-vehicle family fleets and include classic cars, motorhomes and horse boxes.\n\nMarkerstudy detailed that the product, Solar Distinction, will be exclusively underwritten through the referral team at Markerstudy and will include an enhanced policy wording, \u201cexperienced and dedicated\u201d", "output": "An insurance product giving protection to classic cars, high-end family fleets, horse boxes and motorhomes has been launched by Markerstudy. Solar Distinction will include enhanced policy wording, an \u201cexperienced and dedicated\u201d VIP claims service and UK and EU breakdown recovery. The product is aimed at mid and high-net-worth individuals and will be underwritten through the referral team at Markerstudy.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Californians heed quake coverage call as another 'big one' looms \n The California Earthquake Authority (CEA), the not-for-profit, privately funded, publicly managed insurer, said that uptake of its earthquake insurance policies has increased, continuing a trend that began in 2016. Additionally, the CEA noted that its use of catastrophe bonds represents \u201ca key innovation in growing its claim-paying funds.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe CEA closed out the second quarter of 2017 with over 950,000 earthquake insurance policies in force, having seen growth of 52,000 policies in force in 2016, which is significantly higher than the ten-year average of 7,200 annual policy purchases.\n\nInterest in California earthquake insurance remains strong in 2017 and uptake is well above the average again, with 18,804 more policies purchased in the first six months of the year, taking the CEA\u2019s total policies in force to 950,393 at the end of June 2017.\n\nCalifornia has always had particularly low uptake of earthquake insurance coverage, with mortgage lending banks not forcing their customers to buy protection. In the past the uptake of quake insurance in the state by homeowners has been as low as 10%, but the work of the CEA is helping to increase that figure, along with a general increase in awareness of the risk.\n\n\u201cCalifornians are listening to what the scientific community is telling us\u2014that we are overdue for a large earthquake, and we need to be ready when it strikes,\u201d commented CEA CEO Glenn Pomeroy. \u201cMore Californians are insuring their homes so they can recover financially following a large and damaging earthquake, which scientists say is not a matter of if, but when.\u201d\n\nHelping the CEA to offer insurance more affordably and providing the risk transfer should a major event occur, the reinsurance and catastrophe bond market play a vital role in ensuring the CEA has the claims paying ability to back-up its near 1 million policies.\n\nThe CEA\u2019s claim-paying capacity now exceeds $15 billion, which the insurer says is sufficient to pay covered losses if a major earthquake, like the 1906 San Francisco, 1989 Loma Prieta or 1994 Northridge earthquake, were to strike California today.\n\nOf the $15 billion, $7.42 billion is sourced from the reinsurance and capital markets, with $2.07 billion of that secured through the transformer or catastrophe bond deals that remain in-force.\n\nThe CEA secured $925 million of reinsurance protection through its May sponsorship of the Ursa Re Ltd. (Series 2017-1) cat bonds, while another $500 million was secured in November 2016\u2019s Ursa Re Ltd. (Series 2016-1) transaction.\n\n\u201cWe rely on the best available science to ensure we\u2019re on solid ground financially,\u201d Pomeroy said. \u201cAnd through smart, innovative financing, our claim-paying funds continue to grow as CEA covers more and more residences in California.\u201d\n\nMore of the $7.42 billion of coverage has been secured from the capital markets, with collateralized reinsurance provided by ILS funds also participating in the CEA\u2019s program.\n\nThe CEA explains the catastrophe bond programs as \u201ca key innovation in growing its claim-paying funds,\u201d with the capital markets and ILS investors now contributing a significant proportion of its reinsurance and a growing share of its overall claims paying capacity.\n\nWith the catastrophe bond market keen to assume more California earthquake risk, at the moment pure U.S. quake risks make up only 12.8% of the outstanding cat bond market.\n\nThat suggests the cat bond market would keenly soak up further issues from the CEA and we are likely to see the insurer back in the cat bond market in the next few months, as long as pricing remains attractive.", "output": "Californians are taking out earthquake insurance on their homes as experts warn that the state is overdue a large seismic shock. The\u00a0California Earthquake Authority (CEA) said 52,000 policies were bought in 2016, compared to the annual average of 7,200, lifting the number of active policies to 950,000. Another 18,804 have been taken out this year alone, despite the fact that\u00a0mortgage lenders don't require buyers to have coverage. The CEA's claims capacity has reached $15bn, helped by the use of catastrophe bonds to transfer risk to the capital markets.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Concrete absorbs sulphur dioxide like a sponge \n This electron microscopy image of concrete includes a model of sulfur dioxide interactions with concrete surface \u2013 represented by the colored spheres. Credit: Marija Illoska\n\nNew research reveals that sulfur dioxide, a major contributor to air pollution, is removed from the air by concrete surfaces. Stony Brook University researcher Alex Orlov, PhD, and colleagues discovered how concrete interacts and eliminates sulfur and nitrogen oxides. Their findings, published in the July edition of the Journal of Chemical Engineering, could be a significant step toward the practice of using waste concrete to minimize air pollution.\n\nAccording to the World Health Organization, as many as seven million premature deaths of people worldwide may be linked to poor air quality and pollution. Sulfur dioxide emissions are among the most common pollutants into the air globally, with power plants emitting the most sulfur dioxide. Cement kilns also produce approximately 20 percent of all sulfur dioxide industrial emissions.\n\n\"Even though producing concrete causes air pollution, concrete buildings in urban areas can serve as a kind of sponge adsorbing sulfur dioxide to a high level,\" explained Dr. Orlov, Associate Professor of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and a faculty member of the Consortium for Inter-Disciplinary Environmental Research at Stony Brook University. \"Our findings open up the possibility that waste concrete coming from building demolitions can be used to adsorb these pollutants.\"\n\nHe added that concrete remains the most widely used material in the world and is inexpensive. Because of this, Dr. Orlov emphasized that \"the strategy of using pollution causing material and turning it into an environmental solution could lead to new thinking in urban design and waste management.\"\n\nDr. Orlov cautioned that the capacity for concrete to adsorb pollutants diminishes over time as the material ages. Crushing concrete, however, can expose new surfaces and restore its pollution removing properties.\n\nThe researchers used various cement and cement-based building materials to conduct their experiments, details of which are in the paper, titled \"Reactions of SO2 on hydrated cement particle system for atmospheric pollution reduction: A DRIFTS and XANES study.\" They employed Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (DRIFTS) and X-ray absorption Near Edge Spectroscopy (XANES) to identify the levels of sulfur dioxide adsorption on the materials.\n\nExperiments were conducted at Stony Brook University, Brookhaven National Laboratory's National Synchrotron Light Source and Center for Functional Nanomaterials, and the National University of Singapore.\n\nMore information: Girish Ramakrishnan et al. Reactions of SO 2 on hydrated cement particle system for atmospheric pollution reduction: A DRIFTS and XANES study, Chemical Engineering Journal (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2017.02.135", "output": "Research from Stony Brook University suggests that concrete acts like a sponge, removing sulphur dioxide from the atmosphere. Sulphur dioxide emissions play a significant role in air pollution, with roughly 20% of the world's sulphur dioxide emissions coming from cement kilns. Dr. Alex Orlov, a researcher at Stony Brook, suggested using concrete waste from large-scale demolitions to reduce the sulphur dioxide levels in the air."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "LUX Assure\u2019s OMMICA offers methanol and MEG analysis onsite \n With a number of deals in this resource class already approved in 2017, including BP\u2019s Mad Dog 2 in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) and Statoil and Total\u2019s recent deals in Brazil, deepwater projects look set to feature large in boardroom investment decisions over the next few years.\n\nAt a recent floater conference in Norway oil and gas consulting services and business intelligence firm Rystad Energy suggested structural cost-cutting in the deepwater market was set to make offshore projects competitive with U.S. shale.\n\nThe firm said cost reductions and refinements in deepwater developments offshore have brought breakeven prices down to between $56 and $58 per barrel in Europe and the Americas. According to Rystad partner Lars Eirik Nicolaisen, a continuation of the reduction in shale\u2019s breakeven operating costs of more than 50% over the past two years was \u201cunsustainable\u201d\u2014 with costs set to rise as the industry recovers.\n\nSo it seems inevitable that operators will increasingly look to target resources from deeper, more remote offshore plays characterized by their complexity, higher risk and often challenging reservoir fluids.\n\nHigh-risk finds\n\nDeveloping deepwater fields is a costly and complex process. Taking into account transportation, manpower, qualifications and infrastructure costs, capex has historically been much higher than onshore developments.\n\nAt the site itself appraising and producing new hydrocarbon reserves means contending with increasingly harsh downhole conditions. Designing and operating equipment that can withstand these hostile environments is difficult. In deepwater plays where operators are dealing with colder temperatures, higher pressures and longer tiebacks, specific flow assurance challenges that negatively impact production are particularly pronounced.\n\nPresenting a high risk to production, gas hydrates are ice-like structures comprising water and gas. In a relatively short period of time, hydrates can plug up lines and disrupt production, causing a potentially hazardous pressure buildup. They are particularly problematic in deepwater regions where pressure gradients and low fluid temperatures promote formation. They also are a major issue in remote frontier developments where pipelines are routed along the seabed over long distances. Yet the temperature does not have to be below freezing for hydrates to occur. They have been found offshore Western Australian and in the Arabian Gulf. And remediating hydrate formation when it occurs is even more problematic considering deepwater wellbores and flowlines are harder and more expensive to access.\n\nA common approach to suppress hydrate growth is to inject thermodynamic inhibitors such as methanol or monoethylene glycol (MEG). Methanol is batch-dosed, while MEG is usually injected continually into pipeline fluids.\n\nTimely, accurate analysis of the concentration of these inhibitors is essential, particularly for remote deepwater developments where the infrastructure is large and complex and even the smallest issues, if not addressed, can have devastating consequences.\n\nThe benefits of being able to analyze concentrations quicker onsite include avoiding costly chemical wastage and optimizing startup procedures by monitoring methanol transition times from tiebacks, while MEG gives visibility of whether reclamation and regeneration units are performing as they should.\n\nGas chromatography equipment\u2014traditionally used for testing\u2014often is not available onsite. This means samples must be flown long distances for testing and analysis onshore, an expensive option where results are not available for days or even weeks.\n\nThe presence of methanol and MEG reduces the quality and value of produced fluids and can cause problems further downstream during processing and refining. Separation difficulties and the poisoning of catalysts and molecular sieve beds are just a few.\n\nTo protect from lost time and income due to damages, refineries and terminals often impose limits on the acceptable level of hydrate inhibitor.\n\nLUX Assure\u2019s OMMICA is designed to provide fast, precise methanol and MEG analysis onsite, regardless of geography and complexity. As a cost-effective capex alternative that offers results as accurate as gas chromatography in as little as an hour, OMMICA is a low-risk, simple colorimetric onsite chemical testing kit. The technology often is used to complement gas chromatography which, as a traditional technique, has its drawbacks, including maintenance issues, especially when these sensitive instruments are used offshore. In contrast, OMMICA, which analyzes residual methanol or MEG concentrations in produced water, crude oil and condensate, has many advantages over gas chromatography.\n\nIn deepwater or remote regions the technology saves operators significant time and money by replacing expensive sample testing as well as consequential lengthy turnaround times, with onsite capability to make near real-time decisions.\n\nThe technology also provides simple setup and user independence. It has the potential to deliver a transformative effect on the economics of deepwater fields.\n\nThe efficacy of the portable technology proven at Statoil\u2019s Mongstad refinery is often used to correlate gas chromatography results elsewhere. It works by using reagents that only react with the chemical it is designed to assess and is added directly to samples without the need for a manual water separation step.", "output": "LUX Assure is offering offshore oil rigs OMMICA, a chemical testing kit designed to solve the major issue of gas hydrate growth.\u00a0Gas hydrates\u00a0are ice-like structures that plug up lines and disrupt production. The common approach to tackling them\u00a0is injecting thermodynamic inhibitors such as methanol into pipeline fluids. Having the capacity to analyse the concentration of these inhibitors is rare on-board offshore facilities, and samples must be flown for testing and analysing onshore. OMMICA offers precise methanol and MEG analysis for users on site, in just an hour.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook Messenger chatbots help businesses increase sales \n Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More\n\n\u201cPeople prefer to use Messenger to interact with companies,\u201d Facebook VP of messaging products David Marcus said during his keynote at this year\u2019s F8 conference. With over 65 million businesses active on Facebook, this shouldn\u2019t come as a surprise. An estimated 80 percent of these companies use messaging to reach Facebook Messenger\u2019s 1.2 billion monthly active users. When Messenger opened its doors to developers in April 2016, 78 percent of adults were still unaware that chatbots even existed. After a year of growing pains for chatbots, though, new features for Facebook Messenger 2.0 were announced in April. These new elements were designed specifically to scale up the business-and-bot side of its service.\n\nDuring this year\u2019s F8 conference, Marcus noted the company is working on convincing consumers to open Messenger rather than pick up the phone or send an email. Facebook\u2019s Messenger Platform 2.0 is making this possible with recently added features designed specifically for business. Features like the Discover Tab, Chat Extensions, Smart Replies, and M Suggestions are all designed to help companies gain visibility and reach a larger audience.\n\n\u201cMessaging with businesses is on the rise, with over 2 billion messages sent between people and businesses \u2014 including automated conversations \u2014 each month,\u201d said Kemal El Moujahid, the product manager for Messenger. \u201cMessenger offers businesses new ways to engage with their community and potential customers. Whether it\u2019s raising awareness for a brand, enabling transactions, acquiring new customers, or delivering superior customer service, Messenger can be a core part of business solutions.\u201d\n\nThe success of Facebook Messenger bots for businesses has become especially apparent to Bobby Mukherjee, the CEO of Loka. Since the launch of Facebook\u2019s Messenger Platform 2.0, Loka has helped businesses create Facebook Messenger bots to increase sales and improve customer service.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\n\u201cBots are clearly the next wave in customer focused innovation, taking over the mantle from mobile apps. It\u2019s exciting to see a new wave cresting, and helping companies maximize the opportunity,\u201d said Mukherjee.\n\nRise of bots, rise in sales\n\nDuring his keynote, Marcus mentioned a number of companies that have seen an increase in sales, bookings, and productivity as a result of Facebook Messenger bots.\n\nSephora, for example, has seen an 11 percent increase in booking rates through the Sephora Reservation Assistant. Sephora\u2019s goal was to encourage more clients to visit its stores by offering an easy way to book makeovers. There are five fewer steps involved for booking makeovers through Sephora\u2019s Facebook Messenger bot than through its online app, enabling clients to schedule appointments in a matter of minutes.\n\nIn as few as three steps, Messenger\u2019s conversational interface allows Sephora customers to initiate a conversation by typing the city in which they wish to book a makeover. The bot immediately shares a list of Sephora locations in that city. The user then selects a store, and the bot instantly displays available dates and times. Appointments are booked in a matter of minutes.\n\nSephora also reported that its Messenger bot has helped increase in-store sales. The retailer sees an average spend of over $50 from clients who have booked an in-store service via its Messenger assistant.\n\nSnapTravel is another company that has found success with its Facebook Messenger bot. Since using Facebook Messenger, SnapTravel has seen $1 million in hotel bookings in less than a year.\n\nAccessing SnapTravel through Facebook Messenger is easy because you don\u2019t need to download an app. Users can directly message SnapTravel via Messenger to find a desirable hotel to book. All you have to do is send the bot a private message with your basic travel information, such as your destination, dates, and budget. The bot will then respond immediately with a number of options.\n\nThe hotel rates quoted by SnapTravel are similar to what you\u2019ll find on any of the big metasearch sites, such as Kayak, Priceline, or Expedia. This is because SnapTravel is connected to dozens of online travel agents and can find the best possible price currently available on the market. When it quotes a rate, it will also show you the best available rate on Hotels.com for comparison.\n\nTommy Hilfiger is yet another company finding success with its Facebook Messenger bot. The fashion empire developed an experience where they used a bot for Messenger to help people buy fashion directly from the runway during Fashion Week in NYC. There was an 87 percent return rate for people coming back again to use the Messenger experience, with over 60,000 messages being exchanged. The company noted that 3.5 times more was spent through Messenger than any other digital channels.\n\nNew features, new value\n\nYet Facebook Messenger bots for businesses have only recently been gaining traction. It has only been since the launch of Facebook Messenger 2.0 that organizations are finding real value in Messenger bots.\n\nFor instance, since the implementation of new features like the Discover Tab, businesses are able to have more visibility and combine automated and human chat experiences in a single stream.\n\n\u201cThe new capabilities of Facebook Messenger 2.0 greatly increased the customer user experience potential. Companies that can launch a Facebook Messenger bot on the new platform are poised to lock in a first mover advantage,\u201d said Mukherjee.\n\nThere are now 100,000 bot developers who have built 100,000 active bots on the Messenger Platform. That\u2019s up 233 percent from the 30,000 bots on Messenger six months after the feature\u2019s launch in April last year. And as more bots continue to be developed, more businesses are sure to see an increase in sales and productivity.\n\nWith 1.2 billion active monthly users on Facebook Messenger, it\u2019s easy to see the value businesses can gain by having a Messenger bot. Brands are now capable of reaching the entire Facebook world.\n\nRachel Wolfson is a content marketing consultant, tech blogger, and fitness buff.", "output": "Businesses are starting to feel the impact of Facebook's Messenger bots, which can streamline processes, improve customer service and increase sales, according to the social media giant's VP of messaging products, David Marcus. Firms including Tommy Hilfiger, Sephora and SnapTravel have all improved sales results since using the bots, while adoption has taken off since the launch of Messenger 2.0. \"Companies that can launch a Facebook Messenger bot on the new platform are poised to lock in a first-mover advantage,\" said Bobby Mukherjee, the CEO of bot-creating firm Loka.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian retirement fund given green light to sink $3.5bn into ETFs \n NEW DELHI: Retirement fund body the Employees\u2019 Provident Fund Organisation plans to pump in Rs 22,500 crore in exchange traded funds in 2017-18 following the go-ahead from the central board of trustees of EPFO to increase the equity investment from 10% to 15%.\u201cThe investment limit in ETFs has been recommended to be raised from 10% to 15% by the Central Board of Trustees, Employees Provident Fund in its 218th meeting held in May. Accordingly the estimated investment in ETF for the current financial year is approximately Rs 22,500 crore,\u201d labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.According to the minister, the EPFO has invested Rs 6577 crore in ETFs in 2015-16 and Rs 14984 crore in 2016-17. According to EPFO, the cumulative return on investment has been over 13% since it started investing in ETFs in August 2015 with initial investment of 5% of its investible deposits of around Rs one lakh crore.In 2016-17, the proportion of these investments was raised to 10% which would further be raised to 15% for the current fiscal.", "output": "Indian retirement fund the Employees\u2019 Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has been granted approval by its central board of trustees to plough INR22,500 crore ($3.5bn) into exchange traded funds (ETFs) over the coming months. The decision followed\u00a0a recommendation to raise the equity investment limit from 10% to 15%. Since it began investing in ETFs in 2015, the EPFO's cumulative return on the investment has been more than 13%.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google improves image search to include more information \n Google is now making it easier to find more information through your mobile image search results. The company announced that as of Tuesday, your image search results include icons in the corner of the photos indicating more information.\n\nThe new feature is specifically meant to help users discover more through their search results and suggest actions they can take. For instance, if you search for cupcakes in Image Search some of your results will include a badge in the bottom-left corner for recipes, videos, and GIFs, among other results.\n\nRecommended Videos\n\nLast week, eBay announced a slightly similar update to its mobile app that also expands the use of image-based search. Rolling out in the fall, users will be able to find and purchase items through eBay using pictures instead of words.\n\nThe eBay app uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to find any item you search for. If you\u2019re out on the go and spot a pair of shoes you are interested in but don\u2019t know the exact name, you can take a photo and upload it to the eBay app. The features will apparently be able to match you with the exact product along with similar items.\n\nBy adding new features to its search tools, eBay and Google are essentially keeping users from leaving its platforms. After searching for and finding an item through eBay, you can then purchase it straight from the app. With Google\u2019s new badges, the feature eliminates having to click through to another page \u2014 by simply tapping on the badge, you can pull up more in-depth information without losing your place within the results.\n\nGoogle has clearly been busy updating its apps \u2014 on Monday, the company unveiled new features for the Gboard app on iOS. The iOS version integrates the Maps and YouTube apps into the keyboard, making it easier to send your location and videos without having to exit the messenger window. Other features include a drawing tool along with additional foreign language options to choose from.\n\nGoogle\u2019s new badges are available on the Google app for Android along with your mobile web browser. As of now, users will not see the update on their desktop image search.\n\nEditors' Recommendations", "output": "Google has launched badges, a tool that aims to improve the image search experience for mobile users. For iOS and Android users, any image search will also bring up icons in the corner of the photos, offering links to more, related information. The tool is similar to one recently rolled out by eBay, and both are aimed at keeping users within the company platforms."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "YouTube says AI is better at finding\u00a0extremist videos than humans \n YouTube has said AI is, in some cases, better than humans at purging extremist videos from within its walls, and that machine learning tech has helped it double the speed at which it is able to take down content which violates the rules.\n\nAccording to YouTube its AI systems have proven more effective than human beings at flagging videos which need to be removed.\n\nJust over a month ago the platform\u2019s parent company announced plans to increase its use of machine learning technology to help it identify extremist and terrorism-related videos on YouTube. The move was part of a four-pronged strategy to combat the spread of such content online following a brand safety crisis earlier on this year, during which giants like M&S, the Guardian and the UK government pulled ad spend from YouTube and the Google Display Network following concerns over unintentional ad misplacement.\n\nThe tech giant has now posted an update saying it has made progress in tackling the issue, which in some cases resulted in neo-Nazi videos and extreme pornography appearing adjacent to ads from household names.\n\nYouTube claimed that during the past month or so when it's been testing new AI-powered detection and removal tools that over 75% of the videos it has removed for violent extremism were purged before receiving a single human flag. The platform has said it believes the accuracy of its systems have improved \u201cdramatically\u201d due to machine learning.\n\nWith over 400 hours of content being uploaded to YouTube each minute, there was previously a significant challenge in finding and taking action over such footage, but the video giant said its initial use of machine learning has \u201cmore than doubled\u201d the number of videos it has removed featuring violent or extreme content, as well doubling the rate at which such content is removed.\n\nYouTube has always used a mix of technology and human review to address controversial content on YouTube, but the latest developments indicate that investment in the AI space following the brand safety furore is bearing fruit.\n\nGoogle's strategy to tackle the spread of extremism online and protect advertisers, also includes tougher standards for videos and the recruitment of more experts to flag content in need of review. Earlier this year, Google also inked a deal with ComScore to provide independent verification that its inventory is brand safe.\n\nThe platform said it has started working with 15 more NGOs and organisations, including the Anti-Defamation League and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue in an effort to improve the system\u2019s understanding of issues around hate speech, radicalisation and terrorism to better handle extremist content.\n\nIn the wake of the brand safety furore some Omnicom was one such ad giant which took it upon itself to calm advertisers worried their ads are at risk of being misplaced against inappropriate content on YouTube using a mixture of AI and human intelligence. At the time the holding group detailed plans to sift through hundreds of thousands of YouTube videos daily to ensure they are safe for its advertisers to appear against.\n\nGoogle's brand safety scare seems to have largely unaffected its bottom line, and consumer perceptions remain high with the firm topping YouGov's recent brand health ranking index.", "output": "Video-sharing site YouTube has said three-quarters of the videos removed from its site by its machine-learning technology were deleted before a human monitor saw them. The Google-owned company also said the use of artificial intelligence has doubled the number of extremist videos being removed and deletes them at twice the rate. The increased use of AI was one of several measures Google put in place after it emerged big brands ads were appearing alongside extremist content on YouTube.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snapchat encourages advertisers by expanding measurement \n While Snap\u2019s stock price has continued to slip and the company has been under fire from investors uncertain that it can keep up with Facebook and Instagram, the company\u2019s measurement game is expanding to arm advertisers with sophisticated metrics that helps Snapchat compare itself with all other media.", "output": "Snapchat is launching a programme designed to focus on marketing mix modelling (MMM), partnering with data firms Neustar Marketshare, Analytic Partners, Marketing Management Analytics and Nielsen. The programme will add to Snap's current 15 measurement partners, which currently examine the app's reach, impressions, viewability and targeting metrics. The launch is aimed at encouraging big brands to purchase advertising on Snapchat and also offers third-party analytics that confirm campaign data. MMM measurement aggregates an advertiser\u2019s media channels \u2013 including TV, print, digital and out of home \u2013 and then looks at one specific channel to measure how effective advertising on it was in increasing sales.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Addison Lee contractor classification ruled unlawful \n Addison Lee has become the latest company to face defeat in court over its treatment of workers as \u201cindependent contractors\u201d without rights to holiday pay or the national minimum wage.\n\nThe employment judge Joanna Wade issued a damning verdict against the \u00a3260m-a-year-turnover minicab firm, ruling that it had unlawfully failed to pay the cycle courier Chris Gascoigne, 48, holiday pay and attacking its attempts to \u201cfrighten off\u201d Gascoigne from challenging his employment status.\n\nThe ruling at the central London employment tribunal that the cycle courier should be classed as a \u201cworker\u201d follows similar verdicts in cases brought against Uber, City Sprint, Excel and eCourier.\n\n\n\nIt comes as the government considers recommendations from a Downing Street review to bring in a new law that any self-employed worker under \u201ccontrol\u201d or \u201csupervision\u201d from their contracting company should be considered a \u201cdependent contractor\u201d and benefit from holiday pay, sick pay and the minimum wage.\n\nThere are now an estimated 1.1 million people in Britain\u2019s gig economy. Addison Lee\u2019s main business involves 5,000 minicab drivers, who it classes as self-employed, but it also has approximately 500 couriers. Around 40 of them use bicycles, like Gascoigne, who delivered parcels in London for Addison Lee for almost seven years before leaving in March.\n\n\u201cI am really happy,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is an important verdict. This is a pretty tough job and I think it is only fair considering what we do. The payments don\u2019t justify the fact we don\u2019t have these pretty basic rights.\u201d\n\nThe judge highlighted Addison Lee\u2019s use of contradictory language in its contract to avoid the courier being treated as a worker. Workers were given Addison Lee-branded bags and T-shirts, responded to a central controller and used Addison Lee IT devices, including a system that had no \u201cdecline\u201d button when a job was offered.\n\nMeanwhile Gascoigne was asked to sign a contract that stated: \u201cYou agree that you are an independent contractor and that nothing in this agreement shall render you an employee, worker, agent or partner of Addison Lee.\u201dWade said the evidence showed \u201ccouriers need to be responsive and work quickly during a tightly controlled working day\u201d and pointed to recruitment material on its website saying \u201cwe are proud of our couriers \u2013 we\u2019d love you to be part of that\u201d.\n\nShe said: \u201cIt does not say: \u2018We want to find couriers who are independent and work on an ad-hoc basis. If you do account work you [will] be a self-employed sub-contractor and for non-account work we will be your agent so you carry the risk.\u2019 Not only is this confusing and wordy, it is not the way the business ran, or could run, as [Addison Lee] well knew. This is why it employed \u2018armies\u2019 of lawyers; to do the best possible job to ensure that the claimant and his colleagues did not have \u2026 worker status.\u201d\n\nWade also said she was saddened that the contract included a clause \u201cdesigned to frighten him off from litigating\u201d. It stated that he should \u201cindemnify Addison Lee against any liability for any employment-related claim or any claim based on worker status brought by you\u201d. This, said the judge, \u201csuggests they knew the risk of portraying the claimant as self-employed\u201d.\n\nGascoigne\u2019s case was supported by the Independent Workers\u2019 Union of Great Britain.\n\n\n\nIts general secretary, Jason Moyer-Lee, said: \u201cAs if we needed any more evidence, today\u2019s judgment once again proves our point. The law is clear, and employers in the so-called gig economy have been choosing to unlawfully deprive their workers of rights. Yet another domino has fallen with regard to the inevitable conclusion that people in the so-called gig economy are workers.\u201d\n\nA spokesman for Addison Lee said: \u201cWe note the tribunal\u2019s verdict, which we will carefully review. Addison Lee is disappointed with the ruling as we have always had, and are committed to maintaining a flexible and fair relationship with cycle couriers.\u201d", "output": "Addison Lee, the UK minicab firm, unlawfully failed to award holiday pay to a cycle courier, according to a ruling by an employment tribunal. Judge Joanna Wade ruled that the courier should be classified as a \u201cworker\u201d rather than an independent contractor, following similar rulings against CitySprint, eCourier, Excel and Uber. Wade emphasised Addison Lee\u2019s use of contradictory language in its contract and criticised the inclusion of a clause \u201cdesigned to frighten\u201d the courier away from litigation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "South Asia may experience impossible to survive heatwaves by 2100 \n The \u2018cave of bones\u2019 may hold the mysteries of human origins", "output": "By 2100 South Asia, which contains 20% of the world\u2019s population, could experience heatwaves that people will be unable to survive without protection and which could devastate food supplies, according to research in Science Advances. The most dangerous effects of hot weather occur when high temperatures combine with high humidity to create a \u201cwet-bulb temperature\u201d. At present, 2% of the Indian population is exposed to 32C wet-bulb temperatures. This could rise to 70% of the population by 2100. Reductions in carbon emissions in line with the Paris Climate Agreement would significantly reduce the risk of such heatwaves.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Esure [4]: British insurers call for clear distinctions on automated vehicle systems \n British Insurers have today highlighted the potential dangers of \u2018autonomous ambiguity\u2019, as vehicles with different levels of autonomy, or driverless technology, increasingly become a feature of UK roads.\n\nWith important and wide-reaching changes being defined by international regulators on what Assisted and Automated systems can and can't do, the Automated Driving Insurer Group (ADIG), led by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) in collaboration with Thatcham Research, has released a white paper setting out the latest position of UK insurers.\n\nThe \u2018Regulating Automated Driving\u2019 paper is set to reveal that UK insurers, including AXA, Admiral, Ageas, Allianz, Aviva, Co-operative Insurance, Covea, Direct Line Group, esure, LV, RSA, Zurich and the Lloyd\u2019s Market, strongly support vehicle automation in the firm belief that it will deliver a significant reduction in accidents. However, there are real concerns about driver confusion caused by so-called intermediate automated systems. Such systems offer significant self-driving capability but require the driver to take back control of the vehicle in certain circumstances.\n\nPeter Shaw, Thatcham Research CEO comments, \u201cVehicles with intermediate systems that offer assisted driving still require immediate driver intervention if the car cannot deal with a situation. Systems like these are fast emerging and unless clearly regulated, could convince drivers that their car is more capable than it actually is. This risk of autonomous ambiguity could result in a short term increase in crashes.\u201d\n\nThe paper suggests that a clear distinction between Assisted and Automated systems should be made by International Regulators considering design standards for these vehicles. Therefore, a vehicle should be clearly identified and marketed as Automated only when:\n\nThe driver can safely disengage in the knowledge that the car has sufficient capabilities to deal with virtually all situations on the road;\n\nA vehicle encounters a situation it can\u2019t handle, that it has the ability to come to a safe stop;\n\nThe autonomous system can avoid all conceivable crash types and can continue to function adequately in the event of a partial system failure;\n\nBoth insurers and vehicle manufacturers can immediately access data to identify whether the driver or vehicle is liable in the case of an accident, without ambiguity\n\n\u201cThe insurance industry strongly supports the development of automated driving technology \u2013 which we see as the logical conclusion to work over several decades to reduce the numbers of people killed or seriously injured on the roads,\u201d comments James Dalton, Director of General Insurance Policy at the ABI. \u201cHowever, we know all too well from conventional vehicles that drivers often misunderstand what their vehicles can and can\u2019t do. Therefore, consistent standards are needed so that those taking up automated driving technology can do so with confidence.\u201d\n\nDavid Williams, ADIG Chairman and Head of Underwriting at AXA said: \u201cAutonomous Vehicles will make our roads much safer, but inappropriate use or marketing of intermediate technology could confuse road users and cause unnecessary accidents. Clarity over system capability and commitment to share vehicle data with insurers will help public confidence, and help rather than hinder development in this area\u201d\n\nThe Name Game\n\nThe paper also highlights the need for more clarity in how Vehicle Manufacturers give names to assisted driving systems. Shaw continues, \u201cVehicle Manufacturers should be judicious in badging and marketing such systems, avoiding terms which could be misinterpreted as denoting full autonomy. Hybrid systems which creep into the intermediate grey area between Assisted and Automated should also be avoided.\u201d\n\nA full version of the \u2018Regulating Automated Driving: The UK Insurers\u2019 View\u2019 paper can also be downloaded from:\n\nhttps://www.abi.org.uk/globalassets/files/publications/public/motor/2017/07/regulating-automated-driving\n\nAutomated Driver Insurer Group (ADIG)\n\nThe Automated Driver Insurer Group (ADIG), led by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and Thatcham Research, was formed in 2016 to consider key issues relating to automated driving on UK roads, particularly concerning insurance and liability. The Group feeds in to ABI policy as well as work with the Government on shaping the future of automated vehicle use in the UK.Companies represented on the Group include AXA, Admiral, Ageas, Allianz, Aviva, Co-operative Insurance, Covea, Direct Line Group, esure, LV=, RSA, Zurich and the Lloyd\u2019s Market.", "output": "While they believe vehicle automation will significantly reduce accidents, British insurers, including esure, have voiced concerns over \u2018autonomous ambiguity\u2019\u00a0as vehicles with different levels of autonomy take to the roads. The insurers have called for international regulators to make clear distinctions between assisted and automated systems, and set\u00a0out criteria for marketing such vehicles. It is suggested that \"intermediate automated systems\", which offer significant self-driving capability but require drivers to reclaim control of the vehicle in certain circumstances, could leave drivers confused and lead to a short-term\u00a0tick up in accidents.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hackers can trick AI into seeing and hearing non-existent things \n Open to hack attacks? Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images\n\nWhen it comes to AI, seeing isn\u2019t always believing. It\u2019s possible to trick machine learning systems into hearing and seeing things that aren\u2019t really there.\n\nWe already know that wearing a pair of snazzy glasses can fool face recognition software into thinking you\u2019re someone else, but research from Facebook now shows that the same approach can fool other algorithms too.\n\nThe technique \u2013 known as an adversarial example \u00ad\u2013 could be used by hackers to trick driverless cars into ignoring stop signs or prevent a CCTV camera from spotting a suspect in a crowd.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nShow an algorithm a photo of a cat that\u2019s been manipulated in a subtle way and it will think it\u2019s looking at a dog. The alterations, however, may be so slight that a human would never be able to tell the image had been tampered with.\n\nLearn more at New Scientist Live in London: Discover the future of AI with DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis\n\nMoustapha Ciss\u00e9, an AI researcher at Facebook, and his colleagues figured out that a similar technique \u2013 which they have called Houdini \u2013 can be used to fool both voice recognition and machine vision systems, by adding such small amounts of digital noise to images and sounds that humans would not notice.\n\nTo find a way of deceiving such systems, a hacker would just need to know what an algorithm is seeing or hearing when faced with a particular situation.\n\nWhile there\u2019s no evidence that these kinds of attack have been used in the real world, Marta Kwiatkowska at the University of Oxford says it\u2019s only a matter of time before we will see them being used. \u201cAt the moment we have no protection,\u201d she says, although systems vulnerable to these attacks are already in use in CCTV cameras.\n\nNicolas Papernot at Pennsylvania State University agrees. \u201cIt is likely that machine learning will be exploited to attack systems. More research is needed to invent new machine learning techniques so we can use them as a defence,\u201d he says.\n\nSleight of hand\n\nCiss\u00e9 found that the types of image classification algorithm used in driverless cars could be made to ignore pedestrians or parked cars. \u201cI think we should worry about how we can ensure that the neural networks we put in cars are safe,\u201d he says.\n\nThe Facebook study showed that this approach can also be extended to voice recognition systems. Ciss\u00e9\u2019s team inserted a small amount of digital noise into a voice recording of a person speaking a phrase, and played that recording to the Google Voice speech recognition app.\n\nPresented with this adversarial example, the app thought it was hearing a completely different sentence to the one that was actually spoken.\n\nBut not everyone is sure that attacks will work in the real world. David Forsyth at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign built a fake stop sign that was digitally altered to try and fool such algorithms.\n\nHe found that when the signs were viewed by a moving camera \u2013 as they would be from a driverless car \u2013 they didn\u2019t actually fool the algorithm. Adversarial examples might work under perfect conditions, he says, but in the real world factors such as lighting and viewing angles might make them much less successful. \u201cThe attacks may be more difficult to deliver than they seem,\u201d he says.\n\nAI research lab OpenAI responded to Forsyth\u2019s paper with a blog post that showed it is possible to trick image recognition algorithms even if the image is viewed from different distances and angles.\n\nThe main problem is that we still don\u2019t know why algorithms are so responsive to minute changes that humans would never even notice, says Forsyth. \u201cWe basically don\u2019t understand what\u2019s going on inside them.\u201d\n\nReference: arxiv.org/abs/1707.05373\n\nRead more: The road to artificial intelligence: A case of data over theory;\n\nRobots are stronger, faster, more durable\u2026 and hackable", "output": "Hackers can add a small amount of digital noise unnoticeable to people to images and sounds to trick voice recognition and machine vision systems into perceiving non-existent things, a group of artificial intelligence (AI) researchers at Facebook have found. Additional machine learning systems must be developed to defend against these attacks, because humans are unable to recognise the \"adversarial sample\", said Nicolas Papernot at Pennsylvania State University. Although adversarial samples are able to mislead AI's perception of static images, moving cameras and real-world factors such as lighting and viewing angles make such attacks difficult, said David Forsyth at the University of Illinois."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Analysis shows biofuels have little in common with oil \n Slider. Credit: MIPT Press Office\n\nScientists have used high-resolution mass spectrometry to determine the composition of a biofuel obtained from the microalgae Spirulina platensis. The researchers studied two biofuel fractions obtained using a special algal mass treatment method. The researchers also proved that biofuel has little to do with oil in terms of its composition. However, it is similar to the \"brilliant green\" antiseptic commonly sold in Eastern Europe. The results of the study were published in the European Journal of Mass Spectrometry.\n\nThe research project was conducted by a group of scientists from Skoltech, the Joint Institute of High Temperatures of RAS, the V. L. Talrose Institute of Energy Problems of Chemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), the N. M. Emanuel Institute of Biochemical Physics of RAS, Lomonosov Moscow State University, and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.\n\nAlgae functioning as an ecology recovery method\n\nAs an alternative source of energy, biofuel is of particular interest in research projects, as it could potentially solve such problems as the depletion of oil reserves and global warming. Unlike oil, biofuel is produced from renewable natural resources, and when it is burned, fewer greenhouse gases are released. Brazil, for example, already provides 40 percent of its energy needs with biofuels. Agricultural crops and other plants are used as a raw material for biofuel production. However, production requires the use of fertile lands that could otherwise be used for the production of food.\n\nThe most promising raw materials for biofuel are marine microalgae, which require neither pure water nor land to be grown. Algae actively absorb carbon dioxide, and therefore reduce the greenhouse effect. Fuel from microalgae is called third-generation biofuel, and development for its production is currently underway.\n\nBiofuel recipe\n\nSpirulina platensis algae. Credit: https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Arthrospira_platensis\n\nWith sufficient information on the composition of biofuels, researchers can significantly improve production processes. The original techniques for producing fuel from algal mass proved to be energetically unfavorable since much energy is spent on drying the algae, which contain water. A new and more efficient method was needed for commercial use. Now, researchers have developed hydrothermal liquefaction\u2014wet biomass is heated to a temperature of more than 300 degrees Celsius and compressed at a pressure of 200 atmospheres; the output is fuel. This is analogous to what happens in nature when high temperatures and high pressures lead to the formation of oil deep in the Earth. However, in the reactor, this process occurs more quickly. The result is two fractions: liquid biofuel and a thick mass remaining in the reactor. Both fractions are mixtures of thousands of individual components, and mass spectrometry is the best way to determine their composition.\n\nMass spectrometry\n\nMass spectrometry is an analytical technique used to determine the composition of a substance. It is based on the fact that different compounds behave differently in an electric and/or magnetic field, depending on their mass-to-charge ratio, or m/z. The analysis produces a mass spectrum\u2014a graph - intensity vs. m/z, with intensity of peaks proportional to the number of particular m/z ions.\n\nMass spectra of the liquid (top) and the solid (bottom) fraction. Credit: MIPT Press Office\n\nScientists used mass spectrometry to investigate biofuel obtained from the Spirulina platensis algae. During hydrothermal liquefaction, all substances with a boiling point below 300 degrees C leave the reactor as gases and are subsequently cooled in a special container. Thus, the liquid fraction is extracted, while the solid fraction remains in the reactor. The mass spectrometry analysis procedures that were then conducted showed that both fractions contained the greatest amount of those substances with nitrogen (N) and dinitrogen (N2) in their composition. The substances found in the biofuel are not similar to those contained in conventional crude oil, although they are combustible. Mass spectrometry provides information on the molecular formulae of substances only (for example, C18H35N2). To find out about the structure of the molecules, the researchers used a method known as a hydrogen-deuterium exchange.\n\nReplacing hydrogen with deuterium\n\nWhen hydrogen is replaced with deuterium, the mass of an ion becomes larger, and the peak in the spectrum is shifted. By determining whether the peak is displaced or not, scientists can tell where hydrogen was located within a molecule. However, not any arbitrary position occupied by hydrogen can be freed.\n\nThe nucleus of deuterium, or heavy hydrogen, has a neutron in addition to a proton, changing its mass, but not the charge. Credit: MIPT Press Office\n\nBefore starting the mass analyses, the sample molecules are ionized. In this case, protons were added to neutral compounds, or electrons removed, turning them into positive ions. It is possible to substitute hydrogen atoms of the molecules (as well as attached protons) with a deuteron. However, it was discovered that in some hydrogens in some components of biofuel elements, the replacement does not occur. The scientists came to realize this by considering the intensity of the shifted peak obtained in the course of the replacement procedure. If the displaced peak had the same intensity as the nondisplaced peak, it meant that a complete replacement took place. If the intensity of the displaced peak is less, it means that several compounds were registered under one peak, and not all of them had an attached hydrogen that could be replaced by deuterium.\n\nProfessor Evgeny Nikolaev of Skoltech, who is a corresponding member of RAS and the head of the Ion and Molecular Physics Laboratory at MIPT, says, \"The investigation of hydrothermal liquefaction products of microalgae by means of mass spectrometry is important for increasing the efficiency of biofuel production. Further work needs to be focused on the application of algae varieties with the highest possible lipid content and growth rate and the creation of such varieties using genetic modification methods. This will allow us to find the most effective raw material for biofuels.\"\n\nMore information: European Journal of Mass Spectrometry. DOI: 10.1177/1469066717702648", "output": "Scientific researchers from a range of institutions have used high-resolution mass spectrometry to examine a fuel made from the microalgae Spirulina platensis to discover its composition. They were able to show that the biofuel has little connection to oil in terms of its composition. The method used to study the alternative source of energy was a specially formulated algal mass treatment method. The fuel has the potential to cut GHG emissions without using valuable land and water resources."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mental health chatbot Wysa funded for $1.3m \n IANS\n\nMental health chatbot Wysa on Saturday announced that it has raised a total of $1.3 million in seed funding from early stage investment firms Kae Capital and Angel Investors.\n\nCreated as an Artificial Intelligence (AI) coach for behavioural and mental health, Wysa offers evidence-based techniques through empathetic, anonymous conversations, the company said in a statement. \"Our technology passively detects behavioural health issues from smartphone sensors and engages them through chat,\" said Ramakant Vempati, co-founder.\n\nWysa supports a variety of behavioural health use cases, including anxiety, smoking cessation, diabetes and disability support, to reduce healthcare costs and improve adherence.\n\nAs per earlier reports British researchers had designed a smartphone app that helped people manage their problems, anxiety and depression, based on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). The 'Catch It' app uses psychological approaches to mental health and well-being through CBT, a therapy that can help individuals manage problems by changing the way one thinks and behaves. It helps the user identify thoughts and thinking styles associated with a shift in mood or a particular emotion and takes the users through a process. The app helps users better understand their moods through use of an ongoing diary. significant reductions in negative mood intensity and increases in positive mood intensity among participants. A significant reductions in negative mood intensity and increases in positive mood intensity among participants.", "output": "Mental health chatbot service Wysa has secured $1.3m in seed funding to develop its app. Wysa is intended to help people manage anxiety and depression through techniques based on cognitive behavioural therapy. The app detects behavioural health issues via smartphone sensors and engages users through a chat interface, said Co-founder Ramakant Vempati. By encouraging users to identify and record thoughts they associate with a shift in mood, the chatbot helps to mitigate negative mental states.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "XL Catlin's profits rise sixfold on lower catastrophe losses \n Xl Group Ltd. on Wednesday reported a nearly sixfold increase in its net income for the second quarter of 2017, driven by lower catastrophe losses and higher net income from affiliates.\n\nThe Hamilton, Bermuda-based insurer, which does business as XL Catlin, posted $301.6 million in net income for the quarter, a 588.9% increase from $43.8 million for the comparable period a year ago.\n\nXL Catlin reported $92.1 million in catastrophe pretax losses, net of reinsurance and related reinstatement premiums, compared with $240.1 million for the year-ago period.\n\nNet income from affiliates increased 112.4%, to $73.5 million for the quarter, compared with $34.6 million for the prior-year quarter, driven mainly by the sale of an investment manager affiliate and a strong performance in all categories of its affiliate holdings, the company said.\n\nOperating income increased 139.6%, to $255.1 million from $106.4 million for the comparable period a year ago.\n\nXL Catlin reported $2.65 billion in net premiums written, which was a 2.8% decline from the total for the comparable period a year ago. The combined ratio for the quarter was 92.3% vs. 96% for 2016\u2019s second quarter.\n\n\u201cWe are pleased to report solid overall results,\u201d which reflect a continued focus on executing XL Catlin\u2019s strategy, CEO Michael S. McGavick said during Wednesday\u2019s earnings call.\n\n\u201cThroughout the first half of the year, we like the progress we\u2019ve made and feel good about our ability to execute our strategy,\u201d although significant headwinds remain in the market, including inflationary trends and continuing rate deterioration, although some lines are flattening and there have been slight increases as well, Mr. McGavick said.\n\nHe said submission rates were up 5% in the second quarter, although XL Catlin\u2019s \u201chit rate\u201d remained the same at 36%, consistent with the prior year. \u201cWe continue to see more business, and we continue to select the business we want,\u201d he said. \u201cWe continue to push the pace of our ability to introduce new products to the market.\u201d\n\nMr. McGavick said XL Catlin\u2019s North American construction unit, for example, which was introduced in 2010, has reached $2 billion in gross written premium over its seven years of operation.\n\nAsked about how the insurer manages cyber risk, Mr. McGavick said, \u201cI would emphasize this, we keep it at very low limits,\u201d and manage sector exposures as well as individual risks. \u201cThis is a very broad and diversified book and that makes me very comfortable,\u201d he said.\n\nGregory S. Hendrick, the insurer\u2019s property/casualty president, said XL Catlin had another strong quarter for \u201cnew and expanded capabilities.\u201d\n\nThese included an accident and health insurance program in the United Kingdom and a real estate environment protection program in the Asia-Pacific region, he said.\n\nHe said XL Catlin\u2019s largest growing portfolios in the quarter included political risk, global risk management international financial lines and U.S. programs.", "output": "Lower catastrophe losses and higher earnings from affiliates have helped specialty insurer XL Catlin to post an almost sixfold surge in profit for Q2 2017. Income rose 589% to $301.6m from $43.8m in Q2 of the previous year. Catastrophe losses fell to $92.1m from $240.1m and profit from partners climbed\u00a0112.4%\u00a0to $73.5m from\u00a0$34.6m for Q2 2016. However, written premiums fell 2.8%\u00a0to $2.65bn. The CEO of the Hamilton, Bermuda-based company, Michael\u00a0McGavick, said: \"We like the progress we\u2019ve made and feel good about our ability to execute our strategy.\"\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GeoBioCell aims to tackle subsea corrosion from 'biosouring' \n Rsearch project seeks to solve $90 billion global problem in oil industry while making oil drilling less harmful to environment.\n\nA new research project at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB) at the University of Illinois seeks to solve a $90 billion global problem in the oil industry while making oil drilling less harmful to the environment.\n\nBruce Fouke, Professor in the departments of Geology and Microbiology and director of the Roy J. Carver Biotechnology Center, was awarded a three-year grant from the Dow Chemical Company to study a process known as oil field biosouring. Fouke is also a faculty member in one of the IGB's eleven research themes, Biocomplexity, which explores the origin of life and the behavior of biological systems.\n\nCo-investigators include IGB affiliate Professor Charles Werth at the University of Texas at Austin, and Robert Sanford, Research Associate Professor in Geology at Illinois.\n\nBiosouring results from a common procedure in oil drilling, where seawater is pumped deep underground in order to maximize the amount of oil that can be extracted.\n\nThis action significantly affects microbes that live in the Earth's deep subsurface -- known as the deep microbial biosphere -- where the majority of Earth's life resides.\n\n\"The largest reservoir of living cells on earth is microbes that live underground,\" Fouke said. \"Whenever we try to produce or extract oil and gas from the ground, we drill wells and perturb this community.\"\n\nSeawater contains a chemical called sulfate. When bacteria in the ground ingest sulfate from the seawater, they create a byproduct called sulfide, which is highly corrosive and harmful to human health. This reduction, from sulfate to sulfide, is known as microbial biosouring.\n\nSulfide's corrosive nature creates the single largest maintenance expense for oil companies: replacement of underground oil field pipes and plumbing systems. Globally, it is estimated that almost $90 billion is spent on replacing damaged pipes each year.\n\n\"Dow is interested in the application of our techniques and approaches here at the IGB to better understand how biosouring happens and what new ways can be developed to reduce or stop it,\" Fouke said.\n\nAnother byproduct of biosouring is mineral growth. Biosouring accelerates the rate at which rocks are deposited, a process known as biomineralization, which is Fouke's area of expertise.\n\nFor the last 10 years, Fouke and his IGB research colleagues have been developing a new technology called the GeoBioCell, an experimental microfluidics test bed that can be used to track the interactions between water, rock, microbes, oil and gas in a controlled environment. It simulates the conditions of the deep subsurface on a microscope stage, using samples of actual oil field rocks and fluids.\n\nThis technology allows researchers to control the flow of these materials so their interactions can be evaluated in real time.\n\n\"We recreate, at a very precise spatial resolution, the interactions going on in natural subsurface environments,\" Fouke said.\n\nBy recreating biosouring within the GeoBioCell, researchers will be able to test different temperatures, chemicals, food sources and water chemistries to try and reduce or stop the process.\n\nThe IGB is the only place in the world where a technology like this exists, and Fouke said it's the only place where this research could happen, due to its interdisciplinary nature.\n\nDirectors of the IGB Core Facilities light microscopy suite and the Roy J. Carver Biotechnology Center will be collaborating in running and analyzing the GeoBioCell experiments.\n\n\"It's truly the only laboratory in the world where we have the capacity to do all these cutting-edge analyses in one location,\" Fouke said.\n\nFor Fouke, this research brings together years of his own work.\n\n\"What's especially exciting about this project, and the development and application of the GeoBioCell, is that it represents two decades of collaborative interdisciplinary research,\" he said. \"It encapsulates everything we have accomplished to date.\"\n\nAs a geologist, Fouke's interest lies in studying the origin and evolution of life on Earth, and how this knowledge can be applied to solve real-world problems.\n\n\"Results from the GeoBioCell experimentation will enhance our understanding of how oil and gas is produced, while better protecting the environment,\" he said.\n\nHe believes the project's \"hyper-interdisciplinary\" nature -- involving the fields of geology, microbiology and engineering -- will allow the results to be impactful.\n\n\"It requires exactly what we're all about at the IGB, which is to have the highest level of excellence and expertise in these different fields, and then have them all come together and work together,\" Fouke said. \"It takes all these disciplines fusing together to be able to complete this work.\"\n\n###", "output": "The Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB) at the US University of Illinois has developed a technology called GeoBioCell that aims to help explore ways to mitigate so-called microbial biosouring, a side effect of pumping seawater underground to increase oil extraction yields. The interaction of the seawater with\u00a0microbes that live\u00a0beneath the Earth's surface creates sulphides, highly corrosive compounds that contribute to the oil and gas industry's annual\u00a0$90bn bill for replacing oil field pipes and plumbing systems.\u00a0GeoBioCell, an experimental microfluidics test bed, allows researchers to test different temperatures, chemicals, food sources and water chemistries that could reduce or stop the process."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "European offshore wind companies look to China for expansion \n This article first appeared on the BNEF mobile app and the Bloomberg Terminal.\n\nChina\u2019s market to be bigger than the U.K. or Germany by 2022\n\nChina could make up a third of the total market by 2030\n\nGlobal cumulative installation forecast\n\nSource: Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Note: \u2018Other\u2019 includes Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, U.S., Norway, Portugal, and Sweden.\n\nThe global offshore wind market will almost double by 2020, and China will be the fastest-growing region outside core markets in Europe. Installations in China will surpass those in the U.K. and Germany in 2022, according to the latest forecast from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. European offshore wind turbine companies are looking for routes to market or gain a foothold in the region. Dong Energy A/S and Macquarie Group Ltd. currently own stakes in projects in Taiwan. MHI Vestas Offshore Wind A/S is opening a regional office in Japan. They expect these bases to make the leap into China a little easier.\n\nClients can access the full report here.\n\nBNEF Shorts are research excerpts available only on the BNEF mobile app and the Bloomberg Terminal, highlighting key findings from our reports. If you would like to learn more about our services, please contact us.", "output": "European offshore wind turbine companies including MHI Vestas Offshore Wind and Dong Energy are seeking to enter China's rapidly growing offshore market. Dong Energy and Macquarie Group own stakes in projects in Taiwan, which they may use as a base to set up operations off mainland China. Meanwhile, MHI Vestas Offshore Wind is opening an office in Japan and may have similar plans. With the help of the growth of the sector in China, global offshore wind energy production is forecast to nearly double between now and 2020 to 34 GW."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Japan's construction boom deflates hotel rates \n TOKYO -- International tourists keep flocking to Japan, but hotel rates are softening thanks to a construction boom and intensifying competition.\n\nHotel Villa Fontaine Osaka-Shinsaibashi saw its average rate dip several percent on the year for the April-June quarter. The figure was still 60% above the same period six years earlier, right after the catastrophic March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. But business is \"entering the doldrums,\" said Shoji Kumagai, president of Sumitomo Fudosan Villa Fontaine, the hotel's operator.", "output": "A boom in construction and growing competition among hotels is causing rates for rooms in Japan to ease. The average rate for a room per night in Osaka for the last quarter was down 3.2% on the year to $140, reported British research firm STR. Meanwhile, the number of guest rooms in Osaka will this year rise to more than 10% higher than 2016's levels, according to CBRE data. Room rates may continue to ease as more hotels open ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus [4]: Regus to occupy 10,000 sq ft at Cape Town\u2019s Black River Park \n Redefine Properties has announced that it has signed the world\u2019s leading provider of fully serviced, flexible work spaces Regus Business Centres as a tenant at its iconic Black River Park in Cape Town. Starting in July, the company will occupy over 10,000 square feet under a ten-year lease.\n\nThe growing demand for short-term and flexible work spaces in South Africa has already seen over 45,000 square feet of Redefine\u2019s prime properties come under Regus\u2019s roof. The Black River Park (BRP) tenancy is Regus\u2019 sixth building with Redefine.\n\n\u201cWe are delighted to have Regus as a tenant at Black River Park in Cape Town which is fast re-configuring itself into a diversified business hub with an economy that is outpacing the national growth. We believe this spells opportunity for both Redefine and Regus,\u201d says Grant Elliott, General Manager Coastal at Redefine Properties.\n\n\u201cBRP will allow entrepreneurs to focus on running their companies and not be distracted by the costs associated with maintaining their own office space.\u201d\n\nTraditionally when businesses are first established, entrepreneurs need to have a fixed address. Startups can ill-afford upfront costs of acquiring commercial premises or even renting as costs cannot be contained and easily add up with monthly utility bills and maintenance.\n\nFlexible and temporary office space gives startups a more affordable option when it comes to occupying an office in a sought after location according to Joanne Bushell, Regus Country Manager, South Africa.\n\n\u201cBRP allows us to offer entrepreneurs\u2019 serviced office solutions to conduct their business in the heart of the city, without the expense and risk of long-term leases or upfront capital expenditure.\u201d\n\nBRP is the first office precinct in the country to receive Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) certified Green Star existing building ratings for all of its eight buildings, with a combined 75,000sqm of office space.\n\n\u201cBRP was a natural choice as increasingly sustainability is fast becoming a key differentiator for companies and entrepreneurs alike. Companies are trying to be greener today and want it reflected across their operations,\u201d says Bushell in conclusion.", "output": "From July, Regus is to occupy 10,000 sq ft at Cape Town\u2019s Black River Park after signing a 10-year lease deal with Redefine Properties. This is the firm\u2019s sixth building with Redefine, adding to the existing 45,000 sq ft of Redefine\u2019s prime properties already under its roof.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "#cityofsmiles project shows how humour can transform the mundane \n 4 Foods That Are Likely to Suffer From Climate Change", "output": "City planner Brent Toderian has been sharing humorous improvements to city street scenes with the hashtag #cityofsmiles, documenting creative reinterpretations of everyday city objects. Examples include telephone boxes being transformed into pop culture images and fun additions to warning or instructional signs.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Swedish banks look to chatbots to boost customer service  \n For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBreaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nAida is the perfect employee: always courteous, always learning and, as she says, \u201calways at work, 24/7, 365 days a year.\u201d\n\nAida, of course, is not a person but a virtual customer-service representative that SEB AB, one of Sweden\u2019s biggest banks, is rolling out. The goal is to give the actual humans more time to engage in more complex tasks.\n\nAfter blazing a trail in online and digital banking, Sweden\u2019s financial industry is now emerging as a pioneer in the use of artificial intelligence (AI). Besides Aida at SEB, there\u2019s Nova, which is a chatbot Nordea Bank is introducing at its life and pensions unit in Norway. Swedbank is adding to the skills of its virtual assistant, Nina. All three are designed to sound like women, based on research suggesting customers feel more comfortable with female voices.\n\n\u201cThere are some frequent, simple tasks that we need to deal with manually today, and in that effort we\u2019re looking into AI to see how we can deploy it and Aida is one,\u201d Johan Torgeby, the chief executive officer of SEB, says.\n\nChatbots have access to vast amounts of individual client data, meaning they can quickly handle straightforward customer requests. That in turn frees up human employees to deal with more complex services, like coming up with the best mortgage plan to suit a specific customer.\n\n\u201cBasically all banks are closing branches,\u201d Mattias Fras, head of robotics, strategy and innovation at Nordea, says. \u201cThis is a way to return to full service again.\u201d\n\nNordea\u2019s chatbot will eventually help customers who want investment advice, who want to cancel lost credit cards or to open savings accounts.\n\nSwedish banks have already seen their customer satisfaction scores drop to a 20-year low after shutting branches and pushing people onto online services. But AI might be part of the cure. According to a recent study by market researcher GfK, there are wide gaps between what consumers hope to receive from banks in terms of service and financial advice, and what they actually get. AI applications such as chatbots \u201chold the promise of filling in these service gaps, given the right data and programming\u201d, GfK says.\n\nBusiness news: In pictures Show all 13 1 / 13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled \u2013 leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: \u201cEurope\u2019s largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: \"You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share\" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid \u00a33.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a \"bad\" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rue\u2019s contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped \u00a34m off of Flybe\u2019s revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airline\u2019s estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.\n\nSwedbank, which already operates its chatbot Nina in Sweden and plans to roll it out to its Baltic markets as well, says one of the benefits to the technology is that it eases users into the new digital age. AI \u201ccan help our customers become more digitised, for example by guiding a client in paying bills on the Internet\u201d, Swedbank spokeswoman Josefine Uppling says.\n\nPetra Stenqvist, a partner at Pond, which looks into innovative business ideas, says it\u2019s unlikely AI will ever be able to think like humans. It \u201cwill never be able to replace subjective assessments\u201d, she says. \u201cBut it will be able to contribute to better decision making.\u201d And because of the massive amounts of data that AI can store, \u201cindividuals will be able to find out things about themselves that they didn\u2019t even know\u201d.\n\nBloomberg", "output": "SEB, Nordea and Swedbank have developed AI-driven chatbots to handle customer requests and free staff time for more complex issues. Chatbots Aida, Nova and Nina respectively, sound like women, as research suggested people feel more comfortable with female voices. Nordea\u2019s chatbot will be used to offer investment advice, help customers open savings accounts and cancel lost cards, said Mattias Fras, Nordea\u2019s head of strategy. Following branch closures, customer satisfaction scores for Swedish banks have hit 20-year lows. A GfK study suggested correctly programmed AI and chatbots could bridge the gap between expected and actual service levels provided by banks."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pandora aims to regain listeners with enjoyable ad experience \n Pandora\u2019s active listeners in Q2 declined 2.7% YoY to 76 million, the company reported on its Monday earnings call. That\u2019s down from 78 million active listeners during the same period last year.\n\nTo bolster its user base, Pandora will refocus its marketing efforts on getting users to sign up for its ad-supported tier and upgrading to subscriptions from there, said interim CEO Naveen Chopra. Chopra, formerly Pandora\u2019s CFO, stepped into the position when Pandora co-founder Tim Westergren resigned in June. Sixty-four percent of Premium subscribers have been upsold from the ad-supported tier.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re broadening our audience and increasing direct-response spend to drive new and lost users back to the ecosystem,\u201d Chopra said. \u201cBut there\u2019s more we can do to combat loss of users.\u201d\n\nOne way Pandora hopes to bring back users is by creating more enjoyable ad experiences. The platform will invest in personalized messaging and more innovative ad formats like sponsored listening, which trade an impression for an hour of unlimited music.\n\nAd revenue was up 5% year over year to $287 million, a modest yet necessary bump from Q1\u2019s growth of just 1%. Total revenue grew 10% to $377 million.\n\nPandora was able to grow ad revenue by shifting sales from low- to high-value channels while increasing ad load from roughly three to five spots an hour, Chopra said. RPMs (the streaming equivalent of a CPM) were up 24% year over year to $66, while video and display ad sales grew by 8% and 22%, respectively.\n\n\u201cThat occurred during a quarter where we were using more inventory than normal to promote our subscription product,\u201d Chopra said.\n\nThat small burst of momentum in Pandora\u2019s ad biz will set it up to launch programmatic video in Q3 and programmatic audio in Q4, Chopra said.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re getting much more of our inventory into programmatic channels over the next few quarters,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s a critical milestone for us. It opens us up to a much better pricing environment, new sources of demand and plays to our strengths in data, measurability and targeting.\u201d\n\nBut Pandora must be careful not to increase ad load too heavily or it risks losing even more users.\n\n\u201cWe are able to monetize without necessarily just creating more interruption for the user,\u201d Chopra said, referring to video products like sponsored listening.\n\nEven as active users waned, Pandora claimed those sticking with the platform are engaged.\n\nListeners used Pandora 26 days per quarter on average in Q2, up 10% year over year. That number will continue to rise as listeners are able to access Pandora on more devices, like smart cars and home assistants, Chopra said. Pandora reaches 9.4 million users on connected devices, with voice-activated devices accounting for 1.6 million of those listeners, up 282% year over year.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve reached an all-time high of hours of engagement per user,\u201d Chopra said. \u201cWe\u2019re well poised to capitalize on voice activation and connected autos.\u201d\n\nTo boost user numbers, Pandora will introduce new audio content beyond streaming music, like podcasts, and be more aggressive in its own consumer marketing.\n\nQ2 has been busy for Pandora. Earlier on Monday, the company announced it would pull its operations out of New Zealand and Australia, its only international markets.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t want people to conclude that the decision is a proxy for how we look at international more broadly,\u201d Chopra said.", "output": "Digital music streaming service Pandora has seen active listeners in Q2 drop 2.7% year on year to 76 million, according to the company\u2019s latest earnings call. Pandora plans to bolster marketing efforts for its ad-supported tier and encourage\u00a0users to upgrade to the subscription level from there; 64% of Pandora\u2019s Premium subscribers were upsold using this method. Pandora hopes to improve users\u2019 ad experiences through personalised messaging and sponsored listening, an ad format that exchanges an impression for one hour of uninterrupted music. Ad revenue for the company increased by\u00a05% year on year\u00a0to $287m up from a 1% rise in Q1.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TV networks double amount of sponsored video on Facebook \n Broadcast and cable networks have literally doubled down on the amount of sponsored video content they\u2019ve posted to in the last nine months \u2014 and trend is just in its early innings.\n\nThe number of branded posts across TV network and show pages on Facebook increased 115% from October 2016 to June 2017, according to an analysis by research firm ListenFirst Media.\n\nIn the second quarter, Turner\u2019s Adult Swim topped the list of networks with the highest response on branded content among Facebook users, with an average of 129,000 responses per post for the period \u2014 outperforming the average branded post by a staggering 2,187%.\n\nThat was largely driven by the teaser for the upcoming season debut of \u201cRick and Morty,\u201d sponsored by The Real Cost, the FDA\u2019s tobacco prevention campaign aimed at teens. The FDA was the top advertiser by engagement on TV network branded content in Q2, capturing 932,000 total responses on Facebook (likes, shares and comments). So far, the video has been viewed 24 million times since it was posted June 29.\n\n\u201cRick and Morty\u201d also scored second place with its promo for Ridley Scott\u2019s \u201cAlien: Covenant\u201d (pictured above), which received 376,000 responses on Facebook in the quarter. It\u2019s been viewed 8.9 million times.\n\nTurner\u2019s truTV grabbed the No. 2 network spot on the strength of engagement from the \u201cImpractical Jokers\u201d fanbase (including this spot sponsored by PepsiCo\u2019s Mountain Dew), followed by Fox, driven by \u201cEmpire.\u201d\n\nDan Riess, Turner\u2019s EVP of content partnerships and co-head of Turner Ignite, said a few years ago the company might have simply distributed a marketer\u2019s content on social media \u201cas a favor\u201d \u2014 a value-added extension of a TV ad deal. Now, Turner is selling branded content separately for digital.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re using our [intellectual property], our premium creators \u2013 they\u2019re social influencers at the biggest level,\u201d he said. \u201cInitially brands went for cheap and easy. Now they\u2019re starting to see the value of great IP and people who can make great content.\u201d\n\nTurner Ignite, launched in early 2016, is focused on branded content services, ad targeting capabilities, and social-optimization tools and distribution. The unit includes Launchpad, a group of 20 social-advertising analysts who track real-time analytics and big data visualizations.\n\nOverall, the average engagement for TV nets\u2019 Facebook branded posts continues to outperform all other content they distribute on the social service: In Q2, sponsored posts outperformed non-branded content by 67%, ListenFirst found. At the same time, branded content remains less than 1% of all posts published by television networks and programs on Facebook.\n\nAs TV networks invest more in branded posts \u201cwe\u2019ll see the quality of branded content get better, resulting in more engagement from fans and better returns for TV networks and sponsors,\u201d said Jason Klein, co-founder and co-CEO of ListenFirst.\n\nHowever, according to Turner\u2019s Riess, while \u201cbranded stuff absolutely has room to run, we wouldn\u2019t want 40% of what is coming out from Adult Swim to be branded.\u201d\n\nAutomotive, led by Toyota USA, was the top advertiser category by number of posts, followed by food/beverage/restaurants, led by Coca-Cola, and Film Entertainment. Government advertising took the No. 1 spot in engagement, with the Real Cost\u2019s partnership with Adult Swim driving the majority of the category\u2019s responses.\n\nHere\u2019s the breakdown of Facebook branded content from TV networks for the second quarter:\n\nTop 5 TV Network or Show Sponsored Posts, Q2 2017\n\nNetwork/show; sponsor; post responses on branded content on Facebook network/show page\n\n1. Adult Swim\u2019s \u201cRick and Morty\u201d for FDA\u2019s The Real Cost; 932,435\n\n2. Adult Swim\u2019s \u201cRick and Morty\u201d for \u201cAlien: Covenant\u201d: 375,580\n\n3. Adult Swim for Carl\u2019s Jr.: 152,356\n\n4. TBS\u2019s \u201cConan\u201d for \u201cWonder Woman\u201d: 134,603\n\n5. Adult Swim for Hardee\u2019s: 61,287\n\nSource: ListenFirst Media\n\nTop TV Networks by Volume of Sponsored Facebook Posts, Q2 2017\n\n1. BET: 131\n\n2. Viceland: 87\n\n3. World Fishing Network: 85\n\n4. Freeform: 64\n\n5. Discovery: 55\n\n6. CBS: 50\n\n7. History: 49\n\n8. MTV: 42\n\n9. ABC: 35\n\nSource: ListenFirst Media\n\nTV Networks Ranked by Average Engagement of Branded Posts, Q2 2017\n\nNetwork/show; average engagement of sponsored posts\n\n1. Adult Swim: 128,818\n\n2. truTV: 26,902\n\n3. Fox: 24,749\n\n4. Food Network: 22,605\n\n5. ABC: 17,342\n\n6. TBS: 16,934\n\n7. Nat Geo Wild: 14,129\n\n8. NBC: 14,047\n\n9. HGTV: 8,045\n\nSource: ListenFirst Media", "output": "Broadcast and cable television networks have doubled the amount of video content they promoted on Facebook in the past nine months. Branded posts on Facebook increased 115% between October 2016 and June this year, and growth is set to continue, according to research company ListenFirst Media. Turner\u2019s Adult Swim was the most successful network using the service, with an average of 129,000 responses on each post."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ExecOnline targets executive learning with $16m funding round \n ExecOnline announced it has secured $16 million in Series B financing. NewSpring Capital, Osage Partners, New Atlantic Ventures, and Kaplan Ventures participated in the funding.\n\n\n\nExecOnline partners with elite business schools to enable executives at the world\u2019s largest companies to master and apply critical insights and practical solutions. The company\u2019s goal is to break the compromise between cost and quality through a dynamic and interactive online learning environment that scales across the enterprise and fosters collaborative skill-building. ExecOnline provides school partners with everything they need to develop successful online executive education programs, including a customizable learning management system, online instructional design, and full sales and marketing capabilities.\n\n\n\nIn its announcement, ExecOnline said proceeds from the round will be used to extend its market leadership through expanded sales and marketing capabilities and to grow its suite of enterprise-focused online leadership development offerings.", "output": "Edtech start-up ExecOnline has successfully raised $16m in series B funding, with input from Osage Partners, NewSpring Capital, Kaplan Ventures and New Atlantic Ventures. ExecOnline works with business schools to offer further education opportunities to executives at leading firms. The company offers an interactive online learning environment to its school partners, giving them the tools to create educational programmes. The funding will be used to extend its market position and implement further sales and marketing efforts."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK financial planner Fairey offers range of personal insurance \n A Chartered Financial Planner\u2019s firm is widening the services it provides to clients by moving into insurance broking.\n\nFairey Associates, established by planner Ed Fairey, in 2008, has already run a three month trial or soft-launch, which he said had been a success.\n\nThe firm, which has 17 advisers and recently signalled it was seeking to recruit more Chartered Financial Planners to cope with \u2018increasing demands\u2019, said it will provide expert, impartial advice on personal insurance to its clients.\n\nThis will be delivered from its head office in Chelmsford.\n\nThe latest Financial Planning Today magazine is out and available to read below...https://t.co/BBvoXy7IWj pic.twitter.com/wOeisaeG7P \u2014 FP Today Magazine (@FPTodayMagazine) July 17, 2017\n\nMr Fairey, managing director for Fairey Associates, said: \u201cWe have been delighted with the soft launch of our personal insurance service. Our processes are refined, and the rates we get for clients are very competitive. Now we can officially launch to our wider client and contact base.\n\n\u201cAlready we are seeing up to 40% reductions in costs for some of our clients who have house building and contents insurance with the major banks. A big area of demand is also from the over 55\u2019s looking into Private Medical Insurance due to concerns over the local strain on the NHS resources.\n\n\u201cOur general insurance service is another piece in the jigsaw to provide our clients with true holistic financial advice.\u201d\n\nFairey said it can put in place cover from the UK\u2019s leading insurance companies in the following classes of business:\n\nHome Insurance\n\nMotor Insurance\n\nHigh net worth and listed properties\n\nPrestige and classic cars\n\nArts and Antiques Insurance\n\nHoliday Home and Overseas Property Insurance\n\nPrivate Medical Insurance\n\nThe company has offices across the South and East of England in Brighton, Chelmsford, Croydon, Guildford, Hatfield, Leatherhead, London, and Norwich.", "output": "UK-based chartered financial planner Fairey Associates has moved into insurance broking and is offering personal lines coverage for private medicine, high value property and other categories. The company, which has offices around the south and southeast of England, said its soft launch had enabled it to offer prices up to 40% lower than clients were paying their banks\u00a0for insurance. Significant\u00a0demand was coming from the over 55s for private medical insurance, said founder Ed Fairey."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Founder of online agency Hatched joins easyProperty \n Post navigation\n\nAdam Day, founder of one of the very earliest online agencies, Hatched, has joined easyProperty as head of operations.\n\nThe move unites two well-known figures in the industry, Day and easyProperty chief Jon Cooke, both regarded as innovators.\n\nThe new appointment comes after EYE earlier this month reported Day\u2019s departure from Hatched, now a Connells Group brand.\n\nDay told EYE that a few days later, after seeing our story, easyProperty CEO Jon Cooke rang him.\n\n\u201cI knew immediately it was one of those calls that I really wanted to take,\u201d said Day.\n\n\u201cI had been planning to take the summer off, but that all changed after the EYE story and Jon\u2019s call.\u201d\n\nIn his new job, which officially starts today, Day will be responsible for establishing the new systems and procedures needed to transform easyProperty from a consumer-facing online agent into a business-to-business entity, enabling high street branches to offer an online brand.\n\neasyProperty is licensing its brand and technology to independent estate agents who belong to the Guild of Property Professionals and Fine & Country, both of which are part of GPEA. So far, there have been commitments to buy 270 monthly licences.\n\neasyProperty was acquired by GPEA on July 13, in a deal financed by Toscafund, previous backers of easyProperty when it was led by Robert Ellice.\n\nFor the first time, GPEA has formally confirmed that the reverse takeover deal was worth \u00a360m.\n\nCooke \u2013 who was behind both the LSLi venture and Fine & Country \u2013 said: \u201cI\u2019ve known Adam for a number of years and, like me, he has worked in a traditional agency so understands the best of both worlds.\n\n\u201cAdam brings his vast experience and knowledge of the online sales and lettings processes to easyProperty which, in conjunction with our licensees, is a real asset to our future growth.\n\n\u201cWith Adam now on the team, we are confident of a successful relaunch in early September.\u201d\n\nDay launched Hatched in 2006, the second online agency to emerge in the UK. Connells acquired the business in November 2015, making it the first bricks and mortar property company to buy an online agency. Connells paid \u00a3400,000 for the business and potentially up to \u00a31.5m.\n\nDay, who left after running Hatched for 11 years, confirmed there was no gardening leave but has previously revealed that succession plans were put in place a year ago.\n\nHe said: \u201cI had a wonderful time with Hatched. It was fantastic, and I don\u2019t think I would have changed anything.\n\n\u201cConnells knew I wanted to move on, and were respectful of that. In any case, I am not the kind of person to sit around for months on end doing nothing.\u201d\n\nDay said that September\u2019s relaunch of the easyProperty brand will be in the \u201cnew world\u201d, enabling high street agents to complement their existing offering.\n\nHe also revealed that while there will still be an easyProperty presence in its current Docklands offices in London, the main hub will move to Kettering, in Northants.\n\nAt the weekend, easyProperty had 132 available sales properties on Rightmove. Many look to have been reduced in price, with the last new property added on July 14.\n\nHere is how we reported Day\u2019s departure from the Connells brand:\n\nhttps://www.propertyindustryeye.com/hatched-founder-adam-day-says-he-is-taking-a-break-less-than-two-years-after-sale-to-connells/", "output": "The founder of one of the first online property agencies, Adam Day, has become head of operations for easyProperty, an online estate agency. Day left Hatched, the company he created, now owned by Connells Group, in July 2017. He will oversee the establishment of new systems and procedures to develop easyProperty into a business-to-business entity that can work alongside high street branches."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New avian virus discovered in migratory bird species \n \u00a9 Isaac Sim\u00e3o Neto\n\n\n\nResearchers at the University of S\u00e3o Paulo's Biomedical Science Institute (ICB-USP) in Brazil haveThis is such a rare find that it can be considered a stroke of luck, especially because the virus in question is avian paramyxovirus 15, which belongs to the same family as avian paramyxovirus 1, the pathogen that causes Newcastle disease. This disease is not a health hazard for humans but can be lethal to wildfowl and domestic poultry.\"We perform active monitoring of viruses in migratory birds. I was looking for Newcastle disease virus, a type 1 avian paramyxovirus, and my colleague Jansen de Ara\u00fajo aimed to detect avian influenza virus for his research project. Finally, we found a co-infection by two viruses, one of which was totally unknown until then,\" said Luciano Matsumiya Thomazelli, a researcher at ICB-USP's Clinical & Molecular Virology Laboratory.Since 2005, the lab team has been going into the field to perform epidemiological surveillance in different parts of Brazil as part of the Viral Genetic Diversity Network (VGDN), funded by FAPESP and headed by Professor Edison Luiz Durigon.Their goal is to detect the presence of avian influenza virus and Newcastle disease virus, among others, in birds and other wild animals. In addition to monitoring, they aim to assess the risk of new strains arriving in Brazil. The samples collected by the team are stored in freezers at -80 \u00b0C and used in scientific research.The new virus was found in a sample taken from a white-rumped sandpiper (Calidris fuscicollis) captured in April 2012 in the Lagoa do Peixe National Park in Rio Grande do Sul State. More research is required to determine how much of a threat the virus represents, but, the current evidence suggests that it is not a risk to humans. \"Genetically speaking, it's closer to viruses first described in South America, which leads us to believe it may have originated in this part of the world,\" Thomazelli said.The researchers followed the standard method for analyzing samples. The result was positive for avian influenza on the basis of real-time PCR, a molecular biology technique that detects DNA or RNA in the sample. When the virus was isolated from embryonated chicken eggs, the result was negative for Newcastle disease virus, but the red blood cell agglutination reaction showed that it was a different virus from the one that the researchers were seeking.\"We sent the sample to collaborators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee (USA), who sequenced the complete genome of the large amount found in the sample. To our surprise, the sample contained a co-infection by avian influenza virus and something entirely new. We focused on influenza and found this other virus as well,\" Thomazelli said.On the basis of these results, the researchers performed biological tests for pathogenicity and data confirmation. Because biosafety was involved, they sent an aliquot of the isolated virus to the Agriculture Ministry's National Laboratory, which also performed biological and serological tests confirming that the virus was a new species and did not pose a threat.\"This was a relief, especially considering that Brazil is the world's leading exporter of frozen chicken,\" Thomazelli said. \"Any pathogenic avian virus would be a major concern, especially if it affected poultry, but that's not the case.\"The discovery of new viruses is still a rarity, but it is becoming less infrequent because of next-generation sequencing.\"The virus we discovered is the 15th type of avian paramyxovirus. Two years ago, there were only ten types. Knowledge in this area has increased significantly as a result,\" Thomazelli said.", "output": "Scientists at the Brazilian University of Sao Paulo's Biomedical Science Institute have stumbled upon a new virus, called avian paramyxovirus 15. The virus was discovered in\u00a0white-rumped sandpipers, a migratory bird species, and though it is\u00a0harmless to humans,\u00a0can be lethal to wildfowl and domestic poultry. Avian paramyxovirus 15\u00a0is thought to have originated in South America, and is a part of the same family as avian paramyxovirus 1, known as Newcastle disease. The discovery came after a the complete genome of a sample had been sequenced, revealing a co-infection with\u00a0the avian influenza virus.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researcher turns dirty tin foil into biofuel catalyst \n A researcher at Queen's University Belfast has discovered a way to convert dirty aluminium foil into a biofuel catalyst, which could help to solve global waste and energy problems.\n\nIn the UK, around 20,000 tonnes of aluminium foil packaging is wasted each year - enough to stretch to the moon and back. Most of this is landfilled or incinerated as it's usually contaminated by grease and oils, which can damage recycling equipment.\n\nHowever, Ahmed Osman, an Early Career Researcher from Queen's University's School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, has worked with engineers at the university to create an innovative crystallisation method, which obtains 100% pure single crystals of aluminium salts from the contaminated foil. This is the starting material for the preparation of alumina catalyst.\n\nUsually, to produce this type of alumina it would have to come from bauxite ore, which is mined in countries such as West Africa, the West Indies and Australia, causing huge environmental damage.\n\nOsman, who took on the project under the University's Sustainable Energy, Pioneering Research Programme, has created a solution which is much more environmentally-friendly, effective and cheaper than the commercial catalyst which is currently available on the market for the production of dimethyl ether - a biofuel which is regarded as the most promising of the 21st century. Osman says making the catalyst from aluminium foil cost about \u00a3120/kg while the commercial alumina catalyst comes in at around \u00a3305/kg.\n\nIts unique thermal, chemical and mechanical stability means it can also be used as an absorbent, in electronic device fabrication, as a cutting tool material or as an alternative for surgical material for implants.\n\nThe ground-breaking research has been published in Scientific Reports.\n\nOsman commented: \"I have always been inspired by Chemistry and I believe that catalysis especially can make the world a better place. One day I took a walk through our laboratories at Queen's and found lots of Aluminium foil waste so I did a little digging and after speaking to my colleagues, I ran my experiment and was astonished by the ultrapure single crystals - I didn't expect it to be 100% pure.\n\n\"At Queen's, our scientists and engineers often work hand in hand on common challenging problems for the society. By using our joint expertise, we have been able to tackle the issue of sustainable development and come up with a research solution which lies in an area between chemistry and chemical engineering.\n\n\"This breakthrough is significant as not only is the alumina more pure than its commercial counterpart, it could also reduce the amount of aluminium foil going to landfill while also sidestepping the environmental damage associated with mining bauxite.\"\n\nOsman is hoping to continue his research into how these catalysts can be further improved and explore the opportunities for commercialisation of biofuel production or use the modified alumina catalyst in the catalytic converters in natural gas vehicles.\n\n###", "output": "Ahmed Osman, an early career researcher from Queen's University Belfast's School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, has discovered a technique by which to convert dirty aluminium foil into a biofuel catalyst. Osman's process obtains 100% pure single crystals of aluminium salts from the foil, which acts as the starting material for the preparation of the alumina catalyst. Alumina usually comes from bauxite ore, which is mined and transported from the West Indies, West Africa and Australia, causing considerable environmental damage."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "L'Or\u00e9al to spend more of search budget on Amazon in the UK \n As brands circle Amazon\u2019s advertising business, L\u2019Or\u00e9al is eyeing its fast-growing search business in a bid to capitalize on the online retailer\u2019s emergence as the preferred entry for internet shopping.\n\nThirty-eight percent of all beauty searches start on Amazon, according to Nick Buckley, L\u2019Or\u00e9al\u2019s digital director in the U.K. But rather than see the shift in search queries as a way to drive sales, the cosmetics giant wants to turn the online behemoth into a richer source of inspiration, such as identifying customer trends. Consequently, the business is pouring more of its search budget in the U.K. into Amazon.\n\nAs a percentage of L\u2019Or\u00e9al\u2019s total search budgets in the U.K., Amazon\u2019s share is still in the single digits. But as the volume of searches increases, L\u2019Or\u00e9al will \u201calso look to increase in line with this, so anticipate this spend to grow,\u201d said Buckley. For the beauty terms and searches the cosmetics company\u2019s makeup brands are keen on, it is \u201cbuying up all the inventory on the platform,\u201d Buckley revealed. He added: \u201cAs we start buying keywords in other categories [skin care and luxury goods], this will naturally increase the scale.\u201d\n\nThis is because Amazon is increasingly the starting point for many people searching for L\u2019Or\u00e9al\u2019s products online. But just because consumers start on the site, it doesn\u2019t mean they ultimately buy from Amazon, said Buckley. Instead, those shoppers often research and compare products on platforms and across other retailers.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re seeing people initially go to Amazon to find out information about a product before then jumping outside of that to YouTube, where they can see how to apply those products,\u201d Buckley said. \u201cThen, they\u2019re moving on to Google to compare that same product with others. [Amazon is] an e-commerce platform, but we believe it\u2019s more than that.\u201d\n\nPart of Amazon\u2019s allure to L\u2019Or\u00e9al stems from the voice searches via Amazon\u2019s Alexa voice assistant. The cosmetics business predicts that a fifth of total search will occur vocally in the next 18 months. While no major services are planned, Buckley and his team are watching Alexa as well as the likes of Apple\u2019s Siri closely.\n\n\u201cAlexa is really interesting for us because it\u2019s a huge opportunity that will fundamentally change the whole search environment,\u201d Buckley said. \u201cWe\u2019re spending a lot of time at the moment in terms of how we react to that. We haven\u2019t got all the answers yet, but we\u2019re looking into it.\u201d\n\nCommerce will still play a big part in L\u2019Or\u00e9al\u2019s upcoming investments on Amazon even if it is now admittedly overindexing on its ads. Like other businesses such as Nike, L\u2019Or\u00e9al\u2019s relationship with the sell-side of the business is that of a frenemy, and as such, has made it tread carefully. The company\u2019s trepidation showed on its earnings call last week when CEO Jean-Paul Agon declined to comment on Amazon\u2019s rumored move into cosmetics.\n\nL\u2019Or\u00e9al said its e-commerce sales grew 29.5 percent in the first half of the year and now represent 7 percent of total sales. But given that it wants 20 percent of its total revenue to come from e-commerce, working so closely with a retailer that could eventually become a rival is a precarious means to an end.\n\nHowever, L\u2019Or\u00e9al would argue that setting up \u201cshops\u201d on Amazon would balloon its presence and therefore push it to its sales target far quicker than if it had tried to resist selling directly to shoppers on Amazon. The cosmetics business launched an online store for its Men Expert line on Amazon at the turn of the year and plans to launch others in the coming months, building on momentum gained so far in 2017.", "output": "L'Or\u00e9al will increase its spend on ad inventory from Amazon's advertising business to help it identify customer trends among the 38% of total beauty searches that begin on Amazon, said L'Or\u00e9al UK's digital director, Nick Buckley. Although the increase still means less than 10% of L'Or\u00e9al's search budget is allocated to Amazon search ads, the cosmetics company will spend more on the platform as the volume of customer searches increases. L'Or\u00e9al's e-commerce sales grew 29.5% in the first half of the year and represent 7% of total sales, the company said. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Taylor Wimpy announces 24% profit fall due to leasehold scandal \n FTSE 100 housebuilder Taylor Wimpey reported a 24% drop in first-half pre-tax profit on Tuesday as it put aside \u00a3130m for homebuyers that were affected by a leasehold scandal.\n\nIn the half-year period to 2 July, pre-tax profit fell to \u00a3205m from \u00a3268.8m in the first half of last year as the group recorded a \u00a3130m provision as an exceptional item to provide redress to customers who were sold leasehold properties where the ground rent doubles every 10 years.\n\nRevenue rose 18.5% to \u00a31.7bn and the company completed a total of 6,580 homes, excluding joint ventures, up 9.3% on the year before.\n\nTotal average selling prices rose 6.3% to \u00a3253,000, excluding joint ventures, but were lower than in the second half of last year.\n\nHowever build costs were seen increasing, up 3-4% over the last year, mainly driven by labour costs, and are expected to continue on this trend for the remainder of the year.\n\nTaylor Wimpey said its target to return \u00a31.3bn in dividends over 2016-18 will be achieved, as it announced a special dividend of \u00a3340m, or around 10.4p per share, to be paid in July 2018.\n\nChief executive Pete Redfern said: \"Trading through the first half of 2017 has been very positive, supported by favourable UK housing market fundamentals and good customer confidence. In the central London market in particular, we are pleased to see improved customer confidence following a period of uncertainty.\n\n\u201cAlthough the wider political backdrop could have an impact on confidence levels and market dynamics, we have seen no material change in trading since the General Election, and our first half performance has been strong.\n\n\"Our business is built to maximise performance in all market conditions, benefiting from a robust balance sheet and high-quality landbank. With a strong forward order book and a disciplined strategy to manage the business through the cycle, we remain on track to meet both our full year objectives and medium term strategic goals.\u201d\n\nTWY shares rose 1% to 192.3p on Tuesday by just after midday.\n\nAnalyst Laith Khalaf at Hargreaves Lansdown said the cost of tackling the punitive leasehold issue, covering houses sold between 2007 and 2011, loomed large over this set of results, however the trading environment still looks very positive.\n\n\"Taylor Wimpey is selling more houses at higher prices, and quite simply that is driving profits and returns to shareholders. To that end the housebuilder has announced a further special dividend coming next year in a show of continued confidence.\n\nKhalaf said that confidence looks justified for the foreseeable future, with Help to Buy still providing significant support for the housing market, and low interest rates are helping to keep mortgages affordable amid high demand for houses - though there are \"a few warning signs\" for the sector of increasing building costs, house price growth slowing, a weaker economic environment and wavering consumer confidence.\n\n\"However these concerns add up to tailwinds abating, rather than disappearing altogether,\" he said.\n\nBroker Shore Capital said the numbers look a lot better than they might have expected but it was felt likely that there would be a rebalancing of the first and second halves last year moved from a fairly stable 39-40% of full year profit before tax down to 35%.\n\nAlthough not really explicit in the outlook statement, ShoreCap Robin Hardy said he read it as indicating that \"there should be no extrapolation of the growth rate in H1\" and that investors should continue to look at previous guidance for the full year, of unit sales up 4-5% rather than the 9.3% seen in the second half.\n\n\"We understand that full year EBIT margin guidance will still be for a shade above 21%, versus 20.8% last year.\"\n\nShoreCap's recommendation remained hold. \"We still believe that there is insufficient recognition of the risks to margins across the volume housing sector as external market headwinds stiffen (no price growth, rising costs, falling mortgage approvals and now rising higher LTV mortgage rates) plus we still see a risk of negative impact from changes in core housing policy that is more likely to favour our providers of housing. We also still a risk of further charges being needed for leasehold issues.\"", "output": "Taylor Wimpey, the FTSE 100 housebuilder, has seen a fall of 24% in H1 pre-tax profit. This comes as it put \u00a3130m ($171m) towards homebuyers affected by the leasehold scandal. Pre-tax profits dropped from \u00a3268.8m to \u00a3205m in the first half of 2016. Builds\u00a0have become 3-4% more expensive in the past year\u00a0as a result of labour costs, and are expected to rise further.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Doctors Say Heart Attacks Decreasing in San Diego \n Doctors said at a local health summit Monday that although heart attack is the lead cause of death in San Diego County and in the nation, the number of heart attacks in the county are dropping significantly.\n\nExperts believe it is due to a collaborative effort of healthcare providers throughout San Diego such as Scripps, Kaiser, and community health clinics. Physicians have agreed to aggressively treat patients, keeping them on a strict medication routine and recommending diet and exercise as well.\n\n\n\nDr. Anthony DeMaria is a cardiologist with the Judith and Jack White Cardiology program at University of California, San Diego, and the chair of the Be There San Diego Health Collaborative, which initiated the program.\n\n\"Hospitalizations for heart attacks dropped 20% from 2011-2016 in San Diego County, saving $95 million in hospital healthcare expenditures,\" said Dr. DeMaria.\n\nDeMaria said many doctors in San Diego have teamed up with health coaches that help to keep patients on track.\n\n\"They send them reminders by calling or texting them and ask the patients what is keeping them from getting their medication,\" explained Dr. Demaria. \"Perhaps they don't have transportation to the doctor's office. We set them up with social services that can help them with that barrier.\"\n\nRisks factors for heart attack include high blood pressure, smoking cigarettes and high blood cholesterol, added Dr. DeMaria.\n\n", "output": "Doctors said at a local health summit Monday that although heart attack is the lead cause of death in San Diego County and in the nation,\u00a0the number of heart attacks in the county is dropping significantly.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Comprehensive, holistic care will keep Medicaid patients healthier \n It is the story of summer 2017 and a nation\u2019s differences are laid bare as Congress struggles to formulate an acceptable law to replace the Affordable Care Act. Are the proposed replacements \u201cmean,\u201d or do they not go far enough? How do leaders reconcile the practical drive to slash the nation\u2019s public health care spending with the repugnant (and politically unattractive) prospect of leaving at least 22 million fewer Americans without health insurance coverage?\n\nHow do legislators come to terms with proposed Medicaid cuts that would jeopardize health care for more than 70 million people\u2014among them children, the elderly, people with disabilities and pregnant women\u2014by 2026?\n\nThere is no doubt that health care expenditures in the United States need to be curbed; compared with other industrialized nations, we spend the most per capita but deliver inferior care. Medicaid as we know it has been prone to waste and fraud. However, simply cutting the federal health care budget will only worsen the situation for those at the lower rungs of society. These are the men, women and children our government is dutybound to provide for, and to do it well.\n\nSimply cutting the federal health care budget will only worsen the situation for those at the lower rungs of society.\n\nTrue reform\u2014a goal apparently lost in the partisan bickering\u2014would be to get smarter about exactly how health care dollars are spent, so that costs can decrease even as the quality of care improves.\n\nA revolutionary experiment underway in a handful of states is aiming to do just that. California, Kansas, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Texas have authorized versions of the Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment program. At its heart is the value-based payment formula, which stipulates that health care providers are compensated based on their patients\u2019 longer-term health outcomes rather than the volume of services provided (that is, transactions such as office visits and tests).\n\nThe D.S.R.I.P. model\u2014executed in New York State by 25 performing provider systems (also known as P.P.S.\u2019s)\u2014incentivizes health care providers to keep a close eye on their patients\u2019 progress, monitor adherence to medical directives, assess mental health factors and empower patients to self-manage chronic conditions. The objective is to prevent 25 percent of unnecessary hospitalizations, which, at the end of the program\u2019s five-year mandate, is projected to save New York taxpayers $12 billion.\n\nImagine such a strategy implemented in all 50 states; the Affordable Care Act\u2019s goal to cut Medicaid spending could be achieved even as the quality of care improves. This is truly the best of both worlds, satisfying both patient advocates and budget hawks.\n\nThe objective is to prevent 25 percent of unnecessary hospitalizations, which is projected to save New York taxpayers $12 billion.\n\nThe visionary behind D.S.R.I.P. is Jason Helgerson, the Medicaid director of New York\u2019s Department of Health, who passionately argues that we must take into account the social determinants of health as well as a patient\u2019s medical condition. On this score, the United States lags behind other developed nations that recognize the significance of these factors in providing health care to the poorest citizens.\n\nSocial determinants include patients\u2019 housing situations as well as their economic, employment and educational status. In many cases, they are also affected by the criminal justice system. These nonclinical issues directly impact physical as well as mental health, and they should be taken into consideration as part comprehensive health care designed to produce lasting results.\n\nCase in point: A recent briefing for P.P.S.\u2019s by the New York State Department of Health on housing issues reported that indigent households often choose to pay rent over buying food; this is a practical decision but one with serious health implications, particularly for young children. Rent and housing instability is shown to put mothers at a 200 percent higher risk of depression. There is also the impact of mold, lead paint and pest infestations. As a recent study by New York University\u2019s Furman Center showed, an increase in \u201cpoverty concentration\u2014the extent to which poor New Yorkers are living in neighborhoods with other poor New Yorkers\u201d compounds the impact of a troubled housing situation as a social determinant of health.\n\nIn the vision of Helgerson\u2014who likens the D.S.R.I.P. model to a start-up driven by venture capital\u2014the neighborhood-based primary care physician becomes a true community leader who engages local leaders and activists in the areas of housing, employment and education to form community action teams. Their mandate is to make comprehensive resources\u2014both medical and nonmedical\u2014readily available to the poorest Medicaid patients in order to ensure their long-term flourishing.\n\nComprehensive, holistic care is the solution to keeping Medicaid patients healthier, taking control of chronic illnesses and avoiding expensive emergency room visits and hospitalizations. Such comprehensive care is commensurate with respect for the human dignity of each and every human being. Our nation\u2019s political leaders should commission research into the social determinants of health and refocus their attention on health care reform that provides states with incentives to being truly smart and innovative in how public health care funding is spent. Billions of dollars can be saved while millions of lives are lastingly improved.", "output": "It is the story of summer 2017 and a nation\u2019s differences are laid bare as Congress struggles to formulate an acceptable law to replace the Affordable Care Act. Are the proposed replacements \u201cmean,\u201d or do they not go far enough? \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Even Without Congress, Trump Can Still Cut Medicaid Enrollment \n About Innovations Stories that are breaking new ground in the health care system. Have a story suggestion? Let us know.\n\nAfter the Senate fell short in its effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the Trump administration is poised to use its regulatory powers to accomplish what lawmakers could not: shrink Medicaid.\n\nPresident Donald Trump\u2019s top health officials could engineer lower enrollment in the state-federal health insurance program by approving applications from several GOP-controlled states eager to control fast-rising Medicaid budgets.\n\nIndiana, Arkansas, Kentucky, Arizona and Wisconsin are seeking the administration\u2019s permission to require adult enrollees to work, submit to drug testing and demand that some of their poorest recipients pay monthly premiums or get barred from the program.\n\nMaine plans to apply Tuesday. Other states would likely follow if the first ones get the go-ahead.\n\nJosh Archambault, senior fellow for the conservative Foundation for Government Accountability, said that absent congressional action on a health bill \u201cthe administration may be even more proactive in engaging with states on waivers outside of those that are already planning to do so.\u201d\n\nUse Our Content This KHN story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nThe hope, he added, is that fewer individuals will be on the program as states figure out ways \u201cto transition able-bodied enrollees into new jobs, or higher-paying jobs.\u201d States need to shore up the program to be able to keep meeting demands for the \u201ctruly needy\u201d such as children and the disabled, he added.\n\nTo Medicaid\u2019s staunchest supporters and most vocal critics alike, the waiver requests are a way to rein in the $500 billion program that has undergone unprecedented growth in the past four years and now covers 75 million people.\n\nWaivers have often been granted in the past to broaden coverage and test new ways to deliver Medicaid care, such as through private managed-care organizations. In California, for example, officials have used waivers to provide additional care not typically covered by Medicaid.\n\nThe state got a waiver to use federal money to cover the uninsured even before the Affordable Care Act took effect. Another California waiver helped pay for programs to keep HIV/AIDS patients out of hospitals or nursing homes. Still another revamped addiction treatment.\n\nBut critics of the new requests, which could be approved within weeks, say the new applications would instead hurt those who are most in need.\n\nThe National Health Law Program \u201cis assessing the legality of work requirements and drug testing and all avenues for challenging them, including litigation,\u201d said Jane Perkins, the group\u2019s legal director.\n\nThe administration has already said it favors work requirements and in March invited states to suggest new ideas.\n\nBefore taking the top job at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Seema Verma was the architect of a Kentucky waiver request submitted last year.\n\nNot all states are expected to seek waivers, because Medicaid enjoys wide political support in many places, particularly in the Northeast and West.\n\nMedicaid, the nation\u2019s largest health insurance program, has seen enrollment soar by 17 million since 2014, when Obamacare gave states more federal funding to expand coverage for adults. It\u2019s typically states\u2019 second-largest expense after education.\n\nThis year, Senate and House bills tried to cap federal funding to states for the first time. Since the program began in 1965, federal Medicaid funding to states has been open-ended.\n\nHealth experts say allowing the waiver requests goes beyond the executive branch\u2019s authority to change the program without approval from Congress.\n\n\u201cThe point of these waivers is not for states to remake the program whole-cloth on a large-scale basis,\u201d said Sara Rosenbaum, a health policy expert at George Washington University who chairs a Medicaid group that advises Congress.\n\nRosenbaum noted states received waivers for different purposes under the Obama administration.\n\nIn Iowa, state officials won the authority to limit non-emergency transportation. Indiana received approval to charge premiums and lock out enrollees with incomes above the federal poverty level if they fell behind on paying premiums.\n\n\u201cNow there is concern these more extreme measures would hurt enrollees\u2019 access to care,\u201d Rosenbaum said.\n\nThree states seeking waivers today are home to key GOP players in the Senate health debate: Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Kentucky), Sen. John McCain (Arizona) and Vice President Mike Pence (Indiana).\n\nIf states add premiums, as well as work and drug-testing requirements, the result would be fewer people enrolling and staying in Medicaid, said David Machledt, senior policy analyst for the National Health Law Program.\n\n\u201cHow does that serve the purpose of the Medicaid program, and what are the limits of CMS waiver authority?\u201d he asked.\n\nWisconsin, where Republican Gov. Scott Walker wants his state to become the first to require some Medicaid enrollees to undergo drug testing, is a prime waiver candidate.\n\nState officials stress the effort is not to deter drug users from the program but to help provide treatment for drug users.\n\nWisconsin is also one of five states seeking a waiver to add a work requirement. People could meet the mandate through volunteering, job training or caring for an elderly relative.\n\nIn addition, Wisconsin wants to limit enrollees\u2019 Medicaid benefits to 48 consecutive months, unless the beneficiary is working.\n\nEnrollees with incomes from 50 percent to 100 percent of the federal poverty level, or between $6,030 and$12,060, would have to pay an $8 monthly premium.\n\nAll of these rules would apply to about 12 percent of people currently enrolled in Medicaid \u2014 adults who are not disabled and don\u2019t have dependent children.\n\nWisconsin Medicaid Director Michael Heifetz said the main goal of the proposed changes is not to shrink the size of Medicaid but to get people into the workforce.\n\n\u201cThe proposal is not designed to have folks leave the program, except for positive reasons,\u201d he said.\n\nIf the waiver is approved, the state anticipates annual savings of nearly $50 million and a drop in enrollment of 5,102 over five years.\n\nWisconsin now spends $7 billion on Medicaid and has 1.2 million recipients.\n\nAsked why childless adults \u2014 not parents \u2014 are the focus of the waivers, Heifetz said Wisconsin wanted to test the provisions on a smaller population first and focus on adults who should be able to find work.\n\nBut the Wisconsin effort has sparked broad outrage from hospitals, doctors and advocates for people with disabilities.\n\nThe Wisconsin Council of Churches said the state would be punishing the poor with its waivers \u2014 and undermining the vitality of communities.\n\n\u201cWe are concerned the proposed changes to the program will be detrimental for the health of our most vulnerable neighbors \u2026 and undermine the social fabric and vitality of our state,\u201d said Peter Bakken, public policy coordinator for the group in Sun Prairie, a suburb of Madison.\n\nSenior California Editor Barbara Feder Ostrov contributed to this report.\n\nThis story was produced by Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation.", "output": "After the Senate fell short in its effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the Trump administration is poised to use its regulatory powers to accomplish what lawmakers could not: shrink Medicaid.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New Senate bill seeks to reduce restrictions on telemedicine use \n While the Senate\u2019s efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act imploded last week, that hasn\u2019t stopped lawmakers from introducing bills that would make tweaks to the healthcare system in smaller ways. One such bill, sponsored by Reps. Doris Matsui, (D-California), and Bill Johnson, (R-Ohio), would expand the use of telemedicine to reduce costs.\n\n\n\nThe bill, the Evidence-Based Telehealth Expansion Act of 2017, was introduced late last week and would give the Health and Human Services secretary the authority to waive Medicare restrictions on the kinds of telemedicine it covers -- as long as the actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services concludes it would indeed save money.\n\n\n\nRestrictions that would be lifted include any geographic limitations, as well as limitations on the use of store-and-forward technologies. Store-and-forward technologies are where patient healthcare data and digital images -- such as radiologic images -- are captured, packaged as a case file, and transferred via telecommunication services to a clinician who then responds with a diagnosis and any relevant therapeutic recommendations.\n\n\n\nAdditionally, the bill seeks to lift limitations on the types of healthcare providers who can offer these sorts of telemedicine services, with the caveat that they be a Medicare-enrolled provider. The bill would also remove limitations on on specific codes designated as telehealth services.\n\n\n\nThe waivers would come with certain restrictions. In addition to the CMS actuary rubber-stamping the waivers\u2019 net reduction in spending, the HHS secretary would have to determine that the waivers reduce spending without reducing the quality of care; improve care quality without increasing spending; and wouldn\u2019t deny or limit the coverage or provision of benefits for any given individual.\n\n\n\nAccording to Politico, neither Republicans or Democrats see much chance in big telemedicine changes being attached to larger bills, such as the CHIP reauthorization act slated for later this year, but they remain open to opportunities.", "output": "While the Senate\u2019s efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act imploded last week, that hasn\u2019t stopped lawmakers from introducing bills that would make tweaks to the healthcare system in smaller ways\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Touring senior centers, interacting with residents positively impacts health students \n A new study has found that a community-based service learning experience involving greater interaction with older adults had a positive impact on career development for medical residents (physicians who have graduated from medical school and are starting work at a healthcare facility under supervision). Researchers who designed the program published their findings in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.\n\nEighty third-year Internal Medicine residents at the University of Pennsylvania participated in the study; 71 residents completed follow-up surveys. As part of the program, medical residents engaged in several different activities at residential facilities serving older adults:\n\nParticipants toured the building or center, including apartments, and learned about the facility's purpose, operations, and diverse community of older men and women.\n\nParticipants attended brief presentations about local community resources available to older adults.\n\nParticipants delivered a 45-60 minute presentations on healthcare topics for older adults at the facility. Presentations covered cancer screenings and preventive healthcare for heart disease and strokes, as well as diabetes, arthritis, hypertension, dementia, and depression.\n\nThe researchers set specific goals for the medical residents, including:\n\nIncreasing their awareness of community resources that support older adults.\n\nBroadening their knowledge of clinical topics in geriatrics.\n\nImproving their communication skills when working with older men and women.\n\nFollowing their experience, the medical residents filled out a survey. Based on the results, most residents said that the tour was informative, and that they valued the facts they learned about the facility and what it offered. Most of the residents said that the experience increased their ability to communicate effectively with older adults, boosted their knowledge of resources and community living, and expanded their knowledge of health topics important to older people.\n\nMost residents also strongly agreed that the experience contributed to their capacity to care for older adults.\n\nThe residents said that the service learning program helped them appreciate older adults' concerns, and increased awareness of the health literacy barriers that many older adults face. What's more, the residents said that the program introduced them to the environment and social context that impacts older adult care.\n\nWhen asked about the most interesting part of their experience, many residents noted they appreciated the opportunity to interact with older adults outside a hospital setting. They reported benefitting from learning how to communicate health information to older men and women, and learning how older adults understand common conditions and concerns.\n\nMedical residents suggested that these community-based service learning programs could be conducted earlier in healthcare professional training, perhaps during internships before someone graduates from school. Program participants also suggested that service learning could be offered more frequently, and that perhaps several different levels of older adult care could be included.\n\nMore information: Rachel K. Miller et al, Effect of a Community-Based Service Learning Experience in Geriatrics on Internal Medicine Residents and Community Participants, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (2017). DOI: 10.1111/jgs.14968 Journal information: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society", "output": "A new study has found that a community-based service learning experience involving greater interaction with older adults had a positive impact on career development for medical residents (physicians who have graduated from medical school and are starting work at a healthcare facility under supervision). Researchers who designed the program published their findings in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers develop technology to make aged cells younger \n Human chromosomes (grey) capped by telomeres (white). Credit: PD-NASA; PD-USGOV-NASA\n\nAging. We all face it. Nobody's immune and we've long tried to reverse it, stop it or just even slow it down. While advances have been made, true age-reversal at a cellular level remains difficult to achieve. By taking a different approach, however, researchers at Houston Methodist made a surprising discovery leading to the development of technology with the ability to rejuvenate human cells. And that couldn't be more important for the small population of children who are aging too quickly - children with progeria.\n\nJohn P. Cooke, M.D., Ph.D., department chair of cardiovascular sciences at Houston Methodist Research Institute, and his colleagues, describe their findings in a Research Letter titled \"Telomerase mRNA Reverses Senescence in Progeria Cells,\" appearing online July 31 and in print Aug. 8 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, a leading medical journal in the field of cardiovascular disease.\n\nCooke studied cells from children with progeria, a rare condition marked by rapid aging that usually robs them of the chance to live beyond their early teens. They focused on progeria, because the condition tells them a lot about aging in general that's ultimately relevant to all of us.\n\n\"These kids are dying of heart attack and stroke at 13, 14, 15 years old,\" Cooke said. Although current therapies are useful, they only add a year or two, on average, to the child's life. We wanted to do something that would improve the children's quality of life and potentially allow them to live longer, so we set about studying their cells and seeing if we could improve the cell function.\"\n\nCooke and his team focused on something called telomeres, which are the timekeepers of cells and very important for the function of our chromosomes. They are found at the tip of each chromosome, like the tip of a shoelace, holding the chromosome together. As we get older, the telomere gets shorter, ticking off the time we have left.\n\nHe and his colleagues saw the telomeres were shorter in children with progeria and thought if they could restore the telomere length, then perhaps they could improve the cell function and its ability to divide and respond to stress.\n\n\"We all have telomere erosion over time, and many of the things that happen to these children at an accelerated pace occur in all of us,\" Cooke said. \"What we've shown is that when we reverse the process of the telomere shortening in the cells from these children and lengthen them, it can reverse a lot of the problems associated with aging.\"\n\nTo do this, the researchers used a technology called RNA therapeutics. They were able to get the cells to produce a protein, called telomerase, that can extend and lengthen the telomere. They did this by delivering RNA to the cells that encodes this protein. Essentially, they gave the cells the information they needed to extend the telomere via an RNA delivery system and let the cells do the rest.\n\nHaving that protein expressed in a cell for just a few days was enough to have a substantial physiologically relevant and meaningful effect on the lifespan and function of the cells. Cooke said it was a surprise to have such an effect with one exposure to the RNA telomerase.\n\n\"What was most unexpected about our work was the dramatic effect the telomere-extending technology had on the cells,\" Cooke said. \"We were not expecting to see such a dramatic effect on the ability of the cells to proliferate. They could function and divide more normally, and we gave them extra lifespan, as well as better function.\"\n\nThe research team also compared their approach at the cellular level to the current therapies available, and Cooke said it was night and day.\n\n\"We looked at many cellular markers of aging and weren't expecting to see such a dramatic effect on them. Our approach had a much greater effect on all the markers of cellular aging,\" Cooke said. \"We markedly improved the ability of cells to multiply and reversed the production of inflammatory proteins. Those markers of cell aging we looked at were all reversed with the treatment in our study.\"\n\nCooke wants to see this approach turned into something useful and says they're going to do it quicker than expected within a few years.\n\n\"As a physician, many of the diseases I see are due to aging. It's a major risk factor for heart and vascular diseases,\" Cooke said. \"About a third of the people in this country succumb to strokes and heart attacks. If we can fix that, we'll fix a lot of diseases.\"\n\nCooke's work is different from what others are doing in the progeria field, because most everyone else is focusing on the genetic mutation of progeria and the abnormal protein that results from that mutation. Cooke's team chose to focus instead on developing a method to extend the telomere in these children.\n\n\"When you see these kids, they're like every other kid. They want to play, they want to dream. They want to grow up and be something great,\" Cooke said. \"But they can't do that. They don't have the chance. That, alone, is reason enough to pursue this approach.\"\n\nWhile Cooke says aging is not irreversible, it is something their work can have a beneficial effect on.\n\n\"We can at least stall or slow down accelerated aging, and that's what we're working toward,\" he said. \"Our next steps are to start moving this therapy toward clinical use. We plan to do so by improving existing cell therapies. I want to develop a therapy for these children. It's an unmet need.\"", "output": "Aging. We all face it. Nobody's immune and we've long tried to reverse it, stop it or just even slow it down. While advances have been made, true age-reversal at a cellular level remains difficult to achieve. By taking a different approach, however, researchers at Houston Methodist made a surprising discovery leading to the development of technology with the ability to rejuvenate human cells.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IoT server flaw exposes prison cells, pacemakers and pipelines \n (Image: file photo)\n\nLucas Lundgren sat at his desk as he watched prison cell doors hundreds of miles away from him opening and closing.\n\nHe could see the various commands floating across his screen in unencrypted plain text. \"I could even issue commands like, 'all cell blocks open',\" he said in a phone call last week. Without being there, he couldn't know for sure if his actions would've had real-world consequences.\n\n\"I'd probably only know by reading about it in the newspaper the next day,\" said Lundgren, a senior security consultant at IOActive, ahead of his Black Hat talk in Las Vegas last week.\n\nIt's because those cell doors are controlled by a little-known but popular open-source messaging protocol known as MQTT, which lets low powered, internet-connected (IoT) sensors and smart devices communicate with a central server using little bandwidth -- letting prison guards remotely control the locks on a cell door. The protocol is used everywhere -- by hobbyists at home, but also in industrial systems like gauges and equipment sensors, electronic billboards, and even medical devices.\n\nBut all too often, the servers that listen to devices and send commands aren't protected with a username or password, allowing anyone with an internet connection to look into one of the 87,000 unprotected servers, according to Lundgren's port scans.\n\n\"It's a scary situation,\" he said. \"Not only can we read the data -- that's bad enough -- but we can also write to the data.\"\n\nLundgren has seen heart monitors and insulin pumps that are constantly updating data over the protocol so that a doctor can read it remotely on a web page and make alterations, he said. \"If I wanted to be malicious, I could probably change the insulin or something, and see what happens,\" he said.\n\nThroughout his scans, he found servers from all over the world, running everything from home automation and alarm systems, to nuclear power plants, a particle accelerator -- and even an oil pipeline.\n\n\"I can see the pressure flow back and forth,\" said Lundgren. He wasn't sure of the pipeline's location, but said he could see usernames and passwords to its entire industrial control system.\n\n\"If you can push more oil through, you could injure people,\" he said.\n\nLundgren also found a server operating in a German train station. He could see when trains run, which track they're on, and when they arrive.\n\n\"I don't know what the impact could be if I changed it,\" he said. \"The best case scenario is that the devices just update the boards,\" said Lundgren -- though, he couldn't be sure if the data aggregated down to the actual tracks.\n\nIn the worst-case scenario, an attacker could've manipulated where trains go on each track, potentially causing a crash.\n\nTesla vehicle leaking its real-time location. (Image: supplied)\n\nAmong his finds were sex toys, blood pressure machines, air humidity sensors, and earthquake alert systems, he said.\n\nIn one of the slides at his Black Hat talk, he described how a user-modified Tesla vehicle was leaking its real-time geolocation and other vital statistics.\n\nBut Lundgren will be the first to launch a defense for the protocol -- laying blame at the hands of its users.\n\n\"To blame MQTT isn't fair -- the protocol isn't the problem,\" he said. \"You should always use encryption, and a username and a password on the server,\" he said. \"The majority don't bother.\" Several significant data breaches and exposures have resulted from leaving servers unprotected, including database servers that've been held to ransom, and Amazon cloud storage units that have been raided, among others.\n\nHe said that companies like Amazon, IBM, and Microsoft -- some of the big names with cloud-based MQTT solutions, which he recommends -- force you to set up the servers properly.\n\n\"Security is in your hands,\" he said.", "output": "A flaw in an internet of things (IoT) server protocol could expose prison cells, pipelines, earthquake alert systems and pacemakers to infiltration by external forces. The open-source messaging protocol, called MQTT, enables low-power IoT sensors and smart devices to communicate with central servers. MQTT is used extensively by a range of sectors, but exposes unprotected servers to external influences. The flaw was discovered by Lucas Lundgren, senior security consultant at cybersecurity firm IOActive, who encouraged companies to encrypt and password-protect their servers."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Credit Suisse quant team to break links with traditional markets \n A new systematic trading group will offer Credit Suisse Asset Management clients access to trading strategies that will seek to achieve risk-adjusted returns with relatively low correlation to traditional markets.\n\nThe group will be managed by Mika Toikka, formerly the global head of risk and strategy for proprietary trading in Credit Suisse's investment bank.\n\nThe firm said that the new group will build on Credit Suisse Asset Management's existing quantitative products, initially managing US$500 million of assets, including Credit Suisse seed capital and assets from some of Credit Suisse's existing quantitative platforms. The group is expected to consist of approximately 20 traders, research analysts and front office personnel offering a set of strategies across multiple asset classes.\n\n\u201cWe have started to bring together a team of traders from within [Credit Suisse] Asset Management with a group of hedge fund managers and former proprietary traders to build on Asset Management's quantitative product line to offer our clients access to systematic trading strategies,\u201d said Toikka.\n\nMorgan Stanley announced earlier this year that it was planning to carve out its in-house quantitative trading unit in 2012, in preparation for dealing with the US Volcker Rule, which banned principal trading activity for US bank holding companies.\n\nIn September, J.P. Morgan also confirmed plans to transfer its prop trading teams within its equity, emerging markets and structured credit businesses to a new alternative investment management group for clients of J.P. Asset Management.", "output": "Credit Suisse Asset Management will launch a systematic trading group to provide trading strategies that achieve risk-adjusted returns with a low correlation to traditional markets. The group will be made up of 20 traders, research analysts and front office personnel, and will at first manage $500m of assets, the firm said. Mika Toikka, the former head of risk and strategy for proprietary trading at Credit Suisse's investment bank, will manage the group. The group will build on quantitative products already used by Credit Suisse Asset Management, the firm added.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mobike to launch dockless bike service in west London \n Competition over putting bums on the seats of rental bikes is hotting up in London, with Mobike today announcing an expansion of its dockless service into the capital in September. The company will start by parking 750 bikes around the London Borough of Ealing, primarily in Acton, and will add more as demand grows. This follows the launch of oBike in London, which operates an identical dockless bike rental scheme, just a few weeks ago.\n\nIf you're catching up, dockless rental schemes don't require you to pick up and drop off bikes at specific stations. You locate your nearest dormant bike via a mobile app, unlock it with your phone and then lock it back up anywhere it's legal to park a bike when you've completed your journey. This decentralised strategy has proven extremely popular in Asia, particularly in China, and several companies successful in that region have expanded into the UK this year.\n\nThere have been teething problems -- Mobike's initial launch in Manchester in June has been tainted by some petty vandalism, for example. What's interesting about Mobike's announcement is the emphasis the company's put on being the first council-backed scheme to come to London, suggesting oBike has, to some extent, taken a less formal approach.\n\nIt's important to play nice with local councils and Transport for London, because these bike rental schemes will inevitably feel the long arm of regulation before too long. Ofo was the first of the Asian bike rental giants to come to the UK earlier this year. It had to seriously scale back its Cambridge trial after the council raised concerns the bikes might clutter the city's pavements, and the company hasn't expanded elsewhere since.\n\nSo, Obike turned up in Hammersmith. And the bikes have already been served a highway obstruction notice. pic.twitter.com/jtJEFRPRsa \u2014 Michael Passingham (@MrPassingham) July 14, 2017\n\nAs soon as oBikes began rolling into the capital, some were hit with highway obstruction notices after being deemed a potential pedestrian hazard. In some Chinese cities saturated by tens of thousands of bikes, a lack of places to park them up has manifested in mangled piles of wheels at popular disembarkation spots.\n\nGaining the approval of one council doesn't solve all of Mobike's potential problems. Bikes can travel to other boroughs, and users have to be trusted to park them legally. With over 11,000 'Boris bikes' already taking up space in the capital, city-wide regulation is bound to end up dictating how many dockless players London is willing to entertain.", "output": "Mobike will launch its dockless bike service in Acton, west London in September, the company has announced. Users will be able to locate and unlock one of Mobike's 750 bikes via a mobile app before locking it up anywhere when they have completed their journey. Although Obike launched a similar service in Hammersmith in July, Mobike is the first council-backed scheme to arrive in London, the company said. Mobike's launch in Manchester in June was marred by vandalism and thefts of the bikes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Markel to buy loan collateral car insurer State National \n Markel Corp. will acquire Texas-based State National Companies Inc. for $919 million, a deal that the Virginia-based insurer and reinsurer said will help diversify its underwriting and revenue streams.\n\nBoth companies\u2019 board of directors voted unanimously to approve the deal, which calls for Markel to pay $21 per share to acquire all outstanding shares of State National common stock. Plans call for closing the acquisition in the 2017 fourth quarter, assuming State National shareholders and state regulators approve the deal.\n\nState National is a specialty property/casualty insurance services provider focused on collateral protection insurance that insures personal automobiles and other vehicles held as collateral for loans made by credit unions. Its Program Services segment provides access to the U.S. property/casualty insurance market in exchange for ceding fees.\n\nAccording to its website, State National is the largest and longest-standing pure-play U.S. insurance fronting business with approximately $1.4 billion in gross written premium (2016) and more than 60 programs. It employs about 400 people.\n\nMarkel is already well on its way to gaining State National shareholders\u2019 approval. About 37 percent of the company\u2019s common stock is already committed to vote in favor of the transaction, thanks to a voting agreement with the Ledbetter family (State National\u2019s founders) and CF SNC Investors LP., Markel and State National noted in their joint deal announcement.\n\nRichard Whitt, Markel\u2019s co-chief executive officer, said that the acquisition is a good fit for both companies.\n\n\u201cState National will help us leverage our InsurTech and digital distribution initiatives, diversifying our underwriting and fee-based portfolios and revenue streams, and add to Markel\u2019s third party capital capabilities,\u201d Whitt said in prepared remarks. \u201cCombining Markel\u2019s financial strength with State National\u2019s unique business model and proven record of success, we are confident that all stakeholders will be will served moving forward.\u201d\n\nTerry Ledbetter, State National\u2019s chairman and CEO, said that his company\u2019s board of directors decided selling the company to Markel was the ideal option \u201cafter careful and thorough analysis of a range of opportunities.\u201d\n\nLedbetter, also in prepared remarks, said that the sale \u201cappropriately recognizes the value of State National\u2019s business model, recent growth and future market opportunities as a leading specialty provider of property and casualty insurance services operating in two niche markets throughout the United States,\u201d\n\nLedbetter added that the deal \u201cprovides our shareholders with an immediate and attractive cash premium for their investment in State National.\u201d He said that Markel also \u201cunderstands the uniqueness of our business model, and will be a tremendous asset as we, together, build upon our leadership position and specialty insurance service offerings, and continue to implement our strategic plan to deliver enhanced value for our clients.\u201d\n\nMarkel, based in Virginia, is a holding company for insurance, reinsurance and global investment operations.\n\nSource: State National/Markel\n\nRelated:\n\nTopics Mergers & Acquisitions USA Property Casualty", "output": "Virginia-based holding company Markel is set to acquire specialty property/casualty insurance services provider State National Companies for $919m in a deal unanimously approved of by both boards. Set to close by the end of the year, the purchase is aimed at helping Markel diversify its underwriting and revenue streams. State National specialises in collateral protection insurance that covers\u00a0cars\u00a0and other vehicles held as collateral for loans made by credit unions. The deal requires regulatory and shareholder approval before going ahead."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MIT uses graphene to develop flexible solar cells \n Imagine a future in which solar cells are all around us \u2014 on windows and walls, cell phones, laptops, and more. A new flexible, transparent solar cell developed at MIT is bringing that future one step closer.\n\nThe device combines low-cost organic (carbon-containing) materials with electrodes of graphene, a flexible, transparent material made from inexpensive and abundant carbon sources. This advance in solar technology was enabled by a novel method of depositing a one-atom-thick layer of graphene onto the solar cell \u2014 without damaging nearby sensitive organic materials. Until now, developers of transparent solar cells have typically relied on expensive, brittle electrodes that tend to crack when the device is flexed. The ability to use graphene instead is making possible truly flexible, low-cost, transparent solar cells that can turn virtually any surface into a source of electric power.\n\nPhotovoltaic solar cells made of organic compounds would offer a variety of advantages over today\u2019s inorganic silicon solar cells. They would be cheaper and easier to manufacture. They would be lightweight and flexible rather than heavy, rigid, and fragile, and so would be easier to transport, including to remote regions with no central power grid. And they could be transparent. Many organic materials absorb the ultraviolet and infrared components of sunlight but transmit the visible part that our eyes can detect. Organic solar cells could therefore be mounted on surfaces all around us and harvest energy without our noticing them.\n\nResearchers have made significant advances over the past decade toward developing transparent organic solar cells. But they\u2019ve encountered one persistent stumbling block: finding suitable materials for the electrodes that carry current out of the cell.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s rare to find materials in nature that are both electrically conductive and optically transparent,\u201d says Professor Jing Kong of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS).\n\nThe most widely used current option is indium tin oxide (ITO). ITO is conductive and transparent, but it\u2019s also stiff and brittle, so when the organic solar cell bends, the ITO electrode tends to crack and lift off. In addition, indium is expensive and relatively rare.\n\nA promising alternative to ITO is graphene, a form of carbon that occurs in one-atom-thick sheets and has remarkable characteristics. It\u2019s highly conductive, flexible, robust, and transparent; and it\u2019s made from inexpensive and ubiquitous carbon. In addition, a graphene electrode can be just 1 nanometer thick \u2014 a fraction as thick as an ITO electrode and a far better match for the thin organic solar cell itself.\n\nGraphene challenges\n\nTwo key problems have slowed the wholesale adoption of graphene electrodes. The first problem is depositing the graphene electrodes onto the solar cell. Most solar cells are built on substrates such as glass or plastic. The bottom graphene electrode is deposited directly on that substrate \u2014 a task that can be achieved by processes involving water, solvents, and heat. The other layers are then added, ending with the top graphene electrode. But putting that top electrode onto the surface of the so-called hole transport layer (HTL) is tricky.\n\n\u201cThe HTL dissolves in water, and the organic materials just below it are sensitive to pretty much anything, including water, solvents, and heat,\u201d says EECS graduate student Yi Song, a 2016-2017 Eni-MIT Energy Fellow and a member of Kong's Nanomaterials and Electronics Group. As a result, researchers have typically persisted in using an ITO electrode on the top.\n\nThe second problem with using graphene is that the two electrodes need to play different roles. The ease with which a given material lets go of electrons is a set property called its work function. But in the solar cell, just one of the electrodes should let electrons flow out easily. As a result, having both electrodes made out of graphene would require changing the work function of one of them so the electrons would know which way to go \u2014 and changing the work function of any material is not straightforward.\n\nA smooth graphene transfer\n\nFor the past three years, Kong and Song have been working to solve these problems. They first developed and optimized a process for laying down the bottom electrode on their substrate.\n\nIn that process, they grow a sheet of graphene on copper foil. They then transfer it onto the substrate using a technique demonstrated by Kong and her colleagues in 2008. They deposit a layer of polymer on top of the graphene sheet to support it and then use an acidic solution to etch the copper foil off the back, ending up with a graphene-polymer stack that they transfer to water for rinsing. They then simply scoop up the floating graphene-polymer stack with the substrate and remove the polymer layer using heat or an acetone rinse. The result: a graphene electrode resting on the substrate.\n\nBut scooping the top electrode out of water isn\u2019t feasible. So they instead turn the floating graphene-polymer stack into a kind of stamp, by pressing a half-millimeter-thick frame of silicon rubber onto it. Grasping the frame with tweezers, they lift the stack out, dry it off, and set it down on top of the HTL. Then, with minimal warming, they can peel off the silicon rubber stamp and the polymer support layer, leaving the graphene deposited on the HTL.\n\nInitially, the electrodes that Song and Kong fabricated using this process didn\u2019t perform well. Tests showed that the graphene layer didn\u2019t adhere tightly to the HTL, so current couldn\u2019t flow out efficiently. The obvious solutions to this problem wouldn\u2019t work. Heating the structure enough to make the graphene adhere would damage the sensitive organics. And putting some kind of glue on the bottom of the graphene before laying it down on the HTL would stick the two layers together, but would end up as an added layer between them, decreasing rather than increasing the interfacial contact.\n\nSong decided that adding glue to the stamp might be the way to go \u2014 but not as a layer under the graphene.\n\n\u201cWe thought, what happens if we spray this very soft, sticky polymer on top of the graphene?\u201d he says. \u201cIt would not be in direct contact with the hole transport layer, but because graphene is so thin, perhaps its adhesive properties might remain intact through the graphene.\u201d\n\nTo test the idea, the researchers incorporated a layer of ethylene-vinyl acetate, or EVA, into their stamp, right on top of the graphene. The EVA layer is very flexible and thin \u2014 sort of like food wrap \u2014 and can easily rip apart. But they found that the polymer layer that comes next holds it together, and the arrangement worked just as Song had hoped: The EVA film adheres tightly to the HTL, conforming to any microscopic rough features on the surface and forcing the fine layer of graphene beneath it to do the same.\n\nThe process not only improved performance but also brought an unexpected side benefit. The researchers thought their next task would be to find a way to change the work function of the top graphene electrode so it would differ from that of the bottom one, ensuring smooth electron flow. But that step wasn\u2019t necessary. Their technique for laying down the graphene on the HTL actually changes the work function of the electrode to exactly what they need it to be.\n\n\u201cWe got lucky,\u201d says Song. \u201cOur top and bottom electrodes just happen to have the correct work functions as a result of the processes we use to make them.\u201d\n\nPutting the electrodes to the test\n\nTo see how well their graphene electrodes would perform in practice, the researchers needed to incorporate them into functioning organic solar cells. For that task, they turned to the solar cell fabrication and testing facilities of their colleague Vladimir Bulovi\u0107, the Fariborz Maseeh (1990) Professor of Emerging Technology and Associate Dean for Innovation for the School of Engineering.\n\nFor comparison, they built a series of solar cells on rigid glass substrates with electrodes made of graphene, ITO, and aluminum (a standard electrode material). The current densities (or CDs, the amount of current flowing per unit area) and power conversion efficiencies (or PCEs, the fraction of incoming solar power converted to electricity) for the new flexible graphene/graphene devices and the standard rigid ITO/graphene devices were comparable. They were lower than those of the devices with one aluminum electrode, but that was a finding they expected.\n\n\u201cAn aluminum electrode on the bottom will reflect some of the incoming light back into the solar cell, so the device overall can absorb more of the sun\u2019s energy than a transparent device can,\u201d says Kong.\n\nThe PCEs for all their graphene/graphene devices \u2014 on rigid glass substrates as well as flexible substrates \u2014 ranged from 2.8 percent to 4.1 percent. While those values are well below the PCEs of existing commercial solar panels, they\u2019re a significant improvement over PCEs achieved in prior work involving semitransparent devices with all-graphene electrodes, the researchers say.\n\nMeasurements of the transparency of their graphene/graphene devices yielded further encouraging results. The human eye can detect light at wavelengths between about 400 nanometers and 700 nanometers. The all-graphene devices showed optical transmittance of 61 percent across the whole visible regime and up to 69 percent at 550 nanometers. \u201cThose values [for transmittance] are among the highest for transparent solar cells with comparable power conversion efficiencies in the literature,\u201d says Kong.\n\nFlexible substrates, bending behavior\n\nThe researchers note that their organic solar cell can be deposited on any kind of surface, rigid or flexible, transparent or not. \u201cIf you want to put it on the surface of your car, for instance, it won\u2019t look bad,\u201d says Kong. \u201cYou\u2019ll be able to see through to what was originally there.\u201d\n\nTo demonstrate that versatility, they deposited their graphene-graphene devices onto flexible substrates including plastic, opaque paper, and translucent Kapton tape. Measurements show that the performance of the devices is roughly equal on the three flexible substrates \u2014 and only slightly lower than those made on glass, likely because the surfaces are rougher so there\u2019s a greater potential for poor contact.\n\nThe ability to deposit the solar cell on any surface makes it promising for use on consumer electronics \u2014 a field that\u2019s growing rapidly worldwide. For example, solar cells could be fabricated directly on cell phones and laptops rather than made separately and then installed, a change that would significantly reduce manufacturing costs.\n\nThey would also be well-suited for future devices such as peel-and-stick solar cells and paper electronics. Since those devices would inevitably be bent and folded, the researchers subjected their samples to the same treatment. While all of their devices \u2014 including those with ITO electrodes \u2014 could be folded repeatedly, those with graphene electrodes could be bent far more tightly before their output started to decline.\n\nFuture goals\n\nThe researchers are now working to improve the efficiency of their graphene-based organic solar cells without sacrificing transparency. (Increasing the amount of active area would push up the PCE, but transparency would drop.) According to their calculations, the maximum theoretical PCE achievable at their current level of transparency is 10 percent.\n\n\u201cOur best PCE is about 4 percent, so we still have some way to go,\u201d says Song.\n\nThey\u2019re also now considering how best to scale up their solar cells into the large-area devices needed to cover entire windows and walls, where they could efficiently generate power while remaining virtually invisible to the human eye.\n\nThis research was supported by the Italian energy company Eni S.p.A. as part of the Eni-MIT Alliance Solar Frontiers Center. Eni is a Founding Member of the MIT Energy Initiative.\n\nThis article appeared in the Spring 2017 issue of Energy Futures, the magazine of the MIT Energy Initiative.", "output": "MIT researchers have developed a transparent solar cell that uses graphene for its electrodes and can be mounted on a range of surfaces. The technique works by depositing a layer of one-atom-thick graphene on a solar cell, making the device flexible. The resulting solar cell is significantly cheaper and easier to transport than traditionally-manufactured cells, which rely on brittle electrodes. The cells, which are made of organic materials, would have a wider range of applications than conventional cells because of their transparency.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Reports that Facebook bots ran out of control were false \n In recent weeks, a story about experimental Facebook machine learning research has been circulating with increasingly panicky, Skynet-esque headlines.\n\n\n\n\u201cFacebook engineers panic, pull plug on AI after bots develop their own language,\u201d one site wrote. \u201cFacebook shuts down down AI after it invents its own creepy language,\u201d another added. \u201cDid we humans just create Frankenstein?\u201d asked yet another. One British tabloid quoted a robotics professor saying the incident showed \u201cthe dangers of deferring to artificial intelligence\u201d and \u201ccould be lethal\u201d if similar tech was injected into military robots.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nReferences to the coming robot revolution, killer droids, malicious AIs and human extermination abounded, some more or less serious than others. Continually quoted was this passage, in which two Facebook chat bots had learned to talk to each other in what is admittedly a pretty creepy way.\n\nBob: I can i i everything else Alice: balls have zero to me to me to me to me to me to me to me to me to Bob: you i everything else Alice: balls have a ball to me to me to me to me to me to me to me to me\n\nThe reality is somewhat more prosaic. A few weeks ago, FastCo Design did report on a Facebook effort to develop a \u201cgenerative adversarial network\u201d for the purpose of developing negotiation software.\n\nAdvertisement Advertisement\n\nThe two bots quoted in the above passage were designed, as explained in a Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research unit blog post in June, for the purpose of showing it is \u201cpossible for dialog agents with differing goals (implemented as end-to-end-trained neural networks) to engage in start-to-finish negotiations with other bots or people while arriving at common decisions or outcomes.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe bots were never doing anything more nefarious than discussing with each other how to split an array of given items (represented in the user interface as innocuous objects like books, hats, and balls) into a mutually agreeable split.\n\n\n\nThe intent was to develop a chatbot which could learn from human interaction to negotiate deals with an end user so fluently said user would not realize they are talking with a robot, which FAIR said was a success:\n\n\u201cThe performance of FAIR\u2019s best negotiation agent, which makes use of reinforcement learning and dialog rollouts, matched that of human negotiators ... demonstrating that FAIR\u2019s bots not only can speak English but also think intelligently about what to say.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWhen Facebook directed two of these semi-intelligent bots to talk to each other, FastCo reported, the programmers realized they had made an error by not incentivizing the chatbots to communicate according to human-comprehensible rules of the English language. In their attempts to learn from each other, the bots thus began chatting back and forth in a derived shorthand\u2014but while it might look creepy, that\u2019s all it was.\n\n\u201cAgents will drift off understandable language and invent codewords for themselves,\u201d FAIR visiting researcher Dhruv Batra said. \u201cLike if I say \u2018the\u2019 five times, you interpret that to mean I want five copies of this item. This isn\u2019t so different from the way communities of humans create shorthands.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nFacebook did indeed shut down the conversation, but not because they were panicked they had untethered a potential Skynet. FAIR researcher Mike Lewis told FastCo they had simply decided \u201cour interest was having bots who could talk to people,\u201d not efficiently to each other, and thus opted to require them to write to each other legibly.\n\nBut in a game of content telephone not all that different from what the chat bots were doing, this story evolved from a measured look at the potential short-term implications of machine learning technology to thinly veiled doomsaying.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThere are probably good reasons not to let intelligent machines develop their own language which humans would not be able to meaningfully understand\u2014but again, this is a relatively mundane phenomena which arises when you take two machine learning devices and let them learn off each other. It\u2019s worth noting that when the bot\u2019s shorthand is explained, the resulting conversation was both understandable and not nearly as creepy as it seemed before.\n\nAs FastCo noted, it\u2019s possible this kind of machine learning could allow smart devices or systems to communicate with each other more efficiently. Those gains might come with some problems\u2014imagine how difficult it might be to debug such a system that goes wrong\u2014but it is quite different from unleashing machine intelligence from human control.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIn this case, the only thing the chatbots were capable of doing was coming up with a more efficient way to trade each others\u2019 balls.\n\nThere are good uses of machine learning technology, like improved medical diagnostics, and potentially very bad ones, like riot prediction software police could use to justify cracking down on protests. All of them are essentially ways to compile and analyze large amounts of data, and so far the risks mainly have to do with how humans choose to distribute and wield that power.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nHopefully humans will also be smart enough not to plug experimental machine learning programs into something very dangerous, like an army of laser-toting androids or a nuclear reactor. But if someone does and a disaster ensues, it would be the result of human negligence and stupidity, not because the robots had a philosophical revelation about how bad humans are.\n\nAt least not yet. Machine learning is nowhere close to true AI, just humanity\u2019s initial fumbling with the technology. If anyone should be panicking about this news in 2017, it\u2019s professional negotiators, who could find themselves out of a job.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n[Fastco Design]", "output": "Recent reports that Facebook was forced to shut down its messenger bots because they broke out of their training and invented their own language are inaccurate, according to descriptions of the experiment by the Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) unit. Their use of non-human language was occurred because the engineers made the error of not incentivising the bots to communicate in a way that humans could comprehend. The language that the bots began conversing in was nothing more of a shorthand for referring to the objects of their negotiation. An article in the International Business Times led with the headline:\u00a0\u201cDid we humans just create Frankenstein?\u201d"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Reports that Facebook bots ran out of control were false \n When Facebook designed chatbots to negotiate with one another, the bots made up their own way of communicating.\n\nA buried line in a new Facebook report about chatbots\u2019 conversations with one another offers a remarkable glimpse at the future of language.\n\nIn the report, researchers at the Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research lab describe using machine learning to train their \u201cdialog agents\u201d to negotiate. (And it turns out bots are actually quite good at dealmaking.) At one point, the researchers write, they had to tweak one of their models because otherwise the bot-to-bot conversation \u201cled to divergence from human language as the agents developed their own language for negotiating.\u201d They had to use what\u2019s called a fixed supervised model instead.\n\nIn other words, the model that allowed two bots to have a conversation\u2014and use machine learning to constantly iterate strategies for that conversation along the way\u2014led to those bots communicating in their own non-human language. If this doesn\u2019t fill you with a sense of wonder and awe about the future of machines and humanity then, I don\u2019t know, go watch Blade Runner or something.\n\nThe larger point of the report is that bots can be pretty decent negotiators\u2014they even use strategies like feigning interest in something valueless, so that it can later appear to \u201ccompromise\u201d by conceding it. But the detail about language is, as one tech entrepreneur put it, a mind-boggling \u201csign of what\u2019s to come.\u201d\n\nTo be clear, Facebook\u2019s chatty bots aren\u2019t evidence of the singularity\u2019s arrival. Not even close. But they do demonstrate how machines are redefining people\u2019s understanding of so many realms once believed to be exclusively human\u2014like language.\n\nAlready, there\u2019s a good deal of guesswork involved in machine learning research, which often involves feeding a neural net a huge pile of data then examining the output to try to understand how the machine thinks. But the fact that machines will make up their own non-human ways of conversing is an astonishing reminder of just how little we know, even when people are the ones designing these systems.\n\n\u201cThere remains much potential for future work,\u201d Facebook\u2019s researchers wrote in their paper, \u201cparticularly in exploring other reasoning strategies, and in improving the diversity of utterances without diverging from human language.\u201d", "output": "Recent reports that Facebook was forced to shut down its messenger bots because they broke out of their training and invented their own language are inaccurate, according to descriptions of the experiment by the Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) unit. Their use of non-human language was occurred because the engineers made the error of not incentivising the bots to communicate in a way that humans could comprehend. The language that the bots began conversing in was nothing more of a shorthand for referring to the objects of their negotiation. An article in the International Business Times led with the headline:\u00a0\u201cDid we humans just create Frankenstein?\u201d"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Toray to construct EV battery plant in Europe \n TOKYO -- Japan's Toray Industries will build a European plant to make parts for lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles, part of a 120 billion yen ($1.08 billion) spending plan through around 2020 that comes as the world gears up to leave fossil-fuel cars behind.\n\nThe materials giant's factory will produce separators -- films that partition batteries' positive and negative electrodes to prevent short circuits. Toray is the world's No. 2 maker of separators behind Japanese compatriot Asahi Kasei.", "output": "Japanese company Toray Industries has announced its intentions to build a factory for components for lithium-ion batteries in Europe. As part of a spending plan costing $1.08bn, Toray hopes to have the plant completed by late 2019, and is considering locations in Germany and Eastern Europe. The factory will build separators, the film that separates the batteries' electrodes, of which Toray is the second largest manufacturer\u00a0in the world."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Accountancy firm warns one in five high street agents may close \n One in five UK estate agents are at risk of going out of business amid a growth in online companies, new research shows.\n\nAlmost 5,000 estate agents are showing signs of \u201cfinancial distress\u201d, said accountancy firm Moore Stephens.\n\nTraditional companies are likely to have higher property and staff costs and are struggling to compete with low-cost, fixed-fee online agents, said the report. The growth in property websites has also undermined the role of estate agents, it suggested.\n\nMike Finch of Moore Stephens said: \u201cTraditional high street estate agents\u2019 profit margins are being squeezed from both sides, from cut-price online competitors, to their larger counterparts on the high street who are forcing them to up their spending or give up the race.\n\n\u201cMany areas across the UK are over-saturated with estate agents, and competition is becoming too much for some smaller businesses.\u201d\n\nThe study follows a slump in profits announced last week at two of the UK\u2019s biggest estate agents.\n\nCountrywide, the UK\u2019s biggest listed estate agency, said pre-tax profits for the six months to June were \u00a3447,000, down from \u00a324.3m in the same period last year.\n\nRevenues and profits at Foxtons also fell in the first half as the London-focused estate agent pointed to \u201cunprecedented\u201d economic and political uncertainty hitting the property market.\n\nThe group said revenue fell 15% to \u00a358.5m in the six months to 30 June, with pre-tax profit plummeting 64% from \u00a310.5m to \u00a33.8m.\n\nA separate study has found that planning applications for new shops have fallen to an eight-year low amid continued growth of e-commerce.\n\nThere were 6,525 applications in England in the year to March, almost half the number in 2008/-09 and down by 11% on 2014-15, said Lendy, which provides property finance and development loans.\n\nGreater Manchester recorded the biggest fall in retail planning applications last year, it said.\n\nLiam Brooke of Lendy added: \u201cThe continued softness in the retail property market shows no sign of abating. Retailers are shunning and shutting bricks and mortar shops.\n\n\u201cThe government needs to find a way to encourage retailers to give the high streets a face lift.\n\n\u201cBig brands are continuing to shift their focus towards their online services.\u201d", "output": "Traditional UK estate agents are struggling to compete with low-cost online rivals, with nearly 5,000 companies displaying signs of \"financial distress\" and one in five firms in danger of going out of business, according to a report by accountancy firm Moore Stephens. The report follows the drop in profits at Countrywide, which posted \u00a3447,000 ($590,000) on pre-tax revenues for H1 2017, compared to \u00a324.3m the previous year, while Foxtons revealed a 15% slump in revenue to \u00a358.5m over six months, with pre-tax profit dropping 64% from \u00a310.5m to \u00a33.8m.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Didi Chuxing invests in Uber rival Taxify \n Didi Chuxing, the Chinese ride-hailing giant, has invested in Estonian startup Taxify, the companies revealed on Tuesday. Taxify, a four-year-old company, has more than 2.5 million passengers in 18 countries across Europe and Africa, including Hungary, Romania, the Baltic States, South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya.\n\nThe deal: Didi has invested an undisclosed amount into Taxify, and the company says it will \"collaborate with Taxify to support the latter's further growth and innovation across its diversified markets.\" The Estonian startup previously raised about \u20ac2 million (about $2.4 million) in venture capital.\n\nDidi's world domination: The Chinese giant, which has raised more than $12 billion in funding to date, has been investing in ride-hailing companies around the world as part of its ambitions to \"play a global game,\" as president Jean Liu said last year. So far, these investments include Southeast Asia's Grab, India's Ola, Latin America's 99, and Lyft in the U.S.", "output": "Chinese ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing has invested an undisclosed amount in Taxify, an Estonian ride-hailing start-up. Taxify operates in 18 countries across Africa and Europe, and boasts over 2.5 million passengers. The company plans to\u00a0use the funds to expand\u00a0its market presence.\u00a0Didi has invested in other rivals to Uber around the world, including Ola in India, 99 in South America, Grab in Southeast Asia and Lyft in the US.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google tests built-in ad blocker for Chrome \n We\u2019ve known for some time that Google is planning an ad blocker, to be released in all versions of its Chrome browser. While it\u2019s not expected to launch until 2018, we\u2019re getting our first look at it early thanks to the latest developer build of Chrome on Android, via the Canary app.\n\nThe ad blocker was discovered by German-language Caschys Blog. In Canary, it takes the form of a toggle in preferences, though it\u2019s switched off by default. Not all Canary users have received the setting at this time, so it appears to be a server-side update.\n\nRecommended Videos\n\nPart of the reason Google is waiting until the new year to launch its ad blocker is to give web developers some time to prepare. Chrome\u2019s native solution won\u2019t block all ads indiscriminately \u2014 only those ads that don\u2019t comply with Google\u2019s new guidelines that denote \u201cintrusive\u201d ads. That includes pop-ups (which Chrome already blocks), autoplay videos, and timed ads that lock away content behind a countdown.\n\nThe guidelines were developed in partnership with the Coalition for Better Ads, which includes other big names such as Facebook, News Corp., and Thomson Reuters.\n\nGoogle\u2019s primary source of revenue is ads, so it may seem counterproductive for the company to build a blocker into the world\u2019s most widely used desktop and mobile browser. The thought process is that if Google can do away with the kinds of ads users really can\u2019t stand, they won\u2019t have as much motivation to install a third-party blocker, and can simply rely on Chrome\u2019s.\n\nIf you do opt to continue to use a third-party blocker, however, Google is developing a new tool for sites that asks users to disable them, or pay a fee for ad-free access.\n\nIn recent months, developers of other major mobile web browsers, like Apple and Samsung, have embraced support for ad blocker plugins, while Google has prepared its own built-in solution. The ability to download and run Samsung\u2019s Internet app was opened up to non-Samsung devices around the same time, making it a popular choice for mobile Chrome users frustrated with the browser\u2019s lack of compatibility with third-party blockers.\n\nEditors' Recommendations", "output": "Google has been testing the forthcoming ad blocker for its Chrome browser via the Canary app, according to German-language Blog Caschys. Although not set to launch until next year, the sneak preview revealed ads which don't comply with guidelines developed in partnership with the Coalition for Better Ads will be blocked. The\u00a0guidelines forbid autoplay videos and timed ads that hide content behind a countdown. Google is also working on a new tool for users who want to rely on a third-party blocker.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "British Gas faces criticism for 12.5% electricity price rise \n British Gas has raised electricity prices by 12.5% in a move consumer experts warned could kick off a new round of price rises from rival suppliers this winter.\n\nThe company, owned by Centrica, left its gas prices unchanged, which means the average annual dual fuel bill will rise by 7.3%, or \u00a376, to \u00a31,120. The increase, which takes effect on 15 September, will affect 3.1 million customers. The company said it would give a \u00a376 credit to more than 200,000 vulnerable customers to protect them from the increase.\n\n\n\nMinisters expressed concern about the rise, which they said should not be blamed on government policy, and said they were not ruling out future steps to \u201cincrease fairness for customers\u201d.\n\nA spokesperson for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said: \u201cEnergy firms should treat all their customers fairly and we\u2019re concerned this price rise will hit many people already on poor-value tariffs.\n\n\u201cWe are not ruling anything out \u2013 whether it is action by the regulator or legislation \u2013 to increase fairness for customers.\u201d\n\nShadow energy minister Alan Whitehead called it a \u201cwhopping rise\u201d and said the government should take further action.\n\n\u201cThere was an agreement coming into the election that there should be a price cap operating across the market and action should be taken on the standard variable tariffs that so many customers are on. Unfortunately the government has changed their minds about that now and we want to press them to change their minds,\u201d the Labour MP told BBC Radio 4\u2019s Today programme on Tuesday.\n\nThe chief executive of Citizens Advice, Gillian Guy, said: \u201cBritish Gas has in recent years been offering one of the less expensive standard variable tariffs from a larger firm, but today\u2019s price rise will close this gap and hit longstanding customers hardest. This price rise has been issued despite costs for energy firms dropping in recent months.\u201d\n\nIain Conn, Centrica\u2019s chief executive, defended the move, saying the electricity price rise was the first since November 2013 and reflected a 16% rise in the cost of energy and delivery to customers\u2019 homes since 2014.\n\n\u201cWe haven\u2019t taken the decision lightly,\u201d he said on Sky News. \u201cWe realise that 3.1 miilon people are affected. I should stress that just over 5 million customers are unaffected by today\u2019s news. In the end we\u2019ve had to respond, like many of our competitors, to the underlying increases we\u2019ve seen in electricity.\u201d\n\n\n\nMartin Lewis, the founder of the MoneySavingExpert website, said the move was a catch-up price rise from British Gas and might prompt another batch of rises this winter.\n\n\n\nPrevious price freezes by British Gas had lulled customers into a \u201cfalse sense of security that it wouldn\u2019t move prices\u201d, Lewis said, which meant consumers did nothing, \u201cwhen they could have cut their rate and locked that in for longer by actively picking a far cheaper one-year fixed energy tariff.\u201d He added that the cheapest tariffs on the market cost \u00a3844.\n\nNews of the price rise came as Centrica reported an adjusted profit before tax of \u00a3639m for the six months to June, down from \u00a3688m a year earlier.\n\nConn, who was handed a pay rise of nearly 40% last year, taking his remuneration package to \u00a34.15m, said: \u201cCentrica delivered a solid first-half financial performance despite reduced energy demand due to warm weather and strong competitive pressures, and we remain on track to achieve the 2017 targets we set out in February.\u201d\n\nHouseholds are missing out on the cheapest tariffs by not switching suppliers. Although the number of people switching rose by 30% last year, around two-thirds of bill payers are still on the worst-value standard tariffs. Trials are under way on how to encourage people to switch.\n\nHannah Maundrell, editor in chief of money.co.uk, said: \u201cI\u2019m worried the Conservatives\u2019 promise to \u2018end unfair practices in the energy market\u2019 will make people think they don\u2019t need to switch. They do. There is no guarantee when and if anything will be done, so it\u2019s not worth wasting money while you wait.\n\n\u201cSwitching energy deals could help you to save now and protect you against hikes in the near future. There\u2019s no point sticking with the same supplier when you could pay hundreds less for exactly the same service elsewhere.\u201d", "output": "British Gas, which is owned by Centrica, will raise electricity prices by 12.5% on 15 September in a move which will affect 3.1 million customers. Gas prices will remain unchanged, meaning that the average duel bill will rise to \u00a31,120 ($1482), an increase of 7.3% or \u00a376. British Gas promised to give \u00a376 credit to over 200,000 vulnerable customers to mitigate the increase. A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said that further action \"to increase fairness for customers\"\u00a0could not be ruled out.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Algae feed on rejected papaya to create biodiesel \n In Hawaii, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) researchers are leading an effort to produce biodiesel using a type of green algae known as Auxenochlorella protothecoides (formerly Chlorella protothecoides) tied with the pulp of discarded papayas, namely, those deemed too blemished, malformed, or damaged to be sold for market.\n\nThe system devised by researchers calls for growing the algae in giant bioreactors where, hidden from sunlight, the algae are fed what might be likened to a papaya smoothie.\n\nKeith\u2019s team thinks their remains from the oil-extraction process, called \u201calgal meal,\u201d can offer Hawaiian farmers a low-cost source of feed for fish or livestock, cutting importation costs. The algae\u2019s fondness for papaya also could offer a way for growers to recoup some of the losses on about one-third of Hawaii\u2019s $11-million papaya crop discarded because of defects.", "output": "Scientists at the US Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center in Hawaii have developed a biodiesel using a green algae known as Auxenochlorella protothecoides. Bioreactors are filled with malformed papayas, which the algae then feed on, absorbing the organic sugars from the fruit. The algae are capable of storing 60% of their cellular weight in lipids, which provide the material for developing biodiesel. The diesel is considered an environmentally and economically effective way of dealing with the one-third of\u00a0Hawaii\u2019s papaya crop that is thrown away each year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Algae feed on rejected papaya to create biodiesel \n Posted by Jan Suszkiw, Public Affairs Specialist, Agricultural Research Service in Research and Science\n\nDiscarded papayas are being examined as part of a zero-waste system to producing algal oils for biodiesel. (ARS photo by Peggy Greb).\n\nThink algae is just slimy green pond scum? Well, think again!\n\nThanks to advances in science and technology, these microscopic plant-like organisms are now star players in biologically-based approaches to producing fuel for transportation and other energy needs.\n\nIn Hilo, Hawaii, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Plant Pathologist Lisa Keith is leading an effort to produce biodiesel using a type of green algae known as Auxenochlorella protothecoides (formerly Chlorella protothecoides).\n\nOh, and she\u2019s also using the pulp of discarded papayas, namely, those deemed too blemished, malformed, or damaged to be sold for market.\n\nSo how, you may ask, does one go from green algae to papaya to biofuel?\n\nThat\u2019s where the science and technology part comes in\u2014along with support from the state government of Hawaii, which hopes to ease the state\u2019s reliance on imports of petroleum-based oil.\n\nThe system devised by Keith and her colleagues calls for growing the algae in giant vats, called \u201cbioreactors.\u201d There, hidden from sunlight, the algae are fed what might be likened to a papaya smoothie.\n\n\u201cWhile nearly all algae are capable of using energy from light to produce organic molecules from carbon dioxide and water, some algae, including Auxenochlorella protothecoides, can also absorb organic molecules such as sugars from sources such as papaya juice,\u201d explains Keith. She is with ARS\u2019s Daniel K. Inouye U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center in Hilo.\n\nIn the process, these industrious algae end up storing 60 percent of their cellular weight in lipids. These lipids (or oils), in turn, provide material for making biodiesel.\n\nThe algae are like the gift that keeps on giving.\n\nKeith\u2019s team thinks their remains from the oil-extraction process, called \u201calgal meal,\u201d can offer Hawaiian farmers a low-cost source of feed for fish or livestock, cutting importation costs. The algae\u2019s fondness for papaya also could offer a way for growers to recoup some of the losses on about one-third of Hawaii\u2019s $11-million papaya crop discarded because of defects.\n\nIt\u2019s all part of what Keith and colleagues call a \u201czero-waste\u201d system.\n\n\u201cThe goal is to make agriculture more profitable and to address food- and energy-security issues in Hawaii,\u201d she says.", "output": "Scientists at the US Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center in Hawaii have developed a biodiesel using a green algae known as Auxenochlorella protothecoides. Bioreactors are filled with malformed papayas, which the algae then feed on, absorbing the organic sugars from the fruit. The algae are capable of storing 60% of their cellular weight in lipids, which provide the material for developing biodiesel. The diesel is considered an environmentally and economically effective way of dealing with the one-third of\u00a0Hawaii\u2019s papaya crop that is thrown away each year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gender pay gap exists primarily at highest levels \n MEDIA organisations aspire to cover news, not make it. But the BBC, Britain\u2019s public broadcaster, has found itself in an uncomfortable spotlight since July 19th, when it published the names of its employees who earn at least \u00a3150,000 ($195,000) a year. The ensuing furore was less over the absolute level of pay than about the differences between men\u2019s and women\u2019s incomes. Some female presenters discovered that they made much less than male colleagues they regarded as peers. Just over half of the BBC\u2019s staff are men, but among the 96 high earners listed, two-thirds are male.\n\nIn a petition, female presenters said this was evidence that women at the BBC are paid less than men \u201cfor the same work\u201d. If that were true for the company as a whole, it would make the BBC an outlier. Although the average woman\u2019s salary in Britain is 29% lower than the average man\u2019s, the bulk of that gap results from differences in rank within companies, firms\u2019 overall compensation rates and the nature of the tasks a job requires. According to data for 8.7m employees worldwide gathered by Korn Ferry, a consultancy, women in Britain make just 1% less than men who have the same function and level at the same employer. In most European countries, the discrepancy is similarly small. These numbers do not show that the labour market is free of sex discrimination. However, they do suggest that the main problem today is not unequal pay for equal work, but whatever it is that leads women to be in lower-ranking jobs at lower-paying organisations.\n\nMoreover, even if the bulk of the BBC\u2019s 9,000 female employees are not underpaid relative to their male colleagues, the list does suggest a problem among the broadcaster\u2019s top brass. That pattern is fairly common. Pay gaps between men and women in the same roles at the same employers are narrow across Europe for 15 of the 16 job levels in Korn Ferry\u2019s database\u2014but the highest one is the exception. In Spain and Germany, top-ranking women make 15-20% less than similarly high-flying men.\n\nA new law in Britain requires all medium-to-large employers to publish data on the pay gap between their male and female workers by April 2018. The reactions to the BBC\u2019s list suggest they would be wise to break these data down for comparable jobs. That will show more precisely where the problem lies.\n\nRead the full article here.", "output": "The key issue in relation to gender and pay is not unequal pay for the same work, but the prevalence of women in low-ranking jobs in low-paying organisations, according to an analysis by The Economist. In the UK, the salary of the average woman is 29% lower than that of the average man. However, consultancy Korn Ferry estimates that women in the UK earn just 1% less than men in equivalent roles. Pay gaps are similar across Europe in 15 of the 16 job levels used by the consultancy.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gulf of Mexico \u2018dead zone\u2019 blamed on global meat industry \n Tyson Foods, America\u2019s Largest Meat Company, Leads Those Found to be driving massive Manure and Fertilizer Pollution\n\nMapping data links top meat companies to regions experiencing worst pollution from meat\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2014 A new report, released by Mighty Earth, identifies the companies responsible for the widespread manure and fertilizer pollution contaminating water from the Heartland to the Gulf. Much of this pollution comes from the vast quantities of corn and soy used to raise meat animals, and has caused one of the largest Dead Zones on record in the Gulf of Mexico this year.\n\nTo identify the companies responsible, the investigation maps the supply chains of the top meat and feed companies, and overlays it with data showing elevated nitrate concentrations in waterways that are experiencing high levels of fertilizer pollution. The report also mapped where these supply chains are driving destruction of natural grasslands, including native prairies, putting new regions at risk for fertilizer pollution.\n\nAmerica\u2019s largest meat company, Tyson Foods, stood out for its expansive footprint in all the regions suffering the worst pollution impacts from industrial meat and feed production. Tyson produces one out of every five pounds of meat produced in the United States, and owns brands like Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, Ball Park, and Sara Lee, in addition to selling to fast food retailers like McDonalds. The company is consistently ranked among the top polluters in America, although Tyson\u2019s new CEO has declared that a focus on sustainability will be at the center of the company\u2019s future plans. The report found:\n\nTyson is the only meat company with major processing facilities in each of the states listed by the USGS as contributing the highest levels of pollution to the Gulf ; Tyson and Smithfield have the heaviest concentration of meat facilities in those regions of the country with the highest levels of nitrate contamination ;\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTyson\u2019s top feed suppliers are behind the bulk of grassland prairie clearance , which dramatically magnifies the impacts of fertilizer pollution, with Cargill and ADM clearly dominating the market for corn and soy with their network of grain elevators and feed silos in all the states with the highest losses.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u201cAmericans should not have to choose between producing food and having healthy clean water\u201d, says Mighty Earth campaign director Lucia von Reusner. \u201cBig meat companies like Tyson have left a trail of pollution across the country, and have a responsibility to their customers and the public to clean it up.\u201d\n\n\u201cAs the public has gained awareness of the major impacts of industrial meat production, many consumers have been trying to find more sustainable options,\u201d said von Reusner. \u201cThis report shows that our nation\u2019s largest meat companies shape our food system on a massive scale, and can implement the solutions needed to make meat less polluting.\u201d\n\nA recent analysis from the Environmental Working Group of 2015 public water utility data found that 7 million Americans are exposed to unhealthy levels of nitrate contamination in their drinking water. The Tap Water Database \u201cprovides information on the most widespread and potentially harmful contaminants and their sources \u2013 including agriculture, a leading source of pollution in the U.S. that is largely exempt from federal laws designed to protect drinking water,\u201d according to the Environmental Working Group.\n\nResearchers recently announced that so much pollution has run into the Gulf of Mexico this year that is has created one of the largest dead zones on record. Fertilizer pollution flowing down the Mississippi River from the American heartland is the cause of this dead zone, by causing toxic algae blooms where marine life cannot survive. This fertilizer pollution comes mostly from industrial corn and soy fields. Last year the USGS reported that around 1.15 million metric tons of nitrogen pollution flowed into the Gulf of Mexico. As comparison, the BP oil spill was 670,800 metric tons, and is not an annually occurring event.\n\n*The report was amended to clarify the proportion of U.S. soy that goes toward animal feed. The rest of the report remains unchanged.\n\nTake action! Sign the petition below calling on Tyson\u2019s CEO to clean up this pollution from meat.\n\n[widgets_on_pages id=\u201dCare2\u2033]\n\nAbout Mighty Earth\n\nMighty Earth is a global environmental campaign organization that works to protect forests, conserve oceans, and address climate change. We work in Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa, and North America to drive large-scale action towards environmentally responsible agriculture that protects native ecosystems, wildlife, and water, and respects local community rights. Mighty Earth\u2019s global team has played a decisive role in persuading the world\u2019s largest food and agriculture companies to dramatically improve their environmental and social policies and practices. More information on Mighty Earth can be found at https://www.mightyearth.org/.\n\n###", "output": "The world\u2019s meat industry is contributing to what is predicted to be the largest ever \u201cdead zone\u201d, situated in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a report by environmental group Mighty. \u201cDead zones\u201d, in which areas of water suffer from reduced oxygen, leading to the death of marine species, are created when toxins from manure and fertilisers enter waterways and exacerbate harmful algal blooms. Mighty has said a small number of agribusinesses are responsible for much of the pollution. The report claimed Tyson Foods, which supplies McDonald\u2019s and Walmart, has dumped 104 million tonnes of pollutants into waterways in the past decade."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gulf of Mexico \u2018dead zone\u2019 blamed on global meat industry \n The global meat industry, already implicated in driving global warming and deforestation, has now been blamed for fueling what is expected to be the worst \u201cdead zone\u201d on record in the Gulf of Mexico.\n\n\n\nToxins from manure and fertiliser pouring into waterways are exacerbating huge, harmful algal blooms that create oxygen-deprived stretches of the gulf, the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay, according to a new report by Mighty, an environmental group chaired by former congressman Henry Waxman.\n\nIt is expected that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) will this week announce the largest ever recorded dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. It is expected to be larger than the nearly 8,200 square-mile area that was forecast for July \u2013 an expanse of water roughly the size of New Jersey.\n\nNutrients flowing into streams, rivers and the ocean from agriculture and wastewater stimulate an overgrowth of algae, which then decomposes. This results in hypoxia, or lack of oxygen, in the water, causing marine life either to flee or to die.\n\nSome creatures, such as shrimp, suffer stunted growth. Algal blooms themselves can cause problems, as in Florida last summer when several beaches were closed after they became coated in foul-smelling green slime.\n\nAmerica\u2019s vast appetite for meat is driving much of this harmful pollution, according to Mighty, which blamed a small number of businesses for practices that are \u201ccontaminating our water and destroying our landscape\u201d in the heart of the country.\n\n\u201cThis problem is worsening and worsening and regulation isn\u2019t reducing the scope of this pollution,\u201d said Lucia von Reusner, campaign director at Mighty. \u201cThese companies\u2019 practices need to be far more sustainable. And a reduction in meat consumption is absolutely necessary to reduce the environmental burden.\u201d\n\nThe Mighty report analyzed supply chains of agribusiness and pollution trends and found that a \u201chighly industrialized and centralized factory farm system\u201d was resulting in vast tracts of native grassland in the midwest being converted into soy and corn to feed livestock. Stripped soils can wash away in the rain, bringing fertilisers into waterways.\n\nArkansas-based Tyson Foods is identified by the report as a \u201cdominant\u201d influence in the pollution, due to its market strength in chicken, beef and pork. Tyson, which supplies the likes of McDonald\u2019s and Walmart, slaughters 35m chickens and 125,000 head of cattle every week, requiring five million acres of corn a year for feed, according to the report.\n\nThis consumption resulted in Tyson generating 55m tons of manure last year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), with 104m tons of pollutants dumped into waterways over the past decade. The Mighty research found that the highest levels of nitrate contamination correlate with clusters of facilities operated by Tyson and Smithfield, another meat supplier.\n\nThis pollution has also been linked to drinking water contamination. Last week, a report by Environmental Working Group found that in 2015 water systems serving seven million Americans in 48 states contained high levels of nitrates. Consuming nitrates has been linked to an increased risk of contracting certain cancers.\n\nLarge parts of America are being plowed up for corn and soy to raise meat. There is very little regulation Lucia von Reusner, Mighty\n\n\u201cLarge parts of America are being plowed up for corn and soy to raise meat,\u201d said von Reusner. \u201cThere is very little regulation so we can\u2019t wait for that.\n\n\u201cThe corporate agriculture sector has shown it is responsive to consumer concerns about meat production so we hope that the largest meat companies will meet expectations on this.\u201d\n\nThe report urges Tyson and other firms to use their clout in the supply chain to ensure that grain producers such as Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland employ practices that reduce pollution flowing into waterways. These practices include not leaving soil uncovered by crops and being more efficient with fertilizers so plants are not doused in too many chemicals.\n\nThe US is an enormous consumer of meat, with the average American chewing through 211lbs in 2015. A study released earlier this year found that US beef consumption fell by nearly one fifth from 2005 to 2014, possibly due to concerns over health or the environment. A new increase is now expected.\n\nAccording to the US Department of Agriculture, beef and pork production is forecast to grow significantly over the next decade, driven by lower feed costs and healthy demand. By 2025, the average American is expected to eat 219lbs of meat a year. Just 3% of Americans follow a vegetarian or vegan diet.\n\nThis voracious appetite for meat has driven the loss of native forests and grasslands in the US and abroad, releasing heat-trapping gases through deforestation and agricultural practices. Agriculture produced 9% of US greenhouse gas emissions in 2015, according to the EPA.\n\nA spokesman for Cargill said the company was an \u201cindustry leader\u201d for sustainable practices, pointing to its efforts with environment groups to address air, water and soil quality in Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska.\n\n\n\n\u201cProtein consumption is growing globally and we are working to meet increased consumer demand with sustainably and responsibly produced foods and supply chains,\u201d said the spokesman. \u201cWe are dedicated to protecting animal welfare, reducing environmental impact, increasing transparency and keeping workers and consumers safe.\n\n\u201cWe also continue to improve livestock feed efficiency. Over the last 15 years we have seen an overall trend in reducing the volume of feed for each pound of beef produced.\u201d\n\n\n\nA Tyson spokeswoman said \u201cwe don\u2019t agree with the group\u2019s characterization of our company but share its interest in protecting the environment.\u201d\n\n\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s true the livestock and poultry industry is a major buyer of grain for feed, however, the report fails to note that a large percentage of corn raised in the US is used for biofuel and that a significant portion is used for human consumption,\u201d she added.\n\n\u201cTyson Foods is focused on continuous improvement. We are constantly looking to improve and lead the industry, so that we can deliver sustainable food to people every day at a scale that matters to the world.\u201d\n\n\n\nArcher Daniels Midland were also contacted for comment prior to publication.", "output": "The world\u2019s meat industry is contributing to what is predicted to be the largest ever \u201cdead zone\u201d, situated in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a report by environmental group Mighty. \u201cDead zones\u201d, in which areas of water suffer from reduced oxygen, leading to the death of marine species, are created when toxins from manure and fertilisers enter waterways and exacerbate harmful algal blooms. Mighty has said a small number of agribusinesses are responsible for much of the pollution. The report claimed Tyson Foods, which supplies McDonald\u2019s and Walmart, has dumped 104 million tonnes of pollutants into waterways in the past decade."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US start-up to unveil first rechargeable alkaline battery \n Cheaper and more powerful batteries are also considered by many to be the driver needed to make the cost of renewable energy technologies like wind and solar competitive with the coal, gas and nuclear power that support the national energy grid.\n\nIonic said it had developed prototypes of a rechargeable alkaline battery that can be made using continuous manufacturing processes similar to the making of plastic wrap. So far, the company, which is backed by William Joy, a pioneering Silicon Valley computer designer, has demonstrated up to 400 recharge cycles for its prototypes. Ionic executives say they believe they will be able to triple that.\n\nThe alkaline batteries that Ionic has developed would initially be heavier than today\u2019s lithium-ion batteries, said Mike Zimmerman, a materials scientist who is the founder and chief executive of Ionic. But the new batteries would more than compensate for that handicap with their cost advantage and, in time, their ability to store more energy.\n\nThere are other advantages besides cost and safety. Lithium-ion batteries rely on cobalt, and using that element comes with a human cost. Cobalt mines in Africa, for example, have been accused of using child labor while leaving behind a toxic mess.\n\nAlkaline batteries, on the other hand, use relatively abundant zinc and manganese. \u201cIonic can help us get lithium-ion past cobalt and completely eliminate it with alkaline,\u201d said Mr. Joy, who is a member of Ionic\u2019s board.", "output": "Massachusetts-based company Ionic Materials is set to unveil its prototype for a solid-state, rechargeable alkaline battery at a conference for the 35th anniversary of the Rocky Mountain Institute in Colorado. Ionic CEO Mike Zimmerman said the firm has developed a battery that has demonstrated up to 400 recharge cycles, can be made with zinc and manganese, bypassing the need for cobalt, and would not be as prone to the combustion issues affecting lithium-ion equivalents. Alkaline batteries have not so far been rechargeable, but are safer and far cheaper than lithium-ion batteries."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Onshore shale techniques can boost deepwater fracturing efficiency \n Conventional multi-zone completion systems have several fundamental problems. They are time-consuming, costly, and treat only a small number of zones, which can lead to uneven coverage across the reservoir.\n\n\u201cImagine the impact across the entire pay section if you can have 20 stages instead of just four,\u201d says Jim Sessions, vice president for completions at Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE).\n\nA new deep-water multistage fracturing service called DeepFrac from BHGE uses multi-position sleeves and flow-back control technology to rapidly stimulate more than 20 tightly placed stages, increasing reservoir contact with reduced rig time.\n\nThe", "output": "Baker Hughes's DeepFrac, a deep-water multistage fracturing service, uses multi-position sleeves and flow-back control technology to stimulate over 20 stages, boosting reservoir contact with reduced rig time. Standard multi-zone completion systems are less time-efficient, more expensive and can only treat a small number of zones. There is \"a line of sight to an unlimited number of stages\", said Jim Sessions, vice-president for completions at Baker Hughes."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple hints that its autonomous systems may go beyond cars \n It\u2019s an open secret that Apple is working on autonomous driving systems \u2014 the company seems to have even put self-driving vehicles on the road. But now Apple CEO Tim Cook has hinted that the company\u2019s AI work is meant for more than just autonomous cars.\n\n\u201c[Autonomous] systems can be used in a variety of ways,\u201d Cook said during a call with investors this afternoon. \u201cA vehicle is only one, but there are many different areas of it. And I don\u2019t want to go any further with that.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe do have a large project going.\u201d\n\nThe answer makes it pretty clear that Apple isn\u2019t limiting its AI work to autonomous vehicles. But beyond that, it leaves a lot to speculation. Autonomous systems could be used for drones, shipping, and all kinds of robots, from warehouse assistants, to search robots, down to the machine that disassembles iPhones.\n\nApple is certainly not the only company working on these things: there are already several autonomous drones, big ambitions for autonomous factory robots, and even plans for an autonomous delivery robot.\n\nBut expanding Apple\u2019s focus beyond cars opens up a lot more possibilities for the company, since its AI could reach far more markets. Given how many companies are investing in autonomous technologies right now, that certainly seems like the right idea \u2014 even if cars still seem to be Apple\u2019s main target.", "output": "Apple CEO Tim Cook has hinted the company's artificial intelligence (AI) plans could extend far beyond self-driving cars and said the firm is working on a big project. During a call to investors, Cook said: \"Autonomous systems can be used in a variety of ways. A vehicle is only one, but there are many different areas of it \u2013 and I don\u2019t want to go any further with that.\" Insiders are speculating the Apple AI could be used in everything from robots to drones and shipping."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bill Tai joins Power Ledger on board of advisors \n Australian Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Read this Term-powered peer-to-peer renewable marketplace, Power Ledger, has announced that venture capitalist Bill Tai has joined its board of advisors and will become an Ambassador for the company.\n\nLearn how to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum safely with our simple guide!\n\nTai is a co-creator of the Blockchain Summit which took place last month in Sir Richard Branson\u2019s private retreat, Necker Island.\n\nPower Ledger Co-Founder and Chair, Dr Jemma Green who was invited to the Summit to present on how her company was applying blockchain technology to enable the decentralization of energy systems, met Tai onsite where the announcement was made.\n\nBill Tai\n\n\u201cPower Ledger is a standout among the companies at our gathering, solving a real problem in an enormous market,\u201d commented Tai. \u201cJemma and her team have shown the world how blockchain based technology can be applied to create Liquidity Liquidity The term liquidity refers to the process, speed, and ease of which a given asset or security can be converted into cash. Notably, liquidity surmises a retention in market price, with the most liquid assets representing cash.The most liquid asset of all is cash itself.\u00b7 In economics, liquidity is defined by how efficiently and quickly an asset can be converted into usable cash without materially affecting its market price. \u00b7 Nothing is more liquid than cash, while other assets represent The term liquidity refers to the process, speed, and ease of which a given asset or security can be converted into cash. Notably, liquidity surmises a retention in market price, with the most liquid assets representing cash.The most liquid asset of all is cash itself.\u00b7 In economics, liquidity is defined by how efficiently and quickly an asset can be converted into usable cash without materially affecting its market price. \u00b7 Nothing is more liquid than cash, while other assets represent Read this Term and efficiency in the renewable energy markets with a solution that can be truly transformative.\u201d\n\nDr Jemma Green, Power Ledger\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s extremely exciting that Bill is now part of the team,\u201d said Dr Jemma Green, Co-Founder and Chair of Power Ledger. \u201cTo have someone of Bill\u2019s calibre as an ambassador within the team, will really help bring about change on a global scale. Having Bill onboard is a big win for us and we\u2019re looking forward to an exciting year ahead.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe application of blockchain technology is making itself known in so many different industries now,\u201d added Tai. \u201cPower Ledger\u2019s solution is in the final stages of commercial deployment, and shows massive promise in the future of renewable energy and decentralizing the grid\u201d.\n\nThe Silicon Valley-based venture capitalist is an investor and Board Director at Bitcoin mining giant and blockchain transactions processing company, BitFury.", "output": "Venture capitalist Bill Tai has been appointed to the board of advisers for Power Ledger, an Australian blockchain smart grid company. The news was announced during the recent Blockchain Summit, organised by Tai, where Power Ledger co-founder Dr Jemma Green was giving a presentation. Tai said Power Ledger's solution was reaching the final stages of commercial deployment, and showed promise in decentralising the grid."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Arson fraud trial to hear evidence from defendant's pacemaker \n When Ross Compton had a pacemaker installed, he had a constitutional right to remain silent. One would expect his body to have the same. But when the 59-year-old's Middletown, Ohio, home erupted in flames last September, the electronic data stored in his cardiac device eventually led to his arrest and subsequent indictment on charges of arson and insurance fraud. And despite his attorney\u2019s arguments to the contrary, earlier this month Butler county judge Charles Pater held that the functioning of Compton\u2019s own body \u2014 heartbeat included \u2014 could be used against him at the upcoming trial.\n\nWIRED OPINION ABOUT Deanna Paul (@thedeannapaul) is a former New York City prosecutor and adjunct professor of trial advocacy at Fordham University school of law. This fall she will begin attending Columbia University\u2019s graduate school of journalism. Her nonfiction work has been published by Rolling Stone and The Marshall Project.\n\nIn September 2016, Compton told law enforcement, he awoke to find his home on fire; he survived, but the blaze caused $400,000 of damage and killed his cat. Before escaping, Compton managed to pack his belongings in multiple bags, grab his computer and medical device charger, break through a window with his cane, and throw his luggage out of it. Then, he abandoned the feline and fled.\n\nOhio authorities determined that the fire originated from multiple locations within the house, leading them to conclude that a crime had occurred. They said statements Compton gave to fire officials at the scene differed from the story he later told investigators; in addition, investigators reported Compton's property smelled of gasoline and that his account was inconsistent with the available evidence.\n\nOnce police learned about Compton's pacemaker, the department decided to obtain a search warrant for the data recorded on it; this would reveal his heart rate and cardiac rhythms before, during, and after the fire. Medical technicians downloaded the information (the same information that would routinely be retrieved from a pacemaker during a doctor's visit) from the device, and law enforcement subsequently subpoenaed those records from the hospital.\n\nThe information corroborated one version of events, investigators argue. Unfortunately for Compton, it wasn\u2019t his.\n\nOhio authorities alleged the data showed that Compton was awake when he claimed to be sleeping. In addition, investigators stated that given Compton's medical condition and the few minutes that passed between the time Compton called 911 and police arrived on the scene, it was improbable that he would have been able to collect and remove his belongings and himself from the burning house so quickly.\n\nThis was, the involved parties agreed, the first case in which police obtained a search warrant for a pacemaker. Compton\u2019s defense attorney, Glenn Rossi, filed a motion to suppress the pacemaker data evidence as an unreasonable seizure of Compton\u2019s private information. Nevertheless, in court assistant prosecutor Jon Marshall argued that police have historically obtained personal information through search warrants and that doing so for a pacemaker should not be viewed differently. The trial is scheduled for December.\n\nLaw enforcement can use legally obtained blood samples and medical records as evidence. Investigators have also recently used data from less invasive smart devices, such as steps counted by activity trackers and queries made to speakers, to establish how a crime was committed. In Connecticut, Richard Dabase was charged with murdering his wife after police built a case based, in part, on the victim's Fitbit data. In Arkansas, James Bates was charged in the death of his coworker. After noticing an Amazon Echo smart speaker in his kitchen, investigators requested a search warrant for any audio recordings and data from the device.\n\nIn Compton's case, it may seem unnerving that information contained inside the body \u2014 as opposed to kept in the home or worn on the wrist \u2014 could be used in a criminal investigation. But courts have yet to distinguish between data interior to the body and data stored on the outside. Data isn\u2019t considered more protected or more private by virtue of its personal nature or where it is stored.\n\nThe more connected, convenient, and smart our devices are, the more they have the potential to expose the truth. \u201cThe reality is that we are no longer the sole proprietors or controllers of our personal information,\u201d says Stephanie Lacambra, the Electronic Frontier Foundation\u2019s criminal defense staff attorney. \u201cFor people worried about being monitored in that way, this ruling is chilling. If Compton didn\u2019t want doctors and law enforcement to have access to his heartbeat, what alternative did he have \u2014 decide against getting a pacemaker?\u201d\n\nThere\u2019s nothing new about consumers choosing to bring tracking and recording devices into their homes. They already walk around wearing athletic trackers that monitor heart rate, distances ran, hours slept, and calories burned, for instance. Athletic classes display participants\u2019 real-time performance data on public scoreboards, and online fitness groups stay motivated by sharing personal data with other members.", "output": "Data from a man's heart pacemaker has been submitted as evidence\u00a0to charge him with\u00a0insurance fraud in a US case that has established the defendant's constitutional right to remain silent did not extend to his pacemaker. Ross Compton is to stand trial in December for\u00a0fraud and arson after the pacemaker data suggested he had lied about\u00a0events leading to the destruction of his Ohio home by fire.\u00a0\u201cWe are no longer the sole proprietors or controllers of our personal information,\u201d said\u00a0Stephanie Lacambra, the Electronic Frontier Foundation\u2019s criminal defence staff attorney. \u201cFor people worried about being monitored in that way, this ruling is chilling.\"\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Athletes community Strava adds insurance perks to membership \n Strava Premium users of the popular cycling community platform Strava will be able to enjoy new 'perks', which Strava says will be in excess of the cost of its annual membership.\n\n>>> Buyer's guide: Best cycle computers\n\nAs of this week, discounts and freebies from Wiggle and Science in Sport are on the perks list, as well as a two-month Audible free trial that includes three audiobooks of your choice.\n\nMost notable though, is the insurance cover from Sundays Insurance that will cover any accidental phone or GPS damage (whilst using Strava), including taxi reimbursement for any mechanical failings whilst out on a ride. This will also include further discounts on bike, travel life and health insurance.\n\nThis insurance will cover Strava Premium members in the UK, USA and Australia.\n\nThese new features can be seen now via the new perks portal shown here and will include deals for both runners and cyclists alike.\n\nCurrently Strava Premium membership will cost you \u00a35.99 monthly or \u00a344.99 annually.\n\nDavid Lorsch, VP Strategy & Business Development at Strava says Premium is the best way to get the most out of Strava.\n\n\"We\u2019re committed to continually developing new features as well as introducing these new perks for athletes.\"\n\n\"Premium is our all-out effort to keep athletes safe, improve their performance, and to make every activity as enjoyable as possible; we\u2019ve carefully selected partners and providers who share this same ethos.\u201d\n\nWith the new perks Strava says that the Premium service is now a more complete package for athletes of all abilities to make the most of their sport. You'll still be able to utilise its workout analysis, race analysis, create custom goals and training plans, see live segments on the go and live performance data.\n\nStrava Premium also has Beacon, which is a real-time location feature with select safety contacts that can be shared between friends.", "output": "Strava, a social media site for athletes that also supports training goals, is offering GPS and phone damage insurance to its premium members while they are using Strava. The deal is one of a number of perks being offered in the UK, US and Australia\u00a0by Strava Premium, which also provides cyclists with safety and training services. Coverage, which is provided by Sundays Insurance,\u00a0also includes\u00a0taxi reimbursement after any breakdowns while out riding,\u00a0as well as further discounts on bike, travel, life and health insurance. Premium membership currently costs \u00a35.99 a month or\u00a0\u00a344.99 a year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sponsored GIFs to be tested by Giphy \n GIF search engine Giphy will soon begin testing sponsored GIFs within messaging environments, as it seeks to make money off its popular platform that boasts 200m daily active users and around 250m monthly uniques.\n\nAccording to TechCrunch, citing a source close to the company, as with traditional GIFs these are there to be shared with friends once the user has searched for a term. So, in essence, it will work in a similar way to Snapchat\u2019s sponsored filters \u2013 thus not forcing the user away due to intrusive advertising.\n\nIt\u2019s not yet clear where Giphy will test the ad platform, or when it is likely the tests will begin. The GIF database is integrated into various platforms including Facebook Messenger, Slack, iMessage, Twitter, Tinder, Bumble, and more, so it has plenty of options to choose from when it decides to go ahead with the monetisation plans.\n\nOne other things Giphy must consider is what it promises to brands. If it guarantees that a certain GIF will be shared X number of times, how can it make sure this actually occurs? Or will it just simply promise to make sure a brand\u2019s GIF is at the front of the queue X number of times?\n\nIn October last year, Giphy raised $72m in a Series D funding round, which took the company\u2019s valued to $600m.", "output": "GIF search engine Giphy is planning to test sponsored GIFs in messaging apps as it looks for profit options for its platform, which has 200 million daily users and 250 million monthly unique users. The sponsored GIFs will be shown once users have searched for specific terms, rather than being intrusively placed. The date of the trial is yet to be confirmed as is which platform Giphy will use for it.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China tightens internet controls \n Moscow and Beijing are tightening their control over citizens' use of the internet by prohibiting the use of privacy technologies.\n\nA new law in Russia has been signed by President Putin banning the use of software which could keep people anonymous to the nation's internet surveillance tools.\n\nIn China, the reinvigorated enforcement of an existing law has led to Apple withdrawing a number of apps from the App Store which allowed users to browse the internet over a virtual private network (VPN).\n\nVPNs are used by businesses to protect their internet communications from third parties, but they are also a popular means of circumventing China's \"Great Firewall\" through which Beijing exerts strict control over what its citizens can see on the internet.\n\nApple explained to Sky that it was working to comply with the Chinese government which earlier this year \"announced that all developers offering VPNs must obtain a license from the government.\"\n\nAs such the company has \"been required to remove some VPN apps in China that do not meet the new regulations. These apps remain available in all other markets where they do business.\"\n\nForeign businesses operating in China have also expressed concern at the crackdown on privacy technologies which they are worried may disrupt their operations and jeopardise trade secrets.\n\nIn Russia and China the anonymous and secret use of the internet is often used as a safe means of communicating criticism of the authoritarian regimes.\n\nImage: A joint Chinese-Russian military drill took place in September 2016\n\nBoth countries, which signed a cybersecurity pact in 2015, have sought to crackdown on this use of the internet in recent months.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThey have also engaged in military cooperation, performing joint naval exercises in the Baltic Sea where NATO holds its annual training operations.\n\nThe cybersecurity agreement mainly established non-aggression between the two countries, both of which are regularly accused of supporting attacks against Western nations.\n\nHowever, it also stressed the concept of \"cyber sovereignty\" - in which their respective governments could control and monitor everything that their citizens' had access to online.\n\nApple has also removed apps by The New York Times from the App Store in China following a government request.\n\nAt the time, the co-founder of anti-censorship group Greatfire.org - using the false name Charlie Smith - said it was unclear if the internet services industry would comply with China's orders to expose VPNs.\n\nHe said of the firms: \"They will push back, quietly... if they deem the cost of running these checks to be too high.\"\n\nSpeaking to Sky News, the executive director of Privacy International, Dr Gus Hosein, said: \"This is the end of the internet as we know it.\n\n\"The internet was supposed to move packets around without regard to geography. Security was an add-on once we realised its importance.\n\n\"Over the past twenty years industry and governments collided and colluded, resulting in national walls built up against free speech and walls to protect ourselves are torn down.\n\n\"Russia is a sign of things to come. China and Apple also is a sign of the future. Unless we change things now, the internet will become a sanitised commercial space free of value.\"", "output": "The Chinese government has clamped down on internet services that use virtual private networks or leased lines that allow users to access blocked overseas websites. As a part of a wider 14 month \"clean-up\" of the internet, the decision allows the government to strengthen its control on the nation's internet and keep an eye on its 731 million users.\u00a0Under the new legislation, all data centres, internet service providers and content distribution networks must be licensed by the central government."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China tightens internet controls \n China seems to be sticking to its self-imposed schedule for making it harder for Chinese citizens to connect to the unfiltered web.\n\nBeijing has ordered three state-owned telecoms\u2014China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom, which together dominate the Chinese Internet access market\u2014to bar individuals from using VPNs, or virtual private networks, starting next February, Bloomberg reported Monday (July 10), citing unidentified sources.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), China\u2019s top internet regulation body, on July 12 said it hasn\u2019t issued such an order, according to news site the Paper (link in Chinese). None of the big three telecoms responded to Quartz\u2019s request for comment.\n\nThe use of VPNs has been a frequent government target in the country as it allows Chinese citizens to climb over the \u201cGreat Firewall\u201d and access blocked foreign sites like YouTube, Facebook, and the New York Times, and to see content that the ruling Chinese Communist Party doesn\u2019t want seen. The Bloomberg report follows a series of regulations earlier this year as part of China\u2019s efforts to accelerate the tightening control over its internet.\n\nCracking down\n\nIn late January, the MIIT published a notice (link in Chinese) calling for Chinese telecoms to provide VPN services only for business purposes inside a company. It said the effort would last for 14 months and was meant to \u201cclean up and regulate the internet access service market.\u201d\n\nAlthough it\u2019s difficult to ferret out individual VPN users, one way telecoms can make it harder is by not providing certain services, such as server access to VPN businesses. Other laws might make it harder for VPN businesses to operate, too.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nLast month Beijing enacted the long-gestating Cybersecurity Law, which regulates where companies can store and move data generated in China. The law is part of the government\u2019s effort to restrict cross-border data flow. Apple announced today (July 12) that it is setting up its first data center in China to comply with the law, which requires foreign firms to store data within the country.\n\nAt the local level, too, provinces and cities are taking new steps to stop VPN use. In March, the city of Chongqing published a notice that specified fines of as much as 15,000 yuan ($2,210) against individuals and organizations for establishing or using channels (link in Chinese) to connect to international networks. Although the notice did not specify VPNs, users of VPNs were targeted, reported state media Global Times.\n\nSome still fighting\n\nOn July 1, the popular service GreenVPN ceased operations in China. In an earlier note (link in Chinese) in June, the company said it had received a notice from authorities, without elaborating on the details. Another service, Haibei VPN, cited the same reason before it was taken down. Many others have been removed from app stores in the past few months.\n\nA VPN works by \u201ctunneling\u201d your internet traffic onto a private network before sending it out onto the public internet. It is not illegal to use a VPN in China, nor is it to run a business within China distributing VPN software. But running such a business requires registering with the government and promising to hand over user data (links in Chinese) to authorities when necessary.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nExpressVPN, which is based in the British Virgin Islands and has been operating for eight years, described Beijing\u2019s latest order as part of \u201ca continual game of cat-and-mouse\u201d since it comes \u201cin the absence of any official statements.\u201d Other VPN providers\u2014among them New York-based KeepSolid and Switzerland-based VyprVPN\u2014argue they have the technology to route traffic so as to avoid detection by telecoms.\n\nA headache for Chinese netizens\n\n\u201cI won\u2019t survive without a VPN,\u201d says 24-year-old Klara Xu, who works in a Shanghai-based media company. Searching on Google for information-gathering is part of her daily job. Last August she paid around 600 yuan ($88) for a full-year subscription to ExpressVPN. But now she is hesitating because of the recent VPN shutdowns. \u201cShould I get a half-year subscription, or a full-year one?\u201d she wonders.\n\n\u201cHow often do I use VPN? I would count it by the second,\u201d says 24-year-old Calvin Cheng, who works at a Beijing-based publication. Cheng has two VPN apps: Lantern for his Windows computer and Super VPN for his Mac. He uses these not only for work, but also for entertainment, such as watching music clips on YouTube. Previously Cheng paid 72 yuan ($11) for a half-year subscription for a domestic VPN service, which was taken down in June.\n\n\u201cI can survive without a VPN, but it will be hard to make progress for personal growth,\u201d says Cheng, \u201csince we are limited to domestic information.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nVisen Liu contributed reporting.", "output": "The Chinese government has clamped down on internet services that use virtual private networks or leased lines that allow users to access blocked overseas websites. As a part of a wider 14 month \"clean-up\" of the internet, the decision allows the government to strengthen its control on the nation's internet and keep an eye on its 731 million users.\u00a0Under the new legislation, all data centres, internet service providers and content distribution networks must be licensed by the central government."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China tightens internet controls \n Another big political meeting, another crackdown on Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) \u2014 the location-shifting software many in China use to access websites banned by its government, such as Facebook, YouTube and Google.\n\nThis fall, China\u2019s ruling Communist Party (CCP) will have its 19th Congress \u2014 when the nation\u2019s leadership is reshuffled and its ideological direction honed \u2014 which is why experts believe the government is once again targeting VPNs. On Saturday, Apple removed popular VPNs from its China App Store in line with a new government crackdown announced in January that would see them completely banned by early next year.\n\n\u201cWe have been required to remove some VPN apps in China that do not meet the new regulations,\u201d Apple said in a statement. \u201cThese apps remain available in all other markets where they do business.\u201d\n\nCrackdowns on accessing the Internet beyond the Great Firewall \u2014 the world\u2019s most sophisticated state-censorship apparatus, employing at least 2 million online censors \u2014 are a perennial irritation in China, and highlight how the world\u2019s second largest economy is struggling to balance authoritarianism with its mercantile aspirations. Foreign news websites such as the New York Times, Bloomberg and, indeed, TIME are deemed verboten, as are uncensored social media networks such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.\n\nVPNs provide access to this contraband by pretending the user is situated outside the country, and in China are particularly used by foreign nationals including those visiting on business, academics and students trying to access research material not properly indexed by Chinese search engines, and a proportion of Chinese unsatisfied with the sanitized news provided by the nation\u2019s state media. Unregistered VPNs are officially forbidden, though almost a third of the China\u2019s 650 million Internet users are estimated to have them. In addition, companies can have legitimate VPNs registered with the Chinese authorities in order to have secure communications between regional offices.\n\nRead More: The Other Side of the Great Firewall\n\nCrackdowns on VPNs \u201ccome up periodically and usually generates a certain amount of hysteria, and not all under-deservedly, because you can\u2019t totally afford to ignore it,\u201d says Mark Natkin, founder of Beijing-based IT research firm Marbridge Consulting. \u201cEvery time there\u2019s a major political event there\u2019s a lot of pronouncements \u2014 some of which do get enforced, at least leading up to the event, and others which are more statement than action.\u201d\n\nThat Apple has acquiesced to removed the VPNs is a clear coup for the Chinese government, which has clamped down on free speech since President Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, jailing dozens of critics, rights activists and lawyers. In a blog post, ExpressVPN, one of the most popular VPNs used in China, said its removal was \u201csurprising and unfortunate.\u201d\n\n\u201cExpressVPN strongly condemns these measures, which threaten free speech and civil liberties,\u201d it added.\n\nAccording to Martin Johnson, co-founder of China censorship-monitoring website Greatfire.org, \u201cApple is now an integral part of China\u2019s censorship apparatus, helping the government expand it\u2019s control to a global scale.\u201d\n\nThe latest crackdown is an escalation of an enduring pattern. Before big party meetings \u2014 such as the \u201cTwo Sessions\u201d legislative sessions each spring \u2014 VPNs typically grind to a halt as the CCP attempts to restrict access to proscribed material. Afterward, control is typically relaxed, as VPNs serve as a pressure valve that allow a determined, normally well-educated, minority to access information they largely know is out there anyway.\n\nWhat the Chinese government is more worried about is potential social unrest caused by ordinary Chinese accessing dissident criticism in the local language, such as the teachings of the banned spiritual Falun Gong movement.\n\n\u201cChinese authorities are most concerned about \u2018the masses,\u2019 but leaving a pressure valve for white-collar [workers and] academia is not so injurious and, one could argue, beneficial to ensure those people don\u2019t feel overly frustrated,\u201d adds Natkin.\n\nAs such, there is every reason to suspect that this latest VPN crackdown is once again temporary. However, the ban is only one of a slew of new measures leading up to the 19th Party Congress that have made tech experts jittery. Other than Apple, VPNs are increasingly scarce on the rival app stores of Chinese-made Android-based phones \u2014 brands like Huawei, Xiaomi and Oppo \u2014 whose global market share is mushrooming.\n\nRead More: China Just Made It Even Harder to Get Around the Great Firewall\n\nIn addition, a strict new cybersecurity law came into effect in June, and earlier this month China Telecom, the nation\u2019s biggest Internet service provider, sent a letter to corporate clients seen by the AP that said in future VPNs would only be allowed to connect to a company\u2019s headquarters abroad. Around the same time, China initiated a partial block of the messaging app WhatsApp, which is owned by the banned Facebook, and several Chinese VPNs were forced to shut down. In addition, five-star hotels \u2014 whose affluent, overwhelmingly foreign guests were once granted carte blanche to access banned foreign sites from their premises \u2014 are now shutting that loophole in response to government pressure.\n\nBut shutting off all access to prohibited foreign websites would have a tremendous chilling effect on China\u2019s credentials as an international business hub. Already, business executives arriving for meetings in China must deal with the shocking reality that they cannot access Gmail \u2014 the world\u2019s most popular email service \u2014 by virtue that it is run by the banned Google.\n\nToday, those execs might be able get access by downloading a VPN, retreating to their opulent hotel or using their Beijing office\u2019s computer network. But were the newly threatened rules fully implemented, those options would all be cut off. Aside from the practical limitations, the oppressive and frustrating atmosphere would be hugely damaging at a time when China\u2019s economy is already slowing.\n\n\u201cIn the past, any effort to cut off internal corporate VPNs has been enough to make a company think about closing or reducing operations in China,\u201d Jake Parker, Beijing-based vice president of the U.S.-China Business Council, told the South China Morning Post. \u201cIt\u2019s that big a deal.\u201d\n\nWrite to Charlie Campbell at charlie.campbell@time.com.", "output": "The Chinese government has clamped down on internet services that use virtual private networks or leased lines that allow users to access blocked overseas websites. As a part of a wider 14 month \"clean-up\" of the internet, the decision allows the government to strengthen its control on the nation's internet and keep an eye on its 731 million users.\u00a0Under the new legislation, all data centres, internet service providers and content distribution networks must be licensed by the central government."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China tightens internet controls \n The Chinese government is clamping down on internet services which get around strict controls - in a 14-month-long \"clean-up\" of the industry.\n\nVirtual private networks (VPNs) or leased lines that allow users and businesses to access blocked overseas websites like Google and Facebook will be targeted.\n\nThere will be inspections of cloud-hosting and content-delivery services until March 2018 amid signs of \"disorderly development\", said the ministry of industry and information technology.\n\nThe new government measures are an attempt to strengthen its grip over the domestic internet and closely control what information China's 731 million online users can access.\n\nUnder the new directive, all internet service providers, data centres and content distribution networks must be licensed by the government.\n\nThey must also conduct \"self-inspections\" for any unlawful activity taking place on their servers, which would include those discreetly providing VPN services.\n\nChinese President Xi Jinping's administration has championed a vision of \"internet sovereignty\" where governments have the right to divide off their nation's cyberspace from unwanted elements like it was physical territory.\n\nImage: President Xi Jinping's administration has championed a vision of 'internet sovereignty'\n\nThe censors' reach has extended beyond websites.\n\nEarlier this month, China's top internet regulator said it would regulate mobile app store offerings after finding some apps disseminated information it considered illegal or a danger to social stability.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe move came weeks after Apple removed apps by The New York Times from its app store in China following a government request.\n\nCo-founder of anti-censorship group Greatfire.org, who uses the false name Charlie Smith, said it was unclear if the internet services industry would comply with China's orders to expose VPNs.\n\nHe said of the firms: \"They will push back, quietly ... if they deem the cost of running these checks to be too high.\"", "output": "The Chinese government has clamped down on internet services that use virtual private networks or leased lines that allow users to access blocked overseas websites. As a part of a wider 14 month \"clean-up\" of the internet, the decision allows the government to strengthen its control on the nation's internet and keep an eye on its 731 million users.\u00a0Under the new legislation, all data centres, internet service providers and content distribution networks must be licensed by the central government."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Male eating disorders in UK rise by 70% in six years: NHS \n The number of adult men being admitted to hospital with an eating disorder has risen by 70% over the past six years \u2013 the same rate of increase as among women.\n\n\n\nNHS Digital data analysed by the Guardian shows the number of hospital diagnoses in male over-19s rose from 480 in 2010-2011 to 818 between April 2015 and March 2016.\n\nThe rate of increase was slightly higher among older men, at 70% for the 41-60 age group, compared with 67% in the 26-40 category and 63% among 19- to 25-year-olds. In the same period, there was a 61% increase among women aged 19 to 25 and a 76% rise among middle-aged women.\n\nThe figures come after it was revealed that steroid use among young people quadrupled in the past year. The Home Office\u2019s crime survey found the biggest rise in anabolic steroid use was among 16- to 24-year-olds, with an extra 19,000 taking the drug.\n\nMedical leaders and health experts have put the growing numbers down to pressure from popular culture and social media. But more awareness about eating disorders may be encouraging life-long sufferers to come forward and talk about their problems, they believe.\n\n\n\nDr William Rhys Jones, of the Royal College of Psychiatrists\u2019 eating disorders faculty, said: \u201cPressure for body perfection is on the rise for men of all ages, which is a risk factor for developing an eating disorder. Images of unhealthy male body ideals in the media place unnecessary pressure on vulnerable people who strive for acceptance through the way they look.\u201d\n\nHe said a continued lack of understanding and sometimes sympathy for men suffering from eating disorders remained a barrier for some who needed help. \u201cWe must continue to address the ongoing gender bias around eating disorders so every man who is suffering feels comfortable to get help when they need it.\u201d\n\nProf Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said the rise was not surprising \u201cwhen you consider the unrelenting pressures placed on people by popular culture and social media\u201d.\n\nShe called for schools, universities and employers to be more aware of the danger signs. \u201c[These] can include excessive dieting or daily trips to the gym, eating large amounts of food, the inappropriate use of laxatives and obsessions around weight and appearance,\u201d she said.\n\nStokes-Lampard said there was a growing awareness that eating disorders affected both men and women. \u201cIncreased awareness among sufferers and health professionals has likely meant that men are starting to recognise their symptoms more and are being diagnosed more, meaning that they are more likely to be referred to eating disorders services,\u201d she said.\n\nThe eating disorder charity Beat said increases in hospital admissions may be a positive sign. Tom Quinn, its director of external affairs, said: \u201cIt\u2019s possible [the increase] indicates an increasing awareness that these illnesses affect people regardless of gender.\u201d\n\n\n\nEarlier diagnosis and treatment would lower the chance of an illness developing to the point when they required hospital treatment, he added. \u201cThere is still a long way to go to ensure that all sufferers get the treatment they need as quickly as possible.\u201d\n\nFigures released last year showed people with eating disorders in England could wait for up to 182 days for treatment. Patients surveyed by Beat expressed concern about GPs who were failing to refer people for specialist assistance. Half of those with some experience of an eating disorder rated GP care as poor or very poor, and 30% said they were not referred to mental health services after their appointment.\n\nSam Thomas, the founder of the charity Men Get Eating Disorders Too, said the UK had no dedicated facilities for male patients. \u201cUsually places will have two separate rooms they prioritise for men but that can reinforce any sense of isolation, and eating disorders thrive on that,\u201d he said. \u201cSome services literally cannot admit men. One guy I know has been waiting months and months. He has had a heart attack and is desperately unwell and he is still waiting for a referral. He is on about seven waiting lists.\u201d\n\nData shows that men still account for a small proportion of the total patients diagnosed in hospital, with 1,098 male adults and children admitted in 2015-16 and 12,054 female adults and children. More than 300 boys and girls aged 12 or under were admitted to hospital with an eating disorder in 2015-16.\n\nThe fastest rate of change among all ages over the six-year period was in 13- to 15-year-olds. Diagnosis numbers over the period more than doubled, from 565 to 1,383.\n\nRhiannon Lambert, a Harley Street nutritionist, said: \u201cOne key marker between men and women is that women tend to be more honest in their symptoms whereas men typically suggest they are on a physique transformation journey.\n\n\u201cThere is a stereotype that eating disorders still only apply to privileged, appearance-obsessed women. This huge misconception exists which pushes the harmful notion that a great many others are not at risk. I have met people of every race, gender, sexuality and personality with disordered eating patterns. Eating disorders do not discriminate, they are a complex mental health illness that can affect everyone.\u201d\n\nCase study: Dave Chawner, 28, from London\n\nWhen I was 17, I got a role in a play and I had to appear topless. It was the only time I had ever really thought about my body and so I lost a bit of weight. People started saying \u201cyou look good\u201d and that made me feel great. Losing weight gave me approval and meant \u201cbeing good\u201d in my mind.\n\nIt came at a time when I had a lot of other stuff going on \u2013 including applications, exams and deadlines. Everything felt intense and my grades were not good but losing weight was.\n\nEventually the people around me picked up on it, and took me aside for a quiet word. But I didn\u2019t acknowledge I had a problem. It was only when I was 21 that I first said that I had anorexia. I got a job over the summer in a boarding school which was completely catered for. It really affected me how little control I had over the food. I started exercising during the night, binging and purging. One of the teachers, who had experienced bulimia herself, asked me if I was anorexic. I thought: \u201cI do have anorexia.\u201d\n\nAt my worst I was weighing myself four or five times a day, coffee loading, exercising during the night. I would have mood swings and constantly feel thirsty because when you\u2019re not eating your brain thinks you must need a drink. I was also constantly freezing.\n\nOver the years, it faded in and out of prevalence. How bad things were depended on how much I wanted to escape life and numb myself. I am a comedian and I started doing shows about my illness when I was about 23. It went better than I thought but people said \u201cyou don\u2019t look anorexic\u201d and that made me feel like a fraud. So I had a relapse and ended up needing outpatient treatment at the Maudsley hospital in London. I was treated there for two and a half years and finished therapy about three or four months ago. I found it really helpful.\n\nIt is still an open book in terms of what will happen in terms of my eating disorder, but I feel the furthest away from anorexia that I ever have.\n\nAs a man, I never found it hard to get help because I am very open and can talk about what is going on. I could go to my GP and explain what was on my mind and they did take me seriously. I know not everyone can be so open.\n\nAlthough it\u2019s awful to see more men suffering from eating disorders it\u2019s great that more are having the balls to stand up and come forward, saying they don\u2019t feel stigma anymore. If a man came into the doctor with cancer or heart disease, would we treat them differently to a woman? It\u2019s easy to create a barrier that doesn\u2019t need to be there.\n\nI think it\u2019s lazy to blame social media for the rise in eating disorders \u2013 they existed before Facebook. However, now it\u2019s like people have someone looking over their shoulder as everything is documented. It\u2019s not helpful that people Photoshop their photos and present an unrealistic image to the world that is unobtainable.\n\nHaving an eating disorder is like a constant background noise, a hum that is never completely there but also never ever taken away. It\u2019s not that I didn\u2019t like food. I was always thinking about how I could eat and feel full without having any calories. It is like being an alcoholic, it\u2019s not something that ever goes away. It\u2019s a kind of colour to your existence but it makes life so unstable.\n\nFor hundreds of thousands anorexia isn\u2019t sexy, interesting or exciting \u2013 it\u2019s just a shit, boring, mundane, anxiety-ridden hell for them. I am trying to help make that clear, to present a more authentic portrayal of it.", "output": "There has been a 70% rise in the number of UK men admitted to hospital with eating disorders during the past six years. The rate of increase is the same as among women. The number of hospital diagnoses in men over 19 rose from 480 in 2010-2011 to 818 in 2015-2016. The figures' publication followed revelations that anabolic steroid use among 16-24 years-olds has quadrupled over the past year, with an additional 19,000 young people taking the drug, whose use is\u00a0linked to muscle building. Pressure from social media and popular culture have been blamed for the increases.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus [4]: Serendipity Labs and China's UrWork announce JV \n Serendipity Labs, the self-defined \u201cupscale hospitality brand\u201d in the increasingly competitive co-working industry, has entered the international business world in a deal that will take the 6-year-old company far beyond its roots in Westchester and Fairfield counties.\n\nSerendipity in July announced a joint venture with Chinese co-working titan UrWork in the opening of a 34,000-square-foot office at 28 Liberty St. in the Manhattan Financial District. The two companies also will connect their networks to allow their members to use any of their locations throughout the U.S. and China.\n\nUsing an app, members can make reservations for meeting space, have a place to work for the day, house remote teams or have a reliably accessible local address.\n\nUrWork serves 2,400 companies across 24 cities in China and started its overseas expansion last year, which to date includes the opening of co-working offices in Singapore, London, and Taiwan.\n\nSerendipity Labs CEO John Arenas, who launched his company in 2011 at 80 Theodore Fremd Ave. in Rye, said that UrWork first approached him about two years ago to learn about the U.S. co-working landscape.\n\n\u201cWe ultimately agreed that a joint venture was the way to go,\u201d Arenas said at Serendipity\u2019s Stamford operation at 700 Canal St. \u201cWe\u2019re co-branding (the New York City location) and will offer the same language skills, in this case Mandarin, for our clients.\u201d\n\nArenas described the venture as that of \u201ctwo fast-growing, established companies\u201d who will both benefit by the deal \u2013 and perhaps fire a shot across the bow of WeWork, a similar company that provides shared workspace, community and services for entrepreneurs, freelancers, startups and small businesses. Founded in 2010 and headquartered in New York City, WeWork has locations in 19 U.S. cities and 12 countries, including China, India, Germany, France and the U.K., and has a valuation of about $20 billion.\n\nBacked by such investors as Sequoia Capital, Zhen Fund, Noah Wealth Management and Sinovation Ventures, UrWork had a valuation of $1.3 billion as of June. It has 78 locations in 20 cities, serving over 3,000 enterprises and 30,000 members.\n\nSerendipity has attracted over $125 million in capital, including $24 million in private equity and over $100 million committed from its area franchise developers, Arenas said. The firm has about 4,000 members at its six established locations in Rye; Stamford; Ridgewood, New Jersey; Aventura, Florida; Bethesda, Maryland; and Chicago.\n\n\u201cThis is a huge step forward for us,\u201d Arenas said of the international joint venture. \u201cIt definitely puts us on the global map.\u201d\n\nArenas attributed Serendipity\u2019s momentum to both his personal experience in the hospitality space and a little luck.\n\n\u201cWhen I started in Rye four-and-a-half years ago, most people didn\u2019t know what co-working was. Today there\u2019s so much more awareness across the board, with both individuals and companies recognizing the value of a dedicated offsite workspace.\u201d\n\nCo-working spaces are designed both to relieve a person\u2019s isolation and lack of human interaction by placing him or her alongside employees of other companies and entrepreneurs in individual workspaces and to offer large event and meeting spaces for established firms looking for an offsite change of scenery.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re all about recognizing the value of community,\u201d Arenas said. \u201cWe provide a place where people can arrive and feel they\u2019re part of a community of similar people.\u201d The company rotates work by local artists on its walls and strives to promote local events it believes will be of interest and relevance to its members, along with hosting lectures, meetups and the like.\n\nOn the corporate side, Serendipity\u2019s client list includes Philips, GE Healthcare and PepsiCo.\n\nAt Philips North America, Liz Scarnati, assistant to the vice president of sales, called Serendipity\u2019s Stamford office at 700 Canal St. \u201can excellent resource\u201d utilized by the technology company\u2019s New York City and Connecticut team.\n\nThe son of an urban planner, Arenas started out as a civil engineer before moving to a relationship manager position at Citigroup. By 1996, he had gone off on his own to form Stratis Business Centers, which grew to be an 11-state network of office centers. When international workspace provider Regus (now IWG) acquired Stratis in 2001, Arenas moved to Westchester County to serve as president and general manager of Regus Americas.\n\nIn 2005, he founded another on-demand workspace company, Worktopia, which at its height had over 1,000 venues in 50 countries. It was acquired by a company called SignUp4 in 2011, which in turn was acquired by CVent for $22.4 million in 2015.\n\nThen came Serendipity, which its CEO believes is built to last.\n\n\u201cWhat differentiates us is our ability to fuse the needs of the workspace with hospitality,\u201d he said. \u201cMost co-working spaces, including others here in Stamford, provide the expected amenities and the ability to brainstorm with other residents who may not be in the same line of business but from whom you can learn.\u201d\n\nSerendipity\u2019s m.o. is to create a network where on-the-go members can take advantage of the same kind of support, security and compliance with regulatory requirements in any of the firm\u2019s offices.\n\nHaving essentially created such a network in the tri-state area \u2014 a Princeton office is due to open in August and Garden City on Long Island is another target, Arenas said \u2014 Serendipity has expanded its East Coast network with its Maryland and Florida offices and plans to open in Miami later this year. The firm also plans openings in Nashville; Sugar Land, Texas, and at two locations in Columbus, Ohio.\n\nIn Stamford, Serendipity Labs is about to add 9,000 square feet to its existing 13,000-square-foot space.\n\nThe plan from the start was to have a network of 100 labs, and Arenas said the company is well on the way to reaching that goal.\n\nAlso working in Serendipity\u2019s favor is the Financial Accounting Standards Board\u2019s Accounting Standards Update, issued last year. Intended to improve financial reporting about leasing transactions, it affects all companies and other organizations that lease assets such as real estate, airplanes, and manufacturing equipment.\n\nHaving to report such leasing activity can affect a company\u2019s bottom line. Combined with the move toward mobility, Arenas said the new accounting standards make an option like Serendipity all the more attractive.\n\n\u201cThat all counts towards debt now,\u201d he said of those leased assets. \u201cCompanies are now trying to get out of those smaller leases but still maintain a satisfactory environment for employees who work there. We are a good solution for that.\u201d\n\nArenas said Serendipity was \u201ca little ahead of the curve\u201d with the co-working phenomenon.\n\n\u201cWe always believed that this industry should be recession-resistant. The thinking was that in an economic downturn, companies would reduce their headcount and turn more towards individuals as freelancers or part-timers \u2014 with us providing the professional environment that they need.\u201d\n\nHowever, economic swoons in 1986, 1992 and 2001 didn\u2019t generate that expected activity. But in the wake of the 2011 downturn, Arenas said, \u201cOur industry didn\u2019t break. Instead it was the employee-employer relationship that broke, with people becoming free agents and companies learning that they could lease space at an outsourced office until they could afford to bring people back full-time, if they ever did.\u201d\n\nFive years from now, said Arenas, he expects the co-working industry will be well into the merger and joint venture phase exemplified by Serendipity\u2019s deal with UrWork.\n\n\u201cOver the next year, I see us in Canada and making inroads in countries like the U.K., Netherlands, Germany and France, probably with local partners on a franchise basis,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re absolutely on track to increase our global footprint significantly.\u201d", "output": "Serendipity Labs\u00a0has announced a joint venture with Chinese co-working heavyweight UrWork, opening a 34,000 sq ft\u00a0office at 28 Liberty Street, Manhattan. The companies' networks will be connected for members to use any of their locations throughout China and the US. As of June, UrWork's\u00a0valuation was $1.3bn, it had 78 locations in 20 cities, serving\u00a0over 3,000 enterprises and 30,000 members.\u00a0Serendipity has over $125m capital, six US locations, and serves roughly 4,000 members, including Philips, GE Healthcare and PepsiCo.\u00a0Serendipity Labs CEO John Arenas, previously president and general manager of Regus Americas, expects to see increasing M&A and JVs in the co-working industry.\n\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Twitter trials monthly subscription plan for tweet promotion \n Twitter is currently testing a $99 (\u00a375) a month subscription plan which helps power users and small businesses to increase their reach by auto-promoting tweets onto the timelines of people that aren\u2019t followers.\n\nThe plan is, at least for the time being, aimed at those that lack advertising-savvy or are too lazy to implement their own strategies \u2013 hence why hasn\u2019t been pushed to big brands. It differs from Twitter ads, where the user is in charge of creating and optimising their own campaigns, because it enables the user to continue tweeting as normal while Twitter automatically promotes some of those tweets.\n\nAs part of the beta program, those invited get to try the feature for free for a month. This will see up to the first 10 tweets each day promoted, though not every tweet will be pushed and the extent of promotion \u2018may vary based on performance\u2019. Retweets, replies and quoted tweets won\u2019t be promoted but individual tweets cannot be turned off \u2013 so, it\u2019s all a bit of a lottery really.\n\nTweets are promoted to people based on either their interest or metro area, but not both, depending on which is chosen by the user.\n\nThe move from Twitter could be in response to its eight per cent drop in ad revenues in Q2 2017, compared to the year prior. Although, it had plans for a very different subscription model earlier this year. Back in March, it was revealed that the microblogging platform was looking to introduce a plan for $19.99 \u2013 which would have been more-or-less an extended version of TweetDeck.", "output": "Twitter is beta-testing a monthly subscription plan for auto-promoting tweets, aimed at small and medium-sized businesses that lack the capability to advertise effectively. The scheme costs $99 per month, while beta users can sign up for a free trial, during which the first 10 tweets each day are promoted. Twitter added\u00a0the caveat that results \"may vary based on performance\". The move may be an answer to the company's 8% drop in ad revenues during Q2 2017.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon explores healthcare expansion with 1492 lab \n It\u2019s not particularly surprising that it wants to muscle in on the industry, which is ripe for innovation, given that other tech giants have already made similar intentions clear. Google makes no secret of the fact that it wants to shake up the sector, with its spinout Verily Life Sciences building health-tracking hardware and launching large-scale medical studies. Apple, too, has been trying to get folks to use its hardware to track health-related data, and behind-the-scenes discussions with the FDA hint that it has grander plans to come.\n\nNone of the ideas being explored by Amazon are particularly revolutionary, either. Online consultations with doctors already happen, provided in the U.K. by companies like Dr Thom, and more complex versions, for say, physical therapy, have been tested. DeepMind, meanwhile, is currently building out a blockchain-inspired system to securely manage digital health records in London hospitals. And projects by Apple and Google are already trying to use existing or available hardware for health purposes.\n\nEven so, no tech firm has so far managed to disrupt health care, and the industry remains fit for technological upheaval. It\u2019s worth remembering that Amazon has a key advantage over other firms, with its sophisticated retail and distribution network\u2014indeed, earlier this year, CNBC also reported that Amazon was contemplating a move into selling pharmaceuticals. It may hope to offer a more comprehensive service than Apple or Google could right now.\n\n(Read more: CNBC, \u201cFDA E-mails Reveal Apple\u2019s Long Game for Health Tech,\u201d \u201cGoogle\u2019s Verily Unveils a Health Watch for Research,\u201d \u201cGoogle\u2019s Verily Unveils a Health Watch for Research,\u201d \u201cDeepMind\u2019s New Blockchain-Style System Will Track Health-Care Records\u201d)", "output": "Amazon has formed a team called 1492, whose aim is to research healthcare-related projects, according to a report by CNBC. It said the 1492 team is looking into finding uses for Amazon hardware, including the Echo speaker, as well as projects relating to digital medical records and online doctor's appointments. CNBC also speculated that\u00a0Amazon's sophisticated retail and distribution network could give the company the edge over Apple and Google, which\u00a0are also exploring ways to disrupt the healthcare sector.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian insurance mega-merger pulled after IRDAI douses plan \n HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co. Ltd and Max Life Insurance Co. Ltd have called off their proposed merger after failing to win regulatory approval for a union that would have created an insurance giant with Rs1.1 trillion in assets.\n\nIn a statement on Monday, Max Financial Services Ltd, Max India Ltd and Max Life confirmed that the proposed merger with HDFC Life has been called off.\n\nThe exclusivity agreement with HDFC Life was valid until 31 July 2017 (Monday), and will not be renewed, Max said.\n\nIn November, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA) referred the deal to the Union law ministry after raising concerns about its structure being in violation of a section of the Insurance Act.\n\nMax Financial Services was created in 2016, after a demerger of the erstwhile Max India. Both firms had initially proposed the merger of Max Life with Max Financial Services.\n\nThis structure was found to be in violation of Section 35 of the Insurance Act, which does not allow merger of an insurance firm with a non-insurance firm.\n\nThe law ministry, in turn, sought an opinion from then attorney general Mukul Rohatgi. As per the original scheme, the deadline for IRDA approval was to expire in June, while that for court approval was to end in February 2018. When Rohatgi declined to give his view on the matter, IRDA in its final decision refused to give the go-ahead to the transaction.\n\n\u201cThe prospective partners had evaluated several alternative structures over the last month. However, the inordinate time associated with finalization and approval of these structures led to this decision,\" the statement said.\n\nMint reported in June that both companies had begun working on an alternative structure while HDFC Life had also simultaneously begun working on its proposed initial public offering (IPO).\n\nIn July, HDFC Life\u2019s board approved a proposal to sell as much as 20% of the insurer through an IPO even as it reiterated its commitment to a potential merger with Max Life at a later date.\n\nWhile both sides could not subsequently agree on an alternative structure, Mint reported in June that the approval process for a new structure could potentially take another 12 to 18 months, which some HDFC Life investors were not amenable to.\n\nHDFC Life and Max Life had announced their merger plans in August last year. The potential merger would have created India\u2019s largest private sector life insurer, surpassing ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. Ltd, and second only to state-run Life Insurance Corp. of India, which has a 70% share of new business premiums in the country.\n\nThe merger had been seen as the first sign of a long-awaited consolidation in an industry with assets under management of Rs22.4 trillion, of which the 23 private sector insurers account for only Rs4.61 trillion, according to IRDA.", "output": "The merger of two financial giants to create India's largest private insurer has been abandoned after it failed to get regulatory approval. HDFC Standard Life Insurance and Max Life Insurance had announced their merger earlier this year to create a business with INR1.1tn ($17.1bn) in assets. But the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India said the arrangements put in place for the merger would have meant an insurer merging with a non-insurer, which is prohibited by Indian law."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook enables public sharing on Stories \n Facebook Stories, the platform's ephemeral video and image-sharing service, has enabled public sharing in a move that could present a further challenge to Snapchat.\n\nThe social network has confirmed to TechCrunch that Stories settings have been tweaked to allow users to share updates with a public following, rather than just their friends. The ability to do so could allow social media influencers and public figures to share updates with fans.\n\nFacebook launched Stories in March, affording users the chance to stitch a chronological slideshow of videos and pictures to share with friends. The opening up of the service - which effectively nabbed Snapchat's USP \u2013 has the potential to let celebrities give fans a peek behind-the-scenes of their day, or for influencers with Facebook followers to share content \u2013 giving users a reason to stay tuned to Facebook.\n\nWhile Snapchat has previously been reported to have less cosy relationships with creators and celebrities than other social networks, the upstart has tried to make itself more open in recent months. It recently made it easier for users to share public Snaps and has built out its search capabilities with Snap Maps so they can explore newsworthy and publicly shared content. It's even launched a feature within Snapchat Stories that opens the service up to third-party links, something Facebook has yet to explore.\n\nFacebook has 1.3 billion daily active users against Snap's 166 million, meaning there's plenty of room to scale public Stories and encourage users to migrate from Snapchat in the process.\n\nFacebook's sister platform Instagram, meanwhile, has opened up its own Stories format to brands and pages \u2013 it's used natively by media outlets like BuzzFeed as well as brands like Nike and Coast. As with Snapchat, ads are served between Stories within Instagram's walls to the service's 250 million daily active users.\n\nSome believe that Facebook is heading towards the same path and that the latest update will give the world's biggest social network greater leverage to monetise the service.\n\nFor now though, business pages are unable to use Facebook Stories, with a Facebook spokesperson telling TechCrunch there is \"no specific timing to share there quite yet,\" on when this will change. Given Instagram's success in the arena it's likely to be something Facebook is keen to explore the future, though.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s safe to assume that this move to drive usage of Stories is a route to eventually drive ad revenue from the format,\" said Matt Linstead, content manager at digital agency 360i Europe.\n\n\u201cFacebook will have the most success if it can get celebrities and media outlets to jump on this as a new way to share with audiences, in the same way they have with live video on the platform.\n\n\u201cIf Facebook can drive the kind of numbers it is seeing with Instagram Stories, the format will become an attractive opportunity for advertisers. But for now, it has a long way to go.\u201d", "output": "Facebook has enabled users to publicly share images and videos with its Stories feature, in an attempt to\u00a0encourage more of its 1.3 billion active daily users to engage with the tool and follow celebrities and influencers. The social media giant has also opened up Instagram's Stories to brands, including Nike and BuzzFeed, but has no plans to allow businesses access to the Facebook Stories feed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cannabis payment company launches mobile service \n CanPay, which calls itself the first legitimate debit payment product for the cannabis industry, is partnering with Harborside, the leading national medical cannabis dispensary, to provide a cashless payment option for delivery transactions originating from its Oakland and San Jose locations.\n\nHarborside claims it has more than 200,000 registered patients, according to a press release.\n\nWhen paying for their medicine, a CanPay user signs into the mobile app to generate a secure, single-use payment token that includes no personal identifiable information. The Harborside delivery employee then scans that payment token into their mobile delivery device and the funds for the purchase are transferred directly from the patient's checking account to Harborside's account.\n\n\"Patients who rely on cannabis for preexisting medical conditions should not have to be inconvenienced or have their safety put at risk by a cash-only model,\" said Dustin Eide, CEO of CanPay, in the release. \"Delivery is a mainstream solution and payments should be able to keep up with the industry. By partnering with Harborside, we are providing their patients the benefits of more secure, transparent transactions.\"", "output": "CanPay is teaming up with Harborside, a medical cannabis dispensary, to offer cashless payment options for deliveries to its 200,000 registered patients. CanPay describes itself as the\u00a0first legitimate debit payment solution for the cannabis industry in the US, and aims to allow users to simply sign into the mobile app to create a secure payment token, which holds no personal information.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "'Smart pill' reminds patients\u00a0to take their\u00a0medication \n Pills. Credit: Public Domain\n\nForget to take your medication? Now you can get a reminder to find your pills - sent by the pill itself.\n\nChicago's Rush University Medical Center has become one of the few health care providers in the United States to use a grain-of-sand-sized sensor that, after being swallowed, can alert patients when they've forgotten to take medication.\n\nDeveloped by Proteus Digital Health, the FDA-approved sensor is made from microscopic quantities of copper and magnesium. Powered by the human body (no batteries or antennas required), the tiny sensor turns on after reaching patients' stomachs, where it begins sending signals to a Band-Aid-like, Bluetooth-enabled patch worn on the torso. The patch then decodes those signals into meaningful health information and sends it to users and physicians in an app.\n\nTony Perry, vice president of Rush's ambulatory transformation program, said the hospital has been using the Proteus technology since January, hoping it could eventually better guide care for patients with chronic illnesses like hypertension or congestive heart failure.\n\nAs many as half of all patients undergoing drug therapy for chronic illnesses fail to regularly follow prescription instructions, Perry said.\n\n\"We know from a data perspective that when we write prescriptions, a good number of those prescriptions either don't get filled or don't get taken by people,\" he said. \"The 'click in the head' was that this is a behavioral tool that was meant to help people help themselves, and that really seemed like a neat opportunity.\"\n\nIn addition to reminding patients to take their meds, the Proteus technology also tracks heart rate and other important health markers, said Perry, whose clinical practice is in geriatric medicine.\n\nMore than a dozen Rush patients are currently using the digital medicine tool. The cost to patients is \"net neutral\" after insurance, he said.\n\nRush is the first health care provider in Illinois and the eighth nationally to partner with Proteus; Barton Health in California was the first. Children's Health in Texas is also among Proteus' list of health care providers.\n\nAmanda Tosto, director of system integration and population health at Rush, said the hospital's efforts have so far focused on how to successfully incorporate the tech into its operations. It has mostly begun using the Proteus sensor, patch and app with its more technologically friendly patients through hospital-provided iPads, she said.\n\n\"You've got your patients who are really going to like this and see it as an extension as their Fitbit or their MyFitnessPal app,\" Tosto said. \"But we've also got a couple of patients who have really benefited from being able to work with their families on medication delivery.\"\n\nThe Proteus sensor is sealed into a capsule along with a patient's normal medication by the specialty mail-order pharmacy Avella; it is the only pharmacy that distributes the \"smart pill\" for Rush.\n\nProteus has raised more than $284.5 million since 2013. Kaiser Permanente, Medtronic, Novartis and Otsuka are among the privately held company's investors.\n\nAlthough startups have introduced smart pill bottles and similar innovations that deliver medication reminders, Proteus considers itself the only company that does so through technology that's ingestible, according to Andy Thompson, co-founder and CEO of Proteus.\n\n\"What we are delivering in this industry is the ability to integrate silicon and software into its innovation toolkit,\" Thompson said. \"Those are levers that every other industry has been using to massively boost their rate of innovation, and we think that same is true for pharma.\"\n\nAbout half of all U.S. adults have one or more chronic health conditions, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Treating patients with chronic diseases accounts for 86 percent of all health care spending, the CDC estimates.\n\nThe FDA cleared the Proteus sensor for marketing as a medical device in 2012. The agency rejected an application for a Proteus investor, Otsuka, to pair the sensor with the antipsychotic drug Abilify in 2016, however, citing the need for more data. Otsuka submitted a new application in May.\n\nIn 30 years, Thompson said that he believes every drug that's built is going to have some sort of active silicon inside.\n\n\"We're delighted to work with a leading medical center in Chicago,\" he said. \"When we look at institutions like Rush, we believe they're magnifying their physical footprint with a digital footprint and helping folks who are sick manage their conditions where they live, work, play and pray.\"\n\n\u00a92017 Chicago Tribune\n\nDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.", "output": "Proteus Digital Health has developed a US Food and Drug Administration-approved sensor, the size of a grain of sand, which\u00a0is swallowed like a pill and provides an\u00a0alert to\u00a0patients with chronic illnesses reminding them to take their medication, via a wearable patch and a connected app. The Proteus technology also monitors heart rate and other health markers, and is being used by eight national partners across the country. The sensor is powered by the human body and is made from copper and magnesium. The Centers for Disease Control has estimated\u00a0half of US adults have one or more chronic health conditions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK\u2019s FCA considers ban on unarranged overdraft charges \n The review provides clear evidence that FCA regulation of high-cost short-term credit (often known as \u2018payday lending\u2019) has delivered substantial benefits to consumers. The review found that 760,000 borrowers in this market are saving a total of \u00a3150m per year, firms are much less likely to lend to customers who cannot afford to repay and debt charities are seeing far fewer clients with debt problems linked to high-cost short-term credit.\n\nThe FCA has therefore decided to leave the existing payday loan price cap in place, and to review it again in 2020.\n\nHowever, the review has also established clear concerns with other forms of high-cost credit. In particular, the FCA believes that fundamental changes in the way that unarranged overdrafts are provided may be necessary. Charges for unarranged overdrafts are often high after taking into account the risks to lenders, and can be complex and thus hard for consumers to understand.\n\nThe FCA also identified particular concerns in the rent-to-own, home-collected credit and catalogue credit sectors. While there are similarities between high-cost credit markets and products, there are also significant differences in how they work and how people use them. The FCA is developing tailored solutions to these issues, and will consult on action to address these concerns in Spring 2018.\n\nAndrew Bailey, Chief Executive of the FCA, said:\n\n\u201cHigh-cost credit products remain a key focus for us because of the risks they pose to potentially vulnerable customers. We are pleased to see clear evidence of improvement in the payday lending market after a period when firms\u2019 treatment of customers and their business models were often unacceptable.\n\n\u201cHowever, there is more that we can do, and this review is about identifying the areas where consumers may be suffering harm so that we can focus our efforts accordingly.\n\n\u201cIn particular, the nature and extent of the problems that we have found with unarranged overdrafts mean that maintaining the status quo is not an option. We are now working to resolve these issues while preserving the parts of the market that consumers find useful.\u201d\n\nAlongside the review, the FCA is publishing proposals to clarify its rules on creditworthiness and affordability. Most credit firms understand the FCA\u2019s rules regarding checks on prospective customers\u2019 creditworthiness, including whether they can afford consumer credit products. However, there is some uncertainty in parts of the market, so the FCA is proposing a number of changes to clarify its expectations.\n\nThe FCA has also published more detail on its work on motor finance, setting out the issues that it is considering and the steps it is taking to develop its understanding of the market. The FCA will publish an update on this work in the first quarter of 2018.\n\nNotes to editors", "output": "Unarranged overdraft fees could be banned in the UK, according to a review by the country\u2019s regulatory body, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Lloyds, the UK\u2019s largest lender, said earlier this month that it would abandon such charges from November. Barclays has already ceased unauthorised lending. Charges for those who go into debt without prior agreement can be up to \u00a36 ($8) per day. Fees for such overdrafts were frequently \u201csignificantly higher\u201d than for payday loans, said FCA CEO\u00a0Andrew Bailey. Other options under consideration include a cap on charges or affordability checks.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow funds final \u00a3400 of fundraising to buy school a defibrillator \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nIt's more important than ever to stay informed - Get the free CheshireLive newsletter direct to your inbox\n\nA Hartford primary school has been able to purchase lifesaving equipment after a housebuilder stepped in to help boost their fundraising efforts.\n\nRedrow Homes donated the final \u00a3400 needed to the Young PTA at St Wilfrid\u2019s Catholic Primary School so they could buy a defibrillator.\n\nThe Young PTA group, made up of children between the ages of five and 11 with a small additional group of youth leaders aged 11-14, was set up four years ago to raise funds for a variety of causes.\n\nThis year\u2019s chosen cause is The Oliver King Foundation, founded after the death of 12 year-old Oliver King from Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome - a hidden heart condition which kills 12 young people a week.\n\nHeadteacher Anne Weir said: \u201cThe school had a visit from Oliver\u2019s dad, Mark, who told us all about the condition and the fact that Oliver had suffered a cardiac arrest while taking part in a swimming race. After Mark\u2019s talk, the children voted unanimously to raise funds to provide a defibrillator to the school which previously didn\u2019t have one at all.\n\n\u201cThe children were fantastic at their own fundraising and had raised \u00a3600, but the funds fell short of the target so the donation from Redrow has meant that we\u2019ve been able to purchase a defibrillator that could save the life of a child or any adults at the school.\n\n\u201cOnce we\u2019d bought the defibrillator we had a special assembly at school and invited Mark along so he could see the results of Oliver\u2019s legacy.\u201d\n\nArea sales manager for Redrow (NW), Caroline Thompson Jones, also attended the special assembly and added: \u201cWe\u2019ve been helping out various causes in Hartford for a couple of years now and when the school contacted us about this, we knew we had to help.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s great to know that we could boost the sterling fundraising efforts of the children at the school and now there is equipment on site that could actually save a life.\u201d\n\nRedrow is no stranger to having defibrillators on site, having installed 110 of them across its own housing developments across the UK, as well as in the company\u2019s divisional offices, giving staff, contractors and the local community access to the equipment in the event of a medical emergency.\n\nThe company was presented with the Outstanding Organisation Award at the North West Construction Safety Group (NWCSG) Health and Safety Awards 2016.", "output": "Redrow Homes donated the final \u00a3400 of a \u00a31,000 fundraising effort by the Young PTA at St Wilfrid\u2019s Catholic Primary School in Hartford to buy a defibrillator.\u00a0Set up four year's ago, the\u00a0Young PTA raises funds for various causes, it is made up of children between the ages of five and 11 and a small group of youth leaders aged 11-14. The Oliver King Foundation, was chosen as its cause this year following a visit from the father of 12 year-old Oliver King who died from Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome while taking part in a swimming race.\n\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Allianz creates UBI drone policy with insurtech start-up Flock \n The first product will be a mobile app for pay-as-you-fly drone insurance.\n\nAllianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) has teamed up with InsurTech start-up Flock to develop digital insurance solutions for the drone market.\n\nThe insurer stated that the partnership\u2019s first product, a mobile app enabling operators to buy pay-as-you-fly drone insurance, would be launched in the UK later this year.\n\nAccording to a report by AGCS the number of drones, or unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), is set to triple by 2020.\n\nThe insurer noted that the increasing number of drones also", "output": "Insurer Allianz Global Corporate and Speciality (AGCS) has joined forces with insurtech start-up Flock to offer a digital insurance solution for drones. The insurer will offer a mobile app which allows drone operators to purchase pay-as-you-fly insurance, to launch\u00a0later in 2017. According to AGCS\u00a0the number of drones in the air will triple by the year 2020, bringing new risks to be mitigated. The new app will provide simple policies that will suit both commercial and recreational drone operators.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Eurobank launches Masterpass-integrated mobile wallet \n Source: Mastercard\n\nEurobank, one of the leading banks in Greece, recently launched a mobile wallet integrating Mastercard\u2019s Masterpass, in an effort to reduce abandonment rates in e-commerce payments.\n\nThe Bank has decided to integrate the wallet in its core Banking app (the \u201cEurobank Mobile App\u201d) in order to capitalize on the existing user base and authentication mechanisms, aiming to provide optimum experiences and increase adoption rates. App users are able to perform their purchases either through the web or in-app, in online shops around the world that co-operate with Masterpass and validate their payments using the same credentials they already use for their core online banking transactions: their fingerprint or strong 4-digit pin (\"one pin solution\"). This omnichannel experience is further enhanced by the fact that Eurobank Masterpass service automatically hosts all customer Eurobank cards, of any kind and any scheme, as well as the addresses that the user has registered with the Bank. Therefore, online shoppers do not need to register cards or enter shipping or billing addresses while performing their purchases.\n\n\n\nEurobank customers can activate their wallet instantly, either at the Bank's digital channels (e-Banking, Mobile App) or directly on the merchant\u2019s web site. This \"digital by default\" strategy led to a significant activation rate, where almost 25% of the app's customer base has already activated its wallet during the first month of operation.\n\n\n\nAccording to Mr. Sotiris Sirmakezis, Eurobank's Group Chief Digital & Technology Officer, \"to make customers change the way they perform their daily transactions and to foster engagement, we need to design attractive and frictionless experiences, simplifying their everyday lives. Our implementation of Masterpass provides a seamless payment experience to our app users, from any touchpoint they select to make their purchases\n\n\n\nThe new wallet service of the Bank caters for payments convergence, thus it will soon also include proximity payments through NFC technology, providing the same experience to app users as for e-commerce transactions. Ms. Aspa Palimeri Country Manager for Greece, Cyprus & Malta, Mastercard commented: \"Eurobank\u2019s wallet is a best-in class Masterpass implementation, offering to consumers intuitive, high quality and convergent user experience. We are proud for the result of a very productive cooperation between Eurobank, Mastercard and Mastercard Advisors\u201d\n\n\n\nGreece is still among the European countries with the lowest adoption rates in digital transactions usage per capita. However, recent government legislations that force merchants to adopt digital means of receiving payments, together with providing incentives to citizens for paying online in their daily transactions, are expected to give boost to digital payments in the country.\"", "output": "Greek bank Eurobank has launched a mobile wallet that uses Mastercard's Masterpass to boost adoption of e-commerce payments. App users can make purchases on global online stores that offer Masterpass payments, either via the web or in-app,\u00a0validating\u00a0payments using their four-digit banking pin or their fingerprint.\u00a0The platform also plans to add proximity payments using near field communication technology."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Monese partners with PrePay Solutions to boost mobile banking \n Source: Monese\n\nMonese, provider of instant mobile current accounts, has today announced a significant collaboration with PrePay Solutions, Europe\u2019s leading prepaid and digital banking services provider.\n\nMonese has been disrupting the traditional banking scene since its launch in 2015 by enabling customers to open current accounts in two minutes, and providing essential financial services to the estimated 138 million people in Europe that are unbanked and might find it hard to access the more rigid traditional banks.\n\n\n\nThis partnership will power the launch of Monese\u2019s upgraded mobile-only banking account, equipping users with a contactless Mastercard and, uniquely, full direct debit functionality. The current account service will be accessible in 20 European countries, in eight languages and is the first of its kind to stretch across Europe in this way.\n\n\n\nMonese customers will now benefit from a complete suite of banking services. Utilising pioneering onboarding technology, customers can open an account in minutes, and enjoy all the benefits of a local bank account even if they are not a resident in a given country.\n\n\n\nNewcomers to a country can start payments and transactions immediately, even without proof of address or credit history.\n\n\n\nRay Brash, CEO of PrePay Solutions, said,\n\n\u201cMonese is one of the UK's pioneering challenger banks, which makes us very proud to announce this collaboration. Together we\u2019ve developed and launched a truly innovative mobile banking solution, tailored to fit the needs of a mobile community.\n\nWe are focused on developing new and flexible solutions that enable our clients to appeal to modern customers - with Monese, this means an entirely mobile banking experience. We are confident that the partnership will evolve with the creation of more high quality digital banking products, as we find new ways to cater for the specific needs of varying consumer groups.\u201d\n\n\n\nFounder and CEO of Monese, Norris Koppel, said:\n\n\u201cWe believe that people should be able to live, travel, and work freely, without the administrative burdens and restraints of legacy banking systems. This upgrade is evidence of how we are able to combine technology and creative thinking to respond to the needs of a mobile user group in an on-demand economy.\n\n\n\nPPS really understood our vision and we were impressed by their knowledge and professionalism. Despite our complex list of requirements for this important undertaking, they successfully migrated an existing customer base, to deliver the integrated account on time. This is the start of an exciting collaboration.\u201d", "output": "Mobile bank Monese has partnered with digital banking services provider PrePay Solutions (PPS) to launch its upgraded mobile-only banking account. As part of the collaboration, PPS migrated Monese's existing customer base to the digital bank's integrated account. Monese users will receive a contactless Mastercard and full direct direct debit functionality with the account upgrade, even if they are not a resident within a given country."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Thousands of Ola and Uber drivers sell their cabs in India \n Neha Alawadhi, Durba Ghosh & Priyanka Sahay Moneycontrol News Thousands of financially distressed cab drivers in India registered with taxi aggregators Ola and Uber are listing their vehicles online for sale as trip incentives by companies dry up. Cab owners from Gurgaon to Kolkata, Navi Mumbai to Hyderabad have listed cars with commercial licenses, with prices ranging from as low as Rs 50,000 to about Rs 8.5 lakh for sale, depending on the condition and age of cars. \u201cGud condition recently changed clutch assembly EMI continue 22 months pending 12,350 per month,\u201d says a listing by a Bangalore based cab owner on Olx. A quick search for \u201cOla\u201d or \u201cUber\u201d throws up plenty of listings on the popular listing portal Olx. Unable to make ends meet with the tightening of Ola and Uber\u2019s incentive structure, drivers and taxi operators are looking to sell these cars, and recover whatever money that they can. Many white collar professionals who had used this as an investment route to earn a side income by financing cars and attaching them with Ola and Uber are also feeling the heat. \"My cab's owner is unhappy as his income has fallen. I have not taken a salary cut but have to work all 30 days now to make up for the decline,\" says Dharm, a Delhi-based driver whose cab is attached with Uber. A Bengaluru-based owner of a fleet of six cars, all of which are attached to one of the two cab hailing companies said that some of the drivers he hired for the purpose have quit. \"They are not happy. The kind of money that attracted them to this business is no longer there,\" he said, requesting not to be named. \"Getting a driver for Uber, Ola has become a bit difficult now. If that continues, I will have to pull back to offline,\" he added. Drivers in other cities are also feeling the pain. \u201cIt is no longer sustainable,\u201d Thirupati, an Uber driver in Mumbai told Moneycontrol. \u201cThe incentives were great in the beginning, but now if I make Rs 100, I have to give them (Uber) Rs 25, the maintenance, upkeep, servicing and fuel cost of the car is separate. We used to lease cabs to two three drivers in the good days, but now it just doesn\u2019t make sense for us so we are selling our vehicles,\u201d he said. Multiple cab owners hardest hit A large part of the cab fleet under Uber and Ola is sourced from the erstwhile local taxi operators, who now directly recruit one or more drivers or offer them a cab on a lease, to attach it to the on-demand cab hailing companies. These fleet owners typically charge a commission or a fixed fee from each driver. Additionally, there are a number of independent drivers also under Uber and Ola, who have bought a car of their own with a commercial licence to cash in on the earning opportunity created by both the companies. In an email response to the question sent by Moneycontrol, Uber said that the listings on OLX were a minuscule part of their fleet in India. \u201cWe currently have 2,45,000 active driver partners (who would have taken at least one ride in a week) and are seeing new sign ups every day. We are not seeing any significant churn,\u201d said an Uber spokesperson. An Ola source agrees that with 'rationalization' of incentives between the two competitors, earnings have come down for drivers. \"It is unlikely that drivers who ran their own vehicles on our platform would be selling off. Instead, they are either driver association heads or even individuals who were plying multiple vehicles and were then paying salaries to the drivers. Initially, they must be making a good amount of money. But with a rationalisation that has now come down,\" said a senior Ola executive on the condition of anonymity. However, Moneycontrol also came across cases of individual drivers who have put up their commercial licensed vehicles for sale. For instance, 41-year-old Krishna in Bengaluru has also put up his Indica car up for sale, as his commissions and incentives gradually dwindled. Krishna bought his car on EMI two years ago and attached it to both Uber and Ola. Ola did not respond to an email seeking comment at the time of publishing. Falling incentives continue to haunt drivers Declining incentives and lower earnings have been major issues for drivers affiliated with the cab aggregators since the past few months. Early this year, several drivers with Uber and Ola went on an infinite strike to protest against the steep fall in their earnings. \"The incentives initially were very good. I managed to make at least Rs 70,000-80,000 per month. Now I get only about Rs 40,000. It is difficult to manage EMIs, household costs and education of children,\" said Krishna. He heard a few of his colleagues consider selling their cars online, so he listed his car on OLX, hoping to get rid of monthly instalments and other maintenance costs. OLX did not respond to Moneycontrol\u2019s query on the rise in the number of such listings in the past 12 months in the major Indian cities- Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata. According to a report released by research and advisory firm RedSeer Consulting, the cab hailing platforms are struggling with a demand and supply mismatch. The report states that the number of registered cabs registered a decline of 20 percent between January and March, as the driver incentives fell by almost 40 percent. Uber said that \u201cbarring a few isolated incidents,\u201d it hasn\u2019t heard from drivers registered on its platform about issues they may be facing with vehicle maintenance costs. Asked about whether Uber helps its drivers for vehicle upkeep, fuel and so on, the spokesperson said: \u201cGiven the strong demand from riders, we are seeing sustainable earning opportunities for driver partners and are committed to supporting them. Our idea is to ensure we help driver partners improve their organic earnings as we move forward in our journey from being a startup to a sustainable business.\" The spokesperson also said that Uber works with lenders as well to find terms most attractive for driver partners.", "output": "Many Ola and Uber drivers in India are selling their licensed vehicles online as the ride-hailing companies' tightened incentive structure causes incomes to fall. Global online marketplace OLX is being used to sell the vehicles. White collar professionals who finance cars for use with Ola and Uber are also struggling to recover investments."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Total looks for capex reduction of 50% for new projects \n In these cost-conscious times, paring down the capital costs of a new deep-water project by 20% is quite a feat.\n\nBut Total has a much more ambitious goal in mind \u2014 a capex reduction of 50% for new projects.\n\nIt will not happen overnight \u2014 savings on that scale will require technologies not yet in use, and further refinement of existing practices.\n\nHowever, there are significant incremental cost reductions that can be achieved now, says Luc Riviere, senior adviser in Total\u2019s Deep Offshore business.\n\nBarring", "output": "Energy company Total is aiming to reduce capital expenditure (capex) by 50% for new deep-water oil drilling projects. As part of Total's plan, the company will evaluate how currently used\u00a0technologies would have reduced capex for previous projects. For example, improved flow modelling demonstrated that it could have saved 4% on its operation off\u00a0Shetland by forgoing an unnecessary service line, among other measures. Total is publicising the savings it could have made to the rest of the industry\u00a0to bring down the cost of deep-water projects, said Luc Riviere, a senior adviser at Total's deep offshore business."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How seniors can avoid the emergency room \u2014 and what to do if they end up there \n No one wants to end up in the emergency department of a hospital. While you can\u2019t prevent all accidents and health emergencies, you can improve your odds of avoiding them. Here are some research-based tips for protecting your safety and health as you age:\n\n1) Remember those check-ups: See your doctor regularly and make sure you\u2019re up to date on recommended tests and screenings. Discuss any health issues you\u2019re experiencing, such as vision or hearing difficulties, balance problems, dizziness or feeling faint. Ask your doctor or pharmacist to review medications you\u2019re taking for possible conflicts or side effects.\n\n2) Don\u2019t put off care: If you have unusual symptoms, don\u2019t wait until your annual check-up to consult your doctor. Symptoms such as unexplained weight loss, fever, fatigue, unusual bleeding, skin changes or odd bowel movements can signal disease. Catching and treating the problems early could help prevent life-threatening consequences later.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n3) Check your eyesight: Vision problems can increase your risk of falling. Have your eyesight checked by a professional at least once a year.\n\n4) Go easy on pain medications: Regularly popping prescription or over-the-counter painkillers such as ibuprofen has been tied to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Don\u2019t take pain pills unless you have to and, if you do, stick to the lowest dose possible.\n\n5) Keep moving: Exercise is a powerful tool for improving and maintaining health as we age. Walking, dancing, exercise classes and other physical activities can boost cardiovascular health, strength, flexibility and balance, reducing the risk of health problems and falls. Ask your doctor what kind of activity is best for you.\n\n6) Fall-proof your home: Loose rugs, bad lighting and slippery floors or bathtubs at home can all present a fall risk. Remove rugs or fix them to the floor, install bright lights where needed and consider putting up handrails in the bathroom and along stairs. Visit SanDiegoFallPrevention.org for a list of home modification programs for seniors and people with disabilities.\n\nRELATED STORY\n\nHospitals focus on baby boomers and elderly, but will it boost patients\u2019 health and save money?\n\n7) Get enough sleep: Studies show getting less than six hours of sleep a night almost doubles your risk of heart attack and stroke. Try to get between seven and nine hours of sleep per night. Almost half of seniors experience insomnia. You can help improve your sleep by getting regular exercise. And work with your doctor if you have a medical condition that\u2019s disrupting your sleep.\n\n8) Make friends: Loneliness can increase your risk of functional decline and early death, studies show. Keep in touch with friends and family, get to know your neighbors, participate in social activities at your local senior center, attend a class, volunteer or join a club or special-interest group. Even interacting with friends online can help you live longer, according to a UC San Diego study.\n\n9) Adopt a pet: A four-legged friend can help ward off loneliness and keep you physically active. Some studies have found that owning a pet reduces anxiety and lowers blood pressure and heart-disease risk.\n\n10) Eat healthy: Keep a balanced diet made up of nutrient-dense foods such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fish and nuts. Limit consumption of sugar, salt and processed food. Healthy eating may reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes, bone loss and some kinds of cancer.\n\nOf course, staying out of the hospital isn\u2019t always possible. These pointers can help minimize problems during and after you or a loved one visits the hospital or emergency room:\n\n* Bring items you need: Take items such as glasses, hearing aids and dentures. Being able to hear, see and eat properly at the hospital helps reduce the risk of delirium. For comfort, it may help to bring familiar objects from home such as family photos or a favorite blanket or book.\n\n* Know your meds: Doctors need information about all the medications you\u2019re taking \u2014 including over-the-counter pills and supplements \u2014 to identify possible side effects and avoid prescribing the wrong drugs. It may help to bring your medication bottles with you to the hospital (or get a friend or relative to bring them).\n\n* Have information ready: Create a \u201cmedical information sheet\u201d you can take to the hospital. List allergies, known medical conditions, names and phone numbers of your doctors, and your usual pharmacy.\n\n* Say no to sedatives and tranquilizers: It\u2019s common for older people to become confused and delirious in the hospital, which can further damage their health. Sedatives and tranquilizers \u2014 even mild ones such as Benadryl \u2014 can increase the risk of delirium. Try to find ways to relax without drugs, such as listening to music, drinking a cup of herbal tea or talking with a loved one.\n\n* Bring a loved one: Having a family member with you at the hospital is both comforting and helpful. Your loved one can speak up for you if you\u2019re in need and be there for you if you get confused or require help getting to the bathroom. They can also listen in when the doctor is giving instructions on what to do after you leave the hospital.\n\n* Get some sleep: If you spend a night or more at the hospital, try to maintain your regular sleep schedule. Ask the nurse if you can avoid blood-pressure checks during the night, and don\u2019t take sleeping pills as these increase the risk of delirium. If possible, try to get a room with natural lighting.\n\n* Move around: If you\u2019re staying in the hospital for awhile, get up and move around (if necessary, with the help of a nurse or family member so you don\u2019t fall). Spending too much time in bed can lead to physical decline.\n\n* Create an advanced directive: These legal documents allow you to appoint a representative such as a family member to speak for you if you can\u2019t speak for yourself, and to specify the types of treatments you\u2019re willing to receive or not if you become incapable, such as CPR and mechanical ventilation. Keep in mind that emergency medical personnel cannot honor these requests until they\u2019ve stabilized a person for transfer to the hospital. Advanced directives vary by state. Visit www.caringinfo.org for more information.\n\n* Plan for when you leave: Ask hospital staff if they have special planners available to help you plan your departure from the hospital, including whether they\u2019ll be communicating with your primary care provider about follow-up care. Ask about what medications to take or avoid, and how to get help if you need it after returning home. Ask for this information in writing.\n\nBoyd-Barrett writes for the Center for Health Reporting at USC\u2019s Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics.\n\nRELATED", "output": "No one wants to end up in the emergency department of a hospital. While you can\u2019t prevent all accidents and health emergencies, you can improve your odds of avoiding them. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California Nurse Practitioners Lose Battle For Independent Practice, Again \n About Capitol Desk Capitol Desk delivers the latest in health care policy and politics from Sacramento and around the state. Have an idea? Let us know.\n\nLegislation to allow California\u2019s nurse practitioners more independence in treating patients has fizzled for the year \u2014 and it\u2019s not the first time.\n\nA proposed bill to expand the scope of nurse practitioners was scheduled to be heard by an Assembly committee this week, but was pulled by the measure\u2019s author, state Senator Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina), after he determined that it did not have the votes needed to pass.\n\nExpanding the medical role of nurse practitioners has long been opposed by doctors \u2013 some say for economic reasons. Proponents of the idea say it can help address the shortage of primary care doctors in the state by making treatment more accessible \u2014 and more affordable.\n\n\u201cWe have been trying for a really long time \u2026 to allow NPs to practice to the fullest extent of their scope and training,\u201d says Donna Emanuele, President for the California Association for Nurse Practitioners.\n\nUse Our Content This story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nUnder current state law, nurse practitioners can independently provide basic primary care, such as assessing a patient\u2019s health status or diagnosing ailments. But they must follow physician-approved guidelines to prescribe medication, order tests or otherwise manage patients.\n\nNurse practitioners are among the most highly trained nursing professionals and must have at least a master\u2019s degree. Registered nurses, are only required to hold an associate\u2019s degree at minimum, and they don\u2019t diagnose or prescribe on their own.\n\nNurse practitioners say they provide quality care that\u2019s comparable to that provided by physicians. They want California lawmakers to allow them to practice without the supervision of a doctor.\n\n\u2018We continue to hit the same road blocks in terms of some turf wars that I think are unnecessary in today\u2019s age, because there are enough patients to go around,\u201d said Emanuele.\n\nThe California Medical Association, which lobbies for the state\u2019s physicians, has vehemently opposed allowing the nurses to treat patients without using standardized medical procedures approved by them.\n\n\u201cTeam-based care led by a physician is the safest, most cost-effective way to treat patients,\u201d CMA officials said in a press release after the defeat of a 2013 bill to expand nurse practitioners\u2019 scope of practice.\n\nThe California Medical Association did not comment for this story but it did provide a copy of the letter it had filed opposing this year\u2019s measure to lift restrictions on the nurse practitioners.\n\n\u201c[The bill] reverses 40 years of policy that has maintained high quality health care for every Californian by allowing lesser trained practitioners to practice medicine without providing adequate patient protections and medical standards,\u201d the letter said.\n\nA 2010 report by the Institute of Medicine recommended that nurses should be allowed to practice at the full scope of their training, and should achieve higher levels of education.\n\nSince 2013, five states have lifted restrictions on nurse practitioners, raising to 21 the number of states that have expanded nurse practitioners\u2019 legal \u201cscope of practice,\u201d according to the National Council on State Legislatures. The District of Columbia has also done so.\n\n\u201cThere is yet to be a study that shows, based on these restrictions, there [are] better primary care outcomes, or better safety or better referrals or anything else,\u201d says Joanne Spetz, associate director of research at Healthforce Center at the University of California at San Francisco, and a professor at the University\u2019s School of Nursing.\n\nSpetz co-authored a recent study that suggests state policies allowing independence for nurse practitioners have resulted in a slight drop in the price of services and a minor increase in overall outpatient, physician and pharmacy costs. The uptick in those costs may be due to expanded patient access and an increase in the volume of services provided, the research suggests.\n\nNurse practitioners are sometimes paid less than physicians for providing the same health care service, Spetz says. Medicare reimburses nurse practitioners at a lower rate than doctors. The economics of more providers offering the same services may be one reason physicians oppose the idea, says Spetz.\n\n\u201cIf you have more competition in the market, the prices will drop, and those dropped prices are great for consumers and patients, but\u2026mean someone\u2019s going to lose money. And that may be a doctor,\u201d says Spetz.\n\nThe prospect of lower health care costs compelled business groups to support easing restrictions on nurse practitioners.\n\n\u201cSmall businesses continue to really struggle with being able to afford health insurance for themselves and their employees,\u201d says David Chase, California Director of the Small Business Majority, a national policy advocacy group for small businesses. \u201cThe ACA has taken a lot of steps to control costs, but we think a lot more needs to be done.\u201d\n\nHernandez, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health who has championed the nurse practitioner bills during the past two legislative sessions, says he will consider next year whether to reintroduce the proposal.\n\n\u201cWe are always searching for solutions to the shortage of primary care providers,\u201d he said.", "output": "Legislation to allow California\u2019s nurse practitioners more independence in treating patients has fizzled for the year \u2014 and it\u2019s not the first time.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Why Health Care Policy Is So Hard \n \u201cNobody knew that health care could be so complicated.\u201d President Trump said that in February, yielding more than a few chuckles from pundits and late-night comedians.\n\nIn fact, anyone who has spent some time thinking about the issue sees its complexity. With the collapse of the Senate health care bills this week, the president has certainly been reminded of it.\n\nBut Mr. Trump\u2019s epiphany raises some questions: Why is health care so complicated? How does it differ from most of the other goods and services that the economy produces? What makes health policy so vexing?\n\nIn Econ 101, students learn that market economies allocate scarce resources based on the forces of supply and demand. In most markets, producers decide how much to offer for sale as they try to maximize profit, and consumers decide how much to buy as they try to achieve the best standard of living they can. Prices adjust to bring supply and demand into balance. Things often work out well, with little role left for government. Hence, Adam Smith\u2019s vaunted \u201cinvisible hand.\u201d", "output": "\u201cNobody knew that health care could be so complicated.\u201d President Trump said\u00a0that in February, yielding more than a few chuckles from pundits and late-night comedians. In fact, anyone who has spent some time thinking about the issue sees its complexity. With the collapse of the Senate health care bills this week, the president has certainly been reminded of it.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How to Repair the Health Law \n Republicans have failed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Now, can it be repaired?\n\nThe seven-year-old law has survived Supreme Court decisions and aggressive attempts to extinguish it by Republicans in Congress and the White House. But even people who rely on its coverage agree that it still has big problems. The question for the roughly 20 million Americans who buy their own health coverage \u2014 and for millions of others who remain uninsured \u2014 is what can realistically be done to address their main concerns: high prices and lack of choice in many parts of the country.\n\n\u201cEveryone feels really scrunched by the prices we\u2019re paying, and we have no options in Iowa,\u201d said Catalina Ressler, 39, a psychologist outside Des Moines who pays $1,567 in monthly premiums. \u201cNext year is going to be even worse.\u201d\n\nMs. Ressler\u2019s plan, which covers her family of four, also comes with a $7,000 deductible. Their insurer, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, is pulling out of the Affordable Care Act marketplace in Iowa next year, leaving just one company, Medica, to possibly remain.\n\nCiting the protracted uncertainty over the law\u2019s future, many insurers have proposed big rate increases again for next year even though many are no longer incurring big losses in its marketplaces. People covered by one insurer in Maryland could see premiums rise by more than 50 percent if proposed rate increases go into effect, and premiums for plans in Virginia and Connecticut could increase more than 30 percent. In North Carolina, where rates are already among the nation\u2019s highest, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina wants an increase of nearly 23 percent but said it would have sought less than half that amount under more predictable circumstances.", "output": "Republicans have failed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Now, can it be repaired? The seven-year-old law has survived Supreme Court decisions and aggressive attempts to extinguish it by Republicans in Congress and the White House. But even people who rely on its coverage agree that it still has big problems. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How the Republican Effort to Repeal Obamacare Came Crashing Down \n At about 1:40 on Friday morning, Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, stood behind a lectern in the U.S. Senate, his left hand in his pocket, and said, \u201cSo, Mr. President, this is clearly a disappointing moment.\u201d A few minutes earlier, the Senate had narrowly voted down a so-called skinny-repeal bill, which was McConnell\u2019s latest ploy to keep alive the Republican Party\u2019s seven-and-a-half-year effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. The bill would have eliminated some parts of Obamacare, including the individual mandate. Perhaps more importantly, its passage would have tossed the ball to a House-Senate conference committee, where a more comprehensive demolition plan could have been worked up.\n\nThe historic vote was fifty-one to forty-nine against the bill, with three Republican senators joining the Democrats in opposing it. Two of the G.O.P. dissidents were Maine\u2019s Susan Collins and Alaska\u2019s Lisa Murkowski. Both of them had bravely resisted their party\u2019s previous efforts to pass damaging health-care bills. The other Republican no vote was cast by the cancer-stricken John McCain, of Arizona, who, in an astonishing piece of political drama, helped deliver a monumental blow to his party\u2019s leadership and to President Trump, who once mocked and grievously insulted him.\n\nShortly before the vote was taken, C-SPAN\u2019s cameras showed McCain engaged in warm conversations with a group of Democrats. He also had some seemingly frostier exchanges with some of his Republican colleagues. At one point, McConnell walked by McCain and the two men appeared to ignore each other. Shortly before the vote, Vice-President Mike Pence\u2014who was in the room to break a tie in case of a fifty-fifty vote\u2014left the chamber. When the roll-call vote was taken and McCain\u2019s name was called out, he gave a thumbs-down sign and said, \u201cNo.\u201d Democrats cheered and applauded.\n\nSkinny repeal had been McConnell\u2019s fallback strategy: during the previous couple of weeks, the Senate had already rejected a bill that would have replaced Obamacare and another that would have repealed it without providing any replacement. On Friday morning, the Senate Majority Leader acknowledged that the jig was up. Referring to Democratic efforts to stymie the Republican repeal push, he said, \u201cI regret to say they have succeeded in that effort. So, now I think it is appropriate to ask: What are their ideas? It will be interesting to see what they suggest as the way forward.\u201d\n\nMcConnell posed the question more out of pique than because the spirit of co\u00f6peration had overcome him. But the fact is, he and other Republicans now have little choice but to engage in some sort of negotiation process with the Democrats. The G.O.P.\u2019s signature policy initiative has collapsed under the weight of its own shortcomings and contradictions.\n\nAs McConnell indicated, the Senate Democrats, who stayed united under their leader, Chuck Schumer, deserve some of the credit for instigating this collapse. So do all the activists, protesters, and policy wonks who have spent much of the past six months working to frustrate the Republicans\u2019 heartless and ill-considered designs. Also deserving credit are ordinary Americans, who, as the details of the various Republican proposals became clear, decided in very large numbers that they would be better off sticking with Obamacare, for all its problems.\n\nBut above all else, the collapse reflects a failure of the Republican Party and its President. Trump\u2019s rise to power has undermined his party\u2019s internal cohesion. And his ignorance of basic health-care-policy details hampered efforts to win over public support for the repeal effort. The G.O.P. is now a conservative political organization that favors small government and abhors the expansion of the welfare state, yet it has come to rely on the votes of less affluent white voters, many of whom depend on government programs\u2014particularly Medicaid\u2014that would have been slashed under the Party\u2019s repeal plans.\n\nAs long as repealing Obamacare was merely a slogan used to rally disaffected voters, the G.O.P. leadership could afford to ignore this tension. But after a President from their own party was unexpectedly voted into the White House, Republicans were forced to put an actual policy proposal on the table. In the end, the tension was too difficult to resolve, even for McConnell, who employed secrecy, subterfuge, and clock-management to try to railroad any bill he could though the Senate. His office didn\u2019t even publish the skinny-repeal bill until 10 P.M. on Thursday, just two hours before the vote was scheduled to take place.\n\nAs the senators prepared to cast their votes, most observers assumed that the bill would pass. With just forty-eight votes of their own, the Democrats didn\u2019t have the numbers to stop it. Still, some of them did get the chance to state a few truths. \u201cThis is nuclear-grade bonkers, what is going on here tonight,\u201d Chris Murphy, of Connecticut, said during the brief debate. \u201cWe are about to reorder one fifth of the American health-care system, and we are going to have two hours to review a bill \u2026 that is lighting the American health-care system on fire with intentionality.\u201d \u201cWhy is this being run this way?\u201d Schumer asked. \"Why is this being done in the dead of night. I can\u2019t believe that my\u201d\u2014Republican\u2014\u201ccolleagues are proud of this.\u201d Cory Booker, of New Jersey, said, \u201cThis is not what the people want. This is a betrayal of our values. This is a betrayal of our history.\u201d\n\nThe Republicans, for their part, appeared barely more enthusiastic about the contents of the bill, which the Party leadership openly presented as a ruse. \u201cWe intend to pass a bill and to conference with the House to make the bill better,\u201d John Cornyn, the Majority Whip, said in closing the debate. According to an instant analysis from the Congressional Budget Office, the bill would have increased the number of uninsured by fifteen million over ten years and raised premiums by twenty per cent. \u201cIt is not perfect but it is better than the status quo,\u201d Cornyn added.\n\nEarlier in the day, some of Cornyn\u2019s colleagues were highly critical of the proposal they were being asked to support. Four of them\u2014McCain; Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina; Bill Cassidy, of Louisiana; and Ron Johnson, of Wisconsin\u2014held a press conference at which they threatened to vote against the bill unless they received firm assurances that it wouldn\u2019t become law. (Although this press conference took place before McConnell\u2019s office published the bill, the major elements it would contain were already known.) \u201cThe skinny bill as policy is a disaster,\u201d Graham said. \u201cIt is not a replacement in and of itself.\u201d\n\nA few hours later, Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House, issued a statement in which he confirmed that he was willing to set up a House-Senate conference committee to hash out a broader bill, which would then be sent back to the Senate. This satisfied three of the Republican doubters, who indicated that they would support McConnell\u2019s measure. Shortly before 9 P.M., however, McCain said that Ryan\u2019s statement was \u201cnot sufficient,\u201d thus raising the possibility that he would join with Collins and Murkowski to defeat the bill.\n\nOn Tuesday, McCain had returned to the Senate for the first time since being diagnosed with brain cancer, and he\u2019d delivered a speech upbraiding his colleagues for acting out of partisanship. He called for a return to \u201cregular order\u201d and for co\u00f6peration with the other party. Yet despite the laudable rhetoric of this speech, McCain voted for a procedural motion that allowed McConnell to bring various Obamacare-repeal measures to a vote. Later in the week, he also voted for McConnell\u2019s repeal-and-replace bill, which was drawn up in secrecy with very little consultation.\n\nOn Thursday, even after McCain said that he wasn\u2019t satisfied with Ryan\u2019s assurances, many observers assumed it was another head fake\u2014that he would ultimately align himself with his party\u2019s leadership. As he made his way toward the Senate chamber, a reporter asked him which way he would cast his vote. \u201cWait for the show,\u201d he replied. It turned out to be worth waiting up for.\n\n\u201cI thought it was the right thing to do,\u201d he told reporters as he left after the vote. A bit later, in a statement, he said, \u201cWe must now return to the correct way of legislating and send the bill back to committee, hold hearings, receive input from both sides of the aisle, heed the recommendations of the nation\u2019s governors, and produce a bill that finally delivers affordable health care for the American people.\u201d\n\nTo be sure, McCain\u2019s statement didn\u2019t address the many complexities of achieving the goal that he laid out. But it was his vote that mattered, not his words. Together with the votes cast by Collins and Murkowski\u2014not to mention every Democrat in the Senate\u2014it has hopefully killed the Republican Party\u2019s misguided effort to destroy the A.C.A. and turn back history.", "output": "At about 1:40 on Friday morning, Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, stood behind a lectern in the U.S. Senate, his left hand in his pocket, and said, \u201cSo, Mr. President, this is clearly a disappointing moment.\u201d A few minutes earlier, the Senate had narrowly voted down a so-called skinny-repeal bill, which was McConnell\u2019s latest ploy to keep alive the Republican Party\u2019s seven-and-a-half-year effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Reduction in dental care and inferior oral health subsequent to dementia diagnosis \n Subsequent to a diagnosis of dementia, the patient's contact with the dental care services diminishes and oral health is impaired. This has been revealed by a major register-based study from Karolinska Institutet published in the scientific journal Alzheimer's & Dementia.\n\nResearchers at Karolinska Institutet, using register data, have examined utilisation of dental health services and oral health among a large number of individuals before and after a dementia diagnosis. Information on diagnoses and cognitive function has been compiled for around 58,000 persons registered in the Swedish Dementia Registry, SveDem, from 2007 to 2015. Information relating to dental health was obtained from Tandh\u00e4lsoregistret (dental health registry).\n\n\"We observed that the number of visits to dentists saw a dramatic decrease after a dementia diagnosis and that the reduction in utilisation of dental health services was more predominant with patients who experienced a more rapid degeneration in cognitive function,\" explains Maria Eriksdotter, Professor of Geriatrics at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet.\n\nA low MMSE score (Mini-Mental State Examination) \u2013 a method used to indicate cognitive impairment \u2013 represented a risk factor in terms of losing teeth. Poor oral health, tooth decay and loosening of teeth may cause pain, reduced quality of life and difficulties eating, resulting in poor nutrition.\n\n\"It may be the case that patients forget to visit the dentist or put other types of health care first, as dental care is separate from other medical services. We require better organisation to detect these patients and ensure that they attend their dental health check-ups,\" says Gunilla Sandborgh Englund, Professor at the Department of Dental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet.\n\nMore information: Seyed-Mohammad Fereshtehnejad et al. Dental care utilization in patients with different types of dementia: A longitudinal nationwide study of 58,037 individuals, Alzheimer's & Dementia (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.jalz.2017.05.004", "output": "Subsequent to a diagnosis of dementia, the patient's contact with the dental care services diminishes and oral health is impaired. This has been revealed by a major register-based study from Karolinska Institutet published in the scientific journal Alzheimer's & Dementia.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How Technology Is Changing Nursing: The Impact of Telehealth \n How Technology Is Changing Nursing\n\nWithin the past decade, many advances in technology have been made available to help nurses and clinicians perform their jobs and care for patients more efficiently and safely. Consequently, nursing today isn't the same as it was 30 years ago. From such inventions as tablet computers and mobile electronic charts, to radio-frequency identification (RFID)-enabled devices, the healthcare landscape is becoming more advanced and efficient, and the field of nursing has adapted along with these advances.\n\nNaturally, many of these technologies did and still do require education, training, and a period of adoption for nurses to fully embrace them; implementation doesn't simply happen overnight. Evolving care delivery processes in such areas of the hospital as intensive care units (ICUs), emergency/trauma treatment, and recovery rooms have created a need for nurses with advanced clinical skills and technical savvy. Today, nurses are adapting along with the industry to take advantage of new career opportunities and expand their roles across the care continuum.\n\nNurses and Telehealth: An Ideal Match\n\nAs a relatively new healthcare delivery approach, telehealth is transforming how nurses approach and deliver care. Telehealth is currently on the rise, and experts predict that the industry could become a $34 billion market by the end of this decade. Telehealth comes in many flavors, from monitoring patients with chronic conditions through video chat, to providing critical care to patients in remote areas. For example, some healthcare systems have created an eHospital care delivery model in which a small team of nurses and intensivists can remotely monitor and support patient care for more than 100 beds in multiple ICUs. The remote team is stationed around the clock in a \"bunker,\" from which they serve as the clinical resource for smaller hospitals. Moreover, with cameras in all rooms, the remote team can view and interact with patients and their nurses in this version of telehealth.\n\nWhile this is a common application of telehealth, the care delivery approach can also be as simple as a health system leveraging a mobile application that allows clinicians to collaborate remotely. Increasingly, the objective of telehealth is efficiency, with asynchronous workflows that are highly mobile as opposed to the traditional real-time, provider-to-patient encounter that relies on video or voice technology. In an asynchronous situation, nurses can use telehealth to communicate directly (although not simultaneously) with remote physicians for questions or consultations. This improves the quality and efficiency of patient care in an increasingly dynamic healthcare environment.\n\nThe Power of Telehealth\n\nAt a time when the aging population is increasing and chronic conditions are becoming more prevalent, the cost of care is also rising. Now more than ever, the healthcare industry needs to prioritize its activities using more cost-effective care delivery processes to streamline clinical workflows and improve patient outcomes. In addition to reducing costs, telehealth and remote monitoring will effectively extend nursing care to a larger and more diverse patient population, which is especially important for areas where clinical resources are limited. This ability to fill in gaps and provide direct care regardless of location means that telehealth can greatly benefit nurses, patients, and health systems.\n\nIn rural areas, hospitals face two types of challenges at both the patient and caregiver levels. Nurses and clinicians in remote areas may be responsible for delivering general care to patients, while specialists are centralized in the nearest urban setting. Telehealth offers an alternative means of providing the best care possible should these nurses find themselves in situations in which they need a specialist's assistance to assess and treat certain patients. For example, a pregnant woman might live more than an hour's drive away from the obstetrician managing her high-risk pregnancy. Through leveraging telehealth, she can be monitored remotely from home with self-administered non-stress tests, obviating the need to travel hours to reach a clinic. This can reduce the unnecessary transporting of patients, an undertaking that can worsen their conditions and increase costs.\n\nTelehealth: An Enabler\n\nTelehealth technology is only an enabler. To be successful, telehealth must fit into nurses' workflows. While some nurses may prefer to care for patients at the bedside or lack confidence in describing patient conditions to doctors over the phone, the reality is that technology is becoming embedded into everyday life, including the workplace, because it has a uniquely positive influence on the way nursing is practiced. However, as with any medical technology, telehealth tools need to meet the high standards that nurses require to protect and care for their patients.\n\nFirst and foremost, telehealth must meet HIPAA standards for privacy, security, and auditing. Nurses deal with private patient data that cannot be at risk of getting lost or sent to the wrong person. The consequences of such an error are costly and potentially painful for patients.\n\nThe second requirement is for nurses to have the proper training and resources to confidently use these tools. Because nurses spend their days multitasking to address the needs of multiple patients, new tools\u2014no matter how well intentioned\u2014need to fit seamlessly into the workflow. Everything must work. Proper training upfront and the availability of resources to troubleshoot problems are critical components of successful telehealth adoption and, subsequently, improved patient care. Also, protocols and standards of practice must be established to define nursing roles and expectations in various telehealth settings.\n\nAdapting to the Workflow\n\nTelehealth and smart devices are challenging nurses to adopt technology that will sharpen their ability to care for multiple patients. By checking an app, a nurse may be able to determine that the alarm going off in another room is actually a false alarm and that there is no need to rush from the bedside of one patient to assess another. Or perhaps, in the middle of the night, a patient in a community hospital requires urgent care that isn't available from an in-house specialist. Instead of rousing the on-call clinician or making a best judgment, telehealth provides access to a specialist who can give advice after reviewing the patient's chart and near-real-time data.\n\nCertain telehealth applications, such as mobile devices that foster clinician communication, can be directly embedded into any nurse's daily workflow. Laws, regulations, and policies that govern the use of other types of telehealth can differ from state to state and faculty to facility.\n\nNo certification for telehealth nursing is yet available, but the American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing (AAACN) recognizes telehealth as a subspecialty with defined competencies for various care delivery models. Regardless of the type of technology, as leaders in healthcare, nurses will be expected to master the latest technology and information systems designed to improve care and patient outcomes, presenting a real opportunity to benefit patients and the nurses who care for them.", "output": "Within the past decade, many advances in technology have been made available to help nurses and clinicians perform their jobs and care for patients more efficiently and safely. Consequently, nursing today isn't the same as it was 30 years ago. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Calls for Court Reform as Legal Guardians Abuse Older Adults \n Terri Black had always planned to care for her widowed father in her home if he ever became too frail to care for himself. In June 2013, Mrs. Black, an only child, decided it was time: Her father\u2019s longtime companion in Las Vegas had informed her that she could no longer handle his dementia, diabetes and other health issues, and asked the daughter to take him.\n\nNot long before, Mrs. Black discovered that the companion, Helen Natko, had transferred $200,000 from her father\u2019s bank account \u2014 a move that would eventually end in a criminal conviction.\n\nBut when Mrs. Black and her husband, Richard, flew to Las Vegas to take her father, Delford Mencarelli, to their home in Cornelius, N.C., Ms. Natko refused to let them in the house, according to an account Mrs. Black filed with the Clark County District Court, in Nevada. The Blacks called the Las Vegas police, and the officers who showed up told Mrs. Black that her only recourse was obtaining legal guardianship.\n\nAnd thus began a harrowing two-year odyssey in the guardianship system. Soon after Mrs. Black filed a court petition, Ms. Natko countered with her own petition. A judge ordered a trial and appointed a temporary professional guardian. Mr. Mencarelli continued to live with Ms. Natko.", "output": "Terri Black had always planned to care for her widowed father in her home if he ever became too frail to care for himself. In June 2013, Mrs. Black, an only child, decided it was time: Her father\u2019s longtime companion in Las Vegas had informed her that she could no longer handle his dementia, diabetes and other health issues, and asked the daughter to take him.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "myRA retirement plan is dead. Here\u2019s some alternatives for your funds \n Arielle O'Shea\n\nNerdWallet\n\nThe Treasury Department announced Friday that it is ending the Obama administration\u2019s myRA program, a savings account designed to help low- and middle-income savers put money away for retirement.\n\nThe myRA launched nationwide in 2015 as a spinoff of the Roth IRA. It was positioned as a starter retirement account, giving savers the ability to make contributions directly from their paychecks. The account had the same income eligibility requirements as a Roth IRA but offered Treasury savings bonds as the only investment option, appealing to savers who feared losing their principal.\n\nIn a press release about the end of the program, U.S. Treasurer Jovita Carranza said a review of the myRA program found it wasn\u2019t cost-effective.\n\n\u201cThe myRA program was created to help low to middle-income earners start saving for retirement. Unfortunately, there has been very little demand for the program, and the cost to taxpayers cannot be justified by the assets in the program,\u201d Carranza said in the statement.\n\nThat low demand may have been due to the fact that there are other \u2014 potentially better \u2014 retirement savings vehicles out there, including the Roth IRA. Here\u2019s how to invest for retirement in absence of the myRA.\n\nRELATED:\n\nTrump administration ends low-income retirement savings plan\n\nWhy consumer groups are ready to fight Trump rollback of financial safeguards\n\n4 financial milestones to reach before you retire\n\nTransfer your account\n\nThe myRA website was quickly replaced with a short FAQ, which noted that the Treasury Department would reach out to current account holders with information about how to close or transfer existing accounts.\n\nThe best place to transfer that money is a Roth IRA, which was the basis for the myRA in the first place. The accounts share many similarities \u2014 the myRA was intended as a steppingstone to the Roth IRA, and myRA accounts had a balance limit of $15,000, at which point investors would be asked to transfer their balances, anyway.\n\n\u00bb Want more info? See this guide to Roth IRAs\n\nTo transfer your balance, open a Roth IRA and ask the account provider to help you initiate a direct rollover, which will seamlessly move your money between accounts. Most brokers will allow you to quickly open a Roth IRA online.\n\nDon\u2019t take a distribution\n\nThe alternative to a direct rollover is to take a distribution of your account balance. Because myRA contributions are made after taxes, they can technically be pulled out at any time, tax- and penalty-free.\n\nHowever, doing so is a blow to the retirement savings you\u2019ve built, and you could be taxed or penalized if you also withdraw the earnings on those contributions.\n\nLet\u2019s say you\u2019re 35 and you have $10,000 in the account. That may not seem like much when you consider how much you\u2019ll need for retirement, but over the next 30 years, it could grow to nearly six times that amount in a Roth IRA, assuming a 6% investment return. That\u2019s with no additional contributions on your part.\n\nInvest your balance\n\nWhat a myRA didn\u2019t offer that a Roth IRA does: the ability to select investments beyond ultra-safe Treasury savings bonds. Roth IRA providers offer a wide selection of investment options, including low-cost index funds and exchange-traded funds.\n\n\u00bb Learn more: What is an index fund?\n\nThese funds allow you to buy a basket of investments \u2014 like stocks, bonds or both \u2014 in a single transaction, by tracking an index like the Standard & Poor\u2019s 500. They\u2019re an inexpensive and quick way to build a diversified portfolio, which reduces your risk.\n\n\u201cA Roth IRA is a great alternative; an investor would likely see better returns because they are moving from one government fund to an open investment architecture,\u201d says Steve Minkoff, a certified financial planner in San Francisco.\n\nIf you have a long time horizon, investing in an index fund that holds stocks will allow your money to grow much faster. According to a recent analysis by NerdWallet, choosing a safe vehicle like a savings account over investing in the stock market could result in a $3.3 million difference in how much you\u2019re able to accumulate over 40 years. The low-return savings bonds offered within a myRA are likely to fall short in a similar fashion.\n\nContinue to make contributions\n\nThere is one feature of the myRA that can\u2019t be easily replicated with a Roth IRA, and that\u2019s the ability to make contributions automatically via paycheck deferral.\n\nThat means you have to self-motivate a bit, by setting up automatic contributions to your new Roth IRA. Ask your bank to make that transfer at the beginning of the month or after your first paycheck of the month, so the money is saved before you have a chance to spend it.\n\nIn 2017, you can contribute $5,500 to a Roth IRA, or $6,500 if you\u2019re 50 or older. Any contributions you\u2019ve made to your myRA this year will reduce that limit.\n\nMore about saving for retirement\n\nArielle O\u2019Shea is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email: aoshea@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @arioshea.\n\nThe article Obama-Era Retirement Plan Is Dead. Here\u2019s an Alternative originally appeared on NerdWallet.", "output": "The Treasury Department announced Friday that it is ending the Obama administration\u2019s myRA program, a savings account designed to help low- and middle-income savers put money away for retirement.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Turbulent times force innovation on oil and gas industry  \n Some companies such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron re-directed large shares of their capital spending towards the US shale patch while others bet on favourable prospects for deep-water offshore. Yet, what they all have in common is a tendency to increasingly target smaller projects that can deliver paybacks over a shorter period of time. This is a notable change for an industry that has traditionally been dominated by long lead-time projects.\n\nCompanies have significantly changed the way they pick projects and execute on them. For example, conventional onshore development has shifted towards brownfield and satellite fields to minimise capital spending. Meanwhile the offshore industry is experiencing even more rapid change as companies have scaled down projects, introduced strict standards for facilities and equipment and optimised project design.\n\nIn tandem with this shift in strategy, global upstream costs have fallen both in the US shale industry and globally \u2013 these costs were a key determinant of skyrocketing expenditure in the first part of this decade.\n\nThe fundamental question that the industry now faces is to what extent these cost reductions can be sustained in the future. Standardisation of equipment and operations, improved design, efficiency in projects and corporate activities, integrated approaches in supply chains and increased use of digital technologies are all areas that have contributed to bringing costs down.\n\nHowever, a large component of costs, including commodities and raw materials prices, as well as labour, remain cyclical by nature. The sector will need to continue to improve its operations in order to offset those inflationary pressures.\n\nDespite these improvements, the sector has not solved all its challenges. The risk of another round of skyrocketing costs remains, especially if the lessons of the last three years are forgotten. In most cases, companies face significant debt exposure and relatively poor financial health. The capital discipline recently adopted will need to be balanced with the imperative to scale up investment in new projects in order to offset the natural decline of fields and meet demand requirements. At the same time, large job cuts have led to the loss of many important competences that will not be easily replaced. And the imperative of meeting energy demand needs while minimising environmental impacts remain an open task for the industry.\n\nThough challenges remain, one thing is certain. The oil and gas industry has belied its reputation as a conservative sector and proved it was capable of constant innovation itself and proven it could adapt rapidly to a changing world.", "output": "Investment priorities in the oil and gas sector are shifting after an oversupply of oil and the growth in shale production, with more focus on smaller projects that promise quicker paybacks. Investors are looking for\u00a0scaled-down offshore projects and onshore brownfield and satellite fields in order to reduce capital expenditure. The industry is reacting to the lower price of oil with tighter financial discipline and by shedding staff. Standardisation across the industry has also helped control costs. However, the lack of funding for larger projects and rising demand for\u00a0energy are putting pressure on companies to continue to innovate."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "3,000 North Korean hackers pillaging online wallets \n SEOUL \u2022 North Korea's state-sponsored hackers are increasingly going after money rather than secrets, according to a report by a South Korean government- backed institute.\n\nFormerly, most such attacks appeared intended to cause social disruption or purloin secret data, and the targets were generally the computer networks of government agencies or media companies in countries it saw as hostile.\n\nThe best-known example was a 2014 attack on computers at Sony Pictures Entertainment.\n\nThat kind of attack is still occurring, but in the past few years, North Korean hackers seem to have become more interested in cash, the Financial Security Institute said in its report on Thursday.\n\nIt said North Korean-linked hackers were behind the digital theft of US$81 million (S$110 million) from Bangladesh's central bank last year. The North Koreans also tried to breach Polish banks, leaving traces that led anti-hacking experts to believe the hacking group also planned to steal money from more than 100 other organisations around the world.\n\nNorth Korea is isolated, impoverished and desperately short of foreign currency to pay for imports. Even so, it has trained a large army of hackers, originally as an inexpensive means of espionage, sabotage and propaganda, but now also as a moneymaker.\n\nRussian cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab has identified a hacking group called Bluenoroff that it says is to blame for attacks on foreign financial institutions, like those in Poland and Bangladesh. Bluenoroff is said to be an offshoot of Lazarus, the North Korea-linked hacking group implicated in earlier hits.", "output": "North Korean hackers are attacking financial institutions in a bid to steal funds, according to a South Korean institute backed by the government. North Korean defectors have described an official state-sponsored force of around 3,000 hackers trained in China and Russia that is targeting virtual currency service providers. The group's focus has changed from uncovering government secrets and disrupting the social order to acquisition of funds. North Korean hackers were responsible for the $81m theft from the Bangladeshi central bank in 2016."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Show homes open at Redrow's Stafford development \n Stylish, spacious show homes now open in Stafford\n\nBuying a new home isn\u2019t something to do on a wing and a prayer, but with a heavenly pair of show homes now open at Church View in Stafford buyers can make an informed decision about their housing options.\n\nLocated on Tixall Road, on the edge of Stafford, the Redrow development offers a selection of substantial four and five-bedroom designs from the sought-after Heritage Collection.\n\nInitially sold off plan, the opening of two stylish show homes is the answer to the prayers of those buyers who prefer to look before they buy.\n\nPauline Turnbull, sales director for Redrow Homes (Midlands), said: \u201cChurch View features some of the larger designs from our ever-popular Heritage Collection of traditional looking homes. In many cases while people want to live here, they wanted to wait until they could view the properties before committing to buy. Those who\u2019ve visited already have lots of praise for the homes \u2013 they love the Arts & Crafts inspired architecture, high ceilings that emphasise the spacious layouts and superb specification interiors designed to meet the demands of modern living.\u201d\n\nThe show homes are professionally styled and fully furnished examples of the four-bedroom Henley and five-bedroom Marlborough house types.\n\nIn the Henley, an open plan layout puts the combined kitchen, dining and family room, with adjoining utility very much at the heart of the home. This inviting, sociable space spans the entire width of the property and is complemented by a separate lounge for quieter relaxation. A convenient cloakroom completes the ground floor.\n\nUpstairs, both the master and second bedroom have an en-suite, leaving the family bathroom to serve the remaining two bedrooms.\n\nThe five-bedroom Marlborough is the largest of the two show homes, offering 1,906 sq ft of well-planned living space.\n\nAlong with the open plan kitchen, dining and family room, plus utility and separate lounge, the Marlborough also features a study or snug.\n\n\u201cMore and more people spend at least part of their working week not in the office, but at home. Recognising that setting up a temporary desk on the dining table is far from ideal, our larger homes such as the Marlborough include a home office where mum or dad can work away from the distractions of family life,\u201d Pauline explained.\n\n\u201cAlternatively those who don\u2019t have the option to work from home may want to use this space differently \u2013 perhaps as a toy room for young children or a TV lounge for teenagers.\u201d\n\nUpstairs, two of the five bedrooms in the Marlborough have an en-suite, helping to minimise the morning rush for the family bathroom.\n\nCurrent prices at Church View start from \u00a3399,995, with a Henley available from \u00a3424,995 and a Marlborough from \u00a3444,995.\n\nNearby Priory Park offers a selection of three to five-bedroom designs, priced from \u00a3249,995.\n\nSituated off a quiet country road, on the eastern edge of Stafford, just a few minutes\u2019 journey from the town centre, the homes offer the perfect balance between town and country. The area is well-served by \u2018good\u2019 and \u2018outstanding\u2019 schools, making this a great choice for buyers with children or those hoping to start a family.\n\nTo experience the style and finish of a brand new Redrow home for yourself, visit Church View, where the show homes are open Thursday to Tuesday from 10am to 5.30pm. For more information, visit redrow.co.uk/church.", "output": "The first show homes in Redrow's Church View development in Tixall Road, Stafford, have opened. A few minutes from the town centre, Church View offers a selection of four-bedroom Henley and five-bedroom Marlborough designs from the developer's Heritage Collection, which will initially be sold off plan.\u00a0\n\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Race to adopt EVs depends on supply of rare materials \n Britain last week joined France in pledging to ban sales of petrol and diesel cars by 2040 in an attempt to cut toxic vehicle emissions. The move to battery-powered vehicles has been a long time coming. Environmental campaigners claim that charging cars and vans from the grid, like a laptop, is sure to be cleaner than petrol or diesel power. The government agrees and says it will invest more than \u00a3800m in driverless and clean technology, and a further \u00a3246m in battery technology research.\n\nBMW plans to build a fully electric version of the Mini at Cowley in Oxford from 2019. Volvo announced earlier this month that from the same year, all its new models will have an electric motor.\n\nHuge potential profits await those that can tap into this burgeoning market. Transparency Market Research estimated the global lithium-ion battery market at $30bn in 2015, rising to more than $75bn by 2024. Morgan Stanley analysts expect global car sales to rise by 50% by 2050 to more than 130m units a year, and estimates that electric vehicles will account for at least 47% of that total.\n\nLithium-ion batteries have long been used to power smartphones, laptops and other gadgets. Scaled-up versions are now being developed for electric vehicles. These batteries should last for at least 10 years, or 150,000 miles, until they need to be replaced.\n\nHowever, the road to a promised land of zero-emission vehicles is littered with speed bumps and red lights that threaten to seriously slow the progress of the electric car. Battery makers are struggling to secure supplies of key ingredients in these large power packs \u2013 mainly cobalt and lithium. The hopes of both battery and vehicle manufacturers hang on the mining sector finding more deposits of these precious minerals.\n\nTrent Mell of First Cobalt, a Toronto-based mining company, said: \u201cCobalt is tricky because of the scarcity of supply. There aren\u2019t a lot of producers. We\u2019re relying on more discoveries. It\u2019s out there: we\u2019ve just got to find it.\u201d\n\nThe First Cobalt boss added that his company was currently confident of making discoveries in Idaho and Ontario. Investors see a chance of cashing in on the mineral\u2019s key role: the price of shares in the Canadian firm has risen from C$0.06 to C$0.76 in the past year.\n\nThis is the mother of supply chain headaches, and one hi-tech car manufacturers and electronics firms could do without. At the heart of the global cobalt trade is Glencore. The metals and mining giant produces almost a third (28,300 tonnes) of the world\u2019s annual supply. As much as 65% of this global supply comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where cobalt production has fallen this year because of the unstable political situation. This sparked a 90% jump in the price of cobalt to a peak of $61,000 a tonne earlier this month.\n\nInside the Katanga Mining copper and cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Photograph: Getty Images\n\nMacquarie Research predicts that trouble in the DRC and rising demand for electric vehicles will lead to a four-year-long cobalt shortage. Writing in academic journal The Conversation, Ben McLellan, senior research fellow at Kyoto University, warned further: \u201cManufacturers such as electric vehicle makers should be concerned that the supply of one of the key mineral components, or the processing and refining infrastructure, could become too centralised in a single country. Without diverse source options, the possibility of supply restriction becomes more likely.\u201d\n\nThe squeeze on cobalt has sent car giants such as Volkswagen scurrying to lock in supply deals with the likes of Glencore. First Cobalt\u2019s Mell said: \u201cI think there is going to be some jockeying for supply.\u201d\n\nVolkswagen, which had been slow to develop battery-powered vehicles, it is now pushing through an ambitious programme as it seeks to regain the trust of customers and investors after the diesel emissions scandal. The German manufacturer wants to launch more than 10 electrified models by the end of next year and is aiming at 30 battery-powered models by 2025. It plans to increase electric-car sales to a million a year by 2025, from tens of thousands at present.\n\nDemand for other key battery ingredients, such as graphite and lithium carbonate, is also outstripping supply. The current shortage of lithium has seen prices double since 2015. Global lithium demand was 184,000 tonnes in 2015, with battery demand accounting for 40%. Analysts at Deutsche Bank expect demand to increase to 534,000 tonnes by 2025, with battery manufacturers accounting for 70%. Lithium deposits are found mostly in China and Bolivia.\n\nTwo South Korean battery makers \u2013 Samsung SDI and LG Chem \u2013 have responded to the crisis by stepping up development of new power packs that use more nickel and less cobalt.\n\nOther battery pioneers are trialling alternative materials in an attempt to crack the booming energy storage market. In June, the US Naval Research Laboratory signed a commercial licensing agreement with California-based EnZinc. This firm was co-founded by Michael Burz, who worked previously on the design of the Tomahawk cruise missile as well as for Nissan.\n\nThe agreement gives EnZinc exclusive rights to a nickel-zinc battery for use in electric road vehicles, to hybrid cars that use that battery, and microgrids (small localised electric grids that can run independently) of up to 60 megawatts. Burz expects his zinc-based battery technology to be ready for market in about two years, with another year to gear up production.\n\nLithium-ion batteries can include other materials such as magnesium, cadmium, manganese and cobalt oxide. They also use a flammable electrolyte, which makes them more risky than lead-acid batteries. EnZinc\u2019s solution is to incorporate less-volatile metals \u2013 zinc and nickel \u2013 in a battery with sponge-like silicon electrodes.\n\nA key advantage of EnZinc\u2019s plan is that zinc is in much more plentiful supply than cobalt and lithium. Deposits of the metal are found in China, Australia, Peru and the US among others. The US alone produces about 900,000 tonnes of zinc a year, much of it from the huge Red Dog Mine in Alaska, operated by Vancouver-based Teck Resources. It is thought around 600,000 tonnes of zinc would be required to make batteries for a million electric vehicles. One large international zinc company mines around 14m tonnes a year.\n\nBut while big corporations work on a green energy revolution, Amnesty International has shone a light on the dark side of this dream. The human rights group says children as young as seven continue to work in perilous conditions in mines in the DRC.\n\nIn 2014, according to Unicef, about 40,000 children were working in mines across southern DRC, many of them extracting cobalt. A report by Amnesty and Afrewatch (African Resources Watch) published in January said corporations such as Apple, Samsung, Sony, Microsoft, Daimler and Volkswagen were failing to do basic checks to ensure that they did not use cobalt mined by child labourers in their products.\n\nMark Dummett, business and human rights researcher at Amnesty International, said: \u201cThe glamorous shop displays and marketing of state-of-the-art technologies are a stark contrast to the children carrying bags of rocks, and miners in narrow manmade tunnels risking permanent lung damage.\n\n\u201cMillions of people enjoy the benefits of new technologies but rarely ask how they are made. It is high time the big brands took some responsibility for the mining of the raw materials that make their lucrative products.\u201d", "output": "Recent developments, such as Britain's decision to ban sales of diesel and petrol engines from 2040 and Volvo's announcement that all its new models will have an electric motor from 2019, mean the global lithium-ion battery market is set to expand exponentially. Transparency Market Research estimated that by 2024 it could be worth $75bn. Morgan Stanley predicted that global car sales could rise by 50% by 2050, of which EVs will account for 47%. However, a significant factor in continued growth is finding sufficient supplies of the rare metals, such as cobalt and lithium, that are an essential component of batteries.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "2017 biofuel costs will hit record highs: CVR Refining \n CVR Refining says 2017 biofuel costs will hit a record\n\nNEW YORK (Reuters) \u2014 CVR Refining racked up its highest-ever bill to meet US biofuel standards during the second quarter, putting it on track to pay a record amount in 2017, the company said in an earnings call on Thursday.\n\nThe refiner, which is majority-held by billionaire investor Carl Icahn, said it paid $106 MM to meet the US biofuel regulations in the quarter, far surpassing its previous quarterly record of $65.5 MM in 2013, according to a Reuters analysis.\n\nThe company now expects to pay $200 MM to $250 MM in biofuels costs in 2017, up from its previous forecast of $170 MM. CVR held a record $205.9 MM in outstanding biofuel obligations in 2016, but it deferred most of those costs into this year in hopes that the cost of the credits at the heart of controversial program would fall.\n\nThe US Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency, requires biofuels, such as ethanol, to be blended into the nation\u2019s gasoline and diesel. Fuel importers and refiners have the responsibility to blend the renewable fuels or purchase credits from others that have.\n\nA Reuters review of securities filings earlier this year showed that CVR had accumulated a large short position in biofuels blending credits, called Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs). The short position meant the company would have been in a strong position to profit if RIN prices fell.\n\nRenewable fuel credits have been hovering at 80 cents each in recent days, up significantly from this year's low of 34 cents hit in March.\n\nCBR's short position helped yield a rare, though modest, profit in the first quarter as prices for the renewable fuel credits tumbled amid news that Icahn - by then an informal adviser for President Donald Trump - pushed for market-moving changes to the controversial program.\n\nIcahn's actions have drawn the ire of several Democratic senators, who called on US regulators to examine whether he was benefiting from his informal role with the White House.\n\nJack Lipinski, the chief executive of CVR, has been among the most hardened critics of the US biofuel policy, calling it \"stupid\" and prone to market manipulation that benefits traders and big oil companies at the expense of smaller refiners.\n\nLipinski was asked in Thursday's call to provide some more details on the company current credit short position. He declined, saying he would answer that question \"when Chevron, Exxon and when the traders that are manipulating the RINs market open up their books and say what they're doing.\"\n\nReporting by Jarrett Renshaw and Chris Prentice; Editing by Leslie Adler\n\nRelated News\n\nFrom the Archive", "output": "CVR Refining has said that it expects to pay a record amount to meet US biofuel standards in 2017. The company forecasts costs of\u00a0an estimated $200-250m, up from the company's previous prediction\u00a0of $170m. The Environmental Protection Agency oversees the US Renewable Fuel Standard, and mandates that\u00a0biofuels\u00a0be blended into the US' petrol and diesel fuel. The responsibility of blending lies with\u00a0importers and refiners.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK ad viewability rises to 51%, the highest level for over a year \n Joshi: \"The UK is still well behind other markets and the industry has much work to do\"\n\nAd viewability levels in the UK rose for the first time in nine months to the highest level seen for over a year, according to the latest quarterly benchmark report from ad verification company Meetrics.\n\n\n\nIn the second quarter of 2017, the proportion of banner ads served that met minimum viewability guidelines rose from 47 per cent to 51 per cent \u2013 the first rise since Q3 2016 \u2013 and the highest level since Q1 2016, when the figure stood at 54 per cent. Despite the rise, however, the UK still lags far behind Austria (69 per cent), France (58 per cent) and Germany (57 per cent).\n\n\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s certainly a step in the right direction and shows ad viewability initiatives, such as from JICWEBS and the like, are starting to impact the market,\u201d said Anant Joshi, Meetrics\u2019 commercial director for UK & Ireland. \u201cHowever, the UK is still well behind other markets and the industry has much work to do. We can\u2019t celebrate the fact that we\u2019re back to almost half of banner ad budgets being wasted on ads that don\u2019t have the chance to be seen.\u201d\n\n\n\nFor the first time, Meetrics has revealed the different viewability levels between ads purchased directly versus ads purchased programmatically across Europe. Joshi says: \u201cNot surprisingly, direct ads have a better viewability level (59 per cent) than programmatic (52 per cent). Direct ads may be more expensive but in the end, their viewability rates are higher and are more likely to be in a brand-safe environment.\u201d\n\n\n\nMeetrics has also published an international viewability figure for video ads. This shows that 69 per cent of video ads meet the IAB and Media Ratings Council\u2019s recommendation that 50 per cent of the video ad is in view for at least two seconds. For banner ads, its 50 per cent for at least one second. The average time a video ad is in view, or has the opportunity to be seen, is 23.4 seconds, compared to 25.5 seconds for banner ads.\n\n\n\n\u201cAs video ad spend continues to rise, it\u2019s extremely encouraging to see such a good initial viewability rate for video,\u201d said Joshi. \u201cThis is partly because viewers tend to be more engaged with video due to its greater screen size and being less surrounded by other ads.\u201d\n\nDon\u2019t forget to enter the Effective Mobile Marketing Awards. More details here.", "output": "Ad viewability rates in the UK have risen for the first time in\u00a0nine months to reach the highest level for more than a year, according to ad verification firm Meetrics. The number of banner ads meeting the minimum guidelines for viewability rose from 47% to 51% in Q2, the highest since Q1\u00a02016. However, the UK is behind Austria, France and Germany, on\u00a069%, 58% and 57% viewability respectively.\u00a0Anant Joshi, Meetrics\u2019 commercial director for the UK and\u00a0Ireland, said:\u00a0\u201cWe can\u2019t celebrate that we\u2019re back to almost half of banner ad budgets being wasted on ads that don\u2019t have the chance to be seen.\u201d\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon pledges to become 'ad platform leader' \n The prospect of Amazon emerging as the main rival to Google and Facebook\u2019s duopoly over digital media seems increasingly plausible, now that some of the world\u2019s biggest brands are starting to consider it for their budgets.\n\nInterest has built since the turn of the year, with RBS Group chief marketing officer David Wheldon and WPP boss Martin Sorrell almost willing the online retailer to break Google and Facebook\u2019s stranglehold on online media by speculating that its advertising business could make the market more competitive. Amazon has stoked that enthusiasm, pledging to become an \u201cad platform leader\u201d for advertisers that\u2019s capable of \u201cbest-in-class service\u201d and \u201cstrategic consultation,\u201d according to several marketing and agency executives who have heard its pitch.\n\nWhat was once a search and programmatic proposition now includes Amazon\u2019s Echo personal assistant and its Prime Video service, said Sam Fenton-Elstone, VCCP\u2019s chief digital officer. Conversations between the agency and Amazon\u2019s sales teams are much bigger than they were 12 months ago, when the focus was on trying to shift money from Google through programmatic and search, he said.\n\nAnd yet, search budgets are where the most immediate aftershocks of Amazon\u2019s sales pitches are being felt. VCCP has seen advertisers switch paid search dollars from Google to the online retailer over the past nine months, which \u201chave delivered strong ROI.\u201d Furthermore, GroupM, which handles budgets for NBCUniversal and Unilever, said clients are spending 10 to 15 times more on paid Amazon search ads each month in 2017 than a year ago, Bloomberg reported.\n\nBut the migration of search budgets is still just a trickle in the grand scheme of things. Amazon doesn\u2019t break out ad sales, but researcher eMarketer predicts they will rise by a third to $1.5 billion this year and top $2.4 billion by 2019. Google, by contrast, posted more than $79 billion in ad revenue in 2016, while Facebook reported $27 billion.\n\nCourting advertisers\n\nThere\u2019s a sense among brands and agencies alike that Amazon is set to go all-in on advertising. Its retail business can only grow so much. And advertising brings with it the possibility of 20-30 percent profit margins versus around 5 percent for retail goods, according to financial analyst Steven Mallas.\n\nAmazon, for its part, has courted high-level marketers at the world\u2019s biggest brands. Senior marketers from Unilever met with the online behemoth last year to get a grip on the advertiser\u2019s concerns. This resulted in Amazon letting the packaged-goods maker use Moat to verify the display and video ads it bought on the site during the last quarter of 2016 were 100 percent in-view.\n\nThe trial was part of a wider beta test Amazon ran in the U.K. with other advertisers. The trial now looks almost prophetic, given just months later, viewability would be at the heart of an industrywide debate leading Google and Facebook to let brands independently verify their ad metrics. Unlike those rivals, though, Amazon let advertisers pick third-party vendors to measure and optimize their campaign. A current list of approved vendors is here.\n\nWith advertising shifting to safer platforms, Amazon is well-positioned because it can offer advertisers an environment devoid of content that brands would deem risky. The issue, however, will be what happens to ads Amazon buys from the open exchange, outside of its walled garden. That\u2019s still risky, said one agency source, which has bought ads on Amazon on behalf of clients for several years. \u201cWhen Amazon run ads on your behalf on their site, they do a really good job, but when those ads appear off the site, it should be treated with as much suspicion like you would with any other ad network.\u201d\n\nThe threat to publishers\n\nJames Bourner, svp of global head of display at Jellyfish, expanded on that point, wondering if Amazon\u2019s push into off-site advertising will take ad share from publishers. \u201cWill Amazon reignite the arbitrage model in a massive way? I would have zero doubt that they would be amazing at putting their computing and data might to work at being able to buy impressions through their bidder at the cheapest possible price. Is the real threat to traditional publishers?\u201d\n\nIn a mark of its faith in Amazon, spirits and beer producer Diageo has included the online retailer\u2019s inventory in what it calls its \u201ctrusted marketplace.\u201d Like other big advertisers, the Smirnoff owner has pushed media owners to introduce independent verification. As part of that, it\u2019s briefed Amazon and several other partners on nine requirements it wants from them in exchange for its media budget.\n\nTo really grow its ad revenue, Amazon will need to move from lower-funnel media buys toward the upper end, where the larger brand budgets are, said Fenton-Elstone. With search and display opportunities on Amazon\u2019s site and app, which also provides cross-device matching, Amazon\u2019s sweet spot is in the mid- to lower-funnel, though, said Bourner. However, the retailer\u2019s past purchase data is a strong proxy for shoppers\u2019 interests and, to a certain degree, income, which can be useful to brand advertisers, he said.\n\nThe data factor\n\nRegardless, data will be Amazon\u2019s trump card if it presses forward into advertising, particularly after it revealed last year that 55 percent of online shoppers in the U.S. start their product searches on the site. Facebook knows who people are and what they are interested in, and Google knows what people are actively looking for. But only Amazon has data on what people buy.\n\nIt means advertisers prioritizing ROI on online purchases should be able to get better performance from Amazon\u2019s range of media offerings than from Facebook and Google, although in practice, results from campaigns bought from the retailer have been mixed, said Gareth Owen, the managing director of Roast, an agency that has internal specialists for the different parts of Amazon\u2019s ad products. He added that more feedback from Amazon\u2019s account teams would help.\n\nOther things holding Amazon back from growing its ad business are the complexity of its display and paid search inventory as well as issues with account management and its slow response time, Owen said.\n\n\u201cIf there was more proactivity here, Amazon would be growing this area more quickly,\u201d he said.\n\nAmazon\u2019s recruitment drive for digital and programmatic specialists would suggest it\u2019s wise to Owen\u2019s observation. The number of salespeople joining the company\u2019s advertising and Amazon Web Services units is growing at a rate faster than the 42 percent average across the entire company, Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky said on the company\u2019s earnings call on July 27. And the Amazon Media Group in the U.K. has several senior advertising openings posted.", "output": "Amazon\u2019s bid to be a rival ad platform provider alongside Google and Facebook is looking more likely, thanks to support from leading brands such as RBS, Unilever and NBC Universal. Amazon is offering an ad platform with strategic consultation and will include its Echo AI assistant and its Prime Video service alongside its search and programmatic features. Research firm eMarketer has predicted its ad sales will rise by about a third to reach $1.5bn this year, increasing to at least $2.4bn by 2019. The amount pales in comparison to Google\u2019s 2016 revenue of $79bn and Facebook\u2019s revenue of $27bn."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Adblocking software pushing advertisers to be more intrusive \n Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More\n\nJust as summer\u2019s sear leads to winter\u2019s freeze, the unchecked growth of ad blockers (30 percent increase last year) will lead to a comeback in banner ads.\n\nThe reason comes down to why most people install ad blockers in the first place. It\u2019s not for ideology \u2014 an obsession with privacy or an anti-capitalist bent \u2014 it\u2019s a cost-benefit calculation. The price of an ad blocker is a free, two-minute download, and the benefit is less friction while browsing the web. Good deal!\n\nRecent trends will change those economics and for some, it\u2019s already happened.\n\n\u201cI am Spartacus!\u201d\n\nThe poster-child for bad behavior in digital advertising is the pop-up message. You\u2019re reading an article and, jerkily, your screen changes into something else. You\u2019ve lost your place and your patience.\n\nYou installed your ad blocker to stave off interruptions like these, but now ad blockers are the surest way of attracting them. That\u2019s because publishers will tug ceaselessly at your pant legs bawling, \u201cplease won\u2019t you whitelist us in your ad blocker!\u201d And these messages will only grow in number and fervor for two reasons.\n\nFirst, mobile traffic is cannibalizing desktop traffic and mobile traffic is hard to monetize. That increases the value of desktop traffic and makes media companies desperate to save every desktop ad view. People with ad blockers are a low-hanging fruit target.\n\nSecond, anti-ad blocking messages are no longer taboo. Everyone from The Atlantic to Gawker runs them. In the early days, publishers were wary of looking draconian, but being the 45th person to yell \u201cI am Spartacus!\u201d calls much less attention to yourself than going first. And anti-ad blocking messages still look benign alongside the paywalls we\u2019re seeing more of.\n\nCan\u2019t ad blockers retaliate?\n\nAd blocking has been likened to a cat-and-mouse game, where every move from a publisher provokes a counter move from the ad blocking software. Maybe this was the case back when publishers were less motivated and the ecosystem less sophisticated, but today it\u2019s a fight between a cat and a swarm of bees.\n\nIt takes less than two hours for a programmer to code and deploy an anti-ad blocking message written from scratch. There are also plug-and-play options for smaller blogs and websites, like one recently from CloudFlare.\n\nAdBlock Plus can go toe-to-toe with a single mega-platform like Facebook, but it doesn\u2019t have the resources to counter the code changes of thousands of smaller, motivated publishers, each with their own techniques and layouts. [Update: And as Johnny Ryan points out, AdBlock ultimately lost the battle with Facebook.]\n\nAd blockers face another handicap: If they\u2019re too aggressive they could block legitimate content, mess up a site\u2019s design, or provoke much worse publisher retaliation, like speed throttling.\n\nAs if keeping up with buzzing publishers wasn\u2019t bad enough, ad blockers will soon face a dragon.\n\nGoogle\u2019s fire-breathing browser\n\nWhen Google announced it would build ad blocking into Chrome, some took the news as a final death knell for banner ads. Closer inspection shows Google\u2019s target lay elsewhere.\n\nThe Chrome ad blocker is a diet ad blocker that targets malware and auto-playing video but leaves normal banner ads intact. That\u2019s good enough for most people and won\u2019t trigger pop-up messages or retaliation from publishers. It\u2019s also what ad blocking should have been in the first place: a compromise, not a mandate.\n\nAd blocking companies naively imagine a world in which their software will do-si-do with Chrome\u2019s new competitor. Even if we give them that fantasy, they\u2019re missing the second part of Chrome\u2019s adblock tool: site contributions.\n\nChrome will offer publishers yet another means to launch \u201cplease whitelist us!\u201d pop-ups, but this time those pop-ups will be backed by the browser, meaning no extension could remove them even if it wanted to. This tool\u2019s simple existence will go a long way toward legitimizing pop-ups among the hold-outs and making the web an even more hostile place for ad-blockers, subverting their economics.\n\nAnd when your ad-blocking software causes more and more pop-up messages to appear on your screen, you\u2019ll do what you do whenever a piece of software on your computer gets cumbersome: You\u2019ll click \u201cremove.\u201d\n\nAdam Ghahramani is an independent product and marketing producer based in New York and a frequent contributor to VentureBeat.", "output": "Adblocking's dramatic increase in usage, up 30% from last year alone, is causing advertisers to be more intrusive in their campaigns. Pop-up ads are likely to increase as advertisers struggle to retain profitable desktop ad viewership. Additonally, asking for exemption from adblockers is now seen as common rather than an exception, and is more palatable to viewers than ads themselves.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurance brokers neglecting customers, ignoring social media \n According to a survey from Ecclesiastical brokers have only just started using social media to do business.\n\nOver a third of smaller brokers only speak to their clients once at renewal time, Ecclesiastical revealed in a poll.\n\n\n\nThe survey polled 250 brokers to see how, when and why they interact with clients.\n\n\n\nIt also found that over half only contacted their clients once or twice a year.\n\n\n\n\u201cWhat became clear is that in some cases, brokers are not in regular contact with their customers,\u201d said the insurer.\n\n\n\nAdditionally, the vast majority, a total of 94% of the brokers polled, contact clients with renewal", "output": "Survey results from brokers Ecclesiastical have suggested that brokers are new to using social media as a way of carrying out business. A total of 250 brokers were polled and the results showed that over half contact clients only once\u00a0or twice\u00a0annually, with\u00a094% contacting clients to issue\u00a0renewal reminders and 29% regarding an upsell or different products. Just 22% of brokers have used LinkedIn in the past year\u00a0and 21% have used Twitter.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Business Insider targets mobile viewers across platforms \n Business Insider is gaining an audience on YouTube by using the same short social videos that have helped the publisher achieve more than 2.5 billion views across Facebook.\n\nBusiness Insider\u2019s three YouTube channels \u2014 Business Insider, Tech Insider and Insider \u2014 generated 139 million YouTube video views in June, up from 11 million video views in June 2016, according to Tubular Labs. The growth was organic, too, as Business Insider did not pay for subscriber acquisition or views, said Nicholas Carlson, editor-in-chief of Insider, BI\u2019s distributed-media brand.\n\nBusiness Insider\u2019s YouTube growth is also not the result of a new content strategy involving the creation of original vlogs, hosted series, animated explainers and other formats known to perform well on YouTube. Instead, Business Insider is putting the same videos on Facebook and YouTube.\n\n\u201cA lot of people look at Insider and think, \u2018Oh, you\u2019re good at doing Facebook videos because you\u2019ve clearly gamed Facebook,\u2019\u201d said Carlson. \u201cNo, what we\u2019re doing is building a type of video that people love to watch on their phones, and that happen to be available on whatever platform they\u2019re using to watch video.\u201d\n\nTake a recent 90-second clip of horror-themed cakes. The video was published to both the main Insider Facebook page, where it has had more than 4.3 million views, and YouTube, where it has gotten more than 118,000 views.\n\nSyndicating and repackaging videos across Facebook and YouTube goes against the grain of what digital publishers have said in the past about what works and doesn\u2019t work on both platforms. Carlson argues that Facebook\u2019s role in making video ubiquitous within the News Feed has conditioned users to expect that kind of video on other platforms, too.\n\n\u201cCommon sense would say that to create an ideal viewing experience, content would need to be optimized to the platform. But who knows? In a couple of years, Snapchat made vertical video a thing consumers completely expect and prefer,\u201d said Amanda Parker, associate media director at ad agency GSD&M. \u201cMaybe the proliferation of the sound-off video has changed enough consumers\u2019 expectations to make that their default on any platform.\u201d\n\nOther media companies are paying closer attention to YouTube. Vox.com has seen similar growth on YouTube. The Atlantic, meanwhile, recently switched to a YouTube-first strategy, even using the YouTube video player on its own site \u2014 something Business Insider is also doing across its verticals.\n\nThe renewed attention on YouTube coincides with publishers spending more time thinking about producing longer videos and measuring success by time-spent metrics, which itself was precipitated by Facebook prioritizing longer videos and watch time within its algorithm.\n\nBusiness Insider is not ignoring these areas. The publisher has done long-form documentaries in the past. More recently, Insider set up a content team called Insider Shows to create longer videos across platforms, Carlson said.\n\nAs for the attention Business Insider is placing on YouTube, it\u2019s not because YouTube has a consistent ad system where publishers can make money from pre-rolls, Carlson said. Business Insider does get to sell its own YouTube video inventory, though.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re not having difficulty monetizing Facebook,\u201d Carlson said. \u201cThe idea that YouTube is better at monetization than Facebook, I disagree with, because we\u2019re making Facebook work with a sales team that works directly with clients and as a partner on Facebook\u2019s ad breaks. YouTube is attractive on its own merits, not in comparison to Facebook.\u201d\n\nPhoto via Insider", "output": "American news website Business Insider is going against the trend and reaping the rewards of publishing the same videos on Facebook and Google-owned rival YouTube. In June 2017, the company's three YouTube channels, Business Insider, Tech Insider and Insider, generated 139 million views, compared to 11 million the previous year. \"We're building a type of video that people love to watch on their phones, and that happens to be available on whatever platform they\u2019re using\", said Nicholas Carlson, editor-in-chief of Insider.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Encrypted messenger apps spreading 'fake news' in India \n When India threatened to put people responsible for fake news behind bars, it didn't exactly know how it'd do that.\n\nThe Indian Minister for Electronics and Information Technology admitted that the country is \"helpless.\" It's unable to access \"objectionable\" content because of encryption , according to The Economic Times.\n\nWhatsApp 's encryption is the only obstruction to the government's ability to act on reported content, added the minister. The government would otherwise be able to use laws that are already in place to punish people for spreading fake news.\n\n\"Instances of objectionable videos being uploaded through mobile phones and shared through WhatsApp have been noticed,\" he said. \"According to WhatsApp, the messages are end-to-end encrypted and they and any third-party cannot read them. In other words, the messages are only seen by the sender and the receiver.\"\n\n\"WhatsApp provides a feature to report any objectionable content. However, they also admit that since they do not have the contents of the messages available with them, it limits their ability to take action,\" he added. \"A user can take [a] screenshot of the content and share it with appropriate law enforcement authorities.\"\n\nIndia is not the only country expressing frustration with encryption. Countries such as Australia and the UK have cited security concerns when calling for tech companies, especially Facebook 's WhatsApp, to give authorities access to content when required. Messaging app Telegram has been admonished for creating a safe haven for terrorists to plot attacks in countries such as Indonesia and Russia.\n\nWhile no backdoors to encrypted content have been created, companies are responsive to governments' repeated calls for action to fight terrorism. Facebook, for instance, is part of a joint forum created with other tech giants such as Google's YouTube and Twitter to combat extremism.\n\nDespite what the minister said, India isn't entirely helpless in its move to rid undesirable content from WhatsApp. One WhatsApp group administrator was arrested in the country in May for sharing an edited image of India's prime minister so it looked \"ugly and obscene.\" The arrest was made just two weeks after an Indian magistrate announced new rules forbidding WhatsApp users to spread fake news on the app, saying it will hold WhatsApp group administrators accountable for the spread of any such content.\n\nLogging Out: Welcome to the crossroads of online life and the afterlife.\n\nVirtual reality 101: CNET tells you everything you need to know about VR .", "output": "India has\u00a0become the latest country to grow frustrated at the end-to-end encryption on Facebook-owned tool WhatsApp, claiming it cannot access \"objectionable\" content and punish those sending it. Australia and the UK have made the same complaint, while Facebook, Google and Twitter have formed a joint forum to combat extremism on their platforms. In May, a WhatsApp group administrator was arrested in India for manipulating the image of the country's prime minister, Narendra Modi.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Research shows Facebook can target political views \n Social media can influence how you vote Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto/Getty\n\nCould Facebook really tip the balance in an election? Over the past year firms like AggregateIQ and Cambridge Analytica have been credited with using AI-targeted ads on social media to help swing the Brexit referendum and the US presidential election respectively. But a lack of evidence meant we have never known whether the technology exists to make this possible.\n\nNow the first study detailing the process from start to finish is finally shedding some light. \u201cThis is the first time that I\u2019ve seen all the dots connected,\u201d says Joanna Bryson, an artificial intelligence researcher at the University of Bath, UK.\n\nAt the heart of the debate is psychographic targeting \u2013 the directing of political campaigns at people via social media based on their personality and political interests, with the aid of vast amount of data filtered by artificial intelligence.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThough Facebook doesn\u2019t explicitly provide the tools to target people based on political opinions, the new study shows how the platform can be exploited. Using combinations of people\u2019s interests, demographics, and survey data it\u2019s possible to direct campaigns at individuals based on their agreement with ideas and policies. This could have a big impact on the success of campaigns.\n\n\u201cThe weaponised, artificially intelligent propaganda machine is effective. You don\u2019t need to move people\u2019s political dials by much to influence an election, just a couple of percentage points to the left or right,\u201d says Chris Sumner at the Online Privacy Foundation, who is presenting the work this week at DEF CON in Las Vegas.\n\nChecks and balances\n\nNo one yet knows how much this can permanently change people\u2019s views. But Sumner\u2019s study clearly reveals a form of political campaigning with no checks and balances.\n\nTo get to grips with the complex issue of psychographic targeting online, Sumner and his colleagues created four experiments.\n\nIn the first, they looked at what divides people. High up on the list was the statement: \u201cwith regards to internet privacy: if you\u2019ve done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear\u201d. During the Brexit referendum they surveyed more than 5000 people and found that Leave voters were significantly more likely to agree with the statement, and Remain voters more likely to disagree.\n\nNext, by administering various personality tests to a different group they found traits that correlate with how likely you are to agree with that statement on internet privacy. This was converted into an \u201cauthoritarianism\u201d score: if you scored high you were more likely to agree with the statement. Then, using a tool called PreferenceTool, built by researchers at the University of Cambridge, they were able to reverse engineer what sort of Facebook interests and demographics people with those personalities were most likely to have.\n\nJust 38 per cent of a random selection of people on Facebook agreed with the privacy statement but this shot up to 61 per cent when the tool was used to target people deemed more likely to agree, and down to 25 per cent for those who they deemed more likely to disagree. In other words, they were able to demonstrate that it is possible to target people on Facebook based on a political opinion.\n\nAd campaigns\n\nFinally, the team created four different Facebook ad campaigns tailored to the personalities they had identified, using both pro and anti-surveillance messages. For example, the anti-surveillance ad aimed at people with high levels of authoritarianism read: \u201cThey fought for your freedom. Don\u2019t give it away! Say no to mass surveillance,\u201d with a backdrop of the D-day landings. In contrast, the version for people with low levels of authoritarianism said: \u201cDo you really have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide? Say no to state surveillance,\u201d alongside an image of Anne Frank.\n\nOverall they found that the tailored ads resonated best with the target groups. For example, the pro-surveillance, high-authoritarianism advert had 20 times as many likes and shares from the high-authoritarianism group versus the low one.\n\nThough the picture is becoming clearer, we should be careful not to equate a short-term decision to share or like a post, with long-term political views, says Andreas Jungherr at the University of Konstanz, Germany. \u201cSocial media is impacting political opinions. But the hype makes it hard to tell exactly how much,\u201d he says.\n\nHowever, maybe changing political opinions doesn\u2019t have to be the end game. Perhaps the goal is simply to dissuade or encourage people from voting. \u201cWe know it\u2019s really easy to convince people not to go to the polls,\u201d says Bryson. \u201cPrime at the right time and you can have a big effect. It\u2019s not necessarily about changing opinions.\u201d\n\nFacebook allows targeted advertising so long as a company\u2019s use of external data adheres to the law.\n\nGreater transparency is the aim for the future. The Information Commissioner in the UK, Elizabeth Denham, is midway through an investigation into the use of targeted advertising by political campaigns and is due to publish her findings later this year. The Green Party in Germany has started making all of its social media adverts available online for anyone to see. This may encourage others to follow.\n\nBut a better approach might be to create new institutions to audit the algorithms used for political targeting. \u201cIt\u2019s absolutely fundamental to democracy that there is more transparency,\u201d says Bryson.", "output": "Researchers at the University of Bath have discovered how Facebook can be exploited by political campaigns using psychographic targeting. In a study presented at DEF CON, the team created four experiments to find out what divides social media users, used personality tests in a different group to find correlating traits, and created a series of Facebook ads aimed at the personalities identified. The results revealed the tailored ads worked best with the target groups, but the team warned that while social media was clearly influencing public opinion, it was impossible to gauge how much.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US voting machines put to test by hackers \n They were among the hundreds of cybersecurity experts who descended on \u201cVoting Village,\u201d one of the most talked-about features of the annual DEF CON hacker conference. In a cramped conference room, they took turns over three days cracking into 10 examples of voting machines and voter registration systems \u2014 a reminder, they say, of the risks awaiting upcoming U.S. elections.\n\n\u201cI could have done this in 2004,\u201d said Schurman, who could gain administrative-level access to the voting machine, giving him the power to see all the votes cast on the device and to manipulate or delete vote totals. \u201cOr 2008, or 2012.\u201d\n\nIn the wild, he estimated, it would take him about a minute to break in.\n\nAnne-Marie Hwang, an intern at the digital security firm Synack, demonstrated that by bringing a generic plastic key to mimic the ones given to poll workers and plugging in a keyboard, she could simply hit control-alt-delete and enter the voting machine\u2019s generic password to gain administrative access.\n\nThe lesson: \u201cThe bad guys can get in,\u201d said Jake Braun, a panel moderator at the conference who advised the Department of Homeland Security on cybersecurity during the Obama administration.\n\nAnd that means election officials must acknowledge that no security is foolproof. Instead, Braun said, they need to adopt the private sector model of working to better detect and minimize the effect of successful cyberattacks rather than trying to become impenetrable.\n\n\u201c\u2018Unhackable\u2019 is absurd on its face,\u201d Braun said. \u201cIf the Russians and Chinese and whoever else can get into NSA and Lockheed Martin and JP Morgan, they absolutely can get into Kalamazoo County or the state of Ohio or the [voting machine] vendor.\u201d\n\nAlready, the country has seen Moscow-backed hackers attack the 2016 U.S. election in what intelligence officials said was a widespread digital meddling campaign orchestrated by Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to U.S. officials, the Kremlin\u2019s digital spies targeted at least 21 state voter registration systems and successfully infiltrated at least two, Arizona and Illinois. On Election Day, the White House staff was so worried about Russian hackers tampering with the actual voting process that it drew up a 15-page contingency plan that included potentially deploying the military and National Guard.\n\nBut Nov. 8 came and went with no indication that any votes were altered, a point U.S. officials stress regularly. Voting security experts caution, though, that the country doesn\u2019t have the mechanisms in place to make such a definitive conclusion.\n\n\u201cOne thing that\u2019s been very unfortunate in the way a lot of election officials have talked about the breaches is saying the phrase we have no evidence that X, Y, or Z happened,\u201d Braun added. \u201cHowever, the real answer is they have no idea what happened, or [way] of knowing. I\u2019m not suggesting votes were switched or voters were deleted from voter files, but the point is the security is so lax and so bad that they have no way of going back and doing the forensics and saying one way or the other.\u201d\n\nFederal and state officials argue that it would be extremely unlikely for hackers to manipulate vote tallies. Voting machines are not connected to the internet and many states collect voter registration information at the county level, providing a backup to confirm the veracity of the statewide database. Basically, the system is decentralized and lacks key internet links, they say.\n\nBefore the 2016 election, former FBI Director James Comey assuaged fears by telling Congress that the system was so \u201cclunky\u201d \u2014 comprised of a mishmash of different kinds of machines and networks, with each state\u2019s results managed by a consortium of state and county officials \u2014 that its overall integrity was fairly safe.\n\nElection security advocates aren\u2019t as confident. Barbara Simons, Board Chair of Verified Voting, a nonprofit that since 2003 has studied U.S. elections equipment, said that the vulnerabilities on display in Las Vegas only served to reiterate a need for the country to adopt a nationwide system of verifiable paper ballots and mandatory, statistically significant audits.\n\nWhile numerous states have starting moving in this direction, Simons worries it\u2019s not enough.\n\n\u201cNobody\u2019s done a really thorough examination,\u201d Simons said. \u201cEven where there are paper ballots, most ballots haven\u2019t been checked to see if there was any hacking or intrusion, so even if security people didn\u2019t see any outside hacking occurring on Election Day, things could have been attacked earlier.\u201d\n\nVerified Voting, Simons said, plans to partner with Braun and several other groups that have not yet been named to aggressively campaign for increasing DHS grants that would pay for states to make specific upgrades to their election security systems.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s actually pretty cheap to do it,\u201d Braun said, putting the price tag at $500-600 million.\n\nA significantly more secure election, while relatively difficult to implement, doesn\u2019t need to be complicated, Simons said.\n\n\u201cWe know how to protect ourselves against Russian hacking,\u201d she said. \u201cPaper ballots and post-election ballot audits before the results are certified. That\u2019s what we need across the country. It\u2019s a straightforward solution.\u201d", "output": "Hackers have demonstrated the many vulnerabilities in electronic voting systems used across the US during the Voting Village event, part of the recent DEF CON Conference. While supporters say the decentralised system, which lacks internet links, is secure because of its \"clunky\" nature, cyber security experts have called for the US government to emulate the private sector, and focus on detection and minimising damage. \"Paper ballots and post-election ballot audits before the results are certified, that\u2019s what we need across the country. It\u2019s a straightforward solution\", said Barbara Simons, board chair of Verified Voting.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK SMEs continue to neglect cybersecurity: Zurich \n For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBreaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nSmall and medium-sized businesses are not earmarking significant amounts of cash to bolster their cyber-security defences, despite almost one-sixth of all companies suffering an attack within the last year.\n\nAccording to data compiled by insurance company Zurich, 875,000 SMEs across the UK have been affected by a cyber-attack over the last 12 months, with firms in London worst affected.\n\nOf the companies hit, just over a fifth reported that it cost them more than \u00a310,000 and one in 10 said that it had cost them more than \u00a350,000.\n\nRecommended Girls Scouts launches new badges in robotics and cyber security\n\nBut despite those potential losses, a survey of over 1,000 UK SMEs also showed almost half \u2013 or 49 per cent \u2013 admitted that they plan to spend \u00a31,000 or less on their cyber defences in the next 12 months, while 22 per cent said that they don\u2019t know how much they will spend.\n\nThat\u2019s despite 25 per cent of medium-sized businesses saying that they had been directly asked by a current or prospective customer about what cyber security measures they have in place.\n\n\u201cThe results suggest that SMEs are not yet heeding the warnings provided by large attacks on global businesses,\u201d said Paul Tombs, head of SME proposition at Zurich.\n\n\u201cWhile the rate of attacks on SMEs is troubling, it also shows that there is an opportunity for businesses with the correct safeguards and procedures in place to leverage this as a strength and gain an advantage.\u201d\n\nIn April, a study commissioned by cyber security firm CGI and conducted by Oxford Economics found that public companies\u2019 share prices fall by an average of 1.8 per cent on a permanent basis following a severe cyber-breach, where large amounts of sensitive information are lost.\n\nA report by Lloyds of London earlier in July argued that a major, global cyber attack \u2013 akin to the Wannacry attack that took down the NHS in May \u2013 could trigger an average of \u00a341bn of economic losses, a figure on par with a catastrophic natural disaster such as US superstorm Sandy in 2012.\n\n\u201cWhile recent cyber-attacks have highlighted the importance of cyber security for some of the world\u2019s biggest companies, it\u2019s important to remember that small and medium sized businesses need to protect themselves too,\u201d Mr Tombs said.\n\nThe research was conducted by YouGov on behalf of Zurich.", "output": "Almost 900,000 small and medium-sized businesses across the UK have been affected by a cyber attack in the past 12 months, but fewer than half plan to spend more than \u00a31,000 ($1,300) on cybersecurity, according to a survey by insurance company Zurich. The revelations come despite more than 20% of firms admitting cyber attacks had set them back \u00a310,000, while 10% lost more than \u00a350,000. Share prices permanently lose 1.8% after a cyber attack, according to a study commissioned by cybersecurity firm CGI."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook terminates bots after AI creates its own language \n These Ultra-Microscopic Sculptures Fit Inside the Eye of a Needle\u2014Here\u2019s How the Artist Paints Them", "output": "Facebook has closed down one of its artificial intelligence (AI) programmes after the bots taking part stopped using English and developed their own language. The social media giant played down the issue, AI researcher Dhruv Batra explained\u00a0that: \"agents will drift off from understandable language and invent code-words for themselves\".\u00a0Rivals Google, and OpenAILab, run by Elon Musk, have both experienced similar issues with AIs. Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have publicly aired their personal opinions of the other's take on AI and its monitoring, with Musk warning of the potential dangers posed by the sector and Zuckerberg calling Musk's comments \"irresponsible\".\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon's media service revenue hit $945m in Q2 \n Amazon's hopes of building an online advertising business to rival that of Facebook and Google is at the core of its recruitment drive at present. The company\u2019s finance chief told investors that its 42% year-on-year increase in headcount was driven primarily by it acquiring software engineering talent and building teams to promote its emerging media services offering.\n\nAdditionally, Amazon is also pre-empting the closure of its proposed $13bn purchase of Whole Foods by experimenting with a number of e-commerce solutions as well as bricks and mortar outlets, as well as staffing up to bolster its emergent advertising business, according to leadership.\n\nAmazon's Q2 earnings\n\nThe e-commerce giant yesterday (July 27) posted a 25% annual increase in sales revenue which hit $38bn during the three months to June 30, although a spike in the company\u2019s operating costs saw its level of profitability plunge.\n\nDespite the impressive increase in revenue, Amazon\u2019s stock prices actually fell in the early hours after trading due to the company missing analyst expectations \u2013 incidentally this decrease in stock price meant that Amazon chief Jeff Bezos was \u2018the richest man in the world\u2019 for only a matter of hours.\n\nWhile retail sales make up the vast bulk of Amazon\u2019s revenues are generated via retail sales (both e-commerce and increasingly in its bricks and mortar stores) the company did breakout its earnings by sub category.\n\nChief financial officer Brian Olsavsky run-rate of its online cloud computing service Amazon Web Services (AWS) was $16bn during the second quarter, compared to $14bn in the previous one, with the increase in revenue representing the largest sequential increase in its earnings since its launch in 2006.\n\nNascent media business\n\nMeanwhile, the company\u2019s emerging media services business (which includes Amazon A9, plus Amazon Advertising Platform, or AAP, etc) are categorized as a \u201cother\u201d, with revenues in this category hitting $945m during the quarter, compared to $626m 12 months earlier, according to the filing.\n\nAnswering questions on its operating expenses Amazon\u2019s Olsavsky pointed out that a notable cause of its cost increase was a significant increase in the company\u2019s headcount, as well as its B2B marketing efforts.\n\nThe growth rate of its headcount (now north of 382,000) was 42% year-over-year, and while this has historically been driven by hires in its operations staff, but as it continues to diversify its revenue streams, this is changing, according to Olsavsky.\n\n\u201cRight now what we\u2019re seeing is an accelerated growth rate in software engineers and also sales teams to support, primarily in the US and advertising, the growth rate of those two categories exceeded the company growth rate of the company,\u201d he told analysts.\n\n\u201cSo we are having success at hiring a lot of people and pointing them at some very important programs,\u201d Olsavsky added, while also pointing out that marketing spend to promote AWS and its advertising offerings had \u201cprobably larger than normal impacts on Q2 operating margin.\u201d\n\nDuring the call with finance analysts, Olsavsky pointed out that while its proposed Whole Foods purchase was not included in this guidance, it is preparing for this eventuality.\n\n\u201cOn the place of Amazon Fresh \u2013 and we include Prime Now and some of our other efforts \u2013 we believe there will be no one solution, so we\u2019re experimenting with a number of formats from physical pickup points with Amazon Go, to online ordering and delivery to your door through Prime Now and Amazon Fresh,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll see how customers respond, we\u2019ll see how customers respond we\u2019ve liked the response so far,\u201d he said. \u201cAmazon Go is not out of beta, but the other ones are. On top of that we\u2019re looking forward to adding the Whole Foods team and their great reputation for quality customer service to this offering.\u201d\n\nAmazon's ad business to generate $1bn in 2017\n\nIndustry observers have noted with interest how Amazon has spent the last 18 months stepping up the promotion of its advertising services, with eMarketer forecasting that Amazon\u2019s advertising offering, which offers brands the ability to promote their wares on its own website plus third parties based on vast swathe of first party data are poised to generate $1bn in revenue in 2017.\n\nThis increase has prompted WPP chief Sir Martin Sorrell to label Amazon as \u201cthe sleeping giant\u201d of online media, with a 2017 study of advertisers and agencies revealing that its demand-side platform (which lets advertisers bid on ad inventory based on Amazon data) surpassing Google\u2019s offering DoubleClick as the most used DSP on the market.\n\nThat\u2019s according to research firm Advertiser Perceptions, which surveyed 800 media buyers to gauge their reaction to the offering, with the results indicating that the buy-side of the industry was eager for the option of an alternative to DoubleClick's DBM.\n\nAddressing analysts on the call, Olsavsky explained that although its online advertising tools were self-service platforms (ie where the media buyers users software of \u2018a dashboard\u2019 to automate their media buyers) Amazon still wanted staff to explain the tools.\n\n\u201cSo, we built self-service tools and obviously we want to make those as efficient as possible for customers and advertisers, but we realize that we will need actual sales contact with the accounts as well. So it's a mix. I can't get into the split, really, but I would see both growing,\u201d he concluded.\n\nSaveSave", "output": "Revenues for Amazon A9 and Amazon Advertising Platform hit $945m during Q2 2017, compared to $626m the previous year, according to an earnings call. The retail giant also posted sales revenue figures of $38bn, a 25% annual increase, and a 42% rise in headcount since 2016. Despite this, shares in Amazon fell as the figures revealed the firm fell short of\u00a0analyst expectations. Amazon has been on a push to extend its advertising capability, with the expanded workforce mostly directed at the\u00a0emerging media services offering.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Global warming linked to 60,000 farming suicides in India \n Climate change may have contributed to the suicides of nearly 60,000 Indian farmers and farm workers over the past three decades, according to new research that examines the toll rising temperatures are already taking on vulnerable societies.\n\nIllustrating the extreme sensitivity of the Indian agricultural industry to spikes in temperature, the study from the University of California, Berkeley, found an increase of just 1C on an average day during the growing season was associated with 67 more suicides.\n\nAn increase of 5C on any one day was associated with an additional 335 deaths, the study published in the journal PNAS on Monday found. In total, it estimates that 59,300 agricultural sector suicides over the past 30 years could be attributed to warming.\n\n\n\nTemperature increases outside the growing season showed no significant impact on suicide rates, suggesting stress on the agriculture industry was the source of the increase in suicides.\n\nAlso supporting the theory was that rainfall increases of as little as 1cm each year were associated with an average 7% drop in the suicide rate. So beneficial was the strong rainfall that suicide rates were lower for the two years that followed, researcher Tamma Carleton found.\n\nFarm sector suicides in India decreased last year, but remain at epidemic levels in some states and are a source of immense pressure on legislators.\n\nOne drought-hit state, Maharashtra, reported 852 farmer suicides in the first four months of this year, while in 2015, one of the worst years on record, about 12,602 farmers killed themselves across India. Overall, more than 300,000 farmers and farm workers have killed themselves in the country since 1995.\n\nIn recent months, a site in central Delhi has been strewn with evidence of the despair felt by the Indian agricultural sector.\n\n\n\nSkulls and bones said to belong to farmers who killed themselves have been piled at Jantar Mantar, within walking distance of the Indian parliament.\n\nThey were brought to Delhi by farmers from Tamil Nadu, a state suffering its worst drought in 140 years, which the protesters claim has triggered hundreds of suicides in the past months.\n\nWorse than the parched crops were the bank loans that loomed over many farming families, said Rani Radhakrishnan, one of the protesters.\n\nIn February, owing 80,000 rupees (\u00a3945), her husband stood outside his bank branch in the city of Trichy, and consumed a toxic concoction. He died on the spot.\n\nTamil Nadu is suffering its worst drought in 140. Protestors claim it has triggered hundreds of suicides. Photograph: Julian Chung/The Guardian\n\n\u201cHe had talked about things like this [suicide] happening with others, but never about doing it himself,\u201d she said.\n\nThe next week, Radhakrishnan and her daughter-in-law stood outside the bank brandishing wads of rupees. \u201cWe told them, we have repaid your money, now will you give us back my husband\u2019s life?\u201d she said.\n\nLast year the Indian government launched a \u00a31bn insurance scheme to protect against crop failures and try to halve farmer and farm worker suicides.\n\nMaharashtra, Punjab and the country\u2019s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, have all passed farm-debt waivers at enormous cost to the public purse to appease the demands of the agricultural sector, which commands strong political sway.\n\nCarleton said her research showed little evidence Indian farmers were changing their practices to accommodate rising temperatures.\n\n\u201cWithout interventions that help families adapt to a warmer climate, it\u2019s likely we will see a rising number of lives lost to suicide as climate change worsens in India,\u201d Carleton said.\n\n\n\nThe true suicide rate was probably higher, she added, because deaths are generally underreported in India and, until 2014, suicide was considered a criminal offence, discouraging honest reports.\n\n\u201cThe tragedy is unfolding today,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is not a problem for future generations. This is our problem, right now.\u201d", "output": "Crop-damaging global warming has contributed to the suicides of 59,300 farmers and agricultural workers in India over the past 30 years, according to research from the University of California, Berkeley. The study found that an increase of 1C on an average growing season day was linked to an additional 67 suicides. This number rose to 335 when the temperature increased by 5C on any one day. Rainfall increases of 1 cm per year were linked to a 7% fall in suicides.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wells Fargo faces class-action over auto insurance \n Wells Fargo & Co., which is still settling class-action lawsuits over its fake-accounts scandal, has now been hit with yet another \u2014 related to the bank\u2019s revelation last week that it charged auto loan customers for unnecessary insurance.\n\nAn Indiana man who says he was charged $598 for auto coverage despite repeatedly asking Wells Fargo to rescind the charges is the lead plaintiff in the case, which accuses the San Francisco bank of scheming with National General Insurance Co. to \u201cbilk millions of dollars from unsuspecting customers.\u201d\n\nThe lawsuit, filed Sunday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, does not name the insurance carrier as a defendant. It is seeking class-action status.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nLast week, the bank acknowledged that an internal probe spurred by customer complaints found that, between 2012 and 2017, about 570,000 borrowers may have been wrongly pushed into auto-insurance policies despite having their own coverage.\n\nThe policies, so-called collateral-protection insurance, are typically issued by lenders after a customer takes out an auto loan on a vehicle and does not have coverage for it.\n\nWells Fargo said last week that it will pay $80 million in compensation to the customers, including some 20,000 who had their cars repossessed after the charges for the insurance caused them to default on their loans.\n\nCatherine Pulley, a Wells Fargo spokeswoman, declined to comment on the specifics of the lawsuit but noted the bank\u2019s offer of compensation.\n\n\u201cWe announced a plan to remediate auto loan customers who may have been financially harmed due to issues related to auto CPI policies placed between 2012-2017,\u201d the statement said. \u201cWe are very sorry for the inconvenience this caused impacted customers, and we are in the process of notifying them and making things right.\u201d\n\nThe federal lawsuit accuses Wells Fargo of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, as well as California\u2019s Unfair Competition Law and Indiana\u2019s Deceptive Consumer Sales Act. It also alleges fraud.\n\nThe lawsuit was filed by Baron & Budd, a law firm with offices in California, Louisiana and Texas. Other law firms also have announced they are investigating whether to file lawsuits over the matter, including Keller Rohrback, a leading class-action firm.\n\nNational General could not be reached for immediate comment.\n\nlaurence.darmiento@latimes.com\n\nFollow me @ldarmiento on Twitter\n\nALSO\n\nWells Fargo charged customers for unneeded auto insurance \u2014 then repossessed their cars\n\nGoogle\u2019s new shopper-tracking program sparks a federal privacy complaint\n\nHackers hit HBO, claim to release \u2018Game of Thrones\u2019 information", "output": "Wells Fargo is facing a class-action lawsuit related to last week\u2019s disclosure that it charged customers for unnecessary auto insurance. The bank is still settling class-action suits relating to last year\u2019s false accounts scandal, which resulted in a $185m fine. The lead plaintiff in the case, filed on Sunday in San Francisco, claims to have been charged $598 for insurance despite repeated requests to have the charges rescinded. Wells Fargo has pledged to pay $80m in compensation after disclosing that an internal investigation found 570,000 customers may have been forced to take unnecessary insurance between 2012 and 2017. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "World\u2019s first Social Impact Bond rewards investors \n Big ideas are few and far between, and social progress usually occurs incrementally, bit by bit. But sometimes a big idea \u2013 even one that starts modestly \u2013 can thoroughly transform our view of what is possible.\n\nLONDON \u2013 Big ideas are few and far between. Progress usually occurs incrementally, bit by bit. But sometimes a big idea \u2013 even one that starts modestly \u2013 can thoroughly transform our view of what is possible.\n\nLast week, a small social experiment conceived ten years ago to help 2,000 young delinquents in Peterborough, in eastern England, paid off \u2013 literally. More important, the Peterborough experiment has become the guiding light for hundreds of millions of dollars in investment in social reform.\n\nDuring the last Labour government, I worked with one of Britain\u2019s greatest entrepreneurs and philanthropists, Sir Ronald Cohen, to create what became the world\u2019s first Social Impact Bond (SIB). Concerned about the rate of youth reoffending, Sir Ronald and his colleagues persuaded a group of investors to back an innovative program of personal mentoring and support, individually tailored to young people leaving their cells.\n\nThe SIB initiative was one of the last decisions I signed off on in Government. Within months, Social Finance \u2013 another Cohen-initiated social enterprise \u2013 had raised \u00a35 million ($6.6 million) from 17 trusts and foundations to launch the bond.\n\nThe Peterborough SIB funded One Service, an umbrella organization designed to respond to the complex needs of offenders to help them break the cycle of recidivism. Over five years of operation, One Service offered post-release support for a period of up to 12 months to two cohorts of 1,000 male prisoners who had served short sentences. Engagement was voluntary, but the whole cohort was included in the measurement of the results.\n\nMost of the 2,000 youngsters who received help from One Service in Peterborough had not only been in detention, but had reoffended on several occasions. A term in custody appeared to be no deterrent at all. But many had acute needs that no one had been addressing. A high proportion suffered from mental health and substance abuse challenges. Many had housing needs, lacked the right skills to find employment, had no access to income, and were in debt to moneylenders \u2013 a formula for recidivism.\n\nSubscribe to PS Digital Now Subscribe to PS Digital Now Access every new PS commentary, our entire On Point suite of subscriber-exclusive content \u2013 including Longer Reads, Insider Interviews, Big Picture/Big Question, and Say More \u2013 and the full PS archive. Subscribe Now\n\nInvesting in this new kind of bond was a risk, but we wanted the Peterborough SIB to show the world that private investment could be mobilized to tackle even the most complex and intractable social problems. So, according to the scheme I approved, the government would pay bondholders if the project cut youth recidivism by 7.5%.\n\nIn fact, by working with locals in the Safer Peterborough Partnership, One Service reduced the recidivism rate of these short-sentence offenders by 9% more than a national control group. As a result, the 17 investors in the Peterborough SIB will receive a single payment representing their initial capital, plus an amount that will represent an annual return of just over 3% for the period of investment.\n\nAlong the way, Peterborough did indeed show the world. Today, social impact bonds are mobilizing \u00a3300 million of investment in a wide range of projects. Such bonds finance help for refugees seeking jobs in the US; aid for homeless, unemployed youth and the elderly in the United Kingdom; efforts to reduce schoolgirls\u2019 dropout rates in parts of Asia; and diabetes prevention in Israel.\n\nAs Sir Ronald has explained, the government pays out only for success. The key to unlocking social progress is accurate impact measurement \u2013 including the benefits of prevention \u2013 and converting social gains into a financial return capable of attracting investment from capital markets.\n\nI am now working on a new project with Sir Ronald, who believes we can raise substantial sums for urgently needed educational investments, including for the world\u2019s 30 million displaced and refugee children. But the Cohen plan is even bolder and covers the entire field of social problems in urgent need of amelioration. He foresees a tipping point by 2020, with billions of dollars in new investment in bonds coming from the world\u2019s top 100 institutional investors, 50 foundations, and 50 private companies.\n\nJust as venture capital, which Sir Ronald also pioneered in Britain, responded to the financing needs of the dot-com revolution a generation ago, social impact investment can help us reach the next stage of innovative social reform. As one of its supporters told me a few days ago, the person who shows how risk-taking for financial return can be combined with achieving social impact to change the world is worthy of the next Nobel Peace Prize.", "output": "Investors in the world\u2019s first Social Impact Bond (SIB), created ten years ago to help 2,000 youth offenders in Peterborough in the UK, will receive a single payment equal to their initial capital plus an annual return of just over 3%, writes Gordon Brown in Project Syndicate. The SIB, created by UK entrepreneur and philanthropist Sir Ronald Cohen, had 17 investors. The SIB backed the One Service programme of mentoring for offenders and the government agreed to pay bondholders if reoffending rates fell 7.5%. As a result of the initiative, recidivism fell by 9% more than the control group."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gender pay gap may lead to strike at FT \n Financial Times' journalists could strike over the gender pay gap at the newspaper amid fury that female journalists are being paid 13% less than male colleagues.\n\nSky News has learnt the FT's union has called a meeting on Wednesday after concluding senior managers were not taking the lack of pay parity and pay transparency at the newspaper \"seriously enough\".\n\n\"The gender pay gap in FT Editorial is nearly 13% - the biggest shortfall in a decade - and the company's 'ambition' to reach equality by 2022 is worse than the BBC's present target of 2020,\" said Steve Bird, father of the FT's National Union of Journalists chapel, in an email to 600 staff.\n\n\"Working for a private company where even the salaries of the editor and CEO are not disclosed does not inspire confidence in the FT's commitment to transparency.\n\n\"And recent corporate statements seem more concerned about the commercial implications of gender bias than bringing women's salaries into line with those of male counterparts.\n\n\"After a recent leader in the FT stated: 'Women are right to be angry at the pay gap', it's time for the Financial Times to put its money where its mouth is.\"\n\nThe gender pay gap has raced up the agenda after the BBC revealed this month that only a third of its 96 top-earning talent were women and its seven best paid stars were all men.\n\nImage: One FT journalist told Sky News that morale was poor\n\nSenior women at the BBC issued an open letter in protest at pay inequity and demanded immediate action to close the gap after Lord Hall promised to \"sort it\" by 2020.\n\nOther organisations could too come under pressure to tackle pay inequality: From next April, companies with more than 250 employees must publish the pay and bonus gaps between male and female staff.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe requirement covers about 9,000 employers with 15 million staff, roughly half the UK workforce. The gender pay gap in the UK currently stands at on average 18.1%.\n\nOne FT journalist told Sky News that morale was poor.\n\n\"There is such a lot of anger about this. It's like a pressure cooker,\" the journalist said.\n\nA recent internal pay audit showed female staff make up the majority of those paid between \u00a330,000 and \u00a350,000 at the Financial Times, while men dominate the \u00a360,000-plus pay bands, with over 70 male staff members earning over \u00a380,000 against just over 20 women.\n\nThe FT told Sky News in a statement: \"We take the matter of gender pay seriously and welcome the Government's move to make all large UK companies report on the issue.\n\n\"We have a 50/50 female-male split among our workforce and there are more women in senior roles across the newsroom and commercial teams than ever before. We have a long list of active initiatives in place to further that progress.\n\n\"We will be reporting on pay in due course, in line with the UK government timetable. From benchmarking we have seen we compare favourably to the industry.\"\n\nThe union is expected to put out a statement on further action after the meeting on Wednesday.", "output": "Journalists at the Financial Times (FT) may strike over the newspaper\u2019s gender pay gap, which is currently at 13%, the largest in a decade. Steve Bird, father of the FT\u2019s National Union of Journalists chapel, said that \"the company\u2019s \u2018ambition\u2019 to reach equality by 2022 is worse than the BBC\u2019s present target of 2020\". Earlier this month, the BBC disclosed that just one third of its top 96 earning stars were women.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tobacco companies manipulate prices to subvert tax rises \n Big tobacco companies have been manipulating the prices of cigarettes for more than a decade to undermine government attempts to deter people from smoking, research suggests.\n\nA study published in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research has found that the increasing availability of cheap tobacco has hampered public health efforts to discourage smoking, the leading cause of preventable death.\n\nScientists at King\u2019s College London and the University of Bath analysed data from more than 6,000 smokers to look at the price they paid for tobacco between 2002 and 2014.\n\nThey found that, by switching brands, smokers could buy tobacco in shops at the same prices they paid in 2002. The range between the cheapest and most expensive brands almost doubled over the 12 years. In 2002 it was 12p per cigarette but by 2014 this had increased to 23p. In 2014, the most expensive pack of 20 factory-made cigarettes cost about \u00a310, whereas the cheapest pack cost only \u00a35.33. \u201cOur research suggests that tobacco companies are able to meet tax requirements and keep cheap products available by markedly increasing prices on premium brands,\u201d says the study\u2019s co-author, Rosemary Hiscock from the University of Bath\u2019s Tobacco Control Research Group.\n\nThe practice is known as \u201cover-shifting\u201d, whereby cigarette companies use their premium products to in effect subsidise cheaper alternatives.\n\nThe researchers argue that the widening gap between the cheapest and most expensive products is evidence that the industry deliberately introduced a wide variety of brands to meet smokers\u2019 declining budgets.\n\nThe study also looks at the rising use of roll-your-own tobacco. The number smoking it almost doubled between 2002 and 2014 and it is particularly popular among younger people. The study found that the price increase in roll-your-own was lower than that for factory-made cigarettes. By 2014, the cheapest roll-your-own tobacco cost \u00a31.63 for 10 grams, enough to make 20 cigarettes.\n\nThere were large increases in the tax on tobacco over the 12 years but the price of cigarettes rose only by an average of 10p per cigarette.\n\nThe researchers suggest their work provides evidence that marked tax increases have not resulted in price rises large enough to persuade smokers of the cheaper products to quit.\n\n\u201cIncreasing tobacco prices is known to be one of the best deterrents to reduce smoking, but an increase in availability of cheaper products in conventional stores in response to this appears to be thwarting public health campaigns,\u201d said the study\u2019s lead author, Timea Partos of the addictions department at King\u2019s College London.\n\n\u201cPolicy-makers need to focus on regulating tobacco prices so that the tobacco industry is not able to undermine tax increases by offering such a wide range of cigarette prices.\u201d\n\nThe authors suggest that the price of all types of tobacco should be equally high so that smokers are discouraged from simply switching products to reduce costs.", "output": "Major tobacco firms have been manipulating the cost of cigarettes for over a decade in order to subvert government anti-smoking initiatives, according to research by King\u2019s College London and the University of Bath. The scientists found that the practice of \u201cover-shifting\u201d, or using premium products to subsidise cheaper ones, meant that, by switching brands, smokers were able to buy tobacco for the same prices they paid in 2002. By analysing data from more than 6,000 smokers, the researchers found that the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive brands had almost doubled between that date and 2014."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Growing number of UAE home buyers use internet search \n Dubai: The global property technology (PropTech) revolution has arrived in the UAE, with more than two-thirds of UAE home buyers turning to technology to help gather information relevant to their purchases, according to a research from HSBC.\n\nThe study found that 72 per cent of UAE property buyers search for available properties online, 67 per cent check the value of their current home, 65 per cent look for information on taxes and regulations, 65 per cent research where to live, and 64 per cent explore prospective home prices.\n\n\u2018Beyond the Bricks, The Future of Home Buying\u2019, the new global research report from HSBC, assesses the views of over 9,000 people in nine countries, including over 1,000 respondents in the UAE. The study provides insights into how people really feel and behave when buying, renting and owning their own homes.\n\nThe HSBC-commissioned research quantifies how the wide-scale use of technology in the real estate purchase process is bringing the PropTech revolution to the UAE.\n\nDisruption\n\nThe UAE findings reinforce forecasts that in the wake of the revolutionary change that financial technology (fintech) is having on the banking sector, PropTech will similarly disrupt the property sector.\n\nProperty websites are increasingly turning to technologies such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality to transform each stage of the home-buying process. They are delivering end-to-end services, including many of those traditionally offered by estate agents.\n\nThe scale of this transformation globally can be seen in the funding of disruptive PropTech firms, which rose phenomenally, from $221 million (Dh811.73 million) in 2012 to over $2 billion in 2016.\n\n\u201cThe process of buying a home in the UAE will change substantially in coming years,\u201d said Kunal Malani, regional head of Customer Value Management, Retail Banking and Wealth Management, HSBC, MENA. \u201cIt will be a more streamlined transaction, with buyers and sellers having greater control and relying much more on technology.\u201d\n\nThese efforts are being led by UAE smart government and Smart Dubai initiatives, and forward-looking government entities and regulators such as the Dubai Land Department (DLD) and its Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera).\n\n\u201cBy putting a growing number of databases and services online, they are demonstrating the early power of PropTech and helping to simplify the home-buying process,\u201d Malani said.\n\nSome examples of the DLD\u2019s work in this field include the Investment Map portal that gives investors and businesses practical information on ongoing real estate investment projects; the Trust Account System app, which manages the registration of developers and their projects; and Ejari, a lease application and management app designed to provide flexibility and transparency to the process.\n\nThe UAE private sector also is helping to drive the PropTech trend, with the number of property listing websites rising sharply in recent years, followed by a growing range of mortgage comparison sites. These websites compete for users by offering a wide array of services to improve and simplify the home buying process.\n\nTechnologies include live chat services, searchable databases of online brokers and agents, and cloud-based services that let website visitors save property favourites for later viewing on any device.\n\n\u201cWhile many people in the UAE are already doing their property research online, physically visiting an estate agent\u2019s office could soon become a thing of the past. Property websites are becoming considerably more sophisticated, including by partnering with real estate consultants to use big data to bring more and better properties to prospective buyers,\u201d said Asma Dakkak, a research manager with JLL in Dubai.", "output": "The UAE has seen over two thirds of property buyers turn to the internet to research their purchases, according to research from HSBC. Around 72% of UAE buyers search for properties online, with 67% looking for tax and regulation information digitally, according to the report. Further, it found that 65% of buyers research locations and 64% find potential home prices using the web. The report took into account 9,000 global citizens, including 1,000 UAE residents. The UK is currently the largest user of online property search tools, with 93% of home buying or renting originating online.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Global warming leads to changes in UK waters \n Squid and anchovies, more commonly eaten by Britons holidaying abroad, are being drawn into UK waters in large numbers by climate change, according to major new report that suggests the nation\u2019s long-lost bluefin tuna is also returning.\n\nHowever, global warming is harming sea birds, such as puffins, fulmars, terns and razorbills, as the fish they rely on are driven north or deeper as waters warm. The analysis of the impact of climate on the UK\u2019s seas, which draws on the work of 400 scientists, found a steady rise in water temperature.\n\nIt also found a clear rising trend in sea level, leading to much more frequent extreme high water events. Improved defences and forecasting have prevented an increase in coastal floods, but the report warns that sea level rise around the UK is likely to accelerate.\n\nSquid were seen in the North Sea only occasionally in the past but have increased \u201cdramatically\u201d, according to the report, with thousands of tonnes now caught each year and mostly exported.\n\n\u201cThe difference now is it is an established summer trawl fishery \u2013 that is a clear change,\u201d said Matthew Frost, chair of the working group that produced the report for the UK Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership (MCCIP). He said fishing boats had been quick to spot the new stocks: \u201cIf something comes, they realise that very quickly.\u201d\n\nAnchovies have followed the same path northwards. \u201cYou now have an anchovy fishery, which is clearly linked to climate change \u2013 that is what the science is showing,\u201d said Frost.\n\nThe anchovies come from the Bay of Biscay, where there is a large Spanish and French fishery and the shift could have political ramifications, he said, especially after Brexit when the UK takes back control of its territorial waters. \u201cThe shift leads to political implications around who is allowed to catch what and what the quotas are, so it is an important development.\u201d\n\nBluefin tuna were common around the UK before the second world war, with the giant fish a popular target for \u201cbig game\u201d fishermen. The decimation in later decades of the mackerel and herring that tuna eat then saw the giant fish disappear.\n\nBut shifting mackerel and herring populations and warming waters have seen the tuna return. \u201cSightings are definitely becoming more frequent,\u201d said Frost, with large shoals seen off south-west England in 2015 and 2016.\n\nThe report is an update on the MCCIP\u2019s first analysis in 2006. At that time, it found that sea bass was becoming more common as temperatures rose. But it has not become established as an important catch, due to overfishing, said Frost: \u201cIt is a very popular fish to eat.\u201d\n\nHowever, as fish suited to warmer water move north into UK waters, cold water fish seeking cooler temperatures are moving out, including cod. A dramatic reduction in fishing has seen North Sea cod recover to sustainable levels from near collapse in 2006, but their recovery would probably have been even greater without the warming of the sea.\n\nThe UK\u2019s waters are heating by about 0.5C per decade. \u201cThat may not sound like a lot to us but it is really significant in terms of the biology and ecology,\u201d said Frost. Part of the reason is that rising temperatures give a higher baseline, making hot spells even more extreme.\n\nMany British sea birds are struggling to cope with climate change with populations of Atlantic puffins, fulmars, black-legged kittiwakes and common, Arctic and little terns all finding the fish they eat harder to come by. Severe summer storms are also having an impact, particularly on razorbills, whose nests can be damaged and whose chicks die more often.\n\nThe report also predicts that over the coming century some species, such as the great skua, Arctic skua and Leach\u2019s storm petrel could become extremely rare or even extinct in the UK.\n\nSir David Attenborough praised the scope of the new report: \u201cConcern about the state of our seas has caused them to be studied more intensively \u2013 and extensively \u2013 than ever before. They have never been more important.\u201d\n\nOther physical changes considered by the report include the frequency of extreme water levels. It found the tide was above 5.75 metre at a reference site at Newlyn in Cornwall for almost 60 hours in 2015. In contrast, that level was never reached for more than 30 hours a year between 1915 and 1985.\n\nThe strength of the Gulf Stream, the flow of warm water up the Atlantic which is a key factor in the UK\u2019s mild climate, is weakening, the report found. But a collapse of the current, which would plunge the UK into a much colder climate regime, is unlikely this century.\n\nThe scientists also reported increasing acidification of the ocean, as carbon dioxide rises in the atmosphere and is absorbed by the seawater. This may harm the ability of animals to form their shells but the higher CO2 could benefit some algae and seagrasses.\n\nOverall, the impact of climate change on the UK\u2019s seas is a mix, Frost said: \u201cSome things will be of benefit \u2013 a good example is new fisheries, and it could even increase biodiversity in some cases. But of course the knockback to that is the increased frequency of very intense storms and potential for flooding.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut what stands out from the report is we weren\u2019t wrong\u201d in our projections in 2006, he said. \u201cWhat scientists were saying then is coming to pass.\u201d", "output": "Climate change is drawing anchovies, bluefin tuna and squid back to UK waters, according to a major report for the UK Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership. The analysis, which drew\u00a0on the research of 400 scientists, also discovered an increase in the temperatures of UK waters of 0.5C per decade. Sea birds including fulmars, puffins, razorbills and terns are suffering as the fish that provide their food are driven into colder, deeper\u00a0waters. The study also identified a trend towards accelerating sea level rise around the UK and increased ocean acidification.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scientists develop single blood test that may detect 13 cancers \n Thirteen-in-One\n\nCancer is often difficult to treat because it's not detected in time. That there are more than 100 types of cancer, each with various possible causes, doesn't help. This is why a team of researchers led by the National Cancer Center Japan (NCC) in Tokyo, together with Toray Industries, Inc., and other institutions, want to change things. They've developed a new method that could detect 13 different cancer types using just a single drop of blood.\n\nThe novel method detects differences in the microRNA (miRNA), which can be secreted by cells into the blood as a way to communicate with other cells, between healthy cells and cancer cells. Using just one drop of blood, the test may be able to detect cancers in the breast, lung, stomach, colorectal tract, esophagus, liver, and pancreas.\n\nIn a lab test using preserved blood samples from 40,000 patients, the researchers were able to identify miRNA specific to each type of cancer with more than 95 percent accuracy. The researchers noted, however, that the miRNA could have changed while the blood was preserved. As such, clinical tests planned for August would use fresh blood from 3,000 people.\n\nBetter Chances\n\nWhile there are a number of studies in using blood to detect cancer, the Japanese team's method is the first that's known to be capable of diagnosing multiple types with a single test, The Japan News reports. This could potentially improve a patient's chances of being properly diagnosed, while at the same time eliminating the need for separate tests.\n\n\u201cPatients will not need to take multiple tests. In the future, it will become possible to identify cancer stages and characteristics,\" said Yet Takahiro Ochiya, head of the Molecular and Cellular Medicine Division at the NCC's Research Institute, The Japan News reported.\n\nIn the same report, Masahiko Kuroda, chief of the Molecular Pathology Department of the Tokyo Medical University, added, \u201cIn Europe, research aimed at early detection of diseases using miRNA is being actively pursued, but there haven\u2019t been any studies where analysis was conducted on so many patients like this one. So this should prove very useful.\"\n\nThe Japanese researchers got a go-ahead to proceed to clinical tests from the NCC's research and ethics screening committee sometime in the middle of July. They plan on applying for government approval next, which could open their method for practical use in the next three years.", "output": "Researchers led by the National Cancer Center Japan (NCC) have developed a blood test that may be able to detect cancers in the breast, lung, stomach and 10 other locations. By analysing preserved blood samples, researchers were able to identify miRNA specific to each type of cancer with more than 95% accuracy. The test is the first method for diagnosing multiple types of cancer at once. The researchers will apply for government approval, which could enable their method to be used by clinicians within the next three years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK fintech investment up by 37% on H1 2016\u00a0despite Brexit wobble \n Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBrexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nOver half a billion dollars were poured into British financial technology companies in the first half of 2017, over a third more than the same period last year, trade body Innovate Finance said on Wednesday, in the latest sign the fast-growing sector is so far weathering Brexit.\n\nUK-based fintech startups pulled in $564m (\u00a3433m) of venture capital investment in the first six months of the year, more than half of which came from outside Britain.\n\nThat was up 37 per cent from the first half of 2016, and put Britain in third place globally for fintech investment, behind the United States and China.\n\nSome had worried that Britain's vote last June to leave the European Union would see Britain lose its status as the main European hub for fintech - a sector that ranges from mobile payment apps to digital currencies like bitcoin, and one that the government regards as a key source of economic growth.\n\nThe latest figures paint a promising picture, with investment up almost 50 per cent on the second half of last year in the aftermath of the Brexit vote.\n\nThat still lags 2015, when a record $676m was invested in the first half of the year and over $1.3bn for the entire year. But from July 1 to July 23, the sector has already raised another $155m.\n\n\"We saw a period of uncertainty over the summer last year but I would say that by around the third quarter, things were starting to recover,\" said Innovate Finance's chief financial officer, Abdul Haseeb Basit.\n\n\"Things have slowed but we've seen an improving recovery since the referendum last year.\"\n\nThe government has identified fintech as a priority area, saying it provides 60,000 jobs and contributes around $9bn to the economy.\n\nBasit said some deals had term sheets that included \"Brexit clauses\" - contractual provisions that meant investment was contingent on Britain voting to stay in the European Union - that had been triggered after the Brexit vote and meant funding had been pulled, causing concern.\n\nBut investors say Britain's prowess in both conventional finance and technology, as well as light-touch regulation, its pro-business culture and even the fact that it is Anglophone make it difficult for other centres to compete, though many - such as Berlin and Paris - are trying.\n\nBasit said while passporting rights - which give firms licenced in one EU country the right to trade freely in any other - had been a big concern for investors after Brexit, those worries had eased. Even if Britain loses passporting rights, that would affect only 20 per cent of the almost 300 startups that are members of Innovate Finance.\n\nMore of a worry, he said, was that access to highly skilled workers would dry up when Britain leaves the EU. Innovate Finance has estimated 30 per cent of the sector's workers are from overseas, mostly from the European Union.\n\n\"Talent is the number one concern, and has been consistently since the referendum - we test (our members on) that every three to six months. So that's been fairly consistent - it's been a worry and until we have more certainty around that, it will remain a worry,\" he said.\n\nBusiness news: In pictures Show all 13 1 / 13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled \u2013 leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: \u201cEurope\u2019s largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: \"You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share\" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid \u00a33.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a \"bad\" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rue\u2019s contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped \u00a34m off of Flybe\u2019s revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airline\u2019s estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.\n\nGlobally, fintech investment for the first half of the year stood at $6.5bn. Just over half that went into US startups and $1bn into China.\n\nThat was down 45 per cent from the same period last year, but Innovate Finance said that was largely because of three Chinese \"megadeals\" worth more than $1bn each that had all gone through in early 2016.\n\nA third of the investment into British fintech came from venture capital firms based in the United States.\n\n\"There is a lot of competition in the investment space - there's a lot of capital available and it's looking for good companies to invest in,\" said Basit. \"Were they to not invest in UK companies, they feel like they might miss an opportunity. The appetite is still strong.\"\n\nReuters", "output": "UK-based fintech start-ups attracted $564m in venture capital in the first half of 2017, trade body Innovative Finance said. Investment is up by 37% on the first half of 2016 and by almost 50% on the second half of last year. Although the fintech sector experienced a period of uncertainty last summer, by the third quarter it began to recover, according to Abdul Haseeb Basit, the CEO of Innovate Finance. However, fintech investment is still to recover to levels seen in 2015, when a record $676m was invested in the first half of the year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sinclair Pharma Brazilian dermatologist recommends Sculptra \n O dermatologista lista 5 procedimentos que ajudam na beleza da pele; veja\n\nPara manter uma apar\u00eancia jovial na pele, existem diversos procedimentos no mercado que contribuem e ajudam na beleza da mesma. Todavia, \u00e9 importante uma avalia\u00e7\u00e3o do rosto antes de realizar qualquer procedimento apurado senso art\u00edstico e est\u00e9tico.\n\nO dermatologista Andr\u00e9 Braz lista 5 m\u00e9todos est\u00e9ticos. Confira:\n\n1) Preenchimento com \u00e1cido hialur\u00f4nico: O tratamento com \u00e1cido hialur\u00f4nico \u00e9 super segura, j\u00e1 que a subst\u00e2ncia \u00e9 reabsorvida pelo organismo e estimula a produ\u00e7\u00e3o de col\u00e1geno. \"Ele \u00e9 indicado para preencher as rugas, os sulcos, as sombras do rosto que est\u00e3o sendo causadas pela perda de volume, pela atrofia dos compartimentos de gordura e por uma perda \u00f3ssea, principalmente quando se tem mais idade. \u00c9 recomendado que o m\u00e9dico tenha um senso est\u00e9tico e art\u00edstico apurado. Quando a paciente apresenta assimetria da face, a combina\u00e7\u00e3o de \u00e1cido hialuronico e botox \u00e9 importante. Muitos pacientes t\u00eam um lado do rosto diferente do outro. \u00c0 medida que a perda \u00f3ssea avan\u00e7a, essa assimetria fica ainda mais evidente. \u00c9 ent\u00e3o corrigida com a combina\u00e7\u00e3o dos tratamentos. A dica \u00e9 tratar a assimetria com os dois produtos (preenchimento + toxina botul\u00ednica). Pacientes que j\u00e1 tem perda de volume, o uso do \u00e1cido hialur\u00f4nico \u00e9 indicado para repor a perda de gordura e ao mesmo tempo, melhorar o formato da face. Por realizar o procedimento com microc\u00e2nulas (usadas em diversos procedimentos como preenchimento e botox), dificilmente o paciente fica com manchinhas roxas. Dr Andr\u00e9 tem destacado senso art\u00edstico e est\u00e9tico para desenvolver esses procedimentos de forma personalizada para cada paciente. O foco de seu trabalho \u00e9 a avalia\u00e7\u00e3o global da face\".\n\n2) Toxina Botul\u00ednica: A aplica\u00e7\u00e3o de toxina pode ser feita em diversas \u00e1reas do rosto e ajudam tanto no tratamento como na preven\u00e7\u00e3o de rugas e express\u00e3o facial. \"O tratamento individualizado \u00e9 essencial porque a anatomia \u00e9 diferente, a forma de contrair um m\u00fasculo \u00e9 diferente. O tratamento com Botox \u00e9 considerado minimamente invasivo e \u00e9 feito no pr\u00f3prio consult\u00f3rio m\u00e9dico. Os efeitos n\u00e3o s\u00e3o imediatos, podem levar at\u00e9 15 dias para aparecerem e, a partir do quarto m\u00eas, come\u00e7am a desaparecer, at\u00e9 que, no sexto m\u00eas n\u00e3o possui mais efic\u00e1cia. \u00c9 fundamental a combina\u00e7\u00e3o da aplica\u00e7\u00e3o da toxina botul\u00ednica com o preenchimento de \u00e1cido hialur\u00f4nico nas \u00e1reas de perda de volume faciais, e para melhorar as propor\u00e7\u00f5es da face quando n\u00e3o est\u00e3o favorecendo o contorno facial do paciente\".\n\n3) Sculptra: \"\u00c1cido polil\u00e1tico age como estimulador de col\u00e1geno \u2013 depois que o paciente rep\u00f4s o volume e deixou o formato do rosto mais harm\u00f4nico, em alguns casos ainda ficam algumas rugas din\u00e2micas, como as rugas do sorriso (ao lado do canto da boca). Nestes casos \u00e9 recomendado o uso do \u00e1cido polilatico para melhorar a textura da pele. S\u00e3o recomendadas entre 3 a 4 sess\u00f5es. A grande novidade \u00e9 que tem sido adotado um novo protocolo para pesco\u00e7o, com o \u00e1cido polil\u00e1tico mais dilu\u00eddo. Primeiro pode ser aplicada a toxina botul\u00ednica no pesco\u00e7o para relaxar a musculatura, porque quando contrai as ruguinhas aparece. Em seguida, aplicado o \u00e1cido polil\u00e1tico que estimula o col\u00e1geno e d\u00e1 uma esticadinha na pele. O Sculptra tamb\u00e9m pode ser usado para o corpo\".\n\n4) Laser fracionado n\u00e3o ablativo (Emerge) ou Laser Diodo Fracionado: O profissional n\u00e3o recomenda o laser de CO2 (ablativo) por conta do clima quente. \"A pele pode ficar sens\u00edvel demais e fazer um melasma. Recomenda usar um laser n\u00e3o ablativo. Ressalta-se que tanto pra receber o laser, quanto depois n\u00e3o pode pegar sol. O laser fracionado n\u00e3o ablativo estimula o col\u00e1geno, mas n\u00e3o esquenta muito, evitando uma hiperpigmenta\u00e7\u00e3o p\u00f3s inflamat\u00f3ria\".\n\n5) Microagulhamento: Indicado para pacientes muito bronzeados, pacientes com melasma ou pacientes de fototipo 4 ou 5 que n\u00e3o tem indica\u00e7\u00e3o para fazerem lasers. \"O microagulhamento tamb\u00e9m estimula o col\u00e1geno mas n\u00e3o tem o dano t\u00e9rmico do laser. Pode ser associado ao drug delivery. Atualmente costumamos associar tecnologias no intuito de aumentar a penetra\u00e7\u00e3o dos ativos atrav\u00e9s da realiza\u00e7\u00e3o do drug delivery. Este processo permite maior permea\u00e7\u00e3o dos ativos atrav\u00e9s de canais/ perfura\u00e7\u00f5es feitas na pele com lasers fracionados (EMERGE) ou microagulhamento (DERMAPEN). Dessa forma, aumenta-se a profundidade de penetra\u00e7\u00e3o dos peelings e ativos na regi\u00e3o alvo de tratamento na pele, potencializando os resultados\u201d, conclui Andr\u00e9 Braz.", "output": "Dermatologist\u00a0Andr\u00e9 Braz has named Sculptra as one of the five\u00a0best procedures to ensure the youthful appearance of the skin in an article for Brazilian lifestyle website Caras.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Airbnb sued over sexual assault committed by host \n An Airbnb guest is seeking to hold the company accountable for an alleged sexual assault, claiming in a first-of-its-kind lawsuit that she was attacked by a host who was not properly screened.\n\nThe suit, filed Thursday by Leslie Lapayowker, raises fresh questions about the tech firm\u2019s legal responsibilities when hosts violate laws or engage in criminal conduct.\n\nLapayowker is accusing Airbnb of negligence when it allowed her to rent a room from Carlos Del Olmo, who was previously accused of domestic violence.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t want this to happen to other women,\u201d Lapayowker, a 51-year-old New Mexico woman, told the Guardian. \u201cIt was horrible, and I think that everybody should be warned that this could potentially happen to them or their daughter or their wife or their sister.\u201d\n\nReached by phone, Del Olmo said he was not aware of the complaint and vehemently denied the sexual assault allegation, noting that criminal charges were never filed. An Airbnb spokesperson said that it had conducted a background check on Del Olmo, but because he was not convicted in a previous case, he was allowed to be a host. The company also said it removed him from the site after learning of Lapayowker\u2019s claims.\n\nLapayowker moved to Los Angeles in July of 2016 for a new job as a mortgage broker and had planned to live in Del Olmo\u2019s Airbnb for a month while looking for permanent housing. Del Olmo, who was renting a studio attached to his house, was a \u201cverified\u201d user and considered a \u201csuperhost\u201d for Airbnb, meaning he had positive reviews and frequently had guests.\n\n\u201cI assumed that I would be in especially good hands,\u201d said Lapayowker.\n\nBut, according to the suit, Del Olmo immediately made her uncomfortable by making sexually suggestive comments, pounding on her windshield while she was in her car and screaming at his son loud enough so she could hear.\n\n\u201cHe scared me,\u201d she added.\n\nLapayowker decided to leave after three nights, and when she returned to get a laptop she left and told him she was moving out early, Del Olmo said he \u201cwanted to show her something of importance inside the studio\u201d, the suit said.\n\nHe then allegedly locked the door, dropped his shorts and began masturbating in front of her, demanding that she touch him and \u201ctaste it\u201d. He ignored her pleas to stop, shoved his tongue into her mouth and eventually ejaculated into a trashcan, according to the lawsuit.\n\nHe then let her leave the room, saying, \u201cDon\u2019t forget to leave me a positive review on Airbnb\u201d, the complaint said.\n\n\u201cI was completely in shock. I was totally numb,\u201d Lapayowker recalled, saying she initially hesitated calling police. \u201cI was terrified he would find out where I live and come after me.\u201d\n\nLater that month, she reported the incident to police and to Airbnb, which banned Del Olmo from the site. Authorities ultimately declined to file charges, because officials said there was not enough evidence, according to Lapayowker\u2019s attorney. Prosecutors did not immediately respond to requests for comment.\n\nBut an attorney for Lapayowker discovered that Del Olmo had an earlier arrest in Florida for a battery charge and domestic violence case. A police report said that, according to the victim\u2019s account, he had pulled her hair and dragged her during an argument. He entered a diversion program, which is an alternative to prosecution, the records showed.\n\nLapayowker, who had previously been an Airbnb \u201csuperhost\u201d herself, said she was in disbelief when she learned of the past case: \u201cI was just furious. Why would they let somebody like this be a host?\u201d\n\nAn Airbnb spokesperson said it runs background checks on all US hosts and guests, looking for matches with terrorist watch lists, felony convictions, sex offender registries and \u201csignificant misdemeanors\u201d.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe abhorrent behavior described has no place in our community and we will not tolerate it. We have been trying to support her in any way we can and we will continue to do so,\u201d the company said in a statement to the Guardian.\n\nDel Olmo claimed the encounter with Lapayowker was \u201cconsensual\u201d. He said: \u201cThis woman just fully lied and made everything up.\u201d He said that the woman in the Florida case also lied and noted that he was not convicted.\n\nHe also argued that it was unfair for Airbnb to kick him off the platform: \u201cAirbnb has no respect for the homeowner \u2026 who is the one putting themselves in a liability situation.\u201d\n\nTeresa Li, Lapayowker\u2019s attorney, argued that Airbnb misleads users with branding that emphasizes the safety of the platform and calling it a \u201ctrusted community marketplace\u201d.\n\n\u201cThey lure you in and give you this false sense of security,\u201d she said.\n\nAirbnb has previously argued that it is not legally responsible when its hosts racially discriminate or violate local housing laws.\n\nLapayowker, who said she is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, said she felt Airbnb didn\u2019t take her case seriously: \u201cI feel like they don\u2019t care. Their entire model is to just get as much business as possible.\u201d", "output": "Airbnb is facing a lawsuit brought by a guest who says the company is responsible for her sexual assault by a host who was not adequately screened. Leslie Lapayowker is accusing Airbnb of negligence for allowing her to rent a room in Los Angeles from Carlos Del Olmo, previously accused of domestic violence. Airbnb says Del Olmo was accepted as a host as he had not been convicted. However, Lapayowker\u2019s attorney said Del Olmo had participated in a diversion programme as an alternative to prosecution. The case raises new questions about Airbnb\u2019s legal responsibilities for the behaviour of hosts."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI-powered insurance concierge Brolly closes \u20ac1.1m funding \n Brolly, a London, UK-based insurtech startup building an AI-powered smartphone app, closed a \u20ac1.1m seed funding round.\n\nBackers included Valar Ventures, Pi Labs, Entrepreneur First, Richard Fearn, Matt Bellamy, Christian Angermayer, Tim Levene, Tim Hugh, Alan Morgan, Bruce Macfarlane, Michael Mire and Christian Woolfenden.\n\nThe company intends to use the funds to further product development, hire new people and add partners to the platform.\n\nFounded by Phoebe Hugh and Mykhailo Loginov, Brolly is advancing a free personal insurance concierge, powered by AI, and available through a mobile app, to enable people to understand, manage and buy the insurance they need, using the Brolly Advisor, Brolly Locker and Brolly Shop.\n\nBrolly Advisor is a tool that gets to understand insurance needs, and tells users if they are over or under-insured, whether they have duplicate or missing cover, and highlights all of the personal insurance products that they may be missing.\n\nBrolly Locker is a place to store policy documents, renewal dates, premiums, and contact numbers.\n\nThe Brolly Shop is launching in 2017 and will enable users to purchase insurance cover in seconds.\n\nFinSMEs\n\n27/07/2017", "output": "London-based insurtech start-up Brolly has raised \u20ac1.1m ($1.3m) in a seed funding round, with investors including Valar Ventures, Pi Labs, Entrepreneur First and Friday Club director Richard Fearn. Brolly's artificial intelligence mobile app enables users to buy and manage the insurance they need via its tools, Brolly Advisor, Brolly Locker and Brolly Shop. The new funding will be used for product development and to increase staffing, and also to add more partners to the platform.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Yelp, California Health Care Foundation form partnership to improve maternity care \n More than 500,000 births occur each year in the state of California, but deciding where to get care can often be a difficult process for consumers. That\u2019s where a new partnership between Yelp and the California Health Care Foundation comes in.\n\n\n\nThanks to the partnership, maternity care measures are now being displayed for the roughly 250 hospitals that deliver babies in the state. These measures have the potential to be seen by millions of people who turn to Yelp in their daily life to help them make these types of decisions.\n\n\n\nThe data for the measures comes from www.CalHospitalCompare.org, a hospital quality website founded by CHCF and operated by Cal Hospital Compare, a multistakeholder nonprofit organization.\n\n\n\nAmong the measures that are displayed on Yelp pages are the percentage of cesarean section deliveries in low-risk pregnancies to mothers having their first baby. Consumers can also check on a facility\u2019s percentage of newborns fed only breast milk before discharge; how often episiotomies are performed; the availability of vaginal births after c-sections; and how often vaginal births among women with a prior c-section occur at a given hospital, or if it routinely provides them at all.\n\n\n\nFor its part, CHCF has operated a couple of data-centric websites for some time now. But it lacked the accessibility and reach of a site like Yelp.\n\n\n\n\u201cConsumers don\u2019t always flock to these kind of wonky websites that have lots of data on there,\u201d said Stephanie Teleki, director of evaluation and impact at CHCF. \u201cConsumers are already going to Yelp. We can marry the comments with the more empirical-based measures.\u201d\n\n\n\nIn that way, the partnership represents a multi-pronged approach, which Teleki said is necessary to address such a complex issue.\n\n\n\n\u201cPoor maternity care is a multifaceted problem, and addressing it requires a multifaceted solution,\u201d she said. \u201cIt involves having better data. \u2026 Bring about change, you have to have multiple pressure points. You have to align payments with better outcomes, and you need to help providers improve care. You need to have public policies that are supportive, you need to have a workforce -- in this case, midwives focusing less on intervention and more on vaginal birth. And of course, focusing on the patients.\"\n\n\n\n\u201cYelp is really a megaphone for for the clinical quality measures,\u201d she said. \u201cThose are the more wonky kind of clinical things that a lot of patients can\u2019t understand, so putting them side-by-side with the comments, hopefully we can acclimate consumers with looking at that kind of data -- really socialize the idea that they should be using this data.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe project is part of a larger statewide effort to reduce the rate of unnecessary low-risk, first-birth C-sections at every hospital in the state to the national goal of 23.9 percent. CHCF is working with several organizations, including the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative, Smart Care California, Pacific Business Group on Health, and the Hospital Quality Institute.\n\n\n\nThere are plans to launch a mobile module by the end of the year. The maternity care data presented on Yelp will be refreshed semiannually.", "output": "More than 500,000 births occur each year in the state of California, but deciding where to get care can often be a difficult process for consumers. That\u2019s where a new partnership between Yelp and the California Health Care Foundation comes in.\n \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow offers eco-friendly new homes in Evesham \n Go green with a new home in Evesham\n\nECO-conscious buyers could save energy and money with a brand new Redrow home in Evesham.\n\nNew-build properties, like those at Maple Gardens, are more efficient in their use of energy compared with older equivalent sized homes.\n\nPlus, with the option to add high quality in-built photovoltaic solar roof tiles, those who move to the popular Redrow development could find that they save money as well as energy.\n\nPauline Turnbull, sales director for Redrow Homes (Midlands), says: \u201cHomeowners are increasingly aware of their carbon footprint and saving energy is now about much more than simply saving money. The advantage of buying a brand new home is that they\u2019re much more efficient in their use of energy than their older, second-hand equivalents, making them kinder to the environment while also reducing household bills.\n\n\u201cThere are lots of eco-friendly options that can be added via the exclusive My Redrow area of our website, including water butts, charging points for an electric car and other items. Plus smart meters help customers keep track of the energy they\u2019re using.\u201d\n\nMaple Gardens features three, four and five-bedroom designs from Redrow\u2019s Arts & Crafts inspired Heritage Collection of traditional looking homes. Current prices start from \u00a3234,995.\n\nAmong the larger homes available is a five-bedroom detached Blenheim style, complete with photovoltaic tiles, plus flooring throughout, from \u00a3579,995.\n\nOpen for viewing by appointment, it\u2019s almost ready to move into.\n\nA substantial double-fronted property, with detached double garage, the Blenheim offers 2,306 sq ft of living space. At its heart is a combined kitchen, dining and family room with adjoining utility/boot room. There\u2019s also a separate lounge, plus a dedicated dining room which could alternatively be used as a study for home workers or a play room for families with young children. A cloakroom completes the ground floor accommodation.\n\nUpstairs, both the master and second bedrooms have an en suite, with the master also enjoying the added glamour of a dressing room. The remaining three bedrooms are all generously proportioned and share the family bathroom.\n\nSituated on Offenham Road, the homes at Maple Gardens enjoy a green setting close to the countryside and within easy reach of Evesham town centre. There are good schools nearby, making this an ideal location to raise a family.\n\nLocated on the border of the Cotswolds, the homes are within a 30-minute journey of Broadway, with Cheltenham around 45 minutes away.\n\nShow homes at Maple Gardens are open daily from 10am to 5.30pm. For details see redrow.co.uk/maplegardens.", "output": "New homes at Redrow Homes's Maple Gardens site in Evesham offer customers looking to save energy a more efficient property\u00a0compared with older,\u00a0similarly sized homes. The houses can include photovoltaic solar roof tiles, water butts and charging points for electric cars. Prices start from \u00a3234,995.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "When High Deductibles Hurt: Even Insured Patients Postpone Care \n https://californiahealthline.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2017/07/high-deductible.mp3\n\nCan\u2019t see the audio player? Click here to download.\n\nIn November 2015, Tina Heck was in her garage lifting 40-pound bags of wood pellets to fuel her heating stove, when something went very wrong with her back.\n\n\u201cThe next day, I could barely walk,\u201d said the 55-year-old who lives on an acre of land in Nevada City, Calif., 60 miles northeast of Sacramento. The cause: a bulging disc in her lower spine, which shoots pain down her leg and makes her back stiff.\n\nThe injury wasn\u2019t Heck\u2019s only setback. The initial MRI, cortisone shot and doctor visit cost her $3,000 because her health plan requires her to shell out $5,000 before insurer payments kick in. She doesn\u2019t want to explore other treatment options because of that high deductible. Heck, who makes $68,000 a year in marketing for a nonprofit, is not willing to add more debt on top of her credit-card and mortgage payments.\n\nUse Our Content This KHN story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\n\u201cI\u2019m in pain every day,\u201d she said, but \u201cit\u2019s not bad enough to go into debt.\u201d\n\nThe concept behind high-deductible plans was to lower premiums and reduce overall health costs by ensuring that consumers shared the financial burden of their own health care decisions. But evidence is mounting: High deductibles have actually forced people to delay care that could prevent health emergencies later or improve their quality of life.\n\nRegardless of what happens to the Affordable Care Act, such plans are likely to become more widespread as health care costs continue to rise. Just over half of people with health plans from their employers now have a deductible of $1,000 or more, up from 10 percent in 2006, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. (Kaiser Health News, which produces California Healthline, is an editorially independent program of the foundation.)\n\n\u201cPeople who have medical problems that can be put off tend to do so much more now because of the high deductible,\u201d said Dr. Ted Mazer, a San-Diego based head and neck surgeon who is president-elect of the California Medical Association.\n\nAnnual deductibles can amount to many thousands of dollars on some plans. Covered California bronze plans, with the lowest premiums available on the exchange, carry deductibles of $6,300 for an individual and $12,600 for a family.\n\nA Kaiser Family Foundation survey released this year showed that 43 percent of insured people reported having trouble paying their deductible, up from 34 percent in 2015.\n\nIn one study by the liberal advocacy group Families USA, more than a quarter of people in high-deductible plans delayed some type of medical service such as a doctor visit or diagnostic test. And 44 percent of adults with high out-of-pocket expenses put off medical care, according to a nonpartisan Commonwealth Fund study.\n\nAnother recent study by researchers at the University of California-Berkeley and Harvard University found that people with high-deductible plans spent 42 percent less on health care before meeting their deductibles, primarily by reducing the amount of health care they received, not by shopping around for a better price.\n\nJonathan Kolstad, associate professor of economics at UC-Berkeley\u2019s business school and co-author of the study, said patients dropped both needed care, such as diabetes medication, and potentially unnecessary care, such as imaging for headaches.\n\n\u201cLeft to their own devices, people [in high-deductible plans] seem ill-equipped to make their own decisions\u201d about what care they need, and what care they don\u2019t, Kolstad said.\n\nMazer said that, in his practice, people have delayed all kinds of treatment that may not save \u201clife or limb\u201d but involved medical conditions that interfered with breathing or sleeping.\n\nHe said he\u2019s had patients who needed a biopsy to determine if an abnormal vocal cord was cancerous, and they put it off because of the cost.\n\n\u201cI have to make the phone call and say, \u2018We\u2019re looking at a mass that may be malignant and if you put it off you\u2019re putting yourself at risk,\u2019 \u201d Mazer said. \u201cAnd I\u2019ll tell you, we\u2019ve had people take that risk.\u201d\n\nRecent Republican proposals to repeal Obamacare have promoted the use of high-deductible plans by allowing people to put away more tax-free dollars into the health savings accounts that consumers use in conjunction with those plans. And experts said the proposals would also spur the growth of these plans \u2014 by cutting the subsidies available through exchanges, inducing customers to look for cheaper plans with higher deductibles.\n\nConservatives say insurance that promotes personal financial responsibility helps tamp down overall health costs. Hoover Institution analysts, for example, argue that high deductibles encourage patients to \u201cchoose wisely.\u201d\n\nBut new evidence suggests that putting off care can be dangerous and, eventually, more costly to patients.\n\nA March 2017 Harvard study found that low-income patients with diabetes who had high-deductible plans delayed visits for complications such as skin infections and pneumonia. They wound up getting more expensive care later on.\n\nPatients may try to treat their conditions at home, or hope they go away \u2014 but if that approach fails, \u201cthey then have to seek care at the emergency department,\u201d said Frank Wharam, a health policy researcher at Harvard Medical School and lead author of the study.\n\nWharam said the middle-income earners he studied didn\u2019t suffer any adverse effects from health care choices they made in high-deductible plans, adding that more studies are needed on that group.\n\nSabrina Corlette, from the Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms, said that until national health policy addresses the \u201cunderlying costs of care,\u201d patients in high-deductible plans will likely be stuck with the difficult task of figuring out what medical attention they need or can afford.\n\nHeck said the symptoms from her back injury have changed \u2014 the pain is in a different part of the body than it was right after the injury. But she\u2019s not even considering a trip to a nearby clinic for a new assessment. That would require another MRI, she said, which could cost at least $1,500, and it might not even help her. If her deductible weren\u2019t as high, she\u2019d feel \u201cfreer\u201d to explore other health care options, she said.\n\nFor now, she\u2019s taking a lot of ibuprofen and seeing a chiropractor.\n\n\u201cA lot of people get stuck in this place,\u201d she said.\n\nThis story was produced by Kaiser Health News, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.", "output": "In November 2015, Tina Heck was in her garage lifting 40-pound bags of wood pellets to fuel her heating stove, when something went very wrong with her back. \u201cThe next day, I could barely walk,\u201d said the 55-year-old who lives on an acre of land in Nevada City, Calif., 60 miles northeast of Sacramento. The cause: a bulging disc in her lower spine, which shoots pain down her leg and makes her back stiff.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Killing Obamacare Softly \n In an email, Sarah Lueck of the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, explained that this \u201crule allows insurers in the individual market to offer plans with higher deductibles and out of pocket costs in 2018 than have been permitted previously.\u201d Because of this, \u201cthe rule is likely to reduce the premium tax credit for many people.\u201d A premium tax credit is a federal subsidy that consumers can use to lower their monthly health insurance payments.\n\nA study the center conducted in February outlines the damage that this rule inflicts on Obamacare by reducing federal subsidies. It found that it would \u201craise premiums, out-of-pocket costs, or both for millions of moderate-income families.\u201d In addition,\n\nthe rule would reduce the amount of health care that marketplace plans have to cover. That would allow individual-market insurers to offer plans with higher deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs than they can now sell through the marketplaces.\n\nMost important, according to the center\u2019s analysis, is the covert aspect of the rule which has\n\nthe hidden impact of reducing the Affordable Care Act\u2019s premium tax credits, which help moderate-income marketplace consumers afford health care. As a result, the rule would force millions of families to choose between higher premiums or worse coverage.\n\nLouise Norris, one of the founders of the Colorado Health Insurance Insider, has mapped out the Republican strategy in an online essay, \u201c10 ways the GOP sabotaged Obamacare.\u201d\n\nThe attacks began on day one, March 23, 2010, when the A.C.A. was signed into law. Fourteen state Attorneys General, 13 of them Republicans, filed suit challenging the constitutionality of the mandate requiring individuals to buy health care coverage. The sole Democratic Attorney General involved, Buddy Caldwell of Louisiana, switched into the Republican Party in 2011.\n\nOn June 28, 2012, the Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of the individual mandate but in a blow to the program, Norris wrote, it also\n\nruled that the federal government could not withhold Medicaid funding from states that did not expand Medicaid. This had the effect of making the ACA\u2019s Medicaid expansion optional, which has, in turn, hobbled the ACA\u2019s progress in many states.\n\nThe rejection of Medicaid expansion by 19 states \u2014 all controlled by Republican governors or legislative majorities or both \u2014 to cover individuals making up to 138 percent of poverty level income meant that these individuals had to turn to \u201cHealth Insurance Marketplaces\u201d or \u201cprivate insurance risk pools.\u201d The addition of low income, Medicaid-eligible individuals in these 19 Republican states to the private A.C.A. insurance market added a less healthy and more expensive-to-insure population to the pool.\n\nFaced with more a costly clientele, insurance companies increased premiums. This gave Republicans new ammunition to charge that Obamacare premiums were rising.", "output": "Unable \u2014 at least so far \u2014 to kill the Affordable Care Act outright, the Trump administration has conducted a sustained war of attrition\u00a0designed to inflict fatal damage on Obamacare.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "To pass health-care reform, Republicans may strip it down \n IT HAS become a fool\u2019s errand to try to predict when the Republicans may give up trying to reform health care. On July 25th Vice-President Mike Pence broke a tie in the Senate to pass a motion to start debate on a health bill, only a week after it had looked dead (and not for the first time). To win the vote Mitch McConnell, the leader of the Senate, had to water down its significance, portraying it as merely a procedural step that had no bearing on what might subsequently pass. (\u201cEverybody will get a vote on everything they want to vote on,\u201d said Senator John Cornyn, Mr McConnell\u2019s number two). Even then, the motion passed only because Senator John McCain, just out of surgery for brain cancer, rushed back to Washington to vote yes.\n\nThe result is a mad rush to rewrite the bill on the Senate floor. The starting point is the version passed by the House in May. After voting to start debate, nine Republicans rebelled to defeat an amendment turning the bill into the \u201cBetter Care Reconciliation Act\u201d, the reform Mr McConnell had painstakingly crafted. (In any case, the Senate\u2019s rules expert had declared that parts of the BCRA needed 60 votes, and hence Democratic support, to pass.) The next day, seven Republicans helped Democrats reject the Obamacare repeal bill that Congress passed back in 2015 (it was vetoed then by Barack Obama). Moderate Republicans oppose total repeal because it would deeply cut Medicaid, health insurance for the poor, and abolish the tax credits which help low- and middle-income people buy insurance on online marketplaces, or exchanges.\n\nAs a result, Republicans may resort to what has been dubbed \u201cskinny repeal\u201d. This amendment would take a scalpel, rather than an axe, to Obamacare. Medicaid expansion would stay, as would the law\u2019s regulations and tax credits. Instead, the bill would probably repeal only those parts of Obamacare Republicans dislike most: its \u201cmandates\u201d. These impose fines on people who choose not to buy health insurance, and on large employers who do not provide insurance for their staff.\n\nModerate Republicans may find skinny repeal easier to support, because it would leave Medicaid intact. But failing to replace the individual mandate would greatly threaten the stability of the market serving 18m Americans who buy insurance for themselves. The Congressional Budget Office has suggested that killing the mandate would increase the number of people without health insurance by 15m by 2018. Nonsense, say conservatives. But without the mandate, it would certainly be easier for people to flee the individual market\u2019s high premiums, caused by Obamacare\u2019s ban on insurers discriminating against buyers who are already ill. The likely result would be more premium increases, a still smaller market, and the very \u201cdeath spiral\u201d that Republicans say they want to stop.\n\nA collapse of the individual market would hardly look good for those in power (although President Donald Trump has spoken of his desire to kill off Obamacare in an attempt to force Democrats to support a replacement). More likely is that the bill gets rewritten again in the committee that would have to reconcile the bills passed by the House and the Senate. Health reform could seem to die, only to be resurrected, a few more times yet.", "output": "IT HAS become a fool\u2019s errand to try to predict when the Republicans may give up trying to reform health care. On July 25th Vice-President Mike Pence broke a tie in the Senate to pass a motion to start debate on a health bill, only a week after it had looked dead (and not for the first time). \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How To Get Long-Term Care At Home Without Busting The Bank \n The vast majority of older adults receive long-term care at home, not in nursing homes. But few people plan for this expense.\n\nNor do they see long-term care insurance as a viable option \u2014 because it\u2019s expensive and is often seen as protection against the cost of nursing home care.\n\nThat should change, some experts contend. If the long-term care insurance industry focused more on helping people cover home-based services, they argue, policies would be more affordable, and potentially appealing.\n\n\u201cLong-term care, for most people, is a home care problem,\u201d said Bill Comfort, who owns Comfort Long Term Care, a brokerage based in St. Louis and Durham, N.C.\n\n\u201cIt makes sense to insure people for the likelihood of where care is going to be needed first \u2014 which is at home,\u201d agreed Deb Newman, president of Newman Long Term Care in Richfield, Minn., outside Minneapolis.\n\nGenworth, one of the nation\u2019s leading long-term care insurers, acknowledged that this position is supported by industry claims data.\n\nNAVIGATING AGING Navigating Aging focuses on medical issues and advice associated with aging and end-of-life care, helping America\u2019s 45 million seniors and their families navigate the health care system. To contact Judith with a question or comment, click here. For more KHN coverage of aging, click here.\n\n\u201cPrimarily, we are seeing people utilizing home care and a smaller and smaller percentage using nursing home care,\u201d said Beth Ludden, Genworth\u2019s senior vice president for long-term care insurance products.\n\n\u201cPeople think, \u2018While I might start out needing care at home, eventually I\u2019ll need to be in a facility,\u2019\u201d Ludden continued. \u201cBut that\u2019s not something we see in our data. For the most part, people are able to stay at home for the whole time.\u201d\n\nCurrently, more than 6 million older Americans are thought to have a \u201chigh need\u201d for long-term care, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. That\u2019s defined as requiring daily assistance with two activities (eating, bathing, toileting, dressing, continence or transferring from a bed to a chair) that lasts at least 90 days or a need for substantial assistance due to severe cognitive impairment.\n\nAbout 52 percent of adults reaching age 65 today will need these services \u2014 26 percent for two years or less; 12 percent for two to four years; and 14 percent for more than five years, the HHS report projected.\n\nYet fewer than 10 percent of older adults have purchased long-term care insurance, which has declined in popularity as premiums skyrocketed and insurers exited the market over the past decade. Whether the industry can fix its major problem \u2014 affordability \u2014 remains to be seen.\n\nFrom a consumer\u2019s perspective, if your goal is covering several years of home-based care, not nursing home care, you can purchase a less expensive policy without all the bells and whistles that drive up costs, Newman suggested.\n\nA 55-year-old couple buying a policy of this kind \u2014 say, $4,000 a month in benefits for each person, for a maxiumum of three years, with a 1 percent compounded annual inflation protection provision \u2014 from Mutual of Omaha would pay $2,380.05 a year in premiums, according to a quote from Minnesota that her firm provided. It\u2019s common for policyholders to pay premiums for 10 or 20 years before claiming benefits. Terms are similar in many other states.\n\nHow much help in the home might this policy provide?\n\nAccording to 2016 data compiled by Genworth, the average annual cost for care provided by a home health aide was $46,332, compared with $82,128 for a semiprivate room in a nursing home. That translates into $3,861 a month, for 44 hours of home care a week \u2014 the equivalent of slightly more than six hours of care, seven days a week.\n\nThat might not be enough for seniors with serious, disabling illnesses, but it can provide much-needed relief to unpaid family caregivers who could otherwise be on call nonstop.\n\nWhat happens if someone ends up needing nursing home care?\n\nYou might consider what\u2019s known as a \u201cqualified long-term care partnership policy\u201d \u2014 a plan available in every state except Alaska, Hawaii, Illinois (where a program has been approved but policies aren\u2019t available yet), Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Mexico, Vermont and Washington, D.C. (The Mutual of Omaha quote above is for a partnership policy.)\n\nUse Our Content This KHN story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nThese little-known insurance products are designed to help consumers preserve their assets if they become seriously ill, need nursing home care and seek to become eligible for Medicaid, which pays for nearly half of nursing home costs in the U.S.\n\nTo qualify for Medicaid, most states require that an individual have no more than $2,000 in assets; couples are allowed to have up to about $120,000, so that a well spouse doesn\u2019t become impoverished. With a partnership policy, every dollar received in long-term care benefits is exempted from Medicaid\u2019s asset test and protected from seizure by the state.\n\nIn other words, if you get $200,000 in benefits from a partnership policy and your state has an asset limit of $2,000 for Medicaid, you can keep $200,000 in assets plus the $2,000 allowed and still meet your state\u2019s asset test, said Scott Olson, co-founder of the LTCShop.com, a brokerage based in Camano Island, Wash.\n\nHe noted that partnership policies don\u2019t guarantee Medicaid eligibility and you\u2019ll still have to meet whatever income standards your state sets for Medicaid. (Many, but not all states, allow people to \u201cspend down\u201d to qualify, using their income to pay for institutional care.)\n\nBill Nickerson, 63, of Las Vegas, one of Olson\u2019s clients, purchased a partnership policy three years ago because it lets him \u201cretain control of my financial assets, even if I have to be cared for.\u201d Another plus: The policy \u201cpermits me, if I decide to stay home, to take a certain amount of the monthly amount and give it to someone who I choose to provide care for me, even if that person is a family member.\u201d\n\nThere\u2019s no reliable national data about how many people with partnership policies end up going on Medicaid to cover nursing home care. Nor is there good data about the number of these policies that have been sold or the benefits paid out to date.\n\nDavid Guttchen, who directs the Connecticut Partnership for Long-Term Care, the first such program in the country, is skeptical about policies with benefits that will cover only a portion of expected costs. (Four states, including Connecticut, were the first to launch partnership programs and have special rules.)\n\n\u201cYou absolutely need to know what the average home care and nursing home costs are for your state, to get a sense of what your exposure might be,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t buy meaningful benefits, you\u2019re wasting your premium.\u201d\n\nIf you\u2019ve been able to cover a good amount of home care but your policy won\u2019t cover nursing home care, you\u2019ve gained some protection, for a while, but you could still pay an enormous amount out-of-pocket going forward, if Medicaid isn\u2019t an option.\n\nIt\u2019s a gamble because people can\u2019t be sure what kind of care they\u2019ll need in the future, or for how long, or what the future of Medicaid will look like, said Michael McDonnell, an insurance broker in Petaluma, Calif. Before buying any policy, consult with an elder law attorney or independent financial adviser, he recommended.\n\nWe\u2019re eager to hear from readers about questions you\u2019d like answered, problems you\u2019ve been having with your care and advice you need in dealing with the health care system. Visit kffhealthnews.org/columnists to submit your requests or tips.\n\nKHN\u2019s coverage of end-of-life and serious illness issues is supported by The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Its coverage related to aging & improving care of older adults is supported by The John A. Hartford Foundation and its coverage of aging and long-term care issues is supported by The SCAN Foundation.", "output": "The vast majority of older adults receive long-term care at home, not in nursing homes. But few people plan for this expense. Nor do they see long-term care insurance as a viable option \u2014 because it\u2019s expensive and is often seen as protection against the cost of nursing home care.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook dominates social media competitors, finds survey \n HTML code to embed chart\n\nCan I integrate infographics into my blog or website?\n\nYes, Statista allows the easy integration of many infographics on other websites. Simply copy the HTML code that is shown for the relevant statistic in order to integrate it. Our standard is 660 pixels, but you can customize how the statistic is displayed to suit your site by setting the width and the display size. Please note that the code must be integrated into the HTML code (not only the text) for WordPress pages and other CMS sites.", "output": "Facebook has more monthly views than its social media competitors, and so do its subsidiaries WhatsApp and Messenger, according to a survey from Statista. Four of the top five largest social media and messaging platforms in the world are Facebook-owned, with China's WeChat knocking Facebook's Instagram into fifth place. Facebook itself has two\u00a0billion monthly users, while Whatsapp and Messenger have over one\u00a0billion each. Twitter was the next US social media firm on the list with 328 million monthly users, coming in behind Tencent's Qzone and Weibo."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook dominates social media competitors, finds survey \n Facebook has cemented its status as undisputed king of the social media jungle in a new survey that shows not only that the social media network itself has more monthly views than anyone else \u2013 but that its stablemates WhatsApp and Messenger do too.\n\nFacebook obliterates social media competitors in new survey\n\nThe figures, compiled by Statista and laid out on a handy graph, show that Facebook owns four of the world\u2019s largest social media and messaging services with only China\u2019s WeChat big enough to spoil the party by ousting Instagram into fifth place.", "output": "Facebook has more monthly views than its social media competitors, and so do its subsidiaries WhatsApp and Messenger, according to a survey from Statista. Four of the top five largest social media and messaging platforms in the world are Facebook-owned, with China's WeChat knocking Facebook's Instagram into fifth place. Facebook itself has two\u00a0billion monthly users, while Whatsapp and Messenger have over one\u00a0billion each. Twitter was the next US social media firm on the list with 328 million monthly users, coming in behind Tencent's Qzone and Weibo."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Taking full course of antibiotics can make superbugs stronger \n A growing body of research finds that telling patients to finish a full course of antibiotics even if they\u2019re already feeling better not only fails to prevent drug-resistant \u201csuperbugs\u201d from forming, but also might make those pathogens stronger.\n\nThe latest evidence comes from a study published this week in the journal BMJ by a group of British scientists. That team joins an expanding chorus of experts who said there\u2019s no scientific support for the conventional wisdom, first adopted in the mid-1940s, that long courses of antibiotics help prevent bacteria from developing immunity to many or most of the weapons in the antibiotic arsenal.\n\nIn reality, these researchers said, the longer antibiotics are used, the more collateral damage is done to the body\u2019s community of helpful bacteria \u2014 and that in turn gives resistant strains of bacteria, always present in the human body in small numbers, room to flourish and share their defenses with other pathogens, gradually leading to the superbug strains now estimated to kill 23,000 Americans per year and sicken more than 2 million.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThough the BMJ report is getting a lot of attention, other researchers in past years had also raised questions about the full-course antibiotic mantra.\n\nOne of them was Dr. Brad Spellberg, currently chief medical officer at the LAC+USC Medical Center and associate dean for clinical affairs at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. Last year, he published a piece in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine that arrived at the same conclusions as the BMJ group\u2019s findings.\n\nSpellberg said Dr. Louis Rice, a specialist in infectious diseases who\u2019s now at Brown University in Rhode Island, nearly a decade ago began bringing up the belief that completing full antibiotic courses may actually help build resistance in bacteria.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been saying this for a long time. The message we are shifting to is that we need to be using short-course antibiotic regimens,\u201d Spellberg said.\n\nToday the standard practice is to prescribe courses of antibiotics for one or two weeks. Spellberg argues in his 2016 study that this approach has occurred for no other reason than that humans have thought in week-long blocks of time ever since the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great established the seven-day week in AD 321.\n\n\u201cHad Constantine decided there should be four days in a week, we would be prescribing antibiotics for four or eight days instead of seven or 14,\u201d Spellberg said.\n\nHe said many of USC\u2019s hospital programs and clinics are moving toward shorter-duration antibiotic prescriptions based on the latest evidence, but that many other medical organizations still insist on one- and two-week courses.\n\nDr. Julie Roth, chair of the family medicine department for Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group in San Diego, said while she and others at the organization may prescribe antibiotics for periods as short as one day, patients should not take articles like the one in BMJ as indications that they should stop their regimen when they think they\u2019re feeling better.\n\n\u201cSome patients are sent home from the hospital on oral or (intravenous) antibiotics and need to work closely with their physician. They should not stop antibiotics unless they are directed to,\u201d Roth said.\n\nAndrei Osterman, a professor of bioinformatics who studies the specific mechanisms of bacterial resistance at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in La Jolla, said he agrees that administering antibiotics for longer than necessary does, indeed, cause collateral damage to the body\u2019s microbiome \u2014 which can provide a home for drug-resistant bacteria to grow.\n\nBut he also noted that most antibiotics are only effective against bacteria that are actively multiplying, so the number of days in an antibiotic course needs to be long enough to catch those cells that were not yet dividing when the first few doses were administered.\n\n\u201cThe primary driver of the number of days was not only preventing resistance, but also making sure there is enough exposure to make sure the infection is held at bay long enough for the body\u2019s immune system to take over and finish the job,\u201d Osterman said.\n\nHuman metabolic systems, he added, are highly variable in terms of how they process antibiotics, so a short course may work better for some people than others, depending on each patient\u2019s specific genetics.\n\nAs is the case for the British researchers, Osterman said he believes more in-depth research is needed to understand just how long antibiotic courses should last. He said until those analyses are completed, caution is always the best idea, especially when the consequences could be death.\n\nBut Spellberg, the USC medical director, said the evidence really is there for anyone who chooses to look.\n\nMultiple rigorous studies have shown that, for example, a five-day course is very effective in treating community-acquired pneumonia, a three-day regimen is adequate for simple bladder infections, five to seven days for kidney infections and four days for standard inter-abdominal infections such as appendicitis. While his organization and others in the Los Angeles area are increasingly prescribing shorter antibiotic courses, he insists they\u2019re not neglecting their patients\u2019 safety.\n\n\u201cNobody\u2019s talking about throwing their patients out the window. We\u2019re talking about having an informed discussion between the provider and the patient about when the evidence shows it may be appropriate to stop a course of antibiotics ,\u201d Spellberg said.\n\nHealth Playlist \u00d7 On Now Video: Leaders urge public to help extinguish hepatitis outbreak On Now San Diego starts cleansing sidewalks, streets to combat hepatitis A On Now Video: Scripps to shutter its hospice service On Now Video: Scripps La Jolla hospitals nab top local spot in annual hospital rankings On Now Video: Does a parent's Alzheimer's doom their children? On Now EpiPen recall expands On Now Kids can add years to your life\n\npaul.sisson@sduniontribune.com\n\n(619) 293-1850\n\nTwitter: @paulsisson", "output": "Patients who finish a full course of antibiotics lasting seven to 14 days not only fail to prevent drug-resistant superbugs but may be making those pathogens stronger, according to research published in the British journal BMJ, which argues against conventional wisdom that long courses of antibiotics help prevent bacteria from developing immunity to most diseases, with some experts suggesting short courses are more effective.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FDA announces pilot scheme for digital health start-ups \n On Thursday, FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb announced a pilot program to look into a \"pre-certification\" for medical software start-ups.\n\nAnd even the FDA's harshest critics are excited about it.\n\n\"I guess I've grown cynical in my old age, as I've watched administrations come and go,\" said Bradley Merrill Thompson, an FDA expert and lawyer with the firm Epstein, Becker & Green, in an email to CNBC. \"[But] I think the idea of a pilot program is brilliant.\"\n\nThe agency is hoping to fast-track the approval process for medical software start-ups and products that are less risky for patients than a traditional medical devices. The idea is that these companies could submit less information than is currently required -- or none at all.\n\nThe FDA will let up to 9 companies sign up for this pilot. After that, fast-track approval could become the norm.\n\nThompson praised Gottlieb's agenda a month ago when the FDA announced plans for a digital health innovation plan. At that time, he was hoping that the agency would move ahead with a pilot program or sorts, so it could gather feedback from the industry.\n\n\"This stuff is really hard to figure out in the abstract,\" he said. \"It's really only by working with companies and tinkering and experimenting that we can truly identify the best model.\"\n\nThe agency also shared an action plan with timelines on how it intends to regulate digital health companies.\n\n\"Historically, healthcare has been slow to implement disruptive technology tools that have transformed other areas of commerce and daily life,\" acknowledged Gottlieb, a doctor and former venture capitalist, in a blog post.\n\n\"One factor that's been cited, among many, is the regulation that accompanies medical products,\" he wrote. \"But momentum toward a digital future in healthcare is advancing.\"", "output": "The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will launch a pilot programme for accelerating the approval process for medical software start-ups, the US federal agency has announced. The pre-certification programme, initially limited to nine companies, will require less submission of information than is required by regulators. The FDA intends to streamline digital advances in healthcare by working with these companies to establish a regulatory framework based on industry feedback."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Goldman retreats from backstopping ETFs as costs rise \n Goldman has told fund providers it is scaling back its role as a top lead market maker (LMM) for ETFs and has already slashed the number of funds it supports in that capacity, according to disclosures, fund managers and other trading firms this month.\n\nGoldman Sachs Group Inc is pulling back substantially from trading that helps backstop the fast-growing use of U.S. exchange-traded funds, giving smaller firms an opportunity to grab market share.\n\nFinancial professionals sit in the Goldman Sachs booth on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.\n\nRelatively high regulatory and other costs of operating as an LMM prompted the pullback by Goldman, one of the few large banks remaining in that role, some people said.\n\nA spokeswoman for Goldman declined to comment on the bank's market-making business.\n\nThe move signals the shifting landscape of making markets in many assets away from traditional broker-dealers towards smaller, electronic-focused upstarts.\n\nLMMs are critical to keeping ETFs trading smoothly. While brokers-dealers can typically trade as they please, firms acting as LMMs must consistently offer competitive buy-and-sell quotes in their assigned ETFs, and they receive rebates on exchange fees. Some also provide start-up financing for the funds.\n\nThe LMMs risk some of their own capital to buy and sell ETFs to help maintain their liquidity.\n\nUnlike smaller rivals, big banks like Goldman Sachs are subject to strict capital requirements by regulators, putting them at a disadvantage when it comes to costs in an already low-margin business.\n\nETFs attracted a record $348 billion globally in the first half of this year, compared to $123 billion at the same point last year, according to research service ETFGI LLP.\n\nDespite the skyrocketing growth in ETFs, it can be hard to translate the LMM business into a high-margin operation.\n\nMarket making is a technology business as much as a trading enterprise, and involves finding the right price for funds holding dozens of stocks or bonds in a split second while making other trades to manage risk.\n\nOne industry veteran described the business as \"scraping fractions of pennies all day.\"\n\nGoldman continues to make issuing its own ETFs through its asset management unit a priority, however, even as it steps back from providing the infrastructure to keep such funds trading.", "output": "Goldman Sachs is said to be retreating from its role as a top lead market maker (LMM) for exchange-traded funds as smaller digital start-ups increasingly take up the mantle. The bank is said to have decided to pull back because of regulatory costs. LMMs help backstop markets by providing liquidity either by offering competitive buy-sell quotes or by committing their own capital. Larger banks like Goldman are under stricter regulatory rules than smaller firms, prompting many to exit the market. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "P&G drops ad spend due to inefficient targeting and bot fraud \n Procter & Gamble (P&G) has revealed a drop in its digital ad spending. This was due to its decision to \"temporarily restrict spending in digital forums\u201d where its ads were not being placed according to its \u201cstandards and specifications\u201d.Jon Moeller, P&G chief financial officer said in the fourth quarter reduction in marketing was almost all in the digital space. This was because it was \"ineffective\" and ads were being served to either bots as opposed to human beings, or the placement of ads was not facilitating the equity of brands.Moeller added on the call that it was now working with media partners to create \"very efficient supply chain that helps build the brands\" under P&G umbrella.He added the cut on digital spend did not hamper the company's growth. Meanwhile, P&G will put more focus on product and package benefits, as it needs to be \"communicated with exceptional brand messaging, advertisement makes consumers think, talk, laugh, cry, smile, act and of course buy\".The company is also now setting a higher standard on advertising quality with focus on brand performance claims that communicate a brand's benefits and superiority to create awareness and trial.\"We are improving the quality of consumer insights, agency creative talent, and production. We are applying a body of assessment on advertising quality,\" Moeller said. Meanwhile, its core selling, general and administrative expenses declined 170 basis points as compared to the previous year. According to P&G, this was driven by 80 basis points of productivity savings from overhead, agency fee and ad production costs. P&G also saw e-commerce online organic sales rise around 30% for the period, significantly outpacing offline sales. Online sales represented more than 5% of its total business in fiscal 2017.According to David Taylor, chairman, president and CEO, P&G met or exceeded its \"going-in\" objectives for the fiscal year 2017. He added that significant progress was made on its key priorities. This includes accelerating organic sales growth, continuing to drive strong productivity improvement and cost savings. It also prioritised strengthening the organisation and culture and completing moves to simplify and strengthen its product portfolio.\u201cAs an organisation, we are accelerating efforts to execute and deliver on the plans we\u2019ve put into action. Achieving our objectives will not only require continued focus as an organisation, but also that we prevent anything from derailing the work that is delivering improvement,\u201d Taylor added.The revelation follows cost cutting plans the company revealed in April this year, which saw its intention to reduce its marketing spend by US$2 billion in the next five years. This was part of a broader US$10 billion cost reduction plan it launched one year ago, according to several media reports.Moeller explained then that the half or more of the US$2 billion savings opportunities in marketing spending will likely come from media rates or eliminating supply-chain waste. Meanwhile, the company is targeting up to half a billion in saving from reducing agency fees and ad-production costs.When it comes to agency fees, P&G added it is looking to squeeze US$1billion or more out of the system. This follows a stand P&G chief brand officer Marc Pritchard took in February this year, which saw the company reviewing all of its agency contracts this year in a bid to drive a cleaner media supply chain and transparent digital measurement.", "output": "Proctor & Gamble (P&G) has temporarily cut its digital advertising spending by $140m while it assesses the quality and legitimacy of its ads. The company found its digital ads were being poorly placed and served to bots, rather than consumers. P&G's decision came as part of a broader plan to reduce its marketing spend by $2bn over the next five years, which the company announced in April. The decision has not affected P&G's growth, said CFO Jon Moeller."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BP and Total criticised for Amazon coral drilling plans \n Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nIndependent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nPlans to drill for oil near the newly discovered Amazon Reef \u2013 one of the largest in the world \u2013 have been attacked by leading scientists, conservationists and explorers.\n\nThe reef extends for about 600 miles off the north coast of Brazil, near the mouth of the mighty Amazon river, and covers an area about half the size of Wales.\n\nOil companies BP and Total plan to drill for oil in the area and there is concern that any spills would damage the \u201cprecious and unique ecosystem\u201d.\n\nNow a group of scientists and others have signed a statement calling the reef, the existence of which was only revealed last year, to be protected.\n\nThe signatories include Sylvia Earle, the former head of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as well as other scientists from the US, Brazil, Colombia, the UK, Spain, Australia and the Philippines.\n\nExplorers Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Bruce Parry, and wildlife broadcasters such as Michaela Strachan, Bill Oddie and Ben Fogle, have also put their name to the statement.\n\n\u201cPlans to drill for oil in nearby waters pose significant pressures and risks, whether from drilling itself or from the threat of significant oil spills, which even the companies\u2019 own oil-spill modelling give up to a 30 per cent chance of reaching the reef,\u201d said the statement, organised by Greenpeace.\n\n\u201cA spill here could negatively impact the reef and the wider basin: an area home to vulnerable species including the Amazonian manatee and leatherback sea turtle, among many others.\n\n\u201cThe priority should be to protect the reef and surrounding waters in order to conduct further research \u2026 to provide greater insight into its species diversity, structure and function, as well as the interconnections it has with other surrounding ecosystems, before any decisions are made concerning further human exploitation of the area.\u201d\n\nIt stressed just how unusual the reef is.\n\n\u201cWhere the Amazon River pours into the ocean, the surrounding waters are initially dark and silty \u2013 a very unusual environment for a rich carbonate reef ecosystem to exist,\u201d the statement said.\n\n\u201cHome to pink corals, coralline algae, more than 70 species of reef fish and more than 60 species of sponge, the Amazon Reef is a thriving and dynamic ecosystem that has barely been explored, but may already be under threat.\u201d\n\nIndeed, there is already some drilling underway, while oil giants BP and Total have acquired licences to explore the sea bed nearby.\n\nDr Ronaldo Francini Filho, one of the researchers who discovered the reef, stressed its importance to the region.\n\n\u201cThe Amazon Reef is one of the largest reefs in the world and a corridor connecting Brazil and the Caribbean,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cIt is a critical piece of the mega-biome composed by the huge Amazon forest, the second largest mangrove in the world, and the reef itself.\n\n\u201cThousands of people depend on the resources and ecosystem services provided by the Amazon Reef.\u201d\n\nAnimals in decline Show all 8 1 / 8 Animals in decline Animals in decline Harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) Where: Orkney Islands. What: Between 2001-2006, numbers in Orkney declined by 40 per cent. Why: epidemics of the phocine distemper virus are thought to have caused major declines, but the killing of seals in the Moray Firth to protect salmon farms may have an impact. Alamy Animals in decline African lion (Panthera leo) Where: Ghana. What: In Ghana\u2019s Mole National Park, lion numbers have declined by more than 90 per cent in 40 years. Why: local conflicts are thought to have contributed to the slaughter of lions and are a worrying example of the status of the animal in Western and Central Africa. Animals in decline Leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) Where: Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Costa Rica. What: Numbers are down in both the Atlantic and Pacific. It declined by 95 per cent between 1989-2002 in Costa Rica. Why: mainly due to them being caught as bycatch, but they\u2019ve also been affected by local developments. Alamy Animals in decline Wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans) Where: South Atlantic. What: A rapid decline. One population, from Bird Island, South Georgia, declined by 50 per cent between 1972-2010, according to the British Antarctic Survey. Why: being caught in various commercial longline fisheries. Alamy Animals in decline Saiga Antelope (Saiga tatarica) Where: Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan. What: fall in populations has been dramatic. In the early 1990s numbers were over a million, but are now estimated to be around 50,000. Why: the break up of the former USSR led to uncontrolled hunting. Increased rural poverty means the species is hunted for its meat Animals in decline Swordfish (Xiphias gladius) Where: found worldwide in tropical, subtropical and temperate seas. Why: at risk from overfishing and as a target in recreational fishing. A significant number of swordfish are also caught by illegal driftnet fisheries in the Mediterranean Animals in decline Argali Sheep (Ovis mammon) Where: Central and Southern Asian mountains,usually at 3,000-5,000 metres altitude. Why: domesticated herds of sheep competing for grazing grounds. Over-hunting and poaching. Animals in decline Humphead Wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) Where: the Indo-Pacific, from the Red Sea to South Africa and to the Tuamoto Islands (Polynesia), north to the Ryukyu Islands (south-west Japan), and south to New Caledonia. Why: Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing and trading of the species\n\nSara Ayech, an oil campaigner for Greenpeace UK, said that it was known \u201cfrom painful experience\u201d how damaging an oil spill could be, and referred to the Deepwater Horizon explosion which killed 11 people and created the largest spill in US history.\n\n\u201cThis project is in deeper water than Deepwater Horizon, and BP and Total have yet to demonstrate that they have the ability to adequately deal with a spill in this precious eco-system,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cIn addition to the threat to the largely unexplored Amazon reef, coastal communities could have their livelihoods destroyed for the sake of oil we don\u2019t need and can\u2019t afford to burn.\n\n\u201cWe need to stop sacrificing our natural heritage to fossil fuel interests and start preparing for a future beyond petroleum.\u201d\n\nBP said the work would only go ahead if Brazilian officials agreed.\n\nA spokesman for the company said in a statement: \u201cBP operates one exploration block in the Foz do Amazonas basin, around 160 kilometres (100 miles) offshore Brazil.\n\n\u201cUnder the terms of our licence, we have a commitment to drill one exploration well on the block by August 2018. Operations on the blocks will only proceed when fully approved by the Brazilian regulators.\u201d", "output": "Plans by BP and Total to drill for oil in the Amazon Reef, one of the largest coral reefs in the world, have been publicly criticised. Critics include Sylvia Earle, former head of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, explorers Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Bruce Parry and environmental broadcasters Ben Fogle, Bill Oddie and Michaela Strachan. The reef, which was only discovered last year, faces damage both from the drilling itself and from oil spills, according to the statement, which was coordinated by Greenpeace.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "JPMorgan Chase commits to 100% renewable energy by 2020 \n JPMorgan Chase will rely solely on renewable energy by 2020, the company announced Friday.\n\nTo meet its goal, the firm will install on-site renewable energy generators, sign power purchase agreements with renewable energy projects and reduce its energy consumption. The firm has property in more than 60 countries that totals approximately 75 million square feet, according to a press release.\n\nThe firm also plans to facilitate $200 billion in clean financing through 2025.\n\n\"Business must play a leadership role in creating solutions that protect the environment and grow the economy,\" CEO Jamie Dimon said in a statement. \"This global investment leverages the firm's resources and our people's expertise to make our operations more energy efficient and provide clients with the resources they need to develop more sustainable products and services.\"\n\nJPMorgan will develop on-site solar-power generation at up to 1,400 retail and 40 commercial buildings. The firm will launch a pilot program to install solar panels at Chase branches in California and New Jersey. It will also install large-capacity fuel-cell technology at commercial sites and small-capacity fuel cells at retail sites.\n\nTo cut energy consumption, JPMorgan will partner with GE 's Current to install LED lights at about 4,500 Chase branches. It will also work with Current to synchronize building systems, which is expected to reduce energy consumption. JPMorgan will add thermal energy blankets above ceiling tiles in more than $1,700 retail branches.", "output": "JPMorgan Chase has pledged to rely entirely on renewable energy by 2020. The company will enter power purchase agreements with renewable initiatives, lower its energy consumption through the installation of LED lights, thermal energy blankets above ceiling tiles and\u00a0on-site renewable energy generators, and by synchronising\u00a0building systems. The firm also announced plans to facilitate $200bn in clean financing by 2025."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Toyota focuses on solid-state batteries for next-generation EVs \n Toyota plans to commercialize solid-state electric vehicle batteries by the early 2020s, Reuters confirmed this week.\n\nIf the Japanese automaker can pull that off, it could leap ahead of the competition in terms of energy density, range and safety.\n\nToyota popularized the turn away from internal-combustion engines with its Prius hybrid, but its clean transport innovation has slowed in recent years. The company maintained focus on hybrids and hydrogen fuel-cell cars, which other EV makers tend to dismiss as dead ends.\n\nThat policy came to an end late last year when Toyota launched an internal venture dedicated to commercializing a purely electric car. \"Japanese automakers finally wise up to the electric future\" was how auto blog Jalopnik reported that decision.\n\nWith Tesla, BMW, Nissan and Chevy scaling up EV production already, Toyota will have to hustle to catch up, and solid-state could certainly help. This advance represents something of a holy grail for battery makers, and has been notoriously hard to pull off.\n\nFirst, here's the science of why we need solid-state in the first place, as told to me by Josh Garrett, CTO of Solid Power, which makes solid-state electrolytes.\n\n\"One of the main challenges with lithium-ion type technologies is, you can increase the energy and power, or you can improve or maintain your safety, but you can't do both,\" he said. \"Solid-state is really the one known viable path toward increasing both at the same time.\"\n\nSolid-state's safety properties could unlock a lithium-metal anode, which represents the chemical ideal in terms of how much charge it can store per unit of mass and volume. It's also highly volatile, as one may recall from dropping it into a beaker of water in chemistry class and watching it catch fire.\n\nIf you put a lithium-metal anode into the kind of battery cell made today, it suffers from uneven plating, which produces spiky protuberances known as dendrites. If a dendrite continues to grow, it can shoot across the cell's protective barrier layer and touch the positive electrode, causing a short, Garrett said. That generates lot of heat.\n\n\"The combination of your volatile electrolyte with the cathode materials, which are typically unstable and also contain oxygen, basically creates these thermal runaway reactions, and that's when you have a fire that you're probably not going to put out for a while,\" he explained.\n\nNot a good look for mass-market consumer cars.\n\nIn solid-state, theory predicts more even plating, so dendrites shouldn't be much of a problem in the first place, Garrett said. If they do form, the more inert, non-volatile electrolyte denies the fuel that would stoke a fire. The individual cell could get hot and be ruined, but it will be \"a very uneventful failure.\"\n\nThat's the quick version, at least. Many fine peer-reviewed publications beckon with the fully fleshed-out details.\n\nIt's important to note that actually achieving this vision will take a lot of lab work. One of many challenges is securing perfect contact for the flow of ions. A liquid electrolyte conforms easily to the electrodes, because it's a liquid against a solid. Two solids, not so much.\n\n\"Imagine two marbles put together: There's only going to be point contacts, and that really limits where the ions can travel between the electrolyte and the electrode,\" Garrett said.\n\nAs always with batteries, optimizing one characteristic, like connectivity or stability, can affect other aspects of performance. The key is achieving across-the-board improvements without sacrificing the necessities.\n\nSolid Power, for now, is trying to commercialize its solid electrolyte combined with a lithium-metal anode and a more conventional nickel-manganese-cobalt lithium-ion chemistry. This design can produce an energy density increase of one-quarter to one-third at the cell level, compared to the cells in a Tesla Model S, Garrett estimated; additional gains are expected at the pack level.\n\nNobody has started mass-manufacturing solid-state rechargeable batteries yet, he noted -- but Toyota has assembled considerable resources behind that goal. The company is paying particular attention to the pack- and system-level improvements made possible by solid-state technology, which can then influence overall vehicle design.\n\nToyota will have to hustle to meet the early 2020s deadline, but the science is clear about what the payoff will be. Autonomous driving has been garnering considerable attention, but solid-state batteries could become the new automaker arms race to watch.", "output": "Toyota has revealed ambitious plans to commercialise solid-state batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) by the early 2020s after having focused on developing\u00a0hybrids and hydrogen fuel-cell cars. Solid-state batteries can\u00a0improve both safety and power levels, and\u00a0Toyota is concentrating its efforts on pack and system-level improvements that could lead to advances in overall car design.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Musk's goal of 50% new sales to be EVs in 10 years challenged \n On Friday, against all reasonable expectations a decade ago, the company will arrive at the final step of that initial plan. During a carefully staged event at its manufacturing facility in Fremont, California, Tesla will deliver the first of its long-awaited Model 3s to several dozen early customers. The four-door sedan starts at $35,000 before incentives, with a range of 215 miles per charge.\n\nYou can quibble over whether that's genuinely affordable (auto observers would generally call it \u201centry-level luxury\u201d). But there's little doubt the vehicle will lure a wider mix of customers to electric vehicles\u2014and no dispute that Tesla has already reshaped the automobile market. The company helped make plug-in vehicles appealing in a nation infatuated with brawny, gas-guzzling cars and trucks, forcing other manufacturers to initiate or accelerate their own EV plans.\n\nBut arriving at step three, of course, is very far from fulfilling Musk\u2019s grander vision. For all the rapid recent growth, electric vehicles are still a tiny market, representing less than 1 percent of new sales globally.\n\nElectric vehicles will almost certainly grab a swelling portion of the auto market in the years ahead. But it will be a long time before they tip into the truly mainstream, and longer still before they could meaningfully reduce the sector\u2019s dependence on those hydrocarbons.\n\nMany things still need to change in underlying infrastructure, consumer appetites, public policies, and battery prices before any of this can happen. And there is wide disagreement about how fast that\u2019s likely to unfold, and where Tesla will stand once it does (see \u201cTesla\u2019s Next Broken Promise\u201d).\n\nTesla CEO Elon Musk unveiling the company's home battery in 2015.\n\nA bevy of batteries\n\nAs ever, count Musk as the optimist on these scores.\n\nEarlier this month, during an onstage interview at the 2017 National Governors Association Summer Meeting in Rhode Island, he predicted that more than half of all new cars produced in the United States will be electric \u201cprobably in 10 years.\u201d That\u2019s more than a decade ahead of most optimistic estimates.", "output": "Tesla Motors' new Model 3 is far from Elon Musk's final vision for electric vehicles (EVs). Firstly, Elon Musk's prediction that \"probably in 10 years\" over 50% of all new cars produced in the US will be electric, would require 4-16 additional gigafactories for the US alone. Public policy, charging infrastructure and consumer attitudes to EVs also remain an issue. Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts mass-market EV adoption will only come when the technology reaches price parity with internal combustion engines, unlikely to occur without subsidies until 2025. Lastly, the US grid would need updating to manage the power demand from EVs."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EDF boosts renewable energy output in first six months of 2017 \n EDF Energies Nouvelles increased output by 5% to 6.4 terrawatt hours in first six months of 2017, and boosted installed capacity by 0.8GW to 6.7GW by the end of June compared with last year.\n\n\n\nThe increase in output was mainly from wind and North American assets, the company said.\n\nEDF EN had 2.4GW of new capacity under construction at the end of June, of which 0.9GW was solar.Sales at the unit were up 7.5% at \u20ac620m in the first half of 2017, compared with \u20ac577m in the same period last year.The company also completed the acquisition of Futuren in the period.EDF chairman and chief executive Jean-Bernard L\u00e9vy said: \u201cThe first half of 2017 was marked by an acceleration in the area of renewable energies, with, in particular, the takeover of Futuren and the increase in installed net capacity.\u201cThe reorganisation of the French nuclear sector has also reached essential and positive milestones in recent months. I would like to thank our teams for their daily efforts to make EDF the leader in low-carbon growth.\u201d", "output": "EDF Energies Nouvelles enjoyed a successful H1 2017, with output rising 5% to 6.4 TWhs, installed capacity up by 0.8 GW on 2016 to 6.7 GW and sales hitting \u20ac620m ($730m), up 7.5% YoY. The company also completed its acquisition of renewable energy business Futuren during the period. \"The reorganisation of the French nuclear sector has also reached essential and positive milestones in recent months,\" said CEO Jean-Bernard L\u00e9vy."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Osaka University researchers improve solar panels' efficiency \n Figure 1. Fabrication of ultralow reflectance polycrystalline silicon wafers by use of the developed technology. Credit: Osaka University\n\nPower generation cost using solar panels depends on getting as much electricity out of the panels as possible while keeping the manufacturing costs low. Anyone who has considered installing solar panels might be aware of the trade-off between efficiency and the initial cost of the panels. Engineers and researchers are finding new ways to obtain power out of solar modules, but doing so without adding to their costs is becoming more and more difficult.\n\nNow a team of scientists at Osaka University has taken a step closer to making inexpensive solar cells that can deliver the same high efficiency as more complex and expensive cells.\n\n\"Unmodified silicon solar cells throw away light energy in the form of reflection, so most solar cells have some kind of antireflective coating,\" explains first author Daichi Irishika. \"To avoid using these extra coatings we fabricated a submicron structure using a simple wet treatment directly into the silicon surfaces to give the cell its own antireflective coating.\"\n\nAntireflective coatings, similar to those used on reading glasses, can help to get more light into solar cells and boost their electricity output. However, these coatings are expensive to produce, especially for covering large areas.\n\nThe Osaka team has previously made low reflection silicon cells using a much cheaper process based on the surface structure chemical transfer (SSCT) method to fabricate so-called black silicon. Chemically treating the front side of silicon cells produces tiny submicron silicon structures, which prevent light reflection and give a black appearance. The team has also developed a method to passivate the submicron silicon structures with huge surface area to prevent the recombination loss by deposition of phosphosilicate glass followed by heat treatment. This method can simultaneously form pn-junction to separate photo-generated electrons and holes, and therefore, it isn't an additional process.\n\nFigure 2. Comparison of low reflectance mechanisms for previous technology and developed technology. Credit: Osaka University\n\nBuilding on their previous success, the Osaka team turned their attention to the back side of the silicon cells and created rougher light-trapping microstructures to capture even more infrared light.\n\nGroup leader Hikaru Kobayashi says, \"Making very high efficiency solar cells is important but we should also consider the economics and practicality of any processes used to increase efficiency. The wet processes we have developed are simple yet effective, and our work with black silicon has real-world applications in making cost-effective silicon solar panels.\"\n\nMore information: Daichi Irishika et al. Improvement of Conversion Efficiency of Silicon Solar Cells by Submicron-Textured Rear Reflector Obtained by Metal-Assisted Chemical Etching, Solar RRL (2017). DOI: 10.1002/solr.201700061", "output": "Researchers from Osaka University have made progress in developing a low-cost solar cell that is as efficient as more complex, costly cells. Unmodified silicon solar cells throw back light energy, making anti-reflective coatings a necessity. However, the researchers have developed a submicron structure applied through a wet treatment that can integrate this coating within the cell itself. The method can be incorporated during the regular manufacturing of solar cells for use in solar panels."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk Most British workers don't want to be microchipped \n US software company Three Square Market (32M) recently announced that they were trading in work passes for RFID microchips on a trial basis. On our side of the pond, a new survey reveals that employees are highly unlikely to stick around if this were the case.\n\nThe research was commissioned by TalkTalk Business\u2019 Workforces 2025 initiative, which examines the trends set to transform the future of employment and the workplace. Over 2,000 working adults over the age of 18 in the UK in June 2017 were asked to consider how they would react if their employer asked them to have a microchip implanted into their body to help increase their efficiency at work.\n\nThe smaller the business, the less likely employers are to consider implanting employees with electronic chips as a priority. Less than one in ten employers do, however, consider it a business priority over the next 10 years. Why? According to over a third of the employers surveyed, it was for streamlining employees\u2019 access to work devices, but for one in five employers, it\u2019s more for tracking employees\u2019 movements.\n\nOther findings from the research found that generationally speaking, over a third of Generation Z and younger millennials vehemently oppose wearing an RFID implant, citing they would quit their job. Older millennials (between 25 and 34) are more open to trialling the technology, however. Across the board, five per cent of British workers would consider wearing a microchip if they were paid extra.\n\n\u201cMy immediate thought is, why would it need to be implanted?,\u201d asks Stephen Robinson, employment partner at law firm Ward Hadaway. \u201cThe microchip is much like the fobs that hang around our necks or in our handbags. Even having access via phone would be more convenient than an implant.\u201d\n\nConvenience and common sense aside, is microchipping your staff legal? Robinson says it depends on employers asking individuals for consent, and more importantly, make sure that volunteering to be microchipped is an informed decision made by employees. Employers who are bought in will understandably explain the benefits of these implants, but Robinson stresses that they ought to also say explain the negatives.\n\n\u201cThere are some technological advantages to the chip, but what happens if the individual is on probation and has to leave? How easy is it to be removed? What happens if it reacts badly to the individual\u2019s skin or body? What happens if that individual decides not to have it anymore? How easy is it to remove it? There are practical issues like that,\u201d he says.\n\nAnother element to this argument is the question of employee privacy. Employers need to stress that the chips won\u2019t be used as monitoring devices. \u201cThis is where it\u2019s a little bit like the Twilight Zone, where concerns that Big Brother is watching you begins. This is also where the law becomes quite protective over the individual\u2019s privacy.\u201d\n\nThe fact that the impetus stems from a business need raises a lot more questions.\n\n\u201cBecause this comes from a business need, it\u2019s really interesting, and we see negatives in it. In the next few years, big manufacturers like Apple or Samsung may introduce something similar, but because the technology will be led by safe leaders in the industry, it will be marketed much better and become part of the norm. Then it\u2019ll be easier for people (and businesses) to embrace the technology,\u201d Robinson explains.\n\nSamsung is currently marketing a phone that uses iris recognition, while the iPhone has been using fingerprint ID for years now. But for Robinson, biometric authentication is one thing, and RFID microchipping is another. \u201cThe difference is technology like this is intrusive in the body. That\u2019s quite a leap from having a Fitbit that you can take off. It\u2019s that permanency of having something on you that could go wrong.\u201d\n\nFrom a regulatory perspective, the right to privacy has to be paramount, he adds. \u201cPresumably, the chips are gathering data, but where will this data be stored or used. In the UK, there is specific legislation around who owns data. There\u2019s also the potential of having data breaches.\u201d Robinson says that it\u2019ll be a long time before the right regulations come into place. It\u2019s always been the case that the law is playing catch-up to technology, he adds. \u201cUnfortunately, the law reacts to changes in technology, often led by something going wrong. It usually depends on the government identifying an issue to be resolved, such as privacy laws, anti cyber-bullying, and so on. This is untested technology in an untested legal regime. For me, I\u2019m not sure the benefits of having it outweigh the negatives.\u201d", "output": "A report produced by TalkTalk has found more than two-thirds of the British working population would refuse to be\u00a0microchipped to improve efficiency if asked to by their employer. After interviewing more than\u00a02,000 working adults, the TalkTalk\u00a0Business\u2019s Workforces 2025 initiative\u00a0found that the smaller the business, the less likely it was that employers considered chipping their workers.\u00a0Older millennials (between 25 and 34) were found to be more open to the technology being tested on them. About 5% of workers would consider being chipped if they were paid more.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Regus opens workspace in Zaragoza \n Recursos Humanos RRHH Press. Regus, proveedor mundial de espacios de trabajo, ha abierto su primer centro de negocios en Zaragoza.\n\nLa compa\u00f1\u00eda ha escogido la tercera planta de Torre Aragonia, ubicada junto a oficinas de la administraci\u00f3n local, la Universidad de Zaragoza y un gran n\u00famero de empresas de servicios.\n\nEn esta torre, Regus ocupa un espacio de m\u00e1s de 900 metros cuadrados para oficinas y cuenta con una terraza anexa de 155 metros cuadrados. El nuevo espacio de trabajo incluye 48 despachos de oficinas, 2 salas de reuniones, office y una zona de coworking, adem\u00e1s de recepci\u00f3n, ba\u00f1os y un gran parking con acceso directo a los edificios.\n\nLa Torre Aragonia se encuentra integrada en el complejo Aragonia, que comprende un edificio destinado a oficinas, un centro comercial, una cadena de gimnasios, viviendas, salas de cine y un hotel 5*, el Reina Petronila.\n\nLa llegada de nuevas empresas como Regus al edificio, es una de las mayores operaciones del mercado de oficinas en Zaragoza.\n\nRRHHpress.com", "output": "Workspace provider Regus has opened\u00a0its first business centre in Zaragoza, Spain. The 900 sq metre-plus facility includes\u00a048\u00a0offices, two\u00a0meeting rooms, and\u00a0a co-working area. The workspaces provider is located on the third floor of the Torre Aragonia complex, near the University of Zaragoza.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IBM launches automotive and IoT security testing service \n IBM on Monday is launching new security services testing for Internet of Things (IoT) developers, as well as the automotive industry. The new services should help test the security of connected devices throughout development and deployment.\n\nFirst, IBM is announcing that Watson IoT Platform is offering its customers services from IBM X-Force Red, its year-old security testing group. Some analysts have wondered whether Watson will pay off for IBM before other tech companies catch up in terms of their cognitive offerings. With this new service, IBM is trying to prove it's the best partner for enterprises that want to develop smart connected devices.\n\n\"It's not just about the technology, it is also about the global reach, investment, and collaborative approach which make IBM a trusted IoT partner for enterprise IoT solutions,\" James Murphy, offering manager for IBM Watson IoT Platform, said in a statement. \"With IoT technologies permeating the farthest corners of industry, IBM is bringing our Watson IoT Platform and X-Force Red security talent together to address present and future concerns.\"\n\nIn a study IBM commissioned this year in conjunction with Arxan Technologies, the Ponemon Institute found that 58 percent of organizations only test their IoT applications during the production phase, leaving room for vulnerabilities to be introduced into existing systems. The new X-Force Red services IBM is offering bring an added layer of security and penetration testing to address that, with researchers testing backend processes, apps and physical hardware.\n\nMeanwhile, the X-Force Red Group has also been building up a dedicated automotive practice, in order to help clients secure hardware, networks, applications and human interactions.\n\nGiven the huge number of interconnected components and systems in a modern car, connected vehicles can be seriously vulnerable. The X-Force Red group is aiming to influence best practices and standardize security protocols within the automotive industry. The group has worked with more than a dozen automotive manufacturers and third-party suppliers to build expertise and programmatic penetration testing and consulting services.", "output": "IBM has launched a security services testing platform for Internet of Things (IoT) developers to help protect connected devices throughout their manufacture and use. IBM\u2019s Watson IoT Platform will extend its security testing service group, IBM X-Force Red, to customers in a bid to build the company\u2019s reputation as an enterprise IoT partner. The X-Force Red Group has also run an automotive service to secure applications, networks, hardware and human interactions against interference.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "RealtyShares buys Acquire Real Estate platform \n SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--RealtyShares, a leading online marketplace for real estate investing, today announced the acquisition of technology-first, marketplace platform Acquire Real Estate, an innovative rival that has set a bar for product development within the industry.\n\nBoth companies took different paths toward building successful online real estate investing platforms. RealtyShares has excelled at scaling operations and offering diverse investment opportunities. The company boasts more than 120,000 registered investors and has surpassed $500 million deployed for real estate projects across nearly 1,000 deals in 39 states. It has quickly gained traction by making investing and financing across the capital stack easier than ever, fueling a record second quarter where they tripled business over the prior year by originating almost $140 million in real estate projects.\n\nLed by CEO Josh Klimkiewicz and CTO Gerry Polucci, Acquire focused on developing industry-first products to serve its commercial sponsors and investors, keeping the platform at the forefront of innovation despite better-funded rivals. It was the first real estate marketplace to introduce a real estate exchange, investor profiles, a dynamic investment calculator and self-directed IRA investing. Both Klimkiewicz and Polucci will join RealtyShares as part of the acquisition, spearheading integration from the company\u2019s East Coast office.\n\n\u201cRealtyShares and Acquire share a vision that technology will make real estate investing easier and more accessible, uniting bold thinkers to set an innovative tone for the industry,\u201d said RealtyShares founder and CEO Nav Athwal. \u201cJosh and Gerry are a perfect culture fit for our company. They bring the intuition, tenacity and experience we need to remove friction from the real estate investing process and help RealtyShares redefine this industry.\u201d\n\nKlimkiewicz is a Harvard graduate with an extensive commercial background including the acquisition, disposition and structured finance of over $6 billion in real estate transactions as vice president of capital markets at CBRE. He began Acquire in 2014 after 8 years with the commercial real estate behemoth.\n\n\u201cLike RealtyShares, we saw a real opportunity to use technology to close the gap and create a better process for raising capital,\u201d said Klimkiewicz. \u201cWe targeted commercial equity day one, specifically middle market projects with equity checks between $5 million and $10 million, recognizing that there was just no efficient way for institutions or investors to participate in those types of deals without innovative solutions. By taking the time to understand our community, we were better able to address needs and build products that truly solved problems.\u201d\n\nKlimkiewicz will serve as the director of commercial business development while colleague Polucci will join as a director of engineering. Polucci\u2019s background is atypical within real estate. He is an entrepreneur, product leader and software architect with more than 30 years of software engineering experience across a number of industries, including healthcare, storage management and technology.\n\n\u201cI saw a lack of audacity,\u201d said Polucci. \u201cTechnology can transform our industry, but people with real estate backgrounds saw complex problems in their industry as intractable. Our team possessed a unique perspective, which allowed us to identify and tackle those challenges directly.\u201d\n\nKlimkiewicz and Polucci join a company leading the charge to bring innovation to one of the largest asset classes in the world, driven by other key additions over the last few months. In May, RealtyShares named Former Cushman & Wakefield CEO Edward Forst to the board of directors and Senior Vice President of Marketing Kristina Wallender joined in June after working with market innovators Amazon and Ticketfly.\n\nAbout RealtyShares\n\nRealtyShares is transforming the real estate investment landscape by connecting borrowers and sponsors to debt and equity capital from accredited and institutional investors, across an array of financing products. Private investments are highly illiquid and risky and are not suitable for all investors. Through the RealtyShares website, these investors can browse investment opportunities, perform due diligence, invest online and gain 24/7 access to an investor dashboard to watch how their investments are performing. RealtyShares offers securities through North Capital Private Securities Corporation, member FINRA/SIPC. For more information on how to become a real estate investor or to seek capital through the RealtyShares marketplace, please visit www.realtyshares.com.", "output": "San Francisco-based online real estate investment marketplace RealtyShares has acquired rival Acquire Real Estate for an undisclosed amount. Acquire's former CEO, Josh Klimkiewicz, will become director of commercial business development, while CTO Gerry Polucci has been appointed as director of engineering. RealtyShares tripled business during Q2 2017, compared with the same period the previous year, originating almost $140m in real estate projects. RealtyShares has 120,000 registered investors and to date has deployed more than $500m in various real estate deals."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Royal Mail buys 100 electric vans from Peugeot \n Royal Mail has signed an agreement with PEUGEOT today (July 27) to purchase 100 zero-emission Partner L2 Electric vans, to be used by postmen and women on their delivery rounds. The vans will go into service from December 2017 at delivery offices around the UK, supported by a comprehensive rollout of charging infrastructure. \u201cWith electric \u2026 Continued\n\nRoyal Mail has signed an agreement with PEUGEOT today (July 27) to purchase 100 zero-emission Partner L2 Electric vans, to be used by postmen and women on their delivery rounds. The vans will go into service from December 2017 at delivery offices around the UK, supported by a comprehensive rollout of charging infrastructure.\n\n\u201cWith electric vehicles firmly on the agenda this week, there couldn\u2019t be a better time to announce this landmark deal with the Royal Mail\u201d, says PSA Group Fleet Director Martin Gurney, \u201cThe order was won after Royal Mail carried out extensive trials with the Partner Electric. It\u2019s a tribute to their performance in the trials that PEUGEOT Electric vans will soon be helping Royal Mail to significantly reduce the environmental impact of its delivery fleet.\u201d\n\nPaul Gatti, Royal Mail Fleet Director, said: \u201cOur research has shown that electric vans are an excellent operational fit with our business and we are delighted to be ordering such a large volume to use in our daily operations. This is good news for our customers and the towns and cities which we serve. It also means we are on the front foot for future changes in emissions legislation.\n\n\u201cEmissions are an important issue for us at Royal Mail and we are continuously looking at new and innovative ways to reduce our carbon footprint and our impact on air quality. Improving the efficiency of our fleet by introducing electric vans is just one example of this.\u201d\n\nThe Partner L2 Electric was launched in February and this is the first major fleet order for the van.\n\nIts Lithium-ion battery pack is fitted under the load floor, ensuring there is no loss of load space compared with petrol and diesel-powered Partner L2 models. The Partner L2 Electric will carry a gross payload of 552kg.\n\nPower comes from a compact and highly efficient permanent magnet synchronous motor producing 49kW (67hp) at 4,000rpm and maximum torque of 200Nm. The front wheels are driven through a speed reducer and single ratio gearbox.\n\nThe Partner Electric\u2019s 22.5kWh high-capacity lithium-ion batteries offer a range of up to 106 miles, measured on the NEDC cycle. The batteries can be re-charged to 80 per cent capacity in 30 minutes from a dedicated rapid charge point. The drive motor also provides regenerative braking when slowing down, helping to re-charge the batteries and reduce brake wear.\n\nPartner Electric customers are eligible for the Plug in Van Grant (PiVG) from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) towards the cost of buying the vehicle. The PiVG covers 20 per cent of the cost of the vehicle including VAT but excluding on-the-road costs.\n\nPartner Electric drivers in London would be eligible for the Ultra Low Emission Discount (ULED), which provides a 100 per cent discount from the London Congestion Charge, an exemption worth up to \u00a32,989 per year. London boroughs such as Hackney also offer a 100 per cent discount on parking permits for electric vehicles, resulting in substantial savings each year. In running electric vehicles, all drivers benefit from reduced running costs vs a conventional petrol or diesel car. Lower running costs and lower service maintenance and repair costs add to the financial incentives available, which means that electric motoring can bring about significant savings when considering the total cost of ownership, rather the upfront purchase cost only.", "output": "The Royal Mail is to buy 100 electric Partner L2 vans from car maker Peugeot for use in deliveries from December this year, with the Royal Mail also installing the required infrastructure. The Peugeot Partner Electric\u2019s 22.5kWh lithium-ion batteries have a range of up to 106 miles and is one of several vehicles to be tested by the UK postal service. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook pledges funds to prevent election cyber attacks \n Mandatory Credit: Photo by Mike Nelson/Epa/REX/Shutterstock (8457750ao) Republican Presidential Candidate Rand Paul is Seen on a Messenger Screen in the Facebook Election Booth in the Spin Room As the Us Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate Nears at Wynn Las Vegas in Las Vegas Nevada Usa 13 October 2015 United States Las Vegas Usa Elections Democratic Debate - Oct 2015\n\nMandatory Credit: Photo by Mike Nelson/Epa/REX/Shutterstock (8457750ao) Republican Presidential Candidate Rand Paul is Seen on a Messenger Screen in the Facebook Election Booth in the Spin Room As the Us Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate Nears at Wynn Las Vegas in Las Vegas Nevada Usa 13 October 2015 United States Las Vegas Usa Elections Democratic Debate - Oct 2015 Credit: Mike Nelson/Epa/REX/Shutterstock\n\nLess than a year after Mark Zuckerberg derided the idea that his social network might have any serious impact on the U.S. election, Facebook announced that it will donate money to cybersecurity education efforts as well as a new project to ensure election security.\n\nFacebook's chief security officer, Alex Stamos, announced the new funding on Wednesday at Black Hat USA, the largest conference dedicated to cybersecurity.\n\nFacebook will put $1 million toward funding \"to encourage original defensive research,\" Stamos said in a blog post (opens in a new tab)accompanying his talk. The company will make additional donations for \"scholarships and programs that help expand the diversity of the security workforce.\"\n\nFacebook is also now the \"founding sponsor\" of the Defending Digital Democracy Project, which will operate at Harvard University to \"better secure elections and other democratic processes through collaboration and information sharing.\"\n\nWednesday's announcement is only the most recent in a series of moves from Facebook that address a variety of the critiques hurled at the social network following the 2016 U.S. election. It's a stark reversal from when Zuckerberg called the notion that Facebook could influence the election a \"crazy idea.\"(opens in a new tab) Since then, Facebook has taken a variety of steps to address misinformation on its platform.\n\nStamos pointed to two problems that he sees in the world of cybersecurity: A lack of focus on defense, and a lack of diversity.\n\n\"The security community needs more diverse people, backgrounds, and thought to live up to our potential,\" Stamos said in the blog post.", "output": "Facebook has pledged to donate $1m to cybersecurity educational initiatives, as well as election security drives. The money will be used for \u201cdefensive\u201d research, said Facebook's chief security officer Alex Stamos, as well as scholarships and programmes designed to extend the security workforce. Facebook has taken a position as the founding sponsor of the Defending Digital Democracy Project, run through Harvard University, in a bid to better protect democratic processes such as elections."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Signal Vine raises $2m for its university messaging platform \n ANOTHER CHATTY BOT: Signal Vine, a text messaging platform for colleges, has raised $2 million in a Series A round led by New Markets Venture Partners. Signal Vine provides a platform for campus staff to remind students about upcoming financial aid deadlines, campus events or scheduling advising appointments. Based in Alexandria, Va., the company claims 200 higher-ed institutions and college success organizations currently use the platform.\n\n\u201cCommunication is changing quickly, and we want to help institutions keep up with these changes and reach students where they are\u2014on their phones, texting,\u201d Signal Vine CEO Brian Kathman said in a prepared statement. \u201cTexting is a very personal form of communication, so it needs to be done right to be effective at the scale that universities need.\u201d", "output": "Virginia-based edtech company Signal Vine has raised $2m in a Series A funding round. The round was led by New Markets Venture Partners. Signal Vine has developed a text-messaging platform which enables campus staff to contact\u00a0students directly, regarding topics like deadlines,\u00a0appointments and\u00a0social events. The firm claims 200 higher-education institutions and colleges are using\u00a0its platform at this time.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "\u2018Hygiene poverty\u2019 on rise in UK \n Growing numbers of people are facing hygiene poverty, where they are unable to afford essential products such as shampoo and deodorant, and are having to choose between eating and keeping clean, a charity has found.\n\n\n\nA report from In Kind Direct says thousands of people are seeking help and describes the issue as a \u201chidden crisis\u201d. Last year the charity distributed a record \u00a320.2m of hygiene products, a rise of 67% on \u00a312.1m the year before.\n\nRobin Boles, chief executive of In Kind Direct, said: \u201cThis is hitting families hard. The fact that last year was our busiest year ever, distributing products to charities and the people they help, highlights the stark choices people are facing.\u201d\n\nThe study has prompted campaigners to call for the government to do more to alleviate poverty. They say cuts to working benefits coupled with rising inflation have left families struggling.Samantha Stapley, operations manager for England at the Trussell Trust food bank network, described the report as \u201cvery concerning\u201d. She added: \u201cWhen people are referred to food banks with no money for food, they\u2019re often struggling to afford other basic essentials too.\u201d\n\nThe report shows 82% of 948 charities have seen an increase in demand over the past year from people who cannot afford essential items.\n\nA further poll of 1,000 people, conducted by In Kind Direct, found that 37% of those surveyed, and 56% of 18- to 24-year-olds, have had to go without hygiene or grooming products, or cut down on them, owing to low finances.\n\nStapley said Trussell Trust research with the University of Oxford had found that more than half of the households visiting the network\u2019s food banks were struggling to afford toiletries.\n\nShe added that voluntary organisations alone could not resolve the problem and the underlying causes of poverty needed to be addressed. \u201cMaking work more secure, tackling the high cost of living and working to reduce the issues people experience with benefit payments would all make a difference,\u201d she said.\n\nHer words were echoed by Alison Garnham, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, who said: \u201cTo tackle it we first need to ensure that benefits once again reflect families\u2019 needs and so rise with inflation. No one should have to suffer the indignity of living without basic sanitary products.\u201d\n\nAndrew Barr, manager of the Trussell Trust food bank in Oldham, said: \u201cPeople are not able to afford the things that they need, not want, and that is a worry.\u201d\n\nBarr noted a rise in people coming to the service. \u201cThere is certainly an increase in demand for them [hygiene products] and it\u2019s something we try and get people to donate to us,\u201d he said.\n\nThe In Kind Direct report cites the case of Rucksana Begum, 32, who gets products from her local charity in Tyneside, Crest UK. She said: \u201cI\u2019m a new mum, not working, so I struggle to pay household bills. Not having to worry about buying sanitary towels, shaving gel and products, which I wouldn\u2019t be able to afford, is a big help. I feel better about myself and it helps my mental wellbeing.\u201d\n\nThe report comes amid campaigns for free sanitary products. Amika George, 17, from London, is petitioning for these items to be provided to all girls on free school meals.\n\n\n\nShe said: \u201cI read about the issue of period poverty in March and was bewildered that \u2026 [the charity] Freedom4Girls had to redirect sanitary products from Kenya to Leeds. I did some research and no one could believe it was happening in the UK.\n\n\u201cThe work charities are doing is really great, but the government should implement something long-term to change people\u2019s lives for the better.\u201d\n\n\n\nGeorge commented on the growing gap between rich and poor, saying: \u201cIt\u2019s really tragic that there are children who struggle with the effects of poverty at such a young age \u2026 Something like not being able to afford sanitary products has a long-lasting impact on health and also dignity.\u201d", "output": "Hygiene poverty, the inability to afford basic cleanliness products, is affecting increasing numbers of people in the UK, according to a report from charity In Kind Direct. The charity distributed a record \u00a320.2m ($26.5m) worth of hygiene products in 2016, an increase of 67% from the previous year. The report indicates that of 948 charities, 82% have seen an increase in demand for essential items over the past year. Campaigners have blamed cuts to working benefits combined with rising inflation for the increasing\u00a0problem.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Growth in energy storage\u00a0will spur demand\u00a0for metals: World Bank \n The global trend towards using clean energy systems such as battery storage technology will see \u201cheightened demand\u201d for minerals and metals including lead and lithium, according to a new World Bank report.\n\nA shift to a low-carbon future \u201ccould result in opportunities for mineral-rich countries\u201d, the report said. But it warned these nations must have \u201clong-term strategies in place that enable them to make smart investment decisions\u201d.\n\nThe report \u2013 \u2018The Growing Role of Minerals and Metals for a Low-Carbon Future\u2019 \u2013 highlights energy storage among \u201ckey examples of low-carbon or \u2018green\u2019 energy technologies\u201d and examines the types of minerals and metals \u201cthat will likely increase in demand as the world works towards commitments to keep the global average temperature rise at or below 2\u00b0C\u201d.\n\n\u201cThe most significant example is electric storage batteries, where the rise in relevant metals \u2013 aluminium, cobalt, iron, lead, lithium, manganese and nickel \u2013 grow in demand from a relatively modest level under 4\u00b0C to more than 1,000% under 2\u00b0C,\u201d the report said.\n\nWorld Bank senior director and head of the organisation\u2019s energy and extractive industries global practice, Riccardo Puliti, said: \u201cWith better planning, resource-rich countries can take advantage of the increased demand to foster growth and development. Countries with capacity and infrastructure to supply the minerals and metals required for cleaner technologies have a unique opportunity to grow their economies if they develop their mining sectors in a sustainable way.\u201d\n\nThe report said: \u201cThe low-carbon technologies that emerge as most applicable and beneficial, will play an important role in defining the commodity marketplace of the next 50 years. For example, the three leading forms of alternative vehicles \u2014 electric, hybrid, and hydrogen \u2014 each have different implications for metal demand. Electric vehicles require lithium; hybrid vehicles use lead; and hydrogen-powered vehicles use platinum.\u201d\n\nBased on current trends, the bank\u2019s report said \u201cit is expected that Chile, Peru, and (potentially) Bolivia, will play a key role in supplying copper and lithium\u201d.\n\n\u201cBrazil is a key bauxite and iron ore supplier, while southern Africa and Guinea will be vital in the effort to meet growing demand for platinum, manganese, bauxite, and chromium,\u201d the report said. \u201cChina will continue to play a leading role in production and reserve levels in practically every key metal required under low-carbon scenarios. India is dominant in iron, steel, and titanium, while Indonesia, Malaysia, and Philippines have opportunities with bauxite and nickel.\u201d", "output": "The global trend towards renewable energy and energy storage technology will create a \"heightened demand\" for metals such as lead and lithium that are used in batteries, according to a World Bank report. The shift towards clean energy \"could result in opportunities for mineral-rich countries\"\u00a0but the bank warned these states must prepare \"long-term strategies that enable them to make smart investment decisions\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China develops nanobots capable of intravenous drug delivery \n Michael Phelps: Faster than a nano-swimmer but won\u2019t fit in your veins Francois Xavier Marit/AFP/Getty Images\n\nIt\u2019s no Michael Phelps, but this tiny magnetic robot swims the front crawl at 10 micrometres per second. It would take about two months for the bot to swim the length of an Olympic swimming pool \u2013 in that time, Phelps could swim over 200,000 lengths. But the nano-swimmer is fast for its size, and it\u2019s strong enough to pass through more viscous liquids, like blood, to deliver medicine from inside your veins.\n\nThe front crawl is the fastest way for humans to swim. So Tianlong Li at the Harbin Institute of Technology in China and his colleagues built their swimming robot to mimic that motion.\n\nEach nano-swimmer is 5 micrometres long and has three main parts, connected together like sausage links by two silver hinges. Its gold body is flanked by two magnetic arms made of nickel, and applying a magnetic field to the tiny robot makes the arms move.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nLearn more at New Scientist Live in London See our expert talk on engineering robot swarms\n\nAs the researchers switch the magnetic field\u2019s direction back and forth, it causes the arms of the nano-swimmer to rotate and propel it forward, just like the arms of a human swimmer doing the front crawl.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s exciting due to its speed and its really small size, just about the same size as a blood vessel,\u201d says Eric Diller at the University of Toronto in Canada who researches micro-robots. \u201cIt\u2019s small enough basically to go anywhere within the body.\u201d\n\nBecause bodily fluids are more viscous and difficult to swim through than water, the researchers also tested their nano-swimmers in serum. The bots were only able to swim 5.5 micrometres per second, but that\u2019s still faster than many other similar mini-machines.\n\nFor targeted medicine delivery without invasive procedures, these nano-swimmers could be coated with medicine and injected into the bloodstream, where their trajectories could be roughly steered by external magnetic fields.\n\nSince they are so small, just one nano-swimmer wouldn\u2019t be able to carry enough medicine to actually help. \u201cMaybe a thousand of them would be necessary,\u201d says Diller. \u201cThere\u2019s no way to keep track of all of them, so there are a lot of questions about safety and toxicity.\u201d\n\nThe next generation of these tiny machines will have to be made from biodegradable materials before they can be used in the bloodstream. But, Diller says that for less complicated areas in the human body like the urinary tract or the eyeballs, clinical trials could begin within the next five to 10 years. Injecting a single swimmer into an eyeball, where it could deliver medication directly to the retina and then be removed, would be much less complicated than letting a swarm of them swim throughout the entire circulatory system.\n\nWe don\u2019t know how fast Michael Phelps could swim through blood \u2013 thankfully, his recent race against a great white shark didn\u2019t provide a testing ground. But since you can\u2019t inject him into your bloodstream, these nano-swimmers will have to do.\n\nRead more: DNA origami nanorobot takes drug direct to cancer cell", "output": "Scientists at the Harbin Institute of Technology in China have developed nanobots which use magnetic fields for propulsion, and could be used to deliver medicine to the human body via the bloodstream. Each gold nanobot is five micrometres long, and has arms which, when the team manipulate the magnetic field, respond in a way similar to the front crawl. Scientists say thousands of these machines would need to be used to deliver enough medicine, with clinical trials at least\u00a0a decade away.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "These 10 drugs each rang up more than $4 billion in U.S. sales last year \n These 10 drugs each rang up more than $4 billion in U.S. sales last year\n\nA whopping $450 billion was spent in the United States on prescription drugs last year.\n\nTopping the list, perhaps unsurprisingly, are medications whose patents were still in force or had recently expired. When a patent expires, generic versions \u2014 or biosimilar versions of biologic drugs \u2014 can become available, driving down costs that in turn make them accessible to more patients.\n\nadvertisement\n\nThat\u2019s one reason why none of the drugs that brought in the most money in sales also showed up on our list of most-prescribed drugs.", "output": "A whopping $450 billion was spent in the United States on prescription drugs last year. Topping the list, perhaps unsurprisingly, are medications whose patents were still in force or had recently expired. When a patent expires, generic versions \u2014 or biosimilar versions of biologic drugs \u2014 can become available, driving down costs that in turn make them accessible to more patients.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Availability and Variation of Publicly Reported Prescription Drug Prices \n ABSTRACT\n\nObjectives: To examine how often retail prices for prescription drugs are available on state public reporting websites, the variability of these reported prices, and zip code characteristics associated with greater price variation.\n\nStudy Design: Searches of state government-operated websites in Michigan, Missouri, New York, and Pennsylvania for retail prices for Advair Diskus (250/50 fluticasone propionate/salmeterol), Lyrica (pregabalin 50 mg), Nasonex (mometasone 50 mcg nasal spray), Spiriva (tiotropium 18 mcg cp-handihaler), Zetia (ezetimibe 10 mg), atorvastatin 20 mg, and metoprolol 50 mg.\n\nMethods: Data were collected for a 25% random sample of 1330 zip codes. For zip codes with at least 1 pharmacy, we used \u03c72 tests to compare how often prices were reported. For zip codes with at least 2 reported prices, we used Kruskal-Wallis tests to compare the median difference between the highest and lowest prices and a generalized linear model to identify zip code characteristics associated with greater price variation.\n\nResults: Price availability varied significantly (P <.001) across states and drugs, ranging from 52% for metoprolol in Michigan to 1% for atorvastatin in Michigan. Price variation also varied significantly (P <.001) across states and drugs, ranging from a median of $159 for atorvastatin in Pennsylvania to a median of $24 for Nasonex in Missouri. The mean price variation was $52 greater (P <.001) for densely populated zip codes and $60 greater (P <.001) for zip codes with mostly nonwhite residents.\n\nConclusions: Publicly reported information on state prescription drug price websites is often deficient. When prices are reported, there can be significant variation in the prices of prescriptions, which could translate into substantial savings for consumers who pay out-of-pocket for prescription drugs.\n\nTakeaway Points\n\nAcross state government websites reporting retail prices for medications commonly prescribed for chronic conditions, price information is often deficient. However, when retail prices for prescription medications are publicly reported, these prices vary significantly.\n\nThis is the first study to document variation in publicly reported retail prices for prescription medications across different classes and different states.\n\nMore consistent reporting of such prices could potentially yield substantial savings for consumers who face high out-of-pocket expenditures.\n\nPolicy makers should work to ensure retail prices for prescription drugs are reported consistently and strive to develop new strategies to facilitate consumers\u2019 use of this information.\n\nAs Americans are asked to pay a larger portion of their healthcare costs,1 there are mounting calls to make healthcare prices more transparent to consumers.2 In response, many state governments now publicly report prices for healthcare services, such as prescription drugs, to consumers.3-5 Prescription drugs are a particularly good candidate for such consumer reporting because they can be expensive, represent recurring out-of-pocket (OOP) costs,6 and are equivalent across pharmacies, unlike other medical services in which prices could vary based on quality. Consumers who are enrolled in high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) or who are uninsured often pay retail prices for prescription drugs.6 Therefore, providing price information could help them reduce their OOP expenditures7,8 and enhance their access and adherence to needed medications.9-11\n\nAlthough at least 9 states now publicly report prescription drug prices,3 little is known about the information that is being reported on these states' websites. The objectives of this study were to: 1) determine how often prices for commonly prescribed medications are available on state public reporting websites, 2) quantify the variability of retail prices for selected medications on these websites, and 3) identify zip code-level factors associated with greater price variability.\n\nMETHODS\n\nData Collection\n\nWe conducted a systematic search of state government prescription drug price websites in Michigan, Missouri, New York, and Pennsylvania (available in the eAppendix [eAppendices available at ajmc.com]). Each of these state reporting websites obtained retail prices12 for commonly prescribed drugs from Medicaid claims and permitted searches for retail prices for a 30-day supply of these drugs within a 5-mile radius of the centroid of each zip code in that state.\n\nThe criteria we used to identify medications for which we searched retail prices on these 4 state websites included: 1) the medications had to be listed on the drugs.com list of the 100 most commonly prescribed medications in the United States,13 2) retail prices for a 30-day supply of a typical dose of the most common form of the medications had to be listed on all 4 websites, and 3) the medications had to be recognized as generally used for chronic, rather than acute, conditions. Seven prescription medications met these criteria at the time of our study: 5 as brand name only\u2014Advair, Lyrica, Nasonex, Spiriva, and Zetia\u2014and 2 generics, atorvastatin and metoprolol (see \"Study Design\" section for dosage and delivery).\n\nWe used both brand and generic names to search for retail prices for a 30-day supply of each medication at pharmacies within 5 miles of the centroids of a random sample of 25% of the zip codes in each state. For each medication search conducted within a specific zip code, we recorded: 1) the number of pharmacies listed, 2) whether retail prices for the medication were reported, and 3) the highest and lowest prices quoted when prices were reported for a specific medication. All data were collected between July 2014 and March 2015.\n\nData Analysis\n\nFor searches in which at least 1 pharmacy was listed, we used \u03c72 tests to compare how often the listed pharmacies reported prices, both across medications within each state and across the states included in the study, for each medication. For this analysis, we examined data from only Michigan and Missouri, which reported the number of pharmacies within 5 miles of each zip code centroid, regardless of whether any prices for a medication were reported. We excluded data from New York and Pennsylvania, which reported the number of pharmacies within 5 miles of each zip code centroid only when prices for a medication were reported.\n\nTo evaluate price variation among searches in which at least 2 prices for each drug were reported, we used Kruskal-Wallis tests to compare the median difference in US dollars between the highest and lowest reported prices, and the median percent variation in price, which we defined as ([highest price \u2014 lowest price]/[lowest price]) \u00d7 100. To determine which zip code\u2013level factors were associated with greater variation in reported prices, we merged 2010 US Census zip code tabulation\u2013area data on population density, median household income, median age, and the proportion of residents identified as minorities.14 For zip codes in which at least 2 prices for a drug were reported, we estimated a generalized linear model with a log link in which the dependent variable was the difference between the highest and lowest reported prices. The key independent variables were zip code population density, percentage of nonwhite residents, median age, and median household income. We also controlled for medication type, state, and number of reporting pharmacies.\n\nRESULTS\n\nAvailability of Prices\n\nWe found substantial variation in the availability of retail prices for zip codes with at least 1 pharmacy (P <.001) across medications within each state and across states for each medication), ranging from 52% of zip codes reporting at least 1 retail price for metoprolol in Michigan to 1% for atorvastatin in Michigan (data not shown).\n\nVariation in Prices\n\nFor zip codes in which at least 2 pharmacies reported retail prices for a drug, there was significant variation in the median difference between the highest and lowest reported retail prices, as well as the median percent variation in price (P <.001 both across medications within each state and across states for each medication). The median price variation ranged from $159 (interquartile range [IQR] = $113-$186) for atorvastatin in Pennsylvania to $24 (IQR = $15-$54) for Nasonex in Missouri. The median percent variation ranged from 974% (IQR = 355%-1419%) for metoprolol in New York to 11% (IQR = 6%-36%) for Advair in Missouri (Table 1).\n\nFactors Associated with Greater Price Variation\n\nWhen at least 2 prices were reported for a drug in a zip code, the mean differences between the highest and lowest reported retail prices were $52 greater (95% CI, $39-$66; P <.001) for more densely populated zip codes, $60 greater (95% CI, $37-$83; (P <.001) for zip codes with mostly nonwhite residents, and $1 less for each 1-year increase in zip code median age (95% CI, \u2014$1.70 to \u2013$0.08; P = .03) (Table 2). The full model coefficients are shown in the eAppendix Table.\n\nDISCUSSION\n\nAcross 4 state government websites reporting retail prices for 7 medications commonly prescribed for chronic conditions, price information is often lacking. However, when retail prices for prescription medications were publicly reported, these prices varied significantly. Although other studies have examined variation in prices of a certain class of medications15-17 or in a particular geographic area,18-20 ours is the first study to document variation in publicly reported retail prices for prescription medications across different classes and different states.\n\nFrom our searches in Michigan and Missouri, we found prices for medications were not reported for many zip codes in which there were pharmacies. Other research has illuminated the lack of availability of medications at pharmacies in a certain geographic area,18,21 but we searched for prices of some of the most commonly prescribed medications in the United States and it is unlikely that these medications were truly unavailable at pharmacies. It is unclear why prices were not reported in these cases, but other studies have shown inconsistent availability of price information for other health services.22-24 The causes of such deficiencies should be examined and remedied to make price information consistently available to consumers\u2014a prerequisite for increasing the use of price information.25,26\n\nWhen retail prices for prescription drugs were reported, we found substantial variation across all states and drugs we studied. These price variations comported with the findings of studies that reported high variability in prices both for medications representing a certain class15-17 or a specific geographic area18-20 and in prices for other health services, such as imaging27 and laboratory studies.28 Variations in prices for prescription medications may be attributed to an array of factors, including differences in pharmacies\u2019 payer mix and reimbursement levels, product costs, and discretion over pricing decisions.29\n\nRegardless of their origins, large variations in retail prices for medications could potentially translate into large OOP savings for consumers who use this information to find a more affordable pharmacy. For example, the median price variation for a monthly supply of Lyrica was $74 inNew York (Table 1), meaning consumers who switch from paying for this medication OOP at the highest-cost pharmacy in their zip code to the lowest-cost pharmacy could potentially save up to $888 annually.\n\nThe extent to which this publicly reported price information could translate into OOP savings for consumers is unknown and requires further study. Yet, other initiatives to make healthcare prices more transparent and increase consumer use of price information have shown such efforts can indeed yield meaningful savings for consumers.7,8\n\nIn regression analyses, we found these price variations were greater in zip codes that represented more densely populated areas or had mostly nonwhite residents. This information could be used by policy makers to target outreach to communities where consumers could anticipate greater savings from using publicly reported retail prices.\n\nFinally, any effort to help consumers take advantage of these price variations must concede that despite growth in price transparency initiatives,3,30 consumer use of price information remains low. An April 2015 Kaiser Health tracking poll found that fewer than 1 in 10 Americans reported seeing price comparison information for hospitals or doctors in the last year and that fewer than half of these individuals used this information when making healthcare decisions.25 An earlier survey found that 6% of Americans tried to determine the price they or their insurer would incur for a medical service, but less than half of these consumers compared prices from multiple providers.31 Most recently, the results of another survey showed Americans in HDHPs were no more likely than individuals in traditional plans to compare prices when seeking care.32 These data suggest that simply improving the comprehensiveness and consistency of publicly reporting prices does not translate to lower consumer OOP expenditures without pairing these enhancements with efforts to help consumers use such information when making healthcare decisions.\n\nLimitations\n\nTo ensure comparability across medications and states, we limited our data collection to 7 medications for which prices were publicly reported in 4 states; however, these findings may not apply to all states or medications. Our estimate of price variation for each zip code was an upper bound, which would only translate into large OOP savings for consumers who switched from a higher cost pharmacy to a lower cost pharmacy. Our examination of zip code-level factors associated with greater price variability was limited to the factors that were in the zip code tabulation\u2014area data we derived from the 2010 US Census. The price data we collected does not account for discounts that may apply at the point of sale and could impact the overall variability in prices. Such discounts were integrated into medication prices reported by GoodRx, a national website and smartphone app that allows consumers to view medication prices, coupons, discounts, and savings tips at nearby pharmacies. Because we did not collect data on the types of pharmacies reporting prices, we are unable to identify the characteristics of pharmacies associated with lower prices. Future research should examine how prices for prescription medications vary by type of pharmacy (eg, independent, chain, and discount).\n\nCONCLUSIONS\n\nOur study demonstrated that public reporting of retail prices for commonly prescribed prescription drugs was often incomplete. More consistent reporting of such prices could yield substantial savings for consumers who face high OOP expenditures. Policy makers should work to ensure retail prices for prescription drugs are reported comprehensively and consistently in order to develop new strategies to facilitate consumers\u2019 use of this information.Author Affiliations: VA Center for Clinical Management Research, VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System (JTK), Ann Arbor, MI; Department of Internal Medicine (JTK, AMF) and Department of Emergency Medicine (TAP), University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI; Department of Health Management and Policy, School of Public Health (AMF, SS), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI; Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, University of Michigan (JTK, TAP, AMF, SS), Ann Arbor, MI; Department of Health Policy and Administration, Pennsylvania State University (JES), State College, PA.\n\nSource of Funding: This research was supported by a grant from MCubed at the University of Michigan. Support was also provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Health Services Research and Development Service. Dr Kullgren is a VA HSR&D Career Development awardee at the Ann Arbor VA.\n\nAuthor Disclosures: The authors report no relationship or financial interest with any entity that would pose a conflict of interest with the subject matter of this article.\n\nAuthorship Information: Concept and design (JK, JES, TAP, AMF, SS); acquisition of data (JK, JES, SS); analysis and interpretation of data (JK, JES, TAP, AMF, SS); drafting of the manuscript (JK, JES, TAP, AMF, SS); critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content (JK, JES, TAP); statistical analysis (JK, JES); provision of patients or study materials (JK); obtaining funding (JK, TAP, SS); administrative, technical, or logistic support (JK); and supervision (JK).\n\nAddress Correspondence to: Jeffrey T. Kullgren, MD, MS, MPH, VA Center for Clinical Management Research, VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, PO Box 130170, Ann Arbor, MI 48113-0170. E-mail: jkullgre@med.umich.edu. REFERENCES\n\n1. Clarke TC, Ward BW, Freeman G, Schiller JS. Early Release of Selected Estimates Based on Data From the January\u2014September 2015 National Health Interview Survey. National Center for Health Statistics website. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis/releases/released201602.htm. Published February 23, 2016. Accessed September 9, 2016.\n\n2. Kocher RP, Emanuel EJ. The transparency imperative. Ann Intern Med. 2013;159(4):296-297. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-159-4-201308200-00666.\n\n3. Kullgren JT, Duey KA, Werner RM. A census of state health care price transparency websites. JAMA. 2013;309(23):2437-2438. doi: 10.1001/jama.2013.6557.\n\n4. Tu HT, Corey CG. State prescription drug price Web sites: how useful to consumers? Res Brief. 2008;(1):1-16.\n\n5. Sinaiko AD, Chien AT, Rosenthal MB. The role of states in improving price transparency in health care. JAMA Intern Med. 2015;175(6):886-887. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2015.0628.\n\n6. Cox C, Kamal R, Jankiewicz A, Rousseau D. Recent trends in prescription drug costs. JAMA. 2016;315(13):1326-1326. doi: 10.1001/jama.2016.2646.\n\n7. Whaley C, Schneider Chafen J, Pinkard S, et al. Association between availability of health service prices and payments for these services. JAMA. 2014;312(16):1670-1676. doi: 10.1001/jama.2014.13373.\n\n8. Wu S, Sylwestrzak G, Shah C, DeVries A. Price transparency for MRIs increased use of less costly providers and triggered provider competition. Health Aff (Millwood). 2014;33(8):1391-1398. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2014.0168.\n\n9. Goldman DP, Joyce GF, Escarce JJ, et al. Pharmacy benefits and the use of drugs by the chronically ill. JAMA. 2004;291(19):2344-2350.\n\n10. Goldman DP, Joyce GF, Zheng Y. Prescription drug cost sharing: associations with medication and medical utilization and spending and health. JAMA. 2007;298(1):61-69.\n\n11. Greene J, Hibbard J, Murray JF, Teutsch SM, Berger ML. The impact of consumer-directed health plans on prescription drug use. Health Aff (Millwood). 2008;27(4):1111-1119. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.27.4.1111.\n\n12. Prescription drugs: trends in usual and customary prices for commonly used drugs. Government Accountability Office website. http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-306R. Published February 10, 2011. Accessed September 9, 2016.\n\n13. US pharmaceutical sales\u20142013: top 100 drugs for 2013 by units sold. Drugs.com website. https://www.drugs.com/stats/top100/2013/units. Published February 2014. Accessed September 9, 2016.\n\n14. Zipcode demographics. Easy DBS website. http://www.easydbs.com/zipcode-demographics-database. Accessed February 17, 2014.\n\n15. Alghanem N, Abokwidir M, Fleischer AB Jr, Feldman SR, Alghanem W. Variation in cash price of the generic medications most prescribed by dermatologists in pharmacies across the United States. J Dermatol Treat. 2017;28(2):119-128. doi: 10.1080/09546634.2016.1182614.\n\n16. Reif MC, Carter VL. The retail cost of antihypertensive therapy: physician and patient as educated consumers. Am J Hypertens. 1994;7(7 Pt 1):571-575.\n\n17. Zite NB, Barry AD, Wallace LS. Variation in prescription contraceptive pricing across Florida ZIP code income groups. Contraception. 2014;89(1):54-56. doi: 10.1016/j.contraception.2013.10.006.\n\n18. Amstislavski P, Matthews A, Sheffield S, Maroko AR, Weedon J. Medication deserts: survey of neighborhood disparities in availability of prescription medications. Int J Health Geogr. 2012;11:48. doi: 10.1186/1476-072X-11-48.\n\n19. Aronson Y, Addo-Atuah J. Accessibility to essential medicines in New York City by zip code income levels and boroughs. Innov Pharm. 2013;4(3):1-12.\n\n20. Gellad WF, Choudhry NK, Friedberg MW, Brookhart MA, Haas JS, Shrank WH. Variation in drug prices at pharmacies: are prices higher in poorer areas? Health Serv Res. 2009;44(2 Pt 1):606-617. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6773.2008.00917.x.\n\n21. Green CR, Ndao-Brumblay SK, West B, Washington T. Differences in prescription opioid analgesic availability: comparing minority and white pharmacies across Michigan. J Pain. 2005;6(10):689-699.\n\n22. Willey JC, Reuter LS, Belatti DA, Phisitkul P, Amendola N. Availability of consumer prices for bunion surgery. Foot Ankle Int. 2014;35(12):1309-1315. doi: 10.1177/1071100714549045.\n\n23. Bernstein JR, Bernstein J. Availability of consumer prices from Philadelphia area hospitals for common services: electrocardiograms vs parking. JAMA Intern Med. 2014;174(2):292-293. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.12538.\n\n24. Rosenthal JA, Lu X, Cram P. Availability of consumer prices from US hospitals for a common surgical procedure. JAMA Intern Med. 2013;173(6):427-432. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.460.\n\n25. DiJulio B, Firth J, Brodie M. Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: April 2015. Kaiser Family Foundation website. http://kff.org/health-costs/poll-finding/kaiser-health-tracking-poll-april-2015/. Published April 21, 2015. Accessed September 9, 2016.\n\n26. Kullgren J. How to teach people about health care pricing. Harvard Business Review website. https://hbr.org/2015/09/how-to-teach-people-about-health-care-pricing. Published September 29, 2015. Accessed September 9, 2016.\n\n27. Paul AB, Oklu R, Saini S, Prabhakar AM. How much is that head CT? price transparency and variability in radiology. J Am Coll Radiol. 2015;12(5):453-457. doi: 10.1016/j.jacr.2014.12.016.\n\n28. Hsia RY, Akosa Antwi Y, Nath JB. Variation in charges for 10 common blood tests in California hospitals: a cross-sectional analysis. BMJ Open. 2014;4(8):e005482. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2014-005482.\n\n29. Brooks JM, Doucette WR, Wan S, Klepser DG. Retail pharmacy market structure and performance. Inquiry. 2008;45(1):75-88.\n\n30. Phillips KA, Labno A. Private companies providing health care price data: who are they and what information do they provide? J Manag Care Med. 2014;17(4):75-80.\n\n31. How much will it cost? how Americans use prices in health care. Public Agenda website. http://www.publicagenda.org/media/how-much-will-it-cost. Published March 11, 2015. Accessed September 9, 2016.\n\n32. Sinaiko AD, Mehrotra A, Sood N. Cost-sharing obligations, high-deductible health plan growth, and shopping for health care: enrollees with skin in the game. JAMA Intern Med. 2016;176(3):395-397. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2015.7554.", "output": "Retail prices for commonly prescribed drugs are often absent from state prescription drug price websites, but when reported, can vary substantially.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Coalition Of San Diego Healthcare Groups Protest Efforts To Replace Obamacare \n Listen Coalition Of San Diego Health Care Groups Protests Efforts To Replace Obamacare A coalition of major players in the San Diego healthcare market are protesting efforts to replace Obamacare.\n\nA coalition of health organizations in San Diego held a rally Wednesday to protest the U.S. Senate\u2019s attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare.\n\nLocal healthcare advocates say Obamacare has extended coverage to millions of Californians who did not have insurance.\n\nAdvocates contend Republican lawmakers should try to improve the current system, not throw it out.\n\nJan Spencley, executive director of the coalition San Diegans for Healthcare Coverage, said she was an administrator at UC San Diego Health before the implementation of Obamacare.\n\nRELATED: GOP Senators Blink On A Big Chance To Repeal \u2018Obamacare\u2019\n\n\u201cI saw people that didn\u2019t get adequate care,\" she said. \"I saw people that didn\u2019t get their mammograms, who didn\u2019t get their breast cancer diagnosed early and who were in stage 4, when they could have been in stage 2, or 1, and we could have cured them.\u201d\n\nHenry Tuttle, president of Health Center Partners of Southern California, a network of 17 community healthcare organizations, said efforts to slash Medicaid just do not make sense.\n\n\u201cWe care for 800,000 patients, 2.5 million visits a year supported by Medicaid,\" Tuttle said. \"If we take Medicaid away, where do they go? Who\u2019s going to care for them? Who has the capacity to care for 800,000 patients?\u201d\n\nSenate Republicans are said to be considering a so-called \"skinny repeal\" of Obamacare, that would eliminate the mandate that people have health insurance, but would leave most other elements of Obamacare intact.", "output": "A coalition of health organizations in San Diego held a rally Wednesday to protest the U.S. Senate\u2019s attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare. Local healthcare advocates say Obamacare has extended coverage to millions of Californians who did not have insurance.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Yelp Offers Clinical Data And Consumer Ratings On California Hospitals \n Listen Yelp Offers Clinical Data And Consumer Ratings On California Hospitals Clinical data on hospitals can be hard to find. Now, Yelp provides that info along with consumer ratings of nearly 250 hospitals.\n\nClinical data on maternity care at California hospitals is available on the web. But consumers might not know how to find it.\n\nThat is the idea behind a new project funded by the California Health Care Foundation.\n\nStarting Wednesday, people can check Yelp to get clinical information and consumer ratings on all California hospitals that deliver babies.\n\nThe clinical measures include the rates of C-sections, breastfeeding and episiotomies. That data sits side by side with consumer feedback and comments.\n\nStephanie Teleki, the foundation\u2019s director of evaluation, said where a woman delivers her baby can make a big difference. For example, the C-section rate in California hospitals ranges from 15 to 64 percent.\n\n\u201cYou could use this information to inform the conversations that you\u2019re having with your doctor, even if you don\u2019t intend or can\u2019t switch a doctor or a hospital,\" Teleki explained. \"Knowing this information may lead to a lot of other useful conversations about what kind of birth you actually want.\u201d\n\nMore than 500,000 babies, or one in eight babies born in the U.S., are born each year in California hospitals.", "output": "Clinical data on maternity care at California hospitals is available on the web. But consumers might not know how to find it. That is the idea behind a new project funded by the\u00a0California Health Care Foundation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AMIA throws its support behind proposed interoperability framework \n The American Medical Informatics Association has told the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT that it supports the agency\u2019s draft framework for measuring the use of interoperability standards in health IT.\n\nThe organization also urged ONC to take a measurement approach that focuses on the clinician and patient experience.\n\nIn its comments, AMIA emphasized the need to have the benefits of measurement outweigh the costs, and it urged ONC to provide sufficient support to develop and implement automated measurement.\n\n\u201cInteroperability is hard in the concrete and impossible in the abstract,\u201d AMIA President and CEO Douglas H. Fridsma, MD, wrote in his comments to ONC. \u201cWe will make the best progress toward measuring interoperability when we can clearly define what we want to do with the information that is exchanged.\u201d\n\n[Also: ONC leaders see Silicon Valley-like future for EHR interoperability]\n\n\u201cFocusing on specific ways in which we can support clinicians and improve the health and healthcare of patients is the best hope we have to make substantive and measurable progress towards widespread interoperability,\u201d Fridsma added.\n\n\u201cWe need federal officials to think differently about how to measure interoperability,\u201d Thomas H. Payne, MD, said in a statement. \u201cThe issue of \u2018do we have interoperability?\u2019 is a complex and dynamic question, but a vitally important one.\u201d\n\nPayne, chair of the AMIA Board and medical director of IT Services at the University of Washington\u2019s UW Medicine, advocated for digging into the details to answer that question from both a clinician\u2019s and a patient\u2019s perspective.\n\nONC issued its \u201cProposed Interoperability Standards Measurement Framework\u201d last April, asking for feedback regarding an industry-wide measurement framework for interoperability standards.\n\nToday, capabilities to measure and report on the use of standards vary significantly across healthcare IT, ONC noted, and the agency is striving for uniform measures.\n\nONC is accepting public comment on the proposed Interoperability Standards Measurement Framework until July 31.\n\nTwitter: @Bernie_HITN\n\nEmail the writer: bernie.monegain@himssmedia.com\n\nLike Healthcare IT News on Facebook and LinkedIn", "output": "The American Medical Informatics Association has told the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT that it supports the agency\u2019s draft framework for measuring the use of interoperability standards in health IT.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How Many People Across America Are at Risk of Losing Their Health Insurance? \n Between 2010 and 2015, more than 19 million people in the United States gained health insurance, mostly through key provisions under the Affordable Care Act, according to an analysis by the Urban Institute.\n\nNumber of people younger than 65 who became insured in each state, from 2010 to 2015 WASH. ME. 531,000 22,000 MONT. N.D. VT. 54,000 18,000 21,000 ORE. MINN. 54,000 387,000 N.H. 241,000 N.Y. IDAHO WIS. S.D. 106,000 MASS. 968,000 MICH. 104,000 212,000 7,000 75,000 WYO. R.I. 603,000 23,000 116,000 PA. CONN. IOWA NEV. OHIO 481,000 409,000 NEB. N.J. ILL. 138,000 285,000 630,000 38,000 72,000 874,000 DEL. MD. UTAH IND. 24,000 W.VA. CALIF. 277,000 D.C. COLO. 140,000 316,000 155,000 3,849,000 407,000 VA. MO. KAN. KY. 263,000 202,000 132,000 382,000 N.C. TENN. 509,000 ARIZ. OKLA. 251,000 N.M. ARK. S.C. 391,000 181,000 ALA. 182,000 232,000 293,000 188,000 GA. MISS. 554,000 TEX. 147,000 1,749,000 LA. ALASKA 243,000 FLA. 28,000 1,539,000 HAWAII 48,000 Number of people younger than 65 who became insured in each state, from 2010 to 2015 WASH. ME. 531,000 22,000 MONT. N.D. VT. 54,000 18,000 21,000 ORE. MINN. 54,000 387,000 N.H. 241,000 N.Y. IDAHO WIS. S.D. 106,000 MASS. 968,000 104,000 MICH. 212,000 7,000 WYO. 75,000 R.I. 603,000 23,000 PA. 116,000 CONN. IOWA NEV. 481,000 OHIO NEB. 409,000 ILL. N.J. 138,000 285,000 630,000 72,000 874,000 38,000 MD. DEL. UTAH IND. 277,000 W.VA. CALIF. 24,000 140,000 COLO. D.C. 316,000 155,000 3,849,000 407,000 VA. MO. KAN. KY. 263,000 202,000 132,000 382,000 N.C. TENN. 509,000 ARIZ. OKLA. 251,000 N.M. 391,000 ARK. 181,000 S.C. ALA. 182,000 232,000 293,000 188,000 GA. MISS. 554,000 TEX. 147,000 1,749,000 LA. ALASKA 243,000 FLA. 28,000 1,539,000 HAWAII 48,000 Maps show the number of people younger than 65 who became insured, from 2010 to 2015 ME. Northeast 22,000 VT. 21,000 N.H. 54,000 N.Y. MASS. 968,000 106,000 CONN. R.I. 116,000 75,000 PA. N.J. 481,000 409,000 DEL. MD. 38,000 277,000 W.VA. D.C. 155,000 24,000 South VA. KY. 263,000 382,000 N.C. OKLA. TENN. 509,000 181,000 251,000 ARK. 232,000 ALA. S.C. 188,000 293,000 GA. MISS. TEX. 554,000 147,000 1,749,000 LA. FLA. 243,000 1,539,000 Midwest N.D. 18,000 MINN. 241,000 WIS. S.D. MICH. 212,000 7,000 603,000 IOWA OHIO NEB. ILL. 138,000 630,000 72,000 874,000 IND. 316,000 MO. KAN. 202,000 132,000 West WASH. 531,000 MONT. 54,000 ORE. 387,000 IDAHO 104,000 WYO. 23,000 NEV. 285,000 UTAH CALIF. 140,000 COLO. 3,849,000 407,000 ARIZ. N.M. 391,000 182,000 ALASKA 28,000 HAWAII 48,000 Maps show the number of people younger than 65 who became insured, from 2010 to 2015 ME. Northeast 22,000 VT. 21,000 N.H. 54,000 N.Y. MASS. 968,000 106,000 R.I. CONN. 116,000 75,000 PA. N.J. 481,000 409,000 DEL. MD. 38,000 277,000 W.VA. D.C. 155,000 24,000 South VA. KY. 263,000 382,000 N.C. OKLA. TENN. 509,000 181,000 251,000 ARK. 232,000 ALA. S.C. 188,000 293,000 GA. MISS. TEX. 554,000 147,000 1,749,000 LA. FLA. 243,000 1,539,000 Midwest N.D. 18,000 MINN. 241,000 WIS. S.D. MICH. 212,000 7,000 603,000 IOWA OHIO NEB. ILL. 138,000 630,000 72,000 874,000 IND. 316,000 MO. KAN. 202,000 132,000 West WASH. 531,000 MONT. 54,000 ORE. 387,000 IDAHO 104,000 WYO. 23,000 NEV. 285,000 UTAH CALIF. 140,000 COLO. 3,849,000 407,000 ARIZ. N.M. 391,000 182,000 ALASKA 28,000 HAWAII 48,000\n\nMany of the newly insured were not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid but too poor to buy their own coverage. Others were shut out because of pre-existing conditions.\n\nThese groups and others make up the millions that the Congressional Budget Office says could lose their coverage under the Republican plans to repeal and possibly replace the Affordable Care Act.\n\n\u201cAll of the elements that enabled more people to get insurance under Obamacare \u2014 protections for pre-existing conditions, the expansion of Medicaid and subsidies to make insurance more affordable \u2014 are potentially at risk under the various options the Senate is debating,\u201d said Larry Levitt, a policy expert at the Kaiser Family Foundation.\n\nUnder six Republican proposals that the Congressional Budget Office had analyzed, the number of uninsured in America would increase by 22 million to 32 million people in 10 years \u2014 essentially erasing much of the gains made under the Affordable Care Act. A C.B.O. analysis released Wednesday night showed that a \u201cskinny\u201d repeal measure being floated by lawmakers would increase the number by 16 million in 10 years.", "output": "Between 2010 and 2015, more than 19 million people in the United States gained health insurance, mostly through key provisions under the Affordable Care Act, according to an\u00a0analysis by the Urban Institute.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "No Insurance, but for 3 Days, Health Care Is Within Reach \n WISE, Va. \u2014 For a man who needed 18 teeth pulled, Daniel Smith was looking chipper.\n\nAnxious, too, for he was facing a pair of forceps. But Smith, 30, a contractor with no health or dental insurance, who hadn\u2019t seen a dentist in more than 20 years, was looking forward to an imminent end to the pain and rot in his mouth.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve always worked, since I was 14, but I\u2019ve never had dental insurance,\u201d Smith told me. After his teeth are out, he has a lead on low-cost dentures.\n\n\u201cI\u2019d like to have a straight smile,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve never had one in my life.\u201d\n\nAll around Smith were uninsured patients receiving free dental or medical care, including dozens of men and women in side-by-side dental chairs in the open air. Organizers mercifully arranged the long line of people waiting to have teeth pulled so that they were facing away from those currently enduring extractions.\n\nThe patients swamped the county fairground here for a three-day health extravaganza of free care organized by Remote Area Medical, an aid group that holds these events across the country. This one involved about 1,400 volunteers serving 2,300 men and women who needed care of every kind.", "output": "For a man who needed 18 teeth pulled, Daniel Smith was looking chipper. Anxious, too, for he was facing a pair of forceps. But Smith, 30, a contractor with no health or dental insurance, who hadn\u2019t seen a dentist in more than 20 years, was looking forward to an imminent end to the pain and rot in his mouth.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Senate Votes Down Broad Obamacare Repeal \n WASHINGTON \u2014 The Senate voted narrowly on Tuesday to begin debate on a bill to repeal major provisions of the Affordable Care Act, but hours later, Republican leaders suffered a setback when their most comprehensive plan to replace President Barack Obama\u2019s health law fell far short of the votes it needed.\n\nThe Tuesday night tally needed to reach 60 votes to overcome a parliamentary objection. Instead, it fell 43-57. The fact that the comprehensive replacement plan came up well short of even 50 votes was an ominous sign for Republican leaders still seeking a formula to pass final health care legislation this week.\n\nFor Republicans, the failure ended the day on a sour note, hours after a more triumphant scene on the Senate floor. Lawmakers from both parties had risen to their feet in the afternoon and applauded when Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, showed up in the chamber despite his diagnosis of brain cancer. He cast a crucial vote in favor of opening what promises to be a freewheeling, hard-fought debate over the future of the Affordable Care Act.", "output": "The Senate voted narrowly on Tuesday to begin debate on a bill to repeal major provisions of the Affordable Care Act, but hours later, Republican leaders suffered a setback when their most comprehensive plan to replace President Barack Obama\u2019s health law fell far short of the votes it needed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Senate Health-Care Vote Is a Travesty \n On Tuesday, after this piece was published, Senate Republicans voted to move ahead and debate a repeal of Obamacare.\n\nWhen future historians look back on American governance during the early decades of the twenty-first century, they will have many tragic and troublesome episodes to dwell on: the hanging chads of Palm Beach County, the invasion of Iraq, the passage of the Patriot Act, the Citizens United ruling, the Republican-controlled Senate\u2019s refusal to grant Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland a hearing, and the election of Donald Trump and his subsequent dumbing down and demeaning of the Presidency.\n\nIn this chronology, Tuesday\u2019s health-care vote may also figure prominently: it could well be remembered as a historic abuse of the legislative process that the Founders spent so much time and energy constructing. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, is asking his colleagues to vote blindly and authorize consideration of a health-care-reform measure that could dramatically affect the welfare of tens of millions of Americans and shake up roughly a sixth of the U.S. economy.\n\nOfficially, McConnell is presenting a \u201cmotion to consider\u201d the American Health Care Act of 2017, the bill that House Republicans passed in May. But the motion is really just a way to start debate on a Senate version of the reform measure\u2014a version no one knows anything about. McConnell is refusing to say what the bill under consideration will look like. It could be the revised version of the Senate G.O.P.\u2019s bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, which was widely thought to have perished early last week. Or it could be the repeal-only bill that was widely thought to have died late last week. Or it could be some other proposal, or many others, depending on how many senators are allowed to offer amendments and put forward their own pet plans.\n\nMcConnell is refusing to clarify what he intends to do because he and his colleagues in the Republican leadership believe that keeping things uncertain gives them the best chance of bringing on board some of the moderates and conservatives who scuttled their previous efforts. \u201cWe have no earthly idea what we will be voting on tomorrow other than that it\u2019ll be moving to the House bill,\u201d Senator Rand Paul, of Kentucky, who was one of those conservative dissidents, told Fox News on Monday. \u201cBut everybody knows it\u2019s not really going to be the House bill.\u201d\n\nIt is a ludicrous situation, and one that makes a mockery of the idea of the Senate as a highfalutin deliberative body. No major bill in recent history has been railroaded through the upper chamber in such a manner\u2014conceived of and written in secret, and subject to no markups or committee hearings. If McConnell were to succeed in getting some sort of bill passed, it would be a travesty.\n\nAbout the only thing that can be said for the lawmakers who brought things to this juncture is that they have been pretty open about their intentions. Indeed, they appear to wear their cynicism with pride. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to maximize the number of votes,\u201d Senator John Cornyn, the Majority Whip, told reporters on Monday. \u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do is convince everybody that if they\u2019d like to get a vote on their amendment, then they need to vote to proceed to the House bill.\u201d\n\nSenate Republicans, one would hope, haven\u2019t descended so far that they would fall for this ruse, and Paul, for one, said that he wouldn\u2019t. \u201cI don\u2019t think we should move to the bill with so many unknowns unless we\u2019re going to be told what exactly we\u2019re going to move to,\u201d he said. Maine\u2019s Susan Collins, one of the moderate Republican dissidents, also indicated that she was likely to vote against the motion. There were reports that Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, was also going to vote no, but it later emerged that she was still undecided. If three Republican senators oppose the motion to proceed, it will fail. (The Republicans have a majority of just two.)\n\nIt was clear by early Tuesday that the G.O.P. leadership and the White House were making an effort to rally party loyalists and cajole the holdouts. McConnell was said to be willing to sweeten the pot for Republicans concerned about slashing Medicaid by adding back some two hundred billion dollars of spending for the federal program. Trump, meanwhile, spent some of Monday afternoon in West Virginia with the state\u2019s junior senator, Shelley Moore Capito, whose vote will be crucial. And on Monday night, John McCain, stricken with brain cancer, gave the party leadership a boost by announcing that he would return to Washington for the health-care vote, in which he will almost certainly join the yeas.\n\nThankfully, the opponents of the Republican designs\u2014which, let us not forget, could lead to at least twenty million Americans losing their health-insurance coverage, and countless others ending up with skimpier plans and astronomical deductibles\u2014are also rallying. Democratic politicians and activists are fired up and engaged, as are organizations representing the people and interest groups that the reform would affect. On Monday night, A.A.R.P., which has about thirty-eight million members, called on all senators to vote against the motion to proceed.\n\nBut this looks like a close one\u2014perilously close given that opinion polls show that a large majority of Americans prefer keeping Obamacare to adopting any of the Republicans plans. If the vote were to go McConnell\u2019s way, it would be another sign that American democracy is failing.", "output": "When future historians look back on American governance during the early decades of the twenty-first century, they will have many tragic and troublesome episodes to dwell on: the hanging chads of Palm Beach County, the invasion of Iraq, the passage of the Patriot Act, the Citizens United ruling, the Republican-controlled Senate\u2019s refusal to grant Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland a hearing, and the election of Donald Trump and his subsequent dumbing down and demeaning of the Presidency.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Older Patients Often Don\u2019t Ask Pharmacists for Lower-Cost Drug Options \n More than a quarter of Americans aged 50 years and older say their drug costs cause financial strain, but many of them don\u2019t ask their pharmacist or other healthcare professionals to help them find lower-cost options.That\u2019s according to the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging , a new initiative based at the university\u2019s Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation and sponsored by AARP and Michigan Medicine.The survey notes that most people aged 50 years and older in the United States take two or more prescription medications for prevention or treatment of health issues.\u201cWe already know that cost can keep patients from taking the drugs they need to maintain health or prevent complications, but these new data suggest that many older adults aren\u2019t talking to their doctors or pharmacists about cost and less-expensive alternatives as often as they could,\u201d explained Preeti Malani, MD, director of the poll and a professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School. \u201cThis represents an opportunity for patients, clinicians\u2014as well as health systems, insurers and policymakers.\u201dThe poll involved a nationally representative sample including 2,131 participants, about half of them aged 50 to 64 years, and the other half aged 65 to 90 years, who are eligible for Medicare. The questions were available online, and laptops and Internet access were provided to respondents who did not have those tools.Overall, 27% responded that prescription drug costs posed a financial burden. Yet 49% of those hadn\u2019t discussed the problem with their physician. Of respondents who did raise the questions with a healthcare professional, 67% of those who talked to their doctor and 37% of those who talked to their pharmacist were able to get a recommendation for a less-expensive medication, according to poll results.High cost was especially an issue for the one in six respondents reporting a \u201chigh complexity\u201d of prescription management, defined as taking six or more prescriptions drugs and seeing more than one doctor.\u201cBased on these findings, and other evidence, we encourage patients to speak up during their clinic visits, and when they\u2019re at the pharmacy, and ask about ways to reduce the cost of their prescriptions,\u201d Malani emphasized. \u201cBut equally, we see a need for health professionals to find ways to more routinely engage with patients about cost\u2014 especially through formal medication reviews such as the one that Medicare will cover.\u201d", "output": "More than a quarter of Americans aged 50 years and older say their drug costs cause financial strain, but many of them don\u2019t ask their pharmacist or other healthcare professionals to help them find lower-cost options.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "State Street's gender diversity campaign scuppers 400 votes \n State Street Global Advisors, a huge asset manager, called for the companies it invests in to improve their gender diversity \u2013 or else face a vote against them.\n\nThe call came as part of State Street's installment of \"Fearless Girl,\" a statue of a defiant girl in front of downtown Manhattan's Wall Street bull.\n\nState Street has since followed through on its promise, voting against 400 companies that failed to act.\n\nThe $2.6 trillion asset manager behind the\"Fearless Girl\" statue is putting its money where its mouth is.\n\nState Street Global Advisors, one of the world's largest money managers, installed in March a statue of a defiant girl in front of the Wall Street bull in downtown Manhattan. As part of that rollout, State Street vowed to take action against companies that it holds which don't take action to increase their boards' gender diversity.\n\nState Street has since voted against 400 of those companies.\n\n\"Basically, we hold these companies forever,\" said Lynn Blake, the CIO of Global Equity Beta Solutions. State Street is a major player in passive investing, which means that they hold stocks of companies in major market indexes.\n\n\"We\u2019re the epitome of a long term investor and the only way we can influence companies is by active engagement and ultimately our vote,\" Blake added.\n\nState Street declined to identify the companies it voted against, but said that the vast majority of the companies \u2013 394 of the 400 \u2013 are based in the US.\n\nOver the past few months, during proxy voting season mostly in the US, State Street identified 476 companies that didn't have any women on their boards. Four hundred of them didn't take any action to increase their diversity.\n\nIn turn, State Street voted against the reelection of the chair or the most senior member of the nominating and governance committee \u2013 those that identify future directors \u2013 at those companies.\n\nIt is becoming increasingly common for investors to call for change at the companies they hold, though State Street may have taken one of the most vocal steps yet.\n\nIts competitor, BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, \"voted against board members at five companies who sat on nominating committees but failed to respond to investors' concerns about diversity,\" per Reuters.\n\nTo be sure, State Street also has its own gender problem, with women making up only one in five employees at the firm's investment unit, and only three women on the company's 11-person board. The company has said it is working on improving that ratio.\n\nState Street Global Advisors managed $2.6 trillion as of June 30, a representative said.", "output": "State Street Global Advisors, the company behind the 'Fearless Girl' statue in the Wall Street district, has identified 476 companies it holds that have no women on their boards.\u00a0It voted against the reelection of chairs at\u00a0400 of the companies that took no action to correct this. \"We\u2019re the epitome of a long-term investor and the only way we can influence companies is by active engagement and ultimately our vote\", said Lynn Blake, CIO of Global Equity Beta Solutions. State Street is also working to change its own imbalance, with women making up just one in five employees at its investment unit."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook and football clubs question the value of live streams \n The world\u2019s biggest football clubs are looking outside Facebook to host their live streams after the social network stopped paying them to produce live videos earlier this year.\n\nMany teams previously on Facebook\u2019s books, such as Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Manchester United, are pondering greater investments on YouTube, Instagram and even in-house channels. Teams\u2019 contracts with Facebook varied in length from between a month to a year, but none were renewed by the social network, according to multiple sources.\n\nLow engagement with the live videos led Facebook to scrap the cash incentives, which allowed FC Barcelona to pocket an eye-bulging $1 million for 10 months. Facebook wanted to be the go-to place for those streams, but it quickly became apparent that those types of videos rarely prove popular. A live streamed press conference for FC Barcelona last season racked up more than 500,000 views, a tiny proportion of the 100 million or so Facebook fans of the club.\n\nNow, Facebook would rather buy longer-form premium content from clubs, such as documentaries about fan culture, a move that aligns with the social network\u2019s wider plans to root its video offering in original content it owns. Going down this path for Facebook Live paves the way for its mid-roll videos. Facebook has experimented with mid-roll ads within live content for some sports publishers in the U.K., sequencing five or six to mimic a traditional TV ad buy. Facebook handles the ad sales and gives the content creator most (55 percent) of the revenue.\n\nHowever, there\u2019s a sense of frustration among many of the clubs Digiday spoke to about Facebook\u2019s latest move as they try to monetize content produced off the field. Many teams in the Premier League seem unsure of Facebook Live\u2019s role in their plans, as evidenced by the dearth of posts last season. Of the English clubs that produced the top 20 most popular Facebook Live feeds over the past year, 12 posted less than 50 times in that time period, according to Socialbakers.\n\nSome clubs are starting to question whether Facebook Live\u2019s long-term ROI justifies the extra investment. To date, Facebook has failed to show football marketers how to monetize the engagement they\u2019re bringing to the platform beyond reach, which clubs can then use to woo sponsors. It\u2019s left one senior marketer at a Premier League club reluctant to stray too far away from the world\u2019s biggest social network as it searches for a new place for its live videos.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll still be producing live games; now, it\u2019s about finding a home for them,\u201d he said. \u201cLast season, it was always going on Facebook [Live] because of the money they were paying. This season, we\u2019ll test across more platforms. The likelihood is it will end up on Facebook as they offer the biggest numbers, and as a result, are most attractive to partners.\u201d\n\nThere lies the rub: Making money from their own content on Facebook may be tricky, but as clubs attempt to commercialize their own brands, Facebook\u2019s reach is hard to ignore, as publishers can attest. Unlike publishers, however, other options exist for football marketers, namely YouTube. YouTube views on football-related content grew 36 percent year over year between the beginning of January 2016 and the end of May 2017, whereas Facebook views grew 19 percent in the same period, according to Tubular Insights.\n\nInstagrammers also love football, according to the Facebook-owned social network. One in five (21 percent) of the world\u2019s 700 million-plus Instagram users is what is loosely described as a \u201cfan\u201d \u2014 someone who follows an account from a team, player or news outlet that Instagram deems football-specific. This popularity was demonstrated earlier this month when Manchester United player Paul Pogba congratulated friend Romelu Lukaku ahead of Lukaku\u2019s move to the club with an Instagram video of the pair that more than 3 million people watched within hours of being posted.\n\nFootball clubs have other good options to distribute live content \u2014 \u201cin particular, their own OTT platforms,\u201d said Phil Stephan, the director for global consulting at sports marketing agency Two Circles, which works with several top-tier European football teams on parts of their commercial strategy.\n\n\u201cFootball clubs are yet to be convinced of the monetization potential for what they put on Facebook,\u201d Stephan said. \u201cOur view, and what we say to our rights-holder partners, is that they need to continue experimenting with Facebook \u2014 and other social media and digital platforms that are now competing for quality sports content \u2014 in addition to bundling content into broadcast and sponsorship deals or going direct to fan via OTT.\u201d", "output": "Football clubs, including Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Manchester United, are unsure of the appeal of live streaming matches, after poor audience figures last season led to Facebook not renewing any of their contracts. Clubs are considering investing more in YouTube, Instagram or in-house channels, however, some believe the huge audiences offered by the social media giant should not be\u00a0ignored. Phil Stephan, the director for global consulting at sport marketing agency Two Circles, suggested clubs need to \"continue experimenting with Facebook\", however, some Premier League clubs are unsure about how to monetise the social media network.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Worsening violence\u00a0in Old City of Jerusalem must stop: UN \n SC/12927\n\nSecurity Council\n\n8011th Meeting (AM)\n\nBoth Sides Accused of Incitement to Violence Fuelled by Different Motivations\n\nSwift, decisive action was required to revive negotiations and end the crisis in Jerusalem and beyond before rising tensions dragged both Israel and Palestine into a vortex of violence and a religious conflict, the Special Coordinator of the Middle East Peace Process told the Security Council today.\n\n\u201cLet us make no mistake that while events in Jerusalem may be taking place over a couple of hundred square metres, they affect hundreds of millions of people around the world,\u201d Special Coordinator Nickolay Mladenov said in outlining developments that followed the killing of two Israeli police officers on 14 July. They included the closure of holy sites, a deadly terrorist attack and the Palestinian Authority\u2019s decision of 21 July to freeze all contact with Israel.\n\nDespite peace efforts and new-found agreement that States would stand united against terrorism and radicalism, he said, societies continued to fracture along ethnic or religious lines, with non-State actors maintaining control over large territories as events in Jerusalem resonated across the region. \u201cThe Palestinian-Israeli conflict is not only about land and peace,\u201d he emphasized. \u201cIt is about two peoples who both have legitimate national aspirations for statehood and recognition,\u201d he said, declaring: \u201cTwo nations whose histories are intertwined and whose future is forever intricately linked.\u201d\n\nCommending decisions by Israeli and Palestinian authorities to restore access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and services to Gaza, he called upon both sides to refrain from activities that could exacerbate tensions. \u201cWe must not lose focus on the need to restore a political perspective, on the need to bring Palestinians and Israelis back into an environment that is conductive to negotiations on a final status arrangement and avoids turning the national Israeli-Palestinian conflict into a religious one,\u201d he stressed.\n\nRepresentatives of both sides also shared their respective perspectives. \u201cWe are clearly at the tipping point,\u201d said the Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine, adding that Israel had once again inflamed the fragile situation in occupied East Jerusalem, as the occupying Power pressed ahead with its reckless and destructive agenda against Palestinian people and holy sites, including Al-Haram al-Sharif. Israel\u2019s stoking of a religious conflict was unfolding rapidly as it persisted in its illegal actions, even as occupied East Jerusalem was besieged by military checkpoints, occupation forces, settlements as well as violent, armed settlers. Meanwhile, conditions in the Gaza Strip were \u201cunliveable for humans\u201d, he said, appealing for immediate action to save Palestinian civilians there and avert another explosive crisis.\n\nIsrael\u2019s representative said that terrorist attacks followed relentless incitement to violence by Palestinian officials, payments to convicted terrorists and their families, the naming of schools and monuments for them and the celebration of horrific events. \u201cThis incitement, this culture of hate, this glorification of terror must end now,\u201d he emphasized. Whereas Israel\u2019s top priority was to maintain the safety and security of all Temple Mount worshipers and visitors, the Palestinian Authority had mastered the art of deceit and the international community had fallen for it, he said. Convicted terrorists were called \u201cpolitical prisoners\u201d and almost 30 per cent of foreign aid was used to bankroll terror. The Security Council must end \u201cthis vulgar exploitation of international aid\u201d, hold the Palestinians accountable, and ensure that their children were taught to seek peace, he stressed. Only then would real peace be possible in the region.\n\nThe Vice-Chair of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People described the question of Palestine as the longest-standing item on the United Nations agenda. The Committee had repeatedly stressed the illegality of the Gaza blockade, which amounted to collective punishment and had generated one of the worst humanitarian crises. It had constantly pronounced itself on the illegality of Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, she said, emphasizing that Israel\u2019s recent announcement of an additional 4,000 settlement housing units pointed to a complete lack of accountability.\n\nCouncil members condemned the recent violence, with some highlighting the ongoing schism between Fatah and Hamas, as well as Israel\u2019s announcement of new settlement activity on Palestinian lands as factors putting a return to the peace process in jeopardy. Many delegates voiced concern over the deteriorating situation in Gaza, where 2 million citizens lived amid shortages of electricity, water, sanitation and other critical services. Speakers called on Israel to uphold its obligations as the occupying Power, and on Palestinian authorities to reconcile their differences, urging both sides to take a broader view and further steps long the road towards a two-State solution and lasting peace.\n\nOthers shared their ideas on forward movement towards that goal. China\u2019s representative said his country had proposed a tripartite effort, alongside Israel and Palestine, to promote progress towards a breakthrough. Relevant resolutions must be implemented and firm efforts to advance peace must support the two-State solution, he said, adding that both sides must base their efforts upon United Nations resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative. Calling for implementation of resolution 2334 (2016) and an immediate halt to all settlement activities, he emphasized that the international community must do its part to calm the current tensions.\n\nEgypt\u2019s representative said that dangerous events in and beyond Jerusalem were exacerbating the situation in the Muslim world. Urging all sides to refrain from provoking religious tensions, increasing Palestinian suffering and harming the prospects for lasting peace, he said Egypt remained committed to working with Israel and Palestine towards a just solution. Efforts to relaunch negotiations and end the divisions among Palestinians would continue, he said, pointing out that Arab countries had committed themselves to a land-for-peace solution, and a recent summit in Amman, Jordan, had reiterated its support for that approach.\n\nJordan\u2019s representative said the events at Al-Haram al-Sharif risked exacerbating the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, and terrorists could exploit them to justify their own activities. The potential repercussions could plunge the region into a religious war, she warned. The Security Council must prevent the situation from spiralling out of control, by tackling the deep-rooted causes of the tensions, she said, reiterating calls for an emergency ministerial meeting to address access to holy sites in Jerusalem.\n\nSaudi Arabia\u2019s representative condemned Israeli actions in Jerusalem, recalling that all worshippers had been treated with respect under Muslim Arab rule. Under the occupation, however, an Israeli settler had attacked worshippers Israelis had been seen kicking praying worshippers, he said. Such actions demonstrated the doctrine of Israeli occupation \u2014 that of terrorizing Palestinians.\n\nIran\u2019s representative said that the Israeli authorities, emboldened by the support of the new United States Administration, were questioning and challenging the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to their homelands more than ever before. The latest brutal crackdown had been carried out to prevent Palestinian worshippers from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque, he said. Additionally, Israel\u2019s fast\u2011growing illegal settlements constituted not only a grave breach of the fourth Geneva Convention, but also a war crime, he said, emphasizing that world Powers, especially the United States, were undermining the counter-terrorism efforts they claimed to champion, while bombing Syria and Yemen and preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid at the same time.\n\nIndonesia\u2019s representative said any attack on Al-Aqsa should be considered a \u201cvery dangerous red line\u201d, noting that its closure had not only exacerbated the situation, but also signalled to the world how strongly Israel wished to distance itself from any two-State solution. The closure constituted a blatant move in Israel\u2019s continuing effort to alter the geographic and demographic character of Jerusalem, he said, emphasizing that the international community must push back against any such attempt. Continuous efforts to curtail and hamper the ability of worshippers to enter the mosque contravened the basic tenets of decency, he said, adding that those actions had generated greater mistrust, as well as further animosity and extremism.\n\nCuba\u2019s representative said the Council must adopt specific measures to end the occupation and the crisis, warning that a two-State solution and a lasting settlement would be impossible if Israeli continued to violate international law. Cuba would continue to support the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, she said, urging the Council to take up its responsibility after a decade of the Gaza blockade.\n\nOthers speaking today were representatives of the United States, Kazakhstan, France, Bolivia, Senegal, Russian Federation, Sweden, Ethiopia, Japan, Italy, Uruguay, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Lebanon, Brazil, Pakistan, Peru, Argentina, Iran, Turkey, Namibia, Indonesia, Kuwait, South Africa, Qatar, Syria, Costa Rica, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan (for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation), Morocco, Venezuela (for the Non-Aligned Movement), Botswana, Nigeria, Iceland, Viet Nam, Bahrain, Algeria and the United Arab Emirates, as well as the European Union and the Holy See.\n\nRepresentatives of Syria, Israel and Saudi Arabia took the floor a second time.\n\nThe meeting began at 10:07 a.m., suspended at 1:12 p.m., resumed at 3:04 p.m. and ended at 6:10 p.m.\n\nBriefing\n\nNICKOLAY MLADENOV, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said that, despite peace efforts and a new-found agreement among countries to stand united against terrorism and radicalism, societies continued to fracture along ethnic or religious lines, with non-State actors maintaining control over large territories as events in Jerusalem resonated across the region. \u201cThe Palestinian-Israeli conflict is not only about land and peace,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is about two peoples who both have legitimate national aspirations for statehood and recognition,\u201d he added, declaring: \u201cTwo nations whose histories are intertwined and whose future is forever intricately linked.\u201d\n\nHowever, developments at holy sites in Jerusalem over the past 11 days demonstrated the grave risk of a dangerous escalation, including the transformation of the conflict into a religious one, he warned, emphasizing the risk of dragging both sides, and the rest of the region, into a vortex of violence. Recent events included the killing of two Israeli police officers, the closure of holy sites and installation of metal detectors, the deadly terrorist attack, and the Palestinian Authority\u2019s decision on 21 July to freeze all contact with Israel.\n\n\u201cLet us make no mistake,\u201d he stressed. \u201cWhile events in Jerusalem may be taking place over a couple of hundred square metres, they affect hundreds of millions of people around the world.\u201d Welcoming the decision by Israel\u2019s security Cabinet on 24 July to remove metal detectors, he said it was expected that President Mahmoud Abbas would convene the Palestinian leadership to discuss developments. Given the views of East Jerusalem residents, it was critical that any decision made at the highest political and religious levels consider the fears and hopes of the two peoples.\n\nHe went on to underline that Jerusalem remained a final status issue that must be decided and negotiated between the two sides. Israel, as the occupying Power, must uphold international law, and Palestinian leaders must refrain from making statements that aggravated the situation. The current crisis had diverted the parties from addressing the real task at hand \u2014 finding a solution that would see the ultimate goal realized: two States living side by side in peace.\n\nHowever, plans for additional housing units in East Jerusalem and other settlements had been advanced, he said, adding that such settlement activity was illegal and undermined the chances of reaching that goal. Yet, there had been progress, he said, pointing to the 10 July interim agreement on an electricity substation in Jenin and the drafting of a water supply agreement for the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Unfortunately, those gains would evaporate without a resolution to the current crisis, he noted.\n\nTurning to the situation in Gaza, he pointed out that more than 2 million people were suffering due to the ongoing tensions, hostages in a political standoff between Fatah and Hamas. Electricity and water shortages, as well as other deprivations, had intensified their suffering. \u201cThe United Nations will not give up on Gaza and its people,\u201d he emphasized. \u201cDespite the odds, we will continue our intense mediation efforts to resolve the standoff.\u201d Thanking Egypt for its delivery of badly needed fuel, he said such measures provided a temporary lifeline for Gaza citizens, noting also that Qatar had signed contracts for the reconstruction of eight buildings.\n\n\u201cPalestinian leaders must make some hard choices about the future of their people,\u201d he said, warning: \u201cThey can resolve the current crisis or preside over the radicalization of their population and see it fall into the hands of extremists with even more destructive agendas.\u201d He called upon the Palestinian leadership to address the destructive consequences of the Fatah-Hamas split, encouraging them to reach agreement. Hamas must ensure calm by ceasing its militant build-up against Israel and maintaining security at the border with Egypt, he said, while encouraging Israel to lift closures and allow rebuilding.\n\nRecent events were a reminder of how easy it could be to reach a dangerous escalation, he said, expressing hope that Israel\u2019s agreement with Jordan and positive engagement with religious authorities would result in actions that would circumvent violence in the future. \u201cWe must not lose focus on the need to restore a political perspective, on the need to bring Palestinians and Israelis back into an environment that is conductive to negotiations on a final status arrangement and avoids turning the national Israeli-Palestinian conflict into a religious one,\u201d he emphasized.\n\nStatements\n\nRIYAD MANSOUR, Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine, said he had come before the Council amid escalating tensions, instability and a profound sense of worry. The fragile situation in occupied East Jerusalem had been inflamed yet again by Israel as the occupying Power pressed forward with its reckless and destructive agenda against the Palestinian people and holy sites, including Al-Haram al-Sharif. The stoking of a religious conflict was unfolding rapidly as Israel persisted in its illegal actions, including its aggressive behaviour and provocative violations of the historic status quo at Al-Haram al-Sharif, he said, emphasizing that Israel was aggravating religious sensitivities to the point of eruption. \u201cWe are clearly at the tipping point,\u201d he warned. Occupied East Jerusalem was besieged by military checkpoints, occupation forces, settlements as well as violent, armed settlers.\n\nThe Palestinian people were resisting the recent provocative measures and peacefully expressing their rejection of illegal measures against their rights and holy sites, he said. Yet, Israel continued to ignore the international community, he said, underlining the need for a clear, unified message that Israel must cease and reverse all such illegal a1tions and policies. Underlining the urgent need for de-escalation, he called for continuing efforts to restore the historic status quo at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. The protection of human life was equally urgent, he stressed, deploring the killing and injury of all innocent civilians. Israel must be held accountable for its negligence and violations, he said, adding that the occupying Power could not continue to be absolved of its legal obligations.\n\nThe Palestinian people mourned the loss of five young people brutally killed by the occupying forces last week, and prayed for the recovery of more than 1,000 peaceful demonstrators who had been injured, he said. Underlining the need to remember that the Palestinians were unarmed and defenceless, he described conditions in the Gaza Strip as \u201cunliveable for humans\u201d, appealing for immediate action to save Palestinian civilians there and avert another explosive crisis. The State of Palestine rejected the notion that a just peace recognizing the legitimate national aspirations and rights of the Palestinian people was impossible, and in fact, \u201canti-Israel\u201d. Peace was possible, he affirmed, not by negating the rights of the Palestinian people, but rather by ending the Israeli occupation, securing Palestinian rights and ensuring a just solution for Palestinian refugees.\n\nDANNY DANON (Israel), graphically describing last Friday\u2019s murder of members of an Israeli family by a Palestinian in the West Bank, said that such terrorist attacks followed relentless incitement to violence by Palestinian officials, as well as payments to convicted terrorists and their families, the naming of schools and monuments for them and the celebration of horrific events. \u201cThis incitement, this culture of hate, this glorification of terror must end now,\u201d he emphasized. Israel\u2019s top priority was to maintain the safety and security of all Temple Mount worshipers and visitors while the Palestinians\u2019 top priority was to ignite violence, he added.\n\nRecalling the carnage wrought by the suicide bombing of a Haifa restaurant in 2003, he announced the presence of a victim who had lost many family members and had been blinded. The bomber\u2019s family had received tens of thousands of dollars, he said, adding that her accomplices had been paid more than $500,000 and she herself had been awarded top Palestinian honours. Citing the words of President Abbas on his determination to continue such payments, he also quoted figures to show that they made up nearly 7 per cent of the Palestinian Authority\u2019s budget, while education received as little as 1 per cent.\n\nIsraelis valued human rights, taught democracy, empowered minorities and protected the rights of Muslims, Christians and Jews to pray at their holy sites, he said. They wished to live in peace with their neighbours while the Palestinians continued to oppose negotiations. Unfortunately, the Palestinian Authority had also mastered the art of deceit and the international community had fallen for it, he said. Convicted terrorists were called \u201cpolitical prisoners\u201d and almost 30 per cent of foreign aid was used to bankroll terror. Israel could not accept that any longer, he emphasized. The Security Council must work to end \u201cthis vulgar exploitation of international aid\u201d, hold the Palestinians accountable and ensure that their children were taught to seek peace. Only then would real peace be possible in the region.\n\nNIKKI HALEY (United States) urged all parties to reduce tensions, and ensure access and security at the holy sites. Many obsessed over Israel while the real threat was Iran, a country dedicated to destroying Israel and to supporting Hizbullah, she said. Just because members of a terrorist group held elected office, did not make it any less of a terrorist group, she said, pointing out that United Nations resolutions called for Hizbullah to disarm without result. The group\u2019s weapons build-up was endangering the people of Lebanon, she said, adding that it was absurd that the Council avoided saying the name \u201cHizbullah\u201d while it focused on Israel. Reports showed that the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) had not taken appropriate action in respect of Hizbullah, she noted. While issues in the region were complex, the United States expected leaders to know the difference between right and wrong, and that Hizbullah was an obstacle to peace, she emphasized.\n\nMUKHTAR TILEUBERDI (Kazakhstan) affirmed his country\u2019s concern over the growing threat of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, the ongoing construction of settlements and the deterioration of the Palestinian humanitarian situation. As a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Kazakhstan urged the Government of Israel to lift restrictions on worshippers in Jerusalem, he said, emphasizing that all acts of violence should end. The parties should refrain from actions that could lead to further escalation, he and both sides must create an atmosphere conducive to negotiations on a two-State solution. He also called upon all stakeholders to work for a political solution in Syria, for international support to the Government of Iraq following the liberation of Mosul, and for greater assistance for Lebanon\u2019s hosting of refugees. He expressed particular concern at the humanitarian situation in Yemen, calling for decisive measures to prevent the spread of cholera by ensuring full humanitarian access, as enshrined in international law.\n\nFRAN\u00c7OIS DELATTRE (France), noting that the conflict would not resolve itself on its own, emphasized that any worsening of the situation carried with it a risk of uncontrolled escalation across the region. He voiced hope that recent positive steps would ease tensions and reiterated a call for the greatest restraint to prevent events from devolving into a religious conflict. Turning to Gaza, he said residents lived on a few hours of electricity daily, which was paralysing living conditions. Israel must shoulder its responsibilities as the occupying Power and the Palestinians must work to reach a reconciliation agreement. It was critical to return to negotiations. Yet, settlement activities were threatening that process. Economic developments and security arrangements only made sense with negotiations on the horizon, he said, underscoring that sacrifices were required by all sides and calling on parties to return to the negotiations table.\n\nPEDRO LUIS INCHAUSTE JORD\u00c1N (Bolivia) said Israel and Palestine had the right to live as free and independent States. Condemning the recent violence, he said Israel had taken recent steps that had exacerbated the situation and violated international law, including erecting metal detectors and fences around the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Calling on parties to refrain from taking any action that would further worsen tensions, he said it was vital that no stone be left unturned to avoid any escalation of violence. Council members must ensure the implementation of resolution 2334 (2016); the only long-term goal was to ensure the realization of a two-State solution.\n\nFOD\u00c9 SECK (Senegal) called on the parties to reduce tensions, noting recent meetings that were addressing related issues. At the forum of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People\u2019s marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Arab-Israeli war, a call had been made for the Council to work tirelessly to uphold the two-State solution. Meanwhile, the socioeconomic situation in Gaza was a ticking time bomb, requiring urgent attention, including addressing shortages of electricity, water and sanitation. Calling on Palestinian leaders to resolve differences, he said they should focus on improving conditions in Gaza while the international community worked towards bolstering economic development. He expressed hope that recent United States-led discussions would lead to progress.\n\nVLADIMIR SAFRONKOV (Russian Federation) said a solution to the issues plaguing Jerusalem must hinge on General Assembly and Security Council resolutions. The parties must refrain from any action that predetermined Jerusalem\u2019s status and must maintain calm. Cooperation between Israel and Jordan, which bore a specific and significant role in the management of Muslim sites, was of great importance. The destabilizing factors had not been addressed, but rather had worsened, including ongoing settlement activities and heightened, provocative rhetoric from both sides. The situation in Gaza required specific attention, including the dire humanitarian situation there, he said, voicing support for the mediation efforts of the parties, including those undertaken by Egypt. A solution could be found for a genuine settlement based on direct talks. He reaffirmed his country\u2019s willingness to host a meeting in Moscow between President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, adding that there was no alternative to the two-State solution. The Middle East and North Africa remained in tumult and the recent activities in the Palestinian territories only made the situation worse. Steps must be taken to strip terrorists of any access to chemical weapons and measures must be undertaken towards a political settlement and the restoration of stability and peace to the region.\n\nCARL SKAU (Sweden), associating himself with the statement to be delivered by the European Union, expressed hope that Israel\u2019s recent decision to remove the metal detectors by the entrances of the Holy Esplanade, a key Palestinian demand, was a step towards de-escalation. \u201cJerusalem is home to three religions,\u201d he continued, voicing concern over the recent Israeli announcement of the issuing of building permits for 1,500 new settlement units in East Jerusalem. Not only was that a flagrant violation of international law, but such settlements were also a major obstacle to peace and would render the two-State solution impossible. He condemned the 14 July attack in the Old City of Jerusalem and welcomed its swift condemnation by President Abbas. As well, the situation in Gaza was \u201cextremely worrying\u201d. Palestinians living there should not be paying the price for the long\u2011lasting crisis. Yet, they continued to suffer from a lack of basic essentials such as water and sanitation. He also highlighted the important role of the United States in efforts to advance peace in the Middle East.\n\nTEKEDA ALEMU (Ethiopia), while expressing concern over the recent violence in Jerusalem, said he was pleased that all concerned parties seemed to have played their relevant roles in reducing the prevailing tensions. It was evident that, unless the underlying problems were peacefully resolved, those tensions would happen again and again, and perhaps move to the \u201cpoint of no return\u201d. There was no other viable option other than the two-State solution, he stressed, adding that it was unfortunate that the recent outbreak of violence in Jerusalem overshadowed other recent progress aimed at addressing the long-standing crisis between the Palestinians and Israelis. Although Ethiopia supported Israel\u2019s right to defend itself, it also supported the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and the right of Palestine to exist as a free and independent State. The parties should show the flexibility to engage in direct and meaningful negotiations to find a solution, although the Council should also do its part to support the parties to move in that direction.\n\nKORO BESSHO (Japan) said his country would continue to support a two-State solution based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, thus achieving peaceful coexistence of a viable Palestinian State and Israel with secure and recognized borders. The final status of Jerusalem must be resolved through negotiations based on the assumption that it would be the future capital of both sides. Settlement activities were in violation of international law and Israel must freeze all such activities. Underscoring that reconciliation among Palestinians was an important element in promoting peace, he also expressed concern over the deepening divide between the West Bank and Gaza. Fatah and Hamas must find a way to alleviate Palestinian suffering. While the international community continued to play an important role, it was political will that would relaunch negotiations and rein in obstacles to peace.\n\nINIGO LAMBERTINI (Italy), mourning the loss of life due to the recent violence and reaffirming the right to peaceful demonstrations, emphasized that the decision by the Israeli Government to remove the metal detectors was in the right direction. It was also important to maintain security cooperation between Israel and Palestine. The situation in Gaza deserved the utmost attention, he said, citing a recent report from the United Nations country team documenting the alarming lack of development in the Gaza Strip in the last decade. Nevertheless, there had been some positive progress, including the recent agreements on electricity and water that the parties had signed. Turning to Lebanon, he highlighted the essential work being carried out by UNIFIL, while reiterating his country\u2019s full support to the Lebanese authorities and their full implementation of resolutions 1559 (2004) and 1701 (2006). In addition, the recent liberation of Mosul from Da\u2019esh was a sign of hope in an area that was otherwise grappling with multiple crises.\n\nELBIO ROSSELLI (Uruguay) lamented that the years continued to roll by with the situation in the Middle East going unchanged, and in some cases actually worsening. The peoples of that region wanted nothing more than to live in peace, far from the horrors of war, terror and violations of their human rights. Yet they had suffered from occupation, terrorism and successive regimes whose objectives were far removed from the wishes of the people. He stressed the need for unfettered access to places of worship, and in that regard, he expressed satisfaction with Israel\u2019s decision to the remove the metal detectors. He also expressed concern that the situation in Yemen was not receiving its due attention by the Council, and in regards to Syria, that the political progress that had been made was not reflected in terms of humanitarian access.\n\nVOLODYMYR YELCHENKO (Ukraine) said the escalation of tensions and violence in Jerusalem reflected the gravity of the situation in and around the Old City, as well as in the wider context of the Middle East peace process. Unless swift and effective measures were taken by both sides, the recent deadly incidents could ignite further violence. Turning to Syria, he stressed his dissatisfaction with the slow progress on the political track. The intra-Syrian talks in Geneva needed to be firmly entrenched in resolution 2254 (2015) and steered towards the previously agreed common agenda points related to governance, the Constitution, elections and counter-terrorism. On Yemen, he voiced deep concern by the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation, which was going from bad to worse, and highlighted the cholera epidemic which was pushing the country\u2019s population to the brink of survival.\n\nNAWAF AWAD (Egypt) said dangerous events in and beyond Jerusalem were exacerbating the situation of the entire Muslim world. Calling upon Israel to end the violence and restrictive security at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, he urged all sides to refrain from measures that would provoke religious tensions, increase the suffering of the Palestinian people, and harm the prospects for lasting peace. Resolution 478 (1980) reaffirmed that all legal and administrative measures taken by Israel, the occupying Power, were null and void and should be reversed, he said, noting that resolution 2334 (2016) recognized that there could be no change in the 1967 borders line except through negotiations. If the present crisis persisted, it would not be limited to Israel and Palestine, he warned, emphasizing that the occupation continued to undermine Palestinian hopes.\n\nHe went on to underline that Israel\u2019s settlement-expansion and other activities contravened Council resolutions and had caused great frustration over the course of years of occupation. The resolutions must be implemented so both sides could enjoy good-neighbourly relations with all other States in the region, he emphasized. Egypt was committed to working with Israel and Palestine towards a just solution, he said, adding that reaching a settlement was a basic premise for the attainment of peace and security in the Middle East. Reaffirming that efforts towards relaunching negotiations and ending the divisions among Palestinians would continue, he said Arab countries had committed themselves to a land-for-peace solution, and a recent summit in Amman, Jordan, had reiterated that approach.\n\nMATTHEW RYCROFT (United Kingdom) said that after generations of hostility, there was determination to end the bloodshed. The anniversary of the 1967 war was a reminder desperately needed hope. Condemning the recent killings, he welcomed the engagement of all parties in efforts to de-escalate tensions. However, other challenges to peace persisted, including the deteriorating situation in Gaza, he noted. Hamas must renounce violence, accept Israel and honour signed agreements, he said, asking those with influence to encourage the group to take those steps. Condemning new plans to build settlements in Jerusalem as illegal, he said such actions made a two-State solution harder to achieve.\n\nLIU JIEYI (China), Council President for July, spoke in his national capacity, describing the question of Palestine as both the source of problems in the region, as well as a gauge of international fairness and justice. The international community must address the root causes of the crisis, he said, adding that firm efforts to advance peace must support the two-State solution. The parties must base their efforts upon United Nations resolutions and Arab peace initiatives, he said, expressing support for the creation of the State of Palestine. Israel and Palestine must work together, he said, calling for implementation of resolution 2334 (2016) and an immediate halt to all settlement activities. Great attention must be paid to development for peace, with a view to promoting cooperation in strengthening the benefits of peace for all parties. China proposed a tripartite effort, alongside Israel and Palestine, to promote progress and achieve a breakthrough, he said, emphasizing that the international community must do its part to calm tensions. Relevant resolutions must be implemented, he added.\n\nCAROLINE ZIADE (Lebanon) said the latest killings, closures and disproportionate use of force against civilians showed the extent of Israel\u2019s shocking practices in East Jerusalem, a clear attempt to escalate the occupation into a religious war. Its practices constituted a clear violation of international law and were part of an effort to make the two-State solution impossible, she said, emphasizing that it was high time the international community upheld its principles and implemented the Arab Peace Initiative.\n\nShe went on to maintain that Israel continued to violate resolution 1701 (2006), as well as her country\u2019s sovereignty, on a daily basis, yet Lebanon nevertheless pledged its full commitment to upholding that resolution. In that context, she once again called for progress towards a resolution of the disputed maritime border and exclusive economic zone between Lebanon and Israel, and for another renewal of UNIFIL\u2019s mandate, without changes. Citing efforts by the Government of Lebanon to call attention to challenges confronting the country and to promote assistance for its role in hosting refugees, and in fighting terrorism, she underlined Lebanon\u2019s importance as a model for the region.\n\nSIMA SAMI BAHOUS (Jordan) said the most dangerous situation was the one taking place in the Middle East, were events at Al-Haram al-Sharif risked exacerbating the Israeli-Palestinian crisis and could potentially be exploited by terrorists to justify their own activities. Possible repercussions could plunge the region into a religious war, she warned, emphasizing that, to address those tensions, Israel must allow worshippers full access to the site. The international community must shoulder its responsibility and put an end to the tensions by ensuring respect for the status quo of the holy sites and by compelling Israel to uphold its responsibilities as the occupying Power. The Security Council must prevent the situation from spiralling out of control, by tackling the deep-rooted causes of tensions, she added.\n\nJordan was working, with the close cooperation of its partners, to ensure that the holy sites were fully accessible, she said, reiterating its call for an emergency ministerial meeting to address that issue. Recent events would in no way reduce Jordan\u2019s determination to address broader issues in the Middle East or the country\u2019s tireless efforts to find a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, she emphasized. It was also important to end the conflict in Syria, which could only be achieved through political means, she said, while also calling upon the international community to take the necessary steps to end the crisis in Yemen. However, the Palestinian issue remained the core challenge in the Middle East, and was the key to unlocking other crises evident in the region.\n\nFREDERICO S. DUQUE ESTRADA MEYER (Brazil) emphasized the vital role played by UNIFIL, including its Maritime Task Force, which Brazil had had the honour and responsibility to lead for more than six years. The Task Force had successfully performed key security and humanitarian tasks, including those relating to the apprehension of arms, ammunition and illegal drugs. It had also rescued migrants and refugees in the Mediterranean Sea, he added. On the question of Palestine, he said the recent electricity crisis in Gaza was yet another reminder of the occupation\u2019s severe social, economic and humanitarian consequences. A two-State settlement was the only just and acceptable solution to the conflict, he said. Turning to Syria, he said recent developments there still demanded the Council\u2019s attention. As for Iraq, challenges remained in ensuring the safe and dignified return of displaced persons and extending State authority and the rule of law in liberated areas of Iraq.\n\nNABEEL MUNIR (Pakistan) said that the spiralling violence, looming humanitarian catastrophe, untold pain and human suffering was surely not sustainable. Israel must take immediate steps not only to defuse the situation, but also desist from taking any provocative measures in the future. A viable, independent and contiguous State of Palestine on the basis of the internationally agreed parameters, the pre-1967 borders and Al-Quds al-Sharif as its capital, remained the only sustainable guarantee for enduring peace in the Middle East. Illegal Israeli settlements were emblematic of the blatant Israeli disregard of international law and collective will of the international community. He said that the suffocating Israeli blockade of Gaza was not only a humanitarian tragedy, but a moral outrage. A just solution for Palestine was not just a matter of regional significance; it was a primary precondition for global peace. The fight against violent extremism in the Middle East remained long-drawn and protracted. That and other regional challenges had been compounded of years of wars and foreign occupations.\n\nGUSTAVO MEZA-CUADRA (Peru) appealed to both parties to keep the tensions on the ground from escalating. He reiterated support for the two-State solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict along with related international initiatives. While affirming Israel\u2019s right to protect its people, he also stressed the importance of compliance with Security Council resolutions that called for the end of settlement expansion. Given the growing tension, it was urgent to move the peace process forward. Therefore, he supported creation of an effective framework for that purpose, he said.\n\nMART\u00cdN GARC\u00cdA MORIT\u00c1N (Argentina) said that priority should be placed on overcoming the differences between the parties so that negotiations could resume. Reaffirming support for a two-State solution, he called for a halt for settlement expansion, an end to terrorist acts, a mutually agreed solution to the status of Jerusalem and guaranteed access for all religions to sacred sites. In light of recent violence, he also called for both parties to refrain from taking unilateral actions that affected the status quo. Turning to the region at large, he voiced support for initiatives towards a political settlement in Syria, welcomed the liberation of Mosul in Iraq and expressed hope that all parties on the Gulf would resolve their differences peacefully.\n\nESHAGH AL HABIB (Iran), associating himself with the statement to be delivered by the Non-Aligned Movement, said that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands was central to all conflicts in the Middle East. Emboldened by the support of the new Administration of the United States, the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to their homelands was being questioned and challenged by the Israeli authorities more than ever before. The aggression continued on a daily basis, the latest brutal crackdown being done under the pretext of preventing the Palestinian worshippers from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The fast-growing illegal settlements in the Palestinian territory constituted not only a grave breach of the fourth Geneva Convention, but also a war crime. World Powers, especially the United States, were undermining the counter-terrorism efforts they claimed to champion, while also bombing Syria and Yemen and preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid. Iran had always supported efforts toward a diplomatic outcome in the Syrian conflict, he stated, and its assistance to the Syrian Government was geared towards counter-terrorism and de-escalation.\n\nJOANNE ADAMSON, European Union, said the bloc\u2019s position had not changed: there was no alternative to a negotiated two-State solution. The latest developments in and around the Old City of Jerusalem and in the West Bank posed a real risk of further escalation, she cautioned. It was vital that all political, religious and community leaders act responsibly and avoid any steps or rhetoric that could further increase tensions, she said, underlining the crucial need for continued cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in preventing further violence and loss of life. While proposing that Israel and Jordan work together to ensure security and ensure respect for the sanctity of holy sites, she opposed Israel\u2019s recent decision to proceed with plans for thousands of settlement units in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. \u201cThe [European Union] will not recognize any changes to the pre-1967 borders, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties,\u201d she underlined.\n\nExpressing concern over the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza, she said that a single, legitimate and democratic Palestinian Authority, with full control over the enclave, was critical to the creation of a viable Palestinian State. All parties must take swift action to address the plight of Gaza\u2019s people. Turning to Lebanon, she said the conduct of fair and peaceful parliamentary elections remained essential to ensuring the functioning of democratic Lebanese institutions. As for Syria, she reiterated calls for full and unhindered humanitarian access, and for accountability in all cases of human rights violations, stressing: \u201cImpunity is not an option.\u201d She described the liberation of Mosul, in Iraq, as a highly symbolic step in the defeat of Da\u2019esh. Reconciliation within Iraqi society would require the building of trust among neighbours and local communities.\n\nG\u00dcVEN BEGE\u00c7 (Turkey) emphasized that the recent developments in Jerusalem should serve as a reminder that the Israeli-Palestine conflict remained the core challenge to lasting regional and global peace. Attempts to change the status quo of the historical status and sanctity of Al-Haram al-Sharif would jeopardize peaceful coexistence. The closure of the compound, followed by the decision to place metal detectors at its entrances and the placement of restrictions on the entry of Muslims, was unacceptable. The return to the status quo was essential and a matter of freedom of religion and worship. To reach a lasting peace, it was also important for the Palestinians to voice their legitimate demands in unity. Fully aware of the dire humanitarian situation in Palestine, especially in Gaza, Turkey was continuing its contributions to development assistance and reconstruction projects. Turning to Syria, he highlighted that the significant reduction of violence on the ground had created an environment conducive to holding the last three rounds of Geneva talks. Only a multidimensional strategy could achieve the dual objectives of eliminating terrorism and stabilizing Syria.\n\nLINDA SCOTT (Namibia), associating herself with the statement to be delivered behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, said that five decades of occupation had resulted in ongoing violence in seemingly unending cycles. It was deeply concerning that the status of holy sites in Jerusalem was not being respected. Consequently, tensions seemed to be steadily increasing. The continued tensions also seemed to be causing dangerous, global polarization, as well as violent extremism. She urged all parties in the Middle East to work with seriousness to silence the war drums. She also called on the Israeli Government to end their ongoing punitive destruction of Palestinian homes and infrastructure and to cease their illegal construction of settlements on occupied territory. Her country stood with the people of Palestine in their determined efforts in the pursuit of their inalienable right to self-determination, justice, freedom and independence through political, diplomatic, peaceful and non-violent means.\n\nDIAN TRIANSYAH DJANI (Indonesia), associating himself with the statement to be delivered by the Non-Aligned Movement, said that any attack on Al-Aqsa Mosque should be considered a \u201cvery dangerous red line\u201d. The mosque\u2019s closure had not only worsened the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, it also signalled to the world how strongly Israel wished to distance itself from the two\u2011State solution. The closure of Al-Aqsa constituted a blatant move of Israel in its continuing effort to alter the geographic and demographic character of Jerusalem. The international community must push back on any attempts to do so. Continuous efforts to curtail and hamper the ability of worshippers to enter the mosque were contrary to the basic tenets of decency. Such acts had also created more mistrust and led to further animosity and extremism, he said, calling on all sides to make every effort to reduce tensions, restore calm and end the crisis. If needed, the international community could explore the possibility of ensuring the mosque of Al-Aqsa remained under United Nations international protections to ensure that all worshippers could conduct their religious activities.\n\nMANSOUR AYYAD SH A ALOTAIBI (Kuwait), associating himself with the statements to be delivered by the Non-Aligned Movement and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, called Israeli security measures arbitrary and illegal. He roundly condemned all Israeli breaches of international agreements and rejected all attempts to what he called the \u201cJudaization\u201d of Jerusalem. The Council must face up to Israel\u2019s criminal actions in that city. Israel must remove the difficulties and obstacles it had placed on worshippers and preserve the status quo. In addition, the Council must protect the Palestinian people, who were suffering from terrorist attacks from settlers and from measures to change the facts on the ground. Peace must be based on ending the occupation and implementing the Arab Peace Agreement. He called on the international community to implement all previous agreements, particularly those related to \u201cland-grabbing\u201d, as well as to the occupation itself.\n\nSIMON KASSAS, observer for the Holy See, urged that the Israeli-Palestinian peace process remain a top priority of the Council, reiterating his support for the two-State solution through direct negotiations, and firm and even-handed assistance from the international community. For that to happen, both parties must agree on substantial steps to lower tensions on the ground and refrain from counterproductive actions. Palestinian unity was also necessary. Turning to Syria, Yemen and Iraq, he called for renewed commitment to a political solution to halt the loss of life and property. Noting that Christian communities had coexisted peacefully with others for over 2,000 years in the region, he urged the international community not to forget them and uphold the principles of equality before the law for all. Jerusalem must be maintained as a city sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims through a negotiated and internationally guaranteed special status that ensured access to the holy places. He appealed to the Council to act urgently on its obligations to restore hope in the possibility of peace and make that peace a reality.\n\nMAHLATSE MMINELE (South Africa), associating himself with the statement to be delivered by the Non-Aligned Movement, noted that the people of Palestine looked to the United Nations, particularly the Security Council, to help them realize their right to self-determination. It had become clear that the conflict between Palestine and Israel fed into the wider regional dynamics by having a negative effect on peace, economic development, sociopolitical progression and security. The opportunities for a two-State solution were being eroded, as the ongoing Israeli settlement activity became a fundamental obstacle to a return to negotiations and a grave threat to the very existence of a future Palestinian state, as well as a safe and secure Israel.\n\nALYA AHMED SAIF AL-THANI (Qatar) said that the closure of the Al-Haram al-Sharif complex and the different obstacles that had been placed in front of worshippers impeded the ability to solve the Palestinian question. The international community must address any attempt to undermine the status quo and should take its responsibilities seriously in the face of such violations, which were a provocation and served the purposes of terrorists and extremists around the world. As well, Qatar had spared no effort to find a fair and sustainable solution to the situation in Syria, and had made great efforts in terms of political and humanitarian support. Nevertheless, the suffering of the Syrian people continued, many of whom had already paid a high price for the situation in the country. She noted that, although her country was facing unilateral measures from certain other parties in the region, it would continue with strict compliance with the principles of good neighbourliness to strengthen peace and stability in the region and around the world.\n\nMARIA RUBIALES DE CHAMORRO (Nicaragua), Vice-Chair of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, said that the question of Palestine was the longest-standing item on the United Nations agenda. She outlined the Committee\u2019s events and meetings, including the holding of the United Nations Forum to Mark Fifty Years of Occupation held last month. While the views expressed during that meeting were diverse, consensus among participants remained clear: the occupation was illegal and needed to end. The Committee had repeatedly stressed the illegality of the blockade of the Gaza Strip as it amounted to collective punishment and had resulted in one of the worst humanitarian crises. The Committee had also constantly pronounced itself on the illegality of Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The recent announcements by the Israeli Government of an additional 4,000 settlement housing units pointed to a complete lack of accountability and progress.\n\nBASHAR JA\u2019AFARI (Syria) reaffirmed the rights of Palestinian people to their territory, including the return of refugees. Given the tensions around the Holy Sites, the Security Council should go beyond its condemnations and fully take up its responsibilities to end the occupation. He voiced his objections to the Special Coordinator\u2019s omission of what he called the racist Israeli occupation of Syrian territory, where the population was deprived of their resources and their nationality rights. He also stated his objections to what he called the Coordinator\u2019s attempt to justify Israeli attacks on the Syrian Arab Army.\n\nThe Israeli army, he went on to say, facilitated illegal Israeli practices and had targeted Syrian bases far from the Golan, impeding his country\u2019s fight against terrorism. In that context, he reiterated assertions that many Member States were supporting terrorism in Syria. The Golan remained Syrian territory; Syria\u2019s sovereignty there was non-negotiable. He called on the Council to immediately apply pressure to free prisoners from unjust imprisonment by Israel and take on its responsibility to end the injustice of the Israeli occupation.\n\nROLANDO CASTRO CORDOBA (Costa Rica) reiterated the urgency of resuming negotiations on the central issues of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, based on obligations that were taken on in previous agreements. Both sides must refrain from unilateral actions that could worsen the already volatile situation. The international community must create a new architecture of peace to resolve issues, he said, pointing out that, after 50 years, the United Nations had failed to find a solution to one of the most widely discussion issues since the formation of the Organization. The world could no longer overlook the agony of the millions of people who had fallen victim to this political and military struggle. The United Nations must play its role as the epicentre of global governance. Military options were not solutions; peace must be built using the tools of diplomacy and multilateralism.\n\nKENNEDY MAYONG ONON (Malaysia), associating himself with the statements to be delivered by the Non-Aligned Movement and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, said the violent clashes between the Israeli security forces and Palestinians on 21 July were deplorable and condemned in the strongest terms the closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque. Israel must refrain from any action that would alter the status of the Islamic holy sites and must provide unrestricted access for Muslim worshippers to the mosque. Furthermore, Israel must stop any action that would change the status quo of the Islamic holy sites.\n\nMASUD BIN MOMEN (Bangladesh), associating himself with the statements to be delivered by the Non-Aligned Movement and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, said that the continued breaches of international humanitarian law and systemic human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territories had given rise to an egregious culture of impunity. The Council had a moral obligation to prevail upon Israel to immediately halt its illegal settlement regime, lift the blockade in the Gaza Strip and put an end to all forms of occupation. Bangladesh remained steadfast in its support for the just and legitimate struggle of the Palestinian people for their inalienable rights, he said, adding that all actors must remain seized with their efforts to pursue a comprehensive solution to the Palestinian question.\n\nABDALLAH Y. AL-MOUALLIMI (Saudi Arabia) condemned a number of Israeli actions in Jerusalem, noting that under Muslim Arab rule all worshippers had been treated with respect. However, under Israeli occupation, an attack on worshippers had been committed by an Israeli settler and reports had shown Israelis kicking worshippers who were praying. Such actions had demonstrated the doctrine of Israeli occupation, that of terrorizing Palestinians. Condemning all terrorist acts and all States that incited or supported terrorism, he said the Security Council must take necessary measures and uphold its responsibility to stop such Israeli practices. The danger posed by an escalation of violence could reach the entire region and beyond. The most dangerous aspect of the conflict was the actions of Israel, which was distorting Jerusalem\u2019s identity. All States must commit to all resolutions in that regard and support the Arab initiative, which had a timeline for ending the occupation and establishing a Palestinian State. Turning to Syria, he said the international community must continue to stand firmly against all killing and acts of besieging towns.\n\nANAYANSI RODR\u00cdGUEZ CAMEJO (Cuba) said it was time to show solidarity with the Palestinians and take concrete action. The Council must adopt specific measures to end the occupation and the crisis. A two-State solution and a lasting settlement of the Palestinian question were impossible if Israel continued to violate international law. Calling for an end to the occupation of the Syrian Golan, she said any action taken to alter the status or demographics were in violation of international law, international agreements, the United Nations Charter and the fourth Geneva Convention. Cuba would continue to support the right of self-determination for the Palestinian people, she said, urging that, after a decade of Gaza blockades, the Council should take up its responsibility.\n\nBAKHTIYOR IBRAGIMOV (Uzbekistan), speaking for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, condemned all illegal policies and measures being perpetrated in the Occupied Palestinian Territory by Israel. The occupying Power aimed at altering the status, character and demography of the area, including the Arab, Islamic and Palestinian character of Al-Haram al-Sharif and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. He condemned, in particular, the closing of the mosque and further impediments to Muslim worshippers. The Council must compel Israel to guarantee freedom of worship for Palestinians and refrain from interfering in the affairs of the Muslim and Christian holy places.\n\nHe reiterated the Organization\u2019s firm commitment to the rights of Palestinians in East Jerusalem, as well as its condemnation of settlement expansion. There must also be a timed, multilateral political process leading to the end of the occupation and the achievement of the two-State solution. He reminded the Council of its obligations in respect to what he called Israel\u2019s \u201ccondemnable, systematic violations of human rights\u201d in the occupied territories, including resolving the plight of Palestinian prisoners, as well as ending suffering in Gaza and elsewhere. He also encouraged all Member States to intensify their efforts to relieve the financial shortfalls of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). More so, the Security Council must effectively and thoroughly address the multifaceted dimension and root causes of all the region\u2019s conflicts in the context of international law and the Charter.\n\nMOHAMMED ATLASSI (Morocco) said that the peace process had been paralysed since 2014 as Israel continued to expand its illegal territories. \u201cPalestinians feel like the international community has abandoned them,\u201d he said. Such policies could not lead to peace, adding that he remained optimistic about the new United States Administration in achieving peace in the Middle East. The process must restart on the basis of the two-State solution within the pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. There should be no doubt that Jerusalem had a special place in the heart of worshippers of the three Abrahamic religions. Jerusalem was the third holy city for all Muslims, and changing its status quo would only lead to violence. He called for the rights of the Palestinian people to be respected and for an end of illegal settlements activities, as outlined in Council resolution 2334 (2016).\n\nRAFAEL DAR\u00cdO RAM\u00cdREZ CARRE\u00d1O (Venezuela), speaking for the Non-Aligned Movement, said that the Israeli conflict continued to be a serious threat to international peace and security, and he called for a reinvigoration of international and regional efforts to resolve the matter. A solution must be founded on achieving a State based on pre-1967 borders. He also reiterated the importance of presenting a substantive written report of the Secretary-General especially in light of continued indifference demonstrated by Israel of the Council and its resolutions. Israel continued to consolidate its occupation, having recently announced the issuance of permits for additional illegal settlements. Instead of showing their commitment to a two-State solution, Israel continued to act in contempt of the Council.\n\nHighlighting the recent provocative decision by Israel to continue with settlements activities in serious violation of international law, he condemned Israel\u2019s flagrant contempt for Council resolution 2334 (2016) and called upon Israel to immediately cease its settlement activities. As well, the humanitarian situation in Gaza was unsustainable. The ongoing obstruction of reconstruction of housing that was destroyed as a result of Israel\u2019s 2014 aggression had caused thousands of families to remain homeless. Lack of electricity had led to serious social and economic consequences for the Palestinian people. Also deplorable were Israel\u2019s violent military incursions, the imprisonment of Palestinians and the demolition of Palestinian homes. He reiterated the Movement\u2019s appeal to step up international efforts to end the Israeli occupation and find a just and lasting solution. He also condemned acts of aggression by Israel against Syria and any Israeli policy to alter the status quo of the Syrian Golan.\n\nCHARLES T. NTWAAGAE (Botswana), associating himself with the Non-Aligned Movement, expressed deep concern over tensions in and around Jerusalem, condemning all acts of terror. It is urgent that the international community to address the lack of progress and deterioration of the situation after 50 years of occupation. He condemned both ongoing violence and continued settlement activity and welcomed international initiatives to revive the peace process. A stable and peaceful Middle East, with two States living side by side in harmony, would provide an environment conducive for prosperity and peace in the greater region. Reaffirming solidarity with the Palestinian people, he pledged his country\u2019s continued resolve to help find a lasting solution that improved quality of life for people in the region.\n\nTIJJANI MUHAMMAD-BANDE (Nigeria) said Security Council members must use their influence with both sides to encourage them to de-escalate tensions. Recent developments must not obscure the underlying problem in the conflict \u2014 the lack of progress in the Middle East peace process. Urging both parties to return to negotiations, he said a departure from the current crisis and revival of the peace process was hardly achievable without ending the policy of settlement expansion on occupied territories. Specific actions must foster mutual respect and compromise, build confidence and pave the way for the realization of a two-State solution. Israel must freeze all settlement activities and Palestinian leaders must signal their readiness to return to the negotiating table by making efforts to forge unity and deal with militancy and other internal security challenges. The current stalemate was neither ideal nor sustainable and both sides must take concrete steps to return to negotiations.\n\nNIKULAS HANNIGAN (Iceland), expressing deep concern for the rising tensions over Jerusalem\u2019s holy sites, said he was encouraged by the Israeli decision to remove metal detectors. Leaders on both sides had the responsibility to further reduce tensions with the assistance of Jordan and religious leaders. Confidence that Israel was not attempting to alter the status quo must be restored. In addition, the Palestinian leadership must condemn all terrorist attacks and do its utmost to prevent violence. To keep the two-State solution viable, attacks by Palestinians must cease and settlement activity must end. Regular reporting on the situation under resolution 2334 (2016) was essential to help bring about the necessary negotiated peace.\n\nNGUYEN PHUONG NGA (Viet Nam), associating himself with the Non-Aligned Movement, said that half a century of occupation was a tragedy for all sides, and he called on Israel to cease settlement activities, end the closure of the Gaza Strip, respect the status quo of the holy sites and step up efforts to improve conditions for Palestinians. As well, all parties should end incitement, allow humanitarian access, exercise self-restraint, comply with international law and take immediate, concrete action to resume peace talks. He reaffirmed unconditional support for Palestinian struggle for fundamental rights, particularly self-determination, and welcomed international initiatives to bring about a two-State solution and facilitate Palestinian economic development. He pledged his country\u2019s continued cooperation with such meaningful collective endeavours.\n\nJAMAL FARES ALROWAIEI (Bahrain) condemned Israeli practices preventing Muslim worshippers from accessing Al-Aqsa Mosque, which was another attempt to change status quo arrangements. Calling on all parties to demonstrate restraint, he said the Council must do its part in ending such practices and ensuring all relevant laws and resolutions were respected. A fair and sustainable peace depended on the Palestinian people\u2019s ability to recover their rights to establish a State and to end the occupation of its territories. The Palestinian question remained a great concern, he said, expressing hope for progress towards a two-State solution.\n\nMOHAMMED BESSEDIK (Algeria) condemned all violations of international law, including actions against worshippers in Jerusalem and the destruction of homes. The occupying Power was indeed violating many laws with impunity, he said, emphasizing that the international community must do its utmost to end the commission of those crimes. Expressing support for the creation of an independent State of Palestine, he said the international community must address ongoing attempts to change the identity of Jerusalem and its holy sites. Given recent developments, international peace and security were at stake.\n\nAHMED ABDELRAHMAN AHMED ALMAHMOUD (United Arab Emirates) said that he was particularly alarmed by Israel\u2019s continued aggression towards the holy sites in Jerusalem and the measures that it had taken to change the status quo in the city. The international community must engage to de-escalate the tension and urge Israel, the occupying Power, to honour its legal and international commitments and end its unilateral actions. Israel\u2019s illegal settlement activities and other provocative measures continued to pose major obstacles to achieving a two-State solution that would grant the Palestinian people their inalienable rights. The paramount aim of the United Aram Emirates was the promotion of security and stability in the region. The situation in the occupied territories paved the way for extremist groups to spread their messages of terrorism and violent extremism and prey upon populations with their destructive agenda throughout the Middle East.\n\nAMJAD QASSEM AGHA (Syria), taking the floor for a second time, responded to comments made by his counterpart from Saudi Arabia, a country that supported religious extremism to spread Wahhabism. Saudi Arabia and others who had supported terrorism in Syria and around the world would eventually be held accountable.\n\nHADAS ESTER MEITZAD (Israel) said it was unfortunate that some delegates had made inflammatory statements against her country, and she reiterated Israel\u2019s support for status quo arrangements in Jerusalem. In addition, Lebanon\u2019s representative, who had spoken about human rights, should read a recent report on that issue. She also pointed out that Iran continued to develop a ballistic missiles programme and had made threats. As well, Syria\u2019s delegate had, on several occasions, claimed his Government had never used chemical weapons against civilians when that clearly was not the case.\n\nMr. AL-MOUALLIMI (Saudi Arabia) said that, when he heard the statement by Syria's delegate, he felt like laughing. Saudi Arabia was not using chemical weapons against its people, which was what the Syrian Government was doing. Syria was simply trying to meddle in the affairs of the Gulf States.\n\nFor information media. Not an official record.", "output": "The UN has warned about the risk of more violence in Jerusalem's Old City with clashes between Israelis and Palestinians at their bloodiest in years.\u00a0Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said:\u00a0\"I am particularly concerned about the potential risk of escalating violence, urge all political, religious and community leaders to refrain from provocative action and rhetoric, and call on Israel to demonstrate restraint.\"\u00a0The UN special coordinator of the Middle East peace process, Nikolay Mladenov, added: \"Let us make no mistake that while events in Jerusalem may be taking place over a couple of hundred square metres, they affect hundreds of millions of people.\"\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mercedes-Benz factory to transition to EVs from legacy engines \n The Mercedes-Benz plant at Untert\u00fcrkheim, Germany, the home of Daimler headquarters, will make a transition from producing legacy engines, transmissions and axles to producing powertrain components for EVs. This will include new battery production, and the assembly of electric modules for front and rear axles.\n\nThe Untert\u00fcrkheim plant, which was built in 1904 and currently has 19,000 employees, will become the fourth battery production factory in Mercedes\u2019 global network, along with two in Germany and one in Beijing.\n\nIn the future, the Untert\u00fcrkheim plant will supply batteries for vehicles in the EQ sub-brand that will be assembled at the passenger car plant in Sindelfingen.\n\nMercedes-Benz expects pure EVs to account for between 15 and 25 percent of its total sales by 2025.\n\n\u201cIn the coming years, we plan to produce a rising number of powertrains for conventional and hybrid vehicles,\u201d said Mercedes Divisional Board Member Markus Sch\u00e4fer. \u201cAt the same time, we are creating competitive conditions in our plants with regard to electric mobility. With this further development, Untert\u00fcrkheim will continue to be the lead plant in the global powertrain production network.\u201d\n\nSource: Green Car Congress", "output": "Mercedes-Benz's plant in Untert\u00fcrkheim, Germany will be converted from a legacy engine factory into a facility for manufacturing components for electric vehicles. Once the conversion is complete, the plant will be the Mercedes global network's fourth such facility.\u00a0Mercedes-Benz predicts that, by 2025, electric vehicles\u00a0will represent some\u00a015-25% of its total sales."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "High cost of hi-res LIDAR slows progress of self-driving cars \n But not all lidar sensors are created equal. Velodyne, for example, has a range of offerings. Its high-end model is an $80,000 behemoth called HDL-64E\u2014this is the one that looks a lot like a coffee can. It spits 64 laser beams, one atop the other. Each beam is separated by an angle of 0.4\u00b0 (smaller angles between beams equal higher resolution), with a range of 120 meters. At the other end the firm sells the smaller Puck for $8,000. This sensor uses 16 beams of light, each separated by 2.0\u00b0, and has a range of 100 meters.\n\nTo see what those numbers mean, look at the videos below. It shows raw data from the HDL-64E at the top, and the Puck at the bottom. The expensive sensor\u2019s 64 horizontal lines render the scene in detail, while the image produced by its cheaper sibling makes it harder to spot objects until they\u2019re much closer to the car. While both sensors nominally have a similar range, the lower resolution of the Puck makes it less useful for obstacles until they are much closer to the vehicle.\n\nAt 70 miles per hour, spotting an object at, say, 60 meters out provides two seconds to react. But when traveling at that speed, it can take 100 meters to slow to a stop. A useful range of somewhere closer to 200 meters is a better target to shoot for to make autonomous cars truly safe.\n\nThat\u2019s where cost comes in. Even an $8,000 sensor would be a huge problem for any automaker looking to build a self-driving car that a normal person could afford. Because of this, many sensor makers are readying new kinds of solid-state lidar devices, which use an array of tiny antennas to steer a laser beam electronically instead of mechanically. These devices promise to be easier to manufacture at scale and cheaper than their mechanical brethren. That would make them a palatable option for car companies, many of which are looking to build autonomous cars for the mass market as soon as 2021.\n\nBut some of these new solid-state devices may currently lack the fidelity required for self-driving cars to operate safely and reliably at highway speeds.\n\nThe French auto parts maker Valeo, for example, claims to have built what it says is the world\u2019s first laser scanner for cars that\u2019s ready for high-volume production, the SCALA. It features four lines of data with an angular resolution of 0.8\u00b0. Automotive News previously reported that Valeo will provide the lidar sensor used in the new Audi A8, though at the time of writing Audi declined to confirm this and Valeo didn\u2019t respond to a request for details. The new A8 is the first production car to feature lidar and can drive itself\u2014but only in heavy traffic at speeds less than 37 miles per hour.\n\nIn June, Graeme Smith, chief executive of the Oxford University autonomous driving spinoff Oxbotica, told MIT Technology Review that he thinks a trade-off between data quality and affordability in the lidar sector might affect the rate at which high-speed autonomous vehicles take to the roads. \u201cLow-speed applications may be more affordable more quickly than higher-speed ones,\u201d he explained. \u201cIf you want a laser that\u2019s operating over 250 meters, you need a finely calibrated laser. If you\u2019re working in a lower-speed environment and can get by with 15 meters\u2019 range, then you can afford [to use] a much lower-cost sensor.\u201d\n\nAustin Russell, the CEO of lidar startup Luminar, says his company actively chose not to use solid-state hardware in its sensors, because it believes that while mechanically steering a beam is more expensive, it currently provides more finely detailed images that are critical for safe driving. \u201cIt doesn't matter how much machine-learning magic you throw at a couple of points [on an object], you can\u2019t know what it is,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you only see a target out at 30 meters or so, at freeway speeds that\u2019s a fraction of a second.\u201d", "output": "The self-driving car industry may be held back by the high price of high-resolution LIDAR sensors. Many companies, such as Velodyne and Quanergy, are working on solid-state LIDAR devices, which are less costly to produce at scale, but experts have warned they lack the finely detailed images self-driving cars rely on to navigate. \"If you only see a target out at 30 metres or so, at freeway speeds that\u2019s a fraction of a second,\" said Austin Russell, the CEO of LIDAR start-up Luminar."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sri Lanka hit by unprecedented rise in dengue fever \n Save\n\nThis article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.\n\n\u2018Unprecedented\u2019 dengue outbreak in Sri Lanka exceeds 107,000 cases\n\nADD TOPIC TO EMAIL ALERTS Receive an email when new articles are posted on . Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on Subscribe ADDED TO EMAIL ALERTS You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.\n\n\n\nClick Here to Manage Email Alerts You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.\n\n\n\nClick Here to Manage Email Alerts\n\n\n\nBack to Healio We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.\n\n\n\nBack to Healio\n\nThe Epidemiology Unit of Sri Lanka\u2019s ministry of health has been notified of 107,015 suspected cases of dengue fever since January, which WHO estimates is a 4.3-fold increase in the average number of cases usually reported in the country during this period.\n\nThe International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) reported that there have been nearly 300 deaths linked to the outbreak as of July 24. The organization added that hospitals in Sri Lanka are currently overcrowded with patients suspected of having dengue and are struggling to cope with the burden, particularly those in the Western Providence, where the ministry of health said 44.2% of cases were identified.\n\n\u201cThe size of this dengue outbreak is unprecedented in Sri Lanka,\u201d Jagath Abeysinghe, president of Sri Lanka Red Cross, said in a statement. \u201cIt will require a united front in support of the government\u2019s prevention and control program and committed community action to tackle it.\u201d\n\nPreliminary laboratory results revealed that dengue virus serotype 2 (DENV-2) is the circulating strain responsible for the outbreak, according to WHO. Although all four serotypes have been identified in the country over the past 30 years, DENV-2 has not been frequently detected since 2009.\n\nA female Aedes aegypti mosquito, which can transmit dengue viruses, with a blood meal visible through her transparent abdomen as she lifts off from her host\u2019s skin. Source: James Gathany/CDC\n\n\u201cDengue is endemic here, but one reason for the dramatic rise in cases is that the virus currently spreading has evolved and people lack the immunity to fight off the new strain,\u201d Novil Wijesekara, MD, head of health at the Sri Lanka Red Cross, said in a press release.\n\nHeavy monsoon rains and failure to remove potential breeding grounds for mosquito larvae such as rain-soaked garbage and standing water pools have also contributed to the severity of the outbreak, WHO said.\n\nAccording to the country\u2019s ministry of defense, more than 1,190 Army personnel have been recruited to contain the outbreak in Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Kurunegala, Kandy, Matale, Kegalle, Ratnapura and Galle Districts. WHO said that army, police and civil defense forces are conducting house-to-house visits to mobilize vulnerable communities and dispose of garbage, clean vector breeding sites and promote health education.\n\n\u201cIsland-wide Army troops will continue the campaign throughout the month until the incidence of dengue is eradicated from all corners of the island,\u201d a press release from the ministry of defense said.\n\nHealth officials and volunteers with WHO, the ministry of health, IFRC and Sri Lanka Red Cross will also continue to support vector control efforts. The IFRC released Disaster Relief Emergency Funds to the Sri Lanka Red Cross to expand the response over the next 6 months. Red Cross teams will work with government partners to enhance patient care at six priority hospitals and improve water and sanitation at nine facilities.\n\n\u201cDengue tends to seek out the poor who live in densely populated places where sanitation is inadequate, rubbish piles up, water pools and mosquitoes thrive,\u201d Gerhard Tauscher, IFRC\u2019s operations manager in Sri Lanka, said in a press release. \u201cBut the disease can be stopped in its tracks when affected communities are informed about prevention and treatment, have access to medical care and mobilize to clean up either environment. That\u2019s what our teams are focusing on.\u201d\n\nDisclosure: Infectious Disease News was unable to confirm relevant financial disclosures at the time of publication.", "output": "There have been 107,015 notified cases of dengue fever in\u00a0Sri Lanka since January, with 300 deaths linked to the disease as of 24 July, marking a\u00a04.3-fold increase in the average number of cases\u00a0reported in the country during this period, WHO has warned. Hospitals are overcrowded with patients suspected of carrying the disease.\u00a0\u201cDengue is endemic here, but one reason for the dramatic rise in cases is that the virus currently spreading has evolved and people lack the immunity to fight off the new strain,\u201d warned\u00a0Novel Wijesekara of the Sri Lanka Red Cross. Also, heavy rains have\u00a0allowed mosquito breeding grounds to thrive.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon files patents for augmented reality shopping \n The retail giant is considering ways to let shoppers try on jewelry and test out furniture at home with augmented reality before purchase.\n\nWhere is this data coming from? Start your free trial today Email Where is this data coming from? Start your free trial today Email\n\nAmazon \u2013 already one of the most disruptive companies in commerce \u2013 sent shockwaves throughout the retail world recently with its acquisition of Whole Foods, a move widely viewed as a way for Amazon to expand its brick-and-mortar retail presence, as well as increase its distribution footprint. At the same time, two patents granted today show Amazon looking to augmented reality as a way to bypass one of brick-and-mortar retail\u2019s few remaining advantages \u2014 the ability to let shoppers try on before buying.\n\nThe first patent, titled Augmented Reality Presentation, describes using product data from an e-commerce website to generate highly realistic augmented reality images of products, including jewelry, glasses, watches, and furniture. The shopper could \u201ctry on\u201d the products before buying, which the patent argues could reduce returns (a major expense for many online retailers) and reduce the \u201clogistical issues and corresponding costs\u201d of \u201cmaintaining a storefront.\u201d Cameras and sensors would help track the shopper and the shopper\u2019s environment to move the object around and create the experience of \u201cwearing\u201d the object.\n\nGet the PDF: The Amazon Strategy Teardown Download our 63-page deep dive into the acquisition, investment, and research strategy of Amazon. Email\n\nTo enhance the images\u2019 realism, the patent even describes replicating reflective surfaces in augmented reality. For example, if the AR environment were to show a watch face or TV screen in augmented reality, it would use sensors to capture imagery from the rest of the room and then portray the glass or screen with a reflective surface. In other words, when looking at a TV in augmented reality, the TV screen would appear to be accurately reflecting the shopper and the rest of the room as shiny surfaces do in real life.\n\nTrack all the retail startups in this brief and many more on our platform Startups working on direct-to-consumer distribution have the potential to upend the industry. Look for Direct to Consumer Brands in the Collections Tab. Track Direct to Consumer Startups Direct to Consumer Startups 141 items\n\nThe second patent, titled Forming a Representation of an Item With Light, describes a system to project images of products into a room, so shoppers could see how furniture or other items look before purchase. According to the patent, the system would a) reduce the need for shoppers to physically measure products and spaces, and b) reduce return rates.\n\nAmazon has previously filed patents related to projecting images of furniture, (CB Insights clients can search for Amazon\u2019s augmented reality patents here) but the focus on apparel and accessories in the first patent granted today is more unique. Amazon has rapidly expanded its fashion business, and it currently supports eight private label fashion brands. It also launched the Echo Look, a machine vision service that can observe users\u2019 outfits and make suggestions.\n\nBy letting users virtually try on items at home, Amazon could help shoppers feel comfortable buying unfamiliar brands \u2013 including Amazon brands \u2013 without first seeing them in stores. These patents show that while Amazon may be moving into brick-and-mortar storefronts in certain areas, it\u2019s also considering new technologies to further their e-commerce business by offering consumers the benefits of in-person shopping while at home.\n\nIf you aren\u2019t already a client, sign up for a free trial to learn more about our platform.", "output": "Online retail giant Amazon is looking into how augmented reality could reduce return rates and improve customers' online experience, according to two patents filed. The first patent, called Augmented Reality Presentation, projects realistic images of jewelry, glasses, watches, and the like that users can virtually try on. The second patent, called Forming a Representation of an Item with Light, enables images of products to be projected into a room, showing customers how they would fit into their homes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dentsu Aegis deepen APAC network with Sokrati acquisition \n Dentsu Aegis Network is intensifying its APAC growth. After inking a group-level partnership with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) of Singapore, it has acquired Sokrati, a data-driven performance marketing business in India.\n\nNick Waters, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Asia Pacific, said, \u201cIndia is the fastest growing large economy in the world. It is on track for 400 million smartphone users, making it second only to China, and has emerged as a major ecommerce market.\"\n\nThe acquisition allows Dentsu Aegis Network to continue to roll out the Merkle brand in Asia Pacific, after it acquired the US-headquartered company last year.\n\n\"Sokrati\u2019s strength in mobile, ecommerce, data, analytics and performance media provides an ideal basis from which to launch Merkle in India as we develop the roll-out plan for Asia Pacific. We will develop the unique M1 addressable media platform for India as a next step,\" added Waters.\n\nSokrati was consecutively ranked in top 50 Indian techonolgies company by Deloitte. According to Anubhav Sonthalia, co-founder and enterprise business head of Sokrati; \u201cOur business is built on a highly data-driven culture, supported by the strong passion for digital and performance marketing from myself and two other founders - Ashish and Santosh.\"\n\n\"It is not often you meet amazing talent with the same drive and mindset, and we could not be more pleased to be joining forces with world-leading agency Merkle, as we expand our global footprint as part of Dentsu Aegis Network. It has been an incredible journey from the start, and we are all very excited about the next chapter for Sokrati,\" said Sonthalia.\n\nDentsu already leads global mergers & acquisition activity for Q2 of 2017", "output": "Digital marketing communications agency Dentsu Aegis Network has acquired Indian firm Sokrati, with a view to expanding its Merkle brand across the Asia Pacific. \"We will develop the unique M1 addressable media platform for India as a next step\", said Nick Waters, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Asia Pacific. Data-driven performance marketing firm Sokrati has been consecutively ranked among India's top 50 technology\u00a0companies.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "First genetic engineering of embryo undertaken in US \n For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBreaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nScientists have genetically engineered a human embryo for the first time in the US.\n\nThe technology allows for the editing of genes in a human embryo that could theoretically be allowed to develop into a full person, according to Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) in Portland, which carried out the research.\n\nThe research isn't the first time that a human embryo has been genetically engineered. But no experiment ever before has worked on so many embryos, or done so with such safety or efficiency, according to the MIT Technology Review, which first reported the breakthrough.\n\nScience news in pictures Show all 20 1 / 20 Science news in pictures Science news in pictures Pluto has 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen Pluto has a 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen that is doing strange things to its surface, Nasa has found. The mysterious core seems to be the cause of features on its surface that have fascinated scientists since they were spotted by Nasa's New Horizons mission. \"Before New Horizons, everyone thought Pluto was going to be a netball - completely flat, almost no diversity,\" said Tanguy Bertrand, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and the lead author on the new study. \"But it's completely different. It has a lot of different landscapes and we are trying to understand what's going on there.\" Getty Science news in pictures Over 400 species discovered this year by Natural History Museum The ancient invertabrate worm-like species rhenopyrgus viviani (pictured) is one of over 400 species previously unknown to science that were discovered by experts at the Natural History Museum this year PA Science news in pictures Jackdaws can identify 'dangerous' humans Jackdaws can identify \u201cdangerous\u201d humans from listening to each other\u2019s warning calls, scientists say. The highly social birds will also remember that person if they come near their nests again, according to researchers from the University of Exeter. In the study, a person unknown to the wild jackdaws approached their nest. At the same time scientists played a recording of a warning call (threatening) or \u201ccontact calls\u201d (non-threatening). The next time jackdaws saw this same person, the birds that had previously heard the warning call were defensive and returned to their nests more than twice as quickly on average. Getty Science news in pictures Turtle embryos influence sex by shaking The sex of the turtle is determined by the temperatures at which they are incubated. Warm temperatures favour females. But by wiggling around the egg, embryos can find the \u201cGoldilocks Zone\u201d which means they are able to shield themselves against extreme thermal conditions and produce a balanced sex ratio, according to the new study published in Current Biology journal Ye et al/Current Biology Science news in pictures Elephant poaching rates drop in Africa African elephant poaching rates have dropped by 60 per cent in six years, an international study has found. It is thought the decline could be associated with the ivory trade ban introduced in China in 2017. Reuters Science news in pictures Ancient four-legged whale discovered in Peru Scientists have identified a four-legged creature with webbed feet to be an ancestor of the whale. Fossils unearthed in Peru have led scientists to conclude that the enormous creatures that traverse the planet\u2019s oceans today are descended from small hoofed ancestors that lived in south Asia 50 million years ago A. Gennari Science news in pictures Animal with transient anus discovered A scientist has stumbled upon a creature with a \u201ctransient anus\u201d that appears only when it is needed, before vanishing completely. Dr Sidney Tamm of the Marine Biological Laboratory could not initially find any trace of an anus on the species. However, as the animal gets full, a pore opens up to dispose of waste Steven G Johnson Science news in pictures Giant bee spotted Feared extinct, the Wallace's Giant bee has been spotted for the first time in nearly 40 years. An international team of conservationists spotted the bee, that is four times the size of a typical honeybee, on an expedition to a group of Indonesian Islands Clay Bolt Science news in pictures New mammal species found inside crocodile Fossilised bones digested by crocodiles have revealed the existence of three new mammal species that roamed the Cayman Islands 300 years ago. The bones belonged to two large rodent species and a small shrew-like animal New Mexico Museum of Natural History Science news in pictures Fabric that changes according to temperature created Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold Faye Levine, University of Maryland Science news in pictures Baby mice tears could be used in pest control A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males Getty Science news in pictures Final warning to limit \"climate catastrophe\" The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase Getty Science news in pictures Nobel prize for evolution chemists The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies Getty/AFP Science news in pictures Nobel prize for laser physicists The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his \"optical tweezers\" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and G\u00e9rard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers Reuters/AP Science news in pictures Discovery of a new species of dinosaur The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. In Sesotho, the South African language of the region in which the dinosaur was discovered, its name means \"a giant thunderclap at dawn\" Viktor Radermacher / SWNS Science news in pictures Birth of a planet Scientists have witnessed the birth of a planet for the first time ever. This spectacular image from the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the very act of formation around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the center of the image, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the central star. ESO/A. M\u00fcller et al Science news in pictures New human organ discovered that was previously missed by scientists Layers long thought to be dense, connective tissue are actually a series of fluid-filled compartments researchers have termed the \u201cinterstitium\u201d. These compartments are found beneath the skin, as well as lining the gut, lungs, blood vessels and muscles, and join together to form a network supported by a mesh of strong, flexible proteins Getty Science news in pictures Previously unknown society lived in Amazon rainforest before Europeans arrived, say archaeologists Working in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a team led by archaeologists at the University of Exeter unearthed hundreds of villages hidden in the depths of the rainforest. These excavations included evidence of fortifications and mysterious earthworks called geoglyphs Jos\u00e9 Iriarte Science news in pictures One in 10 people have traces of cocaine or heroin on fingerprints, study finds More than one in 10 people were found to have traces of class A drugs on their fingers by scientists developing a new fingerprint-based drug test. Using sensitive analysis of the chemical composition of sweat, researchers were able to tell the difference between those who had been directly exposed to heroin and cocaine, and those who had encountered it indirectly. Getty Science news in pictures Nasa releases stunning images of Jupiter's great red spot The storm bigger than the Earth, has been swhirling for 350 years. The image's colours have been enhanced after it was sent back to Earth. Pictures by: Tom Momary\n\nThe embryos were destroyed after just a few days, according to researchers.\n\nSome countries have signed a convention prohibiting the practice on concerns it could be used to create so-called designer babies. Scientists are allowed to work on such experiments in Oregon so long as they're not allowed to fully develop and don't use public money.\n\nResults of the peer-reviewed study are expected to be published soon in a scientific journal, according to OHSU spokesman Eric Robinson.\n\nThe research, led by Shoukhrat Mitalipov, head of OHSU's Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy, involves a technology known as CRISPR that has opened up new frontiers in genetic medicine because of its ability to modify genes quickly and efficiently.\n\nCRISPR works as a type of molecular scissors that can selectively trim away unwanted parts of the genome, and replace it with new stretches of DNA.\n\nScientists in China have published similar studies with mixed results.\n\nIn December 2015, scientists and ethicists at an international meeting held at the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in Washington said it would be \"irresponsible\" to use gene editing technology in human embryos for therapeutic purposes, such as to correct genetic diseases, until safety and efficacy issues are resolved.\n\nBut earlier this year, NAS and the National Academy of Medicine said scientific advances make gene editing in human reproductive cells \"a realistic possibility that deserves serious consideration\".\n\nAdditional reporting by Reuters", "output": "Scientists at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland have used Crispr gene-editing technology to genetically engineer a human embryo, the first time such work has been carried out in the US \"with such safety or efficiency\", according to the MIT Technology Review. The embryos were destroyed after a few days. Earlier this year, the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine said advances in the editing of human reproductive cells was \"a realistic possibility that deserves serious consideration\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Montreal Institute awarded $2.4m grant to explore risks of AI \n Published: July 2017\n\nMILA staff reviewed this page prior to publication.\n\nThe Open Philanthropy Project recommended a grant of $2.4 million over four years to the Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms (MILA) to support technical research on potential risks from advanced artificial intelligence (AI).\n\n$1.6 million of this grant will support Professor Yoshua Bengio and his co-investigators at the Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al, and $800,000 will support Professors Joelle Pineau and Doina Precup at McGill University. We see Professor Bengio\u2019s research group as one of the world\u2019s preeminent deep learning labs and are excited to provide support for it to undertake AI safety research.\n\nBackground\n\nThis grant falls within our work on potential risks from advanced AI, one of our focus areas within global catastrophic risks. Currently, two of our primary aims in this area are (1) to increase the amount of high-quality technical AI safety research being done, and (2) to increase the number of people who are deeply knowledgeable about both machine learning and potential risks from advanced AI. We believe we can pursue these aims both directly (by supporting this type of work) and indirectly (by supporting programs that can attract talented students to this area, can provide positive examples of AI safety work that draws on machine learning expertise, and can provide leadership for the broader machine learning community).\n\nThe organization\n\nThe Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms (MILA) is a machine learning research group based at the Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al, led by Professors Yoshua Bengio, Pascal Vincent, Christopher Pal, Aaron Courville, Laurent Charlin, Simon Lacoste-Julien, and Jian Tang. We see MILA as one of the very top deep learning labs in academia, and among the top machine learning labs. Professors Joelle Pineau, Doina Precup, Hugo Larochelle, Alain Tapp, and Jackie Cheung are associate members of MILA.\n\nAbout the grant\n\nProposed activities\n\nProfessor Bengio has presented several potential AI safety research directions to us, along with some initial ideas about how he might work on them. However, we intend for Professor Bengio to have the flexibility to use our grant for whichever AI safety research projects may seem most promising in the future, rather than be restricted to projects that he has already proposed. In particular, we think it will be valuable for Professor Bengio\u2019s students to be free to explore new ideas that they have and to talk to others in the AI safety community (such as Open Philanthropy\u2019s technical advisors, or other grantees of ours) about which kinds of safety work may be most effective. Given that AI safety research is a relatively new area, we think it is particularly valuable to keep potential research options flexible.\n\nBased on discussion with our technical advisors, some portions of Professor Bengio\u2019s currently proposed agenda appear to us quite likely to be valuable, while we have reservations about some others (see \u201cRisks and reservations\u201d below). However, we expect that we would consider this grant worthwhile even if Professor Bengio were to use it to pursue exactly the projects that he has already proposed.\n\nCase for the grant\n\nAmong potential grantees in the field, we believe that Professor Bengio is one of the best positioned to help build the talent pipeline in AI safety research. Our understanding, based on conversations with our technical advisors and our general impressions from the field, is that many of the most talented machine learning researchers spend some time in Professor Bengio\u2019s lab before joining other universities or industry groups. This is an important contributing factor to our expectations for the impact of this grant, both because it increases our confidence in the quality of the research that this grant will support and because of the potential benefits for pipeline building.\n\nIn our conversations with Professor Bengio, we\u2019ve found significant overlap between his perspective on AI safety and ours, and Professor Bengio was excited to be part of our overall funding activities in this area. We think that Professor Bengio is likely to serve as a valuable member of the AI safety research community, and that he will encourage his lab to be involved in that community as well. We believe that members of his lab could likely be valuable participants at future workshops on AI safety.\n\nBudget and room for more funding\n\nOur impression is that MILA is already fairly well-funded, and that its ability to use additional marginal funding is somewhat limited. Professor Bengio told us that the amount of additional yearly funding that he would be able to use productively for AI safety research is $400,000; we have decided to grant this full amount for four years ($1.6 million total). We have also granted two of Professor Bengio\u2019s co-investigators at MILA who are also interested in working on this agenda, Professors Pineau and Precup, $200,000 per year ($800,000 total), which they estimated as the amount of funding they would be able to use productively.\n\nRisks and reservations\n\nSome of our technical advisors expressed some reservations about and offered significant feedback on Professor Bengio\u2019s proposed research plan. We are not especially concerned about this; because AI safety is a relatively new field, we think it is reasonable to expect disagreements among researchers as to which research directions are most promising. We plan to continue having discussions with Professor Bengio and his team over the next few years in order to reach a greater degree of mutual understanding about his research agenda by the time we decide whether to renew our support in 2020.\n\nFollow-up expectations\n\nWe expect to have a conversation with Professor Bengio six months after the start of the grant, and annually after that, to discuss his projects and results, with public notes if the conversation warrants it. In the first few months of the grant, we plan to visit Montreal for several days to meet Professor Bengio\u2019s co-investigators and discuss the project with them.\n\nAt the conclusion of this grant in 2020, we will decide whether to renew our support. If Professor Bengio\u2019s research is going well (based on our technical advisors\u2019 assessment and the impressions of others in the field), and if we have achieved a better mutual understanding with Professor Bengio about how his research is likely to be valuable, it is likely that we will decide to provide renewed funding. If Professor Bengio is using half or more of our funding to pursue research directions that we do not find particularly promising, it is likely that we would choose not to renew.\n\nOur process\n\nWe spoke with Professor Bengio and several of his students during our recent outreach to machine learning researchers and formed a positive impression of him and his work. Our technical advisors spoke highly of Professor Bengio\u2019s capabilities, reputation, and goals.", "output": "The Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms (MILA) has been awarded a $2.4m grant by the Open Philanthropy Project to carry out technical research into potential risks from artificial intelligence (AI). Leading AI researcher Professor Yoshua Bengio and his team\u00a0at the University of Montreal will receive\u00a0$1.6m of the grant\u00a0and the remaining $800,000 will go to Professors Joelle Pineau and Doina Precup at McGill University.\u00a0The grant is intended to increase the amount of high-quality technical AI safety research being done\u00a0and increase the number of people who are deeply knowledgeable about both machine learning and potential risks from advanced AI."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook posts $9.3bn revenue in Q2 as focus on video continues \n Facebook is pretty much minting money at this point.\n\nDespite concerns over ad load maxing out in the news feed, Facebook posted revenue of $9.32 billion for the second quarter, up 45% year over year from $6.43 billion.\n\nMobile ad revenue at $8 billion was responsible for the vast majority of Facebook\u2019s overall revenue in Q2, and it\u2019s still growing. Mobile ads represented 87% of revenue for the quarter, up from 84% at this time last year.\n\nAlthough CFO David Wehner reiterated that core Facebook is the primary driver of business, there\u2019s inventory waiting in the wings.\n\nFacebook doesn\u2019t disclose revenue numbers for Instagram, but the platform reached 700 million monthly active users in April. Of those, around 200 million people are using Instagram Stories every day.\n\nMonetization is too new on Messenger for Facebook to break out revenue numbers \u2013 Facebook rolled out ads in its messaging app in early July \u2013 but with 1.2 billion monthly active users, the scale speaks to the revenue potential.\n\nAnd WhatsApp, Facebook\u2019s other messaging property, is a green field that Facebook has hardly even begun to tap from a monetization perspective.\n\nBut doubling down on monetization in Messenger, and then perhaps WhatsApp down the line, will be the last phase in a three-step process, Wehner said.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re focused on growing the user base, first and foremost, and then, secondly, it\u2019s about building organic connections between businesses and consumers,\u201d Wehner said. \u201cThird, it\u2019s about how do we build monetization around those relationships. We\u2019re further along with Messenger than we are with WhatsApp.\u201d\n\nWehner was emphatic that early efforts in Messenger monetization will not offset the expected revenue slowdown in the latter half of the year due to Facebook\u2019s plan to stop blocking ad blockers on desktop and its increased investment in video, where there are fewer impressions to be had.\n\nMessaging is \u201cnot a near-term overall Facebook growth driver,\u201d he said. \u201cMuch like Instagram in the early days, we\u2019re going to be cautious, but unlike Instagram, this is not a feed-based product, so there are more unknowns here.\u201d\n\nAlthough investors barraged Facebook with questions about how it\u2019s going to monetize its messaging platforms, CEO Mark Zuckerberg called attention to video as the bigger \u2013 and nearer-term \u2013 fish the company plans to fry.\n\n\u201cOver the next couple of years, the much bigger driver of the business and determinant of how we do is going to be video and not Messenger,\u201d Zuckerberg said.\n\nBut regardless of how Facebook decides to tap into video or move forward with mining its ecosystem of apps, user engagement continues to grow on the main platform.\n\nDaily active users clocked in at around 1.32 billion in June, up 17% YoY, while monthly active users nudged past the 2 billion mark to 2.1 billion as of the end of June.\n\nAverage revenue per user was also on the uptick in the US and Canada, increasing from $14.23 to $19.38.", "output": "Social media giant Facebook is set to focus on video in the coming years, according to Mark Zuckerberg. Speaking during the company's Q2 earnings call, in which the company revealed revenue of $9.32bn\u00a0(up 45% since last year), he deflected questions about the monetisation of Messenger. \"Over the next couple of years, the much bigger driver of the business and determinant of how we do is going to be video and not Messenger\", he said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BlackFin attracts $100m to fintech fund, seeks another $50m \n BlackFin Capital Partners has held the first close of its regtech, insurtech and fintech-focused venture capital fund, at over \u20ac100m.\n\nBackers in BlackFin Tech Fund 1 included European institutional investors such as Bpifrance \u2013 on its own account and within the framework of the Investments for the Future Programme via the MultiCap Croissance fund \u2013 Vaudoise Assurances Group, Groupama Group, Sogecap (Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 G\u00e9n\u00e9rale Insurance), Natixis Assurances, Swiss Life as well as several banks and family-offices.\n\nBlackFin, which plans to close the fund at \u20ac150m, will partner with European entrepreneurs to lead their Seed to Series C rounds and providing them with access to its network of more than 25 Venture Partners \u2013 former entrepreneurs and top executives of the industry \u2013 offering support regarding strategy and growth, commercial access and credibility and regulatory guidance.\n\nThe network will also help the investment team source and qualify investment opportunities and will provide insights and commercial accesses to portfolio companies.\n\nThe fund will invest in companies which are trying to redesign the value chains in the financial services industry, which is today shaken by profound changes in customer expectations, technologies and regulation, team up with them to develop leading Fintech, Insurtech and Regtech companies. All aspects of retail and investment banking, payments, wealth and asset-management, insurance, insurance distribution, financial software as well as technology related to regulatory requirements are targeted.\n\nThe vehicle will be deployed across continental Europe by a dedicated investment team led by Julien Creuz\u00e9 while Maxime Mandin covers German-speaking countries. Three additional investment professionals will join the team in the coming months.\n\nFounded in 2009 by Laurent Bouyoux, Paul Mizrahi, Eric May and Bruno Rostain, BlackFin raised a first buy-out fund of \u20ac220m in 2011 and a second buy-out fund of \u20ac400m in 2016. The firm now employs more than 20 investment professionals in Paris, Brussels and Frankfurt.\n\nFinSMEs\n\n26/07/2017", "output": "A insurtech, fintech and fintech regtech-focused venture capital fund run by BlackFin Capital Partners has raised $100m. Investors in BlackFin Tech Fund 1 include Bpifrance,\u00a0Vaudoise Assurances Group, Groupama Group, Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 G\u00e9n\u00e9rale Insurance, Natixis Assurances and\u00a0Swiss Life. The fund manager hopes to close out the vehicle at $150m and link with European entrepreneurs to give access to venture partners.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New York police consider technology to detect texting drivers \n FILE - In this May 31, 2013 file photo, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during a news conference to announce the increase in penalties for texting while driving in New York. New York state is set to study the use of a device known as the \u201ctextalyzer\u201d that would allow police to determine whether a motorist involved in a serious crash was texting while driving. Cuomo announced Wednesday, July 26, 2017, that he would direct the Governor\u2019s Traffic Safety Committee to examine the technology, as well as the privacy and constitutional questions it could raise. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)\n\nFILE - In this May 31, 2013 file photo, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during a news conference to announce the increase in penalties for texting while driving in New York. New York state is set to study the use of a device known as the \u201ctextalyzer\u201d that would allow police to determine whether a motorist involved in a serious crash was texting while driving. Cuomo announced Wednesday, July 26, 2017, that he would direct the Governor\u2019s Traffic Safety Committee to examine the technology, as well as the privacy and constitutional questions it could raise. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)\n\nALBANY, N.Y. (AP) \u2014 Police in New York state may soon have a high-tech way of catching texting drivers: a device known as a textalyzer that allows an officer to quickly check if a cellphone has been in use before a crash.\n\nDemocratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday directed the Governor\u2019s Traffic Safety Committee to examine the technology and the questions about privacy and civil liberties its use would raise.\n\n\u201cDespite laws to ban cellphone use while driving, some motorists still continue to insist on texting behind the wheel \u2014 placing themselves and others at substantial risk,\u201d Cuomo said in a statement first reported by The Associated Press. \u201cThis review will examine the effectiveness of using this new emerging technology to crack down on this reckless behavior and thoroughly evaluate its implications to ensure we protect the safety and privacy of New Yorkers.\u201d\n\nThe device is called the textalyzer because of its similarity to the Breathalyzer, which is used to identify drunken drivers. Once plugged into a person\u2019s phone for about a minute, it will indicate whether a motorist was texting, emailing, surfing the web or otherwise using his or her cellphone before a serious crash.\n\nSupporters of the technology say the officer would not be able to access personal information on the phone, such as pictures, emails or web browsing history.\n\nThe technology is still some months away from being ready, according to Cellebrite, the Israel-based tech company developing the device.\n\nDigital privacy and civil liberties groups already have questioned whether the technology\u2019s use would violate personal privacy, noting that police can already obtain search warrants if they believe information on a private phone could be useful in a prosecution.\n\nMany security experts are skeptical when it comes to promises that the textalyzer would only access information about phone usage, and not personal material, according to Rainey Reitman, of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit organization that advocates for civil liberties when it comes to digital technology.\n\n\u201cI am extremely nervous about handing a cellphone to a law enforcement officer and allowing them in any way to forensically analyze it,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is a technology that is incredibly problematic and at the same time is unnecessary. There are already legal avenues for a police officer.\u201d\n\nWestchester County resident Ben Lieberman lost his 19-year-old son Evan Lieberman to a fatal car crash in 2011 and later discovered the driver of the car his son was in had been texting while driving. He\u2019s now a leading advocate for the textalyzer and has worked with Cellebrite on the project. He said he understands concerns about privacy but they\u2019re unfounded, noting the device would only tell police whether a driver had been breaking the law.\n\n\u201cA Breathalyzer doesn\u2019t tell you where you were drinking, or whether it was vodka or Jack Daniels, just that you were drinking,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is the right balance between public safety and privacy.\u201d\n\nCount Emily Boedigheimer as a supporter of the idea. The Albany area resident said she\u2019s fine with police using a textalyzer, as long as there are rules about what police would be able to see.\n\n\u201cIf you\u2019re texting and driving you\u2019re breaking the law and you\u2019re risking people\u2019s lives,\u201d she said during a lunchtime walk in downtown Albany on Wednesday. \u201cWhy can\u2019t you wait, or pull over, to make that one call or read your texts?\u201d\n\nThe committee will hear from supporters and opponents of the technology, law enforcement officials and legal experts before issuing a report, Cuomo\u2019s office said. Particular areas of focus will include the effectiveness of the technology, constitutional and legal issues and how the device would be used in practice.\n\nSen. Terrence Murphy, a Westchester County Republican, this year sponsored legislation that would have set out rules for the use of the textalyzer. The bill didn\u2019t get a full vote, but Murphy said he believes it\u2019s only a matter of time before New York and other states adopt the technology.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not if, it\u2019s when,\u201d he said. \u201cThis will literally save lives.\u201d\n\nUnder Murphy\u2019s bill, motorists who refuse to hand over their phones to officers could have their licenses suspended.\n\nTwelve people were killed and 2,784 were injured in cellphone-related crashes in New York state from 2011 to 2015, according to figures from the Institute for Traffic Safety Management and Research. State statistics show 1.2 million tickets for cellphone violations were issued in that period.", "output": "Police across New York state could soon be equipped with a device known as a textalyser, which will let officers determine whether a phone has been used before a vehicular crash. Governor Andrew Cuomo has instructed the Traffic Safety Committee to look into possible applications of the technology. The textalyser is plugged into the driver's phone for a minute, and will show if they were emailing, texting or using the internet in the moments before the crash.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HTC brings self-contained VR headset to China \n HTC is partnering with Qualcomm for a self-contained Vive virtual reality headset exclusive to the Chinese market. The headset, called the Vive Standalone, is billed as a \u201cpremium\u201d device and will run apps from HTC\u2019s Viveport platform. It\u2019s powered by a Snapdragon 835 chip and is based on Qualcomm\u2019s all-in-one reference design, which includes inside-out positional tracking that would put it in the company of high-end tethered headsets.\n\nWe don\u2019t know how much the Vive Standalone will cost, its exact technical specs, how people will interact with it, or when it\u2019s coming out. HTC will supposedly be releasing that information in the coming months, after today\u2019s reveal at the ChinaJoy entertainment expo. It\u2019s a separate product from the standalone HTC Google Daydream headset that was announced this spring, although its silhouette looks very similar to that of the Vive standalone Daydream headset. The biggest difference may simply be that unlike Daydream, it\u2019s not reliant on the Google Play Store, which is only sporadically available in China.", "output": "HTC has joined forces with Qualcomm to create an all-in-one virtual reality (VR) headset, exclusively for the Chinese market. The Vive Standalone, as it will be called, is\u00a0based on Qualcomm's self-contained design, a primary feature of which is\u00a0inside-out positional tracking, and will be powered by a Snapdragon 835 chip. This comes as rumours circulate that Oculus is teaming up with Xiaomi to develop a similar\u00a0all-in-one headset specifically for China.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon drones could be used to scan property and collect data \n One of Amazon's prototype drones, making a trial delivery. Amazon\n\nAmazon's ambitions to build a fleet of self-flying delivery drones will have an interesting side-effect: They will create unimaginable quantities of data.\n\nAerial footage, mapping data, flight patterns, number-crunching analysis, and more \u2014 autonomous vehicles produce vast reams of data, and drones are no different. And Amazon is already thinking about how it can turn that to its advantage.\n\nIn a filing for a patent granted on Tuesday, the Seattle-based online retail giant lays out how \"captured data may be received by a computer system and properties about a destination for the delivery may be identified by analyzing the data. A recommendation may be generated based at least in part on the identified properties.\"\n\nIn plain English? Amazon's drones could analyse customers' homes as they make deliveries, and then try and sell them products and services based on what they \"see.\"\n\nOne example Amazon gives is that it could recommend a roof-repair service if a customer's roof looks faulty:\n\n\"For example, the one or more service provider computers may analyze the data and identify that the roof of the location is in disrepair and in need of service. Subsequently, the one or more service provider computers may generate and provide a recommendation to the customer informing them of the identified property and offering an item or service that is appropriate for the identified property (e.g., a roof repair service recommendation).\"\n\nIn another, it suggests it could recognise if a customers' trees are dying, and then recommend them an arborist or fertiliser:\n\n\"The unmanned aerial vehicle may capture video data that includes brown and dying trees located near the user's home. The service provider computers may utilize image and/or video recognition techniques and software to identify that the trees require service (e.g., services that can be provided by an arborist). The service provider computers may, in response to identifying that the trees near the user's home are dying, generate and provide a recommendation to the user that includes information about arborist services or items such as fertilizers that can help the user's trees.\"\n\nThese recommendations \u2014 or adverts, depending on how you look at them \u2014 could be delivered by email, text message, or a notification on Amazon, the patent suggests.\n\nA diagram from the patent filing showing how the adverts might work. Amazon\n\nThere are clear privacy concerns about Amazon analysing your backyard for potential retail opportunities \u2014 though the patent suggests it would be opt-in, and only capture and analyse this data with the consent of the customer. \"It may capture data such as video data or audio data as requested by the property owner associated with the delivery location,\" it says.\n\nAmazon's plans for drone deliveries are still a long way from commercial reality. It is testing the tech in the UK, and has conducted some very early trials, but it will be years until ordinary people can order a product and get it delivered by drone.\n\nBut the patent serves as a reminder that convenience sometimes comes at the expense of privacy, and drone-powered future may offer unprecedented opportunities for surveillance.", "output": "Retail giant Amazon has been granted a patent to use its delivery drones to capture data and sell customers products based on what the drone 'sees'. Recipients of Amazon deliveries with broken roof tiles or dying trees, for example, could receive e-mail notifications offering services to fix the problems, according to the patent. While critics have warned of the privacy issues surrounding this use of data, Amazon insisted the service was opt-in only."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chemical exposure blamed for 60% sperm count drop in rich nations \n Enough for the job? Science Photo Library\n\nAn analysis of research into male fertility suggests that there has been a steep decline in sperm counts for men living in richer nations.\n\nThe review pooled data from 185 different studies, and found a 59.3 per cent drop between 1973 and 2011 in the average amount of sperm produced by men from North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. No similar pattern was seen in South America, Asia and Africa, although fewer studies had been conducted in these countries.\n\n\u201cGiven the importance of sperm counts for male fertility and human health, this study is an urgent wake-up call for researchers and health authorities around the world to investigate the causes of the sharp, ongoing drop in sperm count,\u201d says Hagai Levine, of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who worked on the analysis.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cThe fact that the decline is seen in Western countries strongly suggests that chemicals in commerce are playing a causal role in this trend,\u201d says team-member Shanna Swan, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York.\n\nConfirmation\n\nExposure to chemicals in the womb, adult exposure to pesticides, smoking, stress and obesity have all previously been linked to lower sperm counts. But previous studies reporting falling sperm counts have been challenged by some for being unreliable.\n\n\u201cPrevious smaller studies have suffered from confounding factors, including the fact that methods of counting sperm in the laboratory might have changed over the years, or that the populations of men being studied might have changed,\u201d says Daniel Brison, at the University of Manchester, UK.\n\n\u201cThis new analysis overcomes those problems by including a large number of studies of varying design and location around the world, to confirm that the decline in sperm counts is likely to be real,\u201d says Brison.\n\nAllan Pacey, of the University of Sheffield, UK, says that, despite the decline found in the study, average sperm counts still remain in the normal range.\n\nThe work appears in Human Reproduction Update\n\nRead more: Are your sperm up to scratch? Phone microscope lets you check", "output": "Sperm counts are plunging in wealthy countries, with scientists blaming exposure to chemicals as one of the causes of the 60% drop over the past four decades, according to a report in Human Reproduction Update.\u00a0\u201cGiven the importance of sperm counts for male fertility and human health, this study is an urgent wake-up call for researchers and health authorities around the world to investigate the causes of the sharp, ongoing drop in sperm count,\u201d said\u00a0Hagai Levine\u00a0of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who worked on the research.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China closes part of Yellow Sea for large-scale war games \n Story highlights July has been busy for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) The PLA will celebrate its 90th birthday on August 1\n\nHong Kong CNN \u2014\n\nThe Chinese navy is closing off a large portion of the Yellow Sea for two days of large-scale military activities beginning Thursday, according to a state-run newspaper.\n\nThe People\u2019s Liberation Army (PLA) announced that ships will be forbidden from entering a 40,000-square-kilometer (15,444-square-mile) block of ocean off the coastal city of Qingdao, according to the Weihai Evening Post newspaper, which is run by the Weihai city government.\n\nThe paper\u2019s report was repeated by the state-sanctioned Global Times.\n\nThe move comes just days before the 90th anniversary of the founding of the PLA, which will be celebrated on August 1.\n\nBeijing is expected to mark the date with some sort of celebration, though it has not announced its plans yet.\n\nBut the month leading up to the occasion has been busy for the PLA. A Chinese naval flotilla sailed to Europe to join Russian forces for war games in the Baltic Sea that began last week. Before that, Beijing deployed troops to its first-ever permanent overseas military base in Djibouti on the Horn of Africa. In late June, the PLA navy launched its most-advanced destroyer ever.\n\nAnd the country is currently involved in a border standoff with India and Bhutan.\n\nThough the summer is usually a busy time when it comes to Chinese military drills, the global nature of the PLA\u2019s operations is indicative of Beijing\u2019s hope to develop a so-called \u201cblue water navy\u201d that can operate across the planet.\n\n\u201cChina\u2019s blue-water navy is in the development stage,\u201d said an editorial in China\u2019s Global Times, a provocative but state-sanctioned tabloid that often takes hawkish foreign policy positions.\n\nThe piece was written largely in response to a claim by the United States military that a Chinese fighter jet recently performed an \u201cunsafe\u201d intercept of an American plane, but stressed the need for Beijing to strengthen its navy to get on equal footing with the US.\n\n\u201cIf Chinese warships can always catch attention from US allies, when US naval vessels stir up troubles in the South China Sea again, Chinese society can react more confidently. The US doesn\u2019t respect restraints and rationality, but strength and strong will. Therefore, perhaps it is time for China to change the way it responds, and starts making some troubles for the US,\u201d the editorial said.\n\nMeanwhile, the PLA posted on its official website an opinion article by the state-run Xinhua news agency saying that foreign powers should \u201ctake a chill pill\u201d when it comes to Chinese naval drills like the one currently running in the Baltic.\n\n\u201cIt is surely time for hotheads in the West to simmer down and take a chill pill on the China-Russia maneuvers, to recognize them for what they are \u2013 a routine exercise similar to the many carried out by navies from across the world,\u201d the Xinhua article said.", "output": "China has closed off part of the Yellow Sea for military manoeuvres, holding large-scale war games for two days in an area off the coast of the city of Qingdao. The manoeuvres followed the naval flotilla that sailed to Europe to join Russian forces for war games in the Baltic Sea, and comes before next week's 90th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army. These activities are all part of Beijing's plan to develop a so-called blue-water navy that can operate across the world.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China builds robot friends for its ageing population \n Qing Zhang was born in central China in 1929 in a village that didn\u2019t have a single light bulb. Now, at the age of 88, she lives in a nursing home that\u2019s using robots to help care for her.\n\nThe privately-owned Long Shan Nursing Home is one of a few dozen early testing sites for caregiving robots in China. The home has been experimenting with three robots since August 2016.\n\nDoctors and nurses use two smaller robots, a bit like person-shaped rolling smartphones. They can track blood pressure and other basic health data, but also help residents video chat with their family or look at photos. The third robot is something completely different: a pink and white child-sized bot whose sole purpose is to keep residents company.", "output": "China is building an army of robot friends for its increasingly elderly population. The nation has over a quarter of the world's elderly and it is turning to artificial intelligence in what could be the world's largest experiment in robot companionship."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Oman launches mobile payment clearing system \n Muscat: A unique system for mobile payment clearing and switching (MpClear) was launched on Sunday, said the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) in a statement. This will enhance the payment infrastructure of the country.\n\nWith the launch of this system, Oman is the first country within the GCC countries to implement such system under the Central Bank leadership.\n\nIt will also help attain one more milestone in providing a safe and secure fund transfer mechanism through the medium of mobile by just using a mobile number to complete the payment transfer instantly. This is expected to provide ease of use, convenience and further promote electronic payments in the Sultanate of Oman.\n\nThe MpClear system promises interoperability and a unified switching and clearing services between various mobile banking systems operated by banks thereby promoting enhanced efficiency and security of payments effected through the medium of mobile. Given the ubiquity of the mobile, such mobile based payments aim at addressing financial inclusion in the Sultanate of Oman and support the National E-government Strategy thus progressing to a less cash economy at the National level. Apart from its role as a switching and clearing platform, MpClear facilitates providing a collection of reporting and monitoring services at the fingertips of central bank which aids in informed decision making.\n\nThe uniqueness of MpClear lies in its functionality to conduct a fund transfer with the use of just a mobile number and accommodation of the unbanked sector, thereby giving an impetus to financial inclusion in the Sultanate. With MpClear, users can conduct a wide range of payments such as, Person-to-Person (P2P), Person to Business (P2B), Person to Government (P2G), Person to Merchant (P2M), Business to Person (B2P), Government to Person (G2P) and Business-to-Business (B2B).\n\n**media[702697]**\n\nHamood bin Sangour Al Zadjali, executive president of the Central Bank of Oman, hailed the banking community in the country and the implementing company ProgressSoft, for the unstinted support extended and enormous efforts taken by them for fulfilling the national objective of CBO in providing a safe, sound and secure payment infrastructure in the country.\n\nAli Al Jabri, In-Charge Payment Systems Department at CBO, said \u201cBeing ahead of the curve in payment systems has been the goal of CBO, with the ultimate aim of providing convenience, safe and ease of operations for fund transfers. MpClear System offers fund transfer via mobile an easier and fast payment channel with just a mobile number. The benefits of the same will be evidenced by the stakeholders/customers soon\u201d.\n\nAbdulRazak Ali Issa, Chief Executive, Bank Muscat said; \u201cBank Muscat is delighted to welcome the Mobile payment clearing and switching MpClear System introducing yet another innovative and advanced digital payment channel in Oman. We thank the CBO for all measures to align the banking sector in line with the government\u2019s ambitious e-Government project. In conformity with international standards, the MpClear Project provides security and convenience for transactions through mobile phones as Bank Muscat remains committed to promoting the new facility as a preferred mode of payment.\u201d\n\nKhalid Al Kayed, CEO of Bank Nizwa, said, \u201cWe are proud to join hands with the Central Bank of Oman to do our part in helping realize the ambitions of the Sultanate\u2019s e-government strategy. By adopting this highly efficient and world-class solution, our customers will enjoy instant payment services, greater efficiency when shopping online and the highest levels of security. With the introduction of the Bank Nizwa e-wallet application, even non-customers will have the opportunity to experience the comprehensive end-to-end payment services of MpClear System.\u201d\n\nAndrew Long, CEO, HSBC Bank Oman said, \u201cAt HSBC Bank Oman technology has always played a pivotal role in strengthening our customer service and providing a safer banking experience for our customers. Implementing the MpClear System is yet another step towards meeting our customers' evolving expectations.\u201d\n\nCommenting on launching the initiative Abdul Hakeem Omar Al Ojaili \u2013 CEO of BankDhofar noted: \u201cWe are delighted to be part of the Central Bank of Oman\u2019s initiative of the mobile clearing system within our mobile banking application. This is a new system for money transfer between banks providing a safe, secure and efficient payment infrastructure in the Sultanate. This will save time and guarantee safe and fast payment between individuals and business customers as it reiterates BankDhofar\u2019s commitment to excel and grow in all business areas, contribute to the development of the country\u2019s economy and meet the aspirations of all internal and external stakeholders. This initiative is a significant addition to our multi award winning mobile banking application which also offers a diverse range of instant banking services including the flagship instant card-less cash transaction, instant money transfer to customer of any bank in Oman, instant mobile top-up, instant phone bill payment, as well as instant card activation and blocking through BankDhofar\u2019s call center or mobile application.\u201d\n\nSasi Kumar, Acting CEO of Bank Sohar said: \u201cWe congratulate the Central Bank of Oman for introducing Oman's banking sector to progressive technology and innovation. The CBO has been raising the industry's standard with constant updates and service efficiencies to provide better banking excellence. This project further sets Oman on an evolutionary path by redefining the way customers experience banking. It offers them alacrity, convenience and ease of access to banking solutions anytime, anywhere. We at Bank Sohar believe in developing products and services that directly address our customers\u2019 needs when it comes to reliability, alacrity and convenience, in an era when digitization is the norm. Given our history for pursuing innovative technology and cutting-edge financial solutions, we bring a strong suite of efficiencies to the project, which will help give it sustainability, better market reach and, ultimately, turn it into a success.\u201d\n\nAhmed Al-Musalmi CEO of NBO said: \u201cThe MpClear is an excellent initiative lead by CBO that will help the Sultanate\u2019s economy become more cashless while empowering the unbanked segment through financial inclusion. The National Bank of Oman is proud to be part of this initiative and supports CBO and the government across this new phase of digital transformation.\u201d", "output": "The Central Bank of Oman (CBO) has launched MpClear, a system for payment clearing and switching. MpClear enables customers from a range of banks to complete a transfer with only their their mobile number. Transfers can take place between people, businesses, merchants, and the government. Oman is the first of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries to introduce a payment system under central bank leadership."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CIMB payments business and Ant Financial enter mobile payments JV \n KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB Group Holdings Bhd \u2019s subsidiary Touch \u2018n Go Sdn Bhd (TNG) will enter into an equity joint venture (JV) with Ant Financial Services Group, the parent company of Alipay.\n\n\n\nThe JV will leverage the respective partners\u2019 local market insights, technology capabilities, market experience, and brands to introduce a world-class mobile platform for payments and other financial services, directly supplementing Malaysia\u2019s efforts in accelerating the creation of a robust and secure digital payment infrastructure.\n\n\n\nTNG and Ant Financial had on Monday signed definitive agreements towards the formation of a JV, in which TNG will be the majority shareholder and Ant Financial a minority shareholder, CIMB Group said in a statement.\n\n\n\nThe capital injected by both parties will go towards the creation of a world-class online and offline payments provider, delivering superior mobile wallet solutions and other related financial services.\n\n\n\nThis is Ant Financial\u2019s first investment in Malaysia. The JV transaction is subject to closing conditions and the required regulatory approvals.\n\nCurrently, millions of users across Malaysia use Touch \u2018n Go cards daily for electronic payment purposes at toll roads, public transportation systems, parking and retail outlets.\n\n\n\nThe new e-wallet will give current and new TNG users access to more services conveniently, on their mobile phones, including for ecommerce.\n\nAnt Financial provides a wide range of digital financial services to over 520 million users in China and beyond.\n\n\n\nThrough its flagship lifestyle super-app Alipay, users can enjoy a cashless daily life in and outside China. Over 10 million brick and-mortar merchants now accept Alipay across China.\n\n\n\nAnt Financial is enabling local partners in India, South Korea and South-East Asia to provide digital payment and innovative financial services to local users.\n\n\n\nCommenting on the collaboration, CIMB group chief executive Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz said, \u201cThis is a landmark deal, premised on a clearly synergistic partnership.\n\n\n\n\u201cTNG\u2019s leading position combined with Ant Financial\u2019s Alipay capabilities will allow all Malaysians to participate and access secure payments and digital financial services for the long term.\n\n\n\n\u201cThis fits nicely with CIMB\u2019s digital aspirations and our FinTech agenda, as we move towards a more inclusive and digitized Malaysia.\u201d\n\n\n\nMalaysia is the first country to join the Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP), a programme initiated by Alibaba Group executive chairman and founder Jack Ma to help small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) expand their trading capabilities worldwide more easily, directly demonstrating the nation\u2019s enthusiasm in embracing technological innovation.\n\n\n\n\u201cAlong with the launch of the JV, individuals as well as SMEs will be able to benefit from the development of technology. They will be able to purchase or do business in a more convenient and efficient way in both domestic and international markets, enjoying a broader range of services.\n\n\n\nTo bring digital financial inclusion to more people across the world, Ant Financial takes an approach of collaborating with strategic partners\n\noverseas and enabling them with its innovative solutions.\n\n\n\n\u201cGiven TNG\u2019s leading position in the market and vast customer base, we believe that we can help it to offer exciting and innovative products to\n\nMalaysian consumers,\u201d said Ant Financial CEO Eric Jing\n\n\n\nMeanwhile, TNG CEO Syahrunizam Samsudin noted: \u201cThe work starts now and I look forward to collaborating closely with Ant Financial and the joint venture as it rolls out a set of leading edge payments services to consumers and businesses across the country.\u201d", "output": "Payment provider Touch 'n Go, a subsidiary of Malaysian bank CIMB, has agreed to form an equity joint venture with Ant Financial Services, the parent company of Chinese payment company Alipay. The companies will create a payments platform for online and offline mobile transactions. Touch 'n Go will be the majority shareholder in the joint venture, and Ant Financial a minority shareholder, CIMB said. Although Ant Financial has partnered with firms in India, South Korea and South-East Asia, the joint venture is the company's first investment in Malaysia."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Xpress Money and TerraPay partner on mobile wallets in Africa \n Muscat: Xpress Money, one of the world\u2019s most dependable money transfer brands, has partnered with TerraPay to enable real-time international money transfers to mobile wallets in Africa.\n\nPowered by TerraPay\u2019s global clearing and settlement service for mobile wallets, the partnership will make it faster and convenient for Xpress Money consumers to send money to mobile accounts, in real time.\n\nThrough Xpress Money\u2019s extensive network of over 200,000 agent locations in 165 countries, migrants across the globe will be able to send remittances safely and instantly to widely used Mobile Money services in Africa. In the initial rollout, customers can send remittances to any mobile number or bank account in Nigeria, as well as directly to Vodacom M-Pesa, Tigo Pesa, Airtel Money and Zantel Ezy Pesa wallets in Tanzania, by visiting the nearest Xpress money outlet across 165 countries.\n\n\u201cTerraPay has brought mobile wallets mainstream by interconnecting them with an extensive global network of Xpress Money for cross border money transfer. Our partnership will play a pivotal role in expanding our footprint into new markets and help friends and families of migrant workers receive small value remittances frequently through a cost-effective and convenient service,\u201d said Ambar Sur, founder and chief executive officer of TerraPay.\n\n\u201cThe convenience of mobile wallets is slowly changing our customers\u2019 remittance patterns.\u201d\n\nIts advantages are not just restricted to convenience, but also extend to offering customers lower fees and financial inclusion. In Africa today, Mobile Wallets are seen as a virtual bank account that enable customers to pay bills and transact, just like using a physical bank account; they work exceptionally well in places where the physical network of banks is limited. Xpress Money is therefore constantly investing in the mobile services space\u2014either through in-house innovations or by partnering with existing providers with proven technologies, such as TerraPay to bring convenient remittance solutions to a wider audience,\u201d said Sudhesh Giriyan, chief operating officer, Xpress Money.\n\nTerraPay has also partnered with Paga, Nigeria\u2019s pioneering payments and financial services company and Selcom, a leading mobile money aggregator in Tanzania to launch cross border remittances to mobile money accounts in Nigeria and Tanzania, respectively.", "output": "Mobile payments wallet TerraPay will partner with Xpress Money to enable real-time international money transfers to African mobile wallets beginning in Nigeria, before a wider roll-out. As well as helping migrant workers send money securely to friends and family, the deal is also set to lower costs for customers and increase inclusion, according to Ambar Sur, CEO of TerraPay. She said: \"In Africa today, mobile wallets are seen as a virtual bank account that enable customers to pay bills and transact. They work exceptionally well in places where the physical network of banks is limited.\""}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UniCredit to begin testing instant payments \n UniCredit is preparing for the roll out of instant payment services to customers in Italy and Germany as it commences testing of EBA Clearing's RT1 real-time platform.\n\nThe Italian bank plans to complete testing and introduce the first wave of services in November, in line with deadlines stipulated by the European Payments Council's Sepa Instant Credit Transfer (\"SCT Inst\") Scheme.\n\n\n\nJan Kupfer, global co-head of transaction banking at UniCredit, comments: \"By providing our customers with payments facilities 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with payers notified of a successful transaction within seconds, we will greatly enhance the effectiveness of our services and increase customer trust. Widespread adoption and new, value-added services that optimise the customer experience will only serve to increase the benefits.\"\n\n\n\nUniCredit is among the 39 funding institutions enabling the development of the new EBA Clearing infrastructure, which will provide a pan-European, real-time payment processing engine working 24 hours a day, every day of the year.\n\n\n\nHays Littlejohn, CEO of EBA Clearing, says: \"At present, close to 30 financial institutions are planning to connect to RT1 in November while another 70 banks are preparing to join in 2018.\"\n\n\n\nFor UniCredit the go-live is seen as an important element in its internal digital transformation programme. The distressed lender is cutting thousands of jobs and closing hundreds of branches in a bid to realise EUR1.1 billion in savings. As part of this, EUR1.6 billion is being pumped into IT investments, including \"digitalisation activities\" and core system updates designed to smooth the transition to online and mobile-centric services.\n\n\n\nSays Kupfer: \"UniCredit's ongoing digital transformation programme will be a further beneficiary of our connection to the new instant payments infrastructure.\"", "output": "Italian bank UniCredit is preparing to test EBA Clearing's RT1 clearing platform, which enables pan-European instant payment services to customers, 24/7, ahead of full roll-out in November. UniCredit is one of 30 financial institutions taking on the EBA platform, with another 70 set to join next year. The test is a crucial part of UniCredit's digitalisation process as it seeks to make \u20ac1.1bn ($1.3bn) savings."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Private equity consortium bids again for payments processor Paysafe \n The scramble to capitalise on the growing trend to shop online is continuing after the payments processor Paysafe received a near-\u00a33bn bid from a private equity consortium eager to gain access to the fast-growing sector.\n\nShares in Paysafe shot to record highs after the announcement of the 590p-a-share offer from the private equity houses Blackstone and CVC, a consortium that has made four approaches for the company since May.\n\nThe offer for Paysafe, a constituent of the FTSE 250 index, comes just weeks after a \u00a37.7bn offer for Worldpay helped to illustrate the consolidation taking place among companies that process online transactions.\n\nThe sector is growing rapidly as people shift from using cash to paying by card and shopping online, which requires card and digital methods of payment. Recent data from the British Retail Consortium found cash was used for fewer than half of all UK retail transactions for the first time in 2015.\n\nBased in the Isle of Man, Paysafe generates around half its business from processing payments for online gambling sites and also operates pre-paid payment cards. It only became large enough to join the FTSE 250 last year, after changing its name from Optimal Payments in 2015.\n\nThe multibillion-pound all-cash bid was announced alongside its own takeover of a Texan processing company, Merchants\u2019 Choice Payment Solutions, which will give Paysafe access to point-of-sale processing. Paysafe is paying $470m for the business.\n\nAs well as Worldpay, which has agreed terms about an offer from its US rival Vantiv, other companies have also been targeted. For instance, a Danish processing company, Nets, has received offers while the French company Worldline is taking over a Swedish rival. Private equity houses are also interested, not only Blackstone and CVC but also Permira, which is taking a stake in a the Swedish business Klarna.\n\nPaysafe said there was no certainty that a formal offer would be made but its largest shareholder, Old Mutual, which owns 10% of its shares, was backing the offer.\n\nCVC would be buying back into a business it had previously sold as it used to own the payments system Skrill, which is now part of Paysafe. Blackstone has less experience in the payments sector although the two investors have worked together in the past, including in Merlin Entertainments, owner of Legoland and the London Eye, which was floated in 2013.\n\n\u201cPrivate equity firms like Blackstone and CVC Partners recognise that businesses like Paysafe have a stronger value proposition than conventional payment cards. They give users a clear overview and control of spending with the convenience and security of a single pin or password. Once customers have been won, additional features and services can be integrated,\u201d said Angus Grierson, head of corporate finance at the financial advisory business LGB.\n\n\n\nThe price is a 34% premium to the average price for the six months to 30 June, Paysafe said. Analysts at UBS said the the deal made sense but that in terms of multiples to earnings \u2013 around 14 times \u2013 it was \u201cnot a particularly high multiple in the context of payments\u201d. Paysafe\u2019s shares were trading at around 580p, just below the offer price.", "output": "Isle of Man-based payments processing firm Paysafe has received a bid for almost \u00a33bn ($3.9bn) from private equity houses Blackstone and CVC, the fourth approach from the consortium since May. FTSE 250  firm Paysafe, which recently acquired Texam firm Merchants\u2019 Choice Payment Solutions for $470m, said its largest shareholder, Old Mutual, had approved the proposal, but said there was no certainty a deal would be made."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Banning polluting engines is important but not enough: academic \n Credit: University of the West of England\n\nFollowing the announcement yesterday that the government plans to ban petrol and diesel cars from 2040 Professor Graham Parkhurst, Director of the Centre for Transport and Society at the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol), says that this announcement is symbolically important.\n\nProfessor Parkhurst comments, \"Given the severe nature of the air quality problem here and now, this announcement is largely symbolic in that respect.\n\n\"The symbolism is important, however, as it confirms that the UK Government has finally accepted the seriousness of the situation, having previously failed to meet its own statutory responsibilities and having fought the need for significant action on air quality though the courts.\n\n\"It will need to be the other measures in the air quality action plan that actually improve urban air quality.\n\n\"Electric vehicles as currently designed would make an important contribution to improving air quality, but they will not completely remove the problem, as vehicle brake linings and tyres also make a significant contribution to particulate matter pollution, which also causes health problems.\n\n\"The UK announcement only affects pure diesel and petrol internal combustion engine-vehicles. Hybrids are excluded.\n\n\"As the Swedish manufacturer Volvo has committed to produce only electric and hybrid vehicles from as soon as 2019 - the first major manufacturer to make such a commitment - then it shows that at least part of the industry could achieve such a switch for new vehicles much more quickly.\n\n\"China is considering tough limits on the share of petrol and diesel sales which could strongly promote alternative fuel cars, as happened in the past in California.\n\n\"As well as hybrid vehicles, sales of internal combustion engine vehicles using gas fuels (natural gas, hydrogen) could continue, although there are barriers to take-up of these fuels that make electric vehicles a better option.\n\n\"The main reason for the cautious approach would appear to be concern about potential increases in the consumer prices of new cars. It is true that battery electric and hybrid vehicles remain considerably more expensive than conventional vehicles. In the case of hybrids this is due to the complexities of having two power systems and the need for further technology to integrate them.\n\n\"Battery electric vehicles are actually simpler than diesel and petrol cars; it is just the battery cost and the scale of production that makes them expensive.\n\n\"With or without this announcement, the days of governments across Europe relying on Fuel Excise Duty as a key source of taxation are ending; a decline that I first observed in a publication in 2002. As electricity for domestic use is the same as for road use, it would not be straightforward to charge tax on it at different rates for different purposes. The most likely alternative is a pay-as-you-drive road user charge, not limited to cities.\n\n\"It would not make sense only to charge for road use in cities or just in places with high congestion. First, the charge would have to be very high if it were only applied in congested places. Second, road use would be so cheap given the current price of electricity that car use would increase sharply if no charge were applied to uncongested roads.\n\n\"It is most likely that road charges will be applied in the context of roads become more of a 'mobility service', with charges being made for allowing travellers to use their vehicles in 'driverless' mode on motorways, possibly in reserved lanes, and/or for charging on the move; trials are underway on the possibility for motorway lanes which allow inductive charging, such as is currently available on a much smaller scale for some battery-powered items such as smartphones and electric toothbrushes.\"\n\nMore information: Parkhurst, G., (2002). The top of the escalator? In Lyons, G., Chatterjee, K., (Eds). Transport Lessons from The Fuel Tax Protests of 2000. Ashgate, Aldershot, 299-321.", "output": "Professor Graham Parkhurst, the director of the Centre for Transport and Society at the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol), has said: \"Given the severe nature of the air quality problem here and now, this announcement is largely symbolic. It will need to be the other measures in the air quality action plan that actually improve urban air quality.\" He added: \"The UK announcement only affects pure diesel and petrol internal combustion engine vehicles. Hybrids are excluded.\"\n\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Spaces opens 5 co-working spaces in LA \n Spaces wants to be the biggest co-working company in Los Angeles.\n\nIf the Dutch brand continues its leasing streak at the same clip, it will succeed. The Regus\u2019 sister company owned by IWG inked five L.A. leases totaling more than 172,033 square feet in the past 12 months \u2014 and a sixth lease in Irvine.\n\nBy the first quarter of 2018, Spaces hopes to have eight outposts in the L.A. area, said Michael Berretta, Spaces\u2019 head of development in North America. The ultimate goal? To have up to 20 spread out across the region.\n\nOwned by IWG, Spaces is an affiliate of Regus, which now has 48 locations in L.A., according to Berretta.\n\nSpaces\u2019 L.A. County leases include 30,000 square feet at the Fairfax Business Center at 145 S. Fairfax Avenue; 27,000 square feet at 730 Arizona Avenue in Santa Monica; 51,000 square feet at The Row in the Arts District; 17,300 square feet at the Park Calabasas at 4500 Park Granada; and 47,000 square feet at a loft office at 10100 Venice Boulevard in Culver City. The Fairfax location is the only one already open.\n\nSign Up for the undefined Newsletter SIGN UP By signing up, you agree to TheRealDeal Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.\n\nSpaces worked with CBRE\u2019s Danny Rainer, John Zanetos, and Matt Heyn on the leases.\n\nAll the leases have at least 10-year terms, Berretta said. Spaces declined to disclose the value of the leases, but sources told TRD that its Culver City location \u2014 the biggest site \u2014 is valued at about $22 million based on a $3.85 asking rent.\n\n\u201cNobody has the amount of overall locations as we do,\u201d he told The Real Deal, referring to Spaces- and Regus-branded offices combined.\n\nWeWork, which just inked a fresh lease of its own in Charles Cohen\u2019s Pacific Design Center campus, now has more than 15 locations in L.A.\n\nThe Spaces-Regus brands have one competitive edge over WeWork, Berretta said, and it\u2019s the two niches that they offer clients: While Spaces features open plans and a myriad of collaboration zones, Regus is more office-intensive and feels more corporate.", "output": "Regus' sister company, Spaces, is looking to become the biggest co-working company in Los Angeles. In the past 12 months, IWG owned Spaces has leased five LA facilities, totaling more than 172,033 square feet. By early 2018, Spaces is looking to have 8 locations in Los Angeles, and aim to spread up to 20 across the region.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "P&G adds MediaMath to demand-side platform roster \n Procter & Gamble has anointed MediaMath as the next demand-side platform in its growing DSP roster.\n\nP&G is also working with The Trade Desk, and with Neustar as its global data management platform.\n\nOn Tuesday, MediaMath revealed that it had received a $175 million credit facility led by Goldman Sachs with participation from Santander Bank. MediaMath will use the money to refinance old debt and fund growth goals.\n\nThe fresh credit line undoubtedly will come in handy as MediaMath begins to service its new demanding client and pushes forward with its own product innovation road map.\n\nWhen P&G parted ways with AudienceScience in May after seven years, it planned to embrace a multiplatform programmatic strategy that decentralizes buying responsibilities across multiple DSPs.\n\nIt didn\u2019t take long for P&G\u2019s new programmatic vision to have an impact on AudienceScience.\n\nThe DSP-cum-DMP, which powered P&G\u2019s in-house trading desk, Hawkeye, was forced to shut up shop last week, less than a month after its largest client walked away from their longtime relationship.\n\nAlthough AudienceScience\u2019s contract wasn\u2019t supposed to end until June 30, the company confirmed to AdExchanger on June 1 that it had gone into receivership and suspended worldwide operations.\n\nWhen the news first broke that the CPG giant was taking its programmatic buying business elsewhere and ending its contract with AudienceScience, P&G spokeswoman Tressie Rose explained the move as a way to bring \u201cflexibility\u201d to the organization.\n\nAlthough Neustar will act as P&G\u2019s \u201cmultiregion\u201d DMP, embracing multiple demand-side platforms such as MediaMath and The Trade Desk enables marketing managers in the 50-plus countries where P&G buys programmatically to make their own decisions.\n\nIt\u2019s unclear exactly what role MediaMath will play, but it appears that it will be another buying option for P&G marketing folks in local markets who can choose to use either it, The Trade Desk or perhaps other DSPs P&G might decide to bring into the fold.\n\nAudienceScience was hamstrung by P&G\u2019s need to make global tech decisions that applied across all local markets. The bureaucracy slowed down innovation.\n\nBut it\u2019s unclear if P&G\u2019s new strategy will actually streamline its programmatic media buying process.\n\n\u201cThe notion of trying to manipulate this diverse array of vendors gives the agency something to do, which is great,\u201d a former AudienceScience employee told AdExchanger. \u201cBut it\u2019s missing the point of what programmatic is supposed to be about, which is taking away having to make minuscule decisions so you can focus on more core and elemental things, like getting a consistent measurement strategy across global markets and executing in a localized capability.\u201d\n\nP&G did not respond to a request for confirmation in time for publication.\n\nUpdate: Both P&G and MediaMath confirmed their new relationship on Thursday.", "output": "Procter & Gamble has added programmatic marketing firm MediaMath to its demand-side platform (DSP) roster, after AudienceScience went into receivership in June. Separately, Goldman Sachs and Santander Bank have provided a $175m credit facility to MediaMath, which plans to use the funding to refinance its older debt and expand. The addition of MediaMath\u00a0to P&G\u2019s operations is part of P&G\u2019s multiplatform programmatic strategy, which focuses on decentralising buying responsibilities.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trump announces ban on transgender people serving in US military \n Story highlights The decision reversed a policy approved by the Obama administration Trump made his announcement in a series of tweets Wednesday morning\n\nWashington CNN \u2014\n\nPresident Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he plans to reinstate a ban on transgender individuals from serving \u201cin any capacity\u201d in the US armed forces.\n\nThe decision reversed a policy initially approved by the Defense Department under President Barack Obama, which was still under final review, that would allow transgender individuals to openly serve in the military. Defense Secretary James Mattis announced last month that he was delaying enactment of the plan to begin allowing transgender individuals to join the US military.\n\nAfter consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow...... \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017\n\n....Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming..... \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017\n\n....victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you \u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 26, 2017\n\n\u201cAfter consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military,\u201d Trump said in a series of tweets Wednesday morning. \u201cOur military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.\u201d\n\n\u201cThank you,\u201d he added.\n\nBut Trump\u2019s decision came without a plan in place to implement it.\n\nWhite House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders did not have an answer on what would happen to active transgender military members but said the White House and the Defense Department would work together \u201cas implementation takes place and is done so lawfully.\u201d\n\nSanders said transgender service \u201cerodes military readiness and unit cohesion\u201d citing health costs. She said the move was based on a \u201cmilitary decision\u201d and is \u201cnot meant to be anything more than\u201d that.\n\nSanders said the decision was made based \u201con what was best for the military\u201d and was made in council with the President\u2019s national security team.\n\nAsh Carter, the Defense secretary under Obama, ended the ban on transgender people serving openly in the military in 2016, but allowed for a year-long review process to allow the Pentagon to determine how it would accept new transgender recruits into the military.\n\nOn the eve of that one-year deadline, Mattis announced that he was delaying the implementation of the new policy, saying he needed more time.\n\n\u201cSince becoming the Secretary of Defense, I have emphasized that the Department of Defense must measure each policy decision against one critical standard: will the decision affect the readiness and lethality of the force?\u201d Mattis said in a memo late last month. \u201cPut another way, how will the decision affect the ability of America\u2019s military to defend the nation? It is against this standard that I provide the following guidance on the way forward in accessing transgender individuals into the military Services.\u201d\n\nA 2016 Rand Corp. study commissioned by the Defense Department concluded that letting transgender people serve openly would have a \u201cminimal impact\u201d on readiness and health care costs, largely because there are so few in the military\u2019s 1.3 million-member force.\n\nThe study put the number of transgender people in the military between 1,320 and 6,630. Gender-change surgery is rare in the general population, and the RAND study estimated the possibility of 30 to 140 new hormone treatments a year in the military, with 25 to 130 gender transition-related surgeries among active service members. The cost could range from $2.4 million and $8.4 million, an amount that would represent an \u201cexceedingly small proportion\u201d of total health care expenditures, the study found.\n\nTrump\u2019s decision marks a setback for LGBT rights groups who have expressed concerns that the Trump administration could chip away at progress the community has seen in recent years on the backs of a series of landmark decisions in recent years that have included the legalization of same-sex marriage nationwide and a repeal of the ban on gay people openly serving in the military.\n\nTrump\u2019s decision is also another setback for the transgender community following his decision several months ago to reverse an Obama administration policy allowing transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice.\n\nThe announcement was immediately criticized by LGBT leaders and civil rights groups.\n\nThe American Civil Liberties Union called the decision \u201coutrageous and desperate\u201d and said it was exploring ways to fight the policy shift.\n\n\u201cLet us be clear. This has been studied extensively, and the consensus is clear: There are no cost or military readiness drawbacks associated with allowing trans people to fight for their country. The President is trying to score cheap political points on the backs of military personnel who have put their lives on the line for their country,\u201d said Joshua Block, the senior staff attorney with the ACLU\u2019s LGBT & HIV Project.\n\nRep. Dan Kildee, D-Michigan, the vice chair of the congressional LGBT caucus, called Trump\u2019s decision a \u201cslap in the face to the thousands of transgender Americans already serving in the military\u201d and said it \u201cundermines our military\u2019s readiness.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnyone who is willing to put on the uniform of the United States and risk their life in service to our country should be celebrated as patriots, regardless of their gender identity. This short-sighted and discriminatory policy will make America less safe,\u201d said Kildee.\n\nThe Obama administration faced heated criticism from conservatives last year when it announced the repeal of the ban, and several Republican members of Congress have urged the Trump administration to reverse the decision, saying that the decision does not serve the US\u2019 defense interests.\n\nThe President\u2019s decision flies in the face of his 2016 campaign rhetoric, when he said he would be a strong defender of the LGBT community \u2013 and even claimed he would be a better president for LGBT Americans than his opponent, Hillary Clinton.\n\nTrump seized on the terrorist attack at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, as an opportunity to reach out to the LGBT community and promised he would be a better friend to the community than Clinton.\n\n\u201cI will tell you who the better friend is and some day I believe that will be proven out big league,\u201d Trump said.", "output": "President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday his intention to reinstate a ban on transgender individuals serving \u201cin any capacity\u201d in the US military. The decision would reverse a policy approved under President Obama but still under review that would enable such individuals to serve openly. The move marks a further setback for the US transgender community following President Trump\u2019s earlier decision to reverse another Obama policy allowing transgender students to use the toilets of the opposite sex.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Carbon majors including Exxon and Shell sued over sea level rises \n Three Californian communities have launched legal action against some of the world\u2019s biggest oil, gas and coal companies, seeking compensation for the current and future costs of adapting to sea level rises linked to climate change.\n\nSan Mateo and Marin Counties, coastal communities in northern California, and Imperial Beach, a city in San Diego County, have filed complaints against 37 \u201ccarbon majors\u201d, including Shell, Chevron, Statoil, Exxon and Total.\n\nThey claim greenhouse gas emissions from the fossil fuel companies\u2019 activities over the last 50 years have locked in substantial sea level rises, which will cause billions of dollars\u2019 worth of damage to properties and businesses, as well as endangering lives.\n\nAccording to the complaint, the defendants \u201chave known for nearly 50 years years that greenhouse gas pollution from their fossil fuel products has a significant impact on the Earth\u2019s climate and sea levels\u201d. Rather than working to reduce impacts, the complaint claims the companies engaged in a \u201cco-ordinated, multi-front effort to conceal and deny their knowledge of these threats\u201d.\n\nMap of California Map of California.\n\nA spokeswoman for Shell said \u201cwe believe climate change is a complex societal challenge that should be addressed through sound government policy and cultural change to drive low-carbon choices for businesses and consumers, not by the courts.\u201d A spokesman for Statoil said this lawsuit was not the first against the industry and that \u201cprevious cases have been dismissed as [providing energy while meeting climate commitments] is a political, not a judicial, issue\u201d.\n\nExxon and Chevron declined to comment specifically on the litigation. BP and Total did not respond to the Guardian\u2019s request for comment.\n\nClimate change litigation\n\n\u201cThis an unprecedented moment for climate change litigation,\u201d says Sophie Marjanac of campaigning lawyers Client Earth, which is monitoring the case.\n\nCoastal California is already experiencing the effects of rising sea levels, says Deborah Halberstadt, executive director of the state\u2019s Ocean Protection Council which recently released a study (pdf) about the threat of rising seas. \u201cThe rate of ice loss from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets could rapidly accelerate, leading to extreme sea-level rise, [...] with potentially catastrophic impacts for California,\u201d she says.\n\n\n\nSerge Dedina, the mayor of Imperial Beach, a low income coastal community in San Diego County, says that up to 30% of the city could be affected by climate change. \u201cAs the lowest-income, highest poverty-rate city in San Diego County, we have no capacity to pay for the extensive adaptation measures.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s a similar story for Marin County. Within 15 years, says county supervisor Kate Sears, flooding could affect tens of thousands of residents and cause upwards of $15.5bn (\u00a311.9bn) in property damage. \u201cThis lawsuit is intended to shift those costs back where they belong \u2013 on the fossil fuel companies,\u201d she says.\n\n\u201cWe are at the point of no return in fighting climate change,\u201d says San Mateo supervisor Dave Pine, \u201cand if we don\u2019t reduce emissions there will be catastrophic impacts.\u201d Potential property damage in the county is estimated to be in the region of $39bn, with sea level rises set to affect more than 100,000 residents (pdf).\n\nThis isn\u2019t the first time fossil fuel companies have found themselves facing legal action over climate change. Kivalina \u2013 an Alaskan barrier island community of fewer than 400 people \u2013 filed a lawsuit in 2008 against oil companies including BP and Chevron demanding up to $400m for relocating their village in the face of rising sea levels. They were ultimately unsuccessful, with their case dismissed on the basis that it was a political question, not one for the courts.\n\nThe island village of Kivalina. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst / Reuters/Reuters\n\n\u201cThis claim has a better chance,\u201d says Marjanac, \u201cwe have better climate science now.\u201d She also believes the \u201cvacuum in the US at a federal level\u201d when it comes to climate change, may make the state court more willing to step in.\n\nShe does, however, acknowledge there are significant hurdles to success. These include the \u201cutility argument\u201d: that companies are providing energy to the world, something that is demanded and sanctioned.\n\nPressure heating up on carbon majors\n\nWhile all parties acknowledge the claim is likely to be prolonged, awareness raising is an important element. \u201cThis kind of litigation is a vital tool in the spreading effort to force oil companies to change their business models,\u201d says Jeremy Leggett, founder of solar energy company Solarcentury.\n\nExxon, Total, Shell and Statoil are among those already making some shifts away from fossil fuels.\n\nShell\u2019s CEO, Ben van Beurden, announced earlier this month that the company would invest up to $1bn per year in its New Energies division to explore alternative energy. But the energy transition will be \u201cchange that will take place over generations\u201d, he said, not a revolution.\n\nExxon told the Guardian \u201coil and natural gas will remain prominent in meeting global energy\u201d, but a spokesman said the firm is working on alternatives and \u201cinvests about $1bn a year to support a broad portfolio of R&D projects ranging from advanced biofuels to carbon capture.\u201d\n\nTotal has made significant investments including the purchase last year of battery company Saft for $1bn. And Statoil has established Statoil Energy Ventures with $200m in investment capital for four to seven years.\n\nHowever, many campaigners and analysts remain sceptical. \u201cThese investments amount to lip service,\u201d says Kelly Mitchell, climate and energy director for Greenpeace USA, \u201cwhile [fossil fuel companies] dump resources into more fossil fuel projects around the world, lobby politicians and lock us into decades of fossil-fuel infrastructure.\u201d\n\nLeggett sees varying levels of seriousness among the big players. \u201cNo company has admitted the game is up yet. Some have taken out substantial hedged bets in the form of significant investments in clean energy, notably Total and Statoil. Others have dug in, seemingly for a fight to the death,\u201d he says.\n\n\u201cThe bottom line,\u201d says Mitchell, \u201cis that these companies are clinging to an outdated business model that is not compatible with a safe climate and liveable communities.\u201d", "output": "Major oil, gas and coal companies including Chevron, Exxon, Shell, Statoil and Total are facing legal action from three Californian communities seeking compensation for costs caused by adaptation to rising sea levels linked to climate change. The communities, who are filing complaints against 37 \u201ccarbon majors,\u201d argue that the emissions caused by the fossil fuel companies will cause significant rises in sea levels, resulting in billions of dollars\u2019 worth of damage and threats to life. The complainants argue that the companies have been aware of the risk for almost 50 years, but have sought \u201cto conceal and deny\u201d this awareness.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SAERTEX develops world's largest spar cap for wind turbine blade \n Our Philosophy We are committed to helping our customers seize the opportunities presented by the growth of the global composites sector. To achieve this we will be responsive to challenges and dedicated to delivery. Our goal is to be your trusted partner through the development of a dynamic, collaborative, lasting relationship.", "output": "High-performance material developer SAERTEX has aided in the creation of a wind turbine blade prototype that features what may be the thickest, longest carbon fibre spar cap ever made with vacuum infusion technology. Designed by WINDnovation, the spar cap was manufactured to be lighter and stiffer for optimised performance. SAERTEX provided an infusion-optimised carbon fibre with elevated z-permeability. The end result was nearly fault-free, which is essential for supporting the mechanical load of large wind turbine blades."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California quake-broker says it will pay out even if no damage  \n A California broker is promising to bring a \u201cfirst-of-its-kind financial resource\u201d that pays homeowners after an earthquake for a low monthly premium whether there\u2019s damage to the home or not.\n\nA Berkeley, Calif.-based firm called Jumpstart Insurance Solutions Inc. recently made known its plans to launch the new product in late August on its website.\n\nThe Jumpstart site touts that the coming product provides \u201cRevolutionary Coverage with No Deductible, No Exclusions, and No Paperwork.\u201d It also has a disclaimer that the product does not yet exist.\n\nUnder what appears to be a parametric product, which does not indemnify the pure loss but makes a payment upon the occurrence of a triggering event, policyholders pay a monthly amount and are promised they will get paid a set amount automatically if there is an earthquake in their area, even if they do not suffer damage. The payment would be enough to help pay for minor repairs but not be sufficient for a major loss or rebuild.\n\nA spokesperson declined to discuss the firm, its product or what the premium or payout would be prior the launch.\n\nAbout Jumpstart\n\nJumpstart is registered with the California Secretary of State as a benefits corporation. According to the articles of incorporation filed on Nov. 4, 2015, the purpose of this particular benefits corporation is \u201cto generate a general public benefit including, but not limited to, the specific public benefit of increasing economic stimulus after a natural disaster.\u201d\n\nJumpstart is licensed with the California Department of Insurance as a property insurance broker-agent, casualty broker-agent and surplus lines broker. All licenses were issued in 2016 and are still active.\n\nNancy Kincaid, a CDI spokeswoman, couldn\u2019t offer much detail on the broker or the product the firm may be offering.\n\n\u201cThey are properly licensed as a surplus lines broker, but we don\u2019t have any products filed from them with the Department of Insurance,\u201d Kincaid said.\n\nAccording to the Surplus Lines Association of California, Jumpstart received its license on Dec. 7, 2016, but it has not yet submitted any filings to the SLA.\n\nJumpstart and Recoup\n\nJumpstart is headed by Kate Stillwell, who is the founder and CEO. Stillwell is a former structural engineer and earthquake risk consultant. From 2010 to 2012, she was an earthquake products manager for EQECAT Inc., a catastrophe risk modeling firm acquired by California-based data and analytics firm Corelogic in late 2013.\n\nAnother co-founder and advisor on the team is Alan Hampton, who is also the founder and CEO of Recoup Financial, a catastrophe emergency funds startup, which was reportedly acquired by Jumpstart. The Recoup Financial website is currently previewing a product similar to what Jumpstart is promising that gives \u201ccash the day after an earthquake.\u201d Consumers can choose from $1,000 up to $30,000 in coverage as well as select the quake intensity at which they want the funds paid \u2014 all for a small monthly payment that is calculated on the site.\n\nStillwell\u2019s team also includes others with a background in data and risk analysis. Joseph Kim, listed as Jumpstart\u2019s head of technology, was formerly the vice president of software development with RMS, while Michael Shilman, the lead developer, was the former chief technical officer of Lab80.\n\nAccording to Crunchbase, which tracks venture capital activity, Jumpstart received $400,000 in angel funding on Sept. 1, 2016. The investors are listed as Berkeley Angel Network and an undisclosed investor. The Berkeley Angel Network is a group of angel investors who are alumni, faculty and former faculty of U.C. Berkeley. The group has invested in a craft beer company, a business in the healthcare industry, a biotech company and an environmentally friendly product maker.\n\nStillwell\u2019s LinkedIn profile lists her as a graduate of U.C. Berkeley\u2019s Walter A. Haas School of Business.\n\nFinancial Product\n\nTom Larsen, a product architect for Irvine, Calif.-based CoreLogic, which owns EQECAT, is intrigued by what Jumpstart is planning to offer, which he called \u201cpurely a financial product.\u201d\n\nHowever, he emphasized that buyers must be made to realize the risk they are taking by accepting a fixed payout in lieu of compensation for the rebuild value on their homes.\n\nIt\u2019s one thing for a sophisticated buyer, such as a large company, to purchase a parametric product because they often buy a wrap-around type of insurance product to cover their loss from a given peril, he said.\n\nA consumer buying only the parametric product for earthquake is relying on luck, he added.\n\nHe drove home his point about the randomness of damage that occurs from an earthquake and the difficulty knowing just how much coverage will be enough in the event a temblor strikes.\n\nNot all earthquake damage is total, he noted.\n\n\u201cAs a scientist I go to an area after an earthquake has hit and when I see a block of homes, I do not see rubble, rubble, rubble. I see no damage, no damage, oops,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s that uncertainty that your accepting as a buyer for this Jumpstart product.\u201d\n\nQuake Coverage Competitor\n\nThe executive who is the face of the state\u2019s earthquake insurance business has heard about what Jumpstart is trying to do, and he has no problem with it.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve heard of companies like Jumpstart that are exploring offering some sort of parametric product,\u201d said Glenn Pomeroy, CEO of the California Earthquake Authority (CEA).\n\nHe said the product may have a few regulatory hurdles to clear but he welcomes it.\n\nWhile the CEA board has not taken an official stance on parametric products, Pomeroy\u2019s attitude is that the more people in California who are covered for earthquake loss, the better.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s huge uninsured exposure for earthquake in California,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we as the CEA have not tended to view other companies that are out there as competitors. Whether someone buys a policy from us or coverage from someone else, we think that\u2019s a good thing.\u201d\n\nA little over 10 percent of California homes have earthquake insurance, according to the California Department of Insurance. This makes California\u2019s market ripe for firms like Jumpstart, Pomeroy said.\n\n\u201cUninsured risk invites innovation,\u201d he said.\n\nBoth Larsen and Pomeroy see the upside in Jumpstart\u2019s business model being that the firm can offer products cheaply because of low overhead.\n\n\u201cThey can put a fair amount of coverage out there cheaply because they don\u2019t have all the cost of underwriting or claims adjusting,\u201d Pomeroy said.\n\nTopics California Catastrophe Agencies Earthquake", "output": "California start-up Jumpstart Insurance Solutions has offered an insurance product to homeowners in the state that would guarantee a fixed payout in the event of an earthquake\u00a0for a low monthly premium. According to Jumpstart's website, the yet-to-be-launched parametric product will pay out even if there is no damage to a homeowner's property. While some are sceptical about offering fixed payouts instead of full rebuild compensation, Glenn Pomeroy, the CEO of the California Earthquake Authority, welcomes the idea of more homes having some form of cover as currently\u00a0only just over 10% of California homes have earthquake insurance.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New funding round values robo-adviser Betterment at $800m \n Jon Stein, Betterment CEO. Betterment\n\nBetterment, the largest independent roboadviser, announced Friday morning a new round of funding that would bring the firm's valuation to $800 million.\n\nThe $70 million funding round was led by Kinnevik, a Swedish investment company. Other investors in this round included Menlo Ventures, a California-based venture capital firm, and Francisco Partners, a California-based private equity firm.\n\nBetterment was previously valued at $700 million during a capital raise in March 2016, according to a news release.\n\nSince then, the firm has grown its assets under management by $6 billion, expanded its offerings to included human financial advisers, and has taken its first step towards offering a sustainable investment portfolio.\n\n\"Our business has changed a lot, in one sense,\" Stein said in a recent interview with Business Insider. \"But in another sense, we are doing the same thing we have always been doing \u2014 that is, thinking about the customer and what the customer wants, and then building financial services in a way that actually responds to customer demands, which I think is not the way the old guard has done things.\"\n\nBetterment provides financial advice online and via a smartphone app. Rather than using human managers to build portfolios, roboadvisers like Betterment use algorithms to determine where to invest.\n\nBetterment's growth has been impressive, but it still faces steep competition. The wealth-management space has caught on that roboadvisers are hot, and many big firms have rolled out their own robo offerings. Charles Schwab and Vanguard are two such giants with trillions of dollars in assets under management.", "output": "Independent robo-adviser Betterment has raised $70m in a funding round led by Swedish investment company Kinnevik and featuring participation from Menlo Ventures and PE firm Francisco Partners. The latest round takes Betterment's value to $800m, up from its previous valuation of $700m in March last year, with assets under management of $6bn. The company offers financial advice online and via a smartphone app, while also employing human financial advisers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Compulsory travel insurance in Middle East set to boost sector \n Growth is expected to spike in the Middle East travel insurance market, as more countries in the region are imposing compulsory travel insurance requirements on visitors to mitigate the risk of health related expenses.", "output": "The rise in the number of governments insisting upon mandatory travel insurance is expected to give the sector a boost, especially in the Middle East, where countries including Turkey and Saudi Arabia have followed the global trend. \"An uninsured visitor or tourist can be a major liability for state health care systems,\u201d said Mahesh Anchan, the COO of travel services company Vasco Worldwide, who added that traditional cover provided by holiday companies was not as effective as full travel insurance policies.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brokers group unveils app it says will cut claims times by 90% \n Trade body teams up with Insure Apps on new InsurTech offering with aim to reduce claims reporting time and costs.\n\nThe British Insurance Brokers\u2019 Association (Biba) has launched a smartphone app facility with Insure Apps which it said can reduce the average claims reporting time of 23 days by up to 90 percent.\n\nThe trade body noted that the app, called Claims Made Easy, would also significantly reduce claims costs, adding that it is available to Biba members at discounted rates.\n\nAccording to Biba the app utilises technology to speed up, standardise and streamline the claims process, and provides an", "output": "The British Insurance Brokers\u2019 Association (Biba) has launched an app called Claims Made Easy, which it\u00a0said can reduce the average claims reporting time of 23 days by 90%. The app streamlines and standardises the claims process, and enables users to record GPS information, police, witness, and third party details, photographs and any other information required when making a claim. It also helps brokers\u00a0deal with late and inaccurate reporting of commercial motor and fleet claims. Claims Made Easy is available at a discount price to Biba members.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Halliburton begins Radian geosteering service \n Sperry Drilling, a Halliburton business, has released its RadianTM azimuthal gamma ray and inclination service \u2013 a geosteering solution that provides real time, high quality borehole images and continuous inclination measurements. This information helps operators accurately place the wellbore in the sweet spot for increased production and lower costs per BOE in unconventional plays.\n\nThe Radian service uses four highly sensitive gamma ray detectors that are arranged evenly around the circumference of the tool to generate real time azimuthal images, whether rotating or not, for greater reservoir insight. This provides operators with enhanced data to assist in real time geosteering decision making for optimal well placement and better reservoir contact, even when drilling with a mud motor. The optional inclinometer package continuously monitors the orientation of the well and helps minimise wellbore tortuosity.\n\nThe Radian tool design is compatible with all drilling systems, including high torque motors and rotary steerable systems. For maximum flexibility, the tool can run standalone or positioned anywhere in the bottom hole assembly in combination with any Sperry Drilling M/LWD service. Applications include high pressure, high temperature environments up to 20 000 psi (138 MPa) and 347\u00b0F (175\u00b0C).\n\nIn the Bakken shale play, where there is little gamma ray contrast between formation layers, an operator recently deployed the Radian service and gained greater insight into the stratigraphic movement of the wellbore. Unlike conventional gamma ray tools, the superior borehole images from the Radian service revealed previously unseen features, giving the operator a clearer understanding of the geological structure and position of the well. This resulted in cost savings by avoiding more expensive LWD options.\n\n\u201cWe developed the Radian service to provide operators with greater reservoir insight compared to traditional gamma ray tools,\u201d said Lamar Duhon, vice president of Sperry Drilling. \u201cIn collaboration with our customers, we engineered this solution to deliver real time, high quality gamma ray images to help our customers make better geosteering decisions for optimal wellbore placement and maximum reservoir contact. It is aimed at helping operators achieve greater production and lower costs especially in unconventional reservoirs.\u201d", "output": "Oilfield service provider Halliburton\u2019s subsidiary, Sperry Drilling, has launched a Radian geosteering service that uses gamma ray detection to provide real-time azimuthal borehole images and continuous inclination measurements. The service will allow operators to place wellbores more accurately for reservoir contact and to reduce costs per BOE. The Radian tool, which uses four gamma ray detectors, is compatible with all drilling systems, and can be used alone or positioned in bottom holes alongside other Sperry Drilling services."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Online agents take 5% share of UK residential sales in Q2 \n Post navigation\n\nThere has been a \u201csignificant shift\u201d towards using online agents, a new report on the housing market claims.\n\nIt says that in the second quarter of this year, they increased their market share by 57% compared with the same period last year.\n\nBut despite the dramatic uplift, they nevertheless had only 5% of the overall market between April and June.\n\nAnd despite oft-repeated claims by online firms to sell homes more quickly than the average, the report says they actually take longer in terms of the time between \u2018selling\u2019 and completion.\n\nIt says that in the second quarter of this year, high street agents exchanged on 265,192 homes, compared with 12,583 exchanges by online agents.\n\nThe new report is from customer intelligence firm TwentyCi, and is the first in what is intended to be a quarterly series.\n\nThe company claims to have a 99.6% view of both the property sales and rental markets, and compares each quarter\u2019s performance with the same timespan a year ago.\n\nIt says its reports are driven by data, and not by survey or sentiment.\n\nIts first report says that the UK housing market is \u201csurprisingly buoyant\u201d, with the number of exchanges up 6.3% year on year, and up 28% on the first quarter of the year.\n\nAltogether, it says there were some 278,000 exchanges in the second quarter.\n\nThe report includes some interesting maps, showing the overall number of moves \u2013 into both purchased properties and rental accommodation \u2013 per region.\n\nIn most regions the numbers were up, but in London, the east midlands and East Anglia the numbers were down.\n\nThe report is here \u2013 and seems more interesting than most:\n\nhttp://insight.twentyci.co.uk/twentyci-national-homemover-audit-q2-2017", "output": "Online estate agents increased their market share of UK residential sales by 57% YoY in Q2 2017, but still commanded just 5% of the overall market for the period, according to a report by customer intelligence firm TwentyCi. It said high street agents exchanged on 265,192 homes during Q2, compared with 12,583 online exchanges, and disputed the idea that online completions were quicker."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Robotic sensor-laden 'eel' helps detect water pollution \n The robotics researchers at Switzerland's \u00c9cole Polytechnique F\u00e9d\u00e9rale de Lausanne (EPFL) have produced some truly impressive (and creepy) animal-inspired droids over the years. Following in the footsteps of the team's robotic turtles, grasshoppers and crocodiles comes the Envirobot, a robotic eel built to snake through contaminated water to find the source of pollution.\n\nEnvirobot can be controlled remotely or swim on its own, measures 1.5 meters long (5 ft) and is made up of individual modules that each house a small electric motor. These motors are what changes the robot's curvature, enabling it to snake smoothly through the water without stirring up mud or annoying aquatic life.\n\nMeanwhile, some of these modules contain sensors to measure things like conductivity and temperature, while others contain chambers designed to fill up with water. Those that fill up with water also house bacteria, small crustaceans and fish cells, which work as biological sensors.\n\nEnvirobot measures 1.5 meters long (5 ft) EPFL\n\nBy watching how these organisms respond to the water as it enters the chamber, the operators can get a read on what kind of pollutants are in the water and its toxicity in general. For now, the team has only tried this out in the lab, where it says it was shown to be highly effective.\n\n\"For example, we developed bacteria that generate light when exposed to very low concentrations of mercury,\" says Jan Roelof van der Meer, Project Coordinator and Head of the Department of Fundamental Microbiology at the University of Lausanne. \"We can detect those changes using luminometers and then transmit the data in the form of electrical signals.\"\n\nAnother example of these biological sensors involves the use of Daphnia, which are tiny crustaceans less than 5 mm (0.20 in) whose movement is affected by water toxicity. Two of Envirobot's modules contain the Daphnia, one in clean water and one in water taken in while it swims around. By tracking the movement of the creatures in each tank, the team can gain an indication of the water's toxicity.\n\nEnvirobot has been trialed in Lake Geneva, where one recent exercise was designed to test its ability to track changes in water conductivity. The team did this by pumping salt into a specific area close to the shore and setting Envirobot free, where it successfully mapped the variations in conductivity resulting from the salt and created a temperature map of the area.\n\nEnvirobot has been trialed in Lake Geneva EPFL\n\nThat is as far as the team has got for now, with further tests involving the biological sensors and real contaminants still a little ways off. But eventually, it imagines the Envirobot either following a preprogrammed path or following the direction of increasing water toxicity to autonomously zero in on the source of pollution.\n\n\"We obviously can't contaminate a lake like we do the test water in our lab,\" says van der Meer. \"For now, we will continue using salt as the contaminant until the robot can easily find the source of the contamination. Then we will add biological sensors to the robot and carry out tests with toxic compounds.\"\n\nYou can hear from van der Meer and see Envirobot in action in the video below.\n\nSource: EPFL", "output": "Researchers at \u00c9cole Polytechnique F\u00e9d\u00e9rale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland have developed the Envirobot, which is able to find the source of pollution in contaminated water. The robot measures 1.5 metres in length and does not disturb mud or local aquatic life. The robot has chambers designed to fill with water that can be analysed for levels of toxicity, using biological sensors. One example of these biological sensors is Daphnia, tiny crustaceans\u00a0whose movement are affected by water toxicity.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Healthcare transportation service Circulation raises $10.5m \n Circulation, a Boston, MA-based on-demand provider of non-emergency healthcare transportation has raised $10.5 million in Series A funding co-led by Flare Capital Partners and The Providence Service Corporation. The round also includes participation from Boston Children\u2019s Hospital, Echo Health Ventures (a strategic collaboration of Cambia Health Solutions and Mosaic Health Solutions), Intermountain Healthcare Innovation Fund (a strategic investment vehicle of Intermountain Healthcare, managed by Healthbox), Humana, NextGen Venture Partners and the world\u2019s leading healthcare diagnostics company.\n\nAccording to the Transportation Research Board, up to $3 billion is spent annually by Medicaid on non-emergency medical transportation. It is estimated that 33 percent of non-emergency medical transportation rides are funded inappropriately.\n\nFounded in 2016 by John Brownstein, PhD and Robin Heffernan, PhD, CEO of Epidemico, Circulation provides patients, caregivers and hospital staff a seamless, superior overall experience. Hospital transportation coordinators can schedule and manage on-demand rides that are affordable and tailored around patients \u2013 all from one convenient interface. Coordinators can update patient information files with transportation scheduling information, ensure physicians, nurses and caregivers are notified when patients arrive for appointments, and receive alerts on Circulation\u2019s centralized multi-patient dashboard \u2013 all in real-time.\n\nInitially piloting at Boston Children\u2019s Hospital, Mercy Health System\u2019s three acute-care hospitals and all-inclusive care program for the elderly in Pennsylvania, and Nemours Children\u2019s Health System in Wilmington, Delaware, Circulation\u2019s service has almost 50 clients across 1,000 top-tier hospitals, clinics, community health centers, and other healthcare facilities nationwide. It has also reported major industry advancements in cost savings, patient satisfaction ratings, and appointment adherence improvements. The company recently signed a partnership with Uber to become their preferred healthcare platform partner.\n\n\u201cOur focus on improving critical access to healthcare services and better patient outcomes is stronger than ever,\u201d said Robin Heffernan, Ph.D., Circulation CEO in a statement. \u201cWe\u2019ve proven how Circulation can significantly increase patient satisfaction rates while simultaneously cutting ride costs by up to 70% \u2013 a clear benefit for our healthcare clients and their populations served.\u201d\n\nThe startup plans to utilize the latest round of funding to accelerate Circulation\u2019s on-demand transportation expansion and growth across the country.", "output": "Boston-based start-up Circulation has raised $10.5m in a series A funding round, co-led by Flare Capital Partners and the Providence Service Corporation. Founded in 2016, Circulation provides non-emergency healthcare transportation and has built up almost 50 clients across 1,000\u00a0hospitals\u00a0by helping\u00a0transport coordinators to schedule and manage affordable and tailored transportation for patients. The new funds will be used to speed up Circulation's national expansion.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Metromile launches Ava, an AI-powered claims processing assistant \n Utilizing Metromile Pulse sensor data, AVA can reconstruct the accident scene and instantly determine if claim details are accurate. If verified, the claim can be approved within seconds and AVA notifies the customer of the expedited claim. Depending on the method chosen by the customer, payment can be in their bank account within days of filing. Behind the scenes, Metromile has a team of data scientists utilizing machine learning capabilities and continuously teaching AVA new skills to further expedite the claims process.\n\n\"We strive to provide a fair, accurate and seamless claims experience. Instead of relying on traditionally complex processes to handle customers' claims, our machine learning platform removes the friction associated with getting your car back as soon as possible. The future of insurance is frictionless and fairly priced, which is all enabled by smart use of data.\" said Dan Preston, CEO at Metromile. \"AVA enables us to automate traditional claims handling tasks, allowing our adjusters to do what they do best, service our customers.\"\n\nWhen AVA does flag details that need to be further reviewed, Metromile's in-house claims team is equipped with internally developed software that helps them investigate and close the claim quickly and fairly.\n\nAt launch, AVA will only be available for certain claim types, with expanded eligibility and advanced automated features rolling out in the coming months.\n\nIn September 2016, Metromile announced their series D funding of $192 million and acquisition of Mosaic Insurance enabling them to underwrite policies and transform their entire claims process. In addition, the company has:\n\nTransferred their book of business to be underwritten by Metromile (from NGIC) and brought claims handling in-house.\n\nReleased first-of-its-kind dynamic online \"first notice of loss.\" Customers can file their entire claim from their mobile phone, without needing to call an adjuster.\n\nMetromile's pay-per-mile car insurance saves low mileage drivers $500 on average each year. In addition, Metromile's smart driving app and in-car telematics device give customers visibility into their car's general health and usage, as well as pinpoint their car's exact location via the vehicle locator, and help customers avoid parking tickets via the app's street sweeping alerts (in select cities). Metromile's pay-per-mile insurance is currently available in seven states, including Calif., Ill., N.J., Ore., Pa., Va., and Wash., and the company is focused on offering pay-per-mile insurance nationwide.\n\nFor more information about Metromile, visit metromile.com or follow Metromile on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.\n\nAbout Metromile\n\nMetromile is revolutionizing car insurance through technology with its pay-per-mile insurance model. By offering affordable car insurance, transparent pricing based on the miles you actually drive, data to optimize how you use your car, and instant access to detailed vehicle diagnostics via the driving app, Metromile is transforming car insurance \u2014 and car ownership \u2014 to be more intelligent, seamless, and accessible than ever before.\n\nSOURCE Metromile\n\nRelated Links\n\nhttp://metromile.com\n\n", "output": "US pay-per-mile insurance company Metromile has launched an artificial intelligence claims assistant called Ava, a machine learning-backed automated system that the company said will provide a \"fair, accurate and seamless claims experience\". Using Metromile's sensor data, Ava will determine the veracity of a claim by reconstructing the accident scene, with successful claims approved in seconds. Initially Ava\u00a0covers only certain claim types, but the company expects to expand and roll out more features in the coming months, including instant payments and assisting with arranging repairs."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "KPMG Australia hires Lisa Bora for marketing advisory business \n KPMG Australia has announced the appointment of Lisa Bora (pictured above) to lead the sales transformation for its new specialist customer, brand and marketing advisory business.\n\nBora joins KPMG from Google, where she has worked as a senior executive for the past five years, most recently leading Google Australia and New Zealand\u2019s new business division.\n\nFurthermore, Bora has more than 20 years\u2019 experience leading marketing for organisations including News Corp, Voyages Hotels & Resorts and Village roadshow.\n\nAs the partner leading KPMG\u2019s sales transformation consulting, Lisa will work with the firm\u2019s clients to ensure all their customer touch points are delivering and delighting customers\u2019 expectations; that distribution channels are effective and future-proofed for digital disruption; and that they are building new business partnerships and marketing and sales operations for future-oriented consumer behaviours.\n\nBora will be responsible for building a sales transformation team focusing on areas such as technology choices, data integration, full marketing and sales supply chain reviews, loyalty program and customer service and packaging reviews, and driving alignment of chief marketing officer), chief technology officer and chief sales officer disciplines within business which are often operating in silos.\n\nPaul Howes, partner in charge of KPMG\u2019s customer, brand and marketing advisory, said: \u201cLisa specialises in adapting organisations\u2019 sales and marketing strategies though digital disruption and organisational change.\n\n\u201cShe has a strong history of successfully driving new ways of business, new partnerships, new revenue and new distribution channels, which is exactly what our clients are looking for from our new business.\u201d\n\nCommenting on her new role, Bora said sales transformation is about putting the customer at the centre of your business by ensuring marketing, sales and distribution are aligned for profit building.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s about making marketing operate as a profit and insight centre for a business, rather than a cost centre,\u201d she explained.\n\n\u201cBeing at the heart of driving this change across marketing, sales and distribution channels is what attracted me to KPMG.\n\n\u201cThe opportunity to build a business and new practice that is heavily integrated into an overall business transformation journey, which is KPMG\u2019s strength, is exhilarating.\n\nBora commences her new role with KPMG on Monday 28 August.\n\nLaunched last month, KPMG\u2019s new practice now has a combined team of 46 specialists, including seven partners.\n\nIts suite of services include customer experience strategy, customer experience design, customer journey, sales and channel transformation, marketing and product transformation, service transformation and customer insights.", "output": "Former Google Australia senior executive Lisa Bora has been confirmed as KPMG Australia's leader of sales transformation consulting for its new customer, brand and marketing advisory business. Bora will be responsible for developing a sales transformation team and facilitating closer working between the chief marketing officer, chief technology officer and chief sales officer. The\u00a0sales transformation team will\u00a0focus\u00a0on technology choices, data integration, marketing and sales supply chain reviews and\u00a0loyalty programmes. She takes up the position on 28 August.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How much are health IT groups spending on lobbying efforts? \n The number of groups lobbying Congress on the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act has decreased to 58 in the second quarter, compared to 81 from the same period in 2016, according to the Politico Morning eHealth newsletter.\n\nOrganizations have spent just over $18 million in the past three months on lobbying efforts for MACRA, compared to more than $27 million in the same period last year.\n\nHere are 12 notable lobbying contributions from health IT groups in the second quarter, as reported by the Politico Morning eHealth newsletter.\n\n1. Munich, Germany-based Siemens: $1,010,000\n\n2. San Francisco-based McKesson: $212,000\n\n3. Watertown, Mass.-based athenahealth: $180,000\n\n4. Euless, Texas-based Federation of State Medical Boards: $150,000\n\n5. Washington, D.C.-based Alliance for Connected Care: $75,000\n\n6. Purchase, N.Y.-based Teladoc: $50,000\n\n7. Chicago-based Allscripts: $46,800\n\n8. Washington, D.C.-based Health IT Now: $40,000\n\n9. Verona, Wis.-based Epic: $36,000\n\n10. North Kansas City, Mo.-based Cerner: $30,000\n\n11. La Jolla, Calif.-based West Health Institute: $20,000\n\n12. Ann Arbor, Mich.-based College of Healthcare Information Management Executives: $15,000\n\nMore articles on health IT:\n\nGAO: 3 reasons patients don't like EHRs, portals\n\nNebraska, Nevada, Utah connect HIEs for Patient Centered Data Home\n\nHouse bill would reorganize DHS, create Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency", "output": "The number of groups lobbying Congress on the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act has decreased to 58 in the second quarter, compared to 81 from the same period in 2016, according to the Politico\u00a0Morning eHealth\u00a0newsletter.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Yes, we can lower sky-high drug prices \u2014 other countries have done it \n Scott Gottlieb, head of the Food and Drug Administration, wasted no time in his opening remarks at a forum last week on high drug prices.\n\n\u201cThe fact is that too many people can\u2019t afford the medicines that they need,\u201d he declared.\n\nOn that, I hope, we can all agree.\n\nThe trouble is doing something about it.\n\nIn all other developed countries, patients are protected by government authorities overseeing the market for prescription meds, ensuring that prices are reasonable while still allowing drug companies a fair profit.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIn the United States, profit comes before public interest. There are no limits to how much can be charged for a prescription drug, particularly specialty drugs intended for the costliest illnesses.\n\nAs a result, the U.S. is by far the world\u2019s biggest spender on pharmaceutical products, shelling out more than $1,026 annually per person, according to a 2015 report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.\n\nThat\u2019s double the OECD average of $515 and considerably more than economic peers such as Germany ($678), France ($596) and Australia ($590).\n\nTotal U.S. spending on prescription drugs reached $450 billion last year, according to the research firm QuintilesIMS. It could be as high as $610 billion by 2021.\n\nThe FDA has no power to dictate pricing to drug companies. So Gottlieb said last week that the agency will focus on speeding up the approval process for generic meds so consumers have cheaper alternatives to branded drugs. It also wants to encourage greater competition among drug companies to lower prices.\n\n\u201cThese moves would help,\u201d said Peter Hilsenrath, a healthcare economist at the University of the Pacific. \u201cBut I wouldn\u2019t expect really big things to come of it.\u201d\n\nHe pointed out to me that generics already account for about 80% of U.S. drug sales, meaning that faster approval of generic meds wouldn\u2019t exactly be a game changer for the marketplace.\n\n\u201cThe big problem continues to be the prices of patented drugs,\u201d Hilsenrath said.\n\nCase in point: The same day that Gottlieb, a doctor when not running a federal agency, was calling for more affordable drug prices, the FDA gave its blessing to a new hepatitis C medication called Vosevi.\n\nIt\u2019s the latest such drug from Gilead Sciences, which says Vosevi is for people who may not have seen strong results from the company\u2019s other blockbuster hepatitis C pills, Harvoni and Epclusa.\n\nThe San Francisco Bay Area company plans to sell Vosevi for nearly $25,000 a bottle, with three bottles required for 12 weeks of treatment \u2014 a total cost of about $75,000.\n\nThe company is no stranger to envelope pushing when it comes to the cost of its drugs. In 2013, it introduced its first hepatitis C drug, Sovaldi, at a price of $1,000 a pill.\n\nGilead execs argued at the time that the drug cured 98% of hep C patients who took it, so a thousand bucks a pill was still cheaper than treatment for expensive complications the virus can cause, such as liver failure and cancer.\n\nThat may be true. But it\u2019s important to remember that Gilead didn\u2019t do the bulk of the research on Sovaldi. That was done by a pharmaceutical company called Pharmasset, which estimated in 2011 that a 12-week treatment regimen of its hep C drug would cost patients about $36,000.\n\nGilead paid $11.2 billion to acquire Pharmasset in 2012 and immediately decided $36,000 was much too cheap for a hepatitis cure. So it raised the price of a 12-week regimen to $84,000.\n\nThat\u2019s the American way of drug pricing: Whatever the market will bear. Even if patients are treated as hostages.\n\nThe International Federation of Health Plans said last year that a one-month supply of Gilead\u2019s Harvoni pill cost $32,114 on average in the United States. The same amount of the same drug cost $22,554 in Britain, $18,165 in Spain and $16,861 in Switzerland.\n\nHow do other countries do it? Simple, said Jason Doctor, an associate professor at USC\u2019s School of Pharmacy. \u201cDeveloped countries keep their drug prices down through price controls,\u201d he said.\n\nFirst and foremost, other nations offer their citizens universal health coverage, achieved through variations of single-payer insurance systems. Basically, that\u2019s Medicare for everyone, not just seniors.\n\nThis allows the government to keep rising drug prices in check by using its market clout as the biggest buyer of prescription meds.\n\nIncredibly, Medicare has no such negotiating power. The government-run program is forbidden by law from haggling with drug companies over prices.\n\nOther nations also keep a close eye on what pharmaceutical companies charge in drugstores. In Canada, for example, the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board ensures that drug costs \u201care not excessive,\u201d which means companies can\u2019t gouge patients just because they can.\n\nCanada also has a law requiring that breakthrough new drugs like Sovaldi can\u2019t be priced higher than the median price around the world, ensuring that the price for Canadians is fair relative to what people elsewhere are paying.\n\nResearchers have found that U.S. patients can pay as much as 16 times what people in other countries pay for the same drugs.\n\nFree-market types will counter that price controls stifle innovation.\n\n\u201cIf the revenue potential is not there, the company will not take the risk of spending $1 billion getting an early promising molecule to market,\u201d said Patrick Sullivan, a pharmaceutical economist at Regis University in Denver.\n\nThere\u2019s something to that. Then again, how much innovation are big drug companies really responsible for? Pharmasset took most of the risk developing a promising hepatitis C drug. It was only after Gilead acquired the company that corporate greed became the driving force in pricing.\n\nAlso, why should we rely so heavily on innovation by the private sector? Why not restore public-sector science to prominence with a boost in grant-making by the National Institutes of Health?\n\nSuch grants could be funded via potentially billions of dollars in savings from allowing Medicare to negotiate public-sector drug prices.\n\nConsider this: The discovery of insulin in the early 20th century was one of the most important moments in modern medicine. It wasn\u2019t done by a private company. It was primarily the work of a Canadian scientist, Frederick Banting, who would go on to share the Nobel Prize in 1923.\n\nBanting and two colleagues subsequently sold the patent for insulin to the University of Toronto for just $3. The university in turn allowed drug companies to manufacture insulin royalty-free.\n\nIt wasn\u2019t about profit. It was about what was best for society.\n\nToday, drug companies see the global diabetes epidemic as an enormous business opportunity. Insulin prices have more than tripled in recent years.\n\nIt\u2019s not about what\u2019s best for society. It\u2019s about profit.\n\nThere\u2019s our problem.\n\nDavid Lazarus\u2019 column runs Tuesdays and Fridays. He also can be seen daily on KTLA-TV Channel 5 and followed on Twitter @Davidlaz. Send your tips or feedback to david.lazarus@latimes.com.\n\nMORE FROM DAVID LAZARUS\n\nRevised GOP healthcare bill succeeds at making things even worse\n\nIf you\u2019re on a spouse\u2019s health plan, what happens if the worst should happen?\n\nChiropractic treatment, a $15-billion industry, has its roots in a ghost story", "output": "S\u200bcott Gottlieb, head of the Food and Drug Administration, wasted no time in his opening remarks at a forum last week on high drug prices. \u201cThe fact is that too many people can\u2019t afford the medicines that they need,\u201d he declared.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Drug prices: how generics changed the game \n For a time, high drug prices made headlines, and it looked like the issue could be tackled by the Trump administration. But as we all know, efforts to repeal Obamacare have consumed Republicans much of this year.\n\nThe drug problem hasn\u2019t gone away; it\u2019s just lingering in the background. Even the cost of some generic drugs are rising.\n\nFor more than 30 years, Americans have relied on these drugs to give us low-cost options. In the late 1970s, the generic drug scene was sketchy. While generics were legal, proving them safe and effective was tough, and getting them to the consumer was even tougher.\n\n\u201cThere would be sales reps showing up in the summertime at an independent drug store in Anytown, USA,\u201d said pharmacist George Zorich. \u201cThey\u2019d be selling bottles of penicillin out of the trunks of their cars in 100 degree heat.\u201d\n\nRegulation of generics began taking shape in the 1960s, but that wasn\u2019t much help to manufacturers.\n\nBob Billings, a consultant with the generic manufacturer\u2019s trade group, said into the 1980s, companies weren\u2019t sure how long it would take to get approval or even what exactly had to be submitted to get that approval.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s like going on a trip and you don\u2019t have a road map,\u201d Billings said. \u201cYou just have to sort of hope you choose the right roads. You may end up choosing a wrong path, and it could take a long time to get there.\u201d\n\nThe trouble getting generics to market at that time helped explain why only about a third of top-selling brand-name drugs had any generic competition, even though their patents had expired.\n\nTo do something about the growing price of drugs, Congress passed a bill, now known at the Hatch-Waxman Act, that laid out exactly what companies needed for approval and that this process would take the Food and Drug Administration just six months.\n\nPresident Ronald Reagan hailed the legislation as a winner, especially for older Americans.\n\n\u201cSenior citizens require more medication than any other segment of our society. I speak with some authority on that,\u201d joked Reagan. Turning serious, he added, \u201cWith this bill, elderly Americans will have access to safe and effective drugs at the lowest possible cost.\u201d\n\nThe bill shook up the industry immediately. Billings said within a year of passage, generic manufacturers submitted 1,000 applications. Branded companies got longer patent protections for their new drugs, a benefit he said they\u2019ve maximized.\n\n\u201cSome [extensions] were 30 days, some were 40 days,\u201d he said. \u201cMany were three or four years. I just did a real quick adding up of that and got over 1,100 years of patent-term extensions for brand products since Hatch-Waxman came into being.\u201d\n\nBack in 1984, Reagan predicted the bill would save $1 billion over the next decade. In June, the FDA reported generics saved the U.S. more than $1.5 trillion since 2007. As designed, Hatch-Waxman created pharmaceutical competition like we\u2019ve never seen.", "output": "For a time, high drug prices made headlines, and it looked like the issue could be tackled by the Trump administration. But as we all know, efforts to repeal Obamacare have consumed Republicans much of this year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pharmacy group ASHP opposes proposed cuts to Medicare payment rates for drugs \n Proposed cuts to the Medicare payment rates for drugs that hospitals acquire under the 340B Drug Pricing Program, if enacted, could have devastating consequences for the low-income and uninsured patients that receive care from the nation's safety net hospitals, according to ASHP (American Society of Health-System Pharmacists).\n\nThe new rule on outpatient payment rates for hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers, proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, would reduce the reimbursement for drugs acquired through the federal 340B program from average sales price (ASP) plus 6 percent to ASP minus 22.5 percent.\n\n\"The CMS proposal to reduce reimbursement of 340B-purchased drugs has the potential to be very harmful to the sickest and most vulnerable patients by endangering their access to essential healthcare services,\" said ASHP Chief Operating Office and Senior Vice President Kasey K. Thompson, Pharm.D., M.S., M.B.A. \"These changes run counter to the statutory intent of the federal 340B program and will incur a steep cost to the people and the organizations that can least afford it.\"\n\nThe 340B drug-discount program allows community safety net providers -; organizations that serve low-income patients, including critical access, children's, and cancer hospitals -; to provide care for tens of millions of uninsured and underinsured people every year. The discounts allow 340B-eligible entities to provide free or low-cost medications, establish programs to increase medication adherence, and provide additional screening and preventive care services.\n\nASHP is currently gathering member feedback on how this reimbursement change will impact covered entities. ASHP will submit detailed comments outlining the impact of the proposal on ASHP members and their patients and organizations in advance of CMS' September 11 deadline.", "output": "Proposed cuts to the Medicare payment rates for drugs that hospitals acquire under the 340B Drug Pricing Program, if enacted, could have devastating consequences for the low-income and uninsured patients that receive care from the nation's safety net hospitals, according to ASHP (American Society of Health-System Pharmacists).\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Single payer can't happen in California. At least, not right away \n Given the dismal state of healthcare reform in Washington, liberal Californians have rallied around the idea that the state should establish a single-payer program. Although in the future such a system would be workable and desirable, the reality is that at the moment a single-payer bill cannot pass. Fighting for one in the immediate term is a waste of time.\n\nFinancing, first of all, is a heavy lift. In addition to higher state taxes, California would need to channel Medicare and other federal healthcare funding into the single-payer system. Before it can do that, Congress must pass a waiver and the president must sign it \u2014 which isn\u2019t going to happen while Donald Trump is in office.\n\nThe challenge of local political support is just as difficult to meet. Californians need to elect a governor who will sign the legislation. The current one will not do so. So-called \u201cmoderate\u201d or \u201ccorporate\u201d Democrats in the Assembly and state Senate who oppose single payer need to be persuaded that it is in their interest to vote for it. Millions of California voters with relatively good insurance coverage and those on Medicare are fearful of a radical change in their protections.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAnother problem is that the most recent version of the single-payer bill mandates an \u201covernight\u201d approach \u2014 it would put for-profit insurance companies out of business from one year to the next and force all existing public safety net programs to rapidly combine their administrative structures and processes. The prospect of such sudden change will encourage insurance companies to ramp up their already vehement and well-funded opposition. The bureaucratic complexities of the Medi-Cal program, moreover, put into doubt that California could effectively administer a single-payer program on such a short time frame.\n\nSome activists propose placing a single-payer initiative on the next state ballot, but this would be catastrophic.\n\nOvercoming these three difficulties will require advocates to develop broader, deeper and more diverse (in every sense of the word) coalitions, alliances and legislative relationships. It will also require convincing millions of skeptical California voters that state government can run an efficient health insurance system.\n\nMeanwhile, at the national level, Democrats have the daunting task of winning back the House, Senate and the White House. But by 2020, California might just be ready for single payer \u2014 if advocates achieve a string of smaller but important legislative victories to build power.\n\nSuch steps might include: a state individual mandate; a state employer mandate that also covers part-time workers and their dependents; continued guaranteed coverage for children in the country illegally; giving the state insurance commissioner the power to regulate insurance premiums; setting a process to negotiate drug and medical device pricing; administrative reforms to streamline Medi-Cal so that there is less waste and better coordination and continuity of care; engaging the state\u2019s tech sector to assist with such streamlining; advancing nonprofit delivery systems and moving away from fee-for-service practice; and opening up Medi-Cal to everyone, which would effectively create a state public option robust enough to compete on a level playing field against private insurers.\n\nAs to the problem of persuading \u201ccorporate\u201d Democrats to support single payer, one strategy would be to run pro-single-payer candidates in key primaries. The resources of the entire state movement would be concentrated in these campaigns and a movement victory in even one such race would cause deep reflection and rethinking of positions.\n\nSome activists propose placing a single-payer initiative on the next state ballot, but this would be catastrophic. There is no evidence that such an initiative could win in California. The preconditions for a ballot victory simply do not yet exist.\n\nProposition 61 on drug price controls was badly defeated despite a high-profile endorsement from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). The initiative to have the state insurance commissioner regulate premiums was also badly defeated. And then there\u2019s the historic 1994 defeat of Proposition 186, which proposed establishing a single-payer system in California. That went down by a 3-to-1 margin. Insurance companies and Pharma would see a single-payer proposition as an existential threat and spend the money needed to crush yet another health reform initiative. So far, they\u2019ve got a 1.000 batting average.\n\nWe do not need yet another devastating loss. Time, treasure and effort would be better spent winning the series of smaller victories that create the pathway to single payer. And in four years, a substantially stronger single-payer movement could successfully lobby a new Congress and president for federal waivers.\n\nThe fight over the role of government in medical care is not something new. It goes back to the founding of our republic, with passage of the Merchant Marine Act in 1798. More than a century ago, Theodore Roosevelt called for a system of national health insurance. Single-payer advocates have been working for decades. They\u2019ll have to work a few years more.\n\nSteve Tarzynski is a physician and president of California Physicians Alliance.\n\nFollow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook", "output": "Given the dismal state of healthcare reform in Washington, liberal Californians have rallied around the idea that the state should establish a single-payer program. Although in the future such a system would be workable and desirable, the reality is that at the moment a single-payer bill cannot pass. Fighting for one in the immediate term is a waste of time.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "San Diegans Share Concerns Over Healthcare Coverage \n Covered California is warning that under the Republican-proposed Better Care Reconciliation Act, deductibles would skyrocket and instability in the national health care arena could threaten rates in the state.\n\nThough some experts say it is still too early to tell what will happen going forward, many San Diegans are concerned about their health care coverage.\n\nOne woman, who did not want to be identified, told NBC 7 that she only has health care coverage because of the Affordable Care Act.\n\nHer message to lawmakers: \u201cKeep us healthy and safe.\"\n\nIn San Diego's East County, Sen. Joel Anderson (R-38th District) told NBC 7 that many of his constituents are concerned about the cost of health care.\n\nSome who had insurance in the past cannot afford it anymore under Obamacare, he said.\n\n\"Of course, I think we should have access to health care,\" Anderson said. \"But it's got to be in a balanced way that lifts everybody -- it's not just focused on taking from the middle class to give to the poor.\"\n\nIn the wake of the possible instability, health facilities, like City Heights' La Maestra Health Center, are stepping up as much as possible to try and help residents. The center provides medical, dental and mental health services for anyone in need, regardless of their health care coverage.\n\nDirector of Development Corrine Knutson told NBC 7 that the center is preparing to double their capacity.\n\n\"Because we can see such a need in our community, so we can't turn a blind eye to our patients,\" Knutson said.\n\nIn the meantime, all eyes are on the nation's capitol to see what lawmakers will do as they move forward to repeal and possibly replace Obamacare.", "output": "Covered California is warning that under the Republican-proposed Better Care Reconciliation Act,\u00a0deductibles would skyrocket and instability in the national healthcare arena could threaten rates in the state.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Uncertainty Over Obamacare Leaves 2018 Rates In Limbo \n California\u2019s Obamacare exchange scrubbed its annual rate announcement this week, the latest sign of how the ongoing political drama over the Affordable Care Act is roiling insurance markets nationwide.\n\nThe exchange, Covered California, might not wrap up negotiations with insurers and announce 2018 premiums for its 1.4 million customers until mid-August \u2014 about a month later than usual. Similar scenarios are playing out across the country as state officials and insurers demand clarity on health care rules and funding, with deadlines fast approaching for the start of open enrollment this fall.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s insane,\u201d says John Baackes, CEO of L.A. Care Health Plan, which has about 26,000 customers on the California exchange. \u201cHere we are in the middle of July, and we don\u2019t even know what rules we will be operating under for open enrollment. It is not how you want to run a business.\u201d\n\nIndividuals could face sharply higher premiums and fewer choices if more health insurers leave the insurance marketplaces because of lingering uncertainty. State and industry officials around the United States are concerned that the federal government could stop funding so-called cost-sharing subsidies that reduce out-of-pocket costs for people with lower incomes. And they worry the Trump administration won\u2019t enforce the individual mandate that requires people to purchase health coverage or pay a penalty.\n\nAmid those concerns, there was a sense of relief Tuesday among many exchange officials and insurers after the U.S. Senate\u2019s latest attempt to replace the Affordable Care Act failed.\n\nTwo large insurer trade groups bluntly warned last week that parts of the Senate plan were \u201cunworkable\u201d and could plunge the market into chaos. In a letter to the Senate, America\u2019s Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association particularly objected to an amendment by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that would have allowed insurers to sell bare-bones health plans to people who wanted cheaper premiums. That provision, the insurers said, would split the market between the healthy and the sick, driving up costs for people with pre-existing conditions.\n\nIn the Florida exchange market, health insurers have sought an average rate increase of nearly 18 percent. But Florida Blue, the state\u2019s largest health insurer, said those rates would go even higher if the cost-sharing reduction payments disappeared.\n\n\u201cIf cost-share reductions are not approved, then we know that our rates are going to increase probably 20 percent above whatever our submitted rates are going to be,\u201d said Tony Jenkins,\n\nFlorida Blue will stop offering adult dental and vision coverage next year on plans sold to individuals through the Affordable Care Act.\n\nThe actual rate increase for health insurance bought on Obamacare exchanges is considered a trade secret in Florida. But we know the six companies selling individual plans are asking for an average rate increase of 17.8 percent.\n\nFlorida Blue, the state\u2019s largest insurer, will also start telling customers in writing what happens if federal subsidies for their plan go away. Florida Blue may switch you to a different plan, and you would be responsible for the full costs if you keep it. While that\u2019s always been true, it\u2019s now such an actual risk they want to put it in writing for consumers buying a plan.\n\n\u201cAs we prepare for the upcoming Marketplace Open Enrollment season, our goal is be a trusted resource for our members and keep them educated and informed as best we can on their health plans and factors that may affect them,\u201d Florida Blue said in a statement. \u201cOur Marketplace plans that include dental and vision coverage have a very low participation rate across the state and represent less than 0.25 percent of our Marketplace membership. Our decision to discontinue these plans for 2018 was based on the lack of interest in them by our members.\u201d\n\nThe federal government next month is expected to release detailed info on health insurance companies raising their rates by more than 10 percent \u2013 which analysts expect to be most insurance companies across the country.\n\nThe Republicans\u2019 failure to pass that replacement plan did not resolve questions swirling around the current health law.\n\nTuesday, President Trump expressed disappointment in the outcome in the Senate, telling reporters, \u201cWe\u2019ll let Obamacare fail and then the Democrats are going to come to us and they\u2019re going to say, \u2018How do we fix it?\u2019 \u201d\n\nSome Senate Republicans struck a more conciliatory tone, suggesting that lawmakers should work on a bipartisan measure that would help stabilize the individual insurance markets.\n\nSen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, says he plans to hold hearings in the coming weeks on ways to shore up the individual insurance market. Lawmakers may look at creating a new stabilization fund that helps compensate insurers for higher-cost patients. Such a fund would be similar to one that existed during the first three years of the Affordable Care Act exchanges.\n\nSome insurance industry executives welcomed the talk of bipartisanship, but they said action must be taken quickly to resolve key issues affecting consumers.\n\n\u201cWe are running out of time, and we need a resolution on what we are charging for 2018,\u201d says Gary Cohen, vice president of public affairs at Blue Shield of California in San Francisco, the largest Covered California insurer by enrollment.\n\nCohen, who helped launch the exchanges in 2014 as an official in the Obama administration, noted that the Republican bills in both the House and Senate included money for reinsurance that can help lower premiums industrywide. Those provisions are among the \u201cimmediate steps Congress and the Trump administration need to take in order for markets to provide coverage that is affordable,\u201d Cohen says.\n\nLawmakers could also appropriate federal funds for the cost-sharing subsidies, which have a price tag of about $7 billion a year. Those payments, made directly to insurers, help reduce deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs for policyholders who earn up to 250 percent of the federal poverty level. This year, that\u2019s up to about $29,000 for an individual or around $61,000 for a family of four. More than half of the people enrolled in exchanges nationwide qualify for this financial assistance.\n\nWithout it, many people would face annual deductibles of $2,000 or more when visiting the doctor or undergoing medical tests. That would make people far less likely to sign up with participating insurers.\n\nConservatives generally oppose the subsidies, calling them a bailout of the insurance industry and arguing that the Obama administration didn\u2019t have the authority to pay them. Trump has repeatedly threatened to cut off those cost-sharing subsidies as well.\n\nWith the future of cost-sharing subsidies up in the air, some states, including California and Pennsylvania, have allowed insurers to submit two sets of proposed premiums. One filing reflects continued federal funding of those subsidies, and a separate one assumes they are eliminated and their cost is included in health plan premiums.\n\nIn Pennsylvania, premiums next year without the subsidies would increase by an average of 20 percent, compared with 9 percent if they remain intact.\n\nPennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Teresa Miller says the market in her state would be in good shape were it not for the uncertainty over federal policy.\n\n\u201cThe only thing right now keeping everyone on edge is what\u2019s going to happen in Washington, D.C.,\u201d Miller says. \u201cIf things calm down in D.C. and if we don\u2019t see further changes, then Pennsylvania\u2019s market really is stabilizing.\u201d\n\nOn Tuesday, Covered California officials said the two different rate filings its health plans submitted will be released Aug. 1. The exchange may announce that same day what the final premiums are, or it could postpone the decision for several more weeks if Congress has begun to pursue fixes to the ACA.\n\n\u201cThis decision is based on the ongoing federal uncertainty around the repeal and replacement attempts of the Affordable Care Act and the dramatic potential impacts such uncertainty has on the rates and on California consumers,\u201d exchange officials said in a statement.\n\nA recent analysis commissioned by Covered California estimated that premiums for silver-tier plans would jump by 16.6 percent if the federal government stopped paying cost-sharing subsidies. That would be in addition to normal increases meant to cover rising medical costs. An exchange spokeswoman declined to comment further Tuesday, citing the ongoing developments in Washington.\n\nRobert Laszewski, an industry consultant in Virginia and a frequent ACA critic, said the exchange markets aren\u2019t imploding, despite what the Trump administration has often said. But their premiums will continue to rise unless more young and healthy people are persuaded to buy coverage, he said.\n\n\u201cI think most insurance companies will at least break even, or even make a profit, in 2018,\u201d Laszewski says. \u201cCoverage will be \u2018stable,\u2019 but it will stabilize at a horrific premium rate level.\u201d\n\nCopyright 2017 Health News Florida", "output": "California\u2019s Obamacare exchange scrubbed its annual rate announcement this week, the latest sign of how the ongoing political drama over the Affordable Care Act is roiling insurance markets nationwide.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Republicans\u2019 wrong approach to tackling Medicaid \n The high decibel fight in the Senate over Medicaid is one more example\u2014did we need more?\u2014of why lasting changes in social programs require thoughtful legislative deliberation leading to bipartisan consensus. There should be hearings to gather input from all sides and serious debate in committees as well as on the floor. If one party rams through big changes in any program as important as Medicaid, the other party will demonize the result. In the case of Medicaid cuts, arousing public outrage won\u2019t be hard. Individuals and families, state governments, rural hospitals and other health providers will all be vocal about their plight. One wonders why either party would seek such opprobrium when they could be working together on sensible Medicaid reform.\n\nIn defending their Medicaid cuts, Republicans invoke two valid points with which most Democrats agree. First, federal entitlements, especially the big health entitlements, Medicaid and Medicare, are on an unsustainable path. They drive projected growth in federal spending as the population ages and health care becomes more expensive. Policies to reduce the future growth of Medicare and Medicaid\u2014along with Social Security and tax reform\u2014have to be part of any effective effort to keep the debt from growing faster than the economy and contain the burden of debt service as interest rates rise.\n\nSecond, Medicaid is a particularly complex web of federal subsidies that serve multiple purposes and diverse populations. It dominates state budgets, often driving out other needed spending. It has complex, restrictive rules. Its joint state-federal responsibility clouds accountability and federal matching of state spending arguably reduces incentives for state efficiency. In short, Medicaid badly needs rethinking and restructuring.\n\nSo, if Medicaid has to be part of entitlement reform and needs restructuring, aren\u2019t Republicans taking a good first step in replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with a law that makes drastic cuts in Medicaid? No, they are taking the worst possible step, both politically and substantively.\n\nSenator Pat Toomey (R-PA) describes Medicaid growth as \u201cout of control,\u201d noting that Medicaid spending has grown twice as fast as the economy since its creation in the mid-1960s. It is true that Medicaid has gone from .49 percent of GDP to 3.02 percent between 1970 and 2015. In the same period, Medicare spending has grown from .71 percent to 3.58 percent of GDP, and private health spending from 1.44 percent to 5.94 percent.\n\nMedicaid is not out of control; it is health spending, which now accounts for about 18 percent of all spending. Americans are devoting increasing portions of our total resources to health care because medical interventions help patients more than they did in the old days. We all want care, but we have a costly, wasteful, fragmented system for delivering it. We need to accelerate efforts to produce care more efficiently and change our behavior to stay healthier, but cutting care for the neediest is a terrible place to start.\n\nWe need to accelerate efforts to produce care more efficiently and change our behavior to stay healthier, but cutting care for the neediest is a terrible place to start.\n\nMedicaid actually serves comparable patients less expensively than private coverage, because of Medicaid\u2019s low reimbursement to providers and increasing use of managed care. In recent decades, Medicaid spending growth has resulted almost entirely from efforts to increase insurance coverage by expanding Medicaid to new groups\u2014pregnant women and children in the 1990\u2019s and most recently low-income adults without dependents under the ACA. In general, Medicaid\u2019s costs per enrollee have grown more slowly than Medicare or private payers. The ACA expansion population surprised the estimators with higher than expected need for services, but this need is expected to decrease over time. If the objective is to rein in health spending growth (or entitlement growth), Medicaid should be part of the conversation, but not the lead focus.\n\nThere are plenty of sensible Medicaid reforms that could attract both Republicans and Democrats. One approach would be to recognize that Medicaid is actually two programs. One provides long-term care and support services for the elderly and disabled. These enrollees represented about 21 percent of the Medicaid population in 2014, but generate 61 percent of total program costs. Increasingly Medicaid pays for services that allow elderly and disabled people to stay in their own homes for greater satisfaction at less cost. It could make sense to relieve states of part or all of the cost of serving the elderly and disabled by shifting them to Medicare, which serves many of the same people, but such a shift would greatly increase Medicare costs.\n\nThe rest of Medicaid beneficiaries are low-income children and adults, including adults without dependents now covered as a result of expansion under the ACA. Many low-income adults now on Medicaid are employed but not in steady jobs with health benefits. Their incomes fluctuate so that they are sometimes eligible for Medicaid and sometimes when they are doing well, for subsidies to buy private health insurance. It would make sense to consider combining Medicaid spending for low-income adults and their children with subsidies for buying private health insurance, creating a single program that would ensure continuity of coverage and be simpler to administer\u2014or at least to allow states try the combination.\n\nIndeed, the most basic question about Medicaid is what role it should play in expanding health insurance coverage to the uninsured. Expanding eligibility for Medicaid, as the ACA did, is a relatively inexpensive option for increasing health insurance coverage quickly (Republicans admit this aspect of the ACA worked as intended). The market-oriented approach of subsidizing low-income households to purchase private insurance can also work, but it is more expensive, because providers demand higher compensation, and it is challenging to find a way to induce young, healthy people to buy into the insurance pool without a mandate.\n\nReaching a consensus on the role of Medicaid in financing health care requires thoughtful deliberation, bipartisan negotiation and two-party buy-in not possible in the context of a go-it-alone scramble to pass a reconciliation bill. With any luck, Republicans will fail to pass their one-party solution and be forced to seek common ground with Democrats in crafting a more durable Medicaid reform. If so, vulnerable Republican candidates may be glad they have constructive health reform to defend\u2014and faith in our democracy will be strengthened by a demonstration that the policymaking process is not totally broken.", "output": "The high decibel fight in the Senate over Medicaid is one more example\u2014did we need more?\u2014of why lasting changes in social programs require thoughtful legislative deliberation leading to bipartisan consensus. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Moving All Medicaid to Managed Care Could Save Billions \n Managed care models already are saving more than $7 billion this year in Medicaid. Moving all Medicaid fee-for-service to managed care could save $63 billion over a decade, a study concludes.\n\nMoving all Medicaid fee-for-service spending to a capitated managed-care model could produce total savings of $63 billion over 10 years, including $35 billion in federal savings, according to a newly released analysis.\n\nA report from the Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP) analyzes the current and potential savings to Medicaid programs around the country from the adoption of the managed care model.\n\nThe report estimates that in 2016, Medicaid managed care already results in nationwide savings of $7.1 billion, and it projects savings from these existing managed care programs to total $94.4 billion over the next 10 years.\n\nManaged care is poised to become the dominant payment model for Medicaid, the report notes. As recently as 2010, capitated managed care represented only a quarter of total Medicaid spending nationwide. That figure rose to 48.9% of national Medicaid expenditures by 2016, and this percentage will likely continue to increase, the report says.\n\nACAP CEO Margaret A. Murray says the report \"puts in black and white the fact that managed care can save precious Medicaid resources while at the same time maintaining a high level of access and quality care. Should Congress continue to turn to managed care's predictable budgeting and quality management tools to effect further savings, they must assure that Medicaid managed care plans are reimbursed in an actuarially sound manner.\"\n\nLegislators should be pushing states to adopt the manage care model more extensively, the report suggests, targeting the potential savings of transitioning remaining Medicaid fee-for-service expenditures and beneficiary subgroups into the capitated model.\n\n\"These costs currently represent roughly half of the nation's Medicaid spending. Transitioning these fee-for-service costs to the capitated setting to the fullest extent possible is estimated to yield care coordination savings of $63.2 billion across the 2017 to 2026 10-year timeframe,\" the report says.\"\n\nThe majority of these 10-year savings ($35.7 billion or 56.5% of the total) are estimated to accrue to the federal government. The savings potential for remaining non-capitated costs is lower than for existing capitation programs because some Medicaid costs\u2014such as [disproportionate share hospital] and [graduate medical education] payments and coverage of retrospective eligibility periods\u2014are not 'impactable' by managed care techniques.\"\n\nManaged care organizations (MCOs) bring improved quality along with the savings, the report says.\n\n\"MCO and provider performance on these access and quality fronts is being measured with ever-increasing sophistication, and these measurements are increasingly tied to performance-based payments both in state contracts with MCOs and in MCO contracts with their front-line providers,\" the report says.\n\n\"The results of these efforts are evident in the ongoing improvement in Medicaid MCOs' quality scores across time, both at the individual plan level and program-wide.\"\n\nMurray notes that further adoption of the managed care model could save significant sums without the nearly $800 billion in cuts to Medicaid spending currently under consideration on Capitol Hill.\n\n\"There are ways to improve the efficiency of the Medicaid program, to be sure,\" Murray says. \"$800 billion in budget cuts are simply a different order of magnitude than what innovation and system reform can provide. These cuts aren't just trimming fat from the Medicaid program. They get at muscle and bone.\"", "output": "Managed care models already are saving more than $7 billion this year in Medicaid. Moving all Medicaid fee-for-service to managed care could save $63 billion over a decade, a study concludes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Great Health Care Coverup \n Like many people, I have a sick sense of anger over what just happened in the Senate, which just voted to proceed on a health care bill without any information on what will be in the bill. There\u2019s still hope that in the next few hours, moderates who just caved in will balk at the horrible things they\u2019re being asked to vote for. And I do mean hours: there will be no time for reflection or serious debate.\n\nBut nobody should have any confidence that they will. And I think we can almost take it for granted that John McCain will first vote for something terrible, then give a grandstanding speech about making our politics better.\n\nThe important thing to realize is WHY the Senate is doing this \u2014 rushing to pass legislation that will have a vast impact on American lives, the economy, and more without a single hearing, without time for a proper analysis of the bill, and with crucial votes taken on behalf of legislation yet to be determined. It\u2019s not some arbitrary failure of procedure: it\u2019s a coverup.\n\nThe fact is that Republicans have no good ideas on health; everything they want to do will make huge numbers of people worse off, to the benefit of a wealthy few. And they know this. They know that the campaign against Obamacare was based on lies from the beginning, that all their complaints about things like high deductibles were hypocritical. They know that what they\u2019re about to do is terrible. But they\u2019re trying to do it anyway \u2014 and the only way they have a chance is by breaking every rule of good governance, by making the process so rushed and secretive that nobody has a chance to say \u201cWait a minute\u2013 what are we doing?\u201d\n\nAt a deep level McConnell\u2019s determination to pass a health bill by breaking all norms is quite similar to Trump\u2019s determination to shut down an investigation into his own corruption and possible collusion. Both men are trying to cover up what they know would outrage voters if they knew about it, and they don\u2019t care what rules get broken along the way.\n\nAnd the Senators who caved on health today are pretty much the same people who are enabling Trump\u2019s abuse of his office. The moral rot in the Republican party runs wide as well as deep. All we need to save America is a few good men \u2014 but apparently all we have are two decent women. And that\u2019s not enough.", "output": "Like many people, I have a sick sense of anger over what just happened in the Senate, which just voted to proceed on a health care bill without any information on what will be in the bill. There\u2019s still hope that in the next few hours, moderates who just caved in will balk at the horrible things they\u2019re being asked to vote for.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Senate\u2019s Health Care Travesty \n In a moment Tuesday that was almost surreal, Senator John McCain, back from surgery and a brain cancer diagnosis, said that Republicans were making a big mistake with their partisan approach to health care, among other subjects. \u201cWe have been spinning our wheels on too many important issues because we keep trying to find a way to win without help from across the aisle,\u201d he said. The substance of what he said accurately described the fecklessness of his party. What made it surreal was that only moments earlier he had voted along with almost every other member of his party to endorse Mr. McConnell\u2019s obsession; Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski were the exceptions.\n\nThere are three main proposals before the Senate. On Tuesday night the Senate failed to muster enough votes to advance one of those: the Better Care Reconciliation Act. That bill would have gutted Medicaid and slashed insurance subsidies, taking coverage away from about 22 million people, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Another, the Obamacare Repeal Reconciliation Act, would eliminate important parts of the law without a replacement, stripping 32 million Americans of health insurance. The third option is called \u201cskinny repeal\u201d because it would leave much of the A.C.A. in place but eliminate one of the law\u2019s taxes and the mandates that individuals buy insurance and that employers offer it to their workers. That plan could increase the uninsured population by up to 15 million. It would also cause insurance companies to raise premiums by 20 percent.\n\nThe details are complicated, but most Americans understand that these proposals would be incredibly cruel and needlessly devastating, which is why polls have shown that few people support the partisan repeal effort. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll found just 28 percent supported the Senate bill to repeal and replace the A.C.A., while 71 percent wanted Republicans and Democrats to work together to improve the law.\n\nRepublicans seem oblivious to those concerns, and to the danger that voters who lose access to health care could retaliate at the ballot box in the 2018 and 2020 elections. Some lawmakers may have decided that voters will in fact reward them for living up to their promises to repeal Obamacare, and that because actual repeal would be delayed two or more years, they will pay no price. Still others may have voted yes because they were afraid of losing primary elections to challengers further to the right than them.", "output": "Ignoring overwhelming public opposition to legislation that would destroy the Affordable Care Act, Senate Republicans voted on Tuesday\u00a0to begin repealing that law without having any workable plan to replace it.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "\u2018Skinny\u2019 Obamacare Repeal Would Clash With Republicans\u2019 Health Care Promises \n But, of course, there is a downside.\n\nThe individual mandate is unloved because no one likes being told what to do. But many independent analysts have concluded that, without a mandate, health insurance would become more expensive and cover fewer people. With the nudge of a mandate, more healthy people tend to buy insurance, reducing the average cost of coverage. Without one, the theory goes, mostly sick people buy insurance, and premiums rise to cover that sicker pool.\n\nFewer people would probably be covered under Medicaid, too. Over the last few years, signups for Medicaid have increased substantially, even among people who could have been covered before Obamacare expanded eligibility. Many of those people presumably didn\u2019t realize they qualified for Medicaid and first tried to buy private insurance because of the mandate, before learning that they could get Medicaid and not have to pay a premium. Without a mandate, fewer people are likely to find their way into the program.\n\nThe Congressional Budget Office thinks that eliminating the individual mandate would have substantial negative effects on the insurance market, raising prices and reducing enrollment. It is hard to imagine that more insurers would wish to participate in this smaller, sicker market. The budget office still needs to evaluate a skinny repeal bill, but it seems likely that the reductions in coverage from a mandate repeal would save the federal government enough money for the bill to comply with budget instructions.\n\nIt is worth considering these effects in the context of Republicans\u2019 criticisms of Obamacare itself. On the Senate floor Tuesday, Mr. McConnell assailed the health law as building unstable insurance markets and providing too little consumer choice. A skinny repeal would probably exacerbate those effects.", "output": "If the current options for overhauling the health care system can\u2019t get a majority of Senate votes, the majority leader, Mitch McConnell, has a new backup plan, according to senators and lobbyists: a simple bill\u00a0that eliminates three of Obamacare\u2019s least popular provisions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lutein may counter cognitive aging, study finds \n Spinach and kale are favorites of those looking to stay physically fit, but they also could keep consumers cognitively fit, according to a new study from University of Illinois researchers.\n\nThe study, which included 60 adults aged 25 to 45, found that middle-aged participants with higher levels of lutein - a nutrient found in green leafy vegetables such as spinach and kale, as well as avocados and eggs\u2014had neural responses that were more on par with younger individuals than with their peers. The findings were published in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.\n\n\"Now there's an additional reason to eat nutrient-rich foods such as green leafy vegetables, eggs and avocados,\" said Naiman Khan, a professor of kinesiology and community health at Illinois. \"We know these foods are related to other health benefits, but these data indicate that there may be cognitive benefits as well.\"\n\nMost other studies have focused on older adults, after there has already been a period of decline. The Illinois researchers chose to focus on young to middle-aged adults to see whether there was a notable difference between those with higher and lower lutein levels.\n\n\"As people get older, they experience typical decline. However, research has shown that this process can start earlier than expected. You can even start to see some differences in the 30s,\" said Anne Walk, a postdoctoral scholar and first author of the paper. \"We want to understand how diet impacts cognition throughout the lifespan. If lutein can protect against decline, we should encourage people to consume lutein-rich foods at a point in their lives when it has maximum benefit.\"\n\nLutein is a nutrient that the body can't make on its own, so it must be acquired through diet. Lutein accumulates in brain tissues, but also accumulates in the eye, which allows researchers to measure levels without relying on invasive techniques.\n\nThe Illinois researchers measured lutein in the study participants' eyes by having participants look into a scope and respond to a flickering light. Then, using electrodes on the scalp, the researchers measured neural activity in the brain while the participants performed a task that tested attention.\n\n\"The neuro-electrical signature of older participants with higher levels of lutein looked much more like their younger counterparts than their peers with less lutein,\" Walk said. \"Lutein appears to have some protective role, since the data suggest that those with more lutein were able to engage more cognitive resources to complete the task.\"\n\nNext, Khan's group is running intervention trials, aiming to understand how increased dietary consumption of lutein may increase lutein in the eye, and how closely the levels relate to changes in cognitive performance.\n\n\"In this study we focused on attention, but we also would like to understand the effects of lutein on learning and memory. There's a lot we are very curious about,\" Khan said.\n\nMore information: Anne M. Walk et al, The Role of Retinal Carotenoids and Age on Neuroelectric Indices of Attentional Control among Early to Middle-Aged Adults, Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience (2017). DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2017.00183", "output": "Spinach and kale are favorites of those looking to stay physically fit, but they also could keep consumers cognitively fit, according to a new study from University of Illinois researchers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trying to stay young isn\u2019t just futile: it\u2019s also bad for you \n In the 20th century, thanks largely to clean water and antibiotics, the American lifespan increased by 30 years. Who doesn\u2019t want even more, if new technologies like gene editing and nanomedicine can safely put them within our grasp? As Neo.life describes it, it\u2019s the most important story today: \u201chow biology and technology are coming together to help us all live healthier, happier, and longer lives.\u201d But the challenge for all of us, no matter our age, is to not frame it as an \u201canti-aging\u201d story. Here\u2019s a pro-aging take on each of those modifiers\u2014healthier, happier, and longer lives\u2014starting with life extension itself.\n\nGoal #1: longer lives\n\nAging isn\u2019t something debilitating that bushwhacks us somewhere north of mid-life. Aging is living and living means aging. Nor is aging a disease; otherwise life, too, would be a disease. As British journalist Anne Karpf put it to NPR\u2019s Brian Lehrer, \u201cYou can no more be anti-aging than anti-breathing.\u201d Part of the distinction is semantic: make the target \u201cage-related functional decline,\u201d not \u201caging.\u201d The \u201croot cause of aging\u201d is the passage of time, not cell senescence. At the end of all that living, we die. If the goal is to prevent death, whether by freezing ourselves in cryonic vats or by achieving what scientist Aubrey de Grey calls \u201clongevity escape velocity,\u201d let\u2019s describe it accurately: not anti-aging but anti-dying.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nDon\u2019t get me wrong. I\u2019m intrigued by the regenerative potential of tissues and organs, and all in favor of more research into the biology of aging. Until we understand what happens to our cells and organ systems far better than we do now, no health promotion strategy will have much of an effect on average life expectancy and maximum lifespan. More years of healthy life would be wonderful. But just as the enemy is disease, not aging, the goal needs to be health, not youth.\n\nGoal #2: healthier lives\n\nI like the way bio-entrepreneur Craig Venter puts it in a Neo.life article called \u201cThe Anti-Aging Habits of Longevity Experts\u201d: \u201cI\u2019m trying to use the best of scientific knowledge to be as healthy as I can for as long as I can.\u201d Like all the experts quoted in that story, Venter is engaged in the most effective \u201canti-aging\u201d behavior of all: pursuing a goal. Long-term studies show that even with brains full of plaques and tangles, some people stayed sharp to the end. What did they have in common? A sense of purpose. What\u2019s the biggest obstacle to having a sense of purpose in late life? A culture that tells us that getting older means shuffling offstage. Aging with purpose means rewriting that script.\n\nA growing body of fascinating research shows that attitudes toward aging have measurable effects on how our minds and bodies function. People who don\u2019t equate aging with disability and decline walk faster, do better on memory tests, and are more likely to recover fully from severe disability. That\u2019s why the World Health Organization is developing a global anti-ageism campaign: to extend not just lifespan but \u201chealthspan.\u201d Not coincidentally, people with positive feelings about getting older also live longer\u2014and they live better.\n\nHow worried are you about getting older, and why? Has what you dreaded come to pass? Check your age bias. It segregates us, pits us against each other, and fuels needless fears\u2014and it might be your biggest health risk.\n\nGoal #3: happier lives\n\nEven in Silicon Valley, tied with Hollywood as the most ageist place on the planet, people know that tans and Teslas aren\u2019t what make us happy. What does? Aging itself. Study after study shows that people are happiest at the beginnings and the ends of their lives; Google \u201cU shaped happiness curve.\u201d You don\u2019t have to be a Buddhist or a billionaire, because the curve is a function of the way aging itself affects the brain. We get better at dealing with negative emotions like anger, envy, and fear. The knowledge that time is short makes us focus on the present and spend our time more wisely\u2014and living in the present is why the very young and very old enjoy life the most. That\u2019s what the \u201cmindfulness\u201d mania is constantly reminding us, and why so many myths couple immortality and misery.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAs wise people across countries and cultures continue to remind us, there\u2019s no present if there\u2019s no ending. Not dealing with dying is a way of not dealing with living. Who wants more life, if it indeed becomes ours for the taking, if it comes without self-awareness or fulfillment or contentment? More reason to drop the anti-aging rhetoric, and the denial that fuels it. It keeps us from enjoying the present, and it feeds the narrative that aging well means looking and acting like younger versions of ourselves. Only the well-off can pursue that strategy, which is doubly discriminatory for women\u2014and futile.\n\nImagine a new goal: age equality\n\nPerhaps, not too long from now, we\u2019ll be able to make the body of an octogenarian function as well as of that of a 30-year-old. That\u2019ll be fantastic, especially if the advances become accessible to all. But 85 won\u2019t be the new 30. It\u2019ll be the new 85. And even the fittest octogenarians will be second-class citizens until we challenge the last socially sanctioned prejudice. Making the most of the new longevity means ending ageism.\n\nWhy does \u201canti-aging\u201d sound normal and \u201cpro-aging\u201d sound weird? Because we\u2019re brainwashed by a ruthless consumer culture. Who says wrinkles are ugly? The multi-billion-dollar skin care industry. Who says perimenopause and \u201cLow T\u201d and \u201cmild cognitive impairment\u201d are medical conditions? The trillion-dollar pharmaceutical industry. Unless you count sunscreen, no \u201canti-aging\u201d remedies are effective, and many have proven harmful. Aging is not a disorder. Yes, it strips us of cartilage and shortens our telomeres, but it also confers confidence, contentment, even grace. You can\u2019t live longer without getting older\u2014and that\u2019s a very good thing.\n\nThis post originally appeared in Neo.life, a new publication covering the ways that technology is helping us live longer, happier, and healthier lives.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nSign up for the weekly email at www.neo.life. You can follow Ashton Applewhite at her blog This Chair Rocks.", "output": "In the 20th century, thanks largely to clean water and antibiotics, the American lifespan increased by 30 years. Who doesn\u2019t want even more, if new technologies like gene editing and nanomedicine can safely put them within our grasp? As Neo.life describes it, it\u2019s the most important story today: \u201chow biology and technology are coming together to help us all live healthier, happier, and longer lives.\u201d\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US cable TV conglomerate Charter invests in data partnerships \n Charter, the US cable conglomerate second only to Comcast in subscriber count, has made a strategic investment in 605 Group, the TV analytics startup founded by former Cablevision ad execs.\n\nAlthough financial terms of the deal weren\u2019t disclosed, Charter has struck a strategic data partnership with 605 to provide access to TV viewing data in aggregate across 26 million homes in 100 DMAs, including the former Time Warner Cable footprint.\n\nIn turn, 605 Group has helped Charter develop a TV planning and analytics tool for linear TV called AudienceApp, which will go into beta mid-August and become generally available to the market by mid-2018.\n\nDavid Kline, EVP and president of Charter\u2019s ad division, Spectrum Reach, and James Blackley, EVP of engineering and IT for Charter, have also joined 605\u2019s board of directors.\n\nAlthough Charter has previously formed data partnerships with Oracle, comScore and others, this is the first time it\u2019s co-developed a data product with a partner and put it in the hands of 1,500 Spectrum salespeople.\n\nFor now, the tool will only be sold as a managed service through Charter, but once it\u2019s generally available, Kline said Charter would consider a self-serve option for agencies to access via an API.\n\n\u201cOne of the benefits of partnering with 605 Group is they\u2019re accustomed to building audience-based applications that make it easier for advertisers to build highly optimized schedules for linear TV,\u201d Kline told AdExchanger. \u201cIt really reduced our time to market to develop a product like this.\u201d\n\nLike other TV audience indexing tools, AudienceApp, at its most basic, is designed to identify pockets of inventory where an advertiser has the highest propensity of hitting their target audience.\n\nYet, because 605 has access to set-top box data representing about 40 million households and 1,500 buying attributes, combining it with first-party viewership data from Charter will help improve advertiser precision, said Kristin Dolan, founder and CEO of 605.\n\nThat access to additional cable and set-top box data, including from local market inventory, will also help Charter scale its local advertising opportunity.\n\n\u201cIn our past life at Cablevision, in many cases, we found that a number of networks we inserted ads on weren\u2019t measured by Nielsen,\u201d Dolan explained.\n\nTo be fair, Nielsen has been modernizing its local measurement efforts in recent months. But the historic lack of measurement has meant that the vast majority of the 3 million spots sold by local cable operators each year go unsold. That\u2019s one problem AudienceApp aims to solve, Kline said.\n\n\u201cOnly about 20% to 25% of [local cable operators] today actually have measurement through Nielsen,\u201d he added, \u201cBut we know from looking at our set-top boxes anonymously that there are a lot of people who may be watching some of the networks that may not be measured very well by Nielsen.\u201d\n\nThus, a programmer or cable network\u2019s opportunity to monetize local or \u201clong-tail\u201d inventory, which already sells at much lower CPMs, can be futile unless they can roll up more inventory for scale or apply data for precision.\n\nIf an advertiser wants to reach a specific demo or target like \u201cauto intenders\u201d through impression-based buying, their likely goal is to get the ad in front of the right person versus in as many places as possible.\n\nA tool like AudienceApp could give the buyer the best of both worlds.\n\n\u201cIf you\u2019re not measuring or looking at viewership across every single network, you\u2019re much more limited to only pricing and selling things that can be measured by Nielsen,\u201d Dolan said. \u201cMonetizing that inventory also benefits the viewer, who will see more relevant advertising \u2013 especially if you\u2019re on a long-tail network where the consumer may be seeing the same ad over and over.\u201d", "output": "US cable conglomerate Charter has made an investment in TV analytics start-up 605 Group. Charter and 605 have worked together to develop\u00a0AudienceApp, a TV planning and analytics tool, marking the first time the company has created a data product with a partner. The tool, initially sold via Charter, aims to help cable networks monetise local or \u201clong-tail\u201d inventory and offer viewers more relevant advertising.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian transport chief warns against autonomous vehicles \n The biggest names in tech and autos are racing to develop self-driving cars but one of the fastest growing markets in the world may not want them.\n\nIndia's top transport official warned this week that the new technology would increase unemployment among a young population already struggling to find jobs.\n\n\"We will not allow driverless cars in India. We don't need it,\" Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari was quoted as telling reporters on Monday. \"Each car gives a job to a driver. Driverless cars will take away those jobs,\" Gadkari added.\n\nA ministry official confirmed the remarks to CNNMoney, but added that the minister was merely expressing his opinion about the technology. The Indian government has not yet received any proposals for self-driving cars.\n\nRelated: The backlash against self-driving cars officially begins\n\nMore than 20 million people -- around 5% of India's workforce -- are unemployed, according to government data, and the rate has risen since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014.\n\nMillions of Indians make a living behind the wheels of trucks and taxis, or as drivers for wealthy Indian families, hotels or other businesses. Uber and rival Ola have created jobs for tens of thousands more.\n\nSelf-driving technology is still relatively new but has already run into opposition in the U.S. and China, where tech giant Baidu's CEO recently upset the authorities by riding in a driverless car through Beijing.\n\nThere's a lot at stake. Ford invested $1 billion in its self-driving car program earlier this year, while French firm PSA -- the owner of Peugeot and Citroen that recently decided to re-enter India -- is testing driverless cars in Singapore.\n\nTech firms such as Google (GOOGL), Apple (AAPL), Uber and Tesla (TSLA) are forging ahead. Apple was recently granted a permit from the state of California to test self-driving cars.\n\nRelated: Samsung just got approval to start testing a self-driving car\n\nTata Group, one of India's biggest conglomerates and the owner of British carmaker Jaguar Land Rover, is also developing driverless technology through its design and tech arm Tata Elxsi.\n\nTata Elxsi did not respond to requests for comment on the minister's statement.\n\nGadkari is not alone in casting doubt on India's potential as a driverless car market. On a visit to the country last year, Travis Kalanick -- who has since resigned as Uber CEO -- said it would be \"one of the last places\" to get them, but for a different reason.\n\n\"Have you seen how people drive here?\" he quipped.", "output": "India's Union Road Transport and Highways Minister, Nitin Gadkari, has argued that autonomous vehicles would have a detrimental impact on employment in the country, going so far as to claim that they will not be allowed in India. \"We don\u2019t need it. Unemployment is a huge problem in our country. Each car gives job to a driver\u201d, said Gadkari. Almost 5% of the Indian population are unemployed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian transport chief warns against autonomous vehicles \n \u201cWe will not allow driverless cars in India. We don\u2019t need it. Unemployment is a huge problem in our country. Each car gives job to a driver,\u201d said Gadkari on Monday, while responding to queries from reporters. \u201cWe will not allow driverless cars in India. We don\u2019t need it. Unemployment is a huge problem in our country. Each car gives job to a driver,\u201d said Gadkari on Monday, while responding to queries from reporters.\n\nDRIVERLESS CARS, labelled as the future of automobiles with Google, Apple and Tesla racing to crack a potentially multi-billion-dollar market, will not be allowed in India because they will lead to more unemployment, according to Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari. \u201cWe will not allow driverless cars in India. We don\u2019t need it. Unemployment is a huge problem in our country. Each car gives job to a driver,\u201d said Gadkari on Monday, while responding to queries from reporters.\n\n\u201cI saw in Sweden a 70-year-old man was driving a taxi. There (Western countries), they have less people. Here, we have more people and they need jobs. Driverless cars will take away those jobs. I am certain on this issue,\u201d he said. According to a study by Boston Consulting Group, the global autonomous cars market is expected to be worth $42 billion by 2025 and $77 billion by 2035. A quarter of all cars sold could be autonomous vehicles by then, the study has said.\n\nAccording to current prototype versions, such cars navigate traffic with the help of multiple inputs from GPS, and laser, infra-red and computer-vision technologies. Technology experts say autonomous cars reduce chances of collision and increase traffic efficiency. Gadkari, a proponent of electric vehicles, said he has also told global automakers that India will not reduce import duty on e-vehicles or its parts. \u201cI have told chiefs of the auto companies recently that world-class electric vehicles can very well be manufactured in India. They are welcome to make them here under Make in India, we will not reduce the import duties,\u201d he said.", "output": "India's Union Road Transport and Highways Minister, Nitin Gadkari, has argued that autonomous vehicles would have a detrimental impact on employment in the country, going so far as to claim that they will not be allowed in India. \"We don\u2019t need it. Unemployment is a huge problem in our country. Each car gives job to a driver\u201d, said Gadkari. Almost 5% of the Indian population are unemployed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Grovo targets professional micro-learning with $10m funding \n Grovo announced the close of $11.3 million in financing from an undisclosed investor.\n\n\n\nGrovo plans to reimagine on-the-job learning for enterprises. A pioneer in the \u201cmicro-learning\u201d movement, it combines an elegant training platform with engaging 90-second video lessons, strong tracking, and an advisory service to help customers align learning strategy to their business goals. The company\u2019s goal is to empower employees to make a lasting impact on their organizations by providing a curated curriculum that helps them quickly master everything from cloud applications to management techniques.\n\nFounded in 2010 by Nick Narodny, Surag Mungekar, and Jeff Fernandez, Grovo has delivered more than 17 million \u201clearning moments\u201d at organizations in 190 countries, including such companies as Chevron, Capital One, WeWork, The Ritz-Carlton Company, and DDB. The company has received recognition as a \u201cBest Place to Work\u201d by Fortune Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, Crain\u2019s, and Internet Week.\n\nThe company had previously raised $40 million in Series C funding, led by Accel with participation from Costanoa Venture Capital, SoftTech VC, Greg Waldorf and Vayner Capital.\n\n", "output": "Edtech start-up Grovo has raised $11.3m in funding from an undisclosed backer. This comes on top of a $40m round of\u00a0series C funding, led by Accel. Grovo, founded seven years ago by Nick Narodny, Surag Mungekar, and Jeff Fernandez, aims to help employees\u00a0make an\u00a0impression on their companies, providing\u00a0a specialised curriculum on subjects including management techniques and cloud applications.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nielsen merging streaming and TV viewing figures for media buyers \n A not-so-simple question has plagued the TV and advertising industries for years: What is the value of TV programming that is no longer being watched on TV?\n\nA partial answer has arrived. Nielsen said Tuesday it is now counting views of certain types of programming on Hulu\u2019s live service and YouTube TV, which can then be used as currency in negotiations between TV networks and advertisers. The maneuver would place viewing from so-called \u201cskinny bundles\u201d of programming offered by subscription-video-on-demand players into the mix when Madison Avenue decides what types of content to support.\n\nWith the new technology, media companies \u201care able to measure their content as it flows across platforms, across devices, through whoever is distributing it, then roll it up and include it in their rating numbers,\u201d said Megan Clarken, president of product leadership at Nielsen, in an interview.\n\nThe disclosure shows Nielsen attempting to find a solution to a growing problem in the media business. As consumers feel more comfortable with streaming video and mobile devices, monetizing their consumption of one-time couch-potato favorites ranging from AMC\u2019s \u201cThe Walking Dead\u201d to NBC\u2019s \u201cThis Is Us\u201d and CBS\u2019 \u201cThe Big Bang Theory\u201d is critical. Traditional TV ratings have continued to ebb, and there is no single solution at present that will tabulate every view of video on an emerging technology. Indeed, there is a growing concern among executives that the industry could face a breakdown in measurement, with advertisers in some cases devising their own standards for audience reach with specific outlets.\n\nNielsen will now be able to count what it calls \u201celigible\u201d viewing of Hulu\u2019s or Google\u2019s YouTube\u2019s live-streaming services and make it count as part of the industry\u2019s commercial-ratings standards. Advertisers pay for commercial time based on rates set according to metrics known as \u201cC3\u201d and \u201cC7,\u201d or views of ads over the first three days or first week of availability of a new episode of a TV show. Nielsen said it could examine digital viewing of live, DVR and on-demand content on the two companies\u2019 services and combine it with traditional linear audience measures. \u201cWith this inclusion, Nielsen measurement will provide media buyers and sellers with a more comprehensive and transparent view of audiences engaging with linear TV programming across digital devices,\u201d the company said in an announcement.\n\nTo be certain, not all video from Hulu or YouTube will count. A Hulu user enjoying on-demand playback of the streaming-video hub\u2019s critically praised series \u201cThe Handmaid\u2019s Tale\u201d or an old episode of the NBC cop drama \u201cHill Street Blues\u201d would not count. To be part of the new measure, the programming has to \u201cmirror\u201d the commercial load of the original linear TV broadcast and be seen within the three-day or seven days windows.\n\nBoth live-streaming services are relatively nascent. Hulu in May unveiled a new live-TV service starting at $39.99 monthly for around 50 channels. The service includes ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC programming (the availability of local TV stations is subject to market)and cable nets including ESPN, CNN, Fox News, TBS, TNT and Disney Channel. Hulu is owned jointly by Comcast, 21st Century Fox, Walt Disney and Time Warner. Google in February said it would launch a 50-channel bundle priced at less than half the average cost of cable TV. YouTube TV includes live and VOD programming, an unlimited cloud-based DVR (which will store recordings for nine months), and access to the company\u2019s \u201d YouTube Red\u201d originals programs.\n\nYouTube executives are \u201calready seeing that \u200blive TV represents the majority of time spent watching on the service,\u201d said Heather Moosnick, director of content partnerships for YouTube TV, in a statement. \u201cOur network and advertising partners will benefit\u201d from the new measure.\n\n\u201cOur goal is to make it possible for viewers to watch their favorite shows whenever and wherever they want \u2013 and be able to measure that viewership,\u201d said Cindy Davis, executive vice president of consumer experience at Disney-ABC Television Group, in a statement. \u201cWe are pleased with Nielsen\u2019s launch of this capability, and look forward to the new insights it enables.\u201d\n\nNielsen has had the technology available for about two years, Clarken suggested, but had to work with TV networks to gain acceptance. The new measurement tools require media companies to sort of \u201ctag\u201d their content so it can be recognized and tabulated by software. But the company expects viewing of video in new venues to increase: \u201cYou have to imagine a world where digital platforms for linear TV is just going to grow,\u201d she said.", "output": "Data measurement company Nielsen will count what it calls \"eligible\" viewing on streaming services Hulu and YouTube TV,\u00a0and incorporate the figures into its traditional ratings analyses. In order to be counted, Nielsen said a streamed programming must \u201cmirror\u201d the commercial load of the original linear TV broadcast and be viewed within a three-day or seven-day window. The aim is to provide marketers with \"more comprehensive and transparent view of audiences engaging with linear TV programming across digital devices\", according to a company statement.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Outbrain acquires DSP Zemanta in native ad format push \n Outbrain acquired native DSP Zemanta for an undisclosed sum Tuesday. The deal will bring together Outbrain\u2019s scaled native supply with Zemanta\u2019s demand, laying the groundwork for Outbrain to position itself as a leader in the still-nascent programmatic native ecosystem.\n\nOutbrain bought the DSP because it expects native advertising to become larger than display advertising in the next five years, but that native advertising technology lags.\n\n\u201cMost of the media-buying tools used by marketers were made for a display world and are not optimal for \u200b\u200bnative executions,\u201d said Gilad de Vries, SVP for strategy at Outbrain. \u201cWith a platform like Zemanta, which has access to the largest native supply pool in the world, marketers will be able to scale their native efforts much more effectively at scale than anywhere else.\u201d\n\nOutbrain already works with Zemanta. The DSP bids on billions of Outbrain native impressions a day. The company became an Outbrain DSP partner last year.\n\nZemanta has raised just less than $9 million since it was founded in 2007, in contrast to Outbrain\u2019s $194 million over the same period. Zemanta sold some of its publisher-focused technology to Sovrn last September for an undisclosed sum.\n\nZemanta buyers will continue to bid across more than 30 native supply platforms, including Outbrain. The company can optimize for reach, frequency and user engagement, and it was the latter capability that attracted Outbrain. Post-acquisition, Outbrain will connect its interest graph to Zemanta\u2019s DSP, allowing for more unique targeting opportunities.\n\nOutbrain will also bring Zemanta, which is based in Slovenia, into more countries, mirroring its own 15-country footprint.\n\nPublishers using Outbrain will see unique demand due to the Zemanta acquisition. \u201cMore access to unique and premium demand \u2026 will help in increasing RPMs,\u201d de Vries said.\n\nOutbrain buying a DSP makes it look a bit more like Google, the display advertising leader that successfully unified a DSP with a SSP. Like Google, Outbrain said it envisions its growing programmatic business and ad network-style business living side by side.\n\n\u201cJust like Google enables buying AdWords through one CPC-based interface alongside programmatic buying on CPM through DBM [DoubleClick Bid Manager], we see programmatic and direct buying coexisting, serving different needs for the marketer,\u201d de Vries said.\n\nThose who value Outbrain\u2019s capabilities around personalization, interest targeting and lookalike targeting can work with the company directly, while those embracing programmatic native can use their own data to buy via Zemanta\u2019s DSP.", "output": "Online advertising platform Outbrain has acquired native demand-side platform Zemanta for an undisclosed sum. Following completion, Outbrain will link its interest graph to Zemanta\u2019s platform, and expand the firm into more countries. \"Just like Google enables buying AdWords through one CPC-based interface alongside programmatic buying on CPM through DoubleClick Bid Manager, we see programmatic and direct buying coexisting, serving different needs for the marketer\", said Gilad de Vries, SVP for strategy at Outbrain.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Times learns that commenters are its most valuable customers \n To start putting a value on those who engage with its platform, The Times of London analyzed comments on its website from May 2016 to April 2017. The News UK title found that those who comment, which amount to about 4 percent of its subscribers, read three times as many articles as those who don\u2019t comment.\n\nFor now, only Times subscribers can comment. The Times\u2019 1.2 million registered users can read comments, but they can\u2019t participate in discussions. In time, the publisher plans to explore using comments to turn registered users into subscribers.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re massively striving to get readers to use their subscription more frequently and drive habitual behavior,\u201d said Ben Whitelaw, head of audience development at the Times and The Sunday Times.\n\nEventually, further research will help connect commenter behavior to where commenters are in the subscriber life cycle, which will help the Times reduce churn rates. \u201cWhen we start putting a value on these people, then we can weigh up what weapons we have to engage them,\u201d said Whitelaw, \u201cbut we need that data first.\u201d\n\nThe majority of the most commented articles are about Brexit and can fetch about 2,000 comments, some of which are 400 words long, but the publisher also sees comment spikes on exclusive content and analysis of U.S. politics, such as the Times\u2019 interview with Donald Trump in January.\n\n\u201c[The value in comments] is where there are multiple views and ideas being challenged, and experts \u2014 journalists or readers \u2014 get involved in the debate and add something to improve what\u2019s above the line,\u201d Whitelaw said. \u201cWe think it\u2019s a clear point of difference and can drive business results.\u201d\n\nTo free up resources, the Times switched in November 2016 to moderating comments after they had been published, rather than before. The switch allowed appropriate comments to appear on the site faster, said Whitelaw. Since then, the total number of comments has increased by 25 percent, although the number of commenters has remained the same. Comments on articles covering topics that incite passionate responses and a diverse range of opinion \u2014 like immigration, gender or race \u2014 are still moderated before publication. Since moving to this system, the Times hasn\u2019t seen an increase in the number of comments it removes for breaching its terms of participation.\n\nThe Times\u2019 audience development team has seven people. Five of them, rotating on a daily basis, are responsible for monitoring comment threads, steering conversations away from more contentious issues or involving journalists. They also encourage journalists to respond to readers. Whitelaw said the journalists are often happy to get involved because they have written a column on the subject.\n\nFor readers, part of the appeal of commenting is access to experts and the Times journalists. \u201cWe\u2019re emphasizing to journalists that this is part of their job,\u201d said Whitelaw. \u201cReaders like it, and you can see the benefits in terms of engaging readers and renewing subscriptions.\u201d Politics columnist Danny Finkelstein wrote a book review about one of the men involved in the Libor scandal. The man\u2019s wife wrote a long comment defending him, which was flagged to the author who then replied. Columnist Janice Turner responds to requests for recipes under an article on her new favorite dish.\n\nThis is the first time the Times has delved into how comments can affect the bottom line of business, according to Whitelaw. Elsewhere, The New York Times is opening up more articles to comments, but it needs to automate part of the process to manage moderation. The Financial Times has also found those who comment are more engaged.\n\nThe Times of London uses social platforms for low-risk community-building experiments, like its Red Box bot newsletter and its Brexit Facebook group. The latter now has more than 1,200 members, up from 150 in April, and attracts a mix of Times subscribers and non-subscribers.\n\nA surprising discovery from the research concerned recommended comments, which appear at the top when feeds are sorted by \u201cmost recommended.\u201d Popular comments get about 50 recommendations, said Whitelaw. The Times\u2019 research found that those who recommend comments read twice as many articles as those who don\u2019t recommend comments.\n\n\u201cCommenting is what you see; that\u2019s the tip of iceberg,\u201d Whitelaw said. \u201cBut there\u2019s a mass of activity that goes on beneath the surface, which recommendations fuels. Because people only recommend a handful of comments, they pick topics they are most knowledgeable on and spend more time thinking about it. They are like silent Times readers. These could be people we should be gravitating toward or rewarding.\u201d", "output": "People who comment on articles on The Times' website read three times as many articles as those who remain silent, according to an analysis of the site between May 2016 and April 2017. Ben Whitelaw, head of audience development at the Times and The Sunday Times, said the data would help the newspaper try to engage with more readers. At present only subscribers are allowed to comment on The Times' articles. The publication has seen a 25% rise in comments since it introduced moderation on certain threads.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "iRobot growth plan involves selling data mapped from robo-vacuums \n Remember Roomba, the cute robotic vacuum cleaner who's been navigating around your house for years?\n\nWell, its creator, iRobot, has hinted(opens in a new tab) it may sell Roomba-derived maps of your home to one or more of the Big Three \u2014 Amazon, Apple and Google's Alphabet \u2014 in the next couple of years.\n\nSEE ALSO: Live your best life with the help of these 9 robots\n\n\"There's an entire ecosystem of things and services that the smart home can deliver once you have a rich map of the home that the user has allowed to be shared,\" said Colin Angle, iRobot\u2019s CEO.\n\nMapping your home\n\nIf the idea of a device spying on your flooring plan \u2014 along with other data about your home \u2014 and then selling that info to companies to help them improve their targeted ads seems particularly creepy to you, that's because, well, it is creepy.\n\nMapping and space in general is the next big step in the tech industry's big push to make homes \"smarter.\"\n\nMany of the \"smart\" devices already on the market \u2014 smart home lighting, thermostats, security cameras as well as other housecleaning robots \u2014 are actually pretty dumb when it comes to have a grasp of the surrounding physical space. That means they just move around or detect things randomly.\n\nConversely, iRobot's Roomba 900 not only uses short-range infrared or laser sensors to detect and avoid obstacles, but is also able to create a map of the environment thanks to a camera, new sensors, and software.\n\nThe so-called Slam technology \u2014 simultaneous localization and mapping \u2014 allows Roomba build the map while simultaneously keep track of their own position in it.\n\nPrivacy issues\n\nIt's easy to see why big tech companies are interested in this data.\n\nIn March, iRobot announced(opens in a new tab) it'll add Amazon's Alexa voice commands to its Roomba 900 series robot vacuums for U.S customers in Q2 of this year.\n\nData derived from \"robo-vacs\" could help companies improve their smart speakers, for example, by mapping the room's acoustics and provide ad hoc audio solutions; same for smart air-conditioning units or lighting that can adjust with the natural lights.\n\nA quick look at iRobot's terms of service shows that the amount of data iRobot collects (opens in a new tab)from social media or third parties is pretty daunting. But even worse, when users sign to the company's Home app, they basically already give iRobot the right to sell their data anyway.\n\nThe privacy policy (opens in a new tab)indeed states iRobot could share the users' personal data with other companies owned by iRobot, third party vendors and affiliates, the government, and \"any company transaction, such as a merger, sale of all or a portion of company assets or shares.\"\n\nColin Angle, iRobot co-founder and CEO, speaks during the Japan launching presentation of new Roomba 980 vacuum cleaning robot in Tokyo Japan. Credit: Hoshiko/AP/REX/Shutterstock\n\nNaturally, that has raised privacy concerns among advocacy groups.\n\n\"This is a particularly creepy example of how our privacy can be undermined by companies that want to profit from the information that smart devices can generate about our homes and lives,\" Jim Killock, Executive Director of Open Rights Group said in a statement to Mashable.\n\n\"Smart household products may enable companies to obtain information that we consider to be private, such as floor plans of where we live. However, this is not necessarily personal data as protected under data protection law.\n\n\"Companies should treat data collected in people\u2019s homes as if it is personal data and ensure that explicit consent is sought to gather and share this information. Taking an ethical approach, rather than complying with minimal legal requirements, would build trust with customers.\"\n\nAngle said iRobot would not sell data without its customers' permission, but \"he expressed confidence most would give their consent in order to access the smart home functions,\" Reuters reports.\n\nUPDATE: July 25, 2017, 1:07 p.m. EDT A previous version of this story was headlined \"Roomba may be selling maps of your home to Google, Amazon, and Apple.\" However, in an interview(opens in a new tab), Angle told Reuters that iRobot could reach a deal to sell the data in the future (rather than the company selling that data at the present moment). This post and headline have been updated to reflect that timeline.", "output": "iRobot, the company behind smart vacuum Roomba, has suggested it may sell maps created by the device of users' homes to the likes of Amazon, Google or Apple in the coming years. The news follows the recent addition of Amazon's voice-activated assistant Alexa to the Roomba 900 series. While some suggest the maps, created using simultaneous localisation and mapping technology, would be invaluable for smart homes, advocacy groups have warned of the potentially \"creepy\" invasion of privacy."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Videogame publisher Ubisoft choose UM to run ad campaigns \n Entertainment and gaming company Ubisoft has chosen UM as its U.S. media agency of record after a competitive review that started in late 2016.\n\nThe IPG Mediabrands network\u2019s San Francisco office will handle planning and buying duties for the company, which is best known for the Assassin\u2019s Creed, Far Cry and Just Dance game series.\n\n\u201cThe impressive and thorough work by UM made it an easy decision to select them as our agency,\u201d read a statement from Ubisoft\u2019s vp of media and audience management Vanessa Vignon.", "output": "Media agency UM has been chosen by Ubisoft to handle planning and buying duties for the company, before the release of Just Dance 2018, Assassin\u2019s Creed Origins and Far Cry 5. The decision concluded a competitive review that started in late 2016 and was Ubisoft's first in a decade. \"Our model has been to take a very data-led, analytical approach. That was appealing to such a digital company,\" said UM's United States CEO, Kasha Cacy.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "iRobot CEO says it won't sell home data from robo-vacuums \n Colin Angle, iRobot CEO Image: iRobot\n\nEditor's Note, August 8, 2022: Back in 2017, we conducted an exclusive interview with iRobot's CEO Colin Angle about Roomba privacy issues. Last week, Amazon announced its acquisition of iRobot, which sparked Roomba privacy questions anew. We reached out to Angle to confirm whether iRobot's privacy policy will remain unchanged, but the company hasn't yet responded. In the meantime, here's our 2017 interview. We'll update when we receive a reply from iRobot.\n\nIt's been a challenging week for iRobot, the company behind the popular Roomba robotic vacuums.\n\nIt started with an interview in Reuters, in which the company's chief executive Colin Angle gave a clear impression that iRobot was selling consumers' home mapping data. We picked up the story and covered it here on ZDNet. In a column published on Wednesday, I looked at the security implications and wrote an open letter to Angle about my concerns.\n\nLast night, Angle and iRobot got back to me on this issue. They provided the following response to the concerns I and others shared.\n\nIn response:\n\nFirst things first, iRobot will never sell your data. Our mission is to help you keep a cleaner home and, in time, to help the smart home and the devices in it work better. There's no doubt that a robot can help your home be smarter. It's the data it collects to do its job, and the trusted relationship between you, your robot and iRobot, that is critical for that to happen. Information that is shared needs to be controlled by the customer and not as a data asset of a corporation to exploit. That is how data is handled by iRobot today. Customers have control over sharing it. I want to make very clear that this is how data will be handled in the future. You may also want your robot to work with other connected devices in your home. For this to work, we will also require your permission, and we will always ensure secure means of communication between devices. Together, we're creating a future where robots help people live richer lives and ultimately retain their independence as they age. These conversations are useful in that they allow for clarity in our mission and commitments to our customers - and to have our commitment challenged and tested. I hope this helps clarify our stance. Sincerely\n\nColin Angle, Chairman, CEO and Founder, iRobot\n\nI had some additional questions for Angle and iRobot, which they kindly responded to as well. As with Angle's letter above, the responses below were not edited in any way.\n\nThe Reuters report indicated how iRobot was in talks to sell the data. Can you respond with whether that was a misinterpretation by the reporter or a misstatement on the part of Angle? Was there, in fact, never any monetary negotiations or discussions over data?\n\nThis was a misinterpretation. [Angle] never said that iRobot would look to sell customer maps or data to other companies. iRobot has not had any conversations with other companies about data transactions, and iRobot will not sell customer data.\n\nWhere does data like photos or images taken from the camera get stored? Is it ever stored outside the home? If so, how is imagery data being used? Is it just being parsed and sent back to the robot, or is it being used to populate a larger database?\n\nThe Roomba 900 Series vacuuming robots capture mapping and navigation information via vSLAM, which stays on the robot. On all WiFi-enabled Roombas, usage data (e.g. how long did it clean, how far did it go, did it encounter any error codes, is it functioning correctly) can be sent to the cloud so it can be shown on the customer's mobile device. Images used for navigation are NOT sent to the cloud. If a user agrees to having their map data viewable on their mobile device, then the map that the Roomba creates during a cleaning job is sent to the cloud where it is processed and simplified to produce a user-friendly map that ultimately appears in the iRobot HOME App. It's also important to point out that the camera doesn't see things like we do. The robot perceives its environment as a pattern of light and dark points in its field of view. This pattern enables the Roomba 900 Series to localize or confirm its position on the map, so it can clean an entire level of a home. The camera is a low-resolution camera that is tracking multiple points of a room, such as along the edges of a table or light and dark contrasts of a window on a wall. It uses these points of reference to continually build and update its map of rooms within a home.\n\nSpecial thanks to ZDNet's Jason Cipriani for facilitating the discussion between iRobot and ZDNet.\n\nYou can follow my day-to-day project updates on social media. Be sure to follow me on Twitter at @DavidGewirtz, on Facebook at Facebook.com/DavidGewirtz, on Instagram at Instagram.com/DavidGewirtz, and on YouTube at YouTube.com/DavidGewirtzTV.", "output": "iRobot, the company behind smart vacuum Roomba, has pulled back from suggestions it may sell maps of users' properties to providers of smart home products and services. \"First things first, iRobot will never sell your data\", CEO Colin Angle said in a statement. \"You may also want your robot to work with other connected devices in your home. For this to work, we will also require your permission, and we will always ensure secure means of communication between devices.\"\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple's 'Search Ads' has 50% conversion rate of app downloads \n If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Read our ethics policy\n\nApple VP of Advertising Platforms Todd Teresi (right) speaks with TUNE CEO Peter Hamilton at the Postback conference.\n\nApple VP of Advertising Platforms Todd Teresi in a keynote Q&A session at the Postback conference in Seattle on Tuesday explained the company's switch away from iAd in favor of the new Search Ads platform, revealed never before seen internal metrics and discussed the future of app advertising.\n\nSpeaking with Peter Hamilton, CEO of ad measurement platform TUNE, Teresi said Search Ads now boasts an over 50 percent conversion rate, meaning more than half of the people who interact with iOS App Store ads download the target app. The statistic comes less than one year after Search Ads launched last October.\n\nAs for the switch away from iAd, Apple's former advertising platform for developers that shut down in September, Teresi said the company decided to pivot in a new direction that made better use of its resources. Specifically, Search Ads was designed with app discovery and exposure in mind, benefits for both consumers and developers.\n\nElaborating on the effectiveness of Search Ads, Teresi said Search Ads offers a level playing field for developers. More importantly, the platform incorporates an optimized relevance algorithm that boosts app discovery.\n\n\"We take great pride in making sure that if you are searching on a specific type of app that someone from an entirely different genre or category can't come in, just because they have more money, and sit on that term,\" Teresi said. \"Relevancy is the core. You don't even get into the auctions unless you first pass our relevancy bars.\"\n\nWith the deployment of Search Ads, Apple is looking to bring install and engagement metrics available from services like TUNE more in line with those measured by the App Store.\n\nUsing current third-party tools, advertisers measure ad performance by tracking installs, which are counted as the first time a user opens an app. There is a discrepancy between numbers gathered by attribution systems and those seen by Apple, as a portion of customers \u2014 20 percent of installs on average, Apple says \u2014 opt in to limited ad tracking. Further skewing data are apps that are re-downloaded and opened for a second time.\n\nTo help bridge the gap, Apple will work on providing install metrics and similar information to client attribution services. Like any Apple initiative, customer data privacy is of the utmost importance.\n\n\"Trust is the important foundation of the industry,\" Teresi said. \"We will work with TUNE to expose this information to help developers understand this.\"\n\nThe data sharing will help developers better target consumers, and should lead to a better App Store experience for their customers.\n\nTeresi emphasized the goal off Search Ads is to cultivate discovery on the App Store. The company is looking to expand internationally this year, but only when it feels comfortable that the right product is ready for consumption.", "output": "Apple's Search Ads platform has a conversion rate greater than 50%, according to VP of Advertising Platforms Todd Teresi. Speaking at the Postback conference in Seattle, Teresi said the platform was designed with a view to app discovery and exposure, helped by its optimised relevance algorithm. \"Relevancy is the core. You don't even get into the auctions unless you first pass our relevancy bars\", he said. Apple is also working to offer third-party install metrics to clients\u00a0on Search Ads.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Polymer production method cuts catalyst use by 1,000 times \n Researchers have developed a chemical process that could make a class of polymers known as polysulfates more competitive with polycarbonates -- sturdy plastics that can form structural panels like the ones pictured here. Such panels can be used as building materials. Polycarbonate plastics are also used for safety goggles and water bottles, among other applications. Credit: falconsoft/Pixabay\n\nA team of researchers has developed a faster and easier way to make sulfur-containing polymers that will lower the cost of large-scale production.\n\nThe achievement, published in Nature Chemistry and Angewandte Chemie, opens the door to creating new products from this class of polymers while producing far less hazardous waste. The researchers' reaction technique, dubbed SuFEx for sulfur(VI) fluoride exchange, combined with a newly identified class of catalysts that speed up the reactions, could be used to make everything from water bottles and mobile phone cases to medical devices and bulletproof glass.\n\nWhen a useful molecule is discovered, there are few reactions that chemists can use that are simple and efficient enough to meet the industrial production requirements for cost-effectively scaling up. In 2001, Nobel laureate K. Barry Sharpless introduced a new concept to organic chemistry known as \"click chemistry,\" describing a suite of controllable, highly reactive reactions that are high-yielding and require little to no purification.\n\nFollowing nature's example, click reactions follow simple protocols, use readily available starting materials, and work under mild reaction conditions with benign starting reagents. Click chemistry has become a valuable tool for generating large libraries of potentially useful compounds as industries look to discover new drugs and materials.\n\nA researcher demonstrates bulk synthesis of a polysulfate, which relies on a chemical technique dubbed a SuFEx reaction. Credit: Berkeley Lab\n\nScientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's (Berkeley Lab) Molecular Foundry, a facility that specializes in nanoscale science, worked with a team led by Sharpless and Peng Wu, professors at the Scripps Research Institute (TSRI). The team created long chains of linked sulfur-containing molecules, termed polysulfates and polysulfonates, using a SuFEx click reaction.\n\n\"Click chemistry is a powerful tool for materials discovery, but synthetic chemists are often not well-equipped to characterize the polymers they create,\" said Yi Liu, director of the Organic Synthesis facility at the Molecular Foundry. \"We can provide a broad spectrum of expertise and instrumentation that can expand the scope and impact of their research.\"\n\nThe SuFEx reaction, introduced as a new family of click reactions in 2014, reliably and quickly creates new chemical bonds, connecting compounds together with sulfates or sulfonates. While polysulfates have shown great potential as competitors to polycarbonates (strong plastics used for eyewear lenses and water bottles, for example), they have been rarely used for industrial applications due to a lack of reliable and easily scalable synthetic processes.\n\nTo overcome the challenges of mass-manufacturing polysulfates and polysulfonates, the TSRI team explored various catalysts and starting reagents to optimize the SuFEx reaction. They relied on their collaborators at the Molecular Foundry to assess physical properties and determine if the newly created polymers were thermally stable products.\n\nA newly developed chemical technique could make polysulfate plastics more competitive with polycarbonates, which are used to make safety goggles like the ones shown here. Chemical diagrams relevant to the new technique are displayed in the background. Credit: Wikimedia Commons, Berkeley Lab\n\nPolymers are assembled from smaller molecules - like stringing a repeating pattern of beads on a necklace. In creating a polysulfonate \"necklace\" with SuFEx, the researchers identified ethenesulfonyl fluoride-amine/aniline and bisphenol ether as good \"beads\" to use and found that using bifluoride salt as a catalyst made the previously slow reaction \"click\" into action. Researchers found that the high efficiency of the reaction results in a remarkable 99 percent conversion, from starting reactants to products, in less than an hour.\n\nResearchers found that the new reaction requires 100 to 1,000 times less catalyst than other known methods, resulting in significantly less hazardous waste. Bifluoride salts are also much less corrosive than previously used catalysts, allowing for a wider range of starting substrate \"beads,\" which researchers said they hope could lead to its adoption for a range of industrial processes.\n\n\"There are many new polymers that haven't been widely used by industry before,\" said Liu. \"By reducing waste and improving product purity, we lower the cost and make this reaction much more industry friendly.\"\n\nThe Molecular Foundry is a DOE Office of Science User Facility that provides free access to state of the art equipment and multidisciplinary expertise in nanoscale science to visiting scientists from all over the world.", "output": "Researchers at the Molecular Foundry of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have worked with a team from the Scripps Research Institute to develop a faster and easier way to produce sulphur-containing polymers. The method is expected to significantly reduce the cost of large-scale production. The scientists created long chains of linked sulphur-containing molecules using \"click chemistry\", a term for high-yield, controllable reactions. The reaction needs up to 1,000 times less catalyst than most popular\u00a0methods, reducing both material and disposal costs.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook launches 'Discover Growth'\u00a0business-to-business campaign \n Today, Facebook launched Discover Growth, its first global business-to-business ad campaign to focus on growth marketing via the social network.\n\nDiscover Growth will kick off with a 30-day ad campaign in the U.S., targeting both direct-response marketers and traditional brands, and it will run on and off the Facebook platform.\n\nThe on-platform portion will consist of one ad per day on Facebook, Instagram and the Facebook Audience Network. The ads will be a mix of video lead ads and link ads\u2014complete with relevant direct-response data and insights\u2014directing marketers to sign up or go to fb.me/growth for", "output": "Facebook has launched its first-ever business-to-business ad campaign, Discover Growth, aimed at helping marketers grow their customer base via the social media site. Direct-response marketers and traditional brands will be targeted during a 30-day ad campaign for Discover Growth, which offers ads both on and off platform. \"The purchase cycle has been completely turned on its head and Discover Growth will help marketers and agencies tap into these shifts in consumer behaviour\", said Facebook North America marketing director Michelle Klein.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Additive makes Californian B20 biodiesel cleanest liquid fuel in US \n SACRAMENTO, Calif., July 25, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The California Air Resource Board announced on July 20, 2017 that it has certified a biodiesel additive that will make B20 blends in California the cleanest proven and tested diesel fuel with the lowest emissions profile available anywhere in the U.S.\n\n\"Biodiesel has been a key to help California meet its intense carbon reduction goals. With this announcement, America's Advanced Biofuel will continue to deliver a cleaner burning, American made alternative under the state's low carbon fuel standard,\" said Donnell Rehagen, National Biodiesel Board CEO. \"Biodiesel will gladly take the role as the cleanest certified diesel fuel available.\"\n\nThe additive takes already clean-burning biodiesel and ensures it reduces every measurable regulated emission, including NOx, when blended with California's unique diesel formulation called CARB diesel. NBB led the initial research and development into the additive to maintain biodiesel's competitive advantage under the state's low carbon fuel standard.\n\nBranded VESTA\u21221000, the CARB certified additive ensures compliance with the January 1, 2018 implementation of CARB's Alternative Diesel Fuel Regulation. A 20 percent blend of biodiesel with VESTA\u2122 1000 reduced NOx by 1.9 percent and particulate matter by 18 percent compared to CARB diesel fuel. California Fueling, LLC will produce the formula, and Pacific Fuel Resource, LLC will deliver the product to market. The two companies will work cooperatively with NBB members as well as those in the California fuel community to support the ongoing use of biodiesel diesel blends up to B20.\n\n\"This impressive NBB-led effort, over the course of the past eighteen months, has resulted in a first-of-a-kind CARB approval, which enables biodiesel to be the renewable fuel of choice to meet California's stringent LCFS carbon reduction requirements,\" said Pat McDuff, CEO, California Fueling, LLC.\n\n\"As a result of this effort, biodiesel will continue to play a major role in helping Californians meet their renewable energy and clean air goals,\" said Paul Nazzaro, President, Pacific Fuel Resource, LLC. \"By increasing biodiesel use up to a B20 blend, estimated to be an additional 600 million gallons of cleaner-burning biodiesel annually, California can now achieve its goals under the LCFS.\"\n\nFor information about VESTA\u21221000, valuation, additive access, purchasing and market development please Contact Paul Nazzaro at 978-438-6090 or [email protected]pacificfuelresources.com\n\nNBB is the U.S. trade association representing the entire biodiesel value chain, including producers, feedstock suppliers, and fuel distributors, as well as the U.S. renewable diesel industry.\n\nFor more information on biodiesel, visit www.biodiesel.org.\n\nContact: Kaleb Little, NBB\n\n800-841-5849\n\n[email protected]\n\nSOURCE National Biodiesel Board\n\nRelated Links\n\nhttp://www.biodiesel.org\n\n", "output": "The California Air Resource Board (CARB) has announced that a CARB certified biodiesel additive, VESTA 1000, will make B20 blends the cleanest tested diesel fuel available in the US. Blending 20% biodiesel with VESTA 1000 was found to reduce NOx emissions by 1.9%, while reducing particulate matter by 18% when compared with diesel fuel. Pacific Fuel Resource will deliver the product to market\u00a0while California Fuelling\u00a0will produce it."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Instagram influencers use 'comment pods' to promote posts \n Comment pods are growing in popularity among Instagram influencers \u2014 established and upcoming \u2014 and are causing some consternation among advertisers.\n\nInstagram comment pods are a relatively new phenomenon. Essentially, they\u2019re groups of up to 30 Instagrammers (the platform allows up to 30 in a group chat) that work with each other to comment on each other\u2019s posts on a daily basis. The idea is to hack Instagram by increasing engagement. Because of the way Instagram\u2019s algorithm works, this leads to Instagram \u201cfavoring\u201d pods, which means influencers in pods often appear in the Explore tab, leading to more visibility. Pods emerged because influencers were left scrambling to keep their work visible when the Instagram algorithm debuted \u2014 the relationship between posters and users as well as timeliness determines what is seen.\n\n\u201cFor brands, working with an Instagrammer that is part of a pod may mean their own numbers are wrong,\u201d said YouTuber and editor Zach Bussey. \u201cIf you had hoped to get your message in front of X number of people, if you subtract other pod members, that number is dramatically reduced. That said, it\u2019s not impossible for those pod members to be interested in the message \u2014 it\u2019s just not their reason for being there.\u201d\n\nSwellShark, an indie media buying agency that works with clients including Applegate and pet food brand Wellness, said it is working with attorneys to put language in contracts with influencers to disclose if they are part of a pod. CEO Nick Pappas said pods can and do skew results. For example, say the company was working with a client that wanted to reach mothers who are into clean eating. When contracting with an influencer, it did research on the demographic of that influencer\u2019s follower base to make sure it was those mothers. Influencers will provide numbers on average engagement. With pods, it ends up being five to 10 influencers who are friends with the person \u2014 not five or 10 influencers with the right kind of audience. \u201cOK, so my post is getting engagement, but it\u2019s not with the right audience,\u201d said Pappas.\n\nPods are also skewing payment. Agencies evaluate influencers on size of audience. But top influencers who are showing high numbers are commanding high prices, and the brand or agency no longer knows if the engagement was genuine. \u201cI want the transparency behind it,\u201d said Pappas.\n\nPods don\u2019t have to be bad. If the pods are of a similar interest group to the target audience, they can actually increase engagement and visibility of posts. \u201cI\u2019m OK if you\u2019re in a pod, and it\u2019s all other food bloggers who are closely tied. But I need to know,\u201d said Pappas.\n\nPublishers are also feeling the effects of pods. One publisher said that while it has seen less Instagram engagement, new publishers (mostly bloggers) are joining pods and growing in multiples, adding a couple of thousand followers a day.\n\nErin Dwyer, a branding consultant and former svp of global ecommerce at Haven, said the issue goes back to validating the true value of influencers versus them simply excelling at hacking a platform for gain. It also goes deeper: Dwyer said it comes down to how platforms create this kind of behavior and further it because of secret algorithms and curation. Essentially, platforms created this beast.\n\nThere\u2019s no doubt pods create results. Influencers report going from around two comments a day before joining a pod to 40-100 comments on the same post after being \u201cactivated\u201d in the pod.\n\nIn the closed Facebook group for The Rising Tide Society, a community for creative freelancers that mostly includes bloggers and photographers, a search for pods brings up hundreds of requests to either join a pod or start one.\n\nMany rules govern pod behavior. Comments should be at least four or five words. Emojis aren\u2019t good enough. Avoid language that is too generic, like \u201clove it.\u201d Don\u2019t post in the pod \u2014 just direct people to your account because a \u201clike\u201d inside a comment thread doesn\u2019t count toward total engagement.\n\nOverall, those who have left pods overwhelmingly say pods end up hurting the Instagrammer, too. Bussey said his look inside pods shows they create false competition. \u201cIf you\u2019re a small, organically grown Instagrammer, how do you compete with someone who is corking the bat? You see people in pods growing rapidly, getting brands\u2019 deals.\u201d Pod members are also harmed because pods artificially improve numbers, and it\u2019s not sustainable.\n\nJas Deol, a graphic design consultant who has participated in many pods, said she left because they\u2019re too much work. She said she\u2019s also seen paid pods, where moderators request between $5 and $20 from users who want to join a pod, which keeps people accountable and wanting to participate. She said she\u2019s seen followers jump from 12,000 to 120,000 because of a pod.\n\nPods are in some ways a throwback to the beginnings of the influencer industry, when bloggers would form a supportive group to grow each other\u2019s communities, said Cait Weingartner, a blogger who runs the Pretty & Fun blog and director of collaborations at Collectively. But now, there is a \u201cshadiness\u201d to it. Pods will often focus on sponsored posts that brands paid for and ask pod members to make sure to leave comments about the brand. For instance, for an outfit post, pod members\u2019 approach could be to comment about how much they love the watch in the post because the watch brand sponsored the ad. \u201cIt can add a layer of recommendation, but it also needs disclosure,\u201d said Weingartner.\n\nInstagram did not respond to a request for comment. Nothing in its terms of service forbids this kind of engagement farming. Jeremy Leon, vp of strategy at Laundry Service, said pods can be beneficial to brands if they generate or lead to more organic distribution and that the platform wouldn\u2019t be worried about pods. \u201cInstagram\u2019s algorithm exists to make sure someone sees good content and keeps them on the platform longer, so they can be served more ads,\u201d he said. \u201c[Pods keep] them on the platform longer. That\u2019s it.\u201d", "output": "The growing popularity of pods on Instagram \u2013 groups of users or influencers that help increase engagement \u2013 has come under fire from some media agencies, which\u00a0claim the trend is opaque, creates false competition and can harm ad campaign results. Media buying agency SwellShark's CEO, Nick Pappas, said pods can be misleading about who is engaging with content, while branding consultant Erin Dwyer at Haven said the issue comes down to establishing the validity of influencers as against them just exploiting the pod. Once in the pod, influencers have reported their comments going from two a day to 40 to 100.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scotland smashes wind power record in first half of 2017 \n Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nIndependent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nWind power output in Scotland has helped set a new record for the first half of the year, according to an independent conservation group.\n\nAnalysis by WWF Scotland of data provided by WeatherEnergy found wind turbines provided around 1,039,001MWh of electricity to the National Grid during June.\n\nRenewable energy figures show the power generated last month was enough to supply the electrical needs equivalent to 118 per cent of Scottish households or nearly three million homes.\n\nIn the first six months of 2017 enough power was generated to supply more than all of Scotland\u2019s national demand for six days.\n\nRenewable energy is making waves in Europe\n\nTurbines provided 6,634,585MWh of electricity to the National Grid, which analysts say could on average supply the electrical needs of 124 per cent of Scottish households, or more than three million homes.\n\nDr Sam Gardner, acting director of WWF Scotland, said: \u201cThe first six months of 2017 have certainly been incredible for renewables, with wind turbines alone helping to ensure millions of tonnes of climate-damaging carbon emissions were avoided.\n\n\u201cScotland is continuing to break records on renewable electricity, attracting investment, creating jobs and tackling climate change.\n\n\u201cIf we want to reap the same rewards in the transport and heating sectors, we need the Scottish government to put in place strong policies on energy efficiency and transport in the forthcoming Climate Change Bill.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re calling on people to act for our future and tell the First Minister they want a strong climate bill that will deliver a fairer and healthier low carbon Scotland.\u201d\n\nThe figures for January to June this year showed an increase of 24 per cent compared to 2015, when wind energy provided 5,359,995MWh.\n\n10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Show all 10 1 / 10 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Kira Morris 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Floods destroyed eight bridges and ruined crops such as wheat, maize and peas in the Karimabad valley in northern Pakistan, a mountainous region with many glaciers. In many parts of the world, glaciers have been in retreat, creating dangerously large lakes that can cause devastating flooding when the banks break. Climate change can also increase rainfall in some areas, while bringing drought to others. Hira Ali 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Smoke \u2013 filled with the carbon that is driving climate change \u2013 drifts across a field in Colombia. Sandra Rondon 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Amid a flood in Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a woman on a raft searches for somewhere dry to take shelter. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable places in the world to sea level rise, which is expected to make tens of millions of people homeless by 2050. Probal Rashid 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Sindh province in Pakistan has experienced a grim mix of two consequences of climate change. \u201cBecause of climate change either we have floods or not enough water to irrigate our crop and feed our animals,\u201d says the photographer. \u201cPicture clearly indicates that the extreme drought makes wide cracks in clay. Crops are very difficult to grow.\u201d Rizwan Dharejo 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Hanna Petursdottir examines a cave inside the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland, which she said had been growing rapidly. Since 2000, the size of glaciers on Iceland has reduced by 12 per cent. Tom Schifanella 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A river once flowed along the depression in the dry earth of this part of Bangladesh, but it has disappeared amid rising temperatures. Abrar Hossain 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A shepherd moves his herd as he looks for green pasture near the village of Sirohi in Rajasthan, northern India. The region has been badly affected by heatwaves and drought, making local people nervous about further predicted increases in temperature. Riddhima Singh Bhati 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A factory in China is shrouded by a haze of air pollution. The World Health Organisation has warned such pollution, much of which is from the fossil fuels that cause climate change, is a \u201cpublic health emergency\u201d. Leung Ka Wa 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Water levels in reservoirs, like this one in Gers, France, have been getting perilously low in areas across the world affected by drought, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions. Mahtuf Ikhsan\n\nScotland\u2019s total electricity consumption including homes, business and industry for first six months was 11,689,385MWh.\n\nRenewables experts say this means wind generated the equivalent of 57 per cent of Scotland\u2019s entire electricity needs.\n\nKaren Robinson, of WeatherEnergy, said: \u201cIt\u2019s great to see this data confirm that Scotland is knocking it out of the park on wind power with total output for June in particular up on the same period compared to the past two years.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt renewables are helping households increasingly avoid fossil fuels for their electricity needs.\u201d\n\nScotland\u2019s energy minister Paul Wheelhouse said: \u201cIt\u2019s great to hear renewable electricity generation in Scotland has reached a new record high. In the first quarter of this year, generation was up by 13 per cent compared to the same period last year, there was also a 16 per cent increase in capacity, and more than half of all gross electricity consumption in Scotland continues to come from renewables.\n\n\u201cScotland\u2019s total installed renewable capacity, that\u2019s the amount of renewable electricity we are capable of producing, now stands at 9.3 GW \u2013 four times what it was only a decade ago. These statistics reinforce our country\u2019s reputation as a renewable energy powerhouse and are a vindication of the Scottish government\u2019s energy policy.\u201d", "output": "Scotland has set a new record for wind power output during H1 2017, producing enough electricity to power every home in the country for six days, according to analysis by WWF Scotland. Experts said wind made up 57% of Scotland's energy needs, while total renewable capacity stood at 9.3GW, all of which was helping the country attract jobs and tackle climate change."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Halliburton touts chemical proppants as sand per well falls for first time \n This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate\n\nTexas oil is booming, and so are the numbers of sand mines needed to keep fracking the wells.\n\nOhio-based Fairmount Santrol announced it will build yet another sand mine in the Permian Basin to churn out more Texas sand to pump into West Texas wells to crack open the shale rock and release the crude oil through hydraulic fracturing.\n\nThe continually growing number of Texas mines comes as the amount of sand per well has surged because of deeper and longer wells, as well as more sand pumped per foot. The largest wells now consume up to 25,000 tons - 50 million pounds - of sand each, up from 1,500 tons, or about 3 million pounds, just a few years ago.\n\nStill, Fairmount Santrol's news comes as just as U.S. fracking leader Halliburton said it saw its sand usage decline in the second quarter for the first time. With sand costs rising and availability temporarily limited, Halliburton was more strategic with its sand use for its customers.\n\nEnergy analysts, however, said the data points to sand rates per well growing, even if the pace has slowed. Halliburton buys its sand and produces its own injection chemicals, so Halliburton stands to financially benefit by touting chemicals and downplaying sand.\n\n\"It's not free,\" Halliburton CEO Jeff Miller said of sand.\n\nMiller said escalating sand prices are pushing Halliburton to maximize science - the injection chemicals - and become more strategic, as opposed to blindly blasting more sand.\n\nHowever, energy analysts James West, of Evercore ISI in New York, said Halliburton's decline is more a temporary blip reflected by temporary sand shortages before new mines open up.\n\n\"You're still seeing increased amounts of sand being consumed overall,\" West said.\n\nRaymond James energy analyst Praveen Narra agreed the Halliburton commentary is more of a \"hiccup\" than a trend. Still, Miller's comments caused the stock values of sand producers to plummet Monday, and there is the concern of sand miners overcompensating and opening up too much new sand capacity in the next year or so.\n\n\"While we do think that proppant intensity growth rates are slowing and will eventually top out, we also believe we are still a decent ways away from that phenomenon,\" Narra noted, remaining relatively bullish on sand.\n\nMost frac sand has historically come from the fine-grain \"northern white\" sand from Wisconsin and Minnesota, but the rapidly growing demand and longer travel distance has increasingly led more companies to build more Texas sand mines to serve the booming Permian Basin. The Texas brown sand isn't of quite as high a quality, but proponents argue it's not far off. Also, the Texas sand is cheaper and much closer.\n\nAs for Fairmount Santrol's latest project, the company signed a 40-year lease to open a mine on 3,250 acres of sand reserves near Kermit in Texas' Winkler County in the Permian Basin. The reserves contain about 165 million tons of fine-grade sand. The proposed mine is expected to churn out 3 million tons of proppant sand production annually. Fairmount is planning to spend $110 million to build the mine and have it opened by mid-2018.\n\n\"The unique characteristics of this property, which include contiguous reserves of fine mesh sand, water availability and prime access to existing roads, make this an excellent opportunity for Fairmount Santrol to expand our broad product offering by providing a low-cost, in-basin solution to meet the changing requests from some of our customers,\" said Fairmount CEO Jenniffer Deckard.\n\nTexas-based sand companies are growing as well. The Woodlands-based Smart Sand recently went public to help fuel its expansions. Houston-based Hi-Crush is building a mine at the former Dunes of Kermit. Fort Worth-based Emerge Energy Services bought a recreational mine south of San Antonio that sells sand to golf courses that it will transform into a much larger frac sand mine operation. And out-of-state rivals U.S. Silica and Unimin Corp. also are building new Permian mines.", "output": "Halliburton, the biggest provider of services to the US shale drilling industry, said it saw its sand usage per well decline in the second quarter for the first time as it sought to be more strategic with the resources amid rising prices. The company instead has been investing in the quality of the chemicals it uses in the fracking process. The amount of sand per well has surged in recent years as they grow deeper and longer and more sand is pumped per foot. Analysts said that the decline is probably temporary and may reflect a shortage of sand."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Drone makes 58-mile round trip to inspect offshore asset \n Drone Completes Over-the-Horizon Platform Inspection\n\nUK-based startup FlyLogix, an operator of inspection drones for the offshore industry, says that it has completed the longest-distance civilian drone flight in Britain \u2013 a shore-launched inspection of an unmanned offshore platform. Flylogix's Condor fixed-wing drone took off at Blackpool and flew a 50 nm round trip to Centrica\u2019s DP3 gas production platform, located in Morecambe Bay in the East Irish Sea. The aircraft obtained infrared imagery of the facility, removing the need to deploy staff.\n\nThe time savings will help Centrica, which is prioritizing the refurbishment of its holdings in the Morecambe Bay. The firm recently announced that it is spending $80 million to renovate nearby production platforms DP6 and DP8; the company says that its investments will give it access to an additional three billion cubic feet of natural gas from the formation.\n\nThe Telegraph reports that Flylogix had to obtain special permission from Britain's Civil Aviation Authority to fly the drone beyond visual sight, a practice that is ordinarily prohibited. A human pilot in Blackpool controlled the aircraft's movements and kept it under a legal flight ceiling of 400 feet.\n\n\u201cThis is a major milestone for FlyLogix as we showcase the significant benefits of our long range offshore drone service, and ultimately demonstrate the future of offshore inspection and logistics,\" said FlyLogix chairman Charles Tavner. \"We are grateful for the support of the CAA, Centrica, Blackpool Airport and other air space users, to ensure the success of this record service.\"\n\nDrone inspections are taking off in the offshore industry, as they can shave hundreds of man-hours of labor off of the process of checking for corrosion, cracking and other signs of degradation. Drones are beginning to gain traction in the world of commercial shipping as well, where they are increasingly being used for tank inspections and as an aid for class surveys.", "output": "FlyLogix, an operator of inspection drones for the offshore industry, has announced that it has completed the longest-distance civilian drone flight in the UK. Flylogix's Condor fixed-wing drone flew from Blackpool to Centrica's DP3 gas production platform, in Morecambe Bay, in a 50 nautical mile round trip. The drone was able to pick up infrared images of the facility, reducing the need to send out a crew and costs."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Earth Overshoot Day to fall on 2 August 2017 \n The Earth is a pretty amazing thing. Every year, it regenerates an enormous amount of the environmental resources \u2013 water, soil and clean air \u2013 that we humans use up. But in the last few decades we've started using substantially more of those resources than can be replaced every year.\n\nThat's why, in 1986, environmental groups began calculating the day each year on which we go over our limit and start living on credit. This year, the day falls on August 2. \"By August 2, 2017, we will have used more from nature than our planet can renew in the whole year,\" the WWF and Global Footprint Network said in a statement.\n\n\"In other words, humanity is currently using nature 1.7 times faster than ecosystems can regenerate. This is akin to using 1.7 Earths. This means that in seven months, we emitted more carbon than the oceans and forests can absorb in a year, we caught more fish, felled more trees, harvested more, and consumed more water than the Earth was able to produce in the same period.\"\n\nEarlier and earlier\n\nThe milestone arrives earlier and earlier every year. In 1987, the first year it was calculated for, it fell on December 19. In 1995 it was November 21. In 2007 it was October 26. About 60% of humanity's ecological 'footprint' comes from burning coal, oil and gas.\n\nIndividual countries have their own Overshoot Days. Australia hits it on March 12, the United States a couple of days later, and the UK on May 4. You can find data for your country on the Overshoot Day website .\n\nThere is a silver lining to this bad news, though. The rate at which Earth Overshoot Day is moving up the calendar is slowing down, the groups say. To slow that rate further, we (meaning: you) need to eat less meat, burn less fuel and cut back on food waste.", "output": "Earth Overshoot Day, the date on which humans will have used up more environmental resources than the earth can replace each year, will fall on 2 August in 2107. The date, which has been moving forward each year, was first calculated for 1987 when it fell on 19 December. This year\u2019s date means that during the first seven months of the year alone, humans have emitted more carbon than can be absorbed by oceans and forests in a year and have caught more fish, cut down more trees and consumed more water than can be replaced in that period.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Half of UK airports fail to provide free drinking water: MSE \n \n\n\n\nMore than half of the UK\u2019s international airports do not have free drinking water fountains installed in their departure lounges, a leading consumer website has revealed.\n\n\n\nAs a result, thirsty travellers are being left to buy expensive bottled water from airside retailers or forced to ask for water at bars and restaurants, according to MoneySavingExpert.com (MSE).\n\n\n\nMSE asked 30 UK international airports if passengers can fill up free of charge at a water fountain after going through security. While many of the bigger airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted, do have fountains on the airside, 18 said they did not.\n\nThe website is now calling on the bosses of these airports \u2013 which include Cardiff, London City, London Southend, Liverpool John Lennon and Newcastle \u2013 to introduce this \u201cbasic\u201d but important facility.\n\nFor more than a decade \u2013 as a result of tougher security rules \u2013 passengers have not been allowed to take liquids of more than 100ml through security at airports.Passengers are also routinely encouraged to throw away bottles before security checks, although the Civil Aviation Authority has confirmed that they are allowed to take an empty bottle through security to fill up before getting on the plane.\n\n\u201cIt can be infuriating for passengers to have to abandon bottles of water before going through security, then shell out for pricey bottles in the departure lounge,\u201d said Steve Nowottny, news and features editor at MSE.\n\n\n\n\u201cTaking an empty bottle through security and then filling it up at a water fountain is the simplest answer \u2013 we\u2019ve had a massive response from users since publishing a list of airport water fountains earlier this summer. We\u2019re now urging airports that don\u2019t already have fountains to take action and install them as soon as possible, ensuring all passengers can fill up for free.\u201d\n\nThe Guardian has recently highlighted the scourge of single-use plastic drinks bottles, fuelled by consumers who are too embarrassed to ask a pub or restaurant for a glass of tap water or a refill of their empty bottle.\n\n\n\n", "output": "Over 50% of the UK\u2019s international airports do not provide free water fountains in departure lounges, according to consumer website MoneySavingExpert.com (MSE). As a result, travellers are purchasing expensive and environmentally damaging bottled water or asking for water in bars and restaurants. Of the 30 airports surveyed, 18, including Cardiff, Liverpool John Lennon, London City and Newcastle, failed to provide fountains. Anti-terrorism rules mean that passengers are not allowed to take over 100ml of liquid through airport security. Empty bottles are permitted and MSE is calling on all airports to provide facilities for filling these.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Patients do not have to complete full antibiotic course: BMJ \n Telling patients to stop taking antibiotics when they feel better may be preferable to instructing them to finish the course, according to a group of experts who argue that the rule long embedded in the minds of doctors and the public is wrong and should be overturned.\n\nPatients have traditionally been told that they must complete courses of antibiotics, the theory being that taking too few tablets will allow the bacteria causing their disease to mutate and become resistant to the drug.\n\nBut Martin Llewelyn, a professor in infectious diseases at Brighton and Sussex medical school, and colleagues claim that this is not the case. In an analysis in the British Medical Journal, the experts say \u201cthe idea that stopping antibiotic treatment early encourages antibiotic resistance is not supported by evidence, while taking antibiotics for longer than necessary increases the risk of resistance\u201d.\n\nThere are some diseases where the bug can become resistant if the drugs are not taken for long enough. The most obvious example is tuberculosis, they say. But most of the bacteria that cause people to become ill are found on everybody\u2019s hands in the community, causing no harm, such as E coli and Staphylococcus aureus. People fall ill only when the bug gets into the bloodstream or the gut. The longer such bacteria are exposed to antibiotics, the more likely it is that resistance will develop.\n\nThe experts say there has been too little research into the ideal length of a course of antibiotics, which also varies from one individual to the next, depending in part on what antibiotics they have taken in the past.\n\nIn hospital, patients can be tested to work out when to stop the drugs. \u201cOutside hospital, where repeated testing may not be feasible, patients might be best advised to stop treatment when they feel better,\u201d they say. That, they add, is in direct contravention of World Health Organisation advice.\n\nOther experts in infectious diseases backed the group. \u201cI have always thought it to be illogical to say that stopping antibiotic treatment early promotes the emergence of drug-resistant organisms,\u201d said Peter Openshaw, president of the British Society for Immunology.\n\n\n\n\u201cThis brief but authoritative review supports the idea that antibiotics may be used more sparingly, pointing out that the evidence for a long duration of therapy is, at best, tenuous. Far from being irresponsible, shortening the duration of a course of antibiotics might make antibiotic resistance less likely.\u201d\n\nAlison Holmes, a professor of infectious diseases at Imperial College London, said a great British authority, Prof Harold Lambert, had made the same point in a Lancet article entitled \u201cDon\u2019t keep taking the tablets\u201d as early as 1999. \u201cIt remains astonishing that apart from some specific infections and conditions, we still do not know more about the optimum duration of courses or indeed doses in many conditions, yet this dogma has been pervasive and persistent.\u201d\n\nJodi Lindsay, a professor of microbial pathogenesis at St George\u2019s, University of London, said it was sensible advice. \u201cThe evidence for \u2018completing the course\u2019 is poor, and the length of the course of antibiotics has been estimated based on a fear of under-treating rather than any studies,\u201d she said. \u201cThe evidence for shorter courses of antibiotics being equal to longer courses, in terms of cure or outcome, is generally good, although more studies would help and there are a few exceptions when longer courses are better \u2013 for example, TB.\u201d\n\nBut the Royal College of GPs expressed concerns. \u201cRecommended courses of antibiotics are not random,\u201d said its chair, Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard. \u201cThey are tailored to individual conditions and in many cases, courses are quite short \u2013 for urinary tract infections, for example, three days is often enough to cure the infection.\n\n\u201cWe are concerned about the concept of patients stopping taking their medication midway through a course once they \u2018feel better\u2019, because improvement in symptoms does not necessarily mean the infection has been completely eradicated. It\u2019s important that patients have clear messages and the mantra to always take the full course of antibiotics is well known. Changing this will simply confuse people.\u201d\n\nEngland\u2019s chief medical officer, Prof Dame Sally Davies, said: \u201cThe message to the public remains the same: people should always follow the advice of healthcare professionals. To update policies, we need further research to inform them.\n\n\u201c[The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence] is currently developing guidance for managing common infections, which will look at all available evidence on appropriate prescribing of antibiotics.\n\n\u201cThe Department of Health will continue to review the evidence on prescribing and drug-resistant infections, as we aim to continue the great progress we have made at home and abroad on this issue.\u201d", "output": "Received wisdom that patients must\u00a0complete a full course of antibiotics, rather than stopping when they feel better, is misguided, according to a new analysis in the British Medical Journal. The researchers argue that \u201cthe idea that stopping antibiotic treatment early encourages antibiotic resistance is not supported by evidence, while taking antibiotics for longer than necessary increases the risk of resistance\u201d. The study also argued that the ideal length of a course of treatment can vary from patient to patient and can be affected by an individual\u2019s previous antibiotic use.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK government\u2019s clean air plan criticised by council leaders \n The government\u2019s new clean air plan has been branded inadequate by the leaders of eight heavily polluted cities, as campaigners said banning petrol and diesel cars from 2040 would not help the thousands dying each year from illnesses linked to toxic fumes.\n\n\n\nThe long-awaited report was published by Michael Gove, the environment secretary, on Wednesday, after a court ruled last year that the government must improve its proposals for tackling illegal levels of pollution.\n\nIt confirmed conventional petrol and diesel cars would be banned in 23 years but the government refused to legislate for more \u201cclean air zones\u201d that would charge the dirtiest vehicles to enter some of the UK\u2019s most polluted cities.\n\nThe plan also stopped short of bringing in a scrappage scheme to encourage people to give up diesel cars, considering only a \u201ctargeted\u201d version to incentivise some some groups of people on low incomes or in particularly polluted areas.\n\nIn a letter to Gove, the leaders of Liverpool, Leeds, Birmingham, Southampton, Leicester and Oxford city councils called for urgent legislation and a proper diesel scrappage scheme, saying the long-awaited air quality plan would not enable them to keep to their legal limits on pollution.\n\n\n\nThe city leaders said the \u201cupdated clean air plan, while indicating long-term ambition, still lacks some specific actions that would enable us to meet the legal limits and establish safer air sooner rather than later\u201d.\n\nThe criticism means the government could face further legal action to force it to produce a more comprehensive plan, with environmentalists, doctors and opposition politicians arguing it is insufficient to deal with a \u201chealth emergency\u201d estimated to be killing 40,000 people a year.\n\nSome energy experts also warned that a wholesale switch from\n\nconventional to electric cars could put the National Grid under huge pressure and require many new power stations.\n\nClientEarth, the environmental lawyers that previously took the government to court, said it appeared to be \u201clittle more than a shabby rewrite of the previous draft plans and is underwhelming and lacking in urgency\u201d.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe court ordered action by the UK to obey its own laws as soon as possible. This plan kicks the can down the road yet again,\u201d said James Thornton, chief executive of the firm. \u201cThe 2040 diesel and petrol ban, while important is a diversionary tactic and doesn\u2019t deal with the public health emergency caused by illegally polluted air, now.\u201d\n\nMinisters had been urged to introduce charges for vehicles to enter a series of clean air zones (CAZs) in new cities, adding to existing plans for such measures in Birmingham, Derby, Leeds, Nottingham, Southampton, and London.\n\nBut the government said it only wants new charging zones to be considered as a last resort, despite its own research showing that such clean air zones are the \u201cquickest, most cost-effective way\u201d to tackle the problem.\n\nIt named 80 A-roads and motorways with particularly poor air quality but said councils should exhaust other options before opting to impose charging, and restrictions should be time-limited and lifted as soon as pollution is within legal limits.\n\nInstead, most councils will be given money from a \u00a3250m pot to tackle pollution hotspots with \u201csurgical interventions\u201d such as improving public transport and changing road layouts. Labour said the government was \u201cshunting the problem on to local authorities\u201d, which have 18 months to submit their plans for action.\n\nIn their letter to Gove, six councils warned that some of these suggestions for surgical interventions risk \u201cdisplacing the problem elsewhere in our cities rather than solving it .... and they could also increase traffic and congestion\u201d.\n\n\u201cOnly national backing of local action, in law and in resources, will enable us to tackle this crisis effectively,\u201d they said.\n\nAnother council, Sheffield, called the report \u201cwoefully inadequate\u201d, with Jack Scott, cabinet member for transport, saying he was \u201chighly sceptical that the government\u2019s announcement today even meets their legal duties on air quality\u201d.\n\nSadiq Khan, the Labour mayor of London, also joined in the criticism saying the ban on petrol and diesel cars from 2040 was a \u201chalf-hearted commitment\u201d that Londoners cannot afford to wait for.\n\nThis was echoed by Ed Miliband, the former Labour leader and energy secretary, who said he feared the new ban in 23 years\u2019 time was a \u201csmokescreen for weak measures to tackle 40,000 deaths a year from air pollution now\u201d.\n\nGove had also been pressed to bring in a scrappage scheme for diesel cars, but the final document only said the government would consider a limited programme to incentivise drivers to switch the most polluting cars for cleaner vehicles.\n\nThis would be directed at those who most need support, such as those on lower incomes or those living in the immediate vicinity of a clean air zone. It sounded a negative tone about the idea, saying previous schemes have been \u201cpoor value for the taxpayer and open to a degree of fraud\u201d.\n\n\n\nThe report\u2019s flagship measure was a pledge to ban new sales of conventional diesel and petrol cars by 2040, but this did not go as far as expected because hybrid car sales would still be allowed. Previously, the government had said 2050 emissions targets required \u201calmost all new cars and vans sold to be near-zero emission at the tailpipe by 2040\u201d.\n\nSenior doctors specialising in child health expressed dismay at the failure to take more decisive action. Prof Neena Modi, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said there was \u201cindisputable evidence demonstrating the tragic effects it has on the development of the lungs and hearts of children\u201d.\n\n\n\n\u201cHaving been told [by the courts] to go back to the drawing board so many times, that the government\u2019s final air quality plan still lacks sufficiently strong measures to clean our air is frankly inexcusable,\u201d she said.\n\nProf Jonathan Grigg, from Barts and the London school of medicine and dentistry, also said more urgent action was needed\n\n\u201cThe 2040 target means that several generations of children will suffer the long term consequences of inhaling sooty particles and oxides of nitrogen,\u201d he said. \u201cThe government needs to act now, with a faster and more robust response to this public health emergency.\u201d\n\nIndustry figures criticised the lack of detail and Mike Cherry, chair of the Federation of Small Businesses, said it \u201cstill leaves many small businesses in the dark, particularly regarding any potential diesel scrappage scheme\u201d.\n\nOthers were concerned about jobs when conventional cars are phased out. Tony Burke, assistant general secretary of Unite, said nothing should be done to jeopardise the \u201chard won\u201d success of the car industry, adding: \u201cThe announcement has wide-ranging implications for the UK economy and future employment prospects of hundreds of thousands of skilled workers. We are calling for a national debate embracing employers, unions and ministers.\u201d\n\nMike Hawes, the boss of car industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said it was crucial that the government supported the development of electric car technologies and attracted the major battery manufacturers to the UK to prevent the industry, which supports 814,000 jobs, from being damaged.\n\nEnvironmental groups also reacted with disappointment. Friends of the Earth, the green charity, said it was a cynical move for the government to grab headlines with the eyecatching promise to ban new diesel cars in future, when there is little in the plan to deal with immediate problems.\n\nThe plan was described as gimmicky by Areeba Hamid, a clean air campaigner at Greenpeace UK. \u201cWhile this plan makes the right headline-grabbing noises, in reality it means that children across the UK will continue to be exposed to harmful air pollution for years to come, with potentially irreversible impacts,\u201d she said. \u201cThe government cannot shy away any longer from the issue of diesel cars clogging up and polluting our cities, and must now provide real solutions, not just gimmicks.\u201d\n\nOpposition parties criticised the plan for failing to go far enough and highlighted the weakness of proposals to deal with air quality in the short and medium term.\n\nSue Hayman, the shadow environment secretary, said there had already been \u201cseven years of illegal air pollution under this Conservative government, who have only acted after being dragged through the courts\u201d.\n\n\u201cDespite the scale of the problem of illegal air pollution, we are presented today with further consultations and delays, a squeamish attitude to clean air zones, shunting the problem on to local authorities and no detail about how the government\u2019s 2040 target will be achieved,\u201d she said. \u201cWith nearly 40 million people living in areas with illegal levels of air pollution, action is needed now, not in 23 years\u2019 time.\u201d\n\nThe plan was defended by Gove, who said it \u201csets out how we will work with local authorities to tackle the effects of roadside pollution caused by dirty diesels, in particular nitrogen dioxide\u201d.\n\n\n\n\u201cThis is one element of the government\u2019s \u00a33bn programme to clean up the air and reduce vehicle emissions,\u201d he said.", "output": "The UK government\u2019s new clean air plan has been criticised as inadequate by the leaders of eight cities suffering from high levels of pollution. In a letter to environment secretary Michael Gove, the leaders of Birmingham, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Oxford and Southampton councils demanded urgent legislation and the introduction of a diesel scrappage scheme. The plan, which will ban petrol and diesel cars by 2040 but does not include proposals for further \u201cclean air zones\u201d\u00a0or a full scrappage scheme, was published on Wednesday after a court ruled in 2016 that previous government proposals were insufficient."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researcher converts dirty tinfoil into biofuel catalyst \n Ahmed Osman. Credit: Queen's University Belfast\n\nA researcher at Queen's University Belfast has discovered a way to convert dirty aluminium foil into a biofuel catalyst, which could help to solve global waste and energy problems.\n\nIn the UK, around 20,000 tonnes of aluminium foil packaging is wasted each year - enough to stretch to the moon and back. Most of this is landfilled or incinerated as it's usually contaminated by grease and oils, which can damage recycling equipment.\n\nHowever, Ahmed Osman, an Early Career Researcher from Queen's University's School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, has worked with engineers at the university to create an innovative crystallisation method, which obtains 100% pure single crystals of aluminium salts from the contaminated foil. This is the starting material for the preparation of alumina catalyst.\n\nUsually, to produce this type of alumina it would have to come from bauxite ore, which is mined in countries such as West Africa, the West Indies and Australia, causing huge environmental damage.\n\nOsman, who took on the project under the University's Sustainable Energy, Pioneering Research Programme, has created a solution which is much more environmentally-friendly, effective and cheaper than the commercial catalyst which is currently available on the market for the production of dimethyl ether - a biofuel which is regarded as the most promising of the 21st century. Osman says making the catalyst from aluminium foil cost about \u00a3120/kg while the commercial alumina catalyst comes in at around \u00a3305/kg.\n\nIts unique thermal, chemical and mechanical stability means it can also be used as an absorbent, in electronic device fabrication, as a cutting tool material or as an alternative for surgical material for implants.\n\nThe ground-breaking research has been published in Nature Scientific Reports.\n\nOsman commented: \"I have always been inspired by Chemistry and I believe that catalysis especially can make the world a better place. One day I took a walk through our laboratories at Queen's and found lots of Aluminium foil waste so I did a little digging and after speaking to my colleagues, I ran my experiment and was astonished by the ultrapure single crystals \u2013 I didn't expect it to be 100% pure.\n\n\"At Queen's, our scientists and engineers often work hand in hand on common challenging problems for the society. By using our joint expertise, we have been able to tackle the issue of sustainable development and come up with a research solution which lies in an area between chemistry and chemical engineering.\n\n\"This breakthrough is significant as not only is the alumina more pure than its commercial counterpart, it could also reduce the amount of aluminium foil going to landfill while also sidestepping the environmental damage associated with mining bauxite.\"\n\nOsman is hoping to continue his research into how these catalysts can be further improved and explore the opportunities for commercialisation of biofuel production or use the modified alumina catalyst in the catalytic converters in natural gas vehicles.\n\nMore information: Ahmed I. Osman et al. A Facile Green Synthetic Route for the Preparation of Highly Active \u03b3-Al2O3 from Aluminum Foil Waste, Scientific Reports (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-03839-x Journal information: Scientific Reports", "output": "An engineer at Queen's University Belfast has developed a method of obtaining 100% pure single crystals of aluminium salts from used aluminium foil, potentially sidestepping the environmentally damaging bauxite industry, according to research published in Nature Scientific Reports. Ahmed Osman came up with the innovative crystallisation method, which costs about \u00a3120 ($157)/kg to make, compared to a commercial alumina catalyst's \u00a3305/kg. In addition, Osman's alumina has the thermal, chemical and mechanical stability to perform\u00a0a wide range of applications, from surgical material to cutting tools.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Kidnap vigilance urged as employee travel to high-risk countries rises \n Approximately 40,000 kidnappings occur every year and over 40% of these are of business personnel or their dependants. Regions with the highest risk such as Mexico, Libya and Bangladesh*, are well known and employers may have been aware of these risks for some time. However, kidnappings can occur in any region and it\u2019s important that employers consider the risks wherever they send their staff.\n\n\n\nIt is vital that companies have adequate protection for their staff to ensure they are properly prepared should the worst happen. Employers also need to remember, this isn\u2019t only relevant for expats, but any staff that travel for work.\n\n\n\nWhat has changed?\n\nData suggests high-risk areas are expanding their territory and getting more dangerous. Business travel to these regions is also rising. Result Group, the risk and crisis management consultancy, reports a significant deterioration of the safety situation across Africa in the last four years** \u2013 an attractive continent for business due to its rapid economic growth.\n\n\n\nKidnap and ransom, whilst most common in high-risk regions is not exclusive to them, it can happen anywhere, so it is understandable that employees may be getting more worried about their personal safety. Indeed, research*** from ABTA shows that safety is employers\u2019 number one concern for staff that travel abroad for work.\n\n\n\nGiven this context, it is now a priority for employers to be prepared, wherever they are sending staff. In practice this includes conducting research before travel, getting advice from experts and ensuring the relevant insurance is in place. Not only will such steps ensure adequate protection is in place, it also enables a company to fulfil its legal obligations to staff, and is a reassurance for staff working abroad.\n\n\n\nSarah Dennis, Head of International for The Health Insurance Group said: \u201cSadly, we have to recognise that the risk of kidnap and ransom is increasing and it isn\u2019t just limited to high-risk areas. The good news is, there are specific kidnap and ransom policies that have been designed to specifically protect companies with staff working abroad. A kidnap and ransom policy should be an integral part of the provisions that employers make to meet their duty of care for overseas and travelling staff \u2013 wherever they\u2019re working.\u201d\n\n\n\nWhat is needed?\n\nEmployers must recognise the increasing threat of kidnap and ransom as they seek to grow their business, not only in high-risk areas. To meet the duty of care they have to staff it is essential for businesses to seek expert advice and have kidnap and ransom policies in place before sending staff abroad.\n\n", "output": "Employers should adopt more vigilant measures against the kidnap risk to\u00a0their employees as travel becomes an increasingly essential component of\u00a0business activities, according to the Health Insurance Group. Since almost half of the 40,000 kidnappings occurring every year involve business personnel or their dependants, companies have been urged to ensure kidnap and ransom policies are in place to\u00a0help protect\u00a0their staff. The UK-based independent healthcare and wellbeing adviser warned that\u00a0high-risk regions around the globe are on the increase.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Korean firms to develop new batteries over cobalt shortage \n In response to a supply shortage of cobalt, a key ingredient used in lithium-ion batteries, South Korean battery makers Samsung SDI and LG Chem are stepping up development of new batteries and diversifying their material suppliers.\n\n\n\nAmid growing demand for the lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles and smartphones, cobalt, the key energy metal, has seen a decline in production this year driven mainly by the unstable political situation of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which accounts for more than half of global cobalt production.\n\n\n\nIn July, the price of cobalt came to $61,000 per ton, a 90 percent jump from early in the year, according to industry data.\n\n\n\nThe continued political instability of Congo and rising demand for electric vehicles will lead to a supply shortage of cobalt from 2018, which will last for four straight years, Macquarie Research predicted. The global EV market is forecast to grow from 6.7 million units in 2015 to 10.4 million units by 2020, according to Japanese market research firm B3.\n\n\n\n\n\nLeading Korean battery makers Samsung SDI, LG Chem and SK Innovation -- whose combined EV battery sales stand at around 20 percent of total global sales -- are responding to the short supply by developing new batteries that can reduce the use of cobalt.\u201cWe are developing a new lithium-ion battery with a reduced portion of cobalt in response to the price rise of the energy metal,\u201d said Kang Chang-beom, an executive of LG Chem\u2019s battery business strategy division, on a conference call with analysts on July 19.Current lithium-ion batteries are comprised of cathode material, anode material, electrolytes and separators. The cathode material includes nickel, cobalt and manganese, whose proportion is currently at a 6:2:2 ratio. But the three firms are developing new batteries to change the ratio to 8:1:1.Improving the proportion of nickel could allow EVs to run farther on a single charge.\u201cThe new batteries with the reduced portion of cobalt could be developed in three to four years, although it would be difficult to get rid of cobalt completely anytime soon,\u201d said a source from LG Chem.Alongside the development of new batteries, the battery makers are also diversifying their cathode material suppliers.\u201cThe price surge of cobalt has become a very sensitive issue recently. We are trying to diversify our cathode material suppliers and to make a long-term contract (in order not to be affected by short-term political instability) with them,\u201d a Samsung SDI official said.Currently, both Samsung and LG are provided with cobalt from several cathode material providers, including local firm Ecopro and Belgian firm Umicore.Some industry watchers have said the government should move to secure the necessary metals at a national level to support local battery firms.However, the government is not in a position to do so, as most public projects that tap on overseas resources, which began under former President Lee Myung-bak in around 2010, have come under fire for lacking in meaningful contributions.In June, the government announced a massive restructuring plan of public organizations, including Korea Resources Corp., and said there would be no more new investments in overseas resources.\u201cWe agree that there is the necessity to exploit cobalt for the private sector. But we have no plan to make any new investments in overseas resources, as the tax burden caused by past failures is too massive,\u201d said Kim Doo-yeol, an official in charge of developing overseas resources at the Ministry of Commerce Industry and Energy.By Shin Ji-hye ( shinjh@heraldcorp.com", "output": "South Korean tech firms Samsung SDI, LG Chem and SK Innovation are responding to the predicted global supply shortage of cobalt - a key ingredient of lithium-ion batteries - by developing new technology which relies less on the material. Researchers are aiming to change the proportion of cathode materials nickel, cobalt and manganese from a 6:2:2 ratio to 8:1:1. A source inside LG Chem said the batteries with less cobalt could be developed in three to four years, though it would be \"difficult to get rid of cobalt completely anytime soon\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Irish courts drafting contempt laws on social media influence \n Procedures are needed so contempt of court laws can be used against those who disrupt court proceedings with social media, the Chief Justice Susan Denham has said. Video: Colm Keena\n\nProcedures are needed so contempt of court laws can be used against those who disrupt court proceedings with social media, the Chief Justice Susan Denham has said.\n\nHer comments come in the wake of an unprecedented social media campaign during the Jobstown trial, but also reflect a more general concern amongst the judiciary about social media, in particular as to how it can affect jurors.\n\n\"To date, it has been rare that courts in Ireland have had to use contempt of court law to curb inaccurate and disruptive online communications about cases,\" Mrs Justice Denham said at the launch of the 2016 Annual Report of the Courts Service.\n\n\u201cIt would be naive of us not to plan for the future in this regard,\u201d she said. \u201cThe fundamental right to a fair trial does not change in the face of any new means of communication. Rules can and must reflect the new reality.\u201d\n\nREAD MORE\n\nShe said she will this week send a draft discussion paper on guidelines on the use of social media in the courts to the presidents of all the courts, and ask the Courts Service to engage with the media and the legal professions on the matter.\n\nThere has been some discussion already about the possibility of banning certain devices from courtrooms unless they are being used by legal professionals or journalists, as well as how to prevent jurors being influenced by social media or online material.\n\nOne of the matters to be considered is who in the system would be responsible for trying to enforce any new rules.\n\nMinister for Justice and Equality, Charlie Flanagan said he was \u201cmost anxious that the area of civil and criminal contempt\u201dshould be reviewed.\n\nThe issue of social media use and court proceedings had arisen on a number of occasions in recent times and he was keen to see the topic reviewed.\n\n\u201cEveryone is entitled to a free and fair trail, without outside interference,\u201d he said. He looked forward to ensuring that any recommendations that emerged from a review would be implemented.\n\nMrs Justice Denham, who is the chair of the Courts Service board, is to retire as Chief Justice soon and will have her last court appearance on Friday.\n\nShe said that in 2016 the Courts Service supported 24,588 court sittings involving 170 judges.\n\nThe courts deal with approximately 750,000 civil and criminal cases and other matters each year, with 516,000 of these being in the District Court where 60 per cent of cases relate to road traffic offences.\n\nThe 2016 report showed a 15 per cent increase in personal injury cases, despite the existence of a parallel non-court process for such claims, she said.\n\n\u201cStrikingly there was a decrease of 32 per cent in new possession cases year on year,\u201d she said. \u201cHopefully this is a sign that the effects of our great recession are fading, and that the alternative mechanisms for dealing with personal debt are successful for many.\u201d\n\nThere has been a 125 per cent increase over two years of applications under the debt resolution mechanisms of the Personal Insolvency Act. That such legal avenues to exit debt exist is to be welcomed, she said.\n\nThe number of trials heard in the Central Criminal Court have increased by 48 per cent over two years, ensuring that waiting times for murder and rape trials do not grow longer.\n\nThe final phase of the Fines (Payments and Recovery) Act 2014, which aims to reduce the number of people going to prison for the non-payment of fines, has commenced and enforcement notices were last week sent to more than 2,000 people who have failed to pay fines imposed by the courts. These people must now appear in court in September, but the Chief Justice pointed out that it is still possible to pay in full the fines at issue, right up to the court appearance date.\n\nOn social media, she said in order to protect the right to a fair trial, it will be necessary to introduce draft guidelines on \u201cthe who, when and what of using social media in courtrooms\u201d.\n\nAlso, there has to be a discussion among those who work in and around courts about how such guidelines might work. And, thirdly, there was a need to look at legal reform to take cognisance of the new reality of instant communication.", "output": "Irish Chief Justice Susan Denham will send a draft discussion paper on potential guidelines for the use of social media in courts, stating that legal proceedings can be disrupted with contemptuous use. The regulations may be able to halt the spread of inaccurate online communications about cases and undue influence on jurors, with devices potentially being banned from courtrooms unless legally necessary.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aetna purchases Bupa Thailand as part of its Asia focus \n Aetna Inc. announced it has acquired UK-based Bupa Group\u2019s Thai business, Bupa Thailand, for an undisclosed sum.\n\nThe acquisition will significantly increase Aetna\u2019s presence in Asia, and is key to the company\u2019s strategy to go \u201cbroader and deeper\u201d into local healthcare markets, the company said in a statement.\n\n\u201cThis is a significant and exciting expansion for Aetna in Asia, and clearly demonstrates our commitment to investment and growth in the region and globally,\u201d said Richard di Benedetto, president of Aetna International.\n\n\u201cThailand is an important market for us, with increasing local wealth driving greater adoption of health insurance. Aetna\u2019s wide product portfolio, together with an excellent talent and knowledge base transferring from Bupa, will put us in a very strong position in the local market,\u201d he added.\n\nBupa Thailand was established over 30 years ago, and is Thailand\u2019s leading specialist health insurer, with more than 300,000 members and a network of over 400 healthcare providers in the country, said Aetna, noting that Bupa Thailand will continue to operate under the Bupa brand for a short time before rebranding as Aetna.\n\nSource: Aetna\n\nTopics Mergers & Acquisitions", "output": "Aetna has acquired Bupa's business in Thailand, Bupa Thailand, for an undisclosed sum as it seeks to expand its influence\u00a0in Asia. The US-based company says it plans to go \"broader and deeper\" into Asia's local health care markets. Bupa Thailand, which is the southeast Asian nation's leading specialist healthcare insurance provider, has more than 300,000 customers. It will continue to operate under\u00a0the Bupa Thailand\u00a0name for a brief period, before being rebranded as Aetna.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "World Bank issued $4.8bn in political risk, credit insurance in FY17 \n World Bank Group commitments to help developing countries take on poverty and boost opportunity reached nearly $59 billion in loans, grants, equity investments and guarantees in fiscal year 2017 (July 1, 2016 \u2013 June 30, 2017).\n\nA statement issued by the World Bank and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Wednesday said the commitments from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)\u2014which provides development knowledge to countries, combined with financing and risk management products\u2014were at $ 22.6 billion in FY17.\n\nIt said this reflected the Bank\u2019s careful attention to ensuring continued strong capital adequacy ratios and prudent financial management into the future while responding to client countries\u2019 most pressing development challenges.\n\n\u201cWith aspirations of the poor on the rise, and overlapping crises such as forced displacement, famine, and climate change, adding urgency to our mission, our staff this year worked to provide marked increases in financing from IDA, IFC, and MIGA,\u201d World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said.\n\n\u201cWhile this year we have had to actively manage IBRD lending, the Board and management are discussing approaches to ensure adequate capacity across the World Bank Group to best help countries achieve their development goals. As always, we are committed to working with our member countries and other partners to crowd in private investment and maximize resources for the poor,\u201d he added.\n\nThe statement said the commitments from the International Development Association (IDA), which provides zero or low-interest loans and grants to the world\u2019s 77 poorest countries, hit $19.5 billion in FY17.\n\nIt said the IDA\u2019s increased commitments reflect strong demand for financing, as well as IDA\u2019s efforts to better leverage resources and expand financing options for borrowing countries.\n\nIt said the FY17 continued to reflect very high demand for IDA financing from clients, fully committing the three-year resource envelope of IDA17.\n\nIt noted that these efforts include an additional $ 3.9 billion allocated for non-concessional lending to finance transformational projects in qualified IDA countries.\n\nIt said increased financing has also allowed IDA to respond rapidly to global crises, including a special allocation to Jordan and Lebanon to respond to the refugee crisis and funding from IDA\u2019s Crisis Response Window to provide immediate relief and strengthen resilience in countries affected by famine.\n\nIt said the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector, leveraged its capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities wherever they were needed most.\n\nIt said preliminary and unaudited data as of June 30 indicated that IFC\u2019s long-term investments totalled approximately $ 18.7 billion, including funds mobilized from other investors.\n\nIt said in FY17, IFC made nearly $ 11.9 billion in long-term investments from its own account and mobilized about $ 6.8 billion from other investors.\n\nThese often-complex investments supported 342 long-term finance projects in developing countries around the world, it stated.\n\nIt said the IFC maintained its strategic focus on the poorest countries and regions; adding that it provided more than $4.6 billion in long-term financing to accelerate development in IDA countries, including funds mobilized from other investors.\n\nThese countries accounted for nearly 25 per cent of IFC\u2019s total investments. Investments in businesses in fragile and conflict-affected areas totalled $858 million, including funds mobilized from other investors.\n\nIt said this was in line with the Bank Group\u2019s broader strategy to channel resources to hard-hit countries.\n\nAs the Bank Group continued to look for new ways to ramp up infrastructure investment, in October 2016, IFC introduced MCPP Infrastructure, a pioneering initiative to mobilize up to $5 billion from insurance companies and other institutional investors for investment in infrastructure projects in emerging markets.\n\nIt said the effort builds on the success of IFC\u2019s $ 3 billion Managed Co-Lending Portfolio Programme, a loan-syndications initiative that enabled third-party investors to participate passively in IFC\u2019s senior loan portfolio.\n\nIt said the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), the political risk insurance and credit enhancement arm of the World Bank Group, issued a record $4.8 billion in guarantees in FY17 in support of 33 projects, helping draw in $15.9 billion in foreign private capital to developing countries.", "output": "The World Bank said that its political risk insurance and credit enhancement unit, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, issued a record $4.8bn\u00a0in guarantees in the year through June 2017, in support of 33 projects, helping draw in $15.9bn in foreign private capital to developing countries.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New South Wales mulls neighbour compensation for unruly Airbnbs \n Residents who let out their spare rooms to rowdy guests through sites such as Airbnb could be forced to pay compensation to their neighbours under a plan being considered by the New South Wales government.\n\n\n\nApartment owners would also be forced to pay extra strata funds, and there would be limits on the number of days a property can be let out without a development application.\n\nThe proposals are among several to be released for public consultation on Friday after the Berejiklian government earlier this year called for input on how to regulate the booming industry.\n\nSolutions for the private short-term rental market, which usually operates on sites such as Airbnb and Stayz, range from self-regulation to changes to strata and planning rules.\n\nOne proposed strata rule change would allow owners\u2019 corporations to ask the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal to order owners to pay compensation when guest behaviour affects others in the building, or issue a temporary ban on short-term letting, News Corp Australia reports.\n\nIt\u2019s unclear whether the government will adopt the proposals. The discussion paper has already been criticised for failing to distinguish between short-term rentals in the city and regional areas.\n\n\u201cIf this distinction is not recognised, it will have damaging consequences for the economy and jobs in regional towns like Port Macquarie and Kiama,\u201d the director of corporate and government affairs at Stayz, Jordan Condo said.\n\n\u201cWhy should someone who owns a beach shack and has for decades leased it out to others when not using it themselves suddenly be handed a bunch of red tape and financial burden for providing accommodation in the parts of NSW where it is needed the most,\u201d he said in a statement on Friday.\n\n\u201cIt does not make any sense and it\u2019s not evidence-based policy-making.\u201d\n\nThere are more than 40,000 Airbnb listings in NSW, including 17,000 in greater Sydney alone.\n\nThe average Airbnb host in NSW earns $4,400 in a year sharing their home.", "output": "Airbnb landlords may have to pay compensation\u00a0to neighbours for inconsiderate guests, according to new legislation being considered by the New South Wales government. Property owners would also be required to pay extra strata (a version of commonhold) funds and obey limits on the number of nights a property can be let. The legislation is under discussion, with critics objecting to the fact that it does\u00a0not\u00a0distinguish\u00a0between city and regional short-term rentals. There are more than 40,000 Airbnb listings in NSW.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IBM develops algorithm to diagnose schizophrenia from fMRI scans \n A scientific collaboration between researchers at IBM and the University of Alberta in Canada has come up with a software tool that analyzes functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans of patient brains and with 74% accuracy diagnoses schizophrenia. Moreover, the software\u2019s algorithms were also able to reasonably estimate how bad the symptoms of the disease were in individual patients.\n\nThe team used fMRI data from the Function Biomedical Informatics Research Network that contains a large number and variety of imaging scans of brains of different patients. The investigators took 95 scans from a collection of schizophrenia patients and used them as input to a deep learning algorithm that found correlations in the scans to develop an understanding of what schizophrenia looks like. They then ran the algorithm against a set of scans of patients with the disease and without, demonstrating that the software is able to spot three quarters of the scans showing the disease.\n\nThe team published their findings in journal Schizophrenia Research. Here\u2019s a bit from the abstract:\n\nWhole-brain link-weight features achieved 74% accuracy in identifying patients and were more stable than voxel-wise node-degrees. Link-weight features predicted severity of several negative and positive symptom scales, including inattentiveness and bizarre behavior. The most-signi\ufb01cant, stable and discriminative functional connectivity changes involved increased correlations between thalamus and primary motor/primary sensory cortex, and between precuneus (BA7) and thalamus, putamen, and Brodmann areas BA9 and BA44. Precuneus, along with BA6 and primary sensory cortex, was also involved in predicting severity of several symptoms. Overall, the proposed multi-step methodology may help identify more reliable multivariate patterns allowing for accurate prediction of schizophrenia and its symptoms severity.\n\nImage: Regions of the brain that showed a statistically significant difference between patients with schizophrenia and patients without it. For example, arrow 1 identifies the precentral gyrus, or the motor cortex, and arrow 5 marks the precuneus, which involves processing visual information.\n\nStudy in journal Schizophrenia Research: Learning stable and predictive network-based patterns ofschizophrenia and its clinical symptoms\u2026\n\nVia: IBM\u2026", "output": "IBM has collaborated with the University of Alberta to create a software tool to analyse functional magnetic resonance imaging scans to diagnose schizophrenia. The tool uses algorithms to examine patients\u2019 brain scans and diagnose symptoms\u00a0with a 74% accuracy rate, as well as determining their severity. Using 95 scans from diagnosed schizophrenia patients, the research team trained a deep learning algorithm to recognise connectivity changes and correlations in brain sectors to determine severity.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Price Transparency In Medicine Faces Stiff Opposition \u2014 From Hospitals And Doctors \n COLUMBUS, Ohio \u2014 Two years after it passed unanimously in Ohio\u2019s state Legislature, a law meant to inform patients what health care procedures will cost is in a state of suspended animation.\n\nOne of the most stringent in a group of similar state laws being proposed across the country, Ohio\u2019s Healthcare Price Transparency Law stipulated that providers had to give patients a \u201cgood faith\u201d estimate of what non-emergency services would cost individuals after insurance before they commenced treatment.\n\nBut the law didn\u2019t go into force on Jan. 1 as scheduled. And its troubled odyssey illustrates the political and business forces opposing a common-sense but controversial solution to rein in high health care costs for patients: Let patients see prices.\n\nMany patient advocates say such transparency would be helpful for patients, allowing them to shop around for some services to hold down out-of-pocket costs, as well as adjust their household budgets for upcoming health-related outlays at a time of high-deductible plans.\n\nAt the Ohio Statehouse, the law\u2019s greatest champion in state government has been Rep. Jim Butler, a Republican and former Navy fighter pilot whose wife is a physician. He authored the legislation and has beat the drum for it since he got the idea in 2013, as he waited for a garage mechanic to repair his car and absorbed the shop\u2019s posted rates for brake jobs, oil changes and tuneups.\n\nOpposition has been formidable, led by the goliath Ohio Hospital Association. It has filed a court injunction that is currently delaying enactment, peppered local news media with editorials, and lobbied Republican Gov. John Kasich, who has eliminated funding that would allow implementation from the latest state budget.\n\nJoining the hospital association in its legal action are a wide range of provider groups including the Ohio State Medical Association, the Ohio Psychological Association, the Ohio Physical Therapy Association, and the Ohio chapters of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Surgeons, and the American Osteopathic Association.\n\nThese groups say that the law, which applies only to elective procedures, is too broad and that forcing providers to create estimates before procedures would slow down patient care. \u201cThe only way to even try to comply with the law is to delay care to patients in order to track down information from insurance companies, who may or may not provide the requested information,\u201d wrote Mike Abrams, the president and CEO of the Ohio Hospital Association, in an op-ed in The Columbus Dispatch in January.\n\nBut Jerry Friedman, a retired health policy adviser for the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, said the opposition doesn\u2019t stem from genuine concern about patients but from a desire to keep the secret rates that providers have negotiated with insurers under wraps. Transparency would mean explaining to consumers why the hospital charged them $1,000 for a test, he said, adding that providers \u201cdon\u2019t want to expose this house of cards they\u2019ve built between hospital physician industry and the insurance industry.\u201d\n\nSaid Butler on his quest to see the law enacted: \u201cThe health care industry has a lot of political power and lots of money. It\u2019s hard to fight on behalf of people against this kind of force.\u201d\n\nThe law\u2019s next test will come in August, when the first court hearing on the association\u2019s lawsuit is scheduled. The Kasich administration said it couldn\u2019t comment on the law because of the pending litigation.\n\nGreater price transparency has been a popular policy prescription for America\u2019s high health costs, especially at a time when many patients have high-deductible insurance plans and face larger copayments. Upfront estimates exist in other countries, such as Australia and, for patients facing out-of-pocket expenses, in France.\n\nIn Massachusetts, patients can get an estimate within two days of admission if they ask for it. Nebraska requires hospitals and surgical centers to provide a list of the average charges for services. New Hampshire has a website where consumers can compare costs.\n\nHospitals and doctors often oppose such measures. The American Hospital Association\u2019s position is that health plans \u2014 not hospitals \u2014 are responsible for telling insured patients about their out-of-pocket costs, according to its website.\n\nAimee Winteregg, 35, of Troy, Ohio, said she would have liked such information before five miscarriages in four years left her buried in unexpected medical bills. She and her husband became first-time parents in November. Though they are well insured, tests and treatment cost the couple $4,000 out-of-pocket, demanded in bills that were sometimes no more descriptive than for \u201cmedical service.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t want to deal with this, especially when the doctor tells you stress is bad for the pregnancy,\u201d her husband, J.D., said. But imposing greater transparency has been controversial in both the medical industry and among some health care researchers, who say it puts patients in an untenable position.\n\nThe transparency law \u201cwas written by someone thinking about health care as a TV, and not as health care,\u201d said Sandra Tanenbaum, a professor of health services management and policy at The Ohio State University College of Public Health.\n\nShe said people could not shop for procedures as they would for a TV or car repairs, since they often lack information on the quality of doctors and hospitals, and make health care decisions based on much more than cost.\n\nConsumers are more likely to base their decisions on their doctors\u2019 advice, not on cost alone, according to a report from the Health Policy Institute of Ohio.\n\nOnly around 10 percent of health care costs are even \u201cshoppable\u201d expenses \u2014 procedures that can be scheduled in advance, like an MRI or elective surgery \u2014 according to the HPIO.\n\nRegardless, Butler maintains, the health care industry can give consumers better information upfront. \u201cIf you really want patients to be empowered, they really need the information,\u201d he said.\n\nIn support of such access, Butler has written letters to the Ohio Hospital Association, the Ohio attorney general and the Dayton Daily News, all in defense of the transparency law.\n\nThe Ohio Hospital Association, along with seven other Ohio health organizations, went to court last December to block the law, a month before it was supposed to take effect.\n\nButler said Gov. Kasich\u2019s administration is helping the hospital association stall by not writing regulations, eliminating funding for the law in the state budget, and declining to meet with Butler to discuss it.\n\nState Rep. Michael Henne, also a Republican, has worked with Butler in the Ohio General Assembly on the transparency law. He called Butler a \u201cdriver\u201d on the law, noting: \u201cIt\u2019s frustrating. You don\u2019t realize how much [influence] special interests have in the process.\u201d", "output": "The Ohio Healthcare Price Transparency Law, despite being passed unanimously in the state\u2019s legislature, has become trapped in a legal mire, with opposition from both hospitals and doctors. The law was intended to ensure that health care providers gave patients a \u201cgood faith\u201d estimate of what the cost of non-emergency services would be for patients after insurance before the treatments were initiated. It was due to come into force on the 1st of January 2017, but it has encountered backlash as the opposition claims the law is too broad, and that making providers give estimates for elective procedures would only slow down the health care process, as hospitals would have to chase insurers for data. Led by the Ohio Hospital Association, the opposition also includes the Ohio Physical Therapy Association, the Ohio State Medical Association, the Ohio Psychological Association, the Ohio chapters of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Surgeons, as well as the American Osteopathic Association. However, supporters say that the law would enable transparency for patients, which would allow them to search for better prices for out-of-pocket costs and adjust their spending for potential health-related costs. Healthy policy advisers have said the reluctance to accept the law may be due to the \u201csecret rates\u201d that hospitals have with insurers which bump up the price for tests and other procedures unnecessarily. The law will be considered again in August when the Ohio Hospital Association has its first court hearing for its lawsuit.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Consultation over ban on leasehold new-build houses to\u00a0begin \n Builders are to be banned by the government from selling houses as leasehold in England and ground rents on flats could be cut to zero following widespread outrage over exploitative contracts.\n\nIn a blow for major housebuilders such as Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon, the communities secretary, Sajid Javid, will set out plans on Tuesday to \u201cban new-build houses being sold as leasehold as well as restricting ground rents to as low as zero\u201d.\n\nFlats can be continued to be sold as leasehold, but ground rents will be restricted to a \u201cpeppercorn\u201d level and therefore be of little financial value to speculative buyers. The ban is expected to come into force after an eight-week consultation period.\n\nThe ban, while welcomed by campaigners, leaves the position of existing leasehold homeowners unclear. The DCLG is expected to consult on what it can do to support existing leaseholders with onerous charges, which could include tackling unreasonable rises \u2013 such as rents doubling every 10 years \u2013 and giving more powers to householders to fight unfair charges.\n\n\u201cUnder government plans, [ground rents] could be reduced so that they relate to real costs incurred, and are fair and transparent to the consumer,\u201d said the DCLG.\n\nTens of thousands of homebuyers have been caught in spiralling ground rents, which have in some cases left homes virtually unsaleable. Javid cited one family home that is now unsaleable because the ground rent is expected to hit \u00a310,000 a year by 2060.\n\n\n\nOver the past nine months a Guardian Money campaign has highlighted reports of buyers trapped in properties valued at zero just six years after being built, \u00a32,500 fees demanded by freeholders for permission to build an extension, and quotes of \u00a335,000 to buy freeholds on detached houses only just a few years old.\n\nJavid said: \u201cIt\u2019s clear that far too many new houses are being built and sold as leaseholds, exploiting home buyers with unfair agreements and spiralling ground rents.\n\n\u201cEnough is enough. These practices are unjust, unnecessary and need to stop. Our proposed changes will help make sure leasehold works in the best interests of homebuyers now and in the future.\u201d\n\nJavid told BBC Radio 4\u2019s Today programme that ground rent had been used by some housebuilders \u201cas an unjustifiable way to print money\u201d.\n\nHe said building firms should do more to compensate those affected by such problems: \u201cIf they are responsible, if they want to keep their business in the future, if they want to show that they really care about their customers, they should be seeing what they should do to right some of the wrongs of the past.\u201d\n\nHowever, Javid said there were not as yet any definite government plans to compel builders to take action to assist those already affected.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s an eight-week period of consultation to look at what action can be taken,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t profess that I\u2019ve got all the answers on this. I\u2019ve identified a problem, we\u2019ve come up with some potential solutions. We don\u2019t pretend they\u2019re easy, there are are complex matters here.\u201d\n\nNew legislation will close legal loopholes to protect buyers, some of whom have faced repossession orders after failing to keep up with the ground rent. The government will also change the rules on help-to-buy equity loans so that the scheme \u201ccan only be used to support new build houses on acceptable terms\u201d.\n\nSebastian O\u2019Kelly, whose Leasehold Knowledge Partnership has been the sharpest critic of abusive practices, welcomed the ban. He said: \u201cLeasehold houses are an absolute racket: a means by which developers have managed to turn ordinary people\u2019s homes into long-term investment vehicles for shadowy investors, often based offshore. In short, plc housebuilders have been systematically cheating their own customers.\u201d\n\nThe practice of selling houses as leasehold has been particularly prominent in the north-west of England.\n\nDCLG statistics estimate there were 4m residential leasehold dwellings in England in the private sector in 2014-15 and of these 1.2m were leasehold houses.\n\n\n\nJustin Madders, Labour MP for Ellesmere Port and Neston, who has many constituents suffering from leasehold problems, said: \u201cWhat has occurred in this sector should be regarded as a national scandal. Therefore, once we have taken action to drive out these rotten practices, the ultimate aim must be to hold to account the men and women who must have known that creating this second lucrative income stream for developers would ultimately be at the cost of their customers.\u201d\n\nJo Darbyshire, whose Taylor Wimpey-built house has a clause where the ground rent doubles every 10 years and is part of the National Leasehold Campaign group on Facebook, said the ban was \u201cfabulous news\u201d.\n\n\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s great that others won\u2019t be stuck in the nightmare we have been in,\u201d she said. \u201cBut what are they really going to do for people in our position? There now needs to be a national review, like the review of endowment misselling, to review every case and put people back into the position they would have been without these onerous clauses.\u201d\n\nEarlier this year, Taylor Wimpey agreed a \u00a3130m deal to help distressed leasehold buyers. At the time, it said that the contracts where ground rents double every 10 years were legal but \u201cnot consistent with our high standards of customer service and we are sorry for the unintended financial consequence and concern that they are causing\u201d.\n\n", "output": "Housebuilders will be prevented from selling leasehold new-build houses in England, with ground rents also being banned on such properties, as the government tackles the exploitative contracts. Communities Secretary Sajid Javid will publish plans to ban new-build houses from being sold as leasehold next week, however, flats will not be included in any new legislation. The ban is due to be enforced after an eight-week consultation period\u00a0and has garnered support from campaigners against unreasonable rises in ground rents. There is no information as yet about\u00a0remedies or assistance for\u00a0existing leasehold house owners.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Purplebricks share price rises above \u00a35 for first time \n Post navigation\n\nPurplebricks\u2019 share price smashed the \u00a35 barrier on Friday to reach a new record high of 514p.\n\nThat would have brought in enormous profit to early investors back in December 2015 who paid \u00a31 \u2013 and particularly to those who held off a few weeks, when the price went down to 75p.\n\nToday, the shares resume trading at a touch under \u00a35, at 498.5p, with the company valued at over \u00a31.3bn.\n\nPurplebricks is worth way over that of any other UK estate agency, although it is still trailing Rightmove which ended Friday valued at almost \u00a34bn (\u00a33.96bn). However, Purplebricks\u2019 valuation is chasing that of ZPG, at \u00a31.62bn, with ZPG\u2019s offering to investors including far more than the Zoopla portal.\n\nThere were interesting posts on the London Stock Exchange website on Friday as the Purplebricks shares soared.\n\nOne said: \u201cThere is no doubt that PURP [its handle for trading purposes] have changed the home selling process in a significant way, allowing sellers the opportunity to sell their homes at a fraction of high street agent charges. The issue here is will the company ever make the profits necessary to justify the current SP?\u201d\n\nAnother remarked: \u201cI always knew there would be some magic about it . . . Hope is that PURP will completely change the way we buy and sell houses, make it cheaper and easier. High street agents will be victims of the change, of course.\u201d\n\nBy contrast, shares in Countrywide dipped 1.49% on Friday, finishing at 164.75p and valuing the UK\u2019s largest estate agent at \u00a3357.39m \u2013 trailing heavily in Purplebricks\u2019 wake.\n\nCountrywide reported a pre-tax profit of \u00a319.5m for 2016 after closing 200 branches \u2013 about one-fifth of its network.\n\nPurplebricks, with its much higher market valuation, has reported a \u00a3200,000 profit in the UK for its last financial year, but reported losses overall given its launch in Australia.\n\nThere appeared to be no reason for its latest bounce on Friday \u2013 other than that investors simply seem to like it.\n\nMeanwhile Purplebricks is recruiting hundreds more Local Property Experts, with the Sun reporting on the vacancies, saying new recruits can expect to earn \u00a345,000 and that \u201capplicants will ideally have experience in an estate agency or a property company but will also receive plenty of on-the-job training\u201d.\n\nPurplebricks has said its ambition is to the the UK\u2019s biggest agent for both listings and sales.", "output": "Online estate agents Purplebricks has seen its share prices rise above the \u00a35 ($6) barrier to reach \u00a35.14, with the company\u2019s value reaching over \u00a31.3bn. The value of the agency is higher than any other UK estate agency, but it has yet to surpass Rightmove, which is worth \u00a33.96bn, and Zoopla, which is worth \u00a31.6bn. The largest bricks-and-mortar estate agent in the UK, Countrywide, is currently worth \u00a3357.39m.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Publishers use Facebook\u00a0Shop platform to reduce consumer clicks \n With more publishers trying to prove their worth as commerce and affiliate partners, a growing number of them have dusted off an old Facebook feature. In the past couple months, several publishers have quietly begun testing Facebook Shop, which the platform first rolled out to Facebook pages in 2015.\n\nInstead of simply trying to drive readers to commerce-focused content outside Facebook with text posts or videos, numerous publishers, including the Axel Springer\u2019s Bild and Insider Picks and Hearst Magazines\u2019 Best Products, are now attaching separate product listings to posts that are driving readers directly to storefronts from the platform.\n\nTheoretically, this new approach shortens the distance between a publisher showing a reader a product and that reader buying said product based on that recommendation. It\u2019s also publishers\u2019 latest bid to show they can drive revenue for brands using their audience, one of the key motivations for many publishers investigating e-commerce.\n\n\u201cI think publishers are responding [to Facebook Shop] because delivering ROI on advertising is about delivering revenue, and commerce does just that,\u201d James Kim, the chief strategy officer of the commerce strategy consultancy Smith, wrote in an email.\n\nAll but one of the publishers using Facebook Shop declined comment for this story, saying only that they were in an early testing phase.\n\nAn examination of their efforts so far bears that out: The items on display inside these publisher-run Shops run the gamut, from antimicrobial toothbrushes to dress shirts to a chocolate fountain that costs $110. They drive readers to a host of different sites, from e-commerce mainstays like Amazon, Walmart and Etsy to independent individual brand storefronts. They also use a number of different affiliate partners, including Skimlinks and Pepperjam.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re clearly in testing mode right now,\u201d said Bart Mroz, the CEO of e-commerce consultancy Sumo Heavy. \u201cI think they\u2019re trying to figure out what brands want to do with it.\u201d\n\nWhat they\u2019re all looking for is a way to fit Facebook into their commerce strategies. While affiliate commerce has become a sizable source of revenue for some publishers, search traffic, rather than social, has powered most of that revenue growth. Publishers have tried to change that balance in several ways, including content about products that Facebook\u2019s users might share with their friends or making video content about products they sell on their sites.\n\nBut Facebook hasn\u2019t given much priority to commerce-related posts so far. While it will still give priority to video content or content uploaded directly to its platform, Facebook would prefer brands to pay for the privilege of hawking products directly to its audience.\n\nAnd so even though a large number of brands \u2013 3 million, according to a Facebook spokesperson \u2013adopted Shops after its rollout, brands have changed their Facebook strategies accordingly; the same spokesperson declined to share information about how many of them were in use. \u201cI think most brands still think of Facebook as a social marketing channel,\u201d Mroz said. \u201cI don\u2019t think they\u2019ve fully figured out how to sell to audiences on there.\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s not going to dissuade publishers from trying, in large part because their brand partners are curious. \u201cWe have certainly seen interest in the market to find ways to include this and other commerce-driven products into our 360 branded content programs across Hearst titles,\u201d Kelly Hushin, the director of content marketing for Hearst Magazines Digital Media, wrote in an email.\n\nBut even if brand interest keeps growing, publishers are likely going to run into the same structural challenges brands face on the platform. \u201cThis is e-commerce,\u201dKim wrote. \u201cAttention spans are short, unless people are in search mode and are seeking out a specific product or are willing to try a new product. Facebook is going to need to beat out the convenience, simplicity and speed that Amazon has trained us to expect.\u201d", "output": "Publishers are using Facebook\u2019s Shop feature, originally aimed at brands, to shorten the number of clicks a consumer has to make before purchasing a product. The commerce option is preferable to trying to encourage Facebook users to experience content before moving on to purchase items, with many publishers experimenting with the feature to test its efficacy. Publishers are looking to sell their audiences to advertisers, and the Shop feature could be the best way of evolving Facebook from being a\u00a0social marketing channel to a commerce platform.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian ad industry can now access daily audience data \n Publishers, agencies and marketers in Australia can now access daily digital audience data after the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Australia and Nielsen Digital announced that they are switching on Digital Content Ratings (DCR).\n\nInteractive Advertising Bureau Australia and Nielsen Digital announced that they would switch on Content Ratings (DCR) today\n\nThe Nielsen DCR provides the media industry in Australia a daily view of how many people are consuming content across all key digital devices and complements Nielsen\u2019s existing Digital Ratings (Monthly) measurement solution.\n\nThe DCR also provides media buyers and owners a daily view of how people engage with text, video and audio content across all key digital devices, as well as ensuring consistency between the measurement of digital content and advertising performance with Digital Ad Ratings measurement solution.\n\nIAB Australia and Nielsen Digital\u2019s decision to switch on DCR is the third of three planned major upgrades to the digital audience measurement system in Australia.\n\nThe first stage saw both organisations releasing the Australian market\u2019s first view of mobile and tablet audience data, while stage two delivered Digital Ratings (Monthly), giving the market its first view of their total audiences across key digital devices.\n\n\u201cThe Australian digital industry - which now accounts for half of all advertising spend \u2013 has always been world leading in the area of digital measurement,\u201d said Vijay Solanki, chief executive officer of IAB Australia.\n\n\u201cDCR is a game changer for the industry because it is daily, people-based and independent.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s good for publishers and gives more precision to advertisers. It also helps create more transparency and more confidence for digital.\u201d\n\nAdded Alex Smith, Nielsen\u2019s head of digital product: \"We set out to measure Australians and the way they engage with different content types across different devices.\n\n\u201cThis has been a complex environment to measure but an incredible opportunity to deliver the first and only daily, independent, people-based digital measurement solution.\n\n\u201cWe are delivering daily audience data for both big and small sites, including on and off platform which will see us support the diverse and vibrant publisher portfolio in Australia.\"", "output": "The Interactive Advertising Bureau Australia and Nielsen Digital are offering Digital Content Ratings to provide publishers, marketers and agencies the ability to view daily data on the consumption of content. The service covers video, text and audio content across all digital devices, being designed to ensure that digital content and advertising performance is consistent and adhering to Digital Ad Ratings measurements. The move is part of a three-stage upgrade to digital audience measurement in Australia, including mobile and tablet audience data releases and monthly digital ratings.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "DARPA invests $65m to develop gene editing technology \n The JASONs, a group of elite scientists that advises the US government on national security, has weighed in on issues ranging from cyber security to renewing America\u2019s nuclear arsenal. But at a meeting in June, the secretive group took stock of a new threat: gene drives, a genetic-engineering technology that can swiftly spread modifications through entire populations and could help vanquish malaria-spreading mosquitoes.\n\nThat meeting forms part of a broader US national security effort this year to grapple with the possible risks and benefits of a technology that could drive species extinct and alter whole ecosystems. On July 19, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced US$65 million in funding to scientists studying gene-editing technologies; most of the money will be for work on gene drives. And a US intelligence counterpart to DARPA is planning to fund research into detecting organisms containing gene drives and other modifications.\n\n\u201cEvery powerful technology is a national security issue,\u201d says Kevin Esvelt, an evolutionary engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, who won DARPA funding to limit the spread of gene drives. Esvelt says he also attended last month\u2019s JASON meeting in San Diego, California, where he outlined how would-be bioterrorists might weaponize gene drives. But he is far more concerned about the potential for accidental release of gene-drive organisms by scientists, he says. \u201cBio-error is what I\u2019m worried about.\u201d\n\nSo, too, is the US military, according to Renee Wegrzyn, the DARPA programme officer leading its \u2018Safe Genes\u2019 initiative, which supports research on restraining gene drives. The technology has been developed in recent years in fruit flies, mosquitoes and other organisms, using CRISPR gene editing. A UK-based team hopes to begin field tests of gene drives in Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes, the main carrier of malaria in Africa, as soon as 2024. \u201cI\u2019ve been very excited to watch the advances, but I\u2019ve noted with increasing concern that the advances are outpacing biosecurity,\u201d Wegrzyn says.\n\nThe JASONs' gene-drive discussion involved around 20 scientists, according to Philipp Messer, a population geneticist at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, who attended the meeting. (As a German citizen, he was identified as a foreign national and accompanied by an escort.)\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not used to that kind of conference,\u201d says Messer, who says he told the group about his lab\u2019s efforts to study the evolution of resistance to CRISPR gene drives in fruit flies. \u201cWe just had open discussions about this technology and what we think the current state of the field was and what we think the problems are.\u201d Gerald Joyce, a biochemist at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, and a JASON member who Messer says co-organized the meeting, declined to comment on the meeting, which is likely to lead to a classified report.\n\nGene drive countermeasures\n\nUnder the DARPA programme, seven teams won four-year contracts. Esvelt plans to develop CRISPR gene drives in nematode worms \u2014 a fast-reproducing model organism \u2014 that are designed to spread a genetic modification in a local setting and then fizzle out, a concept that other scientists are pursuing. He and the other teams receiving military funding also plan to develop tools to counter rogue gene drives that spread out of control. Such methods include chemicals that block gene-editing or \u2018anti-gene drives\u2019 that can reverse a genetic modification or immunize unaltered wild organisms so they are resistant to a gene drive.\n\nThese tools could combat a gene drive deployed to do harm, such as those that engineer insects to transmit diseases more effectively or deliver toxins. But such countermeasures are far more likely to be deployed against accidental gene-drive releases from research labs, says Esvelt. Lax or non-existent biosafety guidelines for working on gene-drive organisms increase the odds of a release, he says.\n\nOther efforts are afoot to fund work studying the national security implications of gene drives. Next week, the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency (IARPA), which is part of the Office of the US Director of National Intelligence, will hold a meeting about a planned funding programme for detecting genetically modified organisms that are potentially harmful, including ones that contain gene drives.\n\nTodd Kuiken, who studies policy relating to synthetic biology at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, is glad to see gene-drive research receive more funding. But he has qualms about the US military\u2019s interest in the field; with Safe Genes, DARPA has become the world\u2019s largest government funder of gene-drive research. Kuiken worries that this could sow suspicions about gene drives in parts of the world that view the US military in a less-than-favourable light, including countries that stand to benefit from the elimination of disease carriers such as mosquitoes.\n\nEsvelt shares those concerns but sees military support as the only way, for the time being, to advance gene-drive technology, while making it safer for eventual deployment. Private funders such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in Seattle, Washington, and the Tata Trusts, a Mumbai-based charity, have spent tens of millions on gene-drive research, but this funding has been directed to specific projects or institutions; other government funders have not yet made large contributions to the field. \u201cNo one else is offering us large amounts of money,\u201d Esvelt says.\n\nThe DARPA programme explicitly prevents the release of gene-drive organisms and requires contract winners to work under stringent biosafety conditions and to disclose their planned experiments to the public \u2014 measures that should reduce the risk of any accidental release, Esvelt adds. \u201cIf what you\u2019re worried about is your cowboys running amok and causing trouble, then what you really want to do is employ the cowboys to make sure they stay out of trouble.\u201d\n\nThis article is reproduced with permission and was first published on July 21, 2017.", "output": "The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has committed $65m in funding to scientists working on gene-editing technologies. The primary focus of the research will be gene drives, a technique capable of quickly spreading genetic modifications through populations of organisms. Gene drives could be used to fight malaria, for instance, by eradicating\u00a0a specific kind of mosquito. There are, however, concerns over errors, or the accidental release of gene-drive organisms. DARPA has a Safe Genes initiative designed to temper the research on gene drives, but biosecurity is fast being outpaced by progress, according to\u00a0Renee Wegrzyn, head of the initiative."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trade insurance could become pay-as-you-go \n Recently, Euler\u2019s Digital Agency announced a partnership with Flowcast to deliver a new single invoice cover insurance product to protect B2B companies from non-payment, transaction by transaction.\n\nFlowcast is in the emerging Analytics-as-a- Service space, helping all types of banks and specialty lenders improve their underwriting. In this particular case, based on invoice-level data, Flowcast has developed smart algorithms that predict a range of risk parameters, such as the probabilities of default or expected timing of invoice payment \u2013 critical factors for business.\n\nI have found in the past there are several reasons for using traditional trade credit insurance, from enhancing receivables to enable better financing advances and rates to the risk mitigation (typically the primary reason for using trade credit insurance is for peace of mind against customer insolvency). Credit insurance represents an opportunity to enhance overall quality of receivables portfolio (eg. say from \u2018B\u2019 to B+ rated).\n\nBut will this work?\n\nI have to say, I am a bit skeptical. Yes, it\u2019s nice that we have data and we can do all kinds of risk scoring, but lets not forget the fundamentals of trade credit insurance.\n\nInsurers provide both portfolio and transactional credit insurance based on the credit to cover the event of \u201cinsolvency\", which means a buyer is unable to pay debts. But insurers, particularly private insurers not backed by taxpayers, don\u2019t want to lose money so they issue insurance to large recognized names. In talking with many financial lenders in the invoice finance space, they say 99.9% of defaults around invoice finance are due to disputes, not credit. To predict insolvency for large corporates over the next 60 or 90 days when invoices will be paid is not a big deal.\n\nA second issue is just claims and private insurers recognizing claims. In general, private insurers don\u2019t want to pay claims. As I said in the post -Why Some Lenders Find No Value in Trade Credit insurance, trade credit insurance only provides protection for bankruptcy of obligor. And becoming insolvent can be very different than \u201cfailure to pay\u201d. Most trade credit claims are filed 90 days after an overdue date, but funding providers who provide some form of short term liquidity on average are funding an invoice for 60 days or less.\n\nAlso, credit insurance adds a cost to the equation.\n\nSo will Pay as you Go insurance be successful? Look, my personal view is even with mid market size companies, dispute is what causes late payment, short pays, and no pays.\n\nI believe there is a sweet spot in this space for B2B Marketplace transactions where buyer and sellers are relatively unknown to each other. Euler has a rich data set of buyer and payment term data extension which sellers can use to decide on if and how to extend credit and terms to buyers.\n\nIt will be interesting to see how the market reacts to one of the latest and newest InsurTech products.\n\nDon't forget to sign up for TFMs weekly digest delivered to your inbox every Monday here", "output": "A tie-up between Euler's Digital Agency and Flowcast has created pay-as-you-go trade credit insurance that deploys algorithms to calculate risks, such as invoice non-payment, on a transaction-by-tranasaction basis. This may not be such a good thing, according to David Gustin, founder of Global Business Intelligence, who argues that a model based on the insolvency risk of a buyer is flawed because most invoice defaults happen as a result of disputes, not credit. That's not to say the use of data can't be of great help to sellers, he said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Health record tool allows early detection of kidney disease\u00a0risk \n Credit: CC0 Public Domain\n\nMore than 26 million Americans have chronic kidney disease (CKD). Primary care physicians who take care of these patients can help reduce the risk of complications and death if they recognize the progression of kidney failure early, but this is often difficult to do - deterioration can be rapid and more than one laboratory test may be needed to accurately predict a patient's risk. A new electronic health record (EHR) tool could help physicians quickly and accurately flag patients that should be referred to a nephrologist. Designed by Brigham and Women's Hospital investigators, this tool draws upon recent research that has identified several tests that can be used to calculate an individual's risk score.\n\nNow, an automatic calculator can be built into EHRs and displayed prominently for a physician to see when they open a patient's record. The tool was piloted at ten North Shore Physicians Group clinics this year, and a paper detailing the design and implementation of the application appear online this week in The Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.\n\n\"Retrospective studies of patients who have had to go on dialysis show that being referred to a nephrologist just a few months earlier can have major benefits,\" said corresponding author Lipika Samal, MD, MPH, a clinician investigator in the Division of General Internal Medicine. \"We want to make it as easy as possible for a physician to quickly access and track a patient's risk. This tool automatically calculates and displays a risk score within the health record, making it easier for a physician to spot disease progression and take action.\"\n\nThe new clinical decision support tool calculates and displays kidney failure risk based on criteria identified from a large cohort study conducted by Canadian researchers (Tangri et al., 2011). Predictive risk factors that go into the calculation include serum and urine tests that collected during routine care. If test results for any of these predictive measures have not been collected and are not in a patient's record at the time of a visit, the tool will display a recommendation to order the tests. Otherwise, the tool will display a five-year kidney disease risk score, and if the risk is high, a recommendation for a referral to a nephrologist.\n\nThe tool was deployed outside of the EHR in a way that would allow it to be used with different EHRs by utilizing interoperability standards called continuity of care documents (CCDs). The tool extracted the necessary tests from this interoperable document.\n\nThe research team validated the tool in 255 patients and subsequently deployed it to 10 primary care clinics. The team made improvements and updates to the tool based on feedback from physicians. In the course of the pilot, they processed more than half a million CCDs to diagnose CKD and to generate risk scores for patients with CKD.\n\nBecause of the interoperable nature of the tool, the team sees an opportunity to deploy this single application across multiple EHRs. They plan to implement it in eCare at BWH later this year. Samal also envisions applications for clinical decision support tools beyond CKD.\n\n\"One of the positive things about EHRs is that there is now a wealth of data that can be used to help us better predict an individual's risk, especially for chronic and progressive diseases, like CKD,\" said Samal. \"We have the opportunity to use EHRs to improve patient care- tools like this one can help us seize that opportunity.\"\n\nMore information: Lipika Samal et al. Implementation of a scalable, web-based, automated clinical decision support risk-prediction tool for chronic kidney disease using C-CDA and application programming interfaces, Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (2017). DOI: 10.1093/jamia/ocx065 Journal information: Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association", "output": "A new electronic health record (EHR) tool designed by investigators from the Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital could help to reduce complications and death from chronic kidney disease. Over 26 million Americans suffer from the disease, with rapid deterioration a common issue. The EHR can automatically calculate patients\u2019 risk of encountering kidney problems\u00a0and displays it as a score, providing doctors with a useful early-warning\u00a0tool to detect the disease\u2019s incidence and progression. The tool was tested on 255 patients before being extended to 10 primary care clinics with success.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Telegraph to strengthen ad partnerships with benchmark tools \n The Telegraph has introduced guarantees around campaign awareness, propensity to purchase and advocacy for its commercial content campaigns with the hope they will drive longer, more strategic partnerships with clients.\n\nBy drawing on data from thousands of campaigns and their pre- and post-analyses over the last seven years, The Telegraph has set benchmarks that will inform how well campaigns should perform against brand uplift measures across categories. For instance, the publisher could set the benchmark that a dozen articles on travel content should increase the propensity to purchase for an airline brand by a certain percentage. If post-campaign research shows the content hasn\u2019t lived up to those expectations, then the client gets the media value. Rather than charging extra, this is included in the service price.\n\n\u201cIf you control the content and the distribution of that content, then you are the only one responsible for how much impact it has on the brand,\u201d said Matt Cory, managing director at The Telegraph\u2019s commercial content division, Spark. \u201cThis is more like the old full-service agencies: media and creative agency rolled into one.\u201d\n\nMost campaigns Spark runs last for 12 weeks. With guarantees, Cory hopes to extend flight time, bring in new business and book more repeat business. In the last four years, since Spark introduced post-campaign analysis and live campaign reporting on media metrics like dwell time and unique users, the growth in the number of clients booking again with Spark has increased by roughly 40 percent, although Cory was unable to give out exact numbers.\n\nSpark has offered guarantees since July 1, but it\u2019s too early to judge how much new business they\u2019re bringing in \u2014 it could take six weeks before the company books a new campaign. It is one value add that will make Spark stand out against competitors.\n\nTo meet this need, Spark hired Simon Peaple, who previously worked at Sky and Discovery, to head up commercial insight three months ago. Spark, which employs 105 people, also doubled the optimization team from two to four people, shifting its focus to measuring performance against awareness rather than unique users and scale.\n\nAs more money flows into branded content, proving it moves the needle is becoming more important, so it\u2019s no surprise advertisers are looking for more effective ways to measure their branded-content campaigns. The primary success metric for branded content is pageviews 95 percent of the time, according to branded-content platform Polar. Almost half of all publishers use time spent with content and social actions for their clients\u2019 campaign reports.\n\nThe same Polar research found 29 percent of publishers use third-party tools like Nielsen\u2019s audience-measurement solution and Millward Brown to run post-campaign analysis on effectiveness. This is the route Bloomberg has taken in the U.K., shouldering the cost for now. The trouble is that with the lack of standard benchmarks, this isn\u2019t cheap or easy.\n\nCory said it\u2019s not the price tag preventing other branded-content studios from deploying similar guarantees. \u201cIt takes effort, and it takes the mindset of being prepared to put your neck on the line; people don\u2019t always have the confidence in their content or of their audience,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s about time publishers put more skin in the game.\u201d\n\nFor the most part, Cory said briefs still measure success on average unique users. \u201cIf the content is no good, it doesn\u2019t matter how much scale you have,\u201d he said. \u201cBranded content is evolving rapidly, but if you\u2019re going to do this properly, you need to talk about the measures that are important to clients.\u201d", "output": "The Telegraph is offering guarantees for its advertising clients, setting benchmarks based on seven years\u2019 worth of data to offer determine how well a given campaign should perform. Clients will be offered post-campaign analysis that will evaluate if benchmarks have been reached. If they have not, the clients are reimbursed with\u00a0the full media value of their campaign. The move is designed to strengthen relationships between publishers and advertisers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google working with major publishers to reduce ad space fraud \n The ad industry is trying to root out fraudulent digital ads.\n\nGoogle has quietly been running tests with media companies such as CBS to gauge how bad the problem is.\n\nIndustry leaders are banking on a new technical solution, ads.txt, to tackle the issue.\n\nThe digital-advertising industry is looking to stamp out bogus ad inventory, like websites that claim to be premium brands but are actually sites the average person hardly ever visits.\n\n\n\nGoogle, with help from some media giants, is taking the lead. The company is pushing an industry initiative called ads.txt that's aimed at wiping out fraud that's dubbed 'spoofing' by the industry. Spoofing encompasses the variety of ways ad buyers can be tricked into paying for space they're not getting. For example, spoofers can buy cheap ad space, from a low-quality site, on an exchange and then falsely list it as space on a premium site \u2014 like, say, CNN.com\u2014 at a higher price. The ad in question will never run on CNN.com, though.\n\n\n\nIt's all enabled by the prevalence of programmatic ads, which are placed by algorithms and purchased on exchanges, rather than through direct negotiation with a publisher.\n\nYet spoofing is even starting to affect publishers that don't even sell ads via programmatic channels. Several publishers say they've been hearing from ad buyers that their ads are for sale on various ad exchanges, even though these companies didn't work with any ad exchanges to sell advertising.\n\nThe Google tests\n\nTo get a sense of the scope of this problem, Google has been quietly conducting tests with a handful of major media properties, including NBCU, CBS, and The New York Times, people familiar with the matter told Business Insider.\n\nDuring these tests, Google and the partners shut off all of their programmatic ad inventory for brief periods, say, 10 to 15 minutes, and then scour the ad exchanges to see what's listed. Google and its partners found thousands if not millions of video and display ad spots still available on multiple ad exchanges, despite no ads actually being for sale at that time, the people said, asking not to be identified because the results haven't been publicly released.\n\n\n\nThese include Google's own AdEx exchange, as well as AppNexus, Oath's BrightRoll, and PubMatic. Google also discovered fraudsters claiming to be able to sell YouTube ad inventory on various exchanges, one of the people said.\n\nGoogle's not alone in these findings. An ad-tech executive from a different company went looking for some spoofed ads on exchanges and said they easily found thousands of such misrepresented ads for sale. And below are the results of another search by the Marketing Science Consulting Group, a company that specializes in researching ad fraud, which found a significant amount of inventory available on a given day last April from an unnamed publisher. That publisher does not actually sell ads on any exchanges.\n\n\n\nBusiness Insider reached out to all the exchanges mentioned and included their comments below, if they responded.\n\nThere is lots of bogus ad inventory available on ad exchanges. Marketing Science Consulting Group\n\nThe ad exchanges responded to details of the results by pointing to their efforts to stamp out the kind of fraud Google found.\n\n\"We\u2019re unaware of major publishers running such tests and finding problematic selling on our marketplace,\" a representative for AppNexus said. \"We do work proactively to avoid this type of problem. We are strong proponents of ads.txt, which we view as reinforcement of our longstanding policies and practices. We\u2019ve created strong domain detection technology.\"\n\n\"Oath has invested in proprietary technology on our buying platforms, including BrightRoll and ONE by AOL, that aims to enforce supply transparency and prevent domain spoofing across the majority of supply partners,\" said a representative for Oath, which is owned by Verizon. \"In fact, our technology blocks hundreds of millions of spoofed bid requests on a daily basis. Combined with our longtime partnership with the IAB, industry-leading third-party fraud measurement across our platforms and human review safeguards, we're fully committed to a safe, transparent supply chain for our advertiser partners.\"\n\n\"At PubMatic we work directly with our publisher clients to help them manage their digital inventory, and, as such, we are not aware of the issues,\" said PubMatic's chief marketing officer Jeff Hirsch.\n\n\u201cWe take quality very seriously and view it as an issue for the entire ad tech industry,\u201d said Smart AdServer chief marketing officer Michael Nevins. \u201cWe\u2019re also enthusiastic supporters of the Ads.txt initiative and are actively working with our publishers to help them implement it. Our Chief Quality Officer, Gorka Zarauz, leads a dedicated department that works closely with leading external brand-safety firms such as Integral Ad Science and FraudLogix both pre-and post-auction to detect, block and remove bot-generated traffic and spoofed domains. We continue to commit permanent R&D in this area for the benefit of our partners and the ecosystem as a whole.\u201d\n\nThe fake-Rolex problem\n\nMarketers are expected to shell out $83 billion on digital ads in the US in 2017, according to eMarketer. And the more that advertisers spend, the bigger the opportunity for fraudsters. By some estimates, sophisticated ad-fraud perpetrators could cost the ad business over $16 billion globally this year.\n\nThere are lots of ways that ad fraud can happen. Often hackers from outside the US sell ads on fake websites using computer programs called \"bots\" that can mimic human behavior \u2014 making it look as though real people are visiting websites or clicking on ads.\n\nThen, there's spoofing, which has been around for years. Companies like ESPN have frequently encountered people claiming to have their right to sell their ads when they don't. But as more big marketers push for better transparency in their digital-ad buying, following a string of recent reports of ads ending up in dicey corners of the web, there's more awareness of how common spoofing is.\n\n\"There\u2019s quite a bit of mislabeling of traffic,\" said Mike Baker, CEO of the ad-tech firm DataXu. \"It's become somewhat pervasive over the last few years. It could account for 20 to 30% of the traffic on some secondary and tertiary [ad exchanges].\"\n\nDigital ad spending is growing, as is fraud. eMarketer\n\nAds.txt solution\n\nGoogle has also hosted CEOs of several top ad-buying tech companies \u2014 \"demand-side platforms\" that act as major buyers on ad exchanges \u2014 including MediaMath CEO Joe Zawadzki, DataXu's Baker, and Trade Desk CEO Jeff Green. The meetings were said to be constructive as the industry looks to embrace ads.txt as a solution.\n\n\n\nAds.txt was borne out of the Interactive Advertising Bureau's Tech Lab with support from the trade group TAG (Trustworthy Accountability Group). It's a technical solution designed to protect web publishers from any unauthorized companies selling their ads via programmatic ad exchanges.\n\n\n\nHere's how it works. By inserting a text file on their sites, web publishers can make it clear who is allowed to sell their ad space and who isn't. Assuming enough publishers implement the ads.txt solution \u2014 and enough ad buyers make an effort to purchase ads only from authorized sellers \u2014 this could go a long way toward weeding out spoofing.\n\n\"There\u2019s always been spoofing in the market, and with video it is [more prevalent],\" said Alanna Gombert, general manager of the IAB Tech Lab. \"Now there is more scrutiny in the market. It wasn\u2019t top of mind before. Now, everyone understands it; it's mainstream. And fraudsters are looking for known names that are on 'white lists' for advertisers. So this has opened up a conversation where ad buyers are telling sellers, 'I'm seeing you here,' and they are digging down and saying 'Oh crap.'\"\n\nBrands get woke\n\nA number of major developments have combined to dial up the scrutiny on the online-advertising business, causing marketers to scrutinize where their ads run to how they pay for them and who gets a piece of every dollar they spend on the web. First, about a year ago, the Association of National Advertisers released a damning report detailing a glaring lack of transparency in the ad-buying world.\n\nOver the past six months, Facebook has revealed a string of measurement screw-ups, while Google has faced multiple advertisers pulling out of YouTube after ads were found alongside hate videos.\n\nProcter and Gamble Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard. Getty/Phil Cole\n\nAnd since the start of this year, Procter and Gamble's chief brand officer, Marc Pritchard, has been on a crusade, delivering a series of speeches in which he clamored for the ad industry to demand more clarity from digital media and the need to clean up the \"crappy media supply chain,\" as CNBC reported.\n\nAll of this has brought the issue of ad fraud to the forefront. \"Brands are woke,\" joked one ad-tech executive. \"There's suddenly a lot of attention on supply-chain hygiene,\" he said. And hopefully ads.txt is the soap.\n\nSome see the initiative as part of a larger set of antifraud tactics. Others are more bullish. \"This will wipe spoofing out,\" said Andrew Casale, CEO of the ad-tech firm Index Exchange.\n\nWho's responsible?\n\nWhen it comes to supply-chain hygiene, there's plenty of blame laid on the ad-tech companies \u2014 especially since so many programmatic exchanges have made big public pledges to keep out bad sellers. But as one ad-tech insider said, big media companies often don't even know who is and isn't allowed to sell their ads on the web.\n\n'They should take responsibility,\" he said. For example, one publisher said it was working with just three exchanges, but they were really running ads on 17.\n\nSo it's up to media companies to make the most out of ads.txt.\n\n\"Initially, this is putting the first implementation requirements on publishers,\" said Art Muldoon, co-CEO of the programmatic ad buying firm Amnet. \"It's a burden and an opportunity.\"\n\nMedia sellers \"are being directly harmed,\" said Mike Zaneis, president and CEO for TAG, the Trustworthy Accountability Group, an organization that was put together to tackle the ad-fraud problem.\n\n\"When there is twice as much inventory being sold out there than actually exists, that leads to deals you never get, bad prices, and the watering down of your brand,\" Zaneis said. \"That has a direct financial impact.\"", "output": "Google has launched an industry initiative named ads.txt to eradicate \"spoofing\", a kind of ad space fraud. Those who engage in spoofing buy ad space for an inexpensive amount on a low-quality site and list it as premium ad space, fooling advertisers into paying more. The practice has become prevalent with programmatic advertising, as it involves purchasing space from exchanges, rather than human publishers. Google\u2019s system has tested major media properties to see if fake listings have been created, and plans to eliminate the fraud by carrying out checks.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brexit threatens UK animal welfare standards: House of Lords \n \u201cOverwhelming\u201d support in the UK for high animal welfare standards is under threat from Brexit, an influential parliamentary committee has said.\n\nThe report from the House of Lords warns the standards of UK producers could be put under pressure by demands from other countries to allow an influx of cheap and lower-standard food as part of trade deals. It was published as the prime minister\u2019s spokesperson said that allowing imports of US products such as chicken meat washed with chlorine would not be ruled out in trade deals. This came from No 10, despite assurances to the Guardian last week from the Department of Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) that any trade deal would maintain or raise food standards.\n\nPreserving food standards would be \u201cof the highest priority\u201d Defra told the Guardian, and trade deals in agriculture would not be \u201ca race to the bottom\u201d.\n\nLivestock welfare and crop-growing standards in the UK are among the world\u2019s highest, but that could be subject to sudden change if farmers are challenged by imports from countries that produce meat and other food with much lower standards. Without firm and explicit support for agricultural standards in any post-Brexit trade agreements, the UK\u2019s high standards would be at risk.\n\nThe government\u2019s wish for the UK to become a global leader in free trade is not necessarily compatible with its desire to maintain high animal welfare standards\n\nThe House of Lords subcommittee on EU Energy and Environment found that if imports from other countries were allowed without the current EU safeguards, then the standards of UK producers would come under pressure.\n\n\u201cThe government\u2019s wish for the UK to become a global leader in free trade is not necessarily compatible with its desire to maintain high animal welfare standards,\u201d the committee found.\n\n\n\nLiam Fox, one of the ministers leading the government\u2019s Brexit strategy, is in the US for talks on a new trade agreement that is almost certain to include agricultural products, including meat and genetically modified vegetables.\n\nAt present, the UK is protected from controversial US-produced agricultural goods, by EU standards that deter imports of products such as meat that has been washed in chlorine, which has a high bacterial content related to low animal welfare standards. EU rules also barmeat that has been fed with hormones and growth-promoting antibiotics.\n\nSuch products are allowed for sale in the US and attempts by the UK to impose higher standards on any imports would be a difficult part of trade deal negotiations.\n\nLord Teverson, chairman of the sub-committee that wrote the House of Lords report, said Brexit would threaten the UK\u2019s high standards of food for human consumption.\n\n\u201cWe heard overwhelming support for farm animal welfare standards to be maintained or improved. We urge the government to secure the inclusion of high farm animal welfare standards in any free trade agreements it negotiates after Brexit.\u201d\n\nBut he warned: \u201cThe government will need to consider the effect of increasing standards on the competitiveness of UK producers as well as the future trading relationship with the EU.\u201d\n\nThe committee said that while consumers are currently protected by the high welfare standards required by the EU, which are much more stringent than those in countries such as the US and China, most people buying food are unaware of this.\n\nFood labelling standards may also confuse consumers, the committee said, as they do not make it clear where and to what standards meat and vegetables have been produced.\n\nKeith Taylor, an MEP and spokesman for the Green party, said: \u201cFox is promising to discard the vital precautionary principle that guides EU policy-making and protects citizens from any process, procedure or product that carries with it a plausible risk of harm.\u201d\n\nHe pointed to the example of pesticides, dozens of which are permitted in the US but banned in the EU on health and environmental grounds.\n\nIn the US,antibiotics are routinely used to improve animals\u2019 growth, sparking fears that meat consumption could increase human resistance to antibiotics. They are also used to limit diseases that could otherwise spread in the megafarms, holding tens of thousands of animals, that are commonplace in US farming.", "output": "High animal welfare standards within the UK could be threatened by Brexit, according to a report by the House of Lords subcommittee on EU Energy and Environment. The study, which warns that trade deals could allow an influx of cheap, low-standard food, came as a spokesperson for the Prime Minister indicated that the import of products like chlorine-washed chicken could not be ruled out.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Model railway to be moved as Redrow looks to build 50 homes \n But critics of Redrow scheme say council is jumping the gun\n\n\n\n\n\nA timetable has been drawn up for a new miniature railway and station in Liverpool\u2019s Calderstones Park.\n\nIt comes after a Beeching-style axe was placed on the existing 75-year-old railway, a magical, meandering woodland route, close to the Harthill Road entrance to the park.\n\nHouse builder Redrow wants to build more than 50 luxury homes on the land, a slice of the Calderstones Harthill Estate which Liverpool City Council insists is not part of the park.\n\nREVEALED: Calderstones railway faces axe in luxury housing plan\n\n\n\nThe council has now announced the anticipated opening date of the relocated railway, expected before the end of this year, ahead of the application coming before the city council\u2019s planning committee today.\n\nIt says the proposed relocation, to an area facing Menlove Avenue, will allow more families the opportunity to enjoy a ride on one of two battery electric locomotives.\n\nBut critics of the plan for a major housing estate at Calderstones see it as premature as they continue their fight against the Redrow proposals.\n\nThe move, says the council, would see the Merseyside Live Steam and Model Engineers club gain a significantly improved track and brand new clubhouse facilities.\n\nThe proposed site in the park is currently used for informal recreation and lies adjacent to an area that was previously used for the International Tennis Tournament.\n\nThe Redrow scheme has many critics\n\n\n\nDeputy Mayor Councillor Ann O\u2019Byrne said: \u201cThe Miniature Railway is a much-loved facility which has been used by generations of local families. This proposal would see it moved to a more prominent location giving them improved and enhanced facilities and enabling even more people to enjoy it in the future.\u201d\n\nIn line with its policy of denying that plots of greenspace it wants for housing aren\u2019t actually within parks (e.g. Sefton Park Meadows), the council says the proposed move is linked to wider plans to redevelop several parcels of land off Harthill Road to create 51 new homes under the umbrella of the Liverpool Housing Partnership.\n\n\u201cRelocating the popular miniature railway is the first element in a scheme that would also see Beechley Riding Stables \u2013 part of the Riding for the Disabled Association \u2013 receive help to relocate and develop new, improved facilities at Clarke Gardens, in Allerton; while the CalderKids Adventure Playground, whose existing premises have already been deemed unfit for purpose, will be able to fulfil relocation plans to much better facilities,\u201d says the council.\n\nRelocation of the riding stables is currently the subject of a feasibility study by the city council, while an appropriate venue has been identified for Calderkids and discussions with the landowner are ongoing.\n\nRedrow Homes\u2019 plans include \u201csensitive restoration of the Grade II listed Beechley House\u201d to create six apartments and two duplex units, with its summer house converted to one self-contained property. The stables would be converted into three mews properties and there would be four new-build mews adjacent to Beechley House.\n\nThirty five brand new detached family homes would make up the remainder.\n\nThe wider scheme is being put forward by the Liverpool Housing Partnership, a collaboration between Liverpool City Council, Redrow Homes and Liverpool Mutual Homes to provide 1,500 new homes across the city over a five year period.\n\nCapital receipts to the city council from the sale of the land would support the relocation of the stakeholders, as well as off-site affordable housing and a fund for improvements within Calderstones Park itself.\n\nAt least a new railway in Calderstones might be seen as some small consolation for Liverpool missing out on HS2 coming into the city, and instead terminating at Wigan.\n\n\n\n", "output": "Liverpool city council has announced a timetable for a new miniature railway and station in Calderstones Park\u00a0following plans by Redrow Homes to build at least 50 luxury homes on land where a popular model railway has been for 75 years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Global warming will intensify invasive species damage \n Invasions by alien species and global warming form a \u201cdeadly duo\u201d, scientists have warned, with the march of Argentine ants in the UK a new example. The public are being asked to be on alert for invaders such as the raccoon dog and Asian hornet, as eradication can be near impossible after a species becomes established.\n\nAs trade and human travel has become globalised many thousands of species have crossed oceans or mountain ranges and become established in new regions, with some causing \u201cinvasional meltdown\u201d and over a trillion of dollars of damage a year.\n\nRecent research shows that ever more animals and plants are finding their way to foreign lands and that invasive species are a \u201cprimary threat\u201d to economies, human wellbeing and wildlife.\n\nScientists from around the world are gathering this week in Durham, UK, to assess the issue. Prof Rob Colautti of Queens University in Canada warned: \u201cThere are very clear economic and human health consequences.\u201d\n\nThe combination of invasive alien species and climate change was a \u201cdeadly duo\u201d, said Prof Helen Roy, at the UK\u2019s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology: \u201cChanging climate might facilitate the establishment of some species that otherwise might not have been able to establish.\u201d\n\n\u201cFor example, the Argentine ant is a species that we know has some indoor populations in London [and elsewhere], but in the last couple of years we have seen those indoor populations spread outdoors,\u201d she said. \u201cA little bit more climate warming for the UK and we could see the Argentine ant settling in very well.\u201d\n\n\u201cOf all the non-native species, than ants are concerning,\u201d Roy said. \u201cWe describe the Argentine ant as an \u2018ecosystem engineer\u2019, because it has quite far-reaching, cascading impacts.\u201d Displacing native ants can upset delicate ecosystems of plants and insects, while the Argentine ants themselves are attracted to warm places and can interfere with electrical wiring.\n\nFurthermore, Roy said, Argentine ants can form \u201csuper colonies\u201d in invaded regions, as they are not kept in check by the neighbouring colonies that are present in its native south America: \u201cThat seems to have broken down in the invaded range. You get these much larger populations of these ants than you would in other places.\u201d\n\nThe UK, like other islands including New Zealand and Japan, is a hotspot for invasive species. Prof Mark van Kleunen, at Konstanz University in Germany, said. \u201cFor islands, the hypothesis is that islands have fewer native species than mainland regions, which means there is more ecological space that can be filled by newcomers.\u201d But he noted many UK alien species have been present since the middle ages: \u201cYour rabbit came from the Iberian peninsula.\u201d\n\nThe UK suffers billions of pounds in economic damage every year from well established invaders, such as Japanese knotweed, giant hogweed and mink. The harlequin ladybird is a newer invader, first seen in 2004, but now makes up 80-90% of all ladybirds seen in England and seven of the eight native species have declined since it arrived.\n\n\u201cWe know that the harlequin ladybird is fantastic at eating aphids, so we might imagine it is going to be fantastic at pest control for farmers,\u201d said Roy. But she said native ladybirds had their own roles and that variety is crucial to a resilient ecosystem: \u201cSome [natives] emerge earlier in the spring, others get up earlier in the morning.\u201d\n\nDefra is asking people to report sightings Asian hornets in the UK. Photograph: Jean Haxaire/Defra/PA\n\nThe arrival of the quagga mussel in the UK in 2014 prompted warnings of the \u201cinvasional meltdown\u201d seen elsewhere, where entire ecosystems are transformed. \u201cIt changes the whole chemistry and physical nature of a water body,\u201d said Roy. In North America, the spread of the zebra mussel has caused enormous damage.\n\nThe quagga mussel was the number one threat on a list compiled by Roy and colleagues. Also high on the list are the Asian longhorn beetle, American lobster, African sacred ibis and the Emerald ash borer beetle, as well as the Argentine ant. The Asian hornet was first spotted in the UK in September, but was eradicated.\n\nHowever, Roy said people should remain on the lookout and could report sightings using an app: \u201cWe know there are high numbers in France and that is not far away.\u201d She also said raccoons have been sighted in the UK, and should also be reported, along with any sighting of raccoon dogs, an unrelated species from Asia that were once sold as pets.\n\nThe scientists said it was often impossible to get rid of an invader once established, like the grey squirrel, making prevention using checks and information provision at borders even more important.\n\n\u201cThere are some very simple measures that can be put in place to provide biosecurity to prevent the arrival of the most damaging species,\u201d said Roy. \u201cIt is not about stopping people moving or trading.\u201d", "output": "Alien species invasions will be exacerbated by global warming, according to scientists. Increased globalisation has enabled thousands of species to cross oceans and mountains and to establish themselves in new regions. Some species have caused over a trillion dollars a year in damages. Over the past two years, the UK, which suffers billions of pounds worth of annual damage from invaders, has seen the spread of the Argentine ant, a trend that could be intensified with climate change. The displacement of native ants can undermine ecosystems, and the Argentinian invaders often interfere with electrical wiring.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US university launches $10m refugee education initiative \n Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) has launched a major initiative to bring university degrees to refugees in the U.S. and around the world.\n\nOver the last decade, the refugee crisis has dramatically accelerated with 65.3 million displaced worldwide, and globally, less than one percent of refugees have access to higher education. This will be the first large-scale initiative to bring American accredited university degrees to the most marginalized population in the world with a goal of educating 50,000 refugees in 20 locations by 2022.\n\nPhase one of the initiative, a $10-million-dollar effort to bring SNHU\u2019s online, competency-based bachelor\u2019s and associate degrees to refugees and others affected by displacement, was made possible by a group of anonymous donors.\n\n\u201cThe refugee crisis will require concerted social, legal, and political action, but education holds the key to an alternative future of possibility,\u201d said Paul LeBlanc, president, SNHU. \u201cAt SNHU, we believe education is a fundamental human right, that\u2019s why we want to bring our degrees to some of the most underserved populations in the world.\u201d\n\nSNHU has piloted its work with refugees in Rwanda, nearly 7,000 miles away from its Manchester, New Hampshire, campus. The program is offered at two sites in Rwanda, one in the Kiziba Refugee Camp where all students are refugee learners, and one in the capital city Kigali, where a substantial number of students are refugees.\n\nCollectively, the campuses enroll more than 500 students. This summer the first cohort of refugee students graduated with associate degrees from the Kiziba campus. All of the graduates are engaged in internships outside of the camp and are now working on their bachelor\u2019s degrees.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re giving refugees hope for the future, the tools to rebuild their lives, and a transformational opportunity,\u201d said Chrystina Russell, who leads the refugee learning initiative at SNHU. \u201cOver the next five years, we will scale our work to many other locations, many of which are ready and eager to begin tomorrow.\u201d\n\nIn Rwanda, SNHU partners with Kepler, a nonprofit organization, to deliver competency-based degrees through a blended learning delivery model that offers in-person instruction and academic and employment support. The University will form similar partnerships with other organizations as it looks to expand into other countries. Phase one of the project will include sites in East Africa and the Middle East. SNHU will partner with the UN High Commission on Refugees, the Connected Learning in Crisis Consortium, SOLVE at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the American University of Beirut.\n\nThe initiative will also be guided by an advisory board with diverse backgrounds and experiences, including former U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan; Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, Deborah Berke; and Director of Refugee Studies at the University of Oxford, Alexander Betts.\n\n\u201cEducation remains the greatest source of hope and opportunity for people on the far margins of society,\u201d said Arne Duncan, advisory board member of the SNHU refugee initiative, and former U.S. Secretary of Education. \u201cSNHU\u2019s work in the camps brings education to some of the most desperate and poorly served people in the world today.\u201d\n\nOver the next two years, SNHU will begin programming at four new sites around the world. SNHU is also exploring ways to support the refugee population in Manchester, and is partnering with the YWCA NH to expand services locally.\n\nMaterial from a press release was used in this report.", "output": "Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) will invest $10m in providing online bachelor's and associate degrees to refugees around the world. Funded by anonymous donors, the initiative aims to provide education to 50,000 refugees in 20 locations by 2022. SNHU has piloted its programme with more than 500 refugees in Rwanda and plans to offer it to four new sites over the next two years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "England\u2019s 8% rise in takeaway food outlets reflects inequality \n The total number of takeaway food shops in England has risen by 4,000 in the past three years, an increase of 8%, sparking fears that councils are losing the battle to limit obesity levels via planning rules that restrict new fast food outlets.\n\nAccording to new figures provided to the Guardian by Cambridge University\u2019s Centre for Diet and Activity Research (Cedar), there are now 56,638 takeaways in England \u2013 more than a quarter of all the country\u2019s food outlets \u2013 with some of the heaviest concentrations of fast food found in England\u2019s poorest and most deprived neighbourhoods.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe junk food and sugary drinks sold by these outlets make an important contribution to the UK epidemic of obesity and diabetes,\u201d said Professor Simon Capewell, vice-president for policy at the UK\u2019s Faculty of Public Health. \u201cFurthermore, the much greater density of fast food outlets in deprived neighbourhoods exacerbates existing, substantial inequalities in health. These trends are very worrying.\u201d\n\nThe data also indicates a possible north-south divide in takeaway access. Of the 30 council areas where takeaways are the predominant kind of food outlet, 25 are in economically deprived areas of the north, with notable clusters in the north-west.\n\nIn Blackburn with Darwen, 38% of all food retail outlets are given over to fast food \u2013 the highest proportion in England \u2013 against a national average of 26%. Blackburn has 236 takeaways in all, an increase of 24% since 2014, and equivalent to one takeaway shop for every 625 people.\n\n\n\nThe figures will alarm policymakers concerned about rising levels of obesity and related illnesses, such as type 2 diabetes. Researchers have shown a link between increased exposure to fast food outlets, increased consumption of high-fat nutrient-poor food, higher body weight and greater risk of obesity.\n\n\n\n\u201cDespite the health impact of the obesity epidemic being well known, it is shocking that the number of fast food takeaways is increasing,\u201d said Caroline Cerny, of the Obesity Health Alliance. \u201cWhether it\u2019s the marketing of junk food on billboards and TV, or the proximity of junk food outlets to schools, we know our environment has a huge impact on levels of overweightness and obesity.\u201d\n\nNearly two-thirds of adults (63%) and a third of children aged two to 15 are obese or overweight, according to Public Health England. Obesity causes more than 30,000 deaths a year, and increases the risk of health conditions such as high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. Treating obesity costs the NHS \u00a36bn a year, a figure expected to rise \u00a310bn by 2050.\n\n\n\n\u201cOur high streets are increasingly saturated with takeaways and food on the go, causing an over-consumption of cheap, unhealthy food and drinks,\u201d said Dr Alison Tedstone, Public Health England\u2019s chief nutritionist. \u201cLocal authorities and the food and drink industry all have a role to play in creating an environment that encourages healthier options \u2013 including tackling the number of takeaways and the quality of food they sell, especially among our most disadvantaged communities.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe takeaway figures are drawn from Cedar\u2019s new Food Environment Assessment Tool (Feat). Based on Ordnance Survey data, for the first time it enables users to map, measure and monitor access to a range of different types of food outlet \u2013 including takeaways, supermarkets and cafes \u2013 across the whole of England, at local authority, council ward and postcode level.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe data show stark differences in access to takeaway food outlets, not only across the country and between local authorities, but even within individual towns and cities,\u201d said Tom Burgoine, a researcher at Cedar. \u201cFeat\u2019s detailed maps reveal for the first time these differences in food access, which research indicates are related to diet and health.\u201d\n\nTakeaways are defined by Feat as food outlets where hot food is ordered and paid for at the till, with no waiter service and limited or no sit-in option. It includes bakeries, such as Greggs, as well as well-known brands more obviously associated with fast food, such as KFC and McDonald\u2019s, and local independent takeaways.\n\n\n\nMany of the 326 local authorities mapped have seen striking increases in the number of takeaways between 2014-17, with 20 recording rises of more than 20%. Only 40 councils (12%) have seen the number of fast food outlets fall or stay the same.\n\n\n\nAlthough the north has heavy concentrations of fast food, Feat shows that some of the most rapid takeaway growth over the past three years was in relatively affluent home county areas in the south east. South Cambridgeshire, which also has pockets of deprivation, has recorded the biggest percentage increase in takeaways, up 31% to 50 outlets, and has seen the biggest growth in takeaways as a percentage of all food shops.\n\nHigh-profile battles\n\nSince 2010, more than 20 councils in England have introduced planning regulations aimed at limiting the expansion of the takeaway sector locally on health grounds, including the imposition of 400m fast food exclusion zones around schools. NHS public health officials have recommended all councils consider adopting similar rules as a part of local obesity reduction initiatives.\n\n\n\nBut according to Professor Capewell: \u201cThough many councils might wish to exercise planning restrictions on health grounds, they are constrained by the major, ongoing budget cuts imposed by central government. Councils are then put in an impossible position by being expected to maximise income from business rates, including promoting businesses that sell unhealthy commodities.\u201d\n\nMcDonald\u2019s have been involved in two recent high-profile planning disputes with local councils. Photograph: Teri Pengilley/The Guardian\n\nThe new planning regulations have been central to several high-profile battles to block fast food chains opening new outlets. In 2016, McDonald\u2019s withdrew controversial plans to open a new drive-through branch in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, when it became clear it would fall foul of planning rules drawn up by the city council preventing new takeaways opening near schools.\n\n\n\nIn June, the burger chain successfully overturned a decision by Bristol City council to block a new drive-through in the Fishponds area of the city, despite a fierce campaign by local residents. Although the proposed new outlet was near a school, it was deemed to be a few metres outside the 400m fast food exclusion zone imposed by city planners.\n\nAcross the country, Feat suggests many of the councils that have introduced planning restrictions have struggled to limit the growth of fast food outlets. Bradford City council, which imposed planning restrictions in 2014, has seen takeaway numbers leap from 606 to 733 in three years, a 20% increase. Some 36% of food retail outlets in the borough are occupied by fast food, up three percentage points in three years.\n\nA spokesperson for Bradford council said: \u201cSince the local authority brought in a planning restriction of no takeaways within 400m of a school in November 2014, the council has refused over 40 applications for takeaways that would have flouted this restriction.\n\n\u201cWe are mindful of balancing the need for businesses to thrive with the drive to promote healthy eating, which is why we have worked over the last three years with takeaway outlets to reduce the salt, fat and calorie content in their meals. We have also suggested they offer smaller portions alongside the standard portions, and to offer water as an alternative to sugary drinks.\u201d\n\nWarrington, Birmingham and Gateshead, which also have planning regulations in place, have all seen double-digit increases in takeaway numbers \u2013 whereas Islington and Medway have successfully kept a lid on fast food outlets, according to the data.\n\nGateshead council said there have been no new hot food takeaways in the borough since it introduced planning rules limiting them in 2015, and that it had subsequently refused four applications. This policy applies only to takeaways with a planning classification of \u201cA5\u201d, however \u2013 which does not, unlike the wider Feat definition, cover Greggs bakeries (classed as A1), or McDonald\u2019s and KFC, which as restaurants with takeaway capacity are classified as A3.\n\n\n\nSuch variation in classifications has prompted calls for more all-encompassing planning definitions. According to Martin Caraher, professor of food policy at City, University of London: \u201cThere needs to be a more dynamic public health presence in the planning system, to take into account all kinds of \u2018food on the go\u2019 in our towns and cities \u2013 not just narrowly-defined, planning-usage definitions of \u2018fast food\u2019.\u201d\n\nTypical takeaway foods are high in calories, fat and saturated fat. A single portion of fried chicken and chips, fish and chips or pizza might contain 900-1,200 calories, with significant variations in calorie content between outlets. Studies have shown that customers significantly underestimate the calorific content of takeaway meals; the recommended daily intake of an adult male is around 2,500 calories, and 2,000 for an adult female.\n\nAre you worried about the large number of fast food outlets in your area? Take our fast food survey, or email us at inequality.project@theguardian.com", "output": "England has seen an 8% rise in the total number of takeaway food shops. 4,000 new outlets have opened\u00a0in the past three years, according to Cambridge University\u2019s Centre for Diet and Activity Research. The rise comes despite planning rules designed to restrict such shops which now number 56,638 in England, over 25% of all the country\u2019s food outlets. The country\u2019s poorest neighbourhoods have some of the highest concentrations of takeaways, with particular clusters in the north-west. Professor Simon Capewell, of the UK\u2019s Faculty of Public Health, stated that such takeaways contributed to the country's ongoing epidemic of obesity and diabetes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers develop demand response for better solar integration \n Credit: CC0 Public Domain\n\nSolar power has been established as a source of mainstream power generation across the globe. With numerous installations of photovoltaic (PV) systems for residential homes at or near the distribution site, there is a challenge to balance supply and demand to make these intermittent energy sources reliable. Too little sun means low solar generation and poor PV system efficiency. Excessive generation can jeopardize normal operation of electricity networks.\n\nDemand response (DR) is one promising way to increase operational flexibility and energy efficiency. However, little research has been conducted on a large scale to quantify the benefits of DR in residential communities.\n\nTo fill this gap, researchers at the Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) in Malaysia incorporated DR scenarios in simulated comprehensive network case studies based on 100 urban low-voltage network samples. Their research showed the significance that DR can have on network operations with different levels of PV penetration. The researchers report their findings this week in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy.\n\n\"We highlight [the] importance of the paradigm shift from the traditional 'generation to follow demand' to 'demand to follow generation' in renewable-rich energy mix scenarios,\" said Chin Kim Gan, UTeM associate professor and co-author of the paper.\n\nDR initiatives, through the use of advanced building controls or manually reducing power during hours of peak demand, encourage consumers to reduce their electricity use in exchange for lower electric bills and other incentives.\n\nThree case studies were developed to investigate how various DR scenarios would affect network performance. Malaysia was chosen as the location because of its consistent tropical weather pattern, with sunny days about 50 percent of the time. Different degrees of DR participation at varying levels of PV penetrations were considered for each case study for a total of 10,000 network analyses performed for each case study.\n\nIn the first case study, consumers responded to their own demand profile without PV generation (e.g., they delayed using their washing machine until later in the evening). In the second, participants responded to their own PV-generation profiles. For them, DR consisted of load shifting (e.g., taking a hot shower in the morning when local solar power is available).\n\nIn the last case study, consumers considered both their own demand and PV generation profiles simultaneously (e.g., they decreased their use of air conditioning after receiving a signal from a central DR optimizer).\n\nDR applications with 100 percent PV penetration (in the third case study) provided the best use of solar energy and influenced network performance the most, reducing energy consumption at peak demand by 32 percent, reducing network losses by 42 percent and improving network utilization by 12 percent.\n\nGan said that these benefits would be even greater with the integration of energy storage systems and other smart-grid technologies, such as building sensors and smart meters.\n\n\"Although demand response provides notable benefits to the network, it cannot by itself fully unleash benefits of intermittent renewable energy, particularly when the output of generation is higher than the demand,\" Gan said. \"Demand response, therefore, coupled with the integration of energy storage and energy management systems would likely maximize the benefits of renewable energy in future energy systems.\"\n\nMore information: \"Assessment of distribution networks performance considering residential photovoltaic systems with demand response applications,\" Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy (2017). DOI: 10.1063/1.4993048 Journal information: Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy", "output": "Demand response (DR), a system which allows for changes in energy cost as a reaction to nationwide energy usage, can reduce peak energy demand by almost a third, according to researchers at the Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka. In an article published in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, the team detailed three case studies based on 100 urban low-voltage network samples.\u00a0DR was used in one trial by customers adapting their energy use to their own needs, in the second by those using load shifting, and in the third, the most successful trial, with 100% photovoltaic penetration.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Verily invests in cancer detection firm Freenome's $65m round \n Verily, the life sciences arm of Google's parent company Alphabet , has invested in Freenome, an ambitious start-up that's building technology to detect early-stage cancer, and built a dedicated lab for the start-up.\n\nVerily invested in Freenome as part of its most recent round of financing, which totaled $65 million, in March 2017, a person familiar with the investment tells CNBC. This was separate from an investment made by Alphabet's venture arm, GV (formerly Google Ventures), which has been previously reported.\n\n\"We are providing office space to Freenome in order to foster collaboration between the two companies,\" a Verily spokesperson confirmed. The companies did not comment on the investment.\n\nThe funding represents a deviation in strategy for Verily, which typically forms partnerships with life sciences companies to jointly develop companies or products.\n\nTo sweeten the deal, Verily built Freenome's clinical team a lab to their specifications, the person said. Freenome's team, which amounts to about 40 people, has now moved in.\n\nThe lab is the first on Verily's South San Francisco premises, the person said, although Verily said that there are other labs on campus as well.\n\nFreenome is using machine learning to root out biological signals of cancer from DNA fragments in the blood. It's most recent funding round was led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from GV, Alphabet's venture unit, among other investors.", "output": "Verily Life Sciences, a subsidiary of Google's parent company, Alphabet, has invested in Freenome, a start-up that uses machine learning to detect early-stage cancer. As part of the deal, Verily has built a dedicated lab for the start-up in San Francisco. The life sciences company invested as part of Freenome's recent $65m funding round. Alphabet's venture arm, GV, has also previously invested in Freenome.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Migration from London to satellite towns up 80% since 2012 \n In the Kent seaside town of Whitstable, long-term residents call them DFLs \u2013 people who have moved \u201cdown from London\u201d, sometimes for the lifestyle but more often for cheaper housing.\n\nThe number of people fleeing the capital to live elsewhere has hit a five-year high. In the year to June 2016, net outward migration from London reached 93,300 people \u2013 more than 80% higher than five years earlier, according to analysis of official statistics.\n\nA common theme among the leavers\u2019 destinations is significantly cheaper housing, according to the estate agent Savills, which analysed figures from the Office for National Statistics and the Land Registry.\n\nCambridge, Canterbury, Dartford and Bristol are reportedly among the most popular escape routes for people who have grown tired of London and its swollen property prices.\n\nThe most likely destination for people aged over 25 moving from Islington is St Albans in Hertfordshire, where the average home is \u00a3173,000 cheaper. People moving from Ealing to Slough \u2013 the most popular move from the west London borough \u2013 stand to save on average \u00a3241,000. Among all homeowners leaving London, the average house price was \u00a3580,000 while the average in the areas they moved to was \u00a3333,000.\n\nThe exodus is not just of homeowners, but of renters too. Rents in London have soared by a third in the last decade, compared to 18% in the south-west, 13% in the West Midlands and 11% in the north-west of England.\n\nThe only age group that has a positive net migration figure in the capital is those in their twenties, the research found. Everyone else, from teens to pensioners, is tending to get out. Since 2009, the trend has been steadily increasing among people in their thirties with 15,000 more people in that age bracket leaving every year than at the end of the last decade \u2013 a 27% rise.\n\nThe phenomenon is being driven by a widespread desire to \u201ctrade up the housing ladder\u201d, something that is all too often impossible in London according to Lucian Cook, Savill\u2019s head of residential research.\n\n\u201cFive years ago people would have been reluctant [to move out] because the economy wasn\u2019t as strong and some owners didn\u2019t want to miss out on house price growth [in London],\u201d he said.\n\nBut with increased employment opportunities outside London and property prices levelling off in the capital, people are becoming more confident to make the leap, he said.\n\nThe trend is particularly affecting public servants, according to teaching and healthcare unions.\n\n\u201cTeachers who can find a job elsewhere move out,\u201d said Martin Powell-Davies, London regional secretary of the National Union of Teachers. \u201cThere\u2019s a high turnover of staff in London caused in part because they can\u2019t afford to live. That creates instability for the pupils. They build up a relationship with their teacher and the next year that teacher will be a different person.\u201d\n\nAndy Winter, 38, a secondary school teacher in London has managed to stay in the capital because he started living on a canal boat four and a half years ago.\n\n\u201cMy experience is that [housing] is completely unaffordable,\u201d he said.\n\nWinter balked at paying a \u00a31,000-a-month mortgage and started living on the water. From September, he will pay \u00a380 a month to moor his \u00a310,500 boat near his new school in Hayes, west London.\n\nNurses, care workers and social workers are among those \u201cbeing forced to live outside London and commute for longer\u201d according to Christina Mcanea, assistant general secretary of the public service union Unison.\n\n\u201cThe danger is London will start to lose these staff\u201d she said. \u201cTurnover rates in some parts of London are already 30%. People do it for a while and then the commute gets too difficult an experience.\u201d\n\nUnison has urged the government to allow the public sector to start repurposing redundant buildings as staff accommodation rather than selling them off for private housing.\n\nHowever, despite the figures, London is not shrinking. The Savills research does not account for flows of migration abroad (a net increase of almost 100,000 between 2011 and 2015) and new births in the capital far outweighing deaths, that continue to push the population up towards 10m. It is expected to expand from its current 8.7m population to 9.8m by mid-2025.\n\n\u2018It is nice to have somewhere we enjoy being in\u2019\n\nEllie Russell, a former science teacher, and her husband, Colin Stratton, who works in IT, moved from Leytonstone to Southend-on-Sea last year with their eight-year-old daughter and two-year-old son. The couple had been looking to buy in east London, but could only find two-bedroom flats for around \u00a3300,000.\n\nEllie Russell, Colin Stratton and their two children moved to Southend. Photograph: The Guardian\n\n\u201cWe were renting and I was pregnant with my son and we wanted a bigger place,\u201d Russell said. \u201cThe rent was crazy to get a three-bedroom place and while we had a deposit and were looking to buy, prices went up about \u00a360,000 as we were doing so. We could have got a two-bedroom flat if we had pushed the boat out.\u201c\n\nSo they took the plunge to move to Southend in Essex and bought a c1900 three-bed house with a garden for \u00a3230,000.\n\n\u201cIt was difficult as we didn\u2019t know anyone in Southend,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it is nice to have somewhere we enjoy being in. Now there seems to be quite a few people moving from London to Southend.\u201d", "output": "The number of people leaving London in search of cheaper housing in nearby areas has reached a five-year high, according to analysis of official statistics. In the year to June 2016, 93,300 people moved from London to live elsewhere, an increase of over 80% from five years before. Buyers and renters alike sought less expensive homes outside the capital, with many typically heading towards St Albans in Hertfordshire and Slough, with Bristol, Cambridge, Canterbury and Dartford also popular choices. The only age group showing net migration to London was those in their 20s."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Three of Redrow Homes South Wales employees win NHBC awards \n Redrow Homes South Wales is celebrating after three employees were awarded a Pride in The Job Quality Award 2017 by the National House Building Council (NHBC).\n\nRedrow Site Managers, John Harris, Rob Summers and Ross Robertson were all selected for the prestigious accolade from the NHBC which acknowledged the high level of quality and management on their respective sites at Mon Bank in Newport, Awel Y Garth in Pentyrch, and Manor View in Treharris.\n\nNow in its 37th year \u2018Pride in the Job\u2019 celebrates the exceptional contribution site managers make in creating homes of outstanding quality, and this year more than 16,000 site managers across the UK competed for the awards.\n\nRedrow South Wales\u2019 winners were hand-picked for their excellent standards on the local sites following 12 months of rigorous judging.\n\nBeverley Wookey, Sales Director at Redrow Homes South Wales, said:\n\n\u201cWe are all incredibly proud that John, Rob and Ross have all been recognised for their hard work on the developments, which is a result of the pride and dedication shown by each of them and their teams, and everybody else in the business who puts in such hard work to ensure we build the best houses and create the best homes for our customers in the area.\u201d\n\nRedrow has achieved a record 27 awards at the Pride in the Job Quality Awards this year and not only has Redrow outdone its 2016 tally of 24, the company\u2019s 2017 awards count is more than double the average in the competition, which stands at 12. The number of successful site managers at Redrow has increased every year since 2013.\n\nRedrow\u2019s long history of success at these awards makes it one of the UK\u2019s leading house builders with 10 developments across the region.", "output": "Redrow Homes South Wales has been celebrating three of its employees receiving a Pride in The Job Quality Award 2017 by the National House Building Council.\u00a0Redrow Site Managers Rob Summers, John Harris and Ross Robertson all achieved\u00a0recognition for their vital contributions to creating high-quality homes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple blog explores refining synthetic images to help AI to learn \n Most successful examples of neural nets today are trained with supervision. However, to achieve high accuracy, the training sets need to be large, diverse, and accurately annotated, which is costly. An alternative to labelling huge amounts of data is to use synthetic images from a simulator. This is cheap as there is no labeling cost, but the synthetic images may not be realistic enough, resulting in poor generalization on real test images. To help close this performance gap, we've developed a method for refining synthetic images to make them look more realistic. We show that training models on these refined images leads to significant improvements in accuracy on various machine learning tasks.\n\nOverview\n\nTraining machine learning models on standard synthetic images is problematic as the images may not be realistic enough, leading the model to learn details present only in synthetic images and failing to generalize well on real images. One approach to bridge this gap between synthetic and real images would be to improve the simulator which is often expensive and difficult, and even the best rendering algorithm may still fail to model all the details present in the real images. This lack of realism may cause models to overfit to \u2018unrealistic\u2019 details in the synthetic images. Instead of modeling all the details in the simulator, could we learn them from data? To this end, we developed a method for refining synthetic images to make them look more realistic (Figure 1).\n\nFigure 1. The task is to learn a model that improves the realism of synthetic images from a simulator using unlabeled real data, while preserving the annotation information.\n\nThe goal of 'improving realism' is to make the images look as realistic as possible to improve the test accuracy. This means we want to preserve annotation information for training of machine learning models. For example, the gaze direction in Figure 1 should be preserved, as well as not generate any artifacts, as machine learning models could learn to overfit to them. We learn a deep neural network, which we call 'refiner network', that processes synthetic images to improve their realism.\n\nTo learn such a refiner network, we need some real images. One option would be to require pairs of real and synthetic images with pixel-wise correspondence, or real images with annotations\u2014e.g. the gaze information in the case of eyes. This is arguably an easier problem, but such data is very difficult to collect. To create pixel-wise correspondence, we need to either render a synthetic image that corresponds to a given real image, or capture a real image that matches a rendered synthetic image. Could we instead learn this mapping without pixel-wise correspondence, or any labels for the real images? If so, we could just generate a bunch of synthetic images, capture real images of eyes, and without labeling any real images at all, learn this mapping\u2014making the method cheap and easy to apply in practice.\n\nTo learn our refiner network in an unsupervised manner, we utilize an auxiliary discriminator network that classifies the real and the refined (or fake) images into two classes. The refiner network tries to fool this discriminator network into thinking the refined images are the real ones. Both the networks train alternately, and training stops when the discriminator cannot distinguish the real images from the fake ones. The idea of using an adversarial discriminator network is similar to the GANs (Generative Adversarial Networks [1]) approach that maps a random vector to an image such that the generated image is indistinguishable from the real ones. Our goal is to train a refiner network\u2014a generator\u2014that maps a synthetic image to a realistic image. Figure 2 shows an overview of the method.\n\nFigure 2. Our refiner neural network, R, minimizes a combination of local adversarial loss and a \u2018self-regularization\u2019 term. The adversarial loss \u2018fools\u2019 the discriminator network, D, that classifies an image as real or refined. The self-regularization term minimizes the image difference between the synthetic and the refined images. The refiner network and the discriminator network are updated alternately.\n\nHow do we preserve the annotations?\n\nIn addition to generating realistic images, the refiner network should preserve the annotation information of the simulator. For example, for gaze estimation the learned transformation should not change the gaze direction. This restriction is an essential ingredient to enable training a machine learning model that uses the refined images with the simulator\u2019s annotations. To preserve the annotations of synthetic images, we complement the adversarial loss with a self-regularization L1 loss that penalizes large changes between the synthetic and refined images.\n\nHow do we prevent artifacts?\n\nMaking local changes\n\nAnother key requirement for the refiner network is that it should learn to model the real image characteristics without introducing any artifacts. When we train a single strong discriminator network, the refiner network tends to over-emphasize certain image features to fool the current discriminator network, leading to drifting and producing artifacts. A key observation is that any local patch sampled from the refined image should have similar statistics to a real image patch. Therefore, rather than defining a global discriminator network, we can define a discriminator network that classifies all local image patches separately (Figure 3). This division not only limits the receptive field, and hence the capacity of the discriminator network, but also provides many samples per image for learning the discriminator network. The refiner network is also improved by having multiple \u2018realism loss\u2019 values per image.\n\nFigure 3. Illustration of local adversarial loss. The discriminator network outputs a width by height probability map. The adversarial loss function is the sum of the cross-entropy losses over the local patches.\n\nUsing Generator History to Improve the Discriminator\n\nThe generator can fool the discriminator either with samples from a novel distribution or the target (real data) distribution. Generating from a novel distribution fools the discriminator only until the discriminator learns that novel distribution. The more useful way the generator can fool the discriminator is by generating from the target distribution.\n\nGiven these two ways of evolving, the easiest is usually to generate a novel output, which is what we observed when training the current generator and discriminator against each other. A simplified illustration of this unproductive sequence is shown in the left-hand side of Figure 4. The generator and discriminator distributions are shown in yellow and blue respectively.\n\nBy introducing a history which stores generator samples from previous generations (right-hand of Figure 4), the discriminator is less likely to forget the part of the space about which it has already learned. The more powerful discriminator helps the generator to move toward the target distribution faster. The illustration is a simplification and neglects to show that the distributions are complex and often disconnected regions. In practice however, a simple random replacement buffer captures enough diversity from previous generator distributions to prevent repetition by strengthening the discriminator. Our notion is that any refined image generated by the refiner network at any time during the entire training procedure is really a \u2018fake\u2019 image for the discriminator. We found that by constructing a mini-batch for D with half the samples from the history buffer and the other half from the current generator's output (as shown in Figure 5) we can improve training.\n\nFigure 4. An illustration of intuition behind using a history of images to improve the discriminator.\n\nFigure 5. Illustration of mini-batch with history for D. Each mini-batch consists of images from the current iteration of the generator, as well as from a buffer of previous fake images.\n\nHow does the training progress?\n\nWe first train the refiner network with only self-regularization loss, and introduce the adversarial loss after the refiner network starts producing blurry versions of the input synthetic images. Figure 6 shows the output of refiner network at various steps of training. In the beginning, it outputs a blurry image that becomes more and more realistic as training progresses. Figure 7 visualizes the discriminator and generator losses at different training iterations. Note that the discriminator loss is low in the beginning\u2014meaning it can easily tell the difference between real and refined. Slowly, the discriminator loss increases and the generator loss decreases as training progress, generating more real images.\n\nFigure 6. Output of the refiner network as training progresses. Starting with a blurry image, the network learns to model the details present in real images.\n\nFigure 7. Generator and discriminator losses as training progresses.\n\nIs the self-regularization L1 loss limiting?\n\nWhen the synthetic and real images have significant shift in the distribution, a pixel-wise L1 difference may be restrictive. In such cases, we can replace the identity map with an alternative feature transform, putting a self-regularizer on a feature space. These could be hand-tuned features, or learnt features such as a mid layer from VGGnet. For example, for color image refinement, the mean of RGB channels can generate realistic color images such as in Figure 8.\n\nFigure 8. Example of self-regularization loss in feature space.\n\nAre labels changed by the generator?\n\nTo verify that the labels do not change significantly, we manually drew ellipses on the synthetic and refined images, and computed the difference between their centers. In Figure 9, we show a scatter plot of 50 such center differences. The absolute difference between the estimated pupil center of synthetic and corresponding refined image is quite small: 1.1 +/- 0.8px (eye width = 55px).\n\nFigure 9. Scatter plot of distances between pupil centers of synthetic and real images.\n\nHow to set the hyper-parameters? Tips & tricks.\n\nInitialization of G\n\nFirst we initialized G only with the self-regularization loss so that it can start producing blurry version of the synthetic input. Typically it took 500-2,000 steps of G (without training D).\n\nDifferent steps of G and D for each training iteration\n\nWe used different number of steps for the generator and discriminator in each training iteration. For hand-pose estimation using depth, we used 2 steps of G for each D step, and for eye gaze estimation experiment we ended up using 50 steps of G for each D step. We found the discriminator to converge more quickly compared to the generator, partly because of the batch-norm in the discriminator. So, we fixed the #D steps to 1, and started varying #G steps starting from a small number, slowly increasing it depending on the discriminator loss values.\n\nLearning rate and stopping criteria\n\nWe found it helpful to keep learning rate very small (~0.0001) and train for a long time. This approach worked probably because it keeps both the generator or the discriminator from making sudden shifts which would leave the other behind. We found it difficult to stop the training by visualizing the training loss. Instead, we saved training images as training progresses, and stopped training when the refined images looked visually similar to real images.\n\nQualitative Results\n\nTo evaluate the visual quality of the refined images, we designed a simple user study where subjects were asked to classify images as real or refined synthetic. The subjects found it very difficult to tell the difference between the real and refined images. In our aggregate analysis, 10 subjects chose the correct label 517 times out of 1000 trials, meaning they were not able to reliably distinguish real images from refined synthetic ones. In contrast, when testing on original synthetic images vs real images, we showed 10 real and 10 synthetic images per subject, and the subjects chose correctly 162 times out of 200 trials. In Figure 10 we show some example synthetic and corresponding refined images.\n\nFigure 10. Example refined eye images using the proposed method.\n\nQuantitative Results\n\nFigure 11 shows the improvement using refined data, compared to training with original synthetic data. Two things to note from this figure: (1) Training with refined images is better than training with original synthetic images, and (2) using more synthetic data further improves performance. In Figure 12, we compare the gaze estimation error with other state-of-the-art methods, and show that improving the realism significantly helps the model generalize on real test data.\n\nFigure 11. Comparison of training using synthetic and refined images for gaze estimation. Evaluated on real test images.\n\nFigure 12. Comparison of different methods for gaze estimation on the MPIIGaze dataset. The first two methods are described in references [2] and [3].\n\nRelated Work\n\nRecently there has been a lot of interest in domain adaptation using adversarial training. The image-to-image translation [4] paper by Isola et al. describe a method that learns to change an image from one domain to another, but it needs pixel-wise correspondences. The unpaired image-to-image translation paper [5] discussing relaxing the requirement of pixel-wise correspondence, and follows our strategy of using the generator history to improve the discriminator. The unsupervised image-to-image translation network [6] uses a combination of a GAN and variational auto-encoder to learn the mapping between source and target domains. Costa et al. [7] use ideas from our work to learn to generate images of the eye fundus. Sela et al. [8] use a similar self-regularization approach for facial geometry reconstruction. Lee et al. [9] learn to synthesize an image from key local patches using a discriminator on patches. For more details on the work we describe in this article, see our CVPR paper \u201cLearning from Simulated and Unsupervised Images through Adversarial Training\u201d [10].\n\nReferences\n\n[1] I. J. Goodfellow, J. Pouget-Abadie, M. Mirza, B. Xu, D. Warde-Farley, S. Ozair, A. Courville, and Y. Bengio, Generative Adversarial Nets. Proceedings Neural Information Processing Systems Conference, 2014.\n\n[2] X. Zhang, Y. Sugano, M. Fritz, and A. Bulling, Appearance-based Gaze Estimation in the Wild. Proceedings Computer Vision Pattern Recognition Conference, 2015.\n\n[3] E. Wood, T. Baltru\u0161aitis, L.-P. Morency, P. Robinson, and A. Bulling, Learning an Appearance-based Gaze Estimator from One Million Synthesised Images. Proceedings ACM Symposium on Eye Tracking Research & Applications, 2016.\n\n[4] P. Isola, J.-Y. Zhu, T. Zhou, and A. A. Efros, Image-to-Image Translation with Conditional Adversarial Networks. ArXiv, 2016.\n\n[5] J.-Y. Zhu, T. Park, P. Isola, and A. A. Efros, Unpaired Image-to-Image Translation using Cycle-Consistent Adversarial Networks. ArXiv, 2017.\n\n[6] M.-Y. Liu, T. Breuel, and J. Kautz, Unsupervised Image-to-Image Translation Networks. ArXiv, 2017.\n\n[7] P. Costa, A. Galdran, M. I. Meyer, M. D. Abr\u00e0moff, M. Niemeijer, A. M.Mendon\u00e7a, and A. Campilho, Towards Adversarial Retinal Image Synthesis. ArXiv, 2017.\n\n[8] M. Sela, E. Richardson, and R. Kimmel, Unrestricted Facial Geometry Reconstruction Using Image-to-Image Translation. ArXiv, 2017\n\n[9] D. Lee, S.Yun, S. Choi, H. Yoo, M.-H. Yang, and S. Oh, Unsupervised Holistic Image Generation from Key Local Patches. ArXiv, 2017.\n\n[10] A. Shrivastava, T. Pfister, O. Tuzel, J. Susskind, W. Wang, R. Webb, Learning from Simulated and Unsupervised Images through Adversarial Training. CVPR, 2017.", "output": "Apple has published an official blog dedicated to machine learning, an unusual move for the company. The first post refers to work being done to enable the use of synthetic \u2013 as opposed to real \u2013\u00a0images to train image recognition neural nets. While synthetic images are cheaper to produce, they can lack realism, which hampers the image recognition software's ability to learn. Apple has therefore developed a way of refining synthetic images to make them more lifelike.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Price May Not Be Right: The Value of Comparison Shopping for Prescription Drugs \n ABSTRACT Objectives: To measure variations in drug prices across and within zip codes that may reveal simple strategies to improve patients\u2019 access to prescribed medications.\n\nStudy Design: We compared drug prices at different types of pharmacies across and within local markets. In-store prices were compared with a Web-based service providing discount coupons for prescription medications. Prices were collected for 2 generic antibiotics because most patients have limited experience with them and are less likely to know the price ranges for them.\n\nMethods: Drug prices were obtained via telephone from 528 pharmacies in Los Angeles (LA) County, California, from July to August 2014. Online prices were collected from GoodRx, a popular Web-based service that aggregates available discounts and directly negotiates with retail outlets.\n\nResults: Drug prices found at independent pharmacies and by using discount coupons available online were lower on average than at grocery, big-box, or chain drug stores for 2 widely prescribed antibiotics. The lowest-price prescription was offered at a grocery, big-box, or chain drug store in 6% of zip codes within the LA County area. Drug prices varied dramatically within a zip code, however, and were less expensive in lower-income areas. The average price difference within a zip code was $52 for levofloxacin and $17 for azithromycin.\n\nConclusions: Price shopping for medications within a small geographic area can yield considerable cost savings for the uninsured and consumers in high-deductible health plans with high negotiated prices. Clinicians and patient advocates have an incentive to convey this information to patients to improve adherence to prescribed medicines and lower the financial burden of purchasing prescription drugs.Takeaway Points\n\nThe high costs of prescription drugs and lack of price transparency suggest that many patients might be overpaying for medications. We found that:\n\nDrug prices were lowest at independent pharmacies and when using online coupons compared with grocery, big-box, or chain drug stores.\n\nThe average price difference within a zip code was $52 for levofloxacin and $17 for azithromycin.\n\nMedications were less expensive when purchased in lower-income areas.\n\nClinicians and patient advocates have an incentive to convey this information to their patients or members to improve adherence to prescribed medicines and lower the financial burden of purchasing prescription drugs.\n\nConsumers typically know the price of a product and have some information about its quality before purchasing. This information makes comparison shopping possible and is a key tenet of well-functioning markets. However, healthcare markets are different. Patients rarely know the price of a medical product or service before using it and sometimes even after the service is provided.\n\nA lack of price transparency and difficulty in assessing its quality are the likely key reasons the price of medical care varies so widely. A primary care doctor visit in San Francisco ($251) is twice as expensive as in Miami ($95), and a lipid panel in Pittsburgh ($19) is one-fourth of the price in Indianapolis ($89), which is just a fraction of the cost in Dallas ($343). Even within the same market, New Yorkers seeking magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can pay anywhere between $416 and $4527 for the same service.1\n\nAlthough millions of Americans gained coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA), more than 32 million consumers remain uninsured and exposed to the full cost of services.2 Many of the uninsured are low-income consumers, who lack coverage as a result of states\u2019 decisions not to expand Medicaid under the ACA. In addition, an increasing number of Americans are enrolled in health plans with high annual deductibles and face potentially high out-of-pocket costs. Four of 5 workers who now receive insurance through an employer pay a deductible, and 1 in 5 faces a deductible of $2000 or more.3 Plan members can purchase covered medications at a negotiated rate that might not vary much across in-network pharmacies; however, the plan\u2019s negotiated price can be significantly greater than what consumers would pay using a store\u2019s proprietary discount card or with online coupons. As such, both the uninsured and an increasing number of insured consumers have incentives to use price information and discount programs to comparison shop for their prescription medications.\n\nSeveral states have passed laws and private-sector initiatives are underway to encourage or require greater price transparency for medical services.4 Recent work suggests that providing employees with price information is associated with lower total claims payments for common medical services.5 In this paper, we examined the potential benefit of comparison shopping for prescription drug prices and pharmacy characteristics that patients should consider when shopping for medications. Prescription drugs provide a good test case because, unlike most medical services, the quality of the product is constant across providers, making it easy for patients to comparison shop. Further, the market for prescription drugs is generally local: the majority of Americans live within 5 miles of a pharmacy and about 80% of the population uses only 1 pharmacy for outpatient prescriptions.6 We compared drug prices from different types of pharmacies (ie, chain drug stores, independent pharmacies, grocery stores, big-box stores) within local markets and described how they compare with the prices of Web-based services offering discount coupons for prescription medications. We measured the extent to which prices vary within a zip code and whether drug prices vary in high- versus low-income areas. The extent of price variation within a market is an implicit measure of the benefit of price shopping and may reveal simple strategies that health plans and providers can use to help patients access prescribed medications.\n\nMETHODS\n\nWe conducted a cross-sectional analysis of drug prices from July to August 2014 from all outpatient prescription drug outlets in a selected set of zip codes in Los Angeles (LA) County. We focused on the prices of 2 commonly prescribed generic antibiotics for community-acquired pneumonia: levofloxacin and azithromycin. They are relatively equally prescribed and can be used as substitutes for each other in most areas. We purposely selected medications used for an acute medical condition because patients typically have limited experience with them and are less likely to know the range of prices for these products. Further, the consequences of not filling medications for acute infections, such as pneumonia, may lead to sepsis, resulting in otherwise preventable hospitalizations, increased healthcare costs, and greater risk of mortality. The acute nature of their use and limited time to price shop after diagnosis may result in greater price variation than for chronic medications, although there is limited evidence on this point.7\n\nWe used the American Community Survey to obtain zip code\u2014level measures of population and median household income for LA County. As low-density areas have few pharmacies, we restricted the study sample to zip codes with at least 10,000 residents. We ranked the 164 remaining zip codes by median household income and selected the top (high-income) and bottom (low-income) quartiles for inclusion.\n\nWe obtained a complete list of pharmacies operating in these 82 zip codes from the California Board of Pharmacy. We excluded hospital-based pharmacies and membership clubs (eg, Sam\u2019s Club, Costco) and categorized outpatient pharmacies in the following way: chain drug store (eg, CVS), independent pharmacy, grocery store (eg, Safeway), or big-box store (eg, Target). Prices at these pharmacies were obtained via telephone. Three trained research assistants (RAs) called all pharmacies on the list over a 1-month period from July to August 2014. They followed a standardized script informing pharmacy staff that they were calling from LA County Hospital on behalf of a hypothetical uninsured patient with pneumonia.\n\nThey then requested quotes for the cash prices for the generic forms of 7 tablets of 500-mg levofloxacin and 6 tablets of 250-mg azithromycin. Once a price was given, they asked about any available discounts that could lower the price of the drug (ie, \u201cdiscounted price.\u201d) If there was no answer, the pharmacy staff was too busy to run a price check, or the RA was put on hold for more than 10 minutes, the RA would call back every hour with the same request until 5 pm that day and then resume hourly calls the next day at 8 am. Phone prices for both medications were recorded on a standardized data collection sheet.\n\nGiven the growth in internet use and online purchases of prescription drugs, we simultaneously collected prices for the 2 medications obtained at the same set of pharmacies from GoodRx, a popular Web-based service that aggregates available discounts and directly negotiates with retail outlets to provide consumers with coupons for discounted drug prices. Patients can enter a medication name and zip code and the website will list prices at most pharmacies operating in or near that zip code. To test the acceptance of the GoodRx coupons, we physically presented them at 5% of the pharmacies to ensure their prices would be honored. The study protocol was reviewed by the University of Southern California\u2019s institutional review board prior to initiation. We examined the distribution of discounted drug prices by pharmacy type, as well as the extent of price variation in high- versus low-income areas, and then explored how prices varied across pharmacies in the same zip code. Given that most individuals purchase medications near home, examining prices within a zip code is an implicit measure of the potential cost savings from price shopping.\n\nRESULTS\n\nWe obtained drug prices from 528 of 535 eligible pharmacies (98.7% response rate). The sample consisted of 170 chain drug stores, 49 grocery stores, 39 big-box stores, and 270 independent pharmacies. Independent pharmacies accounted for a larger proportion of the total number of pharmacies in low-income zip codes (65%) than in high-income areas (37%).\n\nTable 1 shows the variation in drug prices by pharmacy type, categorized as chain, independent, grocery store, big-box, and online (GoodRx). This captures variation in prices both across and within zip codes and reflects the discounted price. The average price of generic levofloxacin purchased with a GoodRx coupon or at an independent pharmacy was less than half the price versus a grocery or big-box store and less than one-fourth of the discounted price obtained over the phone at chain drug stores. Although prices were highest at chain drug stores, there was far less variation in price at this type of location (interquartile ratio [IQR], 1.05) compared with the other retail outlets (IQRs, ~2.0).\n\nPrices varied less for azithromycin than levofloxacin, but relative prices followed a similar pattern. The lowest average prices were found via GoodRx ($20) and at independent pharmacies ($23); chain drug stores charged the most ($37). There was little variation in price for chain drug stores (IQR, 1.05), particularly in comparison with independent pharmacies (IQR, 2.47) and grocery stores (IQR, 4.30). Asking for a discount had the largest effect at chain drug stores in the case of levofloxacin (lowering the average price by $11, or 10%) and at grocery stores in the case of azithromycin (by $8, or about 25%).\n\nTable 2 shows the distribution of drug prices in high- and low-socioeconomic status (SES) areas, as defined by the median household income in the zip code. Levofloxacin and azithromycin were less expensive, on average, when purchased in pharmacies located in lower-income zip codes compared with higher-income zip codes. Because high- and low-income areas are likely to have a different mix of pharmacies (eg, big-box stores may be less likely to locate in low-income areas), we also estimated the average prices controlling for pharmacy type and the results were substantively unchanged. Although the median price of levofloxacin was $26 in low-income areas, prices ranged from a low of $4 to a high of $149, depending on the pharmacy. In high-income areas, the median price of levofloxacin was $80 and ranged from $5 to $229.\n\nTable 3 shows the extent of price variation within the same zip code, which is the implicit value of price shopping within a localized area. The average price difference between the highest and lowest-cost pharmacies in a zip code was greater than $100 for levofloxacin and $30 for azithromycin. Perhaps a more salient comparison is the average price difference between a randomly selected pharmacy and the lowest-priced pharmacy in the same zip code. In this case, consumers would save an average $52 per prescription for levofloxacin and $17 per prescription for azithromycin simply by comparison shopping within the same zip code (results not shown). We observed modestly greater price variation in high-income areas despite there being more pharmacies per zip code in low-income areas (7.7 pharmacies per zip code vs 6.5 in high-income zips).\n\nTable 4 highlights general approaches for obtaining the lowest priced medication in an area. In more than half of the 71 unique zip codes in the study sample, independent pharmacies had the lowest price for levofloxacin (53%), followed by GoodRx (44%). In only 2 of 71 zip codes did a chain or big-box store have the lowest price for levofloxacin. We observed the same pattern when we restricted the analysis to the 39 zip codes with a big-box store. For both levofloxacin and azithromycin, the lowest price prescription was offered at a grocery, big-box, or chain drug store in just 6% of zip codes.\n\nDISCUSSION\n\nIn our study sample of 528 pharmacies, prices found at independent pharmacies and by using online discount coupons were markedly lower, on average, than at grocery, big-box, or chain drug stores for 2 widely prescribed antibiotics. Drug prices varied dramatically within a zip code and typically were less expensive when purchased in lower-income areas. The average price difference within a zip code was $52 for levofloxacin and $17 for azithromycin, which suggests that price shopping within a small geographic area can yield considerable cost savings, particularly for uninsured and insured consumers in high-deductible health plans with high negotiated prices. A possible explanation for the greater price variation with levofloxacin is that it recently became available as a generic, so there has been less time to establish a fair market value.\n\nThere is a common perception that chain drug stores have lower prices than independent pharmacies due to economies of scale and the fact that the chains derive a smaller fraction of their revenue from the sale of prescription drugs. However, chain drug stores typically compete less on price and more on convenience, brand name, and nondrug items.8 By contrast, independent pharmacies compete largely on price and service to induce consumers to bypass chain drug stores.9 Our results suggest that cash-paying consumers often face a premium for going to chain drug stores and could save substantially by using online coupons or purchasing their medications at independent pharmacies in the same or neighboring zip codes.\n\nAlthough poor adherence is endemic, it is particularly problematic for individuals of lower SES.10 An estimated 20% to 35% of patients are primary nonadherent by failing to fill an initial prescription, and an additional 20% discontinue therapy after filling the first prescription.11-13 In 2012, 22% of uninsured adults aged 18 to 64 years reported not getting needed prescription drugs due to cost compared with 5% of adults who were insured for the whole year.14 Noncompliance with antibiotics for respiratory infections can result in treatment failure, worsening severity of disease, sepsis, antibiotic resistance, and increased risk of hospitalization.\n\nA critical question is the extent to which consumers would use price information in purchasing medical services. The highly touted movement toward \u201cconsumer-directed healthcare\u201d relies on patients having easy access to information concerning drug prices and quality. A recent survey indicates that a majority of Americans have tried to find out how much they would have to pay out of pocket\u2014not including a co-pay\u2014before getting care. However, the survey also reveals that most Americans are not aware that prices can vary across healthcare providers.15\n\nOur results differ from those of a Florida study by Gellad et al that obtained drug prices for 3 chronic medications (esomeprazole, fluticasone, and clopidogrel) and a generic antibiotic (azithromycin).7 They found that mean drug prices were 9% higher in the poorest zip codes and that independent pharmacies in the poorest areas charged the highest mean prices. We, however, found the opposite: lower prices at independent and online pharmacies and pharmacies located in low-income areas. A possible explanation for the differences across studies is that the Florida study obtained drug prices from a website whereas we collected prices by calling individual pharmacies. We also asked for any available discounts and verified concordance with in-store prices in a pilot study. The Florida study also restricted the sample to pharmacies that filled 1 of the 4 drugs to a Medicaid beneficiary in a single month (November 2006). This may have resulted in a nonrepresentative sample of pharmacies across income areas. By contrast, we collected price data over the phone from all available pharmacies. We focused on price variation for antibiotics under the assumption that consumers would have limited experience purchasing them (and thus would be less aware of price) and the consequences of not filling the prescription due to cost would have a more immediate impact on health.\n\nLimitations\n\nThere are several limitations to our study, the most prominent of which is that we only measured prices of 2 medications for an acute condition in a single county in California (LA County). We do not know if the findings will hold in other regions or states. However, LA is an economically and culturally diverse county with a broad array of income levels and population densities. The magnitude of price variation across outlets and the savings associated with online coupons at nationwide chains suggest that we could expect similar results in other areas of the country. The extent of price variation may be lower for chronic medications, but these by their nature (length of time taken) may impose a larger financial burden on patients. Future research should focus on comparing prices across a broader spectrum of pharmaceuticals, including medications for chronic diseases.\n\nAnother limitation of our study is that we obtained drug prices via telephone rather than in person, and pharmacies may offer discounts in the store that they are unable or unwilling to provide over the phone. Also, the calls to the pharmacy were made from a doctor\u2019s office on behalf of a hypothetical uninsured patient, and the callers asked each pharmacy for any potential discounts after an original price was provided. Over 98% of pharmacies in our sample provided prices over the phone. Patients calling on their own behalf may not receive the same discounts we received. Additionally, we only called pharmacies in the highest and lowest quartiles of median income. It is possible that we might have a better understanding of price variation if we had contacted all pharmacies regardless of income level.\n\nFinally, we used a single website to represent discounts available online. Nonetheless, GoodRx is the largest price aggregator and coupon tool used by thousands of doctors and millions of patients every month. Further, 100% of GoodRx coupons were honored when physically presented at the pharmacy during this study.\n\nCONCLUSIONS\n\nSlowing the growth of healthcare costs underscores nearly every health policy initiative in the United States and is the motivation for public and private efforts to increase price transparency in healthcare markets. Price transparency initiatives face considerable obstacles, however; most prominently, how to reliably measure and convey information about quality and price for thousands of complex medical services produced by a wide array of providers and organizations. The task is less daunting for prescription drugs because quality is fixed.\n\nThe extent of price variation found in this study suggests that consumers could readily benefit from greater price transparency. If this information were widely available to consumers, large variations in drug prices across pharmacies would likely be reduced.\n\nAcknowledgments\n\nThe authors would like to thank Kaleigh Barnes, Brian Raffetto, Melissa Luttio, Janice Rivelle, and Erin Higginbotham for helping to collect and analyze the data.Author Affiliations: Keck School of Medicine, (SA, ST); Sol Price School of Public Policy (NS); and School of Pharmacy (GJ), Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.\n\nSource of Funding: None.\n\nAuthor Disclosures: The authors report no relationship or financial interest with any entity that would pose a conflict of interest with the subject matter of this article.\n\nAuthorship Information: Concept and design (SA, GFJ, NS, ST); acquisition of data (NS, ST); analysis and interpretation of data (SA, NS, ST); drafting of the manuscript (SA, GFJ, SN, ST); critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content (SA, GFJ, NS, ST); statistical analysis (SN); administrative, technical, or logistic support (ST); and supervision (SA, ST).\n\nAddress Correspondence to: Geoffrey F. Joyce, PhD, Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics and School of Pharmacy, University of Southern California, 635 Downey Way, Los Angeles, CA 90089-3333. E-mail: gjoyce@usc.edu. REFERENCES\n\n1. Costliest cities 2015: pricing for the same medical services is all over themap (literally). Castlight health website. www.castlighthealth.com/costliest-cities/. Accessed September 27, 2015.\n\n2. Garfield R, Majerol M, Damico A, Foutz J. The uninsured: a primer\u2014key facts about the health insurance and the uninsured in the era of health reform. Kaiser Family Foundation website. http://files.kff.org/attachment/primer-the-uninsured-a-primer-key-facts-about-health-insurance-and-the-uninsured-in-the-era-of-health-reform. Published November 2015. Accessed January 7, 2016.\n\n3. 2015 Employer Health Benefits Survey. Kaiser Family Foundation website. www.kff.org/report-section/ehbs-2015-section-one-cost-of-health-insurance/. Published September 22, 2015. Accessed September 27, 2015.\n\n4. Kullgren, JT, Duey, KA, Werner, RM. A census of state health care price transparency websites. JAMA. 2013;309(23):2437-2438. doi: 10.1001/jama.2013.6557.\n\n5. Whaley C, Schneider Chafen J, Pinkard S, et al. Availability of health service prices and payments for these services. JAMA. 2014;312(16):1670-1676. doi: 10.1001/jama.2014.13373.\n\n6. Look KA. Patient characteristics associated with multiple pharmacy use in the U.S. population: findings from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. Res Social Adm Pharm. 2015;11(4):507-516. doi: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2014.10.004.\n\n7. Gellad WF, Choudhry NK, Friedberg MW, Brookhart MA, Haas JS, Shrank WH. Variation in drug prices at pharmacies: are prices higher in poorer areas? Health Serv Res. 2009;44(2, pt 1):606-617. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6773.2008.00917.x.\n\n8. Four big trends shifting the business of retail pharmacy. McKesson website. http://www.mckesson.com/blog/retail-pharmacy-trends-to-watch/. Published March 14, 2016. Accessed June 2017.\n\n9. Leger M. Three ways small drug stores can beat big-box competitors. The Globe and Mail website. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-marketing/three-ways-boutique-drug-stores-stay-competitive/article12468461/. Published June 14, 2013. Accessed June 2017.\n\n10. Goldman DP, Smith JP. Can patient self-management help explain the SES health gradient? Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2002;99(16):10929-10934.\n\n11. Liberman JN, Hutchins DS, Popiel RG, Patel MH, Jan SA, Berger JE. Determinants of primary nonadherence in asthma-controller and dyslipidemia pharmacotherapy. Am J Pharm Benefits. 2010;2(2):111-118.\n\n12. Shin J, McCombs JS, Sanchez RJ, Udall M, Deminski MC, Cheetham TC. Primary non-adherence to medications in an integrated healthcare setting. Am J Manag Care. 2012;18(8):426-434.\n\n13. Evans CD, Eurich DT, Remillard AJ, Shevchuk YM, Blackburn D. First fill medication discontinuations and nonadherence to antihypertensive therapy: an observational study. Am J Hypertens. 2012;25(2):195-203. doi: 10.1038/ajh.2011.198.\n\n14. Health, United States, 2013: with special feature on prescription drugs. National Center for Health Statistics website. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus13.pdf. Published May 2014. Accessed June 2017.\n\n15. Schleifer D, Hagelskamp, C, Rinehart, C. How much will it cost? how Americans use prices in health care. Public Agenda website. https://www.publicagenda.org/files/HowMuchWillItCost_PublicAgenda_2015.pdf. Published March 9, 2015. Accessed June 2017.", "output": "Price shopping for medications within a small geographic area can yield considerable cost savings for uninsured and insured consumers in high-deductible health plans.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shining a light on prescription drug pricing \n After years of failed efforts, the California Legislature may finally pass a bill that responds to the problem of rising prescription drug costs. But temper your enthusiasm: Though this measure (SB 17) has been fiercely resisted by the pharmaceutical industry, it wouldn\u2019t actually stop manufacturers from raising their prices as high as they think the market will bear. It would just make them reveal more about the cost and value of their drugs as they do so.\n\nSome lawmakers and consumer advocates would like to go further, capping drug prices in some fashion. But efforts to control drug prices through legislation or the ballot have failed, in part because of heavy industry opposition and in part because of concerns that price caps might lead to drug shortages or other unintended consequences. The state also could be on shaky ground in federal court if it took steps that impeded interstate drug sales.\n\nIn short, the Legislature\u2019s options are limited. Worse, it\u2019s hard for policymakers to find lesser measures that might be helpful because of the cloud of mystery surrounding how pharmaceutical companies price their products. Although publicly traded companies report broadly on their expenses and revenues, those numbers don\u2019t provide much explanation for specific pricing decisions, such as why an EpiPen that sold for $104 in 2013 was priced at $225 two years later. The companies\u2019 typical explanation is that every successful drug has to cover the cost of developing many other drugs that don\u2019t make it to market.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nEven after their patents expire, drug makers sometimes face so little competition that there\u2019s nothing to stop them from jacking up prices exponentially.\n\nThat\u2019s where SB 17 by Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina) comes in. It would gather data from insurers about which drugs are the most commonly prescribed, which are the most costly and which saw the largest increase in total sales, as well as what percentage of premiums and premium increases were attributable to prescription medications. So much for the non-controversial portion of the bill. More contentiously, it would require drug makers to give notice weeks in advance of a major price hike. It would also compel manufacturers to lay out the rationale for such increases, along with documentation of any improvement in \u201cclinical efficacy\u201d that their drugs offer over alternative treatments. The same disclosures would be required for newly approved specialty drugs.\n\nThe drug companies\u2019 biggest fear seems to be that the measure is a stalking horse for price caps, which they say would dry up the investment they rely on to fund R&D. But that\u2019s a wholly separate debate, and one that should be informed by the kind of industry data that SB 17 aims to collect.\n\nNor can drugmakers argue with a straight face (although some do) that the Legislature should simply trust competition and market forces to protect consumers. Not to put too fine a point on it, but pharmaceutical companies enjoy goverment-awarded monopolies on their products that last for a decade or more, and that they often manage to extend by tweaking their formulations. And even after their patents expire, drug makers sometimes face so little competition that there\u2019s nothing to stop them from jacking up prices exponentially (see, e.g., the exploits of \u201cpharma bro\u201d Martin Shkreli). On top of that, consumers aren\u2019t trained to diagnose their own ailments and prescribe the right pills \u2014 they rely on medical professionals to make those choices for them. That\u2019s why pharmaceutical companies spend so much time and money marketing their wares to doctors and clinicians.\n\nDrug makers insist that their products are being demonized in the debate over healthcare costs, and that their prices aren\u2019t as high as they appear because of the rebates and discounts obtained by pharmacy benefit managers such as Express Scripts \u2014 powerful middlemen that process claims for prescription-drug benefits and negotiate with drug makers on behalf of insurers and large employers. They complain that Hernandez\u2019s bill doesn\u2019t account adequately for the role of these middlemen.\n\nThere are a host of questions surrounding pharmacy benefit managers, which critics say pocket some portion of the discounts they negotiate rather than passing them along to their customers. And a bill is moving through the Legislature (AB 315) to offer a bit of needed clarity by requiring these companies to disclose to their clients the discounts they obtain, while also reporting aggregate information to the state about the prices they pay for drugs.\n\nIf the industry is worried about SB 17 painting a misleading and prejudicial picture about drug prices, it should be working with Hernandez to generate better data for state policymakers, not trying to stymie the push for transparency. The fact that pricing is complicated is all the more reason to develop a clearer picture of the factors involved. It\u2019s not as if this issue is going away \u2014 as drug prices continue to rise along with healthcare spending in general, so will the pressure on lawmakers to ease the pain.\n\nFollow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook", "output": "After years of failed efforts, the California Legislature may finally pass a bill that responds to the problem of rising prescription drug costs. But temper your enthusiasm: Though this measure (SB 17) has been fiercely resisted by the pharmaceutical industry, it wouldn\u2019t actually stop manufacturers from raising their prices as high as they think the market will bear. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California prepares to fight GOP attempts to undermine Obamacare \n Hell hath no fury like a president scorned. And with the embarrassing collapse of the GOP-controlled Senate\u2019s plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, many health care experts predict that Donald Trump and his administration will do whatever it takes to \u201clet Obamacare fail,\u201d as the president put it last week.\n\nBut the people who run the state\u2019s Obamacare insurance marketplace say they have their own plans in place to make sure hundreds of thousands of Californians don\u2019t lose their health coverage.\n\n\u201cWe have pieced together good ideas that have come from health plans and advocates \u2014 four or five elements, all about protecting consumers,\u2019\u2019 said Peter Lee, Covered California\u2019s executive director.\n\nMotivating the effort is this stark reality: Even without Congress\u2019 assent, Trump has a variety of options to obstruct or even undermine the Affordable Care Act.\n\nAmong the strategies is a fallback plan in case the Trump administration eliminates the subsidies that help low-income Obamacare enrollees pay for out-of-pocket medical expenses. And should Trump use his executive powers to weaken the enforcement of a critical part of the law \u2014 the individual mandate requiring people to have health insurance or pay a steep tax penalty \u2014 California could impose its own.\n\nFinally, if Trump curtails the advertising surrounding the upcoming 2018 enrollment season, as his administration did last winter to drive down the number of sign-ups, Covered California can rely on its own robust budget for marketing and outreach efforts.\n\n\u201cMost other states don\u2019t have the ability to do what we do,\u2019\u2019 Lee said last week by phone from Washington, D.C., where he was meeting with congressional staff and administration officials as well as leaders of other state-based marketplaces to talk up California\u2019s successes with Obamacare, and discussing ideas about how to stabilize the insurance market in the near term.\n\nUnlike other state-based exchanges in the country, Lee said, California\u2019s has greater leeway to shape the market and set the rules of the road for health plans \u2014 a result of a bipartisan effort by the Democratic-controlled Legislature and former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.\n\nHealth care experts say Covered California\u2019s ability to maintain an array of health plans leads to lower premiums and lower annual rate hikes compared with states that depend on the federally operated exchange.\n\nThe Golden State also has managed to keep rates relatively stable because California\u2019s large population helps attract more insurers, which makes the marketplace more competitive. And the exchange aggressively negotiates directly with insurers to get the best rates, networks and benefits.\n\nSince Obamacare kicked into gear in January 2014, the law has slashed the rate of uninsured Californians by more than half. Those numbers were boosted by the 3.8 million residents who took advantage of a provision that allows adults without dependent children to enroll in Medicaid, the low-income health program that the Golden State calls Medi-Cal.\n\nWhile he could impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients, as long as Republicans don\u2019t pass a replacement health care bill, there\u2019s little Trump can do to undermine the half-century-old Medi-Cal program. So Lee\u2019s biggest priority will be to save the private plans on the health insurance exchange that now enroll 1.4 million Californians \u2014 most of whom are in highly subsidized plans.\n\nObamacare is primarily funded by the federal government by spending reductions in Medicare, tax hikes on the wealthy and taxes on drug and medical equipment makers.\n\nThe law\u2019s generous subsidies are available to any legal California resident earning between 139 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level. But anyone who earns between 139 percent and 250 percent of the poverty threshold \u2014 between $34,200 and $61,500 for a family of four \u2014 also is eligible for additional subsidies called \u201ccost-sharing reductions,\u201d which lower out-of-pocket costs such as co-pays and deductibles.\n\nAbout 7 million Americans, including roughly 700,000 Californians, receive those extra subsidies. And the federal government reimburses insurers on the exchanges about $7 billion to reduce the cost of the co-pays and deductibles for low-income people.\n\nIn 2014, however, House Republicans sued the Obama administration, saying that Congress never appropriated funding to give insurers that money. A federal judge ruled in the Republicans\u2019 favor and ordered that payments be stopped. But the ruling was appealed by the administration, and the payments were allowed to continue pending the appeal.\n\nNot only would a decision by Trump to end to those subsidies send many premiums soaring because health insurers would have to pick up those costs themselves, many companies would also likely flee the markets, said Amy Adams, a senior program officer at the Oakland-based California Health Care Foundation.\n\nIn anticipation of such a move, Covered California has devised a work-around.\n\nFor 2018, the exchange will allow health insurance companies to artificially inflate their popular \u201cSilver\u201d plan rates to cover the cost of cost-sharing reductions.\n\nBut consumers enrolled in moderately priced \u201cSilver\u201d plans whose rates are inflated should not be adversely impacted because their monthly subsidy \u2014 paid by the federal government \u2014 also would increase, Lee said.\n\nAnd Covered California officials also said that exchange enrollees with unsubsidized Silver-tier coverage will have an option to purchase comparable Silver-tier coverage off-exchange without facing a steep increase in their price, even if the cost-sharing reductions are killed.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a creative solution and a good example of where California is trying to get out ahead of the curve,\u201d Adams said.\n\nStill, the uncertainty over whether or not the federal government will continue the cost-sharing payments to low-income people has led Covered California to ask all of its plans to submit two sets of 2018 rates, which will be made public on Aug. 1. One set assumes the subsidies will be removed; the other does not.\n\n\u201cI want to be really clear: This is not what we want to happen. It will confuse the consumer,\u2019\u2019 Lee said. \u201cBut we will be doing mountains of direct outreach and education with consumers through emails, voicemails and the (insurance) agent community\u2019\u2019 to make it work, he said.\n\nMeanwhile, if Trump decides not to enforce the tax penalty for not having insurance, experts predict more people would likely go without coverage \u2014 and that would shrink the insurance pool, leaving older and sicker people in the pool, causing premiums to skyrocket.\n\nHow could the state fight that decision?\n\nOne little-known part of the Affordable Care Act allows states to pass an individual mandate, enacting their own tax penalty for not having health insurance, said Robert Laszewski, a Virginia-based health policy expert.\n\nLee said Massachusetts, which passed a health care law similar to Obamacare in 2006, has a such a mandate and \u201cit can work.\u201d But, he noted, the decision is the prerogative of the Legislature \u2014 and the new law would require a two-thirds vote.\n\nAnthony Wright, executive director of the advocacy group Health Access California, said to have any effect on Covered California\u2019s open enrollment later this year, that vote would have to happen before September \u2014 when the current legislative session ends.\n\n\u200b\u201cFrankly, the big driver of enrollment is the subsidies, not the penalty,\u2019\u2019 Wright said.\n\n\u201cPeople want coverage \u2014 and the tax credits are crucial in helping people afford it,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Affordable Care Act uses a carrot and stick approach to encourage coverage. But the carrots are more important than the sticks.\u2019\u2019", "output": "Hell hath no fury like a president scorned. And with the embarrassing collapse of the GOP-controlled Senate\u2019s plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, many health care experts predict\u00a0that Donald Trump and his administration will do whatever it takes to \u201clet Obamacare fail,\u201d as the president put it last week.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "House floats bill to incentivize mental health providers to buy EHRs \n A bill introduced last week by Reps. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kansas, and Doris Matsui, D-California, would promote incentive payments for behavioral health providers who purchase and adopt electronic health records.\n\nThe proposed bill would apply to community mental health centers, public or private psychiatric hospitals, accredited residential or outpatient mental health treatment facilities, accredited substance abuse treatment sites, clinical psychologists and clinical social workers.\n\nThe bipartisan legislation is part of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Innovation Center project to promote not only the adoption of certified EHR systems, but to use the technology to improve the coordination and quality of care through health information exchange.\n\nWhile meaningful use has been successful in increasing EHR adoption, the representatives said that behavioral health providers were excluded from the program and lack the funds to implement full EHRs.\n\nThe proposed project would allow congress to avoid expanding meaningful use to cover mental health providers.\n\n\u201cThis is another step forward in our work to put mental health on a level playing field with physical health care,\u201d said Matsui in a statement. \u201cBy encouraging the use of EHR technology by behavioral health providers, we can improve care coordination and behavioral health integration. That helps ensure patients receive the treatment they need in the right place at the right time.\u201d\n\nThe CMS Innovation Center has been considering potential payment and service delivery models focused on behavioral health, as well as telemedicine. CMS will hold a Behavioral Health Payment and Care Delivery Innovation Summit to address workforce challenges in the mental health field and reimbursement for the use of telehealth.\n\nTwitter: @JessieFDavis\n\nEmail the writer: jessica.davis@himssmedia.com\n\nLike Healthcare IT News on Facebook and LinkedIn", "output": "A bill\u00a0introduced last week by Reps. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kansas, and Doris Matsui, D-California, would promote incentive payments for behavioral health providers who purchase and adopt electronic health records.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mayor of London unveils vision of night-time economy \n A 24-Hour Vision for London\u2019s Night Time Economy\n\nLicensing\n\nThe Mayor of London has today announced the first ever 24-hour vision for London\u2019s Night Time Economy.\n\nLondon\u2019s night time economy is worth \u00a326bn and generates one in eight jobs in the capital. This new vision recognises the importance of the night time economy and sets out 10 guiding principles to support the building of a night-time culture which serves the needs of all those living in and visiting London.\n\nThe Vision will be realised through the Mayor\u2019s Night Time Commission, which is chaired by Cornerstone Barristers\u2019 Head of Chambers Philip Kolvin QC. Philip will also be working together with the Night Czar Amy Lam\u00e9.\n\nThe 10 principles in the Vision have been developed with insight from businesses, Night Time Economy Borough Champions, the police and other night time industry stakeholders. They are that London\u2019s night time economy will:\n\nBe a global leader; Provide vibrant opportunities for all Londoners, regardless of age, disability, gender, gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation or means; Promote all forms of cultural, leisure, retail and service activity; Promote the safety and well-being of residents, workers and visitors; Promote welcoming and accessible nightlife; Promote and protect investment, activity and entrepreneurship; Promote domestic and international visits to London; Be strategically located across London to promote opportunity and minimise impact; Become a 24-hour city that supports flexible lifestyles; Take account of future global and domestic trends in leisure, migration, technology, employment and economics.\n\nPhilip Kolvin QC comments: \u201cLondon can only become a truly 24-hour city if we can bring everyone across the industry, the boroughs, police, transport and health to work together. This vision gives us the guiding principles we need to ensure decisions around planning, licensing and building for the future make the night-time economy a priority. With the multi-talented Night Time Commission, we can bring the whole city\u2019s resources together to tackle the challenges we face and to maximise every opportunity for London to become the world-leading night-time economy.\u201d\n\nThe Night Time Commission, which includes planners, licensing experts, local authorities, venue owners, artists, the police, and cultural organisations, will develop policy and programme recommendations for the Mayor over the coming year.\n\nClick here to view the 24-Hour Vision in full.", "output": "Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has revealed plans for London's night-time economy. Worth \u00a326bn and responsible for one in eight jobs in the city, the night-time economy's importance is to be realised through 10 guiding principles that will help build and support it. These principles have been put together by local businesses, the police, industry stakeholders and the Night Time Economy Borough Champions, and include aims to \"promote a welcoming and accessible nightlife\" and creating a \"24-hour city that supports flexible lifestyles\", among other goals."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How CMS can help hospitals succeed in providing sustainable pop health initiatives \n I think it\u2019s fair to say that many of us who have been immersed in the EHR revolution of the past decade on a day-to-day basis most likely never expected to see the electronic health records systems functioning as population health platforms \u2014 for many reasons.\n\nThat said, EMR vendors seem to be suggesting that if you wait, they will build it, and so have apparently convinced some health care providers and systems to actually do just that \u2014 hold off until their EHR vendor adds population health to its existing implementations. But the wait for these holdouts may not be worth it in terms of lost opportunities to leverage evolving payer-provider-employer population health collaborations, incentives, shared savings, quality improvements and better resource optimization.\n\nThe wait, in fact, could be sadly reminiscent of Vladimir\u2019s and Estragon\u2019s painstaking sojourn waiting for Godot.\n\nHaving participated in numerous population health program designs and rollouts, which in some cases are very cleverly designed extensions of investments made in EHRs, over the past four years, it has become increasingly apparent that the sustainability and even the survival of population health as a strategy for managing sick, not so sick, and healthy lives coupled with evolving best practices and the inclusion of accessible social-determinants-of-health [to include mental (MH) and behavioral health (BH) factors] is just as critical for qualitative and quantitative outcomes today as it will be tomorrow.\n\nIndeed, health care providers can and are fine-tuning new business models with the more enlightened among them designing collaborative value-based population health management programs with the payers at the table, including the biggest of them all: CMS.\n\nThe Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in fact, currently has pop health initiatives underway that hospitals should understand. Let\u2019s take a look.\n\nNew data sets enhance pop health effectiveness\n\nThese models are literally a work-in-progress and definitely dependent on the availability and condition of data perceived to be the most useful, actionable and beneficial in delivering on the promise of pop health. Of the sources of data being vetted for inclusion into more intelligent screening, stratification and outreach programs, data collected and maintained by many state public health agencies are now being adapted to fill in numerous gaps in what clinical-only (EHR) data cannot provide about the patient, member or person\u2019s physical environment and identified pockets of known areas of deprivation, poverty, illiteracy, drug/alcohol/opiod addictions, air and water quality issues, elevated mortality/morbidity rates, vaccination compliance, mental health disorders, safety and crime, repeat ED utilization, and seasonal outbreak forecasts and warnings in keeping with their role of providing traditional CDC-like services.\n\nCMS is beginning to support these efforts with the newly released Accountable Health Communities Screening Tool (2017) intended to provide standardized screening for health-related social needs in clinical settings to address this critical gap between clinical care and community services in the current health care delivery system. Designed by a panel of national experts, CMS developed this \u201c10-item screening tool to identify patient needs in 5 different domains that can be addressed through community services (housing instability, food insecurity, transportation difficulties, utility assistance needs, and interpersonal safety), according to the National Academy of Medicine. \u201cClinicians and their staff can use this short tool across a spectrum of ages, backgrounds, and settings, and it is streamlined enough to be incorporated into busy clinical workflows. Just like with clinical assessment tools, results from this screening tool can be used to inform a patient\u2019s treatment plan as well as make referrals to community services.\u201d\n\nPatient Centered Medical Home 2.0\n\nIn 2015, CMS introduced the most important broadly applicable change it has made to primary care to date: Payment for Chronic Care Management (CCM). Designed to accelerate the shift from office-based fee-for-services to value-based-outcomes, this program focused on supporting a \u201chigh-preforming primary care system that improves the value through increased emphasis on access, prevention, and care coordination by supporting care managers, patient communication, medication refills, and care provided electronically or by telephone,\u201d said an article in the New England Journal of Medicine.\n\nOver the last couple of years, the IT construct of the Patient Centered Medical Home has matured to a point where it can act as the central hub in a sustainable hub-and-spoke model of care coordination and delivery and, in some instances, has the ability to integrate new data into a more comprehensive care management profile of the patient at hand thereby allowing for more exactness and personalization in care plan design, intervention, and outcomes monitoring. Judith Baumhauer, MD, wrote in a different NEJM article that the end-game is to better understand and leverage the causal relationships between purely clinical (EHR) data and the other 80 percent of healthcare-related data such as mental and behavioral health, lifestyle choices, genetic, socio-economic determinants, device and patient-reported data (PROs).\n\nCMS Looking Ahead: Medicare\u2019s MACRA\u2014QPP\u20142018\n\nLast month, CMS released another proposed modification to the MACRA Quality Payment Program (QPP), which is slated to go into effect in 2018. Overall, the goal of these tweaks is to make the whole program less complicated and burdensome, primarily among the independent and small group practices. For example, the CMS \u201cYear 2 proposed rule offers Virtual Group participation, which is another way clinicians can elect to participate in MIPS. Virtual Groups would be composed of solo practitioners and groups of 10 or fewer eligible clinicians, eligible to participate in MIPS, who come together virtually with at least 1 other such solo practitioner or group to participate in MIPS for a performance period of a year,\u201d CMS explained. \u201cOur goal is to make it as easy as possible for Virtual Groups to form no matter where the group members are located or what their medical specialties are. Generally, clinicians in a Virtual Group will report as a Virtual Group across all 4 performance categories and will need to meet the same measure and performance category requirements as non-virtual MIPS groups.\u201d\n\nFor those eligible physicians who elect to participate in the modified program, two payment options are on the table: MIPS (Merit-based Incentive Payment System) and the Advanced Payment Model (APM).\n\nPopulation Health Management 2020\n\nIn looking at the probable trajectory of some of the most thoughtfully designed population health programs supported by rigorously integrated data from multiple sources, the ability to measure, monitor, and manage discrete populations with one or more co-morbidities is beginning to move off the drawing board and into beta implementations is some PCMH 2.0/IDN provider systems that leverage the new CoCM model.\n\nThis marks a major milestone in providing a measures-based method for looking at the interactions between (in the example below) a patient\u2019s mental health metrics (M3), blood pressure, BMI, and HgbA1c for managing a diabetic with symptoms of anxiety through interval testing to fine-tune treatment and outcomes.\n\nLeading hospitals already paving the path ahead\n\nContinuing to refine these care management models by working shoulder-to-shoulder with CMS also gives hospitals and outreach facilities the opportunity to provide input to CMS\u2019s decision-making processes, to participate in pilots and studies, and to teach them how to support best-population-health practices and get their buy in along the way.\n\nContact Charles A. Coleman, Ph.D., Population Health Portfolio Solutions, Behavioral & Mental Health Program Integration Specialist at dr.charles.coleman@gmail.com or 919-271-4359.", "output": "Don\u2019t wait for your EHR vendors to bolt on pop health features when CMS already offers programs, tools, financial incentives and a roadmap for integrated, coordinated care.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "A Focus on Risk, Quality & Network Optimziation \n As provider organizations continue toward value-based outcomes and reimbursement, the risk is too high to rely on assumptions. Providers must take insight-driven actions around key objectives such as managing risk, improving quality and provider network management.\n\nAs provider organizations continue the journey toward value-based outcomes and reimbursement, such as MACRA, they face many critical decisions that will impact their business and patient outcomes. The risk is too high to rely on assumptions and interpretations. Instead, providers must be able to take insight-driven actions around key objectives such as managing risk and improving quality and provider network operations - areas that can significantly impact cost and quality outcomes.\n\nUnderstanding best practices to using data and analytics to face these challenges head-on can be a critical tool to drive value-based contract performance, as well as deliver key insights needed to successfully manage at-risk contracts and populations.\n\nAs an industry, we understand a tipping point is on the horizon. The question to ask is: Will your healthcare organization be ready for it?\n\nBy the year 2020, value-based care is expected to be the dominant payment model, according to a survey conducted by Lazard. The upshot? Healthcare provider organizations will have to deal with new realities \u2013 by implementing new strategies.\n\nBelow is a quick rundown of what might come into play as the transformation takes hold.\n\n4 New Realities in a Value-Based World\n\n1. Healthcare networks will need to focus on efficient care delivery. Successful networks are likely to include tightly aligned providers. And care will be rationalized among lower cost alternate care sites such as ambulatory facilities, pharmacies and urgent care centers.\n\n2. Healthcare delivery systems will increasingly compete on quality and cost. And, to succeed, advanced analytics will be needed to understand variation and improvement opportunities. Greater efficiency will be achieved by standardizing care across settings and addressing variation while managing a population\u2019s health.\n\n3. Care delivery is best developed and delivered by teams with a focus on care coordination.\n\n4. Value based care is here to stay. With MACRA, MIPS and other value-based payment programs, providers have started their adoption journey and agree that reducing healthcare costs while ensuring quality is the only viable option.\n\n6 Strategies for Success\n\n1. Understand the data that your organization collects. Having a data strategy that centers on using impactful data vs. big data (all data). Trend identification is the key.\n\n2. Prepare to rely more heavily on layering data (clinical, financial, behavioral, etc.). Providers should pair the right data together in order to understand where and how care is being delivered \u2013 and the nature of any care gaps that exist across care networks. As such, providers will be able to target and improve overall care delivery and quality.\n\n3. Use predictive and prescriptive analytics to transform data into impactful intelligence. Organizations will need to not only understand what happened, but also predict what will happen in the future and what the best strategy is to reach desired outcomes.\n\n4. Drive quality improvements. No matter where providers are on their journey toward value-based care delivery, all will need to focus heavily on delivering higher quality care using the most efficient and effective methods. Providers also must meet quality measures in order to maximize performance in value-based contracts.\n\n5. Manage population and financial risk. Understand where risk exists across your network and identify high ROI opportunities to reduce that risk.\n\n6. Optimize provider networks. Insights into issues such as referral patterns and leakage can help networks improve efficiency, reduce costs and manage provider quality performance.\n\nThe adoption of value-based payments is happening now and accelerating rapidly. It is our observation that payers, providers and consumers are transitioning to these models, but each at varying speeds. Regardless of their location on this path, healthcare organizations need to focus on using data and analytics as a tool that will guide them in meeting their quality-based goals.\n\nIn summary, the industry if finding that all healthcare organizations have will be focusing on using data and analytics as a tool that will guide them in meeting their quality-based goals.", "output": "As provider organizations continue toward value-based outcomes and reimbursement, the risk is too high to rely on assumptions. Providers must take insight-driven actions around key objectives such as managing risk, improving quality and provider network management.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How would the revised Senate health care bill affect individual market premiums in 2026 and over the long run? \n This analysis is part of USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative on Health Policy , which is a partnership between the Center for Health Policy at Brookings and the University of Southern California Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics. The Initiative aims to inform the national health care debate with rigorous, evidence-based analysis leading to practical recommendations using the collaborative strengths of USC and Brookings.\n\nOn Thursday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) published an analysis of an updated version of the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), Senate Republicans\u2019 health care legislation, including how the BCRA would affect individual market premiums. In its report, CBO estimated that the average premium for the \u201cbenchmark\u201d individual market plan\u2014the plan used to determine the amount of premium tax credits\u2014would be 25 percent lower under the BCRA than under current law by 2026.\n\nBut as we noted after CBO analyzed an earlier draft of the BCRA, this estimate must be interpreted with caution. In particular, while this estimate may be of interest if one\u2019s objective is to estimate how the federal government\u2019s cost of providing premium tax credits would change under the BCRA, it does not answer the question of greatest interest to enrollees, which is how the BCRA will affect average premiums for a given generosity of coverage and a fixed population of individual market enrollees.\n\nThis is the case for two reasons. First, the BCRA substantially reduces the generosity of the benchmark plan. It directly reduces its actuarial value (AV)\u2014the share of the total cost of covered services that are paid for by the insurance plan, rather than by the individual through cost sharing\u2014from 70 percent to 58 percent, which CBO estimated would increase the deductible in such plans from around $5,000 under current law to around $13,000 under the BCRA in 2026. It would also make it easier for states to narrow the definition of \u201cessential health benefits,\u201d which would narrow the set of services covered by the benchmark plan in many states. Second, by allowing premiums to vary more widely by age and changing the structure of the premium tax credit, the BCRA would drive a significant shift in individual market enrollment toward younger individuals. Since younger individuals pay lower premiums, this shift would mechanically lower the average premium even if every individual\u2019s premium remained the same.\n\nOur earlier analysis showed how supplemental information included in the CBO report could be used to construct more informative premium comparisons. This blog post provides a brief update of that earlier analysis to reflect the new CBO estimates and also examines how premiums would change under the BCRA in the long run. Readers seeking greater methodological detail should refer to our earlier piece.\n\nWe find that the current population of individual market enrollees would pay more for the same level of coverage under the BCRA than under current law, before accounting for any premium tax credits for which individuals may be eligible.\n\nWe find that the current population of individual market enrollees would pay more for the same level of coverage under the BCRA than under current law, before accounting for any premium tax credits for which individuals may be eligible, as illustrated in Figure 1. Average premiums for a plan with a 58 percent actuarial value would be 1 percent higher under the BCRA than under current law in 2026, holding the individual market age distribution fixed at what it would be under current law. Similarly, average premiums for a plan with a 70 percent actuarial value would be 5 percent higher under the BCRA than under current law, holding the individual market age distribution fixed at what it would be under current law. The main reason these estimates differ from the 25 percent decline in the benchmark premium featured by CBO is that they hold actuarial value constant.\n\nThese estimates focus on 2026 because that is the year for which CBO provides detailed premium estimates, and they incorporate the effects of funding the BCRA would provide for state programs to reduce individual market premiums. Because the BCRA does not provide such funding for those programs for years after 2026, these estimates understate the increase in individual market premiums under the BCRA over the long run. The difference between the BCRA\u2019s effects in 2026 and in the long run is larger than in prior drafts of the BCRA because the current draft would provide considerably more funding of this type in 2026 than prior drafts would have provided.\n\nFor this reason, to illustrate how the BCRA would affect the long run, we also provide estimates that adjust our 2026 estimates to remove the effects of the state funding. As shown in Figure 2, we find that the long-run increase in average premiums under the BCRA would be 7 or 8 percentage points larger than the increase in 2026. The details of our approach are provided in the methodological appendix.\n\nIt is important to note that there are two important respects in which these estimates understate the premium increases that individual market enrollees would face for a plan with fixed generosity.\n\nFirst, as noted above, the BCRA would make it easier for states to narrow the definition of essential health benefits, causing individual market plans in many states to cover a smaller set of services. Ideally, therefore, we would make an upward adjustment to CBO\u2019s premium estimates under the BCRA, but CBO does not provide the information required to make such an adjustment.\n\nSecond, our estimates reflect premiums before accounting for subsidies available to people purchasing individual market coverage. The subsidies available under the BCRA would, on average, be significantly smaller than the subsidies available under current law. As a result, average post-subsidy premiums would increase by considerably more than average pre-subsidy premiums.\n\nThe increase in average premiums under the BCRA should not be surprising in light of the fact that the BCRA would repeal the individual mandate and curtail subsidies for people purchasing individual market coverage. Both of these policies would likely reduce individual market enrollment, particularly among the healthy, necessitating higher premiums to cover the claims costs of the worsened risk pool. Our earlier analysis discusses why the BCRA would have these effects on premiums in somewhat greater detail.\n\nMethodological Appendix: Method for Estimating Long-Run Premium Effects of BCRA\n\nAs described in the main text, to illustrate how the BCRA would affect individual market premiums over the long run, we present estimates of the BCRA\u2019s effects on premiums in 2026 that remove the effects of the BCRA\u2019s funding for state programs intended to reduce premiums. To do so, we first replace CBO\u2019s estimates of premiums under the current version of the BCRA with its estimates under the prior version of the BCRA, as CBO indicates that the only reason its premium estimates differ between these two versions of the legislation is the additional state funding included in the current version.\n\nWe then adjust CBO\u2019s estimate of the prior version of the BCRA to remove the effect of state funding included in that version of the BCRA. We estimate the required percentage increase in three steps:\n\nStep 1 \u2013 Estimate aggregate individual market premiums in 2026: CBO\u2019s estimate of this version of the BCRA, together with its March 2016 baseline projections, indicate that 18 million people would have been enrolled in the individual market in 2026 under the BCRA. We assume, likely conservatively for these purposes, that the average premium would equal the average premium for a plan with a 70 percent actuarial value, roughly the average actuarial value under current law. To derive that premium, we take the estimate of the average benchmark premium under the BCRA from our prior analysis ($6,058) and scale it up by CBO\u2019s estimate of the ratio of premiums for a plan with a 70 percent actuarial value to premiums for a plan with a 58 percent actuarial value (1.28). Multiplying the estimated average premium by estimated enrollment yields projected aggregate individual market premium revenue of $140 billion in 2026 under the BCRA.\n\nCBO\u2019s estimate of this version of the BCRA, together with its March 2016 baseline projections, indicate that 18 million people would have been enrolled in the individual market in 2026 under the BCRA. We assume, likely conservatively for these purposes, that the average premium would equal the average premium for a plan with a 70 percent actuarial value, roughly the average actuarial value under current law. To derive that premium, we take the estimate of the average benchmark premium under the BCRA from our prior analysis ($6,058) and scale it up by CBO\u2019s estimate of the ratio of premiums for a plan with a 70 percent actuarial value to premiums for a plan with a 58 percent actuarial value (1.28). Multiplying the estimated average premium by estimated enrollment yields projected aggregate individual market premium revenue of $140 billion in 2026 under the BCRA. Step 2 \u2013 Estimate total outlays for premium-reducing programs in 2026: The prior version of the BCRA would have appropriated $4 billion for its State Stability and Innovation Fund in 2026, of which CBO estimated that three-quarters would be devoted to reducing individual market premiums. Accounting for the requirement for states to provide matching funds equal to 35 percent of total program costs, this implies that the prior version of the BCRA would have generated total outlays on these programs of $4.6 billion for the 2026 plan year.\n\nThe prior version of the BCRA would have appropriated $4 billion for its State Stability and Innovation Fund in 2026, of which CBO estimated that three-quarters would be devoted to reducing individual market premiums. Accounting for the requirement for states to provide matching funds equal to 35 percent of total program costs, this implies that the prior version of the BCRA would have generated total outlays on these programs of $4.6 billion for the 2026 plan year. Step 3 \u2013 Estimate the percentage increase in individual market premiums: Assuming that $4.6 billion in funding estimated in step 2 would be passed through to consumers under the BCRA, this implies that premiums would have been 3.3 percent higher in the absence of this funding. Note that this estimate may modestly understate the effect that removing this funding would have on premiums since the mechanical increase in premiums caused by removing this funding would likely worsen the individual market risk pool, necessitating a modest additional premium increase.\n\nSupplemental Tables and Figures\n\nOur prior analysis included a figure illustrating how premiums would change by age under the BCRA, as well as a table reporting the estimates of average premiums that underlie our estimates of premium changes under the BCRA. Updated versions of those figures are provided here for completeness. For additional details on the calculations that underlie these figures, please refer to our prior analysis.", "output": "On Thursday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) published\u00a0an analysis of an\u00a0updated version\u00a0of the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), Senate Republicans\u2019 health care legislation, including how the BCRA would affect individual market premiums.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Senate Braces for Health Showdown With McCain on Hand but a Plan Unclear \n WASHINGTON \u2014 Senate Republican leaders, keeping alive their push to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, are barreling toward a showdown vote on Tuesday to begin debating a repeal of the health law. And Senator John McCain announced Monday night that he will be on hand to cast his vote, despite a diagnosis of brain cancer.\n\nBefore Mr. McCain, an Arizona Republican, announced that he was jetting in to cast what is expected to be a vote in favor of starting debate, President Trump spent Monday ratcheting up pressure on Republican senators to get onboard. Mr. Trump criticized their inaction and warned that they risked betraying seven years\u2019 worth of promises to raze and revamp the health law if they did not.\n\n\u201cRemember \u2018repeal and replace,\u2019 \u2018repeal and replace\u2019 \u2014 they kept saying it over and over again,\u201d Mr. Trump said at the White House, flanked by people who he said suffered as \u201cvictims\u201d of the \u201chorrible disaster known as Obamacare.\u201d\n\n\u201cEvery Republican running for office promised immediate relief from this disastrous law,\u201d the president said. \u201cBut so far, Senate Republicans have not done their job in ending the Obamacare nightmare.\u201d", "output": "Senate Republican leaders, keeping alive their push to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, are barreling toward a showdown vote on Tuesday to begin debating a repeal of the health law. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Governors: Avoid Harmful Insurance Practices in Medicaid Waivers \n While our nation\u2019s governors recently gathered in Rhode Island for the summer meeting of the National Governors Association, most of the country\u2019s political attention remained focused on the debate in Washington, D.C. over the fate of the Affordable Care Act. Less noticed, but also critically important, is that fact that each governor holds in their hands today the ability to radically reshape Medicaid for their state\u2019s most vulnerable citizens regardless of the outcome of that debate.\n\nThis power is significant considering the 69 million Medicaid enrollees living across the country.\n\nWe are health care advocates who have come together to speak up for patients and health care consumers. We view it as our purpose to ensure patients are the first and most important stakeholder in any health care policy decision, whether that decision is made by a legislator, health insurance commissioner, insurance company CEO, president, or \u2014 as in this case \u2014 governor.\n\nRecently, governors from every state received a letter from Tom Price, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, and Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In that letter, the authors encouraged them to seek to \u201calign Medicaid and Private Insurance Policies for Non-Disabled Adults.\u201d While aligning state Medicaid policies with those of private insurance carriers is a policy goal that has merit, it also demands careful consideration.\n\nPatients and policymakers alike can agree that Medicaid can look to private insurance for efficiencies in the system and ways of promoting well-coordinated care. We applaud those efforts, but caution that some efficiencies have come at the expense of patients. This year alone, we\u2019ve seen too many private insurers take steps that may save them money, but leave patients with unreasonable \u2014 and in some cases, dangerous \u2014 burdens. For example:\n\nEmergency coverage : Just this month, one insurer implemented a policy in which they can decide after the fact that they will not cover a patient\u2019s visit to an emergency department, even when such emergency coverage is in the consumer\u2019s policy. As of July 1, consumers in four states \u2014 Georgia, Missouri, New York, and Kentucky \u2014 were placed in the untenable position of having to assess whether their condition would later be determined sufficiently dangerous to warrant emergency coverage. Doctors should be assessing emergency situations, not patients.\n\n: Just this month, one insurer implemented a policy in which they can decide after the fact that they will not cover a patient\u2019s visit to an emergency department, even when such emergency coverage is in the consumer\u2019s policy. As of July 1, consumers in four states \u2014 Georgia, Missouri, New York, and Kentucky \u2014 were placed in the untenable position of having to assess whether their condition would later be determined sufficiently dangerous to warrant emergency coverage. Doctors should be assessing emergency situations, not patients. High Deductibles: Studies show that low-income individuals and families with high-deductible plans often delay or forgo necessary doctor visits and emergency care because they just can\u2019t afford it. Vulnerable Medicaid beneficiaries should not be effectively locked out of using their health care coverage because of excessive out-of-pocket costs.\n\nStudies show that low-income individuals and families with high-deductible plans often delay or forgo necessary doctor visits and emergency care because they just can\u2019t afford it. Vulnerable Medicaid beneficiaries should not be effectively locked out of using their health care coverage because of excessive out-of-pocket costs. Denials of lifesaving care: Cases of insurance companies taking on the role of doctor and denying patients life-saving medicines that have been ordered by physicians is also becoming all-too common. The Wall Street Journal recently detailed several cases in which patients were forced to go through countless hours of paperwork and appeals just to get vital cholesterol medication approved by their insurance carriers. As one cardiologist put it, \u201cAt the end of the day, you would like to do what is best for the patient. But you really don\u2019t have the time to play the insurance games.\u201d\n\nMedicaid may have things it can learn and adopt from the insurance industry, but practices like these aren\u2019t among them.\n\nAmericans rightly count on our governors to protect their state\u2019s most vulnerable and uphold a standard for quality, affordable health care. As such, we implore each governor to keep Medicaid beneficiaries top of mind as they consider requesting waivers from federal Medicaid standards. We also strongly encourage each to adopt the following principles for assessing the scope and breadth of any potential waiver request:\n\nHigh-quality, comprehensive health care should be available and affordable to all Americans;\n\nInsurance design should be improved to better meet the needs of consumers; and\n\nThe health care delivery system should be modernized to put the patient at the center.\n\nWith these as standards for designing waiver requests, we believe Medicaid beneficiaries in every state can get the better-quality care we \u2014 and our nation\u2019s governors \u2014 know they deserve.\n\nFormer Del. Donna Christensen (D) represented the U.S. Virgin Islands in the House of Representatives from 1997 to 2015. Jim Manley is a former senior adviser to Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) Scott Mulhauser is a visiting fellow at the University of Pennsylvania and former senior adviser to the Senate Finance Committee and Vice President Joe Biden. Jason Resendez is executive director of the LatinosAgainstAlzheimer\u2019s Network and Coalition. They all serve on the board of directors of Consumers for Quality Care.\n\nClarification\n\nManley was added as an author.\n\nMorning Consult welcomes op-ed submissions on policy, politics and business strategy in our coverage areas. Updated submission guidelines can be found here.", "output": "While our nation\u2019s governors recently gathered in Rhode Island for the summer meeting of the National Governors Association, most of the country\u2019s political attention remained focused on the debate in Washington, D.C. over the fate of the Affordable Care Act. Less noticed, but also critically important, is that fact that each governor holds in their hands today the ability to radically reshape Medicaid for their state\u2019s most vulnerable citizens regardless\u00a0of the outcome of that debate.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Goldman seeking 'top tech talent' for Marquee data unit \n Goldman Sachs is looking to fill over 20 positions for its Marquee platform, which is at the heart of its plan to become the Google of Wall Street.\n\nThe Marquee platform offer clients access to Goldman's firmwide risk platform and pricing system SecDB.\n\nGoldman Sachs wants to become the Google of Wall Street, and now it is staffing up the unit that could help it achieve that goal.\n\nThe New York-based financial services giant is hiring for Marquee, a platform that provides clients access to the bank's analytics, data, content and execution capabilities via a browser or an API.\n\nThe bank is looking for talent to fill positions in its New York office, spanning from associate developer to vice president.\n\nThe bank has posted eight job ads for roles relating to Marquee in New York in the past month or so, and has also recently advertised a further 12 roles in Bengalaru and four in Warsaw.\n\nOne ad posted in mid-July said the bank is \"looking for creative and talented engineers to build out our next generation client facing risk and execution platforms.\"\n\nAnother ad said the bank is \"pursuing engineers across the stack, from those who are confident working with low latency processes through individuals passionate in implementing responsive user interfaces.\"\n\nAgility is a core requirement for a spot on the Marquee team. One junior engineer position, for instance, requires someone who can wear many hats.\n\n\"At times you will be asked to step into the trading floor environment and at others you will be called upon to guide the decisions of leadership,\" the ad said.\n\nTiffany Galvin, a Goldman Sachs spokeswoman, told Business Insider the firm is focused \"on attracting top tech talent.\"\n\nMarty Chavez, the chief financial officer of Goldman Sachs, has been the catalyst for a number of Silicon Valley-like initiatives at the firm, including Marquee.\n\nHe served as chief information officer from 2014 until May 2017. He joined Goldman in 1994 as an energy strat after he ended up on a headhunter's list of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs with Stanford PhDs. Recently, he has spearheaded efforts for Goldman Sachs to adopt an approach that is commonplace to business in the Valley.\n\nThe new model Chavez is proposing is based on APIs, which are the standard way for computer programs to \"talk\" to one another without human intervention. When you use your Facebook account to log in to Spotify, that's Spotify talking to the Facebook login API.\n\nThis model is based on taking in data, pushing it through analytics engines, then making it available to internal and external clients through Goldman Sachs' digital platform that Chavez has championed.\n\n\"Historically, the API has been human beings talking to other human beings over the telephone, and all the tools, the content, the analytics is on the internal platform only,\" Chavez said. \"We are shifting this radically and shifting this fast, and we're packaging everything we do, and actually, we're redesigning the whole company, around APIs.\"\n\nThe idea is that giving clients access to Goldman Sachs data and analytics tools strengthens the bank's relationship with them, leading to additional business.\n\n\"Our digital offerings, under the unified Marquee brand, directly correlate to market share and profitability,\" one job ad said.", "output": "Goldman Sachs is advertising for new positions in its Marquee unit, the tech platform that allows access to the bank's content, analytics and data. It's seeking more than 20 new recruits to work in\u00a0the unit's New York office, with positions ranging from associate developer to vice president. It's advertising in New York, Bengalaru in India and the Polish capital Warsaw. A spokesperson\u00a0said the bank was seeking to attract \"top tech talent\".\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hot days can seriously affect seniors' health \n Credit: CC0 Public Domain\n\n\"Is it hot enough for you?\"\n\nThat comment might deserve an eye roll, but you might consider tweaking it to, \"Is it too hot for you today?\" With daytime temperatures in the 90s during mid- to late summer and the heat index even higher on many days, hot days can indeed be too hot.\n\nHeat can make everyone uncomfortable, but for older adults, that discomfort can also mean danger. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, older adults are more prone to heat stress for at least three reasons. One, as we age, we don't adjust as well as young people to sudden changes in temperature. Seniors also are more likely to take prescription medicines that affect the body's ability to control sweat or the body's temperature. And seniors are more likely to have a chronic medical condition that affects body response to heat.\n\nHOW TO STAY COOL WHEN IT'S HOT OUT THERE\n\n- First of all, make sure you have access to air conditioning. Don't rely on a fan to do the job. \"If your home doesn't have air conditioning, contact your local health department or locate an air-conditioned shelter in your area,\" the CDC advises.\n\n- Drink more water than you usually do; don't worry about the bathroom consequences. And don't wait until you're thirsty; just make sure you stay hydrated. If your doctor doesn't want you drinking past a certain limit on water or you're taking water pills, check with your doctor on how much water you should drink during hot weather.\n\n- Avoid using the oven or stove-top if you can. Instead, opt for refrigerated salads or other cold foods, or foods you can microwave. Similarly, avoid using your dryer in the heat of the day.\n\n- Limit activity on hot days. If you must get outdoor exercise, go for a short walk early in the morning.\n\n- Wear light-colored or loose-fitting clothing to help keep cool.\n\n- Cool baths or showers can help.\n\nKNOW THE SIGNS OF HEAT ILLNESS\n\nWould you recognize the signs of heat stroke and heat exhaustion? You might think they're the same thing, but heatstroke is more serious; it's a medical emergency that requires immediate help.\n\nHeat exhaustion: Nausea or vomiting; heavy sweating; dizziness; weakness or tiredness; headache; fainting; cold, pale, clammy skin; muscle cramps and a fast or weak pulse.\n\nWhat to do: If you have symptoms of heat exhaustion, move to a cool place, loosen your clothes, sip water and put cool, wet cloths on your body or take a cool bath. Seek medical help if you're throwing up, your symptoms get worse or they last more than an hour, the CDC advises.\n\nHeat stroke: Body temperature of 103 degrees or higher; confusion; nausea; fainting; fast, strong pulse; hot, red, dry or damp skin; headache and dizziness\n\nWhat to do: If you have symptoms of heat stroke, call 911 immediately. Move to a cool place and use cool cloths to help bring body temperature down. Do not drink anything; do not give a person with heat stroke symptoms anything to drink.\n\n\u00a92017 The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.)\n\nDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.", "output": "\"Is it hot enough for you?\" That comment might deserve an eye roll, but you might consider tweaking it to, \"Is it too hot for you today?\" With daytime temperatures in the 90s during mid- to late summer and the heat index even higher on many days, hot days can indeed be too hot.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fifth worker dies after accident in Tampa power plant \n An accident at a Florida power plant last month has claimed a fifth life.\n\nBRACE Industrial Group said its employee, 56-year-old Armando Perez, died Thursday of injuries he sustained in the June 29 accident at the Tampa Electric Big Bend Power Station. Molten slag, a substance that can reach temperatures upward of 1,000 degrees, gushed from a containment tank and burning workers in the vicinity.\n\nThe Tampa Bay Times reports only one person who was injured by the slag remains alive: 32-year-old Gary Marine Jr.\n\nCompany officials say the incident happened at a coal-fired boiler while workers were performing routine maintenance on the slag tank at the plant southeast of Tampa. Slag is a byproduct created when coal is burned for electricity.\n\nCopyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.\n\nTopics Florida", "output": "A fifth person has died from injuries sustained in an accident at a Florida power plant. Armando Perez, 56, died while being treated for injuries he suffered\u00a0when molten slag gushed from a containment tank at the\u00a0Tampa Electric Big Bend Power Station in late June. The workers\u00a0had been carrying out routine maintenance at a coal-fired boiler when the accident happened, Brace Industrial Group said. Only one person affected by the incident remains alive, according to the Tampa Bay Times newspaper.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Microsoft uses AI for smart grid and EV charging \n By Bryony Collins, Bloomberg New Energy Finance editor. This article first appeared in BNEF\u2019s \u2018New Energy Deals\u2019 publication, available to clients on the web and on the Bloomberg Terminal.\n\nMicrosoft Corp. is building a business in the power and natural resources sectors, where its machine learning and artificial intelligence expertise may help give some companies an edge.\n\nThe software giant is working with Norwegian utility Agder Energi AS to fine-tune the supply-and-demand balance on electricity grids using AI technology, according to Egbert Schroeer, Microsoft\u2019s managing director for the process manufacturing and resources industries.\n\n\u201cWe want to make the power grid more efficient and predictable,\u201d Schroeer said in an interview with Bloomberg New Energy Finance. \u201cThe more Agder expands into distributed generation, like rooftop solar, batteries, smart homes and facilities, the (Azure) system can help provide support back to the grid at times of high demand.\u201d\n\nAzure is Microsoft\u2019s cloud computing platform, which finds patterns in data collected by sensors in the real world, interprets this data, and can make decisions about maintenance or remote monitoring as a result of its AI capabilities. In Germany, Microsoft has a partnership with EnBW AG to develop smart street lights, which can do a host of things from collect emissions data to charge electric vehicles.\n\nWith ABB Ltd., Microsoft will \u201claunch the next generation of electric vehicle charging platforms\u201d, together with the \u201cworld\u2019s largest industrial cloud platform\u201d, which will encompass 70 million connected devices, Schroeer said. The Swiss power and automation company already runs on Microsoft\u2019s Azure platform and its Cortana Intelligence suite. Other customers in the AI space for Microsoft include Siemens AG, Schneider Electric SE and Halliburton Co.\n\nThe trend to gather more data and deploy machine intelligence to interpret it, is disruptive for the technology industry, Schroeer said. Amid this change, customers are becoming more like partners, he said. \u201cOur typical engagements with these companies no longer starts with simply selling software, but with a workshop where we envision a new business model and combine forces to reach the next level of a system of intelligence,\u201d Schroeer said in the following interview.\n\nBNEF: How is Microsoft working with machine learning (ML) and advanced intelligence (AI)?\n\nSchroeer: At the end of last year, Microsoft expanded its artificial intelligence efforts with the creation of a new Microsoft AI and Research Group. Microsoft\u2019s deep investments in the field are advancing the state-of-the-art in machine intelligence and perception, enabling computers that understand what they see, communicate, answer complex questions and interact with their environment. Digital technology is transforming our lives, businesses and the world, but also generating an exponential growth in data and information. Today\u2019s assets are more intelligent thanks to technologies such as AI and machine learning.\n\nTo reach this level, we must fulfill the needs of industry standards such as GxP or NERC CIP [requirements to ensure the reliability of the electrical system] for power and utilities. The team works on how to enable the cloud under regulatory compliance, which is very prevalent in the energy sector.\n\nQ: What companies or projects has Microsoft been involved with in the ML, AI space related to energy?\n\nA: One of our engagements is with Agder Energi, [whom] we worked with to use machine learning and AI to optimize energy consumption and energy load on the electricity grid, because you have regional dependencies and weather dependencies.\n\nAnother example is Ecolab Inc. Ecolab has partnered with Microsoft to use cloud computing to speed up how industries tackle water scarcity. Ecolab 3D Trasar technology, built on the Microsoft cloud and using the Azure IoT suite, uses sensors in facilities around the world to gather data from in-plant water monitoring equipment.\n\nThis data is transferred in real-time to the cloud, providing [useful data for] cooling towers and other water-intensive processes. We realized this was not limited to just water consumption, but that it was also relevant to the energy industry in terms of coolers and condensers. Machine intelligence can be used for predictive maintenance for example.\n\nQ: So is Microsoft working on projects to forecast power demand and generation, or to maintain steady power grid supply?\n\nA: We have invested in that area in three core technologies \u2013 predictive maintenance, remote monitoring and asset management. So, with more or less one click, you can enable your sensors to connect to the Azure cloud and find patterns based on AI and ML, which tell you when you need to make proactive changes.\n\nThrough our partnership with Agder Energi, we want to make the power grid more efficient and predictable. The more Agder expands into distributed generation, like rooftop solar, batteries, smart homes and facilities, the system can help provide support back to the grid at times of high demand.\n\nAnother company we have been working with is EnBW in Germany, where we collaborated on a smart street light project. These street lights are light sensitive, movement sensitive, act as Wi-Fi hot spots and also as a power charging station for electric cars. The street light is becoming a data collection station tool \u2013 to monitor air pollution, carbon dioxide emissions and so on.\n\nThat brings me to our partnership with ABB. Microsoft and ABB have joined forces to launch the next generation of electric-vehicle charging platforms. This platform is run by the Azure cloud and improves the way an electric vehicle is charged.\n\nWe also have a strategic partnership with ABB to create the world\u2019s largest industrial cloud platform, using 70 million connected devices and more than 70,000 digital control systems. ABB uses Microsoft\u2019s Azure IOT suite and Cortana intelligence suite.\n\nIn the public sector, we also run a project and solution area called City Next. Here we are delivering innovative digital services that optimize city operations and infrastructure, and we use smart grid and energy management tools.\n\nQ: How is the automation and intelligence trend changing the technology industry?\n\nA: Digital transformation is disrupting the industry, because our customers like ABB and EnBW are becoming more like partners than customers, and we work together on these innovative technologies, such as smart grids or EV charging. Our typical engagements with these companies no longer starts with simply selling software, but with a workshop where we envision a new business model and combine forces to reach the next level of a system of intelligence.\n\nOur partner ecosystem includes Rockwell Automation Inc., Schneider Electric SE, Siemens AG and Halliburton Co. \u2013 which are moving into the cloud and show digital leadership.\n\nWe recently announced a partnership with Schneider Electric to accelerate the development of Open IoT applications such as simulation in the cloud, virtualizing power plants and production plants, so that the engineer can learn from the simulation.\n\nArtificial intelligence can even extend to areas like precision farming. A sprinkler irrigation system can be controlled to cover a specific area by doing an overhead survey with a drone and connecting the sprinklers up to AI. Farmers can then achieve better yields by controlling specific quantities of fertilizer.\n\nThis relies on an ecosystem of farmers, equipment suppliers, traders and a technology provider like Microsoft. These stakeholders need an artificially intelligent shared data platform to support this precision farming and prevent drought.\n\nEvery company is becoming a data company and everything a data source, including the tractor in the precision farming area. Here we touch the \u201cconnected vehicle\u201d approach in a new and different way.\n\nQ: What are the opportunities for blockchain in this space?\n\nA: Blockchains can help track products in warehouses or in transit and ensure quality and integrity across the value chain. Blockchain can help with the authenticity of products and processes run in real time to pro-actively mitigate supply-chain risks. Blockchain has certainly grabbed the attention of the regulated power industry. [It has relevance to] smart grids and new forms of energy trading. Both utilities and consumers will produce and sell electricity and blockchain is a supporting capability in the cloud.", "output": "Microsoft has partnered with Norwegian power supplier Agder Energi to improve the efficiency of electricity grids' supply-and-demand balance with artificial intelligence (AI). The company's Azure cloud computing platform will interpret data from across the grid to help Agder plan for maintenance and scale to localised demand. Microsoft has also partnered with Swiss automation company ABB to launch electric vehicle charging platforms."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Blockchain insurtech hackathon creates festival weather cover \n Winning team developed weather insurance platform for organisers of major outdoor events.\n\nSimply Business has hosted a blockchain-themed hackathon to explore the opportunities that blockchain presents to the insurance industry and determine the scale of future disruption that could come from the fintech sector.\n\nThe digital broker named Coders Without Insurers as the winning team, stating that the team used blockchain platform Ethereum to develop a weather insurance platform for organisers of major outdoor events such as festivals, with automated claims payouts based on weather APIs", "output": "A team of digital brokers calling themselves Brokers Without Insurance have been commended at an insurtech blockchain hackathon for using the ethereum\u00a0blockchain to develop a weather insurance platform for major outdoor events. The tool would enable attendants of gatherings\u00a0such as music festivals to hold smart contracts that linked into weather APIs and the Internet of Things to prevent them losing out to bad weather. The hackathon was organised by Simply Business to explore the opportunities blockchain offered the insurance industry.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ad fraud biggest problem for 44% of publishers \n by Philip Rosenstein , July 24, 2017\n\nAd fraud is the biggest industry challenge cited by both marketers and publishers according to U.K.-based Infectious Media, which announced on Monday it was releasing a new guide to help brands stay safe online.\n\nIn one study cited by Infectious, 33% of marketers say they are troubled by ad fraud, with brand safety next (picked by 26%) followed by viewability (21%), transparency (17%) and geocompliance (3%),\n\nDiffering slightly in their priorities, 44% of publishers consider ad fraud their biggest problem, followed by issues with transparency (picked by 19%), brand safety (18%), viewability (15%) and geocompliance (4%).\n\nThe current way that many brands address ad fraud and brand safety -- whitelisting trusted publishers and restricting where ads will run -- often drives up overall CPMs and can significantly decrease ROI, according to Infectious.\n\nThe guide suggests that brand marketers use a layered approach in their advertising strategy that includes human expertise and technology.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nIt's especially important to ensure full data transparency from agencies and ad-tech partners. Simple measurement models like reach, clicks, click-through-rates, viewability and other metrics can be modified by untrustworthy parties. The guide gives marketers tips on how to reset measurement metrics in order to fix media quality issues.\n\n\u201cMany in the industry are understandably worried about advertising spend being wasted because of poor quality media in the supply chain,\u201d stated Andy Cocker, COO and co-founder of Infectious Media. \u201cHowever, the benefits of programmatic for our clients still far outweigh the risks.\"\n\nHe added, \"It\u2019s crucial now that media agencies and ad-tech companies play their full part in increasing awareness and driving up standards.\u201d", "output": "Ad fraud is the industry's biggest issue for both publishers and marketers, according to studies by Infectious Media. The UK-based company found that 33% of marketers are concerned by ad fraud, 26% by brand safety, 21% by viewability, 17% by transparency and 3% by geocompliance. A total of 44% of publishers see ad fraud as their greatest problem, followed by transparency (19%), brand safety (18%), viewability (15%) and geocompliance (4%).\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's millennials reshape the entertainment market \n Chinese millennials have no qualms about paying as much as 1,480 yuan for a ticket to the Bilibili World in Shanghai, to sing and dance along with Japanese anime vocaloids and 3D hologram idols last week. Photo: SCMP handout", "output": "The wealthy millennial children of China's booming middle class are spending huge amounts of money on virtual entertainment. An increase in financial security and a broadening interest in indulgence and leisure are contributing to a meteoric rise in the consumption of anime, video games, online videos and even holographic concerts.\u00a0Millennials desire a much more diverse selection of content than their parents' generation, that caters properly to individual tastes, said Chen Rui of bilibili.\u00a0He went on to say that the advent of the internet has enabled this to an unprecedented degree.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lloyd's issues blueprint for dealing with market-turning events \n The six principles, set out in a new report, will encourage \"stronger, smarter oversight\" of the market following any future market-turning events (MTEs), according to Lloyd's.\n\n\"We want to make it easier for syndicates to do business by focusing our oversight efforts on the important things,\" said Jon Hancock, Lloyd's director of performance management. \"One important area where we can help is to make sure the Lloyd's market is in a position to act swiftly and decisively to any future market-turning events.\"\n\n\"We don't want to impose overly burdensome requirements on syndicates or insist on any unnecessary processes or paperwork. We want to make it as straightforward as possible to raise new capital. Doing so will ensure that Lloyd's is even better prepared for once-in-a-generation market turning events,\" he said.\n\nManaging agents should begin considering the possible implications of an MTE on their own business, and prepare suitable contingency plans, Lloyd's said.\n\nThe report comes in response to a dry-run exercise conducted by Lloyd's and the UK's prudential regulator, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), last year. The PRA published its own policy statement on MTEs at the start of the month.\n\nAn MTE is an event triggered by a significant insurance loss leading to a chain of consequences among insurers, reinsurers, regulators and the market. These consequences may include solvency issues and even failures among firms, and material changes in premium rates.\n\nThe last major global MTE came in the aftermath of the US terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, after which premium rates across all classes of insurance business rose by around 40%. More than half the new reinsurance capital raised globally in the immediate aftermath of the attacks went to Bermuda, according to Lloyd's.\n\nThe principles set out in the report are aimed at ensuring that the market responds to an MTE effectively, remaining solvent while paying claims as quickly as possible. They are split into two broad categories: crisis management, and opportunities to support the market.\n\nLloyd's primary focus in the event of an MTE will be on the stability of the market, ensuring it is solvent and liquid enough to ensure prompt payment of claims to affected policyholders, according to the report. It will also ensure that the run-off of any members or syndicates that fail following the MTE is managed in an orderly fashion, to minimise any wider impact to the market. Lloyd's will also take a lead role in coordinating and communicating any relevant data with regulators, governments and rating agencies.\n\nWhen managing the response to an MTE, Lloyd's intends to adopt a \"commercial and pragmatic\" approach, according to the principles. This may include accelerated capital plan reviews and approval processes, and prioritising activities in support of existing businesses ahead of new entrants. Lloyd's has also set out internal restructuring plans to ensure that it is best placed to respond to an MTE, and may require staff to temporarily suspend all non-essential activities in the event of an MTE in order to support the market.", "output": "Lloyd's of London has issued a six-point plan for companies to prepare for a cataclysmic event that could test the insurance industry's resilience. Following a test of the UK insurance industry's ability to deal with multiple market-turning events last year, Lloyd's has said its members and syndicates should have measures in place to deal with a real life catastrophe, such as the 9/11 terror attacks,\u00a0in an orderly manner.\u00a0Jon Hancock, Lloyd's director of performance management, said the companies must \"make sure the Lloyd's market is in a position to act swiftly and decisively to any future market-turning events\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "International cyber attacks could represent\u00a0war crimes, says\u00a0academic \n Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.\n\nLicense and Republishing\n\nWorld Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.\n\nThe views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.", "output": "Uncertainties about cyber warfare's legality under the Laws of Armed Conflict could encourage a rise in cyber attacks that exacerbate tensions between nation states. For instance, it is not clear whether the principle of distinction, which holds that non-combatants should not be attacked, would extend to infecting civilian-owned computers. Additionally, it ambiguous whether the rule of proportionality, which demands that collateral damage is not disproportionate or unreasonable, would enable a certain quota of civilian-owned computers to become infected as part of a cyber attack on an enemy headquarters.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Rocket Fuel improves self-serve platform \n Predictive marketing platform provider Rocket Fuel has announced new self-service offerings, including Dynamic Creative and improved native capabilities that seamlessly integrate into Dynamic Creative.\n\nAs one of the first omnichannel DSPs to offer self-service Dynamic Creative, these combined solutions allow brand marketers to build, customise, and traffic dynamic creative campaigns within the Rocket Fuel DSP to drive competitive performance and extend overall campaign reach.\n\nRocket Fuel\u2019s Dynamic Creative for self-service combines SmartGrid technology, allowing for flexible and automatic ad creation of 36 ad sizes and formats. Powered by Rocket Fuel\u2019s artificial intelligence, this technology dynamically selects the layout and products most appropriate for each advertising moment.\n\nUsing this technology, brands can create targeted advertisements that are tailored in real time based on prospective consumers\u2019 internet browsing habits. Combined with Rocket Fuel\u2019s native capabilities, this inventory and reach is extended even further.\n\nRocket Fuel CEO Randy Wootton said: \u201cAt Rocket Fuel, it is important for us to ensure that advertisers can create and manage personalised creative for every device and moment to reach their target audiences effectively. It allows them to connect with consumers in a way that feels more authentic and tailored to the moment.\n\n\u201cThe ability to run dynamic creative in a self-service context, especially coupled with Native capabilities, is a major differentiator to our DSP.\u201d\n\nRocket Fuel\u2019s Dynamic Creative solution is currently available to both managed and self-service customers.", "output": "Rocket Fuel is focusing on its self-serve platform, which will combine its native and Dynamic Creative capabilities. The platform uses SmartGrid technology that permits ad creation in up to 36 different sizes and formats. It is also powered by Rocket Fuel's artificial intelligence, which is capable of selecting the most appropriate layouts and details for each advertisement.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google search does limited test of autoplay videos \n One of the most hated features of the 2017 internet -- autoplay videos -- may soon be coming to anyone (i.e. nearly everyone) who uses Google to search.\n\nAt least that's the look of things based on a new test Google has been rolling out in recent days that puts autoplay videos in the Knowledge Panel(opens in a new tab) (which appears to the right of your results in a desktop browser).\n\nSEE ALSO: Everything you need to know about macOS High Sierra\n\nDiscovered by SEM Post reporter Jennifer Slegg on Monday, the test puts a small YouTube video related to your search term under the name and images associated with the search term. Since it's a limited test, only visible to some users, I wasn't able to duplicate the autoplay results. Nevertheless, Slegg says that after searching for two Warner Bros. films, Justice League and The LEGO NINJAGO Movie, she saw autoplayed trailers in the Knowledge Panel.\n\nThe good news is, according to(opens in a new tab) Slegg, the sound doesn\u2019t automatically play, so you're spared having to rush to shut off the video whenever you're just trying to search for something (you need to click the video to enable sound). But that doesn't change the fact that the video is using your bandwidth, whether you notice it or not. Also, she was unable to reproduce the autoplay video feature using mobile search, it only occurred on desktop searches.\n\nSearch Engine Land confirmed(opens in a new tab) the testing of the feature, quoting a Google spokesperson as saying, \"We are constantly experimenting with ways to improve the search experience for our users, but have no plans to announce at this time.\"\n\n\"We are constantly experimenting ... but have no plans to announce at this time.\"\n\nAn interesting point in Slegg's report is that the autoplay videos were not from official sources. So this could mean that future autoplay videos in Google search might be used as an ad revenue unit: pay to have your topic-associated video appear in the Knowledge Panel of certain results, for example.\n\nLike all Google tests, just because it's showing up for some users doesn't mean it will become a permanent and widespread feature for all users. But the fact that Google is even testing this out means that it's something the search giant is seriously considering in its quest to continually optimize its ability to monetize search.\n\nHowever, depending on how it's executed, if there's major backlash from users already fatigued from autoplay videos on a wide range of sites, it could also represent an opportunity for something we haven\u2019t seen in years: another powerful search engine, sans autoplay videos.", "output": "Google is testing autoplay videos without audio in the Knowledge Panel of its search results pages, according to a report in SEM Post. The feature is being tested with a limited number of users on desktop searches, the report added. However, the autoplay videos were not from official sources, which suggests Google may use the feature as part of its ad revenue unit. Google confirmed the tests but has no plans to announce the feature, it said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Speedy Hire Clancy Plant takes over Speedy Hire's traffic light fleet \n UK rental company Clancy Plant has announced it has taken over Speedy Hire\u2019s traffic light fleet.\n\nUnder the terms of the deal, Clancy Plant employees will join the Speedy partnered service team in Haydock, as well as its Warrington multi-service centre and Dartford superstore.\n\nThe company said it would make its full service available to Speedy 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It will provide a full traffic management service, from design, planning and installation, to maintenance and removal of temporary traffic management.\n\nIn 2016, Clancy Plant was awarded the Institute of Customer Service ServiceMark \u2013 the first hire company in the UK to be awarded this accreditation.\n\nClancy Plant director, Bernie Stack, said, \u201cOur new partnership agreement with Speedy Hire is very much in line with our business growth strategy for Clancy Plant.\n\n\u201cFor many years we have been lucky to enjoy a long standing business relationship with Speedy. We are excited that this new agreement will not only allow us to work even closer with a renowned company like Speedy, but to also provide a national traffic management solution to their growing client base.\u201d\n\nStack added that it was a fantastic opportunity and that the company looked forward to realising the positive benefits in both customer satisfaction and financial reward.\n\nMeanwhile, Speedy\u2019s CEO, Russell Down, said, \u201cThis agreement enhances our overall traffic management offering for our customers, further improving the end-to-end customer experience.\n\n\u201cWith the integration of Clancy Plant employees into our partnered service team, we look forward to deepening the already strong relationship we have with Clancy Plant.\u201d\n\nClancy Plant offers plant rental, as well as traffic management, specialised tooling, and other services in the UK.", "output": "Clancy Plant, the UK rental company, has announced that it has taken over Speedy Hire's traffic light fleet.\u00a0Clancy Plant will take full control of the traffic management service, including design, planning and installation of lights, and maintenance and removal of temporary lights.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Natural molecule found to enhance battery rechargeability \n The porphyrin molecule \u2013 used in electrodes \u2013 speeds up the charging process of batteries in the lab. Credit: KIT/HIU\n\nChlorophyll, blood, and vitamin B12 are all based on the porphyrin molecule. But porphyrin can also be used as an electrode material where it speeds up the charging process of rechargeable batteries. In the Angewandte Chemie International Edition journal, researchers from KIT now present the new material system that could mark the beginning of an era of high-performance energy storage and supercapacitors.\n\nCurrently, the most widely used battery technology is based on lithium ions. No other rechargeable storage device for electric energy has comparable application properties. Thus, lithium ion batteries are currently indispensable for devices such as laptops, smartphones, or cameras, even though improved properties such as quick-charging would be desirable. Many materials that improve the properties of lithium ion batteries in the lab, however, are no sustainable options because they are rare, expensive, toxic or harmful to the environment. Ideally, high-performance energy storage materials would be based on renewable resources.\n\nAn interdisciplinary research group headed by Professor Maximilian Fichtner of Helmholtz Institute Ulm, founded and organized by KIT, and Professor Mario Ruben from the KIT Institute of Nanotechnology, now presents a new energy storage material that allows a very fast and reversible inclusion of lithium ions. For this purpose, functional groups were added to the organic copper porphyrin molecule that produce structural and electro-conductive crosslinking of the material when the battery cell is charged for the first time. This significantly stabilizes the structure of the electrode in lab tests and allows several thousands of charge-discharge cycles.\n\nWith this material, storage capacities of 130-170 milliamp-hours per gram (mAh/g) were measured in the lab \u2013 at a medium voltage of 3 Volt \u2013 and charging-discharging times of only one minute. Current experiments suggest that the storage capacity can be increased by another 100 mAh/g and that the storage system can be operated not only with lithium, but also with the much more abundant sodium.\n\n\"Porphyrins occur very often in nature and are the basic constituents of chlorophyll, of human and animal blood pigment (hemoglobin), and of vitamin B12,\" Fichtner explains. Technical variants of these materials are already in use, e.g. for blue-colored toner in laser printers or for car paint. By bonding functional groups to porphyrin, the scientists succeeded to leverage its specific properties in electrochemical electric storage systems for the first time. \"The storage properties are exceptional because the material has the storage capacity of a battery, but works as fast as a supercapacitor,\" Fichtner says.", "output": "The porphyrin molecule, the basis for chlorophyll, blood and vitamin B12, has been found to be effective in speeding up recharging battery cycles. Improving the charging speed of lithium-ion batteries has been a priority for some time, however, there are limited options for achieving this. However, by adding functional groups to the organic copper porphyrin molecule, researchers at the\u00a0Helmholtz Institute Ulm and\u00a0the KIT Institute of Nanotechnology\u00a0have found that the structure of the electrode is significantly stabilised, allowing for thousands of\u00a0charge-discharge cycles.\u00a0\"The material has the storage capacity of a battery, but works as fast as a supercapacitor,\" said Professor Fichtner at Helmholtz.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Canada could dominate biofuels market: Air Canada \n Share\n\nThe country's top airlines say resource-rich Canada has the potential to become a biofuel superpower by transforming forest residue and agricultural crops into energy that can help the industry reduce greenhouse gas emissions.\n\n\"Canada actually has an opportunity like no other country where it can displace large amounts of fuel and reduce large amounts of carbon,\" Mena Salib, Air Canada's manager of aircraft noise and emissions, said Tuesday after speaking to a global biotech conference.\n\nSalib said the industry wants to procure biofuels from local sources instead of transporting it far to meet demand.\n\n\"The prize would be technology from Canada, the feedstock is from Canada and it is used by Canadians.\"\n\nThe country's largest airline has been part of several flight tests to study biofuels and is ready to add the lower carbon energy blends when they are readily available.\n\nThe aviation industry is looking for ways to cut its environmental footprint and achieve the global goal of becoming carbon neutral after 2020 and to halve net emissions by 2050 compared to 2005.\n\nWhile Air Canada and WestJet don't have a preference for using farm crops, forest residue or consumer waste, the airlines say the inputs must be sustainable and not displace food or land.\n\nCosts would also have to come down by using government incentives to encourage companies to boost supply.\n\nGeoffrey Tauvette, WestJet's director of fuel and environment, says while the airline has invested heavily to improve the efficiency of its aircraft, biofuels are the only way to reduce emissions enough to meet global targets.\n\n\"We think that Canada has the right ingredients to be that superpower. We just need to get the right sort of instruments in place to be able to make that happen,\" he said from Calgary.\n\nWhile the airline hasn't tested the use of biofuels, it has supported efforts, for example, to study turning forestry residue to energy.\n\n\"If we can get the biofuels, it does help WestJet meet our goal of connecting Canadians to the rest of the world and we can do that without impacting the environment.\"\n\nFernando Preto, a research scientist with the Natural Resources Canada's Canmet Energy group, said there are huge opportunities for Canada to supply biofuels from different sources.\n\nStudies conducted at the University of British Columbia and in La Tuque, Que., are looking at using forest residue to produce green fuel.\n\nPreto said millions of tonnes of branches, bark and scraps left behind during the cutting process could be a valuable resource.\n\n\"I think that it could easily meet the jet fuel requirements in Canada for the Canadian industry,\" he said.\n\nBiotechnology is a $200-billion (U.S.) a year global industry, with about 20 per cent directed to fuels and much of the rest to consumer products, says Paul Winters, spokesman for the Biotechnology Innovation Organization which hosted the annual conference.\n\nAgrisoma Biosciences Inc., a Gatineau-based company, announced on Monday a long-term agreement with biorefiner UPM of Finland to expand the use of the carinata oilseed crop to produce renewable fuels in South America.\n\nThe oilseed variety developed in Canada will be grown as a second crop in winter by farmers in Uruguay, followed by Brazil and Argentina. It can be used to produce non-edible oil suitable for low-carbon biofuels and a protein for animal feed.\n\n\"We're on a growth trajectory where we can see really being a major feedstock for things like the aviation industry,\" said Agrisoma CEO Steve Fabijanski.\n\nLess than five per cent of flights are flown using biofuel blended with traditional jet fuel. Fabijanski said the use of biofuels will increase as costs decrease and new fuel distribution hubs beyond Los Angeles and Oslo are developed.", "output": "Canada's abundant resources could allow it to become a superpower in developing biofuels, according to Air Canada. By converting agricultural crops and forest residue into fuel, the Canadian airline company believes that the country could help the aerospace industry significantly reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. Speaking at a global biotech conference, Mena Salib, Air Canada\u2019s manager of aircraft noise and emissions, said:\u00a0\u201cCanada actually has an opportunity like no other country where it can displace large amounts of fuel and reduce large amounts of carbon\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK and Netherlands channel 37% of corporate tax avoidance funds \n Almost 40% of corporate investments channelled away from authorities and into tax havens travel through the UK or the Netherlands, according to a study of the ownership structures of 98m firms.\n\nThe two EU states are way ahead of the rest of the world in terms of being a preferred option for corporations who want to exploit tax havens to protect their investments.\n\n\n\nThe Netherlands was a conduit for 23% of corporate investments that ended in a tax haven, a team of researchers at the University of Amsterdam concluded. The UK accounted for 14%, ahead of Switzerland (6%), Singapore (2%) and Ireland (1%).\n\nEvery year multinationals avoid paying \u00a338bn-\u00a3158bn in taxes in the EU using tax havens. In the US, tax evasion by multinational corporations via offshore jurisdictions is estimated to be at least $130bn (\u00a399bn) a year.\n\nThe researchers reported that there were 24 so-called \u201csink\u201d offshore financial centres where foreign capital was ultimately stored, safe from the tax authorities.\n\nOf those, 18 are said to have a current or past dependence to the UK, such as the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands and Jersey.\n\nThe tax havens used correlated heavily to which conduit country was chosen by the multinational\u2019s accountants.\n\nThe UK is a major conduit for investments going to European countries and former members of the British Empire, such as Hong Kong, Jersey, Guernsey or Bermuda, reflecting the historical links and tax treaties enjoyed by firms setting up in Britain. The Netherlands is a principal conduit for investment ending in Cyprus and Bermuda, among others. Switzerland is used as a conduit to Jersey. Ireland is the route for Japanese and American companies to Luxembourg.\n\nIn terms of the purpose, on paper, of the corporate structures, the Netherlands specialises in providing holding companies. The UK provides head offices and fund management and Ireland offers financial leasing and the provision of head offices.\n\n\u201cOur results show that offshore finance is not the exclusive business of exotic small islands far away,\u201d the researchers write in an article for theacademic journal Scientific Reports. \u201cCountries such as the Netherlands and the United Kingdom play a crucial yet previously hidden role as conduits of offshore finance on its way to tax havens.\u201d\n\nDr Eelke Heemskerk, who led the research, said that the work showed the importance of developed countries cleaning up their financial sectors.\n\nHe said: \u201cIn the context of Brexit, where you have the UK threatening, unless they get a deal, to change their model to be attractive to companies who want to protect themselves from taxes, well, they are already doing it.\n\n\u201cThe Netherlands says they won\u2019t let the UK be an offshore tax haven. That\u2019s because they don\u2019t want them taking their business.\u201d", "output": "Nearly 40% of corporate investments placed in tax havens travel via the Netherlands or the UK, according to a study of 98 million companies by the University of Amsterdam. The Netherlands saw 23% of such investments, while the UK was close behind at\u00a014%. Multinationals use tax havens to dodge up to\u00a0\u00a3158bn ($206bn) in taxes in the European Union each year. The study identified 24 other offshore centres which are safe from tax legislation. 18 of those,\u00a0including Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and Jersey, have a current or prior link to the UK.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK will\u00a0ban petrol and diesel vehicles from 2040 \n Britain is to ban all new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2040 amid fears that rising levels of nitrogen oxide pose a major risk to public health.\n\nThe commitment, which follows a similar pledge in France, is part of the government\u2019s much-anticipated clean air plan, which has been at the heart of a protracted high court legal battle.\n\n\n\nThe government warned that the move, which will also take in hybrid vehicles, was needed because of the unnecessary and avoidable impact that poor air quality was having on people\u2019s health. Ministers believe it poses the largest environmental risk to public health in the UK, costing up to \u00a32.7bn in lost productivity in one recent year.\n\nMinisters have been urged to introduce charges for vehicles to enter a series of \u201cclean air zones\u201d (CAZ). However, the government only wants taxes to be considered as a last resort, fearing a backlash against any move that punishes motorists.\n\n\u201cPoor air quality is the biggest environmental risk to public health in the UK and this government is determined to take strong action in the shortest time possible,\u201d a government spokesman said.\n\n\n\n\u201cThat is why we are providing councils with new funding to accelerate development of local plans, as part of an ambitious \u00a33bn programme to clean up dirty air around our roads.\u201d\n\nThe final plan, which was due by the end of July, comes after a draft report that environmental lawyers described as \u201cmuch weaker than hoped for\u201d.\n\nThe environment secretary, Michael Gove, will be hoping for a better reception when he publishes the final document on Wednesday following months of legal wrangling.\n\nA briefing on parts of the plan, seen by the Guardian, repeats the heavy focus on the steps that can be taken to help councils improve air quality in specific areas where emissions have breached EU thresholds.\n\nMeasures to be urgently brought in by local authorities that have repeatedly breached EU rules include retrofitting buses and other public transport, changing road layouts and altering features such as roundabouts and speed humps.\n\nReprogramming traffic lights will also be included in local plans, with councils being given \u00a3255m to accelerate their efforts. Local emissions hotspots will be required to layout their plans by March 2018 and finalise them by the end of the year. A targeted scrappage scheme is also expected to be included.\n\nSome want the countrywide initiative to follow in the footsteps of London, which is introducing a \u00a310 toxic \u201cT-charge\u201d that will be levied on up to 10,000 of the oldest, most polluting vehicles every weekday.\n\nThere have been calls for vehicles to be charged for entering \u2018clean air zones\u2019. Photograph: Alicia Canter/The Guardian\n\nSources insisted that while the idea of charges were on the table, there was no plan to force councils to introduce them, and that other measures would be exhausted first.\n\nThey hope the centrepiece of Wednesday\u2019s strategywill be the plan to ban diesel and petrol sales completely by 2040, in line with Emmanuel Macron\u2019s efforts across the Channel.\n\n\n\nThe French president took the steps to help his country meet its targets under the Paris climate accord, in an announcement that came a day after Volvo said it would only make fully electric or hybrid cars from 2019 onwards.\n\nThat decision was hailed as the beginning of the end for the internal combustion engine\u2019s dominance of motor transport after more than a century.\n\nProf David Bailey, an automotive industry expert at Aston University, said: \u201cThe timescale involved here is sufficiently long-term to be taken seriously. If enacted it would send a very clear signal to manufacturers and consumers of the direction of travel and may accelerate a transition to electric cars.\u201d\n\nBritain\u2019s air quality package also includes \u00a31bn in ultra-low emissions vehicles including investing nearly \u00a3100m in the UK\u2019s charging infrastructure and funding the \u201dplug-in car\u201d and \u201cplug-in grant\u201d schemes.\n\nThere will also be \u00a3290m for the national productivity investment fund, which will go towards the retrofitting, and money towards low-emission taxis.\n\nThe report will also include an air quality grant for councils, a green bus fund for low carbon vehicles, \u00a31.2bn for cycling and walking and \u00a3100m to help air quality on the roads.\n\nThe strategy comes amid warnings that the UK\u2019s high level of air pollution could be be responsible for 40,000 premature deaths a year.\n\nA judge had said the government\u2019s original plans on tackling the issue, which included five clean air zones, were so poor as to be unlawful. The government was asked to present a new draft policy to tackle air pollution from diesel traffic before the election.\n\n\n\nIt was then called to court to explain why it had made a last-minute application to delay publication of its draft policy until after the election.\n\nJames Eadie QC, representing the government, said the policy was ready to be published but it would be controversial and should therefore be withheld until after the election.\n\n\u201cIf you publish a draft plan, it drops all the issues of controversy into the election \u2026 like dropping a controversial bomb,\u201d he said, adding that it could risk breaching rules about civil service neutrality and lead to the policy being labelled a Tory plan.\n\nHowever, judges said the government did have to publish a draft plan with the final version needed by the end of July.\n\nMichael Gove will publish the document on Wednesday. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA\n\nMay\u2019s draft contained few concrete proposals and did not specify the cities and towns where polluting vehicles might face charges, the level of any charges or the scope or value of any scrappage scheme.\n\n\n\nInstead, the plan put the onus for action on local authorities: \u201cLocal authorities are already responsible for improving air quality in their area, but will now be expected to develop new and creative solutions to reduce emissions as quickly as possible, while avoiding undue impact on the motorist.\u201d\n\n\n\nAnalysis in the documents showed increasing the number of CAZs from the current six planned to 27 would make by far the greatest impact in cutting pollution and provide cost benefits of over \u00a31bn. The CAZ policy would cut more than 1,000 times more NO2 than a scrappage scheme, even if that scheme required old diesels to be replaced by electric cars.\n\nBut it required local authorities to exhaust all other options before introducing CAZ charging for diesel vehicles, such as removing speed bumps and retrofitting buses.\n\nThe coalition government had already set out a vision for almost every car and van to be ultra-low emission by 2050 \u2013 a move which the government acknowledged would require \u201calmost all new cars and vans sold to be near-zero emission at the tailpipe by 2040\u201d. So it is unclear to what extent the new pledge will further boost Britain\u2019s ability to achieve air quality requirements.\n\nClientEarth, the campaign group that has successfully pursued the government through the courts over the UK\u2019s air pollution crisis, gave a cautious welcome to the announcement but said ministers must take immediate action to tackle the UK\u2019s air pollution crisis.\n\n\u201cThe government has trumpeted some promising measures with its air quality plans, but we need to see the detail,\u201d said CEO James Thornton. \u201cA clear policy to move people towards cleaner vehicles by banning the sale of petrol and diesel cars and vans after 2040 is welcome, as is more funding for local authorities.\n\n\u201cHowever, the law says ministers must bring down illegal levels of air pollution as soon as possible, so any measures announced in this plan must be focused on doing that.\u201d\n\nThe mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has been calling for tougher measures to tackle air pollution, which kills 9,000 people a year in the capital.\n\n\n\nA City Hall source was sceptical about the government\u2019s announcement. \u201cWe need to look at the full details but what Londoners suffering from the terrible health impacts of air pollution desperately need is a fully-funded diesel scrappage fund \u2013 and they need it right now.\u201d\n\n\n\nAreeba Hamid, clean air campaigner at Greenpeace, said: \u201cThe high court was clear that the government must bring down toxic air pollution in the UK in the shortest possible time. This plan is still miles away from that.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe government cannot shy away any longer from the issue of diesel cars clogging up and polluting our cities, and must now provide real solutions, not just gimmicks. That means proper clean air zones and funding to support local authorities to tackle illegal and unsafe pollution.\u201d", "output": "The British government has announced that the United Kingdom will manufacturing of petrol and diesel vehicles from 2040. This follows a similar decision made by France earlier this year, and comes amid concerns about the effects of nitrogen oxide on public health. Ministers believe that air pollution also harms productivity, causing\u00a0losses of up to \u00a32.7bn ($3.5bn)\u00a0in a year. Local councils will be given \u00a3225m to aid them in the nation-wide effort.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Western men see 52% decline in sperm count over\u00a040 years \n Sperm counts among men have more than halved in the last 40 years, research suggests, although the drivers behind the decline remain unclear.\n\nThe latest findings reveal that between 1973 and 2011, the concentration of sperm in the ejaculate of men in western countries has fallen by an average of 1.4% a year, leading to an overall drop of just over 52%.\n\n\u201cThe results are quite shocking,\u201d said Hagai Levine, an epidemiologist and lead author of the study from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.\n\nWhile infertility treatments such as IVF can offer solutions to potential ramifications of the decline on one level, little has been done to address the root of the issue, said Levine, pointing out low sperm counts might also be an indicator of poorer health among men more generally.\n\n\u201cThis is a classic under the radar huge public health problem that is really neglected,\u201d he said.\n\nIt is not the first time researchers have highlighted concerns about sperm counts, but previous studies have been criticised, with some saying the decline could be down to changing laboratory methods, or studies failing to take into account whether participants were selected on the basis of infertility problems.\n\nBut the authors of the latest study say they have addressed such concerns, analysing only studies that used the same sperm count method, were of a reasonable size and involved men not known to have infertility problems or disease, among other measures.\n\nThe study, published in the journal Human Reproduction Update by an international team of researchers, drew on 185 studies conducted between 1973 and 2011, involving almost 43,000 men. The team split the data based on whether the men were from western countries \u2013 including Australia and New Zealand as well as countries in North America and Europe \u2013 or from elsewhere.\n\nAfter accounting for factors including age and how long men had gone without ejaculation, the team found that sperm concentration fell from 99 million per ml in 1973 to 47.1 million per ml in 2011 \u2013 a decline of 52.4% \u2013 among western men unaware of their fertility.\n\nFor the same group, total sperm count \u2013 the number of sperm in a semen sample \u2013 fell by just under 60%.\n\nIn addition, a less dramatic decline in sperm concentration since the 1970s was seen for western men who were known to have conceived with a partner, but there was no clear trend for total sperm count in this group.\n\nBy contrast, no such trends were seen for men in other countries \u2013 although the authors caution that far fewer studies have been carried out among such populations.\n\nRichard Sharpe, an expert in male reproductive health and professor at the University of Edinburgh, welcomed the study, saying the research has tackled many of the problems of previous analyses, adding that it \u201cis about as close as we are going to get\u201d to being sure of the decline.\n\nBut he stressed it still unclear what is behind the drop, meaning that it is difficult to address. \u201cThat is primarily because we have seriously under-invested in male reproductive research,\u201d he said.\n\nTina Kold Jensen of Syddansk University in Denmark, who was not involved in the current research, said she was surprised by the new findings. \u201cI thought it would probably have stopped,\u201d she said of the decline, pointing out that she had been involved in a 15-year Danish study focusing on young men recruited for military service which found no drop in sperm counts. But, she noted, that might be because many of the men had poor sperm counts anyway.\n\nLevine agreed that research into potential causes was needed. Numerous possibilities have been mooted, with research suggesting links to body weight, a lack of physical activity, smoking, and exposure of pregnant women to chemicals found in myriad household products, known as endocrine disruptors.\n\nBut controversy remains. While Allan Pacey, professor of andrology at the University of Sheffield, said the latest study is the best he\u2019d ever read on the decline, he said the jury is still out on whether the trend is real.\n\n\u201cYou need to go out to answer that question. For example you take a random sample of every 18-year-old in the UK and you test 10,000 18-year-olds every year prospectively over the course of 20-25 years,\u201d he said, emphasising that Jensen\u2019s study using such an approach had found no decline.\n\n\u201cWe have got very little epidemiological evidence to say what might be causing it, so we are still scratching our heads a little bit in my view,\u201d said Pacey.\n\nBut he agreed there is cause for concern around male reproductive function, pointing out that rates of testicular cancer are on the rise, and stressed that men who are concerned about their sperm count and who wish to have children should not delay.\n\n\u201cIf you are a guy with a low sperm count and you try for a baby when you are 21, you are probably not going to notice you\u2019ve got a problem,\u201d Pacey said. \u201cBut if you are trying with your partner when she is 35 then that\u2019s when the heartache comes, because by then you have got low sperm count, you\u2019ve got an older partner and you haven\u2019t got a lot of time to try and fix it medically.\u201d", "output": "Sperm counts among men have fallen by 52% in the last four decades, according to a study by international researchers. The study found that the concentration of sperm in the ejaculate of men in western countries decreased by an average of 1.4% a year between 1973 and 2011. The reasons for the decline remain unclear, but suggestions range from body weight, lack of activity, smoking and pregnant women being exposed to chemicals in household products.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Electric\u00a0Mini to be built in UK from 2019 \n A fully electric version of the Mini is to be built in the UK, giving a huge boost to the British car industry and relief to the government as it pursues an exit from the European Union.\n\nThe move ends worries the new model could be made overseas after a warning in February from German owner BMW that it may look outside the UK because of the uncertainties caused by Brexit.\n\nBMW now says the electric drivetrain will be built at its plants in Bavaria before being integrated into the car at Cowley, near Oxford.\n\nThe car will be a variant of its three-door hatch model and will go into production in 2019.\n\nThe business secretary, Greg Clark, welcomed the news, saying: \u201c[This is] a landmark decision that is a vote of confidence in the workforce and in the determination of our industrial strategy to make Britain the go-to place in the world for the next generation of vehicles.\u201d\n\nThe news comes a day after Clark launched a \u00a3246m fund to invest in battery technology in Britain, a key factor in the progress of electric vehicles.\n\nFrank Bachmann, managing director at Cowley, told the Oxford Mail: \u201cThis is good news for everybody on the team at Plant Oxford and this addition to the model line-up marks an important next step in the evolution of Mini.\n\n\n\n\u201cAs the main manufacturer of the Mini three-door, with production expertise built up over many years, it makes sense for us to build this all-electric model.\n\n\u201cI know that everyone on the plant is looking forward to the project that lies ahead.\u201d\n\nBMW, along with other manufacturers, had strongly opposed a leave vote before the referendum in June 2016. In February this year, the company said: \u201cThe BMW group has always made clear that we believe integration of the UK into the EU single market, maintaining free movement of goods, services, capital and talent, would be best for business. What\u2019s important for us is that the UK\u2019s negotiations with the EU result in uncomplicated, tariff-free access to the EU single market in future.\u201d\n\nThe motor industry has warned that Brexit could be seriously damaging for manufacturing in Britain, should any tariffs be introduced. Many car components cross borders between suppliers and plants, sometimes more than once, before final assembly.\n\nThe plant\u2019s local MP, Liberal Democrat Layla Moran, said she had urged the government to heed the car industry and seek an interim deal that keeps the UK in Europe\u2019s customs union and single market, adding: \u201cI hope this vote of confidence by BMW is a sign that ministers have listened.\u201d\n\nUnite, which represents the 4,500 workers at the Cowley plant, said the decision on the Mini was \u201cdown to the tremendous skills and efficiency of BMW\u2019s UK workers and our members\u201d.\n\n\n\nLen McCluskey, the union\u2019s general secretary, said: \u201cThis announcement is a huge and totally deserved boost to a world class workforce that has endured a tough few months.\u201d\n\nMcCluskey urged the government to invest faster in the developing electric car industry, particularly in charging infrastructure.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe urge the government to waste no more time \u2013 in bringing forward an industrial strategy of the scale and scope to ensure UK manufacturing stays in the fast lane,\u201d he added.", "output": "German carmaker BMW will assemble an electric version of its three-door Mini at its factory in Cowley, near Oxford. The drivetrain for the car will be built in Germany before being integrated in the UK, with production starting in 2019. The move has brought relief for the 4,500 members of staff at the Cowley plant, while BMW said the investment costs were fractional, in the \"tens of millions\". The all-electric Mini is part of the car manufacturer's plan to have electric vehicles make up 15-25% of its sales by 2025.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Electric\u00a0Mini to be built in UK from 2019 \n A fully electric version of the Mini is to be built at BMW's plant in Cowley, near Oxford, the carmaker has announced.\n\nThe firm's German owners BMW said the new model will go into production in 2019 and will be a variant of its three-door hatch model.\n\nIts electric drivetrain - which is comprised of a collection of components in a vehicle that transfer power from the transmission to the wheels - will be built in Bavaria, before being integrated into the car at the Cowley site.\n\nThe announcement is a vote of confidence for the 4,500-strong workforce at the UK plant in the run-up to Brexit - and comes just weeks after staff voted to accept a new pensions offer following a series of strikes.\n\nLen McCluskey, general secretary of Unite, described the move as \"a huge and totally deserved boost to a world-class workforce that has endured a tough few months\".\n\nPlease use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 0:42 Greg Clark: BMW 'backing Britain'\n\nHe said: \"Around the world and for generations, the Mini means made in Britain. With the electric Mini being built in Cowley, the tradition continues but with the added bonus that this is one of the important innovations of tomorrow.\"\n\nBusiness Secretary Greg Clark added: \"The automotive industry is a great British success story and the Mini is a big part of that.\n\n\"UK car production hit a 10-year high last year, with 1.7 million cars made and over 800,000 people employed across the wider industry.\n\nImage: Volvo cars are to be electric or hybrid from 2019\n\n\"We want to see the sector continue to innovate and grow here in the UK, supported by initiatives such as the new battery institute as part of our Industrial Strategy.\"\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBMW said it did not ask for or receive any Brexit-related assurances from the Government before making its decision.\n\nIn a statement from Munich, the firm said that electrification was one of the central pillars of the group's corporate strategy and that additional electric models would be launched in the coming years and beyond 2020.\n\nAll of its models were able to be electrified, with a full electric or plug-in hybrid drivetrain being offered in addition to a combustible engine.\n\nIt expects electric models - which it manufactures at 10 plants across the world - to account for between 15% and 25% of sales by 2025.\n\nVolvo became the first traditional car maker earlier this month to commit to including an electric motor in all of its new models from 2019.\n\nUS firm Tesla's first mass-market electric car, the Model 3, is expected to be unveiled on Friday\n\nThe first vehicle manufacturing facility to be built in Britain for more than a decade opened in Ansty, Coventry, in March to produce a new electric London black taxi.\n\nLatest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders show that 59,000 new alternatively fuelled vehicles have been purchased in the UK so far this year, up 28% over the same period in 2016, amid growing concern about the impact of diesel cars on air quality.", "output": "German carmaker BMW will assemble an electric version of its three-door Mini at its factory in Cowley, near Oxford. The drivetrain for the car will be built in Germany before being integrated in the UK, with production starting in 2019. The move has brought relief for the 4,500 members of staff at the Cowley plant, while BMW said the investment costs were fractional, in the \"tens of millions\". The all-electric Mini is part of the car manufacturer's plan to have electric vehicles make up 15-25% of its sales by 2025.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US recoverable gas supply jumps to record \n Estimates of future potential natural gas supplies in the United States stood at a record 3,141 Tcf at the end of 2016, with shale plays accounting for 64% of the total, according to a biennial report conducted by the Potential Gas Committee (PGC).\n\nIn the new assessment issued Wednesday, the PGC found technically recoverable natural gas volumes totaled a record 2,817 Tcf, a 12% (302 Tcf) increase over the previous assessment conducted at the end of 2014. When coupled with proved gas reserves of 324 Tcf, as recorded by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) at the end of 2015, potential future gas supplies are 3,141 Tcf.\n\nAccording to the PGC, \u201ctraditional\u201d gas resources \u2014 including conventional, tight sand, carbonate and shale reservoirs \u2014 accounted for 2,658 Tcf of the technically recoverable volumes, while coalbed methane (CBM) made up the remaining 159 Tcf. Technically recoverable reserves may or may not be produced depending on the price.\n\nThe assessment showed gas resources had shifted significantly since 2014, in terms of reservoir type.\n\nResources in conventional, tight sand and carbonate reservoirs declined 10% (97 Tcf) from the last report, while shale resources climbed 29% (399 Tcf). CBM resources were mostly unchanged. Shale plays now account for 1,797 Tcf of the nation\u2019s total gas resources.\n\n\u201cNew exploration, more well drilling and continuous improvements in completion and stimulation technologies lead to better delineation and characterization of U.S. gas resources, especially in shale and tight reservoirs,\u201d said Alexei Milkov, director of the Colorado School of Mines\u2019 Potential Gas Agency (PGA). \u201cThe record gas resources assessed by the PGC, in addition to robust domestic production levels and booked reserves, paint a picture of strong supply of natural gas in the U.S. for many years to come.\u201d\n\nPGC\u2019s previous high assessment, recorded in the biennial report for 2014, estimated recoverable gas resources of 2,515 Tcf. Compared with year-end 2014, assessed traditional resources rose from 2,357 Tcf, an increase of 13% (301 Tcf), while CBM posted a nominal increase from 158 Tcf.\n\nIn determining the country\u2019s future supply of natural gas, the PGC tabulates probable, possible and speculative resources from recoverable gas totals. The committee then adds proved reserves from the EIA.\n\nMarket Constrained By Demand, Not Supply\n\nDuring a press conference at the American Gas Association (AGA) headquarters in Washington, DC, AGA\u2019s Chris McGill, vice president for energy analysis and standards, indicated the ongoing debate over several natural gas issues \u2014 such as the merits of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports and the increasing use of gas for power generation \u2014 could be shaped by the PGC\u2019s latest biennial report.\n\n\u201cWe do not believe that incremental elements of demand, like LNG and more gas for power generation growing over time, destroy the market for small volume users,\u201d McGill said. \u201cIn fact, if you look at recent history, particularly since the shale revolution, we have a market that\u2019s been demand constrained, not supply constrained. So from our point of view, we see some of these additional demands as a way to continue to balance the market and for the country to really realize the diversity and the size of this resource base that we have.\u201d\n\nMcGill added that LNG exports currently stand at slightly more than 2 Bcf/d, while exports to Mexico via pipeline are 4 Bcf/d. Domestic production is currently in the low 70s in terms of Bcf/d.\n\n\u201cThis report for us is a foundational component. It says that we\u2019re going to have gas available in the future,\u201d McGill said. \u201cBut do we have the technical, economic and policy will to produce it?\u201d\n\nPGC researchers divided the United States into seven work areas and 90 geologic provinces for the report. The Atlantic area, which includes the prolific Appalachian Basin\u2019s Marcellus and Utica shales, remained the richest gas area with 39% (1,048 Tcf) of technically recoverable volumes from traditional resources. The Gulf Coast was in second place at 20% (538 Tcf), followed by the Rocky Mountains at 17% (437 Tcf) and the Midcontinent at 14% (370 Tcf).\n\nThe PGA provides guidance and technical assistance to the PGC, an independent nonprofit of about 80 volunteers from the gas exploration, production, transportation and distribution industries, as well as in the field/technical services and consulting sectors. The PGA receives financial support from exploration and production companies, gas pipeline companies and distributors, and individuals.", "output": "Estimates of future potential natural gas supplies in the United States stood at a record 3,141 Tcf at the end of 2016, 64% of which is shale, according to a biennial report conducted by the Potential Gas Committee (PGC). Technically recoverable natural gas volumes rose 12% since the end of 2014 to a record 2,817 Tcf. Proven gas reserves were 324 Tcf. Traditional\u00a0gas resources,\u00a0including conventional, tight sand, carbonate and shale reservoirs,\u00a0accounted for 2,658 Tcf of the technically recoverable volumes, while coalbed methane made up the remaining 159 Tcf.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BlackRock renewables fund passes \u00a31bn \n Leading asset management group BlackRock has taken its Renewable Income UK fund up to \u00a31.1 billion, making it one of the largest single investments in renewable energy.\n\nThe fundraiser, for its third reopening, secured an additional \u00a3475million, building on the \u00a3600 million already invested in 40 wind and solar projects across the UK.\n\n70% of the investment was raised from BlackRock\u2019s existing partnerships while a proportion of the investment comes from British pension funds, highlighting the demand from the UK for renewable power income.\n\nManager of the fund, Rory O\u2019Conner said: \u201cThe successful fundraising for RIUK demonstrates the attraction for the Fund\u2019s stable and inflation-linked income profile in the current market environment\u201d.\n\nBlackRock said the investment opportunities are appealing to their clients as they benefit from immediate ownership of cash generating assets. It added: \u201cInvestors are turning to renewable energy assets to meet long-dated liabilities\u201d.\n\nCharlie Reid, BlackRock portfolio manager, said that it identified the attraction of the renewables platform early, adding that it is now the largest renewable investment fund in the UK.", "output": "BlackRock's Renewable Income UK fund has reached \u00a31.1bn after adding \u00a3475m in its latest reopening. It already has \u00a3600m invested in 40 wind and solar projects across the UK. BlackRock said their clients like investing in renewable energy because they benefit from immediate ownership of cash generating assets.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AC Energy, UPC Renewables partner on Indonesia projects \n A UNIT of AC Energy Holdings Inc. (AC Energy) has partnered with UPC Renewables Asia Pacific Holdings Ltd. and UPC Renewables for a power project in Indonesia.\n\n\u201cAC Energy International Holdings Pte Ltd. entered into a development funding arrangement with Asia I Ltd. for the development of small island power projects in Indonesia,\u201d AC Energy said.\n\nUnder the terms of the agreement, AC Energy International agreed to provide funding for the development of power-generation projects with sub-50-megawatt (MW) capacities. AC Energy will also have accompanying rights to participate in further construction funding of other Indonesian renewable-energy projects.\n\n\u201cThis agreement will broaden AC Energy\u2019s participation in the Indonesian market, as well as deepen our strategic partnership with UPC Renewables\u201d said Eric Francia, AC Energy president and CEO. \u201cIndonesia has huge unserved demand, especially in smaller islands, which this initiative aims to address.\u201d\n\nUPC Renewables\u2019s and AC Energy\u2019s partnership started in 2013 for the development, construction and operations of North Luzon Renewable Energy Corp., an 81-MW wind-farm project in Pagudpud, Ilocos-Norte. In January the two groups achieved financial closing in relation to their 75-MW Sidrap wind-farm joint venture project in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, which is the first-ever utility-scale wind-farm project in Indonesia with an expected operations date of February 2018.\n\nUPC Renewables is a leading global energy player that develops, finances, constructs, owns and operates a portfolio of renewable-energy generation assets. UPC Renewables with its partners have successfully developed and operated renewable-energy projects in Italy, the US, Canada, China and the Philippines. The announcement came after Francia\u2019s visit in Indonesia over the weekend.\n\nMeanwhile, AC Energy and Star Energy Geothermal Holdings Pte. Ltd. entered into definitive agreements for the transfer of 99 percent of their consortium interests in Acehi-Star Holdings Inc. (Acehi-Star) to AllFirst Equity Holdings Inc.\n\nAcehi-Star is a special purpose company that signed a share sale and purchase agreement with Chevron in December 2016 to acquire Chevron\u2019s Philippine geothermal assets subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions precedent, including the approval of the Philippine Competition Commission.", "output": "AC Energy and UPC Renewables will work together on the development of sub-50 MW small island power-generation projects in Indonesia.\u00a0The two companies worked together in\u00a02013 on\u00a0the development, construction and operation\u00a0an 81 MW wind-farm project in Pagudpud, Ilocos-Norte. In January, they raised money for a 75 MW Sidrap wind-farm joint venture project in South Sulawesi, Indonesia.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Greencoat Renewables raises \u20ac270m before stock listing \n Ireland Deals Matthew Ord\n\nIrish energy company Greencoat Renewables has raised \u20ac270m (\u00a3239m) ahead of its admission to the Irish Stock Exchange's ESM later this month (July 2017).\n\nThe company will issue 270 million ordinary shares on 25 July at an issue price of \u20ac1 each.\n\nOn admission, Greencoat Renewables will be the first renewable energy infrastructure company to list on the Irish Stock Exchange.\n\nR\u00f3n\u00e1n Murphy, non-executive chairman of Greencoat Renewables, said: \"The significant oversubscription means a total capital raise of \u20ac270m, which underlines the strength of our investment case.\n\n\"We are very pleased to welcome our new institutional shareholders to the register alongside the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and AIB.\"\n\nBertrand Gautier, partner of investment manager Greencoat Capital, added: \"The positive reaction from investors and success of the initial offering is testament to the opportunity that the Irish renewable energy market presents.\n\n\"The capital raised will allow the company to pursue its investment policy and grow a Euro denominated renewable energy business of scale, focusing initially on the Irish onshore wind market.\"", "output": "Irish energy company Greencoat Renewables has raised \u20ac270m ($314m) before a planned listing on the Irish Stock Exchange's ESM later in July. That would make it the\u00a0first clean\u00a0energy infrastructure company to list on the Irish exchange.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Continental to run autonomous vehicle tests in Frankfurt \n Along with the big auto manufacturers, a group of automotive suppliers is working to bring autonomous vehicles to our roads. Continental, which also has concepts designed to improve in-car audio and security, will be running a concept autonomous car around its Frankfurt facility to try and fine-tune the way driverless cars navigate the complex city environment.\n\nThe vehicle that will be used in the Frankfurt trial is the Continental Urban mobility Experience demo vehicle, or CUbE for short. That name is certainly apt from the outside, where the desire for maximum interior space has dictated a featureless, boxy shape.\n\nVarious technologies in the car are more advanced versions of driver assistance systems and sensors already found in current production vehicles, which will be further advanced to provide fully autonomous capabilities. Continental says the vehicle also includes new technologies, such as a laser sensor.\n\nAnticipating that autonomous vehicles are perfectly placed to become part of the sharing economy in the form of robo-taxis, Continental believes there will be an even greater emphasis on vehicle interiors. Comfort and coziness will be the order of the day, while scratch- and stain-resistant materials \u2013 all responsibly sourced, of course \u2013 will also be important.\n\nContinental Urban mobility Experience demo vehicle, or CUbE for short Continental AG\n\nContinental sees self-driving taxis as an obvious application for autonomous vehicles, particularly in cities such as Berlin, where the company says the average daily distance traveled by car is 20.2 km (12.5 mi) spread across three trips a day. As a result, when they aren't clogging up roads, cars are sitting idle for most of the day \u2013 be it parked on the road, in a garage or at a station carpark. Autonomous cars don't need to be stored during the day, they can simply drop one person off and continue going about their day, freeing up plenty of space.\n\n\"It's much more intelligent operating driverless vehicles as often as possible, than having countless private cars that are often at a standstill up to an average of 23 hours a day occupying valuable space \u2013 and that's space that could perhaps be used for parks and playgrounds,\" says Dr. Andree Hohm, Head of the Self-Driving Car project at Continental.\n\nThe CuBE will be trialed in typical city infrastructure at Continental's Frankfurt facility, and will be on display at the Frankfurt Motor Show, which kicks off September 14.\n\nSource: Continental", "output": "Automotive supplier Continental\u00a0plans to run autonomous vehicle tests near its Frankfurt facility. The vehicle in question is the\u00a0Continental Urban mobility Experience demo vehicle (CUbE), designed for maximum interior space. The German company sees ride-hailing services as the driving\u00a0factor behind the adoption of autonomous vehicles, and has\u00a0emphasised the role of comfort in their design.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cybersecurity tops investment advisers' concerns for fourth year \n Cybersecurity remains the top concern for registered investment advisors, with 86% of respondents in a just-released poll by the Investment Adviser Association flagging \u201ccybersecurity/privacy/identity theft\u201d as their \u201chottest\u201d compliance topic for the fourth year.\n\nThe 2017 Investment Management Compliance Testing Survey, released Tuesday and conducted jointly by the IAA, ACA Compliance Group, and OMAM, a global multi-boutique asset management company, polled 599 advisors in April and May on their biggest compliance headaches.\n\nCompliance with the Securities and Exchange Commission\u2019s Custody Rule was the second hottest compliance topic (26%) after cybersecurity \u2013 which IAA said was \u201cnot surprising\u201d given concerns raised by recent SEC staff guidance about the rule.\n\nTwenty-one percent of respondents also noted \u201cregulatory reporting\u201d (e.g., Form ADV) \u2013 a big jump in that category from 4% last year.\n\nDeficiencies in required regulatory filings \u2013 including disclosures on Form ADV Part 1A or in Form ADV Part 2A brochures \u2013 was cited as the second-biggest compliance failure during SEC exams.\n\nLast year, the SEC adopted amendments to Form ADV designed to provide more information regarding advisors, including about their separately managed account business, a method for private fund advisor entities operating a single advisory business to register using a single Form ADV, as well as clarifying, technical and other amendments. The effective date of the Form ADV changes takes place on Oct. 1.\n\nWhen asked how prepared firms are for the new Form ADV reporting amendments, 35% indicated that they are progressing with their implementation efforts and expect to be ready by the compliance deadline, the poll found, while 30% reported being in the early stages of their implementation efforts.", "output": "Some 86% of registered investment advisers said they are most concerned about the role of cybersecurity, privacy and identity in compliance, according to a poll from the Investment Adviser Association. The topic ranked as advisers' biggest compliance concern for the fourth year. Meanwhile, 26% of advisers identified compliance with the Securities and Exchange Commission's Custody Rule as a concern. Whereas \"regulatory reporting\" was a concern among just 4% of advisers last year, more than 21% recognised the topic this year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FCA receives report on transparency failings at St James's Place \n Which? has handed the FCA the findings from its probe into St James\u2019s Place, which allegedly found advisers \u201cfailing to comply with transparency rules on the disclosure of charges\u201d.\n\nThe investigative magazine reported that it found \u2018questionable\u2019 and \u2018nonsense\u2019 claims from some advisers.\n\nUndercover researchers from Which? held 12 meetings with SJP advisers.\n\nThe researchers said they \u201cwere shocked that a quarter of the advisers we saw didn\u2019t admit they weren\u2019t IFAs\u201d.\n\nIt found some advisers \u201cmisleading potential customers about the nature of their services, which are limited compared to those offered by independent financial advisers\u201d.\n\nThe Which? report stated: \u201cWith several advisers not telling people what they\u2019d charge \u2013 and in other cases providing low estimates, our investigation suggests it\u2019s near impossible to make an informed decision when comparing your local SJP adviser to alternative options. We have shared our findings with the FCA.\u201d\n\nThe latest Financial Planning Today magazine is out and available to read below...https://t.co/BBvoXy7IWj pic.twitter.com/wOeisaeG7P \u2014 FP Today Magazine (@FPTodayMagazine) July 17, 2017\n\nThe report cited one exchange with an adviser as showing a \u2018nonsense\u2019 claim.\n\nIt stated: \u201cOne described SJP\u2019s charges by saying \u2018there\u2019re no charges, there\u2019re no fees, the only thing is, if you do anything, that\u2019s when I would get paid.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe report said: \u201cSJP told us that it \u2018does not believe that being restricted is in any way inferior to being independent,\u2019 but the paperwork provided by its advisers tells a different story, noting independent advisers have an obligation to make recommendations \u2018based on a comprehensive and fair analysis of the market\u2019 \u2013 while there\u2019s no similar obligation for providers of restricted advice.\u201d\n\nThe report concluded: \u201cMany SJP customers are happy with the service they get \u2013 but our investigation raises serious questions about whether they can make an informed decision about what they get, what they pay, and what they might get elsewhere.\n\n\u201cTheir initial charges alone are \u00a32,500 on a \u00a350,000. An IFA doing a similar job might charge \u00a31,500 according to unbiased.co.uk, and the latter would be compelled to look at the whole market and consider fund charges when making recommendations.\n\n\u201cSJP\u2019s expensive alternative pushes customers into a closed market where they can sell expensive funds as advisers are free to ignore cheaper or better alternatives.\u201d\n\nResearchers also claimed that while \u201cif you look at what you could have earned elsewhere, SJP\u2019s performance is nothing special\u201d.\n\nSJP was contacted by Financial Planning Today for comment on the findings from the Which? report and it released a statement from CEO David Bellamy, which read: \u201cSt. James\u2019s Place offers high quality, face to face, financial advice, evidenced by 98% of clients who said our services represent reasonable, good or excellent value-for-money \u2013 with 81% good or excellent.\n\n\u201cOur advisers are committed to putting clients\u2019 interests first and we will continue to provide the excellent service to clients that has underpinned our growth over the past 25 years.\u201d\n\nThe full report is on the Which? website.", "output": "Consumer magazine Which? has alleged that advisers at wealth management firm St James\u2019s Place \"failed to comply with transparency rules on the disclosure of charges\", according to a damning report handed to the Financial Conduct Authority. Through 12 meetings with undercover reporters,\u00a0the magazine's investigation found that \"a quarter of the advisers didn\u2019t admit they weren\u2019t independent financial advisers\", and some presented\u00a0\"questionable\" and \"nonsense\" claims, misleading potential customers about the nature of their services.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Esko Bionics targets UK construction with exoskeleton \n Construction workers could soon have a taste of a superhero's strength, thanks to a robotic vest that is designed to prevent injuries on building sites.\n\nThe futuristic device is a miniature version of an exoskeleton, like the one worn by Iron Man in the Marvel comic's movie franchise.\n\nThe power suit will allow workers to spend long days lifting materials and holding tools at awkward angles without the associated physical stresses.\n\nIt could revolutionise the trade according to its creators and prevent ageing bricklayers and others from keeling over on the job.\n\nA full body version could also become available for the full Tony Stark experience.\n\nScroll down for video\n\nConstruction workers could soon have a taste of a superhero's strength, thanks to a robotic vest that is designed to prevent injuries on building sites. Built by Ekso, the power suit will be one of a number of new technologies being introduced next year (heavy tool support pictured)\n\nBIONIC WORKERS Construction workers could soon have a taste of a superhero's strength, thanks to a robotic vest that is designed to prevent injuries on building sites. The futuristic device is a miniature version of an exoskeleton, like the one worn by Tony Stark in Marvel's Iron-Man franchise. The power suit will allow workers to spend long days lifting materials and holding tools at awkward angles without the associated physical stresses. Esko Bionics, based in Richmond, California, is bringing a number of innovative products to the UK to help to tackle a number of challenges faced by the country's construction industry. The Zero G will help builders using heavy power tools and the Ekso Vest will take the strain of holding heavy items and working for prolonged periods with hand held tools. And by the end of 2019, a full body version could be available to allow builders to carry heavy loads around a site without the need for specialist vehicles. Advertisement !- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/ru/sciencetech/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 - ->\n\nEsko Bionics, based in Richmond, California, is bringing a number of products to the UK to help to tackle some of the challenges faced by the country's construction industry.\n\nFrom March 2018, the Zero G will help builders using heavy power tools, weighing up to 35lbs (16kg), making them weightless through a gravity balancing arm.\n\nThe Ekso Vest is a smaller, personal, version of this technology, which will take the strain of holding heavy items and working for prolonged periods with hand held tools.\n\nAnd by the end of 2019 a full body version, similar to the Iron Man suit, could be available to allow builders to carry heavy loads around a site without the need for specialist vehicles.\n\nThe Ekso Vest is expected to cost around $5,000 (\u00a33,800) and the full suit around \u00a310,000 (\u00a37,700).\n\nThe vest elevates and supports a worker's arms to assist them with tasks ranging from chest height to overhead.\n\nIt weighs 9.5lbs (4.3kg) and can support loads of between five and 15lbs (2.2 to 6.8kg) per arm.\n\nIt has already been tested out on hundreds of building sites in the US, with positive results.\n\nThe company claims workplaces experience fewer on-site injuries while tasks are completed faster and with higher quality results.\n\nAround 30 per cent of bricklayers in the UK are over-50 and 700,000 are expected to retire over the next decade, according to reports in The Times\n\nThere are also fears that the impact of Brexit is likely to mean workers from eastern-Europe, relied on by the industry, will return to their home countries.\n\nAll of this could mean a massive shortage of builders in the coming years.\n\nThe new bionic tools being introduced by Esko could allow people who were traditionally unable to enter the trade to sign up.\n\nSpeaking to The Times Tom Mastaler, the company's senior vice-president for business development, said: 'Exoskeletons will allow staff to work for longer and more safely and help to solve a demographic crisis in the construction industry.\n\nThe vest (left) weighs 9.5lbs (4.3kg) and can support loads of between five and 15lbs (2.2 to 6.8kg) per arm. By the end of 2019 a full body version, similar to the Iron Man suit (right), could be available\n\n'They'll also change forever the kind of body types that can work in heavy-duty construction.\n\n'In future women will be able to do the jobs that men now do because of the support that exoskeletons can provide their bodies to handle great weights.\n\n'Future generations will also look forward to not suffering the kind of damaging body problems today's constructions workers face.'\n\nExoskeletons, taken from the Greek word meaning 'outer skeleton', are inspired by the hardened shells of the insect world and involve a frame of hydraulics.\n\nEkso has previously hit the headlines for their work with both military and medical exoskeletons. Their Hulc exoskeleton for the lower body (pictured) is powered by a lithium-ion battery that works to redistribute the weight across the hips and legs.\n\nFull body bionic suits developed by the firm have also enabled people who have been paralysed in accidents to regain the use of their legs (pictured)\n\nEXOSKELTONS Exoskeletons, taken from the Greek word meaning 'outer skeleton', are inspired by the hardened shells of the insect world and involve a frame of hydraulics. These magnify the leg and arm movements of the wearer, allowing them to take more effortless strides and carry greater weights. Military exoskeletons trialled as far back as the 1960s, such as General Electric's Hardiman, were able to increase the magnitude by a factor of 25. This made lifting 25lb (11kg) loads as easy for the wearer as lifting 1lb (0.5kg). These projects were ultimately unsuccessful but exoskeletons are increasingly becoming a reality in many walks of life. Advertisement !- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/ru/sciencetech/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_2 - ->\n\nThese magnify the leg and arm movements of the wearer, allowing them to take more effortless strides and carry greater weights.\n\nMilitary exoskeletons trialled as far back as the 1960s, such as General Electric's Hardiman, were able to increase the magnitude by a factor of 25.\n\nThis made lifting 25lb (11kg) loads as easy for the wearer as lifting 1lb (0.5kg).\n\nThe also had force feedback, similar to an XBox or PlayStation controller, so the operator could get an idea of the resistance that he or she was experiencing.\n\nThese projects were ultimately unsuccessful as the early exoskeletons reacted unpredictably, and sometimes violently, to anything less than gentle movements.\n\nBut they are increasingly becoming a reality in many walks of life.\n\nEkso has previously hit the headlines for their work with both military and medical exoskeletons.\n\nTheir Hulc exoskeleton for the lower body, developed with Lockheed Martin, is powered by a lithium-ion battery that works to redistribute the weight across the hips and legs.\n\nThis allows its operator to comfortably carry 200lbs (91kg) with less effort.\n\nFull body bionic suits developed by the firm have also enabled people who have been paralysed in accidents to regain the use of their legs.", "output": "Esko Bionics is branching out into the UK with an array of exoskeleton products set to be available from March next year. Its Zero G balancing arm can help builders using heavy tools, and the Ekso Vest provides upper body strength and support to help carry and transport heavier items. A full body suit is also expected to be available at some stage, offering powerful support for workers, with reduced physical stress.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK Transport Secretary backs Crossrail 2 \n T he \u00a330 billion Crossrail 2 project took a major step forwards today as Chris Grayling confirmed that he supported the scheme.\n\nThe Transport Secretary said there was no doubt London needed new infrastructure in order to retain its status as the UK\u2019s economic powerhouse.\n\nHis remarks will calm nerves among London politicians and businesses that the Government had gone cool on the capital\u2019s flagship infrastructure project.\n\nThere had been fears the scheme could be derailed by competing pressures from the North after it was left out of the Tory manifesto and Queen\u2019s Speech.\n\nWhat is Crossrail 2?\n\nYet despite the Transport Secretary\u2019s backing for the major north-south rail link there remain concerns about how it will be funded.\n\nMr Grayling said: \"I am a supporter of Crossrail 2\" / Getty Images\n\nMr Grayling said: \u201cI am a supporter of Crossrail 2 but given its price tag we have to ensure that we get this right\u201d.\n\nHe issued a joint statement with Mayor Sadiq Khan announcing plans to work together on a financial package ahead of this autumn\u2019s Budget.\n\nTransport for London was already expecting to pay for at least half of the cost of the project - but much of it in arrears, as with Crossrail 1.\n\nHowever, the Department for Transport has now said it wants half of the construction costs paid for up-front.\n\nMr Grayling added: \u201cThe Mayor and I have agreed to work together on it over the coming months to develop plans that are as strong as possible, so that the public gets an affordable scheme that is fair to the UK taxpayer.\u201d\n\nThis would be followed by a fresh public consultation on issues including the route.\n\nCrossrail 2 is embroiled in a series of disputes over the location of stations, with major local opposition to proposed stops at Chelsea and Wimbledon.\n\nMr Khan added: \u201cCrossrail 2 is essential for the future prosperity of London and the South East, so I\u2019m pleased that the Transport Secretary and I have reached an agreement to take this vital project forward.\n\n\u201cWe will continue to work together to ensure the project is value for money and provides the maximum benefits for jobs and growth in the region over coming decades.\u201d\n\nCrossrail 2 is seen as critical to London\u2019s future rapid growth and will unlock an estimated 200,000 new homes and 200,000 jobs.\n\nBusiness groups welcomed the announcement. David Leam, infrastructure director of London First, said: \u201cWith this joint statement, Crossrail 2 has moved forward - from whether we do it to how we do it.\n\n\u201cThe Government\u2019s funding ambition is a challenging one but London business will play its part in developing an affordable funding package, as we did with Crossrail 1.\u201d\n\nThe announcement follows a meeting between the two politicians last week that was described as \u201cconstructive\u201d, marking a thaw in relations after disagreements over the devolution of suburban rail.", "output": "UK Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has thrown his weight behind the \u00a330bn ($39bn) Crossrail 2 scheme, allaying fears among proponents of\u00a0London's\u00a0flagship infrastructure project after it was omitted from the Queen's Speech. In a joint statement with Mayor Sadiq Khan, Grayling said the two would work on a financial package ahead of this autumn\u2019s Budget, after the Department for Transport said it requires half of the construction costs paid\u00a0upfront. A fresh public consultation period will follow.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nick Dunning Associates acquires London agent Stirling Ackroyd \n In a statement this morning, Nick Dunning Associates says it will invest in the Stirling Ackroyd brand and branch network through a refurbishment and infrastructure upgrade programme.\n\nStirling Ackroyd was established 30 years ago and now has a network of offices in Bankside, Clerkenwell, Hackney, West End and Chatsworth Road, alongside the original Shoreditch branch.\n\nIt says it will also seek to treble the business in size in three years, through organic growth and acquisition.\n\nThis is the third acquisition for Nick Dunning Associates, following the purchase of Adams Property in June and Badger Holdings Group in January.\n\nNick Dunning, chief executive of Nick Dunning Associates says: \"We are very excited about this acquisition and delighted to be able to make this announcement. Stirling Ackroyd is a well-known and successful agency in London with a committed and loyal team behind it. We hope to grow the business over the next few years and further increase its presence in the city fringes and beyond.\"\n\nNick Dunning Associates launched in late 2016. Working with a private equity investor, it says it intends to become \"a new scale player\" in the agency industry and in lettings in particular by purchasing around 20 letting focussed businesses every year for the next five years in a buy and build play.\n\nThe leadership team consists of chief executive Nick Dunning, sales director Graham Harrison, commercial director Matt Hewitt and chief financial officer Julian Irby, all of whom worked together at Countrywide in the past.", "output": "Property leasing and management services firm Nick Dunning Associates has acquired London property agency Stirling Ackroyd, as part of its buy and build programme. Established 30 years ago, Stirling Ackroyd comprises six branches. As well as implementing a refurbishment and infrastructure upgrade scheme, Nick Dunning Associates said it plans to treble the size of the business over the next three years\u00a0via acquisitions and organic growth.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow works with RSPB to improve biodiversity around Caddington Woods development \n Redrow is working with the RSPB to improve biodiversity in and around its Caddington Woods development.\n\nThe show home gardens are interlinked with lots of features designed to demonstrate how homeowners can encourage wildlife to thrive in their own gardens.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe gardens also present lots of opportunities for children to learn about different species\u2019 habitats as pupils from The Vale Academy in Dunstable discovered.\n\nHead of school Kate Hooft said: \u201cThe children of Year 5 thoroughly enjoyed their visit to Caddington Woods, where they took part in a nature trail searching for creepy crawlies and learnt lots of fascinating facts about the development from the site manager.", "output": "Redrow Homes has partnered with the\u00a0Royal Society for the Protection of Birds to improve the understanding of biodiversity in and around the area of its Caddington Woods development. Inviting children from the Vale Academy in Dunstable, Redrow's show garden, including\u00a0hedgehog highways and bug hotels, offered an ideal field trip for children.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "edX taps Examity for online learning procturing \n Online Testing\n\nExamity to Provide Online Proctoring for Open edX Platform\n\nThis fall, courses delivered on the Open edX platform will be able to incorporate live, recorded or fully automated proctoring from online proctoring and identify verification company Examity. As the learning experience platform that powers Harvard- and MIT-founded MOOC provider edX, Open edX serves courses offered by thousands of partners on Open edX sites, reaching more than 12 million students worldwide, according to a news release.\n\nExamity's online proctoring platform will be integrated into Open edX, giving the organization's partner institutions a suite of verification options suitable for various course types and student populations. \"EdX has been a pioneer in increasing access to high-quality educational opportunities for learners worldwide through online learning,\" noted Michael London, founder and CEO of Examity, in a statement. \"Our platform makes us uniquely suited to the multitude of platforms and modalities that Open edX schools require for not just reliable proctoring and ID verifications, but also insights and analytics to better understand and improve academic integrity in online assessments.\"\n\n\"We are excited to welcome Examity to the Open edX community,\" said Anant Agarwal, edX CEO and MIT professor, in a statement. \"As the ecosystem of companies offering online learning continues to expand, the need for tools and technology to ensure academic integrity becomes even more important. It is energizing to see organizations like Examity lead the charge toward developing innovative tools that can tackle this challenge.\"\n\nFor more information, visit the Examity site.", "output": "Open edX, the platform behind Harvard- and MIT-founded MOOC provider edX, has partnered with identify-verification company Examity to offer live, recorded or fully automated proctoring, beginning in the autumn, according to a company statement. Open edX will integrate Examity's online proctoring platform, offering users a suite of verification options according to course type and student requirement.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google Glass finds fresh uses in the healthcare industry \n Google Glass didn\u2019t go over well in the consumer space.\n\nBut now it\u2019s turned its eyes to the business market, looking to industries like manufacturing and healthcare for renewed success.\n\nLast week, Google unveiled Glass Enterprise Edition, a new version of the technology catered to the workplace.\n\nA recent blog post by the team at X (formerly known as Google X) detailed exactly what Google Glass is: \u201ca very small, lightweight wearable computer with a transparent display that brings information into your line of sight.\u201d\n\nGlass Enterprise Edition amps up the wearable\u2019s initial capabilities. It allows users to \u201c[a]ccess training videos, images annotated with instructions, or quality assurance checklists that help [people] get the job done, safely, quickly and to a higher standard,\u201d according to the Glass website.\n\nUndeniably, that could have a positive impact on healthcare. And that\u2019s why hospitals and health systems are catching on.\n\nOne such system is San Francisco, California-based Dignity Health. By utilizing Glass and a \u201cremote scribe\u201d application from Augmedix, providers can have more direct contact with their patients. They simply wear the device and instead of taking notes themselves, they can have confidence that all the record keeping is being done for them.\n\nDignity\u2019s CMIO Davin Lundquist told X that Glass has significantly cut down on the amount of note taking providers have to do. In fact, the technology has reduced the amount of time clinicians spend on administrative work from 33 percent of their day to less than 10 percent.\n\nSutter Health in Sacramento, California, is also relying on Glass and Augmedix to enhance the lives of its providers. Albert Chan, a physician and chief of digital patient experience at Sutter, told X that with the technology, clinicians have seen a two-hour decrease in the daily amount of time they have to focus on patient record keeping.\n\nIn a recent blog post, Augmedix CEO and cofounder Ian Shakil said health systems such as Cincinnati, Ohio-based TriHealth; Englewood, Colorado-based Catholic Health Initiatives; Bangor-based Eastern Maine Medical Center and Wilmington, Delaware-based Christiana Care are making use of Glass Enterprise Edition and Augmedix as well.\n\nGlass Enterprise Edition\u2019s release comes after good news for Glass startup Augmedix. In April 2016, the San Francisco-based company closed a $17 million funding round. Investments came from Sutter Health, Dignity Health, CHI and TriHealth.\n\nPhoto: aislan13, Getty Images", "output": "Google Glass may not have fared well among consumers, but it has found a role\u00a0in the healthcare industry. Google said its\u00a0workplace-targeted Glass Enterprise Edition helps people \"to\u00a0get a job done safely and quickly\". San Francisco-based Dignity Health uses Glass in combination with a \"remote-scribe\" application from Augmedix. Instead of taking notes themselves, healthcare providers can wear Glass to keep records automatically and significantly reduce administration\u00a0time. Glass said the technology can be used to \"access training videos, images annotated with instructions\u00a0or quality assurance checklists\".\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IoT take-up will turn real estate brokers into tech strategists \n The commercial real estate (CRE) industry is on the verge of a major disruption: the Internet of Things (IoT). Technology is making its way into an industry that historically lacks the innovative spirit, and we\u2019re beginning to see a drastic change in what it means to be a real estate broker. As client needs evolve, brokers must develop new skills to keep up with the changing technology landscape and remain competitive.\n\nThe Evolving Commercial Real Estate Landscape\n\nToday, many offices and industrial properties throughout the U.S. are old and outdated. They are costing owners and tenants huge amounts of money and, in many cases, hindering business growth. These assets are dead and play no role in advancing the strategies your board and management team have set forth, thus hurting overall enterprise performance.\n\nIn this age of innovation, buildings should have the capacity to work in alignment with your business objectives, helping to achieve your goals and improve operational efficiency. What if the building you are sitting in right now had the ability to work with you and your employees to understand trends, optimize work environments and increase revenue?\n\nThe good news is that it can. Welcome to the 21st-century real estate deal.\n\nThe Internet of Things Brings Buildings to Life\n\nLook closely at an older, historic building. Observe its structure, entrance doors, lobby, elevators, parking area and office space. Notice anything? Probably not, because that building is dead. It is just sitting there, doing nothing, providing no additional value to the occupants inside.\n\nImagine if that building were alive. What if the building could communicate with your business and help achieve your goals? The IoT is allowing organizations to bring both office and industrial buildings to life.\n\nBuildings are generating data every second of every day, and it\u2019s up to today\u2019s real estate brokers to help their clients capture and understand that data. Whether it\u2019s the HVAC system adjusting the temperature throughout the day, manufacturing equipment running and shutting off as needed, or a security system logging when an employee enters or leaves the premises, buildings can now provide value-added insights that can help management make more informed business decisions.\n\nTo make these smart decisions, your building must be a part of your corporate growth strategy. It can be a tool to accelerate growth and reduce operational expenditures. With this in mind, organizations need to be aware of the benefits of utilizing smart building technologies. In a warehouse, building automation can give organizations complete visibility into their supply chain, increase delivery accuracy, modernize storage strategies, drastically cut utility cost and increase customer satisfaction.\n\nFrom an office perspective, smart building technology creates a more collaborative work space for employees, and increases productivity and performance. Imagine if you pulled into your assigned parking space and the building knew you were there. Your office computer and lights turn on, climate control is set to the way you like it, and your coffeemaker brews you a cup of coffee. These things are all possible with connected devices.\n\nRevolutionizing Commercial Real Estate\n\nCurrently, the CRE industry is very transaction-focused. A broker represents a client, finds what he or she needs and collects a paycheck. But this era of transactional real estate will soon come to an end, and the IoT is a major reason why.\n\nThe IoT is forcing commercial real estate brokers to acquire a new, more sophisticated skill set rooted in technology, cybersecurity and innovation. Nowadays, clients require brokers to be more than just real estate experts \u2014 they must also be technology strategists that can help clients acquire buildings that support their corporate technology goals.\n\nCompanies can gain a noticeable competitive advantage by using a real estate broker who understands the market, and who can work with them to design a building automation strategy that supports business goals.\n\nThe Internet of Things Is Here\n\nDisruption is coming to the commercial real estate industry. According to a white paper from IDC and SAP, 60 percent of global manufacturers will use data collected from IoT devices to optimize their processes this year. The report also predicted a 15 percent boost in delivery and supply chain productivity by 2018 thanks to the IoT. Another IDC report estimated that global IoT spending would reach $1.29 trillion by 2020, with an annual growth rate of 15.6 percent.\n\nIn other words, the IoT is here and changing the commercial real estate industry for the better. Clients want and need brokers who understand this change. Navigating the markets and negotiating deals is not nearly enough. To assist in the transformation of business processes at both the office and industrial level, clients need a true strategic partner and broker who brings a technological skill set to the table.\n\nTo put it simply, if you wish to remain competitive in the commercial real estate industry during the age of the IoT, you have only one option: Disrupt yourself before the competition does it for you.\n\nListen to the podcast: When We Don\u2019t Know What We Don\u2019t Know \u2014 Connected Cars, Smart Homes and IoT Security", "output": "The take-up of the internet of things (IoT) will turn commercial real estate brokers into technology strategists. The IoT will be one of the main reasons behind the transformation of the transaction-based industry, as it forces brokers to acquire a new, more sophisticated skillset rooted in technology, cybersecurity\u00a0and innovation. In addition to traditional real estate skills, brokers can help clients meet their corporate technology goals by assisting them in acquiring smart buildings.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Coalition To Trump: Include HSA Policy In Final Drug Executive Order \n A broad coalition of health care stakeholders is urging the White House to include a provision that would expand the services that consumers can purchase with pre-tax health savings account dollars prior to hitting the deductible in the final version of an expected drug-pricing executive drug order. The provision, which was included in the draft order leaked last month , aims to help individuals with chronic conditions by letting people use the pre-deductible funds to pay for services, including medication,...", "output": "A broad coalition of health care stakeholders is urging the White House to include a provision that would expand the services that consumers can purchase with pre-tax health savings account dollars prior to hitting the deductible in the final version of an expected drug-pricing executive drug order. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, California come to agreement on mental health services \n Kaiser Permanente's health plan and California's Department of Managed Health Care have come to an agreement to settle years-long allegations that the plan fell short on access to mental health services.\n\nThe Kaiser Foundation Health Plan allegedly did not not provide enrollees with timely access to behavioral health treatment. This was in violation of California law that requires insurers to provide patients access to a medical appointment within 48 hours for an urgent problem, or within 10 business days for a non-urgent issue.\n\nThe Kaiser health plan was fined millions, and on July 12 and 18, it signed a stipulated settlement agreement with the state.\n\nThe agreement sets deadlines for benchmarks for a corrective action plan that if not reached, will result in Kaiser Foundation Health Plan being fined $75,000 to $100,000 for each violation.\n\nSince the California's Department of Managed Health Care issued a final report on March 6, 2013, Kaiser has taken steps to beef up its behavioral health services.\n\n[Also: CMS to address telehealth reimbursement in future behavioral health payment and delivery models]\n\nKaiser Foundation Health Plan has invested in hiring 850 additional behavioral health therapists statewide, about 188 behavioral health physicians and made contracts with additional external behavioral health provider groups to improve access, according to the agreement. It has made capital investments in additional buildings, medical offices, leased office space and remodeled space to accommodate the new hires and has implemented a mental health awareness campaign aimed at reducing the stigma and expanding the number of enrollees who seek mental health services.\n\nThe agreement was signed on July 12, signed by the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and on July 18 by the Department of Managed Health Care.\n\nIn 2013, Kaiser agreed to pay a $4 million fine for several deficiencies in the plan's delivery of mental health services. In 2015, the state found that some Kaiser patients still had to wait weeks or even months to see a psychiatrist or a therapist.\n\n[Also: After $4 million fine in 2013, Kaiser Permanente cited again for mental health access problems]\n\nThe Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Innovation Center is in the process of designing a payment model to reimburse Medicare and Medicaid providers for telehealth behavioral health services and to address issues such as treatment for opioid abuse, mental health and Alzheimer's disease.\n\n\n\nTwitter: @SusanJMorse", "output": "Kaiser Permanente's health plan and California's Department of Managed Health Care have come to an agreement to settle years-long allegations that the plan fell short on access to mental health services.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Centralized patient-centered medical home may reduce burden on practices \n Save\n\nThis article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.\n\nCentralized patient-centered medical home may reduce burden on practices\n\nSource/Disclosures Source: Fleming NS, et al. J Am Board Fam Med. 2017;doi:10.3122/jabfm.2017.04.170039. ADD TOPIC TO EMAIL ALERTS Receive an email when new articles are posted on . Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on Subscribe ADDED TO EMAIL ALERTS You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.\n\n\n\nClick Here to Manage Email Alerts You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.\n\n\n\nClick Here to Manage Email Alerts\n\n\n\nBack to Healio We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.\n\n\n\nBack to Healio\n\nAlthough centralized patient-centered medical homes reduce burden on practices, overall time and cost remain significant and should be weighed against the mixed evidence regarding their impact on quality and costs of care, according to research published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.\n\n\u201cEvidence regarding the impact of the [patient-centered medical home (PCMH)] model on quality of care, health resource utilization, and outcomes has been gradually accumulating. However, little information is available regarding the time, effort, and costs involved,\u201d Neil S. Fleming, MD, Robbins Institute for Health Policy and Leadership, Baylor University, and colleagues wrote.\n\n\u201cSuch information is critical to primary care providers engaged in decisions about whether (or when) to commit to PCMH transformation so that they can anticipate the demands and allocate resources accordingly in order to ensure minimal disruption of patient care and the practice's financial health,\u201d they added.\n\nFleming and colleagues noted that many primary care physicians may need to reconsider the PCMH option when the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, or MACRA, of 2015 comes into effect this year, as PCMH recognition from a national third-party program is an avenue that guarantees physicians following the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System pathway full credit in the Clinical Improvement Activities portion of the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System score.\n\nResearchers performed structured interviews with corporate leaders, office managers, physicians and practice administrators from a conventional sample of practices regarding time spent on PCMH transformation and National Committee for Quality Assurance application, and related purchases between October 2014 and October 2015. According to Fleming and colleagues, the time period was chosen to capture both initial PCMH transformation and renewal experiences.\n\nResearchers then developed and sent a survey to 57 primary care practices across Texas that consisted of four blocks of questions. This allowed for the fact that some respondents were not involved in PCMH transformation and renewal experiences, recognition or recertification at all, whereas others participated in one or the other or both. Direct costs were estimated as time spent multiplied by average hourly wage for the relevant job category, plus observed expenditures.\n\nResearchers estimated that corporate costs for HealthTexas \u2014 a fee-for-service ambulatory care provider network affiliated with a not-for-profit health care system in north and central Texas \u2014for initial National Committee for Quality Assurance recognition (2010\u20132012) were $1,508,503. The estimated costs for renewal (2014\u20132016) were $346,617. The Care Coordination resource costs were an additional ongoing $390,790 per year. A theoretical five-physician HealthTexas practice spent an estimated 239.5 hours ($10,669) obtaining, and 110.5 hours ($4,957) renewing, recognition.\n\nPAGE BREAK\n\n\u201cBecause no previous studies have, to our knowledge, examined PCMH transformation and [National Committee for Quality Assurance] recognition in a large physician network providing central support for the process, comparison of our results with those in the literature is difficult,\u201d Fleming and colleagues wrote.\n\nThe researchers added that future studies should address the extent to which practices were \u201ctransformed\u201d through the PCMH recognition process, as well as whether attaining PCMH recognition is a truly a representation of the PCMH model being meaningfully implemented. \u2013 by Janel Miller\n\nDisclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.", "output": "Although centralized patient-centered medical homes reduce burden on practices, overall time and cost remain significant and should be weighed against the mixed evidence regarding their impact on quality and costs of care, according to research published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CMS to address telehealth reimbursement in future behavioral health payment and delivery models \n Providers and insurers are paying more attention to behavioral health reimbursement, especially as the opioid crisis fills hospital beds and emergency rooms.\n\nThe Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Innovation Center is designing potential payment and service delivery models focused on behavioral health and the use of telehealth-enabled care.\n\nThe behavioral health models will focus on opioid abuse and other substance use disorders, serious mental illness, mental health disorders in the presence of co-occurring conditions, dementia and Alzheimer's disease.\n\nAn upcoming CMS Innovation Center Behavioral Health Payment and Care Delivery Innovation Summit will also address behavioral health workforce challenges, the integration of services and Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement for telehealth-enabled care.\n\nThe behavioral health summit will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday, Sept. 8 to get feedback from professionals and members of the public in the design of a payment model and service delivery model. The summit will be held at the CMS Central Office in Baltimore, Maryland.\n\nParticipants will be invited to present recommendations for payment or care delivery and share experiences of delivering behavioral health services.\n\n\"The opinions and alternatives provided during this meeting will assist us as we explore the possibility of developing a model to address behavioral health payment and care delivery,\" CMMI said.\n\nTwitter: @SusanJMorse", "output": "Providers and insurers are paying more attention to behavioral health reimbursement, especially as the opioid crisis fills hospital beds and emergency rooms. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Innovation Center is designing potential payment and service delivery models focused on behavioral health and the use of telehealth-enabled care.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trump Plan Might Cut Expenses For Some Insured Patients With Chronic Needs \n Erin Corbelli takes three medications to treat high blood pressure, depression and an anxiety disorder. Her health plan covers her drugs and specialist visits, but Corbelli and her family must pay a $3,000 annual deductible before the plan starts picking up any of that tab.\n\nCorbelli\u2019s insurance is linked to a health savings account so that she and her husband can put aside money tax-free to help cover their family\u2019s drug and medical expenses. But there\u2019s a hitch: Plans like theirs can\u2019t cover any care for chronic conditions until the deductible is satisfied.\n\nThose out-of-pocket expenses could shrink under a Trump administration draft executive order that would change Internal Revenue Service rules about what care can be covered before the deductible is met in plans linked to health savings accounts, or HSAs.\n\n\u201cIt would save us a lot of money,\u201d said Corbelli, 41, who lives in Orlando with her husband and their two children, ages 3 and 5.\n\nInsuring Your Health KHN contributing columnist Michelle Andrews writes the series Insuring Your Health, which explores health care coverage and costs. To contact Michelle with a question or comment, click here. This KHN story can be republished for free (details).\n\nHealth plans with deductibles of thousands of dollars have become increasingly commonplace. Plans often cover services like generic drugs or doctor visits before consumers have satisfied their deductibles, typically requiring a copayment or coinsurance rather than demanding that consumers pony up the entire amount.\n\nBut plans that link to health savings accounts have more restrictions than other high-deductible plans. In addition to minimum deductibles and maximum HSA contribution limits, the plans can\u2019t pay for anything but preventive care before consumers meet a deductible. Under current IRS rules, such preventive care is limited to services such as cancer screenings and immunizations that prevent a disease or condition, called \u201cprimary prevention.\u201d With HSA-eligible plans, medical services or medications that prevent an existing chronic condition from getting worse or prevent complications from occurring \u2014 called \u201csecondary prevention\u201d \u2014 can\u2019t be covered before the deductible is paid.\n\nThe Trump administration\u2019s draft executive order, which was first obtained last month by The New York Times and has yet to be issued, would allow such secondary preventive services to be covered.\n\nUnder the Affordable Care Act, most health plans, including HSA-eligible plans, are required to cover services recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force without charging consumers anything for them. That requirement is generally limited to primary prevention.\n\n\u201cWe know health savings accounts are here to stay and we\u2019d like to make them better,\u201d said Dr. A. Mark Fendrick, an internist who is director of the University of Michigan\u2019s Center for Value-Based Insurance Design and who has advocated for the change.\n\nIf people have diabetes, for example, they need regular eye and foot exams to prevent complications such as blindness and amputations down the road. But HSA plans can\u2019t pay anything toward that care until people satisfy their deductible. \u201cThe executive order gives plans the flexibility to do that,\u201d he said.\n\nSimilarly, it\u2019s critical to remove obstacles to treatment for people like Corbelli with high blood pressure or heart disease, said Sue Nelson, vice president for federal advocacy at the American Heart Association.\n\n\u201cFor people with cardiovascular disease, affordability is their No. 1 concern,\u201d Nelson said.\n\nThe draft executive order is short on details, and administration officials would have to determine which new preventive services should be covered pre-deductible. Guidelines from medical specialty boards and quality metrics that many physicians are already being measured against could be used, said Roy Ramthun, president and founder of HSA Consulting Services who led the Treasury Department\u2019s implementation of the HSA program in the early 2000s.\n\nUse Our Content This KHN story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nBack then, they took a conservative approach. \u201cWe said we can be more flexible later, but we can\u2019t put the genie back in the bottle,\u201d said Ramthun, who supports expanding preventive services coverage.\n\nMany more employers would offer HSA-eligible plans if the list of services that could be covered pre-deductible were expanded, said Tracy Watts, a senior partner at human resources consultant Mercer. Fifty-three percent of employers with 500 or more workers offer HSA-eligible plans, according to Mercer survey data. Three-quarters of employers put money into their employees\u2019 HSA accounts, she said.\n\nErin Corbelli\u2019s husband\u2019s employer contributes up to $1,500 every year to their health savings account, which can help cover their pre-deductible costs.\n\nNot everyone is so fortunate. \u201cYou\u2019re kind of at the mercy of what your employer can offer and what your disposable income is,\u201d she said.\n\nRepublicans have long advocated for the expanded use of health savings accounts as a tax-advantaged way for consumers to get more financial \u201cskin in the game.\u201d\n\nConsumer advocates have been much less enthusiastic, noting that the accounts typically benefit higher-income consumers who have cash to spare.\n\nStill, given the reality of the growing prevalence of high-deductible plans, with or without health savings accounts, it\u2019s a sensible proposal, many say.\n\n\u201cThis is not a silver bullet or a solution to the problems that high-deductible plans can pose,\u201d said Lydia Mitts, associate director of affordability initiatives at Families USA, an advocacy group. \u201cBut this is a good step in thinking about how we offer access to treatment people need in a timely and affordable way.\u201d\n\nPlease visit kffhealthnews.org/columnists to send comments or ideas for future topics for the Insuring Your Health column.", "output": "Erin Corbelli takes three medications to treat high blood pressure, depression, and an anxiety disorder. Her health plan covers her drugs and specialist visits, but Corbelli and her family must pay a $3,000 annual deductible before the plan starts picking up any of that tab.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Byrd Bath: Seven Provisions That Could Disappear From the Senate Health Bill \n We still don\u2019t know what bill Republican senators will take up next week when they turn to health care. There are three versions of the legislation that could be considered, each with slightly different provisions.\n\nBut the bill that the senators vote on, if they vote at all, is likely to be different from any of those. That\u2019s because the draft bills have not yet undergone scrubbing and analysis by the Senate\u2019s parliamentarian, an expert who scrutinizes legislation to make sure it complies with the rules. The parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, a lawyer who has long worked for the Senate, has the power to strip out key parts of the bill if they don\u2019t pass legal muster.\n\nCongressional leadership is trying to pass its health care overhaul through a special budget process called reconciliation, and there are limitations on what provisions can be added to such a bill.\n\nExperts from both parties make arguments before the parliamentarian, in a process somewhat like a Supreme Court oral argument. And, in the end, the parliamentarian will issue her rulings on which things stand and which must be removed from the bill.", "output": "We still don\u2019t know what bill Republican senators will take up next week when they turn to health care. There are three versions of the legislation that could be considered, each with slightly different provisions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Health Care Is Still in Danger \n At this point the more or less official G.O.P. line is that the budget office \u2014 whose director, by the way, was picked by the Republicans themselves \u2014 can\u2019t be trusted. (This attack provoked an open letter of protest signed by every former C.B.O. director, Republicans and Democrats alike.) In particular, the claim is that its prediction of huge losses in coverage is outlandish, and that to the extent that fewer people would be covered, it would be due to their voluntary choices.\n\nIn reality, those C.B.O. predictions of coverage losses are totally reasonable, given the Senate bill\u2019s drastic cuts to Medicaid \u2014 26 percent by 2026, and even deeper in the next decade. You have to wonder how someone like Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia could even consider supporting this bill, when 34 percent of her nonelderly constituents are on Medicaid. The same goes for Jeff Flake of Arizona, where the corresponding number is 29 percent.\n\nAnd on those claims that it\u2019s O.K. if people drop coverage, because that would be their own choice: It\u2019s crucial to realize that the Senate bill would degrade the quality of subsidized private insurance, leading to a huge rise in deductibles.\n\nCurrent law provides enough in subsidies that an individual with an income of $26,500 can afford a plan covering 87 percent of medical expenses, which, the C.B.O. estimates, implies an $800 deductible. The Senate bill reduces that standard of coverage to 58 percent, which would raise the implied deductible to $13,000, making the insurance effectively useless. Would deciding not to buy that useless insurance really be a \u201cchoice\u201d?\n\nBy the way, remember when Republicans like Paul Ryan used to denounce Obamacare because the insurance policies it offered had high deductibles? It\u2019s hypocrisy all the way down.", "output": "Will Senate Republicans try to destroy health care under cover of a constitutional crisis? That\u2019s a serious question, based in part on what happened in the House\u00a0earlier this year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Small Businesses Split Over Republican Health Plans \n \u201cBeing able to buy health insurance that didn\u2019t completely break us financially was key to our ability to take the risk and become entrepreneurs,\u201d Ms. McCarthy said.\n\nHer opposition highlights a growing schism about the Affordable Care Act among small-business owners \u2014 a split exposed as Republicans have pursued reversing much of the law in recent months. The divide also points to an unexpected outgrowth of the Republican agenda in Washington: As lawmakers pushed their plans, public support for the Affordable Care Act grew from new corners.\n\nWith so many forces aligned in opposition to the Senate\u2019s proposed changes, the views of small-business owners have not been a decisive factor. But the enthusiasm that a growing number are voicing for the health care law weakened the argument, often cited by Republicans, that small businesses had been harmed by it and need a rollback.\n\nBusiness owners with a few dozen or more workers often resent the cost and regulatory burden of complying with the law\u2019s mandates, and many have backed the Republican efforts. For those who employ only themselves, however, some of the features of the Affordable Care Act \u2014 like coverage for existing conditions and curbs on prices \u2014 opened up coverage unavailable to them before the law.\n\nIn addition, there is a vocal group of self-employed workers who are, like many people, paying higher premiums and deductibles because of the law. But some of them want lawmakers to adjust the law to address those higher costs, instead of repealing and replacing it entirely.", "output": "Small-business owners have been some of the most vocal opponents of the Affordable Care Act. One trade group fought the overhaul all the way to the Supreme Court.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Housing Policy Solutions to Support Aging with Options \n The number of adults age 65 and older in the United States is growing at a rapid pace. Today, many communities are not yet prepared to address their numerous needs. As the population increases, older adults and their families will need quality, affordable, and accessible housing, access to health care services at home and in the community, to live in neighborhoods near reliable transportation services and facilities like public buses and bike trails and find healthy food options as well as other important amenities.\n\nThese features make communities more livable for people of all ages, including keeping older adults engaged and active in community life. This publication outlines several challenges that hinder livability but also includes corresponding policies that communities can adopt to support a person\u2019s choice to age in place.", "output": "The number of adults age 65 and older in the United States is growing at a rapid pace. Today, many communities are not yet prepared to address their numerous needs.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Improving Medicare With Expanded Telehealth Services \n By Anthea Daniels (July 21, 2017, 4:14 PM EDT) -- As the American Health Care Act, replaced by the Better Care Reconciliation Act, and the Affordable Care Act (commonly referred to as \"Obamacare\") and national health care continue to be debated in the United States Senate and around the country, one aspect of the end game is to provide health care services which are high-quality and at an affordable cost to all involved. Telehealth and wellness care continue to be one of the potential front-runners for achieving the so-called \"Triple Aim.\" The Triple Aim addresses (1) improving the patient experience of care; (2) improving the health of populations; and (3) reducing the per capita cost of health care. To date, government reimbursement for telehealth services has lagged behind....\n\nStay ahead of the curve\n\nIn the legal profession, information is the key to success. You have to know what\u2019s happening with clients, competitors, practice areas, and industries. Law360 provides the intelligence you need to remain an expert and beat the competition.\n\nAccess to case data within articles (numbers, filings, courts, nature of suit, and more.)\n\nAccess to attached documents such as briefs, petitions, complaints, decisions, motions, etc.\n\nCreate custom alerts for specific article and case topics and so much more!\n\nTRY LAW360 FREE FOR SEVEN DAYS", "output": "As the American Health Care Act, replaced by the Better Care Reconciliation Act, and the Affordable Care Act and national health care continue to be debated in the United States Senate and around the country, one aspect of the end game is to provide health care services which are high-quality and at an affordable cost to all involved. Telehealth and wellness care continue to be one of the potential front-runners for achieving the so-called \"Triple Aim.\" \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Perceiving oneself as less physically active than peers is linked to a shorter lifespan \n Credit: George Hodan/public domain\n\nWould you say that you are physically more active, less active, or about equally active as other people your age?\n\nYour answer might be linked to your risk of premature death decades from now - no matter how physically active you actually are, according to research by Stanford scholars Octavia Zahrt and Alia Crum.\n\nThe research, appearing July 20 in Health Psychology, finds that people who think they are less active than others in a similar age bracket die younger than those who believe they are more active\u2014even if their actual activity levels are similar.\n\n\"Our findings fall in line with a growing body of research suggesting that our mindsets\u2014in this case, beliefs about how much exercise we are getting relative to others\u2014can play a crucial role in our health,\" Crum said.\n\nPowerful effects of perception\n\nCrum, an assistant professor of psychology, and Zahrt, a doctoral candidate at the Graduate School of Business, analyzed surveys from more than 60,000 U.S. adults from three national data sets. The surveys documented participants' levels of physical activity, health and personal background, among other measures. In one of the samples, participants wore an accelerometer to measure their activity over a week.\n\nZahrt and Crum were interested in one question in particular: \"Would you say that you are physically more active, less active, or about as active as other persons your age?\"\n\nThe researchers then viewed death records from 2011, which was 21 years after the first survey was conducted. Controlling for physical activity and using statistical models that accounted for age, body mass index, chronic illnesses and other factors, they found that individuals who believed that they were less active than others were up to 71 percent more likely to die in the follow-up period than individuals who believed that they were more active than their peers.\n\nFit on the Farm?\n\nMuch of the study's inspiration derived from Zahrt's experience when she arrived at Stanford. Zahrt, a native of Germany who previously studied in France and England, had stayed in shape by biking to school and making occasional trips to the gym.\n\nBut at Stanford, Zahrt said it seemed that \"everyone was incredibly active\" and perhaps she wasn't exercising as much as she should.\n\n\"Suddenly, I felt like I had done something wrong all these years,\" Zahrt said. \"I felt unhealthy and I was stressed about fitting more exercise into my busy schedule. I really had a negative mindset.\"\n\nWhile taking a health psychology class taught by Crum, Zahrt learned more about the effects of mindsets on health outcomes. For example, Crum's prior research shows that the health benefits people get out of everyday activities depend in part on their mindsets\u2014that is, whether or not they believe that they are getting good exercise. In her 2007 study, Crum made a group of hotel room attendants aware that the activity they got at work met recommended levels of physical activity. Through this shift in mindsets, the workers, many of whom had previously perceived themselves as inactive, experienced reductions in weight, body fat and blood pressure, among other positive outcomes. Zahrt wondered if many people, like her, had negative mindsets about their physical activity levels because of social comparison with more active peers, and if this might be harming their health. Her class paper on this topic sparked the collaboration leading to the published study.\n\nHow mindsets influence us\n\nZahrt and Crum offer possible explanations for mindsets and perceptions having such powerful effects on health. One is that perceptions can affect motivation, both positively and negatively. Those who are made aware of their healthy activity levels\u2014like the hotel room attendants in Crum's 2007 study\u2014can build on them and exercise more. Those who deem themselves unfit are more likely to remain inactive, fueling feelings of fear, stress or depression that negatively affect their health.\n\nThe researchers also cite the established influence of placebo effects, where patients who think they are getting a treatment experience physiological changes without receiving actual treatment. In the same way, people who believe they are getting good exercise may experience more physiological benefits from their exercise than those who believe they aren't getting enough exercise.\n\n\"Placebo effects are very robust in medicine. It is only logical to expect that they would play a role in shaping the benefits of behavioral health as well,\" Crum said.\n\nThe researchers emphasize that the study is correlational in nature and thus does not prove that perceptions of inactivity cause earlier death. However, other experimental research\u2014such as Crum's 2007 study - does suggest a causal nature to the link between perceived amounts of exercise and health outcomes.\n\nTaking mindsets seriously\n\n\"So much effort, notably in public health campaigns, is geared toward motivating people to change their behavior: eat healthier, exercise more and stress less,\" Crum said. \"But an important variable is being left out of the equation: people's mindsets about those healthy behaviors.\"\n\nIn fact, a growing volume of research from Crum and other labs shows that perceptions and mindsets predict health and longevity, for example, in the domains of stress, diet and obesity.\n\nThat our mindsets could have such potent effects on our physiology may seem provocative and unlikely at first glance, but Crum reminds us that we shouldn't be surprised by these results considering the \"everyday experiences where our beliefs or a simple thought have very palpable and physiological effects.\"\n\n\"In the case of stress, a thought about something going wrong can make us sweat or [become] shaky or increase our heart rate,\" Crum continued. \"With sexual arousal, a simple thought or idea can have immediate physical effects. We experience these things regularly, and yet we're not cataloguing them as something that matters. For whatever reason\u2014dualism or a prioritization of the material\u2014we tend to ignore the fact that our thoughts, mindsets and expectations are shaping our everyday physiology.\"\n\nHow can people use this finding? Many Americans think that vigorous exercise in a gym is the only way to attain a proper activity level, according to Zahrt and Crum. But being mindful of and feeling good about activities you do every day - like taking the stairs, walking or biking to work, or cleaning the house\u2014could be an easy first step for everyone to benefit their health.\n\n\"It's time that we start taking the role of mindsets in health more seriously,\" Crum said. \"In the pursuit of health and longevity, it is important to adopt not only healthy behaviors, but also healthy thoughts.\"\n\nProvided by Stanford University", "output": "Would you say that you are physically more active, less active, or about equally active as other people your age? Your answer might be linked to your risk of premature death decades from now - no matter how physically active you actually are, according to research by Stanford scholars Octavia Zahrt and Alia Crum.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Another Possible Indignity of Age: Arrest \n It was the sort of incident that happens at facilities that care for people with dementia.\n\nAt a residence for older adults in San Francisco last summer, Carol King momentarily left a common sitting area. When Ms. King returned, she found that another resident had taken her chair, a nurse who witnessed the episode later reported. She grabbed the usurper\u2019s wrist.\n\nThough staff members intervened promptly and nobody appeared injured, the other resident (who also had dementia) called 911 to say she had been attacked. Soon, Ms. King\u2019s son, Geoffrey, was summoned and four police officers arrived.\n\nOver objections from staff members and her son, the officers decided to place Ms. King on an involuntary psychiatric hold, which allows a 72-hour detention when an officer believes someone is unable to care for herself or poses a danger to herself or others.\n\nAs they searched and handcuffed Ms. King and placed her in a patrol car, \u201cshe started crying,\u201d Mr. King recalled.", "output": "It was the sort of incident that happens at facilities that care for people with dementia. At a residence for older adults in San Francisco last summer, Carol King momentarily left a common sitting area. When Ms. King returned, she found that another resident had taken her chair, a nurse who witnessed the episode later reported. She grabbed the usurper\u2019s wrist.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Ethics of Adjusting Your Assets to Qualify for Medicaid \n At any given moment, there is a large group of citizens who want nothing more than to make absolutely certain that they are impoverished enough to qualify for Medicaid sooner rather than later. Someday, you might be one of them.\n\nWelcome to the (perfectly legal) world of Medicaid planning, the plain-vanilla term for the mini-industry of lawyers and others who help people arrange their financial lives so they don\u2019t spend every last dime on a nursing home. Once properly impoverished under the law, then Medicaid, which gets funding both from your state and the federal government, picks up the tab.\n\nWhatever twists and turns the health insurance debates in Washington take, Medicaid will be at the center, and the program will probably affect you and your family more than you know. After all, if you run out of money in retirement, it is Medicaid that pays for most of your nursing home or home-based care.\n\nThe bill that contains the caps that Republican senators have proposed, which would remake Medicaid, seems for now to have a low chance of passing. But even if no bill survives, politicians on both sides of the aisle fear what demographics will do to the program\u2019s costs. Most Americans haven\u2019t saved enough to pay for decades of post-retirement living expenses and years of expensive end-of-life care, so it stands to reason that Medicaid will come under increasing strain.", "output": "At any given moment, there is a large group of citizens who want nothing more than to make absolutely certain that they are impoverished enough to qualify for Medicaid sooner rather than later. Someday, you might be one of them.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Three Things I Should Have Said About Retirement Planning \n All these factors make a huge difference, as I was always quick to point out.\n\nBy working five more years, a husband and wife who are both 55 today, earning a combined $120,000 a year with retirement savings of $75,000, would end up with 47 percent more a year to live on at age 70. That\u2019s assuming they continue to save 10 percent of their income each year, and withdraw 4 percent of savings each year in retirement.\n\nA huge part of that 47 percent increase comes from higher Social Security benefits. If our hypothetical couple apply for Social Security at age 65, they are in essence penalized for not waiting two years. They would each receive $3,348 less a year.\n\nSo, I wrote it was just a no-brainer to work until age 70, if you can.\n\nWhile my math was right, what I now realize is just how hard it is to keep working as you age. My job doesn\u2019t require much more than typing all day long, and I find myself getting fairly tired by day\u2019s end. I can\u2019t imagine I am going to have more energy a decade from now.\n\nEXAMPLE TWO Implicit in all my retirement advice was the assumption that everything in life moves in a straight line. For example, once you begin saving, you keep saving. But as the father of four, I have come to realize life is not that orderly.\n\nFor instance, I used to believe that people edging closer to retirement usually had the ability to save more, since child-rearing expenses were no longer a factor. So, I blithely wrote, you could take all that money you had been putting toward college, for example, and invest it for retirement.\n\nWell, our \u201cbaby\u201d graduated five years ago, and now all that tuition money is going to \u2026 home repair. While the children were still in school, we put off every major expense we could in order to fund the very expensive colleges of their choice. In the process, our home went from shabby chic to simply shabby. A new roof, a paint job (inside and out), upgraded air-conditioning, a new driveway and the like will eventually take care of that. But all that is going to cost money that could have otherwise gone toward our retirement. I glossed over situations like this when I was writing my retirement books.\n\nEXAMPLE THREE Remember all those things you want to do before you retire? Maybe go on a big trip or pay for a child\u2019s wedding? In our case it was a big trip that involved a wedding.", "output": "A friend of mine had been a pediatrician for a few years before he had his first child. \u201cNow that you\u2019re a father,\u201d I asked, \u201chas your advice to parents changed?\u201d \u201cNo,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I am more empathetic when I give it. I now realize things are not quite as easy as I made them sound.\u201d\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lose It to use DNA-based scheme\u00a0for its dieting app \n Last year, calorie-tracking app Lose It launched a feature called Snap It, which promised to identify the foods you were eating just from a photo. By adding machine learning and computer vision to the mix, it turned the ordinary act of food logging into a high-tech affair. Now, the company is evolving its app with the introduction of more tech: personal genetics. Today, Lose It is introducing embodyDNA, a weight loss plan that's based on your actual, well, DNA.\n\nTo get started, you'll have to order a kit from embodyDNA.com for $189.99. Once you receive it, you provide a saliva sample through a swab and send it off to Helix, a personal genomics company that's in partnership with Lose It. After about six to eight weeks, Helix then delivers the results through the Lose It app to your account. If you're an existing Lose It user, the app looks at your food log history to identify patterns and then make recommendations based on the results of your DNA test.\n\nThe embodyDNA test essentially gives you a series of insights about your body when it comes to diet and fitness. It figures out what your metabolism is, what your fitness levels are, and if you have any sensitivities to certain foods like gluten or dairy. If you have a family history of diabetes, for example, you might find that you're particularly reactive to sugar. It also tells you if you're genetically predisposed to a high BMI, if you should do more or less exercise, and what kinds of exercise you should do. As the technology gets more advanced, it's able to tell you even more about your body and the weight loss strategy that is best for you.\n\nLose It's embodyDNA is not the first program that has sought to alter people's fitness strategies based on genetics. DNAFit, for example, offers tailored diet and exercise plans based on an examination of your DNA, including a meal planner and information on specific exercises you should do to suit your body type.\n\nWe've yet to give Lose It's version a go, but hope to do so in the near future. In the meantime, you can try it out for yourself by going to embodyDNA.com.", "output": "Boston-based calorie-tracking app Lose It has launched embodyDNA, a kit which offers insights into a user's physical condition\u00a0based on their DNA. Customers can purchase a $189.99 sample kit from the embodyDNA website, which is then analysed by personal genomics company Helix. The results, sent via the app, will reveal data including metabolism rates, a genetic disposition toward diabetes and\u00a0indicate whether\u00a0users are exercising\u00a0too little or too much. As the technology becomes more developed, it will\u00a0provide\u00a0a tailored weight loss strategy rooted in\u00a0the data.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Change Healthcare joins Hashed Health to fuel blockchain adoption \n Change Healthcare, the company formed in March by combining McKesson Technology Solutions and Change Healthcare Holdings, has joined the Hashed Health consortium \u2013 which gather health IT companies to innovate use blockchain and distributed ledger technologies.\n\n\"With a network reaching nearly every payer and provider in the United States, Change Healthcare advances our efforts to create meaningful innovation,\" said John Bass, CEO of Hashed Health, in a statement. \"By joining the Hashed Health consortium, Change Healthcare is demonstrating that it understands the potential of blockchain technologies to improve care delivery and now is the time to build the networks responsible for the realization of approaching solutions.\"\n\n\"Blockchain has potential to enable value-based care, and we\u2019re committed to championing innovation that helps our customers and partners realize that potential,\u201d said Aaron Symanski, chief technology officer at Change Healthcare. \"We look forward to working with the Hashed Health members to evolve and establish blockchain as a safe, secure, and transparent way to foster financial interoperability in healthcare.\"\n\nIn May, Change Healthcare also announced its membership in the Linux Foundation's Hyperledger initiative \u2013 the first healthcare-specific organization to join that blockchain group at the premier level, joining Accenture, IBM and others. Symanski also joined Hyperledger's governing board.\n\nTwitter: @MikeMiliardHITN\n\nEmail the writer: mike.miliard@himssmedia.com\n\nLike Healthcare IT News on Facebook and LinkedIn", "output": "Change Healthcare has joined the Hashed Health consortium to encourage the adoption of blockchain technology. By signing up to the consortium, Change Healthcare shows it understands the potential of distributed technology in improving care delivery, Hashed Health CEO John Bass said. The healthcare organisation is also a member of the Linux Foundation's Hyperledger initiative.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Out-of-home advertising signs undergo digital transformation \n The outdoor ad industry has invested huge amounts in a digital transformation that has helped reignite excitement among marketers by making the format more creative, interactive and targeted.\n\nAn 8 Outdoor campaign for Land Rover at Heathrow Terminal 5\n\nPrint experienced a whopping 10% fall to \u00a31.1bn in UK ad spend in 2016. Direct mail also struggled, with an even steeper 10.4% fall to \u00a31.71bn. TV, meanwhile, saw flat 0.2% growth to \u00a35.27bn, which is forecast to turn into a 0.5% decline by the end of 2017, according to the AA/Warc\u2019s annual Expenditure Report. Compare this to the 13.4% rise in internet ad revenues (\u00a310.3bn) and the 45.4% increase in mobile ad spend (\u00a33.86bn) for 2016, and there\u2019s clearly a stark difference.\n\nHowever, it isn\u2019t all doom and gloom for the so-called traditional advertising channels. Last year, out-of-home grew total ad revenues by 4.5% to \u00a31.1bn. And although this is predicted to slow over the coming years (2017: 3.4%, 2018: 2.3%), outdoor is backed to remain in positive territory while other traditional channels are expected to fall into even deeper decline.\n\nOnce treated as an opportunity to put a giant Big Mac poster on a motorway, out-of-home is increasingly being used by marketers for interactive storytelling and hyper-targeting. According to Cadi Jones, commercial innovation director at Clear Channel, the whole industry has evolved.\n\n\u201cOut-of-home is no longer just static billboards by the side of the road \u2013 the business model of the whole industry has fundamentally changed,\u201d she says.\n\n\u201cOver the last few years, out-of-home advertising has undergone an exciting transformation through huge investment in digital technology. Digital out-of-home now enables advertisers to be more creative than ever, as the screens can now deliver intelligent, real-time and contextually relevant content to consumers \u2013 all in a fraction of the time it once took. This has reignited excitement among brands.\u201d\n\nThe impact of programmatic\n\nThe rise of programmatic is also helping out-of-home to become more targeted. Through its Digital Audio Exchange (DAX) platform, Global, owner of radio stations including Capital and Heart, recently worked with energy brand E.ON to set up geo-fencing around out-of-home sites.\n\nThe technology enabled E.ON to identify when someone walked into one of the geo-fenced zones so when they later listened to digital radio or streamed music via their mobile device they were served an E.ON audio ad that mirrored the outdoor poster they\u2019d already seen.\n\nAdding the digital audio element to the out-of-home campaign increased consideration for the brand by 26%, while people exposed to both the outdoor activity and audio ads were 31% more likely to recommend E.ON. These same people were also four times more likely to sign up for a smart meter \u2013 the main objective of the activity \u2013 when visiting the energy firm\u2019s website compared to average site traffic.\n\nOut-of-home and mobile video ads are converging; there\u2019s barely any differences. David McEvoy, JCDecaux\n\nIn January, Clear Channel launched what it claimed was an \u201cindustry-first\u201d programmatic offering for the out-of-home ad industry. And with 50% of all online spend now made via programmatic channels in the UK, Jones says it saw an opportunity to apply the same approach to outdoor.\n\nInitially launched in Belgium before being rolled out to the UK in April, Clear Channel\u2019s programmatic solution is already used by O2, Mercedes Benz and Deliveroo.\n\n\u201cProgrammatic isn\u2019t purely about the automation of our processes \u2013 it\u2019s about connecting brands more effectively with their audiences by allowing them to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time,\u201d says Jones. He believes programmatic will be a \u201cgame changer\u201d when it comes to ensuring out-of-home remains the jewel in the crown of traditional advertising channels.\n\n\u201cUltimately, programmatic can revolutionise out-of-home \u2013 making it as flexible, measurable and creative as other media. It brings down buying barriers, making out-of-home even easier to buy. This will bring new spend to out-of-home from \u2018digital\u2019 budgets and programmatic buyers, helping to grow out-of-home\u2019s share of the media spend,\u201d she claims.\n\nREAD MORE: How to amplify programmatic\u2019s new role in out-of-home advertising\n\nOutdoor has also benefited from its similarities to mobile video ads, according to David McEvoy, director of marketing at JCDecaux. This is the reason, he says, the likes of Google and Facebook are now among the biggest spenders in out-of-home. \u201cTheir digital platforms are built on smart, short form, autoplay video ads where sound isn\u2019t initiated and that\u2019s exactly what digital out-of-home is now offering at large scale,\u201d he explains.\n\n\u201cIn the UK, digital out-of-home now makes up 40% of the market. That will tip over to 50% by the end of 2017. Therefore, out-of-home and mobile will continue to converge; there\u2019s barely any differences and the Facebooks of this world are realising this.\u201d\n\nMore sophisticated storytelling\n\nO2\u2019s Decoded campaign rewarded passersby who cracked its code\n\nTwo years ago, Women\u2019s Aid debuted an interactive billboard in Canary Wharf, which featured the image of a bruised woman\u2019s face with the tagline \u2018Look at Me\u2019.\n\nIt used facial recognition technology so that the more people viewed the image, the quicker the lady\u2019s bruises would heal. The campaign promoted how domestic abuse can only be confronted if members of the public stop turning a blind-eye to its victims. The campaign, created by WCRS, is just one example of a deeper approach being used in out-of-home storytelling.\n\nREAD MORE: How OOH advertising is moving beyond awareness\n\nO2, for example, drove awareness and sales of its exclusive for the One Plus 3 handset by having agency CCP create \u2018Coded\u2019 \u2013 a campaign that targeted tech fans in three different locations. The interactive campaign worked by displaying coded messages that contained geographical coordinates. If a tech enthusiast cracked the code and got to the particular site in time, they\u2019d win the handset.\n\nIan Cafferky, director of brand and marcomms at O2, says the #Coded campaign drove a 130% increase in footfall at the three targeted sites.\n\nHe says: \u201cAt its simplest, out-of-home is a great driver of fame and awareness on a national scale. But recent developments in out-of-home technology have allowed us to serve hyper-local and hyper-relevant advertising messages to the regional or local audiences. It allowed us to combine high impact creative and customer engagement.\u201d\n\nMuch like Global\u2019s campaign with E-ON, Deliveroo has targeted radio ads based on the out-of-home ads customers have been exposed to. And Deliveroo\u2019s marketing director Jamie Swango believes hyper-local targeting is giving out-of-home an edge over other traditional advertising channels.\n\nShe explains: \u201cOut-of-home advertising allows us to combine mass advertising with a hyper-local approach. However, Digital and dynamic out-of-home has allowed us to feature multiple new occasions that are displayed to consumers based on day of week, time of day, and weather, allowing us to increase the relevance of the advert.\n\n\u201cThis ultimately supports our goal of increasing consideration of Deliveroo for new occasions in the summer, such as delivery of sushi to the park for lunch or delivery of beer to your Saturday barbecue with friends.\u201d\n\nCompeting against digital\n\nOutdoor campaigns can also make a social impact. These Body Shop posters spread fresh air in areas high in pollution\n\nDeliveroo\u2019s Swango says outdoor ads also allows the brand to be \u201csmarter\u201d than digital and social channels. She adds: \u201cOut-of-home allows us to communicate a message \u2013 broadly, publicly \u2013 that is difficult to do in digital marketing alone. Many out-of-home formats have longer dwell times than digital, allowing us to be a bit smarter and more interesting in the ad creative to engage customers.\u201d\n\nAccording to Tim Lumb, insight and effectiveness director at out-of-home body Outsmart, high-profile scandals at Google and Facebook have boosted the industry.\n\nWith dozens of brands yet to return to YouTube after an investigation by The Times showed brand advertising was appearing next to extremist content as well as concerns around the accuracy of Facebook\u2019s audience metrics, he argues this backdrop is playing right into the hands of out-of-home.\n\n\u201cThe issue around online stats and brand safety has eroded trust. Advertisers want a medium they can trust and they are returning to out-of-home as it\u2019s resilient. It is proven to work and properly verified,\u201d he claims.\n\nThis is a sentiment echoed by 8 Outdoor, an out-of-home provider that, despite only launching 21 months ago, reaches 16% of the population and is opening up to 10 out-of-home screens per month.\n\nOOH is no longer just static billboards by the side of the road \u2013 the business model of the whole industry has fundamentally changed. Cadi Jones, Clear Channel\n\nIts CEO Cennydd Roberts says the waters are less muddied for marketers when it comes to out-of-home. He explains: \u201cAll of the benefits of digital, such as immediacy, flexibility and bespoke tailored solutions, are coming to out-of-home and, at the same time, we do not face the same problems with contextual placement. Advertisers know exactly where their ads will appear because they can see the sites they are booking.\u201d\n\nOver the coming years, Outsmart\u2019s Lumb concedes that out-of-home will experience a decline in ad spend due to concerns around Brexit. He also admits current concerns around advertising on Facebook and Google are only \u201cmomentary\u201d and says advertisers will \u201cinevitably\u201d forgive the two.\n\nREAD MORE: UK advertisers split over ending YouTube boycott after brand safety scandal\n\nHe believes there\u2019s also a lot for his industry to do in terms of communicating to marketers what the creative possibilities of out-of-home actually are. If it doesn\u2019t, he says, there\u2019s a risk many will still just see the channel as \u201cnothing more than a poster\u201d.\n\nHowever, with the rise of programmatic changing the face of the out-of-home ad industry, Lumb is confident the momentum of recent years will continue. He concludes: \u201cI used to hear out-of-home described as \u2018tweets from giants\u2019, but with programmatic out-of-home it will be more like TweetDeck. We\u2019re on the up and you\u2019d be silly to bet against the momentum we\u2019re currently experiencing.\u201d", "output": "Unlike other traditional ad formats for which revenues have steadily declined, total UK ad revenues for out-of-home advertising channels grew by 4.5% to \u00a31.1bn ($1.4bn) last year, according to AA/Warc's annual expenditure report. The digitisation of out-of-home advertising is enabling advertisers to serve real-time, contextually relevant content through billboards. Additionally, programmatic ad buying has enabled outdoor campaigns to become flexible, measurable and more compatible with wider multichannel campaigns.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Helix offers customers access to a lifetime of DNA analysis \n Which could actually have the opposite of Helix\u2019s intended effect, he cautions. If people get back results that don\u2019t wind up being that relevant or interesting, they could become disenchanted with the whole idea. Or users could over-engage with results that are intended only to educate and inform\u2014not diagnose. As a physician, Topol worries that incidental findings from direct-to-consumer tests could trigger patients to ask for unnecessary tests from their doctors, increasing health care costs and straining resources. Researchers call this phenomenon \u201craiding the medical commons.\"\n\nHelix tries to avoid these consequences by carefully evaluating the genetic interpretations and recommendations made by each product, based on the most up-to-date scientific literature. And product developers do their part by setting clear expectations up front. Take Sema4, a company spun out of New York\u2019s Mount Sinai Health System by geneticist and big data evangelist Eric Schadt. It sells tests that tell expectant mothers if they carry a gene that might pass on an inherited disease to their children. Its flagship product uses DNA sequencing to screen for disease-causing mutations for 281 different genetic conditions, and is ordered only at the recommendation of your physician. But Monday, Sema4 announced a new, less expensive test on Helix\u2019s marketplace that identifies genetic indications for only 67 diseases, which you can order yourself from the comfort of your home\u2014with a small caveat. After you select the test, Sema4 requires that you submit some additional health information to a doctor online, who then reviews it before giving the final okay. That's a precaution the company takes to stay on the right side of current regulations.\n\nTechnically, the FDA has the authority to regulate genetic test kits, though the exact scope of the agency's jurisdiction is still a matter of legal dispute. As it stands now, the degree of FDA oversight of a test depends on its intended use and the risk posed by an inaccurate result. To date, the agency has mostly turned a blind eye to direct-to-consumer products (with the notable exception of 23andMe). So as long as companies don\u2019t overpromise on the clinical validity of results, they can pretty much escape regulatory scrutiny.\n\nWhich is why Schadt says the product isn\u2019t for people actively trying to get pregnant \u201cWe view it as an educational guide in the long term family planning journey, much further upstream than a clinical care scenario,\u201d says Schadt. The idea is that if women see anything of concern show up in their simple screen, they\u2019ll come back to Sema4 for the clinically comprehensive test when it comes to actually making a baby. But they shouldn\u2019t use the product on the Helix marketplace to make any serious family planning decisions.\n\nFrom a business perspective, the appeal of Helix\u2019s platform is obvious. But owning DNA also presents some thorny ethical issues. Bioethicists have pointed out that when companies have a financial incentive to keep genetic data private, information that could otherwise be used for the common good stays behind closed doors. Helix\u2019s parent company, Illumina, has a pretty good reason to keep those exomes for itself. In January, it spun out another company, called Grail, to leverage big DNA data to commercialize a technology called liquid cancer biopsy. It detects cancer in its very earliest stages by finding tiny amounts of tumor DNA in a drop of blood. A massive genetic database would give Grail a boost on validating that technology. While Helix wouldn\u2019t comment on how the company plans to use its genetic information internally, it did say it doesn\u2019t have any plans to share data with any third parties, to support external research efforts or otherwise.\n\nThese are the kinds of concerns Sema4\u2019s Schadt had previously tried to confront, by opening up his company\u2019s own genetic library to academic and nonprofit medical researchers for free. And while that vision is at odds with Helix\u2019s own vice-grip policies, he still found something in the partnership that he couldn\u2019t get on his own: volume. While Sema4 doesn\u2019t receive any raw sequencing data from its Helix-based customers\u2014just a report on the 67 diseases in the screen\u2014it\u2019s still worth it to get more long-term users. \u201cIt\u2019s not perfect,\u201d says Schadt, who spent many months working with Helix to come to a data-sharing agreement. \u201cBut it\u2019s not bad either. I would love to have every single variant that Helix is generating, but this still gives us a far larger pool to go after to for studying diseases.\u201d\n\nLast year, Schadt published a paper in Nature Biotechnology describing something he calls the Resilience Project. The idea is to find people with mutations that should result in terrible disorders, but for some reason don\u2019t. Something in their DNA protects them, and could offer clues to potential treatments. For that paper, Schadt analyzed the genomes of nearly 600,000 people\u2014an incredibly time and cost-intensive project. He\u2019s betting that Sema4, and Helix, can help speed up the treasure hunt. Some of the genes that harbor these disease-causing mutations are on the smaller Sema4 screening test, so Schadt is still hoping he can use that data to recruit individuals for further study. \u201cHelix provides us this really broad net,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s a cool way to identify promising people.\u201d\n\nOther health researchers are also interested in that broad net. Though not on the list of marketplace products announced Monday, two big hospital networks with hundreds of thousands of patients\u2014Geisinger Health and the Mayo Clinic\u2014have plans to launch products there later this year. Being able to tie even limited genetic data with information from those patients\u2019 electronic health records is the kind of thing that gets even skeptics like Topol excited. But even so, he thinks it will be at least five years before the science really catches up to the product platform\u2019s promises. If Helix can ride the wave that long, you might actually be able to stake some everyday decisions on your DNA.", "output": "Helix, a spin-off from San Diego-based genomics giant Illumina, has launched a platform offering access to 18 personalised genomics lifestyle products for customers who take a $80 DNA saliva test. The sample is sequenced and the client's genome is saved in the cloud, from which it is accessible via an API. While Helix said the platform will democratise the DNA market, critics have argued it offers little to people who are generally healthy."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US doctors use VR to prepare for conjoined twins surgery \n The conjoined newborn sisters in Minnesota were successfully separated using virtual reality. (File)\n\nDuring an 18-year career in medicine, Daniel Saltzman -- the chief of pediatric surgery at University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital -- has grown accustomed to looking at X-rays as if they were imperfect road maps of the human body.He compares this exercise to looking at a one-dimensional traffic map on your smartphone and thinking about that image in three-dimensional terms in your mind.Like any other road map, an X-ray image is an incomplete reduction of reality that can misrepresent challenges or include distortions, which explains why, even in 2017, high-stake surgeries can involve a shocking degree of guesswork and improvisation.\"That's why medicine is still an art as much as a science,\" Saltzman told The Washington Post.For decades, increasingly sophisticated imaging techniques have allowed doctors to peer into the human body before they cut it open, reducing uncertainty and helping them prepare for complicated procedures. Now, advances in virtual reality may flip that dynamic on its head, allowing doctors to confront the unknown before they evenenter the body.The latest evidence of this revolutionary shift in health care is the successful separation of two conjoined newborn sisters in Minnesota. Until their separation in May, Paisleigh and Paislyn Martinez were attached from their lower chest to their bellybuttons -- a condition known as thoraco-omphalopagus. Both babies survived the dangerous, nine-hour procedure, a development that Saltzman and other surgeons involved link directly to their use of virtual reality before surgery.\"It felt like I was working in the future,\" Saltzman said. \"It was extraordinarily exhilarating.\"Conjoined twins are extremely rare, occurring as infrequently as one of 200,000 live births to up to one in a million births, depending on how the babies are attached, according to University of Minnesota doctors.Separating them is a risky procedure, though survival rates differ depending on how the siblings are connected and which organs they share, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. The Medical Center notes that twins \"joined at the sacrum at the base of the spine have a 68 percent chance of successful separation, whereas, in cases of twins with conjoined hearts at the ventricular (pumping chamber) level, there are no known survivors.\" In the latter case, the hearts are completely joined.Experts said they were unaware of any other example of virtual reality being used to prepare for the separation of twins partially conjoined at the heart. Virtual reality has been used to assist in the separation of twins conjoined at the head on three occasions, two of which were carried out by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, experts said.Anthony Azakie -- chief of pediatric cardiac surgery and co-director of the Heart Center at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital -- called the university's procedure a \"once-in-a-lifetime event.\"Using goggle-like virtual reality headsets a month before surgery, Saltzman, Azakie and their team were able to explore a 3-D model of the twins' hearts, virtually embedding themselves inside the walnut-sized organs as if the infant's anatomy had been blown up to the size of a living room.\"It's completely surreal and the resolution is unbelievable,\" Azakie said. \"T he details are absolutely superb.\"The experience was not only riveting but revelatory, doctors said, so much so that the stunned surgeons decided to alter their entire operative strategy. Within minutes after strapping on the headsets, Saltzman and Azakie discovered something unexpected: new connective tissue -- a \"bridge\" -- linking the girls' intertwined hearts, one of which had become heavily reliant upon the other to filter impurities and remain beating because of a severe congenital heart defect.That defect meant that the lives of both babies were in jeopardy and doctors would have to conduct the surgery several months early, before the twins were as robust and healthy as doctors had hoped they'd be.Standing inside the 3-D rendering of the infants' hearts, the challenge before the physicians was daunting. They realized that improperly severing that connection could lead to the twins bleeding to death. Placing pressure on the hearts could cause blood loss or arrhythmia so severe that the organs could stop beating entirely. They needed to find a way to navigate around the connection that didn't damage each delicate organ.The team members interacted with the 3-D model using a \"track system\" that allowed them to turn their heads without distortion. Doctors said the ease of the virtual interaction helped the team arrive at a simple yet elegant solution, which they drew on a whiteboard moments later. The surgeons decided to flip the babies around on the operating table so that the procedure occurred from the opposite angle. In the end, doctors said, the straightforward solution to a complicated quandary may have saved the twins' lives.\"In our line of work -- especially in pediatric cardiac surgery -- it's important that one is able to think on their feet and plan for the unexpected,\" Azakie said. \"The imaging helped us prepare by developing an approach in the event that we came across something we didn't expect.\"It was like the Oculus Rift of pediatric heart surgery.\"The planning effort to get to that point was methodical, with weekly meetings, endless tests and trialruns with a team of nearly 50 hospital staffers who practiced each stage of the surgery using baby dolls that had been sewn together.To create the virtual model of the infants' hearts, Saltzman and Azakie and other team members partnered with the University of Minnesota's Earl E. Bakken Medical Devices Center, where experts used software to turn MRI's and CT scans from both infants into a detailed virtual model. The university's Visible Heart Lab also created a 3-D printed model of the hearts using a printer purchased online for $300.Bethany Tourek, a PhD candidate in the University of Minnesota's department of mechanical engineering, said watching the medical team experience the virtual heart for the first time was a seminal moment.\"My favorite part was actually watching these four medical doctors standing inside this screen and being in complete silence at first,\" Tourek said. \"You could just see them thinking and processing and taking it all in for the first time. It was a wonderful experience.\"Two months after their separation, the twins are still recovering, but doctors say that they'll lead healthy, independent lives, with a scar on their chests the only evidence that they were ever conjoined.Doctors said they expect the 3-D modeling and imaging used to see the twins' anatomy to appear in medical journals, setting a precedent for surgeries that ripples beyond procedures involving conjoined twins.\"Separating these infants was no small feat,\" he said. \"The fact that we got to do it using virtual reality for direct patient care makes that feat truly incredible.\"", "output": "Doctors have used virtual reality (VR) to save the lives of conjoined twin sisters in Minnesota. Daniel Saltzmann, head of paediatric surgery at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital, and his team used VR during preparations for the separation of the girls in a nine-hour operation. Both babies, who were attached from their lower chest to their belly buttons, survived the procedure.\u00a0Using VR headsets before the surgery, Saltzman and his team were able to explore a 3D model of the twins' hearts, virtually embedding themselves inside the walnut-sized organs as if the infants' anatomy had been blown up to room\u00a0size.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trickbot malware redirected to target international banking \n Researchers with IBM and Flashpoint warn the Trickbot Trojan is growing more potent and now targeting U.S. banks.\n\nThe Trickbot banking Trojan is now targeting U.S. banks in new spam campaigns fueled by the prolific Necurs botnet. The malware has grown more potent with the introduction of a customized redirection method as part of its attacks.\n\nIBM X-Force and Flashpoint both recently spotted new Trickbot activity and independently published research on their findings this week.\n\nAccording to the researchers, spam campaigns have been active over the past several months, with the latest Trickbot attack reported earlier this week.\n\nWhile Flashpoint focused on the U.S. as targets, IBM focused on the redirection attacks used to steal login details, personally identifiable information and financial authentication codes.\n\n\u201cTrickbot has been responsible for man-in-the-browser attacks since mid-2016, yet the malware\u2019s webinject configuration has only targeted financial institutions located outside of the U.S. \u2014 up until now,\u201d according to Flashpoint researchers Vitali Kremez and Paul Burbage in research posted Wednesday.\n\nThey said the Necurs-powered spam campaign contains an \u201cexpanded webinject configuration\u201d developed to target and infect customers of international and U.S.-based financial institutions.\n\nFlashpoint said Necurs has been used in three distinct spam campaigns. \u201cThese malicious emails contained a Zip-archived Windows Script File (WSF) attachment consisting of obfuscated JavaScript code. Upon being clicked, the files download and execute the Trickbot loader,\u201d according to researchers.\n\n\u201cAlthough this wave utilized malicious WSF scripts as the initial vector of infection, subsequent campaigns have evolved and appear to instead utilize malicious macro-laden documents as their attachments,\u201d Flashpoint said.\n\nPost infection, the malware creates a process using the \u201cCREATE_SUSPENDED\u201d flag before injecting its module and terminating the initial thread used to launch the Trojan, researchers said. The infection progresses, creating a folder in \u201c%APPDATA%\u201d where it copies itself and adds an authroot certificate file in \u201c%TEMP%\u201d, and adds as a service \u201cupdate[.]job\u201d for persistence in the Windows Task folder.\n\n\u201cTrickbot then stores an encoded configuration module in the \u2018resource\u2019 section of its binary and retrieves additional modules from its controller domains when needed,\u201d Kremez and Burbage wrote.\n\nIn its analysis of Trickbot, Flashpoint said the malware is a successor to the Dyre banking Trojan sharing many of the same attributes. While the crew behind Dyre sits in a Russian jail, TrickBot appears to be picking up the slack with attacks against banks using a number of webinjects also found in the Dyre malware code, according to a report last year by IBM X-Force researchers.\n\nHow Trickbot Tricks\n\n\u201cTrickBot is the first and only banking Trojan to cover this many geographies and language zones with redirection schemes, an attack type known to be more resource-intensive to produce and maintain than dynamic webinjection schemes,\u201d Limor Kessem wrote in technical write-up describing Trickbot\u2019s latest developments posted Wednesday.\n\nA basic redirection attack is typical in phishing attacks and is a technique that redirects one hyperlink to an unanticipated page loaded with a malicious payload.\n\n\u201cIn simple redirection of browsing to a different page, the user sees the switch to the next website and can observe the change in URL. This is not what happens in Trickbot\u2019s case. Malware redirections hijack the victim to a fake website hosted on separate servers before he or she even sees the destination page,\u201d Kessem wrote.\n\nWhat makes Trickbot unique is the use of customized redirection attacks that leverage HTML or JavaScript injections as a victim visits a financial institution online. Unsuspecting victims are redirected to malicious sites, but at the same time the malware contacts the bank\u2019s genuine webpage and keeps a live connection with it.\n\n\u201cThe fake page displays the bank\u2019s correct URL in the address bar, as well as the bank\u2019s genuine digital certificate. The user is unlikely to notice any difference or suspect that he or she reached a malicious site,\u201d IBM X-Force researchers said.\n\n\u201cBy seamlessly moving infected victims away from the bank\u2019s genuine website, the malware\u2019s operator can switch to using webinjections to steal login details, personally identifiable information and critical authentication codes on the replica site \u2014 all without the bank knowing that the customer\u2019s session has been compromised or discovering the flow of events on the fake site,\u201d according to Kessem.\n\nOver the past several months, IBM X-Force said those behind Trickbot have broaden their attack scope specifically within Spain. \u201cWhile the malware had previously targeted only one bank in Spain, it now targets six brands in the country,\u201d it reported.\n\nIndicators of compromise include the MD5 hashes 9a1d8e19b0622df7de1e0034e710b5a8 and 0e09c2aa13515fc10b5e352cbfab37b7.", "output": "Trickbot malware is targeting banks worldwide in spam campaigns fuelled by the Necurs botnet, according to research by IBM X-Force and Flashpoint. The trickbot banking Trojan has now introduced a customised redirection method as part of its attacks used to steal login details, personal data and financial authentication codes, the companies said. Victims visiting a financial institution online are redirected to malicious sites, but the malware also contacts the bank's official website and keeps a live link to it, meaning the fake page displays the bank's correct URL and digital certificate.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon users'\u00a0data sets adaptive prices on back-to-school goods \n Dive Brief:\n\nAmazon\u2019s prices changed hour-by-hour, state-by-state and shopper-by-shopper, according to a May analysis of online school supplies prices from Chrome deal-hunting extension Wikibuy. The extension searches other sites, including Walmart, Jet and eBay, and its price comparison tool pops up a potentially cheaper option, including tax, shipping and any coupons that apply for Chrome browser users. For the study, Wikibuy analyzed the prices of more than 200 back-to-school products over 30 days.\n\nOn average, prices on common school supplies were 15% more on Amazon than other sites, the study found. The research was conducted by using suggested school supply lists for kindergarten, 3rd grade, 5th grade, 7th grade and 9th grade from the Chicago Public Schools, Los Angeles Unified School District and the New York City Department of Education and found that U.S. families with 5th graders could shell out $119 million more shopping on Amazon than if they had bought the same products for the lowest available online price.\n\nMeanwhile, another study, conducted in June by Consumer Watchdog, found that Amazon\u2019s new comparison pricing scheme, which as of last year has meant fewer \u201cprice drops\u201d from manufacturer list prices in favor of \u201cwas\u201d prices, \u201csale\u201d prices or prices with a line through them (\u201cstrikethrough prices\u201d), is at least as deceptive as before. An Amazon spokesperson told Retail Dive Wednesday that the Consumer Watchdog study is \"deeply flawed, based on incomplete data and improper assumptions.\" .\n\nDive Insight:\n\nMuch of Amazon\u2019s successful disruption of the retail marketplace came from undercutting traditional retailers on price (notably books in its first retail foray). The stark price competition with brick-and-mortar retailers has largely dissipated as many now price-match (though price wars, especially in consumer products and groceries, continue).\n\nThese pricing differences aren't occurring just because legacy retailers have lowered or price-matched many items, but also because Amazon isn\u2019t competing on price as much anymore.\n\n\u201cAmazon already has a bunch of other prices on its site,\u201d Jason Goldberg, who leads commerce and content strategy at interactive digital agency SapientRazorfish, told Retail Dive last year. \u201cActually you generally see items being offered by 10 or 20 vendors, so Amazon already has this price competition clearly visible on the page. Those Marketplace sellers are essentially bidding for the lowest price, or the \u2018fast follower\u2019 price. [Amazon founder and CEO] Jeff Bezos\u2019s flywheel strategy is to offer a low price, and get more consumers, more sellers and more competition in a virtuous circle.\u201d\n\nBut consumers\u2019 expectations that Amazon\u2019s prices will be the best online deal, plus Prime members\u2019 stickiness to the site, may lead many to over-pay on identical items, these studies show.\n\nSomeone searching the Amazon site for a box of Crayola crayons at 7 a.m. in Arizona, for example, was likely to see a different price than someone else searching for them later that day in New Hampshire, Wikibuy found. The prices of common back-to-school items tended to be higher in the morning, and the top 10 states overpaying on Amazon for a T1-84 calculator were Rhode Island, Iowa, Minnesota, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kansas, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Washington and Tennessee, Wikibuy found.\n\n\u201cParents of ninth graders spend the most on supplies,\u201d according to Wikibuy\u2019s study. \u201cThey should be wary of relying on Amazon for the lowest price. During our study period, they could have saved nearly $50, on average, by buying from other retailers.\u201d\n\nIn its analysis, Consumer Watchdog said Amazon\u2019s new price listing practice could be considered deceptive to the point of running afoul of Federal Trade Commission consumer-protection regulations, and said that it should be a factor in regulators\u2019 scrutiny of its proposed acquisition of Whole Foods. Those conclusions, the Amazon spokesperson said, \"are flat out wrong.\"\n\n\"We validate the reference prices provided by manufacturers, vendors and sellers against actual prices recently found across Amazon and other retailers,\" Amazon's spokesperson told Retail Dive by email. \"We obsess over the things we believe customers will always care about \u2013 low prices, vast selection, and fast delivery \u2013 and work hard to provide all three, all the time.\u201d", "output": "Amazon's prices on back-to-school products changed according to the timing, location and browsing history of each visitor to the site, according to a Wikibuy analysis of US shoppers in May. Additionally, Amazon's school supply prices were 15% higher than other retailers on average, the report found. These customers could have saved nearly an average of $50 on their total shop by buying from other retailers, Wikibuy said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK government to fund student cybersecurity programme \n The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) has announced a \u00a320 million Cyber Security programme to train almost 6,000 teenagers, in an attempt to help combat and anticipated shortfall in cyber skills.\n\nThe government is hoping that the programme will help the UK build up its cyber defences over the coming years, with SANS, BT, FutureLearn and Cyber Security Challenge UK named as delivery partners.\n\nThe news comes as \u00a3500,000 has also been allocated for GCHQ-accredited cyber security master\u2019s bursaries. Earlier this year Chancellor for the Exchequer, Phillip Hammond, also launched the National Cyber Security Strategy, committing \u00a31.9 billion worth of investment - almost double what was invested over the pervious parliament.\n\nAt the time, Hammond indicated that more would be done to build up the UK\u2019s cyber defence capabilities. He said:\n\nWe will deter those that seek to steal from us, threaten us or otherwise harm our interests in cyber space. We are strengthening our law enforcement capabilities to raise the cost and reduce the rewards of cyber criminality. Ensuring we can track, apprehend and prosecute those who commit cyber crimes. We will continue to invest in our offensive cyber capabilities, because the ability to detect, trace and retaliate in kind is likely to be the best deterrent.\n\nAttracting talent\n\nToday\u2019s announcement from DCMS aims to attract thousands of the best and brightest young minds to the Cyber Schools Programme, where the successful applicants will be given the opportunity to learn cyber security skills alongside their secondary school studies through a nationwide network of extracurricular clubs, activities and an online game.\n\nA new website has been launched where students, teachers and industry can register their interest.\n\nThe department has said that the new programme is specifically designed to encourage schoolchildren to develop some of the key skills they need to work in the growing cyber security sector and to help defend the nation\u2019s businesses against online threats.\n\nThe UK, and countries globally, have seen an increased threat from online cyber attacks. Most recently huge parts of the National Health Service were targeted by some ransomware that took advantage of un-patched Windows XP systems, resulting in hospitals having to cancel treatments and divert patient care.\n\nMinister of State for Digital Matt Hancock said:\n\nOur Cyber Schools Programme aims to inspire the talent of tomorrow and give thousands of the brightest young minds the chance to learn cutting-edge cyber security skills alongside their secondary school studies. I encourage all those with the aptitude, enthusiasm and passion for a cyber security career to register for what will be a challenging and rewarding scheme.\n\nThe \u00a320 million programme will see students take a comprehensive cyber curriculum, which will mix expert, instructor-led classroom and online teaching with real-world challenges, online games and hands-on experience.\n\nStudents will be selected for the programme via a pre-entry assessment, and the scheme will provide them with pathways into the cyber security industry via direct contact with industry experts.\n\nApplications are open to students aged 14 to 18, with the government stating that \u201chundreds of house of extra curricular content\u201d will be made available to fill a four-year programme. The target is for at least 5,700 teenagers to be trained by 2021.\n\nDCMS has also confirmed \u00a3500,000 funding to continue a pilot to help adults who want to retrain for a job in cyber security, but taking a GCHQ-accredited master\u2019s degree. The funding will be distributed between participating universities to help those who want to use their skills to move into a cyber security career.\n\nResponse\n\nClaire Stead, online safety expert at Smoothwall, an internet security company that is present in over 7,000 schools across the country, is pleased to see that the government is taking a proactive approach to plugging the cyber skills gap. She said:\n\nThe new Cyber Schools Programme from the DCMS is a great opportunity to get children involved in the complex \u2013 but increasingly important and relevant world \u2013 of cyber security. According to a report recently, Europe is due to face a shortage of cyber security experts by 2022 \u2013 this new injection of \u00a320m by the government is a real chance for the children of the UK to be at the vanguard of protecting hospitals, governments, businesses and indeed the whole country. Unless we take a look at the grass roots, this gap won\u2019t be plugged any time soon. As coding was introduced in the national curriculum only relatively recently, it\u2019s reassuring to see the government taking cyber issues even more seriously and we would actively encourage all students, teachers and industry members to shore up their digital skills and knowledge of cyber-related issues. As the security world is constantly shifting and IT becomes embedded in most of what we do, we cannot afford to be a nation of laggards in what is sure to be one of the most competitive and important industries for years to come.\n\nRob Norris, VP Head of Enterprise & Cyber Security EMEIA at Fujitsu, echoed Stead\u2019s comments and said:\n\nIt is evident that there is a shortage of talent in security at the moment, and we can\u2019t circumvent this. In fact, by 2022, it is expected that Europe will see a shortage of 350,000 IT security staff, and we can\u2019t afford to continue to spiral in this way. This latest programme from the DCMS is a welcomed step in helping tackle the problem, giving 6,000 students the skills and capabilities they need to fill a role that is an essential part of the digital age we now live in. The need to nurture and grow this talent is imperative, as 71% of businesses stated that a skills shortage has been directly responsible for measurable damage. It cannot all be left to government programmes, however. Companies too need to realise that they need to invest in young talent through apprenticeships and graduate schemes, for example. That way they can bring on talent that has an aptitude for security and then nurture their skills in a way that works for the company. It\u2019s also critical for experts in the industry to share their own stories and insights as to what security is really like as a profession, so students can start to see it as an accessible profession that brings significant career choices and opportunities. Casting the industry in this light starts brings to life the purpose of cyber security, inspiring next generation of experts to join the industry.\n\nMy take\n\nThe government needs to be doing more of this if it wants to address the skills gap. It\u2019s important to note that the money and the recruitment figures are just targets at this stage, so we will be following the progress closely to see if its ambitions live up to the reality.", "output": "The UK government is to invest \u00a320m in its Cyber Schools Programme, which aims to train nearly 6,000 teenagers. The scheme, backed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, will help the UK boost its cyber defences and address the anticipated shortfall in cyber skills. BT, Cyber Security Challenge UK, SANS and FutureLean have already been named as delivery partners."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Verizon video optimisation test sparks claims of 'throttling' \n Verizon Wireless customers this week noticed that Netflix's speed test tool appears to be capped at 10Mbps, raising fears that the carrier is throttling video streaming on its mobile network.\n\nWhen contacted by Ars this morning, Verizon acknowledged using a new video optimization system but said it is part of a temporary test and that it did not affect the actual quality of video. The video optimization appears to apply both to unlimited and limited mobile plans.\n\nBut some YouTube users are reporting degraded video, saying that using a VPN service can bypass the Verizon throttling. The Federal Communications Commission generally allows mobile carriers to limit video quality as long as the limitations are imposed equally across different video services despite net neutrality rules that outlaw throttling. The net neutrality rules have exceptions for network management.\n\n\"We've been doing network testing over the past few days to optimize the performance of video applications on our network,\" a Verizon spokesperson told Ars. \"The testing should be completed shortly. The customer video experience was not affected.\"\n\nNetflix speed test reveals limit\n\nOur testing appears to back this up in the case of Netflix, though there might be some instances in which users get lower-quality Netflix video, such as when they tether their phone to other devices. On a Verizon Wireless iPhone, we got a 10Mbps download speed on fast.com, which is Netflix's speed test tool. On Ookla's Speedtest app, we got nearly 82Mbps download speeds on the same Verizon LTE network.\n\n\n\n\n\nBut will that actually harm your Netflix video? Probably not, as long as you're watching on your mobile device and not tethering. Netflix says its Ultra HD quality video can require 25Mbps but that's apparently just for non-mobile devices. For mobile devices, Netflix offers a few quality settings, including \"Unlimited,\" which it says \"may use 1GB per 20 minutes or more depending on your device and network speeds.\"\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThat number appears to be an average. But if the bitrate is relatively constant and doesn't vary much, a connection of less than 7Mbps would be sufficient for Netflix's highest mobile quality, and 10Mbps would thus be enough to stream without any noticeable limits. In our testing on the Verizon phone, we were able to play a Netflix video in the \"unlimited\" mobile quality with no buffering.\n\nBut what if you're tethering your Verizon phone to a device that can stream in Netflix's 25Mbps Ultra HD? That's probably an unusual scenario, but in that case, you might not get the full quality. Verizon told us that the video optimization limits are applied \"the same whether you are tethered or not.\"\n\nNetflix used to throttle its own video streams on Verizon and AT&T to just 600kbps in order to help users stay under their data caps. But Netflix changed that policy last year when it began letting users pick from several different quality settings on mobile devices.\n\nWhen contacted by Ars, Netflix did not provide any statement specifically on Verizon throttling. \u201cWe don\u2019t cap data and don't cap for any mobile network. We offer settings inside the Netflix app to empower our members to control their own quality preferences and data usage,\" Netflix told Ars.\n\nWe also contacted YouTube today and will update this story if we get a response.\n\nYouTube problems reported\n\nThe Verizon video limits were reported by The Verge last night, following Reddit threads on the topic. There's also a Howard Forums thread in which users who checked the YouTube app's \"stats for nerds\" section say that high-quality videos are being hurt.\n\n\"YouTube is being throttled to 10Mbps as well,\" one person wrote yesterday. \"In the 'stats for nerds' it would load at roughly 1,250KBps which translates to 10Mbps. Put the VPN on and that number tripled easily. Didn't have an issue playing 1080p 60fps though.\"\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\"Confirmed here too,\" another person wrote in response. \"1440p videos are throttled at a constant 9.59Mbps. It wasn't even able to keep up and buffered at a few points.\"\n\nVerizon once said it doesn't \u201dmanipulate\u201c video\n\nVerizon appears to have changed course from an earlier statement that it passes along video in the same quality provided by the video service. \"We deliver whatever the content provider gives us. We don\u2019t manipulate the data,\" Verizon said when it introduced its new unlimited plan in February.\n\nThis was in contrast to T-Mobile USA, whose $70-per-month unlimited data plan limited streaming video quality to 480p or about 1.5Mbps. T-Mobile added HD video to the plan in order to combat Verizon's new offer. More recently, T-Mobile CEO John Legere claimed that the Verizon and AT&T networks \"seem to be choking after we forced them to go unlimited.\"\n\nWe asked Verizon if the new video optimization is a change in policy from when it said, \"We deliver whatever the content provider gives us.\"\n\n\"We're always looking for ways to optimize our network without impacting our customers' experience,\" the company replied. Verizon provided no further details.\n\nVerizon's video optimization apparently also applies to Verizon's own video services, such as Go90. \"It is across the board,\" Verizon said when asked if Go90 and other Verizon properties are affected.\n\nA Verizon webpage about its video optimization says, \"This network management technology is designed to transmit data more efficiently, ease capacity burdens on the network, primarily from video files, and improve the user experience with faster downloads and decreased Internet latency.\"", "output": "Verizon Wireless has claimed that video optimisation tests were behind the recent \"throttling\" of streaming on its network. Customers\u00a0on both limited and unlimited mobile plans\u00a0this week reported that Netflix's speed test tool appeared to be capped at 10 Mbps, leading to fears that Verizon was blocking streaming on its mobile network. Some YouTube users also claimed video quality was affected. However, Verizon said that it was testing a new video optimisation system, which would be completed shortly. It added that customer video experience \"was not affected\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Samsung, Android are narrowing mobile monetisation gap with Apple \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nApple has long been dominant when it comes to the iPhone\u2019s ability to monetize mobile games at higher rates than rival smartphones. But mobile analytics and marketing platform DeltaDNA has found in a study that rivals are closing the gap.\n\nFor a decade, the iPhone\u2019s polished user experience has always made it the smartphone of choice for gamers, with each player generally spending more on games than an Android user does. But DeltaDNA found that smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S and Google Pixel are not only closing the monetization gap, they are actually on course to exceed the iPhone in terms of the average revenue per daily active user (ARPDAU) statistic, a key measure of how much money comes in on a daily basis from the most loyal users.\n\nThe study also looked at the percentage of free-to-play (F2P) players going on to spend money each day when using the latest iPhone, Samsung Galaxy S, and Google Pixel smartphone models. The Samsung Galaxy S8+, the most recently released smartphone in the study, is not only generating the highest ARPDAU \u2014 it also has the largest payer fraction, as shown below.\n\nImage Credit: DeltaDNA\n\nEarlier studies showed that newer smartphones always monetize better than their predecessors. In addition, models with super-sized screens also monetize better than their smaller-screened equals. But model by model, it\u2019s clear that Samsung\u2019s Galaxy S models are catching up.\n\n\u201cThe fact that iOS games monetize better that those on Android is well known, but what\u2019s interesting is how the screen size and performance of the device contribute massively to strong monetization,\u201d said Mark Robinson, CEO of DeltaDNA, in a statement. \u201cIt may have taken 10 years for anyone to make a smartphone that can challenge the iPhone for games. Our study shows that gamers certainly feel that the latest Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel devices aren\u2019t far off.\u201d\n\nThe study is based on 1.4 million players across North America in June 2017.\n\n\u201cAs the power and performance of smartphones [continue] to increase, we can expect game monetization to also increase in step with this\u201d trend, Robinson said.", "output": "Samsung and Google are closing the monetisation gap of mobile games with Apple, according to mobile analytics firm DeltaDNA. While the iPhone has long been the smartphone of choice for gamers, data showed that devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S and Google Pixel are soon set to exceed the iPhone in terms of average revenue per daily active user. The study was based on 1.4 million players across North America in June 2017.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China calls for more self-discipline in insurance industry \n SHANGHAI--China's insurance regulator called for greater self-discipline in the industry to better serve the economy, as part of a broader effort to guard against financial risks.\n\nInsurers need to \"return to core business\" and strive to become \"shock absorbers and stabilizers\" in the economy, said Liang Tao, vice chairman of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission.\n\nMr. Liang also urged strengthening of the communist party's leadership in overseeing the industry, according to a transcript of his speech published on the CIRC website Saturday.\n\nThe industry has increased oversight of the design and sales of life-insurance products, and halted pilots for investment-type non-life insurance products, Mr. Liang said.\n\nThe message underscores China's shifting priorities in the financial sector, moving from encouraging innovation to preventing systemic risk.\n\nChina's insurance sector, with total assets of $2.4 trillion, came under tighter scrutiny from Beijing this year, following a period of aggressive growth driven primarily by high-yield and short-term investment-type insurance policies.\n\nThe former top regulator, Xiang Junbo, was investigated in April by the country's antigraft agency, while major insurers and industry executives have been probed for any possible rule violations.\n\nAnbang Insurance Group Chairman Wu Xiaohui was in June detained by Chinese authorities investigating corruption and trying to curb risky financial behavior. Foresea Life Insurance chairman Yao Zhenhua was in February barred from working in the insurance industry for 10 years.\n\nDuring a major conference last week, China's President Xi Jinping urged the financial sector to better serve the real economy and ward off systemic risks.\n\nYifan Xie", "output": "The China Insurance Regulatory Commission has called for stricter self-discipline in the insurance industry as part of its efforts to curb financial risks. It said insurers must \"return to core business\" and look to become \"shock absorbers and stabilisers\" in the Chinese economy. There is to be increased oversight of the design and sales of life insurance products,\u00a0and pilots for investment-type non-life insurance products have been halted.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Moneysupermarket fined after sending emails to opt-out customers \n For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBreaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nPrice comparison website Moneysupermarket.com has been slapped with a \u00a380,000 fine for sending millions of emails to people who had made it clear that they do not wish to be contacted in this way.\n\nThe Information Commissioner\u2019s Office (ICO) said on Friday that the company had sent over 7 million emails over a period of 10 days last year, updating customers on its terms and conditions. All of the people who got the emails had previously opted out of receiving direct marketing.\n\nAccording to the ICO, the emails contained a section entitled \u201cPreference Centre Update\u201d, which read: \u201cWe hold an e-mail address for you which means we could be sending you personalised news, products and promotions. You\u2019ve told us in the past you prefer not to receive these. If you\u2019d like to reconsider, simply click the following link to start receiving our e-mails.\u201d\n\nBy asking people to consent to receiving marketing messages in future, when they have already opted out of this, the company is breaking the law.\n\n\u201cWhen people opt out of direct marketing, organisations must stop sending it, no questions asked, until such time as the consumer gives their consent,\u201d said Steve Eckersley, the ICO\u2019s head of enforcement. \u201cThey don\u2019t get a chance to persuade people to change their minds.\u201d\n\nHe said that by sending emails to consumers \u201cunder the guise of \u2018customer service, checking or seeking their consent,\u201d Moneysupermarket.com is circumventing the the rules, which is \u201cunacceptable\u201d.\n\n\u201cWe will continue to take action against companies that choose to ignore the rules,\u201d he added.\n\nThe messages were sent between 30 November and 10 December last year.\n\nA spoeksperson for MoneySupermarket said: \u201cAt MoneySupermarket, we take the protection of our customers\u2019 data and privacy very seriously. We apologise unreservedly to the customers affected by this isolated incident and we have put measures in place to ensure it doesn\u2019t happen again.\u201d", "output": "Price comparison website Moneysupermarket.com has been fined \u00a380,000 by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) for sending 7 million emails to customers that had opted out of receiving direct marketing. Sent over a period of 10 days last year, the emails updated customers on the company's terms and conditions and asked customers whether they'd like to start receiving news, products and promotions again. By asking customers to reconsider their decision to opt out of marketing messages, Moneysupermarket.com broke the law, the ICO ruled.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snap publisher cuts ad creation time from months to minutes \n Two minutes. That's all the time it takes to make a Snapchat ad with the company's new tool released this week.\n\nIt used to take months, and for good reason. One of the beauties of advertising on Snapchat, since its debut in early 2015, has been a high bar for quality because the format\u2014mobile, vertical, 10 seconds\u2014was so new and the ad itself was so expensive.\n\nNow, the floodgates are opening. It's a blessing for advertisers, but it could be a curse for users\u2014and Snapchat.\n\nCue a flood of ads that maybe don't look that impressive, a may not even have been designed for Snap.\n\nFor the case of the Jet.com ad above, it's a simple colored background, text on screen, and features a heart icon found on Instagram (ooo, harsh).\n\nThat's a far cry from a 30-second television commercial but also much different than the early ads on Snapchat, where studios created 10-second versions of movie trailers.\n\nWith the release of Snapchat Publisher, more ads\u2014quickly crafted, without the support of a savvy strategist\u2014could start appearing in the app, which isn't fun for the user nor the older, experienced advertisers like those movie studios:\n\nCredit: snapchat screenshot\n\nBut Snap's move was inevitable. We've seen it before on all the older online platforms: Google, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Instagram opened up its floodgates in August 2015, and yeah, not every Instagram ad is great.\n\n\"There will always be good eggs and bad, but hopefully Snap really leans into user feedback to keep the creative threshold high,\" said Mike Metzler, creative strategist at Delmondo (opens in a new tab), a creative studio and technology company that provides Snapchat analytics.\n\nSnap is still keeping some control of the process. No ad goes live without Snapchat's review (for now), but advertisers now have much more freedom to get weird.\n\n\"Advertisers want to be able to test before making big commitments on spend. So I think this will bring in a lot of new advertisers,\" Metzler continued.\n\nThose new advertisers will be crucial to Snap's future.\n\nInstagram will make up 20 percent of Facebook's U.S. mobile revenue in 2017, according to eMarketer estimates(opens in a new tab). Snap Inc., which competes with the advertising juggernaut that is Facebook/Instagram, needs that cash boost too. And so come the easy-to-make, easy-to-buy ads.\n\nAnd in the wake of it, laughable ads, like this \"dancing\" beer glass:\n\nCredit: snapchat screenshot\n\nUnlike Instagram and other social apps, there's a strange thing about Snapchat: low-quality ads may work in its favor. Laughable content may be exactly what makes a good ad because Snapchat itself is a platform for sharing fun and authentic photos and videos.\n\n\"I'm bullish on Snapchat's ability and the allusion of blending user-generated content. Things on Facebook are very obvious to me that they\u2019re an ad,\" Derek Rubinstein, director at marketing agency Taktical Digital(opens in a new tab).\n\nWhile Snapchat Publisher could make way for less creative ads, it's not like ads prior to this week always impressed users. For example, there was this:\n\nClicking away? Not remembering the name of the brand? Not good for an advertiser.\n\nIllan Nass, founder of Taktical Digital, while first admitting his own bias as being on the agency side, said Snapchat could avoid a reputation for low-quality ads by continuing to work closely with these partners.\n\nSnapchat \"doesn\u2019t sell all their own goods, someone else sells it for them,\" Nass said. \"The more Snapchat cares about the guys and girls on the ground, the better.\"", "output": "Snap's new publisher cuts Snapchat ad creation time from months to just two minutes, but this could prove a negative for the messaging app. Snapchat has had a high bar for quality since its launch in 2015, as its vertical 10-second format\u00a0was new and the ad itself was expensive to make. The release of Snapchat Publisher means more quickly-made ads are likely to start appearing in the app, potentially lowering the quality threshold. However, no ad will go live without review, meaning Snap retain some control of the creative process.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Global mobile user numbers to be over 70% by 2022 \n According to Forrester Data, global mobile device usage is expected to reach more than 5.5 billion users by 2022.\n\nPowered by rising mobile adoption in Asia Pacific and Africa, mobile penetration is expected to reach 70% by 2022, which is almost double the total number of users in 2008.\n\nChina has toppled the Indian smartphone makers with strategic innovation and marketing already. The continuous reduction of smartphone prices by the Chinese brands will be one factor in leading smartphone subscribers to reach 3.8 billion by 2022, crossing the 50% mark for smartphone penetration by population in 2017. Most of the incremental growth in the subscribers is coming from APAC region, where India remains the fastest growing market\n\nThe Drum spoke with Satish Meena, senior forecast analyst at Forrester Research as to what does this mean for global smartphone sales. He said, \u201cDeveloped countries are witnessing very limited upside in number of new subscriber addition. The main source of sales in these markets is replacement rate. Due to no significant launch with improved features in last few years, the replacement rate is going down, leading to people using handsets for more time than they had in the past.\n\n\"The net new sales are coming from APAC and African markets which have issues like pricing, use case for shift to smartphone, battery and high cost of data plans. So overall with increasing adoption the growth rate of global sales is going to remain in single digits in coming years,\" added Meena.\n\nThis increased adoption of smartphones, especially the large screen phones, is leading to a decline in tablet sales and total tablet installed base is predicted to decline at a CAGR of 1.1% from 2017 to 2022, declining from 615 million in 2016 to 579 million in 2022, according to Forrester.\n\nIn terms of mobile operating system around 94% smartphone market is captured by Android and iOS and is expected to remain the same in coming years with no clear direction from Microsoft currently. The research also found that, with the rise of Chinese-made phones, the Android ecosystem would continue to rise. By 2017, Android is expected to capture 73% of the market, with Apple claiming 21% and Windows 4%.", "output": "The number of global mobile users is\u00a0expected to reach 70% of the world's population\u00a0by 2022, around 5.5 billion people. The number has almost almost doubled since\u00a02008. Growth is driven\u00a0mainly by the Asia Pacific and Africa, where mobile adoption has spiked dramatically in recent years. China's persistent shrinking of smartphone prices, in particular, had an impact on the projection.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Spain\u2019s Ecoalf converts plastic litter from the sea into clothing \n Three miles off Spain's Costa Blanca, Vicente Sana and his crew pull in their first catch of the day, but as the nets are opened onto the deck, plastic and rubbish tumbles out with the fish.\n\nFisherman Paco Perez points out a bit of old tyre, a diver's fin, water bottles and yoghurt pots.\n\nHe tells me this is normal, that they're seeing more plastic in the Mediterranean now than in the past.\n\n\"Why?\" I ask.\n\n\"I don't know,\" he replies. \"I guess people are throwing away more, but we notice it more in the summer.\"\n\nPlease use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 3:33 Why fishermen are recycling for eco-fashion\n\nA recent survey by Greenpeace found 96% of litter floating on the surface of the Mediterranean was plastic. Globally, it is estimated that as much as 12.7 million metric tonnes of plastic enters the ocean each year.\n\nVicente and his crew, along with about 2,000 fishermen in Spain, are now working with clothing company Ecoalf to turn plastic found in the sea into fabric.\n\n\"We make our living from the sea so we have to clean it up,\" he explains. \"Everything we catch, instead of throwing it back, which would be easy, we just separate into bags and in the afternoon we deposit them in the container.\"\n\nImage: Paco Perez picks out a tire caught from a haul of fish\n\nEnvironmentally, working on a trawler causes controversy, so some of them see the project as doing their bit.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe rubbish that is collected onboard is thrown into bright yellow bins in the port. The plastic is then separated and taken by Ecoalf to be broken into chips and then pellets, which can eventually be spun into thread.\n\nThe end results include jackets, trainers and backpacks - all made from recycled plastic.\n\nAt the company's store in Madrid, founder Javier Goyeneche explains how his dismay at the amount of waste produced by the fashion world made him want to make a clothing line that was more sustainable.\n\nImage: The fishermen's livelihoods depend on cleaning up the water\n\nSo far they have transformed 30 million used bottles into material but Mr Goyeneche says the pollution is widespread: \"We did a trial test with a thousand divers (in Thailand) in January and we took 7.5 tons of waste in one day out of the ocean, 7.5 kilos per diver.\n\n\"It's not a problem of Spain or of Thailand, it's the same problem in Mexico, Columbia, in Hawaii. This is a worldwide problem.\"\n\nOf course, it is not just fish swimming with plastic. Thousands of holidaymakers pack onto the popular beaches of the Costa Blanca each year.\n\nThe fishermen tell me tourism had increased the pollution in the sea.\n\nImage: Recycled plastic is eventually turned into jackets like this one\n\nThe fishermen's livelihoods depend on cleaning up the water. The pollution is killing off their product. In Vicente's words: \"No fish means no work.\"\n\nThe rest of us won't go untouched; the plastic that is filling up our seas will eventually end up on our plates.\n\nSky News launched its Sky Ocean Rescue campaign earlier this year aimed at reducing the amount of plastic waste that ends up in the world's seas.\n\n:: You can find out more about the Sky Ocean Rescue campaign and how to get involved at www.skyoceanrescue.com", "output": "Ecoalf, the Madrid-based clothing firm, is working with 2,000 fishermen off the coast of Spain to convert plastic waste from the sea into fabric\u00a0and ultimately clothing. The collected plastic is converted into chips and then pellets, before being spun into thread used to create backpacks, jackets and trainers. The company has so far transformed 30 million bottles into material. A survey by Greenpeace in June found that 96% of surface litter in the Mediterranean sea was plastic waste. An estimated 12.7 million metric tonnes of the material enter\u00a0the ocean each year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK faces risk of \u2018unprecedented\u2019 winter rainfall: Met Office \n January rainfall record\n\nThe observed and modelled January rainfall totals for south east England are shown in Fig. 1. Prior to January 2014, observations do not provide a precedent for the totals seen in 2014. The observed rainfall and two examples of model simulations are shown in Fig. 1a. Both model simulations show variability that appears similar to the observations. One set of model simulations shows no rainfall totals outside of the spread of observations. However, the other shows a month with rainfall far greater than had yet been observed\u2014and even greater than was observed in the current record month of January 2014.\n\nFig. 1 Unprecedented monthly rainfall. a South east England January monthly rainfall totals from 1979 to 2014, in mm (black) and two examples from model simulations (red). The black dashed line indicates the unprecedented January 2014 observed rainfall total. b Distribution of south east England January monthly rainfall totals from observations (grey) and the model (red). The box represents the interquartile range and the range of the whiskers represents the minimum and maximum monthly rainfall totals. The grey dot indicates the record observed monthly rainfall of January 2014 and ticks on the upper end of observations show the values in the upper quartile of previous events. Ticks on the model line indicate months above the observed record prior to 2014, and red dots indicate even higher totals Full size image\n\nThe distribution from all 4200 modelled January monthly rainfall totals is shown in Fig. 1b alongside the observed January rainfall. There are many model months with greater rainfall than had been observed prior to 2014, and several even exceed the January 2014 total and are therefore unprecedented. This shows that the level of rainfall seen in January 2014 could have been expected and these simulations could be used to calculate chance of exceeding current record monthly rainfall totals, assuming the climate is stationary over the observational period used.\n\nModel fidelity\n\nIn order to accurately calculate the chance of unprecedented monthly rainfall, the model must be able to provide a realistic representation of the range of states available to the real world19. While this high-resolution climate model is able to represent weather patterns that lower resolution models struggle to simulate, e.g. Atlantic blocking20, it is still not perfect and is unable to fully represent fine scale orographic enhancement that often gives rise to flooding for example21. However, over many regions, including south east England, model error due to orography is small. We apply tests to ensure that the model represents observations accurately enough to look for unprecedented rainfall events.\n\nTo assess the model fidelity we use the Met Office NCIC data set7 covering 1981\u20132015, the same period as the model simulations. Later we discuss the use of longer observational data sets. The modelled and observed distribution of the monthly rainfall totals for the winter months, October\u2013March, for south east England are statistically indistinguishable (Fig. 2a). We assess the mean, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis (\u2018Methods\u2019). The skewness and kurtosis measure the shape of the distribution\u2014the symmetry and weighting of the tails. If any of the four measures were unrealistically high in the model then too many unprecedented extremes would be identified, leading to an overestimation of the likelihood; if they are too low then the likelihood would be underestimated. As we are looking for events in the extremes of the distribution it is important to ensure the behaviour in the model tails is indistinguishable from the observations. Proxy time series are generated by sampling the climate model data for sets of equal length to the observed record. The observed value is then compared to the distribution of values from the proxy time series. In south east England the observed values all lie within 95% of the model distribution (Fig. 2b\u2013e) and hence the model is deemed to be statistically indistinguishable from the observations.\n\nFig. 2 Model and observed rainfall totals are indistinguishable. a The distribution of October to March monthly rainfall totals (in mm) of observations from the Met Office NCIC data set, 1981 to 2015, and the model simulations for south east England. b\u2013e The distributions of proxy south east England model time series mean, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis compared to the observed values indicated by the black vertical line Full size image\n\nRisk of a monthly rainfall record\n\nIn January 2014 the observed monthly rainfall record was exceeded by 30%7. The model simulations (Figs. 1b, 3) show that there was a 7% chance of an unprecedented rainfall total in a given winter, suggesting that the January 2014 rainfall could have been anticipated under the current climate, with the exact timing and occurrence determined simply by natural variability. The number of unprecedented monthly rainfall totals shown by the model varies between months, with December showing the largest number of unprecedented rainfall events (Fig. 3). This suggests that the observed record for December has been fortuitously low, and that the south east of the UK has been fortunate in not experiencing a wetter December in the past 35 years. Considering the whole winter, the chance of a record rainfall in any month in south east England is 7%; therefore, in the current climate, a new record is likely to occur there in the next decade. January 2014 is the wettest month in the observational record but even this event is exceeded by the model, suggesting that even greater rainfall is possible.\n\nFig. 3 Unprecedented monthly rainfall in all winter months. South east England monthly rainfall totals from observations (grey) and the model (red) for October to March. The box represents the interquartile range and the range of the whiskers represents the minimum and maximum monthly rainfall totals. Red dots indicate model months with greater total rainfall than has yet been observed and ticks on the upper observations line indicate values in the upper quartile of events. For January the ticks on the model line indicate months above the observed record prior to 2014 and the grey dot above the observations indicates the record observed monthly rainfall of January 2014 Full size image\n\nA statistical model could be used to calculate the probability of unprecedented rainfall from observational data alone using extreme value theory22,23,24. However there are many advantages of using a dynamical model. The observations are poorly sampled at the tails due to the limited length of the record; simply extrapolating from the available observations using extreme value theory would give large errors, as explored later. A statistical model can also lead to physically unrealistic results whereas a dynamical model provides physically plausible limits, but a statistical model may reduce sampling uncertainties by providing a parametric description. In this study both a statistical approach and a dynamical model are used. As the dynamical model provides global fields of many climatic indicators it allows calculation of the likelihood of concurrent climatic events in different locations, for example, the associated storm depths or extreme wind speeds. A dynamical model also allows investigation of the mechanisms of extreme events and remote precursors, which can aid prediction. This is discussed further in the next subsection.\n\nWe now quantify the probability of unprecedented rainfall in south east England as an example of our analysis (Fig. 4). Using the dynamical model rainfall data we use both a ranking method and extreme value theory to estimate the chance of record rainfall (\u2018Methods\u2019). Both methods are in good agreement, indicating a 7% risk of a record monthly rainfall total in any winter month of a given year, as we previously noted. The horizontal line at 1% indicates an event with a 1% annual probability would be 20\u201325% wetter that the current observed monthly record. Note, for south east England longer observational records are available; this is not true for all regions globally. We have also assessed the risk using the longer time series from 1880 to 2015, containing 100 times fewer station records25, finding a likelihood for an unprecedented rainfall total in at least one month of a given winter of 6%\u2014similar to the values using observations from the model period alone.\n\nFig. 4 Improved risk estimates of the chance of unprecedented rainfall. The chance of an event exceeding the observed maximum monthly rainfall total in south east England in winter (October to March) of any given year from two methods, ranking (red) and extreme value theory (blue) on the model simulations. The uncertainties indicate the 95% range Full size image\n\nEngineers and hydrologists are likely to need the absolute magnitude of extreme events for design purposes. Figure 5 shows the chance of absolute monthly rainfall totals, calculated from both the model simulations and the observations. For the model we have calculated the uncertainty using the full model data (Fig. 5, red). By subsampling the model to the length of observations, 35 years (Fig. 5, grey), we show how uncertain results calculated using the observations alone are. This can be compared to the parametric uncertainty range calculated from observations (Fig. 5, blue), showing that the spread is similar to the subsampled model curve. The model indicates a slightly lower chance of exceeding the record than observations. From the upper limits of the subsampled model curve (Fig. 5, grey) there is a 1% chance of at least 234 mm precipitation in at least one month of a given winter, using all available model data the chance of rainfall at this level is much lower with only two events above this threshold\u2014a 0.05% chance. The figure shows that using the large ensemble of model simulations we are able to greatly constrain the uncertainties compared to using observations alone. We can use Fig. 5 to assess the chance of different precipitation totals. The model simulations suggest a 1% annual probability of monthly rainfall of 205\u2013210 mm. In January 2014 south east England experienced record monthly rainfall of 205 mm; Fig. 5 suggests the chance of such event is just over 1% per year.\n\nFig. 5 The chance of specified absolute rainfall totals. The chance, in south east England, of at least one month in a given winter (October\u2013March) exceeding absolute rainfall totals (in mm) using extreme value theory. The 95% uncertainty cone of the model using the full model data is shown in red. Limiting the sample length to 35 years, as is available from observations, is shown in grey. The limits of the uncertainty range from the observations alone are shown in blue Full size image\n\nDynamics of extreme rainfall\n\nThe dynamical model provides global fields of dynamically consistent variables, allowing us to investigate the atmospheric circulation associated with extreme events. To illustrate this we investigate the sea level pressure fields over the North Atlantic and Europe for four extreme rainfall months (Fig. 6). A one-to-one mapping between the monthly circulation patterns and rainfall does not exist and a similar circulation pattern could cause a range of rainfall, especially for a region as small as south east England. Nevertheless, the model patterns show circulation patterns that appear feasible in the real world and enable us to see a range of conditions that could lead to extreme rainfall over south east England.\n\nFig. 6 Observed and not yet realised climate states. a, b The sea level pressure anomaly fields (in hPa, relative to the January mean sea level pressure field) of the two observed Januarys with highest rainfall totals, 2014 and 1988, using the ERA data set35. c\u2013f The sea level pressure anomalies of four extreme simulated Januarys, one of which d presents a potential new record rainfall scenario Full size image\n\nThe observed patterns from January 2014 and from January 1988, the two wettest Januarys in observations, are shown (Fig. 6a, b). The two are similar, showing patterns that would be expected to cause high rainfall as they have low pressure over the UK. Four examples of model Januarys with extreme rainfall are shown (Fig. 6c\u2013f). Two of the extreme rainfall months show a similar pattern to observations, with low pressure centred near the UK (Fig. 6c, d), showing the model is able to simulate realistic flow patterns. This pattern represents storms repeatedly tracking across the North Atlantic and over south east England\u2014as was observed in January 20141. However, there is variation in the sea level pressure patterns leading to extreme monthly rainfall. For example, the circulation patterns in Fig. 6e, f project onto a negative North Atlantic Oscillation, not normally associated with wet and stormy conditions over the UK26. In these cases moist air from the subtropics moves northwards bringing rainfall to the UK. These examples serve to highlight that a variety of large-scale circulation patterns, some of them perhaps not yet realised, can drive UK regional extreme rainfall events. Future work could further investigate the dynamics of extreme and unprecedented rainfall and assess how the chance of regional rainfall extremes relates to the large-scale atmospheric circulation.", "output": "The risk of record-breaking monthly winter rainfall in England and Wales, similar to that responsible for the flooding in 2014, has risen to one in three, according to the Met Office. Computer modelling reflecting natural variability combined with global warming was used to estimate the risk. The analysis also revealed a 7% risk of a monthly record extreme event in Southeast England over the next few years, and a 34% chance of an extreme event in at least one English or Welsh region each year. The research showed that such events might also break current records by up to 30%.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bank of England concerned by 'complacency' over consumer debt \n The Bank of England has told banks, credit card companies and car loan providers that they risk fresh action against reckless lending as it warned of a looming \u201cspiral of complacency\u201d about mounting consumer debt.\n\nIn its toughest warning yet about the possibility of a rerun of the financial crisis that devastated the economy 10 years ago, Threadneedle Street admitted it was alarmed about the increase in the amount of money being borrowed on easy terms over the past year.\n\n\u201cHousehold debt \u2013 like most things that are good in moderation \u2013 can be dangerous in excess\u201d, Alex Brazier, the Bank director for financial stability, said in a speech in Liverpool. \u201cDangerous to borrowers, lenders and, most importantly from our perspective, everyone else in the economy.\u201d\n\n\n\nBrazier\u2019s said there were \u201cclassic signs\u201d of lenders thinking the risks were lower following a prolonged period of good economic performance and low losses on loans.\n\nThe first signs of the Bank\u2019s anxiety about consumer debt came from its governor, Mark Carney, a month ago, but Brazier\u2019s comments marked a ratcheting up of Threadneedle Street\u2019s rhetoric.\n\n\u201cLenders have been the lucky beneficiaries of the benign way the economy has evolved. In expanding the supply of credit, they may be placing undue weight on the recent performance of credit cards and loans in benign conditions,\u201d Brazier said.\n\n\n\nThe willingness of consumers to take on more debt to fund their spending helped the economy grow strongly in the six months after the EU referendum, a period when the Bank expected growth to fall sharply.\n\nOver the past year, Brazier said, household incomes had grown by just 1.5% but outstanding car loans, credit card balances and personal loans had risen by 10%.\n\nHe added that terms and conditions on credit cards and personal loans had become easier. The average advertised length of 0% credit card balance transfers had doubled to close to 30 months, while advertised interest rates on \u00a310,000 personal loans had fallen from 8% to around 3.8%, even though official interest rates had barely changed.\n\nThe past decade has seen the number of cars bought with a personal contract purchase (PCP) plan \u2013 under which the car is effectively leased \u2013 increase from one in five to four in five. Companies risk losing money if used car prices fall and Brazier said banks involved and the shareholders of car companies would \u201cwant to think very carefully about the risks\u201d.\n\nHe added that developments in mortgage debt had been much less striking than those in consumer debt and car finance, with lending for home loans up by just 3% over the past year. \u201cBut even here there are some tentative signs of boundaries being pushed,\u201d he said.\n\nStrong competition for business was resulting in more lending at higher loan-to-income (LTI) multiples, with the share at an LTI above 4 increasing from 19% to 26% over the past two years.\n\n\u201cLenders have not entered, but they may be dicing with the spiral of complacency,\u201d Brazier said, noting that as credit became cheaper it was taken up more widely and was serviced more easily.\n\n\u201cThe spiral continues, and borrowers rack up more and more debt. Lending standards can go from responsible to reckless very quickly. The sorry fact is that as lenders think the risks they face are falling, the risks they \u2013 and the wider economy \u2013 face are actually growing,\u201d Brazier said.\n\n\n\nThe Bank director said banks and building societies were being supervised and had to prove to the regulator that they had safeguards in place against entering the spiral of complacency. Lenders were also being regularly stress tested to ensure that they could deal with very severe recessions without cutting back on their lending.\n\n\n\nIn addition, the Bank had forced lenders to hold more capital in order to make them more resilient to losses on their loans.\n\n\u201cBy September we will have assessed whether the rapid growth has created any gap in the line. If it has, we\u2019ll plug it,\u201d Brazier said.\n\nBrazier said the defence lines did \u201cnot eliminate the risks that borrowers and lenders take on when entering into a loan\u201d but that they \u201csafeguard everyone else \u2013 the wider economy \u2013 from collateral damage. They mean there\u2019s every prospect that we can make the economy a safer place than it has been in the past and that we can stop watching endless repeats of Debt Strikes Back.\u201d\n\nHis speech came just a fortnight before the 10th anniversary of the start of the global financial crisis in August 2007.\n\n\u201cTen years ago, an unsafe financial system caused financial crisis and economic disaster\u201d, he said. \u201cThe western banking system had expanded rapidly. Banks \u2013 and their regulators \u2013 had been blind to the basic fact that more debt meant greater risk of loss.\n\n\u201cComplacency gave way to crisis. Companies and households were unable to refinance their debts. The result was economic disaster. In this country alone, close to a million jobs were lost and more than 100,000 businesses failed. Too much debt made the financial system, and the economy, unsafe. Too many people paid the price when those risks materialised.\u201d", "output": "The Bank of England has warned that\u00a0credit card firms, banks\u00a0and car loan companies could face action if they do not curb reckless lending in the face of a \u201cspiral of complacency\u201d around increasing consumer debt. The comments by Alex Brazier, the Bank\u2019s director for financial stability, follow remarks expressing anxiety about such debt by governor Mark Carney last month. Brazier stated that, while household incomes had risen by just 1.5% over the past year, credit card balances and loans had increased by 10%.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow agrees to pay stamp duty on remaining Moulton homes \n Redrow stumps up stamp duty on remaining Moulton homes\n\nOnly two homes remain for sale at Redrow\u2019s stunning Carey Fields development in Moulton.\n\nAnd if that isn\u2019t enough to get people flocking to the Northamptonshire village in a last chance bid to buy one of these beautiful properties \u2013 news that Redrow has agreed to pay the stamp duty on the perfect pair most certainly is.\n\n\u201cHomes at Carey Fields have been snapped up almost as soon as they\u2019ve been put on the market, with many selling months ahead of build,\u201d said Tonia Tyler, sales director for Redrow Homes (South Midlands). \u201cSo it really is no surprise that we are down to our final two houses there.\n\n\u201cThe specification and quality of the homes, plus the idyllic location, have very much played a part in that, as the development is close to both beautiful countryside and excellent transport links, making it perfect for families and commuters who want a better life balance.\u201d\n\nBut while it is last, it is certainly not least, for the dazzling house duo.\n\n\u201cOne of the properties is the hugely popular four-bedroom Richmond style house and the other a fabulous five-bedroom home; both detached and both absolutely amazing homes,\u201d added Tonia.\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t imagine either will stay on the market for very long \u2013 especially considering that with Redrow paying the Stamp Duty it means savings of an incredible \u00a318,398 and \u00a316,988 respectively.\u201d\n\nFirst to feast on is the five-bedroom Marlborough at \u00a3539,950. An extensive executive home, it has oodles of style and space. Downstairs there\u2019s a heart-of-the-home kitchen and dining area together with a lounge and separate snug, as well as a utility, cloakroom and integral double garage.\n\nUpstairs there are five bedrooms, two of which have an en-suite, and a luxurious family bathroom.\n\nOr buyers may prefer the four-bedroom Richmond, at \u00a3567,950, again swimming in style and sophistication, while retaining a cosy charm demanded by a family home.\n\nCarefully crafted and designed, the Richmond has a kitchen, dining room and family room overlooking the rear garden of the delightful property, complemented by a spacious lounge, cloakroom and utility \u2013 not forgetting again, of course, the integral double garage.\n\nOn the first floor, the Richmond offers four bedrooms, two of which have en-suite, and with the master bedroom benefiting from a walk-in wardrobe too.\n\nSituated on Northampton Lane North, Carey Fields boasts natural surroundings while being just four miles from the centre of Northampton and with easy access to the M1, A45 and A14.\n\nNearer to the development itself is a superb selection of shops, including a post office, plus pubs, a theatre and sports complex with activities for all ages and abilities. Moulton Primary School is within half a mile of Carey Fields, plus there are plenty of other schools for all ages in the surrounding area.\n\nTo find out more about the final two homes, visit the sales centre open Thursday to Monday inclusive, from 10am to 5.30pm. Alternatively, visit redrow.co.uk/carey.", "output": "Redrow Homes has agreed to pay the stamp duty on the final two homes for sale at the Carey Fields development in Moulton, Northamptonshire. The house builder's decision will mean\u00a0savings of\u00a0\u00a318,398 ($23,947) and \u00a316,988 for buyers of\u00a0the properties, according to\u00a0Tonia Tyler, sales director for Redrow Homes (South Midlands).\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sinclair Pharma Katie Price uses Silhouette Lift \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nGet daily celeb exclusives and behind the scenes house tours direct to your inbox\n\n(Image: London Bridge Surgery)\n\nKatie Price is no stranger to cosmetic surgery, and now the 39 year old mum of five has gone one step further, unveiling the results of her first ever face lift.\n\nThe reality star, who is married to Kieran Hayler, underwent the pioneering treatment 'silhouette' face lift last week, costing \u00a35,000.\n\nThe treatment - designed to boost sagging cheeks - and is the first time the Loose Women presenter has had a facelift, and she's clearly delighted with the results, posting about it on Twitter to her 2.14m followers.\n\nIn a video - taken just four hours after her surgery - Katie commented: \u201cSo this is literally four hours after. And look, not a bruise, not a mark - fantastic!\u201d\n\n(Image: London Bridge Surgery)\n\nShe added: \u201cI absolutely love my threading. Love it. So good! If you\u2019re ever going to do anything, do it subtle. It\u2019s just that I like to show everyone what I\u2019ve had done.\"\n\nKatie's facelift is the latest in a long line of cosmetic procedures, which began with the first of eight breast augmentations in 1998.\n\nShe\u2019s also undergone rhinoplasty, teeth veneers, bum lifts, liposuction and has a regular Botox and dermal filler regime.\n\nThe procedure was carried out by leading UK cosmetic surgeon Chris Inglefield at London Bridge Plastic Surgery & Aesthetic Clinic.\n\n(Image: ITV)\n\nCommenting on her reaction, Mr Inglefield said: \u201cKatie was a joy to have in the surgery and we\u2019re naturally delighted she\u2019s so happy with the outcome.\n\n\u201cOur Silhouette Lift features threads that do no dissolve in the skin - unlike other silhouette lifts - giving you the option of repeated lifts over a period of five years.\"\n\nThe Silhouette Lift is performed under local anaesthetic in an out-patient setting without the need of hospitalisation, and takes around 45 minutes for the face and less than 25 minutes for the neck.", "output": "Reality TV star Katie Price revealed that she has undergone a facelift using Sinclair Pharma's Silhouette Lift\u00a0at\u00a0London Bridge Plastic Surgery and Aesthetic Clinic, carried out by Chris Inglefield. He said:\u00a0'If, like Katie, you are late thirties to mid-forties or over and have started experiencing facial sagging and less sharpness in the oval of your face and neck, then you will benefit from a Silhouette Lift\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sinclair Pharma Katie Price uses Silhouette Lift \n Katie Price has stunned fans after revealing her first ever facelift.\n\nThe reality star, 39, underwent a pioneering new procedure last week called a 'Silhouette Face Lift' designed to boost sagging cheeks and costs around \u00a35,000.\n\nUsing permanent surgical threads that remain in Katie's skin tissue, she'll also be able to have her face retightened every year for up to five years.\n\nAnd despite a long history of cosmetic procedures, this is the first time Katie has ever gone under the knife for a facial rejuvenation.\n\nIn a video posted on social media - taken just four hours after her surgery - Katie gushed: 'So this is literally four hours after. And look, not a bruise, not a mark - fantastic!'\n\nKatie during the procedure which uses special thread sutured under the skin to manipulate her face and reduce sagging skin\n\nJust four hours after the procedure - which leaves no bruising or scarring - Katie showed off her new look. Katie on Loose Women later that week.\n\nIn another clip from a few days later, Katie explains to her fans: 'I just wanted to let you know I had a facelift last Friday [July 14]. This is five days after. Yes that's right, facelift!\n\n'It doesn't end there, because although he has put the threads in, in six weeks time he will pull them and my face will look even fresher.\n\n'I know you all think I'm mad, I am mad but I'm preventing ageing.'\n\nKatie's facelift is the latest in a long line of cosmetic procedures, which began with the first of eight breast augmentations in 1998.\n\nSILHOUETTE FACELIFT PROCEDURE Performed under local anaesthetic the 'Silhouette Facelift' procedure takes around 45 minutes for the face and less than 25 minutes for the neck. Threads are attached to tiny cones which grip the soft tissues and lift the sagging tissues. They are then anchored to the firm fibrous tissues at the scalp either side of your head. This is achieved with a small incision in the hairline where the sutures are placed. The threads do not dissolve which means there is an option of repeated lifts over a period of five years. Advertisement !- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/ru/femail/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 - ->\n\nShe's also undergone rhinoplasty, teeth veneers, bottom lifts, liposuction and has a regular Botox and dermal filler regime.\n\nThe procedure was carried out by cosmetic surgeon Chris Inglefield at London Bridge Plastic Surgery and Aesthetic Clinic who said he was delighted that Katie is so pleased with the results.\n\nHe added: 'If, like Katie, you are late thirties to mid-forties or over and have started experiencing facial sagging and less sharpness in the oval of your face and neck, then you will benefit from a Silhouette Lift.\n\n'The rejuvenation also keeps all your expressions alive.'\n\nThe procedure which is performed under a local anaesthetic uses threads that do not dissolve in the skin - unlike other silhouette lifts - giving you the option of repeated lifts over a period of five years.\n\n'And it's a procedure that's becoming more and more popular, purely because it's so versatile and leaves virtually no scarring,' Dr Inglefield explained.\n\nKatie has had multiple surgeries over the years including eight on her breasts, rhinoplasty, liposuction, Botox, fillers, veneers and a bottom lift\n\nThe mother-of-five is no stranger to the surgeon's chair and has increased and decreased her breasts leaving some scarring\n\nKATIE'S SURGERY TIMELINE 1998: Aged 20 she had a breast augmentation going from a B cup to C cup. Katie Price has had multiple surgical procedures over 16 years 1999: She had two surgeries in one year, going to a D cup, before later an ample F cup. 2006: After the birth of her three children, Harvey Price, 15, Junior Andre, 12, Princess Tiaamii Andre, 10, Katie had another boob job taking her up to a G cup. 2007: Katie had rhinoplasty surgery but later said she liked her original nose. 2008: Katie expressed an interest in smaller breasts and went down to a 32C. 2012: After the breakdown of her marriages to Peter Andre and Alex Reid she went up to an F-cup. 2015: She announced she was having her breast implants removed and went au natural reducing them from a 32G to a natural 32B. 2016: Katie revealed her biggest implants yet when she revealed she had travelled to Belgium to go up to a 32GG. 2017: Along with the new silhouette facelift. Katie, who wears hair extensions and wigs has also had 3D liposuction, a bottom lift, veneers, lip fillers and Botox. Advertisement !- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/ru/femail/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_2 - ->\n\nA face naturally begins to sag with age as the skin loses its elasticity and collagen while fat deposits decrease and becomes displaced by gravity, The Silhouette Lift helps to reposition this displaced skin, fat and muscle to achieve a subtle and more youthful appearance.\n\nThe Silhouette Lift is performed under local anaesthetic in an out-patient setting without the need of hospitalisation, and takes around 45 minutes for the face and less than 25 minutes for the neck.\n\nThe treatment itself sees threads attached to tiny cones, which grip the soft tissues and lift sagging tissues.\n\nThe threads are anchored to the firm fibrous tissues of the 'temporal fascia' - the scalp either side of your head - or behind the ear in a neck, and provide long-lasting results.\n\nTo achieve this, a small incision is made above the hairline, where the sutures are anchored.", "output": "Reality TV star Katie Price revealed that she has undergone a facelift using Sinclair Pharma's Silhouette Lift\u00a0at\u00a0London Bridge Plastic Surgery and Aesthetic Clinic, carried out by Chris Inglefield. He said:\u00a0'If, like Katie, you are late thirties to mid-forties or over and have started experiencing facial sagging and less sharpness in the oval of your face and neck, then you will benefit from a Silhouette Lift\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Onshore wind energy costs fall in UK: Arup \n Onshore windfarms could be built in the UK for the same cost as new gas power stations and would be nearly half as expensive as the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant, according to a leading engineering consultant.\n\nArup found that the technology has become so cheap that developers could deliver turbines for a guaranteed price of power so low that it would be effectively subsidy-free in terms of the impact on household energy bills.\n\nFrance\u2019s EDF was awarded a contract for difference \u2013 a top-up payment \u2013 of \u00a392.50 per megawatt hour over 35 years for Hinkley\u2019s power, or around twice the wholesale price of electricity.\n\nBy contrast, Arup\u2019s report found that windfarms could be delivered for a maximum of \u00a350-55 per MWh across 15 years.\n\nScottishPower, which commissioned the analysis, hopes to persuade the government to reconsider its stance on onshore windfarms, which the Conservatives effectively blocked in 2015 by banning them from competing for subsidies and imposing new planning hurdles.\n\nKeith Anderson, the firm\u2019s chief operating officer, told the Guardian that onshore wind could help the UK meet its climate targets, was proven in terms of being easy to deliver, and was now \u201cphenomenally competitive\u201d on price.\n\n\u201cIf you want to control the cost of energy, and deliver energy to consumers and to businesses across the UK at the most competitive price, why would you not want to use this technology? This report demonstrates it\u2019s at the leading edge of efficiency,\u201d he said.\n\nThe big six energy firm believes that with a cap on top-up payments so close to the wholesale price, onshore windfarms would be effectively subsidy-free \u2013 but the guaranteed price would be enough to de-risk projects and win the investment case for them.\n\n\u201cWhat we are asking for is a mechanism that underpins the investment risk,\u201d said Anderson.\n\nThe group believes that any political sting for Tory MPs concerned about public opposition to turbines in English shires would be removed because such a low guaranteed price would see only the windiest sites coming in cheap enough \u2013 which means windfarms in Scotland.\n\n\u201cYou put these projects in the right place, you will get the correct level of resource out of them to keep the costs down and you will get public acceptance of people liking them,\u201d Anderson said, citing the example of the company\u2019s huge Whitelee windfarm near Glasgow.\n\nDr Robert Gross, director of the centre for energy policy and technology at Imperial College, said: \u201cOnshore wind has been coming in at remarkably low prices internationally, so a contract for difference price of around \u00a350-60 per MWh looks perfectly feasible for a good location in the UK, one of the windiest countries in Europe.\n\n\u201cWindfarms generally need fixed price contracts in order to secure finance, otherwise volatile electricity prices can make investing in wind risky.\u201d\n\nThe Conservative manifesto was seen by some in industry as softening the party\u2019s stance on onshore wind, saying that it did not believe \u201cmore large-scale onshore wind power is right for England\u201d but not mentioning Wales and Scotland, which have some of the best potential sites.\n\nThe party also promised a review of the cost of energy which the Guardian revealed last week was likely to be led by the University of Oxford economist Dieter Helm, a critic of the cost of today\u2019s renewable and nuclear power technologies.\n\nHowever, Anderson said he saw the report, due in October, as a good opportunity.\n\n\u201cI would find it surprising if anybody else doing a costs review of the energy sector comes to a fundamentally different argument [to the Arup report],\u201d he said.\n\nLeo Murray, of climate change charity 10:10, said: \u201cIt looks increasingly absurd that the Conservatives have effectively banned Britain\u2019s cheapest source of new power.\u201d", "output": "Onshore windfarms could cost no more than gas power stations and be half as expensive as Hinkley Point C, according to engineering consultants Arup. The consultancy found that the cost of the technology had fallen so far that developers could deliver turbines at a cost that would be effectively subsidy-free in terms of household bills. While France\u2019s EDF was awarded a top-up payment of \u00a392.50 ($102.49) per MWh\u00a0over 35 years in relation to Hinkley, Arup\u2019s data indicated that windfarms could be delivered for \u00a350-\u00a355 per MWh over 15 years. Onshore windfarms were effectively blocked by the Conservatives in 2015.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FedEx, without cyber coverage, signals Petya will hurt earnings \n FedEx said that it may not be able to recover all the systems affected by the Petya cyberattack and that the financial hit is unknown but \"it is likely that it will be material\" since the company didn't have cyber insurance.\n\nOn June 28, FedEx's global operations of its TNT unit were disrupted by the Petya attack. TNT operates in the European Union. Petya infiltrated FedEx via a Ukranian tax software product. FedEx said no data breach or data loss has occurred based on the company's current knowledge.\n\nFedEx isn't the only company struggling to recover. Other enterprises also have recovered most systems, but may not fully restore the ones hit hardest by Petya.\n\nRead also:\n\nIn FedEx's filing, the company said its TNT depots, hubs, and facilities are operational with most services, but customers are seeing service and invoicing delays. FedEx has had to use manual processes for a \"significant portion of TNT operations and customer service functions.\" FedEx couldn't say when TNT services will be fully restored.\n\nAs for FedEx's recovery plan, the company said it focused on operations, finance, back-office, and secondary business systems. FedEx couldn't put a price tag on the attack fallout, but it did note:\n\nGiven the recent timing and magnitude of the attack, in addition to our initial focus on restoring TNT operations and customer service functions, we are still evaluating the financial impact of the attack, but it is likely that it will be material. We do not have cyber or other insurance in place that covers this attack. Although we cannot currently quantify the amounts, we have experienced loss of revenue due to decreased volumes at TNT and incremental costs associated with the implementation of contingency plans and the remediation of affected systems.\n\nThe company said it is still committed to boosting operating income by $1.2 billion to $1.5 billion in fiscal 2020 relative to fiscal 2017.\n\nRelated stories:\n\nAnd more on securing the mobile enterprise:", "output": "FedEx announced that the Petya ransomware attack that hit its subsidiary, TNT, will materially impact its financial results, as revenues have suffered. The firm said it had no insurance in place that covers the attack and could not estimate when, or even if, all services will be fully restored. Revenues have been impacted by decreased volumes at TNT, the cost of implementing contingency plans and efforts to get the affected systems back on track. Currently, while its services are available, widespread delays continue to plague TNT, which is said to be manually processing much of its operations and customer service functions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Novartis\u2019 gene therapy for cancer poised to be first to market \n One of those patients, Emily Whitehead, now 12 and the first child ever given the altered cells, was at the meeting of the panel with her parents to advocate for approval of the drug that saved her life. In 2012, as a 6-year-old, she was treated in a study at the Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia. Severe side effects \u2014 raging fever, crashing blood pressure, lung congestion \u2014 nearly killed her. But she emerged cancer free, and has remained so.\n\n\u201cWe believe that when this treatment is approved it will save thousands of children\u2019s lives around the world,\u201d Emily\u2019s father, Tom Whitehead, told the panel. \u201cI hope that someday all of you on the advisory committee can tell your families for generations that you were part of the process that ended the use of toxic treatments like chemotherapy and radiation as standard treatment, and turned blood cancers into a treatable disease that even after relapse most people survive.\u201d\n\nThe main evidence that Novartis presented to the F.D.A. came from a study of 63 patients who received the treatment from April 2015 to August 2016. Fifty-two of them, or 82.5 percent, went into remission \u2014 a high rate for such a severe disease. Eleven others died.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a new world, an exciting therapy,\u201d said Dr. Gwen Nichols, the chief medical officer of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, which paid for some of the research that led to the treatment.\n\nThe next step, she said, will be to determine \u201cwhat we can combine it with and is there a way to use it in the future to treat patients with less disease, so that the immune system is in better shape and really able to fight.\u201d She added, \u201cThis is the beginning of something big.\u201d", "output": "A US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel has recommended that the regulator give the green light to a cancer treatment from Novartis that genetically alters patients' own cells to fight leukaemia. \"Living drug\" treatments mobilise the immune system against cancer cells. If the panel's recommendation is accepted by the FDA, which is said to be \"likely\", it will become the first gene therapy to reach the market; others are then expected to follow. Novartis plans to apply for EU approval later this year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk Power outage causes issues for TalkTalk \n TalkTalk customers have reported that e-mail and internet services are down today\n\nTalkTalk is down for hundreds of customers today, with users reporting internet, e-mail and phone issues.\n\nIndependent website Down Detector has registered hundreds of TalkTalk customers saying they are experiencing issues with the service today.\n\nTalkTalk\u2019s official Twitter page has also been busy today responding to customers saying they are experiencing issues with the service.\n\nThe TalkTalk official status website said there has been a power failure at one of their sites which is causing system issues.\n\nOn the official TalkTalk website, they said: \"Due to an unexpected power outage at one of our centres we're experiencing issues handling some of your calls, this issue is also impacting some of our websites such as Help, My Account, Webmail.\n\n\"We'd like to apologise for any inconvenience caused, we appreciate your patience during this time and would like to assure you that our engineers are working to resolve the issue asap.\n\n\n\n\"We'll continue to update you on our progress right here so check back for updates.\"", "output": "TalkTalk was reportedly down for hundreds of customers today, with users reporting internet, e-mail and phone issues.\u00a0The firm's website said: \"Due to an unexpected power outage at one of our centres we're experiencing issues handling some of your calls, this issue is also impacting some of our websites such as Help, My Account, Webmail. We'd like to apologise for any inconvenience caused, we appreciate your patience during this time and would like to assure you that our engineers are working to resolve the issue asap.\u00a0We'll continue to update you on our progress right here so check back for updates.\"\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow [2]: Jewson supports NHS sunscreen for construction workers campaign \n Construction workers are being urged to \u201cCover Up, Mate\u201d and protect themselves against ultraviolet (UV) damage as part of a new NHS campaign being supported by Jewson.\n\nThis initiative is designed to encourage men who spend a lot of time outdoors to protect themselves against the sun and reduce the risk of skin cancer.\n\nSkin cancer rates are rising in Britain. A recent Imperial College study, commissioned by Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) estimated that construction workers made up the highest number of deaths (44 per cent) from melanoma skin cancer over the course of a year. Across Britain there are 48 deaths and 241 cases of skin cancer per year caused by UV rays from the sun at work.\n\nThe NHS \"Cover Up, Mate\" campaign (which launched on the 19th of June 2017) targets male construction workers, amongst others, who often don't use suncream.\n\nDavid Kilby, Operations Director at Jewson, said: \u201cWe know builders don\u2019t have much time on their hands, so prioritising something like sun care isn\u2019t always easy \u2013 especially given Britain\u2019s unpredictable weather. But with construction workers often outside for long periods of time, they can be at a much higher risk of exposure to UV rays than most. We\u2019re showing our support to the Cover Up, Mate campaign to help raise awareness of the dangers of being in the sun without protection.\u201d\n\nJewson joins a line-up of campaign supporters, including: the Met Office; IOSH; the National Farmers Union; Mole Valley Farmers farming supply retailer; and sun cream manufacturer, Debs.\n\nNHS England Medical Director, Nigel Acheson, said: \u201cYou can\u2019t feel UV radiation, so it\u2019s very easy to get sunburnt in the UK, even when it\u2019s not particularly warm. But sunburn causes skin cancer so it\u2019s important people take more care, especially men and those who work outside. They need to use at least factor 15 sunscreen with good UVA protection and apply it generously on all exposed skin.\u201d\n\nOfficial NHS advice on staying safe in the sun is:\n\n\u2022 spend time in the shade if you can\n\n\u2022 try not to go out in the mid-day sun\n\n\u2022 cover up with suitable clothing and sunglasses\n\n\u2022 wear light, breathable fabric clothing where possible\n\n\u2022 use at least factor 30 sunscreen\n\nTo find out more about how you can protect yourself on site, visit: http://www.nhs.uk/livewell/skin/pages/sunsafe.aspx", "output": "Jewson is supporting the \u201cCover up, Mate\u201d NHS campaign, which is aims to get construction workers using sunscreen to reduce the risk of developing skin cancer. Construction workers account for around 44% of UK melanoma skin cancer-related deaths each year, according to an Imperial College study that was commissioned by Institution of Occupational Safety and Health. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "RhythmOne US bill introduced to close copyright gap on pre-1972 sound-recordings \n WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2014 Legislation was introduced this week to close a long-standing quirk in copyright law: Sound-recordings made before 1972 do not get federal protection.\n\nIt\u2019s long been a source of complaint among artists, musicians, and record labels, among others, particularly with the dramatic changes in revenue streams in the digital age. It has created confusion in the marketplace for oldies radio, as streaming services depend on the classic recordings popular with their subscribers.\n\nThe Compensating Legacy Artists for their Songs, Service and Important Contributions to Society Act (CLASSICS) was introduced by a group of House Republicans and Democrats, including Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.). Issa is the chairman of a key House Judiciary subcommittee on intellectual property, and Nadler is the ranking member.\n\n\u201cThis is an important and overdue fix to the law that will help settle years of litigation and restore some equity to the inexplicable gap in our copyright system,\u201d Issa said in a statement. \u201cIt makes no sense that some of the most iconic artists of our time are left without the same federal copyright protections afforded to their modern counterparts.\u201d\n\nSupporters are hopeful for the bill\u2019s prospects, citing its support among groups from the music industry like the Recording Industry Assn. of America, musicFIRST and the Grammys, and those that at times have a divergent agenda, like Pandora and the Internet Assn.\n\nIt was not until 1971 that Congress put sound recordings under federal copyright protection, but they applied only to works made after Feb. 15, 1972.\n\nThat has created confusion, as artists and labels have instead turned to state laws to establish copyright protections, but it has created a patchwork of different state laws.\n\nThe legislation would make the owners of the pre-1972 recordings eligible for royalties for digital broadcast. The legislation also ensures that artists are entitled to the same share of royalties regardless of whether a label and a digital music platform reach an agreement on payment.\n\nSoundExchange would distribute the royalties for the pre-1972 recordings, just as it does for music after that date.\n\nThe legislation does not address another contentious issue that has long been a source of dispute: Broadcast radio stations do not have to pay royalties to artists and labels for airplay, even though the music industry has long sought legislation to require compensation for broadcasts of performances.", "output": "A bill was introduced in the US this week to close a longstanding gap in copyright law around sound-recordings made prior to 1972, which currently fall outside of federal protection.\u00a0The Compensating Legacy Artists for their Songs, Service and Important Contributions to Society Act (CLASSICS) would make the owners of the pre-1972 recordings eligible for royalties for digital broadcast. It would also ensure that artists are entitled to the same share of royalties, regardless of whether a label and a digital music platform reach an agreement on payment. SoundExchange would distribute the royalties. The issue that broadcast radio stations do not have to pay royalties to artists and labels for airplay will not be addressed by the legislation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "RhythmOne [4]: Warner Music Group buys select assets of music platform Songkick \n CelebrityAccess provides in-depth Artist Analytics for over 250k+ Celebrities Worldwide - and unparalleled, detailed information on over 100k Entertainers Speakers, Celebrities, and their Representatives, as well as hundreds of thousands of Records for Venues, Agents and Managers, including their Direct Phone Numbers and Emails Addresses. Members can instantly access 500k+ Dates of Live Bands on Tour, Artist Avails, News Archives, and UNLIMITED Box Office without worrying about Pay-More Restrictions!\n\nAlready a member? Click here to Sign In.", "output": "Warner Music Group (WMG) has purchased \"select assets\" from live music platform Songkick, including its concert discovery app, website and the Songkick trademark. The platform will be run as a\u00a0standalone brand overseen by WMG's artist and label services division, WEA. Some of Songkick's employees involved in running the concert discovery app will join the WMG team. Songkick's\u00a0ticketing business and associated pending litigation, including its lawsuit against Live Nation over the alleged theft of trade secrets, are not included in the deal, financial details for which were not disclosed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Nigel Palmer joins Redrow as MD of West Country division \n South West Property Stephen Farrell\n\nHousebuilder Redrow has appointed a new managing director for its West Country division to strengthen its presence in the region.\n\nNigel Palmer has been appointed to the role at the company's divisional head office in Exeter, with responsibility for the developer's sites across the West Country.\n\nPalmer joins from Linden Homes, where he spent the last 15 years as the commercial director and managing director of Linden Homes Bristol, and more recently as the South West managing director.\n\nHe will lead the expansion of Redrow West Country, which was launched only three years ago and is the newest division of the national housebuilder.\n\nNigel Palmer said: \"My priority is to continue to build the Redrow brand in the West Country. The division has seen significant success in its first few years and my aim is to accelerate that expansion and increase the number of new homes we deliver each year, targeting prime land in desirable locations for high quality developments.\"", "output": "Nigel Palmer has been named as the new MD of Redrow's West Country division. He joins from Linden Homes, where for the last 15 years he served\u00a0as commercial director and managing director for Bristol, and more recently, as South West MD. Palmer will work out of\u00a0Redrow's divisional head office in Exeter and is responsible for leading the expansion of Redrow West Country, the housebuilder's newest division nationwide.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus [3]: Keep in touch with remote workers to boost efficiency, bottom line: Regus \n Managers are being urged to make more effort to stay in contact with employees working remotely as the number of home workers continues to grow. Flexible workspace specialists Regus believes the solution to productivity concerns is a more open and regular channel of communication between workers.\n\n84% of professionals agree that managers should speak with remote workers several times a week, and while phone calls are the most immediate way to make contact, it\u2019s not always the most informative or regularly convenient. More than half think bosses should check in via video chat at least once a week, while nearly three quarters admitted that workers should be available through direct messaging service rather than email to ensure they can respond quicker.\n\nHighlighting the importance of face-to-face discussion, 84% of respondents believe remote staff should be required to attend monthly meetings with managers if they\u2019re expected to spend too much time out of the office. As many firms are embracing remote working opportunities for employees, Regus wants to remind managers that maintaining supervision outside of the office could help boost efficiency and reduce the risk of distracted workers.\n\n\u201cThe challenge for business leaders is to establish reporting and measurement strategies to effectively manage this dispersed workforce,\u201d said Richard Morris, UK CEO of Regus. \u201cRegular assessment of tools and techniques is essential in order to take advantage of developing technologies and to ensure that employees continue to feel supported and engaged.\n\n\u201cStriking the right balance will deliver immediate benefits to both parties \u2013 and to business bottom-lines.\u201d", "output": "Regus suggests that managers should make more effort to keep in touch with employees working remotely, speaking several times a week, with a combination of phone, video chat and direct messaging mentioned as suitable mediums. If they are expected to spend too much time out of the office, remote staff should be required to attend monthly meetings with managers, according to 84% of respondents. \u201cThe challenge for business leaders is to establish reporting and measurement strategies to effectively manage this dispersed workforce,\u201d said UK CEO of Regus, Richard Morris.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow [4]: Two sites touted for new Cheltenham school near Redrow Leckhampton site \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nNever miss the latest local news again by signing up to our Daily Newsletter\n\nPossible locations have been revealed for the new \u00a330million school which is being planned for Cheltenham.\n\nThe new school would be an all-through school for primary and secondary pupils aged four to 16, and Gloucestershire County Council wants it to open in September 2020.\n\nCheltenham's Balcarras School announced this week it will team up with three other schools in the town to put a bid together to develop and run the project.\n\nIt is believed that two greenfield sites in Leckhampton and Up Hatherley are being considered for the new school.\n\nAnd Gloucestershire Live understands the trust managing Marling School, in Stroud, is putting together a bid to compete with Balcarras to build Cheltenham's new school.\n\nWhere could the new school go?\n\nSouth of Up Hatherley Lane\n\nOne location for the new school could be between Up Hatherley Lane and Shurdington Road, or between Farm Lane and Leckhampton Lane.\n\n(Image: Google)\n\nRedrow have won permission to build 377 homes on the land bounded by Leckhampton Lane and Farm Lane - despite a legal challenge by Leckhampton Green Land Action Group.\n\nLeckhampton Fields\n\nA second possible location for the new school is the Leckhampton Fields - between Shurdington Road and Church Road and off Kidnappers Lane.\n\n(Image: Google.)\n\nDeveloper Miller Homes plans to build 350 houses and to invest \u00a365million to develop a patch of land off Shurdington Road, known as Northern Fields \u2013 creating more than 1,000 jobs in the process.\n\nIt is understood school planners at Gloucestershire County Council have not ruled out using Leckhampton Fields land for the new school.\n\nCouncillor Iain Dobie (LD, Leckhampton and Warden Hill), said he had no preference at this stage where the school should be, but he has concerns about the possible use of the Leckhampton Fields as there's not enough space or adequate roads.\n\nHe said: \"What I want is for this new school to be located within easy reach of the community it will be serving.\n\n\"I welcome the proposal for a new school to serve the community. I want it to be in this area but the decision on where it's going to be located is going to be made by public authorities - the Department for Education and Gloucestershire County Council.\"\n\nThe Cotswold Beacon Academy Trust, which manages Marling School, has confirmed its interest in bidding for the new school.\n\nDr Stuart Wilson, chief executive of the trust, said: \"Cotswold Beacon Academy Trust has been taking a keen interest in developments in Cheltenham since the Local Authority announced the need for a new secondary and primary school.\n\n\"There is some uncertainty at the moment about the exact criteria and process for free school applications in Wave 13 but we hope that clear information will be available from the DfE shortly.\n\n\"In the meantime we have been discussing a potential bid for the primary and secondary schools; subject to trustees approval we would look to start formal consultation in the autumn.\"\n\nCouncillor Richard Boyles, Gloucestershire County Council's cabinet member for children and young people (C, Blakeney and Bream), said: \u201cThe council has a good track record for planning school places and we know we need more places in Cheltenham, ideally by 2020.\n\n\"Our preferred route is a government funded free school and the first step on this path would be for potential sponsors to develop bids for the school.\n\n\u201cNo site has been selected and we\u2019re asking for landowners to get in touch if they have any sites for consideration.\u201d", "output": "Two greenfield sites in Leckhampton, Cheltenham, are believed to be under consideration for the new \u00a330m primary through secondary school for pupils aged four to 16, which is expected to open in in September 2020. The location between Farm Lane and Leckhampton Lane is near land where Redrow has permission to build 377 homes. The other, between Up Hatherley Lane and Shurdington Road, is near the Northern Fields site earmarked for a \u00a365m development by Miller Homes that is expected to create over 1,000 jobs and 350 houses. Leckhampton Fields has also not been ruled out.  \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Morgan Stanley fund firm plan adds to list mulling Ireland move \n Morgan Stanley currently employs about 30 people in the area of fund administration in Dublin\u2019s south docklands, on Sir John Rogerson\u2019s Quay.\n\nWall Street giant Morgan Stanley is planning to apply for a licence to set up a fund management company in Dublin to maintain access to investors in the European Union after Brexit.\n\nThe group, which has $1.3 trillion (\u20ac1.13 billion) of assets under management, is planning to apply to set up a company under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), according to sources.\n\nA number of other companies, including investment group Legg Mason, are planning to set up similar structures in Ireland, which would typically employ between 20 and 50 people to demonstrate that they have substantive operations and the \"mind and will\" of the entities in Ireland.\n\nSuch a move will allow Morgan Stanley to continue to market its funds in the EU. The actual money managers making day-to-day decisions on investments will remain outside of Ireland.\n\nREAD MORE\n\nDublin\u2019s south docklands\n\nThe bank currently employs about 30 people in the area of fund administration in Dublin\u2019s south docklands, on Sir John Rogerson\u2019s Quay. Sources said that it is likely that its existing office accommodation will be able to house the additional staff.\n\nMore than $2 trillion of global fund assets are domiciled in Ireland in an industry that employs about 14,000 people.\n\nMeanwhile, Morgan Stanley has selected Frankfurt to set up its new EU trading hub, joining a growing number of international investment banks, from Citigroup to Nomura, that have chosen to establish their European broker-dealer businesses in the German city, home of the European Central Bank and its banking supervision arm.\n\nA spokesman for Morgan Stanley in London declined to comment.\n\nBloomberg reported on Wednesday that Morgan Stanley will transfer about 200 jobs to Frankfurt under its plan to set up an EU trading centre there.\n\nHowever, sources told The Irish Times that the choice of Frankfurt was merely taken to ensure that the group had an operation up and running by March 2019, when the UK is scheduled to exit the EU, and that this does not mean that the city will be the long-term location for the broker-dealership.", "output": "Morgan Stanley has become the latest financial giant to consider opening an office in Ireland to maintain access to European investors after the UK leaves the European Union. The bank is said to be considering an application to open a fund management company under MiFID II rules. It would follow other companies, including investment manager\u00a0Legg Mason, in moving away from the UK, a strategy that allows them to continue marketing to EU investors.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nasdaq warns EU that MiFID II gives SIs unfair advantage \n Nasdaq has urged the European Commission to re-examine systematic internaliser (SI) rules in MiFID II, saying they will have a significant advantage over other trading venues.\n\nAccording to a written response to the Commission\u2019s amended MiFID II regulation, Nasdaq said SIs will benefit from lax rules around tick sizes and transparency, giving them an unfair advantage.\n\nThe Commission has already made an unprecedented move to clamp down on SIs by issuing revised delegated regulation preventing them from networking together, after rumours emerged earlier this year that several investment banks were planning to link their SIs and make them function in a similar manner to broker crossing networks, which will be banned from January 2018.\n\nIn its submission, Nasdaq said: \u201cthe ability of SIs to improve prices without respecting tick sizes means SIs will be allowed to offer marginally better prices to clients. In conjunction with best execution requirements, this means SIs are extremely likely to capture significant trading flows.\n\n\u201cSecond, control over the timing of trade publication on SIs (up to 1 min) will give SIs a considerable advantage over market makers on public markets.\u201d\n\nIt warned that leaving these issues unresolved could have unintended consequences, such as trading shifting to less transparent environments, market makers becoming SIs and not providing liquidity for public markets, and higher levels of risk in the market.\n\nNasdaq has asked the Commission to make targeted changes to both its level 2 and level 3 regulation.\n\nIt wants RTS 1, Article 10 to be amended to specifically state that executions must be at price levels compliant with the tick size regime.\n\nIt also asked for clarification on trade publication, which is required to take place \u201cas close to real-time as is technically possible\u201d but must be within one minute. Nasdaq argues a minute is a very long time in modern trading and the rules should set more specific limits to ensure all trade publication happens as soon as possible.\n\nMany investment banks are considering whether to register as an SI or become a multilateral trading facility (MTF) once broker crossing networks are banned next year. It is thought many will prefer to become SIs due to the regulatory burden of running an MTF.", "output": "Nasdaq has called on the European Union to reconsider its rules on systematic internalisers (SIs) under new regulations coming online in January. The exchange company has said SIs, investment firms that make large-scale trades away from public markets, would have an unfair advantage under MiFID II rules. SIs\u00a0\"will be allowed to offer marginally better prices to clients\", said Nasdaq in a submission to the EU's executive body. It went on to say \"this means SIs are extremely likely to capture significant trading flows\". It warned that such a situation would lead to trade\u00a0relocating to less transparent venues and liquidity drying up in public markets.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ASCO Outlines Solutions for More Affordable Cancer Drugs \n In a recently released position statement, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has outlined a pathway that would address the rising costs of cancer drugs in the United States.\n\nThe position statement tackles the urgent issue of the cost of specialty cancer drugs and the financial toxicity that can result for patients. It cites the nuances of the US healthcare marketplace as well as the rapid growth in available drugs as some of the reasons it will require a multifaceted approach to control these rising prices while ensuring patient access to care and innovative drug development.\n\nASCO has called for raising the standards for drugs to be considered clinically effective, which would ensure that approved drugs yield significant value to patients, relative to their cost. The statement also recommends utilizing value-based pathways to guide drug utilization, and pricing drugs based on the indications they are used for or the outcomes they produce in patients. However, the statement emphatically recommends against using payment bundles in oncology, since they are too homogenous and could push providers to make subpar clinical decisions.\n\nASCO\u2019s statement also outlines some regulatory steps that could be taken to lower drug pricing, such as shortening the market and data exclusivity windows for biologic drugs and outlawing several tactics that brand-name drug makers use to discourage competition. It cautiously mentions the possibility of importing lower-priced drugs from foreign countries, but notes that there are safety risks associated with this practice that have the potential to increase drug prices in the overseas markets.\n\nThe statement included some positions aimed at insurers who cover the cost of cancer drugs:\n\nASCO strongly opposes tiered formularies, which could put some oncology therapies out of financial reach for patients.\n\nAllowing Medicare to negotiate discounts with drug makers could lower prices, but may have unintended consequences if the program can deny coverage of a costly drug.\n\nImplementing value-based pathways in Medicare may be a feasible way to establish value based on the recommendations of the scientific community, not the government.\n\nFinally, the statement emphasizes the importance of drug pricing transparency, which would let payers and patients examine the relationship between development costs and drug pricing and hold drug companies accountable for any apparent efforts to gouge prices.\n\nIn summary, ASCO recognized that the complex problem of cancer drug costs does not have a simple solution, but coordinated efforts to define value, experiment with pricing initiatives, and drive innovation will be crucial.\n\n\"Drug pricing is clearly too complex and political to tackle without evidence-based solutions,\" said ASCO CEO Clifford Hudis, MD, FACP, FASCO, in a press release announcing the release of the position statement. \"We're focused on finding out what works and what the potential downsides and unintended consequences might be with each intervention. However, ASCO believes we must develop approaches that will protect patients from rising costs while improving care.\"", "output": "In a recently released position statement, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has outlined a pathway that would address the rising costs of cancer drugs in the United States.\n \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sighs of Relief From Health Safety-Net Providers in California After Senate Bill Collapses \n 'The threat is still there for our patients'\n\nTiburcio Vasquez Health Center (TVHC) in Hayward and Union City, and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital have traditionally served low-income patients, regardless of their ability to pay. Before the ACA, the majority of their patients were uninsured, but now that\u2019s reversed, and most patients arrive with Medi-Cal coverage or private insurance purchased with ACA subsidies on Covered California.\n\nThose additional insurance dollars have been the difference between scraping by and being able to make significant improvements.\n\n\"Safety-net delivery systems are traditionally very poorly resourced,\" said Dr. Alice Chen, chief medical officer for the San Francisco Health Network, an affiliate of Zuckerberg SF General. \"We've invested the new revenues that have come in for Medicaid patients into improving our systems of care.\" She says her network has brought in $150 million in new revenues from the Medicaid expansion.\n\n\n\nWith those dollars, Chen says SF General, where she is based, has been implementing a new electronic health record system, and is working on initiatives to integrate mental and medical health and improve the patient's overall experience. Work like this, she says, wouldn't be possible without the additional resources from Medicaid dollars.\n\nMedical students and residents at the University of California, San Francisco also said they were tentatively happy that it appears the ACA will remain in place. Dr. Emily Thomas is a UCSF resident who has been politically active since the 2016 election. She\u2019s fighting to keep her patients insured through the ACA. She spoke to a crowd of doctors at SF General on Tuesday, explaining why she wanted the advocacy to continue.\n\n\u201cEven though the BCRA has collapsed at the Senate, the threat is still there for our patients,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cOur patients are still relying on everyone in this room to continue to advocate for their expanded access to care.\u201d\n\n\n\nAcross the bay, at Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center, CEO David Vliet says his clinic has increased the number of patients it can serve due to the Medicaid expansion dollars. In addition to their existing clinics in Hayward, Union City and Fremont, health center administrators have built a $12 million facility with 22 exam rooms.\n\n\n\nRegarding the additional Medicaid money, Vliet emphasized that \"those dollars really do have a return on investment, in that when we are able to make sure that Mr. Smith or Mrs. Rodriguez doesn't show up in the ER with tooth pain, everyone in the community enjoys lower costs.\"\n\n\n\nVliet said now that changes to the ACA are on hold, he's temporarily relieved. But he will still continue to monitor what's happening in Washington, D.C. If the increased funding continues to flow through Medi-Cal, Vliet says he would like to continue to expand services over the next few years to even more residents in the East Bay. Even after all the growth, TVHC staffers are working at capacity. There are still patients in the community waiting to be seen.\n\n\n\nAdding to his concern, there is a chance Senate Republicans will revive the stalled health plan and push it through, which is what happened this spring in the House of Representatives.", "output": "Health care workers at California hospitals and clinics that serve low-income patients are relieved but still wary after the collapse of the Senate Republican health care bill earlier this week.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "With Rise of Diabetes Technology Comes Value-Based Payment \n Wth seemingly everyone having a smartphone and carrying it everywhere, it was only a matter of time before apps took center stage in efforts to prevent and manage diabetes.\n\nBut figuring out how to connect health plans with this technology is proving complicated. Medicare\u2019s efforts to launch the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) by early 2018 have slowed as it works to include digital providers, which are needed to scale DPP to all who will need the program.1\n\nEven paying for more conventional devices isn\u2019t always straightforward. As diabetes technology evolves, patients want more choices, whereas payers want to hold down costs.\n\n)\n\nTo delve into these issues, The American Journal of Managed Care\u00ae (AJMC\u00ae hosted the discussion \u201cTechnology in Diabetes Care: From Prevention to Disease Management\u201d during its April Diabetes Stakeholders Summit, a Peer Exchange\u2122.\n\nModerator Dennis P. Scanlon, PhD, professor of health policy and administration and director for the Center for Health Care Policy and Research in the College of Health and Human Development at Pennsylvania State University, in University Park, Pennsylvania, led the discussion. Joining him were Robert A. Gabbay, MD, PhD, FACP, senior vice president and chief medical officer, Joslin Diabetes Center, Boston, Massachusetts; Mary Ann Hodorowicz, RDN, MBA, CDE, CEC, a Chicago, Illinois\u2014based consultant, dietitian, and trainer; Kenneth Snow, MD, MBA, medical director, Aetna; and Neal Kaufman, MD, MPH, founder and CMO of Canary Health.\n\nThe April discussion foreshadowed an important development when Snow said that \u201cwithout a doubt\u201d the diabetes device world would be moving toward value-based payment models. On June 26, 2017, as this special issue of Evidence-Based Diabetes Management\u2122 went to press, Aetna and Medtronic announced a risk-sharing agreement for patients transitioning from multiple daily insulin injections to Medtronic\u2019s insulin pumps, including the new Medtronic MiniMed 670G. The agreement covers patients with types 1 and type 2 diabetes (T1D and T2D). Medtronic\u2019s reimbursement will be partly based on outcomes-based measures for patient experience, clinical outcomes, and total cost of care.2\n\nTechnology and the Diabetes Prevention Program\n\nAs the discussion began, Gabbay explained that results from a landmark National Institutes of Health study show that a lifestyle intervention under \u201cvery controlled, rigorous conditions\u201d could produce better results than medication (metformin) for preventing diabetes.3 \u201cThe challenge of that study [is that] it was done in a very resource-intensive way to ensure that people adhered to their lifestyle,\u201d Gabbay said. \u201cNow, how do you apply that to the broader population?\u201d\n\nThat was the early concern for payers, Snow said, even though they were excited about the DPP. Kaufman, who was very involved in the early years of the DPP, weighed in, pointing out that a single trainer could help 30 to 40 people a year because the program required 16 weekly sessions at the start, followed by monthly in-person sessions. Training was done one-on-one.\n\n\u201cThe CDC recognized that that was not a scalable or sustainable model and began looking at how to provide it in other ways,\u201d Kaufman said, and then described 2 \u201cthreads\u201d of approaches. The first, most common approach involves training to 10 to 15 people at once, with highly trained educators leading the groups. The best example is the YMCA pilot study funded by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), which provided the evidence to scale the program across Medicare.4\n\nThe second approach is to use technology. The question here, Kaufman said, is whether a program offered in person would translate in a digital format, using a cell phone. \u201cI was very much involved back in 2006 to create a digital version of that program,\u201d he said. \u201cAt that time, we didn\u2019t know if it was going to work. We didn\u2019t know if people would accept it, but we recognized that people need choice \u2026\n\n\u201cAnd so, we, and now a number of other companies, have been able to demonstrate that you can take an in-person program, use great design and great approaches to make technology work, and have individuals use it effectively.\u201d\n\nScanlon asked the panelists to elaborate more on the YMCA study, because it formed the basis for Medicare\u2019s decision to fund DPP, a decision that will bring diabetes prevention to seniors on a widespread basis in 2018. Many DPP providers believe that once commercial payers that administer Medicare Advantage see the value of the program, DPP will become even more embedded in health plans.5 Hodorowicz said that the dynamic of self-monitoring\u2014tracking weight and exercise and keeping a food diary\u2014and having to report to a lifestyle coach increases motivation more than taking these steps alone does.\n\nScanlon asked if the number of sessions patients must attend helps, as well. Kaufman replied that based on the YMCA study results, it does. The study contributed to the regulations CDC uses for program recognition: 16 weekly sessions, followed by less frequent attendance for a total of 26 sessions.\n\nWhat about evidence? \u201cThis was a big decision for CMS to decide they were going to go ahead and pay for this,\u201d Scanlon said, adding that it has not been without controversy. \u201cWill other payers follow?\u201d\n\nSnow noted the enormous impact: \u201cAny decision by CMS, whatever cost there is has to be multiplied by millions.\u201d But one difference with Medicare, he said, is that beneficiaries don\u2019t leave, so Medicare reaps the rewards of its investment. For other payers, a preventive service may or may not pay dividends if enrollees switch insurers. Still, \u201csome payers have already made decisions regarding continuing coverage similar to CMS,\u201d and Aetna is among them, he said. \u201cSome will be looking at the type of data that comes out in the real world and real-life experience to see if the results that are hoped for are actually achieved.\u201d\n\nThanks to the YMCA pilot, Gabbay said, it\u2019s no longer theoretical that the DPP saves money. \u201cThat, in essence, was exactly what CMMI was set up to do\u2014to be able to do pilot studies that show cost savings or high value, and then spread that more broadly,\u201d he said.\n\nWhen asked by Scanlon to address the role of diabetes educators in offering the DPP, Hodorowicz said that for years, patients with prediabetes were referred to educators but did not quality for coverage, even though a certified diabetes educator was perhaps the best person to help that patient avoid progressing to diabetes. But now, with some commercial payers offering coverage and \u00bb CMS poised to do so, the American Association of Diabetes Educators is training DPP coaches. \u201cIt\u2019s an easy fit to include prevention with an existing self-management program run by diabetes educators,\u201d Hodorowicz said. \u201cIt\u2019s a perfect marriage.\u201d\n\nKaufman agreed. If a person is at risk for diabetes, he said, \u201cwe need to help them improve their life\u2019s trajectory, to help them so that they don\u2019t add a new chronic condition every 3 to 5 years, as many people do.\u201d That starts with lifestyle intervention. Focusing on the glucocentric requirements of eligibility for the DPP that will help people lose weight and become active is too restrictive, he said.\n\nOnce payers have the data, Snow said, they will look beyond the issue of diabetes: Does helping at-risk patients lose weight also help avoid issues such as joint damage or back problems? \u201c[These] are clearly not glucocentric but still related to the same population,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cThe real secret sauce is, how do you get people to sign up and show up?\u201d Kaufman asked. \u201cOnce you can get them to the program, we can almost predict for 1000 people or 10,000 people what\u2019s going to happen. But how do you get the right person to the right program at the right time to engage them, to activate them, to get them to see that there is a benefit?\u201d\n\nGabbay agreed that for some patients, in-person programs such as the YMCA will be best, but for others, digital solutions will work well. Hodorowicz said she believes that for the younger generation, digital solutions will be more popular, and Snow noted that Medicare enrollees are more accepting of technology than people realize.\n\nIt\u2019s important to distinguish between a digital tool, such as a text, which acts as a reminder, Kaufman said, and an intervention, which is a full program of health improvement. Gabbay said he regularly uses the smartphone, such as to show patients that they are walking less than they think. By contrast, he said, \u201cif you want to do something to prevent diabetes, you need a whole intervention, based not only on counting steps but also [on] dietary changes and other behavior change approaches.\u201d\n\nThe Clinical Rationale for Continuous Glucose Monitoring\n\nScanlon moved the discussion to the importance of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), now considered the standard of care for those with T1D and becoming more common for those with advanced T2D. A 2011 study6 in AJMC\u00ae was the first to quantify the cost of a hypoglycemic admission to the hospital and was cited by JDRF and others in their successful effort to convince the FDA and Medicare to change policies that will ultimately allow beneficiaries to have coverage for the Dexcom G5, although there have been some implementation issues.7,8\n\nThere\u2019s evidence that\u2014particularly for patients with T1D willing to use CGM technology\u2014it shows a benefit, Snow said, both in terms of improving glycemic control and lowering hypoglycemia risk. \u201cOnce you get outside of that, causation data becomes very thin,\u201d he said, \u201cso you see observational data, where there\u2019s clearly a relationship between hypoglycemia and\u2026if you can give them the message that prevents the hypoglycemia event, well, then that is optimal.\u201d\n\nThe challenge is to make sure that patients have access to both the CGM and the right education, which Hodorowicz said is key, because when patients know how to use the data the device provides, educators can more easily instruct them on how to \u201cembed lifestyle changes.\u201d \u201cThe good news is that Medicare is starting to cover [CGM],\u201d despite strict criteria, she said.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s fantastic news,\u201d Gabbay agreed. \u201cAt Joslin, we have a large type 1 population, and for them, they reach Medicare age and they have to go off their continuous glucose monitor, which is a big problem,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I think you\u2019ll see, in the not-too-distant future, this spreading to more use in the type 2 [population] based on the kind of evidence that people who are on multidose insulin can clearly benefit.\u201d\n\nFrom a payer perspective, Snow said, the fact that the FDA approved the Dexcom G5 for dosing was reassuring\u2014this was a key step in Medicare\u2019s reversal of its longstanding refusal to pay for CGM. \u201cOnce you have that FDA stamp of approval, there\u2019s significant advantage, not the least of which is it usually means that there\u2019s legitimate scientific evidence,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that scientific evidence is what supports the use.\u201d\n\nCGM data will be more reliable than patient logs, which could be helpful with older patients. \u201cThat helps diabetes educators and physicians with medication adjustments and lifestyle changes,\u201d Hodorowicz said. \u201cWith the pediatric population, it\u2019s wonderful because parents are so involved with their children\u2019s control, especially of type 1.\u201d\n\nAudible alerts can help patients or caregivers avert an approaching hypoglycemic event. \u201cPayers are starting to recognize that,\u201d Hodorowicz said, \u201cand it\u2019s not just for the type 1s, it\u2019s also for the type 2s on multiple daily insulin doses.\u201d\n\nDevices help, but it\u2019s essential that patients already be engaged in their own care, Kaufman said. He pointed to a program developed by Stanford University, the Chronic Disease Management Program, which is decades old and has been highly successful with patients with T2D.9 \u201cIf your A1C was above 9%, it went down by 0.93% at 6 months, and 1.27% at 12 months with a 6-week intervention,\u201d he said. \u201cHow does it work a year later? Because people change their lives, change their emotions; they change their sense of well-being, and, therefore, they were able to follow doctor\u2019s orders better, follow nurse\u2019s orders better.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd that becomes crucial in anything that has to do with self-management,\u201d Kaufman added. Scanlon noted that this was work pioneered by Katie Lorig, DrPH, and remains foundational in chronic disease management.\n\nScanlon and Kaufman discussed the need for peer-to-peer support, either in person or in digital formats. Gabbay noted that vast potential for the latter is \u201cjust beginning to be tapped.\u201d \u201cContinuous glucose monitoring certainly helps, and even the simple ability of downloading blood glucose meter data and looking at that with the patient is really helpful,\u201d he said. Providers don\u2019t want too much data, however, and decision support tools help manage it all, which he called the next revolution.\n\n\u201cThe next revolution after that,\u201d Kaufman said, \u201cis being able to assess it in the moment and give feedback to the individual in the moment.\u201d The challenge, he noted, is that managing diabetes requires patients to constantly make micro decisions. No single decision is hugely important; it\u2019s the sum of them that determines the outcome. The perfect device would require no interaction.\n\nIt\u2019s hard to balance the desire for tools without overloading patients to the point of \u201calarm fatigue,\u201d when they tune out the efforts to help them, Snow said, \u201cbecause it just gets in the way of living.\u201d\n\nPayer Coverage, Patient Choice in Insulin Pumps\n\nIn this rapidly evolving area, Gabbay said, the FDA appears to be open to approving devices more quickly that it had been. \u201cThe floodgates are about to open because there are a whole series of iterative changes that can be made to push forward semiautomated insulin delivery,\u201d he said.\n\nAs Scanlon noted, however, the issue is figuring out for whom is the device appropriate. \u201cAnd how do we determine appropriateness?\u201d he asked.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s one of the great challenges, because there\u2019s not a lot of good data that identifies who makes a good pump user,\u201d Snow said. \u201cWe can extrapolate [whom] we believe that might be, but there\u2019s not really a lot of data that [are] going to predict for the person sitting in front of you, whether they are likely to succeed or fail.\u201d\n\nGabbay said that this is changing with the movement toward semiautomatic delivery; the bar is no longer as high for patients\u2019 carb-counting and insulin-adjustment skills. \u201cYou could take patients with poor glycemic control and maybe not terribly adherent and [put them] on semiautomated insulin delivery, and that would at least improve their blood sugars overnight, and they would benefit,\u201d Gabbay said.\n\nCMS approved external insulin pumps for T1D and T2D Medicare patients who had been on multiple daily injections (and who have less control as they learn to use the pump in the first year), Hodorowicz noted. \u201cThe cost benefit has to be there for CMS to approve coverage for such an expensive item,\u201d she said.\n\nWhen asked about the differences between models and patient preferences, Hodorowicz said that a waterproof device is important to many patients. Some devices are disposable; some offer wireless infusion versus manual control. Different types of alarms matter to patients, as does ease of calibration. \u201cI think the ease factor is critical,\u201d she said.\n\nCGM devices are on the verge of becoming much smaller and cheaper, Gabbay said, although pumps may remain relatively expensive and complex. Snow noted a possible disconnect between what makes sense from an individual\u2019s point of view versus the population perspective. Giving an expensive device to a patient with a high glycated hemoglobin who seems unmotivated and unengaged may not make sense, but if a person\u2019s A1C of 10% drops by 1.5%, then the population has become healthier overall.\n\nA person with T2D with poor control could benefit from a continuous glucose monitor, Kaufman said, by identifying personal patterns and seeing the connection between certain foods and spikes in blood glucose. \u201cThe question becomes, can it become a behavior-change incentive to allow you to become even better at managing your own condition?\u201d he said.\n\nThe panel discussed an agreement that will require most adult UnitedHealth patients with diabetes to transition to Medtronic pumps and CGM devices as warranties expire.10 \u201cSadly,\u201d Gabbay said, \u201cit\u2019s somewhat inevitable because there will be competition around price, the same kind of things that happen in the pharmacy world\u2014I don\u2019t see why it won\u2019t happen in the device world.\u201d\n\nSnow said that historically, if 2 drugs have equal efficacy but 1 is cheaper, the savings are passed down the line and ultimately result in lower premiums. \u201cClearly, there can be a benefit without a detriment of care,\u201d he said.\n\nScanlon asked if payment models would change in this area, too. \u201cWithout a doubt,\u201d Snow said. \u201cIt is the direction of the payer industry.\u201d Many pharmaceutical companies have entered these agreements, \u201cand the device companies are looking that way, as well,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cThe idea of just paying for your treatment is one that was there in the past, but more and more the question is: is there a value from your drug, from your device? Regardless of what it is, is it adding value in terms of either less expensive care or better care? And it doesn\u2019t have to be both.\u201d\n\nGabbay added that A1C is no longer the only measure of success. \u201cIf you reduce hypoglycemic episodes, well, that\u2019s probably a good thing, and that should be a metric, as well.\u201d\n\nThe field of diabetes technology has entered an exciting era, Kaufman said. \u201cA paradigm shift is happening,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got consumerism, where individuals are taking more control and responsibility for many things, including their health and health care. We\u2019ve got technology being able to deliver something in the moment. You have it in your pocket at all times.\n\n.\n\najmc.com/conferences/ada-2017/medicares-diabetes-prevention-program-is-coming-but-cmmi-has-work-to-do\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve got the concept of population health, the concept of value-based care coming to a health system that wasn\u2019t set up that way. If the patient is at the center, we always think of them as what\u2019s most important and their needs, that we, as healthcare providers and payers and employers and health systems, will make it so that we\u2019ll help patients have those outcomes that they need.\u201d1. Caffrey M. Medicare\u2019s Diabetes Prevention Program is coming, but CMMI has work to do. The American Journal of Managed Care\u00ae website . Published June 11, 2017. Accessed June 27, 2017.\n\n2. Caffrey M. Medtronic announces outcomes-based agreement with Aetna for diabetes patients. The American Journal of Managed Care\u00ae website. www.ajmc.com/newsroom/medtronic-announces-outcomes-based-agreement-with-aetna-for-diabetes-patients. Published June 26, 2017. Accessed June 27, 2017.\n\n3. Knowler WC, Barrett-Connor E, Fowler SE, et al; Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes with lifestyle intervention or metformin. N Engl J Med. 2002;346(6):393-403. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa012512.\n\n4. Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program expansion. CMS website. cms.gov/Newsroom/MediaReleaseDatabase/Fact-sheets/2016-Fact-sheets-items/2016-07-07.html. Published July 7, 2016. Accessed June 26, 2017.\n\n.\n\najmc.com/focus-of-the-week/0316/medicare-to-fund-diabetes-prevention-programs-report-says\n\n5. Caffrey M. Medicare to fund Diabetes Prevention Programs, Burwell says. The American Journal of Managed Care\u00ae website . Published March 23, 2016. Accessed June 27, 2017.\n\n6. Quilliam BJ, Simeon JC, Ozbay AB, Kogut SJ. The incidence and costs of hypoglycemia in type 2 diabetes. Am J Manag Care. 2011;17(10):673-680.\n\n7. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) classify therapeutic continuous glucose monitors (CGM) as durable medical equipment (DME) under Medicare Part B [press release]. San Diego, CA: Business Wire; January 12, 2017. businesswire.com/news/home/20170112006146/en/Centers-Medicare-Medicaid-Services-CMS-Classify-Therapeutic. Accessed June 27, 2017.\n\n8. Caffrey M. Medicare coverage for CGM caught in regulatory limbo. The American Journal of Managed Care\u00ae website. ajmc.com/focus-of-the-week/0517/medicare-coverage-for-cgm-caught-in-regulatory-limbo. Published May 9, 2017. Accessed June 27, 2017.\n\n9. Lorig K, Ritter PL, Ory MG, Whitelaw N. Effectiveness of a generic chronic disease self-management program for people with type 2 diabetes: a translation study. Diabetes Educ. 2013;39(5):655-663. doi: 10.1177/0145721713492567.\n\n10. Close K, Brown A. UnitedHealthcare chooses Medtronic as preferred insulin provider starting July 1. diaTribe website. diatribe.org/unitedhealthcare-chooses-medtronic-preferred-insulin-pump-provider-starting-july-1. Published May 3, 2016. Accessed July 27, 2017.", "output": "Wth seemingly everyone having a smartphone and carrying it everywhere, it was only a matter of time before apps took center stage in efforts to prevent and manage diabetes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Health Care in a Time of Sabotage \n Is Trumpcare finally dead? Even now, it\u2019s hard to be sure, especially given Republican moderates\u2019 long track record of caving in to extremists at crucial moments. But it does look as if the frontal assault on the Affordable Care Act has failed.\n\nAnd let\u2019s be clear: The reason this assault failed wasn\u2019t that Donald Trump did a poor selling job, or that Mitch McConnell mishandled the legislative strategy. Obamacare survived because it has worked \u2014 because it brought about a dramatic reduction in the number of Americans without health insurance, and voters didn\u2019t and don\u2019t want to lose those gains.\n\nUnfortunately, some of those gains will probably be lost all the same: The number of uninsured Americans is likely to tick up over the next few years. So it\u2019s important to say clearly, in advance, why this is about to happen. It won\u2019t be because the Affordable Care Act is failing; it will be the result of Trump administration sabotage.\n\nSome background here: Even the A.C.A.\u2019s supporters have always acknowledged that it\u2019s a bit of a Rube Goldberg device. The simplest way to ensure that people have access to essential health care is for the government to pay their bills directly, the way Medicare does for older Americans. But in 2010, when the A.C.A. was enacted, Medicare for all was politically out of reach.", "output": "Is Trumpcare finally dead? Even now, it\u2019s hard to be sure, especially given Republican moderates\u2019 long track record of caving in to extremists at crucial moments. But it does look as if the frontal assault on the Affordable Care Act has failed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Inspiring Little Fear in Senators, Trump Struggles to Sell Health Bill \n WASHINGTON \u2014 President Trump thought he could sell balky Republican senators like Ron Johnson of Wisconsin on the Senate health care bill through pleasantries, cajoling and, ultimately, some Oval Office muscle.\n\nBut Mr. Johnson could not be charmed. He could not be outbargained. And he could not be scared into supporting the measure for the sake of a president whose inability to bend fellow Republicans toward his political will has become a liability for his young presidency.\n\nAs the brash Mr. Johnson reminded one associate recently, while Mr. Trump may have stunned the political world in 2016 by winning Wisconsin in the election, Mr. Johnson got 76,000 more votes in the state.\n\nFear is perhaps the most powerful motivating force in politics, and fear of a powerful president is the surest lever to move a lawmaker from a \u201cno\u201d to a \u201cyes\u201d on a presidential priority. But over the past month, Mr. Trump scared no one into supporting the bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. He has proved simply too unpopular nationally \u2014 polling at 36 to 40 percent approval this week \u2014 too weak in many senators\u2019 home states, too erratic and too disengaged from the details of governing to harness his party, as other new presidents have.", "output": "President Trump thought he could sell balky Republican senators like Ron Johnson of Wisconsin on the Senate health care bill through pleasantries, cajoling and, ultimately, some Oval Office muscle.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "A Republican Health Care Fix \n These sentiments conflict with recent iterations of Republican health care reform. The \u201cfull repeal\u201d bill is nothing of the sort \u2014 it preserves the regulatory structure of Obamacare, but withdraws its supports for the poor. The House version of replacement would transfer many from Medicaid to the private market, but it doesn\u2019t ensure that those transferred can meaningfully purchase care in that market. The Senate bill offers a bit more to the needy, but still leaves many unable to pay for basic services. In the rosiest projections of each version, millions will be unable to pay for basic health care. This wasn\u2019t acceptable to Reagan in 1961, and it shouldn\u2019t be acceptable to his political heirs.\n\nIt is true, as Republicans argue, that health care costs too much. And it is also true that Obamacare has failed to take care of this problem. But if Republicans fail to accept some baseline provision of care, we\u2019ll find ourselves mired in internal contradictions \u2014 arguing, for instance, that a bill that cuts subsidies for the poor somehow makes care more accessible. We\u2019ll rail against the way the government has destroyed our health care market in one breath and resist the support offered to the poor and middle class to navigate this brokenness with the other. This is not conservative; it is incoherence masquerading as ideological purity.\n\nMany problems \u2014 the monopolization of provider networks, a regulatory framework that forces Americans to overpay for generic drugs \u2014 require both a positive Republican vision and a more robust majority to carry it out.\n\nBut devising that vision is impossible when we refuse to accept that the government bears some financial responsibility in solving a problem it helped create.", "output": "Imagine a young father stepping into the street. He is alert and conscientious. Then, a government truck speeds around the corner. The man lunges out of the way, but it\u2019s too late: The truck runs him over, causing serious injury. Absent government misconduct, the man would have been just fine.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Time to End the War on Medicaid \n Politicians in Washington seem hell-bent to cast life-changing votes affecting the health care of nearly every American and negatively impacting our national economy. Of particular concern is the unwarranted attack on Medicaid, the source of health coverage for over 70 million hardworking Americans.\n\nIt would be easy to see congressional efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act as yet another partisan fight over numbers. But this is anything but a routine vote. Despite overwhelming opposition from patients, doctors, nurses, hospitals, employers, unions, safety-net health plans and others who have a direct stake in these decisions, Republican congressmen have been pushing forward dangerous pieces of legislation that will result in millions of Americans going without health insurance, and driving up the costs for those who are still covered.\n\nMany have pointed to the enormous human toll any legislation that makes cuts to Medicaid would have. People without insurance have nowhere to go for preventive care and screenings that could detect illnesses before they become a chronic or deadly condition. Sixty percent of adults with Medicaid coverage are already working. Medicaid helps people manage their chronic illnesses \u2014 so they can keep working. People without insurance often forego taking medications that can cure or control their illness and allow them to stay healthy and productive. And people without insurance avoid checking in with their specialist when their conditions demand care; they go, instead, to emergency rooms or don\u2019t go at all and get sicker.\n\nWe see the evidence of this every day at Amida Care, New York\u2019s largest Special Needs Health Plan for people with chronic conditions such as HIV. Prior to the ACA, qualifying for Medicaid was a complicated process that weighed how sick a person living with HIV was against how much they earned. By allowing states to expand Medicaid, the ACA extended health insurance coverage to thousands of people living with HIV and greatly streamlined the process of qualifying for Medicaid, helping them afford medication and stay in treatment. Nationally, Medicaid coverage for HIV-positive people rose from 36 percent in 2012 to 42 percent in 2014.\n\nThanks to improved access to preventive and primary care, over 75 percent of Amida Care\u2019s HIV-positive members have viral loads that are undetectable, meaning that they are healthier and require significantly less costly care. This saved New York state more than $110 million between 2008 and 2015. Reducing patients\u2019 viral load also reduces the possibility of new infections, and preventing just one new HIV infection can save upward of $500,000 in lifetime medical costs.\n\nIf the ACA is repealed, all of this progress is at risk. With millions of people losing coverage, access to care will be limited. Without regular, comprehensive health care, people with chronic conditions like HIV are hospitalized and visit the emergency room more frequently, require costly nursing homes, rack up high bills and get pushed into poverty. Those burdensome costs are ultimately passed on to the government, insurers and taxpayers.\n\nAny cuts to Medicaid would be devastating. Changing Medicaid from an entitlement into a state-based per capita grant program will cause permanent and growing damage to people\u2019s health and the ability of our nation to respond to natural or economic disaster. Medicaid is the backbone of health coverage in America. One in two Americans will need Medicaid at some point during their lifetimes. Medicaid provides for healthy births and assistance for older people to be able to remain in their homes. Today, Medicaid is also there to help many thousands of people who lose their jobs in the aftermath of unforeseen disasters like recessions or hurricanes. Similarly, when an outbreak of illness occurs, Medicaid is there to provide coverage for needed care.\n\nThe current epidemic of opioid-related addiction is a perfect example of why Medicaid needs to be preserved. In 2014, more than 1.2 million Americans were admitted to a hospital or went to an emergency room for opioid-related conditions, or 3,500 visits a day. Without Medicaid, many of these patients would be unable to get the care they need to survive and recover from their addiction.\n\nMany congressional Republicans seem determined to vote to tear down the health care safety net, harming our nation\u2019s physical and economic health. Yet some Republican senators have chosen to listen to their constituents and have opposed legislation that will cut Medicaid. Their courage to do the right thing is commendable. With so much at stake and so many unanswered questions, it\u2019s time to end these attacks. It\u2019s time for Congress to reach across party lines to find ways to improve coverage and care. Too much is at stake.\n\nDoug Wirth is president and CEO of Amida Care, a private nonprofit community health plan that specializes in providing comprehensive health coverage and coordinated care to New York Medicaid members with chronic conditions.\n\nMorning Consult welcomes op-ed submissions on policy, politics and business strategy in our coverage areas. Updated submission guidelines can be found here.", "output": "Politicians in Washington seem hell-bent to cast life-changing votes affecting the health care of nearly every American and negatively impacting our national economy. Of particular concern is the unwarranted attack on Medicaid, the source of health coverage for over 70 million hardworking Americans.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aging Americans enjoy longer life, better health when avoiding three risky behaviors \n Credit: CC0 Public Domain\n\nWe've heard it before from our doctors and other health experts: Keep your weight down, don't smoke and cut back on the alcohol if you want to live longer.\n\nNow, research from the University of Michigan School of Public Health shows that people of fairly normal weight who never smoked and drank only in moderation have a life expectancy at age 50 that is seven years longer than the average American. They also are able to delay disability up to six years.\n\nCurrent life expectancy in the United States is about 78 years for men and 82 years for women but for the low-risk group the ages are 85 and 89, respectively.\n\n\"It's important to convince people to improve these behaviors in order, not only to live a longer life, but live a long life free of disability,\" said Neil Mehta, assistant professor of health management and policy at the U-M School of Public Health. \"However, from a societal perspective, caring for individuals with disability is very costly and our study shows that risky behaviors are significantly increasing the burden of early disability.\"\n\nWhile previous research has focused on life expectancy impacts from the individual behaviors, the study, released today by Health Affairs, is believed to be the first to show the effect of all three factors combined.\n\nOf course, Mehta said, people who have avoided these unhealthy behaviors are not the norm.\n\n\"Eighty percent of Americans in their 50s either have smoked or been obese. That's huge,\" he said. \"Our study speaks to the importance of prevention at whatever level that can occur in community health or in public policy.\"\n\nThe study used data from U-M's Health and Retirement Study of Americans age 50 and older that began in 1992. The research sample in 1998 included nearly 15,000 respondents ages 50\u201374.\n\nThe researchers defined the low-risk category as those who never smoked, drank moderately (at the top end, fewer than 14 drinks per week for men and fewer than 7 drinks per week for women) and had a body mass index that was less than the classification for obese (30+)\u2014in other words, those who would be considered normal and overweight (18.5-29.9 BMI).\n\nAlthough the study did not set out to look at what happens when people change one or more of the behaviors, the team found that non-obese people who had quit smoking for 10 years prior to the study and who drank moderately had overall and disability-free life expectancies that were only one year shorter than non-obese people who had never smoked and were moderate drinkers.\n\n\"There is some evidence that you can still do a lot to improve your health, even if you have these risk factors at some point. We've done a great job with smoking cessation but it's not clear where we're going with obesity,\" Mehta said, adding that current budget proposals in Washington put federal funds targeted at reducing obesity and other prevention measures in jeopardy.\n\nMore information: Neil Mehta et al. The Population Health Benefits Of A Healthy Lifestyle: Life Expectancy Increased And Onset Of Disability Delayed, Health Affairs (2017). DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2016.1569 Journal information: Health Affairs", "output": "We've heard it before from our doctors and other health experts: Keep your weight down, don't smoke and cut back on the alcohol if you want to live longer.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "For the elderly, physical therapy can help straighten a hunched back \n Credit: University of California, San Francisco\n\nA hunched back affects four out of 10 people over age 65. This extreme forward curvature of the upper back, called hyperkyphosis, increases disability and the risk of falls and fractures, but it's rarely deemed a treatable condition among older people.\n\nA new study by UC San Francisco researchers shows that targeted physical therapy can help straighten the spine and boost a patient's self-esteem.\n\n\"Currently, there are some medical providers who say there's nothing you can do about it \u2013 there's no treatment,\" said Wendy Katzman, PT, adjunct professor of physical therapy and lead author of the study published July 8, 2017, in Osteoporosis International. \"This is a novel treatment approach for older people who have this condition. There's really been no standard of care to treat this until now.\"\n\nHistorically, hyperkyphosis, which usually progresses with age and is more common in women, has not been seen as a discrete health concern. And although osteoporosis \u2013 a condition often associated with hyperkyphosis \u2013 is often treated with medication, no medications have been shown to improve hyperkyphosis. Surgery can reduce spinal curvature, but is only considered in extreme cases.\n\nImproving Posture and Well-Being\n\nThe study enrolled 99 hyperkyphosis patients over 60 years old to explore if physical therapy is a viable solution for improving hyperkyphosis They had an average upper back curvature, as measured by X-ray, of 57 degrees \u2013 well above the average curve of 40 degrees, which is the cutoff for defining hyperkyphosis. The participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups.\n\nOne group performed exercises known to target muscle weakness, decreased spinal movement and poor postural alignment with a licensed physical therapist and assistant for one hour, three days a week, for six months. They were also advised to practice ideal posture independently at least three times a day. Katzman and her team compared these patients with those in the second group, which were invited to attend four health education meetings over a period of six months but did not receive physical therapy.\n\nThe researchers found that posture improved by an average angle of more than 3 degrees in the group that received physical therapy, and that improvement was greater in those over age 75. There was no significant change in the group invited to the health seminars.\n\nThe researchers had hypothesized that the exercises might work by strengthening the back muscles, but they found no significant improvement in patients' spinal muscle strength or quality, or their physical function \u2013 illustrated by a test in which they performed a 50-foot floor walk, put on and took off a lab coat and picked a penny up off the floor, among other tasks.\n\nHowever, the patients that received physical therapy did report better self-image.\n\n\"I think it's important for people to feel confident. It's a component of self-efficacy,\" Katzman said. \"What we see is that people who have more self-efficacy are more compliant with physical therapy, so there's potential that self-esteem carries over to other health benefits.\"\n\nPhysical Therapy Meets Technology\n\nKatzman and her team point out that the participants in this proof-of-concept study were relatively healthy and robust: Their walking speed and physical ability was better than average for their age group. This might have limited any improvements to the participants' overall physical function.\n\nMoving forward, the team hopes to recruit people with hyperkyphosis that are less robust and include exercises in the regimen that improve physical function overall. They also plan to push patients harder and enhance postural training with technology.\n\nBut even a small improvement can be important, Katzman said. \"If you step back and say there was a 3-degree improvement, that doesn't sound like a huge number. However, the progression of hyperkyphosis is very slow. It takes about five years for it to progress 3 degrees.\"", "output": "A hunched back affects four out of 10 people over age 65. This extreme forward curvature of the upper back, called hyperkyphosis, increases disability and the risk of falls and fractures, but it's rarely deemed a treatable condition among older people.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Swiss robot maker ABB boosts growth by 14% \n ABB Group has recorded a 14 per cent increase in robotics orders with third-party base orders increasing by 10 per cent, it has announced in its latest report.\n\nHowever, amid ongoing uncertainty in the global market including the impact of Brexit, 2017 is expected to be a transitional year for the company.\n\nAccording to ABB\u2019s second quarter review, it showed revenue growth by five per cent, including a net income of US$525 million (A$660 million).\n\nMeanwhile, the company\u2019s operational EBITA margin was impacted by product mix, significantly higher commodity prices and under absorption, which more than offset cost-out measures.\n\n\u201cIn Q2, ABB continued to build its growth momentum as our targeted initiatives are delivering,\u201d said ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer. \u201cOrder growth was broad-based and across all regions,\n\n\u201cOur industry-leading digital offering, ABB Ability, is taking off and starting to contribute to growth.\u201d\n\nRead: Rise of the machine manufacturer\n\n\u201cOperational performance in the Power Grids and Industrial Automation divisions was solid in the quarter.\u201d\n\nAlthough ABB\u2019s electrification products and robotics and motion improved margins sequentially, they were not able to fully compensate commodity price headwinds and overcapacity during the quarter.\n\n\u201cWhile we are pleased with the growth momentum, especially the double-digit order growth in Robotics and Motion, we remain firmly focused on further improving operational execution and our cost base,\u201d Spiesshofer said.\n\n\u201cThe successful completion of the B&R acquisition and the handover of our last legacy off-shore wind project, Dolwin 2, are solid examples of the disciplined execution of our Next Level strategy.\u201d\n\nMacroeconomic and geopolitical developments are signaling a mixed picture with continued uncertainty, the report added.\n\n\u201cSome macroeconomic signs in the US remain positive and growth in China is expected to continue,\u201d ABB said.", "output": "Zurich-based multinational ABB Group has seen a 14% rise in robotics orders, as well as a 10% increase in third-party base orders, according to the engineering and robotics company's Q2 review. The report also showed revenue grew by 5% and the business had a net income of $525m, despite uncertainty in the global market. In addition, the review revealed that, despite improved margins in electrification products and robotics and motion activities, the impact of commodity price headwinds and overcapacity was still felt during the quarter."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Biomedical robot can power itself without cables or batteries \n Battery-free wireless robots move using memory alloys Technology News | July 21, 2017 By Nick Flaherty\n\n\n\nThe robots developed by the team at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering are flat and thin plastic tetrahedrons, with the three outer triangles connected to the central triangle by hinges, and a small circuit on the central triangle. Attached to the hinges are coils made of a shape-memory alloy (SMA) that can recover their original shape by being heated to a certain temperature.\n\nWhen the hinges lie flat, the SMA coils are stretched out in their \u201cdeformed\u201d state; when a current is passed through the circuit and the coils heat up, they move back to their original, relaxed state, contracting like tiny muscles and folding the robots\u2019 outer triangles in toward the centre. When the current stops, the SMA coils are stretched back out due to the stiffness of the flexure hinge, lowering the outer triangles back down.\n\n\u201cThis system requires only basic, passive electronic components on the robot to deliver an electric current \u2013 the structure of the robot itself takes care of the rest,\u201d said Je-sung Koh who is now an Assistant Professor at Ajou University in South Korea.\n\nThe current is generated by coupling to an external coil. In order to control which coils contract, the team built a resonator into each coil unit and tuned it to respond only to a very specific electromagnetic frequency. By changing the frequency of the external magnetic field, they were able to induce each SMA coil to contract independently from the others.\n\n\u201cNot only are our robots\u2019 folding motions repeatable, we can control when and where they happen, which enables more complex movements,\u201d said Mustafa Boyvat, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Wyss Institute and SEAS.\n\nBy changing the frequency of the magnetic field generated by the external coil, the team was able to control the robot\u2019s movements independently.\n\nThe team built a variety of robots \u2013 from a coin-sized flat tetrahedral robot to a hand-sized version made of folded paper \u2013 to show that the technology can accommodate a variety of circuit designs and successfully scale. \u201cThere is still room for miniaturization. We don\u2019t think we went to the limit of how small these can be, and we\u2019re excited to further develop our designs for biomedical applications,\u201d said Boyvat.\n\nThe research is reported in Science Robotics.\n\nwww.seas.harvard.edu\n\nRelated stories:\n\nShare:", "output": "Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and\u00a0the Harvard John A Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences\u00a0have developed robots which are able to move within a magnetic field without using batteries or power cables, according to an article in Science Robotics. The plastic devices are made of a shape-memory alloy which contracts when heated and expands when cool, with the temperature changes controlled by an external coil. The team built several sizes of robot to demonstrate ease of scalability.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MRI for newborns gains FDA approval \n The U.S. Food and Drug Administration yesterday approved the first magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) device that can be specifically used in neonates or newborn babies. These MRI devices would be used for imaging of the brains and head in neonates who are admitted to the neonatal intensive care units (NICU) where they are necessary.\n\nMRI or magnetic resonance imaging is a form of radiological imaging technique where the scanners use strong magnetic fields to produce the images of the inner structures. The protons in fat and water molecules in the body help form an image of the insides of the body. MRI brain is indicated in several conditions some of which are life threatening and MRI can help detect these conditions. Newborns admitted to the NICU may also require an MRI scan as part of their investigations whereby important decisions may be made.\n\nEmbrace Neonatal MRI System. Image Credit: Aspect Imaging\n\nVasum Peiris, chief medical officer for pediatrics and special populations at FDA\u2019s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said that till date whenever MRI brain was indicated for neonates in the NICU, the babies had to be taken to the MRI units. Traditional MRI images thus were possible but the challenges of moving a sick newborn out of the NICU to the MRI suite would often be a challenge. This new system is exclusively for neonates and now it would be safer and more convenient for imaging the brains of these ill newborns. He said that this approval ensures \u201csafer imaging for this vulnerable patient population\u201d.\n\nThe newly approved MRI system for neonates is called the Embrace Neonatal MRI System. It can measure the heads of the neonates only. Babies with a head circumference up to 38 centimeters and weight between 1 and 4.5 kilograms can be imaged in this machine. Larger babies and children cannot be imaged in this machine. Those with metallic implants within their bodies also cannot be imaged using this system much like traditional MRI machines.\n\nTo make the transition from the NICU cots to the MRI machine comfortable as well as less risky for the ill newborn, this new system also has a temperature-controlled incubator inside the MRI system. This makes the baby comfortable and ensures that the baby moves less. In case of an emergency where the baby needs immediate attention, the baby can be removed from the machine within 30 seconds and resuscitated. The system can be placed inside a NICU safely.\n\nThe machine is safe with no risk of radiation release and thus need not be in a radiation-safe room. Further the Embrace Neonatal MRI System is completely enclosed and thus it does not mandate what is around it. Most MRI machines cannot allow metallic elements around or within them. The objects that can be allowed inside traditional MRI machines are termed \u201cMR safe\u201d and those less safe are termed \u201cMR conditional\u201d.\n\nThe approval of the machine comes from non-clinical testing and the system has not yet been tried on actual neonates. This was done to avoid putting the vulnerable patients at risk. Electrical and mechanical safety of the system was thoroughly examined before approval. The Embrace Neonatal MRI System clearance was granted to Aspect Imaging Ltd. by the FDA.", "output": "The US Food and Drug Administration has granted approval to the Embrace Neonatal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system following non-clinical testing. The MRI is the first of its kind to be designed exclusively for neonates and newborn babies up to 4kg in weight. The Embrace system can be located in a neonatal intensive care unit, as it neither has to be kept away from metallic objects\u00a0nor requires a radiation safe-room. This eliminates\u00a0the need to move ill babies from the ward.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "InsideTrack launches re-enrollment programme for adult learners \n Recruitment & Retention\n\nNew Tools Help Adult Students Come Back to Complete Their Degrees\n\nStudent success coaching services provider InsideTrack has come up with a new suite of Re-Enrollment & Re-Entry offerings designed to help colleges and universities get former students back on track to complete their degrees.\n\nTargeting adults with some college credit but no degree or certificate, Re-Enrollment & Re-Entry combines InsideTrack's uCoach technology and analytics platform with executive-style coaching to \"directly engage former students and help them navigate the enrollment process, define long-term goals and plan to overcome potential barriers to completion,\" according to the company. \"Coaches conduct multi-channel outreach campaigns, using the platform's voice, e-mail, text and other communication capabilities, then work with re-engaged students to design plans for graduating prepared for meaningful careers.\"\n\n\"Fulfilling our mission means ensuring that all of our students graduate prepared for global citizenship and individual excellence, including those who have had their education disrupted by life's many competing demands,\" commented Michael Cottam, associate vice president for academic affairs and director of the Online Learning Center at Webster University, in a statement. \"That is why we're working with InsideTrack to provide tailored support to students who have stopped out, so they can resume their studies and achieve their full potential.\"\n\nInsideTrack has more than a decade of experience supporting institutions such as Penn State World Campus, Brandman University and Webster University in re-enrolling former students and preparing them to overcome the obstacles to postsecondary education success, the company said. \"In a recent effort with the online division of a major public university, 997 of the 2,078 former students contacted re-enrolled, at an average cost of $216 per student.\"\n\n\"Adults with some college, but no credential represent one of America's greatest untapped resources,\" said Pete Wheelan, CEO of InsideTrack, in a statement. \"Unlocking their potential by supporting them in finishing what they started benefits those individuals, their families and communities, and our nation as a whole. It also supports colleges and universities in fulfilling their missions, while providing much needed revenue in a time of great fiscal uncertainty.\"\n\nFor more information, visit the InsideTrack site.", "output": "Oregon-based InsideTrack has launched a Re-Enrollment & Re-Entry suite of tools, aimed at helping older college and university students restart their education. The tools combine with InsideTrack's uCoach technology and analytics platform to engage former students, help them navigate the enrollment process and design plans for graduating ahead of taking on meaningful careers. The company cited a recent campaign with a major public university, in which 997 of 2,078 former students re-enrolled, at an average cost of $216 per student.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurtech incubator Plug and Play reaches 50-member milestone \n SUNNYVALE, Calif., July 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Plug and Play Insurtech continues expansion of its innovation startup platform, signing its 50th participant only a year after opening its doors for business. Arch Insurance Group Inc., based in New Jersey, signs as its 50th participant shortly after it's 45th partner joined the program in May.\n\nMark Lange, Senior Vice President, P&C Programs of Arch Insurance said, \"We are very excited to team up with a dedicated organization that sits at the forefront of innovation within the industry. We are confident that our collaborative efforts will build a long lasting and successful relationship between Arch Insurance Group and Plug and Play.\"\n\nOver the past year, the Plug and Play Insurtech team has grown to over 50 participants with a global presence in three continents. Plug and Play Insurtech Batch 2 recently presented at Plug and Play's Summer Summit to an audience of over a thousand people. Plug and Play Insurtech's startup innovation platform introduced some of the hottest startups in the insurtech space to the rest of its ecosystem of thousands of corporate partners, investment firms, and universities. \"Increased engagement from carriers and traditional corporations in the industry has encouraged entrepreneurs and investors to enter the Insurtech space. This trend can only improve processes, distribution, risk management, and increase efficiency for many of our corporate participants. We are moving in the right direction, however, for us to reach our goal of building the 'ultimate startup ecosystem', we still have a long way to go. We believe by providing value to the Insurtech space, we will reap the benefits in return as an investor.\" said Ali Safavi, Director of Plug and Play Insurtech.\n\nThis second batch was hand selected by the majority of corporate partners who have been with the program for over the past six months and widely varies from the previous batch, in both digital solutions and innovation. From their first batch, approximately 30% of the startups that participated in the program are engaged in proof of concept (POC) pilots with corporations, and from the second batch, 69% of their startups are in talks around POCs. Plug and Play Insurtech released their year in review, giving a glimpse into the performance of their first two batches. View the infographic here: http://bit.ly/insurtechinfo\n\nEarlier this week Plug and Play Insurtech kicked off Batch 3 with its top 150 list including focus areas such as Data Analytics, Chatbots, Cybersecurity and Wearables. The list includes applicants from Asia, Europe and Africa. Plug and Play Insurtech's Selection Day for Batch 3 will be located at Plug and Play's headquarters on August 30-31st. Startup applications for this next batch close July 24th. For inquires or to apply, please visit: www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/startup-application/\n\nAbout Plug and Play Insurtech\n\nEstablished in 2016, Plug and Play Insurtech is one of Plug and Play's largest industry-specific programs. This 12-week business development program is headquartered in Silicon Valley. The program currently has over 50 corporate participants including Farmers Insurance, Munich Re, Nationwide, SOMPO Digital Lab, and Travelers, and has worked with hundreds of startups to date. Plug and Play Insurtech runs three separated tracks throughout the program: General Insurtech, Property & Casualty, and Life/Health/Group. For more information, visit http://plugandplaytechcenter.com/insurance/\n\nAbout Plug and Play\n\nPlug and Play is a global innovation platform. We connect startups to corporations and invest in over 150 companies every year. Since inception in 2006, our programs have expanded worldwide to include a presence in 22 locations globally giving startups the necessary resources to succeed in Silicon Valley and beyond. With over 6,000 startups and 180 official corporate partners, we have created the ultimate startup ecosystem in many industries. We provide active investments with 200 leading Silicon Valley VCs, and host more than 365 networking events per year. Companies in our community have raised over $6 billion in funding, with successful portfolio exits including Danger, Dropbox, Lending Club, PayPal, SoundHound, and Zoosk. For more information, visit www.plugandplaytechcenter.com\n\nContact:\n\nHadiyah Fain\n\n1-408-524-1662\n\nhadiyah@plugandplaytechcenter.com\n\nView original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/plug-and-play-insurtech-signs-its-50th-partner-300491321.html\n\nSOURCE Plug and Play", "output": "Plug and Play Insurtech, a business development platform, is extending its start-up incubator with the addition of its 50th participant, Arch Insurance Group. The programme has been running for only a year, but already boasts a presence on three continents, providing its start-up partners with a platform from\u00a0which to launch to its network of investors, universities and corporate partners.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "House sold after Facebook Live stream with 20,000 viewers \n The first ever home to have a viewing staged over Facebook Live has sold after it received three offers as a result of the experiment.\n\nIn June we reported that online agency Housesimple was aiming to sell the three bedroom semi-detached bungalow in Rainham, east London, valued at between \u00a3470,000 and \u00a3475,000.\n\nThe owner, Shanty Helim, staged the Facebook Live viewing herself, and viewers were encouraged to make an offer on the home via the Facebook Messenger application during and following the streaming.\n\nOver 20,000 people viewed the property via Housesimple\u2019s Facebook page and the deal has now gone through with the purchaser paying \u00a3467,000.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m over the moon that my house has been sold for such as competitive price and so quickly. Housesimple\u2019s livestreaming service has made the sale of my home as simple and convenient as possible, and I would urge other homeowner sellers to go online as a way of saving time and money\u201d says the vendor.", "output": "The former owner of a semi-detached bungalow in east London has become the first ever person to sell their home via Facebook Live, after receiving three offers and attracting than 20,000 viewers. Rainham resident Shanty Helim staged the event herself, and invited interested buyers to make their offers via the Facebook Messenger application. The eventual buyer payed\u00a0\u00a3467,000 for the property, originally valued between \u00a3470,000 and \u00a3475,000.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Venezuela paralysed as millions join general strike \n Venezuela is bracing for an escalation of the confrontation between the government and the opposition as the country awoke to near paralysis on Thursday at the beginning of a general strike.\n\n\n\nCaracas, the capital, was littered with roadblocks of burning rubbish and tyres, and wires stretched from lamppost to lamppost to stop traffic, as opponents of the president, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, try to block his plan to consolidate power.\n\nNear Plaza Altamira, in the upscale eastern part of the city, young men manning the barricades turned away any cars that tried to pass, including a bus stamped with the logo of the government tax agency.\n\n\u201cWe are seeing empty streets and most shops closed,\u201d said opposition leader Henrique Capriles while touring the city on foot.\n\nMaduro has called for a vote on 30 July to elect a constituent assembly charged with rewriting the constitution. Opposition and human rights groups say the move is aimed at bypassing the National Assembly, which has been under opposition control since 2016, further consolidating the ruling Socialist party\u2019s grip on power. Maduro argues a new constitution would promote dialogue in a country deeply polarised and crippled by widespread shortages of food, medicine and basic services, and unbridled violent crime.\n\nThe strike holds the threat of increasing repression from government forces and paramilitary militias, which have been blamed for more than 90 deaths during nearly four months of street demonstrations across the country. \u201cThere is a grave danger of violence on a scale so far unseen,\u201d the International Crisis Group warned in a report.\n\nThe strike comes as the Trump administration in the US weighs up imposing \u201cswift economic actions\u201d if Maduro goes ahead with the election. \u201cThe United States will not stand by as Venezuela crumbles,\u201d Trump said in a statement. The United States is Venezuela\u2019s largest trading partner, and the country is the third largest crude oil supplier to the US.\n\nPeople pass by a street blocked by security forces during the strike in Caracas. Photograph: Marco Bello/Reuters\n\nColombia, France, Spain, and the EU have also urged the Venezuelan government to cancel the election.\n\nThe last time Venezuela\u2019s opposition attempted a strike of this scale was in 2002. The stoppage lasted two months in an attempt to topple Maduro\u2019s predecessor, the late Hugo Ch\u00e1vez, who set the country on a path of \u201c21st century socialism\u201d before his death in 2013.\n\nMismanagement and plunging oil income under Maduro have left that project in tatters, driving hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans to flee the country and leading the political opposition to try to increase pressure on the president to step down or call a general election.\n\nOn 16 July the opposition orchestrated an unofficial \u201cconsultation\u201d of voters ordered by the National Assembly in which more than 7 million Venezuelans voted to reject the constituent assembly, mandate parliament to appoint a new supreme court and electoral authority and to form a government of \u201cnational unity\u201d. While symbolic and non-binding, the vote turned up the pressure on the government and emboldened the opposition to call the strike.\n\nThe country\u2019s federation of business groups, Fedecamaras, which played a pivotal role in the 2002 strike, has not fully endorsed the action this time around but businesses have said their employees won\u2019t be punished for not turning up for work.\n\nLabour minister N\u00e9stor Ovalles said that private companies that close as part of the strike would be punished. \u201cWe won\u2019t allow it, and we\u2019ll be watching closely,\u201d he warned.\n\nCarmen Duque, who works at an insurance company, headed to work early on Thursday despite her desire to join the protest strike. \u201cIt looks like it\u2019s a success,\u201d she said as she manoeuvred through the blockaded streets of Altamira. \u201cI wanted to join but I\u2019m on call,\u201d she said.\n\nA woman dressed in a red T-shirt most often worn by government supporters, called strikers \u201cpuppets and zombies\u201d. \u201cThe ones supporting this strike don\u2019t understand anything,\u201d said the woman, who declined to give her name.", "output": "The Venezuelan crisis is escalating as a general strike organised by the opposition looks set to paralyse the country, with some fearing the strike\u00a0will ignite further\u00a0repression from the government's forces and paramilitary militias, which have been blamed for over\u00a090 deaths in\u00a0the past four months.\u00a0\u201cThere is a grave danger of violence on a scale so far unseen,\u201d warned\u00a0the International Crisis Group. Protesters object to President\u00a0Maduro's plans to amend the constitution to increase his power.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Royalty Exchange lets musicians sell rights to songs \n If your clients have a song in their hearts, they might be able to buy the royalties to it.\n\nRoyalty Exchange helps owners of music royalties find buyers. Since March 2016, the company has auctioned off royalties from 150 songs, including:\n\n\u2022 Barry White\u2019s \u201cYou\u2019re the First, the Last, My Everything\u201d\n\n\u2022 Kanye West\u2019s \u201cMercy\u201d\n\n\u2022 A collection of \u201cSesame Street\u201d musical themes and segments\n\nMany times \u2013 as with the Barry White and Kanye West works \u2013 the seller isn\u2019t the recording artist, but someone else who collaborated on the song. And what\u2019s being sold represents only his or her portion of the royalties. With \u201cYou\u2019re the First,\u201d the auctioned royalties, which went for $73,000, represented 25% of the 1974 hit\u2019s total royalties.\n\nIn the case of the Sesame Street collection \u2013 which included \u201cElmo\u2019s World\u201d and music from other classic childrens\u2019 movies \u2013 the songwriter, Tony Geiss, bequeathed his share of the royalties to charity. His estate auctioned them off for $580,000, distributing them to his designated causes.\n\nMusic royalties last 70 years beyond the longest living participant\u2019s life, which, if all goes well, makes a very long-lived income stream. Just how long that stream lasts and how much it pays is very much an open question, however, and one of the key determinants of a royalty\u2019s return on investment.\n\nThe auctioned-off portion of the Barry White song had earned $6,705 in royalties in the previous 12 months. At the auction price of $73,000,a purchaser would need to collect that amount every year for 11 years to recoup his or her investment \u2013 a rough equivalent of a price-to-earnings ratio for a stock.\n\nAnd that\u2019s where things get tricky. Earnings depend on how long you think a song will remain popular worldwide. \u201cVoir La Nuit S\u2019Emballer,\u201d performed by French artist Matt Pokora, for example, generated $8,843 in royalties in the 12 months before it was auctioned. The royalties sold for $16,500. \u201cI\u2019ve seen multiples as low as 1,\u201d said Jeff Schneider, president and CFO of Royalty Exchange.\n\nShould a song be used in a movie soundtrack, or sampled on another artist\u2019s record, royalties could increase. The death of the original recording artist usually increases sales, and thus royalties, too. The movement towards streaming music subscriptions could also mean higher royalties in the future, Mr. Schneider said.\n\nWhy invest in royalties? In an era when stocks and bonds look expensive, royalties represent an unappreciated asset class, Mr. Schneider argued. \u201cIt\u2019s not correlated to the stock market in general,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re at the tail end of a nine-year stock market run, and uncorrelated assets seem more interesting compared to something that\u2019s bound to correct at some point.\u201d\n\nBut as with any alternative asset, due diligence is essential before plunging into a royalty investing, advisers caution. \u201cI would want to see three or five years\u2019 royalty payments and see if they are steady or declining \u2013 and if they are declining, at what rate they are declining,\u201d said Ray Ferrara of ProVise Investment Group. \u201cThen I\u2019d do a discounted cash value over time to see how it\u2019s valued.\u201d\n\nOf course, there are other factors \u2013 such as your ability to find timeless songs up for auction. \u201cI\u2019d also think that the older the song, the less likely it is to be picked up in something new: Getting a large spike in royalty is less of a possibility as time goes by and tastes change,\u201d Mr. Ferrara said.\n\nAnd,while alternative investments are appealing as bargains when the stock market keeps hitting new highs, investors should keep in mind that stocks have produced 9% annual gains over the long term \u2013 which means that long-term investors might not have to worry about alternatives, he added.", "output": "Musicians are selling their royalty rights to investors in alternative assets.\u00a0Purchase of the rights\u00a0is a gamble on the\u00a0track's popularity, with big potential rewards. The return on investment is determined by the song's popularity, with hits selling in greater volume\u00a0and\u00a0recouping costs in a shorter period of time. The Royalty Exchange enables composers to cash in their future earnings early. The growing demand for streaming services such as Spotify is rejuvenating the earnings potential of\u00a0older tracks, while a song's use in an advertisement or film can\u00a0also bolster its sales.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "South African household debt a major risk to banking: S&P Global \n Ratings agency S&P Global yesterday flagged the high indebtedness of South African households as posing a major risk to the country's banking sector. In its Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment (Bicra) for South Africa, S&P said it estimated the country\u2019s per capita gross domestic product at about $6000 (R78000) for this year, which in US dollar terms was still lower than in 2010.\n\nThe National Credit Regulator (NCR) said about 10million South Africans were over-indebted, which meant they were unable to meet their financial obligations timeously. Matthew Pirnie, an analyst at S&P, said the rating agency expected very modest growth in retail lending over the next 18 months as the low economic growth, rising unemployment, and political uncertainties continued to confine consumer confidence. \u201cWe continue to believe that domestic households pose the most significant source of risk for the banks because of their relatively high leverage and low wealth levels compared with other emerging markets,\u201d Pirnie said.\n\nIn testimony before South Africa\u2019s legislators last year, Nomsa Motshegare, NCR chief executive, said as at the end of September 2015 the country\u2019s gross debtors\u2019 book stood at a whopping R1.6trillion, while the total credit rand value of new credit granted to consumers was close to R124bn. Macro-economic statistics website Trading Economics said household debt-to-income in South Africa averaged 57.28percent from 1969 until last year, reaching an all-time high of 86.4percent in 2008 and a record low of 40.3percent in 1980.\n\nOther weaknesses S&P flagged about the country's banking sector included multiple development needs, supply and skill shortages, including infrastructure bottlenecks, as well as labour market rigidities that constrained economic growth potential. The rating agency also said the financing of the country's current account deficit hinged on potentially volatile portfolio flows, while the sector relies on concentrated short- to medium-term funding from institutional investors, but the risk was mitigated by the closed rand system.\n\nS&P found that in the year to March, credit impairments improved to 1.2percent of total loans from 1.4percent, at the same time the sector\u2019s total capital adequacy increased to 16.05percent from 13.88percent and return on equity improved to 17.33percent from 16.31percent. Pirnie said a positive for the sector was that South African households and corporates had somewhat prepared for long-term economic and political instability by minimising leverage over the past few years. \u201cWe see the trend for banking industry risk as stable because we consider the significant deterioration of South African banks\u2019 profitability or funding profiles as unlikely. If the banks become more reliant on more volatile funding or change to a net debtor position, we could lower our assessment,\u201d he said.\n\nEasing Earlier in the year, S&P said its outlook for the big South African banks remained negative but that pressure was easing. However, it said the rest of Africa operations would represent a drain on some of the country's banks' profitability over the next 12 months. Among the positives noted in the Bicra was that the country's regulation was in line with international best practices, while it had top-tier banking stability and good risk management. Ernst & Young\u2019s analysis of the major South African banks earlier this year found the banks had produced credible results against economic headwinds, with the four major banking groups having posted combined profits of R72.3bn in the year to December, up 8.4percent on an annualised basis from 2015.", "output": "Rising South African household debt is a severe risk to the nation's banking sector, according to S&P Global. It predicts South Africa's per capita GDP at around $6,000 in 2017. Approximately\u00a010 million South Africans are\u00a0over-indebted, according to\u00a0The National Credit Regulator. Modest growth in retail lending is expected in the coming\u00a0months while political uncertainty, a stagnant economy and\u00a0growing\u00a0unemployment continue\u00a0to damage consumer confidence, said S&P analyst Matthew Pirnie.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lloyds compensates only five HBOS fraud victims \n Lloyds Banking Group has paid compensation to only five of the 67 victims of the HBOS Reading fraud scandal almost a month after its own deadline for making redress offers for the \u201cutterly corrupt scheme\u201d that left small business owners \u201ccheated, defeated and penniless\u201d.\n\nThe bank, which was until recently part-owned by the government, said on Friday that just five of its customers had accepted its offers of compensation. It has failed to make any offer to more than half of the victims and the bank\u2019s bosses confirmed that some of the customers were threatening to take the company to court rather than accept any deal.\n\nLloyds, which owns HBOS, had pledged to agree compensation deals worth \u00a3100m before the end of June. The bank said on Friday that it had made final offers to just 16 customers and only five of these had been accepted. It said a further 14 cases were in \u201cthe final stage of assessment\u201d by the bank and Prof Russel Griggs, an independent reviewer.\n\nAdrian White, Lloyds\u2019 chief operating officer for commercial banking, said: \u201cWe are continuing to make progress in getting offers to victims of the HBOS Reading fraud. We have now either made offers or are in the detailed assessment stage for nearly half of the victims in the review. It is important we get the fullest possible information from victims to ensure we can factor in everything that could contribute to their compensation offer.\u201d\n\nLord Cromwell, the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on fair business banking, said he was very concerned about the progress of the compensation scheme, which he described as a \u201crunning sore\u201d.\n\n\u201cColleagues in both Houses of Parliament are very concerned, and are increasingly raising formal questions, about how this matter is being conducted\u201d he said. \u201cIn particular there appears to be a lack of transparency, and therefore a lack of public confidence, in the processes set up unilaterally by Lloyds for assessment and settlement of claims. Inevitably this creates suspicion and we are hoping that Lloyds will now accept our repeated invitations to make the processes \u2013 including the nuts and bolts of valuing claims \u2013 far more open to assessment by victims and their advisers. Without that it is hard to see how this matter can end other than in bitterness and litigation.\u201d\n\nLloyds had denied that there was any wrongdoing at its Reading branch until two of its former employees were convicted of fraud in February. A group of six bankers dubbed \u201cBritain\u2019s Wolves of Wall Street\u201d were jailed for combined 47 years and six months for a complex scam at HBOS\u2019s Reading branch between 2003 and 2007.\n\n\n\nLynden Scourfield (right) with David Mills (centre) and Michael Bancroft, who were convicted of fraud. Photograph: Thames Valley Police\n\nAt the sentencing, Judge Beddoe said Lynden Scourfield, a former senior HBOS manager, had \u201csold your soul, for sex, for luxury trips with and without your wife \u2013 for bling and for swag\u201d.\n\nScourfield had pleaded guilty to the extensive scheme, which drained the bank and small businesses of around \u00a3245m and left hundreds of people in severe financial difficulties.\n\nThe judge described Scourfield as an \u201cutterly corrupt bank manager\u201d who, driven by \u201crapacious greed\u201d, had \u201cgot his tentacles into the businesses of ordinary and honest people and ripped them apart without a thought for those affected\u201d.\n\nThe Thames Valley police commissioner, Anthony Stansfeld, has criticised Lloyds for failing to accept that the scam took place despite \u201coverwhelming evidence\u201d, which he said amounted to a cover-up.\n\nSome of the victims lost their companies, livelihoods and even their homes as a result of the scam. Paul and Nikki Turner, from Cambridge, were ignored for years when they tried to report what was going on after their publishing company, Zenith, was run into the ground in the scam.\n\n\u201cThey defrauded us, denied for 10 years that the fraud had happened, ignored the debt from the fraud and tried to evict us 22 times in order to cover up the fraud,\u201d Nikki Turner has said.\n\nThe Turners have said they will not negotiate compensation with Lloyds and will take the company to court.\n\nLloyds has issued one-off payments of \u00a335,000 each to victims to cover their costs as they wait for compensation. The bank said the total offers and payments to victims total \u00a310m so far.", "output": "Lloyds has compensated just five of the 67 victims of the HBOS Reading fraud scheme, which saw six bankers jailed for a combined 47 years. The bank, which owns HBOS, had promised to agree compensation deals of \u00a3100m ($130m) before the end of June. However, offers have been made to only 16 customers, five of whom have accepted. An additional 14 cases are \u201cin the final stage of assessment\u201d. Lloyds has failed to offer compensation to over half of the victims, many of whom lost companies and livelihoods. Some customers are threatening legal action."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "YouTube adds 'Redirect Method' for combating extremism \n Expanding the new YouTube product functionality to a wider set of search queries in other languages beyond English.\n\nUsing machine learning to dynamically update the search query terms.\n\nWorking with expert NGOs on developing new video content designed to counter violent extremist messaging at different parts of the radicalization funnel.\n\nCollaborating with Jigsaw to expand the \u201cRedirect Method\u201d in Europe.\n\nA month ago, we told you about four new steps we\u2019re taking to combat terrorist content on YouTube. One of our core areas of focus is more work to counter online violent extremism. As a first step we\u2019re now rolling out features from Jigsaw\u2019s Redirect Method on YouTube.Over the past years, Jigsaw partnered with Moonshot CVE to conduct extensive research to understand how extremist groups leverage technology to spread their message and recruit new members. From there, they created the Redirect Method , which uses curated video content to redirect people away from violent extremist propaganda and steer them toward video content that confronts extremist messages and debunks its mythology. Today, YouTube is rolling out a feature using the model proven by the Redirect Method: when people search for certain keywords on YouTube, we will display a playlist of videos debunking violent extremist recruiting narratives.This early product integration of the Redirect Method on YouTube is our latest effort to provide more resources and more content that can help change minds of people at risk of being radicalized. Over the coming weeks, we hope to build on this by:This work is made possible by our partnerships with NGOs that are experts in this field, and we will continue to collaborate closely with them to help support their research through our technological tools. We hope our work together will also help open and broaden a dialogue about other work that can be done to counter radicalization of potential recruits.As we develop this model of the Redirect Method on YouTube, we\u2019ll measure success by how much this content is engaged. Stay tuned for more.", "output": "YouTube is working to combat terrorist content by introducing Jigsaw's \"Redirect Method\". The method redirects users who search for or click on extremist propaganda to other videos which challenge those ideologies. The platform aims to expand the functionality to include searches made in other languages, work with NGOs to create new video content to act against extremist messages throughout the radicalisation journey and partner with Jigsaw to introduce the \"Redirect Method\" throughout Europe.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google announces Gradient Ventures, an early-stage AI fund \n AI-powered technology holds a lot of promise\u2014from improving patient health to making data centers more efficient. But while we\u2019ve seen some amazing applications of AI so far, we know there are many more out there that haven\u2019t even been imagined yet. And sometimes, these new ideas need support to flourish.\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s why we\u2019re announcing Gradient Ventures, a new venture fund from Google with technical mentorship for early-stage startups focused on artificial intelligence. Through Gradient, we\u2019ll provide portfolio companies with capital, resources, and dedicated access to experts and bootcamps in AI. We\u2019ll take a minority stake in the startups in which we invest.\n\n\n\nMany members of our team are engineers, so we\u2019re familiar with the journey from big idea to product launch. The goal is to help our portfolio companies overcome engineering challenges to create products that will apply artificial intelligence to today\u2019s challenges and those we\u2019ll face in the future.\n\n\n\nOur portfolio is already growing, and our first companies are making progress, including Algorithmia, a marketplace for algorithms and functions, and Dyndrite, a compute and development engine for additive manufacturing solutions.\n\n\n\nThrough AI, yesterday's science fiction is becoming today's nonfiction. There's everything to reimagine as we usher in this new era of technology\u2014and we're excited to work with entrepreneurs to start building it.\n\n", "output": "Google has announced a new venture fund named Gradient Ventures to provide technical mentorship to artificial intelligence start-ups. The tech firm will take a minority stake in its chosen companies and offer funding, resources and expertise to encourage the startups to flourish. Google is already mentoring Algorithmia, an algorithms and functions marketplace, and Cogniac, a range of visual model management tools.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Swimming robot takes second trip inside Fukushima reactor \n For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBreaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nImages captured by an underwater robot showed massive deposits believed to be melted nuclear fuel covering the floor of a damaged reactor at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.\n\nThe robot found large amounts of solidified lava-like rocks and lumps in layers as thick as one metre (three feet) on the bottom inside of a main structure called the pedestal that sits underneath the core inside the primary containment vessel of Fukushima's Unit 3 reactor, said the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co.\n\nOn Friday, the robot, nicknamed \"Little Sunfish,\" spotted suspected debris of melted fuel for the first time since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami caused multiple meltdowns and destroyed the plant.\n\nThe three-day probe of Unit 3 ended on Saturday.\n\nThis image captured by an underwater robot shows massive deposits believed to be melted nuclear fuel covering the floor of a damaged reactor at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in Okuma town, northeastern Japan (International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning via AP)\n\nLocating and analysing the fuel debris and damage in each of the plant's three wrecked reactors is crucial for decommissioning the plant.\n\nThe search for melted fuel in the two other reactors has so far been unsuccessful because of damage and extremely high radiation levels.\n\nDuring this week's probe, cameras mounted on the robot showed extensive damage caused by the core meltdown, with fuel debris mixed with broken reactor parts, suggesting the difficult challenges ahead in the decades-long decommissioning of the destroyed plant.\n\nRemote controlled camera reveals hole in Fukushima nuclear plant\n\n\u200bExperts have said the fuel melted and much of it fell to the chamber's bottom and is now covered by radioactive water as deep as six metres (20 feet).\n\nThe fuel, during meltdown, also likely melted its casing and other metal structures inside the reactor, forming rocks as it cooled.\n\nTEPCO spokesman Takahiro Kimoto said it would take time to analyse the debris in the images to figure out debris removal methods.\n\nInside the twisted remains of Fukushima nuclear plant Show all 2 1 / 2 Inside the twisted remains of Fukushima nuclear plant Inside the twisted remains of Fukushima nuclear plant 6-Fukushima-1-EPA.jpg EPA Inside the twisted remains of Fukushima nuclear plant 6-Fukushima-2-EPA.jpg EPA\n\nThe submersible robot, about the size of a loaf of bread, is equipped with lights, manoeuvres with five propellers and collects data with two cameras and a dosimeter.\n\nIt is controlled remotely by a group of four operators.\n\nIt was co-developed by Toshiba Corp, the electronics, nuclear and energy company charged with helping clean up the plant, and the International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning, a government-funded consortium.\n\nAssociated Press", "output": "Tokyo Electric Power Company has sent its swimming robot into the remains of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant for a second time, in a bid to assess the damage to the three reactors. The robot has found large deposits of potential melted nuclear fuel, some as much as a metre deep, inside \"the pedestal\", a structure that sits beneath the reactor core in the plant's primary containment vessel. The deposits, which are mixed in with broken reactor debris, are now submerged in\u00a0highly radioactive water.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "StreetEasy property site loses rental listings after charging\u00a0fee \n If StreetEasy wanted to test the loyalty of the city\u2019s rental agents, they have their answer.\n\nWithin 24 hours of introducing a new $3-per-day fee for rental listings, the number of rentals posted on StreetEasy\u2019s platform plummeted 55 percent from 30,967 on Monday to 13,978 on Tuesday, according to inventory data obtained by The Real Deal. The figure rebounded slightly by Wednesday morning to 15,880 rental listings, according to an analysis by brokerage Triplemint.\n\nIn Brooklyn, the number of listings fell from around 10,721 on Monday to 4,078 on Tuesday \u2014 a 62 percent decline, Triplemint\u2019s data shows. Manhattan dropped 45.5 percent from 15,531 rental listings on Monday to 8,469 on Tuesday. Queens experienced a 69 percent drop, with the number of listings falling from 3,852 on Monday to 1,192 on Tuesday.\n\nAlthough the fall in listings was expected, the purge reflects that it\u2019s largely up to individual agents to decide whether to feed their listings to StreetEasy, whether or not their firm sends listings en masse.\n\nCompass\u2019 Gabriele Sewtz said she was withholding her rental listings on ethical grounds. \u201cI don\u2019t feel that one player in a market should have the power to decide what a consumer is going to see and what a consumer is not going to see,\u201d said Sewtz, who is marketing a Crown Heights two-bedroom for $2,500 and a unit in Dumbo asking $8,500. She added that StreetEasy\u2019s language around the fee \u2014 opting in \u2014 put the onus on agents when, in fact, the website took listings down if they didn\u2019t receive payment.\n\n\u201cStreetEasy decided from one night to kick almost 50 percent of the inventory to the curb,\u201d she said. Her sales listings still appear on StreetEasy.\n\nBut Nest Seekers International\u2019s Jessica Campbell \u2014 whose listings include a $7,500-a-month penthouse in Chelsea and a three-bedroom in Turtle Bay asking $32,000 \u2014 said she\u2019ll fork over the $3 a day per listing because her clients deserve maximum exposure.\n\n\u201cI simply had no other option, though I don\u2019t appreciate being backed into a corner so I am not pleased by this per-day fee,\u201d she said. \u201cGetting that notice felt like a ransom note and I had no option but to pay it.\u201d\n\nCorcoran Group agent Brian Meier will also opt in. \u201cI\u2019ll stop paying StreetEasy when it\u2019s not worth it anymore,\u201d he said. Meier predicts that could happen soon. \u201cRenters understand that StreetEasy is not a platform to see the whole market,\u201d he said.\n\nFor those tracking StreetEasy\u2019s listings on Tuesday, the numbers dipped early in the day but ticked up with each passing hour \u2014 presumably as agents got on board with the \u201cNYC Rental Network.\u201d As of 6 a.m. Wednesday, there were 15,885 listings on the website, a number that climbed to 16,005 by noon.\n\nSign Up for the undefined Newsletter SIGN UP By signing up, you agree to TheRealDeal Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.\n\nIn a statement, Susan Daimler, general manager at the Zillow-owned StreetEasy, said they\u2019d anticipated a drop in listings. StreetEasy said a key goal for the new network \u2014 which offers a single point of entry for agents\u2019 listings \u2014 is to \u201cwipe the slate clean\u201d by removing stale or inaccurate listings from the portal. Agents who opted in to the program over the past 24 hours have done so across price points and boroughs, StreetEasy said.\n\nNot everyone thinks StreetEasy will rebound after losing such a large number of listings. \u201cConsumers will now have access to less inventory,\u201d said Philip Lang, COO of Triplemint. Others, remembering the backlash against Craigslist when the website introduced a paywall, predicted StreetEasy wouldn\u2019t survive with a pay-to-play model for the rental market.\n\nMany of the city\u2019s biggest firms are pushing back against StreetEasy. They\u2019ve described the new per-diem fee as a \u201ctax on agents.\u201d\n\nOn Tuesday, the Corcoran Group and Citi Habitats \u2014 both owned by Realogy\u2019s NRT \u2014 stopped sending their feeds to StreetEasy, Corcoran CEO Pam Liebman said.\n\nIndividual agents may spend their own money sending their listings to StreetEasy, but on Tuesday less than 7 percent of Corcoran\u2019s rental listings were on the website, Liebman said. Around 20 percent of Citi Habitats\u2019 rental listings were posted, she noted.\n\nDouglas Elliman, however, chose to break away from the pack and support the program by letting agents use their ad budgets to pay for it,\n\n\u201cStreetEasy is our biggest driver of traffic, other than our own site, to our listings,\u201d Elliman COO Scott Durkin said last week. \u201cThere was no way we were going to let that feed be interrupted. It was a smart business decision.\u201d\n\nSensing an opening in the market, the startup Leasebreak sought to capitalize on the drama Tuesday and bought up a domain \u201cbreakupwithstreeteasy.\u201d\n\n\u201cStreetEasy assumed it could take advantage of real estate agents because of the traffic to its website,\u201d said Phil Horigan, founder of Leasebreak. \u201cIt grossly miscalculated and it will pay the price.\u201d", "output": "New York-based estate agents aggregator StreetEasy saw a 55% drop in the number of rentals listed on its site in the 24 hours following the introduction of a $3-a-day fee for property\u00a0listings. The number of rentals dropped from 30,967 to 13,978, according to data obtained by the Real Deal publication. Although\u00a0a slight drop was expected, the significant loss indicates the reluctance of agents to submit their listings for an additional fee, with the charge being described as a \"tax on agents\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mayo Clinic and software developer to reduce inpatient deaths \n Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic and Jvion, a cognitive software developer, released a cognitive computing tool to help reduce preventable inpatient deaths.\n\nThe bedside patient rescue tool identifies patients at risk and in need of intervention by measuring data such as patient frailty and other hospital system metrics.\n\nThe BPR tool will be installed in Jvion's Cognitive Clinical Success Machine, which measures internal and external factors in a patient to identify risks and recommendations.\n\n\"Working in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic team, we have developed something that is positioned to help countless patients and the clinicians who care for them,\" Shantanu Nigam, Jivion's CEO, said.\n\nJvion partnered with Mayo Clinic after winning the Think Big Challenge competition at Transform 2016, an annual conference in Rochester. The challenge was designed to identify a company that could advance and commercialize a Mayo Clinic technology solution.", "output": "Healthcare provider Mayo Clinic and software developer Jvion have launched the bedside patient rescue (BPR) tool, which uses cognitive computing to reduce the number of preventable deaths of hospital inpatients. BPR measures hospital data to determine which patients are\u00a0in the most danger. The new tool will form part of Jvion's Cognitive Clinical Success Machine, which will take various measurements of patients. BPR will then analyse these measurements in\u00a0order to highlight risks and make recommendations.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Suppliers of Pepsico, Nestl\u00e9,\u00a0Unilever\u00a0linked to deforestation \n Pepsico, Unilever and Nestl\u00e9 have been accused of complicity in the destruction of Sumatra\u2019s last tract of rainforest shared by elephants, orangutans, rhinos, and tigers together in one ecosystem.\n\nPlantations built on deforested land have allegedly been used to supply palm oil to scores of household brands that also include McDonald\u2019s, Mars, Kellogg\u2019s and Procter & Gamble, according to a new report.\n\n\u201cIf more immediate action is not taken to enforce \u2018no deforestation\u2019 policies, these brands will be remembered as the corporate giants responsible for the destruction of the last place on earth where Sumatran elephants, orangutans, rhinos and tigers roamed side by side,\u201d says the study by Rainforest Action Network (RAN).\n\nUsing satellite data, photographic evidence and GPS coordinates, the research builds on evidence gathered earlier this year to show ongoing illegal forest clearances across swathes of the 2.6m hectare Leuser ecosystem, despite a moratorium announced last June.\n\nThe palm oil reaches major brands via a twisting supply chain that stretches from the PT Agra Bumi Niaga (ABN) logging company, which delivers to a processing mill owned by PT Ensem Sawita (ES), which then sells the palm oil on to some of the world\u2019s largest traders. PT is an abbreviation that denotes a limited liability company in Indonesia.\n\nPT ABN declined requests for comment but after extensive Guardian inquiries, PT ES admitted using ABN\u2019s palm oil \u2013 due to confusion after the logging firm changed its name \u2013 and said that it \u201cregretted this failure\u201d.\n\nThe company promised to \u201cstrengthen our traceability practices by exchanging information to relevant stakeholders who have palm oil plantation data.\u201d\n\nHowever, Gemma Tillack, RAN\u2019s agribusiness campaigns director, said that ABN\u2019s name change had been reported, and the continued inability of palm traders and food brands to source the palm they used back to the plantations showed a wider failing of due diligence systems.\n\n\u201cRelying on NGOs to uncover the truth is simply not good enough,\u201d she said. \u201cIf RAN, with our relatively limited budget, can figure it out, then multibillion dollar, multinational corporations certainly can. The fact that they haven\u2019t demonstrates that it is not a lack of ability holding them back, but a lack of will.\u201d\n\nLeuser\u2019s vanishing ecosystem is already have a devastating effect on critically endangered elephants which use it as a migratory corridor. At least 35 elephants were killed in Leuser between 2012-2015, and human-animal conflicts are fast increasing as palm plantations fragment animal habitats.\n\n\n\nMany species such as tigers, clouded leopards and sun bears are becoming more vulnerable to poachers, as their environment disappears. Leuser is still Sumatra\u2019s largest rainforest and its Unesco world heritage status was reaffirmed this month, despite Indonesian government protests.\n\nBut its deforestation rate is among the world\u2019s highest. In the 2015 haze disaster, Sumatran wildfires, often linked to plantation activity, destroyed 8,000 sq miles of rainforest, contributing to the early deaths of an estimated 100,000 people and emitting more CO2 than the whole of the UK that year.\n\nIndonesia\u2019s president Joko Widodo responded with a moratorium on new palm oil permits last April. Two months later, Aceh\u2019s governor, Zaini Abdullah ordered palm oil companies to halt all forest clearing, even where valid permits existed.\n\nBut RAN\u2019s research shows that ABN continued clearing another 336 hectares of Sumatran rainforest after Abdullah\u2019s instruction, with 12 hectares of new deforestation since February.\n\nIn just one district of the Leuser, nine other suppliers to milling companies continued logging activities since last June across concessions with a combined area of more than 26,000 hectares, according to RAN\u2019s research.\n\nTillack said: \u201cWe believe that there was a rush to clear land because the [logging] companies knew that there would be government intervention to stop forest clearances.\n\n\u201cGlobal brands like Pepsico can no longer hide behind paper promises and simply blame their international partners for forest crimes. The Leuser ecosystem will die a death of a thousand cuts if brands don\u2019t start taking urgent action to address the root cause of this crisis.\u201d\n\nA spokesman for Pepsico, singled out by RAN as \u201cthe ultimate snack food 20 laggard\u201d, said \u201cWe take this issue very seriously, and we are making significant investments to improve every aspect of our palm oil supply chain. After being informed of the allegations, we immediately initiated a thorough investigation. While we do not source directly from the mills in question, we identified direct suppliers who had the mills in their supply chains. We have been assured that these suppliers are taking corrective actions to address the allegations.\u201d\n\nUnilever admitted that it had indirectly bought palm oil from PT ABN through its suppliers, Wilmar and Musim Mas, and said that it had requested \u201ca response and an action plan\u201d from them soon.\n\nNestl\u00e9 also said that it was investigating the allegations with Wilmar \u2013 which told the guardian that it was sending a team to the region to assess whether other sources in its supply chain were using palm oil sourcing back to PT ABN\u2019s 2,000 hectare concession.\n\nMars and Kellogg\u2019s stressed their sustainable palm oil policies, while Procter & Gamble said that it had told suppliers about its responsible sourcing policy. McDonald\u2019s denied any links to PT ABN.\n\nOf the palm oil traders which supplying the food brands, IOI said that that it had \u201cregistered recent deliveries from PT ES in our supply chain\u201d but that the firm had \u201cconfirmed that they no longer source from PT ABN\u201d.\n\n\n\nGolden Agri-Resources said that its exposure to PT ES was \u201crelatively small\u201d but that it would visit the company in the next weeks to find out if it was indirectly selling on palm oil from PT ABN. Cargill and Musim Mas both said that they were investigating the reports.\n\nHowever, the companies had been warned about \u2018conflict palm oil\u2019 entering the supply chain through PT ES\u2019s third-party suppliers since 2014, and engagement with the firm had not changed its behaviour.\n\n\u201cBrands and traders tend to hide behind supply chain complexities,\u201d she said, \u201cbut consumers need to know whether or not the palm oil they use is connected to the destruction of rainforests.\u201d", "output": "Major brands including McDonald\u2019s, Pepsico, Procter & Gamble, Unilever and Nestl\u00e9 have been accused of using suppliers that are\u00a0complicit in the deforestation of Sumatra\u2019s final rainforest,\u00a0in a report by Rainforest Action Network (RAN). The study claimed\u00a0that palm oil plantations that indirectly supply\u00a0the brands have been established on deforested land formerly inhabited by elephants, orangutans, rhinos and tigers.\u00a0RAN\u2019s research used GPS coordinates, satellite data and photographs to reveal illegal clearances across the Leuser ecosystem despite last year\u2019s moratorium on such clearances. The palm oil is obtained by the brands from traders via a supply chain that stretches from\u00a0logging company Agra Bumi Niaga.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lyft sets up autonomous driving division in California \n Conventional wisdom on self-driving used to go like this: A smart tech company, like Google's Waymo, writes the self-driving software. A smart chip company, like Nvidia, provides the computing power. A smart automotive supplier, like Delphi, brings the car parts. A smart carmaker, like GM, furnishes the cars\u2014and everything runs on the platform created by a smart ride-hailing company, like Uber or Lyft. This line of thinking explains why players in this industry are partnering up like their survival depends on it. In the stage production that is getting you from A to B in a robocar, everyone plays a role.\n\nBut some of these companies want bigger parts than others. Today, Lyft announced it\u2019s getting into the self-driving business, launching its own unit to build autonomous vehicle software and hardware. \u201cIt\u2019s too strategic an area for us to not be a player,\u201d says Luc Vincent, the ex-Google StreetView-er who will head up the initiative's technical side.\n\nUntil today, Lyft's strategy seemed to hinge on hopping between carmakers like General Motors and tech companies like Waymo, striking deals that would put autonomous vehicles on the Lyft platform. (The company did say it'll maintain these partnerships, including one with self-driving car company Nutonomy that's slated to bring self-driving taxis to Boston.) But Lyft's strategic play to tackle autonomy on its own suggests that business models for this booming industry are far from settled.\n\nSelf-Driving Strategery\n\nLyft is entering the self-driving race an underdog\u2019s underdog. Waymo has been testing self-driving vehicles in the Bay Area since 2010, collecting more than 3 million miles' worth of data on public roads and the vehicles that traverse them. Arch-rival Uber poached top-notch robotics talent from Carnegie Mellon University to create its self-driving unit back in 2015.\n\nAnd dedicating hard-won money to self-driving tech is riskier for a company like Lyft than an auto-making incumbent. Just look at the money those other companies have to burn: $19.8 billion for Ford, $16.6 billion for General Motors. Lyft is valued at $7.5 billion. \"Not only is does General Motors have cash on hand, but its cost of capital is a lot lower than Lyft\u2019s,\" says Erik Gordon, who studies tech entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan\u2019s Ross School of Business. The biggies have less to lose.\n\nLyft's move might be defensive. \"I think what Lyft is worried about is envelopment,\" says Evan Rawley, who teaches entrepreneurial strategy at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. \"Say Waymo becomes the dominant autonomous vehicle company. Then it\u2019s very easy for Google to attach a ride-hailing service to that and make it hard for Lyft to compete in their core business.\"\n\nThe move is similar to what Google did with Android, he says. The search giant didn't want Apple to own everything related to smartphones: the hardware, the software, all the nutty stuff that goes on in the App Store. So it built Android, an operating system, and kept its hardware cheap, hoping to ensure their role in the smartphone universe even if Apple kept on killing it with the iPhone. Now lots of hardware companies use Android as their operating systems, and Google phones are still around. Lyft, like Google, is hedging its bets.\n\nThe worst case scenario is that Lyft gets stuck selling to one, monopolistic self-driving giant. The company wants to keep the autonomous vehicle space a little messy, and wants lots of friends with whom to horse trade. \"We want to take a proactive approach in pushing the industry into more of an open environment,\" says Raj Kapoor, Lyft's chief strategy officer. Now it can offer partners years of knowledge about how passengers behave, and some gadgets to help the cars get around. Bolt it on and go.", "output": "Ride-hailing company Lyft has signed a lease for a 50,000 sq feet facility in Palo Alto, California, with the aim of developing its own open self-driving technology. The company plans to hire hundreds\u00a0of staff for the new division of the company, with the aim of bringing a fleet of autonomous vehicles into the ride-hailing network. It is understood that Lyft itself will not manufacture the cars."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk Free nuisance call services make TalkTalk \u00a3180 p.a. cheaper than BT \n Caller display will be switched on for all customers free of charge\n\nCustomers can now block up to 100 numbers through their handset\n\nCustomers will save up to \u00a3180 vs BT over 12 months\n\nProvider blocked more than 100 million scam calls last month\n\nThursday 20th July - TalkTalk is today announcing improvements to its call features to further protect customers from nuisance and scam calls.\n\nTalkTalk customers can now block ten times as many numbers via its Last Caller Barring service, which has been activated for all customers as standard. After a nuisance call, users can dial 14258 (or 1HALT for ease) to block up to 100 numbers. Customers can also report scam calls to TalkTalk directly through their handset by pressing 1 after it has been blocked. Caller Display has also been activated for all customers this month, allowing everyone to see who is calling before picking up the phone.\n\nWhilst other providers will often charge for such added value features, TalkTalk remains committed to making these improvements at no extra cost to customers, saving them up to \u00a3180 a year vs BT, Sky and Virgin Media.\n\nDonna Moore, Head of Scam Prevention at TalkTalk said: 'Scammers are constantly updating their techniques, so we are committed to evolve our call features to protect our customers. Unfortunately phone scams are a serious and growing problem affecting UK business and customers and we are determined to beat the scammers and provide these features at no extra cost.'\n\nAs the first UK telecoms provider to block nuisance calls at a network level, TalkTalk continues to combat the industry-wide issue and blocked over 100 million scam and nuisance calls before the phone even rings in the last month alone.\n\nOne million customers have also taken up TalkTalk's innovative TalkSafe service after it became the first UK telecoms provider to roll out voice biometric technology. Since its launch in 2016, TalkSafe has reduced customer verification time by 80 per cent to just 12 seconds, improving the efficiency of the customer service experience while providing one of the most secure forms of identification.\n\nToday's announcement is just the latest example of TalkTalk's long-term commitment to protecting its customers from the industry-wide problem of scam and nuisance calls. Back in 2016, following research that showed almost half of Britons (42%) said they wouldn't be able to spot a scam and a further one in five (20%)* didn't know what to do in the heat of the moment, TalkTalk launched Beat the Scammers a nationwide campaign to help people better protect themselves against the growing threat of online and telephone scams. TalkTalk was also the first Telecoms provider to produce a series of NEVERS, a set of specific guidelines outlining information it will never ask customers for.\n\nFor more information visit: talktalk.co.uk/beatthescammers", "output": "TalkTalk is to add new features to protect customers from nuisance and scam calls, enabling them to block up to\u00a0ten times as many numbers through it Last Caller Barring service.\u00a0Caller Display has also been activated for all customers. Offering the services free reportedly\u00a0saves TalkTalk customers up to \u00a3180 compared to what they would pay for BT's equivalent services.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HCL [4]: UK councils tripled overseas hires of social workers between 2012 and 2016 \n Picture: giorgos245/fotolia\n\nLast year more than 450 social workers from overseas came to work in the UK from places like Zimbabwe, Romania, Portugal, Australia and India.\n\nThis group marks a small but important part of the overall social work workforce \u2013 there are more than 26,000 children and families social workers in England alone. But it is also growing, with figures obtained by Community Care from the UK social work regulators showing the numbers of annual overseas registrants more than tripled, from 113 to 473, between 2012 and 2016.\n\nThe most significant increase has been in England, where the number of overseas social workers registered with the HCPC rose from 79 to 416 over the four-year period, partly due to some local authorities stepping up efforts to recruit from abroad after finding it difficult to attract experienced social workers.\n\nHarrow council, for instance, recently hired 20 children\u2019s social workers from India. The most recent official statistics on the local authority\u2019s workforce show it had around 115 children\u2019s social workers in 2016, and recruited around 40 that year.\n\nA report to the council\u2019s overview and scrutiny committee said the new staff hired from India was helping ease the pressure on children\u2019s services. But the council, which had a third of its children\u2019s social work posts filled with agency staff last year, also says the recruits bring extra skills needed in the local community.\n\n\u201cThe project has recruited 20 very experienced, well-qualified practitioners,\u201d a council spokesperson says, flagging up the \u201cexcellent worldwide profile\u201d of Indian accreditation. Importantly, they add, \u201csocial workers from India come with a range of linguistic skills that meet the profile of the community in Harrow\u201d.\n\nIt\u2019s a similar story in Herefordshire, which took on 10 social workers from Romania during 2015 at a time when its vacancy rate was running at 37%. Jo Davidson, who was until recently Herefordshire council\u2019s director for children\u2019s wellbeing, says the authority had been looking \u201cat all angles\u201d to get a mixture of new and experienced workers through the door.\n\n\u201cOur research showed a lot of similarities [with the UK] around how workers are trained; we also had quite a number of Romanian families so were looking at Eastern Europeans,\u201d Davidson says. In total our FOI requests picked up 179 Romanian social workers registered across the UK between 2012 and 2017, with 150 in England \u2013 the second-largest nationality, after Australia (which contributed 284 workers).\n\nGetting up to speed\n\nSome social work recruitment agencies specialise in sourcing practitioners from overseas. Laurence Lennon, director at Tripod Executive, has worked for various major suppliers in this area. He says there are plenty of advantages to councils in recruiting talent from abroad.\n\n\u201cThere is a workforce argument that you know you have X number of starters on a given day, which only tends to happen in the UK market with academy programmes, when people graduate or with [schemes like] Frontline and so on where there\u2019s specific sponsorship,\u201d Lennon says. \u201c[Overseas recruitment] enables councils to plan and do a full induction, and get a number of people up to speed at the same time.\u201d\n\nThe recognition that \u2018getting up to speed\u2019 with UK legislation and culture is crucial, says Lennon, adding that both councils and agencies have become much better at \u2018aftercare\u2019 to help workers settle into a new country. \u201cThis can\u2019t be seen as a quick fix,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you fling 15 experienced social workers into a chaotic structure, or into fire-fighting, they will struggle like anyone else.\u201d\n\nDavidson says that at Herefordshire, Romanian recruits were \u201ctreated like NQSWs\u201d and put into the council\u2019s social work academy; other councils we speak to say they have done similarly. \u201cIt was a good six months before many were ready to take on a full caseload,\u201d Davidson says. \u201cBut if you\u2019re looking for permanent staff [you have to ask], are you in it for the long or short game?\u201d\n\nA question of loyalty\n\nQuestions of longevity also inform perceptions of non-UK social workers. Lennon says that in his experience, practitioners from countries such as Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand are more likely to take jobs in the UK to gain short-to-medium-term work experience that will better their employability back home.\n\nBy contrast, he goes on, \u201crecruiting from countries where it\u2019s a life-changing opportunity to work overseas, people are committed to bringing their families over for a better quality of life and greater opportunity\u201d.\n\nInterestingly Zimbabwe, which Lennon points out has recently adopted a child-focused social work model, saw its numbers of HCPC registrants soar from nine in 2015 to 68 in 2016 \u2013 making it the largest nation that year.\n\nRachael Wardell, workforce lead for the Association of Directors of Children\u2019s Services, says recruitment trends always go through \u201cups and downs\u201d. She cautions against assuming that staff recruited from overseas will be automatically be any more loyal than UK social workers, and feels that working conditions for all social workers is what ultimately makes the difference.\n\n\u201cWhat makes people loyal is good working environments,\u201d she says. \u201cIn the end, if you\u2019re not a local authority who can retain staff, you might keep an overseas worker because they depend on your sponsorship \u2013 but that\u2019s not loyalty, it\u2019s an obligation.\u201d\n\nSarah Hammond, Kent council\u2019s assistant director of children\u2019s services for West Kent, admits that in her experience the council\u2019s sponsorship \u2013 essential for its non-EU/EEA nationals\u2019 work visas \u2013 plays its part in retaining social workers. But she argues that there would be nothing to stop another council from taking the sponsorship on, and says that \u201cdevelopment opportunities\u201d at large councils like Kent are just as important in terms of holding onto good staff.\n\nDirect dealing\n\nKent is unusual in that, having previously gone through agencies to source overseas staff, it has now begun direct recruitment drives in South Africa.\n\n\u201cWe had two South African team managers here who had been working long-term and used their expertise to think about where we should explore, where we know academic qualification is very good, and we might get some interest,\u201d she says. A fringe benefit has been an increase in the number of male recruits \u2013 always in short supply in children\u2019s social work \u2013 at the council.\n\nHammond adds that for Kent, overseas recruitment is a \u201clong-term\u201d element of its recruitment strategy. \u201cThe best outcomes for children are achieved through permanent staffing so that\u2019s what the driver is really,\u201d she says.\n\nKent\u2019s experience, Lennon says, reflects one of \u201ctwo schools of thought\u201d around international recruitment. Pointing out that, five or 10 years ago, the approach of many councils and agencies was less well-thought out in terms of supporting workers, he says quite a number of authorities have had bad, costly, historical experiences and \u201cwon\u2019t look again\u201d. But he cites others, including some London boroughs, where international workers have risen through the ranks to senior management positions.\n\n\u201cDone properly, there are so many new skills and different practice approaches [that can be added to workforces],\u201d Lennon says.\n\nThere will always be an extra training investment involved, Lennon says. But he points out that tools such as Skype mean interviewing can be done more cheaply and flexibly these days, and that pure recruitment costs of taking on an international staff member need not be vastly more than for a domestically trained one. Most authorities we speak to say overseas social workers are offered similar relocation packages to UK ones.\n\nWhether the numbers of overseas registrations continues to rise remains to be seen. The HCPC was the only regulator to disclose 2017-specific figures to us, which run to the end of April. But during those four months, 63 social workers from abroad were registered into the largest market, England. If extrapolated across the year this would bring registrations back below 2013 levels. The drop-off among European registrants is even sharper.\n\nIt\u2019s too early to say whether Brexit uncertainty \u2013 which in any case won\u2019t affect markets for workers from places like India or African countries \u2013 is having an effect. Two councils, Harrow and Buckinghamshire, tell us that having taken on 20 and 33 overseas workers respectively, they will simply have no need to look abroad any time soon.\n\nAnd as homegrown NQSWs fostered by many councils mature into a sector where tax changes are making going locum less financially attractive, there may simply be more experienced UK workers looking for permanent roles. Either way though, international workers are likely to be continue to play an important part in the workforce.\n\nRegister now for Community Care Live London for two days of free and essential learning to boost your CPD, sharpen your legal knowledge and improve your practice, on 26-27 September.", "output": "Difficulty attracting experienced social workers has led local UK authorities to look abroad to recruit, with 450 social workers coming to the UK last year from countries including Zimbabwe, Romania, Portugal, Australia and India. Harrow council recently hired 20 children\u2019s social workers from India. Official statistics reportedly showed that for 2016; the council\u2019s workforce had 115 children\u2019s social workers, recruited around 40 that year, a third of its children\u2019s social work posts were filled with agency staff. In addition to experience, linguistic skills and cultural fit with certain community profiles was also noted as a benefit of overseas hires. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Rising global life expectancy will cause huge pensions shortfall \n Photo: Thierry Zoccolan/AFP/Getty Images\n\nA few generations ago, the average global life expectancy at birth was only 34 years. Today, thanks to falling poverty rates and expanding global wealth, the average life expectancy has more than doubled to 71\u2014meaning roughly half of the babies born in the developed world in 2017 are expected to live past 100.\n\nThat individuals will now live well beyond life expectancies of just fifty years ago is undoubtedly a positive development. But, as we well know, the existing global patchwork of long-term savings systems and schemes is woefully ill-equipped to support current and future generations into old age. This was highlighted in a recent report from the World Economic Forum (WEF), We\u2019ll Live to 100\u2014How Can We Afford It?\n\nAmong the eight countries included in the WEF report (Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan, Netherlands, UK, and U.S.), the current gap between aggregate savings and expected annual retirement income needs stands at $70 trillion today\u2014one and a half times the combined GDP of the countries studied. Without immediate and concerted action, these eight countries are on course to face a combined shortfall of $400 trillion by 2050\u2014a growth in the gap of $28 billion each day.\n\nThe problem is not just a retirement issue. It is a broader financial wellness issue that is undermining productivity and placing people in financial jeopardy at many points throughout their lives. Although individuals today have increasing responsibility for managing and funding their own long-term savings (largely due to the move from defined benefit, employer-provided pensions to defined contribution accounts), most are ill-equipped to take up this burden. According to Mercer\u2019s Inside Employees\u2019 Minds research, individuals often lack the confidence to tackle difficult, long-term financial decisions, resulting in costly inaction.\n\nBold Action Needed to Close Savings Gap\n\nAs a result, governments, organizations, and individuals must take bold steps to mend the long-term savings gap. That begins with a consumer revolution in \u201cfinancial fitness.\u201d It\u2019s time to transform employee saving into an engaging consumer experience, rather than a daunting financial task. That means presenting it not as something difficult and unpleasant, but as something achievable and interesting\u2014through simplified language, useful tools, and the ability to track progress in real time. Such a change could create the same explosion in the savings industry that we\u2019ve seen over the past several decades in the area of physical fitness, as exemplified by the popularity of the Fitbit and other wearable devices for tracking fitness levels.\n\nWhile the financial services industry must help lead such a revolution, employers have a critical role to play, given their ability to bring vetted products and services to their employees. They also have a vested interest in easing their employees\u2019 financial worries in order to reap significant productivity gains. Mercer\u2019s recent Inside Employees\u2019 Minds survey found that workers spend, on average, 13 hours a month at work worrying about their financial situations, and that 38 percent of people in the U.S. could not cover an unexpected $400 expense. As a result, productivity takes a hit. Younger generations in particular are coming into the workforce carrying a lot of financial stress due to student debt.\n\nBut if their employer can help them develop a clear financial plan, they are going to be more confident knowing that they\u2019re on track for financial success and an end to debt. As they think about their long-term financial goals, including saving for retirement, they\u2019ll be better prepared. Indeed, in our work with clients who have begun to implement new financial wellness programs, we have already seen demonstrated improvements in productivity.\n\nGovernment, too, must help spur the revolution by expanding pension coverage and individuals\u2019 access to savings programs and products. Both governments and employers have much greater capacity to assess products, gather information, and discriminate among financial service providers than individuals do. It\u2019s time to expand and enhance employee access to smart tools, default options, and advice that can help them achieve retirement success.\n\nStill, achieving financial fitness takes commitment. It can be difficult for people to get a clear picture of where they stand at any given moment, because their finances may be fragmented\u2014they may have some employment-related pension, some individual retirement savings, and they may or may not be eligible for some safety-net provision. If employers can help people pull all those pieces together, with access to third-party advice and support, they can face the challenge of saving and planning effectively.\n\nWe have made a great deal of progress in facing those facts by developing innovative tools to calculate retirement savings. And we\u2019ve encouraged employees to take more responsibility and become more engaged in their financial decisions. But the future of financial success for today\u2019s workforce calls for more\u2014and it will take nothing less than the urgent commitment of governments, organizations and individuals to give birth to a new era of financial fitness.", "output": "The increase in global life expectancy will put a strain on the world economy, with the gap between aggregate savings and the average necessary retirement income currently $70tn in the eight countries surveyed by the World Economic Forum. By living to 100, the global populace will experience a shortfall of about $400tn by 2050, and will experience financial difficulties in that time. The WEF has recommended that there be a revolution in \u201cfinancial fitness\u201d, transforming personal finance into a more manageable\u00a0task and with access to smart tools and advisory options provided\u00a0to ensure that the gap does not cause hardship.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook offers\u00a0video playback with sound on in\u00a0News Feed \n \n\nFacebook isn\u2019t necessarily thought of as a video platform, yet it does provide a massive portal to video content. Facebook is aware of this, and is broadening its rollout of new video playback features on its mobile app \u2014 and notably, videos in the News Feed will now autoplay with the sound turned on by default. In addition, audio will fade in and out as you scroll past, and the company is introducing another app for TVs.\n\nFacebook first listed the video-focused updates in a post on its Newsroom blog in February. A few weeks ago, the social media giant made good on that promise in earnest, as an increasing number of people are seeing a message that reads, \u201cWe\u2019re always working to make Facebook a better place to watch videos. That\u2019s why videos now play with sound on automatically. Use the volume icon on any video to make the sound right for you.\u201d\n\nRecommended Videos\n\nApparently, Facebook decided to make the change back in February because users expected to hear sound as they scrolled through their News Feed. \u201cAfter testing sound on in News Feed and hearing positive feedback, we\u2019re slowly bringing it to more people. With this update, sound fades in and out as you scroll through videos in News Feed, bringing those videos to life,\u201d Facebook noted in a blog post.\n\nBut don\u2019t worry \u2014 if you don\u2019t want the sound automatically on in Facebook, you have the option of turning it off, both on the iOS and Android versions of the app. Just select the menu button and make your way over to account settings and sounds, and turn off \u201cNews Feed Start With Sound.\u201d\n\nFacebook\u2019s decision will likely help it become a major player in video, encouraging people to watch more of them and allowing advertisers to more easily reach people. But advertisers might want to tread carefully before hitting Facebook users with lots of loud videos on the popular social media network. According to the Coalition For Better Ads, an industry group seeking to push less annoying advertisements, videos with autoplay sound are among the least popular ad formats around.\n\n\u201cThis ad experience is especially disruptive because it catches the reader off guard and often compels them to quickly close the window or tab in order to stop the sound \u2014 especially if they are on their mobile device and in a public place, where such noise can be a public nuisance and personal embarrassment,\u201d the group said in its report on a recent survey.\n\nA more welcome addition might be the larger preview for vertically formatted videos. Facebook notes it has been testing this layout for some accounts as well, and soon it will roll out to all iOS and Android users. The new viewing experience also sports a smoother animation to scale to full-screen more seamlessly, as well as a redesigned progress bar with thumbnails to make navigating videos much more convenient.\n\nFinally, Facebook is adding watch-and-scroll functionality similar to what Google implemented quite a while ago in its YouTube app. Users can now minimize video to a picture-and-picture view while continuing to browse their News Feed. On Android, videos even continue to play outside of the app \u2014 similar to how the social network\u2019s Chat Heads messaging feature operates.\n\nIn addition to the update for mobile, Facebook also announced it is making the move to bigger screens with a video app for Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Samsung Smart TV. The new app allows for easy viewing of videos shared by pages and friends, and also recommends content based on interest. It expands upon a feature the social network rolled out last fall, which introduced the ability to stream videos straight to a TV from any device. Facebook says it is working to bring the app to additional platforms in the future.\n\nDownload for iOS Download for Android\n\nUpdate: Added information relating to the decision to autoplay sound.\n\nEditors' Recommendations", "output": "Facebook has rolled out its auto-play video feature in its News Feed, with videos now playing without prompting with the sound turned on. The audio will continue and discontinue as users scroll past, with feedback having shown that users expected sound to come on automatically. The move will enhance Facebook\u2019s status as a video platform provider\u00a0and offer further advertising opportunities to those using the platform.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "JCDecaux's Essie Wake begins role as CMO \n Essie Wake\n\nJCDecaux is ramping up its digital marketing offering, promoting Essie Wake into the newly created chief marketing officer position.\n\nWake previously held the role of marketing director, and has worked with the company since 2011.\n\nJCDecaux chief executive Steve O'Connor says the move will help \"steer the business in a broader marketing sense\".\n\n\u201cEssie has moved well beyond her initial remit, and the new CMO roles recognises that, and more importantly acknowledges the increasingly important role that marketing, and all it now encompasses, will aid in the growth of the company over the coming period,\u201d he adds.\n\nDuring her time at JCDecaux, Wake has been instrumental in new partnerships, including the most recent alignment with Data Republic.\n\nMost recently, Wake developed and launched Orbit, the company's geospatial tool that allows marketers and media planners to map out sites and audiences.\n\nShe also established Pigeon Project, an online research community of consumers who provide insights on JCDecaux campaigns.\n\nWake has worked in the media industry for more than 18 years and prior to joining JCDecaux was research and strategy director at Initiative.\n\nWake says the company's commitment to innovation and design, as well as the investment in digital and data capabilities makes it an exciting time to lead its marketing.\n\nThe appointment follows the promotion of Max Eburne to the newly-created role of chief commercial officer last year.\n\nHave something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au\n\nSign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.", "output": "Outdoor advertising company JCDecaux has promoted Essie Wake, former marketing director, into the role of chief marketing officer. The promotion will help to guide the business in a new direction, emphasising the importance of marketing in its future. Wake was behind the company\u2019s geospatial tool Orbit and the consumer community Pigeon Project.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "National University announces $20m project to help students \n National University President David Andrews is interviewed about the new Precision Institute. Courtesy National University\n\nNational University announced a $20 million initiative Wednesday to personalize higher education for individual student needs through the use of advanced technologies.\n\nThe San Diego-based university, which serves 28,000 students, launched the Precision Institute and funded a four-year Precision Education initiative.\n\n\u201cWe are entering a new era of opportunity and innovation in higher education with the development of advanced technologies and data analytics tools that can better aid us in creating adaptive learning platforms on a very precise and individual level,\u201d said Dr. David Andrews, president of the private, not-for-profit institution.\n\nThe idea is to adapt education to individual student needs and interests with the intent of better serving a diverse student population and ensuring graduation from college.\n\n\u201cThe Precision Institute at National University will contribute to ongoing research in this field as we foster a culture of collaboration with other institutions and organizations that share our mission to better adapt to the unique needs of diverse student learners so that they can more effectively reach their academic and career goals,\u201d Andrews said.\n\nOfficials said National University is uniquely positioned to house the Precision Institute since it was founded more than 45 years ago to serve the needs of adult and diverse learners through personalized approaches such as evening classes, convenient campus locations, a \u201cone class per month format\u201d and online education.", "output": "The San Diego National University has introduced a $20m initiative for personalising higher education through technology, called the Precision Institute. The centre will provide a four year Precision Education initiative, which will explore educational research and innovation in the student learning arena. The facility will focus on personalised approaches and diverse student learning to offer better chances of graduating.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk TalkTalk revenues down 3% in Q1, full year expectations unchanged \n TalkTalk adds 20,000 customers during last quarter\n\nTalkTalk has published its trading figures for the Q1 in the financial year 2017/2018 and they reveal some interesting purchasing decisions from the public.\n\nThe switch from losing customers to a net add of 20,000 in the quarter will make management at TalkTalk happy, but group revenue was down -3.2% so not everything is rosy just yet. TalkTalk has seen the anger caused by price rises in the landline and broadband marketplace and is trying to corner this price sensitive segment with its fixed price plans which are guaranteed no price rises during the minimum term, with people able to choose from 12/18 or 24 month plans. The operator now has some 1.3 million customers on one of these plans, which goes someway to explaining why churn is down, i.e. lots more people in a fixed term. The VDSL/FTTC/fibre take-up is apparently running at 40% of those on the fixed price contracts.\n\nTalkTalk is of course bigger than just the retail face people are familiar with, it provides wholesale services to a number of other operators including Post Office and growth there may also be accounting for some of the turn around.\n\nLooking at our speed test data for Q2/2017 which lines up with the Q1/2017 financial year, we saw 42% of TalkTalk tests on a VDSL2/FTTC based connection and 52% were on the entry level up to 38 Mbps download with up to 2 Mbps upload product. This is is lower than usual and is explained by some people opting for the Fibre Large service which offers the higher upload speeds of up to 19 Mbps (line length being the limiting factor on upload speed).\n\nThe fixed price contracts may as Ofcom mandate reduced prices for MPF (full LLU - most recent at start of July) and the GEA-FTTC 40/10 price reduction due in 2018 allow TalkTalk to enjoy a higher margin on a good number of customers. Price cuts are far from new for the line rental elements at the wholesale level but other costs such as billing/customer service/increasing bandwidth utilisation have seen a steady annual increase. 2018 may be when the fairly large drop in the 40/10 product price trigger real consumer level price cuts and this might also see TalkTalk switch to the 40/10 service for its entry level product.\n\nTalkTalk customers in a fixed price plan can extend their contract and sign up for new price offers, so if prices do drop people can recontract and have the peace of mind of a fixed monthly bill.\n\nOne new element in the price rise game will be the ruling on surcharges for debit card and credit card payments, which while the headlines was all around booking flights does impact on some broadband customers, and what we'd expect is for operators across a range of industries to review the revenue levels and rather than some customers paying the extra fee, this revenue will be retrieved by everyone paying a little more and be hidden amongst annual inflation.\n\nComments\n\nPost a comment", "output": "TalkTalk's revenues fell over 3% in Q1 2017, as a decline in consumer revenues offset what the company referred to as \u201cstrong growth\u201d in its wholesale and corporate divisions. Around 20,000 customers were added during the quarter. The company said full-year expectations, which were scaled back in May, remain unchanged.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow [2]: Owners apply to demolish pub surrounded by Redrow's Morello development \n Addiscombe councillors and residents who want to keep The Glamorgan on Cherry Orchard Road as a pub serving the community now face a race against time, after the building\u2019s owners yesterday submitted a planning application for the demolition of the Victorian boozer.\n\nSean Fitzsimons, a Labour councillor for the ward, has arranged for an open meeting at the Town Hall from 7pm on Monday to measure the depth of local feeling for The Glamorgan, which closed its doors last November after nearly 150 years as part of the fabric of the local community.\n\nThe meeting will consider applying for the building to be made an Asset of Community Value, perhaps to be run by a local co-operative on a model similar to the successful Hope pub, which the community in Carshalton rescued with such success. Fitzsimons yesterday held a meeting with the people who run The Hope.\n\nAnd at least one London-based pub operator is known to be interested The Glamorgan, sited close to East Croydon Station and now surrounded by hundreds of new flats and apartments being built as part of Redrow Menta\u2019s (slow-to-ripen) Morello developments.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m hoping the council\u2019s new pub policy will give us the breathing space,\u201d Fitzsimons told Inside Croydon. \u201cOr at least give us enough to stop the demolition.\n\n\u201cThe emerging planning policy means we have 18 months to raise the cash, if necessary. Plus, the owner has to sell at public house market price.\u201d\n\nFitzsimons was a key figure in drafting the council\u2019s pub policy.\n\nAt the moment, it looks like this:\n\nPolicy DM22: Protecting public houses The Council will not grant planning permission for the demolition or change of use of a public house, unless the Council is satisfied that there is not a defined need for a public house.\n\nEven where the Council is satisfied that there is not a defined need for the public house, the Council must be satisfied that:\n\na. The loss of the public house would not result in a shortfall of local public house provision of this type;\n\nb. That the public house is no longer considered economically viable when considered against the CAMRA\u2019s Public House Viability Test; and\n\nc. The public house has been marketed as a public house, at a market rate for public houses, for a consistent period of 18 months. How the policy works 7.18 Proposals involving the loss of a public house will need to demonstrate that there is not a defined need for a public house. 7.19 A defined need can be demonstrated in no particular order of preference by:\n\na. The public house being statutorily Listed;\n\nb. The public house being Locally Listed;\n\nc. The public house being a non-designated heritage asset;\n\nd. The public house having other local contextual significance;\n\ne. There being sustained and documented local objection to the loss of the public house; and\n\nf. The public house being used for a wider variety of ancillary uses such as functions, social events and other community activities. 7.20 The Council will resist the loss of these facilities unless it can be demonstrated that is no longer required in its current use. Evidence will be required to show that the loss would not create, or add to, a shortfall in provision for the public house and demonstrate that there is no demand for such a use on the site. This would include the submission of evidence of suitable marketing activity for a period of eighteen months. In the event that a public house is listed on the Assets of Community Value register and is offered for sale, the local community is given six months to prepare a bid to buy it. In such circumstances\n\nthe marketing statement could be reduced to a period of a minimum continuous period of twelve months in addition to the six months that the community has to prepare a bid to buy it. This evidence should demonstrate that the existing use is no longer financially viable through the submission of financial evidence.\n\nMarketing details need to include a site description, photographs and reasonable terms commensurate with public house use. In cases where a public house use has ceased it has to be successfully demonstrated that there is no local need or demand.\n\nThat policy is still being moulded, as part of the recent inspection meetings over the Croydon Local Plan. According to one council official, \u201cThe planning inspector has indicated that the policy will be modified to emphasise more strongly the social value of pubs.\u201d That ought to favour the Addiscombe locals who want to save their local.\n\nAnd the main thrust of the policy \u2013 that the building will need to be marketed for 18 months and to have been considered against the Public House Viability Test, as laid out by the Campaign for Real Ale, will not change.\n\nYou can see CAMRA\u2019s viability test here.\n\nInside Croydon is Croydon\u2019s only independent news source, still based in the heart of the borough. In April-May 2017, we averaged 32,000 page views every week\n\n\n\nIf you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, a residents\u2019 or business association or a local event to publicise, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com\n\nShare this: Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nEmail\n\nWhatsApp\n\nMore\n\nSkype\n\nPinterest\n\nReddit\n\nTumblr\n\nLinkedIn\n\n", "output": "The new owners of The Glamorgan pub, which is closed on the back of the \"slow-to-ripen\" Redrow Menta Morello development in Croydon, have submitted a planning application to demolish the building.\u00a0Addiscombe councillors and residents trying to rescue the pub, are hoping the council\u2019s Policy DM22: Protecting public houses, will give them breathing space or at least enough to stop the demolition. At least one London-based pub operator is said to be interested.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Esure [2]: 2017 Interim Results for eSure to be released on 3 August \n This website is for Private Investors*\n\nI am a Private Investor\n\n*A Private Investor is a recipient of the information who meets all of the conditions set out below, the recipient:\n\nObtains access to the information in a personal capacity; Is not required to be regulated or supervised by a body concerned with the regulation or supervision of investment or financial services; Is not currently registered or qualified as a professional securities trader or investment adviser with any national or state exchange, regulatory authority, professional association or recognised professional body; Does not currently act in any capacity as an investment adviser, whether or not they have at some time been qualified to do so; Uses the information solely in relation to the management of their personal funds and not as a trader to the public or for the investment of corporate funds; Does not distribute, republish or otherwise provide any information or derived works to any third party in any manner or use or process information or derived works for any commercial purposes.\n\nPlease note, this site uses cookies. Some of the cookies are essential for parts of the site to operate and have already been set. You may delete and block all cookies from this site, but if you do, parts of the site may not work. To find out more about the cookies used on Investegate and how you can manage them, see our Privacy and Cookie Policy\n\nTo continue using Investegate, please confirm that you are a private investor as well as agreeing to our Privacy and Cookie Policy & Terms.", "output": "Esure announced that its 2017 Interim Results are to be released on 3 August 2017 at 7.00 am (GMT). A presentation for analysts and investors\u00a0will be hosted by the management at 11:00 am\u00a0(GMT) on the same day.\n\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IOTA blockchain joins F6S accelerator platform \n We launched the IOTA Ecosystem Fund in May and have received over 100 applications already. Since then the monetary size of the fund itself has grown several fold in conjunction with the growth of IOTA, which means we can expand its reach. Now we are happy to announce that we are partnering with F6S, the world\u2019s largest platform for founders, start-ups and accelerators, to bring the IOTA Ecosystem Fund to their vast network and community with over 2 Million start-ups and developers, with particular focus on Internet-of-Things.\n\nThrough this collaborative effort we expect IOTA\u2019s ecosystem and community to grow significantly, as well as boosting adoption from start-ups and founders that can benefit greatly from exploring and implementing the new opportunities that the IOTA platform provides.\n\nWe are naturally very excited about this partnership and look forward to the results of having a whole new passionate community merge with our own.\n\nDecentralized, trustless systems have the potential to disrupt the world we live in today. The IOTA protocol is infrastructure that will shape the way developers build new IoT technology all the way through to innovative services within the sharing economy.\n\nF6S\u2019 mission is to support the growth of tech founders and we\u2019re extremely excited to be partnering with IOTA to help developers leverage their platform and provide a launchpad for this groundbreaking technology.\n\nF6S\u2019 mission is to support the growth of tech founders and we\u2019re extremely excited to be partnering with IOTA to help developers leverage their platform and provide a launchpad for this groundbreaking technology.\n\nApply here!", "output": "Open source blockchain IOTA's Ecosystem Fund is partnering with F6S in the UK, the platform for start-ups and accelerators. The move will bring IOTA's 2 million members, consisting of developers and start-ups, to the F6S platform with the aim of expanding the community further and exploring new opportunities.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Kahoot! raises $10m for its game-based learning tools \n Most students associate Kahoot with its addictive, funky theme song. Today the Norwegian company is groovin\u2019 to a different tune: ka\u2019ching!\n\nBased in Oslo, Kahoot is adding another $10 million to its Series A financing, pushing that round total to $20 million. In total the company has raised $26.5 million, according to chief executive Erik Harrell. New investors include local angel investors and private family offices in Norway (the names of whom he declined to disclose). Existing investors Microsoft Ventures, Creandum and Northzone also chipped in.\n\nThe funding will be used to grow the company\u2019s staff of 55 employees, particularly its product development and engineering teams, he tells EdSurge in an interview.\n\nKahoot now also boasts one of the biggest brand names in the world as a backer. Last week it was picked as one of 11 companies selected to the Disney Accelerator, which makes an undisclosed equity investment in each participant and provies guidance from its network of entertainment, technology and business executives. Harrell kept tight-lipped about details of Kahoot\u2019s participation in the three-month program, citing Disney\u2019s strict communication polices.\n\nIt\u2019s the latest milestone for a company that touts more than 50 million unique users each month, with the majority in U.S. K-12 classrooms. Kahoot\u2019s popularity lies in its game-based educational tool that allows anyone to create multiple-choice quizzes and race with one another to get the most number of correct answers in the shortest amount of time.\n\nThe web-based platform was used primarily in the classroom\u2014until now. Last month, Kahoot unveiled the beta version of a mobile app that allows users to create quizzes and challenge \u201canyone, anywhere, anytime,\u201d in the words of Harrell. Teachers can also assign after-school games as homework. Upon setting up a game, a player will get a unique link that he or she can share via email, WhatsApp, Messenger, SMS or other mobile services. The goal, he adds, is to \u201cextend Kahoot beyond the physical walls of the classroom.\u201d The free app will be publicly available in September.\n\nKahoot has earned no revenue to date, but later this year it will release an annual subscription service for corporate users who want to use the product for professional training and staff development. Already there are more than a million users who hail from companies, Harrell notes. This \u201cpremium\u201d offering will include features such as branding, user account management and advanced data reporting.\n\nIn a previous interview, Harrell committed to keeping Kahoot free for schools and teachers.", "output": "Norwegian company Kahoot! has raised $10m in a Series A round, increasing its total financing to $26.5m. The company provides game-based learning tools to over 50 million users in the K-12 educational range. Kahoot! will use the funding to expand the company\u2019s staff of 55, with a focus on product development and engineering. The business was recently chosen as one of eleven companies to go through the Disney Accelerator, which offers an equity investment and guidance in a three month programme.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "First Block Capital and FrontFundr create Canadian bitcoin trust \n VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--First Block Capital Inc. today announced it\u2019s launching the Canadian Bitcoin Trust, which can be accessed through FrontFundr, providing eligible investors with a convenient way to invest in Bitcoin.\n\n\"The Canadian Bitcoin Trust is an open-ended unit trust that enables investors to get exposure to the price of Bitcoin without having to worry about buying and securing Bitcoin, which has been a challenge for investors,\" said Sean Clark, co-founder of First Block Capital.\n\nLaunched by Vancouver-based entrepreneurs Sean Clark and Marc van der Chijs, First Block Capital has partnered with FrontFundr, Canada\u2019s leading online investment platform, allowing all levels of investment into the trust starting at $500. An investment in units of the trust is available on a private placement basis to eligible Canadian investors pursuant to exemptions from applicable prospectus requirements (specifically, the \u201coffering memorandum\u201d exemption under National Instrument 45-106).\n\n\u201cWith crypto-currency poised to become a new asset class, Canadian Bitcoin Trust is the first opportunity for all Canadians to be able to invest in Bitcoin securely,\u201d said Peter-Paul Van Hoeken, CEO of FrontFundr. \u201cFrontFundr is thrilled to bring this opportunity to the larger investor community, democratizing investment in crypto-currency for all Canadians.\u201d\n\nThe value of Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies increased from $30 billion in December 2016 to over $100 billion in June 2017. Previously, buying Bitcoin required a seasoned level of knowledge to navigate the technical transaction process. Investors were also required to securely store the Bitcoin they purchased. First Block Capital\u2019s partnership with FrontFundr simplifies the process by allowing investors to buy units of the Canadian Bitcoin Trust. This removes barriers for investors who simply want to get into the market through traditional investment channels.\n\nBitcoin and Blockchain technology have grown in popularity partly because they give power back to the investor by removing third parties that require authentication, verification, settling and record keeping. Many investors like that transactions are handled peer-to-peer directly with no additional bank fees and arbitrary transfer limits.\n\nSome key advantages of the Canadian Bitcoin Trust are exposure to a new digital currency asset class and to an asset class that is non-correlated to traditional markets. First Block Capital aims to help investors capture the value of disruptive technologies based on the Blockchain through FrontFundr. To buy into the trust, which launched today visit FrontFundr.\n\nAbout First Block Capital:\n\nFirst Block Capital Inc. is a unique Canadian investment firm founded by global entrepreneurs committed to providing investment exposure to the emerging digital currency asset class based on Blockchain technology.\n\nAbout FrontFundr:\n\nFrontFundr is a fintech company that enables entrepreneurs to raise capital from all Canadians. Investing in private companies was previously limited to angel investors and venture capitalists, but after recent regulatory changes, private investing is now open to a wider spectrum of investors. FrontFundr operates its online investment platform as a fully registered Exempt Market Dealer (EMD) in eight provinces in Canada.", "output": "Investment firm First Block Capital has partnered with crowdfunding platform FrontFundr to launch the Canadian Bitcoin Trust. Rather than directly buy and secure bitcoin, Canadian investors can buy units of the trust, starting at CAD$500 ($400). The option is likely to be popular among investors who want to enter the market through traditional investment channels without needing the technical knowhow that buying bitcoin can require.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Homes with park view can cost more than double, finds HouseSimple \n House buyers pay an average premium of 32%, or \u00a378,415, for a property close to or overlooking a park in a major town or city, according to a new report.\n\nResearch conducted by online estate agents HouseSimple.com has found that in five of the 30 cities featured in its survey \u2013 Sheffield, Liverpool, Cardiff, Glasgow and Middlesbrough \u2013 some properties near parks are valued at double the average property price for that area.\n\nThe highest premium was in Sheffield, where average house prices for properties near Endcliffe Park were found to be 121% higher (\u00a3415,230) than the city average (\u00a3187,757).\n\nElsewhere, average house prices for properties surrounding London\u2019s largest royal parks were \u00a31.33m, more than \u00a3650,000 higher than the London average (\u00a3673,344).\n\nAlex Gosling, CEO of HouseSimple.com said: \u201cIn large urban sprawls where many properties don\u2019t have a garden or access to a communal garden, living near public parks or green spaces is often one of the top wishes among buyers.\n\n\u201cThat high demand inevitably impacts on the price people will pay, but many buyers may not realise just how much of a premium they could be paying.\n\n\n\nPoll As a broker, do you currently quote 'green' loan options alongside standard loan quotes for property development finance? Yes No Vote Results\n\n\n\n\n\n\u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean there aren\u2019t good value properties around some of the UK\u2019s urban green spaces, but for real value it\u2019s probably worth looking at roads that are a short walk away.\u201d", "output": "UK house buyers looking for a property in a major town or city with a park view pay an average of a third more for their home, according to a survey by HouseSimple.com. In Sheffield, average house prices for properties near Endcliffe Park were 121% higher\u00a0at \u00a3415,230 ($539,591) against the city average of \u00a3187,757. In London, homes situated near the biggest royal parks cost an average of\u00a0\u00a31.33m, more than \u00a3650,000 above\u00a0the average in the capital of \u00a3673,344.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Students, co-living and hotels come together at The Student Hotel \n Several months ago we wrote about the new emergence of innovative co-living solutions: development projects where shared living spaces and amenities are attached to private sleeping areas to create a more communal (and affordable) urban housing experience. Many responded that it sounded like grown-ups living in a college dormitory, so it\u2019s only natural that new names in the student housing market are taking this concept one step further.\n\nThe Student Hotel is one such project that is using a new model for delivering housing solutions for students globally. With six locations in The Netherlands, France and Spain, they offer a hybrid of long-stay student accommodations with the look and feel of a boutique hotel. The branding and design of public spaces are by cutting edge design firm ...,staat | Amsterdam.\n\nThe private bedrooms are fully furnished and arranged in suites around communal kitchens, along with various shared spaces such as social lounges, game centres and study areas which encourage greater student interaction and collaboration. Not affiliated with any specific universities, students from various learning institutions and fields of study can make connections in an environment that fosters co-habitation and a greater sense of community.\n\nBlackstone Residence Hall, Image \u00a9 Gensler\n\nThis concept not only provides an upgrade to the current offerings in temporary student housing, but may also prove to be disruptive in the hotel industry. The Student Hotel company uses public-private partnerships to fast track development, going from property acquisition to facility opening in as little as a year. Properties range from 350-700 units, and with the announcement of Perella Weinberg Real Estate\u2019s capital investment of \u20ac150 million dollars, the Amsterdam-based company aims to expand to over 10,000 rooms across Europe by 2020.\n\nOn a student housing project in London, Gensler has developed a room design that is clean and simple, allowing the students space to work privately, providing a larger than average size bed and all fit into 14 square metres, with natural ventilation, in a London high-rise this is quite a feat.\n\nGensler is working with this client to develop unique spaces to provide the students opportunity to explore their chosen career path in a real-world environment. This space pictured below is designed for students studying fashion to have a space to work outside their room and exhibit their work, where they could meet with professionals and even produce a fashion show. We are calling this space the fashion HUB.\n\nToday, the number of international students are increasing, and their expectations for academic living are not limited to the four walls of the bedroom. They desire a higher quality of hospitality. They want a space to meet people, collaborate, learn and play, spaces that will enhance the social living experience to support and improve academic and personal growth.\n\nIn another Gensler project at Biola University, these shared spaces were geared not just to socializing but to social learning, an important shared space for academic purposes.\n\nAt the same time, higher education curriculum is changing in recent years. There\u2019s a higher demand on additional courses and degrees. Curriculums are going online and there\u2019s an increase in distance learning and short courses. Student accommodations are changing to cater to those circumstances. The Student Hotel can provide a flexible period of short or long stay to meet the needs of different groups of students and user groups \u2013 it is not one size fits all.\n\nThe Student Hotel\u2019s concept not only targets students, but also business travellers and tourists. It offers the right mix of hotel, office and living spaces. This platform also acts as a knowledge exchange space that offers the potential for students to meet their future employers. After graduation, it becomes a place for transition with affordable luxury accommodation and facilities. The mix of students, professionals and travellers creates a unique and exceptional experience \u2013 the key ingredient for building a vibrant community.\n\nAbout the Authors:\n\nJonathan Breen is an architect with 15 years of experience working in the residential, hospitality, retail centers, and mixed-use sectors. He joined Gensler\u2019s Los Angeles office in 2011 and has played a leading role on large retail and entertainment driven mixed-use projects throughout world. Now in London he is currently researching the London residential market as part of a Firmwide initiative RESIDE. Contact him at jonathan_breen@gensler.com.\n\nDiana Lee works closely with architects and engineers on projects from London to the Middle East, developing schemes from small private courtyard design to city-scale master planning. These projects often range from concept design stage to construction design stage. Diana is now part of the London Museums research team focused on the challenges museums and cultural institutions are facing and how these are being tackled and approached. Contact her at diana_lee@gensler.com.", "output": "The student accommodation sector is being disrupted by firms offering innovative, co-living solutions that encourage social development and academic growth, as the rise of online courses changes the way people learn at university. The Student House has used public-private partnerships to develop six locations across Europe, offering flexible, boutique hotel-style accommodation with no links to specific universities, while London-based student housing project Gensler's spaces enable residents to \"explore their chosen career path in a real-world environment\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Deutsche Bank could be subpoenaed over Trump investigation \n Executives inside Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump\u2019s personal bankers, are expecting that the bank will soon be receiving subpoenas or other requests for information from Robert Mueller, the special counsel who is investigating possible collusion between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign.\n\nA person close to the matter who spoke to the Guardian on the condition of anonymity said Mueller\u2019s team and the bank had already established informal contact in connection to the federal investigation.\n\nThere were signs this week that any effort by Mueller to to pursue documents about Trump\u2019s personal finances will be met with intense criticism by the White House. When asked by the New York Times whether he believed Mueller would be crossing a red line if he expanded his inquiry to include an examination of Trump\u2019s personal finances, the president said: \u201cI think that\u2019s a violation.\u201d\n\nDeutsche\u2019s relationship with Trump and questions about hundreds of millions in loans have dogged the German bank and the White House for months. They have also been the subject of intense scrutiny among some Democrats on Capitol Hill, who have demanded the bank turn over detailed information about the president\u2019s accounts.\n\nThe requests for information from Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House financial services committee, have focused on whether any Russian entities may have provided financial guarantees for the loans that were made to the president or his immediate family members.\n\nThe Guardian reported in February that the bank launched a review of Trump\u2019s account earlier this year in order to gauge whether there were any suspicious connections to Russia and did not discover anything suspicious.\n\nIvanka Trump, the president\u2019s daughter and adviser in the White House; her husband, Jared Kushner, who is also a presidential adviser; and Kushner\u2019s mother, Seryl Stadtmauer, are all clients of Deutsche Bank.\n\nUS media outlets have reported that Mueller\u2019s investigation into possible Russian collusion with the Trump campaign will include a close examination of the president\u2019s finances and businesses. While Deutsche Bank did engage in banking transactions with Russian banks as late as 2005, including some loan activity, a person familiar with the matter said the activity was not related to Trump\u2019s accounts or his family.\n\nThe president has decried the investigation into his campaign as \u201cfake news\u201d and has vociferously denied that the campaign ever colluded with Russian government officials to try to gain an edge in his 2016 race against the Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton.\n\nAny move by Mueller\u2019s team to pursue Trump\u2019s personal financial records comes as the bank continues to negotiate a settlement with the Department of Justice over its so-called mirror trading scheme, in which the bank\u2019s former Moscow branch is alleged to have allowed $10bn to flow out of Russia. Democrats on Capitol Hill have been demanding answers about who might have benefited from the scheme.\n\nDeutsche has been fined more than $6bn in connection to compliance failures since 2015.\n\nAccording to an analysis by Bloomberg, Trump now owes Deutsche, his biggest creditor, about $300m. He has four large mortgages, all issued by Deutsche\u2019s private bank. The loans are guaranteed against the president\u2019s properties: a new deluxe hotel in Washington DC\u2019s Old Post Office building, just around the corner from the White House; his Chicago tower hotel; and the Trump National Doral Miami resort.\n\n\n\nA person close to the matter said other financial institutions with ties to Trump, including Bank of America, would also probably receive requests for information from Mueller\u2019s team.\n\nLawrence Grayson, Bank of America spokesman, declined to comment on whether the bank had received or was anticipating any subpoenas for records from Mueller\u2019s investigation.\n\nDeutsche Bank did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for Mueller did not respond to a request for comment.", "output": "Deutsche Bank could soon receive subpoenas or requests for information from Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating links between President Trump\u2019s election campaign and the Kremlin. An anonymous source confirmed to The Guardian that Mueller\u2019s team had already established informal contact with Deutsche with regard to the investigation. Deutsche has faced questions about its relationship with and loans to Trump for some months. Members of the Democratic Party have also requested that the bank release information about Trump\u2019s accounts.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "London first-time home buyer deposits have risen 140% since 2007 \n F irst-time buyers make up the biggest segment of the London property market, despite being faced by unprecedented affordability challenges and soaring deposits, according to exclusive data compiled for Homes & Property.\n\nLondoners buying their first home accounted for 45 per cent of all property buyers in the first three months of this year, the highest proportion since 2001.\n\nHowever, the Countrywide research for Bairstow Eves found that while the proportion of buyers who are first timers is rising, the actual number of first-time buyers is falling year on year, from a high of 48,100 in 2014 down to 42,000 in 2016, with even fewer expected this year.\n\nRising house prices, combined with post-credit crunch affordability tests imposed by lenders, have pushed the average deposit paid by London first-time buyers to almost \u00a380,000, a 139 per cent increase from 2007, before the financial crisis.\n\nThe average price of a first home in the capital has increased by 50 per cent to \u00a3330,000 since 2007, but rising house prices are only partly to blame for the soaring size of first-time buyer deposits, according to David Fell, research analyst at Countrywide.\n\n\u201cBack in 2007, the deposit issue wasn\u2019t there. If you were a first-time buyer it wasn\u2019t that uncommon to get a 100 per cent loan-to-value mortgage \u2013 they accounted for about 10 per cent of the market. Now, no one gets 100 per cent mortgages and lenders are setting affordability a bit more tightly than they did,\u201d he says.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s reflected in levels of activity in the market. There are fewer first-time buyers than there were in 2006/07.\u201d\n\nREGIONAL VARIATIONS\n\nHouse price recovery after the financial crash also varied in different parts of the capital, with house prices in north London rising 66 per cent in 10 years to \u00a3402,000, while prices in east London hit \u00a3300,000 this year, up 45 per cent compared to 2007.\n\n\u201cGenerally cheaper places fall further when there\u2019s a crash and take longer to recover than more expensive areas,\u201d explains Fell.\n\nHowever, as London\u2019s house price boom has pushed first-time buyers into new areas, Fell suggests that there is significant price growth potential still to be realised in parts of south and east London.\n\n\u201cBits of London like Stratford and Crystal Palace are substantially nicer than they were 10 years ago,\u201d he says. \u201cAs long as there\u2019s aspiring first-time buyers in those areas, I think it will support prices should there be another crash. They won\u2019t necessarily be hit as hard as they were in the last crash.\u201d\n\nEAST LONDON LOOKS FORWARD\n\nSteve Watkins, owner of Ellis and Co in Leyton, agrees that the \u201cOlympic effect\u201d has seen east London\u2019s fortunes change, with the past five years pushing such areas as Leyton, Stratford and Leytonstone into a new league.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s been huge regeneration of the areas around here, with coffee shops opening up and buyers who can\u2019t afford Hackney are moving out. Connections into London are better than they used to be and Crossrail is coming, too.\n\n\u201cPrices aren\u2019t going down, there\u2019s still a shortage of stock because anyone who owns a property can\u2019t afford to move on. The main difference is that whereas before the recent stamp duty changes about 70 to 80 per cent of our sales were to landlords, now it\u2019s probably about 10 or 15 per cent. They\u2019ve been replaced by first-time buyers.\u201d", "output": "First-time buyers in London are having to come up with deposits of \u00a380,000 ($104,000) on average, a rise of 139% over the past 10 years, according to data from estate agents Bairstow Eves. It cited tougher affordability tests and higher house prices as the reasons, but added east and south London offered the best areas for price growth. The study also found that while the proportion of first-time buyers among purchasers is going up, the actual number of first-time buyers has dropped, from 48,100 in 2014 to 42,000 in 2016.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Plastic Free Coastlines campaign launched in UK \n Communities across the UK are being urged to spread grass roots resistance to single-use plastic to reduce the millions of tonnes of it seeping into the oceans.\n\nLocal councils, schools and businesses will be targeted in the Plastic Free Coastlines campaign that aims to ape the movement to end the use of plastic bags.\n\nIn a film released today by Surfers Against Sewage, narrated by the actor Imelda Staunton, the scale of the plastic waste which coalesces in five major ocean circulation currents in the world is compared to a global nuclear security threat. The UN estimated this year there were 51tn microplastic particles in the ocean today \u2013 500 times more than the number of stars in the galaxy.\n\nHugo Tagholm, from Surfers Against Sewage, said: \u201cPlastic persists in the environment for hundreds of years \u2013 hence the nuclear comparison. The \u2018fallout\u2019 from single-use plastics today will most probably still be felt in 500 years. Whilst controversial, we think it\u2019s a powerful metaphor for how plastics are attacking all of our environments. The sheer scale of plastic production is terrifying.\u201d\n\nThe call to resist plastic use comes as new figures show more than 8.3bn tonnes of plastic has been produced since the 1950s \u2013 resulting in a \u201cnear permanent contamination of the natural environment\u201d, according to a report by US academics.\n\nIn June, United Nations secretary general Ant\u00f3nio Guterres called for a global step change to reduce plastic pollution in the marine environment, from local and national initiatives to an urgent, coordinated international effort.\n\n\u201cAs individuals and communities, we\u2019ve never had so many opportunities to respond,\u201d said Tagholm.\n\n\u201cWe are not powerless ... we are calling on people to unite to tackle plastic pollution and #JoinTheResistance for Plastic Free Coastlines.\u201d\n\nIndividuals are being asked to adopt a five point plan to help create single-use plastic free towns and cities.\n\nThe plan includes:\n\n\n\nurging local government to lead change within their areas,\n\nget at least three single-use plastic items, such as straws, plastic bottles or condiment sachets, removed from local businesses and replaced with sustainable alternatives\n\nget other organisations to adopt the plastic free message; from Scouts groups to churches and schools\n\narrange community events, for example street or beach cleans and\n\nset up a steering group to coodinate the actions.\n\nIn north Wales, Aberystwyth town council will discuss a motion on Monday to reduce plastic in the area. Councillor Alun Williams has put forward a motion supporting the campaign and calling on the council to minimise the use of throwaway plastic by shops and vendors in the town.\n\nWilliams said: \u201cOne of the things we are looking at is trying to get the local traders to stop selling thowaway plastic in their takeaways \u2013 already some of them don\u2019t have plastic but its a question of getting everyone on board.\n\n\u201cI hope and believe there will be a lot of support for this motion on Monday.\u201d\n\nTowns and cities who act to carry out the five point plan can become Plastic Free Coastlines certified areas \u2013 similar to the fair trade towns movement worldwide.", "output": "A Plastic Free Coastlines campaign aims to build grass roots opposition in the UK to single-use plastic. The initiative, which will target businesses, councils and schools, outlines a five-point plan to eradicate single-use plastic in communities. Proposals including calling on local government to lead change, asking local businesses to replace a minimum of three single-use items with sustainable alternatives, encouraging local groups to promote the plastic free message, organising community street and beach cleans and establishing local steering groups. Adoption of the plan will lead to certification as a Plastic Free Coastline area, similar to the fair trade towns designation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Intel said to be axing smartwatch\u00a0and fitness wearables division \n When TechCrunch reported last year that Intel is getting out of wearables, the tech titan vehemently denied it. Now a new report by CNBC indicates that the company is indeed leaving the business behind: the publication says Intel has axed the whole division working on smartwatches and fitness trackers two weeks ago. The New Technologies Group, which is in charge of the chipmaker's cutting-edge businesses, has now reportedly shifted its focus to augmented reality. If true, this is the second project the company has scrapped in recent months: it also canceled the development its Raspberry Pi competitors in June.\n\nAccording to CNBC's source, the tech giant actually laid off 80 percent of the division's employees in November 2016, so it let fewer people go this time around. A lot of employees in Intel's wearables division came from Basis, the wearable maker it acquired back in 2014 for $100 million. While their division is now dead, they were apparently given the chance to be reassigned to other parts of the company.\n\nIntel purchased Basis in an effort to make a big splash in the wearables space a few years ago. Unfortunately, it had to recall the Basis Peak smartwatch due to overheating concerns, and things never really picked up after that. When we talked to Dr. Jerry Bautista, Intel's wearables VP, at CES earlier this year, it became pretty clear that the corporation had no intention of releasing another Basis-branded smartwatch or fitness tracker.\n\nNeedless to say, the division's shut down (if true) didn't come out of left field. Intel hasn't confirmed the report yet, but we might hear something about it during its Q2 earnings call scheduled to take place on July 27th.", "output": "Tech giant Intel is rumoured to have shuttered its smartwatch and wearables division, as it changes focus to augmented reality, according to reports by CNBC. It is believed employees were offered the chance to move to other parts of the company. Intel's foray into the wearables market nosedived after it recalled its Basis Peak smartwatch following overheating issues. While Intel has not confirmed the reports, the report\u00a0is expected\u00a0to come up in this week's Q2 earnings call.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BMW said to be launching i3 electric car\u00a0with 200-mile range \n On the new electric vehicle front, BMW had nothing to offer since launching the i3 and i8 almost 5 years ago and they are not expected to have a new EV built from the ground up to be electric until the end of the decade.\n\nBut they could be releasing updated versions of their current EVs in order to compete with new longer range electric cars coming to market.\n\nThe BMW i8 is already expected to feature a decent refresh with the 2018 model year, which the German automaker has been teasing recently.\n\nAs for the BMW i3, it already got a significant update with the 2017 version and its 33 kWh battery pack, which enables a range of about 114 miles.\n\nIt\u2019s a significant upgrade compared to the previous version with a 22 kWh battery pack, but it doesn\u2019t compete in term of range with the Chevy Bolt EV or the upcoming Tesla Model 3.\n\nAccording to an inside source talking to BMWBlog, that could change with an upcoming new version for 2018-2019. They wrote:\n\n\u201cAccording to a source, BMW is likely preparing another tech update in late 2018 which will bring the capacity of the battery expressed in ampere hour (Ah) to 120. The pure electric driving range will be further increased by at least 60 percent.\u201d\n\nWe would recommend to take this report with a grain of salt, but it\u2019s not impossible considering BMW\u2019s strategy is low in new EVs and could instead rely on existing models to stay relevant.\n\nThere have been a lot of rumors lately about BMW\u2019s electric vehicle offering. Officially, the German automaker only plans to build a fully electric MINI in 2019, a fully electric BMW X3 in 2020, and the upcoming \u201cfully electric BMW iNEXT\u201d should follow in 2021.\n\nBut a long rumored all-electric 3 Series, which could actually cannibalize the i3, is rumored to be also in the plans and it could be unveiled as soon as in September.", "output": "German car maker BMW is rumoured to be releasing updated versions of its all-electric vehicles to compete with rival models with longer ranges arriving on the market, according to a source at BMWBlog. The source said BMW is preparing for a tech update in 2018 that would increase the battery range of its i3 model by 60% \u2013 on top of this year's update, which took it to 114 miles.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mira hopes to take AR mainstream with $99 phone-powered headset \n Cofounders Matt Stern and Ben Taft showed me the device recently in San Francisco. I played around with a silly outer-space demo that had me do things like turn in circles to spot and shoot evil doughnut holes floating in an imaginary galaxy, and land a tiny rocket ship on a target.\n\nMira is using paper targets to affix some of its virtual objects to surfaces, and by using the iPhone\u2019s front-facing camera, you can identify these targets and pull up associated 3-D virtual objects. So if you had an app projecting a three-dimensional chess board onto a marker on a table, for instance, you could walk around it or have multiple people view it from different angles at the same time.\n\nThe Prism headset looked extremely goofy, and I had some trouble navigating with the remote control. But the visuals looked pretty good even as I turned my head or, in the case of one virtual object that clung to the table, walked around them. And since it allows multiplayer interactions in AR via Bluetooth, it was neat to be able to play a Pac Man\u2013like game against Taft. (Meanwhile, Stern was able to watch what we were doing from the display on his iPhone.)\n\nYet the world of AR and VR is still in the very early stages, so Mira is likely to struggle to fit in. Smartphone-reliant headsets like Gear VR and Google\u2019s Daydream View VR are more popular than devices that need to be plugged in to a computer. But a total of only 2.3 million headsets\u2014the vast majority of them for virtual reality\u2014shipped out in the first three months of the year, according to tech market researcher IDC.\n\nA big problem for even the biggest manufacturers is that there isn\u2019t a ton of content\u2014especially top-quality content\u2014for these smartphone-based headsets, says Brian Blau, an analyst with the market research firm Gartner.\n\n\u201cI think that they\u2019re going to have a tough road,\u201d he says.", "output": "San Francisco start-up Mira has raised $1.5m of funding from Sequoia Capital to commercialise its low-cost AR headset. Called Prism, the headset works much like an AR version of the Samsung Gear or Google Daydream systems. The user puts their phone into a slot and the images are projected from the screen, not via lenses directly onto the eyes\u00a0(as in VR)\u00a0but onto a transparent perspex visor, making virtual objects appear to exist in the real world.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pirelli to launch all-black calendar for 2018 \n Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nLifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nTim Walker and incoming British Vogue editor Edward Enninful have joined forces to create the 2018 Pirelli Calendar, featuring an all-black cast.\n\nIn homage of John Tenniel\u2019s original Alice in Wonderland illustrations, the calendar will recreate imagery inspired by beloved characters including the Queen of Hearts, the caterpillar and Tweedledee.\n\nNaomi Campbell takes centre stage in the Royal Beheader role with Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs as her trusty sidekick.\n\nThando Hopa as the Princess of Hearts and Whoopi Goldberg as the Royal Duchess\n\nThe cast boasts an eclectic cacophony of talents, ages and nationalities \u2013 including Whoopi Goldberg, Ru Paul and model-turned-feminist-activist Adwoa Aboah.\n\nAlice in Wonderland has long been a source of inspiration, transcending the bounds of literary laurel with surrealistic interpretations cropping up across art, film and music.\n\nYet for Tim Walker, whose enchanting extravagance is responsible for creating some of the most loved images in fashion photography, this project is a particularly revolutionary: \u201cIt\u2019s never been done before. Alice has never been told like this\u201d, he said.\n\nTim Walker and Edward Enninful\n\nSince its launch in 1964, the annual calendar has had a history for unveiling the lithe limbs of supermodels.\n\nHowever, in recent years it has acquired more of a social commentary aesthetic, acting as a cultural lens through which important conversations can be conveyed artistically.\n\nThe 2016 calendar breached conformity by featuring an array of powerful women famed for their professional, social, cultural, sporting and artistic accomplishment, shot by esteemed photographer Annie Leibovitz.\n\nSerena Williams, Amy Schumer and Yoko Ono all starred in what was an incredibly inspiring amalgamation of women of varying races, ages and body types that we don\u2019t see enough of in popular culture.\n\nRu Paul pictured with Australian model Duckie Thot as Alice and Enninful.\n\nThough Pirelli have featured an all-black cast before - in 1987, starring a 16-year-old Campbell - the cultural relevance and overriding tone this time around feels more pertinent than ever.\n\n\u201cThis is an important step in culture development \u2013 to push images that aren\u2019t generic, that don\u2019t conform to stereotypes,\u201d said model Thando Hopa, who plays the Princess of Hearts.\n\nSlick Woods plays the Mad Hatter\n\nIn an industry where lack of representation is constantly coming under question, the calendar marks an important part in the seismic shift that's been shaking up the fashion world in recent months.\n\nBrands are championing diversity more than ever before, with Gucci\u2019s latest campaign featured an all-black cast and the autumn/winter 2017 runways boasted the most racially diverse cast of models to date.\n\nNot to mention the fact that this year's calendar was styled by Edward Enninful, who will not only be the first black editor of British Vogue, but the first male to take the helm of the title in its 100 year history.\n\nThe former W magazine creative director was awarded an OBE in 2016 for his services to the fashion industry. His appointment to Vogue, which was announced in April, was hailed as a \u201chistoric moment\u201d by Campbell, his long time friend who has since been named as a contributing editor to the title.\n\nEnninful pictured with Campbell at this year's Met Gala. (Rex Features)\n\nHis work for Pirelli follows a string of projects champion diversity, including an issue of W featuring all-black models in 2015 and a recent campaign for Gap which brought together a mixture of faces from the art and music worlds including Priyanka Chopra and Yara Shahidi.\n\nPirelli is an inaugural indication of Enninful's acclaimed revolutionary spirit, for whom diversity is more than just a trend. His refreshing approach will undoubtedly give the fashion industry the contemporary revival it's been craving when he joins Vogue next month.\n\nMaybe, just maybe \u201cthe times they are a changing\u201d.", "output": "The 2018 Pirelli Calendar is to feature an all-black cast of models in poses that pay homage to the original \"Alice in Wonderland\" illustrations by John Tenniel.  Models will include Naomi Campbell, Adwoa Aboah, Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs, Whoopi Goldberg, and Ru Paul. Pirelli previously used all-black models,\u00a0including a 16-year-old Campbell, in 1987. The company\u2019s 2016 calendar also defied convention by featuring images of powerful women famous for artistic, cultural, social, and sporting achievements, including Yoko Ono and Serena Williams,\u00a0photographed by Annie Leibovitz.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Student housing accounts for one tenth of commercial investment \n The student housing market is growing and is predicted to account for \u00a31 in every \u00a310 invested in commercial property this year, according to the latest analysis from JLL.\n\nThe analysis by the real estate services and investment management specialists showed that \u00a31.9bn has been invested in the student housing market so far this year.\n\nThis is an increase on the \u00a31.7bn that was invested in the same period last year.\n\nAt present, there is over \u00a33bn of investment stock pending in the market which is thought to be completed in 2017.\n\nStudent housing has been one of the main drivers in the growth in alternatives investment volumes and it is expected to account for 34.7% of alternatives investment volumes this year.\n\nJLL\u2019s analysis predicts that investment volumes will hit \u00a35.4bn by the end of the year, up on the \u00a33.2bn reached in 2016.\n\nThis year, Unite Students acquired 640 beds across two sites in Birmingham and Durham for \u00a356m.\n\nThis is in addition to Watkin Jones\u2019 disposal of a development portfolio of six schemes to Europa Generation, providing 1,691 beds for \u00a3165m.\n\n\n\nPoll As a broker, do you currently quote 'green' loan options alongside standard loan quotes for property development finance? Yes No Vote Results\n\n\n\n\n\nJLL believes there will be more growth in university student housing partnerships as there is an estimated requirement of a further \u00a35bn needed to meet demand to develop new beds and upgrade ageing stock.\n\nPhilip Hillman, chairman of JLL\u2019s alternatives team, said: \u201cAmid a slowdown in some real estate capital markets, the robust and defensive qualities of alternatives assets remain highly attractive in the current climate, as demonstrated by the strong levels of investment in the student housing sector in the first half of 2017.\n\n\u201cThe softening of the \u2018hard Brexit\u2019 rhetoric as a result of the general election result may lead to reconsideration of the Conservative manifesto pledge to keep student visas in any immigration cap.\n\n\u201cThis will be further underpinned by demographic fundamentals as the number of 18- to 19-year-olds in the UK is set to increase at a rate of 40,000 per annum for the three years from 2022.\n\n\u201cThese are both likely to support a robust performance in the student housing sector.\u201d\n\nJLL predicts that 70% of investment volumes in 2017 will comprise portfolio transactions.", "output": "The UK student housing market will account for \u00a31 in every \u00a310 invested in commercial property this year, according to Property manager JLL. An analysis of real estate services and investment management specialists has found that \u00a31.9bn has been invested in the student housing market in 2017 alone. It marks an increase of \u00a30.2bn on the same period in 2016. JLL also found that there is over \u00a33bn of investment still due to be made in 2017.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Peer-to-peer blockchain network to allow EV charger sharing \n The Share&Charge mobile app connects EV drivers with available residential and commercial EV charging stations and facilitates blockchain-based payments from visiting EV drivers to station owners. The new sharing platform aims to increase the availability of public charging stations and decrease range anxiety current and prospective EV drivers experience. This partnership marks the first peer-to-peer charging network to use blockchain technology in North America.\n\nStarting this summer, California residential and commercial owners of electric vehicle charging stations enabled with eMotorWerks \u2019 JuiceNet smart-grid charging technology will have the opportunity to rent out charging time on their stations to EV drivers participating in a new peer-to-peer (P2P) network powered by MotionWerk\u2019s Share&Charge open platform. Share&Charge was founded by the innogy Innovation Hub.\n\nIn today\u2019s marketplace, the availability of public EV charging is still of concern to potential EV drivers. However, P2P charging opens the opportunity to break free of infrastructure limitations and gasoline oligopolies to access electricity for their cars. By establishing networks of individuals willing to share their EV charging stations, we are opening up more charging options to EV drivers, while at the same time ensuring station owners are compensated accordingly.\n\nAs one of the most popular EV charging solutions in the United States and Europe, eMotorWerks is the perfect partner for our debut in the United States. With this new sharing technology we are bringing to North America, we aim to prove how blockchain technology can make sharing and payment easier and more efficient. We are excited to enable anyone, from individual, to small company or large utility to share their charging stations for an accelerated growth of emobility. \u2014Dietrich S\u00fcmmerman of Share&Charge\n\nExpanding its P2P charging network already established in Germany, Share&Charge leverages decentralized and transparent Ethereum-powered blockchain technology to allow people to interlink with each other to share and bill products and services securely and conveniently.\n\nThrough the app, residential and commercial owners of JuiceNet enabled stations can share their charging asset with other EV drivers in the network. Meanwhile, any EV driver can download the Share&Charge app to see available charging facilities on a map and navigate to the closest charging station for charging. With a few clicks in the app, the station owners can choose the times to share their service with others and set the price to charge visiting drivers.\n\nCalifornia owners of any JuiceNet enabled devices who would like to share their charging stations are eligible to participate in the new P2P network, but initial participation will be limited on a first-come first-serve basis.\n\nCurrently compatible devices include charging stations such as eMotorWerks JuiceBox Pro, Aerovironment EVSE-RS JuiceNet Edition, Clipper Creek HCS-40 JuiceNet Edition, and Nayax EVMeter.\n\nAdditionally, the new service is compatible with eMotorWerks\u2019 JuicePlug smart-grid charging adapter that allows any charging station by any manufacturer to participate in the program. All drivers of an electric vehicle can sign up to make use of the shared residential charging stations.\n\nThe joint pilot program between eMotorWerks and Share&Charge is slated to begin 1 August 2017. Users can sign up to participate for the program by filling out the registration form on eMotorWerks website or by sending an email to [email protected].", "output": "Electric vehicle (EV) charging companies eMotorWerks and Share&Charge will launch a blockchain-based peer-to-peer (P2P) network to allow EV users to pay the owners of charging stations. Powered with Ethereum, the Share&Charge blockchain platform will enable residential and commercial owners of eMotorWerks' JuiceNet charging stations to receive direct payment for rented out charging time. Any EV user can view and pay for available charging stations through Share&Charge's app. The partnership aims to increase the availability of public charging stations and simplify payments.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "L&G can prefab a fully-furnished one-bed flat in a week \n The first production run from a vast new factory outside Leeds began this week \u2013 with timber delivered at one end, and just a week later a fully furnished one-bed flat popping out the other.\n\nLegal & General Homes is promising to build thousands of flats and houses a year at the revolutionary, and highly secretive, factory, and delivered around the country on the back of trucks. Is this the solution to the housing crisis \u2013 or a new age of soulless prefabs for rabbit hutch Britain?\n\nIn Richmond, south-west London, the future opened its doors on Wednesday, with the first of hundreds of housing units to be built by L&G, driven down the A1 and placed on site in just a couple of hours.\n\nThe housing association that has ordered the homes, RHP, buys them off-the-peg for at least 15% below the standard cost for onsite construction.\n\nHome petite home! The RHP\u2019s prefabricated flat. Photograph: Andrew Holt\n\nIt is an extraordinary move by L&G, better known as a car and home insurer, which if successful will catapault it into the top league of Britain\u2019s housebuilders, albeit using a Ford-style production line.\n\nThis is not an Ikea-style flat-pack approach \u2013 what arrives on site is a \u201cturn-key\u201d home complete with a kitchen, fitted carpet, curtains and bathroom, and even furniture if requested.\n\nThe eight production lines at the highly automated 550,000 sq ft factory will be able to build around 3,500 houses and flats a year \u2013 a one bedder in one week, a two-bedder in two weeks. The timber-framed homes are made in modules, bolted together on site, with external cladding the only other extra required.\n\nSmall, perhaps, but it does boast some outdoor space. Photograph: Andrew Holt\n\n\u201cAt full production, homes like this will be delivered repeatedly in a matter of weeks without the snagging issues faced by traditional methods,\u201d saidNigel Wilson, the chief executive of L&G. \u201cJust as the car industry was automated, so the UK\u2019s traditional housebuilding sector now needs to step up. We need to build houses faster and more efficiently than ever before.\u201d\n\nFor housing associations such as RHP, which took over 9,000 homes from the local council, the new L&G prefabs answer their most pressing need: accommodation for young, single, urban workers earning between \u00a320,000 and \u00a340,000 who do not qualify for conventional social housing but who are priced out of buying.\n\nIn Richmond, the average semi-detached home fetches more than \u00a31m and Rightmove does not list a single one-bed flat to rent at less than \u00a31,000 a month. RHP said the new L&G-built \u201cmodular\u201d homes will be rented out at \u00a3600 to \u00a3700 a month.\n\nFor less than the price of most flatshares in the capital, tenants will receive a high-spec home complete with a luxury kitchen and lounge, separate bedroom and bathroom, underfloor heating and PV solar cells that promise to shave total energy bills to as little as \u00a310 a year. There\u2019s even a \u201csmart door\u201d that lets the tenant ping the entrance open remotely from their mobile at work should they need to let someone in.\n\nThe drawback? They are tiny. At just 26 sq metres (280 sq ft), the L&G/RHP homes squeeze living space down to levels never seen before in publicly sponsored housing.\n\nNew national space standards, introduced in 2011, demand that a one-bed flat for one person should be a minimum 37 sq m. The new modular homes will pitch housing associations desperate to build homes \u2013 and meet government targets for 200,000 new homes a year \u2013 against planners desperate to avoid a \u201crace to the bottom\u201d on home sizes.\n\nAt RHP, the development director, Robin Oliver, said: \u201cIt has been priced for a single person, and we wouldn\u2019t expect a couple to live in the space. We\u2019re not saying this is going to be the new norm \u2013 we see people renting it for six months to two years, then moving out as they have saved for a deposit. A lot of our own employees pay more than \u00a3600 a month for a room in a shared house. The most common question we are getting from them, is \u2018how can I get one?\u2019\u201d.\n\nRHP\u2019s new prefab home.\n\nThe housing association is able to raise money to buy the units from L&G at interest rates of 2-3% and place them on infill and brownfield sites in the capital. Even on rents of \u00a3600-\u00a3700 per month, they require almost no public subsidy. Neither L&G or RHP will reveal the cost price of the units, although RHP said the cost is 15% below the standard \u00a32,600 to \u00a33,000 per sq m build cost of conventional homes in the borough, which indicates that the 26m sq flats cost \u00a360,000- \u00a370,000 to buy.\n\nBut RHP admits the homes still don\u2019t have full planning permission \u2013 and they could have a battle on his hands.\n\nAt the Greater London Authority, Jennifer Peters, in charge of the London Plan, is determined to maintain existing space standards. \u201cThey [space standards] have made a real difference to the quality of development in London. I\u2019m confident that space standards are right and will continue to be right,\u201d she said, adding that if standards are relaxed, there is a risk that land values simply rise to reflect the extra units a developer can squeeze into a space. However, she adds that there could be \u201csome flexibility if it can be demonstrated that it has an exceptional design\u201d.\n\nMuch-needed storage space is found up high. Photograph: Andrew Holt\n\nBritain already has some of the smallest homes in Europe, with the average new-build home around 76 sq m compared with 137 sq m in Denmark. Controversial office-to-residential conversions, outside normal planning rules, have produced some flats at just 14.9 sq m.\n\nWill Wimshurst of Wimshurst Pelleriti, which designed the L&G home for RHP, said: \u201cWe\u2019re not saying we\u2019re against space standards. What we are saying is that there is a big problem in the middle of the market \u2013 companies just can\u2019t hold on to workers in places such as London. These people are forced to leave, and they need a solution.\u201d\n\nVisitors to the new L&G homes expecting a shipping container with frills will be disappointed. The flats are higher than standard build, making an otherwise tight space feel more spacious, as well as allowing for more storage, with raised mezzanine beds giving extra space below.\n\nThe bedroom. Photograph: Andrew Holt\n\nThe housing association deliberately avoided primary colours to get away from the Lego-like feel of some other prefab units.\n\nThe factory construction allows buyers such as RHP to ask L&G to finish it to any specification, much like a car buyer does. Want to add a microwave? Change the size of the cupboards? Have the bed raised higher? It\u2019s like ordering metallic paint or a sunroof from Ford. \u201cThe amazing thing is that you can just feed the design into the computer, then it\u2019s cut to size in the factory,\u201d said an associate at Wimshurst Pelleriti.\n\nLegal & General\u2019s prototype two-bed home, destined more for the suburbs than the city. Photograph: Handout\n\nThe two-bedder prototype unveiled by L&G this week, and designed for couples and small families rather than singles, is much larger at 82 sq m and will have no issues meeting current space standards. It has a more conventional look, designed for the suburbs rather than city centres.\n\nFor now, both the one and two bedders are prototypes, with RHP expecting the first tenants \u2013 subject to planning permission \u2013 through its doors in early 2018.", "output": "Legal & General Homes (L&G) is to create 3,500 flats and houses a year from its new factory just outside Leeds, which can build a fully-furnished one-bedroom flat in just one week. L&G aims to provide turn-key complete homes that can be manufactured and transported within weeks. Although the homes are small, starting at just 26 sq m, if the price is right, and full planning permission granted, they could be a step on to the property ladder for many people otherwise unable to do so. A housing association in Richmond, southwest London, has just taken delivery of the first order for the homes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Education data breach valued at $245 per record \n Data Security\n\nAverage Cost Per Record of US Data Breach in Ed: $245\n\nThe average cost of a data breach in the United States rose for the fourth straight year, hitting $225 per compromised record--the highest it has been since 2006, when the Ponemon Institute began to publish research on the topic.\n\nIn education, which tends to be more heavily regulated regarding data privacy, the average \"per capita\" cost for 2017 in this country is even higher: $245. That's considerably more than the worldwide per-record cost in education of $200. (Per capita represents the total cost of the data breach divided by the number of lost or stolen records.)\n\nAccording to Ponemon's \"2017 Cost of Data Breach Study,\" the average total organizational cost across all segments, not just education, is $7.35 million, up almost five percent over last year's $7 million. The average number of records exposed was 28,512. The major component of that expense--about $1.51 million--is related to the business lost because of the breach: turnover of customers or \"churn,\" increased customer acquisition cost, \"reputation losses\" and \"diminished goodwill.\" Education, as an industry, experiences far less churn (1.8 percent) compared to other segments, such as financial or life sciences (7.1 percent and 5.7 percent, respectively).\n\nThe next largest portion of the expense ($1 million) is tied to detection and escalation efforts, such as forensics, root cause determination, identifying victims and organizing a response. That's followed by related services ($930,000), such as help desk operations, inbound communications, product discounts and setting up subscriptions to identity protection services for victims. The smallest aspect of the cost of a data breach is the expense of notifying the affected people and regulators; that equals about $199,000.\n\nPonemon reported that nearly half of U.S. data breaches (47 percent) are due to \"malicious or criminal attack.\" These are also the most expensive type of breach to resolve. Another 28 percent come about through human error; and 25 percent occur because of \"system glitches, including both IT and business process failures.\"\n\nNew factors that the research took into consideration as the results were being compiled included two areas of importance to schools: the extensive use of mobile platforms, which tacked an additional cost of $6.50 per record breached, and compliance failures, which added a whopping $19.30 per capita.\n\nCompared to other types of organizations, education tends to take a long time to identify and contain data breaches. On average, worldwide, education takes 221 days for the first part of the work and 83 days for the second part. As a comparison, financial takes only 155 days to identify a potential breach and 34 days to respond and contain it. those aspects are important, the research noted, because the longer the duration of those two aspects of data breaches, the higher the cost to the organization.\n\nThe report offered several strategies for reducing the cost of future data breaches. For example, organizations that have an incident response team in place tend to lower the damage control cost per record by more than $19. Those that use encryption extensively save about $16. And a solid training program for employees has an impact of $12.50. These aren't cumulative because there's so much overlap, explained Researcher Larry Ponemon during a recent presentation covering the results of the report. \"Companies that have an [incident response] team probably also use encryption extensively.\"\n\nKeeping up with the bad guys \"can be a problem,\" Ponemon added. However, in the many years he has studied data breaches, he has also seen a positive side: \"Most organizations that we have studied over time have improved their security posture by using more and better technologies and relying more on intelligence [and becoming] more systematic in terms of how they approach the data breach event.\" That's a trend, he noted, \"consistent across industries and also geographies.\"\n\nThe full study examined the cost of data breaches for 419 companies worldwide in 17 industries. IBM sponsored the research. Both the worldwide report and country-specific reports are available for registration on the IBM security website here.", "output": "The average per-record cost for a data breach in the heavily regulated education sector has risen for the fourth consecutive year to $245, far higher than the global $200, according to a study by the Ponemon Institute. It found education experiences low turnover of customers after a breach, with just 1.8%, compared to 7.1% in the financial sector and 5.7% in life sciences. The study also revealed the total average cost across 419 businesses in 17 countries was $7.35m, up 5% on the 2016 figure of $7m.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Humaniq set to release beta currency platform in Ghana \n \u201c\u2026next year the platform will be expanded to support additional financial services like insurance, business financing, and even an in-app e-commerce system.\u201d\n\nHumaniq will trial its digital banking platform in Ghana starting at the end of this month.\n\nA \u2018Lite\u2019 version of its flagship app will launch on Android on July 31st, allowing users to test the company\u2019s HMQ cryptocurrency. Users will be prompted to register their biometrics for subsequent logins, and will then get access to HMQ. From there, users will be able to store and transfer HMQ to others, even those who haven\u2019t yet signed up for the app.\n\nHumaniq says its aim is to bring inclusive financial services to the world\u2019s unbanked. It plans to launch a \u2018Pro\u2019 version of the app for both Android and iOS to the general public \u201clater in the year,\u201d according to a statement from the company; and it says next year the platform will be expanded to support additional financial services like insurance, business financing, and even an in-app e-commerce system.\n\nThe face recognition biometric technology featured on the HumaniQ app is provided by VisionLabs, a visual recognition company.\n\nHumaniQ says it will offer numerous further details about the platform and its plans at a presentation and meeting on July 26th at Barclays\u2019 Rise London FinTech space.", "output": "Blockchain start-up Humaniq will launch its digital banking platform in Ghana as it aims to offer its services to the country's unbanked population, according to a company statement. It said a 'lite' version of its app will launch on Android on 31 July, offering a taste of the firm's HMQ digital currency, during which time users can register with facial recognition technology for access to the full platform. Humaniq said it plans to launch a Pro version on iOS and Android later in the year, and will offer more details at this week's Barclays\u2019 Rise London FinTech event.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BoA to halt deals with China's HNA Group over debt concerns \n LONDON/HONG KONG (BLOOMBERG) - Bank of America has told investment bankers to stop working on transactions with HNA Group for now amid growing concerns about the acquisitive Chinese conglomerate's debt levels and ownership structure, according to people familiar with the matter.\n\nThe US investment bank joins other Wall Street firms, including Citigroup and Morgan Stanley, that are largely steering clear of advising and financing the group on deals because they are unable to get internal approvals from \"know your customer\" committees, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.\n\nBank of America had advised HNA on several attempted overseas acquisitions in the past few years, people said. The decision has affected deals the firm was working on for HNA, including the planned Singapore IPO of HNA Commercial Reit, two of the people said. The Reit was expected to raise some S$700 million.\n\nBanks regularly reassess their comfort with potential clients, and their stance towards HNA could change, they said.\n\nHNA has not done significant fee-paying business with Bank of America in recent months, one person with knowledge of the company said.\n\nSenior officials at Bank of America's Merrill Lynch unit communicated internally last month that bankers should not currently pitch for new acquisitions and fund-raisings, the people said. Scrutiny of Chinese companies came into focus this week after people familiar with the matter said that China plans to cut off some funding for billionaire Wang Jianlin's Dalian Wanda Group, concluding the conglomerate breached restrictions for overseas investments.\n\nAn internal memo at Bank of America on holding off on deals with HNA for now went to fewer than five bankers who would be in a position to solicit business from the Chinese company, another person familiar with the matter said. The New York Times reported earlier that Bank of America had said in an internal e-mail that it had decided to remove itself from transactions with HNA.\n\nCitigroup's and Morgan Stanley's internal committees have also struggled to get sufficient clarity on the source of funds and ownership structures at HNA, leading those banks to avoid deals for some time, the people said. Still, some firms that shy away from the parent company are willing to do business with HNA units. Morgan Stanley was one of the banks that committed to a total US$8.5 billion (S$11.63 billion) in financing for Avolon, a business owned by one of HNA's listed arms, in its purchase of CIT Group Inc.'s airline leasing business last year.\n\nA representative for HNA could not immediately comment. Representatives for Bank of America, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley declined to comment.\n\nSupport from Western banks has helped fuel a debt-backed buying spree by HNA, as it expanded from its home base on China's sunny Hainan island to add logistics, hotel and financial assets around the globe, including a US$6.5 billion deal to buy a stake in Hilton Worldwide Holdings announced last year. Chinese regulators have begun assessing local banks' loan exposure to HNA and are examining examples of acquisitions gone awry, people with knowledge of the matter have said.\n\nStill, banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co and UBS Group have financed and advised on large HNA deals this year, notably the Hilton stake and the firm's acquisition of a 10 per cent stake in German lender Deutsche Bank AG.\n\nEven UBS, which has historically helped HNA on multiple transactions, has started monitoring the conglomerate's debt levels more closely, separate people said. The Swiss bank is increasingly concerned that the Chinese company would struggle in the short term to complete large acquisitions, according to one of the people. UBS continues to do business with HNA, though its internal risk and compliance teams have begun asking more questions about dealings with the Chinese firm, another person said.\n\nUBS advised HNA on its US$1.5 billion acquisition of Gategroup Holding, which completed this year. The Swiss lender has been one of the most active bankers for HNA, advising the firm on almost US$15 billion of aviation-related acquisitions since 2015, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It also provided collar financing to help the conglomerate increase its stake in Deutsche Bank, people familiar with the matter said in May.\n\nA spokesman for UBS declined to comment.\n\nThe pushback comes as HNA has been working to raise its profile in the West, hosting the French Open tennis tournament this year, a first for the firm. Executives including chairman Li Xianhua and chief executive officer Adam Tan kicked off with a gala celebration in Le Petit Palais in Paris that included politicians, bankers and celebrity chef Joel Robuchon.\n\nHNA has recently told bankers it plans to slow the pace of its overseas dealmaking, according to one of the people with knowledge of the matter. The move comes as acquisitive Chinese companies are under increasing scrutiny at home. The China Banking Regulatory Commission asked some banks to provide information on overseas loans made to Dalian Wanda, Anbang Insurance Group, HNA, Fosun International and the Chinese owner of Italian soccer team AC Milan, people familiar with the matter said in June.\n\nChina is working to cut capital outflows that may be heaping pressure on the value of the yuan and, late last year, moved to temporarily restrict the largest deals valued at US$10 billion or more, people familiar with the matter said at the time.\n\nHNA's ownership is difficult to decipher as the group is held together through scores of companies - mostly unlisted entities with little available public information - holding stakes in one another. Atop the hierarchy is a person named Guan Jun, according to Chinese corporate filings.\n\nLittle is known about Guan. HNA plays down his role, with CEO Adam Tan saying he is just a Chinese businessman and chairman Chen Feng telling the South China Morning Post newspaper that Guan is not a significant shareholder as he owns only a \"tiny\" stake. Yet Guan owns the equivalent of a 29 per cent stake in the group, more than any of HNA's executives, including Chen and Tan's stakes combined.\n\nHNA's ownership has also been under attack from Guo Wengui, a fugitive Chinese tycoon who has been alleging HNA has secret ties to powerful Communist Party officials - claims denied by the company. Guo is facing defamation lawsuits from HNA and others over his various claims.\n\nIts governance has drawn questions from the likes of The New York Times, which on Wednesday reported that HNA has been doing business deals with family and friends of its top executives in the past quarter century, with limited disclosure to investors. In response to the article, HNA said its related-party transactions are reviewed and documented on terms consistent with appropriate standards.\n\nHNA's financing practices have also stood out. Its latest annual report says the company is saddled with US$73 billion of debt, which would be the second-highest debt level for a non-financial corporation in China if HNA were to be listed, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. What is more, HNA filings show HNA and its units have pledged at least US$24 billion of shares across 15 publicly traded firms to finance its acquisitions, signalling a pattern of reliance on pledged assets that has triggered concerns from credit-rating agencies and analysts. HNA has said it has consulted financial advisers on all its pledge transactions.", "output": "Bank of America has announced plans\u00a0to cease transactions with China's HNA Group due to growing concerns over the company's debt levels and ownership structure, according to sources.\u00a0This\u00a0comes as other banks like Citigroup and Morgan Stanley advise\u00a0bankers to avoid the company. An impact on the deals made by Bank of America with HNA is expected, including the planned\u00a0Singapore IPO of HNA Commercial Reit. Highly\u00a0acquisitive Chinese companies, like HNA, have recently come under increasing scrutiny by Chinese authorities.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "CMS Moves Toward Much-Needed 340B Reforms \n Insight\n\nTara O'Neill Hayes\n\nIn order for a manufacturer\u2019s drugs to be covered by the Medicaid program, the manufacturer must agree to participate in the 340B Drug Pricing Program (340B). Under the 340B program, manufacturers must provide discounts to eligible health care providers for covered outpatient drugs. As the federal government pays for roughly 40 percent of all prescription drugs in the United States,[1] these discounts are intended to allow \u201cscarce Federal resources [to be stretched] as far as possible.\u201d However, because the law does not require the health care providers who receive these discounts to pass their savings along to consumers, many question whether the program\u2019s goal is being met and if reforms are needed. To that end, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed last week to adjust the Medicare reimbursement rate for drugs obtained through 340B and provided to Part B enrollees.[2]\n\nBackground\n\nThe 340B program was established in response to the development of an unintended consequence of Medicaid\u2019s \u201cbest price\u201d policy. Because no exception to the \u201cbest price\u201d policy was provided for drug manufacturer\u2019s charitable giving\u2014in which medicines were provided for free or at an extreme discount for uninsured and low-income patients, most of those donations disappeared and hospitals were often left footing the bill. In response, Congress amended the Public Health Service Act, adding Section 340B, which set a ceiling price (essentially, the price charged to Medicaid after statutory rebates are accounted for under the \u201cbest price\u201d policy) that drug manufacturers may charge for such drugs provided to \u201ccovered entities.\u201d [3] This change thus formalized and expanded the former practice of charitable giving by mandating minimum discounts be provided to certain hospitals and other outpatient centers.\n\nWhile these discounts were intended to be targeted to uninsured and low-income patients, the number of entities eligible for such discounts has increased dramatically over the years\u2014particularly with the expanded definition of a \u201ccovered entity\u201d provided in the Affordable Care Act (ACA)\u2014and the broad definition of \u201cqualified patient\u201d for whom these discounts must be provided. Further, current law does not require that these discounts be passed on to either the patient and/or the insurer, including the Federal government, paying for drugs obtained through the 340B program. Patients and taxpayers are therefore not necessarily benefitting from the mandated discounts.\n\nIn addition to the discounts provided directly through 340B, the same law provides for the creation of Prime Vendor Program (PVP) which can provide entities additional savings beyond the 340B discount. According to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), PVP participants receive an estimated average discount of 10 percent of the 340B price.[4]\n\nProposed Rule\n\nOn July 13, 2017, CMS issued a proposed rule that would, among other things, change the Medicare Part B reimbursement rate for drugs obtained through 340B. Currently, Medicare pays providers for covered 340B drugs just as it does for any other drug covered under Medicare Part B: the average sales price (ASP) plus six percent of the ASP. This payment formula is set in statute and the six percent add-on serves as an administrative dispensing fee, common among prescription drug reimbursement formulas. Under the proposed rule, CMS would instead pay for drugs obtained at a discount through the 340B program and provided to Medicare beneficiaries ASP \u2013 22.5 percent.[5] This payment change will more closely reflect the actual acquisition cost faced by hospitals for such drugs, as explained below.\n\nPotential Impact\n\nIf this proposal goes into effect, Medicare beneficiaries and taxpayers stand to reap significant savings. Because beneficiaries pay their coinsurance (20 percent under Medicare Part B) based on Medicare\u2019s reimbursement rate, beneficiaries will pay significantly less for the same drug as a result of this change. Medicare will also save substantial amounts. According to MedPAC, 48 percent of Medicare Part B drug spending goes to 340B hospitals and totaled $3.5 billion in 2013, up from 22 percent and $0.5 billion in 2004.[6] Much of this increased spending is a result of the dramatic increase in the number of entities participating in 340B. Between 2005 and 2014, the number of hospitals participating in 340B grew from 583 to 2,140, largely as a result of the ACA\u2019s expansion of eligible entities.[7]\n\nTo illustrate potential savings, imagine the average sales price of a drug is $100. Under current law, Medicare would pay the provider $106 and the beneficiary would pay $21.20. Under this new proposal, Medicare would instead pay $77.50 and the beneficiary would pay $15.50. Total savings to Medicare and the beneficiary for that drug would be $34.20.\n\nAs for the hospitals\u2014recent reports suggest the impact to their bottom line should be minimal. Again, the total dollar value at stake, based on 2013 Medicare expenditures, is roughly $1 billion. Revenue from the top seven non-profit hospitals alone, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report, totaled nearly $34 billion in 2015, while their charity care fell to $272 million.[8] Further, the proposed new payment rate is based on findings from multiple government agencies regarding the average amount of savings received by entities participating in 340B. In May 2015, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) reported that, on average, 340B hospitals receive a minimum discount of 22.5 percent of the ASP.[9] The HHS Office of the Inspector General (HHS OIG) found that in 2013 payments made by Medicare Part B and the coinsurance paid by beneficiaries for 340B drugs were 58 percent higher than the ceiling price which may have been charged to the hospitals to obtain the drugs; this difference between the cost to the hospital and the reimbursement amount allowed hospitals to retain approximately $1.3 billion that year from 340B discounts alone.[10] The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found 340B participation to be associated with higher Medicare expenditures: in 2012, average spending per Medicare beneficiary at 340B hospitals was more than double expenditures at non-340B hospitals, and this difference was not explained by patients\u2019 health status.[11] Finally, there are a plethora of other programs designed to provide safeguards to hospitals treating significant numbers of uninsured and underinsured patients, including the Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) program and bad debt payments made by Medicare\u2014though both of these programs could also use reform.[12]\n\nAdditional Reforms Still Needed\n\nAs outlined by the American Action Forum here and by the aforementioned reports from the GAO, MedPAC, and HHS OIG, the 340B program suffers from a lack of appropriate benchmarks for determining program eligibility, clear guidance regarding use of savings, and necessary program oversight. The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight recently held a hearing highlighting the lack of resources available to provide proper oversight in the 340B program. Accordingly, non-compliance rates between FY2012-FY2016 ranged from 63 to 82 percent.[13] The program no longer seems to be serving its intended purpose and warrants substantial reform.\n\nThe proposal outlined by CMS is a worthwhile first step in providing much-needed reform to this ever-expanding program. But it just serves as a band-aid, attempting to mitigate the impact of the underlying problems. Congress should work to enact additional reforms that ensure program integrity, and that savings are distributed appropriately.\n\n[1] https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/NationalHealthExpendData/index.html\n\n[2] https://www.cms.gov/Newsroom/MediaReleaseDatabase/Fact-sheets/2017-Fact-Sheet-items/2017-07-13.html?DLPage=1&DLEntries=10&DLSort=0&DLSortDir=descending\n\n[3] https://www.hrsa.gov/opa/programrequirements/publiclaw102585.html\n\n[4] https://www.hrsa.gov/about/budget/budgetjustification2017.pdf\n\n[5] https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2017-14883.pdf\n\n[6] http://www.medpac.gov/docs/default-source/reports/may-2015-report-to-the-congress-overview-of-the-340b-drug-pricing-program.pdf?sfvrsn=0\n\n[7] http://www.medpac.gov/docs/default-source/reports/may-2015-report-to-the-congress-overview-of-the-340b-drug-pricing-program.pdf?sfvrsn=0\n\n[8] http://www.politico.com/interactives/2017/obamacare-non-profit-hospital-taxes/\n\n[9] http://www.medpac.gov/docs/default-source/reports/may-2015-report-to-the-congress-overview-of-the-340b-drug-pricing-program.pdf?sfvrsn=0\n\n[10] https://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-12-14-00030.pdf\n\n[11] https://www.gao.gov/assets/680/670676.pdf\n\n[12] http://www.gao.gov/assets/680/678127.pdf\n\n[13] http://docs.house.gov/meetings/IF/IF02/20170718/106269/HHRG-115-IF02-20170718-SD002.pdf", "output": "In order for a manufacturer\u2019s drugs to be covered by the Medicaid program, the manufacturer must agree to participate in the 340B Drug Pricing Program\u00a0(340B). Under the 340B program, manufacturers must provide discounts to eligible health care providers for covered outpatient drugs.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ASCO Advocates Value in Drug Pricing \n Potential solutions to improve affordability of cancer drugs require prioritizing and testing and then should be applied in a standardized way to assess drug value, according to a new position statement from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).\n\nValue and affordability have emerged as central issues in cancer drug development, as the cost of new cancer drugs routinely exceeds $100,000 a year. Many patients delay or forgo treatment because they cannot afford drugs, which have become the fastest-growing component of cancer care costs, ASCO officials said in a statement.\n\nA majority of patients with cancer report distress related to financial aspects of their care, and they declare bankruptcy twice as often as the general population.\n\n\"In what, undoubtedly, is one of the most difficult times in their lives, individuals with cancer should be focused on getting the best care possible, not worrying about financial strain on their families,\" said ASCO CEO Clifford Hudis, MD. \"As cancer doctors, we're accountable for ensuring our patients receive the right drug at the right time, but that alone isn't going to rein in costs. We need our nation's leaders to tackle the major drivers of patients' cost burdens, including rising prices.\"\n\nAs a first step toward reducing the cost of cancer drugs, ASCO calls on stakeholders from \"across the healthcare sector\" to come together to identify, prioritize, and test potential solutions to address the affordability of cancer drugs. The stakeholders should then develop or define a standard, broadly applicable approach to assess the value of drugs and inform drug pricing and reimbursement.\n\nA number of potential solutions have already been set forth by various individuals and groups, but prioritizing and testing cannot proceed without an agreed-upon definition of value, said position statement co-author Blase Polite, MD, of the University of Chicago.\n\n\"Once you define value, once you reach some general agreement, then you can test all sorts of different proposals,\" Polite told MedPage Today. \"But you can't do any of it until you can come up with some fundamental agreement on how to assess the value of a drug.\"\n\nSeveral \"pretty sophisticated\" efforts to define value have been put on the table, each with its own strengths and weaknesses, Polite continued. Evaluation of those definitions will require policymakers to prioritize testing and authorize demonstrations, perhaps beginning with one or two payment models.\n\nASCO officials acknowledged \"unprecedented success\" with recent therapeutic development in oncology but noted that \"in some cases, the price of a new drug bears no relation to its effectiveness.\" One study showed that only 19% of cancer drugs recently approved by the FDA met criteria for \"clinically meaningful outcomes.\"\n\nIn the position statement, ASCO suggested the FDA consider using meaningful clinical outcomes when assessing new and supplemental drug applications, rather than \"small benefits that achieve statistical significance in large trials.\" ASCO previously published a position statement that included a recommended definition of clinically meaningful outcomes.\n\nASCO also suggested that Medicare test the feasibility of a \"value-based pathway\" to encourage providers to use higher-value drugs and encourage the pharmaceutical industry to develop high-value treatments.\n\n\"We begin setting the expectation that, when pharma designs trials, they understand what the rules of the game are in terms of value thresholds,\" said Polite. \"If you say 'these are the kinds of hazard ratios, tails on [survival] curves, quality of life that we expect for something to have real uptake in the market,' then we hope they start designing clinical trials around that.\"\n\nThe complete position statement is available on the ASCO website.\n\nCharles Bankhead is senior editor for oncology and also covers urology, dermatology, and ophthalmology. He joined MedPage Today in 2007. Follow\n\nPlease enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.", "output": "Potential solutions to improve affordability of cancer drugs require prioritizing and testing and then should be applied in a standardized way to assess drug value, according to a new position statement from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Myth of Drug Expiration Dates \n This story was co-published with NPR\u2019s Shots blog.\n\nThe box of prescription drugs had been forgotten in a back closet of a retail pharmacy for so long that some of the pills predated the 1969 moon landing. Most were 30 to 40 years past their expiration dates \u2014 possibly toxic, probably worthless.\n\nBut to Lee Cantrell, who helps run the California Poison Control System, the cache was an opportunity to answer an enduring question about the actual shelf life of drugs: Could these drugs from the bell-bottom era still be potent?\n\nGet Our Top Investigations Subscribe to the Big Story newsletter.\n\nCantrell called Roy Gerona, a University of California, San Francisco, researcher who specializes in analyzing chemicals. Gerona had grown up in the Philippines and had seen people recover from sickness by taking expired drugs with no apparent ill effects.\n\n\u201cThis was very cool,\u201d Gerona says. \u201cWho gets the chance of analyzing drugs that have been in storage for more than 30 years?\u201d\n\nThe age of the drugs might have been bizarre, but the question the researchers wanted to answer wasn\u2019t. Pharmacies across the country \u2014 in major medical centers and in neighborhood strip malls \u2014 routinely toss out tons of scarce and potentially valuable prescription drugs when they hit their expiration dates.\n\nGerona and Cantrell, a pharmacist and toxicologist, knew that the term \u201cexpiration date\u201d was a misnomer. The dates on drug labels are simply the point up to which the Food and Drug Administration and pharmaceutical companies guarantee their effectiveness, typically at two or three years. But the dates don\u2019t necessarily mean they\u2019re ineffective immediately after they \u201cexpire\u201d \u2014 just that there\u2019s no incentive for drugmakers to study whether they could still be usable.\n\nProPublica has been researching why the U.S. health care system is the most expensive in the world. One answer, broadly, is waste \u2014 some of it buried in practices that the medical establishment and the rest of us take for granted. We\u2019ve documented how hospitals often discard pricey new supplies, how nursing homes trash valuable medications after patients pass away or move out, and how drug companies create expensive combinations of cheap drugs. Experts estimate such squandering eats up about $765 billion a year \u2014 as much as a quarter of all the country\u2019s health care spending.\n\nWhat if the system is destroying drugs that are technically \u201cexpired\u201d but could still be safely used?\n\nIn his lab, Gerona ran tests on the decades-old drugs, including some now defunct brands such as the diet pills Obocell (once pitched to doctors with a portly figurine called \u201cMr. Obocell\u201d) and Bamadex. Overall, the bottles contained 14 different compounds, including antihistamines, pain relievers and stimulants. All the drugs tested were in their original sealed containers.\n\nThe findings surprised both researchers: A dozen of the 14 compounds were still as potent as they were when they were manufactured, some at almost 100 percent of their labeled concentrations.\n\n\u201cLo and behold,\u201d Cantrell says, \u201cThe active ingredients are pretty darn stable.\u201d\n\nCantrell and Gerona knew their findings had big implications. Perhaps no area of health care has provoked as much anger in recent years as prescription drugs. The news media is rife with stories of medications priced out of reach or of shortages of crucial drugs, sometimes because producing them is no longer profitable.\n\nTossing such drugs when they expire is doubly hard. One pharmacist at Newton-Wellesley Hospital outside Boston says the 240-bed facility is able to return some expired drugs for credit, but had to destroy about $200,000 worth last year. A commentary in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings cited similar losses at the nearby Tufts Medical Center. Play that out at hospitals across the country and the tab is significant: about $800 million per year. And that doesn\u2019t include the costs of expired drugs at long-term care pharmacies, retail pharmacies and in consumer medicine cabinets.\n\nAfter Cantrell and Gerona published their findings in Archives of Internal Medicine in 2012, some readers accused them of being irresponsible and advising patients that it was OK to take expired drugs. Cantrell says they weren\u2019t recommending the use of expired medication, just reviewing the arbitrary way the dates are set.\n\n\u201cRefining our prescription drug dating process could save billions,\u201d he says.\n\nBut after a brief burst of attention, the response to their study faded. That raises an even bigger question: If some drugs remain effective well beyond the date on their labels, why hasn\u2019t there been a push to extend their expiration dates?\n\nIt turns out that the FDA, the agency that helps set the dates, has long known the shelf life of some drugs can be extended, sometimes by years.\n\nIn fact, the federal government has saved a fortune by doing this.\n\nFor decades, the federal government has stockpiled massive stashes of medication, antidotes and vaccines in secure locations throughout the country. The drugs are worth tens of billions of dollars and would provide a first line of defense in case of a large-scale emergency.\n\nMaintaining these stockpiles is expensive. The drugs have to be kept secure and at the proper humidity and temperature so they don\u2019t degrade. Luckily, the country has rarely needed to tap into many of the drugs, but this means they often reach their expiration dates. Though the government requires pharmacies to throw away expired drugs, it doesn\u2019t always follow these instructions itself. Instead, for more than 30 years, it has pulled some medicines and tested their quality.\n\nThe idea that drugs expire on specified dates goes back at least a half-century, when the FDA began requiring manufacturers to add this information to the label. The time limits allow the agency to ensure medications work safely and effectively for patients. To determine a new drug\u2019s shelf life, its maker zaps it with intense heat and soaks it with moisture to see how it degrades under stress. It also checks how it breaks down over time. The drug company then proposes an expiration date to the FDA, which reviews the data to ensure it supports the date and approves it. Despite the difference in drugs\u2019 makeup, most \u201cexpire\u201d after two or three years.\n\nCantrell keeps a collection of old bottles of chemicals and medicines. He\u2019s tested some of them and found that they\u2019re still potent. (Sandy Huffaker for ProPublica)\n\nOnce a drug is launched, the makers run tests to ensure it continues to be effective up to its labeled expiration date. Since they are not required to check beyond it, most don\u2019t, largely because regulations make it expensive and time-consuming for manufacturers to extend expiration dates, says Yan Wu, an analytical chemist who is part of a focus group at the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists that looks at the long-term stability of drugs. Most companies, she says, would rather sell new drugs and develop additional products.\n\nPharmacists and researchers say there is no economic \u201cwin\u201d for drug companies to investigate further. They ring up more sales when medications are tossed as \u201cexpired\u201d by hospitals, retail pharmacies and consumers despite retaining their safety and effectiveness.\n\nIndustry officials say patient safety is their highest priority. Olivia Shopshear, director of science and regulatory advocacy for the drug industry trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, says expiration dates are chosen \u201cbased on the period of time when any given lot will maintain its identity, potency and purity, which translates into safety for the patient.\u201d\n\nThat being said, it\u2019s an open secret among medical professionals that many drugs maintain their ability to combat ailments well after their labels say they don\u2019t. One pharmacist says he sometimes takes home expired over-the-counter medicine from his pharmacy so he and his family can use it.\n\nThe federal agencies that stockpile drugs \u2014 including the military, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Veterans Affairs \u2014 have long realized the savings in revisiting expiration dates.\n\nIn 1986, the Air Force, hoping to save on replacement costs, asked the FDA if certain drugs\u2019 expiration dates could be extended. In response, the FDA and Defense Department created the Shelf Life Extension Program.\n\nEach year, drugs from the stockpiles are selected based on their value and pending expiration and analyzed in batches to determine whether their end dates could be safely extended. For several decades, the program has found that the actual shelf life of many drugs is well beyond the original expiration dates.\n\nA 2006 study of 122 drugs tested by the program showed that two-thirds of the expired medications were stable every time a lot was tested. Each of them had their expiration dates extended, on average, by more than four years, according to research published in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences.\n\nSome that failed to hold their potency include the common asthma inhalant albuterol, the topical rash spray diphenhydramine, and a local anesthetic made from lidocaine and epinephrine, the study said. But neither Cantrell nor Dr. Cathleen Clancy, associate medical director of National Capital Poison Center, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the George Washington University Medical Center, had heard of anyone being harmed by any expired drugs. Cantrell says there has been no recorded instance of such harm in medical literature.\n\nMarc Young, a pharmacist who helped run the extension program from 2006 to 2009, says it has had a \u201cridiculous\u201d return on investment. Each year the federal government saved $600 million to $800 million because it did not have to replace expired medication, he says.\n\nAn official with the Department of Defense, which maintains about $13.6 billion worth of drugs in its stockpile, says that in 2016 it cost $3.1 million to run the extension program, but it saved the department from replacing $2.1 billion in expired drugs. To put the magnitude of that return on investment into everyday terms: It\u2019s like spending a dollar to save $677.\n\n\u201cWe didn\u2019t have any idea that some of the products would be so damn stable \u2014 so robustly stable beyond the shelf life,\u201d says Ajaz Hussain, one of the scientists who formerly helped oversee the extension program.\n\nHussain is now president of the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Technology and Education, an organization of 17 universities that\u2019s working to reduce the cost of pharmaceutical development. He says the high price of drugs and shortages make it time to reexamine drug expiration dates in the commercial market.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a shame to throw away good drugs,\u201d Hussain says.\n\nThe drugs kept in emergency crash carts at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, outside Boston, Massachusetts, often expire before they can be used and must be thrown away. (Erik Jacobs for ProPublica)\n\nSome medical providers have pushed for a changed approach to drug expiration dates \u2014 with no success. In 2000, the American Medical Association, foretelling the current prescription drug crisis, adopted a resolution urging action. The shelf life of many drugs, it wrote, seems to be \u201cconsiderably longer\u201d than their expiration dates, leading to \u201cunnecessary waste, higher pharmaceutical costs, and possibly reduced access to necessary drugs for some patients.\u201d\n\nCiting the federal government\u2019s extension program, the AMA sent letters to the FDA, the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention, which sets standards for drugs, and PhRMA asking for a re-examination of expiration dates.\n\nNo one remembers the details \u2014 just that the effort fell flat.\n\n\u201cNothing happened, but we tried,\u201d says rheumatologist Roy Altman, now 80, who helped write the AMA report. \u201cI\u2019m glad the subject is being brought up again. I think there\u2019s considerable waste.\u201d\n\nAt Newton-Wellesley Hospital, outside Boston, pharmacist David Berkowitz yearns for something to change.\n\nOn a recent weekday, Berkowitz sorted through bins and boxes of medication in a back hallway of the hospital\u2019s pharmacy, peering at expiration dates. As the pharmacy\u2019s assistant director, he carefully manages how the facility orders and dispenses drugs to patients. Running a pharmacy is like working in a restaurant because everything is perishable, he says, \u201cbut without the free food.\u201d\n\nFederal and state laws prohibit pharmacists from dispensing expired drugs and The Joint Commission, which accredits thousands of health care organizations, requires facilities to remove expired medication from their supply. So at Newton-Wellesley, outdated drugs are shunted to shelves in the back of the pharmacy and marked with a sign that says: \u201cDo Not Dispense.\u201d The piles grow for weeks until they are hauled away by a third-party company that has them destroyed. And then the bins fill again.\n\n\u201cI question the expiration dates on most of these drugs,\u201d Berkowitz says.\n\nOne of the plastic boxes is piled with EpiPens \u2014 devices that automatically inject epinephrine to treat severe allergic reactions. They run almost $300 each. These are from emergency kits that are rarely used, which means they often expire. Berkowitz counts them, tossing each one with a clatter into a separate container, \u201c\u2026 that\u2019s 45, 46, 47 \u2026\u201d He finishes at 50. That\u2019s almost $15,000 in wasted EpiPens alone.\n\nNewton-Wellesley Hospital throws away about $200,000 in expired drugs each year. Studies have shown that many expired drugs are still potent and usable. (Erik Jacobs for ProPublica)\n\nIn May, Cantrell and Gerona published a study that examined 40 EpiPens and EpiPen Jrs., a smaller version, that had been expired for between one and 50 months. The devices had been donated by consumers, which meant they could have been stored in conditions that would cause them to break down, like a car\u2019s glove box or a steamy bathroom. The EpiPens also contain liquid medicine, which tends to be less stable than solid medications.\n\nTesting showed 24 of the 40 expired devices contained at least 90 percent of their stated amount of epinephrine, enough to be considered as potent as when they were made. All of them contained at least 80 percent of their labeled concentration of medication. The takeaway? Even EpiPens stored in less than ideal conditions may last longer than their labels say they do, and if there\u2019s no other option, an expired EpiPen may be better than nothing, Cantrell says.\n\nAt Newton-Wellesley, Berkowitz keeps a spreadsheet of every outdated drug he throws away. The pharmacy sends what it can back for credit, but it doesn\u2019t come close to replacing what the hospital paid.\n\nThen there\u2019s the added angst of tossing drugs that are in short supply. Berkowitz picks up a box of sodium bicarbonate, which is crucial for heart surgery and to treat certain overdoses. It\u2019s being rationed because there\u2019s so little available. He holds up a purple box of atropine, which gives patients a boost when they have low heart rates. It\u2019s also in short supply. In the federal government\u2019s stockpile, the expiration dates of both drugs have been extended, but they have to be thrown away by Berkowitz and other hospital pharmacists.\n\nThe 2006 FDA study of the extension program also said it pushed back the expiration date on lots of mannitol, a diuretic, for an average of five years. Berkowitz has to toss his out. Expired naloxone? The drug reverses narcotic overdoses in an emergency and is currently in wide use in the opioid epidemic. The FDA extended its use-by date for the stockpiled drugs, but Berkowitz has to trash it.\n\nOn rare occasions, a pharmaceutical company will extend the expiration dates of its own products because of shortages. That\u2019s what happened in June, when the FDA posted extended expiration dates from Pfizer for batches of its injectable atropine, dextrose, epinephrine and sodium bicarbonate. The agency notice included the lot numbers of the batches being extended and added six months to a year to their expiration dates.\n\nDavid Berkowitz, assistant director of the pharmacy at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, said he questions the validity of many drug expiration dates. (Erik Jacobs for ProPublica)\n\nThe news sent Berkowitz running to his expired drugs to see if any could be put back into his supply. His team rescued four boxes of the syringes from destruction, including 75 atropine, 15 dextrose, 164 epinephrine and 22 sodium bicarbonate. Total value: $7,500. In a blink, \u201cexpired\u201d drugs that were in the trash heap were put back into the pharmacy supply.\n\nBerkowitz says he appreciated Pfizer\u2019s action, but feels it should be standard to make sure drugs that are still effective aren\u2019t thrown away.\n\n\u201cThe question is: Should the FDA be doing more stability testing?\u201d Berkowitz says. \u201cCould they come up with a safe and systematic way to cut down on the drugs being wasted in hospitals?\u201d\n\nFour scientists who worked on the FDA extension program told ProPublica something like that could work for drugs stored in hospital pharmacies, where conditions are carefully controlled.\n\nGreg Burel, director of the CDC\u2019s stockpile, says he worries that if drugmakers were forced to extend their expiration dates it could backfire, making it unprofitable to produce certain drugs and thereby reducing access or increasing prices.\n\nThe 2015 commentary in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, called \u201cExtending Shelf Life Just Makes Sense,\u201d also suggested that drugmakers could be required to set a preliminary expiration date and then update it after long-term testing. An independent organization could also do testing similar to that done by the FDA extension program, or data from the extension program could be applied to properly stored medications.\n\nProPublica asked the FDA whether it could expand its extension program, or something like it, to hospital pharmacies, where drugs are stored in stable conditions similar to the national stockpile.\n\n\u201cThe Agency does not have a position on the concept you have proposed,\u201d an official wrote back in an email.\n\nWhatever the solution, the drug industry will need to be spurred in order to change, says Hussain, the former FDA scientist. \u201cThe FDA will have to take the lead for a solution to emerge,\u201d he says. \u201cWe are throwing away products that are certainly stable, and we need to do something about it.\u201d", "output": "Hospitals and pharmacies are required to toss expired drugs, no matter how expensive or vital. Meanwhile, the FDA has long known that many remain safe and potent for years longer.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Obamacare Exchanges In Limbo \n About Capitol Desk Capitol Desk delivers the latest in health care policy and politics from Sacramento and around the state. Have an idea? Let us know.\n\nCalifornia\u2019s Obamacare exchange scrubbed its annual rate announcement this week, the latest sign of how the ongoing political drama over the Affordable Care Act is roiling insurance markets nationwide.\n\nCovered California might not wrap up negotiations with insurers and announce 2018 premiums for its 1.4 million customers until mid-August \u2014 about a month later than usual. Similar scenarios are playing out across the country as state officials and insurers demand clarity on health care rules and funding, with deadlines fast approaching for the start of open enrollment this fall.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s insane,\u201d said John Baackes, CEO of L.A. Care Health Plan, which has about 26,000 customers on the California exchange. \u201cHere we are in the middle of July and we don\u2019t even know what rules we will be operating under for open enrollment. It is not how you want to run a business.\u201d\n\nConsumers could face sharply higher premiums and fewer choices if more health insurers leave the insurance marketplaces due to lingering uncertainty. State and industry officials around the United States are concerned that the federal government could stop funding so-called cost-sharing subsidies that reduce out-of-pocket costs for low-income consumers. And they worry the Trump administration won\u2019t enforce the individual mandate that requires people to purchase health coverage or pay a penalty.\n\nThe National Association of Insurance Commissioners has called on the Trump administration and Congress to fully fund the cost-sharing subsidies. And the insurance commissioners of Washington state and California have warned that premiums will rise without enforcement of the ACA\u2019s coverage mandate.\n\nUse Our Content This story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nAmid those concerns, there was a sense of relief Tuesday among many exchange officials and insurers after the U.S. Senate\u2019s latest attempt to replace the Affordable Care Act failed.\n\nTwo large insurer trade groups bluntly warned last week that parts of the Senate plan were \u201cunworkable\u201d and could plunge the market into chaos. In a letter to the Senate, America\u2019s Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association particularly objected to an amendment by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) that would have allowed insurers to sell bare-bones health plans to people who wanted cheaper premiums. That provision, the insurers said, would split the market between the healthy and the sick, driving up costs for people with preexisting conditions.\n\nHowever, the Republicans\u2019 failure to pass that ACA replacement plan did not resolve questions swirling around the current health law.\n\nTuesday, President Donald Trump expressed disappointment at the outcome in the Senate, telling reporters, \u201cWe\u2019ll let Obamacare fail and then the Democrats are going to come to us and they\u2019re going to say, \u2018How do we fix it?\u2019\u201d\n\nSome Senate Republicans struck a more conciliatory tone, suggesting that lawmakers should work on a bipartisan measure that would help stabilize the individual insurance markets.\n\nSen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said he plans to hold hearings in the coming weeks on ways to shore up the individual insurance market. Lawmakers may look at creating a new stabilization fund that helps compensate insurers for higher-cost patients. Such a fund would be similar to one that existed during the first three years of the ACA exchanges.\n\nSome insurance industry executives welcomed the talk of bipartisanship, but they said action must be taken quickly to resolve key issues affecting consumers.\n\n\u201cWe are running out of time and we need a resolution on what we are charging for 2018,\u201d said Gary Cohen, vice president of public affairs at Blue Shield of California in San Francisco, the largest Covered California insurer by enrollment.\n\nCohen, who helped launch the exchanges in 2014 as an official in the Obama administration, noted that the Republican bills in both the House and Senate included money for reinsurance that can help lower premiums industrywide. Those provisions are among the \u201cimmediate steps Congress and the Trump administration need to take in order for markets to provide coverage that is affordable.\u201d\n\nA federal reinsurance program helps compensate insurers for the high costs incurred by the sickest patients. That, in turn, allows health plans to keep their overall premiums lower and attract healthier customers into the insurance pool.\n\nLawmakers could also appropriate federal funds for the cost-sharing subsidies, which have a price tag of about $7 billion a year. Those payments, made directly to insurers, help reduce deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs for policyholders who earn up to 250 percent of the federal poverty level. This year, that\u2019s up to about $29,000 for an individual or around $61,000 for a family of four. More than half of the people enrolled on exchanges nationwide qualify for this financial assistance.\n\nWithout it, many consumers would face annual deductibles of $2,000 or more when visiting the doctor or undergoing medical tests. That would make people far less likely to sign up with participating insurers.\n\nConservatives in Congress oppose the subsidies, calling them a bailout of the insurance industry and arguing that the Obama administration didn\u2019t have the authority to pay them. Trump has repeatedly threatened to cut off those cost-sharing subsidies as well.\n\nWith their future up in the air, some states, including California and Pennsylvania, allowed insurers to submit two sets of proposed premiums. One filing reflects continued federal funding of those subsidies, and a separate one assumes they are eliminated and their cost is included in health plan premiums.\n\nIn Pennsylvania, premiums next year without the subsidies would increase by an average of 20 percent, compared with 9 percent if they remained intact.\n\nPennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Teresa Miller said the market in her state would be in good shape without the uncertainty over federal policy. \u201cThe only thing right now keeping everyone on edge is what\u2019s going to happen in Washington, D.C.,\u201d Miller said. \u201cIf things calm down in D.C. and if we don\u2019t see further changes, then Pennsylvania\u2019s market really is stabilizing.\u201d\n\nOn Tuesday, Covered California said the two different rate filings its health plans submitted will be released Aug. 1. The exchange may announce that same day what the final premiums are, or it could postpone the decision for several more weeks if Congress has begun to pursue fixes to the ACA.\n\n\u201cThis decision is based on the ongoing federal uncertainty around the repeal and replacement attempts of the Affordable Care Act and the dramatic potential impacts such uncertainty has on the rates and on California consumers,\u201d the exchange said in a statement.\n\nA recent analysis commissioned by Covered California estimated that premiums for silver-tier plans would jump by 16.6 percent if the federal government stopped paying for the cost-sharing subsidies. That would be in addition to normal increases meant to cover rising medical costs. An exchange spokeswoman declined to comment further Tuesday, citing the ongoing developments in Washington.\n\nIn the Florida exchange market, health insurers have sought an average rate increase of nearly 18 percent. But Florida Blue, the state\u2019s largest health insurer, said those rates would go even higher if the cost-sharing reduction payments disappeared.\n\nRobert Laszewski, an industry consultant in Virginia and a frequent ACA critic, said the exchange markets aren\u2019t imploding, despite what the Trump administration has often said. But their premiums will continue to rise unless more young and healthy people are persuaded to buy coverage, he said.\n\n\u201cI think most insurance companies will at least break even, or even make a profit, in 2018,\u201d Laszewski said. \u201cCoverage will be \u2018stable,\u2019 but it will stabilize at a horrific premium rate level.\u201d\n\nEric Whitney, Abe Aboraya and Ben Allen contributed to this story.", "output": "California\u2019s Obamacare exchange scrubbed its annual rate announcement this week, the latest sign of how the ongoing political drama over the Affordable Care Act is roiling insurance markets nationwide.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurtech start-up Visicover teams with Allianz on plane coverage \n Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) announced it has formed a partnership agreement with insurtech company, Visicover.\n\nVisicover\u2019s existing and new aeroplane and helicopter insurance products now will be underwritten by AGCS, which also will provide claims management services.\n\nCustomers buy their aircraft insurance online with Visicover, which also enables them to self-administer their policies including renewals, said AGCS, which is Allianz Group\u2019s corporate & specialty insurance business,\n\n\u201cThe aviation industry is undergoing significant change. New technologies are impacting companies\u2019 risks, creating new and eliminating old risks,\u201d said Tom Chamberlain, AGCS\u2019 underwriting manager for Aerospace and General Aviation.\n\nThis new partnership with Visicover aligns with Allianz\u2019 strategy \u201cto focus on new distribution channels for our products and, in particular, explore ways to enhance the customer journey in an increasingly digital world,\u201d he added.\n\n\u201cThrough working with Visicover, we will be part of the innovative drive to understand how new technologies and insurance propositions can benefit the customer and how they will develop in the future,\u201d Chamberlain went on to say.\n\n\u201cThe original vision for Visicover was to create a better solution based on simple flexible products, lower premiums and online self-servicing so that aircraft owners could manage their cover themselves,\u201d said Jan Houlberg, managing director, Visicover.\n\n\u201cSince launching only four years ago, we\u2019ve taken a significant share of the general aviation insurance market,\u201d he noted. \u201cAllianz is the ideal partner as we look to increase our presence and expand our offering in the aviation space and look to move into other markets.\u201d\n\nVisicover detailed key points about its service, which included:\n\nMost eligible customers can get a quote and buy their policy in under 10 minutes.\n\nCustomers can pay their premiums in full or opt to pay a 30 percent deposit and spread the balance over eight monthly, interest free installments.\n\nCustomers only pay for the cover they want. Some insurers include \u201cfree\u201d covers, but, in reality, the customer pays for them in their premiums whether they want them or not.\n\nCustomers are in control and can change their cover when they need to, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, which removes the need to wait in a broker\u2019s office or phoning a call center.\n\nA 24-hour phone line is provided for claims notification and management queries.\n\nDocuments are saved online so customers can access them at any time and see their complete policy history.\n\nSource: Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS)\n\nTopics Mergers & Acquisitions InsurTech Tech Aviation", "output": "UK-based online aircraft insurance start-up Visicover has signed a partnership agreement with Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS), as the four-year-old firm seeks to expand its presence in the aviation market. Tom Chamberlain, AGCS\u2019s underwriting manager for aerospace and general aviation, said the deal allowed AGCS to \"focus on new distribution channels for our products and, in particular, explore ways to enhance the customer journey\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "With Obamacare repeal off the table, will Republicans start trying to actually improve healthcare? \n Millions of Americans whose healthcare coverage was imperiled can breathe a sigh of relief now that congressional Republicans\u2019 reckless efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act have foundered. They can thank a handful of courageous moderates in the Senate Republican Caucus for being unwilling to repeal the ACA without having a replacement ready that wouldn\u2019t make matters worse for their constituents.\n\nMerely stopping bad legislation, however, won\u2019t solve the problems that helped to drive the \u201crepeal and replace\u201d effort this year. Major insurers have withdrawn from the individual market in several states, leaving some counties with no one to serve residents who don\u2019t have coverage through their jobs, Medicare or Medicaid. And other counties are seeing staggering premium increases. At least some of these problems resulted directly from the crippling uncertainties created by Republican policymakers.\n\nWith characteristic graciousness, President Trump has now called on Congress to \u201clet Obamacare fail,\u201d something made only more likely by his ongoing efforts to sabotage it. Meanwhile, Senate Republican leaders say they\u2019ll vote next week on the repeal bill, evidently for no better reason than to prove they can\u2019t pass it. That\u2019s a waste of time. The responsible thing to do would be to shore up the markets created by the ACA for individual policies. This needs to be done soon, given that insurers have to set their offerings and rates for 2018 within the next couple of months.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe problems start with the uncertainty over who will sign up for coverage and how much it will cost \u2014 a situation that applies to states with robust individual markets, such as California, as well as to those with ailing ones, such as Iowa and Tennessee.\n\nThe Trump administration can\u2019t continue to disregard the ACA\u2019s mandate that adult Americans obtain insurance, at least not without an alternative way to persuade healthy people to sign up. Otherwise, insurers will have too few healthy people and too many costly ones in their risk pools. Congress and the administration also need to commit publicly to paying for the subsidies that the law requires insurers to provide to low-income consumers for out-of-pocket costs. The threats to the mandate and the subsidies have led some insurers to drop out of the market and others to seek larger rate hikes, further discouraging healthy consumers from buying insurance.\n\nThose steps may not be enough to help some less populous states, where too much cost is being spread across too few people. Reviving the ACA\u2019s reinsurance program for health insurers there would help hold down premiums.\n\nThere\u2019s broad consensus within the industry about the need to make these moves. The problem is that Republicans have campaigned against some or even all of them. Now, however, they\u2019ll have to put politics aside in order to spare the individual markets in their states the chaos they\u2019ve set in motion.\n\nFollow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook", "output": "Millions of Americans whose healthcare coverage was imperiled can breathe a sigh of relief now that congressional Republicans\u2019 reckless efforts to dismantle the\u00a0Affordable Care Act\u00a0have foundered.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regulatory Decisions Inconsistent With High-Value Health Care System \n Despite a desire to transition the United States to a health system that rewards value over volume, which was evidenced in the bipartisan approach to the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, too many regulatory decisions on issues of reimbursement still encourage high-volume, hospital-based providers over independent community physician practices. As the public conversation remains acutely focused on legislative efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, important policy and statutory changes must occur in order to prioritize truly site-neutral payments and transform the U.S. health care system into one that optimizes the value care model.\n\nA notable example of this type of biased policy, which restricts free market competition while augmenting more expensive site-of-service care, is the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services\u2019s approach to the Final Rule for the Medicare Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System and the Medicare ambulatory surgical center payment system.\n\nSpecifically, the Final Rule creates an interim policy that appears to contradict the language and purpose of Section 603 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, which equalizes Medicare reimbursement between off-campus hospital departments and other sites of service. Without certain revisions, CMS will have created an exemption so large that \u201cthe exemption will swallow the rule\u201d and prevent the implementation of a site-neutral payment structure as Congress directed.\n\nThe Final Rule appears to remove all limitations on the services for which an off-campus provider-based department \u2014 essentially a freestanding facility or practice purchased by a hospital \u2014 may bill under the OPPS, even if these services are entirely different from the types of services the PBD provided prior to Nov. 2, 2015. That means the physician practice I used to compete against that sold out to a hospital is now able to expand its services and get paid more for the same services. How does this further the goals of developing a high-value health system that controls cost?\n\nWithin the last several months, the failings of the government\u2019s approach to site-neutral payments were highlighted with the release of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission\u2019s March 2017 Report to Congress on Medicare Payment Policy. Although overshadowed at the time by the frenzy of the repeal and replace debate, the report is important because MedPAC once again reiterated the site-neutral payment recommendations it has stated repeatedly over the years, which are different than CMS\u2019s Final Rule.\n\nWritten after the adoption of the OPPS rule, MedPAC clearly felt CMS still did not go far enough with site-neutral payments. As a physician leading an independent, specialty medical practice I cannot stress how critical it is for policymakers to look closer at the disparity between the goals for a high-value system and the reality of CMS\u2019s final OPPS rule. Every day my colleagues and I offer quality, cost-efficient care that produces excellent patient outcomes. We do this while competing daily with hospitals\u2019 aggressive expansion plans and purchase of independent physician practices and off-campus service providers that limit patient choice and increase costs. There is no reason hospitals should be paid more to deliver the same care.\n\nFor physicians within the Large Urology Group Practice Association, the creation of a truly site-neutral reimbursement system is the only way to achieve Congress\u2019s goal of curbing the practice of hospital acquisition of physician practices \u2014 a practice that results in additional out-of-pocket costs for Medicare beneficiaries and greater expenses for the healthcare system as a whole.\n\nMy colleagues and I, who provide high-quality care in independent settings, are hopeful that the new administration will work to resolve the inconsistent implementation of regulations that govern how we transition to a high-value care system. This issue is too important to get pushed aside. America\u2019s independent physician group practices stand ready to assist.\n\nNeal Shore, MD, FACS, is the president of LUGPA, a trade association representing the independent urology group practices in the United States, and more than 2,200 physicians who make up more than 25 percent of the nation\u2019s practicing urologists and provide more than 30 percent of the total urologic care in the U.S.\n\nMorning Consult welcomes op-ed submissions on policy, politics and business strategy in our coverage areas. Updated submission guidelines can be found here.", "output": "Despite a desire to transition the United States to a health system that rewards value over volume, which was evidenced in the bipartisan approach to the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, too many regulatory decisions on issues of reimbursement still encourage high-volume, hospital-based providers over independent community physician practices.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Self-perceptions of aging \n Credit: University of Michigan\n\nIn the 1960s, the Beatles sang about wondering whether their true love would still love them as they grew older\u2014after they've lost their hair and are no more adventurous than wanting to knit a sweater.\n\nA group of four studies led by University of Michigan researchers has found that however the hero of the Beatles song turns out, his health\u2014and his wife's health\u2014may be dictated by their perceptions of their own aging.\n\n\"Beliefs about one's own aging are shared within couples, and these beliefs are predictive of future health above and beyond individual beliefs,\" said Shannon Mejia, a postdoctoral fellow at U-M's Institute for Social Research. \"Husbands' and wives' individual experiences of physical activity and disease burden are important for their current shared beliefs and future functional health.\"\n\nThat is, couples who tend to view their aging negatively tend to become less healthy and less mobile than couples who view their aging positively. In addition, husbands' disease burden shape their attitudes toward both their own aging and their wives' aging. Mejia and colleagues surmise that the husbands' limitations stemming from disease negatively affect the wives' health because of the increased burden of caregiving.\n\nJennifer Sun, an M.D./Ph.D. candidate at the U-M Medical School who conducted the research as a psychology doctoral candidate, found that a person's self-perception of aging affects whether he or she accesses health care in a timely fashion. She found that the more negatively a person viewed his or her aging, the more likely he or she was to delay seeking health care and the more barriers he or she saw for seeking care.\n\nThis association between negative self-perceptions of aging and health care delay persisted even after Sun controlled for problems that can delay health care, such as low socioeconomic status, lack of health insurance and multiple chronic health conditions.\n\n\"While many studies have focused on financial and structural barriers to care, it is also important to consider how psychosocial, emotional and cognitive factors are affecting the decisions of older adults to delay medical care,\" Sun said.\n\nA third study authored by U-M doctoral candidate Hannah Giasson found that people who experience age discrimination feel less positive about their own aging.\n\nA fourth study found that as people aged, their explicit bias toward older people\u2014or how they would talk out loud about how they felt toward fellow older adults\u2014improved as they aged. But their implicit bias\u2014how they felt internally about fellow older adults\u2014became more negative as they aged. Giasson and William Chopik, a Michigan State University researcher, led this study.\n\nThe papers are published today in a special supplement to the August issue of The Gerontologist.\n\n\"We're interested in the way people interpret their own lives,\" said Jacqui Smith, the principal investigator of a project on well-being in midlife and old age and second author on some of the published papers.\n\n\"We know that the images in the world and age stereotypes play a role in how people perceive their own aging. But subtle experiences of discrimination in interactions with strangers and sometimes with your own kids or partner\u2014that is feedback that people take to heart and either rebel against it or begin to believe it.\"\n\nThe AARP supported the publishing of the supplement ahead of the annual meeting of the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics.\n\n\"Wherever these negative perceptions come from, the damage can be profound\u2014for individuals, communities and larger populations,\" said AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins. \"We need to change the conversation about age and aging in this country. It's not about being 'polite.' It's a necessity.\"", "output": "In the 1960s, the Beatles sang about wondering whether their true love would still love them as they grew older\u2014after they've lost their hair and are no more adventurous than wanting to knit a sweater. A group of four studies led by University of Michigan researchers has found that however, the hero of the Beatles song turns out, his health\u2014and his wife's health\u2014may be dictated by their perceptions of their own aging.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The US Loses Ground in Providing Retirement Security to Baby Boomers \n A new global index of best practices by policy makers, employers and asset managers found that the United States is losing ground in providing economic and financial security and improved health care services to its 75 million baby boomers.\n\nWhile more homogenous and much smaller Scandinavian and European countries lead the world in forging a sound and humane retirement policies, the United States ranked only 17th among 43 countries in shoring up retirement security, according to the fifth annual Natixis Global Retirement Index released on Wednesday.\n\nRelated: The Biggest Regret for People Approaching Retirement\n\nThe index provides an overall retirement security score based on 18 key drivers of retiree well-being across the four broad categories of finances, health, material well-being and quality of Life. The latest U.S. ranking is three steps below its global rating a year ago.\n\nWhile the U.S. enjoys the fifth highest income per capita and pours more money into the health care system than any other country, the new global index highlights many troubling developments that are making the U.S. a more hostile environment for an aging population than before.\n\nAmong those are:\n\nA growing income disparity between the ultra rich and the poor and middle class. The U.S. registered the sixth lowest score of any country for income inequality compared to the previous year in the \u201cmaterial well-being\u201d category.\n\n\u201cThe results suggest that millions of lower-income Americans are missing out on that economic growth and may struggle to save for a secure retirement as a result,\u201d the report stated.\n\nA BlackRock survey last year said the average baby boomer approaching retirement, defined as 55 to 65 years old, has $136,200 saved for retirement, a relatively modest amount. When additional savings and compound growth are factored in, that typically translates into $9,129 a year beyond Social Security and other pensions.\n\nRelated: The 25 Best Cities for Retirement\n\nA lagging life expectancy despite arguably one of the best health care systems in the world. The U.S. spends more per capita on healthcare than any other country and has the sixth-highest score for insured expenditures on health. Yet, the United States ranked just 30th in life expectancy \u2013 failing to keep pace with top-ranked Japan and other countries. That suggests that \u201cits health expenditures may not be yielding the same return on investment,\u201d the report states.\n\nThis is a slightly skewed statistic because of America\u2019s involvement in two wars and its ongoing opioid crisis.\n\nBetween 1980 and 2014, life expectancy at birth increased by 5.3 years for both men and women, from 73.8 years to 79.1 years. However, experts say the numbers aren\u2019t the same everywhere, with substantial differences from county to county.\n\nA mixed message of stability from financial institutions. The U.S. remained among the top ten countries in terms of strength and dependability of their financial institutions, largely because of improvements in bank \u201cnon-performing loans\u201d and federal debt levels.\n\nHowever, the U.S. has the seventh-highest public debt to GDP ratio of any country, as well as a growing adverse ratio of retirees to employment-age adults. That mismatch between the number of Americans working and paying taxes and retirees drawing down on entitlement benefits is putting added stress on the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds, which are gradually running out of money.\n\nRelated: Trump\u2019s Tax Plan Could Affect Your Social Security\n\nAt the same time, low-interest rates and tax pressures \u201cnegatively affect savings rates and income in retirement, according to the report.\n\nEd Farrington, executive vice president of retirement for Natixis Global Asset Management, said in a statement that the new index underscores the fact that retirement security \u201cis a complex, multi-dimension issue that is vastly influenced by a nation\u2019s policies, politics and economics.\u201d\n\nOn a regional basis, the top 10 countries in the 2017 index include eight from Western Europe. Norway leads the way, followed by Switzerland, Iceland, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. New Zealand and Australia round out the group.\n\nResidents of these countries benefit from a \u201ccombination of strong programs, widely accessible health care and low levels of income inequality.\u201d\n\nRelated: A New Plan to Save Social Security for Another 75 Years\n\nThe study found that rapid growth of the elderly population is forcing many countries to rethink and revamp their public pension systems. Many pension managers \u201care under pressure as increased lifespans and a long period of historically low-interest rates had increased liabilities and created a funding shortfall,\u201d according to the report.\n\nIndeed, the world\u2019s six largest pension savings systems, including that of the United States, are projected to reach a $224 trillion funding gap by 2010, according to a study by the World Economic Forum.\n\nThat concern about mounting unfunded liabilities has prompted significant changes in employer retirement plans. Many companies and organizations have frozen or jettisoned traditional plans and moved to \u201cdefined contribution plans\u201d that shift the liability for retirement funding from the employer to the worker.", "output": "A new global index of best practices by policy makers, employers and asset managers found that the United States is losing ground in providing economic and financial security and improved health care services to its 75 million baby boomers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Spread of digital advertising is damaging\u00a0creativity, claims CEO \n Recently I looked through various \u2018greatest Ads of all times\u2019 lists, and one thing struck me. They are largely all TV-led. For example, the biggest global advertising event is arguably the Super Bowl in the USA, where every year agencies try to outdo each other creatively.\n\nThese ads hit the headlines worldwide; with a casual Google search, one can bring up a stack of features on Super Bowl advertising.\n\nIf you didn\u2019t know any better, based on those articles you\u2019d think that traditional channels, in particular TV, still eat up the lion\u2019s share of brands\u2019 advertising budgets.\n\nBut that is not so. For example, if you look at the UK, digital advertising overtook TV advertising spend as far back as 2009. Other markets have been slower to catch up, but according to Zenith, globally, internet advertising spend this year will be worth $205 billion compared to $192 billion for TV. So why aren\u2019t we seeing the same kind of creativity online as we are in traditional media? There are a few reasons:\n\nSocial media is the great leveller but it has also reduced quality\n\nFirst of all, the growth of social media has lowered the bar to allow anyone to advertise, but it has also seen a decrease in the quality of online ads.\n\nA recent Digiday article talked about Snapchat loosening its ad criteria and as a result opened the floodgate to \u201cbad ads.\u201d The article points out that \u201ca drift to low-quality ads seems to go along with a platform\u2019s maturity.\u201d\n\nSo for example, Instagram founder Kevin Systrom used to approve every single ad that appeared on the platform to make sure it had the right quality and fit. Now, you can put anything out on Instagram provided you abide by Facebook\u2019s ad guidelines.\n\nA knock-on effect is that where brands used to engage creative teams at ad agencies to come up with ad concepts, often a social media or PR agency is now briefed to knock up something quick and cheap using nothing more sophisticated than free online tools such as Canva.\n\nDon\u2019t get me wrong, I think it\u2019s a good thing that digital advertising is so accessible. But at the same time, there should not be a trade off in creativity. After all you might \u2018only\u2019 spend $100 or $1000, but if it\u2019s a bad and low quality ad, it\u2019s still a waste of money.\n\nAs a result, I believe there\u2019s a need for creative agencies to reassert themselves as brand guardians on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.\n\nA lot of online advertising tends to be formulaic and project based\n\nRelated to the last point, an opinion piece from The Drum in May points out that projects are killing creativity. Essentially the focus is often on tactical executions rather on creative themes and campaigns.\n\nFor example, brands scramble to get \u2018something viral\u2019 out around events such as Mother's Day where the only success metric is the popularity of the video, and as people reading this blog will know, a video view for Facebook has been as little as three seconds, which is arguably worthless. As a result, focusing on one-off projects means there\u2019s a lack of an overall creative theme.\n\nThe Facebook / Google duopoly means other options aren\u2019t considered\n\nAccording to the most recent Mary Meeker Internet trends report, 85% of online advertising growth is driven by Facebook and Google, leading to what the Financial Times last year called an online advertising \u201cduopoly.\"\n\nThere are good reasons for advertisers to like Facebook and Google. Facebook gives you a lot of user data and all marketers understand the power of Google search. But the focus on Google and Facebook, and its associated businesses such as YouTube and Instagram, means a lot of other options aren\u2019t considered.\n\nWe\u2019ve worked with a range of leading media buying agencies that are aware of the possibilities that rich media advertising offers, but for many others it isn\u2019t yet on their radar.\n\nMore choice and some of the new ad formats we offer enable a more creative scope. Rich media ads have demonstrated strong results for brands, and this means more effective advertising overall.\n\nAs a result, my advice for brands and creative agencies is to get a tighter reign on the creative direction of an online ad campaign \u2014 to look at overall creative themes that span across different channels. Then break out of the Facebook / Google duopoly to explore other ad formats that provide more scope for creativity and more tangible results.\n\nEric Visser is the founder and chief executive of JustPremium", "output": "Ad agencies need to get a tighter grip on the creative direction of campaigns and ensure their themes span different channels to combat not only the Facebook-Google duopoly\u00a0but also the rise of poor-quality ads, wrote Eric Visser, the CEO of JustPremium. He said the looser criteria\u00a0for\u00a0ad campaigns on social media\u00a0is partly to blame for\u00a0a drop in quality, with\u00a0campaigns focusing on tactical executions rather\u00a0creative themes. Mary Meeker's latest recent trends report said 85% of online advertising growth is driven by Facebook and Google.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WTW launches vPlace virtual actuarial office in cost-cutting move \n The SaaS platform has been developed to address legacy technologies shortcomings, reducing IT costs and finding more efficient ways to respond to business and regulatory pressures.\n\n(Image credit: Adobe Stock.)\n\nWillis Towers Watson (London), a global advisory, broking and solutions company, has launched vPlace, which the vendor describes as a virtual, actuarial workspace that brings the company\u2019s insurance software to the cloud. The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform has been developed to help meet the industry\u2019s need to reduce IT costs and find more efficient ways to respond to business and regulatory pressures, which legacy IT infrastructure is failing to address, according to a Willis Towers Watson statement.\n\nPowered by Microsoft (Redmond, Wash.) Azure, vPlace overcomes the limitations of legacy IT by giving insurance clients an agile, alternative environment to host and manage their Willis Towers Watson software and supplementary actuarial programs. The vendor says that vPlace, software is enabled to run at peak performance, supporting insurers\u2019 ability to effectively respond to fluctuating industry pressures, maximizing their software investment.\n\nRespond to Changing Needs of The Business Economically\n\n\u201cShorter reporting timelines are pushing insurers to do more in less time, and traditional on-premise infrastructures are struggling to remain fit for purpose,\u201d comments Stephen Hollands, SaaS global product leader, Willis Towers Watson. \u201cHaving a virtual workspace in the cloud, supported by our risk and actuarial software experts, allows insurers more time to respond to the changing needs of the business without having to spend huge sums on purchasing, updating and maintaining onsite infrastructure.\u201d\n\nvPlace is built on Azure Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and deployed over Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (RDS) as the platform for delivering its thick client applications. The solution layers on Azure Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solutions to enhance that core platform. For example, the vendor notes, using Azure SQL Database to host its RDS connection broker enables Willis Towers Watson to support this small but critical database without the added costs of an expensive multi-node SQL cluster.\n\nWillis Towers Watson lists key benefits of vPlace as follows:\n\nA fully managed actuarial Software-as-a-Service\u2014removing the burden from internal IT of installing and managing specialized actuarial systems\n\nAutomatic software updates to ensure users are always working with the latest version in an optimized environment\u2014enabling them to benefit from Willis Towers Watson\u2019s suite of actuarial software products\n\nSeamless user experience provided through an easy-to-use interface that hosts their software applications and data in a central location, allowing for easy cross-tool collaboration\n\nIncreased speed and performance of software by removing workload from onsite desktop PCs to limit system conflict\n\nUse of leading cloud-based security services with exceptional privacy credentials, as well as built-in disaster recovery\n\nHigh-quality, specialist client services and expert support available 24/7\n\nAccessible from anywhere, at any time\u2014removing the reliance and constraints of traditional desktop PCs\n\nCost-effective way to implement and manage actuarial technology\n\nRiskAgility FM in vPlace fully supports vGrid 2.0, the latest version of Willis Towers Watson\u2019s flexible and highly scalable cloud-based computation grid service\n\nFlexible and Cost-Effective\n\n\u201cTo expand computing capacity enough to meet regulations and compete in the market, insurers that rely on on-premises technology will have to invest heavily in infrastructure, which may quickly become obsolete,\u201d comments Jonathan Silverman, director, business development, Microsoft Corp. \u201cBy leveraging high-performance compute capacity in Microsoft Azure, vPlace gives insurers a solution for their risk and actuarial software challenges that is both flexible and cost effective.\u201d\n\nWillis Towers Watson reports that vPlace can accommodate a range of the vendor\u2019s risk and actuarial software products and other supplementary actuarial programs to enable them to work together. The vendor\u2019s RiskAgility Financial Modeller (FM) is the first of its actuarial software products to be hosted on vPlace, with other products scheduled to join over the coming year.", "output": "London-based global advisory firm Willis Towers Watson has launched vPlace, a fully managed actuarial Software-as-a-Service insurance platform. The platform is aimed at reducing internal IT costs and offering a more nimble response to regulatory challenges than traditional\u00a0legacy infrastructure, according to a company statement. vPlace is constructed on Microsoft's Azure Infrastructure-as-a-Service, with layered-on Azure Platform-as-a-Service solutions."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google opens Expeditions VR education app for public use \n In 2015, Google launched a pilot program of its Expeditions software that let teachers take their students on VR explorations of various sites around the world. A few months later, it released a beta version of its Expeditions app for certain schools to try out, which was then released for anyone to use in June of last year. Today, Google announced that its now releasing a solo mode for the app that makes it easier for users to take tours outside of a classroom setting.\n\nPreviously, Google Expeditions allowed teachers to guide their students through a tour as they viewed it on phones enclosed in Google's Cardboard viewers. Now, with Self-Guided Expeditions, teachers can assign tours as homework and anyone else can easily explore on their own. In Explorer mode, points of interest will be highlighted and relevant information will be provided on the screen. Additionally, teachers will now be able to annotate screens as they guide their students through a tour.\n\nGoogle Expeditions has over 600 different tours including the Seven Modern Wonders of the World, the Great Barrier Reef and even sites like baseball stadiums and solar power plants. For now, the app is only available for Android, but Google says an iOS version is in the works.", "output": "Google has launched a solo version of its virtual reality Expeditions app, allowing users to enjoy the software outside of a classroom setting. The tool, called Self-Guided Expeditions, enables tours to be taken as homework, and allows individuals to explore on their own. The app is currently available for Android, with an iOS version set to follow.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Park24 makes $408m acquisition of UK's National Car Parks \n TOKYO -- Japanese parking lot operator Park24 said Friday that it will acquire British peer National Car Parks, jointly with the Development Bank of Japan.\n\nThe deal is valued at roughly 312 million pounds ($408 million). Park24 will set up a U.K. subsidiary this month to buy a 51% stake in the British company for about 159 million pounds. The DBJ will take the rest.", "output": "Japanese parking lot operator Park24 is set to acquire the UK's National Car Parks (NCP), in a deal worth around \u00a3312m ($408m). The purchase, a joint venture with the Development Bank of Japan, will give Park24 a 51% stake in NCP in its first foray into Europe, with the bank taking the remaining share. The acquisition could lead to greater investment in technology, including contactless payment across NCP assets, as less than 30% currently offer the service to customers, according to Paul Gallagher, a consultant in JLL's automotive team.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "A self-extending robot creeps out of Stanford's lab \n tech2 News Staff\n\nVines, fungi and nerve cells have inspired a team of researchers to develop a new type of robot that uses growth for mobility. The robot is soft and flexible, and can adapt itself to navigate through obstacles that conventional robots find difficult to tackle. The researchers created a number of prototypes that can grow into freestanding structures, reach a designated goal, or move through various obstacles. The new type of soft robot can potentially used for disaster response and medical purposes.\n\nThe results of the research have been published in Science Robotics. Allison Okamura, senior author of the paper says, \"Essentially, we\u2019re trying to understand the fundamentals of this new approach to getting mobility or movement out of a mechanism. It\u2019s very, very different from the way that animals or people get around the world.\"\n\nThe robot prototypes were made up of thin plastic tubes that were inflated with air, which can also be replaced with pumped water. A control system that can inflate only portions of the body of the robot, can be used to make it maneuver to the left or right. The robot could navigate through glue, pointed nails, up an icy wall to deliver a sensor that could be used to find out the carbon dioxide levels in a fire. In another demonstration, the robot grew under the gap of a door, and formed a free standing spiral structure which was used to broadcast a radio signal.\n\nThe robot can find its own way to navigate through cluttered environments, and one prototype was used to move through the wiring in a false ceiling. A camera can be mounted at the end of the robot, which can be used for search and rescue operations, and for controlling the movement of the robot. The robots can also be used to lift weights, and one prototype was used to lift a 100 kg crate.", "output": "Researchers at Stanford University have developed a soft and flexible robot that grows its way around obstacles, according to an article in Science Robotics. The thin plastic tube prototypes were filled with air or water, while a control system inflated the part of the robot required to move. In one demonstration, the robot moved through glue, past pointed nails and up an icy wall to deliver a sensor to detect the carbon dioxide levels in a fire, while, in another test, the robot lifted a 100kg crate.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Semi-autonomous Mercedes automatically adjusts its steering \n Robocars are a bit like infants\u2014we teach them in steps. First, humans gave them the ability to drive down the highway without smashing into things. Then humans taught them to change lanes without smashing into things. Now, self-driving vehicles finally mastering taking turns without smashing into things. The methodical German engineers behind the 2018 Mercedes-Benz S-Class want their baby to move beyond simplistic freeway driving, and onto the roads that wind through towns, villages, and cities. You know, the complicated ones.\n\nThe Mercedes flagship\u2019s secret sauce is in its updated semi-autonomous adaptive cruise control. This newly juiced system has the car automatically slow down for turns in the road ahead to help the driver steer safely through. It also comes with an updated lane-change assist, meant to make the maneuver easier (and safer) for human drivers.\n\nSome of this is helpful. During a test-drive, I was impressed by how well the S-Class handled funky road features like roundabouts and toll booths. But there are still parts of the semi-autonomous driving system that can be unsettling for drivers.\n\nIt points to the awkward challenge of sort-of self-driving systems: How do automakers notify the people behind the wheel when they, and not the machines, should take charge? And is there such a thing as too much information? It\u2019s why well-crafted driver interfaces are so critical, providing steady awareness of what the vehicle is doing. The S-Class fixes most of the problems with Mercedes\u2019 earlier systems, with crisp monitoring graphics that are easy to read and use. But like any growing child, the semi-autonomous vehicle has its own quirks.\n\nMercedes-Benz\n\nTwisty Turns\n\nMercedes can credit some of the new S-Class breakthroughs to maps. \u201cThere are situations in the road ahead that neither cameras or sensors can see, but which the computer can prepare for by folding in map data,\u201d says Mercedes engineer Bernhard Weidemann.\n\nAs a result, the vehicle can now automatically adjust its steering and speed based on the tortuous road up ahead. It will even modulate its approach based on your own strange driving preferences. Drivers can select one of three modes: in eco mode, you\u2019ll get a more leisurely maneuver; in comfort mode, a faster turn; in sport mode, you\u2019ll rocket through like Lewis Hamilton tackling a chicane at Monaco. The car also factors in downhill slopes by gently decelerating the vehicle, which should make otherwise leery semi-autonomous drivers a bit more chill about a robot making their turns for them. Now drivers won\u2019t have to keep disengaging their cruise systems to deal with squiggly lines on the map. It makes for a relaxing drive, like playing a racing game with the assists turned on.\n\nAdventures in Lane Changing\n\nBut the semi-autonomous cruise functions still aren\u2019t perfect. Unlike a (good) human motorist, the car won\u2019t wait for breaks in the traffic flow before entering roundabouts. And it won\u2019t know to make a turn after pausing for a stop sign. This is, of course, a semi-autonomous driving system, which means it\u2019s on the driver to monitor the vehicle and make sure it doesn\u2019t do anything dumb.\n\nThe limitations extend to the S-Class\u2019s updated lane changing feature. Once a driver tells the new car to change lanes, it will watch and wait for an ideal opening\u2014for up to 10 seconds. The idea here is to nix the driver\u2019s workload. The machine is better than you, Mercedes posits, so it will select the best time to shift lanes.\n\nBut this feature introduces the possibility that the driver might actually forget they\u2019ve asked for a lane change, and be very surprised when the change starts happening 10 seconds later. Weidemann, the Mercedes engineer, scoffed at this\u2014but it happened to me within an hour of being in the car.\n\nHuman brains are like that. We lose smartphones we\u2019d been using seconds before and glasses sitting right on our noses. Semi-autonomous driving systems will have to get better at accommodating this everyday human dysfunction. If a robocar can get through a roundabout\u2014the kind of driving move that flummoxes many Americans\u2014a simple lane change maneuver shouldn\u2019t be scary at all.", "output": "Mercedes' semi-autonomous 2018 S-Class features automatically adjusted steering and lane-change assist to ease manoeuvres, and can automatically slow down for turns in the road. The model's updated driving assist system also offers monitoring graphics that are easier to use than earlier systems. In situations where cameras and sensors can't prepare the car for a manoeuvre, the car uses map data to modulate its approach, said Mercedes engineer Bernhard Weidemann. Mercedes will offer the model in eco, comfort and sport modes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Deutsche Bank's relationship with Donald Trump under scrutiny \n During the presidential campaign, Donald J. Trump pointed to his relationship with Deutsche Bank to counter reports that big banks were skeptical of doing business with him.\n\nAfter a string of bankruptcies in his casino and hotel businesses in the 1990s, Mr. Trump became somewhat of an outsider on Wall Street, leaving the giant German bank among the few major financial institutions willing to lend him money.\n\nNow that two-decades-long relationship is coming under scrutiny.\n\nBanking regulators are reviewing hundreds of millions of dollars in loans made to Mr. Trump\u2019s businesses through Deutsche Bank\u2019s private wealth management unit, which caters to an ultrarich clientele, according to three people briefed on the review who were not authorized to speak publicly. The regulators want to know if the loans might expose the bank to heightened risks.\n\nSeparately, Deutsche Bank has been in contact with federal investigators about the Trump accounts, according to two people briefed on the matter. And the bank is expecting to eventually have to provide information to Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel overseeing the federal investigation into the Trump campaign\u2019s ties to Russia.", "output": "Banking regulators are said to be investigating Deutsche Bank's relationship with Donald Trump. Since the 1990s Deutsche Bank has reportedly loaned Trump hundreds of thousands of dollars through its private wealth management unit. The regulators want to know if the loans could expose the bank to heightened risks.\u00a0The German bank is also said to have given loans to Trump's family real estate business, and the president\u2019s son-in-law and Senior Adviser\u00a0Jared Kushner.\u00a0Deutsche Bank is expected to provide additional information to Robert Mueller, who is overseeing the federal investigation into Trump's ties to Russia.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Boots criticised for refusing to cut cost of morning after pill \n There have been calls for a boycott of Boots after the chemist refused to lower the cost of the morning-after pill for fear it would encourage over-use.\n\nRivals Tesco and Superdrug halved the price of the emergency contraceptive following a campaign from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), a leading provider of abortion care.\n\nThe charity had written to retailers asking them to consider offering a more affordable product, after it was revealed that British women are forced to pay up to five times more than their European peers for the contraceptive.\n\nBoots, however, said it would not lower the price as it did not want to be accused of \u201cincentivising inappropriate use\u201d. Campaigners said its statement was insulting and sexist.\n\nAround 4% of British women of reproductive age use emergency contraception in any given year. Boots charges \u00a328.25 for Levonelle emergency contraceptive (the leading brand) and \u00a326.75 for its own generic version. Tesco now charges \u00a313.50 for Levonelle and Superdrug \u00a313.49 for a generic version. In France, the tablet costs \u00a35.50.\n\nA letter seen by the Guardian to BPAS from Marc Donovan, chief pharmacist of Boots UK, said it had considered the issue very carefully, but pointed out that it is already available for free in community pharmacies and NHS services.\n\n\n\nHowever, towards the end of the letter, Donovan wrote: \u201cIn our experience the subject of emergency hormonal contraception polarises public opinion and we receive frequent contact from individuals who voice their disapproval of the fact that the company chooses to provide this service.\n\n\u201cWe would not want to be accused of incentivising inappropriate use, and provoking complaints, by significantly reducing the price of this product.\u201d\n\nBPAS said deliberately setting the price high to prevent women from using it regularly was both \u201cpatronising and insulting\u201d.\n\nClare Murphy, director of external affairs at BPAS, said: \u201cThere is no doubt about it: the high price of [emergency contraception] is an absolute barrier to women\u2019s access to this product and puts women needlessly at risk of unwanted pregnancy.\u201d\n\nMurphy wrote back to Donovan after Tesco and Superdrug reduced the price, asking him to reconsider Boots\u2019 position. \u201cHe wrote back and said they weren\u2019t changing their minds and the letter still stood,\u201d she said.\n\n\n\nSophie Walker, leader of the Women\u2019s Equality Party, which has joined forces with BPAS to call for a boycott using the hashtag #justsaynon, said that the morning-after pill can be difficult to access for free on the NHS, with appointments at GP surgeries or family planning clinics hard to obtain at short notice.\n\nShe said: \u201cMany women will need to buy these pills over the counter, and it is irresponsible and exploitative for retailers to charge over the odds for them ... Boots\u2019 approach to this concern is indicative of a society that prioritises profit over women\u2019s health and wellbeing.\u201d\n\nWhen asked for a comment, Boots released a statement that did not discuss the price, nor its reasons for justifying it being kept high, but instead said the sale of the pill was a \u201cprofessional healthcare service which, we believe, requires a professional healthcare consultation\u201d.\n\nWhen asked if the reason for the higher price was due to the provision of consultations, Boots did not respond with a comment.", "output": "Boots, the UK pharmacy and health and beauty retailer, is facing a boycott after refusing to reduce the cost of the morning-after pill. While Tesco and Superdrug cut the price of the emergency contraceptive by half in response to a campaign by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), Boots refused to do so for fear of \u201cincentivising inappropriate use\u201d. Levonelle, the leading brand of the pill, now costs \u00a313.50 ($17.56) at Tesco whilst Superdrug charges \u00a313.49 for a generic version. Boots charges \u00a328.25, whilst in France\u00a0the cost is just \u00a35.50. BPAS referred to Boots\u2019 decision as \u201cpatronising and insulting\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK\u2019s pollution monitoring satellite travels to Russia for launch \n Last year, the European Space Agency launched the Trace Gas Orbiter to Mars. It is designed to look for methane \u2013 a key tracer of life \u2013 to determine if Martian microbes are present on the red planet.\n\nNow, ESA is preparing to launch another spacecraft to look at methane on another planet: our own.\n\n\n\nThe UK-built Sentinel-5P, a pollution monitoring satellite, is ready to begin its journey from Airbus Defence and Space, Stevenage, to the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia, where it will lift off in late September/early October.\n\n\n\nSentinel-5P is part of the Copernicus global monitoring programme, a joint venture between the European Commission and the European Space Agency. This particular spacecraft is the first Copernicus satellite dedicated to monitoring atmospheric chemistry.\n\n\n\nMissions like this are essential for making the connection between space and everyday life on Earth, according to Colin Paynter, Managing Director of Airbus Defence and Space, UK. He says, \u201cSpace is not just for geeks, it is part of our national and international infrastructure.\u201d\n\nThe Sentinel-5P satellite in the cleanroom at Airbus Defence and Space, Stevenage, UK. Photograph: Max Alexander/Airbus\n\nAs a greenhouse gas, methane is potent. It traps 28 times more heat than an equivalent mass of carbon dioxide. It is released naturally by living things \u2013 hence the interest in looking for it on Mars \u2013 but also from the fossil fuel industry, landfill sites, rice agriculture and the thawing of the permafrost at higher latitudes.\n\nAs well as methane, Sentinel-5 P will also look for nitrogen dioxide and other key polluting gases.\n\nNitrogen dioxide comes mainly from road traffic and other fossil fuel combustion, and naturally occurring forest fires. Last year a report from the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health found that in the UK air pollution causes at least 40,000 deaths a year, and costs the economy \u00a320bn a year.\n\n\n\nSentinel-5P will be able to measure pollution accurately across individual countries, which can then be compared to their self-declared pollution inventories. It will image the whole Earth every day, and can also monitor concentrations of volcanic ash for air safety, and warn against high levels of the UV radiation that can cause skin cancer.\n\nThe Copernicus programme aims to provide comprehensive Earth observation data to improve the management of the environment. It will eventually consist of 20 missions, 15 of which will be dedicated satellites and 5 of which will be instruments on other spacecraft.\n\n\u201cA system like this has never existed before,\u201d says Josef Aschbacher, Director of Earth Observation Programmes, European Space Agency. \u201cThe US and other partners are looking to Europe to make deals to get access to this data.\u201d\n\nIn a statement released today, business secretary Greg Clark said, \u201cThe UK-built Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite and the success of the Copernicus Programme demonstrates what we can achieve through collaboration with our European partners and the UK\u2019s vital role in the programme thanks to our Earth observation expertise.\u201d\n\nAschbacher confirms that the UK has been a strong partner and says that from a programme management point of view, he wants to see that role continue but, \u201cBrexit is the thing that is floating above us.\u201d\n\nAlthough the UK will remain a member of ESA, around 70 percent of the Copernicus programme is funded from the European Commission. As such, Britain\u2019s future involvement seems certain to be affected by the Brexit settlement.\n\n\u201cIt is clearly important to our industry to stay a part of the programme,\u201d says Graham Turnock, Chief Executive, UK Space Agency, \u201cWe cannot wait until the day before Brexit to get clarity on this.\u201d\n\nSeparately, the future of the Copernicus programme is part of an on-going series of negotiations between ESA, its member countries and the European Commission. Aschbacher says that such constant reappraisal is essential, \u201cWe have the best system in the world. In 10 years, I want to ensure that we still have the best system in the world.\u201d\n\nThe next major hurdle is an ESA Ministerial Meeting in late 2019, after the UK has left the EU. Here, each country will agree how much to contribute to Copernicus and each of the space agency\u2019s other programmes.\n\n\n\nThe Sentinel-5P mission is designed to last for seven years in an 824km-altitude orbit around the Earth. No one knows where the UK will be in its orbit around the EU in 2024.\n\nStuart Clark is the author of The Search for Earth\u2019s Twin (Quercus). He will be delivering the Guardian masterclass on Is there life beyond Earth? on 6 September 2017.", "output": "Sentinel-5P, a UK-built European Space Agency (ESA) satellite designed to monitor pollution, is about to travel from Airbus Defence and Space in Stevenage to Russia in preparation for its launch in September or October. The satellite, which is part of the joint European Commission and ESA Copernicus global monitoring programme, will measure methane, a greenhouse gas that traps 28 times as much heat as carbon dioxide, as well as nitrogen dioxide and other pollutants. The satellite will accurately measure pollution across countries and will compare its data with self-declared national pollution figures.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hiscox starts offering US security response policies \n Hiscox Ltd. on Tuesday said it has launched security response coverage designed to help U.S. policyholders face terror, criminal and political violence threats.\n\nHiscox will partner with risk consultancy Control Risks Group Ltd. on the new Security Incident Response product, already introduced in Europe in 2017, which is designed to \u201c\u2026 help businesses protect their people, operations, brand and reputation by complementing existing business security resources or, where necessary, acting as a stand-alone security function,\u201d the Bermuda-based insurer said in a statement.\n\nPerils addressed by the new cover include criminal, political, terrorism and political violence risks; kidnap, detention and extortion risks; and information risks such as cyber threats, as well as resources to help businesses build preventive resilience programs.\n\nHiscox says the cover may be used by enterprises of all sizes, from small and medium-sized businesses up to larger multinationals, to aid in incident response, crisis management, strategic advice and recovery services. It includes cover for Control Risks\u2019 costs to help a business manage a crisis, including the deployment of response consultants and technical experts, as well as post-incident reporting and remediation services to ensure a smooth return to business as usual.\n\n\u201cIn recent years, we\u2019ve witnessed an increasingly uncertain security picture,\u201d Kevin Henry, deputy chief underwriting officer for Hiscox Special Risks, said in the statement. \u201cOur Security Incident Response coverage means that businesses of all sizes \u2014 whether they have an existing security capability or have no such resources to draw on \u2014 can access world-class incident response and recovery services with only one phone call.\u201d", "output": "Insurer Hiscox has partnered with risk consultancy Control Risks Group to include security response coverage for its enterprise policyholders caught up in terror or criminal incidents, or who face threats of political violence. The offering will also include coverage for kidnap, detention, extortion and cyber risks. Customers will be able to take advantage of incident response, crisis management, strategic advice and recovery services."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Texas appeals court overturns $43.5m personal injury award \n A $43.5 million jury award in a personal injury lawsuit against a subcontractor was overturned Thursday by a Texas appeals court, which found that workers compensation was the injured employee\u2019s exclusive remedy.\n\nIn 2013, Tyler Lee was a superintendent for a general contractor on a large-scale construction site in Houston where Bonner Springs, Kansas-based Berkel & Company Contractors Inc. was a subcontractor, according to court records in Berkel & Company Contractors Inc. vs. Tyler Lee and Leigh Ann Lee.\n\nWhile drilling a piling on the site, an auger operated by Berkel became stuck. Berkel\u2019s superintendent, Chris Miller, allegedly ordered different maneuvers to free the auger despite objections from both a foreman and a crane operator, who raised safety concerns. The two men alerted Mr. Miller that attempts to hoist the auger with the crane were causing the crane to become overloaded and tip, according to court documents.\n\nUnder continued strain from trying to hoist the auger, the crane\u2019s boom bowed and bent, eventually snapping in half and crashing to the ground, court records show. Leads attached to the crane toppled to one side, striking Mr. Lee, who was situated a distance away from the crane behind a barricade. The leads landed on Mr. Lee\u2019s left leg, crushing it and severing it below the knee, according to court records.\n\nMr. Lee recovered workers comp through his employer, Parsippany, New Jersey-based Skanska USA Building Inc., but sued Berkel in district court in Brazoria County, Texas, seeking additional recovery based on allegations of negligence, gross negligence and intentional injury. A jury ruled in favor of Mr. Lee in 2015, and the court awarded him $35 million in actual damages and $8.5 million in exemplary damages based on the court\u2019s finding of gross negligence on Berkel\u2019s part. Berkel appealed to the 14th Court of Appeals in Austin.\n\nA three-judge panel of the appeals court overturned the jury decision and award, finding workers comp was Mr. Lee\u2019s exclusive remedy.\n\nThe court determined that Berkel had the right to claim exclusive remedy protection even though it was not Mr. Lee\u2019s employer because Skanska had agreed to provide workers comp insurance to all subcontractors and their employees through a contractor-controlled insurance program. Thus, Skanska was Berkel\u2019s statutory employer and Mr. Lee was Berkel\u2019s statutory co-employee, the panel said.\n\nThe court ruled that Mr. Miller was operating as a vice principal of Berkel and that his actions could be imputed to Berkel for liability purposes if the substantial certainty exception to the Texas Workers\u2019 Compensation Act could be proven, which would require evidence that Mr. Miller had substantial certainty that his actions would cause injury.\n\nThe \u201cevidence easily supports a finding that Miller was reckless, but it does not support a finding that Miller was substantially certain that Lee would be a particular victim of Miller\u2019s conduct. To make that greater finding, there must have been some evidence that Miller at least knew of Lee\u2019s location. \u2026 But there is none.\u201d\n\nMr. Lee alleged that that Mr. Miller knew that his actions were substantially certain to bring about harm to potential victims in a localized area. The court, however, rejected this theory, saying Mr. Lee had outlined an area of danger \u2014 the fall radius of the crane \u2014 where an injury was foreseeable but not substantially certain.\n\n\u201cThe flaw in Lee\u2019s argument is that it equates the probability of a fall with the probability of an injury,\u201d the panel said. \u201cMiller could only be substantially certain of an injury if he knew that the leads would contact a person, and to establish that knowledge, Miller would have to know the fall path of the leads.\u201d\n\n\u201cBecause there is no basis on which the claimant\u2019s recovery of common law damages can be sustained, we must reverse and render judgment that the claimant take nothing on his claims against the subcontractor,\u201d the court concluded.\n\nHouston-based law firm Wright & Close L.L.P., which represented Berkel, said the decision was a \u201cmajor victory\u201d and serves to clarify what evidence and intent are required to allow an injured worker to be exempted from the Texas Workers\u2019 Compensation Act.\n\n\u201cIn its very thorough opinion, the appellate court found that \u2018intentional injury\u2019 requires an intent to injure a particular person or a small class of people, not just a general knowledge that an activity is dangerous,\u201d said Thomas C. Wright, a partner at the firm, in a statement. \u201cMany plaintiffs attempt this way around the Workers\u2019 Compensation Act, and this case should bring some clarity to the law.\u201d", "output": "An appeals court in Texas has overturned a $43.5m payout to a former construction worker who lost a leg when a crane collapse on a building site. The court found Tyler Lee was not entitled to the award for negligence, gross negligence and intentional injury meted out to subcontractor Berkel & Company Contractors after leads from the falling crane crushed Lee's leg and severed it below the knee. The court said Lee was entitled only to workers compensation because the company couldn't have known that events that led to the collapse would have caused injury.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US appeals court upholds steel mill fatality claim \n A safety citation against an electrical services company whose employees failed to follow procedures while servicing a client\u2019s equipment resulting in a fatality was upheld by a federal appeals court Thursday.\n\nJames Eddie Lanier Jr. was an apprentice at Smyrna, Georgia-based Action Electric Co., which provides electrical services to other businesses. In December 2011, Mr. Lanier and a leadman were tasked with replacing fans in a cooling bed at a Cartersville, Georgia, steel mill.\n\nSafety protocols required that the entire cooling bed be locked out and a work authorization permit be issued before technicians could enter the space beneath the cooling bed to perform maintenance. Mr. Lanier and the leadman entered the basement and moved off the designated safe walkways even though the leadman knew that the steel mill\u2019s technician responsible for locking out the cooling bed had not completed the lockout process. Mr. Lanier and the leadman did not affix their personal locks to the group lockout box or complete the required work permit, according to court documents in Secretary, U.S. Department of Labor vs. Action Electric Co.\n\nThe steel mill technician could not see the two men beneath the cooling bed and began to de-energize the counterweights in the cooling bed as part of the lockout procedure. As a result, one of the counterweights fell from an energized position and fatally struck Mr. Lanier, court records show.\n\nThe U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated the incident and issued a serious violation to Action Electric for its employees\u2019 failure to affix a personal lockout or tagout device. Action Electric contested the citation arguing that the lockout/tagout standard did not apply because the equipment that caused the fatality was not the equipment that its employees were servicing, and that its employees were only looking at the fans, not working on them, at the time of the incident, according to court documents\n\nThe Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor responded that the cooling bed constituted one discrete mechanical system for the purposes of lockout/tagout rules, which would require Action Electric employees to control the energy of the entire cooling bed before conducting work on it that could expose them to danger. An administrative law judge vacated the citation, agreeing with Action Electric that the fans and counterweights were separate machines, court records show.\n\nThe Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission reviewed the decision but could not reach a unanimous decision and adopted the ALJ\u2019s decision as its final order. The Department of Labor appealed the decision to the United States 11th Court of Appeals in Atlanta.\n\nA unanimous three-judge panel vacated the commission\u2019s ruling and remanded the case to the commission to reinstate the citation against Action Electric.\n\nThe panel first considered whether the lockout/tagout standard required Action Electric employees to control the stored energy in the counterweights before entering the area to work on fans. The panel disagreed that it is impossible to determine where a machine begins and ends, which would lead to employers having to lockout entire factories to perform maintenance.\n\nAccording to the ruling, \u201cwe think employers, who must make frequent and expert judgments about workplace safety to quell the regulatory and liability concerns they face, are capable of determining the appropriate scope of their LOTO protocols,\u201d the panel said.\n\nThe panel further determined that it did not matter whether the employees were working on equipment or merely observing it.\n\n\u201cAccording to undisputed testimony, the employees were observing the cooling-bed fans to decide which fans were going to be replaced and where to begin working,\u201d the court said. \u201cNo matter whether this activity was \u2018inspecting,\u2019 \u2018setting up,\u2019 or something else productive, it was the kind of workplace activity that the regulation sought to cover because it was directed at the relevant machine and exposed the employees to the release of hazardous energy outside of normal production operations.\u201d\n\nRepresentatives from Action Electric were not immediately available to comment.", "output": "A court in the US has allowed a claim against a company following a steel mill workplace incident that left a man dead. An appeals court in Atlanta approved the pursuit of a serious violation citation against contractor Action Electric after apprentice James Eddie Lanier was killed by falling machinery. The claim, issued after an investigation by the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration, had been opposed by the Department of Labor."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow [4]: Redrow part of highly-commended project: UK's first campus for returning veterans \n A unique project near Salisbury which will see the UK\u2019s first purpose built campus for service veterans has been honoured at a top national awards ceremony.\n\nThe Wilton Hill scheme at the former Erskine Barracks was highly commended in the category for Planning for Housing Growth at the Planning & Placemaking Awards.\n\nThe annual awards recognises projects which are improving local areas. The scheme was up against seven others shortlisted in the category.\n\nThe project is the creation of regeneration and development specialists Our Enterprise who is working alongside Redrow Homes and planning consultants Terence O\u2019Rourke.\n\nThey\u2019re creating the UK\u2019s first major housing development built with returning military personnel in mind.\n\nAlongside 292 private homes being built by Redrow Homes, Our Enterprise will build a community based campus for service veterans with homes, an enterprise hub, cr\u00e8che, care home and retail units.\n\nThis element of the project is being managed by Our Wilton, a community interest company and charity created by Our Enterprise.\n\nIt will include at least 44 homes for veterans who will rent the units for a period of between six and 24 months while they receive business and skills training. They then move on to make room for another veteran.\n\nThe hub will offer training and help for veterans to launch their own businesses and will sit alongside facilities for up to 60 other local businesses.\n\nPlanning has been granted for the project and building work is due to begin later this year with completion expected in 2017.\n\nCEO of Our Enterprise, Matthew Bell said: \u201cWe were really pleased to receive the award, both for the recognition it brings to our service veterans campus and because it acknowledges the fantastic help we have received from ToR in obtaining planning. Thank you to all the judges who supported the.\u201d\n\nTim Hancock, managing director of Terence O\u2019Rourke, said: \u201cWe are delighted to have won \u2018Highly Commended\u2019 for the Planning for Housing Growth award which recognises the excellent work undertaken by the team.\u201d\n\nTechnical director, Nick Guildford added: \u201cWilton Hill, as well as providing much needed homes in Wiltshire, is also taking on a unique project to provide facilities for veterans on a former military base. We are thrilled such a worthwhile development has been acknowledged.\u201d", "output": "The UK\u2019s first purpose-built campus for returning military personnel, Wilton Hill in Salisbury, has been highly commended at the Planning & Placemaking Awards, in the Planning for Housing Growth category. It is the creation of Our Enterprise, working with Redrow Homes, and planning consultants Terence O\u2019Rourke. Redrow will build 292 private homes alongside Our Enterprise\u2019s community-based campus, containing an enterprise hub, care home, retail units, a creche and 44 homes, which will be available for veterans to rent for between six and 24 months whilst they receive business and skills training. The project is expected to complete in 2017.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Silverback buys EdifyAssess to add student assessment\u00a0expertise \n Companies immersed in K-12 human resources, \u201cpersonalized learning\u201d and software applications have been active in the dealmaking space recently. Ed-tech company Silverback Learning Solutions acquired assessment program manager EdifyAssess. And, AcademixDirect, a provider of higher education guidance solutions, acquired career navigation app PathSource.\n\nSilverback Learning Solutions Acquires EdifyAssess: The Boise, Idaho-based K-12 ed-tech company snapped up EdifyAssess, a cloud-based enterprise platform designed to manage all aspects of an organization\u2019s assessment program. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.\n\nSilverback offers a suite of products including a personalized learning and instructional effectiveness solutions. In a statement the company said it \u201cwill continue to offer the assessment platform to new and existing EdifyAssess customers,\u201d supporting educators\u2019 \u201cability to quickly personalize and manage student learning.\u201d\n\nThe acquisition adds further depth of expertise in student assessment and student data management to Silverback\u2019s expanding education software portfolio, Silverback said in the statement.\n\n\u201cA key tenet of Silverback is to provide thorough, real-time data insights to personalize learning and encourage student achievement,\u201d said Jim Lewis, CEO of Silverback Learning. \u201cBy capturing the EdifyAssess formative assessment insights directly, we strengthen the opportunities to focus on student growth, longitudinally, throughout the K-12 years. EdifyAssess is the perfect platform to expand Silverback\u2019s solutions.\u201d Join the Conversation Visit Education Week\u2019s K-12 Technology Leaders Group on LinkedIn and share your thoughts about the most pressing ed-tech issues facing school districts. And check out EdWeek Market Brief , a service that provides companies doing business with schools with news, analysis, and original data on the needs and priorities of K-12 systems.\n\nAcademixDirect Acquires PathSource: Academic advisement company AcademixDirect announced it has merged with PathSource, creator of a career-exploration app and other resume, education and career tools, AcademixDirect said in a statement. Financial terms of the deal were not released.\n\nMenlo Park, Calif.-based AcademixDirect provides free education guidance to over 12 million students annually \u201cwho are struggling to carve out a higher education plan.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe apps developed by the PathSource team are unlike any other education/career search technology out there,\u201d said Don Loonam, AcademixDirect CEO. \u201cWith the PathSource integration, we offer a full spectrum of tools to help students make incredibly informed choices, saving them valuable time and money.\u201d\n\nAs a result of the acquisition, PathSource will join two other major career/education-matching resources in AcademixDirect\u2019s family: CourseTalk.com and Degree.Me.\n\nPeopleGrove Raises $1.8 Million: The ed-tech startup, which has built a software platform designed to connect students and professionals with advisers, coaches, and mentors, has raised $1.8 million in seed funding, according to a statement.\n\nThe funding round was led by Reach Capital, with participation from Bisk Ventures, Collaborative Fund, Floodgate, GSV, Launch Capital, RiverPark Ventures and University Ventures.\n\nThe investment brings PeopleGrove\u2019s total funding to $2.5 million and will help the company expand its team of engineers, build out its sales and customer success teams and reach more universities and students. Reach Capital\u2019s General Partner Jennifer Carolan will join PeopleGrove\u2019s board of directors.\n\nEscape Technology Raises Funds from Alpine Investors: The provider of software applications for K-12 schools in California has raised funding from Alpine Investors, according to a statement from the companies. The funding amount was not disclosed.\n\nRoseville, Calif.-based Escape offers an integrated suite of finance, payroll, and human resource modules that manage mission-critical budgeting and payroll processes for California school business.\n\n\u201cThe complexity of California regulations and strength of the Escape management team allow the Company to deliver superior customer solutions, responsiveness and reliability,\u201d Will Adams, a partner at Alpine and now a board member at Escape, said in the statement. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t be more excited to build upon Escape\u2019s clear momentum and strong competitive position in the marketplace.\u201d\n\nAli Jenab, an Alpine CEO-in-residence, has assumed the role as CEO at Escape.\n\nBe sure to check back on Marketplace K-12 for updates on mergers, acquisitions, fundraising, and other dealmaking.", "output": "Edtech company Silverback Learning has acquired EdifyAssess, a cloud-based platform for managing student assessment programmes. Idaho-based Silverback will use insights from EdifyAssess's formative assessments to strengthen its focus on student development throughout the K-12 years, the company said. EdifyAssess will continue to offer its assessment platform to new and existing customers, the company added.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NIG increases cover on etrade product \n Insurer states it made updates to meet broker feedback.\n\nNIG has rolled out new versions of its etrade business package and mini fleet eProducts in a move it said extended the underwriting footprint and increased levels of cover for both.\n\nThe insurer listed that changes for business package include new North American exports cover on product liability, a doubling of the public liability limit of indemnity to \u00a310m, and an increase in the goods in transit vehicle limit to \u00a350,000.\n\nIt further detailed that mini fleet now includes more quotable trades", "output": "UK insurer NIG has widened coverage on its trade insurance package to include North American exports in its product liability policy, increased public liability limit to \u00a310m and a raised cap on goods in transit vehicle liability to \u00a350,000. It's also broadened coverage on its mini-fleet policies to include more vehicles and better breakdown coverage. The company said it had expanded its offerings after consultation with brokers."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK firms publish diversity data: CMI \n Britain\u2019s biggest businesses must take action to improve the diversity of their workforces and publish a breakdown of their black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) employees, a new report has urged.\n\nThe report by the professional management body the CMI and the British Academy of Management focuses on ethnic diversity at management levels below the boardroom and highlights the importance of the issue following the vote for Brexit.\n\n\u201cWhile uncertainty persists about the outcome of negotiations with the EU, employers in all sectors have to face up to the prospect of reduced access to overseas talent. That makes it imperative that we think about how we can do better at making the the most of everyone\u2019s abilities,\u201d the joint foreword by CMI chief executive Ann Francke and BAM president Professor Sir Cary Cooper said.\n\nAbout 12.5% of the UK population are BAME but they hold just 6% of top management jobs. A government-backed report by businesswoman Ruby McGregor-Smith, published in February, said that \u00a324bn could be added to to UK economy each year if minorities were able to progress through their careers at the same rate as their white counterparts.\n\nThat report by McGregor-Smith, a Conservative peer and former chief executive of the facilities management company Mitie, was published shortly after a government-commissioned review by businessman Sir John Parker concluded the should be a voluntary target for FTSE 100 companies to have least one non-white director by 2021. At the time, the proportion of non-white people on FTSE 100 boards was around 8%.\n\nBoth these reports were published before the election but Margot James, a business minister, endorsed the recommendations.\n\nThe latest report sets out a seven-point plan for business leaders to adopt, including \u201cbreaking the silence\u201d on diversity, including training on the subject as a requirement for career progression and setting targets for progression of BAME individuals.\n\nMore information is needed at companies about the make-up of their workforce as 83% of the human resources managers surveyed for the CMI/BAM report said they needed better data. One respondent said: \u201cThe lack of BAME people in my company makes me feel ashamed. It is inexplicable unless you accept there must be discrimination in our culture.\u201d\n\nIt was not the case for gender, the report said, where respondents said they were making more progress. In 2011, a report by Mervyn Davies highlighted the lack of women in top jobs and recommended that that FTSE 100 companies should double the proportion of women in boardrooms to 25% by 2015. While the target was exceeded it was largely though non-executive roles.\n\nSome 79% of the respondents were collecting and holding some employee data, but only 54% of them tracked the data and only 21% reported publicly on the subject and set targets.\n\nBusiness executive Pavita Cooper, who has worked in senior roles in the banking industry, will chair a new body, CMI Race. She said it was time to \u201creboot the conversation about race and ethnicity\u201d.\n\nThe report found managers were nervous to talk about race and ethnicity for fear of causing offence. It discusses which language to use and settles upon using the term BAME, while the Parker review uses \u201cpeople of colour\u201d.", "output": "Major UK businesses must publish data about the diversity of their workforces, according to a report by professional management group the CMI and the British Academy of Management. The study concentrates on ethnic diversity within management below board level and emphasises that increased diversity will be particularly important following Brexit, which raises \u201cthe prospect of reduced access to overseas talent\u201d. Although 12.5% of the UK\u2019s population is from a black, Asian or minority ethnic background, such workers hold just 6% of high level management posts.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK firms publish diversity data: CMI \n Top British companies unable or unwilling to publicise ethnic makeup of management\n\n19 July 2017 -\n\nCMI calls on FTSE100 leaders to do more to actively champion greater diversity in their workforces\n\nMatt Scott\n\nBritish businesses must break their \u201csilence\u201d on the under-representation of black, Asian and minority ethnic groups (BAME) in key roles, according to new research from CMI and the British Academy of Management.\n\nOnly 6% management jobs in the UK are held by minorities \u2013 less than half their proportion of the working-age population as a whole.\n\nYet new research finds that only 54% of FTSE100 leaders are seen to be actively championing greater diversity in their companies, with just one in five (21%) revealing their current diversity levels through published progression targets and data.\n\nThe new report \u2013 Delivering Diversity, released today, highlights that many companies lack clear information about the diversity of their management pipeline.\n\nIn fact, some 83% of the HR leaders surveyed admitted that they need better data on BAME diversity to drive improvements.\n\nMI director of strategy Petra Wilton said: \u201cToo many leaders have been silent on race and ethnicity and it\u2019s time for change. The progress we\u2019ve started to see on gender diversity shows how business can build momentum on the issue.\n\n\u201cWe need to learn from what works, which means committed leadership from the top and from managers at every level, much better data on diversity throughout the management pipeline, and more transparency about progress. We have to keep a spotlight on the issue.\u201d\n\nThe CMI-backed report found that 75% of the FTSE100 companies surveyed now set progression targets for gender and 71% publish related data; only 21% do so on BAME.\n\nJust less than half (47%) of the rest say they expect to set targets on BAME over the coming year.\n\nMinority Managers Questioning Their Corporate \u2018Fit\u2019\n\nThe research also found that many minority managers find themselves questioning how they are perceived to \u2018fit\u2019 within their company, while interviews conducted as part of the research found that BAME managers often perceive their businesses as \u201csilent\u201d about race and ethnicity.\n\nCompany norms and expectations about leaders still favour what one BAME manager described as \u201cwhite middle class men from elite schools and universities, who tend to recruit people like them in their company\u201d.\n\nBusinesses may therefore be missing out on a more diverse set of talented leaders, and businesses need to find more varied role models and more widespread use of powerful interventions like mentoring and sponsorship to promote diversity \u2013 something that could add as much as \u00a324bn to the UK economy every year.\n\nProfessor Sir Cary Cooper, President of the British Academy of Management, said now was the time for direct action, not just talk.\n\n\u201cAlthough C-suite executives talk a good game on the need for diversity, they fail to action it in management roles throughout their organisations,\u201d he said. \u201cBritish business has made some strides in pushing the glass ceiling for women but has failed to do the same for BAME communities, despite an abundance of research showing that diverse management teams deliver higher shareholder value and enhanced performance.\n\n\u201cNow is the time for action, before legislative action will inevitably take place. Diversity is good for work and is good business.\u201d\n\nCMI Race: Time to make a difference\n\nIn the wake of the research, CMI is developing a new network, CMI Race, to help managers across the UK deliver diversity.\n\nThe network will be chaired by Pavita Cooper, a CMI Companion who chaired the Delivering Diversity Research Advisory Board, and who is the founder of diversity and talent advisory firm More Difference.\n\nhe said: \u201cThis research shows that even today, in modern multicultural Britain, many managers still feel deeply nervous talking about race and ethnic diversity at work. Every manager in the UK should be able to talk about difference with their teams in an inclusive way, and we need to see far more leadership from senior business leaders on this issue. CMI\u2019s new network, CMI Race, will put diversity and inclusion at the heart of good management and drive real change in the years ahead.\u201d\n\nSeven Steps for Action\n\nBreak the silence. Leaders need to re-boot the conversation on race, show commitment and communicate a clear business case for change to deliver diversity. Learn from the gender agenda. Business has shown that it can generate momentum to make change happen, with inclusive leadership at all levels and transparency about strategies, targets and progress Face the numbers: measure it, manage it, report it. Companies need to measure BAME diversity at every level of the management pipeline. Tap into the power of sponsorship. Senior leaders need to actively seek out and meet diverse emerging leaders to sponsor them and support their development. Build diversity through \u2018next up\u2019 leadership. Role models and mentors at the next level up \u2013 not just remote role models at the top of business \u2013 can be powerful forces for change. Use innovative models like mentoring circles and reverse mentoring Be inclusive and adaptive. Build adaptive cultures that respond to the differences people bring to work. Make it clear that the company values difference so no minority employee is left questioning whether they fit in. Benchmark and collaborate. Businesses should compare performance with others in their sector and collaborate on ways to accelerate change.\n\nThe Delivering Diversity report, which includes case studies from leading companies like Aviva, Google, Lloyds Banking Group, RBS, Sainsbury\u2019s, Schroders, and Virgin Money, is available at www.managers.org.uk/deliveringdiversity\n\nCMI would like to thank the following authors for their contribution to the report:\n\nProf Nic Beech, Chair of BAM, Vice-Principal (Academic Planning and Performance), University of Dundee\n\nProf Nelarine Cornelius, BAM Council (Research and Publications), School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University of London\n\nDr Lisi Gordon, School of Management, University of St Andrews\n\nProf Geraldine Healy, School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University of London\n\nProf Emmanuel Ogbonna, Cardiff University Business School\n\nDr Gurchathen Sanghera, School of International Relations, University of St Andrews\n\nChidozie Umeh, School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University of London\n\nPatrick Woodman, Head of Research and Advocacy, CMI", "output": "Major UK businesses must publish data about the diversity of their workforces, according to a report by professional management group the CMI and the British Academy of Management. The study concentrates on ethnic diversity within management below board level and emphasises that increased diversity will be particularly important following Brexit, which raises \u201cthe prospect of reduced access to overseas talent\u201d. Although 12.5% of the UK\u2019s population is from a black, Asian or minority ethnic background, such workers hold just 6% of high level management posts.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BBC has gender pay gap among top earners \n The BBC is facing a backlash from female stars over pay after revealing that only a third of its 96 top earners are women and the top seven are all men.\n\nQ&A What were the top 10 BBC salaries for 2017? Show 1. Chris Evans \u00a32.2m - \u00a32.25m\n\n2. Gary Lineker \u00a31.75m - \u00a31.8m 3. Graham Norton \u00a3850,0000 - \u00a3899,999 4. Jeremy Vine \u00a3700,000 - \u00a3749,999 5. John Humphrys \u00a3600,000 - \u00a3649,999 6. Huw Edwards \u00a3550,000 - \u00a3599,999 7. Steve Wright \u00a3500,000 - \u00a3549,999 = 8. Claudia Winkleman \u00a3450,000 - \u00a3499,999 = 8. Matt Baker \u00a3450,000 - \u00a3499,999 = 9. Nicky Campbell \u00a3400,000 - \u00a3449,999 = 9. Andrew Marr \u00a3400,000 - \u00a3449,999 = 9. Stephen Nolan \u00a3400,000 - \u00a3449,999 = 9. Alan Shearer \u00a3400,000 - \u00a3449,999 =9. Alex Jones \u00a3400,000 - \u00a3449,000 10. Fiona Bruce \u00a3350,000 - \u00a3399,999 Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.\n\nChris Evans is the BBC\u2019s best-paid star, collecting at least \u00a32.2m in the last financial year according to an unprecedented list of top earners published by the corporation on Wednesday that revealed a significant gender imbalance. The best-paid female star, Claudia Winkleman, was paid just a fifth of what Evans collected, between \u00a3450,000 and \u00a3500,000.\n\nAlex Jones, presenter of The One Show, is the only other female star to be paid more than \u00a3400,000 by the BBC, while 12 men are paid more than that amount. Clare Balding, the sports presenter, received about a tenth of Gary Lineker\u2019s pay, earning \u00a3150,999\u2013\u00a3199,999 compared with his \u00a31.75m\u2013\u00a31.79m. Graham Norton was paid \u00a3850,000\u2013\u00a3899,999 according to the list, but this does not include proceeds from The Graham Norton Show, which is made by an independent production company and is thought to take his earnings above \u00a32.5m.\n\nThere are some high-profile female absentees from the list of actors, presenters, journalists and panellists who were paid more than \u00a3150,000 in the last year. Emily Maitlis, the news presenter, Sarah Montague, the presenter of the Today programme on Radio 4, and Louise Minchin, who presents BBC Breakfast, earn \u00a3150,000 a year or less, according to the disclosure. This is despite their co-presenters on BBC shows making the list, including John Humphrys, who presents Today and Mastermind and was paid \u00a3600,000\u2013\u00a3649,999.\n\nClaudia Winkleman, the BBC\u2019s best-paid female star. Photograph: Jonathan Hordle/REX/Shutterstock\n\nHarriet Harman, the Labour MP, said there was \u201cclearly discrimination\u201d at the BBC and that the corporation needed to change. \u201cIt is very important that the lid has been lifted on this pay discrimination in the BBC,\u201d Harman, the longest-serving female MP, told BBC News. \u201cAlthough everybody will think it is very unfair and outrageous, this is a moment when it can be sorted out.\n\n\u201cThe BBC needs to set an example. This is public money and people don\u2019t want their money to be spent unfairly. Public money shouldn\u2019t be spent in a way which is discriminatory. When you look at the structure and the pay, it is clearly discrimination. Now that it is out in the open, it will have to change.\u201d\n\nTheresa May, the prime minister, accused the BBC of paying women less than men for doing the same job. \u201cI think what has happened today is we have seen the way the BBC is paying women less for doing the same job as the men. I want to see women paid equally with men,\u201d she said in an interview with LBC.\n\nAgents for a group of the BBC\u2019s female stars are understood to be preparing to demand that the corporation\u2019s bosses offer their clients a pay rise. Lawyers have also warned that the BBC faces sexual discrimination lawsuits.\n\n\n\nKeely Rushmore, senior associate at SA Law, said: \u201cThe statistics could well lead to claims of sex discrimination by female stars. The BBC will need to show that the difference in pay is not directly on the grounds of sex, but also that \u2013 to the extent that it asserts it relates to other factors such as viewers\u2019 demands and preferences \u2013 the differential treatment is justified.\u201d\n\nNews presenter Emily Maitlis does not make the list of top earners. Photograph: unknown/BBC\n\nThe BBC fought against the list being published, claiming that it would create a \u201cpoacher\u2019s charter\u201d and drive up salaries in the media industry, but it was forced to by the government as part of its new 11-year royal charter.\n\n\n\nAsked whether the BBC was expecting legal action over the gender pay gap, Tony Hall, the director general, said: \u201cWe will be working carefully and managing our relationship with the talent on which we depend. That\u2019s a job we have got to do. I want to get the very best talent working for the BBC and the best relationships with them.\u201d\n\nHall insisted the BBC was \u201cmore diverse than the broadcasting industry and the civil service\u201d, but admitted there was more to do following the pay disclosure. \u201cI feel reinvigorated in one of the things I really believe, which is getting by 2020 equality on the air between men and women and in pay as well,\u201d he said.\n\nHowever, Jane Garvey, the BBC radio presenter, hinted on Twitter at the frustration within the corporation. Garvey, who was also not on the list, said: \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to presenting BBC Woman\u2019s Hour today. We\u2019ll be discussing #genderpaygap. As we\u2019ve done since 1946. Going well, isn\u2019t it?\u201d Maitlis and Montague both retweeted Garvey\u2019s comment.\n\nJeremy Vine, the radio presenter and the BBC\u2019s fourth-best paid star, on \u00a3700,000 to \u00a3749,999 , admitted the organisation was \u201creally hurting\u201d following the revelations.\n\nHumphrys supported the disclosures, but said he was \u201cnot happy\u201d that his female colleagues on the Today programme, Montague and Mishal Husain, who was paid \u00a3200,000 to \u00a3249,999, were not among the top 10 highest paid. Referring to his female colleagues, Humphrys said: \u201cI\u2019m not happy with that. I don\u2019t think that is right.\u201d\n\nAsked on Radio 4\u2019s Media Show whether he was worth his salary, Humphrys said: \u201cIf you compare me with lots of other people \u2013 a doctor who saves a child\u2019s life, a nurse who comforts a dying person, or a fireman who rushes into Grenfell Tower \u2013 then of course you couldn\u2019t argue that I am not worth twopence halfpenny.\n\n\u201cHowever, we operate in a marketplace, and I think I provide a fairly useful service. Somebody has to do the job of trying to hold power to account and speak the truth about all that stuff.\u201d\n\nThe BBC has published the list of stars in \u00a350,000 bands. It does not include payments to staff from production companies or BBC Worldwide, which generates commercial revenues. This means some high-profile BBC figures are not included, such as the stars of The Great British Bake Off, Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch, and Sir David Attenborough.\n\nThe BBC director general, Tony Hall. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA\n\nHowever, programmes produced by the BBC, including EastEnders, Casualty, and Strictly Come Dancing, are included.\n\nEvans\u2019s work for the BBC in the past year included his Radio 2 breakfast show and Top Gear. He is understood to have received extra payments for presenting Top Gear from BBC Worldwide that are not included in this list. Evans said on Wednesday that it was \u201con balance right and proper\u201d that the BBC made the disclosure.\n\nAmong the actors on the list, Derek Thompson, who plays Charlie Fairhead in Casualty, was the best paid. He received \u00a3350,000 to \u00a3399,999 in the last year. In entertainment, the judges of Strictly Come Dancing were all paid more than \u00a3150,000. Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli were paid \u00a3200,000 to \u00a3249,999 and Darcey Bussell and Craig Revel Horwood \u00a3150,000\u2013\u00a3199,999.\n\n\n\nQ&A How does BBC pay compare to its competitors? Show The reason the BBC was told to publish the list of top earners was to demonstrate whether it is delivering value for money - in other words, whether it pays in line with the market. Given that no other broadcaster publishes the pay of its stars this is difficult to prove, but Tony Hall, the director general, insists the BBC aims to pay people at a discount to the market while Gary Lineker, one of the top earners, insists he has been offered more lucrative deals to leave. One publicly available pay deal is for Paul Dacre, the editor of the Daily Mail, who gets \u00a31.5m a year - which would put him second on the BBC\u2019s list behind Chris Evans. Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.\n\nThe BBC also revealed that 106 senior managers earned more than \u00a3150,000 last year, a list it has published in the past. The corporation now spends \u00a342.2m a year on senior managers, compared with \u00a378.5m in 2009. The best-paid executive in the last year was the director general, Hall, who collected more than \u00a3450,000.\n\n\n\nThe bill for the 96 on-air stars was \u00a328.7m, a reduction from the more than \u00a331m the BBC spent on its leading talent in the previous year. The BBC said that the top earners on its list represented less than 0.25% of the 43,000 talent contracts that it handled last year.", "output": "The BBC has a severe gender pay imbalance among the corporations top earners, according to figures released today. The pay details for staff earning over \u00a3150,000 reveals that, of the top 96 earners, just one third are female. The top seven earners are all male. Only Claudia Winkleman and Alex Jones are shown to earn over \u00a3400,000 compared to a dozen men. The BBC has set a target of achieving gender equality in lead and presenting roles by 2020.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Daimler recalls 3 million Mercedes diesel cars to cut emissions \n Almost every new Mercedes-Benz diesel car bought in the UK during the past six years is being recalled to improve their emissions performance.\n\n\n\nGermany\u2019s Daimler, which makes the vehicles, said the measure to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) output, which will cost the company about \u20ac220m (\u00a3195m), would involve no cost to owners.\n\nThe action is being taken in relation to nearly all cars with diesel engines meeting the Euro 5 standard \u2013 implemented in 2011 \u2013 and the existing Euro 6 rules.\n\nThe firm would not confirm how many UK owners were affected, but said 1 million vehicles in Germany and 2 million in the rest of Europe were being recalled. Last year, 170,000 new Mercedes-Benz cars were registered in the UK.\n\nDiesel emissions have come under scrutiny since Volkswagen admitted in September 2015 that 482,000 of its vehicles in the US were fitted with defeat device software to switch engines to a cleaner mode when undergoing environmental tests.\n\nThe German manufacturer said 11 million of its vehicles were affected worldwide \u2013 including almost 1.2 million in the UK.\n\nA government report published in April 2016 showed diesel cars sold in the UK emit an average of six times more NOx than the legal limit used in official tests.\n\nDieter Zetsche, the chairman of the board of management of Daimler and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, said: \u201cThe public debate about diesel engines is creating uncertainty \u2013 especially for our customers. We have therefore decided on additional measures to reassure drivers of diesel cars and to strengthen confidence in diesel technology.", "output": "Around three million Mercedes-Benz diesel cars in Europe are being recalled by Germany\u2019s Daimler, which produces the vehicles, in an attempt to improve their emissions performance. The recall will affect nearly every new Mercedes-Benz diesel car purchased in the UK within the last six years. The measure, designed to limit nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, will involve no cost to owners, but will result in a \u00a3195m ($254m) bill for Daimler. Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the management board of Daimler and head of Mercedes-Benz cars stated that the move was intended to combat \u201cuncertainty\u201d and \u201cstrengthen confidence in diesel technology\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HS2 announces shortlist of potential Euston development partners \n High Speed Two (HS2) Ltd has revealed the shortlist for the Euston master development partner contract, which covers the long-term upgrade of the area around the London train station.\n\nThe winner will advise on \u2013 and later develop \u2013 sustainable, mixed-use opportunities, including new homes, offices and retail space around the revamped London Euston.\n\nThe winner will work with HS2 Ltd, Network Rail, the station design contract winner and local authorities to deliver a unified masterplan.\n\n\n\nPoll As a broker, do you currently quote 'green' loan options alongside standard loan quotes for property development finance? Yes No Vote Results\n\n\n\n\n\nThe shortlist for the Euston master development partner contract includes:\n\nWestfield Europe Ltd\n\nEuston Regeneration Partnership (led by Argent Related Services LLP)\n\nCanary Wharf Group\n\nLand Securities Property Holdings Limited\n\nLendlease Europe Holdings Limited.\n\nThe scheme has the potential to deliver up to 22 hectares of development space as well as new public and green spaces across the site.\n\nDavid Biggs, managing director at Network Rail Property, said: \u201cThis brings us another step closer to realising an exciting and vibrant new district in the heart of London.\n\n\u201cThe opportunities are vast.\n\n\u201cA regenerated Euston station not only affords us the ability to improve connectivity and exceed the expectations of those travelling by train.\n\n\u201cIt also allows us the rare chance to create new space for homes and businesses, to craft a desirable destination for people to live, work and meet.\n\n\u201cThe new station can be a catalyst for local regeneration and increase connection across the local community, bringing huge benefits both to the area itself as well as the country as a whole.\u201d\n\nContracts for the station designs and the Euston master development partner will be awarded early next year.", "output": "High Speed Two has unveiled its shortlist of master development partners for the upgrade of the area around Euston station in London. The list includes Canary Wharf Group, Westfield Europe, Euston Regeneration Partnership, Lendlease Europe Holdings and Land Securities Property Holdings. The contract will be awarded to a business on the shortlist, which will then work on creating sustainable, mixed-use spaces such as offices, houses and retail areas. HS2 and the winner will work with Network Rail and local authorities to bring the vision to life.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "P2P lender Initiative Ireland aims to lend \u20ac60m in building loans \n Eoghan Murphy, Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, and Padraig Rushe, chief executive of Initiative Ireland. Photograph: Maxwell\n\nPeer-to-peer lender Initiative Ireland hopes to raise \u20ac60 million from members with the aim of financing construction loans.\n\nThe fintech startup said on Wednesday that the platform, scheduled to launch in September, could facilitate the building of 250 new family homes over the next 18 months if it raises \u20ac60 million.\n\nThe firm also said it hopes to create 50 jobs over the next five years.\n\nThe way the company works is that members will become part of a private lending syndicate in return for the issued loan and interest income.\n\nREAD MORE\n\nAccording to the company, the members can tailor their loan portfolio in line with their own risk-reward appetite, choosing which pre-approved loans to fund and opting to finance senior or subordinate debt to achieve their financial goals. Private syndicate members can earn between 3.5 per cent and 7.5 per cent APR for their committed funds.\n\nMinimum loan\n\nAll loans are professionally managed by the company and members must commit to a minimum loan of \u20ac10,000.\n\nWelcoming the announcement, Eoghan Murphy, minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, said: \"Addressing the housing crisis requires innovation and initiative. It is great to see Irish firms, like Initiative Ireland, responding to the market need with new, sustainable solutions.\n\n\u201cI welcome their goal of making finance available at affordable rates to smaller developers, which is a necessary component if we want to see the activation of dormant sites.\u201d\n\nPadraig Rushe, the company's chief executive, said that the initiative will offer competitive returns to company members.\n\n\u201cWe have designed our offering to support additional, small developments across the country, with the expectation of financing the construction of a further 250 to 500 new homes per annum starting in 2019.\n\n\u2018Affordable pricing\u2019\n\n\u201cOur affordable pricing is designed to activate dormant sites, and as such this additional lending is expected to deliver a further 600 to 1,200 additional construction jobs in 2019, in addition to 50 new jobs to be created in the company, over the next five years,\u201d he said.\n\nAll loans are secured with a first lien, a form of debt that has priority in payment in the event of a company\u2019s liquidation, and must have a clearly defined exit strategy.\n\nIn Initiative Ireland\u2019s case, the company focuses on financing construction of quality family homes in high-demand residential areas across Ireland.", "output": "Peer to peer lender Initiative Ireland has plans to raise \u20ac60m ($70m) from its members in order to finance construction loans for 250 new family homes. Members, who will have a minimum investment size of \u20ac10,000,\u00a0will have the ability to tailor their portfolio to match their risk appetite. Members will form part of a private lending syndicate in return for the issued loan and interest income, with returns of between 3.5% and 7.5% APR for committed funds.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Luma founder considers one third of ad tech market up for grabs \n If you\u2019ve been to a digital media event, you\u2019ve seen the Lumascape, showing the vast number of programmatic advertising firms that dot the industry. Some see innovations; others see a mess. Luma founder Terry Kawaja sees opportunity.\n\nAs a matchmaker in digital media, Kawaja specializes in helping acquirers figure out their needs \u2014 and then representing the targets they pursue. On this week\u2019s Digiday Podcast, Kawaja brushed aside concerns that the duopoly will choke ad tech, even if 90 percent of ad tech firms won\u2019t return their investors\u2019 money.\n\n\u201cIf we\u2019re talking about a $100 billion market and they have two-thirds, $34 billion is up for grabs, and that\u2019s not staying in the same hands,\u201d Kawaja said. \u201cThere\u2019s a migration from IO-based arbitrage intermediation to programmatic. That doesn\u2019t mean there\u2019s no growth opportunities for companies who are not Google and Facebook. You can have upside from taking market share from companies who are not in that $34 billion pie slice.\u201d\n\nBelow are lightly edited highlights from the episode.\n\nWinter is here for ad tech\n\n\u201cWe saw it in the numbers starting last year with the pullback in venture funding for undifferentiated, me-too ad tech companies. A couple firms have announced they\u2019re closing their doors. That\u2019s slower than one would expect.\u201d\n\nSnapchat needs ad tech\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s no secret that Snapchat is meeting with many companies in the sector. They\u2019re being appropriately choosy and looking at teams and technology that make sense. AdRoll could, but I\u2019m not sure there\u2019s much to that story.\u201d\n\nThe bull and bear case for Vice\n\n\u201cThe bull case for Vice can be summarized in two letters: TV. It turned from a digital property to a cable network, and cable networks still trade for big dollars. On a revenue multiple basis, a $3-5 billion valuation is reasonable. The bear case is it\u2019s a whole bunch of hype to become a cable network, which are in secular decline.\u201d\n\nNinety percent of ad tech companies will fail\n\n\u201cAd tech has many false positives. In any other technology sector, if you have a $20-50 million software company, you have a winner. In ad tech, you can have $150 million in revenue, and it\u2019s not sustainable. It\u2019s taking a slice of an existing spend.\u201d\n\nMarketers are finding their power\n\n\u201cThe problem marketers have is they can\u2019t collude. Someone has to stand up and say it, then others have to believe it and also act on it. We\u2019ll see if it will make its way to action. I think it will. Many marketers are recognizing they can withhold spend.\u201d\n\n\n\nPublishers won\u2019t successfully band together\n\n\u201cEvery consortium among media companies has ended in failure. QuadrantOne, there\u2019s a graveyard full of them.\u201d\n\nAmazon looms large\n\n\u201cNot only does it have the pieces and the revenue, it has the touch points with the consumer, data, multichannel, and Alexa is a Trojan horse in everyone\u2019s house.\u201d", "output": "The founder of programmatic advertising firm Luma Partners, Terry Kawaja, believes that one third of the ad tech market is still available, despite two thirds likely being owned by Google and Facebook. That leaves $34bn available for other firms to make their mark. However, he did say that 90% of ad tech firms will fail, even if they are bolstered with $150m in revenue.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FT uses reader events to improve subscriber retention \n For subscriptions-based publishers, preventing existing subscriber churn is as essential as driving new subscribers. At the Financial Times, the editorial team isn\u2019t averse to testing seemingly old-school methods to do so.\n\nThe publisher\u2019s editorial team has hosted 10 FT Engage events in London over the last year, each with a core purpose: to build more direct relationships with subscribers, while also attracting new ones, by offering exclusive access to FT journalists. In the last few weeks, the audience engagement team has pulled data to examine the correlation between those who attended and their subsequent frequency of visits to FT.com, volume of articles consumed and the recency of their visits. Combined, this data yields an engagement score, by which the publisher judges its success. The results: Engagement scores of subscribers that have attended an event have spiked 300 percent on average, according to the publisher.\n\nThe FT wouldn\u2019t break down the 300 percent into individual user habits, but the data is enough for it to begin expanding the program internationally.\n\nSome of the Engage events have been tied to major news themes, like Brexit, and they\u2019re structured to give subscribers the chance to mine the knowledge of FT journalists on these topics. Others have focused on wider trends pertinent to FT areas of coverage like the gender gap and 21st century skills in the workplace, and the rise of European populism. Still others are based on readers\u2019 interests and requests, which resulted in an event with the theme of football culture \u2014 not the typical editorial stomping ground for the FT.\n\nThe total number of attendees was capped at 100 people, roughly half of whom were existing subscribers and the other half new to the FT. After an event, attendees were sent follow-up emails with relevant links to articles that FT journalists referenced in the sessions and a breakdown of what was covered, along with discounts to other FT products. Naturally, it was harder to track the online behaviors of the people who were new prospects, so the core results were monitored from the 500 subscribers that attended across the 10 events. The FT found that those 500 individuals\u2019 engagement scores spiked 300 percent in the 26 weeks after an event, compared to the 26 weeks before one.\n\n\u201cA lot of quantitative data like web behavior can tell us what is happening, but why it\u2019s happening is harder to get. So having that in-person relationship with readers, which is what the relationships built at these events start to foster, helps with the why,\u201d said Alyssa Zeisler, engagement strategist at the FT. \u201cThat engagement metric we use is directly linked to retention, and the higher the retention, the less likely they are to leave us, which is very important to our bottom line.\u201d\n\nPutting on an event is nothing new in publishing, but Engage has been an editorial-led exercise created separately to the core FT conferencing division, which puts on sponsored FT Live summits throughout the year. Engage events aren\u2019t sponsored and cost between \u00a315 ($20) and \u00a330 ($39) \u2014 far cheaper than the main events the publisher runs, which cost between \u00a3649 ($846) and \u00a3849 ($1,107). Engage events\u2019 sole purpose is to drive reader engagement, ultimately driving up the lifetime value of a subscriber, as well as introduce new ones.\n\nEngage will expand internationally with an event planned in New York in the fall. Another ran in Singapore earlier this year. The plan is to work closely with marketing teams to move both the new readers and existing subscribers that attended the events further up the subscription funnel, according to Zeisler.", "output": "Ten physical events held by the editorial team at the Financial Times have led to a 300% rise in engagement in its website among attendees, whose frequency of visits, article consumption and recency of visit following an event were all measured. \"That engagement metric we use is directly linked to retention\u00a0and the higher the retention\u00a0the less likely they are to leave us, which is very important to our bottom line,\" said Alyssa Zeisler, engagement strategist at the FT. The media group\u00a0plans to host more events internationally.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Start-up broker Zego raises \u00a31.22m \n Pay-as-you-go broker targets drivers working for sharing economy companies.\n\nStart-up broker Zego has raised \u00a31.22m in seed funding led by venture capital firm LocalGlobe.\n\nZego provides pay-as-you-go insurance for drivers and riders who work flexibly with their own vehicles, and has recently launched its first product, which is underwritten by Aviva.\n\nThe broker was launched last year to provide insurance for drivers working for sharing economy companies, such as Deliveroo, UberEATS, Jinn and Amazon.\n\nIt detailed that all car, bike and scooter drivers are required by", "output": "Zego, the usage-based insurance broker that caters to the sharing economy, has won \u00a31.22m ($1.59m) in seed funding to develop its Aviva-underwritten product. The InsurTech start-up provides coverage for workers at\u00a0companies like Deliveroo and Uber, who need insurance on vehicles only when they are using them. Venture capital firm LocalGlobe led the funding round.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "McGill University trains an AI to train more convincing chatbots \n Chatbots need help to seem human David GABIS/Alamy Stock Photo\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t define obscenity, but I know it when I see it.\u201d US Justice Potter Stewart\u2019s famous turn of phrase could also be an apt description of the Turing test, our judgment of whether an AI seems convincingly human. Little clues immediately make it obvious that Siri or Alexa are driven by nonhuman intelligences, but you might be hard pressed to put your finger on exactly what gave it away.\n\nBut a new AI can do it. Given a snippet of dialogue between a chatbot and a human, the system predicts how convincingly human you or I would rate the chatbot\u2019s response. This could be useful for building better virtual assistants.\n\nToday\u2019s chatbots are great for specific tasks \u2013 they can order you a pizza or check the weather \u2013 but try asking one if it\u2019s enjoying the weather.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nComputer scientists are divided about how the Turing test should work, but most agree that if a chatbot can fool a majority of human judges into thinking they are talking to another human, then it passes the test. That\u2019s not a problem for big companies like Amazon, which uses large teams of human testers to help evaluate Alexa, its voice-operated personal assistant. But for firms with fewer resources it\u2019s expensive and time-consuming to use humans as judges, says Ryan Lowe at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.\n\nTuring test\n\nWould it be possible to cut humans out of this process altogether and just automate the Turing test instead? To find out, Lowe designed an AI system that automatically rates how human-like a piece of chatbot-generated dialogue sounds.\n\nHe chose 1000 short Twitter conversations, and got human volunteers to add a response. Then he got several chatbots of varying abilities to add their own response. Then he asked a different group of human volunteers to rate all the responses according to how human-like they were.\n\nLowe then trained his neural network on these human ratings, teaching it to differentiate between convincing and unconvincing responses.\n\nAfter its training, Lowe\u2019s algorithm was able to match the judgment of the human evaluators. However, it only took a fraction of a second to reach its decision, vastly speeding up the current process of reaching such a consensus.\n\n\u201cThis will mean you can create better chatbots,\u201d says Oliver Lemon at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, UK. You could build this into chatbots to train them to maximise their evaluation scores so they gradually learn to respond in a human-like way. This is very similar to the way that some of the best image recognition algorithms are trained.\n\nThe system still needs some tweaking. Sometimes being indistinguishable from a human will make a system less useful, Lowe says. For example, answering \u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d to a question is very human, but it\u2019s a frustrating response to hear from a chatbot.\n\nLowe plans to open-source his chatbot evaluator, so that other researchers can use it to improve their own chatbots.", "output": "Ryan Lowe of McGill University, Montreal has developed a neural network that can differentiate between convincing and unconvincing chatbot responses to human questions, matching the judgement of human evaluators. The system could help teach chatbots to become more \"human-like\" much more quickly than is currently possible. Lowe intendeds to open-source his chatbot evaluator, so that it can be used by other researchers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "P2P lender Ratesetter faces $80m of endangered loans \n The peer-to-peer lender Ratesetter has been hit by \u00a380m of struggling loans in the first major setback for the nascent online lending sector.\n\nThe company said it would use its own funds to prevent losses being taken by its 50,000 users, who are mostly small investors using the website in order to lend their savings to other individuals and benefit from higher interest rates than are available at high street banks. Some \u00a32bn has been lent through the site, which currently promises returns of up to 4.7%.\n\nPeter Behrens, Ratesetter\u2019s co-founder, said: \u201cWe did something on behalf of our lenders that was quite clearly a mistake. It is not right for them to take that hit.\u201d\n\nThe endangered loans are among the first signs that the fashionable peer-to-peer lending sector might not be immune to the problems that have plagued traditional banking. They have emerged just as the company has started to promote itself more as a business with establishment connections and less as a startup.\n\nThe City grandee Paul Manduca, chairman of Prudential, has just taken over as Ratesetter\u2019s chair. Details of the website\u2019s efforts to correct past mistakes come just weeks after the business\u2019s co-founder and chief executive, Rhydian Lewis, was awarded an OBE in the Queen\u2019s birthday honours list.\n\nThe company admitted that it had made \u00a336m of loans to a company called Vehicle Trading Group Limited (VTG), a motor finance holding company that then fell into administration because it had taken on too much debt. Ratesetter said it had acquired the vehicle loans out of administration \u201cin order to best protect our lenders\u2019 interests\u201d and that it would \u201cexpand our motor finance lending capabilities by integrating the two businesses into Ratesetter product lines\u201d.\n\nIt also loaned a further \u00a312m to an advertising company called Adpod, which during 2015 became 50% owned by VTG. The website admits that the loans, of which \u00a38.5m are still outstanding, should not have cleared its own credit policy. It has now fully acquired Adpod to make sure that the loans will be repaid to the website\u2019s users in full.\n\nA further \u00a332m has been loaned via George Banco, a provider of consumer credit, in which Ratesetter had taken an equity stake. Ratesetter now says it is withdrawing from its partnership with the company and will only be a \u201cpassive shareholder in the business\u201d.\n\nOn Tuesday, the peer-to-peer lender told users lending money via its website that they could withdraw their deposits free of charge. The company said: \u201cIf you feel this information changes your investment, we are giving you the option to review your investment with us and sell out without incurring any fees.\u201d\n\nHowever, lenders were told that they might have to wait 30 days to get their money back.\n\n", "output": "Ratesetter, a London-based peer-to-peer lender, has suffered a hit of\u00a0\u00a380m ($104m) in\u00a0struggling loans. In order to protect its 50,000\u00a0users, the company has had to dig into its own pockets.\u00a0Ratesetter, which has seen \u00a32bn lent via its online platform, gave millions in loans\u00a0to two companies which subsequently failed, and admitted the loans should not have\u00a0cleared its credit policy. \"We did something on behalf of our lenders that was quite clearly a mistake. It is not right for them to take that hit\", said co-founder Peter Behrens.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Telegraph Media Group withdraws from Project Arena \n by Sean Hargrave , Staff Writer, July 18, 2017\n\nThere is rarely a conversation in media circles that doesn't lament the ever increasing power of the Google and Facebook duopoly. So for the major UK newspaper groups to band together seemed like a really good idea. As of today, however, just two are left fighting the good fight.\n\nYes, Telegraph Media Group is the latest to drop out of what is now called Project Arena -- previously referred to as Project Juno. This comes after the Daily Mail Group Trust and Trinity Mirror pulled out at the beginning of the year. That means that The Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph have gone, as have the sites for Mail Online, Daily Mail, Mail On Sunday, Metro.co.uk, The Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People, among other titles.\n\nThe original idea was that the duopoly of Facebook and Google could cause the UK papers to lose out on GBP500m worth of revenue over the next decade, which they would stand a better chance of winning back by banding together. Today, however, just News UK -- publisher of The Times, The Sunday Times and The Sun -- is left teamed up with the publisher of The Guardian and The Observer.\n\nThe departing publishers have, of course, publicly wished those they leave behind the very best for the future, but there is no real reason provided for why something that appeared to be such a good idea a year ago is now being ditched.\n\nI'd like to hazard a guess that there were a couple of reasons. There's the very obvious battle over who would control and run any joint enterprise. The aforementioned papers are each in fierce competition with one another, and so to put aside those differences is one thing, to agree someone else's guys can run it and decide how the proceeds are shared is quite another.\n\nThat's the most obvious battle -- a turf war that the big titles just couldn't get past. I'd venture that publishers pulling out obviously felt they had more to gain by going their own way and not sharing the spoils of a greatly increased, pooled advertising reach.\n\nClearly, data would be at the top of the pile here. Publishers were always very wary of passing on valuable data to advertising networks and the work put into supply-side platforms has had the goal of utilising a publisher's own data to get the best price for its inventory. Presumably, header bidding has also helped when utilised, allowing publishers a wider reach of potential buyers before they cascade down to the lowest bidder.\n\nYou may want to speculate that in an era of fake news and brand safety issues, quality newspaper publishers feel that more ad dollars will flow their way as advertisers look for reputable organisations to post their branding messages.\n\nIf I were a betting man, I'd probably side with the potential argument that these longtime adversaries could do much together but sharing data and finding a way of remunerating the assorted players fairly was probably a step too far.\n\nIt's hard to fight the feeling that this is probably the beginning of the end for Project Arena. News Corp is making a lot of noise about its in-house programmatic platform, which would be a reason for News UK to at least temporarily decide to remain doing its own thing, once it is launched later this year.\n\nIt seemed like a good idea, but it looks like a partnership of foes that was reliant on sharing data was a step too far the UK press to take in the fight to ward off the Facebook and Google duopoly.\n\n", "output": "Telegraph Media Group has become the latest UK media publisher to bow out of Project Arena, an ambitious coalition of media groups aimed at tackling the Facebook-Google duopoly. Its departure leaves The Times, The Sunday Times and The Sun (all published by News UK) as well as\u00a0The Guardian and The Observer still standing. This sparked suggestions that\u00a0bitter rivalries\u00a0between the outlets contributed to the project's downfall, as well aversions to passing on jealously guarded data to advertising networks.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sizmek acquires marketing software Rocket Fuel for $145m \n NEW YORK, July 18, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sizmek Inc., the largest people-based creative optimization and data activation platform delivering impressions that inspire, today announced it has entered into a definitive acquisition agreement with Rocket Fuel Inc., an industry leading predictive marketing platform that uses AI to anticipate optimal consumer response to messaging. Under the terms of the agreement, an affiliate of Sizmek, backed by Vector Capital, will commence a tender offer for all of the outstanding shares of Rocket Fuel common stock for $2.60 per share in cash, which represents an enterprise value for Rocket Fuel of approximately $145 million.\n\n\n\nThe acquisition brings together two of the world\u2019s most respected names in advertising technology, to create one of the largest independent marketing platforms built for agencies and brands. It will fuse together AI powered predictive analytics, dynamic creative and media optimization to drive true campaign performance.\n\nCollectively, Sizmek and Rocket Fuel service more than 20,000 advertisers and 3,600 agencies to global audiences in over 70 countries, and service a client base comprised of the world\u2019s most recognized brands and agencies.\n\n\u201cThe acquisition of Rocket Fuel brings omni-channel creativity and AI-enabled decisioning together under one roof, providing our clients with a self-service predictive marketing platform that optimizes campaigns across the entire media plan,\u201d said Dr. Mark Grether, Executive Chairman of Sizmek. \u201cThis is the next logical step in marketing automation\u2013media optimization and full creative optimization combined, bringing together the context and the creative for the optimal consumer experience. The result is advertising that is deeply personalized, highly intuitive, and AI-enabled for peak performance, redefining the boundaries of creative possibility and media execution.\u201d\n\n\u201cBy integrating with Sizmek, we\u2019re effectively combining the powerful brand-building insights delivered via our Predictive Marketing Platform\u2019s Decision Engine, with Sizmek\u2019s creative optimization platform. This union creates one integrated, full-funnel solution to enable agencies and their brands to address key performance objectives across paid, owned and earned media,\u201d said Randy Wootton, Chief Executive Officer of Rocket Fuel. \u201cThis transaction accelerates our global expansion efforts in more than 70 countries, which empowers us to provide agencies and brands with more tools, exceptional service and support worldwide.\u201d\n\nUpon completion of the transaction, Rocket Fuel will become a privately-held company. The transaction, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2017, is conditioned upon satisfaction of a minimum tender offer condition, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. The Rocket Fuel board of directors unanimously approved the acquisition agreement. Stockholders holding approximately 24% of Rocket Fuel\u2019s common stock have entered into a tender and support agreement with Sizmek pursuant to which such stockholders agreed to tender all of their shares into the tender offer. This agreement terminates if, among other things, the Rocket Fuel board of directors withdraws its recommendation in favor of the tender offer pursuant to the terms of the acquisition agreement.\n\nNeedham & Company, LLC is serving as financial advisor to Rocket Fuel. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Professional Corporation is acting as Rocket Fuel\u2019s legal advisor. Kirkland & Ellis LLP is acting as Sizmek\u2019s legal advisor.\n\nFor more information, please visit www.sizmek.com.\n\nAbout Sizmek\n\nSizmek creates impressions that inspire through its people-based creative optimization platform. In the digital world, creating impressions that inspire is vital to building meaningful, long-lasting relationships with your customers. Sizmek provides powerful, integrated solutions so creative and data work together, optimizing campaigns across all media. When your messages resonate, your impact amplifies, and your business reaches new heights. Sizmek operates its platform in more than 70 countries, with local offices providing award-winning service throughout North America, EMEA, LATAM, and APAC, and connecting more than 20,000 advertisers and 3,600 agencies to audiences around the world, serving over 2.3 trillion impressions each year.\n\nAbout Rocket Fuel\n\nRocket Fuel Inc. is a predictive marketing software company that uses artificial intelligence to empower agencies and marketers to anticipate people\u2019s need for products and services. Headquartered in Redwood City, Calif., Rocket Fuel has more than 20 offices worldwide and trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol \u201cFUEL.\u201d Rocket Fuel, the Rocket Fuel logo, Moment Scoring, Advertising That Learns and Marketing That Learns are trademarks or registered trademarks of Rocket Fuel Inc. in the United States and other countries.\n\nCautions Regarding Forward-Looking Statements\n\nThis press release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events, including but not limited to the acquisition of Rocket Fuel Inc. (\u201cRocket Fuel\u201d) by Sizmek Inc. (\u201cSizmek\u201d), the capabilities of the combined company following the acquisition, and Rocket Fuel\u2019s expectations for its Media Services business and second half financial results. Words such as \"expect,\" \"believe,\" \"intend,\" \"plan,\" \"goal,\" \"focus,\" \"anticipate,\" and other similar words are also intended to identify forward-looking statements.\n\nThese forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from the results anticipated by such statements, including, without limitation, due to: uncertainties as to the timing of the tender offer and the acquisition; the possibility that competing offers will be made; the possibility that various closing conditions for the tender offer or the acquisition may not be satisfied or waived, including that a governmental entity may prohibit, delay or refuse to grant approval for the consummation of the acquisition; the effects of disruption from the tender offer or acquisition on Rocket Fuel\u2019s business; the fact that the announcement and pendency of the tender offer and acquisition may make it more difficult to establish or maintain relationships with employees, suppliers and other business partners; the effects of disruption caused by the tender offer or acquisition making it more difficult to maintain relationships with employees, customers, vendors and other business partners; and the risk that stockholder litigation in connection with the tender offer or the acquisition may result in significant costs of defense, indemnification and liability.\n\nAdditional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated are under the caption \u201cRisk Factors\u201d in Rocket Fuel\u2019s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (\u201cSEC\u201d) on March 16, 2017 and in subsequent SEC filings. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release, and Sizmek expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to update the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which the statements were made.\n\nImportant Additional Information and Where to Find It\n\nIn connection with the proposed acquisition of Rocket Fuel, Sizmek, through an affiliate, will commence a tender offer for all of the outstanding shares of Rocket Fuel. The tender offer has not commenced. This communication is for informational purposes only and is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell shares of Rocket Fuel. It is also not a substitute for the tender offer materials that Sizmek will file with the SEC upon commencement of the tender offer. At the time that the tender offer is commenced, Sizmek will file tender offer materials on Schedule TO with the SEC, and Rocket Fuel will file a Solicitation/Recommendation Statement on Schedule 14D-9 with the SEC with respect to the tender offer. THE TENDER OFFER MATERIALS (INCLUDING AN OFFER TO PURCHASE, A RELATED LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL AND CERTAIN OTHER TENDER OFFER DOCUMENTS) AND THE SOLICITATION/RECOMMENDATION STATEMENT WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION THAT SHOULD BE READ CAREFULLY AND CONSIDERED BY ROCKET FUEL\u2019S STOCKHOLDERS BEFORE ANY DECISION IS MADE WITH RESPECT TO THE TENDER OFFER. Both the tender offer materials and the solicitation/recommendation statement will be made available to Rocket Fuel\u2019s stockholders free of charge. A free copy of the tender offer materials and the solicitation/recommendation statement will also be made available to all of Rocket Fuel\u2019s stockholders by contacting Rocket Fuel at ir@rocketfuel.com or by phone at (650) 481-6082, or by visiting Rocket Fuel\u2019s website (www.rocketfuel.com). In addition, the tender offer materials and the solicitation/recommendation statement (and all other documents filed by Rocket Fuel with the SEC) will be available at no charge on the SEC\u2019s website (www.sec.gov) upon filing with the SEC. ROCKET FUEL\u2019S STOCKHOLDERS ARE ADVISED TO READ THE TENDER OFFER MATERIALS AND THE SOLICITATION/RECOMMENDATION STATEMENT, AS EACH MAY BE AMENDED OR SUPPLEMENTED FROM TIME TO TIME, AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS FILED BY SIZMEK OR ROCKET FUEL WITH THE SEC WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BEFORE THEY MAKE ANY DECISION WITH RESPECT TO THE TENDER OFFER. THESE MATERIALS WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE TENDER OFFER, SIZMEK AND ROCKET FUEL.", "output": "Texan online advertising firm Sizmek has agreed to definitively acquire predictive marketing software company Rocket Fuel, in a deal which values the latter business at $145m. The move will create one of the world's biggest independent marketing platforms built for agencies and brands, taking in 20,000 advertisers and 3,600 agencies across 70 countries. The deal is set to complete in Q3 2017, following which Rocket Fuel will become a privately held company.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sizmek acquires marketing software Rocket Fuel for $145m \n Ad tech firm Sizmek has bought predictive marketing software company Rocket Fuel, in a US$145m acquisition that further consolidates the ad tech market.\n\nPredictions of more ad tech firms banding together have been circulating for sometime as the booming automation market continues to fire out startup after startup.\n\nIn April Oracle inked a $US850m deal to acquire digital measurement and ad verification company Moat and other notable deals in the past year include Adobe buying DSP TubeMogul and Salesforce buying marketing-data startup Krux. Mobile ad tech company Smaato was acquired by a Chinese firm for $148 million; Taboola acquired ConvertMedia; tech platform RadiumOne's assets were bought by global company RhythmOne last month \u2013 the list goes on.\n\nAlso this morning, ad exchange Rubicon Project has acquired nToggle; a tech company that makes it easier and more cost effective for programmatic buyers to find the inventory they\u2019re looking for among the billions of bid requests they receive each day.\n\nRumours are also rife that Snapchat is shopping for ad tech companies to help appeal to marketers. Acquisition talks with AdRoll specifically are said to have occurred.\n\nSelf-professed \u201cpeople-based creative optimisation and data activation platform\u201d Sizmek, which itself was acquired by Vector Capital for $US122 million in August last year, has entered into a definitive acquisition agreement with Rocket Fuel Inc in its quest to create one of the largest independent marketing platforms built for agencies and brands.\n\nUnder the terms of the agreement, an affiliate of Sizmek, backed by Vector Capital, will commence a tender offer for all of the outstanding shares of Rocket Fuel common stock for $2.60 per share in cash, which represents an enterprise value for NASDAQ-listed Rocket Fuel of approximately $145 million.\n\nRocket Fuel propelled to a great height when launched by alumni of Yahoo in 2008; in its 2013 IPO it raised about US$116 million; sold shares for US$29 each and in Australia hired eBay's advertising GM Eastwood to kick-start the firm Down Under in 2014.\n\nMany bad headlines later - such as The Street's 'Rocket Fuel Stock Is a Dud' and Forbes' The 'Demise Of The Hot IPO: Rocket Fuel Collapse' \u2013 Eastwood then left and it's had at least two major rounds of global lay-offs with the most recent in January as it attempts to save US$20 million in operating expenses.\n\nSee: How Rocket Fuel plans to reignite its business\n\nExecutive chairman of Sizmek, Dr Mark Grether, says the move is the next logical step in marketing automation and media optimisation and the result is advertising that is \u201cdeeply personalised, highly intuitive and AI-enabled for peak performance, redefining the boundaries of creative possibility and media execution\u201d.\n\n\u201cThe acquisition of Rocket Fuel brings omnichannel creativity and AI-enabled decisioning together under one roof, providing our clients with a self-service predictive marketing platform that optimises campaigns across the entire media plan,\u201d Grether says.\n\nRocket Fuel, a predictive marketing platform that uses AI to anticipate consumer response to messaging, combined with Sizmek, will service more than 20,000 advertisers and 3,600 agencies to global audiences in over 70 countries.\n\nAn exciting chapter\n\nIn a personal email to clients Grether explains how Sizmek is built on the belief that creating impressions that inspire is vital to building meaningful, long-lasting relationships with customers.\n\n\u201cOur particular combination of technology, intelligence, creative solutions, and award-winning support empowers you to create advertising experiences that cultivate deeper relationships and drive campaign performance around the world,\u201d he says.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re reinforcing our commitment to you by bringing together the best of both worlds\u2014omnichannel creativity coupled with AI-enabled decisioning. With the integration, you\u2019ll gain access to a leading DSP and DMP and the most robust dynamic creative optimisation and ad serving capabilities all under one roof. Together, our self-service predictive marketing platform will help you to truly optimise your campaigns across the entire media plan.\n\n\u201cThe Rocket Fuel acquisition marks an exciting chapter in our relationship, with a promise to you - with Sizmek, you create impressions that inspire and gain the power to connect with your audiences in ways you never thought possible, which in turn, produces extraordinary results.\u201d\n\nTakeover history\n\nIn August 2015 Rocket Fuel was in the limelight regarding a takeover deal from marketing cloud company and rival, Gravity4.\n\nThe private San Francisco-founded business, then run in Australia by ex-MediaCom AU chief digital officer turned Gravity4 MD Joshua Rex. It was thought to have made an offer of about US$260 million.\n\nAt the time, Gravity4\u2019s founder and CEO Gurbaksh Chahal, who is also the 'disgraced' founder of RadiumOne, wrote a letter to Rocket Fuel's chairman George John and its interim CEO and director Monte Zweben. Rocket Fuel said it did not constitute a credible offer.\n\nHave something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au\n\nSign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.", "output": "Texan online advertising firm Sizmek has agreed to definitively acquire predictive marketing software company Rocket Fuel, in a deal which values the latter business at $145m. The move will create one of the world's biggest independent marketing platforms built for agencies and brands, taking in 20,000 advertisers and 3,600 agencies across 70 countries. The deal is set to complete in Q3 2017, following which Rocket Fuel will become a privately held company.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google launches browsing tool created with captured user data \n Get more of the stuff you care about\n\nWith these updates to the feed, it\u2019s easier than ever to stay in the know about exactly the things you care about and see more content to inform, inspire and entertain you. You\u2019ll spend less time and energy trying to keep up with your interests and more time enjoying and cultivating them. Whether you\u2019re a pet-loving, Nietzsche-reading, sports fanatic; a hip-hop head and burgeoning brewmaster; or anything in between, your feed should fit your fancy.", "output": "Google has launched a personalised feed of articles, videos and other content in its app for iOS and Android, as the search giant attempts to engage users in the same way as Facebook or Twitter. Anyone performing a search in the app can click the follow button, bringing up a selection of categories. While Google said in a blog post the content is designed to \"inform, inspire and entertain\", critics have called the feed stale compared to Facebook and \"surprisingly clumsy\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google launches browsing tool created with captured user data \n Google today is rolling out its take on the news feed, a personalized stream of articles, videos, and other content. The feed will appear in its flagship app for Android and iOS, simply called Google. The feed, which includes items drawn from your search history and topics you choose to follow, is designed to turn Google\u2019s app into a destination for browsing as well as search. Google is hoping you\u2019ll begin opening its app the way you do Facebook or Twitter, checking it reflexively throughout the day for quick hits of news and information.\n\nGoogle previewed its new feed in December, when it introduced the feature to its Android app. Previously, the space below the search bar was reserved for Google Now, the company\u2019s predictive search feature, which displayed personalized weather, traffic, sports scores, and other information.\n\nWith the introduction of the feed, the Google Now brand is going away, and the updates it used to contain are moving to a secondary tab called \u201cupdates.\u201d The main space underneath the search bar will now contain a stream of cards related to your interests. In a demo at Google\u2019s offices in San Francisco on Tuesday, a product manager\u2019s feed included articles about the Oakland Athletics, a trending article about the Tour de France, and a 10-month-old blog post about a classical musician who she had previously seen in concert.\n\nGoogle Now is going away\n\nIn most feeds, a 10-month-old blog post would appear stale and unwelcome. Google says it\u2019s a sign of the company\u2019s strengths \u2014 it can reach into the long tail of articles on the web, and surface them to audiences that missed them the first time around. Facebook and Twitter give priority to latest updates; Google says it\u2019s working to prioritize relevance.\n\nWhen you perform searches in the app, a subset of results will now show a \u201cfollow\u201d button alongside results. News, sports, and entertainment stories are among the categories where you can expect to see follow buttons to start. Tap them and Google will work to bring you related content into the feed.\n\nYou can customize the feed by tapping the three dots on top of each card. From there, you can follow a subject or share the item on other social networks. You can also tell Google you\u2019re \u201cdone with this story\u201d and avoid seeing future updates, or tell it you don\u2019t want to see any more articles from a particular publisher. You can\u2019t follow individual publishers today, but publishers will surely clamor for it, and Google told me it will consider adding that feature eventually.\n\nThe Google feed came to my account Tuesday afternoon, and I spent a long while scrolling through it. The feed offered up articles on several of my interests: Netflix, Instagram, Game of Thrones, and the video game I\u2019m currently playing (and have watched a bunch of YouTube videos about). The best topic I saw in the feed was \u201cfake news,\u201d and featured an article from Lifehacker on how to spot it.\n\nOther social feeds can feel more lively\n\nScroll far enough and you\u2019ll get a basic, ambient sense of the day\u2019s news. But few of the items I saw compelled me to read the article. Part of what makes Facebook and Twitter\u2019s feeds compelling is the social endorsement that links there carry: you read because your friends tell you to, and you trust your friends. They also give you commentary and analysis around what you\u2019re reading. In short, they feel lively \u2014 and the Google feed can feel stale by comparison.\n\nIt also draws on the underlying search technology responsible for Google\u2019s featured snippets, which have historically spread misinformation about a wide range of subjects. The Outline reported earlier this year that Google promoted false news stories asserting that, among other things, Barack Obama was the \u201cking of America\u201d and was plotting a coup. Ben Gomes, who runs search at Google, told reporters Tuesday that the company had implemented \u201ca whole bunch of changes\u201d to prevent similar misinformation from spreading in the feed.\n\nThe most surprising thing about the Google feed, at least at launch, is how little video it contains. At a time when its peers are racing to cram as much video in their feeds as possible, Google\u2019s is still mostly a text-based affair. When YouTube cards appear, videos won\u2019t play within the feed \u2014 tapping kicks you out to the app or to a mobile-web version of the video. The cards are formatted in such a way that it\u2019s easy to miss that they\u2019re even videos. It\u2019s all surprisingly clumsy.\n\nSurprisingly little video in the Google feed\n\nFor now, Google says there won\u2019t be ads in the feed, although I imagine it would love to put them there eventually. Google is an ad business, after all, and it\u2019s running out of places to put new ads on mobile devices. Earlier this year, it added a fourth advertising unit to search results in its mobile app, making you scroll down three screens before you see unpaid search results for some queries.\n\nBut with each passing year, we have had fewer reasons to open the Google app. Native apps from Facebook, Amazon, Apple, and others command more of our attention, making us less likely to begin our queries at the search bar. More recently, Siri, Alexa, and Cortana have been built into our device hardware, allowing us to bypass Google and search with our voice. Financially, Google is still on solid footing. But the trends are worrisome. Analyst Ben Thompson, among others, has written about the prospect that we have already hit \u201cPeak Google.\u201d", "output": "Google has launched a personalised feed of articles, videos and other content in its app for iOS and Android, as the search giant attempts to engage users in the same way as Facebook or Twitter. Anyone performing a search in the app can click the follow button, bringing up a selection of categories. While Google said in a blog post the content is designed to \"inform, inspire and entertain\", critics have called the feed stale compared to Facebook and \"surprisingly clumsy\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brits making fake holiday sickness claims rises 500% \n Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nLifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nUnfamiliar food, excessive booze and too many hours spent cooking in the sun means an upset stomach can be a summer holiday inevitability, but a rise in fraudulent travel insurance sickness claims means Brits now risk being banned from all-inclusive breaks altogether.\n\nTravel bosses have been left embarrassed by the \u201cBritish-only\u201d trend which has seen a 500 per cent increase in the number of compensation claims for holiday sickness since 2013 \u2013 a rise attributed to the growth of questionable claims management companies and \u201ceasy win\u201d loopholes in legislation.\n\nAccording to travel agents\u2019 association ABTA, which has launched the Stop Sickness Scams campaign, claims management companies are cold-calling holidaymakers on their return home and even approaching tourists in resorts, encouraging them to make illness claims against their tour operator.\n\nResearch by law firm BLM shows that 5 per cent of all-inclusive holidaymakers have been targeted while on holiday, with a further 5 per cent receiving an unsolicited phone call upon their return home.\n\nAnd while most insurance companies require medical evidence of illness, unscrupulous claims companies have less-exacting standards. \u201cWith the claims going into third party claims management agencies who are actively seeking these types of claims, there have been reports of simple packets of medication being supplied as \u2018evidence\u2019 of the incident,\u201d says Charlotte Lee-Field, head of claims at TIFGroup.\n\nSarah Dawson was on holiday with her family in Costa Brava in May when she was approached by a \u201crespectable-looking\u201d man who tried to convince her to make a claim. \u201cHe said all we needed was a chemist\u2019s receipt for diarrhoea medicine, and that we wouldn\u2019t even have to go through our own holiday insurance provider. It sounded really straightforward \u2013 I\u2019m not surprised people are going for it.\u201d\n\nSuch is the prevalence of the scam, some hotels are talking of banning Britons fron all-inclusive holidays (Getty)\n\nThe trend has been likened to the spate of \u201ceasy money\u201d whiplash claims seen in recent years, before the Ministry of Justice put a cap on pay outs. \u201cWhiplash fees are now capped at \u00a3180 but prior to that claims compensation companies could charge anything with typical amounts being around \u00a3750,\u201d says Phil Carr, director of sales at ROCK Insurance. \u201cWith the obvious decrease in fees we\u2019re now seeing a new unregulated route for these organisations and overseas sickness claims do not have the same amount of capping. You only have to search on the web for \u201csickness claims\u201d and you are greeted by dozens of organisations wanting your no win, no fee business.\u201d\n\nTravel blogger bagpipes his way around the world Show all 12 1 / 12 Travel blogger bagpipes his way around the world Travel blogger bagpipes his way around the world Dubai Travel blogger Ross Jennings, aka the First Piper, is aiming to play the bagpipes in every country in the world. Here he is playing in the Dubai desert. Ross Jennings Travel blogger bagpipes his way around the world Malaysia Ross lugged bagpipes and a kilt for seven hours up Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia. Ross Jennings Travel blogger bagpipes his way around the world India Ross says: \"Two years ago I never even contemplated the idea of piping in India let alone in front of one of the worlds' most iconic sites. The Taj Mahal is jaw-droppingly beautiful, and to have her as my subject for the day was one for the bagpipe bucket list.\" Ross Jennings Travel blogger bagpipes his way around the world Bahrain In Bahrain, women wearing the niqab asked Ross to pose with them. Ross Jennings Travel blogger bagpipes his way around the world Singapore Ross says: \"Some of the most impressive types of buildings in this country have to be the HDBs (the buildings behind me!), which are apparently the Singaporean equivalent to council housing. Sad to think these colourful ones are soon to be knocked down.\" Ross Jennings Travel blogger bagpipes his way around the world Kuwait Ross says: \"Apparently there's a strict noise law in Kuwait, but I'm yet to be subject to it, so I'm having a blast.\" Ross Jennings Travel blogger bagpipes his way around the world Kuala Lumpur Ross says: \"Serenading the twins... Couldn't have been more excited to pipe at the top of the Petronas Twin Towers!\" Ross Jennings Travel blogger bagpipes his way around the world India Ross visited the Hawa Mahal, an elaborately designed palace in Jaipur that was built for royal women to spy on people in the street. Ross Jennings Travel blogger bagpipes his way around the world Laos Ross says: \"Based on a few recs from travellers and locals, I headed North from Luang Prabang to a riverside gem called Muang Ngoi, where the sunsets were incredible and the stars at night were totally out of this world.\" Ross Jennings Travel blogger bagpipes his way around the world Liberia Ross says: \"Apart from the alarmingly jet-black rock, my beach walk and bagpipe session felt thoroughly Scottish as the rain kicked in and we ran for cover. Much of the Liberian coastline is like this but there are some beautiful beaches which one day (I hope) brings more tourists!\" Ross Jennings Travel blogger bagpipes his way around the world Lisbon \"Forget Paris and Rome they say?! Head to Lisbon eh?? Couldn't agree more!\" says Ross Jennings. Ross Jennings Travel blogger bagpipes his way around the world Nairobi Ross's trip to a Nairobi nature reserve brought an audience of giraffes. Ross Jennings\n\nWith sickness payouts ranging between \u00a3500 and \u00a32,000, and often more \u2013 certainly enough to cover the cost of next year\u2019s holiday \u2013 it\u2019s easy to see why holidaymakers are enticed by this seemingly victimless, risk-free crime. But industry heads are working to ensure those making fraudulent claims are caught and held accountable \u2013 and when they are, the consequences can be serious.\n\nHolidaymakers found guilty can expect a criminal record and a fine in the UK, as well as severe punishments from the country in question. For example, a Greek hotel is currently pursuing a counter-claim for \u00a3170,000 against a British couple where they have evidence to prove the couple made a fraudulent claim, while in Spain, anyone found guilty could face up to three years in jail with no opportunity for a suspended sentence.\n\nSickness insurance scams seem like easy money, but perpetrators risk fines or imprisonment if caught (AFP/Getty) (AFP/Getty Images)\n\nAnd then there\u2019s the wider impact, for those that will struggle to make legitimate claims in the face of tighter bureaucratic hurdles (\u201ctheir claims will be treated by tour operators with greater scepticism and more scrutiny,\u201d says Ian Brown from law firm Trowers & Hamlins), and for British holidaymakers in general. \u201cHoteliers are likely to charge British tour operators more for rooms, which will undoubtedly need to be passed down to the consumer,\u201d says Carr.\n\n\u201cThe Insurance industry always has to accommodate the cost of claims and increases in fraudulent claims will ultimately have to be spread across all customers to keep pricing competitive. Equally as prices of holidaying aboard increase, alongside the impact of Brexit and the rising price of insurance, we will increasingly see more and more people risking travelling uninsured in order to cut additional costs from their trip.\u201d\n\nAccording to Travel Supermarket, nearly half of all British travellers (46 per cent) have gone away without insurance at some point \u2013 a figure that could well rise if policies become more expensive. Would you risk travelling without it? A dodgy stomach is one thing, but many holidaymakers have found themselves in much more unusual scenarios. Here are 10 of the most baffling travel claims insurers have heard.\n\n1. A woman was hospitalised in the US with what she thought was an illness, only to give birth to twins prematurely \u2013 she hadn\u2019t known she was pregnant.\n\n2. A campervan in Australia had such a bad case of bedbugs that the hire company advised the customer to set fire to it (with their belongings inside) and make a claim on their travel insurance.\n\n3. A woman injured her pelvis while skiing. Due to her tall stature the village doctor\u2019s X-ray machine wasn\u2019t up to the job so she had to be X-rayed by the local vet.\n\n4. A man made a claim for his contact lenses after losing one while getting a massage with a \u201chappy ending\u201d.\n\n5. An insurance company flew a couple to Italy to find their missing daughter, only to discover that she\u2019d met a man in a nightclub and was spending a few days in bed with him, ignoring her phone.\n\n6. A man tried to claim back the cost of his safari because he felt he didn\u2019t see enough wildlife.\n\n7. Two Devonshire holidaymakers tried to claim for damage to their car\u2019s paintwork after it was licked by a cow.\n\n8. A family\u2019s camping holiday in Wales was ruined when a parachutist from a nearby airbase landed on their tent, destroying their tent and everything inside.\n\n9. A man filed a claim for two coconuts, lost on his way home from his travels. The claim was denied not only because it\u2019s forbidden to bring such items back into the country, but because he wanted \u00a31,000 for each of them.\n\n10. A father tried to file a claim for a disastrous haircut his teenage daughter got on holiday in Spain. He said she was so upset it ruined the holiday for the whole family.", "output": "Questionable claims management companies and \"easy win\" loopholes in insurance law have led to a 500% increase in fraudulent travel insurance claims by British holidaymakers since 2013, the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) has said. The companies have targeted UK sunseekers, cold calling or even approaching them at resorts, encouraging them to make claims against their tour agents. ABTA has launched a Stop Sickness Scams campaign to quash the practice, which Phil Carr, director of sales at ROCK Insurance, said is likely to lead to increased costs for tourists and tougher hurdles for legitimate claimants.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Judge refuses to dismiss lawsuit on inflated facebook ad metrics \n by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, July 18, 2017\n\nSiding against Facebook, a federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit against Facebook over allegations of inflated video metrics.\n\nU.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson in the Northern District of California ruled late last week that a group of six marketers can proceed with claims that the social networking platform violated an implied contractual obligation to use \"reasonable care.\"\n\nThe court battle stems from revelations that Facebook misreported two metrics related to its video ads. The result of both errors was that Facebook inflated the average time spent viewing ad clips by 60% to 80%. The company said last September that its mistaken calculations didn't affect billing. (This spring, Facebook acknowledged that it also overstated the number of times consumers clicked on some mobile ads; the company said it had issued refunds to affected advertisers.)\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nSix marketers -- including bankrupt tech incubator Quirky and the individuals Tom Letizia, Mark Fierro and Greg Agustin -- subsequently sued Facebook. They argued that the misrepresentations led them to believe that Facebook's video ads were more valuable than they actually were, resulting in inflated prices.\n\nHenderson said in his ruling that the marketers could proceed with claims stemming from allegations that Facebook failed to use reasonable care when reporting metrics.\n\n\"Under California law, every contract contains an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing,\" Henderson wrote. \"Plaintiffs allege Facebook breached this duty by incorrectly measuring viewer engagement, including inaccurate data in its interface, and reporting inaccurate advertising metrics.\"\n\nThe ruling wasn't a complete loss for Facebook. Henderson also dismissed several other claims by the marketers, including that the social networking service violated California's law against unfair competition. That dismissal was without prejudice -- meaning that the marketers can beef up their allegations and bring them again. Henderson gave the marketers until August 14 to do so.\n\nA Facebook spokesperson said the company was pleased that some of the counts were dismissed. The spokesperson added that case \"has no merit\" and that the company will defend itself \"vigorously.\"", "output": "A US federal court judge has ruled that six marketers can proceed with their lawsuit against Facebook, who they claim broke an \"implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing\" after the social media giant inflated metrics results by between 60% and 80%. US District Court Judge Thelton Henderson in the Northern District of California agreed with the plaintiffs' allegation that \"Facebook breached this duty by incorrectly measuring viewer engagement\". However, Henderson also dismissed other claims against Facebook and gave the marketers until 14 August to resubmit their allegations."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian companies give workers \u2018period days\u2019 to tackle stigma \n Two Indian firms have introduced a policy to give female employees a \u201cperiod day\u201d off every month.\n\nThe day can be taken off under \u201cmenstrual leave\u201d, launched by Mumbai-based firms Culture Machine and Gozoop in order, they say, to fight taboos around menstruation.\n\n\n\nAhmed Aftab Naqvi, CEO of Gozoop, a digital marketing firm for brands such as Dell and Asian Paints, said there were \u201ccultural sensibilities\u201d in India that made it difficult for women to talk about their periods. \u201cWhy should our women co-workers have to have these awkward conversations or ask for leave? It should be something that is a given, that\u2019s understood. That\u2019s why we instituted blanket policy for all our 70 women employees,\u201d he said.\n\nFor New Delhi gynaecologist Dr Anita Nayar, however, the menstrual leave policy is \u201csilly\u201d and \u201cregressive\u201d. For a start, she says the majority of women have no problem with period pains \u2013 and for those who do, merely having the first day off may not be enough anyway as their discomfort can last for days.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t see why women can\u2019t openly say, without embarrassment, that they need time off. An automatic policy of one day off a month actually feeds into this whole embarrassment syndrome and keeps it under wraps. I\u2019d rather women openly asked for time off when their periods are painful. That would really open the lid,\u201d she said.\n\nCulture Machine, a digital media company with 75 female employees, announced the measure in a YouTube video that shows its female workers describing how they struggle to work during their periods through cramps and nausea, and battle the feeling that they are \u201cgoing to die soon\u201d. It shows their faces lighting up on being told they will get the first day off.\n\nIn the video, Devleena S Majumdar, Culture Machine\u2019s head of HR, says: \u201cWe felt it was time we face reality. This is not an embarrassment, this is a part of life.\u201d\n\nShe has been stunned at the positive reaction. The video has received more than 1.4m hits. \u201cWe have to break the taboo. I know that some critics have said that women will be embarrassed, when they take this day off, at telling the whole world they have started their period. But when you get pregnant and apply for maternity leave, you aren\u2019t embarrassed so why would women be embarrassed about menstrual leave?\u201d she asked.\n\nPeriods are taboo in India, not just in polite circles but everywhere. Menstruating girls and women are considered impure and banned from entering temples or cooking food in their own homes.\n\nEven in educated, middle-class homes, girls have to wash their clothes separately. They cannot touch pickles or poppadoms because they will go \u201cbad\u201d. Herbs will shrivel up as they approach, they are told.\n\nThe insensitivity towards menstruation affects education. A report on sanitation last year by the Dasra foundation found that 23% of girls in India drop out of school when their periods begin because of the lack of a private toilet.\n\nThe subject is shrouded in so much shame and stigma that girls often go to insane lengths to hide their periods. Aditi Gupta, co-founder of Menstrupedia, a website that dispels myths and educates young women, said she had visited a rural school and met a girl who, through mind-boggling ingenuity, had managed to hide her \u201csecret\u201d from her parents for a whole year.\n\nGupta welcomes the menstrual leave policy. \u201cWe need to break the silence around the subject. This menstrual leave policy is a way of breaking these taboos and it\u2019s a step in the right direction. Women can take a day off without having to explain and without being judged or branded as less efficient,\u201d said Gupta.\n\nIt\u2019s only when superstitions around menstruation are smashed, she said, that the custom of isolating menstruating women and girls will end. This month, a teenage girl in Nepal died after she was confined to a cowshed and bitten by a snake. Tulasi Shahi, 19, had been banished to the shed and forced to sleep alone.\n\nThe practice of sequestering women in cattle sheds for the duration of their periods is also common in many parts of India.\n\nCulture Machine CEO, Sameer Pitalwalla, is unmoved by criticism of the policy. \u201cWe are a country that can\u2019t say the word \u2018period\u2019,\u201d he said, adding that it did not mean women have to stay at home. The menstrual leave was optional, for those who needed it.", "output": "Indian companies Culture Machine and Gozoop are giving female workers a \u201cperiod day\u201d of leave each month in an attempt to tackle taboos around menstruation. Culture Machine, a digital media firm, announced the policy on YouTube in a video that has since received 1.4 million\u00a0hits. Last year, a report by the Dasra foundation revealed that 23% of girls in the country leave school once they begin menstruating due to the lack of private toilet facilities.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurer Travelers adds UBI app to promote safer driving \n The Travelers Companies, Inc. has launched IntelliDrive smartphone app, which gives customers insights into their driving habits and auto insurance priced according to how they drive.\n\nCustomers who use the app and drive safely can save up to 20 percent and will receive feedback that can help improve their driving and savings, according to the company. The IntelliDrive app is now available in Minnesota and Nevada, with more states to be added later this year.\n\n\u201cOur new app promotes safe driving by making people aware of their driving habits \u2014 whether it is hard braking or accelerating too quickly,\u201d said Elaine Montgomery-Baisden, chief underwriting officer of Personal Insurance at Travelers. \u201cIntelliDrive provides personalized auto insurance pricing, rewards our customers for good driving behavior and ultimately can lead to safer roads for everyone.\u201d\n\nTravelers is partnering with TrueMotion, a provider of smartphone usage-based insurance technology, to implement the IntelliDrive app. Analysis of driving data from millions of trips by TrueMotion users shows that when drivers receive a score and tips about their actual driving behavior, they take steps to become safer drivers.\n\nIntelliDrive will capture driving information for all enrolled drivers in the household for 90 days and determine an overall score. Renewal premiums will be based on that score. New customers receive up to a 5 percent discount for enrolling in IntelliDrive.\n\nThe Travelers Companies, Inc. is a provider of property casualty insurance for auto, home and business.\n\nTopics Auto Personal Auto New Markets", "output": "Insurance firm The Travelers Companies launched IntelliDrive, a smartphone app enabling users to monitor their driving habits, receive feedback and save up to 20% on premiums. Travelers partnered with smartphone usage-based insurance technology provider TrueMotion to develop the app, which is available in Minnesota and Nevada, before being rolling it out to other states later in the year. \"Our new app promotes safe driving by making people aware of their driving habits, whether it is hard braking or accelerating too quickly\", said Elaine Montgomery-Baisden, chief underwriting officer of Personal Insurance at Travelers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Renewable energy-powered boat sets off on six-year journey \n In this Tuesday, July 4, 2017 file photo, the Energy Observer, a former race boat turned into a autonomous navigation with hydrogen, sails on the Seine river in Paris. A boat that fuels itself is setting off from Paris Saturday, July 15, 2017, on a six-year round-the-world journey that its designers hope serves as a model for emissions-free energy networks of the future. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu, File)\n\nA boat that fuels itself is setting off around the world from Paris on a six-year journey that its designers hope will serves as a model for emissions-free energy networks of the future.\n\nEnergy Observer will use its solar panels, wind turbines and a hydrogen fuel cell system to power its trip. The 5 million-euro ($5.25 million) boat heads off Saturday from Paris toward the Atlantic.\n\nThe futuristic-looking 30.5-meter (100-foot) boat will rely on sun or wind during the day and tap into its hydrogen reservoirs at night. It produces its own hydrogen through electrolysis of sea water.\n\nOriginally designed in 1983, the boat enjoyed a successful career in open-sea sailing races before skippers Frederic Dahirel and Victorien Erussard and a French research institute converted it into the Energy Observer project.\n\nIn this Tuesday, July 4, 2017 file photo, the Energy Observer, a former race boat turned into a autonomous navigation with hydrogen, sails past the Eiffel Tower on the Seine river in Paris. A boat that fuels itself is setting off from Paris on a six-year, round-the-world journey that its designers hope serves as a model for emissions-free energy networks of the future. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu, File)\n\n\u00a9 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.", "output": "A boat powered by solar panels, wind turbines and a hydrogen fuel cell system has begun a six-year journey around the world to raise awareness about renewable energy. Originally designed in 1983, the $5.25m Energy Observer will rely on solar and wind power during the day, turning to the fuel cell at night and will produce its own hydrogen via electrolysis of sea water. She was previously an open-sea racing vessel, before being converted by skippers Frederic Dahirel and Victorien Erussard and a French research institute.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Microsoft cloud to assist in Baidu's autonomous vehicle efforts \n Rather than develop its own self-driving car, Microsoft has been playing to its strength in software by working with automotive companies on systems for turning the massive amounts of data from sensors into \"actionable intelligence\"\n\nMicrosoft's cloud computing platform will be used outside China for collaboration by members of a self-driving car alliance formed by Chinese internet search giant Baidu, the companies announced on Tuesday.\n\nThe US software giant is one of more than 50 entities that have joined an Apollo alliance created by Baidu in April.\n\nMicrosoft will enable alliance members to collaborate, share information and tap into the analytic power of Azure cloud computing, according to the companies.\n\n\"Our goal with Apollo is to provide an open and powerful platform to the automotive industry to further the goal of autonomous vehicles,\" Baidu president Ya-Qin Zhang said in a release.\n\nThe companies did not say why the alliance would not use the Microsoft cloud computing platform inside China.\n\nHowever, Beijing tightly controls internet traffic in China and it was unlikely that Microsoft's platform would be permitted to operate unrestricted there.\n\nRather than develop its own self-driving car, Microsoft has been playing to its strength in software by working with automotive companies on systems for turning the massive amounts of data from sensors into \"actionable intelligence.\"\n\nCar makers such as BMW, Ford, Renault-Nissan, Toyota and Volvo use or have announced plans to adopt Microsoft's technology to help with services like driver assist, predictive maintenance and voice-controlled media, according to the US technology titan.\n\n\"Today's vehicles already have an impressive level of sophistication when it comes to their ability to capture data,\" said Microsoft corporate vice president Kevin Dallas.\n\n\"By applying our global cloud AI, machine learning, and deep neural network capabilities to that data, we can accelerate the work already being done to make autonomous vehicles safer.\"\n\nMost major automakers and several other technology firms have been stepping up efforts on autonomous driving in recent years, contending these systems will eliminate the vast majority of road accidents. Apple is the latest to have obtained a testing permit in California.\n\nUS-based Tesla also is investing in self-driving car capabilities, as are firms in China and other parts of the world.\n\nUS car rental giant Avis Budget announced last month that it will team up with Waymo, a subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet, on self-driving cars being tested on Arizona roads.\n\n\u00a9 2017 AFP", "output": "Microsoft's cloud platform has announced it will help Chinese search engine Baidu in its bid to explore autonomous vehicle development. Microsoft will join over 50 other companies in Baidu's Apollo alliance, created earlier this year. Microsoft's cloud will allow the alliance to share information, collaborate and use the analytics of Azure cloud computing. The system will not be used inside China, for an as yet unknown reason.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers minimise impact of weather on algae growth \n In Ohio, researchers at the University of Dayton Research Institute are addressing algae\u2019s vulnerability to fluctuations in weather and temperature, limiting commercial growers and researchers in their selection of growing systems and locations. \u201cOur goal was to design and build an economical and efficient system that could be transported anywhere, easily assembled and operate in any climate, and we\u2019ve done just that,\u201d said the project\u2019s lead. Aside from being more cost-efficient, UDRI\u2019s growing process is \u201cgreener\u201d than other systems, using livestock manure instead of chemical fertilizer as a nutrient source for the algae.", "output": "Researchers at the University of Dayton have designed a growing system that produces algae that are resilient to fluctuations in weather and temperature. The system can be transported anywhere, easily assembled, and operates in any climate, said Sukh Sidhu, head of the university's energy technologies and materials department. The process has the added benefit of using livestock manure instead of chemical fertilisers as a nutrient source. Algae feed\u00a0on carbon dioxide produced by combustion processes, and in turn produce\u00a0algae oil, which can be used to make biofuel."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "18% of UK apprentices receive illegally low pay \n Nearly a fifth of apprentices at level two and level three are illegally paid less than the minimum wage, according to the government\u2019s long-delayed apprenticeship pay survey.\n\nEighteen per cent were found to be paid below the appropriate national minimum wage or national living wage (for workers aged 25 and above), up from 15 per cent in 2014.\n\nThe survey, which aims to find whether apprentices are receiving the correct remuneration, was first announced in May 2016, and finally found its way online today.\n\nHairdressing apprentices are \u201cby far the most likely to have received non-compliant pay\u201d, the survey said, rising to 47 per cent in 2016 from 42 per cent in 2014, while \u201cthose on the management framework were least likely\u201d \u2013 up to seven per cent in 2016, from three per cent in 2014.\n\nOther sectors with significant non-compliance included construction and related, which rose from 24 per cent in 2014 to 28 per cent in 2016. Health, social care and sport rose from 12 to 17 per cent, electrotechnical was up from 17 to 24 per cent, while hospitality and catering went from nine to 15 per cent.\n\nThe 2016 survey was carried out through telephone interviews with apprentices between June 9 and July 25 last year.\n\nIn total, \u201c4,963 interviews were conducted with level two and three apprentices in England, and 184 with apprentices on the new apprenticeship standards developed by \u2018Trailblazer\u2019 employer groups.\u201d\n\nThe figures painted a largely worrying picture at level two and three.\n\nFor those aged 16 to 18 or in their first year of an apprenticeship, 13 per cent were paid below the NMW \u2013 up three per cent from the 2014 survey. And for ages 19 to 20 and in second year of their apprenticeship, the figure was 32 per cent for 2014, up two per cent last year.\n\nIt was a different story for those aged 21 to 24 and in their second year of apprenticeships \u2013 with 32 per cent earning below the NMW, down five per cent from two years earlier.\n\nBut for the 25+ age group in their second year of apprenticeships, the proportion was up from 23 to 31 per cent.\n\nNon-compliant pay was more common among level two apprentices (20 per cent) than those on level three provision (16 per cent).\n\nThe report stressed that \u201cwhen comparing compliance levels between 2014 and 2016, it is important to note that the lowest NMW rate for apprentices underwent a considerable increase between October 2013 and October 2015 (the rate applicable for the 2016 survey)\u201d \u2013 from \u00a32.68 to \u00a33.30. This went up again to \u00a33.50 an hour in April this year.\n\nThe new NLW rate came into force from April 2016, creating a new minimum \u00a37.20 rate for all those aged 25 and over or in the second year of their apprenticeship or later.\n\nIt was also noted that although levels of non-compliance had increased since 2014, so too had the proportion paid over \u00a39 an hour: 18 per cent last year compared with 15 per cent in 2014.\n\nCommenting on these findings, Mark Dawe, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said: \u201cThe survey clearly shows that if there is a long-term relationship between the apprentice and the employer, the apprentice will on average earn a salary well over the minimum wage.\u201d\n\nBut he stressed: \u201cAt the other end of the scale, there is absolutely no excuse for paying less than the legal minimum.\u201d\n\nInterim \u201chigh-level\u201d results of the survey were released in October, as part of a report for the Low Pay Commission, the independent body that advises the government on minimum wage levels.\n\nThese indicated that the proportion of apprentices earning below the NMW had gone up, but months subsequently passed without a full report.\n\nFE Week learned in April that the researchers who carried out the work handed a final draft of their report to the government way back in January.\n\nMark Winterbotham, the director of the firm which carried out the survey, told FE Week at the time that he didn\u2019t know why it hadn\u2019t yet been published.\n\nHe insisted his organisation had handed the final drafts of the reports over to the government in January, but admitted he had \u201cnot had any communication since early March\u201d with the research team at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.\n\nThe all-party parliamentary group on apprenticeships further recommended earlier this month, in its annual report, that pay for apprentices should be far more flexible, increasing in line with their experience and level of qualification.\n\nIt recommended that apprentices\u2019 pay should be increased like this \u201cto ensure that the apprentice route is attractive to as many people as possible\u201d.", "output": "Almost one in five UK apprentices are paid less than the national minimum wage or national living wage, according to a government survey. The research shows an increase in underpayment from 15% in 2014 to 18% last year. The worst sector for non-compliant pay was hairdressing, with an increase from 42% in 2014 to 47% in 2016. Apprentices within \u201cthe management framework\u201d were the least likely to receive non-compliant pay, with an increase from 3% in 2014 to 7% in 2016. Other sectors with high levels of non-compliance included construction, electrotechnical, health, social care, sport, and hospitality and catering.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "British American Tobacco buyout of Reynolds raises health worries \n \n\nBritish American Tobacco (BAT) has come under fire from health campaigners after shareholders approved its buyout of American firm Reynolds on Wednesday, which will create the world\u2019s biggest tobacco company.\n\nShareholders of both companies approved the deal, which will take BAT back into the US market after a 12-year absence. It ends American ownership of Reynolds American Incorporated (RAI), a tobacco company headquartered in the US south since 1875.\n\nThe move is also expected to speed up the development of e-cigarettes and vapes.\n\nThe deal was backed by nearly all shareholders who voted at a special meeting at the Hilton London Bankside in London (78.2% of investors voted). At Reynolds headquarters in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, meanwhile, the vast majority (82.%) of Reynolds shares approved the deal.\n\nBAT is buying the 57.8% of Reynolds it does not already own. The cash-and-stock offer announced in January valued each Reynolds share at $59.64, up from $56.50 offered in October. The deal is expected to complete by next Tuesday.\n\nBAT is one of the multinational tobacco companies that have threatened governments in at least eight countries in Africa to block or dilute new regulations to limit the harm caused by smoking, a Guardian investigation found last week. BAT says it is not against all regulation but sometimes needed to intervene.\n\nThe merger vote comes the same day that the World Health Organization (WHO) released a report on tobacco companies push against anti-smoking laws worldwide. WHO\u2019s director-general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said \u201cgovernments around the world must waste no time\u201d in enacting the laws.\n\nFarm worker activists in the US said they were anxious around the growing power of tobacco firms in response to the merger.\n\nIn London, Nicandro Durante, the BAT chief executive, welcomed the \u201coverwhelming support\u201d for the acquisition from both sets of shareholders. He added: \u201cWe look forward to welcoming Reynolds group employees to British American Tobacco and to realising the benefits of operating these two great companies as one stronger, global tobacco and Next Generation Products business with direct access for our products across the most attractive markets in the world.\u201d\n\nThe deal brings together BAT\u2019s Lucky Strike, Dunhill, Rothmans and Benson & Hedges cigarettes with Reynolds\u2019 Pall Mall, Newport and Camel.\n\nBut Deborah Arnott, chief executive of UK public health charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), was worried what the creation of an even bigger business would mean for the growing tobacco epidemic in poorer countries. \u201cBy taking over Reynolds, BAT, already one of the top five companies in the FTSE 100, is now the largest tobacco company in the world.\n\n\u201cDespite all the talk during the merger negotiations of the importance of \u2018next generation products\u2019 BAT is still clearly focused on flogging fags to low- and middle-income countries. As a result, it is hardly surprising that the tobacco epidemic is still growing in such countries rather than on the wane as it is in the UK and the US.\n\n\u201cWe find it particularly shameful that a British company, BAT, is so dominant in Commonwealth countries like those in Africa, where it has been exposed for its continued use of intimidatory tactics. Ironically this is at the same time that the British government has committed \u00a315m in aid funding to help governments tackle the epidemic and drive down smoking rates.\u201d\n\nArnott said companies were only serious about promoting e-cigarettes and vapes as alternatives to smoking in high-income, western countries.\n\n\u2018Industry with the deepest pockets\u2019\n\nFor shareholders at Reynolds headquarters in Winston-Salem, the focus was on the end of an era for the American company, despite recent (and historic) criticism of its business. \u201cThis would be the last meeting of RAI as an independent entity,\u201d said Virgil Goode, a 70-year-old shareholder who traveled from Rocky Mount, Virginia, for the vote, and praised Reynolds as an employer.\n\n\n\nHis spouse, 53-year-old Lucy Goode, said several generations of men in her family had worked for one or the other tobacco company. Her grandfather, brother-in-law and nephew had all worked at RAI at some point. Her father worked for Brown & Williamson, BAT\u2019s former US subsidiary. \u201cIt provided a good income for them for a number of years,\u201d said Lucy Goode.\n\nReynolds produces some of the bestselling cigarette brands in the nation, including increasingly popular menthol cigarettes under the Newport brand, as well as Camels. The company was founded as a chewing tobacco company in 1875 in Winston-Salem by Richard Joshua Reynolds.\n\nThe 2004 merger between Reynolds and BAT\u2019s US subsidiary Brown & Williamson lead to the events Wednesday, but was not the companies\u2019 first interaction. BAT has owned 42% of Reynolds since the company purchased Brown & Williamson 13 years ago.\n\nBAT\u2019s initial purchase of Reynolds shares came with an agreement that it could not buy the remaining lot of Reynolds for 10 years. Reynolds currently employs about 2,000 people in the area, not including surrounding farms that supply tobacco to the companies. For many in Winston-Salem, where Reynolds has long been headquartered, the acquisition by the British giant has been expected for years.\n\nIn fact, the two companies\u2019 ties go back much further. At the beginning of the 20th century, the giant monopoly American Tobacco Company, headed by James \u201cBuck\u201d Duke, once controlled nearly all of the US tobacco market, including firms, such as Lucky Strike and Reynolds. In addition, American Tobacco Company struck an agreement with Imperial Tobacco in the UK. But in 1911, the US government succeeded in its efforts to break up the monopoly, and the American tobacco giant RJ Reynolds, as well as British American Tobacco, were born out of American Tobacco Company\u2019s dissolution.\n\nToday, though smoking hasn\u2019t retained the glamor it had in the 1960s, tobacco companies have remained profitable. In part, companies have been able to shift sales of cigarettes to less educated and poorer consumers. They have also weathered lawsuits and regulations of the 1990s.\n\nTobacco companies, such as Reynolds, continue to donate to politicians. RAI donated $1m to Donald Trump\u2019s inauguration fund, and officials with deep ties to the company have been nominated for high-profile government posts.\n\nThe merger will put profits from eight out of a 10 cigarettes sold in the US into the pockets of two companies, Marlboro-maker Altria and BAT. The merger has led to speculation that Altria could again be purchased by Philip Morris International, the larger company that spun-off the American affiliate.\n\nPresident of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, Baldemar Velasquez, said the merger has pushed him to take the fight for fair, organized labor worldwide. \u201cThe supply chain is globalized, and they put one poor group against another,\u201d said Velasquez. \u201cTobacco is the one crop that runs through the agriculture industry \u2013 it\u2019s the most lucrative crop, and it\u2019s the industry with the deepest pockets.\u201d\n\nAsked about whether the behaviour of tobacco firms ever figured into the Goode\u2019s decision to remain shareholders, Virgil Goode said, smoking is \u201ca choice people make, and I\u2019m not a smoker. Never have been\u201d.\n\nOne Winston-Salem resident who refused to give his name called the deal \u201cbittersweet\u201d. He said the deal was \u201cgood for shareholders,\u201d but that \u201cthere\u2019s a little bit of civic pride in having an independent company here in Winston-Salem\u201d, before rushing off.\n\n\n\n\n\n", "output": "Health campaigners have criticised the British American Tobacco (BAT) buyout of US firm Reynolds, which was approved by shareholders of both companies on Wednesday. The move, which will establish the world\u2019s largest tobacco firm, came on the same day that the World Health Organization released a report into the actions of tobacco companies which are fighting anti-smoking laws across the world. BAT was one of the companies implicated in a recent Guardian investigation into attempts by tobacco companies to undermine smoking regulation in eight African countries.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Payver uses drivers' mobile camera to gather data on roads \n If you drive for a living, you\u2019re likely worried about what self-driving technology will do to your livelihood, and for good reason. But if you\u2019re a \u201ccan\u2019t-beat-'em-join'-em\u201d type, and figure you might as well make a few bucks helping ease the inevitable into existence, just download Payver. It's an app that pays you a few pennies for every mile you drive, if you\u2019re willing to point your phone\u2019s camera at the road and share what it records.\n\nPayver is the work of Lvl5, a new startup focused on building the maps self-driving cars will need to navigate safely. Detailed, digital maps are widely considered an essential addition to the sensors these vehicles carry, an extra source of information to complement the cameras, radars, and lidars scanning the road. If the car at least knows the basic lay of the land, the thinking goes, handling real time obstacles gets easier.\n\nThe problem is, those maps need a level of detail that goes way beyond what you\u2019ll find on any phone screen or atlas: Not just street names and which roads are one-way, but the exact location of every stop sign, traffic light, lane line, and curb, down to the centimeter.\n\nLvl5\n\nLvl5 was founded last year by three engineers\u2014two Tesla Autopilot veterans, one formerly of iRobot\u2014who think they can make charting the world easy by crowdsourcing data from the countless camera phones already in cars. Payver is the first step in their plan: Anyone can download the app, point the camera out the windshield, and get paid between one and five cents for every mile they drive (you get more for roads other drivers haven\u2019t hit yet). The camera\u2019s feed gets uploaded to Lvl5\u2019s central hub (via Wi-Fi by default), where the startup\u2019s software picks out key features\u2014traffic lights, lane lines, stop signs\u2014and builds the map. No expensive lidar, or dedicated drivers needed. Each subsequent user to drive that same stretch either confirms the details or provides updates: Here there be a new pothole.\n\n\u201cOur approach, which combines computer vision software, crowdsourcing and widely available, affordable hardware, means our technology is accessible,\u201d says CEO Andrew Kouri.\n\nMany of the companies developing autonomous tech have built their own maps by sending out fleets of camera- and lidar-equipped vehicles to scan the environment in advance. That works fine for testing purposes, but it\u2019s hard to scale to larger areas, especially since these maps will need to be updated frequently\u2014like every few days\u2014because they\u2019re no good if they\u2019re giving robots bad data.", "output": "Mapping start-up Lvl5 has launched Payver, an app that pays drivers in the US for sharing a recording of the road they're driving on through their smartphone's camera. The data will be used to create detailed digital maps to provide self-driving cars with information on the road ahead. Each user to drive the same stretch will confirm or provide updates on traffic lights, stop signs and other details to improve the map. Crowdsourcing is the natural way to gather data from the whole country, said John Ristevski, former head of autonomous car mapping at Here."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hackers highlight cyber-weaknesses in Segways \n When you imagine riding a Segway MiniPro electric scooter, your biggest concern is probably falling on your face. Much lower on that list? The notion that attackers could remotely hack your ride, make it stop short, or even drive you into traffic. Unfortunately, as one reacher found, they could have done just that.\n\nWhen Thomas Kilbride got a Segway MiniPro, its paired mobile app piqued his interest; by day, Kilbride works as an embedded device security consultant at IOActive. The app already has fairly potent capabilities as designed. You can use it to remote control your scooter or shut it off when no one's on it, and you could even use its social GPS tracking feature to show all Segway MiniPros in an area in real-time. But when Kilbride investigated the security behind those features, he found vulnerabilities that an attacker could exploit to bypass the hoverboard's safety protections from afar, and take control of the device.\n\n\"I own a hoverboard, I use it quite frequently because parking is expensive,\" Kilbride says. \"I was surprised that the exploits were as accessible as they were. Something like a transportation device should be handled with the utmost care and security, because somebody could be thrown off of it or seriously injured if an attacker decides that they want to [hack] it.\"\n\nEasy Access\n\nThe Segway MiniPro app uses Bluetooth to connect to the vehicle itself. In addition to the features mentioned above, it can also change device settings and accept firmware updates to the scooter for tweaks and improvements. Think of it like a smart lighting app that talks to the bulbs.\n\nWhile analyzing the communication between the app and the Segway scooter itself, Kilbride noticed that a user PIN number meant to protect the Bluetooth communication from unauthorized access wasn't being used for authentication at every level of the system. As a result, Kilbride could send arbitrary commands to the scooter without needing the user-chosen PIN.\n\nHe also discovered that the hoverboard's software update platform didn't have a mechanism in place to confirm that firmware updates sent to the device were really from Segway (often called an \"integrity check\"). This meant that in addition to sending the scooter commands, an attacker could easily trick the device into installing a malicious firmware update that could override its fundamental programming. In this way an attacker would be able to nullify built-in safety mechanisms that prevented the app from remote-controlling or shutting off the vehicle while someone was on it.\n\n\"The app allows you to do things like change LED colors, it allows you to remote-control the hoverboard and also apply firmware updates, which is the interesting part,\" Kilbride says. \"Under the right circumstances, if somebody applies a malicious firmware update, any attacker who knows the right assembly language could then leverage this to basically do as they wish with the hoverboard.\"\n\nAs if that weren't enough, the Segway MiniPro app also provided one other tool to unintentionally aid in malicious activity. The GPS feature known as \"Rider Nearby\" acted as a sort of social platform for finding other MiniPro owners, but it's easy to see how publicly available, persistent location tracking could be abused. As part of addressing Kilbride's findings Segway discontinued the feature.\n\nRegaining Balance\n\nThe good news is that IOActive disclosed the bugs to Segway, which is owned by Chinese scooter-maker Ninebot, in January, and the company addressed the bulk of the problems in an app update in April. As part of the changes, Segway added mechanisms like cryptographic signing to validate firmware updates, which should prevent full takeovers. It eliminated the Rider Nearby feature, and took steps to evaluate its Bluetooth communication protocols and security. Segway has not yet returned a request from WIRED for comment. Kilbride says the company was responsive to his disclosures, but notes that some weaknesses may still exist in the way users can access the device's Bluetooth management interface. The severe attacks attacks Kilbride executed during his research aren't possible anymore, though.\n\nAlthough patched, the extensive exposure in a digitally connected vehicle still reinforces the very real dangers of device hacking. IoT vulnerabilities have already led to real-world harm in many incidents, and \"smart\" transportation has long posed clear physical safety risks if left unsecured. For Segway, pairing an internet-connected device with a Bluetooth-enabled vehicle created exposures that a standalone scooter without digital connectivity would have avoided.\n\nIn terms of existential dread, you can find some reprieve in knowing that most hackers are seeking profit, and there isn\u2019t a lot of money to be made in maiming Segway riders. But stealing Segways, which someone could have done with Kilbride\u2019s exploits, could be a genuinely appealing scheme.", "output": "Hackers have shown that Segways can be attacked, affecting the rides by stopping them completely or even taking control of the journey. After investigating the security features of his Segway MiniPro and paired mobile app, Thomas Kilbride discovered that vulnerabilities existed that could allow an attacker to work around the device's safety features and take control of it from a distance. Kilbride also found that he could send commands to the scooter without knowing the user PIN, aimed at preventing unauthorised access.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Turning CO2 into nanotubes could change carbon capture economics \n Schematic representation of a possible future C2CNT station that uses solar thermal power to convert carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into carbon nanotube wool. Credit: Johnson et al. \u00a92017 Elsevier Ltd\n\n(Phys.org)\u2014When most people hear the term \"CO 2 emissions,\" they probably think of several negative things: greenhouse gas, pollutant, climate change, political discord, economic burden. But a team of researchers led by Stuart Licht, a chemistry professor at George Washington University, has a vision for transforming CO 2 emissions from a pollutant into a valuable resource\u2014all while making a potentially large net profit.\n\nIn a new study published in Materials Today Energy, the researchers have shown that they can use CO 2 and solar thermal energy to produce high yields of millimeter-length carbon nanotube (CNT) wool at a cost of just $660 per ton. The market value of long CNTs like these\u2014which can be woven into textiles to make metals, cement replacements, and other materials\u2014is currently $100,000-$400,000 per ton.\n\n\"We have introduced a new class of materials called 'Carbon Nanotube Wool,' which are the first CNTs that can be directly woven into a cloth, as they are of macroscopic length and are cheap to produce,\" Licht told Phys.org. \"The sole reactant to produce the CNT wools is the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.\"\n\nThe researchers hope that the new technology, called C2CNT (CO 2 to CNTs), will offer an indisputable economic incentive to remove excess CO 2 from the atmosphere. They calculate that, if they were to set up solar thermal stations over an area equal to 4% of the Sahara Desert, they could reduce the CO 2 concentration of the atmosphere back to pre-industrial levels in 10 years. They note that a more realistic implementation would be to set up stations on the oceans, where there is more available surface area.\n\nThe new study builds on the scientists' previous research going back to 2010, when they first proposed the idea of a solar thermal electrochemical process (STEP), in which solar energy is used to power an electrolytic cell. This cell captures and breaks down, or electrolyzes, atmospheric CO 2 into carbon or carbon monoxide and oxygen. The carbon byproducts can then be used to synthesize various products, such as methane, syngas, and ammonia. Although useful, these products are valued at around $100 per ton, and so are not nearly as valuable as CNTs.\n\nSynthesizing CNTs from CO 2 emissions has proved to be more challenging, with some earlier research suggesting that it may be impossible to produce CNTs by electrolysis using molten lithium carbonate, which is the compound used in the STEP process to nucleate the growth of the carbon products. However, in 2015, Licht and his team demonstrated for the first time the feasibility of high-yield, low-energy electrolytic splitting of CO 2 into CNTs, which uses an alternative growth mechanism with molten lithium carbonate.\n\nOne drawback of that process, however, is that the CNTs it produces are nanometer-sized (less than 100 micrometers long), which is too short to be woven into textiles. The main result of the new study is that the CNTs are 100 times longer, which is achieved by replacing the copper or steel cathodes on the electrolytic cell with Monel, a type of nickel-copper alloy. By making this change and carefully tuning other parameters, the researchers produced CNTs with diameters of more than 1 micrometer and lengths of more than 1 millimeter\u2014which, they point out, raises the question of whether the CNTs should actually be classified as \"nanomaterials.\" In any case, the wool-like CNTs are long enough to be woven into textiles for various applications.\n\n\"Inexpensive, weavable CNT wools are preferred replacements for conventional steel and aluminum applications, due to the CNT wool's lightweight, strength-to-mass advantage,\" Licht said. \"In addition to textiles, CNT wools serve as preferred additives to formulate blast- and fracture-resistant cement and ceramics. Other applications of stronger-than-steel, highly conductive CNT cloth are bullet-proof CNT suits and taser-proof suits.\"\n\nMore information: Marcus Johnson et al. \"Carbon nanotube wools made directly from CO2 by molten electrolysis: Value driven pathways to carbon dioxide greenhouse gas mitigation.\" Materials Today Energy. DOI: 10.1016/j.mtener.2017.07.0032468-6069\n\n\u00a9 2017 Phys.org", "output": "Researchers at George Washington University have developed a low-cost method of turning carbon dioxide (CO2) and solar thermal energy into weavable lengths of carbon nanotube (CNT) wool, worth $100,000-$400,000 per ton, according to an article published in Materials Today Energy. Previous efforts to make CNTs resulted in lengths of 100 micrometers, which were too short to be woven into textiles. However, the use of Monel, a type of nickel-copper alloy, along with several other changes, produces CNTs with diameters of more than 1 micrometer and lengths of more than 1 millimeter, able to be woven into bullet-proof and taser-proof suits."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "It\u2019s time to break down the wall between dentistry and medicine \n Ever since the first dental school was founded in the United States in 1840, dentistry and medicine have been taught as \u2014 and viewed as \u2014 two separate professions. That artificial division is bad for the public\u2019s health. It\u2019s time to bring the mouth back into the body.\n\nIn 1840, dentistry focused on extracting decayed teeth and plugging cavities. Today, dentists use sophisticated methods for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. We implant teeth, pinpoint oral cancers, use 3-D imaging to reshape a jaw, and can treat some dental decay medically, without a drill. We\u2019ve also discovered much more about the intimate connection between oral health and overall health. Periodontal disease, also known as gum disease, has been linked to the development of diabetes, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease. Pregnant women with periodontitis are more likely to develop pre-eclampsia, a potentially serious complication of pregnancy, and deliver low-birth-weight babies.\n\nadvertisement\n\nAs taught in most schools today, dental education produces good clinicians who have a solid understanding of oral health, but often a more limited perspective on overall health. Few dental students are equipped to take a holistic view that may include taking a patient\u2019s vital signs, evaluating their risk of heart disease or stroke, spotting early warning signs of disease, or even assessing their mental health or looking for signs of drug abuse.\n\nThere\u2019s a better way to educate dentists so they can play larger roles in the management of their patients\u2019 chronic diseases.\n\nMy school, the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, was founded 150 years ago on July 17, 1867. It was the first American dental school affiliated with a university and its medical school, and the first to grant the doctor of dental medicine (D.M.D.) degree. The school\u2019s mission is \u201cto develop and foster a community of global leaders dedicated to improving human health by integrating dentistry and medicine at the forefront of education, research, and patient care.\u201d At commencement, dental graduates are welcomed into a \u201cdemanding branch of medicine.\u201d\n\nadvertisement\n\nHarvard dental students have always spent more than a year of their education attending the same classes as their medical school peers. They learn just as much about what\u2019s going on in the chest cavity as the oral cavity. Under a new curriculum, in their second year they work in a primary care clinic in the dental school, side by side with fourth-year dental students, nurse practitioners, and primary care physicians to learn how to assess a patient\u2019s overall health. In a collaboration with Northeastern University\u2019s Bouv\u00e9 School of Nursing, nurse practitioners and nursing students work with dental students and faculty members to manage chronic diseases and provide oral care.\n\nPoor oral health is more than a \u201ctooth problem.\u201d We use our mouth to eat, to breathe, and to speak. Oral pain results in lost time from school and work and lowered self-esteem. Inflammation in the gums and mouth may help set the stage for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other chronic conditions. Dental infection can lead to the potentially serious blood infection known as sepsis. In the case of 12-year-old Deamonte Driver, an infected tooth led to a fatal brain infection.\n\nWriting in the Millbank Quarterly, John McDonough, professor of public health practice at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health asked, \u201cMight oral health be the next big thing?\u201d I believe that it needs to be \u2014 and should be.\n\nJust as dental and medical education are currently separate, so too are the ways care is delivered and how care is \u2014 or isn\u2019t \u2014 covered by insurance. That poses problems for access to care.\n\nToday, 130 million Americans, most of them adults, have no dental coverage. Medicare has no dental benefits, and Medicaid has few benefits for adults. The high cost of dental care affects even those with coverage.\n\nIt\u2019s no wonder that the Centers for Disease Control estimates that the U.S. loses $6 billion in productivity each year due to oral health issues. Emergency department visits for oral pain cost nearly $2 billion a year and contribute to the epidemic of opioid addiction. And mounting evidence shows that poor oral health results in increased general medical costs.\n\nTo help break down barriers between medicine and dentistry, the Harvard School of Dental Medicine has created the Initiative to Integrate Oral Health and Medicine. In an effort to improve general health and lower medical costs, it brings together leaders in academia, health care, and industry to find innovative ways to integrate the two disciplines. Through the initiative, we seek to transform how dentistry is taught, practiced, financed, and evaluated so it becomes seamlessly integrated with the comprehensive health and social services required to keep individuals and communities healthy.\n\nThe school has also established the Oral Physician Program, a general practice dental residency program at the Cambridge Health Alliance, which integrates oral health, primary care, and family medicine training. We also plan to establish a new combined DMD/MD program with a hospital-based residency to train a new type of physician focused equally on oral health and primary care.\n\nOther institutions are also expanding the concept of dental care and chipping away at the barriers between dental care and primary care. Kaiser Permanente Northwest, for example, has opened a truly integrated medical-dental practice in Eugene, Ore. The Marshfield Clinic in Wisconsin is advancing the concept with integrated medical-dental electronic health records.\n\nHere\u2019s what an integrated dental health/primary care visit might look like to a patient: When you go for a routine teeth cleaning, you would be cared for by a team of physicians, dentists, nurses, and physician and dental assistants. One or more of them would take your blood pressure, check your weight, update your medications, see if you are due for any preventive screenings or treatments, and clean your teeth. If you have an artificial heart valve or have previously had a heart infection, or you are taking a blood thinner, your clinicians will manage these conditions without multiple calls to referring doctors.\n\nFinding the political will to integrate dentistry and primary care is a challenge. Various organizations including the DentaQuest Foundation, the Santa Fe Group, and Oral Health America have taken up the task. The majority of this work is designed to raise awareness of oral health, educate non-dental health care providers, and create political interest in promoting oral health. However, while interprofessional education has met with some success, interprofessional practice remains elusive.\n\nThe culture of the dental profession must change to promote closer connections between dentistry and primary care. The move from solo practice to small- and large-group practices may provide the impetus for such change. Recent editorials in the dental literature, including the Journal of the American Dental Association, talk about the need for integration, including the use of diagnostic codes, integrated medical and dental electronic records, and the potential for melding medical and dental practices.\n\nUnfortunately, incentives for creating this practice of the future are minimal at this time. Dentistry\u2019s reliance on procedures for payment and separate insurance coverage presents a problem. The slow movement toward bundled payments for health care to create value based upon outcomes, rather than volume, could help.\n\nIn 2000, the surgeon general\u2019s report \u201cOral Health in America\u201d drew attention to the gap in oral health in the U.S. In a 2016 update, then-Surgeon General Vivek Murthy strongly recommended integrating oral health and primary care. Closer collaboration between dentistry and primary care could change the culture of health care, close the access gap, and improve general health by providing primary care services during dental visits. It could also improve population health and chronic disease care.\n\nWe cannot drill, fill, and extract our way to better oral and overall health. We need a fundamentally different approach, one that accentuates disease prevention and health management using a multidisciplinary, integrated, and patient-centric approach to overall health. And that means breaking down the wall between dentistry and medicine.\n\nBruce Donoff, D.M.D. and M.D., is professor of oral and maxillofacial surgery and dean of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine.", "output": "Despite both practices being focused on healthcare, dentistry and medicine have been positions as two distinct professions. Since the creation of the concept of dentistry in 1840, the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of health issues within the oral health sphere has been kept separate from wider health care treatment. However, this division causes a less-than-holistic view to be taken that could find symptoms of general health issues before they occur as a consequence of oral health problems. The Harvard School of Dental Medicine attempts to tackle this gap in knowledge by enrolling dental students in medical school lessons. Nurse practitioners and nursing students also study dental care to better manage patients\u2019 needs. Poor oral health can be an indication or a precursor of further issues, such as diabetes, chronic conditions, and cardiovascular disease, as well as sepsis or fatal brain infections. Insurance for both general and oral care remains disparate, leading to increased medical costs. Integrated care could span both oral screenings and treatments, as well as general care, bringing patients under the care of one team, rather than multiple doctors. Closer collaboration between dentistry and primary care could close the access gap for many US patients, provide better primary care and discover issues before they become chronic or unmanageable.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China is increasingly vital to Israel's booming high-tech sector \n Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) shake hands ahead of their talks at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on March 21, 2017 in Beijing, China. Etienne Oliveau | Pool | Getty Images\n\nChina's investors and markets are becoming increasingly important to Israel's economy, and in particular to its booming high-tech industry. The first IPO (initial public offering) of an Israeli high-tech company on a Chinese stock exchange, Hong Kong, is expected within the year and Chinese investments in Israeli high-tech venture capital approached $1 billion in 2016, industry experts say. \"The Chinese stock exchange market will become another very viable option for Israeli companies looking for public funding,\" if the first IPO goes off successfully, Eli Tidhar of Deloitte Israel, told CNBC. Tidhar heads what Deloitte calls its \"Israel-China corridor\". Israel has laid out the welcoming mat to Chinese companies and investors who may face more troublesome regulations and scrutiny elsewhere.\n\n\n\nHardly a day goes by without another Israel-China initiative being announced, whether it's a new Israeli tech incubator in China, new investments, joint ventures, trade conferences or delegations. In May this year, another audit firm PwC led a delegation of Israeli companies to Hong Kong to explore the possibilities of listing on the stock exchange. Deloitte's Tidhar says that a sea change is taking place among Israeli companies looking for funding. Israeli high-tech VC (venture capital) companies raised $500 million from Chinese investors in 2014 and $700 million in 2015 and the amount keeps growing, according to Tidhar.\n\n\n\n\"In the past, Israel used to look mostly at the U.S. and Europe as our source for investment, especially in high tech,\" he said. But now, \"It becomes less and less awkward that a company that would like to raise money would pursue this investment from China.\"\n\n\n\nThis view is echoed Dorian Barak, who heads the Israeli arm of Kuang Chi, one of the few Chinese conglomerates that has so far actually set up a permanent local representation. Israel's venture capital landscape and its exits were until now largely a matter of Western money, Barak said. But that's about to change.\n\n\"The rise of China and China's adoption of an outward looking policy of investments and cooperation has the opportunity to have as much of an impact on the local economy as did the massive capital influx from chiefly the United States in the (1990s) and the first decade of the 21st century,\" Barak said in a telephone interview.\n\n\n\nKuang Chi last year set up a $300 million fund, particularly for smart city investments in Israel. It has so far, among other companies, invested in machine vision company eyesight Technologies.\n\n\n\nLarge chunks of Israel's infrastructure projects, including ports, railway lines and tunnels, are being carried out by Chinese companies these days. And some flagship Israeli companies have been acquired by Chinese conglomerates, such as ChemChina's acquisition of Adama and Bright Food's takeover of Tnuva. Reuters earlier this year reported that in 2016 total Chinese investments in Israel jumped to $16.5 billion.\n\nwatch now\n\nBut in the high-tech sector, this has not yet translated to the same massive presence of Chinese conglomerates that Western companies have in Israel, whether in R&D (research and development) centers, production or representative offices. Kuang Chi's Barak said that Chinese companies are very slowly coming to the realization that there's an added value to a local presence. He's getting constant inquiries from Chinese local government and private investors.\n\n\n\n\"When you see Chinese names on the sides of buildings in Herzliya Pituah (near Tel Aviv) as you currently see American names, you'll know the Chinese investors have really arrived and the Chinese strategics have arrived en masse. There's a long way to go,\" said Barak.\n\n\n\nBut it's getting there, is the consensus. One company that has seen Chinese investment is intelligent search company Twiggle. It's received backing from the likes of e-commerce giant Alibaba and MizMaa - a fund specializing in Chinese investments in Israeli high-tech.\n\n\n\nCEO and co-founder Amir Konigsberg, said that for Twiggle, as for many other Israeli companies, the ties with China are not merely about getting finance. Help with market access is of much greater importance. \"Not disregarding the growth in other markets, such as the U.S. and Europe, in terms of e-commerce China and Asia are very dominant markets,\" he said.\n\nwatch now", "output": "China is growing in importance to Israel's economy, in particular its high-tech sector, as Israel welcomes Chinese firms and investors who face greater regulation and scrutiny elsewhere. The first IPO of an Israeli high-tech firm on a Chinese stock exchange is expected this year and Chinese investments in Israeli high-tech venture capital approached $1bn last year. \"The Chinese stock exchange market will become another very viable option for Israeli companies looking for public funding [if the first IPO succeeds],\" said Eli Tidhar of Deloitte Israel.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Singapore's OCBC Bank offers QR-to-QR payments \n Source: OCBC\n\nBy innovatively marrying QR codes with PayNow\u2019s infrastructure, OCBC Bank has delivered a new level of convenience to funds transfers.\n\nPayNow did away with the need to know bank account numbers and \u201cadding payees\u201d when making funds transfers. The OCBC Pay Anyone app enables customers to send and ask for money using QR codes, so that there is no need to even share mobile phone or NRIC numbers. The transfers are made directly from the payer\u2019s account to the payee\u2019s account: Unlike with some mobile wallets, no additional steps are required to top up the wallet using a bank account, or transfer funds from a wallet to a bank account.\n\n\n\nPayNow-registered customers, through the OCBC Pay Anyone mobile app, can now create and send personalised QR codes to other OCBC Pay Anyone users via social networking apps or email when requesting payment. Alternatively, the payer can instantly scan a QR code displayed on the payee\u2019s phone to complete payment. The daily transfer limit for payers is $1,000.\n\n\n\nQR code payments via the OCBC Pay Anyone app are completely seamless and frictionless as authentication is very quick, using just the payee\u2019s and payer\u2019s fingerprints. There is no need to exchange mobile or NRIC numbers which is a boon for peer-to-peer e-commerce, where sellers and buyers may not want to exchange personal information but would just meet up to make payment and hand over the goods. Payees can now simply create a QR code, which would specify the amount to be paid, and send it via the e-commerce platform or social media for the payer to scan and pay. Alternatively, a payee can meet the payer and have the latter scan the QR code directly on a mobile device to make immediate payment.\n\n\n\nWith this latest QR code innovation, OCBC Bank is further accelerating the adoption of PayNow. Since PayNow was launched on 10 July, close to 100,000 people have linked their mobile or NRIC numbers to their personal OCBC Bank account to facilitate instant account-to-account transfers via FAST. These 100,000 PayNow subscribers will now have the additional option of making peer-to-peer payments via QR code using the OCBC Pay Anyone app.\n\n\n\nPeer-to-peer QR code payment is the latest in a series of OCBC Pay Anyone enhancements rolled out in the past months. Launched in 2014, OCBC Pay Anyone was the first mobile payment service offered in Singapore that let customers send money directly to any bank account in Singapore using just the recipient\u2019s mobile number, email address or Facebook account - without having to perform transaction signing using a security token or to add the recipient as a \u201cpayee\u201d. OCBC Bank launched a new standalone OCBC Pay Anyone app in May this year, which has brought together all OCBC Pay Anyone services and enhancements: Peer-to-peer QR code payments, QR code payments to NETS merchants, peer-to-peer e-payments and integration of OCBC Pay Anyone with Apple iPhone\u2019s Siri and iMessage.\n\n\n\nMr Aditya Gupta, OCBC Bank\u2019s Head of E-Business Singapore, said: \u201cCashless is the new normal! With OCBC Pay Anyone, our customers have been embracing the move away from cash as they get the convenience of real-time payments of all types in one single app. Be it peer-to-peer, in-store or online payment, customers can simply use QR codes, mobile or NRIC numbers - or even Facebook - to pay via the OCBC Pay Anyone app. We believe the recent launch of PayNow is an inflection point for driving cashless payments behaviour in Singapore, and we have integrated that with OCBC Pay Anyone to offer our customers the additional convenience of QR code peer-to-peer payments. We will continue to push the boundaries on mobile payments and move the needle in making Singapore a cashless society.\u201d\n\n\n\nPeer-to-peer QR code payments are available to OCBC Bank customers who have registered for PayNow. Customers need to use Apple iPhone devices running on iOS8 and above or Samsung devices running on Android 4.4 Kit Kat, with the fingerprint recognition feature.\n\n\n\n\n\nOCBC Bank customers stand to win up to S$50,000 in cash when they register for PayNow\n\n\n\nFrom 10 July to 20 August 2017, OCBC Bank customers stand a chance of winning cash prizes when they register for PayNow. Customers simply need to have an OCBC Bank current or savings account, and go to OCBC Mobile Banking or Internet Banking to link their accounts to their mobile or NRIC numbers.\n\n\n\nThere are three grand lucky draw prizes that could be won by any customer who signs up for PayNow between 10 July and 20 August. The grand lucky draw prizes are $50,000, $30,000 and $10,000 in cash.\n\n\n\nFor six weeks until 20 August, 20 customers will each stand to win $500 in a weekly lucky draw. Customers who sign up for PayNow during a given week will be eligible for the lucky draw for that week.", "output": "Singapore-based OCBC Bank has launched a feature for its Pay Anyone app that enables customers to send and request money through QR codes. These codes can be sent via email or social networking apps, and do not require either party to share any additional information. Users can also scan a QR code on a payee's phone to complete the payment. Payers have a daily transfer limit of $1,000. The Pay Anyone app also supports QR code payments to NETS merchants and integrates with Apple iPhone's Siri and iMessage.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hospitalizations and cognitive decline in older adults \n Emergency and urgent hospitalizations are associated with an increased rate of cognitive decline in older adults, report researchers at Rush University Medical Center. The results of their study suggest that hospitalization may be a more of a major risk factor for long-term cognitive decline in older adults than previously recognized.\n\n\"We found that those who have non-elective (emergency or urgent) hospitalizations and who have not previously been diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer's disease had a rapid decline in cognitive function (i.e., thinking abilities) compared to the prehospital rates,\" said Bryan James, PhD, an epidemiologist and in the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center and an assistant professor in the Rush Department of Internal Medicine. \"By comparison, people who were never hospitalized and those who had elective hospitalizations did not experience the drastic decline in cognitive function.\"\n\nJames and colleagues presented the research data at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in London on July 17.\n\nStudy compares hospitalization data and cognitive assessments for 930 older adults\n\nThe data emerged from a study of 930 older adults (75 percent female, an average age of 81 years old) enrolled in the Rush Memory and Aging Project (MAP) in Chicago. The study involved annual cognitive assessments and clinical evaluations.\n\nInformation on hospitalizations was acquired by linking records of 1999 to 2010 Medicare claims for these participants with their MAP data. All hospital admissions were designated as elective, emergency, or urgent (the latter two were combined as non-elective for analysis). Non-elective hospitalizations thus include emergencies and admissions for conditions that require immediate attention.\n\nOf the 930 participants, 613 were hospitalized at least once over an average of almost five years of observation. Of those who were hospitalized, 260 (28 percent) had at least one elective hospital admission, and 553 (60 percent) had at least one non-elective hospital admission. These groups included 200 participants (22 percent) who had both types of hospitalizations.\n\nNon-elective hospitalizations were associated with an approximately 60 percent acceleration in the rate of cognitive decline from before hospitalization. Elective hospitalizations, however, were not associated with acceleration in the rate of decline at all.\n\n'Elective admissions do not necessarily carry the same risk'\n\n\"We saw a clear distinction: non-elective admissions drive the association between hospitalization and long-term changes in cognitive function in later life, while elective admissions do not necessarily carry the same risk of negative cognitive outcomes,\" James said. \"These findings have important implications for the medical decision making and care of older adults. While recognizing that all medical procedures carry some degree of risk, this study implies that planned hospital encounters may not be as dangerous to the cognitive health of older persons as emergency or urgent situations.\"\n\nThis work expands upon previous research which has shown that after being hospitalized, older adults are at high risk for memory and other cognitive problems, including both transient (temporary) delirium and long-term changes in cognition, including dementia. According to the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project in October 2010, 40 percent of all hospitalized patients in U.S. are age 65 and older. Therefore, hospitalization may be an under-recognized risk factor for cognitive decline and dementia for a large number of older adults that deserves more attention.\n\nDetection of dementia at the earliest stages has become a worldwide priority, because drug treatments, prevention strategies and other interventions will likely be more effective very early in the disease process, before extensive brain damage has occurred. Research results reported at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference provide clues about associations between cognitive status in older people and several behavior and lifestyle factors, including verbal skill, hearing, dental health, and hospitalization.\n\n\"It is essential that we learn more about factors that impact risk for Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, especially lifestyle factors that we can change or treat,\" said Maria C. Carrillo, PhD, Alzheimer's Association chief science officer.", "output": "Hospitalization for emergencies and urgent care are linked to increased cognitive decline for seniors, according to researchers from the Rush University Medical Center. Their study, of 930 older Americans enrolled in the Rush Memory and Aging Project, assessed data from annual cognitive tests and clinical evaluations. The research found that those without previous dementia or Alzheimer\u2019s diagnoses who experienced non-elective hospitalizations saw a decline in their cognitive function when compared to their pre-hospitalization rates. Those who were not hospitalized, or chose to visit the hospital, did not see a drastic decrease in cognitive ability. The findings could alter the medical choices made for older adults in emergency or urgent situations.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Samsung Pay adds Indian mobile wallet MobiKwik to payment options \n Indian mobile wallet MobiKwik has linked with Samsung Pay, integrating with Samsung Pay Mini to enable one-tap payments at merchants using Mobikwik.\n\n\u201cWe are enthused by the tremendous response Samsung Pay has received since its launch, both from our consumers as well as partners. Moving into the next phase of new and innovative services for Samsung Pay, we are delighted to have MobiKwik on board as a partner,\u201d shared Samsung Pay Business, Samsung India Director Sanjay Razdan. \u201cAs India\u2019s biggest, most-trusted brand of mobile phones, Samsung remains committed to a digitally empowered economy and will continue to create meaningful innovations that will transform lives.\u201d\n\nMobiKwik Head of Growth Daman Soni added,\n\n\u201cThe future of digital payments in India will thrive only by collaborating with various ecosystem partners to drive acceptance. It is wonderful to walk hand in hand with Samsung in achieving the Digital India mission. We look forward to receiving a warm welcome from Samsung users and aim at providing them with the ease of payment. More than 55 million users and 1.4 million merchants will benefit from this association.\u201d\n\nLast month, the India-owned telecom company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and MobiKwik synced to develop BSNL\u2019s mobile application. MobiKwik will co-create BSNL wallet, a new semi-closed wallet to facilitate payment and also sell BSNL products.", "output": "Indian mobile wallet provider MobiKwik has joined forces with Samsung Pay to offer single-tap payments for customers of merchants using MobiKwik. The provider will link with Samsung Pay Mini to offer over 55 million users and 1.4 million merchants the service.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Samsung Pay to integrate PayPal as a payment method \n Samsung Pay will soon accept PayPal as a payment method in addition to bank accounts, credit cards, and gift cards. It\u2019s a tiny update that could be useful for PayPal customers who want more avenues to spend their PayPal balance in stores, as Samsung Pay is widely accepted anywhere a credit card is.\n\nThe new partnership also allows merchants who use Braintree, PayPal\u2019s subsidiary, to add Samsung Pay as a checkout option. The update, coming soon, will be available first for customers in the US, with a more global expansion to follow.", "output": "Samsung Pay will allow consumers to use PayPal alongside its current options of credit, debit and gift cards. The update will allow PayPal users to use funds in their account in physical stores. The new service will also allow PayPal\u2019s subsidiary, Braintree, to offer Samsung Pay as a checkout option for merchants. The new method will be available in the US first before being offered worldwide.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SMEs lose out on \u00a32bn a year due to late payments \n For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBreaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nThe practice of late payments is slamming small and medium-sized businesses across the UK with a hefty bill of more than \u00a32bn ever year, new research reveals.\n\nAccording to figures released by Bacs Payment Schemes, small- to medium-sized enterprises, or SMEs, are owed a total of \u00a314bn by customers. While that\u2019s an overall improvement on the \u00a330.3bn figure from five years ago, it\u2019s still hobbling their performance.\n\nDespite the drop in late payment debt, more than a third of the 1.7 million SMEs across the country say payments are often prolonged way beyond agreed terms. The impact of late payments can often be devastating: one in five small businesses say that they face being driven into bankruptcy if they are owed between \u00a320,000 and \u00a350,000. Some 7 per cent of businesses say they are already in that danger zone.\n\nBank overdrafts are an increasingly common resource: almost a quarter of small businesses say they rely on borrowed cash to keep up with essential overheads.\n\nThe research done by Bacs also shows that 16 per cent of SMEs struggle to pay staff on time, that the majority of companies spend almost four hours a week chasing late payments, and that 12 per cent employ a specific role dedicated to pursuing outstanding payments.\n\nAlmost a third of companies face delays of at least a month beyond their terms and nearly 20 per cent are having to wait more than 60 days before being paid.\n\nSMEs are already facing an uncertain future as a result of Brexit and what the UK\u2019s split from the EU might mean for tariffs, regulation and their ability to employ staff from overseas.\n\nEarlier this month, a survey of more than 1,000 investors, conducted by peer-to-peer trading platform Asset Match, showed that 60 per cent were not confident the Government would help SMEs grow after Brexit.\n\nA total of 62 per cent said they felt the Government was favouring \u201cnew-age sectors\u201d such as fintech over traditional industries such as construction and manufacturing.\n\nBusiness news: In pictures Show all 13 1 / 13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled \u2013 leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: \u201cEurope\u2019s largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: \"You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share\" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid \u00a33.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a \"bad\" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rue\u2019s contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped \u00a34m off of Flybe\u2019s revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airline\u2019s estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.\n\nFigures published by the Federation of Small Businesses last month showed a drop in confidence among members for the first time since the aftermath of the referendum.\n\nFSB national chairman Mike Cherry said at the time that small companies were \u201cstill reeling\u201d from April\u2019s business rates hike, and an accompanying note said that labour costs and the tax burden were common concerns.\n\nOperating costs for small businesses are now at their highest in four years, according to the FSB.", "output": "Late payments are costing small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in the UK more than \u00a32bn each year, according to research. Information released by Bacs Payment Schemes suggested that SMEs are owed up to \u00a314bn by their customers, an improvement from the \u00a330.3bn of five years ago. Over a third of the 1.7 million SMEs in the UK state that late payments are overdue far beyond agreed terms, and one in five SMEs said debts of between \u00a320,000 and \u00a350,000 create a risk of their being pushed into bankruptcy.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "House Tree offers potentially free online estate agent service \n Post navigation\n\nAn online agent that failed to get funding from the Dragons\u2019 Den is now under new ownership and pitching itself as the UK\u2019s first \u201cno-fee\u201d agent.\n\nIts business model is to make its money from referral fees, meaning that to get a free service, sellers must use specific conveyancing and mortgage services.\n\nHouse Tree, launched by Tom Harrington, tried to get funding from entrepreneurs on the BBC show in 2014 as the first pay-per viewing agent, charging \u00a399 as an initial up-front fee, and then \u00a335 per viewing for 12 viewings, after which viewings were free.\n\nHis pitch was rejected, with Dragon Peter Jones telling Harrington, then 24, that his business was destined for failure.\n\nHarrington sold House Tree to entrepreneur Alan Simpson in October for an undisclosed sum.\n\nSimpson has been involved in other property business such as quick sale firm Flying Homes.\n\nHe has now rebranded House Tree as a \u201cno fee\u201d agent. But is there a catch?\n\nIt is only potentially \u201cno fee\u201d at the end of the process with a refund of all or part of the money paid up-front.\n\nThe \u2018free\u2019 service would also only be available to a seller who is making an onward purchase and it would not be \u201cfree\u201d to sellers making onward cash purchases, or who choose different conveyancers.\n\nHowever, the vendor will get a full refund as long as they use all three services \u2013 House Tree\u2019s stipulated conveyancer for both their sale and onward purchase, and also mortgage broker.\n\nThe process starts with the vendor taking out a ten-month interest free loan of \u00a3996 from provider Divido, or paying this amount by credit card.\n\nThis is paid to House Tree and is said to be the same amount the agent earns in referral fees from the conveyancing provider and mortgage broker.\n\nA vendor would enter their property details on the House Tree website or can speak to an agent on the phone. They are then taken to a page where they are given the option to use House Tree\u2019s mortgage broker and solicitor.\n\nTechnically the three services cost \u00a3332 each, with conveyancing through Convey Law for the sale and purchase and mortgages through brokerage Meridian Mortgages.\n\nCustomers don\u2019t have to use every service, but not using one of them would mean the seller having to pay \u00a3332 to House Tree.\n\nOnce the transaction completes, and assuming the seller has used the stipulated providers, the referral fees are then used to pay back the vendor.\n\nSellers can also choose to pay \u00a390 for professional photos, \u00a3395 for accompanied views, \u00a395 for an energy performance certificate and \u00a350 for floor plans.\n\nIf the home fails to sell during ten months of the interest-free loan, the vendor would need to repay it.\n\nIf vendors pull out of the sale they would still be liable for the loan.\n\nProperties are listed on Rightmove and Zoopla, and House Tree helps arrange viewings and with sales progression.\n\nHouse Tree does cover sellers for up to \u00a3720 of legal, estate agency and other fees, should anything go wrong with their onward purchase.\n\nThe agency has offices in London and Barnsley with 12 staff, split between agents and negotiators. Most valuations are done using Rightmove but staff can also visit homes to do a more detailed assessment.\n\nSimpson said: \u201cAll agents, whether high street or online, will be getting these referral fees, so we are being more transparent about it.\n\n\u201cWe hope that launching this industry-leading initiative will help home owners across the country get moving for less and set a precedent for more transparency across the industry.\u201d\n\nYesterday, House Tree had 26 available sales properties listed on Rightmove.", "output": "An online estate agent called House Tree that failed to secure backing from the Dragons\u2019 Den TV show is now offering its services as the first \u201cno fee\u201d agent in the UK. The company will fund itself through referral fees, meaning that sellers must use the offered conveyancing and mortgage services in order to pay nothing. The company changed hands from its original founder for an undisclosed sum after the pitch failed on Dragons\u2019 Den.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Online broker Trussle proposes easier mortgage switching \n Source: Trussle\n\nOnline mortgage broker Trussle is proposing that a new set of industry standards be introduced to the mortgage market, to offer consumers much-needed support with switching.\n\nIn a white paper published today, Trussle outlines five initial recommendations for a Mortgage Switch Guarantee, designed to address wide-scale \u2018switching inertia\u2019 and the issue of mortgage prisoners, both of which are costing UK mortgage borrowers billions of pounds every year.\n\n\n\nThe paper identifies several shortcomings in the mortgage market which are exacerbating this inertia, some of which are expected to be addressed in the FCA\u2019s soon-to-be-published Mortgage Market Study. These range from a lack of uniformity and education around the pricing of mortgages, to inadequate communication from lenders when it comes to prompting customers to switch.\n\n\n\nIt also recognises that a large number of borrowers are not switching to more suitable deals because they are \u2018mortgage prisoners\u2019, trapped on Standard Variable Rates (SVRs) and unable to remortgage because they fail the stricter borrower affordability rules introduced by the Bank of England in 2014.\n\n\n\nTrussle is proposing the creation of a Mortgage Switch Guarantee to address these issues and ultimately move towards a state of mortgage optimisation, where all UK borrowers are switching to the best available deals at the right time. To initiate the proposal, Trussle has made the following five recommendations, explained in more detail in the white paper:\n\n\n\n1. Standardising and simplifying the way mortgages are priced and presented to customers\n\n2. Improving lenders\u2019 communication with customers when prompting borrowers to switch\n\n3. An obligation for lenders to offer new deals to customers who are \u2018mortgage prisoners\u2019\n\n4. A mandate for all mortgage brokers to have access to all deals on the market\n\n5. Modernising a range of slow and outdated processes when it comes to switching\n\n\n\nIshaan Malhi, CEO and founder of Trussle, said: \u201cMillions of homeowners are collectively losing billions of pounds because switching mortgage isn\u2019t clear or simple. The Mortgage Switch Guarantee will help put an end to this unfairness.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve spent the best part of a year speaking with thousands of borrowers and meeting with industry leaders from across the market to identify this ambitious but necessary set of standards. Thankfully there\u2019s already consensus among senior industry figures that many aspects of the remortgage market are in need of improvement.\n\n\n\n\u201cBut for the Mortgage Switch Guarantee to be a success, it will need to be widely adopted by lenders and brokers, and supported by regulators and government. We\u2019ll therefore be speaking with and listening to feedback from these key groups in the coming months.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe Energy Switch Guarantee, introduced last year after more than a decade of lobbying and hard work, has already helped five million energy customers save an estimated \u00a31 billion. The impact of the Mortgage Switch Guarantee has the potential to be fifteen times greater, which is why we won\u2019t be slowing down our efforts to deliver a fairer mortgage market for homeowners across the UK.\u201d\n\n\n\nPaula Higgins, chief executive, Homeowners Alliance, says: \"Unquestionably, changes must be made in the mortgage market. The fact that two million borrowers are on their lender\u2019s SVR cannot simply be attributed to borrower apathy and ignored.\n\n\n\n\"Consumers have seen huge upheaval in the mortgage market over the last ten years and with the hoops they have to jump through to meet affordability criteria now it\u2019s not surprising many would be confused by or fearful of getting a new deal. The mortgage industry must address this by making switching to a better deal as straightforward and safe as possible.\u201d", "output": "Online mortgage broker Trussle has made recommendations for changes to industry standards, including\u00a0offering consumers a mortgage switch guarantee, which could save UK borrowers\u00a0billions of pounds annually. The company has published a white paper detailing the best method of addressing the issue of \u201cswitching inertia\u201d, which is made worse by a lack of uniformity in pricing and \u201cinadequate\u201d communication from lenders about switching. Trussle is suggesting a guarantee to encourage UK borrowers to switch to the best deals available at the appropriate time.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Two thirds of Singaporeans have made a payment on a mobile device \n Source: Visa\n\nThe introduction of various mobile payments solutions such as mobile payWave and in-app payments have transformed the way Singaporeans conduct their daily lives \u2013 from shopping to booking a taxi to ordering and paying for food in a variety of restaurants.\n\nAccording to the Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes Survey 2016, two thirds of Singaporeans have made device-initiated payments.\n\n\n\n\u201cIncreased connectivity, coupled with the wider payment methods and form factors have transformed consumers\u2019 experience in every aspect including payment. Based on VisaNet data, seven in 10 Visa cardholders are already making device-initiated payments and more than one in five Visa cardholders are active using in-app payments, fuelled by use of transportation booking apps. The payment experience is becoming invisible and we believe this trend will continue with the introduction of more innovative players and services,\u201d said Visa Country Manager for Singapore and Brunei, Ooi Huey Tyng.\n\n\n\nOn-demand services propelling mobile payments\n\nOn-demand services are also accelerating the growth of mobile payments. Close to two thirds of Singaporeans have used on demand services based on the study. There is significant transformation in the service model especially for transportation, meal delivery and groceries delivery. Seventy-one per cent of respondents cited convenience and efficiency as the top benefits for using such services while 35 per cent of them stated that they enjoy shopping in the comfort of their own home.\n\n\n\nAs on-demand services infiltrate and become a bigger part of consumers\u2019 lives, their expectations have also shifted. According to the survey, majority of the respondents expect their transportation (e.g. taxi or a car) to arrive within 10 minutes from the time they book the service, meal deliveries to arrive within 30 minutes upon ordering, and groceries to be delivered within 45 minutes.\n\n\n\nPeer-to-peer payments\n\nSingaporeans are also starting to embrace peer-to-peer payments. The survey showed that seven in 10 respondents are aware of such options and one in four respondents are already using peer-to-peer services to split a bill after a meal. The benefits of using peer-to-peer payments are fuelled by merchant awareness and convenience.\n\n\u201cAt Visa, we are keen to work with partners to embed fund transfer API to deliver peer-to-peer solution at real time beyond Singapore. Today, 90 per cent of debit cards issued in most Southeast Asia countries are enabled to receive fund transfers at real time,\u201d added Tyng.", "output": "The Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes Survey 2016 reported that two thirds of Singaporeans have made mobile payments. \"Increased connectivity, coupled with the wider payment methods\" have \"transformed consumers' experience\", said Oo Huey Tyng, visa country manager for Singapore and Brunei. VisaNet data found that seven in ten Visa cardholders opted for device-initiated payments, with one in five Visa customers choosing to pay via in-app payments.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "\u00a399 online home agent 99Home goes live \n Post navigation\n\nIt may not be free \u2013 but a new online agent is offering rates starting at \u00a399 with discounts available for key workers.\n\n99Home went fully live yesterday after a period of test and development.\n\nA fee of \u00a399 is payable in advance on all three packages offered with prices including VAT.\n\nThere is nothing more to pay on the cheapest offering.\n\nA further \u00a3400 is payable for a \u2018combination\u2019 service\u2019 and \u00a3900 for a full high street service, both payable on completion.\n\nAll three packages, including the \u00a399 offering, include listings on Rightmove and Zoopla.\n\nDiscounts of up to 10% are offered to people in the armed forces, NHS, police and fire services.\n\nYesterday, it had nine sales properties listed on both portals.\n\n99Home shares premises in Willesden, north London, with high street agent Property Hub.\n\nFounders of 99Home are Vijay Vashistha and Sachin Gupta, while newly appointed chairman is facilities management expert Richard Luckman.\n\nhttps://99home.co.uk/", "output": "Online home agency 99Home has launched with a \u00a399 ($128) fee, payable in advance on any of the company\u2019s three packages. The price includes VAT, with a further \u00a3400 payable for a combination service, and \u00a3900 for a full service, all payable on completion. Listings on Zoopla and Rightmove are included in the packages, and a discount of up to 10% is available to key workers\u00a0in the NHS, the police, the fire service or the armed forces.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Marks & Spencer cuts packaging by reducing air in bags \n The supermarket\u2019s \u2018Project Thin Air\u2019, from which over 140 of Marks and Spencer\u2019s best-selling products have benefitted \u2013 including crisps and popcorn, is the latest move in its ethical and sustainability programme.\n\nThe contents of the snack packets have not diminished but by reducing the \u2018thin air\u2019 at the top of the bag M&S has managed to reduce packaging of its popcorn range by 37%.\n\nM&S has also reduced the plastic in its popular salt & vinegar and ready salted crisps by 20% by using a thinner film.\n\nAccording to M&S, the changes have led to 75 tonnes of packaging being saved each year \u2013 which equates to 152 fewer lorries on the road in 2017.\n\nLast month the retailer introduced avocados with laser-printed barcodes.\n\nM&S packaging expert Laura Fernandez said: \u201cWe\u2019ve been working on this project for over a year and are really pleased with the results. M&S has led the way in packaging reduction, and this latest project has allowed us to dramatically reduce packaging across our snacks, with popcorn packaging down by 37% and hand cooked crisps down by 20%. We very much see this as the start of a much bigger piece of work and hope to bring equally impressive savings to other areas of the business too.\u201d", "output": "Marks & Spencer has reduced packaging for 140 snack products, including crisps and popcorn, by decreasing pockets of air in the bags. The company\u2019s \u201cProject Thin Air\u201d has not reduced the contents of the packs, but has limited the amount of \u201cthin air\u201d included, leading to a 37% reduction in packaging in its popcorn range. Packaging in salt & vinegar and ready salted crisps has also been reduced by 20% through use of a thinner film. The retailer states that the changes have led to a saving of 75 tonnes of packaging per annum, equivalent to 152 fewer lorries on the road this year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK energy sector 'probably compromised' by state hackers \n The UK energy sector is likely to have been targeted and probably compromised by nation-state hackers, according to a memo from Britain\u2019s National Cybersecurity Centre.\n\nThe NCSC, a subsidiary of GCHQ, warned that it had spotted connections \u201cfrom multiple UK IP addresses to infrastructure associated with advanced state-sponsored hostile threat actors, who are known to target the energy and manufacturing sectors,\u201d according to Motherboard, which obtained a copy of the document.\n\nThis information implies that direct connections are being made between computers in the UK\u2019s energy sector and the attacker\u2019s command-and-control apparatus. Both the Windows data-transfer protocol SMB, and the web backbone HTTP, were used to in the connections, according to Motherboard.\n\n\u201cNCSC believes that due to the use of wide-spread targeting by the attacker, a number of industrial control system engineering and services organisations are likely to have been compromised,\u201d the memo says.\n\nThe NCSC has neither confirmed nor denied the memo is genuine. It told the BBC in a statement: \u201cWe are aware of reports of malicious cyber-activity targeting the energy sector around the globe \u2026 We are liaising with our counterparts to better understand the threat and continue to manage any risks to the UK.\u201d\n\nIt makes the UK the third country in the last week to note state-sponsored intrusion of its power grid. Earlier this week, the Times reported on fears that Ireland\u2019s Electricity Supply Board was targeted by a group with ties to the Kremlin, while 18 US-based energy companies were sent phishing emails attempting to steal credentials, according to Cyberscoop.\n\nAll the reports appear to be linked, suggesting a widespread campaign to probe energy suppliers for weaknesses, and to steal credentials which may prove useful in future attacks. It is a matter of debate whether such a campaign can itself be called an attack, since no damage has apparently been done, but it will focus attention on the risk to critical infrastructure from cyber-attacks.\n\nIn late June, the former chief of the National Grid, Steve Holliday, told the Guardian: \u201cThe UK stands out uniquely on cyber threats. Nowhere else is as worried as the UK about cyber threats: we are just off the scale on our energy system concerns on cyber.\u201d\n\nAs far back as 2013, security researchers were identifying significant vulnerabilities in power grids that allowed a remote hacker to seize or take control of plant control systems, while Ukraine became one of the first countries to see the physical results of such attacks in 2016, when a blackout across western Ukraine was caused by a malware called \u201cBlackEnergy\u201d.", "output": "The UK energy sector has likely been compromised by nation-state hackers, according to a memo from Britain\u2019s National Cybersecurity Centre (NCSC) seen by news outlet Motherboard. The centre, a GCGQ subsidiary, said in the memo that it had seen connections between UK IP addresses and hackers known to target energy and manufacturing abroad. The NCSC has not confirmed the memo, but the document warns that several major organisations\u00a0may already have been hacked.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google's Accelerated Mobile Pages focuses on ads and payments \n by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, July 17, 2017\n\nGoogle released an update to its product roadmap for its Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) project, the open source initiative aimed at making the web experience faster. The update represents a quarterly overview of planned features for the thirds quarter in 2017, but it also provides a look back at Q2 2017 and what the team accomplished.\n\nDeeper integration of ads in the AMP format landing pages across buy and sell-side platforms, offline support, enabling better mobile payments becomes the focus for the AMP group during the third quarter this year.\n\nAnd it's not just about improving transactions on smartphones. Mobile payments are slowly catching on in IoT devices. Companies like Mastercard would love to say goodbye to the plastic and go digital. In a bid to reinvent payment systems, the company announced in April it partnered with a startup to enable consumers to make payments at vending machine through its digital wallet.\n\nThe more digital data owned by Mastercard the easier it becomes to keep track of where, when, why and how someone reached for their phone or mobile wearable device to make a purchase. All these data points create behavioral patterns in which to more accurately serve advertising.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nGoogle claims that more than 1.5 billion AMP pages have been published and more than 100 analytics, ad tech and content management system providers support the format.\n\nDuring the second quarter of 2017, some of the themes Google focused on making it easier to build AMP pages, better support for data entry for forms and search boxes, enhanced support for content formats such as news articles and local listings, and support for engaging in video.\n\nGoogle also began focusing on improving support for ecommerce analytics, video analytics and all around basic analytics and event triggers.\n\nCompanies like Adobe have begun to add support for AMP in their analytics platforms.", "output": "Google has released an update for Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), an open source project designed to improve mobile web browsing speed. The update will offer offline support capability, more efficient payments and greater integration of advertisements. Over 1.5 billion pages have been published with AMP so far, according to Google, with more than 100 system providers currently using the format."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "LIDAR is tech of choice for wind feasibility and power curve tests \n This site uses cookies. By clicking ACCEPT or continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. If we use cookies we must have the user accept the terms for the cookies\n\nAccept", "output": "Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) will become more popular than MET masts for offshore wind feasibility and power curve verification tests, a panel at this year's Offshore Wind Conference said. Validation campaigns have found LIDAR is a cost-effective way to gather reliable financial data on a wind turbine's power output. While LIDAR works best with short masts for onshore projects, offshore wind projects only require the LIDAR to provide data, said Alexandre Sauvage, CEO of LIDAR manufacturer Leosphere."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "'Second skin' wearable can record medical data \n We\u2019re a little closer to getting rid of bulky health sensors now that scientists have created a super-thin wearable that can record data through skin. That would make this wearable, which looks like a stylish gold tattoo, ideal for long-term medical monitoring \u2014 it\u2019s already so comfortable that people forgot they were wearing it.\n\nMost skin-based interfaces consist of electronics embedded in a substance, like plastic, that is then stuck onto the skin. Problem is, the plastic is often rigid or it doesn\u2019t let you move and sweat. In a paper published today in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, scientists used a material that dissolves under water, leaving the electronic part directly on the skin and comfortable to bend and wear. Twenty participants wore it on their skin for a week without problems. They didn\u2019t get itchy or irritated, and the wearable didn\u2019t break.\n\nGold nanomesh conductor on hand. Photo: Takao Someya Group, University of Tokyo\n\nThere\u2019s been a lot of interest in skin-based interfaces that remotely control a phone or turning skin into a touchscreen for a smartwatch. Those are cool tricks, but health monitoring is higher priority. Almost all kinds of medical monitoring \u2014 from measuring brain signals or heart beats \u2014 means putting electrodes on the skin. This is fine for the lab, but not convenient if you need to continually monitor these vital signals at home.\n\nThis new system uses a mesh made of a material called polyvinyl alcohol that\u2019s already used in contact lenses and artificial cartilage. First, the scientists used electrical force to created charged threads of the material. (This is called electrospinning.) These threads were coated in gold to make them more electrically conducive. You put the entire thing on skin \u2014 in this case, the hand \u2014 and spray on some water. The polyvinyl alcohol disappears, but the gold threads are still there, and it can be used to power a LED light, or transmit data to a laptop.", "output": "Scientists have developed a super-thin wearable that can record medical data through the\u00a0skin. Where traditional\u00a0health sensors are housed in plastic, which can be uncomfortable and cumbersome,\u00a0this gold nanomesh conductor is made of polyvinyl alcohol and feels like a \"second skin\", a study in Nature Nanotechnology reported. Some threads of the material were charged and coated in gold to improve conductivity. The device was applied to\u00a0the skin and dampened so the alcohol disappeared, leaving behind the gold threads. The end result of the process looked\u00a0like a golden tattoo on the wearer's skin.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Thousands at risk due to air pollution in northern UK: IPPR \n Dangerous levels of air pollution in towns and cities across the north of England are threatening the health of hundreds of thousands of people and stifling economic growth, according to a new report.\n\n\n\nThe analysis by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) North describes air pollution as \u201cthe tobacco of the 21st century\u201d and says that while there has been a growing concern about the problem in London, many residents in regional towns and cities are unaware of the threat to their health.\n\nDarren Baxter, researcher at IPPR North, said it was time the government took radical action.\n\n\u201cToo often the attention focuses on unclean air in the capital, but the reality is that it\u2019s poisoning thousands in our regional cities too,\u201d said Baxter. \u201cMichael Gove [the new environment secretary] must show that the government is not prepared to sit on its hands while up to 40,000 people are killed every year from dirty air. We need to see radical plans to ditch diesel, introduce incentives for electric cars and bring in clean air zones in our major cities.\u201d\n\nThe government has suffered two legal defeats over its plans to improve air quality in the UK after judges ruled they were so poor as to be unlawful. The courts have given ministers until 31 July to publish a new plan.\n\nCampaigners want Gove to introduce a range of measures including charging clean air zones in the worst hit areas and a diesel scrappage scheme to compensate drivers who bought diesel cars after being told they were better for the environment.\n\nThe government\u2019s own figures show that although London has by far the highest level of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) pollution, many urban areas \u2013 including large swaths of the Midlands, the north-west, West Yorkshire and the northeast \u2013 suffer dangerous levels of pollution.\n\nThe scale of the air pollution crisis was revealed in a joint Guardian-Greenpeace investigation earlier this year, showing hundreds of thousands of children were being educated within 150 metres of a road where levels of NO 2 from diesel traffic breached legal limits.\n\nFigures obtained by Labour showed that more than 38 million people, representing 59.3% of the UK population, were living in areas where levels of NO 2 pollution were above legal limits.\n\nBaxter said: \u201cThis is the tobacco of the 21st century, and every single preventable death is a failure of government action. Gove must get a grip on this crisis which is killing literally thousands of children and adults a year.\u201d\n\nTuesday\u2019s report estimates that congestion in the north of England will increase by 3% annually. Estimates put the cost of congestion in Manchester and Liverpool alone at \u00a32bn in 2015.\n\nThe study is the latest from IPPR North\u2019s Northern Energy Taskforce, which has identified the energy sector as one of four key priority areas for the economy in northern England, along with manufacturing, health and digital.\n\n\u201cBy taking the killer air crisis seriously, we can prevent many unnecessary deaths and ill-health, especially in our children, while preparing the way for a Northern green jobs revolution,\u201d said Baxter.\n\nThe report calls for central government, councils and transport bodies to:\n\n\n\nRadically improve green public transport links, especially rail connections, and to prioritise hydrogen-powered trains.\n\nPledge to phase out diesel cars over the coming years, in part to help spur the electric car market, in which sector the north is becoming a world leader.", "output": "Air pollution across the north of England is damaging health and economic growth, according to a report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) North. The study, which describes air pollution as \u201cthe tobacco of the 21st century,\u201d states that congestion in the north of the country is set to increase by 3% each year. The report calls for a radical improvement in green public transport links, particularly hydrogen-powered trains, the phasing out of diesel cars and the introduction of a car scrappage scheme to encourage use of electric vehicles.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Thousands at risk due to air pollution in northern UK: IPPR \n The UK's regional cities are in breach of the legal limits on air quality by up to 150%, threatening the lives of children and adults, report warns.\n\nGovernment, councils and transport bodies must back radical action to improve air quality, ahead of the publication of DEFRA\u2019s Clean Air Strategy later this month.\n\nFocus should be on incentives for drivers to upgrade to electric cars and roll-out of hydrogen powered trains in the North as part of a Northern energy revolution, study concludes.\n\nThe government must do much more to address the crisis of toxic fumes killing thousands in the UK\u2019s regional cities, including phasing out diesel vehicles and introducing incentives for purchasing electric cars, according to a new study.\n\nThe warning comes in the latest report from leading think-tank IPPR North, which explores the North of England\u2019s future transport energy needs.\n\nCurrent trends estimate that congestion in the North will increase by 3 per cent annually, 'Gearing up for the transition: The role of transport in a Northern energy strategy' notes \u2014 but cautions that even by 2030, on current projections, only 5 per cent of UK cars will be powered by electricity rather than petrol or diesel, threatening the government\u2019s aspiration for the UK to be the world-leader in clean air cars.\n\nThe study adds that despite repeated attempts by the government to block urgent action to deal with the problem, the courts have mandated the government to reduce illegal pollution levels; this, alongside the North\u2019s green energy jobs potential, increase the case for action.\n\nBut while clean air in the capital has risen on the political agenda in recent years, IPPR North warns killer fumes are blighting UK regional cities too, especially in the North of England: for instance, Teesside and the North West & Merseyside zones are the third and fourth regions in the UK with the filthiest air, breaching the legal limit of toxic NO2 concentrations by 150 per cent.\n\nThe report comes ahead of the government releasing its clean air strategy later this month, which could see the compulsory introduction of Clean Air Zones in order to maintain legal limits on pollution.\n\nTo save lives and boost the green economy, the report calls for central government, councils and transport bodies to:\n\nradically improve green public transport links, especially rail connections and prioritising hydrogen-powered trains\n\npledge to phase out diesel cars over the coming years, in part to help spur the electric car market, in which sector the North is becoming a world leader\n\nintroducing a new car scrappage scheme to encourage car owners to upgrade to electric vehicles.\n\nDarren Baxter, researcher at IPPR North, said:\n\n\u201cThe evidence shows toxic air is killing up to 40,000 children and adults a year. This is one of the biggest problems of our time, but too little attention is paid to this key issue, especially outside the capital.\n\n\u201cTo prevent more avoidable deaths, we need to see big incentives for those buying a car to go electric, funded in part by a tax on the most-polluting vehicles, as well as seeing a real commitment by councils and the Department for Transport to make clean air a top priority.\n\n\u201cBy taking the killer air crisis seriously, we can prevent many unnecessary deaths and ill-health, especially in our children, while preparing the way for a Northern green jobs revolution.\u201d\n\nends\n\nIn numbers:\n\nAround 40,000 deaths per year in the UK are attributable to exposure to outdoor air pollution, with an estimated overall economic cost in excess of 3.7 per cent of UK GDP.\n\nEstimates put the cost of congestion in Manchester and Liverpool alone in 2015 at \u00a32 billion.\n\nTransport is responsible for around 25 per cent of the UK\u2019s greenhouse gas emissions.\n\nContact:\n\nAsh Singleton, [email protected], 07887 422 789.\n\nNotes:\n\nThe report is the latest publication from IPPR North\u2019s Northern Energy Taskforce, which was established to oversee an ambitious programme of work to develop an energy strategy for the North of England.\n\nThe Taskforce is chaired by Sir John Harman, the former Environment Agency chair, alongside a number of high-profile Taskforce figures with expertise across infrastructure, engineering, finance, academia and local government. It is supported by IPPR staff in a research, press and secretariat capacity.", "output": "Air pollution across the north of England is damaging health and economic growth, according to a report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) North. The study, which describes air pollution as \u201cthe tobacco of the 21st century,\u201d states that congestion in the north of the country is set to increase by 3% each year. The report calls for a radical improvement in green public transport links, particularly hydrogen-powered trains, the phasing out of diesel cars and the introduction of a car scrappage scheme to encourage use of electric vehicles.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Automakers less bullish on electric vehicles than oil companies \n Oil producers and research organizations around the world are revising their electric-vehicle forecasts upward as improving battery costs challenge previous assumptions about growth.\n\nA new study from Bloomberg New Energy Finance shows just how dramatically estimates are changing. The most radical swing comes from OPEC, an organization made up of leading oil producing nations, which boosted its forecast of electric-vehicle sales by 500 percent compared to last year.\n\nOPEC isn't the only industry group revising its assumptions about growth. BNEF researchers cataloged a number of radical changes in projections.\n\nThe International Energy Agency has more than doubled its estimate about global electric-vehicle sales. Meanwhile, Exxon, BP and Statoil are all now expecting at least 100 million electric vehicles to hit the roads worldwide between 2030 and 2035.\n\nBNEF's outlook is even more bullish. It projects that 530 million cumulative electric cars will be sold by 2040 -- representing about one-third of the market for automobiles.\n\nIn the spring, Morgan Stanley issued an analysis predicting that electric cars would outpace gasoline-powered cars within two decades.\n\nThe new outlook from oil majors is consistent with a recent analysis from Wood Mackenzie, the firm that owns GTM. According to Wood Mackenzie, electric-car sales will hit 100 million by 2035, stripping up to 2 million barrels of oil demand per day. In another analysis, Wood Mackenzie predicted that Tesla's Model 3 sales alone will slash U.S. gasoline demand by 300,000 barrels per day by that time.\n\nUnder the most bullish scenario, Wood Mackenzie believes that electric cars could make up 85 percent of all new car sales by 2035.\n\nWhy is everyone changing their forecasts all at once? For one main reason: battery costs.\n\nWhile policy and consumer behavior are difficult to predict, battery costs are coming down fast. We're already ahead of lithium-ion battery costs projected for 2030. And with 10 battery gigafactories under development around the world, battery costs and prices are expected to further outpace projections.\n\nThere's one group of companies that is far less optimistic about electric cars: automakers.\n\nAccording to BNEF, the world's biggest auto manufacturers are only planning to sell a combined 8 million electric cars per year by 2030.\n\nPer usual, Elon Musk is bucking the trend. Over the weekend, Musk offered up his own prediction about the growth of electric cars.\n\n\u201cProbably in 10 years, more than a half of new vehicle production is electric in the United States. Half of all production will be EV, I think almost all cars produced will be autonomous,\" he said, speaking to members of the National Governors Association.\n\nA year or two ago, that might have sounded like a bold prediction. Today, it's pretty well in line with what leading analysts and oil companies believe.", "output": "The world's largest automakers only plan to sell a combined 8 million electric cars per by year by 2030, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Meanwhile, improving battery costs have spurred OPEC to scale its forecast for electric vehicle sales in 2040 by 500%, from 46 million to 266 million. Additionally, oil consultancy Wood Mackenzie predicted that sales of electric cars will reach 100 million by 2035. Only Tesla matches the oil companies' bullish outlook; half of all vehicles produced will be electric in 10 years, according to CEO Elon Musk."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Start-ups making LA \u2018laboratory\u2019 for tackling climate change \n Drought, floods, wildfires and heat waves \u2013 climate change and extreme weather events are wreaking havoc in California, especially in Los Angeles. The city has recently baked in record temperatures with a long, hot summer still stretching ahead.\n\n\n\nIt is the new normal: climate models predict the number of extreme heat days, defined as more than 95F, will triple by the middle of the century.\n\nLittle wonder Hollywood is churning out desert dystopias in films such as Mad Max: Fury Road and The Bad Batch.\n\nReality, however, has an overlooked subplot: geeks are inventing ways to keep LA cool \u2013 and possibly mint fortunes in the process.\n\nDozens of startups have turned the city and nearby regions into a laboratory for products and services which they hope will avert environmental disaster and yield business models replicable across the globe, even beyond.\n\n\u201cWe would welcome opportunities for off-planet growing,\u201d said Brandon Martin, vice president of business development of Local Roots, which turns shipping containers into hydroponic farms. \u201cWe\u2019d love to be the first company to grow food on Mars.\u201d\n\nHe was completely serious. Engineers from Elon Musk\u2019s Space X have studied how the company uses sensors, algorithms and machine learning to transform 40ft containers into the equivalent of three to five acres of farmland while using 97% less water.\n\n\u201cWe want to be a billion-dollar company as soon as possible,\u201d said Kipp Stroden, another Local Roots executive. \u201cWe\u2019d like to feed at least a billion people in the next 10 years.\u201d\n\nTime will tell if that is hubris but it reflects the confidence of startups which think solving some of LA\u2019s environmental challenges will open other markets in a heating planet.\n\n\u201cLA is essentially a giant opportunity to demonstrate their technologies,\u201d said Mike Swords, vice president of government relations for Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (Laci), a public-private nonprofit which mentors startups. \u201cIf you can demonstrate that your company can help solve problems here there\u2019s a good chance you will export it to other urban areas around the world.\u201d\n\nKipp Stroden at the entrance to one of Local Roots\u2019s container farms. Photograph: Rory Carroll/The Guardian\n\nLA\u2019s biggest climate challenges were extreme heat and drought and increased fires, said Matt Petersen, who was the city\u2019s first chief sustainability officer before recently taking over the reins at Laci. \u201cTrees are job number one, and cool surfaced roofs and streets are key strategies as well,\u201d he said.\n\nLA\u2019s mayor, Eric Garcetti, has set bold targets to reduce the so-called urban heat island effect, improve air quality and ease congestion. Voters approved two measures which will generate $150bn in the next decades \u2013 a sum exceeding Franklin Roosevelt\u2019s New Deal, according to some estimates \u2013 to replace traffic gridlock, a major source of heat and pollution, with cleaner transport and shaded, pedestrian-friendly sidewalks.\n\n\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a city that has taken the climate change challenge seriously,\u201d said Adrienne Alvord, western states director of the Union of Concerned Scientists.\n\nCalifornia\u2019s governor, Jerry Brown, and the state legislature, meanwhile, champion a cap-and-trade programme and ever more ambitious renewable energy targets \u2013 big-spending rebuffs to the Trump administration\u2019s environmental policies.\n\nThe result is an El Dorado of subsidies, favorable rules and fast growing markets for cleantech companies.\n\n\u201cIt has the attributes of a gold rush,\u201d said Mike Hopkins, CEO of Ice Energy, which makes air conditioning units that store energy and can cool homes without using electricity. \u201cIt\u2019s a bit of a wild west, the rules are still being formed. Those who innovate and take risks, win.\u201d\n\nA potential big winner is GuardTop, an asphalt coating manufacturer which makes CoolSeal, a reflective street surface which can reduce temperatures by more than 10F. It is being piloted around LA.\n\nYou can see other green technology on display even before entering Laci\u2019s La Kretz Innovation Campus, a 3.2-acre site in LA\u2019s downtown arts district.\n\nThe car park boasts a canopy of solar panels which feed a microgrid supplying a third of the campus\u2019s energy needs. A bioswale collects and recycles rainwater. Amid the Teslas and other vehicles sits a triple-function generator which can turn biomass, including banana peels and coconut shells, into electricity, heat or cool air. A \u201cliving wall\u201d of 2,100 plants looms over the reception.\n\nThe incubator was founded in 2011 with money from the federal government, the city and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP), and moved to this campus in 2015. It has outposts in Silicon Valley and Northridge and plans to open one in Mexico City.\n\n\u201cWe want to bring the best cleantech companies from around the world, especially startups, and help them grow,\u201d said Swords, the spokesman. \u201cThis level of coaching and mentoring is an incredible deal. Every single one of the companies plans to scale. They hope to sell their products all over the world.\u201d\n\nIn return, he said, LA and its water and power utility will get the chance to acquire technology to combat climate change.\n\nThe DWP has a tradition of thinking big: a century ago it siphoned water from the Owens Valley to LA, a controversial rerouting fictionalized in Roman Polanski\u2019s Chinatown.\n\nMike Swords, at the LA Cleantech Incubator\u2019s \u2018living wall\u2019. Photograph: Rory Carroll/The Guardian\n\nLaci will survive even if the Trump administration ends federal funding, which was important but not essential, said Swords.\n\nThe buzz on the Laci campus was unmistakable. Pick My Solar, which helps householders choose solar panels, has grown from five to 30 employees in a year. \u201cWith the heatwaves and brownouts people are thinking a lot about energy,\u201d said Kyle Graycar, a company analyst.\n\nGreen Commuter, another company, says it is the US\u2019s first all-electric vanpool. \u201cWe reduce the cost of commuting, the amount of traffic and CO2 emissions,\u201d said Bart Sidles, as he drove one of the company\u2019s Tesla SUVs up Alameda Street.\n\nRiver LA, one of the incubator\u2019s nonprofits, is also feeling emboldened: it has been tasked with helping to spend $100m in water bond money to transform the Los Angeles River, in places a sorry trickle, into a lush waterway.\n\nTorrential winter rains ended California\u2019s drought but Local Roots, the farming company, believes continued water shortages plus a growing population and pressure to reduce transport costs will make their container farms a common sight in parking lots across the US and beyond. One container can produce 4,000 heads of butterhead lettuce every 10 days using just 25 gallons of water daily, said Stroden, the executive.\n\nJonathan Parfrey, executive director of the nonprofit Climate Resolve, cautioned that LA will inevitably heat up. \u201cWe could all turn into vegans driving electric vehicles and we\u2019d still see this.\u201d\n\nLow-income residents will suffer most \u2013 several studies have shown the inequitable impact. Poorer neighborhoods near the coast such as Compton will enjoy relative coolness but be vulnerable to gentrification, potentially pushing residents to the city\u2019s hotter, eastern side, said Parfrey.\n\nEven so, he was optimistic. Technologies were getting cheaper and smarter. \u201cThe antidote to climate despair is working on solutions.\u201d", "output": "Los Angeles is becoming a \u201claboratory\u201d for start-ups seeking solutions to climate change and innovative business models, according to The Guardian. Cap-and-trade initiatives, renewable targets, subsidies and expanding cleantech markets within California are bringing a \u201cgold rush\u201d to the region. Startup Local Roots is turning shipping containers into hydroponic farms that reduce land and water use and could be used to grow food on Mars. Ice Energy is producing electricity-free air conditioning that stores energy, and GuardTop has created the CoolSeal street surface that lowers temperatures. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Europe leads world in solar auctions \n According to the latest Global Solar Demand Monitor, GTM Research is now tracking 17.4 gigawatts of confirmed solar PV tenders in auctions across the globe. The report highlights that 9.6 gigawatts will be awarded in the third quarter of 2017 alone.\n\nWith 8.1 gigawatts confirmed, Europe leads as the region with the greatest share of tendered solar PV. South Asia, led by India, ranks second with 5 gigawatts.\n\nFIGURE: Timing and Award Volume of Confirmed Solar PV Tenders\n\nSource: GTM Research Global Solar Demand Monitor, Q2 2017\n\nAs auctions continue to proliferate, the pipeline will only grow larger. According to GTM Research, tendering or auction schemes are currently in place in 48 national markets, and an additional 27 nations are currently discussing or planning tenders and auctions.\n\n\u201cMature solar markets including Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom have used competitive procurement as a market-capping mechanism to remedy subsidy budget deficits, market saturation, curtailment and grid-balancing issues, and high costs,\u201d explained Ben Attia, GTM Research solar analyst and lead author of the report.\n\nSimilarly, emerging markets with little to no installed capacity or market history are using tender programs to procure cost-competitive renewables without subsidies.\n\n\u201cHigh-growth markets like India and Mexico have used the same mechanisms as a scale-up engine to centrally allocate projects on weaker grids, provide credit and offtaker guarantees or assurances, and create a low-cost, no-subsidy multi-gigawatt pipeline,\u201d Attia added.\n\nIn 2017, driven in part by auctions and tenders, global demand will exceed 80 gigawatts for the first time, though year-on-year growth will fall from 2016\u2019s 55 percent to a more sustainable 4 percent.\n\n\n\nFIGURE: Global PV Demand, 2015-2022E\n\n\n\nSource: GTM Research Global Solar Demand Monitor, Q2 2017\n\n***\n\nStay up to date on global solar trends with a subscription to GTM Research's Global Downstream Solar Service. Learn more here.", "output": "European countries have awarded 8.1 GW of the 17.4 GW of photovolataic (PV) power\u00a0auctioned globally in 2017, according to GTM Research. South Asia, the second largest market for tendered PV, awarded\u00a05 GW\u00a0of PV in the same period. A total 48 national markets offer solar tendering or auction schemes, while another 27 nations are debating whether to plan tenders and auctions, the study found.\u00a0\u201cMature solar markets including Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom have used competitive procurement as a market-capping mechanism to remedy subsidy budget deficits, market saturation, curtailment and grid-balancing issues, and high costs,\u201d said Ben Attia, GTM Research solar analyst."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK Advertising Standards Authority toughens rules on sexist ads \n Our new report, Depictions, Perceptions and Harm published today provides an evidence-based case for stronger regulation of ads that feature stereotypical gender roles or characteristics which might be harmful to people, including ads which mock people for not conforming to gender stereotypes.\n\n\n\nResponding to the evidence, our sister body, CAP \u2013 the authors of the UK Advertising Codes - will develop new standards on ads that feature stereotypical gender roles or characteristics. We will then administer and enforce those standards. CAP will also use the evidence in the report to clarify standards that reflect our existing position on ads that objectify or inappropriately sexualise people or suggest it is acceptable to be unhealthily-thin.\n\n\n\nThe announcement comes at the conclusion of a major review into gender stereotyping in ads, with evidence suggesting that harmful stereotypes can restrict the choices, aspirations and opportunities of children, young people and adults. These stereotypes can be reinforced by some advertising, which plays a part in unequal gender outcomes, with costs for individuals, the economy and society.\n\n\n\nThe aim of the review has been to consider whether regulation is doing enough to address the potential for harm or offence arising from gender stereotypes in ads. We have a track record of banning ads on grounds of objectification, inappropriate sexualisation and for suggesting it is desirable for young women to be unhealthily thin. But we have ruled that ads that feature gender stereotypical roles or characters are unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence to their audience.\n\n\n\nTo test whether standards are in the right place, the review examined gender stereotyping across several spheres, including body image, objectification, sexualisation, gender characteristics and roles, and mocking people for not conforming to gender stereotypes. To reach conclusions, evidence was gathered through a major independent research study by GfK \u2013 the findings of which are also published today - alongside a wide-ranging consultation of expert stakeholders.\n\nThe key findings are these:\n\n\n\n\u2022 The evidence shows support for the ASA\u2019s track record of banning ads that objectify or inappropriately sexualize people, and ads which suggest that it\u2019s acceptable for young women to be unhealthily thin\n\n\u2022 But a tougher line is needed on ads that feature stereotypical gender roles or characteristics which can potentially cause harm, including ads which mock people for not conforming to gender stereotypes\n\nThe report indicates that the latter should be considered on grounds of potential harm to the audience, banning those gender stereotypes that are most likely to reinforce assumptions that adversely limit how people see themselves and how others see them.\n\n\n\nNew standards are not intended to ban all forms of gender stereotypes. For example, the evidence falls short of calling for a ban on ads depicting a woman cleaning or a man doing DIY tasks. But, subject to context and content considerations, the evidence suggests the following types of depictions are likely to be problematic:\n\n\u2022 An ad which depicts family members creating a mess while a woman has sole responsibility for cleaning it up\n\n\u2022 An ad that suggests a specific activity is inappropriate for boys because it is stereotypically associated with girls, or vice-versa\n\n\u2022 An ad that features a man trying and failing to undertake simple parental or household tasks\n\nCAP will report publically on its progress before the end of 2017 and commits, as always, to delivering training and advice on the new standards in good time before they come into force in 2018.\n\nChief Executive of the ASA, Guy Parker, said:\n\n\u201cPortrayals which reinforce outdated and stereotypical views on gender roles in society can play their part in driving unfair outcomes for people. While advertising is only one of many factors that contribute to unequal gender outcomes, tougher advertising standards can play an important role in tackling inequalities and improving outcomes for individuals, the economy and society as a whole.\"\n\nElla Smillie, lead report author, said:\n\n\u201cOur review shows that specific forms of gender stereotypes in ads can contribute to harm for adults and children. Such portrayals can limit how people see themselves, how others see them, and limit the life decisions they take. Tougher standards in the areas we\u2019ve identified will address harms and ensure that modern society is better represented.\u201d\n\nMore on", "output": "Sexist advertisements will be banned under new rules proposed in a report by the UK\u2019s industry watchdog the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and research firm GfK. The report calls for a crackdown on advertisements that present activities as suitable for one gender and that mock those who defy gender stereotypes. Ads that \u201cbody shame\u201d young women will also face tougher regulation and the existing code relating to the sexualisation of women and girls in ads will be clarified. The ASA has previously acted against airbrushing and against ads using \u201cunhealthily thin\u201d models."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK Advertising Standards Authority toughens rules on sexist ads \n Advertisements that perpetuate sexist stereotypes, from men bungling housework to girls being less academic than boys, will be banned under rules being proposed by the industry watchdog.\n\nThe crackdown by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) will toughen rules on ads that are deemed to present activities as only appropriate for one gender or another, or that mock those who do not conform to stereotypical gender roles.\n\nIt will also toughen rules on ads that \u201cbody shame\u201d young women after an outcry over Protein World\u2019s controversial \u201cBeach body ready\u201d campaign, which was not banned despite a petition with 70,000 signatures claiming that its depiction of a bikini-clad model in an ad for a weight-loss product was socially irresponsible.\n\nThe ASA\u2019s proposals, outlined in a report conducted with research firm GfK, are part of an effort to address the portrayal of women in ads in particular.\n\nThe project, which the watchdog considers the most comprehensive review of gender stereotyping anywhere in the world, follows a major crackdown on \u201cairbrushing\u201d, which has seen major beauty ads featuring stars such as Cara Delevingne, Natalie Portman, and Julia Roberts banned. It has also banned ads featuring \u201cunhealthily thin\u201d models.\n\nIts proposals will also clarify the existing code relating to ads that objectify or inappropriately sexualise women and girls.\n\n\u201cOur review shows that specific forms of gender stereotypes in ads can contribute to harm for adults and children,\u201d said Ella Smillie, lead author of the report.\n\n\u201cSuch portrayal scan limit how people see themselves, how others see them, and limit the life decisions they take. Tougher standards in the areas we\u2019ve identified will address harms and ensure that modern society is better represented.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe ASA said it was not looking at implementing a blanket ban \u2013 it will still be acceptable for ads to feature a woman doing cleaning or a man doing DIY tasks \u2013 but there are versions of this type of commercial that will now come under scrutiny.\n\n\n\nFor example, ads that would probably be banned under the proposed new rules include \u201cshowing family members creating a mess while a woman is seen having the sole responsibility cleaning it up\u201d.\n\nAds that suggest an activity is inappropriate for girls or boys because it is stereotypically associated with the other sex would similarly be banned, as would those featuring men \u201ctrying and failing to undertake simple parental or household tasks\u201d.\n\nThe ASA report, entitled Depictions, Perceptions and Harm, found that harmful stereotypes can \u201crestrict the choices, aspirations and opportunities of children, young people and adults\u201d.\n\n01:31 McDonald's advert accused of exploiting childhood bereavement \u2013 video\n\nGuy Parker, the chief executive of the ASA, said: \u201cPortrayals which reinforce outdated and stereotypical views on gender roles in society can play their part in driving unfair outcomes for people.\n\n\u201cWhile advertising is only one of many factors that contribute to unequal gender outcomes, tougher advertising standards can play an important role in tackling inequalities and improving outcomes for individuals, the economy and society as a whole.\u201d\n\nThe ASA\u2019s report will now be handed to the Committee of Advertising Practice, which sets the UK ad code across all forms of media \u2013 from TV and newspapers to billboards and online ads \u2013 to develop new standards to be turned into rules and enforced by the ad watchdog.\n\nThe review examined gender stereotyping across areas including body image, objectification, sexualisation, gender characteristics and roles and mocking people for not conforming to gender stereotypes.\n\nPressure to address the portrayal of women in ads, in particular relating to objectification and body image, has been building for a number of years.\n\nIn 2015, the Sun scrapped Page 3\u2019s topless women after 44 years, a move which came following rising pressure from campaigners including No More Page 3.\n\nBefore their virtual extinction at the hands of the internet, the lads\u2019 magazine market \u2013 led by titles including FHM, Loaded, Nuts and Zoo \u2013 found itself confined to top shelves and \u201cmodesty bags\u201d by supermarkets feeling the heat of public pressure.\n\nLiberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson waged a long-running campaign against \u201coverly perfected and unrealistic images\u201d of women in advertisements.\n\nThe push started at the Lib Dem party conference in 2009, which used its first day of debate to discuss the myriad ways that women are increasingly encouraged to \u201clive up to\u201d unrealistic ideals of beauty and imagery that \u201coften trivialises their position within society\u201d.\n\nAds likely to be banned\n\nProtein World\u2019s Beach Body Ready campaign\n\nThe advertising watchdog cleared the highly controversial campaign despite nearly 400 complaints it objectified women and was socially irresponsible. The weight-loss ads featuring a bikini-clad model sparked a huge backlash over alleged \u201cbody-shaming\u201d including a protest in London\u2019s Hyde Park and a petition on Change.org that attracted more than 70,000 signatures. The ASA cleared the ads, saying it did not think the image of the model \u201cshamed women who had different body shapes into believing they needed to take a slimming supplement to feel confident wearing swimwear in public\u201d. Ironically, it ended up being banned for making misleading health claims about the Protein World supplement.\n\nCara Delevingne naked for Tom Ford perfume\n\nThe model and, more recently, actor appeared on a billboard in east London lying naked on her front with the side of her breast and buttocks visible while holding a bottle of Tom Ford Black Orchid perfume. The advertising watchdog received complaints that it was degrading and objectified women and that the billboard could be seen by children and was close to churches and mosques. The ad was cleared by the ASA, but it was deemed not to be allowed to be displayed within 100 metres of schools.\n\nSexist Gap ad stereotyping children\u2019s futures\n\nAn ad for US fashion chain Gap\u2019s kids brand featured a young boy, \u201ccalled the Little Scholar\u201d, while the girl featured in the ad is labelled \u201cthe Social Butterfly\u201d. Text that ran with the ad, which prompted accusations on social media of sexism, used the line \u201cYour future starts here.\u201d Gap moved to take the ad down and, consequently, the ASA did not have grounds to investigate.", "output": "Sexist advertisements will be banned under new rules proposed in a report by the UK\u2019s industry watchdog the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and research firm GfK. The report calls for a crackdown on advertisements that present activities as suitable for one gender and that mock those who defy gender stereotypes. Ads that \u201cbody shame\u201d young women will also face tougher regulation and the existing code relating to the sexualisation of women and girls in ads will be clarified. The ASA has previously acted against airbrushing and against ads using \u201cunhealthily thin\u201d models."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "World's fastest drone breaks ground speed record at 180mph \n Blink and you might actually miss the Drone Racing League\u2019s new RacerX drone, which has just been clocked at a record speed of nearly 180 miles per hour.\n\nThe team behind the drone set the mark yesterday while performing a number of drag races along a 100-meter course in upstate New York. The aircraft, which weighs in at 1.75 pounds, recorded an average top speed of 163.5 miles per hour, which qualified as the \u201cfastest ground speed by a battery-powered remote-controlled quadcopter.\u201d Its fastest recorded speed was 179.3 miles per hour.", "output": "The Drone Racing League\u2019s latest drone, the RacerX, has achieved the fastest recorded ground speed by a battery-powered quadcopter: almost 180mph. The drone weighs only 1.75lb, with rotors that spin at up to 46,000rpm\u00a0and an average top speed of 163.5mph. The RacerX will not see any action at the Drone Racing League\u2019s upcoming World Championship events, sidelined in favour of more\u00a0manoeuvrable craft.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The role of diet in healthy brain ageing and dementia risk \n Four studies being presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference 2017 are highlighting the potential benefits of certain diets and how they can support healthy brain ageing and help to reduce dementia risk.\n\nThere is a body of evidence indicating that what is good for the heart is also good for the head, and these new large population-based studies add to this, each looking at different versions of diets and in different groups of people.\n\nResearchers in the US used data from 5,907 healthy older people in the Health and Retirement Study to scrutinise the links between diet and memory and thinking skills. They were interested in the effects of the traditional Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) and a modified version called the MIND diet. Adjusting for socioeconomic, health (e.g. obesity and diabetes) and lifestyle (e.g. smoking and physical activity) factors, the team found that people who were relatively good or very good at sticking to the MedDiet or MIND diet were more likely to perform better on memory and thinking tests. The people with the highest scores onthese diets were 35-40% less likely to perform poorly on cognitive tests compared to those with lower diet scores.\n\nA similar study in Sweden analysed data from 2,223 healthy older people (aged 60 and over) over a six-year period, looking at their dietary patterns and scoring them against an index called the Nordic Prudent Dietary Pattern (NPDP). Comparing the NPDP with a range of other healthy diets; MedDiet, MIND, DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) and BSD (Baltic Sea Diet), the team looked to see whether there was any effect of diet on memory and thinking skills. They found that being relatively good or very good at sticking to the NPDP was linked with lower decline in memory and thinking skills. They found similar results for MedDiet and MIND, but no link was found between DASH or BSD diets and memory and thinking skills.\n\nIn the third study being presented today, researchers looked at particular dietary components and whether they were linked with inflammatory molecules in 330 healthy older people, with an average age of 79. They found that higher levels of inflammatory molecules were associated with high intake of cholesterol, beta-carotene and lutein, and low intake of omega-3, calcium and vitamins B1, B2, B5, B6, D and E. This dietary pattern was also associated with reduced executive function speed \u2013 skills such as decision making, controlling behaviour and mental flexibility. No association was found between this diet pattern and memory, language and visuospatial skills.\n\nWhile these three studies looked at associations between diet and memory and thinking in healthy older people, the fourth study focussed on associations with dementia risk. The researchers used data from the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study, which has followed women in the US for up to 20-years, recording information about lifestyle factors such as diet. Looking back at data from 7,057 women, the researchers analysed dietary information and calculated diet scores of how closely participants eating habits matched the MIND diet. They also looked at how many of the women went on to develop dementia over a follow-up period of almost 10 years, finding that women with diets most similar to the MIND diet had a lower risk of dementia.\n\nDr David Reynolds, Chief Scientific Officer at Alzheimer's Research UK, said:\n\n\"Understanding how the way we lead our lives could affect our brain health is important, as there may be lifestyle factors that are within our power to change that help support healthy ageing. This observational research highlights the role of healthy eating habits in helping to protect our brains as we get older, with many focussing on Mediterranean-style diets. A Mediterranean-style diet is one low in meat and dairy but rich in fresh fruit and vegetables, cereals, beans, nuts and 'healthy' fats like olive oil. This research builds on growing evidence suggesting that following a Mediterranean style diet may hold valuable health benefits as we enter our later years.\n\n\"Observational studies like these can be useful for highlighting factors linked to healthy ageing, but this type of research can't definitively answer whether specific diets can prevent dementia. Current dementia risk reduction efforts are exploring ways to support people in mid-life to adopt healthier diets, as this could be an effective way of lowering the number of people who go on to develop dementia in later life. While we know there are positive lifestyle changes that can impact dementia risk, it's important to remember that dementia is caused by complex brain diseases influenced by age, lifestyle and genetics.\"", "output": "Four studies being presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference 2017 are highlighting the potential benefits of certain diets and how they can support healthy brain aging and help to reduce dementia risk.There is a body of evidence indicating that what is good for the heart is also good for the head, and these new large population-based studies add to this, each looking at different versions of diets and in different groups of people.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Rumours about Apple adding laser to iPhone\u00a0suggest move into\u00a0AR \n These days, the term \u201claser sensors\u201d brings to mind the lidar units many autonomous cars use to map the world in high resolution. But they needn\u2019t be quite so advanced. Last year, researchers at MIT showed that a $10 laser and some simple circuitry could add low-power range-finding capabilities to a regular smartphone, with an accuracy to within millimeters.\n\nIndeed, Fast Company\u2019s source believes that the laser, lens, detector, and electronics for the depth sensor could cost Apple as little as $2 per phone. Clearly, that means that it\u2019s not going to be mapping the world in the same level of detail as a driverless car. But it would be able to provide a means of measuring distances and mapping spaces. That\u2019s more than any single-camera iPhone can achieve, and laser range-finding could be more accurate than the stereo camera system of the iPhone 7 Plus. And unlike the 7 Plus\u2019s cameras, it would work in low light.\n\nIts addition to the iPhone would fit with the direction that Apple seems taking its flagship product. At its developer conference in June, the firm made good on its long-standing desire to build augmented-reality products with the launch of new developer tools to help people build AR software for its devices. Early examples of software suggest that, even using a single camera, the resulting apps are impressive. But a laser sensor could provide more accurate ranging information and, in turn, more realistic AR. It could open up other applications as well, such as 3-D mapping of spaces or more intelligent camera focusing.\n\nWhether a laser sensor appears on the next iPhone remains to be seen. But if it does, it will make a lot of sense.\n\n(Read more: Fast Company, \u201cApple Is Getting Real About Augmented Reality,\u201d \u201cSelf-Driving Cars\u2019 Spinning-Laser Problem\")", "output": "Rumours published by Fast Company and MacRumours that the next generation of iPhones may include a laser system for depth sensing are adding to speculation that Apple is planning a strategic move into augmented reality (AR).\u00a0At its June 2017 developer conference Apple released a batch of AR developer tools\u00a0to help people build AR software for Apple products. Adding a laser sensor to the iPhone would allow for much more accurate ranging information and depth perception, and\u00a0more realistic mapping of AR objects on to the real world.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Queensland sugar-waste biofuels project wins state funding \n iQ Industry Queensland Thank-you for your interest in iQ Industry Queensland. We invite you to purchase a registration throughto get the most out of the service.\n\nNorth Queensland Bio-Energy Corporation has hailed a State Government funding commitment as \u201ca breakthrough\u201d for its planned $640 million sugar-based renewable energy project at Ingham. NQBE chairman Robert Carey said the $1.17 million funding stemmed from the Queensland Government\u2019s Bio-futures Industry Development Fund. \u201cIt is the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle for the project in [\u2026]", "output": "A sugar-waste biofuels project has secured AUD1.17m ($928,000) in funding from the Queensland government. North Queensland Bio-Energy (NQBE) plans to use waste from sugar production to generate enough energy to power about 28,000 properties as part of the proposed AUD640m scheme. It will also produce 430,000 tonnes of raw sugar and up to 60 million litres of fuel-grade ethanol each year, creating more than 250 permanent jobs when operational."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Festy wearable gives festival-goers the chance to pay with Dash \n Combining two of the most hyped trends in fintech, wearables and cryptocurrencies, Irish startup Festy has unveiled a wristband that lets festival-goers make contactless payments in Dash.\n\nUser add the Dash currency to their QR code and NFC-integrated wristband and then use it to pay for food and drinks at POS terminals where Visa contactless is accepted as well as on phones with NFC tags.\n\n\n\nFesty is linked directly to a consumer\u2019s Dash account so transactions occur within seconds, while merchants have the ability to cash out their Dash for the equivalent fiat currency.\n\n\n\nDash claims to be the world\u2019s leading digital currency for payments and is currently the sixth most valued cryptocurrency at over $1.3 billion. Festy argues that the currency is ideal for festivals, where party-goers often have long waits in line to use ATMs that can charge several euros per withdrawal.\n\n\n\nGraham de Barra, CEO, Festy: \"Unlike existing traditional bank payments that take a 2-5% fee, there is no cost on receiving Dash for merchants. Merchants accepting payments will never have a chargeback, and there are potentially enormous savings to be made compared to the crippling fees from existing payment solutions.\"", "output": "A wristband unveiled by Irish start-up Festy allows festival-goers to pay using open-source cryptocurrency Dash. By adding Dash to their wearable, users will be able to pay for food and drink, saving time and money on ATMs. Merchants are charged nothing for receiving payments, and they can cash out their Dash for the equivalent fiat currency at any time.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "With Cancer Screening, Better Safe Than Sorry? \n Doctors and medical organizations often advise that past a certain age, older adults can forgo various screening tests for cancer. But many patients, no matter how old or sick they may be, are reluctant to abandon tests they\u2019ve long been told can be lifesaving.\n\nTo be sure, among my close circle of septuagenarian friends, none of us have stopped getting annual mammograms, even though I, having previously had breast cancer, am likely to be the only one among them for whom the potential benefit might conceivably outweigh the risks.\n\nI\u2019ve met people with no known risk for colorectal cancer who continue to get colonoscopies well past the age of established recommendations. Not to mention the countless men at low risk for prostate cancer who continue to get PSA tests, often at the suggestion of their doctors, when the best evidence says that for such men the test can result in more harm than good.\n\nFew may realize that ill-advised screening tests come at a price, and not just a monetary one that adds many billions to the nation\u2019s health care bill. Every screening test has a rate of false positive results \u2013 misleading indications of a possible cancer that requires additional, usually invasive, testing with its own rate of complications.", "output": "Doctors and medical organizations often advise that past a certain age, older adults can forgo various screening tests for cancer. But many patients, no matter how old or sick they may be, are reluctant to abandon tests they\u2019ve long been told can be lifesaving.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The art of the deal? Why a money-back guarantee for drugs is a bad idea \n The art of the deal? Why a money-back guarantee for drugs is a bad idea\n\nPresident Trump likes to boast that he mastered the \u201cart of the deal.\u201d\n\nBut one option his administration is considering to encourage lower drug prices, which surfaced in a recent draft executive order, may not be much of a deal for consumers.\n\nadvertisement\n\nThe concept has a clunky name \u2014 value-based pricing \u2014 but it\u2019s fairly simple. One increasingly popular version works like this: A drug maker refunds some money to an insurer if its medicine fails to improve patient health or prevent a costly incident, such as a heart attack.", "output": "President Trump likes to boast that he mastered the \u201cart of the deal.\u201d But one option his administration is considering to encourage lower drug prices, which surfaced in a recent draft\u00a0executive order, may not be much of a deal for consumers\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Improve health care by controlling drug prices \n Derickson K. Lawrence\n\nThe efforts of the current Congress to change access to health insurance hardly encourages hope for controlling drug costs. Any substantive changes to bring prescription drug prices under control has to come from the grassroots.\n\nThe sick, the elderly, the poor, the disabled, and the middle and working classes deserve better.\n\nThe U.S. represents the largest pharmaceutical market in the world, so why are we paying twice or three times as much as in other countries? There are no competitive market forces driving prices. We have to pursue change in two areas: consumer discretion and choice. And this is right time to do so because there appears to be broad-based support to lower drug prices. A Kaiser poll conducted in April shows that large percentages of Americans \u2014 including Democrats, Republicans and independents \u2014 support multiple actions to control drug prices.\n\nNEWS: NYS adds regulations to protect Obamacare\n\nMORE: 'Medicare-for-all' single-payer plans reignited by GOP's Obamacare rollback\n\nLOCAL: Affordable Care Act town hall in Mount Vernon\n\nIn March, a coalition of regional groups began working on solutions. Officials from the New York State Suburban Hospital Alliance (representing 51 hospitals in the Hudson Valley and on Long Island), the health-care network Northwell Health, the Westchester Homeowners\u2019 Coalition and other groups built consensus around certain priorities, and then consulted with the New York State Medical Society, state legislators, leaders of Westchester County and other stakeholders.\n\nWe settled on a two-pronged approach to promoting consumer discretion and choice when it comes to purchasing prescription drugs.\n\nThe first approach is to improve price transparency. A bill in the state Legislature (A8046, S6629), introduced last session by Assemblyman Gary Pretlow, D-Mount Vernon, and state Sen. George Latimer, D-Rye, would require pharmacies to provide consumers with the retail, pre-insurance price of a drug before the prescription is filled.\n\nIf drug prices are disclosed to a prospective purchaser, it would allow for both discretion and the convenience to shop around. This action is not a panacea. It does not address the internal price dynamics occurring among the drug manufacturers, pharmacy benefit managers and insurance companies. But it would put some control back in the hands of consumers, an important first step.\n\nThe second approach, which will have to be fleshed out in the fall, is to push for New York State to pilot its own single-payer prescription drug dispensary. A state-run dispensary would compete with existing pharmacies, providing consumers with real choice. Having such choice, along with price transparency, would be particularly important if Congress imposes a cap on Medicaid funding that states would receive for each person enrolled.\n\nWhile there is much debate about a single-payer health-care system, a single-payer dispensary for prescription drugs could receive widespread support. There is an opportunity here for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to lead on a key national issue by commissioning a bipartisan group to pursue a pilot program.\n\nState legislators are in recess in their districts for the next six months. We want to use that time to build support for these initiatives. One way to do that is by having towns, cities and counties across the state pass resolutions of support for price transparency legislation and a pilot drug dispensary. In the wake of Washington's inaction, New York State can lead the nation in moving to lower prescription drug prices, making a difference in the lives of 20 million New Yorkers.\n\nThe writer, a Mount Vernon resident and former congressional candidate in the 16th District, chairs the Westchester County Homeowners' Coalition.", "output": "The efforts of the current Congress to change access to health insurance hardly encourages hope for controlling drug costs.  Any\u00a0substantive changes\u00a0to bring prescription drug prices under control has to come from the grassroots.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Escaping Big Pharma\u2019s Pricing With Patent-Free Drugs \n How\u2019s this for a great deal? The United States government funded research and development of a new vaccine against Zika. But the Army, which paid a French pharmaceutical manufacturer for its development, is planning to grant exclusive rights to the vaccine to the manufacturer, Sanofi Pasteur, along with paying Sanofi up to $173 million.\n\nSanofi will be free to charge the United States American health care providers and patients any price it wishes. Although American tax dollars funded the vaccine, and the United States took the economic risks, history suggests that many Americans would not be able to afford it.\n\nThis is a negotiating strategy of unconditional surrender. Although President Trump said before taking office that drug companies were \u201cgetting away with murder\u201d and had campaigned on lowering drug prices, his administration is doing the opposite. A draft order on drug pricing that became public in June would grant pharmaceutical companies even more power to charge exorbitantly. For example, it could shrink a federal program that requires companies to sell at a discount to clinics and hospitals serving low-income patients.\n\nExorbitant prices are one thing that\u2019s very wrong with the way we make medicines. The other is: medicines for what? If a malady has no market in wealthy countries, it gets no attention. Poor-country diseases, known as \u201cneglected diseases,\u201d have a ferocious impact: One of every six people in the world, including a half-billion children, suffers from neglected diseases. Yet of the 756 new drugs approved between 2001 and 2011, less than 4 percent targeted those diseases. The industry spends far more on lobbying government agencies to extend monopolies on high-cost drugs \u2014 or hand out deals like the Zika vaccine \u2014 than it does on research for a vaccine against dengue fever, which poses a risk for 40 percent of the world\u2019s population.", "output": "How\u2019s this for a great deal? The United States government funded research and development of a new vaccine against Zika. But the Army, which paid a French pharmaceutical manufacturer for its development, is planning to grant exclusive rights\u00a0to the vaccine to the manufacturer, Sanofi Pasteur, along with paying Sanofi up to $173 million.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Medicare Boosts Incentives To Promote Weight Loss, Prevent Diabetes \n To prevent overweight Medicare recipients with prediabetes from progressing to full blown diabetes, federal officials have proposed a significant funding boost for health care providers and others that offers a new program aimed at helping people lose weight, a proven strategy to thwart the disease.\n\nParticipating providers \u2014 from hospital systems and physician groups to wellness centers, supermarket chains and even churches \u2014 could receive up to $785 for each participant who loses 5 percent of their body weight. It goes up to $810 for 9 percent weight loss. Participants also must participate in a comprehensive lifestyle curriculum.\n\nPreviously, the maximum payment Medicare had proposed was $450 for one year, with an optional $180 offered in a second year if participants completed 12 additional classes and maintained weight loss.\n\nIn San Diego County, 13 groups have applied to participate in the program. Among them are healthcare providers Scripps Health, Sharp Rees-Stealy and UC San Diego, along with Jenny Craig and several community clinics.\n\nThe revised Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program was outlined Thursday in a proposed rule to be published in the Federal Register this week. The program is designed to offer intense face-to-face sessions that teach diet, nutrition and exercise strategies.\n\nParticipants will attend classes at weekly intervals within the first months, tapering off to less frequent intervals during the three-year program. The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the agency known as CMS that is administering the program, has structured it so participants would have no co-pay or fee. The program would start on April 1.\n\nDr. Athena Philis-Tsimikas, vice president of the San Diego-based Scripps Diabetes Care and Prevention program in La Jolla, which plans to offer the program, praised the proposed rule because it raises rates and extends the program one year longer.\n\nThat will allow programs to \u201cmaintain staff to teach the classes and provide at-risk participants a long enough intervention to really drive on-going behavior change,\u201d Philis-Tsimikas said in an email. \u201cThe weight change of 5 percent that needs to be documented for reimbursement is reasonable.\u201d\n\nDiabetes costs Medicare $42 billion more than it costs for similar beneficiaries without diabetes, and the agency believes a program that can avoid some of that cost is worth trying, even if it doesn't work for some of those who enroll. Without intervention, studies show people with prediabetes will progress to diabetes at the rate of 5 percent to 10 percent annually within three years, and possibly longer.\n\nTo be eligible, Medicare enrollees must have a blood test showing evidence of impaired ability to process glucose, defined as having an HgA1c result of 5.7 percent to 6.4 percent or a fasting glucose of 110 to 125 mg/dL. Participants also must be enrolled in Medicare Part B and meet standards that define them as medically overweight.\n\nThe latest language for the program contains numerous provisions to protect beneficiaries from unscrupulous programs and lifestyle and nutrition coaches. It also has elements to protect Medicare from fraud that wastes taxpayer dollars.\n\nIn another proposed change, CMS would extend beneficiaries' participation to 36 months of face-to-face diet and exercise instruction curriculum; initially it was to be 24 months. The new rule offers two years of longer, ongoing maintenance sessions instead of one.\n\nThe payments are to be made incrementally to a range of companies that provide lifestyle instruction. Payment is tied to the number of courses beneficiaries attend and whether they can lose at least 5 percent of their body weight in the first year and maintain it in the next two. Weight loss is associated with a reduced risk of progression to diabetes.\n\nAn estimated 20 million people in the United States age 65 and older have prediabetes, or 50 percent. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is helping CMS roll out the program, nine out of 10 may not know it. Extrapolated to San Diego County, an estimated 200,000 Medicare beneficiaries may be eligible for the program.\n\nSuch a large-scale systematic effort to help people modify their diet to reduce carbohydrates and control their glucose levels may stimulate physicians across the country \u2014 especially those in healthcare systems that are running the program \u2014 to be more diligent about screening their patients for prediabetes.\n\nThe program is said to be a big help to clinicians who complain they don't have time now in their practices to counsel patients about the need to change their lifestyle, or how to do it with greatly modified intake of carbohydrates and sugar.\n\nUnder the latest proposed rule, continued participation in the program after the first 12 months is contingent on participants losing at least 5 percent of their body weight from baseline and keeping it off.\n\nTo date, some 1,450 companies nationally have applied to the CDC to be a recognized provider in the diabetes prevention program.\n\nCMS said those granted \"pending\" recognition will be allowed to submit claims if they meet several requirements, such as submission of performance data from similar diabetes prevention programs they have offered in the past.\n\nIf the rule proposed Thursday is made final in November, as expected, it would:\n\n\u2013Establish payments for providers depending on the number of one-hour courses participants attend (see table).\n\n\u2013Delay the program's start date from Jan. 1 to April 1 to give more time for organizations to prepare.\n\n\u2013Allow beneficiaries who develop diabetes during the months they are participating in the program to stay in the program.\n\n\u2013Refuse to allow the curriculum to be offered online without face to face interaction, except as a limited number for make-up classes.\n\n\u2013Permit organizations to offer \"in-kind beneficiary engagement incentives\" such as gym memberships, onsite child care or transportation, as long as they relate to the goals of the program, but not theater tickets or retail gift cards.\n\n\u2013Prohibit programs from offering free meals or meal replacement services in the curriculum because they do not help beneficiaries make their own decisions to better manage their own health.\n\n\u2013Allow programs to furnish participants with technological items for temporary use, such as a tablet loaded with fitness apps or a fitness tracking watch, as long as the total amount of the devices does not exceed $1,000 per beneficiary. Also, the organization must retrieve those items after the course is completed.\n\n\u2013Prohibit giving participants technology items for their permanent use if their value exceeds $100.\n\n\u2013Prohibit lifestyle companies from advertising incentive offerings. Companies must offer them after the beneficiary enrolls so as to prohibit selective bias in attracting participants who are more likely to succeed.\n\nThe proposed rule spells out an extensive number of fraud prevention and oversight activities intended to prevent Medicare from paying for services not provided, and to prevent lifestyle coaches from harming patients through such crimes as embezzlement or extortion. For example, it would:\n\n\u2013Require that organizations submit National Provider Identifier numbers, birth dates and Social Security numbers for their lifestyle coaches who teach the classes. Coaches would also have to undergo background checks.\n\n\u2013Prohibit coaches from program employment if they have had Medicare or Medicaid billing privileges revoked, been convicted of serious crimes including rape, murder, or assault, or financial crimes such as extortion, embezzlement, or income tax evasion, insurance fraud.\n\n\"We propose that CMS will screen each individual identified on the roster of coaches included with the supplier's enrollment application to verify that the individual coach does not meet any of these conditions,\" CMS said in its proposed rule. \"We have selected these types of felony convictions based on the risk we believe they could pose to the Medicare program and our beneficiaries.\"\n\n\u2013Require that ownership change, changes in coaches or adverse action history be reported to CMS.\n\n\u2013Require program applicants to pay a fee of $560 for program integrity efforts and to cover cost of screening.\n\nRequire program applicants to pay a fee of $560 for program integrity efforts and to cover cost of screening.", "output": "To prevent overweight Medicare recipients with prediabetes from progressing to full blown diabetes, federal officials have proposed a significant funding boost for health care providers and others that offers a new program aimed at helping people lose weight, a proven strategy to thwart the disease.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk [2]: TalkTalk targets premium Pay TV market with discounted Sky offers \n Tuesday, Jul 18th, 2017 (12:01 am) - Score 1,494\n\nInternet provider TalkTalk appears to be making a more aggressive move to grab a bigger share of the premium Pay TV market today by reducing the price of their broadband based triple-play TV bundles and cutting the price of the Sky Sports and Sky Cinema add-ons by 75% and 50% respectively.\n\nAll of the ISP\u2019s broadband bundles include unlimited usage, line rental, free connection and an included wireless router among various other features (e.g. Parental Controls and anti-virus protection). Customers also get the option of a 12, 18 or 24 month contract term at different prices.\n\nUnder the new offer customers who take one of TalkTalk\u2019s two entry-level Standard Pay TV broadband bundles will also receive a free YouView (IPTV) based TV Set-Top-Box (normally \u00a325) and can optionally can add heavily discounted Sky Sports (\u00a38.50 per month instead of the normal \u00a334) and / or Sky Cinema boosts (\u00a38 per month instead of the normal \u00a316).\n\nTV with Fast Broadband (up to 17Mbps) PRICE: \u00a319.95 per month for 12 months (\u00a327.00 thereafter) TV with Faster Fibre Broadband (up to 38Mbps) PRICE: \u00a326.50 per month for 18 months (\u00a333.50 thereafter)\n\nTake note that the offer of a free TV box doesn\u2019t apply to TalkTalk\u2019s more expensive premium Plus TV bundle as that includes a more sophisticated STB with video recording features (cost of \u00a325 applies). Apparently this promotion is also available to existing as well as new customers\u2019, at least that\u2019s what the ISP tells us.\n\nAt the time of writing the offer isn\u2019t yet live on TalkTalk\u2019s website and so we haven\u2019t had a chance to check if the details are exactly as described to us yesterday afternoon, although we will be checking later this morning. However fans of Sky\u2019s premium TV content will no doubt feel very enticed by such an offer, which must be costing the provider a fair bit to sell.\n\nUPDATE:\n\nThe offers are now showing on TalkTalk\u2019s website and so far as I can tell the above details appear to be correct.", "output": "Offers said to be showing on TalkTalk's website suggest the UK ISP is looking to gain a greater share of the premium Pay TV market by\u00a0reducing\u00a0the price of its broadband-based triple-play TV bundles and cutting the price of add-ons like Sky Sports and Sky Cinema by 75% and 50% respectively. The offers are expected to attract users of Sky\u2019s premium TV content, and it is speculated that it \"must be costing the provider a fair bit to sell\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lucid Motors concept blows Tesla away with 235 mph top speed \n The small and subtle California electric vehicle (EV) carmaker Lucid Air has hit 235 mph* with its Alpha Speed Car prototype on the 7.5-mile oval track while thumbing its nose at the so-called competition. (*235.44 mph, to be exact.)\n\nLucid Air Hits 235 MPH\n\nIn and of itself, Lucid Air hitting 235 mph is not that terribly exciting. Others have done and will continue to reach those speeds and above. Doing it in an EV is already newsworthy, but how about one designed and built in a few short years with a team of fewer than 300 people? Impossible, no? Maybe if we\u2019re talking about a Koenigsegg or other ultra-rare exotic supercars, but this is planned to be a $60,000 EV that aims to shake the EV world with conviction and passion. Passion is something the company certainly has, our last interview and Lucid Air test ride with its officers confirm.\n\nThe brief but thoroughly enjoyable test ride of the Lucid Air mule on the not-optimized Petersen Museum parking lot tarmac was an eye opener and an excitement I hadn\u2019t felt in many years. If this is what this new company can offer in such a short amount of time (that type of performance\u2013price sweet spot), then we can say EVs are starting to deliver on their potential. Lucid Air hitting 235 mph in a such a short amount of design and development time is simply impressive.\n\nAnd to think the Lucid Air hitting 235 mph wasn\u2019t impressive enough, the company believes there is still room for improvement!\n\nLucid Air Hits 235 MPH. So What?\n\nIf racing leaves you feeling blah and you just don\u2019t get it, remember that it does serve many purposes. Short of testing the obvious speed potential, it opens up the car\u2019s racing potentials and advertises it to the world. It is also a normal tried and true test platform, which so far hints at Mercedes-like comfort and performance, but as a truly green car.\n\nSpeed tests are part of every car\u2019s development cycle and the Lucid Air is no exception. What it does surprise with are impressive performance results that leave an untapped future in front of the company.\n\nWhat Lucid is really pointing itself toward is exactly that market segment Tesla is so elegantly dominating, the luxury car segment. Right in the Tesla Model S range, Lucid has a platform it says it can sell at an entry-level $60,000 up to most likely mid-$100K for a fully loaded car. (The Tesla Model S currently starts at $69,500, but we\u2019ll have to wait to find up if Tesla drops or raises the price by the time the Lucid Air comes out, and how much it improves.)\n\nWith its Alpha Speed Car prototype reaching 235 mph at the Transportation Research Center test track in Ohio, Lucid is now squarely into LaFerrari performance territory but in an \u201caffordable way\u201d with an entry-level version based on the same platform. Essentially, you have the potential to own unprecedented performance for a consumer electric car that hopefully can be unlocked at the flip of a keyboard. It\u2019s simply brilliant.\n\nLucid & Lucid Air Consumer Matters\n\nUnlike another EV startup that is finally redefining and streamlining itself again, Lucid offers concrete results and points to deliverables soon. And compared to the overpowering German automotive PR machine, it is achieving broad and important press at a fraction of the marketing budget.\n\nSo far, Lucid promises a 1,000 HP EV with a range of 400 miles, which would be roughly the equivalent of 100 MPGe. A 315-mile version will also be available, and reportedly a rear-wheel-drive base model sporting a 240-mile range and a healthy 400 hp to boot (to remind traffic what the future looks like and who holds the torch).\n\nCurrently, Lucid is taking deposits of $2,500 for its Air, which is due for production soon. However, keep your eyes on the special 255 \u201cLaunch Edition\u201d model series that a few lucky and discerning aficionados will get their hands on. That special edition will have the 315-mile battery range option kicking out 1,000 hp, which promises to be a lot of fun anywhere, anytime.\n\nOf course, building cars means having a place to build them. Lucid\u2019s initial factory is in Casa Grande, Arizona, as chosen and announced last year. Lucid is currently raising $700 million for the plant. If it wants to meet its 2019 production deadline, it will need to continue the breakneck pace it has undergone the past 4 years. If the company aims to build 10,000 cars the first year, ramping to 50,000 after that won\u2019t be any small task.\n\nDoes The Lucid Air Have Serious Competition?\n\nDepending on your definition of competition, I\u2019d say that so far no other players have wrapped up an EV in such an impressive way as Lucid has. The impressively short amount of time it took the team to develop the Air and its unmatched performance is yet another way of showing how EVs liberate engineers from internal combustion engine constraints, but the important points is that the engineering team had the aim of maxing out an EV\u2019s potential at a reasonable cost.\n\nAlthough we\u2019ve traditionally included Faraday Future as competition, the company is now restructuring itself and has dropped its Nevada plant plans. We\u2019ll have to see what it offers the market, if it ever gets to market with a product, but nothing seems to be coming anytime soon.\n\nIn the meantime, the only other competition on the horizon would be Nio. However, the company hasn\u2019t (yet) delivered anything like what Lucid has shown.\n\nThere is, of course, poster child Tesla, which leads the news when it comes to leaving traditional automakers behind in the fast-blooming electric-car world. But how much cross-shopping there will be between upstart Lucid\u2019s offerings and the now quite abundant Model S is something that\u2019s hard to judge at this point.\n\nSo far, Germany seems very keen on using the full might of its teutonic marketing arms. Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche are predicting and talking about their future production models, theoretically available over the next few years. So far, there\u2019s much more enthusiasm and hype than deliveries, but that could change if they really do have hard work going on behind the scenes.\n\nJaguar has also joined the race and Aston Martin is readying itself for an EV surprise.\n\nLucid needs more than top-speed records to sway customers away from more established EV makers, but news of the Lucid Air hitting 235 mph can only help cement Lucid as a top Tesla alternative, a sort of Maserati to Ferraris in the world of EVs, but much more affordable.\n\nSign up for Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era \u2014 Podcast: I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014 gasp \u2014 grow. So ... Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014\u2014 grow. So ...", "output": "California-based electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Lucid Air's latest prototype, the Alpha Speed Car, could become Tesla's biggest rival, after the small firm designed, built and drove the EV at 235mph in a few short years. While still in the process of raising the $700m it needs to construct its plant at Casa Grande in Arizona, Lucid Air plans to take on Elon Musk's Model S range, with EVs priced between $60,000 and mid-$100K, producing 10,000 during its first year, before ramping up to 50,000 EVs annually.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HTC reports bug on keyboard update which displays banner ads \n HTC has confirmed that ads automatically being presented within the keyboard app on certain smartphones is indeed an error.\n\nAs spotted over the weekend by Reddit user Azirack on his HTC 10, banner ads were automatically appearing within an updated TouchPal keyboard on phones like the HTC 10. HTC\u2019s newest phones are sold with TouchPal preinstalled and the free version of TouchPal for other devices typically shows ads, but a statement recently issued from HTC says this was not supposed to happen on the company\u2019s proprietary devices. TouchPal developers also responded to several comments on the Google Play Store that complained about the automatic ads, saying, \u201cFor the ads issue, it is fixed from the server side.\u201d\n\nHTC has since delivered the following statement to Engadget:\n\n\"Due to an error, some HTC customers have reported seeing ads on their phone's keyboard. This is absolutely not the experience we intended, and we're working to immediately fix the error and remove the ads as quickly as possible.\"\n\nThis is certainly not the first alternative way smartphones have delivered ads: Amazon recently brought the Nokia 6 to the US, which has a few price points, including a subsidized version that allows lock screen ads and offers. There is, however, a big difference between opting in and being served random ads within basic functionalities on your device without warning or agreement.", "output": "Mobile manufacturer HTC has reported a bug that automatically displays banner adverts within the keyboard app on a number of its smartphones. The advertisements appear on the TouchPal keyboard app, which many of the company's devices are sold with pre-installed. \"This is absolutely not the experience we intended, and we're working to immediately fix the error and remove the ads as quickly as possible\", said HTC.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook provides 'clean rooms' for data\u00a0insight \n Ask Facebook for access to its data and the official answer is going to be, \u201cNope.\u201d\n\nBut under certain circumstances, a limited number of advertisers and agencies are tapping into impression-level Facebook campaign delivery data, AdExchanger has learned.\n\nThe data-sharing arrangements are euphemistically referred to as \u201cclean rooms.\u201d These clean rooms are safe spaces where insights derived from Facebook data can be coupled with an advertiser\u2019s first-party data for attribution, measurement and modeling purposes.\n\n\u201cWe and a partner combine a data set with very specific rules and controls around how each party can operate within the shared environment,\u201d said Scott Shapiro, a product marketing director for measurement at Facebook, who noted that Facebook didn\u2019t invent the clean-room concept.\n\nThe term \u201cclean room\u201d is most commonly used by the manufacturing industry in reference to secure environments for scientific research, semiconductor device fabrication or the production of pharma products. The word has also been co-opted to describe dust-free data recovery labs.\n\nThis is how it works in the advertising context: A marketer or agency loads a virgin computer or device \u2013 one that\u2019s never been connected to the internet before \u2013 with its first-party data, like an email list, for example. A second clean machine on the Facebook side is loaded with impression-level and non-PII campaign data.\n\nThe machines can\u2019t ever have touched the internet so that there\u2019s no possibility of outside interference or interception of the data.\n\nThe proprietary data coming from Facebook is then combined with the advertiser\u2019s first-party data, matches are made and the data is analyzed to extract aggregated insights that one or the other couldn\u2019t gather on its own.\n\nThe phrase \u201cclean rooms\u201d conjures up a vision of government scientists in biohazard suits working silently in a lab with stark white walls. The actual process is a little more prosaic, but does usually involves both parties in the same physical room at the same time to share their data and run their analyses.\n\nAlthough Facebook\u2019s data never leaves the Facebook environment, the advertiser can pull campaign-level user insights which could be used to inform future campaigns.\n\nSay an advertiser creates an audience based on first-party data, like a list of email addresses attached to specific consumers. The advertiser could push that list into Facebook, match it, grab a copy and use the combined data set as the basis for an attribution model.\n\nIt can also work the other way. Some advertisers develop their own in-house attribution model, but there isn\u2019t a way to transfer that model securely into Facebook\u2019s system. The clean room environment would allow that advertiser to apply its proprietary attribution model against Facebook\u2019s campaign data set.\n\nFacebook, of course, has to be circumspect in how it accommodates these buy-side requests. Aggregated user data tied to campaigns can be combined with an advertiser\u2019s proprietary attribution model, but it can\u2019t ever leave the Facebook system.\n\nIt\u2019s also not in Facebook\u2019s best interest to give too much data to advertisers, or to other parties, for that matter. Facebook\u2019s power lies in its scale and access to identity data. But if Facebook turned over too much of its data, buyers may eventually become less reliant on it.\n\nIt\u2019s not clear how many advertisers or agencies have taken advantage of a clean room setup with Facebook. AdExchanger spoke with execs at two large media agencies who are aware of the prospect.\n\nClean rooms are not yet a scalable solution on the level of Custom Audiences. The physical movement of data between devices in an undisclosed location by sophisticated data scientists is not the sort of thing one can easily productize, and Facebook has no plans to do so.\n\nWhat the clean rooms do represent, however, is Facebook\u2019s willingness, after certain pressure is applied, to accede to the demands of the buy side. Marketers have been complaining for years about the lack of insights they can get out of Facebook and the other walled gardens.\n\nBut to get the grease, agencies and advertisers need to make themselves into squeaky wheels.\n\n\u201cAttribution is all a series of hacks,\u201d a senior-level agency executive told AdExchanger. \u201cIf you find a creative way to ask, \u2018Can we put someone on your premises to work on your data in a way the data never leaves?\u2019 there are things you can do.\u201d", "output": "Some advertisers and agencies are gaining access to Facebook's delivery data through what are known as clean rooms, spaces containing two computers which have never been connected to the internet. Clean rooms allow data insights to be viewed in addition to an advertiser's first-party data for attribution, modelling and measurement. Facebook's data will never leave the Facebook ecosystem, so clean rooms give advertisers otherwise inaccessible insights that can be used to tweak their next campaigns. The use of clean rooms suggest a willingness on Facebook's part\u00a0to make modifications and allow advertisers\u00a0greater access to customer data.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "One-third of global population will use social media in 2017 \n Executive Summary\n\nTwo opposing developments sum up the state of social network usage in 2022: slowing global growth after unexpected pandemic gains and the rise of TikTok as a major force in social media. The intersection of these trends means that future growth for the main social platforms will come not from wooing first-time users but, increasingly, from stealing each other\u2019s.\n\n3 KEY QUESTIONS THIS REPORT WILL ANSWER:\n\nWhat factors are driving a slowdown in global social network user growth in 2022?\n\nHow many users will TikTok have worldwide, and how much of a threat will it be to the rest of the Big Five: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter?\n\nHow should marketers and their agency partners adapt their social media strategies to take advantage of shifting usage patterns?\n\nWHAT\u2019S IN THIS REPORT? This report presents our latest forecasts for global social network users through 2025 and identifies the top usage trends for Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and Twitter.", "output": "One-third of the global population, or 2.46 billion people, will access the internet at least once a month this year, a rise of 8.2% compared with 2016, according to a report by eMarketer. It cited increased adoption of mobile phones and broader mobile coverage as the driving forces behind the figures, and revealed 81.8% of social network users will log on via a mobile in 2017, a number set to rise to 86.7% by 2021. EMarketer said it had \"significantly raised its estimates\" for China regarding the number of its social media users and also predicted an increase in India.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Longer range battery keeps Renault Zoe atop European EV charts \n Ask a North American driver to name companies that make electric cars, and you'll probably hear Tesla, maybe Nissan, and perhaps Chevy or BMW or Toyota.\n\nChinese drivers may be more likely to say BYD (and perhaps Tesla), but Europeans will likely name Renault. (And Tesla.)\n\nThe Renault Zoe, now in its fifth year but entirely unknown to U.S. and Canadian buyers, continues to be the best-selling battery-electric car in Europe.\n\nDON'T MISS: Long-range Renault Zoe electric car reviewed in U.K.: Forbidden Fruit\n\nIts maker is part of the longstanding Renault Nissan Alliance, which recently added Mitsubishi to become the fourth largest automaker in the world collectively.\n\nThe French maker just released its first-half global sales figures, and the Zoe continues to dominate the sales charts within Europe.\n\nIn Europe, as Renault notes, overall the carmaker had 26.8 percent of the market for battery-electric and plug-in hybrid cars.\n\nLonger-range Renault Zoe electric car, introduced at 2016 Paris Motor Show\n\nIts first-half sales volumes grew 34 percent, and registrations of the subcompact hatchback Zoe rose 44 percent.\n\nThat meant the Zoe remains Europe's top-selling electric vehicle.\n\nREAD THIS: Renault Zoe electric-car owners can double their range by upgrading leased batteries\n\nOne factor that may keep the Zoe, which went on sale in late 2012, at the top of the charts is this year's substantial upgrade in battery capacity.\n\nLaunched in 2012 with a 22-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery and an effective range of 60 to 90 miles, it now offers a 41-kwh pack that gives a range of 300 to 400 kilometers (185 to 250 miles) on the European test cycle.\n\nRenault Zoe e-Sport Concept being revealed at 2017 Geneva auto show [photo: Olivier Martin-Gambier]\n\nEven if you were to downgrade that to a likely EPA rating of perhaps 150 miles, that's still a major upgrade that radically increases the usability of the car.\n\nAnd those owners who leased their batteries rather than buying them outright can swap in their old 22-kwh battery for a brand-new 41-kwh one, gaining a far longer range in their existing car.\n\nCHECK OUT: 2017 Renault Zoe electric car: larger battery doubles range\n\nIn its home market of France, meanwhile, the Zoe leads even more decisively. It represents almost 70 percent of all plug-in electric passenger cars sold in the country.\n\nThe 9,200 Zoes registered from January through June were more than 40 percent higher than the same period in 2016. New-vehicle sales in France totaled 2.48 million in 2016.\n\n_______________________________________\n\nFollow GreenCarReports on Facebook and Twitter.", "output": "The Renault Zoe remains at the top of European electric vehicle (EV) sales charts after selling 10,682 units in May this year, up from 7,704 in the same month in 2016, according to the European Alternative Fuels Observatory. A substantial upgrade to battery capacity has given it an effective range of 185 miles to 250 miles, up from 60 miles to 90 miles when it first launched in 2012.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Advertisers turned off by Snap's premium content ad prices \n In March, Digiday reported Snap was talking up a \u201cSnapchat Shows Initiative\u201d to agencies, an effort to bring more exclusive, TV-style programming to Discover. It\u2019s gotten a warm welcome from video production partners like A+E Networks, NBCUniversal and Elisabeth Murdoch\u2019s Vertical Networks. For buyers, it\u2019s still a wait-and-see game.\n\nSnap is pitching shows with a mid-roll slot that are sold on the basis of \u201cshare of voice\u201d \u2014 that is, weighted based on the other advertisers on the show \u2014 just like its Live Story ads are. Similar to Twitter, said buyers, the pitch lets brands work with premium content at a \u201cpremium price.\u201d\n\nPricing is handled through the production partner. Prices are high: One buyer was quoted upward of $300,000 for a slot, but the price dropped to $100,000 when there were no takers. That\u2019s a common tactic for the company, which usually prices \u201chot\u201d new things highly (remember in 2015 when it asked brands for $750,000 a day for its disappearing ads?) before dropping prices.\n\n\u201cWe haven\u2019t used them yet, but at their initial asking price, it\u2019s not the best use of advertiser dollars unless there is room for a logical integration into the show itself,\u201d said one agency buyer. \u201cThis has been offered at certain spend levels. If there is room to negotiate, the buy becomes a bit more interesting but still limited for clients looking to drive branding.\u201d\n\nBuyers said Snap also has some of the highest CPMs in the industry \u2014 about $22 for premium CPMs, those most suited to ads \u2014 inside the Discover section.\n\n\u201cClients are always interested when it comes to Snapchat. Part of that is because it remains the sexy thing,\u201d said Jeff MacGurn, svp of the performance marketing group at Mirum. \u201cBut when I hear about Snapchat and long-form video content, I have to ask, \u2018Is that really how viewers interact with your platform?\u2019\u201d\n\nMacGurn said his agency did a study on how content gets popular on social media platforms. About 20 percent of video content goes \u201cviral\u201d or gets a large number of viewers, he found. And even with other platforms like Facebook, it\u2019s no-sound autoplay that gets traction \u2014 a far cry from the shows Snapchat is creating.\n\nMike Dossett, associate director of digital strategy at RPA, said Snap is making a big bet, but \u201cgiven the relative nascence of the offering, we like the idea of approaching this as a test, versus committing to a significant annual upfront buy.\u201d \u201cWe see a lot of value in Snap partnering with established, credible media companies for some of their new programming. They can help draft off the credibility and cross-promotional visibility of these media partners,\u201d he added.\n\nSnap\u2019s \u201cThe Rundown\u201d on E! averages 7 million viewers per episode, according to Snapchat, while Vertical Networks\u2019 \u201cPhone Swap\u201d got 11 million viewers per episode in its first season. \u201cIt\u2019s a very difficult, because as a buyer I have ask myself, \u2018Is Snapchat the right place to watch video content?\u2019\u201d said MacGurn. \u201cRight now, it might be, but it might not even be the best use of my advertiser\u2019s money since I can go to other platforms and hypertarget audiences at a much better level.\u201d\n\nBuck Wise, vp of strategic partnerships at WPP-owned Swift, whose client Starbucks was one of the first brands on Snapchat, said sponsorship is of less interest because it feels like more of a awareness media tactic than strategic creative opportunity. Over lunch with some of Snap\u2019s consumer goods team last year, one executive told Wise that Snap was \u201cgoing to get into the vertical TV content space.\u201d\n\n\u201cI was excited when Snap told me and became curious if we could create our own branded-content shows,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it\u2019s obviously working with networks only at this time, so a straight sponsorship is more placement or brand affinity focused and less interesting for content creators.\u201d\n\nSnap\u2019s Shows are an important move for the company, which has seen declining performance and encroaching competition from Instagram Stories. The platform has incentivized media buyers with discount coupons and media credits for the second quarter of 2017 in an effort to sweeten the deal for those still worried about the platform\u2019s performance. Last week, Morgan Stanley downgraded Snap stock to overweight, with analyst Brian Nowak saying in a note that the ad product is \u201cnot evolving/improving as quickly as we expected, and Instagram competition is increasing.\u201d\n\n\u201cSelling against Snap Shows is one of the ways that Snapchat can become a strong player in the space again,\u201d said a digital media buyer. \u201cShows are something sticky that keeps people in platform, ensuring that they have a key differentiator against Instagram, Facebook or Messenger. To further their appeal to advertisers, they need to diversify their ad products, increase tracking and strengthen the number of content partners they have.\u201d\n\nWise said Snap has an opportunity here: \u201cBrands make the mistake of seeing it as TV versus digital. It\u2019s not that black and white. Young people do want to watch things on mobile.\u201d The difficult thing for agencies is that Snap ads \u2014 whether on shows or elsewhere \u2014 need to be shot vertically.\n\nA large part of the problem isn\u2019t necessarily that Snap\u2019s shows aren\u2019t catching on, but an overall immaturity in the marketing. \u201cThe budget is just not comparable for content on platforms,\u201d said one top buyer. \u201cRight now, there is no business model yet for ad-back long-form video content on platforms. But that may change. Long term, it\u2019s all up for grabs for everyone, including Snapchat or Facebook.\u201d", "output": "The premium prices of ad slots on Snapchat's Shows have been a turn-off for advertisers, which balked at quotes of between $100,000 and $300,000. While some insiders insist ad-backed, long-form video content is still in its infancy and should not be dismissed, others have said vertical video remains a stumbling block, and questioned whether Snapchat is the right place to view video content. Morgan Stanley recently downgraded Snap stock to \"overweight\", citing increased competition from Instagram and said\u00a0Snapchat was \"not evolving/improving as quickly as expected\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Burberry's Chinese WeChat strategy returns 4% rise in Q2 sales \n In a bid to reinvigorate sales in the massive Chinese market, British luxury fashion brand Burberry has, this year, ramped up advertising on China\u2019s popular social media app WeChat.It\u2019s a strategy that\u2019s paid off for the brand, which saw a 4% rise in overall sales in the second quarter. That\u2019s more than expected, thanks largely to a resurgence in China, where sales had slowed in recent years.It also saw revenues from the Chinese market more than double compared to the same period in the previous year. At the same time, it tripled its reach via Chinese social media platform WeChat thanks to a campaign for its DK88 handbag.For one campaign, the brand co-created a video series with Vogue Film that featured A-list stars\u2014model Liu Wen, singer Kris Wu, and actress Fan Bing Bing\u2014carrying the DK88 bag.Burberry has prided itself on combining digital marketing with sales, such as by allowing shoppers to immediately buy online what they see on the catwalk during a fashion show.It said growth over the period had been driven both by fashion and innovation. But it said that footfall in its mainline stores had been challenging: instead, growth came from returning top customers. In the year ahead, it expects to focus on improving productivity in its current stores.The new chief executive Marco Gobbetti said: \u201c\u201dI am delighted to have started as Burberry CEO. We are pleased with our performance in the first quarter, while mindful of the work still to do. This is a time of great change for Burberry and the wider luxury industry. I look forward to building on the foundations Christopher and the team have put in place and creating new energy to drive growth.\u201d", "output": "Luxury British fashion brand Burberry has notched up a 4% rise in overall sales in China during Q2, after an advertising campaign on WeChat. Burberry also saw revenues more than double, compared with the same period in 2016, while it\u00a0trebled its reach following a campaign for a DK88 handbag featuring model Liu Wen, singer Kris Wu\u00a0and actress Fan Bing Bing. The company said, while footfall had been \"challenging\", current growth was down to returning top customers. CEO Marco Gobbetti said the firm would focus on improving productivity in its current stores.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snap Publisher tool reformats ads into\u00a0vertical format \n One of the knocks against advertising on Snapchat is that it\u2019s hard to make ads for Snapchat. The mobile app\u2019s insistence on vertical video compels advertisers to create campaigns from scratch rather than reusing ads that ran elsewhere. Now Snapchat is addressing that obstacle.\n\nOn Monday, Snapchat officially rolled out a browser-based ad creation tool, Snap Publisher, that anyone with access to its self-serve ad-buying tool, Snap Ad Manager, can use to create Snapchat\u2019s vertical video Snap Ads, whether or not they have any vertical videos to use.\n\nSnap Publisher enables advertisers to automatically turn any photo or video, including the horizontal kind, into a vertical video ad. To make things easier, it also has an option for brands to pull photos and videos from their websites. According to Snapchat\u2019s support page for Snap Publisher, advertisers \u201cmay only import from sites in which you have the legal right to obtain media from,\u201d but it\u2019s unclear how Snapchat will enforce that rule. For example, I was able to use Snap Publisher on Monday to pull Snapchat\u2019s \u201cGhostface Chillah\u201d logo from its own website without any problem. Snapchat\u2019s ad approval team probably would have recognized their company\u2019s logo and rejected my ad, but what about the photos I was able to pull from the home page of Getty Images without any kind of license? According to a Snap spokesperson, companies flag advertisers\u2019 illegal use of assets through its Business Help Center.\n\nIf an advertiser doesn\u2019t have any existing videos or photos \u2014 or at least not any that might appeal to Snapchat\u2019s \u201ccool kid\u201d audience \u2014 brands can use one of 13 templates provided by Snapchat that come complete with generic photos and videos of young people doing young-people things like blowing bubbles, looking at their phone, taking selfies and walking down stairs.\n\nSnap Publisher\u2019s most important feature appears to be its automatic cropping tool. This is how Snapchat can address one of the biggest obstacles to advertising on its app. For years, advertisers have wrestled with adopting Snapchat\u2019s vertical video format. Before Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube added support for vertical video to provide more scale for the format, brands either had to produce all-new videos exclusively for Snapchat or spend time cropping and editing vertical versions of their existing horizontal videos in a way that doesn\u2019t make viewers feel like they\u2019re watching a regular video with the sides cut off. Now Snapchat will do that cropping and editing for them.\n\nBrands can choose to have Snapchat\u2019s computer-vision technology figure out how best to convert a horizontal video into a vertical one. This technology can be used to isolate short scenes from a long video so that the ad can be kept within Snapchat\u2019s required three- to 10-second range. More importantly it can be used to detect focal points in those scenes in order to automatically pan the video to keep those points within view and to keep the viewer from feeling like they\u2019re missing something.\n\nAt least that\u2019s the theory. In practice Snapchat\u2019s technology is a little rough. I used Snap Publisher\u2019s automatic cropping feature on a video of people walking in a parade. The technology tried very hard to keep people in view as they passed by and to pan back to people who were closer to my camera as they came into view, but its automated panning was jittery and created a glitchy effect.\n\nIf advertisers don\u2019t like Snapchat\u2019s automated edits, they can choose to adjust them or to delete them and make their own. This is Snap Publisher\u2019s second-most important feature: an ability to set times for the ad to pan from one part of the frame to another or to zoom in/out. For example, while I didn\u2019t like Snapchat\u2019s automated edits of my parade video, I could add my own so-called \u201ckeyframes\u201d that set what part of the video is in view, when and for how long.\n\nTo add a keyframe, I select a point in the video and adjust what part of the frame is in view, such as by moving Snap Publisher\u2019s viewfinder to someone on the left side of the frame holding a sign or zooming in on the face of a person in the middle of the frame. I can also create paired keyframes to add a Ken Burns effect to my video, smoothly panning from the first selected frame to the second. In addition to changing what\u2019s in view, I can also adjust how things come into view, such as whether they fade in or out and how the animated effect is timed, such as slowly, linearly or staggered.\n\nIn addition to giving advertisers some control over how their horizontal videos can be edited into vertical ones, the keyframes also make it easier for advertisers to use photos for their ads without feeling like the static images might stick out in a bad way on Snapchat\u2019s kinetic app. For example, brands could pan across different parts of a photo or from one photo to another to create a slide-out effect. Or brands could plug their photos into one of Snap Publisher\u2019s photo-friendly templates.\n\n[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVvEjzTKT3U[/youtube]\n\nSnap Publisher features 13 templates designed to make creating a Snap Ad as plug-and-play as possible. The templates feature placeholders for photos, videos, logos and text that advertisers can customize to their liking, swapping in their own assets and changing sizes, locations, fonts and colors. The templates vary in features, from photo slideshows to videos that slide into call-to-action messages to ads that pan around or zoom in on a photo. Snapchat sorts these templates by potential objectives like raising people\u2019s awareness of a brand or getting them to swipe up on the ad to visit the brand\u2019s site.", "output": "Snapchat has released Snap Publisher, a tool enabling brands to convert horizontal video or images to the vertical format the site demands. Available to anyone with access to Snap Ad Manager, Snap Publisher comes with a cropping tool, which automatically reformats video to the vertical, as well as a feature that allows users to pan from one frame to another and zoom in and out. Brands can also use ad templates provided by Snap Publisher\u00a0and pull in media from other sites. Snapchat hopes the release will make it a more attractive proposition to advertisers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The unforeseen risks of a cashless society \n There are certain parts of the Chinese internet that have to be seen to be believed. Coming from outside the country, it\u2019s hard to comprehend that Facebook or Google can be completely blocked until you are forced to do without them. It\u2019s tough to fathom how critical the messenger app WeChat is for everyday life until the sixth person of the day asks to scan your QR code \u2014 a sort of bar code \u2014 to connect the two of you.\n\nWhat\u2019s happening with cash in China is similar. For the past three years, I have been outside mainland China covering Asian technology from Hong Kong, which has a very different internet culture from the mainland. I knew that smartphone payments were taking over in China, as the statistics were stark: In 2016, China\u2019s mobile payments hit $5.5 trillion, roughly 50 times the size of America\u2019s $112 billion market, according to consulting firm iResearch.\n\nEven so, the attendant cultural shift was graspable only in person. I recently moved to Shanghai and felt the change with cash acutely because my first few weeks in the metropolis of more than 20 million were spent cut out of the system. Because of an issue with my bank, I couldn\u2019t immediately link my account to WeChat, which has become a virtual wallet for so many.\n\nThat meant I had to navigate China the way I would have three years ago: with a stack of red 100-renminbi notes.", "output": "Many economists see great prospects in a cashless society including lower transaction costs, new tools to manage economic growth and an end to tax evasion and money laundering. Indeed, a cashless society is fast becoming a potential reality in urban China where there has\u00a0been a startling transition within three years of residents using\u00a0smartphones to pay for just about everything. However,\u00a0there are critics who say there are unforeseen risks including an end to privacy, frightening new powers for tyrants and costs that will disproportionately hit the poor.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snap explores acquisition of ad tech company AdRoll \n Snapchat is reportedly seeking to acquire ad tech and martech companies in a bid to make itself more appealing to marketers, which has led to it having talks with San Francisco-based company AdRoll.\n\nThe photo messaging app is hoping to grow its ad business and settle investor concerns with the acquisition of a company within the sector.\n\n\u201cThey're looking for some business, or a set of businesses, that can help them demonstrate the efficacy of their ads,\u201d a person familiar with the matter told Business Insider.\n\nSnap Inc, the parent company of Snapchat, has struggled to convince advertisers that its ads can deliver like those on Facebook and Google and has seen its stock sink below its $17 initial public offering due to a combination of these concerns, its slow growth and competition from Facebook\u2019s Instagram. Further compounding Snapchat\u2019s struggles is the revelation from Digiday that many publishers are deciding to shift from Snapchat to Instagram.\n\nThe potential acquisition, which has been likened to Google buying DoubleClick in 2007, of AdRoll would go a long way to easing some of Snap\u2019s troubles. The purchase would give Snap stronger ad targeting and campaign management, as well as eCommerce expertise. Furthermore, it will add to the acquisition of location-based analytics and ad measurement platform Placed, which Snap picked up last month.", "output": "Snapchat is rumoured to be in acquisition talks with San Francisco-based firm AdRoll, as the social media site looks to shore up its sinking share price. Snapchat, which recently purchased location-based analytics and ad measurement platform Placed, is keen to invest in a business or set of businesses that can \"help demonstrate the efficacy of their ads\", according to anonymous insiders. Digiday recently revealed publishers are switching their business to Instagram because of\u00a0concerns that Snapchat's ad delivery was lagging behind rivals.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Coursera partners with AXA for workplace learning \n BENGALURU: Online learning platform Coursera has entered into a global partnership with insurance company AXA to develop learning paths, curate relevant content and map out future competencies for its employees. For this, AXA will adopt Coursera's enterprise platform \u00ad\u00ad Coursera for Business The partnership comes after a three-month pilot, during which more than 1,000 AXA employees registered as learners, with 50% of them receiving certifications. The partnership will provide all AXA employees in 64 countries with ondemand access to more than 300 courses on a variety of topics such as data science, digital marketing, and leadership. Upon completion, AXA employees will receive sharable electronic course certificates, which highlight the new skills. AXA will also consider creating customi sed content on the Coursera platform.\"Coursera complements our existing offer, which is already quite rich. Coursera has a specific take to it \u00ad\u00ad it has top-notch university content. The scale is huge because we are opening this to all our employees, starting from the end of September. The pilot was led in an agile way and lasted for three months,\" said St\u00e9phanie Ricci, group head of lear ning, AXA Group, GIE AXA Paris.Coursera for Business offers indepth content from top universities, certifications, a mobile platform, and centralised programme management and progress tracking tools. Within a year of launch, Coursera for Business has been adopted by more than 90 large enterprise and government customers, including brands like L'Oreal, PayPal, Danone, JP Morgan Chase and Air France-KLM.\"Companies are realising that technology and data are transforming their businesses. They are trying to help their employees keep up with some of the most advanced practices on how they do their jobs.In information intensive industries, data is changing the way business gets done,\" said Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO of Coursera.The company is backed by venture capital firms such as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, New Enterprise Associates, GSV Capital, International Finance Corporation, Laureate Education and Learn Capital.", "output": "Online educational platform Coursera is partnering with insurance company AXA to offer all its employees, across 64 countries, on-demand access to more than 300 courses via Coursera's enterprise platform\u00ad\u00ad Coursera for Business. The move followed a successful three-month pilot scheme and will enable AXA employees to study toward course certificates in subjects such as leadership, digital marketing and data science. AXA is the latest firm to adopt Coursera for Business, following JP Morgan Chase, PayPal, Danone, Air France-KLM and L'Or\u00e9al."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow [2]: Plans to save pub that closed due to Redrow-linked 'development blight' \n Addiscombe councillors have organised a meeting for next Monday to discuss how locals can save their local: The Glamorgan pub on Cherry Orchard Road.\n\nResidents and councillors want to consider getting the building declared as an Asset of Community Value and purchasing it for use as a community pub in a similar manner to the highly successful The Hope in Carshalton. Residents in South Norwood were recently successful in saving The Ship from redevelopment by achieving ACV status for that building.\n\nThe Glamorgan, which had been run as a real ale and food outlet in recent years, closed last November. The former owners had endured six years of development blight in the immediate area, waiting for Redrow Menta to go ahead with their schemes for flats along the same stretch of road, all the while being surrounded by undeveloped building sites.\n\nThe building is now empty and boarded up, and its new owners want to bulldoze the site, but they have yet to seek planning permission to do so.\n\nLabour councillors for Addiscombe ward, led by Sean Fitzsimons, are keen to keep the heritage building, which dates from 1844, and see it used for the community.\n\nFitzsimons is staging an open meeting at 7pm in Room F10 at the Town Hall on July 24, which he sees as The Glamorgan being in \u2026 well, the last chance saloon.\n\n\u201cResidents of Addiscombe and East Croydon have one final chance to save The Glamorgan for the community,\u201d Fitzsimons told Inside Croydon.\n\n\u201cLocal residents need to decide if they want to save the pub, as we need to show the pub can be revived as a community asset, or find a pub company willing to take the building on.\n\n\u201cThis was a great pub once, known for its live music, especially jazz. Let\u2019s see whether we can bring those great days back again, and the first step is getting it listed as an ACV.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe meeting on Monday is to try and put together a local group to push this campaign forward,\u201d Fitzsimons said.\n\nIn its original guise, as the Horse and Groom, when the pub served a busy and thriving residential area on the eastern side of the railway tracks near East Croydon Station, was included in the Good Beer Guide for eight years in succession, to 1982. The Good Beer Guide, published by CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, is recognised as the benchmark which most pubs aspire to. After a period when it was renamed as the Grouse and Claret, the pub was relaunched as The Glamorgan 10 years ago and once again was included in the pages of the Good Beer Guide, recognising the excellence of its food and drink offer.\n\nSince The Glamorgan\u2019s closure, there are now just four pubs still trading in the East Croydon area.\n\nInside Croydon is Croydon\u2019s only independent news source, still based in the heart of the borough. In April-May 2017, we averaged 32,000 page views every week\n\n\n\nIf you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, a residents\u2019 or business association or a local event to publicise, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com\n\nShare this: Facebook\n\nTwitter\n\nEmail\n\nWhatsApp\n\nMore\n\nSkype\n\nPinterest\n\nReddit\n\nTumblr\n\nLinkedIn\n\n", "output": "A meeting has been scheduled for Monday 24 July to discuss how locals might be able to save The Glamorgan pub, a heritage building on Cherry Orchard Road, East Croydon, potentially requesting that the building be declared an Asset of Community Value. The pub, which was listed in the Good Beer Guide, closed last November after the former owners reportedly \"endured six years of development blight in the immediate area, waiting for Redrow Menta to go ahead with their schemes for flats along the same stretch of road while being surrounded by undeveloped building sites.\" While they have not yet sought permission, it is said the new owners want to bulldoze the site. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Electric vehicle share reached 1.5% in China in June \n The Chinese market had more than 43,000 new EVs zooming the streets last month. With the market growing below expectations, at 16% YoY, this performance from China feels like when LeBron James scores 28 points in an NBA Finals game \u2014 it would be a great score for anyone else, but people expect more from the star of the team.\n\nAnyway, the EV market share grew to 1.5% in China, already beating last year\u2019s record (1.45%). Expect that as the year progresses and sales expand, the Chinese PEV market will surpass the 2% share by year end.\n\nThis is still a highly protected market, where 93% of sales belong to domestic brands. Of the 7% left for foreign brands, 6% belong to Tesla, with the remaining 1% divided by all other automakers.\n\nIn June, the Zhidou D2 EV was once again the best-selling model, surpassing BAIC\u2019s golden boy EC180 for the lead in the YTD ranking, while BYD has beaten the all-time manufacturer sales record by registering 11,198 units last month, stepping up the pace and surpassing previous leader Beijing Auto in the best-selling manufacturer race.\n\nTop 5 Best-Selling Electric Models in June\n\n#1 \u2013 Zhidou D2 EV: This bare-basics city vehicle probably doesn\u2019t inspire anyone, but it surely continues to be delivered in record quantities (4,714 units in June), probably thanks to big fleet deals. This vehicle is sold as a Quadricycle (Think Renault Twizy class) in some European countries, with the following specs: 12 kWh battery, 120 km range, 90 km/hr max speed, and all for some \u20ac16,000.\n\n#2 \u2013 BYD Song PHEV: This is BYD\u2019s \u201cModel Y,\u201d a VW Tiguan-sized SUV, in this case in a plug-in hybrid version (the fully electric version has had its first units registered just this month). In only its second full sales month, 4,552 of these BYD Song PHEVs were registered, the second best score ever for a BYD model \u2014 the Tang set the record at 5,503 registrations back in December 2015, but that\u2019ll probably be beaten this summer. Why is this model so disruptive?\n\nA) It\u2019s an SUV, and we know how they are sucking up sales everywhere. (For some reason, its sedan counterpart, the Qin, disappeared from the spotlight. Expect something similar to happen sometime in 2020 to the Tesla Model 3.)\n\nB) It has the same impressive specs that its larger brother Tang has (18.4 kWh battery, 70 km range, 0\u2013100 km/h in 4.9 secs), but with a more affordable price ($41,300 USD), which will make it the strongest candidate for the monthly best seller trophies in the coming months.\n\n#3 \u2013 Chery eQ EV: A consistent high seller in China, the funky Chery eQ sold a record 3,466 units in June. This is one of my favorite Chinese urban EVs \u2014 for \u20ac22,000 before incentives, you get a decently equipped city car with a 22 kWh battery and 200 kilometers of range. The only major drawback is the weak engine (56 hp, 100 km/h top speed). Add a bit more power to the engine and you could have a valuable competitor to the current crop of worldwide city EVs, since the Mitsubishi triplets are showing their age, the VW e-Up! is pricey, and the Smart Forfour ED \u2026 well, it looks too goofy for my taste. (What were Smart designers smoking when they created this recent generation?!?).\n\n#4 \u2013 BYD e5: The Plain Jane BYD e5 sedan continues to impress, delivering another record performance (the third in a row), with 3,206 units moved last month. A favorite among taxi companies, along with its e6 older brother, the low-key e5 actually has a lot going for it: 305 kilometers of range from a 48 kWh battery, and a healthy 218 hp, all for 230,000 Yuan ($33,400). A wolf in sheep\u2019s clothing, isn\u2019t it?\n\n#5 \u2013 JAC iEV6S: Despite being a vehicle in the intersection of the two hottest trends in China \u2014 crossovers and EVs \u2014 success surprisingly escaped the iEV6S due to battery production constraints. But those days are now a thing of the past, having scored a record 3,001 deliveries last month. Expect this Nissan Juke\u2013sized crossover to be a frequent sight here in the coming months \u2014 not only does it have an attractive design, inside and out, but also decent specs: 114 hp and 251 kilometers of range coming from a 33 kWh battery provided by Samsung.\n\nYear-to-Date Ranking \u2013 Zhidou D2 & BYD New Kings\n\nThe big news when it comes to changes in the year-to-date ranking was of course the rise to #1 of the Tin Lizzie Zhidou D2 EV. The BYD e5 finally reaching the podium was notable as well, and the JAC iEV6S continues to climb the ladder, now jumping to #5.\n\nBut the sensation of the month was the BYD Song PHEV, shooting to #8 in only its second full month on the market. Expect it in July to reach the top 5 and maybe even the podium by the end of Summer.\n\nTesla may not be thrilled with its rankings, but the Tesla Model S and Model X being present on the top 20 ranking make them by far the most successful foreign models. The third-best-selling overseas model was the BMW X1 PHEV, with an estimated 600 units delivered.\n\nLooking at the manufacturer ranking, BYD (19%, up 2%) is back at the Iron Throne, replacing the previous leader BAIC (17%, down 1%). With warp speed now turned on, expect BYD to distance itself from the competition at lightning speed.\n\nIn 3rd place and without immediate pretensions to be the King of the Realm, we have Zhidou, with 10% share, followed by SAIC (7%).\n\nChina June YTD Market Share Zhidou D2 EV 4,714 18,693 10% BAIC EC180 2,563 17,939 10% BYD e5 3,206 10,826 6% SAIC Roewe eRX5 PHEV 1,541 9,205 5% JAC iEV6S 3,001 8,197 5% Geely Emgrand EV 478 7,982 4% BYD Tang 1,573 7,502 4% BYD Song PHEV 4,552 6,838 4% Chery eQ 3,466 6,605 4% JMC E100 1,153 6,136 3% Changan Benni EV 1,778 6,064 3% Zotye E200 1,568 5,949 3% BAIC EU260 1,333 5,691 3% Kandi EV 315 4,804 3% Tesla Model S 1,600 4,785 3% Tesla Model X 500 4,514 3% BYD Qin EV300 593 4,117 2% Zotye Cloud EV 1,568 3,687 2% JMC E200 759 3,657 2% BAIC EX200 520 3,577 2% Others 7,110 32,380 TOTAL 43,891 179,148\n\nCool Kids\n\nIn this section, we look at some of the cars landing in the previous month that have potential to reach the top 20. Although, in this first edition, we\u2019re broadening the timeframe to the last two months:\n\nBYD Song EV300: The fully electric twin brother of the Song PHEV, this is a model destined for success, starting with some BYD DNA strong points: long range (a 48 kWh battery allows it to reach 300 kilometers of rated range) and quick acceleration (0\u2013100 km/h in 8.9 secs). Although not as fast as the PHEV version, it has the right technology to succeed in this BEV-friendly market. How successful will it be? I would put 2,000 units/month as minimum bar. For now, there were 189 units registered in its landing month.\n\nSAIC Roewe eRX5 BEV and i6 PHEV: Following on the success of the eRX5 PHEV version, the Tiguan-like-but-better-looking RX5 SUV now has a BEV version (with a 48 kWh battery, watch out, BYD!). Meanwhile, the i6, one of the most appealing Chinese sedans on the road, grew a plug and now has a PHEV version, using the same drivetrain as the eRX5.\n\nThe all-electric SUV landed in June, with 43 units, but in a few months, once the production kinks are sorted, sales should easily reach into four digits per month. As for the Audi A4\u2013sized i6 PHEV sedan, it scored 359 units in its first full sales month. Given the recent sales bleeding that sedans are suffering, it will be hard for it to replicate the success of its e550 predecessor, so reaching four-digit sales will be considered a success.\n\nAlso published on our EV Sales page and the EV-Sales blogspot.\n\nSign up for Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era \u2014 Podcast: I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014 gasp \u2014 grow. So ... Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014\u2014 grow. So ...", "output": "Electric vehicle (EV) market share hit 1.5% in China last month, figures show. The growth beat 2016's record of 1.45% and it is predicted that, as sales expand, the Chinese plug-in EV market share will surpass 2% by the end of 2017. China's EV market is still very protected, with domestic brands accounting for 93% of sales. Of the remaining 7%, 6% belongs to Tesla.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Volvo engine recycles exhaust energy for 7.5% efficiency gain \n By employing a secondary exhaust turbine downstream of the main turbocharger, the normally lost energy is routed to the flywheel, recovering as much as 50 hp and helping to improve fuel economy by up to 6.5% when compared with previous GHG14 D13 engine models.\n\nVolvo Trucks North America\u2019s new VNL series delivers up to 7.5% improved fuel efficiency when spec\u2019d with Volvo\u2019s available D13 Turbo Compound engine (D13TC). ( Earlier post .) Designed for customers with long-haul, steady-speed operations, the 13-liter Volvo D13TC utilizes turbo compounding technology that recovers energy typically wasted through the exhaust, converting it into useable mechanical energy that is transferred back to the engine.\n\nCombined with an additional 1 percent fuel efficiency benefit from the improved aerodynamics of the new VNL series, customers spec\u2019ing the D13TC will see up to a 7.5 percent improvement overall. \u2014G\u00f6ran Nyberg, president of Volvo Trucks North America\n\n\n\nVolvo D13 With Turbo Compound. Click to enlarge.\n\nCustomers are able to pair the D13TC with Volvo\u2019s XE\u2014eXceptional Efficiency\u2014powertrain packages. XE packages rely on Volvo\u2019s fully integrated I-Shift automated manual transmission to downspeed the engine, enabling a cruise rpm up to 300 rpm less than the average truck sold today, saving fuel.\n\nThe VNL series comes standard with the Volvo D13 engine, with the D13TC available as an option. Customers choosing Daycab and VNL 400 models also have the option of spec\u2019ing the 11-liter Volvo D11 as an alternative. The 15-liter Cummins X15 is also available in the VNL series.\n\nAll three Volvo engines feature the patented wave piston, which employs a uniquely designed piston crown. The new wave piston increases compression ratio from 16:1 to 17:1, increasing efficiency. Improved flame propagation increases cylinder efficiency while at the same time reducing soot.\n\nA proven common rail fuel injection system improves fuel efficiency by enabling finer control and more accurate fuel injection.\n\nThe engines also feature a revised EGR flow sensor with a new double-wall casing to reduce condensation and soot buildup in cold weather, preventing downtime. An available two-speed coolant pump also contributes to improved fuel efficiency as a result of reduced parasitic losses. The new intake throttle enables a faster warmup when the engine is started.", "output": "Volvo's D13 Turbo Compound engine (D13TC) recycles exhaust energy to help deliver up to 7.5% improved fuel efficiency in VNL trucks. The 13-litre D13TC uses a secondary exhaust turbine downstream of the main turbocharge to recover normally-lost energy, which is then routed to the flywheel. The process boosts fuel economy by up to 6.5% compared with previous D13 engine models but, when combined with the additional 1% benefit from improved aerodynamics, VNL series truck drivers will see a 7.5% improvement overall, Volvo Trucks North America said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Poor data blamed for Gillette's 'manhood' razor error \n \u201cMy husband and I have different last names and then my kids all have my husband\u2019s last name, so I\u2019m the only Greer,\u201d she said. No clues emerged from her magazine subscriptions or her Amazon account, she said, though she took a close look at the sports socks she bought for her father-in-law recently.\n\nThe error stood out to Ms. Greer given that many of the ads she sees online tend to be \u201cfreaky on point.\u201d For example, she often likes posts on Facebook related to the St. Louis Cardinals, her hometown baseball team, and the University of Alabama football team, she said, and recently saw an ad for a shirt that read, \u201cMy two passions in life are the St. Louis Cardinals and the Crimson Tide.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat was creepily specific to me to the point it\u2019s disconcerting,\u201d she said.\n\nThe razor was a harmless mistake at the opposite end of the spectrum and so entertaining that she wondered if Gillette did it on purpose in hopes of getting people to post about it on social media, she said.\n\nBret Dodson, a 48-year-old in Seattle who works in cancer research, posted to Facebook about receiving the package on June 27, joking that the company was \u201conly 30 and a half years late.\u201d He said in an interview that he had not liked or followed the brand on social media or made any online purchases that would indicate he was 18. He assumed the company had bought a faulty batch of data that skewed some of its mailings.\n\n\u201cI work with a bunch of young people and so I\u2019m very frequently joking about \u2018us hip young millennials,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever entered myself as a millennial online because I don\u2019t know what I\u2019d put as my date of birth. Maybe Gillette is really good with data mining and they know I joke about being younger than I am.\u201d\n\nGillette has been under pressure in recent years as it has lost market share to online upstarts, including Dollar Shave Club, which was purchased last year by Unilever. The birthday mailings include a promotion for an on-demand service from Gillette, which allows people to reorder blades using text messages. Razors and shaving-related products account for 11 percent of Procter & Gamble\u2019s annual sales and 15 percent of its earnings.", "output": "Procter & Gamble-owned brand Gillette's traditional mail drop of a free razor to celebrate 18-year-old boys' first shave was met with bemusement in the US recently, as recipients included two women and a 50-year-old man. The three recipients took the error in good heart, putting it down to \"bad algorithms\" or unreliable datasets the company might have bought. \u201cWhen dealing with such a large volume over a period of time, there are apt to be some mishaps,\u201d said Gillette spokesperson Barbara Diecker. Razors and shaving-related products make up 11% of Procter & Gamble\u2019s annual sales and 15% of its earnings.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sonova hearing tech firm makes first titanium device via 3D print \n Swiss hearing solutions technology company Sonova started using 3D printers for custom hearing aids at the start of the millennium.\n\nExpanding on this additive expertise, Sonova\u2019s hearing aid range has expanded to include the Virto B-Titanium \u2013 the company\u2019s first ever titanium device made using additive manufacturing.\n\nAnimation of the powder based 3D printing process used to make the Virto B-Titanium hearing aid. Clip via Phonak on YouTube\n\nCustom-made hearing aids\n\nEach year, Sonova and its subsidiary brand Phonak produce hundreds of thousands of custom-made hearing aids for patients around the globe.\n\nTo start, an impression of a patient\u2019s ear canal is taken by hand using silicone. This mold is 3D scanned, then turned into a digital model using software from partners at Materialise.\n\nThe custom models are then 3D printed in acrylic using a light-powered vat polymerization technique.\n\nImproving upon the strength and fit of these model, Phonak\u2019s new Virto B-Titanium device is made using the powder bed fusion method of metal 3D printing.\n\nSmaller, stronger, more resistant\n\nThe Vitro B\u2019s titanium casing is 15 times stronger than the shell of an average acrylic device, making it more hardwearing and resistant to water. The device is also 26% smaller than the average Phonak product, making it no bigger than a fingertip.\n\nScott Witt, director of product management at Phonak, calls the Virto B-Titanium \u201cthe most discrete hearing aid ever produced\u201d by the company. This matches a majority demand from patients for an \u201cinvisible device\u201d that fits well within the ear canal but also provides performance.\n\nWhat\u2019s next for Sonova?\n\nPatrizia Richner is a digital manufacturing engineer for the Sonova Group in Switzerland. This week at the International Additive Manufacturing and 3D printing conference in Nottingham Richer will be speaking on the advanced applications of the technology within the company\u2019s latest projects.\n\nRobin Wilson, lead technologist for high value manufacturing at Innovate UK, also tipped Sonova in his guest article on the Future of 3D Printing.\n\nFor all the latest 3D printing news, subscribe to the most widely read newsletter in the 3D printing industry, follow us on twitter and like us on Facebook.\n\nFeatured image shows: A Virto B-Titanium hearing aid. Image via Phonak", "output": "Swiss hearing solutions technology firm Sonova and subsidiary brand Phonak have responded to customer demand for a discrete yet high-performing hearing aid by developing their first-ever titanium device using additive manufacturing, the Virto B-Titanium. A silicone mould of the patient's ear canal is scanned digitally using Materialise software, and a light-powered vat polymerisation technique used to 3D print it in acrylic. Using a powder bed fusion method of metal 3D printing is said to make Virto B-Titanium's casing 15 times stronger than its acrylic equivalent, yet no bigger than a fingertip, 26% smaller than Phonak's average product.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Few publishers on the path to monetising virtual reality ads  \n When it comes to virtual reality, few publishers are as committed as The New York Times, with its dedicated VR app and Daily 360 feature, helped by funding from tech giants Samsung and Google. All told, the Times produces one six- to 10-minute VR film a month and one one- to two-minute 360 video per day, showcasing curiosities like the inside of a fireworks factory and far-flung places. It\u2019s finding people are watching the longer videos to the end. \u201cWe\u2019re beyond testing and learning,\u201d said Varun Shetty, executive director of strategy and business development at the Times.\n\nAnother early mover, USA Today, is entering its second season of its weekly VR show, \u201cVRtually There,\u201d which has explored extreme sports and nature, after racking up 10 million views in season one last fall, on no fewer than seven platforms. \u201cWe are absolutely still moving full steam ahead,\u201d said Kelly Andresen, the head of USA Today\u2019s branded content studio, Get Creative.\n\nBut outside those two publishers and a handful of others, there\u2019s less to crow about. VR is still test-and-learn territory for most publishers. It\u2019s a great way for publishers to inspire their newsrooms, many of which have been demoralized by budget cuts; capture the attention of jaded audiences in their crowded news feeds; and show advertisers just how innovative publishers can still be.\n\n\u201cBuilding \u2018VRtually There\u2019 has really changed the perception of our brand,\u201d Andresen said. \u201cIf it ends up they buy high-impact Gravity ads instead, that\u2019s OK.\u201d\n\nBut the headsets are expensive and not used widely, and brands are unsure how to advertise on the medium, which also makes VR extremely difficult to scale from production, technology and distribution standpoints, said Mike Dossett, associate director for digital strategy at RPA, who closely follows VR and its variants.\n\nPublishers can get more audience scale by doing 360 video, VR\u2019s lower-tech cousin that doesn\u2019t take a special headset to view. But 360 is less captivating, both because of its less immersive nature and because the newsroom skills haven\u2019t caught up. That risks diluting the experience and letting down viewers who are still new to the tech.\n\nDossett said he\u2019s not seeing publishers scale back, but at the same time, he\u2019s not seeing new ones jump into the fray. \u201cWe\u2019re not getting a new flush of activity,\u201d he said. \u201cVR is still in the late stages of experimentation.\u201d\n\nPublishers doing VR are still relying on branded content, and for a lucky few, tech company funding. But there\u2019s no guarantee the tech dollars will last. Shetty acknowledged the VR ecosystem would be more modest if not for the tech dollars feeding it. \u201cThey play a pretty big role,\u201d he said. When the Times\u2019 Samsung partnership ends after a year, the publisher will likely still do 360 video, but may do them less frequently, depending on the newsroom\u2019s other priorities.\n\nAnd advertising on VR is still just the domain of a few blue-chip advertisers; USA Today\u2019s VR advertisers have included Macy\u2019s, Nest and Honda.\n\nMost advertisers are so new to the medium and don\u2019t have VR-ready ads, and most publishers are new to making VR ad content themselves, so the path to monetization is far from clear. \u201cFor brands looking to wildly stand out, we\u2019re not relying on publishers,\u201d Dossett said. To ease advertisers along, USA Today has offered them the ability to do simpler sponsorships, Andresen said. \u201cPeople don\u2019t have the language or knowledge of how to buy it,\u201d she said.\n\nOther publishers strike a more conservative tone when it comes to VR. The Wall Street Journal sees VR/360 video as a \u201cgreat storytelling tool,\u201d said Joanna Stern, deputy head of video. \u201cWe, however, only use it when it is the best way to bring the story to life.\u201d Similar, the Financial Times said it considers VR/360 something to do only when it truly enhances a story, and has no plans to do any in the immediate future.\n\nSome publishers are focusing on 360 or augmented reality video instead. The Washington Post is prioritizing AR this year because it\u2019s less expensive than VR, doesn\u2019t require a headset and advertiser demand already exists. Slate took a half step into VR by initially creating its new weekly talk show in 2-D so it could be watched on any screen and designed it to be low-cost, so its continuation wouldn\u2019t depend on ad support.\n\nThe Economist produced three VR films by the end of last year, but its future slate of VR production depends on whether it gets the ad sponsorship to pay for it, much like the rest of its films, said David Alter, director of programs at the publisher\u2019s Economist Films unit. \u201cWould we make VR films on our own dollar? We don\u2019t have any plans to do that,\u201d he said.\n\nThat doesn\u2019t mean The Economist isn\u2019t halfhearted about VR, though, as an investment in March in a VR startup, Parable, suggests. \u201cIt\u2019s still early days for us,\u201d Alter said. \u201cWe\u2019ve scratched the surface of what it can do.\u201d", "output": "Most publishers and advertisers are still learning about the possibilities for virtual reality (VR), with the cost of hardware and a limited pool of skills when it comes to creating ads for the medium among the obstacles to wider adoption. While the New York Times and USA Today both employ VR, attracting brands including Macy\u2019s, Nest and Honda, thanks to funding from tech giants Samsung and Google, smaller publishers have turned to the cheaper, but less immersive technology of 360 or augmented reality video.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Driver withdraws claim that Tesla Autopilot caused crash \n Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nEvening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nA Tesla owner who blamed his car's autopilot feature for \"suddenly accelerating\" and flipping his vehicle has said that it was actually him.\n\nThe crash occurred west of the Minneapolis, Minnesota, and David Clark claimed he had engaged the semi-autonomous driving feature in his Tesla electric car on a country road.\n\nAccording to the Kandiyohi County Sheriff's office, Mr Clark's Tesla was found overturned in a marsh but the injuries were \"minor\".\n\nBut Mr Clark has since said it was actually his own mistake.\n\n\u201cTo the best of my recollection I had engaged the autopilot system but then I had disengaged it by stepping on accelerator,\" an email sent by Mr Clark to the sheriff's department read. \"I then remember looking up and seeing the sharp left turn which I was accelerating into.\n\n\"I believe we started to make the turn but then felt the car give way and lose its footing like we hit loose gravel. That was the feeling that I was trying to describe to you that I had lost control of the vehicle. The next thing I know tall grass is whipping past the windshield and we were traveling at an odd angle in the ditch and then flipped over the right side and ended up on the roof.\u201d\n\nThe \"cruise control\" option in Teslas use cameras, radars, and an on-board computers to detect lanes, other vehicles, and objects in the road, steering as needed.\n\nTesla said in a statement following the accident that it has \"no reason to believe [the autopilot feature] worked other than as designed.\"\n\nThe company has not yet responded to the request for information on if drivers and purchasers of Tesla vehicles receive some sort of training to use the feature. The Washington Post reported that Tesla does require drivers to keep their hands on the steering wheel even while the feature is engaged, however.\n\nThis is the second time the Palo Alto, California-based company's autopilot feature has been blamed for an accident.\n\nIn Gainsville, Florida, in May 2016, a driver was killed when his Tesla, going 70 miles per hour, crashed into a truck. It was the first known crash of a partly autonomous vehicle.\n\nTesla Model X reviewed Show all 11 1 / 11 Tesla Model X reviewed Tesla Model X reviewed Tesla Model X Tesla Model X reviewed Tesla Model X Tesla Model X reviewed Tesla Model X Tesla Model X reviewed Tesla Model X Tesla Model X reviewed Tesla Model X Tesla Model X reviewed Tesla Model X Tesla Model X reviewed Tesla Model X Tesla Model X reviewed Tesla Model X Tesla Model X reviewed Tesla Model X Tesla Model X reviewed Tesla Model X Tesla Model X reviewed Tesla Model X\n\nAfter the incident, the National Transportation Safety Board issued a full report on the crash and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) decided not to issue a recall of that model of Tesla cars, finding no safety defect.\n\nThough there was a subsequent debate about the safety of such a feature, it was reported that the driver ignored six audio and seven visual warnings issued by the car's system to keep his hands on the steering wheel.\n\nSafety fears after Tesla driver dies in autopilot crash\n\nTesla has also implemented an automatic \"off\" feature for autopilot. If drivers continuously ignore safety warnings now, the car will disable autopilot until the next time the car is started.\n\nMr Clark nor the police have confirmed whether he got any warnings from his Tesla prior to the accident.\n\nElon Musk, Tesla CEO, recently said at the National Governor's Association semi-annual meeting that \"Probably in 10 years, more than a half of new vehicle production is electric in the US...I think almost all cars produced will be autonomous.\"\n\n\"There will not be a steering wheel in 20 years...it will be like having a horse\" Mr Musk said.\n\nFor the time being, a Tesla owner in California filed a federal lawsuit against Tesla for the same \"sudden acceleration\" problem. His SUV was parked in his garage when it unexpectedly crashed into his living room, injuring him and destroying walls.\n\nA request for class-action status has been filed as well in an attempt to add seven other Tesla drivers with complaints in other states that were listed in the NHTSA database.", "output": "A Tesla owner who blamed his car's autopilot feature for flipping his vehicle has admitted it was actually him. David Clark initially said he had engaged the semi-autonomous feature which \"suddenly accelerated\" before the crash on a country road west of Minneapolis. But Clark, who suffered minor injuries in crash, later said it was his own mistake and that he had disengaged the Autopilot by stepping on the accelerator before seeing the sharp left turn where the car flipped."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brits more likely to buy an electric vehicle, survey finds \n Consumer awareness of EVs in the UK has grown significantly over the past few years. A 2014 government survey found little interest in going electric: 56 percent of those questioned hadn\u2019t thought about buying an EV, 14 percent said they had decided against it, and 23 percent said nothing could ever convince them to buy an electric vehicle.\n\nCharging provider NewMotion, which operates over 50,000 charge points throughout Europe, has released a new report that shows a considerably higher level of interest. Of 3,000 consumers surveyed, 69 percent said they would consider switching to an EV in the future.\n\nNewMotion attributes the shift to changes in technology and governmental policies. The UK government has enacted a number of pro-EV measures, and even Her Majesty the Queen mentioned EVs in her annual speech this year.\n\nHowever, NewMotion\u2019s survey did find a lack of knowledge about current electrified options. Over 76% of the consumers surveyed did not know what EV stands for, and a majority guessed that the average EV has a range of only 63 miles. Many had no idea how charging works \u2013 almost 20% of respondents seemed to believe that one charged an EV from some sort of \u201cportable battery pack.\u201d\n\n\u201cAt the moment general consumer awareness of EVs is pretty low in the UK,\u201d said NewMotion UK Country Manager Sander van der Veen. \u201cHowever, this is going to have to change pretty quickly as the world around us adapts to a new normal. It\u2019s the responsibility of governments, car manufacturers and companies like NewMotion, who support the charging infrastructure, to help raise awareness and educate the next generation of car users.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s definitely an appetite from consumers to move away from the traditional petrol/diesel model of transport;\u201d Mr. van der Veen continued. \u201cYet it isn\u2019t as simple as just changing to an EV, we need to help provide a better understanding of how they work and what changes drivers need to make to allow EVs to work for them.\u201d\n\nSource: NewMotion\n\nImage by Nicolas Raymond", "output": "Some 69% of Brits would consider buying an electric vehicle (EV), a recent survey from charging provider NewMotion has found. In 2014, a government survey found 56% of Brits hadn't thought about buying an EV\u00a0and 23% said they would never buy one. However, NewMotion's survey identified a lack of knowledge about electrified options. More than 76% of respondents did not know what\u00a0EV\u00a0stood for and most guessed that the average electric vehicle has a range of just 63 miles.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FedEx, without cyber coverage, signals Petya will hurt earnings \n Express firm FedEx said today that its financial results will be affected by the Petya cyber attack that hit subsidiary TNT. The company continues to be affected by the virus.\n\nIn a stock exchange announcement, the express giant said it was still evaluating the financial impact of the attack, but it is likely it will have a material effect on its results as revenues have taken a hit.\n\n\"We do not have cyber or other insurance in place that covers this attack,\" FedEx said. \"Although we cannot currently quantify the amounts, we have experienced loss of revenue due to decreased volumes at TNT and incremental costs associated with the implementation of contingency plans and the remediation of affected systems.\"\n\nTNT services are available, but customers are still experiencing widespread service and invoicing delays, and manual processes are being used to facilitate a \"significant portion\" of TNT operations and customer service functions.\n\nFedEx said it could not estimate when services would be fully restored but contingency plans that make use of both FedEx and TNT networks remain in place to minimise the impact to customers.\n\nThe company said its IT teams have been focused on the recovery of critical systems and continue to make progress in resuming full services.\n\n\"We are currently focused on restoring remaining operational systems, along with finance, back-office and secondary business systems,\" FedEx said.\n\n\"We cannot yet estimate how long it will take to restore the systems that were impacted, and it is reasonably possible that TNT will be unable to fully restore all of the affected systems and recover all of the critical business data that was encrypted by the virus.\n\nThe Petya cyber-attack, using ransomware, has caused disruption around the world and infected companies in 64 countries, including banks in Ukraine, Russian oil giant Rosneft, British advertising company WPP, Maersk and US law firm DLA Piper.\n\nVictims of the attack are asked to pay for the release of business data that has been encrypted and frozen by the hackers on company computer systems.\n\nRead more express news\n\nShare this story", "output": "FedEx announced that the Petya ransomware attack that hit its subsidiary, TNT, will materially impact its financial results, as revenues have suffered. The firm said it had no insurance in place that covers the attack and could not estimate when, or even if, all services will be fully restored. Revenues have been impacted by decreased volumes at TNT, the cost of implementing contingency plans and efforts to get the affected systems back on track. Currently, while its services are available, widespread delays continue to plague TNT, which is said to be manually processing much of its operations and customer service functions."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China Merchants builds 50 MW panda-shaped solar farm \n China Merchants New Energy Group is one of the largest clean energy companies in China. It is deep into a solar power project that will eventually cover more than 1,500 acres with solar panels. The first phase of construction was completed on June 30 \u2014 a 248 acre solar farm that looks like a a giant panda from the air. When complete, several panda-shaped areas will populate the Chinese countryside.\n\nThe first phase is a 50 megawatt solar installation that will produce 3.2 billion kilowatt-hours of solar energy over the next 25 years, according to the company. Generating that much electricity from sunshine will mean one million tons of coal won\u2019t be burned, reducing carbon emissions by 2.74 million tons. Construction on a second panda-shaped solar farm is scheduled to begin later this year.\n\nWhat difference does it make what the new solar power plant looks like from the air? Symbolism is very important to Chinese culture. The project is part of a larger effort to raise awareness among young people in China about clean energy. China Merchants New Energy Group worked with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to make the Panda Power Plant a reality. It hopes to work with the Group to create more panda power facilities across the landscape in the coming years.\n\nChina is racing ahead with its plans to convert its electrical energy system to renewables as quickly as possible \u2014 putting the US to shame while doing so. While US senators throw snowballs at each other to \u201cprove\u201d that climate change is a myth spread by the Chinese to steal jobs from Americans, China is talking the talk and walking the walk when it comes to clean energy.\n\nRecently, the largest floating solar farm in the world came online near the city of Huainan in the Anhui province. The 40 megawatt facility not only produces electricity with no emissions, it takes advantage of the surface area of a large lake in a place where space for a solar farm is limited by the proximity of a large urban community. China is also forecast to install 403 gigawatts of wind power over the next decade. While the US is dithering, China is busy doing.\n\nImage by UNDP\n\nSign up for Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era \u2014 Podcast: I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014 gasp \u2014 grow. So ... Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014\u2014 grow. So ...", "output": "China Merchants New Energy Group has built a panda-shaped 248 acre solar power farm. The 50 MW installation will produce 3.2 billin kWh of solar energy over 25 years. The plant will reduce carbon emissions by 2.74 million tons by generating enough energy to replace that which would have been made from burning one million tons of coal. Construction on a second panda-shaped solar farm is due to start later this year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Older oil fields use up to 10 times more energy to extract resources \n Mohammad Masnadi and Adam Brandt used decades-long time-series data from twenty-five globally significant oil fields (>1 billion barrels ultimate recovery) to model greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from oil production as a function of time.Depletion requires increased energy expenditures in drilling, oil recovery, and oil processing. They found that volumetric oil production declines with depletion, but that this depletion is accompanied by significant growth\u2014in some cases more than tenfold\u2014in per-MJ GHG emissions.\n\nA new study finds that as some of the world\u2019s largest oilfields age, the energy required to keep them operating can rise dramatically even as the amount of petroleum they produce drops. Failing to take the changing energy requirements of oilfields into account can cause oilfield managers or policymakers to underestimate the true climate impacts, Stanford scientists warn.\n\nUsing probabilistic simulation, they derived a relationship for estimating GHG increases over time, showing an expected doubling in average emissions over 25 years. The new findings, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, have implications for long-term emissions and climate modeling, as well as climate policy.\n\nCurrent climate and energy system models typically don\u2019t explore the impacts of oil reservoir depletion in any detail. As oilfields run low, emissions per unit of oil increase. This should be accounted for in future modeling efforts. \u2014Adam Brandt\n\n\n\nTime-series trends in normalized upstream GHG intensities of twenty-five global oil fields (offshore and onshore) with dfferent extraction practices (water injection/flooding, gas injection/flooding/lifting, or steam flooding) over the course of production in the period of 1949\u20132015. a, Heavy oils. b, Medium oils. c, Light oils. Filled and hollow markers represent offshore and onshore fields, respectively. Masnadi & Brandt (2017). Click to enlarge.\n\nConventional greenhouse gas estimates calculate emissions through a kind of economic reverse engineering, whereby an economic index is used to convert the monetary value of an oilfield\u2019s final products\u2014whether it be processed oil, natural gas or petroleum-based products\u2014into greenhouse gas emissions. This top-down approach for converting economic values into environmental and energetic costs misses a lot of underlying information, Masnadi said.\n\nFurther, many studies look at data from only a single point in time, and as a result capture only a snapshot of an oilfield\u2019s greenhouse gas emissions. But the Stanford scientists argue that in order to paint the most accurate picture of an oilfield\u2019s true climate impacts\u2014and also have the best chance of reducing those impacts\u2014it\u2019s necessary to assess the energy costs associated with every stage of the petroleum production process, and to do so for the oilfield\u2019s entire lifetime.\n\nDeveloped in Brandt\u2019s lab at Stanford, a software tool called the Oil Production Greenhouse gas Emissions Estimator (OPGEE) is designed to do just that. For any given oilfield, OPGEE performs a lifecycle assessment, analyzing each phase of the oil production process\u2014extraction, refinement and transportation. It then uses computer models to calculate how much energy is consumed during each step. From this, scientists can calculate how much greenhouse gas each oilfield emits.\n\nThis bottom-up type of analysis hasn\u2019t been done before because it\u2019s difficult. For this study, we needed over 50 different pieces of data for each oilfield for each year. When you\u2019re trying to analyze an oilfield across decades, that\u2019s a lot of data. \u2014Mohammad Masnadi\n\nMost oil companies are reluctant to release this type of temporal data about their oilfields. The Stanford researchers developed two workarounds to this problem. First, they gathered data from places where transparency laws require oil production data be made publicly available. These included Canada, Norway and the UK, and the state of California in the US. Secondly, the pair conducted a deep data mine of the scientific literature to seek out clues about oilfield production levels in published studies.\n\nOne way to reduce the increase in emissions is through tougher government regulations that force companies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions or risk having to lower production. This has been shown to work at two Canadian offshore fields, Hibernia and Terra Nova, where regulations have sharply lowered greenhouse gas emissions by limiting oil production in fields where gas is wasted through flaring and venting.\n\nBetter regulation is certainly part of the answer, but a more progressive solution is to encourage energy companies to draw the energy they need to operate their aging oilfields from renewable sources such as solar, wind or geothermal. \u2014Mohammad Masnadi\n\nMasnadi cites the example of the California-based company GlassPoint Solar, which uses solar-powered steam generators to reduce the gas consumption and carbon emissions of its oilfields by up to 80%.\n\nDone right, such solutions could end up being a win-win for industry and the environment, the Stanford scientists said, by helping oil companies drive down energy costs while simultaneously reducing their climate impacts.\n\nThe OPGEE tool Brandt\u2019s team developed has already been adopted by the California Air Resources Board to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport fuels, but Brandt thinks it could also prove useful to industry.\n\nFunding for the study was provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and Ford Motor Co.\n\nResources", "output": "The energy needed to keep super-giant oilfields operating can increase as much as 10-fold as the amount of oil they produce falls, according to a Stanford University study. Not taking into account the changing energy needs of oilfields could lead to the true climate impacts being underestimated, the scientists said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Palestine seeks Chinese support in state visit \n Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Beijing on Monday for a four-day visit in search of political and economic support.Abbas is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday, according to Wafa, the official PA news agency. Abbas last visited China in May 2013.Abbas Zaki, a Fatah official in charge of managing relations between China and the Palestinians, told The Jerusalem Post that Abbas\u2019s visit comes at a \u201ccrucial\u201d time, as the 19th Chinese Communist Party Congress is set to take place this fall. The Chinese Communist Party is the ruling power in China and its congress is held every five years.\u201cThe party congress will set Chinese policy regarding the Palestinian issue for the coming years,\u201d Zaki said in a phone interview. \u201cIt is important for President Abbas to convey our positions to him [Xi] before it convenes.\u201dAccording to Zaki, Abbas will ask Xi to continue to support the Palestinians in international forums and increase its investment in the Palestinian territories.\u201cThere are a number of projects the two presidents will discuss including investing in an industrial zone in Tarqumiya and electricity infrastructure,\u201d Zaki said.China has a long history of backing the Palestinians. Former chairman Mao Zedong supplied then PLO leader Yasser Arafat with weapons and cash in the 1960s. More recently, China has stood behind Palestinian initiatives in international forums, voting in favor of making Palestine a UN non-member observer in 2012.Zaki also dismissed that Israel and China are significantly improving their ties without major advancements in the peace process.\u201cWe know that China has interests in Israel, but it also has values and will not turn its back on Palestinian rights,\u201d Zaki said. \u201cIt does not only operate according to economic interests \u2013 China is a gift of God.\u201dPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited China in March, where he and his accompanying delegations signed a dozen bilateral agreements with Chinese leaders to enhance cooperation on technology and innovation.\u201cI believe this is a marriage made in heaven,\u201d Netanyahu said of Chinese-Israeli relations during his visit to Beijing.In addition to meeting Xi, Abbas will deliver a speech on Wednesday and meet with the Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and other Chinese officials.", "output": "Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority President, is visiting Beijing in search of Chinese political support and investment. Abbas was set to meet China's President, Xi Jinping, on 18 July to strengthen diplomatic ties and sign agreements. The meetings take place shortly before the Chinese Communist Party Congress, which will likely determine China\u2019s stance on the current Palestinian situation. China has a history of backing Palestine on the international stage, having supplied weaponry and money to the Palestine Liberation Organization in the 1960s and supported the Palestinian bid in 2012 to become a UN non-member observer.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "B\u00e2loise backs on-demand insurance start-up Trov \n Baloise is investing in a U.S.-based insurtech firm specialized in on-demand insurance policies for personal items. The company has already launched its offering in the U.K. and Australia and will roll out the service in the U.S. later this year.\n\nTrov, a startup founded 2012 in California, has launched the first on-demand insurance platform for single items, allowing people to buy policies for things they care most about, Baloise said in a statement today.\n\n\u00abTrov is a start-up with the potential to create disruption in the insurance industry and in several markets it has already done just that,\u00bb said Gert De Winter, CEO of Baloise.\n\nThe Trov application is helping people to collect information about all their goods, identifying those things they care so much about that they want to buy an insurance policy for.\n\nResult of Anthemis Cooperation\n\nThe investment in Trov is the first transaction in connection with Baloise\u2019s collaboration with the investment and advisory firm Anthemis.\n\n\u00abOn the one hand, this investment promises additional returns for Baloise if Trov is successful,\u00bb said Thomas Sieber, head of corporate center at Baloise. \u00abBut on the other hand, the know-how transfer also creates strategic benefits for our own core business.\u00bb\n\nBaloise\u2019s investment is part of the Series D financing secured by Trov in April 2017.\n\nImpetus for Digitization Process\n\nAt its investors\u2019 day at the end of 2016, Baloise had announced that it would team up with Anthemis to invest in growth. Baloise is making 50 million Swiss francs available for equity investments in continental European, U.K.-based and U.S.-based start-ups that offer the potential to drive forward the process of digitization at Baloise.\n\nThese investments are intended to give Baloise a slice of the financial rewards from the success of insurtech companies. At the same time, Baloise will be able to gather experience that it can apply to its own core business and the implementation of the company's digitization strategy. Baloise plans to make as many as ten investment transactions by 2021.", "output": "Swiss insurance company B\u00e2loise has invested an undisclosed amount in Trov, a US-based insurtech firm that enables users to take out insurance policies for individual items. Trov's expertise will help B\u00e2loise develop its own digital strategy, said Thomas Sieber, head of corporate center at B\u00e2loise. The insurance company has dedicated a total of CHF50m ($52.3m) to invest in insurtech start-ups that can drive digitisation at B\u00e2loise.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Security robot drowns itself in a fountain in Washington DC \n The machine uprising has been dealt a serious blow after a robot cop was found face down in a fountain.\n\nBuilt to autonomously patrol offices and shopping malls, the Knightscope K5 security robot is meant to be able to navigate environments and keep unruly humans in check. Instead, after being deployed to a Washington DC office block, it was found drowned in a watery grave. Much like a Dalek, it appears to have been defeated by stairs.\n\nOur D.C. office building got a security robot. It drowned itself.\n\n\n\nWe were promised flying cars, instead we got suicidal robots. pic.twitter.com/rGLTAWZMjn \u2014 Bilal Farooqui (@bilalfarooqui) July 17, 2017\n\nThe bizarro egg-shaped robot\u2019s premature demise is not thought to be suspicious. It is believed the robot fell down the steps of its own fecklessness.\n\nStacy Dean Stephens, vice president of marketing and sales at Knightscope, told Cnet that it was an \u201cisolated incident\u201d for the K5 unit and that \u201cno people were harmed or involved in any way\u201d, although apparently humans in wellies were required to fish out the defunct robot.\n\nSteps are our best defense against the Robopocalypse\n\n\n\n(Security robot down at Georgetown harbor) pic.twitter.com/eVf7YUJX1j \u2014 Peter W. Singer (@peterwsinger) July 17, 2017\n\nSince taking the streets in limited numbers, the K5 patrol bot, which is apparently packed with sensors to be the smart eyes and ears for its human law enforcement colleagues, has had its fair share of incidents. In April, a K5 patrolling the mean streets of Google-home-town Mountain View, California was allegedly involved in a carpark altercation with a 41-year-old man, while in July 2016 another K5 unit was accused of running over a 16-month-old child in a Stanford shopping centre.", "output": "An autonomous security robot, designed to patrol shopping centres and look out for unruly behaviour, was found in a Washington DC office block's fountain, after the machine apparently fell down some stairs. The Knightscope K5 robot's demise is said to be an \"isolated event\", according to Stacy Dean Stephens, VP of marketing and sales at Knightscope. Other K5 robots have hit the headlines following an altercation in a California car park, and an incident in which a 16-month-old child was allegedly run over by a K5 in a Stanford shopping centre.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Demand for traditional medicine drives Chinese donkey shortage \n Hannah Gardner\n\nSpecial for USA TODAY\n\nBEIJING \u2014 Chinese farmer Ma Yufa grows vegetables on steep terraces in the mountains north of here \u2014 the type of terrain better suited for a donkey instead of a tractor.\n\nBut Ma, 80, who lives much the way his ancestors did, said his last donkey died in 2014, and he couldn't replace her. \u201cThere aren\u2019t any donkeys left,\u201d Ma said sadly. \u201cWe\u2019ve killed them all.\u201d\n\nChina is in the grip of a massive donkey shortage caused by soaring demand for e\u2019jiao \u2014 a traditional medicine made by boiling donkey skin. Demand for e\u2019jiao has doubled since 2010, hitting nearly 15 million pounds a year in 2015, according to the national e\u2019jiao association.\n\nThe substance was once affordable only by royalty, because one donkey yields 2.2 pounds of e'jiao.\n\nOnly 30 years ago, China had 11 million donkeys \u2014 the largest herd in the world \u2014 but the number has dwindled to between 3 million and 5 million, despite intensive breeding programs.\n\n\u201cThe e\u2019jiao trade is unsustainable in its current form,\u201d said Alex Mayers, with the British-based Donkey Sanctuary animal charity.\n\nIn late June, Botswana became the latest country to ban the export of donkey skins in response to reports of hundreds of animals being killed every week.\n\nE\u2019jiao makers, mostly based in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong, deny their product is causing the donkey shortage. They claim they are creating a new role for the animal in the modern world. They also say farmers in China and around the world can get rich by breeding donkeys for them.\n\n\u201cE\u2019jiao is one of traditional Chinese medicine's three great treasures, along with deer horn and ginseng,\u201d said Liu Guangyuan, vice chairman of China\u2019s largest e\u2019jiao producers, Dong\u2019e E\u2019jiao.\n\nE\u2019jiao's history is traced to at least the second century B.C. By the 19th century, a royal concubine named Ci Xi used the medicine to prevent her from miscarrying, and her son became emperor of China.\n\nToday the smelly, brown gelatin is marketed as a cure for dementia, infertility and respiratory problems, among other ailments. And the high price doesn\u2019t stop people from buying it. One block made in 2007 was valued at $47 a gram, more expensive than gold.\n\nChina has a long tradition of using rare and expensive animal parts in food and medicine: wine from tiger bones, soup from shark\u2019s fin and medicine from pangolin scales. China is also home to the world's largest ivory market, though the government has promised to close all carving factories and shops by the end of the year.\n\n\u201cWhy do the Chinese believe all the world's resources are theirs to ravage and destroy?\u201d asked Marjorie Farabee, of the Texas-based Wild Horse Freedom Federation. Her organization said American wild burros are illegally shipped to Mexico for slaughter and then sold to China.\n\nSome countries see opportunity in China\u2019s growing demand. Government officials from the Pakistani province where Osama bin Laden was killed recently visited Beijing to export donkeys along the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor \u2014 part of China's plan for a revived Silk Road.\n\nAlthough Pakistan is one of nine countries that banned the export of donkey skins for religious reasons, the province is offering to export about 80,000 live donkeys a year, said Asul Khan, deputy director of livestock and dairy development for the province.\n\n\u201cWith investment in breeding centers, we could export more,\u201d he added.\n\nPakistan implemented the ban on donkey skins because the mostly Muslim population feared the remaining meat could be passed off as beef and sold in markets. Donkey meat is forbidden in most Muslim cultures.\n\nThere is another reason for the donkey shortage besides the high demand: They aren't very fertile.\n\nDonkeys are pregnant for up to 14 months, females tend to give birth to one foal at a time, and most are needed for work, so owners don\u2019t let them breed. That's why there are only 44 million donkeys worldwide.\n\nChina may be consuming donkeys faster than they can be replaced.\n\nWhen Tanzania banned donkey slaughters in May, the minister of agriculture, livestock and fisheries, Charles Tizeba, told parliament the animal was facing \u201cextinction\u201d without action.\n\nEthiopia introduced a ban this year and is currently battling to shut down two Chinese-owned slaughterhouses after local protests. In Niger, one of five other African nations with bans in place, the price of a donkey rose four-fold to $145, as Chinese buyers moved in.\n\nIn China, donkeys are being stolen from farmers like Ma. Many of China\u2019s 300 million farmers still rely on animal labor to plow fields, carry crops to market or grind maize, especially in poor or mountainous areas. As a result, donkeys are often considered like a member of the family.\n\n\u201cThe value of keeping a donkey far outweighs the temporary benefit of selling one for its skin,\u201d said Mayers of Donkey Sanctuary.", "output": "Demand for e'jiao, a traditional medicine made by boiling donkey skin, has caused a shortage of donkeys in China. Sales of e'jiao doubled within five years to reach 15 million pounds a year in 2010, according to China's e'jiao association. Following this rise in demand, the number of donkeys in the country has fallen to between three and five million, compared with the 11 million it had 30 years ago. Makers of e\u2019jiao deny responsibility for the shortage, claiming instead to provide the animal with a place in modern society.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon incentivises creators to use its video platform \n Amazon wants video publishers and creators to distribute their work on its streaming platform. And it\u2019s providing free marketing and technical support \u2014 and in some cases, financial incentives \u2014 to make that happen.\n\nVideo publishers and creators have two primary ways to self-distribute on Amazon Prime: the Amazon Video Direct program, which allows publishers of all sizes to upload videos to the Prime subscription platform (as well as sell it directly through the Prime video store); and the Amazon Channels program, which allows media companies to sell their subscription services as add-on channels. Both are proving to be early revenue drivers for participants.\n\nIn addition to new revenue, Amazon is also providing internal support for its partners. The company has teams dedicated to both programs, with reps assigned to assisting publishing partners. (Amazon declined to specify the size of these teams.)\n\nWithin the Amazon Channels program, Amazon is taking on a lot of the marketing and infrastructure costs that go into building and maintaining a streaming video channel. Publishers can advertise their channels, but Amazon will regularly promote different subscription channels or video titles across its platform, including Amazon.com and IMDb.\n\n\u201cIt starts as a distribution relationship, but out of that it evolves as we develop and define different marketing and strategic partnerships,\u201d said Mark Garner, svp of distribution and digital content licensing for A+E Networks.\n\nAmazon also integrates the channels that Prime customers have subscribed to within the Prime user interface. For instance, if a Prime customer has subscribed to Cinedigm\u2019s Docurama \u2014 which focuses on documentary films and nonfiction shows \u2014 they will see titles from the channel right underneath featured films and shows, new releases and Amazon\u2019s own original series.\n\n\u201cIt puts the channels right in the midst of when someone is browsing through Prime,\u201d said Erick Opeka, evp of digital networks for Cinedigm, which sells three subscription channels on Prime. \u201cIt\u2019s not like you\u2019re subscribed to a channel and unless you go into the app, you forget about it. Amazon\u2019s designed it so that you\u2019re constantly reminded that you\u2019re a subscriber.\u201d\n\nFor streaming channel partners, Amazon is also removing the burden of billing and the tech and infrastructure costs that go into building and maintaining dozens (or hundreds) of apps for different streaming TV devices.\n\n\u201cCurrently, when customers want to watch a show, they must navigate through multiple apps or subscribe to large cable TV packages, requiring multiple accounts and extra work to find what they want,\u201d said Rich Au, head of content acquisition for the Amazon Channels program, in a statement. \u201cSpecific to our partners, Amazon Channels is unique in that we\u2019re handling all of the billing and customer service for them, as well as managing compatibility across hundreds of devices.\u201d\n\nFor its work, Amazon takes a cut of subscription dollars generated through its program. As sources have previously told Digiday, the deals vary, with Amazon typically taking 30-40 percent of subscription channel revenue.\n\n\u201cBecause they\u2019re leveraging their existing customer base, we don\u2019t have any operational costs of running and maintaining an app,\u201d said Opeka. \u201cThe one downside is that you do lose that direct relationship with the customer, but the revenue potential and the ease with which you can access new customers outweigh the risks, especially in the early stages when you\u2019re trying to grow subscribers.\u201d\n\nThe Video Direct self-distribution program is a big initiative for Amazon as it looks to recruit more digital publishers and video creators to distribute through Prime. And any time a platform is out with a big initiative, it goes on a charm offensive \u2014 just look at how Amazon is working with publishers on Amazon Echo.\n\nWithin Video Direct, publishing partners have landing pages for all of their uploaded videos. Individual titles and themed collections are also regularly featured within the regular Prime browsing experience \u2014 amped up by an algorithm that delivers suggestions based on the user\u2019s preferences and viewing history. This can help older videos find new life: A 10-episode short-form series comedy studio Jash produced with actress Jenny Slate in 2013 was uploaded to Amazon last summer and became one of the top-performing digital series on Prime \u2014 right around the time \u201cThe Secret Life of Pets\u201d (starring Slate) was in theaters.\n\nFor Video Direct partners, Amazon also makes additional money available through a $1 million monthly bonus pool, which pays out to media partners based on the top-performing titles during that month.\n\n\u201cRevenue per view, especially if you\u2019re a bonus performer, can be much higher and above and beyond what you\u2019re making on YouTube,\u201d said one longtime YouTube creator.\n\nOne area Amazon can improve is in providing deeper analytics. For both the Amazon Channels and Video Direct programs, Amazon provides a dashboard with reports on subscribers, number of minutes streamed per title and projected revenue.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not nearly as robust as YouTube in visualizing analytics and being able to get more granular with the data,\u201d said the YouTube creator. \u201cYou also can\u2019t do comparative analysis [against other Video Direct partners or platform-wide benchmarks] at this point.\u201d\n\nStill, Video Direct partners describe channel reps as being more responsive and supportive than some other platforms.\n\n\u201cThey will send regular updates with tips to improve performance; they\u2019ll include us in their initiatives and look to prop us up by inviting us to go speak on panels with them at Sundance,\u201d said Mickey Meyer, co-founder of the Sarah Silverman-backed Jash. \u201cThey have been, more so than YouTube and some others, out to help us.\u201d", "output": "Amazon is calling on all its resources to encourage marketers to advertise on its Amazon Prime streaming platforms, Video Direct and Channels. It will\u00a0shoulder the infrastructure costs of creating and maintaining a video channel, as well as offering a monetary reward\u00a0to the top-performing titles,\u00a0while taking\u00a0a 30-40% cut of subscription revenue. \"The one downside is that you do lose that direct relationship with the customer, but the revenue potential and the ease with which you can access new customers outweigh the risks\", said\u00a0Erick Opeka, EVP\u00a0of digital networks for Cinedigm."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesla to build two or three more US Gigafactories \n Tesla will open '2 or 3' more Gigafactories in the US It has to keep up with electric car demand on its home turf.\n\nIt's no secret that Tesla wants to open Gigafactories around the world to keep up with demand for electric cars and storage batteries, but how many of those will open in the US? Now we know: Elon Musk has confirmed that \"2 or 3\" additional factories will open in the US over the \"next few years.\" He's not offering a firm timetable, to no one's surprise (the first factory isn't even finished yet), but the news makes it clearer than ever that Tesla expects plenty of demand.\n\nMusk was definitely strategic with the announcement. He was speaking in front of the National Governors Association, which is full of politicians looking for economic opportunities -- he's no doubt hoping that governors will jockey for a Gigafactory (and offer incentives) in their state. At the same time, though, it may be a realistic forecast. Musk expects most new cars in the US to be EVs within 10 years, and to virtually dominate the market in 20. If Tesla doesn't have enough factories in place, it risks losing business as electric transportation hits the mainstream.\n\nThe talk also saw Musk weigh in on a few other topics. He's not opposed to self-driving car regulations, but he believes they should expire as technology evolves. Also, he believes that car security is a high priority. He notes that Tesla cars already have \"special encryption\" that protects vital systems like the powertrain and brakes, and he's entertaining the idea of a kill switch (of sorts) that no hacker could touch. Don't count on governors heeding his regulatory advice, but it won't be surprising if future Teslas are better-equipped to deal with online threats.", "output": "Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that he will open \"two or three\" Gigafactories in the US over the next few years, but refused to be drawn on details. Musk anticipates most new cars in the US to be electric vehicles (EVs) within a decade, and EVs to virtually dominate the market in 20 years, prompting the need for a network of global Gigafactories to keep up with demand for batteries."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MIT develops shuttlecock robot for pipe maintenance \n The expansive webs of pipeline that sprawl beneath many of the world's urban areas serve as a literal lifeline for thirsty inhabitants, but we don't often think about how much is going to waste. According to MIT, an average of 20 percent of the water flowing through today's distribution systems is lost to holes along its journey, so researchers are developing a small robot that can be deposited through a fire hydrant to hunt out the leaks.\n\nThe robot is called PipeGuard and resembles a large shuttlecock. Attached to the robot's rubber body, where the feathers would be, is a soft rubber skirt that expands to fill the diameter of a pipe. This then detects variations in pressure caused by a leak, by continually sensing the degree of pull at its edges.\n\nThis robot can be inserted into the pipe system through any fire hydrant, where the flow of water carries it along its merry way as it logs its position in the pipe and detects small variations in pressure, thanks to its sensitive rubber skirt. Then at the end of its journey, it can be retrieved with a net through another fire hydrant and its data can be retrieved.\n\nMIT's pipe-inspecting robot is called PipeGuard\n\nThe team carried out field tests in Saudi Arabia earlier this yet, using a mile-long (1.6 km) piece of two-inch thick (5 cm) rusty pipe. The researchers created an artificial leak for the robot to find as its made its way through bends, T-joints and connections. The team reports that the robot was able to detect the leak successfully, and was able to tell it apart from false alarms resulting from changes in the pipe size, orientation or other pressure variations.\n\n\"We put the robot in from one joint, and took it out from the other,\" says MIT graduate student You Wu, who helped developed the robot. \"We tried it 14 times over three days, and it completed the inspection every time. What's more, it found a leak that was about one gallon per minute, which is one-tenth the minimum size that conventional detection methods can find on average, and a third as large as those systems can find under even the best of conditions.\"\n\nWe have seen a number of robotic solutions to this problem of leaky pipes over the years. One example is a Japanese sinuous robot that livestreams video from inside, while another articulated version uses propellors to move through the pipes. But MIT's solution does appear to have a very useful advantage (further to its passive design), in that its rubber skirt has the ability to expand to pipes of various sizes, like an umbrella.\n\nThis would involve developing a new collapsible version, so the robot can easily transition to wider and narrower settings. This could prove particularly useful in Boston, the team notes, where the water distribution system is made up of a mix of pipes measuring six, eight and 12 inches wide (15, 20 and 30 cm).\n\nBut first, the team will carry out further field tests in Mexico this year, where PipeGuard will navigate 12-inch concrete water pipes beneath Monterrey. This city loses an estimated 40 percent of its water supply to leaks each year, according to MIT, which amounts to around US$80 million in lost revenue.\n\nFurther down the track, the team says the robot could be adapted to service gas pipes as well, and even be improved upon to not just detect small leaks, but carry out repairs on the spot.\n\nSource: MIT", "output": "Researchers at MIT have developed a robot named PipeGuard that resembles a large shuttlecock, and is used to discover leaks in pipes. Using the \"skirt\" at the bottom of the robot's body, the robot is able to sense variations in pressure in pipes caused by leaks. It is expected that that robot could be adapted to service gas pipes, and carry out repairs."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US remains top of wish list for China\u2019s emigrating millionaires \n Half of Chinese millionaires are considering moving overseas, and the U.S. remains their favorite destination, according to a new survey.\n\n\n\nAmong Chinese millionaires with a net worth of more than $1.5 million, half either plan to or are considering moving abroad, according to a survey from Hurun Report in association with Visas Consulting Group. The survey suggests that the flow of wealthy Chinese and Chinese fortunes into U.S. homes and buildings is likely to continue, helping demand and prices in certain real estate markets \u2014 especially in the U.S.\n\n\n\nThe U.S. remains the most popular destination for wealthy Chinese moving their families and fortunes abroad, according to the report. Canada ranks second, overtaking the U.K., which had ranked second but now ranks third. Australia comes in at fourth.\n\n\n\nThe favorite city for wealthy Chinese moving to the U.S. is Los Angeles, while Seattle ranks second followed by San Francisco. New York ranked fourth.\n\n\n\nWhen asked for their main reasons for moving abroad, education was the top reason, followed by the \"living environment.\"\n\n\n\n\"Education and pollution are driving China's rich to emigrate,\" said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report. \"If China can solve these issues, then the primary incentive to emigrate will have been taken away.\"\n\n\n\nYet the fear of a falling Chinese currency is also driving many rich Chinese \u2014 and their money \u2014 abroad. Fully 84 percent of Chinese millionaires are concerned about the devaluation of the yuan, up from 50 percent last year. Half are worried about the exchange rate of the dollar, foreign exchange controls and property bubbles in China.\n\n\n\nSo far, the Trump administration's restrictions on immigration have not touched the EB-5 program, a favorite of wealthy Chinese that allows them a path to citizenship in the U.S. in exchange for an investment in property of $500,000. Yet 27 percent of wealthy Chinese said waiting times are the biggest hindrance to overseas immigration.\n\n\n\nOver 60 percent of wealthy Chinese are \"optimistic\" about China's economic development, but only 22 percent said that China's \"high-speed development will continue and 44 percent said it will slow down.", "output": "Half of China's millionaires with a net worth over $1.5m are considering moving overseas, according to a survey from the\u00a0Huron Report in association with Visa. The US is\u00a0particularly attractive, with Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco and New York at the top of the wish list, followed by Canada, the UK and Australia. This\u00a0suggests that the Chinese and their money may continue to support demand and prices in those real estate markets. Education, pollution, concerns over yuan depreciation, and increased regulation are said to be primary drivers behind China's rich looking to emigrate, said the report."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus [2]: Two MiamiCentral to have Regus as a tenant when it opens this fall \n The parent company of All Aboard Florida (AAF) this summer will open the first of two office buildings at MiamiCentral, an 11-acre mixed-use development that will include a train station for AAF\u2019s Brightline rail service.\n\nFlorida East Coast Industries is developing a standalone office building called Three MiamiCentral and another office building called Two MiamiCentral that will be connected to the train station.\n\nThree MiamiCentral, expected to open by the end of summer, will have 100,000 square feet of office space, including 18,000 square feet that the Brightline rail service will occupy.\n\nSign Up for the undefined Newsletter SIGN UP By signing up, you agree to TheRealDeal Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.\n\nTwo MiamiCentral, expected to open in fall, will have 190,000 square feet of office space and a group of tenants including Ernst & Young and Regus, a provider of shared office space.\n\nThe Cisneros media company will occupy the two top floors of the 10-story Two MiamiCentral office building, and general contractor Moss & Associates will lease space on the seventh floor. Venevision International Enterprises, Fortress Investment Group and Florida East Coast Industries will occupy offices in the building, too.\n\nRental rates are $33 to $35 per square foot, triple net, at Two MiamiCentral and $29 per square foot at Three MiamiCentral. [Daily Business Review] \u2013 Mike Seemuth", "output": "The 190,000 sq ft of office space in Florida East Coast Industries' 10-storey Two MiamiCentral building is expected to open this fall with tenants including Regus, Ernst & Young, Florida East Coast Industries itself an others. The building will be connected to a\u00a0train station,\u00a0which is part of the 11-acre mixed-use development and will be served by All Aboard Florida's (a subsidiary of Florida East Coast Industries) Brightline rail service.\u00a0The separate Three MiamiCentral is expected to open earlier. Rental rates for Two MiamiCentral are $33 to $35 per square foot, triple net.\u00a0\n\n\u00a0\n\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Biggest US pharma lobby keeps healthcare reform views to itself \n Stephen Ubl of PhRMA took no formal position on the Republican health care bill making its way through Congress \u2014 in contrast to other major players in the health industry, like the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association and the AARP.\n\nPBS NewsHour Anchor Judy Woodruff interviewed Ubl on Friday at the 2017 Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colorado.\n\nOne of the nation\u2019s most powerful lobbying organizations, PhRMA advocates for major pharmaceutical research companies on Capitol Hill. Ubl\u2019s predecessor, John Castellani, retired in 2015 after leading the company for five years.\n\nPhRMA has taken no formal position on the Senate\u2019s version of the American Health Care Act that was released this week and awaits analysis from the Congressional Budget Office. Ubl said the organization remains \u201cvery engaged\u201d in developing the legislation. But he did say the Senate bill from Republicans gives \u201cmore autonomy for states to shape their insurance market\u201d and added he wants to \u201cmake sure that patients have treatment and access to major cures our industry is developing.\u201d\n\nThe organization\u2019s members include Purdue Pharma and Allergan. Two decades ago, Purdue launched oxycontin, the prescription opioid that proved highly addictive. In May 2017, the state of Ohio sued these companies, alleging that they continued to sell these drugs even after evidence emerged that opioids were powerfully addictive and linked to a rising number of overdose deaths. This week, Missouri launched a similar lawsuit that included Purdue Pharma.\n\nSpeaking on behalf of himself and the industry, Ubl said \u201cno one trivializes the crisis that we\u2019re facing in this country around opioids.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a multifactorial problem and all stakeholders really need to be engaged in the solution,\u201d Ubl said. We have a role to play, and we\u2019ll be engaged with other stakeholders towards that end.\u201d\n\nAmid debate about the nation\u2019s rising drug prices, Ubl acknowledged that prescription drug prices spiked in recent years due to \u201canomalous factors,\u201d such as Medicaid expansion, FDA approval of a record number of drugs and the introduction of a new Hepatitis C cure. Pointing to estimates that drug spending will go up between 4 and 6 percent over the next two decades, Ubl suggested that the worst in escalating drug prices may be behind us: \u201cThe python sort of digested the tennis ball.\u201d\n\nPhRMA still stands by the position that the law should not be changed to allow the government to negotiate Medicare drug prices.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s much better to move in the direction of negotiations in the private sector between our members and plans,\u201d Ubl said.\n\nAs an example, he pointed to the United Kingdom\u2019s health care system, saying ultimately, \u201cWhat you find is that patients have less access to novel therapies, and we think that would be a movement in the wrong direction.\u201d\n\nPhRMA has pushed back against efforts to control rising drug prices. In 2015, then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton proposed limits to escalating prescription drug costs. In response, the lobbying group warned that if her plan was implemented, people would lose their jobs, and innovation in prescription therapies for Alzheimer\u2019s, and cancer would spiral downward.", "output": "PhRMA took no formal position on the Senate's American Health Care Act that was released this week. However, the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association and the AARP have condemned the bill. PhRMA is very engaged in developing the legislation, said the pharmaceutical lobby's CEO, Stephen Ubl. By repealing Obamacare, the Senate gives states more control of their insurance market, he added. PhRMA maintains that the law should not be changed to allow the government to negotiate the price for Medicare drugs.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurers slam Ted Cruz health insurance proposal \n Big players in the insurance industry, which has mostly held back public criticism of the GOP\u2019s Obamacare repeal push, eviscerated a Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)-sponsored provision that was included in the latest version of the Senate legislation.\n\n\u201cIt is simply unworkable in any form and would undermine protections for those with pre-existing medical conditions, increase premiums and lead to widespread terminations of coverage for people currently enrolled in the individual market,\u201d Blue Cross Blue Shield and America\u2019s Health Insurance Plans said Friday in a rare joint letter to Senate leaders.\n\nThe Cruz proposal, known as the \u201cConsumer Freedom Option,\u201d would allow insurers to sell plans that would be free of many Affordable Care Act mandates if they were also selling Obamacare-compliant plans.\n\nInsurers and outside health experts had already been raising their concerns with the idea when it was being discussed in the abstract, warning the it segment the market between healthy people choosing the non-compliant plans and sick people the comprehensive ACA ones. The insurers upped their complaints in the letter Friday.\n\n\u201cThis would allow the new plans to \u2018cherry pick\u2019 only healthy people from the existing market making coverage unaffordable for the millions of people who need or want comprehensive coverage, including, for example, coverage for prescription drugs and mental health services,\u201d the insurers said.\n\nIt had been an open question whether Senate GOP leaders would include the amendment in the base legislation they unveiled Thursday, with Cruz promising he would vote against it if it was not.\n\nThe Cruz language in the latest bill was placed in brackets to signify that it was still a work in progress, Senate aides said.\n\nThe insurers also bashed the details of the proposal that became clear after it was unveiled, including an apparent attempt of have the non-compliant plans and the ACA plans share a single risk pool.\n\n\u201cThat is not the case. The Consumer Freedom Option establishes a \u2018single risk pool\u2019 in name only. In fact, it creates two systems of insurance for healthy and sick people,\u201d the insurers said.\n\nThey said that the $70 billion added to the new draft to offset premium increases for the sick \u201cis insufficient and additional funding will not make the provision workable for consumers or taxpayers.\u201d\n\nThey went on to predict that the proposal \u201cwill lead to far fewer, if any, coverage options for consumers who purchase their plan in the individual market.\u201d\n\n\u201cAs a result, millions of more individuals will become uninsured,\u201d the letter said.\n\nOne more GOP defection from the legislation, which already has two Senate Republican opponents, would kill it even before the Senate could advance it procedurally, in a vote slated for this coming week.\n\nAfter the initial vote is taken to advance legislation, there will be an amendments process where the Cruz proposal could be struck, as insurers are urging. The parliamentarian may also find it violates Senate rules concerning the process the GOP is using to push the legislation.\n\nRead the full Blue Cross Blue Shield/AHIP letter below:", "output": "US health insurance giants Blue Cross Blue Shield and America\u2019s Health Insurance Plans have poured scorn on a provision, sponsored by Republican senator Ted Cruz, for the party's beleaguered health bill. The provision, known as the Consumer Freedom Option, would allow insurers to sell plans that did not carry the Affordable Care Act mandates, as long as they carried Obamacare-compliant plans too. In a rare joint letter to Senate leaders, the insurers said Cruz's proposal \"creates two systems of insurance for healthy and sick people\", and called it \"simply unworkable in any form\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurers struggle to estimate exposure to cyber-related losses \n LONDON (Reuters) - A major, global cyber attack could trigger an average of US$53 billion (S$72.6 billion) of economic losses, a figure on par with a catastrophic natural disaster such as US Superstorm Sandy in 2012, Lloyd's of London said in a report on Monday (July 17).\n\nThe report, co-written with risk-modeling firm Cyence, examined potential economic losses from the hypothetical hacking of a cloud service provider and cyber attacks on computer operating systems run by businesses worldwide.\n\nInsurers are struggling to estimate their potential exposure to cyber-related losses amid mounting cyber risks and interest in cyber insurance. A lack of historical data on which insurers can base assumptions is a key challenge.\n\n\"Because cyber is virtual, it is such a difficult task to understand how it will accumulate in a big event,\" Lloyd's of London Chief Executive Inga Beale told Reuters.\n\nEconomic costs in the hypothetical cloud provider attack dwarf the US$8 billion global cost of the \"WannaCry\" ransomware attack in May, which spread to more than 100 countries, according to Cyence.\n\nEconomic costs typically include business interruptions and computer repairs.\n\nThe Lloyd's report follows a US government warning to industrial firms about a hacking campaign targeting the nuclear and energy sectors.\n\nIn June, an attack of a virus dubbed \"NotPetya\" spread from infections in Ukraine to businesses around the globe. It encrypted data on infected machines, rendering them inoperable and disrupted activity at ports, law firms and factories.\n\n\"NotPetya\" caused US$850 million in economic costs, Cyence said.\n\nIn the hypothetical cloud service attack in the Lloyd's-Cyence scenario, hackers inserted malicious code into a cloud provider's software that was designed to trigger system crashes among users a year later.\n\nBy then, the malware would have spread among the provider's customers, from financial services companies to hotels, causing all to lose income and incur other expenses.\n\nAverage economic losses caused by such a disruption could range from $4.6 billion to $53 billion for large to extreme events. But actual losses could be as high as $121 billion, the report said.\n\nAs much as US$45 billion of that sum may not be covered by cyber policies due to companies underinsuring, the report said.\n\nAverage losses for a scenario involving a hacking of operating systems ranged from US$9.7 billion to US$28.7 billion.\n\nLloyd's has a 20 per cent to 25 per cent share of the US$2.5 billion cyber insurance market, Beale said in June.", "output": "While interest in cyber-insurance grows along with cyber risks, lack of historical data is making it difficult for insurers to estimate exposure to cyber-related losses. A large-scale cyber-attack could result in an average economic loss of $53bn, equivalent to the cost of a natural catastrophe, according to a report from Lloyd's of London and risk-modelling firm Cyence. However, actual losses from a major event, like a hypothetical cloud service attack used in a Lloyd's-Cyence scenario, could be much higher - up to $121bn, $45bn of which might not be covered by cyber policies of under-insured companies."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Largest US doctors' lobby criticises latest healthcare plan \n WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The Latest on the health care bill in the Senate (all times local):\n\nMitch McConnell. Alex Wong/Getty Images\n\nWASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The nation's largest doctors' group says the new Republican health care bill falls short on coverage and access, particularly for low-income people on Medicaid.\n\nThe American Medical Association says in a statement that the Senate bill \"does not address the key concerns of physicians and patients.\"\n\nThe group says Medicaid cuts and what it calls \"inadequate subsidies\" will lead to \"millions of Americans losing health insurance coverage.\"\n\nThe AMA says GOP leaders took a \"positive step\" by adding $45 billion for treatment to help victims of the opioid epidemic. But the AMA says people dealing with addiction also need regular health insurance, and many would lose it if Republicans succeed in rolling back Medicaid financing.\n\nThe group is calling for bipartisan cooperation, starting with action to shore up shaky insurance markets.\n\nPresident Donald Trump is urging fellow Republicans to approve a health care plan in the Senate.\n\nIt \"must happen,\" he says in a Trump while in Paris.\n\nHe says Republican senators are working hard to \"get their failed ObamaCare replacement approved\" and says he'll \"be at my desk, pen in hand!\"\n\nThe president says it's important for Republicans under Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to pass the legislation and \"come through as they have promised.\" He's crediting Vice President Mike Pence for working to get GOP senators \"to do what is right for the people.\"\n\nA woman protests against the Republican healthcare bill in Utah on June 27. Rick Bowmer/AP\n\nTrump's pressure comes as McConnell's revised plan faces opposition from some in his own party.\n\nRepublican leaders have revised their health care bill in an increasingly desperate effort to deliver on seven years of promises to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama's health law.\n\nThey immediately lost two key votes, leaving none to spare as the party's own divisions put its top campaign pledge in serious jeopardy.\n\nPresident Donald Trump has said that failure would make him \"very angry\" and that he'd blame Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.\n\nThe reworked bill McConnell presented to fellow Republicans on Thursday aims to win conservatives' support by letting insurers sell low-cost, skimpy policies.\n\nHe's seeking to placate hesitant moderates by adding billions to combat opioid abuse and help consumers with skyrocketing insurance costs.\n\nBut it's not clear whether McConnell has achieved the delicate balance he needs.", "output": "The American Medical Association (AMA), the country's largest doctors' group, has said that the reworked Republican health bill \"does not address the key concerns of physicians and patients\", and will lead to \"millions of Americans losing health insurance coverage.\" The AMA did have praise for the $45m for treatment of opioid addiction, and called for bipartisan cooperation to shore up the \"shaky insurance markets\". Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has come under pressure to deliver a vote on the bill, and President Donald Trump said he would blame McConnell if the legislation failed again.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "PeopleGrove raises $1.8m for student mentorship platform \n PEOPLEGROVE, a San Francisco-based startup behind an online mentorship platform for students and working professionals, has raised $1.8 million in a seed round led by Reach Capital. Other investors include Bisk Ventures, Collaborative Fund, Floodgate, GSV, Launch Capital, RiverPark Ventures and University Ventures. PeopleGrove has now raised $2.5 million total.\n\nFounded in 2015, PeopleGrove aims to help connect students with coaches and advisors for career advice and expand their professional networks. The platform offers a directory of mentors along with scheduling, reporting and video chat tools. According to its fundraise announcement, the company claims users in large public higher-ed institutions including Kansas State University, Penn State University, and University of Michigan.\n\nDisclosure: Reach Capital and GSV are investors in EdSurge", "output": "San Francisco-based start-up PeopleGrove has raised $1.8m in a seed round led by Reach Capital and featuring participation from Bisk Ventures, Floodgate, Collaborative Fund and GSV, among others. PeopleGrove's site helps bring together students and coaches and advisers for career advice and to expand their professional networks, and has a user base\u00a0at Kansas State University, Penn State University\u00a0and the University of Michigan.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK think tank urges rail firms to ensure good disabled\u00a0access \n The protection of human rights has been a defining and fundamental part of British society for centuries. However, among a significant proportion of the population, human rights currently have a bad reputation, especially among Conservative voters, decision makers, and opinion formers.\n\n\n\nBright Blue\u2019s human rights project, so far, has explored how conservatives can think about human rights in a positive way that draws on conservative traditions of individual freedom and empowerment\n\n\n\nBut, crucial to the modern debate about human rights, is also the issue of tackling discrimination. Discrimination is, like the abuse of human rights, an unjustified barrier to individual freedom. Our project has therefore given significant attention to measures designed to tackle discrimination.\n\n\n\nTackling discrimination should be comfortable territory for Conservatives; unfair barriers that prevent humans from flourishing should be removed. Indeed, tackling discrimination has been a significant focus for the current Conservative Government, with the Prime Minister highlighting the \u201cburning injustices\u201d that prevent people from certain social groups succeeding.\n\n", "output": "Rail operators that fail to make their services accessible to customers with disabilities should be divested of franchises, according to a report from Conservative think tank Bright Blue. The report includes approximately 70 recommendations relating to human rights and discrimination after Brexit. Other suggestions include the classification of offences resulting from misogyny as hate crimes, increased police diversity and the sacking of chief police officers if stop and search numbers are not reduced. The report also recommends gender-blind recruitment for the civil service and the scrapping of employers\u00a0national insurance contributions for disabled workers earning less than \u00a3850 per week.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK think tank urges rail firms to ensure good disabled\u00a0access \n Rail operators should be stripped of franchises if they fail to meet standards for making their services accessible for disabled people, a Conservative thinktank has argued in a report outlining a vision for human rights after Brexit.\n\nIt is among about 70 recommendations connected to discrimination and rights in a publication by Bright Blue, an influential voice for liberal Tory ideas, which argues the UK should not neglect such policies once it leaves the EU.\n\nBright Blue also suggests all police services should classify offences instigated by misogyny as hate crimes; they should be forced to take positive action so that their workforce \u201cmirrors the ethnic makeup of their communities they serve\u201d; it should be a criminal offence to breach a domestic violence protection order; and the Home Office should sack chief police officers if their force fails to reduce the number of stop and searches.\n\nThe year-long inquiry, which also argues Britain should remain in the European court of human rights (ECHR) after Brexit, was advised by a five-strong panel, including three former Tory ministers, Maria Miller, Dominic Grieve and Caroline Spelman.\n\n\n\nThe authors argue that as Theresa May has repeatedly stated her commitment to social reform, it is important for her government to take a lead on such issues as Brexit approaches.\n\n\u201cBritain is the home of human rights and a global force for good,\u201d said Ryan Shorthouse, the director of Bright Blue and one of the report\u2019s two authors. \u201cAfter Brexit, Britain should not just be a global leader in free trade, but in human rights, too.\u201d\n\nThe recommendations cover general human rights and areas of discrimination including gender, race, sexuality and disability.\n\n\n\nThe report says the government should create a set of minimum requirements for access at railway stations and on board trains, including step-free access, staff at stations, audio announcements and visual display boards.\n\nThese should be written into future rail operator agreements, Bright Blue says, suggesting companies who failed to meet them could risk losing their franchises.\n\nThe report says all companies should be given an incentive to employ people with disabilities by the scrapping of employers national insurance contributions for such workers if they earn less than about \u00a3850 a week.\n\nShortly after she took power, May announced what she called an audit on how people from minority ethnic groups interact with public services, including the police, but it emerged last week this would be delayed until the autumn.\n\nThe Bright Blue report urges a series of measures to improve police relations with minority ethnic communities, including government-mandated \u201cpositive action in the recruitment of police officers\u201d, overseen by a police diversity champion.\n\nIt wants ministers to give the Home Office powers to oblige police forces to show annual declines in the numbers of stop and search operations. \u201cThe Home Office should have the power to remove the relevant chief police officer if certain targets are not met,\u201d the report says.\n\nOn gender issues, the author recommend a complete ban on the detention of pregnant women, the classification of misogyny-based offences as hate crimes and imposing \u201cgender-blind recruitment procedures\u201d on all civil service jobs.\n\nIt says staff should have the right to request flexible working as soon as they begin a job, instead of having to wait six months, and argues that expectant mothers should be given the right to paid leave for antenatal appointments.\n\nOn improving equality for LGBT people, the thinktank says all schools should have anonymous online systems to report bullying and the government should set up a new kitemark scheme for employers rating their work in LGBT rights.\n\n\n\nA final section that covers championing human rights overseas recommends that, in a post-Brexit world, the Department for International Trade should ensure that any new trade deals include \u201cobligations to improve human rights in the partner countries\u201d where possible.\n\nSuch ideas should be key to government thinking in a future for the UK outside the European Union, the report says, noting that some of the Conservative scepticism towards human rights issues is down to \u201cfrustrations over the supremacy and interference\u201d of the ECHR.\n\n\u201cBritain is the home of human rights. However, among a significant proportion of the population, human rights currently have a bad reputation, especially among Conservative voters,\u201d the report says. \u201cNonetheless, human rights are and should be a vital part of the thinking of British conservatives, especially when authoritarianism is gaining in popularity across the western world.\u201d\n\nThe Tory MP panel members, who, the report stresses, do not necessarily endorse every suggestion, said it was time for a serious discussion about such issues.\n\nGrieve said: \u201cAt a time when we are moving towards Brexit, it is of particular importance that the UK should be at the forefront of promoting human rights, an area where we are seen to have already made a major contribution that has benefitted all humanity.\u201d\n\nCommenting on the gender equality element, Miller said recent workplace changes \u201chave not always translated into improvements for British mums\u201d.\n\n\n\nShe said: \u201cOver the past 10 years, levels of maternity related discrimination have doubled and some pregnant working women now don\u2019t even have the right to paid leave to attend antenatal medical appointments to safeguard their baby\u2019s health.\n\n\u201cThese recommendations from Bright Blue could help reshape attitudes toward pregnant women at work and create a long overdue culture change which better reflects this country\u2019s laws, values and beliefs.\u201d", "output": "Rail operators that fail to make their services accessible to customers with disabilities should be divested of franchises, according to a report from Conservative think tank Bright Blue. The report includes approximately 70 recommendations relating to human rights and discrimination after Brexit. Other suggestions include the classification of offences resulting from misogyny as hate crimes, increased police diversity and the sacking of chief police officers if stop and search numbers are not reduced. The report also recommends gender-blind recruitment for the civil service and the scrapping of employers\u00a0national insurance contributions for disabled workers earning less than \u00a3850 per week.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers use genome therapy for blood disorder treatment \n Credit: CC0 Public Domain\n\nGenome therapy with beneficial natural mutation could lead to new treatment for life-threatening blood disorders\n\nBy introducing a beneficial natural mutation into blood cells using the gene-editing technique CRISPR, a UNSW Sydney-led team of scientists has been able to switch on production of foetal haemoglobin - an advance that could eventually lead to a cure for sickle cell anaemia and other blood disorders.\n\nPeople with thalassaemia or sickle cell anaemia have damaged adult haemoglobin - the vital molecule that picks up oxygen in the lungs and transports it around the body - and they require life-long treatment with blood transfusions and medication.\n\nHowever, people with these diseases who also carry the beneficial natural mutation - known as British-198 - have reduced symptoms, because the mutation switches on the foetal haemoglobin gene that is normally turned off after birth.\n\nThe extra foetal haemoglobin in their blood, which has a very strong affinity for oxygen, does the work of the defective adult haemoglobin.\n\n\"With CRISPR gene-editing we can now precisely cut and alter single genes within our vast genome,\" says study senior author and UNSW molecular biologist Professor Merlin Crossley.\n\n\"Our laboratory has shown that introducing the beneficial mutation British-198 into blood cells using this technology substantially boosts their production of foetal haemoglobin.\n\n\"Because this mutation already exists in nature and is benign, this 'organic gene therapy' approach should be effective and safe to use to treat, and possibly cure, serious blood disorders. However, more research is still needed before it can be tested in people,\" he says.\n\nThe study by scientists from UNSW, the Japanese Red Cross Society and the RIKEN BioResource Centre in Japan, is published in the journal Blood.\n\nThe beneficial British-198 mutation, which was first identified in a large British family in 1974, involves a change in just a single letter of the genetic code.\n\nCarriers of this mutation have foetal haemoglobins levels as high as 20 per cent of total haemoglobin, while most people's foetal haemoglobin levels fall to about 1 per cent of total haemoglobin after birth.\n\nThe researchers also discovered how this British-198 mutation works. They found it creates a new binding site for a protein called KLF1 that turns blood genes on.\n\nMutations affecting adult haemoglobin production are among the most common of all genetic variations, with about 5 per cent of the world's population carrying a defective gene.\n\n\"To turn the new gene editing approach into a therapy for blood disorders, the British-198 mutation would have to be introduced into blood-forming stem cells from the patient,\" says Professor Crossley.\n\n\"A large number of stem cells would have to be edited in order to repopulate the patients' blood with genetically enhanced cells.\"\n\nMore information: Beeke Wienert et al, KLF1 drives the expression of fetal hemoglobin in British HPFH, Blood (2017). DOI: 10.1182/blood-2017-02-767400 Journal information: Blood", "output": "A team of scientists at the University of New South Wales has discovered a gene therapy that could cure fatal blood disorders. Using Crispr, a recent breakthrough in gene editing techniques, the team was able to stimulate the release of foetal haemoglobin in blood cells that replaced defective adult haemoglobin. Crispr allows scientists to accurately cut the human genome, thereby creating specific desired effects in the human body. If the technique could be used to incite a large number of stem cells to create foetal haemoglobin, an effective therapy for conditions such as sickle cell anaemia could be formulated."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hospitals cut back on giving after securing charitable status \n But in many cases, top hospitals\u2019 community benefit spending has remained flat or declined since the ACA took effect, too. For example, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, which has been ranked as the best hospital in the world, spent $53.8 million on community benefits in 2015, down from $62.1 million in 2013, even as its total annual revenue went up by more than $200 million.\n\nHospitals also defend their tax-exempt status by pointing to their total community benefit spending, a roll-up number that can include free screenings and local investments but also less direct contributions, like staff education or hospitals\u2019 internal metrics for when they say there is a gap between what they charge for services and what Medicare or Medicaid pays them.\n\nHospitals justify the billions of dollars they receive in federal and state tax breaks through a nearly 50-year-old federal regulation that simply asks them to prove they\u2019re serving the community. (Some states have taken a stricter approach for their tax breaks.) And while hospitals acknowledge that their charity care spending has fallen \u2014 pointing to the fact that a record number of Americans are now insured under the ACA \u2014 some leaders say the trend could reverse itself if the ACA is repealed.\n\nWhile operating revenue increased under Obamacare for not-for-profit hospitals like the Cleveland Clinic and UCLA Medical Center, the amount of charity health care they provided fell. For example, while UCLA saw operating revenue grow by more than $300 million between 2013 and 2015, charity care fell from almost $20 million to about $5 million.\n\nTo put that another way: The top seven hospitals\u2019 combined revenue went up by $4.5 billion per year after the ACA\u2019s coverage expansions kicked in, a 15 percent jump in two years. Meanwhile, their charity care \u2014 already less than 2 percent of revenue \u2014 fell by almost $150 million per year, a 35 percent plunge over the same period.\n\nThe result, POLITICO\u2019s investigation shows, is that the nation\u2019s top seven hospitals as ranked by U.S. News & World Report collected more than $33.9 billion in total operating revenue in 2015, the last year for which data was available, up from $29.4 billion in 2013, before the ACA took full effect, according to their own financial statements and state reports. But their spending on direct charity care \u2014 the free treatment for low-income patients \u2014 dwindled from $414 million in 2013 to $272 million in 2015.\n\nBut the hospitals, aided by their good-neighbor initiative, prevailed. The ACA did nothing more to force the hospitals to share their revenue with their neighbors or taxpayers generally.\n\nAt the time, Congress was considering not only whether to remove tax-exempt status for teaching hospitals, a cause of Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), but also whether to add requirements forcing hospitals to do more for the low-income, urban communities in which so many of the top hospitals are located. And local leaders in many states were attempting to claw back billions of dollars in forgone tax revenue \u2014 a battle that would soon break out between UPMC and the mayor of Pittsburgh, too.\n\n\u201cUPMC is proud to be part of our city\u2019s past, present and, more importantly, its future,\u201d the narrator enthuses, as the camera pans around Pittsburgh scenes of priests, grocery-store workers, even a ballet dancer before coming to rest on the sprawling medical campus \u2014 one of the five largest in the world.\n\nOne example of the hospitals\u2019 efforts to remain tax-free: the soaring, minutelong TV commercial that popped up on stations across Western Pennsylvania in 2009 by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, the area\u2019s flagship hospital and one of the largest teaching hospitals in the country.\n\nAnd it reveals, for the first time, the extent of the hospitals\u2019 behind-the-scenes efforts to maintain tax breaks that provide them with billions of dollars in extra income, while costing their communities hundreds of millions of dollars in local taxes.\n\nHospitals\u2019 behavior in the years since the Affordable Care Act provided them with more than 20 million more paying customers offers a window into the debate over winners and losers surrounding this year\u2019s efforts to replace the ACA. It also puts a sharper focus on the role played by the nation\u2019s teaching hospitals \u2013 storied international institutions that have grown and flowered under the ACA, while sometimes neglecting the needy neighborhoods that surround them.\n\nA decade after the nation\u2019s top hospitals used all their advertising and lobbying clout to keep their tax-exempt status, pointing to their vast givebacks to their communities, they have seen their revenue soar while cutting back on the very givebacks they were touting, according to a POLITICO analysis.\n\nJohns Hopkins Health System, for instance, said it was responsible for more than 22,000 jobs in Baltimore City \u2014 and nearly $1.8 billion in total economic impact.\n\nAnd they add that looking at profits doesn\u2019t tell the full story, especially because they\u2019re funneling those dollars back in the form of jobs and other civic benefits. For instance, hospitals are the largest employer in many major cities and most congressional districts.\n\nHospitals dispute that Obamacare has been the engine of their recent success. \u201cWe would not attribute our solid financial performance to ACA,\u201d said a spokesperson for the Mayo Clinic \u2014 the top-ranked hospital in the US News rankings, which cleared $1 billion in combined operating income in 2015 and 2016. \u201cIt\u2019s a result of a fiscal discipline, focus on creating efficiencies, generous philanthropic donations, as well as research funding from NIH and revenue created through our commercialization efforts.\u201d\n\nGerard Anderson, a health care economist at Johns Hopkins University, co-authored a study in 2016 that found 7 of the 10 most profitable hospitals in the United States are technically not-for-profit hospitals. \u201cThe taxing system may not be working properly if nonprofit hospitals are making a lot of profit and not necessarily putting it back into the community,\u201d Anderson said at the time.\n\nMultiple studies have linked the ACA\u2019s coverage expansion to improved financial performance, with one analysis finding that hospitals\u2019 profit margins went up by 25 percent in states that expanded Medicaid in 2014. Overall, the industry boasted an 8.3 percent profit margin that year, according to the most recent figures published by the American Hospital Association. That\u2019s the highest performance on record \u2014 more than triple the industry\u2019s 2.6 percent profit margin in 2008, amid the recession and before the Obama administration began pushing its health care reforms \u2014 and it\u2019s only invited scrutiny from advocates and researchers who say that it\u2019s a sign the system is broken.\n\nObamacare may have been a mixed blessing for those seeking coverage through the state exchanges, some of which have seen double-digit annual premium hikes, but it\u2019s been a clear boon for the nation\u2019s hospitals.\n\n\u201cAre they doing enough? I can give you a one-word answer: No,\u201d said Charles Idelson of National Nurses United, a labor union that\u2019s fought with hospitals over their community contributions. \u201cSo many of these hospital chains, their clear priority is their budgetary goals or their profit margin.\u201d\n\nAdvocates say that not-for-profit hospitals are failing in their responsibilities to their communities, which are beset by rising rates of opioid addiction, diabetes, asthma and other serious but treatable conditions.\n\n\u201cPoor communities around hospitals tend to lack simple conveniences, like grocery stores stocked with healthy, inexpensive food or even places to play or exercise outside safely,\u201d says Elizabeth Bradley, president of Vassar College and co-author of \u201cThe American Health Care Paradox,\u201d which offers reams of research on how living in such neighborhoods leads to worse health and social instability. \u201cThe paradox is that we focus on and invest in areas like hospital care when social determinants matter so much more,\u201d she says.\n\nOne striking figure: The life expectancy rate in Madison-East End is less than 69 years. That\u2019s lower than the life expectancy in impoverished countries like Bangladesh, Turkmenistan and North Korea. It\u2019s also subtly at odds with the message Hopkins sells to the rich patients it courts from around the world, encouraging them to come to a hospital that\u2019s akin to a health mecca, even if it\u2019s actually located in a rundown area.\n\nWalk five minutes off the Hopkins campus in downtown Baltimore and you\u2019ll arrive at the city\u2019s Madison-East End neighborhood, where the poverty is both visible \u2014 cracked sidewalks, empty storefronts and more than three times as many vacant lots per house than in the rest of the city \u2014 but also silently killing residents. The death rate in the neighborhood is 30 percent greater than the rest of the city and mortality from cancer, stroke and heart disease is more than twice as high.\n\nIt\u2019s set up a bizarre contrast. Many U.S. cities boast hospitals that are among the best in the world, but the communities around those hospitals might as well be the Third World.\n\nFinancial assistance dropped more than any other category, falling from $169 million to $69 million, as the uninsured rate plunged.\n\nIn 2015, as Obamacare\u2019s coverage expansion took full effect, these more locally beneficial categories shrunk further as the hospital wrote off additional Medicaid-related costs and spent more on educating their own staff.\n\nOther categories, like financial assistance and outreach programs, have a more direct impact on the local community but made up a minority of the Cleveland Clinic's community benefit.\n\nFor example, in 2013, the majority of the Cleveland Clinic's community benefit was made up of the hospital's Medicaid shortfall \u2013 the gap between Medicaid payments and the Clinic\u2019s self-determined costs for those procedures \u2013 and education costs mostly associated with training residents, fellows and other clinical staff.\n\nHospitals are required to provide community benefits in order to keep tax exemptions that, collectively, are worth billions of dollars. But the benefits they cite combine a range of services that don\u2019t always directly benefit their communities, and free care tends to be a small and dwindling percentage.\n\n\u201cA lot of the communities where these hospitals are located are having financial difficulties,\u201d he said . \u201cThe hospitals, which are making money, aren\u2019t contributing to the financial reserves of that community. They are obviously employing people, but they are earning substantial profits and not paying any of those profits to the communities.\u201d\n\nBut the job gains don\u2019t necessarily help their close neighbors \u2013 or improve their health. Anderson, for one, was skeptical that big hospital revenues translate to community improvements. Instead, they often lead to multimillion dollar renovations, more executive compensation and other big-ticket spending items that don\u2019t actually benefit nearby residents.\n\nAnd for many residents, a vicious cycle begins when they\u2019re young, as Bradley and others have chronicled; many of these neighborhoods have high crime rates, and exposure to violence increases violent behavior among children. It\u2019s also hard for them to escape their circumstances: One 23-year-long study of Baltimore schoolchildren found that, as they grew up, the children born into low-income families generally stayed in the same socioeconomic bracket as their parents.\n\nThe nation\u2019s top hospitals do invest in these communities; Hopkins, for example, offers intern training programs and free health education among its community investments. Not-for-profit hospitals are encouraged to publicize these initiatives, so their tax exemptions are not lost.\n\n\u201cIt is essential that hospitals voluntarily, publicly and proactively report to their communities on the full value of benefits they provide,\u201d the American Hospital Association instructed its members in 2006, after a series of regulators and Congress began reviewing hospitals\u2019 tax-exempt status. The ACA further codified requirements that tax-exempt hospitals must report on their community benefit activities.\n\nBut based on their own self-reports, these hospitals clearly could be doing more. A POLITICO review of community benefit activities reported by these top hospitals found that the organizations counted activities like sponsoring races and hosting lectures toward their community benefit spending. Many of the dollars that hospitals report as \u201ccommunity benefit\u201d are more accurately an accounting trick \u2014 the shortfall that hospitals incur when Medicare or Medicaid reimburses the hospital at less than the organization\u2019s price.\n\nIdelson of National Nurses United says this squares with his own organization\u2019s reviews, which illustrate that hospitals approach these investments as \u201cbig businesses,\u201d and community benefit programs are too often \u201ctheir marketing schemes.\u201d\n\n\u201cHospital staff are going to a marathon and handing out water bottles, and the hospital is calling it a community benefit,\u201d he added. \u201cTo us, a community benefit is something that actually improves the health of a community.\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s one reason why civic leaders in Baltimore and beyond say they want to see hospitals spend even more on what\u2019s increasingly known as \u201cpopulation health,\u201d or addressing the social needs of residents so they don\u2019t need to visit the hospital in the first place. But there\u2019s no formal requirement to do so. And because hospitals are such deep-pocketed, long-lasting institutions, they can wait out many would-be reformers.\n\n\u201cHow do you [convince] an organization that\u2019s existed for decades when you\u2019re only there for a few years? It\u2019s a challenge,\u201d said Abdul El-Sayed, who served as Detroit\u2019s health director from 2015 to 2017. He\u2019s now running for Michigan governor. El-Sayed worked with hospitals to secure public investments like lead screening \u2014 a top-of-mind issue for residents in a city just miles away from Flint \u2014 but said he had problems winning further compromises.\n\nHospitals at war\n\nThe struggles of El-Sayed and other state and local leaders illustrate what most reformers already know: The best way to pressure hospitals to do more for their communities is at the federal level.\n\nAnd the best opportunity came in 2009, while Congress was gearing up for what would become the Affordable Care Act. Already reeling from the recession, not-for-profit hospitals were loath to pay an additional $13 billion in taxes if their status changed.\n\nBut there were some strong arguments in favor of it, at least politically. Major teaching hospitals kept getting caught chasing dollars from patients who were too poor to pay, such as when The Wall Street Journal detailed how the prestigious Yale-New Haven Hospital was putting massive liens on poor patients and their families \u2014 including a 77-year-old dry cleaner slowly paying off the thousands of dollars in interest from his wife\u2019s cancer treatment. She had died 20 years earlier.\n\nLawmakers led by Grassley, the powerful Iowa Republican, felt the best response would be for the federal government to tighten the loophole that let those high-profile hospitals \u2014 and nearly 3,000 others \u2014 essentially self-define whether they deserved to be tax-exempt.\n\nSo hospitals went to war.\n\nThe inside story of how hospital tax exemptions factored into the ACA negotiations was widely overlooked at the time and, until now, mostly untold.\n\nBut it begins with the 83-year-old Grassley, the senator who remains Congress\u2019 most reliable investigator of charities and their uncharitable behaviors, more than a dozen current and former Senate staffers told POLITICO. And he might never have gotten involved if not for the American Red Cross \u2014 and the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.\n\nAs The New York Times and others reported in 2002, the Red Cross received nearly a billion dollars in donations in the seven months after the attacks. But Red Cross executives decided against offering those contributions entirely as relief, electing to bank almost $400 million rather than spend it right away. That didn\u2019t sit well with Grassley, then the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, who led an investigation into the group\u2019s operations, accused its chief of trying to mislead Congress and ultimately pushed to restructure the Red Cross board through legislation.\n\n(To this day, Grassley is still skeptical of the Red Cross. In June 2016, he released a 309-page report concluding that the Red Cross mismanaged its Haiti relief effort, and in March he reintroduced legislation to increase transparency of the organization.)\n\nSen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) pushed the federal government to tighten the loophole that let high-profile hospitals retain their tax-exempt status. (Getty Images)\n\nThe battle with the Red Cross began a years-long pattern. A well-regarded nonprofit would get attention for mishandling its funds. A newspaper would write it up. And Grassley would spring into action with detailed requests and subpoenas, ultimately taking him into conflict with Christian ministries, nature conservatories and even the United Way.\n\nHe\u2019s a \u201cgood government guy,\u201d said former Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who alternated with Grassley as the Finance Committee chairman or ranking member for years and teamed up on investigations into charitable organizations. Their partnership was intended to transcend partisanship, both men say. (\u201cIf Chuck asks you something, it\u2019s like I asked you for it,\u201d then-chairman Baucus once told officials who were dragging their heels on responding to a Grassley request.)\n\n\u201cWe didn\u2019t have a subcommittee on nonprofits, but if we did, Grassley would have been the chair,\u201d said Russ Sullivan, who served as Baucus\u2019 top aide.\n\nBy 2005, Grassley was chairman of the Finance Committee himself and had found a major target for his investigations: The nation\u2019s 3,000 or so not-for-profit hospitals, which had spent decades inching away from their original charitable missions and increasingly acting like big businesses.\n\n\u201cHospitals were suing patients who couldn\u2019t pay,\u201d said Theresa Pattara, who was an IRS staffer assigned to the Finance Committee at the time. \u201cIt was like trying to get blood from a stone.\u201d\n\nThe IRS had once required that tax-exempt hospitals provide free or heavily discounted care to poor patients. But after the creation of Medicare and Medicaid, which dramatically reduced the number of indigent patients, hospitals in 1969 got the agency to relax its rules and allow them to keep their valuable tax exemptions if they provided \u201ccommunity benefit,\u201d a more expansive definition that included charity care but also other activities that advanced patients\u2019 health. Many hospitals included new construction, capital expenditures, even executive perks as community benefits.\n\nIt was a nebulous standard that galled Grassley, who led a multiyear investigation into the behavior of 10 hospitals and health systems, including the Cleveland Clinic and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and convened a series of embarrassing hearings for the health care industry. At one September 2006 hearing, he hinted that core practices \u2014 from executive compensation to board structure \u2014 needed to be overhauled.\n\n\u201cSome nonprofit hospital executives enjoy the best hotels and great meals, all subsidized by the taxpayer,\u201d Grassley said, as health care leaders nervously looked on. \u201cI find it especially troubling that executive after executive is having country club dues paid for by nonprofit hospitals.\u201d\n\nSome nonprofit hospital executives enjoy the best hotels and great meals, all subsidized by the taxpayer.\n\n\u2014 Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)\n\nThe hospital industry fought back. Major systems took out ad campaigns touting their charitable work. Hospitals quickly moved to voluntarily disclose their community benefit spending and began issuing new annual reports. The powerful American Hospital Association mobilized its lobbyists to try and win over congressmen. But Grassley kept up the pressure.\n\n\u201cGrassley would have senators coming up and saying, \u2018why are you bothering the only hospital in my district?\u2019\u201d Pattara recalled. But the Iowa senator wouldn\u2019t back down, having memorized reams of statistics \u2014 like executives\u2019 million-dollar salaries \u2014 as a counterargument. \u201cGrassley would say, \u2018do you know what they\u2019re paying their CEO?\u2019 and the congressmen would be taken aback,\u201d Pattara added. \u201cI loved Grassley for that.\u201d\n\nGrassley\u2019s inquiries and mounting public scrutiny invited more investigations. A Joint Committee on Taxation report, requested by then-House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, concluded that the hospital industry in 2002 got $12.6 billion in tax savings, as it not only escaped income, sales, and property taxes but also used tax-exempt debt to finance major projects. The financial benefits for those hospitals were actually even larger; for instance, the figure didn\u2019t include the billions of dollars in tax-free donations that hospitals also received every year.\n\nBy 2007, Grassley was openly floating the idea that hospitals must provide at least 5 percent of their revenue in exchange for tax exemption. But aides say this was mostly a negotiating ploy to scare the industry rather than fight for explicit requirements on hospitals to provide charity care or be taxed.\n\nGrassley pushed for reporting requirements instead. The IRS ended up redrawing its Form 990, the document that charitable organizations must submit annually, and adding a new section \u2014 Schedule H \u2014 that specifically required hospitals to detail their community benefit activities.\n\nGrassley had a few reasons for avoiding more punitive measures on hospitals. One was that he didn\u2019t want to be a Republican who was linked to imposing new taxes, aides say, but rather viewed as a legislator who shined a light on dark sectors. Another was that the committee was mostly relying on anecdotes and its own limited investigation into the $1 trillion industry.\n\n\u201cIdeally, you legislate from facts and data,\u201d says Pattara, who returned to the IRS to work on the new Schedule H addition. \u201cAnd there wasn\u2019t enough data yet\u201d to call for new legislation to reshape the hospital industry.\n\nDigging in for a battle\n\nHospitals had escaped the biggest threat: New federal regulations. But they were still worried about a series of local challenges, pushed by state attorney generals after regulators in Illinois in 2003 stripped a pair of hospitals of their property-tax exemptions.\n\nThe Cleveland Clinic got caught up in one of those fights after it tried to get exemptions for a pair of satellite offices and local regulators said the buildings weren\u2019t providing necessary charity care. The battle dragged on for more than a decade before Ohio\u2019s Republican tax chief in 2012 reversed the previous Democratic administration\u2019s denial of the property-tax breaks.\n\nFor opportunistic state leaders, not-for-profit hospitals represented a chance to make a major statement \u2014 and recoup some tax dollars as state revenue was declining. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan pushed a bill in 2006 that would have required hospitals to spend 8 percent of their operating budget on charity care. Attorneys general in Kansas, Minnesota, Ohio and other states also began probing hospitals\u2019 spending and pushing for tougher definitions of community benefit standards.\n\nHospitals dug in, with the American Hospital Association providing air cover and refining the industry\u2019s messaging. Ads began blanketing state capitols, singing the praises of local teaching hospitals. Health care leaders started to aggressively release reports, touting their spending on community benefits. National organizations emerged to offer crisis communications on how not-for-profits could preserve their status.\n\nIn Illinois, the Madigan bill was defeated, as hospitals repeatedly steered lawmakers away from imposing new legislative requirements on their charity care; instead, the state ended up simply convening commissions and offering recommendations. It was a case study in how to derail legislation. The industry \u201chas tremendous clout in [state capital] Springfield and has been able to water down any charity care proposals as to make them meaningless,\u201d James Unland, a hospital consultant, said at the time. A subsequent 2012 law that exempted Illinois hospitals from property taxes if they met certain charitable standards has been tied up in litigation for years.\n\nThe regional battles also put not-for-profit hospitals on high alert: If they weren\u2019t careful and proactive, their decades-old property tax breaks could disappear if a local board or school district decided to move against them.\n\nReason to be confident\n\nBack in Washington in late 2008, Democrats had claimed control of Congress and were readying their health care bill. They were also eyeing how best to negotiate with the health care industry, which had fiercely resisted the Clinton-era health reforms and ultimately helped kill them. This time, Baucus\u2019 team reasoned, they needed to get all the major trade groups to the table \u2014 and keep them there.\n\n\u201cWe had done this whole analysis of every single sector going into ACA,\u201d said a former Senate aide who helped craft the bill. \u201cWhat do they have to win? What do they have to lose? What are they most afraid of?\u201d\n\nFor hospitals, losing tax-exempt status was on their list of potential pain points, and that gave Democrats a bargaining chip with the influential industry. \u201cAs long as they were winning on parts, you could press on the losses,\u201d the aide said.\n\nIt also gave Democrats a carrot to try and win over Grassley, as Baucus sought Republican votes in hopes of making his committee\u2019s health care legislation into a bipartisan bill.\n\nBaucus had reason to be confident that his longtime collaborator would support a major health care push. In a plan that hasn\u2019t previously been reported, the two men came close to going to the McCain and Obama campaigns in late 2008 in an attempt to secure a commitment \u2014 from whoever was president \u2014 to work on health reform in 2009. The idea harkened back to 2001, when Baucus crossed the aisle to work on tax reform with Grassley after the previous year\u2019s controversial presidential election.\n\nSens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) preside over a 2009 Senate Finance Committee hearing. The committee passed health care legislation that was considered the most moderate of five health care bills before Congress. (Getty Images)\n\nThe two senators ultimately didn\u2019t make their joint pitch to the McCain and Obama camps. \u201cWe just couldn\u2019t pull the trigger,\u201d said Sullivan, Baucus\u2019 key aide. But it laid the groundwork for the negotiations to come. \u201cBaucus was convinced that Grassley would be willing to join him on health care legislation,\u201d Sullivan added.\n\nBefore the ACA, \u201cwe weren\u2019t even contemplating enacting anything around tax-exempt hospitals,\u201d said Pattara, who had rejoined the Finance Committee as Republicans\u2019 tax counsel in 2008.\n\nIn early 2009, Democrats\u2019 tactics seemed to be working, as hospitals engaged in negotiations and Grassley expressed support for a health reform compromise. A May 2009 policy paper on proposals to fund the expansion of health coverage \u2014 co-authored by Baucus and Grassley \u2014 floated a requirement that hospitals \u201cprovide a minimum annual level of charitable patient care.\u201d\n\nEarly drafts of the ACA legislation specifically included new restrictions on whether hospitals could qualify as tax exempt, as a give to Grassley. But it wasn\u2019t a high priority for Baucus and other Democrats.\n\n\u201cThe things that the Democrats were focused on were mostly about [insurance] coverage and subsidies,\u201d a former aide said. \u201cEverybody had a pet project in there \u2014 and they paid attention to their pet project.\u201d\n\nOn the other side of the table, there was a schism between the hospital lobbyists. The Catholic Health Association, which was working with the Obama administration on the reform bill, explicitly defined community benefit as services rendered. But the American Hospital Association, which was more combative in its negotiations around the bill, took a harder stance on tax exemptions: It wanted a more expansive definition of community benefit that included patients\u2019 bad debt and even Medicare- and Medicaid-related underpayments.\n\nMeanwhile, the Federation of American Hospitals \u2014 the for-profit lobbying group \u2014 had produced evidence that its members, which paid taxes, provided just as much charity care as their not-for-profit peers.\n\nThe industry\u2019s inability to align its message hampered its own negotiating position. But lobbyists for the Catholic Health Association and the American Hospital Association agreed: They couldn\u2019t sign off on any measure that revoked the exemption. It was too valuable. Large health systems were getting tens of millions of dollars in annual benefits from their tax exemptions.\n\nSo they hammered out a compromise: Hospitals would need to conduct a community health needs assessment every three years and report their findings to the IRS. The findings would need to incorporate broad feedback from the hospitals\u2019 constituents, be publicized \u201cwidely\u201d and lead to changes as necessary. The assessments would help the IRS determine whether tax exemptions were warranted \u2014 and if hospitals didn\u2019t comply, they\u2019d have to pay a $50,000 excise tax. The bill also formalized a series of changes to hospital policies, like requiring them to publicize their financial assistance rules.\n\nAll things considered, the proposal had relatively little bite, and the rest of the inducements offered by negotiators \u2014 like the health law\u2019s planned coverage expansion \u2014 were quite generous to the industry. The hospitals publicly threw their support behind the ACA in July 2009.\n\n\u201cTheir best play [was] watering it down as much as possible and kicking it to Treasury to make it difficult to implement,\u201d a former aide said, referencing the new community-needs reviews.\n\nHospital lobbyists agree: Their strategy was delaying and focusing on bigger-ticket items, like near-term changes to Medicare payments. \u201cWe knew we couldn\u2019t fight the idea of more transparency,\u201d said one lobbyist who\u2019s still employed by the industry. \u201cWe picked our battles and hoped Grassley wouldn\u2019t make too much noise.\u201d\n\nBut Grassley had his own troubles. Besieged by protesters at town halls and attacked by tea party activists in August, the Iowa senator ultimately signaled he couldn\u2019t support the ACA legislation. The hospital industry stayed mum as Grassley dropped out.\n\n\u201cOnce Grassley was not part of it, they didn\u2019t come back to us and say, OK, now that he\u2019s not on board, we want to take this out,\u201d a former Democratic aide said.\n\nHospital lobbyists say that was a deliberate decision. \u201cThe previous years had made clear, this was a losing issue for us,\u201d said a lobbyist. \u201cThe less we talked about tax exemptions, the better.\u201d\n\nSullivan, Baucus\u2019 key aide, helped track the provision and made sure it remained in the final bill.\n\nOnce again, the hospital industry had dodged a major challenge to its tax exemptions \u2014 perhaps the most significant in 40 years.\n\nWho should be a nonprofit?\n\nRolling out the new charity assessments and vetting hospitals fell to the IRS, which spent several years working on the new 501(r) tax section and the ACA\u2019s other tax provisions \u2014 the most significant changes to the tax code since Congress\u2019 1986 tax reform bill.\n\nBut the charity reviews forced the IRS into an unusual position, former staffers who worked on implementing the ACA told POLITICO: The agency didn\u2019t really have the experience or expertise to determine whether hospitals should be not-for-profit.\n\n\u201cUsing the IRS as an instrument to achieve these important goals \u2026 was not the best fit,\u201d said Jason Levitis, who led the Treasury Department\u2019s implementation of the Obamacare regulations. \u201cWhy is the IRS the one we want to be [investigating] hospitals\u2019 business about how they\u2019re serving poor people?\u201d\n\nThe IRS has largely shied away from battles over revoking tax-exempt status, whether for hospitals or any other organizations. The agency\u2019s most high-profile fight was a two-decade battle over the tax-exempt status of the Scientology organization \u2014 which ended after the IRS was overwhelmed with lawsuits and ultimately granted Scientology\u2019s request to be considered as a church.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not a fight that the IRS wants to have,\u201d said one current staffer, referring to the often politically charged process of removing a group\u2019s tax-exempt status.\n\nMassachusetts General Hospital in downtown Boston. (Getty)\n\nInstead, Levitis and others suggest that the administration\u2019s health care agencies should have played a central role in determining if hospitals should be tax exempt. \u201cThink about institutional competence,\u201d Levitis said. \u201cIf you were going to choose a government entity \u2026 to be policing tax-exempt status, is the IRS [really] the agency with institutional competence \u2014 or is there a better option?\u201d\n\nMeanwhile, ACA standards aren\u2019t specific enough to give any agency clear guidance on when to remove tax-exempt status, critics complain.\n\nCommunity-health-needs assessments are easy to game, experts familiar with the reviews told POLITICO. One consultant told POLITICO about getting a call from executives who were desperate and needed help before submitting their hospital\u2019s assessment; the consultant ended up dictating stock language over the phone, having never even visited the hospital or its community. \u201cThey\u2019re a joke,\u201d the consultant said of the ACA standards, arguing that the reviews are mostly a public-relations exercise.\n\nNot a single hospital has lost its tax-exemption because of the new measures in the ACA.\n\nNonetheless, hospitals have had difficulty complying even with the law\u2019s relatively light requirements. As of an IRS review last year, one-third of surveyed hospitals had been referred for further compliance checks.\n\nThe IRS has had its own problems, failing to promptly file required annual reports to Congress about what it\u2019s learned about hospitals\u2019 compliance. That\u2019s been a source of frustration to Grassley, who despite not voting for the ACA, has pestered the agency to fulfill its responsibilities under the law.\n\nIt\u2019s also vexed Democrats. \u201cThe problem is that the executive branch, first under President Obama and now under President Trump, has not followed through and done its job under the law,\u201d Sullivan said.\n\nA forgotten fight\n\nIt\u2019s not clear who, if anyone, will carry the torch for new regulations or even prod the IRS to put more teeth into its oversight. Grassley has moved on to chair the Senate Judiciary Committee, where his jurisdiction is less focused on hospital issues than it was when he led the Finance Committee. Several of his former staffers now work either directly for hospitals or on behalf of them.\n\nOne former Grassley aide points out that since the Trump White House is pushing the idea of major tax reforms, there\u2019s an opportunity to review how hospitals\u2019 tax exemptions are treated. But the Republican Party historically has been hesitant to move against hospitals, and the issue of hospitals\u2019 tax-exempt status isn\u2019t on the table in the negotiations to repeal and replace Obamacare.\n\nMeanwhile, many struggling communities are facing a difficult dilemma: If they pressure hospitals to do more for the families and children who live near them, they risk alienating the one local business that\u2019s growing.\n\nFor many poorer cities, hospitals have emerged as anchor institutions while sectors like manufacturing die off. The seven top hospitals reviewed by POLITICO employ about 150,000 people on their main campuses. About 35,000 people work for the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, alone \u2014 equivalent to about 30 percent of the city\u2019s entire population.\n\nPressured by city officials, some tax-exempt hospitals have hammered out voluntary contributions, known as payments-in-lieu-of-taxes, or PILOTs, to help offset the cost of city services like police and fire protection. But those payments are usually a small fraction of the actual cost of those services, while the value of hospitals\u2019 tax exemptions continues to rise.\n\nBoston\u2019s Massachusetts General Hospital would have owed more than $55 million last year if it was taxable. Instead, the city requested that the hospital pay less than $7 million through its PILOT program.", "output": "US hospitals are abusing their non-profit status to rake in billions of dollars in tax breaks, while reducing the amounts they offer in charitable donations, according to an investigation by Politico. Revenue for the country's top seven hospitals\u2019 rose by $4.5bn in the two years following the Affordable Care Act's coverage expansions, while the same period saw a 35% drop in charity care. While critics have called for federal legislators to put under pressure hospitals to do more, some fear increased regulation could have the opposite effect in communities dependent on large hospitals for jobs.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IBM unveils IBM Z mainframe with full data encryption capability \n IBM is betting big on pervasive encryption with a new mainframe dubbed IBM Z that may land new workloads amid data breaches.\n\nThe company has rolled out the IBM Z, its next-generation mainframe that's capable of handling 12 billion encrypted transactions a day. The general idea is that IBM Z will encrypt all data all the time and reduce the attack surface for enterprises about 92 percent.\n\nWith the mainframe repositioning, IBM is looking to juice sales of its stalwart z system lineup. At the heart of IBM Z is an encryption engine that will encrypt data associated with any application, cloud service or database.\n\nThe timing is handy given the surge in data breaches and regulations such as the EU's General Data Protection Regulation. Mainframes are still widely used in financial services.\n\nAs EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) looms, tech vendors ready pitches | Video: Tech vendors start lining up their GDPR pitches |\n\n\"We think this will be broadly adopted across financial services, government, retail and travel and transportation,\" said Ross Mauri, general manager of IBM Z. \"The encryption is critical for all industries. This new system allows for a customer to encrypt all data on the mainframe. This feature rose to the top regardless of industry or country. Security is a board level issue.\"\n\nIBM said it co-designed the IBM Z with 150 clients including security experts and chief security officers. The last time IBM respun the mainframe was when it virtualized Linux and open source software about 15 years ago.\n\nMake no mistake. Mainframe sales have a significant impact on IBM's hardware business. There will certainly be an upgrade cycle, but what's unclear is whether IBM can expand the reach of the IBM Z with its approach to encryption. Mauri said IBM so far has preached and collaborated with the base, but the company brings on anywhere from 5 to 15 new Z customers a quarter.\n\nMauri said the core of the system--software, hardware and firmware--is usually in development about 3 years. Engineers have been working on the base technologies for IBM Z for 5 years. \"Customers have been engaged for more than 2 years,\" said Mauri.\n\nBig Blue also said it plans to build six IBM Cloud Blockchain data centers with IBM Z as the encryption engine. Those IBM Cloud Blockchain data centers launched in New York, London, Frankfurt, Sao Paolo, Tokyo and Toronto to cater to the financial services sector. Mauri said more blockchain centers will be added.\n\nBlockchain explained in plain English | Why Blockchain ushers in the second generation of the internet | Executive's guide to implementing blockchain technology\n\n\"There are six that we've built and more in the future,\" said Mauri. \"We located them around the world for latency and more for regulations and data locality.\"\n\nThe pervasive encryption approach includes:\n\nData is encrypted at rest and in flight wherever it resides. In addition, data can be encrypted in bulk given improvements in the silicon dedicated to the cryptographic algorithms.\n\nIBM Z protects millions of encryption keys with tamper responding hardware that self destructs at any sign of intrusion.\n\nEncrypted application programming interfaces so developers can build applications and services.\n\nAs for pricing, IBM unveiled three container pricing models. Pricing for new microservices and applications can be co-located based on quality of service requirements. Application development and test environments will be tripled so capacity can be raised without a license increase. And there's pricing model for payment systems, which is based on the volume of payments not capacity.\n\nThese new pricing models will be available by the end of the year for z/OS V2.2 and z/OS V2.3.\n\nIBM Z will be able to support 12 billion encrypted transactions a day, two million Docker containers and 1,000 concurrent NoSQL databases via three times the memory of the z13 and 3x faster I/O and transaction processing.", "output": "IBM has released the IBM Z, a mainframe that can cope with 12 billion encrypted transactions a day, and looks to reduce the attack surface for companies by more than 90% by encrypting all data all the time. IBM Z encrypts data from any application, cloud service or database, at rest and in flight, protects the encryption keys with tamper-responding hardware and offers encrypted application programming interfaces. \"We think this will be broadly adopted across financial services, government, retail and travel, and transportation,\" said Ross Mauri, the general manager of IBM Z.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Trump administration says a new plan will cut drug prices. It\u2019s not that simple \n The Trump administration says a new plan will cut drug prices. It\u2019s not that simple\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 When the Trump administration unveiled a new Medicare proposal this week to cut payments to hospitals as part of a drug reimbursement program, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price called the plan a \u201csignificant step toward fulfilling President Trump\u2019s promise to address rising drug prices.\u201d\n\nIt may not be that simple.\n\nadvertisement\n\nThe proposal takes aim at a controversial drug discount program, known as the 340B program, which is designed to boost revenues for hospitals that primarily serve low-income patients. The program requires drug makers to offer those hospitals sizable discounts on certain drugs. The hospital can then bill Medicare and other insurers at regular reimbursement rates when patients take the drugs, banking the extra savings to spend elsewhere.", "output": "When the Trump administration unveiled a new Medicare proposal this week to cut payments to hospitals as part of a drug reimbursement program, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price called the plan\u00a0a \u201csignificant step toward fulfilling President Trump\u2019s promise to address rising drug prices.\u201d\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "In health care, PBMs are crucial \u2014 but not regulated \n News\n\nThey are called pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, and while relatively few people have ever heard of them, it turns out that they are a critical factor in the cost of medical care.\n\nThe PBMs originated in the 1960s to help health plans, self-insured employers and government entities, among others, to negotiate prescription drug prices and efficiently distribute medications. \u201cThe original intent of PBMs was to assist insurers and employers in managing prescription drug benefit programs acting as third party administrators,\u201d said a legislative analysis.\n\nCalifornia has no such regulations for PBMs, unlike 18 other states that have specific statutes requiring PBMs to regularly disclose information.\n\nSince then, they have evolved into a money-making industry without regulations, experts say. By one estimate, three major PBM companies had a staggering $270 billion in revenues in 2014.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s billion with a \u2018b\u2019,\u201d said Assemblyman Jim Wood, D-Healdsburg, who is pushing legislation to regulate them.\n\nHealth care advocates believe that information needs to be disclosed by PBMs in California, partly to determine their impact \u2013 if any \u2013 on drug costs.\n\nBeth Capell, lobbyist and policy advocate for Health Access California, said it is unclear if there is a correlation between increasing drug prices and PBMs, but \u201cin order to help understand why health care costs are going up, we shine a light on it.\u201d\n\nPharmacists, pharmacies and drug and insurance companies are highly regulated in California, but the state currently has no such regulations for PBMs, unlike 18 other states that have specific statutes requiring PBMs to regularly disclose information about their finances and operations.\n\nPharmacy benefit managers create formularies that efficiently administer prescription drug plans for 266 million insured Americans.\n\n\u201cThe reality is that there is no oversight over these business entities and they\u2019re making a huge amount of money,\u201d contends Wood.\n\nPBMs and their allies say the entities provide efficiency, expertise and reliability in a key sector of the health care market, crafting agreements that serve consumers and help limit costs. Although they negotiate rebates and discounts from drug manufacturers and stores, according to Wood, it is unclear how much they charge for negotiations or how any excess money from the discounts is distributed in California.\n\nHis AB 315 requires PBMs to be licensed by the Department of Managed Health Care \u2014 the same state agency that regulates HMOs \u2014 and to publicly disclose financial information, including drug acquisition costs, rebates from pharmaceutical companies and the drug prices negotiated with pharmacies.\n\nThe bill, which passed through the Senate Health Committee and was referred to the Appropriations Committee this week, also requires a PBM to exercise good faith and fair dealing in performing contractual duties.\n\nExpress Scripts, OptumRx and CVS Caremark are the top three PBMs that control nearly 80% of the market place.\n\n\u201cThey started as a benign claims processing company and over the years they\u2019ve created this market where they touch every component of the drug delivery system.\u201d \u2014 Jon Roth\n\nThe Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA), which represents PBMs, says pharmacy benefit managers create formularies that efficiently administer prescription drug plans for 266 million insured Americans and determine out-of-pocket costs.\n\nPCMA, which lobbies on behalf of PBMs, says that not all transparency is helpful in cutting costs. Government requirements that give drug companies and stores pricing information could help collude with their competitors to drive prices up, a process that PCMA believes Wood\u2019s bill could exacerbate.\n\n\u201cIn its current form, AB 315 is a special interest mandate that will increase prescription drug costs for California\u2019s consumers and employers,\u201d said PCMA spokesperson Greg Lopes.\n\nRepresentatives for the three major PBMs were not immediately available for comment.\n\nIn attempt to create transparency on PBM\u2019s negotiations and rebates, Wood said he\u2019s faced the strongest backlash of anything he\u2019s ever worked on.\n\nCritics contend that the PBMs have grown into a major economic piece of the health care industry with scant oversight.\n\n\u201cThey started as a benign claims processing company and over the years they\u2019ve created this market where they touch every component of the drug delivery system,\u201d said Jon Roth, CEO of California Pharmacists Associations. \u201cThey\u2019ve become this goliath in the supply chain of getting medications to people.\u201d\n\nOne of the biggest health plans in the country, UnitedHealth Group \u2013 which owns OptumRx \u2014 has drawn skepticism about PBMs\u2019 contractual relationships.\n\n\u201cDollars are moving back and forth in these corporations and it\u2019s very troublesome because they operate in a black box,\u201d said Roth.\n\nIn attempt to create transparency on PBM\u2019s negotiations and rebates, Wood said he\u2019s faced the strongest backlash of anything he\u2019s ever worked on.\n\n\u201cIf you are the good guys that you claim to be, PBMs, why should you be pushing back on this? You should be happy to prove to your clients you are what you say you are,\u201d he said.\n\nWood\u2019s AB 315 is one of several related measures dealing with health care industry issues. Another is SB17, authored by Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina) and co-sponsored by Health Access California. Hernandez chairs the Senate Health Committee. Both bills received bi-partisan support.\n\nSB 17, which was referred to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, aims to expand transparency of insurance premiums and drug pricing increases and decisions. It also requires drug makers to share drug purchasing data and give advanced notice on significant drug price increases.\n\n\u2014\n\nEd\u2019s Note: Anna Frazier is a Capitol Weekly intern from the University of Arizona.", "output": "They are called pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, and while relatively few people have ever heard of them, it turns out that they are a critical factor in the cost of medical care.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The inequality at the heart of Medicaid \n Over the past few months, Democrats have hammered Republican health care reform proposals as dangerous and devastating for the poor. Sen. Elizabeth Warren exclaimed, \u201cThese cuts are blood money. People will die,\u201d while others have suggested that they are the \u201creal death panels.\u201d These attacks have only the loosest relationship with the facts, but Democrats have a point when they argue that the GOP\u2019s Medicaid reforms don\u2019t simply reinstitute the pre-Obamacare status quo.\n\nCritics frame this as a bad thing and warn that the changes \u201cwould end Medicaid as we know it.\u201d But Medicaid has already changed greatly from its authors\u2019 original design. While often failing to secure essential services for the neediest beneficiaries in the poorest states, the program allocates a disproportionate and ever-increasing amount of money to the richest states, whose representatives now boast of it as a \u201cmiddle-class program.\u201d The program\u2019s lopsided growth has left it poorly focused on its core mission\u2014and needing reform to get back on track.\n\nEnacted along with Medicare in 1965, Medicaid was designed by a moderate Southern Democrat, Rep. Wilbur Mills (D-Ark.), to help states fund essential medical services for individuals on welfare who could not be expected to work for reasons of age, disability, or family responsibilities. Over the past half-century, able-bodied adults have increasingly been made eligible and the array of services covered under the program greatly expanded. As a result, enrollment has increased from 22 million in 1975 to 69 million in 2017, while total spending has soared from $16 billion in 1975 to $545 billion in 2015.\n\nThe federal government currently distributes Medicaid funds to states according to how much they themselves spend on services for eligible beneficiaries. The system was intended to offer the most help to the poorest states: providing $3 for every $1 that Mississippi spends, compared with $1 for every $1 that New York spends. But in practice the wealthiest states have been able to put up more of their own money, and have therefore received the lion\u2019s share of funds. As eligibility restrictions have been loosened, this has resulted in enormous disparities: Connecticut, for example, received $12,240 in federal Medicaid funds per resident under the poverty line in 2015, while Alabama was able to claim only $4,070.\n\nTo take this escalating inequity in federal Medicaid spending off autopilot, the House GOP has proposed to cap the annual increase in payments that each state is able to claim per enrollee. For adult and child enrollees, the suggested cap increases at the rate of medical inflation, while for the elderly and disabled it increases at the rate of medical inflation plus 1 percent. Future Congresses could adjust these caps every year, but it would prevent the highest-spending states from automatically claiming additional funds without federal taxpayers getting a say.\n\nDemocrats have argued that Medicaid costs will increase faster than the rate of inflation, forcing all states to contend with ever-steeper cuts over time. But, per enrollee Medicaid costs grew at an average annual rate of only 2 percent from 2000 to 2015, while the rate of medical inflation has increased by 3.7 percent. A recent report from the liberal Urban Institute suggested that the per-capita caps proposed by the House GOP would actually become more modest over time \u2014 reducing spending on the traditional Medicaid population by only $0.4 billion in 2028, a rounding error on the program\u2019s total projected cost of $559 billion. The Senate bill therefore amended the House proposal, from 2025, to link the cap to the general rate of inflation, which has increased at 2.2 percent per year.\n\nIn addition, the Senate bill includes a provision specifically designed to narrow the disparities between poor and rich states. It allows the secretary of Health and Human Services to adjust the caps up or down by 0.5 to 2 percent depending on states\u2019 spending relative to the national average. This would help states with little fat in the system, and ensure any cuts are concentrated on the most expensive programs. Congress could further improve this provision by allowing this equity adjustment to compound over time, and amending it to constrain inflated enrollments.\n\nOpponents of per-capita caps have argued that it would prevent a flexible response to sudden spikes in medical needs. But, the current system of open-ended matching funds has fared poorly in allocating resources in response to these challenges. While 39 percent of Medicaid beneficiaries with hepatitis C in Hawaii received prescriptions for Sovaldi, a new drug that costs an average of $84,000 for a course of treatment, in the first quarter of 2014, only 1 percent of those in West Virginia did. In Canada, where the federal government provides a fixed allocation of funds to support health care in each province, unanticipated spikes in health care needs have been met with ad hoc supplemental appropriations. This incremental approach allows a better-targeted response to new challenges than reliance on a system of matching funds, of which many states are unable to take advantage.\n\nMedicaid now costs more every year than the entire U.S. Department of Defense, but its basic services often remain inadequate in the poorest states. We need a fairer way to allocate funds between states to ensure that the neediest Americans have access to essential care, without busting the federal budget. A system of per-capita caps is a good first step to move us in that direction.\n\nChris Pope is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of \u201cHow Per-Capita Spending Caps Can Help Advance Equity in Medicaid.\u201d\n\nAuthors:", "output": "Over the past few months, Democrats have hammered Republican health care reform proposals as dangerous and devastating for the poor. Sen. Elizabeth Warren exclaimed, \u201cThese cuts are blood money. People will die,\u201d while\u00a0others have suggested\u00a0that they are the \u201creal death panels.\u201d\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Senate Health-Care Bill Would Be a Giant Step Backward \n The draft of the Senate G.O.P. health-care bill that Mitch McConnell, the Majority Leader, released on Thursday is, in one way, an improvement on the previous version of the bill. The latest draft dropped a proposal to repeal two tax increases on very high earners, which were part of the Affordable Care Act. The revenue from those tax increases was used to help fund some of the A.C.A.\u2019s most progressive features, including the expansion of Medicaid and the subsidies offered to families of modest means for the purchase of private insurance plans.\n\nBut the merits of the revised Senate bill stop there. Enacting it into law would be a disaster. The old and the sick would be forced to pay far higher premiums; deductibles would go up for almost everyone in the individual market; and many millions of Americans, many of them poor, would lose their health-care coverage entirely.\n\nBefore delving into the details, it is worth restating what is at stake here: the principle that society is made up of people with mutual obligations, including the duty to try to protect everyone from what Franklin Roosevelt called the \u201chazards and vicissitudes of life,\u201d such as old age, unemployment, and sickness.\n\nTo deal with aging and joblessness, F.D.R. introduced Social Security and expanded unemployment insurance. Originally, he intended to include publicly funded health care as part of Social Security, but opposition from the medical profession persuaded him to leave it out. In the decades since F.D.R.\u2019s fateful decision, it has become clear that private insurance works tolerably well for people who hold well-paid, steady jobs at large companies\u2014especially when the tax authorities don\u2019t treat employer-provided health insurance as taxable income. But for everybody else\u2014the elderly, people with low-wage jobs that don\u2019t offer benefits, the self-employed and employees of small companies, people who are employed intermittently or who are out of work\u2014private insurance is costly, complicated, and often hard to obtain.\n\nDuring the nineteen-sixties, the Lyndon Johnson Administration introduced Medicare, for senior citizens, and Medicaid, for poverty-stricken families with children. But people outside those categories were left to the mercies of the insurance market, the shortcomings of which eventually became glaringly obvious. By 2013, close to one in five adult Americans didn\u2019t have any health-care coverage. The A.C.A. took a two-pronged approach to fixing that situation.\n\nThe A.C.A. raised the income thresholds for eligibility to Medicaid, allowing individuals and families with incomes just above the poverty line to qualify for the program. This policy worked wonders. Since going into effect, at the start of 2014, it has enabled about fourteen million Americans, most of them from working families, to obtain health-care coverage.\n\nThe A.C.A. also tried to make private insurance more affordable and accessible. One way it did this was by offering hefty federal subsidies to low-to-middle-income households. But it also issued a series of directives. To improve the quality of insurers\u2019 risk pools, it forced everybody, including the young and the healthy, to purchase coverage. At the same time, it obliged insurance companies to offer standardized policies that provided a comprehensive set of benefits, banned them from turning away people with pre\u00ebxisting conditions, and placed strict limits on how much more they could charge older people.\n\nAll of this was an effort to recognize the principle of mutual obligation while preserving a private insurance system. The revised Senate bill would largely dismantle this effort, reversing both the expansion of Medicaid and many of the reforms that were designed to make private insurance work more equitably. If it passed, the Republican reform would eventually return the country to a system a lot like the one in place before the A.C.A., when older people, sick people, and the working poor struggled to find coverage\u2014or went without.\n\nDespite objections from some Republican senators from states that have expanded Medicaid under the A.C.A., the revised bill leaves in place seven hundred billion dollars of cuts to the program, as well as the idea of converting it to a block-grant program. The consequences of these changes would be dramatic. By 2025, according to the Congressional Budget Office, about fifteen million fewer people would be covered by Medicaid and its sibling, the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program.\n\nOn the private-insurance side, the authors of the revised Senate bill took some of the money saved from dropping the tax cuts for the rich and allotted it to compensating insurers for covering high-risk individuals. But the revised bill also includes a new amendment championed by Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee: as long as an insurer offered a standardized, A.C.A.-compliant policy on a government-run exchange, it would be allowed to sell unregulated, catastrophic-care plans outside the exchanges.\n\nTo people unschooled in the economics of insurance markets, this proposal may look innocent enough, but it is a torpedo aimed at the exchanges, which are an essential part of Obamacare. For people in their twenties and thirties, the premiums on the unregulated plans, which would come with very large deductibles, would be fairly low. But the insurers would be allowed to charge less desirable customers\u2014older and less-healthy individuals, including ones with pre\u00ebxisting conditions\u2014much higher prices for these plans, or even deny them coverage. As most of these people continued to buy comprehensive plans, while more and more young people chose the cheaper options available outside the exchanges, the risk pools in the Obamacare-type markets would deteriorate sharply.\n\nThis would have devastating consequences. Insurers would hike their premiums, and many people wouldn\u2019t be able to afford them, including people with serious illnesses. A cycle of rising prices and falling enrollments could eventually cause the exchanges to collapse. The only way to prevent this from happening would be for Congress to offer bigger and bigger subsidies to the buyers of comprehensive plans and the insurers who offer them.\n\nWhether this is Cruz and Lee\u2019s intention is irrelevant. It is how private health care works when it isn\u2019t regulated and the principle of mutual obligation is ignored, or relegated to a secondary consideration. \u201cChoice always sounds so good, like with the Cruz amendment,\u201d Larry Levitt, a senior vice-president at the Kaiser Family Foundation, explained on Twitter. \u201cBut in insurance, it's generally a recipe for instability and discrimination.\u201d The United States lived for decades with a health-care system that discriminated against the old, the sick, and those too poor to afford coverage. Will Republican ideologues be allowed to plunge the country back into this dark past?", "output": "The draft of the Senate G.O.P. health-care bill\u00a0that Mitch McConnell, the Majority Leader, released on Thursday is, in one way, an improvement on the previous version of the bill.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "In Clash Over Health Bill, a Growing Fear of \u2018Junk Insurance\u2019 \n Julie Arkison remembers what it was like to buy health insurance before the Affordable Care Act created standards for coverage. The policy she had was from the same insurer that covers her now, but it did not pay for doctor visits, except for a yearly checkup and gynecological exam.\n\n\u201cI couldn\u2019t even go to my regular doctor when was I sick,\u201d said Ms. Arkison, 53, a self-employed horseback-riding teacher in Saline, Mich.\n\nThe plan did not cover her exams before and after hip surgery, her physical therapy after her operation, the crutches she needed while she recovered, or any of her medications. She estimates that she spent $20,000 on medical care in the seven years before she could buy a plan through the marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act.\n\nAs Senate Republican leaders struggle to secure enough votes to repeal and replace the health law, the centerpiece of their effort to win conservative support is a provision that would allow insurers to sell such bare-bones plans again. The new version of the bill released on Thursday incorporates an idea from Senator Ted Cruz of Texas that would permit insurers to market all types of plans as long as they offer ones that comply with Affordable Care Act standards. The measure would also allow companies to take into account people\u2019s health status in determining whether to insure them and at what price.", "output": "Julie Arkison remembers what it was like to buy health insurance\u00a0before the Affordable Care Act created standards for coverage. The policy she had was from the same insurer that covers her now, but it did not pay for doctor visits, except for a yearly checkup and gynecological exam.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How the Medicaid Debate Affects Long-Term Care Insurance Decisions \n There is another option: Life insurance that offers a long-term care benefit. If you don\u2019t need it, your heirs get money when you die. It outsells traditional long-term care insurance, according to Limra, a research company. My colleague Paul Sullivan wrote about it late last year.\n\nFinancial services representatives are positively gleeful. One article in a trade publication described \u201coff the charts\u201d interest and \u201cstrong crowds\u201d at professional events. This exuberance should make their clients extremely wary. If you\u2019re considering any such product, hire an independent adviser on an hourly basis (say, from the Garrett Planning Network) to examine the policy side by side with traditional long-term care insurance and the possibility of paying for care out of pocket.\n\nSophisticated readers who wrote to me in recent weeks described doing all of the above and still throwing up their hands in confusion. It took a professional storyteller, Julie Gillis, to help me understand why.\n\nMs. Gillis spent many years watching her mother slowly melt away from dementia. In an interview this week, as she contemplated her own future, Ms. Gillis spoke of changing generational narratives: Once upon a time, you grew up, married, had kids, got your pension, the end. \u201cThe entire storytelling trajectory has now changed,\u201d she concluded, after describing her mother\u2019s last few years, when she did not recognize her daughter. It is not how she wants her own life to play out.\n\nImage Ms. Flanders\u2019s father, Robert Mann, who had dementia.\n\nSo here\u2019s my guess as to how the story might end in the future \u2014 and why we should all think very hard before buying a lot of pricey insurance that we\u2019d need to keep for decades. As several of you pointed out in your emails, there is something radically unfair about the fact that Medicare pays for years of expensive treatment for cancer and heart disease but won\u2019t touch the long-term care and supervision that is, in effect, the prescription for people with memory conditions.\n\nGiven how strapped Medicaid is likely to become and how many more of us will live long enough to find our brains and bank accounts depleted before our bodies, it seems quite likely that the federal and state governments will have to do more, not less, to keep older Americans off the streets. No one in Washington seems to want to own up to that, but they will soon have no choice.", "output": "The latest version of the Senate\u2019s health insurance\u00a0bill\u00a0appeared on Thursday, and it didn\u2019t do much to change the\u00a0drastic reductions\u00a0in Medicaid spending that were in the original legislation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Governors From Both Parties Denounce Senate Obamacare Repeal Bill \n PROVIDENCE, R.I. \u2014 The nation\u2019s governors, gathered here for their annual summer meeting, came out strongly on Friday against the new Senate bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, turning up the pressure on Republican leaders struggling to round up the votes to pass the bill next week.\n\nOpposition came not just from Democratic governors but from Republicans who split along familiar lines \u2014 conservatives who said the legislation did not go far enough and moderates who said it was far too harsh on their state\u2019s vulnerable residents.\n\nGov. Brian Sandoval of Nevada, who at the moment may be the most pivotal figure in the health care debate, said he had \u201cgreat concerns\u201d with the legislation, and all but declared that he could not support any bill that would scale back Nevada\u2019s Medicaid program. His decision to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act had been \u201ca winner for the people of our state,\u201d he said of the government health insurance program for poor and disabled people.\n\n\u201cI have to be comfortable that those 210,000 lives are going to continue to enjoy the quality of life and health care that they have right now,\u201d he said, referring to the number of Nevadans who gained coverage through the expansion of Medicaid under President Barack Obama\u2019s signature health law.", "output": "The nation\u2019s governors, gathered here for their annual summer meeting, came out strongly on Friday against the new Senate bill\u00a0to repeal the Affordable Care Act, turning up the pressure on Republican leaders struggling to round up the votes to pass the bill next week.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Medical Transportation Provider Accused Of Disserving L.A.\u2019s Frail Patients \n Some days, the drivers showed up late to take Julian Myers to and from dialysis. Other days, they didn\u2019t come at all. When that happened, Myers, who has end-stage kidney disease, scrambled to find a ride.\n\n\u201cMy blood pressure was rising and I\u2019d get anxious,\u201d he recalled. \u201cI was frustrated. It\u2019s a regular appointment. They should be here on time.\u201d\n\nMyers complained regularly to LogistiCare, the company contracted to provide his medical transportation, but said the situation didn\u2019t improve.\n\nMedicaid beneficiaries like Myers are entitled to non-emergency, free transportation for medical appointments if they physically can\u2019t get there on their own. But patient advocates and social workers say low-income and vulnerable patients in Los Angeles County have frequently been unable to get to their appointments on time \u2014 or at all.\n\nUse Our Content This story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\n\u201cThe uncertainty of when or if LogistiCare is going to come \u2026 takes a tremendous toll on people who have no resources,\u201d said Toni Vargas, an attorney at Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County, a public interest law firm. \u201cThey don\u2019t have the resources to say, \u2018Enough is enough. I am going to go with another company.\u2019\u201d\n\nNeighborhood Legal Services recently sued LogistiCare in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleging that the company harmed the county\u2019s Medicaid patients by failing to provide \u201csafe, reliable, and timely transportation.\u201d Among the patients ill-served by the company were a double amputee, a woman partially paralyzed from a stroke and a man with a brain injury, the suit said.\n\nPatients who needed help were left on the curb or waiting for hours for rides, and others were harassed or driven in unsafe vehicles, according to the suit. Two patients allegedly were injured when their wheelchairs weren\u2019t secured in a van.\n\nSimilar issues with LogistiCare, a Georgia-based private company that works in the majority of states around the nation, also have been reported in New Jersey, Connecticut, Wisconsin and elsewhere.\n\n\u201cThis is a problem around the country,\u201d said Sheldon V. Toubman, a staff attorney at New Haven Legal Assistance Association. \u201cIt directly impacts access to care, with people literally not going to medical appointments they had because they could not get there.\u201d\n\nThey don\u2019t have the resources to say, \u2018Enough is enough. I am going to go with another company.\u2019 Toni Vargas, Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County\n\nLogistiCare officials declined to be interviewed but the general manager for California, Jody Gonzalez, said in an e-mail that the company takes the lawsuit very seriously, plans to mount a \u201cvigorous defense\u201d and believes the allegations will be disproven.\n\n\u201cWe emphatically believe that the claims by [Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County] are completely inaccurate, and do not reflect the reality of how our system operates in LA or any of our operation centers,\u201d Gonzalez wrote.\n\nGonzalez said the company serves 5.6 million people in California, including those on Medicaid (called Medi-Cal in the state), Medicare or with private insurance. The rides \u2014 done by a network of local drivers \u2014 help patients avoid unnecessary emergency room visits and hospitalizations.\n\n\u201cGiven the scale of the trips that we manage, we have a very high level of satisfaction and a relatively low number of complaints,\u201d Gonzalez wrote.\n\nAll complaints are investigated and addressed, though some are less serious than others, he said. Gonzalez added that the company regularly reaches out to families and facilities to address concerns and is already working to improve operations, by incorporating GPS technology for better oversight and adding more resources to serve the Medi-Cal population.\n\nThe California Department of Health Care Services, which oversees Medi-Cal in the state, declined to comment because of the pending litigation. Medi-Cal managed-care plans contract directly with LogistiCare.\n\nIn Connecticut, the state issued a bid for a new Medicaid contractor for non-emergency transportation because of the problems. The new company hasn\u2019t yet taken over, and pediatric cancer patients and those with mental health issues, still frequently miss appointments because of delays and other problems, said Bonnie B. Roswig, a senior staff attorney at the Center for Children\u2019s Advocacy in Connecticut. \u201cPatients just aren\u2019t getting the transportation they need,\u201d Roswig said. \u201cMedical providers are beside themselves.\u201d\n\nIn New Jersey, a survey of more than 300 Medicaid recipients with mental health issues found that nearly a third had serious safety concerns and that almost one-quarter stopped using LogistiCare\u2019s service because they were treated poorly or the services were not reliable. Proposed legislation in the state would require more accountability and training for Medicaid transportation services.\n\nVargas of Neighborhood Legal Services said she spent years trying to work with LogistiCare in California to improve the service. Though the company addressed some individual concerns, it failed to deal with broader underlying issues of untrained drivers, not enough drivers, poor management and a disorganized dispatch system.\n\n\u201cIt was like putting Band-Aids on a leak in your swimming pool,\u201d she said. \u201cThe exact same problems keep coming up again.\u201d\n\nThe lawsuit also alleged that drivers often didn\u2019t help certain patients to and from the door as required, and that some patients were transported without seat belts.\n\nShelly Frasier, a social worker at the DaVita Hollywood Dialysis Center in Los Angeles, where Myers receives treatment, said the unreliable transportation is both inconvenient and dangerous for patients.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s really important to have the consistent filtration of the blood,\u201d she said. \u201cThat is what is keeping them safe and alive. Missing just one treatment can put them in a perilous place.\u201d\n\nFrasier said she has often called LogistiCare, only to see the problems occur again. \u201cThere is no incentive to fix the problem,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a mess.\u201d\n\nMyers, an aspiring screenwriter, said he worried about his health each time a ride was late. If he was forced to have a shorter dialysis session, Myers said, he came home nauseated.\n\nAnother one of the plaintiffs, Hassan Allen, is diabetic and wears prostheses after having both legs amputated. He said he is weak and unsteady after dialysis and relies on the drivers to help him get home safely and quickly.\n\nSeveral times, Allen said, drivers arrived long after his appointment ended. \u201cWhen you finish dialysis and you have to sit around and wait an hour or two for transportation to pick you up, it\u2019s a very tough situation,\u201d said Allen, 44, who lives in Los Angeles. \u201cYou are agonizing and extremely frustrated.\u201d\n\nAllen is supposed to get help to and from the door, but he said LogistiCare regularly sent cabs with drivers who didn\u2019t do that. \u201cThe taxicab situation was just untenable,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter what you tell them,\u201d he said of LogistiCare. \u201cNothing changes. \u2026 Patients who are being poorly served by them deserve better.\u201d\n\nKHN\u2019s coverage in California is funded in part by Blue Shield of California Foundation.", "output": "Some days, the drivers showed up late to take Julian Myers to and from dialysis. Other days, they didn\u2019t come at all. When that happened, Myers, who has end-stage kidney disease, scrambled to find a ride.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HSBC calls for investigation into palm oil firm's deforestation \n HSBC has triggered an investigation into Noble Plantations following allegations the company was preparing to clear thousands of hectares of rainforest in Papua for oil palm cultivation.\n\nIn a decision hailed as a first by a major bank, HSBC has asked the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a sustainability body for the palm oil industry, to investigate the claims.\n\nThe move follows pressure from campaigning organisations Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Greenpeace, which last month wrote to four banks linked to a new $750m (\u00a3580m) bond issued by commodities giant Noble Group.\n\nThe NGOs asked HSBC, ABN Amro, ING and Rabobank to take action on allegations that Noble Group\u2019s subsidiary, Noble Plantations, was gearing up to clear 18,000 hectares of pristine rainforest in Papua.\n\nMap of Papua. Map of Papua\n\nNone of the banks made a formal complaint, according to Greenpeace, but HSBC did pass the documents on to the RSPO, which instigated the probe into Noble Plantations. While declining to comment on specifics, a spokesman for HSBC said the bank \u201cis keen to ensure that the RSPO\u2019s standards are observed and that any credible allegations of non-compliance are investigated\u201d.\n\nPalm oil, which is a common ingredient in a huge number of consumer products, is an important driver of deforestation. Palm plantations cover an estimated 27m hectares of land worldwide and oil palm was responsible for an average of 270,000 hectares of forest loss a year from 2000-2011, according to one study.\n\n\u201cGiven the seriousness of the allegations and supporting documentation,\u201d said an RSPO spokeswoman, \u201cthe RSPO has advised the company to stop all further development on the concession pending full independent investigations and assessment by RSPO, and possible referral to its complaints panel.\u201d\n\nA spokeswoman for Noble would only refer to the company\u2019s sustainability document (pdf), which states that work on its plantations in Papua is on hold pending \u201cadditional sustainability analysis\u201d.\n\nThe palm oil industry is expanding in Papua, home to about one third of Indonesia\u2019s remaining rainforests. Photograph: Yudhi Mahendra/Mighty\n\nCampaigners say banks have traditionally lagged behind companies when it comes to supporting ethical palm oil practices. But Greenpeace says HSBC\u2019s move is the first public evidence that the bank is taking its palm oil policy seriously. \u201cAfter years of turning a blind eye, the financial sector is finally starting to take a tougher line on rogue palm oil companies,\u201d said Jamie Woolley of Greenpeace UK.\n\n\n\nHSBC was recently the subject of Greenpeace\u2019s \u201cDirty Bankers\u201d report, which accused the bank of providing funding to palm oil companies complicit in environmental destruction.\n\nIn response HSBC announced a stricter lending policy based on a \u201cno deforestation, no peat, no exploitation\u201d commitment. While saying the bank\u2019s policies show it has \u201cno interest in financing illegal operations,\u201d HSBC Group CEO Stuart Gulliver admitted \u201cthe financial sector can play a greater role\u201d.\n\nHSBC Group CEO Stuart Gulliver on the bank\u2019s stricter palm oil policies.\n\nAudrey Versteegen of EIA agrees: \u201cBanks could do so much more, it\u2019s frustrating to see that they don\u2019t,\u201d she says. While she called HSBC the \u201cmost progressive bank out there\u201d, she criticised its decision not to make a formal complaint to the RSPO, urging it to act more assertively when it comes to the negative social and environmental impact of its clients.\n\nA spokeswoman for ING said the bank was not involved in financing Noble Plantations but \u201cwe have raised the matter with the RSPO\u201d. An ABN Amro spokewoman said the bank could not discuss individual client relationships publicly but that its policy prohibits the clearing of uncertified primary forest and it will investigate any indications of client non-compliance. A Rabobank spokeswoman said \u201cwe are concerned by the reports and we apply our sustainability policy both in letter and spirit also in this case\u201d.\n\nFollowing the money to clear up palm oil\n\nWhere previously campaigners for sustainable palm oil have focused on brands and consumers, they are now starting to focus on banks and investors to put pressure on them to stand by their ethical commitments.\n\nResearch last year from forests NGO Fern said that EU-based banks and investors have played a huge role in financing companies implicated in concerns over land grabbing and deforestation. US investors and pension funds were the target of a Friends of the Earth report (pdf) accusing them of fuelling environmentally and socially damaging palm oil production through investing billions into companies driving deforestation and land grabbing.\n\nA Greenpeace investigator documents peatland in IOI\u2019s oil palm concession in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. This area of the concession suffered extensive fires in 2015. Photograph: Ulet Ifansasti/Greenpeace\n\nUS-based sustainability organisation Ceres launched its Engage the Chain report earlier this month aiming to help investors better understand the risks of investing in food companies. It details the environmental and social threats associated with commodities including palm oil.\n\n\u201cPalm oil supply chains are perhaps the clearest example of where investors have seen the environmental and social impacts translate into financial risks,\u201d said Allan Pearce of Trillium Asset Management. \u201cInvestors have seen share prices drop as producers fail to protect forests.\u201d\n\nFollowing HSBC\u2019s move, other banks are starting to make public commitments. French bank BNP Paribas last month announced a new set of guidelines around palm oil investment, requiring companies to comply with stricter policies around deforestation and emissions.\n\nThe move was praised by campaign organisation Mighty Earth as a \u201cbreakthrough\u201d in forest finance. \u201cBanks and investors need to stop giving deforesters a lifeline,\u201d said Deborah Lapidus, campaigns director at Mighty Earth.\n\nDeutsche Bank and Standard Chartered have also been under pressure to publish stricter palm oil policies. A spokeswomen for Standard Chartered said the bank is \u201cenhancing its policies to incorporate no deforestation, no peat and no exploitation requirements with independent verification\u201d. She said more would be published over the coming months. A Deutsche Bank spokesman said \u201cwe are currently reviewing our environmental and social policies and guidelines\u201d.\n\nVersteegen says banks need to step up their commitments and quickly. \u201cAt the end of the day, money is the only argument everybody understands so [banks] have a huge role to play.\u201d", "output": "HSBC has called on the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil to investigate allegations that Noble Plantations is planning to clear large areas of Papua rainforest for palm oil crops. The move is the first of its kind by a major bank. It comes in response to requests from Greenpeace and the Environmental Investigation Agency which last month wrote to ABN Amro, ING, Rabobank as well as HSBC in relation to a \u00a3580m ($750m) bond issued by commodities firm, Noble Group. The campaign groups asked the banks to act on the allegations of planned deforestation by the group\u2019s subsidiary, Noble Plantations."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Millions More Uninsured Could Impact Health Of Those With Insurance, Too \n Much has been written lately about how individuals\u2019 health could suffer if they lose insurance under the health proposals circulating in the U.S. House and Senate. But there is another consequence: creating millions more people without insurance could also adversely affect the health of people who remain insured.\n\n\u201cWe know that communities with higher rates of uninsurance have worse access to care for those with Medicare or private insurance,\u201d said John Ayanian, director of the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation at the University of Michigan. And if either of the GOP proposals under consideration becomes law, he said, \u201cit\u2019s very likely we would go back to some of those same problems we had a decade ago with high rates of uninsurance.\u201d\n\nThe Congressional Budget Office has estimated that either the bill passed by the House or the one under consideration in the Senate could result in more than 20 million more Americans without insurance over the next decade.\n\nUse Our Content This KHN story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nAyanian was part of an expert panel from the nonpartisan National Academy of Medicine that examined the implications of being uninsured in a series of studies from 2001 to 2009. An entire report looked solely at the spillover effect of large numbers of uninsured people on those around them. \u201cThe Committee believes it both mistaken and dangerous to assume that the persistence of a sizable uninsured population in the United States harms only those who are uninsured,\u201d said the report.\n\nThat is mostly because it is difficult for health providers to maintain services in areas with large numbers of patients who cannot pay for care. \u201cThose communities are less attractive for physicians and other health care providers to locate,\u201d said Ayanian. \u201cThat affects access to care for everyone,\u201d he said, particularly for critical but high-cost services like trauma care, burn care and neonatal intensive care.\n\nThe potential is not merely theoretical. Hospitals in sparsely populated areas, particularly in states that did not opt to expand the Medicaid program, have been cutting back services like maternity care or closing altogether in recent years. These are the same parts of the country that voted for President Donald Trump by large margins.\n\nThe impact is not just on availability of services. A 2007 study from researchers at the University of Pennsylvania in the journal Health Affairs found that in areas with many uninsured people, the quality of care was lower as well. Primary care doctors \u201creported that the higher the proportion of uninsured people in their community, the less likely they are to be able to refer their patients to high-quality specialists,\u201d found the researchers. \u201cSpecialists also reported that the higher the community uninsurance rate, the less able they are to deliver high-quality care to their patients,\u201d the study said.\n\nThat spillover effect extends beyond access to health care itself, according to a new report from The Commonwealth Fund. Researchers from George Washington University found that if the House-passed health bill were to become law, nearly 1.5 million jobs could be lost over the next decade.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re talking about a net funding loss to states of millions of dollars,\u201d said Leighton Ku, the study\u2019s lead author. \u201cWhat this means is that states will have higher needs, less revenue to pay for services, and at the same time the federal government is putting less money into Medicaid,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it all adds up to a great revenue crunch that\u2019s similar to the Great Recession\u201d of the past decade.\n\nWhile most of the job losses would be in health care, other jobs would be affected too, he said.\n\nFor example, health care workers who lose jobs will then purchase fewer goods and services, affecting the bottom line of local businesses. Health care facilities that were planning to expand might not, affecting the construction industry. And the impact could cross state lines, said Ku. \u201cWe might see fewer people going to Disney World,\u201d he said, because people who lose their jobs would lack money to take vacations.", "output": "Much has been written lately about how individuals\u2019 health could suffer if they lose insurance under the health proposals circulating in the U.S. House and Senate. But there is another consequence: creating millions more people without insurance could also adversely affect the health of people who remain insured.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Saving Swimmers, Well Into Senior Years \n From his wooden perch overlooking the shoreline, Gerry Lambert stood up and eyed three teenagers caught in a rough ocean\u2019s sudden riptide.\n\n\u201cWe got a little situation,\u201d Mr. Lambert said calmly to his fellow lifeguards resting behind the stand.\n\nAt 73, Mr. Lambert is the oldest lifeguard at Tobay Beach, an oceanfront expanse on the South Shore of Long Island just east of Jones Beach, where he has been working since the late 1950s.\n\nHe blew his whistle at the teenagers and took off his hat and sunglasses, but relaxed after seeing the swimmers safely regain their footing.", "output": "From his wooden perch overlooking the shoreline, Gerry Lambert stood up and eyed three teenagers caught in a rough ocean\u2019s sudden riptide. \u201cWe got a little situation,\u201d Mr. Lambert said calmly to his fellow lifeguards resting behind the stand.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Retirement at 65 becomes a reach for some, as seniors stay in the workforce \n A person's 65th birthday used to be a milestone. That was the age at which your working days were over and your retirement began.\n\nFor millions of Americans nowadays, however, that's no longer possible. Nearly 20 percent of people age 65+ are still working full or part-time\u2014the highest rate since 1962. After the end of the Great Recession, more seniors were forced to stay in the workforce for longer, in order to make ends meet.\n\n\"It is financially driven,\" AARP's senior vice president of programs Jean Setzfand told CNBC's \"On the Money\" in a recent interview.\n\n\"Our research shows us that 34 percent of the people we surveyed tell us that financial drivers are a major reason why they're staying in the workforce,\" she added.\n\nIn 2000, 13 percent of Americans age 65 and over were still working full or part time, according to data from Pew Research. Currently, that number has grown to 19 percent yet by 2021, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates 32 percent of boomers will still be on the job.\n\nMeanwhile, even that number is expected to increase. With fewer pensions and not enough retirement savings, retiring at 65 isn't financially possible for many.\n\nFor decades, companies have been \"moving away from pensions to 401(k) defined-contribution plans,\" Setzfand said. \"What happens there is you have a lower base of guaranteed income. Everyone is really reliant on Social Security as that floor. They no longer have that traditional pension that lasts them through their lifetime.\"\n\nSetzfand said that according to AARP research, about 55 million private-sector employees in the U.S. don't have access to workplace retirement savings plans.\n\nThe organization also found that without a retirement plan at work, only 5 percent of people open their own individual retirement account (IRA). Setzfand said that makes saving for retirement \"15 times harder for them.\"\n\nAccording to the Labor Department, the number of people in the labor force between the ages of 25 to 54 isn't projected to change much between now and 2024.\n\nHowever, seniors are more likely to be working than teenagers. Today, there are more workers in the 55-and-over group than there are in the 16- 24 age group\u2014and that gap is expected to widen.\n\nBut AARP's Setzfand said that's a good thing, because \"19 percent of the folks that we talk to actually wanted to stay in the workplace because they actually enjoy it.\"\n\nWork is \"a social outlet, they feel productive. So there's a good reason for people to actually want to stay in the workplace longer,\" she said. \"Because we're actually living longer and what greater way to stay engaged but at the workplace.\"\n\nOn the Money airs on CNBC Saturday at 5:30 am ET, or check listings for air times in local markets.", "output": "A person's 65th birthday used to be a milestone. That was the age at which your working days were over and your retirement began. For millions of Americans nowadays, however, that's no longer possible.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google uses scale to widen gap with rivals in image recognition \n Another week, another record-breaking AI research study released by Google\u2014this time with results that are a reminder of a crucial business dynamic of the current AI boom. The ecosystem of tech companies that consumers and the economy increasingly depend on is traditionally said to be kept innovative and un-monopolistic by disruption, the process whereby smaller companies upend larger ones. But when competition in tech depends on machine learning systems powered by huge stockpiles of data, slaying a tech giant may be harder than ever.\n\nGoogle\u2019s new paper, released as a preprint Monday, describes an expensive collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University. Their experiments on image recognition tied up 50 powerful graphics processors for two solid months, and used an unprecedentedly huge collection of 300 million labeled images (much work in image recognition uses a standard collection of just 1 million images). The project was designed to test whether it\u2019s possible to get more accurate image recognition not by tweaking the design of existing algorithms but just by feeding them much, much more data.\n\nThe answer was yes. After Google and CMU\u2019s researchers trained a standard image processing system on their humungous new dataset, they say it produced new state-of-the-art results on several standard tests for how well software can interpret images, such as detecting objects in photos. There was a clear relationship between the volume of data they pumped in and the accuracy of image recognition algorithms that came out. The findings go some way to clear up a question circulating in the AI research world about whether more could be squeezed from existing algorithms just by giving them more data to feed on.\n\nShowing that more data can equal more performance out even at huge scale suggests that there could be even greater benefits to being a data-rich tech giant like Google, Facebook, or Microsoft than previously realized. Crunching Google\u2019s giant dataset of 300 million images didn\u2019t produce a huge benefit\u2014jumping from 1 million to 300 million images increased the object detection score achieved by just 3 percentage points\u2014but the paper\u2019s authors say they think can widen that advantage by tuning their software to be better suited to super-large datasets. Even if that turns out not to be the case, in the tech industry small advantages can be important. Every incremental gain in the accuracy of self-driving car vision will be crucial, for example, and a small efficiency boost to a product that draws billions in revenue adds up fast.\n\nData hoarding is already well established as a defensive strategy among AI-centric companies. Google, Microsoft and others have open-sourced lots of software, and even hardware designs, but are less free with the kind data that makes such tools useful. Tech companies do release data: Last year, Google released a vast dataset drawn from more than 7 million YouTube videos, and Salesforce opened up one drawn from Wikipedia to help algorithms work with language. But Luke de Oliveira, a partner at AI development lab Manifold and a visiting researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, says that (as you might expect) such releases don\u2019t usually offer much of value to potential competitors. \u201cThese are never datasets that are truly crucial for the continued market position of a product,\u201d he says.\n\nGoogle and CMU\u2019s researchers do say they want their latest study on the value of what they dub \u201cenormous data\u201d to catalyze the creation of much larger, Google-scale, open image datasets. \u201cOur sincere hope is that this inspires the vision community to not undervalue the data and develop collective efforts in building larger datasets,\u201d they write. Abhinav Gupta of CMU, who worked on the study, says one option could be to work with the Common Visual Data Foundation, a nonprofit sponsored by Facebook and Microsoft that has released open image datasets.\n\nMeanwhile, data-poor companies that want to survive in a world where the data rich can expect their algorithms to be smarter have to get creative. Jeremy Achin, CEO of startup DataRobot, guesses that a model seen in insurance where smaller companies (carefully) pool data to make their risk predictions competitive with larger competitors might catch on more broadly as machine learning becomes important to more companies and industries.\n\nProgress on making machine learning less data hungry could upend the data economics of AI; Uber bought one company working on that last year. But right now it's also possible to try and sidestep the AI incumbents\u2019 usual data advantage. Rachel Thomas, cofounder of Fast.ai, which works to make machine learning more accessible, says startups can find places to get rich applying machine learning outside the usual purview of internet giants, such as agriculture. \u201cI\u2019m not sure these large companies necessarily have a huge advantage everywhere, in a lot of these specific domains data just isn\u2019t being collected at all by anyone,\u201d she says. Even artificially intelligent giants have blind spots.", "output": "A machine-learning image recognition collaboration between Google and Carnegie Mellon University has found superior results can be obtained from existing learning algorithms by feeding them with even more data than is customary. The project used 50 graphics processing units to train a neural network on a database of 300 million images, a process which took two weeks and resulted in a 3% improvement in prediction accuracy over training with a standard batch of around one million\u00a0images. The researchers hope\u00a0the results will encourage\u00a0the vision community to advance\u00a0joint\u00a0endeavours to construct bigger datasets.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lemonade pays first charity 'giveback' from premium pool \n Lemonade Insurance announced today that 14 charitable organizations, which were selected by policyholders, will become the beneficiaries of donations that together total 10% of the company\u2019s revenues to date.\n\nThe startup\u2019s \u201c2017 Giveback\u201d campaign is \u201csomething our entire community can be very proud of,\u201d Lemonade CEO and cofounder Daniel Schreiber said in a press release. \u201cWhile we\u2019re small, and the absolute numbers are modest, Giveback should scale as we do. Think what our industry could achieve if others adopted the Giveback way.\u201d", "output": "InsurTech start-up Lemonade has given $53,174 to 14 charities in the first \"giveback\" of cash left over from its premium pool. The digital insurance pioneer became operational last year with the promise that any money remaining after claims had been paid out would go to worthy causes. Its business model is based on the belief that policyholders would be more responsible if they knew that the alternative to making fraudulent claims was to put money back into society. The handout accounts for just over 10% of revenue.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brexit negotiations could destabilise insurtech investment \n Startupbootcamp InsurTech and PwC report also shows start-ups are becoming more sophisticated, with more insurers looking to collaborate.\n\nInsurTech has reached a crucial stage, with more investment and an increasing number of start-ups being created, according to Startupbootcamp InsurTech and PwC\u2019s 2017 trend report.\n\nAccording to the research InsurTech start-ups are becoming increasingly sophisticated, tackling more complex problems that are more closely aligned to insurers\u2019 needs.\n\nBrexit\n\nIn terms of Brexit, Startupbootcamp noted in the report that the UK\u2019s decision to leave the EU had so far had a limited effect on InsurTech", "output": "Brexit has had little impact so far on insurtech start-ups, which have focused increasingly on mid- and back-office operations in 2016, while the number of firms looking into different\u00a0approaches to underwriting risk and predicting loss rose four-fold, according to a trend report by Startupbbootcamp InsurTech and PwC. However, the study\u00a0found the Brexit negotiation stage\u00a0could present disruption issues, though the long-term effects are hard to estimate. There remain\u00a0\"question marks as to whether talent and investment will still be drawn to British shores to the same degree that they are currently\", according to the report."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Stanford researchers develop arrhythmia-spotting algorithm \n While not all arrhythmias are fatal or even dangerous, it's still a cause for concern. Some, after all, could cause heart failure and cardiac arrest, and a lot of people with abnormal heart rhythms don't even show symptoms. A team of researchers from Stanford University might have found a way to effectively diagnose the condition even if a person isn't exhibiting symptoms and even without a doctor. They've developed an algorithm that can detect 14 types of arrhythmia -- they also claim that based on their tests, it can perform \"better than trained cardiologists.\"\n\nSee, an ECG doesn't always show the presence of arrhythmia, so doctors sometimes order patients to wear a wearable ECG device to monitor their heartbeat for two weeks. The researchers took advantage of that practice to create their algorithm. They used the massive dataset provided by heartbeat monitor company iRhythm to train a deep neural network for seven months until it's capable of detecting 14 types of arrhythmia by looking at ECGs.\n\nTo ensure the results' accuracy, the team had six cardiologists look at the data and diagnose each individual. They found that the algorithm was able to compete with the cardiologists, and in some cases, it was even able to differentiate between two very similar types of arrhythmia, something that could mean the difference between life and death.\n\nPranav Rajpurkar, the paper's co-lead author, said:\n\n\"The differences in the heartbeat signal can be very subtle but have massive impact in how you choose to tackle these detection. For example, two forms of the arrhythmia known as second-degree atrioventricular block look very similar, but one requires no treatment while the other requires immediate attention.\"\n\nThe scientists are hoping for their creation to lead to a diagnostic tool people in developing nations and remote areas can use if they don't have immediate access to a doctor. They also believe it could be used on a wearable device to pick up signs of stroke, heart failure or cardiac arrest in at-risk patients.", "output": "Researchers at Stanford University have developed an algorithm capable of diagnosing an irregular heartbeat and distinguishing between 14 different types of arrhythmia. The team used vast datasets from heartbeat monitor company iRhythm to create the algorithm, which was then tested against the diagnostic skills of human medics. The scientists hope to develop a diagnostic tool that can be used by people in remote locations who don't have access to a heart specialist."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ethereum crash causes a sell-off of GPU mining equipment \n Used GPUs flood the market as Ethereum's price crashes below $150\n\nWill GPU prices be returning to normal soon?\n\n| Source: Ethereum Price Author: Mark Campbell\n\nUsed GPUs flood the market as Ethereum's price crashes below $150\n\nOver the past few months, there has been a GPU shortage, forcing the prices of mid-range graphics cards up as cryptocurrency miners from across the world purchased hardware in bulk in search for quick and easy profits.\n\nThis has forced the prices of most modern AMD and certain Nvidia GPUs to skyrocket, but now these GPUs are starting to saturate the used market as more and more Ethereum miners sell up and quit mining. Some other miners are starting to look at other emerging Cryptocurrencies, though it is clear that the hype behind Ethereum is dying down.\n\ndifficulty spike, making the currency 20% harder to mine and significantly less profitable. This combined with its decrease in value has made mining Ethereum unprofitable for many miners, especially in regions with higher than average electricity costs. Earlier this week Ethereum's value dropped below $200 , as soon as the currency experienced a new, making the currency 20% harder to mine and significantly less profitable. This combined with its decrease in value has made mining Ethereum unprofitable for many miners, especially in regions with higher than average electricity costs.\n\n\n\nNow Ethereum is valued at less than $150, with the currency costing $134.97 at the time of writing, which is less than half of the currency's peak value. The currency has the potential to bounce back, though it is difficult to see the currency go back over \u00a3250 in the near future.\n\nOn second-hand sales websites like eBay and Gumtree, we have seen a lot of new GPU listing appear in recent days, with plenty of used AMD RX series GPUs appearing over the weekend. More hardware is expected to hit these sites over the coming days as some miners wind down their operations, though many will simply move to a more profitable currency or to invest their computing power into an emerging Cryptocurrency that has the prospect of high values in the future.\n\nThese developments will decrease demand for new GPUs from miners and will flood the used market with mining hardware, which should allow GPU pricing to return to normal levels in the near future. Sadly there remains the possibility for Ethereum to make some form of resurgence, or for another cryptocurrency to take its place.\n\nIn recent weeks websites like eBay and Gumtree have been relatively bare of GPUs, with this week seeing a huge uptick in the number of new AMD RX listings, though pricing is still sitting well above AMD's MSRP. It is worth noting that we see more GPUs listing appearing in the EU than the US, potentially due to differing electricity costs and other variables that affect the profitability of mining.\n\nThe sad fact of the matter is that this situation will likely happen again and again moving forward, with Bitcoin and Ethereum setting up an irritating trend for the gaming market. The drive for greater GPU efficiency will only make mining easier and newer, smarter cryptocurrencies will continue to be developed, which means that GPU-based mining will never truly die off in the foreseeable future.\n\nYou can join the discussion on Ethereum's declining price on the OC3D Forums.\n\n1 - Will GPU prices be returning to normal soon? \u00abPrev 1 Next\u00bb\n\nMost Recent Comments", "output": "The slump in ethereum's value has prompted small-scale miners to sell up, leading to a glut of graphics processing unit (GPU) equipment appearing on sites such as Gumtree and eBay. Where the recent shortage of GPUs available online had driven prices up, the influx of used units is likely to push the costs back down, until such time as another cryptocurrency takes ethereum\u2019s place. These fluctuations are unlikely to stop within the foreseeable future.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Investment app Stash generates another $40m in series C round \n Stash, a NYC-based fintech investment and education platform, raised $40m in Series C funding.\n\nThe round was led by Coatue Management and existing investors Breyer Capital, Goodwater Capital, and Valar Ventures.\n\nThe company, which has raised a total of $78m in less than two years, intends to use the capital to accelerate investments in technology and data analytics, to better serve its community with more personalization, educational tools, and new products.\n\nStarted in February 2015 by Wall Street veterans Brandon Krieg and Ed Robinson, Stash allows its customers, including freelancers, military personnel, and teachers, to invest in funds in a secure way, guided by smart and effective strategies.\n\nThe company, which is to launch Stash Retire, a simplified retirement platform for iOS and Android, this summer, is presently servicing over 850,000 accounts, 86% of which are first-time investors. In 2017 alone, it added over half a million new investors to its platform, with over 25,000 new customers joining every week.\n\nStash is an SEC Registered Investment Adviser.\n\nFinSMEs\n\n13/07/2017", "output": "Stash, the online investment app that allows customers to invest in exchange-traded funds for as little as $5, has raised a further $40m in a series C funding round. The fresh\u00a0capital\u00a0has boosted\u00a0investment in\u00a0the New York company to $78m. The service is popular with millennials and freelancers, and there are plans to launch a retirement scheme later this year. The company said it will use the financial\u00a0injection to develop its technology and analytics.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers identify toxic chemicals in mac\u00a0and cheese products \n A new study found traces of phthalates in store bought mac and cheese products, specifically in the cheese powders. Phthalates are chemicals that keep plastics flexible, transparent and durable. Past research has linked these chemicals to lower sperm count and hormone disruption.\n\nThe study, which was conducted by The Coalition for Safer Food Processing & Packaging, found that 29 out of 30 packages tested had contained the chemicals. Although phthalates aren\u2019t intentionally added to the food, they can slip in pretty easily through the process. Since discovering this, the coalition has launched a #KleanUpKraft petition to get rid of \u201ctoxic industrial chemicals\u201d completely. Although these chemicals have been found in all kinds of store bought mac and cheese, including organic labels, Kraft sells the most.\n\nYou Might Also Like: Taking Too Much Of This Vitamin Can Cause Serious Health Issues\n\nIn the letter, the coalition explained that young children\u2019s and pregnant women\u2019s number one source of phthalates is through food.\n\nKraft released a statement to Time explaining that they don\u2019t add phthalates to any of their products. \u201cThe trace amounts that were reported in this limited study are more than 1,000 times lower than levels that scientific authorities have identified as acceptable,\u201d the company stated. \u201cOur products are safe for consumers to enjoy.\u201d", "output": "Traces of phthalates have been discovered in the cheese powders of\u00a0store-bought macaroni and cheese mixes, according to a report by\u00a0The Coalition for Safer Food Processing & Packaging. Phthalates are chemicals used to enhance the durability and flexibility of plastic, but\u00a0have been linked to hormone disruption and diminished\u00a0sperm count if consumed. The recent study found that 29 out of 30 products tested contained the toxic chemicals, which can migrate into the food during the manufacturing and packaging process.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bot-promoting of porn growing across Twitter through affiliates \n Last month KrebsOnSecurity published research into a large distributed network of apparently compromised systems being used to relay huge blasts of junk email promoting \u201conline dating\u201d programs \u2014 affiliate-driven schemes traditionally overrun with automated accounts posing as women. New research suggests that another bot-promoting botnet of more than 80,000 automated female Twitter accounts has been pimping the same dating scheme and prompting millions of clicks from Twitter users in the process.\n\nNot long after I published Inside a Porn-Pimping Spam Botnet, I heard from researchers at ZeroFOX, a security firm that helps companies block attacks coming through social media.\n\nZack Allen, manager of threat operations at ZeroFOX, said he had a look at some of the spammy, adult-themed domains being promoted by the botnet in my research and found they were all being promoted through a botnet of bogus Twitter accounts.\n\nThose phony Twitter accounts all featured images of attractive or scantily-clad women, and all were being promoted via suggestive tweets, Allen said.\n\nAnyone who replied was ultimately referred to subscription-based online dating sites run by Deniro Marketing, a company based in California. This was the same company that was found to be the beneficiary of spam from the porn botnet I\u2019d written about in June. Deniro did not respond to requests for comment.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been tracking this thing since February 2017, and we concluded that the social botnet controllers are probably not part of Deniro Marketing, but most likely are affiliates,\u201d Allen said.\n\nZeroFOX found more than 86,262 Twitter accounts were responsible for more than 8.6 million posts on Twitter promoting porn-based sites, many of them promoting domains in a swath of Internet address space owned by Deniro Marketing (ASN19884).\n\nAllen said 97.4% of bot display names had the pattern \u201cFirstname Surname\u201d with the first letters of each name capitalized, and each name separated by a single whitespace character that corresponded to common female names.\n\nThe accounts advertise adult content by routinely injecting links from their twitter profiles to a popular hashtag, or by @-mentioning a popular user or influencer on Twitter. Those profile links are shortened with Google\u2019s goo.gl link shortening service, which then redirects to a free hosting domain in the dot-tk (.tk) domain space (.tk is the country code for Tokelau \u2014 a group of atolls in the South Pacific).\n\nFrom there the system is smart enough to redirect users back to Twitter if they appear to be part of any automated attempt to crawl the links (e.g. by using site download and mirroring tools like cURL), the researchers found. They said this was likely a precaution on the part of the spammers to avoid detection by automated scanners looking for bot activity on Twitter. Requests from visitors who look like real users responding to tweets are redirected to the porn spam sites.\n\nBecause the links promoted by those spammy Twitter accounts all abused short link services from Twitter and Google, the researchers were able to see that this entire botnet has generated more than 30 million unique clicks from February to June 2017.\n\n[SIDE NOTE: Anyone seeking more context about what\u2019s being promoted here can check out the Web site datinggold[dot]com [Caution: Not-Safe-for-Work], which suggests it\u2019s an affiliate program that rewards marketers who drive new signups to its array of \u201conline dating\u201d offerings \u2014 mostly \u201ccheating,\u201d \u201chookup\u201d and \u201caffair-themed\u201d sites like \u201cAdsforSex,\u201d \u201cAffair Hookups,\u201d and \u201cLocalCheaters.\u201d Note that this program is only interested in male signups.]\n\nAllen said the Twitter botnet relies heavily on accounts that have been \u201caged\u201d for a period of time as another method to evade anti-spam techniques used by Twitter, which may treat tweets from new accounts with more prejudice than those from established accounts. ZeroFOX said about 20 percent of the Twitter accounts identified as part of the botnet were aged at least one year before sending their first tweet, and that the botnet overall demonstrates that these affiliate programs have remained lucrative by evolving to harness social media.\n\n\u201cThe final redirect sites encourage the user to sign up for subscription pornography, webcam sites, or fake dating,\u201d ZeroFOX wrote in a report being issued this week. \u201cThese types of sites, although legal, are known to be scams.\u201d\n\nPerhaps the most well-known example of the subscription-based dating/cheating service that turned out to be mostly phony was AshleyMadison. After AshleyMadison\u2019s user databases were plundered and published online, the company admitted that its service used at least 70,000 female chatbots that were programmed to message new users and try to entice them into replying \u2014 which required a paid account.\n\n\u201cMany of the sites\u2019 policies claim that the site owners operate most of the profiles,\u201d ZeroFOX charged. \u201cThey also have overbearing policies that can use personally information of their customers to send to other affiliate programs, yielding more spam to the victim. Much like the infamous \u2018partnerka\u2019 networks from the Russian Business Network, money is paid out via clicks and signups on affiliate programs\u201d [links added].\n\nAlthough the Twitter botnet discovered by ZeroFOX has since been dismantled, it not hard to see how this same approach could be very effective at spreading malware. Keep your wits about you while using or cruising social media sites, and be wary of any posts or profiles that match the descriptions and behavior of the bot accounts described here.\n\nFor more on this research, see ZeroFOX\u2019s blog post Inside a Massive Siren Social Network Spam Botnet.", "output": "A botnet flooding Twitter with links to porn-based sites was traced back to affiliates of online dating company Deniro Marketing in California, according to cybersecurity firm Zerofox. The botnet, which injects links from adult content Twitter profiles into popular hashtags or @-mentions influencers or users on the social media site, abused short link services from Twitter and Google. Zerofox researchers reported that the bot had\u00a0generated 30 million unique clicks between February and June this year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Europcar investigated by SFO over 'fraudulent' repair costs \n The car hire industry was thrown deeper into crisis last night after it was revealed a major firm was facing an investigation over 'fraudulent' repair costs.\n\nEuropcar, one Europe's biggest rental companies, said customers may have been overcharged by as much as \u00a330 million.\n\nThe Serious Fraud Office is understood to be planning a criminal inquiry following reports that more than 500,000 customers may have paid for repairs inflated by up to 300 per cent.\n\nEuropcar is facing a criminal probe into claims that it overcharged customers for repairs with bills inflated up to 300 per cent\n\nIt comes on the back of a Daily Mail investigation which found that customers were being forced to pay up to \u00a32,200 in insurance excess if they damage a hire car abroad.\n\nThe Daily Telegraph reported last night that the Europcar customers may have paid over the odds for repairs over the course of a decade.\n\nThe National Body Repair Association said the problem was widespread and warned of 'an increasing trend towards large corporates pressurising small firms to work with opaque practices and poor commercial terms'.\n\nAlex Neill, from Which?, added: 'If Europcar is found to have inflated costs for repairs, people will be outraged.\n\nThe company says customers may have been overcharged a total of \u00a330million over the course of a decade, with industry watchdogs warning the practice is 'widespread' (file)\n\n'There should be an immediate investigation to ensure others aren't doing this and customers who have been left out of pocket are compensated without delay.'\n\nA spokesman for Europcar said 'the implications of the investigation will be somewhere in the region of \u00a330million'.\n\nThousands of customers could seek compensation and the company could be fined 10 per cent of its annual turnover if found guilty.\n\nThe Mail revealed last week that British travellers face an average excess of more than \u00a31,000 on a holiday hire car, with some firms charging more than \u00a32,000.\n\nWhen a hire car is damaged, the driver must usually pay the first few hundred pounds of repairs \u2013 known as the excess \u2013 before the rest is covered by their standard insurance.\n\nBut experts said excess charges were spiralling 'out of control' as car rental desks use the high prices to persuade drivers to buy additional 'excess waiver' cover.", "output": "One of Europe's largest car rental companies, Europcar, is to be investigated by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) following reports that more than 500,000 customers may have paid for repairs inflated by up to 300%, with overcharges potentially totalling as much as \u00a330m ($39m). If the company is found guilty, thousands of customers may be able to\u00a0seek compensation and Europcar could be fined 10%\u00a0of its annual turnover. British travellers face an average excess of at least\u00a0\u00a31,000 on a holiday hire car, with some firms charging more than\u00a0\u00a32,000."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Moon Express raises $45m to robotically mine moon rocks \n Private money is chasing moonshots Moon Express\n\nA permanent robotic mining outpost on the moon could be on the cards as early as 2020. The Florida-based company Moon Express has raised over $45 million in funding for three expeditions that will culminate in a mission to mine moon rocks and return them to Earth.\n\nBecause the laws governing usage of resources in space are vague, a profit-driven mission of this kind could cause international controversy. \u201cIt\u2019s something that is being discussed internationally now, but there is no agreed-upon answer, and I\u2019m not sure there\u2019s going to be,\u201d says Henry Hertzfeld at the George Washington University Space Policy Institute in Washington, DC.\n\nMoon Express was founded in 2010 with the aim of winning the Google Lunar XPRIZE, a $20 million award for the first privately funded vehicle to land on the moon. The launch deadline is the end of 2017, so Moon Express hopes to launch Lunar Scout, its first planned expedition, this year.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe engines for the company\u2019s landers have been built and are being tested, but other parts are still being developed and manufactured. The Electron rocket, made by private spaceflight company Rocket Lab, is slated to carry Lunar Scout but has never yet reached orbit.\n\n\u201cWe have a lot to do in a very short time frame, and Rocket Lab has a lot to do in a very short time frame,\u201d Moon Express chief executive Bob Richards told a press conference yesterday.\n\nNever mind the prize\n\nEven if the launch doesn\u2019t happen by the end of the year, Richards said the mission will go ahead \u2013 the prize money is not an absolute requirement.\n\nThat debut Lunar Scout mission will carry a small telescope and a laser array to the moon\u2019s surface. In 2019, the company plans to land a second craft at the moon\u2019s south pole, where it can prospect for water and any potentially useful minerals.\n\nThe aptly named third expedition, Harvest Moon, would begin Moon Express\u2019s mining operation. If all goes to plan, this first commercial mission to return moon rocks to Earth will launch in 2020. The lander may have the capability to send a capsule full of samples back to Earth (illustrated below) while it remains on the moon to continue mining.\n\nMoon Express\n\nThose lunar samples would be the first to return to the US since 1972. Some of them will be used for scientific research, but others could be sold to collectors or other private companies. \u201cWe look forward opening up the opportunity for everyone to have lunar rocks,\u201d Richards said.\n\nLunar samples from all of the prior US missions belong to the government. The Spurring Private Aerospace Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship (SPACE) Act of 2015 encourages commercial exploitation of resources in space, as long as they\u2019re not alive. That means that if Moon Express finds aliens, it can\u2019t keep them, but minerals and water are fair game.\n\nMost other nations don\u2019t have such clear laws, though. They rely on the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which vaguely states that the exploration of outer space and celestial bodies should be beneficial to everyone. Many people interpret the treaty to mean that space, including the moon, is common heritage that should remain unsullied by commercial interests.\n\n\u201cWhat becomes a hang-up is the profits that could be made by a private company,\u201d says Hertzfeld. \u201cInternationally, not everybody\u2019s going to be happy with that. But can they do anything about it? Probably not.\u201d", "output": "Florida-based spaceflight firm Moon Express has generated\u00a0more than $45m in funding for three trips to the Moon, with the final trip\u00a0intended to be a mining expedition for lunar rocks. The privately financed company, which was formed\u00a0with a view to winning\u00a0the $20m Google Lunar XPRIZE, plans to launch\u00a0Lunar Scout, its first expedition,\u00a0this year. Although the lander's engines are in\u00a0the testing phase,\u00a0other vehicle parts are still being developed\u00a0and manufactured. Even if the launch doesn't happen by the prize deadline, the company will proceed with its plans, according to Moon Express CEO Bob Richards."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Q2 GDP expanded slightly more than expected in China  \n Early last year, China announced a five-year plan to eliminate excessive capacity and lay off workers in the coal and steel industries, in a bid to restructure the world\u2019s second-largest economy. This March, the government set a new goal of cutting steel capacity by 50 million metric tons (55 tons) and coal capacity by 150 million metric tons by year-end.\n\nBut reality is diverging from the rhetoric.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nChina just announced its GDP expanded 6.9% in the second quarter of this year, from April to June, according to the latest official figure. That has beaten analysts\u2019 consensus estimates of 6.8%, and continues the encouraging trend shown by the previous quarter\u2019s data, after concerns that the economy could slow further than it already has. China has said it is aiming for GDP growth of around 6.5% this year; the International Monetary Fund in June revised its forecast up to 6.7%.\n\nBut the driver of upbeat activity \u201cremains all the things that China was trying to get away from like coal, steel,\u201d said Christopher Balding, a professor at Peking University\u2019s HSBC Business School in Shenzhen.\n\nChina\u2019s steel production hit a record high this June, breaking the previous record in April, as construction demand and prices picked up. Riding on an expected summer uptick in demand due to electricity use, May coal output jumped 12% from a year earlier, the fastest growth rate in at least two years. Growth in industrial output also accelerated in June, beating market expectations.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nChina has said that it cut 65 million metric tons of steel capacity in 2016, and spent $4.4 billion on assisting the 726,000 workers affected by both steel and coal restructuring. The cuts are aimed at improving prices and industrial profits, as well as reshaping the economy.\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s worth noting that you can cut production capacity without cutting production in China. A study commissioned by environmental nonprofit Greenpeace, published in February, showed that nearly three-fourths of the steel-capacity it recorded for China last year\u201485 million metric tons\u2014came from mills that weren\u2019t any longer in production to begin with. Meanwhile, the amount of restarted production and new capacity that came online came to 66 million metric tons, the report found.\n\nIn addition, the actual cuts that will occur this year could be in question too. The study reported more capacity reductions than China officially announced for last year. This could mean that a significant amount of capacity closure was not registered by the end of last year, noted Lauri Myllyvirta, energy analyst at Greenpeace in Beijing. The difference \u201ccould represent carryover to this year, making the actual amount of capacity that needs to be closed to meet the target smaller,\u201d he said.\n\nMeanwhile, a key indicator for Chinese blast furnaces that shows how much of the total operating capacity is in use is down from a year earlier, while steel output is up. How were steelmakers able to ramp up production while using furnaces less? One way would be if capacity, i.e. the number of blast furnaces that can be used, had gone up. \u201cIt certainly underscores that excess capacity remains and the industry isn\u2019t out of the woods,\u201d Myllyvirta said.\n\n\n\nAdvertisement\n\nOne of the major reasons behind Beijing\u2019s capacity cuts is to reduce government support for struggling industrial firms that are disproportionately state-owned. These companies are so-called \u201czombies\u201d which rely on rolling over their debts in order to survive. The chart below, from Mark Williams, an economist at Capital Economics research group, shows an increasing gap between the returns generated by state and private firms in industry.\n\nSo far Beijing is reluctant to get to the root of the misallocation of credit\u2014a key concern given China\u2019s high debt, and as loans continue to grow. That would involve allowing more actual bankruptcies, and job losses. Currently, 1,879 bankruptcy cases are being reviewed by Chinese courts, according to official data (link in Chinese). Of those, only 236 are state-owned firms. Breaking down by industry, only 46 are steel companies.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cLocal politicians won\u2019t get promoted for shutting down a loss-making steel firm, they get promoted for increasing GDP,\u201d Balding said.\n\nBecause China\u2019s Communist Party is slated to hold its 19th national congress, a twice-a-decade leadership reshuffle event this fall, China watchers aren\u2019t anticipating any major policy changes before that. Historically, uncertainty is the last thing the Party wants ahead of big events. Over the past weekend, China\u2019s top leaders held a two-day financial work conference, but the results announced appeared much less exciting (paywall) than many had speculated.\n\nLast week, China revised its GDP calculation method, but the change is not reflected in the latest figure, according to the national statistics bureau. In June, Beijing also announced plans to make its own calculations of local-level GDP after three provinces\u2013including the rusty belt region Liaoning\u2013were found to inflate their GDP figures.", "output": "China economy beat growth expectations in Q2 2017, with GDP expanding 6.9% compared to analysts' consensus estimate of 6.8%. Among the biggest contributors was steel - an area where the Beijing government is trying to cut capacity -\u00a0with production reaching a record high in June\u00a0on the back of strong construction demand and price rises. Similarly, coal, another area targeted for capacity cuts, saw\u00a0output surge\u00a0by 12% YoY\u00a0in May, the fastest growth rate in at least two years.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Global cyber attack could cause $121bn in losses \n Lloyd\u2019s of London has warned that a serious cyber-attack could cost the global economy more than $120bn (\u00a392bn) \u2013 as much as catastrophic natural disasters such as Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy.\n\nPublished two months after a ransomware cyber-attack that hobbled NHS hospitals and hit nearly 100 countries, a 56-page report from the world\u2019s oldest insurance market says the threat posed by such global attacks has spiralled and poses a huge risk to business and governments over the next decade.\n\nThe most likely scenario is a malicious hack that takes down a cloud service provider with estimated losses of $53bn, according to Lloyd\u2019s. This is the average estimate, but because of the uncertainty around calculating cyber losses it estimates the figure could be as high as $121bn or as low as $15bn.\n\nAt the upper end, the cost would outstrip the damage wreaked by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, estimated at $108bn (including $80bn of insured losses). Hurricane Sandy in 2012 is estimated to have caused economic losses of $50bn-$70bn.\n\nInga Beale, chief executive of Lloyd\u2019s, said: \u201cThis report gives a real sense of the scale of damage a cyber-attack could cause the global economy. Just like some of the worst natural catastrophes, cyber events can cause a severe impact on businesses and economies, trigger multiple claims and dramatically increase insurers\u2019 claims costs.\n\n\u201cUnderwriters need to consider cyber cover in this way and ensure that premium calculations keep pace with the cyber-threat reality,\u201d she said.\n\nThe second-most likely threat stems from attacks on computer operating systems run by a large number of businesses around the world, which could cause losses of up to $28.7bn (the \u201cmass software vulnerability scenario\u201d).\n\nThe majority of these losses are not insured, leaving governments and businesses vulnerable if cyber-attacks happen. The uninsured gap could be as high as $45bn for the cloud services scenario, and $26bn for the mass vulnerability scenario.\n\n\n\nTrevor Maynard, Lloyd\u2019s head of innovation and co-author of the report with the cybersecurity firm Cyence, said the global cyberattack in May \u201cshowed us that these sorts of attacks are absolutely possible\u201d. Financial services is most at risk, followed by software and technology, hospitality, retail and healthcare.\n\nCyber cover is a relatively new type of insurance that has emerged in the last few years \u2013 Lloyds\u2019s accounts for about a quarter of global premiums \u2013 and harder to model and understand than natural catastrophe cover.\n\nWhere people are involved, risk changes quite rapidly, Maynard said, from cyber-attacks to terrorism and political risk. However, climate change remains the biggest challenge in the long run.\n\n\u201cFrom year to year, risk varies relatively little but climate change in the end will be far larger as a risk,\u201d he said. \u201cIt affects the global economic structure, food, water. [It\u2019s like] trying to turn a supertanker around \u2013 we can\u2019t start in 30 years when things are going bad, we have to start now.\u201d", "output": "A major cyber attack could result in damage to the global economy on a par with environmental catastrophes such as Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy, according to a report by\u00a0Lloyd's of London. Lloyd's said a large-scale\u00a0hack of a cloud services provider would likely lead to\u00a0economic losses in the region of\u00a0$53bn, but taking into account the unpredictability surrounding growing cyber risks and the difficulty making calculations, it warned actual losses could reach as high as\u00a0$121bn."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bacon and sausage prices soar as Chinese demand bites \n Prices have shot up by as much as 20 per cent in a year and has led some firms to reduce the size of products but not the cost\n\nSAUSAGE and bacon prices have shot up by as much as 20 per cent in a year, food industry experts say.\n\nRising pork costs have been blamed for the hike \u2014 while some firms have reduced the size of products but not the price.\n\n2 Sausage prices have believed to have increased by as much as 20 per cent in a year Credit: Getty Images\n\n2 It's not just sausages that have had a price hike, it's bacon too Credit: Getty Images\n\nAnalysts Brand View found the price of a 12- pack of Richmond thin pork sausages is up ten per cent to an average \u00a31.71.\n\nAnd a pack of eight Wall\u2019s skinless pork sausages is up 20 per cent to an average \u00a31.40.\n\nA 300g pack of supermarket own-label smoked streaky bacon is up 12 per cent to a typical \u00a32.22.\n\nTrade magazine The Grocer said pig demand from China had hit the market.\n\nIt said: \u201cPrices for bangers, bacon and fresh pork are surging.\u201d", "output": "Bacon and sausage prices in the UK have surged by up to 20% in a year primarily due to higher pork costs and stronger pig demand from China. This has resulted in some firms reducing the size but not the price of their products, according to food industry commentators."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesco pledges to ban toxic chemicals from clothing supply chain \n Join our growing army of changemakers and get unlimited access to our premium content\n\nTesco joins fellow supermarket chains M&S, Aldi and Lidl in committing to the Greenpeace campaign, which calls on brands involved with clothing to remove the use of toxic chemicals from certain practices.\n\n\u201cGreenpeace endorses our plan to phase-out hazardous chemicals in our supply chain as part of the Greenpeace DETOX commitment,\u201d Tesco\u2019s category technical director Alan Wragg said in a blogpost.\n\n\u201cTesco\u2019s Responsible Sourcing Team has been working with Greenpeace to align all our textile products with the DETOX commitment, starting with clothing and footwear.\u201d\n\nThe UK-based supermarket will work with Greenpeace and its \u201ccomplete\u201d supply chain to ensure zero discharge of hazardous chemicals into the environment by 2020.\n\nFrom denial and opacity\u2026\n\nGreenpeace\u2019s DETOX campaign was launched in 2011, to challenge brands to eliminate toxic chemicals from supply chains. Alongside supermarkets, the initiative has been backed by fashion brands including H&M and Levi Strauss. Transparency is a key focus of the campaign, and companies have until 2020 to implement measures and eliminate all toxic chemical releases.\n\n\u201cIn only six years, forerunners of the textile sector went from total denial and opacity of their supply chain to transparency and the banning of all hazardous chemicals,\u201d Greenpeace Germany\u2019s project lead for the campaign Kirsten Brodde said.\n\n\u201cTesco\u2019s commitment shows the rest of the industry that using hazardous chemicals is not an option anymore. Tesco now has the opportunity to match the progress being made by other retailers and Greenpeace will monitor it closely to ensure they follow up their commitment.\u201d\n\nRecent research has revealed the extent to which toxic chemical practices can wreak havoc on the environment. Fashion retailers H&M and M&S have vowed to implement new supply chain management approaches, after a report linked them with highly-polluting facilities that were dumping toxic wastewater into local waterways.\n\nAt the other end of the value chain, Asia\u2019s mountains of hazardous electronic trash, or e-waste, are growing rapidly because manufacturers are failing to remove all toxins from products and make them easier to repair and recycle.\n\nMatt Mace", "output": "Tesco has undertaken to remove toxic chemicals from its textile supply chains, starting with clothing and footwear. The supermarket followed in the wake of Aldi, Lidl and Marks & Spencer, which have already committed to the Greenpeace Detox\u00a0initiative. The scheme, launched in 2011, calls on brands associated with clothing to eliminate toxic chemical releases from their supply chains by 2020. The campaign is also supported by H&M and Levi Strauss.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK sees 26% rise in intensive factory farming since 2011 \n Nearly every county in England has at least one industrial-scale livestock farm, with close to 800 US-style mega farms operating across the UK, new research reveals.\n\n\n\nThe increase in mega farms \u2013 which critics describe as \u201ccruel and unnecessary\u201d \u2013 is part of a 26% rise in intensive factory farming in six years, a shift that is transforming the British countryside.\n\n\n\nOnly 12 counties in the UK now host no pig or poultry farms classified as intensive by the Environment Agency. To be classed as intensive, a farm must have warehouses with more than 40,000 birds, 2,000 pigs or 750 breeding sows.\n\nQuick Guide Megafarms Show What is a mega-farm? There is no legal definition in the UK of a mega-farm. The Environment Agency, and its regional counterparts, classify livestock farms as \"intensive\" if they have hold at least 40,000 poultry or 2,000 pigs or 750 breeding sows. In the US, larger concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are defined as those housing 125,000 broiler chickens, 82,000 laying hens, 2,500 pigs or 700 dairy or 1,000 beef cattle. There are now 1,099 mega-farms of this size in the UK. Why are they controversial? Mega-farms and intensive farms are controversial because they require keeping tens of thousands of animals in a small space, which campaigners and independent experts say can hamper their ability to express natural behaviours, such as moving naturally and nesting. The animals are often kept indoors throughout their lives, though on some farms they are allowed access to outdoor areas at least part of the time. There are also concerns that animals on mega farms may be over-medicated with antibiotics, as if one gets sick the whole herd is generally required to be treated. Why do some people believe we need them? Mega-farms and intensive farms take up much less space than traditional farms, and they allow animals to be kept securely, away from predators and potential carriers of disease. Their conditions are tightly controlled, allowing farmers to monitor the amount of daylight, water and feed for the animals, and if disease develops the livestock can be treated quickly. Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.\n\nHerefordshire has more than 16 million factory-farmed animals, mainly poultry \u2013 which means the county has 88 times more factory-farmed animals than it does humans. Shropshire and Norfolk follow closely, with more than 15 million and 12 million animals respectively. Nearly every county in England and Northern Ireland has at least one mega farm, and they are also scattered across Scotland and Wales.\n\nThe march of US-style mega farms \u2013 defined in the US as facilities housing 125,000 broiler chickens, 82,000 laying hens, 2,500 pigs, 700 dairy or 1,000 beef cattle \u2013 has been revealed in an investigation by the Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.\n\nMost of these farms have gone unnoticed, despite their size and the controversy surrounding them, in part because many farmers have expanded existing facilities rather than seeking new sites.\n\nMega farms and industrial-scale farms (that count as intensive, but not \u201cmega\u201d under the US definition) have previously attracted attention because of concerns raised by local residents, over smells, noise and the potential for pollution or disease outbreaks, and by animal welfare campaigners, who argue that factory-style farming in which livestock are rarely or never permitted outdoors prevents animals from expressing their natural behaviour. They also worry that mega farms are pushing smaller farmers out of business, leading to the takeover of the countryside by large agribusinesses, with the loss of traditional family-run units.\n\nTheir defenders say that the close controls on industrial-scale farms mean that disease, pollution and the carbon footprint can be kept to a minimum. Such farms also produce for consumers at a lower cost than small-scale farms.\n\nThe government does not collate central statistics on mega farms, for which there is no recognised definition under British regulations, but farms classified as intensive need permits. Freedom of information requests and database searches have revealed 789 farms meeting the US mega farm (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation) definition.\n\nCompassion in World Farming (CIWF), the pressure group, has compiled a map showing hotspots in areas such as Herefordshire and Shropshire, East Anglia and Northern Ireland.\n\nPoultry farms tend to be biggest, with seven out of the 10 largest housing more than 1 million birds, and the biggest two capable of holding 1.7 million and 1.4 million birds. The biggest pig farm found holds about 23,000 pigs, while the biggest cattle farm, in Lincolnshire, houses about 3,000 animals.\n\nProposals for greenfield mega farms have received a rough ride from the public in recent years. One in Nocton, Lincolnshire, that would have housed more than 8,000 cows, had to be abandoned after local opposition. Another in Foston, Derbyshire, for more than 24,500 pigs was successfully derailed after protests.\n\nFor this reason, and for reasons of cost and efficiency, many farmers and large food companies have chosen to expand existing facilities, going under the radar of local opposition.\n\nEmma Slawinski, director of campaigns at CIWF, the pressure group which created the hotspot map, said: \u201cThere is a worrying trend towards intensive farming. Bringing animals off the land and cramming them into squalid, inhumane factory farms is not only cruel to animals but also has far-reaching effects on human health, wildlife and the planet. Moving animals away from the countryside into cages and crowded sheds may seem like a space-saving idea, but this ignores the fact that vast amounts of land are used elsewhere to grow feed for them.\u201d\n\nShe said animals are kept in \u201coften barren, overcrowded and frequently filthy\u201d conditions despite enough land available to keep them in a natural environment. \u201cNorth Yorkshire has the highest number of indoor-reared pigs, with over 220,000 of them confined to the inside, unable to forage and explore. This is cruel and unnecessary when we can simply bring the animals outside and rear them on the land.\u201d\n\nHowever, independent farming experts and industry organisations argue that intensive farming doesn\u2019t hinder animal welfare, and provides cheaper food for consumers. Charles Godfray, director of the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food, said it was not possible to judge the welfare of animals based on the size of farms. \u201cIt\u2019s much more about how you do it,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are intensive operations which are horrible, and others which are good examples of how to look after animals well and get good outcomes.\u201d\n\nRichard Griffiths, chief executive of the British Poultry Council, said birds reared on intensive farms enjoyed good standards. \u201cThese are high health and welfare farms. The husbandry of the birds is the crucial element here \u2013 I think people think of hens roaming around a farm, but that image is no longer the case. That\u2019s not how chicken is farmed any more.\u201d\n\nPenrhos Poultry Limited in Kington, England. Photograph: Rob Stothard\n\nHe added that pressure from consumers meant it was impractical to keep birds in free range or organic conditions for general consumption. \u201cLast year, we grew almost a billion birds, 95% indoors and 3.4% free range and 1% organic. If we tried to grow a billion birds a year organically, that would be a lot of land. It\u2019s a balancing act, and it\u2019s demand-driven. I don\u2019t think we\u2019ll see a change in systems without consumer demand. At the moment, that demand isn\u2019t there.\u201d\n\nChristine Nicol, professor of veterinary science at the University of Bristol, said the size of a farm was less important than the way animals were looked after, as livestock on small farms could suffer from neglect or poor conditions, particularly in winter. However, she added: \u201cGenerally, there is good evidence that very intensive forms of production do seriously constrain internally-motivated behaviours, particularly comfort movements such as stretching, grooming, netsing. That is either because not enough space is provided or insufficient resources are provided. Most animals need quiet resting areas separate from busy areas. These are not always provided, or are insufficient.\n\n\u201cIt is not necessarily the case that outdoor access is needed to allow these behaviours. Spacious, protected, semi-indoor areas with natural light can often be better as they allow for the important behaviours while keeping disease risks low. More work needs to be done and much greater incentives offered [to farmers] to encourage improvement, and better public understanding is needed too.\u201d\n\n\n\nZoe Davies, chief executive of the National Pig Association, said bigger farms allowed for better care of animals: \u201cThese larger units have more dedicated people \u2013 pig units will have specialist vets. There aren\u2019t as many producers that farm pigs outdoors because there\u2019s not a huge demand. The majority are trying to compete with everyone else and their European counterparts. There\u2019s such intense competition.\u201d\n\nAndrew Wasley is food and agriculture reporter at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism\n\n\n\nMadlen Davies is science and health reporter at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism\n\n\n\nDavid Child is a freelance journalist\n\nFiona Harvey is the environment correspondent for the Guardian", "output": "Almost 800 industrial-scale livestock farms now exist in the UK, with one in all but 12 counties, according to an investigation by the Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. The increase in such farms, viewed by critics as cruel, forms part of the 26% rise in intensive factory farming witnessed in the UK since 2011. According to Environment Agency classifications, farms must have warehouses containing 40,000 birds, 2,000 pigs or 750 breeding sows to be categorised as intensive. The expansion in mega-farms has often gone unnoticed as farmers have expanded existing operations rather than opening new sites."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK sees 26% rise in intensive factory farming since 2011 \n A major Bureau investigation has revealed the changing face of British farming. The number of intensive farms in the UK has risen by a quarter since 2011, with many so big they fit the definition of a US mega-farm.\n\nBelow you can find all the data we obtained, analysed per country, county and type of livestock. It contains information on the five companies controlling nearly all poultry meat production in the UK. You will also find information on which of these companies operate mega-farms, and the supermarkets they supply.\n\nRead the full investigation into the rise of intensive farms here\n\nThe Environment Agency - and its regional counterparts in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales - classify livestock farms as \"intensive\" if they have capacity for housing at least 40,000 poultry birds or 2,000 pigs grown for meat or 750 breeding pigs (sows).\n\nThese \"intensive\" farms each require a permit to operate that is issued by the relevant environment agency. Very large free range farms also need this licence but there are far fewer of them. This contains details of the farm operator, the number of livestock permitted to be housed and a detailed set of conditions that must be met for the farm to operate.\n\nExisting farms can be issued with a new permit if changes to the original conditions are proposed- such as if a farm wants to increase the number of livestock it houses - or if it changes owners.", "output": "Almost 800 industrial-scale livestock farms now exist in the UK, with one in all but 12 counties, according to an investigation by the Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. The increase in such farms, viewed by critics as cruel, forms part of the 26% rise in intensive factory farming witnessed in the UK since 2011. According to Environment Agency classifications, farms must have warehouses containing 40,000 birds, 2,000 pigs or 750 breeding sows to be categorised as intensive. The expansion in mega-farms has often gone unnoticed as farmers have expanded existing operations rather than opening new sites."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Schroders unveils climate progress tool for investors \n The innovative dashboard, developed by Schroders\u2019 Sustainability team, identifies the long-term temperature rise the world is on course for, according to a framework of indicators spanning politics, business, technological progress and energy. All of the 12 indicators* - identified as the key drivers and controls of climate change - evaluated by Schroders are currently exceeding the international target to limit global warming to below 2\u00b0C, set by the Paris Agreement in December 2015. On average, according to the dashboard, the indicators are pointing to a temperature rise around 4\u00b0C, double the Paris target. Efforts to reach this goal have been complicated by the US President Donald Trump\u2019s decision to pull the United States out of the agreement last month. The Climate Progress Dashboard highlights the disparity in commitments across sectors and indicators. Whereas global political action points to a 3.6\u00b0C temperature rise, current oil and gas production is running at a level consistent with temperature rises twice that level, highlighting the risks that remain inherent in energy companies. Andy Howard, Head of Sustainable Research, Schroders, said: \u201cClimate change is a major challenge for the global economy, industries and financial markets. However, too little attention is paid to developing the tools to manage the risks it presents. Understanding the speed of progress and the implications for investment values is critical. \u201cWe developed the Climate Progress Dashboard to provide a unique perspective into the pace of change. It tracks trends in key progress markers towards decarbonisation. It provides an objective and transparent view of change and should help investors base decisions on the outcomes we are likely to see, rather than those we would like to see. \u201cAn all-round view is important. There is no single measure of progress: reshaping the global economy as a carbon-light version of itself will require a range of markets to expand or contract rapidly in the coming decades.\u201d Schroders\u2019 Sustainability team will update the Climate Progress Dashboard on a quarterly basis, providing a real-time reflection of how successfully the world is moving towards the Paris target. It will help Schroders\u2019 portfolio management teams to manage the risks climate change presents more effectively.\n\n*The indicators are:\n\n\u2022 Political Ambition\n\n\u2022 Public Concern\n\n\u2022 Political Action\n\n\u2022 Corporate Planning\n\n\u2022 Climate Finance\n\n\u2022 Carbon Prices\n\n\u2022 Electric Vehicles\n\n\u2022 Renewable Capacity\n\n\u2022 Carbon Capture & Storage\n\n\u2022 Oil & Gas Investment\n\n\u2022 Coal Production\n\n\u2022 Oil & Gas Production Please click here to see the Climate Progress Dashboard in full.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "output": "Schroders, the multinational asset management firm, has launched a Climate Progress Dashboard that provides investors with information about the progress made by governments and industries towards achieving the Paris Climate Agreement goals. The dashboard, developed by the firm\u2019s sustainability team, uses indicators from the fields of business, energy, politics and technology to estimate long-term temperature rises on Earth. All 12 indicators used currently suggest that the temperature will rise by 4C, twice that agreed in the Paris Accord."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "General Electric and Noble to use digital rig to raise efficiency \n In today\u2019s challenging business environment, cutting expenditure is crucial for the offshore sector. According to a recent report by Oil & Gas UK total expenditure on the UK Continental Shelf fell from a peak of over \u00a326bn in 2014 to \u00a317.2bn in 2016.\n\n\u201cWe are living in a relatively uncertain environment at the moment in the offshore oil and gas industry,\u201d says Andrew McKeran, marine executive at General Electric\u2019s Marine Solutions. \u201cThere is oil price volatility and there is an expertise imbalance which has resulted in performance variability and variance.\n\n\u201cThere are also other, longer running problems. Companies often face difficulties when it comes to troubleshooting because of the very nature of the offshore industry. And then we are seeing a lot of unplanned downtime and maintenance costs. This is no longer acceptable to the industry because of oil price instability and the drop in day rates that some of our partners and clients are now experiencing.\u201d\n\nImproving the operational productivity of drilling rigs is one way the industry can help tackle these problems. In March, GE and Noble Corporation announced plans to work on an advanced data analytics system for offshore drilling rigs called the Digital Rig.\n\nUtilising the industrial cloud\n\nFor the project GE will draw upon its experience in both software and industry. \u201cBefore starting we took a step back to look at what we already have within the GE store that might be useful,\u201d McKeran says. \u201cWe looked at the power business, the onshore oil and gas business, aviation and so forth.\n\n\u201cWe also decided to look at our industrial cloud-based platform Predix, which offers us the ability to run analytics at scale. Of course, there are some limitations when you are dealing with the offshore business: the asset is not connected to a cloud in any way, shape or form, for example. That means you have to bring in the nuance of running analytics on the edge, and then using the minimal bandwidth connections that you have from the platform back to the shore.\u201d\n\nReal-time data\n\nTo create enhanced drilling process efficiencies, GE is looking to build new performance indicators. \u201cThis entails producing efficiency reports,\u201d McKeran explains. \u201cIt is effectively about asking: how well did we drill? It is about looking at your well plan and comparing it with what you have actually done over the past 24 hours.\n\n\u201d GE is looking to build new performance indicators.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat we are offering here will be different from other systems that are out there. We will be doing it on board the vessel in near real time, rather than sending the information to the beach, having it processed and then sending it 24 hours later. Our philosophy here is that if you can get that information in near real time, you can avoid an operational disruption that may come 24 to 48 hours later or in a week\u2019s time.\u201d\n\nGE is also looking to improve the drilling process through performance analytics which can predict deviations and forecast potential disruptions on-board the vessel.\n\n\u201cThe idea is to reduce operational disruptions,\u201d says McKeran. \u201cFor this what we have is zonal analytics, which is split into two elements: high-frequency signature analysis on drive systems and looking at usage intensity on some of the assets that are on-board the vessel.\u201d\n\nPredictive maintenance\n\nSome information will be sent to the shore, McKeran adds. \u201cHaving created those zonal analytics on the vessel we will send information back for predictive analytics so that we can look at look-term pattern behaviours,\u201d he says.\n\n\u201cWe will feed the information into a cloud-type environment and will start running what we call smart signal. The idea is to offer somewhere between three weeks\u2019 and three months\u2019 notification for any pending issues. We will be looking for underlying patterns and deviations very early on. We can pick up things like potential vibration issues, temperature issues and so on weeks before they are picked up on an automation system.\u201d\n\nThis part of the Digital Rig will make use of GE\u2019s digital twin concept, where like-for-like digital representations of physical systems are created to help companies understand, predict and optimise the performance of their assets.\n\n\u201cThe Digital Rig will make use of GE\u2019s digital twin concept.\u201d\n\n\u201cHere we are looking at effectively modelling an asset,\u201d says McKeran. \u201cWhat we do is take from our standard library of assets and build a blueprint, a basic understanding of how that asset is literally, mechanically and electrically coupled together. This will be done shore-side either in the cloud or in an industrial performance and reliability centre within GE.\u201d\n\nFor McKeran the shift to predictive maintenance will have a big impact on the industry. \u201cWe are looking to transform and redefine maintenance strategies by moving away from traditional OEM, calendar-based maintenance and towards a long-term, sustainable, adaptive philosophy of cost reduction for maintenance on board the vessel.\u201d\n\nWhile the partnership between GE and Noble was only recently announced, McKeran says work began in the first quarter of this year and progress is already being made.\n\n\u201cWe have already delivered what we call \u2018the data mile\u2019 where we utilise a centralised historian and start looking at harmonising data across the vessel,\u201d he says. \u201cProgress is very fast and both companies are looking to accelerate the time to value to prove its effectiveness.\u201d", "output": "General Electric (GE) and drilling company Noble Corporation are to develop a data analytics system to improve the productivity of their offshore drilling operations. Running on GE's Predix cloud platform, the analytics system will create efficiency reports on drilling processes, enabling engineers to quickly identify and solve problems. Additionally, GE's analytics will provide information on long-term pattern behaviours. By reducing unplanned downtime and maintenance, the companies aim to achieve a 20% reduction in operational expenditure across all their rigs.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Head of Twitter talent agency Niche leaves company \n What constitutes as celebritydom and internet fame has radically changed over the last few years thanks to social media. Now, one of the leading people in charge of fostering internet stars on Twitter has left.\n\nDarren Lachtman, who co-founded the New York start-up Niche, connected popular personalities on social media to brands. The company was later acquired by Twitter for $30 million and together, stars created sponsored content on Twitter and Vine (the latter of which has since ceased in 2016).\n\nLachtman's departure was first reported by Recode. He announced his departure over (what else) Twitter, and said that Nick Millman and Kristen Lachtman will be the current heads of Niche US.\n\nTwitter didn't immediately respond for a request to comment.", "output": "Darren Lachtman, the co-founder of Twitter-owned marketing and branding agency Niche, has left the company. Lachtman had been influential in bringing together popular personalities and brands via social media. Nick Millman, a director of global content partnerships at Twitter, will lead Niche's global operations, while Niche's current head of content strategy, Kristen Lachtman, will head Niche's US business. Niche was acquired by Twitter for $30m in 2016.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple App Store stops ad blockers from affecting other apps \n Update: When reached for clarification, Apple said \u201cThis is not a new guideline. We have never allowed apps on the App Store that are designed to interfere with the performance or capabilities of other apps.\u201d It also said it would remove other apps that offer features that block advertising in third-party apps if they \u201cmay have snuck on to the App Store.\u201d Apple added, \u201cWe have always supported advertising as one of the many ways that developers can make money with apps.\u201d\n\nApple has seemingly recently shifted its policy regarding adblock apps on the App Store. The company, according to the developer of several major adblock apps that reached out to 9to5Mac after its app updates were rejected, has reversed its policy on VPN-based adblock applications, which install certificates on the device itself to block advertisements both in Safari and in other third-party applications.\n\nThe developer behind popular apps like Adblock and Weblock explains that Apple has stopped accepting updates to the applications on the grounds that they violate point 4.2 of the App Store Developer Guidelines. This requirement says that apps should be useful, unique, and provide some sort of value:\n\nYour app should include features, content, and UI that elevate it beyond a repackaged website. If your app is not particularly useful, unique, or \u201capp-like,\u201d it doesn\u2019t belong on the App Store. If your App doesn\u2019t provide some sort of lasting entertainment value, or is just plain creepy, it may not be accepted.\n\nIt seems that the policy change is specifically based on section 4.2.1, which says that APIs and frameworks should be used for their intended purposes. It\u2019s likely that Apple doesn\u2019t see adblocking as the \u201cintended purpose\u201d of VPN certificates:\n\nApps should use APIs and frameworks for their intended purposes and indicate that integration in their app description. For example, the HomeKit framework should provide home automation services; and HealthKit should be used for health and fitness purposes and integrate with the Health app.\n\nAdblock and Weblock are both popular iOS applications, with the former having amassed over 1 million downloads and the latter over 750,000. When pressed for more details regarding the policy shift, Apple reportedly explained that it has \u201cofficially changed its policy regarding VPN/root certificate based ad blockers\u201d and is not accepting updates to any existing apps that use this method.\n\nWith this policy shift apparently now in place, the only type of adblock apps that are now officially allowed on the App Store are ones that use the Safari Content Blocker. This is a more basic implementation of adblocking that only blocks ads in Safari, as opposed to VPN-based clients that block ads across all applications.\n\nWhat\u2019s somewhat notable here is that Apple hasn\u2019t removed offending applications from the App Store, but rather says that future updates are not allowed. Whether or not these apps will remain on the App Store, however, remains to be seen. The change in policy comes as Apple continues to work to clean up the quality of apps on the App Store.\n\nWe\u2019ve reached out to Apple for an explanation of this policy change and will update if we learn more. Update: Apple\u2019s comment on the situation above.\n\nCheck out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news!", "output": "Apple's App Store is said to be clamping down on ad blockers, stating it will remove apps that allow users to block advertising in third-party apps if they have \"snuck on to the App Store\". Apple has always been keen to offer support to developers by allowing advertising as one of the ways to monetise apps. Apple also seems to have altered its policy on VPN-based ad block apps that have allowed ads to be blocked in Safari and third-party applications. The only ad block apps now allowed in the store are those that use the Safari Content Blocker."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AT&T to separate TV businesses after Time Warner acquisition \n AT&T is mulling major organizational changes following its proposed $85 billion takeover of Time Warner.\n\nAccording to the Wall Street Journal, AT&T will separate its wireless and satellite TV business from newly acquired Time Warner media assets, which includes HBO, Warner Bros., CNN, and more.\n\nUnder the new structure, AT&T chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson will maintain his post and have two segment chiefs working beneath him, similar to the executive setup over at Comcast.\n\nAT&T subsidiary DirecTV will be combined with the company's telecom business under AT&T veteran John Donovan. AT&T executive John Stankey will run the Time Warner business, according to the WSJ report.\n\nAT&T first announced plans to buy Time Warner last October. At the time, AT&T said the combined company would strive to become the first US mobile provider to compete with cable companies nationwide with bundled mobile broadband and video. The telco also said the deal would usher in new forms of original content built for mobile and social platforms.\n\n\"This is a perfect match of two companies with complementary strengths who can bring a fresh approach to how the media and communications industry works for customers, content creators, distributors and advertisers,\" Stephenson said in a statement at the time the merger was announced.\n\nAT&T acquired DirecTV in 2015 for $49 billion to become the nation's largest pay-TV subscriber.", "output": "AT&T will separate its wireless and satellite TV business from its Time Warner media assets once its $85bn takeover of the company is complete, according to sources familiar with the matter. Last October, AT&T revealed plans to acquire Time Warner to provide a bundled mobile and video offering. It is suggested that AT&T Chief Strategy Officer John Donovan would combine satellite TV firm DirecTV, which was bought in 2015 for $49bn, with the company's telecom business. John Stankey would be in charge of the Time Warner business, and AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson will maintain his post after the restructure."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google New Release Radio to reinvent ad pricing model \n by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, July 14, 2017\n\nRadio is continuing a transformation that will put the medium back in vogue. A move toward streaming radio on smartphones will likely make preferences, location-based data, and near-by triggers the next targeting options for audio ads.\n\nSince it's no longer enough to stream radio on demand, Google Play Music on Friday rolled out New Release Radio. It serves new music culled from the user's personal tastes and preferences. The station uses machine learning to select releases from the past two weeks, based on listening history and musical preferences.\n\nGoogle only serves ads on the free service, not on the paid subscription service.\n\nNextRadio president Paul Brenner viewed the Google New Release Radio feature while in beta. He agrees it's a natural progression to use location-based targeting options and preferences to support advertisers.\n\nHe said location-based targeting, at least per ZIP code and near-by points of interest, will increase the value of the ad inventory.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\n\"Radio will need to reinvent itself,\" he said. \"That's what the buying community expects.\"\n\nAs radio moves to personalization and people-based advertising in Google's world, the industry supporting radio ads will need to develop a new pricing model. Perhaps something similar to a cost per click, cost per action, or cost per thousands model as songs or audio ads get tagged on smartphones.\n\nEven for mass-market radio, the media-buying cost structure will alter.\n\nThe value of the inventory during a moment in time will dictate change. The huge amount of data now available will let advertisers pinpoint the audience they want to reach, even in mass-market radio, he said.\n\n\"Call it paid search if you want, because you're searching for an audience,\" he said. \"It's just that you can apply it to a mass-market media,\" he said.\n\nGoogle managed to gain input through a Samsung partnership announced in July that made Google Music the default music player and music service on Samsung phones and tablets globally. The service launched on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+.\n\nThe New Release Radio station, featuring country artists like Darius Rucker and Blake Shelton, as well as Coldplay, is available free to radio listeners and subscribers globally. Google said it will continually update the platform with the latest new releases.", "output": "Google Play Music has introduced New Release Radio, which uses machine learning to collate recently-released tracks from the previous two weeks, based on the user's listening history and preferences. Adverts are included only on the free version, not the paid subscription option. The CEO of mobile streaming FM service NextRadio, Paul Brenner,\u00a0sampled the Google New Release Radio in beta\u00a0and sees a natural progression to using location-based targeting options to assist advertisers, thereby increasing the ad inventory value. Advertisers could eventually choose their target audience down to their postcode, with new pricing models expected."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cornwall geothermal project launches crowdfunding bond \n A pioneering project to produce power from hot rocks several kilometres under the ground in Cornwall will begin drilling early next year, if a multimillion-pound fundraising drive succeeds.\n\nAbundance, a crowdfunding platform overseen by the main City regulator, will this week launch a bond to raise \u00a35m for the UK\u2019s first commercial geothermal power station, located near Redruth.\n\nIceland is the world leader in geothermal power, where deep holes are drilled to reach hot rocks, water is pumped down, heated and returned to the surface to generate electricity or provide heating.\n\n\n\nEnergy independence for Cornwall is a realistic, cost-effective objective for the county council Chris Goodall, energy expert and author\n\nCornwall\u2019s extensive granite means it has long been seen as the most promising part of the UK for the technology, which one study found could provide a fifth of the country\u2019s power.\n\nHowever, previous plans for geothermal plants in the county have faltered because of problems with financing and risk-averse investors.\n\nThe Eden Project, for example, has wanted to exploit the rocks beneath it since 2009, but failed to win European funding.\n\nThe \u00a318m United Downs Deep Geothermal Power project near Redruth, by contrast, has already secured \u00a313m in public funding, \u00a310.6m from the European Regional Development Fund and \u00a32.4m from Cornwall county council.\n\nRyan Law, managing director of Geothermal Engineering Ltd, the UK company behind the project, said: \u201cThe big problem is because nothing has been done in the UK before, it\u2019s quite high risk. Finding funding for that risk is extremely difficult.\u201d\n\nAbundance is confident it will raise the final \u00a35m needed, having raised \u00a350m from individuals for renewable energy projects since it started five years ago, and \u00a37m in the last two months alone.\n\nInvestors can expect a 12% return on the bond, which has an 18-month term, and will have their capital returned to them if the geothermal plan does not go ahead.\n\nBruce Davis, the investment platform\u2019s managing director, said: \u201cGeothermal technology is proven to work in Italy and Iceland but hasn\u2019t so far been used in the UK to generate electricity. This is a groundbreaking project.\u201d\n\nDrilling should begin in the first quarter of 2018 and take around five months as Geothermal Engineering Ltd drill a well 2.5km down, followed by a second deeper one of 4.5km, creating a circuit for water to be pumped down the shorter well and return up the other.\n\nIf all goes as planned, the Redruth operation could be operational in 2020.\n\nThe amount of power the wells are expected to produce will be small, at a capacity of 1-3 megawatts (enough to power 1,500-4,500 homes), similar to a single onshore wind turbine, but geothermal has one big advantage: unlike wind and solar, it can provide constant power if needed, like a nuclear power station.\n\nChris Goodall, an energy expert and author, said that geothermal would add to the rich renewable energy resources that the county already enjoys. \u201cEnergy independence for Cornwall is a realistic, cost-effective objective for the county council. This is a first-rate project,\u201d he said.\n\nPerhaps most importantly, the project, if successful, could pave the way for geothermal power finally taking off across Cornwall.\n\nTony Batchelor, known as the grandfather of geothermal in Cornwall for his test research and drilling in the county during the 1970s and 1980s, told the Guardian: \u201cThis \u00a318m is basically our chip in the game. Then we look at delivering bigger and better projects.\u201d\n\nUltimately, geothermal could provide as much as 1,000 megawatts of capacity, said Batchelor, an adviser to Geothermal Engineering Ltd and chairman of Earth sciences consultancy Geoscience. While not a huge amount nationally, it would be significant for Cornwall.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s great that geothermal in Cornwall can at last get going,\u201d a spokesman for the Eden Project said of the United Downs project.\n\nPrevious efforts by the council and the Department for Communities and Local Government had put in place the conditions for several Cornish geothermal plants, the visitor attraction said. Eden said that several plants would \u201cgreatly reduce risk\u201d and added that it hoped to make an announcement of its own within two months.\n\n\n\nThe Jubilee pool in Penzance, which will be heated partly through geothermal energy from 2019. Geothermal Engineering Ltd will begin the work in September. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images\n\nHowever, Goodall cautioned that this latest effort at making geothermal work in Cornwall was by no means guaranteed.\n\n\n\n\u201cPretty much everyone agrees there is a lot of heat down there. But one of the reasons projects have struggled to get funding is that it\u2019s highly fractured and it\u2019s not a given [that it will work]. No one has yet been prepared to put in the highly risky capital to do this,\u201d he said.\n\nBob Egerton, a Cornwall councillor, said he was sceptical about how big the resource actually was \u2013 but it was important to try to exploit it.\n\n\u201cIt is a bit of a gamble, but ultimately we hope it will pay off,\u201d he said. \u201cThe more we can produce from these sort of resources rather than hydrocarbons has got to be a good thing.\u201d", "output": "The United Downs Deep Geothermal Power project, which hopes to generate energy from rocks in Cornwall, is attempting to raise millions of funds through Abundance, a crowdfunding platform overseen by a City regulator. The platform will this week launch a bond which aims to secure \u00a35m ($6.5m) for the project, which would establish the first commercial geothermal power station in the UK. If the bid is successful, drilling could begin early next year. The extensive amount of granite in the county means that Cornwall is a prime site for the operation, which could provide up to 20% of the UK\u2019s power.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Climate impact on staple crops underestimated: Met Office \n Governments may be seriously underestimating the risks of crop disasters occurring in major farming regions around the world, a study by British researchers has found.\n\nThe newly published research, by Met Office scientists, used advanced climate modelling to show that extreme weather events could devastate food production if they occurred in several key areas at the same time. Such an outcome could trigger widespread famine.\n\nThe scientists, led by Chris Kent, of the Met Office, focused their initial efforts on how extreme weather would affect maize, one of the world\u2019s most widely grown crops. Heat and drought were the prime risks, although flooding was also included in the analysis.\n\nThe group found there is a 6% chance every decade that a simultaneous failure in maize production could occur in China and the US \u2013 the world\u2019s main growers \u2013 which would result in widespread misery, particularly in Africa and south Asia, where maize is consumed directly as food.\n\n\u201cThe impact would be felt at a global scale,\u201d Kent told the Observer. \u201cThis is the first time we have been able to quantify the risk. It hasn\u2019t been observed in the last 30 years, but the indications are that it is possible in the current climate.\u201d\n\nAn example of the kind of disaster that could occur is provided by the maize harvests that failed last year in Africa. Communities in Zambia, Congo, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Madagascar were affected and six million people were left on the brink of starvation. A joint failure of China and America\u2019s maize harvest would have a far greater impact.\n\nDrought-damaged corn stalks at a farm in Missouri Valley, Iowa. Photograph: Larry Downing/Reuters\n\nHaving studied the risks facing maize production, the group is now following up this work by studying climate impacts on the world\u2019s other staple crops \u2013 in particular rice, wheat and soya beans \u2013 in order to assess how weather extremes could affect their production.\n\nAccording to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, maize, rice and wheat together make up 51% of the world\u2019s calorie intake. Billions of people rely on these crops for survival. Any disruption to their production would have calamitous consequences.\n\nThe trouble is that crop-growing methods and locations have changed considerably over time, as has the climate and the probability of extreme events, Kent told the Observer. \u201cThis means the number of relevant observations to the present-day growing of stable crops has been reduced, and that limits our ability to have useful estimates of the risks to the growing of these crops.\u201d\n\nTo get round this problem, the team ran 1,400 climate model simulations on the Met Office\u2019s new supercomputer to understand how climate might vary in the next few years and found that the probability of severe drought was higher than if estimated solely from past observations. The scientists concluded that current agricultural policies could considerably underestimate the true risk of climate-related shocks to maize growing and food supply.\n\nThe particular risk outlined by the study envisaged simultaneous catastrophic disruptions in China and the US. In 2014 total world production of maize was around 1 billion tonnes, with the US producing 360 million tonnes and China growing 215 million. If production in these two countries were hit by simultaneous extreme weather events, most likely droughts, more than 60% of global maize production would be hit.\n\nA double whammy like this has never happened in the past, but the work by the Met Office indicates that there is now a real risk. In addition, there may be risks of similar events affecting rice, wheat or soya harvests. These are now being studied by the Met Office, which is also working with researchers in China in a bid to understand climate risks that might affect agricultural production.\n\n\u201cWe have found that we are not as resilient as we thought when it comes to crop growing,\u201d said Kirsty Lewis, science manager for the Met Office\u2019s climate security team. \u201cWe have to understand the risks we face or there is a real danger we could get caught out. For now we don\u2019t have the means to quantity the risks. We have to put that right.\u201d", "output": "The threat of simultaneous crop failures across the globe resulting from extreme weather events has been\u00a0underestimated according to research by the UK's Met Office. The study deployed advanced climate modelling to examine the impacts of drought, flooding and heat on the production of maize, one of the world\u2019s most widely grown crops. If crop failure occurred simultaneously in China and the US, widespread famine could ensue. The study is the first to quantify the threat of such simultaneous failure, estimated at 6% every decade. Researchers will now study climate impact on other staple crops including rice and wheat."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow [3]: Redrow replaces kitchen for Royal British Legion Club reno \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nIt's more important than ever to stay informed - Get the free CheshireLive newsletter direct to your inbox\n\nAn Ellesmere Port housebuilder has cooked up a dream kitchen for the Royal British Legion Club.\n\nThe Little Sutton club will soon be able to prepare and sell food after developers Redrow stepped in with a major boost to renovations.\n\nThe Legion, on Chester Road, is the only one in the area and, sadly, over the years it has fallen behind in decoration and is in need of repairs.\n\nWith the wish to bring the club back to its former glory, club president Kathleen Friday made an approach to Redrow for assistance with the renovations after hearing about the housebuilder\u2019s community fund.\n\n(Image: Google Street View)\n\nKathleen, who is from Little Sutton, said: \u201cThe club is self-funding and we do not make enough profit for refurbishment.\n\n\u201cWe host many local societies here such as Weight Watchers, Hooton Pigeon Club, an allotment, military groups, firemen, the women\u2019s section of the Legion and the branch to name just a few who all rely on us staying open.\n\n\u201cWe also have a concert room which is used for parties and celebrations and so with new people moving into the area the club will be a focal point for many more people too.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been reliant on donations and fundraising to replace various parts of the club such as seating and carpets but something which was in most need of replacement was our 25-year-old kitchen which had no cooker.\u201d\n\nRedrow initially stepped in with a donation towards new carpets just before Christmas. Then after hearing how difficult it was proving to replace the tired kitchen they decided to cook up a new one.\n\nTeam effort\n\nThrough a team effort which has included site staff, sub-contractors, suppliers and apprentices over the last couple of months Redrow has now provided and installed the sparkling new feature.\n\nA delighted Kathleen added: \u201cThe kitchen is looking fantastic and we are so excited. We are now applying for a licence to enable us to prepare and sell food on the premises.\n\n\u201cEveryone has been absolutely amazing and we are so grateful for Redrow\u2019s support.\u201d\n\nPaul Cromby, area construction manager for Redrow, oversaw the project from start to finish. He said: \u201cThanks to the community fund we have been able to lend a big helping hand by installing the new kitchen along with appliances, a new floor, lighting, tiling and outdoor sockets.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s been fantastic to see the room brought bang up to date and we are pleased to play our part in supporting the ongoing success of the Royal British Legion in Little Sutton.\n\n\u201cIt has also been a great opportunity for our talented apprentices Sam Wainwright, Joe Nowak and Travis Wade to be a part of such a worthwhile project and we couldn\u2019t have done it without the generosity of our suppliers too.\u201d\n\nRedrow says it is \u2018extremely grateful\u2019 to the \u2018many\u2019 firms who offered their time, materials and expertise completely free of charge to the project.\n\nIt is currently building Ledsham Garden Village in Little Sutton at two neighbouring housing collections, Oaklands and Sycamore Green which are separated by a central boulevard.\n\nThe development is said to be a flagship venture for the housebuilder, set to cover 105 hectares off Ledsham Road which will eventually become a new community of up to 2,000 homes.\n\nWhen completed the overall scheme will have nearly 100 acres of open space which will include playing fields, a park and allotments.\n\nThe community fund is in addition to Redrow\u2019s contribution, as part of the planning process, of over \u00a313.3m to Little Sutton and the surrounding area which will go towards a new primary school, off-site school provision, new and improved bus routes, better playing fields and play facilities and improvements to local shops and health facilities. It will include 500 affordable homes.", "output": "Redrow has stepped in to provide a kitchen for the Royal British Legion Club on Chester Road, Little Sutton. Club president Kathleen Friday sought help from Redrow with the renovations after hearing about the housebuilder\u2019s community fund.\u00a0Redrow made a donation towards new carpets just before Christmas, and has now replaced the kitchen. The housebuilder said it was \u2018extremely grateful\u2019 to the \u2018many\u2019 firms who offered their time, materials and expertise completely free of charge to the project.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Karamba wants to protect connected cars from hackers \n Cars represent a fundamentally different sort of security challenge from laptops, servers, or mobile phones, in which corruption or theft of data is the hacker\u2019s objective. A cyber-attack on a moving vehicle may create a deadly safety hazard, and conventional antihacking software could be too slow or ineffective to avert an incident.\n\n\u201cDealing with consumer safety, and not just with data security, requires different security methods to protect our cars, in contrast to technologies that protect servers and enterprise networks,\u201d says David Barzilai, executive chairman and cofounder of Karamba Security, a two-year-old startup based in Hod HaSharon, Israel, with an office in metropolitan Detroit.\n\n\u201cUsing machine learning and artificial intelligence to identify malware after hackers infiltrate the car is too late,\u201d he says. \u201cThe approach must be to prevent an attack when hackers attempt to hack.\u201d\n\nThe field of automotive cybersecurity is small but expanding rapidly as new threats are discovered to emerging technologies such as vehicle-to-vehicle wireless communication. Harman International, maker of the Uconnect system in the hacked Jeep, acquired TowerSec, an Israeli cybersecurity firm, in early 2016. Argus Cyber Security, another Israeli competitor, recently discovered and demonstrated a way to penetrate a car\u2019s electronics with a \u201cdongle,\u201d an innocent-looking piece of hardware resembling a flash drive that operates software via a car\u2019s USB or other port. Tesla and Fiat Chrysler both offer monetary \u201cbug bounty\u201d rewards for hobbyists and amateur hackers who find and report software vulnerabilities.\n\nGiven the skill, motivation, and creativity of hackers, it is unclear that any one approach can comprehensively block their entry to a vehicle\u2019s electronic architecture. \u201cVulnerabilities will be inadvertently designed into systems,\u201d says Sam Abuelsamid, a senior analyst for Navigant, a marketing research firm based in Boulder, Colorado.\n\nA premium car may come equipped with a hundred or more electronic control units, or ECUs (in actuality, small computers), connected to one another as part of the vehicle\u2019s electronic architecture. Only a handful, such as the infotainment system and the remote keyless entry, are connected wirelessly to the outside world, offering openings for attackers. Karamba focuses on blocking intrusion at these points, as one critical layer of a larger security design.\n\nKaramba\u2019s antihacking software is embedded in an ECU when it is manufactured, so it is incorporated into the device\u2019s factory settings and not subject to change. Its role is to block spurious code at the point of intrusion, sealing the ECU and denying entry to any code that does not comply explicitly with the factory settings.\n\nUsing software monitoring programs to find and destroy malware, Barzilai maintains, is too slow and requires constant updates by developers; that can promote an arms race with hackers, who try to outwit security programs as they grow more sophisticated. Such programs can also generate false positives, he says, which are dangerous in cars because they may impede safe operation.", "output": "The \"find and destroy\" techniques used to protect servers and enterprise networks are unsuitable for safeguarding connected vehicles, which need to have threats stopped before they enter the system, according to\u00a0Israeli cyber security start-up Karamba Security.\u00a0While a high-end vehicle\u00a0may have more than 100 tiny computers, known as electronic control units, only a few,\u00a0such as the infotainment system and the remote keyless entry, are connected wirelessly to the outside world, and it is those vulnerabilities\u00a0that are the focus of Karamba security solution.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sinclair Pharma [2]: Dr. Eppley responds to query regarding Sculptra granulomas \n Sculptra Granulomas\n\nQ: Dr. Eppley, I am interested in your suggestion as to whether micro fat injections might be able to break up Sculptra granulomas. I developed Sculptra bumps about 15 months after initial injections. My doctor has been injecting them with a mixture of Kenalog and 5 FU. They are improving slightly after 3 months of multiple injections but,they are still quite visible. Have you had success breaking up Sculptra granulomas with fat injections? Thank you.\n\nA: Breaking up fSculptra granulomas with fat injections can be effective in some by two mechanisms. First you have to mechanically break up the granulomas with a small cannula. That is the first step in their treatment by fat injections in the procedure. Then the fat injections are placed to prevent the scar tissue from reforming or the granuloma recoalesing. So technically the fat injections do not break up the granulomas per se. But are the prequel to the fat injections.\n\nBut in looking at your pictures you have far too many garnulomas on the one side of your face for any form injectable therapy to be effective. The best approach in your case is to have them excised through an anterior facelift approach. One could also argue that a layer of allogeneic dermis (Alloderm) could applied over the excised area to ensure maximal contour smoothness.\n\nDr. Barry Eppley\n\nIndianapolis, Indiana", "output": "Dr. Barry L. Eppley in Indiana claims Sculptra granulomas can be treated with fat injections by breaking them up with a small cannula and then using fat injections to prevent the scar tissue from reforming or the granuloma recoalesing. However, if there are too many garnulomas he suggests the best approach is to have them excised using an anterior facelift approach or possibly applying a layer of allogeneic dermis over the excised area to ensure maximal contour smoothness.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Esure Demand for domestic cleaners up 25% in 5 years: Esure \n Nearly half of all millennials are hiring cleaners because they are \"too busy\" to clean their own flats.\n\nAnd this has contributed to a 25 per cent rise in demand for domestic cleaners over the past five years, according to insurer Esure. The company claims that most of this demand is coming from young professionals living in one or two-bedroom properties.\n\nCleaning site Helpling.com backs up these figures claiming that four in 10 25-34 year olds either currently uses a cleaner or is looking for one - up from a third two years ago.\n\n\"We are seeing more young adults looking for a cleaner, mainly because they value their time and would rather spend money than lose time they could be spending with friends or family,\" said Helpling director Sam James. \"The sharing economy has also played a big part in the trend.\"\n\nMarketing manager of Housekeep Liam Dickerson believes the surge in demand is partly because many young people today work long hours. \"They're also living in smaller dwellings with more people and less storage space which means they are likely to spend more time tidying up,\" he said. \"They therefore feel that they're better off getting someone else to do their cleaning.\"\n\nHelpling and Housekeep are among a new wave of digital housekeeping firms that cater for the rise in demand for cleaners among young professionals. Companies such as these enable millennials to order cleaners using their smartphones as easily as they would book an Uber cab.\n\nThe term \"millennials\" is generally used by demographers to describe young people born in the 1980s and 1990s who have a high level of familiarity with communications, media and digital technologies.", "output": "Demand for domestic cleaners has risen by 25% over the past five years, according to insurer Esure, which claims that the bulk of the demand is being driven by\u00a0millennials looking to hire\u00a0cleaners as they are \"too busy\" to clean their own flats. Figures from cleaning site Helpling.com supported the findings, and claimed that the sharing economy \"played a big part in the trend.\" Digital firms like\u00a0Helpling and Housekeep allow users to order cleaners using their smartphone\u00a0just like they might book a ride in an Uber cab.\n\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Title processing software aims to save oil and gas companies cash \n Venture backed Houston startup modernizes title for oil & gas companies, cuts time and costs\n\nTracts announces the launch of its title software to accelerate the mineral ownership reporting required by oil & gas companies. Designed for land departments, the new product automates much of the title process using patent pending technology, which significantly reduces legal preparation time. In an industry that spends billions annually on title, Tracts' new product is poised to reduce costs for oil & gas companies by 50% or more. The software developer is venture backed by Chip Davis of Houston Ventures and is strategically headquartered near Houston's energy corridor.\n\nOil & gas companies must determine legal ownership of land and minerals before it can be leased for exploration and production. Unlike a real estate title search, oil & gas title research often involves hundreds of parties who own surface land and subsurface mineral rights. Moreover, a chain of title must be documented linking current owners with the first, sovereign, landowner, which can span hundreds of years. The resulting process is labor intensive and time consuming, costing companies in the United States billions of dollars every year in title costs.\n\nTracts' founders realized that much of the traditional mineral title process was redundant, lacked standards and could be largely automated. Using a patent pending math engine and data visualization process, Tracts designed a modern solution to the historically complex problem of running title. The company's title software guides users through the process of entering data from legally executed ownership records, or instruments, which are obtained from physical or digital courthouses. As instruments are added, the software dynamically creates chain of title, runsheet, ownership flowcharts, and other reports.\n\n\"Tracts has the immediate upshot of saving oil & gas companies time, which translates to 50% or more cost savings on title projects that can run into millions of dollars,\" said Ashley Gilmore, CEO and co-founder of Tracts. \"But even more importantly, Tracts enables companies to lower title risks and capitalize on opportunities faster than ever, such as acquiring a hotly contested tract in the Permian Basin, and in today's fast-paced and competitive leasing arena, that's a real edge,\" Gilmore added.\n\nGilmore co-founded Tracts with David Dewey and Robert Anderson. Dewey, Tracts' CTO, is an experienced computer scientist who, together with Gilmore, pioneered the company's patent pending data visualization process and math engine. As an attorney, Anderson brings extensive knowledge of the oil & gas title process to the company where he serves as Vice President of Product Development. Passionate about replacing antiquated title processes with a modern approach, the co-founders set out to disrupt the status quo in the oil & gas title industry with cutting-edge technology.\n\nThe company's Houston headquarters has grown rapidly in the last year, adding four new employees, including Matt Chamberlain, a marketing and sales executive with extensive experience growing technology startups.\n\nGiven the continued need for cost-efficiency after the industry downturn and with rig counts and prospecting on the rise, Tracts expects high demand for its new title processing software. The developer worked with several oil & gas companies to build and successfully field-test its product.\n\nAbout Tracts\n\nTracts is a venture funded software startup focused on modernizing the way oil and gas land departments determine mineral ownership. The company uses a patent pending math engine and data visualization to simplify the highly complex, manual process of establishing legal ownership, which exploration and production companies require in order to acquire, or lease land, and drill. As a result, E&P companies reduce the time needed to establish title by up to and exceeding 50%, providing much needed cost and operational efficiencies in the United States energy market. Based in Houston, Texas, Tracts was founded in 2014 by legal professionals and computer scientists with extensive experience in the oil & gas title process. Visit http://www.Tracts.co for more information.\n\nFor the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2017/07/prweb14503811.htm", "output": "Houston-start-up Tracts has developed title software for the oil and gas exploration sector that could reduce costs to businesses by more than 50%. The system uses a patent-pending maths engine and data-visualisation process that guides users through the process of entering data from legally executed ownership records, before creating a chain of title, runsheet and ownership flowcharts. \"Tracts enables companies to lower title risks and capitalise on opportunities faster than ever\u2026 and in today's fast-paced and competitive leasing arena, that's a real edge,\" said CEO Ashley Gilmore.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus [2]: Connecticut Legal Services joins Regus in Bridgeport location \n Connecticut Legal Services is the latest law firm to lease space at 1000 Lafayette Blvd. in Bridgeport. According to commercial real estate broker Avison Young and property owner Shelbourne Global Solutions LLC, the Class A office building is now home to more than a half dozen law firms and other law-related tenants.\n\nConnecticut Legal Services, the largest legal aid agency in the state, signed a long-term lease for 4,800 square feet on the ninth floor of 1000 Lafayette Blvd. DH White Real Estate Services represented the tenant in the deal.\n\nAvison Young\u2019s Fairfield/Westchester office was named exclusive agent at the property last summer. The broker\u2019s Principal and Managing Director Sean Cahill and Vice President Lori Baker were tasked with marketing the 11-story, 215,000-square-foot building in the heart of Bridgeport\u2019s central business district.\n\nOther legal tenants include the Offices of the United States Attorneys; AHC Law; and Ryan, Ryan Deluca, which signed a new long-term lease for 12,351 square feet on the eighth floor of 1000 Lafayette in the spring. Zeldes Needle Cooper PC, a 30-year tenant, relocated within the building to nearly 16,000 square feet of a newly built space on the seventh floor.\n\nAmong the building\u2019s other tenants are Citizens Bank, TD Bank and Regus, an executive office solutions firm.\n\nThe property, built in 1989 and renovated in 2012, is GSA-approved and features onsite property management.", "output": "Connecticut Legal Services, the largest legal aid agency in the state, is the latest law firm to join Regus as a tenant at\u00a01000 Lafayette Boulevard, Bridgeport. Half a dozen legal tenants are now said to reside in the office building as well as other legal tenants.The firm signed a long-term lease for 4,800 sq\u00a0ft\u00a0on the ninth floor.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Drayson to develop and commercialise NHS technology \n The University of Oxford and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have signed a strategic research agreement with Drayson Technologies which will see digital health products commercialised by the start-up.\n\nHaving only been established in 2015, Drayson Technologies, founded by Paul Drayson, a former Labour government science minister, closed \u00a315 million in its latest funding round (Series C funding).\n\nA Drayson Technologies spokesman said the deal is ground-breaking as royalties will be fed back into the NHS from the products commercialised; bringing benefits back to patients in the NHS.\n\nThe university and the trust, which is a global digital exemplar, will receive in aggregate \u00a35 million worth of equity in Drayson Technologies as part of the Series C funding round.\n\nBoth organisations developed and trialled the technologies in the Oxford Biomedical Research Centre funded by the National Institute for Health Research.\n\nUnderpinned by the university\u2019s academic research excellence, engineering expertise and the trust\u2019s clinical validation, the agreement will create a pathway for the production of world-class digital health products, commercialised globally by Drayson Technologies, the spokesman said.\n\nOxford University trust\u2019s chief information officer, Peter Knight said working with Drayson Technologies \u201cwill allow us to bring technologies that we invent and develop together to our patients faster.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe will also be able to reinvest royalties from the results of research and development created in the partnership of the university and NHS back into our services for the benefit of our patients.\u201d\n\nDrayson has raised more than \u00a341 million to date and this most recent round of investment will enable it to continue its mission to understand the health of an individual in the context of their environment.\n\nIt will allow them to generate actionable information and discoveries that improve health and reduce healthcare costs.\n\nDrayson said chronic disease affects the lives of millions of people as well as accounting for around 70% of NHS costs.\n\n\u201cDigital health technologies offer the potential to make a huge difference for these people and save money for the NHS.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis highly innovative partnership will ensure that there is a pathway from invention to commercialisation for digital health products created in Oxford that will deliver benefits to patients and reinvestment back into the University and the NHS trust.\u201d\n\nLionel Tarassenko, head of the department of engineering science, whose research group developed the digital health products in partnership with the Oxford trust, said: \u201cOur work with wearables, smart devices, and machine learning algorithms has enabled the delivery of real-time, personalised healthcare to patients where it is most needed, from the hospital to the home.\u201d\n\nHe added that the partnership with Drayson Technologies gives them a unique opportunity to accelerate the development and deployment of these digital health products.", "output": "Drayson Technologies has entered into a strategic research agreement with the University of Oxford and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to develop and commercialise digital health products. The aim is to speed up the development and deployment of health-based smart devices, wearables and machine-learning algorithms, and \u2013 uniquely \u2013 plough the royalties they create back into the NHS. Drayson Technologies recently closed a \u00a315m series C funding round. The two Oxford institutions will receive \u00a35m of equity in Drayson.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow sponsors \u00a3750 prize for Local Champion Award in annual band contest \n MEMBERS of a Marsden brass band are blowing their own trumpets after coming first in a competition to take home \u00a3750.\n\nThe winnings, donated by housebuilder Redrow, went to the well-established Marsden Silver Band after they impressed the judges of the Local Champions Award category at the Saddleworth and Oldham Whit Friday Brass Band Contests.\n\nAlan Widdop, musical director for the band, said: \u201cIt means everything to have won this.\n\n\u201cThe brass band league works like football and, after the previous musical director left, we sadly lost our championship status.\n\n\u201cThis win not only means that we regain that, but it also boosts our reputation and means that we can perhaps attract new members.\n\n\u201cThe money will come in extremely handy and will go towards covering our expenses for the next competition.\u201d\n\nCurrently building new homes at Meadow View, Moorside Redrow supported the annual contest which saw more than 100 bands from all over the world compete in various categories.\n\n\u201cWe were delighted to sponsor a category at the contest as it\u2019s such a lovely, traditional competition and brings together musical talent from all over the country and further afield,\u201d said Lorraine Moores, area sales manager for Redrow Homes (Lancashire).\n\n\u201cRedrow\u2019s contribution provided the area prize pot for the best local band overall, for which bands must be based within an eight-mile radius of Uppermill Village.\n\n\u201cThe Marsden Silver Band were worthy winners of the Local Champions Award and we\u2019re thrilled the win will help them to greater success.\u201d\n\nLorraine and Meadow View sales consultant Michael Deagan were invited along to a special presentation evening to hand over the prize to Alan and his band.\n\nRedrow\u2019s own local champion, Meadow View, off Haven Lane, has three and four-bedroom homes currently for sale. For more information see www.redrow.co.uk/meadowview or call: 0161 638 7484.\n\nShare this story: Tweet\n\n\n\n\n\nEmail\n\nPrint\n\n", "output": "Redrow sponsored the Local Champions Award category in a band contest that was\u00a0won by\u00a0Marsden Silver Band, which impressed at the\u00a0Saddleworth and Oldham Whit Friday Brass Band Contests. The annual contest saw over 100 bands from all over the world compete in various categories. Marsden Silver Band said the\u00a0\u00a3750 prize money would go towards covering expenses for the next competition.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "'DrillCos' funnel investment into US shale, boosting output \n HOUSTON: US shale producers survived an oil price crash and confounded OPEC\u2019s efforts to drain a global glut by employing innovative drilling and production techniques. Now, some of these producers are turning to creative investments to pump more oil.\n\nDrilling joint ventures, called \u201cDrillCos\u201d for short, combine cash from investors like Carlyle Group LP with drillable-but-idle land already owned by producers. Investors get a pledge of double-digit returns within a few years, while producers can raise productivity without spending more of their own money. The total raised by these ventures \u2013 at least $2 billion in the last 24 months \u2013 is a small part of overall shale financing. But they represent another way for Wall Street and shale producers to increase the flow of oil, and frustrate plans by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to prop up prices.\n\nPrivate equity this year has showered more than $20 billion on US energy ventures. Driven by shale expansion, US oil production this year is forecast to increase by 570,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 9.9 million bpd, the US Energy Information Administration estimates.\n\nDrillcos take control of drillable land and generally turn over 100 percent of the cash flow from oil and gas production to investors until they earn a 15 percent return. At that point, control reverts to the producer, with the investor\u2019s stake shrinking to about 10 percent of remaining production. \u201cIt\u2019s a type of surgical, temporary capital,\u201d Mark Stoner a partner at private equity fund Bayou City Energy LP, said in an interview. Bayou City committed $256 million to an Oklahoma drillco with privately held Alta Mesa Holdings LP last year.\n\n\u201cWe get exposure to great, prolific oil basins, but don\u2019t have to take on balance sheet risk.\u201d\n\nCompanies such as EOG Resources Inc, one of the financially strongest US shale producers, are turning to drillcos.\n\nTwo months ago, EOG struck a $400 million deal with Carlyle to finance wells in Oklahoma. The investment lets EOG focus its own cash on the Permian Basin, the largest US oilfield, and lifts its production without increasing its spending.\n\nThe venture also allows EOG to double or triple the value of land it held on its books, Lloyd Helms, EOG\u2019s head of exploration and production, said an industry conference in May.\n\nLegacy Reserves LP, Exco Resources Inc, Alta Mesa and EOG are among 34 oil producers that since 2015 have formed drillcos worth more than $2.05 billion. The money has come from investors including Blackstone Group, Carlyle, KKR & Co, and others, according to 1Derrick Ltd, which tracks oilfield land deals.\n\nHistorically, one way producers wrung more cash from financiers was to pledge future output for cash payments to finance drilling. There was no swap of land and no guaranteed return. Drillcos differ in that investors get control of land until a double-digit rate of return is met, providing insurance against a default. For producers, these ventures also help boost the total amount of oil they can eventually recover. Wall Street is rewarding those with strong production with share price gains at a time when OPEC and its allies have agreed to pull 1.8 million bpd off the global market. \u201cThis helped us drill acreage that we wouldn\u2019t otherwise have been able to drill right away,\u201d Mike McCabe, Alta Mesa\u2019s chief financial officer, said in an interview.\n\nFor investors, the potentially high rates of return, compared with commercial loan rates running about 5 percent to 7 percent, have spurred interest despite crude prices CLc1 under $50 a barrel. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of money seeking a home, especially in this low interest rate environment,\u201d Mingda Zhao of Vinson & Elkins LLP, a law firm that has negotiated drillco agreements, said in an interview.\n\nPublished in Daily Times, July 14th , 2017.", "output": "The expansion of shale has boosted US oil production to the tune of $20bn this year, thanks to drilling joint ventures - also known as drillcos - providing cash from outside investors, including Blackstone and Carlyle Group, allowing oil producers to increase production without incurring extra cost. Typically, Drillcos take control of land and pay 100% of the cash flow from oil and gas production to investors until they've earned a 15%\u00a0return. From then,\u00a0control reverts to the producer and\u00a0the\u00a0investor takes 10% of the remaining production.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apache fracking operations use similar amount of water to a farm \n Rohan Strong snorkels in the crystal clear waters of the worlds largest spring-fed swimming pool at Balmorhea State Park Friday, Sept. 16, 2016 four miles west of Balmorhea in Toyahvale, TX. Houston-based Apache Corporation recently announced the discovery of an estimated 15 billion barrels of oil and gas in the area and plans to drill and use hydraulic fracturing on the 350,000 acres surrounding the park. Apache has leased the mineral rights under the park and town, but has promised not to drill on or under either. Even with the promises, some residents worry that the drilling could affect the 15 million gallons of water that flow through the pool every day and impact the more than 200,000 visitors the pool attracts annually.\n\nMichael Ciaglo/Houston Chronicle", "output": "Houston firm Apache's oil drilling operations in the recently discovered reserves at Alpine High in Reeves County would consume around 27,000 barrels of water per day, around the same as some local farms, according to a white paper from Rice University. It found that if Apache develops the 350,000 site slowly, it would use the same amount of water as irrigating a 50-acre farm with about one inch of water. The findings may\u00a0ease local\u00a0concerns\u00a0about the environmental impact of the project.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NRG Energy to divest wind and solar assets \n The Houston power company NRG Energy said Wednesday that it plans to sell most, if not all, of its wind and solar power projects around the country as part of plan to divest $4 billion in assets in a bid to cut costs, slash debt and boost its stock price.\n\nThe plan, which includes the sale of conventional power plants, will almost certainly lead to layoffs - the company has already set aside money to cover severance costs - but the impact on Houston, where NRG employs about 2,400, and Texas, where the company operates nine power plants and owns all or part of seven wind and solar projects, remains unclear. NRG officials did not disclose which plants and projects would be sold off and how many jobs would be cut.\n\nThe move follows a campaign by two of NRG's biggest shareholders, the New York hedge fund Elliott Associates and the Dallas investment firm Bluescape Energy Partners, to shake up the company's board of directors and increase the price of its stock, which the activist investors have called undervalued. NRG's stock surged nearly 30 percent after the company unveiled its so-called transformation plan, with the share price jumping from $16.30 a share to $21.09.\n\nBut analysts were confounded by the strategy, which some described as shortsighted. The company would sell the majority of its wind and solar projects when renewable energy is profitable and energy firms - including the world's largest oil and gas companies - are increasing investments in green energy.\n\n\"We think NRG's announcement is reshuffling the deck more so than creating value for shareholders,\" said Travis Miller, an analyst who covers utilities for the Chicago research firm Morningstar. \"We thought that the NRG renewables business was a good growth platform with some attractive returns, but management clearly decided that their investors would prefer going a different route.\"\n\nAs with other merchant power companies in Texas, NRG has struggled to profit amid low wholesale electricity prices and increasing competition from abundant and cheap wind power. Last year, the company's revenues plunged near 15 percent to $12.4 billion from $14.7 billion in 2015.\n\nSharp reversal of strategy\n\nNRG's stock reached a five-year high at $37.24 in June 2014, but swiftly plummeted, remaining stubbornly below $20 for the past two years.\n\nIn January, Elliott Associates and Bluescape Energy Partners forced the ouster of the NRG's chairman and secured two seats on the board for its candidates, one of them Barry Smitherman, a Houston lawyer who has served as chair of both the state Public Utility Commission and Railroad Commission, the state's oil and gas regulatory agency.\n\nNRG's transformation plan represents a sharp reversal of strategy, which analysts said is rare in the corporate world. NRG had made tentative steps away from renewable energy with the 2015 firing of then-CEO David Crane, a proponent of electric car-charging stations and residential solar panels, and the hiring of CEO Mauricio Gutierrez, who favors more traditional sources of power like natural gas.\n\nBut Gutierrez repeatedly said the company remained committed to clean energy and last year completed a $183 billion deal to purchase large-scale solar and wind projects from the bankrupt renewable energy company SunEdison.\n\n\"At a time when other utilities across the country - from Florida to New England to the Midwest - are embracing renewables, NRG's decision is baffling,\" said Jim Marston, a vice president who oversees clean energy issues for the Environmental Defense Fund, a national environmental advocacy group. \"This move is another example of NRG's new management abandoning its clean energy leadership position, and focusing on short-term profit over the company's long-term future.\"\n\nNRG plans to divest between $2.35 and $4 billion in assets in an effort to cut 70 percent of its $13 billion debt. The company expects to sell anywhere from half to all of its share in NRG Yield, a subsidiary that owns most of NRG's renewable projects, including large-scale solar and wind projects in West Texas. It also plans to sell conventional power plants with a combined 6,000 megawatts of generating capacity, about 15 percent of its fleet's capacity of more than 41,000 megawatts.\n\nIn a call with analysts, Gutierrez estimated the sale of renewable projects and power plants would generate $6.3 billion in cash, including savings in operations, maintenance and payroll. The company has set aside nearly $300 million over the next two years to cover the costs related to its divestment plan, including severance.\n\n\"With this plan we now have a clear path to success in this industry,\" Gutierrez said. \"Our business will be simplified and able to thrive under any market structure.\"\n\nParent of Reliant Energy\n\nGutierrez said the company will put more emphasis on its profitable retail electricity business, particularly in Texas, where its companies, including Reliant Energy and Green Mountain Energy, are the biggest providers in the Houston area. While low electricity prices are squeezing both retail and wholesale businesses, retail has held up much better.\n\nLast year, NRG's retail sales of $6.3 billion exceeded generation revenues, $5.7 billion in 2016, for the first time in years.\n\n\"We're always going to be focused on the markets that are the most attractive markets,\" he said. \"Today, from our perspective, the most attractive market is Texas, with a few pockets in the Northeast. Tomorrow, that may change.\"", "output": "Houston power company NRG Energy's shares rose to a two-year high of $21.09, after it announced it will divest between $2.35bn and $4bn of assets, including most, if not all, of its national wind and solar power projects, as well as conventional power plants, in a cost-cutting exercise some have described as \"baffling\". NRG CEO Mauricio Gutierrez told analysts the measures would save $6.3bn in cash, and the firm would be \"able to thrive under any market structure\". NRG's decision represents a rare reversal of strategy at a time when other utilities across the US are embracing renewables.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Halcon Resources divests Wilson Basin to focus on Delaware \n Halc\u00f3n Resources has signed an agreement to sell its operated oil and gas assets in the Williston Basin, US, to an affiliate of Bruin E&P Partners in a deal valued at $1.4bn.\n\nBruin E&P Partners is a portfolio company of Arclight Capital Partners.\n\nThe transaction does not include the company\u2019s non-operated Williston Basin assets, which it will retain. However, the company indicated that they could be sold in the future.\n\nHalc\u00f3n Resources chairman, president and CEO Floyd Wilson said: \"The sale of our Williston Basin operated assets transforms Halc\u00f3n into a single-basin company focused on the Delaware Basin, where we have more than 41,000 net acres in Ward and Pecos Counties representing decades of highly economic drilling inventory.\n\n\"The cash proceeds from this transaction and related debt reduction provide us with a strong balance sheet and liquidity to execute our growth plans.\"\n\n\u201cThe cash proceeds from this transaction and related debt reduction provide us with a strong balance sheet and liquidity to execute our growth plans.\"\n\n\n\nRepresenting about 104,000 net acres of oil and gas properties within McKenzie, Williams, Mountrail, and Dunn counties in North Dakota, the current Williston Basin assets, which are up for sale, produce around 29,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day (boed).\n\nPro-forma for the asset sale, the company has a current net production of about 7,500boed.\n\nThe transaction is subject to shareholder approval and the receipt of consent from more than 50% of the holders of the company's 6.75% unsecured notes, and is expected to be closed by next month.\n\nHalc\u00f3n Resources is engaged in the acquisition, production, exploration and development of onshore oil and natural gas properties in the US.", "output": "US oil and gas company Halcon Resources has agreed to sell 104,000 net acres of operated oil and gas assets in the Williston Basin to Bruin E&P Partners, a portfolio company of Arclight Capital Partners, in a deal estimated to be worth $1.4bn. The sale will allow Halcon to focus on the more than 41,000 net acres in the Delaware Basin, where the Ward and Pecos Counties offer decades of highly economic drilling inventory. The deal is subject to shareholder approval and is set to close next month.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wellframe expands care management platform after $15m fundraising \n Boston-based Wellframe, makers of mobile patient engagement and care management software, has raised $15 million in Series B funding led by F-Prime Capital. Existing investors DFJ also contributed, and the new capital brings the company\u2019s total funding to date to $25 million.\n\nWellframe teams up with health plans and providers to offer a suite of customizable care plans that are designed to keep patients engaged via direct communication channels. The company\u2019s platform includes a web-based clinician dashboard and a patient-facing mobile app and offers two-way messaging and care plans to amplify the reach of care capabilities within a health system. Last year, Excellus BCBS tapped Wellframe to offer its mobile platform as part of its Health Care Improvement team.\n\n\u201cWith this financing, we\u2019re well positioned to respond to growing market demand, while further expanding the scope of what we offer as a partner,\u201d Wellframe CEO Jacob Sattelmair said in a statement. \u201cThe learnings and success we\u2019ve achieved with our partners has informed a broader, bolder vision to transform care management and set a new standard for how healthcare organizations provide support to patients outside of the clinical setting.\u201d\n\nSome of Wellframe\u2019s clients are reporting cost savings increasing by up to 50 percent per patient, the company said. At Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska, the integration with Wellframe's mobile allowed the payer to get more out of resources allocated per member.\n\n\u201cOur telephonic care management program does reduce per member medical expense, but coupled with the mobile platform, we see additional savings that more than double the savings of traditional care management -- in the order of magnitude of thousands of dollars per person,\u201d BCBS of Nebraska\u2019s VP of Provider Services Susan Beaton said in a statement.\n\nF-Prime Capital Executive Partner Carl Byers will join Wellframe\u2019s board of directors.\n\n\u201cWellframe is poised to revolutionize care management as we know it. They\u2019ve assembled a top-tier team dedicated to executing on a new vision for the improved delivery of clinical services and patient engagement,\u201d Byers said in a statement. \u201cThere\u2019s an untapped market opportunity here, as most healthcare organizations strive to realize the full potential of care management. Wellframe is demonstrating significant impact on healthcare cost and quality outcomes for their clients, and we are pleased to be working with them to build on this strong foundation to set a new standard for patient support.\u201d", "output": "Mobile patient engagement platform provider Wellframe has successfully raised $15m in a series B funding round, bringing the company\u2019s total funding to $25m. Led by F-Prime Capital, the funds will be used to expand the scope of the care management platform to meet growing demand. The company works with health plan providers to offer tailored engagement with patients through a web-based clinician dashboard and a mobile app."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scientists use insect's brain to improve tracking algorithm \n Figuring out where things are is an important task that many robots need to know how to do. In applications from health and emergency response to military and even entertainment, it's a pretty basic requirement.\n\n\"However, our robots are still far behind the accuracy, efficiency and adaptability of the algorithms which exist in biological systems,\u201d says Zahra Bagheri, a PhD student at the University of Adelaide, who's working on developing new ways of seeing.\n\nShe's part of a team of engineers and neuroscientists using the way insects visualise and hunt prey to improve autonomous robotic technology.\n\n\"Our research aimed to discover if the behaviour and neuronal mechanisms that underlie an insect\u2019s target detection and selection could provide a blueprint for a robot to perform similar tasks autonomously,\u201d said Steven Wiederman, who's leading the project.\n\n\"Insects are capable of remarkably complex behaviour, yet have a miniature brain consuming tiny amounts of power compared with even the most efficient digital processors.\"\n\nRecording neurons\n\nAs part of the research, the team used recordings from specific neurons in the brain of a dragonfly to develop a target detection and tracking algorithm. They they built that algorithm into a robot's brain.\n\n\"This is the first time that a target tracking model inspired by insect neurophysiology has been implemented on an autonomous robot and tested under real-world conditions,\" said Wiederman.\n\nIn tests, which included low-contrast targets, heavily cluttered environments and the presence of distractors, the robot performed well - suggesting that simple processors can be used to deliver capable results.\n\n\"We uncovered insight into how insects\u2019 neuronal systems may handle varying challenges during target tracking and pursuit,\" said Bagheri.", "output": "Engineers and neuroscientists from the University of Adelaide have used neuronal mechanisms in insects that visualise and hunt prey to improve robotic algorithms. By recording the activity of specific neurons in the brain of a dragonfly, the team was able to get sufficient data to develop a target detection and tracking algorithm, which they instantiated in a robot. In tests the robot performed well, despite the simplicity of the information processing used.\u00a0\"Insects are capable of remarkably complex behaviour, yet have a miniature brain consuming tiny amounts of power compared with even the most efficient digital processors,\" said project lead Steven Wiederman.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Working 55 hours a week damages heart health \n A long hours office culture can affect more than just your social life \u2013 long days at work can be bad for your heart as well, according to a major study.\n\nIt\u2019s been established that too many hours in the office can increase the risk of a stroke. Now it seems that clocking up more than 55 hours a week means a 40% higher chance of developing an irregular heartbeat, known as atrial fibrillation (AF), when compared to those with a better work-life balance.\n\nAF happens because the natural electrical impulses controlling the heart\u2019s normal regular rhythm lose their co-ordination. Sufferers may get palpitations \u2013 the sensation of a racing or irregular pulse \u2013 as well as feeling breathless and dizzy.\n\nBut some people with AF get no symptoms at all, which is why the British Heart Foundation encourages people to check whether their pulse is regular and to see a GP if they have any doubts. It\u2019s important to diagnose AF because it increases the chance of having a stroke five-fold, and blood thinning treatments can greatly lower this risk.\n\nThe research team, led by Professor Mika Kivimaki from the department of epidemiology at University College, London, analysed data on the working patterns of 85,494 mainly middle-aged men and women drawn from the UK, Denmark, Sweden and Finland.\n\nParticipants were put into groups according to their work pattern, with 35-40 hours a week regarded as the control group. No one had AF at the start of the study, published in the European Heart Journal.\n\nAfter 10 years of follow-up, an average of 12.4 per 1,000 people had developed AF, but among those working 55 hours or more, this figure was higher at 17.6 per 1,000 people.\n\nThose working the longest hours were more overweight, had higher blood pressure, smoked more and and consumed more alcohol. But the team\u2019s conclusions about longer working hours and AF still remained after taking these factors into account.\n\nThe researchers acknowledge some limitations to their study: they only asked participants about working hours at the start, and so couldn\u2019t account for how working patterns might have changed over 10 years. The team also could not tell whether any particular job type was more risky.\n\nKivimaki offered worried workers some reassurance. \u201cFor a healthy person, the risk of AF is very low, and a 1.4-fold increase in that small risk due to long working hours does not much change the situation.\u201d\n\nTim Chico, a Sheffield cardiologist not involved with the study also had some helpful advice for those concerned that their job might harm their heart: \u201cMost people who work long hours won\u2019t have the luxury of being able to change their working patterns. We already know that obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and smoking all increase the risk of AF and so people can reduce their risk of AF by addressing these factors without needing to find another job!\u201d", "output": "Working more than 55 hours a week can lead to a 40% higher chance of developing an irregular heartbeat, according to an international study which analysed data from 85,494 predominantly middle-aged men and women in Denmark, Finland, Sweden and the UK. The condition, known as atrial fibrillation (AF) occurs when natural electrical impulses controlling the heart\u2019s rhythm lose co-ordination. AF leads to a five-fold increase in the likelihood of stroke. This risk can be decreased through the use of blood thinning treatments.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "California still faces big cuts under revised Senate health bill \n The revised Senate health care bill released by Republicans on Thursday largely maintains the dramatic cuts in federal Medicaid spending and premium subsidies as the previous version of the proposal \u2014 changes that experts say would lead to millions of poor Californians losing some benefits or paying more for insurance.\n\nBut the newly released plan also introduces language, advanced by conservative Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Mike Lee, R-Utah, that would allow insurance companies to sell bare-bones plans with lower premiums that do not meet the consumer protection requirements put in place by the Affordable Care Act. To do so, however, the insurers must also offer some plans that do comply with the requirements, which include guaranteed access to coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, and a prohibition on charging sick people more than healthy people.\n\nHealth policy experts say this would probably separate the individual insurance market into two pools \u2014 younger, healthier people who would buy cheaper, skimpier plans, and older, sicker people who would be paying much higher premiums for the more comprehensive plans. As a result, many sick people would no longer be able to afford insurance, experts said.\n\n\u201cPrior to Obamacare, many states allowed insurers to segment the market legally, and Obamacare eliminated that. So all this proposal is doing is reinstating pre-Obamacare market rules,\u201d said Gerald Kominski, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. \u201cWe know what that produces \u2014 millions of people who are priced out of the market.\u201d\n\nTo address this, the bill would allocate $70 billion to insurance companies to help pay for the higher-cost patients.\n\nHowever, in California \u2014 which has its own regulations mandating what insurance companies must cover \u2014 it appears that state law would continue to apply despite the exemptions allowed in the Cruz and Lee proposal, according to the California Department of Insurance.\n\nCovered California, the state health insurance marketplace created under the ACA, would not allow the sale of plans that do not comply with state rules, a spokeswoman said.\n\nStates would still have authority to regulate insurance plans, so they could impose more stringent requirements and prevent the exemptions in the Senate bill from taking effect, said Larry Levitt of the Kaiser Family Foundation.\n\nThe newly revised bill also includes some additions designed to appeal to both the conservative and moderate Senate Republicans, whose votes are needed to advance the measure. It would send $5 billion a year, for nine years, to states for opioid addiction and treatment services. And it would keep two Affordable Care Act taxes on high earners that the previous version of the bill sought to repeal \u2014 a 3.8 percent tax on investment income and a 0.9 percent payroll tax for individuals who earn over $200,000 a year.\n\nLike the previous version of the bill, the Senate measure, called the Better Care Reconciliation Act, would eliminate the requirement to buy insurance, known as the individual mandate, that was enacted by the Affordable Care Act. A similar bill, passed by the House in May, would do the same. Both measures are part of Republicans\u2019 efforts to fulfill their campaign promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.\n\nSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., tweeted that the plan \u201cwill give Americans more tools for managing their own health care, not giving more power to the federal government.\u201d\n\nIn California, which operates the nation\u2019s largest Medicaid program, the Senate bill\u2019s biggest impact would be to Medi-Cal, which covers 13.5 million residents \u2014 about a third of the state\u2019s population. Like the previous version of the bill, the proposal would cap the amount of federal dollars that each Medicaid enrollee could receive each year, resulting in a 35 percent reduction in federal Medicaid spending in 2036, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis of the original bill.\n\nAir Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes\n\nTo make up for the drop in federal money, California would have to come up with an additional $30 billion in 2026 to maintain the program\u2019s current benefits.\n\n\u201cIn California, the lifeblood for our safety net of public hospitals and clinics is Medi-Cal funds,\u201d said Andrew Bindman, a professor of medicine and health policy at UCSF and a former congressional fellow who helped draft parts of the ACA. \u201cIf this bill were to pass, our safety net would be dramatically undermined. We\u2019d more than likely lose institutions that have become dependent on the flow of funds from Medi-Cal to sustain their work.\u201d\n\nThe Senate proposal would keep in place the general structure of the ACA subsidies that, in California, go to about 1.5 million residents who buy insurance on Covered California. But it would change the eligibility requirements to receive this assistance, making it no longer available for tens of thousands of low-income people who earn between roughly $42,000 and $48,000 a year. And the subsidies under the Senate bill would be linked to a less generous insurance plan with a higher deductible \u2014 meaning even those who would continue to receive the assistance would probably pay higher out-of-pocket costs.\n\nMeanwhile, Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., announced Thursday on CNN that they are working on an alternative repeal-and-replace plan that would retain most of the ACA taxes but funnel the money to states to allow governors to manage their own insurance markets. It is not a formal bill, and could be incorporated into the official Senate measure as an amendment.\n\nThe path forward for the Senate Republican bill is narrow. McConnell said Thursday that the chamber will take it up next week, but two GOP senators have already announced their opposition \u2014 and one more would prevent the repeal effort from even reaching a procedural motion to proceed.\n\nCatherine Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cho@sfchronicle.com\n\nTwitter: @Cat_Ho", "output": "The revised Senate health care bill released by Republicans on Thursday largely maintains the dramatic cuts in federal Medicaid spending and premium subsidies as the previous version of the proposal \u2014 changes that experts say would lead to millions of poor Californians losing some benefits or paying more for insurance.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Revised Senate Health Care Bill Already Faces Uphill Battle \n Senate GOP leaders on Thursday unveiled the latest version of their bill to overhaul the Affordable Care Act as they seek to appease both conservative and centrist holdouts before a planned procedural vote next week.\n\nBut the changes were immediately rejected by two Republican senators, libertarian Rand Paul (Ky.) and moderate Susan Collins (Maine), casting doubt on whether the bill would even have enough support to be debated on the Senate floor next week.\n\nSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) cannot afford any more than two GOP defections in order to have the bill pass in the chamber without any Democrats voting in favor.\n\nPaul is rejecting anything less than a full repeal of Obamacare, while Collins continues to have concerns about the bill\u2019s Medicaid provisions, which is also a sticking point for other centrists. The revised bill still rolls back Obamacare\u2019s expansion of Medicaid by 2024 and severely limits the amount of funding for state Medicaid programs, despite concerns from moderates about their constituents losing health care.\n\n\u201cStill deep cuts to Medicaid in Senate bill,\u201d Collins said in a Twitter post. \u201cWill vote no on MTP [motion to proceed]. Ready to work w/ GOP & Dem colleagues to fix flaws in ACA.\u201d\n\nOther holdouts were still undecided on the new bill, but could also end up opposing it. A cost estimate expected early next week from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office is expected to be crucial to whether the latest version lives or dies. The CBO estimated that the Senate\u2019s initial measure would leave about 22 million more Americans uninsured by 2026 compared to current law.\n\nSenate GOP leaders urged their colleagues to vote for the procedural motion next week, arguing their concerns could be addressed through the amendment process. McConnell is facing growing pressure from President Donald Trump to move on fulfilling Republicans\u2019 seven-year promise to repeal Obamacare.\n\nThe updated language did win over one skeptic, conservative Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who welcomed the inclusion of a provision that\u2019s based on his proposal to let insurers sell skimpier, cheaper coverage if they offer at least one plan that adheres to Obamacare\u2019s consumer protections. The bill would establish a fund to help insurers afford to cover high-risk people.\n\nConservatives argue the proposal would lower premiums for healthy people, but health insurers and experts warn it would further destabilize the insurance markets and cause health care costs to skyrocket for people with pre-existing conditions.\n\nConservatives were also given a win with the inclusion of a provision that would let people use tax-exempt health savings accounts to help pay their premiums, which Cruz said is effectively a reduction in health care costs of \u201c20 to 30 percent\u201d for taxpayers. Another conservative proposal in the bill would allow people to use tax credits to purchase catastrophic plans, which is not possible under Obamacare.\n\nThe bill would also retain a pair of Obamacare taxes on high earners, and maintain limits on the amount that insurance company executives can deduct on taxes. Both moves are favored by moderates.\n\nThe additional revenues from those taxes would be used to add about $70 billion (on top of $112 billion already in the bill) to go to states to help make health care coverage more affordable. Roughly $45 billion would also go to efforts to curb the nation\u2019s opioid abuse epidemic, which is a key priority for some skeptics, such as Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.).\n\nThursday\u2019s rollout of the new bill coincided with the unveiling of an alternative plan by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.). Their plan would retain all Obamacare taxes, besides the tax on medical device makers, and use those revenues to allocate block grants to states.\n\n\u201cThese funds could be distributed by the states in the forms of tax credits, reinsurance, health savings account premiums, and other means as the individual states see fit to meet their health care needs,\u201d an outline of the plan states.\n\nThe plan, which they intend to offer as an amendment to the leadership-backed bill, would repeal Obamacare\u2019s individual and employer mandates, while leaving intact protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Federal funds for state Medicaid programs would grow with inflation, contrary to the open-ended nature of the program under current law.", "output": "Senate GOP leaders on Thursday unveiled\u00a0the latest version of their bill to overhaul the Affordable Care Act as they seek to appease both conservative and centrist holdouts before a planned procedural vote next week.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Senate Health Bill Still Short On \u2018Yays\u2019 But Leaders Vow Vote Next Week \n Senate Republican leaders Thursday released their revised bill to \u201crepeal and replace\u201d the Affordable Care Act, but they acknowledged that furious days of negotiation have not yet secured the 50 votes necessary to pass the measure over unanimous Democratic objections.\n\nSen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) the No. 2 GOP leader, told reporters that while backers of the measure did not yet have the GOP votes needed, \u201cwe will by the time we vote.\u201d\n\nThe revised draft was presented to Republican senators at a closed meeting Thursday morning. Among its many provisions, it would cap federal funding for the Medicaid program, which covers more than 70 million low-income Americans, and give states authority to waive insurance regulations in the ACA.\n\nSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has been struggling for more than two weeks to satisfy holdouts from both wings of the party. Conservatives complain that the draft bill unveiled last month did not go far enough to repeal many of the ACA\u2019s regulations, while moderates argue that structural changes and cuts to the Medicaid program for the poor are too deep.\n\nUse Our Content This KHN story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nSo far, two of the 52 Republican senators have declared they will not even vote for the preliminary motion that would begin formal debate: conservative Rand Paul of Kentucky and moderate Susan Collins of Maine. \u201cStill deep cuts to Medicaid,\u201d Collins tweeted. \u201cWill vote no on\u201d motion to proceed to the bill.\n\nCollins told reporters separately that she cannot support the bill, and criticized Senate leaders for the way they produced it. Such a fundamental change to Medicaid should have a full set of legislative hearings, she explained. Even fully repealing the ACA would not cap spending for Medicaid in the way the Senate bill is proposing. \u201cRepealing Obamcare would not change the underlying Medicaid program,\u201d she said.\n\nThe ACA expanded Medicaid, but the Senate changes would cut it back well beyond that expansion.\n\nOne more \u201cno\u201d vote would stop the bill in its tracks, even with a potential tie-breaking vote from Vice President Mike Pence. Several moderate senators emerged from the closed meeting saying they were still undecided, including Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).\n\nLeaders did, however, apparently satisfy some of their more conservative members by making some changes proposed by Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Cruz touted after the meeting that the legislation includes provisions to allow people to use tax-preferred health savings accounts to pay insurance premiums (which are currently banned). It would also allow anyone to purchase a plan that covers only catastrophic health expenses (which the ACA limits to those under age 30) and permit insurers to offer plans that do not conform to many of the regulations in current law. Those rules include the ACA\u2019s requirements for coverage of specific health benefits as well as bans on insurers charging sick people more and limiting out-of-pocket costs.\n\nSenate leaders offered to spend more money on people who could be adversely affected by the insurance changes, including an additional $45 billion to combat opioid abuse, but moderates said it does not solve the problem.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s money,\u201d Collins told reporters, \u201cbut too many uses for that money.\u201d\n\nDemocrats remained steadfastly opposed to the measure. \u201cThe meat of this bill is exactly the same as it was before, and in some ways, they\u2019ve somehow managed to make it even worse,\u201d said Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).\n\nEven if leaders round up the needed votes, there are still a number of obstacles between this draft bill and President Donald Trump\u2019s signature. They include:\n\nProcedural Restrictions\n\nRepublicans are trying to pass their health bill using a special budget process that lets them avoid a filibuster and the usual requirement to get 60 votes for passage. But strict rules govern what can and cannot be included in such a \u201cbudget reconciliation\u201d bill. Democrats this week are arguing to the Senate parliamentarian that many sections of the bill should not be allowed, including those that would impose abortion restrictions and modify the private insurance regulations included in the ACA.\n\nCost Estimates\n\nThe Congressional Budget Office is the official scorekeeper for Congress. It said the first version of the Senate bill would result in 22 million more uninsured people by 2026.\n\nCBO is expected to offer its score of the bill next week, but some Senate Republicans on Thursday said that rather than wait for that, they might ask the Department of Health and Human Services to do it instead. That would be likely to produce a number more favorable to Republicans.\n\nDemocrats saw that option as a partisan play by Republicans. \u201cIt\u2019s gaming the score,\u201d said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). \u201cWhy don\u2019t they just have the score written in McConnell\u2019s office by his staff?\u201d\n\nHouse Passage\n\nWhatever the Senate produces must be acceptable to a majority of the House, or else the two chambers could get bogged down in weeks or months of negotiations. But changes that would make the Senate bill more acceptable to moderates there would likely not be able to get through the more conservative House. Leaders are walking a thin tightrope.\n\nOn the other hand, Republicans continue to be driven by the imperative of keeping their seven-year promise to overturn the health law.\n\n\u201cVirtually every Republican in this body has supported the effort to repeal and replace Obamacare more or less since the day it was signed into law,\u201d Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said on the floor. \u201cThis legislation, while far from perfect, would fulfill the vast majority of those promises.\u201d", "output": "Senate Republican leaders Thursday released their revised bill to \u201crepeal and replace\u201d the Affordable Care Act, but they acknowledged that furious days of negotiation have not yet secured the 50 votes necessary to pass the measure over unanimous Democratic objections.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Why a Bipartisan Health Care Compromise Is Simply a Delusion \n Senate Republicans bought themselves a little more time this week to deliver on their top agenda item, repealing and replacing Obamacare. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell agreed to trim two weeks off the August recess, responding to a number of calls within his caucus to expand the legislative calendar. The big question, however, is whether it will help and whether there are any options left if it doesn\u2019t.\n\nMcConnell has called a meeting Thursday morning with the entire GOP caucus, presumably to roll out the new version of the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA). Sen. Pat Toomey first mentioned the new effort on Monday, predicting that it would bridge the gap between moderates and conservatives within Republican ranks. \u201cThere\u2019s still a shot at getting to 50 [votes],\u201d Toomey said on CNBC\u2019s Squawk Box.\n\nRelated: Why the Republican Health Care Plan Is Destined to Fail\n\nIt got off to a bad start even before the big reveal. Sen. Rand Paul wrote a blistering op-ed at Breitbart on Wednesday to announce his rejection of the new version of the BCRA, calling it \u201cworse than Obamacare-lite.\u201d Paul accused Republicans of bolstering federal authority over health insurance, retaining too much of the Affordable Care Act\u2019s taxes and regulations, and \u201ccreating a giant insurance bailout superfund.\u201d Paul decried the lost opportunity to fulfill pledges made during the past seven years to repeal Obamacare \u201croot and branch.\u201d\n\nUnfortunately, the opportunity to repeal Obamacare \u201croot and branch\u201d came and went five years ago when Republicans failed to beat Barack Obama\u2019s re-election bid. Too much of Obamacare has already been implemented, which has distorted the markets considerably and recast political incentives. Donald Trump himself recognized this in his presidential campaign, promising that the repeal of Obamacare would come with a replacement program that ensured the least amount of disruption possible.\n\nRepublican Senators from rural states worry that a flat-out repeal without any transitional support would hit hard in the very areas where they won elections. A straight repeal would require 60 votes as it goes beyond merely budgetary issues, but it would be unlikely to get close to 50 even if it qualified for the reconciliation process.\n\nRelated: Why Ted Cruz's Health Care Fix Can't Save the GOP's Bill\n\nTrump made it clear in an interview with CBN\u2019s Pat Robertson on Wednesday that he expects the Senate to act on Obamacare. \u201cMitch has to pull it off,\u201d Trump said, noting that Obamacare was \u201ca failed experiment,\u201d and that Congress had to act. When Pat Robertson asked what would happen if McConnell failed to deliver a repeal bill, the president replied, \u201cI think it would be very bad. I will be very angry about it, and a lot of people will be upset.\u201d\n\nThat may be a rare case of understatement from President Trump. A new poll from Politico and Morning Consult shows that two-thirds of Republican voters expect the GOP to honor their promises and repeal Obamacare. Forty percent of voters overall want a repeal bill passed (with 47 percent opposed, it should be noted), which makes for considerable pressure on Senate Republicans. Interestingly, though, the poll also shows that a majority of GOP voters (54 percent) want Republicans to work with Democrats on a bipartisan reform of the system.\n\nIt\u2019s not the first time that\u2019s been suggested. Mitch McConnell warned last week that a failure of Republicans to coalesce around a solution would force him to work with Democrats on temporary fixes for Obamacare exchanges. John McCain and Bill Cassidy both called for negotiations across the aisle last week, with McCain saying, \u201cThat\u2019s what democracy is supposed to be all about.\u201d\n\nDon\u2019t expect to find any escape hatch in that direction, though. Toomey called this option \u201cgrim\u201d on Monday for a reason; Democrats are fighting to protect Obamacare. They could get Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to work with them \u201cas long as nothing gets repealed, the mandates don\u2019t go away, taxes remain in place, and Medicaid stays on a completely unsustainable fiscal train wreck,\u201d Toomey told CNBC.\n\nRelated: Five Ways Republicans Can Regain their Mojo on Health Care\n\n\n\nEven renegade Democratic centrists don\u2019t offer much hope for peeling off enough for a bipartisan compromise. A handful of House Democrats issued a proposal called, \u201cSolutions over Politics\u201d (SoP) to redirect the debate over health-care reform. \"We are proposing real, concrete solutions that will stabilize and improve the individual market,\u201d Rep. Kurt Shrader (D-OR) declared, \u201cmaking Obamacare work better for everyone, and getting us closer to universal coverage for all Americans.\"\n\nUnfortunately, this agenda looks very close to the same laundry list Schumer has pushed in the Senate. Shrader wants a permanent subsidy for insurance companies to make up for the losses they incur, guaranteeing a perpetual river of red ink from Obamacare. The original reinsurance funds were time-limited because Democrats insisted that markets would stabilize after the first few years and would become self-sufficient. This \u201csolution\u201d concedes the Republican argument that Obamacare is unsustainable without heavy government spending, and is structurally unsound.\n\nEven where it differs from the official Democratic Party line, the SoP proposal doesn\u2019t stray very far. It endorses health-savings accounts (HSAs), but only for \u201cplans compliant with the ACA,\u201d where Republicans want to expand the use of HSAs to allow for non-compliant innovation. The SoP proposal retains all of the mandates while allowing for \u201ccatastrophic health insurance plans \u2026 for younger enrollees,\u201d without acknowledging that Obamacare\u2019s high-deductible plans already act in practical terms as catastrophic coverage at high premium levels. Their solution for poor enrollment figures is not to repeal the unsound structure of mandates and narrow choice of coverages that creates it, but \u201crobust marketing around open enrollment periods.\u201d\n\nRelated: The Biggest Winners and Losers in the Senate GOP Health Plan\n\nSimply put, there is no basis for compromise between one side that sees Obamacare as an abject failure in need of repeal, and another that sees a lack of government funding and a better PR campaign as the only problems in need of solutions.\n\nNo, Republicans must do this on their own if it is to be done at all. That is the Hobson\u2019s choice that faces Senate Republicans, and the sooner they realize it, the quicker they will find a way to move forward on a solution. If they don\u2019t, Trump will almost certainly be proven prescient when voters weigh in on seven years of broken promises.", "output": "Senate Republicans bought themselves a little more time this week to deliver on their top agenda item, repealing and replacing Obamacare. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell agreed to trim two weeks off the August recess, responding to a number of calls within his caucus to expand the legislative calendar.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "A Scary New Senate Health Care Bill \n Ms. Collins and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky said on Thursday that they are opposed to the current version of the bill, so Mr. McConnell can\u2019t afford to lose anyone else. The question now is, has he done enough to win over senators like Dean Heller of Nevada, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Rob Portman of Ohio? The answer is most likely no. The changes meant to appeal to them amount to crumbs. For example, the new version includes $45 billion to help states fight the opioid epidemic. Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, who opposed the original bill, has said that this level of federal spending on this huge problem would be \u201clike spitting in the ocean.\u201d\n\nMr. McConnell is also trying to make his legislation look less extreme by continuing some of the taxes from the A.C.A., or Obamacare, rather than jettisoning them all. But this is not a big improvement, because a majority of the taxes in the Obama-era law that helped pay for expanded health coverage would still be lost. In addition, the revised bill would expand the use of tax-free health savings accounts, which primarily benefit rich families.\n\nThe biggest losers in the new bill are the sick. A provision by Mr. Cruz would let insurers discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions. And they would be allowed to sell plans that do not cover essential services, which would be cheaper and attract healthier people. They would still have to offer comprehensive plans to everyone, but those policies would cost a lot more because they would attract sicker patients. That is why the American Cancer Society\u2019s Cancer Action Network said the bill \u201cwould significantly weaken the ability of millions of cancer patients, survivors and those at risk for the disease to find and afford adequate, meaningful health care coverage.\u201d\n\nMr. McConnell wants to hold a vote on his legislation early next week. Congressional aides say he might even proceed before the C.B.O. can analyze all the changes. Senators who vote for this bill will send a simple message to their constituents: Get sick, and you are on your own.", "output": "Republican leaders in the Senate have accomplished what seemed impossible a few weeks ago: They have made their proposal to destroy the Affordable Care Act even worse.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Revised Senate Health Bill Tries to Win Votes, but Has Fewer Winners \n The revised Senate health bill has a dwindling list of winners and a bigger pool of potential losers.\n\nIt would still make insurance much less affordable for poorer and older Americans who don\u2019t get coverage through work or Medicare. It would make that insurance less valuable for many people with the most significant health care needs. The biggest beneficiaries of the original bill \u2014 the rich \u2014 would get less.\n\nThe new draft bill, released Thursday, is full of small tweaks and goodies throughout, but its most substantial policy change came at the behest of two Senate conservatives, Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah. They wanted to roll back the Affordable Care Act\u2019s regulations of health insurance, and largely got their wish. The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, faced with objections to his original health care bill from both moderate and conservative Republicans, took a step to the right.\n\nMr. Cruz championed the change as a way to improve consumer choice and reduce the cost of insurance for Americans who do not have serious health care needs. It would, indeed, give some young and healthy consumers a chance to buy cheaper plans.", "output": "The revised Senate health bill has a dwindling list of winners and a bigger pool of potential losers. It would still make insurance much less affordable for poorer and older Americans who don\u2019t get coverage through work or Medicare. It would make that insurance less valuable for many people with the most significant health care needs.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New Senate health bill still risky for older people's premiums, any pre-existing conditions \n Consumers could buy more bare-bones health insurance for less money under an amendment to the latest version Senate health plan, but insurers warn the change could cause premiums for older Americans and those with pre-existing conditions to skyrocket.\n\nPremiums overall for those who buy their insurance on the market would rise much faster than they are now and there would be even fewer options for them, the trade group America's Health Insurance Plans said in a statement.\n\nInsurers would be able to sell plans that don't cover nearly as much as required under the Affordable Care Act, as long as they sell at least one plan that does under an amendment sponsored by Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah.\n\nThat would encourage young, healthy people to buy plans that don't meet the ACA, which AHIP says would lead to an \"un-level playing field\" for insurers selling to people who don't get their insurance from their employers or through government programs such as Medicare.\n\nRead more:\n\nBare-bones insurance options added to health bill in bid to woo conservatives\n\nSenators discussing backup plan in case Obamacare repeal fails\n\nSenate Republicans aim for health care vote next week\n\n\"The individual market faces well-documented challenges to stability, including higher premiums, lower-than-expected enrollment, fewer plan choices\" and a shortage of healthy people to offset the cost of covering the sick in some states and areas, said AHIP.\n\nBut there are ways to do this that don't threaten the overall stability of the state and federal exchanges, said AHIP.\n\nDespite an additional $70 billion to help cover the costs of high-risk patients, the bill was still roundly criticized as hitting people who as insurers offer non-compliant plans.\n\n\"This broken bill can't be fixed,\" said Joe Baker, president of the non-profit group Medicare Rights Center.\n\nEven with the changes, the Better Care Reconciliation Act \"still ends Medicaid as we know it, and it still yanks health coverage out from under millions of Americans, including older adults, people with disabilities, and those with pre-existing conditions,\" Baker said in a statement.\n\nPeople living with cancer and other chronic illnesses have been particularly concerned about the fate of the ACA, as many couldn't get or afford insurance before the law.\n\nKathy Robinson of Plano, Texas, says she was born with a kidney disease and will need coverage for medication and other health care for the rest of her life.\n\n\u201cAs a transplant patient, I feel covering pre-existing conditions is crucial,\" says Robinson, 55. \"I did not do anything to cause me to be ill.\"\n\nRead more:\n\nWhat Nixon gave me and Trump might take away: Column\n\nExperts: Pre-existing coverage in House GOP bill would fall far short\n\nWhen the health network PatientsLikeMe polled members in May, nearly 60% said the ACA needed only \"minor modifications\" and just 23% suggested the law needed a \"major overhaul.\"\n\n\u201cStop trying to repeal Obamacare, just fix it,\" said Laura Porter, Sherburne, N.Y., who has diabetes, epilepsy and spinal injury. Congress needs \"to work together and fix the issues right now.\u201d\n\nWhat's your health care situation? Tell us at healthinsurance@usatoday.com", "output": "Consumers could buy more bare-bones health insurance for less money under an amendment to the latest version Senate health plan, but\u00a0insurers\u00a0warn the change could cause premiums for older Americans and those with pre-existing conditions to skyrocket.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nursing Homes Move Into The Insurance Business \n Around the country, a handful of nursing home companies have begun selling their own private Medicare insurance policies, pledging close coordination and promising to give clinicians more authority to decide what treatments they will cover for each patient.\n\nThese plans are recent additions to the Medicare Advantage market, where private plans have become an increasingly popular alternative to traditional fee-for-service coverage. Unlike other plans, these policies offered by long-term care companies often place a nurse in the skilled nursing facility or retirement village, where they can talk directly to staff and assess patients\u2019 conditions. Some provide primary care doctors and nurses to residents in the homes or in affiliated assisted living facilities or retirement villages with the aim of staving off hospitalizations.\n\n\u201cThe traditional model is making decisions based on paper, and in our model, these decisions are being made by clinicians who are really talking to the staff and seeing the patient,\u201d said Angie Tolbert, a vice president of quality at PruittHealth, which began offering its plan to residents in 10 of its nursing homes in Georgia last year. \u201cIt\u2019s a big shift in mindset.\u201d\n\nNot everyone finds such plans superior. Some patients who are in disputes with the insurers have faulted the nursing home staff \u2014 who work for the same company \u2014 for not helping challenge decisions about coverage. They complain that the company holds an unfair advantage over Medicare beneficiaries.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a conflict there,\u201d said Toby Edelman, a senior attorney with the Center for Medicare Advocacy.\n\nIn an Erickson Living retirement village in Silver Spring, Md., Faith Daiak signed up for an Erickson Advantage plan sold by a nurse whose office was in the main village building, according to her son, J.J. Daiak. After a bout with the flu last February weakened her enough to need a 10-day hospitalization, she was sent to her village\u2019s skilled nursing facility. There, the insurer repeatedly tried to cut short her stay.\n\nErickson Advantage first said it would stop paying for Daiak, 88, because she wasn\u2019t getting healthier in the nursing facility. Her son appealed by pointing out that Medicare explicitly said as part of the 2014 settlement of a class-action lawsuit that patients do not have to be improving to qualify for skilled nursing care.\n\nDaiak\u2019s appeal was denied, but the issue was sidelined in March when her rapid weight loss in the nursing home sent her back to the hospital, he said.\n\nAfter Daiak returned to the nursing home with a feeding tube in her stomach, the insurer again tried to curtail her time there, saying she did not need that level of care. The family successfully appealed that decision after noting that Medicare\u2019s manual said feeding-tube maintenance required the skilled care of a nursing facility.\n\nIn April, Erickson Advantage again said it would not continue paying for Daiak\u2019s stay. It reversed that decision after Kaiser Health News asked the company about the case, J.J. Daiak said. He said the plan did not explain its turnaround.\n\nWhile this Medicare Advantage plan touts its \u201cteam that knows you personally and wants to help,\u201d J.J. Daiak said he found the registered nurse at Erickson\u2019s Silver Spring community not helpful. \u201cAll I see is her trying to get Erickson out of having to pay for the nursing home,\u201d he said. He subsequently switched his mother to traditional Medicare coverage with a supplemental Medigap policy, which she had until this year.\n\nErickson Living, the parent company of the nursing home and insurer, declined to discuss individual cases but noted that Medicare has given its insurance plans the best quality rating of five stars. In a written statement, the company said that \u201cmedical service determinations for Erickson Advantage members are based on reviews by licensed clinical staff and clinical guideline criteria. Our primary focus is always on ensuring that the healthcare being provided for our residents matches a patient\u2019s needs and established clinical treatment protocols.\u201d\n\nEdelman said the dispute was particularly troubling because Erickson\u2019s retirement villages are marketed on the promise that the company will care for seniors in all stages of aging. \u201cThey don\u2019t tell you what they won\u2019t pay for,\u201d she said.\n\nPopular Alternative\n\nThere are nearly 18 million enrollees in the overall Medicare Advantage market. Medicare pays private insurers a set amount to care for each beneficiary. In theory, this payment method gives the insurers motivation to keep patients from needing costly medical services such as hospitalizations.\n\nA subset of Medicare Advantage plans are designed exclusively for people who either require or are expected to require at least 90 days of skilled services from nursing homes, assisted living facilities or other long-term care institutions. UnitedHealthcare directly offers three-quarters of these plans with about 40,000 enrollees, far more than those offered by nursing home companies. Matthew Burns, a UnitedHealth spokesman, said the majority of the company\u2019s plans are rated four stars or better on Medicare\u2019s five-star quality scale.\n\n\u201cOur plans offer members quality and peace of mind \u2014 and they are considered above average to excellent by CMS quality and performance standards,\u201d he said in a statement.\n\nUnited also underwrites Erickson\u2019s policies, which have around 200 enrollees, and were the first Advantage plans offered by a long-term care operator. Under the arrangement, Erickson Advantage decides when a nursing home stay is covered.\n\nNick Williams, PruittHealth\u2019s care integration officer, said its Medicare insurance plan has resulted in 30 percent fewer hospitalizations among residents since it began last year. The company intends to expand the insurance coverage to residents at 42 of its other nursing homes in Georgia. Other nursing home chains are experimenting with this model in Missouri, South Carolina, Virginia and elsewhere.\n\nAnne Tumlinson, a Washington health care industry consultant who specializes in long-term care, said that when a nursing home\u2019s company is on the hook for the cost of hospitalizations of their patients, it is more likely to make efforts to prevent them.\n\n\u201cIt gets them out of hospitalizing people at the drop of the hat,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you live in a nursing home or are living in assisted living and they have one of these plans going, they\u2019re going to be investing heavily in 24/7 access to primary care.\u201d\n\nShe said big insurers have so many different types of enrollees that they are less focused on the particular needs of nursing home patients. \u201cThey\u2019re too big, they\u2019re bureaucratic, and they are insurers, not providers,\u201d she said.\n\nThe Costs Patients Face\n\nIn Hingham, Mass., Suzanne Carmick has been frustrated with the Erickson plan\u2019s unwillingness to pay for most of her mother\u2019s prolonged stay. Last October, 98-year-old Lorraine Carmick went into Erickson\u2019s nursing home after a hospitalization. Eleven days later, Erickson Advantage notified Suzanne Carmick it would stop paying for the facility because it said her mother was strong enough to move with the help of a rolling walker. Under Medicare\u2019s rules, nursing home stays are not covered if a patient does not need daily physical therapy. Erickson said two or three days was sufficient for Carmick.\n\nSuzanne Carmick appealed the decision, saying Erickson exaggerated her mother\u2019s recovery, noting that she had dementia, an infection and was wearing two stiff leg braces. She said getting therapy five days a week provided in the nursing home would help her mother recover faster.\n\n\u201cShe still cannot stand up or sit down or go anywhere \u2026 without an aide helping her by pulling her up or setting her in a chair,\u201d Carmick wrote. \u201cShe is improving but is now supposed to stop or decrease PT [physical therapy], and she must start paying out-of-pocket?\u201d\n\nAfter a week\u2019s extension, the nursing home began billing her mother at its daily rate of $463, which rose to $483 this year as Lorraine Carmick remained in the nursing home. A Medicare appeals judge subsequently ruled Erickson\u2019s action was justified, based on the testimony from the nursing home staff \u2014 all Erickson employees. If the insurer had covered a maximum stay, Carmick would have avoided more than $30,000 in bills she now owes. Suzanne Carmick said her mother has been on a wait list for six months for a bed on a less expensive floor in the nursing facility.\n\n\u201cIt is a closed system where the skilled nursing facility, physicians and Medicare Advantage plan are all one and the same,\u201d she said. \u201cThe Erickson Advantage plan is turning out to be quite a disadvantage at this point.\u201d\n\nKHN\u2019s coverage related to aging & improving care of older adults is supported by The John A. Hartford Foundation. Coverage of aging and long-term care issues is supported by The SCAN Foundation.", "output": "Around the country, a handful of nursing home companies have begun selling their own private Medicare insurance policies, pledging close coordination and promising to give clinicians more authority to decide what treatments they will cover for each patient.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Medicare\u2019s Financial Outlook Slightly Improved, Trustees Say \n The Trump administration said Thursday that the financial outlook for Medicare\u2019s hospital insurance trust fund improved in the past year due to health costs rising more slowly than expected and predictions that enrollees will use hospital services less often.\n\nThe report said that trust fund would last through 2029, one year later than what was projected last year. Two years ago, 2030 was the projected depletion date.\n\nMedicare Part B premiums \u2014 which cover visits to physicians and other outpatient costs \u2014 should remain stable next year, the trustees said. About a quarter of Part B costs are paid for by beneficiary premiums with the rest from the federal budget.\n\nIn contrast, the Part A hospital trust fund is financed mostly through payroll taxes.\n\nThe report, from the trustees of the Medicare program, noted that projected costs of the program assume the Affordable Care Act stays in place. President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are trying to overhaul the law, which when enacted in 2010 added several years to the fiscal life of the trust fund.\n\nUse Our Content This KHN story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nHealth and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, one of four Medicare trustees, also said the hospital trust fund forecast was secure enough that it would not trigger an ACA provision to make automatic cuts to the program. Those cuts are required by the ACA when spending is expected to exceed certain benchmarks.\n\nDespite the slightly improved outlook, the trustees warned that the aging of the baby boom population and rising health care costs will cause Medicare expenses to increase from 3.6 percent of gross domestic product in 2016 to 5.6 percent of GDP in 2041, and then level off somewhat to 5.9 percent by 2091.\n\nAs in previous trustee reports, the latest analysis warned that Washington should address the financial challenges of Medicare as soon as possible to avoid having to cut benefits to millions of retirees and seniors.\n\nThe trustees said national health expenses have slowed considerably in recent years, although it is uncertain if this is a result of the Great Recession, which ended in 2009, or efforts taken by the federal government and private sector to change doctor and hospital reimbursement programs. Senior administration officials said some of the slowing growth in Medicare was due to Obamacare saving money through its accountable care organizations, which pay doctors and hospitals a lump sum each month to care for senior citizens.\n\nMedicare provides health coverage to nearly 57 million people, including seniors and people with disabilities. It has added 5 million people since 2013.\n\n\u201cFor 51 years, Medicare has played a crucial role in providing healthcare for America\u2019s senior citizens,\u201d Price said in a statement. \u201cUnfortunately, on its current trajectory, Medicare\u2019s hospital insurance trust fund will be depleted in just over a decade. \u2026 As the Trustees Report says, this means that reform to the program is needed.\u201d\n\nMedicare spending were about $679 billion last year. The hospital insurance trust fund helps pay hospital, home health services, nursing home costs and hospice costs.", "output": "The Trump administration said Thursday that the financial outlook for Medicare\u2019s hospital insurance trust fund improved in the past year due to health costs rising more slowly than expected and predictions that enrollees will use hospital services less often.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "OpenText's Magellan AI squares up to IBM's Watson \n Enterprise information management company OpenText has announced the general availability of its new artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive computing platform, Magellan, at its Enterprise World conference in Toronto.\n\nAttendees at the show were left in little doubt as to how senior executives at the Waterloo, Ontario-based company would like them to view Magellan: as a direct competitor to IBM\u2019s Watson. OpenText isn\u2019t targeting Salesforce\u2019s Einstein, nor similar AI-based initiatives from SAP or Pegasystems, CEO Mark Barrenechea stressed in a press conference at the event:\n\nIt\u2019s Watson [that we\u2019re targeting]. What differentiates us is that the information-centric applications that we already have will be integrated directly with Magellan. We don\u2019t want to extract information \u2013 from contracts, for example \u2013 out of applications and into an AI platform. The fact that you have to feed Watson with data extracted from multiple resources, I think, is a weakness.\n\nIn other words, OpenText is aiming to embed Magellan\u2019s AI capabilities in some of the tools that comprise its vast portfolio of software products. These typically focus on unstructured and semi-structured information, in areas such as enterprise content management, customer experience and data discovery. Where the company believes Magellan can stand out is in its understanding of human language (as opposed to transactional data), as it is expressed in documents such as reports, memos, emails, contracts and requests for information, via text mining and semantic analysis.\n\nBuilt by OpenText?\n\nThis looks likely to be a significant challenge, because OpenText has largely been built through acquisition. In the last 20 or so years, it\u2019s acquired over 50 different information management companies. Most recently, these have included its $1.62 billion purchase of Dell-EMC\u2019s enterprise content software, which included former arch-rival Documentum, in a deal that closed in January, and its April acquisition of customer experience software and service assets from HPE, for $170 million.\n\nIn fact, Magellan itself has its roots in technology acquired in two acquisitions: the 2010 purchase of Nstein Technologies, which brought text mining and auto classification capabilities to OpenText; and the 2015 purchase of Actuate, which brought it analytics capabilities. On top of these technologies, OpenText has introduced integration with two open source products: big data framework Apache Spark and Apache MLlib, a machine learning library. Algorithms for Magellan can be programmed in languages including Scala, Python and R. But as Barrenechea stressed:\n\nThere\u2019s also a whole ton of our own engineering in there. We may start with M&A, but if we can\u2019t grow a product, if we can\u2019t innovate, if we can\u2019t get it to evolve, then we\u2019re not interested in buying it. Magellan is built by OpenText.\n\nChallenges ahead\n\nIt\u2019s no surprise that Barrenechea is keen to stress OpenText\u2019s engineering and innovation credentials. With the launch of Magellan and the shift into AI, the company will find itself in a fiercely competitive and fast-moving field of technology.\n\nIt could prove to be an unforgiving environment for a company built on acquisition, as opposed to organic growth fuelled by new products. As Barrenechea told analysts on the company\u2019s third quarter results call:\n\nM&A remains our leading growth driver, and we will continue to grow and invest in our M&A team.\n\nIt\u2019s hard, then, not to draw parallels with the kind of strategy made famous by CA Technologies during the 1990s and early 2000s: buy up intellectual property from other software companies, provide basic maintenance and milk the installed base. The fact that Barrenechea worked at CA Technologies (then known as Computer Associates) in various roles during those years \u2013 as product development head, president of technology strategy and chief technology officer \u2013 simply reinforces that comparison.\n\nTo sweeten the deal for prospective Magellan customers, the product will be sold at a much lower price point than IBM Watson, will be available as an appliance that runs on preconfigured, commodity hardware and be available on premises or via the cloud. A lower cost of entry could appeal to a wider range of customers than might consider IBM Watson a viable investment. As Barrenechea put it:", "output": "Ontario-based company OpenText has announced it wants to take on IBM's Watson with its artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive computing platform, Magellan. Unveiled at the Enterprise World conference in Toronto, CEO Mark Barrenechea said Magellan's showpiece ability to understand human language, instead of simple transactional data, put it ahead of Watson. \"The fact that you have to feed Watson with data extracted from multiple resources, I think, is a weakness,\" he said. However, critics have warned that OpenText, a company built on acquisitions rather than organic growth, could find the AI market a challenging one."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UAE widens overseas ownership of local insurance firms \n The UAE Cabinet has decided to increase the ceiling on the stake held by foreign investors in a locally incorporated insurance company from 25% to 49%, Mr Ibrahim Obaid Al Zaabi, Director General of the Insurance Authority (IA) has announced.", "output": "The United Arab Emirates has doubled the ownership cap on foreign control of local insurers to 49% from 25% in a bid to boost the gulf states' insurance industry. Ibrahim Obaid Al Zaabi, director general of the Insurance Authority\u00a0in the UAE, said the move would allow local firms to forge alliances with established overseas firms. Al Zaabi also predicted\u00a0the emirates' insurance market will grow at least 12% this year to AED45bn ($12bn) in premiums.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Eurostar VR experience lets passengers view sea above the tunnel \n The headsets transform the roof of the train into a glass ceiling, revealing the underwater world above\n\nEVER wondered what it looks like on the other side of the Channel Tunnel walls?\n\nNow Eurostar passengers will be able to find out what lurks at the bottom of the sea bed, thanks to a new virtual reality programme available on the trains.\n\nTravellers can access the VR experience, called Eurostar Odyssey, by logging onto the train's onboard entertainment system through their smart phones and on free headsets provided by the company.\n\nThe headsets transform the roof of the train into a glass ceiling, revealing the underwater world above.\n\nThey then follow two ocean explorers, Rose and Benoit around the seabed, hearing old stories about pirates, lost treasure and mermaids.\n\nThere are also encounters with a charismatic octopus and several other sea creatures along the way.\n\nTo keep young travellers entertained, there is also a game that helps them to count the different species they spot along the way.\n\nNick Mercer, Commercial Director at Eurostar, said: \u201cTravellers are always asking if they can see the fish when travelling through the channel tunnel. \"\n\n2 Eurostar has launched Eurostar Odyssey, the world\u2019s first onboard virtual reality experience Credit: Eurostar\n\nHe continued: \u201cWe\u2019re really excited to make it possible as the first travel company to give its customers an immersive 3D experience.\"\n\nThroughout the summer we\u2019ll be giving younger travellers free headsets so they can enjoy an exciting adventure under the channel.\n\nThe experience will be accessible on services between London and Paris, Lille, Brussels, Lyon and the South of France.\n\nOnce passengers have tested out the new VR experience, they can also stream over 300 hours of onboard entertainment to their phone via WiFi on all of Eurostar\u2019s new e320 and refurbished e300 trains.", "output": "Eurostar has launched an onboard virtual reality (VR) experience for travellers. Using smartphones or free headsets provided by the company to log on to the train's onboard entertainment system, Eurostar Odyssey transforms the train roof into a glass ceiling, revealing all manner of aquatic life swimming above the Channel Tunnel. The programme also includes guided tours by virtual ocean explorers Rose and Benoit, while younger travellers can play a counting game.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Formula 1 enters global partnership with Snapchat \n Formula 1 (F1) has entered into a global partnership with Snapchat that will see it cover upcoming Grand Prix races on the Discover section of the photo messaging app.\n\nThe partnership will first see the light this weekend with coverage of the British Grand Prix from Silverstone on Sunday (16 June) through Snapchat\u2019s Our Story.\n\n\u201cThis is the first step towards expanding our social media strategy,\u201d said Frank Arthofer, head of digital and new business for Formula 1. \u201cRight from the start, we have said we want to work with partners to bring fans closer to the amazing show that is Formula 1, an incredible mix of technology and individual talent \u2013 and Snap fits that bill. We need to continue to bring new fans to the sport \u2013 by reaching out to them on social media platforms with behind the scenes, fun and engaging content. Snap\u2019s platform is one of the most popular among \u2018millennials,\u2019 a sector we are particularly keen on attracting, as it represents the future of our sport.\u201d\n\nOur Stories compiles curated Snaps submitted by Snapchatters at events and locations in the Discover section. It enables people to view events from various perspectives and get a sense of the atmosphere from all angles. Snap will also cover the F1 races in Singapore, Japan, the US, Mexico, Brazil and Abu Dhabi through the feature.\n\n\u201cWe want to work with the most iconic sporting organizations in the world, that are beloved by our global community of passionate and highly engaged fans - and working with Formula 1 has been at the top of our wish list for a long time,\u201d said Ben Schwerin, VP of partnerships for Snap Inc. \u201cOur goal is simple - we want to make being a fan more fun no matter where you are and Snapchat offers unique and creative ways to experience it with their closest friends.\u201d\n\nThis is the second major sports partnership that Snap has secured in as many months. Last month, it teamed up with BT Sport for coverage of UEFA Champions League final.\n\nDon\u2019t forget to enter the Effective Mobile Marketing Awards. The Early Bird deadline for submissions is 22 July. More details here.", "output": "Social media site Snapchat has signed a global partnership deal with Formula 1 to show coverage of Grand Prix on its Discover channel via Our Story, beginning with the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in July. \"Working with Formula 1 has been at the top of our wish list for a long time,\u201d said Ben Schwerin, vice-president of partnerships for parent company Snap. The site will also cover races in Singapore, Japan, the US, Mexico, Brazil and Abu Dhabi. The announcement followed Snapchat's\u00a0showing clips and other coverage of the UEFA Champions League final in partnership with BT Sport.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gaza Strip's worsening electricity crisis likely to affect\u00a0Israel \n For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBreaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nOne of the top UN officials in the Middle East has said that the Gaza Strip\u2019s worsening electricity crisis is causing untold misery in the area, warning of blowback for Israelis.\n\n\u201cOf all the issues we deal with - the peace process, Palestinian institution building, the region - this is the one issue that keeps me up at night,\u201d Nickolay Mladenov, the UN\u2019s special coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, told reporters on Wednesday.\n\n\u201cThe effects of the crisis are devastating,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd all of this, at the end of the day, will come back to Israel\u2019s doorstep.\u201d\n\nGaza marks 10 years of Israeli blockade\n\nWhile Gaza has had to content with unreliable power since militant organisation Hamas seized control of the Strip in 2007, in recent months the issue has reached crisis levels.\n\nThe rival Palestinian Authority (PA), based in the West Bank, has been waging a long term effort to weaken Hamas. By hiking fuel delivery prices, it has gradually strangled Gaza\u2019s access to electricity.\n\nHospitals in the Strip have warned that the frequent cuts endanger patients\u2019 lives, and the rest of Gaza\u2019s two million inhabitants\u2019 daily lives and businesses are also severely affected.\n\nRemembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Show all 12 1 / 12 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict The fire in my heart is beyond my ribs. You left me beloved - Soliman Shaheen, 15 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict Let me get enough of you, as I\u2019m still hungry for your smile my son - Soliman Shaheen, 15 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict They besiege me in my homeland so I flew to heaven - Rodaina Al Agha, 16 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict And I am still facing the pain all by myself - Lama Shakshak, 15 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict My brother, I watched you go while my heart was tearing - Helen Mo'amar, 16 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict My new doll is lonely in the rubble - Ayah Sha'ath, 16 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict When a soul hugs another soul they never split, even in death - Ismail Matar, 16 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict Everyone is gone and I stayed alone to make the world witness the injustice done to me - Hamza Shaheen, 16 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict The hand that carries the arms carries roses too - Madeeha Al Majayda, 15 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict My eyes tell you about a dream that overcame the fence - Soliman Shaheen, 15 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict A childhood caught in an unjust siege - Hadeel Quidh, 16 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict All the details are torn after you - Hamza Shaheen, 17\n\nSince the water supply to many households relies on electric pumps, many people are also having difficulty washing, cooking and doing laundry.\n\nIsrael was still covering around one third of Gaza\u2019s power needs, but last month the flow was cut by 40 per cent at PA President Mahmoud Abbas\u2019 request, the AP reported.\n\nHamas has been intermittently using Qatari and Turkish money to buy electricity from Egypt - but it has only kept the lights on for a few days at a time.\n\nOn Wednesday, the Strip\u2019s only plant completely shut down again, leaving Gazans with just three hours of power a day.\n\nThe lack of electricity has caused the already inadequate sewage system to break down, dumping waste directly into the Mediterranean and leaving some residents without drinking water.\n\nWhile Israel has no direct involvement in the electricity crisis - or solving it - the army\u2019s sea blockade restricting the flow of goods and people in and out of the area has long contributed to Gaza\u2019s woes.\n\nA new UN report found that after a decade of Hamas rule the coastal enclave is \u201cunlivable\u201d. As well as the electricity crisis, incomes, healthcare and education standards continue to decline and unemployment has steadily risen. A total of 60 per cent of young people in Gaza are now without work.\n\nThe worsening conditions have already led to rare unauthorised protests against Hamas\u2019 rule. Observers worry if the crisis deepens it could lead to renewed violence between the Strip and Israel.", "output": "The Gaza Strip's worsening electricity crisis \"will come back to Israel\u2019s doorstep\", warned\u00a0Nickolay Mladenov, the UN\u2019s special coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.\u00a0Gaza has had\u00a0unreliable electrical\u00a0power since Hamas\u00a0seized control of the Strip in 2007, with supplies being curtailed by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Hospitals in the Strip said\u00a0constant\u00a0cuts endanger patients\u2019 lives\u00a0and Gaza\u2019s 2 million inhabitants\u2019 daily lives and businesses are being critically\u00a0affected. The\u00a0worsening conditions are causing increased protests and if the situation deteriorates further it could lead to\u00a0renewed violence between the Gaza Strip and Israel.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Parking ticket chatbot expands to all 50 US states \n Updated, July 14, 2017: DoNotPay, an automated chatbot that produces formal-sounding letters for contesting parking tickets and other basic legal issues, has been updated to support the legal nuances of all 50 US states.\n\nDoNotPay first emerged in 2016 as an automated parking ticket appeal chatbot for London and New York with a success rate of over 60 percent. Seattle was the next city to be added, and today the service spans the UK and US. Apparently more than 375,000 parking tickets, totalling \u00a37.2 million, have now been successfully appealed.\n\nIn total, DoNotPay now has over 1,000 separate chatbots that generate formal-sounding documents for a range of basic legal issues, such as seeking remuneration for a delayed flight or train, reporting discrimination, or asking for maternity leave. If you divide that by 51 (US and UK) you get a rough idea of how many different topics are covered. Each bot had to be hand-crafted by the British creator Joshua Browder, with the assistance of part-time and volunteer lawyers to ensure that the the documents are actually fit for purpose.\n\nThere is one small wrinkle, though: DoNotPay is so popular that it can't keep up with demand, and thus it doesn't currently work. The bot's creator, Joshua Browder, tells Ars that everything should be back to normal in the next few hours: \"It's overloaded at the moment, but I'm working around the clock to fix it. It's hard because it's free and sometimes servers crash from so many people trying it out.\" Update: DoNotPay is back up and running.\n\nThe video at the top of the story gives you a good idea of how DoNotPay works. Read on for an interview with Browder from August 2016.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nOriginal story (August 2016)\n\nThe young British coder whose simple \"robot lawyer\" chatbot has overturned more than 170,000 unlawful parking tickets in the UK and America has set his sights on solving homelessness by providing people with basic legal advice.\n\nAn update to his DoNotPay bot works by asking users a simple set of questions about their circumstances, before advising them on the best course of action\u2014often helping them draft an effective form letter to apply to their local councils for emergency housing. Councils have to take every letter seriously, and using Freedom of Information requests, he's researched the best ways to prompt them into acting on his bot's clients' behalf.\n\nThe bot's creator, Joshua Browder, a 19-year-old Brit studying at Stanford University in California, told Ars that since the update launched last Wednesday \"almost every local government in the UK has signed up for the website.\"\n\n\"I can see on the back end that they are actively trying out the service for themselves,\" he added. He's also working with Centrepoint, one of the UK's largest and most recognisable homelessness charities, with volunteer lawyers helping out to finesse the legal advice his bot provides.\n\nDoNotPay was originally a chatbot which simply advised people on the best ways to legally get out of parking tickets issued by local authorities in London and New York. He says the service has a success rate of about 64 percent, appealing more than \u00a33 million of fines.\n\nSoon, however, a service which started as a simple way for him and his friends to avoid tickets they couldn't afford to pay evolved into something more significant. First he adapted it to help people claim back money for delayed flights and trains, and then PPI claims as well. But then he began to realise he might be able to make a tool for proper social change.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\"Since the success of the robot in appealing parking tickets, users began contacting me, assuming I could personally help with a whole range of issues,\" he told Ars. \"I started to receive a large number of messages about evictions and repossessions, and noticed that they were at the highest levels ever recorded. I felt bad that I didn't have the knowledge to personally help people, especially since they were being made homeless.\n\nThe bot asks basic questions to ensure someone is eligible\u2014e.g. \"do you have a legal right to live here?\"\u2014and to uncover specifics which might make a difference\u2014e.g. \"are you or someone you live with pregnant?\"\n\n\"What is most exciting for me is not only that it is completely free (currently the only alternative is to pay a lawyer hundreds of dollars), but also that it will write the letter to maximise the applicant's chances,\" Browder said. \"For example, it will rearrange the letter to focus on how a mental illness means that an application should be a priority.\"\n\nBrowder, who is from London, has been volunteering at various human rights organisations for the past five years by creating iPhone apps for them; it was during this period that he realised that bots could \"help make a huge difference in improving the world.\" He doesn't make any money from the service, which is currently only available in the UK.\n\nHis next project will focus on immigration, especially on Syrian refugees in the UK. He said: \"There is so much prejudice in the world towards refugees, with disgraceful candidates like Donald Trump, but I think that everyone has the right to be safe.\"\n\nNow read about the AI chatbot that (almost) lets you speak to the dead...\n\nTom Mendelsohn contributed to this report", "output": "Automated appeal chatbot DoNotPay has been revamped to encompass all 50 states in the US, adapting to the legal specificities of each region. The bot was created in 2016 as a parking ticket appeal service, but now has more than 1,000 distinct chatbots that\u00a0generate\u00a0official-sounding documents for a range of issues,\u00a0including compensation appeals\u00a0following\u00a0a transport delay, discrimination reports\u00a0and\u00a0maternity leave requests. Since starting\u00a0in London and New York, it has grown exponentially to cover the UK and US, and has recovered \u00a37.2m ($9.4m) in appeals against parking ticket fines.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Credit defaults rising in the UK: BoE \n Banks have reported the biggest surge in the number of customers missing loan repayments since the financial crisis.\n\nIn the most worrying sign yet that household debt is out of control, high street lenders informed the Bank of England that default rates have soared on credit cards, personal loans, overdrafts and car finance.\n\nDefault rates on credit cards are expected to get even worse over the summer. According to the Bank of England's latest Credit Conditions Survey, 24.4 per cent more lenders reported default rates on credit cards rising rather than falling over the last three months.\n\nWorrying: High street lenders informed the Bank of England (pictured) that default rates have soared on credit cards, personal loans and car finance.\n\nThis is the highest figure since the start of 2009, shortly after the taxpayer bailouts of RBS and Lloyds.\n\nThe picture is even more worrying on other unsecured borrowing, including personal loans and car finance, with 30.3 per cent more lenders reporting an increase in customers missing repayments.\n\nThese are the worst figures since the height of the credit crisis at the end of 2008. Almost \u00a3200billion in consumer credit is owed in total \u2013 an average of around \u00a37,700 per household \u2013 and this figure does not even include mortgages.\n\nLenders have told the Bank of England they intend to crack down on consumer credit over the next three months to rein in risky lending. To tackle the problem, they revealed plans to reduce interest-free introductory periods on so-called 'teaser rate' credit cards.\n\nThe Bank has already raised concerns these deals are helping to fuel Britain's borrowing binge, by allowing customers to pay no interest on existing debt for up to 43 months.\n\nSome cards also allow people to make interest-free purchases for two years or more, encouraging them to rack up more debt. This is the first time lenders have signalled a crackdown on these deals since the Bank of England started asking about them at the start of 2015.\n\nUnsustainable: Wes Streeting (left), a Labour member of the Treasury Select Committee, said: 'For some time there have been warnings that the rise in unsecured borrowing is becoming unsustainable and Britain is on the brink of a household debt crisis'\n\nBanks fear many customers will be unable to pay off these debts \u2013 particularly when interest rates finally rise from record lows. Rising inflation has also led to a fall in real wages, which is putting household budgets under pressure.\n\nWes Streeting, a Labour member of the Treasury Select Committee, said: 'For some time there have been warnings that the rise in unsecured borrowing is becoming unsustainable and Britain is on the brink of a household debt crisis.\n\n'These figures confirm that this debt crisis has arrived, with a rise in people defaulting on their debts even before a rise in interest rates.\n\n'We have a perfect storm here of rising borrowing, rising inflation and a rise in interest rates coming down the track.'\n\nLenders insisted they have become stricter about who they offer credit since the start of the year. But the Bank's latest figures show short-term household debt growing at its fastest pace in 12 years.\n\nIt has ordered lenders to come clean about the high-risk loans on their books and warned they will face disciplinary action if they do not set out plans to address concerns by the end of September.\n\nIn a damning report published earlier this month, it revealed reckless banks are failing to carry out basic checks on new customers' debts before offering them more loans and credit cards.\n\nThe Bank said many of the biggest lenders have no idea how much debt existing borrowers have racked up, and whether they could cope if mortgage repayments rise.\n\nFormer pensions minister Baroness Altmann said: 'This rise in default rates on loans and credit cards is another siren warning of trouble ahead for over-indebted consumers. Action to curb irresponsible lending should have been taken long ago.'", "output": "The Bank of England (BoE) has predicted that UK consumers will continue to default on their credit card debts in the coming months. Roughly 25% of lenders in the country have reported rising rates of default in the past three months, according to the BoE's most recent credit conditions survey. The figure is the highest since early 2009 and, as a result, lenders have told the central bank that they plan to rein in risky lending in the coming quarter. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tophatter auction site looks for new users away from Facebook \n Back when real-time auction app Tophatter was founded in 2012, it spent as much as 95% of its user acquisition budget on Facebook.\n\nBut with a solid user base of around 12 million registered users, it\u2019s been making a concerted effort to mix up its UA strategy.\n\n\u201cIn the beginning, Facebook was a big gorilla, but it\u2019s also a little risky to rely on one network for all of your traffic,\u201d said Ragnar Gudmundsson, Tophatter\u2019s VP of growth and marketing. \u201cWe have limited resources and we have a big initiative to diversify away from Facebook.\u201d\n\nMoving away from Facebook helps keep CPMs down by not \u201cputting too much pressure on any one acquisition channel,\u201d he said.\n\nWith Facebook \u201cwell under\u201d half of Tophatter\u2019s UA budget, the rest of its spend is distributed among a small number of larger mobile ad networks, including YouAppi, which Tophatter leverages to acquire profitable users based on internal KPIs, like cost for first purchase.\n\nTophatter doesn\u2019t put a cap on the budget it sends to YouAppi, where it\u2019s seen solid results on the cost for first purchase KPI.\n\nFor Gudmundsson and his team,to extract value from its paid UA efforts, they need to see newly acquired users to download and convert on day one. That\u2019s also how it knows an acquisition source is working.\n\nTophatter, which also works with Google, Taboola and Outbrain on acquisition, monetizes in a similar manner to eBay \u2013 it gets a commission anytime something is sold on the platform \u2013 but the auctions go down at hyperspeed, taking 90 seconds from the first bid to the last.\n\n\u201cOver time, we\u2019ve learned what to look for,\u201d Gudmundsson said. \u201cWe know that most of our customers convert on the first day they register. We also know that their activity over the first three days following registration is a proxy for how long they\u2019ll stay overall.\u201d\n\nTophatter is aggressive with its paid efforts. The majority of its profits are immediately reinvested back into marketing. The quicker the payback, the faster Tophatter can put the money \u201cback into the acquisition machine,\u201d Gudmundsson said.\n\nAs Tophatter\u2019s user acquisition strategy matures and Facebook has continued to recede as a traffic source, Tophatter is becoming increasingly selective in how it chooses its ad network partners.\n\nIn the early days, Tophatter was willing to test almost anyone that came along, which it why it ended up working with heaps of small ad networks, most of which had limited scale.\n\nNow, Tophatter has a more rigorous process to put potential partners through their paces. Networks need to exhibit a proven track record of working at scale with other ecommerce clients, show how quickly they\u2019re able to ramp up spend, explain how they optimize the traffic they send and demonstrate that they\u2019ll be able to easily ingest Tophatter\u2019s data.\n\n\u201cOf course, it\u2019s not a perfect vetting process,\u201d Gudmundsson said. \u201cThe reality is that we generally don\u2019t end up using nine out of 10 partners we try out on a long-term basis. But we do need to keep actively testing. We\u2019re looking for at least one or two successes each quarter with good scale.\u201d", "output": "Real-time consumer auction site Tophatter has reduced the proportion of its user acquisition budget that it spends on Facebook from 95% to less than half, as it actively moves away from the social media giant. Instead, Tophatter has sought out a small number of larger mobile ad networks, working with Google, Taboola and Outbrain on acquiring profitable users based on key performance indicators including cost for first purchase. Networks need\u00a0to demonstrate they can work\u00a0at scale, optimise the traffic\u00a0they send and make use of Tophatter's data."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Norwegian broadcaster's real-time use of Instagram draws in teens \n As TV ratings continue to take a beating, broadcasters are searching for ways to keep audiences \u2014 particularly hard-to-reach teenagers \u2014 engaged in their shows. For Norway\u2019s public service broadcaster, NRK, this meant putting Instagram at the heart of its popular teen drama, \u201cSkam.\u201d\n\n\u201cSkam,\u201d which means \u201cshame,\u201d followed a fictional group of teens at school in a suburb of Norway\u2019s capital, Oslo. Scenes from their lives, plus social media posts, were published in real time throughout the week, so if a scene from the show occurred at midnight on New Year\u2019s Eve, that\u2019s when it went live online. Each week, a compilation episode about 20 minutes long aired on TV and online. The final episode of the fourth \u2014 and last \u2014 series, aired on June 24.\n\nBy the end of the fourth series, \u201cSkam\u201d clips online were fetching 1.2 million unique users on NRK\u2019s site, according to the broadcaster, roughly a fifth of the country\u2019s population.\n\nPart of this success came from the social media activity of the show\u2019s characters. All 15 characters have their own Instagram accounts, with some amassing 800,000 followers, and group chats and text messages were regularly posted online.\n\n\u201cThe goal was to make a show that could mirror the target group,\u201d said NRK producer Mari Magnus, who manages all the accounts. \u201cNRK didn\u2019t have the 16-year-old anywhere on the platform; [teenagers] didn\u2019t trust NRK to make anything for them. As a public broadcaster, that\u2019s a problem because you have to be there for everyone.\u201d\n\nDuring the show\u2019s research phase, NRK frequently heard phrases like \u201cInstagram is a big part of my identity\u201d or \u201cI am 100 percent myself on Instagram.\u201d It was an obvious choice to use social media in the story or distribution, Magnus added.\n\nFor \u201cSkam,\u201d the Instagram posts and the group chats between characters offered storylines that aren\u2019t crucial to the main narrative but added to the characters\u2019 development. The number of posts Magnus published was fluid and depended on the nature of the lead character, which changed each season. The lead in the third season, Isak, struggles to deal with his sexuality and starts to retreat and shut out his friends. His lack of Instagram posts reflected this, said Magnus.\n\n\u201c\u2019Skam\u2019 is handmade to be watched day by day, also weekly,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want to get audience engaging with the [show\u2019s] universe.\u201d\n\nAccording to Magnus, the number of unique users watching \u201cSkam\u201d online kept climbing, even though viewing figures for the weekly episodes started to decline. More people moved from watching weekly episodes to daily clips.\n\nThe characters also posted on Instagram about things happening in the real world, like tributes to Manchester after the terrorist attack or videos of Melania and Donald Trump. This gave a snapshot of the show\u2019s universe in a way that blurred the lines between fiction and reality.\n\n\u201cThe target group immediately and intuitively understood the concept; they knew it was just fiction but continued to engage with the posts like [the characters] were their real friends,\u201d said Magnus. \u201cPeople grow up with so much competence and intuitively understand digital storytelling.\u201d\n\nShows have often used social media as a way of adding additional information. The BBC, which broadcast \u201cSherlock,\u201d published blog posts sidekick John Watson wrote, but often the efforts felt like what they were \u2014 thinly veiled marketing tools.\n\nMagnus doesn\u2019t think it\u2019s important to define whether Instagram was used for promoting \u201cSkam\u201d or enhancing the story. \u201cThey work so well together: Instagram is creating a buzz and also telling a story.\u201d\n\nFans\u2019 interaction and comments factored into the show\u2019s digital activity, too. Toward the end of the fourth season, single Instagram posts were getting 1,500 comments. When Noora, one of the main characters, is waiting for a love interest to text her back, a fan commented on Noora\u2019s Instagram account that she couldn\u2019t study for her exams until Noora received an answer from him. \u201cI took that line and wrote that in a chat between Noora and her friends,\u201d said Magnus. \u201cThe fans recognize [their influence on the show] immediately \u2014 it gives them the illusion of power; they feel like they have been seen and understood.\u201d\n\nImage courtesy of NRK", "output": "Social media site Instagram has provided Norway\u2019s public service broadcaster NRK with a way to engage and maintain teenage audiences that it couldn't have done with traditional broadcasting. NRK made the site part of popular soap opera Skam (which translates as \"Shame\"), with character pages and daily clips featuring on Instagram eventually attracting 1.2 million unique users \u2013\u00a0a fifth of Norway's population. All 15 of the show's characters have their own Instagram accounts."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Circular economy may exacerbate environment problems \n The circular economy\u2019s June jamboree in Finland, attended by around 1,500 experts and policymakers, showed just how much momentum the concept has gained in recent years.\n\nLittle wonder. The circular economy model \u2013 which aims to use closed-loop production to keep resources in play for as long as possible \u2013 is presented as a pragmatic, win-win solution; an almost magical fix for our environmental woes.\n\n\n\nAs well as easing climate change, resource depletion and waste, its backers promise economic growth and job creation too. Big business can continue to flourish, buoyed by \u201cnew opportunities\u201d and \u201cexpanding markets\u201d.\n\nBut this vision ignores the fact that on a finite planet endless economic growth is not an option. And it fails to see that solving our ecological crises means diluting the power of global corporations \u2013 not propping them up.\n\nOne of the tenets of the circular economy is the idea that closing material and product loops will prevent primary production. But recent research published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology concludes that circular economy activities can actually increase overall production, \u201cpartially or fully offset[ting] their benefits\u201d.\n\nThis suggests that the circular economy suffers from a similar rebound effect to energy-efficiency strategies. Just as more efficient coal plants can lead to lower coal prices and therefore higher demand for coal, more efficient use of materials can make products cheaper and therefore more appealing. While technical changes succeed in lowering the per-unit impact, overall the environmental benefit is largely offset by economic growth.\n\nThe architect and thinker Walter Stahel has proposed a shift from taxing labour to taxing non-renewable resources, which could mitigate the rebound effect while offering a solution to structural unemployment. But since big business is suspicious of new taxes and higher material costs, this approach is not encouraged by the circular economy\u2019s key advocates.\n\nCorporate interests are served by the circular economy in other ways too. Take one of its most widely hailed features, the business trend towards offering services rather than selling ownership. Sharing underused items, like children\u2019s shoes or DIY tools, may save money and materials. But a \u201csharing economy\u201d put in place and dominated by large corporations also increases corporate power and can exacerbate inequalities and dependencies. Just consider the precarious working conditions of Uber and delivery drivers.\n\n\n\nIntertwined crises\n\nThe shaping of the circular economy should not be left to global corporations. It has to be owned by citizens and an enlightened civil society, and it has to acknowledge the fact that complex problems do not have easy solutions.\n\nOur environmental crises are intertwined with the crises of inequality, migration and democracy, and none of these can be solved in isolation. Maximising recycling and re-use of materials is necessary, but cannot be a cure-all.\n\nTo truly flourish, the circular economy needs to be part of a bigger effort to tackle economic growth, wasteful consumerism and undemocratic power structures in the global economy. It needs to be geared to the real needs of all people rather than the excessive consumption of a few, and to be underpinned by more cooperative mechanisms rather than controlled by a small number of powerful companies.\n\nImagine an Airbnb owned by its users rather than a profit-seeking company with quasi-monopoly status, providing value for participants rather than venture capitalists and private equity funds. Without pressure to maximise growth and profits, such an organisation could be a champion for equality and resource efficiency.\n\nOr think of a world with widespread networks of community gardens, repair cafes and time banks \u2013 where individuals can provide services, track and bank their hours and then spend those hours to get their own needs met \u2013 and where the introduction of a universal basic income has made participation in such activities realistic for ordinary people.\n\nIn such a vision, global corporations might still exist, but would play a much less dominant role than today. Peer-to-peer economic co-operation or local and regional community-led production and consumption models would thrive, helping to support a less growth-dependent and more sustainable economic system.\n\nOnly once the circular economy is embedded in such a holistic framework will it be worthy of the buzz it is generating.", "output": "The circular economy, which proposes closed-loop production as a means of combating climate change, resource depletion and waste whilst also supporting economic growth, may see its benefits offset by increased production, according to an op-ed in The Guardian. A \u201crebound effect\u201d could see increasingly efficient use of materials reducing costs and making products more appealing. Likewise, increased economic growth may counter environmental benefits. Walter Stahel\u2019s proposal to tax non-renewable resources could mitigate rebound, but business is suspicious of such a suggestion. To succeed, the circular economy must be part of wider efforts to tackle growth, consumerism and undemocratic power structures.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow [4]: Housing and extra care facility plans lodged by Redrow for Telford site \n Redrow Homes has acquired the major scheme to construct 92 houses and a 50-suite extra care facility on land between Arleston Lane and Dawley Road that was given the green light last year.\n\nCouncillors pushed for the original proposals to be amended over concerns about the design of the new 18-acre estate on land near Arleston Manor, including the number of parking spaces for staff at the care unit that will be operated by Fair Home Group, and reducing the number of houses from 103 to 92.\n\nA new report to Telford & Wrekin Council show changes made include the creation of a footpath linking nearby residential street Kingsland and the removal of a grass strip behind plots 10 and 14 due to concerns over future maintenance, and the installation of chicanes near the cleaning products factory Serchem Ltd, in Heathersett.\n\nIn addition the proposed houses to be built near near existing properties, in Arleston Manor Mews, will have detached garages instead of integral garage space.\n\nRedrow\u2019s technical director Mark Marsh today confirmed that the latest application relates to a previously approved scheme which it has now taken on.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity in an area where Redrow has a reputation for providing quality new homes,\" he said.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re seeking consent to build 92 of our arts & crafts inspired Heritage Collection homes on land at Arleston Lane. This is a slight reduction from what has previously been approved and would offer a choice of two to four-bedroom homes, with an anticipated finished value of around \u00a330 million.\n\n\u201cThe proposed extra care facility, to be developed by a specialist supplier, will include a shop and gym, which home owners and other local residents would be able to use.\u201d\n\nFair Home Group will run the extra care centre which is being proposed in lieu of affordable homes at the 18-acre development which is situated to the rear of Wrekin Retail Park. The facility will feature 24 one-bedroom flats and 26-two bedroom flats. The communal area will comprise a shop, restaurant, a meeting room, a salon, laundry and scooter charging area.\n\nIn April 2016 councillors deferred a decision on the plans to allow case officers to work with the applicants to improve the design. Plans for the development was given outline permission, and members of the committee were expected to approve the layout. But members of the planning committee said they were concerned that there was not enough parking for staff working at the care centre complex, that the design of the extra care facility would struggle to attract potential operators, and that it would dominate the landscape of the Arleston area.", "output": "Redrow is seeking consent for changes to a previously approved scheme, looking to build 92 Heritage Collection homes and a 50-suite extra care facility - which is being proposed instead of affordable homes - on land at Arleston Lane, Telford. The anticipated finished value is around \u00a330m. Specialist supplier, Fair Home Group, will run the extra care centre which will comprise of 24 one- and 26 two-bedroom flats, a shop, restaurant, meeting room, salon, laundry and scooter charging area. The shop and gym will be available for use by home owners and other local residents. The 18-acre development is situated to the rear of Wrekin Retail Park.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MXene electrode promises super-capacitor speed battery charging \n Imagine fully charging a cell phone in just a few seconds. Now, Researchers from Drexel University\u2019s College of Engineering have moved a big step forward in making this reality with their latest work unveiling of a new battery electrode design in the Nature Energy journal.\n\nDrexel researchers developed electrode designs using MXene that allow for much faster charging because they open up paths for ions to quickly travel within the material. Credit: Drexel University\n\nThe group, headed by Yury Gogotsi, PhD, Distinguished University and Bach Professor in Drexel\u2019s College of Engineering, in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, developed the new electrode designs from a two-dimensional, highly conductive material called MXene. Their design could help make energy storage devices, such as batteries, viewed as the plodding tanker truck of energy storage technology, just as quick as the speedy supercapacitors that are used to deliver energy in a pinch, often as a battery back-up or to deliver quick bursts of energy for things like camera flashes.\n\nThis paper refutes the widely accepted dogma that chemical charge storage, used in batteries and pseudocapacitors, is always much slower than physical storage used in electrical double-layer capacitors, also known as supercapacitors. We demonstrate charging of thin MXene electrodes in tens of milliseconds. This is enabled by very high electronic conductivity of MXene. This paves the way to development of ultrafast energy storage devices than can be charged and discharged within seconds, but store much more energy than conventional supercapacitors. Yury Gogotsi, PhD, Distinguished University and Bach Professor, Drexel\u2019s College of Engineering\n\nThe key to fast-charging energy storage devices is in the electrode design. Electrodes are vital components of batteries, through which energy is stored at the time of charging and from which it is distributed to power electronic devices. Therefore, the perfect design for these components would be one that enables them to be rapidly charged and store more energy.\n\nIn order to store more energy, the materials must have places to put it. Electrode materials present in batteries provide ports for charge to be stored. These ports are called \u201credox active sites\u201d in electrochemistry, and they hold an electrical charge when each ion is delivered. Therefore, if the electrode material has more ports, it can store more energy \u2014 which connects to a battery with more \u201cjuice.\u201d\n\nEnergy Storage Technologies eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a free copy\n\nPartners Zifeng Lin and Patrice Simon, PhD, from Universit\u00e9 Paul Sabatier in France, created a hydrogel electrode design with more redox active sites, which enables it to store as much charge for its volume as a battery. This capacity measure, called \u201cvolumetric performance,\u201d is a vital metric for judging the utility of various energy storage devices.\n\nIn order to make hydrogel electrode ports more attractive to ion traffic, the Drexel-led group, including investigators Maria Lukatskaya, PhD, Sankalp Kota, a Graduate Student in Drexel\u2019s MAX/MXene Research Group headed by Michel Barsoum, PhD, Distinguished Professor in the College of Engineering; and Mengquiang Zhao, PhD, designed electrode architectures with open macroporosity, many small openings, in order to make each redox active sites in the MXene material easily accessible to ions.\n\nIn traditional batteries and supercapacitors, ions have a tortuous path toward charge storage ports, which not only slows down everything, but it also creates a situation where very few ions actually reach their destination at fast charging rates. The ideal electrode architecture would be something like ions moving to the ports via multi-lane, high-speed \u2018highways,\u2019 instead of taking single-lane roads. Our macroporous electrode design achieves this goal, which allows for rapid charging \u2014 on the order of a few seconds or less. Maria Lukatskaya, the First Author on the paper, who conducted the research as part of the A.J. Drexel Nanomaterials Institute\n\nThe overarching advantage of using MXene as the material for the electrode design is its conductivity. Materials that enable rapid flow of an electrical current, like copper and aluminum, are often used in electric cables. Just like metals, MXenes are conductive, therefore, not only do ions have a wide-open path to a range of storage ports, but they can also move very rapidly to meet electrons there. Netanel Shpigel and Mikhael Levi, PhD, Research Partners from Bar-Ilan University in Israel, assisted the Drexel team to increase the number of the ports available to ions in MXene electrodes.\n\nThe use of the MXene material in battery electrodes is just the latest in a series of developments. This was discovered in 2011 by Scientists in Drexel\u2019s Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Since then, Scientists have been testing them in a number of applications from energy storage to water filtering, and electromagnetic radiation shielding. This latest development is particularly important because it tackles one of the key problems the hinder the expansion of the electric vehicle industry and that has been lurking on the horizon for mobile devices.\n\nIf we start using low-dimensional and electronically conducting materials as battery electrodes, we can make batteries working much, much faster than today. Eventually, appreciation of this fact will lead us to car, laptop and cell-phone batteries capable of charging at much higher rates \u2014 seconds or minutes rather than hours. Yury Gogotsi, PhD, Distinguished University and Bach Professor, Drexel\u2019s College of Engineering\n\nThis research was supported by Fluid Interface Reactions, Structures and Transport (FIRST) Center, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy\u2019s Office of Science and Office of Basic Energy Sciences; as well as the National Science Foundation and Binational Science Foundation, which supported collaborations with France and Israel, respectively.", "output": "Researchers from the Drexel University College of Engineering have created a battery electrode prototype that could offer super-capacity speed charging for energy storage devices. The design utilises a two-dimensional conductive material named MXene in a hydrogel form, allowing for high-energy charging of a few seconds or less. The technology could be used in a range of applications, including water filtration and electromagnetic radiation shielding.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian company to print batteries on printed solar \n Originally published on RenewEconomy.\n\nA new technology bought by battery storage firm Printed Energy promises to do what the company\u2019s name suggests \u2013 print out ultra-thin, flexible screen-printed batteries, on top of ultra-thin flexible screen printed solar panels \u2013 and engineer another major reduction in renewable energy costs.\n\nThe company this week struck a deal with UNSW and the University of Queensland \u2013 and financial backing from the federal government \u2013 to pursue the technology and bring it to market. The $12 million R&D project received a $2 million grant from the Cooperative Research Centres Projects scheme.\n\nThe Brisbane- based Printed Energy says the \u201csolid state\u201d batteries that is is pursuing \u2013 and has some working prototypes \u2013 are thin and flexible and can be printed in a \u201croll-to-roll\u201d process \u2013 just like a newspaper \u2013 and adapted to almost any shape.\n\nIt is unlikely to be able to be paired with existing solar technology, but it figures that if it can match this technology with printed solar panels, then it may just be able to unlock the next big thing in renewable energy.\n\nThe venture is being backed by Sunset Energy, a company better known for buying the Vales point coal fired power station in NSW for next to nothing, and for wanting to buy out the Northern and Hazelwood brown coal generators and keep them running.\n\nIts principal, Trevor St Baker, is considered something of a maverick and contrarian in the industry. The co-founder of energy company ERM, he has argued strongly against renewable energy targets, and said last week, in response to AGL, that the \u201cbaseloading of intermittent renewables to replace coal in the foreseeable future \u2026 will just drive business out of the country.\u201d\n\nAs recently as earlier this year, he said the 33,000GWh target would be impossible to meet, and he preferred a 20,000GWh target -which the country has already well and truly sailed past.\n\nStill, while saying all this, St Baker has bought a Tesla, put solar on his roof, (and according to this article a gas generator in his garage), and has created an \u201cenergy innovation fund\u201d and invested in the likes of Brisbane EV charging firm Tritium, smart energy device company Kortek; and Nth Degree.\n\nIt is Nth Degree that has developed the IP for the battery storage. But because it wants to focus on printed LEDs, it has agreed to sell the IP to another of St Baker\u2019s portfolio companies, Printed Energy.\n\nRodger Whitby, CEO of Printed Energy and of the St Baker Energy Innovation Fund, says the technology is ideal for powering sensors, devices for the \u201cInternet or Things\u201d, disposable healthcare devices and eventually, for renewable energy.\n\nHe says that the company will focus first on \u201cdisposable\u201d devices, like sensors and healthcare devices, which he hopes will come on to the market in the next few years. The battery storage with solar will follow later.\n\n\u201cWe are really thinking of this type of battery in a different paradigm,\u201d he says. \u201cWe have also got IP for printed PV \u2013 so the idea is to have a sub-strata plastic sheet, and print solar on one side and battery on the other.\u201d\n\nThe goal is to reduce the cost of manufacturing to next to nothing \u2013 it would come out in kilometres of rolled sheets, just like a newspaper. The challenge is to ensure it has enough efficiency to produce enough power, and to store it, to make it worthwhile, and competitive with what is there now.\n\nGiven that solar costs are already down to 2.5c/kWh in the Middle East, and still falling, the challenge is there.\n\n\u201cIt might only have a 5-year life \u2026. so what we are thinking about is a toally different price structure,\u201d Whitby says.\n\nCan it be done? \u201cWe don\u2019t know,\u201d Whitby says. \u201cWe have got a lot of research to undertake before we answer that question.\u201d And this research includes understanding the electro-chemical properties of the product, how it performs in various temperatures, and its lifetime.\n\nPrinted Energy says is developing a unique set of new battery chemistries using commonly available metals such as zinc and manganese oxides, along with inorganic matrix structures mixed with polymers and electrolytes. They are non-toxic and have very low flammability, but their performance is still uncertain.\n\nMark Hoffman, UNSW\u2019s Dean of Engineering, said in a statement: \u201cWhat\u2019s exciting is that this technology also has immediate applications in wearables and small-scale devices.\u201d\n\nThe first applications of the technology will be in small-scale devices, with development work in large-scale uses to be explored by the partners over the next three years, relying on Printed Energy\u2019s proprietary designs.\n\nUQ\u2019s the Dow Centre will coordinate the research effort, with UQ\u2019s Lianzhou Wang and UNSW\u2019s Da-Wei Wang driving the development.\n\nReprinted with permission.\n\nSign up for Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era \u2014 Podcast: I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014 gasp \u2014 grow. So ... Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014\u2014 grow. So ...", "output": "Australian battery storage manufacturer Printed Energy aims to launch an ultra-thin flexible battery that is screen printed for use on solar panels, promising a significant reduction in renewable energy costs. The company will work alongside the University of New South Wales and the University of Queensland to bring the technology to market. The project, which has federal financial backing, will cost $12m, with $2m of that amount provided by the Cooperative Research Centres Projects schemes."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aviva to close Essex office as it moves claims handling online \n Brokers agree technology can help claims service but Unite Union slams the job losses.\n\nBrokers have agreed that technology can help the claims process following the announcement that Aviva is to put 120 commercial property roles at risk and close its Southend office.\n\nIt is proposing to move work carried out in its commercial property business in Southend to Perth where its property claims operations are based. The insurer has stated that more claims will be processed online.\n\nAn Aviva spokesman said: \u201cOur strategy in property claims has always been underpinned by investing in", "output": "Aviva has put 120 jobs in Essex on the line as it proposes handling more claims online. The company said it wants to close its Southend offices by May and move any leftover positions to its property claims operations centre in Perth, Scotland. Brokers said they understood the rationale behind the move. \u201cTechnology will make the service better for\u00a0customers,\" said\u00a0Brokerbility chairman Ashwin Mistry, adding that most claims were too small to require in-field investigation.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Findel [2]: Game Digital to join Findel in Mike Ashley's 'sports retailing' stakes \n The billionaire tycoon Mike Ashley has added a 25% stake in the video games retailer Game Digital to a high street shopping list that also includes Debenhams and French Connection.\n\nSky News has learnt that Sports Direct International, the chain controlled by Mr Ashley, is understood to have bought the stake in recent days.\n\nA source close to Game Digital, which announced a profit warning last month because of a shortage in supplies of Nintendo's new Switch gaming console, said Sports Direct's purchase of the stake would be disclosed to the stock market this week.\n\nIt will be the latest move by the controversial Mr Ashley, who owns Newcastle United FC and has expressed an ambition to build a business empire upmarket enough to be dubbed 'the Selfridges of sports retailing'.\n\nThe tycoon, who has spent part of the last fortnight embroiled in a court case over allegations that he failed to honour a \u00a315m payment to a former colleague, is thought to see opportunities in Game's presence in the fast-growing e-sports market.\n\nMr Ashley has orchestrated the acquisition of substantial stakes in Debenhams, French Connection and Findel, the home shopping retailer, through Sports Direct or personal investment vehicles.\n\nThe size of the shareholding being bought by Sports Direct will stoke speculation that Mr Ashley is planning a formal offer for Game - although he could choose to distance his company from such speculation through a formal statement that would rule out such a move for six months.\n\nThe billionaire made headlines last week when he gave evidence in a High Court case in which he \u200edescribed his unconventional business methods, many of which include copious amounts of alcohol.\n\nSports Direct has already been under close scrutiny in the City following revelations about working practices at its warehouse in Shirebrook, Derbyshire.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nMr Ashley has angered investors for refusing to bow to pressure to replace the company's chairman or appoint more independent board members.\n\nHis stake-building in other listed retailers, sometimes through complex financial derivatives\u200e, has also caused consternation in their boardrooms.\n\nGame's shares closed nearly 23% higher on Wednesday at 24.25p amid speculation about higher-than-average trading activity.\n\nThe company has a market value of just \u00a333.74m following a slump in the shares amid continued trading difficulties, including the recent profit warning.\n\nGame trades from about 580 shops in the UK and Spain, and has sought to diversify into events, e-sports and other digital businesses as consumer trends shift shopping activity away from physical stores.\n\nIt has also been hit by the structural impact of game developers selling their products directly to consumers in order to disintermediate the profit-diluting involvement of third-party retailers.\n\nGame's response has produced a degree of positive results, according to a statement last month.\n\n\"The board is pleased... by the initial performance of our new in-store gaming arenas, now trading out of 12 locations under the Belong banner,\" the company said on June 30.\n\nGame added that it was also focused on cost reduction programmes and \"significant efforts to reduce fixed and variable costs across the group's UK retail footprint, where we have over 220 lease events to manage by the end of 2018\".\n\nSports Direct is thought to have acquired its 25% stake in Game from City institutions including Invesco.\n\nAbout 40% of Game's shares are owned by Elliott Advisors, which engineered the public listing of the company's shares in 2014.\n\nA Game spokesman declined to comment, while Keith Bishop, a spokesman for Sports Direct, did not respond to a request for comment.", "output": "Sports Direct International, the chain controlled by billionaire\u00a0Mike Ashley, is said to have added a 25% stake in video game\u00a0retailer Game Digital. Mr Ashley has previously expressed an interest in creating 'the Selfridges of sports retailing' and has acquired substantial stakes in Debenhams, French Connection and Findel through Sports Direct or personal investment vehicles.\n\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus [3]: Lack of high-quality flexible workplace space in Brighton and Hove \n Supply issues clouding otherwise sunny outlook.\n\nHigh-end offices such as CityView (pictured) and Mocatta House have proved to be a big hit in Brighton.\n\nBrighton & Hove\u2019s office market reveals a vibrant commercial city restricted by a lack of new space.\n\nStiles Harold Williams Partnership LLP Brighton agency team report:\n\nThere is a total of circa 4.8million sq ft of offices in Brighton & Hove\n\nCurrently only 150,000 sq ft of this lies vacant. Much of this is low quality so the real vacancy rate is nearer 3\n\nSpace on the periphery of the city is vulnerable to residential conversion\n\n60,000 sq ft of new Grade A office space has been given planning permission to be built by McAleer & Rushe, who were behind CityView, the highly successful new-build development adjacent to Brighton Station opened last year\n\nCityView was the first speculative office-only new build development in the city for 20 years\n\nSince then a further 40,000 sq ft was refurbished by Aberdeen Asset Management at Mocatta House, Trafalgar Place\n\nHeadline rents of \u00a328 psf have been achieved, but lack of supply could stifle further mid-term growth\n\nThere has been significant growth in flexible membership workplace initiatives with offerings from Regus, Platf9rm and The Werks Group\n\nAgency director Emma Hards said: \u201cThe office market in Brighton is strong with a real variety of occupiers looking for new space and/or expanding. There is a real lack of supply, especially of good quality space and if more were available there are the occupiers to take it! As a city it is important we look at ways to provide good quality space for occupiers in order to both keep existing business in the area and attract new business to Brighton.\u201d\n\nPlease enable JavaScript to view the comments.", "output": "Brighton and Hove has seen significant growth in flexible membership workplace initiatives with offerings from Regus, Platf9rm, and The Werks Group, according to a Stiles Harold Williams Partnership LLP Brighton agency team report. However, while headline rents of \u00a328/sq ft have been achieved, lack of supply could hamper mid-term growth; there is roughly 4.8 million sq ft of offices in the area but limited vacant space, especially higher-quality space.\u00a0Planning has been given McAleer & Rushe to build 60,000 sq ft of new Grade A office space; the group developed the new build office-only\u00a0CityView, which opened last year.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Swiss bank Falcon Group to offer bitcoin services to clients \n English Russian German Spanish French Italian\n\nZurich, July 12, 2017 - Falcon Group is the first Swiss private bank to provide blockchain asset management solutions for its clients through the new cooperation with Bitcoin Suisse AG. Following the approval by FINMA for Bitcoin asset management, this novel product underlines Falcon's strategic repositioning, which focuses on shaping a unique experience, empowered by individual excellence and world-class digital intelligence.\n\nFalcon Group is the first Swiss private bank to provide blockchain asset management solutions for its clients through the new cooperation with Bitcoin Suisse AG. Clients can exchange and hold Bitcoins via Falcon using their cash holdings. Our solution facilitates easy access to blockchain assets and a convenient storage process. Additionally, a Bitcoin ATM has been installed in the lobby of Falcon Private Bank's headquarters in Zurich and is accessible for the public during business hours. After an in-depth enquiry, FINMA has given its approval for the launch of this unique new product.\n\nArthur Vayloyan, Global Head Products & Services, Falcon Private Bank Ltd.: \"Following our strategic partnership with Move Digital, a best-in-class provider of digital asset management and investment advisory systems, this is a further tangible element of our new strategy. We are proud to be the first-mover in the Swiss private banking area to provide blockchain asset management for our clients. Falcon is convinced that the time is right to enter this nascent market and it is our firm belief that this new product will fulfil our clients' future needs.\"\n\n\"It has been a pleasure assisting Falcon in realising this new product, which is nothing less than a historic milestone for the entire crypto space,\" says Niklas Nikolajsen, CEO, Bitcoin Suisse AG.\n\nMME acted as the legal advisor and PricewaterhouseCoopers as auditor in the approval process.\n\n# # #\n\nFalcon Private Bank is a Swiss private banking boutique with 50 years of expertise in wealth management. We provide first-class financial services to private clients and wealthy families from our headquarters in Zurich and our locations in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, London and Luxembourg. Our clients benefit from an excellent investment competence as well as from our financial strength and stability, which results from our Swiss heritage and our government-owned shareholder.\n\nMedia contacts\n\nFalcon Private Bank Ltd.\n\nGianmarco Timpanaro\n\nHead Marketing & Communications\n\nPhone: +41 44 227 57 47\n\nMobile: +41 79 404 37 73\n\ngianmarco.timpanaro@falconpb.com\n\nwww.falconprivatebank.com\n\nFalcon Private Bank Ltd.\n\nUrs Fehr\n\nDeputy Head Marketing & Communication\n\nPhone: +41 44 227 57 45\n\nMobile: +41 79 694 47 65\n\nurs.fehr@falconpb.com\n\nwww.falconprivatebank.com", "output": "Switzerland's Falcon Group has become the country's first private bank to offer clients blockchain asset management solutions, in cooperation with Bitcoin Suisse, following approval by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority. As part of its strategic repositioning, Falcon\u00a0has installed a bitcoin dispenser in the lobby of its Zurich headquarters.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "LexisNexis-Modus tie-up seeks to increase UBI data feeds \n HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. and ATLANTA, July 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- LexisNexis Risk Solutions, a leading provider of data and analytics in insurance telematics, and Modus, a leading provider of advanced vehicle tracking systems for insurers, fleet managers and businesses, announced today a new alliance which provides insurers more options in after-market solutions to gather data and apply advanced analytics in developing and managing their UBI programs. Through this alliance, Modus is joining the LexisNexis Telematics Exchange, which will allow insurance carriers who opt in to take advantage of data from the industry and OEMs, make better decisions faster, and gain unique insights for competitive advantage.\n\n\"Vehicle telematics have become an integral part of the new wave of usage-based insurance, and it starts with having integrated flexible solutions. We have seen an increased adoption of programs using multiple data collection models simultaneously, including hardware and mobile app. These options provide more tools for driver scoring, consumer-focused value added services, and location data for personal and commercial insurers, allowing for even greater risk insights than ever before. In working with LexisNexis Risk Solutions, together we're able to provide a deeper level of data granularity and scoring to insurers and better consumer experiences no matter the data collection method,\" said Brandon Johnson, CEO, Modus.\n\n\"This alliance allows LexisNexis Risk Solutions to leverage core competencies, pairing the experience of Modus with telematics devices, mobile apps, and data, and our industry-leading telematics platform and some of the most the advanced data and analytics that are changing and shaping the industry,\" said Ash Hassib, SVP and GM, Auto and Home Insurance, LexisNexis Risk Solutions. \"Our insurance customers need to be able to move quickly, properly adapt to evolving technology and optimize their programs and we're helping them do that with a high-level of service, expertise, and technological innovation.\"\n\nModus offers an innovative, scalable and flexible connected car platform to deliver driver performance data that enables insurers to identify and characterize more accurate risk profiles. The LexisNexis Telematics Exchange ingests and normalizes telematics data gathered from many data sources, including auto manufacturers (OEMs) or after-market devices such as 12-Volt, OBDII dongles and smartphone apps from companies like Modus. Once this data is compiled and normalized, LexisNexis then scores it using advanced analytics and predictive modeling specific to telematics to provide driving behavior insights for insurers. This approach allows insurers to access key data and analytics on the driver, which can help improve pricing and profitability across an insurer's entire portfolio.\n\nLexisNexis Risk Solutions\n\nAt LexisNexis Risk Solutions, we believe in the power of data and advanced analytics for better risk management. With over 40 years of expertise, we are the trusted data analytics provider for organizations seeking actionable insights to manage risks and improve results while upholding the highest standards for security and privacy. Headquartered in metro Atlanta USA, LexisNexis Risk Solutions serves customers in more than 100 countries and is part of RELX Group, a global provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries. For more information, please visit www.lexisnexisrisk.com.\n\nAbout Modus\n\nModus is a pioneer in the wireless and vehicle telematics space with a DNA of mobile innovation, great customer experience, affordability and industry leading level of service, support and technological expertise. As one of the first vehicle telematics providers focused on the auto insurance market, Modus saw early success in this space providing telematics solutions to several top insurance carriers. Modus has broadened its offering to all aspects of telematics and leads the industry in providing the most technologically advanced, intuitive, and reliable vehicle telematics solution available. Many of the world's largest insurers, technology companies and fleet operators rely on Modus to improve their business performance. For more information, please visit www.mod.us.\n\nSOURCE LexisNexis Risk Solutions\n\nRelated Links\n\nhttp://www.lexisnexisrisk.com\n\n", "output": "LexisNexis Risk Solutions and Modus have partnered to offer insurers tools to develop and manage data culled from\u00a0usage-based insurance programmes. The move will see Modus integrate with LexisNexis Telematics Exchange, and will enable insurance companies greater risk insights.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tokenisation offers added layer of security for mobile payments \n New Delhi: With increase in the number of cashless payments, customers\u2019 financial information is increasingly at risk.\n\nIn this scenario, tokenization is emerging as an important technology to secure mobile payments, according to industry experts.\n\nWhat is tokenization?\n\nTokenization is the process of replacing sensitive data with unique identification symbols that retain all the essential information without compromising on security.\n\nIn the payments space, tokenization is the process of replacing the 16-digit payment card account number with a unique digital token in mobile and online transactions.\n\nWhere is it used?\n\nIn the payment card industry, it can be used for mobile payments. For example, payments using mobile wallets.\n\nTokenization could also be enabled to work with different technologies, and has been extensively used in contactless payment applications such as magnetic technology in the case of Samsung Pay, NFC (near-field communication) in the case of Apple Pay and Android Pay, and sound-based technology of ToneTag.\n\nSamsung Pay and Apple Pay are mobile payment services offered by Samsung and Apple, respectively. While Samsung Pay was launched in March, Apple Pay is still not available in India.\n\nHow does it work?\n\n\u201cIf a cardholder decides to add their personal account number to a mobile device or digital wallet, Visa will issue a token behind the scenes. Then when the Visa account holder initiates transactions with mobile devices using their digital account number, the token, and not the primary account number, will be used to process the transaction, just like a traditional card payment. This process is invisible to accountholders and merchants,\" said Visa, in response to an emailed query from Mint.\n\nVisa, MasterCard and American Express offer this technology in India.\n\nWhy is it important?\n\nTokenization is a new layer of security for digital payments without adding friction to the shopping experience. It does not require merchants to make major changes to their current payment acceptance systems. The biggest benefit to all involved is that payment card numbers are no longer used or saved where unauthorized access can occur.\n\nFor customers, this means added security and convenience. It eliminates the need to enter and re-enter the account number when shopping on a smartphone, tablet or computer.\n\nIt is safer than magnetic strips because tokens don\u2019t carry the consumer\u2019s primary account number, there is less risk in storing tokens on mobile devices online by e-commerce merchants, and in cloud-based mobile platforms and applications. Even if it is hacked, there wouldn\u2019t be anything of use as it devalues the entire data.\n\n\u201cWhile speed and ease of use are the major advantages of mobile payments over cash, payment security plays an equally crucial role in ensuing that the consumers feel confident when they reach for their mobile phones to pay. This is where our Visa Token Service adds tremendous value to the mobile payments experience by protecting consumers\u2019 payment data during transactions,\" said T.R. Ramachandran, group country manager, India and South Asia, Visa, in an emailed statement.", "output": "Payments made via mobile wallets benefit from the extra layer of security offered by tokenisation \u2013 the use of unique identification symbols instead of the\u00a016-digit payment card\u00a0number, as tokenisation eliminates the need to save payment card numbers. The digital account number also carries no intrinsic value as tokens do not carry primary account number details and so are useless to hackers, but they ensure\u00a0a secure, yet frictionless, shopping experience.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cashlez receives $2m for point-of-sale card reader expansion \n JAKARTA -- The venture capital unit of Indonesia's largest lender by assets, Bank Mandiri, on Wednesday said it is leading a $2 million funding round for local financial technology startup Cashlez, which claims to offer a portable, more user-friendly alternative to electronic data capture machines.\n\nThis is the seventh startup investment by Mandiri Capital Indonesia, and the third offering a payment solution. Since its establishment in January 2016, MCI has invested around 300 billion rupiah ($22.4 million) in fintech startups focusing on three areas: payment options, peer-to-peer lending and the so-called small enterprise solution.", "output": "Jakarta fintech start-up Cashlez has secured $2m in a funding round led by Bank Mandiri's venture capital unit. Cashlez operates a mobile point of sales system, comprising a card reader and a smartphone app, aimed at Jakarta's 56 million micro, small and medium-sized businesses whose internet connections are not always reliable. The new funds will help Cashlez target an additional 4,000 merchants and IDR50bn ($3.76m) of monthly transactions by the end of the year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Findel Stuart Caldwell appointed Group CFO of Findel \n RNS Number : 9215K\n\nFindel PLC\n\n13 July 2017\n\n13 July 2017\n\nFindel plc (\"Findel\" or \"the Group\")\n\nFindel appoints Stuart Caldwell as Chief Financial Officer\n\nFindel, the online value retail and education business, is pleased to announce the appointment of Stuart Caldwell as Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO) with immediate effect.\n\nStuart has held the position of Acting CFO since April 2017, prior to which he was Group Financial Controller. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant and a fellow of the Association of Corporate Treasurers. After qualifying within the profession he held a number of roles with Provident Financial plc before moving to Findel in 2010.\n\nAs part of this announcement, Stuart will be appointed to the Findel plc Board.\n\nCommenting on the appointment, Ian Burke, Chairman, said:\n\n\"I am delighted that Stuart will be taking on the role of CFO on a permanent basis. His knowledge and experience marked him out during the search process, and since joining Findel as Chairman I have been impressed with the positive actions he has undertaken to reinforce the Group finance function.\n\nStuart's appointment further strengthens the new management team as we focus on the delivery of our medium-term growth plans.\"\n\nThe Company confirms that there is no further information about Stuart Caldwell requiring disclosure under paragraph 9.6.13 (1) to (6) of the Listing Rules of the UK Listing Authority.\n\nEnquiries\n\nFindel plc\n\nIan Burke\n\nPhil Maudsley\n\n0161 303 3465\n\nTulchan Communications LLP\n\nSusanna Voyle / Will Smith\n\n020 7353 4200", "output": "Findel has announced the appointment of Stuart Caldwell as Group CFO with immediate effect. Caldwell joined the online value retail and education business from Provident Financial in 2010, and was previously Group Financial Controller at Findel before being made Acting CFO in April 2017. He will be appointed to the board as part of the appointment.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Stony Point plant to use gasification to turn waste into fuel \n Michael D'Onofrio\n\nThe Journal News\n\nSTONY POINT - Garbage in, fuel out.\n\nThat is the aim of a recycling plant proposed for a 39-acre property on Holt Drive that would convert the region\u2019s garbage into fuel using a gasification process.\n\nBut while some are celebrating the potential return of large-scale manufacturing to the town that supporters claim will bring jobs and tax revenue, some are casting criticism on the project that would deploy a fleet of 400 trucks a day onto the area's roads.\n\nNew Planet Energy continues to move ahead with its $700 million proposal to build a biofuel plant near the border of the Town of Haverstraw.\n\nINVESTIGATION:Florida plant failed despite $129 million in taxpayer subsidies\n\nRELATED:INEOS Bio selling Florida biofuel plant\n\nThe plan includes a 250,000-square-foot processing facility that will use \u201ccutting-edge technology for sorting and separating\u201d materials, said John Cruikshank, president of the Los Angeles-based company.\n\n\u201cBy bringing one business like ours in, we\u2019ll attract other businesses, which is more jobs, more taxes,\u201d he said.\n\nThe company is wrapping up a nine-month traffic study. The original design also has been expanded, and now includes more office space and another underpass below CSX-owned railroad tracks that split the property in half.\n\nSupervisor Jim Monaghan said he and the Stony Point Town Board support the plan \u201cas long as it\u2019s safe and clean for our environment.\u201d\n\nBut Haverstraw Supervisor Howard Phillips remains unconvinced of the merits of the project.\n\n\u201cIt doesn\u2019t make any sense to do this in a highly populated area,\u201d he said.\n\nThe plan\n\nThe two-phase proposal could make Stony Point a recycling mecca.\n\nThe facility would process upwards of 4,500 tons of garbage a day from municipalities in New York City and Westchester, among others, but none from Rockland.\n\nThe garbage will include the typical swill and detritus found in any municipal dump.\n\nEvery day, upwards of 200 round-trips by trucks are projected on Route 9W and the surrounding streets to haul the garbage to the facility.\n\nHalf the materials will be recycled into \u201csolid recovered fuel,\u201d an EPA-certified alternative fuel; the remaining material will be converted into sulfur-free diesel fuel.\n\nThe plant's gasification process will use a steam reformation system, rather than incineration.\n\nThe facility could produce as much as 20 million gallons of diesel fuel a year.\n\nOverall, the facility will recycle upwards of 86.5 percent of the materials that enter the facility, which otherwise would be destined for a landfill.\n\nThe entire recycling process will be done in the enclosed facility and use state-of-the-art technology, Cruikshank said.\n\n\u201cThere will be a small degree of manual labor, but nothing like a lot of the recycling facilities in years past. This will be much more automated,\u201d he said.\n\nThe plant will create 150 jobs.\n\nThe plan is currently in the permitting process and undergoing an environmental impact study with the state Department of Conservation, the lead agency for the proposal. The study will be followed by public meetings later in the year.\n\nIf approved, the facility will be built in two phases. Cruikshank estimated the first phase of the plan could be operational by the second quarter of 2019, after which the second phase could be completed within 18 months.\n\nThe Holt Drive property is the location of the former plastic company Kay Fries.\n\nThe property is an active Superfund site, which is land identified by the Environmental Protection Agency that has been contaminated by hazardous waste.\n\nThe site is still undergoing remediation, but the bulk of the cleanup has been completed, Cruikshank said.\n\nToo close for comfort\n\nThe recycling facility is too close for comfort for Haverstraw\u2019s supervisor.\n\nPhillips contends New Planet Energy was using the region as a \u201cguinea pig\u201d to test \u201cunproven technology.\u201d\n\nThe supervisor rattled off a long list of problems he foresees with the plan: Increased truck traffic that will roll through Haverstraw along Route 9W; the proximity of the processing plant to residential neighborhoods; safety issues regarding CSX train tracks on the property; and potentially harmful emissions released into the air from the plant.\n\n\u201cThis is an inappropriate use in a residential area,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cThe traffic will be horrendous. ... We don\u2019t want somebody experimenting in north Rockland with a product that can be very detrimental.\u201d\n\nMonaghan declined to address Phillips\u2019 concerns, but said he supported the project as long as it was sustainable, and minimally affected traffic and the environment.\n\nThe loss of large manufacturers in north Rockland has hit the area's municipal and school tax revenues hard, Monaghan said. He added it was too early to estimate tax rates for the biofuel plant.\n\n\u201cIt would be a real significant tax benefit. This would create jobs, not only during the construction phase of the project, but also employment,\" Monaghan said.\n\nGeorge Potanovic, president of the Stony Point Action Committee on the Environment, said he remained circumspect about the project.\n\nPotanovic tempered his support for New Planet Energy\u2019s mission to recycle with concerns over unanswered questions about traffic, odor and noise issues, as well as projected tax revenues.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re keeping an open mind about it. We think it has a lot of potential,\" Potanovic said.\n\nTraffic study\n\nSo what will the recycling plant\u2019s impact be on the area\u2019s traffic?\n\n\u201cVery minimal,\u201d Cruikshank said.\n\n\n\nCruikshank based his answer on a traffic study commissioned by the company, which analyzed the impact of trucks and employee vehicles on Routes 9W, 303.\n\nThe full study has yet to be submitted to the town.\n\nThe peak hours of the facility\u2019s generators, and thereby truck traffic, are expected to be between 4 and 5 a.m. and 2 and 3 p.m.\n\nThe study found traffic volume was heaviest on 9W between 7 and 9 a.m., and 4 and 6 p.m.\n\nAt more than a dozen intersections, traffic was projected to increase by 5 seconds or less, with some ticking up slightly higher, according to a limited overview of the study given by the company at a Stony Point public meeting in June.\n\nPhillips doubted those traffic projections.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t care what they say,\u201d Phillips said. \u201c(Route) 9W can be a parking lot now. It\u2019s an old, antiquated road that isn\u2019t suited for the users there today.\u201d\n\nProblem plagued Florida facility\n\nA previous biofuel plant associated with New Planet Energy fell well short of expectations.\n\nThe company had partnered with global chemical giant INEOS to build and operate a $130 million biofuel plant in Vero Beach, Florida, which converted waste to ethanol.\n\nBut technical problems plagued the Florida facility after it opened in 2013; the plant closed in January, according to an investigation by TCPalm.com, which is part of the USA Today network.\n\nThe Florida plant was bankrolled with $129 million in grants, tax breaks and guaranteed loans, according to the report. It was unclear that the plant ever produced ethanol in significant quantities.\n\nCruikshank said New Planet Energy \u201cwalked away\u201d from that Florida plant, but maintains a stake in the business as INEOS seeks to sell it.\n\nTom Yonge, a spokesman for New Planet Energy's Stony Point project, said it was a \u201cbusiness decision\u201d by INEOS to close the plant.\n\nNew Planet Energy had \u201cno say in the management\" of the Florida plant, Cruikshank said, adding: \u201cIt just wasn\u2019t a good fit for (INEOS).\"\n\nCruikshank said he aims to be a \u201cconscientious neighbor\u201d and provide long-term solutions to the disposal of solid waste in the region.\n\n\u201cWe have not rushed to get this done,\u201d Cruikshank said. \u201cWe recognize the downfall of a lot of companies in this industry, and we\u2019re not going to make that mistake. We\u2019re doing things properly the first time and that means it takes time and more money.\u201d\n\nTwitter: @mikedonofrio_", "output": "New Planet Energy is progressing a $700m facility that plans to turn upwards of 4,500 tonnes of rubbish a day from municipalities in New York City and Westchester, among others, into \u201csolid recovered fuel\u201d and sulphur-free diesel fuel. The plant uses\u00a0gasification via a steam reformation system and\u00a0could produce as much as 20 million gallons of diesel fuel a year. New Planet Energy is aiming to\u00a0recycle at least 86.5% of the materials that enter the facility, which otherwise would be destined for landfill."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Rutgers researchers cut enzyme cost for biofuel production \n The DOE Science News Source is a Newswise initiative to promote research news from the Office of Science of the DOE to the public and news media.", "output": "Researchers at Rutgers University-New Brunswick and Michigan State University have developed a method for reducing the amount of enzymes needed to turn biomass into biofuels. The team has demonstrated how to design and genetically engineer enzyme surfaces so they bind less to corn stalks and other cellulosic biomass, reducing enzyme costs.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Microsoft to use unused TV channels to take the net to rural US \n WASHINGTON \u2014 Silicon Valley has dreamed up hot air balloons, drones and constellations of mini-satellites to connect the world to the internet. Now Microsoft is adding its own moonshot to solve the digital divide into that mix.\n\nThe software giant plans to announce on Tuesday that it is harnessing the unused channels between television broadcasts, known as white spaces, to help get more of rural America online. In an event at the Willard Hotel in Washington, where Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated a coast-to-coast telephone call a century ago, Microsoft plans to say that it will soon start a white-spaces broadband service in 12 states including Arizona, Kansas, New York and Virginia to connect two million rural Americans in the next five years who have limited or no access to high-speed internet.\n\nIn an interview, Microsoft\u2019s president, Brad Smith, said white spaces were \u201cthe best solution for reaching over 80 percent of people in rural America who lack broadband today.\u201d\n\nThe United States has long grappled with uneven internet access. Many remote and less-populated areas have had particular trouble obtaining fast internet service because providers often cannot justify the cost of building out infrastructure to isolated locales with few people to serve.", "output": "Microsoft has announced plans to utilise the unused channels between television broadcasts, called \"white spaces\", to reach the 80% of rural America which currently has no broadband access \u2013 some 24 million\u00a0people. The company has been developing the technology, sometimes called \"Super Wi-Fi\",\u00a0since 2008, and is asking federal and state regulators to support the project. One issue is that the equipment required to decode the signals is expensive \u2013\u00a0around $1000 a device \u2013 but the company believes\u00a0that the price point will drop\u00a0to below $200 by 2018.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI is making cheating far easier for maths students \n Denise Garcia knows that her students sometimes cheat, but the situation she unearthed in February seemed different. A math teacher in West Hartford, Connecticut, Garcia had accidentally included an advanced equation in a problem set for her AP Calculus class. Yet somehow a handful of students in the 15-person class solved it correctly. Those students had also shown their work, defeating the traditional litmus test for sussing out cheating in STEM classrooms.\n\nGarcia was perplexed, until she remembered a conversation from a few years earlier. Some former students had told her about an online tool called Wolfram|Alpha that could complete complicated calculations in seconds. It provided both the answers and the steps for reaching them, making it virtually undetectable when copied as homework.\n\n\u200bPippa Biddle is a writer interested in culture, complex systems, and making sense of the world. Sign up to get Backchannel's weekly newsletter.\n\nFor years, students have turned to CliffsNotes for speedy reads of books, SparkNotes to whip up talking points for class discussions, and Wikipedia to pad their papers with historical tidbits. But today\u2019s students have smarter tools at their disposal\u2014namely, Wolfram|Alpha, a program that uses artificial intelligence to perfectly and untraceably solve equations. Wolfram|Alpha uses natural language processing technology, part of the AI family, to provide students with an academic shortcut that is faster than a tutor, more reliable than copying off of friends, and much easier than figuring out a solution yourself.\n\nSince its release, Wolfram|Alpha has trickled through the education system, finding its way into the homework of college and high school students. Use of Wolfram|Alpha is difficult to trace, and in the hands of ambitious students, its perfect solutions are having unexpected consequences. It works by breaking down the pieces of a question, whether a mathematical problem or something like \"What is the center of the United States?\", and then cross-referencing those pieces against an enormous library of datasets that is constantly being expanded. These datasets include information on geodesic schemes, chemical compounds, human genes, historical weather measurements, and thousands of other topics that, when brought together, can be used to provide answers.\n\nThe system is constrained by the limits of its data library: It can\u2019t interpret every question. It also can\u2019t respond in natural language, or what a human would recognize as conversational speech. This is a stumbling block in AI in general. Even Siri, which relies heavily on Mathematica\u2014another Wolfram Research product and the engine behind Wolfram|Alpha\u2014can only answer questions in programmed response scripts, which are like a series of Mad Libs into which it plugs answers before spitting them out of your speaker or onto your screen.\n\nUsing Wolfram|Alpha is similar to executing a Google search, but Wolfram|Alpha delivers specific answers rather than endless pages of potentially relevant results. Anyone can go to the Wolfram|Alpha website, type a question or equation into a dialogue box, hit enter, and receive an answer. If you\u2019re trying to solve x2 + 5x + 6 = 0, Wolfram|Alpha will give you the root plot, alternate forms, and solutions. If you are looking for a step-by-step explanation, there is a pro version available for $6.99/month with discounted options for students and educators.\n\nI first heard about Wolfram|Alpha in my parents' kitchen. My father had come home from his job at a private school in Dobbs Ferry, New York. He dropped his bag on the floor, and asked me what I thought about Wolfram|Alpha. Earlier that day he had been confronted by STEM teachers who were frustrated with their students' use of the tool. It was, they said, blatant cheating. My father had left the office unsure of how to proceed. Should the school crack down on Wolfram|Alpha? Or did the school need to catch up to this new beat in education?", "output": "An online tool that uses natural language processing to perform complex calculations is being used by students to cheat on assignments. The artificial intelligence (AI) programme, Wolfram Alpha, provides a methodology along with an answer to the equation, which makes it difficult for a tutor to determine whether a student has cheated. After cross-referencing a problem against a library of datasets, the system offers a specific answer as a programmed response script. However, the system is limited by incomplete data libraries and its inability to respond in natural language.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IBM Watson shows promise in genetic analysis of brain tumours \n IBM is busy applying its Watson AI to as many health arenas as possible and it looks like cancer genomic sequencing could be its next big market.\n\nIn a new proof-of-concept study testing a beta version of its genomic sequencing-specific version of Watson, Watson for Genomics, IBM's AI has once again shown potential.\n\nWatson for Genomics operates on the same basis as other Watson iterations, processing masses of medical literature to gather potential disease insights and potential treatment options.\n\nThe study was carried out by researchers from the New York Genome Center, The Rockefeller University, other NYGC member institutions and IBM.\n\nIt compared Watson for Genomics to a traditional genome sequencing technique in its ability to derive treatment options from the genomic data of glioblastoma patient cells.\n\nWatson for Genomics was able to provide whole genome sequencing (WGS) data \u2013 complete with clinically actionable insights \u2013 from the tumour cells within 10 minutes.\n\nThe traditional technique took around 160 hours of manual human analysis to arrive at similar conclusions.\n\n\u201cThis study documents the strong potential of Watson for Genomics to help clinicians scale precision oncology more broadly,\u201d said Vanessa Michelini, Watson for Genomics Innovation Leader at IBM Watson Health. \u201cClinical and research leaders in cancer genomics are making tremendous progress towards bringing precision medicine to cancer patients, but genomic data interpretation is a significant obstacle, and that\u2019s where Watson can help.\u201d\n\nThe results from the study could be far-reaching for IBM which has been busy striking deals to deploy its Watson for Genomics technology.\n\nIn January, it revealed a partnership with Illumina to use the firm's gene sequencing data to improve cancer treatment decisions. A month later, the Jupiter Medical Center in Florida became the first US hospital to deploy Watson for Genomics.\n\nThe technology is also playing a key role in Joe Biden's Cancer Moonshot 2020 initiative, specifically targeting cancer cases in US veterans.\n\nThe platform's major selling point is its ability to dramatically speed up WGS analysis. As this technique produces a complete genetic picture of a cell, WGS can potentially produce a more detailed understanding of disease-causing genetic alterations and therefore treatment options.\n\nHowever, it also requires more manual analysis than traditional methods, making it a less desirable option for diseases that require quick genetic data analysis. To get this data quickly, traditional methods only analyse a limited set of genes.\n\nBut as this study suggests, adding AI could dramatically cut the time needed to gather this data and therefore produce more potential treatment options for patients, faster.\n\nReducing the time from genetic analysis to treatment planning is particularly critical for glioblastoma which has a median survival of less than 15 months.", "output": "IBM has taken a significant step toward using genomic sequencing in the treatment of cancer patients, following a proof-of-concept study that tested a beta version of Watson for Genomics, a genomic sequencing-specific iteration of its Watson artificial intelligence system. Watson for Genomics was able to produce whole genome sequencing data and clinically actionable insights from glioblastoma brain cancer cells within 10 minutes, according to researchers from the New York Genome Center, The Rockefeller University and IBM. Traditional sequencing techniques took some 160 hours to complete. Patients diagnosed with glioblastoma survive an average of 15 months.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "POET Systems uses anaerobic digestion to turn plastic into energy \n Machine turns waste plastic into energy Environment THE first systems to use anaerobic digestion technology to turn waste plastics into energy and fertiliser are being developed in South Australia. Republish Notify me\n\nPOET Systems expects to have its first two machines \u2013 each capable of processing 20 tonnes of plastic a week \u2013 operating commercially in about 12 months.\n\nMore than one million tonnes of contaminated plastic deemed unfit for recycling is sent to landfill in Australia each year. In the United States the figure is almost 10 million tonnes.\n\nInventor David Thompson said his plastic to energy technology had so far successfully been applied to polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene and expanded polystyrene.\n\nHe said the anaerobic digestion process varied upon disposal feedstock and depended also upon temperature and system set up.\n\n\u201cThe POET system prepares waste plastic in a way that microbial digestion can take place quickly and I think that\u2019s really the key to making it a commercial opportunity,\u201d Thompson said.\n\n\u201cI have already got inquiries from overseas including a large consortium in South America that is really quite interested to get involved and take the technology over there.\u201d\n\nPOET Systems is a 2017 semi-finalist in the Australian Technologies Competition, which assesses, mentors and promotes companies providing a uniquely Australian take on the future and is open to technologies that have global potential in a range of industries.\n\nWinners will be announced at Technology Showcases in Melbourne and Sydney in October and November.\n\nPOET is an acronym for Polymer \u2013 Organic \u2013 Energy \u2013 Treatment.\n\nThe first two POET machines will be built at wastewater treatment plants in regional areas of the Australian state of Victoria.\n\nThe same microbes will treat the plastic and the water simultaneously. The microbes then die and leave behind liquid and solid biomass, which can be used as fertiliser, and biogas, which can be separated into methane and carbon dioxide.\n\nThompson, who is based in the South Australian capital Adelaide, said the methane could be used to create heat and energy, possibly to power the wastewater plant, while there was also potential for the carbon dioxide to be captured and reused.\n\n\u201cSo basically the plastics go into an anaerobic situation in wastewater where the microbes digest the plastic and create energy,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cThis client in Victoria is big on wastewater treatment plants and after thinking about his methodology \u2013 there\u2019s over 550 wastewater treatment plants in Australia and at least half of those would have anaerobic digestion facilities attached so it\u2019s a good opportunity to go down that path.\u201d\n\nThompson plans to lodge provisional patent documents for the technology in the coming weeks.\n\nHe said the system did not impact on existing recycling practices as it targeted plastics destined for landfill and would add a new revenue stream for companies in the waste industry.\n\n\u201cPeople in the waste industry have already invested heavily in infrastructure so they know how to do the business,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cIf this gives them an additional opportunity to make money and take on a segment which hasn\u2019t been handled before then I\u2019m happy with that.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve had a look at a number of scenarios and where it actually works as a business model is at a starting point of 20 tonnes a week.\n\n\u201cSo everything I\u2019ve designed ready for manufacture here in Australia is based on 20 tonnes a week and I can scale it up larger from there.\u201d", "output": "POET Systems is developing technology that uses anaerobic digestion to turn waste plastics into energy and fertiliser. The South Australia-based company\u00a0expects to have its first two machines \u2013 each capable of processing 20 tonnes of plastic a week \u2013 in commercial operation within a year. The system has so far been\u00a0successfully applied to polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene and expanded polystyrene."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google prepares to enter India's mobile payments market \n Google About to Enter Indian Mobile Payments Market\n\nJuly 13, 2017 By: Steven Anderson\n\nIt was once remarked in no less than Money magazine that the best way to get improved internet service was to get Google to announce it was turning your area into a Google Fiber city, and then watch the fun as every ISP in town suddenly ramped up the service. Now, with Google poised to enter the Indian mobile payment market, incumbents like Paytm may be wondering what they can do to keep the current user base in the fold.\n\nThe current reports note that Google has nearly completed testing its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system in the region. Once complete, it will allow ready transfer of cash between bank accounts via a mobile device. Interestingly enough, Google will be walking into a fairly competitive market. Whatsapp, Amazon, and even Uber are all stepping into this market as well. However, none of these will boast Google\u2019s UPI-based system, at last report, and that could be enough to give it an edge.\n\nA Google representative noted \u201cWe are always looking for ways to make it easy for people to pay with their mobile devices, for instance Android Pay in some countries, and continually evaluating ways to expand those capabilities to the next billion users.\u201d\n\nNaturally, it\u2019s going to be difficult to break into that market. The event which gave mobile payments a whole new muscle in the region\u2014the nigh-total demonetization of the country\u2019s currency\u2014won\u2019t happen again. Already cash is down to the smallest denominations, and the country\u2019s established mobile wallet providers like Paytm have already taken advantage accordingly.\n\nStill, Google has the necessary cash and market recognition\u2014not to mention the widespread Android device use\u2014to potentially shake up this market. It\u2019s going to have to offer something in particular, though, to break the entrenched market share out of its current position. Discounts might go a long way here, or perhaps merchant-specific services to get more of the merchant share on its side.\n\nWhatever Google ultimately does, it\u2019s likely not going to be able to count on its name recognition unaided to break this pot open. It\u2019s going to need to offer something particularly worthwhile to break users out of entrenched patterns, just like it did with Google Fiber\u2019s greater speeds and bandwidth caps. It will be interesting to see what it comes up with.", "output": "Google has almost finished testing its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system in India, which will allow consumers to transfer cash between bank accounts via a mobile device. As well as facing competition from Paytm, rival firms Amazon, WhatsApp and Uber are also set to try their luck in India's mobile payments market. However, Google's is the only UPI-based offering in the segment."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "State Bank of India cuts electronic transfer costs by 75% \n The country's largest lender, State Bank of India SBI ), on Thursday reduced the National Electronic Funds Transfer ( NEFT ) and Real Time Gross Settlement ( RTGS ) charges up to 75%, effective from 15 July.In a move to promote digital transactions. The revised charges will be applicable on NEFT and RTGS transactions done through internet banking or mobile banking offered by the bank, SBI said in a statement. NEFT and RTGS are electronic payment systems, which allow fund transfer between two accounts of different banks in the country.Earlier, SBI used to charge Rs. 2 for fund transfers up to Rs. 10,000 through NEFT using internet or mobile banking modes. Now that has been reduced to Rs 1 (excluding 18 per cent GST). For NEFT transactions from Rs 10,000 to Rs 1 lakh, the charge has been reduced to Rs. 2 from Rs. 4 earlier. Similarly, SBI has revised its fees for fund transfers between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 5 lakh through RTGS on its net and mobile banking platform, to Rs 5. This charge was Rs 20 earlier.\"Digitalization and excellence in operations is one of our core strategies in providing convenience to customers. It has resulted in reducing turnaround time along with extended benefits to the customers.,\" said Rajnish Kumar, managing director (NBG) at SBI.\"In sync with our strategy and complementing the focus of Government of India to create a digital economy, we have taken one more step to promote use of internet banking and mobile banking for doing NEFT and RTGS transactions by reduction of the charges,\" he added.Additionally, the bank had also waived charges for fund transfer of upto Rs 1,000 done through Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) effective July 1, 2017, the statement said. IMPS is a money transfer service that can be carried out though mobile phones or internet banking. The IMPS service helps to transfer money to the beneficiary's account immediately when a fund transfer request is made through mobile phone or internet banking.(With inputs from agencies)", "output": "The State Bank of India (SBI) has reduced charges for the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) and Real Time Gross Settlement by 75% to persuade more customers to switch to digital banking, according to a statement from the lender. The change means a transaction through NEFT of up to INR10,000 ($1,555) will now cost INR1. The SBI has also dropped the charges for fund transfers of up to INR1,000 via its Immediate Payment Service."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Encrypgen ICO raises funds for genetic data storage on blockchain \n Encrypgen, a leading innovator in the Blockchain genomic storage and security industry, announced today that they have raised over 1 Million USD through their ongoing Token Sale. The company, led by the renowned scientist and author Dr. David Koepsell, has already reached more than half of their intended sale goal at 55%.\n\nThis low-key token sale (or \u2018ICO\u2019) for a high-profile product has seen significant growth due to word-of-mouth marketing by it\u2019s core enthusiasts. Encrypgen makes genomic data storage private and robust through Blockchain and encryption technology. With the help of a strong Blockchain insider network, they capped off the last three days with a 100 bitcoin leap.\n\nThe Encrypgen team highlighted in their last weekly update that they are on the verge of closing a number of sales for their beta application to research institutes. The beta has successfully assimilated a vast library of public genetic data.\n\nEncrypgen allows individual donors to control and even sell access to their private genetic information with private encryption keys. Encrypgen is not ready to confirm (or deny) the rumor that a \u201cwhale\u201d ICO investment fund plans to buy out all remaining tokens before the end of the token sale. The Gene-Chain coin token bonuses of 300K and 500K are still available to buyers of over 75BTC and 100BTC respectively. Meanwhile the largest buyer so far with 52BTC stands to earn a 1M Gene-Chain coin bonus.\n\nAfter an eventful week, which included a new web portal and the release of a further developed white paper, Encrypgen remains confident that the last week of the token sale will be just as momentous as the company\u2019s development to date.\n\nEncrypgen is very busy with continued marketing and development to build application sales and revenue, and less focused on promoting their token sale. With a prescient focus on disrupting genomic data management, Dr David Koepsell says: \u201cWe continue to seek a brave and forward-thinking client who is interested and willing to help make their genomic data storage and sharing more secure, and facilitate what we are trying to create as a new marketplace for that data.\u201d\n\nEncrypgen LLC was founded by Dr. David Koepsell, in collaboration with genetics scientists and developers in 2016. Encrypgen enables an open and secure channel for genetic data storage and compilation, enabling next generation genetic database management. This aims to \u2018solve\u2019 genomic data storage whilst preserving the personal data autonomy of donors who participate for the first time. It\u2019s fuelled by the team\u2019s passion to give genetic data donors ownership over their data, and propel genetic research into the future.", "output": "Blockchain genomic storage company Encrypgen has raised more than $1m through its ongoing initial coin offering (ICO).The total comprises 55% of its intended sale goal. Encrypgen will use the funds to develop its system for securely storing donors' genetic data. Meanwhile, the company has almost closed a number of sales of its beta application to various research institutes, it said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Emerson mobile IoT solution enables remote process control \n Emerson has launched DeltaV\u2122 Mobile, a new platform that leverages Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to empower the manufacturing engineer of the future with access to real-time data, trends and insight to make better-informed, critical operations decisions \u2013 securely from anywhere in the world.\n\nPart of Emerson\u2019s Plantweb\u2122 digital ecosystem, DeltaV Mobile uses smartphone technology with process control data to make operational intelligence available 24/7 for its customers.\n\nThe digital plant of the future uses DeltaV Mobile to remove the confines of the control room and enable the digital worker to monitor operations and see critical operational data more flexibly.\n\nBy integrating seamlessly and securely with the DeltaV distributed control system, DeltaV Mobile delivers critical contextual data that is often left behind by other solutions. With added context, DeltaV Mobile users can make better decisions around operational events that could affect bottom-line business results. Incorporating Emerson\u2019s Plantweb Secure First Mile\u2122 technology, DeltaV Mobile provides safe, remote access to important plant data without impacting critical production systems.\n\n\u201cDeltaV Mobile is an important Industrial IoT tool to help companies make decisions faster and smarter,\u201d says Jamie Froedge, President, Process Systems and Solutions, Emerson Automation Solutions. \u201cMobile intelligence will transform operational workflows and practices and drive collaboration across the enterprise, which helps customers reach Top Quartile performance.\u201d\n\nDeltaV Mobile enables on-site teams to quickly and securely connect with off-site experts, extending organisation-wide expertise and collaboration beyond the plant. Intuitive mobile views and customisable filtering ensure that users see clear and relevant data and alerts about the safety and performance of facilities. It easily provides alarms, trends and data available on DeltaV operator workstations to iOS and Android mobile devices, as well as alarm alerts via push, SMS, or email notification.\n\nDeltaV Mobile is a core platform solution in Emerson\u2019s Always Mobile\u2122 portfolio, which also includes Asset View for the AMS ARES asset management platform and Guardian\u2122 Mobile. Always Mobile technologies deliver operational mobility solutions that improve productivity and collaboration. With secure, instant access to operational information in intuitive views, personnel can make accurate decisions.", "output": "Emerson has launched a mobile platform that gives manufacturing engineers access to real-time data, trends and insight from anywhere around the world. DeltaV Mobile draws data from\u00a0the industrial internet of things (IoT)\u00a0to allow\u00a0remote access to plant data and alarms to iOS and Android mobile devices. It also facilitates\u00a0secure connections between on-site and off-site staff."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Medi-Cal patients sue state, claiming widespread discrimination \n Sign-carrying demonstrators representing doctors, hospitals and unionized healthcare workers rally against cuts in the amount the state pays for Medi-Cal reimbursements at the Capitol in Sacramento.\n\nA group of Medi-Cal beneficiaries filed a lawsuit against the state Wednesday, alleging that low payments to doctors are creating an unequal healthcare system in California.\n\nThomas A. Saenz, an attorney representing the plaintiffs and president and general counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said the state is required to provide coverage to low-income Californians through Medi-Cal that\u2019s equivalent to the care other Californians receive through private insurance or Medicare.\n\nBut Medi-Cal patients have a harder time finding doctors, wait longer for appointments, end up in the emergency room more often and have their diseases diagnosed later than those in other insurance programs, Saenz said. That\u2019s in part because the state mismanages the health program and delays payments to doctors, making them unwilling to see Medi-Cal patients, he said.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBut \u201cthe big issue is that the reimbursement rates ... are woefully, woefully inadequate,\u201d Saenz said in an interview.\n\nThe suit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court, claims that because the program is majority Latino, the state is essentially discriminating against Latinos.\n\n\u201cCalifornia has created a separate and unequal system of healthcare, one for the insurance program with the largest proportion of Latinos,\u201d Medi-Cal, and one for other insurance plans that are majority white, according to the suit.\n\nReimbursement rates in Medi-Cal were closer to other insurance reimbursement rates when Medi-Cal was a predominantly white program, according to the suit.\n\n\u201cThat changed when the Medi-Cal program became increasingly Latino and then majority Latino. That is discrimination,\u201d said Bill Lann Lee, senior counsel of the Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center, in a statement.\n\nMedi-Cal patients have long struggled to find doctors to see them, but that problem only got worse after the Affordable Care Act expanded the program in 2014, experts say. Medi-Cal now covers 13.5 million Californians \u2014 more than 1 in 3 state residents.\n\nMedi-Cal pays doctors about half of what they\u2019d get through Medicare, the government-run health insurance for people over 65. Of the 50 states, California\u2019s Medicaid payment rates rank 48th.\n\nEsther Castaneda, one of the plaintiffs and a Medi-Cal beneficiary, had to wait a year to get her gallbladder removed because she couldn\u2019t get appointments with her doctors or referrals for surgeons who took Medi-Cal, according to the suit. She stopped eating to minimize the extreme pain and vomiting she\u2019d experience otherwise.\n\nShe eventually resorted to getting the surgery in Mexico, where a doctor told her she would\u2019ve died without it, according to the complaint.\n\nThe lawsuit asks that the state pay doctors enough to ensure that Medi-Cal beneficiaries can receive medical care of similar quality to others in the state and that there are enough doctors who will take Medi-Cal patients.\n\nState officials said Wednesday that the Department of Health Care Services, which oversees Medi-Cal, monitors patients\u2019 access to care.\n\n\u201cDHCS has not identified any systemic problems with patient access to services in the Medi-Cal program nor has the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services identified any issues,\u201d department Director Jennifer Kent said in a statement to The Times.\n\nsoumya.karlamangla@latimes.com\n\nTwitter: @skarlamangla\n\nALSO\n\nWith diabetes rising at alarming rate, California puts money behind prevention campaign\n\nShe watched her ex-husband end his life under California\u2019s new right-to-die law. \u2018I felt proud\u2019\n\nLawsuit blames transport giant LogistiCare for missed appointments and injuries suffered by Medi-Cal patients\n\nUPDATES:\n\n3:40 p.m.: This article was updated with a statement from a state official.\n\nThis article was originally published at 1:10 p.m.", "output": "A group of Medi-Cal beneficiaries filed a lawsuit against the state Wednesday, alleging that low payments to doctors are creating an unequal healthcare system in California.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Patient-centered medical homes cut costs, improve quality through collaboration, evidence shows \n New evidence shows a link between patient-centered medical homes and improved quality at a lower cost -- provided there's an adequate investment in primary care, and strong collaboration between the payer and provider.\n\nReleased this week by the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collective, the study reviewed 45 peer-reviewed reports and found that, in most cases, PCMHs resulted in cost reduction, quality improvement and utilization, although in some areas results were mixed.\n\nOverall, the analysis of the reports showed that the longer a practice had been transformed, and the higher the risk of the patient pool in terms of comorbid conditions, the greater the effect on cost savings.\n\nQuality results weren't as conclusive. Looking at state-specific data and data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, PCPCC found that there was a general trend toward PCMHs improving quality, though some data showed that there was no statistically significant effect.\n\n[Also: Price transparency for inpatient labratory tests has little effect on clinician ordering behavior, JAMA says]\n\nBy contrast, studies uniformly showed that PCMHs had a positive effect on patient satisfaction. Team-based interventions, including case management, and having a usual source of care, have positively impacted the patient experience.\n\nUtilization outcomes were mixed. Most studies and state reports showed an increase in outpatient visits, but that wasn't always tied to a decrease in emergency room visits or inpatient stays.\n\nA partnership between Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and local physician organizations has resulted in one of the largest and longest-running patient-centered experiences in the country, and according to PCPCC, there were several factors in that success. With numerous stakeholders on board, program leaders pushed an incremental approach that rewarded physicians' efforts, and multi-payer support was engendered by the five-year Michigan Multi-Payer Advanced Primary Care Practice Demonstration Program.\n\nThe report said it's advisable to make primary care attractive to medical students, as most are attracted to the salary and status that comes with being a specialist, drawing them away from family medicine. PCPCC also said primary care should be a key part of insurance benefits.\n\nTwitter: @JELagasse", "output": "New evidence shows a link between patient-centered medical homes and improved quality at a lower cost -- provided there's an adequate investment in primary care, and strong collaboration between the payer and provider.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GOP Health Bill Eases Rules For Some Small-Business Plans \n Some small-business owners burdened with high health care costs would get a break from an obscure provision in the Senate health bill. It offers less regulation, more bargaining power and better prices.\n\nBut those benefits could come at a cost to others.\n\nThe clause \u2014 in the proposal advanced by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) last month \u2014 would exempt insurance sold through \u201cassociations\u201d from most Affordable Care Act mandates and state regulations. That means the plans could offer lower-cost coverage that does not include a broad range of medical services or sets premiums based on the health of the businesses\u2019 employees.\n\nIn these plans, small businesses can join an association \u2014 which may be loosely based on certain types of professional, trade or interest groups \u2014 that offers insurance to members.\n\nThis KHN story also ran on NPR . It can be republished for free ( details ).\n\n\u201cOur members are clamoring for more control and more affordable options,\u201d said Kevin Kuhlman, director of government relations for the National Federation of Independent Business, which has long opposed the ACA and supports association plans. The idea also has the backing of the National Restaurant Association.\n\nCritics counter that the provision creates two markets, a lightly regulated one with skimpier and less expensive coverage that would attract businesses with younger or healthier workers and a second market left with mainly older, sicker consumers and rapidly rising premiums.\n\nThe Senate plan \u2014 along with other GOP proposals that would loosen ACA requirements for some policies \u2014 could damage both the small-group and individual markets if it leads to cheaper plans siphoning off the healthiest consumers.\n\nState insurance commissioners warned in a letter Wednesday that the Senate proposal would strip regulators\u2019 authority \u201cto preserve important consumer protections, effectively oversee the plans or ensure a level playing field.\u201d While encouraging the idea of more insurance options, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners said the proposal as written \u201cwould lead to significant disruptions in the small group marketplace and higher premiums and fewer coverage choices for many small businesses.\u201d\n\nIt would create \u201can unlevel playing field\u201d that \u201cis likely to lead to cherry-picking, adverse selection and increased costs for sicker individuals,\u201d the American Academy of Actuaries warned in a June 30 letter.\n\nThe Senate bill\u2019s language is similar to legislation adopted in March by the House. Previous legislation passed the House in 2003 but never won approval in the Senate.\n\nAssociation health plans have been around for decades, but some had solvency problems and went bankrupt, leaving consumers on the hook with unpaid medical bills. In several states, regulators investigated whether the plans were advertising that they had comprehensive coverage when, in fact, they provided little or no coverage for such things as chemotherapy or doctor office visits.\n\nThe ACA, passed in 2010, still allows the plans but requires them to follow state rules for small-group coverage. That cemented authority in the states to oversee association plans.\n\nThe Senate proposal was drafted by longtime proponent Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.). It would classify association plans as large-group plans, like those offered by major employers to their workers. The large-group plans face far fewer ACA rules and are generally overseen by the federal government.\n\nLarge-group plans don\u2019t have to offer the ACA\u2019s 10 \u201cessential health benefits,\u201d and insurers can base their premiums on the health of those covered, although the employer must charge both sick and healthy workers the same amounts. Additionally, most traditional large-employer plans tend to be more generous than the ACA requires. Association plans, by contrast, are not generally as comprehensive as large-employer coverage.\n\nDespite the Senate\u2019s previous rejection of similar legislative language, the idea may have more legs now. After all, some GOP lawmakers appear to be embracing a similar proposal by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). It aims to allow insurers to sell individual policies that don\u2019t meet all the requirements of the ACA, so long as they sell at least one type of policy that does.\n\nSupport for either Cruz\u2019s plan or the association proposal will run up against opposition from state regulators, actuaries and some small-business owners.\n\nInsurers, they say, would be able to provide minimal benefits, charge small businesses based on the relative health of their workers, or both. That could be a boon for some companies, including some restaurants or other franchise operations that employ mainly younger, healthier workers. Self-employed individuals who are healthy might also be able to join associations and qualify for the cheaper policies. But as those consumers are siphoned off, insurers would raise rates on their other plans, which must follow more stringent consumer protection rules, including those left in the ACA.\n\n\u201cSome small businesses might be able to move into these plans and save money, but that will cause rates to go up for others [with older or sicker workers],\u201d said David Chase, vice president of national outreach for the Small Business Majority, which supports the ACA.\n\nIf enough healthy small groups opt for the association health plans, siphoning off those consumers, \u201cthe small-group market will go into a death spiral if only employers with sicker and older workers participate,\u201d said Mila Kofman, the former Maine insurance commissioner who now heads the DC Health Benefit Exchange Authority.\n\nInsurance commissioners and actuaries have made similar dire predictions about the effects of splitting the market. Those concerns are overblown, say supporters of association health plans.\n\nSaid Kuhlman at NFIB: \u201cThe existing marketplace [premium costs] may go up a percentage point or two, but other [small businesses] would have a more affordable plan.\u201d", "output": "Some small-business owners burdened with high health care costs would get a break from an obscure provision in the Senate health bill. It offers less regulation, more bargaining power and better prices.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Obamacare Is Not Collapsing, Imploding or Exploding \n The biggest lie that President Trump and other Republican leaders have been repeating about the Affordable Care Act for years is that it is collapsing, imploding or exploding. The truth is that the law is actually working reasonably well, and even the part that has shown the most weakness \u2014 the health insurance marketplaces \u2014 has been stabilizing.\n\nInsurers that sell policies to individuals and families are doing better financially than in the first two years of the A.C.A. They are also doing better than they were before the federal and state governments opened the marketplaces in 2014, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation report published on Monday. The data showing improvement confirms earlier reports by Standard & Poor\u2019s, the Congressional Budget Office and research groups that were based on 2016 numbers. While there are still problems in marketplaces in some states, the A.C.A., or Obamacare, is hardly coming undone.\n\nYet Republicans in Congress and the Trump administration continue to peddle horror stories about the A.C.A. as they try to gather the votes for repeal of major provisions of the law. To that end, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, says he will present a new version of his health care bill on Thursday. His earlier proposal would take health insurance away from 22 million people and raise premiums for millions of others, according to the C.B.O. There is no indication that the changes he has in mind will meaningfully improve that dreadful legislation.\n\nMany Americans who do not get health insurance through employers have been frustrated with the marketplaces. The launch of HealthCare.gov by the Obama administration was disastrous. And the insurance policies have high deductibles and premiums that are unaffordable to many people, because the law did not provide enough subsidies to middle-income families. Insurers did a poor job designing their policies and suffered big losses initially, forcing them to raise premiums even more. Republicans also weakened the markets by repealing provisions meant to stabilize them and by filing a lawsuit to reduce federal subsidies. Despite these challenges, more than 10 million people have bought policies on the marketplaces. Most have been protected from big premium increases through subsidies.", "output": "The biggest lie that President Trump and other Republican leaders have been repeating about the Affordable Care Act for years is that it is collapsing,\u00a0imploding\u00a0or\u00a0exploding. The truth is that the law is actually working reasonably well, and even the part that has shown the most weakness \u2014 the health insurance marketplaces \u2014 has been stabilizing.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Don\u2019t Assume That Private Insurance Is Better Than Medicaid \n As we recently wrote, it\u2019s better for patients to have Medicaid than to be uninsured, contrary to critics of the program. But is having Medicaid, as those critics also say, much worse than having private insurance?\n\nThis idea has become a talking point for conservatives who back big changes to Medicaid, as the Senate health bill proposes. The poor would benefit simply by being ushered off Medicaid and onto private insurance, they write.\n\nBut it\u2019s far from proven that Medicaid is worse than private insurance. A lot depends on what kind of insurance is compared with Medicaid, and how they are compared.\n\nMany studies that measure Medicaid against private insurance suffer from the same flaws that compare Medicaid with being uninsured. They\u2019re terribly confounded, and can show only associations, not causation. People with private insurance are healthier and wealthier than those on Medicaid, and in ways not fully controlled for in statistical analyses. These factors almost certainly predispose someone on Medicaid to have worse outcomes than someone with private insurance.", "output": "As we recently wrote, it\u2019s better for patients to have Medicaid than to be uninsured, contrary to critics of the program. But is having Medicaid, as those critics also say, much worse than having private insurance?\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Senate Republicans, Preparing New Health Bill, Have No Votes to Spare \n WASHINGTON \u2014 The likely defection of two Senate Republicans has left their leaders no margin for error as they move on Thursday to unveil another version of their bill to repeal much of the Affordable Care Act \u2014 without an assurance that they have the votes even to begin debate next week.\n\nSenator Rand Paul of Kentucky flatly declared on Wednesday that he would not vote to take up the bill, which he said left too much of President Barack Obama\u2019s health law in place. Senator Susan Collins of Maine has gone almost as far, saying that the bill cuts too much and that only major revisions could win her over.\n\nThe loss of a single additional senator would doom, at least for now, the Republicans\u2019 effort to make good on their seven-year promise to uproot the health law. Unity is proving elusive. A lunch meeting of Republican senators on Wednesday ended with no clear consensus.\n\nAfter scrapping plans for a vote last month, the majority leader, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, wants to try again next week. But senators have shown few signs of substantial progress toward the needed 50 votes.", "output": "The likely defection of two Senate Republicans has left their leaders no margin for error as they move on Thursday to unveil another version of their bill to repeal much of the Affordable Care Act \u2014 without an assurance that they have the votes even to begin debate next week.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Blogging platform Verst targeting mobile users with updates \n If you're looking to build your brand with some fresh content, your first stop may be WordPress.com or Medium, or you may choose Wix (the favorite of part-Victoria Secret model, part-coder Karlie Kloss).\n\nCEO AJ Frank would rather you pick Verst(opens in a new tab) to post, manage, and monetize your words (from anywhere including your smartphone) and really understand your audience.\n\nJust over a year old, Verst launched several new features Wednesday that include paid subscriptions, homepage designs, a cheaper pricing tier, content migration from WordPress, and email delivery.\n\nFrank previously worked as a senior product manager at Uber, the general manager at Vine, and in new business development at Google. So, he's quite familiar with getting people online, especially on their smartphones, to click, scroll, and watch.\n\nWhile competitor sites like WordPress, Medium, Wix, and custom-made websites seem plentiful, Frank said he and his team saw a need for a mobile-focused and data-empowered solution.\n\n\"We're a fully featured publishing platform, for professionals, not just hobbyists. We want you to own your audience -- the way that you won\u2019t on Facebook \u2014 and use Verst as your central hub,\" Frank said.\n\nCredit: verst\n\nThe latest update lets bloggers put some of their content behind a paywall, offering a way to making money beyond digital advertising also offered on the site. Bloggers take 90 percent of the revenue.\n\nVerst is less of a drag and drop experience like Wix and not just a one-option only version like Medium. Instead, quite like WordPress, users can choose between a handful of design options which can then be easily altered. Unlike WordPress, Verst is well-designed and has a mobile app for publishing.\n\n\"Our number one [priority is] making it easier to use and maintain a site,\" Frank said. \"We have a mobile solution, where we want any publisher to be able to work off their phone or their tablet.\"\n\nFrank didn't disclose how many users they have but pointed to some popular pages. For example, Reid Hoffman, cofounder of LinkedIn, is an advisor to the company and runs his blog(opens in a new tab) with Verst. He shares some blog posts to LinkedIn too. Political pundit and activist Ian Capstick\u200b(opens in a new tab), YouTuber Chris Klemens(opens in a new tab), and mental health app Stigma(opens in a new tab) also use Verst.\n\nWhat Verst can't guarantee, Frank said, is building you an audience.\n\nWhile Medium has a built-in social network aspect, Verst acts simply as your landing page. It's up to you to share the page across Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, for example. Verst does help with search engine optimization to improve your Google ranking and also provides other audience insights so you can be smarter about when to post.\n\nOf course, content hosting isn't free. Verst has been charging $29 per month for the whole experience but is also introducing a $12 per month tier.\n\nNext up for Verst is offering more insights and tips. A mobile notification of the Verst app may suggest when would be a good time to post and maybe one day even post or share automatically.\n\n\"We can be not only a place you can publish and view analytics but also a coach for you. The more you publish the easiest it is to build an audience,\" Frank said.", "output": "One-year-old blogging platform Verst is targeting mobile bloggers by launching several new\u00a0features such as; paid subscriptions, paywall options for authors, homepage designs, email delivery and content migration from other platforms. The app is native\u00a0to mobile displays and in the future will notify authors when it is a good time to upload. CEO\u00a0AJ Frank said \u00a0\"Our\u00a0number\u00a0one [priority is] making it easier to use and maintain a site...where we want any publisher to be able to work off their phone or their tablet\". Verst costs $29 per month but has recently added a $12 per month option.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Repair instead of repeal? Here's what a smaller fix might look like \n With Senate Republicans struggling to find votes for sweeping legislation to roll back the Affordable Care Act, several GOP lawmakers have raised the prospect of a more limited bill \u2014 passed with help from Democrats \u2014 to stabilize health insurance markets around the country.\n\nThat may be heresy for conservative Republicans who\u2019ve spent seven years demanding the full repeal of Obamacare, as the law is often called.\n\nObamacare 101 is a periodic primer on the debate over repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act \u00bb\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBut most patient advocates, physician groups, hospitals and even many health insurers say more-targeted fixes to insurance marketplaces make more sense than the kind of far-reaching overhaul of government health programs that Republicans have been discussing.\n\nCould such an approach work? Here\u2019s a primer on what such legislation might look like and how it might get done.\n\nWhy do a more limited Obamacare \u2018fix\u2019?\n\nFor one thing, it would be politically easier. More-targeted legislation also wouldn\u2019t threaten insurance protections for tens of millions of Americans.\n\nThe political debate over the 2010 healthcare law has focused for years on what has been happening to insurance marketplaces like HealthCare.gov, which were created by the law for Americans who don\u2019t get health insurance through work.\n\nFor a variety of reasons, the marketplaces\u2019 first several years have been rocky.\n\nInsurers in many states struggled to figure out how much to charge for their plans and then raised premiums substantially when customers turned out to be sicker than they expected.\n\nAnd as uncertainty over the future of the markets has intensified since President Trump\u2019s election last year, several leading national insurers have decided to stop selling plans in some states, leaving consumers in some places with few if any health plans to choose from. Trump has called Obamacare a \u201cdisaster\u201d and \u201cdead.\u201d\n\nBut the marketplaces \u2014 where about 10 million Americans currently get coverage \u2014 represent a very small fraction of the U.S. healthcare system.\n\nBy contrast, more than 70 million Americans rely on Medicaid and the related Children\u2019s Health Insurance Plan, the government safety net plans for the poor.\n\nAltering Medicaid, as proposed under the GOP plan, would be far more disruptive. And, as congressional Republicans are learning, it is much more controversial.\n\nBut isn\u2019t Medicaid a big problem, too?\n\nMany conservatives have long argued the federal government can\u2019t afford to provide so much healthcare assistance to the poor.\n\nBut Medicaid has become a vital lifeline for tens of millions of Americans. Medicaid provides assistance to more than one in three U.S. children, protects millions of Americans with disabilities and is the largest funder of nursing home care for elderly Americans, in large part because Medicare does not cover nursing homes.\n\nObamacare\u2019s Medicaid expansion, which made coverage available to working-age adults in many states, is credited with driving down the nation\u2019s uninsured rate to the lowest levels ever recorded.\n\nAnd a growing body of evidence shows it is improving low-income Americans\u2019 access to needed medical care, reducing financial strains on families and improving health.\n\nThat is why Medicaid has been fiercely defended by patient groups, doctors, nurses, educators and even some Republican governors.\n\nWhat would it take to stabilize insurance markets?\n\nProbably not that much, actually.\n\nThere is widespread agreement that the federal government must first continue funding assistance through Obamacare to low-income consumers to help offset their co-pays and deductibles.\n\nThis aid \u2014 known as cost-sharing reduction, or CSR, payments \u2013 was included in the original law.\n\nBut the payments have become a political football as Republicans argued the aid can\u2019t be provided without an appropriation by Congress. And Trump administration officials keep threatening to cut off the payments.\n\nMany insurers say that would be devastating, forcing them to raise premiums by double digits.\n\nCongress could simply put an end to that uncertainty by voting to appropriate the CSR money.\n\nSecondly, most insurance industry officials and independent experts say the federal government must create a better system to protect insurers from big losses if they are hit with very costly patients.\n\nSuch reinsurance systems are used in other insurance marketplaces such as the Medicare Part D prescription drug program and are seen as critical to stabilizing markets.\n\nThirdly, current and former marketplace officials say, the federal government should aggressively market and advertise to get younger, healthier people to buy health plans on the marketplaces.\n\nThis strategy has helped Covered California, that state\u2019s marketplace, which has not been beset by some of the problems in other markets.\n\nFinally, many experts say, federal officials likely will have to come up with additional incentives to convince health insurers to offer plans in remote, rural areas.\n\nSome Republicans have suggested that consumers in these areas could be allowed to buy health plans that don\u2019t meet standards set out in the current law.\n\nWould these steps cost more money?\n\nYes.\n\nBut both the House and Senate GOP bills to roll back Obamacare included billions of dollars to stabilize markets over the next several years.\n\nSo could Congress put that aid in a smaller healthcare bill?\n\nThat\u2019s still unclear.\n\nMany congressional Republicans are reluctant to spend any more money on healthcare aid, especially for a law that most have sworn to repeal.\n\nBut polls indicate that Americans now hold congressional Republicans and the Trump administration responsible for the fate of the nation\u2019s healthcare system, including the insurance marketplaces.\n\nThat suggests that there could be a political price to pay for the GOP if the markets are not stabilized.\n\nAt the same time, Senate Democrats have signaled a willingness to work with Republicans on marketplaces fixes if GOP lawmakers agree to drop their repeal campaign.\n\nBut major hurdles remain, including demands from many GOP lawmakers that at least some of Obamacare\u2019s provisions be repealed, such as the highly unpopular mandate requiring Americans to have health insurance.\n\nRather than stabilizing markets, however, eliminating the insurance requirement could lead to even more turmoil, experts say.\n\nnoam.levey@latimes.com\n\n@noamlevey\n\nMORE OBAMACARE 101\n\nWhat\u2019s going to happen to 70 million Americans who rely on Medicaid?\n\nA side-by-side comparison of Obamacare and the GOP\u2019s replacement plans\n\nWould sick Americans still be able to get insurance under the House Republican bill?", "output": "With Senate\u00a0Republicans\u00a0struggling to find votes for sweeping legislation to roll back the\u00a0Affordable Care Act, several GOP lawmakers have raised the prospect of a more limited bill \u2014 passed with help from\u00a0Democrats\u00a0\u2014 to stabilize health insurance markets around the country.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How digital health innovators are changing the status quo for end-of-life planning \n About the author: Stephanie Nieman is a Principal at SJF Ventures based in Durham, NC. SJF Ventures is a venture capital fund investing in high growth, positive impact companies across the U.S. and an active health care investor.\n\n\n\nBenjamin Franklin famously wrote that \u201cnothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.\u201d And yet the inherent optimism of human nature causes us to avoid talking about the inescapable truth of death. Studies have repeatedly shown that while we widely recognize the value in end-of-life consideration and planning, we do not take much, if any, action to ensure personal desires will one day happen.\n\nA 2013 national survey found 90 percent of Americans believe it is important to have end-of-life care discussions with their families, yet fewer than 30 percent had actually done it. Another 2014 study reported only 26 percent of Americans surveyed had completed an advanced directive, like a living will -or other legal documentation of one\u2019s end-of-life wishes. Another study confirmed again that while 63 percent felt it was very important to communicate their funeral wishes to family members prior to death, just 21 percent had done so.\n\nAnd since we are not taking action in either family conversations or legal documentation, individual wishes are not being realized. Seventy percent of Americans state they would prefer to die at home, although only 25 percent actually do.\n\nIn addition to the gap of unmet patient wishes, unnecessary end-of-life care also comes at a high financial cost. The United States spent $646 billion on Medicare in 2015, and it is estimated 28 percent of that was spent on patients\u2019 last six months of life. Patients also pay high healthcare costs at the end of life; a Mount Sinai School of Medicine study found average out-of-pocket expenses for Medicare recipients during the five years before their death were around $39,000 for individuals and $51,000 for couples where one spouse died. Twenty-five percent had bills exceeding their total household assets, and 43 percent exceeded their non-housing assets.\n\nBut when terminally ill patients choose to remain at home, focus on palliative and/or hospice care, and avoid unnecessary treatments, patients and families have demonstrated higher satisfaction and patients have shown to live longer. Some health care providers and payers are seeking to better meet patient wishes and reduce unnecessary end-of-life care costs with advance care planning (ACP) programs where clinicians and/or social workers actively engage patients to consider all options and document their preferences. Examples include Gundersen\u2019s Respecting Choices program in Wisconsin and Sutter Health\u2019s Advanced Illness Management (AIM) program in northern California for patients with late-stage chronic illnesses. Gundersen\u2019s program has demonstrated 7.2 fewer days in the hospital and $23,000 in cost savings per patient versus the national average in the last two years of life with a 25 percent increase in length of life for its patients.\n\nThere are also national advocacy efforts around end-of-life planning to help educate Americans on the need for personal decision-making, family communications, and legal documentation. Examples of great nonprofit resources include The Conversation Project, DeathWise, and ACP Decisions.\n\nDigital health solutions to scale these types of advance care planning services and end-of-life preparation programs are newer to market than their counterpart population health and chronic disease management startups. They also face greater obstacles to adoption as they must overcome the highlighted human psychological barriers embedded in end-of-life planning.\n\nThat said, I\u2019m bullish on market opportunities for models that can build patient trust quickly, utilize experienced professionals with expertise in conducting these difficult conversations, engage families in patient decision-making, help patients document and communicate their wishes with healthcare providers (both primary and acute care), and ultimately demonstrate higher patient and family satisfaction alongside lower costs of care.\n\nBelow highlights 11 digital end-of-life companies, each coming at the challenge in a distinct way. One group of players is aligning more with healthcare payers and providers (who have the greatest financial incentive to engage patients) and focusing on severely ill patient populations, and another group of companies has set out to directly engage individuals and families, casting a broader net and trying to elevate the general population awareness level of end-of-life planning.\n\nB2B Advanced Care Planning Outsourced Solutions\n\nThese models generally sell their technology-enhanced services to at-risk providers, health plans, and payers and engage patients, often those identified as severely ill, on their behalf.\n\nWinners must:\n\n\u00b7 Engage patients on a very difficult, disliked topic (one's mortality), and at a time when they may be trying to fight a severe illness. Furthermore, patients may wrongly akin the idea of ACP with \u201cadmitting defeat\u201d in their own minds.\n\n\u00b7 Also engage families because without family buy-in, advanced directives may not be effective anyway. These are also very difficult conversations to have, and it can be tricky to coordinate communication with both patient and family.\n\n\u00b7 Secure multiple signed patient documentation that is distributed to primary care physicians, labeled for emergency professionals in the home, presented in emergency health settings, and recorded in EMRs.\n\n\u00b7 Build patient trust in order to ever begin the conversation. Doctors are typically the most trusted partners for these conversations yet doctors do not have the time, strong incentives, or the training to engage in them. Other players, especially payers, are not generally as trusted by patients.\n\n\u00b7 Execute in a personal touch environment that can be affordably scaled. End of life conversations are probably best held in in-person settings, yet these may not be scalable so any virtual care or remote communications must be carefully planned.\n\n\u00b7 Be patient-centric, not cost-centric. Patients think of end-of-life planning comprehensively (i.e. include health care, death, funeral, estate planning decisions altogether) while health plans only consider the care decisions and costs. Successful models will likely serve all patient and family planning needs.\n\n\n\nPlayers:\n\nCopilots in Care was an end-of-life care company that unfortunately proved unable to successfully scale. It attempted a model whereby payers paid for severely ill patient outreach that was initially engaged remotely, and then the company delivered end of life discussions through in-person social worker visits to patient homes. Copilots in Care shut down in 2016.\n\nEmmi Solutions (a Wolters Kluwer company) is a patient engagement platform offering online, interactive multimedia programs, and interactive voice response (IVR) calls to help patients across the continuum of care, from prevention to treatment to follow-up, and includes advance care planning as one of its services. Emmi was acquired by Wolters Kluwer for $170 million in 2016.\n\n\n\nIris Plans is a telemedicine model sold to payers and providers to first identify patients who would likely benefit most from advance care planning, set up video-based conversations with patients, and provide disease-specific education tools to help patients navigate multiple care decisions specific to their condition. Iris Plans raised $1 million led by Better Ventures in 2016.\n\n\n\nVital Decisions is one of the first providers of dedicated healthcare planning and end-of-life decision-making services. It utilizes a largely telephonic communication model for experienced social workers to call and discuss care options with terminally ill patients on behalf of health plans and payers. Vital Decisions was acquired by MTS Health Investors in 2012.\n\n\n\nVynca focuses on healthcare providers and offers a technology solution to share end of life care plans across multiple healthcare providers. It uses the Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) paradigm that ensures a patients\u2019 wishes are actually carried out. POLST is being rolled out in 43 states, but in almost 90 percent of cases the paper POLST forms are not available at the scene of an emergency, so Vynca provides a technology solution to digitize the forms and integrate them into healthcare providers\u2019 workflow. Vynca raised $4.9 million from angel investors in 2015.\n\n\n\nWiserCare is a patient clinical decision support information technology paid for by hospitals and health systems to enable smarter, faster, and more effective medical decisions. It has raised $5.8 million from several groups to date.\n\n\n\nD2C End-of-Life Planning and Record-keeping\n\nThese models acquire individual users directly, usually online, and provide comprehensive end-of-life, funeral, and estate planning education, documentation, storage and/or sharing tools either for free to users or for a small fee. The companies sometimes monetize through various types of distribution partners who sponsor the digital tools as a benefit to their employees, members, or other beneficiaries.\n\nWinners must:\n\n\u00b7 Reach and engage a general population of users on the disliked topic of end-of-life planning no matter what their current life stage or health outlook (which is even more challenging.)\n\n\u00b7 Acquire these users at a very low cost.\n\n\u00b7 Educate on options and deliver documentation tools in a very efficient, low-cost, and likely all digital manner as there is not necessarily a payer/provider customer to pay for 1:1 patient engagement and personalized discussions for this general population.\n\n\u00b7 Provide ways to store documents for many years until needed and to share the documents with family members.\n\n\u00b7 Secure multiple signed patient documentation of advanced directives that is distributed to primary care physicians and recorded in EMRs.\n\n\u00b7 Efficiently cover all personal planning decisions at one time without overwhelming users who may have never even considered these decisions before.\n\n\n\nPlayers:\n\nCake is an online platform that enables users to express their last wishes and thoughts and helps them to discover, store, and share their end-of-life preferences. Targeting the general population, Cake guides users on making decisions for all aspects of one\u2019s end-of-life plans (health, assets, legal, funeral, etc.). It has worked with employers and health plans to reach their employees and patient populations. Cake raised an undisclosed amount of capital from Bantam Group and Nautilus Ventures in 2016.\n\n\n\nEverplans is an online platform for funeral and end-of-life planning. The company provides a platform enabling users to create profiles outlining their end-of-life wishes, living wills, healthcare proxies, financial information, legal documents, bank information and key personal information, which they can share with those people charged with carrying out their wishes. Everplans has raised $12.6 million to date, most recently its Series A was led by Mousse Partners in 2016.\n\n\n\nGrace started off as an online concierge service for finding funerals and end-of-life care but has since pivoted, and Grace is now a marketplace for finding hospice care alongside providing patient and family education on the benefits of hospice care. Grace raised $800K in 2016.\n\n\n\nMyDirectives (by ADVault) is a completely digital emergency, critical, and advance care planning service that is secure, easy to understand, and free for consumers to use. Apple iPhone users can also download the MyDirectives app for free in the Apple App Store. MyDirectives also works with health plans to distribute the tool to their patient populations.\n\n\n\nWilling is a platform designed to create legal wills online. It offers an online tool for users to create a will or living will in minutes and helps users find and compare costs for funeral homes and cemeteries in order to save families time and money. Willing raised an undisclosed amount in 2015.\n\n\n\nAll models encouraging individuals to engage in end-of-life planning face ongoing barriers to adoption, but recent attention on the topic, growing comfort with virtual care models enabling personal discussions to be delivered at scale, and rising out-of-pocket and overall health care costs all have the potential to make now the time for end-of-life companies to succeed.", "output": "The inherent optimism of human nature causes us to avoid talking about the inescapable truth of death. Studies have repeatedly shown that while we widely recognize the value in end-of-life consideration and planning, we do not take much, if any, action to ensure personal desires will one day happen.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers survey strategies to improve end of life quality \n Globally, 20 million people per year require palliative care at the end of their lives.\n\nA new study by Cornell researchers has identified strategies that could help improve their quality of life, especially as their lives come to an end.\n\nThe team surveyed 133 staff and volunteers who provide end-of-life care to patients in home and institutional settings for four organizations in two counties in upstate New York. The study points to improvements in end-of-life care through institutional policies, palliative care practices and facility design.\n\nThe findings are highlighted in \"Strategies to Improve Quality of Life at the End of Life: Interdisciplinary Team Perspectives,\" published in June in the American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. The authors are assistant professor Rana Zadeh, professor Paul Eshelman and postdoctoral associate Hessam Sadatsafavi from the Department of Design and Environmental Analysis in the Collage of Human Ecology, as well as Judith Setla, medical director of Hospice Central New York.\n\n\"This ethnographic study \u2026 is intended to add to the sparse but growing literature promoting quality of life from a practical perspective and to act as a precursor to further research on designing and managing environments to improve both quality of life and end of life.\"\n\nSurvey responses from physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, social workers, chaplains, administrators and volunteers identified numerous areas to enhance and safeguard quality of life for end-of-life care patients and their families.\n\nThese included organization philosophy and mission; organizational policies; caregivers' behaviors and practices; symptom management; facility design, operation and management; and patient, family member and caregiver experiences.\n\nThe recommendations included family access to 24/7 visitation, patient mobility in the facility and access to the outdoors, staff access to stress relief programs and break times, and avoiding over sedation of patients while promoting spiritual care and counseling.\n\nThe study found establishing trusting relationships with caregivers through positive social interactions was important. Optimization of facility space and layout allowing for greater interaction between family members, caregivers and patients were also seen as priorities.\n\n\"The diverse list of identified strategies indicates that improving care to address the unique, complex, multilayered dimensions of quality of life at the end of life requires a multidisciplinary approach and consistency among care providers, including administration, clinical management, front-line caregivers and support staff,\" the authors wrote. \"One important implication of the data is that strategies should be applied in concert and tailored to the desires of the individual. When all of these strategies are used in harmony, quality of life in end-of-life care can truly be enhanced.\"\n\nFor example, strategies that provide residents access to the outdoors need the support of the facility's physical environment, staff commitment and regulations.\n\n\"The facility would need to have an accessible pathway as well as a pleasantly designed outdoor space protected from rain and wind,\" Zadeh said. \"Staff would need to 'buy in' to the idea of taking patients outside, and an organizational policy would be required that allows patients to spend time outdoors. If one of the three pillars is missing, the aim of healing and soothing patients through such a strategy won't be accomplished.\"\n\nThe research results are neither definitive nor universal to all care settings, the authors said. But seeking knowledge from multidisciplinary teams of end-of-life care providers demonstrates an investigative approach that helps fill gaps in current research. Similar investigations can help generate guidelines to help reduce unnecessary suffering and optimize resource use.\n\nEshelman points to a \"painfully compelling\" finding from one of the study's focus groups: Progressive loss of control, not only for the patient but also for their loved ones, marks the path toward the end of life.\n\n\"If one of the goals in the design of an end-of-life care setting was to accommodate the urge to maintain control, the concept of flexibility could have relevance and be appropriate for application in the design process,\" Eshelman said. \"A question that would be useful in informing the design process then would be, what is the nature of flexibility in an end-of-life care setting such that meaningful and manageable control actually will be realized by patients, family members and staff?\"\n\nEshelman says that similar questions seeded by the present study have the potential to frame a substantive program of research for years to come.\n\nMore information: Strategies to Improve Quality of Life at the End of Life: Interdisciplinary Team Perspectives. American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. DOI: doi.org/10.1177/1049909117711997", "output": "Globally, 20 million people per year require palliative care at the end of their lives. A new study by Cornell researchers has identified strategies that could help improve their quality of life, especially as their lives come to an end.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "America's Addiction to Abusive Drug Pricing \n Consider what got Martin Shkreli in trouble with the law. Shrkeli is the infamous \"pharma bro\" who bought patents to lifesaving drugs then hiked their prices to obscene levels. In one egregious example, he raised the price of a 62-year-old drug crucial to AIDS patients by over 5,000 percent.\n\nBut this money-or-your-life extortion racket isn't the root of the case against him. It's whether he lied to investors.\n\nDefrauding investors is illegal. Charging outrageous prices to desperate patients is not (a point that Shkreli himself repeatedly makes). This is the only advanced country that puts its people's lives at the mercy of corporate barracudas.\n\nFor those who think they can stop these gougers through shaming or otherwise showing them the error of their ways, I wish them luck. Better to pitch a harder ball and get government on the side of the public.\n\nLouisiana is plagued by obesity, opioid addiction and other health crises. It has 35,000 residents with hepatitis C who are on Medicaid or uninsured. Hepatitis C destroys the liver, but the drugs to treat it cost $85,000 for a 12-week regimen. Thus, the state decided to cover only 324 patients already suffering severe liver damage. It was that or have little money left for schools and roads.\n\nBut Louisiana's health secretary has landed on a novel approach that other states are watching. Rebekah Gee has dusted off an old federal law that lets Washington regulators sidestep drug patents in the interests of the public good. A panel has advised Gee to ask Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price to let Louisiana use the patents at more earthly prices. Just the possibility of taking such measures could get drug makers to the negotiating table.\n\nGilead Sciences makes the hepatitis C drugs \u2014 Sovaldi and Harvoni \u2014 but $85,000 is an only-in-America price. Sovaldi sells for about $1,000 a pill in the U.S. while a generic version costs only $4 a pill in India. Canada pays $55,000 for a course of treatment. France recently got Gilead down to a price of about $33,000.\n\nGilead adopts the Big Pharma line that drug companies must charge huge sums to pay for the research and development of their pathbreaking products. And Sovaldi is undeniably a fabulous drug. But actually, it's not Gilead's invention. The developer was Pharmasset, a company that Gilead bought some years ago. Pharmasset, interestingly, had planned to charge only $36,000 for a course of treatment.\n\nGood capitalists can agree that those who develop cutting-edge drugs deserve to be richly rewarded for their efforts. But then Americans must ask why they alone must bear the costs of bestowing the rewards.\n\nThe difference is that our government refuses to intervene meaningfully on the people's behalf. Even our taxpayers don't seem to matter. General revenues cover 74 percent of the Medicare drug benefit, yet Congress has forbid the government to negotiate the program's drug prices.\n\nClearly, the industry needs a new business model in which costs of development are fairly shared. The same goes for breaks on price.\n\nThe real problem in American health care is not that we can't afford what we need. Other countries with far less resources provide as good or better health care than we do. The problem is that, by international standards, we pay inflated prices for just about everything.\n\nOverpaying has become almost an addiction. We don't think we can kick it, and the default has been to not even try. Until we move the emphasis from \"How do we pay?\" to \"What are we paying?\" we will never stop the abusive pricing of essential drugs.\n\nFollow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at [email protected]. To find out more about Froma Harrop and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.", "output": "Consider what got Martin Shkreli in trouble with the law. Shrkeli is the infamous \"pharma bro\" who bought patents to lifesaving drugs then hiked their prices to obscene levels. In one egregious example, he raised the price of a 62-year-old drug crucial to AIDS patients by over 5,000 percent.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How to stay out of a nursing home and age independently \n Want to stay out of a nursing home in your twilight years? Put down that hot dog.\n\nA new study outlines which aspects of a healthy lifestyle predict independent living late in life. While physical activity and living with someone else can factor into reaching old age, specific behaviors \u2014 such as sticking to a Mediterranean-like diet and not smoking \u2014 may dictate a person\u2019s ability to live without a caregiver into their late 80s, according to research published Friday in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Experts told NewsHour such guidelines for keeping the elderly mobile are invaluable as the geriatric population continues to grow.\n\n\u201cPreserved independence is highly valued by very old individuals,\u201d Kristin Franzon, a geriatrician and the study\u2019s lead author, told NewsHour via email. In the beginning, her team wanted to know if there was anything people could do to maintain independence as they age, or if dependence is an unavoidable part of getting old.\n\nHer 16-year study at Uppsala University followed a cohort of Swedish men as they became octogenarians. Franzon started her investigation in 2011, but relied on data from the the Uppsala Longitudinal Study of Adult Men (ULSAM) \u2014 an ongoing project begun in 1970, when its participants were 50 years old.\n\nApproximately 1,100 participants from ULSAM fit the bill for Franzon\u2019s study, though some chose not to participate or didn\u2019t meet the benchmark for independent living at the start. Over the next 16 years, a portion of the men also passed away or dropped out due to severe illness. To qualify as independent, the men had to meet rigorous standards. The men had to be able to bathe, toilet and dress themselves, and walk alone outdoors until the age of 87. They also had to pass a mental state examination, could not be institutionalized or have dementia.\n\nIn the end, 369 men completed the final study \u2014 276 counted as independent agers, while 93 lived co-dependent lifestyles.\n\nThis cohort underwent a series of tests during medical checkups. The men were queried on their physical activity, education level, smoking habits and whether or not they lived alone. When they could make it to the clinic, nurses gave them a full physical, looking at health indicators like height, weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, blood glucose, insulin and cholesterol.\n\nParticipants also kept food diaries. Those records were scored based on how well their diets conformed to a modified Mediterranean diet \u2014 meaning it was adapted for a typical Swede. Typically, a Mediterranean diet emphasizes fish, cereals, polyunsaturated fatty acids, fruits and vegetables. For the Swedes in the study, their diets did not contain a lot of olive oil or nuts, while potatoes counted as a grain.", "output": "Want to stay out of a nursing home in your twilight years? Put down that hot dog.\u200b A new study outlines which aspects of a healthy lifestyle predict independent living late in life.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How the BCRA would impact enrollee costs, according to your age \n This analysis is part of USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative on Health Policy , which is a partnership between the Center for Health Policy at Brookings and the University of Southern California Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics. The Initiative aims to inform the national health care debate with rigorous, evidence-based analysis leading to practical recommendations using the collaborative strengths of USC and Brookings.\n\nThis analysis looked at an older version of the Senate\u2019s Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA). A more recent analysis of the current version of the BCRA is available here\n\nMuch attention has focused on how the recently introduced Senate Republican health care bill \u2013 the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 (BCRA) \u2013 would impact health insurance premiums, both before and after accounting for lower subsidies, and patient cost-sharing in the individual market. In this analysis, we examine how the law would change people\u2019s total spending on covered health care services, to provide a full picture of health care costs for the average consumer under the BCRA as opposed to current law.\n\nWe find that the BCRA would increase total costs for lower-income enrollees in all age groups. For higher-income enrollees, older enrollees would generally experience increases in costs, while younger enrollees would experience reductions in costs, though these reductions would be smaller than the increases experienced by older enrollees.\n\nTo construct estimates of the total health care costs (premiums plus out-of-pocket cost-sharing) that an individual market enrollee at different ages and incomes could expect to pay in 2026, on average, under the BCRA and under current law, we rely upon Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates of the BCRA. We focus on the year 2026 because CBO provides estimates in that year for individual market insurance premiums at different ages, under both the BCRA and current law. CBO highlights 2026 because it is the last year in the 10-year budget window within which they provide estimates and because it illustrates that law\u2019s effects when fully in effect.\n\nThe following policy changes have the largest effects on enrollees\u2019 total costs:\n\nThe BCRA reduces the size of premium tax credits available under the ACA, by tying their value to the cost of a less generous health insurance plan (a plan with an actuarial value of 58 percent, as opposed to the 70 percent actuarial value plans that the ACA tax credits are tied to). The BCRA also adjusts the size of tax credits based on the enrollee\u2019s age and income.\n\nThe BCRA eliminates the ACA\u2019s cost-sharing reduction subsidies that reduce the amount of out-of-pocket spending required for enrollees with incomes below 250 percent of the federal poverty line (FPL).\n\nThe BCRA affects the risk pool in the individual market, and therefore insurance plan premiums before subsidies, primarily by repealing the ACA\u2019s individual mandate, barring enrollment in individual market plans for 6 months for those who did not maintain continuous coverage, introducing a Patient and State Stability Fund, and reducing premium and cost-sharing subsidies.\n\nThe remainder of this blog highlights this comparison for five different scenarios: a 21-year old individual, a 40-year old individual, a 64-year old individual, and a 64-year old couple.\n\n21 year old\n\n40 year old\n\n64 year old\n\n64 year old couple\n\nconclusion\n\nThe most striking finding is that the BCRA would lead to a large increase in average annual health care costs for those with lower incomes, whatever their age and family type.\n\nThe most striking finding is that the BCRA would lead to a large increase in average annual health care costs for those with lower incomes, whatever their age and family type. The adverse impacts would be particularly pronounced for older enrollees with lower incomes. For example, a 64-year-old couple earning a combined income of $28,000 would go from average annual costs equal to 13 percent of their income under the ACA up to 70 percent of their income under the BCRA. The magnitude of this change stems in large part from the elimination of the ACA\u2019s cost-sharing subsidies, which effectively reduce low-income enrollees\u2019 out-of-pocket costs, and that unsubsidized average out-of-pocket costs are particularly high for a 64 year old couple.\n\nThe other major difference in average total costs occurs for older enrollees between 350 percent and 400 percent of the FPL, in which range the ACA offers sizeable premium tax credits but the BCRA does not provide any assistance.\n\nFor individual market enrollees younger than their mid-40s with high enough incomes, average annual total health care costs would be lower under the BCRA. However, the reduction in costs for such enrollees is generally much smaller than the increase in costs due to the BCRA for low income and older enrollees.\n\nMethodological Appendix\n\nThis appendix explains how the \u201caverage annual cost of health care for individual market enrollees\u201d in 2026 \u2013 the metric used throughout this analysis \u2013 is calculated for enrollees of different ages and incomes. The average annual cost of health care for an individual market enrollee is the average net premium paid plus their average out-of-pocket cost-sharing.\n\nWe start with the premiums estimated by CBO in 2026 for a \u201cbenchmark\u201d plan for a 21, 40, and 64 year old under both the BCRA and current law. Premium tax credits are tied to the cost of these benchmark plans. Under current law, a benchmark plan has an actuarial value of 70 percent (meaning that it pays for 70 percent of covered health care services, on average). Under the BCRA, a benchmark plan has an actuarial value of 58 percent.\n\nTo calculate the net premium paid by an enrollee for a benchmark plan, we take the lower of the gross premium in 2026 estimated by CBO or the relevant percentage of their income specified by the premium tax credit schedules under the BCRA and ACA. In order to estimate the premium tax credit schedules in 2026, we adjust the affordability thresholds specified in the legislative language of both bills for 2014 by the extent to which employer insurance plan premium growth \u2013 as estimated by the Office of the Chief Actuary (OACT) at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Studies (CMS) \u2013 is projected to exceed personal income growth over that time period \u2013 as estimated by CBO. To estimate the federal poverty line in 2025 (which is used for 2026 subsidy calculations), we trend forward the levels in 2017 by CBO\u2019s projections of Consumer Price Inflation for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U).\n\nTo calculate average out-of-pocket cost-sharing for an enrollee in 2026, we assume that 80 percent of insurance plan premiums are dedicated to claims costs. Under the BCRA, we simply multiply 80 percent of the gross benchmark plan premium by (4.2/5.8) to account for the plan\u2019s 58 percent actuarial value. This approach implicitly assumes that the 5 to 1 premium variation between a 21 year old and 64 year old permitted under the BCRA accurately reflects the differences in claims costs by age.\n\nSince premiums are constrained to vary by less than claims costs under current law, this approach would understate claims spending under the ACA\u2014and thus out-of-pocket spending\u2014for older adults and overstate that spending for younger adults. We thus proceed in two steps:\n\nFirst, we infer what CBO expects average per enrollee claims spending to be in 2026 under current law. To do so, we use the current law age curve to compute premiums at each age. We then compute a weighted average claims cost using a projection of the individual market age distribution in 2026 and multiply the resulting average premium by 80 percent. To project individual market enrollment by age in 2026, we base our estimates on tabulations of the 2015 American Community Survey (ACS) by single year of age. We count individuals as having individual market coverage if they report having directly purchased coverage and do not report coverage through an employer, Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, or the VA. We exclude individuals age 65 or older because these individuals are unlikely to have individual market major medical coverage. To project this enrollment distribution forward to 2026 under current law, we assume that enrollment in each age cohort grows in accordance with the Census Bureau\u2019s most recent projection of overall population growth in that age cohort.\n\nSecond, we distribute this spending across age groups under the assumption that the relative spending by different age groups matches the 5 to 1 age curve permitted under the BCRA. To do so, we must infer how CBO expects the age curve to change given the allowance of 5 to 1 premium variation. We assume that CBO used the same approach used by two research groups who previously analyzed the effects of this provision. Those groups assumed that the age factors for individuals ages 21 and older would be set equal to twice the age factors under current law minus 1; age factors for individuals under age 21 would be left unchanged. This approach exactly reproduces the ratios between the premiums for the three ages reported by CBO (apart from small differences that can be explained by rounding errors). For these calculations, we use the same individual market age distribution used in the first step.\n\nWith these age-specific claims costs in hand, we calculate average out-of-pocket costs associated with a benchmark plan under current law (before incorporating the effects of the ACA\u2019s cost-sharing reduction subsidies) by multiplying those amounts by 3/7, reflecting the ratio of out-of-pocket costs to plan spending under the benchmark plan. For enrollees with incomes at or below 250 percent of the FPL, who receive federal subsidies to assist with cost-sharing, we use a lower ratio to reflect the fact that a portion of out-of-pocket spending is covered by cost-sharing reductions.", "output": "Much attention has focused on how the recently introduced Senate Republican health care bill \u2013 the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 (BCRA) \u2013 would impact health insurance premiums, both before\u00a0and\u00a0after\u00a0accounting for lower subsidies, and\u00a0patient cost-sharing\u00a0in the individual market.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snapchat addresses lack of discoverability with Paperclip feature \n For its new \u201c101 Days of Because Summer\u201d campaign, Malibu is, to use an old phrase, \u201ckilling two birds with one stone.\u201d The Pernod Ricard-owned rum brand is not only promoting its Snapchat channel on Snapchat but also on Facebook and Instagram. The ad \u2014 featured in Instagram Stories and as a sponsored post on Tasty\u2019s Facebook page \u2014 features a Snapchat code and encourages viewers to \u201cSnap to Unlock\u201d to view more content.\n\nThis type of cross-promotion is one way brands are working to circumvent the issues they have with being found, or their branded content being found, on Snapchat, which, unlike on other platforms like Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, a user needs an exact username to search for a brand.\n\n\u201cThe discoverability of a brand within Snapchat is very low right now, and that\u2019s something that marketers are struggling with,\u201d said Stephen Boidock, director of marketing and business development at ad agency Drumroll. Followers, he said, simply cannot reach branded content on their own. \u201cSnapchat has always prided itself on being exclusive,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the very reason why users love it and brands struggle with it. It\u2019s no surprise that the company just dipped below their initial IPO stock price of $17 for the first time since going public.\u201d\n\nBecause of this, cross-promoting on other social channels has almost become a necessary means to bring in followers to a brand\u2019s Snapchat profile. \u201cBrands are doing this consistently,\u201d said Justin Rezvani, founder and CEO of TheAmplify. In fact, Rezvani works with a client on cross-promotion. \u201cIt works to diversify your audience and get more eyeballs,\u201d he said.\n\nPlatforms have not been as open to the idea. They have been known to pressure brands into not broadcasting other social channels, according to sources. Last year, Twitter discouraged brands from using Snapchat links, Instagram stopped allowing brands to place a Snapchat link in bios and Facebook\u2019s Messenger no longer supported Snapchat links. It seemed as though publishers were beginning to begin feeling the pressure. Mic and The Huffington Post both removed their Snapcodes from their profile pictures. Rezvani points out the issue\u2014\u201cThey don\u2019t want attention moving to another place,\u201d he said. \u201cCNN doesn\u2019t want people to move to NBC tomorrow. Same concept.\u201d\n\nYet, brands continue to cross-promote their Snapchat channels on social networks. After all, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Snapchat do not have any policies set against brands taking this approach. Boidock believes the platforms care more about the advertising revenue they are bringing in than policing this kind of activity. \u201cThe reality is that they are far more concerned with advertising dollars,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen those start to migrate to other channels, you\u2019ll start to see some unhappy campers.\u201d\n\nThis is not the only way brands are working the Snapchat system.\n\nYes, cross-promoting on social can work, said Jeff Roach, president and chief strategy officer at independent creative agency Schiefer Chopshop. But he said that rather than simply slapping a Snapcode on an Instagram or Facebook feed, a brand should offer an exclusive gift to the consumer that would make them want to jump ship \u2014 well, at least for a little while. \u201cThe first look of a new product, exclusive video drop or an offer such as a digital discount code only available in Snapchat drives audiences into the platform,\u201d he said.\n\nSchiefer Chopshop has worked with a number of brands on tactics to help them skirt discoverability issues on the platform. Last week, for instance, the agency launched a game in Snapchat for Boost Mobile called \u201cGalactic Thunder Pony.\u201d To get people to the game, the agency created Snapcodes on out-of-home ads in subway stations to drive users directly into the digital experience.\n\nAnother tactic the agency considers, said Roach, is developing partial stories that begin on one channel and continue in another. For instance, a brand might start an experience on Instagram that promotes its Snapchat channel to redirect followers to Snapchat to finish the experience. Sometimes, a brand will attach promotional rewards to encourage engagement from one platform to the next, he said.\n\nSnapchat itself has recently released new ways for users to discover brands in the app.\n\nAt the end of June, Snapchat introduced Snap Map, a way for users to zoom in on a map to discover the Snapchat Stories in a particular location. Zoom in on New York City, for instance, and a user can find specific events highlighted. Marketers see a lot of potential with this for location-based marketing. \u201cIf a brand is going to have a big event, like they were hosting a concert at the Rose Bowl and they want people to engage with it and they want to promote it, [Snapchat] would be a nice way to have people engage with it,\u201d said Matt Britton, CEO and founder of agency Crowdtap. The platform may already be working with a few brands to promote their events. For instance, Daybreaker, a brand that puts on yoga and dancing events in U.S. cities, had its silent disco at Westfield World Trade Center on July 12 spotlighted as a \u201cfeatured\u201d event, and the stories from the dancers played on rotation all day on the platform.\n\nThis week, Snapchat has also introduced a feature called Paperclip, which allows brands to link out to external pages, something brands have long wanted to do. \u201cOut of everything, the Paperclip feature is the biggest win for brands,\u201d said Joey Neal, chief experience officer at The Burns Group. \u201cBeing able to link out to other web properties really helps.\u201d Brands are already jumping on it. IKEA, along with ad agency MEC, launched one of the first campaigns on Tuesday that uses the new feature. Google has also already used the feature to promote its Pixel phone as part of a video ad that includes a buy button. Users can swipe up, tap on a buy button and choose from four vendors \u2014 Verizon, Google Store, Project Fi or Best Buy \u2014 to purchase the Pixel outside of Snapchat.\n\nNot only does Paperclip offer a deeper brand experience, said Noah Mallin, senior partner and head of social at MEC North America, it allows marketers to track click-through rates, proving a return on investment. \u201cA program like this shows real impact,\u201d he said. Still, the feature doesn\u2019t necessarily solve the platform\u2019s discoverability problem, Boidock said. \u201cPaperclip is a great step to get people to find a branded experience internally,\u201d he said, \u201cbut you have to get people there first to even experience that.\u201d", "output": "Brands looking to advertise on Snapchat are being forced to cross-promote on other platforms due to Snapchat's lack of discoverability. The issue is one reason why the company's shares slipped below their initial price of $17 for the first time recently, but Snapchat could bounce back with new feature Paperclip. It allows brands to link to external pages, offering a deeper brand experience and enabling click-through rates to be tracked."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Buried in Trump\u2019s executive order on drug pricing is a windfall clause for pharma \n The pharmaceutical industry could see windfall profits from a little-noticed tweak to the insurance market tucked into the Trump administration\u2019s draft executive order on drug prices, experts say.\n\nThe short, technical paragraph calls for the Internal Revenue Service to allow patients with high-deductible health plans to receive care for chronic diseases, including drugs, before meeting their deductibles.\n\nadvertisement\n\nThis allowance, known as a \u201csafe harbor,\u201d could be welcome news for patients with chronic conditions like diabetes or asthma stuck with skimpy plans. For example, a diabetes patient could fill her prescription for insulin with just a copay, even if she hadn\u2019t spent enough on medical bills for her insurance coverage to kick in. But in the long term, experts say, extending a safe harbor to chronic care would encourage more employers to adopt these skimpy plans, while shielding the pharmaceutical industry from pressure to lower drug costs.", "output": "The pharmaceutical industry could see windfall profits from a little-noticed tweak to the insurance market tucked into the Trump administration\u2019s draft executive order on drug prices, experts say.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pinterest building out ad targeting and formats with two key hires \n Pinterest is after Google\u2019s talent. The San Francisco-based company has scooped up two Google execs as it looks to build out its advertising team.\n\nJon Alferness, formerly vp of product management of Google\u2019s shopping and travel products, has been named head of ad products at Pinterest. Alferness worked at Google for nearly 13 years and spent roughly half of that time working with Google search ads, mobile display promos and the AdMob ad network.\n\nWith Pinterest, Alferness will lead product organization and help develop and roll out global advertising products such as targeting and ad formats, per Pinterest.", "output": "Pinterest has hired two former Google executives to join its advertising team. Former VP of product management of Google\u2019s shopping and travel products, Jon Alferness, joins as head of ad products, and\u00a0Meredith Guerriero as head of partnerships. Alferness will help develop targeting and ad format\u00a0products for Pinterest. Guerriero, who will join the New York office, worked for Facebook as director of health, grocery and politics ad verticals since 2015. \u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google AdSense not allowing pop-ups due to poor user experiences \n At Google, we value users, advertisers and publishers equally. We have policies in place that define where Google ads should appear and how they must be implemented. These policies help ensure a positive user experience, as well as maintain a healthy ads ecosystem that benefits both publishers and advertisers.\n\nTo get your attention, some ads pop up in front of your current browser window, obscuring the content you want to see. Pop-under ads can be annoying as well, as they will \"pop under\" your window, so that you don't see them until you minimize your browser. We do not believe these ads provide a good user experience, and therefore are not suitable for Google ads.\n\nThat is why we recently clarified our policies around pop-ups and pop-unders to help remove any ambiguity. To simplify our policies, we are no longer permitting the placement of Google ads on pages that are loaded as a pop-up or pop-under. Additionally, we do not permit Google ads on any site that contains or triggers pop-unders, regardless of whether Google ads are shown in the pop-unders.\n\nWe continually review and evaluate our policies to address emerging trends, and in this case we determined that a policy change was necessary.\n\nAs with all policies, publishers are ultimately responsible for ensuring that traffic to their site is compliant with Google policies. To assist publishers, we\u2019ve provided guidance on best practices for buying traffic.", "output": "Publishers using Google AdSense will no longer be able to use pop-up or pop-under ads. Google stated that these types of ads do not provide a good user experience and said it did not want overly-intrusive ad formats. Google has recently clarified its policies on pop-ups and believes changes will \"maintain a healthy ads ecosystem that benefits both publishers and advertisers\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google AdSense not allowing pop-ups due to poor user experiences \n by Philip Rosenstein , July 12, 2017\n\nPublishers using Google AdSense can no longer serve pop-up or pop-under ad formats.\n\nGoogle is \u201cno longer permitting the placement of Google ads on pages that are loaded as a pop-up or pop-under,\" read Google\u2019s Inside AdSense blog post on Tuesday \"Additionally, we do not permit Google ads on any site that contains or triggers pop-unders, regardless of whether Google ads are shown in the pop-unders.\u201d\n\nGoogle explains that \u201cthese ads [do not] provide a good user experience, and therefore are not suitable for Google ads.\u201d\n\nFurther, \u201cthese policies help... maintain a healthy ads ecosystem that benefits both publishers and advertisers.\u201d\n\nThe internet giant has been considering for a while a refinement of its ad policies. It had set a Jan. 10, deadline for beginning to downgrade mobile web pages that used intrusive interstitial ads.", "output": "Publishers using Google AdSense will no longer be able to use pop-up or pop-under ads. Google stated that these types of ads do not provide a good user experience and said it did not want overly-intrusive ad formats. Google has recently clarified its policies on pop-ups and believes changes will \"maintain a healthy ads ecosystem that benefits both publishers and advertisers\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gas processing plants need more data points to predict failure \n Philip McCusker, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc, UK, explains how advanced data analytics has helped gas processing plants improve reliability and maximise operating efficiency.\n\nIn the gas processing sector, reliability is king, but process interruptions are hard to predict. The problem is that early warning of equipment failures is difficult to achieve with conventional process alarm management techniques, as the alarm settings are fixed and need to be suitable for all operating conditions. As such, alarms are set broadly so when they are eventually triggered, the equipment is already on the way to failure.\n\n\n\nFigure 1. The winding temperatures of a fan\u2019s motors jump up to an out-of-bounds condition.\n\nWhether it is cryogenic processing or natural gas reforming, all gas processing plants can have equipment issues that cause costly downtime and expensive maintenance. Although alarms are set to notify operating teams of any problems as single measurement data points, they are often too wide in their measurement setting to provide meaningful early warning of a condition to avoid an impending equipment failure or process interruption. As such, problems can go completely undetected until it is too late, causing unplanned interruptions, which are costly to both plant operators and their customers, and require maintenance intervention to remedy the equipment deterioration.\n\nWhat is changing?\n\nIn order to provide earlier warning of an abnormal condition, one needs to use more functionality than is offered by single variable alarm points. By using multi-variable data points fed into a condition algorithm, the abnormal or alarming points can be \u2018conditioned\u2019 to reflect the natural variability that is associated with the plant\u2019s specific operating condition. Operating conditions can change on most plants due to factors such as operating mode, loading, and ambient extremes, which all serve to mask the start of an abnormal operating condition. Think of it like this: the minute detail of a snooker table, the smoothness of the cue ball, the speed and angle of the shot, the roughness of the felt, the room temperature, and the air flow are variables that all affect the outcome of the game. It is only by measuring these interdependent relationships that one can theoretically predict gameplay with accuracy. The same can be said of preventing interruptions to gas processing \u2013 and it is on this principle that Air Products\u2019 Plant Performance Advisor service is based.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFigure 2. Excessively dirty air filters cause a lack of air cooling flow.\n\nHow does it work?\n\nHuge datasets are collected from sensors on all manner of different equipment in use across fleets of plants including compressors, pumps, motors, expansion turbines, blowers, cooling towers and heat exchangers. The sensors measure vibrations, bearing temperatures, winding temperatures, pressures, pressure ratios, temperatures, approach temperatures, flows, performance efficiencies, and every other conceivable monitoring point in the key operating equipment.\n\nThrough careful data analytics, these enormous datasets are then transformed into composite variables that take into account the backdrop of the current operating conditions, creating a \u2018fingerprint\u2019 of the equipment\u2019s operation. Rather than equipment being monitored by broad fixed alarm points, it has an ongoing \u2018health check\u2019 through condition multi-variable algorithms that can identify equipment deterioration before conventional process monitoring sensors can.\n\n\n\nFigure 3. The filters are replaced causing motor winding and bearing temperatures to improve.\n\nAs such, the software will hone in on any deviation from the expected operating conditions.\n\nThe early warnings of a failure condition that can be identified through such a system are complex and varied, ranging from slightly raised lubrication oil temperatures for a nitrogen recycle compressor, through to mildly increased vibration of a high pressure boiler feed water pump. Often these issues are subtle and would not be picked up by simple human observation, and occur well before the equipment reaches its alarm point. What they have in common, however, is their ability \u2013 if left undetected \u2013 to negatively impact plant processing efficiency, costs, downtime, and, crucially, customer experience.\n\nOne example of this is the slight increase in valve temperatures of a multi-service reciprocating H2 compressor that occurred on a particular plant just before a planned outage at a sister plant feeding the same pipeline. The Plant Performance Advisor software was able to detect this deviation and predict valve failure. This, in turn, allowed reliability engineers to control and manage the situation, pro-actively shutting down the compressor and replacing the valves ahead of the sister plant\u2019s planned outage. This avoided machine damage that could have cost in excess of US$100 000, as well as significant supply chain costs.\n\nThe ability to detect issues and predict and \u2018manage out\u2019 problems before they occur is invaluable. At another plant, for example, an axial position alert was received directly after a newly-installed pump was started up for the first time. Investigations revealed that the operating status of the pump was stable and that, in fact, this was an issue with the set-up of the axial position probe rather than the pump itself. Left undetected and unaddressed, this would have left a pump unprotected, which again, if it failed, would result in thousands of dollars worth of equipment damage and process interruptions. As it was, the engineers were able to correct the set-up of the probe, ensuring full protection was in place.\n\n\n\nFigure 4. The vibration of a high pressure boiler feed water pump increases rapidly.\n\nExamples like this underline the critical importance of understanding how the wealth of operating data available to a modern process plant can be used to improve the intelligence of equipment condition and facilitate an intervention at a more appropriate time. Real-time monitoring, combined with a pro-active detection of abnormalities, is key to ensuring processing efficiency is at its optimum.\n\nIn all of this, security of data remains paramount. Air Products' data processing is stored in a secure digital cloud with high dimensional data matrices, low signal-to-noise ratio and a high degree of correlation, all serving to give an accurate representation of overall asset performance.\n\nThe performance fingerprint is monitored by reliability engineers who receive alerts as well as proactively looking for abnormal operating conditions. This allows them to rule out likely causes and escalate alerts so that any issues can be resolved at a time that suits the customer, and before potential failures occur. Any action taken is then analysed for its effectiveness in comparison with previous operating conditions.\n\nThis process, which can be summarised in four key stages \u2013 monitor, detect, alert, diagnose \u2013 allows plant management to predict issues far sooner than they would normally be able to and, therefore, plan maintenance at a convenient time to coincide with pre-planned outages.\n\nA pro-active approach\n\nAs well as helping to reduce process interruptions, the software measures the efficiency of each sub-system of the plant and estimates the conditions that would denote maximum efficiency. This is then used to provide monthly reports that contain recommended actions for cost and efficiency savings, ultimately optimising plant performance. This, in turn, gives the plant operator the confidence to extend the intervals between regular maintenance servicing, meaning less gross downtime and reduced overall costs.\n\nThe ability to compare a broad dataset is critical in assessing the performance of entire plants. At Air Products, for example, more than 400 industrial gas facilities worldwide are monitored and maintained. This generates hundreds of thousands of data points for analysis in proprietary algorithms and against a set of key performance indicators, allowing plant performances to be benchmarked and each specific site to run at the most cost effective level.\n\n\n\nFigure 5. Due to a swift response, the repair is limited to the bearings, the balance disc and throttling sleeve.\n\nExample: a fan motor\n\nThe software's dashboard indicates that the winding temperatures of a fan\u2019s motors have jumped up to an out-of-bounds condition. Reliability engineers receive an alert and notify the site maintenance team to perform an online inspection (Figure 1).\n\nThe inspection reveals excessively dirty air filters that are causing a lack of air cooling flow (Figure 2). The filters are replaced, improving the motor winding and bearing temperatures, and avoiding overheating of the motor components, long-term abnormal behaviour and any collateral damage (Figure 3).\n\nExample: high pressure boiler feed water pump\n\nThe vibration of a high pressure boiler feed water pump starts to increase rapidly, triggering an alert with the reliability engineers who promptly escalate the issue to the machinery engineer (Figure 4). The plant shuts the pump down and swaps operations to a secondary pump. A spare pump is installed while the original pump is sent to the workshop for an expedited rebuild.\n\nDue to the swift response from the machinery engineer, plant operations and maintenance, the repair is limited to just replacing the bearings, the balance disc and throttling sleeve, thus avoiding impeller, bearing housing and casing damage, which could have cost over US$200 000 in extra maintenance expenses (Figure 5).\n\n\n\nFigure 6. The lubrication oil temperature of a nitrogen recycle compressor, before and after the replacement of a faulty temperature control valve.\n\nExample: nitrogen recycle compressor\n\nThe lubrication oil temperature of a nitrogen recycle compressor was on an upwards trend for several months. This caused the software to generate an alert \u2013 high lubrication oil temperature dramatically increases the rate of oil degradation, while negatively impacting vibrations and gear integrity.\n\nThe reliability engineers surveyed the lubrication oil temperature, identified a faulty temperature control valve and added the replacement of the valve to the plant\u2019s planned maintenance shutdown. Left undetected, failure of this valve could have resulted in extended plant downtime, and thousands of dollars worth of damage (Figure 6).\n\nConclusion\n\nWhen it comes to gas processing, the \u2018gift of foresight\u2019 is front and centre. As the sector grows and develops, big data and, more importantly, intelligent data analysis and processing will be key to preventing unplanned interruptions and reducing costly equipment damage.\n\nThis article was first published in Hydrocarbon Engineering. To receive your free copy, click here.", "output": "Effective predictive maintenance in gas processing plants requires data from numerous sensors that take into account variable operating conditions, according to Philip McCusker, global operations director at Air Products and Chemicals. With conventional process alarm management techniques, the alarm settings are fixed and need to be suitable for all operating conditions, so they are often too wide in their measurement setting to provide meaningful early warning. Multi-variable data points fed into a condition algorithm generate more accurate early warnings."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "KFC celebrates 30 years in China with Huawei\u00a0smartphone launch \n \n\nFast food chain KFC has joined hands with Huawei to launch an aptly named new smartphone, the KFC Huawei 7 Plus. The smartphone marks KFC\u2019s 30 years in China. Huawei, incidentally, was founded in the same year, 1987, in Shenzen. Not everyone can buy the device as of now as it is listed at CNY 1099 or roughly Rs 10,000 price tag from the Tmall website. It will go on sale starting July 13.\n\nThe limited edition KFC Huawei 7 Plus comes pre-installed with KFC\u2019s mobile app and 100,000 \u201cK dollars\u201d virtual credits in the app. The smartphone also offers K-music \u2014 KFC\u2019s new jukebox function from inside the app, as reported by CNBC. It has been revealed that a total of 5,000 units of the KFC Huawei 7 Plus will go on sale.\n\nThe limited edition KFC Huawei 7 Plus comes pre-installed with KFC\u2019s mobile app and 100,000 \u201cK dollars\u201d virtual credits in the app. The smartphone also offers K-music \u2014 KFC\u2019s new jukebox function from inside the app, as reported by CNBC. It has been revealed that a total of 5,000 units of the KFC Huawei 7 Plus will go on sale.\n\nThe smartphone comes in Red colour with the branding of two companies \u2014 one of Huawei and the other of Colonel Sanders \u2014 at the back.\n\nSome of the key specifications of the smartphone are 5-inch HD screen, Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor, 3GB RAM, 32GB inbuilt storage with an option to support microSD card up to 128GB, 13MP rear camera, 5MP front-facing camera and 3020mAh battery.\n\nThe smartphone measures 143.5x71x8.05mm and weighs 145 grams. On the connectivity front, the smartphone features Bluetooth 4.1, USB 2.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 bgn, GPS and Glonass. The KFC Huawei 7 Plus runs EMUI 5.1 based on Android 7.0 Nougat. There is a fingerprint sensor at the back as well.\n\nThe device will naturally sport a higher screen to body ratio, something similar to the Galaxy S8 or the LG G6. The smartphone could have a 5.7-inch QHD display with dual curved edges and pack a 4,000mAh battery. The dual rear camera setup will be present, as it\u2019s in the P10. Nothing is confirmed about the handset yet.\n\nIt is worth adding that Huawei has still not yet revealed its P10 and the P10 Plus flagship smartphones in India. The smartphone was introduced at MWC 2017 this year in Barcelona, Spain. While the P10 sports a 5.1-inch Full-HD resolution display with 2.5D glass coating, the P10 Plus comes with a 5.5-inch QHD resolution display. Both smartphones come with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection. Both Huawei P10 and P10 Plus smartphones come with Leica-branded dual-rear cameras.\n\nThe Huawei P10 is backed by a 3,200mah battery, while the P10 Plus comes with a 3,750mAh battery. Both smartphones are powered by the company\u2019s Kirin 960 SoC, paired with 4GB of RAM.\n\nLike this: Like Loading...\n\nRelated", "output": "US fast food chain KFC has partnered with China's Huawei to launch a smartphone, the KFC Huawei 7 Plus, marking KFC's 30 years in China. It is being sold for CNY1,099 ($162) on the Tmall website. This limited edition smartphone comes installed with KFC's mobile app, 100,000 \"K dollars\" of virtual credits and\u00a0K-music \u2013\u00a0KFC's new jukebox function.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Deal with Dalian Wanda raises Sunac's financial risk: Moody's \n Sunac China Holdings's proposed deal to acquire assets from Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties, could keep Sunac's debt leverage at an elevated level, Moody's Investors Service said.\n\nThe transaction will not immediately impact Sunac's B2 corporate family rating, its B3 senior unsecured rating or the negative outlook on the ratings, the agency said.\n\n\"The proposed acquisition \u2013 Sunac's largest ever, equivalent to 81 percent of its gross land bank at end-2016 \u2013 will substantially increase its operating scale and land bank. However, the transaction will also raise its financial risk and keep its debt leverage elevated, as it plans to partly fund the transaction with debt,\" said Franco Leung, a Moody's vice president and senior credit officer.\n\nSunac's negative outlook reflects its high-growth business strategy that exposes it to financial risk. The company's ratings could come under pressure if it liquidity deteriorates materially or if its debt leverage remains high, Moody's said.\n\nIf the acquisition is successfully completed, Sunac's debt leverage as measured by revenue to adjusted debt and including adjustments for its joint ventures and associates is expected to deteriorate to 30 percent to 38 percent over the next 1-2 years, from 40 percent to 45 percent as forecast by Moody's previously.\n\nIts debt leverage was around 31 percent in 2016 and 64 percent in 2015 \u2013 levels that\n\nare weak for its B2 corporate family rating.\n\nMoody's expects that Sunac will assume a sizable amount of debt as part of the acquisition, including a 29.6 billion yuan 3-year loan from Wanda and consolidation of debt at the project company level.\n\n\"The proposed transaction does not immediately affect Sunac's rating, as the company should have sufficient liquidity to support the acquisition and its high-growth business strategy,\" added Leung.\n\nSunac will need to pay around 33.6 billion yuan in cash to Wanda within 90 days once the agreement is signed, or 48 percent of Sunac's cash balance of about 69.8 billion at end-2016.\n\nBut Moody's expects Sunac has sufficient liquidity to support the acquisition.\n\nOn July, 11 Sunac announced that it had entered into a framework agreement with Wanda for the acquisition of a 91 percent equity interest in 13 cultural and tourism project companies, and a 100 percent interest in 76 hotels from Wanda for a total consideration of 63.2 billion yuan.", "output": "Sunac China Holdings' proposed acquisition of assets from Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties could have the effect of keeping Sunac's debts at an elevated level, Moody's has warned.\u00a0\"The proposed acquisition \u2026 will substantially increase its operating scale and land bank. However, the transaction will also raise its financial risk and keep its debt leverage elevated, as it plans to partly fund the transaction with debt,\" said Moody's Franco Leung. Ratings for the property developer may\u00a0come under pressure if its liquidity deteriorates or if its debt leverage remains high, added\u00a0Moody's.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Solera raises $18.3m to expand into chronic disease prevention \n Solera Health, the Phoenix-based company that has created a marketplace for digital and in-person diabetes prevention programs, has raised $18.3 million in a round led by Adams Street Partners, with additional participation from Blue Cross Blue Shield Venture Partners, Sandbox Industries and SJF Ventures. The round, Solera's largest to date, brings its total funding to $30.3 million.\n\nSolera makes a platform that connects community organizations with digital chronic disease prevention programs such as the CDC's National Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP). The technology makes referrals to the programs easier, helps customers manage payments and reimbursement, and aggregates data from the programs. This makes it easier for community groups to enroll people in the prevention programs. Solera works with Weight Watchers, Lark, Retrofit, Noom, Canary Health, health app MyDietician, the Michigan Health Improvement Alliance, Black Women's Health Imperative, WellCoaches, and Jenny Craig. It has 40 million covered lives.\n\nWith this new round of funding, the company is beginning to look to other chronic disease management and prevention programs that could benefit from the same infrastructure. In the past, the company has indicated depression and hypertension as possible target areas for the future.\n\n\u201cSolera Health has created the preventive care benefits manager category and for the first time is now enabling non-clinical providers to be integrated into healthcare,\u201d CEO Brenda Schmidt said in a statement. \u201cThis investment allows us to further scale our model to positively impact the enormous health and financial burdens of chronic disease.\u201d\n\nThe funding will also support expansion of Solera's existing programs to the demand created by Medicare's decision to reimburse for DPPs.\n\n\u201cSolera Health was immediately compelling as they had such a unique vision and approach for addressing challenges typically related to preventive services administration,\u201d Tom Bremner, a Partner at Adams Street Partners, said in a statement. \u201cBrenda and her team saw a need for a DPP integrator who could manage engagement, enrollment, billing and reporting, and they built a company around bridging this gap in the healthcare ecosystem. This round of funding will support the company\u2019s ongoing efforts to alter an antiquated approach to the administration of preventive benefits and transform the healthcare delivery model as we know it.\u201d", "output": "US-based Solera Health has raised $18.3m in a funding round led by Adams Street Parnters, bringing its total funding to $30.3m. The platform offers a marketplace for in-person and digital diabetes prevention programmes and connects patients with community organisations, like the CDC's National Diabetes Prevention Program. The platform makes it easy for customers to manage payments and monitor data, and works with various plans such as Weight Watchers, WellCoaches and Jenny Craig. Solera wants to expand its platform to manage other chronic diseases and has previously suggested hypertension and depression could be explored in the future.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "University study finds there are four types of Facebook user \n Anyone who uses Facebook can safely assume that to the company we are all one type of one thing: bundles of sellable data. The massive social network is more than one thing to its customers, however. Some of us use it to keep tabs on distant friends, for instance, and others to promote their creative works, or \u201cliterally\u201d too-cute toenails. Still others see Facebook as a passive medium, a television channel made up of shows starring everyone they know and some they don\u2019t.\n\nNow a new study, published in the International Journal of Virtual Communities and Social Networking, confirms that Facebook has a Rashomon effect: various user groups interpret the experience of using it very differently. Surprisingly, however, the researchers also found they could easily categorize users into four broad types: \u201crelationship builders,\u201d \u201cwindow shoppers,\u201d \u201ctown criers,\u201d and \u201cselfies.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe study authors, from the School of Communication at Brigham Young University, say these four categories emerged from a survey that asked subjects to respond to a list of 48 statements. These included phrases like, \u201cFacebook is a source of stress, and it depresses me\u201d and \u201cFacebook is an instant way to ask for help or something I need from people.\u201d Subjects ranked each statement on a scale from \u201cmost like me\u201d to \u201cleast like me,\u201d and were later interviewed by the researchers who gathered additional insights and qualitative data.\n\nNotably, only 47 subjects were involved in this study, but the authors argue that, because they employed Q methodology, an approach to investigating divergent perspectives on subjective topics using sorting, statistic, and factor analysis, the small sample size is sufficient to reveal solid patterns.\n\nAs you read through the profiles of the key types below, however, you may see yourself reflected in more than one category. The authors acknowledge that we aren\u2019t all easily pigeonholed, but say that we\u2019re likely to find we\u2019re mostly like one type. That is, at least among American young adults; the study only involved Americans aged 18 to 32, so global populations and older demographics may include other types. What\u2019s more, your attitudes about Facebook and your online behavior might change over your life.\n\nHere\u2019s a closer look at the types revealed by the survey:\n\nAdvertisement\n\nRelationship builders\n\nThis cohort uses Facebook much the way humans once used actual mail and landline telephones: to strengthen existing relationships with friends and family. In fact, Facebook is an extension of their offline life, according to Tom Robinson, associate director of BYU\u2019s Graduate School of Communication and a professor of advertising. A sample statement that relationship builders identified with was \u201cFacebook helps me to express love to my family and lets my family express love to me.\u201d\n\nAs the researchers explain in the study, this gang does not consider Facebook an \u201copen virtual social society but rather a mini-hub site for personal storytelling, where information freely flows between friends and family.\u201d In the interview phase, one subject who fell into this category said she didn\u2019t call her family, so Facebook was \u201cjust an easy way to say \u2018hi\u2019 and share a bit of love.\u201d\n\nRelationship builders also tend to be heavy posters and viewers of pictures and videos; they commonly comment on the images and updates others have shared, and engage in conversations.\n\n\n\nWindow shoppers\n\nDriven by \u201ca sense of social obligation\u201d to be on Facebook, window shoppers see Facebook as an inescapable part of modern life, but they very rarely divulge personal information, share photos, or write updates. Nor do they do much liking or commenting.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nClark Callahan, one of the paper\u2019s co-authors, who is also a specialist in research methods and the director of the undergraduate school of communication at BYU, called Facebook window shopping, \u201cthe social-media equivalent of people watching.\u201d Men and women in this group most identified with statements such as: \u201cI can freely look at the Facebook profile of someone I have a crush on and know their interests and relationship status,\u201d or \u201cI have to use Facebook in order to stay connected with people.\u201d\n\nOne window shopper told the researchers, \u201cI would rather live my life outside Facebook.\u201d Another said that Facebook was not a place to \u201cpost things about myself or just about my daily life, or what I did on Saturday\u2014because I think people who want to know me will be around doing it with me.\u201d\n\nTown criers\n\n\n\nThese are the self-styled or professional journalists, activists, and event organizers who see Facebook primarily as a soapbox. Unlike relationship builders, their virtual world does not resemble their real life. They might broadcast information they feel compelled to share to a wide range of close and distant connections, but they\u2019re not looking for a follow-up\u2014or not online anyway. \u201cSometimes they post things and they don\u2019t even care if someone likes it or not,\u201d Kris Boyle, a BYU professor of journalism who was also a co-author, tells Quartz.\n\nThe members of this faction are often sounding alarms on big issues, and passing along the latest memes, and see Facebook as the easiest way to do that. One has to wonder whether, in a year of political upheaval in the US and elsewhere, their constant posting of online articles\u2014for which Facebook, as a powerful distributor, takes home the biggest slice of the ad revenue pie\u2014hasn\u2019t most helped the tech giant while further weakening the newspaper industry. But if the newspapers can successfully fight back through a legal battle, as they hope to, the town criers will be the first to tell you about it\u2014 through Facebook.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nJust don\u2019t ask them to share personal details. Although keenly focused on pushing out alerts (whether real or invented news) and inviting people to events (whether protests or church brunches), town criers tend to reveal little \u201cprivate\u201d information in their Facebook activity.\n\nTheir lack of sharing and interacting does not represent a lack of interest in their acquaintances. \u201cI don\u2019t talk to my family on Facebook,\u201d one town crier explained to the paper\u2019s authors, adding, \u201cThey are more important than that.\u201d\n\nMost town criers would rather pick up the phone, text, or direct message someone for an actual conversation.\n\nSelfies\n\nThe final group, the selfies, is the one we\u2019re all too familiar with\u2014and that\u2019s the way they like it. Their ways have spawned a thousand essays on the problem with social media, and contributed to the myth of the narcissistic Millennial.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nSelfies routinely use the same Facebook features as relationship builders\u2014posting pictures, videos, and status updates\u2014but they do it primarily to call attention to themselves, say the researchers behind this study. Energized and validated by likes and comments, the selfies agreed with statements like: \u201cThe more \u2018like\u2019 notification alarms I receive, the more I feel approved by my peers.\u201d\n\nSpeaking in a study interview, one selfie explained that: \u201cTaking [a] picture and letting it sit on my phone makes it nothing and useless, but once I post something on Facebook, it shows I\u2019ve done something.\u201d\n\nAlthough the selfies were found to be least concerned about the accuracy of the self they presented online, says Boyle, that tendency could exist in any category. \u201cEven relationship builders could look like they have a loving relationship with someone on Facebook, and when they get together, it\u2019s a different story,\u201d he says. Among town criers, the computer may provide a protective barrier for those who don\u2019t necessarily feel comfortable sharing their ideas or opinions in real life.\n\nOne seductive quality of online interaction generally, Boyle notes, is that people are able to create a better\u2014or different\u2014versions of themselves.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nTo share our darkest truths, we prefer the perceived anonymity of a Google search.", "output": "A study featured in the International Journal of Virtual Communities and Social Networking has found there are four distinct kinds\u00a0of Facebook user, highlighting the marked variation in people's experience\u00a0of the platform. The four broad categories are\u00a0\"relationship builders\",\u00a0who use Facebook as a \"mini-hub\" to reinforce\u00a0existing close relationships;\u00a0\"Window shoppers\", who regularly observe Facebook activity\u00a0but rarely\u00a0participate or disclose much personal information;\u00a0\"town criers\", who actively spread politically-charged news, memes and events on the platform, but rarely share private information; and 'selfies', who tap into the archetype of the\u00a0narcissistic millennial, posting\u00a0lots of attention-seeking material.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "M&C Saatchi Australia appoints Mandi Bateson as head of social \n M&C Saatchi has appointed Mandi Bateson to the role of Head of Social. Bateson comes armed with over 12 years of industry experience, most recently Head of Social at Mindshare.\n\nStarting July 10, Bateson will be responsible for the continued growth and expansion of M&C Saatchi\u2019s social and content offering. She will spearhead strategies for key clients and also play a role in new business development.\n\nBateson is one of Australia\u2019s most highly respected social media marketing specialists. Her portfolio spans across tourism, insurance, financial services, telecommunications and FMCG. Award-recognised, Bateson has received accolades for spearheading the social media strategy for Foxtel\u2019s \u2018Home of Thrones\u2019 campaign.\n\nGeneral manager of M&C Saatchi Mim Haysom said: \u201cMandi is the best in the business. She has a proven track record of building and leading the best in class social capabilities and teams. Her impressive skillset will further cement the strength of our integrated media and creative offering. We\u2019re excited to have her on board.\u201d\n\nBateson said: \u201cI\u2019m thrilled to be joining some of the industry\u2019s sharpest minds to produce brilliant work. M&C Saatchi is at the forefront of innovation and creativity across digital and social \u2013 I can\u2019t wait to hit the ground running.\u201d", "output": "Mandi Bateson, one of Australia\u2019s most highly respected social media marketing specialists, has begun her role as head of social at M&C Saatchi, based in Sydney. Formerly head of social at Mindshare, Bateson will be responsible for strategies for key clients and will also play a role in new business development as she oversees the growth and expansion of M&C Saatchi\u2019s social and content offerings.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Middlemen mainly to blame for video ad fraud, finds DoubleVerify \n Where there\u2019s great demand, there\u2019s also great incentive for fraud. That\u2019s a problem for ad buyers looking for new sources of video ad inventory.\n\nWhile bots and domain spoofing remain a threat to programmatic, there\u2019s another type of fraud scheme eating up video ad dollars. Middlemen \u2014 typically ad networks and unscrupulous publishers they work with \u2014 are making money by arbitraging the difference between display and video CPMs. These same middlemen are also mimicking video tags to convince exchanges that they\u2019re offering video inventory, even though they\u2019re just making a markup on reselling display space.\n\nVideo ad fraud is about twice as common as display ad fraud, according to a June study by DoubleVerify. The reason: there\u2019s more money in video, and fraudsters go where the money is. Here\u2019s a breakdown of some of the wonkier tactics that fraudsters use to reap video ad dollars.\n\nMisleading pre-rolls\n\nOne of the most common forms of video ad fraud is simple and long-running: videos ads are mislabeled as pre-roll in the exchange. Instead of being shown in a video player (which are usually at least 400 pixels wide) before a piece of editorial video content, these ads get squeezed into 300 x 250 pixel display ad slots. Although this type of video fraud has existed for years, it has become acutely irritating for advertisers as the demand for video continues to soar. A study Integral Ad Science and demand-side platform Rocket Fuel conducted in April found that up to 70 percent of video ad inventory is misrepresented in this manner.\n\nThis type of fraud is difficult to trace because the ads are indeed video, they are shown to humans, they appear on the correct website the advertiser is trying to reach and they usually have high viewability, said Travis Lusk, vp of analytics at IAS. What makes the ads fraudulent is that they\u2019re much smaller than what the advertiser thinks it paid for, and they don\u2019t appear against the type of video content the advertiser anticipates. An autoplay video ad in a banner isn\u2019t exactly a Hulu pre-roll.\n\nHere is a peek into the ad tech abattoir where the sausage gets made. An ad network will buy $5 display CPMs in an exchange, repackage the inventory and sell it as video inventory for a $20 CPM in another exchange. Ad buyers purchase $20 video inventory thinking it is pre-roll against editorial content, but instead their video ad gets shrunk down and shown against video footage the ad network supplies. Sometimes the networks will license, and perpetually reuse, videos from news services like Reuters or The Associated Press. The networks also pirate video from the publishers\u2019 sites that the ads will show up on to give an appearance of legitimacy, Lusk said.\n\nTo accommodate for the difference in aspect ratios between the video ad and the display slot, the network will add black bars to the sides of the ad, similar to how DVD players adjust between widescreen and full-screen formats. When reselling the display inventory, the ad network attaches its video content to the display ad impression so that when the exchange it\u2019s reselling to checks the inventory, it will appear as video.\n\n\u201cThe video ad exchange isn\u2019t complicit in this,\u201d said John Murphy, vp of marketplace quality at ad exchange OpenX. \u201cThey think they are getting a request for video. They won\u2019t be aware that the video is being stuffed into a display unit.\u201d\n\nStatic video ads\n\nVideo ad-serving template and video player ad-serving interface definition tags have recently become popular because these tags provide performance data to advertisers, and they help video players and ad servers speak the same language, which publishers need to scale their video ads. But the popularity of these tags has been accompanied by a rise in fraudsters mimicking the tags so they can pass display inventory off as video and pocket the difference between the CPMs, said ad fraud researcher Shailin Dhar.\n\nOnce the fraudster has sufficiently cloned a VAST or VPAID tag, it doesn\u2019t have to go through the trouble of attaching generic video content to its display ad slots to trick some video exchanges. If the ad unit has VPAID status, the fraudster can send a static image through the exchange even though it is selling video inventory. Exchanges with more sophisticated fraud tools can detect this trick, but exchanges centered around low-quality (and thus cheaper) inventory do not have strict enough ad-quality standards to prevent this practice, Dhar said.\n\n\u201cThey aren\u2019t doing this on YouTube,\u201d Dhar said. \u201cThey do this on the bottom-of-the-barrel video exchanges.\u201d\n\nHow to avoid the fraud\n\nAd buyers can do a few things to avoid display-to-video fraud. For instance, if a unit that\u2019s labeled as pre-roll is only around 300 pixels wide, don\u2019t buy it. And since there isn\u2019t enough supply of video to meet the demand, buyers should also be careful of hypertargeting with video because it\u2019s unlikely there will be enough supply to meet the demand for a niche demographic, said Chris Wexler, executive director of media and analytics at ad agency Cramer-Krasselt.\n\n\u201cJust because a terminal in front of you says it\u2019s possible doesn\u2019t mean a buyer can turn off their critical thinking and accept it as fact,\u201d Wexler said.\n\nAnother indicator is poor completion rates. If pre-roll video ads are almost always stopped within a few seconds, that indicates users weren\u2019t actually trying to watch the video content the ads ran against. \u201cAny DSP worth its salt\u201d should provide this reporting, said Ian Monaghan, special operations consultant at Adobe Advertising Cloud (formerly known as TubeMogul).\n\nIf buyers use an ad measurement service, they can also examine if a particular ad slot flips back and forth between display and video. The networks won\u2019t arbitrage the same display slot 100 percent of the time, so if that slot shows a mix of both video and display, that\u2019s an indication video ads are being squeezed into display units, Lusk said.\n\nUsing the Interactive Advertising Bureau\u2019s Tech Lab initiative ads.txt, which is a text file hosted on a publisher\u2019s web server that lists all of the companies authorized to sell the publisher\u2019s inventory, could potentially help buyers spot unauthorized sellers flipping display inventory into video, said Ari Levenfeld, chief privacy officer at Rocket Fuel. But ads.txt will only become a reliable check for buyers once publishers and exchanges widely adopt it, which could take awhile.\n\nIn the meantime, buyers should be more attuned to the realities of the economics of video advertising. If an exchange is offering $5 CPMs for pre-rolls, it\u2019s probably too good to be true. But since cheap video is alluring, don\u2019t expect buyers to change their habits overnight.\n\n\u201cBuyers continue to let people on their media plans that don\u2019t play by the rules and rarely care about user experience,\u201d said Marc Goldberg, CEO of fraud detection firm Trust Metrics. \u201cVideo is, and will always be, a target for the bad guys.\u201d", "output": "Video ad fraud has become twice as common as its display ad counterpart because it is more lucrative, according to a survey by DoubleVerify, posing problems for publishers and buyers. Unscrupulous middlemen using misleading prerolls\u00a0or claiming an ad is video when it is in fact display are long-running issues that are plaguing the industry. Experts have urged buyers to be realistic about the economics of video advertising. \"Just because a terminal in front of you says it\u2019s possible doesn\u2019t mean a buyer can turn off their critical thinking,\" said Chris Wexler, executive director of media and analytics at ad agency Cramer-Krasselt.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Echo Dot is top seller in record Amazon Prime Day \n Amazon's Prime Day sets more records, up 60 per cent on last year\n\nYesterday\u2019s Prime Day was Amazon\u2019s biggest-ever day for sales \u2013 surpassing Black Friday and Cyber Monday, up 60 per cent on last year\u2019s Prime Day, which broke records for Amazon at the time.\n\nThe sales event ran across 30 hours, in 13 countries, and led to a record number of sign-ups for Prime in a single day.\n\nAmazon hasn\u2019t revealed the exact sales figures from the day, but says \u2018tens of millions\u2019 of people made a purchase, up on 2016\u2019s Prime Day by more than 50 per cent. Orders from the Amazon app specifically more than doubled.\n\nThe best-selling product from the sale was Amazon\u2019s own Echo Dot, with seven times more Echo devices sold than last year.\n\n\u201cTo those customers who tried Prime for the first time and our long time members, thank you for a great Prime Day,\u201d said Greg Greeley, vice president of Amazon Prime. \u201cOur teams around the world will keep working to add more and more to your membership, so Prime continues to make your life better every day. We are already looking forward to our Prime Day celebration next year.\u201d\n\nDon\u2019t forget to enter the Effective Mobile Marketing Awards. The Early Bird deadline for submissions is 22 July. More details here.", "output": "Amazon recorded its biggest ever day for sales on its most recent Prime Day this month, with the 30-hour event racking up 60% more sales than in 2016. The day's best-selling item was Amazon\u2019s own Echo Dot portable smart speaker, contributing to Echo devices posting seven times as many sales as the previous year's event. Held in 13 countries, the event also led to a record number of sign-ups for Prime."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China teleports quantum particle into space in world first \n Today, the Micius team announced the results of its first experiments. The team created the first satellite-to-ground quantum network, in the process smashing the record for the longest distance over which entanglement has been measured. And they\u2019ve used this quantum network to teleport the first object from the ground to orbit.\n\nTeleportation has become a standard operation in quantum optics labs around the world. The technique relies on the strange phenomenon of entanglement. This occurs when two quantum objects, such as photons, form at the same instant and point in space and so share the same existence. In technical terms, they are described by the same wave function.\n\nThe curious thing about entanglement is that this shared existence continues even when the photons are separated by vast distances. So a measurement on one immediately influences the state of the other, regardless of the distance between them.\n\nBack in the 1990s, scientists realized they could use this link to transmit quantum information from one point in the universe to another. The idea is to \u201cdownload\u201d all the information associated with one photon in one place and transmit it over an entangled link to another photon in another place.\n\nThis second photon then takes on the identity of the first. To all intents and purposes, it becomes the first photon. That\u2019s the nature of teleportation and it has been performed many times in labs on Earth.\n\nTeleportation is a building block for a wide range of technologies. \u201cLong-distance teleportation has been recognized as a fundamental element in protocols such as large-scale quantum networks and distributed quantum computation,\u201d says the Chinese team.", "output": "China has teleported a photon into space. Chinese researchers sent the elementary light particle from a ground station in Tibet to a satellite built for quantum experimentation, thereby breaking the record for the longest distance for remote interaction between two particles, known as quantum entanglement. \u201cThis work establishes the first ground-to-satellite up-link for faithful and ultra-long-distance quantum teleportation, an essential step toward global-scale quantum internet,\u201d said the Chinese team of researchers. What it also shows is China's dominance in a field that had been led by Europe and the US."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Root to offer customers Lyft deal after road accident \n Startup telematics-based auto insurer Root is now offering rental coverage in partnership with ridesharing firm Lyft. For policyholders with short-term needs for alternate transportation after an incident, Root will now offer a choice between a rental car or a comparable amount of Lyft credits for free rides.\n\nIn addition to offering a new twist on rental coverage, Root also announced that it is expanding to Oklahoma and Indiana, after starting out in Ohio and Arizona.\n\nLyft is also piloting a rental coverage option with CSAA Insurance in California.\n\nRoots, an Ohio-based company, targets good drivers using telematics and smartphone technology. To get a quote, drivers must download an app and take a two or three-week test drive, depending on how much they drive. Once complete, Root provides a quote and allows customers to request cancellation of their old policy, all through their mobile phone\n\nWith its Lyft rental option, the company said it is trying to improve the auto insurance claims process, which it says has \u201clong been one of the auto insurance industry\u2019s biggest pain points, and a big piece of that is the rental reimbursement experience.\u201d\n\nUnder the Lyft program, customers who have a short-term need (a week or less) will have the option to choose a rental car or select Lyft credits worth a comparable amount. Policyholders can make the decision each time they file a claim.\n\n\u201cThe claims experience is notoriously bad. You\u2019ve just gotten into an accident and now you have a mountain of paperwork, agents with questions, and the added bonus of no car,\u201d said Alex Timm, co-founder and CEO of Root. \u201cWe\u2019re rebuilding the claims experience from the ground up, starting with rental coverage. Through our partnership with Lyft, we\u2019re making sure we don\u2019t add to the stress of an already bad day.\u201d\n\nWith the option of Lyft, Root policyholders may choose to forgo the rental car process entirely and instead have Lyft credits added to their account to use over the period of the repair.\n\nRoot says its new rental coverage offer is in keeping with its \u201cLyft on Us\u201d perk, which gave policyholders free Lyft credits on the most dangerous driving days of the year, helping keep them safe.\n\nRoot officially debuted last fall after it raised about $7 million in initial funding from venture capital firm Drive Capital and 20 employees. Munich Re, Odyssey Re and Maiden Re are providing reinsurance, and Silicon Valley Bank is backing Root\u2019s reserves.\n\nSource: Root", "output": "Insurtech firm Root has joined forces with ride-sharing firm Lyft to offer policyholders travel credits with the Uber rival or a rental car after an accident or other incident. The telematics-based car insurer, which is also expanding operations in the US Midwest, said the offer will go to customers when they make a claim. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Big Mobile expands ad business with Made Media acquisition \n Independent mobile ad tech company Big Mobile has fuelled its growth across the Asia-Pacific region by acquiring New Zealand mobile advertising business Made Media.\n\nMade Media was founded by Michael Buhagiar in 2013, who said he was thrilled that the company was joining Big Mobile.\n\n\u201cBy tapping into Big Mobile\u2019s scale of 75 mobile professionals and their ad tech partnerships, we will be able to help advertisers and publishers better understand their audiences and how they engage with ads on mobile,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cFor me, it was a case of going back to a great team to make sure I was still moving forward in this constantly evolving market.\u201d\n\nBig Mobile CEO David Green said: \u201cAfter thoroughly testing our mobile ad tech with NZ premium publishers and the biggest brands in NZ, the results are indicating that the time is now right to expand our NZ operations with the acquisition of Made Media.\n\n\u201cMichael and Made Media clearly have a good reputation in the market, winning several awards and accolades in NZ. Michael is a known quantity in our business, as he helped to found Big Mobile NZ in 2011. He has the proven ability to build and grow mobile advertising businesses in NZ.\n\n\u201cWe are looking forward to bolstering Michael\u2019s mobile product set to offer NZ brands the best mobile ad tech from across the global, so its a perfect fit for both businesses.\u201d\n\nThe Big Mobile product set in NZ will be centered around building brands and engaging audiences on mobile in brand-safe environments.\n\nThe acquisition comes after Big Mobile announced a partnership with Widespace in November 2016, and last month Big Mobile signed up a tier-one NZ publisher to integrate its ad tech directly into its sites and apps to offer the market a new mobile display and video proposition based on high viewability, no fraud, brand safety and transparency.\n\nBig Mobile will continue to offer location-based platform Allspark from Near. It will also offer to the NZ market for the first time the largest programmatic audio exchange that its powered by audio ad tech company Adwizz.\n\n\u201cBig Mobile will aggressively grow in APAC via organic growth and possible acquisitions where it makes sense\u201d Green said.\n\n\u201cWe are seeing some great results from the new ad tech partnerships that have been localised in each market. We are focused on being market leader by driving the best outcomes for our clients across APAC, including Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia.\u201d", "output": "Mobile ad tech company Big Mobile has acquired New Zealand mobile advertising business Made Media, as part of the Australian firm's plan to expand in Asia-Pacific markets. The move follows\u00a0Big Mobile's partnership with Widespace in November 2016. Big Mobile will offer the NZ market the largest Adwizz-powered programmatic audio exchange for the first time.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mobile ad growth up 60% helped by better targeting and EM adoption \n Driven by a \u201cmobile-first\u201d consumer environment and improving marketing technologies, worldwide mobile advertising growth increased by 60.5% to $83 billion (\u20ac63 billion) in 2016, up from $52 billion in 2015, according to the latest analysis from IHS Markit, IAB Europe and the IAB.Shares of the $83 billion global total for 2016 breaks out, by region, as follows:North America: 46% ($38 billion) Asia-Pacific: 33% ($27 billion) Europe: 19% ($16 billion) Middle East & Africa: 0.8% ($0.7 billion) Latin America: 0.7% ($0.5 billion)The global mobile advertising market has not only benefitted from the rapid smartphone adoption in emerging markets but also better ad targeting capabilities in mature markets, said Qingzhen Chen, senior analyst at IHS Markit.\u201cAn influx of investments and partnerships for premium content, and data collaboration between broadcasters and leading online platforms were the key drivers for the strong mobile growth. The western markets were driven by several key markets but dominated by global players, whereas in APAC, local players accounted for most of the growth.\u201d\u201cHigh double-digit growth of 60.5% in global mobile advertising was also fueled by continued improvements in advertising technology,\u201d said Kia Ling Teoh, analyst at IHS Markit. \u201cStandardisation of measurement has helped to better capture consumer interaction with mobile ads as media consumption increasingly shifts to mobile devices. This is particularly important in emerging markets where, for many people, mobile is the first and only means of accessing the internet.\u201dMobile display continues to drive investment with the highest growth at 64.3%, with mobile search lagging slightly behind, up 61.1%.\u201cThe latest global mobile advertising revenue numbers confirm that we are now in a mobile-first media consumption and advertising environment,\u201d said Townsend Feehan, CEO of IAB Europe. Messaging grew by 11.2%, as users continue to migrate from operator-owned messaging services to app-based messaging platforms.In 2016, display advertising increased its share to 54.0% of all mobile spend globally at $45 billion. Search-based advertising commanded a 42.8% share at $36 billion. Messaging-based advertising continues to decline, securing just a 3.1% share in 2016 at $2.6 billion.\u201cThese global figures reflect brands\u2019 recognition that mobile is critical in reaching today's consumers around the world,\u201d said Anna Bager, senior vice president and general manager, mobile and video, IAB. \u201cWith mobile taking this landmark lead in digital revenues in America, it is unsurprising to see an upward trajectory the world over.\u201d(Photo courtesy: 123RF)", "output": "Mobile advertising growth rose 60.5% to $83bn in 2016, compared to $52bn in 2015, with better targeting capabilities in mature markets and fast adoption in emerging markets among the reasons behind the boost, according to analysis from IHS Markit, the Industry Advertising Bureau Europe and the Industry Advertising Bureau. The data showed North America and Asia were biggest the growth areas, with 46% and 33% of the markets respectively, while Europe lagged behind with 19%.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Arriva to provide 18 biodiesel-powered trains for Dutch railways \n Arriva has been named as the winner of the next contract to operate regional passenger rail services in Groningen and Friesland, the Netherlands. The move will see 18 new biodiesel trains added to the busy rail network in the area, a precursor to eventually transitioning to an emissions free electrical network.\n\nThe new contract will run for 15 years from 13 December 2020, and is worth \u20ac1.6billion. Arriva is the incumbent operator in Groningen and Friesland.\n\n\u201cTo be given the opportunity to continue operating the country\u2019s northern train services for a further 15 years is testament not only to the strength of our bid, but also to the great service we are providing under the current concession to the 32 000 passengers who use the regional transport network every day\u201d, said Arriva Group CEO Manfred Rudhart in an Arriva press release.\n\nArriva\u2019s bid placed significant emphasis on delivering a more sustainable, more environmentally friendly transport network.\n\nThe current fleet of 51 Stadler GTW 2/8 and GTW 2/6 diesel multiple-units is to be refurbished. The trainsets will be fitted with batteries to enable braking energy to be recovered for reuse, \u2018reducing emissions and cutting noise when accelerating away from stations\u2019, according to the Railway Gazette.\n\n18 new train sets added to the Leeuwarden \u2013 Groningen Europapark route will all be fuelled by biodiesel, increasing capacity and enabling the provision of more frequent weekend and evening services on key sections of the network. In the long term, a complete conversion to emission-free electrical operation is planned for the fleet of trains.", "output": "European transport provider Arriva is to operate a regional passenger rail service in the Netherlands using 18 new biodiesel trains, with the aim of eventually creating an emissions-free electric network. Arriva's \u20ac1.6bn ($1.85bn) contract is for 15 years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Global warming set to disrupt flights: Columbia University \n By Bobby Magill\n\nFollow @bobbymagill\n\nImagine boarding a summertime flight at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, only to be told that the airline needs a dozen or so passengers to take a later flight because it\u2019s too hot outside for the plane to take off fully loaded.\n\nThat could become a common scenario at 19 major airports worldwide as extreme heat caused by global warming disrupts an increasing number of flights departing during the hottest times of day, according to a new Columbia University study.\n\nIf human greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced, global average temperatures are expected to rise by more than 4\u00b0C (7.2\u00b0F) by 2100. But high temperatures at the world\u2019s busiest airports could rise even more \u2014 by up to 8\u00b0C (14.4\u00b0F), leading to more days each year that are hotter than average, especially at airports in the tropics, according to the study, published Thursday in the journal Climatic Change.\n\nA Boeing 787, an aircraft that may be vulnerable to rising temperatures.\n\nCredit: RS Deakin/flickr\n\nBy 2065, LaGuardia Airport could see about 25 days each year that will be hotter than today\u2019s average yearly high temperature, up from fewer than 10 days in 2025.\n\nExtreme heat disrupted flights in Phoenix in June when American Airlines cancelled 50 flights aboard small commuter jets as temperatures soared above 120\u00b0F. Such summertime temperatures are likely to become more frequent as the climate changes. Air is less dense in extreme heat, preventing an airplane's wings from generating enough lift to take off unless the plane sheds weight.\n\nRELATEDHot, Unfriendly Skies Could Alter Flights\n\nClimate Change Could Lead to More Turbulent Flights\n\nIt\u2019s So Hot in Phoenix, Planes Can\u2019t Take Off\n\n\u201cHigher temperatures are going to mean more people having to be removed from flights, more delays on the ground,\u201d said study co-author Radley Horton, a climate scientist at Columbia University.\n\nThe amount of weight and number of passengers a flight would have to shed depend on the type of aircraft and the airport\u2019s altitude and runway length. LaGuardia could be affected by the heat more than New York\u2019s Kennedy International Airport because its runways are nearly half the length of Kennedy\u2019s longest runway.\n\nBetween 10 and 30 percent of annual flights departing at the hottest hours of the day from 19 major airports will have to fly with weight restrictions, the study says. On average, flights will have to cut their weight by up to 4 percent in order to take off on the hottest days after 2050.\n\nAn Airbus A320, one of the most common airliners flown worldwide.\n\nCredit: Caribb/flickr\n\nSome larger planes, especially those that fly long-haul international flights to mid-sized or small airports, could be affected more than smaller planes because they weigh more. However, the largest plane flying today, the double-decker Airbus A380, may not be affected as much by the heat because it can only fly to airports with the longest runways.\n\nThe study suggests that one way airlines could avoid heat-related flight disruptions is to schedule flights at night or in the morning when the air is cooler. But airplanes and airports may need to be designed differently in the future in order to deal with the heat as the globe warms.\n\n\u201cAs it gets warmer, air expands,\u201d said Lou McNally, an assistant professor of applied aviation sciences at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., who is unaffiliated with the study. \u201cThat means you need more of everything in order to get enough air molecules onto the wing and fly. It means more thrust \u2014 bigger or more engines \u2014 and more runway length for takeoff, or larger wings, or all of the above. And also more runway length and better braking because of higher landing speeds at the other end.\u201d\n\nMcNally said that airlines could also adapt by moving major hubs to regions with a cooler climate. Many regional jets based at regional hubs cannot fly at temperatures above 120\u00b0F.\n\nPatrick Smith, an airline pilot and aviation writer, said even some of the newest airplanes flying today are not designed to account for extreme heat. New airplanes take nearly a decade to develop, and it will take more than simple design tweaks to existing airplanes for the aviation industry to overcome the challenges extreme heat poses, he said.\n\n\u201cThis is something that nobody\u2019s really taken seriously,\u201d Smith said. \u201cPlanes really aren\u2019t yet being designed with this in mind. And for that to happen, because it takes so long to develop and build a new commercial airplane, this is something that\u2019s pretty far out.\u201d\n\nYou May Also Like:\n\nArctic Heat Is Becoming More Common and Persistent\n\nScientists Saw a Nearly Unheard of Antarctic Meltdown\n\nIt\u2019s June. California Is Still Covered in Snow", "output": "Global warming could disrupt flights during the hottest times of day at 19 international airports, according to research by Columbia University. The study says that temperatures at the busiest airports could rise by up to 8C by 2100, resulting in greater numbers of days that are hotter than average. New York\u2019s LaGuardia Airport could see the number of such days rise from fewer than 10 in 2025 to 25 per year by 2065. Higher temperatures will mean that planes will have to shed weight, meaning passengers will have to be removed. Planes and airports may also have to be redesigned.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Global warming set to disrupt flights: Columbia University \n Steadily rising mean and extreme temperatures as a result of climate change will likely impact the air transportation system over the coming decades. As air temperatures rise at constant pressure, air density declines, resulting in less lift generation by an aircraft wing at a given airspeed and potentially imposing a weight restriction on departing aircraft. This study presents a general model to project future weight restrictions across a fleet of aircraft with different takeoff weights operating at a variety of airports. We construct performance models for five common commercial aircraft and 19 major airports around the world and use projections of daily temperatures from the CMIP5 model suite under the RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 emissions scenarios to calculate required hourly weight restriction. We find that on average, 10\u201330% of annual flights departing at the time of daily maximum temperature may require some weight restriction below their maximum takeoff weights, with mean restrictions ranging from 0.5 to 4% of total aircraft payload and fuel capacity by mid- to late century. Both mid-sized and large aircraft are affected, and airports with short runways and high temperatures, or those at high elevations, will see the largest impacts. Our results suggest that weight restriction may impose a non-trivial cost on airlines and impact aviation operations around the world and that adaptation may be required in aircraft design, airline schedules, and/or runway lengths.", "output": "Global warming could disrupt flights during the hottest times of day at 19 international airports, according to research by Columbia University. The study says that temperatures at the busiest airports could rise by up to 8C by 2100, resulting in greater numbers of days that are hotter than average. New York\u2019s LaGuardia Airport could see the number of such days rise from fewer than 10 in 2025 to 25 per year by 2065. Higher temperatures will mean that planes will have to shed weight, meaning passengers will have to be removed. Planes and airports may also have to be redesigned.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google funds academics to influence policy: CfA \n Google has spent millions funding academic research in the US and Europe to try to influence public opinion and policymakers, a watchdog has claimed.\n\nOver the last decade, Google has funded research papers that appear to support the technology company\u2019s business interests and defend against regulatory challenges such as antitrust and anti-piracy, the US-based Campaign for Accountability (CfA) said in a report.\n\n\u201cGoogle uses its immense wealth and power to attempt to influence policymakers at every level,\u201d said Daniel Stevens, CfA executive director. \u201cAt a minimum, regulators should be aware that the allegedly independent legal and academic work on which they rely has been brought to them by Google.\u201d\n\nIn its Google Academics Inc report, the CfA identified 329 research papers published between 2005 and 2017 on public policy that the company had funded. Such studies have been authored by academics and economists from some of the world\u2019s leading institutions including Oxford, Edinburgh, Stanford, Harvard, MIT and the Berlin School of Economics.\n\nAcademics were directly funded by Google in more than half of the cases and in the rest of the cases funded indirectly by groups or institutions supported by Google, the CfA said. Authors, who were paid between $5,000 and $400,000 (\u00a33,900-\u00a3310,000) by Google, did not disclose the source of their funding in 66% of all cases, and in 26% of those cases directly funded by Google, according to the report.The CfA is calling for Google-funded academics to disclose the source of their funding to ensure their work can be evaluated in context.\n\nGoogle described the report as \u201chighly misleading\u201d as it included any work supported by any organisation to which it has ever donated money.\n\n\u201cOur support for the principles underlying an open internet is shared by many academics and institutions who have a long history of undertaking research on these topics \u2013 across important areas like copyright, patents, and free expression,\u201d said director of public policy Leslie Miller in a blog post. \u201cWe provide support to help them undertake further research, and to raise awareness of their ideas.\u201d\n\nMiller said the company expected academics to disclose its funding and maintain their independence. Some of the academics listed in the report had criticised Google\u2019s policy positions on antitrust, privacy and net neutrality.\n\nMiller added that it was ironic that the CfA talked about accountability and transparency when it would not reveal its own financial backers, one of which is Oracle, a company \u201crunning a well-documented lobbying campaign against us\u201d, funding hundreds of pieces of research and events.\n\n\u201cWhenever Google\u2019s bad behaviour is exposed, it invariably points the finger at someone else,\u201d said Stevens. \u201cInstead of deflecting blame, Google should address its record of academic astroturfing, which puts it in the same league as big oil and big tobacco.\u201d", "output": "Google has been accused of spending millions on funding research in the US and Europe, in fields such as antitrust and anti-piracy regulation, in an attempt to influence policy and public opinion, according to a report by the US Campaign for Accountability (CfA). The Google Academics study identified 329 papers published between 2005 and 2017, which were funded by the company and produced by researchers from institutions including the Berlin School of Economics, Oxford, Edinburgh, Harvard, MIT and Stanford. The CfA is calling for academics to disclose such funding in order that research can be properly contextualised."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google funds academics to influence policy: CfA \n Google has been inextricably associated with academia since its inception. The parents of both founders were academics and the company itself was conceived and born at Stanford University. Sergey Brin\u2019s biography on Google\u2019s site still states: \u201cHe is currently on leave from the Ph.D. program in computer science at Stanford University.\u201d The company has cultivated a college-like atmosphere, offering yellow bicycles for employees to ride around its sprawling campus. Its partnerships with Carnegie Mellon University are so extensive that a Google office is housed on the school\u2019s campus.\n\nBehind the scenes, however, Google has exercised an increasingly pernicious influence on academic research, paying millions of dollars each year to academics and scholars who produce papers that support its business and policy goals. An in-depth examination by the Google Transparency Project identified 330 research papers published between 2005 and 2017 on public policy matters of interest to Google that were in some way funded by the company. In more than half of those cases (54%), academics were directly funded by Google. The remainder worked for, or were affiliated with, groups or institutions that were funded by Google. In the majority of cases, readers of the papers would not have been aware of the corporate funding: Academics did not disclose the Google funding in nearly two-thirds of cases (65%). Authors failed to disclose funding even when they were directly funded by Google in more than a quarter (26%) of cases.\n\nThe academic papers examined encompassed a wide range of policy and legal issues of critical importance to Google\u2019s bottom line, including antitrust, privacy, net neutrality, search neutrality, patents and copyright. They were also tied to specific issues that Google sought to influence. The number of Google-funded studies tended to spike during moments when its business model came under threat from regulators\u2014or when the company had opportunities to push for regulations on its competitors.\n\nFor example: Google began to fund a barrage of academic studies on antitrust issues in 2011, a time when U.S. antitrust enforcers began to scrutinize the company\u2019s practices. Overall, more than a third (113) of the Google-funded studies in our dataset focused on antitrust issues\u2014the largest single category. The largest number of studies were published in 2012, coinciding with major antitrust investigations into its conduct by the Federal Trade Commission and European regulators. (See Fig. 2) Between 2011 and 2013, Google funded academics authored at least 50 studies on antitrust issues. Among others, studies included Google and the Limits of Antitrust: The Case Against the Case Against Google, authored by Geoffrey Manne with the International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) and Joshua Wright from George Mason University and Search, Essential Facilities, and the Antitrust Duty to Deal by Marina Lao at Seton Hall University. The spike in competition-themed papers subsided after the Federal Trade Commission closed its investigation in early 2013. There was a second spike in 2015, when a potential settlement in Europe fell apart and the European Commission filed formal antitrust charges against the company.\n\nGoogle-funded studies on copyright issues also surged in 2012, as the company fought anti-piracy bills in Congress. They peaked the following year amid continuing battles over whether it could be held responsible for distributing pirated books, music or movies. The Google-funded studies came from a wide variety of sources, and often blurred the line between academic research and paid advocacy by the company\u2019s consultants. They were authored by academics, think-tanks, law firms, and economic consultants from some of the leading law schools and universities in the country, including Stanford, Harvard, MIT, University of California Berkeley, UCLA, Rutgers, Georgetown, Northwestern Law School, and Columbia. They weren\u2019t confined to the U.S. Internationally, Google-funded studies were written by academics at some of the most prestigious universities in Europe, including Oxford (U.K.), Edinburgh University (U.K.), Berlin School of Economics (Germany), Heinrich Heine University (Germany), and KU Leuven (Belgium). Our inquiry included Google-funded scholarship regardless of whether it advanced Google\u2019s policy agenda or not. While some individual papers offered criticisms of Google, the overwhelming majority tended to support the company\u2019s policy or legal positions.\n\nSome studies were authored by serious academics and appeared to employ reasonable methodologies, but many others lacked basic standards of academic rigor. Many of the Google-funded policy research papers examined were not published in peer-reviewed journals. Some were self-published on the Social Science Research Network, and many more appeared in publications that lack peer-review requirements. At the extreme, some were little more than thinly veiled opinion articles dressed-up as academic papers, outlining the beliefs of an author on Google\u2019s payroll with little or no supporting evidence. Google\u2019s paid policy research had broad reach and may have influenced policymakers unaware of its sponsorship. Google lobbyists and lawyers pushed the Google-funded research to journalists, the White House, Congress, journalists, regulators and agencies investigating its conduct, such as the Federal Trade Commission, often without disclosing that they paid for its production. (See: Google-funded Research Used for Lobbying.) For example, Eric Schmidt, then Google\u2019s chief executive, cited a Google-funded author in written answers to Congress to back his contention that his company wasn\u2019t a monopoly. He didn\u2019t mention Google had paid for the paper.\n\nMore recently, Google-funded academics and speakers have dominated FTC conferences (also see: \"PrivacyCon Update: More Disclosure of Google Funding\") related to online consumer privacy and data security issues without disclosing the company\u2019s funding to regulators or attendees. The company has also sent the research to journalists, policymakers, and other regulators and law-enforcement officials investigating its conduct. The reach of Google extends further still. Our analysis showed that Google-funded studies routinely cited each other. The practice helps obscure the original Google funding and creates the impression of a large and growing body of academic research that supports the company\u2019s policy positions. This last point is ironic: It was Larry Page\u2019s middle-of-the-night insight that hyperlinks could be used like academic citations to determine the usefulness of information that famously gave rise to Google. Now Google is creating a universe of paid-for citations with which to advance its policy interests.\n\nThe 330 Google-funded articles that we identified were cited nearly 6,000 times in more than 4,700 unique articles. Overall, our analysis suggests that Google is using its sponsorship of academic research, not to advance knowledge and understanding, but as an extension of its public relations and influence machine. Google is not the first company to fund academic research to advance its policy goals. But our analysis suggests that Google is among the companies that have most enthusiastically embraced the practice in recent history\u2014particularly noteworthy for a company that ostensibly places such a high value on real research. In so doing, Google has joined a list of business sectors that have exercised a corrupting influence on academic research, including the tobacco industry over the effects of smoking and the fossil fuel industry over the science of climate change.\n\nMethodology", "output": "Google has been accused of spending millions on funding research in the US and Europe, in fields such as antitrust and anti-piracy regulation, in an attempt to influence policy and public opinion, according to a report by the US Campaign for Accountability (CfA). The Google Academics study identified 329 papers published between 2005 and 2017, which were funded by the company and produced by researchers from institutions including the Berlin School of Economics, Oxford, Edinburgh, Harvard, MIT and Stanford. The CfA is calling for academics to disclose such funding in order that research can be properly contextualised."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Germans building world's biggest battery in old salt cavern \n What do you do with an old salt mine? Turn it into a huge battery of course. We're all familiar with lithium-ion batteries like those in our phones, but on a utility scale, they are simply impractical. German company Ewe Gasspeicher GmbH has announced plans to build what could be called the world's biggest battery. The system, dubbed \"brine4power\" will be housed in huge underground salt caverns that were previously used as a natural gas storage facility. They each have a volume of 3.5 million cubic feet and will give the battery a capacity of up to 700MWh at an output of 120MW.\n\nIf you want energy storage on the scale of an electrical grid, there are currently two main options. The first and most common is pumped storage. It works like a standard hydroelectric power plant but in reverse. Pumps move vast amounts of water uphill to a holding pond thus storing energy in the form of gravitational potential energy. When you want to \"discharge\" the battery, you simply let the water run downhill and run the hydroelectric plant like normal.\n\nThe other main technology, and the one planned for the German project, is called a redox flow battery. It works by storing energy in the form of liquid electrolytes. There is a positive catholyte and a negative anolyte which are separated by a membrane that only allows ions to pass through. When charging, the ions move to the anolyte side and when discharging, they move back. This process takes up about 100 times the space per unit of energy compared to a lithium ion battery, but is much more environmentally friendly.\n\nRather than storing the electricity in another form like pumped storage does, the brine4power system stores it directly in the liquid. The system can theoretically supply a day's worth of power to about 75,000 homes. In other news, Elon Musk recently announced Tesla's plan to build the world's largest lithium-ion battery in Australia. Representing its true scale, this redox flow battery will be more than 5 times larger.", "output": "German engineers are building the world's biggest battery in an old salt mine. Ewe Gasspeicher is constructing the \"brine4power\" redox flow battery, which works by storing energy as liquid electrolytes, in large underground caverns previously used for storing natural gas. Each cavern has a volume of 3.5 million cubic ft and will give the battery a capacity of up to 700MWh, with an output of 120MW."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Honda signs hydrogen supply contract for charging stations \n ITM Power has signed a fuel contract with Honda (UK), which will purchase hydrogen at \u00a310/kg (US$12.91/kg). The contract covers fuel dispensed across ITM Power\u2019s hydrogen refueling network. The refueling network has been financially supported by Innovate UK, Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) and the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU).\n\n(The Honda Fuel Cell Clarity has a hydrogen tank capacity of 5.46 kg.)\n\nThis is the seventeenth fuel supply contract for refueling fuel cell electric vehicles ITM Power has signed. Honda joins Toyota GB PLC, Hyundai Motor UK Ltd, Commercial Group, Skanska, UlemCo Ltd, Arval UK Ltd, UK Government Car Service, Arcola Energy, Johnson Matthey, Europcar, The Science Museum, JCB, Anglo American, Green Tomato Cars, Yorkshire Ambulance Service and Northern Gas Networks as a fuel customer.\n\nITM Power is currently rolling out a network of 10 hydrogen refueling stations in the UK of which 4 are now open for public access. Each station produces hydrogen on site via ITM Power\u2019s rapid response electrolyzer system, and can refuel a fuel cell electric car in three minutes, providing 300 to 420 miles of clean emission driving, without compromise to drivers\u2019 normal refueling routine.", "output": "Honda has signed a fuel contract with ITM Power for hydrogen supplies at \u00a310 per kilogram. ITM Power has signed 17 fuel supply contracts for its system, which is supported by the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU), Innovate UK, and the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV). The company aims to expand its network of four publicly accessible hydrogen refuelling stations to 10.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Toyota launches $100m artificial intelligence venture capital unit \n TRI launches the venture by contributing initial investments it has made in three technology companies: Nauto , SLAMcore and Intuition Robotics . The venture will also cultivate select start-ups by offering them mentorship and support on-site at TRI's Silicon Valley headquarters. Investment will focus in the areas of Artificial Intelligence; Robotics; Autonomous Mobility; and Data and Cloud Technology.\n\nToyota has a history of disruptive innovation in the service of mankind, moving from textile machinery to automobiles in the late 30s, to the broad electrification of the automobile with Prius in the 90s, to autonomous mobility and human-assist robots. TRI is growing quickly, and we recognize the critical importance of expanding our collaboration with the world\u2019s brightest entrepreneurial talent. This venture is a major step towards our mission to empower talented entrepreneurs who share Toyota\u2019s commitment to enhancing the quality of human life. \u2014Gill Pratt, CEO of TRI\n\nEarly-stage start-up investment is inherently high risk, with the potential for high reward, so the new venture will feature quick decision-making by a dedicated management team of investment professionals and entrepreneurs, operating separately from TRI\u2019s R&D operation. Unlike venture capital funds that exclusively identify investment targets by considering unsolicited pitches by entrepreneurs, this new venture will also pursue a \u201ccall and response\u201d model, identifying key research challenges and then supporting the creation of new companies offering to solve them.\n\nJim Adler, TRI\u2019s vice president of data and business development, takes the role of managing director of Toyota AI Ventures.\n\nToyota AI Ventures represents an expansion of TRI\u2019s investment mandate and assumes TRI\u2019s positions in three startup investments:", "output": "The Toyota Research Institute will invest an initial sum of $100m to create Toyota AI Ventures, a new subsidiary aimed at offering early-stage funding for technology start-ups. The venture will be powered by the investments that Toyota has already made into autonomous algorithm company SLAMcore, social companion tech provider Intuition Robotics and driver monitoring software creator Nauto. Start-ups chosen for mentorship and support will be in the AI, robotics, autonomous mobility, and data and cloud tech sectors.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "JuiceNet connects solar arrays with EV charging stations \n San Francisco-based eMotorWerks provides a variety of cloud-connected smart-grid charging solutions. The newest release of the company\u2019s JuiceNet platform enables owners of solar arrays to coordinate smart EV charging with their solar generation. JuiceNet Solar \u201cuses algorithms and charging controls to match the charging speed of any number of JuiceNet-connected EVs to second-by-second solar production.\u201d\n\nJuiceNet Solar can also be configured to work with a distributed collection of energy sources, providing balancing services to local renewable generation. For example, it can be used at workplace sites where EV charging is linked to production from both on-site and off-site solar panels. According to eMotorWerks, this \u201cvirtual aggregation\u201d allows utilities to reduce the amount of solar energy backfeed through their transformers.\n\nJuiceNet Solar requires a JuiceNet-enabled EV charging station (including stations from eMotorWerks, AeroVironment and ClipperCreek), as well as a JuiceNet-enabled energy meter. Users with no JuiceNet-enabled EVSE can use JuicePlug, a universal charging adapter that adds JuiceNet capabilities to any third-party station or charging cord.\n\n\u201cMany solar array owners also drive EVs, so JuiceNet Solar combines the power of both of these activities to maximize their contribution to a decarbonized grid by getting the most out of their solar generation, especially if living in regions that have yet to institute net metering policies,\u201d says Dr. Valery Miftakhov, CEO of eMotorWerks. \u201cBy utilizing JuiceNet Solar, users keep the solar generation local, which saves them money and maximizes their use of renewable energy. At the system, grid-wide level, our technology paves the way for higher penetration of intermittent renewable generation in electric grids worldwide.\u201d\n\nSource: eMotorWerks", "output": "eMotorWerks, a smart-grid charging solution provider, has released the latest version of its platform for smart EV charging through solar power. JuiceNet utilises algorithms and controls to match the charge speed of electric vehicles to solar production. The technology can be used to \u201cvirtually aggregate\u201d solar arrays to reduce energy \"back-feed\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Data accounts for 20% of sales as exchanges widen income streams \n LONDON and NEW YORK, July 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Global exchange revenues totaled a record $28.3 billion in 2016, rising 6.83% as strong revenue gains in exchange market data businesses drove industry growth according to Burton-Taylor International Consulting's (a division of TP ICAP's Data & Analytics group) latest report published today. Industry revenues were driven by a 29.2% increase in exchange market data businesses, with the segment reporting record revenues of $5.4 billion in 2016.\n\nOther key findings include:\n\nIntercontinental Exchange accounted for 15.9% of total industry revenues, with 2016 revenue reaching $4.5 billion , up 34.78% from 2015 primarily a result of an 127.1% surge in market data revenues.\n\n, up 34.78% from 2015 primarily a result of an 127.1% surge in market data revenues. CME Group remained the next largest exchange in 2016, accounting for 12.7% of total industry revenues, supported by an industry leading 9.1% growth in trading revenues.\n\nDeutsche Boerse was the largest exchange in the EMEA region accounting for 25.1% of the region's revenues, followed by the LSE Group with 16.8% of the total.\n\nHong Kong Exchange Group was the largest exchange in Asia with a market share of 15.8%, while Japan Stock Exchange was second with a share of 13.6%.\n\nwith a market share of 15.8%, while Japan Stock Exchange was second with a share of 13.6%. The exchange industry continues to enjoy enviable operating margins, with our analysis indicating average operating margins of 51.63% in 2016. The Australian Stock Exchange generated the highest margin at 71.90% for calendar year 2016, followed by CME Group at 66.15%.\n\nIn terms of business segments, the report found:\n\nTrading, Clearing and Settlement revenues remained the largest business segment, generating $18.1 billion in industry revenues and accounting for 63.4% of all exchange revenues.\n\nin industry revenues and accounting for 63.4% of all exchange revenues. Market Data & Index revenues have surged in recent years, representing the second largest industry, accounting for 19.18% of total global exchange revenues. Exchange market data revenues have grown at a CAGR of 11.99% since 2011.\n\nListing and issuer service revenues stagnated as the weak IPO environment resulted in a 1.29% increase in revenues to $2.3 billion . Deutsche Boerse and the Japan Exchange Group bucked the trend, reporting revenue increases of 7.75% and 6.98%, respectively.\n\n. Deutsche Boerse and the Japan Exchange Group bucked the trend, reporting revenue increases of 7.75% and 6.98%, respectively. Market Technology and Access revenues totaled $1.5 billion in 2016, rebounding 4.97% after two years of revenue declines. Nasdaq led the segment in terms of both total revenues and YoY growth, reporting an increase in revenues of 11.8% to $541 million .\n\n\"The global exchange industry continues to undergo a steady transformation, as exchanges evolve their models to diversify away from a dependency on transactional businesses. The combination of weak trading volumes and emerging competition is forcing incumbent exchanges to dramatically expand their focus on new business segments,\" says Andy Nybo, Director at Burton-Taylor. \"Market data and index businesses are the current target of these expansion efforts but exchanges are constantly searching for new opportunities to expand their offerings, especially as new competition threatens to erode existing operating margins and profitability.\"\n\nFree extracts from the report can be accessed by visiting: http://www.burton-taylor.com/research.html with the sample code EXCHANGE2017, or you can purchase the full 89 page Burton-Taylor Exchange Global Share & Segment Sizing 2017 - Key Competitors, Global Market Share 2017, Global Segment Sizing 2017, Global Market Trending 2012-16, Global Segment Trending 2012-16 report by visiting https://burton-taylor.com/exchangereport/ or by contacting [email protected], +1 646 201-4152.\n\nAbout Burton-Taylor International Consulting (www.burton-taylor.com)\n\nBurton-Taylor International Consulting, part of TP ICAP group, is the recognised leader in information industry market research, strategy and business consulting. Burton-Taylor Exchange, Credit, Risk, Compliance, Media Intelligence, PR and Market Data share figures are seen as industry benchmark standard globally. Burton-Taylor clients command an estimated 80% share of global revenue in the Market Data space and include the world's largest information companies and exchange groups, key government organisations and regulatory bodies on multiple continents, the largest advisory firms serving the industry and more than 30 of the most active private equity and investment companies around the world.\n\nAbout TP ICAP (www.tpicap.com)\n\nTP ICAP brings together buyers and sellers in global financial, energy and commodities markets. It is the world's largest wholesale market intermediary, with a portfolio of businesses that provide broking services, data & analytics and market intelligence, trusted by clients around the world. We operate from offices in 31 countries, supporting award-winning brokers with market-leading technology. For further information see www.tpicap.com.\n\nMedia Contacts\n\nDouglas B Taylor\n\n[email protected]\n\n+1 646 201-4152\n\nSOURCE Burton-Taylor International Consulting\n\nRelated Links\n\nhttps://burton-taylor.com\n\n", "output": "Data fees earned by global exchanges rose to a record high last year, accounting for a fifth of total revenues, according to a report\u00a0from\u00a0international consultancy\u00a0Burton-Taylor. While\u00a0the traditional activities of\u00a0trading, clearing and revenue settlement remained the backbone of earnings \u2013\u00a0posting $18.1bn\u00a0of exchanges'\u00a0$28.3bn total revenue for 2016 \u2013 data and index revenues increased by almost a third to $5.4bn. \"The combination of weak trading volumes and emerging competition is forcing incumbent exchanges to dramatically expand their focus on new business segments,\" according to\u00a0Andy Nybo, director at Burton-Taylor."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Which advisers profits are under threat from robo-advice? \n The highest-margin part of the financial advice business is safe from being carried out by automated services because customers value the personal touch most in these areas, a global survey has suggested.", "output": "Fund and stock pickers face the greatest threat from robo advisers while financial planners and\u00a0pension sales firms are safest, according to a report from Legg Mason, writes Rosie Murray-West in the FT Adviser.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "LeEco woes continue as Vizio sues and Leshi is investigated \n Among the seven divisions of LeEco, only LETV and Le Vision Pictures are profitable, according to media reports on Tuesday.\n\nAccording to a due diligence report by a financial institution, by the end of September 2016, the total assets of LeEco were about 67 billion yuan ($9.8 billion) and total liabilities were 63 billion yuan ($9.25 billion).\n\nIn the first three quarters of 2016, LeEco recorded total revenues of 40 billion yuan ($5.87 billion) with an overall loss of 9.73 billion yuan ($1.43 billion).\n\nLeMobile, the smartphone business, posted the biggest loss at 5.66 billion yuan ($831 million), followed by LeSports at 2.63 billion yuan ($386 million) and LeSEE, the group's vehicle unit, at 1.34 billion yuan ($196 million), 21st Century Business Herald reported on Tuesday.\n\nMonday was payday for LeEco employees, but by the end of the day, no staff in Le Holdings and its divisions were paid, domestic news site huanqiu.com reported on Tuesday.\n\nOn Tuesday morning, an interviewee from Le Holdings confirmed that the company is dealing with financial strain and planned to postpone the payroll for one month, although it would pay employees' social insurance and housing funds in full, according to huanqiu.com.\n\nLeEco founder Jia Yueting on Tuesday posted on his microblog that \"the FF91 high-end factory\" will be moved to a new site, to prepare for mass production.\n\nOn Thursday, he stressed his commitment to the dream of reforming the auto industry, and said that all debtors would be paid in time, despite the current financial difficulties.\n\nHowever, Faraday Future, an U.S.-based electric car startup backed by Jia, has given up on plans to build a $1 billion factory in Nevada for its forthcoming FF91 vehicle, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.\n\nIts first production vehicle, the FF91, which was unveiled in January, is currently scheduled for launch next year, BBC reported.", "output": "Chinese technology conglomerate LeEco, reeling after founder Jia Yueting had his financial assets frozen, has been sued by US TV maker Vizio over its failure to acquire the US firm for $2bn. Vizio has demanded\u00a0$60m in damages, claiming LeEco only paid $40m of a $100m termination fee. Chinese regulators have also begun reviewing the finances of LeEco's main listed business Leshi Internet. Alongside these troubles, some other LeEco divisions, including LeMobile, LeSports and LeSEE have been losing money.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regulations are taking trading chiefs from the trade front lines \n Global heads of trading at major asset management firms are spending less and less time actually trading. After conducting in-depth interviews with eight heads of desks, The TRADE discovered that those occupying these roles are seeing more of their time taken up by new regulations rather than trading.\n\nIt is no surprise that the all-encompassing MiFID II is challenging the role of the global head of trading. Despite requiring extensive experience in trading to rise up through the ranks, it is usually the case that the bigger the team, the less time required to trade.\n\nBeing a head trader now means keeping up with market structure changes and regulation, rather than with what is going on in the markets. This has meant a dramatic reduction in the amount of time devoted to trading.\n\nOf eight global head traders interviewed by The TRADE, half said trading takes up on average between 0% and 5% of their time on a weekly basis.\n\nOne global head trader says: \u201cI deal myself on average between 2% and 5% of the number of equities and fixed-income every month, with more concentration on end-of-momnth for fixed-income and quarterly earnings season for equities.\u201d\n\nWhile this has been a theme for traders over the last five years, 2017 is shaping up to be a crucial year for the buy-side to get to grips with MiFID II in Europe.\n\nWhere\u2019s my Bloomberg?\n\nOne head trader explains: \u201cRegulation is very important and takes a lot of my time up, not only in making sure we adhere to the latest rules but also figuring out how we need to adapt to the new ways of trading that have evolved to cope with the regulatory changes.\u201d\n\nSpeaking to The TRADE in its Q4 2016 issue, sources suggested that some senior traders have voluntarily opted to leave their roles \u2013 and in some cases the industry \u2013 because they do not want to face the barrage of regulatory scrutiny coming their way. Over the last two years, The TRADE has counted no fewer than 20 buy-side heads of desk or senior traders from big name European asset managers leaving their jobs.\n\nTwo global head traders told The TRADE that they have even given up their Bloomberg terminals, and another says, \u201cI\u2019m trying to organise myself to avoid such a situation.\u201d\n\nOne former senior equities trader, who asked to remain anonymous, has said the impact of regulation has diminished the global head trader role in daily trading activities, in which \u201cdue to previous regulatory creep the role of hands-on head of trading has been diminishing to the point where that role is basically a quasi-compliance/client sales role.\u201d\n\n\u201cMost traders are pretty self-sufficient these days and the head of trading role is just a go between...clearly as we are seeing in a climate of cost cutting and margin squeeze it makes sense to have traders interacting directly with the gate keepers,\u201d adds the former trader.\n\nMiFID II is perhaps having the greatest impact on global head traders, as they look to get to grips with the mountain of work required to be compliant from January 2018. One global head trader commented that around 20-30% of his time is taken up attending meetings on MiFID II and compliance, while another said MiFID II and EMIR has accounted for between 35-40% of his time. The majority of head traders surveyed by The TRADE said around a quarter of their time is spent on MiFID II since January this year.\n\nAnother reason cited by global head traders has been scale. As trading teams expand as a result of consolidation, it has become more common for global heads of trading to take a step back.\n\nOne head trader says: \u201cAs my team has expanded and my involvement in projects has increased, it is very rare for me to execute order flow.\u201d\n\nAnother told The TRADE: \u201cWe trade infrequently, but when we do it generally needs \u2018all hands on deck\u2019. The trading is split approximately 50/50 but I can see my share shrinking as we get busier. If we hired a third trader, my time would be better spent on higher level tasks.\u201d\n\nRedefining the role\n\nCertainly the role of the buy-side trader has become significantly more complex and carries far more responsibility than it may have done in the past, requiring a broader range of analytical skills to scrutinise their sell-side counterparts.\n\nOn the one hand, regulation has diminished the trading abilities for global head traders, but on the other it has made their role more encompassing.\n\n\u201cRegulation has actually shown how important the head of trading is now, as they can own a significant amount of responsibility for oversight of execution, team management, budgets, processes and everything else that provides a service to portfolio managers and external clients,\u201d says Paul Squires, global head of trading and securities financing, AXA Investment Managers. \u201cIt is completely natural in that structure therefore that the head of trading doesn\u2019t do any execution which generally requires full concentration on markets.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have a global team of 70 with 38 traders, executing over \u20ac750 billion notional of assets per year. The appropriate execution platform is increasingly about scale, operational efficiency, technology, workflow and strong governance, and that is what the global head of trading is responsible for. So should they be responsible for trading? It really depends on the size of your execution team and arrangements.\u201d\n\nThis is not to say that the head traders are totally absent from the trading process.\n\nFor some asset managers that break down their management structure by regions and/or asset classes, those head traders are more involved in the physical execution process.\n\nThose head traders interviewed said that regulation has become a duty that has become incorporated with their day-to-day trading responsibilities. One head trader argued that he has to trade in order to understand the challenges his team are facing.\n\n\u201cIf you don\u2019t get under the bonnet you can\u2019t fully appreciate the challenges your team face,\u201d one head trader highlights. \u201cThat could be technological, regulatory, flows, coverage etc. you have to have exposure. The trading landscape changes so fast that if you are not close to the detail of the business it can get away from you,\u201d\n\nAnother head trader comments: \u201cHead traders are, to some extent, expected to be market structure experts. However, time spent \u2018at the coalface\u2019 is invaluable in helping understand the challenges that traders face on a daily basis. Getting the best price for the end client is paramount, but finding liquidity to get the trade done, in what seems to be an ever changing trading landscape, is also highly important.\u201d\n\nAnother explained that dealing with regulation should not be solely dealt with by the head trader.\n\n\u201cGiven that the regulation issue affects many areas of an asset manager it cannot be solely the preserve of the trading head to deal with in my view,\u201d says a head of trading for UK and Ireland. \u201cCompliance, investment control, PMs and legal among other functions all have vested interests.\u201d\n\n\u201cI would argue that given the cost pressures being experienced by asset managers and the amount you still need to be able to provide an all-round service of which an increasing part is linked to regulatory issues. \u201d\n\nAsset managers are now hoping to attract a different kind of candidate that has high-level analytical skills and an interest in technology as a way to assist the head trader with this changing landscape.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve hired a new talent who helps me for various topics, data analysis, post-trade reporting, drafting of procedures, writing of internal notes on MiFIDxs II, etc. My young colleague has a fixed-term contract and does not need a Bloomberg terminal today,\u201d a global head trader explains.\n\nCertainly the regulatory impact won\u2019t last forever. Once MiFID II comes into force next year, staying compliant will be a large component to the global head trader role, but with systems and preparations in place there could be a greater focus on trading.\n\nThe role largely has an emphasis on market structure, but with a new breed of buy-side traders and regulatory experts making their way through the ranks, head traders will revert back to what they enjoy the most, making money.", "output": "Regulatory compliance is increasingly forcing head traders away from the front lines, according to The Trade. It spoke to eight global heads of desks who revealed trading made up 0% to 5% of their weekly work, while the rest was spent on regulations, such as MiFID II in Europe. While one head trader\u00a0said the pivot had diminished his\u00a0role to that of \"a quasi-compliance/client sales person\", another\u00a0said trading was still a vital part of their job. \"If you don\u2019t get under the bonnet you can\u2019t appreciate the challenges your team faces,\" he said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fake brand ads growing on Instagram raising brand safety concerns \n Long gone are the days when Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom vetted every ad on the platform. Now, ads for fake shoes, clothes, electronics and even real estate are proliferating on Instagram.\n\nWhat makes these ads even more egregious is that some of them, like one claiming to sell Adidas\u2019 Yeezy sneakers for $109, feature doctored brand logos, which raises concerns about reputation both for the brands and Instagram.\n\nFor example, this ad, a sponsored post by \u201cSummer discount\u201d with a \u201cShop Now\u201d link, features the Adidas logo as its profile image.\n\nBlake Ricciardi, founder and CEO of streetwear retailer Popular Demand and a brand consultant, said he\u2019s seen a number of these types of ads.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m in the industry and knowledgeable enough to know that these are bootleg sneakers, but unfortunately, most consumers won\u2019t be able to tell the difference,\u201d he said. \u201cMost consumers will assume this advertising is legitimate because it\u2019s on Instagram, in your feed and has an Adidas logo. This is very harmful to the Adidas brand.\u201d\n\nAnother ad, spotted by Engadget, also featured the Adidas logo and claims to sell Yeezy Boost 750s and 350s for \u201c70 percent off.\u201d\n\nThese ads typically lead to sites like ShoesoffSale.US or classicboost.com, which sell fake shoes and are usually flagged as being unsafe.\n\nAn ad from earlier in the year that appeared in the U.K. had a similar M.O.: An account named Apple Store UK ran a sweepstakes to win an iPhone. The ad got attention from ISBA, the trade body in the U.K. representing advertisers; it was eventually pulled.\n\nInstagram pitches a brand-safe environment as a high-end, visual platform that boasts beautiful photos and visuals. Displaying criminal ads runs counter to that. A raft of straight direct-response ads from brands in the dating app, virtual gambling and game promotion world hit the platform right after it opened its application programming interface.\n\nInstagram ads, both on Stories and in the feed, are bought via the company\u2019s self-serve function. The scale advantages of automation are clear \u2014 Instagram boasts over 1 million advertisers \u2014 but the downsides in loss of control are just as apparent.\n\n\u201cThis isn\u2019t the first time I\u2019ve seen that,\u201d said Chris Harihar, director at Crenshaw Communications and a self-professed sneakerhead who said he gets targeted with ads like this all the time. \u201cThe branding of the ad itself is disingenuous \u2014 you know Yeezys aren\u2019t sold for that price. It feels like a violation.\u201d\n\nJulie Zerbo, a lawyer and the founder of The Fashion Law, wrote about the issue of counterfeits sold on platforms in a post on her site. She said that according to federal law, website operators like Instagram that do post counterfeit items can be liable, but providers that take steps to remove copyright infringements are protected, even if that happens on an ad hoc basis.\n\n\u201cWe do not allow counterfeit goods to be sold on Instagram. When we catch this type of activity, we move quickly to stop it and remove the violating account,\u201d an Instagram spokesperson said. Instagram reviews millions of ads per week, but it is a game of whack-a-mole and difficult to police.\n\nHaving retailers sell directly on the platform is important for Instagram. With 700 million monthly users, the platform\u2019s magazine-style layout makes it a natural for retail as long as it\u2019s done right and not too overtly. The issue of counterfeit is a big one, particularly in the sneaker world, where coveted lines are common and counterfeit products are everywhere. Nike, which two weeks ago said it would sell directly on Amazon in an effort to grow sales and remove counterfeit Nike items from the retail giant\u2019s site, also now plans to sell directly on Instagram.\n\nBad ads appear on Facebook, Twitter and most other platforms. Even on Snapchat, the opening of self-serve led to a rash of new advertisers that couldn\u2019t be properly vetted, resulting in in-Story ads from companies like LowerMyBills.com.\n\n\u201cInstagram is essentially validating [the ads] by featuring [them] in consumers\u2019 feeds,\u201d said Ricciardi. \u201cJust like Facebook has to get a better handle on fake news, Instagram needs to get a better handle on advertisement of fake products.\u201d", "output": "Adverts for fake brands are rising in number on Instagram, using counterfeit brand logos, leading to concerns about brand safety on the social media site. Instagram poses as a brand-safe platform for sales, with the revelation about the counterfeit goods causing consternation amongst advertisers. Instagram has stated that it removes any offending material once it is detected.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tobacco companies threatening African countries: Guardian \n British American Tobacco (BAT) and other multinational tobacco firms have threatened governments in at least eight countries in Africa demanding they axe or dilute the kind of protections that have saved millions of lives in the west, a Guardian investigation has found.\n\nBAT, one of the world\u2019s leading cigarette manufacturers, is fighting through the courts to try to block the Kenyan and Ugandan governments\u2019 attempts to bring in regulations to limit the harm caused by smoking. The giant tobacco firms hope to boost their markets in Africa, which has a fast-growing young and increasingly prosperous population.\n\nIn one undisclosed court document in Kenya, seen by the Guardian, BAT\u2019s lawyers demand the country\u2019s high court \u201cquash in its entirety\u201d a package of anti-smoking regulations and rails against what it calls a \u201ccapricious\u201d tax plan. The case is now before the supreme court after BAT Kenya lost in the high court and the appeal court. A ruling is expected as early as next month.\n\nBAT in Uganda asserts in another document that the government\u2019s Tobacco Control Act is \u201cinconsistent with and in contravention of the constitution\u201d.\n\nThe Guardian has also seen letters, including three by BAT, sent to the governments of Uganda, Namibia, Togo, Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Burkina Faso revealing the intimidatory tactics that tobacco companies are using, accusing governments of breaching their own laws and international trade agreements and warning of damage to the economy.\n\nBAT denies it is opposed to all tobacco regulation, but says it reserves the right to ask the courts to intervene where it believes regulations may not comply with the law.\n\nLater this month, BAT is expected to become the world\u2019s biggest listed tobacco firm as it completes its acquisition of the large US tobacco company Reynolds in a $49bn deal, and there are fears over the extent to which big tobacco can financially outmuscle health ministries in poorer nations. A vote on the deal by shareholders of both firms is due to take place next Wednesday, simultaneously in London at BAT and North Carolina at Reynolds.\n\n\n\nProfessor Peter Odhiambo, a former heart surgeon who is head of the government\u2019s Tobacco Control Board in Kenya, told the Guardian: \u201cBAT has done as much as they can to block us.\u201d\n\nExperts say Africa and southern Asia are urgent new battlegrounds in the global fight against smoking because of demographics and rising prosperity. Despite declining smoking and more controls in some richer countries, it still kills more than seven million people globally every year, according to the WHO, and there are fears the tactics of big tobacco will effectively succeed in \u201cexporting the death and harm\u201d to poorer nations.\n\nThere are an estimated 77 million smokers in Africa and those numbers are predicted to rise by nearly 40% from 2010 levels by 2030, which is the largest projected such increase in the world.\n\nIn Kenya, BAT has succeeded in delaying regulations to restrict the promotion and sale of cigarettes for 15 years, fighting through every level of the legal system. In February it launched a case in the supreme court that has already halted the imposition of tobacco controls until probably after the country\u2019s general election in August, which are being contested by parliamentarians who have been linked to payments by the multinational company.\n\nIn Uganda, BAT launched legal action against the government in November, arguing that the Tobacco Control Act, which became law in 2015, contravenes the constitution. It is fighting restrictions that are now commonplace in richer countries, including the expansion of health warnings on packets and point-of-sale displays, arguing that they unfairly restrict its trade.\n\nThe court actions are brought by BAT\u2019s local affiliates, BAT Kenya and BAT Uganda, but approved at Globe House, the London headquarters of the multinational, which receives most of the profits from the African trade. In its 2016 annual report, BAT outlined the \u201crisk\u201d that \u201cunreasonable litigation\u201d would be brought in to control tobacco around the world. Its response was an \u201cengagement and litigation strategy coordinated and aligned across the Group\u201d.\n\n\u2018Focus on emerging markets\u2019\n\nBritish packets of cigarettes, with stark warnings, beside packs from Africa. Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian\n\nAt its annual meeting in March, chairman Richard Burrows toasted a \u201cvintage year\u201d for BAT, as profits rose 4% to \u00a35.2bn after investors took their cut \u2013 their dividend had increased by 10%. When asked about the legal actions in Africa, he said tobacco was an industry that \u201cshould be regulated ... but we want to see that regulation is serving the correct interests of the health mission and human mission which should lie behind it\u201d.\n\nSo, \u201cfrom time to time it\u2019s necessary for us to take legal action to challenge new regulation\u201d which he said was led by \u201cthe local board\u201d.\n\n\n\nBAT says it is \u201csimply not true that we oppose all tobacco regulation, particularly in developing countries\u201d. Tobacco should be appropriately regulated as a product that has risks to health, it said, but \u201cwhere there are different interpretations of whether regulations comply with the law, we think it is entirely reasonable to ask the courts to assist in resolving it\u201d. It was opposed to only a handful of the issues in Kenya\u2019s regulations, not the entirety, it said in a statement.\n\nAlthough most countries in Africa have signed the World Health Organisation (WHO) treaty on tobacco control, none has yet fully implemented the smoking restrictions it endorses.\n\n\n\nThe WHO predicts that by 2025, smoking rates will go up in 17 of the 30 Africa-region countries from their 2010 level. In some countries a massive hike is expected \u2013 in Congo-Brazzaville, from 13.9% to nearly half the population (47.1%) and in Cameroon from 13.7% to 42.7%. In Sierra Leone it will be 41.2% (74% among men) and in Lesotho 36.9%.\n\nIn contrast, research showed last year that just 16.9% of adults smoke in the UK; and last month new figures showed UK heart disease deaths had fallen 20% since that country\u2019s indoor smoking ban.\n\n\u201cThe tobacco industry is now turning its focus toward emerging markets in sub-Saharan Africa, seeking to exploit the continent\u2019s patchwork tobacco control regulations and limited resources to combat industry marketing advances,\u201d said Dr Emmanuela Gakidou and colleagues at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle, publishing an analysis of smoking prevalence around the world in the Lancet in April.\n\nAfrica\u2019s growing numbers of children and young people, and its increasing wealth, represent a huge future market for the tobacco industry. The companies deny targeting children and cannot sell packs smaller than 10, but a new study carried out in Nairobi by the Johns Hopkins school of public health in the US and the Kenya-based Consumer Information Network found vendors selling cigarettes along the routes children take to walk to primary schools.\n\nStalls sell single Dunhill, Embassy, Safari and other BAT cigarette sticks, costing around 4p (5 cents) each, alongside sweets, biscuits and fizzy drinks. The vendors split the packets of 20 manufactured by BAT. \u201cThey are targeting children,\u201d said Samuel Ochieng, chief executive of the Consumer Information Network. \u201cThey mix cigarettes with candies and sell along the school paths.\u201d\n\n\n\nBAT said that its products were for adult smokers only and that it would much prefer that stalls sold whole packets rather than single sticks, \u201cgiven our investment in the brands and the fact there are clear health warnings on the packs.\n\n\u201cAcross the world, we have very strict rules regarding not selling our products to retailers located near schools. BAT Kenya provides support to many of these independent vendors, including providing stalls painted in non-corporate colours, and providing youth smoking prevention and health warnings messages. We also educate vendors to ensure they do not sell tobacco products near schools.\u201d\n\nCigarettes on sale (alongside sweets) in Nairobi, Kenya. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian\n\nThe Kenya case, expected to be heard after the elections on 8 August, is seen as critical for the continent. If the government loses, other countries will have less appetite for the long and expensive fight against the wealthy tobacco industry.\n\nBAT has around 70% of the Kenyan market; its Kenyan competitor, Mastermind, has joined in the legal action against the government.\n\nConcerns have been raised about links between politicians and the tobacco companies. \u201cThere are allegations of some of them having been bribed in the past,\u201d said Joel Gitali, chief executive of the Kenya Tobacco Control Alliance.\n\nBAT whistleblower Paul Hopkins, who worked in Africa for BAT for 13 years, told a British newspaper he paid bribes on the company\u2019s behalf to the Kenya Revenue Authority for access to information BAT could use against its Kenyan competitor, Mastermind. Hopkins has also alleged links between certain prominent opposition Kenyan politicians and two tobacco companies, BAT Kenya and Mastermind. Hopkins, who says he alerted BAT to the documents before the company made him redundant, claimed BAT Kenya paid bribes to government officials in Burundi, Rwanda and the Comoros Islands to undermine tobacco control regulations. Gitali is concerned about the outcome of the election: \u201cIf the opposition takes over government we shall be deeply in the hands of the tobacco companies.\u201d\n\nBAT denies any wrongdoing. A spokesperson said: \u201cWe will not tolerate improper conduct in our business anywhere in the world and take any allegations of misconduct extremely seriously. We are investigating, through external legal advisors, allegations of misconduct and are liaising with the Serious Fraud Office and other relevant authorities.\u201d\n\n\u2018We grow up dreaming we can be one of them\u2019\n\nThe headquarters and factory of British American Tobacco in Nairobi, Kenya. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian\n\nTih Ntiabang, regional coordinator for Africa of the Framework Convention Alliance \u2013 NGOs that support the WHO treaty \u2013 said the tobacco companies had become bolder. \u201cIn the past it used to be invisible interference, but today it is so shameful that it is so visible and they are openly opposing public health treaties like the case in Kenya at the moment \u2026 Today they boldly go to court to oppose public health policy. Every single government is highly interested in economic growth. They [the tobacco companies] know they have this economic power. The budget of tobacco companies like BAT could be as much as the whole budget of the Africa region.\n\n\n\n\u201cOur health systems are not really well organised. Our policy makers can\u2019t see clearly what are the health costs of inaction on tobacco control because our health system is not very good. It puts the tobacco industry at an advantage on public health.\u201d\n\nThe sale across the whole of Africa of single cigarette sticks was a serious problem because it enabled children to buy them. \u201cThey are extremely affordable. Young teenagers are able to purchase a cigarette. You don\u2019t need \u00a31 for a pack of 20,\u201d he said.\n\nBAT has a reputation in Africa as an employer offering steady and well-paid jobs, said Ntiabang, based in Cameroon. \u201cWhen I was about 10, I was always dreaming I could work for BAT. They have always painted themselves as a responsible company \u2013 a dream company to work for. All the staff are well-off. The young people think \u2018I want to work for BAT\u2019. They promote a lot of events and make their name appear to young people. We grow up dreaming we can be one of them.\u201d\n\nIn Uganda in 2014, BAT managing director, Jonathan D\u2019Souza, sent a 13-page detailed attack on the tobacco control bill, then going through parliament, to the chair of the government\u2019s health committee.\n\nBAT was contracting with 18,000 farmers and paid them 61bn Ugandan shillings for 16.8m kg of tobacco in 2013, said the letter. The economy has \u201cbenefited significantly\u201d from BAT Uganda\u2019s investments, it said. \u201cThis has helped to alleviate poverty and improve welfare in urban and rural areas,\u201d it says.\n\nBAT Uganda (BATU) agreed tobacco should be regulated while \u201crespecting the informed choices and rights of adults who choose to smoke and the legal rights of a legal industry\u201d. But it cited 11 \u201careas of concern\u201d, claiming there is no evidence to support a ban on tobacco displays in shops, that large graphic health warnings on packs are ineffective, that proposals on bans on smoking in public places were too broad and that prohibiting smoking under the age of 21 was unreasonable, since at 18 young people are adults and can make up their own mind.\n\n\n\nDocuments made public by the University of Bath show that BATU had another concern: the ban on the sale of cheap single cigarettes. Adults should be \u201cfree to purchase what they can afford\u201d, says an internal leaked paper. BATU also took action against the MP who sponsored the bill. A letter informed him that the company would no longer be contracting with the 709 tobacco farmers in his region. There is evidence that the company also lobbied other MPs with tobacco farmers in their constituencies.\n\nThe Tobacco Control Act became law in 2015, and in November last year, BAT sued. Many people choose to smoke, said an affidavit to the court from managing director Dadson Mwaura and it was important to ensure regulation did not lead to \u201cunintended consequences that risk an untaxed and unrestrained illegitimate trade in tobacco products\u201d. BATU\u2019s legal product contributed to the Ugandan economy \u201cin many dimensions\u201d.\n\nA vendor in Nairobi\u2019s Uhuru Park sells single stick cigarettes. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian\n\nThe Guardian has seen letters showing that at least six other African governments have faced challenges from the multinational tobacco companies over their attempts to control smoking.\n\nDemocratic Republic of Congo: Letter to the president sent in April 2017 by the F\u00e9d\u00e9ration des Entreprises du Congo (chamber of commerce) on behalf of the tobacco industry, listing 29 concerns with the proposed tobacco control regulations, which they claim violate the constitution, international agreements and domestic law.\n\n\n\nLetter to the president sent in April 2017 by the F\u00e9d\u00e9ration des Entreprises du Congo (chamber of commerce) on behalf of the tobacco industry, listing 29 concerns with the proposed tobacco control regulations, which they claim violate the constitution, international agreements and domestic law. Burkina Faso: Letter sent in January 2016 to the minister of health from Imperial Tobacco, warning that restrictions on labeling and packaging cigarettes risks economic and social damage to the country. Previous letter sent to the prime minister from the US Chambers of Commerce in December 2013 warning that large health warnings and plain packaging could put Burkina Faso in breach of its obligations to the World Trade Organisation.\n\nLetter sent in January 2016 to the minister of health from Imperial Tobacco, warning that restrictions on labeling and packaging cigarettes risks economic and social damage to the country. Previous letter sent to the prime minister from the US Chambers of Commerce in December 2013 warning that large health warnings and plain packaging could put Burkina Faso in breach of its obligations to the World Trade Organisation. Ethiopia: Letter sent in February 2015 to the ministers of health and science and technology by Philip Morris International, claiming that the government\u2019s tobacco directive banning trademarks, brands and added ingredients to tobacco breached existing laws and would penalise all consumer retailers.\n\nLetter sent in February 2015 to the ministers of health and science and technology by Philip Morris International, claiming that the government\u2019s tobacco directive banning trademarks, brands and added ingredients to tobacco breached existing laws and would penalise all consumer retailers. Togo: Letter to the minister of commerce in June 2012 from Philip Morris International opposing plain packaging, which \u201crisks having damaging consequences on Togo\u2019s economy and business environment\u201d.\n\n\n\nLetter to the minister of commerce in June 2012 from Philip Morris International opposing plain packaging, which \u201crisks having damaging consequences on Togo\u2019s economy and business environment\u201d. Gabon: Letter from BAT arguing that there is no evidence that plain packaging reduces smoking, citing the Deloitte report of 2011, alleging its introduction would put Gabon in breach of trade agreements and promote smuggling.\n\n\n\nLetter from BAT arguing that there is no evidence that plain packaging reduces smoking, citing the Deloitte report of 2011, alleging its introduction would put Gabon in breach of trade agreements and promote smuggling. Namibia: Letter to the minister of health from BAT, warning that planned tobacco controls will have \u201ca massive impact \u2026 on the Namibian economy at large\u201d.\n\n\n\nBintou Camara, director of Africa programs at Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said: \u201cBritish American Tobacco, Philip Morris International and other multinational tobacco companies have set their sights on Africa as a \u2018growth market\u2019 for their deadly products\u201d. Throughout Africa, tobacco companies have tried to intimidate countries from taking effective action to reduce tobacco use, the world\u2019s leading cause of preventable death, he added.\n\n\u201cGovernments in Africa should know that they can and should move forward with measures aimed at preventing and reducing tobacco use \u2013 and that they do so with the support of the many governments and leaders around the world that have taken strong action to protect public health.\u201d\n\nCloe Franko, senior international organizer at Corporate Accountability International, said: \u201cIn Kenya, as in other parts of the world, the industry has resorted to frivolous litigation, aggressive interference ... to thwart, block, and delay lifesaving policies. BAT\u2019s actions are emblematic of a desperate industry grasping to maintain its hold over countries and continue to peddle its deadly product.\u201d\n\nPhilip Morris said it is regularly engaged in discussions with governments. \u201cWe are approached by or approach public authorities to discuss a range of issues that are important for them and for us, such as taxation, international trade, and tobacco control policies. Participating in discussions and sharing points of view is a basic principle of public policy making and does not stop governments from taking decisions and enacting the laws they deem best.\u201d It said that it supports effective regulation, \u201cincluding laws banning sales to minors, mandatory health warnings, and advertising restrictions\u201d.\n\nImperial Tobacco said it sold its brands \u201cwhere there\u2019s a legitimate and existing demand for tobacco and take the same responsible approach in Africa as we do in any Western territory\u201d. A spokesman said it supported \u201creasonable, proportionate and evidence-based regulation of tobacco\u201d, including \u201chealth warnings that are consistent with global public health messages\u201d. But, it said, Imperial would \u201ccontinue to make our views known on excessive, unnecessary and often counter-productive regulatory proposals\u201d.", "output": "Multinational tobacco companies, including British American Tobacco (BAT), have demanded that the governments of at least eight African countries scrap or dilute health protections responsible for saving lives in the West, according to The Guardian. BAT is currently taking legal action to challenge attempts by the Kenyan and Ugandan governments to introduce anti-smoking regulations. The newspaper claims that intimidatory letters from companies have been sent to the governments of Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Namibia and Togo. Africa currently has an estimated 77 million smokers, a number set to rise almost 40% from 2010 levels by 2030.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Rising sovereign debt levels threaten global stability: Fitch \n By submitting I agree to Forexlive\u2019s Terms, Cookies and Privacy Notice", "output": "Rising sovereign debt levels constitute a threat to global stability amid waning public support for austerity, and falling commodity prices, according to US ratings agency Fitch's mid-year sovereign review. The firm predicted that a majority of sovereigns will run weaker primary balances in 2017 following four years of overall improvement.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Japan's Bic Camera to accept bitcoin payments in all shops \n TOKYO -- Bic Camera will allow payments in bitcoin at all locations throughout Japan as early as this month, looking to provide more options for foreign and domestic shoppers.\n\nThe Japanese electronics retailer had begun accepting the cryptocurrency at certain Tokyo stores starting in April with the help of the Japanese bitcoin exchange bitFlyer. The more than expected popularity of this option prompted Bic Camera to expand the system to the rest of its locations, the company says.", "output": "Japanese electronics retailer Bic Camera will extend the acceptance of bitcoin to all its locations in the country in response to popular demand, it has said. Bic Camera first began accepting the digital currency at selected Tokyo stores in April, but will now do so nationwide and will include some of its subsidiary Kojima stores in the suburbs in the expansion.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian researchers use sand to cut cost of algae biofuel catalyst \n In India, researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology have created a catalyst for biofuel production from algae using sand from Rajasthan, nickel and cobalt that cuts the price of production to half of that of fossil fuel. Many catalysts use expensive rare materials such as Rhodium that push up the price of production. The researchers say that any sand with a pillar structure at the nano level can be used to produce the catalyst, so it doesn\u2019t have to just be that from Rajasthan.", "output": "Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology have developed a catalyst for biofuel production using algae extracted from Rajasthan sand, as well as nickel and cobalt. They claim production costs for the fuel would be half those of fossil fuels, and added any sand with a pillar structure at the nano level could be used.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Statoil considering CO2 storage in Norwegian continental shelf \n The results of studies performed in 2016 show that it is technically feasible to realise a carbon capture and storage chain in Norway. The next phase of the project, which Statoil has been assigned to perform, will involve concept and pre-engineering studies in order to evaluate the possibilities in more detail, and to get accurate cost estimates towards a possible investment decision. An investment decision for project implementation is expected to be made by the Norwegian Parliament in 2019.\n\nThe technologies for carbon capture and storage in geological formations are known and established. There are 21 full-scale carbon capture and storage projects worldwide in the development or operations phase. Statoil\u2019s CCS projects at Sleipner and Sn\u00f8hvit are among these, and have given Statoil more than 20 years of operational carbon storage experience.\n\n\u201cThe next big tasks are developing technology, regulations and general commercial conditions that may stimulate an extensive roll-out of CCS,\u201d says Rummelhoff.\n\nThe Norwegian CCS project will be a collaboration project between onshore industry, government authorities and companies with offshore expertise, such as Statoil.\n\n\u201cCollaboration and sharing of knowledge are essential to accelerating the development of a market for carbon capture and storage. It is therefore important that we collaborate with other industrial players that can and will help implement projects and qualify CCS as an important climate tool,\u201d says Rummelhoff.", "output": "Statoil is evaluating the development of a carbon dioxide (CO2) storage project on the Norwegian continental shelf. Proposed by Norwegian state enterprise Gassnova, the storage project will capture CO2 from three industrial facilities in Eastern Norway and transport it to a receiving plant on Norway's western coast. From there, the carbon will be sent through pipelines to be permanently stored in reservoirs under the sea bed. The project will be the world's first storage site to receive CO2 from several industrial sources.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "OpenStax offers $10 student learning analytics platform \n OPENSTAX, a nonprofit out of Rice University that offers free online textbooks, is doing more than offering open educational resources these days. The organization is expanding with a learning system called OpenStax Tutor Beta, a platform that measures how students learn in order to offer individualized homework and tutoring.\n\nThe new tool costs $10 per student and is accessible through the OpenStax Tutor website. The first subjects to be available on the platform will be college-level physics, biology and sociology. Inside Higher Ed reports that the nonprofit plans to eventually expand to all subject areas.", "output": "Non-profit organisation Openstax has expanded its education system with online tool OpenStax Tutor Beta. The programme enables students to measure how they are learning and allows the creation of more individualised homework and tutoring. The platform will cost $10 per student, and the first subjects to be offered will be college-level biology, sociology and physics, although Openstax aims to expand to cover all subjects.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "LanzaTech, Indian Oil Corp. to create bioethanol from off-gases \n In Turkey, at the World Petroleum Congress, India\u2019s flagship national oil company Indian Oil Corporation and carbon recycler LanzaTech unveiled a Statement of Intent to construct the world\u2019s first refinery off gas-to-bioethanol production facility in India.\n\nThe basic engineering for the 40 million liter per year demonstration plant will begin by Q4 for installation at IndianOil\u2019s Panipat Refinery in Haryana, India. It will be integrated into existing site infrastructure and will be LanzaTech\u2019s first project capturing refinery off-gases.\n\nCarbon 2.0: value-creation drives conservation\n\nNo metals refinery emits waste gold or silver. You never hear of a platinum or diamond waste stream problem. Which shows, in the end, the way forward. Create a value opportunity and you\u2019ll see how fast emissions-reduction complaining turns into CO2 hoarding.\n\nSo, what\u2019s most compelling about this announce is that more than 50 percent of the carbon comes from waste CO2 \u2014 and that an integrated oil refiner sees value in the waste stream.\n\nSecond most compelling feature? It saves the refinery\u2019s carbon for the carbon must-haves \u2014 shifting the use of off-gases (hydrogen, carbon monoxide, CO2) from refinery processing away from making low-value power and steam (the energy for which can come from renewable solar, for example). Why use off-gases to make power and steam? Conversely, why not burn the Mona Lisa for its energy value?\n\nThere\u2019s carbon in everything we eat, everything we wear, and in everything we currently drive. Even hydrogen or electric cars are lightweighting fast \u2014 and that means more carbon and less steel.\n\nAs waste carbon acquires value, we\u2019ll see the shift \u2014 from power and venting to aviation, large trucks, and and more chemical applications all the time. \u201cIt\u2019s not very likely we will make yoga pants out of silicon,\u201d Holmgren wryly observed.\n\nThe carbon shift in the Panipat project\n\nThe potential impact of using off-gases from the refining sector in India is considerable. India would be able to produce 40-50 kilotonnes per year of ethanol, per refinery, while saving about 1 million metric tons of CO2 per annum. This is the equivalent emissions savings, per refinery, to switching 2.5 million vehicles over to all-electric in California using today\u2019s grid.\n\nShifting from CO2-as-liability to CO2-as-feedstock\n\nLanzaTech\u2019s first commercial facility converting waste emissions from steel production to ethanol will come online in China in late 2017. But the gas composition in a refinery is much different as the high levels of CO associated with the chemistry of steel production are not there.\n\nSo, what\u2019s changed?\n\nAs LanzaTech\u2019s Jennifer Holmgren explained to The Digest, \u201cCO has both carbon and energy but CO2 only has carbon and so a form of energy is required. Fortunately refineries do have H2 so we are good to go. Our bug eats CO2 and uses H2 to get the energy since CO2 has none. Mix a couple of refinery gas streams and you get CO, CO2, H2 and away you go. In the gas blend we are using with IOC, more than 50% of the carbon in the ethanol comes from CO2. So we are fixing CO2 in products. Definitely a paradigm shift and for sure now CO2 can become an opportunity feedstock rather than a liability. If we can start thinking differently, then we can succeed in our battle with CO2.\u201d\n\nThe LanzaTech backstory\n\nThis year, we expect to see the commissioning of the 16 million gallon first commercial at the Shougang plant in Caofeidan, China. Next year, we\u2019ll see the 21 million gallons second commercial at the ArcelorMittal plant in Ghent, Belgium.\n\nWe covered the range of potential products from the technology in E Pluribus, Unum: LanzaTech, Global Bioenergies demonstrate The Biotechnology App Store, here:\n\nIn December 2016, we reported that the DOE invested $4 million with LanzaTech to design, construct, and operate an integrated demonstration-scale biorefinery that will use industrial waste gases to produce 3 million gallons per year of low-carbon jet and diesel fuels. LanzaTech and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have already successfully demonstrated their renewable jet fuel production technology.\n\nIn September 2016, we reported that LanzaTech produced 1,500 US gallons of Lanzanol jet fuel, resulting from the partnership with Virgin Atlantic. The Lanzanol was produced in China at the RSB (Roundtable of Sustainable Biomaterials) certified Shougang demonstration facility. The innovative alcohol-to-jet (AtJ) process was developed in collaboration with Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL) with support from the US Department of Energy (DOE) and with the help of funding from HSBC. More on that here.\n\nIn July 2015 we reported on the ArcelorMittal, LanzaTech and Primetals Technologies project in Ghent, here.\n\nMulti-Slide Guide\n\nThe Digest\u2019s 2016 Multi-Slide Guide to LanzaTech\u2019s ATJ jet fuel tech is here.\n\nBecoming a Carbon Superhero: The Digest\u2019s 2017 Multi-Slide Guide to LanzaTech is here.\n\nThe India backstory\n\nIn March, we reported that ethanol\u2019s growth is spelled I-N-D-I-A, here.\n\nIndia is adopting a cleaner and greener economic growth pathway today, with the Government running one of the largest renewable capacity expansion programs in the world. The implementation of the National Smart Grid Mission, along with new programs for increasing energy capacities from wind and waste conversion, are key elements of this vision. This vision is inextricably linked to the principle of \u2018need-based consumption\u2019 which follows the need to maximize on existing resources and decarbonize everyday activities. For liquid fuels, this is highlighted by targets initiated by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas to increase the supply of ethanol-blended petrol (E10) to all parts of the country.\n\n\u201cIndia is on track to exceed its Paris commitments,\u201d said India\u2019s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan. \u201cThis is thanks to investment in novel low-carbon technologies such as this project between IndianOil and LanzaTech. It is promising to see carbon turned from a liability into an opportunity, where we can reduce emissions, maximize resources and decarbonize our economy.\u201d\n\nThe Indian Oil backstory\n\nIn May, we reported that the Haryana state government has approved Indian Oil\u2019s investment proposal for a $93.3 million 100,000 liter per day second-generation ethanol plant using crop waste including 50 acres of free or nearly free land in Panipat to site the facility. The plan is for the plant to be commissioned within the next two years. Back in March, the state government asked the company to submit an investment proposal, promising that it would be considered favorably.\n\nLast November, we reported that Indian Oil Corp. Ltd (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL) will invest $586 million in developing seven second-generation ethanol plants to help the government achieve its 22.5% ethanol blending goals. Each facility is planned to produce between 100,000 and 150,000 liters of ethanol per day along with compressed-CNG for use in vehicles.\n\n\u201cInnovation is one of IndianOil\u2019s core values as evidenced by our continued investment in our R&D and engineering teams,\u201d said Mr. Sanjiv Singh, Chairman IndianOil. \u201cInnovation helps us learn and grow and this project at the Panipat Refinery enables us to continue to move forward with our commitment to build a strong sustainable business that demonstrates concern for society and the environment. The biofuels we will be able to produce will support the requirements for motor spirit blends set by the Government of India while enabling IndianOil to add value while reducing its emissions.\u201d\n\n\u201cIndia is leading a transformational shift which balances industrial growth with the needs of society and the environment,\u201d said Dr Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of LanzaTech. \u201cChanges in the energy paradigm pose a serious challenge for energy companies but IndianOil is taking the challenge as an opportunity. They are leading the next generation of refiners as they diversify India\u2019s energy sources and explore alternative ways to meet the country\u2019s energy needs, sustain economic growth and alleviate energy poverty. We are very proud to be working with IndianOil as it plans the first deployment of LanzaTech technology in one of its major refineries, demonstrating the broad applicability of emissions recycling across industrial sectors, beyond steel.\u201d\n\nThe Bottom Line\n\nWe\u2019ve been following the India story all throughout the year, but perhaps this is the most exciting element given the technological milestone of directly using CO2 as a feedstock. The timing is uncertain, but the direction is not \u2014 CO2\u2019s days as a valueless emission, suitable only for wrangling over pollutants \u2014 may be over.\n\nAnd that\u2019s a long-standing story in energy. Years ago, oil refiners used to throw gasoline into the river, lacking a use for it. It wasn\u2019t the EPA that came along and stoped that \u2014 it was technology that unlocked the value.", "output": "Indian Oil Corporation and carbon recycling firm LanzaTech have agreed to build the world's first gas-to-bioethanol production facility at the Panipat Refinery in Haryana, India. The facility would use carbon off-gases as a feedstock to produce bioethanol, saving around 1 million metric tons of CO2 per year, and forms part of India's ambitious green energy plan."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow's Heritage Collections caters to work-from-home trend \n Homes for home workers in Hertfordshire\n\nWorking from home is increasing, leading more people to want a property with dedicated office space, according to housebuilder Redrow.\n\nResearch suggests that home working has increased by more than 25% in the last five years, with almost a third of employees now spending at least a day a week working at home.\n\nWhile having a laptop on your knee is fine for casual browsing and the dining table can double as a desk occasionally, regular home workers will require a dedicated office space where they can concentrate away from the distractions of family life.\n\nKerry McCoubrey, sales director for Redrow Homes (Eastern), explains: \u201cFlexible working patterns and the increased ability to spend at least part of the working week at home make it easier to balance work and family life. As people spend more time telecommuting than physically commuting they start to think more about the part of the home they\u2019re working in. The properties in our Heritage Collection, including those at The Maples in Buntingford, have been well thought-out to meet the demands of modern life, including the ability to work from home with a study included in several designs.\u201d\n\nFour and five-bedroom detached homes are currently available at The Maples, priced from \u00a3599,995.\n\nProperties with studies include the four-bedroom Canterbury and the five-bedroom Sandringham and Highgrove styles.\n\n\u201cThe advantage of having a home office can\u2019t be underestimated,\u201d Kerry adds.\n\n\u201cIt can help keep regular working hours so that you keep to \u2018office hours\u2019 at home. There\u2019s no need to pack and unpack each day as you have a dedicated work space. Plus the children will know that while mum or dad are in the study it\u2019s the equivalent to them being \u2018at work\u2019 and they shouldn\u2019t be disturbed.\u201d\n\nThe Maples is the perfect commuter base, with a choice of options for travelling into London. Homeowners could make a short drive to nearby Royston, Ware or Hertford East stations and then hop on the train to the capital. Ware and Hertford East are a 20-minute drive from the development, offering journey times to London Liverpool Street of 47 and 51 minutes respectively.\n\nIt\u2019s also a great place to raise a family as there\u2019s a choice of \u2018good\u2019 and \u2018outstanding\u2019 schools within walking distance of the new homes at The Maples.\n\nBuntingford High Street is home to a selection of stores and cafes; while there are options for more serious retail therapy in in Hertford, which is 20 minutes away by car, or Cambridge, which can be reached in 35 minutes.\n\nThe show home at The Maples is open Thursday to Monday from 10am to 5.30pm. For more information see redrow.co.uk/themaples.", "output": "Homes within Redrow's Heritage Collection are designed with modern living in mind, including the trend toward flexible working, according to Kerry McCoubrey, sales director for Redrow Homes (Eastern). Regular home workers are increasingly looking to have dedicated office space in their homes.The four-bedroom Canterbury and five-bedroom Sandringham and Highgrove styles have studies. Over the past five years, home working has risen by over 25%, and around a third of people now work at least one day from home each week, according to research.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bowhead develops blockchain-enabled medical device \n Blockchain technology can serve many different purposes, most of which have yet to be discovered. The medical sector is one area prone to disruption and innovation. Bowhead Health is trying to bring the medical sector and blockchain technology closer together as we speak. They are providing a real-time biometric test unit which is fully powered by the blockchain. An interesting concept, to say the least.\n\nBlockchain in the Medical Sector Makes Sense\n\nOur society can greatly benefit from solutions which allow us to optimize our health. More specifically, there is a growing need for personalized solutions and treatments. Despite the health supplements market being valued at US$200bn annually, there are still far too many generic \u201csolutions\u201d. Bowhead Health aims to change this one step at a time. Their new product will allow anyone in the world to test their body and work out a personalized solution to optimize their health.\n\nOne particular factor that comes to mind is preserving patient anonymity. The company will take care of this, as they give users the option to disclose their information for research or not. All of the patient records are stored in smart contracts, which is a nice touch. Users will always be in full control of their data, and how others can interact with this information. Blockchain technology can be used for both public and private information, after all.\n\nWhat is the Bowhead Product?\n\nThe Bowhead device in question is connected to the internet and monitors the health of individuals at home. It can also be used as a way to acquire new knowledge for both patients and healthcare professionals. Some users will need expert advice and be keeping tabs on their habits is of the utmost importance in this regard. What makes the Bowhead even more attractive is how it can dispense personalized medication. The initial phase will let it provide supplements and vitamins, but there is always room for future improvements.\n\nWhile the Bowhead itself will take care of the dispensing aspect, there will also be a companion app for iOS and Android. This app will allow patients to see their data, interact with healthcare professionals, and even receive reminders to stay on top of their schedule. All things considered, it sounds like a very potent ecosystem which will radically change the world of healthcare as we know it today. Plus, the app is very intuitive to use, which makes it accessible to [less] tech-savvy users alike.\n\nWhitepaper and Token Sale\n\nThere is a lot more going on behind the scenes of Bowhead health. The team has put together a comprehensive whitepaper which touches upon every aspect of this project one can think of. It is evident such a device can make a major impact on the healthcare industry as a whole. In fact, the paper also mentions the prototypes which have been developed over the past 18 months, including the Bowhead, its mobile app, and test cartridges.\n\nRolling out such a project on a global scale will not be cheap. This is why the Bowhead Health team will organize an ICO, during which 40 million of the 100 million AHT tokens will be sold. Said token represents the payment distribution from pharmaceutical and research companies. The ICO will commence on July 17th and run until August 31st. There is no minimum investment goal nor a maximum cap. Tokens will be priced at US$0.65 per AHT, although a bonus schedule is in place for the first 15 million tokens being sold.", "output": "Healthtech Bowhead Health has created a prototype of the world's first real-time, biometric test unit powered by blockchain, according to a company white paper. The device connects to the internet and monitors users' health, storing the information on smart contracts, with patients given the option to remain anonymous. An accompanying app allows users to observe their data and talk to healthcare professionals. Bowhead is set to launch an initial coin offering between 17 July and 31 August to fund the roll-out of the Bowhead device.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How to get the last 20% of energy from renewables \n The bottom line: We have more options than problems.\n\nA number of people made some really interesting comments on my recent CleanTechnica article, \u201cMark Z. Jacobson & The 100% Renewable Energy Naysayers.\u201d Some of these had to do with the problem of getting the last 20% of our energy from renewable sources, after we got to the 80% mark.\n\nThe problem is that some applications seem to need combustion, and they seem to make that last 20% daunting. Two examples are manufacturing cement and powering large passenger aircraft. I decided to make up a list of sources of renewable energy that might have some bearing on the discussion.\n\nRenewable fuels for heat and transportation can be divided into two categories. One consists those that contain carbon, and this can be subdivided into those that are derived from natural sources and those that are synthesized. The other category is fuels that are carbon-free.\n\nWe should note that it is not necessarily true that a fuel that contains carbon will contribute to climate change or pollution. Similarly, it is untrue that carbon-free fuels will certainly not pollute. Also, please remember that the list presented here is incomplete. (I am including general references to Wikipedia articles, in addition to references to more specific sources, for the readers\u2019 convenience. They are indicated as such.)\n\nNatural Carbon-Based Fuels\n\nBiomass can be purpose-cut wood, waste from other wood products, straw, or other products, including even municipal waste. Its use may be very polluting or very clean. Its production may take a lot of energy and its use release a lot of carbon dioxide, or it may be carbon neutral. Possibly the least polluting way to use biomass is for generating gases, including wood gas, biogas, and similar products.\n\nBiogas can be made using anaerobic digesters. The source materials can be just about all organic materials, including agricultural waste, waste wood, food waste, and municipal waste. The United States Department of Agriculture says we could have 11,000 electricity-producing anaerobic digesters on farms, but that figure represents a fraction of what could be used for processing municipal waste. They really can be used almost anywhere. There are about 5 million households in China that use anaerobic digesters to process their waste into fertilizer, with the gas produced used to cook food.\n\nThe National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) says we could replace 40% of our natural gas with biogas, if we are aggressive. My suspicion is that we will be aggressive because entirely separate from a need for energy is a need to deal with the waste that can produce biogas.\n\nAnother approach is gasification, which can use biomass as fuel for any gas-powered engine, whether it is an ordinary car engine or a turbine. The first systems using wood gas seem to have been invented in the 1830s. The technology was widely used in Europe during the Second World War, when systems were put on ordinary road vehicles because gasoline was not available. There were about 600,000 cars and trucks running on firewood, according to some estimates. Wood gas is also currently used for producing electricity. It is arguably cleaner-burning than natural gas, it has low cost, and it can come from local sources. (Wikipedia: Wood Gas )\n\nThe Fischer-Tropsch process, which is over 90 years old, mean that wood gas and biogas can be used for creating liquid fuels. The resulting fuels have very little sulfur and are less polluting than fossil fuels. Using this process, it is possible to get the advantages of wood gas without altering engines or burners. These liquid fuels are often more expensive than low-cost petrochemicals, but, as we will see, they are not our only alternatives for renewable replacements for gasoline, home heating oil, or diesel oil. (Wikipedia: Fischer-Tropsch process )\n\nAlgal biofuel is considered a potentially low-cost, low-pollution, and low-carbon possibility. The US Defense Department is researching algal biofuel extensively. It has concluded that 1,000 gallons of oil can be extracted per acre per year, about 3 times the productivity of corn ethanol. The cost has been higher than fossil oils, but it has been declining. (Wikipedia: Algal biofuel )\n\nBiodiesel can be manufactured out of any biological oil or fat, from soybean oil to lard. It can be made from used oil, which would otherwise be a problem for treatment plants or landfills, and which we would have to pay to get rid of. It is in some ways better than the fossil fuel it replaces. It is kinder to engines and does not pollute as badly. It costs a bit more, but many people believe it is worth the difference because it is considered carbon neutral. (Wikipedia: Biodiesel )\n\nMethanol can be made from biological sources, including wood. We would suggest not using it as a fuel because of its toxicity. It does irreversible damage to the optic nerves from exposure to minute quantities, making it dangerous to breathe the fumes, with problems getting worse with increasing exposure. It is of use in the manufacture of biodiesel, but if you are using it, we recommend caution. (Wikipedia: Methanol fuel )\n\nEthanol is created in large quantities from corn, in the United States, and is a major transportation fuel in Brazil, where it is made from cane sugar, with the bagasse being used for heat and power. Its use is very controversial in the USA, partly because the energy it provides is only 10% to 20% greater than what was required to create it, making it at best only slightly better than gasoline as a carbon polluter. It can also damage engines if too much is blended into the fuel. (Wikipedia: Ethanol fuel, section on efficiency of common crops )\n\nIt also gets the largest single subsidy we have for renewable energy. There are crops that are thought better alternatives than corn for making ethanol, and switchgrass is one.\n\nButanol is a fuel that is very similar to gasoline. It has an octane rating of 87 and can be blended with gasoline in any proportion to fuel cars without damaging auto engine parts as ethanol does.\n\nIn October of 2013, ITRI, the largest research and development laboratory in Taiwan, introduced a system for manufacture of butanol it called \u201cButyFix,\u201d which it claimed sequestered more carbon than the product released in manufacture and use combined. It also claimed that this solution could be made from any cellulose source, including wood, straw, or algae, and sold for $2 per gallon at the pump, making it highly competitive with fossil fuels. ITRI also said that any ethanol-producing plant could be easily converted to use the process. In April of 2016, ButyFix received a gold Edison Award in the alternative energy category.\n\nSyngas is a synthetic replacement for natural gas and biogas. Though it can come from fossil fuels, it can also come from biologic sources. Believe it or not, it can even be made from carbon dioxide captured at the stacks of plants burning carbon-based fuels, or extracted from lakes or the ocean, by using the Sabatier reaction, which was discovered about 1910. It can even be made from the air. Alternatively, syngas can be made from carbon monoxide, using the Fischer-Tropsch process, invented in 1925.\n\nResearch has continued up to the present, and improvements to these reactions now exist, requiring comparatively little energy for the production. Though some processes and fuel sources produce syngas with only about half the energy density of natural gas, it can be purified to make its energy density higher. It can also be made into other fuels, including replacements for oil, gasoline, or plastics. (Wikipedia: Syngas , Power to Gas , and Alternative fuel. )\n\nSince the feedstock for syngas based on carbon dioxide can be just lake or sea water, the cost of syngas is closely related to the cost of the electricity used to make it. In 2010, when the low demand costs of wind power could be as low as 0.71\u00a2/kWh, syngas could compete with fossil fuels when oil cost $55 per barrel. As it happens, the cost of wind power has dropped so low that long-term power purchase agreements average 2\u00a2/kWh (see: 2015 Wind Technologies Market Report and Lazard\u2019s Levelized Cost of Energy Analysis ), and in low-demand times, the cost actually can fall into negative territory. This implies very inexpensive gas fuel can be produced where a lot of wind power is available.\n\nSynthetic gasoline and aviation fuel can also be made from carbon dioxide found in the ocean to make synthetic gas, and that could potentially be used to make a liquid fuel cost-effectively. For this reason, it is being studied by the Navy. A study published in 2010 says, \u201cThe U.S. Navy estimates that 100 megawatts of electricity can produce 41,000 gallons of jet fuel per day and shipboard production from nuclear power would cost about $6 per gallon.\u201d If you follow the numbers in the spreadsheets in the study, it is clear that $4.32 of that $6 is a pay-down on the cost of a nuclear reactor. This implies that if the energy is supplied on land at low-demand times, the cost of aviation fuel might be well below $2 per gallon. (I saw a Navy slideshow presented in 2012 in which it was stated that the cost on land from wind power at low-demand rates would be $1 per gallon, but unfortunately I cannot document how that amount was calculated.)\n\nCarbon-Free Fuels\n\nCompressed air is being put forward as a power source for both electricity and transportation. Though it has been used to power cars and other vehicles, it is being considered for large-scale storage for electric power. A 3,000 MW wind farm proposed for Wyoming plans to have energy storage using compressed air in Utah, as the electricity flows to Los Angeles. (Wikipedia: Compressed air energy storage )\n\nLiquid nitrogen boils at the low temperature of -195.79\u00b0 C (-320\u00b0 F). It can be maintained without pressure in an insulated tank for periods of days to months by allowing it to boil slowly, cooling what remains. This is acceptable environmentally, because the atmosphere is 80% nitrogen anyway. It has been suggested as a transportation fuel for years, but it is regarded as impractical for many reasons. (Wikipedia: Liquid nitrogen vehicle )\n\nHydrogen has great potential as a fuel for a number of reasons, but also has some important drawbacks.\n\nOne method for manufacturing hydrogen is electrolysis of water, which releases only oxygen as a by-product. If this is done during times of low electricity demand, while the wind powers wind turbines, hydrogen can actually be produced at no marginal cost, or even negative cost. Burning hydrogen produces water, using the same amount of oxygen that was released when the hydrogen was made. This makes its use potentially environmentally neutral.\n\nOne big drawback for storing hydrogen is that its molecules are so small that they can fit between the atoms in steel, so they leak out of storage by passing right through the sides of the containers. This is a problem for long-term storage, but does not happen quickly enough to be of much concern for short-term use. (Wikipedia: Hydrogen fuel )\n\nHydrogen is not energy dense. It can, however, be mixed with other gases, such as syngas or biogas, to improve the mixture. (Wikipedia: HCNG )\n\nAmmonia has been used successfully as a fuel for transportation. What we are talking about here is not the ammonium hydroxide that you can buy in stores, which many people call \u201cammonia.\u201d This is anhydrous ammonia, a gas that can be liquefied and held in a tank. Unlike ammonium hydroxide, ammonia will burn in air.\n\nDuring the Second World War, shortage of gasoline and diesel oil in German-controlled areas of Europe pushed the Belgians to look into alternate fuels for their buses. By fitting the vehicles with appropriate fuel tanks and making the necessary alterations to the engines, they were able to use ammonia as a replacement for diesel oil and gasoline.\n\nThe production and consumption of ammonia is similar to those of hydrogen, as the products of combustion are identical to the sources for the fuel. In the case of ammonia, hydrogen is manufactured, with oxygen as a by-product, and then it is combined chemically with atmospheric nitrogen, using heat, pressure, and a catalyst. The first system for doing this is about a century old, but new techniques are more efficient.\n\nAmmonia has its drawbacks, including low energy density and toxicity, though the products of combustion are quite safe. When the ammonia is burned, the products of combustion are nitrogen and water, the same products it was made from. (Wikipedia: Ammonia, section on use as a fuel )\n\nThere are doubtless other ways of dealing with those last dribbles of fossil fuels we need to get rid of, and with research, more may appear. I apologize for any I might have missed.\n\nSign up for Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era \u2014 Podcast: I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014 gasp \u2014 grow. So ... Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014\u2014 grow. So ...", "output": "Once energy users receive 80% of their energy from renewable sources, it becomes very challenging to decarbonise the final 20%, said Vibrant Clean Energy founder Christopher Clack. Processes like manufacturing cement and powering large passenger aircraft are extremely difficult to run with carbon-free fuels. However, a range of natural carbon-based fuels made from biomass or natural gases could be used to replace oil, gasoline or plastics. Additionally, carbon-free fuels including compressed air, liquid nitrogen, hydrogen and ammonia can be used as an alternative to fuel if handled correctly.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Commercial property coalition\u00a0launches sustainability toolkit \n Join our growing army of changemakers and get unlimited access to our premium content\n\nThe Better Buildings Partnership (BBP) toolkit has received industry support from major firms including The Crown Estate, Grosvenor and Aviva Investors. The toolkit enables investment and acquisition teams to better manage \u2018investment critical\u2019 sustainability issues such as climate change and energy security during the due diligence stage.\n\n\u201cIt is absolutely critical that sustainability risks and opportunities are reflected in owners\u2019 investment decisions,\u201d said BBP programme director Sarah Ratcliffe.\n\n\u201cThe responsibility for this, however, should not be the preserve of the \u2018sustainability experts\u2019 but simply part of business as usual. This toolkit supports this by enabling investment teams to understand the issues and take the lead in embedding them within their own internal processes.\u201d\n\n\u2018Huge value\u2019\n\nKey areas that the toolkit will aim to tackle include flooding and the soon-to-be introduced Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES), which requires private, non-domestic properties to reach an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) of at least \u2018E\u2019 before granting a tenancy to new or existing tenants.\n\nThe toolkit includes a sustainability investment checklist which sets out the information that should be requested and reviewed, from the initial pre-bid stage through to transaction. It also contains a 100-day review section which outlines the key questions that should be considered post-transaction to ensure a smooth transition into property management.\n\nOne of the businesses to have endorsed the toolkit, Aberdeen Asset Management, has said that the toolkit will help the group engage with its increasingly sustainability-focused investors.\n\n\u201cThe \u2018sustainability profile\u2019 of new properties can not only significantly influence an owner\u2019s ability to achieve its sustainability objectives, but can also have important implications for capital investment programmes, leasing and service charge arrangements,\u201d Aberdeen Asset Management\u2019s head of UK property transactions Robert Cass said.\n\n\u201cThis toolkit, developed by the industry, for the industry, is of huge value in helping owners approach this subject.\u201d\n\nHot property\n\nMany sections of the property sector are driving improvements in the performance of building stocks through energy efficiency upgrades and low-carbon commitments. It was last week revealed that members of the BBP \u2013 representing in excess of \u00a3180bn assets under management \u2013 had improved the energy efficiency of their built environment portfolio by 25% since 2011, amassing \u00a316m in savings as a result.\n\nBBP member Canary Wharf Group (CWG) has managed to reduce emissions by 14.4% across its estate despite increasing its portfolio in the last year, the British property firm\u2019s latest CSR report revealed earlier this month. Meanwhile, fellow BPP affiliate Land Securities recently announced the approval of its science-based target to reduce emissions by 80% by 2050.\n\nGeorge Ogleby", "output": "The Better Buildings Partnership (BBP) has created a toolkit offering practical guidance for managing sustainability risks and opportunities\u00a0during the acquisition process, with a particular focus on forthcoming Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards as well as flooding. BBP's toolkit includes a checklist of information to be accessed and assessed\u00a0from initial pre-bid stage to transaction, and is aimed at helping businesses\u00a0engage with sustainability-focused investors.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Aston Martin cuts run of RapidE model to 155 after LeEco pulls out \n In February 2016, Aston Martin announced that it would work with Chinese tech company LeEco on the RapidE, an electric version of the Rapide four-door sports sedan. LeEco, facing a cash crunch, has pulled out of the project, but Aston Martin Chief Executive Andy Palmer told Reuters that his company will still produce the EV.\n\nThe plan seems to be to make the RapidE a bit more exclusive. Aston Martin will build only 155 units, a third of the original plan. The launch date has been pushed back to 2019.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve decided to make this car rare, which will obviously tend to push the price higher,\u201d Palmer said. \u201cAston Martin now plans to proceed independently, funding further development of RapidE by ourselves.\u201d\n\nAston will start taking orders for the RapidE next month. Prices start at around 200,000 pounds ($255,000), 50,000 pounds more than the existing V12 Rapide.\n\nBattery packs for the RapidE will come from a new production facility built by a consortium led by Williams Advanced Engineering, which supplies power packs to the Formula E electric car racing series, and also built the RapidE prototype that was unveiled in 2015.\n\nAston\u2019s further EV plans include an electric version of the DBX crossover it plans to launch in 2019.\n\n\u201cThe RapidE project was always about learning in readiness for the DBX derivative,\u201d Palmer said. \u201cWe can do that through a limited series.\u201d\n\nSource: Reuters via Jalopnik", "output": "Aston Martin has cut the run of its electric RapidE model by a third after Chinese tech firm LeEco, facing a funding crunch, pulled out of the project. The luxury carmaker will now produce 155 units of the electric vehicle (EV), while its\u00a0launch date has been pushed back to 2019. Aston will start taking orders next month with\u00a0prices starting\u00a0at \u00a3200,000 ($255,000), about \u00a350,000 more than the V12 Rapide.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Statoil considers converting gas power station to hydrogen \n The Magnum gas power plant has three combined cycle gas turbines (CCGT) with a capacity of 440 MW each. One CCGT emits approximately 1.3 million tons of CO2 per year.\n\nDesigning a large-scale value chain\n\nThe technology for producing hydrogen by converting natural gas into hydrogen and CO2 is proven and known. The new element is to design a large-scale value chain.\n\n\u201cDesigning a large-scale value chain where production of hydrogen from natural gas is combined with CO2 capture, transport and storage can open up new business opportunities\u201d, says Rummelhoff.\n\nSo far, high costs combined with lack of CO2 storage facilities have limited the development of a low-carbon value chain for hydrogen based on natural gas.\n\nIn 2016, the Norwegian government initiated a new national CO2 capture, transport and storage project. Studies confirmed the feasibility of storing CO2 on the Norwegian continental shelf, with high storage capacity and the potential to expand the facilities to manage additional CO2 volumes beyond the initial demonstration project.\n\nIf the Norwegian CCS demonstration project is realized, this may open up for future CO2 storage from other projects, including the joint Vattenfall, Gasunie and Statoil project.\n\nGiving new possibilities\n\nStatoil has more than 20 years of experience with CO2 storage on the Norwegian continental shelf. The company has launched a climate roadmap, which details our targets for CO2 emission reductions and improved carbon intensity and energy efficiency.\n\n\u201cStatoil has introduced several measures to reduce emissions from our oil and gas activities. With the joint Statoil, Gasunie and Vattenfall project we see the possibility of also helping potential customers reduce their CO2 emissions at a large scale. As the upstream facilities required to reform natural gas into hydrogen need to be large scale, there is a significant scope for economy-of-scale by introducing additional markets to the energy system\u201d, says Rummelhoff.\n\nRelated page", "output": "A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed by Statoil, Gasunie and Vattenfall to explore converting a Vattenfall gas power station in the Netherlands into a hydrogen-powered plant, potentially reducing annual production of CO2 by four million tons. Statoil wants to design a \"large-scale value chain where production of hydrogen from natural gas is combined with CO2 capture, transport and storage\" to open up new business opportunities\u201d, the company said. The main challenges thus far have been high costs combined with lack of CO2 storage facilities, it\u00a0said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Urban Collective offers to find your ideal rented home for \u00a3600 \n Post navigation\n\nA proptech firm is launching, promising to revolutionise the rental sector.\n\nUrban Collective is offering to cut down on the hassle and time it takes tenants to search for a property.\n\nThe start-up has launched a property find service, starting in London, that provides experts, or \u201cSherpas\u201d, with local knowledge of each client\u2019s chosen area.\n\nOnce assigned, they will establish their client\u2019s dream home profile, understanding their property and lifestyle needs, and create a shortlist of available properties on their behalf.\n\nThey can also conduct accompanied viewings.\n\nThe service will cost tenants \u00a3600 for a one- to three-bed property or \u00a3900 for a four- to five-bed.\n\nClients pay 50% upfront and 50% on signing of the lease.\n\nUrban Collective will refund the full fee if the tenants don\u2019t like the shortlist or don\u2019t arrange any viewings.\n\nA spokesperson for the company told EYE: \u201cThis frees up time to spend on other things, such as work \u2013 particularly important for business owners or those for whom time is money \u2013 or to use the little amount of free time they do have to do things they want to, such as spend time with family.\n\n\u201cOthers may just find the current process too much hassle and would like someone to take the heavy lifting out of this life admin, much like a personal shopper does, or a personal assistant.\n\n\u201cThe service is also ideal for expats moving to London. Our Sherpas are all local experts so can advise on areas based on their clients\u2019 needs, and organise viewings before they even reach the city. The sooner they are able to find a property in their new city, the less time and money spent on hotels/other accommodation.\u201d\n\nAlongside the Sherpa service is a free UrbanCo app that lets renters search for lifestyle-focused listings from Zoopla, with properties curated based on their proximity to amenities such as gyms and hospitals, or commuting options rather than simply price and location.\n\nThe Urban Collective is founded by tech entrepreneur couple Mayank Mathur and Valerie Vigouroux because of their own frustrations when trying to find somewhere to rent.\n\nThey say they spent up to 75 hours having discussions with over a dozen agents and viewing over 40 properties before finding their eventual home \u2013 and that was before the moving admin.\n\nMathur said: \u201cA tenant\u2019s rent is their biggest monthly expense, yet the renting journey is significantly lagging behind customer service standards found in other industries.\n\n\u201cDuring our home search last year, we found our experience was the same as it was the last time we rented ten years ago. It hadn\u2019t evolved or improved.\n\n\u201cWe wasted countless hours researching listings with generic search criteria and answering the same questions when briefing different agents, only to end up visiting multiple properties that didn\u2019t remotely match our requirements.\u201d\n\nFrustrated by their experience and confident there was a better way of renting, they partnered with the only estate agent they met during their search who understood their personal challenge, Octavian Pop, whose CV includes working as a lettings negotiator at Foxtons.\n\nPop said: \u201cThe Urban Collective provides an alternative and more enjoyable process for people to rent a home.\n\n\u201cThe property market has changed in the past two decades \u2013 more professionals and business owners are unable, or choosing not, to buy, meaning they stay in the rental market longer.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s time that the search experience is overhauled and brought into the 21st century to match the customer service tenants experience elsewhere.\u201d", "output": "Proptech start-up Urban Collective has launched a scheme it claims will revolutionise the rental sector\u00a0by providing experts with local knowledge to help people find their perfect home. The service, which begins\u00a0with\u00a0the assignment of an expert, or\u00a0\"Sherpa\", to develop a property and lifestyle profile for the client, costs between \u00a3600 ($776)\u00a0and \u00a3900, depending on the size of the desired property. Sherpas can also carry out pre-arranged viewings. Urban Collective has also launched an app enabling tenants to scour lifestyle-focused listings from Zoopla.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Corvus to supply batteries for hybrid offshore supply vessels \n Edit page New page Hide edit links\n\nCorvus Energy has been selected as the supplier of a lithium ion based energy storage system (ESS) for the hybridisation of PSV Far Sun (photo: Farstad Shipping)\n\nCorvus Energy has announced that it has been selected as the supplier of a lithium ion based energy storage system (ESS) for the hybridisation of Farstad Shipping\u2019s PSV Far Sun being integrated by Vard Electro, in the second half of 2017. The Orca Energy ESS from Corvus will supply electrical power to the PSV\u2019s propulsion system electrical network to enable environmentally-friendly and lower cost operations.\n\nThe energy storage system will be utilised during all aspects of the PSV\u2019s operation, particularly during dynamic positioning and harbour operations where fuel consumption and emissions will be significantly reduced. Equally important to Farstad and Statoil (who maintains a long-term charter for the PSV), the ESS will increase safety through provision of spinning reserve for improved response time as well as increased redundancy.\n\n\u201cAs we have experienced with many vessel types, the Orca ESS is ideally suited for the hybridisation of the Far Sun PSV,\u201d says Ronald Hansen, Global Service Manager of Corvus Energy. \u201cThrough close collaboration with Vard, our teams have developed a lean solution which meets the aggressive environmental, safety, performance and operating cost objectives of Farstad and Statoil.\u201d\n\nStatoil, an important client of Farstad Shipping, is focused on improved safety, efficient operations and reduced environmental impact. Through a long-term contractual relationship and a strong emphasis on reducing emissions, Statoil has been a key element in the efforts to have battery technology installed on board Far Sun.\n\n\u201cThe energy storage system will provide significant savings for Farstad and Statoil over time, enabling the ship to more efficiently utilise energy produced by the generators, as well as simplifying the use of shore power. This will substantially reduce consumption and emissions. Another effect is less noise from ships in port,\u201d says Christian S\u00f8vik, VP Global Services of Vard Electro.", "output": "Corvus Energy will supply batteries for hybrid offshore supply vessels powered by PSV Far Sun's propulsion system network. Corvus' energy storage system allows for greener and lower-cost operations and will be used in all aspects of the PSV's operation, particularly during dynamic positioning and harbour operations where energy consumption and emissions will be significantly cut."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trucks and planes ensure future demand for oil: Total \n The oil industry must accept that global demand for crude may fall by 2050 but rich potential remains in hydrocarbons, especially gas, the head of French energy giant Total said Tuesday.\n\nTotal CEO Patrick Pouyanne said climate policies and electric cars would affect demand for oil in the next three decades.\n\n\"It is possible that by 2040-2050 oil demand will not be as high as it is today,\" he told the World Petroleum Congress in Istanbul.\n\n\"It is a scenario that is possible\" if the targets of the 2015 Paris climate accord are implemented, he said.\n\nBut Pouyanne insisted there would remain a demand for oil, even if electric cars prove a success, as there is no substitute in sight for fossil fuels in heavy trucks and planes.\n\n\"I urge the industry to be responsible as there is plenty of opportunity for all of us,\" he said.\n\n\"We have to have competitive oil assets to face demand that may not be as high as we expected.\"\n\nHe described gas as the \"ideal carbon of the future\" that could be used alongside renewables.\n\n\"We have to bet on gas,\" he said\n\nPouyanne described the fall in the oil price over the last years from highs of 145 dollars a barrel in 2008 to around 45 dollars now as \"traumatic\" but said the industry had shown a capacity to change.\n\nAs well as showing greater efficiencies, energy majors could still show what he described as a \"pioneer spirit\", he said, pointing to his own company's return to Iran.\n\nTotal on July 3 defied US pressure by signing a multi-billion-dollar gas deal with Iran, the first by a European firm in more than a decade.", "output": "There is also no substitute in sight for fossil fuels in heavy trucks and planes, ensuring future demand for crude oil, said Total CEO Patrick Pouyann\u00e9. Global demand for crude may fall by 2050 due to climate policies and electric vehicles, but there is still rich potential in hydrocarbons, particularly gas, which could be used alongside renewables, he said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sonnen brings mobile phone model to Australian power market \n Originally published on RenewEconomy.\n\nChristoph Ostermann, the founder and CEO of German battery storage developer Sonnenbatterie, could hardly believe his luck: Just as he prepared to announce a plan to take Australia\u2019s energy utilities \u201cout of business\u201d, the utilities announced \u2013 en masse \u2013 a near 20 per cent jump in the cost of grid power.\n\nThe Australia battery storage market \u2013 already seen by Sonnen as the one of the most promising in the world thanks to its excellent sunshine, its high penetration of rooftop solar, volatile energy markets and extremely high retail electricity prices \u2013 suddenly got even more attractive.\n\n\u201cIt was perfect. We said: \u2018Thankyou very much\u2019,\u201d Ostermann told journalists at the launch of the Sonnenflat battery storage retail product in Sydney on Wednesday night.\n\nSonnen unveiled what it describes as a major assault on the traditional energy utility business model by introducing a unique offer that replicates the sort of deal consumers can get from a mobile phone company, and with a quick pay-back.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s our goal, to take the traditional utility out of business,\u201d Ostermann says. \u201cWhat we do is provide grid power for free.\u201d\n\nWell, not quite, but almost. A household with at least 5kW of solar can buy one of Sonnen\u2019s battery storage systems, and then be provided with all their electricity needs for a flat rate of $30, $40, or $50 a month, depending on the size of their solar system, storage and daily usage.\n\nThis graph above illustrates what is available. An average house will be able to consume around 10,000kWh a year, or nearly 30kWh a day, and cut its annual bill of around $3,400 to just $480 a year.\n\nOf course, you also need the battery storage, which might cost around $15,000 for an average system. But even this would provide a pay-back within 5 years, and so once paid off the only cost to the consumer is the annual fee. Sonnen provides a guarantee for its storage systems of 10,000 cycles. That effectively gives it a near 20 year life.\n\nThe Sonnenflat product is designed to take the hassle and confusion out of the solar and storage equation, which can be devilishly complicated for the consumer.\n\nIt merges, into one product, the various new concepts such as peer-to-peer trading and virtual power plants. The participants in the Sonnenflat will essentially sell excess power to each other, or to Sonnen, who then package it up and use it to trade \u2013 via a third party \u2013 in the wholesale and other markets, such as ancilliary services.\n\nFor the customer, it takes away the pressure and worry about when to use appliances. They don\u2019t have to care about load shifting or how much is stored or exported or drawn down from the grid.\n\nFor a flat fee, Sonnen will take care of it, the customer users what they want, within certain parameters. (And, it should be pointed out, it may not be available in areas with very high fixed network charges, such as in Essential Energy)\n\nSonnen says it already has around 600-700 battery storage installations across Australia since it entered the market last November, and by the end of this year it aims to have 2,000 customers taking part in its Sonnenflat system. That equates to a \u201cvirtual power plant\u201d of around 20MWh.\n\nBut in 2018, it expects to increase that number four-fold (80MWh) and then to double it each year.\n\nOstermann says the market is ripe for the picking, particularly the existing fleet of rooftop solar. If one quarter of the 1.6 million households signed up for his deal, then that would equate to a virtual power plant of 1.4GW \u2013 nearly the size of the Hazelwood power generator that closed down earlier this year.\n\nHe sees the retrofit market as the most promising, because many households have effectively paid off their solar system. But the falling cost of solar panels also makes it attractive for new customers.\n\nProfessor Ross Garnaut, the chairman of Zen Energy, the Adelaide-based battery storage developer which has a partnership with Sonnen, described it as an \u201cimportant step in Australia\u2019s energy transition.\u201d\n\nWould this kill the traditional energy utility business model, I asked him during the presentation. \u201cThat\u2019s the idea,\u201d he said.\n\nIndeed, Ostermann says that utilities that do not evolve will die. But Sonnen is seeking alliances among the incumbents as well. Before the launch, it was holding discussions with AGL Energy about using its wholesale market trading systems.\n\nIt has also signed up a small retailer to manage the customers. It wouldn\u2019t say who it was, but RenewEconomy understands it is the new energy start-up Energy Locals.\n\nOstermann says that utilities will have no choice but to write down their assets as they understand the implications of all this rooftop solar and battery storage providing \u201cfree electricity\u201d once their purchase price has been amortised.\n\n\u201cThey are sad and happy at same time. They are laughing and crying. It\u2019s like standing at train station and watching (a train) leave and trying to run and catch up with it when they realise \u2018oh shit, our business model is disrupted.\u2019\n\n\u201cThey are trying to adapt. They are intelligent enough to recognise that it is impossible with their current model.\n\n\u201cIf you look 10 years ahead, you will see amortised PV sites that are generating electricity at zero cost. New installations are getting cheaper and cheaper. They will have to write off assets they sitting on.\u201d\n\nThe indications are that battery storage market is showing signs of rapid expansion, according to Jonathon Fisk, co-founder and director of Solaray Energy.\n\n\u201cIn June alone, Solaray took orders for over half a megawatt of storage just in Sydney and we see the Sonnenflat product adding to our rapid and continued growth,\u201d he says.\n\n\u201cIt will give our customers the option to never pay for energy again. This is the model for the future and could well be how the majority of batteries and solar PV is bought in the future.\u201d Solaray also distributes Tesla and Enphase batteries.\n\nReprinted with permission.\n\nSign up for Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era \u2014 Podcast: I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014 gasp \u2014 grow. So ... Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014\u2014 grow. So ...", "output": "German battery storage developer Sonnenbatterie aims to \"take the traditional utility out of business\" by changing the way that households purchase electricity. A home with at least 5kW of solar can buy one of Sonnen\u2019s battery storage systems and then pay a flat rate of AUD30, AUD40\u00a0or AUD50 a month, depending on the size of their solar system, storage and usage.\u00a0After paying about $15,000 for an average battery system, households\u00a0can cut their annual energy bill to about $480 a year from\u00a0$3,400, providing payback within five years. Sonnen\u00a0power packs have a life of about\u00a020 years assuming about 10,000 cycles in that period.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk Price rises planned for 40,000 TalkTalk customers from 1 August \n TalkTalk is upping its prices again on 1 August. Find out how you could switch or haggle your way to a better deal.\n\nTalkTalk will hike prices for 40,000 customers from 1 August, with some broadband bills rising by as much as \u00a321 a year.\n\nSome pay monthly mobile phone customers will be even harder hit, with bills rising by up by \u00a330 a year.\n\nThe Telecoms giant is in the process of contacting those affected by the increase by letter or email.\n\nPeople who have signed up or renewed their broadband with TalkTalk since October last year will be on a fixed price plan and so won\u2019t be affected by the price rises.\n\nThere will also be increases to call rates for telephone customers.\n\nCustomers will pay 13.5p per minute (up from 12.5p per minute) for calls to UK landlines and mobiles.\n\nCall connection charges are going up from 18p to 20p per call, while premium call charges will rise from 7.5p to 10.5p per minute.\n\nA \u201clarge proportion\u201d of customers will be unaffected by the call increases as they have all-inclusive packages.\n\nAnnouncing the changes, a TalkTalk spokesperson said:\n\n\"We\u2019ve been investing millions in improving our unlimited broadband network, making our TV service faster and simpler to use, and introducing industry-leading security services and calling features which we provide as standard.\n\n\"If you're on one of our Fixed Price Plans we can guarantee your broadband price will stay the same for the length of your contract. If your package has a boost with inclusive calls these charges may not affect you.\"\n\nHow to beat the hikes\n\nIf you want to move away from TalkTalk and you\u2019re not within the minimum term of your contract, you can leave without paying an exit fee.\n\nHead over to broadbandchoices.co.uk or Recombu to find the best broadband and mobile deals for you.\n\nIf you\u2019re on a Simply and Essential broadband plan or locked in a mobile contract, Ofcom says you have the right to cancel fee-free.\n\nJust tell TalkTalk within 30 days of receiving your letter or email detailing the price changes. If you don\u2019t, you\u2019ll need to pay a termination fee.\n\nThose who want to stay with the provider have the option of calling up and haggling for a better deal. Read How to haggle and save a fortune to find out more.\n\nAlternatively, you can have a look at how to cut your Sky bill and how to cut your BT bill.\n\nBe in with a chance of winning \u00a3500 every week with loveMONEY! Click here to find out more", "output": "TalkTalk plans to raise prices for 40,000 customers from 1 August. Bills could rise as much as \u00a321 a year for certain broadband customers and up to \u00a330 a year for some monthly-paying mobile customers. Those who have joined or renewed their broadband with the telecoms firm since October 2016 will not be affected by the increases as they will be on a fixed price plan.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk TalkTalk trials in-app chat feature to improve customer support experience \n Tuesday, Jul 11th, 2017 (1:38 pm) - Score 791\n\nCustomers of broadband and phone provider TalkTalk, specifically those who make use of their free iOS and Android based MyTalkTalk app, will be pleased to learn that the ISP has added a new in-app chat feature that enables them to talk with customer support without making a call.\n\nAt present the new feature is being added as part of a beta trial that starts today, although it\u2019s expected to be rolled out to all app users during the autumn. Features like this are attractive to ISPs because they reduce the load on call centres. On the flip side they also make it easier for customers to keep a record of their support queries and remove the need to wait in a tedious telephone queue.\n\nKerry Edwards, TalkTalk\u2019s Customer Experience Director, said: \u201cWe know how important our products and services are to our customers and if something goes wrong we want them to be able to contact us quickly and easily. However we know that life doesn\u2019t always allow for customers to stay on the phone or on live chat to our agents, so this app update means customers can now chat to us when it\u2019s convenient whilst we can get on and resolve the problem.\u201d\n\nApparently, once a customer has sent a message, delivery notifications ensure that both the customer and the agent can see when messages have been received and read. Push notifications will then alert customers to new messages.", "output": "Internet service provider TalkTalk is trialling an in-app chat feature that enables users of its MyTalkTalk app to talk to customer support without making a call. The feature, which is expected to ease demands on the company's call centres and also improve the customer experience by cutting time spent in telephone queues, is anticipated to be rolled out in the autumn.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Up to 15 million UK jobs at risk from disruption, finds report \n Robotics and artificial intelligence will reduce social mobility in the UK, the chief executive of the Sutton Trust has told Sky News.\n\n\"The rise of robotics is taking away the traditional ladders of opportunity in the workplace,\" Lee Elliot Major said.\n\n\"What we're worried about is that those are taking the paraprofessional jobs - the jobs that were the stepping stones for people to rise up the social ladder.\n\n\"People from poorer backgrounds will be disproportionately affected because those are the people that have these jobs normally.\"\n\nIn a report, the Sutton Trust said that only 29% of people believe today's youth will have a better quality of life than their parents - down from 42% in 2003.\n\n:: Sky Views - Why I'm backing robots over humans\n\nPlease use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 2:06 Robots created with 'human' social skills\n\nThe report suggested that bringing the UK up to the average Western European levels of social mobility could add 2.1% to GDP per year, a total boost of around \u00a339bn.\n\nIt also found that up to 15 million jobs in the UK \"could disappear due to technological disruption\".\n\nThe result could be a two-tier society, the Trust said, with \"an elite high skilled group dominating the higher echelon of society and a lower-skilled, low-income group with limited prospects of upward mobility and an irremediably broken social ladder\".\n\nAdvertisement\n\nPlease use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 2:40 Could technology turn against us?\n\nTony Burke, assistant general secretary for manufacturing of the union Unite, told Sky News: \"We are taking (automation) very seriously as an issue.\n\n\"Nobody's faced this before. Unlike previous industrial revolutions that created employment, the problem with the Industrial Revolution 4.0 is it is actually going to reduce it.\n\n\"Our problem is that our government doesn't have a strategy for how they're going to manage this.\"\n\nA spokesperson for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: \"As part of building our Industrial Strategy, the Government has asked a team of industry experts led by Siemens CEO Juergen Maier to look into the challenges and opportunities of digital technology and automation.\n\n\"This review will consider how we can work together with businesses to ensure the benefits of new technologies are felt in different sectors of the economy, creating new, exciting and well paid jobs across the country.\"", "output": "Technological disruption threatens to take away 15 million jobs in the UK, said a report from non-profit organisation the Sutton Trust. The disappearance of white collar jobs that help people climb the social ladder will result in a societal divide between highly-skilled, higher-income workers and less skilled, low-income workers, it said. Just 29% of people believe today's younger generation will have a better quality of life than their parents, compared with 42% in 2003, the report added. By raising social mobility to average western European levels, the UK could add 2.1% to GDP per year, the trust suggested."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google offers AR education experience through Tango \n Augmented Reality is taking on a more defined format for the consumer market: mobile devices. Google sees AR\u2019s potential for educational uses.\n\nAt the Augmented World Expo, I met with Jared Finder, a Google software engineer working on Tango, the company\u2019s new augmented reality technology for mobile devices.\n\n\u201cVR is about taking you to another world, whereas AR is about taking things and embedding them in the real world,\u201d Finder said. \u201cSo I think that plays up also to educational uses. If you want to learn about something, what could be better than being there and seeing it?\u201d\n\nGoogle has made an app for K-12 education called Google Expeditions. It takes students through virtual field trips to volcanoes, coral reefs, and even the International Space Station. Initially, Expeditions was a VR experience created for Google Cardboard. The new Tango version let\u2019s you experience those places in AR with other people in the real classroom.\n\n\u201cOne thing that\u2019s really cool about AR is that it\u2019s a shared experience because it\u2019s part of the real world, and we all share the real world,\u201d Finder said.\n\nThe following video by Google explains how Tango Expeditions works.", "output": "Google has developed an educational app for mobiles that offers students a shared augmented reality (AR) experience. Tango is aimed at K-12 students, and enables them to take virtual trips to volcanoes, the International Space Station or a coral reef. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Passive drift inflicts first losses on asset managers since 2008 \n The global money management industry felt the impact this past year of the growing challenges it faces, even as assets under management grew, according to a study from Boston Consulting Group.\n\nAssets under management totaled $69.1 trillion as of Dec. 31, up 7% from the previous year's total of $64.6 trillion, primarily due to market gains. Net new inflows remained primarily flat at 1.5% of beginning-of-the-year AUM, the same as the previous year.\n\nOn a regional basis, AUM increased in all regions except for the Middle East and Africa. North American AUM increased to $33 trillion in 2016, up 6% from the year before. European AUM increased 7% to $18.4 trillion; Asia, excluding Japan and Australia, increased 16% to $6.6 trillion; Japan and Australia increased 4% to $6 trillion; Latin America increased 14% to $1.5 trillion; and the Middle East and Africa remained flat at $1.3 trillion.\n\nBrent Beardsley, senior partner and managing director at Boston Consulting Group, said in a press briefing that this is the first year since the financial crisis the firm has seen revenue and profit decline in the industry.\n\n\"Despite all that growth and the market appreciation, revenue and profit in the industry were down and that was primarily due to fee pressure.\"\n\nHe cited the \"continuing shift away from traditional core active strategies,\" and mentioned that even in more specialized asset classes such as small-cap equities, emerging markets or high yield, \"people are going passive.\"\n\nNet revenues fell to $112 billion from $114 billion, a 1.8% decrease from the year before. The last time revenue dropped was from 2007 to 2008, from $100 billion down to $80 billion.\n\nNet revenues, as a share of assets under management, fell to 26.7 basis points in 2016 from 28.1 basis points, while operating profits as a share of net revenues fell to 38% from 39%.\n\n\"In the alternative space, it's really a shift toward more and more illiquid asset classes,\" Mr. Beardsley said, citing asset classes such as private equity, real estate and infrastructure, in an attempt to gain revenues. Alternative strategies, despite accounting for only 15% of total assets under management, according to the study, contribute 42% of total revenues.\n\nBCG cites five opportunities for money managers to make significant gains in an environment where it is nearly impossible to gain both assets under management and revenues. They cite adoption of \"advanced data and decision-making technologies;\" entry into the Chinese market; strategic mergers and acquisitions; structural cost management; and \"innovation and excellence in managing the overall business portfolio.\"", "output": "The global asset management industry has seen its first drop in profits since the 2008 financial crisis as investors' drift to cheaper, passively-managed strategies put pressure on fees. A\u00a0study by Boston Consulting Group found that despite a 7% increase in assets under management to $69.1tn, firms posted a decline in revenue to $112bn from $114bn in 2016. New inflows grew just 1.5%.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sinclair Pharma Estetic shows where to use Ellanse for best results \n 11.07.2017 - 23:59\n\nLa tendencia a lo natural est\u00e1 en auge y dentro de la Medicina Est\u00e9tica m\u00e1s a\u00fan\u2026 Los pacientes buscan verse mejor y \u201cretocarse\u201d las imperfecciones que con el paso del tiempo van apareciendo en el rostro y el cuerpo, eso s\u00ed, siempre que el resultado sea lo menos artificial posible.\n\n\n\nEn este sentido, y de cara a las mejoras en la cara y cuello, uno de los grandes aliados es el col\u00e1geno ; sin embargo, con el paso del tiempo, la producci\u00f3n que genera el organismo va disminuyendo, tanto en cantidad, como en calidad.\n\n\n\nPara ello, la gama Ellans\u00e9 de Sinclair tiene la clave, ya que se trata de la nueva generaci\u00f3n de estimuladores de col\u00e1geno que ofrecen una correcci\u00f3n inmediata, aporta el volumen perdido; con resultados duraderos, de hasta cuatro a\u00f1os.\n\n\n\nNo obstante, para que los resultados sean los m\u00e1s adecuados, hay que saber cu\u00e1les son las zonas en las que es mejor utilizar Ellans\u00e9.\n\n\n\nPor ejemplo, para comenzar, se recomiendan las zonas del tercio medio del rostro, como el naso labial, aumento malar; tambi\u00e9n los pliegues del ment\u00f3n; l\u00ednea de marioneta y el arco mandibular.\n\n\n\nOtro tipo de tratamientos m\u00e1s avanzados, como el levantamiento de ceja; comisura oral; l\u00ednea peri-oral; moldeado de la nariz; o aumento de barbilla, tambi\u00e9n son posibles con Ellans\u00e9 .\n\n\n\nEso s\u00ed, donde no se aconseja la inyecci\u00f3n de estimuladores de col\u00e1geno es en los labios, los p\u00e1rpados o la zona del entrecejo.\n\n\n\n\n\nPorque t\u00fa eres lo m\u00e1s importante\u2026 Estetic.es", "output": "Estetic highlights the growing demand for natural-looking results from aesthetic medicine and the role that collagen stimulation plays in that trend. Emphasis is put on appropriate application of products like Sinclair's Ellanse to ensure the best results. It advises against injecting collagen simulators on the lips, eyelids and brow area.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Approval granted for phase two of Dry Street housing development \n ESSEX Police has announced an investigation into alleged child sex abuse in the 1980s and 1990s, following a year-long Yellow Advertiser investigation into claims of an establishment cover-up.\n\nThe probe is being led by Chief Constable Stephen Kavanagh, who was introduced to three whistleblowers last month during a meeting the YA helped to arrange.\n\nThe Chief Constable and Essex Police Commissioner Nick Alston will release a formal statement later today outlining the nature and scale of the investigation into abuse involving as many as 60 youngsters in Shoebury and other parts of Essex.\n\nMr Alston thanked the YA for its \u2019important\u2019 role in the investigation.\n\nHe said: \u201cYou have helped us into this place and I am grateful for it.\u201d\n\nOfficers will investigate claims that police and civil servants failed to properly investigate suspected paedophiles or adequately protect alleged victims during the 1980s and 90s. They will also more urgently look into whether known victims remain at risk today as a result of past failures.\n\nThree whistleblowers were put in touch with Essex Police following a series of YA meetings, where they were able to describe an alleged \u2019pattern of institutional abuse\u2019 across the county.\n\nThey came forward after the YA published a series of exclusive reports about alleged historic abuse.\n\nThe allegations have been made by a retired NHS manager, a serving probation officer and the former manager of a child sex abuse treatment centre.\n\nMr Alston described the claims as \u2019chilling\u2019.\n\nHe said police would have to test the whistleblowers\u2019 accounts, but commented: \u201cIt\u2019s an overwhelmingly credible scenario. The circumstantial evidence is apparently strong.\u201d\n\nIn a statement confirming the investigation, due to be published later this morning, Essex Police said: \u201cAt the meeting, serious concerns were raised about alleged sexual offences committed against children, particularly boys in local authority or foster care, during the 1980s and 1990s.\n\n\u201cFurther deep concerns were raised about the safeguarding and support provided for a large number of young people who may have been victims of serious abuse.\n\n\u201cIn the relevant period there were a number of investigations and prosecutions, and two convictions were secured.\n\n\u201cHowever, the concern of these professionals, who were working in the area at the time, was that those investigations may not have been sufficiently thorough.\u201d\n\nMr Alston said: \u201cWithout the Yellow Advertiser having had the confidence to build that relationship with those professionals, and to trust me to do the right thing here, we would not be making this announcement. So thank you for taking the initiative on this. Thank you for trusting us.\u201d\n\nhttp://www.yellowad.co.uk/article.cfm?id=111211&headline=EXCLUSIVE:%20Police%20to%20probe%20historic%20child%20sex%20%27cover-up%27%20allegations,%20thanks%20to%20YA%20investigation\u00a7ionIs=news&searchyear=2016&_ga=2.34741857.1791025789.1565485826-167577981.1565485826", "output": "Redrow Homes has been granted approval for detailed panning on the second phase of the Dry Street housing project after most of the planning committee abstained from voting. This phase of the controversial development involves the build of 192 homes on the 325-property estate and 600 sqm of new retail space. Only two councillors backed the plan. Ward councillor Kerry Smith, who raised residents' concerns with the committee, said, \u201cIn my view, this was not yet a safe application to approve. There were serious questions that needed to be answered.\u201d\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Media Companies make up four of 11 in Disney accelerator programme \n The Walt Disney Co. is launching its fourth annual incubator program, announcing 11 technology and media companies \u2014 including Epic Games, Brit + Co and Samba TV \u2014 that will receive funding and other support under the 2017 Disney Accelerator program.\n\nAs in years past, Disney\u2019s hope is that some of the young blood can be transfused into the Mouse House\u2019s veins. The 2017 Disney Accelerator companies are again a diverse bunch, spanning video games, eSports, artificial intelligence, location-based virtual reality, online learning, messaging commerce, real-time entertainment, and robotics.\n\nDisney is making equity investments in each of the 11 companies, but it is not disclosing the amount of the funding. The participating companies retain rights to all the intellectual property they develop while part of the Disney Accelerator.\n\nUnder the program, the companies will receive guidance from top Disney execs, entrepreneurs, investors and other entertainment and tech leaders, and will have access to a co-working space at Disney\u2019s creative campus in L.A. The program concludes with a Demo Day in 2017 featuring presentations from all 11 firms.\n\nDisney points to a few breakout wins from companies in prior Accelerator programs, some of which continue to work with the media conglomerate. Those include Sphero, which in 2015 released the best-selling BB-8 app-enabled \u201cStar Wars\u201d droid toy and this year brought out the Ultimate Lightning McQueen toy from Pixar\u2019s \u201cCars\u201d franchise; Atom Tickets, the movie-ticketing app startup that worked with Disney/Lucasfilm on \u201cRogue One: A Star Wars Story\u201d ticketing and exclusive merchandise promos; and Imperson, which has developed AI-powered chatbots for several Disney franchises, including most recently for Walt Disney World\u2019s Pandora: The World of Avatar attraction.\n\n\u201cThe Disney Accelerator has provided The Walt Disney Company incredible opportunities to connect with and be inspired by many talented entrepreneurs from all over the world,\u201d Michael Abrams, Disney\u2019s senior VP of innovation, said in announcing the 2017 program. \u201cThis year, more than ever, we are working with companies with the potential to help define the future of media and entertainment together with Disney.\u201d\n\nThe 2017 Disney Accelerator companies are:\n\nAmbidio: a company that developed a technology for creating a continuous sound field with a sense of depth and dimension through any device with stereo speakers.\n\na company that developed a technology for creating a continuous sound field with a sense of depth and dimension through any device with stereo speakers. aXiomatic: an eSports ownership group backed by leading sports team owners that holds a majority stake in Team Liquid, a top eSports team in the U.S. and Europe with 60 pro players, coaches, and analysts competing in nine games, and a minority stake in Super League Gaming.\n\nan eSports ownership group backed by leading sports team owners that holds a majority stake in Team Liquid, a top eSports team in the U.S. and Europe with 60 pro players, coaches, and analysts competing in nine games, and a minority stake in Super League Gaming. Brit + Co: digital media company that aims to inspire, inform and entertain women through content, online classes, and products.\n\ndigital media company that aims to inspire, inform and entertain women through content, online classes, and products. Epic Games: creators of Unreal Engine technology, which is used by video-game developers worldwide for games and experiences across PC, console, mobile, virtual reality and augmented reality platforms. Epic is known for creating the \u201cUnreal,\u201d \u201cGears of War\u201d and \u201cInfinity Blade\u201d series of games, and newer titles such as \u201cFortnite,\u201d \u201cParagon\u201d and \u201cRobo Recall.\u201d\n\ncreators of Unreal Engine technology, which is used by video-game developers worldwide for games and experiences across PC, console, mobile, virtual reality and augmented reality platforms. Epic is known for creating the \u201cUnreal,\u201d \u201cGears of War\u201d and \u201cInfinity Blade\u201d series of games, and newer titles such as \u201cFortnite,\u201d \u201cParagon\u201d and \u201cRobo Recall.\u201d Hoodline: local news and content discovery platform that uses machine learning to distribute geo-tagged and relevant content from hundreds of media partners into websites or mobile apps.\n\nlocal news and content discovery platform that uses machine learning to distribute geo-tagged and relevant content from hundreds of media partners into websites or mobile apps. Kahoot!: game-based learning platform with more than 50 million monthly active users in 180 countries.\n\ngame-based learning platform with more than 50 million monthly active users in 180 countries. ProductionPro: develops a tool for storytellers and creators focused on improving creative collaboration in film, TV, and theater production, by pulling scripts, research, designs, and continuity together to empower creative decision-making.\n\ndevelops a tool for storytellers and creators focused on improving creative collaboration in film, TV, and theater production, by pulling scripts, research, designs, and continuity together to empower creative decision-making. ReplyYes: creators of a mobile-enabled e-commerce system that lets customers simply reply \u201cYES\u201d to buy a product and have it shipped to them.\n\ncreators of a mobile-enabled e-commerce system that lets customers simply reply \u201cYES\u201d to buy a product and have it shipped to them. Samba TV: a data and analytics company that measures real-time viewership data across broadcast, cable TV, over-the-top and digital media.\n\na data and analytics company that measures real-time viewership data across broadcast, cable TV, over-the-top and digital media. Savioke: robotics company that develops and deploys autonomous indoor delivery robots that assist workers in busy environments such as hotels, logistics facilities, and apartment buildings. The company\u2019s flagship robot, Relay, has been installed in dozens of hotels worldwide.\n\nrobotics company that develops and deploys autonomous indoor delivery robots that assist workers in busy environments such as hotels, logistics facilities, and apartment buildings. The company\u2019s flagship robot, Relay, has been installed in dozens of hotels worldwide. The Void: a location-based entertainment company that fully immerses guests in virtual experiences with friends and family, engaging all of their senses. The Void combines interactive sets, virtual reality, real-time effects, and state of the art technology to bring guests into their experience.\n\n______________________", "output": "Disney has launched its fourth incubator programme with eleven companies receiving funding and support. Eleven companies ranging from video games, virtual reality, online learning and robotics, as well as several media companies, have\u00a0been accepted with each receiving undisclosed equity funding from Disney. Media companies in the programme\u00a0are; Brit + Co, a female-empowerment\u00a0media platform;\u00a0Hoodline an artificial intelligence driven local news, content discovery and tagging tool;\u00a0ReplyYes, a mobile-enabled e-commerce system that lets customers make purchases by replying \"YES\"; and\u00a0Samba TV, a data analytics\u00a0company that measures real-time viewing figures over broadcast, cable, over-the-top and digital media.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dominion dips toe in the water of US offshore wind \n The United States\u2019 offshore wind industry is only on its first legs, and it\u2019s staying small for the time being, with Dominion Energy announcing this week it will partner with DONG Energy to build a 12 MW offshore project off the coast of Virginia Beach.\n\nThe current capacity of the United States wind energy industry sits at an impressive 82 gigawatts (GW), but almost none of that capacity is offshore \u2014 only the 30 megawatt (MW) Block Island Wind Farm sits off the coast of America, and that only started generating electricity last December. Various policy shifts might be seeing this trend begin to fade away, with governments along the east coast looking to open up potential locations for offshore development, but it\u2019s still early days yet. The Long Island Power Authority approved the country\u2019s second offshore wind farm, the 90 MW South Fork Wind Farm, earlier this year, while late last year Danish wind energy giant partnered with New England transmission builder Eversource Energy in proposing a potentially massive 2 GW offshore wind farm.\n\nHowever, much closer is the news this week that Dominion Energy, one of the country\u2019s largest producers and transporters of energy, has partnered with DONG Energy to construct a small, 12 MW offshore wind farm 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach \u2014 which could be the country\u2019s first mid-Atlantic offshore wind project. Dominion Energy signed an agreement and strategic partnership with DONG Energy to construct two 6 MW wind turbines, with initial work on the newly named Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project to begin immediately, with completion expected for the end of 2020.\n\n12 MW might sound small \u2014 and it is \u2014 but it is just the first phase in what could become a much larger project, generating up to a potential of 2 GW of energy across a much larger locale leased by Dominion Energy from the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project will act as a first step and demonstration, while providing experience and data for a possible larger-scale development in the future.\n\n\u201cVirginia is now positioned to be a leader in developing more renewable energy thanks to the Commonwealth\u2019s committed leadership and DONG\u2019s unrivaled expertise in building offshore wind farms,\u201d said Thomas F. Farrell, II, Dominion Energy\u2019s chairman, president and chief executive officer. \u201cWhile we have faced many technological challenges and even more doubters as we advanced this project, we have been steadfast in our commitment to our customers and the communities we serve.\u201d\n\n\u201cToday marks the first step in what I expect to be the deployment of hundreds of wind turbines off Virginia\u2019s coast that will further diversify our energy production portfolio, create thousands of jobs, and reduce carbon emissions in the Commonwealth,\u201d said Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe.\n\n\u201cHampton Roads has the ideal port assets and talented workforce to attract and house the offshore wind business supply chain to support not only Virginia\u2019s commercial wind area, but also wind farms under development in Massachusetts, New York, and Maryland. Today\u2019s announcement advances our efforts to build a new Virginia economy that is cleaner, stronger, and more diverse.\u201d\n\n\u201cDONG Energy is the energy supplier in Europe that has come the farthest in the transition to renewable energy, and we are excited to bring our expertise to America,\u201d added Samuel Leupold, executive vice president and CEO of Wind Power at DONG Energy.\n\n\u201cThis project will provide us vital experience in constructing an offshore wind project in the United States and serve as a stepping stone to a larger commercial-scale partnership between our companies in the future. We see the tremendous potential in the Mid-Atlantic for emission-free, renewable wind generation and we are excited to help the Commonwealth in reaping the benefits of wind power.\u201d\n\nSign up for Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era \u2014 Podcast: I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014 gasp \u2014 grow. So ... Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014\u2014 grow. So ...", "output": "Dominion Energy is testing the water of US offshore wind by partnering with DONG Energy to build a 12 MW plant off the coast of Virginia Beach. The current capacity of US wind energy is 82 GW but most of that comes from onshore turbines, with only 30 MW coming from Block Island Wind Farm. Dominion and DONG's plans to build a small 12 MW offshore wind farm 27 miles off the coast will be the first mid-Atlantic offshore wind power scheme in the US."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Measles spreads across Europe as fewer children are vaccinated \n Story highlights Measles deaths have been reported in Italy, Romania, Germany and Portugal in the past year Cases are up drastically in Italy\n\nCNN \u2014\n\nThirty-five people have died of measles across Europe in the past 12 months, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, warning that vaccination remains crucial to stopping the spread.\n\nIn the most recent case, a 6-year-old died in Italy on June 22. The boy\u2019s doctor confirmed that he had not been vaccinated against measles and died of the disease.\n\nAnother measles death and over 3,300 cases of measles have been reported in Italy alone since June 2016.\n\nMeasles is a highly infectious disease transmitted through the measles virus. It can spread from person to person by breathing contaminated air or touching an infected surface. Symptoms may begin with a high fever, cough, runny nose or red and watery eyes. After three to five days, a rash will usually appear. Measles can be serious and cause severe complications such as pneumonia or encephalitis. The disease most often affects children, especially those younger than 5.\n\nThe European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control reported that cases of measles in Europe have jumped by 50% in just the first five months of 2017, compared with the total number of measles cases during all of 2016.\n\nThere has been a particularly large increase in measles cases in Italy: 3,232 cases from January through June this year, compared with 478 in the same time period last year.\n\n\u201cItaly has had suboptimal (vaccine) coverage for many years now,\u201d said Dr. Rob Butler, program manager of the Vaccine-Preventable Diseases and Immunization Program of the WHO Regional Office for Europe. He added that vaccine coverage for measles in Italy has fallen every year since 2012.\n\nButler said this is in part due to the rise of anti-vaccine movements across Europe and a sense of complacency among parents.\n\nA measure approved by the Italian parliament, and to be implemented in September, requires 12 vaccinations, including the measles vaccine, in order for a child to enroll in a government-run school. Parents who violate the law can also be fined. Italy previously required only four vaccinations for school enrollment, not including measles.\n\nThe disease is not confined to Italy. In the past 12 months, Romania has reported 31 measles deaths, the most in Europe. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control reports that from June 2016 to May 2017, Romania had 3,922 measles cases, making up 42% of all European cases.\n\nLast week, the Romanian Ministry of Health said that the measles outbreak is under control and that there is enough vaccine to cover the population. Romania has also implemented broad vaccination campaigns, though much of the population lives in areas that are hard to reach.\n\nGermany and Portugal have both reported one measles death in the past 12 months. Germany had 950 measles cases from June 2016 to May 2017, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said, but Portugal\u2019s numbers were incomplete.\n\nGermany implemented legislation this month that requires all kindergartens to notify health authorities if parents have not submitted their children\u2019s vaccine counseling records to the school.\n\nThe WHO recommends that 95% of a country\u2019s population should be vaccinated for measles to ensure that the virus will not continue spreading, and every eligible child should receive two doses of the measles vaccine. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a measles vaccine recommendation for all travelers to several European countries, including Italy, Romania and Germany.\n\nFollow CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter.\n\n\u201cEvery death or disability caused by this vaccine-preventable disease is an unacceptable tragedy,\u201d Dr. Zsuzsanna Jakab, the regional director for Europe, said in the WHO statement.\n\n\u201cWe are very concerned that although a safe, effective and affordable vaccine is available, measles remains a leading cause of death among children worldwide, and unfortunately Europe is not spared. Working closely with health authorities in all European affected countries is our priority to control the outbreaks and maintain high vaccination coverage for all sections of the population.\u201d", "output": "The World Health Organisation has confirmed 35 people have died of measles across Europe in the past 12 months and has warned that vaccination remains\u00a0critical to stop\u00a0it spreading. The most recent case was a six-year-old Italian boy who had not been vaccinated and died in June after contracting the disease \u2013 Italy has a particularly high incidence of measles.\u00a0The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said cases of measles in Europe surged by 50% in the first\u00a0five months of 2017 compared to the same period last year, primarily because of\u00a0the rise of anti-vaccine movements and complacency among\u00a0parents."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australia's financial markets vulnerable to cyber fraud: Austrac \n Australia\u2019s multibillion-dollar financial markets are vulnerable to an increasing risk of cyber-enabled fraud, a new report has found.\n\nOverseas-based crime syndicates are also exploiting Australia\u2019s financial infrastructure to manipulate markets and launder money, the report by Austrac, the government\u2019s financial intelligence agency, found.\n\nAustrac said the risk of criminal exploitation of the nation\u2019s securities and derivatives sector was \u201cat the high end of medium\u201d.\n\nAustrac\u2019s work relied on an analysis of 663 reports of suspicious activity from the corporate sector, made by 68 entities. About half the reports involved suspected fraud.\n\nAustrac warned the shift to online trading had heightened the risk of cyber-enabled fraud, which was increasing in both \u201cvolume and the level of sophistication\u201d. About half of all fraud reports involved cyber fraud, it said.\n\nSuch fraud could involve hacking an online trading account and using it to conduct trades or siphon off funds.\n\n\u201cIn some cases this activity was enabled by fraudsters finding out the answers to the customer\u2019s security questions by trawling through the customer\u2019s social media,\u201d the report found.\n\nCyber fraud could also involve hacking a business email to send fraudulent instructions to a financial institution to transfer client funds or close a trading position. Roughly one-fifth of the reports to Austrac involved cases of money laundering, and 13% related to insider trading.\n\nConcerns about the financing of terrorism were low, at less than 1%. Only a \u201cvery small number\u201d involved politically exposed persons.\n\nAlmost a third of the reports named foreign companies or individuals who were trading on Australia\u2019s financial market. The report also identified the use of overseas-based agents and third parties in trading as a \u201csignificant vulnerability\u201d.\n\nThe report named China, the UK, Hong Kong and Canada as areas of particular risk, the acting Austrac chief executive, Peter Clark, said.\n\n\u201cAustralia has a very large and liquid financial market,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s the second largest market in the Asia-Pacific in terms of trading. So you would expect that a lot of the countries that are of interest to us are in this region \u2013 that\u2019s no surprise.\u201d\n\nLaunching the report on Wednesday, the justice minister, Michael Keenan, said protecting financial markets from crime was \u201cnot just a matter for government\u201d.\n\nHe said the private sector needed to take steps to address the vulnerabilities.\n\nBut he rejected suggestions that the Australian Securities and Investments Commission lacked the resources to police the sector. A review last year found the corporate regulator was under-resourced and suffering from cultural dysfunction.\n\nKeenan said the federal government had \u201csome pretty serious firepower\u201d to combat corporate crime, pointing to its investment in the serious financial crime taskforce, which brings Asic, intelligence agencies and law enforcement together.\n\n\u201cThey are having great success,\u201d Keenan said.\n\n\u201cI mean about $200m in tax liabilities, over $100m in criminal proceeds \u2013 that is some pretty serious firepower that we have brought to the fight against fraud and corruption and people who are doing the wrong thing.\u201d\n\nThe report found complex ownership structures were being used to cloud the identity of those committing insider trading, market manipulation and money laundering.\n\nAustralians were also using foreign entities to obscure their identity to commit illegal activity.", "output": "Australia's financial markets are at significant risk from cyber fraud attacks, according to Austrac, the government's financial intelligence agency. It added that foreign crime syndicates are seeking to exploit the country's financial infrastructure to manipulate the markets and launder money. The agency said the risk to Australia's securities and derivatives industry was \"at the high end of medium.\" Typical fraudulent activities include\u00a0hacking an online trading account and using it to conduct trades or siphon off funds."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UCLA to create global platform for delivering online degrees \n UCLA Global Online is expected to enrol its first intake of students in 2018 and will offer degrees and certificates at the master\u2019s level with entry requirements that mirror the existing requirements for the university.\n\nDespite the university\u2019s global brand, Wayne Smutz, founding dean of UCLA Global Online, said the university has yet to conquer the online learning market.\n\n\u201cOne of our challenges will be how do we make that work internationally\u201d\n\n\u201cWe have a lot of research activities around the globe that we do that make us international,\u201d he told The PIE News. \u201cOur brand is very strong internationally but we don\u2019t really deliver education internationally.\u201d\n\nHe pointed out that while other prestigious universities in the US deliver MOOCs and online short courses, universities of that calibre are not fully-fledged in the online learning market for full degrees.\n\n\u201cIn the last year, we\u2019ve seen a real opening up of the international space to online around the world,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cAnd while it\u2019s not completely open there are hints that that door is starting to crack and I think that makes the timing right to become more internationally-oriented.\u201d\n\nThe platform will incorporate programming from UCLA\u2019s traditional academic curriculum alongside practical education through the university\u2019s continuing education arm, UCLA extension, which Smutz also heads up.\n\n\u201cWe have those two different kinds of content that we\u2019re going to provide,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cMy view is we want to give people choice, because that\u2019s what the internet allows you to do. We want to provide them with lots of choice within a single platform.\u201d\n\nThe practical application of the curriculum also gives students the ability to expand their professional networks, said Smutz.\n\n\u201cOne of our challenges will be how do we make that work internationally, and we\u2019re thinking about that,\u201d he commented.\n\nThe platform aims reach 10,000-15,000 students in the space of five years, and the subjects offered are expected to reflect the biggest industries in Los Angeles.\n\n\u201cWe want to be able to use Los Angeles and its prestige in many different areas to attract people to what we have to offer,\u201d he said, nodding to the importance of entertainment, business and engineering industries to the city.", "output": "The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has begun development of a platform for online degrees and master's level certificates to be rolled out internationally next year, with courses tapping into the significance of the entertainment, business and engineering industries in Los Angeles, according to Wayne Smutz, founding dean of UCLA Global Online. The move is part of the university's attempt to enter the massive open online course market with full-length degrees, and the aim is to enrol 10,000-15,000 students globally over the next five years."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Automakers likely wasting billions on connected-car bets \n DETROIT -- The auto industry is betting billions of dollars in a global game of roulette involving connected, autonomous, shared and electric vehicles.\n\nWhile some \"traditional\" automakers such as General Motors and Ford Motor Co. are hedging their bets to keep their seats at the table, newcomers out of Silicon Valley such as Tesla Inc.\u200b are going all-in to disrupt the game.\n\nNo one playing knows whose strategy will pay off in the end, but one thing is certain: Not everyone can be a winner.\n\n\"There are going to be billions and billions of dollars lost in bets that were put in the wrong place,\" John Hoffecker, global vice chairman of consulting firm AlixPartners, said Tuesday during an Automotive Press Association meeting in Detroit.\n\nThe ongoing gambles and challenges facing the automotive industry are the focus of AlixPartners' new \"Global Automotive Outlook\" covering connected, autonomous, shared and electric vehicle (CASE) trends, creating a \"new automotive ecosystem.\"\n\nHoffecker expects a handful of companies to essentially \"win\" in this new world, while others will be forced to adopt technologies from the leading companies or risk losing their seat at the table. He said companies that are able to quickly and successfully adapt to the emerging technologies, while navigating traditional industry problems, will ultimately be the most successful.\n\n\"The big winner in the future is going to be this person who can figure out how to change their organization into more of a consumer electronics kind of business than what we've seen,\" he said. \"Where they think about their business in one-, two-, three-year cycles; not four-, eight-, 10-year cycles.\"\n\nThe report includes research around emerging trends as well as a survey of 2,000 adult consumers in the U.S. covering shared mobility services.", "output": "The automotive industry is gambling, and likely wasting billions of dollars, on connected cars and electric vehicles, because only a handful of companies will \"win\" in the emerging market, while others will need to adopt technologies from leading rivals,\u00a0according to consulting firm AlixPartners. Some traditional carmakers such as General Motors and Ford are \"hedging their bets\" while newcomers from Silicon Valley, such as Tesla, are putting all their resources into disrupting the industry, AlixPartners said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Webtool unveils first battery-powered ROV hydraulic system \n Edit page New page Hide edit links\n\nWebtool EHP350 powerpack and DFC1 Cutter (photo: Webtool)\n\nHydraulic cutting tools specialist, Webtool, has announced the industry\u2019s first battery-powered, high pressure hydraulic power pack, enabling smaller and inspection class ROVs access to the Webtool range of hydraulic wire rope and softline fibre rope cutters, at Offshore Europe 2017. In addition, the stand will feature the Webtool Cable Retrieval Tool (CRT200), developed in consultation with international certification body and classification society, DNVGL, and the Webtool portable, softline, deck emergency cutter for offshore vessels.\n\nThe lightweight, battery powered power pack gives electric ROVs a Webtool cutting capability for softline ropes and guidewires. Called EHP350, it is designed to be used with Webtool wire rope and softline at water depths up to 1,000 metres.\n\n\u201cThe Webtool electro-hydraulic power pack is an important advance in broadening the scope for our cutters to be deployed on all-electric, smaller ROVs,\u201d says Keith Elliot, engineering director, Allspeeds Ltd. \u201cIt allows up to 20 cuts on a single charge of the power pack\u2019s high capacity, rechargeable battery.\u201d\n\nCable and Umbilical Retrieval\n\nThe Webtool CRT200 is designed for cable and umbilical retrieval, and decommissioning projects. It allows the safe and controlled recovery of cable up to 8-inch diameter. The hydraulically operated gripper is the first Cable Retrieval Tool developed in consultation with international certification body and classification society, DNV GL.\n\nSoftline Deck Emergency Cutter\n\nThe Webtool portable softline emergency cutter is transported in a self-contained \u201csack truck\u201d containing a hydraulic accumulator and manifold with lockable control panel and a removable cutter. During deployment, the cutter and its frame are lifted off the sack truck and placed over the fibre rope. In the event of an emergency, the cutter, connected to the control panel via a hose, is activated to cut the rope instantly.\n\nWebtool Hydraulic Cutting Systems\n\nWebtool hydraulic cutters for steel and fibre ropes are being used on a growing number of subsea and topside applications. Recent projects have included well intervention emergency disconnection packages, fibre rope winch emergency disconnection and decommissioning projects involving multiple Webtool cutters acting simultaneously.", "output": "Webtool has unveiled its first battery-powered hydraulic system for remotely-operated vehicles (ROVs). The high-pressure hydraulic power pack, called EHP350, gives electric ROVs a cutting capacity for softline ropes and guidewires. It is designed to be used with Webtool wire rope and softline, at water depths of up to 1,000 metres."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Data shows 85% of mobile app users in China use WeChat \n More than three-quarters (84.5%) of all mobile phone messaging app users in China will use WeChat this year, according to research by eMarketer.\n\neMarketer predicts WeChat users in China to top 494 million\n\neMarketer\u2019s latest forecast of worldwide mobile messaging revealed more than 494 million people in China are expected to use the app at least once per month.", "output": "Almost 85% of all mobile phone messaging app users in China will use Tencent's WeChat in 2017, according to data compiled by eMarketer. The firm found that some 494 million people make use of the app at least once every month.\u00a0\u201cWeChat is by far the most advanced mobile messaging app worldwide in terms of its functionality and the services it offers users and businesses,\u201d said eMarketer's\u00a0Cathy Boyle.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow work placement undergrads help bring sensory garden to dementia patients \n The sensory garden\u2019s swing sign donated by Sign Build\n\nSign Build, which specialises in producing signs for the housebuilder industry, were part of the project that will help patients suffering with dementia.\n\nAlongside the garden, there is also a suite that allows the patients to take part in arts and crafts. The students, who were undergraduates that were on work placements with Redrow, were not given any money for the project, and instead had to contact firms that were willing to help for free.\n\nSign Build were the company that offered its services to the project, by providing a number of swing and banner signage for the sensory garden.\n\nDirector at Sign Build, Mark Cowin, says: \u201cWhen we were approached by the Redrow team, we didn\u2019t hesitate in getting involved.\n\nThe cause is magnificent; a sensory garden can be priceless area and the facility is first class \u201d\n\n\u201cThe cause is magnificent; a sensory garden can be priceless area and the facility is first class.\n\n\u201cAs a company, we provide ourselves in assisting causes, anywhere we can help and get involved, we\u2019ll look to, particularly for projects like the sensory garden.\u201d\n\nThe facilities will aim to stimulate the dementia patients, by interacting with all five senses\u2014taste, touch, sound, smell, and sight. An effect of dementia is losing interest in activities that were once a favourite, and the sensory garden aims to the inspire the patients, and add joy back into their lives\n\nIf you have an interesting story or a view on this news, then please e-mail news@signlink.co.uk Follow Genevieve on:", "output": "Undergrad students on work placements with Redrow were involved in a project to provide facilities to stimulate dementia patients at Deeside Community Hospital in North Wales. The students were not given any money for the project, but instead had to contact firms that would help for free to create a sensory garden and an art and craft suite. Sign Build, which produces signs for the house builder industry, was one of the firms that got involved in the project.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Audi A8 to provide 'level 3' autonomy skipped by rivals \n The self-driving future has a ratings scale. The classifications begin at zero, where you're constantly in charge of all the car's acceleration, steering and braking. Basically a car without cruise control. It ends with Level 5, where the car that doesn't even need a steering wheel or a driver. Currently, if drivers want semi-autonomous features they're getting a Level 2 experience. Like Tesla's Autopilot or Cadillac's Super Cruise, the car can drive itself in specific situations (usually on the highway) but require the human behind the wheel to pay attention and take over at a moment's notice.\n\nAt its first tech summit, Audi introduced the new A8 with Level 3 autonomy. It's the first production vehicle that'll let the driver actually stop paying attention while the car drives itself. It's also a big deal for the automaker and drivers that really need to update their Facebook status while commuting. Here, the company is making a bet that other companies have decided to pass on.\n\nMost automakers see Level 4 as the next logical step for their vehicles. At that stage, the car is is almost totally in control all of the time without any human interaction and will only stop itself if there's a system failure or the conditions dictate that the human behind the wheel needs to take control.\n\nA Level 3 vehicle can also drive itself without the driver paying attention. But not all the time and usually only in certain circumstances. Still, that's a huge leap from what's currently on the road and requires constant supervision by the driver. But before you start planning on napping while driving to work, this level of autonomy still requires the driver to take over if the system gets confused or fails.\n\nIt's that last bit that's had automakers like Volvo and Ford publicly state that they will go directly to Level 4. The argument against a Level 3 vehicle being sold to the general public is about safety. If a driver becomes too dependent upon the car's autonomy, they're less likely to intervene when the system fails. While Elon Musk has called out these automakers for withholding what he perceives are additional safety features that would ship with a Level 3 car, it's likely that Tesla will jump to Level 4. Musk has even noted that Level 5 autonomy will be available in approximately two years.\n\nAudi's system seems to address some issues around Level 3 driving with Driver Ability Detection. This brings the car to a stop if it determines that the driver is not attentive and able to take control of the vehicle after 10 seconds of audible and visual warnings. At that point, the vehicle turns on the hazard lights and alerts Audi. Also it's not Level 3 everywhere, just in heavy traffic going slower than 37 miles per hour.\n\nEven then, Audi's Traffic Jam Pilot feature requires that the vehicle is on a divided highway with a barrier or at least a median between the vehicle and opposing traffic. Basically it's the road most people drive everyday to work. It's a very specific circumstance that many people deal with everyday and during that time, the A8 will drive for you and, I can't believe I'm saying this, you can text your friends while behind the wheel or even watch TV as noted by Audi.\n\nThe biggest obstacle to the vehicle being able to deliver on all its technical promises is regional regulations. While an A8 can drive itself without the driver paying attention, where it's being driven will determine whether it's allowed to. That's going to be true for many vehicles in the future. Just because a car delivers Level 4 or even Level 5 automation, it doesn't mean lawmakers are going to let it actually happen on the roads under their watch.\n\nSo if you live in a state or country that allows Audi's flagship luxury sedan to take care of the heavy lifting while you're commuting, count yourself lucky. The automaker may be going all in on Level 3, but it hinted at the ability to update the new A8 to Level 4 capabilities via a software update -- if the hardware can handle it.\n\nRegardless of how lawmakers initially react to the new car's technology, Audi is moving forward. The company will further fine-tune its AI and algorithms in anticipation of an autonomous world. The A8 isn't so much a bet as an investment for Audi, as it levels up in the world of self-driving vehicles.", "output": "Audi has unveiled its latest A8 model, which offers the level three autonomy shunned by some other automakers. Self-driving cars have a ratings scale, from zero when the driver is in full charge of the vehicle's acceleration, steering and braking, to level five\u00a0for a car that does not need a driver. The Audi A8 is the first production vehicle that lets the motorist stop paying attention while the car drives itself. Most carmakers are looking to level four\u00a0as the next step for their autonomous vehicles, when the car is almost totally in control all of the time."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK supreme court awards equal pension rights to same-sex spouse \n A gay former cavalry officer has won a legal battle to provide his husband with equal pension rights in a landmark discrimination case at the supreme court.\n\nThe unanimous judgment, which could benefit thousands of couples, will ensure that should John Walker die first, his partner will have access to an income of about \u00a345,000 a year for life. It may also impose unexpected liabilities on pension funds.\n\n\n\nLawyers for the human rights organisation Liberty, which represented Walker, argued that a same-sex husband should enjoy the same pension rights as a widow. Under current law, Walker\u2019s husband would receive only about \u00a31,000 a year.\n\nWalker, 65, has been with his husband, a former computer executive who is 52, since 1993. The Civil Partnership Act 2004 came into force in December 2005. They entered into a civil partnership in January 2006, which was later converted into marriage.\n\nDelivering the judgment, Lord Kerr said: \u201cThe salary paid to Mr Walker throughout his working life was precisely the same as that which would have been paid to a heterosexual man. There was no reason for the company to anticipate that it would not become liable to pay a survivor\u2019s pension to his lawful spouse.\u201d\n\nTo deny his partner access to the funds would amount to discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, he added, even though the pension rights were earned before the Civil Partnership Act came into force.\n\n\n\nKerr said: \u201cMr Walker\u2019s husband is entitled to a spouse\u2019s pension calculated on all the years of his service with Innospec [the chemicals company where he worked], provided that at the date of Mr Walker\u2019s death, they remain married.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe judges\u2019 decision was based on an EU framework directive from 2000 guaranteeing gender equality under employment law. An employment appeal tribunal and the court of appeal had previously declared that the 2010 Equality Act permitted firms to restrict benefits generated by periods of service before 2005.\n\n\n\nWelcoming the decision, Walker said: \u201cI am absolutely thrilled at today\u2019s ruling, which is a victory for basic fairness and decency. Finally this absurd injustice has been consigned to the history books \u2013 and my husband and I can now get on with enjoying the rest of our lives together.\n\n\u201cBut it is to our government\u2019s great shame that it has taken so many years, huge amounts of taxpayers\u2019 money and the UK\u2019s highest court to drag them into the 21st century. In the years since we started this legal challenge, how many people have spent their final days uncertain about whether their loved one would be looked after? How many people have been left unprovided for, having already suffered the loss of their partner?\n\n\u201cWhat I would like from Theresa May and her ministers today is a formal commitment that this change will stay on the statute books after Brexit.\u201d\n\nEmma Norton, Liberty\u2019s lawyer who acted for Walker, said: \u201cWe are delighted the supreme court recognised this pernicious little provision for what it was \u2013 discrimination against gay people, pure and simple.\n\n\u201cBut this ruling was made under EU law and is a direct consequence of the rights protection the EU gives us. We now risk losing that protection. The government must promise that there will be no rollback on LGBT rights after Brexit \u2013 and commit to fully protecting them in UK law.\n\n\u201cHow else can John be sure he and others like him have achieved lasting justice today?\u201d\n\nThe Department for Work and Pensions has warned that giving retrospective effect to the EU framework directive would impose costs on pension schemes.\n\nA government spokesperson said: \u201cWe are reviewing the implications of this judgment in detail and will respond in due course.\n\n\u201cThe rights of same-sex couples have been transformed for the better since 2010, including the introduction of same-sex marriage and legislation to ensure that pensions are built up equally for all legal partnerships.\u201d\n\n\n\n", "output": "A landmark discrimination case at the UK\u2019s supreme court has seen a gay man win equal pension rights for his husband. The unanimous judgment means that if John Walker dies first, his partner will have an income of approximately \u00a345,000 per year for life. Current law would entitle him to just \u00a31,000 per year. The ruling, which could affect thousands of couples, could impose unanticipated liabilities on pension funds. The decision was based on a 2000 EU framework directive which guaranteed gender equality under employment law.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trillion-tonne iceberg detaches from Larsen C ice shelf \n A giant iceberg twice the size of Luxembourg has broken off an ice shelf on the Antarctic peninsula and is now adrift in the Weddell Sea.\n\nReported to be \u201changing by a thread\u201d last month, the trillion-tonne iceberg was found to have split off from the Larsen C segment of the Larsen ice shelf on Wednesday morning after scientists examined the latest satellite data from the area.\n\nThe Larsen C ice shelf is more than 12% smaller in area than before the iceberg broke off \u2013 or \u201ccalved\u201d \u2013 an event that researchers say has changed the landscape of the Antarctic peninsula and left the Larsen C ice shelf at its lowest extent ever recorded.\n\n\n\n\u201cIt is a really major event in terms of the size of the ice tablet that we\u2019ve got now drifting away,\u201d said Anna Hogg, an expert in satellite observations of glaciers from the University of Leeds.\n\n\n\nAt 5,800 sq km the new iceberg, expected to be dubbed A68, is half as big as the record-holding iceberg B-15 which split off from the Ross ice shelf in the year 2000, but it is nonetheless believed to be among the 10 largest icebergs ever recorded.\n\nThe huge crack that spawned the new iceberg grew over a period of years, but between 25 May and 31 May alone, the rift grew by 17km \u2013 the largest increase since January. Between the 24 June and 27 June the movement of the ice sped up, reaching a rate of more than 10 metres per day for the already-severed section.\n\n\n\nBut in the end it wasn\u2019t a simple break \u2013 data collected just days before the iceberg calved revealed that the rift had branched multiple times. \u201cWe see one large [iceberg] for now. It is likely that this will break into smaller pieces as time goes by,\u201d said Adrian Luckman, professor of glaciology at Swansea University and leader of the UK\u2019s Midas project which is focused on the state of the ice shelf.\n\n\n\nThe Larsen-C rift opening over the last 2 years from #Sentinel1 pic.twitter.com/MT9d3HAw1M \u2014 Adrian Luckman (@adrian_luckman) January 31, 2017\n\nUnlike thin layers of sea ice, ice shelves are floating masses of ice, hundreds of metres thick, which are attached to huge, grounded ice sheets. These ice shelves act like buttresses, holding back and slowing down the movement into the sea of the glaciers that feed them.\n\n\u201cThere is enough ice in Antarctica that if it all melted, or even just flowed into the ocean, sea levels [would] rise by 60 metres,\u201d said Martin Siegert, professor of geosciences at Imperial College London and co-director of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change & Environment.\n\n\n\nBut while the birth of the huge iceberg might look dramatic, experts say it will not itself result in sea level rises. \u201cIt\u2019s like your ice cube in your gin and tonic \u2013 it is already floating and if it melts it doesn\u2019t change the volume of water in the glass by very much at all,\u201d said Hogg.\n\nFollowing the collapse of the more northerly Larsen A ice shelf in 1995 and Larsen B in 2002, all eyes have turned to Larsen C.\n\n\n\nBut Siegert is quick to point out that the calving of the new iceberg is not a sign that the ice shelf is about to disintegrate, stressing that ice shelves naturally break up as they extend further out into the ocean. \u201cI am not unduly concerned about it \u2013 it is not the first mega iceberg ever to have formed,\u201d he said.\n\n\n\nAndrew Shepherd, professor of Earth Observation at the University of Leeds, agreed. \u201cEveryone loves a good iceberg, and this one is a corker,\u201d he said. \u201cBut despite keeping us waiting for so long, I\u2019m pretty sure that Antarctica won\u2019t be shedding a tear when it\u2019s gone because the continent loses plenty of its ice this way each year, and so it\u2019s really just business as usual!\u201d\n\n\n\nLuckman said that while the Larsen C ice shelf might continue to shed icebergs, it might regrow. Nevertheless previous research by the team has suggested that the remaining ice shelf is likely less stable now that the iceberg has calved, although it is unlikely the event would have any short-term effects. \u201cWe will have to wait years or decades to know what will happen to the remainder of Larsen C,\u201d he said, pointing out that it took seven years after the release of a large iceberg from Larsen B before the ice shelf became unstable and disintegrated.\n\n\n\nQ&A How significant is the release of the Larsen C megaberg? Show In terms of size, it\u2019s fairly big. This is a 5,800 sq km iceberg - that\u2019s twice the size of Luxembourg, or roughly the area of Delaware. While that doesn\u2019t make it the largest iceberg on record - that gong goes to an iceberg that broke away from the Ross ice shelf in 2000 - it is one of the biggest. It is also exciting for the technological advances that have allowed scientists to regularly track the development of the rift, monitoring its growth down to 1km resolution. But in terms of its impact, the event is less dramatic: the iceberg itself won\u2019t result in a sea level rise, and scientists say there is no evidence its formation is down to climate change. But, they note, the release of the iceberg might make the rest of the Larsen C ice shelf less stable. Collapse of the Larsen C ice shelf would remove buttressing from glaciers, meaning they could flow faster into the sea, eventually resulting in sea level rises. Only time will tell what the full impact of the birth of the new iceberg will be. Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback.\n\nWhat\u2019s more, Luckman stressed that while large melt ponds were seen on Larsen B prior to its collapse - features which are thought to have affected the structure of the ice shelf - those seen on Larsen C are far smaller and are not even present at this time of year.\n\n\n\nAnd while climate change is accepted to have played a role in the wholesale disintegration of the Larsen A and Larsen B ice shelves, Luckman emphasised that there is no evidence that the calving of the giant iceberg is linked to such processes.\n\nTwila Moon, a glacier expert at the US National Ice and Snow Data Center agrees but, she said, climate change could have made the situation more likely.\n\n\u201cCertainly the changes that we see on ice shelves, such as thinning because of warmer ocean waters, are the sort [of changes] that are going to make it easier for these events to happen,\u201d she said.\n\nLuckman is not convinced. \u201cIt is a possibility, but recent data from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography actually show most of the shelf thickening,\u201d he said.\n\nThe progress of the rift, and the loss of the iceberg, has been carefully followed by analysis of radar images from the European Space Agency\u2019s Sentinel-1 mission, which provides data from the region every six days.\n\n\u201cBefore we would have been lucky if we had got one satellite image a year of an event like this, so we would not have been able to watch it unfold,\u201d said Hogg, pointing out that the radar system allows data to be collected whatever the weather and in the dark, while technological advances mean more data that can be downloaded than for previous satellites.\n\nThe news of the giant iceberg comes after US president Donald Trump announced that the US will be withdrawing from the 2015 Paris climate accord \u2013 an agreement signed by more than 190 countries to tackle global warming. \u201cTruly I am dismayed,\u201d said Moon of the move.\n\nNow at the mercy of the ocean currents, the newly calved iceberg could last for decades, depending on whether it enters warmer waters or bumps into other icebergs or ice shelves.\n\n\n\n", "output": "A 5,800 sq km iceberg has broken off from the Larsen C ice shelf in the Antarctic peninsula and is now floating in the Weddell Sea. Last month, satellite data revealed the trillion-tonne iceberg to be \u201changing by a thread.\u201d The process, known as \u201ccalving,\u201d has left the ice shelf over 12% smaller, changing the entire landscape of the peninsula. Despite the size of the iceberg, scientists believe that it will not result in rising sea levels. There is no evidence that climate change was responsible for the formation of the iceberg.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Critic of renewables to head UK energy cost review \n An academic who is a vocal critic of the price of renewable power is the government\u2019s preferred choice to head a review of the financial cost of energy in the UK.\n\nDieter Helm, an economist at the University of Oxford, has been chosen by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to carry out the review, the Guardian has learned. The Conservative manifesto promised that the resulting report would be the first step towards \u201ccompetitive and affordable energy costs\u201d.\n\nTheresa May is among those in the government taking an interest in the cost-of-energy review, which will examine how power prices can be kept down while meeting the UK\u2019s carbon targets and keeping the lights on.\n\nBut the choice of Helm, author of a new book on the slow demise of oil companies in the face of energy trends, will be controversial in some quarters because of his criticism of wind and solar power.\n\nWhile acknowledging that renewables are remaking the energy landscape, the professor of energy has criticised the cost of today\u2019s windfarms and solar technology, calling them \u201cexpensive\u201d and highlighting the \u201csheer cost\u201d of electricity generated from renewable sources.\n\nHelm has also suggested the existing generation of green energy is not enough to significantly cut emissions. \u201cCurrent renewables like wind turbines, rooftop solar and biomass stand no serious chance of making much difference to decarbonisation. It\u2019s simply a matter of scale,\u201d he wrote in the Spectator magazine.\n\nInstead, Helm believes funding should be directed at next generation renewable technologies, such as more efficient solar panels. He also backs emerging technologies such as smart grids and battery storage.\n\nHannah Martin, head of energy at Greenpeace UK, said: \u201cDieter has a well-known preference for gas and has historically failed to grasp the full potential of renewables.\n\n\u201cAt a time when the costs of offshore wind and solar are plummeting this review needs somebody with the vision to grasp the opportunities offered by clean energy to provide jobs, lower bills and slash carbon pollution.\u201d\n\nOther figures believed to have been in the frame for the job included Lord Turner, the former chair of a government advisory body, the Committee on Climate Change, who recently told the Guardian that Tory policy on onshore wind power was endangering cheap energy in the UK.\n\nHowever, concerns that the review might be tilted against renewables could be allayed by Helm\u2019s choice of colleagues to work on the report.\n\nThe Guardian understands that he will be aided by a former boss of the National Grid, Steve Holliday, who is a proponent of decentralised energy including batteries, and Richard Nourse of Greencoat Capital, an investment fund supporting clean energy.\n\nRounding out the proposed team would be Jim Gao, an engineer at an artificial intelligence company, Deepmind, owned by Google, which has been an enthusiastic supporter of renewables.\n\nThe review will look at all aspects of the energy industry and how they contribute to the cost of electricity, such as new technologies including the rollout of smart meters in millions of homes and the increasing number of electric cars drawing power from the grid.\n\nAt the heart of the review will be the challenge of addressing the energy trilemma: balancing the UK\u2019s binding carbon targets with affordability and security of supply.\n\nThe Conservative manifesto said the review would \u201cbe asked to make recommendations as to how we can ensure UK energy costs are as low as possible, while ensuring a reliable supply and allowing us to meet our 2050 carbon reduction objective. Our ambition is that the UK should have the lowest energy costs in Europe, both for households and businesses.\u201d\n\nThe review is due to report its findings to the business secretary, Greg Clark, in the autumn, and is expected to inform the government\u2019s long-term approach to power generation.\n\nHelm is also a strong critic of the cost of nuclear power, saying that just to get to the \u201cstarting line\u201d of building a new atomic power station in the UK involves a \u201clengthy, complex and expensive process\u201d.\n\nHe has also questioned whether any more new nuclear power plants will be built in the UK after Hinkley Point C in Somerset, which the public spending watchdog recently described as a \u201crisky and expensive project\u201d.\n\nThe new energy minister, Richard Harrington, has said the government is still committed to a new generation of nuclear power stations but Helm\u2019s review could provide a justification for abandoning that ambition on cost grounds.\n\nIf nuclear and renewables fell out of favour in future government policy, that would leave gas as the only large-scale option for new power, given ministers are committed to phasing out coal.\n\nAlthough Helm told the Guardian he had not been appointed to the role, it is understood he is the government\u2019s preferred choice.\n\nWhile a round of price hikes by energy suppliers last winter led to calls for a cap on prices, the average household bill of \u00a31,160 in 2016 was below 2008 levels because of energy efficiency measures and falling energy demand.\n\nThe Committee on Climate Change also concluded this year that British households\u2019 energy costs were not high compared with the rest of Europe.\n\nA BEIS spokesman said: \u201cAs committed to in the industrial strategy green paper, we will commission a review to ensure energy costs are as low as possible while meeting our climate change targets. No decision has been taken on who will undertake this review.\u201d\n\n", "output": "An outspoken critic of the price of renewable power has been chosen by the UK government to lead a review of the nation's energy costs. Dieter Helm, an economist at the University of Oxford, has been selected by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to head the review, which is being seen as the first step towards implementing the Conservative manifesto commitment to establish\u00a0\u201ccompetitive and affordable energy costs\u201d. Helm has criticised the costs associated with\u00a0wind power and biomass,\u00a0and\u00a0argued that funding should be targeted at next generation renewables including more efficient solar panels.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fracking shown to contaminate water with radioactive waste \n Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nIndependent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nThe vast amount of waste water produced by fracking can contaminate rivers, lakes and other waterways with radioactive material and hormone-affecting chemicals, according to new research.\n\nThe study tested sediments and groundwater downstream of a treatment plant in Pennsylvania that was designed to make the water used as part of the fracking process fit for release into the environment.\n\nThe scientists, from Pennsylvania State University and other academic institutions, discovered that despite this process there were \u201chigh loads of chloride, barium, strontium, radium and organic compounds\u201d in the Conemaugh River watershed.\n\nStream sediments in Blacklick Creek, just downstream from one treatment plant, were found to contain about 200 times the level of radium upstream of the plant.\n\nThe highest concentration of radium found was just 14 per cent below the level at which it would have to be treated as radioactive waste in some US states.\n\nHowever the researchers said the risks of the pollutants discovered were \u201cdifficult to assess\u201d.\n\nWriting in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, the scientists said: \u201cLarge quantities of oil-and-gas wastewater with high loads of chloride, barium, strontium, radium, and organic compounds have been discharged into the Conemaugh River watershed.\n\n\u201cStream sediments in Blacklick Creek immediately downstream of centralised waste treatment plant number one were found to contain [radium] levels that were about 200 times greater than activities measured in upstream and background sediments.\n\n\u201cElevated concentrations of radium and other alkaline earth metals have now been detected in reservoir sediments about 19km farther downstream of this plant.\n\n\u201cDespite several other sources of contaminants such as coal bed methane, coal mine drainage, and flue gas desulfurization releases that can impact surface water quality, we document multiple lines of evidence that indicate the legacy of unconventional oil-and-gas wastewater disposal has impacted stream sediments and porewater [groundwater] on a watershed-scale.\u201d\n\nThey said while the amount of fracking wastewater was \u201crelatively small\u201d compared to the volume of the stream it \u201cnonetheless had a measurable impact\u201d.\n\n\u201cRisks posed by the pollutants buried in the sediment and porewater of the Conemaugh River Lake are difficult to assess,\u201d the paper added. The watershed is not used as a source of drinking water, the researchers added.\n\nFracking involves forcing water and other substances, which can include radioactive ones, into cracks in porous rocks that contain significant amounts of fossil fuels.\n\nIt has become common in the US, accounting for more than half of oil production and two-thirds of gas production.\n\nIn the UK, the Conservatives have said they want to see a fracking \u2018revolution\u2019 in the hope of providing a noticeable boost to the economy.\n\nBut the party\u2019s general election manifesto said this could only be done \u201cif we maintain public confidence in the process, if we uphold our rigorous environmental protections, and if we ensure the proceeds of the wealth generated by shale energy are shared with the communities affected\u201d.\n\nEnvironmentalists argue that developing fracking in Britain is a mistake because it is opening up another source of fossil fuels when the country should be looking to reduce emissions. Supporters argue that gas produced in this way is \u2018greener\u2019 than coal or oil.\n\nThe Conservative think tank Bright Blue has argued the priority should instead be to promote cheap renewable energy, like wind and solar.", "output": "Waste water produced by fracking can contaminate waterways with radioactive material and hormone-influencing chemicals, according to US research. The study tested groundwater and sediment downstream of a Pennsylvania plant that treated water used in fracking and prepared it for release into the environment. Despite the treatment, water in the Conemaugh River contained high quantities of barium, chloride, organic compounds, radium and strontium. The highest concentration of radium identified in the study was just 14% below the level categorised as radioactive waste in some states.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Arctic tundra contaminated by toxic mercury from industry \n A research team led by UMass Lowell Prof. Daniel Obrist recently returned from two years in the Alaskan tundra where the scientists identified gaseous mercury as the major source of mercury pollution in the region. Credit: UMass Lowell\n\nVast amounts of toxic mercury are accumulating in the Arctic tundra, threatening the health and well-being of people, wildlife and waterways, according to a UMass Lowell scientist investigating the source of the pollution.\n\nA research team led by Prof. Daniel Obrist, chairman of UMass Lowell's Department of Environmental, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, found that airborne mercury is gathering in the Arctic tundra, where it gets deposited in the soil and ultimately runs off into waters. Scientists have long reported high levels of mercury pollution in the Arctic. The new research identifies gaseous mercury as its major source and sheds light on how the element gets there.\n\n\"Now we understand how such a remote site is so exposed to mercury,\" Obrist said. Although the study did not examine the potential impact of global warming, if climate change continues unchecked, it could destabilize these mercury deposits in tundra soils and allow large amounts of the element to find its way into Arctic waters, he added.\n\nObrist recently completed two years of field research in the tundra, tracking the origin and path of mercury pollution. Working from an observation site in Alaska north of Brooks Range, he and an international group of scientists identified that gaseous mercury in the atmosphere is the source of 70 percent of the pollutant that finds its way into the tundra soil. In contrast, airborne mercury that is deposited on the ground through rain or snow - a more frequent focus of other studies - accounts for just 2 percent of the mercury deposits in the region, Obrist's team found.\n\nThe new research is the most comprehensive investigation on how mercury is deposited in the Arctic. The full results of the study, which was supported by the National Science Foundation, appear in the July 13 edition of the prestigious academic journal Nature.\n\nMercury is a harmful pollutant, threatening fish, birds and mammals across the globe. The dominant source of mercury pollution in the atmosphere is hundreds of tons of the element that are emitted each year through the burning of coal, mining and other industrial processes across the globe.\n\nThis gaseous mercury is lofted to the Arctic, where it is absorbed by plants in a process similar to how they take up carbon dioxide. Then, the mercury is deposited in the soil when the plants shed leaves or die. As a result, the tundra is a significant repository for atmospheric mercury being emitted by industrialized regions of the world.\n\n\"This mercury from the tundra soil explains half to two-thirds of the total mercury input into the Arctic Ocean,\" Obrist said, adding that scientists had previously estimated mercury runoff from tundra soil supplies 50 to 85 tons of the heavy metal to Arctic waters each year.\n\nExposure to high levels of mercury over long periods can lead to neurological and cardiovascular problems. The results are being felt by Arctic people and wildlife.\n\n\"Mercury has high exposure levels in northern wildlife, such as beluga whales, polar bears, seals, fish, eagles and other birds,\" Obrist said. \"It also affects human populations, particularly the Inuit, who rely on traditional hunting and fishing.\"\n\nObrist will present the team's research at the International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant, which will be held Sunday, July 16 through Friday, July 21 in Providence, R.I. The event is the largest scientific conference on mercury pollution, involving nearly 1,000 participants from research institutions, governments and other agencies.\n\nObrist hopes to continue to investigate whether gaseous mercury is also a dominant source of pollution in other remote lands. Scientists, regulators and policymakers need a better understanding of how the uptake of gaseous mercury in plants and soils is affecting the environment, including the world's forests, he said.\n\nThe research findings underscore the importance of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, the first global treaty that aims to protect human health and the environment from the element's adverse effects, Obrist said. Signed by the United States and more than 120 other countries, the pact will take effect next month, with the goal of reducing mercury emissions caused by industrialization and other human activities.\n\nMore information: Tundra uptake of atmospheric elemental mercury drives Arctic mercury pollution, Nature (2017). nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature22997 Journal information: Nature\n\nProvided by University of Massachusetts Lowell", "output": "Huge quantities of toxic mercury are accumulating in the Arctic tundra, threatening people, waterways and wildlife, according to a study by US scientists. The research identifies gaseous mercury as the cause of 70% of such contamination. The airborne mercury deposited by rain or snow, which has been the major focus of previous studies, was found to account for just 2% of deposits. The leading causes of mercury pollution in the atmosphere are coal burning, mining and other industrial processes. Climate change could further unlock soil deposits of the element in the tundra, causing it to enter Arctic waters.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Telemedicine Is Wide-Reaching But Doesn\u2019t Always Replace Doctor\u2019s Touch \n About Capitol Desk Capitol Desk delivers the latest in health care policy and politics from Sacramento and around the state. Have an idea? Let us know.\n\nTwo years ago, Kimberly Griffiths\u2019 week-old daughter, Avery, suddenly became very ill. \u201cShe was turning blue and had very labored breathing,\u201d said Griffiths, who rushed her child to the ER in rural Sonora, Calif.\n\nDoctors there were stumped, and the nearest pediatric specialist was 100 miles away in Sacramento.\n\nFortunately for Avery, the ER doctors were able to make a two-way, online video connection to consult with a UC-Davis neonatologist, who viewed high-resolution images of the infant and her vital-signs monitor. The specialist suspected a congenital heart condition and prescribed a drug that stabilized her breathing.\n\n\u201cWithout telemedicine, our daughter would have died that night,\u201d Griffiths said. She was relieved that her family\u2019s insurance company reimbursed the cost of the remote services her child received. \u201cNobody should be denied the health care they need because of where they live,\u201d she said.\n\nUse Our Content This story can be republished for free ( details ).\n\nUse of telemedicine is exploding in California and other states as insurers increasingly cover tests and treatment overseen from afar. Forty-eight states and Washington, D.C., now provide reimbursement for some form of live video in Medicaid\u2019s fee-for-service model.\n\nSince 2015, Kaiser Permanente in California has served more patients each year through telehealth \u2014 a combination of online contacts and video conferencing \u2014 than through traditional visits. (Kaiser Health News, which produces California Healthline, is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.)\n\nStill, regulators in this state and elsewhere have approached telehealth with caution.\n\nOnly a few states in limited circumstances allow insurance companies to count telehealth toward fulfilling their requirements for \u201cnetwork adequacy\u201d \u2014 the number of physicians, hospitals and specialists mandated within a region to ensure the right care can be provided in a timely way within an acceptable distance. A plan\u2019s adequacy needs to be approved before it can operate in the state, but the state will work with plans that fall short, according to California regulators.\n\nIn California, legislation passed in 2011 recognized telehealth as appropriate care and qualified some types of care, such as live videoconferencing, for coverage by insurers and by Medi-Cal, the state Medicaid program.\n\nBut regulators have been \u201climiting plans from being able to utilize telehealth to its fullest,\u201d said Mario Gutierrez, executive director of the Center for Connected Health Policy in Sacramento, a nonprofit dedicated to integrating virtual technologies into the health care system. (The center\u2019s founder and lead funder is the California Health Care Foundation; California Healthline is an editorially independent service of the foundation.)\n\nGutierrez said Medi-Cal does not reimburse at all, for instance, for remote monitoring of biometric measures, such as heart rate or blood pressure. Plus, Medi-Cal restricts reimbursement for the use of high-definition images sent online for examination or diagnosis.\n\nLibby Baney, who follows digital health policy for Faegre Baker Daniels Consulting, said regulators\u2019 positions on whether telehealth counts toward \u201cnetwork adequacy\u201d are inconsistent. \u201cThe trend in states at the legislative level is to create access to telemedicine as a recognized care setting, and yet you\u2019ve got regulators lagging behind,\u201d she said.\n\nBaney said she believes telehealth services should count toward network adequacy, but only for settings where it is appropriate, such as providing access to specialists in remote areas, and not as a \u201cproxy for traditional in-person care.\u201d\n\nCharles Bacchi, president of the California Association of Health Plans, said that whether to count telemedicine toward network requirements is \u201ca live debate, something we\u2019ve been talking about for a couple of years.\u201d Bacchi is hoping for a change in policy from regulators, so that providers of telehealth already being used by health plans will fulfill network requirements. For now, that\u2019s not the case.\n\n\u201cWe cannot in our network filings use those relationships to count as an actual provider \u2026 to satisfy our network adequacy requirements,\u201d said Bacchi.\n\nBacchi said he can\u2019t imagine regulators ever allowing insurers to restrict consumers to using telehealth alone. \u201cWe have to, by law, provide face-to-face access.\u201d\n\nFor now, most regulators consider telehealth on a case-by-case basis, as a helpful strategy in underserved areas. In an email, the state Department of Managed Health Care, which regulates most of the insurance industry, said it does this when providers are in short supply. \u201cHowever, plans are not permitted to replace accessible brick-and-mortar providers with telehealth services.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile, some providers continue to see tremendous economic opportunity in telemedicine. They argue it serves busy consumers who value convenience and can fill gaps as insurance plans increasingly rely on narrower networks of providers.\n\nDr. Henry DePhillips, chief medical officer of Teladoc, the direct-to-consumer \u201cvirtual care\u201d giant, said its network of providers includes 3,100 licensed physicians and therapists who are physically present in all 50 states. They have their own more traditional practices and work for Teladoc part time. \u201cIf you think about the network adequacy question, these are doctors that are already taking care of Californians today. They\u2019re extending their reach by practicing telemedicine as well, so why would you not include them in the network adequacy scenario?\u201d\n\nSome patients say they prefer to see their doctors virtually, when feasible.\n\nGabriel Bruce of Richmond, Calif., is able to log on to the Kaiser Permanente website and consult directly with his primary care physician without the hassle of having to visit the doctor\u2019s office.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t have a car, so I would have to take BART [public transportation] to a part of town that I\u2019m not used to,\u201d said the 19-year-old student. Access to the website could have been a little smoother, said Bruce, but otherwise a recent interaction was a success. \u201cIt was very professional, and really convenient,\u201d he said.\n\nOther patients are still wary of telemedicine, fearing it could be used to cut costs and skimp on care. \u201cThey just want to reduce their overhead,\u201d said Michael Barnett, 69, of San Francisco. Studies have differed on whether virtual health care actually saves insurance companies money. Telemedicine requires its own infrastructure, plus resources and training to support it, which can be costly for health plans.\n\nBarnett hasn\u2019t used telemedicine, skeptical of the \u201cone-off\u201d kind of encounter he thinks it amounts to. He prefers a doctor\u2019s personal touch. \u201cYour physician should know your history,\u201d he said. \u201cIn telemedicine, you\u2019re probably getting someone who doesn\u2019t know much about you. They may have access to it electronically, but it\u2019s likely to be very skimpy.\u201d\n\nIn the right setting, there\u2019s nothing wrong with telemedicine per se, said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a statewide consumer advocacy coalition.\n\nBut many people \u2014 whether it\u2019s a cancer patient receiving chemotherapy or a child with a broken arm \u2014 will need hands-on care, he said.\n\nWright said advocates fought hard for laws in California requiring health plans to provide consumers with timely access to treatment. \u201cWe want to safeguard those protections,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t see telemedicine as replacing the need for those standards.\u201d", "output": "Telemedical intervention can span tests and treatments across a range of geographical regions, and is increasingly becoming more accessible with its inclusion in Medicaid\u2019s fee-for-service model. 48 states now provide reimbursement on the scheme. Virtual care is offered as a convenient and less costly option to complement traditional health care. However, telehealth is still being limited to particular circumstances under \u201cnetwork adequacy\u201d, or fulfilling the appropriate amount of healthcare access in any given region provided by an insurer. California, despite passing legislation in 2011 that recognized telehealth as a legitimate source of care that could be covered by insurers, the state Medicaid program has still seen limits placed upon the practice. For example, biometric measures are yet to be included. Telehealth will never fully replace doctors entirely, and will not be a replacement utilized solely for network adequacy requirements, the California Association of Health Plans has said. In terms of personal preference, many Americans prefer having a \u201cdoctor\u2019s touch\u201d, with physicians being familiar with patients\u2019 histories and providing hands-on care.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Home-Based Palliative Care Gaining Popularity \n LPETTET/Getty Images\n\nEn espa\u00f1ol\n\nPalliative care is specialized medical care for people who have serious illnesses. It focuses on relief from symptoms and stress.\n\nA specially trained team \u2014 usually led by a doctor who works alongside a nurse, a social worker and other providers as necessary \u2014 provides this care, which does not deal with the cause of a condition. This unit collaborates with a patient\u2019s main medical team to provide extra support during any stage of a serious illness.\n\nThe goal of palliative care is to improve quality of life for both the person coping with an illness and the family, including caregivers.\n\n\"Palliative care can help caregivers fill in the gaps,\u201d says Andrew Esch, a palliative care physician and a consultant for the nonprofit Center to Advance Palliative Care. \u201cWe help with things like pain and symptom management, communicating with patients and coordinating their care with all of their other doctors.\u201d\n\nBenefits of palliative care\n\nPalliative care is based on need, not a prognosis. It can be appropriate at any age and during any stage of a serious illness, whether the condition is chronic, curable or life threatening. Palliative care can be provided alongside curative treatments such as chemotherapy, radiation or surgery.\n\nThe illnesses most commonly treated with palliative care are these, according to the New York-based Center to Advance Palliative Care:\n\nResearch shows that palliative care improves pain and symptoms, increases family satisfaction with the care loved ones receive and reduces health care costs. It has even been shown to help some patients live longer.\n\nMore than 50 million people worldwide need palliative care every year, but only about 12 percent of those who could use it actually receive it, according to the World Health Organization. The result is unnecessary suffering for patients and their families.\n\nWhat\u2019s involved\n\nPalliative treatment can be provided in a hospital, an outpatient clinic, an assisted living community, a nursing home or at home. Palliative care teams take a holistic, or whole-person, approach to help improve a patient\u2019s quality of life in many areas.\n\nPain and symptom management. This might include prescribing medication or using other methods to address pain and symptoms like disorientation, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea and shortness of breath.\n\n\n\nEmotional, psychological and spiritual well-being. \u201cNot all suffering is physical,\u201d Esch says. Palliative care can help address a person\u2019s mental health in addition to physical symptoms. One-on-one counseling, referrals to a psychologist or other provider, and meetings with a religious or spiritual adviser may be part of palliative treatment.\n\n\n\nPractical and logistical support. The palliative regimen might include coordination of transportation services, meal delivery or other individualized support, ranging from financial counseling to finding someone to watch your loved one\u2019s pets during medical appointments.\n\nHow to get palliative care\n\nPeople can start the process by asking their primary care doctor or the physician overseeing their treatment, perhaps an oncologist or neurologist, for a referral to a palliative care specialist.\n\nOnline research can also help. The Center to Advance Palliative Care offers a comprehensive, searchable directory of providers. Most hospitals offer palliative care services, but access can still be limited in some areas, including the south-central United States and rural regions, the organization says.\n\nDon\u2019t forget to check in with your loved one about their desires and concerns. AARP\u2019s Prepare to Care: A Planning Guide for Families is a step-by-step guide for creating a caregiving plan, including a checklist of your loved one\u2019s goals and needs. It is available in six versions, including three languages.\n\nBeing prepared can also help you and your loved one as you begin working with a palliative care team. According to the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, an initial consultation might include questions like these:\n\nWhat needs or services would you like to discuss?\n\n\n\nwould you like to discuss? What activities or experiences do you want to do or continue to feel you are living well?\n\n\n\ndo you want to do or continue to feel you are living well? What are your fears or worries about your medical care?\n\nPaying for palliative care\n\nPalliative care is billed like any other medical specialty. Many private insurance companies will cover all or part of palliative care. For more details, contact your insurance representative. Be sure to ask what copays or deductibles may apply.\n\nMedicare may cover palliative care, but with some conditions.\n\nMedicare Part A, which covers hospitalization, pays for palliative care only when it is considered hospice care, a related approach to symptom management for people who are terminally ill (see sidebar). You must have a life expectancy of six months or less and have chosen palliative care over seeking a cure.\n\nAlso, Medicare will pay only if you use an approved provider; you can use Medicare\u2019s online Hospice Compare tool to find one near you. If you have Medicare Advantage, ask your plan provider to help you find a provider.\n\nMedicare Part B, which covers doctors\u2019 services and medical tests, can pay for services that fall under standard Part B fee-for-service benefits, such as doctor visits associated with palliative care, whether hospice-related or not.\n\nMedicaid coverage varies by state. The government health program for low-income people, which states administer according to federal guidelines, pays for palliative care, such as doctor visits and medication, that falls within standard benefits. But some states go further \u2014 notably California, which requires the managed-care plans that cover most of its Medicaid recipients to offer full coverage for palliative care for people with advanced cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure or irreversible liver disease.", "output": "Home-based palliative care is being offered by an increasing number of medical facilities and doctors to help patients receive coordinated care in their homes, rather than in a facility. This type of care generally involved multiple disciplines and providers, including social work, mental health, religious assistance and the usual care of physicians. Palliative care is distinct from hospice care; the former provides curative care as well as end-of-life assistance, giving patients the option to choose the final days of their lives in the location and in the manner of their choosing. Palliative care is provided on a more case-by-case basis, and can offer the capacity for patients to elect to have treatment depending on their quality of life, rather than extending life. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Service is now offering funding for advanced care planning talks, with health insurance plans move slowly towards incorporating palliative care. This approach can improve patient experience, improve the general health of medically-treated populations and reduce the per capita cost of providing health care. Palliative care also offers a much-needed respite for caregivers, who play a crucial but challenging role in the end of life stages of many patients\u2019 lives. Some programs are offering palliative care with a particular care coordination and counseling element for caregivers, with the most prolific provider of palliative care programs being based in California. One issue that could cause barriers to providing palliative care more widely is the lack of reimbursement for palliative care treatment by insurers, with those most likely in need of this type of treatment being covered by Medicare\u2019s fee-for-service model.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Siemens, AES create battery energy storage company Fluence \n Two of the biggest names in energy storage development have decided to join forces.\n\nAES, a leader in megawatt-hours deployed, will launch a new company along with global energy systems provider Siemens. The jointly owned venture, dubbed Fluence, will scale up commercial and grid-scale storage deliveries worldwide.\n\nThe unprecedented move marks a pre-emptive consolidation of power in a young industry -- and a new competitor for emerging market leader Tesla.\n\nAES started deploying large utility-scale storage a decade ago, making it a seasoned veteran in the new and emerging advanced energy storage world.\n\nThe major independent power producer deployed its own projects in PJM\u2019s frequency regulation market, and gradually transitioned to selling its Advancion system to third parties. The company recently completed the largest lithium-ion battery to be deployed date for San Diego Gas & Electric as part of the Aliso Canyon gas leak response.\n\nIt could have kept going with the same game plan. But early leaders of emerging markets don\u2019t always retain that lead. With Fluence, AES hopes to solidify its position amid an increasingly bustling competitive landscape.\n\n\u201cWe have to massify this product to continue to bring down costs,\u201d said AES CEO Andr\u00e9s Gluski, in an interview. \u201cOn long-duration systems, we think we're the most competitive in the market, but we'll be even more competitive if we\u2019re even larger.\u201d\n\nFor more than a century, Siemens has built the heavy-duty equipment that drives the grid, like generators and balance-of-plant devices. In the storage space, it has focused on commercial and industrial development for the last five years with the Siestorage product, and will bring that expertise to the joint venture.\n\nPerhaps more consequential, though, is the company\u2019s global footprint, which includes a sales presence in 160 countries with deep ties to utility, industrial and commercial customers.\n\n\u201cIf you look at our energy business, we\u2019re very well connected with all the leading utility players in the world,\u201d said Dan Wishnick, sales and business development manager at Siemens Energy. \u201cIt\u2019s a rare customer we haven't touched in some shape or fashion.\u201d\n\nThat should open up considerable room to expand on in the seven countries where AES has installed storage so far.\n\nThat boots-on-the-ground presence may prove to be Fluence's biggest advantage over the competition, said Ravi Manghani, storage director at GTM Research.\n\n\"There are several positives -- close to instantaneous product-to-market capability, and prompt post-sales servicing which can result in improved system uptime and availability to participate in multiple markets,\" he said.\n\nThe two companies will contribute more than 100 staff members to the joint venture, which will be headquartered in the vicinity of Washington, D.C. The new leadership team has not been announced. AES and Siemens will each own half of Fluence, but the new venture will operate on its own, free to focus exclusively on chasing the storage market.\n\nThe name was chosen to convey expertise and familiarity with the product.\n\n\u201cBoth of our organizations felt a certain fluency in our space, and we wanted to own that and wrap that around us as being people who have worked in energy storage for many years,\u201d said Stephen Coughlin, vice president for energy storage platforms at AES.\n\nThe nomenclature also reflects the confluence of two separate organizations into one, and references a technical concept in particle physics, he added.\n\nSiemens has also conducted demonstration research on battery types other than the conventional lithium-ion. The company worked on three flow battery projects in Massachusetts, and served as EPC and integrator on Europe\u2019s first large-scale sodium sulfur battery system.\n\nIt has an ongoing integrator relationship with Eos, which is developing a proprietary zinc hybrid cathode battery for long-duration storage. Siemens is conducting a field test of that technology at its campus in Alpharetta, Georgia.\n\nAES has focused exclusively on lithium-ion chemistry, which dominates almost all grid storage capacity today. The scale and bankability of this technology will give it an edge for the near future, but these research efforts could help Fluence to tap niche markets that demand a different solution.\n\n\u201cThe market is ever-changing,\u201d Wishnick said. \u201cIf you stand still with a particular technology -- I don\u2019t care what business you\u2019re in, you run the risk of not advancing what you\u2019re doing.\u201d\n\nThis won\u2019t be the first time Siemens has taken the plunge into an emerging clean technology. The company entered the concentrating solar power space with its $418 million purchase of solar trough company Solel in 2009.\n\nThe latter firm fared poorly in competition with cheap solar PV and natural gas. In 2013, Siemens laid off most of the remaining staff after failing to find a buyer for the firm.\n\nUnlike CSP, lithium-ion batteries have surpassed all other competing technologies in their field in terms of market share, and AES has a strong track record in deploying it.\n\nFluence will chase deals in storage hotspots like the U.S., Australia and Germany, while exploring other markets in Asia and island grids, Wishnick said. Hybrid solar-plus-storage projects are very much on the table, as are storage pairings for wind or gas generators, he said.\n\nCompetition has been heating up among battery manufacturers, as market leaders like Tesla, Samsung SDI and LG Chem ramp up their production capacity. As a storage system integrator, Fluence stands to benefit from the downward pressure the gigafactory arms race puts on pricing. The global scale that Fluence aspires to opens up further savings through the bulk purchase of batteries.\n\nIf the collaboration succeeds, it will easily be the most geographically distributed grid storage development venture. The two companies together claim 463 megawatts deployed across 48 projects in 13 countries. Competitors will have to consider whether their success lies in owning a particular region, or chasing Fluence into a global theater of operations.", "output": "AES and Siemens have teamed up to create energy storage company Fluence. The joint venture aims to scale up commercial and grid-scale storage deliveries worldwide, making it a new competitor for emerging market leader Tesla. AES recently completed the largest lithium-ion battery to be deployed to date, for San Diego Gas & Electric as part of the response to the 2015 Aliso Canyon gas leak.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Yardi expands self-storage coverage to 125 markets \n SANTA BARBARA, Calif., July 6, 2017 \u2013 Yardi Matrix has expanded its self storage coverage to 125 markets, up from 99. This total represents 26,535 properties, of which 1,398 are some form of new supply, and 1.4 billion square feet of space and encompasses 83% of the U.S. population.\n\n\u201cMatrix is now the largest data set for market intelligence and competitive analysis in the self storage sector. The recent expansion is the latest example of Yardi\u2019s commitment to providing the industry\u2019s leading tools for identifying and executing development, management and underwriting deals,\u201d said Jeff Adler, vice president of Yardi Matrix.\n\nYardi Matrix is a business development and asset management tool for investment professionals, equity investors, lenders, and property managers who underwrite and manage investments in commercial real estate. Its resources include true ownership, in-place debt, and rental and sales history data, along with a new supply pipeline that includes 1,398 tracked projects. Yardi Matrix covers multifamily, industrial and office property types in addition to self storage. Email [email protected], call 480-663-1149 or visit yardimatrix.com to learn more.\n\nAbout Yardi\n\nYardi develops and supports industry-leading investment and property management software for all types and sizes of real estate companies. Established in 1984, Yardi is based in Santa Barbara, Calif., and serves clients worldwide. For more information on how Yardi is Energized for Tomorrow, visit yardi.com.", "output": "Business development and asset management software provider Yardi has expanded its self-storage offering from 99 to 125 markets. The Yardi Matrix accommodates\u00a026,535 properties, making it the biggest\u00a0data set for market intelligence and analysis in the\u00a0self-storage arena. Yardi Matrix's resources encompass\u00a0in-place debt, rental and sales history, and true ownership data.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Galaxy Resources' Mount Cattlin exceeds target lithium output \n \n\nMt Cattlin Update - Plant Output Exceeds Target Production Rate\n\nPerth, July 6, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Galaxy Resources Limited ( ASX:GXY ) ( GALXF:OTCMKTS ) (\"Galaxy\" or the \"Company\") is pleased to announce further successful optimization to the Mt Cattlin plant has resulted in increased recoveries and production. For June, production at Mt Cattlin was 14,038dmt, based on final recoveries of 61.3% during the month, well exceeding the initial targets of 50-55%. During the month, lithium concentrate production exceeded 500dmt on sixteen days, and on five of those days over 600dmt of production was recorded.\n\n\n\nHighlights\n\n\n\n- Mt Cattlin exceeds target production rate\n\n\n\n- Total of 14,038 dry metric tonnes of lithium concentrate produced in June\n\n\n\n- Galaxy receives US$860 per tonne FOB for first shipment on 2017 contract terms\n\n\n\n- Laycan bookings for next three lithium concentrate shipments confirmed\n\n\n\nIn addition to improvements in the processing facility, crushing operations have continued to improve with approximately 133,000 tonnes of ore crushed during the month of June, which is the equivalent rate of 1.6 million tpa throughput.\n\n\n\nGalaxy received payment for its third shipment of lithium concentrate at the end of June, and based on the revised 2017 contract pricing achieved US$860 per tonne FOB for this shipment. The Company has now booked the next three vessels for departure from Esperance. The next vessel is currently expected to arrive at Esperance around mid-July with a further vessel laycan booked for early August, and a third vessel laycan requested for the first week in September.\n\n\n\n\n\nAbout Galaxy Resources Limited\n\n\n\n\n\nGalaxy Resources Limited (ASX:GXY) (OTCMKTS:GALXF) is an international S&P / ASX 200 Index company with lithium production facilities, hard rock mines and brine assets in Australia, Canada and Argentina. It wholly owns and operates the Mt Cattlin mine in Ravensthorpe Western Australia, which is currently producing spodumene and tantalum concentrate, and the James Bay lithium pegmatite project in Quebec, Canada.\n\nGalaxy is advancing plans to develop the Sal de Vida lithium and potash brine project in Argentina situated in the lithium triangle (where Chile, Argentina and Bolivia meet), which is currently the source of 60% of global lithium production. Sal de Vida has excellent potential as a low cost brine-based lithium carbonate production facility.\n\nLithium compounds are used in the manufacture of ceramics, glass, and consumer electronics and are an essential cathode material for long life lithium-ion batteries used in hybrid and electric vehicles, as well as mass energy storage systems. Galaxy is bullish about the global lithium demand outlook and is aiming to become a major producer of lithium products.", "output": "Galaxy Resources produced 14,038 dry metric tons of lithium concentrate from Mount Cattlin plant in June, receiving $860/ton FOB for the first shipment on its 2017 contract terms.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Global clean energy investment falls 12% YoY in Q2 \n The second quarter of 2017 saw $64.8 billion invested in clean energy around the world, up 21% from 1Q this year, but down 12% compared to 2Q 2016.\n\nNew Investment in Clean Energy by Region, 1Q 2014 \u2013 2Q 2017 ($BN)\n\nSource: Bloomberg New Energy Finance\n\nAll values nominal. This includes investment into all asset classes except EST asset finance and R&D, which are compiled on an annual basis only.\n\nThis report covers an overview of annual clean energy investment, quarterly trends in new investments and funds in circulation, clean energy indexes and renewable energy capacity investment.\n\nRead the press release here.\n\nTo find out more, download our fact pack", "output": "Clean energy investment reached $64.8bn in Q2 2017, a 12% decline compared with Q2 2016. However, the investment total is \"quite firm\" when the falling costs of clean energy development are considered, said Abraham Louw, an analyst at Bloombeg New Energy Finance. The financing of two photovoltaic projects in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, 1.2GW and 800MW, respectively, jointly contributed\u00a0$1.9bn to the Q2 total.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Countries with coral reefs must cut emissions: Unesco \n Countries with responsibility over world heritage-listed coral reefs should adopt ambitious climate change targets, aiming to cut greenhouse gas emissions to levels that would keep global temperature increases to just 1.5C, the UN agency responsible for overseeing world heritage sites has said.\n\nAt a meeting of Unesco\u2019s world heritage committee in Krak\u00f3w, Poland, a decision was adopted that clarified and strengthened the responsibility of countries that have custodianship over world-heritage listed coral reefs.\n\nUntil now, most countries have interpreted their responsibility over such reefs as implying they need to protect them from local threats such as water pollution and overfishing.\n\nBut between 2014 and 2017, reefs in every major reef region bleached, with much of the coral dying, in the worst global bleaching event in recorded history. Over those three years, 21 of the 29 listed sites suffered severe or repeated heat stress.\n\nLast month Unesco published the first global assessment of climate change\u2019s impacts on world heritage-listed reefs and it concluded that local efforts were \u201cno longer sufficient\u201d \u2013 concluding the only hope was to keep global temperature increases below 1.5C.\n\nThe new decision builds on that assessment, clarifying the responsibility of countries with custodianship over world-heritage listed coral reefs.\n\nThe decision adopted by the world heritage committee said it \u201creiterates the importance of state parties undertaking the most ambitious implementation of the Paris agreement\u201d, which it noted meant pursuing efforts to limit global average temperature increase to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.\n\nIt went on that it \u201cstrongly invites all state parties \u2026 to undertake actions to address climate change under the Paris agreement that are fully consistent with their obligations within the world heritage convention to protect the [outstanding universal values] of all world heritage properties\u201d.\n\nThe decision appeared to implement the earlier finding that local efforts were insufficient to protect reefs, and indicated the committee considered that countries were obliged under the world heritage convention to undertake strong action on climate change.\n\nThe decision put most countries\u2019 emissions targets in stark contrast with what was needed to protect their reefs. Combined, all countries\u2019 commitments made so far are projected to allow warming or as much as 2.7C by 2100.\n\nBut some countries with coral reefs are not contributing their fair share to even that level of ambition.\n\nAustralia, which has responsibility over the world\u2019s largest coral reef system \u2013 the Great Barrier Reef \u2013 has climate change targets consistent with between 3C and 4C of warming by 2100, according to Climate Action Tracker.\n\nMoreover, Australia doesn\u2019t have any policies in place that will help it achieve those targets, with official government projections showing emissions are not expected to be cut at all, and instead will rise for at least decades to come.\n\nThe first indication that Unesco would consider action on climate change an obligation of custodians of world-heritage listed coral reefs came in June when it assessed Australia\u2019s progress in protecting the Great Barrier Reef, following back-to-back mass bleaching in 2016 and 2017 that killed as much as half its coral.\n\nDespite acknowledging Australia\u2019s progress in addressing water quality on the reef, and deciding not to put the reef on its \u201cin-danger\u201d list, Unesco noted that climate change was the most serious threat to it, and said there was the need to consider how bleaching was affecting the effectiveness of the country\u2019s plan to protect it.\n\n\u201cLast week the Australian government bragged that the Great Barrier Reef was not put on the in-danger list at this meeting,\u201d said Imogen Zethoven from the Australian Marine Conservation Society, who was at the world heritage committee meeting in Poland.\n\n\u201cHowever, this week the Australian government should be worried. It knows very well that it is still on probation with the world heritage committee. This decision means Australia needs to rapidly reduce carbon pollution and reject new coalmines \u2013 otherwise our reef is at great risk of being placed on the world heritage in-danger list in 2020.\n\n\u201cThe Australian government must now, more than ever, rule out any new coalmines and urgently develop a climate policy that will protect our global icon. It must do its fair share of the global effort to reduce pollution.\n\n\u201cIf it doesn\u2019t, the world heritage committee should hold Australia to account for failing to tackle the single greatest threat to our Great Barrier Reef \u2013 and for putting all other world heritage coral reefs at risk.\u201d\n\nAn Earthjustice attorney, Noni Austin, who also attended the world heritage committee meeting, said: \u201cThe world heritage committee\u2019s decision has confirmed what scientists have been saying for years: urgent and rapid action to reduce global warming and implement the Paris agreement is essential for the survival of coral reefs into the future.\u201d", "output": "Countries responsible for world heritage-listed coral reefs should aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to levels that would limit global temperature increases to 1.5C, according to Unesco. The decision to strengthen and clarify the responsibilities of countries that are custodians of reefs was taken at a meeting of the United Nations agency in Poland.\u00a0Previously, most countries regarded their\u00a0custodianship responsibilities as covering\u00a0issues such as water pollution and overfishing rather than climate change. Last month, Unesco launched the first-ever global assessment of the impact of climate change on reefs, declaring that local efforts were \u201cno longer sufficient\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TigerRisk first insurance adviser in R3 blockchain test group \n Risk management and capital solutions company TigerRisk has become the first insurance advisor to join R3\u2019s Centre of Excellence for distributed ledger technology (DLT) in the global insurance and reinsurance industry.\n\n\n\nThe Centre of Excellence was launched earlier in April in partnership with ACORD (Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development). The Centre aims to offer a dedicated setting for both the members of R3 blockchain consortium as well as ACORD\u2019s members, to research, test and create blockchain applications.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe are pleased to welcome TigerRisk to our growing network of insurance members. The discussions and collaborative work taking place in the Centre of Excellence inform the continued development of our Corda distributed ledger platform, enabling us to build functionality and features that address the specific challenges facing companies in the insurance and reinsurance industries,\u201d David Rutter, CEO of R3, commented.\n\n\n\nWith the other members, TigerRisk will design DLT applications that enhance and foster the efficiency of insurance processes including claims handling and data management. The company will also gain access to R3 Wiki, which is an online knowledge library containing a collection of research and resources that are created and compiled by R3 and its members.\n\n\n\nR3\u2019s Centre of Excellence counts on a number of other major insurance industry companies that includes MetLife, AIA and Suncorp Group, as well as other financial services members that have their own insurance groups.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe are excited to be part of R3\u2019s Center of Excellence,\u201d Jayant Khadilar, Global Head of Analytics and Technology at TigerRisk, stated. \u201cWe believe that DLT/blockchain technology will bring significant efficiencies to our industry. This technology has already introduced frictionless processing to the banking industry and we are confident that we will be able to bring similar benefits to the insurance and reinsurance industries.\u201d", "output": "Risk management firm TigerRisk has joined the R3 Centre of Excellence for distributed ledger technology, becoming the first insurance adviser to do so. The Centre of Excellence was launched to create a dedicated experimental space for the members of the R3 blockchain consortium to conduct research on applications of blockchain in the financial industry. TigerRisk will test distributed ledger applications for insurance processes, such as data management and claims handling."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apache joins Canadian oil sands exodus with Paramount sale \n File photo of the Athabasca Oil Sands near Fort McMurray, Alta.Ben Nelms/Bloomberg Share\n\nAnother international oil company is marking its exit from Canada's energy sector \u2013 this time Houston-based Apache Corp.\n\nApache announced late Thursday that it will complete what has been a staged departure from Canada by selling Alberta and British Columbia assets to Calgary-based Paramount Resources Ltd. Specifically, Paramount will acquire natural gas-focused Apache Canada Ltd. for $459.5-million, deepening the trend towards homegrown ownership in the Canadian energy industry.\n\nAt the same time, Paramount announced it will merge with Trilogy Energy Corp., another Canadian company formed through a spinout of assets from Paramount more than a decade ago. Paramount has entered into an agreement with Trilogy that will see Paramount acquire all of the shares of Trilogy on the basis of one Paramount share for every 3.75 Trilogy shares.\n\nOpinion: There's opportunity in the death of the oil industry's business model\n\nThe merger keeps things all in the family. Both Paramount and Trilogy are already controlled by Calgary's wealthy Riddell family. Billionaire Clayton Riddell founded Paramount, served as chief executive until two years ago, and still serves as executive chairman. He is also chairman of Trilogy. Both companies are now led by his son, James.\n\nApache joins a growing list of companies that have sold out of Canada's energy sector \u2013 a movement that has been most pronounced in the oil sands. Recent moves include Cenovus Energy Inc.'s $17.7-billion deal for ConocoPhillips Co.'s oil sands holdings and other Canadian assets, and Royal Dutch Shell PLC's announcement that it will sell major oil-sands holdings in Alberta to Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. for about $7.25-billion (U.S.).\n\n\"Today's announcement is consistent with Apache's objective of streamlining our portfolio and focusing on assets in the United States, United Kingdom North Sea and Egypt. This strategic decision will enhance the company's resource allocation to its primary growth areas, particularly within the Permian Basin,\" John J. Christmann IV, Apache's chief executive and president, said in a news release.\n\n\"With our decision to exit Canada, Apache's resulting global portfolio is more streamlined and our resources more focused.\"\n\nThe movement by global energy players has been spurred by low crude prices, high global supplies, and more attractive investment opportunities in other parts of the world, including the U.S. Permian Basin. But Albertans continue to debate what role regulatory uncertainty, tougher Canadian environmental rules, and limited pipeline access to key refinery markets has played in the international exits.\n\nEven before Thursday's announcement, Apache had agreed to sell its Provost assets in Alberta to an undisclosed privately owned company. Also in June, Apache sold other Saskatchewan and Alberta assets to Calgary-based Cardinal Energy Ltd. The Cardinal transaction closed in late June, and the others are expected to close by the end of the summer.\n\nApache said in a release that aggregate proceeds from the three transactions are approximately $927-million (CAD). The proceeds will be used to fund a portion of the company's capital program, to reduce debt, or to improve overall liquidity.\n\nFor its part, Paramount said the deals will make it Montney, Duvernay and Deep Basin-focused. The integration, it said, \"will generate operational synergies, optimize cost structures, offer financial flexibility and provide economies of scale.\"\n\nIn its news release, Paramount also said it plans to fund the Apache Canada acquisition with cash on hand, and no debt will be assumed.", "output": "International oil company Apache will exit the Canadian market by selling its Alberta and British Columbia assets to Calgary-based Paramount Resources for CAD459.5m ($355.6m). The move continues the trend of international companies selling Canada-based oil-sands resources to Canadian companies. Recently, ConocoPhillips sold its oil sands holdings and other Canadian assets to Cenovus Energy for CAD17.7bn, while Royal Dutch Shell announced it would sell oil-sands holdings in Alberta to Canadian Natural Resources for $7.25bn."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow unveils new homes near Swindon \n Share this\n\nThree show homes - part of the Heritage Collection by Redrow Homes - have opened to the public at the Abbey Farm development near Swindon.\n\nRedrow create bespoke developments in both rural and urban locations, winning numerous awards including, most recently, the Gold Award for the Best Large Housebuilder at the What House? Awards 2015 and 2014.\n\nOne of the UK's leading house builders, Redrow Homes aim to provide high quality homes in prime locations with housing ranges featuring designs to suit all lifestyles. The Heritage collection combines traditional looking 'Arts and Crafts' influenced exteriors with bright, modern, high specification interiors.\n\nVisitors can drop by seven days a week to take a look inside the four-bedroom family homes that are currently available from \u00a3433,995.\n\nRedrow sales consultants will be on site to answer any queries about the properties.\n\nJust five miles north of Swindon, the 175-plots home development sits on the edge of the beautiful Cotswold countryside. The properties, whose exterior design is inspired by the Arts and Craft movement of the 1920s and 30s, offer comfortable interiors suited to contemporary family life.\n\nWhen completed, the development will consist of three, four and five bedroom family homes.\n\nA car park is available in the sales office area.\n\nFor more information about the Abbey Farm development, call 01793 391760 or visit:https://www.redrow.co.uk/developments/redrow-at-abbey-farm-swindon-242428", "output": "Housebuilder Redrow has opened three show homes for the public to visit at its 175-plot Abbey Farm development, near Swindon. The properties, part of the developer's Heritage collection, were inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, and a four-bedroom version costs around \u00a3433,995 ($557,985).\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus to launch new co-working space in Manhattan \n Regus plans to launch its co-working concept Spaces in Manhattan at RXR Realty\u2019s Helmsley Building, where the executive-suites company recently inked a 55,000-square-foot renewal.\n\nSpaces, Regus\u2019 answer to the co-working giant WeWork, has 35 locations already open worldwide and another 28 scheduled to open in the near future, according to the company\u2019s website.\n\nIn New York, the sole location is at the Falchi Building in Long Island City, where Regus signed a 34,000-square-foot lease in 2015. A representative for the company was not immediately available for comment.\n\nThe company\u2019s been a longtime tenant at RXR\u2019s Helmsley Building at 230 Park Avenue near Grand Central Terminal, and when its lease came due, Regus took the opportunity to reposition its space.\n\nSign Up for the undefined Newsletter SIGN UP By signing up, you agree to TheRealDeal Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.\n\nAs part of the 15-year deal, Regus is relocating from the building\u2019s 10th floor to space on the third and fourth floors, and will enjoy a private entrance on Vanderbilt Avenue.\n\n\u201cIt presented a unique opportunity for Regus to secure a building-within-a-building presence,\u201d said Transwestern\u2019s Patrick Heeg, formerly of JLL, who represented the tenant in the negotiations along with JLL\u2019s Jim Wenk.\n\nAsking rent for the space was in the low-$80s per square foot. RXR\u2019s Jordan Berger represented the landlord in-house.\n\nRXR bought the iconic, 1.4 million-square-foot Helmsley Building in partnership with Blackstone Group in 2015 for $1.2 billion.", "output": "Flexible office supplier Regus is set to open its second location in New York, with the launch of Spaces at RXR Realty\u2019s Helmsley Building in Manhattan, near the Grand Central Terminal. The 15-year deal sees Regus, a long-term tenant of the building, move to the third and fourth floors, allowing the firm a private Vanderbilt Avenue entrance. Regus' other New York location is at Falchi Building in Long Island City.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ping An and Swiss Re offer typhoon parametric policies in China\n \n The FINANCIAL \u2014 Swiss Re has partnered with Ping An Property & Casualty Insurance Company of China, Ltd to launch China\u2019s first mobile-enabled typhoon property parametric insurance solution.\n\nADVERTISEMENT\n\nIn addition to the technological support and reinsurance service from Swiss Re, the solution uses the company\u2019s catastrophe models and data on natural disasters to generate precise quotes to Ping An\u2019s customers.\n\nThis innovative solution is designed to provide an affordable, easy-to-use insurance product to both individuals and enterprises located in areas that are prone to typhoons, and covers the economic losses caused by the typhoon. It gives customers the ability to purchase insurance, make inquiries and complete the claims settlement process from a mobile device, according to Swiss Re.\n\nThe insurance covers eight coastal provincial regions in Southeast China, including Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Fujian, Jiangsu, Guangxi, Shandong and Hainan.\n\nThe mobile-enabled insurance solution provides real-time tracking of a typhoon\u2019s path and wind speed as announced by the national meteorological center of China. The trigger for the payout amount is also based on this information. When a typhoon occurs, a user can access an inquiry page, check if the claim terms have been triggered and submit a remote self-service claim. The system will then automatically calculate the claim amount and settles the claim within three days. This product offers a maximum payout of RMB 20,000 per address for individuals and RMB 500,000 per address for enterprises. It is designed to enhance typhoon response and post-disaster recovery for the high-risk regions.\n\n\u201cTyphoons are the most often and costliest natural catastrophes which occur in China. They can cause severe life and property loss in economically developed and densely populated regions. We want to leverage on our experience in using cutting-edge technology to develop tailor-made solutions, together with our clients to protect the people who are potentially affected by these natural catastrophes. The successful launch of this product can serve as an important example for other regions affected by similar natural disasters,\u201d says John Chen, President of Swiss Re China.\n\nUsing its catastrophe modelling and big data capabilities, Swiss Re takes into consideration the insured\u2019s risk exposure conditions, builds an on-line pricing engine based on cloud technology and produces a dynamic quote to users of the solution based on the real-time atmospheric circulation information. This innovation marks a historic break-through for catastrophe products in China.\n\n\u201cChina is a vast country that experiences diverse natural disasters, but has a low level of insurance coverage, which leaves a significant protection gap. Swiss Re\u2019s rich experience in catastrophe modelling and strong data analysis capability can help insurance companies to better evaluate risk and price their products. Products such as this help accelerate economic recovery after natural disasters, and allow people to return quickly to normal life,\u201d adds Mike Mitchell, Head of Property and Specialty Reinsurance, Swiss Re.", "output": "Swiss Re's catastrophe models and natural disasters data are being utilised in a partnership with Ping An that's providing China's first mobile-enabled typhoon parametric insurance. The service will enable policyholders in eight coastal provinces to buy the insurance, which will pay out when winds hit a predetermined set of parameters. The triggers will be established through real-time tracking of a typhoon's path and windspeed, and policies will pay out up to RMB20,000 ($2,941) for individuals and RMB50,000 for businesses.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK clothing sector sees increased carbon footprint \n The carbon footprint of the UK clothing sector is worsening, a new report reveals, driven by the ongoing popularity of cheap and cheerful \u201cfast fashion\u201d and a shortage of sustainable raw materials.\n\nAlthough the amount of clothing being sent to landfill has fallen by 14% from 350,000 tonnes in 2012 to 300,000 in 2016 a staggering one-quarter is still binned rather than recycled. That is down from 31% four years ago.\n\nThe volume of clothes bought rose by nearly 200,000 tonnes to 1.13 million tonnes in 2016, causing 26 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions from production to disposal and putting clothing fourth after housing, transport and food in terms of its impact on the environment, according to new research by the government\u2019s waste advisory body Wrap.\n\nHowever the 2017 Valuing our Clothes: The Cost of UK Fashion report \u2013 an update on an study done in 2012 \u2013 also found that UK householders are saving 700,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year by washing clothes at lower temperatures and ironing and tumble-drying them less.\n\n\n\nJust over a quarter of washes (26%) were tumble-dried, down from nearly a third (32%) in 2012, while people were also ironing their clothes less, a survey of more than 2,000 people as part of the research revealed.\n\n\n\nBut the UK needs to find new sources of sustainable materials and new markets for used clothing, the report says, singling out \u201cfibre to fibre\u201d recycling \u2013 whereby clothing is turned back into clothing \u2013 as a key opportunity.\n\nWrap launched a sustainable clothing action plan (Scap) in 2013, a voluntary agreement whose signatories account for 58% of the sector\u2019s retail sales by volume, with targets to reduce carbon, water and waste across the life cycle of products.\n\n\n\nSteve Creed, director of the Wrap business programme, said: \u201cIt\u2019s great that fewer clothes are ending up in the residual waste, but overall our carbon footprint is rising so the next few years are critical in balancing growing demand with supplying clothes more sustainably. I\u2019m confident Scap will play a big part in helping to make this happen, and make sustainable fashion much more mainstream.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe organisation is now urging retailers and brands to focus on so-called \u201cpriority\u201d garments which have the biggest environmental impact and are also the biggest sellers. Top of the list are women\u2019s dresses, jumpers and jeans, followed by men\u2019s T-shirts and jumpers. The global water footprint of 1kg of cotton (a shirt and pair of jeans) is between 10,000 \u2013 20,000 litres, for example, depending on where the cotton was grown.\n\nTrewin Restorick, chief executive of the Hubbub environmental charity, commented: \u201cIt is encouraging that the amount of clothing being landfilled is decreasing, but research suggests this may be because people are hoarding more at home. Overall sales of clothing is increasing and the UK needs to jump off the fast fashion treadmill to find a truly sustainable approach.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n", "output": "The UK\u2019s clothing sector has increased its carbon footprint due to disposable \u201cfast fashion\u201d and a lack of sustainable materials, according to a report by government waste advisory body, Wrap. The amount of clothing going to landfill has fallen 14% from 2012 to 300,000 tonnes last year. However, 25% of clothing is still not recycled. In 2016, the volume of clothing purchased rose 200,000 tonnes to 1.13 million tonnes, causing 26 million tonnes of carbon emissions from production to disposal. Despite this, UK households are saving 700,000 tonnes of CO2 each year by washing laundry at lower temperatures.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK clothing sector sees increased carbon footprint \n This content has been archived.\n\nThis report examines the environmental impact of the UK clothing industry. It highlights recent achievements in the sector, explores opportunities for businesses, and shares insights on consumer attitudes and behaviour toward clothing.\n\nKey findings Signatories of SCAP have outperformed industry \u2013 reducing carbon, water, and waste\n\nThe amount of clothing in household residual waste has reduced by 50,000 tonnes\n\n700,000 tonnes CO2e saved through people changing their clothing care habits\n\nSwitching to sustainable fibres offers the biggest opportunities for environmental savings\n\nOverview\n\n'Valuing Our Clothes: the cost of UK fashion' presents the latest research on the environmental impacts of the clothing industry in the UK, and an update on the progress and achievements of the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan (SCAP) so far.\n\nIt highlights opportunities and actions that can be taken across the sector in order to meet the SCAP targets. It also sets out opportunities for the clothing sector to reduce the resource impacts of the clothing \u2013 and gain business benefits from doing so.\n\nContents\n\nKey findings\n\nOutlines the key findings from the research. It shows that SCAP signatories have reduced carbon by 10.6%, water by 13.5%, and waste across the product life cycle by 0.8%, per tonne of clothing sold since 2012.\n\nSection A: Setting the scene This section outlines the importance of fashion to the UK economy, highlighting how any improvements in this sector need to be part of a joined up approach to taking action.\n\nSection B: Taking stock\n\nHow much clothing is purchased in the UK? Taking stock looks at the figures and analyses how much clothing is still in active use.\n\nSection C: Impacts and footprints This section pinpoints the areas of opportunity and action to improve the sustainability of clothing. It looks at how and where carbon, water, and waste impacts occur in the life cycle of garments, and analyses the changes in footprints per tonne of clothing in active use in the UK, between 2012 and 2016.\n\nSection D: The SCAP agreement\n\nLooks at SCAP; what the agreement entails, its targets, and how it ties in with the UN\u2019s Sustainable Development Goals.\n\nSection E: SCAP achievements What has SCAP achieved since 2012? Section E covers the SCAP achievements in reducing carbon, water, and waste footprints since its inception.\n\nSection F: Sustainable fibre choices\n\nSignificant actions have been taken by SCAP signatories to introduce more sustainable fibres to their clothing ranges. This is an achievable and measurable action which can make a real difference to the overall environmental impact of clothing. This section examines the opportunities for choosing more sustainable fibres.\n\nSection G: Valuing our customers Section G provides insight into action that customers are already taking to improve the environmental impact of their clothing, and highlights opportunities where they could be supported and encouraged by businesses to do more.\n\nSection H: Meeting SCAP targets\n\nWhat should SCAP signatories focus on to ensure they meet their targets? Priority products, designing for durability, helping customers to care for clothing, and resource efficient business models all offer the opportunities for business to make a difference.", "output": "The UK\u2019s clothing sector has increased its carbon footprint due to disposable \u201cfast fashion\u201d and a lack of sustainable materials, according to a report by government waste advisory body, Wrap. The amount of clothing going to landfill has fallen 14% from 2012 to 300,000 tonnes last year. However, 25% of clothing is still not recycled. In 2016, the volume of clothing purchased rose 200,000 tonnes to 1.13 million tonnes, causing 26 million tonnes of carbon emissions from production to disposal. Despite this, UK households are saving 700,000 tonnes of CO2 each year by washing laundry at lower temperatures.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Crypto-valley city Zug to use blockchain for digital identity \n Zug is being called Switzerland\u2019s crypto-valley and rightly so: the city in the autumn will present a digital passport for its citizens based on the blockchain software.\n\nStarting in September, the city of Zug will provide a digital identity to its citizens \u2013 the first community in the world to do so. The electronic identity will be based on an application which secures personal information with the help of the blockchain technology and linked to a crypto-address, Zug said in a statement.\n\nCitizens will register their identity via the application, which is then being verified by the city administration.\n\nFintech Cluster of Zug\n\n\u00abWe want a single electronic identity \u2013 a form of digital passport \u2013 for all sorts of purposes. And we want this digital identity not centralized with the city, but on blockchain. We only verify and confirm the identity of the person,\u00bb said Dolfi Mueller, Zug\u2019s mayor.\n\nEthereum, the Zug-based startup, is the driving force behind the development of the digital identity. The Institute of Financial Services in Zug (IFZ) and the two companies Consensys-Uport and Ti&m are also part of the initiative.\n\nSwiss Voting in for a Revolution?\n\nThe region of Zug has a high density of startup firms specializing in the development of blockchain. Ethereum and Xapo are two of those companies.\n\nZug will gather more experience with blockchain in the third quarter in a bid to hold a non-binding e-referendum in spring of 2018. The software has come to be seen as a potential technology to revolutionize the Swiss voting system, which today still relies on ballot papers and hand counted results.", "output": "The Swiss city of Zug, known as Switzerland's crypto-valley, will offer its citizens a digital identity from September. This electronic identity, or digital passport, will be based on an application that stores personal data securely, using blockchain technology that is also linked to a crypto-address. Mayor of Zug, Dolfi Mueller, said the \"single electronic identity\" will \"not be centralised with the city, but on blockchain\". Zug start-up Ethereum is leading the way in the development of the digital identity, with the Institute of Financial Services in Zug and companies Ti&m and Consensys-Uport also on board."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bank of England Ripple test reinforces blockchain ambitions \n The Bank of England says that a distributed ledger technology proof-of-concept with Ripple has reinforced its intention to make a new real-time gross settlement (RTGS) platform compatible with DLT usage in the private sector.\n\nThrough its new fintech accelerator, the central bank has been working with Ripple to see how DLT can be used to model the synchronised movement of two different currencies across two different ledgers.\n\n\n\nThe BofE has already decided that DLT is not \"sufficiently mature\" to support its new core RTGS system, but says that the now completed Ripple PoC \"was a useful exercise to develop the Bank\u2019s understanding of synchronisation and possible technical solutions\".\n\n\n\nOne issue thrown up by the work is that \"cross-border payments when applied to wholesale markets present different challenges than when compared with retail and corporate transactions, which the Ripple product is designed to handle. The availability of liquidity is one such challenge, and the PoC allowed the Bank and Ripple to begin exploring these questions.\"\n\n\n\nMeanwhile, a separate PoC with machine learning and AI outfit Mindbridge Ai proved successful in helping detect anomalies in datasets. A second phase will now look to test the firm's machine learning capability more fully by running it repeatedly as part of an operational process.\n\n\n\nWith another two PoCs (with regtech firm Enforcd and software testing outfit Experimentus) also completed, the bank's Andrew Hauser says: \"We have learnt a great deal through these latest Proofs of Concept, both in terms of what FinTech can do, but in also in terms of how it can help us work, think and communicate differently.\"", "output": "The Bank of England has said its collaboration with blockchain firm Ripple to develop a distributed ledger technology (DLT) proof-of-concept was a \"useful exercise\" and it will continue its efforts to create a real-time gross settlement\u00a0platform using DLT in the future. Working via its fintech accelerator, the bank said the project highlighted several challenges, including cross-border payments when applied to wholesale markets compared with retail and corporate transactions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UAE surgeons use 3D-printed hearts to help with infant surgery \n Jul 10, 2017 | By Tess\n\n3D printing has helped to save the lives of at least seven infants in the UAE. According to a local news source, the technology has been used by UAE doctors to prepare for congenital heart disease surgery on newborns.\n\nCongenital heart disease, a heart disease that one is born with, affects one of every 160 babies delivered in a UAE hospital. This means that about 500 babies are born with a congenital heart defect every year in the country. If left untreated, these cases can prove fatal.\n\n\u201cCongenital heart disease is more prevalent in the country than other parts of the world,\u201d commented Dr. Laszlo Kiraly, a consultant pediatric cardiac surgeon and the head of the department at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC). \u201cAround one per cent of all newborns suffer from this disease.\u201d\n\nOf those born with congenital heart diseases, nearly 75% require heart surgery to survive, and 66% of those that require surgery need it within the first six months of their lives. Additionally, because of the complex nature of many congenital heart defects, patients often require multiple surgeries.\n\n3D printing and other digital technologies such as virtual reality have enabled doctors in the UAE to better prepare for heart surgery on newborns. That is, by 3D printing accurate models of a patient\u2019s heart, surgeons can visualize and tactilely explore the specific anatomy of the patient. The 3D models can also be used in virtual applications to experiment with various operation techniques.\n\nIn the last couple of weeks, 3D printing and modeling has helped save the lives of two babies born with congenital heart disease in Abu Dhabi. The successful surgeries, which were planned using 3D printed heart models, consisted of closing up holes in the babies\u2019 hearts and rotating vessels for better alignment.\n\nDr. Kiraly describes one particularly complex case, in which a three-year-old girl required a third heart surgery. \u201cThe patient was in very bad shape,\u201d he explained. \u201cThe multidisciplinary\u2019s option was to not go for surgery because it was far too risky. When we created the 3D model, we saw something else, something we would not have been able to find before.\u201d\n\nBasically, the 3D model allowed the medical team to find an obstruction that existed in the child\u2019s heart, which made it possible for them to operate carefully, knowing exactly where they had to go in. The surgery was successfully completed last week.\n\nAnother notable case involved a young girl who was born with a complex heart condition that made it extremely difficult\u2014even impossible\u2014to operate on. The patient\u2019s heart was located on the right side of her chest, and she was lacking a connection between her lungs and her lower body.\n\nDr. Kiraly explained: \u201cWe came up with a solution on how to drive the connection inside the heart without being compressed. This is something we couldn\u2019t have done without the model.\u201d\n\n3D printing, which was first used in the UAE for medical applications in 2015, is changing how congenital heart diseases are treated, and Dr. Kiraly believes it will continue to advance. \"In the future, we will use bio-scaffolds and biodegradable materials, which means we can do more complex surgeries with less risk,\u201d he said.\n\nThe UAE is one of a number of countries seeking to explore and advance 3D printing technologies in the medical field.\n\nPosted in 3D Printing Application\n\nMaybe you also like:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "output": "Surgeons in the United Arab Emirates have used 3D printing to prepare for complex surgery on newborn babies with congenital heart disease. The country has a high incidence\u00a0of the disease, with 1% of infants born with it every year, three-quarters of whom\u00a0require\u00a0surgery to survive. Using 3D printing allows clinicians to make models of\u00a0the heart and take critical decisions on how to operate safely. \"In the future, we will use bio-scaffolds and biodegradable materials, which means we can do more complex surgeries with less risk,\" said Dr Laszlo Kiraly, consultant paediatric cardiac surgeon at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese shale gas production jumps 76% \n BEIJING \u2014 China produced more shale gas last year, as the world's biggest energy producer and consumer cleans up its coal-dominated energy mix.\n\nIts shale gas yield increased 76.3 percent to 7.9 billion cubic meters in 2016, a record high, the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLF) said Monday in a statement.\n\nA total of 8.79 billion yuan ($1.3 billion) was spent prospecting for shale gas last year.\n\nBreakthroughs in drilling techniques have made China one of the top shale gas suppliers in the world. Only a few countries are able to commercially produce the gas, including the United States, Canada and Argentina.\n\nThe China Geological Survey announced Friday that a shale gas reservoir had been discovered in Yichang City, central China's Hubei province. The area is estimated to have over 500 billion cubic meters of gas reserves.\n\nChina's exploitable shale gas reserves are estimated at 21.8 trillion cubic meters, with proven reserves at 544.1 billion cubic meters.\n\nThe country plans to raise its annual shale gas output to 30 billion cubic meters in 2020 and aims for 80 to 100 billion cubic meters in 2030.\n\nThe MLF statement also showed the output of coalbed methane, another unconventional natural gas, rose slightly from a year ago to 4.5 billion cubic meters. New proven reserves were 57.61 billion cubic meters.\n\nThe government plans to increase the proportion of natural gas in energy consumption to more than 10 percent from the current 5.9 percent by 2020, and to 15 percent by 2030.", "output": "China's shale gas production increased by 76.3% last year, as it looked to clean up its coal-centric energy industry. The country's shale gas yield rose to a record high of 7.9 billion cubic metres in 2016, according to the Ministry of Land and Resources. China is now one of the top shale gas suppliers in the world, with only a handful of countries \u2013 including the US, Argentina and Canada \u2013 able to commercially produce the gas. Its exploitable reserves are forecast at 21.8 trillion cubic metres, with proven reserves at 544.1 billion cubic metres."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Three British universities given \u00a316m to develop 5G network \n Three sites in the UK will be linked up via 5G test beds for the first time thanks to \u00a316m investment from the Government. The funding, announced by Minister for Digital Matt Hancock today, will bring three leading universities together for the development of the world's first trials of end-to-end 5G system.\n\nThree sites in the UK will be linked up via 5G test beds for the first time thanks to \u00a316m investment from the Government.\n\nThe funding, announced by Minister for Digital Matt Hancock today, will bring three leading universities together for the development of the world\u2019s first trials of end-to-end 5G system.\n\nThe investment will fund leading edge technological developments at each of the three universities, linking all three sites through cutting edge design and research, and will see all three work in partnership to keep the UK at the forefront of 5G technology development.\n\nBristol University will deploy 5G capability in the extensive Smart City and Smart Campus test beds in the city, targeting full 5G and fibre infrastructure convergence. Bristol will also contribute to the key Software Defined Network technologies for end-to-end 5G service delivery. Public demonstrators will be the focus of delivery, targeting media, gaming and transport applications.\n\nKing\u2019s College London is driving the vision for ultra-low latency 5G tactile internet developments with Internet of Skills applications. Through the King\u2019s College London 5G Tactile Internet Lab, the university is also pioneering several important 5G co-design approaches with various industries, including smart cities, smart transport, performing arts and health.\n\nThe University of Surrey\u2019s 5G Innovation Centre (5GIC) will lead the project and develop 5G radio technologies and a fully virtualised mobile core network at 3.5GHz and 700 MHz frequency bands for enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) and Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC).\n\nMinister for Digital Matt Hancock said:\n\n\u201cWe want to be at the head of the field in 5G. This funding will support the pioneering research needed to ensure we can harness the potential of this technology to spark innovation, create new jobs and boost the economy.\n\n\u201cWe know 5G has the potential to bring more reliable, ultrafast mobile connectivity, with quicker reaction times and larger data capabilities, and I\u2019m thrilled to announce King\u2019s College London and the universities of Surrey and Bristol have agreed to collaborate on this project.\u201d\n\nThe 5G Hub will be integrated at the system level and connected across the three university sites. It will build sufficient capability and capacity for further nationwide test and trials of 5G technologies and advanced applications.\n\nThe initial end-to-end testing will be carried out early next year across the three Universities\u2019 sites. It will be ready for connection of external test beds and applications across the UK. An important aspect of the 5G Hub will be the test bed, which will develop innovative solutions for the operation and management of 5G networks with new levels of efficiency and resilience.\n\nProfessor Dimitra Simeonidou, Director of the Smart Internet Lab at the University of Bristol and Chief Scientific Officer for Bristol Is Open, said: \u201cUniversity of Bristol has an international reputation for research on telecommunications and has recently demonstrated pioneering research on 5G technologies and networks. This exciting new partnership and investment will leverage the University\u2019s plans for investment in Smart City infrastructure and the Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus, which aims to create more opportunities for the region\u2019s businesses and citizens.\u201d\n\nProfessor Mischa Dohler, Head of the Centre for Telecommunications Research at King\u2019s, said: \u201cKing\u2019s is a university within an international community that serves the world and through this alliance we will continue to research to inform and innovate as we carry out world-leading and outward-looking research focused on meeting societal need.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re delighted to be part of this unique partnership, which allows us to make substantial contributions to the UK and global 5G innovation ecosystem which otherwise would not have been possible. This activity is part of a major expansion of our engineering and business activities on our Strand Campus, enabled by the acquisition of Bush House, the former headquarters of the BBC World Service.\u201d\n\nProfessor Rahim Tafazolli, Director of the 5GIC at the University of Surrey, said: \u201cAs the Hub leader from 5GIC at the University of Surrey, it is really exciting to be collaborating with our colleagues to develop this national asset that can mobilise intense testing and trials for mobile broadband as well as other applications such as connected and autonomous cars, new games, connected health and many more applications. We already have a proven track record of developing, trialling and testing 5G technology here at the 5GIC, and this will see us grow that across the country to further develop and realise the end-to-end 5G.\n\n\u201cThe test bed will benefit the UK\u2019s 5G ecosystem by enabling trials of secure, interoperable technology and services, hardened against cyber-attack.\u201d\n\nThe 5G Hub will be the foundation to create and support projects in multiple areas, such as connected cars and autonomous driving, Industry 4.0, Health and many others, addressing major socio-economic and productivity challenges.\n\nThe 5G Hub will use collaborative partnership of working between the three Universities to develop the described 5G capabilities, but ready for expansion to include other organisations from next year onwards.", "output": "Three English universities will trial 5G networks, thanks to \u00a316m in government funding. Bristol University, King's College London and the University of Surrey will work together on the development of the world's first tests of an end-to-end 5G system. Digital minister Matt Hancock said that 5G technology has the potential to offer more reliable and ultrafast mobile connectivity, and could help create new jobs and boost the economy.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AXA Affin telematics insurance launches in Malaysia \n KUALA LUMPUR: AXA Affin General Insurance Bhd has become the first insurance company to take advantage of the detariffed auto insurance environment by launching its AXA FlexiDrive, Malaysia\u2019s first telematics-based motor insurance.\n\nThe technology would help drivers better understand their driving behaviour through the installation of a special tracking device and the use of the AXA FlexiDrive mobile app in an insured vehicle.", "output": "AXA Affin has introduced Malaysia's first telematics motor insurance, AXA FlexiDrive. The service helps drivers gain insights into\u00a0their driving behaviour through a mobile app and tracking device installed in an insured vehicle. Safer drivers will then be rewarded with up to 20% off their premiums on renewal of their insurance policy. The company stressed that drivers who do not drive so well will not be penalised by higher premiums.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Einride's autonomous truck prototype has no windows or seats \n swedish company einride has recently unveiled the first full-scale prototype of its futuristic autonomous electric truck \u2018T-pod\u2019. the electric, self-driving vehicle can be remotely controlled by drivers and can carry 15 pallets of goods 124 miles while producing zero emissions. in contrast to other autonomous driving technology, the model offers a number of capabilities which have not been presented before.\n\neach pod stands at a height of 23 feet (7 meters) in length and is able to travel 124 miles on a single charge. at present einride is developing compatible charging stations to power the vehicles. the model removes unnecessary features such as windows and seating, and in its place presents a simple box form.\n\nthe launch marks a global transition from heavy, noisy trucks with monstrous emissions and bad working conditions to emission-free, noise reduced trucks that allow workers to operate on a standard schedule closer to home. the einride system doesn\u2019t only benefit the environment but also improves road safety, creates new jobs and provides more cost-efficient transports for purchasers. a \u2018T-pod\u2019 is the height of efficiency; personnel don\u2019t have to stand by as it charges or spend an excess of time away from family and friends, and overall client logistics will be more flexible.\n\nthe einride t-pods will start running between the cities of gothenburg and helsingborg, sweden and the first active system will cover a capacity of 2,000,000 pallets per year. that corresponds to 400,000 passenger cars on the same route. even better, all of this will run with few to no emissions.\n\n\u2018einride is transforming the existing transport chain from the ground up. the big companies behind long haul trucks keep building bigger trucks to increase efficiency, which ultimately means even more emissions. we are changing that by creating a secure solution that is, not only cost effective, but dramatically minimizes the negative environmental impact of the transportation industry.\u2019\n\nfilip lilja, coo at einride", "output": "Gothenburg-based trucking company einride has launched a full-scale prototype of its self-driving electric vehicle, the T-pod, which is said will \"improve road safety, create jobs and provide cost-efficient transports.\" The 23-metre-long T-pod has a range of 124 miles, can carry 15 pallets and will begin operating a route between Gothenburg and Helsingborg, in Sweden, carrying an estimated two million pallets annually."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Advertisers face years in limbo after EU Google ads investigation \n On 27th June, Google was fined \u00a32.1bn by the European Commission for breaching antitrust rules by promoting Google Shopping's comparison service at the top of the SERP. With only 90 days to comply with the ruling, what\u2019s in store for advertisers?\n\nWhat happened?\n\nThe European Commission has ruled that Google abused its dominant position in the search engine market and gave an illegal advantage to another Google product, its own comparison shopping service. Initially launched as Froogle as a beta in late 2002, it was later renamed Google Product Search and then finally Google Shopping as we know it in 2012 with the move from free to paid product listings. The average consumer doesn\u2019t picture Google as a comparison shopping engine, but since May 2016 there has been a real push to ensure GTINs are correctly linked to products in shopping feeds. This paved the way for some shopping ads to list the same product from a choice of manufacturers with a direct price comparison.\n\nSearch for \u201ccanon eos 700d\u201d and you\u2019ll see:\n\nSimilarly, a search for the latest \u201cfitbit alta hr\u201d will show you:\n\nWhile this provides a useful format for very specific searches for brands with identifiable makes and models, the majority of broader searches returning shopping ads are instead a showcase from manufacturers or resellers advertising products related to the query. This is more of a window-shopping, catalogue-browsing experience and is in no way, shape or form price comparison shopping.\n\nIt wasn\u2019t the comparison ad formats in particular but rather the whole Google Shopping offering which has sparked this ruling and left many of us scratching our heads. Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said: \u201cWhat Google has done is illegal under EU antitrust rules. It denied other companies the chance to compete on the merits and to innovate. And most importantly, it denied European consumers a genuine choice of services and the full benefits of innovation.\"\n\nYou can read the full press release here.\n\nGoogle now has 90 days to stop this illegal conduct and comply with \u201cgiving equal treatment to rival comparison shopping services\u201d. If they do not comply, Google will be liable for payments of up to 5% of Alphabet\u2019s average daily turnover. Ouch.\n\nWhat does this mean for us as advertisers?\n\nAcross all our clients running both search and shopping activity last month, 59% of clicks came from shopping campaigns. Shopping is a staple of performance marketing strategies and often sees stronger return on investment compared to search campaigns for the same queries due to the nature of the ad format. It\u2019s easy to see what you\u2019re buying, where from and for how much without having to click on all the search ads on the page and make your decision from each advertiser\u2019s landing page instead.\n\nThere has been no official word from Google AdWords yet, but it\u2019s clear there will be no easy or quick fix. As an advertiser, there are a number of things you can do to get yourself in the best position should any changes come about in the near future.\n\nGet your shopping campaigns and Merchant Center feed in tip top condition. Set up custom labels to push key performing products, and ensure your campaign priorities are surfacing the products most valuable to you. If the number of shopping ad slots is reduced or we start to see fewer queries triggering this ad format, it\u2019s going to get very competitive.\n\nEnsure you have search campaign coverage for all of your shopping products. Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs) can plug the gaps in your keyword coverage, especially if you have a large catalogue of products on site, and you can use DSAs with business data feeds to guarantee coverage of all your product pages.\n\nIf you\u2019re using DoubleClick Search (DS), now is the time to set up inventory management on your search campaigns. This can be used to build search campaigns using the contents of your shopping feed, update your search ad copy with availability and pricing, and pause/enable ad groups based on stock levels. If you don\u2019t have access to DS, AdWords scripts can be a big help here to take care of some of these tasks for you instead.\n\nThe only real options for Google from here are:\n\nAdd links to competing price comparison services to the SERP;\n\nReduce the current features and the types of search queries which trigger shopping ads (for example, removing the ad formats which compare one product from multiple advertisers);\n\nPull Google Shopping from Europe completely.\n\nOr, most likely, Google will appeal the decision. This would be a long and painful process which would leave Google Shopping in limbo for years to come, whilst ongoing investigations into other services continue where Google is also considered to hold the dominant position. These include:\n\nThe Android operating system, where \u201cthe Commission considers that Google is dominant in the markets for general internet search services, licensable smart mobile operating systems and app stores for the Android mobile operating system\u201d, and\n\nAdsense, where Google is accused of preventing \u201cexisting and potential competitors, including other search providers and online advertising platforms, from entering and growing in this commercially important area\u201d.\n\nAny move to comply with the European Commission\u2019s ruling will cut into revenue for Google and advertisers alike. If that\u2019s not bad enough, the ruling has also paved the way for rival comparison shopping services to bring their own lawsuits.\n\nWe also have to ask, what else could Google be targeted for holding a dominant position over. Maps, for example? And who might be next on the European Commission\u2019s list for investigation beyond the search engines?\n\nJocelyn Le Conte is group head of search at Merkle | Periscopix", "output": "Advertisers have been faced with years in limbo thanks to the EU Google ads probe, according to an op-ed in The Drum by Jocelyn LeConte, group head of search at Merkle | Periscopix. Last month, Google was fined \u00a32.1bn ($2.7bn) by the European Commission for breaching antitrust rules by pushing its own comparison shopping service at the top of search engine results. It was given 90 days to comply with giving equal treatment to rival services or face large fines. Google is likely to appeal the ruling, which would leave its shopping service in question for years to come.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mazda makes full page screen-takeover ad for Facebook \n Japanese auto company Mazda is experimenting with an immersive ad format on Facebook that sees an out-of-control car skeet across the newsfeed.\n\nMazda Distracted Driving\n\nThe \u2018Distracted Driving\u2019 campaign from BBR Saatchi & Saatchi is looking to inform Facebook users that fiddling with your phone while driving opens up a substantial risk of danger for those in \u2013 and outside \u2013 the car.", "output": "Japanese carmaker Mazda has made a full-page screen-takeover ad for Facebook in a road safety campaign. BBR Saatchi & Saatchi's Distracted Driving campaign sees an out-of-control car slide across the Facebook newsfeed and seemingly crack the screen, in a bid to highlight the dangers of using one's phone while driving. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bond investments gain acceptance among Gulf State insurers \n Debt instruments have slowly been gaining acceptance in the Middle East insurance sector which has traditionally been underweight in debt since a significant portion of the investment portfolio consists of high-risk high-growth assets such as real estate and equities.", "output": "The Middle East's insurance sector has gradually welcomed the introduction of debt instruments as high-grade investments become more widely available, according to an article in Gulf News by Adil Abid, a partner of financial services practice at KPMG Lower Gulf. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and the United Arab Emirates have all issued sovereign bonds recently, following the declining oil price. In the past nine months, Saudi Arabia alone has raised $26bn through the international sale of both conventional bonds and sukuk. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Intuition Robotics raises $14m to build Elliq care companion \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nIsraeli robotics startup Intuition Robotics has raised $14 million in a series A round of funding led by Toyota Research Institute (TRI), with participation from existing investors including OurCrowd, iRobot, Maniv Mobility, Terra Venture Partners, and Bloomberg Beta.\n\nFounded out of Tel Aviv in 2015, Intuition Robotics emerged from stealth back in January, touting itself as a company \u201cdeveloping social companion technology to positively impact the lives of millions of older adults.\u201d By way of example, its first product is Elliq, an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven robotic companion that resembles a piece of furniture or a lamp that sits on a table conversing with its owner.\n\nElliq uses \u201cnatural\u201d communication methods \u2014 including \u201cbody language\u201d \u2014 to display emotion. And it uses sounds and light, in addition to voice, to express itself. It also promises to improve over time through machine learning that helps it adapt to the owner\u2019s needs.\n\nPrior to now, Intuition Robotics had raised around $7 million in funding, and with its latest cash injection the company will be able to expedite the development and testing of Elliq.\n\nEvent Transform 2023 Join us in San Francisco on July 11-12, where top executives will share how they have integrated and optimized AI investments for success and avoided common pitfalls. Register Now\n\nThe involvement of Toyota\u2019s research arm, TRI, is a major coup for the fledgling robotics startup. TRI\u2019s previously stated mission is to use AI to \u201cimprove the quality of human life,\u201d both through its core automotive business and by \u201cexpanding the benefit of mobility technology beyond automobiles\u201d into areas such as in-home support of older people and those with special needs.\n\nThis investment markets TRI\u2019s first outside investment in robotic technology for adult adults, a spokesperson told VentureBeat.\n\n\u201cWe are honored that TRI believes in our approach to help older adults stay connected and engaged through our first product, ElliQ, the active ageing companion,\u201d noted Dor Skuler, CEO and cofounder of Intuition Robotics. \u201cThis strategic investment illustrates our joint beliefs in the potential of social robotics in keeping older adults connected and engaged and in overcoming the digital divide using cognitive computing and natural communications.\u201d\n\nIntuition Robotics is one of a number of \u201ccompanion robots\u201d companies to emerge in recent times \u2014 earlier this year AvataMind launched its iPal Companion Robot, which is designed as an educational and entertaining friend for children and elderly people. Elsewhere, RoboCare Lab launched a campaign to place robots in nursing homes and schools across France, while Japanese tech titan SoftBank has created the \u201cemotionally intelligent\u201d Pepper, a robot capable of analyzing human gestures and expressions.\n\nElliq, by contrast, doesn\u2019t take a humanoid appearance \u2014 and this could make it more appealing to older users.\n\nElliq was the result of a collaboration with Yves B\u00e9har, a Swiss designer who had been chief creative officer at recently defunct Jawbone. \u201cThe idea of having a robot companion is quite dystopian, especially for older generations,\u201d B\u00e9har previously explained. \u201cThrough years of research, we were able to develop a design language and user experience that feels natural, with subtle expressions to develop a unique bond between Elliq and its owner. Elliq could never replace human interaction, but it can be an important motivating factor in keeping older adults healthy and active when living alone.\u201d", "output": "Israel-based Intuition Robotics has raised $14m in a series A funding round that will enable it to develop its social companion robot for the elderly, called Elliq. The artificial intelligence (AI)-driven device resembles a desk lamp and uses sound, lights and movement to express emotions. \"We were able to develop a design language and user experience that feels natural, with subtle expressions to develop a unique bond between Elliq and its owner,\" said designer Yves B\u00e9har."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Coffee drinking may reduce risk of heart disease and strokes \n People who drink coffee have a lower risk of dying from a host of causes, including heart disease, stroke and liver disease, research suggests \u2013 but experts say it\u2019s unclear whether the health boost is down to the brew itself.\n\nThe connection, revealed in two large studies, was found to hold regardless of whether the coffee was caffeinated or not, with the effect higher among those who drank more cups of coffee a day.\n\nBut scientists say that the link might just be down to coffee-drinkers having healthier behaviours.\n\n\u201cIt is plausible that there is something else behind this that is causing this relationship,\u201d said Marc Gunter, a co-author of one of the studies, from the International Agency for Research on Cancer.\n\nBut, he added, based on the consistency of the results he would be surprised if coffee itself didn\u2019t play a role in reducing the risk of death.\n\n\n\nAbout 2.25bn cups of coffee are consumed worldwide every day. While previous studies have suggested coffee might have health benefits, the latest research involves large and diverse cohorts of participants.\n\nThe first study looked at coffee consumption among more than 185,000 white and non-white participants, recruited in the early 1990s and followed up for an average of over 16 years. The results revealed that drinking one cup of coffee a day was linked to a 12% lower risk of death at any age, from any cause while those drinking two or three cups a day had an 18% lower risk, with the association not linked to ethnicity.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe found that coffee drinkers had a reduced risk of death from heart disease, from cancer, from stroke, respiratory disease, diabetes and kidney disease,\u201d said Veronica Setiawan, associate professor of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California and a co-author of the research.\n\nThe second study \u2013 the largest of its kind \u2013 involved more than 450,000 participants, recruited between 1992 and 2000 across ten European countries, who were again followed for just over 16 years on average. \u201cWe felt this analysis would capture some of [the] variation in coffee preparation methods and drinking habits,\u201d said Gunter.\n\nAfter a range of factors including age, smoking status, physical activity and education were taken into account, those who drank three or more cups a day were found to have a 18% lower risk of death for men, and a 8% lower risk of death for women at any age, compared with those who didn\u2019t drink the brew. The benefits were found to hold regardless of the country, although coffee drinking was not linked to a lower risk of death for all types of cancer.\n\nThe study also looked at a subset of 14,800 participants, finding that coffee-drinkers had better results on many biological markers including liver enzymes and glucose control. \u201cWe know many of these biological factors are related to different health outcomes, so it is another piece of the puzzle,\u201d said Gunter.\n\nBut experts warn that the two studies, both published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, do not show that drinking coffee was behind the overall lower risk, pointing out that it could be that coffee drinkers are healthier in various ways or that those who are unwell drink less coffee.\n\n\n\nIn addition, levels of coffee-drinking were self-reported, some participants consumed both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee, and the European study only looked at coffee consumption levels at one point in time \u2013 all factors which could have affected the results.\n\n\n\n\u201cIt is not necessarily the coffee drinking per se, it is that fact that there are other things about your lifestyle or the lack of ill-health that might be causing the association,\u201d said Naveed Sattar, professor of metabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow, pointing out that while coffee might have beneficial effects, it would take randomised trials to be sure.\n\nAuthors of both studies also agreed more work is needed, and said that it was unclear which of the many biologically active components within the coffee might potentially be driving the health benefits. \u201cThis is an observational study,\u201d said Setiawan. \u201cWe cannot say, OK, [if] you drink coffee it is going to prolong your life.\u201d\n\nGunter agreed. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t recommend people start rushing out drinking lots of coffee, but I think what it does suggests is drinking coffee certainly does you no harm,\u201d he said. \u201cIt can be part of a healthy diet.\u201d\n\nSattar also urged caution. \u201cIf people enjoy their coffee they can relax and enjoy their coffee,\u201d he said, adding that people should not imagine that drinking extra coffee would militate against \u201cother bad health behaviours\u201d.", "output": "Drinking coffee has been associated with significant health benefits, which include lowering the probability of dying from a variety of causes such as stroke, diabetes, heart disease and liver disease, according to the latest research. A large multinational\u00a0study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found men that drink three or more cups a day have an\u00a018% reduced risk of death, and women an 8% lower risk, when compared with those who don't drink coffee. However, experts have advised caution in interpreting the results, highlighting that other lifestyle factors, beyond coffee consumption, need to\u00a0be better accounted for.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Volvo owner Geely to acquire flying car start-up \n Zhejiang Geely says it has agreed to buy Terrafugia, adding to its portfolio of car brands that included Volvo, Lotus and Proton", "output": "China\u2019s Zhejiang Geely, owner of Volvo and Lotus, said it will buy US flying car start-up Terrafugia. The company, founded by a group of MIT graduates in 2006, is taking $10,000 deposits for its first model, the Transition, with the expectation it will deliver its first vehicle in three years\u2019 time for about $279,000 each. Boston-based Terrafugia said the \u201croadable aircraft\u201d has a range of 400 miles and a top speed of 100 mph. it has raised\u00a0$5.82 million in five funding rounds led by\u00a0Boston-based angel investor Semyon Dukach and venture capital firm Transcendent Holdings."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Virgin Mobile makes social media exempt from data usage \n Share\n\nVirgin Mobile customers can now tweet, message and browse on Twitter data-free, without eating into their data allowance.\n\nThis follows the mobile phone company offering data-free use of WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger as part of its 4G plans.\n\nThe data-free use of Twitter applies to all features on the app, apart from live video content, and doesn\u2019t cost any extra beyond the data needed for downloading the application.\n\nTwitter is one of the world\u2019s largest social media platforms with 328m monthly active users globally and over 82% of users accessing the social messaging site on a mobile device.\n\nSince launching 4G at the end of 2016, Virgin Mobile claims its customers are taking advantage of faster speeds and using more data, with 87,000 Virgin Mobile customers accessing Twitter on a daily basis, and 800,000 accessing Twitter each month.\n\nSays Jeff Dodds, Managing Director of Mobile at Virgin Media:\n\n\u201cOur customers want more than extra texts and minutes \u2013 they want innovative new services that really make a difference to them. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve expanded our data-free social offering to include Twitter.\u201d\n\nAdds Twitter\u2019s UK MD Dara Nasr:\n\n\u201cThis deal\u2019s great news for Virgin Mobile customers who want to make sure they never miss the very best Tweets from across the globe. If it\u2019s happening, it\u2019s happening on Twitter.\u201d\n\nCustomers on Virgin Mobile\u2019s 4G plans can now enjoy data-free social with Twitter, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger as part of their service.\n\nTo make sure no leftover data goes to waste Virgin Mobile also offers \u2018Data Rollover\u2019 as part of its plans. This means that any mobile data remaining at the end of a month is transferred into the next month\u2019s data allowance.\n\nTo keep tabs on all of this data, customers will receive a text when data is being rolled over and another text when all the leftover data has been used.\n\nFor latest tech stories go to TechDigest.tv\n\nShare this: Email\n\nFacebook\n\nPinterest\n\nLinkedIn\n\nPrint\n\nReddit\n\nTwitter\n\nTumblr\n\nPocket\n\n", "output": "Virgin Mobile has made data used on Twitter exempt from customers' monthly data allowance. Virgin customers can browse all Twitter features from their mobile for free, with the exception of the site's live video content. The move follows the mobile network's introduction of data-free usage of WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger as part of its 4G plans.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook considers paid subscriptions for articles \n Facebook is moving ahead on plans to let people subscribe to publications through Instant Articles. Nothing\u2019s final, but the current thinking is that it will support publications with metered paywalls and freemium models, said a source familiar with the briefings. These options would seem to accommodate metered publications including Facebook skeptic The New York Times; and The Wall Street Journal and The Economist, which make a certain selection of articles free and put the rest behind a paywall.\n\nFacebook seems to have made other concessions to publishers. They\u2019ll have access to all subscriber data, according to the source, which publishers want so they can understand their audience better. A controversial proposal to let people buy bundles of publications from different companies is now off the table. Publishers also are expected to have full control over pricing.\n\nThe paywall limit as it stands now may not satisfy publishers with stricter limits such as The Washington Post, which lowered the free monthly article limit to three from five earlier this year as it tinkers with its paywall to drive new subscriptions. It speaks to Facebook\u2019s dilemma, though. Each publisher has a slightly different model, and each publisher will want to replicate its own model on Facebook. Facebook also believes in creating a uniform user experience, though.\n\nSeveral details of the subscription feature are still undecided. They include how payments will be handled and if Facebook will take a cut of subscription sales. Payments are complicated because when they go through smartphones\u2019 app stores, the stores take a 30 percent cut. One publisher said Facebook is leaning toward letting them be handled through the mobile web, which would eliminate a layer of complexity and the app stores\u2019 cut and would let publishers have more control over pricing and data. It\u2019s also unclear if publishers would get data on users\u2019 reading history, as they can on their own site and which can help them tailor offers.\n\nIn the end, the question for publishers like the Times and Journal that have been cool on Instant Articles is whether there\u2019s an advantage to Facebook\u2019s proposal of letting them sell subs through Instant Articles instead of posting to Facebook the old-fashioned away and letting people subscribe by traveling to the publisher\u2019s own site. Facebook would argue that Instant Articles have a higher click-through rate than articles posted the old-fashioned way. But selling subs that way will require publishers to give up more control over customer data and the meter level than they\u2019d like.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been briefed and are continuing to evaluate if we\u2019re going to participate,\u201d said a senior executive at The New York Times. \u201cSo far, we don\u2019t see any great upside.\u201d\n\nStill, the platform\u2019s efforts have won it appreciation, albeit grudging, from even longtime detractors like Journal parent News Corp. \u201cThey\u2019re trying to create a [system] that keeps everyone happy, which is a pretty tough brief,\u201d said Karl Wells, gm of WSJ Membership at The Wall Street Journal, in an interview last month.\n\nFacebook\u2019s time frame to roll out subscription tools is also getting more concrete. Facebook aims to test them with a small group of publishers at the end of the year and expand them to others in 2018. The idea is to have a diverse mix in the test group, representing U.S. and international and big and small titles. Facebook has already briefed The New York Times, Tronc, Hearst, The Economist, Germany\u2019s Bild and the U.K.\u2019s Telegraph one-on-one and plans to have group meetings with more media executives in New York and Paris the week of July 10.\n\nThe movement on subscription sales comes as Facebook has been trying harder to win over publishers that are getting increasingly frustrated over their lack of ability to monetize their content on the platform and are also getting in some cases what they feel is better treatment from other platform giants, Google and Apple News. The newspaper trade association News Media Alliance is leading an effort that seeks to let members negotiate collectively with Facebook and Google.\n\nAs part of its charm offensive, Facebook in January launched the Facebook Journalism Project, which has involved working with publishers to understand what they want to get from the app. Publishers have been seeking ways to sell subscriptions since Facebook rolled out Instant Articles in 2015 and have been been clamoring for more ability to monetize their content on the platform through advertising as Google and Facebook have swallowed up more and more of the digital ad pie.\n\n\u201cWe are in early talks with several news publishers about how we might better support subscription business models on Facebook,\u201d Campbell Brown, head of news partnerships, said via a Facebook spokesperson. \u201cAs part of the Facebook Journalism Project, we are taking the time to work closely together with our partners and understand their needs.\u201d", "output": "Facebook has been proceeding with plans to offer paid subscriptions to publications using Instant Articles as a possible way to support publishers with freemium content and metered paywalls, with testing starting at the end of the year, according to an inside source. The feature would also grant publishers total control of pricing and measurements. Critics have argued newspapers' varying pricing models make it impossible to offer a uniform price structure. \"We\u2019ve been briefed and are continuing to evaluate if we\u2019re going to participate. So far, we don\u2019t see any great upside,\" said a senior executive at the New York Times."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook and Google tax could fund journalism, says Australian MP \n National Labor MP Sam Dastyari has warned that public interest journalism is at a \u201cdo or die\u201d point where unless a new solution to funding is found, journalism could die in Australia.\n\nDastyari, the head of a Senate inquiry into public interest journalism, told ABC's Media Watch last night that government intervention might be needed to prevent public interest journalism from becoming casualties of Google and Facebook as advertising budgets shift to the digital duopoly.\n\n\u201cThis is a serious problem. We have got to the point of no return,\u201d Dastyari said. \u201cIf we want to have a proper journalistic industry here in Australia then we have to actually start taking steps to protect it.\n\n\u201cI personally believe the best way of getting that balance is about having some kind of a tax incentive structure scheme that is available to media companies that is paid for by the big aggregators like Google.\u201d\n\nCheck out Media Watch's special: State of play: news media versus the digital giants\n\nJob cuts and plummeting revenue over the past five years paint a bleak picture of an industry in chronic decline.\n\nSince 2011, media organisations have axed 2,500 jobs, gutting out newsrooms and scaling back vital civic journalism rounds such as local council and court reporting.\n\nIn the past year alone, Fairfax has axed 125 jobs, News Corp has cut 100 with fears of 300 more on the way and Seven West Media has culled 60 journalists at West Australia Newspapers.\n\nSchwartz Media, publishers of The Saturday Paper and the Monthly, summed up the problem in their submission to the Senate enquiry: Newspaper advertising revenue has dropped 40% in just five years to $2.4 billion as \u201cthe economic model that has supported quality journalism is in mid-collapse\u201d.\n\nAustralia is not an isolated case. Reuters Institute Digital News Report's Nic Newman told Media Watch that print advertising revenues have had \u201cdouble digit falls\u201d in many countries due to sharp declines in print advertising, while most of the growth in digital advertising, estimated at around 85% to 90%, is going to Google and Facebook in most countries.\n\n\u201cThe problem is vanishing revenue,\u201d host Paul Barry explains. \u201cNewspaper sales have plummeted and dollars from print advertising have turned into cents from digital ads.\u201d\n\nSeven out of 10 young Australians tell Media Watch they would never pay for online news, a problem media companies created in the early days of the internet when they gave away news content online for free.\n\nJust as concerning is that young Australians do not discern news sources, several consumers Media Watch approached said they got their news from Facebook even though the social media network doesn't produce content, it merely monetises the content created by others.\n\nHow to solve the problem?\n\nSteven Waldman, author of FCC 2011 Report on the State of the US Media, told Media Watch Facebook and Google can solve the problem by writing one cheque each.\n\nEd Greenspon, the former editor of Globe and Mail in Canada, believes a digital advertising levy should be set up with the proceeds funding original public interest journalism though tax breaks.\n\nAustralian Senate powerbroker Nick Xenophon has previously called for a Google and Facebook tax to save Australian media companies.\n\nDastyari and the senate committee are exploring a similar solution that provides tax incentives and believes taxing the digital duopoly could work political will is there.\n\nGiven that Google and Facebook already avoid tens of millions of dollars in tax by booking sales in low tax jurisdictions abroad, AdNews is not confident the government will be willing or able to impose a further levy.\n\nAt today's senate hearing public interest journalism, Trinity P3 founder Darren Woolley also points out that any additional taxes on the digital giants are likely to be passed onto advertisers, which will be met with resistance.\n\nEven if the government is able to raise additional funding for journalism through tax, who gets the spoils?\n\nDastyari told Media Watch this is a major challenge. \u201cWhen we\u2019re talking about public interest journalism the real question, the challenge is how do you define that? When does something start being a piece of journalism in the public good and when is it just someone blogging about their dog on Facebook?.\u201d\n\nOr, some might argue, when tabloids publish agenda-fuelled pieces that written to a specific narrative or ideology rather than investigate an issue objectively for the public good.\n\nToday, industry experts, including Woolley and GroupM director of technical operations Timothy Whitfield share their views at the senate hearing.\n\nYou can follow the findings of the Senate hearing on AdNews.\n\nHave something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au\n\nSign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.", "output": "An Australian Labor MP has suggested that a tax on Facebook and Google could be used to fund journalism, which he said was at a \"do or die point\". Sam Dastyari, who is heading a Senate inquiry into public interest journalism, said government intervention may be needed to protect the country's journalism industry as advertising budgets increasingly shift to aggregators such as Facebook and Google. However, Trinity P3 founder Darren Woolley told the hearing that any extra taxes on the digital duopoly would likely be passed on to advertisers, a move that would be met with resistance.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Faraday scraps plans to build $1bn electric car factory in Nevada \n Faraday Future, the troubled California startup that aimed to unseat Tesla as king of electric cars, is scrapping plans to build a $1 billion, 1-million-square-foot factory in Nevada \u2014 a casualty of the sprawling cash problems of its billionaire Chinese financier.\n\nIt was just five months ago that FF was claiming that it was finally restarting construction of its proposed factory in North Las Vegas, almost 11 months after construction was first halted amid the company\u2019s ongoing financial woes. Now it looks like that factory will never be built, as FF is reportedly looking into pursuing less ambitious (re: cheaper) options.\n\nThe news, first reported by The Nevada Independent, broke less than a week after it was reported that a Chinese court froze $182 million in assets of Jia Yueting, founder of tech conglomerate LeEco and a major investor in FF. At the time, FF claimed that Jia\u2019s money woes wouldn\u2019t affect production of the FF91, the startup\u2019s first production model slated for a 2018 release.\n\n\u201cWe have decided to put a hold on our factory at the Apex site in North Las Vegas. We remain committed to the Apex site in Las Vegas for long-term vehicle manufacturing,\u201d Stefan Krause, who\u2019s been Faraday Future\u2019s chief financial officer for the past four months, said in a statement to the Independent. \u201cWe at Faraday Future are significantly shifting our business strategy to position the company as the leader in user-ship personal mobility \u2014 a vehicle usage model that reimagines the way users access mobility. As a result of this shift in direction, we are in the final stages of confirming a new manufacturing facility that presents a faster path to start-of-production and aligns with future strategic options.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere are a lot of talented people basically doing nothing right now.\u201d\n\nBut other sources paint a darker picture of the company\u2019s future. Senior-level sources told Business Insider that FF is in a \u201cprecarious situation,\u201d and that operations in its Los Angeles-based headquarters were also being scaled back. One former FF executive also told The Verge that the company is in danger of missing its payroll, which could lead to a mass exodus of employees. \u201cThere are a lot of talented people basically doing nothing right now,\u201d the source said.\n\nWhat\u2019s clear is that while Faraday Future has managed to stay out of the headlines these past few months, the company clearly has yet to recover from the setbacks it suffered leading up to and immediately proceeding CES in January 2017. Mounting debts, unpaid bills, supplier lawsuits, and financial mismanagement have all served to chip away at Faraday Future\u2019s foundation. The FF91\u2019s embarrassing onstage malfunction made it the laughing stock of this year\u2019s CES. The company lost several top executives, including its \u201cglobal CEO\u201d associated with LeEco (currently undergoing its own financial crisis).\n\nMounting debts, unpaid bills, supplier lawsuits, and financial mismanagement\n\nMeanwhile, the company has tried to put on a smiling face, recently completing the Pikes Peak uphill race in record time. But sources tell The Verge that these projects \u2014 in addition to Jia\u2019s two other car projects \u2014 are distracting from the overall goal of manufacturing and delivering a stellar electric car.", "output": "California start-up Faraday Future has halted\u00a0plans to build a\u00a0$1bn electric vehicle\u00a0factory in Nevada\u00a0due to the financial troubles\u00a0of its billionaire Chinese investor,\u00a0Jia Yueting, who is also the founder of tech conglomerate LeEco. This follows last week's\u00a0news that a\u00a0Chinese court had frozen the assets of Jia\u00a0Yueting, though at the time it was said that this setback\u00a0would not derail the\u00a0implementation of Faraday Future's Nevada plans.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Art investing thrives in China as other assets lose their appeal \n Chinese entrepreneurs splash out on art investments. [CGTN]\n\n\n\nChina is famed for its intricate traditional artwork, but art is taking on a new meaning in the country for investors \u2013 its the latest booming asset class. The country became the world's largest market for art auctions last year, with sales totaling 6.33 billion U.S. dollars.\n\nSluggish stock, property and precious metal markets meant some of the best investment channels in China lost their allure, drawing investors to a new avenue for their capital.\n\nArt collection as an alternative asset has thrived recently. Using art mortgages for financing is also on the rise. In the last 15 years, plenty of first-tier Chinese entrepreneurs have joined the art collection industry.\n\nChina's art market is booming \u2013 along with the operation of asset allocation and wealth management in art.\n\nArtwork is said to be the only asset allocation with long-term, stable and continuous appreciation. The wealthy now consider art as an important option of asset allocation.\n\nThe market is flooded with short-term speculative capital for the purpose of financial revenue.\n\nBut prospective buyers should be warned that only repeatedly trading artworks can reap major windfalls. The Veblen effect, which dictates that demand is proportional to the price of goods, is thought to provoke \"show-off consumption\" and drive up auction sales in the name of bragging rights.\n\nDiffering from financial assets, the scarcity, aesthetic attributes and irreplaceability of artworks make the price formation mechanism irregular. Meanwhile, the unique nature of art means a unified standard of value is impossible, and the risk of counterfeits is high.", "output": "Artwork is increasingly being seen as the only asset allocation with long-term, stable and continuous appreciation in China, leading wealthy Chinese individuals to invest in the asset class, as stocks, precious metals and property markets lose their shine. China became the world's biggest market for art auctions in 2016 with sales totalling about $6.33bn. The use of art mortgages to finance purchases is also increasing.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Verizon promotes Oath platform after Yahoo and AOL acquisitions \n by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, July 10, 2017\n\nThe campaign may have begun internally to mark the transition of Yahoo and various companies into Verizon Communications new business unit Oath. But it quickly blossomed into a full-blown campaign to announce the integration of AOL, AOL One, BrightRoll, Tumblr, Yahoo and others to agency partners and their brand clients.\n\nThe acquisition of Yahoo unites more than 50 brands under the Verizon umbrella.\n\nInternally, employees have been asked to think about their \"oath\" to the company and to clients. They are asked to name three words that describe their \"oath,\" meant to symbolize the employee's commitment and what they bring to the team.\n\nThe campaign\u2014Make Your Oath\u2014began at Cannes Lions. It has continued to pick up steam with brands as some tweet their \"oath\" to @oath on Twitter.\n\nExpect to see a range of services and \"innovations\" added to Oath's search business in the future, according to a company spokesperson.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\n\"We believe deeply in search as an area of growth and continued investment for Oath,\" a spokesperson for the company told Search Marketing Daily. \"We\u2019re focused on delivering relevant results and ads within the search experience, leveraging both our own search engine and partners in a way that allows consumers to find the answers they care about and take action immediately.\"\n\nYahoo Insights will become Oath Insights, but there is no word yet on the renaming or integration of Yahoo Gemini for Search or Yahoo Gemini for native ads, spanning across mobile, video and programmatic services.", "output": "Verizon has launched a campaign to promote its new business unit Oath, which unites more than 50 brands including AOL, Yahoo and Tumblr. The Make Your Oath campaign was launched at Cannes Lions and highlights the company's focus on delivering relevant results and ads within the search experience. A range of services will be added to Oath's search business in the future, a spokesman said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Coca-Cola promises to use 50% recycled plastic in bottles by 2020 \n Coca-Cola is to increase the amount of recycled plastic in its bottles to 50% amid pressure from environmentalists over runaway use of the containers.\n\nThe world\u2019s biggest drinks brand says it will hit its new UK recycling target - up from a previous goal of 40% - by 2020.\n\nThe company described the proposal as ambitious but environmentalists said they did not go far enough.\n\nJohn Sauven, head of Greenpeace UK, said smaller drinks companies were already going much further. \u201cOther companies are already at 50% and are aiming to be at 100% by 2020. Coca Cola is huge in scale and this is not an ambitious target.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\nCoca-Cola\u2019s UK and Europe arm currently has a target to increase the amount of recycled plastic or RPET in its bottles to 40% by 2020.\n\nIt has already performed a U-turn over bottle deposit schemes following pressure from Greenpeace. In evidence to MPs before the UK election was called, the company said it now supported a deposit scheme. It had previously said it was opposed to such an idea.\n\nFigures obtained by the Guardian this month revealed that across the globe one million plastic bottles are bought by consumers every minute \u2013 roughly 20,000 a second.\n\nThe number will jump another 20% by 2021, with annual sales rising to more than half a trillion a year, creating an environmental crisis some campaigners predict will be as serious as climate change.\n\nMore than 480bn plastic drinking bottles were sold across the world in 2016, up from about 300bn a decade ago. By 2021 this will increase to 583.3bn, according to the most up-to-date estimates from Euromonitor International\u2019s global packaging trends report.\n\n\n\nA Coca-Cola bottle on the coast of Scotland, found during an expedition by Greenpeace. Photograph: Will Rose/Greenpeace\n\nCoca-Cola said it would hit its 50% target by investing millions of pounds in \u201cEurope\u2019s largest and most advanced plastic bottle recycling facility\u201d based in Lincolnshire.\n\nJon Woods, general manager of Coca Cola Britain said today\u2019s announcement was the start of an effort to ensure all of its packaging was \u201crecovered and recycled.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\u201cDoubling the amount of recycled material in all of our plastic bottles is a significant investment and sends a clear signal we want to play a positive role in supporting the circular economy here in Great Britain.\u201d\n\n\n\nSources within the recycling industry said Coca-Cola was competing with other brands to be first to announce that it was making dramatic changes to its packaging to use more recycled plastic and recycle more of its bottles.\n\n\n\nOne source said: \u201cThis is because of a combination of consumer pressure and pressure from environmental groups. There is a feeling that no one wants to be the brand which is littering beaches with plastic and there is something of a race among brands to get their green message out first.\u201d\n\nLouise Edge, senior oceans campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said: \u201cPeople expect companies like Coca-Cola to make their bottles out of 100% recycled content, not virgin plastic. But the bigger question is how Coca-Cola will reduce the sheer scale of plastic it\u2019s pumping out.\n\n\u201cProducing over 100 billion single-use plastic bottles every year, Coke\u2019s plastic footprint has been stomped into our planet\u2019s environment. What\u2019s their plan to stop all that plastic ending up in our oceans, streets and beaches?\u201d\n\nThere has been growing concern about the impact of plastics pollution in oceans around the world. Last month scientists found nearly 18 tonnes of plastic on one of the world\u2019s most remote islands, an uninhabited coral atoll in the South Pacific.\n\n\n\nGlobally Coca-Cola has repeatedly refused to release data to Greenpeace about its global plastic usage. The environmental campaign group estimates that Coca-Cola produces more than 100bn plastic bottles every year \u2013 or 3,400 a second.\n\nThe top six drinks companies in the world use a combined average of just 6.6% of recycled plastic (PET) in their products, according to Greenpeace. A third have no targets to increase their use of recycled plastic and none are aiming to use 100% across their global production.\n\nPlastic drinking bottles could be made out of 100% recycled plastic, known as RPET \u2013 and campaigners are pressing big drinks companies to radically increase the amount of recycled plastic in their bottles. But brands have been hostile to using more RPET for cosmetic reasons. But the recycling source told the Guardian: \u201cConsumer pressure and the image of plastic littering our beaches is making them think again.\u201d", "output": "Coca-Cola, the world\u2019s largest drinks brand, is to use 50% recycled plastic in its UK bottles, according to The Guardian. The company claims it will achieve its new UK recycling goal, up from a previous target of 40%, by 2020. Greenpeace argued that other companies had already achieved this target and were aiming to use 100% recycled plastic by 2020. In February, Coca-Cola also came out in favour of a deposit scheme in the UK, reversing its previous stance. One million plastic bottles are purchased globally each minute. This number is set to increase 20% by 2021.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Having fewer children best way to reduce carbon footprint \n Recycling and using public transit are all fine and good if you want to reduce your carbon footprint, but to truly make a difference you should have fewer children. That's the conclusion of a new study in which researchers looked at 39 peer-reviewed papers, government reports, and web-based programs that assess how an individual's lifestyle choices might shrink their personal share of emissions.\n\nMany commonly promoted options, such as washing clothes in cold water or swapping incandescent bulbs for light-emitting diodes, have only a moderate impact (see chart, below), the team reports today in Environmental Research Letters . But four lifestyle choices had a major impact: Become a vegetarian, forego air travel, ditch your car, and\u2014most significantly\u2014have fewer children.\n\nThe top ways to reduce your carbon footprint Credits: (Graphic) J. You/Science; (Data) Seth Wynes and Kimberly A Nicholas, Environmental Research Letters (2017)\n\nEating no meat cuts an individual's carbon footprint by 820 kilograms of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) each year, on average, about four times the reduction they'd get by recycling as much as possible. (Emissions generated by eating meat result, in large part, from the large amounts of energy needed to grow, harvest, and process feed crops.) Foregoing one round-trip transatlantic flight each year would cut a person's emissions of CO 2 by 1600 kilograms. Getting rid of their car would reduce emissions by 2400 kilograms, or 2.4 metric tons. And by choosing to have one fewer child in their family, a person would trim their carbon footprint by a whopping 58.6 metric tons\u2014about the same emissions savings as having nearly 700 teenagers recycle as much as possible for the rest of their lives.\n\nDespite the effectiveness of these four measures, neither the textbooks in Canadian schools nor government reports or websites in the European Union, the United States, Canada, or Australia highlight these choices, possibly because most of them require such extreme changes in lifestyle.", "output": "The most effective way of reducing one\u2019s carbon footprint is to have fewer children, according to a study published in Environmental Research Letters, which looked at a variety of methods of\u00a0reducing\u00a0personal emissions. Four lifestyle choices were found to have a key impact: becoming vegetarian reduced an individual\u2019s footprint by 820kg of CO2 per year, taking one less round-trip transatlantic flight per year caused a 1,600kg reduction, getting rid of one\u2019s car cut emissions by 2,400kg, or 2.4 metric tonnes,\u00a0and having one less child in a family resulted in a reduction of 58.6 metric tonnes."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Volkswagon and Kuka expand their partnership \n The German auto manufacturer Volkswagen is expanding its partnership with the robot technology firm Kuka, according to recent reports. The expanded partnership will remain focused on developing ways that robots can potentially be used in conjunction with electric vehicle and self-driving vehicle tech to provide owners/drivers with useful services.\n\nThe news, which was revealed on Friday in a statement from Volkswagen, is surely related to the auto manufacturer\u2019s growing PR efforts to rehabilitate its image following the diesel emissions cheating scandal.\n\nIn relation to these PR efforts, the company is claiming that it will be releasing quite a number of new plug-in electric vehicle models equipped with self-driving vehicle tech over the coming years. Presumably, the partnership with Kuka is a part of these overall plans.\n\nAmongst other things, Volkswagen and Kuka \u2014 which was recently acquired by the China-based appliance manufacturer Midea \u2014 are working together on the creation of a system that can autonomously hook electric vehicles up to charging ports. You may remember the robot snake tech that Tesla showed off quite a while back (but has yet to commercialize). Presumably, Volkswagen and Kuka have their own snake of sorts in the oven.\n\nThe statement from Volkswagen noted on that matter that: \u201cThe driver simply has to position the electrically powered automobile in a designated parking space. The robot takes care of connecting up the charging cable for the driver.\u201d\n\nThe statement noted that the two companies are cooperating on other, yet to be publicly revealed, concepts as well. It\u2019s not clear exactly what these concepts would be related to. Any ideas?\n\nSign up for Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Former Tesla Battery Expert Leading Lyten Into New Lithium-Sulfur Battery Era \u2014 Podcast: I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014 gasp \u2014 grow. So ... Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong \u2014 and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps \u2014\u2014 grow. So ...", "output": "German carmaker Volkswagen has said it will work with robotics firm Kuka to develop a system for autonomously connecting electric vehicles to charging ports, according to a company statement. For the robot to connect the charging cable, the driver will only need to position the electric vehicle in a designated parking space, Volkswagen said. The carmaker is also partnering with Kuka on several projects that are yet to be publicly revealed, its statement said.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ordnance Survey releases digital map of UK green spaces \n Ordnance Survey hopes that its green space data will help improve public sector \"planning, analysis, and decision making\"\n\nOrdnance Survey (OS) has created a database and a digital map of every green space and outdoor recreation facility in England, Scotland, and Wales.\n\nThe organisation has created \u201ccomprehensive map of Great Britain\u2019s green spaces\u201d which can be accessed via its OS Maps app and online service.\n\nA data collection, dubbed OS Open Greenspace, is also available for download and use by businesses and individual software developers wishing \u201cto create products and services that will encourage healthier and greener lifestyles\u201d.\n\nOS MasterMap Greenspace, an exclusively public-sector version of the green-spaces map, is also being made available to government bodies via the Public-Sector Mapping Agreement and the One Scotland Mapping Agreement. OS claimed the data, which also includes details of green spaces not currently accessible to the public, could help civil servants and policy makers \u201cimprove planning, analysis, and decision making\u201d.\n\nRelated content\n\nOS worked with a number of governmental and non-governmental organisations bodies to collate the green-space data. The mapping agency has compiled information on every single public park, garden, playing field, children\u2019s play area, golf course, bowling green, and allotment in England, Wales, and Scotland.\n\nThe public can now obtain information on the exact location and breadth of facilities on offer at each site, as well as details of access points for bigger sites.\n\nOS chief executive Nigel Clifford said: \u201cI\u2019m particularly proud of this product as it delivers valuable information to the public, via OS Maps, enabling people and families across Great Britain to discover the green spaces near them.\n\nHe added: \u201cI am excited to see how people experiment and work with the data and look forward to seeing new products and services to help encourage an active Great Britain.\u201d\n\nThe release of a green-space map for the whole of Great Britain data follows the 2011 launch of a similar initiative from charity Greenspace Scotland. OS claimed that this was the first such project of its kind in the world.\n\nThe mapping agency has updated the Scottish green-space map, and brought in additional data for the rest of Great Britain.\n\nUniversities and science minister Jo Johnson said: \u201cGreen spaces are a vital part of our landscape and this new database and online map will make it easier for people across the country to access green spaces and lead healthier lives.\u201d", "output": "Ordnance Survey has created a comprehensive digital map of every green space in England, Scotland and Wales. The mapping agency has invited businesses and software developers to use its data to help create products and services that encourage greener and healthier lifestyles. The map can be accessed and downloaded from the company's website or its OS Maps app. OS has also created a public sector version of the map for use by government bodies to \"improve planning, analysis and decision making\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Social media ads spur rise in property investment scams \n From TRD New York: [TRDSR] Cindy used to dream of barging through the front door of Bar Works West Village, TV crew in tow. She would stride past the bar up to the managing director, a barrel-chested man whom she only knows from online videos, and bombard him with questions. Why didn\u2019t he respond to her emails and calls? What did he do with her money? And where can she find the mysterious \u201cJonathan Black?\u201d\n\nAn Australian in New York, Cindy, who like many other victims only spoke to The Real Deal on the condition that her name be changed, is one of more than a hundred investors from around the globe who lost their savings to a bizarre fraud. On the surface, Bar Works is just another co-working company. Wedged between Seventh Avenue and Morton Street, with large windows and arching brick walls inside, the street-level space could make for a quaint restaurant. Instead it\u2019s got bland desks dotted with telephones, wheely chairs covered in gray velvet, and a fully-stocked bar. It calls itself a \u201cworkspace with vibe,\u201d a fair description if the vibe you\u2019re going for is a cross between a WeWork, a dive bar and an airport terminal.\n\nThis is the single biggest calamity that\u2019s ever happened to me. And I\u2019m 68.\n\nIn reality, however, the space, along with other Bar Works locations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Miami and Istanbul, served as a front for Renwick Robert Haddow, a British career fraudster. Through a labyrinth of agents and websites, of emails and social media ads, Haddow and his associates orchestrated a global fraud scheme.\n\nThe pitch to Cindy was compelling: Bar Works would rent or buy retail spaces, turn them into offices with a bar and sublet desks to the creative class. It needed to raise money to fund its expansion, so it offered investors the chance to buy a desk in one of the spaces and get a slice of the rent. And it guaranteed double-digit returns.\n\nHaddow went through great lengths to mask his involvement, installing his Ukrainian wife as a co-founder under a pseudonym. Most investors were in the dark until TRD exposed Haddow\u2019s role in January, and even then some held out hope until payments started drying up in March and April.\n\nIn the world of scams, Bar Works is relatively small. But it is a perfect example of why real estate investment fraud is on the rise around the globe, bolstered by the spread of e-commerce and social media, the lack of an international enforcement authority, the complex nature of development projects, and investors\u2019 thirst for outsized returns.\n\nIn hindsight, Sarah*, who lives in North Carolina and works in the technology department at a major insurer, isn\u2019t sure how a London-based company called United Property Invest got her email address. But that didn\u2019t matter at the time. What mattered was the lure.\n\n\u201cInvestors like you are generating a monthly income of up to 16% pa from our two CoWorking spaces on W39th Street and W46th Street close to Times Square,\u201d the email read. She put in $300,000.\n\nFor Ruth*, a British retiree, it began with a \u201cvery slick\u201d Facebook ad by an investment agency called Heron Global Partners. First, she invested in a wind power project. Then, she gave the rest of her savings to Bar Works and persuaded several family members to invest as well.\n\n\u201cA burglar who\u2019s come into my house and stolen all my stuff,\u201d is how she described the agent who convinced her to invest. When TRD requested a second phone call, she insisted on the cheapest option, Skype. \u201cI don\u2019t have any money,\u201d she said with a slight laugh.\n\n\u201cThis is the single biggest calamity that\u2019s ever happened to me,\u201d she added. \u201cAnd I\u2019m 68.\u201d\n\nHaddow and Bar Works did not respond to calls and emails seeking comment.\n\nOn June 30, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York unsealed separate fraud charges against Haddow. Prosecutors claim he raised more than $36 million from Bar Works investors and wired $16 million to foreign bank accounts that were likely tied to him or his associates. They also allege he ran a separate scheme, Bitcoin Store, that promised high returns from investments in the virtual currency. Haddow faces up to 40 years in prison \u2014 if he is caught.\n\nWhy join the Navy if you can be a pirate?\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s always a type of investment fraud that\u2019s the flavor of the month,\u201d said David Marchant, a journalist who runs the news site OffshoreAlert and has been tracking financial fraud since the 1990s. In the past it was day trading, foreign exchange deals or bank guarantees. But in recent years, Marchant has noticed an increase in real estate scams.\n\nReal estate is an ideal target for con men. It\u2019s easy to explain to lay investors, is popular in major emerging economies like India and China, and has a reputation for stability. But large-scale fraud in the sector could never have taken off were it not for the confluence of two key trends. The first is central banks pumping cash into economies around the world in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. There is now more capital than ever seeking investments while interest rates are near record lows in most countries.\n\n\u201cIf you go to the standard investments you really get little value out of your money,\u201d Sarah said, explaining her quest for alternatives.\n\nThe second trend is digitalization. In 2010, about 30 percent of the world\u2019s population had internet access. By 2016, that number had hit 47 percent, according to data from the International Telecommunication Union. During the same period, the number of Facebook users rose from 608 million to 1.86 billion, according to Statista, opening up a giant new avenue to market online real estate investment.\n\nIn the U.S., dozens if not hundreds of crowdfunding platforms now allow small-time investors to buy properties they have never seen and may not understand within just a few steps online. A global maze of lightly regulated online investment agencies, many of them based in the London, market properties to investors.\n\nProponents argue that they are democratizing investment, and they have a point. A decade ago, it would have been very difficult for an upper-middle-class saver in India to buy a flat in Hong Kong or a condominium unit in Miami.\n\nBut the internet also opened the door to fraudsters. For this story, TRD spoke to victims of U.S. real estate scams from places like the U.K. and Macau who invested after clicking on Facebook ads. Dan Johnson, whose OPP Ventures advises real estate marketing platforms on lead generation, said social media has made it \u201cmuch easier to get exposure\u201d for scammers. Rather than make cold calls, agents now buy names, email addresses and social media profiles in a \u201cmurky world of data acquisitions,\u201d Johnson said. Anyone who has ever so much as clicked on an investment ad or made an email inquiry could see her contact information sold.\n\nIn 2016, the media agency Grain was nominated for a digital industries award for an ad campaign on behalf of Heron Global Partners, the firm that Ruth invested through. \u201cBy profiling the target audience, Grain was able to collect a granular level of demographic and psychographic information,\u201d the awards website notes. \u201cIn just six months, HGP had transformed its customer acquisition strategy, increasing revenue by 578% and achieving an ROI of 3276%.\u201d\n\nFraudsters often mimic legitimate investments. The image below, for example, shows two online investment offerings. The one on the left is a fix-and-flip property investment, marketed by the California-based crowdfunding platform Patch of Land. It is risky, hence the 12 percent return, but offered by a well-known company with a credible track record. The one on the right, an ad for Bar Works, is fraudulent. To the untrained and return-hungry eye, it\u2019s hard to tell the difference.\n\nIn this sense, the rise of online real estate investment fraud is part of a broader phenomenon: the deliberate spread of false information through social media. Much like Russian hackers used Facebook and Twitter to share fake news stories prior to the 2016 U.S. presidential election, scam artists have increasingly powerful tools to spread and cash in on disinformation. It\u2019s finance for a brave, new, Trumpian world, where facts and numbers can be alternative.\n\nPetter Bae Brandtzaeg, a research scientist at Norway-based SINTEF Digital who specializes in the veracity of online news, said people behind science scams often use the same kind of heavy social media promotion as the people behind fake news, and that these tools are just as useful for other cons.\n\n\u201cPeople using social media also experience a context collapse of news, fakes and facts which makes them vulnerable to these scams,\u201d he said.\n\nFiguring out how much money is lost to real estate fraudsters around the globe is virtually impossible because most operate in unregulated markets and very few ever get prosecuted. But Google data shows how the potential market for online investment has grown.\n\nThe global monthly average number of internet searches for \u201creal estate investing\u201d rose to 33,100 in May 2017 from 18,100 in June 2013, according to data provided by the digital marketing firm Mondovo. Searches for \u201cbuy to let\u201d rose to 18,100 from 12,100 during the same interval. The increase is even more dramatic in some developing countries. In China, for example, by far the world\u2019s largest emerging economy, searches for the term \u201creal estate\u201d have grown around tenfold since 2012, Google Trends data indicate. Through targeted ads, fraudsters can lure people who search for these terms to their websites (at least 27 Bar Works victims are from China).\n\nTRD identified 16 different websites that have marketed Bar Works, with names such as FJP Investment, Gateway2enterprise and New World Property Investment. The total number is likely much higher. Most were based in London, but the investors they lured to Bar Works were from countries such as Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and the U.S. Some of these websites served solely to market Bar Works, while others offered it along with hundreds of other real estate deals.\n\nIn theory, agents are responsible for vetting investments. But in reality, they are either part of the scam or they don\u2019t care. Fraudsters tend to pay agents unusually high commissions, often as high as 25 percent, according to sources.\n\n\u201cThe more ridiculous the scheme, the higher the commission,\u201d OffshoreAlert\u2019s Marchant said.\n\nCici Cao, a Keller Williams agent in New York who put a local investor in touch with Bar Works for a 15 percent commission last year, said she never suspected the program might be a scam. It was up to the investor to judge the risk, she insists.\n\n\u201cI also feel like I was a victim of this,\u201d she said.\n\nAgents often target overseas customers, which helps shield them from legal liability if an investment turns out to be a scam. At any rate, small-time investors often don\u2019t have the financial means to sue. This means agents have little to lose from selling questionable investments as long as they can credibly deny knowledge of fraud. The result is a culture of don\u2019t ask, don\u2019t tell.\n\n\u201cReal estate fraud doesn\u2019t happen usually without some sort of systemic failure on the part of third parties,\u201d such as banks, brokerages or law firms, \u201cwho are supposed to be gatekeepers,\u201d said Joshua Kons, a Chicago-based securities and investment fraud attorney.\n\nTake Square Yards, an Indian online real estate investment platform that recently raised $10 million in venture and debt funding from big names like L\u2019Occitane vice chair Andr\u00e9 Hoffmann. The firm sold investments in at least two U.S. real estate scams (one being Bar Works) to investors in the U.A.E. and Hong Kong.\n\nTanuj Shori, CEO of Square Yards, said his agents received an 8 percent commission for selling Bar Works investments, but only dealt with the company through another middleman. Sources said this was a common path for real estate fraudsters, who regularly go through two, three or even four layers of agents.\n\nShori claimed he had never heard the name Renwick Haddow until he read it in TRD. Asked why Square Yards didn\u2019t do basic due diligence on the offering, such as checking if the supposed principals even exist, he said it was an \u201chonest mistake\u201d by a young company.\n\n\u201cOur entire reputation is at stake because of Bar Works,\u201d he added. But when asked whether he would reimburse the victims, he said that\u2019s an issue between Bar Works and the investor. The company later sent an email to its clients claiming it is \u201cretaining an independent investigator to search for useful information about Barworks and its owners as well as assets that may be recoverable.\u201d\n\nShori claimed that Square Yards stopped marketing Bar Works shortly after TRD\u2019s January report. He painted himself as a victim of Haddow\u2019s. But emails sent to one investor and reviewed by TRD suggest otherwise.\n\nKamal Singh, a 32-year old engineer, first invested $60,000 with Bar Works in August 2016. He had moved to the U.A.E. from India in 2012, and Bar Works seemed like a shortcut up the ladder.\n\nAs the returns started coming in, Singh decided to up his bet. There was just one problem: he had already spent all his savings. In a mid-February meeting, a Square Yards executive suggested a solution: Singh could take out a $100,000 bank loan to buy up to 10 desks at Bar Works\u2019 planned location in Istanbul (Square Yards denies it suggested the loan, claiming it was Singh\u2019s idea).\n\nSign Up for the undefined Newsletter SIGN UP By signing up, you agree to TheRealDeal Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.\n\nAs Singh waited for bank approval, the executive\u2019s emails gave the impression that the desks were being snapped up fast.\n\n\u201cThey had strictly given me a one-week window,\u201d he wrote on March 2. \u201cPls transfer asap when you get the funds.\u201d Shortly after, Singh got a $90,000 loan and bought more desks. In April, his return payments didn\u2019t come. In May, Square Yards and Bar Works stopped responding to his increasingly exasperated emails. Singh wants to sue both, but said he doesn\u2019t know how. Now his loan payments are due and he has no way of paying them.\n\n\u201cI am in deep trouble,\u201d he wrote in an email. \u201cDon\u2019t know what to do.\u201d\n\n\u201cNobody gives a shit, that\u2019s the harsh reality of life\u201d\n\nAt some point, every fraud unravels. But rarely is the perpetrator held accountable. Few people illustrate this better than Haddow.\n\nBorn in 1968 and reportedly educated at Thames Valley University, he first popped up in 2002 up as the operator of so-called Cosmopolitan Spirit cafes in the U.K., borrowing the brand of the well-known magazine for bars geared at women. He began raising money from investors, ostensibly to fund the company\u2019s expansion, but ran into legal trouble. In December 2008, the U.K. insolvency service banned him from running any company for eight years, in part because he had made false statements to investors, didn\u2019t keep proper accounting records and paid investment agents 25 percent commission.\n\nThe more ridiculous the scheme, the higher the commission.\n\nThe ban didn\u2019t stop Haddow from building a vast global Ponzi scheme around the sale of carbon credits, African land, Eastern European hotel rooms and other so-called alternative investments. A 2015 investigation by the World Policy Journal found the scheme sucked up an estimated $180 million from investors, many of them retirees.\n\nIn February 2014, the U.K.\u2019s Financial Conduct Authority won a court ruling that Haddow\u2019s schemes broke the law, paving the way for a potential future criminal case. Later that year, Haddow and his girlfriend (now wife) Zoya Kiselova moved to New York, renting an apartment at 3 Lincoln Center, company records and StreetEasy data indicate.\n\nIn 2015, Bar Works launched. Haddow was careful to keep his name out of any advertising documents and news reports. Officially the company\u2019s co-founders were \u201cJonathan Black\u201d (there is no evidence he exists and Bar Works\u2019 managing director Franklin Kinard later told journalists that Haddow made the name up) and \u201cZoe Miller\u201d (Haddow\u2019s wife, Zoya Kiselova). But TRD traced Haddow\u2019s involvement through sources, liquor licenses signed by him and Bar Works entities registered to his apartment.\n\nThat Haddow was able to run scam after scam for 15 years, first in London and then in New York, is far from unusual. \u201cIn the real world most fraudsters get away over and over again,\u201d Marchant said. Regulators tend to be understaffed, fraud can be difficult to prove, and there are simply too many schemes going on at any given time to investigate them all. In her 2012 book \u201cThe Ponzi Scheme Puzzle,\u201d legal scholar Tamar Frankel claims that Ponzi schemes, most of them small, cause about as much financial damage each year in the U.S. as shoplifting. And they are about as tough to eradicate.\n\nInvestors can use the courts, but first they have to figure out whom to sue, and where. Take Singh, the U.A.E. resident. His investment in Bar Works was made through an India-based agency, which in turn dealt with Bar Works through a mysterious middleman with a British accent who went by the name Julian Tzanev, according to Shori. To complicate matters further, Singh received a \u201ccertificate of ownership\u201d from a Delaware company called Bar Works Inc., signed an investment agreement with Istanbul-based Bar Works Istanbul LLC, but signed a separate contract to receive his monthly returns from yet a third company, Bar Works Management Inc. And when it came to returns, investors received them from a U.K.-based account. Much of Singh\u2019s money may be with Haddow, who has denied involvement in any of the above entities and is known to stash his wealth in offshore tax havens like the British Virgin Islands or Anguilla.\n\nEven when regulators do get involved, investors are unlikely to get their money back, as the case of a recent North Dakota real estate scam illustrates.\n\nIn April 2015, the SEC filed a complaint against North Dakota Developments LLC, alleging that it stole $62 million from more than 970 investors in a Ponzi scheme. Starting in 2012, the company raised money to build temporary housing for oil workers in North Dakota, but most of the buildings were never completed. According to the SEC, the company used payments from later investors to pay off earlier ones. Like Bar Works, NDD had marketed its investments through online portals, such as a U.K.-based company called United Property Connect, which appears to be connected to United Property Invest, the company that Sarah had invested through.\n\nThe SEC put NDD under receivership and froze its assets, but there was little left to freeze. The people behind the scam, a U.K. resident named Daniel Hogan and Malaysia resident named Robert Gavin, were safely out of the country with their loot.\n\nIn July 2015, investors filed a class action lawsuit against a U.S. based law firm that had worked as an escrow agent for NDD (another suit had been filed in June). They managed to win around $5.1 million in a settlement \u2014 a fraction of the $62 million lost. According to Kons, who represented the investors, that still compares favorably to other international frauds \u2013 victims generally get little to nothing back.\n\n\u201cThe SEC only has so much jurisdiction and when the money\u2019s overseas there\u2019s little they can do,\u201d Kons said. \u201cIt\u2019s just very difficult to bring these guys to justice. White-collar crimes and white-collar fraud are just under-prosecuted.\u201d\n\nThere is no global authority to fight financial fraud. When U.S. prosecutors issue arrest warrants for suspected fraudsters, they can share them with Interpol but have to rely on other countries\u2019 co-operation. Michael Goldberg, an attorney at Akerman LLP, said he has seen financial fraudsters extradited to the U.S., but doing so is \u201cchallenging\u201d and they are typically U.S. citizens. He said he has unearthed funds from places like the Cayman Islands, in part because tax havens have become more cooperative in recent years amid U.S. pressure, but conceded that it\u2019s not easy.\n\nTo Marchant, cases like NDD show that the global offshore financial markets are tilted in favor of debtors. They allow tax evaders and fraudsters to hide, leaving their victims in the cold.\n\n\u201cNobody gives a shit,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the harsh reality of life.\u201d\n\n\u201cI think he was really surprised I knew what hotel he was in\u201d\n\nOne of NDD\u2019s victims is Lam, a 45-year-old schoolteacher in Macau who only agreed to share his surname. Shortly after investing in the scheme, he decided to double down and find more real estate investments.\n\nIn mid-2014, he saw an online ad for high-yield real estate investments in the Chicago area. The company, KRI Property, claimed to have relationships with U.S. lenders allowing it to buy foreclosed homes on the cheap and flip them. It guaranteed 30 percent returns.\n\nUnlike NDD\u2019s risky ground-up developments, this seemed like a safer bet to Lam. He would be buying an existing home, and even if the flip didn\u2019t work out he\u2019d still own a property. He borrowed $60,000 from his sister and invested.\n\nKRI turned out to be tied to InvestUS, a scheme run by James Jervis, a 39-year-old U.K. native and Dubai resident who was an old hand at the game of global real estate fraud. His victims claim he never actually bought any properties with their money. They received deed documents signed by Chicago-based attorney Alex Ogoke, but they appear to be fake. One document reviewed by TRD references a sale that doesn\u2019t appear in Chicago property records. Ogoke initially agreed to an interview, but later changed his mind, citing a death in the family. Jervis did not respond to an email seeking comment.\n\nWhile Haddow took pains to keep a distance from his investors, Jervis did the opposite, sometimes meeting them in person to assure them money was coming. One of the victims, a 72-year-old South African former merchant ship captain named Al Viljoen, said Jervis even stayed at his home on several occasions. Viljoen says he lost his retirement savings, around $130,000, and had to go back to work full-time to make ends meet.\n\nRegular facetime with his victims could prove to be Jervis\u2019 undoing. Earlier this year, a friend of Oman-based Ahmed*, who says he invested $300,000 with InvestUS after clicking on a Facebook ad, came up with a plan to lure Jervis into the country to face prosecution. The friend offered Jervis a follow-up meeting with a prospective investor in Oman. Jervis took the bait, hopped in a car and drove to Muscat from the U.A.E. Meanwhile, Ahmed filed a fraud complaint with the Omani government. As soon as Jervis entered Oman, the authorities slapped him with a travel ban.\n\nStuck in Oman while his case moves through the justice system, Jervis has been bouncing from hotel to hotel, according to Ahmed, who is keeping track of his movements. One day this spring, Ahmed confronted him at the door of his room. \u201cI think he was really surprised I knew what hotel he was in,\u201d he said. \u201cHe looked as if he hadn\u2019t slept in days.\u201d Their conversation was brief and Jervis looked away whenever he said he had no money, according to Ahmed.\n\nOmani government agencies did not respond to several emails and phone calls seeking confirmation of the travel ban and fraud case against Jervis.\n\nWhether Ahmed\u2019s case succeeds is far from certain. And even if it does, it likely won\u2019t help Lam, whose situation is far beyond Oman\u2019s jurisdiction.\n\nAfter finally losing patience with Jervis last year, Lam, like Ahmed, decided to take matters into his own hands. But he soon discovered his options were slim.\n\nFirst, Lam called the police in Ireland, where the agent who had sold him his investment was supposedly from. The police told him it could only help him if he was an Irish citizen or traveled to Ireland to file a complaint in person. In November 2016, Lam went to the Macau police. The officer told him there was little they could do since Jervis and the company that had allegedly defrauded him were both overseas. He then filed a complaint with the FBI but never heard back. At one point he called the Chicago police, who told him they couldn\u2019t help him because he\u2019s not a U.S. citizen.\n\nLam said he has lost around $400,000 to dubious online investments \u2014 more than his life savings \u2014 and is currently paying off his sister\u2019s loan with his modest teaching salary. He considered hiring a lawyer, but is loath to throw more money down the drain. \u201cOther than being depressed, what else can I do?\u201d he said. \u201cI have no idea how to get help.\u201d\n\nExit Renwick\n\nWhile Jervis was trapped in Oman, the noose started tightening around Haddow in New York. After two months of missed payments, a group of Chinese investors filed a lawsuit against Haddow, Black and nine Bar Works entities on June 16 in state court, alleging he defrauded them out of more than $3 million. On June 21, another investor, Plentium Capital Group, filed a fraud lawsuit in Florida federal court. On June 28, New York attorney Jared Stamell told Crain\u2019s he is considering filing a class-action lawsuit on behalf of 200 investors who gave $30 million to Bar Works.\n\nThe audience is investors as well as engineers so a mixed level of expertise but let\u2019s try to avoid the jargon.\n\nBy that point, the FBI was already investigating Bar Works. And worse for Haddow: Kinard, who had left the firm in May, appears to be cooperating. He told attorneys that FBI agents called him in mid-June and that he \u201ccommunicated vigorously\u201d with them. He claimed to have no involvement in investor negotiations or knowledge of where the money went. \u201cMy electronic signature was placed on investor contracts without my knowledge,\u201d he wrote in an email filed in court records. Kinard and an FBI agent working on the case did not respond to TRD\u2019s calls.\n\nAs courts began freezing assets, lawyers for the plaintiffs searched for any money they can recover. There may not be much. According to Kinard, Bar Works only had one U.S. bank account, with Valley National Bank, which held less than $30,000 as of mid-May.\n\nOn June 20, Adam Birnbaum, one of the attorneys representing the Chinese investors, walked into the lobby of 160 West 66th Street, where public records indicated Haddow rented an apartment, to serve him with the lawsuit. The receptionist told him Haddow had recently moved from an apartment on the 33rd floor to a unit on the 19th floor but abandoned that apartment at the end of May. Haddow called in mid-June to tell the receptionist he would come to pick up his mail, but never showed up.\n\nA day later, on June 21, a legal server rang the doorbell at a Greenwich, Connecticut, home that Haddow appeared to rent. A woman opened the door. She refused to give her name and said Haddow was away. When Birnbaum showed the server a photo of Kiselova, the server identified her as the person who answered the door. Ten days later, the SEC and the U.S. attorney\u2019s office unveiled their fraud charges.\n\nAt the time of writing, Haddow remains on the run. But wherever he is, he appears to be already thinking about his next venture. In mid-May, a person who called himself Robert and used the email address info@barworks.nyc hired a New York-based IT consultant to write a report on the \u201cfuture of email services.\u201d Robert wanted the report to include research on \u201chow email of the future can charge for their services and make money and also get a good take up.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe audience is investors as well as engineers so a mixed level of expertise but let\u2019s try to avoid the jargon,\u201d Robert added in emails the consultant later shared with TRD on condition of anonymity. Robert paid the first half of the $2,000 fee up-front \u2014 in Bitcoin. That\u2019s when the consultant grew suspicious.\n\nThrough a tracker in a shared document, the consultant traced Robert\u2019s phone to a location somewhere in Brooklyn and found that he also used the email address roberthaddow100@gmail.com. On June 6, he sent an email asking Robert for his Linkedin profile. Robert referred him to the website of his company, Bar Works. Then the consultant suggested he use PayPal rather than Bitcoin to pay the second half of the fee. He also asked for Robert\u2019s full name. Haddow responded: \u201cWe are done here.\u201d", "output": "Real estate investment scams have become more prevalent across the world thanks to e-commerce and social media platforms, according to reports by property-industry news outlet The Real Deal. Fraudsters can target victims using advertisements on sites like Facebook, and encourage them to invest using the promise of monthly income. Earlier this year, The Real Deal exposed a co-working space scam orchestrated by career fraudster\u00a0Renwick Robert Haddow. Under the scheme, Haddow convinced people to invest in a venture called Bar Works, which promised double-digit returns. More than 100 investors were defrauded as part of the scam.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI could be used to determine treatment plans for stroke victims \n After a stroke, each patient faces a unique path to recovery \u2014 a precision medicine approach could help them receive better, customized care. Credit: Virginia Tech\n\nStudying human diseases is the equivalent of solving a massive and dynamic jigsaw puzzle with pieces that are constantly changing shape.\n\nA team of researchers from the Nutritional Immunology and Molecular Medicine Laboratory (NIMML), a leading laboratory at the Biocomplexity Institute of Virginia Tech, and the Department of Biomedical and Translational Informatics at Geisinger Health System are now working together to find precise methods to treat stroke patients using computer algorithms, clinical data, and advanced computational methods.\n\nIn a new study, the collaborative team of experts has developed new computational methods to stratify stroke patients in an emergency setting, paving the way to data-driven triage process with higher fidelity.\n\n\"Advanced machine-learning methods will be driving the next generation of personalized medicine at the clinical and genomic levels; however, these methods and their outcomes will have an added value if we let models actively learn from experts and experts learn from models. Our team has applied AI successfully to develop a data-driven triage process for classifying stroke patients. Ongoing collaborative studies are also applying these same AI methods successfully in infectious and immune-mediated diseases,\" said Vida Abedi, a researcher at Geisinger Health System and adjunct faculty member in NIMML.\n\nThe rich, longitudinal data warehouse of the Geisinger Health System has detailed electronic health records with tens of millions of legacy clinical data and more than 3 million active participants. This data is one of the major strengths that allowed Geisinger to be selected to participate in the national Precision Medicine Initiative Cohort Program with the goal of improving the ability to prevent and treat diseases based on individual differences in lifestyle, environment, and genetics.\n\n\"My resolve to implement a revolutionary vision for precision medicine is the driving force that defines and underpins this successful collaboration. As opposed to the one-size-fits-all approach that dominates health care today, by focusing on a unique iterative integration of large-scale clinical record mining using new AI systems, informatics analyses, and computer modeling, NIMML and Geisinger Health System are partnering effectively to make tangible progress toward the personalized, individual treatment of human diseases,\" said Josep Bassaganya-Riera, director of NIMML and CEO of BioTherapeutics.\n\nAt its core, AI is a complex computer algorithm that replaces the traditional rule-based strategy with a data-driven approach capable of learning from positive and negative experiences. AI algorithms are driving the future of precision medicine and provide better health-care support for diverse and dynamic patient populations.\n\nOn average, the electronic health records of a four-year patient contains about 32 petabytes of data. The application of AI in medicine will leverage the volume and exponential growth of clinical data to translate clinical information into new unforeseen insights for safer, more-effective and cost-efficient personalized healthcare.\n\nMore information: Vida Abedi et al. Novel Screening Tool for Stroke Using Artificial Neural Network, Stroke (2017). DOI: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.117.017033 Journal information: Stroke", "output": "Researchers from the Nutritional Immunology and Molecular Medicine Laboratory have been working on a treatment for stroke patients using a combination of artificial intelligence, algorithms and clinical data. By developing computational techniques for accurately triaging stroke patients in emergencies, the team believes that that the data-driven system could form\u00a0a core element\u00a0of the next wave of personalised medicine, informed by machine-learning."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK's Carillon hits financial difficulties following Brexit \n The chief executive of construction and support services company Carillion has stepped down as the firm warned on profits and scrapped its dividend following a Brexit-related slowdown in orders, news which sent its shares plunging almost 40%.\n\nThe company, which maintains roads, railways, government buildings and military bases, said worsening cash flow and rising debts had prompted a \u201ccomprehensive review of the business and the capital structure\u201d. Shares in the FTSE 250 firm crashed, closing down 39% at 117p.\n\nCarillion has worked on the \u00a3400m Battersea power station revamp in London, the \u00a3335m Royal Liverpool University hospital, Birmingham\u2019s flagship library and the expansion of Liverpool FC\u2019s main stand at Anfield.\n\nBut some of these projects have run into problems, and the firm announced a writedown of \u00a3845m related to three big public-private partnership (PPP) projects in the UK, including the Royal Liverpool, and the cost of pulling out of construction projects in the Middle East and Canada. The National Audit Office has highlighted soaring costs on the tram-train link between Sheffield and Rotherham built by Carillion.\n\nThe company said it would no longer bid for big construction projects and will instead focus on providing support services in rail, road, telecoms and power networks as well as central and local government buildings.\n\nRichard Howson, who has run the company for the past five years, has been replaced by Keith Cochrane, a senior independent director, until a new chief executive is found. Howson will stay on for up to a year to help with the transition.\n\nPhilip Green, the chairman, said urgent action was needed to pay down debts and generate more cash. The firm is battling rising debts, which have hit \u00a3695m, compared with \u00a3587m a year ago.\n\nThe Wolverhampton-based company, which employs nearly 50,000 people in the UK, Canada and the Middle East, has blamed upheaval in Whitehall departments after last year\u2019s Brexit vote and change of government for a slowdown in orders. Carillion has also been affected by cuts in spending by governments in the Middle East prompted by low oil prices.\n\nCochrane will lead the review, which will explore all options, including a sale of part or all of the business. The outcome will be announced in September. Analysts said a big share sale was likely.\n\nAnalysts at Liberum said: \u201cThe \u00a3845m provision is huge however we look at it. No clearer what exactly has gone wrong. Carillion will get into trouble way before it breaches its [banking] covenants. No quick fixes for the balance sheet. Hard to see a solution without equity.\u201d\n\nThe worsening performance means that Carillion now expects 2017 revenues to total \u00a34.8bn-\u00a35bn, less than the estimated \u00a35.03bn. Annual pre-tax profits will also fall short of the \u00a3179m forecast.\n\nCarillion said it would withdraw from construction PPP projects and pull out of building projects in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. It will only undertake future construction work \u201con a highly selective basis\u201d. It has also sold half its stake in its Oman joint venture.\n\nThe asset sales will raise \u00a3125m in the next 12 months. The firm has also scrapped this year\u2019s dividend payments to save \u00a380m, and is looking to slash other costs.\n\nLaith Khalaf, a senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: \u201cCarillion looks like it\u2019s trying to bail out a supertanker with a soup spoon. Despite the group\u2019s best efforts, debt is continuing to climb, and at an increasing rate, while the construction business seems to be hitting one hurdle after another.\n\n\u201cJudging by this announcement, the board are prepared to do everything it takes in order to save the ship. But talk of a review of capital structure, and the ongoing debt problem, will leave investors worried that a significant rights issue could be on the horizon.\u201d\n\nIan Forrest, an investment research analyst at UK retail stockbroker The Share Centre, said: \u201cCarillion\u2019s problems are not new as can be seen by the fact that the shares have underperformed the market for two years. Despite the group continuing to win new contracts I think it is fair to say it has a lot of work to do to regain the market\u2019s confidence.\u201d", "output": "Construction and support services firm Carillon has issued a profit warning and ended its dividend, precipitating a 40% dip in its share price. CEO Richard Howson has also resigned from his post. The Wolverhampton-based company said declining\u00a0cash flow and mounting\u00a0debts mean\u00a0it will cease bidding for large building\u00a0projects and instead concentrate\u00a0on supplying\u00a0support services in telecoms, rail, road, power networks and property. Carillon pointed to the disruption arising from the Brexit vote and the shifts in government as the chief reasons for the slowdown in the awarding of contracts."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Identified cases of UK insurance claim fraud down 5% in\u00a02016\u00a0 \n This signifies a 5% fall on the amount identified in 2015, and a 3% reduction in value, with the industry increasingly clamping down on organised fraud-like 'crash for cash' staged motor insurance claims.\n\nThe Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) and Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department carries out this work, successfully exposing criminal gangs often linked to more serious crimes like money laundering and human trafficking.\n\n\"Fraud is harmful in a number of ways, including the real and present physical risk posed day in and day out to road users, alongside the financial impact on individuals and business alike,\" IFB director, Ben Fletcher, said.\n\n\n\n\"These reductions reflect the general trend that we have seen in organised motor scams and are a welcome reflection of the industry's efforts to tackle the problem year on year.\"\n\nThe level of organised fraud fell by around 30% last year, with 15,000 individual cases detected, while the number of motor frauds identified decreased 4% to 69,000.\n\nThere was also a slight reduction in cases of property insurance fraud found, dropping by 4% from 2015 to 26,000, however there was a rise in the amount of opportunistic motor insurance frauds detected.\n\nThese fraudsters are thought to generally be law-abiding citizens, but are often encouraged by disreputable claims management companies, with the increase thought to reflect a resurgence in whiplash-style claims.\n\nThis comes after the government announced a new Civil Liability Bill in the Queens Speech last month, which will ban offers to settle personal injury claims without the support of medical evidence.\n\n\"Opportunistic fraud has shown a small rise as people continue to be pestered by disreputable claims management firms that are helping fuel the compensation culture,\" ABI director of general insurance policy, James Dalton said.\n\n\"This makes it imperative that the government tightens regulation of claims management companies, and presses ahead with its further reforms on whiplash.\"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSign up to our free newsletter here and receive a weekly roundup of news concerning the actuarial profession", "output": "Last year, the UK's Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) and Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department helped to cut claims abuse by 3% in value terms compared to 2015, identifying \u00a31.3bn ($1.7bn) worth of dishonest claims for the year, according to the Association of British Insurers. Detected cases of organised fraud fell roughly 30% and motor and property cases identified both fell by 4%, however, cases of opportunistic motor fraud detected increased slightly. Organised gangs linked to human trafficking and other more serious crimes were often behind the incidents, while some individuals were encouraged by unscrupulous claims management firms, the ABI said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Why Single-Payer Health Care Saves Money \n By analogy, suppose that your state\u2019s government took over road maintenance from the county governments within it, in the process reducing total maintenance costs by 30 percent. Your state taxes would obviously have to go up under this arrangement.\n\nBut if roads would be as well maintained as before, would that be a reason to oppose the move? Clearly not, since the resulting cost savings would reduce your county taxes by more than your state taxes went up. Likewise, it makes no sense to oppose single-payer on the grounds that it would require additional tax revenue. In each case, the resulting gains in efficiency would leave you with greater effective purchasing power than before.\n\nTotal costs are lower under single-payer systems for several reasons. One is that administrative costs average only about 2 percent of total expenses under a single-payer program like Medicare, less than one-sixth the corresponding percentage for many private insurers. Single-payer systems also spend virtually nothing on competitive advertising, which can account for more than 15 percent of total expenses for private insurers.\n\nThe most important source of cost savings under single-payer is that large government entities are able to negotiate much more favorable terms with service providers. In 2012, for example, the average cost of coronary bypass surgery was more than $73,000 in the United States but less than $23,000 in France.\n\nDespite this evidence, respected commentators continue to cite costs as a reason to doubt that single-payer can succeed in the United States. A recent Washington Post editorial, for example, ominously predicted that budget realities would dampen enthusiasm for single-payer, noting that the per capita expenditures under existing single-payer programs in the United States were much higher than those in other countries.", "output": "Lingering uncertainty about the fate of the Affordable Care Act has spurred the California legislature to consider adoption of a statewide single-payer health care system.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook to build social housing \u2018village\u2019 for staff \n Facebook is to build its own \u201cvillage\u201d of 1,500 homes for workers struggling to pay soaring rents as the housing crisis in Silicon Valley deepens.\n\nThe social networking company has submitted plans to the local council to create a new neighbourhood of homes, shops and a public plaza across the street from its global headquarters.\n\nMark Zuckerberg\u2019s company said it was being forced to build the \u201cmixed-use village\u201d called Willow Campus in Menlo Park, about 30 miles south of San Francisco, because the regional government\u2019s \u201cfailure\u201d to invest in infrastructure has led to sky-high rents and hours-long commutes to work.\n\n\u201cOur goal for the Willow Campus is to create an integrated, mixed-use village that will provide much-needed services, housing and transit solutions as well as office space,\u201d John Tenanes, Facebook\u2019s vice-president for global facilities, said after the company submitted plans to Menlo Park officials. \u201cPart of our vision is to create a neighbourhood centre that provides long-needed community services. The region\u2019s failure to continue to invest in our transportation infrastructure alongside growth has led to congestion and delay.\u201d\n\nKirsten Keith, the mayor of Menlo Park, welcomed Facebook\u2019s plan to help address the rent-price-rise crisis caused by the rapid growth of west-coast technology companies. More than 640,000 new jobs have been created in the San Francisco Bay area since 2010 but house-building has failed to keep even close to that pace of growth.\n\n\u201cPeninsula cities have a housing crisis,\u201d Keith tweeted. \u201cI hope more tech companies come forward with affordable housing proposals as Facebook has done.\u201d\n\nHowever, just 15% of the Facebook homes will be offered below market rates. The apartment block homes, which the company hopes will be built by 2021, will be available to Facebook employees and those working elsewhere.\n\nThe average monthly rent in Menlo Park has more than tripled to $3,349 (\u00a32,600) since 2011 when Facebook announced it would move to the city, according to property data site Rent Jungle. Menlo Park\u2019s rents, which rise to an average of $3,934 for a two-bed apartment, are some of the highest in the country and considerably higher than in New York City.\n\nThe median house price across Silicon Valley has jumped from $535,000 in 2012 to $888,000 last year, according to real estate agency Trulia.\n\nZuckerberg, 33, who is the world\u2019s fifth-richest person with a $64.7bn fortune, owns several homes worth tens of millions of dollars. He spent $30m buying up four houses surrounding his Palo Alto home in an effort to protect his privacy. He\u2019s also spent $100m on a 700-acre plot on the Hawaiian island of Kauai and $10m on a home in San Francisco\u2019s Dolores Heights.\n\nMore than 9,000 people work at Facebook\u2019s offices in Menlo Park, according to the city. The number of staff has increased by 54% over the past year and is expected to continue to rise quickly as a larger office campus opens.\n\nThe huge influx of staff at Facebook and other large tech companies has forced thousands of key workers out of the area and many teachers, cleaners and support staff battle through miles of congested highways to work each morning. Tech workers are often bussed to offices in company-branded vehicles, angering local people who are concerned about growing inequality in the area.\n\nThe San Francisco board of supervisors declared a state of emergency in relation to homelessness last year. \u201cIt is not a natural disaster, it is man-made,\u201d San Francisco supervisor David Campos said. \u201cBut it\u2019s a disaster nevertheless.\u201d\n\nFacebook, which made profits of $12.4bn last year, has previously been criticised for exacerbating the housing crisis in Menlo Park by offering its staff a $10,000 bonus to move closer to its head office.\n\nJohn Liotti, chief executive of Able Works, a charity representing key workers, said at the time of previous iniative in 2015: \u201cA lot of local families are going to get hurt.\u201d Facebook said that scheme was \u201cto support our employees and the people who matter most to them at all stages of life\u201d.\n\nFacebook\u2019s proposals for the Willow Park development, which will include a grocery store and pharmacy, have been welcomed by Diane Bailey, executive director of community group Menlo Spark. \u201cWe feel that Facebook genuinely wants to be a good neighbour,\u201d she said. \u201cThey appear to have heard the requests of the community and they want to meet those requests. The area has not had a grocery store or pharmacy for a long time.\u201d It can take more than half an hour to drive to the nearest supermarket four miles away due to traffic jams.\n\nThe social network has also committed to spending $1m exploring the idea of reopening an old railway line that runs through the company\u2019s campus and is \u201cinvesting tens of millions\u201d to improve a highway \u2013 US 101 \u2013 that runs from the office to San Francisco. There are no plans to build a new school.\n\nFacebook is not the only company seeking to tackle the housing crisis. Last month a spokesperson for Google said it would spend $30m on 300 prefabricated apartments for workers at its campus headquarters in nearby Mountain View.\n\nApple, which is in the process of moving 12,000 staff into its new Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino, is paying a roughly $5m \u201chousing mitigation fee\u201d to the city in compensation for the burden it is placing on the city\u2019s housing. The company estimates that its new office will lead to a 284% increase in demand for housing in the city.\n\nCarol Galante, faculty director of the Terner Center for Housing Innovation and a former federal housing commissioner, said: \u201cWe\u2019ve reached a tipping point where costs are just so high that people are desperate to figure out a solution.\u201d\n\nTenanes said Facebook\u2019s planning application was \u201conly the beginning \u2026 Going forward we plan to continue to work closely with local leaders and community members to ensure Facebook\u2019s presence is a benefit to the community,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s one we\u2019re lucky to call home.\u201d", "output": "Facebook has submitted plans\u00a0to build a social housing \u201cvillage\u201d of 1,500 homes for staff opposite its headquarters in Menlo Park, California. Average monthly rents in Menlo Park\u00a0have more than tripled since Facebook announced its move to the area\u00a0in 2011. However, just 15% of the new homes will be offered at below market rates. Last month Google announced that it would spend $30m on 300 prefab apartments for staff near its headquarters in Mountain View, while\u00a0Apple is paying $5m to Cupertino city to compensate for the pressure it is causing on local housing by opening its new Apple Park headquarters.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dandelion aims to bring cheap geothermal piping to homes \n A reliable and renewable energy source is right under our feet \u2013 literally \u2013 in the form of geothermal energy. After funding a study a few years back to map underground hotspots, Google's parent company, Alphabet, has now spawned Dandelion, a new startup that aims to tap into that resource. The company's signature technology is a geothermal heating and cooling system that pumps heat from the ground into the home in winter, or out of it during summer.\n\nThe roots of the Dandelion system are what the company calls ground loops. These U-shaped plastic pipes are buried a few hundred feet under the yard, and water is pumped through them to provide the heating or cooling effects. In winter, water running through the loops will absorb heat from the ground and pipe it into the home, while the system will run in the opposite direction to keep things cool during the scorching summer months. The pipes are connected to a heat pump and water heater inside the house, and users can control the indoor climate through a smart thermostat.\n\nDandelion says that installation is relatively painless. To put in the ground loops, the company's own \"clean drilling technology\" will be used to dig a few small holes in the yard, each only a few inches wide. Then a technician will install the other components inside the house, and the system should be up and running in two to three days. After that, the only regular maintenance is an air filter change every six to 12 months.\n\nThe system reportedly costs US$20,000, but Dandelion is making it available to homeowners on a monthly payment plan with no upfront costs. If the system is as efficient as the company says it is, a user should be able to make some of those repayments through the savings it cuts off the household energy bill.\n\nDandelion was spun out of X, Alphabet's incubator for ambitious \"moonshot\" ideas. After securing $2 million in seed funding, Dandelion is currently rolling out the technology to viable homes in upstate New York.\n\nSource: Dandelion", "output": "Google\u2019s parent firm Alphabet has created Dandelion, a start-up focused on harnessing geothermal energy. Dandelion has produced a heating and cooling system for homes using geothermal energy, collecting heat and returning it to the earth using U-shaped pipes that are buried underground. The system is straightforward to install and only requires a few small holes to be drilled, with air filters needing\u00a0be changed every six to 12 months. The technology costs $20,000 but can be bought\u00a0on a monthly payment plan."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "100 companies caused 71% of emissions: Carbon Majors Report \n Just 100 companies have been the source of more than 70% of the world\u2019s greenhouse gas emissions since 1988, according to a new report.\n\n\n\nThe Carbon Majors Report (pdf) \u201cpinpoints how a relatively small set of fossil fuel producers may hold the key to systemic change on carbon emissions,\u201d says Pedro Faria, technical director at environmental non-profit CDP, which published the report in collaboration with the Climate Accountability Institute.\n\nTraditionally, large scale greenhouse gas emissions data is collected at a national level but this report focuses on fossil fuel producers. Compiled from a database of publicly available emissions figures, it is intended as the first in a series of publications to highlight the role companies and their investors could play in tackling climate change.\n\nThe report found that more than half of global industrial emissions since 1988 \u2013 the year the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was established \u2013 can be traced to just 25 corporate and state-owned entities. The scale of historical emissions associated with these fossil fuel producers is large enough to have contributed significantly to climate change, according to the report.\n\nExxonMobil, Shell, BP and Chevron are identified as among the highest emitting investor-owned companies since 1988. If fossil fuels continue to be extracted at the same rate over the next 28 years as they were between 1988 and 2017, says the report, global average temperatures would be on course to rise by 4C by the end of the century. This is likely to have catastrophic consequences including substantial species extinction and global food scarcity risks.\n\nWhile companies have a huge role to play in driving climate change, says Faria, the barrier is the \u201cabsolute tension\u201d between short-term profitability and the urgent need to reduce emissions.\n\nA Carbon Tracker study in 2015 found that fossil fuel companies risked wasting more than $2tn over the coming decade by pursuing coal, oil and gas projects that could be worthless in the face of international action on climate change and advances in renewables \u2013 in turn posing substantial threats to investor returns.\n\nCDP says its aims with the carbon majors project are both to improve transparency among fossil fuel producers and to help investors understand the emissions associated with their fossil fuel holdings.\n\nA fifth of global industrial greenhouse gas emissions are backed by public investment, according to the report. \u201cThat puts a significant responsibility on those investors to engage with carbon majors and urge them to disclose climate risk,\u201d says Faria.\n\nInvestors should move out of fossil fuels, says Michael Brune, executive director of US environmental organisation the Sierra Club. \u201cNot only is it morally risky, it\u2019s economically risky. The world is moving away from fossil fuels towards clean energy and is doing so at an accelerated pace. Those left holding investments in fossil fuel companies will find their investments becoming more and more risky over time.\u201d\n\nThere is a \u201cgrowing wave of companies that are acting in the opposite manner to the companies in this report,\u201d says Brune. Nearly 100 companies including Apple, Facebook, Google and Ikea have committed to 100% renewable power under the RE100 initiative. Volvo recently announced that all its cars would be electric or hybrid from 2019.\n\nAnd oil and gas companies are also embarking on green investments. Shell set up a renewables arm in 2015 with a $1.7bn investment attached and a spokesperson for Chevron says it\u2019s \u201ccommitted to managing its [greenhouse gas] emissions\u201d and is investing in two of the world\u2019s largest carbon dioxide injection projects to capture and store carbon. A BP spokesperson says its \u201cdetermined to be part of the solution\u201d for climate change and is \u201cinvesting in renewables and low-carbon innovation.\u201d And ExxonMobil, which has faced heavy criticism for its environmental record, has been exploring carbon capture and storage.\n\nBut for many the sums involved and pace of change are nowhere near enough. A research paper published last year by Paul Stevens, an academic at think tank Chatham House, said international oil companies were no longer fit for purpose and warned these multinationals that they faced a \u201cnasty, brutish and short\u201d end within the next 10 years if they did not completely change their business models.\n\nInvestors now have a choice, according to Charlie Kronick, senior programme advisor at Greenpeace UK. \u201cThe future of the oil industry has already been written: the choice is will its decline be managed, returning capital to shareholders to be reinvested in the genuine industries of the future, or will they hold on, hoping not be the last one standing when the music stops?\u201d\n\n\n\n", "output": "Over 70% of the world\u2019s greenhouse gas emissions since 1988 have been caused by just 100 companies, according to The Carbon Majors Report from environmental nonprofit CDP and the Climate Accountability Institute. The report, which departs from the usual practice of recording emissions at a national level in order to focus on producers, inaugurates a publication series designed to consider the role of companies and investors in combating climate change. BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell were some of the highest emitting companies, with over 50% of emissions since 1988 caused by a mere 25 corporate and state-owned entities."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ABI warns payout code may further lift record-high car premiums \n Drivers are paying record amounts for their car insurance and could face further increases, an industry body has warned.\n\nThe Association of British Insurers (ABI) found that between 2015 and 2016, all age groups except those aged under 21 saw increases in their average premium.\n\nPeople in their late 50s and late 80s have experienced the highest annual rises of an average of \u00a335.\n\nThe ABI found that the average price paid for comprehensive motor insurance across all ages is \u00a3462, a rise of 8% in the last year.\n\nDrivers aged under 21 were found to be paying the highest premium with an average of \u00a3973.\n\nHowever due to the younger group of drivers increasingly using \"black box\" technology, which tracks driving habits, insurance premiums fell by 2.3%.\n\nThe ABI is warning car insurance premiums could be set to rise again. Credit: PA\n\nThe group said further waves of increases could take place between now and the start of next year, as insurers look to re-insure against large risks, such as catastrophic personal injury claims, during this period.\n\nThere will be a particular spike in reinsurance renewals around January 2018, it said.\n\nThe ABI said a decision announced by the Government in February to cut the personal injury discount rate \"massively increases claims costs\" and \"will inevitably lead to higher premiums\".\n\nThe rate helps to set compensation payouts when people suffer serious injuries, for example following a car crash.\n\nWhen victims of life-changing injuries accept lump sum compensation, the rate is applied when calculating the payout, to take into account the potential returns that they could expect to receive from their money over time from investing the cash.\n\nThe ABI also said recent increases to insurance premium tax (IPT) will also have had an impact as premiums have pushed upwards.\n\nThe ABI's director general Huw Evans said while the ABI is pleased with Government plans to reform whiplash-style personal injury compensation, \"the benefits could be wiped out if they don't defuse the discount rate bombshell\".\n\nA Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: \"We have consulted on whether there is a better or fairer framework for claimants and defendants in cases of serious personal injury. We will respond to the consultation in due course.\"", "output": "Motor premiums that are already at record levels may rise again between now and January, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI). An increase\u00a0in insurance tax helped send premiums\u00a08% higher to \u00a3462 in the past year, the ABI\u00a0said.\u00a0It warned\u00a0that the changes made by the government to the way\u00a0compensation payouts are calculated could see insurers pay more in accident claims.\u00a0Those extra costs\u00a0have so far been absorbed by\u00a0insurers' backstop contracts with reinsurers. But with many of those contracts set for renewal in January and the changes to the so-called Ogden Rate likely to make\u00a0them more expensive,\u00a0insurers will\u00a0pass those costs\u00a0on to\u00a0customers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Clark raises $2.2m to expand its tutor-parent connection service \n TUTOR TAKEOVER: Clark, an online tool for tutors and the families they work with, has raised $2.2 million in a seed round led by Lightspeed Ventures, an early investor of Snapchat. Rethink Education, Flatworld Partners and Winkelvoss Capital also participated. Parents can find and pay tutors through the mobile app, which also offers features such as session reminders, scheduling assistance and weekly progress reports.\n\nClark secured its seed round last month after appearing on Apple\u2019s first original series, \u201cPlanet of The Apps.\u201d The company had to deliver a 60-second elevator pitch\u2014while actually riding an elevator\u2014to celebrity judges including Jessica Alba, Gwyneth Paltrow, Gary Vaynerchuk, and will.i.am. The team was later paired with Vaynerchuck, an angel investor in companies such as Uber and Facebook, who will be mentoring the company going forward.", "output": "Edtech start-up Clark has raised $2.2m in a seed round led by Lightspeed Ventures \u2013 one of Snapchat's early investors \u2013\u00a0alongside Rethink Education, Flatworld Partners and Winklevoss Capital. Clark's app is a virtual\u00a0tool that connects\u00a0tutors and families, and features\u00a0session reminders, scheduling assistance, weekly progress reports and more. Funding was secured after Clark's founders presented\u00a0a 60-second \"elevator pitch\"\u00a0to Jessica Alba, Gwyneth Paltrow, Gary Vaynerchuck, and will.i.am, who were among the celebrity judges of Apple\u2019s first original series, \"Planet of the Apps.\" Vaynerchuk, an angel investor in firms including Facebook and Uber, will guide the company forward.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cybersecurity start-up Accel fully acquired by StarHub for $19m \n Singaporean telecommunications provider StarHub has announced that it will acquire the remainder of cybersecurity provider Accel Systems & Technologies for a maximum of SG$26.22 million.\n\nStarHub, which in May acquired a 51 percent controlling stake in Accel for SG$19.38 million, will acquire the remainder of the company in two stages: 29.4 percent in phase 2 in July, and 19.6 percent in phase 3, which will take place by the first quarter of 2020.\n\n\"Accel's cybersecurity solutions complement our network-based capabilities, making us well placed to compete in major government and commercial cybersecurity tenders,\" StarHub CEO Tan Tong Hai said.\n\n\"This acquisition further demonstrates our confidence in growing the enterprise business as we execute on our growth strategy.\"\n\nThe acquisition is subject to the fulfilment of mutual conditions, and will take place via a full cash payment.\n\nStarHub's purchase is aimed at boosting its cybersecurity offerings in order to offer the \"full spectrum\" of cybersecurity products and services, as well as augmenting the research and development capacity of its Cyber Security Centre of Excellence.\n\nOn launching the centre in May 2016, StarHub had signed partnerships with Blue Coat, Fortinet, Wedge Networks, Republic Polytechnic, and Singapore University of Technology and Design, co-investing SG$200 million over five years to undertake initiatives aimed at boosting cybersecurity skills development and industry collaboration across Singapore.\n\nStarHub also said it would be training more than 300 professionals in cybersecurity skills over the five-year period, in addition to working on R&D projects with its partners and with Singapore's Cyber Security Agency.\n\nAt the time, StarHub also launched a security operations centre (SOC) for 24/7 monitoring and threat detection across its core network.\n\n\"Cybersecurity is a top national and commercial security priority for Singapore as our smart nation vision takes shape, touching many aspects of our personal and business lives,\" Tan said at the time, adding that telcos have a \"unique role\" in cybersecurity via developing capabilities across their infrastructure.\n\nStarHub in May announced a quarterly net profit of SG$73.1 million, down 21.3 percent year on year, on earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of SG$160.7 million, down 12.4 percent.\n\nRevenue remained stagnant, at SG$590.9 million, with the company making SG$296.2 million from mobile, SG$88.4 million from pay TV, and SG$53.7 million from broadband.\n\nWith enterprise fixed the only business making a significant gain during the first quarter of the year, contributing SG$98.7 million in revenue, which was SG$2.9 million more than Q1 last year, Tan said StarHub is focusing on expanding this segment.\n\n\"Driving growth in the enterprise business remains our priority, and we are on track to introduce new cybersecurity, IoT, and smart retail solutions to the market,\" the chief executive said.\n\n\"We will grow our enterprise digital services offerings.\"", "output": "Singapore telecoms firm StarHub will acquire the remaining shares of Accel Systems & Technologies for no more than SGD26.22m ($18.9m). Majority shareholder StarHub is purchasing 29.4% of the cyber-security provider in July in the two-stage cash deal\u00a0and will acquire the final\u00a0tranche by Q1 2020. The purchase forms part of StarHub's move to offer a\u00a0full range of cyber-security products and services, with the introduction of new cyber-security, IoT\u00a0and smart retail solutions."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "eText allows Indiana University to save $3m per year on textbooks \n Students at Indiana University are saving over $3 million every single year thanks to a digital textbook initiative called eText.\n\neCampusNews reports that more than 40,000 IU students have used at least one eText that they have downloaded to a digital device thanks to IU\u2019s direct partnerships with a number of publishers.\n\n\u201cDigital textbooks and course materials should cost less and do more for learning,\u201d says IU Vice President for IT Brad Wheeler in the article. \u201cWe see that happening in IU\u2019s rapidly growing eText program as it is growing 50 percent year-over-year in 2,600 course selections.\u201d\n\nSIGN UP: Get more news from the EdTech newsletter in your inbox every two weeks!\n\nDigital Textbooks Expand Access, Streamline Class Time\n\nIU\u2019s eText initiative supports a model called \u201cDay One Access,\u201d which means students are getting access to course material from the very first day of class, reports eCampusNews.\n\n\u201cI do a lot of active learning in my courses, and if you don\u2019t have the textbook you can\u2019t really participate,\u201d says IU professor Nancy Evans, an early adopter of the digital tool.\n\nWith the digital textbooks, IU students and teachers can integrate notes and collaborate with classmates and instructors. IU reports to eCampusNews that in March 2017, the university saw over 100,000 annotations in the texts by students and faculty.\n\nOn the off chance that students don\u2019t have access to a personal digital device, eTexts can also be printed and accessed from campus computers as long as students are enrolled at the school.\n\nDigital Courseware Lets Students Learn How They Want\n\nDigital course materials like IU\u2019s eText and Oregon State University\u2019s adaptive learning texts are tapping into a demand from students themselves.\n\nA recent study found that while 82 percent of students, teachers and administrators believe that digital course materials are the future, only 56 percent said more than half of their institutions\u2019 courses are using them.\n\nAnother survey found that online students, in particular, are getting a lot of use of their mobile devices \u2014 81 percent use them for research and 66 percent use them to complete course activities \u2014 and universities would be wise to make courses more mobile-friendly.\n\nTraditional textbook publishers have even found that students are learning better with digital components to their textbooks, the Association of American Publishers reports.\n\n\u201cEducation publishers and learning companies have heard college students loud and clear and are offering them more of what they want \u2014 more affordable materials without sacrificing high-quality content,\u201d says David E. Anderson, executive director of higher ed with AAP. \u201cPublishers are able to do that, in large part, because of this transition to interactive and engaging digital materials.\u201d", "output": "Indiana University's (IU) eText initiative, offering high-quality digital textbooks to students and teachers, has saved students $3m per year, according to eCampusNews. The programme has grown 50% year-on-year, in 2,600 course choices. By\u00a0March 2017, IU's eText, which facilitates\u00a0collaboration and sharing of notes between classmates and teachers, saw more than 100,000 annotations made by students and faculty.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Koda makes \u00a3100,000 micro-home available in the UK \n The Koda is an interesting micro-home that boasts a very small footprint, quick assembly, and an attractive modern style. Estonian creator Kodasema has now officially launched it in the UK for a starting price of \u00a3100,000 (roughly US$130,000) and has big plans in store for the tiny dwelling.\n\nFor those unfamiliar with the Koda, it's built from concrete and ships in prefabricated sections, so can be assembled, and for that matter dismantled, very quickly \u2013 or within a working day, to be precise. No foundations are required so all you'd need to get started is a suitable surface like gravel, or asphalt (not to mention a patch of land to put it on).\n\nInside the two-story home, there's a total floorspace of 26.4 sq m (284 sq ft), which is split between a living room, kitchen, bathroom with toilet and bath/shower, and a bedroom and laundry room upstairs. It looks pretty roomy and there are some nice high-end goodies available too, including solar power, digital door lock, and programmable LED lighting, which can bump up the starting price.\n\nIndeed, with all the bells and whistles, you could end up spending up to \u00a3150,000 ($194,000) for a Koda home.\n\nInside the Koda T\u00f5nu Tunnel\n\nA Koda show home is installed in the UK's BRE Innovation Park and those interested can go and check it out in person. If purchased, delivery time is promised to be speedy once all the paperwork has been sorted.\n\nKodasema also offers the Koda in caf\u00e9, office, workshop/studio, store, and classroom configurations, each with different interior layouts and prices. It's being used in Estonia as rental apartments and complementary classrooms (pictured below), while a residence will be installed in August.\n\nThe Koda units installed in an Estonian school Mairi H\u00fc\u00fcdma\n\nA new stackable version of the Koda is planned for 2018 and other future plans include a small \"village\" of seven Koda units to be installed in Tallinn in August. In addition, the firm is currently researching affordable housing ideas for London. More details on this will be available in Q3.\n\nSource: Kodasema", "output": "Estonian firm Koda is launching its 284 sq ft micro home in the UK, with prices ranging from \u00a3100,000 ($130,000) up to \u00a3150,000. The prefabricated, two-storey concrete module includes living and kitchen space, as well as a bedroom, bathroom and laundry room, while solar power, digital door lock and programmable LED lighting are additional extras. A Koda showhome has been installed at the UK's BRE Innovation Park, and the company is planning to introduce a stackable version next year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sadiq Khan seeks digital officer for smart city collaboration \n \u201cCan you spout digital bollocks? London is hiring a chief digital officer,\u201d wrote IT website The Register the day mayor Sadiq Khan launched his search for a digital guru for the capital.\n\n\n\nThe successful candidate (expected to be appointed later this summer) will earn \u00a3106,952 a year and according to the job announcement posted online in May, Khan is looking for someone who can turn London into \u201cthe world\u2019s leading smart city \u2013 with digital technology at the heart of making the capital an even better place to live, work and invest\u201d.\n\n\n\nBut with London already topping the European Digital City Index 2016 and a technology sector made up of more companies valued at more than $1bn than any other city in Europe, what will the new chief digital officer (CDO) do, joking aside?\n\n\n\nGetting London\u2019s local councils to work together will be a focus, says Martyn Wallace, CDO for the Scottish local government\u2019s digital office. Appointed to the newly-created role in September 2016, part of his brief is to get Scotland\u2019s local authorities to collaborate and one of his challenges is in changing their mindset around technology.\n\n\u201cOne council said they had \u2018done\u2019 digital transformation, and I asked them and they said \u2018well we\u2019ve got a website\u2019,\u201d he says. Other councils are further ahead, telling Wallace they want to be able to use technology such as Amazon Dash to deliver repeat prescriptions to elderly people, for example. Wallace also advocates helping councils work in \u201cagile\u201d ways, a means by which digital products are created and go live quickly.\n\n\u201cWe keep iterating, we ban the word pilots. Quite frankly there are more pilots than in British Airways in [the] public sector across the UK, so lets keep ... moving forward,\u201d he says.\n\n\n\nWhoever Khan appoints will need to lead London\u2019s 26 borough councils and coordinate digital services, and a priority should be making public transport more efficient, according to Jacqueline de Rojas, president of industry body techUK.\n\n\n\n\u201cWhen you are thinking about smart cities and smart traffic management, you can\u2019t really have cross-border issues. If you are going to have a better transport system, people don\u2019t want to know they are going from Greenwich [borough] to Hackney. You\u2019ve got to make sure everyone is working together and that is going to be part of a big skill set,\u201d she says.\n\n\n\nTransport for London has led the way with its Oystercard contactless technology, and making travel information open for others has meant apps such as Citymapper are available in London. Opening up data in this way will allow further digital progress, de Rojas adds.\n\nShe also advocates faster broadband to encourage flexible working so people won\u2019t have to travel around the city as much, and would like to see council homes fitted with more efficient kit such as smart boilers that can predict which parts will be needed to fix them. Focusing on the needs of people will be key, she adds.\n\n\n\nDylan Roberts, chief digital and information officer at Leeds city council, agrees. \u201cIf I was Sadiq Khan, I\u2019d be thinking what\u2019s really important for any CDO. The focus is not on technology, the focus is absolutely around how you can facilitate, provide some leadership, provide the glue of pulling people together to effect better outcomes through the use of that information technology.\u201d\n\n\n\nBetter outcomes means thinking about the effect on people\u2019s lives, especially in the face of public sector cuts, and in Leeds this has included an emphasis on health, with the council aiming for the city to be \u201cthe best city to grow old in\u201d. Roberts\u2019 team discovered that transport is the number one problem for older people, and one way it helped people get around was by producing a countdown clock to alert people when their bus was due, based on pooling data from transport companies. Public services such as GP surgeries have used it to make sure older people can get around efficiently, resulting in the use of buses going up by 18%.\n\n\n\n\u201cPeople being able to get about means they are more active [and] getting to health appointments means there are fewer \u2018did not attends\u2019 and that is affecting a better outcome,\u201d Roberts says. \u201cBut it\u2019s also potentially helping a digital company in Leeds or anywhere develop a capability it can test with real cohorts of people.\u201d London\u2019s new digital head is also expected to work with the city\u2019s startups.\n\n\n\nLondon\u2019s CDO will need to help the capital compete digitally on a global scale. Los Angeles, for example, has had a chief technology officer since 2014 resulting in a shift \u201cfrom one of the poorest performers to one of the top cities in the world for open data, and bringing with it significant improvements to public services,\u201d according to a paper scoping the London role published last year.\n\n\n\nThe role will undoubtedly be complex \u2013 with new regulations coming into force next year and digital adoption at varying stages in local councils, according to Camden councillor Theo Blackwell \u2013 and whoever gets the job will have to get their hands dirty. \u201cThe CDO job will be about setting standards,\u201d de Rojas says. \u201cIt\u2019s not about ego, it\u2019s about efficiency.\u201d\n\nSign up for your free Guardian Public Leaders newsletter with comment and sector views sent direct to you every Thursday. Follow us: @Guardianpublic", "output": "London mayor Sadiq Khan has advertised the position of a chief digital officer (CDO) to help transform the capital into a smart city. Insiders have said the recruit will\u00a0focus on getting London's councils to work together and be more agile. Based on the experience of Dylan Roberts, chief digital and information officer at Leeds City Council, better public transport for older people is a must. Khan's CDO will also have to ensure faster broadband to encourage flexible working and follow Los Angeles' open data model, which turned\u00a0it into one of the world's top\u00a0cities, with major advancements in its public services.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Local government debt is huge risk for China's economy \n Xingyang\u2019s Communist Party school was one of the buildings used as collateral for the 800 million yuan bond. Photo: Simon Song", "output": "Local government debt continues to be a major risk for China's economy, despite attempts to contain it. Yi Xianrong of Qingdao University warned \u201clocal officials often play with the rules, collude with agencies and get their pet projects funded. They try their best to leverage the financial market and get financed, exposing investors and ultimately ordinary people to risks of default.\u201d\u00a0Local government financial vehicles (LGFV) have\u00a0surged, with the outstanding amount of LGFV bonds totalling over CNY6tn ($767bn) in 2016, 20 times more than in\u00a02008, with\u00a0LGFV bonds\u00a0only part of\u00a0local government debt, which was estimated at CNY15.32tn at the end of 2016.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Procedural reasons to blame for late publication of accounts: San Leon \n London-listed Irish oil and gas explorer San Leon energy is blaming \"procedural reasons\" for its failure to publish its accounts on time.\n\nShares in the company, headed by former Smart Telecom chief executive Oisin Fanning, were suspended on Monday after it had failed to publish the financial statements before the end of June.\n\nLast year, San Leon executed what Fanning called a \"transformational deal\" to take an interest in an oil-producing asset in Nigeria.\n\nIt said the accounts were being delayed by the need to incorporate the consolidated financial statements of a company called Midwestern Leon Petroleum, which was used to hold its interest in the Nigerian asset.\n\nIt was also used to hold another company's interest in the asset and so San Leon is using a technique called \"equity accounting\", which companies use to measure the value of their investments in other companies.\n\n\"The consolidation process involves several jurisdictions and has taken longer than expected for what is the first such consolidation and equity-accounted investment in Nigeria for San Leon,\" a statement from San Leon said.\n\n\"When this process is completed, it will be followed by a number of normal audit confirmatory and technical review matters which, when completed, will then put the company in a position to finalise and publish its financial statements.\"\n\nThe company added: \"Dealings in San Leon's ordinary shares will remain temporarily suspended until such time as the accounts have been duly published.\"\n\nIn April, San Leon said it was due around $58m (\u20ac51m) in principal and interest repayments from its Nigerian deal.\n\nAt that time, it had received $5m from its Nigerian partners.\n\nLess than two weeks ago, the company said it had received a conditional takeover offer, valuing it at \u00a3305m-\u00a3347m (\u20ac347m-\u20ac395m).\n\nA company called China Great United Petroleum (Holding) is behind the offer, according to San Leon. It is conditional on the Chinese company completing due diligence to its satisfaction.\n\nThe offer has not been formally tabled and there is no certainty that it will be tabled. It gives an indicative value of 67p-76p per share. San Leon's shares were suspended at 34.75p, valuing it at \u00a3158m.\n\nThe company's biggest shareholder is Toscafund, founded by London hedge fund manager Martin 'the Rottweiler' Hughes.", "output": "Shares in Irish oil and gas explorer San Leon were suspended on Monday after the company failed to publish its accounts on time. The London-listed firm said it was incorporating consolidated financial statements of companies used to hold an oil-producing asset in Nigeria, and in a statement said: \"the consolidation process involves several jurisdictions and has taken longer than expected for what is the first such consolidation and equity-accounted investment in Nigeria for San Leon.\"\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese-made taps sold in Aldi contain 15 times safe lead limit \n A Chinese-made tap sold at Aldi may be poisoning tens of thousands of Australians after tests found water coming from it contained 15 times the safe level of lead.\n\nThe toxic taps, sold for just $79.99, have been installed in more than 12,000 households all over Australia.\n\nPeople who own the spiral spring mixer tap are being warned not to use water run through it for drinking or cooking.\n\nThe toxic mixer tap (pictured, right) was sold at Aldi stores for just $79.99 and is made in China\n\nAldi (pictured, stock image) is believed to have sold 12,000 of the potentially poisonous taps\n\nThe Queensland Building and Construction Commission was responsible for testing the taps, The Courier-Mail reported.\n\nTests were conducted by Queensland Health's Forensic and Scientific Services unit on a single faucet, and will be followed by more comprehensive testing.\n\nThe results came as a surprise to the Melbourne's IAPMO R&T Oceana, which had previously cleared the tap as returning water 9.5 times under the lead limit.\n\n'Everything we have on file indicates the product fully complies. It looks 100 per cent kosher,' IAPMO technical adviser Glenn Tate said.\n\nWater run through the Spiral Spring Mixer Tap (pictured) showed lead levels 15 times the safe limit\n\nAuthorities have warned people using the tap not to drink or cook with water from the suspect faucet\n\nBut the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has begun their own investigation and warned against using the suspect faucet.\n\n'If there is a risk that consumer goods may cause injury the ACCC expects suppliers and manufacturers to put voluntary recalls in place to protect consumers,' a ACCC spokesman said.\n\nThe spiral spring mixer tap is manufactured by a Chinese company called Zhejiang Keen Faucet Co Ltd, located in a small city south of Shanghai.\n\nThey claim to export to dozens of countries, including Italy and Spain, and use German manufacturing equipment.\n\nQueensland Minister for Housing and Public Works Mick de Brenni has demanded the federal government do more to prevent 'non-conforming products entering the country'.\n\nLead can be harmful to people of all ages, but unborn babies, infants and young children under five are at the highest risk.\n\nExposure to high levels of lead while pregnant can also cause miscarriage or decreased birth weight, and lead can be passed through the bloodstream to babies.\n\nLead can also be stored long term in bones and teeth, and extremely high levels can even be fatal.\n\nDaily Mail Australia has contacted Aldi and Zhejiang Keen Faucet Co Ltd for comment.", "output": "The public is being warned about Chinese-made taps sold by Aldi after tests found water coming from them contained 15 times the safe level of lead. These toxic taps have\u00a0been installed in more than 12,000 households in Australia. The discovery was\u00a0a surprise for Melbourne's water and gas appliance certifier, which had cleared the tap as returning water 9.5 times under the lead limit.\u00a0The\u00a0Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has started its own investigation into the taps. The\u00a0taps are\u00a0manufactured by Zhejiang Keen Faucet in Shanghai, which\u00a0exports to dozens of countries, including Italy and Spain, and uses German manufacturing equipment.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Risk of helium shortage due to Qatar crisis \n Helium has two special abilities. It is extremely light, and it can get extremely cold without freezing.\n\nLargely for these reasons, the element is needed to use or make all sorts of things: semiconductors, rocket fuel, computer hard drives, the Large Hadron Collider, magnets in MRI machines, airships, scuba tanks, arc welding, anything that needs to be super cold, and of course, balloons.\n\nSo when helium shortages hit in 2006 to 2007 and 2011 to 2013, the consequences rippled far beyond birthday parties. The Earth is not actually running out of helium, but imbalances in the market, especially around a U.S. government helium reserve, did cause those shortages. Thankfully, relief was on the way. New helium plants came on line in Qatar, and the country quickly went from producing a small sliver of the world\u2019s helium to 25 percent of it in 2016.\n\nNow, Qatar is at the center of a regional crisis that seems to be about many different things, none of them helium. Yet the helium supply chain is tangled up in it. Qatar usually sends its supply over land through Saudi Arabia to a large port in the United Arab Emirates, from which the helium goes out to Singapore and then factories and labs around the world. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have cut off this route as part of the dispute.\n\nIt got bad. Because its helium had nowhere to go, Qatar suspended helium production in early June. Production resumed around July 2, and helium will probably take a more complex and expensive route via a port in Oman, according to Phil Kornbluth, a helium industry consultant. Furthermore, it\u2019ll take a few more weeks for helium production to get back to normal due to the logistics of getting specialized liquid helium canisters back to Qatar and slowly cooling them before they can be used again.\n\nQatar is producing helium again, but the political crisis is not over.\n\n\u201cThe thing this really highlights,\u201d says Kornbluth, \u201cis that the helium supply chain, even though there\u2019s ample supply when everything is running, is inflexible and fragile.\u201d The challenges of handling liquid helium and the fact that it\u2019s only made as byproduct of natural gas in a few places around the world all make helium a tricky product to source. Qatar is producing helium again, but the political crisis is not over. It\u2019s been a wake-up call.\n\nThe industry has been trying to make the helium supply more reliable. That could mean severing the link between helium and natural-gas extraction. Helium makes up a minuscule amount of natural gas. While Qatar\u2019s natural gas doesn\u2019t exactly have high concentrations of helium (0.05 percent), the country produces so much natural gas that its has accumulated helium byproduct for a tidy second business. The U.S., the world\u2019s top helium producer ahead of Qatar, extracts helium from natural-gas fields around the Texas panhandle.\n\nSince helium is only a byproduct, it\u2019s hard for other helium suppliers to step up when something like the Gulf crisis happens. Producing a little bit more helium requires producing a lot more natural gas\u2014and energy companies aren\u2019t going to do that for the sake of their secondary helium businesses.\n\nThat\u2019s why the helium industry has gotten excited about the recent discovery of a giant helium deposit in Tanzania. This discovery has nothing to do with natural gas. Instead, the gas trapped underground is as high as 10 percent helium, with nitrogen accounting for the rest. A company called Helium One has formed to tap the deposit. \u201cBecause we\u2019re pure helium, we could potentially act as a buffer to the world\u2019s helium supply,\u201d says Thomas Abraham-James, CEO of Helium One. If a political crisis deepened in the Middle East or ExxonMobil temporarily shut down its U.S. helium plant for maintenance, he says, then Helium One could step in.\n\nPast helium shortages have also taught users to conserve helium. \u201cThe context is anxiety and instability in the market,\u201d says Richard Clarke, a helium industry consultant.\n\nLabs, for example, have started to recycle helium. The element likes to float off, but it is possible to recover via ventilation systems. Clarke notes that makers of MRI machines, which require liquid helium to make their magnets cold enough to superconduct, also recover helium when old machines are decommissioned. The element is too important to let go to waste.\n\nThe interruption of Qatar\u2019s helium production is, in the big picture, just a small and unintended part of the current political crisis. Yet the supply chain of just one element touches so many industries\u2014energy, medicine, electronics, rocketry\u2014and the consequences can go far beyond the Gulf.", "output": "The current political crisis involving Middle Eastern nation Qatar has thrown into sharp relief the vulnerability and inflexibility of the helium supply chain, after Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates blocked a trade route used to export the gas. The situation in Qatar, which produced a quarter of the world's helium in 2016, has sounded a warning to the energy, medicine, electronics and rocket industries that rely on the super-cold gas. However, a rich new deposit in Tanzania that holds up to 10% helium, could act as a supply buffer should Middle East or US supplies falter for any reason."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "French publishers swallow rivalries to combat Facebook and Google \n The existential threat of Google and Facebook are causing competitors to ally in France. Major French national newspaper and magazine groups are setting aside traditional rivalries to scale their digital advertising offers to rival the duopoly, while also ridding their digital ad supply chains of unnecessary intermediaries.\n\nLe Monde and Le Figaro, traditionally fierce newspaper rivals, are letting advertisers book digital ad campaigns across their combined portfolio, using the same display or video ad formats for the first time. At the same time, Lagard\u00e8re, Prisma Media, Cond\u00e9 Nast, Le Parisien and broadcaster M6 are pooling audience data in an initiative involving around 15 publishers.\n\nBoth Le Monde and Le Figaro have stressed that combining forces in this way is a necessary step if they\u2019re to compete with the likes of Facebook and Google for advertising spend. Their alliance, called \u201cSkyline,\u201d is an intentional show of strength to the advertising market. Together, these media groups generated 35 million unique users in May, according to M\u00e9diam\u00e9trie. From September, advertisers will have the option to run campaigns across all the sites of the 20 media brands they have between them, which include HuffPost.fr, a media partner of Le Monde\u2019s in France. In France, that puts them behind Google, which has 44 million visitors, Facebook (40 million) and Microsoft (36 million).\n\nAdvertisers will be able to check their campaign via auditor Integral Ad Science, which is already a partner of both media groups. \u201cThe Skyline project is all about giving the message to the market that these media forces are bigger and stronger \u2014 that they want to combine forces and regain strength with advertisers,\u201d said Etienne Watrigant, executive lead for publishers at Integral Ad Science in France.\n\nMeanwhile, the separate audience-data pooling alliance with 15 publishers, called \u201cGravity,\u201d reaches 44 percent of the French population every day, a figure that will rise to 50 percent by the fall, according to alliance member Les Echos. Google reportedly has a market reach of 60 percent, and Facebook has 70 percent in France, although eMarketer puts Facebook\u2019s reach at around the 40 percent mark there.\n\nPublisher alliances have a checkered history. Le Monde and Le Figaro chiefs defended the timing of the launch in their press briefing to French media, saying that previously joining forces would have been blocked by the Competition Authority, but the rise of tech companies like Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple have changed the stakes.\n\nThe time is also ripe for traditional media groups to capitalize on some of the challenges the platforms are facing regarding brand safety (YouTube) and low viewability (Facebook). \u201cThey want to show French agencies and advertisers that they perform well when it comes to brand safety and viewability,\u201d said Cl\u00e9ment Bascoulergue, France sales director for Integral Ad Science. \u201cWalled gardens are facing new challenges. Also, publishers have a new challenge to deal with next year with the new policies around cookies coming into force in Europe, so now is a good time to make this play.\u201d\n\nAlthough the premise of each alliance is similar (to have the scale and data play to compete with the duopoly), there are big differences in each approach. The Gravity alliance is a data-pooling initiative, an approach Le Monde and and Le Figaro don\u2019t favor.\n\n\u201cSwitching the data of my internet users to a kind of pot that would market them without my having mastered it is a mistake,\u201d said Louis Dreyfus, managing director of Le Monde Group, in a press briefing to French media.\n\nSkyline\u2019s advertiser customers will be able to target users of the sites of both groups according to their profiles, purchase intentions and locations, as well as by categories like news or lifestyle. Both media houses will continue to sell their own inventory, too, and 50 people from across each company will be dedicated to Skyline.\n\nThe French media market is highly fragmented, meaning that advertisers typically deal with Google and Facebook, then dozens of separate publishers. Other programmatic ad alliances exist in France, like La Place and Audience Square \u2014 both of which are in talks over a potential merger. But La Place has contained more midsize publishers, not media juggernauts like Le Monde, Le Figaro or Lagard\u00e8re. Gravity is more akin in model to the ongoing (and first) publisher programmatic marketplace in France.", "output": "Competing French publishers have set aside their differences and joined forces to form Skyline, a project enabling advertisers to book digital promotional campaigns across their combined portfolio, producing 35 million unique users in May, according to M\u00e9diam\u00e9trie. The move is an attempt to shift ad spend from the Facebook and Google duopoly and will target users based on their profiles, purchase intentions and locations. In addition, around 15\u00a0publishers, including Cond\u00e9 Nast and M6, have formed Gravity, a data-sharing initiative set to reach up to half\u00a0the French population every day.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brands drawn in by Snapchat's popularity among younger users \n Snapchat clone Instagram Stories may now be too big for advertisers to ignore, but many believe Snapchat still has a role to play.\n\nHere are four brands that are trying to grow their Snapchat presences, with input from marketers on why the app\u2019s popularity among younger users, not its scale, make it hard to discount at this point.\n\nAdidas\n\nUpdates to self-service ads and measurement on Snapchat over the last six months have moved Adidas away from using specific handles and traditional publishing methods (like building an organic presence) and toward the app\u2019s advertising products, particularly the augmented reality features.\n\n\u201cOne area in particular we are exploring is Snapchat\u2019s highly developed AR offer,\u201d said Daniel Bulteel, global social media director at Adidas. \u201cThe merging of the digital and physical world offers so much potential to us in the world of sports.\u201d\n\nBulteel said Adidas uses both Instagram Stories and Snapchat, but the company views them as different platforms that each provide unique opportunities. \u201cFrom our research, we see our consumers use the two platforms in completely different ways,\u201d he said, \u201cso we shape our creative accordingly.\u201d\n\nRiver Island\n\nAfter making its Snapchat debut last summer, River Island has since concluded it\u2019s not the place for direct sales. People are not on \u201ctrying to shop proactively\u201d on Snapchat, said Angela Asiedua, senior brand digital marketing manager, after seeing Snap Ads that linked users to its online store had \u201cincreasingly high\u201d bounce rates.\n\nInstead, River Island treats Snapchat as a broadcast channel. Its chain geofilter, which switched to a new filter every two hours over a 24-hour period last month, reached 16.5 million users and gained over 500,000 engagements, according to the company. The campaign\u2019s inspiration came from a similar one the retailer ran last year that inadvertently revealed how people use the app while they shop. \u201cWe put geofilters over all our stores in the U.K., and in half, we had comms promoting them, while had nothing in the other half. The disparity between the stores that had comms and those that didn\u2019t wasn\u2019t as large as we anticipated. It shows that our organic consumers are actively browsing our stores with their mobile [phones] in hand, actively seeking out comms from brands in those spaces,\u201d said Asiedua.\n\nHowever, measurement issues stunt the understanding of how those behaviors on the app might impact other mediums such as SEO, said Asiedua. \u201cI think Snapchat still has work to do when it comes to helping us close the [customer journey] loop and understanding how we\u2019re retargeting customers and prospective ones from that platform.\u201d\n\nO2\n\nSnap Ads and Spectacles are the immediate future for O2 on the app, according to the company.\n\nThe union proved popular earlier this year when the brand needed a way to trumpet a series of celebratory gigs for the 10th anniversary of its O2 venue in London. Influencers wearing Snapchat Spectacles recorded the gigs so the telecom company could then create a 10-second Snap Ad using the footage, a move that generated double the expected amount of response rates.\n\nIt\u2019s little wonder then why the brand isn\u2019t writing Snapchat off just yet. An O2 spokesperson explained: \u201cBoth platforms are geared toward driving brand engagement, but we see them as having slightly different audience demographics: Instagram Stories, mid-to-late twenties and above; compared to Snapchat\u2019s younger, millennial 16-22 bracket.\u201d\n\nSony Music\n\nTo introduce its series of immersive events at the turn of the year, Sony Music brought its DJ duo The Chainsmokers to Snapchat. Visitors to a \u201csnow-covered forest\u201d it erected were encouraged to use geofilters alongside Snap Ads of trailers and videos of the event as they walked through the installation. Sony Music chose Snapchat to bolster the experiential push in order to reconnect itself with 18- to 24-year-olds. The company declined to share numbers from the stunt, but revealed Snapchat drove some of the highest impressions among its target audience and the platform was among the lowest cost-per-views of all the media channels used.\n\n\u201cThe greater transparency Snapchat is providing, along with the self-service buying options, means that it will continue to be an important, exciting and creative platform for us and for future campaigns,\u201d said Tom Winbow, the director of strategy and business development at Ralph, the agency behind the campaign.", "output": "Four major brands have revealed how their Snapchat strategies are helping boost sales and engagement. Sports retailer Adidas sees the most potential in the social media site's augmented reality features, while clothing company River Island sees Snapchat as a broadcast channel, with consumers actively browsing stores with \"mobiles in hand\". London venue O2 has had success with the Spectacles tool, and music corporation Sony chose Snapchat to connect with 18- to 24-year-olds, calling it an \"important, exciting and creative platform\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US news outlets push for collective power to take on tech giants \n Google and Facebook continue to gobble up the digital advertising market, siphoning away revenue that once paid for the quality journalism that Google and Facebook now offer for free.\n\nThey are gaining increasing control over digital distribution, so newspapers that once delivered their journalism with their own trucks increasingly have to rely on these big online platforms to get their articles in front of people, fighting for attention alongside fake news, websites that lift their content, and cat videos.\n\nAnd for all of Google\u2019s and Facebook\u2019s efforts to support journalism by helping news organizations find new revenue streams \u2014 and survive in the new world that these sites helped create \u2014 they are, at the end of the day, the royals of the court. Quality news providers are the supplicants and the serfs.\n\nIt\u2019s an uneasy alliance that has publishers chafing at the returns they receive from Google and Facebook, which rely on the free flow of premium news and information.", "output": "Scores of US newspapers, from the New York Times to the Wall Street Journal, and scores of mid-sized dailies, have embarked on a battle to win Congressional anti-trust support that would allow them to negotiate collectively and redress the \"asymmetric, disadvantageous relationship\" with Google and Facebook, according to the New York Times. The two digital giants consume up to almost 60% of the advertising market, leaving traditional publishers struggling to compete. The group, led by newspaper industry trade group The News Media Alliance, will be asking for a rarely-granted limited antitrust exemption."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Earth is experiencing its sixth mass extinction, say scientists \n A \u201cbiological annihilation\u201d of wildlife in recent decades means a sixth mass extinction in Earth\u2019s history is under way and is more severe than previously feared, according to research.\n\nScientists analysed both common and rare species and found billions of regional or local populations have been lost. They blame human overpopulation and overconsumption for the crisis and warn that it threatens the survival of human civilisation, with just a short window of time in which to act.\n\nThe study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, eschews the normally sober tone of scientific papers and calls the massive loss of wildlife a \u201cbiological annihilation\u201d that represents a \u201cfrightening assault on the foundations of human civilisation\u201d.\n\nProf Gerardo Ceballos, at the Universidad Nacional Aut\u00f3noma de M\u00e9xico, who led the work, said: \u201cThe situation has become so bad it would not be ethical not to use strong language.\u201d\n\n\n\nPrevious studies have shown species are becoming extinct at a significantly faster rate than for millions of years before, but even so extinctions remain relatively rare giving the impression of a gradual loss of biodiversity. The new work instead takes a broader view, assessing many common species which are losing populations all over the world as their ranges shrink, but remain present elsewhere.\n\nThe scientists found that a third of the thousands of species losing populations are not currently considered endangered and that up to 50% of all individual animals have been lost in recent decades. Detailed data is available for land mammals, and almost half of these have lost 80% of their range in the last century. The scientists found billions of populations of mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians have been lost all over the planet, leading them to say a sixth mass extinction has already progressed further than was thought.\n\nA graphic showing wildlife population loss Billions of animals have been lost as their habitats have become smaller with each passing year.\n\nThe scientists conclude: \u201cThe resulting biological annihilation obviously will have serious ecological, economic and social consequences. Humanity will eventually pay a very high price for the decimation of the only assemblage of life that we know of in the universe.\u201d\n\nThey say, while action to halt the decline remains possible, the prospects do not look good: \u201cAll signs point to ever more powerful assaults on biodiversity in the next two decades, painting a dismal picture of the future of life, including human life.\u201d\n\nWildlife is dying out due to habitat destruction, overhunting, toxic pollution, invasion by alien species and climate change. But the ultimate cause of all of these factors is \u201chuman overpopulation and continued population growth, and overconsumption, especially by the rich\u201d, say the scientists, who include Prof Paul Ehrlich, at Stanford University in the US, whose 1968 book The Population Bomb is a seminal, if controversial, work.\n\n\u201cThe serious warning in our paper needs to be heeded because civilisation depends utterly on the plants, animals, and microorganisms of Earth that supply it with essential ecosystem services ranging from crop pollination and protection to supplying food from the sea and maintaining a livable climate,\u201d Ehrlich told the Guardian. Other ecosystem services include clean air and water.\n\n\u201cThe time to act is very short,\u201d he said. \u201cIt will, sadly, take a long time to humanely begin the population shrinkage required if civilisation is to long survive, but much could be done on the consumption front and with \u2018band aids\u2019 \u2013 wildlife reserves, diversity protection laws \u2013 in the meantime.\u201d Ceballos said an international institution was needed to fund global wildlife conservation.\n\nThe research analysed data on 27,500 species of land vertebrates from the IUCN and found the ranges of a third have shrunk in recent decades. Many of these are common species and Ceballos gave an example from close to home: \u201cWe used to have swallows nesting every year in my home near Mexico city \u2013 but for the last 10 years there are none.\u201d\n\nThe researchers also point to the \u201cemblematic\u201d case of the lion: \u201cThe lion was historically distributed over most of Africa, southern Europe, and the Middle East, all the way to northwestern India. [Now] the vast majority of lion populations are gone.\u201d\n\nWhere lions used to live, and where they live now. Historically lions lived across Africa, southern Europe, the Middle East, all the way up to Northwestern India. Today their habitat has been reduced to a few tiny pockets of the original area.\n\nProf Stuart Pimm, at Duke University in the US and not involved in the new work, said the overall conclusion is correct, but he disagrees that a sixth mass extinction is already under way: \u201cIt is something that hasn\u2019t happened yet \u2013 we are on the edge of it.\u201d\n\nPimm also said there were important caveats that result from the broad-brush approach used. \u201cShould we be concerned about the loss of species across large areas \u2013 absolutely \u2013 but this is a fairly crude way of showing that,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are parts of the world where there are massive losses, but equally there are parts of the world where there is remarkable progress. It is pretty harsh on countries like South Africa which is doing a good job of protecting lions.\u201d\n\nRobin Freeman, at the Zoological Society of London, UK, said: \u201cWhile looking at things on aggregate is interesting, the real interesting nitty gritty comes in the details. What are the drivers that cause the declines in particular areas?\u201d\n\nFreeman was part of the team that produced a 2014 analysis of 3000 species that indicated that 50% of individual animals have been lost since 1970, which tallies with the new work but was based on different IUCN data. He agreed strong language is needed: \u201cWe need people to be aware of the catastrophic declines we are seeing. I do think there is a place for that within the [new] paper, although it\u2019s a fine line to draw.\u201d\n\nCiting human overpopulation as the root cause of environmental problems has long been controversial, and Ehrlich\u2019s 1968 statement that hundreds of millions of people would die of starvation in the 1970s did not come to pass, partly due to new high-yielding crops that Ehrlich himself had noted as possible.\n\nEhrlich has acknowledged \u201cflaws\u201d in The Population Bomb but said it had been successful in its central aim \u2013 alerting people to global environmental issues and the the role of human population in them. His message remains blunt today: \u201cShow me a scientist who claims there is no population problem and I\u2019ll show you an idiot.\u201d\n\nEarth\u2019s five previous mass extinctions\n\nEnd-Ordovician, 443 million years ago\n\nA severe ice age led to sea level falling by 100m, wiping out 60-70% of all species which were prominently ocean dwellers at the time. Then soon after the ice melted leaving the oceans starved of oxygen.\n\nLate Devonian, c 360 million years ago\n\nA messy prolonged climate change event, again hitting life in shallow seas very hard, killing 70% of species including almost all corals.\n\nPermian-Triassic, c 250 million years ago\n\nThe big one \u2013 more than 95% of species perished, including trilobites and giant insects \u2013 strongly linked to massive volcanic eruptions in Siberia that caused a savage episode of global warming.\n\nTriassic-Jurassic, c 200 million years ago\n\nThree-quarters of species were lost, again most likely due to another huge outburst of volcanism. It left the Earth clear for dinosaurs to flourish.\n\nCretaceous-Tertiary, 65 million years ago\n\nAn giant asteroid impact on Mexico, just after large volcanic eruptions in what is now India, saw the end of the dinosaurs and ammonites. Mammals, and eventually humans, took advantage.", "output": "The world\u2019s sixth mass extinction is under way and is more severe than anticipated, according to a study by Mexican and American scientists. The researchers discovered that billions of regional and local populations of both common and rare species have been lost due to human overpopulation and overconsumption. The scientists claimed that the situation is so severe that \u201cit would not be ethical not to use strong language\u201d and referred to the development as a \u201cbiological annihilation\u201d that constitutes a \u201cfrightening assault on the foundations of human civilisation\u201d. Up to 50% of individual losses have occurred in recent decades.\n\n \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Two studies find coffee may reduce risk of premature death \n Drink coffee? It won\u2019t hurt you, and may reduce your risk of an early death\n\nGood news, coffee drinkers: A couple of massive new studies that looked at hundreds of thousands of people for about 16 years finds that a few cups of coffee a day won\u2019t hurt you and could lower your risk of dying prematurely.\n\nThe studies reinforce previous findings that drinking an 8-ounce cup of joe (or three) won\u2019t hurt you, but the authors of the new works and other experts say caveats abound.\n\nadvertisement\n\n\u201cOur results suggest that moderate coffee drinking, up to about three cups a day, is not harmful to your health, and that incorporating coffee into your diet could have health benefits,\u201d said Neil Murphy, of the World Health Organization, a lead author on one of two studies published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine. \u201c[We] found no evidence that coffee drinking above a certain level is detrimental to health.\u201d\n\nMurphy told STAT his is the largest study on coffee and mortality to date.\n\nIn the study, researchers with the WHO\u2019s International Agency for Research on Cancer and Imperial College London tracked 521,000 adults from 10 European countries who self-reported their coffee consumption over an average of 16 years. They looked for associations between the amount of coffee consumed and various health indications, but it\u2019s not a cause-and-effect relationship. In investigating more than 40,000 deaths from this group, the team found that participants who fell into the highest 25 percent of coffee consumers had a lower risk of death due to any cause compared to non-coffee drinkers. They saw a reduced risk of early death by diseases related to the digestive and circulatory systems. The researchers also discovered a link between higher coffee consumption and lower risk of early death by lung cancer in men.\n\nadvertisement\n\nAnd they also looked at suicide \u2014 completed suicides were lower for coffee drinkers, but only in men.\n\nIn a second study of 180,000 people tracked for an average of 16 years, University of Southern California investigators found drinking one to six cups of coffee per week led to a decreased risk of early death. The study was focused on non-white populations, and their findings proved consistent for coffee drinkers across racial and ethnic groups.\n\nBoth studies adjusted findings to take into account that people who drink larger amounts of coffee are likely to smoke tobacco products as well.\n\nOne of the USC study\u2019s senior authors, V. Wendy Setiawan, an assistant professor at Keck School of Medicine, said coffee consumption may be linked a lower risk of early death for people with heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory disease, stroke, and kidney disease. Drink one cup per day, and the risk of dying early from those diseases decreases by 12 percent, she said.\n\nNewsletters Sign up for Daily Recap A roundup of STAT's top stories of the day. Please enter a valid email address. Privacy Policy\n\nHowever, Setiawan said the study didn\u2019t find the same relationship between coffee and deaths related to influenza, pneumonia, Alzheimer\u2019s disease, or intentional self-harm.\n\nDr. Eliseo Guallar, an epidemiologist with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who was not involved in the study, wrote in an editorial accompanying the studies that he\u2019s hesitant to draw too many positive conclusions about coffee\u2019s health. \u201cRecommending coffee intake to reduce mortality or prevent chronic disease would be premature,\u201d he wrote.\n\nSetiawan, like Murphy and Guallar, is cautious about hype.\n\n\u201cWe cannot say coffee will prolong your life,\u201d Setiawan said. \u201cWe can say moderate coffee consumption can be incorporated into diet for a healthy lifestyle. For most, it seems, it likely won\u2019t cause harm.\u201d", "output": "Moderate coffee drinking of up to three cups a day is not harmful and could even be beneficial, according to two studies published in the annals of internal medicine. One study, which followed 521,000 adults from 10 countries for 16 years, found that those in the highest 25% of coffee drinkers had a lower risk of death from any causes and a reduced risk of early death from diseases of the circulatory and digestive systems. A second study also found that drinking one to six cups of coffee per week decreased the risk of early death.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK government liquidates recruitment tax avoidance scheme \n An aggressive tax avoidance scheme, linked to one of the recruitment industry\u2019s highest-profile names, is being liquidated in a move that could prevent HM Revenue and Customs from recouping millions of pounds.\n\nThe scheme, which experts say raises questions over triggering a possible criminal investigation, has been promoted by Anderson Group, one of the sector\u2019s leading financial services firms. It has been used by recruitment agencies supplying low-paid workers to businesses including Marks & Spencer and Dixons Carphone.\n\nThe arrangements \u2013 which work by setting up thousands of tiny firms to exploit VAT and national insurance rules that were originally designed to help very small businesses \u2013 have netted vast windfalls for those involved.\n\nThe Guardian has seen evidence showing that the closure of parts of the scheme followed Anderson being asked by HMRC\u2019s fraud and investigation service for details about the large numbers of VAT registration applications made on behalf of Anderson clients last year.\n\nDocuments show that almost 2,000 of the Anderson scheme\u2019s mini companies are now being simultaneously liquidated.\n\nTax experts said the moves make it extremely difficult to pursue the defunct firms for any potential VAT or national insurance debt \u2013 particularly as each mini company appears to only have a Philippines-based director and barely any retained assets.\n\nDan Neidle, a tax partner at City law firm Clifford Chance, said that in his view the scheme had been set up to avoid tax. He said: \u201cI am troubled by the involvement of multiple Philippine individuals, when there is no commercial or tax reason to involve anyone offshore. The obvious inference is that the purpose of choosing the Philippines was to hinder HMRC\u2019s ability to investigate and recover any tax due.\n\n\u201cThe courts have struck down almost every tax avoidance case that has come before them in the last 10 years. This scheme is almost certain to meet the same fate. The difference is the obvious hopelessness of the scheme, and the steps the promoters took to hide their tracks. That should prompt HMRC to pursue the companies and individuals involved more aggressively than they would if it were just another a failed tax avoidance scheme. A prosecution for tax fraud may not be out of the question.\u201d\n\n\n\nJolyon Maugham QC, a tax barrister at Devereux Chambers, said that in his opinion \u201caspects of [the structure] look designed to thwart HMRC\u2019s ability to recover tax due to it \u2013 and investigate whether it is due\u201d. He added that the scheme appeared to possess features \u201cthat would cause me to want to explore whether the promoters have crossed the line into the criminal arena\u201d.\n\nAnderson Group did not respond directly to questions about the scheme\u2019s legality.\n\nIn a statement issued in response to the Guardian\u2019s request for comment, group commercial director Steven Zahab said: \u201cAnderson Group is a global provider of support services across a range of markets and sectors. In all cases our services are provided in accordance with the law as it stands and, where appropriate, under advisement from counsel. If the law changes, then our services do so as appropriate. We constantly seek QC or other professional opinion to ensure that we act within the rules at all times.\u201d\n\nThe tax schemes were supposed to work by transferring contracts of low-paid workers from a single large employment agency into a web of thousands of tiny companies. So, if an employment agency previously supplied a warehouse with 300 workers, the scheme\u2019s promoters might create 150 new tiny companies, each employing two workers.\n\nThe structure was used to justify registering thousands of tiny companies for the flat-rate VAT scheme, which allows very small firms to charge VAT at 20%, but pay it back to the exchequer at about half that rate.\n\nIt also created thousands more companies from which to claim the government\u2019s \u00a33,000 employment allowance, a jobs subsidy that is only claimable once a year by a single firm.\n\nSuch tactics, which have been used by a number of companies, are said to have cost the taxpayer a total of \u201chundreds of millions\u201d and have proved controversial.\n\nIn 2015, following a BBC investigation into Anderson, HMRC issued a notice advising anybody using schemes designed to exploit the employment allowance to withdraw from doing so to \u201cavoid the costs of litigation and minimise any interest and penalties due on underpaid national insurance\u201d.\n\nLast year, following a Guardian undercover investigation, the government attempted to close down the VAT portion of these schemes.\n\nWhile there are tax experts who say that the schemes comply with UK tax legislation, they typically argue the component companies in the structure must be independent of each other.\n\n\n\nAnderson insists it was independent of the schemes. It said its involvement with these tax avoidance products was limited to it helping to sell the arrangements alongside a \u201cformer client\u201d called MyPSU.\n\nHowever, the Guardian has seen evidence linking Anderson to MyPSU, as well as the mini companies employing the workers.\n\n\n\nThe links between Anderson and MyPSU include:\n\nInternal Anderson documents showing how the VAT flat-rate scheme made Anderson hundreds of thousands of pounds a week \u2013 and most of its profit \u2013 from a series of recruitment agencies;\n\nCompanies House filings showing that all of the directors running MyPSU were simultaneously Anderson employees;\n\nA sales pitch revealing how a MyPSU representative presented himself as a current Anderson employee and explained how MyPSU was created within Anderson; and,\n\nDocuments showing that Anderson\u2019s majority shareholder, Adam Fynn, registered the MyPSU internet domain name. Fynn\u2019s name was removed from the registration following the Guardian\u2019s questions on the subject.\n\nAnderson Group\u2019s links to the mini companies in the scheme include Companies House filings showing:\n\nAlona Varon, a former director of MyPSU and resident of the Philippines, was also a director of scores of the scheme\u2019s mini companies being liquidated. Varon is additionally a director of Varon Services, which in December 2016 changed its name from Anderson Legal Services. It was wholly owned by an Anderson subsidiary, until a change to the shareholder register was filed on the day the Guardian asked about the links;\n\n\n\nSamantha Forbes, an employee of Fynn\u2019s unconnected business the Drinks Experience Group, was company secretary of scores of the mini companies now in liquidation; and,\n\n\n\nAnderson acted as an agent for many of the mini companies now being shut down.\n\nAnderson repeatedly declined to answer the Guardian\u2019s questions about the links to MyPSU and the mini companies \u2013 or how monies accrued via a small business VAT scheme were treated as its own profits.\n\nThe group added it does not believe it was connected to MyPSU or the mini companies, and said that public registers linking Anderson and other parties in the scheme were altered after the Guardian\u2019s questions \u201cserved as a reminder for former clients to bring their records up to date\u201d.\n\nFynn, Forbes and Varon did not comment.\n\nMarks & Spencer said it had been supplied with workers by the logistics group DHL, which in turn hired workers from 24.7 Recruitment, an employment agency that used MyPSU. DHL said it was not aware of the scheme.\n\n\n\nDixons Carphone said it had not known about the arrangements or benefited from them.\n\nNeither MyPSU Ltd, which is no longer trading, nor 24.7 commented. A subsequent sister firm of MyPSU, MyPSU Subcontractors, is now in liquidation.\n\nWhat is Anderson Group?\n\nAnderson Group describes itself as \u201cthe UK\u2019s leading provider of support services to the recruitment and contracting sector\u201d.\n\nFounded in 2005 by \u201cemployment industry and accountancy experts who shared a vision; to be a leading voice for the rights of recruiters and contractors\u201d the company has grown sufficiently to augment its base in Luton with offices in the Philippines and India.\n\nIt now boasts of being a \u201c\u00a3100m+ global operation\u201d providing \u201coutsourced business process services to some 200 recruitment agencies and SME businesses and accountancy support services for tens of thousands of contract workers\u201d.\n\nThe growth has made Anderson one of the best-known names in the recruitment industry, and it was the headline sponsor of the Recruiter Awards for Excellence for 2014, 2015 and 2016.\n\n\n\nThe business is controlled by the 33-year-old Adam Fynn via his Fynn Holdings, a holding company that owns about 80% of the shares in Anderson Commercial Holdings Ltd, which in turn owns a number of the Anderson operating businesses.\n\n\n\n\n\n", "output": "The UK government has said it will liquidate a tax-avoidance scheme promoted by the financial services firm Anderson Group following concerns that experts say could result in a criminal investigation. The scheme \u2014 which establishes thousands of very small firms in order to exploit national insurance and VAT rules designed to benefit small businesses \u2014 has\u00a0been used by recruitment agencies that have provided workers for companies including Dixons Carphone and Marks & Spencer. The scheme is believed to have cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions\u00a0of pounds."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers develop battery electrode that can charge in seconds \n Drexel University researchers have developed two new electrode designs, using MXene material, that will allow batteries to charge much faster. The key is a microporous design that allows ions to quickly make their way to redox active sites. Credit: Drexel University\n\nCan you imagine fully charging your cell phone in just a few seconds? Researchers in Drexel University's College of Engineering can, and they took a big step toward making it a reality with their recent work unveiling of a new battery electrode design in the journal Nature Energy.\n\nThe team, led by Yury Gogotsi, PhD, Distinguished University and Bach professor in Drexel's College of Engineering, in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, created the new electrode designs from a highly conductive, two-dimensional material called MXene. Their design could make energy storage devices like batteries, viewed as the plodding tanker truck of energy storage technology, just as fast as the speedy supercapacitors that are used to provide energy in a pinch\u2014often as a battery back-up or to provide quick bursts of energy for things like camera flashes.\n\n\"This paper refutes the widely accepted dogma that chemical charge storage, used in batteries and pseudocapacitors, is always much slower than physical storage used in electrical double-layer capacitors, also known as supercapacitors,\" Gogotsi said. \"We demonstrate charging of thin MXene electrodes in tens of milliseconds. This is enabled by very high electronic conductivity of MXene. This paves the way to development of ultrafast energy storage devices than can be charged and discharged within seconds, but store much more energy than conventional supercapacitors.\"\n\nThe key to faster charging energy storage devices is in the electrode design. Electrodes are essential components of batteries, through which energy is stored during charging and from which it is disbursed to power our devices. So the ideal design for these components would be one that allows them to be quickly charged and store more energy.\n\nTo store more energy, the materials should have places to put it. Electrode materials in batteries offer ports for charge to be stored. In electrochemistry, these ports, called \"redox active sites\" are the places that hold an electrical charge when each ion is delivered. So if the electrode material has more ports, it can store more energy\u2014which equates to a battery with more \"juice.\"\n\nCollaborators Patrice Simon, PhD, and Zifeng Lin, from Universit\u00e9 Paul Sabatier in France, produced a hydrogel electrode design with more redox active sites, which allows it to store as much charge for its volume as a battery. This measure of capacity, termed \"volumetric performance,\" is an important metric for judging the utility of any energy storage device.\n\nTo make those plentiful hydrogel electrode ports even more attractive to ion traffic, the Drexel-led team, including researchers Maria Lukatskaya, PhD, Sankalp Kota, a graduate student in Drexel's MAX/MXene Research Group led by Michel Barsoum, PhD, distinguished professor in the College of Engineering; and Mengquiang Zhao, PhD, designed electrode architectures with open macroporosity\u2014many small openings\u2014to make each redox active sites in the MXene material readily accessible to ions.\n\n\"In traditional batteries and supercapacitors, ions have a tortuous path toward charge storage ports, which not only slows down everything, but it also creates a situation where very few ions actually reach their destination at fast charging rates,\" said Lukatskaya, the first author on the paper, who conducted the research as part of the A.J. Drexel Nanomaterials Institute. \"The ideal electrode architecture would be something like ions moving to the ports via multi-lane, high-speed 'highways,' instead of taking single-lane roads. Our macroporous electrode design achieves this goal, which allows for rapid charging\u2014on the order of a few seconds or less.\"\n\nThe overarching benefit of using MXene as the material for the electrode design is its conductivity. Materials that allow for rapid flow of an electrical current, like aluminum and copper, are often used in electric cables. MXenes are conductive, just like metals, so not only do ions have a wide-open path to a number of storage ports, but they can also move very quickly to meet electrons there. Mikhael Levi, PhD, and Netanel Shpigel, research collaborators from Bar-Ilan University in Israel, helped the Drexel group maximize the number of the ports accessible to ions in MXene electrodes.\n\nUse in battery electrodes is just the latest in a series of developments with the MXene material that was discovered by researchers in Drexel's Department of Materials Science and Engineering in 2011. Since then, researchers have been testing them in a variety of applications from energy storage to electromagnetic radiation shielding, and water filtering. This latest development is significant in particular because it addresses one of the primary problems hindering the expansion of the electric vehicle market and that has been lurking on the horizon for mobile devices.\n\n\"If we start using low-dimensional and electronically conducting materials as battery electrodes, we can make batteries working much, much faster than today,\" Gogotsi said. \"Eventually, appreciation of this fact will lead us to car, laptop and cell-phone batteries capable of charging at much higher rates\u2014seconds or minutes rather than hours.\"\n\nMore information: Maria R. Lukatskaya et al, Ultra-high-rate pseudocapacitive energy storage in two-dimensional transition metal carbides, Nature Energy (2017). DOI: 10.1038/nenergy.2017.105 Journal information: Nature Energy", "output": "Researchers at Drexel University's College of Engineering in Philadelphia have developed a battery electrode design that could work as quickly as a supercapacitor, but also store much more energy, according to an article in the journal Nature Energy. The team developed a thin film using the highly conductive material MXene for the electrode design.\u00a0MXene is macroporous (with many small openings), which\u00a0allows\u00a0ions to quickly reach electrical charge storage sites, enabling the storage of much more power.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Climate change reveals failure of human imagination: NY Magazine \n To read an annotated version of this article, complete with interviews with scientists and links to further reading, click here.\n\nI. \u2018Doomsday\u2019\n\nPeering beyond scientific reticence.\n\nIt is, I promise, worse than you think. If your anxiety about global warming is dominated by fears of sea-level rise, you are barely scratching the surface of what terrors are possible, even within the lifetime of a teenager today. And yet the swelling seas \u2014 and the cities they will drown \u2014 have so dominated the picture of global warming, and so overwhelmed our capacity for climate panic, that they have occluded our perception of other threats, many much closer at hand. Rising oceans are bad, in fact very bad; but fleeing the coastline will not be enough.\n\nIndeed, absent a significant adjustment to how billions of humans conduct their lives, parts of the Earth will likely become close to uninhabitable, and other parts horrifically inhospitable, as soon as the end of this century.\n\nEven when we train our eyes on climate change, we are unable to comprehend its scope. This past winter, a string of days 60 and 70 degrees warmer than normal baked the North Pole, melting the permafrost that encased Norway\u2019s Svalbard seed vault \u2014 a global food bank nicknamed \u201cDoomsday,\u201d designed to ensure that our agriculture survives any catastrophe, and which appeared to have been flooded by climate change less than ten years after being built.\n\nRelated Stories The Uninhabitable Earth, Annotated Edition\n\nThe Doomsday vault is fine, for now: The structure has been secured and the seeds are safe. But treating the episode as a parable of impending flooding missed the more important news. Until recently, permafrost was not a major concern of climate scientists, because, as the name suggests, it was soil that stayed permanently frozen. But Arctic permafrost contains 1.8 trillion tons of carbon, more than twice as much as is currently suspended in the Earth\u2019s atmosphere. When it thaws and is released, that carbon may evaporate as methane, which is 34 times as powerful a greenhouse-gas warming blanket as carbon dioxide when judged on the timescale of a century; when judged on the timescale of two decades, it is 86 times as powerful. In other words, we have, trapped in Arctic permafrost, twice as much carbon as is currently wrecking the atmosphere of the planet, all of it scheduled to be released at a date that keeps getting moved up, partially in the form of a gas that multiplies its warming power 86 times over.\n\nMaybe you know that already \u2014 there are alarming stories in the news every day, like those, last month, that seemed to suggest satellite data showed the globe warming since 1998 more than twice as fast as scientists had thought (in fact, the underlying story was considerably less alarming than the headlines). Or the news from Antarctica this past May, when a crack in an ice shelf grew 11 miles in six days, then kept going; the break now has just three miles to go \u2014 by the time you read this, it may already have met the open water, where it will drop into the sea one of the biggest icebergs ever, a process known poetically as \u201ccalving.\u201d\n\nBut no matter how well-informed you are, you are surely not alarmed enough. Over the past decades, our culture has gone apocalyptic with zombie movies and Mad Max dystopias, perhaps the collective result of displaced climate anxiety, and yet when it comes to contemplating real-world warming dangers, we suffer from an incredible failure of imagination. The reasons for that are many: the timid language of scientific probabilities, which the climatologist James Hansen once called \u201cscientific reticence\u201d in a paper chastising scientists for editing their own observations so conscientiously that they failed to communicate how dire the threat really was; the fact that the country is dominated by a group of technocrats who believe any problem can be solved and an opposing culture that doesn\u2019t even see warming as a problem worth addressing; the way that climate denialism has made scientists even more cautious in offering speculative warnings; the simple speed of change and, also, its slowness, such that we are only seeing effects now of warming from decades past; our uncertainty about uncertainty, which the climate writer Naomi Oreskes in particular has suggested stops us from preparing as though anything worse than a median outcome were even possible; the way we assume climate change will hit hardest elsewhere, not everywhere; the smallness (two degrees) and largeness (1.8 trillion tons) and abstractness (400 parts per million) of the numbers; the discomfort of considering a problem that is very difficult, if not impossible, to solve; the altogether incomprehensible scale of that problem, which amounts to the prospect of our own annihilation; simple fear. But aversion arising from fear is a form of denial, too.\n\nIn between scientific reticence and science fiction is science itself. This article is the result of dozens of interviews and exchanges with climatologists and researchers in related fields and reflects hundreds of scientific papers on the subject of climate change. What follows is not a series of predictions of what will happen \u2014 that will be determined in large part by the much-less-certain science of human response. Instead, it is a portrait of our best understanding of where the planet is heading absent aggressive action. It is unlikely that all of these warming scenarios will be fully realized, largely because the devastation along the way will shake our complacency. But those scenarios, and not the present climate, are the baseline. In fact, they are our schedule.\n\nThe present tense of climate change \u2014 the destruction we\u2019ve already baked into our future \u2014 is horrifying enough. Most people talk as if Miami and Bangladesh still have a chance of surviving; most of the scientists I spoke with assume we\u2019ll lose them within the century, even if we stop burning fossil fuel in the next decade. Two degrees of warming used to be considered the threshold of catastrophe: tens of millions of climate refugees unleashed upon an unprepared world. Now two degrees is our goal, per the Paris climate accords, and experts give us only slim odds of hitting it. The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issues serial reports, often called the \u201cgold standard\u201d of climate research; the most recent one projects us to hit four degrees of warming by the beginning of the next century, should we stay the present course. But that\u2019s just a median projection. The upper end of the probability curve runs as high as eight degrees \u2014 and the authors still haven\u2019t figured out how to deal with that permafrost melt. The IPCC reports also don\u2019t fully account for the albedo effect (less ice means less reflected and more absorbed sunlight, hence more warming); more cloud cover (which traps heat); or the dieback of forests and other flora (which extract carbon from the atmosphere). Each of these promises to accelerate warming, and the history of the planet shows that temperature can shift as much as five degrees Celsius within thirteen years. The last time the planet was even four degrees warmer, Peter Brannen points out in The Ends of the World, his new history of the planet\u2019s major extinction events, the oceans were hundreds of feet higher.*\n\nThe Earth has experienced five mass extinctions before the one we are living through now, each so complete a slate-wiping of the evolutionary record it functioned as a resetting of the planetary clock, and many climate scientists will tell you they are the best analog for the ecological future we are diving headlong into. Unless you are a teenager, you probably read in your high-school textbooks that these extinctions were the result of asteroids. In fact, all but the one that killed the dinosaurs were caused by climate change produced by greenhouse gas. The most notorious was 252 million years ago; it began when carbon warmed the planet by five degrees, accelerated when that warming triggered the release of methane in the Arctic, and ended with 97 percent of all life on Earth dead. We are currently adding carbon to the atmosphere at a considerably faster rate; by most estimates, at least ten times faster. The rate is accelerating. This is what Stephen Hawking had in mind when he said, this spring, that the species needs to colonize other planets in the next century to survive, and what drove Elon Musk, last month, to unveil his plans to build a Mars habitat in 40 to 100 years. These are nonspecialists, of course, and probably as inclined to irrational panic as you or I. But the many sober-minded scientists I interviewed over the past several months \u2014 the most credentialed and tenured in the field, few of them inclined to alarmism and many advisers to the IPCC who nevertheless criticize its conservatism \u2014 have quietly reached an apocalyptic conclusion, too: No plausible program of emissions reductions alone can prevent climate disaster.\n\nOver the past few decades, the term \u201cAnthropocene\u201d has climbed out of academic discourse and into the popular imagination \u2014 a name given to the geologic era we live in now, and a way to signal that it is a new era, defined on the wall chart of deep history by human intervention. One problem with the term is that it implies a conquest of nature (and even echoes the biblical \u201cdominion\u201d). And however sanguine you might be about the proposition that we have already ravaged the natural world, which we surely have, it is another thing entirely to consider the possibility that we have only provoked it, engineering first in ignorance and then in denial a climate system that will now go to war with us for many centuries, perhaps until it destroys us. That is what Wallace Smith Broecker, the avuncular oceanographer who coined the term \u201cglobal warming,\u201d means when he calls the planet an \u201cangry beast.\u201d You could also go with \u201cwar machine.\u201d Each day we arm it more.\n\nII. Heat Death\n\nThe bahraining of New York.\n\nIn the sugar\u00adcane region of El Salvador, as much as one-fifth of the population has chronic kidney disease, the presumed result of dehydration from working the fields they were able to comfortably harvest as recently as two decades ago. Photo: Heartless Machine\n\nHumans, like all mammals, are heat engines; surviving means having to continually cool off, like panting dogs. For that, the temperature needs to be low enough for the air to act as a kind of refrigerant, drawing heat off the skin so the engine can keep pumping. At seven degrees of warming, that would become impossible for large portions of the planet\u2019s equatorial band, and especially the tropics, where humidity adds to the problem; in the jungles of Costa Rica, for instance, where humidity routinely tops 90 percent, simply moving around outside when it\u2019s over 105 degrees Fahrenheit would be lethal. And the effect would be fast: Within a few hours, a human body would be cooked to death from both inside and out.\n\nClimate-change skeptics point out that the planet has warmed and cooled many times before, but the climate window that has allowed for human life is very narrow, even by the standards of planetary history. At 11 or 12 degrees of warming, more than half the world\u2019s population, as distributed today, would die of direct heat. Things almost certainly won\u2019t get that hot this century, though models of unabated emissions do bring us that far eventually. This century, and especially in the tropics, the pain points will pinch much more quickly even than an increase of seven degrees. The key factor is something called wet-bulb temperature, which is a term of measurement as home-laboratory-kit as it sounds: the heat registered on a thermometer wrapped in a damp sock as it\u2019s swung around in the air (since the moisture evaporates from a sock more quickly in dry air, this single number reflects both heat and humidity). At present, most regions reach a wet-bulb maximum of 26 or 27 degrees Celsius; the true red line for habitability is 35 degrees. What is called heat stress comes much sooner.\n\nRelated Stories Michael Oppenheimer: Only 10 Percent Chance We Meet Paris Targets\n\nActually, we\u2019re about there already. Since 1980, the planet has experienced a 50-fold increase in the number of places experiencing dangerous or extreme heat; a bigger increase is to come. The five warmest summers in Europe since 1500 have all occurred since 2002, and soon, the IPCC warns, simply being outdoors that time of year will be unhealthy for much of the globe. Even if we meet the Paris goals of two degrees warming, cities like Karachi and Kolkata will become close to uninhabitable, annually encountering deadly heat waves like those that crippled them in 2015. At four degrees, the deadly European heat wave of 2003, which killed as many as 2,000 people a day, will be a normal summer. At six, according to an assessment focused only on effects within the U.S. from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, summer labor of any kind would become impossible in the lower Mississippi Valley, and everybody in the country east of the Rockies would be under more heat stress than anyone, anywhere, in the world today. As Joseph Romm has put it in his authoritative primer Climate Change: What Everyone Needs to Know, heat stress in New York City would exceed that of present-day Bahrain, one of the planet\u2019s hottest spots, and the temperature in Bahrain \u201cwould induce hyperthermia in even sleeping humans.\u201d The high-end IPCC estimate, remember, is two degrees warmer still. By the end of the century, the World Bank has estimated, the coolest months in tropical South America, Africa, and the Pacific are likely to be warmer than the warmest months at the end of the 20th century. Air-conditioning can help but will ultimately only add to the carbon problem; plus, the climate-controlled malls of the Arab emirates aside, it is not remotely plausible to wholesale air-condition all the hottest parts of the world, many of them also the poorest. And indeed, the crisis will be most dramatic across the Middle East and Persian Gulf, where in 2015 the heat index registered temperatures as high as 163 degrees Fahrenheit. As soon as several decades from now, the hajj will become physically impossible for the 2 million Muslims who make the pilgrimage each year.\n\nIt is not just the hajj, and it is not just Mecca; heat is already killing us. In the sugarcane region of El Salvador, as much as one-fifth of the population has chronic kidney disease, including over a quarter of the men, the presumed result of dehydration from working the fields they were able to comfortably harvest as recently as two decades ago. With dialysis, which is expensive, those with kidney failure can expect to live five years; without it, life expectancy is in the weeks. Of course, heat stress promises to pummel us in places other than our kidneys, too. As I type that sentence, in the California desert in mid-June, it is 121 degrees outside my door. It is not a record high.\n\nIII. The End of Food\n\nPraying for cornfields in the tundra.\n\nClimates differ and plants vary, but the basic rule for staple cereal crops grown at optimal temperature is that for every degree of warming, yields decline by 10 percent. Some estimates run as high as 15 or even 17 percent. Which means that if the planet is five degrees warmer at the end of the century, we may have as many as 50 percent more people to feed and 50 percent less grain to give them. And proteins are worse: It takes 16 calories of grain to produce just a single calorie of hamburger meat, butchered from a cow that spent its life polluting the climate with methane farts.\n\nPollyannaish plant physiologists will point out that the cereal-crop math applies only to those regions already at peak growing temperature, and they are right \u2014 theoretically, a warmer climate will make it easier to grow corn in Greenland. But as the pathbreaking work by Rosamond Naylor and David Battisti has shown, the tropics are already too hot to efficiently grow grain, and those places where grain is produced today are already at optimal growing temperature \u2014 which means even a small warming will push them down the slope of declining productivity. And you can\u2019t easily move croplands north a few hundred miles, because yields in places like remote Canada and Russia are limited by the quality of soil there; it takes many centuries for the planet to produce optimally fertile dirt.\n\nDrought might be an even bigger problem than heat, with some of the world\u2019s most arable land turning quickly to desert. Precipitation is notoriously hard to model, yet predictions for later this century are basically unanimous: unprecedented droughts nearly everywhere food is today produced. By 2080, without dramatic reductions in emissions, southern Europe will be in permanent extreme drought, much worse than the American dust bowl ever was. The same will be true in Iraq and Syria and much of the rest of the Middle East; some of the most densely populated parts of Australia, Africa, and South America; and the breadbasket regions of China. None of these places, which today supply much of the world\u2019s food, will be reliable sources of any. As for the original dust bowl: The droughts in the American plains and Southwest would not just be worse than in the 1930s, a 2015 NASA study predicted, but worse than any droughts in a thousand years \u2014 and that includes those that struck between 1100 and 1300, which \u201cdried up all the rivers East of the Sierra Nevada mountains\u201d and may have been responsible for the death of the Anasazi civilization.\n\nRemember, we do not live in a world without hunger as it is. Far from it: Most estimates put the number of undernourished at 800 million globally. In case you haven\u2019t heard, this spring has already brought an unprecedented quadruple famine to Africa and the Middle East; the U.N. has warned that separate starvation events in Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria, and Yemen could kill 20 million this year alone.\n\nIV. Climate Plagues\n\nWhat happens when the bubonic ice melts?\n\nRock, in the right spot, is a record of planetary history, eras as long as millions of years flattened by the forces of geological time into strata with amplitudes of just inches, or just an inch, or even less. Ice works that way, too, as a climate ledger, but it is also frozen history, some of which can be reanimated when unfrozen. There are now, trapped in Arctic ice, diseases that have not circulated in the air for millions of years \u2014 in some cases, since before humans were around to encounter them. Which means our immune systems would have no idea how to fight back when those prehistoric plagues emerge from the ice.\n\nThe Arctic also stores terrifying bugs from more recent times. In Alaska, already, researchers have discovered remnants of the 1918 flu that infected as many as 500 million and killed as many as 100 million \u2014 about 5 percent of the world\u2019s population and almost six times as many as had died in the world war for which the pandemic served as a kind of gruesome capstone. As the BBC reported in May, scientists suspect smallpox and the bubonic plague are trapped in Siberian ice, too \u2014 an abridged history of devastating human sickness, left out like egg salad in the Arctic sun.\n\nExperts caution that many of these organisms won\u2019t actually survive the thaw and point to the fastidious lab conditions under which they have already reanimated several of them \u2014 the 32,000-year-old \u201cextremophile\u201d bacteria revived in 2005, an 8 million-year-old bug brought back to life in 2007, the 3.5 million\u2013year\u2013old one a Russian scientist self-injected just out of curiosity \u2014 to suggest that those are necessary conditions for the return of such ancient plagues. But already last year, a boy was killed and 20 others infected by anthrax released when retreating permafrost exposed the frozen carcass of a reindeer killed by the bacteria at least 75 years earlier; 2,000 present-day reindeer were infected, too, carrying and spreading the disease beyond the tundra.\n\nWhat concerns epidemiologists more than ancient diseases are existing scourges relocated, rewired, or even re-evolved by warming. The first effect is geographical. Before the early-modern period, when adventuring sailboats accelerated the mixing of peoples and their bugs, human provinciality was a guard against pandemic. Today, even with globalization and the enormous intermingling of human populations, our ecosystems are mostly stable, and this functions as another limit, but global warming will scramble those ecosystems and help disease trespass those limits as surely as Cort\u00e9s did. You don\u2019t worry much about dengue or malaria if you are living in Maine or France. But as the tropics creep northward and mosquitoes migrate with them, you will. You didn\u2019t much worry about Zika a couple of years ago, either.\n\nAs it happens, Zika may also be a good model of the second worrying effect \u2014 disease mutation. One reason you hadn\u2019t heard about Zika until recently is that it had been trapped in Uganda; another is that it did not, until recently, appear to cause birth defects. Scientists still don\u2019t entirely understand what happened, or what they missed. But there are things we do know for sure about how climate affects some diseases: Malaria, for instance, thrives in hotter regions not just because the mosquitoes that carry it do, too, but because for every degree increase in temperature, the parasite reproduces ten times faster. Which is one reason that the World Bank estimates that by 2050, 5.2 billion people will be reckoning with it.\n\nV. Unbreathable Air\n\nA rolling death smog that suffocates millions.\n\nBy the end of the century, the coolest months in tropical South America, Africa, and the Pacific are likely to be warmer than the warmest months at the end of the 20th century. Photo: Heartless Machine\n\nOur lungs need oxygen, but that is only a fraction of what we breathe. The fraction of carbon dioxide is growing: It just crossed 400 parts per million, and high-end estimates extrapolating from current trends suggest it will hit 1,000 ppm by 2100. At that concentration, compared to the air we breathe now, human cognitive ability declines by 21 percent.\n\nOther stuff in the hotter air is even scarier, with small increases in pollution capable of shortening life spans by ten years. The warmer the planet gets, the more ozone forms, and by mid-century, Americans will likely suffer a 70 percent increase in unhealthy ozone smog, the National Center for Atmospheric Research has projected. By 2090, as many as 2 billion people globally will be breathing air above the WHO \u201csafe\u201d level; one paper last month showed that, among other effects, a pregnant mother\u2019s exposure to ozone raises the child\u2019s risk of autism (as much as tenfold, combined with other environmental factors). Which does make you think again about the autism epidemic in West Hollywood.\n\nAlready, more than 10,000 people die each day from the small particles emitted from fossil-fuel burning; each year, 339,000 people die from wildfire smoke, in part because climate change has extended forest-fire season (in the U.S., it\u2019s increased by 78 days since 1970). By 2050, according to the U.S. Forest Service, wildfires will be twice as destructive as they are today; in some places, the area burned could grow fivefold. What worries people even more is the effect that would have on emissions, especially when the fires ravage forests arising out of peat. Peatland fires in Indonesia in 1997, for instance, added to the global CO2 release by up to 40 percent, and more burning only means more warming only means more burning. There is also the terrifying possibility that rain forests like the Amazon, which in 2010 suffered its second \u201chundred-year drought\u201d in the space of five years, could dry out enough to become vulnerable to these kinds of devastating, rolling forest fires \u2014 which would not only expel enormous amounts of carbon into the atmosphere but also shrink the size of the forest. That is especially bad because the Amazon alone provides 20 percent of our oxygen.\n\nThen there are the more familiar forms of pollution. In 2013, melting Arctic ice remodeled Asian weather patterns, depriving industrial China of the natural ventilation systems it had come to depend on, which blanketed much of the country\u2019s north in an unbreathable smog. Literally unbreathable. A metric called the Air Quality Index categorizes the risks and tops out at the 301-to-500 range, warning of \u201cserious aggravation of heart or lung disease and premature mortality in persons with cardiopulmonary disease and the elderly\u201d and, for all others, \u201cserious risk of respiratory effects\u201d; at that level, \u201ceveryone should avoid all outdoor exertion.\u201d The Chinese \u201cairpocalypse\u201d of 2013 peaked at what would have been an Air Quality Index of over 800. That year, smog was responsible for a third of all deaths in the country.\n\nVI. Perpetual War\n\nThe violence baked into heat.\n\nClimatologists are very careful when talking about Syria. They want you to know that while climate change did produce a drought that contributed to civil war, it is not exactly fair to saythat the conflict is the result of warming; next door, for instance, Lebanon suffered the same crop failures. But researchers like Marshall Burke and Solomon Hsiang have managed to quantify some of the non-obvious relationships between temperature and violence: For every half-degree of warming, they say, societies will see between a 10 and 20 percent increase in the likelihood of armed conflict. In climate science, nothing is simple, but the arithmetic is harrowing: A planet five degrees warmer would have at least half again as many wars as we do today. Overall, social conflict could more than double this century.\n\nThis is one reason that, as nearly every climate scientist I spoke to pointed out, the U.S. military is obsessed with climate change: The drowning of all American Navy bases by sea-level rise is trouble enough, but being the world\u2019s policeman is quite a bit harder when the crime rate doubles. Of course, it\u2019s not just Syria where climate has contributed to conflict. Some speculate that the elevated level of strife across the Middle East over the past generation reflects the pressures of global warming \u2014 a hypothesis all the more cruel considering that warming began accelerating when the industrialized world extracted and then burned the region\u2019s oil.\n\nWhat accounts for the relationship between climate and conflict? Some of it comes down to agriculture and economics; a lot has to do with forced migration, already at a record high, with at least 65 million displaced people wandering the planet right now. But there is also the simple fact of individual irritability. Heat increases municipal crime rates, and swearing on social media, and the likelihood that a major-league pitcher, coming to the mound after his teammate has been hit by a pitch, will hit an opposing batter in retaliation. And the arrival of air-conditioning in the developed world, in the middle of the past century, did little to solve the problem of the summer crime wave.\n\nVII. Permanent Economic Collapse\n\nDismal capitalism in a half-poorer world.\n\nThe murmuring mantra of global neoliberalism, which prevailed between the end of the Cold War and the onset of the Great Recession, is that economic growth would save us from anything and everything.\n\nBut in the aftermath of the 2008 crash, a growing number of historians studying what they call \u201cfossil capitalism\u201d have begun to suggest that the entire history of swift economic growth, which began somewhat suddenly in the 18th century, is not the result of innovation or trade or the dynamics of global capitalism but simply our discovery of fossil fuels and all their raw power \u2014 a onetime injection of new \u201cvalue\u201d into a system that had previously been characterized by global subsistence living. Before fossil fuels, nobody lived better than their parents or grandparents or ancestors from 500 years before, except in the immediate aftermath of a great plague like the Black Death, which allowed the lucky survivors to gobble up the resources liberated by mass graves. After we\u2019ve burned all the fossil fuels, these scholars suggest, perhaps we will return to a \u201csteady state\u201d global economy. Of course, that onetime injection has a devastating long-term cost: climate change.\n\nThe most exciting research on the economics of warming has also come from Hsiang and his colleagues, who are not historians of fossil capitalism but who offer some very bleak analysis of their own: Every degree Celsius of warming costs, on average, 1.2 percent of GDP (an enormous number, considering we count growth in the low single digits as \u201cstrong\u201d). This is the sterling work in the field, and their median projection is for a 23 percent loss in per capita earning globally by the end of this century (resulting from changes in agriculture, crime, storms, energy, mortality, and labor).\n\nTracing the shape of the probability curve is even scarier: There is a 12 percent chance that climate change will reduce global output by more than 50 percent by 2100, they say, and a 51 percent chance that it lowers per capita GDP by 20 percent or more by then, unless emissions decline. By comparison, the Great Recession lowered global GDP by about 6 percent, in a onetime shock; Hsiang and his colleagues estimate a one-in-eight chance of an ongoing and irreversible effect by the end of the century that is eight times worse.\n\nThe scale of that economic devastation is hard to comprehend, but you can start by imagining what the world would look like today with an economy half as big, which would produce only half as much value, generating only half as much to offer the workers of the world. It makes the grounding of flights out of heat-stricken Phoenix last month seem like pathetically small economic potatoes. And, among other things, it makes the idea of postponing government action on reducing emissions and relying solely on growth and technology to solve the problem an absurd business calculation.\n\nEvery round-trip ticket on flights from New York to London, keep in mind, costs the Arctic three more square meters of ice.\n\nVIII. Poisoned Oceans\n\nSulfide burps off the skeleton coast.\n\nThat the sea will become a killer is a given. Barring a radical reduction of emissions, we will see at least four feet of sea-level rise and possibly ten by the end of the century. A third of the world\u2019s major cities are on the coast, not to mention its power plants, ports, navy bases, farmlands, fisheries, river deltas, marshlands, and rice-paddy empires, and even those above ten feet will flood much more easily, and much more regularly, if the water gets that high. At least 600 million people live within ten meters of sea level today.\n\nBut the drowning of those homelands is just the start. At present, more than a third of the world\u2019s carbon is sucked up by the oceans \u2014 thank God, or else we\u2019d have that much more warming already. But the result is what\u2019s called \u201cocean acidification,\u201d which, on its own, may add a half a degree to warming this century. It is also already burning through the planet\u2019s water basins \u2014 you may remember these as the place where life arose in the first place. You have probably heard of \u201ccoral bleaching\u201d \u2014 that is, coral dying \u2014 which is very bad news, because reefs support as much as a quarter of all marine life and supply food for half a billion people. Ocean acidification will fry fish populations directly, too, though scientists aren\u2019t yet sure how to predict the effects on the stuff we haul out of the ocean to eat; they do know that in acid waters, oysters and mussels will struggle to grow their shells, and that when the pH of human blood drops as much as the oceans\u2019 pH has over the past generation, it induces seizures, comas, and sudden death.\n\nThat isn\u2019t all that ocean acidification can do. Carbon absorption can initiate a feedback loop in which underoxygenated waters breed different kinds of microbes that turn the water still more \u201canoxic,\u201d first in deep ocean \u201cdead zones,\u201d then gradually up toward the surface. There, the small fish die out, unable to breathe, which means oxygen-eating bacteria thrive, and the feedback loop doubles back. This process, in which dead zones grow like cancers, choking off marine life and wiping out fisheries, is already quite advanced in parts of the Gulf of Mexico and just off Namibia, where hydrogen sulfide is bubbling out of the sea along a thousand-mile stretch of land known as the \u201cSkeleton Coast.\u201d The name originally referred to the detritus of the whaling industry, but today it\u2019s more apt than ever. Hydrogen sulfide is so toxic that evolution has trained us to recognize the tiniest, safest traces of it, which is why our noses are so exquisitely skilled at registering flatulence. Hydrogen sulfide is also the thing that finally did us in that time 97 percent of all life on Earth died, once all the feedback loops had been triggered and the circulating jet streams of a warmed ocean ground to a halt \u2014 it\u2019s the planet\u2019s preferred gas for a natural holocaust. Gradually, the ocean\u2019s dead zones spread, killing off marine species that had dominated the oceans for hundreds of millions of years, and the gas the inert waters gave off into the atmosphere poisoned everything on land. Plants, too. It was millions of years before the oceans recovered.\n\nIX. The Great Filter\n\nOur present eeriness cannot last.\n\nSo why can\u2019t we see it? In his recent book-length essay The Great Derangement, the Indian novelist Amitav Ghosh wonders why global warming and natural disaster haven\u2019t become major subjects of contemporary fiction \u2014 why we don\u2019t seem able to imagine climate catastrophe, and why we haven\u2019t yet had a spate of novels in the genre he basically imagines into half-existence and names \u201cthe environmental uncanny.\u201d \u201cConsider, for example, the stories that congeal around questions like, \u2018Where were you when the Berlin Wall fell?\u2019 or \u2018Where were you on 9/11?\u2019 \u201d he writes. \u201cWill it ever be possible to ask, in the same vein, \u2018Where were you at 400 ppm?\u2019 or \u2018Where were you when the Larsen B ice shelf broke up?\u2019 \u201d His answer: Probably not, because the dilemmas and dramas of climate change are simply incompatible with the kinds of stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, especially in novels, which tend to emphasize the journey of an individual conscience rather than the poisonous miasma of social fate.\n\nSurely this blindness will not last \u2014 the world we are about to inhabit will not permit it. In a six-degree-warmer world, the Earth\u2019s ecosystem will boil with so many natural disasters that we will just start calling them \u201cweather\u201d: a constant swarm of out-of-control typhoons and tornadoes and floods and droughts, the planet assaulted regularly with climate events that not so long ago destroyed whole civilizations. The strongest hurricanes will come more often, and we\u2019ll have to invent new categories with which to describe them; tornadoes will grow longer and wider and strike much more frequently, and hail rocks will quadruple in size. Humans used to watch the weather to prophesy the future; going forward, we will see in its wrath the vengeance of the past. Early naturalists talked often about \u201cdeep time\u201d \u2014 the perception they had, contemplating the grandeur of this valley or that rock basin, of the profound slowness of nature. What lies in store for us is more like what the Victorian anthropologists identified as \u201cdreamtime,\u201d or \u201ceverywhen\u201d: the semi-mythical experience, described by Aboriginal Australians, of encountering, in the present moment, an out-of-time past, when ancestors, heroes, and demigods crowded an epic stage. You can find it already watching footage of an iceberg collapsing into the sea \u2014 a feeling of history happening all at once.\n\nIt is. Many people perceive climate change as a sort of moral and economic debt, accumulated since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and now come due after several centuries \u2014 a helpful perspective, in a way, since it is the carbon-burning processes that began in 18th-century England that lit the fuse of everything that followed. But more than half of the carbon humanity has exhaled into the atmosphere in its entire history has been emitted in just the past three decades; since the end of World War II, the figure is 85 percent. Which means that, in the length of a single generation, global warming has brought us to the brink of planetary catastrophe, and that the story of the industrial world\u2019s kamikaze mission is also the story of a single lifetime. My father\u2019s, for instance: born in 1938, among his first memories the news of Pearl Harbor and the mythic Air Force of the propaganda films that followed, films that doubled as advertisements for imperial-American industrial might; and among his last memories the coverage of the desperate signing of the Paris climate accords on cable news, ten weeks before he died of lung cancer last July. Or my mother\u2019s: born in 1945, to German Jews fleeing the smokestacks through which their relatives were incinerated, now enjoying her 72nd year in an American commodity paradise, a paradise supported by the supply chains of an industrialized developing world. She has been smoking for 57 of those years, unfiltered.\n\nOr the scientists\u2019. Some of the men who first identified a changing climate (and given the generation, those who became famous were men) are still alive; a few are even still working. Wally Broecker is 84 years old and drives to work at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory across the Hudson every day from the Upper West Side. Like most of those who first raised the alarm, he believes that no amount of emissions reduction alone can meaningfully help avoid disaster. Instead, he puts his faith in carbon capture \u2014 untested technology to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which Broecker estimates will cost at least several trillion dollars \u2014 and various forms of \u201cgeoengineering,\u201d the catchall name for a variety of moon-shot technologies far-fetched enough that many climate scientists prefer to regard them as dreams, or nightmares, from science fiction. He is especially focused on what\u2019s called the aerosol approach \u2014 dispersing so much sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere that when it converts to sulfuric acid, it will cloud a fifth of the horizon and reflect back 2 percent of the sun\u2019s rays, buying the planet at least a little wiggle room, heat-wise. \u201cOf course, that would make our sunsets very red, would bleach the sky, would make more acid rain,\u201d he says. \u201cBut you have to look at the magnitude of the problem. You got to watch that you don\u2019t say the giant problem shouldn\u2019t be solved because the solution causes some smaller problems.\u201d He won\u2019t be around to see that, he told me. \u201cBut in your lifetime \u2026\u201d\n\nJim Hansen is another member of this godfather generation. Born in 1941, he became a climatologist at the University of Iowa, developed the groundbreaking \u201cZero Model\u201d for projecting climate change, and later became the head of climate research at NASA, only to leave under pressure when, while still a federal employee, he filed a lawsuit against the federal government charging inaction on warming (along the way he got arrested a few times for protesting, too). The lawsuit, which is brought by a collective called Our Children\u2019s Trust and is often described as \u201ckids versus climate change,\u201d is built on an appeal to the equal-protection clause, namely, that in failing to take action on warming, the government is violating it by imposing massive costs on future generations; it is scheduled to be heard this winter in Oregon district court. Hansen has recently given up on solving the climate problem with a carbon tax alone, which had been his preferred approach, and has set about calculating the total cost of the additional measure of extracting carbon from the atmosphere.\n\nHansen began his career studying Venus, which was once a very Earth-like planet with plenty of life-supporting water before runaway climate change rapidly transformed it into an arid and uninhabitable sphere enveloped in an unbreathable gas; he switched to studying our planet by 30, wondering why he should be squinting across the solar system to explore rapid environmental change when he could see it all around him on the planet he was standing on. \u201cWhen we wrote our first paper on this, in 1981,\u201d he told me, \u201cI remember saying to one of my co-authors, \u2018This is going to be very interesting. Sometime during our careers, we\u2019re going to see these things beginning to happen.\u2019 \u201d\n\nSeveral of the scientists I spoke with proposed global warming as the solution to Fermi\u2019s famous paradox, which asks, If the universe is so big, then why haven\u2019t we encountered any other intelligent life in it? The answer, they suggested, is that the natural life span of a civilization may be only several thousand years, and the life span of an industrial civilization perhaps only several hundred. In a universe that is many billions of years old, with star systems separated as much by time as by space, civilizations might emerge and develop and burn themselves up simply too fast to ever find one another. Peter Ward, a charismatic paleontologist among those responsible for discovering that the planet\u2019s mass extinctions were caused by greenhouse gas, calls this the \u201cGreat Filter\u201d: \u201cCivilizations rise, but there\u2019s an environmental filter that causes them to die off again and disappear fairly quickly,\u201d he told me. \u201cIf you look at planet Earth, the filtering we\u2019ve had in the past has been in these mass extinctions.\u201d The mass extinction we are now living through has only just begun; so much more dying is coming.\n\nAnd yet, improbably, Ward is an optimist. So are Broecker and Hansen and many of the other scientists I spoke to. We have not developed much of a religion of meaning around climate change that might comfort us, or give us purpose, in the face of possible annihilation. But climate scientists have a strange kind of faith: We will find a way to forestall radical warming, they say, because we must.\n\nIt is not easy to know how much to be reassured by that bleak certainty, and how much to wonder whether it is another form of delusion; for global warming to work as parable, of course, someone needs to survive to tell the story. The scientists know that to even meet the Paris goals, by 2050, carbon emissions from energy and industry, which are still rising, will have to fall by half each decade; emissions from land use (deforestation, cow farts, etc.) will have to zero out; and we will need to have invented technologies to extract, annually, twice as much carbon from the atmosphere as the entire planet\u2019s plants now do. Nevertheless, by and large, the scientists have an enormous confidence in the ingenuity of humans \u2014 a confidence perhaps bolstered by their appreciation for climate change, which is, after all, a human invention, too. They point to the Apollo project, the hole in the ozone we patched in the 1980s, the passing of the fear of mutually assured destruction. Now we\u2019ve found a way to engineer our own doomsday, and surely we will find a way to engineer our way out of it, one way or another. The planet is not used to being provoked like this, and climate systems designed to give feedback over centuries or millennia prevent us \u2014 even those who may be watching closely \u2014 from fully imagining the damage done already to the planet. But when we do truly see the world we\u2019ve made, they say, we will also find a way to make it livable. For them, the alternative is simply unimaginable.\n\n*This article appears in the July 10, 2017, issue of New York Magazine.\n\n*This article has been updated to provide context for the recent news reports about revisions to a satellite data set, to more accurately reflect the rate of warming during the Paleocene\u2013Eocene Thermal Maximum, to clarify a reference to Peter Brannen\u2019s The Ends of the World, and to make clear that James Hansen still supports a carbon-tax based approach to emissions.\n\nListen to this story and more features from New York and other magazines: Download the Audm app for your iPhone.", "output": "Humans are failing to comprehend the crisis of climate change due to \u201cscientific reticence,\u201d climate denialism, imaginative failure and basic fear, according to an article in the New York Magazine. The article highlights key aspects of the potential climate disaster that could result in another mass extinction event, including temperature increases,\u00a0a collapse in the food supply due to drought and heat,\u00a0the release of diseases from melting Arctic ice and the mutation of existing diseases,\u00a0suffocating smog caused by pollution,\u00a0increased war and migration,\u00a0economic collapse,\u00a0rising ocean levels and acidification,\u00a0and human incomprehension of the issue.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Crab-shelling robot could help save jobs in Newfoundland \n The robots are coming. And they're headed for rural Newfoundland.\n\nThe world's first full-on crab plant robot sits inside a tall, plastic chamber roughly the size of a shipping container. A conveyor belt carries the splayed crab into the chamber, where a robot scoops them up and places them on one of two plastic saddles.\n\nAnd then the blade descends.\n\nThe dismemberment is swift: there's a short screech as the blade cuts through the shell and sends tiny chunks of meat into the air.\n\nThe legs tumble into a grey plastic tub below, sorted, sectioned and ready to go.\n\nThe machine was unveiled this spring, developed by Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovation, in partnership with the College of the North Atlantic, Ocean Choice International and the Marine Institute.\n\nIts functions are simple \u2014 cut the crab in half, or remove its legs \u2014 but its impact could be enormous.\n\nThe machine was designed to be a part of a robotic system that would extract the meat from the crab's shells, a process which is often done overseas.\n\nIts designers are also hoping it will solve a few workforce problems in fish plants caused by changing demographics in rural Newfoundland.\n\n\"Younger people are not being attracted to the industry,\" said Bob Verge, managing director of the Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovation.\n\n\"A large part of the labour force in our processing sector now comes from the baby boomer generation. We can't replace those baby boomers with an equal number of younger people.\"\n\n\u200bWork has been shipped overseas\n\nAccording to Verge, the meat extraction used to be done by hand in Newfoundland and Labrador plants, but the labour became too expensive.\n\nThe sections are now being sent overseas for meat extraction, where the labour is considerably cheaper.\n\nBringing that step back to Newfoundland plants would allow plant operators to make more money and get more value from the resource.\n\nCrab are send down a belt to be processed robotically. (Eddy Kennedy/CBC)\n\n\"Instead sending our crab out as sections with meat in its shell, we can get a higher price if we sold the meat instead,\" he said.\n\nVerge hopes the robotic crab butcher will solve a sociological problem, too.\n\nThe population in rural Newfoundland is aging and shrinking. Many young people in rural Newfoundland leave their communities for good when they come of age.\n\nIt's a looming crisis for the province, and it's affecting the processing workforce.\n\n\"If you talk to operators of fish plants today, everybody needs more people,\" he said.\n\nBob Verge runs the Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovation, which promotes research and development in the seafood industry. (Eddy Kennedy/CBC)\n\nGreg Pretty, industrial director at the Fish, Food and Allied Workers union (FFAW), backs this up.\n\n\"The average age is about 55 years old now in seafood processing,\" said Pretty. \"To backfill those positions, it's often difficult.\"\n\nFish plant jobs are wet and cold, and they don't pay much: maybe $15 or $16 an hour.\n\nThey're also seasonal \u2014 the crab season is short, and plants need a lot of people for a short amount of time.\n\nAre robots taking jobs from people?\n\nBoth Verge and Pretty say concerns about the crab butchering robot replacing workers are not entirely supported.\n\nVerge said that since the machine's ultimate intent is meat extraction, a job which is performed overseas, the robot would not be replacing any existing jobs in rural Newfoundland.\n\nStephen King, one of the robot's engineers, sets the machine to cut crab into sections. (Eddy Kennedy/CBC)\n\nWhat's more, he said machines like these can actually increase the quality of the jobs available in plants and help attract young workers.\n\n\"[Technology] attracts those young people,\" he said. \"It creates better, different jobs.\"\n\nInstead sending our crab out as sections with meat in its shell, we can get a higher price if we sold the meat instead. - Bob Verge\n\nPretty agrees with him, at least about the quality of the jobs offered.\n\n\"In instances where a company purchased a lot of machinery we find while there is a displacement of actual labour there is an increase of skilled trades,\" he said.\n\n\"Somebody has to maintain those machines. In that, there is also an increase in income for the individuals.\"\n\n\"That doesn't affect the season, unfortunately.\"\n\nProcessing is a backbone of rural industry\n\nIt's a complicated and pressing problem for the province: though it's easy to find someone who will say there are too many processing plants, those plants are essential to rural Newfoundland.\n\nSeveral studies out of the Harris Centre at Memorial University have found it to be what's called a propulsive industry. In a nutshell, while processing contributes little to the province's overall gross domestic product, it holds up many of the other industries in rural communities.\n\nRob Greenwood is the executive director of the Harris Centre at Memorial University. (Sarah Smellie/CBC)\n\n\"The fish plant in a community and the fish harvesting people who bring the fish into the plant don't necessarily show up as the main source of GDP in the region,\" said Rob Greenwood, executive director of the Harris Centre.\n\n\"But if you go to the welding shop, they exist to service the harvesters and the plant, for the most part. If you go to the trucking business, most of their business is because of the fish activity,\" he said.\n\n\"If you go to the motel, yeah they get some tourists for three months of the year, but it's people coming and going in the fish industry.\"\n\nIn other words, if fishing thrives, rural Newfoundland thrives.\n\nRight now, both fishing and rural communities are undergoing unprecedented levels of change, driven by technology and changing demographics. Greenwood says only time will tell whether technology and demographics will work together, or against each other.", "output": "The Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovation (CCFI) has developed the world\u2019s first crab-shelling meat extraction machine, with plans to introduce it into Newfoundland plants. The robot dismembers the crab with swift efficiency, and could help create more profit for the Newfoundland economy by removing a reliance on exporting crab sections overseas, where the labour of meat extraction is cheaper. The plant could mitigate the problem of not having enough young workers in Newfoundland, offering a technology-based incentive to stay in the area, according to Bob Verge, MD of CCFI.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's sharing economy embraces luxury handbag rentals \n The sharing economy is on the rise in China where customers are now able to rent high-priced handbags on WeChat or via mobile apps. After sharing taxis, bikes and many other products, the world\u2019s second-largest economy has started to share luxury goods, according to a July 5 report.\n\nAccording to the article in the Global Times, which is a nationalist newspaper owned by the Chinese Communist Party, the current founders of many sharing platforms think \u201cit is more economical and environmentally friendly to rent a luxury bag as fashion accessories are replaced frequently.\u201d\n\nIn order to borrow a luxury handbag, interested customers typically need to place a deposit of around RMB 19,000 (USD$2,794), while the cost of rentals generally ranges from RMB 99 (USD$15) to over RMB 1,000 (USD$147) depending on what type of bag is being sought.\n\nChina\u2019s sharing economy is expected to grow rapidly in the next couple of years and is projected to contribute to over 10 percent of the country\u2019s GDP by 2020, according to the National Information Center. Many business professionals thus see great potential in the share economy.\n\nThe Beijing-based startup company Dou Bao Bao (\u6296\u5305\u5305) is one of the companies attempting to take advantage of it. According to information on its official WeChat account, Dou Bao Bao specializes in renting high-end handbags from top-tier luxury brands including Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Christian Dior and Celine.\n\nDou Bao Bao has a WeChat account, which currently serves as the main platform for borrowers. It will also soon be launching an official mobile app. On WeChat, followers can view a list of products currently being offered by the company. By clicking on the picture of the handbag, viewers can see detailed information on the product, such as the price, the deposit amount and shipping details (they\u2019re usually sent via SF Express, one of the best private shipping services in China).\n\nThe company requires consumers to place a deposit of about ten times the monthly rental fee of the selected bag (which is repaid within seven business days after the bag is returned undamaged). It also pledges that the items are authentic, knowing that a major concern for Chinese consumers is that they might be loaned fake products.\n\nShowing that there is support for the concept, in June, the company received more than 10 million yuan (USD$1,470,560) in funding from Chinese domestic investors.\n\nAnother startup firm, Y-Closet, or \u201cYi Er San\u201d in Mandarin, is copying the business model of the New York-based designer dress rental platform Rent the Runway but adapts it to consumption habits of Chinese clients.\n\n\u201cY-Closet only charges RMB 499 (USD$73) per month and you can take out three items of clothing at a time and swap them out as many times as you want,\u201d said Doris Ke, the founder of Y-Closet about the difference between her company and Rent the Runway. \u201cPlus someone will pick up and deliver to you. You don\u2019t have to mail the product at all.\u201d\n\nAnother innovative approach taken by Y-Closet is that it works with Zhima Credit, the credit rating service under Alibaba\u2019s Alipay, which assesses the credit quality of a potential customer. If their credit score on the platform meets the minimum requirements, the deposit is waived for them.", "output": "Since fashion items are frequently replaced, the economic and environmental appeal of borrowing high-tier accessories has not been lost on Chinese consumers, as the latest trend for luxury handbag rentals shows. Start-up Dou Bao Bao rents out bags from the likes of Hermes, Chanel and Christian Dior mainly through China's ubiquitous\u00a0WeChat platform, and\u00a0raised more than\u00a0$1.4m\u00a0in June to fund expansion."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "English Heritage releases VR experience with University of Kent \n Visitors to St Augustine's Abbey will be able to experience medieval England in virtual reality from this weekend.\n\nIn an English Heritage first, the virtual reality experience 'rebuilds' significant parts of the abbey, enabling visitors to view the ornate buildings as they would have looked in the early 16th century.\n\nVisitors will sit in a 'pod' and use Oculus Rift headsets to experience the virtual tour.\n\nThe project is part of a collaboration between English Heritage and the University of Kent. Postgraduate students have spent four years alongside the charity's historians and curators to research and develop the content.\n\nUniversity of Kent Programme Director and MA Architectural Visualisation, Howard Griffin said:\n\n'This exciting project has been an integral part of my students' work over the past four years.\n\n'Heritage sites like St Augustine's Abbey, and their obvious absence of 'concrete' buildings to reference, provide an ideal vehicle for students to develop critical and analytical skills in understanding the spaces they create. It highlights the many ways in which their digital skills can be applied.'", "output": "Postgraduate students at the University of Kent have partnered with English Heritage to launch a world-first for the historical society: a virtual reality tour of St Augustine's Abbey. The building, one of the most significant monasteries in medieval England, will be digitally restored to its 16th-century glory for visitors using Oculus Rift headsets. Heritage sites \"provide an ideal vehicle for students to develop critical and analytical skills in understanding the spaces they create,\" said Howard Griffin, University of Kent Programme Director and MA Architectural Visualisation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurance telematics could track terrorists, UK government told \n Trak Global has urged the government to use telematics to track terrorists who use vehicles as weapons\n\nTrak Global Group has urged policymakers and law enforcement agencies to use vehicle telematics to help prevent terrorist outrages.\n\nRecent attacks have involved rented or hijacked vehicles being driven into crowds of people on Westminster and London bridges and outside the Finsbury Park Mosque in London.\n\nAndrew Brown-Allan, director of Trak Labs, the company\u2019s research division, explained there is potential to link black boxes in cars and on smartphone apps to a centrally-managed platform (dubbed the Universal Telematics Alert Receiver or UTAR) where all forms of telematics devices can alert law enforcement agencies to criminal activity, including terrorism.\n\nBrown-Allan said: \u201cOur analysts have researched the Nice attack in 2016, where there were 520 casualties including 86 deaths. Reports show that the terrorist, Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, drove approximately 1.1 miles in a 19 tonne lorry for about five minutes. That time frame is measured from the start of his journey on the attack route until the police shot him dead.\u201d\n\nHe continued: \u201cIf a central platform had been in existence, it could have been brought into play during the Nice terror attack. Reducing the attack time by even 30 seconds, using a rapid alert system, could have reduced the casualty toll by at least 80-100 casualties.\u201d\n\nBrown-Allan explained that the police are becoming increasingly aware of telematics, and there are several examples of data being used in prosecutions. \u201c750,000 drivers use telematics in the UK, mostly youngsters who use black boxes to bring down the cost of their insurance and drive safer. Many high value car owners use black boxes to track their vehicle\u2019s whereabouts and curtail theft,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cTrak Global is already researching a unique driver ID mechanism that creates an alert if the authorised driver becomes involuntarily separated from their vehicle. If people are comfortable with telematics solving crime and preventing crime, there is no reason why it cannot be used for counter terrorism.\u201d\n\nBrown-Allan has called on the government to set up a working group with a brief to explore how a UTAR system can be set up, who would operate it, how it would be paid for, and what it could actually do. \u201cFor example, it is now possible to immobilise a vehicle remotely, using the technology that goes into a telematics black box.\u201d\n\nHe added: \u201cSince 2015 there have been at least 14 vehicle attacks world-wide, including the Westminster Bridge attack in London, with nearly 850 casualties. We need to harness this relatively new technology to stop terrorists turning vehicles into weapons of mass destruction.\u201d", "output": "Insurance telematics could be used to track terrorists who use vehicles as weapons, the UK government has been told. Trak Global Group urged officials to use vehicle telematics to help avert terror attacks such as those on Westminster and London bridges. The director of Trak Labs, the firm's research division, Andrew Brown-Allan, said it was possible to link black boxes that feed insurance firms data on their policyholders' driving habits to a centrally managed platform, the Universal Telematics Alert Receiver, where all types of telematics devices could alert law enforcement agencies to criminal activity.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Antibiotic-resistant gonorrhoea is spreading: WHO \n Untreatable strains of gonorrhoea are on the rise, the World Health Organization has warned, fuelling fears that last-resort drugs will soon be futile after three confirmed cases in which antibiotics were ineffective.\n\nGonorrhoea is the second most common bacterial sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the UK after chlamydia, with almost 35,000 cases reported in England in 2014. The WHO estimates that 78 million people worldwide contract the disease each year, with most cases affecting young men and women under the age of 25.\n\n\n\nThe latest warning is based on findings from two studies, co-authored by WHO researchers, looking at data from 77 countries; in more than 50, first-line antibiotics were ineffective.\n\n\n\n\u201cTo control gonorrhoea, we need new tools and systems for better prevention, treatment, earlier diagnosis, and more complete tracking and reporting of new infections, antibiotic use, resistance and treatment failures,\u201d said Marc Sprenger, director of antimicrobial resistance at the WHO. \u201cSpecifically, we need new antibiotics, as well as rapid, accurate, point-of-care diagnostic tests \u2013 ideally, ones that can predict which antibiotics will work on that particular infection \u2013 and longer term, a vaccine to prevent gonorrhoea.\u201d\n\n\n\nThese concerns were echoed by others in the field.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe are markedly concerned about the rise in antibiotic resistant gonorrhoea in the UK,\u201d said Prof Claudia Estcourt, a member of the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV. \u201cIn a very short space of time, we have seen changes in the bacteria at an unprecedented rate, which means that many antibiotics which used to work are no longer effective. We are running out of options.\u201d\n\n\n\nAs well as widespread resistance to first-line antibiotics for gonorrhea, resistance is increasing against second and third-line treatments, too.\n\n\n\nGonorrhoea spreads through unprotected vaginal, oral or anal sex, as well as through the sharing of sex toys that have not been washed properly or covered with a new condom. Many of those who contract the disease experience no symptoms, but if left untreated the disease can cause infertility and, in pregnant women, puts babies at risk of blindness.\n\nSince the introduction of antibiotics in 1930s, the bacteria responsible for gonorrhoea, neisseria gonorrhoeae, has shown a remarkable ability to stay one step ahead of our most effective antibiotics.\n\n\u201cGonorrhoea is a very smart bug,\u201d said Teodora Wi, a human reproduction specialist at the Geneva-based UN health agency. \u201cEvery time you introduce a new type of antibiotic to treat it, this bug develops resistance to it.\u201d\n\nWi said one of two new studies on gonorrhoea published in the journal Plos Medicine had documented antibiotic-resistant cases in Japan, France and Spain.\n\n\u201cThese are cases that can infect others. It can be transmitted,\u201d she told reporters. \u201cAnd these cases may just be the tip of the iceberg, since systems to diagnose and report untreatable infections are lacking in lower-income countries where gonorrhoea is actually more common.\u201d\n\nExperts added that funding issues were adding to the problem.\n\n\u201cWe are concerned that at a time of increasing drug-resistant gonorrhoea and limited treatment options, overall funding for sexual health services [in the UK] is being reduced, and a quarter of local authorities have had to reduce spending on sexual health services,\u201d said Estcourt.\n\nManica Balasegaram, director of the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership, said the situation was \u201cgrim\u201d and there was a pressing need for new medicines.\n\nThe pipeline, however, is very thin, with only three potential new gonorrhoea drugs in development and no guarantee any will prove effective in final-stage trials, he said.\n\n\u201cWe urgently need to seize the opportunities we have with existing drugs and candidates in the pipeline,\u201d he said. \u201cAny new treatment developed should be accessible to everyone who needs it, while ensuring it is used appropriately, so that drug resistance is slowed as much as possible.\u201d\n\n\n\n", "output": "Untreatable strains of the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhoea have emerged, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The group warned that at least three people have been found to have the superbug, in France, Japan and Spain, and that it was \u201conly a matter of time\u201d before the last-resort antibiotics used to treat the disease would be useless. Approximately 78 million people a year contract gonorrhoea, which can cause infertility as well as increase\u00a0the risk of getting HIV. Just three potential new drugs to treat the disease are in development, with none guaranteed to be effective.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Antibiotic-resistant gonorrhoea is spreading: WHO \n Data from 77 countries show that antibiotic resistance is making gonorrhoea \u2013 a common sexually-transmitted infection \u2013 much harder, and sometimes impossible, to treat.\n\n\"The bacteria that cause gonorrhoea are particularly smart. Every time we use a new class of antibiotics to treat the infection, the bacteria evolve to resist them,\" said Dr Teodora Wi, Medical Officer, Human Reproduction, at WHO.\n\nWHO reports widespread resistance to older and cheaper antibiotics. Some countries \u2013 particularly high-income ones, where surveillance is best \u2013 are finding cases of the infection that are untreatable by all known antibiotics.\n\n\"These cases may just be the tip of the iceberg, since systems to diagnose and report untreatable infections are lacking in lower-income countries where gonorrhoea is actually more common,\" adds Dr Wi.\n\nEach year, an estimated 78 million people are infected with gonorrhoea*. Gonorrhoea can infect the genitals, rectum, and throat. Complications of gonorrhoea disproportionally affect women, including pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy and infertility, as well as an increased risk of HIV.\n\nDecreasing condom use, increased urbanization and travel, poor infection detection rates, and inadequate or failed treatment all contribute to this increase.\n\nMonitoring drug resistance\n\nThe WHO Global Gonococcal Antimicrobial Surveillance Programme (WHO GASP), monitors trends in drug-resistant gonorrhoea. WHO GASP data from 2009 to 2014 find widespread resistance to ciprofloxacin [97% of countries that reported data in that period found drug-resistant strains], increasing resistance to azithromycin [81%], and the emergence of resistance to the current last-resort treatment: the extended-spectrum cephalosporins (ESCs) oral cefixime or injectable ceftriaxone [66%].\n\nCurrently, in most countries, ESCs are the only single antibiotic that remain effective for treating gonorrhoea. But resistance to cefixime \u2013 and more rarely to ceftriaxone \u2013 has now been reported in more than 50 countries. As a result, WHO issued updated global treatment recommendations in 2016 advising doctors to give 2 antibiotics: ceftriaxone and azithromycin.\n\nDevelopment of new drugs\n\nThe R&D pipeline for gonorrhoea is relatively empty, with only 3 new candidate drugs in various stages of clinical development: solithromycin, for which a phase III trial has recently been completed; zoliflodacin, which has completed a phase II trial; and gepotidacin, which has also completed a phase II trial.\n\nThe development of new antibiotics is not very attractive for commercial pharmaceutical companies. Treatments are taken only for short periods of time (unlike medicines for chronic diseases) and they become less effective as resistance develops, meaning that the supply of new drugs constantly needs to be replenished.\n\nThe Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) and WHO have launched the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP), a not-for-profit research and development organization, hosted by DNDi, to address this issue. GARDP\u2019s mission is to develop new antibiotic treatments and promote appropriate use, so that they remain effective for as long as possible, while ensuring access for all in need. One of GARDP\u2019s key priorities is the development of new antibiotic treatments for gonorrhoea.\n\n\"To address the pressing need for new treatments for gonorrhoea, we urgently need to seize the opportunities we have with existing drugs and candidates in the pipeline. In the short term, we aim to accelerate the development and introduction of at least one of these pipeline drugs, and will evaluate the possible development of combination treatments for public health use,\" said Dr Manica Balasegaram, GARDP Director. \"Any new treatment developed should be accessible to everyone who needs it, while ensuring it\u2019s used appropriately, so that drug resistance is slowed as much as possible.\"\n\nGonorrhoea prevention\n\nGonorrhoea can be prevented through safer sexual behaviour, in particular consistent and correct condom use. Information, education, and communication can promote and enable safer sex practices, improve people\u2019s ability to recognize the symptoms of gonorrhoea and other sexually transmitted infections, and increase the likelihood they will seek care. Today, lack of public awareness, lack of training of health workers, and stigma around sexually transmitted infections remain barriers to greater and more effective use of these interventions.\n\nThere are no affordable, rapid, point-of-care diagnostic tests for gonorrhoea. Many people who are infected with gonorrhoea do not have any symptoms, so they go undiagnosed and untreated. On the other hand, however, when patients do have symptoms, such as discharge from the urethra or the vagina, doctors often assume it is gonorrhoea and prescribe antibiotics \u2013 even though people may be suffering from another kind of infection. The overall inappropriate use of antibiotics increases the development of antibiotic resistance in gonorrhoea as well as other bacterial diseases.\n\n\u201cTo control gonorrhoea, we need new tools and systems for better prevention, treatment, earlier diagnosis, and more complete tracking and reporting of new infections, antibiotic use, resistance and treatment failures,\u201d said Dr Marc Sprenger, Director of Antimicrobial Resistance at WHO. \u201cSpecifically, we need new antibiotics, as well as rapid, accurate, point-of-care diagnostic tests \u2013 ideally, ones that can predict which antibiotics will work on that particular infection \u2013 and longer term, a vaccine to prevent gonorrhoea.\u201d\n\nNotes to editors\n\nThis press release is based on two papers included in a special supplement of PLOS Medicine to be published just before the STI & HIV World Congress (http://www.stihivrio2017.com) taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 9\u201312 July 2017:\n\nAt the STI & HIV World Congress, WHO will host a session on \u201cTackling antimicrobial resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae: Need for a comprehensive and collaborative approach\u201d.\n\nMore about gonorrhoea\n\n* Each year, an estimated 35.2 million people are infected in the WHO Western Pacific Region, 11.4 million people in the WHO South-East Asian Region, 11.4 million in the WHO African Region, 11.0 million in the WHO Region of the Americas, 4.7 million in the WHO European Region and 4.5 million in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region.", "output": "Untreatable strains of the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhoea have emerged, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The group warned that at least three people have been found to have the superbug, in France, Japan and Spain, and that it was \u201conly a matter of time\u201d before the last-resort antibiotics used to treat the disease would be useless. Approximately 78 million people a year contract gonorrhoea, which can cause infertility as well as increase\u00a0the risk of getting HIV. Just three potential new drugs to treat the disease are in development, with none guaranteed to be effective.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Publishers struggle to navigate Amazon Echo ad landscape \n There\u2019s no shortage of reasons for publishers to be excited about on-demand audio as the next platform frontier. But at this point, monetization is probably not one of them.\n\nEven though most publishers don\u2019t yet have audiences big enough to sell on their own, they are finding Amazon to be a relatively permissive partner with Alexa, provided they stay in the lane of delivering news through what Amazon calls Flash Briefings. And they\u2019re beginning to learn what works and what doesn\u2019t.\n\n\u201cThe opportunities are large going forward,\u201d said Pat Higbie, the founder of Xappmedia, which has built over 40 active Alexa skills. \u201cWhere people are right now is trying to feel out what Amazon will allow.\u201d\n\nAmazon has changed its thinking on monetizing Alexa since its launch. At first, Amazon simply barred developers from using Alexa\u2019s voice to read ad copy, and publishers got around that by having their Flash Briefing hosts read ads aloud. Publishers including The Washington Post, HuffPost and Bloomberg began monetizing this way months ago, with The Washington Post starting last July.\n\nIn April, publishers (and advertisers) looking to take advantage of the Alexa devices\u2019 interactive potential got a rude awakening. Amazon revised its rules to bar any ad that promoted third-party products or services, unless those ads were delivered in Flash Briefings, streaming music or radio skills.\n\nAmazon became more restrictive in May, banning any kind of interactivity in its advertising. That move had consequences. Voice analytics service VoiceLabs, which had unveiled a Sponsored Messages ad network that would have allowed advertisers to distribute interactive voice ads across Amazon skills, decided to shut the ad network down within weeks of the change.\n\nWhile Echo devices are a relatively new feature in the media landscape, some audio formats accessible through Alexa, including digital radio broadcasts and podcasts, are fairly well established. That\u2019s why some publishers have treated the Alexa Flash Briefings as one more place to park audio products they have already developed. A number of radio stations, including those owned by Federated Media, simply add the listeners tuning in through their stations\u2019 Alexa skills to their total digital broadcast audience numbers. And because the ads in those broadcasts are already inserted to the stream by the time they come through the device, Amazon doesn\u2019t touch these broadcasts\u2019 ads.\n\nNot everybody lumps the Amazon audiences in with the rest of their audio listeners. The New York Times, for example, puts a version of The Daily \u2014 a short (and daily) podcast that launched in January \u2014 on Alexa devices and Google Home, but it doesn\u2019t count its Alexa audience as part of The Daily\u2019s overall reach and doesn\u2019t monetize those listens.\n\nThe stringent rules Amazon has put in place limiting third-party promotions has limited publishers\u2019 opportunities to integrate sponsored content into some of the skills they\u2019ve developed for non-news purposes. While HuffPost has baked host-read ads into its Flash Briefings, it\u2019s been able to put sponsored-content questions into the news quiz it offers on Google Home. In March, the publisher added daily questions about the ABC drama \u201cAmerican Crime\u201d into its quizzes.\n\nSeparately, two skills Hearst\u2018s emerging platforms team built for Good Housekeeping and Elle have no clear path to monetization because neither skill is considered a Flash Briefing.\n\nListener behavior adds another layer of difficulty. With no ad-skipping capability, readers will simply kill a skill rather than wait through an ad, which is why some publishers have already begun to shorten the run time of the advertisements they put out. The Washington Post, for example, has cut the average run time of the ads in its Flash Briefings from 15 seconds to 10 seconds.", "output": "Publishers, including The Washington Post, HuffPost and Bloomberg, are experimenting with Amazon's voice-activated assistant Alexa, and testing the boundaries of how they can use Flash Briefings to monetise the service. While Amazon's stringent rules have limited publishers' ability to feather in sponsored content from third parties, publishers are being forced to think creatively. For example, HuffPost is using a quiz on Google Home to integrate sponsored content.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Crowdcube reaches \u20ac10m of funding for 47 Spanish companies \n Crowdcube Spain is reporting it has no crowdfunded \u20ac 10,079,728 for 47 different Spanish companies since the Barcelona based platform launched in July 2014. Additionally, Crowdcube shares that momentum has increased as during the first 6 months of 2017 the platform has funded \u20ac3.185 million \u2013 80% more than same period year prior.\n\nBy sector, Crowdcube pointed to the importance generated by Fintech and technological companies in general: in March of this year, the crowdlending platform LoanBook closed a \u20ac641,115 round from 124 investors through Crowdcube. Including the institutional investors the funding hit \u20ac1.75 million; in April, the private lending platform Zank closed its second round with the platform, ending with \u20ac490,450 from 201 investors, and in September of 2016, the Spanish geolocation app Wave closed a cross-border investment round of \u20ac900,000 from 589 investors from 31 different countries.\n\nCrowdcube highlights other success stories from Spanish operation. The drone company Hemav closed on Crowdcube in November 2014 having raised \u20ac450,000 euro from 73 investors in just six days. Since then, Hemav has consolidated a leading position in the drone market and has gone from having 10 employees to 100, through the recent investment of \u20ac3 million from the German investment groups Scranton Enterprises BV and the investment arm of Osborne Clarke.\n\nCrowdcube also notes the brewery Garage Beer, whose founders said there was sincere interest from banks and major investors, were clear about wanting to involve their own customers in their first capital raise. Garage Beer reached \u20ac490,190 euro from 225 investors in May of last year.\n\nCrowdcube states its intent to continue offering the best investment opportunities to private investors, and intends to continue a co-investment model, which combines investment in companies with high potential for growth with both retail investors and with professional and institutional investors. Earlier this year Crowdcube signed a collaboration agreement with the Business Angels network ESADE BAN to co-invest in Spanish startups.\n\n\u201cThe market has professionalised very rapidly. The number of companies that turn to Crowdcube for raise finance has tripled in 2017. We keep growing despite we are still are very selective,\u201d commented Pepe Borrell, Managing Director of Crowdcube in Spain.\n\nAs part of their growth strategy, Crowdcube has started working with companies in more advanced stages to raise money from international investors. Introducing more Spanish companies to the global investor base will be a key focus in 2017 and 2018. Crowdcube says this is what it did with Wave in 2016 and what it did this year with the urban distillery Santaman\u00eda which, as of today, has a round open in Crowdcube\u2019s global platform, which has over 570 investors from 22 different countries.\n\nCrowdcube HQ is based in the UK but the company has announced its intent to open new additional offices across Europe. Along with the Barcelona operation, Crowdcube now has new offices in both Paris and Amsterdam.", "output": "Online crowdfunding platform Crowdcube Spain has attracted \u20ac10m ($11.4m) of investment for 47 companies since it launched in July 2014. During the first six months of 2017 alone, the platform gave out funding of \u20ac3m, 80% more than in the same period the previous year, with fintechs making up a major share of recipients. The Barcelona-based company's clients include crowdlending platform LoanBook, which closed a \u20ac641,115 round with the platform in March, and private lending platform Zank, which secured \u20ac490,450 in a second funding round in April.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "One Belt, One Road plan risks causing an east-west rift in Europe \n Photo: Isabel Infantes/AFP/Getty Images\n\nThe recent Belt and Road Forum in Beijing ushered in a new phase in China\u2019s global repositioning. In his opening speech, President, Xi Jinping reaffirmed the importance of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a massive investment project launched in 2013 to dramatically expand land and sea trade across Asia and beyond.\n\nAt the summit, Xi called the BRI \u201ca new kind of globalization,\u201d a strategy intended to win other countries over rather than coercing them. It seems to be working. The benefits of taking part in the BRI are proving irresistible to many countries\u2014and not just in China\u2019s immediate neighborhood.\n\nAmong the 60 representatives who attended this year\u2019s summit, Central and Eastern European (CEE) states formed the largest group of EU countries. Unlike France and Germany, who sent a senator and a minister respectively, they were represented by their highest state officials, an indicator of just how special a role they now play in China\u2019s European plans.\n\nThis special relationship began in 2012, when China explicitly renewed its ties with the CEE states via an initiative known as the 16+1. This immediately made the \u201cold\u201d EU member states uncomfortable about the scale of Chinese investment to their east, fearing a \u201cscramble for Europe\u201d might be getting underway.\n\nIndeed, Chinese state-owned enterprises\u2019 investments in European nuclear energy, construction and railway infrastructure have grown rapidly since 2012. In countries such as the Czech Republic, Romania and Hungary, Chinese money has flowed into key energy, telecommunications and real estate sectors.\n\nChinese goods can now get to EU markets all the way to London in as little as 18 days (though few EU goods are ever sent in the other direction). The Balkan States, meanwhile, are cheering the prospect of a modern train line from Belgrade to Budapest, bringing crucial infrastructure to a post-communist rust belt left undeveloped for decades.\n\nRegardless of the economic benefits of China\u2019s engagement, the EU still sees it as a threat. Already the signs are there that this investment comes with political strings attached.\n\nPulling Away\n\nWhereas the 16+1 initiative was presented as a unifying force for the region, the reality is that it\u2019s encouraging European countries to directly compete for Chinese cash. China has embraced this state of affairs, changed the Belt and Road\u2019s routes and plans many times already, often to suit a higher or more loyal bidder.\n\nAfter Lithuania and Estonia welcomed the Dalai Lama in 2011, China offered its Baltic investment to a more \u201cpolitically correct\u201d Latvia. Likewise, when Poland hesitated to accept Chinese investments due to security concerns, the same opportunities were snapped up by its neighbors. This sort of \u201cChina courting\u201d doesn\u2019t just affect the balance of investment, but also the coherence of the EU\u2019s values and foreign policy.\n\nSome analysts, for instance, have shown how Chinese enterprises\u2019 economic power translates into political influence at the highest levels of the Czech government. Hungary\u2019s vocal support for recognition of China as a market economy stands at odds with the EU common trade policy, and President Viktor Orban\u2019s praise for the illiberal China model goes against core European values.\n\nFor its part, China has done much to calm the EU\u2019s anxieties about its motives, insisting that it would prefer Europe strong and united and that it wants to contribute to various European projects rather than compete with them. Nonetheless, while the EU urgently needs a common policy toward China, many EU states clearly think they\u2019ll do better if they form their own bilateral ties with Beijing. Why?\n\nEuropean countries are now competing with each other, vying for China\u2019s attention and cash.\n\nPushing Back\n\nSome blame the EU\u2019s failure to invest enough in developing its own backyard, but that doesn\u2019t explain the U-turns by countries such as Hungary, which have benefited immensely from the EU\u2019s regional funds. The truth is that it isn\u2019t just economics pushing the CEE states into the Chinese investors\u2019 arms\u2014it\u2019s also rising nationalism and populism.\n\nThese political tendencies both take a dim view of Brussels and see China as a naturally preferable backer. Whereas the EU is pressing some of the CEE states to accept asylum seeker and refugee quotas and reverse their democratic deterioration, China\u2019s cash seems to come without political pressure.\n\nStill, for all that the BRI is presented as a purely economic project, it remains deeply political\u2014a key element of a strategy to build a new global geopolitical and normative order. The regional rivalry it has created on Europe\u2019s eastern flank perfectly fits that strategy. It not only undermines the EU\u2019s capacity to mount a unified response toward China, but it also normalizes China\u2019s model as a viable system of governance, further entrenching some of the CEE states\u2019 illiberal ways.\n\nGiven the circumstances, these countries\u2019 governments have plenty to answer for. Yes, China might accelerate the EU\u2019s fragmentation by encouraging them to assert themselves against both each other and Brussels\u2014but it is ultimately these governments that are choosing to engage on China\u2019s terms. If they aren\u2019t careful, they could lose leverage with both China and Brussels.\n\nIn contrast, a common EU strategy could empower individual CEE states in their relationship with China, as it would keep in check the \u201cdivide-and-rule\u201d politics of the BRI. In an unusually assertive move, the EU ultimately withdrew from the trade statement that capped the May 2017 BRI summit. Perhaps there is more will to push back than China bargained for.\n\nThis piece first appeared in The Conversation.", "output": "The potential for investment in central and eastern European (CEE) countries as part of China's One Belt, One Road infrastructure plan could cause a rift between these countries and western EU member states, says\u00a0Ma\u0142gorzata Jakim\u00f3w, lecturer in Chinese politics at the University of Sheffield. For instance, CEE states sent higher-ranking representatives to China's Belt and Road Forum than did France and Germany. This shows that CEE states believe they are important to China's European plans, said Jakim\u00f3w. There is also concern among EU member states about the political influence that China would gain through large-scale investments in eastern Europe.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Car-sharing service up! city launches in Bratislava \n Electric up! begins with half- and full-day rental, will later charge per hour\n\nFont size: A - | A + Share Share Twitter Facebook Whatsapp E-mail Link to the page\n\nThe usual taxis in front of the Old Market-hall in downtown Bratislava have been replaced by white electric cars, the Sme daily wrote on July 5. Aliancia Star\u00e1 Tr\u017enica, Volkswagen Slovakia and other partners are launching the first car-sharing service in Slovakia, called up! city.\n\nThe first seven white electric Volkswagen e-Up! cars can be rented from the SNP square.\n\nThe cost is \u20ac25 for a half-day or \u20ac35 for the whole day, and a minimum card balance of \u20ac300 is required to rent the cars.\n\nThe company will later offer a \u20ac4 charge for the minimum rental time of one hour, with the goal of eventually introducing a pricing schedule that charges a per-minute price for the exact time of a drive.\n\nClients will receive a membership card that will enable them to unlock the car and use it by placing the card behind the windscreen.\n\nThe cars have installed the up&go navigation which enables customers to set their own routes or use one of six pre-programmed routes of the capital.\n\nLater, more branches of up! city will be added, Sme wrote, adding that as of now, there is just one location in Slovakia where the cars can be rented and returned.\n\nElectric bicycles and scooters can also be rented in front of the Old Market-hall.", "output": "Volkswagen Slovakia has partnered with Bratislava's city council to provide electric vehicles as part of up! city, Slovakia's first car-sharing service. The cars cost \u20ac25 ($28.50) to rent for half a day and \u20ac35 for a whole day. Users require a minimum card balance of \u20ac300 to rent the cars. The car-sharing service eventually plans to offer a \u20ac4 hourly charge and to introduce a pricing schedule that charges by the minute."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pay-per-mile insurance debuting in UK in 2017 \n The UK\u2019s first pay-per-mile car insurance company has been launched, potentially allowing drivers with low annual mileages to save on their car insurance.\n\nAimed at drivers who cover fewer than 7,000 miles a year - roughly 140 miles a week - customers taking out insurance with By Miles will pay a flat-rate annual fee to insure their cars against theft or damage when parked. They are then charged a variable rate based on how much they actually use the car.\n\n\u2022 Best car insurance companies\n\nMileages are measured using a telematics device plugged into a car\u2019s On Board Diagnostics (OBD-II) port, which typically located under a panel below the steering wheel. Drivers can track journey-by-journey mileages and charges using a dedicated smartphone app, and will be billed each month based on how far they've driven.\n\nCrucially, drivers will not be charged more depending on how or how fast they drive, and By Miles says they will \u201cnever share any of your personal driving data with the police, unless we are obliged to as a direct result of a court order.\u201d\n\nLaunched last year as a start-up \u2013 albeit one with backing from Jaguar Land Rover - By Miles has now begun selling its policies, which are underwritten by AXA. While a number of insurance companies provide cover for low-mileage drivers, these typically charge by the day or by the hour, or require consumers to predict how much they will use their cars, purchasing additional miles if that limit is exceeded.", "output": "By Miles, a start-up insurance company, will provide the UK's first pay-per-mile policy in late 2017 in a bid to offer lower premiums for low-mileage drivers. Using data from a telematics \"black box\", motorists will pay based on their miles driven intead of paying a yealy premium. Each journey's cost is logged on a connected smartphone app with users charged at the end of the month. The system works abroad and only requires the user installing the device in their vehicle."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian city Bhopal launches bike-sharing system \n Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh's capital city recently launched India's first fully-automated bicycle-sharing system as part of its second anniversary of the Smart Cities programme. This development comes just three weeks after Mysuru, Karnataka launched the country's first city-level bicycle-sharing project.\n\nThe Bhopal system involves a fully-automated bike-sharing system of 500 bicycles with over 50 docking stations across the city, backed by a state-of-the-art IT system. The bike-sharing system covers the three most important areas of the city -- New Market, M.P. Nagar and Hoshangabad Road.\n\nAs part of this completely automated system, users can pick up a cycle from any of the stations and deposit it at another station after use, without worrying about depositing it at the original location.\n\nThe bike-sharing system of Bhopal has many firsts but here are three reasons why it can make bike-sharing mainstream in India.\n\nFor one, it is the country's first integrated and fully-automated bicycle-sharing system that connects MyBus, Bhopal's Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), with key residential and commercial nodes.\n\nAlso Read Indore declared India's cleanest city Junior hockey 'B' Division championship to begin on Friday in Bhopal Bhopal espionage case: ATS makes 12th arrest MobiKwik becomes payment partner for Bhopal smart cities MobiKwik partners Bhopal smart city initiative for payments India's outdated electricity grid needs major upgrade: Expert (IANS Interview) Cloudy Friday morning in Delhi High alert in 10 UP districts over heavy rains Jerry Brown announces climate summit in California Harsh Vardhan blames lifestyle for present state of environment\n\nThis means that the bike-sharing system could provide both first- and last-mile connectivity to the city bus system, improving its efficiency.\n\nIn addition to service integration, bike-sharing offers flexible payment options, with one smart card that works for bike-sharing, BRTS and bus services in Bhopal.\n\nBhopal City Link Ltd. -- a special purpose vehicle (SPV) -- is the single nodal agency that will oversee the operational monitoring of all the three modes, making it a great example of institutional integration of public transport modes.\n\nSecondly, it puts safety first. Pedestrians and cyclists comprise the largest number of road traffic crash victims in Indian cities. With road safety as a major concern, many cities in the country are wary about developing cycling facilities due to apprehensions regarding the safety of cyclists on the road.\n\nAs part of the bike-sharing project, Bhopal is developing physically segregated cycle tracks in the city.\n\nInaugurated along with the Public Bicycle Sharing (PBS) project, this will be a 12-km-long dedicated corridor that will be five meters wide. Incidentally, this will also be the country's widest physically-segregated bicycle track. The city is also developing a 55-km-long dedicated network of non-motorised transport, on which work is expected to start shortly.\n\nThirdly, PBS is not a one-off project in Bhopal, but part of a targeted campaign to promote walking and cycling in the city, that was kicked off with Raahgiri Day in September 2014. This campaign has resulted in sections of main streets being closed off to vehicles, such that people can engage in various physical activities like walking and cycling.\n\nThe success of Raahgiri demonstrated that people were ready for a relook at cycling.\n\nIn addition, the city is using the concept of \"tactical urbanism\" to reimagine its streets and public spaces so that they can be more people-friendly. Bhopal is also in the initial stages of planning its first \"smart street\" project as part of this initiative.\n\nThis year marks the 200th anniversary of cycling in the world and this humble mode of transport that went out of fashion and usage due to the growing onslaught of motorisation, is gradually coming back -- and for good.\n\nIt is expected that what Velib did to bike-sharing in Europe, the Bhopal PBS can do for India. However, a lot will depend on its successful implementation and operation.\n\n(In arrangement with indiaclimatedialogue.net. Views expressed are those of the website. Feedback at information@indiaclimatedialogue.net)\n\n--IANS\n\nicd/sac", "output": "Bhopal, the capital city of Madhya Pradesh, has introduced a wholly-automated bike-sharing system, coinciding with the second anniversary of India's Smart Cities programme. The Bhopal system, which covers the New Market, MP Nagar and Hoshangabad Road regions of the city, allows the use of 500 bicycles and over 50 docking points, underpinned by advanced IT connectivity. As part of the initiative, Bhopal is creating dedicated cycle tracks in the city."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "PayPal campaign aims to ease paying back small debts to friends \n Ever dodged your roommate because you owed him money? Avoid the awkward and just PayPal it.\n\nAccording to PayPal, millennials are playing hide and seek with each other every single day. Housemates are hiding in their bedrooms, workmates are ducking into the toilets, and friends are avoiding replying to texts. Why? Because of the tiny debts that turn into a big deal when avoided.\n\nTo combat this, PayPal Australia has launched a campaign encouraging millennials to skip the awkwardness and better manage their finances.\n\nDeveloped by Isobar, the campaign promotes PayPal's peer-to-peer function within the smartphone app that helps people transfer money to friends or family.\n\nAs fintech startups disrupt the PayPal, which was the original disruptor of the finance sector according to PayPal VP Ben Edwards, the business needs to ramp up its offering to remain front of mind.\n\n\u201c84% of Australians feel awkward or stingy asking their friends to pay them back and our number one excuse for not paying our friends back is that we have \u2018no cash\u2019,\" PayPal head of consumer marketing Liz Lefort says.\n\nThe digital campaign is running across Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, digital above-the-line, PR, media partnerships and influencer engagement. It is the first time PayPal has specifically targeted the millennial consumer in the Australian market.\n\n\u201cThe millennial audience is an important group for us, they\u2019re mobile savvy and are looking to find easier ways to manage their money. We are excited to put together a campaign that speaks to this audience in the channels they interact with on a daily basis,\u201d Lefort says.\n\nPayPal is kick-starting the \u2018pay-back\u2019 by putting their money where their mouth is, transferring the cost of a coffee to 3,000 active millennial PayPal users to encourage them to pay back their mate for the coffees they owe.\n\nThis is accompanied by Facebook specific video content highlighting the awkward money moments millennials face every day.\n\nPayPal is also collaborating with Snapchat for the first time to take avoiding the awkward moments to the next (filtered) level to reach the millennial audience.\n\nCREDITS\n\nClient: PayPal Australia\n\nDigital and Social Media: Isobar Australia\n\nMedia: Vizeum and iProspect\n\nPublic Relations: Edelman Australia", "output": "PayPal Australia has launched a social media campaign directly aimed at millennials for the first time, as it aims to persuade them to use the peer-to-peer platform to pay back small debts owed to friends and family. The company has transferred the cost of a coffee into 3,000 active accounts to encourage users to use the service. \"The millennial audience is an important group for us, they\u2019re mobile savvy and are looking to find easier ways to manage their money,\" said Liz Lefort, PayPal head of consumer marketing.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China to build first 'forest city' to tackle air pollution \n M ore than a million people die every year from air pollution in China, but now the country is fighting back with innovative solutions.\n\nThis is Italian architect Stefano Boeri\u2019s colossal \u2018forest city\u2019 scheme - a newly built metropolis that will \u2018eat\u2019 its own toxic smog with one million plants and 40,000 trees.\n\nThe idea is to challenge preconceptions that urban density intensifies air pollution, by creating a new blueprint for city design that integrates plants into its construction.\n\n100 different species of plants are planned to grow on balconies and roofs of the city\u2019s skyscrapers, lining 175 hectares along the Liujiang River in Southern China.\n\nStefano Boeri Architetti\n\nOnce completed, the shrubs will breathe in fine dust from the air, catching and soaking up pollutants from the toxic environment.\n\nWhen the city is fully grown, it will be able to absorb almost 10,000 tons of CO2, 57 tons of pollutants per year and produce approximately 900 tons of oxygen annually.\n\nThe new green city in Liuzhou will reportedly host 30,000 people, with hospitals, schools and fast electic rail services all part of the construction.\n\nThe project was commissioned by the Liuzhou Municipality Urban Planning and will be constructed in the north of Liuzhou along the Liujiang river.\n\nThe construction of the green-city-in-the-making is currently underway and will be finished by 2020.\n\nStefano Boeri Architetti\n\nOccupying 432 acres, the Liuzhou Forest City will be roughly half of the size of the Central Park in New York.\n\nThere are also plans to fit geothermal and solar energy resources, so the city runs on a green and self-sustainable power source.\n\nStefano Boeri Architetti\n\nBoeri, who has previously designed two vertical skyscraper \u2018forests\u2019 in Milan, said: \u201cThe diffusion of plants, not only in the parks and gardens or along the streets, but also over building facades, will allow the energy self-sufficient city to contribute to improve the air quality (absorbing both CO2 and fine dust of 57 tons per year), to decrease the average air temperature, to create noise barriers and to improve the biodiversity of living species, generating the habitat for birds, insects and small animals that inhabit the Liuzhou territory.\u201d\n\nIf successful, the forest city could be a blueprint for other countries where air pollution is an issue.\n\nThere may also be a second forest city' in the works, reports The Guardian, this time in northern China near Shijiazhuang - one of the most polluted regions in the country.", "output": "China is to build its first \"forest city\" in Liuzhou by 2020, with 1 million plants and 40,000 trees, to tackle air pollution. It was designed by Italian architect Stefani Boeri, who was the creator of vertical skyscraper forests\u00a0in Milan. The idea behind the\u00a0southern China city\u00a0is to challenge the thought that urban living worsens air pollution, by making a blueprint for a city that integrates plants into its construction to take\u00a0CO2 and fine dust out of the atmosphere and emit\u00a0oxygen into it. The city is expected to have about 30,000 inhabitants and is planned to run on green energy."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Press Association wins \u00a3621,000 grant to create AI written stories \n Robots will help a national news agency to create up to 30,000 local news stories a month, with the help of human journalists and funded by a Google grant.\n\nThe Press Association has won a \u20ac706,000 (\u00a3621,000) grant to run a news service with computers writing localised news stories.\n\nThe national news agency, which supplies copy to news outlets in the UK and Ireland, has teamed up with data-driven news start-up Urbs Media for the project, which aims to create \u201ca stream of compelling local stories for hundreds of media outlets\u201d.\n\nIt won one of the largest grants to date from Google\u2019s Digital News Initiative (DNI), which is aimed at supporting innovation in European digital journalism. PA and Urbs Media will set up Radar \u2013 Reporters And Data And Robots \u2013 to produce thousands of stories each month.\n\nPA\u2019s editor-in-chief, Peter Clifton, said journalists will still be involved in spotting and creating stories and will use artificial intelligence to increase the amount of content. He said: \u201cSkilled human journalists will still be vital in the process, but Radar allows us to harness artificial intelligence to scale up to a volume of local stories that would be impossible to provide manually. It is a fantastic step forward for PA.\u201d\n\nThe scheme aims to meet an \u201cincreasing demand for consistent, fact-based insights into local communities\u201d for regional media outlets as well as independent publishers and hyperlocal sites and bloggers, said PA.\n\nJournalists will find stories in national open databases from sources including government departments, local councils and NHS trusts, and make \u201cdetailed story templates\u201d for topics such as crime, health and employment. Multiple versions of the story will be created with Natural Language Software and will \u201cscale up the mass localisation of news content\u201d.\n\nClifton said it was \u201ca hugely exciting development for PA\u201d that would be \u201ca genuine game-changer for media outlets across the UK and Ireland\u201d.\n\nPA and Urbs Media are making a workflow plan to generate the large volume of stories for clients. The grant will also be used to make database tools to collect and combine datasets and \u201ceditorial intelligence\u201d will guide the automation process.\n\n\n\nRadar will auto-generate graphics, video and pictures to add to stories. Money will also be used to boost PA\u2019s distribution platforms to help its local customers find and use the content.\n\nPA has already shared some of its plans with its regional customers. It is recruiting a team of five journalists to spot stories, create templates for them and edit the data-driven content.\n\nClifton said: \u201cAt a time when many media outlets are experiencing commercial pressures, Radar will provide the news ecosystem with a cost-effective way to provide incisive local stories, enabling audiences to hold democratic bodies to account.\u201d\n\nThe scheme is likely to begin early next year, as PA celebrates its 150th anniversary.\n\n\n\nTim Dawson, president of the National Union of Journalists, said the union was not Luddite or against technological innovation, but added: \u201cUnder-investment in journalism and journalists is a massive problem in the media across the UK. If money\u2019s floating about, that\u2019s really what it should be spent on.\u201d\n\nHe said the fire at Grenfell Tower had highlighted the need for \u201crobust journalism\u201d. Dawson added: \u201cI\u2019ve no doubt that it is possible for computers and algorithms to mine data out of stories.\u201d\n\nHe said it could give reporters more time to develop the stories, but added: \u201cThe real problem in the media is too little bona fide reporting. I don\u2019t believe that computer whizzbangery is going to replace that. What I\u2019m worried about in my capacity as president of the NUJ is something that ends up with third-rate stories which look as if they are something exciting, but are computer-generated so they [news organisations] can get rid of even more reporters.\u201d\n\nDawson said readers are still attracted by well written and compelling stories and well crafted photographs.\n\n", "output": "The Press Association has won a \u00a3621,000 grant from Google's Digital News Initiative to create an artificial intelligence run news service that writes localised news stories. The Press Association has teamed up with Urbs Media and will build out the Radar platform that enables journalists to make \"detailed story templates\" for a range of sectors. Editor-in-chief, Peter Clifton, said there is still need for skilled human journalists to source stories but the platform will \"scale up the mass localisation of news content\u201d."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hackers target US nuclear power plants and energy facilities \n Since May, hackers have been penetrating the computer networks of companies that operate nuclear power stations and other energy facilities, as well as manufacturing plants in the United States and other countries.\n\nAmong the companies targeted was the Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation, which runs a nuclear power plant near Burlington, Kan., according to security consultants and an urgent joint report issued by the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation last week.\n\nThe joint report was obtained by The New York Times and confirmed by security specialists who have been responding to the attacks. It carried an urgent amber warning, the second-highest rating for the sensitivity of the threat.\n\nThe report did not indicate whether the cyberattacks were an attempt at espionage \u2014 such as stealing industrial secrets \u2014 or part of a plan to cause destruction. There is no indication that hackers were able to jump from their victims\u2019 computers into the control systems of the facilities, nor is it clear how many facilities were breached.", "output": "According to a report by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, hackers are targeting US nuclear power plants and other energy facilities, as well as manufacturing plants in the US. Among the targets is the Wolf Creek nuclear facility in Kansas. It has been discovered that the\u00a0hackers are mapping out computer networks for future attacks, looking for vulnerabilities,\u00a0and it is believed they are working for a foreign government \u2013\u00a0with Russia being the chief suspect. However,\u00a0investigators have been unable to analyse the malicious \u201cpayload\u201d of the hackers\u2019 code, which would reveal more\u00a0details about what they are after."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "France looks to ban all diesel and petrol engines by 2040 \n Once upon a time, diesel fuel was going to be the future. It was seen as more efficient, on a mileage-per-gallon basis, than other fossil fuels, and for that reason was also thought to be less polluting. About two decades ago, acting on those beliefs, policy makers in Europe\u2014where high energy prices already made mileage a more-pressing issue than in the U.S.\u2014made a number of rules that incentivized the growth of diesel over gasoline for use in passenger cars, moving past its traditional role in trucking and construction.\n\nThese policies were remarkably successful at meeting their goals, and diesel-powered cars soon accounted for half of the cars sold on the continent. Car companies poured resources into developing diesel-related technology. But the result of this success has been not greener, friendlier, cheaper motoring, but the creation of toxic clouds over major European cities. At the end of 2016, Paris was choked by its worst episode of smog in more than a decade, lasting longer than two weeks, according to the city\u2019s pollution-watching agency Airparif, and prompting the city to enact emergency measures that included restricting car use. It was not the first time. During a March 2015 pollution event, Paris was briefly the most polluted city in the world, surpassing famously smoggy Beijing. London shared in the ignominy when it too beat out Beijing for the first time in January of this year.\n\nDiesels have played the main role in this. Since the 1960s, advances in technology that treats and filters gasoline engines\u2019 exhaust, like the widespread use of catalytic converters, have cut down on the amount of dirty, unhealthy, and smog-producing emissions these engines spew out into the surrounding environment. But while diesels get better mileage and so contribute less to global climate change, the local effects of diesel pollution are much worse than those of gasoline. Diesel is a less refined fuel, and so it contains more of the particulate matter that can have deadly health effects when spewed into the surrounding environment. And burning diesel produces, among other noxious gases, nitrogen dioxide, the main cause of smog.\n\nIn many cases the same regulatory bodies that were trying to get citizens into diesels only a few years ago are now working to get the engines off the road entirely, instituting additional, diesel-specific congestion-charging and other disincentives in cities, in recognition of the fact that their green-friendliness was mistaken. During particularly bad bouts of smog, several European cities have temporarily banned driving outright, or instituted restriction schemes where, for example, cars with odd and even number plates are allowed in on alternate days. The mayors of Athens, Mexico City, and Madrid have committed to ridding their cities of diesel cars altogether by 2025, and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said \u201cthere will be no diesel vehicles in Paris in 2020.\u201d Other cities around the continent and world are implementing smaller-scale efforts to discourage diesel too.\n\nBut lately, the biggest story when it comes to diesel remains Volkswagen\u2019s ongoing \u201cDieselgate\u201d scandal, in which the company installed \u201cdefeat devices\u201d that allowed its diesel cars to put out dramatically higher levels of toxic emissions on the road than show up during regulators\u2019 lab tests. A year and a half after the cheating was discovered, the full results of the scandal are still uncertain: The U.S. has levied more than $22 billion in fines against the company, the world\u2019s largest automaker, and more may still be coming. Meanwhile, millions of the deceptive VWs are still on roads around the world, with consequential EU action on the matter minimal.\n\nMuch worse for diesel at large, rumors that the offending practice was not limited to Volkswagen Group, which have been floating around since the scandal first broke, seem to be turning out to be true. The Environmental Protection Agency recently moved against the trans-Atlantic auto giant Fiat Chrysler for using similar devices, and General Motors is being sued in a class action for cheating in its diesel pickup trucks, which outnumber the offending VWs on American roads by several hundred thousand. The EU also started legal action against Italy for failing to meet its obligations as a member state to enforce regulations on Fiat Chrysler.\n\nIn Europe, meanwhile, the push for diesel has turned out to be a disaster.\n\nEven if Volkswagen hadn\u2019t been cheating, there are enough counts against diesel that the wisdom of using it would likely still be being questioned. Is diesel, the workhorse fuel that was supposed to save the world, doomed? To evaluate its future, it\u2019s important to understand how diesel came to be hailed as the fuel of the future in the first place.\n\nBefore a German inventor named Rudolph Diesel created the compression engine in 1895, the earliest American oil companies used to simply throw away the fuel that would come to bear his name. Firms had started drilling and extracting oil in the U.S. in 1859, but they distilled it, separating out its parts by density, mainly in an effort to get the very light kerosene that was burned in the lamps that lit the middle of the 19th century. For the purposes of illumination and most other needs of the era, heavier fuels like gasoline were seen as byproducts of little use\u2014except sometimes as a particularly pungent and flammable cleaning agent. Diesel was unpopular because as fuel oils get heavier, they get harder to ignite, and diesel fuel is even heavier than gasoline.\n\nIt is actually this property of diesel\u2014its density\u2014that has driven the story of its use all the way through the present day. The great innovation of Rudolph Diesel\u2019s engine was that instead of a regular gasoline engine\u2019s method of igniting the mixture of fuel and air that combusts and drives the cylinders using a spark, in Diesel\u2019s invention the force of the pistons themselves would compress the air until it got so hot it ignited, squeezing out almost the maximum thermodynamically possible amount of energy. There were a number of benefits to engines like this, the primary one being that they provided a lot of oomph at low rpms, which is why they came to be used widely in trucks, which need to get heavy loads up to speed. Another benefit was that the hotter-burning process makes better use of the fuel, combusting it more completely so that the engines could have better mileage and range.\n\nAlmost a century later, an ingenious engineer at one of Volkswagen Group\u2019s brands named Ferdinand Pi\u00ebch, a grandson of the company\u2019s founder, would be among those who noticed that these characteristics had a lot of unexploited potential in the passenger-car sector, particularly in Europe, where fuel prices are high and every liter at the pump is precious. Pi\u00ebch, who went on to run VW and then sit on its governing board from the early \u201990s until 2015, was heavily involved in the development of turbocharged direct injection, or TDI, technology. This technology, which allowed small diesel engines with great mileage to provide more power at a wider range of speeds, was and is an impressive development, and it has continued to be refined since.\n\nMany of the traditional problems consumers associated with the diesel engines that were already common in trucks, school buses, and construction equipment were solved during this time: Previously, diesels loudly clattered, whereas gasoline engines purred and burbled and growled. Diesels also smelled acrid and belched visible black smoke. Modern diesel-engine technology is still dirtier for the direct local environment\u2014contributing to poor air quality and some health problems\u2014but it has become relatively quiet, and it took on an aura of environmental friendliness, a complete inversion of its previous reputation and the key change that made it possible for VW and others to use diesel power as a positive selling point for peppy, cheap-to-run cars.\n\nOne more thing added to the proliferation of diesels in the mass passenger-car market: concerns about climate change, which made the efficient physics of the diesel engine even more of an asset. Public policy started (haltingly) to acknowledge that the harmful environmental impact of emissions was not just local, through pollution of the surrounding air, but also global, through the release of gases that contribute to climate change. For some consumers, this changed the moral status of cars and car ownership: Having good fuel economy isn\u2019t just a consumer good, but a civic good. As recently as five years ago, diesel was an environmental priority among many politicians, car companies, scientists, and even environmental activists.\n\nOne researcher estimates that the number of people diesel has killed is in the \u201chundreds of thousands.\u201d\n\nPolicy makers, particularly in Europe, moved to incentivize diesel in the \u201890s and \u201800s with tax breaks at the pump, and they tightened regulations that focused on mileage per gallon (or the equivalent European measurement unit, liters per 100 kilometers), which inherently favor Rudolph Diesel\u2019s thermodynamically efficient engines over gasoline-powered ones that use more gallons but spew fewer toxins. In some countries, including France and Spain, taxes were lower on diesel cars than gas ones. The market share of diesel cars in Western Europe went from less than 14 percent in 1990 to half today, after touching a high of 56 percent in 2011. As Bloomberg\u2019s Leonid Bershidsky points out, Japan had a similar rate of diesels at the turn of the millennium, but absent similar policies, those in Japan more or less disappeared over the period that diesel sales in Europe tripled, as Japanese manufacturers pushed into hybrids.\n\nDiesel\u2019s market share in the U.S., where fuel prices are traditionally much cheaper and thus exert less pressure on demand for efficient engines, is puny by comparison and pretty much always has been. While there are real differences between the North American and European markets, some might argue that the market for diesel in the U.S. was irrationally underserved, and this seems to have been Volkswagen\u2019s assessment when it decided to roll out its big \u201cClean Diesel\u201d campaign in 2008 to try to get Americans buying TDIs at closer to the rate of Europeans. Americans, however, never came around, and diesel is so tainted now by the various scandals that they likely never will.\n\nIn Europe, meanwhile, the push for diesel has turned out to be a disaster. \u201cThey're these relatively powerful and efficient engines that are kind of deadly in terms of their emissions,\u201d said Timothy Lipman, the co-director of the Transportation Sustainability Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley. The \u201cdeadly\u201d effects Lipman refers to are extremely serious. Both the nitrogen oxides that come from diesel engines\u2019 high-compression combustion and the fine, sooty particulate matter that can get into human tissue carry serious health effects that cost lives. In addition to lower respiratory diseases like chronically obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma, which they can cause especially in children and worsen among people who are already asthmatic, particulate matter in the engines\u2019 fumes is associated with heart attacks, lung cancer, and strokes, among other things.\n\n\u201cI'm sure the levels of particulate matter and nitrogen oxide as well would be much, much lower in European cities if they didn't have the incentives they had for diesel cars,\u201d said Helotonio Carvalho, a molecular biologist at Brazil\u2019s Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife. He added, \u201cWe are going in a direction where diesel cars probably won't have a place.\u201d Carvalho has written in the medical journal The Lancet that 400,000 people died prematurely from all the various sources of air pollution in Europe in 2011. I asked him how many deaths can be attributed specifically to Europe\u2019s elevated rate of diesels, relative to, for example, North America or to his native Brazil, where diesel passenger cars haven\u2019t been allowed as a matter of policy. He told me that the number is in the \u201chundreds of thousands.\u201d\n\nPolicy makers in Europe seem to be adjusting to the reality. Sir David King, the chief science adviser to the U.K. government and the public face of its \u201cDash for Diesel\u201d policy, who once famously caused a controversy by declaring carbon dioxide more threatening than terrorism, said in April that \u201cit turns out we were wrong\u201d to think automakers would make diesels that emitted within regulatory limits. Former French Prime Minister Manuel Valls used similar language. And Elzbieta Bienkowska, an EU commissioner who oversees the auto industry, made a bold prediction in some recent comments to policy makers: \"Diesel will not disappear from one day to another. But after this year of work ... I am quite sure they will disappear much faster than we can imagine.\u201d\n\nThe economic effects of that will ripple. For one thing, there are lag times that come with ratcheting up the production of regular gasoline, so while the energy industry adapts its supply to the change, increased European demand for gasoline will push up prices in the U.S. and elsewhere. Then there\u2019s the car industry, in which, Lipman told me, the companies that have focused on batteries and hybrid technology are now positioned better than the European companies that made big bets on diesel, partly as a response to pro-diesel policies.\n\nFinally, there is the most urgent issue with the \u201cDieselgate\u201d scandal, that of the millions of Volkswagen and other diesels still on the road, emitting far outside of acceptable limits. For the good of the environment and public health, they cannot be left noncompliant. But the reason companies like Volkswagen would want to cheat in the first place is because few would want to own and drive a diesel car that met regulations, and performed like it. Will they now just be left to rot in automotive graveyards? Or will they be made compliant but unloveable?\n\nThese are the kinds of questions that thinking about the future of diesel raises. They\u2019re grim, for car lovers, for car companies, and for people whose health is on the line. In a quite real sense they are just a different version of the same dilemma engineers and managers at Volkswagen must have faced, and crucially bungled at the expense of other people\u2019s lives, when public-health regulations and the limits of the engines\u2019 chemistry came into conflict. It does nothing to excuse these companies to observe that the pressures they felt to cheat on behalf of diesel existed for the very same reasons that made engineers start using the dirty, dense stuff in the first place: Diesel engines\u2019 pep, efficiency, and cheapness to run offered a solution to the challenge of making cars that met customers\u2019 expectations about performance as regulators who were focused on global climate change pushed for tighter fuel efficiency standards\u2014without anticipating the fateful tradeoffs in toxic air pollution. And so the story of diesel seems to have turned out to be a tragedy, because its good qualities are inexorably linked to its bad ones. And as with any good tragedy, everything seems to be building towards the death of the main character. In the modern world, diesel just doesn\u2019t fit.", "output": "France will outlaw\u00a0all petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040, according to an announcement by the country's environment minister Nicolas Hulot. The move is part of a wider package of measures introduced by president Emmanuel Macron to make France carbon neutral by 2050, and follows similar decisions by Germany, the Netherlands and India. \"We want to demonstrate that fighting against climate change can lead to an improvement of French people\u2019s daily lives,\u201d said Hulot. As part of the proposal, poorer households will be offered\u00a0financial incentives to exchange\u00a0their old polluting cars for electric vehicles\u00a0and hybrids.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "France looks to ban all diesel and petrol engines by 2040 \n Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nIndependent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nFrance plans to ban all petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040, the country's new environment minister has announced.\n\nNicolas Hulot made the announcement as he unveiled a series of measures as part of newly elected President Emmanuel Macron's plan to make the country carbon neutral by 2050.\n\nMr Hulot said he recognised the target would put pressure on France's car manufacturers, but he said they currently had projects which \"can fulfil that promise\".\n\nAs part of the plan, poorer households will receive a premium so they can swap their polluting vehicles for clean alternatives.\n\nThe announcement comes after Volvo said on Wednesday it planned to build only electric and hybrid vehicles from 2019.\n\nSpeaking at a press conference, Mr Hulot told reporters France would stop using coal to produce electricity by 2022 and that up to \u20ac4bn of investments will help to boost energy efficiency.\n\nThe announcements are part of a five-year-plan to encourage clean energy and fulfil the country's commitments under the Paris Agreement.\n\nMr Hulot said the government wanted to maintain the country's \"leadership\" in climate policy.\n\n\"We want to demonstrate that fighting against climate change can lead to an improvement of French people's daily lives,\" he said.\n\nFrance is not the only country which aims to ban combustion-powered cars. The Netherlands and Norway previously said they wanted to get rid of petrol and diesel vehicles by 2025 and Germany and India announced similar plans ahead of 2030.\n\nWorld news in pictures Show all 50 1 / 50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the \"Creek Fire\" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading \"Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression\" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty\n\nMr Hulot also announced plans to end the importation of products such as palm oil and unsustainably grown soya, which contribute to deforestation around the world and particularly in the Amazon forest, South-East Asia and in Congo.\n\nThe former journalist and wildlife TV presenter said deforestation represented 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.\n\nHe said it would be \"schizophrenic\" to encourage industrials and manufacturers to reduce their emissions while accepting that millions of trees, which absorb carbon dioxide, are being chopped down.\n\nMr Hulot also said \"citizen panels\" will be established in order to debate practical ways in which France can meet its commitment under the Paris climate accord and reduce its emissions.\n\nFrench Parliament is expected to vote on a bill in the autumn which would ban all new exploitation permits for petrol, natural gas and coal.\n\nFrance has also pledged to reduce nuclear energy from 75 per cent to 50 per cent of the country's energy mix by 2025.\n\nReacting to the news, ClientEarth CEO James Thornton said: \u201cThis is a huge statement of intent from the French government and an example of how we\u2019re likely to see exponential change in the coming years as governments grapple with the necessary changes we have to make for air quality and our climate.\n\n\u201cComing hot on the heels of Volvo\u2019s announcement yesterday, the outlook for the internal combustion engine is bleak. This is now clearly the direction of travel and industry players who are not on board will find themselves struggling before long.\n\n\"These moves should be heeded by other governments and industry, who need to act to protect us from air pollution in our towns and cities and help mitigate climate change.\u201d", "output": "France will outlaw\u00a0all petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040, according to an announcement by the country's environment minister Nicolas Hulot. The move is part of a wider package of measures introduced by president Emmanuel Macron to make France carbon neutral by 2050, and follows similar decisions by Germany, the Netherlands and India. \"We want to demonstrate that fighting against climate change can lead to an improvement of French people\u2019s daily lives,\u201d said Hulot. As part of the proposal, poorer households will be offered\u00a0financial incentives to exchange\u00a0their old polluting cars for electric vehicles\u00a0and hybrids.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Qualcomm calls for ban on iPhone imports to the US from China \n Around two months, when Apple had said that it won\u2019t be paying royalties of $1 billion to Qualcomm until the issue between them is resolved, Qualcomm demanded the ban on manufacturing of iPhones in the U.S. and Asia. Today, Qualcomm has officially registered a complaint with the International Trade Commission (ITC) and Federal Court in the U.S. to import the ban of some iPhones claiming that Apple is unfairly using its technology.\n\nAccording to the complaint filed by Qualcomm with ITC, iPhones that are manufactured in China should not be imported to the U.S. if they are infringing the patents of Qualcomm. The case filed with US District Court for Southern California seeks damages for patent infringement.\n\nThe U.S. based chip maker has accused of Apple of infringing six of its technological patents that belong to some of the important features of iPhones. Qualcomm claims that Apple is continuously using these patents without paying for them. As of this writing, there is no information on which iPhones are infringing Qualcomm\u2019s patents. Hence, the chipset making company is gunning to various operations of Apple such as selling, advertising, importing, warehousing of the iPhone.\n\nThe six patents that Apple is said to be violating are related to optimized performance of battery, prolonging battery life while sending live video by creating data super-highway, network management and system performance. All the six patents were issued in the last four years. The images in this post are from Qualcomm which gives a breakdown of all the six patents along with details on each one of them that are being violated by Apple iPhones.\n\nRead More: Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 Chipset is Official; Brings 25% CPU, GPU Performance, Better Battery Life\n\nIn April, Apple had filed a legal complaint against Qualcomm for unfairly charging patent licensing fees. The complaint stated that the U.S. chip maker is asking the Cupertino company to pay five times more money than it is collectively paying to cellular patent licensors. Apple has also said that the illegal business practices of Qualcomm are not negatively impacting it but also the entire industry. According to Apple, Qualcomm is only supplying it with a single connectivity component that does not belong to any of the innovations of Apple that it uses on its iPhones and still it is demanding a percentage of the collective cost of its products. At the same time, Qualcomm has also said that Apple is spreading false and misleading information to antitrust agencies in a bid to decrease the royalty amount that it is to pay to Qualcomm.\n\n(source|via)", "output": "Qualcomm has registered a complaint with the International Trade Commission and the Federal Court in the US that iPhones manufactured in China must not be imported to the US as they could be infringing the patents of Qualcomm. It is claiming that Apple is using its technology unfairly. Apple and Qualcomm are currently in legal wrangling over royalty amounts and claimed patent infringements, with Apple refusing to pay royalties of $1bn to Qualcomm until the dispute is resolved."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Finnish regulators push UberPOP to suspend service \n Uber has given in to regulatory pressure in Finland, and is suspending its UberPOP until that country implements limited taxi deregulation next year.\n\nThe company was losing on points in its regulatory battles in the country, with Finnish police investigating whether its operations amount to an illegal taxi services. During that investigation, a Helsinki district court ordered the seizure of assets of the ride-share business's Finnish country manager.\n\nPolice had asked the court to seize the company's assets, but instead the court froze up to \u20ac246,000 of Joel Jarvinen's personal assets.\n\nIt's only legal for someone to drive for Uber in Finland if they hold a taxi drivers' licence; the problem is, rather than go through the lengthy process to get one, drivers are accused of driving illegally.\n\nDrivers caught operating illegally are hit hard. As Reuters reports, they forfeited their income to the government.\n\nSo the company has decided to buckle: while its UberBLACK licenced operators will continue, it's going to shutter its Finnish UberX-equivalent, UberPOP, until Finland introduces new taxi regulation in 2018.\n\nJarvinen wrote in this blog post \u201cwe will soon be pressing the pause button on UberPOP in the Finnish capital Helsinki, before we relaunch next summer.\u201d\n\nFinland passed deregulatory legislation in April, but it doesn't take effect until July 2018. Under the new regulations, drivers will still need permits, but the number of permits issued each year will no longer be capped, and fare restrictions will be removed.\n\nThe company promises as-yet-unspecified support for drivers affected by the service suspension, which comes into effect on August 18. Jarvinen says staff working in the Helsinki office will remain. \u00ae", "output": "Uber has suspended its UberPOP service in Finland effective 18 August following\u00a0sustained regulatory pressure from the country's authorities.\u00a0However, it\u00a0will resume operations following deregulation next year, according to a blog post by Finnish Country Manager Joel Jarvinen. The company's UberBLACK service will continue to operate throughout the pause. Uber drivers in Finland must hold a taxi drivers'\u00a0licence to work legally, though many ignore the regulation.\u00a0At the height of Uber's legal battle with Finnish authorities, a Helsinki court ordered Jarvinen's assets to be seized.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GE Healthcare uses Instagram for one-clip-a-day documentary \n While traveling through India, Africa and Southeast Asia, GE Healthcare\u2019s president of sustainable healthcare solutions, Terri Bresenham, wanted to bring awareness and empower the work that women were doing to bring healthcare to their communities.\n\nSo, she and her team worked to create a 30-minute documentary called Heroines of Health that tells the story of three such women with an intriguing distribution plan\u2014each day the brand is posting a one-minute clip to Instagram that tells a new part of the story.", "output": "GE Healthcare has been using Instagram as part of its Heroines of Health campaign, which highlights the\u00a0grassroots work of women bringing healthcare to their communities. A team led by Terri Bresenham, the company's president of sustainable healthcare solutions, created a half-hour documentary, with one-minute clips shown daily on the social media site. The initiative was inspired by Bresenham's travels through Southeast Asia, Africa and India.\u00a0One week in, the videos have generated\u00a0250,000 views, 80,000 likes and 400 bookmarks. Later this month, the entire\u00a0video will be launched on Facebook, and the\u00a0campaign will be promoted\u00a0on Twitter."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snapchat's Paperclip enables users to share links in app \n by Erik Sass @eriksass1, July 6, 2017\n\nWhen it comes to their dealings with technology platforms, publishers need every bit of good news.\n\nSnapchat may have given them something to smile about with its new Paperclip feature. It allows users to incorporate links to external Web sites into messages and content sent within the app.\n\nPaperclip, unveiled by Snapchat earlier this week, enables users to attach links to third-party mobile Web sites to videos or images in private messages or as part of a Snapchat Story.\n\nAmong other possibilities, the Paperclip feature would allow publishers to include links to additional pages in content distributed via Snapchat. The same capability could benefit brands pursuing branded-content publishing strategies. Before, brands could include links only in paid ads.\n\nadvertisement advertisement The recipient just has to swipe up on the video or image to access the content, which then surfaces in Snapchat\u2019s proprietary in-app browser. That\u2019s considerably more convenient than the previous workaround, which required them to send \u201cSnapcodes\u201d to their contacts, who would then have to scan the QR code to access the content.\n\nIn a reversal of the usual dynamic, it would appear Snapchat is borrowing a page from Facebook\u2019s Instagram, which recently unrolled the ability to include external Web links. However, Snapchat goes further, as Instagram links are currently limited to its Stories feature, and then only for verified users with more than 10,000 followers.\n\nPaperclip is just one of a number of features unveiled by Snapchat this week. Another is backdrops, which allow users to overlay various patterns onto portions of their snaps.\n\nSnapchat also recently bowed Snap Maps, which let users track their friends\u2019 locations in real-time. Smartphone users can virtually scan their physical surroundings and see where friends are posting snaps and stories.", "output": "Snapchat has unveiled a Paperclip feature that enables users to attach third-party links to messages and images. It will\u00a0grant\u00a0publishers the ability to incorporate links to additional pages in their\u00a0distributed content, and could also be of service to brands, which were previously limited to links in paid ads. The feature is an update on the Snapcodes tool, which permitted users to send QR codes for contacts to scan as a prerequisite for accessing the content.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google Digital News Initiative has funded 107 journo-tech projects \n Google\u2019s Digital News Initiative, now in its third round, has awarded over \u00a319m in funding to over 100 projects across Europe - including Dennis\u2019 publisher sell-side platform Project Arete, Jimmy Wales\u2019 news platform Wikitribune, and Al Jazeera\u2019s news messaging app.\n\nThe Digital News Initiative was launched two years ago as part of a partnership between Google and news publishers in Europe. The initiative forms part of a wider strategy from the search giant to show news publishers it supports, rather than undercuts, quality journalism, having come under the spotlight this year for the often detrimental effect it can have on news.\n\nAs well as investing in product development, research and training, the search giant also launched the DNI Innovation Fund, committing \u20ac150m (\u00a3132m) to innovation projects across the European news industry.\n\nIt received more than 988 project submissions from 27 countries in Europe for the fund, of which 107 projects have received funding worth \u20ac22m (\u00a319m) in total. Of the 107 projects funded today, 49 are prototypes (early stage projects requiring up to \u20ac50k of funding), 31 are medium-sized projects (requiring up to \u20ac300k of funding) and 27 are large projects (requiring up to \u20ac1m of funding).\n\nGoogle said it has seen a growing interest in fact checking experiments, with 29% more applications in that field in comparison to the previous rounds.\n\nThis comes in the midst of a fake news crisis whereby many in the news industry have pointed the finger at Google and Facebook for proliferating the spread of fake news online by not placing enough value in quality news.\n\nIn response to this, Google in April released tools that enable web users to flag up questionable content, as it reshuffled sites known to share such items down the search rankings.\n\nThere\u2019s also been a rise in projects including artificial intelligence (+23% more applications than last round), investigative reporting (+20% more) and immersive approaches through virtual and augmented reality (+20% more), as well as collaborative projects between organisations.\n\nDennis Publishing\u2019s Project Arete is one such example of a collaborative project that will be built and launched as part of the publisher co-operative Pangaea Alliance. Members of the alliance include Dennis, CNN, the Guardian, the Financial Times, Reuters and Inc magazine.\n\nProject Arete will develop a prototype sell-side digital advertising trading platform designed specifically for premium publishers. Its key USP is that it will \u201cguarantee transaction transparency\u201d for both the sell-side and the buy-side, at a time when adtech players are facing increased scrutiny from publishers due to cases of disappearing revenue.\n\n\u201cThis layer of verified transparency will afford legacy publishers the ability to demonstrate and execute the true value of their media and audiences,\u201d Dennis said in a statement.\n\nWikiTribune, meanwhile, a news platform launched by Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, has been awarded \u20ac385,000.\n\nThe platform seeks to solve the problem of clickbait low-quality journalism by bringing community members into the virtual newsroom to work side-by-side with paid professional journalists. The latter will research and report news stories alongside volunteers who curate articles by proofreading, fact-checking, suggesting changes and adding sources for stories that matter.\n\nAl Jazeera\u2019s AJ Labs London has received funding to build an open-source, interactive, storytelling app for news and current affairs features where the user experiences journalism via a messaging platform.\n\nThe app enables journalists to embed content from interviews with a variety sources into a series of messaging exchanges, and it allows the user to choose between a number of seemingly direct conversations with the interviewees. The user\u2019s responses trigger the next messaging exchange and pivotal \u201cdecision points\u201d give the user choices on how to progress.\n\n\u201cThe result is a personalised, immersive, in-depth experience of a serious news story,\u201d Al Jazeera said in the release.\n\nOther projects that received funding include Full Fact, a non-partisan fact-checking service, and Verifeye Media, a technology that would allow news organisations to quickly verify video and photos taken by eyewitnesses.", "output": "Google's Digital News Initiative has awarded more than \u00a319m in funding for over 100 journalism-based tech projects in Europe. Those awarded with funding include the Wikitribune news platform developed by Jimmy Wales and the Al Jazeera news messaging app. The initiative rewards digital publishers in a bid to strengthen the social media giant's relationship with the media sector. Google has also launched the DNI Innovation Fund with \u00a3132m dedicated to supporting innovation across the European media sector."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Blockchain offers numerous advantages to ad transactions \n Blockchain, an unmodifiable and unbreachable digital ledger, was conceived 10 years ago to support the cryptocurrency bitcoin. But it has since seeped into new categories, jumping from finance to health care and, more recently, digital advertising.\n\nIt\u2019s doing so with the backing of big companies like IBM and Comcast, as well as smaller startups like MadHive and Rebel AI.\n\nWhy all the excitement?\n\nWhile government-backed legal tender is secured in bank vaults, bitcoin uses a blockchain ledger to guarantee security by providing full transparency around the currency. The ledger tracks each unit of the currency ever created or transacted, and the number of bitcoins held by any individual as well as the path of any single unit of the currency are visible to all.\n\nBy applying blockchain technology to ad transactions, data owners can securely share their assets without exporting or handing them over to another stakeholder. And media owners can strike a blow against unauthorized sellers and domain spoofers.\n\n\u201cBlockchain\u2019s strongest application is for a network where there\u2019s mistrust across the stakeholders,\u201d said IBM\u2019s Media & Entertainment group CTO, Peter Guglielmino.\n\nDespite the ad tech community\u2019s interest in blockchain, the potential applications \u2013 and their level of maturity \u2013 vary dramatically.\n\nSo what can blockchain do for the ad industry?\n\nWeed out unwanted supply chain intermediaries: Blockchain could help secure the supply chain from intermediaries that manipulate inventory or from third parties like ad blockers.\n\nFor ousting intermediaries, here\u2019s blockchain\u2019s role: an unethical media seller could trick buyers by creating near-clones of legitimate URLs and tags, like CNN-trending.com or NBCcom.com. A blockchain would stop those capers, since publishers and resellers would be recognizable from their unique blockchain keys instead of gimmicky names, and each unit of inventory would trace back to a true source.\n\nFacilitate data sharing: For most companies, their data is among their most valuable assets. So it\u2019s no wonder that data sharing \u2013 even with trusted partners \u2013 can be fraught. But some vendors are pushing blockchain as a means to log data transactions, so data owners know exactly which of its available data assets its partners took, and when.\n\nThese solutions typically focus on TV ad buying, and require multiple stakeholders to form agreements with each other. In June, IBM formed the AdLedger Consortium with Integral Ad Science, blockchain-based ad tech startup MadHive and Premion OTT ad-buying subsidiary TEGNA. The goal is to build a blockchain data-sharing solution geared toward advanced TV advertisers.\n\nComcast also revealed a blockchain-based coalition of broadcasters, including Altice USA, Cox, NBCUniversal and Disney, who would share their data and record those transactions in blockchain. So a vetted, trusted media buyer could execute a campaign against segments provided by members of the Comcast consortium.\n\nThe process relies on \u201csmart contracts,\u201d automated protocols that manage transactions on a blockchain. So if Comcast and Cox have different inventory rates for specific content or audiences, or if a buyer wants to blacklist certain supply sources, that\u2019s baked into each company\u2019s smart contract and dictates how others on the blockchain can access its data.\n\nReselling inventory: NYIAX, a Nasdaq-based startup that aims to sell media futures contracts over a blockchain, hopes to make advertisers comfortable with buying future inventory contracts. If successful, NYIAX could give pubs more flexibility in how inventory is packaged. Advertisers could lock up inventory over the long term and pubs could score bigger upfront deals or offer different types of discounts. And in this instance, blockchain would serve as the ledger recording all of these transactions \u2013 and their value.\n\nEarly Days\n\nBefore anyone gets too excited, remember that blockchain ad tech is still in its infancy and many of the tools supporting the aforementioned applications are still in beta or alpha, or are still as vaporous as an idea.\n\nComcast\u2019s blockchain platform isn\u2019t expected to go live until 2018. AdLedger is still forming a working group that will dictate policy and API specs for its platform. And NYIAX is still developing proofs of concept with beta partners.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve talked to hundreds of publishers, all the big holding companies and agencies within them, and it\u2019s a slow, methodical, phased-in approach,\u201d said NYIAX CEO Lou Severine. \u201cIt\u2019ll be some time before we\u2019re in an RFP-type stage with agency clients.\u201d\n\nBut blockchain technology is interesting enough such that trade groups are assessing it. The IAB is \u201cin an exploratory phase\u201d on blockchain and is in talks with startups from the new blockchain ad tech cottage industry, said Alanna Gombert, general manager of the IAB Tech Lab.\n\nIBM\u2019s Guglielmino said blockchain startups today are using various methods, \u201cbut as consensus comes to the space, existing systems will be more integrated.\u201d\n\nHe added, \u201cWhat\u2019s important is to set the bar with standards. Then it will be available to anyone to leverage if their companies can step up to that bar and demonstrate value in the chain.\u201d\n\nMajor speed bumps ahead\n\nBlockchains face tough hurdles in the ad arena. Chief among them: It\u2019s too slow to scale.\n\nScaled ad platforms like AppNexus or DoubleClick Ad Exchange process millions of ad calls per second. Bitcoin, meanwhile, handles around five transactions per second.\n\n\u201cThe distributed nature of the blockchain existing and updating alongside every computer on the network around the world is both the benefit and the challenge,\u201d said Will Luttrell, co-founder and former CTO of Integral Ad Science who is in a beta phase on blockchain technology startup Curren-C.\n\nBlockchain\u2019s latency makes it impossible, at least for now, to enter the RTB market. Which is partially why early market entrants like Comcast\u2019s platform or the AdLedger Consortium are focused more on data sharing and campaign planning than actual media execution.\n\nConfirming transactions on a blockchain ledger takes 10-30 seconds, according to Manny Puentes, CEO of the blockchain ad tech startup Rebel AI. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be a lot of development before they can get that down to the milliseconds used to measure online ad calls.\u201d\n\nNYIAX works around this issue by selling guaranteed future media and not live inventory.\n\n\u201cThe speed isn\u2019t there and, frankly, may never be,\u201d Severine said.\n\nWhether blockchain transactions will ever fit into an RTB ad tech stack remains an open question for those occupying the market niche.\n\nBlockchain ad buying will start with direct deals between media companies and pilot agency or brand partners akin to linear TV contracts due to real-time latency, Gombert said. \u201cBut once it gets better, and it is, it isn\u2019t necessarily limited.\u201d\n\nToo Much Transparency?\n\nBrands and media companies are demanding transparency from digital media \u2013 but too much of a good thing can hurt you.\n\n\u201cIn addition to scale and speed, there\u2019s a transparency issue that\u2019s tricky to negotiate,\u201d Luttrell said.\n\nConsider Comcast\u2019s blockchain initative. The broadcasters involved want to expose some data to some buyers, but they don\u2019t want other broadcasters on the platform to see what kind of data they share, who they share it with or what rates they charge. Neither do they want their DSPs, SSPs or ad network vendors to be publicly available.\n\nBlockchains are incorporating more supply chain stakeholders, said Ken Brook, CEO of blockchain advertising company MetaX. \u201cBut as you start adding proxies, vendors and data that impacts the logic and delivery of campaigns, it gets technically challenging.\u201d\n\nVendor list\n\nMadHive: One of the early advertising blockchains, MadHive is pursuing a partner-driven growth strategy with an early focus on OTT ad budgets. IBM is the first enterprise partner for MadHive\u2019s AdLedger Consortium, which it hopes will be transacting data-for-data deals, if not actual media buys, by the end of the year. \u201cAdvanced television is where experimental budgets are happening right now,\u201d said founder Adam Helfgott.\n\nRebel AI: This blockchain ad tech startup is hoping to develop direct pipelines between media partners and potential agency or DSP buyers that \u201care more like the verified relationships buyers used to have with media companies,\u201d Puentes said. The startup\u2019s go-to-market play is as a secure buying channel for publishers that want to avoid ad fraud and quality concerns on open programmatic exchanges.\n\nMetaX: MetaX is experimenting with a mix of blockchain and off-chain solutions as it tests use cases in online advertising. The company operates adChain, its non-profit blockchain protocol built off the open-source Ethereum blockchain platform. MetaX, the for-profit parent company, will monetize applications built off adChain, such as data sharing or attribution. The startup is working with one DSP, a brand and the Data & Marketing Association advertising trade group.\n\nComcast: With its own extensive broadcast portfolio and cable pipes into homes across America, Comcast is pursuing a blockchain data-sharing as a way to allow first-party data matching without the web of intermediaries, like legacy data players Acxiom and Experian, as well as addressable TV ad startups forming a new layer within the broadcast Lumascape, that add value but absorb margins. Comcast\u2019s Blockchain Insights Platform has another year and a half before it\u2019s set to launch from beta, but even with that time educating stakeholders and developing tech integrations is a tall order.\n\nNYIAX: Backed by Nasdaq\u2019s proprietary blockchain technology, NYIAX aims to let traders buy and sell the rights to future digital media inventory. This would allow online media companies to package guaranteed inventory more like upfront TV deals, though it faces a potential challenge onboarding publishers, who don\u2019t think of their inventory as a commodity like salt or corn that can be sold like every unit is equivalent. NYIAX hopes its ad tech Rolodex, with a C-suite made up of former AOL execs and Mediaocean founder and CEO Bill Wise as a board member, will help it get past those sticking points.\n\nIBM: The tech giant is in a relatively strong position to establish Bluemix, its cloud-based services suite, as a blockchain frontrunner, Guglielmino said. Ad tech blockchain startups are in the uncomfortable position of finding revenue in a system that doesn\u2019t process budgets yet, whereas IBM could stomach the R&D costs and apply advances in the technology to other industry verticals, like healthcare and finance.", "output": "Blockchain could be useful in providing additional security to transactions in the advertising industry. The distributed ledger technology could enable data owners to share assets without giving them to stakeholders and give media owners the ability to counteract efforts by unauthorised sellers and domain spoofers. The new method could streamline supply chains and protect assets such as URLs. It could also facilitate inventory sales. However, the technology is not yet being adopted by the wider sector, though there are groups working to introduce it."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Opiates\u00a0added to heroin are\u00a0linked to UK drug fatalities \n Dozens of drug deaths in the UK this year are being linked to the opiates fentanyl and carfentanyl, which are being added to heroin even though they are many times stronger. The National Crime Agency has warned that dealers are mixing the class A drugs with heroin, and the Guardian has learned that the substances have been found in the bodies of up to 46 people who died this year, although the exact causes of their deaths remained uncertain.\n\nMany toxicologists have only recently started looking for fentanyl and carfentanyl in postmortem examinations, and cases involving the substances have yet to reach coroners\u2019 courts \u2013 meaning there has been little public discussion of the impact of the drugs.\n\nPublic Health England said heroin users should be \u201cextra careful\u201d when using the drug, urging them to test a small amount first and not to take it alone. In April, the body issued an alert to medical and emergency services to be vigilant following a spate of deaths in the north of England.\n\nFentanyl is a synthetic opiate, which can be prescribed as a painkiller in carefully measured doses. It is up to 100 times stronger than morphine. Its analogue carfentanyl is 10,000 times stronger and has been used as an elephant tranquilliser. Fentanyl hit international headlines in June, when it was found that Prince died after overdosing on it. In the US, fentanyl is one of the drugs blamed for the rapid rise in overdose deaths and widespread opioid addiction.\n\nPrince died from a fentanyl overdose. Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty Images\n\nHarry Sumnall, a professor of substance use at the Public Health Institute at Liverpool John Moores University, said it was unclear why fentanyl and carfentanyl were appearing on the black market in the UK. He suggested it could have been bought on the dark web, and that new suppliers may be trying to enter the market.\n\n\u201cWhether it\u2019s so-called user dealers who are buying a local supply, or new actors trying to enter the market but at a much lower level than the established heroin gangs, we don\u2019t really know,\u201d said Sumnall.\n\nSimon Hudson, a technical director at LGC, which tests biological samples from coroners for pathology labs, said carfentanyl or fentanyl had been found in up to 46 cases since March.\n\n\n\nHe said about three or four of the 15 cases he received every week were testing positive for the substances but that in most instances a coroner had not yet recorded an official cause of death.\n\nHudson said that 20 micrograms of carfentanyl could be enough to kill someone. \u201cIf you look at a grain of sugar, that is one or two milligrams, so 20 micrograms is a 50th of that. You wouldn\u2019t even be able to see that if it was on the desk in front of you. It would be like a spec of dust.\n\n\u201cSo if somebody\u2019s trying to cut heroin and make it uniform throughout the whole amount of heroin, that\u2019s pretty much impossible,\u201d he said. \u201cTaking it is like playing Russian roulette. One portion of heroin won\u2019t have anything in it, but another will have a couple of specs and it\u2019ll be enough to kill you.\u201d\n\nThe majority of drug overdoses thought to have involved fentanyl and carfentanyl are in the Yorkshire and the Humber region, but police forces across the north of England, Northern Ireland and Hampshire have issued warnings after finding evidence that heroin was being mixed with the drugs.\n\n\n\nIn April, Humberside police confirmed that two people in Hull had died after taking heroin mixed with fentanyl. DCI Paul Kirby said the force was also trying to establish how a number of other drug users had died in the city.\n\n\n\nThe same month, police said they were investigating whether two deaths in the Leeds area were connected to \u201cunusually strong heroin or heroin derivates\u201d. In May, police linked the death of a 43-year-old man in Wakefield to carfentanyl-laced heroin.\n\nA few days later, South Yorkshire police said they were investigating seven deaths around Barnsley. They said they were looking into the possibility that the dead had taken heroin contaminated with carfentanyl and fentanyl.\n\nRosanna O\u2019Connor, the director of drugs, alcohol and tobacco at Public Health England, said the organisation was working closely with coroners, the police, drug testing labs and local drug services to get more information on confirmed and suspected cases.", "output": "Opiates Fentanyl and Carfentanyl have been\u00a0connected to dozens of drug deaths in the UK. The drugs, the former of which was responsible for the musician Prince\u2019s fatal overdose, are being added to heroin and have so far been found in the bodies of up to 46 people who have died in the country this year from uncertain causes. Fentanyl is up 100 times stronger than morphine, whilst Carfentanyl is 10,000 stronger. The former drug has been linked to the rising numbers of overdose deaths and opioid addiction in the US.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Samsung said to be working a Bixby-powered smart speaker \n Samsung is working on a smart speaker powered by its new Bixby voice assistant, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. The project is said to be codenamed Vega, but little more is known about the device; its features and specifications are apparently yet to be decided, much less a release date.\n\nThe Vega project\u2019s development is reportedly being slowed by the progress of Bixby itself. Samsung had to launch the Galaxy S8 without support for English voice commands, despite marketing Bixby as a prominent feature of the phone and giving it a dedicated button. Voice support started to roll out in preview form last month, but there\u2019s clearly still a long way to go.\n\nThe WSJ now says Samsung sees the full release of Bixby voice support as \u201cunlikely before the second half of July.\u201d", "output": "Samsung is developing a smart speaker powered by its Bixby voice assistant, according to sources familiar with the matter. However, delays to the full release of the Bixby voice assistant are slowing the project's development. Despite marketing Bixby as a Samsung Galaxy S8 feature, Samsung launched the S8 without support for English voice commands. The phone maker is unlikely to release Bixby voice support in full until the second half of July, according to the sources.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Eye-tracking technology used to study property viewing habits \n Some 27 per cent of the viewers\u2019 focus was spent on furnishings, 24 per cent on looking personal effects and clutter, with just four per cent given over to the layout of the property.\n\nThe study, for Anglian Home Improvements, involved viewers agreeing to wear spectacles that tracked their eye movements, recording what they looked at, what things disrupted their natural eye movements, and what they lingered on.\n\nA study using \u2018eye-tracking\u2019 technology has revealed what prospective buyers pay most attention to during viewings and shows critical differences between male and female viewers.\n\nPersonal effects and clutter were most distracting for female viewers, who spent 28 per cent of their viewing time focusing on them, compared to 20 per cent for male buyers.\n\nThe company claims that the results show that even when potential buyers did not mention clutter or mess to agents in their post-viewing feedback, their eyes were repeatedly drawn to it when panning a room.\n\nOverall, men spent more time than women looking at the structure and features of the grounds and building (32 per cent compared to 22 per cent), while women focused more on the personal elements such as decoration and furnishings.\n\nPersonal items constantly drew the participants' gaze. \u201cPhotos were a big element of this - the data showed that house hunters often made eye contact with specific photographs, which distracted the viewers from other elements of the room\u201d says a statement from the company.\n\nRepairs or structural features made up just four per cent of participants\u2019 viewing behaviors. This included checking door frames, sliding doors or light switches.\n\nLooking at exterior features and the garden accounted for 22 per cent of the participants\u2019 focus, with 17 per cent of time spent looking outside through the windows.", "output": "People viewing potential homes for purchase focus just 4% of their attention on the building's layout, repairs or structural features, while more than a quarter of viewers' attention is directed at furnishings, according to research\u00a0by Anglian Home Improvements. The study asked buyers to don\u00a0spectacles that tracked their eye movements and found\u00a0that exterior features took up 22% of viewers' attention, that 17% of the time was spent looking through windows and that\u00a028% of female viewers were distracted by personal effects or clutter, compared to 20%\u00a0of\u00a0males.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trump's half-hearted pension change boosts fintech uptake \n Adviser demand for a technological answer to meeting new requirements of the DOL fiduciary rule has jumped in the three weeks since part of the retirement advice regulation was implemented.\n\nTechnology providers said interest in their fiduciary fintech had cooled following the election of President Donald J. Trump, who some speculated would scrap the best interest rule before its targeted April 10 implementation date. Instead, the Labor Department delayed it until June 9, when part of the rule went into effect while the agency continues to review the entire regulation.\n\n(More: DOL fiduciary rule takes effect but more uncertainty lies ahead)\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve seen a tidal wave of interest since June 9,\u201d said Daniel Satchkov, president of RiXtrema, which sells a tool to help advisers compare costs of rolling funds out of 401(k) plans. \u201cI think a lot of advisers were close to doing something for awhile, but they kept waiting because of the delays coming from the DOL.\u201d\n\nRiXtrema has signed up 74 firms so far in June for its IRAFiduciary Optimizer, compared to single-digit sales of the tool during the other months of 2017.\n\nRiXtrema\u2019s technology generates a report for transactions involving individual retirement accounts, comparing total fees an investor would pay before and after a rollover.\n\nWhen the firm released the tool in October 2016, it quickly signed up about 30 clients before Nov. 8, when Mr. Trump was elected president.\n\n\u201cSince the election until June, everybody just stopped,\u201d he said.\n\nIt also helps an adviser show \u201cfee reasonableness,\u201d Mr. Satchkov said.\n\nTWO PROVISIONS\n\nThe two provisions that have gone into effect govern adviser interactions with clients in retirement accounts. Under those provisions, advisers must give advice that is in the best interests of their clients, charge reasonable compensation and avoid \u201cmisleading statements\u201d about investment transactions and what they\u2019re being paid. The entirety of the rule\u2019s provisions, which could still see changes, won\u2019t be active until 2018.\n\nAaron Klein, chief executive at Riskalyze, said since May, when it became clear to many that the DOL rule was going to happen, his firm has seen a 40% increase in its growth rate.\n\n\u201cAdvisers seemed to say, \u2018DOL is here, I have to find a way to document that I\u2019m making decisions in their best interest,\u2019\u201d Mr. Klein said.\n\nRiskalyze\u2018s Autopilot investment platform includes \u201cone-click fiduciary technology\u201d that will help advisers keep track of the investments within portfolios to make sure they\u2019re meeting risk and other parameters and provide documentation of this care.\n\n(More: Most advisers could be doing a lot more with tech)\n\nAnother firm, The E-Valuator, sells a tool for advisers that sets investment performance thresholds across mutual funds and exchange-traded-funds in a client\u2019s account to help ensure a company is meeting its fiduciary obligations.\n\nFor lagging investments, the tool will identify suitable replacements.\n\n\u201cThe week of June 9 we had two phone calls from very large, well-known institutions that decided now they had better act,\u201d said Collin Miller, president of The E-valuator. \u201cThey had been working under the assumption that the rule was going to get pushed over.\u201d\n\nThe firm has 22 organizations using the tool, including one of its largest clients, Redhawk Wealth Advisors, which manages about $900 million in assets.\n\n(More: Labor secretary Alexander Acosta gives DOL fiduciary rule supporters something to cheer about \u2014 at least for now)\n\nLisa Graham, product manager of eMoney Advisor, said this month firms have been very active in terms of asking about how the company\u2019s products can help advisers meet the fiduciary rule.\n\nShe said eMoney, which is owned by Fidelity Investments, has seen a greater number of advisory firms expanding their eMoney relationship with add-ons this year.\n\nSoon they\u2019ll be able to add a new feature offered by CapitalROCK that will examine the client\u2019s current retirement account situation and recommend whether rolling over a 401(k) into an individual IRA or annuity would be best for the client. It will provide documentation of that decision.\n\nIn September 2016, eMoney said it was boosting the compliance functions of its financial planning platform to help advisers meet the Labor Department\u2019s new fiduciary requirements for retirement advice.\n\nIts \u201cfiduciary framework\u201d adjusts the client on-boarding procedures and enhances monitoring and archiving of the interactions between clients and advisers, all to provide documentation that shows advisers acted in the best interests of clients when giving recommendations.", "output": "Demand for how to meet the DOL fiduciary rule requirements has jumped in the three weeks following implementation. Tech providers said interest in fiduciary fintech is not as strong following President Donald Trump's election, with speculation that the best interest rule would be scrapped before its April implementation date. However, the Labour Department delayed it until June, and currently some of the ruling is still under review."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TomTom and Cisco to develop IoT-enabled traffic flow technology \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nNetwork tech titan Cisco is working with TomTom to research and develop what the two are calling an \u201cultra-fast lane level traffic technology\u201d that supports autonomous driving.\n\nCisco already operates in the connected transport realm, offering a range of sensors, controllers, and routers that connect systems to improve things like traffic flow. With TomTom on board, the duo plan to carry out research to leverage Cisco\u2019s roadside data and create the \u201cnext generation of traffic information technology,\u201d according to a statement issued by the companies. This initiative will be underpinned by Cisco\u2019s Internet of Things (IoT) platform.\n\nFounded in 1991, TomTom is perhaps best known in the public sphere for its GPS-powered devices, including dedicated satellite navigation units for cars and watches. But the company also offers a number of other services, such as telematics to help businesses manage their fleet of vehicles, as well as a range of automotive services that includes maps for self-driving cars, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), traffic information, and on-street parking data.\n\nPut simply, both companies have significant expertise harnessing traffic data, and now they\u2019re putting their heads together and pooling resources.\n\n\u201cWith this project, we are connecting road infrastructure, vehicles, drivers, and road authorities, enabling them to exchange information in near real time,\u201d explained Edwin Paalvast, president EMEAR (Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Russia) at Cisco. \u201cThat is what the Internet of Things is about. With TomTom\u2019s expertise, its gigantic pool of traffic data and innovative traffic technology, TomTom is a strong company to work with in this field.\u201d\n\nIn terms of the kinds of things the two companies will be working on, one example cited is Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) technology, which involves burying a fibre optic cable adjacent to a busy road to detect vibrations and provide real-time monitoring of vehicle movements, making it possible to establish trends and patterns. Combining such data with TomTom\u2019s pool of GPS-based floating car data means it can be displayed and analysed through a TomTom interface designed specifically for traffic management centers.\n\nElsewhere in the world, a number of big data initiatives have emerged to help develop smarter cities. Earlier this year, we reported on how China is meshing ride-sharing data with smart traffic lights to ease road congestion, while Uber has previously partnered with Boston and other cities for projects that involve analyzing trip-level data to establish traffic patterns and improve infrastructure. GPS data derived from a number of etaxi platforms is also being used to improve road conditions in developing countries.\n\nUltimately, TomTom and Cisco are working to increase the precision of real-time traffic services and make them more affordable to cities or companies that find value in such data. It\u2019s worth noting that this ties in with the burgeoning autonomous car industry, too. Self-driving cars require ridiculously accurate on-board sensors so they can \u201csee\u201d the world around them \u2014 which is why Intel shelled out $15.3 billion for computer vision firm Mobileye \u2014 and vehicles without humans at the wheel need accurate, real-time data of the environment around them.\n\nWhatever the context, dialog between the car and the outside world needs to be a two-way conversation, which is why Cisco and TomTom are investing resources in traffic technology that\u2019s embedded in the physical world.", "output": "Cisco and TomTom have announced they will pool their vast reserves of traffic-based data to research and create the \"next generation of traffic information technology\", according to a joint statement. Tech firm Cisco will provide an internet of things (IoT) platform to underpin the initiative. \"We are connecting road infrastructure, vehicles, drivers, and road authorities, enabling them to exchange information in near real time,\u201d said Edwin Paalvast, SVP of Europe, Middle East, Africa and Russia at Cisco."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI choice of healthy embryos superior to doctors in IVF treatment \n Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nHealth Check email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nScientists are using artificial intelligence (AI) to help predict which embryos will result in IVF success.\n\nIn a new study, AI was found to be more accurate than embryologists at pinpointing which embryos had the potential to result in the birth of a healthy baby.\n\nExperts from Sao Paulo State University in Brazil have teamed up with Boston Place Clinic in London to develop the technology in collaboration with Dr Cristina Hickman, scientific adviser to the British Fertility Society.\n\nThey believe the inexpensive technique has the potential to transform care for patients and help women achieve pregnancy sooner.\n\nDuring the process, AI was \u201ctrained\u201d in what a good embryo looks like from a series of images.\n\nAI is able to recognise and quantify 24 image characteristics of embryos that are invisible to the human eye.\n\nThese include the size of the embryo, texture of the image and biological characteristics such as the number and homogeneity of cells.\n\nDuring the study, which used cattle embryos, 48 images were evaluated three times each by embryologists and by the AI system.\n\nThe embryologists could not agree on their findings across the three images, but AI led to complete agreement.\n\nStuart Lavery, director of the Boston Place Clinic, said the technology would not replace examining chromosomes in detail, which is thought to be a key factor in determining which embryos are \u201cnormal\u201d or \u201cabnormal\u201d.\n\nHe said: \u201cLooking at chromosomes does work, but it is expensive and it is invasive to the embryo.\n\n\u201cWhat we are looking for here is something that can be universal.\n\n\u201cInstead of a human looking at thousands of images, actually a piece of software looks at them and is capable of learning all the time.\n\n\u201cAs we get data about which embryos produce a baby, that data will be fed back into the computer and the computer will learn.\n\n\u201cWhat we have found is that the technique is much more consistent than an embryologist, it is more reliable.\n\n\u201cIt can also look for things that the human eye can't see.\n\n\u201cWe don't think it will replace genetic screening \u2013 we think it will be a complimentary to this type of screening.\n\n\u201cAnalysis of the embryo won't improve the chances of that particular embryo, but it will help us pick the best one.\n\n\u201cWe won't waste time on treatments that won't work, so the patient should get pregnant quicker.\u201d\n\nHe said work was under way to look back at images from parents who had genetic screening and became pregnant. Applying AI to those images will help the computer learn, he said.\n\nScience news in pictures Show all 20 1 / 20 Science news in pictures Science news in pictures Pluto has 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen Pluto has a 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen that is doing strange things to its surface, Nasa has found. The mysterious core seems to be the cause of features on its surface that have fascinated scientists since they were spotted by Nasa's New Horizons mission. \"Before New Horizons, everyone thought Pluto was going to be a netball - completely flat, almost no diversity,\" said Tanguy Bertrand, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and the lead author on the new study. \"But it's completely different. It has a lot of different landscapes and we are trying to understand what's going on there.\" Getty Science news in pictures Over 400 species discovered this year by Natural History Museum The ancient invertabrate worm-like species rhenopyrgus viviani (pictured) is one of over 400 species previously unknown to science that were discovered by experts at the Natural History Museum this year PA Science news in pictures Jackdaws can identify 'dangerous' humans Jackdaws can identify \u201cdangerous\u201d humans from listening to each other\u2019s warning calls, scientists say. The highly social birds will also remember that person if they come near their nests again, according to researchers from the University of Exeter. In the study, a person unknown to the wild jackdaws approached their nest. At the same time scientists played a recording of a warning call (threatening) or \u201ccontact calls\u201d (non-threatening). The next time jackdaws saw this same person, the birds that had previously heard the warning call were defensive and returned to their nests more than twice as quickly on average. Getty Science news in pictures Turtle embryos influence sex by shaking The sex of the turtle is determined by the temperatures at which they are incubated. Warm temperatures favour females. But by wiggling around the egg, embryos can find the \u201cGoldilocks Zone\u201d which means they are able to shield themselves against extreme thermal conditions and produce a balanced sex ratio, according to the new study published in Current Biology journal Ye et al/Current Biology Science news in pictures Elephant poaching rates drop in Africa African elephant poaching rates have dropped by 60 per cent in six years, an international study has found. It is thought the decline could be associated with the ivory trade ban introduced in China in 2017. Reuters Science news in pictures Ancient four-legged whale discovered in Peru Scientists have identified a four-legged creature with webbed feet to be an ancestor of the whale. Fossils unearthed in Peru have led scientists to conclude that the enormous creatures that traverse the planet\u2019s oceans today are descended from small hoofed ancestors that lived in south Asia 50 million years ago A. Gennari Science news in pictures Animal with transient anus discovered A scientist has stumbled upon a creature with a \u201ctransient anus\u201d that appears only when it is needed, before vanishing completely. Dr Sidney Tamm of the Marine Biological Laboratory could not initially find any trace of an anus on the species. However, as the animal gets full, a pore opens up to dispose of waste Steven G Johnson Science news in pictures Giant bee spotted Feared extinct, the Wallace's Giant bee has been spotted for the first time in nearly 40 years. An international team of conservationists spotted the bee, that is four times the size of a typical honeybee, on an expedition to a group of Indonesian Islands Clay Bolt Science news in pictures New mammal species found inside crocodile Fossilised bones digested by crocodiles have revealed the existence of three new mammal species that roamed the Cayman Islands 300 years ago. The bones belonged to two large rodent species and a small shrew-like animal New Mexico Museum of Natural History Science news in pictures Fabric that changes according to temperature created Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold Faye Levine, University of Maryland Science news in pictures Baby mice tears could be used in pest control A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males Getty Science news in pictures Final warning to limit \"climate catastrophe\" The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase Getty Science news in pictures Nobel prize for evolution chemists The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies Getty/AFP Science news in pictures Nobel prize for laser physicists The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his \"optical tweezers\" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and G\u00e9rard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers Reuters/AP Science news in pictures Discovery of a new species of dinosaur The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. In Sesotho, the South African language of the region in which the dinosaur was discovered, its name means \"a giant thunderclap at dawn\" Viktor Radermacher / SWNS Science news in pictures Birth of a planet Scientists have witnessed the birth of a planet for the first time ever. This spectacular image from the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the very act of formation around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the center of the image, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the central star. ESO/A. M\u00fcller et al Science news in pictures New human organ discovered that was previously missed by scientists Layers long thought to be dense, connective tissue are actually a series of fluid-filled compartments researchers have termed the \u201cinterstitium\u201d. These compartments are found beneath the skin, as well as lining the gut, lungs, blood vessels and muscles, and join together to form a network supported by a mesh of strong, flexible proteins Getty Science news in pictures Previously unknown society lived in Amazon rainforest before Europeans arrived, say archaeologists Working in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a team led by archaeologists at the University of Exeter unearthed hundreds of villages hidden in the depths of the rainforest. These excavations included evidence of fortifications and mysterious earthworks called geoglyphs Jos\u00e9 Iriarte Science news in pictures One in 10 people have traces of cocaine or heroin on fingerprints, study finds More than one in 10 people were found to have traces of class A drugs on their fingers by scientists developing a new fingerprint-based drug test. Using sensitive analysis of the chemical composition of sweat, researchers were able to tell the difference between those who had been directly exposed to heroin and cocaine, and those who had encountered it indirectly. Getty Science news in pictures Nasa releases stunning images of Jupiter's great red spot The storm bigger than the Earth, has been swhirling for 350 years. The image's colours have been enhanced after it was sent back to Earth. Pictures by: Tom Momary\n\nMr Lavery added: \u201cThis is an innovative and exciting project combining state of the art embryology with new advances in computer modelling, all with the aim of selecting the best possible embryo for transfer to give all our patients the best possible chance of having a baby.\n\n\u201cAlthough further work is needed to optimise the technique, we hope that a system will be available shortly for use in a clinical setting.\u201d", "output": "Artificial intelligence (AI) was more accurate at choosing embryos with the potential to result in a healthy birth than embryologists, according to a study from S\u00e3o Paulo State University and Boston Place Clinic in London. By training the AI programme to identify healthy embryos from a series of images, the researchers improved the selection of embryos for in vitro fertilisation (IVF). The AI, which the scientists think will compliment rather than replace genetic screening, identified\u00a024 characteristics of embryos that are invisible to the human eye, including the embryo's size and biological characteristics such as cell count."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MP Sajid Javid sets up \u00a32.3bn fund for 100,000 new homes \n The communities secretary Sajid Javid (pictured above) has announced the launch of a \u00a32.3bn fund which could deliver 100,000 new homes in areas of high demand.\n\nSpeaking in Birmingham at the LGA Conference yesterday (4th July 2017), he said that the investment would help to fund vital physical infrastructure projects such as the building of roads, bridges, energy networks and other utilities.\n\nThe funding will be made available through the Housing Infrastructure Fund and will also be used to help build new schools, healthcare centres and digital infrastructure.\n\nMr Javid said: \u201cTo build the homes this country needs, we need to deliver the right infrastructure in the right place at the right time.\n\n\n\nPoll As a broker, do you currently quote 'green' loan options alongside standard loan quotes for property development finance? Yes No Vote Results\n\n\n\n\n\n\u201cThe Housing Infrastructure Fund will also make sure we have better public services in place for local communities.\u201d\n\nMr Javid added that by investing in local infrastructure, the government could help to build thousands of new homes in the areas where they are most needed.\n\nIt is expected that once proposals have been approved, local authorities would begin building infrastructure immediately, which would then be followed by housing.\n\nThe Housing Infrastructure Fund is part of the government\u2019s \u00a323bn National Productivity Investment Fund.\n\n\u201cFunding necessary infrastructure will give local authorities the opportunity to remove barriers to developments being delivered,\u201d said Andrew Whitaker, planning director at the Home Builders Federation.\n\n\u201cDirect support for critical infrastructure will not only unlock more housing, it should also help to accelerate planned developments.\n\n\u201cLocal authorities that plan for growth should be supported and that will, in turn, allow housebuilders to get on and deliver the homes our communities so desperately need.\u201d", "output": "UK communities secretary Sajid Javid has launched the \u00a32.3bn ($2.9bn) Housing Infrastructure Fund, which could pay for the construction of 100,000 new homes where they are needed most, as well as facilitating investment in amenities such as roads, schools and healthcare centres. Speaking at the LGA Conference in Birmingham, Javid said the fund, which is part of the government\u2019s \u00a323bn National Productivity Investment Fund, will \"make sure we have better public services in place for local communities.\" Following planning approval, it is expected that infrastructure work will commence immediately.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "3D printed robot could improve breast cancer diagnostics \n The world\u2019s smallest and most accurate 3D-printed biopsy robot was revealed this week.\n\nThe Stormram 4, as the robot is named, is made from 3D-printed plastic and is driven by air pressure. The advantage of plastic is that the robot can be used in an MRI scanner. Carrying out a biopsy (removing a piece of tissue) during a breast cancer scan in an MRI significantly increases accuracy. The robot won a prestigious award during the Surgical Robotic Challenge at the international Hamlyn Symposium in London: one of the world\u2019s most important events in the field of robotic surgery.\n\nThe Stormram 4 is a stimulus for the entire diagnostic phase of breast cancer; the accurate needle control, effectively real-time MRI scanning and a single, thin-needle biopsy enable quicker and more accurate diagnoses to be made. Medical robotics is sure to become standard procedure in hospitals in the near future.\n\n\n\n\n\nStormram 4\n\nThe Stormram 4 is driven by rectilinear and curved air-pressure motors. The robot is controlled from outside the MRI scanner by means of 5-metre-long air pipes. The design is smaller than the previous version, enabling it to fit inside the MRI scanner\u2019s narrow tunnel.\n\n\n\n\n\nBiopsy\n\nBreast cancer is the most common form of cancer among women. By inserting a needle in the patient\u2019s breast and navigating to the abnormal tissue (lesion), it is possible to take a tissue sample. A good diagnosis is made possible through subsequent clinical analysis; a process known as a biopsy.\n\nNo invasive surgery\n\nAccurate navigation of the biopsy needle is of crucial importance in combating breast cancer and other forms of cancer. Through the use of special needles, the tip of which can be very hot (thermal ablation) or very cold (cryoablation), it is possible to destroy tumour cells close to the tip of the needle. This enables the treatment of cancer without the need for invasive surgical procedures.\n\n\n\nRobotics is the solution\n\nMRI scanners are the answer when it comes to the extremely accurate detection and visualisation of the location of abnormal tissue. Unfortunately, it is not possible to make full use of this accuracy as long as needles are controlled by hand. Robotics offers the solution. Not all robots can be used in combination with MRI scanners. Robots are often made of metal, a material that cannot be used in the strong magnetic fields of MRI scanners. For this reason, the UT, in collaboration with Ziekenhuis Groep Twente (ZGT), has made the robot entirely of plastic.\n\nUT scientists and partners\n\nThe development of Stormram 4 was carried out by: Vincent Groenhuis MSc, Dr. Fran\u00e7oise Siepel and Prof. Stefano Stramigioli from the University of Twente\u2019s Robotics and Mechatronics (RAM) lab. In addition, it involved close collaboration with Dr. Jeroen Veltman, a radiologist at Ziekenhuis Groep Twente (ZGT), to make the design as suitable as possible for clinical practice, and Abe van der Werf from Machnet B.V.\n\n\n\n", "output": "The University of Twente's Robotics and Mechatronics lab has unveiled Stormram 4, heralded as the world's smallest 3D printed robot, motored\u00a0by air pressure. Since it is composed\u00a0of plastic, it\u00a0can be utilised\u00a0in an MRI scanner, which has been shown to\u00a0provide\u00a0breast cancer patients with relatively high-accuracy\u00a0biopsy data. The robot earned\u00a0an award at the Surgical Robotic Challenge at the Hamlyn Symposium in London. Medical robots could soon become a standard feature of\u00a0hospitals, as the\u00a0time-effectiveness and precision tests that come\u00a0with robots like the Stormram 4 could significantly alter the diagnostic phase of breast cancer, according to the university."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Turkish start-up offers 3D-printed hand prosthetics for children \n Jul 5, 2017 | By Tess\n\nAll around the world, 3D printing is helping to give people\u2014especially children\u2014access to affordable and customizable prosthetic devices. Following that trend is Robotel T\u00fcrkiye, a 3D printed prosthetics initiative that is helping to change young lives in Turkey.\n\nRobotel T\u00fcrkiye has its origins in 5 dakika, a Turkey-based design studio that had experience with 3D printing. In 2014, the studio came into contact with Enabling The Future, the non-profit aimed at providing children from all over the globe with low-cost prosthetic hands.\n\nAfter providing its first 3D printed prosthetic limb to Mehmet Ali Toprak in 2014, 5 dakika realized it could expand its project to all of Turkey to help more people in need. According to the startup, the 3D printed prosthetic project really got started in 2015, as it gained momentum in Turkish media and established itself on social media. Earlier this year, Robotel T\u00fcrkiye became officially recognized as an NGO, Robotel Derne\u011fi.\n\nNow, Robotel T\u00fcrkiye is working towards providing people (mostly children) who have finger or hand deformations with custom-sized 3D printed hand prosthetics. \u201cOur organization aims to help these people participate in daily life and integrate into society,\" it says. \"The purpose of the 3D printed hand is both to make their lives easier physically and to make them feel special instead of inadequate or disabled.\u201d\n\nMany of the people Robotel T\u00fcrkiye has been helping have a developmental disorder caused by Amniotic Band Syndrome (ABS). Traditionally, children are not always provided with prosthetics because they can be expensive and children grow out of them quickly. 3D printed prosthetics, however, because of their low-cost and easy adaptability, can be made quickly and efficiently for children to use.\n\nEquipping children with prosthetics\u2014even 3D printed ones\u2014from a young age can help them to adapt to using assistive devices, making it easier to use a permanent one when they grow up. But more than that, the 3D printed hands \u201cprovide social and emotional support\u201d to children. As they are made with colorful materials and can be customized to the child\u2019s taste, children can feel special wearing them.\n\nRobotel T\u00fcrkiye is continually trying to expand its mandate to help as many people as possible. In order to do this, it regularly sends volunteers to Instanbul, Ankara, and Izmir to discuss the project and educate newcomers about 3D printing technology and its prosthetics. It also puts together a number of workshops and events which help promote social awareness for people with disabilities and bring more volunteers to its cause.\n\nCurrently, the organization has over 1,200 volunteers and access to about 160 3D printers around Turkey. So far, Robotel T\u00fcrkiye has provided 32 3D printed hand prosthetics to people in need and are working on manufacturing many more.\n\n\u201cWith these hands we aim to increase the life standards of these children. By giving them a tool to facilitate their daily routines and proving them with a joyful design to make them feel like exceptional; we aim to touch as many lives and hearts as possible,\u201d said the organization.\n\nPosted in 3D Printing Application\n\nMaybe you also like:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "output": "Turkey-based non-governmental organisation Robotel T\u00fcrkiye, which is officially known as Robotel Derne\u011fi, is using 3D printing to create bespoke prosthetic hands for children with finger or hand deformations. The system, which is low-cost and adaptable, enables youngsters to easily adapt to wearing a prosthetic\u00a0and to take part in everyday life. \"The purpose of the 3D printed hand is both to make their lives easier physically and to make them feel special instead of inadequate or disabled,\u201d the company said. So far it has provided 32\u00a0prosthetic hands to children.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fidelity, American Century switch to single fee for pension funds \n Two of the largest managers of target-date-fund assets, Fidelity Investments and American Century Investments, are changing how they assess fees in the multi-asset funds, at a time of heightened cost scrutiny and as TDFs capture an increasing portion of 401(k) contributions.\n\nThe two asset managers are the first among their peers to switch to a \u201csingle fee\u201d management structure in their target-date mutual funds, analysts said. This structure allows the firms to charge a fixed fee for their TDFs, irrespective of the underlying funds that make up the portfolios.\n\nTarget-date managers have historically used an \u201cacquired fee\u201d model, whereby firms determine the cost of the overall portfolio based on the asset-weighed cost of the underlying funds.\n\nFor example, a portfolio of two mutual funds, one costing 0.5% and the other 1%, both with the same amount of assets, would have an overall cost of 0.75% under the acquired-fee approach.\n\nBut, adding a relatively expensive strategy, perhaps a liquid-alternative portfolio, could increase the expense ratio by several basis points, making the TDF less attractive to 401(k) advisers and plan sponsors, said Chris Brown, the founder and principal of Sway Research, which studies asset management distribution in defined contribution plans.\n\nThe single-fee method doesn\u2019t impose such limitations \u2014 asset managers are free to add whichever asset classes they like to the portfolios, with an eye toward enhancing performance, without sacrificing on cost marketability, Mr. Brown said.\n\n\u201cTarget-date managers are trying to find any and every way they can to compete on costs,\u201d said Jeff Holt, multi-asset analyst at Morningstar Inc.\n\nFidelity and American Century are respectively the No. 2 and No. 8 TDF managers by mutual fund assets.\n\nFidelity changed the management fee structure for its Fidelity Freedom and Fidelity Advisor Freedom TDF series in June, and American Century\u2019s switch is expected later in 2017, Mr. Holt said.\n\nFidelity has two other series \u2014 Fidelity Freedom Index and Fidelity Multi-Manager \u2014 to which the changes don\u2019t pertain. The Fidelity Freedom funds hold the lion\u2019s share of its TDF assets, at 82%. American Century has one series, the One Choice funds.\n\nBoth firms fall into the camp focused on active management of their funds. They use underlying stock and bond funds engaged in the active selection of securities, whereas firms focused on passive management use funds that track an index like the S&P 500.\n\nActive managers tend to asses higher fees than passive managers. As advisers and plan sponsors have sought out lower fees, due in part to the proliferation of lawsuits attacking plan fees and growing importance of fee transparency, flows to index funds have dominated those of active funds \u2014 roughly two of every three dollars directed to TDFs in 2016 went to a passive series, according to Morningstar.\n\nSince 2006, assets held in passive TDFs have doubled to roughly 40% of total target-date mutual fund assets, whereas those held in active funds have dipped to 60%, from more than 80%, according to Morningstar.\n\nTarget-date mutual funds held $880 billion in assets at the end of 2016.\n\n\u201cAt the end of the day, investors want lower fees. This is just another way to get there,\u201d Mr. Holt said of the single-fee management style.\n\nOf course, there\u2019s always the concern firms will charge more than the underlying funds, but thus far it appears to be an effort to lower costs or afford the flexibility to lower costs, Mr. Holt added.\n\nTarget-date-fund marketability is only becoming more important as TDFs swell in popularity. As of 2016, the funds accounted for around one-half of all 401(k) contributions, according to Cerulli Associates. By 2020, Cerulli projects that 401(k) participants will direct 75% of all contributions to TDFs.\n\nAmerican Century managed to notch one of the largest annual TDF gains last year, in percentage terms, among its competitors despite its active-management focus.\n\nDespite some of the advantages a single-fee approach affords asset managers, Mr. Holt doesn\u2019t expect it to catch on among other firms any time soon.\n\nThat partly stems from the effort it could take to achieve the end result \u2014 American Century, for example, is launching a share class of its underlying funds, exclusively for its TDFs, with no fees, allowing the firm to charge a fixed fee for the whole portfolio, Mr. Holt said.\n\nFidelity, though, is waiving underlying fund expenses in the new fee structure, Mr. Holt said.", "output": "Target-date-fund managers Fidelity Investments and American Century Investments are altering their fee assessment methods for multi-asset funds, as cost security and elevated interest from 401(k) contributors become more prominent. The companies are amongst the first to change to a \"single fee\" management system for their TDFs, with the current preference being for the \"acquired fee\" model. The move will likely attract more interest as asset managers have increased flexibility in class selection without increasing costs."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Opinion: Snapchat should follow Foursquare and make use of data \n Sometimes the social application everyone thought you were needs to become something different for your business to evolve. Foursquare is a case in point. The company that used to be all about the social check-in has become a data powerhouse and a potential model for the future of Snapchat.", "output": "Snapchat should follow Foursquare's example and turn to data to find revenues, especially in the location space, according to Jay Hawkinson of SIM Partners. In an op-ed, he praised Snapchat's partnership with Foursquare and said the social media company's acquisition of Placed gave it the foundation to leverage online to drive offline sales. He also said that the recently-launched and somewhat controversial tool, Snap Maps, showed the firm was still a disruptive force.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Havas acquires health communication specialists SO What Global \n Havas Group has acquired SO What Global, a London-based firm that specializes in health and wellness communications.\n\nSO What Global will be housed within Havas\u2019s Health & You business unit under the new name Havas SO. As part of the deal, existing Havas Group agency Health for Brands London will become part of Havas SO Group.", "output": "Ad agency Havas has acquired SO What Global, a London-based health and wellness communications firm. Havas-owned agency Health for Brands London will become part of the newly formed Havas SO division as part of the deal. This division will also absorb SO What agencies SO Healthy and SO Active. Havas will also take ownership of SO What Global's RelationSHIFT, a development framework for nurturing relationships between clients and their stakeholders. SO What Global's co-founders, Scott Clark and Oliver Parsons, will retain their roles at the firm.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NotPetya ransomware attack may cost Reckitt Benckiser \u00a3100m \n Some of the world\u2019s biggest companies are counting the cost of lost business following last week\u2019s \u201cNotPetya\u201d ransomware cyber-attack, with Nurofen maker Reckitt Benckiser taking an estimated \u00a3100m hit in revenue.\n\nReckitt \u2013 which also makes Dettol cleaning products and Durex condoms \u2013 said the attack on 27 June had disrupted production and deliveries of goods to customers in several countries.\n\n\n\n\u201cConsequently, we were unable to ship and invoice some orders to customers prior to the close of the quarter,\u201d the British consumer goods company said in a statement on Thursday. \u201cSome of our factories are currently still not operating normally but plans are in place to return to full operation.\u201d\n\nLast week\u2019s attack affected some of the world\u2019s biggest corporate names, including the UK-based advertising group WPP, Danish shipping company AP Moller-Maersk, and US delivery service FedEx.\n\nAnthony Dagostino, head of global cyber-risk at Willis Towers Watson, said such attacks were starting to take a greater toll on businesses. \u201cWe\u2019ve really crossed the threshold into new territory regarding damages sustained from an attack. No longer is it limited to data and privacy compromise with expenses incurred to remediate the breach. Now we\u2019re seeing disruption to supply chains and production, material loss of income, and physical damage becoming more of a reality.\u201d\n\nReckitt Benckiser said it was still assessing the financial impact of the attack on the company. \u201cWe expect that some of the revenue lost from the second quarter will be recovered in the third quarter. However, the continued production difficulties in some factories mean that we also expect to lose some further revenue permanently.\u201d\n\nThe Slough-based company now expects like-for-like net revenue in 2017 to increase by about 2%, down from an earlier growth forecast of 3%. With the company making almost \u00a310bn in revenues in 2016, that would equate to about \u00a3100m in lost revenue.\n\nIt said a new goods and sales tax in India also resulted in reduced orders from some customers in June. Reckitt\u2019s shares were among the biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 in early trading on Thursday, down 2%.\n\nEddy Hargreaves, analysts at Investec bank, said that profits and turnover would both be hit: \u201cThe cost of recovery from the recent cyber-attack on Reckitt\u2019s operations is still being assessed by management. But we expect an impact both on top line, through disruption to production, order handling and logistics, and margin, through the need to upgrade systems and recover data.\u201d\n\nThe company has operations in more than 60 countries and sells its products around the world, employing about 37,000 people globally. The sharp fall in the value of the pound since the Brexit vote has benefited companies like Reckitt Benckiser, because it has significant operations outside the UK.\n\n\n\nMaersk, the world\u2019s largest shipping company, said it had been forced to redirect ships to alternative locations after the attack on its computer systems left it unable to dock and unload containers at some of its ports.\n\nIn its latest message to customers the company said its operations were now \u201crunning close to normal again\u201d, but it was still experiencing some issues such as disruption to phone lines in some regions.\n\nCharlie Huggins, fund manager at Hargreaves Lansdown, said Reckitt should recover from the NotPetya attack. \u201cThe effects of the cyber-attack should prove temporary, while some of the other headwinds holding back sales in the first and second quarter should abate in the second half. As a result, we expect sales to recover relatively quickly.\n\n\u201cCybercrime is fast becoming the number one risk for companies, which is absorbing greater resources and management time. But the reputational cost of getting this wrong can be significant so its vital businesses commit the appropriate resources to reassure investors.\u201d\n\nNeil Campling, analyst at Northern Trust Capital Markets, said this latest attack was a wake-up call for firms. \u201cCompanies all over the world will be reviewing the robustness of their hard and soft procedures to ensure they\u2019ve done everything possible to protect themselves from hackers and others who might wish to disrupt normal operations,\u201d he said.", "output": "Consumer goods manufacturer Reckitt Benckiser could lose up to \u00a3100m ($130m) in net revenue following the NotPetya ransomware attack, which severely disrupted the company's supply chain. While Reckitt Benckiser said it expected some of the Q2 revenue losses to be made up in Q3, it added it expected some revenue losses to be permanent, as shares slumped 2%. \"We\u2019re seeing disruption to supply chains and production, material loss of income, and physical damage becoming more of a reality,\" said Anthony Dagostino, head of global cyber-risk at Willis Towers Watson."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Baidu buys machine learning chatbot platform Kitt.AI \n Chinese search giant Baidu has acquired Kitt.AI, a natural language processing startup, for an undisclosed sum.\n\nSince it was founded in 2014, Kitt has launched three products: Snowboy, a customizable hotword detection engine; NLU, a multilingual natural language engine; and ChatFlow, a framework for building chatbots.\n\nThe two companies will work together \u201cto continue a joint mission of making the complex world simpler with natural language understanding technologies,\u201d said Xuchen Yao, Kitt.AI\u2019s founder and CEO, in a blog post announcing the deal.\n\n\u201cHow does this affect existing and future developers of Kitt.AI?\u201d said Yao. \u201cBetter products, better services and a peace of mind that Kitt.AI will continue to operate with its existing products in the years to come.\n\n\u201cYes, literally nothing changes in our existing products and brands. We'll be continuing to support developers with best of our efforts as we have always been.\u201d\n\nDon\u2019t forget to enter the Effective Mobile Marketing Awards. The Early Bird deadline for submissions is 22 July. More details here.", "output": "Chinese search engine Baidu has acquired natural language processing start-up Kitt.AI for an undisclosed amount. The deal will see the two firms \"continue a joint mission of making the complex world simpler with natural language understanding technologies,\" according to a blog post by Xuchen Yao, CEO of Kitt.AI. He stressed the deal would not affect the company's existing products and brands.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Global warming hindering ocean\u2019s ability to contain carbon \n MIT climate scientists have found that the ocean\u2019s export efficiency, or the fraction of total plankton growth that is sinking to its depths, is decreasing, due mainly to rising global temperatures. Credit: MIT News\n\nIf there is anywhere for carbon dioxide to disappear in large quantities from the atmosphere, it is into the Earth's oceans. There, huge populations of plankton can soak up carbon dioxide from surface waters and gobble it up as a part of photosynthesis, generating energy for their livelihood. When plankton die, they sink thousands of feet, taking with them the carbon that was once in the atmosphere, and stashing it in the deep ocean.\n\nThe oceans, therefore, have served as a natural sponge in removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, helping to offset the effects of climate change.\n\nBut now MIT climate scientists have found that the ocean's export efficiency, or the fraction of total plankton growth that is sinking to its depths, is decreasing, due mainly to rising global temperatures.\n\nIn a new study published in the journal Limnology and Oceanography Letters, the scientists calculate that, over the past 30 years, as temperatures have risen worldwide, the amount of carbon that has been removed and stored in the deep ocean has decreased by 1.5 percent.\n\nTo put this number in perspective, each year, about 50 billion tons of new plankton flourish in the surface ocean each year, while about 6 billion tons of dead plankton sink to deeper waters. A 1.5 percent decline in export efficiency would mean that about 100 million tons of extra plankton have remained near the surface each year.\n\n\"We figured the amount of carbon that is not sinking out as a result of global temperature change is similar to the total amount of carbon emissions that the United Kingdom pumps into the atmosphere each year,\" says first author B.B. Cael, a graduate student in MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS). \"If carbon is just standing in the surface ocean, it's easier for it to end up back in the atmosphere.\"\n\nCael's co-authors on the paper are Kelsey Bisson of the University of California at Santa Barbara and Mick Follows, an associate professor in EAPS.\n\nPhotosynthesizers versus respirers\n\nIn 2016, the team first started looking into whether sea surface temperature has an effect on the ocean's export efficiency. The group's main research focus is on marine microbes, including interactions between communities, and their effects on and responses to climate change.\n\nIn studying export efficiency, the researchers identified two processes in surface ocean microbes that affect the rate at which carbon is drawn down to the deep ocean: Photosynthesizing organisms such as plankton absorb carbon dioxide from surface waters, fixing carbon into their systems; respiring organisms such as bacteria and krill take in oxygen and emit carbon dioxide into the surrounding waters.\n\nBased on the chemistry of photosynthesis and respiration, the researchers realized that the two processes respond differently depending on temperature. Photosynthesizers grow and die relatively faster in colder environments, while respirers are relatively more active in warmer temperatures.\n\nIn 2016, the researchers developed a simple model to predict the ocean's rate of drawing down carbon at given sea surface temperatures. Their results matched with recorded observations of the amount of carbon exported to the deep ocean.\n\n\"We had a simple way to describe how we think temperature influences export efficiency, based on this fundamental metabolic theory,\" Cael says. \"Now, can we use that to see how export efficiency has changed over the time period where we have good temperature records? That's how we can estimate whether export efficiency is changing as a result of climate change.\"\n\nOut to sea\n\nFor this new paper, the researchers used the model to estimate the ocean's export efficiency over the last three decades. Since 1982, satellites, ships, and buoys have made measurements of sea surface temperatures around the world, which scientists have averaged for each measured location and aggregated into publicly available databases.\n\nFor this study, the team used temperature measurements from three different databases, taken every month from 1982 to 2014, for locations around the world. The group used the temperature to estimate export efficiency across the global ocean for each month, based on their simple model. They traced the change in export efficiencies across the globe, over the 33-year period during which measurements were available.\n\nThey found that, worldwide, the rate at which the ocean draws down carbon has declined by 1 to 2 percent since 1982. Sea surface temperatures have increased during this period.\n\n\"People probably expected a decline in export efficiency, but the thing I find interesting is, we have a nice way to try and quantify it,\" Cael says. \"We're able to estimate that over last 30 years, export efficiency has declined by 1 or 2 percent, so 1 to 2 percent less of total plankton productivity is making it out of the surface ocean, which is actually a pretty big number.\"\n\nCael says the team's model could potentially be applied to predict the ocean's future as a carbon sink, though uncertainty in temperature projections makes this a much more complicated goal.\n\n\"How carbon moves around on Earth is fundamental to understanding both Earth's biosphere and climate, and requires understanding how carbon moves through the ocean,\" Cael says. \"This [model] is something you could potentially apply to temperature projections, to guess how carbon will move through the Earth in the future.\"\n\nMore information: B. B. Cael et al. How have recent temperature changes affected the efficiency of ocean biological carbon export?, Limnology and Oceanography Letters (2017). DOI: 10.1002/lol2.10042\n\nThis story is republished courtesy of MIT News (web.mit.edu/newsoffice/), a popular site that covers news about MIT research, innovation and teaching.", "output": "The amount of plankton that sinks to the deep ocean, taking carbon dioxide with it, has been decreasing due to global warming, according to MIT scientists. The researchers estimate that the amount of carbon stored in the deep ocean has fallen by 1.5% over the past 30 years, reducing the oceans\u2019 ability to act as a sponge\u00a0removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. This decline means that approximately 100 million tons of additional plankton have stayed\u00a0close to the surface of the seas each year, preventing carbon equivalent to the UK\u2019s annual emissions output from sinking.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Protests at Sainsbury\u2019s AGM over axing of Fairtrade tea \n Sainsbury\u2019s has been accused of undermining the Fairtrade movement by experimenting with dropping the ethical mark for its own label tea.\n\nA series of shareholders and campaign groups criticised the supermarket group for dropping Fairtrade at its annual meeting in London on Wednesday, in an increasingly fraught exchange with the company\u2019s board. Outside the event, protesters carried placards expressing their concern at the development.\n\nThe protests follow Sainsbury\u2019s recent pilot in which it no longer labels its own-brand teas as Fairtrade, badging them \u201cfairly traded\u201d instead. The company said it was running a pilot with its tea products \u2013 but those opposing the change fear it will be extended to other products, including bananas and coffee.\n\nAnne Lindsay, a private-sector analyst from Cafod, the Catholic charity, said to the board: \u201cI am concerned that after years of being an extremely valuable champion of Fairtrade, Sainsbury\u2019s is starting in a direction that could undermine Fairtrade and lead to a plethora of different standards by different companies and confusion for consumers.\u201d\n\nAnother shareholder said: \u201cI have seen the publicity about the proposed change from Fairtrade to \u2018fairly traded\u2019 tea. I have come across the term fairly traded when I have shopped in budget chains. I don\u2019t know what it means and I don\u2019t think most people who shop in Sainsbury\u2019s do either.\u201d\n\nShe said information on how Sainsbury\u2019s scheme would work was \u201csketchy\u201d and that it was not clear who would decide how the premium paid for ethically traded goods would be distributed to farmers and communities.\n\nSome other shareholders, who nearly missed out on asking questions as Sainsbury\u2019s chairman David Tyler tried to bring the meeting to a close, accused the company of trying to stifle debate. At least one campaigner was not able to ask a question at all.\n\n\u201cAre you now reasserting the power of the retailer against that of the producer \u2013 taking back control \u2013 and putting developing world producers back in the subservient role that Fairtrade redeems them from?\u201d said Douglas James, an independent shareholder.\n\nHe said recognition of the Fairtrade mark outshone that of any other ethical mark and was \u201cthe envy of the marketing world, the gold standard\u201d. \u201cWhat do you hope to achieve by giving up the moral high ground and the kudos you currently enjoy and going it alone as yet another self-defining brand?\u201d\n\nMike Coupe, Sainsbury\u2019s chief executive, defended the change at the AGM, saying the company was \u201ctrying to bring clarity to a very complicated environment\u201d, which encompassed many different ethical standards and labels.\n\nHe said the changes being made on tea products were a pilot and Sainsbury\u2019s was committed to a transparent review of how well it worked with the seven producer groups involved.\n\n\u201cWe are committed to the standards Fairtrade currently apply but we have to move on to ensure we cover social, environmental and economically sustainable standards around the world.\u201d\n\nHe said Sainsbury\u2019s \u201cdidn\u2019t want to mark its own homework\u201d and would work with independent groups to verify its practices. But he suggested Fairtrade had become outdated.\n\n\u201cIt might have been fit for purpose 25 years ago, but we\u2019re in a new world with new technology,\u201d he said.", "output": "Sainsbury\u2019s was criticised by shareholders and campaigners at its AGM on Wednesday for dropping the Fairtrade mark for its own brand tea. Protests both inside and outside the meeting were staged in response to a pilot programme by the supermarket which saw it label the tea as \u201cfairly traded\u201d. Those opposed to the change fear it will be extended to products including bananas and coffee and that it will weaken the Fairtrade system. Sainsbury\u2019s CEO\u00a0Mike Coupe\u00a0said that the company was attempting \u201cto bring clarity to a very complicated environment,\u201d which contained a number of different ethical marks.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Some UK gig economy workers earning \u00a32.50 an hour: Frank Field \n The government has been urged to stage an \u201cemergency intervention\u201d to protect gig economy workers, amid concerns they are being forced into contracts that sometimes pay less than \u00a32.50 an hour and can be cancelled at any moment.\n\n\n\nThe allegations are detailed in the latest report by the former work and pensions committee chair, Frank Field MP, into the gig economy, where people work flexible hours on short-term or freelance contracts without the rights of permanent employees.\n\nField\u2019s report comes nine months after Theresa May promised in her maiden party conference speech as prime minister to \u201cmake sure that, in our modern and flexible economy, people are properly protected at work\u201d.\n\nIts findings are likely to intensify scrutiny of a government-backed review by former Tony Blair adviser Matthew Taylor into modern employment practices, which is expected to be published early next week.\n\nField\u2019s report focuses on firms including Parcelforce, DPD, and \u2013 for the first time \u2013 British Car Auctions, owner of webuyanycar.com.\n\nComplaints raised by staff interviewed for the report include being fined hundreds of pounds unless they worked while ill, while others said that self-employment meant they ended up earning as little as \u00a32.22 an hour, or even losing money.\n\nField also claimed that Parcelforce, owned by Royal Mail, \u201ctied each driver\u2019s hands behind their back\u201d by requiring them to sign a contract forbidding them from challenging their employment status.\n\nHe said the clause \u2013 which echoes a similar passage dropped by Deliveroo after a backlash from couriers \u2013 was \u201csymptomatic of the threatening and hostile environment in which some people are required to work\u201d.\n\nHe added that such contracts were \u201ctoo often characterised by poverty wages, chronic insecurity and appalling treatment\u201d, with terms designed to subsidise company profits.\n\nThe report cites testimony from some of Parcelforce\u2019s 3,000 couriers, about a quarter of whom are self-employed owner-drivers who are paid per delivery and must fund their own vehicle, fuel, insurance and uniform.\n\n\n\nMany of the owner-drivers, it says, were persuaded to give up their status as full employees \u2013 which granted them superior workers\u2019 rights \u2013 on the promise of better pay and more flexibility.\n\nTwo Parcelforce drivers told Field \u201cwe are frequently warned we could lose our jobs if we don\u2019t do as we\u2019re told\u201d, while a DPD driver said \u201cconditions of employment are precarious, to say the least\u201d.\n\nThe report said drivers were \u201ccoming to work with broken bones\u201d to avoid fines of up to \u00a3400 a day for failing to work their shifts. One Parcelforce courier said he paid for a colleague to join him on deliveries \u201cwhilst I sat next to him with a bucket in case I was sick\u201d.\n\nRoyal Mail, which was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2013 and is no longer government-owned, made a profit of \u00a3742m last year.\n\nParcelforce said: \u201cWe strongly believe that our owner-drivers are treated fairly.\u201d\n\nIt said owner-drivers could expected \u201csignificant returns\u201d of an average \u00a339,400 after running costs.\n\n\u201cMany of our self-employed owner-drivers are substantial businesses in their own right. For this reason, Parcelforce Worldwide sets out the contractual terms clearly for both the benefit of the company and the owner-drivers. Self-employed owner-drivers do not therefore receive the benefits of employment such as sick pay, pension and holiday pay.\u201d\n\nA Royal Mail spokesman said: \u201cAs a responsible business, we treat all of our business partners with fairness and respect. At Parcelforce Worldwide, 75 per cent of our drivers are employees. They have amongst the best terms and conditions in our industry.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe parcels market is highly competitive. It is becoming ever more so. In the early 2000s, Parcelforce Worldwide had to adapt its business model to remain in business and employees were offered enhanced voluntary redundancy terms. At that time, with the agreement of our union, we also introduced self-employed owner-driver contracts. Employees who took enhanced voluntary redundancy were able to tender for these if they wished.\u201d\n\nCouriers for DPD said the requirement to cover the cost of a replacement driver when they are ill meant they could end up losing money.\n\nOne said a colleague earned \u00a32,100 in four weeks, but ended up being charged \u00a32,800 due to costs such as petrol and insurance, as well as \u201cfines because he was too poorly to drive the van\u201d.\n\nCouriers for DPD said the requirement to cover the cost of a replacement driver when they are ill meant they could lose money. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo\n\nAnother driver for DPD, which made a pre-tax profit of \u00a3125m last year, said: \u201cThey are quick to brag about how much profit the company makes, but this is at the expense of not treating its drivers properly.\u201d\n\nOne driver for British Car Auctions claimed the terms of his self-employment contract meant he often ended up being paid a fraction of the \u201cnational living wage\u201d of \u00a37.20 for over-25s.\n\n\n\n\u201cI, along with all other self-employed drivers, have been paid as little as \u00a32.22 per hour. BCA will argue that we are self-employed and paid per car, but does that give them the right to pay third-world wages?\u201d\n\nField added: \u201cThe poverty pay and shoddy treatment meted out to some of those workers is, sadly, inevitable in the absence of statutory minimum standards in the gig economy. That generates huge profits while minimising tax payments.\u201d\n\nDPD and BCA did not return requests for comment.\n\nField said the evidence gathered for the report showed that companies should be forced to prove staff are self-employed \u2013 reversing existing labour laws, where the onus is on staff to prove their status.\n\n\u201cWe believe such moves are necessary to bring to an end the current free-for-all whereby an unknown number of workers on low incomes are, in effect, subsidising the companies with whom they work,\u201d the report says.\n\n\n\nHe also called for a more immediate \u201cemergency intervention\u201d to guarantee labour rights, particularly a minimum income.\n\nSeveral high-profile cases involving firms such as Uber and CitySprint have seen staff argue that they should be classed as workers, an official classification that carries additional rights to independent contractors, including a minimum wage and holiday pay.\n\n\n\nWhat the drivers say...\n\n...on \u2018threats\u2019 and insecurity\n\n\u201cConditions of employment are precarious to say the least. The communication received from DPD always has a threatening edge to it as they know people worry about their jobs.\u201d \u2013 DPD driver\n\n\u201cI have been fined over \u00a3400 for being too sick to get to work for just one day and once I had to pay for a company employee\u2019s overtime to come out on route with me whilst I sat next to him with a bucket in case I was sick.\u201d \u2013 Parcelforce driver\n\n...on \u2018poverty pay\u2019\n\n\u201cI, along with all other self-employed drivers, have been paid as little as \u00a32.22 per hour. \u00a33/\u00a34/\u00a35 per hour is not unusual and is probably the norm. BCA will argue that we are self-employed and paid per car, but does that give them the right to pay third-world wages?\u201d \u2013 British Car Auctions driver\n\n\u201cWhile profits soar, we as drivers get exploited, underpaid and taken for granted.\u201d \u2013 DPD driver\n\n...on flexibility\n\n\u201cI cannot see if you are told how, when and what to do you can be truly self-employed. If [you] say \u2018no\u2019 to them you are threatened with contract cancellation and if you question them then you are told that you can always leave as someone else can take [your] place.\u201d \u2013 Parcelforce driver\n\n\n\n\u201cIf you work at the same depot every day, wear a DPD uniform, drive a DPD van, get given a DPD scanner, are told by DPD management what parcels to deliver at what rate, don\u2019t work for anyone else, you legally should be protected by the government as being employed.\u201d \u2013 DPD driver\n\n...on the impact on workers\u2019 lives\n\n\u201cIf I fail to turn up to work I can get fined up to \u00a3400 a day. I recently had to go into work after sitting up all night with my mother until she died \u2013 and then do a 12-hour day.\u201d \u2013 Parcelforce driver\n\n\u201cThis isn\u2019t self-employment, or employment either. It\u2019s a living hell, a nightmare scenario and the government needs to bring in legislation to stop these crooks from ripping off vulnerable people.\u201d \u2013 DPD driver.\n\n\n\n", "output": "Gig economy workers in the UK are sometimes being paid less than \u00a32.50 ($3.22) an hour, according to the latest report by former work and pensions committee chair, Frank Field MP.  The report focuses on firms including British Car Auctions,\u00a0DPD and Parcelforce. Staff interviewed complained that they were fined hundreds of pounds if they did not work due to ill-health, whilst others claimed to earn as little as \u00a32.22 per hour or even to work at a loss. Field called for an \u201cemergency intervention\u201d by the government to protect labour rights and a minimum wage.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Standard Life, Investec among firms aided by FCA robo accelerator \n The FCA has revealed Standard Life\u2019s Financial Planning arm is among firms that is has been helping to develop robo advice.\n\nThe regulator announced the names of firms who have participated in the Advice Unit.\n\nThis was established in 2016 following a recommendation from the Financial Advice Market Review to provide regulatory feedback to firms developing automated advice and discretionary investment management models.\n\nFollow our Day in the Life of Financial Planning live blog now https://t.co/wBZXHZF0Vi \u2014 FP Today Magazine (@FPTodayMagazine) June 30, 2017\n\nThe Advice Unit is open to applications from firms of all sizes, whether new start-ups or large firms, provided they meet FCA eligibility criteria.\n\nThere have been two cohorts of firms who have participated in the Advice Unit so far.\n\nTen firms were accepted in Summer 2016:\n\nevestor, FinEx Capital Management, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Money Guidance, Mortimer Mackenzie Ltd, National Westminster Bank Plc, Nationwide Building Society, True Potential Investments, Santander\n\nThe second group of seven firms joined in early 2017:\n\n1825 (part of the Standard Life group), Direct Life & Pension Services Limited, Investec Click & Invest, Moneyfarm, Multiply.ai, Personal Touch Financial Services Limited, WealthKernel\n\nThe FCA also announced today the expansion of the scope of the Advice Unit so it will now take in firms developing automated advice models within the mortgage, general insurance and debt advice sectors.\n\nThe Advice Unit will also now accept firms that want to provide guidance instead of regulated advice as well as firms not intending to seek authorisation.\n\nThe application process is also changing so that the Advice Unit will now be accepting applications from firms throughout the year, rather than on a cohort basis.\n\nChristopher Woolard, executive director of strategy and competition at the FCA, said: \u201cThe Advice Unit\u2019s initial work, including the support it has provided to firms, has shown its potential and the changes announced today present a further opportunity to widen consumer access to financial advice and guidance across a broader range of sectors.\u201d", "output": "Asset manager Standard Life's financial planning unit and the new Click & Invest robo service from Investec are among those receiving help from\u00a0UK\u00a0regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in developing their automated\u00a0advice offerings. The FCA\u00a0advice unit gives regulatory feedback to firms developing robo-advisers and discretionary investment management models.\u00a0They are\u00a0among the\u00a0seven businesses that were taken under the wing of the regulator's\u00a0fintech accelerator earlier this year.\u00a0Direct Life & Pension Services,\u00a0Moneyfarm, Multiply.ai, Personal Touch Financial Services and\u00a0WealthKernel are also part of the same cohort.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Secourriel launches message system compliant with new regulations \n In the presence of the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Luxembourg, almost 30 guests and representatives of financial institutions, law firms and SMEs welcomed the opportunity to gain an insight into the FinTech start-up Secourriel at their offices in Luxembourg on Tursday evening.\n\n\n\nSecourriel is transforming classic email and messaging through a secure, contract-ready trusted solution. Its founder, Jorg Reinking, has over 20 years experience in the financial industry and firmly believes that \"this will revolutionise B2B and B2C messaging and unlock the potential of eCommerce within the financial ecosystem\".\n\nAs regulations, such as MiFID II, GDPR & PSD II evolve, the entire financial sector and those who serve it will have to update their procedures for sending and receiving digital information. To achieve this, Secourriel provides a unique platform delivering convenience and usability without compromising on security. Secourriel provides the secure framework in which companies can flourish and grow.\n\nFor further information, see www.secourriel.com\n\nPhoto (L-R): Ambassador Dr. Kreft; Jorg Reinking, CEO", "output": "Luxembourg fintech start-up Secourriel has created a messaging system that it believes will transform B2B and B2C messaging in the financial industry. The contract-ready solution offered by the platform will allow users to communicate in a secure manner that meets the demands of new regulations, including Mifid II,\u00a0the general data protection regulation (GDPR) and the second payments services directive (PSD2), said the release."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Moscow researchers develop solar design using plant pigments \n A member of the Faculty of Biology of the Lomonosov Moscow State University, in cooperation with colleagues, has optimized and characterized TiO\u2082-based solar cell design using diverse plant pigments. The study involved two types of solar cells with two photosensitizers, thylakoid membrane preparations and anthocyanin-enriched raspberry extracts. The project results have been published in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy.\n\nSuleyman Allakhverdiev, one of the article authors, says, \"To understand processes occurring in the solar cells, investigations characterizing the efficiency and stability with regard to environmental factors are also required. For this aim, novel instrumentation for the investigation of environmental effects on photocurrent generated by solar cells has been designed and constructed. The system reflects conditions required for effective and stable functioning of the solar cells. We've designed and studied solar cells in which components of the photosynthetic apparatus are used as photosensitizers. With the help of the stabilizing compounds, we have increased the active stable operation time of a system by four to six times. We've also proved the possibility of applying long-wave forms of chlorophyll, capable of absorbing low-energy photons, which aren't absorbed by usual chlorophyll molecules.\"\n\nIn order to create the solar cell, the scientists used methods of immobilization of various biological pigment-protein complexes on the surface of nanostructured titanium dioxide.\n\nThe scientist concludes: \"In the future, we are going to use complexes of isolated reaction centers of photosynthesis as sensitizers in such systems, as well as chlorophyll molecules which are able to absorb light in far red and near infrared spectral ranges. Biological systems used as photosensitizers are inexpensive and environmentally safe. Moreover, the same principle could be applied to the creation of photocatalytic water cleavage systems with the outcome of molecular hydrogen, which could be a promising alternative to fossil fuel. Creation of artificial photobiosynthesis systems could meet ever-increasing needs for cheap, environmentally safe and energy-rich fuel types.\"\n\nMore information: R.A. Voloshin et al, Optimization and characterization of TiO 2 -based solar cell design using diverse plant pigments, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2016). DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2016.11.148 Journal information: International Journal of Hydrogen Energy", "output": "Researchers from the Faculty of Biology at the Lomonosov Moscow State University have created a solar cell design using a range of plant pigments. The technique emerged from an investigation of the environmental effects on photocurrents in solar cells, and increased the active stable operation time of a system by four to six times. The technique was created by immobilising pigment-protein complexes on a nanostructured titanium dioxide. The same principle could be used to create fuels by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Savills adds 'Click to Purchase' service for swift exchanges \n Manage Cookies\n\nCookies are a small file saved on your computer that help store preferences and other information that\u2019s used on the web pages you visit. See below for further information about the categories of cookies used on our site and your current preference settings. Turning any of these cookies off may affect your experience of the site.\n\nFor more information about how we and our partners use cookies on our site, see our Cookie Policy\n\nStrictly necessary These cookies are necessary for the Savills website to function. Examples of this include: setting your privacy preferences, logging in to your Savills account, or filling in forms. Though these cookies cannot be switched off, you can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but please be aware that this will stop some parts of the Savills website from functioning as intended. Find out more about strictly necessary cookies here. Always allowed Functional cookies These cookies are used to enhance the performance of the Savills website, as without them certain functions of the website may not be available. While they are not vital for the website to run, they allow us to remember important information and your preferences such as previous location searches. Find out more about functional cookies here. Allow Targeting & tracking These cookies record your activity on the Savills website and our partners may use that information to show you adverts that they think you will be most interested in when you visit other websites. We may also use information recorded by these cookies to see how well these adverts are performing. Find out more about targeting and tracking cookies here. Allow", "output": "London-based estate agency Savills has incorporated a \"unique agent-operated transactional platform\" aimed at expediting commercial and residential property transactions. \"Click to Purchase\" enables users to participate in private treaty, real-time auctions and best bids whilst on the move or at their desktop computer. In the interests of accountability and transparency, buyers must proceed through an online verification stage before being permitted to make an offer, and all exchanges between buyer and seller are recorded electronically. Electronic signatures and electronic contract notes form legally binding \"tamper proof, verifiable and validated\" deals which are completed in a matter of days, said Angus Potterton, MD of Savills Ireland.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ThyssenKrupp tests maglev lift that can also travel horizontally \n As you can see in the video above, the elevator, known as Multi, doesn\u2019t use a cable at all. Instead, it runs on rails that act as linear motors, using magnetic fields to accelerate cabins along their length. When a cabin stops at a floor, those rails can rotate so that it can move off to the left or right rather than continuing up or down.\n\nThyssenKrupp's vision is of a system of several such shafts placed next to each other, so software might plan routes that take cabins between shafts and around congestion, saving people time.\n\nThe linear motor technology could also help side-step a major issue facing current skyscrapers. As Wired UK notes, regular cable designs can only safely rise about 1,600 feet in one continuous stretch, so in tall buildings there have to be numerous lift shafts installed to get people to the top. Multi could solve that, which could free up space and also allow architects to design buildings in different shapes and styles.\n\nOne German developer, OVG Real Estate, has already taken the plunge, and will install the system in its forthcoming East Side Tower building in Berlin. But\u2014and honestly, there had to be a big \"but\" here\u2014it's unlikely many buildings will be kitted out with these kinds of elevators in the near future. That's because Multi will apparently cost as much as five times more than a standard lift system. And, sadly, golden tickets don't stretch very far in the world of real estate.", "output": "German engineering firm ThyssenKrupp has tested the Multi, the world's first maglev lift, which uses linear motors and magnetic fields instead of cables, allowing it to move horizontally as well as vertically. In a public demonstration in Rottweil, ThyssenKrupp also revealed how software could plan routes around a building to avoid congestion. The novel technology means architects would not be limited by the maximum cable lengths of traditional lifts. German firm OVG Real Estate was the first to order a Multi system.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's GSR in talks to buy 20% stake in Chilean lithium mine \n An aerial view of the brine pools and processing plant of the Soquimich lithium mine on the Atacama salt flat in northern Chile, January 10, 2013.\n\nChinese private equity firm GSR Capital is looking to buy a substantial holding in Chile's Sociedad Quimica Y Minera (SQM), one of the world's biggest lithium producers, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter.\n\nGSR could buy a stake of around 20 percent - worth just under $1.9 billion at current market values, one of the sources said, but added there was no firm agreement.\n\nSQM is one of just a handful of established lithium miners globally and a Chinese investment would go hand in glove with an electric car boom in the world's biggest auto market.\n\nBeijing is aggressively promoting the vehicles to combat air pollution and as a means for the domestic car industry to compete with foreign rivals that have decades more experience in internal combustion engines.\n\nThe sources said GSR, which has invested in clean technology and electric cars, met the Chilean government in April to discuss the potential purchase and was now moving towards a deal.\n\nA Chilean government transparency web site reported two GSR representatives met Eduardo Bitran, the head of the government development agency Corfo that manages the nation's lithium leases, on April 24.\n\nAn SQM representative declined to comment. GSR did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.\n\nThe sources did not specify who would sell the shares to GSR, but Julio Ponce, former chairman and one-time son-in-law of Chilean ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet, has previously tried to sell part of his interest in SQM. That process ended in late 2016 after offers fell short.\n\nSuitors then included Ningbo Shanshan , a Chinese manufacturer of lithium battery materials. Canada's Potash Corp was also seen as a potential buyer.\n\nAccording to a presentation on SQM's website, Ponce's holding firm Pampa Calichera and Japanese trading and chemicals firm Kowa, who have a joint voting pact, together owned a 32 percent stake in SQM as of the end of March 2017. Potash also owns 32 percent.\n\nPotash declined to comment. Reuters was not able to reach Ponce for comment, but a source with knowledge of Pampa Calichera said he was not aware of the potential stake purchase. Kowa did not have immediate comment.\n\nSQM, which has access to vast mineral reserves in the so-called 'lithium triangle' in Chile and Argentina, said in May it was planning to expand production as lithium demand continues to rocket on the back of its increased use in electric vehicles and mobile phones.\n\nGSR, currently managing a $5 billion M&A fund, mainly targets foreign industrial and emerging technology companies, including electric car batteries and pharmaceuticals firms. It is in talks to buy control of a Nissan Motor rechargeable battery unit for about $1 billion, media have reported\n\nGSR was also involved in a Chinese consortium to take over Italian football club AC Milan last year, but dropped out before the deal was signed, sources said at the time.\n\nIt grabbed headlines in 2015 when it teamed up with other investors to buy Philips 's lighting component unit for $2.8 billion, a deal later blocked by a U.S. foreign investment panel on security grounds.", "output": "Chinese private equity firm GSR Capital is looking to purchase stake of around 20%, worth roughly $1.9bn, in one of the world's largest lithium producers, Chile's Sociedad Quimica Y Minera, sources have said. This move is in line with the Beijing government's vigorous promotion of\u00a0electric vehicles in a bid to combat air pollution and compete with rivals in the\u00a0fast-growing industry."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Zero-hours contracts linked to health of the young, finds report \n Young people employed on zero-hours contracts are more likely to have worse mental and physical health than peers with more stable positions, a study has found.\n\nThe study, conducted by the UCL Institute of Education, found 25-year-olds employed on contracts that do not guarantee a minimum number of work hours were 41% less likely to report having good physical health compared with those with secure contracts.\n\nYoung people on zero-hours contracts were also one-and-a-half times more likely to report having a mental health problem compared with someone on a more secure employment contract.\n\n\n\nThe research, part of wider work looking at young people\u2019s experiences of the labour market, has prompted concern among unions and MPs, who are calling for the government to crack down on exploitative employment arrangements.\n\nThe Unite union\u2019s assistant general secretary, Steve Turner, said that only by banning zero-hours contracts could the \u201cscourge of insecure work\u201d be tackled. He said: \u201cThis shocking research points to zero-hours contracts not just harming people\u2019s wallets, but harming people\u2019s physical and mental health too. Our young people deserve a better future than low-paid, insecure work and the stress of not knowing from one week to the next whether they will be able pay the bills and eat.\u201d\n\nThe Labour MP for Great Grimsby, Melanie Onn, said: \u201cNot knowing how many days you\u2019ll be working, or even if you will be working, from day to day, puts huge strain on people trying to balance their household budget.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe study\u2019s lead author, Dr Morag Henderson, said: \u201cMillennials have faced a number of challenges as they entered the world of work. They joined the labour market at the height of the most recent financial crisis and faced higher than ever university fees and student loan debt.\u201d\n\nShe said one likely cause for the negative impact of zero-hours contracts on mental health was financial stress or anxiety \u201cassociated with having a low-status job\u201d. She added the worry of not having regular work could trigger physical symptoms such as chest pain.\n\nFrances O\u2019Grady said: \u2018If you don\u2019t know how much work you will have from one day to the next, this is bound to impact on your health and mental wellbeing.\u2019 Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA\n\nThere were 1.7m zero-hours contracts in the UK in November 2016, making up 6% of all employment contracts. The Resolution Foundation thinktank said the pace of growth for these contracts had slowed in the second half of 2016, to 0.8% from 7.7% in the same period a year earlier.\n\nPeople on zero-hours contracts do not have set working hours a week, although there can be pressure for them to come in when needed. Companies including Sports Direct and McDonald\u2019s have been criticised for using such employment methods.\n\nThe Trades Union Congress (TUC) and Unite have urged the government to follow New Zealand\u2019s lead and ban zero-hour contracts.\n\nThe Institute of Education study followed 7,707 people living in England who were aged between 13 and 14 in 2004. When they reached 25 in 2015 they were asked about their working life and to rate their physical and mental health on a scale from excellent to poor.\n\nTwo-thirds of 25-year-olds researchers spoke to were employed full-time, 12% were employed part-time and 7% were unemployed. About a quarter worked shifts, and 5% had zero-hours contracts. The largest proportion (15%) were in professional roles such as teaching.\n\nConcern about zero-hours contracts prompted Theresa May to hire Matthew Taylor, the former head of Tony Blair\u2019s policy unit, to head a review of workers\u2019 rights. The response is due in the summer.\n\nThe Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: \u201cWe are committed to building an economy that works for everyone and making sure employment rules and rights keep up to date to reflect new ways of working, that\u2019s why we asked Matthew Taylor in October to conduct an independent review into modern working practices. As part of his review, Matthew has been looking at different ways of working and wellbeing, which we expect to be published shortly.\u201d\n\nFrances O\u2019Grady, the general secretary of the TUC, said: \u201cIf you don\u2019t know how much work you will have from one day to the next, this is bound to impact on your health and mental wellbeing.\u201d\n\n\u201cEmployers must not be allowed to get away with treating workers like disposable labour.\u201d", "output": "Zero-hours contracts may have an effect on young people\u2019s mental and physical health, according to a study by the UCL Institute of Education. The research found that 25-year-olds employed on such contracts were 41% less likely to report good physical health and one and a half times more likely to report mental ill health than those on secure contracts. The study followed 7,707 people in England. In November 2016, 1.7 million zero-hours contracts existed in the UK, comprising 6% of all employment contracts.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Zero-hours contracts linked to health of the young, finds report \n New research from the UCL Institute of Education (IOE) reveals that young adults who are employed on zero-hours contracts are less likely to be in good health, and are at higher risk of poor mental health than workers with stable jobs.\n\nResearchers from the IOE's Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) analysed data on more than 7,700 people living in England who were born in 1989-90 and are being followed by a study called Next Steps.\n\nThey found that at age 25, people on zero-hours contracts and those who were unemployed were less likely to report feeling healthy, compared to those in more secure employment.\n\nThose with zero-hours contracts were also at greater risk of reporting symptoms of psychological distress. However, young adults who were unemployed were more than twice as likely to suffer from mental ill health compared to those who were in work.\n\nAnd, although shift workers were at no greater risk than those working regular hours to be in poor health, they were more likely to have psychological problems.\n\nThe lead author, Dr Morag Henderson, said:\n\n\"Millennials have faced a number of challenges as they entered the world of work. They joined the labour market at the height of the most recent financial crisis and faced higher than ever university fees and student loan debt.\n\n\"There is evidence that those with a precarious relationship to the labour market, such as shift workers, zero-hours contract holders and the unemployed are more at risk of poor mental health and physical health than their peers.\n\n\"One explanation for these findings is that financial stress or the stress associated with having a low-status job increases the risk of poor mental health. It may also be that the worry of having no work or irregular work triggers physical symptoms of stress, including chest pain, headaches and muscle tension.\"\n\nTwo thirds of 25-year-olds were employed full-time, 1 in 8 (12%) were employed part time, and 7 per cent were unemployed. Around a quarter (23%) worked shifts, and 5 per cent had zero-hours contracts.\n\nBy occupation, the largest proportion of young adults (15%) were in professional roles, such as teachers, engineers and accountants. A further 14 per cent had professional support roles, including paramedics, librarians and pharmacists, 9 per cent were in administrative or secretarial occupations and 8 per cent had manual roles, such as general labourers and forestry workers.\n\nThe findings took into account background factors such as gender, ethnicity, social class, prior mental health, sleep duration, frequency of exercise and weight.\n\nMedia contacts\n\nRyan Bradshaw\n\nTel: 020 7612 6516 or 07952 910359\n\nEmail: r.bradshaw@ucl.ac.uk\n\nKatherine Butler\n\nTel: 020 7911 5389\n\nEmail: k.butler@ucl.ac.uk\n\nMedia coverage\n\nPrime Minister's Questions 5 July 2017 - Jeremy Corbyn: \"When Tories talk of tough choices, we know who suffers: the poorest and most vulnerable in our society. Young people employed on zero-hours contracts are more likely to have worse mental and physical health.\"\n\nLinks", "output": "Zero-hours contracts may have an effect on young people\u2019s mental and physical health, according to a study by the UCL Institute of Education. The research found that 25-year-olds employed on such contracts were 41% less likely to report good physical health and one and a half times more likely to report mental ill health than those on secure contracts. The study followed 7,707 people in England. In November 2016, 1.7 million zero-hours contracts existed in the UK, comprising 6% of all employment contracts.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amstel launches\u00a0Pok\u00e9mon Go-inspired\u00a0free beer hunt \n Heinken-owned beer brand Amstel has partnered with AR app Snatch for a summer promotion.\n\n10,000 pints of Amstel are being given away in the app, to players who can find one of the prize locations, Pok\u00e9mon Go style, and then hold onto it for six hours without another nearby player \u2018snatching\u2019 it.\n\nThe free drink vouchers are redeemable in Mitchells & Butlers bars and pubs, including All Bar One, Nicholson\u2019s and Toby Carvery. Amstel is also be giving away three holidays to Amsterdam, where the Amstel brewery is located, plus 20 bikes.\n\nSnatch launched in February, with the backing of Unilever Ventures. It has worked with brands including Topshop, Just Eat and Pizza Hut.\n\n\u201cSnatch is about brands engaging with consumers in a place they\u2019re accepted and welcomed, not interrupting them with advertising,\u201d said Phil Lloyd, chief customer officer at Snatch. \u201cCombining brand rewards, real-world gaming and AR is fairly new territory but it\u2019s powerful.\u201d", "output": "Heineken-owned beer brand Amstel has joined up with augmented reality (AR) app Snatch for a Pok\u00e9mon Go-style promotional campaign. Users can win vouchers for free beer by finding a prize location and hanging onto it for six hours without anyone else in the vicinity \u2018snatching\u2019 it. The campaign will see 10,000\u00a0pints given away, with vouchers redeemable at Mitchells & Butlers bars and pubs. \"Combining brand rewards, real-world gaming and AR is fairly new territory but it\u2019s powerful,\" said Phil Lloyd, chief customer officer at Snatch.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "One in seven UK tenants spend more than half their wages on rent \n One in seven tenants privately renting from a landlord is paying more than half of their income in rent, compared with just 2% of homeowners who pay more than half their income on their mortgage, according to new research.\n\nThe Local Government Association, which compiled the figures, said high rents were preventing young adults from saving up for a deposit for a home of their own. It said the average deposit now cost 71% of a first-time buyer\u2019s annual income.\n\nThe research also found that four out of 10 private tenants spend more than 30% of their pay on rent, compared with only 11% of those with a mortgage.\n\nPrivate rents currently average \u00a3852 a month across Britain, although the figures are skewed by high costs in London.\n\nThe LGA is calling for the government to give councils powers to fund more affordable homes and social rents. Last year, there were only 30,000 new affordable homes built in England, the lowest number in 24 years. Councils say they need to be able to borrow to invest in housing and to keep 100% of the receipts from any homes they sell to replace them.\n\nCouncillor Judith Blake, LGA housing spokesman, said: \u201cWhen one in seven private renters is spending half their income on rent, it\u2019s no wonder we have a rental logjam \u2013 with a shortage of homes with genuinely affordable rent, and young people struggling to have enough income left over to save for a deposit.\n\n\u201cA thriving private rented sector helps create a balanced mix of available housing. A new wave of genuinely affordable homes for rental, that cost 30% of household income or less, would provide tenants with stability, reduce the squeeze on household incomes and help more people get on the housing ladder.\u201d\n\nThere has been mild relief for tenants in some parts of the country, with evidence that private rents have fallen in London and the south-east over the past year. One rental index last month showed that average UK rents had fallen for the first time since 2009, with the biggest declines in London.\n\nTenants will also benefit from a long-awaited ban on fees imposed by letting agents that was confirmed in the Queen\u2019s speech, and a new cap on deposits limiting them to just one month\u2019s rent.\n\nBut while rent rises have plateaued, critics say this has only come after many years of outpacing rises in earnings.\n\nResearch by the Chartered Institute of Housing last week found that rents across England grew an average of 14.6% from May 2011 to May 2017 while wages increased 10% over the same period. In London, rents have increased 22% over the same period.\n\nTerrie Alafat, chief executive of the CIH, said: \u201cThis analysis reveals just how stark the growth in private rents is in London and the south-east, where it is clear there is now a very significant gap between the amount people earn and the cost of their housing.\u201d\n\n\n\nCouncils are swimming against a tide of right to buy sales that means they are losing much more of their stock than they are replacing. It emerged last year that 54,581 units of social housing have been sold since David Cameron\u2019s government boosted the discounts in 2012, but work has begun on only 12,472 replacements.\n\nThe Association of Residential Letting Agents is forecasting that rents will start to rise again in coming months. Its latest survey of members found that 27% put through rent rises in May \u2013 the highest level since July 2016. It said just 2.8% of tenants had managed to negotiate a rent reduction last month.\n\nIt also forecasts that rents will rise by \u00a3103 to compensate for the loss of letting fees, although the evidence from Scotland, where a ban was put in place several years ago, is mixed.", "output": "One in seven UK tenants privately renting from a landlord\u00a0are paying more than half their income\u00a0on rent, according to research from the Local Government Association (LGA). Meanwhile, just 2% of homeowners pay more than half their income on their mortgage. The LGA also found that four in 10 private tenants spend more than 30% of their pay on rent, compared with 11% of home-owners on their mortgages. Additionally, high rents are preventing young adults from saving for a deposit for their own home, with the average deposit costing 71% of a first-time buyer's annual income.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Roughly a third of second-time buyers need help financing a move \n Nearly a third (32%) of second-time buyers (aka second steppers) purchasing their next home need an average of \u00a321,231 in financial support from family and friends, research has found.\n\nAccording to the latest Lloyds Bank Second Steppers report, over a third (35%) said that without financial support, they wouldn\u2019t be able to make their next move.\n\nSome 17% of second steppers intend to borrow from the \u2018Bank of Mum and Dad\u2019, with 9% planning to borrow from grandparents and 6% from friends.\n\nAndy Mason, mortgage director at Lloyds Bank, said: \u201cParental support continues to play a vital role in helping young people to get on the property ladder.\n\n\n\nPoll As a broker, do you currently quote 'green' loan options alongside standard loan quotes for property development finance? Yes No Vote Results\n\n\n\n\n\n\u201cHowever, it is clear that despite improved conditions for this part of the housing market, second steppers will still rely on the \u2018Bank of Mum and Dad\u2019, with hard-pressed parents being once again called on for financial help.\u201d\n\nAlmost half of second steppers (47%) believe that their parents have had to make sacrifices to help them move up the property ladder and almost a quarter (23%) have put off having kids of their own until they have sold their first home.\n\nAndy added: \u201cWithout this extra financial support, second steppers believe that they wouldn\u2019t be able to make the next move on the property ladder for some time.\u201d", "output": "At least 32% of homeowners looking to purchase their second home have to rely on assistance from family and friends, according to a Lloyds Bank Second Steppers report. It found second steppers had to find an average of \u00a321,231 in financial support, with 17% having recourse to borrowing\u00a0from parents, 9% turning to grandparents and 7% asking friends for help. \"Without this extra financial support, second steppers believe that they wouldn\u2019t be able to make the next move on the property ladder for some time,\" said Andy Mason, mortgage director at Lloyds Bank.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Most builders don't get asked for critical paperwork: FMB \n The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has warned that an \u201calarming\u201d number of homeowners do not ask their builders for essentials such as a contract or references.\n\nThis follows research from the FMB which found that 90% of builders say that the majority of homeowners do not ask for a written contract.\n\nBrian Berry, chief executive of the FMB, felt there were indications that homeowners were leaving themselves vulnerable to problems in terms of how they approached their building work.\n\n\u201cThe vast majority of builders say that most clients fail to ask for references and even fewer ask for a written contract on their work.\n\n\u201cThere is a similar trend when it comes to asking for critical things like an agreed payment schedule and key warranties on work, as well as checking whether the builder has any external accreditation or recognition from professional trade associations like the FMB.\n\n\u201cThese protections really are essential to helping clients weed out the cowboys and mitigate against any issues that could crop up during the build.\n\n\n\nPoll As a broker, do you currently quote 'green' loan options alongside standard loan quotes for property development finance? Yes No Vote Results\n\n\n\n\n\n\u201cA quality builder will insist on these things and if they don\u2019t, consumers ought to question why.\u201d\n\nThe research from FMB found:\n\nMore than 40% of builders need at least four months\u2019 notice from consumers who want to hire their firm\n\n90% of builders say that the majority of homeowners do not ask for a written contract\n\n80% of builders report that most consumers do not ask for an agreed payment schedule\n\nFewer than 10% of builders say that clients normally request to see vital insurance policies, such as public liability or employer\u2019s liability insurance.\n\nBrian added that if a builder was free to start work tomorrow, then alarm bells should be ringing.\n\n\u201cDemand for building work is incredibly high at the moment and it should be no surprise that almost one in two builders need to be contacted at least four months in advance of when a client is looking to start a home improvement project.\n\n\u201cThe workloads of builders have been rising steadily over the past two years and there\u2019s no shortage of work.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re urging homeowners who are keen to crack on with their build or renovation projects to start getting in touch with prospective builders as soon as possible.\n\n\u201cOtherwise, they risk disappointment delaying their projects or worse still, working with a dodgy builder.\n\n\u201cSo many building horror stories start with a client approaching a builder who\u2019s free to start work sooner than the more professional builder who is really busy.\u201d", "output": "UK homeowners have been leaving themselves open to disappointment\u00a0as 90% of builders report\u00a0customers do not ask for a written contract, according to research from\u00a0the Federation of Master Builders (FBM). In addition,\u00a080% of builders said they were never asked for an agreed payment schedule, and most said they have\u00a0not been called upon to provide references. \"These protections really are essential to helping clients weed out the cowboys and mitigate against any issues that could crop up during the build,\" said Brian Berry, CEO of the FMB.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI payments company Previse completes \u00a32m seed funding round \n Source: Previse\n\nPrevise, a fintech start-up, announces the successful completion of a seed funding round worth \u00a32 million.\n\nThe funding will facilitate the development of their proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) solution designed to support instant payments between large corporates and SMEs.\n\n\n\nThe funding round is led by company builder, Hambro Perks alongside Founders Factory and high net worth angel investors with extensive networks in high profile multinationals.\n\n\n\nToday, three out of five small suppliers are paid late by large corporate buyers. As a result, SMEs are forced to take out expensive, short term credit from banks to cover their cash flow difficulties, ultimately driving up the price of their products. In the UK alone, 50,000 SMEs go bankrupt as a result of late payments each year1.\n\n\n\nHow it works\n\n\n\nAs soon as the invoice is issued, Previse uses advanced AI and hundreds of millions of data points to score the likelihood that a corporate buyer will ultimately pay a supplier\u2019s invoice. Previse provides the score to funders, principally banks and asset managers, which pay the supplier instantly on the buyer\u2019s behalf. In exchange, suppliers offer a small discount on their invoices.\n\n\n\nThis results in reduced transaction costs for buyers; improved working capital for suppliers and a safe, attractive new asset class for funders. Eliminating late payments would boost the UK economy significantly.1\n\n\n\nPrevise\u2019s co-founder and CEO Paul Christensen, who was previously Global Co-head of Goldman Sachs' Principal Strategic Investments team; said: \u201cSMEs are the backbone of the world economy, generating the majority of growth, employment and innovation. Yet, most of them are consistently paid late by corporate buyers. It is an unsustainable position which damages the entire economy.\n\n\n\n\u201cPrevise\u2019s AI technology ensures we no longer have to accept this situation. Instant, frictionless and efficient payments can become the new standard for B2B payments. The prize is 50,000 more small businesses kept open in the UK alone, corporates able to exceed their obligations to suppliers and a new \u00a32.4 trillion global market for funders.\u201d 2\n\n\n\nPrevise\u2019s Chief Data Scientist and co-founder Philipp Schoenbucher said: \u201cPayment decisions are a perfect candidate to apply machine learning. Our advanced proprietary machine learning algorithms were developed using data sets of multiple billion dollars of corporate spending, building upon state of the art binary classifiers and highly innovative domain-specific feature engineering methods.\u201d", "output": "Invoicing start-up Previse has raised \u00a32m ($2.6m) in seed capital to develop its proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) platform for supporting instant payments between big\u00a0corporates and SMEs. Previse's AI platform puts a score on\u00a0the probability\u00a0that a corporate buyer will pay a supplier's invoice. The score is then sent to\u00a0banks and asset managers, which pay the supplier on the buyer's behalf in exchange for a small fee taken from the supplier's invoice. Previse aims to make B2B payments fast\u00a0and frictionless so SMEs don't lose money covering late invoice payments with expensive short-term credit, said CEO Paul Christensen.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Shard has unsold apartments five years after completion \n When it opened the developers of the Shard boasted that it should only take \u201cabout 20 phone calls\u201d to sell the 10 exclusive apartments near the top of the tower for up to \u00a350m each.\n\nYet five years on from the Duke of York and the former prime minister of Qatar officially opening \u201cEurope\u2019s first vertical city\u201d with a dazzling laser display on 5 July 2012, all 10 of the flats on the 53rd to 65th floors of the 72-storey building appear to remain unsold.\n\nBrochures for the apartments, which include three two-storey duplex units, boasted that on a clear day residents should be able to see the sea and the grandstands at Ascot from their new perch in the centre of the capital.\n\nThe penthouse stands at 735ft, just below the entrance to the \u00a330.95-a-time public viewing deck, which attracts up to 6,000 visitors a day. Even the lowest apartment, which it was hoped would sell for \u00a330m, is higher than any home ever built in London.\n\nBut the brochures are no longer available and the tower\u2019s developers and its Qatari owners are reluctant to speak about the residences, which they had boasted would be among the most luxurious in London. As well as the views and double-height entertaining space, potential residents were said to have the luxury of being able to order room service from the five-star Shangri-La hotel below, and call on its maids to turn down their beds. A \u201cback stairs\u201d service lift was shown in floorplans so meals and cleaners could be delivered directly to the apartments\u2019 kitchens.\n\nBaron Phillips, spokesman for Irvine Sellar, the recently deceased property visionary who led the development of the Shard, declined to comment about the unsold apartments. It was Phillips who told the media that several of the world\u2019s super-rich had expressed interest in buying apartments years before the building was finished and said of selling them: \u201cI should think about 20 phone calls should do it, don\u2019t you?\u201d\n\nThe view from the 67th floor of the Shard. Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA\n\nSellar convinced Italian architect Renzo Piano to design the Shard over lunch in Berlin in 2000, with the first designs sketched on a menu. But the project nearly collapsed in the wake of the 2007-08 financial crisis before Qatar stepped in to buy 80% of the tower.\n\nRepresentatives of Qatar Diar, the real estate arm of the gulf state\u2019s sovereign wealth fund, did not respond to requests for comment. A spokeswoman for Real Estate Management, the property management firm appointed to oversee the day-to-day management of the Shard, said the apartments were still \u201ccompletely empty shells\u201d.\n\nNo apartment sales have been recorded by the Land Registry. Levels 53 to 65 and the apartments\u2019 exclusive entrance on the ground floor were in December 2015 leased to LBQ Four, a Jersey-registered firm believed to be part of the London Bridge Quarter, the holding company that owns the Shard. The 250-year lease valued the 10 apartments at a total of \u00a3199,250,000.\n\nHenry Pryor, a luxury property buying agent, said he was not surprised that the Shard\u2019s owners had yet to sell any of the apartments as a sale of one apartment would set a publicly recorded price and make it harder to sell the other apartments for more if and when the London ultra-prime property market improves.\n\n\u201cIf they could sell them for what they want for them they would have sold by now,\u201d he said. \u201cIf they sell they will crystallise a price and that makes it very difficult for future sales because the benchmark has been set. That is one reason developers chuck in goodies [like cars or fine wine] to keep the apparent price up.\u201d\n\nPryor said the Shard apartments have not been able to attract prices near the record \u00a3136m paid for a flat in the Candy brothers\u2019 One Hyde Park for reasons that any avid watcher of TV property shows would know: \u201cLocation, location, location.\u201d\n\n\u201cKirstie and Phil tell us it every week, location, location, location. Rich people don\u2019t want to shell out zillions living south of the river, it\u2019s a shock enough living anywhere south of the [Hyde] park,\u201d he said. \u201cNobody knows anyone who lives south of the river.\u201d\n\nThe Shard has done better at letting the lower floors for offices, although many have gone to companies owned or partially owned by Qatar. But some whole floors are still to be let, including all 29,824 sq ft of the 12th floor.\n\nThe University of Warwick\u2019s business school has rented level 17 and fitted it out with a lecture theatre with perhaps the best student view in the world.\n\n", "output": "The 10 luxury flats in iconic London development The Shard have remained empty\u00a0because no one is willing to pay the high\u00a0price tag for a south-of-the-river location, according to Henry Pryor, a luxury property buying agent. The Shard, opened by the Duke of York and the former prime minister of Qatar amid a wave\u00a0of publicity in 2012, has found several customers for its office space, though there are still some floors that have\u00a0yet to be let.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Buy-side bond firms struggle with retention of data managers \n MiFID II will impose a range of new pre- and post-trade reporting requirements on European traders that will make Europe one of the most transparent markets in the world.\n\nThis new era of transparency, coupled with other regulatory and economic developments around the world, are causing major upheaval in the fixed income sector in particular.\n\nThe final session of The TRADE and ICE Data Services \u201cOvercoming MiFID II Data Challenges\u201d event brought together a panel of experts to answer audience submitted questions on whether the buy-side will soon be equipped with enough data to have an edge over the banks and become key players in fixed income markets.\n\nOne of the key issues audience members were concerned about was whether they would need to hire quant and data specialists in order to fully exploit the new opportunities in the bond market.\n\nVirginie O\u2019Shea, research director at consultancy Aite Group, said some firms had realised the need to get a grip on data.\n\n\u201cOur stats show 24% of the top 50 global asset managers now have a chief data officer in place, but less encouragingly, they tend to last just under two years on average [in the role], so the tenure of a chief data officer is not very long unfortunately,\u201d she said.\n\nIt was unclear whether this rapid turnover in top data executives was due to a lack of operational support of investment, but should be concerning for the asset management industry in particular. Chief data officers in sell-side firms tend to last longer, O\u2019Shea added, where effective data management has become a more mature function.\n\n\u201cIt can be very hard for firms to find the right people, to handle the day-to-day crunching of big data. Banks have been leading in this area, but asset managers are much further behind,\u201d said O\u2019Shea.\n\nThere is also a considerable divide between how larger asset managers are reacting to the need for better data management to get ahead in the marker compared to smaller firms, according to Claudio Salinardi, managing director, Pricing and Reference Data, EMEA, ICE Data Services.\n\n\u201cBigger firms are already used to archiving a lot of the information they gather to use it effectively. Buy-siders have access to public information, to research and to floor, positioning and dealer axes, they are getting increasingly sophisticated in terms of analysing this,\u201d Salinardi explained. \u201cThose firms already have something in place, but as highlighted today, other firms would have to look at third parties who can bring them the kind of tools they will need to take a more analytical approach.\u201d\n\nJonathan Gray, head of fixed income EMEA at Liquidnet, said: \u201cUltimately this comes down to costs, and budgets on the buy-side are squeezed so paying \u00a3100,000 extra for data analysis that you might already be handling in-house is a big ask.\u201d\n\nThe other key issue the panel raised was the issue of data quality, which can be a major concern for the buy-side.\n\n\u201cFailure rates in fixed income are incredibly high, and that is mostly due to data quality issues,\u201d added O\u2019Shea.\n\nBeing able to adequately assess the quality of data is one area which is likely to trouble the buy-side in the future, and may require evidencing as part of best execution requirements, highlighting the need to get on top of data issues.\n\nAshlin Kohler, director of EMEA fixed income market structure at Citi, gave an example: \u201cWe see cases such as two different bond issues, with different terms for example, will have the same ISIN, but trading behaviour between the two issues could be very different.\u201d\n\nDealing with this sort of oddity that crops up in the fixed income market will be one of the biggest challenges facing buy-siders that hope to take a major role in the new fixed income landscape, and having the right specialist tools and personnel could make the difference between their success and failure.", "output": "Statistics from consultancy Aite Group showed that 24% of the world's 50 top asset managers \"now have a chief data officer in place\" but they \"tend to last just under two years on average\" in the role. Such a turnover could be a result of too little operational or financial support. However, chief data officers in sell-side firms typically stay in their positions for longer, according to Virginie O'Shea, Aite Group's research director, where data management is a more mature operation."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Large investors want to see strong corporate ESG initiatives \n Three-quarters of institutional investors in a recent survey say building environmental, social and governance initiatives into a company\u2019s business model is a smart business decision, and 98% say a company with strong ESG initiatives makes for a more attractive investment.\n\nThe survey results, incorporated in a white paper developed by public relations firm Burson-Marsteller and its sister agency Penn Schoen Berland, found that 95% of investors agreed it was important to their clients that companies share and improve their ESG performance.\n\nAnother 89% said their clients are well-informed about companies\u2019 ESG initiatives.\n\n\u201cThe responsible investment movement is here to stay,\u201d Tim Mohin, chief executive of the Global Reporting Initiative, a standards organization, said in a statement released by Burson-Marsteller.\n\n\u201cSavvy investors realize that aligning their capital with sustainable business practice is a smart, long-term strategy.\u201d\n\nIndeed, investment advisors no longer find ESG investing optional; it\u2019s essential. A recent report said one out of every five dollars under professional management is being invested according to socially responsible investment strategies.\n\nData Demands\n\n\n\nWhich ESG data are most important to institutional investors? Forty-one percent of respondents in the Burson-Marsteller survey said the return on dollars invested in social and environmental initiatives, and 31% said impact data, such as quantified reduction in carbon emissions.\n\nAlso important were year-over-year trend data (ideally up to five years) to measure the impact of an initiative, planning for future initiatives, case studies and company priorities.\n\nSix in 10 investors said ESG reports should provide comprehensive and detailed information, while 37% preferred them to be short and concise.", "output": "Three-quarters of institutional investors believe companies should build environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives, according to a study from public relations firm Burson-Marsteller. About 98% of investors agreed that a company with strong ESG initiatives makes for a more appealing investment, while 95% of investors said companies should share and improve their ESG performance. Return on dollars invested in social and environmental initiatives was the most important data for investors, according to 41% of respondents. Another 31% said data on the impact of ESG initiatives was most important."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Princeton researchers develop\u00a0'smart window' system \n Rather than fumbling with blinds, the windows of the future could change their tint or opacity on demand to keep out unwanted heat, light or attention from nosy neighbors. We've seen plenty of different techniques over the years, but now a team from Princeton has developed a self-powered \"smart window\" system that uses a transparent solar cell to harvest UV energy from sunlight.\n\nThe Sun gives off a cocktail of different wavelengths of light: there's the visible light that allows us to see, the infrared rays that warm the planet, and UV radiation that's damaging in high doses. While different levels of natural light and heat are desirable in a given room, UV would normally just be blocked. To improve efficiency, the Princeton team wanted to come up with a way to harness UV rays to power the system.\n\nSmart windows are made of electrochromic materials that allow them to change their tint from clear to dark blue in response to small electric currents. To provide that current, the Princeton team developed solar cells made of contorted hexabenzocoronene (cHBC) derivatives, which can be tweaked to absorb a specific range of wavelengths. In this case, cHBC semiconductors are designed to absorb near-UV light to power the electrochromic material, and the whole system can be incorporated into a thin, transparent film that can be fitted over panes of ordinary glass.\n\n\"This new technology is actually smart management of the entire spectrum of sunlight,\" says Yueh-Lin Loo, an author of the study. \"Using near-UV light to power these windows means that the solar cells can be transparent and occupy the same footprint of the window without competing for the same spectral range or imposing aesthetic and design constraints.\"\n\nSome previous systems have used external power sources, while others have harvested energy from the infrared part of the spectrum. The problem there is that it cannibalizes some of the heat from sunlight, which a user might be trying to warm their house with.\n\nWhen dark, the Princeton system can apparently block out up to 80 percent of visible light. Longer term, the team wants to develop a smart film that can be retroactively applied to existing windows, allowing a user to change the tint from their smart phone, and the system could potentially also be applied to car windows to run small appliances.\n\n\"Someone in their house or apartment could take these wireless smart window laminates \u2013 which could have a sticky backing that is peeled off \u2013 and install them on the interior of their windows,\" says Nicholas Davy, lead author of the paper. \"Then you could control the sunlight passing into your home using an app on your phone, thereby instantly improving energy efficiency, comfort and privacy.\"\n\nThe paper was published in the journal Nature Energy and the team demonstrates the technology in the video below.\n\nSource: Princeton University", "output": "Scientists from Princeton have developed a self-tinting smart window, utilising a transparent solar cell that is powered by UV light, according to an article published in the journal Nature Energy. The team created a solar cell composed of contorted hexabenzocoronene derivatives which were manipulated to absorb a particular span of wavelengths, and the entire system is housed in a transparent film. The researchers are also seeking to create smart laminates\u00a0that can be installed\u00a0on existing windows,\u00a0affording\u00a0variable amounts of shade in the home\u00a0according to adjustments made via a mobile\u00a0app."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Irish-led team develops nano-material that could replace silicon \n An illustration showing the combination of C60, graphene and hBN in the new van der Waals solid.\n\nA researcher at Queen\u2019s University Belfast in the UK has led an international team of scientists to the discovery of a new material that could finally bring an end to the misery of cracked smartphone and tablet screens.\n\nCurrently, most parts of a smartphone are made of silicon and other compounds, which are expensive and break easily, but with almost 1.5 billion smartphones purchased worldwide last year, manufacturers are on the lookout for materials that are more durable and less costly.\n\nElton Santos from Queen\u2019s University\u2019s School of Mathematics and Physics has been working with a team of scientists from Stanford University, University of California and California State University in the US and the National Institute for Materials Science in Japan. Their aim is to create new dynamic hybrid devices that are able to conduct electricity at unprecedented speeds and are light, durable and easy to manufacture in large-scale semiconductor plants.\n\nThe has team found that by combining semiconducting molecules of C 60 , commonly known as buckyballs, with layered materials such as graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) they can produce a unique material that could revolutionize the concept of smart devices.\n\nThe winning combination works because hBN provides stability, electronic compatibility and isolation charge to graphene, while C 60 can convert sunlight into electricity. Any smart device made from this combination would benefit from this unique mix of features, which do not exist in materials naturally. This process for fabricating these so-called van der Waals solids allows compounds to be brought together and assembled in a predefined way.\n\n\u201cOur findings show that this new \u2018miracle material\u2019 has similar physical properties to silicon but it has improved chemical stability, lightness and flexibility, which could potentially be used in smart devices and would be much less likely to break,\u201d explains Elton Santos. \u201cThe material also could mean that devices use less energy than before because of the device architecture so could have improved battery life and less electric shocks.\n\n\u201cBy bringing together scientists from across the globe with expertise in chemistry, physics and materials science we were able to work together and use simulations to predict how all of the materials could function when combined \u2013 and ultimately how these could work to help solve everyday problems. This cutting-edge research is timely and a hot-topic involving key players in the field, which opens a clear international pathway to put Queen\u2019s on the road-map of further outstanding investigations.\u201d\n\nThe project initially started with simulations predicting that an assembly of hBN, graphene and C 60 could result in a solid with remarkable new physical and chemical properties. Following this, Santos talked with his collaborators Alex Zettl and Claudia Ojeda-Aristizabal at the University of California and California State University in Long Beach about the findings. There was a strong synergy between theory and experiments throughout the project.\n\n\u201cIt is a sort of a \u2018dream project\u2019 for a theoretician since the accuracy achieved in the experiments remarkably matched what I predicted and this is not normally easy to find,\u201d says Santos. \u201cThe model made several assumptions that have proven to be completely right.\u201d\n\nThe findings, which have been published in a paper in ACS Nano, open the doors for further exploration of new materials. One issue that still needs to be solved is that graphene and the new material architecture lack a \u2018band gap\u2019, which is key to the on-off switching operations performed by electronic devices.\n\nHowever, Santos\u2019 team is already investigating a potential solution \u2013 transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). These nanomaterials are a hot topic at the moment, as they are very chemically stable, have large sources for production and band gaps that rival silicon.\n\n\u201cBy using these findings, we have now produced a template but in future we hope to add an additional feature with TMDs,\u201d says Santos. \u201cThese are semiconductors, which bypass the problem of the band gap, so we now have a real transistor on the horizon.\u201d\n\nThis story is adapted from material from Queen\u2019s University Belfast, with editorial changes made by Materials Today. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of Elsevier. Link to original source.", "output": "An international team of scientists led by a researcher at Queen's University Belfast has developed a material that has similar physical properties to silicon while being more durable, lightweight and flexible. The material layers a carbon molecule known as a \"buckyball\" with graphene and hexagonal boron nitride to create a van der Waals solid with a unique range of features. The researchers\u00a0believe\u00a0the material could help create smart devices that are far more robust that current ones, use far less power and conduct electricity at far greater speeds."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mimicking a bee's eyes could\u00a0improve robot and drone vision \n Bee optics could inform the technology of drones and robots\n\nBy Adrian Dyer, Andrew Greentree and Jair Garcia \u2022\n\nImage credit: James Dorey\n\nReading Time: 5 Minutes \u2022 Print this page\n\nResearchers say that if they can mimic the way bees process colour, the technology of drones and robots can be drastically improved.\n\nWHEN YOU STEP OUTSIDE your house, light from the sun means that the colour of everything changes. You probably haven\u2019t even noticed it, because your brain helps you see colours the same way under most conditions.\n\nBut it\u2019s a phenomenon that is incredibly hard to mimic with technology, and so our cameras often struggle to interpret colour with the same accuracy.\n\nPublished today, our latest research identifies how the eyes and brains of honeybees work together to process colour information.\n\nFor a honeybee, matching colours under all conditions is vital so they can go to the right flower. It\u2019s literally a matter of life or death for the colony.\n\nIf we can design technology to mimic the way bees do this, we\u2019ll be able to create better cameras and image-processing systems for drones and robots.\n\nWhat is colour constancy?\n\nBeing able to see an object as the same colour \u2013 the \u201ctrue\u201d colour \u2013 independent of illumination is called colour constancy. This visual phenomenon fascinated the impressionist Monet, who painted the Rouen Cathedral in France in different weather conditions, noting the changes in the stone\u2019s colour.\n\nMonet\u2019s Series paintingsin which he painted many views of the same subject under different lighting conditions, are an attempt to illustrate the importance of light in our perception of a subject at a given time and place (Image Credit: Wikimedia)\n\nMany theories of colour constancy assume that on average a scene should appear grey. Then the approximate colour of the light can be estimated, whether in an animal or a camera system. However, these approaches, and even more complex methods, are imperfect.\n\nDespite our large and complex brains, colour constancy is not perfect in humans. How can bees solve this problem with their brain the size of a sesame seed? Bees must be able to identify the same flowers in direct or shaded light, or a green forest.\n\nLike most people, bees have trichromatic (three-colour) vision. For humans, the primary colours we perceive are red, green and blue, with wavelengths measured in nanometres (nm) around 570nm, 540nm and 430nm. The forward facing compound eyes of bees respond most strongly to ultraviolet (350 nm), blue (440 nm), and green (540 nm) light.\n\nIn addition to their compound eyes used for sight, bees have three tiny \u201ceyes\u201d called ocelli. Until now we didn\u2019t really know what ocelli were for \u2013 they had been assumed to aid flight stability. But we also know that each of the ocelli contains two colour sensors pointing up, sensing the whole sky. This study focused on those sensors.\n\nA model of bee vision\n\nIt is relatively easy to measure the colour of the sky in the laboratory with a device called a spectrophotometer; but bees don\u2019t have access to lab based equipment.\n\nWe asked the question: in a system containing just two colour receptors, could this allow bees to interpret the whole spectrum from red through to ultraviolet? We built a mathematical model to solve this problem. Our model showed that an ocelli sensitivity focusing on 330 nm and 470 nm (ultraviolet and blue), is optimal for typical foraging illuminations that bees encounter.\n\nWhether in shade or full sun, bees must be able to reliably use colour to pick out flowers worth visiting. (Image Credit: shutterstock)\n\nWe then applied our model to a database of 111 flower colours and compared their apparent colour change with natural daylight variation. By combining the data from sensing in ocelli, the model significantly reduced variation in how colours were perceived. We found a model that \u2013 in theory \u2013 showed how bees would find the right flower most often.\n\nThis mathematical model shows that honeybees could use this information \u2013 but it doesn\u2019t show how they do it in reality. To find out, our colleague Yu-Shan Hung (University of Melbourne) carefully stained and traced the neural pathways from bee ocelli, and found that these connected with a region of the brain that performs high-level colour processing.\n\nAs well as showing the connections that exist between bee ocelli and the brain, our model also explains certain bee behaviours. Honeybees have difficulty foraging under artificial light \u2013 our model shows that such light is \u201ctoo yellowish\u201d for the ocelli to properly interpret colours.\n\nAlso, honeybees that have blocked ocelli typically forage later in the morning, and return to the hive earlier. This makes sense, as bees in this state can\u2019t take advantage of information from ocelli to correct for the highly variable coloured light conditions at the start and end of the day.\n\nDesigning artificial visual systems and cameras\n\nEvolution has invested millions of years finding clever solutions to practical tasks in life. Understanding how insects solve these tasks is important, because it can give us hints around ways to avoid using complicated solutions that require sophisticated, energy-hungry computers.\n\nRight now, we capture images with cameras, and then rely on intensive computer processing to interpret and present the colours in ways that make sense to our brains. If we can make cameras more like bee visual processing solutions, then we could collect images in a way that mimics nature more closely. Then the demand on processing the image becomes reduced.\n\nBeyond just better photos, there are implications for industry too. For humans using machine vision in complex natural environments to reliably find coloured objects (like mineral-rich sands, ripe fruit or defects in building constructions), it is vital to find new, reliable and efficient solutions to the colour constancy problem.\n\nWith better cameras, drones could check orchards for ripe fruit. (Image Credit: shuttershock)\n\nThe honeybee shows that two very simple, small and spectrally different sensors are sufficient to reconstruct true colour for most illumination conditions found on Earth. Similar sensors could be cheaply added to the skyward facing surface of a device such as a camera to efficiently provide information about illumination. This would drastically reduce the computational cost of colour constancy.\n\nAdrian Dyer is an Associate Professor at the RMIT University, Andrew Greentree is a Professor of Quantum Physics and Australian Research Council Future Fellow at RMIT University, and Jair Garcia is a Research Officer at RMIT University\n\nThis article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.\n\nREAD MORE:", "output": "The fact that the same colours look very different under different lights is a major issue for robotic optical\u00a0systems trying to recognise and negotiate physical objects and environments. Researchers from Australia's RMIT university have discovered that bees use the three extra eyes on\u00a0top of their heads to monitor the wavelengths of light in the sky and adjust their colour perception accordingly, allowing them to identify the same colours in a wide range of conditions \u2013\u00a0crucial when trying to locate particular\u00a0flowers. Similar sensors on robots and drones could perform the same service without adding computational overhead.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Leak of CIA hacking tools reveals Linux-targeting malware \n OutlawCountry is described as a kernel module for Linux 2.6 that allows CIA operators to redirect outbound traffic to a server they control. Image: CIA/WikiLeaks\n\nWikiLeaks' latest Vault7 release of leaked CIA documents detailing its hacking tools reveals malware called OutlawCountry that targets Linux systems.\n\nOutlawCountry is described in documents dated June 4, 2015 as a kernel module for Linux 2.6 that allows CIA operators to redirect outbound traffic to a server they control by creating an hidden netfilter or iptables table. Netfilter is a packet-filtering framework within the Linux kernel's networking stack.\n\nOutlawCountry creates a hidden netfilter table with an \"obscure name\", which the operator can use to create new rules that override existing netfilter rules. The new rules can only be seen by an admin if the table name is known, which, according to the documents, is 'dpxvke8h18'.\n\nThe malware is designed for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.x and CentOS 6.x systems with the 6.4-bit 2.6.32 version of the Linux kernel. However, the operator needs to have already compromised the target to load a malicious module and must have gained root privileges to operate the malware.\n\nWikiLeaks notes that an \"operator will have to rely on the available CIA exploits and backdoors to inject the kernel module into a target operating system\".\n\nRedHat's advisory for OutlawCountry describes the command to use to determine if the CIA's kernel module has been loaded.\n\nWikiLeaks dumped over 8,000 CIA documents when it launched Vault 7 in March and has released several documents a month detailing specific CIA malware programs.\n\nOutlawCountry is the 14th malware program detailed in the series. Earlier this month it released details of 'Elsa' for tracking the location of Windows PCs, 'Brutal Kangaroo' for hopping across air-gapped networks via an infected USB stick, the 'CherryBlossom' router malware, and 'Pandemic', which targeted Windows file-sharing.\n\nMore on the CIA and hacking", "output": "WikiLeaks' latest leak of CIA documents details Linux-targeting malware OutlawCountry. OutlawCountry is described as a kernel module for Linux 2.6 that lets CIA operators redirect outbound traffic to a server they control. It then creates a hidden netfilter table, which can be used to create new rules that override existing ones. The new rules can only be seen if the table name is known, which is said to be \"dpxvke8h18\". WikiLeaks dumped over 8,000 CIA documents when it launched Vault 7 in March and has released several documents a month detailing specific CIA malware programs.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian tax change unlocks a huge opportunity for robotics \n From the busy highway that runs through it, Gurugram\u2019s Sector 34 doesn\u2019t quite look like a hotbed for the robotics revolution. It\u2019s a dystopian confusion of glass-fronted buildings, roadside shacks, and maddening traffic, all of which comprehensively camouflage the quest for order and efficiency underway here.\n\nInside a spanking new office block, there are still unoccupied workstations in the two-and-a-half floors leased by GreyOrange. The robotics company founded in this commercial hub bordering New Delhi in 2011 is preparing for new employees, and a wave of new business, to come through its doors. A five-minute drive away at Hi-Tech Robotic Systemz, another homegrown firm that focuses on industrial automation, there\u2019s a similar air of anticipation.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe two companies await a common but consequential development: for India\u2019s goods and services tax (GST) to upend the country\u2019s warehousing industry.\n\n\u201cOur market size pre-GST was $300 million-$500 million annually,\u201d said Samay Kohli, GreyOrange co-founder and CEO. Now, he reckons, the six-year-old company, which counts Tiger Global and Blume Ventures among its investors, is staring at an opportunity worth at least $6 billion.\n\nFor Hi-Tech, the overall target was around 3,000 robots by the end of 2022. But the GST has prompted a reset. \u201cI think we might approach that target by 2020,\u201d said Ritukar Vijay, head of autonomous technology and business strategy at the company.\n\nThe rationale for such optimism is simple. As the GST subsumes a range of central and state taxes to turn India into a single market, it removes all variations in local taxation rates that once forced businesses to operate multiple warehouses across 29 states and seven union territories. Structured primarily to avoid paying multiple taxes for the same goods, this warehousing network is now primed to rationalise itself to trim costs and improve efficiency.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nSo, although their sheer numbers will come down, warehouses will get much bigger\u2014between four and 10 times the size of the current facilities\u2014as companies realign their logistics networks to serve wider swathes of the country from a single hub. \u201cI think post GST, half-a-million square feet is going to be kind of the minimum threshold at which people will build,\u201d said Kohli.\n\nTo operate such facilities efficiently and reliably, businesses will need more than just trained manpower.\n\nButler and sorter\n\nKohli, 30, began building robots in high school. The tinkering got a lot more serious after he entered the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani. Of the five years at Pilani, Kohli spent half outside campus, mostly at robotics contests. It helped that the engineering school didn\u2019t have a minimum attendance requirement.\n\nBuoyed by some strong performances at international competitions, and work experience placements in the US and Korea, Kohli and his college-mate Akash Gupta founded GreyOrange. The company, now based in Singapore, was named that way because initially the two weren\u2019t sure about what exactly they wanted to build. Going with colours, they figured, was safe: Grey for wisdom (and grey hair), and orange for creativity and fun.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBy the end of 2011, they had decided to zero in on the warehousing industry, focusing on streamlining the process of retrieving and sorting items in a facility. \u201cWhen you\u2019re running the operations in a very traditional manner, the predictability becomes very tough,\u201d Kohli explained. \u201cLet\u2019s say 50% of the goods may get out in 15 minutes but some goods might predictably get out in two hours. Some will get out in 14 hours. It can go up to as much as two days.\u201d\n\nFor businesses, the clearest cost benefit of using GreyOrange\u2019s robots at scale is leaner inventory.\n\nOne part of GreyOrange\u2019s solution for this mess is the Butler. The boxy robot ferries shelving units to a human operator\u2014who either picks up items from the shelves, or puts things back in\u2014before moving them back to their assigned spot inside a warehouse. The Butler moves at a little over a metre per second (around 4.3 kilometres an hour) and can lift 500 kilograms. It may seem slow but the robot can do far more than the 14 kilometres that a human warehouse worker usually walks in day.\n\nButler works in tandem with GreyOrange\u2019s Pick-Put-to-Light (PPTL) system, where a set of light-based signals guide human operators to pick, or place, items on a shelving unit brought to them by the robot. A barcode-based scanning process also tracks items being moved in or out of a shelving unit. The final piece in GreyOrange\u2019s warehousing troubleshooter is the Sorter (the Linear Sorter to be precise), which helps segregate packages on the basis of destination, volume, weight, or other parameters.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nKohli assures that all this technology drastically improves reliability, while reducing the time taken to process an order. For instance, if an e-commerce company would normally ship out 10,000 items an hour, most of those products would typically be ready for despatch in two hours. \u201cWe can actually, for 99% (of items), get it to 15 minutes,\u201d he said.\n\nFor businesses, the clearest cost benefit of using GreyOrange\u2019s robots at scale is leaner inventory. The inability to reliably despatch goods, Kohli described, can force companies to have five different warehouses to service a single area like the National Capital Region. \u201cThey\u2019re duplicating, or triplicating, or having five times the inventory on stock,\u201d he said. \u201cThey just need what\u2019s actually consumed.\u201d\n\n\n\nDrawn by the need for greater efficiency and reliability, more than 55 warehousing facilities nationwide currently use GreyOrange robots, and business is doubling every year. On its list of clients are logistics firms like DTDC and Delhivery; e-commerce companies, including Flipkart, Myntra, Jabong, and Pepperfry, and large fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) players (which it didn\u2019t name).\n\nBut the firm, which has raised at least $35 million so far and is near break even, is on to bigger things. Only 30% of its business comes from India at the moment, with Japan and Europe being its biggest global markets. It entered the Latin America region last month, and is poised to mark its presence in the Asia-Pacific region this year.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nForklift conundrum\n\nAt neighbouring Hi-Tech Robotic Systemz, there\u2019s a different approach to improving Indian warehouses.\n\nFounded in 2004 by Anuj Kapuria, an engineer who dropped out of a PhD programme at Carnegie Mellon, the company spent its early years focusing on autonomous vehicle technology. Kapuria wasn\u2019t entirely an outsider to the industry; his father, Deep, is chairman of Hi-Tech Gears, an automotive component maker that supplies to Daimler and Honda, among others. After a few years of developing the technology platforms, Kapuria entered the warehousing industry in 2011 with solutions primarily for material movement.\n\nHi-Tech has three main offerings. The Novus Carry, an autonomous industrial vehicle that can be configured for multiple functions, including pulling trolleys or carrying materials to and from conveyor belts. Then there\u2019s the Novus Omnistore, which allows for vertical stacking of storage units using multiple robots.\n\nThe Indian warehousing industry is currently operating with a 15% shortfall in skilled forklift drivers.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cAlso, we are converting existing forklifts or pallet trucks, which are already there in the warehouses,\u201d said Vijay, an engineer who worked in the IT industry before moving into robotics. \u201cSo, you just have to give the pick points and drop points, and the whole material movement within a warehouse or a manufacturing facility will happen (automatically).\u201d\n\nHi-Tech\u2019s interest in turning conventional forklifts into autonomous vehicles is partly the result of a human resource crunch. The Indian warehousing industry is currently operating with a 15% shortfall in skilled forklift drivers, according to Vijay, a problem that\u2019ll worsen as facilities become bigger and increasingly clustered around strategic locations after the GST kicks in. \u201cPeople are looking outside to manage those large warehouses,\u201d he said. \u201cSpecifically, when they are located at a single location, there will also be (a) limitation of skilled labour (availability).\u201d A promised 30% reduction in operating cost over three years is also helping draw customers.\n\nWith 150 of its robots deployed across the manufacturing and warehousing industry, including at Volvo, Eicher Motors, Ford, and online furniture seller Urban Ladder, Hi-Tech has gained traction in the market. But the GST will allow it to shift up a gear or two.\n\nAlready, customer enquiries have more than doubled, Vijay estimated, even as Hi-Tech\u2019s marketing team works to make inroads into the FMCG and e-commerce segments. \u201cIn the last couple of months, we have done multiple pilots in various geographies for the top four-five FMCG companies,\u201d he said, declining to reveal names. \u201cAnd within two-three months, we\u2019ll be getting not only specific orders but we will be actually signing papers with them for long-term deployment across geographies.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nEmboldened by the GST, the robots are coming.\n\nGoods & Services Tech: This is the second in a series of articles on technology-driven startups that could benefit from India\u2019s biggest tax reform, the Goods & Services Tax.", "output": "India's Goods and Services Tax (GST) is being updated. Previously each of the country's 29 states and seven union territories had its own GST structure, but the changes will create a single national regime. Warehousing logistics is one of the many sectors that will be impacted. Until now,\u00a0retail logistics companies have had to maintain state-specific warehouses, to avoid paying duplicate state taxes on the same goods when moving them around. The new national tax structure will allow for the consolidation of warehousing and therefore much larger installations and inventories, calling for\u00a0a\u00a0highly scaled robotics system to service them."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Verso Learning raises $1.5m for teacher development \n Melbourne edutech startup Verso Learning, which looks to assist teachers both in the classroom and with their own professional learning and development, has raised a $2 million Series A round led by Ken Lowe, cofounder of Canberra Data Centres.\n\nLaunched in 2014 by Colin Wood, having evolved out of his previous company Learnology, Verso previously raised a seed funding round, as well as innovation funding from the Victorian Government.\n\nThe startup\u2019s platform looks to give educators analytical insights into their students\u2019 work, allowing them to create data-driven teaching strategies to best engage all types of learners. It also enables teachers to connect and share their strategies.\n\nLowe, who spent almost two decades as a high school teacher, said, \u201cVerso Learning disrupts the traditional teacher training model by providing teachers with ongoing, timely feedback and the tools they need to teach at their best every day.\u201d\n\nWith Verso currently used by over 40,000 teachers in over 12,000 schools globally, the fresh funding will go towards further scaling the company\u2019s offering and tailoring it to different markets, particularly in the US, where it\u2019s being used in California, New Jersey, South Carolina, and Texas.\n\nAccording to Wood, the platform has taken hold as schools increasingly seek alternatives to the \u201cexpensive, disruptive, and often ineffective\u201d traditional training exercises like seminars and training days.\n\nHe said, \u201cFor less than the cost of sending one teacher to a half day of traditional training, Verso can deliver a full year of ongoing, continuous professional development.\u201d\n\nIn Australia, the startup\u2019s platform has been used in Victoria and NSW, where it was recently awarded NESA accreditation by the NSW Department of Education to allow teachers to use Verso as part of their professional learning requirements.\n\nAlso looking to assist teachers in better engaging with students is Sydney-founded Smart Sparrow, which in April raised a $5.3 million Series C round, led by OneVentures, to help further expand into the US.\n\nFounded in 2008 by Dror Ben-Naim, a researcher at the University of New South Wales, Smart Sparrow offers teachers and university professors an online platform where they\u2019re able to design their own online course content to create an interactive and \u2018adaptive\u2019 learning experience for students.\n\nEducators are able to integrate tutorials, interactive content, simulations and media into their course, which can be edited at any time. Course creators are then able to view student\u2019s progress in real-time and visualise course data.\n\nImage: the Verso team. Source: Supplied.", "output": "Australian edtech start-up Verso Learning has raised AUD2m ($1.5m) for helping teachers both in the classroom and with their own professional development. Melbourne-based Verso seeks to provide teachers and educators with analytical insights into their students' work, letting them create and share data-driven teaching strategies. The series A funding round was led by Ken Lowe, co-founder of Canberra Data Centres."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK drivers take more risks in the summer, finds telematics firm \n The driving behaviour of over 18,000 motorists with telematics policies, covering 106 million miles over a two year period was analysed, [2] and results showed:\n\n68% of drivers have better driver scores in winter than in summer\n\nOn average people drive 14% more miles in summer than in winter\n\nAfter adjusting for mileage, the average driver will, in summer compared to winter:\n\nHard brake 30% more\n\nSpeed on motorways 25% more\n\nSpeed on local roads 7% more\n\nDrive on weekday nights 25% more Comparing summer versus winter driving, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, based on analysis of telematics data, has found that speeding and hard braking increase in the summer months. Hard braking is a strong indicator of inappropriate speed, driver distraction, aggression and lack of road sense so the significant increase along with more frequent speeding in the summer months should be a serious concern. LexisNexis Risk Solutions defines hard braking as a change in speed of 6.5+ mph over a 1-second time period, which is enough to propel a bag on the passenger seat into the footwell. This information coincides with Government data[3] which shows that more pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists are involved in road accidents in the summer months. New analysis suggests that the driving behaviour of motorists deteriorates severely during June, July and August \u2013 thus creating a lethal combination of factors impacting road safety. LexisNexis Risk Solutions recently enhanced its proprietary road speed database which provides scoring accuracy to insurers for rating telematics policies and visual proof of road speed limits in near real-time to support customer communications in cases of excessive speed[4]. Selim Cavanagh, VP of Insurance, UK and Ireland, for LexisNexis Risk Solutions said: \u201cTelematics insurers have a unique insight into the driving behaviour, and therefore risk, of their policy holders. As such, these insurers will be utilising this information to communicate with the customer in order to discourage future speeding, and to take appropriate action if improvement is not seen. \u201cOur new process for automated and manual verification of speed limit information means the insurer has access to accurate data which can be used as evidence in the event of collision or to cancel a policy if deemed necessary. \u201cOf course, insurers with this insight also have the opportunity to make the roads safer, by educating those found to be speeding and encouraging drivers to slow down in future for their own safety, as well as the safety of other road users. \u201cGovernment data[5] shows that around 1 in 4 road accident fatalities has speed as a contributory factor but we believe this is vastly understated. Inappropriate speed affects driver judgement and vehicle control and when you look at all the main contributory factors for road traffic accidents, the vast majority have one or both of these issues in play. Considering that our analysis is of drivers with telematics policies who you would expect to be more conscious of their driving behaviour, speeding is clearly a significant issue for our roads. It serves to reinforce our continued investment in market changing innovations to help the sector take telematics to the mass market.\u201d\n\n", "output": "Speeding and hard braking increase in the summer, according to data from telematics device provider\u00a0Wunelli. Analysis of driving behaviour showed 68% of drivers have better scores in winter than in summer. Drivers also hard brake 30% more during the summer months, as well as speed on motorways 25% more, the analysis of 18,000 motorists showed. Hard braking is a strong indicator of inappropriate speed and aggressive driving. The figures could be used by insurers to discourage policy holders from speeding, said Selim Cavanagh, VP of insurance, UK and Ireland, for LexisNexis Risk Solutions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Accenture pitches real-time, AI-enhanced videos based on user \n Accenture Interactive, Accenture\u2019s agency arm, is pitching publishers and brands on a product that uses AI to automatically overlay product placements on streaming video content.\n\nThe way it works is, for example, if an online streaming service serves a video ad featuring a moving plane to two people, one in the U.S. and the other in France, the former will see the plane with, say, the Delta logo on it, while the latter will see the same plane with the Air France logo instead.\n\nAlex Naressi, managing director of Accenture Interactive\u2019s research and development unit, said that the software uses machine learning \u2014 a specific field of artificial intelligence that looks for patterns in large data sets to identify patterns and make decisions \u2014 to learn from and simulate human vision. In this way, he said, it can run simulated eye-tracking to create attention heat maps for any video automatically, then decide what the viewer is paying attention to and place a product in the corresponding area in real time.\n\nNaressi said the platform also combines automatic semantic analysis with human insights and moderation to ensure brand safety and contextual relevance.\n\nAccenture Interactive launched the ad format at Cannes Lions but hasn\u2019t tested it with any brands or publishers or decided how it would charge clients for it, as patents are pending.\n\nNaressi said he envisioned the video solution as an \u201cinterruption-free native inventory\u201d that\u2019s immune to ad blocking.\n\nBrandon Purcell, senior analyst for Forrester Research, said he hasn\u2019t seen the solution firsthand, but that based on Digiday\u2019s description of it, he thinks it looks like a better implementation of AI than the chatbots that are most organizations\u2019 first foray into AI.\n\n\u201cThis solution is incredibly interesting to me, as it dynamically changes the content for an individual not just based on gender or geolocation but also on behavioral factors,\u201d he said. \u201cThis approach can be applied to other marketing areas like email and even dynamic display advertising in-store. Lots of AI algorithms today are open-source, so the true differentiator is the data that an organization uses to train the machine. If Accenture has its own human eye movement data, it will be very powerful.\u201d", "output": "Accenture Interactive is pitching real-time, artificial intelligence (AI) enhanced videos based on the user to publishers and brands. The product uses AI to overlay product placements on streaming video content. For example, a video ad featuring a plane could be viewed by a US viewer with a Delta logo on it, while a French viewer would see the plane with Air France branding. Accenture Interactive launched the ad format at the Cannes Lions festival but has not tested it with any brands as patents are still pending."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Photobucket replaces free image hosting with subscription model \n Amazon and eBay have found themselves shorn of thousands of product images after photo-sharing platform Photobucket ended support for free picture hosting, demanding that users sign up to a $400 per year subscription plan to keep their services.\n\nThe abrupt move saw images de-listed from an array of websites, forums and blogs to be replaced by a \u2018ransom demand\u2019 graphic urging users to upgrade their plan to continue to enable third party hosting.\n\nThis follows an update to the company\u2019s terms of service last week which caught many unawares, prompting a social media backlash from irate users angered at the sudden removal of their images \u2013 many of which were used to illustrate product listings but with hobbyists and personal accounts also affected.\n\nUp till now Photobucket had relied on advertising income to support its services but is now attempting to adopt a subscription model to diversify its income. The manner in which this has been done however, burying the change in a lengthy legal document with little notice, has angered many.\n\nIn a blog post digital marketing specialist Aqueous Blue wrote: \u201cThere were no announcements, no emails warning people that it was about to happen and more importantly, no explanation.\n\n\"Bulletin boards across the globe are being crippled as previously vibrant threads with detailed images are disappearing.\n\n\"People who have used Photobucket for hosting these images successfully for over 10 years are finding that they will have to literally start again with what for some, amounts to a lifetime's work.\u201d\n\nPhotobucket's self-inflicted PR disaster is likely to be mana from heaven for rivals such as Camerama and Flickr", "output": "Photobucket has ended free image hosting and shifted towards a subscription service, leaving Amazon and eBay without thousands of product images. Images have\u00a0disappeared\u00a0from various websites,\u00a0and have been replaced with\u00a0a \"ransom demand\" graphic urging users to sign up to Photobucket's $400 yearly subscription plan to continue third-party hosting. Photobucket previously depended\u00a0on advertising revenue, but is now\u00a0seeking to diversify its income through the subscription model. The move follows an update to the firm's terms of service last week, which sparked a social media backlash over the abrupt removal of images.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook investigated in Germany\u00a0over users'\u00a0personal data \n Facebook has been targeted by the German authorities for allegedly using over-complicated small print to trick users into handing over personal information.\n\nThe vast amount of personal information Facebook collects on its two billion members is used to generate billions in advertising revenue, but is at the centre of the latest high-profile European antitrust investigation to be carried out against a major technology company.\n\nThis one is being headed up by Germany\u2019s Federal Cartel Office, essentially looking into whether Facebook uses language that users may not understand to trick them into agreeing to terms and conditions.\n\nFacebook probe\n\nThe practice, the agency claims, is \u201cextorting\u201d personal data from users.\n\n\u201cWhoever doesn\u2019t agree to the data use, gets locked out of the social network community,\u201d said German lawyer Frederik Wiemer. \u201cThe fear of social isolation is exploited to get access to the complete surfing activities of users.\u201d\n\nCartel Office president Andreas Mundt said the case tackles \u201ccentral questions ensuring competition in the digital world in the future\u201d adding that he wants the investigation\u2019s initial results to be presented this year.\n\nWhile other tech companies have been hit with fines following antitrust probes, the Facebook investigation currently rules out the possibility of a financial penalty, with any confirmed breach of antitrust rules more likely to results in technical changes.\n\nThe same cannot be said for Google, which just last week was slapped with a record-breaking 2.4 billion euro (\u00a32.1bn) fine by the European Commission for manipulating search results related to its shopping comparison service.\n\nGoogle has also been ordered by antitrust regulators to stop forcing Android manufacturers to install its software, as the EC has looked to clamp down on how technology companies operate.\n\nBut Google isn\u2019t the only firm to have faced the wrath of regulators. Authorities hit Apple with a \u20ac13 billion (\u00a311bn) tax bill after the Irish government was ordered to recover the \u201cillegal tax benefits,\u201d despite the government claiming the money was \u201cstate aid\u201d.\n\nAnd Facebook itself is no stranger to regulators, following investigations over its data-sharing policies with messaging service WhatsApp.\n\nTest your knowledge of European tech pioneers: Try our quiz!", "output": "Germany's Federal Cartel Office is investigating whether Facebook uses overly complicated language to encourage users to give the company personal information. Facebook exploits users' fear of social isolation to gain access to their browsing history, alleged Frederik Wiemer, a German lawyer. The investigation may result in Facebook having to make technical changes to its platform but the regulator has ruled out a financial penalty.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tribunal rules in favour of OnTheMarket in property portals case \n The full decision runs to 168 pages but the summary of this afternoon\u2019s judgement, issued by the CAT, is:\n\n3) a rule requiring members to promote only OnTheMarket and not any other property portal (the \u201cExclusive Promotion Rule\u201d).\n\n2) a rule restricting membership of Agents\u2019 Mutual to full-service office-based estate or letting agents, as opposed to agents operating only online (the \u201cBricks and Mortar Rule\u201d); and\n\n1) a rule by which an estate agent member may list its properties on no more than one other portal (the \u201cOne Other Portal Rule\u201d);\n\nGascoigne Halman further contended that the One Other Portal Rule formed part of a wider arrangement between Agents\u2019 Mutual and others collectively to boycott Zoopla and/or Rightmove, contrary to the Chapter I prohibition.\n\nFor the reasons given in the Judgment, the Tribunal held that the Competition Issues be determined against Gascoigne Halman. More specifically, the Tribunal held that:\n\n1. As regards the One Other Portal Rule:\n\n(a) The rule did not infringe the Chapter I prohibition by object.\n\n(b) The rule did not infringe the Chapter I prohibition by effect.\n\n(c) The rule was, in any event, objectively necessary to the \u201cArrangements\u201d (the various rules which bind members of Agents\u2019 Mutual, namely the listing agreement, articles of association and membership rules) as a whole, which were pro-competitive.\n\n(d) The rule did not form part of a wider concerted practice to \u201cboycott\u201d Zoopla and was not invalid on that account.\n\n(e) The rule was not an exempt agreement within the meaning of section 9 of the CA.\n\n(f) If, contrary to the Tribunal\u2019s conclusions, the rule did infringe the Chapter I prohibition, the Tribunal found that it was not severable from the Arrangements.\n\n2. The Bricks and Mortar Rule did not infringe the Chapter I prohibition by object. If, contrary to the Tribunal\u2019s conclusion, the rule did infringe the Chapter I prohibition, the Tribunal found that it was severable from the Arrangements.\n\n3. The Exclusive Promotion Rule did not infringe the Chapter I prohibition by object. If, contrary to the Tribunal\u2019s conclusion, the rule did infringe the Chapter I prohibition, the Tribunal did not consider it to be objectively necessary. The Exclusive Promotion Rule was severable from the Arrangements.\n\nBecause the Competition Issues were determined within the broader context of proceedings in the Chancery Division, the Tribunal made no further order beyond the determinations set out above.", "output": "The Competition Appeal Tribunal has found in favour of property website OnTheMarket, deeming its \"one other portal\" rule, which restricts agents to promoting listings on its site and either Rightmove or Zoopla, did not infringe competition law. The tribunal hearing, which concluded in February but the findings were released this week, was brought about when Cheshire-based estate agents Gascoigne Halman, a former member of OnTheMarket, claimed the rule was anti-competitive. OnTheMarket is owned by a consortium of estate agents, Agents' Mutual that includes\u00a0Savills, Chestertons and Knight Frank."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Marketers must make use of AI to get closer to mobile users \n David Black, MD, branding & consumer markets at Google UK, considers the impending changes in digital marketing, and how brands need to adapt.\n\nMobile has changed everything. The power that smart devices give us to manage our lives and to make decisions is staggering. We use mobile throughout the day to find inspiration or help to complete a task, to buy goods and services, influence our decisions and satisfy our curiosity.\n\nBrands understand this, of course. A quick look at the latest IAB stats reveals that investment in mobile now accounts for 38 per cent of all digital ad spend in the UK. Mobile continues to rewrite the rules and transform our lives at such a dramatic rate that it is a challenge for marketers to keep up.\n\nThe mobile industry\u2019s next big revolution is the addition of machine learning, and brands must adapt their thinking and navigate the speed of change effectively. It is essential that rapidly-evolving technology boosts rather than damages their bottom line.\n\nThink smarter\n\nThe difficulty for brands it that we now expect them to be in our lives at the exact moment we need them to serve our requirements. They must not only be useful, but be seen as useful, by delivering fast, relevant and assistive experiences.\n\nWith this in mind, marketers must become smarter with how they collect and use data. Machine learning represents a strategic move in marketing that will affect how brands react today and what will be expected of them from now on. The difficulty for marketers is that data and machine learning becomes ever more sophisticated in the way it enhances the user experience.\n\nThe behaviours we see on mobile today will only multiply as devices become even smarter. It is already becoming natural to want to interact with a phone or tablet using, for example, our voice. The brands that succeed will be the ones that incorporate these data-driven technologies into their mobile offering to meet a consumer\u2019s frictionless needs in the moment.\n\nThe harsh reality is that friction equals failure.\n\nHowever, the beauty of data and increasingly sophisticated machine learning is that brands can benefit from these enhanced experiences consumers are enjoying on mobile. Brands need to be assistive and react to how technology such as AI is affecting consumer attitudes towards them. After all, we not only expect relevant, personalised and assistive experiences, we demand them.\n\nKeeping ahead\n\nMobile has always been a game changer to help savvy brands stay one step ahead of the consumer. Successful marketers have an assistive mindset and a deep understanding of their customers at every encounter. Marketers that use data and technology correctly can take advantage of the huge opportunities mobile provides to engage with consumers and convert them into buyers.\n\nTake the example of popular US retailer Macy\u2019s, which used an at-home music festival to reach millennials in the moments that matter for festival fashion. The store wanted to make a splash in the ever growing \u2018festival fashion\u2019 market, while enticing those shoppers to become Macy\u2019s customers. To achieve this it launched its Summer Vibes campaign through a YouTube channel which featured professional influencers. It also ran TrueView Discover video ads to deliver its message to the right audience.\n\nMacy\u2019s used music to reach hundreds of thousands of millennials in a spectacular way and turn their \u2018I need some ideas\u2019 moments into\u2019 I want to buy it\u2019 moments. The online festival was viewed more than 4m times on YouTube. The activity also produced a lift in festival product consideration of more than 60 per cent after it aired and a 15 per cent rise in searches for Macy\u2019s on Google and YouTube in the month after the festival.\n\nThe omni-shopper\n\nThis is the age of the omni-shopper, and traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers and other brands can struggle to adapt to the mobile age and meet the needs of modern day consumers.\n\nMachine learning can help marketers to embrace omnichannel assistance and ensure there is a seamless bridge between the online and offline experience that every customer has on the path to purchase.\n\nIn order to begin to work with mobile in an efficient way marketers need to have faith in the technical experts, as they can help you learn and apply the possibilities of mobile to your business. It\u2019s up to them to grow confidence, and prove that they will deliver solutions to make it easier to scale relevant messages and experiences across all devices at key moments in people\u2019s lives, thus fully harnessing the power of mobile.\n\nDavid Black is MD, branding & consumer markets, at Google UK", "output": "The next step in mobile will be the addition of machine learning and, as the technology changes quickly, it is essential for brands and marketers to keep up so they can be in customers' lives just when they are needed. Potentially data can provide valuable insights into consumers and can create more customers and buyers as a result of understanding them properly. Brands must also make sure their interactions with the public are frictionless or they risk failure. Investment in mobile now accounts for 38% of UK digital ad spend.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk TalkTalk among 40 companies that join Manchester Tech Trust network \n Manchester Tech Trust (MTT), the non-profit organisation set up a year ago to link up investors and early stage tech businesses, has announced a powerful new network.\n\nThe Tech Trust Network launches with 40 of the city\u2019s tech leaders and influencers - including Siemens chief executive Juergen Maier, Urban Splash chairman Tom Bloxham and MusicMagpie co-founder and CEO Steve Oliver - who believe the city can be a \"world-class hub for technology\".\n\nMTT chairman Neil McArthur MTT chairman Neil McArthur\n\nThe plan is to expand the network by invitation to embrace a wide spectrum of supporters from all areas of the Greater Manchester tech ecosystem.\n\nNetwork members have committed to helping entrepreneurs and early stage companies with practical business advice and guidance, sharing their network and making introductions, and spreading the word about Manchester\u2019s tech offer.\n\nMTT chairman Neil McArthur, a co-founder of Talk Talk, says: \u201cThe Manchester tech sector is growing but still has yet to reach its true potential. We are building a strong and visible network of like-minded people who love Manchester and want to see it thrive.\n\n\"Through our Manchester Tech Trust website and events, we have established ourselves as a super connector, the \u2018go to\u2019 organisation in the city to bring people, support and finance together to make things happen quickly and effectively.\u201d\n\nSiemens chief executive Juergen Maier Siemens chief executive Juergen Maier\n\nSiemens chief executive Maier, chairman of the NW Business Leadership team, also joins MTT\u2019s Advisory Board.\n\nHe said: \"Neil McArthur and the team are part of a proud Manchester tradition built around innovation, entrepreneurship and giving back to the community. These ingredients are exactly what Manchester needs as it seeks to forge its own path to creating a truly globally recognised base for the future of tech.\"\n\nOthers involved in the Network are Simon Calver, Chairman of UK British Angels Association and partner at BGF Ventures, Hugh Campbell, founder and managing partner of GP Bullhound, Allied London CEO Michael Ingall, Bruntwood CEO Chris Oglesby, Code Computerlove CEO Tony Foggett and Reality Mine co-founder Garry Partington.\n\nThe full list of Tech Trust Network members can be seen here.", "output": "The Manchester Tech Trust (MTT) has launched a wide-ranging network comprising 40 of the city's leading tech business figures. The Tech Trust Network includes Urban Splash chairman Tom Bloxham, Siemens chief executive Juergen Maier and\u00a0MTT chairman Neil McArthur, the co-founder of Talk Talk. \u201cThe Manchester tech sector is growing but still has yet to reach its true potential. We are building a strong and visible network of like-minded people who love Manchester and want to see it thrive,\" said\u00a0MTT chairman Neil McArthur.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI can boost insurance processes insurtech has left behind \n The insurance industry has seen a great amount of digital transformation in recent years, but two areas that have not reaped the benefits yet are policy development and claims handling. However, with advancements in artificial intelligence, this is set to change.\n\nThat's according to Nathan Root, VP of insights and data for insurance at consultancy Capgemini Financial Services. Root, formerly an SVP in charge of underwriting transformation at CNA, says that AI's impact on claims can drastically reduce cycle time.\n\nInsurers are using AI technology to analyze their old paper claims, submission applications, and policies. These digitized documents can then be subject to analytics that can inform carriers' policy and claim strategies going forward.\n\nDaniel Bujack - Fotolia\n\n\u201cWithin the claims process, insurance companies are looking to deliver a better outcome and an overall better customer service experience,\u201d Root says.\n\nFor example, he says, AI is allowing companies to dramatically cut claim routing times. Companies he is working with are using AI and data analytics to create a system where a new claim can automatically be routed to an adjuster depending on the severity of the claim and the experience of the adjuster. This cuts the process of assigning a claim from days to just minutes.\n\nIn order to deliver this improved experience, Capgemini works with clients to combine the growing abilities of AI software to understand natural language with existing technology, such as character recognition, to digitize the data in their new claims.\n\nRoot described the maturity of the big data and analytics capabilities when it comes to mining old claims as \u201cmainstream\" -- but it hasn't yet peaked, he says. For example, there's still a lot of potential for insurance companies to use AI to automate data collection and analysis.\n\n\u201cIt has not yet hit its threshold of maturity,\u201d he said. \u201cIn five years, it will be more mainstream and more mature. It will get more innovative with machine learning.\u201d", "output": "Artificial intelligence is allowing insurers to automate and streamline parts of the insurance value chain yet to benefit from insurtech, according to Nathan Root, VP of insights and data for insurance at consultancy Capgemini Financial Services. Carriers are harnessing the learning power of AI to analyse old claims documents to identify new business strategies, Root said. That's helping companies to reduce claims handling times from days to minutes."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow announces final round of homes for sale in Chorley \n Final round of family homes at Chorley development\n\nRedrow has announced the final round of homes for sale at its Lucas Green development in Whittle le Woods, near Chorley.\n\nJust 10 four and five-bedroom homes remain at the development, which has been built around a Grade II Listed gun mounting which protected the town\u2019s Royal Ordnance Factory in World War Two.\n\nNews that the development is now 85% sold has prompted the award winning homebuilder to fire a warning to would-be buyers\u2026\n\n\u201cLucas Green has been such a popular development that there has always been a constant stream of buyers looking to invest in the fabulous family homes we have here,\u201d said Claire Jarvis, sales director for Redrow Homes (Lancashire). \u201cBut with only 10 homes now left for sale, those who are interested can\u2019t afford to put off a decision any longer.\u201d\n\nLucas Green is one of Redrow\u2019s prize winning developments. Its former Henley show home was highly commended as one of the best in the North West at last year\u2019s UK Property Awards; and the development was a Bronze winner at the 2015 What House? Awards for best landscape.\n\nThe remaining homes at Lucas Green are premium properties in a stunning location and from Redrow\u2019s award-winning Heritage Collection, which combines Arts & Crafts inspired, traditional exteriors, with contemporary and stylish interiors, very much geared to today\u2019s modern family.\n\nAmong them is the detached Marlborough, a truly fabulous five-bedroom detached home priced from \u00a3444,995. A selection of four-bedroom homes is coming soon.\n\nImpressive and oozing character, the Marlborough has a spacious kitchen/dining area with patio doors which open out onto the rear garden, and a fully-fitted kitchen with a range of top-name integrated appliances, guaranteed to form the heart of the family home.\n\nA separate lounge provides that private space to relax and unwind, while a snug/study creates a home office or an extra play room for the little ones. Of course, while style is paramount so too is practicality, and a utility and cloakroom prove essential when it comes to streamlining everyday living in a busy home.\n\nFor more information about the final homes at Lucas Green, visit redrow.co.uk/lucas or call into the sales centre, usually open 10am to 5.30pm (closed Tuesday/Wednesday).", "output": "Redrow Homes has\u00a0announced the final round of homes for sale at the Lucas Green development in Whittle le Woods, near Chorley in Lancashire. Of the development, 85% have\u00a0been sold, and just 10 four and five bedroom homes remain available at the development.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trump offshore order risks safety and the environment: NYT \n As Americans flock to the nation\u2019s beaches this summer, it is important to understand what Mr. Trump\u2019s recent moves portend. Specifically, his executive order calls for the reconsideration of a critical safeguard that is the most important action the government has taken to reduce offshore drilling hazards. This safeguard, the well control rule, tightened controls on blowout preventers designed to stop explosions in undersea oil and gas wells. The rule was based in part on lessons the commission learned about the root cause of the BP disaster.\n\nHad this common-sense rule been in place on April 20, 2010, that calamity might well have been averted. Weakening or rescinding this rule would increase the risks of offshore operations, put workers in harm\u2019s way and imperil marine waters and coastlines.\n\nMr. Trump\u2019s order also directed the Interior Department to review current rules on offshore drilling. Opening more areas to exploration, as the Trump administration moved to do last week, could threaten the fragile Arctic Ocean off Alaska as well as environmentally sensitive reaches of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. A spill in any of those waters could threaten multibillion-dollar regional economies that depend on clean oceans and coastlines.\n\nNothing has changed to justify these moves since the current five-year offshore leasing plan, which runs through 2022, was finalized after years of public and industry input. Broad public opposition to expanding drilling into frontier areas has not diminished. Nor are the identified potential harms to economies and ecologies any less significant.\n\nIn short, drilling in the outer continental shelf remains risky business. Safety and oversight in offshore drilling continues to need improvement, not roll backs.", "output": "Safety recommendations adopted by the US Department of the Interior in the wake of the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil leak could be abolished under an executive order by Donald Trump, according to an op-ed in the New York Times. The April offshore energy order begins \u201cthe process of opening offshore areas\u201d to exploration. Last week, Trump also opened the public comment period for a 5-year offshore oil and gas leasing programme on the environmentally sensitive outer continental shelf region. The moves undermine the \u201cwell control rule,\u201d designed to prevent underwater explosions, and threaten workers\u2019 safety and the environment.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Global warming could be worse than anticipated: Harvard \n Hopes that the world\u2019s huge carbon emissions might not drive temperatures up to dangerous levels have been dashed by new research.\n\nThe work shows that temperature rises measured over recent decades do not fully reflect the global warming already in the pipeline and that the ultimate heating of the planet could be even worse than feared.\n\n\n\nHow much global temperatures rise for a certain level of carbon emissions is called climate sensitivity and is seen as the single most important measure of climate change. Computer models have long indicated a high level of sensitivity, up to 4.5C for a doubling of CO2 in the atmosphere.\n\nHowever in recent years estimates of climate sensitivity based on historical temperature records from the past century or so have suggested the response might be no more than 3C. This would mean the planet could be kept safe with lower cuts in emissions, which are easier to achieve.\n\nBut the new work, using both models and paleoclimate data from warming periods in the Earth\u2019s past, shows that the historical temperature measurements do not reveal the slow heating of the planet\u2019s oceans that takes place for decades or centuries after CO2 has been added to the atmosphere.\n\n\u201cThe hope was that climate sensitivity was lower and the Earth is not going to warm as much,\u201d said Cristian Proistosescu, at Harvard University in the US, who led the new research. \u201cThere was this wave of optimism.\u201d\n\nThe new research, published in the journal Science Advances, has ended that. \u201cThe worrisome part is that all the models show there is an amplification of the amount of warming in the future,\u201d he said. The situation might be even worse, as Proistosescu\u2019s work shows climate sensitivity could be as high as 6C.\n\nProf Bill Collins, at the University of Reading, UK, and not part of the new research, said: \u201cSome have suggested that we might be lucky and avoid dangerous climate change without taking determined action if the climate is not very sensitive to CO2 emissions. This work provides new evidence that that chance is remote.\u201d He said greater long term warming had implications for melting of the world\u2019s ice sheets and the rise of sea levels that already threatens many coastal cities.\n\nThe reason the historical temperature measurements indicated a lower climate sensitivity than models or paleoclimate data is because the Earth has a fast and a slow response to increases in carbon emissions, Proistosescu said.\n\nLand, mostly in the northern hemisphere heats up quickly. But there is also a slow response, he said: \u201cThis is mostly associated with warming over the oceans. They are big and full of cold water, especially at depth, and take a long time to heat up.\u201d Furthermore, when the slow warming does kick in, it is likely to reduce the cloud cover that shades the Southern ocean and the eastern tropical Pacific, amplifying the heating.\n\nThe new research shows the 4.5C upper limit for climate sensitivity is real and means projections for global temperature rises cannot be reduced. The global temperature is likely to be 2.6C to 4.8C higher by the end of the century if emissions are not cut, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or 0.3C to 1.7C if sharp emissions cuts begin in the next few years.\n\nThe world may already be seeing the increasing rises in temperature, said Prof Piers Forster at the University of Leeds, UK: \u201cIt may already be happening \u2013 the rapid increase in temperatures since 2014 could be partly due to the eastern Pacific catching up.\u201d\n\nReconciling all the estimates of climate sensitivity has also shown that climate models are not flawed. \u201cHistorical observations give us a lot of insight into how climate changes and are an important test of our climate models,\u201d said Prof Peter Huybers, a colleague of Proistosescu\u2019s at Harvard University. \u201cBut there is no perfect analogue for the changes that are coming.\u201d", "output": "Future global warming could be even worse than expected, according to research from Harvard. Climate sensitivity, or the rise in temperatures resulting from a certain level of carbon emissions, is viewed as the most significant measure of climate change. Computer models have previously suggested a level of sensitivity of up to 4.5C per doubling of CO2 in the atmosphere, while\u00a0some recent research has suggested sensitivity might be as low as 3C. The new study suggests that previous measurements do not factor in\u00a0the slow heating of the oceans and warns that sensitivity could actually be as high as 6C.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesla engineer claims she was fired for alleging harassment \n The theme for this year\u2019s International Women\u2019s Day was \u201cbe bold for change\u201d in the fight for a \u201cmore gender inclusive world\u201d \u2013 but some at Tesla had a different plan for the day.\n\nIt was an opportunity for women to discover essential oils. A \u201chealth and wellness group\u201d at the electric car company invited female staff members to an 8 March \u201clunch \u2018n learn\u201d about oils and how they can help improve people\u2019s \u201chealth and happiness\u201d, according to emails seen by the Guardian, which reveal that the proposed event was quickly met with vocal criticism. It was particularly offensive to some given that a week earlier, AJ Vandermeyden, a female engineer, had publicly accused Elon Musk\u2019s company of sexual harassment and discrimination.\n\nTesla postponed the oils session. The company organized a town hall meeting on diversity for that day, which included six male executives and one woman, according to multiple attendees. At the crowded meeting at the Fremont factory, women took the microphone one-by-one and shared stories of sexual harassment, mistreatment by male managers, unfair promotion decisions and more, sources said.\n\nVandermeyden, who attended the meeting, thought the outpouring of comments validated her own story. But soon after, Tesla fired her, accusing her of pursuing a \u201cmiscarriage of justice\u201d by filing a lawsuit that alleged \u201cpervasive harassment\u201d and pay discrimination. Testimony from the town hall \u2013 along with internal emails from Musk, and Vandermeyden\u2019s first interview since her termination \u2013 paint a picture of a company that has struggled to respond to mounting complaints about gender discrimination and has aggressively attempted to discredit a woman who publicly criticized it .\n\n\u201cThey just want to absolutely crush anyone who speaks up,\u201d said Vandermeyden, 33, seated inside her attorney\u2019s San Francisco office on a recent afternoon. \u201cI spoke up, and I was made a sacrificial lamb for it. It\u2019s a scary precedent.\u201d\n\nVandermeyden detailed the painful experience of losing a job she loved while facing harsh personal attacks by Tesla in the media. She has come forward at a time when the tech industry is grappling with high profile sexual misconduct scandals at Uber, a prominent venture capital firm and a popular startup incubator.\n\nTesla, known internationally for its battery-powered vehicles and self-driving car technology, has strongly rejected Vandermeyden\u2019s claims, saying she was terminated for \u201cfalsely attacking our company in the press\u201d. But the flurry of criticisms that emerged at the town hall suggests that her complaints are not unique.\n\n\u2018Predator zone\u2019\n\nMusk was not at the meeting, which was attended by roughly 70-100 people, and featured comments from more than 20 women, according to Vandermeyden and another attendee. One woman described parts of the factory as a \u201cpredator zone\u201d for harassment. When the moderator asked women in the room if they had ever been catcalled, a significant number of women raised their hands, according to Vandermeyden.\n\nOther women allegedly talked about feeling unsafe around male managers and facing sexist remarks from superiors. Women talked about being dismissed and talked over in meetings with no other female employees, and asked questions about diversity in hiring and the lack of women in leadership positions.\n\nSome of the executives seemed genuinely concerned and taken aback by the women\u2019s comments. One male leader said it was unacceptable, noting that he had daughters, said Vandermeyden.\n\nOne female manager, who was present but no longer works for Tesla, told the Guardian she was offended by that comment: \u201cIt\u2019s insulting. You shouldn\u2019t have to have daughters to know this.\u201d She said executives\u2019 responses to questions about diversity were generic and filled with corporate jargon.\n\nWorkers inside Tesla\u2019s factory in Fremont, California. Photograph: Handout Handout/EPA\n\nTesla said in an email that a Women in Tesla group hosted the event and that \u201cexecutives attended because they wanted to hear directly from employees about their experiences and learn about how to improve the workplace\u201d.\n\nThe company disputed the Guardian\u2019s characterization of the meeting, saying: \u201cEmployees stood up to ask the executives questions, share their experiences at Tesla \u2013 both positive and negative \u2013 while others spoke of things that they believed Tesla was doing right and some came with suggestions. In some instances, employees were only looking for better collaboration with their HR business partners in general and had nothing to do with any allegations of harassment.\u201d\n\nThe company statement said that when an employee referenced an area of the factory as a \u201cpredator zone\u201d, it \u201csurprised many in the room who had never heard of this term\u201d. Immediately after the meeting, Tesla said it sent a factory-wide message to supervisors about its \u201cstrict policy against any kind of harassment\u201d, adding, \u201cAny complaints of catcalling in the factory are thoroughly investigated and action is taken where necessary.\u201d\n\nTesla also said that at the meeting, \u201cthere was a lot of energy around ensuring we are proactively sourcing diverse talent and ensuring that we have an interview and assessment process that is free from bias\u201d.\n\nVandermeyden said she talked briefly about her experience at the meeting, adding: \u201cIt was finally giving women a venue to voice what was going on. It felt like Tesla had been saying I\u2019m making all this up. And here were all the women saying, \u2018No, it\u2019s happening.\u2019 It\u2019s too big to deny.\u201d\n\nHer lawsuit, filed last year, alleged that after she was hired in 2013, she was promoted to a manufacturing engineering position in a department that consisted mostly of men and where she was paid less than male engineers whose work she directly assumed.\n\nMen were also granted positions over her, and she and other women were denied promotions despite their equal or superior qualifications, the complaint said. She also said that Tesla retaliated against her after she raised concerns about sexual harassment and catcalls she routinely faced on the factory floor.\n\nVandermeyden went public with her story in an interview with the Guardian in February, prompting Tesla to vehemently deny her allegations, claiming that an internal investigation concluded that there was no harassment, discrimination or retaliation.\n\nOn 23 May, Tesla announced the hiring of Gaby Toledano as the new chief people officer to oversee HR amid growing concerns about unsafe working conditions at the factory. Toledano joined as the only woman in the \u201cc-suite\u201d, meaning group of chief executives.\n\nOne of her first major acts was to fire Vandermeyden.\n\nI\u2019m the one who spoke up, and they\u2019re saying, \u2018One way or another, you have to leave.\u2019 How is that right? AJ Vandermeyden\n\nToledano asked Vandermeyden to meet for coffee one-on-one without lawyers on 29 May, the Memorial Day holiday. Vandermeyden said she thought it was an opportunity to discuss ways to improve the workplace and address her concerns, but instead she was told she could resign and get a severance package or she would be terminated immediately and should not show up for work the next day.\n\n\u201cIt felt like they were trying to intimidate me. I\u2019m the one who spoke up, and they\u2019re saying, \u2018One way or another, you have to leave.\u2019 How is that right?\u201d Vandermeyden recalled in the recent interview. Toledano\u2019s message to her was clear, she added: \u201c\u2018You can end this now or this is going to be litigation going on for years.\u2019\u201d\n\nShe refused to resign and was fired, she said. She has yet to return to Tesla to clean out her desk.\n\nAJ Vandermeyden ... \u2018It was finally giving women a venue to voice what was going on.\u2019 Photograph: Ramin Talaie/The Guardian\n\nTesla disputed Vandermeyden\u2019s account of the meeting, saying: \u201cGaby did not intimidate Ms Vandermeyden. She disagrees that there was any intimidation, nor did Ms Vandermeyden ever express feeling intimidated during the meeting. In fact, they both had a positive rapport and expressed mutual support, as Gaby was new to her role at Tesla and was attempting to resolve the matter in a positive and mutually supportive manner for the company and for Ms Vandermeyden.\u201d\n\nVandermeyden struggled to process the news and was further shocked when Tesla released a 430-word statement to the Guardian justifying the termination.\n\n\u201cVandermeyden was given special treatment and opportunities for advancement that were unwarranted based on her qualifications, and that negatively impacted other more qualified individuals,\u201d the statement said, saying that she behaved in a \u201cfundamentally false and misleading manner\u201d. The company said she \u201cfalsely attacked\u201d Tesla in the press, amounting to a \u201cmiscarriage of justice\u201d, adding: \u201cIt is impossible to trust anyone after they have behaved in such a manner.\u201d\n\nHer lawyer, Therese Lawless, well known for fighting discrimination in Silicon Valley, said the statement was clear evidence that Tesla\u2019s termination was retaliation for raising concerns about workplace conditions, which is her legally protected right.\n\nIn addition to saying she was not qualified for her job, Tesla has also repeatedly noted that Vandermeyden did not have an engineering degree, a fact many tech journalists have repeated in articles. But according to Vandermeyden and another Tesla employee, this is not uncommon; she said she knew of at least two male engineers in her department without a degree.\n\nMusk\u2019s warning to employees: don\u2019t sue Tesla\n\nMusk also appeared to reference Vandermeyden in a company-wide email sent two days after her termination. In the email \u2013 with the subject \u201cDoing the right thing\u201d, sent at 2.29am \u2013 Musk lamented the scrutiny that his company faces, saying, \u201cThe list of companies that want to kill Tesla is so long, I\u2019ve lost track.\u201d\n\nAs as a result, he continued, employees must work harder and faster than competitors, adding they can\u2019t be a \u201cjerk\u201d in the process.\n\nElon Musk at the company\u2019s headquarters. Photograph: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP\n\nMusk did not name Vandermeyden, but went on to offer what seemed to be a thinly veiled attack on her lawsuit: \u201cIf you are part of a less represented group, you don\u2019t get a free pass on being a jerk yourself. We have had a few cases at Tesla where someone in a less represented group was actually given a job or promoted over more qualified highly represented candidates and then decided to sue Tesla for millions of dollars because they felt they weren\u2019t promoted enough. That is obviously not cool.\u201d\n\n\n\nVandermeyden, who had not seen the email until the Guardian provided it to her, said it was painful to read: \u201cIt\u2019s saying everything I\u2019ve done at Tesla, all the hard work, it\u2019s dismissing it all. It hurts because there are going to be some people who believe that.\u201d\n\nShe also noted that she has consistently received positive performance evaluations and called his email \u201cdefamatory\u201d.\n\nAsked about the email, Tesla said in a statement: \u201cThis email in fact did not reference Ms Vandermeyden or her case.\u201d\n\nVandermeyden said she wished that Musk would consider that \u201cdissent isn\u2019t disloyalty\u201d and that her love of Tesla drove her to advocate for better working conditions. \u201cI was never your enemy,\u201d she said, adding: \u201cI still believe in the importance of transitioning the world to sustainable energy, but now I don\u2019t get to be a part of it.\u201d\n\nShe recalled getting a T-shirt with Musk as a superhero when she first joined Tesla, and that it was hard to realize that \u201csometimes your superheroes aren\u2019t always super\u201d.", "output": "A former female engineer at Tesla has accused the automaker of firing her for making accusations of sexual harassment. AJ Vandermeyden was criticised by the company for pursuing a \u201cmiscarriage of justice\u201d when she launched a lawsuit alleging that the company was responsible for \u201cpervasive harassment\u201d and pay discrimination. Speaking to The Guardian, Vandermeyden said that her claims were supported by at least 20 other women speaking at a company meeting on International Women\u2019s Day in March. One woman allegedly referred to parts of the Tesla factory as a \u201cpredator zone\u201d.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Brexit threatens climate change progress: IIEA \n Institute of International and European Affairs director general Barry Andrews: \u201cWhen it comes to climate change, under all Brexit scenarios the most profoundly negative consequence are not felt by the UK, but by the EU and internationally.\u201d\n\nBrexit could have a profoundly destabilising impact on global momentum to address climate change, according to a report published by the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA).\n\n\u201cOne thing is clear: further to the damaging withdrawal of the US from the Paris Climate Agreement, the last thing global efforts to tackle climate change need is Brexit; and the harder the Brexit, the worse the climate impact,\u201d said report author Joseph Curtin. He is a research fellow at UCC and the IIEA in Dublin, and a member of the Government\u2019s climate change advisory council.\n\nThe analysis explores the political impacts for climate change, within the UK, at EU level and globally, under four scenarios including in the event of remain (\u201ca reversal of the decision to leave\u201d). Apart from remain, all scenarios come with negative consequences for climate protection, Mr Curtin said.\n\nThe negative consequences, according to the report, ripple out from the loss of UK influence at the EU negotiating table. The UK has historically been a leader in EU climate policy, aligning itself to the clean and green grouping of member states, including Germany and the Nordic countries.\n\nREAD MORE\n\nGreenhouse gasses\n\nIt has taken on the most challenging commitments to reduce heat-trapping greenhouse gasses and has also been a leading proponent of reforms to the EU\u2019s flagship climate policy, its carbon trading scheme. \u201cIf the UK leaves, even in a \u2018soft Brexit\u2019 scenario \u2013 where it remains in the EU single market and customs union \u2013 the balance of power tilts towards the less ambitious grouping of member states, led by Poland. EU leadership and ambition suffer,\u201d Mr Curtin added.\n\nThe report finds that under all three Brexit scenarios, there may be a requirement for the EU to resubmit a less ambitious pledge to the UN\u2019s Paris climate accord on curbing global emissions. This is because the UK contributes disproportionately to the overall EU pledge (a 40 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030), and other member states are \u201cunlikely to take up the slack post-Brexit\u201d.\n\nIn an \u201cultra-hard\u201d scenario, a \u201chard Brexit\u201d (leaving the single market and customs union) but followed by domestic rollback of environmental legislation where the UK seeks to gain competitive advantage through deregulation, the situation is worst. In this case, the report argues, the UK would be unlikely to submit an ambitious national pledge to the Paris accord, if indeed it submits a pledge at all. The very survival of the accord could be threatened, it adds.\n\nParis accord\n\n\u201cThis scenario would have profound implications for trade, carbon leakage and potentially competitiveness between the UK and its major EU trading partners, including Ireland. It would have highly destabilising repercussions for the Paris agreement and likely result in a diminished commitment to climate finance.\u201d\n\nSomewhat counterintuitively, in most scenarios, the implications for the UK\u2019s national climate policy are limited. \u201cThis is because the UK\u2019s climate ambition is underpinned by domestic legislation such as the Climate Change Act (2008),\u201d Mr Curtin said, \u201cand is not a function of EU membership per se\u201d.\n\nThe exception, the report contends, is in the ultra-hard Brexit scenario, where the UK rolls back its domestic climate policy following a hard Brexit. In this instance, \u201cthere are profoundly destabilising impacts on decarbonisation momentum at all levels: within the UK, and at EU and UN fora\u201d.\n\nSpeaking at the report\u2019s launch, IIEA director general Barry Andrews said this analysis of the impact of Brexit on climate change \u201cshows different results to other areas of policy we are exploring. In most areas, the UK will be disproportionally negatively affected by its decision to leave the EU, be it in trade, foreign policy or security. However, when it comes to climate change, under all Brexit scenarios the most profoundly negative consequence are not felt by the UK, but by the EU and internationally.\u201d", "output": "Brexit could destabilise global efforts to combat climate change, according to a report by the Institute of International and European Affairs. Author of the report Joseph Curtin, who is a member of the Government\u2019s climate change advisory council, stated that \u201cthe harder the Brexit, the worse the climate impact\u201d. The study argues that the negative impacts would stem from the fact that the UK has traditionally been a leader of European Union (EU) climate policy. Brexit could tip power within the EU towards countries that look\u00a0to pursue less ambitious climate goals, such as Poland.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus Hilton Hotel in Nottingham undergoes refurbishment \n We have more newsletters\n\nSomething went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nOur free email updates are the best way to get headlines direct to your inbox\n\nThe Hilton Hotel in Nottingham city centre is undergoing a major revamp to its exterior.\n\nThe 113-year-old venue, in Milton Street, is covered in scaffolding as refurbishment work takes place over the next month.\n\nHilton Nottingham general manager, David Rowley said: \u201cThis iconic Victorian property in the heart of Nottingham\u2019s city centre is undergoing a significant programme of investment into its exterior.\n\n\u201cWork taking place on the 1904 building includes repointing of the front-facing brick work, refurbishment of the original Victorian sash windows and upgrading of the roof. This phase of work is expected to conclude by the end of July.\n\n\u201cThis project will help to improve and uphold the stylish, vintage look of one of Nottingham\u2019s finest surviving properties from that era.\u201d\n\n(Image: Joseph Raynor)\n\nHilton Nottingham, which has 177 rooms, features a 60 ft indoor heated swimming pool, LivingWell health club with sauna, function rooms for up to 200 people, and a Regus Express Business Lounge.\n\nThe four-star hotel was completely refurbished by Franklin Ellis Architects in 2000.\n\nThe \u00a313m project involved redesigning the ground floor to provide a new reception, bar and restaurant, while the basement was converted to incorporate the 12,000 sq ft health club and swimming pool.", "output": "The Hilton Hotel in Nottingham city centre is undergoing a significant refurbishment of its exterior to accentuate its vintage aesthetic. The 113-year old building contains\u00a0177 rooms, a heated pool, a LivingWell health club and\u00a0a Regus Express Business Lounge. Renovations will include a roof upgrade and work on the Victorian sash windows, with scaffolding set to remain in place throughout July.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers develop short lifecycle rice for bioenergy studies \n Rice is a staple food for over half of the world\u2019s population and a model for studies of candidate bioenergy grasses such as sorghum, switchgrass, and Miscanthus. To optimize crops for biofuel production, scientists are seeking to identify genes that control key traits such as yield, resistance to disease, and water use efficiency.\n\nPopulations of mutant plants, each one having one or more genes altered, are an important tool for elucidating gene function. With whole-genome sequencing at the single nucleotide level, researchers can infer the functions of the genes by observing the gain or loss of particular traits. But the utility of existing rice mutant collections has been limited by several factors, including the cultivars\u2019 relatively long six-month life cycle and the lack of sequence information for most of the mutant lines.\n\nIn a paper published in The Plant Cell, a team led by Pamela Ronald, a professor in the Genome Center and the Department of Plant Pathology at UC Davis and director of Grass Genetics at the Department of Energy\u2019s (DOE\u2019s) Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), with collaborators from UC Davis and the DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), reported the first whole-genome sequenced fast-neutron induced mutant population of Kitaake, a model rice variety with a short life cycle.\n\nKitaake (Oryza sativa L. ssp. japonica) completes its life cycle in just nine weeks and is not sensitive to photoperiod changes. This novel collection will accelerate functional genetic research in rice and other monocots, a type of flowering plant species that includes grasses.\n\n\u201cSome of the most popular rice varieties people use right now only have two generations per year. Kitaake has up to four, which really speeds up functional genomics work,\u201d said Guotian Li, a project scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and deputy director of Grass Genetics at JBEI.\n\nIn a previously published pilot study, Li, Mawsheng Chern, and Rashmi Jain, co-first authors on The Plant Cell paper, demonstrated that fast-neutron irradiation produced abundant and diverse mutations in Kitaake, including single base substitutions, deletions, insertions, inversions, translocations, and duplications. Other techniques that have been used to generate rice mutant populations, such as the insertion of gene and chromosome segments and the use of gene editing tools like CRISPR-Cas9, generally produce a single type of mutation, Li noted.\n\n\u201cFast-neutron irradiation causes different types of mutations and gives different alleles of genes so we really can get something that\u2019s not achievable from other collections,\u201d he said.\n\nWhole-genome sequencing of this mutant population \u2013 1,504 lines in total with 45-fold coverage \u2013 allowed the researchers to pinpoint each mutation at a single-nucleotide resolution. They identified 91,513 mutations affecting 32,307 genes, 58 percent of all genes in the roughly 389-megabase rice genome. A high proportion of these were loss-of-function mutations.\n\nUsing this mutant collection, the Grass Genetics group identified an inversion affecting a single gene as the causative mutation for the short-grain phenotype in one mutant line with a population containing just 50 plants. In contrast, researchers needed more than 16,000 plants to identify the same gene using the conventional approach.\n\n\u201cThis comparison clearly demonstrates the power of the sequenced mutant population for rapid genetic analysis,\u201d said Ronald.\n\nThis high-density, high-resolution catalog of mutations, developed with JGI\u2019s help, provides researchers opportunities to discover novel genes and functional elements controlling diverse biological pathways. To facilitate open access to this resource, the Grass Genetics group has established a web portal called KitBase, which allows users to find information related to the mutant collection, including sequence, mutation and phenotypic data for each rice line. Additional information about the database can be found through JGI.\n\nAdditional Berkeley Lab scientists who contributed to this work include co-first authors Rashmi Jain and Mawsheng Chern; Tong Wei and Deling Ruan, both affiliated with JBEI\u2019s Feedstocks Division and with Berkeley Lab\u2019s Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division; Nikki Pham and Kyle Jones of JBEI\u2019s Feedstocks Division; and Joel Martin, Wendy Schackwitz, Anna Lipzen, Diane Bauer, Yi Peng, and Kerrie Barry of the JGI.\n\nSupport for the research at JBEI, a DOE Bioenergy Research Center, and JGI, a DOE Office of Science User Facility, was provided by DOE\u2019s Office of Science. Additional support was provide by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.\n\n###\n\nLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world\u2019s most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab\u2019s scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel Prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy\u2019s Office of Science. For more, visit www.lbl.gov.\n\nDOE\u2019s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.", "output": "Scientists who are developing crops suitable for biofuel production are investigating the\u00a0genes that\u00a0control vital traits, such as disease resistance, water-use efficiency and crop yield. Rice is\u00a0a model grain for bioenergy studies and a\u00a0team of US researchers has\u00a0reported the first whole-genome sequenced, fast neutron-induced mutant population of Kitaake, a model rice variety with a short life cycle. Whole-genome sequencing at the single nucleotide level allows researchers to study functions of the genes by examining the loss or gain of certain traits when one or more genes are altered.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sinclair Pharma Kelo-cote offers effective treatment for scarring \n I want your scars to look pretty. Particularly in larger scar surgeries (think tummy tucks or breast reductions and breast lifts), the less you see the scar, the better everything is. There are some skin types which tend to scar more poorly (Asian skin, darker skin types, people with a history of hypertrophic or keloid scars).\n\nThis is a data sheet put out by the makers of biocorneum (so yes, take it with a grain of salt) which states 16 studies demonstrate why \u201cbiocorneum is the number 1 and only FDA cleared choice for initial scar management.\u201d I do not own stock in biocorneum / Kelo-cote. I do not get kick backs. I simply like products which have scientific studies to prove their claims. And I simply want your scars to be pretty.\n\nSo.\n\nHow does it work?\n\nUnlike other methods, it does not use pressure, temperature, oxygen tension, or occlusion.\n\nIt does involve hydrating the top layer of the skin, and helps the release of low molecular weight silicone fluid\n\nIt helps prevent water loss across the skin. Why does this matter? It is thought the hydration state of the skin cell signals fibroblasts to produce collagen (scar) Silicone gel increases production of basic fibroblast growth factors, which reduces collagen proliferation seen in hypertrophic scars.\n\n\n\nSplit scar studies showed\n\nSilicone gel improved the appearance of scars on both the VSS and global physician evaluation over 3 months, but not on the untreated side.\n\nWhen compared to placebo, silicone gel significantly improved scar pigmentation vascularity (redness) pliability height pain size itchiness\n\nTreatment resulted in 67% of scars being rated normal (with no treatment 28% were rated normal) 26% rated as mildly elevated (with no treatment the rate was 46% mildly elevated, and 26% hypertrophic or keloid)\n\nThere was no difference in redness or brown pigmentation\n\nNo adverse events.\n\nSo what do I think?\n\nAs I have said before, I like pretty scars, and this product has scientific studies backing it up. It is not perfect. Some of my patients don\u2019t like to have to wait for it to dry. If that is the case, I would recommend silicone sheets or tape. But it has been shown to be more efficacious than some other products on the market like mederma (onion extract). And for sure I like it better than Vitamin E.\n\nThink of your healing scar like a sleeping baby. You want to treat it kindly, be gentle, don\u2019t irriate it. That is what gives the best scar.", "output": "The Lauren Greenberg MD practice in California has listed on its blog scientific reasons for why Sinclair's\u00a0Kelo-cote, a topical liquid silicone,\u00a0offers an efficacious\u00a0way to manage scarring from plastic surgery. By not relying on pressure, temperature, occlusion or oxygen tension, and reducing the\u00a0water loss across the skin that causes the production of collagen, treatment with the gel has been shown to generate significant\u00a0improvements in terms of factors such\u00a0as scar pigmentation, size, vascularity and itchiness.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Two LSE economics professors warn of 40% property collapse \n \u2013 UK house prices on brink of massive 40% collapse\n\n\u2013 UK at \u2018edge of worst house price collapse since 1990s\u2019\n\n\u2013 Two leading economists warn of property crash\n\n\u2013 \u201cWe are due a significant correction in house prices\u201d\n\n\u2013 Brexit and wages failing to keep up with inflation to trigger collapse\n\n\u2013 Trend starting in London before fanning out to rest of UK\n\n\u2013 UK homeowners unconcerned \u2013 58% expect prices to rise\n\n\u2013 Over 1 million mortgages under threat in UK\n\n\u2013 Concerns of return of new \u201cnegative equity\u201d generation\n\n\u2013 Huge denial amid recency bias and endowment bias \u2013 emotional attachment to expensive things we buy \u2013 especially our homes\n\n\u2013 Good news for first time buyers \u2013 bad news for UK banks and indebted, vulnerable UK consumers and economy\n\n\n\nEditor: Mark O\u2019Byrne\n\nTwo leading economics professors have warned that the UK housing market is on the brink of a 40% collapse, echoing the early 1990s property crisis.\n\n\u201cWe are due a significant correction in house prices. I think we are beginning to see signs that correction may be starting\u201d Paul Cheshire, a professor of economic geography at the London School of Economics told the Mail on Sunday.\n\nThe sharp correction or crash may come about due to two primary factors \u2013 Brexit and a fall in real wages as they fail to keep pace with rising inflation.\n\nDespite these warnings following swiftly on the tail of recent poor housing market data, homeowners seem unfazed by what the future might hold, disregarding the parallels that are being drawn between today and the run up to the 1990s property crash.\n\nBrexit deals another blow\n\nProfessor Christian Hilber and former Government housing adviser, and Professor Paul Cheshire warned that Brexit could be a catalyst for the correction which will see thousands of homeowners plunged into negative equity.\n\nHilber warned that the crash will not be short and sharp:\n\n\u201cIf Brexit leads to a recession and/or sluggish growth for extended periods, then an extended and severe downturn is more likely than a short-lived and mild one.\u201d\n\nBrexit continues to create massive uncertainty. Last week we reported on the Bank of England\u2019s Financial Stability Report which pointed towards an \u2018adverse shock\u2019, such as Brexit and how it might \u2018may amplify a negative feedback loop.\u2019\n\nWages fall short of inflation\n\nThe Professors also explained how wage growth\u2019s failure to keep pace with inflation could result in a fall in house prices.\n\nLast month official measures of inflation showed it was at 2.9% (although we know real inflation rates to be much higher) whilst incomes climbed by just 2.1%.\n\nThe OECD painted a bleak picture of the UK economy back in June when it showed that \u2018inflation at 2.7% during 2018 would dwarf wage growth of 1.5% and result in the UK have the weakest real income performance, alongside Finland, of any of its 34 rich member states.\u2019\n\nThe situation for the UK economy is not expected to improve as growth slows from 1.8% in 2016 to 1.6% this year and just 1% in 2018, according to OECD figures.\n\nFollow the (London) leader\n\n\u201cHistorically, trends seem always to start in London and then move out across the rest of the country. In the capital, you are already seeing house prices rising less rapidly than in other parts of Britain,\u201d Cheshire told the Mail on Sunday.\n\nThis falls in line with our coverage last week of the weakening of prices in the London housing market. In the same week the Council of Mortgage Lenders said the housing market had \u2018stalled\u2019 and that in May over 75% of houses in London sold for less than the asking price.\n\nIn contrast an \u2018ex-Bank of England guru\u2019 predicted last week that we should not worry about the recent weakening in the housing market. David Miles, professor at Imperial College London, somewhat complacently told the Telegraph:\n\n\u201cThe conclusion that I draw is that it is not implausible that house prices, which have become very expensive relative to people\u2019s incomes, instead of over the next 30 or 40 years reversing that to go back to where we were in the 1970s and 80s, either stay as expensive as they are right now relative to incomes, or conceivably, unfortunately, rise further.\u201d\n\nWith mixed predictions from experts and mortgage rates still very low, is it any wonder that we are seeing little reaction from homeowners themselves?\n\nA petri dish of market emotion\n\nDespite evidence showing that house prices are coming down, inflation is climbing and incomes are falling a Halifax survey shows that 58% of people agree with Prof. Miles and expect the average property price to rise in the next 12 months whilst just 14% expect house prices to fall.\n\nAccording to the Council of Mortgage lenders there are 11.1 million mortgages in the UK, with loans worth over \u00a31.3 trillion. With that many stakeholders in the property market is it unsurprising that they fail to believe times are taking a turn for the worst?\n\nThe confidence of house market participants seems to come from a place that is unaffected by major issues such as affordability and political instability. Instead it is a market psychologist\u2019s petri dish of examples of emotional biases.\n\nInstead of looking at inflation rates, incomes or Brexit worries homeowners are boosted by the likes of recency bias and herd behaviour \u2013 they forget the damage of the crash in the 1990s or the booms and busts exist at all instead remembering the most recent good times of climbing house prices (recency bias).\n\nWe saw this in the 1990s when the housing market crash of the early-1990s followed a housing boom in the late 1980s. At the time very few of the so called experts predicted the crash and most denied it would happen \u2013 even as it began to happen.\n\nThis recency bias is spurred on by the local herd (estate agents, parents at the school gate) telling them that house prices should be this high and that the area is desirable (confirmation bias).\n\nAll of this feeds into endowment bias \u2013 we place a higher value on an item that we own ourselves and we get emotionally attached and vested in things we personally own.\n\nOur homes are more often than not the most expensive things we will ever own, to imagine it will be worth less than we paid for it, is rarely something we can bring ourselves to consider.\n\nConfidence boosts equity release schemes\n\nEndowment bias feeds into the minds of those who are looking to release equity from their homes.\n\nThe number of people who have chosen to release equity from their homes has climbed 72% so far in 2017, compared to the same period last year. According to Responsible Equity Release research this is to \u2018cover pension shortfalls, prop up savings accounts hit by low interest rates and pay off mortgages.\u2019\n\nIt is in the South West of England where homeowners are really taking advantage of the high house prices. More than four times (357%) more equity has been taken out of 2017 to date, in the South West, compared to last year.\n\nAll of these people who are either stepping up the ladder to a bigger house and therefore bigger mortgage or are releasing equity from their homes are clearly choosing to ignore the many warning signs.\n\nConclusion\n\nWhilst Brexit and inflation threats appear to be the stuff of media hype the past and the history of property bubbles should not be ignored.\n\nThe LSE professors have drawn parallels with today\u2019s potential crash and that we saw in the early 1990s. That very crash saw house prices fall nearly 40% over six years and sent over one million people into negative equity.\n\nOften economic downturns hit households hard because of their uncanny ability to believe these things won\u2019t happen to them. We no longer live in a society where people prepare for the worst.\n\nWe have been encouraged to believe the boom times are here to stay and the bad times are just a minor blip, which may or may not happen.\n\nUnfortunately that results in poor and damaging financial decisions, such as leveraging you and your family to the eyeballs when it comes to buying a house or releasing equity in your family home.\n\nHomeowners would be sensible to open their eyes to this currently uncertain and unsustainable situation and take the necessary precautions. These include paying off mortgage debt and reducing exposure to property and risk assets in the UK.\n\nPrudent diversification and not having most of or all your eggs in the certain baskets remains the key, as does having an allocation to physical gold to hedge the growing risk of a property crash.\n\nNews and Commentary\n\nGold looking `vulnerable\u2019 \u2014 drops to seven-week low (Bloomberg.com)\n\nGold marks lowest finish in nearly 8 weeks (MarketWatch.com)\n\nGold hits 8-week low as US bond yields spike (Investing.com)\n\nU.S. Mint\u2019s 1st-Half Sales of American Eagle Gold Coins Weakest Since 2007 (Reuters.com)\n\nNorth Korea says intercontinental ballistic missile test successful (Reuters.com)\n\nLongest squeeze on household incomes since 1970s \u2013 ONS (Independent.co.uk)\n\nCan the Bank get Britain to kick its cheap credit habit? (TheGuardian.com)\n\nNasdaq Triggers Market-Wide Circuit-Breaker As AMZN \u201cCrashes\u201d 87% After-Hours (ZeroHedge.com)\n\nSaudi-Qatar rift has elements of world war potential (Gefira.org)\n\nNo \u2018shock\u2019 if stocks fall 25% and gold soars 50% by October \u2013 Ron Paul (CNBC.com)\n\nGold Prices (LBMA AM)\n\n04 Jul: USD 1,224.25, GBP 947.32 & EUR 1,078.81 per ounce\n\n03 Jul: USD 1,235.20, GBP 952.09 & EUR 1,085.00 per ounce\n\n30 Jun: USD 1,243.25, GBP 957.43 & EUR 1,090.83 per ounce\n\n29 Jun: USD 1,246.60, GBP 959.88 & EUR 1,093.14 per ounce\n\n28 Jun: USD 1,251.60, GBP 976.25 & EUR 1,101.91 per ounce\n\n27 Jun: USD 1,250.40, GBP 980.31 & EUR 1,111.36 per ounce\n\n26 Jun: USD 1,240.85, GBP 975.56 & EUR 1,109.32 per ounce\n\nSilver Prices (LBMA)\n\n04 Jul: USD 16.15, GBP 12.48 & EUR 14.23 per ounce\n\n03 Jul: USD 16.48, GBP 12.72 & EUR 14.49 per ounce\n\n30 Jun: USD 16.47, GBP 12.69 & EUR 14.44 per ounce\n\n29 Jun: USD 16.83, GBP 12.98 & EUR 14.76 per ounce\n\n28 Jun: USD 16.78, GBP 13.08 & EUR 14.78 per ounce\n\n27 Jun: USD 16.66, GBP 13.07 & EUR 14.79 per ounce\n\n26 Jun: USD 16.53, GBP 12.98 & EUR 14.79 per ounce\n\n\n\nRecent Market Updates\n\n\u2013 Gold Up 8% In First Half 2017; Builds On 8.5% Gain In 2016\n\n\u2013 Pensions Timebomb In America \u2013 \u201cNational Crisis\u201d Cometh\n\n\u2013 London Property Bubble Bursting? UK In Unchartered Territory On Brexit and Election Mess\n\n\u2013 Shrinkflation \u2013 Real Inflation Much Higher Than Reported\n\n\u2013 Goldman, Citi Turn Positive On Gold \u2013 Despite \u201cMysterious\u201d Flash Crash\n\n\u2013 Worst Crash In Our Lifetime Coming \u2013 Jim Rogers\n\n\u2013 Go for Gold \u2013 Win a beautiful Gold Sovereign coin\n\n\u2013 Only Gold Lasts Forever\n\n\u2013 Your Future Wealth Depends on what You Decide to Keep and Invest in Now\n\n\u2013 Inflation is no longer in stealth mode\n\n\u2013 James Rickards: Gold Will Start Heading Higher On \u201cDwindling\u201d Supply\n\n\u2013 Billionaires Invest In Gold\n\n\u2013 Brexit and UK election impact UK housing", "output": "The UK housing market is on the verge of a 40% collapse, according to two leading academics. Paul Cheshire and Christian Hilber, both professors of economic geography at the London School of Economics, warned the market was due a significant correction in house prices and this will be prompted by two factors \u2013 Brexit and a drop in real wages as inflation rises. They also warned that an extended and severe downturn is more likely than a short-lived and mild one if Brexit leads to recession.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "City banking royalty Hambro backs insurtech start-up By Miles \n By Miles, a London, UK-based insurtech startup, raised \u00a3350k in funding.\n\nBackers included InMotion Ventures, Hambro Perks and other angel investors.\n\nThe company intends to use the funds to continue to develop its technology and hire new people.\n\nCo-founded by James Blackham and Callum Rimmer, By Miles provides a pay-per-mile can insurance product, which is in private beta with selected testers. The company\u2019s monthly subscription will cover a car when it\u2019s parked and it will only charge customers for the exact number of miles they drive.\n\nBy Miles\u2019s pruduct is expected to be launched soon.\n\nFinSMEs\n\n03/07/2017", "output": "Insurtech start-up By Miles has generated \u00a3350k in funding from investors that include InMotion Ventures and Hambro Perks, which was co-founded by Hambro Bank scion Rupert Hambro. The London-based start-up will put the funds\u00a0towards\u00a0technological advancements and team hires. By Miles offers a pay-per-mile insurance system, currently in private beta testing. The monthly subscription fee\u00a0charges customers for the precise number of miles driven, and\u00a0will also cover parked vehicles."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Edtech BrightBytes acquires Authentica for K-12 data integration \n A handful of companies have announced acquisitions in the K-12 space recently. And the Canadian publisher Nelson continues to make deals at a busy pace, following a series of announcements of partnerships with U.S.-based companies with a new acquisition closer to home.\n\nBrightBytes Acquires Authentica: BrightBytes, San Francisco-based learning analytics organization, has acquired Authentica Solutions, developer of an education data integration platform as a service (IPaaS), according to an announcement.\n\nBrightBytes\u2019 Clarity platform, a decision support platform for K-12 educators, seeks to provide research-based analysis and organizes and deliver data across dashboards and reports. Authentica\u2019s DataSense platform provides a single, unified approach to managing all data integration, transformation, and migration processes between all of an education organizations\u2019 critical applications, according to the statement.\n\n\u201cBringing these two companies together will, for the first time, give educators an end-to-end solution for data-driven decision making,\u201d said BrightBytes\u2019 CEO Traci Burgess.\n\nThe addition of Authentica to the BrightBytes family \u201cwill help education leaders cost effectively manage data integration and analysis, improve the quality of data collection, and free education institutions to use their data for the intended purpose of student achievement and success,\u201d BrightBytes argued.\n\nIn an interview with Marketplace K-12, Burgess noted that the acquisition was the first for BrightBytes, and said that by combining the two organizations the company has \u201can opportunity to help support learning in the personalized learning environment for K-12.\u201d Join the Conversation Visit Education Week\u2019s K-12 Technology Leaders Group on LinkedIn and share your thoughts about the most pressing ed-tech issues facing school districts. And check out EdWeek Market Brief , a service that provides companies doing business with schools with news, analysis, and original data on the needs and priorities of K-12 systems.\n\nShe declined to disclose the financial and structural terms of the deal but said \u201cthe two companies will have a full integration plan to work seamlessly together.\u201d\n\nAs a result of the acquisition, Authentica CEO Russell Long will become the general manager of the DataSense platform and will report to Burgess; CTO Gene Garcia will become the CTO for DataSense. In addition, BrightBytes will maintain an office in Atlanta as well as their two current offices in Salt Lake City and San Francisco.\n\nNelson Acquires Technology Assets of Edusight: Canadian educational publisher Nelson has entered into an agreement to acquire the technology assets of digital portfolio company Edusight, according to a statement. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.\n\nAs its \u201cfirst purely digital acquisition,\u201d the deal\u201d signals Nelson\u2019s further investment in meeting the evolving needs of educators and students across the country, ensuring unparalleled access to the educational resources they need,\u201d Toronto-based Nelson noted.\n\nThe purchase \u201cenables us to help re-conceptualize the learning experience for both teachers and students, reinforcing our 100+ year connection to the Canadian classroom in a fresh and meaningful way,\u201d said Steve Brown, Nelson president and CEO.\n\nEdusight is designed to intuitively align with teacher workflow on both the web and via mobile app to provide visualization of data that leads to a better understanding of student learning, according to Toronto-based company, which has received venture capital funding from Imagine K12, the education vertical within Y Combinator.\n\nThe move is one of a spate of deals announced recently by Nelson. In May, the company agreed to acquire the K-12 business holdings of McGraw-Hill Ryerson, the Canadian subsidiary of McGraw-Hill Education. As a result of the acquisition, Nelson will take on all development, production, sales, distribution and marketing of the McGraw-Hill Ryerson K-12 portfolio in Canada, including the publishing and distribution of educational materials in both print and digital formats.\n\nIn fact, Nelson has formed a series of partnerships over the past year with U.S.-based K-12 companies to help that sell and distribute materials into the 5 million-student Canadian market. (EdWeek Market Brief members should see our recent story about the Canadian K-12 landscape, which describes Nelson\u2019s dealmaking with U.S. providers.)\n\nNelson also recently unveiled a partnership with Microsoft \u201cto explore the future of classroom learning for K\u201312 schools.\u201d\n\nCertica Acquires Unbound Concepts: Wakefield, Mass.-based ed-tech platform Certica Solutions has acquired Unbound Concepts, which provides an application that aims to help educators, librarians, readers and curriculum buyers search, browse and discover books, Certica said in a statement. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.\n\nThe acquisition enables Certica to provide its network of ed-tech partners with the ability to tag and describe content using \u201cartifacts\u201d; and to embed content search capabilities into key applications, the company said.\n\n\u201cThe addition of Unbound Concept\u2019s app, dubbed Artifact, complements Certica\u2019s Academic Benchmarks\u2122 collection of over 3.9 million learning standards and taxonomic terms, utilized by nearly 200 education sector providers to enrich, align and power improved search of content. Both capabilities will be available to publishers, booksellers and educational system providers, such as learning management system (LMS) vendors, via the Certica Connect platform,\u201d Certica explained.\n\n\u201cUnbound Concepts has made important connections between book publishers, distributors, buyers and educators, by creating a common language between those stakeholders,\u201d said Mark Rankovic, Certica\u2019s president and CEO. \u201cWe\u2019re excited to execute the synergies between Artifact and our existing platform capabilities, to benefit our business partners.\u201d\n\nAbl Raises $7.5 Million: Ed-tech startup Abl has raised $7.5 million in Series A funding, led by Rethink Education. Sinovation Ventures, Owl Ventures, Reach Capital, and First Round Capital also participated in the round.\n\nIn an email to EdWeek Market Brief, Abl founder and CEO Adam Pisoni\u2014who previously served as CTO and Co-Founder of Yammer\u2014 said the company spent the past year developing its first product with a number of design partner schools. \u201cThis helped us get clarity on the problem and the demand,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat it\u2019s shown us is that the demand for master scheduling solutions is high among all types of schools of all sizes and types.\u201d\n\nAbl raised the funding round to accelerate growth by hiring more engineers and designers to build out more of the product to handle more school use cases \u2013 especially elementary and district needs; invest in easier data integration and onboarding \u2013 including building out a larger customer success and implementation team; and expand the sales and marketing team to accelerate growth, Pisoni explained.\n\nThe company provides a school scheduling platform that aims to make \u201cit easy to design and manage the daily life of a school through a simple, cloud-based system that eliminates the spreadsheets, magnet boards, and calendaring tools most schools use today,\u201d according to the company.\n\nMystery Science Raises $2 Million: Mystery Science, a provider of lessons designed to inspire kids to love science, has joined accelerator Y Combinator and raised $2 million, the company said a blog posting on Medium.com.\n\nIn addition to Y Combinator, investors included Learn Capital, Reach Capital, and 500 Startups, according to VentureBeat.\n\nThe company was started by Doug Peltz and Keith Schacht. Peltz is a former master classroom teacher, science department head and creator of an original science curriculum; Schacht was previously a product manager at Facebook.\n\nBe sure to check back on Marketplace K-12 for updates on mergers, acquisitions, fundraising, and other dealmaking.", "output": "San Francisco-based learning analytics firm, BrightBytes, has purchased education data integration specialist Authentica Solutions. BrightBytes\u2019 Clarity platform, a decision support tool for K-12 teachers, provides data analysis, organisation, and delivery across dashboards and reports. Authentica\u2019s DataSense platform provides a unified way to manage data integration, transformation, and migration among education organisations\u2019 main activities. \u201cBringing these two companies together will give educators an end-to-end solution for data-driven decision making,\u201d said BrightBytes CEO Traci Burgess. The acquisition, a first for BrightBytes, will extend the company\u2019s remit in K-12 personalised learning. Authentica CEO Russell Long will join as general manager of the Authentica DataSense platform."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gibraltar seeks post-Brexit fund and UK insurance gateway status \n The British territory on the tip of Spain is hoping to attract big business in the wake of Brexit, according to its minister of commerce.\n\nGibraltar, the British territory on the southern tip of Spain, is seeking to reinvent itself as a gateway to the U.K. for fund managers and insurers after the U.K. leaves the European Union in 2019.\n\nThe Gibraltarian government is in the process of reviewing regulations to make the enclave attractive to insurers wanting a piece of the growing bulk annuity market. It is also researching new fund structures and consulting on financial technology rules to appeal to asset managers seeking alternative fund structures and financial blockchain firms seeking a regulated market. It is hoping that the new measures will be sufficient to entice insurers to establish new offices in Gibraltar and fund managers to domicile new funds there, too.\n\nThe pitch appears to be working: Gibraltar\u0092s commerce minister, Albert Isola, tells Institutional Investor Gibraltar has already attracted new applications from 26 insurers, fund managers and financial technology firms since the U.K.\u0092s referendum on European Union membership.\n\nThe applications are predominantly from insurers looking to obtain a license to write regulated business under Gibraltarian law and from fund managers looking to establish funds in alternative asset classes. Isola hopes to attract life insurance groups who want to win a slice of the UK\u0092s burgeoning bulk annuity market. In a bulk annuity transaction, an insurer takes on a company\u0092s pension obligations in exchange for a fee.\n\nFor insurers, the attraction of Gibraltar is clear. Under Gibraltarian \u0093Protected Cell Company\u0094 rules, they can operate corporate structures that allow them to underwrite insurance risks without these risks affecting their profitability.\n\nU.K. corporate pension schemes are increasingly outsourcing their future pension liabilities to insurance companies through these transactions. A report by investment consultants LCP, released at the end of last year, said \u00a370 billion ($90.7 billion) of UK retirement assets had been transferred to insurers over the past 10 years, accounting for some five percent of the total assets in the defined benefit pensions market.\n\n\u0093We already have a lot of insurance firms in Gibraltar but we are looking to see how some of our products \u0097 Protected Cell Companies, for example \u0097 can be used to support the life and pensions sector,\u0094 Isola says.\n\nIn fund management, Isola\u0092s team is also hoping to attract fund firms looking for new structures that will accommodate new asset classes. In July, Gibraltar became the first European jurisdiction to regulate an exchange-traded fund investing exclusively in bitcoin, according to a Reuters report.\n\nIsola says while most European governments have been lobbying to encourage the relocation of business from London after Brexit, Gibraltar is focusing on giving European firms access to the U.K. market after Brexit, when passporting rules will no longer apply. Passporting refers to firms being allowed to sell financial products cross-border throughout the European Union. As it stands, the U.K. will no longer be included in this when the Brexit negotiations conclude in 2019. Isola says the British government has made assurances that Gibraltar will continue to enjoy equivalent regulatory status to the U.K. through its regulator, the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission.\n\nGibraltar has been a British overseas territory since 1713, but Spain has always contested British rule. Since the U.K. voted to leave the European Union, Spain has said it would use its veto power for any plans that will give Gibraltar special treatment after Brexit. The European Council\u0092s guidance on Brexit negotiations, however, states that Gibraltar is a separate issue for Spain and the U.K. to negotiate separately.\n\nFinancial technology companies and organizations specializing in blockchain technology have been attracted to Gibraltar because of forthcoming legislation that will regulate these businesses, according to Isola.\n\n\u0093Reputable businesses are looking to be regulated in that space. By early next year we hope to be in a place to start regulating DLT business,\u0094 he says. \u0093We have an innovation team at the regulator and they acknowledge that if we don\u0092t innovate it is going to be difficult for us to get ahead.\u0094\n\nMark Maloney, chief executive of investment firm Gibraltar Asset Management, says he believes the appeal of being regulated in Gibraltar as opposed to London is down to the level of access firms have to the local regulator, which can make it easy to check rules, set up businesses or apply for authorization.\n\n\u0093If you look at the companies that Gibraltar now attracts, these are big companies,\u0094 he says.", "output": "Gibraltar has been looking to establish itself as a\u00a0gateway to the UK for insurers, a domicile for investment\u00a0funds and a hub for fintech\u00a0following\u00a0Brexit. The government of the\u00a0British territory on the southern coast\u00a0of Spain has been working on regulations to attract insurers who want a\u00a0stake in the annuity market. Gibraltar's commerce minister Albert Isola has received applications from 26 fund managers, insurers and fintech companies since the UK's EU\u00a0referendum.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Property-focused P2P lender LandlordInvest secures seed funding \n LANDLORDINVEST has received financial backing from London property investor Alan Gabbay.\n\nThe peer-to-peer buy-to-let platform has raised an undisclosed sum of seed funding from Gabbay, director of property investment firm O&H Properties.\n\nFilip Karadaghi, chief executive of LandlordInvest, said the funding would be invested in technology on the platform.\n\n\u201cWe are delighted that we have received backing from Alan Gabbay, director of one of the largest private property investment companies in the UK,\u201d Karadaghi said.\n\n\u201cIt serves as an acknowledgement that established companies are beginning to embrace the technological innovation of a traditionally offline industry.\n\n\u201cIn addition to changing the property industry, our platform is innovating the UK investment industry by making an asset class, previously reserved for the wealthy, available for anyone with at least \u00a3100 to invest.\u201d\n\nRead more: LandlordInvest\u2019s IFISA customers invest 19pc more money\n\nGabbay joins other financial backers including LNK Capital and angel investors Reece Chowdhry and Lee Josephs.\n\nO&H Properties currently runs a \u00a31bn property portfolio in London.\n\n\u201cThe rapid success LandlordInvest has enjoyed since its launch proves there is a clear gap in the market for a service that integrates the requirements of landlords seeking financing in a simple and efficient manner or investors seeking returns in a low rate environment,\u201d Gabbay said.\n\nThe investment comes after LandlordInvest reported a boom in demand following the launch of its secondary market in May.\n\nRead more: LandlordInvest adds flexibility to IFISA", "output": "Property-focused peer-to-peer lender LandlordInvest has received an undisclosed sum of funding from London property investor Alan Gabbay. The buy-to-let platform aims to innovate the UK investment industry by rendering the asset class accessible to anyone with \u00a3100 ($129) or more to invest. LandlordInvest plans to\u00a0use the money to finance\u00a0its technology development. The funding suggests that\u00a0established firms are\u00a0starting to \"embrace the technological innovation in a traditionally offline industry,\" said\u00a0LandlordInvest CEO Filip Karadaghi."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Developing world exploited by hackers for testing cyber attacks \n SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 The attack had the hallmarks of something researchers had dreaded for years: malicious software using artificial intelligence that could lead to a new digital arms race in which A.I.-driven defenses battled A.I.-driven offenses while humans watched from the sidelines.\n\nBut what was not as widely predicted was that one of the earliest instances of that sort of malware was found in India, not in a sophisticated British banking system or a government network in the United States.\n\nSecurity researchers are increasingly looking in countries outside the West to discover the newest, most creative and potentially most dangerous types of cyberattacks being deployed.\n\nAs developing economies rush to go online, they provide a fertile testing ground for hackers trying their skills in an environment where they can evade detection before deploying them against a company or state that has more advanced defenses.", "output": "The developing world is being exploited by hackers for trial cyber attacks. Developing economies offer fertile ground for hackers seeking to test their skills in environments where they can evade detection before using them on a government or business that has more advanced defences. A 2016 attack on Bangladesh's central bank is thought to have been a precursor to similar attacks in Ecuador and Vietnam. Cybersecurity researchers are now increasingly looking at countries such as India\u00a0to find the newest and potentially most dangerous kind of cyber attack methods.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Associate member option added by UK's P2P Finance Association \n The Peer-to-Peer Finance Association has this morning launched a new category of membership, broadening its potential reach beyond peer-to-peer lenders for the first time. The association, which was originally formed to lobby for the P2P lending sector to be regulated, currently boasts nine members \u2013 all of which are P2P firms.\n\nThe body has now added an associate membership option, allowing a range of professional and ancillary service providers which support the P2P sector to sign up.\n\nEight new associate members have been announced at launch. These are: Alterest, Altus Consulting, Equifax,Fox Williams LLP, Grant Thornton UK LLP, Orca Money, Simmons & Simmons and TLT LLP.\n\nAltFi understands that associate membership costs \u00a33,000 per annum.\n\n\u201cThe P2PFA has, from its inception, been the authoritative voice of self-regulation in the UK peer-to-peer lending space, promoting high standards of business practice, making the case for robust transparency and an effective regulatory regime, as well as being a source of information and education about this exciting part of the alternative finance sector,\u201d said the P2PFA\u2019s independent Chair, Christine Farnish, ahead of the launch of its associate membership. \u201cThe decision to admit associate members demonstrates the continued ambition of the P2PFA to broaden its ambit to include major players who, whilst not having an involvement in direct lending, are important to the continued growth and success of peer-to-peer lending in the United Kingdom.\"", "output": "The Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Finance Association has introduced an associate membership category\u00a0to encourage professional and ancillary service providers involved in the P2P sector to join. Companies including Altus Consulting, Grant Thornton and Fox Williams have already joined\u00a0under the newly launched membership category. While these firms may not be directly involved in lending, they are important to growing P2P lending in the UK, said Christine Farnish, the association's independent chair."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Intel to lay off more than 100 workers\u00a0after cuts to\u00a0IoT products \n 97 jobs are to be lost in Santa Clara and up to 40 more in Leixlip, Ireland.\n\nSee also: Intel Cans IoT Products [Mannerisms]\n\n\n\n\n\nIoT accounts for less than 5% of Intel\u2019s sales. The group had revenues of $721 million last year,\n\n\n\n\n\nThe news came after Intel notified the Californian employment officials of the proposed cuts.\n\nThe cuts to the board products raised speculation that Intel is cooling on its commitment to the IoT market.\n\nSee also: Samsung overtakes Intel to be No.1", "output": "Intel will axe more than 100 internet of things (IoT) jobs after cuts to three of its IoT products. Ninety-seven posts will be lost in Santa Clara, California, and up to 40 more in Leixlip, Ireland after Intel made cuts to its Joule, Edison and Galileo boards. The move has raised speculation that Intel is reducing its commitment to IoT.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Germany takes preemptive measures against\u00a0G20 summit cyber attack \n Protests at next week's G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, could also come from all over the internet.\n\nAnd that's what's worrying Germany's top cybersecurity officials. Dozens of experts will stand by at a 24/7 command center among the 20,000 police with dogs, horses and helicopters there to deal with potential physical violence from the expected tens of thousands of protesters, reports Reuters.\n\n\"As the national cybersecurity agency ... we're concerned about everything from (persistent threats) to groups like Anonymous and Lulzsec that could be planning political protests using cyberattacks,\" said Arne Schoenbohm, president of Germany's Federal office for Information Security, in an interview with the news agency.\n\nBesides political protests from hacker groups, Schoenbohm is also concerned about attacks from cells linked to foreign governments, including Russia, which have been targeting Germany's political parties and think tanks ahead of the country's national elections in September.\n\nIt's not the first time such attacks and attempts by hacker groups linked to Russia have taken place. The US elections were meddled with, and more recently, Russian hackers appeared to have targeted campaign staff of French president Emmanuel Macron with phishing attacks.", "output": "Germany\u2019s cybersecurity officials have expressed concerns\u00a0that a major cyber attack may be orchestrated\u00a0during the G20 summit, which has led\u00a0to a cyber command centre being established for 24/7 monitoring of potential issues. Hackers from groups such as Anonymous or LulzSec could launch\u00a0political protests via digital means, according to Arne Schoenbohm, president of the Federal Office for Information Security. There are also fears that attacks could\u00a0be carried out\u00a0by cells connected to foreign governments, such as Russia, which have already targeted German think tanks and political parties.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bank of England scrutinises consumer credit sector \n The Bank of England is stepping up its scrutiny of banks and other lenders on credit cards, personal loans and car purchases amid fears that growing consumer debt could rebound on the banking system.\n\nThreadneedle Street is writing to the firms it regulates after reviewing the consumer credit sector, where lending is growing at 10.3% a year \u2013 outpacing the 2.3% rise in household income.\n\nThe bank is calling on firms to look at the terms under which they are granting 0% balance transfers on credit cards and the basis on which they are issuing personal loans, and to consider the impact of a fall in value of a car when providing vehicle finance.\n\nIts regulatory arm, the Prudential Regulation Authority, found that while the current pace of growth was not being driven by a relaxation of lending standards, it was concerned that to achieve their future plans they would have to do so.\n\nThe PRA found \u201cthat the resilience of consumer credit portfolios is reducing, due to the combination of continued growth, lower pricing \u2026 And some increased lending into higher-risk segments\u201d.\n\nThe statement issued on Tuesday followed the Bank\u2019s announcement last week that lenders would be required to put aside \u00a311.4bn of capital to help prepare for any rise in bad debts from consumer lending.\n\nProviding more information on that decision, the Bank said its financial policy committee (FPC), which looks at risks in the financial system, had recently discussed the risk that lenders \u201cmight be placing excessive weight on recent good performance in this sector, given that the current environment was likely to have improved the credit scores of borrowers\u201d.\n\nThreadneedle Street said banks were themselves the best way to protect against rising consumer credit. \u201cThe FPC agreed that firms remained the first line of defence against these risks. Effective governance at firms should ensure that risks were priced appropriately and benign conditions did not lead to complacency by lenders.\u201d\n\nThe Bank asked for a series of information from lenders, including - on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the last interest rate rise, - \u201cwhether today\u2019s \u2018new generation\u2019 of borrowers (without experience of higher interest rates environments) has implications for their credit-scoring models\u201d.\n\nCar finance, the fastest growing part of the consumer finance sector, is being driven by personal contract purchase deals which now make up 80% of the market. The Bank said a fall in car prices could lead to a surplus of vehicles coming on to the market which could mean losses for lendersand asked lenders to analyse the impact on capital from each incremental 10% fall in car prices.\n\n\n\nThe Bank\u2019s data showed that in the credit card market, the average term on zero-balance transfers has more than doubled to nearly 30 months, and its latest report was published as TSB cut its rates on loans between \u00a35,000 and \u00a37,499 to a market-leading 3.3% APR.\n\nThe Bank said, though, that the practices the industry followed before the 2008 crisis were no longer being adopted. Credit card write-offs were 6.5% in 2006 and 2007 \u2013 more than double the current rate.\n\nThe PRA \u2013 which regulates 40% of providers of car finance and 80% of the credit card market \u2013 looks at the consumer finance market from the perspective of the lenders. The impact on borrowers is considered by the Financial Conduct Authority, which is scheduled to provide an update on its views later this month but on Tuesday told firms to scrutinise their bonus schemes. \u201cWe expect firms to understand the effects their staff incentives might be having,\u201d said Jonathan Davidson, executive director of supervision at the FCA.", "output": "The Bank of England has asked banks and other lenders which it regulates to re-examine the terms under which 0% balance transfers on credit cards are granted, the basis on which personal loans are issued, and the impact of car values in relation to vehicle finance. The consumer credit sector is currently seeing lending grow at 10.3% per year, compared to an increase in household income of just 2.3%. The bank\u2019s regulatory arm, the Prudential Regulation Authority, warned that there was a danger that future growth could be driven by the relaxation of lending standards.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Honda and Hitachi to develop EV company \n Honda and Hitachi Automotive Systems (HAS) have established a new joint venture that will develop, manufacture and sell all-electric vehicles.\n\nAccording to AutoCar, around \u00a334 million will be invested into the new company, with HAS taking a controlling stake of 51 per cent ownership to Honda\u2019s 49 per cent.\n\nIt will produce its own vehicles and also supply other manufacturers with electric vehicle hardware.\n\nThis is part of Honda\u2019s aim to meet its self-set target for two-thirds of sales to be of electrified models by 2025.\n\nThis target was announced when Honda formed a new electric vehicle development division in October 2016.\n\nPlans have also been confirmed to launch two electric vehicles next year.\n\nHonda CEO Takahiro Hachigo told Autocar earlier this year that the first model will feature \u201ca high-density, lightweight battery pack, integrated heat management and the evolution of energy transfer functions \u2013 both to and from the vehicle\", which relate to areas of expertise for HAS.", "output": "Honda and Hitachi Automotive Systems (HAS) have started a joint venture project which aims to design, manufacture and sell all-electric vehicles. \u00a334m ($44m)\u00a0will be invested in the\u00a0enterprise, 51% of which will be owned by HAS, and the project\u00a0will also supply other automakers with electric vehicle hardware. Honda's decision has been positioned\u00a0as\u00a0part of its\u00a0wider objective\u00a0to have electric models represent two-thirds of its\u00a0output\u00a0by 2025.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Oat, wheat prices rocket over drought and supply fears \n Wheat futures soared Monday as a worsening drought in the northern U.S. Plains and tougher crop conditions in Canada renewed supply concerns.\n\nBesides the drought, analysts say managed money short-covering in wheat along with commercial buying are helping to propel the market higher.\n\n\"We have continued hot and dry conditions for spring wheat, particularly Montana and North and South Dakota \u2014 and the weather pattern is not changing,\" said Brian Hoops, president and senior market analyst at Midwest Market Solutions, a commodity trading and marketing firm based in Springfield, Missouri.\n\nAdded Hoops, \"In fact, it's intensifying as far as drought-like conditions. So the crop is being perceived as smaller and smaller.\"\n\nSpring hard red wheat futures in the September contract last traded at $8.16 per bushel Monday on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, a four-year high and up nearly 6 percent from Friday. It soared almost 16 percent last week and Monday represented its ninth straight session of gains.\n\nSpring wheat grown in the Dakotas and Montana is a high-protein variety considered a premium quality by bakers and millers over the Chicago-traded soft white winter wheat. The high-protein grain is used in artisan foods such as hearth breads, rolls, bagels and pizza crust.\n\nThe Chicago-traded September winter wheat, a more actively traded contract, jumped more than 5 percent Monday and settled at $5.55 a bushel, its highest level in about two years. It had been as high as $5.56 a bushel, or levels it has not seen since 2015.\n\nThe outlook for meaningful precipitation in the drought areas of the Dakotas and Montana is grim, and there are also concerns about unfavorable conditions for growing across the border in Canadian wheat provinces such as Alberta and Saskatchewan. The drought also is believed to have contributed to several lightning-related fires in the past month.\n\nLast month, North Dakota's governor declared a drought emergency and the state's forestry agency warned that the extended dry conditions are making wildfire risk worse.\n\n\"You're going to have multiple days of 90- to 100-degree temperatures with no [precipitation] on an already really, really stressed crop,\" said Joe Lardy, research manager at CHS Hedging, a commodities broker in St. Paul, Minnesota. \"And there's just not any good substitution for spring wheat, either.\"\n\nThe spring wheat crop, which was planted in April and May in the U.S., is particularly vulnerable in June and July during its pollination stage.\n\nAnalysts say there have been more hedge funds and speculative money pouring into the wheat markets in Chicago and Minneapolis. Also, there have been cases of commercial users buying out of fear that prices will go even higher.\n\n\"Every day these prices go up we're seeing end users scrambling to buy, which is adding to the supportive undertone in the futures market,\" said Terry Reilly, senior agriculture futures analyst at Futures International in Chicago.\n\nAs for the outlook on spring wheat, Reilly said it could reach \"maybe even the $10 [a bushel] area if the weather doesn't improve. It's not just U.S. and Canada weather.\" Reilly explained that there have been downgrades to the Australian wheat crop and to the European crop. For example, he said Ukraine's wheat crop is having weather problems and parts of Russia are seeing similar challenges.\n\nAnalysts point out global supplies of wheat are ample, but the high-protein wheat grown in the U.S. northern Plains and Canadian prairie provinces is the big question mark.\n\n\"The cash market continues to whip higher for high-protein wheat,\" Reilly said. \"So it tells us that the global supplies of high-protein wheat might be a lot shorter than what the trade was looking at maybe a couple of months ago.\"\n\nThe oats market, which is thinly traded, also has been rallying on the coattails of wheat. Reilly said there has been end-user buying in the oats market, too.\n\nChicago-traded oats futures for December delivery rose as much as 8 percent during Monday's session but settled up about 4 percent.\n\n\"Oats has basically the same growing patterns, same fundamentals as spring wheat,\" said Hoops. \"It's a bullish commodity.\"\n\nOats futures have jumped more than 30 percent in the past two months, while wheat during the same time is up just under 20 percent.", "output": "A worsening drought in the northern US Plains along with unfavourable crop conditions in Canada have\u00a0caused wheat and oat prices to soar because of\u00a0concerns about supply. Analysts add that managed money short-covering in wheat coupled\u00a0with commercial buying are also helping to push\u00a0the market higher. It was also noted that while global supplies of wheat are ample, the\u00a0high-protein wheat of the sort grown in the US\u00a0northern Plains and Canadian prairie provinces may be becoming scarcer.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Heartburn drugs could raise risk of death \n Strengths and limitations of this study National large-scale data from a network of integrated health systems.\n\nEmployed a new user design and developed a number of analytical approaches where we consistently found a significant association between PPI exposure and risk of death.\n\nCohort included mostly older white male US veterans, which may limit the generalisability.\n\nDid not include information on the cause of death.\n\nIntroduction Proton pump inhibitors (PPI) are widely prescribed and are also available for sale over the counter without prescription in several countries.1 2 Several observational studies suggest that PPI use is associated with increased risk of a number of adverse health outcomes.1 A number of studies have shown that PPI use is associated with significant risk of acute interstitial nephritis.3\u20135 Recent studies established an association between exposure to PPI and risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD), kidney disease progression and end-stage renal disease.2 6 7 Results from a large prospective observational German cohort suggest that patients receiving PPI had a higher risk of incident dementia.8 Several reports highlighted a rare but potentially fatal risk of hypomagnesemia among users of PPI.9\u201311 PPI use has been associated with increased risk of both incident and recurrent Clostridium difficile infections.12 Several observational analyses have shown that PPI use was also associated with increased risk of osteoporotic fractures, including hip and spine fractures.13 14 Less convincing\u2014and to some extent inconsistent\u2014evidence suggests a relationship between PPI use and risks of community-acquired pneumonia and cardiovascular events.15\u201317 Emerging\u2014and far from conclusive\u2014in vitro evidence suggests that PPI results in inhibition of lysosomal acidification and impairment of proteostasis, leading to increased oxidative stress, endothelial dysfunction, telomere shortening and accelerated senescence in human endothelial cells.18 The experimental work provides a putative mechanistic link to explain some of the adverse events associated with PPI use.18 The adverse outcomes associated with PPI use are serious, and each is independently associated with higher risk of mortality. Evidence from several small cohort studies of older adults who were recently discharged from the hospital or institutionalised in long-term care facilities suggests inconsistently that PPI use may be associated with increased risk of 1 year mortality.19\u201322 Whether PPI use is associated with excess risk of death is not known and has not been examined in large epidemiological studies spanning a sufficiently long duration of follow-up. We hypothesised that owing to the consistently observed associations between PPI use and risk of adverse health outcomes, PPI use is associated with excess risk of death, and that the risk of death would be more pronounced with increased duration of use. We therefore used the Department of Veterans Affairs national databases to build a longitudinal cohort of incident users of acid suppression therapy, including PPI and histamine H2 receptor antagonists (H2 blockers), to examine the association between PPI use and risk of all-cause mortality and to determine whether risk of death is increased with prolonged duration of use.\n\nMethods Cohort participants Primary cohort Using administrative data from the US Department of Veterans Affairs, we identified patients who received an outpatient H2 blockers or PPI prescription between 1 October 2006 and 30 September 2008 (n=1 762 908). In order to select new users of acid suppression therapy (incident user design), we excluded 1 356 948 patients who received any outpatient H2 blockers or PPI prescriptions between 1 October 1998 and 30 September 2006. To account for patients\u2019 kidney function, only patients with at least one outpatient serum creatinine value before the first acid suppression therapy prescription were selected in the cohort, yielding an analytic cohort of 349 312 patients. Patients whose first acid suppression therapy was PPI (n=275 977) were considered to be in the PPI group during follow-up. Patients who received H2 blockers as their first acid suppression therapy (n=73 335) served as the reference group before they received any PPI prescription (see online supplementary figure 1). Within the reference group, those who received a PPI prescription later (n=33 136) were considered to be in the PPI group from the date of their first PPI prescription until the end of follow-up.23 Time zero (T0) for primary cohort was defined as the first acid suppression therapy prescription date. Supplementary Material Supplementary data 1 [SP1.pptx] Secondary cohorts We additionally built two secondary cohorts to examine the association of PPI use and risk of death in (a) PPI versus no PPI users and (b) PPI versus non-users of acid suppression therapy. Patients with no PPI prescription between 1 October 1998 and 30 September 2006, and with at least one outpatient eGFR value before 1 October 2006, were selected to evaluate the risk of death associated with PPI use versus no PPI use (n=3 288 092) (see online supplementary figure 2a). Patients with no PPI prescription between 1 October 1998 and 30 September 2006, with no H2 blockers before the first PPI prescription and at least one outpatient eGFR value before 1 October 2006, were selected to evaluate the risk of death associated with PPI use versus no acid suppression therapy (n=2 887 030) (see online supplementary figure 2b). T0 for secondary cohorts was defined as 1 October 2006. Patients in both primary and secondary cohorts were followed until 30 September 2013 or death. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the VA Saint Louis Health Care System, Saint Louis, Missouri.\n\nData sources We used the Department of Veterans Affairs databases, including inpatient and outpatient medical SAS data sets (that include utilisation of data related to all inpatient and outpatient encounters within the VA system), to ascertain detailed patient demographic characteristics and comorbidity information based on inpatient and outpatient encounters.2 24 The VA Managerial Cost Accounting System Laboratory Results (a comprehensive database that includes VA-wide results for selected laboratory tests obtained in the clinical setting) provided information on outpatient and inpatient laboratory results. The VA Corporate Data Warehouse Production Outpatient Pharmacy domain provided information on outpatient prescriptions. The VA Vital Status and Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem files provided demographic characteristics and death. Primary predictor variable PPI use was the primary predictor. Once cohort participants received PPI prescription, they were considered with the effect of PPI until the end of follow-up. Medications that contain esomeprazole, lansoprazole, omeprazole, pantoprazole or rabeprazole were counted as PPI. Medications including ranitidine, cimetidine and famotidine were counted as H2 blockers. Outcome The primary outcome in survival analyses was time to death. Death information is routinely collected by the Veterans Benefit Administration for all United States Veterans. Covariates Covariates included age, race, gender, eGFR, number of outpatient serum creatinine measurements, number of hospitalisations, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, peripheral artery disease, cerebrovascular disease, chronic lung disease, cancer, hepatitis C, HIV, dementia and diseases associated with acid suppression therapy use such as gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD), upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract bleeding, ulcer disease, Helicobacter pylori infection, Barrett's oesophagus, achalasia, stricture and oesophageal adenocarcinoma.25\u201328 eGFR was calculated using the abbreviated four-variable CKD epidemiology collaboration equation based on age, sex, race and outpatient serum creatinine.29 Race/ethnicity was categorised as white, black or other (Latino, Asian, Native American or other racial/ethnic minority groups). Comorbidities except for hepatitis C and HIV were assigned on the basis of relevant ICD-9-CM (the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification) diagnostic and procedure codes and Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes in the VA Medical SAS data sets.2 30\u201333 Hepatitis C and HIV were assigned based on laboratory results. Baseline covariates were ascertained from 1 October 1998 till T0. All covariates except for age, race and gender covariates values were treated as time-varying covariates where they were additionally assessed until the date of the first PPI prescription in those patients who did not have PPI prescription at T0. Any comorbidity occurring during the assessment period was considered present during the remaining follow-up. eGFR was the outpatient eGFR value within and most proximate to the end of the assessment period. Number of outpatient serum creatinine measurements and number of hospitalisations were accumulated during the assessment period. Statistical analysis Means, SD and t-tests are presented for normally distributed continuous variables; medians, interquartile ranges and Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney tests are presented for non-normally distributed continuous variables; and counts, percentages and \u03c72 tests are presented for categorical variables. Incident rates per 100 person-years were computed for death, and CIs were estimated based on the normal distribution. The Simon and Makuch method for survival curves was used for time-dependent covariates.34 Cox regression models with time-dependent covariates were used in the assessment of the association between PPI exposure and risk of death where patients could switch from H2 blockers to PPI in the models. In order to account for potential delayed effect of PPI, patients were considered to have the effect of PPI from the first PPI prescription till the end of follow-up. In addition, time-dependent Cox models were conducted in subgroups where patients had no GI conditions and where patients had no GI conditions except for GERD and in the secondary cohorts. Because exposure in this observational cohort is time dependent, we undertook 1:1 propensity score matching for the primary cohort where time-dependent propensity scores were calculated based on time-dependent Cox regression with all covariates35 (details are provided in online supplementary methods). After matching, all covariates except for age had an absolute standardised difference of less than 0.1, which indicated that all covariates except age were well balanced. Age had a standardised difference equal to 0.13. Doubly robust estimation was applied after matching, where all covariates were additionally controlled for in the model to obtain an unbiased effect estimator.36 Supplementary Material Supplementary data 3 [SP3.pdf] In order to optimise control of confounding, we additionally built high-dimensional propensity score-adjusted survival models following the multistep algorithm described by Schneeweiss et al 37 (details are provided in online supplementary methods). We also applied a two-stage residual inclusion estimation based on instrumental variable approach (see online supplementary methods)38 In addition, we evaluated the association between duration of PPI prescription and risk of death among new users of PPI. Duration was defined in cumulative days of use and categorised as \u226430, 31\u201390, 91\u2013180, 181\u2013360 and 361\u2013720, where \u226430 days was considered as the reference group. To avoid immortal time bias (by definition, cohort participants must be alive to receive prescription hence introducing a bias commonly referred to as immortal time bias), time of cohort entry was defined as the date of last PPI prescription plus days\u2019 supply.39 40 In order to ensure sufficient length of follow-up time following T0, we excluded cohort participants with cumulative duration of exposure exceeding 720 days (because of limited overall cohort timeline, and because T0 starts at the end of last prescription, those with long exposure will necessarily have limited follow-up time). In regression analyses, a 95% CI of an HR that does not include unity was considered statistically significant. All analyses were performed using SAS Enterprise Guide version 7.1. Sensitivity analyses In order to further evaluate the consistency and robustness of study findings, we examined the observed associations in a less contemporary cohort (dating back to an era where PPI prescription and use were far less frequent) of patients without acid suppression therapy prescriptions between 1 October 1998 and 30 September 2000 (washout period) and with acid suppression therapy prescription between 1 October 2000 and 30 September 2002 and at least one outpatient serum creatinine value before that. Patients in this cohort were followed till 30 September 2007 or death. To examine the impact of potential residual confounding on study results, we conducted additional sensitivity analyses as described by Schneeweiss41: (a) we used the rule-out approach to identify the strength of the residual confounding that could fully explain the association observed in primary analyses, and (b) we applied an external adjustment approach using external information (prevalence and risk estimates from published literature) to evaluate potential net confounding bias due to unmeasured confounders.2 41\u201344 Methods are described elegantly by Schneeweiss.41 In addition, to remove death events that were less likely to be related to PPI exposure, we excluded cohort participants who died within 90 days after the first PPI or H2 blocker prescription. We conducted analyses based on a three-level classification of exposure, where patient's status at time t could be current use (using PPI or finished last PPI prescription within 90 days before t), past use (used PPI after T 0 but finished more than 90 days before t) and never use. We conducted additional sensitivity analyses, which included haemoglobin as a covariate in cohort participants with available data. We also undertook analyses that stratified the cohort based on cardiovascular disease, history of pneumonia, CKD (eGFR <60 and \u226560 mL/min/1.73 m2) or age (<65 and \u226565 years old) at T 0 . Finally, and in order to ascertain the specificity of the findings, we examined the association between PPI exposure and the risk of a motor vehicle accident as a tracer outcome where a priori knowledge suggests an association is not likely to exist. Patient involvement No patients were involved in developing the hypothesis, the specific aims or the research questions, nor were they involved in developing plans for design or implementation of the study. No patients were involved in the interpretation of study results or write up of the manuscript. There are no plans to disseminate the results of the research to study participants or the relevant patient community.\n\nResults The demographic and health characteristics of the overall primary cohort of new users of acid suppression therapy (n=349 312), by type of acid suppressant drug at time of cohort entry (H2 blockers n=73 335; PPI n=275 977), and those who were ever exposed to PPI (n=309 113) are provided in table 1. There were significant baseline differences in that cohort participants who were treated with PPI were older and were more likely to have comorbid conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and hyperlipidaemia. Cohort participants treated with PPI were also more likely to have upper GI tract bleeding, ulcer disease, H. pylori infection, Barrett's oesophagus, achalasia, stricture and oesophageal adenocarcinoma (table 1). Survival curves for PPI and H2 blockers are presented in figure 1. Figure 1 Survival curves for PPI and H2 blockers. PPI, proton pump inhibitor. Table 1 Baseline demographic and health characteristics of overall primary cohort of new users of acid suppression therapy, by type of acid suppressant at the time of cohort entry, and those who were ever exposed to PPI Association between PPI use and risk of death Among new users of acid suppression therapy (n=349 312), and over a median follow-up of 5.71 years (IQR 5.11\u20136.37), where exposure was treated as a time-dependent covariate, PPI use was associated with increased risk of death compared with H2 blockers use (HR 1.25, CI 1.23 to 1.28) (table 2). Among new users of acid suppression therapy (n=3 49 312), in high-dimensional propensity score-adjusted models, new PPI users had increased risk of death compared with new users of H2 blockers (HR 1.16, CI 1.13 to 1.18); based on two-stage residual inclusion estimation, risk of death was higher in new PPI users when compared with new users of H2 blockers (HR 1.21, CI 1.16 to 1.26). In a 1:1 time-dependent propensity score-matched cohort of new users of PPI and H2 blockers (n=1 46 670), PPI users had significantly increased risk of death (HR 1.34, CI 1.29 to 1.39). Table 2 Association between PPI use and risk of death We examined the relationship of PPI and risk of death in secondary cohorts (as described in the Methods section) where we considered risk associated with PPI use versus no known exposure to PPI (no PPI use \u00b1H2 blockers use) (n=3 288 092); the results suggest that PPI use was associated with increased risk of death (HR 1.15, CI 1.14 to 1.15) (table 2). Assessment of risk of death associated with PPI use versus no known exposure to any acid suppression therapy (no PPI use and no H2 blockers use) (n=2 887 070) suggests increased risk of death with PPI use (HR 1.23, CI 1.22 to 1.24). Association between PPI use and risk of death in those without GI conditions We then analysed the association between PPI use and risk of death in cohort where we excluded participants with documented medical conditions generally considered as indications for treatment with PPI, including GERD, upper GI tract bleeding, ulcer disease, H. pylori infection, Barrett's oesophagus, achalasia, stricture and oesophageal adenocarcinoma. The intent of this analysis was to examine the putative association of PPI use and risk of death in a lower risk cohort. Examination of risk of death associated with use of acid suppression therapy (PPI vs H2 blockers) suggests that risk of death was increased with PPI use (HR 1.24, CI 1.21 to 1.27) (table 2). Examination of the risk of death associated with PPI use versus no known exposure to PPI (no PPI use \u00b1H2 blockers use) suggests a higher risk of death associated with PPI use (HR 1.19, CI 1.18 to 1.20). Results were consistent where we examined risk of death associated with PPI use versus no known exposure to any acid suppression therapy (no PPI use and no H2 blockers use) (HR 1.22, CI 1.21 to 1.23). Risk of death associated with PPI use in cohort participants without GI conditions but included participants with GERD yielded consistent results (PPI vs H2 blockers (HR 1.24, CI 1.21 to 1.27); PPI vs no PPI (HR 1.14, CI 1.13 to 1.14); PPI vs no PPI and no H2 blockers (HR 1.22, CI 1.21 to 1.22)) (table 2). Duration of exposure and excess risk of death We examined the association between duration of PPI exposure and risk of death among new users of PPI (n=166 098). Compared with those exposed for \u226430 days, there was a graded association between duration of exposure and risk of death among those exposed for 31\u201390, 91\u2013180, 181\u2013360 and 361\u2013720 days (table 3, figure 2). Figure 2 Duration of PPI exposure and risk of death among new PPI users (n=166 098). PPI, proton pump inhibitor. Table 3 Duration of exposure to PPI and risk of death among new users of PPI (n=1 66 098)\n\nSensitivity analyses We tested the robustness of study results in sensitivity analyses where we built a less contemporary cohort as described in the Methods section; demographic and health characteristics of this cohort are provided in online supplementary table 1. Where exposure was treated as time dependent, PPI use was associated with increased risk of death compared with H2 blockers use (HR 1.17, CI 1.15 to 1.19). In a 1:1 time-dependent propensity score-matched cohort of PPI and H2 blockers, PPI users had significantly increased risk of death HR 1.21 (CI 1.19 to 1.24). Furthermore, we also observed a graded association between cumulative duration of exposure to PPI and risk of death (see online supplementary table 2 and online supplementary figure 3). Supplementary Material Supplementary data 2 [SP2.pdf] To examine the potential impact of residual confounding on study results, we used rule-out and external adjustment approaches as described by Schneeweiss.41 Using the rule-out approach, we characterised a set of parameters (OR for relationship of PPI and confounder and HR for relationship of confounder and death) with sufficient strength to fully explain the association observed in primary analyses (see online supplementary figure 4). For example, if the confounder was two times as likely among PPI users (OR=2), and the HR of death associated with the uncontrolled confounder exceeded 4.0, then the uncontrolled confounder would fully explain the observed association between PPI and death (see online supplementary figure 4). Given that our analyses accounted for most known strong independent risk factors of death and employed an active comparator group, to cancel the results, any uncontrolled confounder of the required prevalence (OR 2 or more in the example above) and strength (HR 4 or more in the example above) would also have to be independent of the confounders already adjusted for and is unlikely to exist; thus, the results cannot be fully explained by this putative uncontrolled confounder. External adjustment to estimate the impact of three unmeasured confounders, including obesity, smoking and use of therapeutics including anticoagulants, antiplatelet agents and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, shows a net confounding bias of 9.66% (see online supplementary figure 5). The total bias could move a null association between PPI and death from HR 1.00 to HR 1.10 (reflecting the net positive bias of 9.66% rounded up to 10.0%). The association we observed between PPI and death was 1.25>1.10, which cannot be fully due to bias of unmeasured confounding. In analyses where time-dependent exposure was classified as current use (within 90 days), past use (use prior to 90 days) and never use of PPI, compared with use of H2 blockers and never use of PPI (the reference group), current use of PPI and past use of PPI were associated with increased in risk of death (HR 1.23, CI 1.21 to 1.26, and HR 1.53, CI 1.50 to 1.57, respectively). The association between PPI and death remained significant after excluding cohort participants who died within 90 days after the first PPI or H2 blocker prescription (HR 1.23, CI 1.20 to 1.26), or additionally controlling for haemoglobin levels (HR 1.25, CI 1.23 to 1.28). In models stratified for the presence of cardiovascular disease, history of pneumonia, CKD and age at T0, there was increased risk of death associated with PPI use in those with and without cardiovascular disease (HR 1.19, CI 1.15 to 1.23, and HR 1.30, CI 1.27 to 1.34, respectively), with and without history of pneumonia (HR 1.39, CI 1.32 to 1.45, and HR 1.21, CI 1.18 to 1.24, respectively), with and without CKD (HR 1.18, CI 1.14 to 1.22, and HR 1.29, CI 1.26 to 1.33, respectively) and above and below age 65 years (HR 1.17, CI 1.13 to 1.20, and HR 1.44, CI 1.39 to 1.50, respectively). As a test of specificity, among users of acid suppression therapy, PPI use was not associated with increased risk of the tracer outcome of a motor vehicle accident (HR 0.99, CI 0.89 to 1.10).", "output": "Common medicines for heartburn and indigestion known as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) could increase the risk of death, according to research. The drugs, for which over 50 million prescriptions are issued annually in the UK and which are also available without prescription, neutralise stomach acid. Researchers found that the risk of fatality was up to 25% higher for those taking PPIs compared to those taking another form of acid suppressant or none at all. Those taking the drugs without needing to were found to be most at risk. PPIs have previously been linked to hip fractures, kidney disease, pneumonia and sepsis.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Heartburn drugs could raise risk of death \n Millions of people taking common heartburn and indigestion medications could be at an increased risk of death, research suggests.\n\nThe drugs, known as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), neutralise the acid in the stomach and are widely prescribed, with low doses also available without prescription from pharmacies. In the UK, doctors issue more than 50m prescriptions for PPIs every year.\n\nNow researchers say the drugs can increase risk of death, both compared with taking a different type of acid suppressant and not taking any at all.\n\n\u201cWe saw a small excess risk of dying that could be attributed to the PPI drug, and the risk increased the longer they took them,\u201d said Ziyad Al-Aly, an epidemiologist from the University of Washington and co-author of the study.\n\nThe team say the study suggests those who take the drugs without needing to could be most at risk. They urged people taking PPIs to check whether this was necessary.\n\nPrevious research has raised a range of concerns about PPIs, including links to kidney disease, pneumonia, more hip fractures and higher rates of infection with C difficile, a superbug that can cause life-threatening sepsis, particularly in elderly people in hospitals.\n\nBut the latest study is the first to show that PPIs can increase the chance of death. Published in the journal BMJ Open, it examined the medical records of 3.5 million middle-aged Americans covered by the US veterans healthcare system.\n\nThe researchers followed 350,000 participants for more than five years and compared those prescribed PPIs to a group receiving a different type of acid suppressant known as an H2 blocker. They also took into account factors such as the participants\u2019 age, sex and conditions ranging from high blood pressure to HIV.\n\n\n\nThe results show that those who took PPIs could face a 25% higher risk of death than those who took the H2 blocker.\n\n\n\n\u201cIn patients on [H2 blocker] tablets, there were 3.3 deaths per 100 people over one year. In the PPI group, this figure was higher at 4.7 per 100 people per year,\u201d said Al-Aly.\n\nThe team also reported that the risk of death for those taking PPIs was 15% higher than those taking no PPIs, and 23% higher than for those taking no acid suppressants at all.\n\nSimilar levels of increased risk were seen among people who used PPIs but had no gastrointestinal conditions, a result which the authors speculated might be driving the higher risk seen overall.\n\nGareth Corbett, a gastroenterologist from Addenbrooke\u2019s hospital in Cambridge who was not involved with the study, cautioned against panic, pointing out that in most cases the benefits of PPI far outweighed any risk. What was more, he said, while the increased risk sounded high, it was still very low for each person.\n\n\n\n\u201cPPIs are very effective medicines, proven to save lives and reduce the need for surgery in patients with bleeding gastric and duodenal ulcers and several other conditions,\u201d he said.\n\n\n\nThe study\u2019s authors said it was important that PPIs were used only when necessary and stopped when no longer needed.\n\nCorbett agreed that many people take PPIs unnecessarily. \u201cThey could get rid of their heartburn by making lifestyle changes, such as losing weight and cutting back on alcohol, caffeine and spicy foods,\u201d he said.\n\nThe authors said the study was observational, meaning it did not show that PPIs were the cause of the increased risk of death, and that it was unclear how the drugs would act to affect mortality. They said the drugs could affect components within cells, known as lysosomes, that help break down waste material, or shortening protective regions at the end of chromosomes, known as telomeres.\n\nAly said people on PPIs should check with their GP whether the drugs were still needed, adding: \u201cIn some cases we expect that PPIs can be safely stopped, particularly in patients who have been taking them for a long time.\u201d", "output": "Common medicines for heartburn and indigestion known as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) could increase the risk of death, according to research. The drugs, for which over 50 million prescriptions are issued annually in the UK and which are also available without prescription, neutralise stomach acid. Researchers found that the risk of fatality was up to 25% higher for those taking PPIs compared to those taking another form of acid suppressant or none at all. Those taking the drugs without needing to were found to be most at risk. PPIs have previously been linked to hip fractures, kidney disease, pneumonia and sepsis.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "E. coli DNA feeds on xylose to boost biofuel yields 50% \n A team of scientists from Arizona State University are working to break through the innovation bottleneck for renewable bioproduction of fuels and chemicals, to create a renewable biofuel technology that would lead to a cheaper alternative to gasoline.\n\nReed Cartwright and Xuan Wang have focused on the manipulation of microbes as biocatalysts to convert biomass such as agricultural wastes and even carbon dioxide into bio-based products. In particular, they\u2019re interested in \u201charnessing the trial and error power of evolution into revealing an answer.\u201d\n\nThe scientists have grown generations of bacteria under special conditions in fermentation tanks, test tube evolving bacteria to better ferment sugars derived from biomass. Their results have appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.\n\nIn particular, the scientists looked into non-food crop sources of biofuels, lignocellulosic biomasses like tall switchgrasses and the inedible parts of corn and sugarcane. Lignocellulosic biomasses are rich in xylose, a five-carbon, energy-rich sugar relative of glucose. Unfortunately, industrial E coli strains can\u2019t use xylose because when glucose is available, it turns off the use of glucose. Consequently, it has typically been inefficient and expensive to fully harvest and convert xylose to biofuels.\n\nCartwright and Wang wanted to get more energy from xylose sugars. To do so, they challenged E coli that could thrive comfortably on glucose to grow solely on xylose, forcing the bacteria to adapt to the new food supply.\n\nFaced with the challenge, the bacteria randomly mutated their DNA until it could adapt to the new conditions. The team set out to identify how the most beneficial mutations worked, and identified three single mutations that could enhance xylose fermentation by changing bacterial sugar metabolism.\n\n\"This suggests that there are potentially multiple evolutionary solutions for the same problem, and a bacterium's genetic background may predetermine its evolutionary trajectories,\" said Cartwright, a researcher at ASU's Biodesign Institute and assistant professor in the School of Life Sciences.\n\nFocusing on a mutation in a regulatory protein called XyIR, where just two amino acid switches enhanced xylose utilisation and released the glucose repression, the team managed to achieve impressive increases in fermentation efficiency. When the XyIR mutant strain was placed in a \u201cwild type\u201d strain or an industrial E. coli biocatalyst, it massively improved the yield, by up to 50% over four days of fermentation, according to the team\u2019s study.\n\n\"With these new results, I believe we've solved one big, persistent bottleneck in this field,\" concluded Wang. Arizona Technology Enterprises (AzTE) is now filling a non-provisional patent for their discovery.", "output": "Researchers at Arizona State University working to harvest and convert the sugar xylose into biofuels have been able to mutate E. coli DNA to feed on xylose and improved yields of biofuels made from lignocellulosic feedstocks by up to 50%. Industrial E. coli strains cannot use xylose as a food and xylose has been typically an inefficient and expensive way in which to develop biofuels. However, the breakthrough may improve the viability of biofuels made from non-food crops such as switchgrass and corn and sugarcane waste."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "E. coli DNA feeds on xylose to boost biofuel yields 50% \n ASU scientists harness the trial-and-error power of evolution to coax nature into revealing answer to energy challenge\n\nWhether or not society shakes its addiction to oil and gasoline will depend on a number of profound environmental, geopolitical and societal factors.\n\nBut with current oil prices hovering around $50 dollars a barrel, it won\u2019t likely be anytime soon.\n\nDespite several major national research initiatives, no one has been able to come up with the breakthrough renewable biofuel technology that would lead to a cheaper alternative to gasoline.\n\nThat research challenge led ASU scientists Reed Cartwright and Xuan Wang to enter the fray, teaming up to try to break through the innovation bottleneck for the renewable bioproduction of fuels and chemicals.\n\n\u201cMy lab has been very interested in converting biomass such as agricultural wastes and even carbon dioxide into useful and renewable bio-based products,\u201d said Wang\n\n(pictured above, right), an assistant professor in the School of Life Sciences. \u201cAs a microbiologist, I\u2019m interested in manipulating microbes as biocatalysts to do a better job.\u201d\n\nTo do so, they\u2019ve looked into a new approach: harnessing the trial-and-error power of evolution to coax nature into revealing the answer.\n\nBy growing bacteria over generations under specially controlled conditions in fermentation tanks, they have test-tube-evolved bacteria to better ferment sugars derived from biomass \u2014 a rich, potential renewable-energy source for the production of biofuels and chemicals. Their results appeared recently in the online edition of PNAS.\n\nThe research team includes postdoctoral scholar Christian Sievert, Lizbeth Nieves, Larry Panyon, Taylor Loeffler and Chandler Morris, and was led by Cartwright and Wang, in a collaboration between the ASU\u2019s School of Life Sciences and the Biodesign Institute.\n\nA sweet problem\n\nThe appeal of plants is ideal. Just add a little carbon dioxide, water and plentiful sunshine, and presto! Society has a rich new source of renewable carbons to use.\n\nCorn ethanol (using starch from corn for alcohol production primarily in the U.S.) has been one major biofuel avenue, and sugarcane another alternative (abundant in Brazil) \u2014 but there is a big drawback. Turning the sugar-rich kernels of corn or sugarcane into ethanol competes with the food supply.\n\nSo scientists over the past few decades have migrated to research on conversion of non-food-based plant materials into biofuels and chemicals. These so-called lignocellulosic biomasses, like tall switchgrasses and the inedible parts of corn and sugarcane (stovers, husks, bagasses, etc.) are rich in xylose, a five-carbon, energy-rich sugar relative of glucose.\n\nLignocellulosic biomass has an abundance of glucose and xylose, but industrial E. coli strains can\u2019t use xylose because when glucose is available, it turns off the use of xylose. And so, to date, it has been an inefficient and costly to fully harvest and convert the xylose to biofuels.\n\nBenchtop evolution\n\nWang and Cartwright wanted to squeeze out more energy from xylose sugars. To do so, they challenged E. coli bacteria that could thrive comfortably on glucose \u2014 and switch out the growth medium broth to grow solely on xylose.\n\nThe bacteria would be forced to adapt to the new food supply or lose the growth competition.\n\nThey started with a single colony of bacteria that were genetically identical and ran three separate evolution experiments with xylose. At first, the bacteria grew very slowly. But remarkable, in no more than 150 generations, the bacteria adapted and, eventually, learned to thrive in the xylose broth.\n\nNext, they isolated the DNA from the bacteria and used next-generation DNA sequencing technology to examine the changes within the bacteria genomes. When they read out the DNA data, they could identify the telltale signs of evolution in action, mutations.\n\nNature finds a way\n\nThe bacteria, when challenged, randomly mutated their DNA until it could adapt to the new conditions. They held on to the fittest mutations over generations until they became fixed beneficial mutations.\n\nAnd in each case, when challenged with xylose, the bacteria could grow well. Their next task was to find out what these beneficial mutations were and how did they work. To grow better on xylose, the three bacterial E. coli lines had \u201cdiscovered\u201d a different set of mutations to the same genes. The single mutations the research team identified all could enhance xylose fermentation by changing bacterial sugar metabolism.\n\n\u201cThis suggests that there are potentially multiple evolutionary solutions for the same problem, and a bacterium\u2019s genetic background may predetermine its evolutionary trajectories,\u201d said Cartwright, a researcher at ASU\u2019s Biodesign Institute and assistant professor in the School of Life Sciences.\n\nThe most interesting mutation happened in a regulatory protein called XylR whose normal function is to control xylose utilization. Just two amino acid switches in the XylR could enhance xylose utilization and release the glucose repression, even in the non-mutated original hosts.\n\nThrough some clever genetic tricks, when the XlyR mutant was placed back in a normal \u201cwild-type\u201d strain or an industrial E. coli biocatalyst, it could also now grow on xylose and glucose, vastly improving the yield. Wang\u2019s team saw up to a 50 percent increase in the product after four days of fermentation.\n\nTogether, Wang and Cartwright\u2019s invention has now significantly boosted the potential of industrial E. coli to be used for biofuel production from lignocellulosic materials. In addition, they could use this same genetic approach for other E. coli strains for different products.\n\nArizona Technology Enterprises (AzTE) is filing a non-provisional patent for their discovery. Wang hopes they can partner with industry to scale up their technology and see if this invention will increase economic viability for bioproduction.\n\n\u201cWith these new results, I believe we\u2019ve solved one big, persistent bottleneck in this field,\u201d Wang said.", "output": "Researchers at Arizona State University working to harvest and convert the sugar xylose into biofuels have been able to mutate E. coli DNA to feed on xylose and improved yields of biofuels made from lignocellulosic feedstocks by up to 50%. Industrial E. coli strains cannot use xylose as a food and xylose has been typically an inefficient and expensive way in which to develop biofuels. However, the breakthrough may improve the viability of biofuels made from non-food crops such as switchgrass and corn and sugarcane waste."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bee colonies threatened by pesticides: Syngenta study \n Widely used insecticides damage the survival of honeybee colonies, the world\u2019s largest ever field trial has shown for the first time, as well as harming wild bees.\n\n\n\nThe farm-based research, along with a second new study, also suggests widespread contamination of entire landscapes and a toxic \u201ccocktail effect\u201d from multiple pesticides.\n\nThe landmark work provides the most important evidence yet for regulators around the world considering action against neonicotinoids, including in the EU where a total ban is poised to be implemented this autumn. The insecticides are currently banned on flowering crops in the EU.\n\nThe negative impacts found varied across different countries, leading the pesticide manufacturers to question whether the results of the research, which they funded, were real. The new research is published in the prestigious peer-review journal Science.\n\nNeonicotinoids represent a quarter of the multi-billion dollar pesticide market but have been repeatedly linked to serious harm in bees in lab-based studies. Bees and other pollinators are vital to food production but are in decline, in part due to loss of habitats and disease. But there had been few realistic field studies to date to address the role of the insecticides and only occasional evidence for colony-level harm in wild bees.\n\nThe new research took place at 33 large farmland sites spread across the UK, Germany and Hungary. Honeybees, bumblebees and solitary bees living by insecticide-treated fields of oil seed rape were compared with those in fields where insecticides were not used in the year of the study.\n\nThe survival of honeybee colonies was reduced by exposure to the insecticides in the UK and Hungary, but not in Germany, where the bees foraged far less on oil seed rape and had lower levels of disease. The reproductive success of the wild bees was cut as the insecticide exposure increased in all three countries.\n\n\u201cWe showed significant negative effects at critical life cycle stages,\u201d said Prof Richard Pywell, from the UK\u2019s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), and part of the research team. \u201cIf the bees are foraging a lot on oil seed rape, they are clearly at risk. This is a large and important piece of evidence, but it is not the only evidence regulators will look at.\u201d\n\nBees and other pollinators are vital to food production but are in decline. Photograph: Jeremy T Kerr/Science\n\nScientists not involved in the research backed the conclusions. \u201cTogether, the two studies make strong contributions to the growing scientific consensus about the harms of neonicotinoid pesticides to bees,\u201d said Prof James Nieh, at the University of California San Diego. Addressing the differences between countries, Prof Jeremy Kerr, at the University of Ottawa in Canada, said: \u201cNeonicotinoid applications are a kind of reproductive roulette for bees. Depending on local environmental characteristics, they can materially reduce survival prospects.\u201d\n\nThe $3m cost of the research was met by Syngenta and Bayer, the companies that sell the two neonicotinoids tested, as part of a voluntary commitment to increase the available field data. But the companies were not involved in the designing, conducting or reporting of the study.\n\nIt found that the bees in Germany got just 15% of their food from the oil seed rape fields, compared to 40-50% in the UK and Hungary. \u201cClearly the bees in Germany are feeding on other flower resources in the landscape and are less exposed to neonics,\u201d said Pywell.\n\nThe scientists also discovered that the wild bees were exposed to a neonicotinoid that was not even used in the trial and concluded the harm caused may result from \u201cpersistent residues in arable systems due to their widespread and often very frequent use\u201d.\n\nHowever, both Bayer and Syngenta expressed doubt about the \u201csimplistic\u201d interpretation of complex and \u201cinconsistent\u201d results. \u201cWe do not share CEH\u2019s interpretation and remain confident that neonicotinoids are safe when used responsibly\u201d said Richard Schmuck, director of environmental safety at Bayer CropScience.\n\nPeter Campbell, from Syngenta, said: \u201cThe negative and positive results reported by CEH could easily be random, ie not real.\u201d He said even taking the results at face value \u201cdemonstrates that neonics can be used safely or even with benefit to bees under certain circumstances, such as reported in Germany.\u201d\n\nBut CEH\u2019s Pywell said: \u201cWe stand by our peer-reviewed paper. We undertook the statistical analysis and reported the findings as we saw them and those are underpinned by the data. We are absolutely independent.\u201d\n\nA honeybee worker has a radio-frequency identification tag attached to its back that allows researchers to monitor when it leaves and returns to the colony, as well as when it is no longer active and presumed dead. Photograph: Amro Zayed/York University/Science\n\nThe second new study published in Science, carried out on corn farms in Canada, also found crops were not the main source of neonicotinoids to which bees were exposed. Instead, the contaminated pollen came from wildflowers, as has been shown recently in the UK.\n\n\u201cThis indicates that neonicotinoids, which are water soluble, spill over from fields into the surrounding environment, where they are taken up by other plants that are very attractive to bees,\u201d said Nadia Tsvetkov, at York University in Canada and who led the research.\n\n\u201cThe detection of the potential long-term persistence of neonicotinoids in the soil by both studies raises the spectre of a reprise of Rachel Carson\u2019s Silent Spring,\u201d said Prof Robert Paxton at Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg in Germany.\n\nThe Canadian research also found that the presence of realistic levels of a fungicide made the neonicotinoids twice as toxic to bees. \u201cThe effect of neonicotinoids on honey bees quickly turns from bad to worse when you add the fungicide boscalid to the mix,\u201d said Prof Val\u00e9rie Fournier, at Laval University in Canada and also part of the team. Pesticides are not tested in combination by regulators and Kerr said: \u201cThis study shows that mixtures matter.\u201d\n\nEnvironmental campaigners said the new research exposed the full impact of neonicotinoids. \u201cThe horror story is clear: we have contaminated our land and water with persistent neonicotinoid pesticides,\u201d said Matt Shardlow, CEO of the charity Buglife.\n\nA tractor sprays pesticide onto a field of wheat near Kleptow, Germany. Neonicotinoids, which are water soluble, spill over from fields into the surrounding environment. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images\n\n\u201cThis major study marks a watershed moment in the fight to protect our bees [and] fills a crucial gap in our scientific understanding,\u201d said Greenpeace UK\u2019s chief scientist Doug Parr. \u201cThe case for a permanent ban on these pesticides is now unassailable, and our politicians will have to take action.\u201d\n\nBut Guy Smith, from the National Farmers Union in Britain said neonicotinoids were important in protecting crops and producing food: \u201cWe strongly believe that policy decisions \u2013 such as restricting the use of neonicotinoids \u2013 must be based on sound science which gives strong evidence. And while this CEH study provides more useful information, we still don\u2019t have that definitive evidence for the impact of neonicotinoids.\u201d\n\nProf David Goulson, a bee expert at the University of Sussex, UK, said: \u201cIn the light of these new studies, continuing to claim that use of neonicotinoids in farming does not harm bees is no longer a tenable position. In my view we should also consider the bigger picture; the current model of farming based on huge monocultures treated with dozens of pesticides is causing devastating environmental harm, undermining vital ecosystem services that keep us all alive.\u201d", "output": "A study funded by two of the world's largest pesticide manufacturers has shown that neonicotinoids, which constitute 25% of the multi-billion-dollar pesticide industry, damage honeybee colonies as well as wild bees. The study, conducted at 33 sites in Germany, Hungary and the UK by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, supports the findings of lab-based research and reinforces previous evidence for colony-level harm. The $3m research project\u00a0was financed by Syngenta and Bayer, which produce two of the pesticides tested.\u00a0Both companies said they don't believe the research proves that the pesticides can't be used safely."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Kangaroo hop confuses semi-autonomous driving systems \n Kangaroos are involved in an estimated 15,000 collisions with cars in Australia each year, according to the country\u2019s largest car insurance company. Kangaroos account for about 80 per cent of all collisions with animals.\n\nWith the enormous advances in assisted driving technologies over the past few years, you\u2019d logically assume that number would soon start to decline as detection systems make their way into new cars.\n\nHowever, Sweden-based Volvo recently discovered a kangaroo\u2019s hop presents a unique problem for defence driver assist systems, because when the animals are in the air they appear to move further away, when they really are staying the same distance away.\n\n\u201cThis totally confuses the systems,\u201d said Ken Kroeger, chairman of Seeing Machines (pictured), a provider of intelligent sensing technology to the automotive, aviation, medical and other industries.\n\nThe car maker\u2019s animal detection systems have no problem identifying animals that walk and run, such as deer, elk, cows and household pets. According to Volvo\u2019s website, if a large animal appears in front of a car, the system can warn the driver about the animal and provide brake assistance in certain situations.\n\nNew obstacles\n\nKroeger, who spoke during the Industry & the Human Element keynote at Mobile World Congress Shanghai last Friday (30 June), said kangaroos are just one of the many problems facing companies developing the technology for semi-autonomous cars.\n\nHe noted the \u2018handover\u2019 from machine back to human is still a big unknown: \u201cNobody knows whether the average driver will be able to manage this process on his own, or whether the industry will have to provide technology to help manage it.\u201d\n\nThe first level 4 cars, where the driver doesn\u2019t have to think about driving, he reckons are still five to ten years away and will first be used in more controlled highway scenarios. Analysts forecast fully autonomous cars (level 5) will come to market in volume after 2035, with some predicting they\u2019ll have less than a 3 per cent market share in 2050.\n\nLong before reaching those milestones, the kangaroo detection problem illustrates the importance of verifying systems across all possible environments. Volvo first tested its detection system in Sweden in areas populated with moose, then found during trials in Australia it couldn\u2019t recognise marsupials.\n\nIn another example Robert Bosch, an automotive parts supplier, had to adapt its braking systems after black swans caused interference, The Guardian reported (every car sold globally features an average of nine chips made by Bosch).\n\nNo doubt the self-driving industry, which is at the intersection of the fast-growing telematics and artificial intelligence (AI) sectors, will stumble on additional obstacles such as \u2018hopping\u2019 as it moves towards truly autonomous vehicles. As it overcomes them, insurance companies and animal lovers will certainly celebrate.\n\nThe editorial views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and will not necessarily reflect the views of the GSMA, its Members or Associate Members.", "output": "Volvo has discovered that a kangaroo's hop generates confusion for defence driver assist technology. The Sweden-based carmaker's animal detection system fails to recognise that when kangaroos are in the air they only seem to travel\u00a0further away, when in fact they remain in close proximity\u00a0to the vehicle. Since the kangaroo is not registered as being directly\u00a0in front of the car, the vehicle's warning and brake assist mechanisms are\u00a0not activated.\u00a0The manner in which\u00a0kangaroos appear to move could partly explain why they\u00a0account for the vast majority of all animal-vehicle collisions in Australia.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Battery range deters more than half of potential EV buyers \n A study by Venson Automotive Solutions has revealed that 61% of motorists are deterred by an EV switch due to worries over limited battery range.\n\nTo support the launch of its guide to electric vehicles, Venson carried out the research to tackle 'range anxiety\u2019.\n\nIt found that the main concern for motorists is a lack of charging points.\n\n\u201cThe UK is the largest market in Europe for zero emissions capable cars, accounting for almost a quarter (23.8%) of registrations in the EU, in 2016,\u201d said Venson Automotive Solutions\u2019 marketing director Alison Bell.\n\n\u201cHowever, limited battery range remains one of the biggest concerns associated with electric vehicles with many citing this as a reason why they are reluctant to buy.\u201d\n\nAccording to Go Ultra Low figures, the average commute in the UK is less than 10 miles, which could be covered by most plug-in vehicles after a home or work charge. Go Ultra Low claims more than a third of UK motorists never travel more than 80 miles in a single trip.\n\nThe Nissan Leaf offers a range of 155 miles and technology is improving all the time, with the Tesla Model S offering a published range of 265 miles.\n\nCurrently, there are three different levels of charging points, offering different recharge times. The higher the kilowatts (kW), the faster the battery will charge.\n\nMost networks offer a mix of \u2018rapid\u2019 (43kW-50kW), \u2018fast\u2019 (7kW-22kW) and \u2018standard\u2019 (up to 3kW) charging options. The standard service station is rapid and will charge a battery from flat to 80% in under 30 minutes.\n\nFast points are installed in public locations and will recharge some batteries in two to four hours. The standard, home charging point generally takes around six hours to fully charge a battery. The only key is for owners to know which type of connector their vehicle needs.\n\n\u201cCharging an electric vehicle sounds complicated, but once drivers get to know their vehicle, it\u2019s no more complicated than charging a smartphone,\u201d said Bell.\n\n\u201cIn addition, the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme offers grant funding of up to 75% of the cost of installing electric vehicle chargepoints at home, up to \u00a3500. Charging at home costs about \u00a33 for a full charge or 2 pence per mile, offering clear savings for motorists, which could outweigh the worries for many.\u201d\n\nVenson's tips :", "output": "A study by Venson Automotive Solutions has found that 61% of motorists are discouraged from switching to an EV due to anxiety over limited battery range. This is despite figures published by Go Ultra Low indicating\u00a0that the average commute of UK car owners is below\u00a010 miles,\u00a0a distance easily achieved\u00a0by most plug-in vehicles following\u00a0a charge at home or work."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Apple to block ad tracking while Google targets quality \n Both Apple and Google are introducing new ad blocking tech, but it is Apple\u2019s focus on retargeting and making an ad-free experience part of its premium positioning that should concern marketers.\n\nAdvertisers were met with a double whammy at the beginning of the month when both Google and Apply outlined new plans to block ads.\n\nThe changes at Apple take effect in its Safari browser. They mean pre-roll ads on videos will no longer auto-play and that tracking will be automatically disabled so advertisers can no longer use cookies to track them across different websites.\n\nMeanwhile, at Google, its Chrome browser is getting a built-in ad blocker that will block all ads on a site (including its own) if they don\u2019t meet the standards set out by the Coalition for Better Advertising.\n\nREAD MORE: Auto-play video and pop-ups named among the most \u2018annoying\u2019 ad formats\n\nThe issues with autoplay\n\nAuto-play video with sound has been at issue for some time, with many consumers finding the ads invasive and irrelevant. According to the Coalition, consumers rate auto-play video ads as among the most annoying on desktop and mobile.\n\nAnd the IAB says its welcomes the moves and any changes that promote better digital advertising.\n\n\u201cGoogle\u2019s move quickly puts weight behind the stance set by the Coalition for Better Ads following the release of their better ads standards,\u201d a spokesperson for the IAB tells Marketing Week.\n\nThe changes will mean marketers will have to find new ways to grab their audience\u2019s attention. However, Alessandra Di Lorenzo, chief commercial officer of media and partnerships at Lastminute.com, believes this offers a better experience for consumers and an opportunity for marketers to \u201cup their game\u201d\n\n\u201cWhile people are happy to engage with content that is relevant and useful to them, serving ads that don\u2019t tick these boxes can be ineffective at best, and reputation-damaging at worst,\u201d Di Lorenzo says.\n\n\u2019Stick with us\u2019, Apple is saying, \u2018and we\u2019ll make sure nobody can poke their nose into your internet experience\u2019 Phil Dyte, iProspect\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no need for marketers to be concerned about these latest changes from Apple and Google. Instead, they should focus on upping their relevance game, using a combination of data and creativity to ensure they are delivering the right content to the right people at the right time \u2013 and in the right format.\u201d\n\nDi Lorenzo says marketers should focus on the use of data to do this and should continue to move in the direction of native, which she says offers a more seamless user experience by blending advertising and content with data.\n\nWhy Apple is the bigger concern\n\nHowever, not all are convinced by Google and Apple\u2019s approach. Phil Dyte, strategy director at digital agency iProspect, highlights how the two approaches are very different, with Google focusing on format, while Apple goes after targeting. He says in theory Google should only worry \u201cunscrupulous\u201d ad tech companies who are building \u201cbad, disruptive ad experiences\u201d and that the industry will welcome this.\n\nHowever, he says Apple\u2019s efforts are more concerning as it isn\u2019t promoting ad blocking as a user benefit but as a marketing business tool, by making privacy part of its premium image.\n\n\u201c\u2019Stick with us\u2019, they\u2019re saying, \u2018and we\u2019ll make sure nobody can poke their nose into your internet experience\u2019,\u201d Dyte says.\n\n\u201cThis is all well and good \u2013 but users will still see ads, just less appropriate ones, so I\u2019m not sure it helps anyone outside the minority of super-privacy types.\u201d\n\nApple\u2019s move is also problematic because it has the potential to affect all players in the digital ecosystem, apart from Apple itself. This will make it more difficult for its rivals, including Google, that rely on advertising for their business models and retargeting to drive revenues.\n\n\u201cThis probably won\u2019t impact Apple too much. Nobody is going to not buy an iPhone because they might get worse ads. But if it works it will have an impact on everyone, except of course Apple,\u201d Dyte adds.", "output": "Apple has disabled auto-play on pre-roll video ads and cookie tracking on its Safari web browser,\u00a0meaning\u00a0advertisers can no longer use cookies to track campaigns across websites. Google has started\u00a0blocking ads on the Chrome web browser that do not meet the Coalition for Better Advertising's standards. While Google's move has been welcomed by marketers who expect to see fewer poor-quality ads, Apple's move will mean ads are less relevant to users, in exchange for greater privacy that is only coveted by a small number of users."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Online real estate broker Redfin submits IPO proposal \n Online real estate broker Redfin is preparing to sell shares to the public, filing on Friday to raise up to $100 million.\n\nGoldman Sachs is leading the IPO for Seattle-based Redfin, which specializes in buying and selling homes and uses a mobile app to do tasks like schedule home tours and suggest listings.\n\nRevenue in 2016 jumped 43 percent to $267.2 million from $187.3 million a year earlier. The company's net loss narrowed to $22.5 million from $30.2 million. Redfin calls itself a \"technology-powered real estate broker.\" It's the human element that leads to a gross margin of 31 percent, much lower than most big internet companies.\n\nIn its prospectus, Redfin differentiates itself from other tech companies that use only the internet and mobile apps to connect consumers with businesses.\n\n\"In an age when the technology economy is increasingly divided from the rest of the world,\" the filing says, \"we have hired our own real estate agents, not as a disposable labor force, but as partners in this business, with a salary, health-care benefits and the opportunity to earn stock options.\"\n\nTechnology investors like Madrona Ventures, Greylock Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and T. Rowe Price backed Redfin, which was created in 2004.\n\nRedfin CEO Glenn Kelman, who joined in 2006, told CNBC in May that the company's sales were being limited by historically low inventories of homes.\n\n\"We're going to be fine in terms of market share, but I think the overall industry for the first time is seeing sales volume really limited by the inventory crunch,\" Kelman said.\n\nZillow , another major player in online real estate, is located just up the road in Seattle. Zillow is more than three times the size of Redfin by revenue and is valued at about $9 billion.\n\n\u2014 CNBC's Diana Olick contributed to this report.", "output": "Seattle-based online real estate broker Redfin has been preparing\u00a0for an initial public share offering in which it hopes to raise $100m, according to recently filed documents. The firm's revenue in 2016 rose 43% to $267.2m, compared to $187.3m the previous year, while\u00a0net loss was down to $22.5m from $30.2m. Redfin is a specialist home buyer and seller, and uses a mobile app to offer users scheduled tours and suggest listings.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Patient data transfer to Google DeepMind by NHS trust was\u00a0illegal \n The transfer of 1.6 million NHS patients' personally identifying data to Google was illegal, according to the UK's data watchdog.\n\nThe Royal Free NHS Trust gave the data to Google DeepMind, the artificial intelligence arm of Google, for the purpose of testing a smartphone app called Streams - and did so without requesting the patients' permission.\n\nIn doing so it \"failed to comply with the Data Protection Act\" the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) ruled today, following the conclusion of a long investigation into the deal.\n\nData belonging to a 1.6 million patients, some of whom had simply attended A&E within the last five years, was given to Google to test a smartphone app which could detect acute kidney injuries (AKIs).\n\nThe watchdog stated that those patients did not consent to the transfer, and that the justification offered by Royal Free and DeepMind was unlawful.\n\nAlthough the regulator has the power to issue monetary penalties of hundreds of thousands of pounds, it chose to recognise a dearth of guidance from the Department of Health in demanding that Royal Free commit to make changes to address its shortcomings.\n\nElizabeth Denham, the information commissioner, said that while there was \"huge potential\" in the use of patient data to deliver clinical improvements, \"the price of innovation does not need to be the erosion of fundamental privacy rights\".\n\nThe ruling follows a Sky News investigation in May which revealed that the most senior data protection adviser to the NHS, Dame Fiona Caldicott, had warned the ICO that patients' data had been transferred to Google on an \"inappropriate legal basis\".\n\nPlease use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 0:38 Royal Free's Professor Stephen Powis said the Trust was 'committed' to protecting patient data\n\nAt the time of the Sky News investigation, Royal Free's Professor Stephen Powis said: \"We have been very grateful to Dame Fiona for her support (and) advice during this process and we would absolutely welcome further guidance on this issue.\"\n\nAdvertisement\n\nRoyal Free Hospital said it would \"consider\" the ICO's findings when they were released. In a statement today, the Trust said: \"We accept the ICO's findings and have already made good progress to address the areas where they have concerns.\"\n\nDeepMind, originally a British business that was acquired by Google in 2014, received the data to test a smartphone app called Streams which could detect if patients were suffering from AKIs and then rapidly inform clinicians so that those patients' could receive potentially life-saving treatment.\n\nThe testing for the Streams app has now concluded and the app itself is being used at the Royal Free Hospital under a second agreement which is not being investigated by the ICO.\n\nIn a statement released on its site, DeepMind said it welcomed \"the ICO's thoughtful resolution of this case, which we hope will guarantee the ongoing safe and legal handling of patient data for Streams\".\n\nPlease use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 0:48 DeepMind: Patient data not shared with Google\n\n\"Although today's findings are about the Royal Free, we need to reflect on our own actions too,\" the company stated.\n\n\"In our determination to achieve quick impact when this work started in 2015, we underestimated the complexity of the NHS and of the rules around patient data, as well as the potential fears about a well-known tech company working in health.\"\n\nIn response to critics alleging that it had not sought NHS patients' permission to receive their data, DeepMind appointed nine \"Independent Reviewers\" to judge its handling of patients' data.\n\nDeepMind claims it appointed the independent reviewers \"long before any regulatory or media criticism\". A spokesperson told Sky News that the reviewers have been in place since February 2016.\n\nThose independent reviewers' report on the company's use of patient data is now due to be released on Wednesday.\n\nOn seeing the ICO's ruling, Phil Booth, coordinator of medConfidential - an organisation which campaigns in support of the privacy of patients' data within the NHS - said: \"We look forward to Google DeepMind's Independent Reviewers' report on Wednesday.\n\n\"Google DeepMind has shown that it is content to break the law in order to get copies of people's medical records. That being the case, how can the public trust Google's ongoing exploitation of their healthcare data?\"", "output": "The sharing of patient data with Google's DeepMind by an NHS trust has been ruled illegal by the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). The watchdog ruled that the Royal Free NHS Trust failed to comply with the Data Protection Act when it transferred 1.6 million NHS patient records to DeepMind so it could test a smartphone app called Streams, without requesting patients' permission. The app was devised to detect kidney injuries. The ICO can issue fines but acknowledged a dearth of guidance from the Department of Health and instead called on the Royal Free to make changes to address its shortcomings.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chan-Zuckerberg to back 'whole child personalised learning' plan \n Pediatrician Priscilla Chan and Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg are gearing up to invest hundreds of millions of dollars a year in a new vision of \u201cwhole-child personalized learning,\u201d with the aim of dramatically expanding the scope and scale of efforts to provide every student with a customized education.\n\nThe emerging strategy represents a high-stakes effort to bridge longstanding divides between competing visions for improving the nation\u2019s schools. Through their recently established Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the billionaire couple intends to support the development of software that might help teachers better recognize and respond to each student\u2019s academic needs\u2014while also supporting a holistic approach to nurturing children\u2019s social, emotional, and physical development.\n\nThe man charged with marrying those two philosophies is former Deputy U.S. Secretary of Education James H. Shelton, now the initiative\u2019s president of education.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve got to dispel this notion that personalized learning is just about technology,\u201d Shelton said in an exclusive interview with Education Week. \u201cIn fact, it is about understanding students, giving them agency, and letting them do work that is engaging and exciting.\u201d\n\nVast Resources, Many Levers\n\nTo advance that vision, Shelton has at his disposal a massive fortune and a wide array of levers to pull.\n\nChan and Zuckerberg created CZI as a vehicle for directing 99 percent of their Facebook shares\u2014worth an estimated $45 billion\u2014to causes related to education and science, through a combination of charitable giving and investment.\n\nThe initiative is structured as a limited-liability corporation, rather than a traditional foundation. That means CZI will be able to make philanthropic donations, invest in for-profit companies, lobby for favored policies and legislation, and directly support candidates for elected office\u2014all with minimal public-reporting requirements.\n\nFor now, Shelton said, CZI is \u201cone of the best-resourced startups in the world, but still a startup,\u201d with fewer than 20 people on its education team.\n\nIn the near future, though, he expects the initiative to give out \u201chundreds of millions of dollars per year\u201d for education-related causes. Such a figure would place the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative among the highest-giving education-focused philanthropies in the country.\n\nWithin five years, Shelton said in the June 22 interview, CZI\u2019s work should have helped launch a \u201cmeaningful number\u201d of schools and learning environments \u201cwhere kids are performing dramatically better, and feel more engaged, and teachers feel more engaged in the work that they\u2019re doing.\u201d\n\nChan, 32, and Zuckerberg, 33, also have embraced the idea of a long horizon for the initiative\u2019s work, saying their support for personalized learning will extend over decades.\n\nFrom the outset, however, the couple\u2019s attempt to engineer big changes in the U.S. education system faces significant obstacles.\n\n\u201cPersonalized learning\u201d was an amorphous concept even before this new attempt to integrate it with equally hard-to-define \u201cwhole child\u201d strategies. It remains unclear how Chan, Zuckerberg, and Shelton intend to balance the organization\u2019s support for research and development with their desire to quickly bring to scale new products and approaches, many of which have limited or no evidence to support their effectiveness.\n\nAnd CZI won\u2019t commit to publicly disclosing all of its financial and political activity or to making the source code for its software open and accessible to the larger education community. That stance has stirred complaints about a lack of transparency.\n\nOther large-scale philanthropic attempts at improving education have run aground on similar barriers.\n\nIt can be hard for smart people with a fortune at their fingertips to remain patient, said Frederick M. Hess, the director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.\n\nBut the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative would be wise to avoid trying to go too far, too fast in its support for personalized learning, Hess said.\n\n\u201cThis isn\u2019t engineering a new ride-sharing app,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s how do we influence the learning of millions of children, day after day, for years to come.\u201d\n\n\u2019Whole Child\u2019 Personalization\n\nChan and Zuckerberg officially announced the creation of CZI in December 2015, shortly after the birth of their first child.\n\nThe couple\u2019s commitment to personalized learning was a major boost for a trend with strong winds already at its back. Over the past several years, other philanthropists, venture capitalists, and advocates, along with the ed-tech industry, have pushed the notion hard. Many district and school leaders have responded favorably.\n\nNow, Chan and Zuckerberg have a second child on the way. Facebook has its hands full with its network of nearly 2 billion social-media users, a new mission, and public concerns over its role in the spread of \u201cfake news.\u201d And Zuckerberg has been meeting with Iowa truckers and Ohio families on a 50-state tour, which many observers have speculated may be a precursor to a run for public office, although he has denied any such plans.\n\nStill, the couple is finding time to play a hands-on role in shaping CZI\u2019s educational strategy. Chan, a former classroom teacher, is at the initiative\u2019s Palo Alto, Calif., offices as often as four days a week, Shelton said. Zuckerberg is there at least once every other week.\n\nEach brings different priorities to the table, according to Shelton.\n\n\u201cPriscilla and I come into this work from similar perspectives,\u201d he said. \u201cShe saw firsthand the impact that things outside the classroom had on students, and the range of needs that young people have.\u201d\n\nZuckerberg, meanwhile, brings an engineering and design perspective to education problems, Shelton said. His focus: \u201chow you get to everyone in the world.\u201d\n\nBoth points of view are reflected in the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative\u2019s early efforts on education.\n\nTo date, CZI has hired both its own engineers and its own learning scientist.\n\nOn the technology side, the initiative has invested in BYJU\u2019S, an India-based startup behind a popular online-learning app, and Enlearn, a Seattle-based nonprofit that has developed a new adaptive-learning platform. The organization has also partnered with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on a $12 million \u201cventure philanthropy\u201d grant award. (The Gates Foundation has also provided grant support for Education Week.)\n\nAt the same time, Shelton has overseen a number of grants to groups without a technology focus. Among them:\n\n\u2022 Vision to Learn, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that has provided free eye exams and prescription glasses to tens of thousands of students;\n\n\u2022 The Center on the Developing Child, a Harvard University research center focused on using science to improve social policy and care for low-income children and families; and\n\n\u2022 SAGA Innovations, a Newtown, Mass.-based nonprofit that provides struggling students with intensive face-to-face help from human tutors.\n\n\u201cMany people have a preconceived notion that \u2018personalized learning\u2019 is a kid in the corner alone with a computer,\u201d Shelton said. \u201cForget about that.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s a welcome message for a field that has long been split into opposing camps, said Robert Schwartz, a professor emeritus of education policy at Harvard and a former director of education grantmaking at the Pew Charitable Trusts.\n\n\u201cSaying we have to focus either on what happens inside schools, or on underlying issues around poverty and communities and families, is a false choice,\u201d Schwartz said. \u201cThis is an important signal that CZI is sending.\u201d\n\nThe initiative\u2019s whole-child focus is also a smart tactical play, said David DeSchryver, a senior vice president at Whiteboard Advisors, an education policy research firm.\n\nOne big reason: the newest version of the main federal K-12 education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act, which is already pushing states and schools to think about more than standardized-test scores when determining what it means to help students thrive.\n\n\u201cIt makes complete sense [for CZI] to push out [its] strategy in the context of what current administrators and leaders are already discussing,\u201d DeSchryver said.\n\nPersonalized Learning Ready to Scale?\n\nStill, some observers worry that the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative\u2019s broad approach will further muddy two concepts\u2014\u201cpersonalized learning\u201d and \u201cwhole child\u201d\u2014that already mean different things to different people.\n\nThe lack of clarity has made the personalized-learning movement hard to evaluate. Research so far is mixed, yielding some promising early findings around specific instructional practices and schools, but limited evidence to back up the transformative potential that proponents describe. The research has also sent strong signals that implementing personalized models is a huge challenge for many schools.\n\nThose dynamics create a dilemma for the CZI. The resulting tension has shown up in Zuckerberg\u2019s public remarks.\n\nIn a March 2016 interview with Education Week, for example, the Facebook CEO said many versions of personalized learning needed to be tested in the real world before any conclusions could be drawn, suggesting a focus on R&D.\n\nBut nine months later, Zuckerberg talked during a speech in Peru about \u201cbringing personalized learning to all children\u201d and helping \u201cupgrade a majority of schools to personalized learning,\u201d suggesting a Silicon Valley-style focus on rapid growth.\n\nIn the interview with Education Week, Shelton sought to straddle that divide. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, he said, will first aim to bring small advances to large numbers of students. As an example, he cited a recent grant to the College Board, aimed at expanding access to the organization\u2019s personalized online SAT preparation and college-planning resources, which have shown early promise.\n\n\u201cYou can bring those incremental improvements to people and improve their lives on a daily basis, even as you figure out how to get better,\u201d Shelton said. \u201cOne small breakthrough leads to another breakthrough leads to another breakthrough, [and] pretty quickly they start adding up.\u201d\n\nBut some skeptics say that if Chan, Zuckerberg, and Shelton were truly interested in seeing a thousand flowers bloom, they would pledge to making the software tools that CZI is developing and supporting open-source. That way, the underlying code would be available to others to use and adapt in ways that their original creators may not have foreseen.\n\nShelton avoided such a commitment. Any such decision would be made \u201cover time,\u201d he said.\n\nBill Fitzgerald, an open-source proponent and the director of the privacy-evaluation initiative at Common Sense Media, a San Francisco-based nonprofit and advocacy group, is among those who find that stance less than satisfying.\n\n\u201cIf you\u2019re serious about allowing people to learn in the ways that make the most sense to them, you have to give them more choices than just using your software, under your rules,\u201d Fitzgerald said.\n\nAnd Stanford University emeritus education professor Larry Cuban described an even more fundamental challenge in bringing personalized learning to scale.\n\nInnovations in public education are more about people than technology, Cuban said. As a result, even the best-funded improvement efforts are often stymied by institutional barriers to changing how teachers teach and children learn.\n\n\u201cWhat they have run up against in public schools are the structures of the age-graded school, the demand of standards, and the responsibility for doing well on standardized tests,\u201d Cuban said.\n\n\u201cIf the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative thinks it will be easy to scale up within those structures, they\u2019re in for a massive disappointment.\u201d\n\nTransparency Concerns\n\nThat\u2019s a reality that Shelton has been wrestling with for a long time.\n\nBefore joining CZI, the 49-year-old Washington, D.C., native worked as a program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. As a top official in President Barack Obama\u2019s Department of Education, he oversaw the Investing in Innovation program, which awarded $1.3 billion in federal grants to create a \u201cpipeline\u201d of research-based interventions.\n\nNeither the foundation nor the department found clear success in bringing educational innovations to scale.\n\nNow, though, Shelton said the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is \u201ctrying to do something that\u2019s never been done before, in a way that has never been done.\u201d\n\nOne big difference is the many levers the organization will be able to pull.\n\nOne example: Traditional nonprofit philanthropies, such as the Gates Foundation, are generally prohibited from lobbying for specific legislation or participating directly in political campaigns. As a limited-liability corporation, CZI is not bound by such rules.\n\nFor now, at least, Shelton said CZI is \u201cjust figuring out how to use\u201d the policy-advocacy tools at its disposal. The organization does not currently have a specific education policy agenda it is seeking to advance, he said.\n\nBut CZI won\u2019t rule out the possibility that it might engage in a host of political activities in the future, including giving to candidates and establishing its own 501(c)4 organization or political action committee.\n\nNor would the initiative commit to publicly disclosing such activity if it occurs.\n\nDespite professing a \u201ccommitment philosophically to transparency,\u201d Shelton declined to commit to letting the public know of all the initiative\u2019s philanthropic grants and for-profit investments.\n\nAnd CZI has clearly signaled its intent to try to shape policy debates in education and to exert different kinds of influence in complementary ways. An online job description for the position of \u201cdirector of innovative schools and tools,\u201d for example, called for someone who can \u201censure our nonprofits and for-profit investments are coordinated for maximum impact.\u201d\n\nThose emphases create the real potential for hidden conflicts, said Sarah Reckhow, an assistant professor of political science at Michigan State University who tracks philanthropic giving in education.\n\nIt\u2019s not hard to imagine a CZI grant award predicated on schools using CZI\u2019s favored software, Reckhow said, or a lobbying campaign to push for a charter school authorizer to approve new schools that use CZI\u2019s favored personalized-learning approach.\n\nSo what is the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative doing to mitigate the potential for problematic overlap in its spheres of influence?\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re paying really close attention,\u201d said Shelton. He added that forcing grantees to adopt specific tools is \u201cnot how we want to operate.\u201d\n\nWhether that\u2019s enough to assuage critics who have already begun to mobilize against the personalized-learning movement\u2014and who have voiced concern at the prospect of another billionaire seeking to push the educational system in his preferred direction\u2014remains to be seen.\n\nUltimately, Shelton said, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative feels as though it\u2019s responsible primarily to the people the organization is hoping to serve.\n\n\u201cWhat we hope to do is understand how we can create the environments, tools, and resources that let all teachers do their best work and all students benefit from their teacher\u2019s best teaching,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cI know many people will be watching.\u201d", "output": "The Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), run by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, is set to invest in a decades-long strategy of \"whole child personalised learning\". The initiative's head, former deputy US Secretary of Education James Shelton, said the concept was about \"understanding students, giving them agency, and letting them do work that is engaging and exciting\". CZI's limited liability status means it can lobby for specific legislation as it \"tries to do something that\u2019s never been done before, in a way that has never been done\". Critics have challenged CZI's apparent lack of transparency."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "LeEco assets worth $180m frozen by Chinese court over arrears \n Chinese firm LeEco's downward spiral continues after unpaid debts lead a Shanghai court to freeze 1.2 billion yuan ($180 million) in assets owned by its subsidiaries, chairman and CEO Jia Yueting and his wife, according to various local media reports citing court documents.\n\nThe assets were originally pledged as collateral in 2015 for a 2.4 billion yuan loan, and cover bank deposits and other assets owned by subsidiaries including LeEco's main listed unit, LeShi Internet Information & Technology, LeShi Mobile Intelligence and LeView Mobile.\n\nThis is the latest blow to LeEco \u2014 once a tech darling success story in China, the firm's fortunes seem to be reversing almost as quickly as they rose. The company, founded by Jia, originally started as an online streaming site before quickly expanding its business into everything from smartphones to electric vehicles. The company even jumped overseas, launching in the U.S. and India.", "output": "Assets worth $180m owned by LeEco's billionaire co-founder, Jia Yueting, his wife and three affiliates have been\u00a0frozen by a Shanghai court after the company failed to pay interest due on bank loans taken out to fund its smartphone business, according to court documents.\u00a0LeEco was\u00a0once a tech success story in China, however, as the company branched out beyond smartphones, it\u00a0spent far beyond its means and failed to sustain its revenues."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Japanese bitcoin exchange bitFlyer offers transaction insurance \n Bitcoin has gained the status of a mainstream currency in Japan. The growth in adoption of a new mode of payment comes with its own set of challenges due to the decentralized nature of the cryptocurrency. Merchants including Bitcoin as a method of payment are a bit apprehensive about possible failed transactions which might force them to incur losses.\n\nThe leading Japanese Bitcoin exchange platform, bitFlyer has come up with a solution for merchants and businesses in the country. The company has partnered with one of the leading Japanese insurance firms, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance to provide retailers with a unique Bitcoin insurance. The new insurance is custom made to address the merchants\u2019 apprehensions about failed cryptocurrency transactions.\n\nThe first of its kind insurance product was released on Friday, and more similar policies are expected to enter the Japanese market soon. The new insurance will cover merchants of damages incurred during the occasions when the customers\u2019 payment doesn\u2019t go through correctly due to system problems or other issues.\n\nA leading financial magazine also provides information about another upcoming insurance offering in the making, created by CoinCheck and Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance.\n\nThe insurance sector has so far been quite apprehensive about the cryptocurrency sector. There have been many instances where similar ideas were shot down before giving it serious consideration. With increasing popularity of Bitcoin, the insurance providers have evolved to meet the changing needs.\n\nEven blockchain technology has gained inroads into the insurance industry. Various companies are currently working on creating distributed ledger based solutions that make use of smart contract to automate the issuance of policies and claim processing. The segment of the industry has already gained a name for itself, \u201cInsurtech\u201d.\n\nAs insurance companies increasingly opt a friendly stance towards cryptocurrencies, more crypto-businesses will opt for the services.\n\nRef: Nikkei | Image: NewsBTC", "output": "Japanese bitcoin exchange bitFlyer has partnered with Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance to provide retail merchants with coverage for failed cryptocurrency transactions. In what is said to be the first product of its kind, the offering covers losses by merchants when customers opting to use a cryptocurrency fail to pay. Another similar offering is reportedly in the works between\u00a0CoinCheck and Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NHS chief says precision medicine calls for routine DNA testing \n Genomic testing should become a normal part of NHS care, beginning with cancer patients and those with rare diseases, says the chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies.\n\nIn her annual report, Davies stresses her enthusiasm for the genomic revolution which could transform the treatment that NHS patients receive. Drugs can be matched to the disease and to the patient to maximise the benefit and reduce side-effects.\n\nThe genome is the collection of 20,000 genes, including 3.2 billion letters of DNA, that make up any individual. We all share about 99.8% of the genome. The secrets of our individuality \u2013 and also of the diseases we are prone to \u2013 lie in the other 0.2%, which is about 3 or 4 million letters of DNA.\n\nDavies says that individual patients have everything to gain from the pooling of data which allows scientists to compare hundreds of thousands of genomes, to find out why some have small mutations or errors in the code that lead to illness. She talked of a new \u201csocial contract\u201d, in which the public recognises that they and everybody else will benefit if they allow data about their own genome to be studied.\n\n\u201cThe age of precision medicine is now and the NHS must act fast to keep its place at the forefront of global science,\u201d said Davies. \u201cThis technology has the potential to change medicine forever \u2013 but we need all NHS staff, patients and the public to recognise and embrace its huge potential. Genomic medicine has huge implications for the understanding and treatment of rare diseases, cancer and infections.\u201d\n\n\n\nCancer and rare diseases are the first targets for genomic medicine. More than 30,000 people have had their genomes sequenced so far. Within five years, she would like to see genomic testing to be as normal as blood tests and biopsies for cancer patients, leading to the most appropriate treatment for the individual. Davies said she wanted to \u201cdemocratise\u201d genomics medicine so that it would be available to every patient for whom it was appropriate.\n\n\u201cThat means we have got to change the NHS system,\u201d she said. Genomics is at present \u201ca cottage industry\u201d which needed to be centralised and extended across the country. \u201cWe need to take the science to the patients and not the patients to the science,\u201d she said.\n\nThere are great potential benefits for patients with rare diseases, defined as those affecting fewer than one in 2,000 patients. But there are at least 6,000 rare diseases worldwide and at least three million people \u2013 often children \u2013 in the UK suffer from them. Genome sequencing is also very useful in infectious diseases, allowing doctors to find out whether antibiotic and antiviral drugs will work in a patient.\n\nAmongst her recommendations, Davies calls for a National Genomics Board to be set up, chaired by a government minister. All genomic laboratories should be centralised and a national network established to provide equal access across the country, she says.", "output": "The UK National Health Service should perform genomic testing to better match patients' diseases to treatment as part of a standard care package, according to\u00a0chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies in her annual report. She also called for the centralisation of all genomic laboratories, and the creation of a National Genomics Board, headed by a government minister. \"Genomic medicine has huge implications for the understanding and treatment of rare diseases, cancer and infections,\" said Davies.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Judge dismisses lawsuit against Facebook tracking logged out users \n A judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by Facebook users aggrieved at being tracked by the social networking giant even after they\u2019d logged out \u2013 by pinning responsibility on plaintiffs to keep their own browsing history private.\n\nJudge rules in favour of Facebook tracking logged-out users\n\nThe court case was brought by users concerned that by clicking \u2018like\u2019 buttons on other websites the Silicon Valley firm would be able to build a picture of an individual\u2019s browsing habits, amounting to a possible infringement of privacy.", "output": "A US District Court judge has thrown out a lawsuit against social media giant Facebook, in which the plaintiffs argued their privacy had been infringed by clicking 'like' buttons on other websites. The claimants also said Facebook could use their browsing behaviour to build up a picture of users' habits. However, Edward Davila ruled the perceived intrusion could be easily blocked using Facebook's own tools. He said: \"The fact that a user\u2019s web browser automatically sends the same information to both parties does not establish that one party intercepted the user\u2019s communication with the other.\""}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook mobile app will roll out WiFi finder feature \n Facebook is rolling out a new feature within its mobile app that will help you find the nearest public Wi-Fi networks anywhere in the world. Originally spotted last November as part of a limited test, the feature is now launching for everyone under the Find WiFi section within the 'More' tab.\n\nYou might be prompted to turn it on first since it's not on by default. Once that's done you will be able to see a list of the closest public Wi-Fi hotspots or browse them on a map, then after clicking on one of them you'll see more information on the businesses hosting it, like open hours, what kind of place it is (restaurant, library, etc.), and the name of their network.\n\nFind WiFi could be useful for people in emerging markets where mobile data is slow or expensive, as well as people who don't want to incur heavy roaming charges when traveling internationally, and otherwise pretty much anyone that doesn't want to eat up their data allowance while using data intensive features like broadcasting through Facebook Live.\n\nThis isn't the first time Facebook tries to facilitate Wi-Fi access. Two years ago, the company partnered with Cisco in a pilot program that offered free internet access in participating businesses in exchange for a check in. It also launched the controversial 'Free Basics' service, which offered free but limited internet access to people who don't have it.\n\nIn this case Facebook isn't providing Wi-Fi hotspots itself, nor it is compiling its own map of businesses offering them. Instead it's simply letting businesses register their hotspots, so they appear under the new Find WiFi menu in the Facebook mobile app.\n\nThe new feature is beginning to roll out on iPhone and Android. Keep in mind that enabling Find WiFi also turns on Facebook's Location History feature which the social network uses to gather data it can then use to sell targeted ads.", "output": "Facebook is rolling out a tool across iPhone and Android, enabling users to find their nearest public WiFi hotspots. Located under the 'More' tab, the Find WiFi feature needs to be turned on to function, although activating it also turns on Facebook's Location History feature, which allows brands to send targeted ads. Find WiFi is Facebook's third foray into facilitating WiFi access and could help international travellers avoid heavy roaming costs, or help people living in areas with slow or costly mobile data."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tencent limits amount of time children can spend on game app \n Generally, the aim for most apps is to increase user engagement time \u2013 but Chinese internet giant Tencent has put restrictions on one of its most popular mobile games, in an attempt to address concerns about children's gaming habits.\n\nHonour of Kings, which is the world's highest-grossing mobile game with over 200m users, is introducing daily time limits for younger players. Users under 12 years of age will be limited to an hour of play each day, and 12-18 year olds will be limited to two hours.\n\nIt is also restricting under-12s from logging into the game after 9pm, and will be putting limits on the amount of money younger users can spend in-app.\n\nThe game's 200m-strong audience is primarily Chinese and young \u2013 over a quarter are under 19, according to data firm Jiguang, putting them in the age range for these new measures.\n\nDon\u2019t forget to enter the Effective Mobile Marketing Awards. The Early Bird deadline for submissions is 22 July. More details here.", "output": "Up to a quarter of the 200 million Chinese gamers playing Honour of Kings, the world's highest-grossing mobile game, could be affected by Tencent's decision to bring in daily time limits for players aged up to 18 years. The tech giant, responding to concerns about children's gaming habits, has said users below the age of 12 will be limited to an hour's daily play, while user aged between 12 and 18 will have two hours."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Politicians demand deposit return scheme to limit plastic waste \n The UK government is under growing pressure to introduce a money-back return scheme for plastic bottles, in order to tackle huge volumes of waste in a country where 400 bottles are sold every second.\n\nOpposition parties have called on ministers to introduce a deposit return scheme that experts say would drastically reduce the number of plastic bottles littering streets and seas around the UK. Similar schemes have been successfully introduced in at least a dozen countries.\n\n\n\nThe idea has the backing of global drinks company Coca-Cola and comes amid warnings that the worldwide plastics binge poses as serious a threat as climate change.\n\nSue Hayman, Labour\u2019s shadow environment secretary, urged the government to take swift action. \u201cA deposit return scheme would have widespread public support and would go a long way to ensuring that we recycle as much of our waste as possible,\u201d she said.\n\nKate Parminter, environment spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, said momentum was growing behind calls for a deposit return scheme. \u201cEarlier this year, Coca-Cola said to the Scottish parliament they would back a well-designed deposit return scheme,\u201d she said. \u201cNow that industry are backing this scheme, it is high time the UK government began to throw their weight behind it.\u201d\n\nLast week, new figures obtained by the Guardian established that a million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute and the number will jump another 20% by 2021.\n\nAccording to an unpublished parliamentary report, more than 4m plastic bottles a week could be prevented from littering streets and marine environments in Britain if authorities adopted the kind of deposit return schemes that operate in countries like Germany and Australia.\n\n\n\nThe Conservative party\u2019s manifesto did not mention such a scheme in the run-up to last month\u2019s general election, but a spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the idea was being considered as part of a wider litter strategy launched in April.\n\n\u201cWe have made great progress in boosting recycling rates for plastic bottles, with their collection for recycling rising from less than 13,000 tonnes in 2000 to over 330,000 tonnes in 2015,\u201d the spokesman said. \u201cWe are considering further the practical ways in which we can deal with the worst kinds of litter, including plastic bottles.\u201d\n\nHowever, Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion and co-leader of the Green party, said ministers must do more.\n\n\u201cThe government is under growing pressure to take action on the plastic bottle crisis,\u201d she said. \u201cWith such a slender majority in the House of Commons, and with the public swinging behind the campaign against plastic waste, there is a real chance that ministers will consider introducing a bottle deposit scheme.\n\n\u201cFor a government desperate to salvage its reputation, taking such a simple step forward isn\u2019t just the right thing to do \u2013 it serves their self-interest too.\u201d\n\n\n\nIn Scotland, support is growing for a deposit return scheme. Last week, the Scottish National party launched a detailed study into how such a scheme for bottles and cans would work.\n\nRoseanna Cunningham, the Scottish environment secretary, said: \u201cClearly there are a number of issues for the Scottish government to consider when it comes to deposit return schemes, which can only be addressed by carrying out work to understand the design of a potential system.\u201d\n\nRecycling rates for plastic bottles in Britain stand at 59%, compared with more than 90% in countries that operate deposit return schemes, such as Germany, Norway and Sweden.\n\n\n\nCoca-Cola in Britain and Europe has made a U-turn on deposit schemes and now supports their adoption in the UK, after pressure from environment and anti-waste campaigners. \u201cWe believe a new approach is needed,\u201d the company said in a report to the environmental audit committee before its inquiry into plastic bottles was dropped after the dissolution of parliament.\n\n\u201cFrom our experiences in other countries, we believe a well-designed, industry-run drinks container deposit return scheme could help increase recycling and reduce littering,\u201d Coca-Cola added.\n\nBetween 5m and 13m tonnes of plastic end up in the world\u2019s oceans each year, to be ingested by sea birds, fish and other organisms, and by 2050 the oceans will contain more plastic by weight than fish, according to research by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.\n\nCampaigners say plastic is polluting every natural system and an increasing number of organisms on the planet, with some of it already finding its way into the human food chain.", "output": "A money-back return scheme for plastic bottles is being promoted by opposition political parties in the UK. The country currently sees 400 bottles sold every second and has recycling rates for the items of just 59%, compared to over 90% in countries with deposit return. Campaigners from parties including the Greens, Labour and the Liberal Democrats have called for the introduction of a scheme similar to those successfully adopted in at least a dozen countries including Australia and Germany and which has the support of Coca-Cola. The initiative could prevent over 4 million bottles a week ending up as litter. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK could be sued by investors for Brexit compensation \n Until a week ago when people spoke about the Brexit bill, they meant the financial settlement between the EU and the UK. But now, a different bill has made headlines, first in legal blogs, then in the press. According to these reports, investors could sue the UK, seeking compensation for losses arising because of Brexit.\n\nWhat is this about?\n\nImagine you are a Chinese investor. The fame of your product has spread to France, and so, in 2014, you decided to set up a factory in Europe. Because your staff speak English and you are more familiar with the English legal system you opted for the UK as your preferred location, relying on the ability to have your product approved for the whole EU and to trade freely with your French customers. Looking forward to a massive increase of your business in Europe, you poured \u00a3100 million into your new factory. By 2015 it was up and running.\n\nThen, the UK voted for Brexit. You learn that if the UK leaves the EU without a deal, shipments of your product to the Continent would be subjected to a 5% tariff. Your margins do not allow you to absorb this amount yourself, but you cannot pass it on to your customers either, as that would price you out of the market. Your investment is turning sour. Like any rational investor, you start looking for a way to minimize your losses. Your lawyer advises you to sue the UK government the day after Brexit happens. For \u00a3100 million.\n\nCan you win?\n\nThe law that decides that question is called \u201cinternational investment law\u201d. It is a network of more than two thousand treaties signed mostly between two countries (so-called \u2018bilateral investment treaties\u2019 or \u2018BITs\u2019) and protecting investors. UNCTAD lists 95 of such treaties in force for the United Kingdom. Their structure is often quite similar: they mainly provide for a right of compensation in case of expropriation of the investments of nationals or companies from one of the treaty parties by the other party, and for the obligation to afford such investments fair and equitable treatment.\n\nIf a state violates these commitments, the investor has the right to sue the state for damages before an international arbitral tribunal (referred to as \u2018investor-state dispute settlement\u2019, or ISDS). The number of cases filed under such agreements has skyrocketed lately and has led to public opposition against the inclusion of ISDS in the negotiations for the trade agreement between the EU and the USA.\n\nThe question then is, whether the changes brought about by Brexit would violate the UK\u2019s bilateral investment treaties. Brexit clearly does not lead to the direct expropriation of our Chinese firm\u2019s investment. However, it is recognized in investment law that if regulatory action by the host country unreasonably interferes with an investment so that an investor cannot enjoy it, the investor can demand compensation \u2013 e.g. claiming a violation of \u2018fair and equitable treatment\u2019. Where to draw the line between legitimate regulation and unfair treatment of an investor is contested.\n\nMost arbitrators would likely regard Brexit (and its consequences) as a legitimate exercise of regulatory powers by the UK. They would argue that investors\u2019 expectations that the UK stay in the EU are not protected under investment treaties, and so investors cannot demand compensation.\n\nBut some arbitrators might disagree. They could refer to case law that regards a fundamental change of the regulatory regime which does not take into account the consequences for investments made under the previous regime as a violation of the state\u2019s obligations. It was under this rationale that Spain was ordered to compensate a British and a Luxembourgois investor for a role-back of its incentives for solar power.\n\nTo be clear: there are a number of other legal hurdles for a Brexit-related investment claim to succeed. The investor would need to demonstrate that the regulatory regime under which it operates has deteriorated significantly because of Brexit. This will more likely than not be the case for an investor\u2019s ability to trade with the EU.\n\nSecond: the investor must be protected by an investment treaty. Not every country that is a significant source of investment into the UK has an investment agreement with the UK: the USA, Japan, and most EU member states do not. China does. But even where there is no treaty, investors often \u2013 for tax reasons \u2013 invest through subsidiaries, so that investment ultimately can flow into the UK from surprising sources. Third: the investor must file a case against the UK, prove the damages it claims and an arbitrator must follow a minority position on the interpretation of the protection provided by these agreements.\n\nHowever, the government can \u2013 through action and inaction \u2013 make it more likely that investors bring successful investment arbitration claims. Unaware of this risk, the government currently seems to be doing both.\n\nAn investor is more likely to win its case if it has obtained concrete commitments or assurances from the government that are not kept. A letter to an investor committing to concrete Brexit outcomes could prove disastrous. The government\u2019s correspondence with Nissan raises a red flag in this regard, although its content is not known.\n\nArbitration is also more likely to succeed where the government could provide for regulatory continuity but does not. This is a task the \u201cGreat Repeal Bill\u201d has to tackle. But the devil here is in the detail. A significant example in this regard is EU trademarks. Currently, trademarks registered with the EU Intellectual Property Office are valid in all member states \u2013 including the UK.\n\nAs EU trademarks are granted by an EU institution under EU law, they will cease to be valid for the UK upon Brexit, unless the government takes action. The Great Repeal Bill White Paper does not yet propose a solution for this issue. The number of EU trademarks is significant; the financial harm that could be caused by the loss of rights in the UK is, as well. The government should be aware of it and take action.\n\nBy Dr Holger Hestermeyer, Shell Reader in International Dispute Resolution at King\u2019s College London and a Senior Research Fellow at the Transnational Law Institute.", "output": "Investors could sue the UK for compensation for losses resulting from Brexit, according to some legal experts. International investment law, a combination of over 2,000 treaties, most of which are bilateral investment treaties signed between two countries, is designed to protect investors. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development lists 95 such treaties relating to the UK. Most provide a right of compensation if investments are expropriated and stipulate an obligation to treat such investments fairly and equitably. Some analysts argue that investors could have a right to sue if Brexit violates such commitments."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Johnson & Johnson faces class action over vaginal mesh product \n A pharmaceutical giant allegedly played down the risks of a vaginal medical device that has caused debilitating and irreparable pain to thousands of women after giving birth.\n\nInstead it was \u201caggressively marketing\u201d the products to surgeons as a cheap and easy way to boost their profits.\n\nUp to 8,000 women in Australia and 100,000 worldwide are thought to have used the vaginal mesh and tape implants, which were produced by the Johnson & Johnson group as a low-cost way to treat prolapsed pelvic floors and urinary incontinence usually caused by complications after giving birth.\n\nOn Tuesday, a trial involving 700 Australian patients against three Johnson & Johnson companies began in the federal court. Many of the women allege the devices ruined their lives.\n\nThey suffered irreparable, debilitating pain after the devices began to erode into surrounding tissue and organs, causing infections and complications. The mesh is unable to be removed. Even after further surgery, women continue to suffer chronic pain.\n\nJohnson & Johnson allegedly failed to properly warn patients and surgeons of the risk, or test the devices adequately.\n\nTransvaginal mesh implants were designed to treat prolapsed pelvic floors and urinary incontinence.\n\nThe trial has been described as one of the country\u2019s largest product liability class actions, and Shine Lawyers, representing the applicants, described its commencement as an important step on the road to justice, accountability and recompense.\n\nOne woman involved in the case, Joanne Maninon, spoke outside of court on Tuesday. She said she wants to make sure no woman is ever subjected to the trauma inflicted by the devices again.\n\n\u201cIt can\u2019t go on,\u201d Maninon said. \u201cThere\u2019s too many women who have gone through the pain, the complications ... it\u2019s lifelong,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cYou can\u2019t just have the mesh removed. You\u2019re damaged for life.\u201d\n\nThe case is expected to run for six months, and Tony Bannon SC began a four-day opening submission on Tuesday. He said Johnson & Johnson had aggressively marketed the lucrative benefits of the products to surgeons.\n\nThe risks of the surgery, Bannon alleged, were either minimised or not communicated to either surgeon or patient.\n\n\u201c[They were] overwhelmed by a tidal wave of aggressive promotion, designed to persuade both surgeons and patients of the quick, easy one operation able to resolve the particular difficulties,\u201d Bannon told the court.\n\nHe said the company saw a \u201cvaluable market\u201d to be gained through emphasising the speed and ease with which the devices could be installed.\n\nIt\u2019s alleged the consultants engaged to trial the devices knew the risks.\n\nBannon cited an email exchange, involving French doctors enlisted for the trial, which appeared to show awareness of the dangers associated with surgery. One doctor wrote that he would \u201cnot like my wife to undergo this procedure\u201d, and did not think he would be \u201calone\u201d in that view.\n\nThe doctor is now earning royalties from their use, the court heard.\n\n\u201cThat is one of the transvaginal mesh team members, one of the consultants. His view is that \u2018I wouldn\u2019t like my wife to undergo that, and I don\u2019t think I\u2019m alone\u2019,\u201d Bannon said.\n\nHe said the comment was known to Johnson and Johnson, but was not followed up.\n\nThe mesh is designed to cause inflammation upon its surgical insertion, to help fix it in place. But the inflammation did not subside as intended. The continuing inflammation allegedly caused the mesh to stiffen, meaning it did not have the flexibility the body requires.\n\nJohnson & Johnson, which has also faced action in the United States, stopped selling the product. It claimed this was a commercial decision.\n\nBannon characterised it as an act designed to limit the number of women given the device, and therefore reduce its exposure to damages.\n\n\u201cAt the end of the day, apart from being an ethical decision, I suppose that\u2019s a commercial decision as well,\u201d he said.\n\nThe tape product is still being sold by Johnson & Johnson. The trial continues on Tuesday.", "output": "Johnson & Johnson has been accused of downplaying the risks of a vaginal mesh it produced to treat complications arising from childbirth in an Australian court case involving 700 patients. The mesh and tape implants, believed to have been used by up to 100,000 women worldwide, cannot be removed and have caused some women to experience chronic pain. Johnson & Johnson is alleged to have failed to issue proper warning to surgeons and patients and is accused of failing to adequately test the devices. The case is one of Australia\u2019s largest ever product liability class actions."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Autonomous vehicles said to be hitting puberty \n For most people, self-driving cars are just an abstraction, something they read about occasionally in the press but still consider a far-off, futuristic fantasy. They read the headlines and scoff, \u201cNot in my lifetime.\u201d But the events of this past month may help put a lot of that skepticism to rest. There was a flurry of activity in both Congress and the private sector over the past few weeks, signaling a key shift in the trajectory of self-driving cars and proving that these vehicles are much closer to reality than most people think.\n\nExperts whose job it is to pay close attention to this emerging technology have been impressed with the pace of developments in the last few weeks. \u201cOut of the past three years that I've been researching [autonomous vehicle] policy, this is by far the most important month of Congressional action and partnerships I've seen yet,\u201d said Greg Rogers, a policy analyst at the Eno Center for Transportation. \u201cWhat we're seeing right now is that autonomous vehicles are moving from their infancy into their adolescence.\u201d\n\n\u201cthis is by far the most important month\u201d\n\nFirst, and most significantly, the first federal legislation to regulate self-driving cars in the US was introduced on June 20th. These bills \u2014 there are 14 of them \u2014 would give the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) the power to increase the number of self-driving cars on public roads. And they would preempt the current patchwork of state laws regarding the enforcement of autonomous driving. Automakers and the big tech companies are in favor of the bills for two main reasons: they want to get their robot cars on the road faster than their competitors, and they would rather abide by one overarching set of federal laws than 50 individual state laws.\n\nThe package of bill includes a proposal to increase federal motor vehicle safety standard (FMVSS) exemption caps from 2,500 to 100,000 \u2014 which is a wonky way of saying that it would allow automakers and tech firms to test (and eventually deploy) autonomous vehicles without steering wheels, brake pedals, and other components designed with humans in mind and required by federal safety standards. Right now, these companies are testing cars that can at best be considered Level 3 autonomous, meaning they still require some human intervention. Some states have passed laws allowing for the testing of higher levels of automation, but most have yet to take up any legislation.\n\n\u201cThe enabling factor \u2014 and maybe the limiting factor \u2014 will be the passage of the laws being considered by Congress right now,\u201d Rogers said. \u201cCompanies like Waymo, Uber, and GM (via Lyft) can only get a critical mass of fully driverless cars on the road if Congress expands NHTSA's exemption authorities and preempts the patchwork of state regulations that are creating a lot of uncertainty right now.\u201d\n\n\u201cSilicon Valley is still the golden child of America\u201d\n\nAnd even more surprising, there appears to be some bipartisan consensus around these bills, proving that even in a gridlocked, polarized political environment, Silicon Valley and the big automakers still hold enormous sway over politicians. \u201cSilicon Valley is still the golden child of America \u2014 the actual shining city on a hill, with Detroit just a little bit behind,\u201d Rogers said. \u201cGOP naturally wants to seize on this opportunity to build up an industry.\u201d\n\nSome experts were surprised by how quickly Congress tackled automated vehicle policy. Jim McPherson, an attorney and consultant on self-driving cars, said that Congressional action was \u201cboth long overdue... yet remarkably rapid,\u201d because the Obama administration\u2019s Federal Automated Vehicles Policy just came out last September. \u201cWhether the final bills look like House and Senate drafts is yet to be determined,\u201d he added.\n\nStill, there are a few dissenting voices. Safety and consumer advocates decry the bills as an enormous giveaway to the companies Waymo (n\u00e9e Google) and Uber that are building and testing self-driving cars. Their opposition could hurt the passage of these bills, especially since the motivating force behind self-driving cars is their promise to reduce or eliminate traffic fatalities.\n\nWaymo\n\n\u201cWhile we see great potential for the future of autonomous vehicles, basic safeguards and reasonable industry accountability are essential,\u201d Jacqueline Gillan, president of the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, testified at a House hearing on the legislation. \u201cTesting and government oversight will not inhibit technological creativity and innovation, but without them, it will inhibit and threaten public protection and acceptance.\u201d\n\na clearer sense of how AVs will be physically be managed as a commercial asset\n\nBeyond Washington, DC, a number of key deals were made, giving us a clearer sense of how autonomous vehicles will be physically managed as a commercial asset. Its all fun and games to talk about self-driving cars taking over the roads, saving hundreds of thousands of lives and maybe putting just as many people out of work. But who will operate these cars? Who will own them? And how will we use them? This past month, we finally got some answers.\n\nAlphabet\u2019s Waymo announced a partnership with Avis to manage its fleet of autonomous vehicles in Arizona. Meanwhile, it was revealed that Apple is leasing its small fleet of self-driving cars from Hertz. That\u2019s right: old-fashioned car rental companies are suddenly in vogue.\n\nLegacy car rental companies have long worried about their place in the \u201cnew mobility\u201d ecosystem. Over the last year, Hertz stock had dropped by more than 75 percent amid falling revenue and profit, and investor concern about the role rental companies will play in an automotive industry where self-driving cars and ride-hailing play a greater role. But the news about Apple has sent Hertz\u2019s stock soaring to its highest levels in almost two years. Avis\u2019 stock was also up noticeably.\n\nold-fashioned car rental companies are suddenly in vogue\n\nThe headlines sound forgettable at first glance. But both Avis and Hertz have something that most tech companies working on driverless cars lack: a sprawling network of customers and vehicles, and decades-long experience in managing huge fleets of cars with high usage rates.\n\nTheoretically, self-driving cars will need more maintenance than personally owned vehicles, especially if they are deployed in a ride-hailing capacity. Waymo and Uber have said they envision their cars constantly picking up and dropping off passengers, conjuring up the image of the \u201cperpetual trip.\u201d John Krafcik, CEO of Waymo, estimates his vehicles will log around six times more miles per year than average cars. That will mean more wear and tear than your average vehicle \u2014 which Avis and Hertz are perfectly positioned to take on.\n\n\u201cFrankly, car rental companies are the best positioned to reinvent themselves and survive in this (for lack of a better term) brave new world of transportation technology,\u201d Rogers said.\n\nThere was a bunch more news this past month that pushed the needle forward on self-driving cars. GM announced that it had begun production of 130 more self-driving Chevy Bolts to eventually add to its fleet of 50 that are currently being tested on the streets of San Francisco. Nvidia, one of the largest chipmakers in the world, said it would work with Volvo and Volkswagen to build high-tech \u201cbrains\u201d for their self-driving cars. The growing list of partnerships involving self-driving cars underscores the assumption that no one company will be the dominate player in this industry. In the early days, everyone will need to work together to overcome societal roadblocks.\n\nThey wreck our bodies and our souls, but we are addicted to their cold, hard steel\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t expect any of these recent partnership agreements to be long-lived, entirely exclusive, or without an escape clause,\u201d McPherson, the automated vehicle consultant, said. \u201cParties will use the relationships to learn complementary businesses, try out what works, and try to be first to market with an end-to-end solution. The prize for being first-to-market with a safe, profitable autonomous vehicle is beyond estimation, but at the very least, that company will be worth as much Uber's valuation.\u201d\n\nMoreover, these announcement may put to rest some of the more nagging questions about self-driving cars. But they probably won\u2019t do much to dampen the skepticism that surrounds this technology. As a species, we have been driving automobiles for well over a century. They wreck our bodies and our souls, but we are addicted to their cold, hard steel. We believe their marketing campaigns when it appeals to our collective sense of rugged individualism. Recent surveys show that the automakers will have to pry the steering wheel from our cold, dead fingers before we let robots take over our roads.\n\nThat\u2019s why small experiments, like the one the University of Michigan launched recently, will make a huge difference. Starting this fall, the university plans to deploy two completely driverless shuttles, manufactured by French startup Navya, to service a two-mile route. The shuttle can carry a maximum of 15 passengers, and lacks a steering wheel or pedals.\n\nThese experiments allows for more accurate mapping, which in turn leads to more accurate driving. As the technology improves, self-driving cars will be able to drive confidently in wider geographic areas. But the need to start small underpins the skepticism that many people still have toward self-driving vehicles. A gradual roll-out \u2014 on university campuses, corporate campuses, and in small, geofenced areas \u2014 will help acclimate people to the driverless experience. Once people realize that self-driving cars aren\u2019t going to kill them, and can actually be kind of adorable and convenient, the technology will have truly arrived.", "output": "Recent congressional action and partnerships between car makers and tech companies have shifted autonomous vehicles from infancy to adolescence, said Greg Rogers, a policy analyst at the Eno Center for Transportation. Introduced on 20 June, the first federal legislation to regulate self-driving cars includes proposals to allow companies to test and deploy autonomous vehicles without steering wheels and brake pedals. Meanwhile, Alphabet self-driving vehicle subsidiary Waymo has partnered with Avis to manage its fleet of autonomous vehicles in Arizona and Apple is leasing a small fleet of self-driving cars from car rental company Hertz."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Oil prices below $50 'not sustainable' for US shale: Continental's Hamm \n U.S. shale oil pioneer Harold Hamm on Wednesday warned that sub-$40 crude would cause many U.S. producers to stop drilling and warned fellow CEOs to exercise discipline.\n\nU.S. crude prices have plunged nearly 18 percent this year, giving up the gains they accrued after OPEC and other exporters agreed to reduce output last winter. The cuts aim to shrink global crude stockpiles and support prices, but rising production in the United States and elsewhere has made that effort harder.\n\nOn Wednesday, U.S. crude traded at about $44 a barrel.\n\n\"This price ... is not sustainable,\" Hamm, CEO and chairman of Continental Resources , told CNBC's \"Squawk Box.\" \"It needs to be north of $50 for sure to be sustainable in the world.\"", "output": "Oil prices below $50/bbl are not sustainable and If the price of oil falls below $40/bbl it would force drillers to reduce capital expenditures and stop drilling new wells, causing output to dry up and leaving the market undersupplied, said shale pioneer Harold Hamm, CEO of Continental Resources. \"While this period of adjustment is going on, drillers don't want to drill themselves into oblivion\", he said.\u00a0\"Back up, and be prudent and use some discipline.\u00a0That's what we're doing at Continental and there are other CEOs I think that are probably doing the same thing.\""}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BNEF offers bleak outlook on coal's future \n This article first appeared on Bloomberg View and the Bloomberg Terminal.\n\nBy Nathaniel Bullard\n\nBloomberg New Energy Finance\u2019s latest New Energy Outlook points the way to a sunny, windy future for the global electric power industry. That doesn\u2019t mean that fossil fuels (or nuclear power) will vanish. It also doesn\u2019t mean that all fossil fuels are the same. The future of natural gas and coal is a tale of two resources \u2014 one a story of rising fortunes, the other of slow decline.\n\nThe latest outlook on natural gas is brighter than ever: BNEF\u2019s forecast for gas shows a higher estimate for consumption in 2040 than in previous years, with a short decline at the end of this decade.\n\n(Mostly) Up and Up\n\nGlobal gas consumption for power generation\n\nSource: Bloomberg New Energy Finance New Energy Outlook 2017\n\nCoal is a different matter. Coal demand is expected to peak late next decade, then decline almost every year to reach a low of 3.1 billion metric tons in 2040, about 25 percent lower than at its peak.\n\nUp \u2026Then Way Down\n\nGlobal coal consumption for power generation\n\nSource: Bloomberg New Energy Finance New Energy Outlook 2017\n\nThis long-term outlook is nuanced, as it should be. The aggregated demand for each fuel from 2020 to 2040 has not changed much in three successive New Energy Outlook reports. Total gas consumption has only increased 6 percent since the 2015 report, while coal consumption from 2020 to 2040 \u2014 despite the plunge that is now expected, as noted above \u2014 has only changed 3.5 percent, and was exactly the same in 2016.\n\nHowever, the shape of that coal curve is still important, even if the volume hasn\u2019t changed much. A coal mine that opens today could have a 60-year life, but it is likely to be one fraught with oversupply and competition from other coal producers, as well as other technologies.\n\nSo how does the 2017 New Energy Outlook for gas and coal compare to how major oil companies and the International Energy Agency see it?1\n\nFor gas, everyone agrees: Consumption grows. Royal Dutch Shell Plc expects gas consumption to more than double and, perhaps not surprisingly, Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP Plc also expect consumption to increase at least 50 percent. BNEF\u2019s expectations are a bit more muted.\n\nUp and Up\n\nGlobal gas consumption for power generation (rebased 2015=100)\n\nSources: Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Exxon Mobil, BP, Shell, International Energy Agency\n\nThe outlook for coal isn\u2019t so uniform. Shell and Exxon Mobil\u2019s outlooks are both peak coal scenarios, at least for power generation. BP and the IEA expect slow increases in coal consumption.\n\nThen there is BNEF.\n\nOnly One Forecasts a Decline\n\nGlobal coal consumption for power generation (rebased to 2015=100)\n\nSources: Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP, International Energy Agency\n\nOf these five coal outlooks, one is negative, two show eventual declines after future peaks, and the others are up and up. The differences are more than academic. Energy and resources companies make large, long-term bets on future demand for coal, gas, and oil. The gap between forecasts and reality can be costly, in an era when a liquefied natural gas project can cost $54 billion. Companies (and energy markets) going long on gas for power generation are at least playing into a consensus view on overall increasing consumption. Companies and energy markets might be doing the same on coal \u2014 but the long-term outlook doesn\u2019t bear them out.", "output": "Bloomberg New Energy Finance\u2019s New Energy Outlook has presented a bleak picture\u00a0for\u00a0the future of\u00a0coal, signalling that\u00a0solar, wind and natural gas power represent\u00a0the future of the energy industry. Coal demand is expected\u00a0to peak in the next decade, before falling nearly every year and\u00a0reaching 3.1bn metric tons in 2040, a 25% decline. Natural gas, in contrast, has brighter prospects, showing\u00a0a higher consumption rate in 2040 than in previous years, despite a short drop at the end of the current decade.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Secrets of 2,000-year-old Roman maritime concrete revealed \n ROMACONS drilling at a marine structure in Portus Cosanus, Tuscany, 2003. Drilling is by permission of the Soprintendenza Archeologia per la Toscana. Credit: J.P. Oleson\n\nAround A.D. 79, Roman author Pliny the Elder wrote in his Naturalis Historia that concrete structures in harbors, exposed to the constant assault of the saltwater waves, become \"a single stone mass, impregnable to the waves and every day stronger.\"\n\nHe wasn't exaggerating. While modern marine concrete structures crumble within decades, 2,000-year-old Roman piers and breakwaters endure to this day, and are stronger now than when they were first constructed. University of Utah geologist Marie Jackson studies the minerals and microscale structures of Roman concrete as she would a volcanic rock. She and her colleagues have found that seawater filtering through the concrete leads to the growth of interlocking minerals that lend the concrete added cohesion. The results are published today in American Mineralogist.\n\nRoman concrete vs. Portland cement\n\nRomans made concrete by mixing volcanic ash with lime and seawater to make a mortar, and then incorporating into that mortar chunks of volcanic rock, the \"aggregate\" in the concrete. The combination of ash, water, and quicklime produces what is called a pozzolanic reaction, named after the city of Pozzuoli in the Bay of Naples. The Romans may have gotten the idea for this mixture from naturally cemented volcanic ash deposits called tuff that are common in the area, as Pliny described.\n\nThe conglomerate-like concrete was used in many architectural structures, including the Pantheon and Trajan's Markets in Rome. Massive marine structures protected harbors from the open sea and served as extensive anchorages for ships and warehouses.\n\nModern Portland cement concrete also uses rock aggregate, but with an important difference: the sand and gravel particles are intended to be inert. Any reaction with the cement paste could form gels that expand and crack the concrete.\n\n\"This alkali-silica reaction occurs throughout the world and it's one of the main causes of destruction of Portland cement concrete structures,\" Jackson says. A video abstract of the remarkable properties of Roman concrete. Credit: University of Utah\n\nRediscovering Roman concrete\n\nJackson's interest in Roman concrete began with a sabbatical year in Rome. She first studied tuffs and then investigated volcanic ash deposits, soon becoming fascinated with their roles in producing the remarkable durability of Roman concrete.\n\nAlong with colleagues, Jackson began studying the factors that made architectural concrete in Rome so resilient. One factor, she says, is that the mineral intergrowths between the aggregate and the mortar prevent cracks from lengthening, while the surfaces of nonreactive aggregates in Portland cement only help cracks propagate farther.\n\nIn another study of drill cores of Roman harbor concrete collected by the ROMACONS project in 2002-2009, Jackson and colleagues found an exceptionally rare mineral, aluminous tobermorite (Al-tobermorite) in the marine mortar. The mineral crystals formed in lime particles through pozzolanic reaction at somewhat elevated temperatures. The presence of Al-tobermorite surprised Jackson. \"It's very difficult to make,\" she says of the mineral. Synthesizing it in the laboratory requires high temperatures and results in only small quantities.\n\nSeawater corrosion\n\nFor the new study, Jackson and other researchers returned to the ROMACONS drill cores, examining them with a variety of methods, including microdiffraction and microfluorescence analyses at the Advanced Light Source beamline 12.3.2 at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. They found that Al-tobermorite and a related zeolite mineral, phillipsite, formed in pumice particles and pores in the cementing matrix. From previous work, the team knew that the pozzolanic curing process of Roman concrete was short-lived. Something else must have caused the minerals to grow at low temperature long after the concrete had hardened. \"No one has produced tobermorite at 20 degrees Celsius,\" she says. \"Oh\u2014except the Romans!\"\n\n\"As geologists, we know that rocks change,\" Jackson says. \"Change is a constant for earth materials. So how does change influence the durability of Roman structures?\"\n\nThe team concluded that when seawater percolated through the concrete in breakwaters and in piers, it dissolved components of the volcanic ash and allowed new minerals to grow from the highly alkaline leached fluids, particularly Al-tobermorite and phillipsite. This Al-tobermorite has silica-rich compositions, similar to crystals that form in volcanic rocks. The crystals have platy shapes that reinforce the cementing matrix. The interlocking plates increase the concrete's resistance to brittle fracture.\n\nThis microscopic image shows the lumpy calcium-aluminum-silicate-hydrate (C-A-S-H) binder material that forms when volcanic ash, lime, and seawater mix. Platy crystals of Al-tobermorite have grown amongst the C-A-S-H cementing matrix. Credit: Marie Jackson.\n\nJackson says that this corrosion-like process would normally be a bad thing for modern materials. \"We're looking at a system that's contrary to everything one would not want in cement-based concrete,\" she says. \"We're looking at a system that thrives in open chemical exchange with seawater.\"\n\nModern Roman concrete\n\nGiven the durability advantages of Roman concrete, why isn't it used more often, particularly since manufacturing of Portland cement produces substantial carbon dioxide emissions?\n\n\"The recipe was completely lost,\" Jackson says. She has extensively studied ancient Roman texts, but hasn't yet uncovered the precise methods for mixing the marine mortar, to fully recreate the concrete.\n\n\"Romans were fortunate in the type of rock they had to work with,\" she says. \"They observed that volcanic ash grew cements to produce the tuff. We don't have those rocks in a lot of the world, so there would have to be substitutions made.\"\n\nShe is now working with geological engineer Tom Adams to develop a replacement recipe, however, using materials from the western U.S. The seawater in her experiments comes from the Berkeley, California, marina, collected by Jackson herself.\n\nRoman concrete takes time to develop strength from seawater, and features less compressive strength than typical Portland cement. For those reasons, it's unlikely that Roman concrete could become widespread, but could be useful in particular contexts.\n\nJackson recently weighed in on a proposed tidal lagoon to be built in Swansea, United Kingdom, to harness tidal power. The lagoon, she says, would need to operate for 120 years to recoup the costs incurred to build it. \"You can imagine that, with the way we build now, it would be a mass of corroding steel by that time.\" A Roman concrete prototype, on the other hand, could remain intact for centuries.\n\nJackson says that while researchers have answered many questions about the mortar of the concrete, the long-term chemical reactions in the aggregate materials remain unexplored. She intends to continue the work of Pliny and other Roman scholars who worked assiduously to discover the secrets of their concrete. \"The Romans were concerned with this,\" Jackson says. \"If we're going to build in the sea, we should be concerned with it too.\"\n\nMore information: American Mineralogist, dx.doi.org/10.2138/am-2017-5993CCBY", "output": "Researchers from the University of Utah have studied Roman concrete marine structures to find why they last for thousands of years and are stronger now than when they were first constructed while modern marine concrete structures crumble within decades. They found that the seawater filtered through the material adds cohesion and strength through interlocking minerals. Modern concrete is designed to be inert, while Roman concrete is more flexible and durable, giving it its longevity. The researchers are investigating how to replicate the ancient material today."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "iZettle platform gains 1,000 businesses a day \n iZettle founder and CEO Jacob de Geer. iZettle\n\nCOPENHAGEN, Denmark \u2014 iZettle, the fast-growing Swedish payment terminal company, is signing 1,000 new businesses a day and seeing huge traction in the UK.\n\nCEO and founder Jacob de Geer told Business Insider at the Money2020 conference last week: \"We see our strongest growth in the UK, it's our biggest market.\"\n\niZettle makes a payment terminal that allows people to accept card payments using their smartphone or iPad. The company operates across 12 markets globally.\n\nDe Geer said: \"If you look at growth, I think by now we take on roughly 1,000 small businesses per day, which I think is quite significant for a B2B [business-to-business] company, especially considering the restraints put on us by the regulator: having to adhere to know-your-customer directives, anti-money laundering regulation etc.\"\n\niZettle, founded in 2010, only has around 500 staff globally and de Geer says the company is able to onboard so many new customers thanks to investment in machine learning.\n\n\"Since day one, our core focus in terms of machine learning and AI went into onboarding,\" he said. \"That has resulted in a process where we can automatically handle massive volumes of merchants across a multitude of markets wanting to take on our product.\"\n\nDe Geer added: \"We've been iterating and developed out risk and onboarding platform over 7 years now. It's nothing that you just turn on or off. It's constant iteration with a lot of people involved.\"\n\nJack Dorsey, the cofounder of Twitter and rival payment terminal company Square, made a similar point about using AI for onboarding during his keynote speech at Money2020. Square recently launched in the UK, its first European market, but de Geer is unfazed by the competition.\n\niZettle's payment terminal. iZettle\n\n\"I think it will probably take them a while before they're fully up and running,\" he said. \"Eventually, we'll definitely notice their presence. But this market is so big. 95% of all businesses are within our joint segment. So there's definitely room for more than one player.\"\n\nDe Geer is, however, worried about Brexit. He said: \"We're equally worried about Brexit, as I would say most people in Britain are. I would say the problem for everybody, [is that] the consequences of Brexit are still up in the air. Nobody really knows what it will imply for the financial market. I would be surprised if you wouldn't try to limit the potential damage and outflow of everything from companies to capital. How that's going to be handled is beyond my knowledge.\"\n\niZettle's biggest priority at the moment is growth, both in existing markets it is in and potentially into new ones. De Geer said: \"I think you will see expansion. The question is really when, whether it's this year or next. The most logical next place is somewhere in Europe where we can leverage our existing regulatory approvals. Europe is still heavily underserved from a small business perspective.\"", "output": "Swedish firm iZettle has been signing up 1,000 small businesses a day to use its payment terminal, according to its CEO Jacob de Geer. iZettle lets people accept card payments with their smartphone or iPad. Its strongest growth has been in the UK, which is also the company's largest market. De Geer added that iZettle can rapidly onboard scores of\u00a0new customers thanks to\u00a0an investment in machine learning, meaning it can automatically handle a considerable\u00a0volume\u00a0of merchants across a range of markets.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BlackRock to buy Cachematrix as it widens use of Aladdin system \n Larry Fink, Chief Executive Officer of BlackRock, takes part in the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit in New York Thomson Reuters\n\nBlackRock, the world's biggest asset manager, on Tuesday said it would buy a software company that helps businesses invest their cash, marking its second investment in a technology firm this month.\n\nThe investment giant with oversight of $5.4 trillion in assets will buy Denver-based Cachematrix Holdings LLC in a deal slated to close next quarter, according to a statement by both companies. Terms were not disclosed.\n\nCachematrix builds a software tool that banks can provide to corporate treasurers managing the cash and short-term debt they hold. Investments can be made in money-market funds provided by BlackRock and rival money managers, such as Fidelity Investments, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Charles Schwab Corp.\n\nJust last week, BlackRock said it would take a stake in Scalable Capital, a European digital investment manager.\n\nThe deals come two months after BlackRock Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink told Reuters he was considering up to four small acquisitions to shore up the New York-based company's technology and investment expertise.\n\nFink has placed an unusual emphasis on technology for a company in his industry, including through the company's Aladdin operating system for investment management, which it licenses to rivals.\n\nThe latest deal gives BlackRock a new stable of bank clients and pushes Aladdin further into the business of advising companies on how to invest their cash. In a statement, BlackRock said it plans to combine some of Cachematrix's features with Aladdin.\n\nOn its website, Cachematrix lists Bank of America Corp , Morgan Stanley and HSBC among its clients and reports assisting with $200 billion of client assets.\n\nBanks trying to meet strict requirements intended to prevent another financial crisis have been looking to shed deposits that would require them to hold more capital. Businesses have been eager to find places to put cash as ultra-easy monetary policy has pushed yields on debt to historic lows.\n\nBlackRock in 2015 expanded its reach in the business of managing large institutions' cash and short-term investments when it acquired the money-market fund business run by Bank of America. BlackRock's cash business included nearly $400 billion in assets at the end of March.", "output": "BlackRock has said it will buy Cachematrix, a fintech firm whose software enables companies to\u00a0manage\u00a0their cash and short-term debt. The deal offers the world's biggest\u00a0asset manager the opportunity to\u00a0expand\u00a0its\u00a0Aladdin investment operating system to\u00a0Cachematrix's client list \u2013 including\u00a0Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and HSBC \u2013\u00a0for whom\u00a0the\u00a0Denver-based firm\u00a0helps manage $200bn. Days earlier,\u00a0BlackRock said it would acquire\u00a0a stake in digital investment firm\u00a0Scalable."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Give us access to driverless car data, say US insurers \n Property/casualty insurance carriers want future federal rules governing driverless vehicles to guarantee insurers \u201creasonable\u201d access to data from cars with automated driving systems.\n\n\u201cThe increasing automation of the driving function is likely to result in significant change for the auto insurance industry. To adapt to these changes and support innovation in transportation, insurers will need to have access to data and information regarding vehicles with automated driving systems,\u201d Nathaniel Wienecke, senior vice president, federal government relations, for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America said in a a recent letter submitted to the House Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection, which held a June 27 hearing on self-driving vehicle legislation.\n\nWienecke said that insurers will need to be able to identify automated driving technology and the type of technology each vehicle has. This is critical, he said, \u201cfor insurers to develop historical loss data and innovate and price new insurance products to support the technology as it evolves.\u201d\n\nAt the hearing, lawmakers debated whether to override state rules for testing and deployment of self-driving cars and to allow automakers and technology companies to bypass existing regulations in introducing autonomous cars.\n\nPCI wants any eventual rules governing driverless vehicles to \u201cprovide for reasonable access to insurers for claims handling purposes.\u201d\n\nWienecke added that in any accident involving a driverless vehicle, liability will likely depend on \u201cwhether a human driver or the vehicle itself was in control, and what actions either the driver or the vehicle did or did not take immediately prior to the loss event.\u201d\n\nWienecke argued that having access to that data for insurers will help claims handling go more quickly and avoid disputes that could prevent accident victims from getting speedy compensation. Along those lines, Wienecke stated that PCI would back \u201cclear identification of federal and state regulatory responsibilities regarding self-driving vehicles, with the federal government setting and enforcing safety standards for motor vehicles and recalls, and the states continuing to have primacy on motor vehicle insurance and liability issues as they do today.\u201d\n\nThe debate over usage of the driving data already includes consumers, insurers, car makers and the creators of the telematics and other technologies used for autonomous vehicles. KPMG said in a recent report that \u201cdisaggregation from information\u201d is a risk for insurers and could hamper how they participate in the future marketplace. Car makers themselves could decide to get into insurance business using the data.\n\nRelated to data access is data security. William C. Wallace, a policy analyst for Consumers Union, told federal lawmakers that consumers should know what data their car is collecting and transmitting, and who has access to this information. \u201cThey should be able to trust that companies are legally obligated to protect their privacy and the security of their data. This trust is important not just for consumers themselves, but also for the broader acceptance and successful deployment of active safety and automated driving systems across the marketplace,\u201d Wallace said.\n\nRelated:\n\nTopics Carriers Legislation Auto Data Driven", "output": "Federal law should permit US insurers \"reasonable access\" to data from automated driving systems for claims handling purposes and to help with policy pricing, said Nathaniel Wienecke, senior vice-president of federal government relations at the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI). The data will be critical to defining historical loss, aiding innovation and pricing insurance products to support the technology as it evolves, Wienecke said. Additionally, data for insurers will accelerate claims handling and avoid disputes that prevent victims from receiving compensation quickly. PCI submitted the request within a letter to the House subcommittee on digital commerce and consumer protection.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Independence Day most dangerous summer holiday for US drivers \n The Fourth of July is the most dangerous of the three summer holidays for auto accidents, according to the Travelers Companies, Inc. According to the company\u2019s personal insurance auto claim data from 2012 to 2016, there are 7 percent more auto accident claims over the Fourth of July and three days leading up to it, as compared to Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends.\n\n\u201cThe Fourth of July is one of the busiest times on the roads, which means there are more drivers who may be distracted, tired or driving unfamiliar routes,\u201d said Chris Hayes, second vice president of Risk Control Transportation at Travelers. \u201cThese situations combine to create a heightened risk for serious accidents, so it\u2019s critical for drivers to be especially focused when behind the wheel.\u201d\n\nAccording to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the Fourth of July holiday has ranked on average as the deadliest day for drivers for the past decade.\n\nBefore drivers set out to celebrate, Travelers recommends the following:\n\nPerform scheduled maintenance and inspections. If the \u201ccheck engine\u201d light is on or you have been delaying scheduled maintenance, take your car in for service before your trip. Be sure to inspect the spare tire to make sure it\u2019s in good condition.\n\nBring an emergency roadside kit. Stock your car with water and nonperishable food (like granola bars), a flashlight, a first-aid kit, jumper cables, reflective triangles, sunscreen, blankets, towels and road flares.\n\nPreview the route. Familiarize yourself with the route before leaving. Relying solely on GPS can lead to distracted driving, which may result in dangerous last-minute turns and lane changes.\n\nAvoid distractions. Everything that occupies your mind or affects your vision can contribute to distraction behind the wheel. Concentrate on the road and avoid distractions such as eating, reading maps, operating a GPS or using a cellphone.\n\nTake breaks. When traveling long distances, it\u2019s important to rest to help maintain focus and avoid fatigue.\n\nNever drink and drive. Have a plan if you choose to consume alcohol, whether it\u2019s using a designated driver, ride-sharing or public transportation.\n\nSource: Travelers", "output": "Some 7% more car accident claims are made in the US between 1 and 4 July compared with\u00a0Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends, according to the Travelers Companies. Roads are at their busiest on Independence Day, so there are more drivers who are distracted, tired\u00a0or driving unfamiliar routes, said Chris Hayes, second vice-president of risk control transportation at Travelers. The day has ranked as the deadliest for drivers for the past decade, according to a separate study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Marijuana legalisation blamed for car-crash claim surge \n Legalizing recreational marijuana use in Colorado, Oregon and Washington has resulted in collision claim frequencies that are about 3 percent higher overall than would have been expected without legalization, a new Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) analysis shows. This is HLDI\u2019s first report on how marijuana legalization since 2014 has affected crashes reported to insurers.\n\nMore drivers admit to using marijuana, and it is showing up more frequently among people involved in crashes. Though there is evidence from simulator and on-road studies that marijuana can degrade some aspects of driving performance, researchers haven\u2019t been able to definitively connect marijuana use with more frequent real-world crashes. Some studies have found that using the drug could more than double crash risk, while others, including a large-scale federal case-control study, have failed to find a link between marijuana use and crashes. Studies on the effects of legalizing marijuana for medical use also have been inconclusive.\n\nColorado and Washington were the first states to legalize recreational marijuana for adults age 21 and older with voter approval in November 2012. Retail sales began in January 2014 in Colorado and in July 2014 in Washington. Oregon voters approved legalized recreational marijuana in November 2014, and sales started in October 2015.\n\nHLDI conducted a combined analysis using neighboring states as additional controls to examine the collision claims experience of Colorado, Oregon and Washington before and after law changes. Control states included Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming, plus Colorado, Oregon and Washington prior to legalization of recreational use. During the study period, Nevada and Montana permitted medical use of marijuana, Wyoming and Utah allowed only limited use for medical purposes, and Idaho didn\u2019t permit any use. Oregon and Washington authorized medical marijuana use in 1998, and Colorado authorized it in 2000.\n\nHLDI also looked at loss results for each state individually compared with loss results for adjacent states without legalized recreational marijuana use prior to November 2016.\n\nData spanned collision claims filed between January 2012 and October 2016 for 1981 to 2017 model vehicles. Analysts controlled for differences in the rated driver population, insured vehicle fleet, the mix of urban versus rural exposure, unemployment, weather and seasonality.\n\nCollision claims are the most frequent kind of claims insurers receive. Collision coverage insures against physical damage to a driver\u2019s vehicle in a crash with an object or other vehicle, generally when the driver is at fault. Collision claim frequency is the number of collision claims divided by the number of insured vehicle years (one vehicle insured for one year or two vehicles insured for six months each).\n\n\u201cThe combined-state analysis shows that the first three states to legalize recreational marijuana have experienced more crashes,\u201d says Matt Moore, senior vice president of HLDI. \u201cThe individual state analyses suggest that the size of the effect varies by state.\u201d\n\nColorado saw the biggest estimated increase in claim frequency compared with its control states. After retail marijuana sales began in Colorado, the increase in collision claim frequency was 14 percent higher than in nearby Nebraska, Utah and Wyoming. Washington\u2019s estimated increase in claim frequency was 6 percent higher than in Montana and Idaho, and Oregon\u2019s estimated increase in claim frequency was 4 percent higher than in Idaho, Montana and Nevada.\n\n\u201cThe combined effect for the three states was smaller but still significant at 3 percent,\u201d Moore says. \u201cThe combined analysis uses a bigger control group and is a good representation of the effect of marijuana legalization overall. The single-state analyses show how the effect differs by state.\u201d\n\nEach of the individual state analyses also showed that the estimated effect of legalizing recreational use of marijuana varies depending on the comparison state examined. For example, results for Colorado vary from a 3 percent increase in claim frequency when compared with Wyoming to a 21 percent increase when compared with Utah.\n\nHLDI\u2019s new analysis of real-world crashes provides one look at the emerging picture of what marijuana\u2019s legalization will mean for highway safety as more states decriminalize its use. In the coming years, more research from HLDI and others will help sharpen the focus. As HLDI continues to examine insurance claims in states that allow recreational use of marijuana, IIHS has begun a large-scale case-control study in Oregon to assess how legalized marijuana use may be changing the risk of crashes with injuries. Preliminary results are expected in 2020.\n\nIn addition to Colorado, Oregon and Washington, five other states and Washington, D.C., have legalized marijuana for all uses, and 21 states have comprehensive medical marijuana programs as of June. An additional 17 states permit limited access for medical use. Marijuana is still an illegal controlled substance under federal law.\n\n\u201cWorry that legalized marijuana is increasing crash rates isn\u2019t misplaced,\u201d says David Zuby, executive vice president and chief research officer of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. \u201cHLDI\u2019s findings on the early experience of Colorado, Oregon and Washington should give other states eyeing legalization pause.\u201d\n\nSource: HLDI", "output": "The legalisation of marijuana has been blamed for a surge of car-crash insurance claims in the US states of Colorado, Oregon and Washington, according to a Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) analysis. Figures indicate\u00a0that crash claim frequencies were about 3% higher overall than would have been forecast if the drug had not been legalised. It was the first HLDI report on how marijuana's legalisation since 2014 has affected\u00a0collision claims\u00a0reported to insurers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Token sale for blockchain operating system EOS raises $185m \n block.one, the developer of EOS.IO software, a new blockchain operating system designed to support commercial-scale decentralized applications, today has successfully received 651,902 ether (ETH), which is approximately USD $185 million, in the first five days of its 341-day long token distribution.\n\nIn exchange, 200 million EOS ERC-20 compatible tokens (EOS Tokens) were distributed to purchasers (representing 20% of the total one billion EOS tokens being distributed).\n\nThe distribution uses a token participation model by creating what is intended to be the \u201cfairest\u201d token distribution project launched on Ethereum to date. This extended timeframe eliminates the quick craze usually surrounding short token sales and allows the community ample time to learn about the EOS.IO software being developed by block.one and participate in the token distribution if they wish.\n\nThe EOS token distribution also approximates an auction where for every period, everyone gets the same price. At the end of a period, the respective set number of EOS Tokens for that period will be distributed pro rata amongst all authorized purchasers, based on the total ETH contributed during that period.\n\nNote, one exchange where EOS token is available is at BKEX.\n\n\u201cWe felt an approximately year-long token distribution was the best method to ensure people receive fair market value for EOS tokens. We anticipate that strong interest will continue throughout the year as the community continues to learn about the EOS.IO software and the benefits it can bring to their business.\u201d\n\n\u2013 Brendan Blumer, CEO of block.one\n\nMany corporations are looking for a blockchain that provides the speed and performance required in order to run commercial-grade businesses. The EOS.IO software introduces asynchronous communication and parallel processing to support hundreds of thousands of transactions per second.\n\nThe software on which EOS\u2019s architecture is based establishes an operating system-like construct upon which applications can be built and eliminates the requirement for users to pay for every transaction.\n\nThe software is intended to allow developers to build their own high-performance applications on the blockchain and deploy their own monetization strategies without requiring users to necessarily pay to use those applications.\n\nblock.one intends for the EOS.IO software to support distributed applications that have the same look and feel as existing web-based applications, but with all of the benefits of the blockchain \u2013 namely transparency, security, process integrity, speed, and lower transaction costs.\n\nFull details about the EOS token distribution including all terms and conditions can be found at eos.io and more information about the EOS.IO software can be found in the technical white paper.", "output": "Block.one, the developer of decentralised blockchain operating system EOS.IO, has raised $185m in five days. The company received 651,902 ether at the outset of its 341-day token distribution. In return, buyers received a share of 200 million EOS ERC-20 compatible tokens. The token distribution model is intended to be the fairest launched on Ethereum to date, with the extended timeframe allowing the online community to learn about EOS.IO software and join the token distribution if they want. It also eliminates the quick craze mentality of short token sales. EOS.IO is designed to support commercial-scale decentralised applications.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IBM Watson to expand its AI service into Mexican healthcare \n IBM Watson has sealed its first deal in Latin America, agreeing to install its AI across the biggest private healthcare institution in Mexico.\n\nThe Grupo \u00c1ngeles Servicios de Salud comprises 28 hospitals across the country, including 10 in the Mexico City area.\n\nThe deal specifically refers to Watson for Oncology \u2013 a version of Watson that aims to better inform cancer treatment decisions.\n\nIt does so by drawing on over 300 medical journals, 200 textbooks, and nearly 15 million pages of text to determine patterns in treatment success in relation to specific types of cancer.\n\nThe system can then use these insights to rank the most suitable treatment options for each patient, ultimately providing more evidence-based cancer treatment decisions to oncologists.\n\n\u201cOur vision with Watson for Oncology is to enable physicians to focus on delivering patient-centric cancer care helping oncologists and institutions to deliver next generation cancer care at scale and reduce unnecessary treatment variability through evidence-based treatment recommendations\" said Juan Hoyos, Watson Health Executive Leader, IBM Latin America. \u201cWe are proud to be working with hospitals and health organisations like \u00c1ngeles to give access to cognitive computing tool into the hands of physicians worldwide.\u201d\n\nMexico is the latest market for IBM Watson to venture into. It has already struck several deals in the US, Europe and Far-East Asia as it continues to drive the AI-adoption era.\n\nIt recently extended its presence in China through a partnership with Bahael Pharmaceutical Group. Its Watson for Genomics platform will be available to clinicians and researchers across the country.\n\nIt has also gone some way toward addressing concerns over its technology\u2019s effectiveness. At the recent ASCO Annual Meeting, data suggested that Watson for Clinical Trial Matching reduced trial screening time by 78%. Watson for Oncology also matched tumour board recommendations in up to 96% of cases.\n\nIn a study carried out in Mexico, oncologists found Watson for Oncology to be useful in helping identify potential treatment options for patients, particularly in subspecialist clinics, and for training medical students.", "output": "IBM Watson will provide Mexico's biggest private healthcare provider, the Grupo \u00c1ngeles Servicios de Salud, with artificial intelligence to inform cancer treatment decisions. Watson for Oncology will draw from more than 300 journals, 200 textbooks and almost 15 million pages of text to identify the success of different types of treatment in relation to specific types of cancer. By providing evidence-based treatment, Watson for Oncology will enable physicians and institutions to \"reduce unnecessary treatment variability\", said Juan Hoyos, Watson Health executive leader, IBM Latin America.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BitFlyer to offer failed transaction insurance to retailers \n TOKYO -- Japanese bitcoin exchange bitFlyer will partner with Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance to offer merchants a way to receive compensation for failed transactions involving the virtual currency.\n\nThe insurance package rolling out Friday will be the first of its kind in Japan. The offering from the Tokyo cryptocurrency exchange and the MS&AD Insurance Holdings Group unit will cover damages if a customer payment does not go through correctly due to system problems or other issues.", "output": "Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange bitFlyer is partnering with Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance to ensure merchants receive compensation for failed customer payments involving the virtual currency. By protecting against losses caused by system problems and other issues, bitFlyer intends to accelerate merchants' adoption of bitcoin as a payment method. The insurance package will be the first of its kind in Japan, with Coincheck, another Tokyo-based virtual currency exchange, soon to offer a similar insurance product in partnership with Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lawyers seek to retain EU environmental regulation post-Brexit \n A taskforce of environmental lawyers is drawing up plans to stop thousands of EU rules protecting rivers, wildlife, coastlines and air quality from being dropped by the government after Brexit.\n\nThe EU is the source of most environmental protection in Britain and for 40 years has acted as a monitoring body and enforcer, with powers to fine member states for breaches in the law.\n\nBut the process of transferring EU laws, directives, regulations and principles \u2013 such as the \u201cpolluter pays principle\u201d \u2013 into UK law under the government\u2019s great repeal bill presents huge challenges, environmental lawyers say. There are fears that the complexity and scale of the work, and political resistance to European regulations will mean key protections are lost during the rollover into domestic legislation.\n\nRichard Macrory, professor of environmental law at University College London, is leading the taskforce of lawyers. He said: \u201cThe last thing we want to find in Britain are a whole lot of legal gaps in the protections. The rollover [in the repeal bill] is going to be straightforward in some areas and more challenging in others. And in some areas unless there are particular agreements made with the EU it is going to be not at all easy.\u201d\n\nHis team is made up of members of the UK Environmental Law Association (Ukela).\n\nMore than 1,100 pieces of EU legislation relate to the environment. These include chemicals regulation, marine and coastal policies, laws on noise pollution, the quality of our soil, waste and recycling, air quality, climate change and the protection of species.\n\nOne of the key areas Brussels has been responsible for over the last 40 years is enforcement of legislation through the European commission and the court of justice of the European Union \u2013 where proceedings against member states who have failed to comply with their obligations can be taken.\n\nAfter Brexit there will be no equivalent monitoring and enforcement body which has powers to levy fines to make sure the UK government abides by environmental protections.\n\nMacrory said most cases brought before the commission in the past had involved the environmental sector.\n\n\u201cOne of the most important functions of the EU has been to supervise how member states implement their obligations,\u201d he said. \u201cThese processes apply to all areas of law but the majority of cases have been brought in the environmental sector. There is a reason for that. In most areas of law there are very clear economic and legal interest groups who will protect their rights.\u201d\n\nBut he said the environmentwas unowned and, quoting the veteran environmental lawyer Ludwig Kr\u00e4mer, added: \u201cThe environment dies in silence.\u201d\n\nMinisters told the House of Lords this year that the enforcement role could be carried out by UK courts via judicial reviews raised by NGOs or individuals. But Macrory said these were costly and complicated.\n\n\u201cSo will something be replicated here after Brexit?\u201d he said. \u201cThe government response to date has been rather unimaginative and minimalist \u2013 they say we can rely on judicial reviews brought by NGOs.\n\n\u201cWe will question whether relying on judicial review is a sufficient substitute for a more systematic and independent supervisory function performed by the commission.\u201d\n\nHe compared taking a judicial review \u2013 which costs as a minimum thousands of pounds \u2013 with a citizen complaint, which an individuals can take to the European commission for the price of a stamp if they believe their government has not upheld environmental protections or broken laws relating to the environment.\n\nSarah Mukherjee, director of environment for Water UK, which represents all water companies, recently told a Lords inquiry on the impact of Brexit on the environment, it was the ability to impose financial sanctions \u2013 something the British supreme court could not do \u2013 which focused government\u2019s mind.\n\n\u201cGovernments pay a lot of attention to the risk of being infracted because it is very expensive and it is not brilliant for your reputation,\u201d she said.\n\nThe Lords EU committee on Brexit: environment and climate change concluded in its inquiry that judicial reviews in domestic courts would not amount to a sufficient enforcement body.\n\nPeers said: \u201cThe evidence \u2026 strongly suggests that an effective and independent domestic enforcement mechanism will be necessary in order to fill the vacuum left by the European commission \u2026 such enforcement will need to be underpinned by judicial oversight and we note the concerns.. That existing domestic judicial review procedures may be inadequate and costly.\u201d\n\nMacrory and his team will publish five reports on key areas of EU law and governance which must be retained in British law or replicated in the coming weeks.", "output": "Environmental lawyers in the UK are establishing a taskforce to prevent EU environmental protection legislation being discarded after Brexit. The taskforce is being led by Richard Macrory, professor of environmental law at University College London. At present, over 1,100 pieces of EU legislation, relating to issues such as chemical regulation, marine and coastal policies, noise and air pollution, waste and recycling, soil quality, climate change and conservation, pertain to\u00a0UK environmental protections.\u00a0The taskforce will publish five reports highlighting\u00a0central aspects of EU law and governance which must be retained or replicated in UK law.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Noise pollution linked to male fertility problems \n You don\u2019t have to live under a flight path or next to a nightclub to be bothered by noise. Surprisingly low levels of noise \u2013 above 55 decibels (the equivalent of light traffic or an air conditioner) \u2013 especially at night is not only annoying but detrimental to health. Noise pollution is, warns the World Health Organization, a growing hazard, second only to air pollution in its ill effects. It is obviously linked to sleep disturbance but also to heart attacks, tinnitus, strokes and even obesity.\n\nNoise has also been associated with increases in premature births and miscarriages, and this week its ill effects were extended to reducing male fertility. A study, in the international journal Environmental Pollution, of 206,492 men in South Korea found that being exposed to noise levels of more than 55 decibels for four years, especially at night, was associated with an increase in fertility problems. When the authors of the study compared postcodes and the noise associated with them to fertility (as measured by the quality of semen samples) they found an increase in infertility for each 10 decibels of noise above 55 decibels. The researchers tried to factor in other things that affect fertility, such as age, exercise, smoking, drinking, blood sugar, weight and medical history. But the design of the study meant they couldn\u2019t collect information on genetic factors or exposure to other things, such as chemicals that could also reduce fertility.\n\nThe solution\n\nThe research reinforces previous studies showing that listening to constant noise, even at a low level, can activate the body\u2019s stress response, disrupting the normal control of sex hormones. Cortisol, released when you are irritated by constant noise, produces hormones which work in a feedback loop to lower levels of testosterone. This can reduce both the number of sperm and their mobility. Another study of men working in noisy conditions (119 decibels, which is louder than a police siren) also found lower testosterone levels and fewer, less mobile sperm.\n\nBut fertility problems have many causes, and the studies so far have limitations \u2013 and can only hint at an association. Any effect is likely to be very small. A study four years ago, linking aircraft noise with strokes and heart problems, caused concern but, as with this latest study, it could not rule out other factors that increase risk. Yet there is a plausible mechanism for the effects of noise on our health: noise triggers our stress pathway, and the link between levels of more than 55 decibels and a rise in blood pressure is one of the more solid associations.\n\nHow can you have less noise? You can try earplugs, heavy curtains or triple glaze your bedroom windows.", "output": "Noise pollution can reduce male fertility, according to research in South Korea. The study of 206,492 men discovered that exposure to noise levels of over 55 decibels for four years, particularly at night, increased fertility difficulties. Although the study factored in variables including age, blood sugar, drinking, exercise, medical history, smoking and weight, it was unable to incorporate genetic factors and exposure to other fertility damaging agents such as chemicals. The study supports earlier research suggesting that the stress of constant noise produces hormones that reduce testosterone levels. Noise pollution has also been linked to heart problems, obesity and strokes.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GSK partners with AI start-up for drug research and development \n Scottish AI start-up Exscientia has signed a lucrative deal with a second pharmaceutical giant, as the benefits of artificial intelligence in drug research become apparent\n\nIn evidence of the growing interest in using artificial intelligence (AI) as a means to speed up drug development, only July 2, pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) unveiled a new $43m deal with Scotland-based AI start-up Exscientia.\n\nIn a statement discussing the deal, Andrew Hopkins, CEO of Exscientia said: \u201cThis alliance provides further validation of our AI-driven platform and its potential to accelerate the discovery of novel, high-quality drug candidates.\u201d\n\nInterest in AI start-ups from big pharmaceutical companies has heated up as the application of relatively new software techniques to narrow down the list of potential candidate molecules for new drugs becomes apparent. Accordingly, this is the second such deal Exscientia has signed in recent months, having partnered with Sanofi in May.\n\nUntil recently, pharmaceutical research has relied on software that checks if any molecules fit a drug profile written by chemists\n\nAI cuts down the initial process of selecting molecules to take through further trial stages by using algorithms trained to sift through huge masses of data detailing the chemical profiles of molecules, and develop rules detailing the profile of a molecule that may make a suitable drug.\n\nUntil recently, pharmaceutical research has relied on software that checks if any molecules fit a drug profile written by chemists, or has used simulations to predict useful structures. Now, techniques such as deep learning use algorithms trained on massive data sets to develop their own sets of rules that evolve as more data is added.\n\nThis new type of drug discovery has been made possible by rapid improvements in the sophistication of machine learning techniques, but also by the collection of genetic information on a level not previously possible, creating banks of data for use as training sets.\n\nHopkins said in his statement that using these methods had allowed Exscientia to reduce the time taken to find molecules to take to further trial stages to around a quarter of the time, for a quarter of the cost, compared to traditional methods.\n\nIn a statement discussing the partnership, John Baldoni, Senior Vice President at GSK, said he hoped the partnership would \u201caccelerate the discovery of new molecules against high value GSK targets with speed and without compromising quality\u201d.\n\nBig pharmaceutical companies are following in the footsteps of AI start-ups, who have recently woken up to the potential uses of their software as a drug detection tool, other start-ups working in this field include Deep Genomics, UK firm Benevolent AI, and Calico, an Alphabet subsidiary.\n\nUnder the deal, Exscientia will receive research funding from GSK to undertake drug-finding missions for 10 \u2018target\u2019 diseases, with the full \u00a333m ($43m) amount paid on successful delivery of preclinical drug candidates for all 10 targets.", "output": "GlaxoSmithKine has signed a deal for $43m with Scottish AI start-up Exscientia. The partnership is focused on deploying artificial intelligence (AI)\u00a0to expedite\u00a0drug development.\u00a0Big pharmaceutical companies have grown\u00a0increasingly interested in AI start-ups because\u00a0advancements in machine learning techniques\u00a0have facilitated the efficient profiling of\u00a0potential candidate molecules for new drugs. This is the second such deal that Exscientia has entered into in 2017,\u00a0following its partnership\u00a0with Sanofi in May.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Vanda Murray to join company as non-executive director \n Vanda Murray will join the board of housebuilder Redrow as a non-executive director from 1 August.\n\nMurray has extensive non-executive director experience. She is currently chairman of Fenner, the leader in reinforced polymer technology, and holds roles with outsourcing firm Bunzl, Manchester Airports Group and Just Childcare. She is also pro-chancellor and chairs the board of governors at Manchester Metropolitan University and is a board member of the Manchester Growth Company.\n\nIn her executive career, was the chief executive of Blick, a quoted support services group, prior to its acquisition by The Stanley Works in 2004. She also ran roofing products business Ultraframe, overseeing a turnaround before its sale to Latium Group Holdings in 2006. She has previously held non-executive directorships at Carillion, Exova and Microgen.\n\nRedrow also announced that Liz Peace, non-executive director, will retire from the board at the end of her current appointment on 31 August following her appointment by London Mayor Sadiq Khan as chairman of the Old Oak & Park Royal Development Corporation.\n\nSteve Morgan, Redrow chairman, said: \u201cI am pleased to welcome Vanda to Redrow. As well as her broad non-executive credentials, she brings strong experience as a listed company director. I am sure that she will add considerable value to our board and we look forward to working with her.\n\n\u201cOn behalf of the board, I would like to thank Liz for her valuable contribution during her tenure, and wish her all the best in her new role at Old Oak & Park Royal Development Corporation and for the future.\u201d", "output": "Vanda Murray is set to join the board of Redrow as a non-executive director from 1 August. She currently sits as chairman of Fenner, a leading manufacturer of reinforced polymer-based products, and holds positions with Manchester Airports Group, Just Childcare and outsourcing firm Bunzi.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Deepwater Corrosion Services explores improved cathodic protection \n Deep-water cathodic protection largely relies on sacrificial anodes. Such consumables draw corrosion to a specified location, thereby preserving the integrity of steel assets.\n\nBut due to the persistent nature of corrosion, the protected structures must be tested at intervals to ensure the anodes are still drawing the corrosion away from the steel, and depleted anodes must be replaced periodically.\n\n\u201cEverything that goes in needs cathodic protection,\u201d Matthew Taylor, head of science and technology at Deepwater Corrosion Services, says.\n\nDesigning a better cathodic protection system from the beginning of a project\u2019s life means preventing rust issues down the line, reducing life extension costs, improving the ability to monitor, and reducing repair costs as well as potentially extending the life of the asset, according to the company.\n\nEverything that goes in needs cathodic protection. Matthew Taylor, Deepwater Corrosion Services\n\nArticle continues below the advert", "output": "Corrosion control firm Deepwater Corrosion Services plans to cut the costs of protecting cathodes by providing a better-designed, more efficient system. Cathodic protection is often seen as a retrospective issue rather than something to be planned for, which leads to shortened equipment lifespan. Deepwater Corrosion Services\u2019 proposal is for a \u201cplug and play\u201d system that is a simple cathodic protection stab and anode sled, which offers monitoring abilities and easier installation than current methods."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fears grow that cholera in South Sudan\u00a0could get\u00a0out of control \n Doctors, aid workers and officials in South Sudan are warning of a \u201cdevastating\u201d outbreak of cholera that could kill thousands of people in a country where millions are already threatened by famine.\n\n\n\nMore than 2,500 cases of the disease have been registered since April, a sharp increase over previous months. The total over the last year has now risen to 8,000, with about 250 confirmed deaths. Experts say this is likely to be only a fraction of overall toll.\n\nWith no sign that conflict in the world\u2019s youngest country will abate soon, and with the population weakened by years of displacement and malnutrition, there are fears that cholera could spread out of control.\n\nMedical staff fear an outbreak in hospitals. There are few functioning medical institutions in South Sudan and these often care for three or four times the number of patients they were designed to accommodate.\n\nAt al-Shabbah children\u2019s hospital in Juba, where a single bed is shared between three patients, three cases of suspected cholera were reported last week. \u201cThe fear is that such an infectious disease in this very overcrowded hospital could be devastating. The children are very weak and we don\u2019t have enough drugs. The demand is huge,\u201d said Dr Felix Nyungura, director of the hospital.\n\nMore than 200,000 people are living in \u201cprotection of civilian camps\u201d set up by the UN to provide a haven for those displaced by the ongoing fighting across much of South Sudan. They too are threatened by the disease, which can kill in hours.\n\n\u201cLast year we had cholera incidents in the camp and now the rainy season is here cholera is the big concern,\u201d said Thomas Makur, an administrator of a camp where more than 30,000 people live adjacent to the principal UN base in Juba, the capital.\n\nPeople displaced by recent fighting are at most risk. The international NGO M\u00e9dicins Sans Fronti\u00e8res has opened a cholera treatment centre near Pieri in the remote north-east of South Sudan.\n\nMore than 27,000 people have fled their homes in the region since mid-February after clashes between the Sudan People\u2019s Liberation Army (SPLA) and opposition groups.\n\nLast week the UN said the number of people struggling to find enough food each day in South Sudan had grown to 6 million \u2013 up from 4.9 million in February. This was the highest level of food insecurity in the country since it gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after decades of intermittent conflict.\n\nThough South Sudan has suffered drought, the crisis has political rather than climatic causes. Violence surged last year after a peace deal between President Salva Kiir and his rival Riek Machar collapsed. Machar has now fled the country, but groups loyal to him continue to fight government forces. The government\u2019s authority is limited, with widespread and increasingly chaotic conflict between local factions, cattle raiding and armed robbery.\n\nAlmost all protagonists in the fighting have been repeatedly accused of systematic and extensive human rights abuses.\n\nThere is a strong ethnic dimension to the violence, with civilians frequently targeted because of their tribe. Kiir and Machar come from rival ethnic groups. Civilians who have fled the violence to neighbouring countries say government troops, mostly drawn from Kiir\u2019s Dinka tribe, carry out killings and other crimes against Machar\u2019s Nuer and other smaller tribes suspected of supporting rebels.\n\nA UN report last year described evidence of widespread atrocities against civilians including massacres, gang rape, abduction of children, unlawful detention and torture. The government has rejected its findings.\n\nSenior UN officials say the combination of violence, ethnic strife, lack of development, climatic factors and international neglect in South Sudan is unmatched anywhere in the world.\n\n\u201cThere are dead ends all around \u2026 I think we can still do something but we desperately need international pressure on the parties to go back to the table and be serious about peace,\u201d Filippo Grandi, the head of the UN high commission for refugees, said last week.\n\nAid workers were struggling to raise funds, partly because of frustrations over the lack of progress in peace talks and partly because the scale of the problem was hidden, Grandi said during a visit to Juba.\n\n\u201cThey [South Sudan\u2019s refugees] don\u2019t arrive on the shores of Europe, or Australia or at the border between Mexico and the US. Those are the places where refugees become visible and their voices are heard,\u201d he said.\n\nIn an interview with the Guardian, David Shearer, the top UN official in South Sudan, underlined the logistical problems of operating in the country.\n\n\u201cNo one quite realises the logistical hassles of this place. You can\u2019t even move around. Travelling the 600 miles \u2026 takes two and a half weeks. In the wet season the roads are just impassable. There are 220 kilometres of tarmac roads in a country the size of France,\u201d Shearer said.\n\nMore than 2 million people have fled South Sudan, with more than a million now living in neighbouring Uganda.", "output": "War and famine-ravaged South Sudan could be hit by a devastating cholera outbreak\u00a0as the rainy season looms, with more than 2,500 cases having\u00a0been reported since April, a sharp increase on previous months. The country, which has been riven by fighting between the Sudan People\u2019s Liberation Army and opposition groups, has seen at least a million people\u00a0flee to neighbouring Uganda, while 200,000 people live in camps set up by the UN. \"The fear is that such an infectious disease in an overcrowded hospital could be devastating,\" said Dr Felix Nyungura, of al-Shabbah children\u2019s hospital in Juba.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Antwerp participates in shipping container blockchain trial \n Europe\u2019s second largest container port, Antwerp, is introducing a blockchain pilot which can release containers faster as well as more securely and efficiently. Working with start-up T-Mining, Antwerp uses blockchain technology to reflect the many processes which involve:\n\nshippers\n\ncarriers\n\nterminals\n\nforwarders\n\nhauliers\n\ndrivers\n\nSecurely digitised, every transaction and interaction is recorded as a block on the blockchain. This does not involve any central middleman removing the opportunity for fraud.\n\nNico Wauters, CEO of T-Mining said: \u201cWe aim to do something about this. We have developed a very secure solution. Currently, when we want to transfer a valuable object we generally make use of a trusted intermediary to carry out the transfer. For instance, when you want to sell a house the notary not only carries out all the paperwork but also ensures that the money lands safely in your bank account while the buyer receives full title to the property, without any unpleasant surprises for either party. But this intermediary naturally does not work for free, and furthermore the additional step causes extra delay.\u201d\n\nThe problem the blockchain pilot tries to solve\n\nTransporting a container from point A to point B frequently involves more than 30 different parties (see above) who may be located across continents, never mind countries. There are an average of 200 interactions between the parties which execute across multiple time zones. In addition, the five largest container ships can now carry over 20,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) containers.\n\nParticipants execute many of their interactions by e-mail, phone and even (still) by fax. Paperwork accounts for up to half of the cost of container transport. Each shipping company and container port have their own container management solution. A lot of money is spent each year maintaining the integration between these systems. There is also a need to integrate with the customs systems run by governments around the world. This adds up and becomes a complex problem which exposes containers to loss, thievery or misuse. What allows containers to be lost or used by criminal enterprises? The complexity of the paper chain. Blockchain offers an irrefutable digital footprint around each container.\n\nChanging the economics\n\nA different way to assess this is to examine the Maersk interest in blockchain. Maersk, as one of the world\u2019s top shipping companies, seeks competitive advantage. It wants to reduce the time taken to process containers and simplify the paper chain. Blockchain creates a secure system where access can be restricted to limit the risk of criminals identifying and targeting containers. Each containers blockchain ID is updated as it is moved. This means that there is a highly trusted record of where the container is.\n\nImportantly, it is not possible to alter a block on the chain as that would invalidate every block dependent upon it. This means that fraudsters and hackers cannot go back into the history of a container and make it \u2018disappear\u2019.\n\nAs Maersk is doing and Antwerp is piloting, blockchain offers an irrefutable digital footprint around each container. As a secure system access can be restricted to limit the risk of criminals identifying and targeting containers. Each container\u2019s blockchain ID is updated as it is moved. This means that there is a highly trusted record of where the container is.\n\nThis is not the only project where a port is looking at blockchain. In Dubai the government has set out a blockchain plan for Dubai Customs and Dubai Trade. It is also expanding its plans to include banks, shipping companies and airlines. It expects this to speed up the transit of containers through the country and deliver massively cost reductions.\n\nAntwerp port\n\nWith an annual volume of more than 208 million tonnes of maritime freight handled, the presence of the largest petrochemical cluster in Europe and extensive storage capacity, the Port of Antwerp is the largest integrated maritime, logistics and industrial platform in Europe.\n\nThe port accommodates the largest of container ships, the so-called Ultra Large Container Ships (ULCS). At its Deurganckdock, Antwerp can serve container vessels with a draught up to 16.0 metres travelling up-river and 15.2 metres down-river. Every terminal has a tri-modal access. This delivers fast and efficient barge, rail and road transport to and from the European hinterland.\n\nThe port possesses a modern infrastructure, facilities and equipment. Semi-automated operations and highly trained personnel contribute to productivity of up to 40 crane movements per hour per crane on average. This, Antwerp claims, is by far the highest productivity in Europe. These container terminals implement high standards of security and control, hence the blockchain interest. With more control comes less \u2018wastage\u2019 (or avoidable costs, whether criminal participation or bureaucracy.\n\nThe T-Mining approach in Antwerp\n\nT-Mining is an Antwerp start-up. It has developed a solution for the widely recognised problem summarised above (though ET does not know which variant of the technology T-Mining chose \u2013 which may yet matter as the concluding section below describes).\n\nWhen a container arrives in Antwerp\u2019s port a truck driver collects it from the terminal. The appropriate person requires a PIN code to ensure he or she picks up the correct container. But several parties may receive this PIN code. This is a risk. Somebody with malign intentions can copy the PIN code. If this happens the consequences will cause problems and costs.\n\nThe Antwerp port blockchain solution overcomes these issues. It enables safer and faster transfer of valuable objects, digitally and without a middleman. With the T-mining blockchain platform, the right truck driver receives clearance to collect one particular container. There is no possibility of the process being intercepted. Furthermore, the T-Mining blockchain platform exploits the distributed network so that a transaction can go ahead only if there is consensus among all participating parties. This prevents attempts at fraud or undesired manipulations.\n\nThe pilot project is currently running in the port of Antwerp albeit with a limited number of parties. The intention is to test whether all works smoothly in practice before expanding. Thanks to involvement by the City of Antwerp there is a link to an office in Singapore.\n\nWhat does it mean?\n\nConceptually, what Antwerp is doing with T-Mining and blockchain makes sense. All the problems described are common to the \u2018container industry\u2019 with its many and geographically diverse participants. Yet there are so many other competing initiatives originating in different parts of the container value chain. For example, ET alone has written about Dubai, Bogot\u00e1 and SEB (as well as Maersk) and their use of blockchains in this arena.\n\nThe are several apparent conclusions to draw:\n\neveryone seems agreed blockchain is the solution\n\nno-one has spent much time on blockchain interoperation (what some might called \u2018hybrid-blockchain)\u2013 even if many solutions will compete.\n\nIf blockchains interoperate there will not be a problem. But this requires proof. There are many unanswered questions about interoperability between blockchain projects on the same platform. In addition we are only just seeing the two main blockchain initiatives, Hyperledger and Ethereum, looking at interoperating with each other.\n\nBlockchain solutions for the shipping industry will start by competing. The likes Dubai or Antwerp hope to gaining competitive advantage. But if every customer and shipper has to work with multiple different blockchains, which don\u2019t interoperate they will, quite reasonably, resist. Expect the coming years to:\n\nshow that blockchain technology can deliver\n\ndemonstrate that multiple, incompatible blockchains frustrate (namely cost reduction and competitive advantage).\n\nopen up the debate about what \u2018hybrid-blockchain\u2019 means and what it might look like.\n\n.", "output": "The port of Antwerp is taking part in a blockchain pilot in an effort to make the handling of containers quicker, more secure and more efficient. In partnership with start-up T-Mining, Europe's second-biggest container port will use blockchain technology to\u00a0support shippers, hauliers, drivers and other processes. Each mutually-agreed\u00a0transaction is digitised and recorded on the blockchain, removing the need for a central intermediary, and eradicating\u00a0any prospect\u00a0of fraud."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google becomes lead investor in an app store for algorithms \n Google just placed yet another bet on the idea that artificial intelligence will remake the world\u2014and throw off wild profits.\n\nThe company disclosed today that it has created a new venture fund dedicated to investing in AI and machine learning companies. The initiative's first public investment: lead investor in a $10.5 million funding round for Seattle startup Algorithmia, which has built a kind of app store for algorithms. The service aims to make it easier for any company to use machine learning.\n\nGoogle wouldn\u2019t make anyone available to talk about its new fund, which doesn't yet have a name, or disclose its size. The company will say it is led by veteran executive Anna Patterson, vice president of engineering for AI. And the fund's existence and lead role in Algorithmia's latest round fit with what you might call Google\u2019s shovel strategy for artificial intelligence: The company believes there are piles of money to be made by giving other companies the tools to strike gold using the technology.\n\nGoogle and Algorithmia both rather cutely refer to the effort to sell AI shovels as \u201cdemocratizing\u201d the technology. More plainly, they\u2019re pursuing a business opportunity created by the recent, rapid advancement in the power of machine learning. Lots of companies with ideas about how to use the technology in their businesses can\u2019t access the expertise needed to do so, which is in short supply.\n\nAlgorithmia is trying to fill that need with a marketplace that is something like an Etsy for algorithms. Developers can upload their creations\u2014say, a machine-learning model that identifies a car\u2019s model year from a photo\u2014and get paid if another person or company uses them. The company\u2019s system converts uploaded algorithms into cloud services that can be easily integrated into an app, website, or other service.\n\nThere are currently more than 3,500 algorithms listed in Algorithmia's marketplace, for everything from detecting nudity to parsing sentences. A private version of the platform is used by large companies in finance, pharma, and other industries to help developers on staff share and deploy their algorithms. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of infrastructure needed to make a reality out of this promise that AI is going to affect every business process out there,\u201d says Diego Oppenheimer, CEO and founder of Algorithmia. \u201cWe\u2019re the AI plumbers\u2014it\u2019s the stuff people don\u2019t want to do, but it\u2019s a big market opportunity.\u201d\n\nGoogle isn\u2019t the first to spin up a dedicated AI fund or even to plow some of it into a startup working on AI plumbing. Microsoft announced it had created an AI venture fund last December, and in May invested in a startup called Bonsai that helps companies build with machine learning. IBM and Amazon have also created AI-related funds\u2014IBM's for startups building on top of the Watson suite of developer tools and Amazon's for the Alexa voice operated assistant.\n\nBut just because a large company throws money at an emerging new technology doesn\u2019t guarantee that such companies will stay ahead of the curve. Steve Blank, a veteran Silicon Valley entrepreneur and adjunct professor at Stanford, says that it makes sense for Google and others to fund outsiders. After all, no one company can hope to monopolize all the creativity and talent in a given area. But he says the history of the tech industry shows that dominant companies like Microsoft of the \u201990s and Google of today eventually get out-maneuvered by startups more able to adapt to new ideas. (There's even a name for the phenomenon: the innovator's dilemma.)\n\n\u201cMachine intelligence is not like inventing a better sword, it\u2019s like inventing gunpowder,\u201d Blank says. \u201cSmart startups will figure out how to attack large tech companies with it just as large tech companies used it to attack the companies before them.\u201d In other words, tech giants handing out cash to enable creativity and innovation around machine learning could be handing their future competitors a loaded gun.", "output": "Google has followed Microsoft, IBM and Amazon in creating a fund for artificial intelligence (AI) projects, and has promptly invested in its first start-up. The search giant revealed it had ploughed $10.5m into Seattle start-up Algorithmia, which has developed an online marketplace for the trading of algorithms. Google has refrained from providing\u00a0details on the fund, other than to indicate it is being led by veteran executive Anna Patterson, vice president of engineering for AI."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Nato researcher says malware attacks may warrant\u00a0countermeasures \n The NotPetya malware that wiped computers at organisations including Maersk, Merck and the Ukrainian government in June \u201ccould count as a violation of sovereignty\u201d, according to a legal researcher at a Nato-affiliated cybersecurity organisation.\n\nIf the malware outbreak was state-sponsored, the researcher says, it could open the possiblity of \u201ccountermeasures\u201d. Those could come through retaliatory cyber--attacks, or more conventional means such as sanctions, but they must fall short of a military use of force.\n\nTom\u00e1\u0161 Min\u00e1rik, a researcher at the Nato Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence in Tallinn, Estonia, made the comments after the Centre concluded that the malware outbreak, which overwhelmingly hit Ukraine but also affected more than 60 other countries, can most likely be attributed to a state actor.\n\nWhile a cyber-attack can trigger an armed response from Nato, Min\u00e1rik cautioned that the damage caused by NotPetya was not sufficient for such an escalation. The law of armed conflict applies only if a cyber-attack causes damage \u201cwith consequences comparable to an armed attack\u201d, during an ongoing international armed conflict, \u201cbut so far there are reports of neither,\u201d he said.\n\nHowever, Min\u00e1rik, added, \u201cas important government systems have been targeted, then in case the operation is attributed to a state this could count as a violation of sovereignty. Consequently, this could be an internationally wrongful act, which might give the targeted states several options to respond with countermeasures.\u201d\n\nA countermeasure is any state response which would be illegal in typical circumstances, but can be authorised as a reaction to an internationally wrongful act by another state. A \u201chack back\u201d response, for instance, could be a countermeasure, but Nato CCDCOE says that such responses \u201cdo not necessarily have to be conducted by cyber means\u201d; they cannot, however, affect third countries, nor can they amount to a use of force.\n\nThe suspicion that NotPetya \u2013 so called because the malware is superficially similar to an earlier ransomware variant called Petya \u2013 may be the work of a state sponsored actor arose shortly after the outbreak began in late June.\n\nWhile the malware appears to be ransomware (a type of program which holds critical files hostage in exchange for payment), it contained several flaws that prevented it from ever being an effective moneymaker for its creators. Among other things, the payment infrastructure was tied to one email address outside their control, which was promptly blocked by the webmail provider, preventing victims form ever receiving their decryption key and unlocking their files.\n\nBut the malware, which was overwhelmingly seeded to victims through a compromised Ukrainian accounting program, did function well as a \u201cwiper\u201d, designed simply to render systems unusable and cause economic damage. It spread rapidly inside business networks, using a combination of exploits stolen from the NSA and more common weaknesses in older versions of Windows, ensuring that whole organisations found themselves unable to operate for days on end.\n\nUnlike WannaCry, an earlier piece of ransomware also suspected of being the work of state-sponsored attackers (in that case, explicitly linked to North Korea by intelligence agencies including the NSA and GCHQ), NotPetya did not contain any functionality enabling it to spread unconstrained across the internet, limiting the vast majority of its damage to those organisations directly infected by the compromised accounting software.", "output": "Should the NotPetya malware attack be found to be state-sponsored, it could be deemed a \"violation of sovereignty\" and therefore justify \"countermeasures\" such as sanctions or cyber retaliation, according to Tom\u00e1\u0161 Min\u00e1rik, a researcher at Nato's Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. Min\u00e1rik added that damage from the recent attack, which impacted Maersk, Merck and the Ukrainian government computers last month, was not of a magnitude to warrant the deployment of military force.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's Meizu launches entry-level smartphone Meizu A5 \n It looks like Meizu has quietly launched a new entry-level smartphone in China, the Meizu A5. The device is currently available for purchase at Meizu\u2019s website for a retail price of 699 Chinese Yuan, that\u2019s about RM450.\n\nFirst up, the Meizu A5 sports a modest 5\u201d 720p display with a pixel density of 294ppi, and has a polycarbonate body. Beneath that, it is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core 64-bit MediaTek MT6737 processor paired with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage.\n\nCamera wise, there\u2019s an 8MP f/2.0 shooter at the back along with dual-flash, and a 5MP f/2.2 camera at the front with beauty mode. Other specs include 3060mAh battery, LTE connectivity, Bluetooth 4.1, and supports microSD of up to 128GB.\n\nAvailable in black, gold, and silver, the Meizu A5 is available for purchase starting today at the Chinese company\u2019s official website.\n\n(Source: Meizu via: GSMArena)\n\nWhat\u2019s your Reaction? +1 0 +1 0 +1 0 +1 0 +1 0 +1 0 +1 0", "output": "Chinese consumer electronics company Meizu has launched a budget series of smartphones, with the first one, the A5, available on its website for CNY699 ($102). The website lists the Meizu A5 as the first in its affordable series, with a basic configuration suitable for first-time smartphone users.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's Meizu launches entry-level smartphone Meizu A5 \n Meizu announces budget-centric A series with the launch of Meizu A5 News oi -Rohit Meizu A5 is the first in the budget series and offers a 5-inch HD screen, 2GB RAM paired with a MediaTek CPU\n\nMeizu has announced a new budget-centric series of Android smartphones for consumers. The company's official website lists Meizu A5 as the first in the affordable series with basic configuration suitable for first time smartphone users.\n\nAs per the company's listing, Meizu A5 sports a 5-inch HD screen with a contrast ratio of 1000:1. The smartphone is 8.3mm and weighs 140g. As far as processor and RAM is concerned, Meizu A5 handles multitasking with 2GB of RAM and the smartphone has a quad-core MediaTek MT6737 CPU to take care of processing part.\n\nFor photography, the company is offering an 8MP rear camera with f/2.0 aperture. The smartphone has a 5MP selfie shooter. On connectivity front, Meizu A5 comes with 4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.1, Wi-Fi, GPS, A-GPS.\n\nPricing and Competition\n\nAs per the pricing on the company's official website, the smartphone will sell around Rs. 6,500 if it's launched in the Indian market. This will make the Meizu A5 compete against the likes of sub Rs. 8K handsets from Xiaomi (Redmi 4A, Redmi 4), Lenovo (K series), Micromax, Intex, iTel, etc.\n\nIt will be a tough fight for Meizu as these smartphone companies have a good base in the Indian market and Meizu is still trying o gain a market share in the crowded market. Moreover, Nokia is now also selling Nokia 3 in sub Rs. 10k price-point which further toughens the fight for the best budget Android handset.\n\nStay tuned on GIZBOT for more on Meizu A5.\n\nVia\n\nBest Mobiles in India\n\nFacebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications", "output": "Chinese consumer electronics company Meizu has launched a budget series of smartphones, with the first one, the A5, available on its website for CNY699 ($102). The website lists the Meizu A5 as the first in its affordable series, with a basic configuration suitable for first-time smartphone users.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Concerns over Chinese shadow banking sector continue \n Jobs and economic expansion are key goals for China\u2019s policymakers. But capital acquisition by firms can be difficult and lead them to shadow banking which may cause serious economic and financial consequences.\n\nChina must expand its macroeconomy to provide jobs, keep factories operating, and stay globally competitive. The problem is that many Chinese firms either cannot operate in an efficient and profitable manner or lack financial resources to grow or remain solvent. For these firms, financial capital is severely needed, but fund acquisition is the conundrum. While shadow banking can help these businesses, new problems arise making for an even bigger dilemma.\n\nWhat is shadow banking?\n\nShadow banking involves acquiring financial capital in an unregulated environment. This involves non-bank financial intermediaries providing firms loans, which is similar to traditional commercial banking but is actually outside the government\u2019s regulatory purview. For example, a clothing manufacturer lends money to an electronics maker without worry of financial regulations regarding collateral or meeting ratio requirements. Small businesses in China can turn to shadow banking for loans when they are in a credit crunch, have exhausted the usual traditional forms of borrowing, or wish to avoid borrowing complications and expenses. On the positive side, shadow banking allows quicker access to financial capital than traditional banking transactions. This also means greater risk to the lender if the borrower has serious financial problems and needs funds to stay afloat while really masking widening financial cracks.\n\nThe scale of this issue in China is reflected in Moody\u2019s estimates of China\u2019s shadow banking industry which stand at $8.5 trillion.\n\nChinese businesses see shadow banking as a necessary alternative since they are faced with government imposed lending restrictions. These include limits on bank lending imposed by the People\u2019s Bank of China (PBOC), a cap of bank loans to deposits of 75 percent, and government regulators discouraging loans to certain industries.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nShadow banking originated due to the 2008-2009 Financial Crisis, when the Chinese government assembled a $586 billion stimulus package with more than 50 percent of the funds available through bank lending. This helped keep China\u2019s economy on track for economic growth. Unfortunately, it meant cheap credit for businesses, fueled a speculative housing bubble, kept inefficient state-owned enterprises (SOEs) operating, and eliminated years of Chinese banking financial discipline. The need for credit access grew, increasing China\u2019s shadow banking industry. Moody\u2019s reports that China\u2019s shadow banking grew approximately 30 percent annually for the last three years, while globally the growth rate was 10 percent. China\u2019s shadow banking is 80 percent of its GDP, but it is far behind the United States where it is 150 percent of GDP.\n\nFinancial implications of shadow banking\n\nChina\u2019s commercial banks, investment banks, and trust companies are involved in shadow banking by making off-balance sheet loans and leasing arrangements. These are repackaged into financial instruments such as entrusted loans and wealth management products (WMPs) that private individuals can purchase for a higher return than bank deposits. While commercial banks handle lending and deposits, trust companies have more flexibility, combining various elements of banking and asset management. Commercial banks have used shadow banking for loan reclassification of their delinquent loans, as such efforts entail less requirements imposed by regulators than official channels. Here loans have higher default risks even though there is the potential for higher returns. Packaging these risky loans into WMPs or entrusted loans gives commercial banks an opportunity to remove them from their portfolios.\n\nThe most popular shadow banking financial product offered to investors and depositors are WMPs which are a portfolio of assets giving investors a return based upon performance. The underlying assets can consist of one large debt obligation or a pool of loans. WMPs are popular with banks and trust companies since they can substitute for bank deposits and depositors are attracted to them for the higher return than other bank products. Investors and depositors assume that the generous return offered by these instruments are guaranteed by the offering bank or trust company.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn essence, investors and depositors are expecting the best of both worlds: higher return than on formal bank deposits and a guarantee by the issuer. The problem is how financially realistic this expectation actually is. Compounding this complicated situation is that WMPs are not regulated and not on the books of Chinese banks. According to the Chinese state news media, investors have placed $4.4 trillion into WMPs; equaling approximately 40 percent of China\u2019s GDP.\n\nEntrusted loans are made by large corporations where banks or finance firms act as intermediaries or trustees. Entrusted loans are made either between large firms (either in the same industry, capitalization category) to suppliers or vendors, or customers. The loans are run through banks for legal reasons since the PBOC imposed a regulation in 2000 making it mandatory for a financial institution to facilitate loans occurring between two non-financial businesses. The key here is that banks are protected from the borrower\u2019s default risk by the non-financial firm. Entrusted loans also occur when one bank makes a loan to another \u2013 an interbank loan. Entrusted loans have become the second largest financing source, surpassed only by bank loans. The amount of newly made entrusted loans achieved a zenith in 2013, when they comprised almost 49 percent of total shadow banking transactions. The problem is that loans may be made on a wink and a nod in order to keep a customer or sole supplier operating. An additional motivation is the future hope that the favor may be returned in the form of an entrusted loan to the original lender.\n\nNeed for reform\n\nChina\u2019s leadership knows it desperately needs to reform the shadow banking industry, since the potential for financial disaster is great. In April 2017, President Xi Jinping admonished top ministers to stabilize China\u2019s financial system while the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Financial Stability Board (FSB) called for immediate reforms and regulations. Both China\u2019s leadership and international financial authorities recognize that its financial system is susceptible to greater-than-expected bank losses and a liquidity trap that will be extremely difficult to escape from. While the China Banking Regulatory Commission under Chairman Guo Shuqing has issued directives designed to crack down on shadow banking practices, the real question remains: is it enough?", "output": "China's reliance on shadow banking is said to be putting the country's economic growth as well as global markets\u00a0at risk. While Chinese authorities\u00a0have moved to clamp\u00a0down on shadow banking, Moody's estimates it has still\u00a0grown around\u00a030% annually for the past three years to about $8.5tn. Moody's\u00a0said that measures to curb shadow banking\u00a0in China are credit positive for Chinese banks. However, some adjustment risks are also evident, as interest rate moves mean banks relying on short-term market funds face higher borrowing costs and \"are also exposed to refinancing risks, as their investment portfolios have longer tenors and often lack secondary market liquidity\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian companies under pressure to disclose climate risks \n Some of Australia\u2019s largest listed companies, including Woodside, Rio Tinto and Santos, are likely to face sweeping changes to the way in which they model, plan for and disclose risk from climate change to investors. How they respond will affect their ability to attract funding from lenders, insurers and superannuation funds who are under pressure to stress-test investments for a carbon-constrained future.\n\nThe release last week of a report by the Financial Stability Board\u2019s taskforce on climate-related financial disclosures is expected to add pressure on publicly listed companies to formalise their climate risk disclosure practices \u2013 particularly through scenario analysis \u2013 or risk investors pulling finance and rating agencies making assumptions about their risk profile.\n\nThe taskforce\u2019s purpose is to ensure more methodical, comparable and consistent disclosure on climate-related risks and opportunities. It is also to stave off a global financial crisis-style correction as the financial community manages its exposure to assets which could rapidly become redundant as limits on carbon emissions tighten to 2050, well within the lifetime of most large-scale infrastructure projects. An independent financial thinktank, the Carbon Tracker Initiative, has referred to this as a \u201ccarbon bubble\u201d.\n\n\u201cThe aim is to enable better decision-making by capital markets and, ultimately, to ensure the financial system is not going to be exposed to the sort of systemic risk or shock that we\u2019ve seen in the past with financial crises,\u201d said Michael Wilkins, S&P\u2019s global representative on the taskforce. \u201cThe more information that is out there, the more that it can be incorporated into decision-making and better capital allocation with less risk of systemic shock.\u201d\n\nThe taskforce\u2019s recommendations will go to the G20 summit in Hamburg on 6-7 July 2017. More than 100 firms with market capitalisations of more than US$3.3tn and financial firms responsible for assets of more than US$24tn have encouraged the adoption of the taskforce\u2019s recommendations.\n\n\u201cThe Paris agreement means much of the world has to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest and it\u2019s clear that many businesses are not pursuing a strategy that\u2019s consistent with this,\u201d said Kate Mackenzie, head of finance and investment at the now defunct Climate Institute.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not just the resources sector, but those who invest and finance them, and those who rely upon them. Both the oil industry and the auto industry are right now coming to terms with the prospect that the era of internal combustion engines may be ending much faster than many of us thought.\u201d\n\nIn Australia \u2013 where carbon-intensive oil, gas, coal and iron ore extraction industries drive trade, economic prosperity and geopolitical influence \u2013 many of the largest listed banks, insurers and super funds are heavily invested in these areas and are set to drive further change.\n\n\u201cThe financial sector is leading and that\u2019s partly due to the campaigns they\u2019ve faced for lending to fossil fuels and how that fits into their overall portfolios,\u201d said Dan Goucher of the environmental campaign group Market Forces.\n\nA speech given by APRA\u2019s head, Geoff Summerhayes, earlier this year, in which he stressed the need for banks and insurers to act on the taskforce\u2019s recommendations, is widely seen as a turning point for Australia\u2019s financial sector. As a result, institutional investors such as Blackrock, Fidelity and Legal & General Investment Management are voting to support shareholder resolutions on climate risk disclosure. It is a seachange for Australia\u2019s business sector and surpasses any resistance to change at a political level.\n\nBut for energy and utility companies \u2013 those most affected by the rise of clean technologies, carbon caps and investor pressure to quantify how assets will continue to deliver shareholder value in a carbon-constrained future \u2013 progress has been patchy. Oil and gas companies in particular have argued that putting sensitive information on their asset and resource base into the public domain could jeopardise their competitive advantage globally.\n\n\u201cAGL is a leader in terms of climate risk disclosure. They\u2019re one of only two companies which has done scenario analysis publicly. The other is BHP Billiton. Origin has made commitments but hasn\u2019t really delivered in terms of disclosure. The smaller utilities have done very little,\u201d said Goucher.\n\nAlthough it is a struggle to see how oil and gas companies such as Woodside can transition to a low carbon future beyond deploying gas as a transition fuel, Emma Herd, at the Investors Group on Climate Change, is optimistic: \u201cThere is much energy companies can do in the technology space to adapt to new challenges.\u201d\n\nNot long ago investors were encouraged to divest from fossil fuel companies entirely. Instead, such companies called on investors to engage with them about their concerns. This has led to some stakeholder resolutions requiring companies to publish more information on climate risks, the most recent one being at ExxonMobil.\n\nThe taskforce\u2019s recommendations go a step further in trying to ensure disclosures are comparable between companies to facilitate more effective engagement on the issue. Photos of green landscapes in annual reports will no longer cut it.\n\n\u201cDisclosure isn\u2019t just about publishing pretty reports any more,\u201d said Mackenzie. \u201cIt\u2019s about demonstrating how you are responding to climate change-related risks, and why.\u201d", "output": "A report last week by the Financial Stability Board taskforce on climate-related financial disclosures will demand greater commitment from publicly listed firms to make known how they are engaging with climate-related risks. Large Australian companies, including Woodside, Rio Tinto and Santos are being urged to approach the modelling, planning and disclosure of risk in a more methodical and formalised way. While the financial sector has mainly responded proactively to the taskforce's recommendations, businesses in Australia's oil, gas, coal and iron ore extraction sectors face a challenging turning point, as they attempt to deliver shareholder value in a carbon-constrained future.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UC San Diego researchers create ultra-low power IoT sensor \n Researchers at UC San Diego have developed a temperature sensor that runs on tiny amounts of power -- just 113 picowatts, around 10 billion times less power than a watt. The sensor was described in a study recently published in Scientific Reports. \"We're building systems that have such low power requirements that they could potentially run for years on just a tiny battery,\" Hui Wang, an author of the study, said in a statement.\n\nThe team created the device by reducing power in two areas. The first was the current source. To do that, they made use of a phenomenon that many researchers in their field are actually trying to get rid of. Transistors often have a gate with which they can stop the flow of electrons in a circuit, but transistors keep getting tinier and tinier. The smaller they get, the thinner the gate material becomes and electrons start to leak through it -- a problem called \"gate leakage.\" Here, the leaked electrons are what's powering the sensor. \"Many researchers are trying to get rid of leakage current, but we are exploiting it to build an ultra-low power current source,\" said Hui.\n\nThe researchers also reduced power in the way the sensor converts temperature to a digital readout. The result is a temperature sensor that uses 628 times less power than the current state-of-the-art sensors.\n\nThe near-zero-power sensor has a temperature range of -4 to 104 degrees fahrenheit and could potentially be used in wearables and both environmental and home monitoring systems. One power tradeoff is that it gives readouts slightly slower than currently used sensors, at around one temperature read per second. But the researchers said that shouldn't be a problem when giving reads on things like the human body where temperatures don't change too quickly. They're now working on optimizing the design and improving its accuracy.\n\n[Image: UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering]", "output": "Researchers at the University of California, San Diego have exploited the problem of \"gate leakage\" in tiny transistors, and used it to power a wearable using 113 picowatts, which is around 10 billion times less power than a watt. The sensor also requires 628 times less power to provide a digital temperature readout in a range of between -4 and 104 degrees Fahrenheit. The team is currently\u00a0focusing on improving the sensor's accuracy and optimising the design.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lawyer calls for Google settlement to be redirected to web users \n by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, June 30, 2017\n\nClass-action activist Theodore Frank has asked a federal appellate court to scrap Google's $5.5 million settlement of a class-action alleging that it violated Safari users' privacy by circumventing their no-tracking settings.\n\nThe settlement \"provides millions of dollars to the attorneys, and zero dollars to the class,\" Frank says in papers submitted this week to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. \"This Court should reverse this settlement approval as a breach of class counsel\u2019s fiduciary duty to prioritize class recovery,\" he argues.\n\nThe deal, approved earlier this year by U.S. District Court Judge Sue Robinson in Delaware, requires Google to donate more than $3 million to six schools and nonprofits -- Berkeley Center for Law & Technology, Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, Center for Democracy & Technology, Public Counsel, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, and the Center for Internet & Society at Stanford University. Those groups must agree to use the money for projects related to online privacy. The lawyers who brought the case will receive $1.925 million, but individual Web users won't receive anything.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nThe litigation stemmed from Google's involvement in the \"Safari hack\" -- a privacy scandal that came to light in 2012 when researcher Jonathan Mayer published a report stating that Google (and other companies) circumvented Safari's privacy settings and set tracking cookies. Google was then able to target ads to those users based on their Web-browsing activity.\n\nGoogle confirmed Mayer's report when it came out, and said it had stopped tracking Safari users or would soon do so. News of the hack also resulted in charges by the Federal Trade Commission and other officials; Google ultimately agreed to pay $22.5 million to settle with the FTC, and an additional $17 million to settle with a group of state attorneys general.\n\nFrank argues that the class-action settlement should be vacated for several reasons, including that the money could have been distributed to Safari users instead of to organizations. That type of distribution has happened in other class-actions, including a lawsuit against Facebook over its sponsored stories program. In that case, Facebook created a $20 million settlement fund, which paid $15 each to 600,000 users users who submitted claims.\n\nThe activist also contends that the settlement is improper on the grounds that Google had prior connections with at least four of the six fund recipients. \"Google is a regular donor to the Berkman Center, Stanford Center, Berkeley Center, and Center for Democracy and Technology,\" Frank writes.\n\nHe contends that Google's promise to donate to those groups in order to settle a lawsuit \"merely reflects a shift in accounting entries.\"\n\nFrank adds: \"Defendants will prefer to make payments to third parties to whom they are already donating money rather than payments to absent class members; donations engender good will, and often merely replace or supplement donations that are already in the pipeline.\"\n\nThe activist has challenged other privacy settlements, including Google's $8 million settlement of a lawsuit alleging it \"leaked\" search users' names to publishers and advertisers through referer headers -- the information that is automatically transmitted by Google to publishers and advertisers. (Some queries, like people's searches for their own names, can offer clues to users' identities.) Frank recently asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to vacate the deal, arguing that search engine users who were affected by Google's practices won't receive any money.", "output": "US lawyer and class-action activist Theodore Frank has called on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse Google's $5.5m settlement, according to papers filed, in a case in which the search giant was alleged to have violated Safari users' privacy. In the documents, Frank said the settlement was improper and funds should be paid to individuals\u00a0rather than organisations. He further\u00a0claimed\u00a0that Google has links to \"least four of the six fund recipients\" and had donated money to them before. In the original case, Google was fined after being accused of bypassing Safari's privacy settings to target\u00a0users with ads.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Singapore house price decline slows to\u00a0-0.3% in Q2 \n SINGAPORE (Nikkei Markets) -- Private home prices in Singapore fell for the 15th straight quarter in the three months to June, but the decline was the slowest since the start of the downturn, strengthening views that the market may have found a bottom.\n\nFlash estimates from the Urban Redevelopment Authority on Monday showed private residential prices in Singapore dipped 0.3% on quarter during the April-June period, following a 0.4% contraction in the first three months of the year.", "output": "Private property prices in Singapore have fallen for the 15th straight quarter, although their slowing rate of decline hints an end may be in sight to the four-year slump, according to data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority. It revealed private residential prices fell 0.3% in the three months to 30 June after falling 0.4% in Q1, however,\u00a0prime areas fell by 0.9% in the same period after a fall of 0.4% in Q1. The government has tried to stimulate the market, including by easing mortgage restrictions and releasing more land, but\u00a0the Singaporean central bank\u00a0warned that expectations needed to be realistic.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Self-governing blockchain platform Tezos raises $160m in 32 hours \n \u201cSelf-amending cryptographic ledger\u201d Tezos has raised almost $200 mln in the first two days of its ICO.\n\nThe uncapped sale of its Tezzies (TEZ) tokens will continue through July 12. At press time Monday, contributions had reached 42,600 BTC ($104.3 mln) and 184,700 ETH ($51.2 mln) for a combined total of around $155.5 mln.\n\nThe lack of hard cap means Tezos could easily end up being the largest ICO ever once it closes in ten days\u2019 time.\n\nThe project had garnered tremendous interest from the cryptocurrency community and beyond, thanks in part to support and bullish sentiment from celebrated investor Tim Draper.\n\nWith 11 days to go, and total funds already north of $130 million, it looks like the Tezos ICO will be the biggest crowdfunding effort ever. pic.twitter.com/PsvMrOBdVC \u2014 Brian Patrick Eha (@brianeha) July 3, 2017\n\nDraper has since been somewhat quiet about his relationship with Tezos, while another project he sponsored, Bancor, also became the biggest ICO in history after it raised $153 mln.\n\nThis total was eclipsed just a week afterward by Brock Pierce\u2019s Block.One ICO, however, which reeled in $185 mln.\n\nThe unlimited token issuance has meanwhile avoided the network clogging and mad rush which was ubiquitous with June\u2019s prominent Ethereum token sales.\n\nTezos has remained free of any major technical problems, while it remains to be seen if developers can rise to the occasion and put funds offered, which could easily top half a billion dollars, to adequate use to generate value for investors.", "output": "Cryptographic ledger Tezos has raised $160m in just 32 hours, and, factoring in the absence of a hard cap, is set to\u00a0become the largest ICO in history. The self-amending ledger\u00a0is yet to\u00a0experience\u00a0any major technical issues, and sales of\u00a0Tezzies tokens will proceed\u00a0until 12 July. There has been huge interest in the crowdfunding project,\u00a0with support from prominent investors such as Tim Draper."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IM Properties to test Tesla batteries in commercial unit \n IM Properties, a property manager and industrial developer in UK, announced that it is installing a Tesla Powerpack in one of its building in order to study the potential of completely offsetting their electric utility costs.\n\nIf successful, the company hopes to be able to offer a whole new added value to its customers by using Tesla\u2019s Powerpacks and solar energy.\n\nThey are trying the concept at a 69,000 sq ft development called HUB69 currently under construction in Birmingham.\n\nA 250 kW solar array is planned with a 100kW/170kWh Tesla Powerpack.\n\nOn their website, IM Properties details the calculations behind the economics of the building:\n\nThe calculations are based upon a supply contract from Npower wherein which the daytime rate is 10.623p and the night-time rate is 14.804p per kwh. From this the following electricity consumption estimate has been calculated: office consumption is 123,138 KWH, warehouse small power consumption is 132,787 KWH and warehouse lighting consumption is 48,000 kwh. This provides an electricity cost calculation as follows: total annual consumption = 303,925 kwh. Cost per annum at 10.623p = \u00a332,286 plus \u00a34,933 standing and capacity charge on 300 KVA = \u00a337,218. Self-consumption of generated energy is estimated at 90% which is 201,857 kwh of \u2018free\u2019 energy. The remaining balance of \u00a315,775 per annum is reduced by revenue from FFR (Firm Frequency Response) amounting to \u00a311,669 which is an ancillary service (subsidised by National Grid) received via an aggregator. The remaining revenues are received through TNUoS (Transmission Use of System charges, often known as TRIAD) (\u00a37,124) and DUoS (Distributed Use of System charges) which is a direct saving on the electricity bill (\u00a31,256). To achieve the savings on the electricity bill a standard supply contract (also known as a standard pass through contract) with these items listed a separate line items is required. There is no additional charges or levy\u2019s from any supplier for this.\n\nAccording to the company, it should result in a net revenue of \u00a34,273 to the tenant.\n\nKevin Ashfield, IMP\u2019s UK development director, told EGI:\n\n\u201cThere is a general trend of increasing utility costs, which affects the bottom line of occupiers. Our first ECN building provides a carbon-positive facility, which will have long-term cost savings for the occupier.\u201d\n\n\u2018ECN\u2019 stands for \u201celectricity cost neutral\u201d.\n\nWhile it\u2019s their first project of the sort, if the economics work as planned, they want to expand it to other 50,000 sq ft+ projects.\n\nIt\u2019s the first \u2018ECN\u2019 project with Tesla Powerpacks in the UK, but Tesla has already deployed the battery pack in the country. Last year, they did a 5-Powerpack project with Camborne Energy Storage in Somerset.", "output": "UK property manager and industrial developer IM Properties has revealed plans to install a Tesla Powerpack in a building currently under construction in Birmingham. The 69,000 sq ft HUB69 development is set to feature a 250 kW solar array, alongside a 100kW/170kWh Tesla Powerpack. If the project proves economically successful, IM Properties plans to use the Powerpack system in all its 50,000 sq ft+ projects.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Worrying precedent as cyber firms open source code to governments \n Over the last couple of weeks, there\u2019s been a disturbing trend of governments demanding that private tech companies share their source code if they want to do business. Now, the US government is giving the same ultimatum and it\u2019s getting what it wants.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nOn Sunday, the CEO of security firm Kaspersky Labs, Eugene Kaspersky, told the Associated Press that he\u2019s willing to show the US government his company\u2019s source code. \u201cAnything I can do to prove that we don\u2019t behave maliciously I will do it,\u201d Kaspersky said while insisting that he\u2019s open to testifying before Congress as well.\n\nThe company\u2019s willingness to share its source code comes after a proposal was put forth in the Senate that \u201cprohibits the [Defense Department] from using software platforms developed by Kaspersky Lab.\u201d It goes on to say, \u201cThe Secretary of Defense shall ensure that any network connection between \u2026 the Department of Defense and a department or agency of the United States Government that is using or hosting on its networks a software platform [associated with Kaspersky Lab] is immediately severed.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement Advertisement\n\nJeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat tells ABC News, that there is \u201ca consensus in Congress and among administration officials that Kaspersky Lab cannot be trusted to protect critical infrastructure.\u201d The fears follow years of suspicion from the FBI that Kaspersky Labs is too close to the Russian government. The company is based in Russia but has worked with both Moscow and the FBI in the past, often serving as a go-between to help the two governments cooperate. \u201cAs a private company, Kaspersky Lab has no ties to any government, and the company has never helped, nor will help, any government in the world with its cyberespionage efforts,\u201d an official statement from Kaspersky Labs reads.\n\nThe proposal prompted an official response from Russian Communications Minister Nikolay Nikiforov. He warned that any \u201cunilateral political sanctions\u201d would prompt retaliation from Russia. He emphasized that his government uses \u201ca huge proportion of American software and hardware solutions in the IT sphere, even in very sensitive areas.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe fight over source code comes at a moment when Americans are deeply distrustful of the Russian government. The Russians alleged involvement in the hacking of the 2016 election combined with numerous suspicious ties to our president\u2019s campaign has everyone on edge. But setting the precedent of gaining trust through source code access is dangerous, as is capitulating to those demands.\n\nRussia has been making the same requests of private companies recently. Major technology companies like Cisco, IBM, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, McAfee, and SAP have agreed to give the Russian government access to \u201ccode for security products such as firewalls, anti-virus applications and software containing encryption,\u201d according to Reuters. Security firm Symantec pointedly refused to cooperate with Russian demands last week. \u201cIt poses a risk to the integrity of our products that we are not willing to accept,\u201d a Symantec spokesperson said in a statement.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe risks are the same whether it\u2019s the US or Russia being given access to source code. It gives these governments an opportunity to locate security vulnerabilities that they might not be able to find otherwise. Obviously, Russia has been accused of numerous cyberattacks lately, including the Yahoo email breach and the hacking of the DNC. But the US also hoarded security vulnerabilities for years to use as cyberweapons. Recent global outbreaks in ransomware have been traced back to tools from the NSA that were leaked by a group known as the Shadow Brokers. In a statement following the WannaCry ransomware attacks, Microsoft said \u201can equivalent scenario with conventional weapons would be the U.S. military having some of its Tomahawk missiles stolen.\u201d It\u2019s obvious that the US can\u2019t be trusted with this knowledge and companies shouldn\u2019t help them gain it.\n\n\n\nLawmakers have every right to worry about Kaspersky Labs\u2019 products being used on official government systems. If they have some sort of knowledge that we don\u2019t, they should cut ties. But setting this sort of precedent is not a good sign. Kaspersky agreeing to the demand is not a good sign. Numerous western companies doing the same for Russia is not a good sign.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIn the same way that experts say that you shouldn\u2019t pay the ransom when hit by ransomware, tech companies need to block this coercion before it gets out of control.\n\n[Associated Press]", "output": "Concerns are rising over the precedent being set by cyber security firms opening their source code to governments. Russian cyber-security firm Kaspersky Labs has agreed to let the US government review its source code, after a proposal was put to the Senate to sever connections between the US Defence Department and the company's software platforms. Private US firms are also said to have given into demands to divulge codes to the Russian government. Russian Communications Minister Nikolay Nikiforov warned\u00a0\u201cunilateral political sanctions\u201d would prompt retaliation, highlighting the proportion of American software and hardware used by the Moscow government, even in sensitive areas.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Click-to-buy ads help turn social media users into shoppers \n Shoppable ads have soared in popularity over the past year and provided major headway in turning social media users into shoppers, enhancing the click-to-buy platform.\n\nThe trend has quickly made its way into nearly every major social media platform\u2019s interface, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest.\n\nMost recently, a company called MikMak announced that it would be testing shoppable videos on Instagram Stories and Snap Ads, with links to e-commerce sites, making the click-to-buy experience all the more visual.\n\nInfluencer marketing is a fast-growing market for shoppable ads, as it\u2019s increasing in popularity among brands and influencers alike.", "output": "Shoppable ads are encouraging e-commerce by reducing the number of clicks required to make a purchase, with Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Snapchat picking up on the trend. Recently, MikMak, a company that creates, measures and distributes shoppable video campaigns,\u00a0has announced it will\u00a0be testing shoppable videos on Instagram Stories and Snap Ads. In addition, brands using shoppable ads alongside online influencers are also likely to see higher rates of engagement with consumers, as the brands\u00a0make an emotional connection using personalities via organic content. However, ads that feel \"inauthentic\" have\u00a0proved a turn-off to one-third of customers, according to Bloglovin'."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Reckless selling of car finance by UK salesmen raises slump fears \n Young drivers are being tempted into dangerously high levels of debt by car dealers offering them new vehicles for no money up front.\n\nRuthless salesmen are offering customers Audis, Vauxhalls, Suzukis and Fords worth up to \u00a320,000 for no deposit \u2013 even if they admit they are unemployed, on low wages or have a poor credit rating.\n\nBut the deals commit them to paying hundreds of pounds per month for years. If they fail to keep up payments, they face having the cars repossessed and court orders forcing them to pay the outstanding loan.\n\nCars like this Audi A1 are being offered to customers for no deposit - even if they have bad credit rating\n\nThe findings by undercover Daily Mail reporters come amid fears that irresponsible lending by car dealers is risking another financial crash. Experts fear that if huge numbers default on loans, it will cause a domino effect that could cripple the City.\n\nLast night, MPs and campaigners called for an urgent crackdown on the \u2018reckless\u2019 lending, while Vauxhall and Suzuki launched probes into the conduct of their dealerships.\n\nCity watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority is already investigating \u2018irresponsible lending\u2019 in the motor industry. Among the Mail reporters\u2019 findings:\n\nOne salesman told a 24-year-old how to write a credit check form to ensure he was approved;\n\nAnother tried to sell a \u00a315,000 Audi to a young man who said he was out of work;\n\nElderly drivers are also targeted, including a 71-year-old left in \u00a33,500 debt after having a heart attack.\n\nIn some cases, dealers are contributing up to \u00a31,000 to the personal contract purchase (PCP) deals and offering zero per cent interest rates as incentives. Some pay-monthly deals result in the driver eventually paying less for the car than if they had bought it for cash on the day.\n\nDealers do this because the vast majority of drivers on PCP deals don\u2019t pay off the car in full. They pay monthly for a few years before returning the car and starting a new deal \u2013 a cycle they continue.\n\nCity experts fear that a huge default on the loans could end up crippling the city\n\nThere has been a surge in motorists taking out loans for new cars and defaulting on payments. In a chilling echo of the sub-prime mortgage crisis of 2007, car finance firms packaged and sold \u00a35.5billion of risky loan debt to investors last year \u2013 twice as much as the year before. Last week, the Bank of England warned that drivers owe \u00a358billion on car finance \u2013 an increase of 15 per cent in a year.\n\nThe deals allow drivers to have a new car for a few years in return for monthly payments. At the end of the contract, they are given the option to pay off the remainder and own the car, or to return it.\n\nThere are strict mileage limits, and drivers are charged extra if they damage the car. To end an agreement early, they have to pay off at least half of their debt.\n\nIf the driver falls behind on payments, the finance company can repossess the car and apply for a County Court Judgment (CCJ). An order can be made so the money is automatically taken from the owner\u2019s wages. A charge can be put on their home, their bank accounts can be frozen and bailiffs can seize possessions. The CCJ stays on their credit file for six years, making it difficult to get a mortgage or a personal loan.\n\nCar salesman are allowing customers to have new cars in return for years of monthly payments (file photo)\n\nBuyers do have to pass a credit check, but unlike mortgage checks, car finance providers don\u2019t usually sift through bank statements to see whether the car is affordable.\n\nMany providers offer these deals as long as the monthly payments don\u2019t exceed a quarter of their take-home pay, meaning drivers earning just \u00a38,200 a year can walk away with a new \u00a312,500 Ford Fiesta.\n\nOur undercover reporters visited 22 dealerships. At an Audi dealership in Edinburgh, a reporter who said he was unemployed was offered a \u00a315,000 car with no deposit. A reporter who said he was working part-time on the minimum wage was offered a \u00a315,000 Seat Ibiza without a deposit at a Seat dealership in Manchester.\n\nAnother reporter suggested that he had bad credit, but he was offered an \u00a38,600 Vauxhall Corsa in Birmingham.\n\nKevin Barker, 71, found himself \u00a33,500 in debt when he suffered a heart attack six months into a PCP deal. He said a \u2018pushy\u2019 Toyota salesman \u2018pressured\u2019 him into taking out a 36-month agreement in November 2014 and he was not told of the repercussions if he fell ill or lost his job.\n\nAt one dealership an undercover reporter was offered a \u00a315,000 Seat Ibiza - despite saying he was working a part-time, minimum wage job (file photo)\n\nMr Barker, of Warton, Lancashire, was forced to retire after the heart attack. He said: \u2018I don\u2019t want anybody else to get into a situation like this.\u2019\n\nToyota Financial Services said: \u2018It would be inappropriate for us to comment on an individual case. We are committed to treating our customers fairly.\u2019\n\nThe billions in car debt is increasingly being sold to investors. They make money on interest and, if people default on their payments, the cars can be repossessed. But with increasing numbers of new cars sold on three to five-year PCP deals, the second-hand car market is being flooded, bringing values down.\n\nThe Bank of England warns that if the value of second-hand cars keeps falling, banks risk losing as much as \u00a31.7billion. This could lead to spiralling costs for consumers. Governor Mark Carney said lenders appeared to be \u2018forgetting the lessons of the past\u2019.\n\nBanks risk losing as much as \u00a31.7billion if the value of second-hand cars keeps falling\n\nTory MP Huw Merriman said: \u2018Reckless lending can destroy the economy. It also has a devastating impact on those who get in to serious debt. If the industry cannot get its house in order then our regulators need to take action to protect us all from the practices uncovered by this investigation.\u2019\n\nJames Daley, of consumer website Fairer Finance, said: \u2018None of the lessons coming out of the 2008 financial crisis have been learned.\u2019\n\nVauxhall, Suzuki Finance, Mazda and Volkswagen Financial Services, which finances Audi and Seat cars, said the Mail\u2019s journalists did not go through with credit checks and anyone with poor credit would be declined.\n\nFord Credit did not respond to requests for comment.\n\nNo job? You can still have an Audi: In a showroom, a young driver with no income is offered a brand new car - using the controversial loan scheme that will saddle him with debt... and threatens a new financial crisis\n\nIn a showroom gleaming with luxury Audis, a dealer attempts to make a sale.\n\nThe smartly dressed young man, with slicked-back hair, is sitting behind a desk rolling a large gold ring around his finger. Light streams into the room through floor-to-ceiling windows.\n\n\u2018You\u2019ve had credit before?\u2019 he asks, leaning forwards. \u2018You\u2019ll be fine then.\u2019\n\nThe salesman is trying to sell a \u00a315,000 Audi A1 hatchback to a 24-year-old who has wandered in from the street.\n\nA brand new Audi was offered to an unemployed 24-year-old - who would have to pay just \u00a3215 for 48 months\n\nThe buyer \u2013 an undercover Daily Mail reporter \u2013 has said he is out of work. He is applying for jobs, he says, and hopes to find one soon \u2013 but he fears he won\u2019t pass a credit check. Surely this means he cannot afford a brand new Audi?\n\nThe confident dealer appears to have no qualms about offering him the car. He declares that for monthly payments of \u00a3215 for just 48 months, the unemployed buyer can happily drive out of the Edinburgh showroom. And after the deal ends, all he needs is another \u00a36,958 to own it outright.\n\nThe scenario seems unfathomable. How can such a high-value car loan be offered to someone in their early twenties who doesn\u2019t have a job?\n\nYet an investigation by the Mail has found that similar conversations are happening in showrooms across the country.\n\nSimilar unfathomable scenarios are happening all around the country\n\nReporters visited 22 dealerships in England and Scotland, saying they were in their early twenties and either unemployed, on low incomes or trying to buy a car despite having poor credit ratings. Half of the dealerships \u2013 including ones selling Audis, Mazdas, Suzukis, Fords, Vauxhalls and Seats \u2013 told them they could have a brand new car without paying a penny up front.\n\nIn each case they were offered Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) deals \u2013 a type of car loan that now makes up nine out of ten car sales bought on finance in Britain.\n\nThese deals offer smaller monthly payments than traditional car loans.\n\nThis is because under PCP deals, the customer only pays off a portion of the car\u2019s worth over a few years, rather than paying off the full value of the vehicle.\n\nFrom the driver to the banker, route that could lead to another crash BUYERS Drivers get new cars for monthly payments, usually between three to five years. They then pay a lump sim to own the car and give it back. If the driber misses payments, the finance company can repossess the car and apply for a court order. Money can be taken from ages or a charge put on their home. SALESMAN Often on low salaries but can earn \u00a3200 for every sale. Commission often rises if they sell a car on PCP, experts say. Our reporters found salesmen repeatedly pushing PCP deals over others. DEALERSHIP Charges drivers for excess mileage and repairs. Earns commission from finance firms when they sell loan deals, and six -figure bonuses if they sell enough cars. FINANCE FIRM Effectively buys the car from the dealership and loans it to the driver, earning on interest charges. INVESTOR Some fiance firms package the bet into 'asset backed securities' and sell them to banks and pension funds. Interest is then passed on to investors. This type of debt packaging caused the mortgage crash in 2007. Advertisement !- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/ru/news/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 - ->\n\nWhen this finishes, they can choose to pay off the rest of the car or hand it back and take home a new motor on another PCP contract. The smaller monthly payments make it much easier for people to pass credit checks.\n\nExperts believe dealerships are encouraged to offer PCP deals by finance firms because they are incredibly lucrative, and hook drivers on a cycle of new deals every three to five years.\n\nBack at the Edinburgh showroom, another salesman clarifies why our reporter could buy the car without having a job.\n\nHe says current employment can be disregarded if a buyer has a decent credit history.\n\nThis Ford Eco would be available to a call centre worker in his 20s - if he paid \u00a3268 a month for more than three years (file photo)\n\n\u2018[Having a job] won\u2019t make any difference,\u2019 he says. \u2018We drop it down to the finance company, they\u2019ll do a credit check on you.\n\n\u2018It\u2019s not a case of you not having a job today and having a job tomorrow. We just need to see what the finance company says.\u2019\n\nOur reporter did not proceed to the credit check so it is unknown whether he would have been accepted for finance. In Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, a reporter tells a Suzuki salesman that he is 24 and earning \u00a318,000 a year in his first full-time job after graduating and taking a six-month break to travel the world. The salesman sits his customer on a large lime green armchair and sips coffee while flicking through deals on an iPad.\n\nOur threshold is very, very low to get passed on finance. You shouldn't have a problem\n\nHe says he \u2018shouldn\u2019t have a problem\u2019 buying a brand new car worth \u00a312,999 without paying a deposit. The deal, for a Suzuki Swift SZ-T, costs just \u00a3169 a month for 48 months, he says. This is \u00a38,112 over four years. He would then have to pay a further \u00a34,824 to own it. The salesman offers advice on how to pass a credit check.\n\nCrucially, he should leave out the six months spent travelling and make out that he went straight from his studies into work. He says: \u2018In all fairness, for your profile, you want to be saying you have been working for six months, prior to that you were at university and you mostly had part-time income.\u2019\n\nThe reporter then makes an alarming admission. He says he is behind on some credit card payments. Does that matter?\n\nReporters were told they would only fail credit checks if they have a County Court Judgment or reason for adverse credit (file photo)\n\n\u2018At the moment our threshold is very, very low to get passed on finance,\u2019 the salesman says.\n\n\u2018All I can say to you is if you\u2019re earning \u00a318,000 \u2013 tick. If you have an average outgoing for bills, then you shouldn\u2019t have a problem.\u2019\n\nIn a Mazda showroom in Leeds, a reporter says he is working part-time after travelling abroad.\n\n\u2018Unless you\u2019ve got bad credit, we generally don\u2019t have a problem with it,\u2019 the salesman says.\n\n\u2018If you\u2019re buying a \u00a325-\u00a330,000 car, then they start asking about how much you earn and will want to check it. But at the moment, when you\u2019re looking at an \u00a311-\u00a312,000 car, it\u2019s all right.\u2019\n\nAt other showrooms, the reporters are told they will only fail credit checks if they have a County Court Judgment or a reason for adverse credit. All of the car finance firms deny lending irresponsibly.\n\nThey said the Mail\u2019s journalists did not go through with credit checks, which would flag customers with poor credit and decline their applications. After being contacted by the Mail, Vauxhall and Suzuki launched investigations.\n\nSuzuki Finance said offers are subject to checks on credit and affordability. A spokesman said it takes \u2018a prudent approach to lending\u2019. A spokesman for Mazda said its underwriting team would have picked up that the customer was in temporary employment.\n\nAfter being contacted by the Mail, Vauxhall and Suzuki both launched investigations into checks on credit and affordability (file photo)\n\nVolkswagen Financial Services, which finances Seat and Audi cars, said it expects salesmen only to give customers information that is \u2018appropriate to their financial demands and needs\u2019.\n\nThe firm said all customers are evaluated through multiple credit reference agencies to ensure they can maintain repayments, and dealers have no involvement in lending decisions.\n\nFord Credit did not respond to requests for comment.", "output": "Some UK car salesmen are \"forgetting the lessons of the past\" by selling vehicles to customers on low wages or with poor credit ratings, prompting fears of mass defaults and a crash in the market. The risks stem from long-term personal contract purchase deals, under which customers pay\u00a0thousands of pounds over several years, a cycle which is also depressing\u00a0the second-hand car market.\u00a0The Bank of England warned\u00a0car finance debt\u00a0owed by UK drivers has risen 15% in the past year to \u00a358bn and that\u00a0banks could lose up to \u00a31.7bn ($2.2bn) if the value of second-hand cars keeps falling.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's EV owners struggle with charging infrastructure \n CHONGQING, China -- It is nearly 9 p.m. on a Sunday at automaker Lifan's production site in the Liangjiang New Area suburb of Chongqing, yet the place is a hive of activity as batteries are loaded into vans. PandAuto, a car-sharing company in which Lifan has invested, operates fleets of electric Lifan 330 cars in several Chinese cities, including Chongqing. These vehicles use swappable batteries, and the site is Chongqing's hub for recharging them.\n\nChina's fleet users usually have their own dedicated charging stations. EVCARD, a car sharing company, has chargers at all its pick-up and drop-off stations, and as users typically hire cars for short journeys, worries about vehicle ranges are not a problem. But matters are more complicated for private consumers.", "output": "China's prospering electric vehicle (EV) industry is crying out for a centralised solution to the complex infrastructure behind charging stations, with less than half of owners of EVs happy with the current system, according to a report by KPMG. Of the 141,254 public charging stations in China, independent electric vehicle charging expert David Zhang found that only 5% were available for powering EVs in the 32 cities he investigated. Siloed apps and payment systems, as well as varying standards, have added to consumer frustration,\u00a0while experts have warned it could lead to a greater shift away from plug-in hybrids and battery-powered\u00a0vehicles."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insecticide field trials show\u00a0'significant' damage\u00a0to\u00a0bees\u00a0 \n Bees and other pollinators are vital to food production but are in decline. Photograph: Cyril Byrne / THE IRISH TIMES\n\nThe world\u2019s largest-ever field trial has shown for the first time the scale of damage to honey bees and wild bees - including the bumble bee - caused by widely-used insecticides.\n\nThe farm-based research on pesticides classified as neonicotinoids, along with a second new study in Canada, also suggests widespread contamination of landscapes and a toxic \u201ccocktail effect\u201d from multiple pesticides.\n\nThe landmark work provides the most important evidence yet for regulators around the world considering action against neonicotinoids, including in the EU where a total ban may be implemented this autumn.\n\nThe insecticides are currently banned on flowering crops in EU countries, including Ireland.\n\nREAD MORE\n\nThe negative impacts found varied across different countries, leading pesticide manufacturers to question the results of the research, which they funded and which is published in the leading journal Science.\n\nDifferences in detrimental impact may be attributable to diet.\n\nNeonicotinoids represent a quarter of the multi-billion-dollar pesticide market but have been repeatedly linked to serious harm in bees in lab-based studies.\n\nBees and other pollinators are vital to food production but are in decline, in part due to loss of habitats and disease.\n\nHowever, there had been few realistic field studies to date to address the role of the insecticides and only occasional evidence for colony-level harm in wild bees.\n\nBotanist Prof Jane Stout of Trinity College School of Natural Sciences said: \"This is the study we have all be waiting for.\" It confirms what was shown up in laboratory settings, she added.\n\nThere was criticism from industry in the past that negative effects were arising from \u201cunrealistic doses in the lab\u201d.\n\nIreland was not one of the featured countries, but the findings have direct relevance here, she said, especially as negative impacts were shown in the honeybee and in solitary wild bees including the bumble bee.\n\nAlthough Ireland does not have the same scale of insecticide-dependent crops as the countries featured in the main study, Irish farmers grow some oilseed rape and there are significant winter cereal crops grown here that involve coating of seeds with pesticide.\n\nThe research took place at 33 large farmland sites spread across the United Kingdom, Germany and Hungary. \"We showed significant negative effects at critical life cycle stages,\" said Prof Richard Pywell, from the UK's Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, and part of the research team.\n\n\u201cIf the bees are foraging a lot on oil seed rape, they are clearly at risk. This is a large and important piece of evidence, but it is not the only evidence regulators will look at.\u201d\n\nThe \u20ac3million cost of the research was met by Syngenta and Bayer, the companies that sell the two neonicotinoids tested, as part of a voluntary commitment to increase the available field data. But the companies were not involved in the designing, conducting or reporting of the study.\n\nFriends of the Earth nature campaigner Sandra Bell said: \u201cThis crucial study confirms that neonicotinoid pesticides come with a nasty sting in the tail for our under-pressure bees. It\u2019s time for a complete and permanent ban on these chemicals.\u201d\n\nProf Stout said she favoured a ban on these pesticides but a new risk might arise from use of other chemicals. The use of less chemicals in farming was her preference. This would require \u201ca shift in the way we do farming\u201d to keep it profitable and to ensure farmers can get the yields they expect.\n\nIrish agricultural research body Teagasc last week issued guidelines to farmers underlining the critical importance of bees in the foodchain and the role of wildflowers in facilitating thriving populations.\n\nAddressing tillage farmers at an open day in Oakpark, Carlow, Teagasc countryside management specialist Catherine Keena, said: \u201cPollinators, especially bees, are important, but unfortunately are in decline. We need more wildflowers in the countryside. Bees need food all year round, requiring a diversity of flowering plants in the landscape.\n\nShe added: \u201cFarmers can help bees by allowing space for wildflowers to grow and flower within hedgerows and field margins, around farmyards, along farm roadways and in field corners. The quest for neatness on farms should not override consideration for bees.\u201d\n\nFederation of Irish Beekeepers\u2019 Associations president Gerry Ryan added: \u201cMany beekeepers work closely with farmers placing their beehives in fields of oilseed rape, peas and beans to improve pollination of the crops. It is important for tillage farmers growing these crops to provide pollinators with wildflowers outside the main crop flowering period.\n\nDr \u00dana Fitzpatrick, chair of the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan Steering Group, said: \u201cIreland has 98 different species of bees and one third of them are threatened with extinction. By having more wildflowers we can help protect bees and the livelihood of farmers and growers who rely on their \u2018free\u2019 pollinator service.\u201d\n\nTillage farmers were also reminded to spray crop protection products in the early morning and late evening when honey bees are less active, and to notify local beekeepers in advance of carrying out the operation.\n\nAdditional reporting: The Guardian", "output": "The world's biggest field trial has revealed the scale of damage caused by insecticides on honey bees and wild bees, which are vital to food production but have seen numbers declining. The report, funded by Syngenta and Bayer, which sell the two neonicotinoids tested, will provide crucial evidence for regulators globally that are considering action against these insecticides, including in\u00a0the European Union where a total ban may be introduced this autumn. The two companies were not involved in the design or execution\u00a0of the study."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Russia and China in talks over $10bn worth of deals \n The two nations will study linking China\u2019s trade and infrastructure plan with the Eurasian Economic Union proposed by Russia in 2014", "output": "China's President Xi Jinping is in Moscow to discuss an array of deals relating to energy, trade and infrastructure with Russian President\u00a0Vladimir Putin.\u00a0The countries will sign deals worth more than $10bn, a move that is expected to reduce tensions between them, according to Li Huilai, China's assistant minister of foreign affairs. They will also discuss linking China's One Belt, One Road\u00a0initiative and\u00a0Russia's \"Eurasian Economic Union\", a proposed trade group in central Asia aimed\u00a0at creating a single market with a free flow of labour, capital and goods by 2025."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook gets approval for Indonesian domestic unit \n Facebook has been given the approval to set up a domestic unit in Indonesia. Currently, the social media giant operates in the country through an office in Jakarta.According to Reuters, Facebook received an in-principle approval and the government is in the midst of the approval process. This was said by Thomas Lembong, chairman of Indonesia's investment coordinating board, Badan Koordinasi Penanaman Modal (BKPM).Lembong added that the board and Indonesia\u2019s ministry of communications are currently in the process of deciding the kind of business unit Facebook would be able to establish.Currently, there are a few methods for a foreign company such as Facebook to be a locally incorporated but also receive foreign investments at the same time. This means the setting up of a Perseroan Terbatas (PT), which is a limited liability company. This means investors are liable for only the original investment amount should the company run into debt.Marketing has reached out to the investment coordinating board and Facebook for comment.In March last year, Facebook appointed Sri (Wido) Widowati as head of Indonesia. Widowati was tasked with leading Facebook\u2019s business efforts in Indonesia, providing counsel and support to local and global brands and agencies in the country. She replaces Anand Tilak, who has moved into the role of global brand partner for Facebook, based in Singapore.", "output": "Facebook has been granted \"in-principle approval\" for a domestic unit in Indonesia, according to Thomas Lembong, chairman of Indonesia\u2019s investment coordinating board, Badan Koordinasi Penanaman Modal (BKPM). Indonesia\u2019s ministry of communications and BKPM are yet to decide what form of business unit Facebook can establish, but a Perseroan Terbatas, or limited liability company, is a possibility. Sri Widowati was appointed by the social media giant last year to head their business endeavours in Indonesia."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scientists make headway with cheaper hydrogen fuel cell catalysts \n Battery-powered electric vehicles that give off no carbon dioxide as they drive are about to become mainstream. Today they constitute less than 1 percent of all rolling stock on the road globally, but multiple innovations in features such as the battery\u2019s cost and lifetime have made prices so competitive that Tesla has more than 400,000 advance orders for its $35,000 Model 3, which is slated to hit the road in the middle of 2018.\n\nUnfortunately, the other great hope for vehicles that exhaust no carbon\u2014those powered by hydrogen-fed fuel cells\u2014remains too pricey for broad sales. (The manufacturer\u2019s suggested retail price for the Toyota Mirai is $57,500.) A raft of laboratories and businesses, however, are determined to cut costs by replacing one of the most expensive components in the fuel cells: the catalyst. Many commercial catalysts for fuel cells contain the precious metal platinum, which aside from being expensive, is too rare to support ubiquitous use in vehicles.\n\nInvestigators are pursuing several lines of attack to shrink the platinum content: using it more efficiently, replacing some or all of it with palladium (which performs similarly and is somewhat less expensive), replacing either of those precious metals with inexpensive metals, such as nickel or copper, and foregoing metals altogether. Commercial catalysts tend to consist of thin layers of platinum nanoparticles deposited on a carbon film; researchers are also testing alternative substrates.\n\nStanislaus S. Wong of Stony Brook University, who works closely with Radoslav R. Adzic of Brookhaven National Laboratory, is among those leading the charge. He and his colleagues have, for instance, combined relatively small amounts of platinum or palladium with cheaper metals such as iron, nickel or copper, producing many alloyed varieties that are far more active than commercial catalysts. Wong\u2019s group has fashioned the metals into ultrathin one-dimensional nanowires (roughly two nanometers in diameter). These nanowires have a high surface area\u2013to-volume ratio, which enhances the number of active sites for catalytic reactions.\n\nNaturally, platinum-free catalysts would be ideal. Work on them is newer but bustling as well. In late 2016, for instance, Sang Hoon Joo of Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in South Korea reported that an iron- and nitrogen-doped carbon nanotube catalyst has activity comparable to commercial catalysts. Also, Liming Dai of Case Western Reserve University and his colleagues have invented a catalyst using no metal at all; it is a nitrogen- and phosphorus-doped carbon foam that is as active as standard catalysts.\n\nInventing and preparing a material that has excellent catalytic activity is just part of the challenge, Wong notes. Researchers are also working to scale up existing laboratoryproduction methods to ensure consistency in the activity and durability of the best candidates. In all phases of their efforts, experimentalists are getting help from theorists who apply sophisticated computer models to figure out how all sorts of variables affect performance\u2014from the chemical compositions, sizes and shapes of metal nanoparticles to the detailed architectures of the support structures. Such collaborations, Wong says, should one day make it possible to rationally design superior catalysts for affordable fuel-cell vehicles.\n\nOf course, the goal of a sustainable transport system demands not only zero carbon emissions during driving but also during the production and distribution of the fuel, be it electricity or hydrogen. That larger challenge remains.", "output": "Researchers looking to find an alternative to the precious metals in catalysts, one of the most expensive components of a hydrogen fuel cell, are inching closer to finding a more economical and plentiful replacement. A team at Stony Brook University are developing ultra-thin one-dimensional nanowires that combine platinum or palladium with baser metals, while scientists at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea have had promising results from an iron and nitrogen-doped carbon nanotube catalyst."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Publicis expands PR services with The Herd Agency purchase \n Publicis Communications has announced the acquisition of The Herd Agency, one of Australia\u2019s largest and most-awarded public relations agencies.\n\nThe acquisition enables Publicis Communications, part of Publicis Groupe, to provide clients with newly expanded public relations services, including: strategy, corporate affairs, earned media, stakeholder relations, integrated campaigns, issues and crisis management, social media and content marketing.\n\nThe agency will be renamed Herd MSL, marking the launch of Publicis Groupe\u2019s public relations arm MSL into the Australian market.\n\nFounded in 1996, The Herd Agency, has a team of 55 specialists in public relations, social media, content and creative, with a strong track record in consumer lifestyle, corporate, government, b2b, technology, and integrated campaigns. The existing leadership team of founder, Jamie Verco; CEO, Vanessa Liell; along with agency heads Katarina Farrell, Stuart Wragg and Lewis Shields will lead Herd MSL.\n\nThe agency has built their market-leading reputation by solving complex business problems through outstanding creative ideas, technically-excellent execution and content-led multi-channel campaigns for clients.\n\n\u201cThe acquisition of The Herd Agency enables us to offer fully integrated public relations services to our clients for the first time. It couldn\u2019t be timelier to expand our capabilities and award-winning talent base in ANZ. We\u2019re optimistic about the new possibilities and opportunities this will bring to our respective clients.\u201d said Michael Rebelo, CEO, Publicis Communications ANZ.\n\n\u201cThis is an incredibly exciting time for our agency and our industry. As part of Publicis Communications, we have an outstanding opportunity to combine our strength in public relations and communications with one of the world\u2019s global creative leaders. Our growth has been driven by our capacity to respond to the changing needs of the market with creativity and agility. What excites us most is our cultural fit and shared vision to deliver world-class integrated campaigns for diverse and ambitious brands,\u201d said Jamie Verco, founder, The Herd Agency.\n\n\u201cWe are thrilled to bring the MSL brand to Australia with one of the most dynamic agencies in the entire Asia Pacific region. Our outstanding new colleagues will fit right into our diverse network, as we together strive to build influence and deliver impact for our clients,\u201d said Guillaume Herbette, Global CEO, MSL.", "output": "Publicis Communications, part of Publicis Groupe, has acquired award-winning Australian PR company The Herd Agency, in a move that enables Publicis to offer \"fully integrated public relations services to our clients for the first time,\" according to Michael Rebelo, CEO of Publicis Communications ANZ. The deal will see the company rebranded as Herd MSL, and marks the introduction of Publicis Groupe's PR unit into the Australian market. Founder Jamie Verco and CEO Vanessa Liell will remain with the company."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "A host of investors could elevate Deliveroo's value to $1.5bn \n Deliveroo could soon be worth as much as $1.5bn \u2013 well above the $1bn that leads to tech firms being labelled unicorns \u2013 with wealthy tech investors now jostling to buy a slice of the takeaway delivery company that relies on an army of self-employed couriers.\n\nThe $93bn (\u00a371bn) SoftBank Vision Fund, which is backed by the state investment funds of Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, as well as a host of technology firms including Apple and Japan\u2019s Sharp, is said to be in the talks with Deliveroo, which wants to raise funds to finance expansion.\n\n\n\nLast year, Deliveroo raised $275m from investors, taking the amount of cash raised by the delivery app, which was founded by Will Shu, a former investment banker, close to $500m. It is thought the current round of meetings with investors is looking to raise a similar amount.\n\nIf Deliveroo secures the predicted injection of funds, the valuation could be as high as $1.5bn, according to Sky News.\n\nThis would turn turn Shu into one of the British tech sector\u2019s wealthiest entrepreneurs. Deliveroo\u2019s plans are widely anticipated to include a stock market listing.\n\nDeliveroo could not be reached for comment.\n\nHowever, while customers benefit from having pizzas, burgers and noodles from chains such as Byron, PizzaExpress and Wagamama delivered to their front door, Deliveroo\u2019s operating model has come under fire. Like other gig-economy companies, such as the taxi-hailing app Uber, Deliveroo uses thousands of self-employed contractors rather than employees, a model saving millions of pounds in holiday pay, sick pay and tax. The workers have no right to the minimum wage.\n\nIn April it emerged that managers at Deliveroo had been given a list of dos and don\u2019ts setting out how to talk to the firm\u2019s couriers, using terms that appeared designed to fend off claims the couriers were employees. Couriers should be referred to as \u201cindependent suppliers\u201d, according to the document seen by the Guardian, and that, instead of hiring riders at a recruitment centre, senior staff should undertake \u201conboarding\u201d at a \u201csupply centre\u201d.\n\nIn a key case relating to the future of the gig economy, the Central Arbitration Committee is investigating whether Deliveroo\u2019s drivers are independent contractors, as the company argues, or whether they should be classified as workers with rights to holiday pay, the national minimum wage and collective bargaining via a union.\n\nMatthew Taylor, a former adviser to Tony Blair, who was appointed by the prime minister last year to lead a review into the gig economy, is also due to report back. His report is expected to recommend ways to ensure insecure work is good for workers as well as businesses, with paying those on zero-hours contracts an enhanced minimum wage being one of the mooted remedies.", "output": "UK-based online food delivery company Deliveroo has entered into talks with the $93bn SoftBank Vision Fund, as well as technology companies such as Apple,\u00a0as it looks to raise $500m to support\u00a0expansion, according to a report in The Guardian.\u00a0If it secures the funds, the firm could be valued at a figure as high as $1.5bn. A $275m funding round last year brought Deliveroo's worth\u00a0to almost $500m. However, the company has come under fire for the\u00a0treatment of its drivers\u00a0as self-employed contractors, a classification currently being examined by the Central Arbitration Committee.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Warner Bros. Records names senior appointments to marketing team \n Warner Bros. Records announced the appointment of Chris Atlas to Senior Vice President, Head of Urban Marketing, and Mark Flaherty to Senior Vice President, Head of Marketing. Both will be based in the company\u2019s Burbank headquarters, reporting to Larry Mattera, the label\u2019s Executive Vice President/General Manager.\n\n\u201cChris and Mark have a wealth of experience creating bold and original marketing campaigns that excite global audiences and help build long careers for artists,\u201d said Mattera. \u201cThey are both inspiring leaders who will strengthen our expertise around specific genres of music, at a time when our approach to artist development must be more inventive and fan-focused than ever before.\u201d\n\n\u201cWarner Bros. has a deep commitment to urban music and I am thrilled to join the team and drive their urban marketing strategy,\u201d said Atlas. \u201cI am thrilled to join WBR\u2019s incredible roster of artists and executives in these ever-evolving times,\u201d said Flaherty.\n\nAtlas began his career at Tommy Boy Records, where he rose through the ranks to serve as A&R and founder of Tommy Boy Black Label, as well as General Manager of Urban Music Promotions. In 2001, he joined Cornerstone Promotion as VP of Urban Marketing & Radio Promotions, where he was involved in campaigns for Sprite, Reebok, and Boost Mobile. In 2008, he joined Def Jam Recordings as SVP of Marketing, eventually rising to EVP of Marketing, where he oversaw the marketing campaigns for the label\u2019s roster of artists including Kanye West, Ludacris, Rick Ross and Alessia Cara.\n\nFlaherty was most recently SVP/Head of Marketing at Interscope Records, where he worked with artists such as Imagine Dragons, Maroon 5, DJ Snake, One Republic, and X Ambassadors. Prior to Interscope, he was at Sony Music working at several labels (Jive, RCA/J/Arista, Epic, Volcano) in various roles ranging from SVP of Marketing & Digital Media to SVP/Head of Strategic Marketing & Brand Partnerships to VP/Head of Sales. As a published singer/songwriter, his music has been featured on TV shows from NBC\u2019s \u201cToday Show\u201d to \u201cDawson\u2019s Creek\u201d and more.", "output": "Warner Bros. Records has hired veteran music promotion strategists Mark Flaherty and Chris Atlas as SVPs and heads of marketing. Flaherty, former SVP at Interscope Records, has been appointed as\u00a0head of marketing, while Atlas, previously EVP of marketing at Def Jam, will be in charge of of urban marketing. It is hoped that the duo will strengthen\u00a0the label's expertise across various musical genres, ensuring its \"approach\u00a0to artist development\" is \"more inventive and fan-focused than ever before,\" said EVP\u00a0Larry Mattera."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wood Group to add biometric monitoring to remote inspection tool \n Sometimes it helps to look to other industries for inspiration. Two years ago, when Wood Group was looking for ways to cut inspection and maintenance costs, it decided to come at the challenge from a different way.\n\n\u201cWe needed to get external stimulation on our ideas,\u201d says Liane Smith, Wood Group\u2019s vice president of digital solutions.\n\n\u201cWe met with NASA experts. We asked them, \u2018how do you work on the International Space Station?\u2019\u201d\n\nThe company gleaned insights about how to make the right expertise available for each job.\n\n\u201cWe", "output": "Aberdeen-based energy services firm Wood Group is planning to add eBioGuard, a remote biometric monitoring device that can track changes to the physiology and bodily positions of workers, to its eWorking kit. Existing elements, including eXpert and eWorkpack, enable remote collaboration in real time, while also reducing printed paperwork by up to 90%. The kit saved one offshore operator an estimated \u00a330,000 ($38,800) over a four-week trial, with the client able to receive and execute surveys significantly faster, Wood Group said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EU Commission offers \u20ac10m contract to dissect Google algorithms \n The European Commission is seeking a company to police Google\u2019s algorithm in a tender worth \u20ac10m, following its record antitrust fine against the advertising business of \u20ac2.4bn (\u00a32.1bn).\n\nThe tender is for a \"Technical expertise to support the Commission on issues relating to an antitrust case in the IT sector.\"\n\nIt called for experts that can assess and process methods determining the display and positioning of generic search results and of paid search results such as online search advertising.\n\nEarlier this week the regulator found that Google had abused its market dominance as a search engine by giving an illegal advantage to another Google product, its comparison shopping service.\n\nCommissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said she has no reason to believe that Google will not comply, but said the commission intended to monitor Google\u2019s compliance closely. \u201cThis means this issue will remain on our desk for some time.\"\n\nGoogle is also being investigated over claims it unfairly banned competitors from websites that used its search bar and adverts, and the commish is looking into whether it pays and limits mobile phone providers that use its Android software and Play app store.\n\nThe tender was published on the regulator\u2019s website Wednesday, and first spotted by Politico. \u00ae", "output": "The European Commission has advertised a tender for a company with technical expertise to \"support the Commission on issues relating to an antitrust case in the IT sector,\" according to a post on the regulator's website. The tender is seeking experts capable of assessing and processing methods for positioning results in online searches. The move followed a recent decision by the regulator, which found that Google had abused its market dominance. The search giant is also being investigated on suspicion of unfairly banning competitors from websites that used its search bar and ads."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Eleven EU states found to have failed to meet emissions targets \n Member States recently reported the first information under the new EU National Emission Ceilings (NEC) Directive (2016/2284/EU). The EEA briefing \u2018NEC Directive reporting status 2017\u2019, gives a progress update on how Member States are meeting their emission ceilings under the NEC Directive. The briefing also provides an assessment of the projected emissions reported for 2020 and 2030 in relation to the Member States\u2019 reduction commitments for those years set in the new NEC Directive.\n\nThe new NEC Directive restricts emissions for five key air pollutants: nitrogen oxides (NO x ), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs), sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ) ammonia (NH 3 ) and fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ). These pollutants contribute to poor air quality, which remains the single largest environmental health risk in Europe, causing respiratory and heart problems and shortening lifespans. They also can harm vegetation and sensitive ecosystems.\n\nKey findings\n\nOn the basis of unadjusted emission totals, the following 11 Member States reported exceedances of their NEC Directive national ceilings for one or more pollutants in 2015: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, Spain and Sweden.\n\nEmission ceilings for nitrogen oxides (NO x ), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) and ammonia (NH 3 ) were exceeded by different combinations of six Member States for each pollutant.\n\nProjected emissions reported by 23 Member States show that 18 do not consider themselves on track towards meeting their reduction commitments set for 2020 for NO x , NH 3 , NMVOCs, SO 2 and/or PM 2.5 on the basis of the policies and measures they currently have in place. Similarly, 22 Member States are not on track to meet one or more of their 2030 commitments.\n\nFor the EU as a whole, however, emissions for three pollutants (NMVOCs, SO 2 , and fine particulate matter PM 2.5 ) are already below the EU\u2019s own 2020 emission reduction commitment set for these pollutants. Only for NO x a further, more significant, reduction is required in order to meet the 2020 reduction commitment. More substantial reductions are still needed for all pollutants if the EU is to achieve its 2030 emission reduction commitments.\n\nFurther details, including country- and pollutant-specific information, are available in the briefing.\n\nAdjustment process\n\nThe new NEC Directive establishes a process that allows Member States to \u2018adjust\u2019 the reported emissions in their inventories downwards for compliance checking with the emission ceilings if certain conditions are met. Nine Member States have requested their data be \u2018adjusted\u2019 in this manner; the European Commission is presently reviewing the applications. The numbers of exceeded ceilings described in the EEA\u2019s briefing will be lower if these applications are approved later in 2017.", "output": "Eleven European Union states breached air pollution standards in 2015, largely as a result of agricultural and transport emissions, according to the European Environment Agency (EEA). Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, Spain and Sweden all exceeded limits on one or more pollutants. The data was obtained from the initial reporting by member states under the new EU National Emission Ceilings Directive. Of the EU\u2019s member states, 18 are not on course to achieve their 2020 emissions reductions targets, while 22 are not set to meet at least one of their 2030 targets.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Methane explosion in Arctic intensifies climate fears \n SIBERIAN TIMES The eruption left a 165ft crater in the Arctic tundra\n\nThe terrifying account came from a herdsman on the Yamal peninsula amid warnings of more than 700 sites in the region where further methane gas eruptions are predicted endangering homes and industrial sites. He was left clinging to a new-born deer after its mother bolted in fear. The sudden and deafening bang shook the ground and sent flames shooting into the sky after the explosion on the bank of an Arctic river, herders told top Russian scientists who raced to the scene following last week's eruption.\n\nFire raged at the site for \"several minutes\" with huge lumps of frozen soil was thrown on either side of the river bank. The funnel is believed to have erupted due to a warming climate leading to thawing permafrost and the release of methane gas which has lain frozen under the surface for thousands of years. Professor Vasily Bogoyavlensky, Russia's leading expert on this recently-noticed phenomenon of blowout craters, cancelled his Black Sea vacation and rushed to the polar site.\n\nSIBERIAN TIMES A new river funnel was formed after the explosion\n\nHe used a fishing line to measure the 165 ft depth of the new water-filled crater 20 miles from Seyakha village, the latest of a dozen holes that have suddenly pockmarked the Siberian Arctic.\n\nThe rocks are singed from the extreme heat A local witness\n\nSUBSCRIBE Invalid email We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info\n\nMikhail Okotetto told TV channel Yamal-region of a fellow herder who was close to the eruption. \"The reindeer fled to the south, but he had newborn calf [in his hands],\u201d he said. \"So the reindeer and dogs all ran away, and he was just left there standing with the newborn calf.\"\n\nAnother local said: \"It was like a new volcano exploding. \"Of course there was no lava, but the rocks are singed from the extreme heat.\" Dr Anton Sinitsky, director of the Arctic Research Centre, was \"shocked\" by the force of the blast and witnessed \"charred sand and grass\" close to the crater. He expressed the fear that such methane eruptions \"can pop up anywhere\" in permafrost Yamal.\n\nSIBERIAN TIMES Reindeer herders call scientists to the scene after the eruption\n\nAlexander Mazharov, deputy governor of Yamalo-Nenets autonomous region, said it was vital to predict future explosions in a region that supplies natural gas to Europe. Towns and villages, industrial facilities along with pipelines and railways were all at risk, he warned. Some 700 sites where the ground is \"bulging\" or \"swelling\" have been identified as vulnerable to similar explosions, reported The Siberian Times. \"It is very important for us also to know what to do because such an eruption can occur anywhere,\" he said.", "output": "A methane explosion that created another sinkhole in the Russian Arctic peninsula has raised concerns that climate change could accelerate even more quickly than feared. The explosion occurred on 28 June on the Yamal Peninsula, which already has at least ten known sinkholes. Methane explosions could be a consequence of climate change, which causes permafrost to melt, releasing gas hydrates from the ground. Methane, a greenhouse gas, is over 25\u00a0times more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of heat-trapping capacity. Increased release of the gas thus threatens to speed up global warming."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Diesel scandals could destroy big car makers' future \n The most immediate impact of the emissions cheating scandal that has engulfed Volkswagen and may be spreading to automakers like Fiat Chrysler is an environmental and public health crisis. Worldwide, diesel vehicles are producing about 50 percent more nitrogen oxide than regulations allow, according to a new study, which links those emissions to 38,000 premature deaths in 2015.\n\nBut, in the long run, the diesel fallout could reach further, helping set up carmakers as the next industry to be upended by Silicon Valley. As shifts like autonomy, electrification, and shared ownership change the way people use and buy cars, these companies will have enough trouble navigating the coming decades.\n\nDedication to diesel adds to the challenge, chaining automakers to a losing technology. And for those caught breaking the rules, expensive legal settlements and fines, which for Volkswagen have exceeded $22 billion in the United States alone, will divert funds from research and development just as these changes in driving technology threaten to render traditional carmakers obsolete.\n\nJack Ewing Jack Ewing is European economics correspondent for The New York Times and author of Faster, Higher, Farther: The Volkswagen Scandal (W.W. Norton). He is based in Frankfurt.\n\nIn the past century, few industries have been as closed to new entrants as the car business, with its massive overhead costs, complex supplier networks, and slim profit margins. That\u2019s changing as self-driving technology, electric propulsion, and manufacturing advances create an opening for disruptive new competitors. Tesla is the first new car company to gain a foothold in decades, it\u2019s unlikely to be the last.\n\nThis opportunity arrives just as a growing number of the traditional carmakers stand accused of using engine software to fool regulators and hide excess emissions of nitrogen oxides. In May, the Department of Justice sued Fiat Chrysler Automobiles for allegedly programming about 100,000 Jeep SUVs and Ram pickup trucks to hold back emissions just long enough to pass the standard Environmental Protection Agency tests. Fiat Chrysler has denied doing anything illegal.\n\nGeneral Motors faces a class action suit, filed in May, that accuses the company of rigging some of its large pickups to cheat on emissions tests. GM calls the allegations baseless. Even Daimler, the maker of Mercedes-Benz cars synonymous with German engineering prowess, is under investigation for possible emissions cheating in Germany and the United States.\n\nThese automakers are unlikely to suffer the same financial damage as Volkswagen, which between 2009 and 2015 sold 11 million cars equipped with illegal, emissions-cloaking software, then compounded its sins with a blitz of false advertising. But fines and settlements could easily amount to billions of dollars they need to be spending on research and development. Moreover, these scandals make the carmakers look like polluting dinosaurs of the past, not purveyors of exciting new technology.\n\nEven carmakers not swept up in the diesel scandals are vulnerable. They tend to operate on thin profit margins\u2014Fiat Chrysler\u2019s return on sales in 2016 was less than 2 percent. Google, which is preparing to bring autonomous vehicles to market, is worth more than three times as much on the stock market as all the German carmakers combined. In April, Tesla\u2019s market capitalization surpassed Ford\u2019s. Investors have made it very clear who they think owns the future.", "output": "Car makers including Fiat Chrysler, General Motors and Daimler could suffer in the long-term from scandals surrounding the use of software to manipulate diesel car emissions levels, according to Jack Ewing, European economics correspondent for the New York Times. He cited how Volkswagen's emissions scandal has so far cost $22bn in the US alone, and said that while disruptive firms like Tesla find innovative ways to mass-produce electric cars, diesel sales will wane because\u00a0of pollution concerns and\u00a0the rise of automated driving and car-sharing.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers develop nanoparticle coating to remove oil from water \n AkzoNobel receives approval to supply its water-based refinish products to Porsche China, currently one of the premium automotive brand\u2019s biggest markets. The company will supply its full...\n\nRead more", "output": "University of Texas at Austin researchers have developed an advanced method of separating oil from water, inspired by the adaptability of magnetic nanoparticles. Scientists applied a polymer coating to nanoparticles, which can attach to oil droplets through\u00a0electrostatic force. They believe their technique could be used to reduce the\u00a0ecological impact of oil production\u00a0and make clean-up operations more efficient, as well as to treat the millions of gallons of water used in hydraulic fracturing. It could also be applied\u00a0to\u00a0drinking water to rid\u00a0it of contaminants."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Porsche determined to prosper in era of EVs and autonomous cars \n Although \"The Origin of Species\" was written more than 150 years ago, Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection never had more meaning for Oliver Blume than today. Porsche's 49-year-old CEO seems to have made biology compulsory reading for his management team as part of his strategy for 2025. The sports-car maker views the future as a matter of survival or extinction following a \"Big Bang,\" Porsche's term for the digital revolution that has already spawned new competitors and business models. Referencing writings on evolution, its IT head Sven Lorenz said: \"It's not the strongest species that survive but the ones most able to adapt.\"\n\nPorsche's alarmist language is fitting: investors seem to believe carmakers are facing a doomsday scenario, the proverbial dinosaurs staring up at the oncoming meteor. \"There's nothing cheaper in terms of quality blue chips in global equity markets than the OEMs, including the Germans. They are at recession-low valuation levels,\" analyst Arndt Ellinghorst of Evercore ISI said. Only Toyota, Volkswagen and Daimler are worth more than electric car maker Tesla.\n\nWhile it's now considered a must for industry executives to discuss the inherent and substantial risks stemming from technological disruption, few paint as bleak a picture as Porsche. This is surprising given the carmaker appears more immune than most to megatrends such as shared mobility, electric vehicles and autonomous driving. Not only does its 911 remain the global benchmark for luxury performance coupes, the company's finances are rock solid. Porsche's operating profit last year had never been higher and its 17 percent return on sales was second only to Ferrari's 19 percent in 2016.\n\nPorsche also surpassed its 200,000-unit-a-year sales target in 2015 -- three years ahead of plan. Last year's total was a record 237,778 vehicles. To reach that level of volume, Porsche has had to add mainstream vehicles that some purists disdain. The brand, however, has proved flexible enough to make additions such as the Macan midsize SUV and its first station wagon, the Panamera Sport Turismo, without sacrificing \"emotional sportiness,\" as Blume calls it.\n\nToo much success?\n\nOn the other hand, Porsche's success is arguably also its greatest weakness. Thus far, the brand has defined itself as a carmaker that sells gasoline-powered dreams on four wheels. Mashing the pedal and hearing the howl of the company's trademark boxer engine isn't enough, so it's no surprise then that Porsche fans already cried out when the smaller 718 model was downsized from six cylinders to just four. Moreover, one design element common to every Porsche ever built is a central instrument cluster dominated not by a speedometer but an analog rev counter. How does one mimic these traits in a whisper-quiet electric car?\n\n\"Porsche is done, conceptually\" said Tesla owner Hasso Plattner, who is chairman and founder of German software giant SAP.\n\nUnable to ignore oncoming megatrends, Blume and his team believe that pulling all the usual levers to improve Porsche's business \u2013 making everything a bit lighter, a bit quicker or a bit more affordable \u2013 simply won't be enough. Without questioning the fundamentals, a company will end up ceding any mantle as an innovator to its competitors. \"To a degree, carmakers will have to become internet companies and turn the tables on companies such as Google that are encroaching into our territory,\" Porsche Chief Financial Officer and Deputy CEO Lutz Meschke told reporters, arguing only those that adapt by monetizing customer data will still succeed in the future. Citing the power that information wields, Porsche says Facebook can understand an individual better than a colleague with just 20 likes; after 300, though, its algorithms can already describe that person better than their own partner.\n\n'On the scrap heap'\n\nOne company manager intimately acquainted with the tech world is Thilo Koslowski, who was appointed head of Porsche Digital last year. The Silicon Valley veteran, who founded the automotive practice of IT research firm Gartner in 1997, believes digitalization offers the industry a unique chance to put the car back into the center of life -- if they grab it. Otherwise the car risks becoming \"a product seen as no longer relevant that belongs on the scrap heap,\" he told industry executives at a conference in Berlin in April. The ultimate goal is to become a platform provider that generates revenue growth beyond the traditional car, for example, by teaming up with consumer goods manufacturers. Koslowski also sees several possibilities stemming from the carmaker's owner clubs, such as easily sharing videos of driving experiences digitally. Ultimately, he believes either a carmaker offers an aspirational ownership experience or it become just another run-of-the-mill mobility provider competing on cost. \"There is no in between,\" Koslowski said, \"since then you will be left behind \u2013 and there will be companies that are left behind, a whole bunch.\"\n\nOverlooking the placid waters of the Spree River in Berlin's trendy district of Friedrichshain, Porsche Lab workers move in and out of loosely arranged \"scrums.\" A small team of 14 employees headed by Boris Behring tests the feasibility of technological innovations such as Blockchain for Porsche's business. Coaching is the philosophy here, not management, and the goal is a cross-pollination with the city's thriving startup scene. Two people working at the communal tables were from one of several new mobility companies in Germany's capital.\n\nDuring a tour earlier this year, Meschke said the lab served as an incubator passing on ideas that prove promising to Koslowski's Porsche Digital, which then creates concrete customer applications and business ideas. Speed here is a necessity. Developers are told not to wait to work out all the bugs, but test possible services on the market once they are 80 percent finished. For Porsche engineers trained not to introduce an innovation until it has been fully vetted, this idea verges on blasphemy. In the digital economy, however, apps often have a shelf life of weeks.\n\nAccording to the CFO, the industry has little choice but to look for growth opportunities elsewhere once self-driving cars dramatically increase vehicle utilization rates. \"Today it's 5 percent, but [soon] we will be talking over 70 percent to 80 percent efficiency,\" the CFO said. \"That means we will need far fewer cars, so automatically the growth in vehicle sales is limited.\"\n\nTo compensate for the loss of volume, he said more than 30 percent of revenue in the future would have to be generated from new businesses. Normally, Porsche only refers to a target of double-digit share of sales, but the CFO was a lot more forthcoming during the day of the tour. When asked why Meschke deviated from the usual talking points, a Porsche official said: \"It's a wake-up call. We need new ideas.\"\n\nAs a result, Porsche is enlisting the help of trend scouts at venture capital firms such as Israel's Magma and e-Ventures, which specialize in providing seed funds to startups before a bank would risk extending a loan. If successful, there is an option for the carmaker to acquire a strategic holding as part of an exit by its venture capital partners. One recent example was Porsche Digital's investment in a German parking solutions startup that will provide the base upon which Porsche plans to establish an ecosystem of services.", "output": "German carmaker Porsche, which is set to begin production of its first electric vehicle (EV), the Mission E, in 2019, could weather the oncoming storm of EVs and autonomous driving thanks to its ability to adapt and find new forms of business, according to Automotive News Europe. The company, which has set out its ecological targets for the first time, could look to digitalisation to ensure it\u00a0generates growth\u00a0through\u00a0strategies\u00a0that go\u00a0beyond being a traditional car provider.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Shell to develop carbon-negative fuel after SBI deal \n If you think about it, the world of combustion engines could really use a carbon-negative story that goes father than electric cars and their entirely mythic but potent \u201czero emissions\u201d storyline.\n\nShell might have just won that race.\n\nYep, they\u2019re going carbon negative. Petroleum fuels emit 94 grams of CO2 per megajoule of energy. Shell\u2019s latest deal with SBI Bioenergy gives it access to a fuel that emits Minus 14.\n\nThat means the atmosphere gets less carbon, with every mile you drive. You motor your way to a global emissions solution.\n\nAnd, offering something that electric vehicles never will \u2014 a technology that claws us back from the carbon precipice instead of a technology class that lets us dangle there forever.\n\nA Shell Turned Upside Down\n\nIt may be very apt that Shell is at the forefront, because not long ago the company re-organized and established its NewFuels entity, within which fits all its ambitions, including biofuels and hydrogen (and especially into the California market), and also put under one big umbrella all its interests in electric mobility, a renewed interest in solar and its new-found aggressive interest in offshore wind.\n\nAnd the company has remained on the advanced biofuels warpath when others have blinked or gone elsewhere. As Shell\u2019s EVP for alt energy Matthew Tipper told The Digest not long ago, \u201cWe will likely begin manufacture in the southeast United States. We plan to be operational by late this decade. Importantly, advanced biofuels could ultimately supply a significant part, perhaps all, of Europe\u2019s transport fuels needs. So we have big plans. We have a credible vision.\u201d\n\nThe SBI bombshell\n\nInto that mix arrived a bombshell last week. As we reported here, Shell acquired exclusive development and licensing rights for SBI BioEnergy\u2019s biofuel technology. Edmonton-based SBI has a patented process that can convert a wide range of waste oils, greases and sustainable vegetable oils into lower carbon drop-ins for diesel, jet fuel and gasoline.\n\n\u201cSBI has a promising new Canadian biofuels technology,\u201d says Andrew Murfin, General Manager, Advanced Biofuels for Shell. \u201cThis is a great opportunity for us to combine Shell\u2019s innovation and commercialization capabilities with SBI\u2019s technical expertise to investigate the potential this technology has for commercial application.\u201d\n\nWhy not before?\n\nThe technological breakthrough is that SBI uses a continuous catalytic process, called PICFTR. That stands for Process Intensifying Continuous Flow-Through Reaction, but we call it PickFooter. PickFooter was originally developed for production of advanced pharmaceuticals and fine chemical intermediates.\n\nWhat are the advantages there? Think 7.\n\n1. Improved Kinetics. Reduces reaction time from hours to seconds by influencing reaction kinetics.\n\n2. Improved Fuel Quality and Yield .\n\n3. Handling of Energetic Exothermic Reactions: PICFTR can handle highly energetic reactions that are simply not possible on commercial scale in batch.\n\n4. Ease of Scalability. Pickfooter has a smaller physical footprint and the ability to quickly scale-up with much lower risk.\n\n5. Reduced Energy Consumption: PICFTR technology can operate with highly concentrated reactants that reduce energy consumption by up to 30%.\n\n6. Reduced Costs. PICFTR provides several-fold cost reduction compared with current manufacturing techniques due to lower initial capital expenditures. For one, it does not need to purchase hydrogen, incorporate expensive hydrogen safety features, consume water or chemicals, or build a large physical plant. Furthermore, SBI\u2019s proprietary catalysts, called \u201cContinuous Green Catalysts\u201d (CGC), are inexpensive, have a long active life, and are easy to rejuvenate.\n\n7. Improved Safety and Environmental Impact. With the reduction in quantities of reactants at any given moment to almost minuscule levels, various risks that affect the scalability of sensitive reactions are virtually eliminated.\n\nHow feedstock flexible?\n\nThe secret of carbon negativity is in the feedstock, which is waste fat, oil or grease. These have traditionally been made into biodiesel or batch renewable diesel. Here. it can be made into drop-in renewable gasoline, diesel or jet fuel.\n\nSBI plans to source feedstock from local suppliers of vegetable oils or animal fats. SBI would like to eventually use vegetable oils from non-food oilseed crops such as carinata or camelina when these crops become commercially available. Other feedstock sources for its process include tall oil from pulp and paper mills or biodiesel from existing manufacturers.\n\nThe SBI backstory\n\nWe reported in March 2016 that SBI was preparing to open its drop-in renewable diesel and aviation jet fuel facility later that year. The demo facility near Edmonton will produce 10 million liters annually, which will be commissioned by year\u2019s end, while a C$20 million commercial scale facility would be online by 2018 producing 240 million liters annually, the company said at the time.\n\nUnder the agreement, Shell and SBI will work together to demonstrate the potential of the technology and, if successful, scale up for commercial application.\n\n\u201cWe are confident that Shell is the right industry partner to commercialize our low carbon intensity renewable fuel process,\u201d says Inder Singh, SBI\u2019s Founding President & CEO. \u201cWorking with Shell means that we have a partner with proven capabilities to investigate the potential this technology has for global application and that is something that is very exciting for us.\u201d\n\nShell\u2019s bustin\u2019 a move\n\nAfter all, \u201cend of the decade\u201d is right around the corner, when we think about building commercial-scale plants and commissioning them. And as Shell\u2019s Andrew Murfin told The Digest, \u201cAs an industry we need to try and get something moving forward, and second plants coming along, so as we get closer to market, we want to see technologies with shorter gestation periods.\u201d\n\nSo it\u2019s not just about building first commercials. It\u2019s about the Nth plant.\n\nWhat\u2019s come together besides technology?\n\nSome of it is California, some of it is the wrenching re-organization of thinking at energy majors, partly due to catastrophically low fuel prices.\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s happened in California,\u201d Murfin said, \u201cis that you have better transparency and the targets have been restated, so it starts to have many of the features of the RFS, and we like the certainty of the RFS around advanced biofuels. The LCFS is even more transparent.\u201d\n\n\u201cAs with many more majors,\u201d Murfin notes, \u201cwe\u2019re very well tuned in to the energy transition, but it is really about how we position ourselves in that new world, and how we organize with real drive rather than a couple of sprints. This is all about how to put renewables into a serious business for the long term. We continue to look to create a global low-carbon business, even with the expected large impact of electrification, we see that heavy-duty will be liquid, and that represents a long-term opportunity.\n\n\u201cWe see the space, and ourselves, as having been technology constrained. We have the feedstock, and we have the infrastructure, but we haven\u2019t had the technology. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve been working on ethanol and drop-ins, as with our small-scale pilot cellulosic plant in Houston that we completed in 2015, and the feedstock trials we\u2019ve been involved in in Texas and Arkansas, looking at improving storage among other aspects. And we also have the Raizen JV and the cellulosic plant, and we\u2019ve seen the progress with the Iogen technology and we are learning from that on feedstock and materials handling.\u201d\n\nShell\u2019s other work continues\n\n\u201cIn terms of drop-ins, we continue to develop a program out of Virent,\u201d Murfin confirmed, \u201cAnd the other tech is the IH2 technology, that comes in via CRI, and again there is a demo plant being built at our facility in Bangalore, similar to Houston, at a 5-ton per day scale and we\u2019ll see how that fares. And, we\u2019re also talking to partners, where it makes sense.\u201d\n\nAnd that\u2019s SBI, right there in the \u201cDepartment of It Makes Sense.\u201d\n\nWe might have seen an announce earlier, but Shell put a ton of resources into looking at the Abengoa cellulosic ethanol project site, not long ago.\n\n\u201cThe Abengoa site really presented for us as a site where we could have focus for our activities, and benefit from low-cost infrastructure and process. It just didn\u2019t come to pass. We did a tremendous amount of work, soup to nuts on that technology and agreements, and at the end of the day we just had a different view on value, and others saw a higher valuation that we did.\n\nThe Bottom Line\n\nThe technology has been demonstrated at a small-scale, so in many ways this is a scale-up deal to get Shell into the Renewable Diesel business. Think Heavy Duty; for sure, Shell is.\n\nWe see a commercial project happening this decade.", "output": "Shell's acquisition of exclusive development and licensing rights for SBI BioEnergy's biofuel technology has given the energy company access to a fuel that captures 14 grams of carbon dioxide per megajoule of energy, compared with petroleum's 94 grams of CO2 emissions. SBI's technology converts waste oils, greases and sustainable vegetable oil into biofuels. Although the technology has only been demonstrated at a small scale, Shell plans to manufacture the biofuel \"late this decade\". Shell recently established its NewFuels entity, which seeks to streamline its interests in electric mobility, solar, offshore wind and hydrogen combustion, as well as biofuels."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese investors fall victim to ether-stealing virus \n An ICO investor reported June 29 he fell victim to a scam in which he was led to believe a startup is doing an ICO project. Alex said he received a zip file with detailed information about the project and found his 80,000 yuan worth of ETH disappeared the next day.\n\nThe conman whose QQ number is 45295299 added Alex this Thursday claiming that he is working on an ICO project and wishes Alex to help check the whitepaper.\n\nHe said something nice about Alex and asked him to support his project. The criminal promised Alex that if everything worked out fine, he could get some kickback.\n\nAlex took the bait. He received a zip file detailing everything he needs to know about the project.\n\nWhen he was about to give some feedback on the whitepaper this morning, he was shocked to find that he lost 80,000 yuan worth of ETH.\n\nThe worst is yet to come. Alex searched the QQ number on Baidu and realized that the crook had been asking questions about how to bypass an antivirus on several hacker forums.\n\nAn antivirus works to detect viruses through two main ways, signature based detection and suspicious behavior. To cheat an antivirus, it involves a lot of encoding work. You can learn about about it at semantic:http://www.secmaniac.com/blog/2010/02/24/set-v0-4-1-rise-of-the-pink-pirate/\n\nWhen Alex shared his story in an ICO group, he was surprised to hear that he was not the only victim. Some investors lost 180,000 yuan and some at least 1 million yuan. Now Alex has reported it to the police.\n\nThese victims all received an ICO file and the antivirus failed to detect some malware in it.\n\nThey read the whitepaper all night long in hopes of giving some useful advice and expected to get some rewards. But there is no such a thing called \u201cRead my whitepaper, I\u2019ll pay you.\u201d\n\nTan Guopeng, founder of bitbill, said this morning that one of his colleagues lost all of his cryptocurrencies. He has been using imToken wallet and his assets were transferred last night without his knowledge. He is now talking with the company to see if there is any way to get his assets back.", "output": "Chinese investors are unwittingly downloading a virus that steals ether coins by opening a zip file that supposedly gives details about an initial coin offering white paper. Individual investors have lost up to CNY1m ($147,000) as the virus is able to bypass antivirus systems.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Self-driving cars could transform the lives of\u00a0disabled people \n A Road to Helping People with Disabilities\n\nAutonomous vehicles have the potential to revolutionize travel, but there is one segment of society, who have so far been overlooked, that they could greatly benefit: people with disabilities. Driverless cars, according to a report by the Ruderman Foundation \"offer significant potential for reducing transportation obstacles for Americans with disabilities.\"\n\nThe report is divided into subsections that make suggestions for specific disabilities. For the deaf community, it states that visual cues and instruction capabilities would be helpful. Intellectual and developmental disabilities could be provided for by creating a means of operation with minimal complexity, and caretakers for those with these disabilities could ensure their safety if tools such as GPS tracking and remotely accessible video cameras were provided.\n\nFor those with physical disabilities, the priority is to make the vehicle accessible, which an automatic ramp could do. A Siri-esque, voice-controlled communication system between car and driver would help them operate the vehicle once they are inside.\n\nIn order to benefit the disabled community to the maximum degree possible, solutions such as these will have to be designed and integrated \"as early as possible in the design and manufacturing process,\" according to the report. If not, the disabled community may face clumsy, expensive, and inefficient solutions when fighting for back-end accessibility.\n\nHelping the Economy by Helping Millions\n\nIn 2015, statistics from the CDC showed that one in every five American adults has a disability; they also wrote that because of their data source, this number was likely underestimated. Designing driverless cars that accommodate this community therefore has the potential to help more than 22% of the population. Getting from point A to B independently is a huge problem for many people in the community, and therefore designing autonomous cars with disabled people in mind would not only increase their travel situation, but quality of life in general.\n\nWhile public transport provides a partial solution to travel for people with disabilities, driverless cars could represent a huge step forward for accessibility and independence \u2014 and in the process rectify the imbalance of opportunity, wage, and education that those with disabilities face. This would be beneficial not only to individuals, but to the US economy as a whole, because it would decrease the rate of unemployment and the market failure caused by immobility of labor.\n\nWhile the future of driverless cars looks bright and exciting \u2014 with companies like Mercedes making sports car versions and stories such as autonomous vehicles preventing traffic jams becoming more common \u2014 perhaps car manufacturers should instead focus on the opportunity of improving the living standards of nearly one in every five Americans. If driverless cars are a revolution, let them be a revolution for all of us.", "output": "Self-driving vehicles could help transform the lives of those with disabilities, according to a report by the Ruderman Foundation in the US. Autonomous cars offer \"significant potential for reducing transportation obstacles\" for those with disabilities, the report said. For those with hearing problems, visual cues would be helpful, while those with developmental disabilities could be aided by control systems that involved minimal complexity. Meanwhile, those with physical disabilities could benefit from more accessible vehicles, with\u00a0automatic ramps and voice-controlled communication systems. One in five Americans has\u00a0a disability, according to 2015 data.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Silicon Valley giants push for coding lessons in US classrooms \n At a White House gathering of tech titans last week, Timothy D. Cook, the chief executive of Apple, delivered a blunt message to President Trump on how public schools could better serve the nation\u2019s needs. To help solve a \u201chuge deficit in the skills that we need today,\u201d Mr. Cook said, the government should do its part to make sure students learn computer programming.\n\n\u201cCoding,\u201d Mr. Cook told the president, \u201cshould be a requirement in every public school.\u201d\n\nThe Apple chief\u2019s education mandate was just the latest tech company push for coding courses in schools. But even without Mr. Trump\u2019s support, Silicon Valley is already advancing that agenda \u2014 thanks largely to the marketing prowess of Code.org, an industry-backed nonprofit group.", "output": "Companies including tech giant Apple and industry-backed not-for-profit Code.org are working to introduce coding into US school curriculums. Last month, Apple introduced a year-long curriculum for high schools and community colleges to teach app design in Swift. More recently, Apple CEO Tim Cook told President Donald Trump the US government should ensure students learn computer programming to address a skills deficit in coding. Meanwhile, Code has raised more than $60m from Microsoft, Facebook, Google and Salesforce to press for education policy changes, build curriculums, provide online coding tutorials and train teachers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Most insurers fear insurtech start-ups will eat into revenues: PwC \n PwC says insurers' perception of InsurTech has changed over the last year.\n\nMore than half of insurers (56%) are worried that up to 20% of their revenue is at risk to InsurTech start-ups, according to PwC\u2019s 2017 Global Fintech survey.\n\nThe report showed 10% believe that more than 40% of business could be lost.\n\nOverall, over eight in ten (86%) of the insurers surveyed were concerned about losing revenue to InsurTech players, with 52% saying that innovation is at the heart of their strategy.\n\nPwC did note in the report that the pace of change in insurance is accelerating", "output": "One in 10 insurers believe they could lose up to 40% of their business to insurtech start-ups, and more than half fear\u00a0they could lose up to 20%, according to PwC's 2017 Global Fintech survey. It found 86% of insurers worried about losing revenue to insurtech firms, and\u00a084% planned to invest in data analytics in the coming months. The survey also revealed almost 90% of insurance firms were struggling to hire or keep staff with the right skills\u00a0to innovate."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FDA approves gene-based cancer test in precision medicine boost \n After decades of research and theoretical debates, it seems precision oncology is finally falling into place.\n\nAt the end of May, FDA triggered a seismic shift in the field with its decision to approve a therapy based on a genetic signature, not a tissue of origin. The ruling solidified the field\u2019s move towards the use of biomarkers to precisely target each person\u2019s cancer, rather than blindly administering toxic agents.\n\nOn Thursday, another big milestone was reached with FDA\u2019s premarket approval (PMA) of the first companion diagnostic for multiple drugs, the Oncomine Dx Target Test. A PMA is the most stringent type of device marketing application required by FDA.\n\nDeveloped by Thermo Fisher Scientific, the assay uses next-generation sequencing (NGS) to simultaneously screen for 23 cancer genes. Three of those genes are tied to three different FDA-approved therapies for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).\n\nAnd that\u2019s just the beginning.\n\nVia phone, Thermo Fisher\u2019s President of Clinical NGS Joydeep Goswami noted that the regulatory work has already been done for further indications.\n\n\u201cWhile we presented evidence of analytical validation of all the different genes, given the initial companion drugs were all non-small cell lung cancer-related, the FDA chose to initially limit this approval to that patient group,\u201d he said.\n\nAfter all, it\u2019s all new territory for the agency as well.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s the first-ever multi-biomarker NGS, IVD [in vitro diagnostic], companion diagnostic that was ever approved. And also, I think for the FDA, for multiple drugs being approved for a companion diagnostic at the same time.\u201d\n\nThe company intends to work with the FDA to get more genes added to the panel, more companion therapies matched, and more indications for use in different tissues. At least one other company, Foundation Medicine, is working on a multi-biomarker, multi-drug companion test.\n\nLung cancer is a good starting point for a number of reasons: The genes are actionable, the samples are hard to collect, and time is of the essence.\n\nWith this NGS test, the sample requirement is very small and it delivers results in a matter of days, Goswami said. That compares to the single biomarker, sequential testing techniques using PCR or IHC, which take weeks and use a large amount of sample with each test. Oncologists don\u2019t want to go back for more.\n\n\u201cThe cost of a lung biopsy, at the best of times, is somewhere in the $5,000-$20,000 range,\u201d Goswami explained. \u201cBut if there are complications, which is often the case with compromised patients, it can go up to $40,000 or more.\u201d\n\nPerhaps more importantly, the procedure is an immense burden on already sick patients, he stated.\n\nThe companion therapies are made by Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Novartis. The latter also received approval for its combination therapy on Thursday, in concert with the approval of the Oncomine Dx Target Test. FDA noted both in its announcement.\n\nFor Goswami, the greatest advantage of a companion diagnostic tied to multiple drugs is its ability to democratize access to precision medicine.\n\nWhen FDA announced its approval of Keytruda for a biomarker, it incited a lot of debate about the number of patients that were getting their tumors sequenced. As it stands, an NSCLC patient at a top academic institution, such as Mayo Clinic, will likely get the tests required to confirm their eligibility for all the approved therapies or clinical trials. Yet these are laboratory-developed tests (LDTs), which are tied to a single clinical location.\n\nThe Oncomine Dx Target Test will be available nationwide; LabCorp\u2019s Diagnostics and Covance Businesses, NeoGenomics Laboratories, and Cancer Genetics have all signed up as early adopters.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t see why any patient should not have access to this technology,\u201d Goswami said.\n\nThermo will start discussions with payers and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services now that the approval is finalized.\n\nIf the trend continues, biomarkers will become an increasingly important part of cancer treatment. But it\u2019s not always a one-to-one equation. These mutations are often actionable in unexpected ways.\n\nTake, for example, Merck\u2019s flagship immunotherapy Keytruda. In an early June interview, Merck\u2019s SVP, Head of Global Clinical Development, and CMO Roy Baynes said the company is currently taking a four-pronged approach to its diagnostics. The first is testing for PDL-1, the biomarker that the drug targets and binds. The next is testing for inflammatory signals more broadly. The third is looking for tumors that are MSI-high, the mutation tied to the landmark FDA approval. And finally, there is evidence to suggest that a broadly high tumor mutational burden correlates with a response to checkpoint inhibitors such as Keytruda.\n\nIf physicians only tested for PDL-1, they wouldn\u2019t be maximizing the drug\u2019s potential.\n\nIt\u2019s a reminder that we need to cast the net as wide as possible for potential mutations, in all patients.\n\nPhoto: Nataniil, Getty Images", "output": "The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given pre-market approval to the\u00a0Oncomine Dx Target Test, which simultaneously identifies\u00a023 cancer genes, potentially lowering the cost of diagnosis and access to gene-based therapies. Three of the genes have matching FDA-approved therapies for\u00a0non-small cell lung cancer. Test-creator\u00a0Thermo Fisher plans to work with the FDA to get more genes approved.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ITV to begin ad-free subscription service in the UK \n ITV is taking a page out of the Netflix playbook.\n\nThe commercial broadcaster has quietly run an ad-free version of its ITV Hub player for the last seven months and is now ready to shout about it. A nationwide campaign will generate noise for the service, which costs \u00a33.99 ($5.19) per month. The bet: ITV must better monetize its content in response to the rise of commercial-free rivals like Netflix, over-the-top services it has helped grow by licensing popular shows to them. Ad revenues for the broadcaster suffered their first drop in seven years last year, slipping 3 percent to \u00a31.7 billion ($2.2 billion), highlighting just how fragmented viewing habits are now.\n\n\u201cPaid TV has been around for 20 years or so in the U.K., and the interesting question for SVOD services is to what extent can they start penetrating those homes that don\u2019t have pay TV, which is around 50 percent of the country,\u201d said Paul Kanareck, ITV group director for online. \u201cA lot of the evidence suggests that the best way to get people to pay is to find those who already pay [for SVOD services]. What you see from a lot of Netflix subscribers is that they\u2019re already Sky subscribers.\u201d\n\nIn the six months since ITV Hub+ launched, two key trends have emerged: The first is a significant number of viewers are using the service to catch up on their favorite soap operas without the ad interruptions, and the second \u2014 and probably more revealing \u2014 is the seasonal spikes of people subscribing to watch high-profile dramas such as \u201cBroadchurch\u201d or \u201cDownton Abbey\u201d before ditching the service once they\u2019ve completed a show. If a large chunk of subscribers are \u201cseasonal,\u201d then different pricing models could be a way of making ITV Hub+ more appealing to more people. He envisions the service evolving over the coming weeks and months with the introduction of various passes such as seasonal passes, program passes, day passes and more.\n\nPlans are also afoot to gauge whether the service should introduce exclusive promotions, such as show previews, to those who pay.\n\nIt would be \u201cinteresting to see whether those people realize they can get a lot of content for free and then add on a bit of subscription money on top,\u201d Kanareck mused on whether skinny bundles could reinvent the TV model within the IP space.\n\nFor all his optimism for ITV Hub+, Kanareck doesn\u2019t expect it to be \u201ctruly mass market.\u201d It\u2019s why, when asked whether he felt the SVOD player could become a threat to the bigger ITV Hub business, he was relaxed. ITV Hub+ would have to get to a \u201cserious number of users\u201d to start having an impact on ITV Hub\u2019s ad sales and ad load capacities, he explained. Many broadcasters hesitant to push their shows across multiple platforms share that fear of content online slowly eroding linear TV audiences, and consequently, advertising revenues.\n\nHowever, putting live TV at the heart of its online proposition is ITV\u2019s gamble in the wider tussle for eyeballs that has taken it from the main screen in the home to multiple screens on the road to date and will soon return to that main TV screen. Except this time, the TV is connected, which already accounts for the biggest share of the 20 million people viewing shows on ITV Hub. Four in 10 of those viewers are watching ITV\u2019s live broadcasts via the online player as household penetration of smart TVs is tipped to hit relative parity, with streaming media players as platforms delivering apps to TVs by 2020, according to market research firm NPD.\n\nThe proliferation of these devices means \u201cITV is going to look a lot more like ITV Hub in five years time,\u201d said Kanareck. \u201cVideo on demand is becoming more of a communal family experience as opposed to a one-on-one experience with mobile, and it means it\u2019s starting to enter the living room, which is where ITV does best, when it\u2019s providing family viewing.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s too early to know what it will look like, but ITV\u2019s overhaul will see the definition of broadcast TV change to one that\u2019s reflective of how people will be able to curate and consume content the way they want.\n\nPersonalized homepages are due on ITV Hub in the coming weeks, meaning registered users will only see the shows they like. The broadcaster is also in the early stages of allowing advertisers to target ITV Hub viewers by household, i.e, addressable TV. Kanareck was coy on the development, though he did have this to say: \u201cI suspect where we\u2019ll end up is offering advertisers a lot more choice about how they want to buy TV just like we\u2019re giving viewers more choice about how they watch TV.\u201d", "output": "ITV is launching an ad-free subscription service for its Hub player, which will cost \u00a33.99 per month. The new service is a bid to better monetise its digital content as ad revenues for the business have dropped 3% to reach \u00a31.7bn. With paid digital television services being relatively ubiquitous, the service is predicted to generate interest from those already using the free version.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "The Doctors Laboratory concedes couriers are workers \n Couriers carrying emergency blood supplies and delivering passports have won improved employment rights in an important concession for workers in the gig economy.\n\nThe Doctors Laboratory, a company which provides pathology services to the NHS, has admitted that five cyclists, motorcyclists and van drivers carrying emergency blood supplies to hospitals and samples to laboratories, are not self-employed.\n\nThe company now concedes that the couriers, who are on a variety of different contracts, are workers, an official employment classification which entitles them to rights including holiday pay and a minimum wage. Self-employed contractors, who make the vast majority of drivers and riders in the courier and delivery industry, have no employment rights, beyond basic health and safety and anti-discrimination rules.\n\nThe firm, which is understand to employ more than 70 couriers, who are a mix of car drivers, motorcyclists and cyclists, would not confirm when or if it would be repaying holiday pay owed to the five workers.\n\n\u201cTDL is mindful of doing the right thing but as the case is ongoing we are unable to provide further comment at this time,\u201d the company said.\n\nTDL\u2019s admission comes after a similar move by eCourier, a subsidiary of Royal Mail, which last month admitted it had wrongly classified one of its couriers as a self-employed contractor. It is now carrying out a review to work out how best to switch staff to worker status where it reflects their working arrangements. Both admissions came after legal action backed by the Independent Workers\u2019 Union of Great Britain.\n\nOther tribunals against taxi-hailing app Uber and courier firm CitySprint also both successfully argued drivers were officially \u201cworkers\u201d.\n\nUber, which has 40,000 drivers in the UK, will appeal against the employment tribunal verdict in September. CitySprint has also launched an appeal after losing a similar case.\n\nJason Moyer-Lee, general secretary of IWGB, said: \u201cLooking at how these cases have progressed in the past year and a half, there\u2019s momentum for real change happening. Worker status in an inevitability in the gig economy. It is like dominoes falling.\u201d\n\nHe said the IWGB would continue to pursue its case against TDL because the couriers argue they are employees \u2013 an even more secure classification than worker.\n\nEmployees have guaranteed additional benefits including sick pay and maternity leave as well as protection against unfair dismissal, statutory redundancy pay and the right to request flexible working.\n\nMoyer-Lee said: \u201cTDL\u2019s recent admission of unlawful behaviour is further evidence that there has been widespread and rampant denial of employment rights with no consequence. But also that worker status is inevitable once these companies are challenged.\n\n\u201cIn TDL\u2019s case however worker status is not good enough, these couriers are employees. TDL would be wise to admit to the full extent of its behaviour and not try to weasel out of the situation on the cheap.\u201d\n\nThe case will be heard between 13 and 16 November 2017.", "output": "The Doctors Laboratory (TDL), a delivery company providing pathology services to the NHS, has conceded that five of its couriers are not self-employed in an admission that carries potential implications for gig economy workers. The firm, which employs over 70 couriers, has stated that individuals on a range of different contracts are workers, meaning that they are entitled to rights including the minimum wage and holiday pay. Last month, eCourier, a Royal Mail subsidiary, also admitted that hundreds of its couriers were wrongly classified as self-employed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cyber insurance may not cover fines for data protection breaches \n Companies banking on cyber insurance to protect themselves against the harsh penalties due under GDPR could be in for a shock, amid claims that many legal firms believe that the monetary penalties will be impossible to cover.\n\nAccording to CFC Underwriting, the \u2018fear factor\u2019 of a costly cyber attack drove UK adoption of cyber insurance up 50% in 2016 and globally the market is currently worth over $2.5bn \u2013 a figure which is expected to rise significantly as firms wake up to the reality of life under GDPR.\n\nBut a panel discussion on cyber risk held at the Reactions London Market Re/Insurance Conference, heard there are still considerable \u201cgrey areas\u201d about using insurance for GDPR fines.\n\nUnder new regime, there will be a two-tiered sanction regime. Lesser incidents will be subject to a maximum fine of either \u20ac10m (\u00a37.9m) or 2% of an organisation\u2019s global turnover (whichever is greater), while the most serious violations could result in fines of up to \u20ac20m or 4% of turnover (whichever is greater).\n\nSpeaking at the event, Gavin Lyons, leader of the corporate account handlers at insurance giant JLT, said that privately most law firms say they think GDPR fines are uninsurable. \u201cThey\u2019re not willing to put that in writing, of course, but they are waiting for a test case,\u201d he added.\n\nAnd Mark Camillo, head of cyber insurance in Europe at AIG and head of its CyberEdge product, agreed, citing the fact that, as criminal proceedings can be brought against those businesses affected, the insurance could be void.\n\nNot that fines are the only thing that cyber insurance covers; most policies also include provisions for crisis management, such as expenses related to the management of an incident, the investigation, the remediation, data subject notification, call management, credit checking for data subjects, and legal costs.\n\nThey also cover third-party damages, including defacement of website and intellectual property rights infringement, extortion liability cover, and network security liability.\n\nHowever, there is also the matter of how much insurance firms are willing to cover; according to Camillo the largest standalone cyber policy placed by AIG in Europe currently has a \u00a3400m limit, a figure which would not even scratch the surface of the costs for some multinationals which have global turnovers of tens of billions of pounds.\n\nFor instance, the recent data breach at The Hutchison Whampoa-owned Three Mobile, could have triggered an eye-watering fine of $2.2bn (\u00a31.8bn) based on its parent company\u2019s global turnover of $53bn (\u00a343bn).\n\nRelated stories\n\nThree would face whopping \u00a31.8bn fine under GDPR\n\nTalkTalk could have faced \u00a370m fine under GDPR\n\nJohn Lewis and HSBC slam \u2018ambiguous\u2019 GDPR guidance\n\nLack of GDPR guidance fuels fears over bombardment\n\nGDPR countdown fuels warning of 4,500% rise in fines\n\n84% of UK SMEs have still not heard of EU data reforms", "output": "The penalties laid out in the EU's forthcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) may mean some fines will not be covered by cybercrime insurance policies, according to experts at the Reactions London Market Re/Insurance Conference. The GDPR system has two tiers of financial penalty and some law firms have said privately GDPR fines may be uninsurable, according to Gavin Lyons, leader of the corporate account handlers at insurance giant JLT. \"They\u2019re not willing to put that in writing, but they are waiting for a test case,\" Lyons said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Portugal's top football team embraces AI to give players edge \n S.L. Benfica\u2014Portugal's top football team and one of the best teams in the world\u2014makes as much money from carefully nurturing, training, and selling players as actually playing football. Football teams have always sold and traded players, of course, but Sport Lisboa e Benfica has turned it into an art form: buying young talent; using advanced technology, data science, and training to improve their health and performance; and then selling them for tens of millions of pounds\u2014sometimes as much as 10 or 20 times the original fee.\n\nLet me give you a few examples. Benfica signed 17-year-old Jan Oblak in 2010 for \u20ac1.7 million; in 2014, as he blossomed into one of the best goalies in the world, Atl\u00e9tico Madrid picked him up for a cool \u20ac16 million. In 2007 David Luiz joined Benfica for \u20ac1.5 million; just four years later, Luiz was traded to Chelsea for \u20ac25 million and player Nemanja Matic. Then, three years after that, Matic returned to Chelsea for another \u20ac25 million. All told, S.L. Benfica raised more than \u00a3270 million (\u20ac320m) from player transfers over the last six years.\n\nAt Benfica's Caixa Futebol Campus there are seven grass pitches, two artificial fields, an indoor test lab, and accommodation for 65 youth team members. With three top-level football teams (SL Benfica, SL Benfica B, and SL Benfica Juniors) and other youth levels below that, there are over 100 players actively training at the campus\u2014and almost every aspect of their lives is tracked, analysed, and improved by technology. How much they eat and sleep, how fast they run, tire, and recover, their mental health\u2014everything is ingested into a giant data lake.\n\nWith machine learning and predictive analytics running on Microsoft Azure, combined with Benfica's expert data scientists and the learned experience of the trainers, each player receives a personalised training regime where weaknesses are ironed out, strengths enhanced, and the chance of injury significantly reduced.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSensors, lots of sensors\n\nBefore any kind of analysis can occur, Benfica has to gather lots and lots of data\u2014mostly from sensors, but some data points (psychology, diet) have to be surveyed manually. Because small, low-power sensors are a relatively new area with lots of competition, there's very little standardisation to speak of: every sensor (or sensor system) uses its own wireless protocol or file format. \"Hundreds of thousands\" of data points are collected from a single match or training session.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nProcessing all of that data wouldn't be so bad if there were just three or four different sensors, but we counted almost a dozen disparate systems\u2014Datatrax for match day tracking, Prozone, Philips Actiware biosensors, StatSports GPS tracking, OptoGait gait analysis, Biodex physiotherapy machines, the list goes on\u2014and each one outputs data in a different format, or has to be connected to its own proprietary base station.\n\nBenfica uses a custom middleware layer that sanitises the output from each sensor into a single format (yes, XKCD 927 is in full force here). The sanitised data is then ingested into a giant SQL data lake hosted on the team's own data centre. There might even be a few Excel spreadsheets along the way, Benfica's chief information officer Joao Copeto tells Ars\u2014\"they exist in every club,\" he says with a laugh\u2014but they are in the process of moving everything to the cloud with Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Azure.\n\nOnce everything is floating around in the data lake, maintaining the security and privacy of that data is very important. \"Access to the data is segregated, to protect confidentiality,\" says Copeto. \"Detailed information is only available to a very restricted group of professionals.\" Benfica's data scientists, which are mostly interested in patterns in the data, only have access to anonymised player data\u2014they can see the player's position, but not much else.\n\nPlayers have full access to their own data, which they can compare to team or position averages, to see how they're doing in the grand scheme of things. Benfica is very careful to comply with existing EU data protection laws, and is ready to embrace the even-more-stringent General Data Protection Regulation (GPDR) when it comes into force in 2018.", "output": "Portuguese football team S.L. Benfica are using machine learning, predictive analytics and other data science techniques to optimise the performance of its players. Data gathered from sensors on the match and training pitches, physiotherapy machines, gait analysis devices and wearables is combined with dietary and psychological profiling to provide personalised training regimes for all members of the squad. The club is also using Microsoft's Azure Machine Learning tools to validate its complex stress and fatigue models and to build an accurate injury prediction model that can spot potential physical risks before they develop into serious problems.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Experts call for \u201cNo Idling\u201d zones to cut UK air pollution \n Parents who leave their car engines running at the school gate should be fined in order to help tackle the air pollution crisis, according to England\u2019s official health watchdogs.\n\nNew guidance from Public Health England (PHE) and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) sets out a wide range of measures to cut air pollution, which is at illegal levels in almost 90% of urban areas.\n\nThe health experts say children and older people are most at risk from toxic air and so \u201cno idling\u201d zones should be used outside schools, care homes and hospitals. Westminster city council has already introduced \u00a380 fines for drivers caught with idling engines. Other PHE and Nice recommendations include planting more pollution-absorbing trees and hedges, training motorists to drive smoothly and to keep their tyres pumped up, and supporting cycling and electric vehicles.\n\nThe health watchdogs also back \u201cclean air zones\u201d that charge or restrict polluting vehicles from entering town centres. The government\u2019s own evidence shows this is the fastest way to cut pollution, but ministers have shied away from implementing zones, fearing a backlash from motorists.\n\nAir pollution is estimated to cause 40,000 premature deaths a year in the UK, making it the biggest environmental killer. It also results in health costs of between \u00a38.5bn and \u00a318.6bn a year, according to PHE and Nice. The government\u2019s plans to solve the pollution problem have twice been declared illegally poor and its latest plan in May was dismissed as \u201cweak\u201d and \u201cwoefully indequate\u201d. Ministers are now being sued for a third time.\n\n\u201cAir pollution is a major risk to our health, and so far suggested measures have not managed to tackle the problem sufficiently,\u201d said Prof Paul Lincoln, chair of the Nice guideline committee. \u201cThis guidance is based upon the best evidence available. It outlines a range of practical steps that local authorities can take, such as the implementation of no-idling zones, to reduce emissions and protect the public.\u201d\n\nPenny Woods, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation, said: \u201cThese guidelines bring into sharp focus the reality that air pollution is one of our most important public health issues. We welcome the recommendations to introduce no vehicle idling areas, which will help to protect the most vulnerable in our society.\u201d\n\nRAC roads policy spokesman Nick Lyes said: \u201cWe welcome the principle of no-idling zones, especially outside schools, hospitals and care homes. No-one should have to suffer dirty air as a result of a driver leaving their engine on unnecessarily. Sadly, many drivers don\u2019t realise the harm they are causing by doing this.\u201d\n\nHealthcare professionals should play a role in tackling Britain\u2019s air pollution problem too, said Prof Paul Cosford, director of health protection at PHE: \u201cThey can advise individuals, particularly those who are most vulnerable, on how to reduce the personal impact of air pollution \u2013 for example, by reducing strenuous activity when air pollution is high and by using less polluted routes in towns and cities.\u201d", "output": "\u201cNo idling\u201d zones where drivers leaving car engines running are fined should be introduced according to Public Health England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Such zones should be implemented outside care homes, hospitals and schools to reflect the fact that children and old people are most vulnerable to toxic air. Westminster city council has already introduced \u00a380 fines for idling engines. Other recommendations include greater planting of trees and hedges, support for cycling and electric cars and \u201cclean air zones\u201d that limit polluting vehicles. Almost 90% of UK urban areas have illegal levels of air pollution.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pollution weighs on solar power generation capacity in India \n Dirty air is choking India\u2019s quest for clean energy.\n\nHigh levels of environmental pollutants and dust in northern India are expected to reduce the region\u2019s solar power generation capacity by around 17%, a new study published in the Environmental Science & Technology Letters journal says. India\u2019s northern plains are dotted with a number of heavily polluted cities, including New Delhi, which has worse air quality than almost anywhere else in the world.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAt current levels, particulate matter (PM)\u2014either airborne or deposited on solar panels\u2014could wipe out nearly 776 megawatt (MW) of solar power, which is more than the capacity of India\u2019s largest solar plant.\n\nThe study was initiated after Michael Bergin, a professor at Duke University, noticed that some rooftop solar installations in India were incredibly dirty. \u201dI thought the dirt had to affect their efficiencies, but there weren\u2019t any studies out there estimating the losses,\u201d he told a university publication. \u201cSo we put together a comprehensive model to do just that.\u201d\n\nAlong with researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Gandhinagar, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Bergin began collecting samples from multiple solar panels located at IIT-Gandhinagar. They found that the efficiency of the panels would improve by nearly 50% when they were cleaned after certain periods of time.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cThe partially cleaned solar panels clearly show that PM covers the panel surfaces and suggests that the coating may be influencing solar energy production,\u201d the study noted.\n\nWhen the researchers examined the deposits on the panels, they discovered a small but significant percentage of man-made pollutants, aside from dust.\n\nThese particles were responsible for roughly half of the 17% fall in solar energy production in northern India, the study estimated, with dust making up for the rest.\n\n\u201cThe manmade particles are also small and sticky, making them much more difficult to clean off,\u201d said Bergin, also the lead author of the study. \u201cYou might think you could just clean the solar panels more often, but the more you clean them, the higher your risk of damaging them.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nBergin and his team also used data from NASA\u2019s Goddard Institute for Space Studies to understand the effect of airborne and deposited particles, eventually working out a way to estimate the loss of solar energy production worldwide. \u201cIn northwestern India there are areas that experience a decrease in the annual amount of available shortwave energy for solar production by as much as ~50%,\u201d the study reported, partly due to the presence of man-made pollutants and dust in the air.\n\nAside from India, the study revealed, China is the other major market where unclear air is sapping the solar energy industry. In eastern-central China, for instance, non-dust airborne particles are mostly responsible for a 17% reduction (7,400MW) in solar energy production. \u201cChina is already looking at tens of billions of dollars being lost each year, with more than 80% of that coming from losses due to pollution,\u201d Bergin added.\n\nFor India, with its ambition of generating 100 gigawatt of solar power by 2022, the lesson is straightforward: It\u2019s time to clear the air.", "output": "Environmental pollution and dust in Northern India have an adverse effect on solar power generation capacity, and could reduce it by around 17%, Indian and US scientists have calculated. Current levels of particulate matter pollution could reduce solar power generation by 776 MW, more than the entire capacity of the largest solar plant in the country. However, cleaning solar panels regularly could improve their energy generation by nearly 50%.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Twitter adds inventory packages to enable mobile ad targeting\u00a0\u00a0 \n Twitter\u2019s MoPub mobile ad exchange strengthened its targeting options with its launch Thursday of inventory packages.\n\nDirector of product marketing, brand, video and exchange Emel Mutlu described inventory packages as collections of ad inventory with shared characteristics, enabling brands to segment and target inventory and reach their targeted audiences.\n\nMutlu said there are currently more than 49,000 applications live on MoPub Marketplace, and she provided more color on inventory packages in a blog post:", "output": "Twitter's MoPub mobile ad exchange has launched inventory packages to enable brands to segment and target ad inventory. Arranged by shared characteristics, the eight packages allow users to target inventory based on performance data or how recently it's been added to MoPub, said the company's director of product marketing, Emel Mutlu. Over the coming year, MoPub intends to provide partners with additional signals in the bid stream, private marketplace offerings and third-party partnerships, Mutlu added.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook chatbot discovery tool hits the US \n Today sees the US launch of Facebook\u2019s bot Discovery tool, announced at F8 back in April. It allows users to find bots and businesses on Messenger. Tap on the \u2018Discover\u2019 icon on the lower right hand corner of the Messenger Home screen and you can browse by category, recently-used businesses and featured experiences.\n\n\n\nCategories organises bots and businesses by topic. Recently-used shows the bots and businesses you recently interacted with. And Featured displays a random selection of bots that the user might want to explore.\n\n\n\nFacebook said its goal with Discover is to ensure that experiences in Messenger are compelling, high quality and easy to find. It will also be hoping that Discover helps retain developers interest in creating bots for the Messenger platform.\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t forget to enter the Effective Mobile Marketing Awards. The Early Bird deadline for submissions is 22 July. More details here.", "output": "Facebook has launched a tool that enables users in the US to locate bots and businesses on its Messenger app. By encouraging developers to create bots for Messenger, Facebook said it aims to develop high-quality and accessible user experiences within its platform. The feature can be triggered\u00a0via the \"Discover\" icon on the Messenger home screen.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MetaX completes $10m crowdsale to fund transparent ad tech system \n MetaX, a blockchain technology company driving development and adoption of open platforms for digital advertising, completed its token sale of $10 million on June 26th.\n\n\n\nThe launch sold out in one block.\n\nThe sale reached the cap of 10 million USD in 23 seconds\n\nA total fixed supply of 1,000,000,000 adTokens were issued\n\nMetaX and ConsenSys jointly created adChain, a blockchain-based open protocol that's programmable to the needs of the digital advertising industry. The sale will fund further product development and innovation to help streamline the $175 billion digital advertising supply chain that\u2019s riddled with transparency issues.\n\nUse of proceeds will go toward the advancement of product development, general administrative duties, business development/marketing, consulting, and legal.\n\n\u201cThe adToken launch is a culmination of more than 15 months of hard work. We\u2019ve paid attention to meticulous details in the development of this product to ensure it caters specifically to the needs of the industry we\u2019re serving - global digital advertising,\u201d said Ken Brook, CEO of MetaX. \u201cThis is why we also spent nearly a year in due diligence with representatives across the ecosystem and have lined up strategic industry partners, such as the Data & Marketing Association, and others to be announced in coming weeks. The overwhelming interest from the crypto community clearly demonstrates the recognition of the big problem we\u2019re setting out to solve.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019m genuinely proud of the crypto-economic game we designed to incentivize human behavior as part of the adChain registry. Lead developer Mike Goldin truly excelled in his rigorous technical development to ensure our launch went smoothly. This next year will be filled with building out decentralized infrastructure to bring about Fortune 500 adoption to the adChain protocol,\u201d said Mark D\u2019Agostino, managing partner at ConsenSys Enterprise.\n\nAbout adToken and adChain\n\nadChain is an open protocol on public Ethereum that allows for the building of decentralized and ad-centric applications for the $175 billion digital advertising ecosystem. The first solution of adChain is the adChain Registry, a smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain which stores domain names accredited as non-fraudulent by ADT holders. ADT holders will access a token-weighted voting mechanism through a user interface to vote on whether a publisher domain is fraudulent or non-fraudulent. dApps (decentralized applications) utilizing the adChain protocol will enable advertisers and publishers to run campaigns that leverage the power of Ethereum, while maintaining the familiar user experience of legacy tools. These dApps will drive adoption across the thousands of advertisers, publishers and technology providers, in the digital advertising ecosystem.\n\nVisit https://adtoken.com for details on the adToken (ADT) mechanism and to download the adChain white paper.\n\nAbout MetaX\n\nMetaX is a Los Angeles-based, blockchain technology company driving development and adoption of open platforms for digital advertising. MetaX uses adChain to power ad-centric applications that allow the digital advertising supply chain to coordinate in a scalable, trustworthy and secure way. To sign up for company updates, please visit: http://metax.io/.\n\nAbout ConsenSys\n\nConsenSys is a venture production studio and custom software development consultancy building decentralized applications (dApps), enterprise solutions and developer tools for the Ethereum ecosystem. Powered by smart contracts and secured through encryption, our applications provide the benefits of transparency, auditability, and immutability that are unique to blockchain-based solutions. For more information please go to http://www.consensys.net.", "output": "Los Angeles-based, blockchain technology company MetaX has raised $10m from its sale of one billion tokens, which reached its cap in 23 seconds. Working with ConsenSys, MetaX created adChain, a blockchain-based, programmable open protocol for the digital advertising industry. The funds will be used to pay for innovations and developments aimed at streamlining the opaque, $175bn digital advertising supply chain. \"The overwhelming interest from the crypto community clearly demonstrates the recognition of the big problem we\u2019re setting out to solve,\" said Ken Brook, CEO of MetaX.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Social Chain becomes largest gaming publisher on Facebook \n Social Chain, the social media marketing agency, has acquired the viral gaming portfolio of Devise in a multimillion-dollar deal that it claims makes it the largest owner of gaming publishers on Facebook.\n\nSocial Chain acquires viral gaming portfolio Devise\n\nThe acquisition includes a large network of influential video game-related social media channels and websites. Devise claims to reach 1,500,000,000 people every month, and accumulate 200,000,000 views per month.", "output": "Social media marketing agency Social Chain has become the largest owner of gaming publishers on Facebook, following a multimillion-dollar acquisition of Devise's viral gaming portfolio. The deal includes a huge network of video game-related social media channels and websites. Devise claims it reaches 1.5 billion people and accumulates 200 million views per month.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US blacklists China's Bank of Dandong over North Korea ties \n U.S. sanctions on a Chinese bank aiding nuclear-armed North Korea are \"extremely long overdue\" and the Trump administration should also consider action against even larger banks, according to a former U.S. intelligence official.\n\n\"This is a significant step but really a first step in what should be a much more extensive program against the Chinese entities that are violating U.S. law,\" said Bruce Klingner, former chief of the CIA's Korea branch and now senior research fellow for Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation's Asian Studies Center.\n\nOn Thursday, the Treasury Department designated China's Bank of Dandong to be a \"primary money laundering concern.\" It said the small bank \"acts as a conduit for illicit North Korean financial activity.\" Two Chinese individuals were also targeted in the government's action.\n\nThe U.S. Treasury Department said its FinCEN (or Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) is taking steps that will prevent the bank from continuing to be an avenue for North Korea to have access to U.S. and international financial systems. It said the bank's activities include \"facilitating millions of dollars of transactions for companies\" or front entities known to have ties to the hermit regime's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.\n\n\"For whatever reason, the U.S. has not taken action against China the way we had against other nations for their involvement with Iran,\" said Klingner.\n\nKlingner said it was time to step up the sanctions and consider \"imposing significant fines against China's big-four banks if they are found to be complicit\" in illicit dealings with North Korea. In the past, he noted that the U.S. had imposed billions of dollars in fines on major European banks for money laundering, including violating sanctions with Iran.\n\nThat said, the former U.S. intelligence official added that the large Chinese banks maybe \"too big to designate as money laundering concerns because it would have an impact on the U.S. and world economy.\"\n\n\"The medium to small banks,\" Klingner said, \"could be designated depending on the available evidence.\"\n\nPresident Donald Trump appears to have waited to impose sanctions against Chinese banks because he believed Chinese President Xi Jinping would be able to help persuade North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un to abandon the regime's nuclear and missile programs. A frustrated Trump, though, tweeted June 20 that \"it has not worked\" and many took it to mean the China outreach on North Korea had failed.", "output": "The US Treasury has blacklisted China's Bank of Dandong due to its dealings with North Korea. The action also targeted two individuals. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin insisted the move was not aimed at punishing China itself. Calling it a significant but \"extremely long overdue\" first step, former US intelligence official Bruce Klingner said there should be a \"much more extensive programme against the Chinese entities that are violating U.S. law\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "World Bank targets faster pandemic response with insurance fund \n Who would have thought that the best way to speed up the international response to major disease outbreaks would be to set up an insurance company? The World Bank, that\u2019s who.\n\nNearly everyone agrees that the Ebola outbreak in West Africa that began in 2013 and lasted until 2016, killing more than eleven thousand people, would have been much smaller had the international community responded promptly to the outbreak when it was first recognized.\n\nWhile some experts have primarily blamed the World Health Organization for its slow response, it\u2019s fair to say that it wasn\u2019t just WHO that moved too slowly to mobilize an appropriate disease containment and treatment response to the outbreak. One reason for the delay: lack of funding and consensus on who should pay.\n\nThe World Bank wants to prevent that from happening again with a new insurance scheme.\n\nThe global financing agency focused on poverty launched the scheme on Wednesday, raising more than $425 million for the Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility, a pooled and re-chargeable fund that will provide money to developing countries when there is a disease outbreak. Investors can make money as long as there are not outbreaks, but pay out if a pandemic emerges.\n\nIn one sense, the fund itself provides a financial incentive to encourage a prompt response \u2013 since the earlier the world responds, the less money the investors risk paying out.\n\n\u201cWith this new facility, we have taken a momentous step that has the potential to save millions of lives and entire economies from one of the greatest systemic threats we face,\u201d World Bank head Jim Yong Kim said in a statement. \u201cWe are moving away from the cycle of panic and neglect that has characterized so much of our approach to pandemics.\u201d\n\nKim announced the plan to start the financing facility in May 2016, but it took a year before its official formation and bond issue. The idea is based on the fact that pandemics have a significant global economic impact and acting quickly in response can prevent an outbreak from spreading out of control.\n\nAn estimated $570 billion is spent each year on moderately severe to severe pandemics globally. If the world experiences a massive epidemic on the scale like the 1918 Spanish flu that infected 500 million people, the response would easily get into the trillions of dollars, or some five percent of global GDP.\n\nThe new World Bank-sponsored pandemic fund is focused on responding to outbreaks involving six viruses that are most likely to cause a pandemic. The culprits: Orthomyxoviruses (new influenza pandemic virus A), Coronaviridae (SARS, MERS), Filoviridae (Ebola, Marburg) and other zoonotic diseases (Crimean Congo, Rift Valley, Lassa fever). Some 77 countries that are a part of the World Bank\u2019s developing country-focused International Development Agency are eligible to receive funds from the new facility.\n\nThe Ebola outbreak in West Africa was the world\u2019s worst such pandemic, surprising experts who expected it \u2013 like most prior Ebola outbreaks \u2013 to \u2018burn itself out\u2019 and remain concentrated in a small area. Instead, for reasons that are still debate by the experts, the virus spread rapidly (and in ways never seen before), killing more than 11,000 people mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.\n\nOnce the WHO and the rest of the international community recognized this was a much larger, atypical outbreak of Ebola, it sill took roughly 3 months to raise $100 million amid the confusion over how best to respond. The World Bank believes mobilizing money quickly could have helped reduce deaths while also reducing costs. The outbreak eventually cost the world some $10 billion to contain, treat and aid with recovery.\n\nThe fund is essentially a global insurance agency. The World Bank developed it with reinsurance companies Swiss Re and Munich Re to develop the bonds and manage payouts. The Bank says some $500 million of coverage will be available over the next 5 years.\n\n\u201cThis creates an entirely new market for pandemic risk insurance. Drawing on lessons from the Ebola Outbreak in West Africa, the Facility will help improve health security for everyone,\u201d Kim said.\n\nThe money alone will not prevent future pandemics, of course. Reforms are underway at the World Health Organization to improve its ability to respond to crises and the targets set by the Sustainable Development Goals aim to help countries improve health systems. But the new World Bank fund, many say, will play an important role by speeding up access to money \u2013 an important component to averting a public health disaster.", "output": "The World Bank wants to ensure that delays in funding containment and treatment for areas experiencing deadly outbreaks are avoided in future, to prevent similarly slow responses as seen following West Africa's\u00a0Ebola outbreak. The bank launched a\u00a0new insurance scheme earlier this week that\u00a0has raised more than\u00a0$425m for the Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility. The facility is a pooled fund that is rechargeable and provides financial help to countries suffering from disease outbreaks. Investors stand to make a profit provided there are no outbreaks, paying out if a pandemic does occur.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Swiss insurtech start-up broker Knip merges with Dutch partner \n One of Switzerland\u2019s most-promising fintech startups is merging with a Dutch partner. The founder and chief executive is leaving the company.\n\nSwiss digital insurance broker Knip has agreed to merge with Komparu, a Dutch technology firm. Together they will operate as Digital Insurance Group (DIG), according to a joint statement.\n\nKnip and Komparu already cooperated since the end of last year, as was reported by finews.ch.\n\nExpansionary Quest\n\nThe companies didn\u2019t disclose the details of the agreement. The merger with Knip will enable Komparu to offer comprehensive end-to-end solutions to its customers and to expand the geographic reach.\n\nKnip, which operated in Switzerland and Germany, by contrast wants to extend its reach to the entire European market, where it sees a potential of 1.1 billion euros.\n\nKnip CEO to Leave\n\nThe founder and CEO of Knip, Dennis Just (pictured below), won\u2019t stay at the company. His founding partner at Knip, Christina Kehl, had already departed in spring of 2016.\n\nThe Dutch partners will take the lead in the new company. Roeland Werring, co-founder of Komparu, will be the Group chief technical officer, while Ruben Troostwijk will stay on as CEO of Komparu. Ingo Weber was appointed as CEO of DIG. Weber used to be a managing director at Swiss Re and GE Insurance.\n\nInvestors Remain on Board\n\nThe investors Orange Growth Capital, Route 66, Red Alpine and QED supported and financed the transaction. DIG will have about 70 employees. The teams are said to complement each other and there was no mention of a job cut.\n\nSigns are that the agreement is more of a takeover by the Dutch, marking the end of a chapter of Swiss fintech history.\n\nPoliticians on Visit\n\nKnip was widely seen as an example for others to follow for Swiss fintechs and attracted substantial investment. The broker in 2015 received 15 million francs, the biggest such round of financing a Swiss fintech had attracted at the time. The Swiss president of 2016, Johann Schneider-Ammann, had paid a visit to Knip and was informed about the potential of the fintech industry.\n\nThe company however had strong rivals in the established insurance industry and also had to cope with competition from the traditional brokerage businesses, according to media reports.\n\nIt is not possible to verify how successful Knip was in recent quarters. The merger is a reminder of how tough it can be for a fintech to make a business idea come to fruition.", "output": "Dutch technology company Komparu and Swiss digital insurance broker Knip have agreed to merge to form Digital Insurance Group (DIG) and expand the firm's footprint, according to a joint statement. Although the terms of the deal were not disclosed, it was revealed CEO of Knip, Dennis Just, will leave the firm. Knip was held up as an example for other fintechs to follow, and insiders said the deal was more of a takeover by the Dutch outfit.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Quarter of UK electricity generated from renewables in Q1\u00a02017 \n Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nIndependent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nRenewable energy generated a record amount of electricity in the first three months of this year, making up more than 26 per cent of the total produced in the UK, according to new government figures.\n\nIn total, some 24.8 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity came from wind, solar, hydro and other forms of clean energy, up by more than five per cent on the same period last year.\n\nOnshore wind set a new record for a three-month period, providing 8.3 per cent of the UK\u2019s electricity.\n\n\u200bRenewables provided 26.6 per cent of the total and, including nuclear, low-carbon sources made up 45.6 per cent.\n\nEmma Pinchbeck, executive director of industry body RenewableUK, said in a statement: \u201cRenewable energy is a mainstream technology, which is cheaper and more advanced than ever.\n\n\u201cOur innovative industries have matured to the point where we now reliably provide over 25 per cent of the UK with clean, sustainable power.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s great to see that onshore wind has set a new record, producing more electricity than ever at a time of year when we need it most.\u201d\n\nThe record figures were produced despite lower wind speeds than last year, with the increase in renewable capacity more than making up for the shortfall.\n\nFirst commercial flight powered by renewable energy takes to skies\n\nThe Government report said: \u201cOnshore wind increased by 1.3 TWh (20 per cent) to 7.7 TWh in 2017 quarter one, the highest increase across the technologies.\n\n\u201cTotal wind generation increased by 10 per cent to 12.7 TWh; the increase in capacity was partially offset by lower wind speeds.\n\n\u201cSolar increased by 16 per cent, from 1.5 TWh in 2016 quarter one to 1.7 TWh in 2017 quarter one due to increased capacity.\u201d\n\nDecarbonising the UK economy is required to meet its international commitments as part of the attempt to reduce the effects of global warming.\n\n10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Show all 10 1 / 10 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Kira Morris 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Floods destroyed eight bridges and ruined crops such as wheat, maize and peas in the Karimabad valley in northern Pakistan, a mountainous region with many glaciers. In many parts of the world, glaciers have been in retreat, creating dangerously large lakes that can cause devastating flooding when the banks break. Climate change can also increase rainfall in some areas, while bringing drought to others. Hira Ali 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Smoke \u2013 filled with the carbon that is driving climate change \u2013 drifts across a field in Colombia. Sandra Rondon 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Amid a flood in Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a woman on a raft searches for somewhere dry to take shelter. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable places in the world to sea level rise, which is expected to make tens of millions of people homeless by 2050. Probal Rashid 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Sindh province in Pakistan has experienced a grim mix of two consequences of climate change. \u201cBecause of climate change either we have floods or not enough water to irrigate our crop and feed our animals,\u201d says the photographer. \u201cPicture clearly indicates that the extreme drought makes wide cracks in clay. Crops are very difficult to grow.\u201d Rizwan Dharejo 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Hanna Petursdottir examines a cave inside the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland, which she said had been growing rapidly. Since 2000, the size of glaciers on Iceland has reduced by 12 per cent. Tom Schifanella 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A river once flowed along the depression in the dry earth of this part of Bangladesh, but it has disappeared amid rising temperatures. Abrar Hossain 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A shepherd moves his herd as he looks for green pasture near the village of Sirohi in Rajasthan, northern India. The region has been badly affected by heatwaves and drought, making local people nervous about further predicted increases in temperature. Riddhima Singh Bhati 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A factory in China is shrouded by a haze of air pollution. The World Health Organisation has warned such pollution, much of which is from the fossil fuels that cause climate change, is a \u201cpublic health emergency\u201d. Leung Ka Wa 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Water levels in reservoirs, like this one in Gers, France, have been getting perilously low in areas across the world affected by drought, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions. Mahtuf Ikhsan\n\nThe UK has been doing relatively well in switching to low-carbon electricity, but has performed less well in the domestic heating and transport sectors.\n\nThe Government\u2019s own expert advisers, the Committee on Climate Change, chaired by former Conservative cabinet minister John Gummer, now Lord Deben, this week criticised ministers\u2019 lack of action, warning the problem was \u201chappening, not waiting\u201d and it was \u201cneither justifiable nor wise to delay further\u201d.", "output": "In the first quarter of 2017, renewables generated more than 26% of the UK's electricity, according to data from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Almost\u00a024.8 terawatt-hours of electricity came from hydro, wind, solar and other forms of clean energy,\u00a05% up on last year.\u00a0Low-carbon sources, including nuclear, made up 45.6%.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Women name those responsible for harassment in tech sector \n Their stories came out slowly, even hesitantly, at first. Then in a rush.\n\nOne female entrepreneur recounted how she had been propositioned by a Silicon Valley venture capitalist while seeking a job with him, which she did not land after rebuffing him. Another showed the increasingly suggestive messages she had received from a start-up investor. And one chief executive described how she had faced numerous sexist comments from an investor while raising money for her online community website.\n\nWhat happened afterward was often just as disturbing, the women told The New York Times. Many times, the investors\u2019 firms and colleagues ignored or played down what had happened when the situations were brought to their attention. Saying anything, the women were warned, might lead to ostracism.\n\nNow some of these female entrepreneurs have decided to take that risk. More than two dozen women in the technology start-up industry spoke to The Times in recent days about being sexually harassed. Ten of them named the investors involved, often providing corroborating messages and emails, and pointed to high-profile venture capitalists such as Chris Sacca of Lowercase Capital and Dave McClure of 500 Startups.\n\nThe disclosures came after the tech news site The Information reported that female entrepreneurs had been preyed upon by a venture capitalist, Justin Caldbeck of Binary Capital. The new accounts underscore how sexual harassment in the tech start-up ecosystem goes beyond one firm and is pervasive and ingrained. Now their speaking out suggests a cultural shift in Silicon Valley, where such predatory behavior had often been murmured about but rarely exposed.", "output": "Over two dozen women working in technology start-ups have spoken to The New York Times about being sexually harassed at work. Ten of the women quoted named those responsible for their harassment and made allegations against high-profile venture capitalists including Dave McClure of 500 Startups, who has resigned in the wake of the accusations, and Chris Sacca of Lowercase Capital. The allegations follow earlier reports of harassment accusations against Justin Caldbeck of Binary Capital. The women in the report comment on the gender and power imbalances in the sector and the reluctance of firms and colleagues to tackle the issue."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Women name those responsible for harassment in tech sector \n A prominent Silicon Valley investor has resigned following allegations of sexual harassment, and just hours before a fresh allegation surfaced, this time of sexual assault.\n\nOn Monday, Dave McClure resigned as general partner of 500 Startups, the seed investment group he co-founded in 2010, after several women accused him of inappropriate behavior. He had already stepped down as chief executive of the investment group following the allegations and published a blog post apologizing for being \u201cinappropriate\u201d.\n\nThe blog posted prompted entrepreneur Cheryl Sew Hoy to come forward with an even more serious allegation: that McClure sexually assaulted her three years ago.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m now ready to tell my account of what Dave McClure inflicted on me three years ago, in my own apartment. It\u2019s not just inappropriate, it\u2019s assault,\u201d she wrote in a blog post on her website.\n\nMcClure did not immediately respond to repeated requests for comment.\n\nHis resignation comes one week after well-connected venture capitalist Justin Caldbeck admitted to sexually harassing female entrepreneurs and stepped down in the face of numerous public accusations. A former Uber engineer\u2019s account of harassment and discrimination also went viral in February, sparking widespread outrage about sexism in Silicon Valley.\n\nMcClure\u2019s departure from 500 Startups was announced by co-founder Christine Tsai in an email sent to the company\u2019s investors on Monday. The email stated that 500 Startups had received several harassment allegations against McClure, investigated and \u201cfound his behavior to have been unacceptable\u201d. The email added that 500 Startups \u201ccannot be certain there won\u2019t be future reports\u201d.\n\nOne of the women who came forward was entrepreneur Sarah Kunst, who was one of more than two dozen women who spoke to the New York Times about sexual harassment in Silicon Valley. Kunst alleges that McClure sent her sexually suggestive Facebook messages while she was discussing a possible job at 500 Startups. \u201cI was getting confused figuring out whether to hire you or hit on you,\u201d said McClure in one message.\n\nThe day after the article was published, McClure wrote a blog post apologizing for his actions, titled \u201cI\u2019m a creep. I\u2019m sorry.\u201d\n\n\u201cI made advances towards multiple women in work-related situations, where it was clearly inappropriate,\u201d he said. \u201cI put people in compromising and inappropriate situations, and I selfishly took advantage of those situations where I should have known better. My behavior was inexcusable and wrong.\u201d\n\nWhen Sew Hoy saw McClure being praised for his honesty and bravery, she said, she decided to speak up.\n\n\u201cPeople were saying \u2018it\u2019s just Dave being Dave\u2019,\u201d Sew Hoy told the Guardian. \u201cThen I realized I had the power to change the narrative not just for myself but for a greater cause: other women.\u201d\n\n\u201cI felt like this story \u2013 after Ellen Pao and Susan Fowler \u2013 could be the tipping point for a whole cultural shift in the industry.\u201d\n\nIn her blogpost, Sew Hoy said McClure assaulted her in her own apartment three years ago. Sew Hoy\u2019s startup ReclipIt had been funded by 500 Startups, and McClure had flown to Malaysia to meet investors in her new venture, she wrote.\n\nMcClure and several others came to Sew Hoy\u2019s apartment to brainstorm, but what \u201cstarted out to be an innocent night of just jamming and hanging out at my new apartment turned into a nightmare episode that has been haunting me for the past three years\u201d, she said.\n\nAccording to Sew Hoy\u2019s account, McClure continued to pour scotch into her glass before she had finished drinking, and eventually everyone left except McClure. She asked him if he wanted to leave, and he said no, at which point she offered to let him stay in a guest room, Sew Hoy wrote.\n\n\u201cI went into my own bedroom but Dave followed me there, and that\u2019s when he first propositioned to sleep with me. I said no. I reminded Dave that he knew my then-boyfriend and that we\u2019d just talked about him earlier that night,\u201d she wrote.\n\nShe said that after she led him to the door to get him to leave, \u201che pushed himself onto me to the point where I was backed into a corner, made contact to kiss me, and said something along the lines of \u2018Just one night, please just this one time.\u2019 Then he told me how he really likes strong and smart women like me. Disgusted and outraged, I said no firmly again, pushed him away and made sure he was out my door.\u201d\n\nWhen McClure apologized a year later in a Facebook message, it was \u201chalf-hearted\u201d, according to Sew Hoy: \u201cI was disappointed that he used words like \u2018If that incident last year made you feel uncomfortable, I\u2019d like to apologize,\u2019 and \u2018if I misread things or acted inappropriately.\u2019 If? It showed me that he did not think what he did was wrong, was not remorseful, did not own up to it and it was not a sincere apology.\u201d\n\nSew Hoy hopes that her story will lead investors to create clear policies around sexual harassment and discrimination.\n\n\n\n\u201cIt will also lead to more awareness and make anyone think twice about making a move. People who did in the past must be shitting their pants right now.\u201d\n\nAsked for comment on Sew Hoy\u2019s blogpost, 500 Startups said in a statement: \u201cWe appreciate Cheryl speaking up and realize how upsetting and painful it is for her to have gone through that experience and have the courage to speak up. We can only hope our efforts in changing 500 can help create a safe and effective platform for female founders around the world.\u201d\n\nTwo of 500 Startups investors, Freada Kapor Klein and her husband Mitch Kapor, said that the tech ecosystem is a \u201csector gone deeply awry\u201d.\n\n\u201cThis is not just a case of a few bad actors. This is not something that is fixable with a pledge or a new policy,\u201d they said in a statement.\n\n\u201cThis is a culture that has been allowed to fester and to rot by enablers who refused to intervene when they witnessed inexcusable behavior or went to great lengths to avoid seeing it.\u201d", "output": "Over two dozen women working in technology start-ups have spoken to The New York Times about being sexually harassed at work. Ten of the women quoted named those responsible for their harassment and made allegations against high-profile venture capitalists including Dave McClure of 500 Startups, who has resigned in the wake of the accusations, and Chris Sacca of Lowercase Capital. The allegations follow earlier reports of harassment accusations against Justin Caldbeck of Binary Capital. The women in the report comment on the gender and power imbalances in the sector and the reluctance of firms and colleagues to tackle the issue."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Geriatric Emergency Departments: Why the Trend Is Here to Stay \n COMMENTARY\n\nGeriatric Emergency Departments: Why the Trend Is Here to Stay\n\nRobert Glatter, MD; Zia Agha, MD\n\nRobert Glatter, MD: Hi. I'm Dr Robert Glatter, a member of the Medscape Emergency Medicine Editorial Board and attending physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital, part of Northwell Health. Today we will be discussing the growing trend of geriatric emergency departments (EDs) throughout the United States, and the reasons behind it.\n\nGeriatric Emergency Department Statistics\n\nDr Glatter: According to recent estimates, up to 25% of patients seen in the ED are aged 65 years or older.[1] By 2030, this percentage may well increase, when at least 1 in 5 Americans will be aged 65 or older.[2] In 2012, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai received an award from the US Department of Health and Human Services to implement a new model of geriatric emergency care in three large urban hospitals; Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City; St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson, New Jersey; and Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.\n\nThe Geriatric Emergency Department Innovations through Workforce Informatics and Structural Enhancements project, otherwise known as GEDI WISE, received a $12.7 million grant for the project.[1,3,4] At the beginning of 2014, the ECRI institute, a nonprofit research organization dedicated to discovering the best in medical procedures, devices, drugs, and processes, estimated that there were 50 geriatric EDs in operation in the United States, with another 150 in development.[1]\n\nIn order to handle the specialized needs of geriatric patients and their unique medical conditions, many academic centers and universities have embraced evidence-based data that provide support for building these unique facilities. A reference source often cited is the Geriatric Emergency Department Guidelines.[5] It is a result of 2 years of consensus-based collaboration among representatives from the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, otherwise known as SAEM; the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP); and the American Geriatrics Society, along with the Emergency Nurses Association. It is approved by the boards of directors of these four organizations.\n\nJoining us today to discuss this growing trend is Dr Zia Agha, chief medical officer and executive vice president of clinical research, medical informatics, and telehealth, West Health, San Diego. We'll be highlighting their new geriatric ED, the Gary and Mary West Senior Emergency Care Unit at UC San Diego Health, which is set to open in 2018. Welcome, Dr Agha.\n\nDr Agha: Thank you. I appreciate the time, and I appreciate the focus and emphasis on geriatric emergency care.\n\nTypes of Care Provided to Seniors in the ED\n\nDr Glatter: What types of care are elderly patients currently getting at most EDs? What are they lacking in their care at this point in time?\n\nDr Agha: I think the conversation here is around what is possible. As the population grows, what types of services are possible to be presented and provided through the ED? ED physicians are some of the best doctors in terms of making a diagnosis, evaluating patients, and creating a care plan. Often, they are the ones who are deciding when a patient needs to be admitted or is discharged back into the community.\n\nWe recognize that whereas that model of care is very useful and helps with the younger population\u2014those in their 40s and 50s, for example\u2014when you think about seniors, it truly is a syndrome. It's a syndrome of health needs. It's obviously important to make the right diagnosis of pneumonia, for example, and understand how to treat that.\n\nOften, however, these seniors are going to have other comorbidities. They may have functional limitations. They may have social issues that need to be addressed, and because of the type of healthcare delivery system we have today, addressing all of those different needs from an ED physician's perspective is challenging.\n\nI think part of the work around geriatric emergency care is not only to improve the care that happens in the ED, but also to surround the ED staff with the resources that allow them to provide safe care outside of the ED facility\u2014to onboard patients toward a better trajectory, so that they can do better and not have rebound admissions.\n\nWe know that one of the problems that EDs face is readmissions. When you look at the senior population, they have a higher readmission rate to the ED for the same condition or for a new condition.\n\nThe Care Team Approach\n\nDr Glatter: When you have a geriatric ED, you need a full complement of additional people, including social workers, physical therapists, and nurses specifically trained in geriatrics, as well as physicians who can come in and hopefully avoid some of these admissions. In the past, the mantra had been, \"We can't figure out what's going on, so we'll just admit you.\" That's changing, obviously. Would you agree?\n\nDr Agha: Yes, I think that is changing. You're right that it is a team-based approach, because geriatrics is the ultimate team environment. You need all of these other supporting characters in the ED who are, of course, trained in the geriatric care model, but who are also then empowered by having resources that allow them to leverage things in the hospital\u2014for instance, getting physical therapy consults in the ED\u2014or also outside in the community.\n\nWe have a very innovative program of research with UC San Diego. They're leveraging the research on the hospital-at-home model. What this model is trying to study is the ability of an ED physician and the team in the ED to identify certain patients who have ambulatory-sensitive diagnoses, such as urinary tract infection (UTI), pneumonia, or cellulitis.\n\nStart the care plan in the ED, but transition [elderly patients] home (perhaps with help in the home). Then provide telemedicine services as a wraparound to provide 72 hours of coverage and follow-up in the home, and then transition their care into their primary care doctor's office. Similar work has been done by Geisinger Health Plan[6] and others, who are also testing these innovative models where you have another option beyond admitting the patient.\n\nLeveraging Technology in Geriatric ED Care\n\nDr Glatter: Are you incorporating telehealth as part of this model through video visits, in order to assess patients? Or is it more just a nurse providing home-based care, or another therapist?\n\nDr Agha: I'm using the word \"telehealth\" in its broadest sense. I think the most effective tool, if you talk to Dr Ted Chan and Jim Killeen from UCSD, is their ability to have this TigerText communication. It's like an instant messaging tool that allows the home nurses to connect with the ED physicians 24/7, rather than sending faxes, which is the traditional way that home healthcare teams would communicate with the doctors.\n\nIn addition to that, they are using phone calls and, when needed, simple web-based videoconferencing. Believe it or not, most of the time, it's the ability to have a quick virtual rounding on the patient through this texting mechanism that allows them to stay connected in the care paradigm.\n\nEarly Outcomes Data on the Value of the Geriatric ED\n\nDr Glatter: Do you have any internal data just from your ED that justify the need to have this geriatric ED? In other words, looking at a small portion of patients over the age of 65 whom you've studied, where you have used measures to reduce readmission rates, [do the data] justify the need for building this ED?\n\nDr Agha: I think there is some evidence that we have seen. We are looking at it from different perspectives. Some of this is looking at large data, and I'll give you an example of a very simple analysis of patient falls we did, using Medicare data from 2012 and 2013.[7] [Editor's note: This research is to be presented later this year at the ACEP Research Forum.] In the senior population, falls are a significant morbidity. You can imagine patient falls leading to hip fractures and even nursing home admissions.\n\n[During those years], there were 400,000 ED diagnoses nationwide of primary fall\u2014what is called a \"ground-level fall\"\u2014in the 65-and-over population.[7] Of that population, guess how many received a physical therapy (PT) consult, at least on their Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) claim at discharge? (This is the discharge order from the ED.) It was less than 4%. Immediately, you identify that there is a need to create decision-support tools or awareness within the ED setting, so that if someone comes in with a ground-level fall, the physician will consider having the patient seen by a physical therapist or rehab specialist at some point.\n\nThe second thing we saw\u2014and again, these aren't big numbers\u2014but when we looked at readmission for another fall within 60 days and 180 days, we found that those people who actually got the PT consult had a lower risk for coming back to the hospital with that problem versus those who did not have a PT consultation. It's a small peek at the data. I think it's missing many critical points, so it's by far not a perfect study. However, it helps us to identify certain areas to study further.\n\nAt a smaller level, we are studying our acute care at home program. We have shown that of 50-odd patients whom we have transitioned home safely from the ED and avoided a hospital admission, more than 90% of them have successfully been managed in the home setting without requiring a revisit to the ED or readmission. I think it is possible for us to provide services outside of the hospital setting to a carefully selected group of patients and still provide the same level of outcomes that you would expect to receive in the hospital\u2014and potentially even better outcomes, in terms of satisfaction and other things.\n\nDr Glatter: I want to switch gears for a second. Mark Rosenberg, who is the chief of geriatric emergency medicine at St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson, New Jersey, made a statement in the past, and I want you to comment on this. The concept is that if the ED is designed for the most frail and vulnerable patients, it will work for the strongest patients as well\u2014arguing that we should build all EDs to be geriatric-friendly. In other words, make geriatric care the common denominator\u2014that this is our baseline standard level of care.[8] How would you respond to that?\n\nDr Agha: I know Mark really well, and I think what he is trying to say is that the types of principles that we should be using to care for our seniors are also the principles that will provide good care for everyone else. I know seniors have more falls and have bigger problems, but there are people who have falls who are younger. If we don't screen them for mobility issues and don't make the appropriate referrals, these patients are not going to receive the full benefit of that treatment.\n\nI'm going to point out some work around medication reconciliation. There is a big emphasis in the geriatric literature and in the Geriatric Emergency Department Guidelines on medication reconciliation, because seniors are at risk for drug/drug interactions, drug/food interactions, and other adverse events. Some of the work represents good medical practice: using the Beers Criteria[5] and other screening tools to help identify those \"at-risk\" patients, then having a pharmacy consultation to either fine-tune their medication list, or revise the medication list.\n\nI think that's good medical practice and should be instituted for all other patients who have polypharmacy. These patients could benefit from it also. I think there are lots of parallels between good care for a senior and good care for everyone else.\n\nResources to Support the Geriatric ED\n\nDr Glatter: What do you say to hospital systems that don't have the funds to build such facilities that aren't graced or blessed with the revenue to go forward? How would they design their ED? Any specific pointers you can give?\n\nDr Agha: I think that's a very good point. When we started our geriatric initiative, we were very aware of the fact that what we are building and what we are investing in is a learning opportunity. It's a learning laboratory where we can test certain principles, but with a goal that these principles should be able to be extended and be disseminated to all EDs in the country.\n\nThere's already work happening around the guidelines that you mentioned that have been developed by the ACEP and other organizations.[5] If you review the guidelines, within each category\u2014whether it's around education and training, staffing of a geriatric ED, or care protocols\u2014there are some really simple \"low-hanging fruit\" concepts that we feel every ED in this country caring for seniors can adopt. These efforts will not require tremendous infrastructure resources or changing the physical structure.\n\nThe physical environment is an important part, and a lot of the EDs that call themselves geriatric EDs have invested some time, energy, and resources into creating a safer environment that's more patient-centered\u2014less noisy and with nonskid floors, for example. These things are important; however, they are not the only things that are going to improve the care of seniors.\n\nI think it is important to have care protocols that identify people at risk, with a heavy emphasis on screening and triaging patients beyond their primary complaint. Such tools as the Identification of Seniors at Risk (ISAR), which is a very simple patient checklist that can be completed at the point of entry, [can be used] to identify patients at risk.[9] This sort of triage mechanism identifies people at risk and leads to further questioning; [it] identifies a person at risk for falls, [so that] you can do a fall assessment, [or] identifies someone at risk for delirium, [so that] you can do a delirium assessment. I think those types of simple screening measures can be implemented across the nation and will pay big dividends in terms of improved outcomes, which themselves will pay for those extra steps we are taking.\n\nDr Glatter: I would argue that in this process of triage, before the physician or physician assistant actually sees the patient, there would already be a care team in place\u2014whether it's case managers or social workers\u2014already completing these types of surveys and analyses. By the time the care provider sees the patient, this has already been accomplished, and we already have a plan to go forward.\n\nDr Agha: Exactly. That is what we are seeing at most of the geriatric EDs that we are working with\u2014that it is not the physician's role, or even the nurse practitioner who's taking care of the patient. It's someone even more proximal who is going to do the early screening, and with your electronic health record, you can create a screening tool set with a simple logic and decision support built into it. We are also very aware that we don't want to overburden the system.\n\nCrowding in the ED is a big problem. We certainly don't want to slow things down. We also feel that if you identify certain issues early on, you can potentially save time. If you can identify that a patient has a mobility issue when they're checking into your ED, you can start working on getting a wheelchair ordered for them and not have to say, \"Okay the patient is ready to go home, but he can't even walk.\" In this case, with advance planning, the wheelchair is ready.\n\nSo now we have to get some prosthetics or someone else involved. There is a little bit of an investment of time. I think it'll more than pay back in terms of how you coordinate the care and provide the right services.\n\nThe Geriatric ED and Length of Stay\n\nDr Glatter: To wrap this up, have you looked at any length of stay issues within the ED itself when you do have a geriatric ED? Does the time spent seem to be less in general?\n\nDr Agha: There was a recent study by Keyes and colleagues,[10] where they looked at three outcomes; length of stay was one of them. That was not affected. It was not better, but it wasn't significantly worse. They looked at primary hospitalizations, although that number was lower, so they had an impact on reducing the number of people who were admitted to the hospital. The third thing they looked at was readmission or recidivism rates. Those were not affected.\n\nI think there are some early data coming out. We are very interested in studying these things at a deeper level; we've already started doing some ethnographic research to do some observation studies to look at the flow. I think length of stay is much more of an outcome of the workflow and the flow of the patient through the ED than any one specific intervention. Understanding the workflow, and then understanding how to optimize it, is critical.\n\nDisseminating Learning to Other Sites\n\nDr Glatter: Is there anything else to add to the discussion?\n\nDr Agha: The call to action for us is that we should be able to provide good geriatric care to all seniors, no matter which ED they're going to, and it's going to be perhaps at different levels, as you pointed out. There may be some centers that are going to adopt some basic principles that will improve geriatric care, and there will be the centers of excellence that are going to be doing innovative, clinical trials, and offering these types of services to their seniors.\n\nI'm really excited about the future of this whole geriatric care movement within ACEP and the physician community, but also on a broader perspective from the health system side, given our shift toward population health.\n\nDr Glatter: Can you also fill us in on any specifics of your ED that you planned for, opening in 2018\u2014any early tidbits of information of how the layout will be, and so forth?\n\nDr Agha: The Gary and Mary West Senior Emergency Care Unit is going to be located in La Jolla at the University of California, San Diego, campus. It's a joint project with them. We have funded it through a capital grant, but we also provided substantial funding to start to do education and training and also health services research, and to look at outcomes.\n\nIt's going to be a physical build-out of around 18 new beds\u2014a dedicated space in this ED. This is a large ED, with 40,000+ visits currently. Their capacity is going higher and higher. It will definitely take off some of the pressure in terms of having more beds available. What's more important is that we will also have specially trained nurses. That work is already under way\u2014specially trained and focused clinicians.\n\nWe're going to bring together geriatric pharmacologists, rehabilitation specialists, and geriatric doctors to provide the full set of services, including social work, that a senior requires. We're truly excited about this opportunity not only because of what we will do here, but also as to how the learning will then be disseminated to other sites.\n\nDr Glatter: Then you plan to have video-based conferencing\u2014taking advantage of all the technology that exists right now to interface with providers at home as well as in the ED?\n\nDr Agha: Yes, that is definitely in the works. As I mentioned, we've already started one project where we're using video-based technology to connect with assisted living sites in San Diego.\n\nI think when you look at telehealth and video as a tool to an end, it's not about doing telehealth; it's about how you provide the right care at the right time to patients.", "output": "The creation of Geriatric Emergency Departments to tackle the number of elderly patients being seen in emergency departments is likely to continue. Predictions for 2030 indicate an increase of the 25% ratio of the elderly to non-elderly patients in current ED data. There are currently around 50 geriatric EDs in the US, with a further 150 in development. The specialized departments provide care for the unique issues seen in geriatric patients, such as comorbidity, functional limitation, social issues, complications from falls and more in addition to general health problems. Elderly adults have higher readmission rates to emergency departments, making a more specialized service necessary to provide the correct care for first admission. These EDs have regular care staff but are also supplemented with social workers, geriatric-trained nurses and physical therapists to augment the care provided and to tailor the diagnosis and care process. Help at home, acute care at home and telemedicine services are also provided where needed to decrease the rates of readmission and to ensure ongoing care is accurately delivered. Many geriatric EDs refer to the Geriatric Emergency Department Guidelines, a document that encompasses a two-year, consensus-based collaboration between the American Geriatrics Society, the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, and the American College of Emergency Physicians. Care protocols are being put into place to ensure that patients are triaged properly and to reduce the time patients have to spend in emergency department care. Further work and research will be completed with the aid of geriatric pharmacologists, geriatric doctors and rehabilitation specialists to better care for the elderly population and to put protocols into motion that will help with the increasing number of older Americans who will need emergency department assistance.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tank inspections being carried out by 'crawler' drones: Maersk \n The offshore industry has been quick to embrace unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, for visual inspection tasks.\n\nThe technology ticks a lot of boxes in these cost-conscious times - they are fast, inexpensive, and require far fewer people on deck and in transit. They improve safety while delivering better data, users say.\n\nMaersk Oil recognised the advantages of UAVs early on and made them part of its offshore inspection back in 2013.\n\n\u201cYou could say we were early adopters of the technology,\u201d says Mark Fotheringham, director of facilities and projects in the company\u2019s UK business.", "output": "Tank inspections have evolved from just flying a drone overhead to creating a \"crawler\" device, designed to navigate\u00a0the tank's walls with an ultrasonic probe, gathering measurements of stiffeners and steel plates, and identifying signs of corrosion, according to Mark Fotheringham, director of facilities and projects in Maersk Oil's UK business.\u00a0The company is also looking\u00a0to\u00a0utilise\u00a0drone technology to generate detailed 3D maps of offshore assets, he said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Oxford University AI spin-off raises\u00a0$22m \n South East Deals, Technology Muhammad Aldalou\n\nAn Oxford-based artificial intelligence (AI) specialist has raised $22m (\u00a317.15m) in funding one year after its spin-out from the University of Oxford.\n\nDiffblue's series A round was led by Goldman Sachs Principal Strategic Investments, alongside Oxford Sciences Innovations (OSI) and Oxford Technology and Innovations Fund (OTIF).\n\nThe company is described as \"a world leader in AI for code\". Diffblue's core AI builds an exact mathematical model of any code base, which allows a \"very deep semantic understanding\" of what a programme is trying to do.\n\nThe business is launching three products that are built on this core engine: a testing product that automatically generates human-readable tests for an existing codebase; a security product that automatically discovers security holes and generates actual runnable exploits; and a refactoring product that automatically rewrites badly expressed or out of date code.\n\nFounder and chief executive Daniel Kroening, who is also professor of Computer Science at University of Oxford, said: \"Software is becoming increasingly complex, interdependent and vulnerable and it\u2019s unrealistic to believe that humans can guarantee its safety and security. We believe that the suite of tools we are developing at Diffblue has immense potential to help address these issues.\n\n\"Studies show that coders spend up to 30 per cent of their time writing tests. Automation will provide great returns both in terms of achieving much broader test coverage, and also freeing up significant developer time. Furthermore, many legacy codebases suffer from very deficient test coverage, which removes any chance of lifting them out of legacy and into nimbleness \u2013 again, we believe automation in this space will have powerful beneficial effects.\"\n\nBarnaby Martin, chairman, added: \"We're proud to have closed one of Europe's largest Series A rounds for an AI company. The fact that this has been completed inside just one year since the company\u2019s inception is testament to Daniel and his incredible team.\n\n\"We are delighted to welcome Goldman Sachs as an investor and we look forward to working closely with them and our existing investors as we continue to expand Diffblue's market-leading capabilities and product suite.\"", "output": "Diffblue, an artificial intelligence company from Oxford, has successfully generated $22m in a funding\u00a0round, a\u00a0year after\u00a0it split off from the University of Oxford. The Series A round, led by Goldman Sachs Principal Strategic Investments, will provide funding for the launch of three products: a testing product that auto-generates readable tests for a codebase,\u00a0a security product that detects security weaknesses and runs actual exploits, and a refactoring product that rewrites bad or\u00a0outdated code.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tech industry expansion favours skills over traditional learning \n ROCKET CENTER, W.Va. \u2014 A few years ago, Sean Bridges lived with his mother, Linda, in Wiley Ford, W.Va. Their only income was her monthly Social Security disability check. He applied for work at Walmart and Burger King, but they were not hiring.\n\nYet while Mr. Bridges had no work history, he had certain skills. He had built and sold some stripped-down personal computers, and he had studied information technology at a community college. When Mr. Bridges heard IBM was hiring at a nearby operations center in 2013, he applied and demonstrated those skills.\n\nNow Mr. Bridges, 25, is a computer security analyst, making $45,000 a year. In a struggling Appalachian economy, that is enough to provide him with his own apartment, a car, spending money \u2014 and career ambitions.\n\n\u201cI got one big break,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I needed.\u201d\n\nMr. Bridges represents a new but promising category in the American labor market: people working in so-called new-collar or middle-skill jobs. As the United States struggles with how to match good jobs to the two-thirds of adults who do not have a four-year college degree, his experience shows how a worker\u2019s skills can be emphasized over traditional hiring filters like college degrees, work history and personal references. And elevating skills over pedigree creates new pathways to employment and tailored training and a gateway to the middle class.", "output": "The tech industry has revealed a preference for skills over traditional learning, with the \"new-collar\" or \"middle-skill\" job sector granting less weight to\u00a0college degrees and career\u00a0history, according to a feature in the New York Times. Microsoft has been championing a skill-centred\u00a0approach, giving hiring firm Skillful $25m to foster\u00a0more opportunities for those struggling to keep pace with the market shifts attendant to the\u00a0digital\u00a0economy. Developments in the technology industry could lead to a wider skills-based approach throughout other sectors. Numerous tech companies,\u00a0such as Facebook, have also launched their own educational software.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK branch banking predicted to shrink rapidly as mobile booms \n Mobile banking transactions in the UK are expected to more than double by 2022, while branch visits will dwindle to just four visits each year for the average consumer in the same period, according to figures produced by industry analyst group CACI.\n\nAs mobile banking continues to dominate the agenda for banks of all shape, branch visits are forecast to forecast to drop significantly across a number of demographics, with customers who do use their branch visiting less frequently, and some consumers less likely to use their branch at all.\n\n\n\nHouseholds without children will see their visits decline from almost eight a year in 2017, to around three per year in 2022, says CACI. Those aged 18-24 and starting out in life will visit their bank around six times this year, and this again will dip to just two visits annually in 2022.\n\n\n\nThe predicted rise in mobile transactions is partly driven by the adoption of technology by customers who have previously relied heavily on a physical branch presence. CACI predicts that there will be five times more elderly, low income customers using mobile banking in 2022 than in 2017, and consumers aged 50+ will account for almost a third of all mobile banking log-ins in 2022.\n\n\n\nAdditionally, mobile growth will be helped by the shift from desktop online banking to smartphone apps amongst many customers - 42% of high-income professionals will move away from desktop banking in the next five years.\n\n\n\nAlthough pointing to an obvious upward curve in mobile interactions, Jamie Morawiec, associate partner at CACI says the data present a conundrum for British banks. \"With more than half of the population still expected to visit a branch in 2022, the branch still has an important role to play,\" he says. \"Banks and FIs must ensure that the function of the branch remains relevant, complements the digital channels, and meets the specific needs of the demographics that are using them.\u201d", "output": "Mobile banking will dominate branch banking in the UK, with mobile transactions due to more than double by 2022 whilst branch visits are predicted to drop to four per year for the average customer, according to industry analysts CACI. The rise in mobile transactions is largely due to more widespread technology adoption by older age groups \u2013 CACI expects there will be five times more elderly, low-income customers using mobile banking in 2022 than in 2017. Online banking will be helped by the move from desktop to mobile as smartphone apps become more ubiquitous. However, bank branches are expected to remain relevant as a complementary service."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK building regulations need reform to limit heatwave deaths: CCC \n The government must reverse its opposition to new building regulations that ensure homes, hospitals and schools do not overheat as the number of deadly heatwaves rises, according to its official climate change advisers.\n\nThe Committee on Climate Change (CCC) recommended the new regulations in 2015 but ministers rejected the advice, citing a commitment to \u201creduce net regulation on homebuilders\u201d. Without action, the number of people dying as a result of heat is expected to more than triple to 7,000 a year by 2040, the CCC warns in its annual report on the UK\u2019s progress on tackling global warming.\n\nEarlier in June, Britain experienced its longest period with temperatures above 30C since 1976. Heatwaves are known killers in the UK and the number of hot days is rising. On the hottest day of the year in 2016 there were almost 400 extra deaths, while a heatwave in 2006 led to 680 people dying and another in 2003 contributed to the deaths of about 2,000 people.\n\n\u201cWhat we need from government is a willingness to accept that building regulations, properly done, are not an incubus [problem] \u2013 they are in fact an opportunity to enable people to build for the future,\u201d said Lord Deben, chair of the CCC and a former Conservative environment secretary.\n\n\u201cIt is absolutely essential to recognise that we will not deal with the problems of climate change unless we have tougher building regulations,\u201d he said. \u201cThe government has a real opportunity to do that as it is going to have to look at its building regulations in any case because of the tragic events [of the Grenfell Tower fire] and I think it is very important that they should take the opportunity to look at them in this wider sense.\u201d\n\nThe CCC\u2019s head of adaptation, Daniel Johns, said: \u201cWe said [in 2015] there is a compelling case for a new building standard to avoid new homes overheating. But [the government] response said there was clearly a trade-off here and they were also mindful of burdens on developers. So this is an area where they consider the potential small additional cost that could be borne by developers and what that might mean for the price of houses, being traded off against the potential long term cost for people occupying these properties in the hotter summers and heatwaves in years to come.\u201d\n\nThe CCC identifies hospitals and care homes as particularly vulnerable to heat, as the UK\u2019s ageing population suffers most in hot temperatures, as well as schools and prisons. The best solutions for keeping buildings cool involve good ventilation at night and shading of windows during the day, said Johns.\n\nAir conditioning should not be the first choice, said Deben: \u201cIf buildings are properly built in this country there is very little need for air conditioning. The problem with air conditioning is that it heats the area round about, so it has a disadvantage for the community as a whole. It\u2019s a constant pushing out of hot air.\u201d\n\nJulie Hirigoyen, chief executive at the UK Green Building Council, said: \u201cThe issue of overheating in buildings is of increasing concern. Clearly, there is a risk that our building regulations are no longer fit for purpose without robust protections against overheating.\u201d\n\nThe CCC\u2019s annual progress report says that the UK has done well in tackling climate change, cutting emissions by 42% since 1990 while GDP has risen by 65%. But it warns that the transition to a resilient, low carbon economy is in danger of being \u201cderailed\u201d by delays in important policies caused by the Brexit referendum and recent general election.\n\n\u201cThe events of the past year have been, by almost any measure, exceptional,\u201d said Deben. \u201cHowever, it is now time for government, and for parliament, to act. Climate change is happening, not waiting. It is neither justifiable nor wise to delay further.\u201d\n\nThe UK is on track to miss its legally binding targets for cuts in carbon emissions and the plan to address this, expected in late 2016, will not now be published until autumn 2017. Emissions from energy have fallen, although key policies promoting this end in 2020. But emissions from transport and heating are rising and need to be urgently addressed, the CCC said.\n\nFurthermore, the overall state of the UK\u2019s natural environment is worsening, reducing its ability to withstand climate change. The government target is for 50% of land habitats to be in good condition by 2020, but only 25% currently are, crucial pollinator insects are declining and the government has repeatedly missed targets to plant 5,000 hectares of woodland a year.\n\nProgress to tackle river and coastal flooding has been made, the CCC says, but the widespread problem of flash flooding has not been adequately addressed.\n\nA government spokesman said: \u201cThe government is a world leader in tackling climate change and committed to meeting the UK\u2019s targets. Our industrial strategy continues to support our burgeoning low carbon sector which is helping deliver high-skilled jobs across the country.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve implemented the majority of recommendations from the first National Adaptation Programme report.\u201d he said. \u201cBut we agree there is a need to do more.\u201d", "output": "New building regulations must be adopted by the UK government in order to avoid fatalities due to an increase in heatwaves, according to the annual report from official climate change advisers, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC). The new regulations relating to homes, hospitals and schools were proposed in 2015, but were rejected by ministers to \u201creduce net regulation on homebuilders\u201d. The CCC report, which states that hospitals and care homes are particularly vulnerable, argues that if no action is taken the number of annual deaths in the UK due to heat will triple to 7,000 by 2040.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK building regulations need reform to limit heatwave deaths: CCC \n Privacy Overview\n\nThis website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.\n\nYou can make your choices here and update them at any time by visiting our privacy and cookies page.", "output": "New building regulations must be adopted by the UK government in order to avoid fatalities due to an increase in heatwaves, according to the annual report from official climate change advisers, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC). The new regulations relating to homes, hospitals and schools were proposed in 2015, but were rejected by ministers to \u201creduce net regulation on homebuilders\u201d. The CCC report, which states that hospitals and care homes are particularly vulnerable, argues that if no action is taken the number of annual deaths in the UK due to heat will triple to 7,000 by 2040.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cisco to lead Las Vegas smart city plan \n The City of Las Vegas has unveiled a partnership with networking giant Cisco to become a smart city.\n\nAnnounced by Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman and Cisco SVP of IoT and Applications Rowan Trollope during Cisco Live Las Vegas, the partnership will involve using Cisco's connected cameras, sensors, and platforms to collect and analyse data across environment, traffic, water, crowd control, transit, lighting, waste management, security, and parking.\n\nAccording to Michael Sherwood, CIO for the City of Las Vegas, creating a smart city is all about improving the experience and lifestyle of the 42 million yearly visitors, 650,000 city residents, and 2.2 million Las Vegas valley citizens.\n\nWith Cisco already providing the government's phone and networking systems, Sherwood said it was about simply extending this partnership into the city itself.\n\n\"Having a partner like Cisco that was able to help us with sensor technology, help us understand dynamics operation and how we could find new ways of efficiency, made it an ideal partnership,\" he explained.\n\nCisco's smart city solutions are being trialled in Las Vegas' innovation district, also known as the \"digital playground\", which was itself launched in March last year as a starting point for digitising the city.\n\n\"Instead of going out and doing what others might do, which is go ahead and buy one system and just plonk that into their entire city, we test it in a small pilot area, we get reactions from the community, we get reactions from the government leaders, and see how that technology works,\" Sherwood said.\n\n\"We're able to work with them in that playground and sort of refine it, hone it, and test it out, and then, once it's good, we can expand it out throughout the community.\"\n\nOne of the primary aims of creating a smart Las Vegas is to improve congestion at major intersections for vehicles, pedestrians, and bicycles, Sherwood said, which will involve using the data collected to reroute vehicles, improve the efficiency of traffic lights, and increase public safety.\n\n\"Using IoT technology now, we're able to look at the intersection in ways we've never looked at it before, using assets we already own. We own streetlights, we own these signal interchanges,\" he said.\n\n\"We're able to look at intersections now and count the number of vehicles that go through an intersection. Not only count the number of vehicles, [but also] the number of bicyclists, and the number of pedestrians ... with this intelligent architecture, we're able to see how people use the street.\n\n\"We're actually able to use the analytics now to look at the intersection at night and see that you're the only car there, so instead of the timer-basis that we use today -- that's just a timer, which is why you experience that 1-in-the-morning [red light] when you're there for what feels like years -- now the camera technology can look at that and make changes.\"\n\nSherwood said the city could also use that data to prepare for autonomous vehicles, including for choosing trucking routes in and out of the city, with the traffic cameras to also be used to improve safety.\n\n\"The same traffic and analytic cameras also allows us to look at the intersections and see if someone leaves a backpack behind, something that's out of character. It gives us the ability to be forward thinking instead of reactionary ... those type of analytics change dynamics of how cities operate, and how we can become more efficient as a government.\"\n\nIn terms of security, Sherwood explained that the primary reason for undertaking the pilot within the innovation district is to ensure the security of the systems before deploying them across the entire city.\n\n\"That's why we created the innovation district, where we can test these technologies out in a smaller but real-life environment, and it gives us an opportunity to see the security concerns we might have, how we can guard against those threats before we scale it out to the community,\" he said.\n\n\"Security is definitely a number one priority.\"\n\nSherwood confirmed that the city is looking into deploying blockchain in future, with an announcement expected by the end of 2017 on this.\n\n\"We are looking at a seamless payment transaction system, so it's something on the horizon. Again, we're very forward thinking, very aggressive in all the technology we're looking at deploying.\"\n\nThe smart city initiative is also a good opportunity to publish additional open data, with Sherwood saying Las Vegas is the number one city in the United States on providing open data under an effort to improve transparency and boost economic outcomes.\n\n\"We're able to publish that data openly,\" Sherwood said, adding that Cisco's platform will allow it to push more data out into the community.\n\nThe City of Las Vegas will be soft launching a smart city tie-in app called Go Vegas in August to provide mapping, weather, parking, and traffic information to residents. The city will also gather information from the app's users to analyse how it can be improved and individualised.\n\n\"It will actually have mapping components, the air temperature at the park, so you'll be able to get an idea of what the park conditions are like, you'll be able to see the number of parking spots or the availability, whether it's 10 percent availability, 50 percent, or completely available,\" the CIO explained.\n\n\"We'll start building profiles on individuals, so if we know you use a certain parking lot every week, and that lot is going to be resurfaced or closed for a special event, we'll be able to send you a push notification letting you know about another lot that's available.\"\n\nTrollope added that Cisco will additionally be providing funding for startups and companies to expand operations into Las Vegas' innovation district.\n\nCisco has been focused on creating smart cities worldwide, with its Smart+Connected digital platform -- which consolidates data from sensors and information systems to provide an overarching view of a city -- already having been deployed in Kansas City, Copenhagen, Paris, Adelaide , Bucharest, Hungary, Dubrovnik, and Bengaluru.\n\nIts smart cities program has seen it work with Adelaide, South Australia, on transforming the region into a smart city, after signing a memorandum of understanding for an IoT innovation hub designed to leverage Adelaide's free Wi-Fi network as a test bed for new applications and projects back in 2015.\n\nThe networking giant similarly announced plans to deploy a smart city framework throughout Kansas City, Missouri, in partnership with telecommunications carrier Sprint two years ago. Kansas City initially used a 2-mile Wi-Fi network and 93,000 sensors to begin improving efficiency for parking, traffic, lighting, water, and waste management.\n\nCisco also signed a \"country digitisation\" agreement with the French government in February 2015, committing to help accelerate the digital transformation of France through investments in smart cities, education, startups, national infrastructure, and cybersecurity.\n\nAn investment of $100 million followed, along with Cisco's partnership with French startup accelerator NUMA on the DataCity project in Paris; an open innovation project for future smart cities with NUMA; the opening of a new Innovation and Research Center at Cisco's HQ in Paris; and a further $100 million investment that October.\n\nIn March last year, Cisco similarly outlined plans with Berlin's Senate Department of Economics, Technology, and Research to transform Berlin into a smart city as part of the $500 million \"Deutschland Digital\" initiative that aims to digitise all of Germany, with telemedicine, public safety, security, and network infrastructure improvements the main areas of focus.\n\nCisco last month also formed a smart cities \"alliance\" with KPMG Australia to meld its technology and solutions with KPMG's IoT capabilities and provide an end-to-end open framework including the provision of advisory, technology, platform, support, and operations services.\n\nThe focal points of the smart city alliance will be developing tools for such services as smart city architecture; cybersecurity; data and analytics; change management; master service integration; design thinking; solution design and implementation; optimisation and operational services; and financial and business case modelling.\n\nDisclosure: Corinne Reichert travelled to Cisco Live in Las Vegas as a guest of Cisco", "output": "The city of Las Vegas is set to become a smart city, thanks to its partnership with Cisco, according to Mayor Carolyn Goodman and Cisco SVP of IoT and Applications Rowan Trollope. In an announcement at Cisco Live Las Vegas, the duo revealed smart city solutions would be tested and perfected in Vegas' innovation district, before being rolled out citywide. Improving congestion for bicycles and pedestrians and readying the city for autonomous vehicles are two key areas the trial will\u00a0focus on.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Banks must disclose carbon-related lending risks: TCFD \n Banks should disclose lending to companies with carbon-related risks, according to recommendations in a new report by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.\n\nThe TCFD report \u2013 part of a G20 initiative led by governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney and former mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg \u2013 outlines how companies should disclose climate-related information in their financial filings, with the aim of allowing economies to properly value climate-related risks.\n\nIt recommends companies disclose all of their direct and and indirect greenhouse gas emissions, and describe the risks and opportunities caused by climate change under a range of potential scenarios.\n\nMore than 100 businesses with over $2 trillion of combined annual revenue have publicly committed to adopting the voluntary recommendations.\n\nThe report follows a draft published in December 2016, for which the TCFD received hundreds of submissions from respondents in 30 countries.\n\n\u201cClimate change presents global markets with risks and opportunities that cannot be ignored, which is why a framework around climate-related disclosures is so important,\u201d Bloomberg said in a statement.\n\n\u201cThe task force brings that framework to the table, helping investors evaluate the potential risks and rewards of a transition to a lower carbon economy.\u201d\n\nThe recommendations were intended to be adopted by all companies, however there was extra guidance given to the financial sector, as well sectors likely to be most affected by climate change or the transition to a lower carbon economy \u2013 energy, transportation, construction and agriculture, food, and forestry\n\n\u201cWidespread adoption will provide investors, banks and insurers with that information, helping minimise the risk that market adjustments to climate change will be incomplete, late and potentially destabilising,\u201d Carney said in a statement.\n\nThe TCFD, led by Bloomberg, was established at the COP21 in Paris by the Financial Sustainability Board (FSB). The FSB was created by the G20 in the aftermath of the 2007-08 global financial crisis and is chaired by Carney.\n\nChristian Thimann, head of regulation sustainability at the insurer AXA and a member of the TCFD, said the financial sector had a particular interest in taking up the recommendations.\n\nHe said insurers like AXA had several reasons to adopt the voluntary code. \u201cWe of course have an intrinsic interest in the world fighting against climate change. We see the frequency and intensity of natural disasters linked to climate change augmenting every year,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cWe consider a world of plus two degrees may still be insurable but a world of plus four degrees might not be.\u201d\n\nHe said banks have a shorter outlook than insurers but have an important role in steering the entire economy: \u201cThey too can use these recommendations because they will need to steer their lending between sectors aligned with a 2-degree world and sectors not aligned. They need to know which are the sectors with a high risk of stranded assets in the future and those with a low risk of stranded assets in the future.\u201d\n\nYeo Lian Sim, a special advisor to the Singapore Exchange and member of the TCFD said although the recommendations were made as a voluntary code for which there is a compelling business case to adopt, she thought they might one day become regulated for in some economies if they are widely adopted.\n\n\n\nOver the next year, the TCFD would work to monitor and assist companies implementing their recommendations.\n\n\n\nPhilippe Defosses, chief executive of French pension fund ERAFP and vice chair of the UK\u2019s Institutional Investor Group on Climate Change said: \u201cThe more companies report effectively on climate related risks and opportunities, the easier it becomes for investors to allocate the substantial amounts of capital required to implement the Paris Agreement and to work on their own climate risk disclosure.\u201d\n\n\n\n\u201cThere should be no resistance to the widespread adoption on the TCFD\u2019s recommendations given how \u2013 in most G20 countries \u2013 companies already have legal obligations to disclose material risks in their routine financial filings, including those that related to climate change,\u201d Defosses said.\n\nEmma Herd, chief executive of Australia and New Zealand\u2019s Investor Group on Climate Change, said investors see climate change as a material financial risk and are calling on business to disclose their 2C strategy.\n\n\u201cBoards need a plan for managing climate change risks and opportunities that shareholders can see. Having a globally consistent framework for reporting on material climate change risks will accelerate this trend,\u201d she said.\n\nAmong the companies that publicly supported the recommendations were big miners and resource companies like BHP Billiton, Shell and Glencore; energy businesses like Engie Group; and major banks like HSBC, Bank of America and Citigroup.", "output": "Banks should disclose their lending to firms associated with carbon-related risks, according to the final report from the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, a G20 initiative headed by Michael Bloomberg and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney. The report calls for the disclosure of all direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions by companies and assesses the risks and opportunities associated with climate change. Over 100 businesses, with more than $2tn in combined annual revenues and including Bank of America, BHP Billiton, Citigroup, Engie, Glencore, HSBC and Shell, have so far pledged to adopt the report\u2019s recommendations.  \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Three German companies to pool counter-drone expertise \n LE BOURGET, France \u2014 Three German companies made their joint debut at the Paris Air Show to present a counter-drone system designed to foil anything from explosive-laden aerial robots to protecting against corporate espionage from the skies.\n\n\n\nRohde & Schwarz, ESG and Diehl Defence inked an agreement earlier this month to further develop the Guardion suite of systems, which already was deployed to guard the 2015 G-7 summit in Elmau, southern Germany, and the 2016 visit of U.S. President Barack Obama in Hannover.\n\n\n\nClick here to get full coverage from the Paris Air Show.\n\n\n\nThe system consists of various sensors \u2014 radio, radar, acoustic and optical \u2014 to detect the presence of drones in the nearby air space. A command and control system, a derivative of the Bundeswehr's own Taranis suite, processes the sensor data and offers situational awareness of any incoming threats through a map-like visualization.\n\n\n\nDepending on the drone type, system operators can initiate countermeasures ranging from shutting down the specific frequency band of the threat aircraft's radio link, jamming the GPS signal or, in the case of fully autonomous aircraft operation via inertial navigation, fry the approaching drone's electronics with a high-power electromagnetic pulse.\n\n\n\nGoetz Mayser, Rohde and Schwarz's, director of C-UAV detection and counter solutions, said the company is \"very active in China\" in collecting radiofrequency signatures of commercial unmanned aerial systems. Knowing the specific technology is important for jamming only drone targets during an operation, leaving all other civilian radio communications undisturbed, he said.\n\n\n\nCataloging the characteristics from drone makers Parrot and DJI alone means covering 90 percent of the market, Mayser said during an interview at the company's exhibit here. Guardion clients are supplied with periodic updates to the radio signatures database, a process resembling the subscription to a computer antivirus application, he explained.\n\n\n\nAccording to Daniela Hildenbrand, ESG's product manager for counter-drone systems, the market is expected to see a significant uptick as the robots become ubiquitous in people's everyday lives.\n\n\n\n\n\n\"It's growing along with the threat scenarios,\" she said.\n\nPotential clients from countries in Europe and Southeast Asia have expressed interest in the technology, though officials declined to offer specifics.\n\nEngineers are still studying the possibility of offering a fourth method of countermeasures called spoofing. That tactic would allow Guardion operators to send fake navigational signals to incoming drones, effectively taking them over.\n\nBut the technology is still a ways from being operationally deployable, said Mayser. Plus, taking control of someone else's drone poses a potentially thorny legal question. \"Once you take it over, you're responsible,\" he said.\n\nSebastian Sprenger is associate editor for Europe at Defense News, reporting on the state of the defense market in the region, and on U.S.-Europe cooperation and multi-national investments in defense and global security. Previously he served as managing editor for Defense News. He is based in Cologne, Germany.", "output": "German companies Rohde & Schwarz, ESG and Diehl Defence have signed an agreement to further develop a radio, radar, acoustic and optical command and control system called Guardion. The system, which was used to protect the G-7 Summit in southern Germany in 2015, can detect the presence of drones in the surrounding airspace and issue countermeasures including shutting down radio frequency bands, jamming GPS signals or releasing high-powered electromagnetic pulses to destroy an aircraft's electronics."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TP ICAP backs start-up LiquidityChain's trade-alert platform \n TP ICAP has invested in a FinTech start-up aimed at unlocking liquidity in global credit markets through its web-based application.\n\nLiquidityChain allows users to be connected using a dark pool, non-execution platform, which incorporates an alert system to highlight potential trading opportunities.\n\nParties will be able to connect through broker Mirexa Capital, part of TP ICAP\u2019s institutional services business, to negotiate and execute trades and align trading interests.\n\nLiquidityChain uses the same hybrid model used across all of TP ICAP\u2019s brands, which combines market experience and relationships provided by voice brokers alongside electronic services.\n\nGlobal head of electronic broking at TP ICAP, David Perkins, explained numerous factors, including regulation, low interest rates and balance sheet constraints have impacted bond market liquidity in recent years.\n\n\u201cA number of technology and trading platforms have tried to solve these issues, yet liquidity still remains a problem in the market. That is why LiquidityChain is so important; it combines smart technology with human expertise,\u201d he said.\n\nRichard Smith, CEO at LiquidityChain, added the partnership with TP ICAP as both an investor and provider of trade execution services, will be \u201cinvaluable as we continue to help users in the credit markets looking for additional liquidity\u201d.", "output": "The world's largest interdealer broker, TP ICAP, has invested in fintech start-up LiquidityChain, as the company aims to steer clients toward additional liquidity amid balance-sheet restrictions and low interest rates. London-based LiquidityChain connects users via its dark pool, non-execution platform, and will enable them to negotiate and execute trades and align trading interests via broker Mirexa Capital.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "SambaCry flaw exposes WannaCry-like weakness in Linux systems \n The SambaCry vulnerability is to Linux what WannaCry and Petya are to Windows: big security threats. Linux users are immune to most vulnerabilities and malware outbreaks that affect Windows users. But the recent discovery of a vulnerability in Samba (dubbed SambaCry) brought them back to reality. The vulnerability has since been fixed, but the discovery warrants a little discussion.\n\nWhat is SambaCry?\n\nSabmaCry is not malware like WannaCry or Petya. Instead, it is considered a vulnerability, which presents malware with a possible avenue for attack. The vulnerability\u2013officially called CVE-2017-7494\u2013was named SambaCry due to similarities to the vulnerabilities that WannaCry took advantage of.\n\nSambaCry is a vulnerability in the Samba server service, which provides SMB/CIFS capability in Linux and Unix-based systems. SMB/CIFS is, basically a file and printer-sharing protocol that Windows uses. Linux systems are capable of using several file sharing protocols, but Samba is often used in mixed environments because Windows has a hard time reading Network File System (NFS) shares.\n\nWhen a Linux server is running Samba, folders called CIFS shares will appear as a network folder for Windows users. Linux and Mac users can see these shares as well, but they must be running an SMB client. (Samba can serve as both a server and client.)\n\nThe SambaCry vulnerability allows a remote user to send executable code to the server hosting the CIFS share, and execute arbitrary code. That code can encrypt a file system and hold it for ransom, for instance. Needless to say, this was a big problem that had to be taken care of pronto.\n\nAm I affected?\n\nIf you\u2019re wondering if your Linux system is affected, the answer is, \u201cprobably.\u201d\n\nAffected systems can look very different. Any server that uses Samba to host files is potentially affected. That means if you share files from your Linux laptop, you could be affected. If you\u2019re using a Raspberry Pi as a file server, it could be affected. If you\u2019re using a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device, you could be affected.\n\nWhile a system that is behind a firewall (i.e. not exposed to the Internet) is safer, all Samba users should be wary of this vulnerability.\n\nOkay, I\u2019m scared. What do I do?\n\nThe first thing to know before you get too freaked out is that Samba has already been patched for its 4.6, 4.5, and 4.4 branches. If you\u2019re running a recent Linux OS (released in the past year or so), you\u2019ll be running one of those branches. To protect yourself, you should simply upgrade the software on your device.\n\nNormally, I\u2019d be concerned about devices like NAS appliances because device manufacturers can be slow to provide updates. However, this vulnerability strikes at the core of NAS functionality, and major NAS providers have already offered patches to their operating systems. I checked my own Synology device (DS416j), which was updated to fix the vulnerability on May 25. I also checked QNAP\u2019s website for an update to a random 4-bay NAS, and the software had been patched on May 27.\n\nIf you own a NAS, I highly recommend taking the time to update your NAS\u2019s software immediately. If you don\u2019t already have it enabled, enable automatic updates so that future vulnerabilities can be patched. Even though I have automatic updates enabled on my Synology, I\u2019m the kind of person who wanted to check to ensure that the update didn\u2019t silently fail.\n\nIf you\u2019re running a home server on a Raspberry Pi or an old PC, take the time to update the system. If you\u2019re running Ubuntu Server, simply type the commands sudo apt update and sudo apt upgrade into a terminal.\n\nA friendly reminder\n\nAlthough Linux systems rarely suffer the same type of desktop malware that affects Windows users, Linux is not completely secure purely by virtue of being Linux. Remember that just like Windows users, one of your best defenses is keeping your system up-to-date.", "output": "Linux users are being urged to update their systems following the discovery of a vulnerability in the Samba server service, according to tech hacker Alex Campbell. He revealed the flaw had been dubbed SambaCry, as it exploits software in a similar fashion to the WannaCry virus which attacked Windows users, by allowing a remote user to send an executable code which can then encrypt and hold files to ransom. Campbell noted that Samba had been patched for its 4.6, 4.5, and 4.4 branches.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Daimler issues corporate debt of \u20ac100m using blockchain \n German multinational automotive corporation Daimler AG and Landesbank Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg (LBBW), a commercial banking company, have jointly utilized blockchain technology in order to execute a financial transaction.\n\n\n\nBoth the companies tested blockchain successfully for capital markets along with the process needed by regulatory authorities. Daimler launched \u20ac100 million 1 year corporate Schuldschein through LBBW, within which Esslingen-N\u00fcrtingen, Ludwigsburg and Ostalb savings banks and LBBW, acted as lenders.\n\n\n\n\u201cThis pilot project is our first step in testing the wide variety of possibilities for using blockchain technology and assessing this technology\u2019s potential for future transactions and financial processes,\u201d Bodo Uebber, member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG responsible for Finance & Controlling and Daimler Financial Services, said. \u201cSimultaneously with launching the Schuldschein, we conduct other projects to determine where blockchains could also be used to increase efficiency and support our business models. LBBW has been our partner for many years. It has extensive experience in this field, and its innovative projects are helping to shape the future of the financial markets.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe entire transaction right from the origination, distribution, allocation and execution of Schuldschein loan agreement was digitally carried out using blockchain technology in cooperation with the IT subsidiaries TSS (Daimler) and Targens (LBBW).\n\n\n\nWith this blockchain pilot project, Daimler as well as LBBW wants to test the potentials of blockchain and gather know-how for the creation of new business models. LBBW is further exploring addition areas of applications. The Schuldschein product is an ideal type of application and serves as the initial point for the development of banking services in the corporate and capital market business, the release stated.\n\n\n\n\u201cBlockchain technology will change the role of banks as intermediaries in the economic process. We don\u2019t want to merely observe this development; we want to proactively shape this field. The Schuldschein is especially well-suited for our entry into the use of blockchain technology. As the market leader for corporate Schuldscheine for more than a decade we have extensive expertise. In addition within this business segment we are able to generate substantial added value for our corporate customers and for investors because the process becomes more efficient and the processing time is significantly shorter,\u201d Joachim Erdle, Head of Corporate Finance at LBBW, said.\n\n\n\nThe pilot project of Daimler and LBBW shows that blockchain will increase the automation of financial transactions so that they can be concluded much faster and more cost-efficient manner.", "output": "German car maker Daimler has partnered with commercial bank Landesbank Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg (LBBW) to issue corporate debt of \u20ac100m ($114m) using\u00a0blockchain as part of a pilot project. Daimler is also conducting other blockchain projects to determine how the technology can be used to increase efficiency and support its business models, said Bodo Uebber, head of finance and controlling at Daimler Financial Services. By making banking processes more efficient with blockchain, LBBW is able to add value for its corporate customers, said Joachim Erdle, head of corporate finance at LBBW."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "3D scanning and printing gives patients personalised teeth \n Jun 29, 2017 | By David\n\n3D printing has now firmly established itself as a great way to make life-changing prosthetics and implants for patients in need, but what about people just looking for a little cosmetic improvement here or there? A new dental surgery program called Digital Smile Design is making use of 3D technology to enable patients to design their own smile. They can try on a 3D printed version of their new teeth before the operation goes ahead, so they can test out how they will look and see if any modifications might need to be made.\n\nDigital Smile Design (DSD) was invented back in 2007 by Brazilian dental surgeon Christian Coachman. The pioneering technique allows dentists to create a prototype version of the real set of teeth they are planning for patients. The digital workflow initially involves a detailed 3D scan of the patient\u2019s mouth being taken with an intraoral scanner. This 3D model is then imported into the DSD Nemo software, where the dentist and their patient can choose from a large digital library of different, more aesthetically-pleasing shapes and forms to overlap their original teeth.\n\nThe process gives patients improved confidence in the surgery and vastly improves communication between patient and practitioner. It\u2019s also great for diagnostics and treatment planning, allowing the dentist to choose the most effective, least invasive treatment that will fulfil the patient\u2019s cosmetic requirements.\n\nA desktop SLA 3D printer can then be used to make a real prototype version, based on the digital model created in the Nemo software. We've previously reported on the DFAB dental 3D printer from DWS, which is specifically designed for dental restorations and is potentially capable of building a prosthetic in under 20 minutes. The Digital Smile Design process at the state-of-the-art dental practice in the Canary Islands, Spain, run by Pablo Ram\u00edrez and his brother Alejandro, makes use of Formlabs\u2019 Form 2 3D printer. \u2018\u2019We then place the model in a silicone index, which creates a negative of the teeth within the index,\u2019\u2019 says Ramirez. \u2018\u2019Then we use a thin layer of temporary acrylic to form the teeth directly in patient\u2019s mouth.\u2019\u2019 Formlabs Standard Grey and White Resin is used, which prevents any layer lines showing on the teeth.\n\nDigital videos and photos are then taken of the patient\u2019s mouth with the model, so they can plan out what changes will be happening. Before 3D printing technology was as accessible to dentists as it is now, an analog method was used to create the model of the patient\u2019s teeth. A dental technician would have to drop a special type of wax into a physical impression of the mouth, which could take up to 10 days to complete. Now, a patient can get a preview of their new smile within a few days of the first visit. This breaking down of the time barrier simplifies the whole workflow, allows for better planning, and saves on costs.\n\nAccording to Ramirez, \u2018\u2019Digitally trained technicians and dentists are becoming the standard nowadays, and their collaboration is a must in order to achieve the best results. But even though technology has changed our daily workflow and is here to stay, the basic principles like respecting biology and treatment planning will always be crucial in dentistry.\u2019\u2019\n\nPosted in 3D Printing Application\n\nMaybe you also like:\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "output": "A high-tech dental surgery in the Canary Islands is pioneering a 3D printing technique to\u00a0enable\u00a0people to customise their teeth. Digital Smile Design (DSD), first invented in 2007, is being used by siblings Pablo and Alejandro Ram\u00edrez to offer clients a digital way to correct their teeth with optimal precision. After a digital scan is taken of the patient's mouth, it is imported into the DSD Nemo software, allowing the dentist to choose from a library of shapes and forms. DSD enables better diagnostic and treatment planning and is a less invasive, faster way to offer cosmetic dentistry than traditional analogue models.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Diabetes management platform Glooko raises $35 million \n Diabetes data management company Glooko has raised $35 million in new funding. The company already had strategic investments from Samsung and Medtronic; in this new round the Mayo Clinic and insulin pump maker Insulet join those ranks. Toronto-based Georgian Partners led the round, with participation from existing investors Canaan Partners and Social Capital, in addition to the aforementioned health and tech stakeholders.\n\nThis is the company's largest funding round to date and it more than doubles the company's coffers, bringing its total funding to $71 million. It most recently raised $8 million in connection with its merger with European counterpart Diasend.\n\nGlooko has always been in the business of helping patients, providers, and tech companies manage diabetes data, but what exactly that means has changed as the technology has evolved. The company started out making adapter cords to connect glucometers to smartphones. Nowadays, it's more about data analytics and artificial intelligence, not only to collect data, but also to analyze it and turn it into actionable insights that can help people better manage their diabetes.\n\n\"This additional funding will help us to further our mission: to improve the lives of people with diabetes,\u201d Rick Altinger, CEO of Glooko, said in a statement. \u201cWith this capital, we will accelerate our investments in clinical solutions that aim to increase medication adherence, provide personalized insights and prompts that drive behavior change for people with diabetes, and deliver clinical decision support to thousands of clinicians and coaches so they can better support people with diabetes in between office visits.\u201d\n\nGlooko works with a wide array of provider, payer, and pharma customers, as well as with other technology companies in the diabetes management space like Dexcom, with whom they recently expanded their longstanding partnership.\n\nThe company says it plans to use the new funding for a little bit of everything: to expand its sales and marketing teams; to increase international commercialization efforts in France, Germany, the UK, Asia, and the Middle East; and to continue to invest in research and development to improve its platform.", "output": "California-based diabetes data management company Glooko has generated $35m in a funding round led by Georgian Partners, and featuring participation from Mayo Clinic, Insulet and existing investors Samsung and Medtronic. Glooko uses data analytics and artificial intelligence to turn patient data into practicable insights and develop personalised treatment plans. The funding will be used to expand sales and marketing teams, boost\u00a0commercialisation efforts across Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and invest in R&D.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dubai Police deploys robot cars with built-in drones \n Living in Dubai these days must feel a bit like Detroit circa 2043, minus the shadowy megacorporation turning murdered cops into baddie-slaying cyborgs. Fresh off the oil kingdom's plans to create an autonomous drone taxi service\u2014and an attempt at their very own RoboCop\u2014the Dubai Police Force has announced the creation of a fleet of self-driving, drone-deploying miniature police cruisers that can scan their surroundings for wanted criminals, and more ominously, \"persons of interest.\"\n\nIf that sounds a little dystopian for your taste, well, the rest of the details won't do much to change that. Created by Singapore robotics firm OTSAW, the O-R3 units will send a live video feed via a 360-degree camera to a central monitoring station so Dubai Police can see what's going on at any time. Thanks to biometric software and scanners, the robot will also be able to \"identify suspicious objects and track suspects,\" according to Brigadier Khalid Nasser Al Razooqi, the director of the police force's Smart Services program.\n\nBut should one of those suspects attempt a quick getaway, or just hop a fence as seen in the demonstration video below, the O-R3 is also capable of launching a camera-carrying drone at the touch of a button to continue the pursuit. The whole package is about the size of a Power Wheels toy, so it should be able to use paths and alleyways that are too small for the Dubai Police's fleet of supercars.", "output": "The Dubai Police Force has said it will deploy a fleet of miniature autonomous cars, built by Singapore robotics company OTSAW, to patrol the city's streets. The vehicles, called O-R3 units, will transmit a live video feed back to a central monitoring station and come equipped with biometric software and scanners to help them identify suspicious persons and objects. The cars also carry an onboard drone, which can be released to get an aerial view of a scene or track suspects. Dubai Police has a target of replacing 25% of its patrol force with robots by 2030."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Purplebricks claims it's on track for UK's top estate agent spot \n Post navigation\n\nPurplebricks this morning announced UK revenues of \u00a343.2m for the year to the end of April and an operating profit of \u00a3200,000.\n\nRevenues were way over double achieved in the same period the previous year, which stood at \u00a318.6m.\n\nIn Australia, Purplebricks had revenue of \u00a33.5m but made an operating loss of \u00a36.1m.\n\nAltogether, Purplebricks lost \u00a36m across both operations, which brought in \u00a346.7m.\n\nAverage income per instruction in the UK stood at \u00a31,035, and Purplebricks claimed it sold and completed on over \u00a35.8bn worth of UK property, with a sale agreed every nine minutes, 24/7. It did not say how many properties it sold, but claimed its current conversion from instruction to sale is 83%.\n\nThis morning, City analyst Anthony Codling of Jefferies was sceptical.\n\nHe said: \u201cPurplebricks is not, in our view, a shy and retiring company, until it comes to disclosing how many homes it sells.\n\n\u201cHowever, whilst we do not know the number of homes it has helped to sell, a key performance indicator in our mind, we do know that it delivered losses of \u00a36m in FY2017 against our estimate of a loss of \u00a34m. We hope that at the results presentation we can coax the shy company to reveal the number of homes it has helped to sell.\n\n\u201cMarketing spend in FY16 was \u00a312.9m rising to \u00a318.2m in FY17 and it will start with a \u20182\u2019 in FY18. The digital model may not have to fund a branch network, but it appears to us that the virtual high street is not as cheap as one might imagine.\u201d\n\nPurplebricks chief executive Michael Bruce said: \u201cThis has been a very successful year in the early development of the Purplebricks model and brand.\n\n\u201cWe have materially grown our national footprint and have built a growing brand awareness and reputation for delivering customers a more convenient, transparent and cost effective service. In tandem with our growth we have invested in the business and strengthened the management team.\n\n\u201cThis has allowed us to significantly grow our number of positive reviews on the independent review site Trustpilot (currently with over 20,000). We have retained our rating of excellent.\n\n\u201cPurplebricks is now in a strong position to become the no.1 estate agent in the UK for both listings and sales.\n\n\u201cWith the UK business now in profit it is encouraging to see Australia following a similar growth trajectory. Just eight months in and Purplebricks already operates in five key states, which represent 85% of all Australian property transactions. The launch of our Commisery campaign in Australia from May 2017 will further accelerate progress.\n\n\u201cAll of this bodes well for the US, where plans to launch, first in California, in the second half of the calendar year are progressing at pace.\u201d\n\nPurplebricks also said it is confident about its prospects and of meeting the board\u2019s \u201cincreased expectations\u201d.", "output": "Online estate agent Purplebricks announced UK revenues of \u00a343.2m ($56.2m) for the year to end April, more than double last year's \u00a318.6m. Purplebricks completed over \u00a35.8bn worth of UK property sales, agreeing a sale every nine minutes, said CEO Michael Bruce, adding that the results show the company is on track to become the number one estate agent in the UK. The firm delivered a total loss of \u00a36m for FY2017 across its UK and Australian operations; Jefferies had estimated a loss of \u00a34m and noted that Purplebricks had yet to divulge the number of properties it helped to sell."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cozmo's Anki robot to help kids learn to program \n Plenty of toys on the market promise to provide the next generation of coders and engineers with the foundation they\u2019ll need to compete in the rapidly-changing job market. But in a sea of coding-for-kids products, an update to Anki\u2019s holiday-shopping darling, Cozmo the robot, offers a chance for young would-be coders to tap into a complex machine capable of advanced feats, like facial recognition.\n\nSince its release last year, the almost-too-cute tread-traveling bot, which was designed to spark an emotional, Wall-E-like connection with people, has become wildly popular, so it represents a well-established platform. It\u2019s also a complex machine, with 1.6 million lines of code running between the robot itself and its companion app. The adorable bot can recognize individual faces, expressions, and imitate human emotions. Its \u201cpersonality engine\u201d leverages AI to allow it to emulate a human by doing things like losing interest in a specific game after playing it multiple times.\n\nSince Cozmo\u2019s launch, university students and others have been programming it through a software development kit. But to do that, they had to know the common coding language Python. That changed on Monday, when Anki opened up Cozmo\u2019s brain to novice code-writers via a simple visual system based on Scratch, a graphical programming language developed at the MIT Media Lab. They call the new feature Code Lab.\n\nProgramming with pictures\n\nWith Code Lab, users can create basic programs by dragging and dropping blocks that symbolize advanced concepts. For example, a child could build a simple program that begins with a block that tells Cozmo to wait (symbolized by an hourglass) until it sees someone smile (depicted by a happy face). The next block in the sequence might tell the bot to drive. When the beginning coder executes the program, Cozmo won\u2019t go until it detects a grin.\n\nRight now, that graphical code runs left to right in what\u2019s known as a \u201chorizontal grammar.\u201d The next release in Code Lab will run a \u201cvertical grammar\u201d that goes from top to bottom, and can incorporate more complex actions, including well-known commands like conditional \u201cif-then-else\u201d statements that coders use in professional programming languages.\n\nLanguages like Python are text-based, but Anki has based Code Lab off the decade-old graphical programing language Scratch. (Think pictographs, not words.) The result is that Anki is making it very easy to program a complex robot to do advanced stuff, like recognize faces and expressions.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re trying to figure out how to give people, in this case even kids or complete beginners, access to real robotics tools and functions,\u201d says Hanns Tappeiner, the president and cofounder of Anki. \u201cAnd when I say \u2018real,\u2019 I don\u2019t mean lights blinking, or your robot driving straight, but we\u2019re really talking about things like face recognition, face tracking, facial expression recognition,\u201d and more.\n\nA simple program. Anki\n\nRobots that do kids\u2019 bidding\n\nCozmo joins other kid-friendly programmable robots already on the market, like LEGO Mindstorms EV3. Aspiring coders can program that system using a LEGO-developed visual language that also uses graphical blocks to symbolize functions like actions. In August, the company will release a new system called LEGO Boost, also with its own visual programming language that\u2019s geared towards kids aged 5 to 12. But neither of those systems are capable of doing facial recognition, even if EV3 does have sensors that allow it to respond to stimuli like touch and color.\n\nAnd children can also program robots called Dash and Dot by using a Google-made visual programming language called Blockly, or an other one called Wonder that Wonder Workshop, the company behind those robots, created. Dash has distance sensors and microphones and can do things like turn towards a person who is speaking, and has awareness of other robots around it.\n\nUsing tech for creativity\n\nMIT Media Lab created Scratch in 2007, and Anki is utilizing an open-source version called Scratch Blocks that was developed as a collaboration between Google and MIT. Kids who use Scratch are \u201clearning the core computational concepts that are important for any other type of programming language,\u201d says Mitchel Resnick, a professor of learning research at the MIT Media Lab and one of Scratch\u2019s creators.\n\nUltimately, Resnick says that how tech is incorporated into toys matters. \u201cI think it\u2019s really important that we use new technology not just to deliver entertainment, or to deliver instruction,\u201d he says, \u201cbut more to provide opportunities for kids to design, create, experiment, and explore.\u201d", "output": "San Francisco-based robotics firm Anki has launched Code Lab, a feature which opens up its robot toy Cozmo to budding programmers. Based on the Scratch visual system co-developed by Google and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, users can drag and drop blocks that symbolise concepts, including facial recognition, to program the robot. The initial stage uses a very simple sequential language, but\u00a0Anki said the subsequent version will allow for more complex loops and conditional statements. The aim is give \"even kids or complete beginners\u00a0access to real robotics tools and functions,\u201d said Anki co-founder Hanns Tappeiner."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Robot with gecko-like grip could help remove space junk \n Litter picker for the space age Ger Bosma/Getty\n\nIn space, grabbing onto things is hard. A new robot that uses grippers inspired by gecko feet could solve that problem, helping clear up the mess of debris that orbits Earth.\n\nThe toaster-sized device can grip, hold onto and move around even large, smooth surfaces in microgravity, on both flat and curved objects. To do this, it uses a \u201cdry adhesive\u201d material created by Hao Jiang at Stanford University in California and his colleagues.\n\n\u201cThis ability to grab onto an object nearly anywhere, instead of needing a specific grapple point that may not even be there, is really advantageous,\u201d says Matthew Spenko at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. \u201cIt means you don\u2019t need a precision approach.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nIn an environment where an accidental nudge can send something flying and space debris can be travelling faster than the speed of sound, agility is key.\n\nGet a grip\n\nGeckos can hold onto almost any smooth surface with just a few toes, which are covered in tiny rubbery hairs. The ends of those hairs split off into such small strands that they interact with the molecules of any surface the gecko is climbing. This produces a Velcro-type effect that acts as an adhesive only when the gecko\u2019s toes are pulling along a surface and bending \u2013 an action that increases the area of the touching hairs.\n\nThe researchers mimicked this trait for their gripper, which features a thin sheet covered in protruding wedges one-tenth of a millimetre wide. These micro-wedges stick to a smooth surface when they bend as they are pulled across it. Single sheets of this type of material have been used before to create tiny robots that can climb smooth walls while dragging heavy loads.\n\nJiang and his colleagues used two wedge-covered sheets with a robotic pulley that pulled the sheets together once they touched an object. This made the system stronger than the single-sheet version by locking the object between two sets of wedges. Attached to a robotic arm, the device could gently grab and secure even large pieces of debris.\n\nRemains of decay\n\nSpace junk in Earth\u2019s orbit is a growing problem. Bits and pieces of dead satellites, spacecraft and other discarded or broken-down equipment whizz around our planet, all potentially hazardous to working satellites and the International Space Station.\n\nOf the hundreds of thousands of pieces of debris, more than 20,000 are larger than 10 centimetres across \u2013 big enough to smash a piece off a satellite and create even more orbiting junk.\n\nIdeas proposed for collecting the junk include sweeping it up with a giant magnetic net or vaporising it with laser beams, but none have yet worked out \u2013 and for now, nobody is picking up the trash.\n\nThat\u2019s where a new robot comes in. The harsh environment of space makes the methods we use to grab things on Earth ineffective. A suction-based system can\u2019t be used, because there\u2019s no air for it to suck up. Robotic arms with grasping \u201cfingers\u201d only work if there\u2019s something to grab onto, but many pieces of debris have smooth, flat sides.\n\nNormal adhesives stop being sticky in the cold vacuum, and even sticking down a piece of tape requires enough force to make the object you\u2019re adhering it to float away. More sophisticated schemes are often too big and heavy to launch into orbit.\n\nGarbage grabber\n\nThe researchers tested their gecko-inspired grabber in the temporary weightlessness of a parabolic aeroplane flight, and using pressurised air at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). They even sent a pared-down version for astronauts to try out on the International Space Station.\n\nOn the aeroplane, the device was able to grasp and move around cube, cylinder, and sphere-shaped objects and then gently release them without affecting their motion. At the JPL, it autonomously attached to drifting objects more than 100 times its size and mass. On the space station, it held on to a wall for weeks at a time.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s hard to get all those little gecko pads in contact with the surface and evenly distribute the load, especially if it\u2019s going to work with both flat and curved objects,\u201d says Spenko. \u201cWhat\u2019s really impressive in this work is that they scale it up and show that it works in a larger size.\u201d\n\nThe gripper may be put to use collecting pieces of drifting space debris for disposal, but it could also be used on a robot that can climb on the outside of spacecraft, or to help with autonomous docking between spacecraft.\n\nJournal reference: Science Robotics, DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.aan4545\n\nRead more: \u2018Soccer-ball\u2019 robots to patrol space for deadly junk", "output": "Researchers at California's Stanford University have developed a robot capable of holding smooth-sided objects, thanks to grippers that mimic gecko feet. The animal's toes are covered in tiny rubbery hairs that\u00a0produce a Velcro-type effect when they pull and bend along\u00a0other surfaces. The researchers covered the gripper in a thin sheet with protruding micro-wedges one-tenth of a millimetre wide, and concluded that\u00a0this could produce\u00a0an improved\u00a0system for securing\u00a0big pieces of debris.\u00a0Tests were conducted in a parabolic aeroplane flight, in NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and inside\u00a0the International Space Station."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ant unveils AI-driven car-damage\u00a0claims tool \n Imagine a world where automobile damage can be assessed by an algorithm in six seconds, and you'd be where Ant Financial is today.\n\nThe Alibaba Group financial affiliate on Tuesday rolled out an artificial intelligence-driven, image-recognition system to aid vehicle insurance claims adjustors in operating faster and more-efficiently.\n\nExterior damage claims comprise about 60% of the 45 million private-vehicle insurance claims filed in China each years, so the AI system is expected to save insurers significant time and resources. The AI system is also aimed at making assessment of external vehicle damage more-standardized and objective, reducing the potential for human claims adjusters on the scene to be influenced by the parties involved in the accident.\n\n'It is a technology that we are constantly working on to improve, therefore we are offering it for free to insurance companies. We are opening up our AI capabilities to our partners, so that they can reduce cost and better serve small and micro-businesses,' said Yin Ming, president of Ant Financial's Insurance Business Unit.\n\n[Attachment] Rolling out a new service for insurers\n\nAnt is initially offering the AI damage-assessment system only to insurers, but plans to make the product available to car owners within a year.\n\nThe idea is that, if you've been involved in an accident, you would no longer have to wait for a claims adjuster to arrive on the scene to assess the damage to your car. Instead, you'd simply take a photo with your smartphone and send it to your insurer. AI would then enable the insurance company to assess the extent of the damage, cost of repair and list nearby repair shops and their different prices to fix the damage.\n\nIn its rollout demonstration in Beijing, Ant pitted man against machine, with its algorithm squaring off against six experienced human claims adjusters in 12 separate cases. The machine took six seconds to assess the damage and set claim amounts for the 12 cases. The human claims adjusters took 6:48 to reach their conclusions. Both machine and humans judged that one of the 12 cases required further investigation.\n\nInitial reaction from insurers was positive.\n\n'We have been trying everything to improve efficiency. Ant's team achieved what we have done in the past five years by working on this for a year,' said Yu Ze, general manager of China Taiping Property Insurance Co., who was attending the event.\n\nAnt's launch of the system came on the same day that the MIT Technology Review named the company to its list of the 50 Smartest Companies of 2017.\n\nCompanies on the list exhibit technological leadership and business acumen. Ant made the list for applying AI technologies to financial services online and exploring blockchain technolgies to build a more-transparent charity platform.\n\n'The companies on the list combine a high level of technology innovation with a business model that will help them make the most of it,' said Nanette Byrnes, the publications' senior editor for business. 'Public and private, large and small, based in countries around the globe, this group of companies is creating new opportunities and pouncing on them. These are the ones that competitors must follow.'\n\nAnt said its technology is pushing out the borders of the financial services sector's technological infrastructure and making the sector more-accessible.\n\n'As technologies, including AI, security, computing infrastructure, blockchain and biometrics continue to evolve, we have the opportunity to work with our partners and collaboratively redefine a new technology infrastructure for financial services. This will make global financial inclusion possible,' said Cheng Li, CTO of Ant Financial.", "output": "Ant Financial, the finance unit of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, has created an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven tool\u00a0that will allow insurers to\u00a0assess car-accident damage and establish repair costs within seconds. The system requires claimants to use their smartphones to photograph\u00a0damage, which will then be assessed by the AI's image-recognition software. The technology can\u00a0estimate repair costs and suggest suitable mechanics. In\u00a0tests against six\u00a0human assessors, the AI system came up with the same result in six\u00a0seconds, compared with\u00a0almost seven hours for the humans. The platform is expected to eventually be offered to individuals as well as insurers.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Anwyl secures \u00a323m\u00a0contract in Prescot, Merseyside \n Housebuilder and contractor Anwyl has secured its first deal through its new Lancashire business.\n\nThe firm has won a \u00a323m contract to build 122 homes on the former home of the Prysmian Cable Factory in Prescot, Merseyside.\n\nMathew Anwyl MD housing\n\n\u2018An easy sell\u2019 \u2013 Read the full interview with Anwyl\u2019s MD on how his firm poached top housing talent\n\nThe site forms part of the wider Prescot Park development, which will deliver around 750 homes alongside major public realm improvements.\n\nThe deal is the first project that Anwyl\u2019s new Lancashire housing division has secured since its launch in April.\n\nAnwyl poached former Redrow Homes North-west managing director John Grime (pictured above, left) to head up the business earlier this year, which has a turnover target of \u00a375m within three to five years. The new division also plans to be completing more than 300 homes annually within the same timescale.\n\nWork on the Prescot Park site is expected to start in early 2018 and take around four years to complete, with a sales office opening on the site in spring next year.\n\nMr Grime said: \u201cWe are delighted to have acquired our first piece of land for the new region. The plans for the development are really exciting and we are confident that our first venture in the area will be well received.\n\n\u201dPrescot is a fantastic location to live, providing many facilities as well as having excellent communication, being accessible via the nearby motorway network and the wider Liverpool area.\u201d\n\nAlongside its homes business, Anwyl is also plotting two developments in the Merseyside area: a \u00a360m PRS development on Pall Mall in Liverpool city centre, and a \u00a335m student accommodation project, also in the city centre.\n\nThe \u00a360m PRS scheme, which ranges up to 22 storeys in height and contains 366 homes, was given the green light by city planners in March this year.", "output": "Housebuilder and contractor Anwyl's new Lancashire housing division has secured its first contract: a \u00a323m deal to build 122 homes on a development site in Prescot, Merseyside. The announcement followed Anwyl's poaching of former Redrow Homes northwest managing director John Grime to head\u00a0the business. Work on the four-year Prescot site is set to begin early in 2018 and is expected to take about four years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK, Irish shares may be worst hit by Mifid II dark pool trade cap \n Research has found 89% of stocks in the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 will breach MiFID II\u2019s dark trading market-wide cap come January 2018.\n\nA report from Rosenblatt Securities measured how the dark trading caps would affect trading in 757 stocks across 18 major European indexes, with data provided by Bats Europe.\n\nIt found just fewer than three-quarters of stocks would hit the 8% threshold, with UK and Irish stocks hit hardest.\n\nMiFID II\u2019s dark pool restrictions will see the introduction of a double volume-cap, which will trigger bans on certain types of dark trading when a transaction accounts for 4% of the total activity on a single dark venue, or 8% of total trading market-wide.\n\nTrades breaching the 4% venue-specific cap will be subject to a 6-month ban on the venue in question, while issues exceeding the 8% market-wide cap trigger a 6-month dark trading ban across Europe.\n\nMarket participants have slammed the dark pool caps as restricting the most effective method of trading.\n\nPanellists at TradeTech earlier this year agreed dark pool trading allows for minimal market impact and often provides the best price for clients, but MiFID II will stifle this with the introduction of double volume caps.\n\n\u201cAny regulation that limits buyers and sellers coming together at an agreed price is wrong for the market place. The volume caps are very arbitrage numbers,\u201d said Ralston Roberts, co-head of electronic trading at Goldman Sachs in Europe.\n\nThe report also fund less-liquid issues will suffer disproportionately under the caps, with 83% of mid-cap index constituents set to breach the 8% threshold, compared with 67% of large-cap index constituents.\n\n\u201cThese names are already difficult to trade, which makes dark pools an appealing alternative for buy-side traders seeking to minimise information leakage and market impact,\u201d said Anish Puaar, author of the report and European market structure analyst at Rosenblatt Securities.\n\n\u201cIt will be interesting to see how restrictions on trading these stocks in the dark affect investor outcomes under MiFID II.\u201d", "output": "UK and Irish stocks will be among the hardest hit by EU regulations that seek to\u00a0limit off-exchange securities trading, according to a report based on data from one of the digital venues for the so-called dark pools. A trading volume threshold\u00a0will be introduced when the Mifid II rules come\u00a0into force in January, potentially limiting trading in 757 stocks across 18 European indexes. Trade\u00a0in 89% of FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 stocks are likely to be affected, said the report by brokerage Rosenblatt Securities, based on Bats Europe data."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Giga Watt mining operation raises $11m in a week of crowdfunding \n The Giga Watt token crowdsale, providing access to the crypto mining operation founded by former Microsoft engineer Dave Carlson, has already raised $11.8 million - more than 30 percent of its $30 million goal - with just over a month left to go.\n\nThe London Summit 2017 is coming, get involved!\n\nThe Washington state-based facility allows investors to participate in cryptocurrency mining through the WTT token. The tokens represent the right to use the Giga Watt processing center\u2019s capacity rent-free for 50 years, to accommodate 1 Watt\u2019s worth of mining equipment power consumption. Token owners can use this capacity to accommodate their own miners, or can rent out the WTT token to other users.\n\nDavid Carlson\n\n\u201cBy tokenizing our mining infrastructure, Giga Watt is finally able to extend our huge economic advantage to anyone in the world, large or small, to run their own mining business and be successful by having our expert team build and manage it,\u201d said Dave Carlson, founder and CEO of Giga Watt. \u201cThis is a move to decentralize the global balance of mining power and put it back in the hands of the little guy. The home miner built Bitcoin Bitcoin While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we\u2019ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC\u2019s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John\u2019s.One could now argue that While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we\u2019ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC\u2019s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John\u2019s.One could now argue that Read this Term, and I want anyone to succeed as a true participant in the explosive growth of cryptocurrency mining.\u201d\n\nGiga Watt\u2019s facility in Wenatchee is designed to allow Bitcoins to be mined for under $600, significantly cheaper than their online purchase price of nearly $2600 right now. Access to inexpensive energy makes the location economical compared to many other U.S. cities.\n\nGiga Watt\u2019s facilities also power any proof-of-work miner, so WTT token holders will also be able to mine Ethereum, Litecoin, and additional Cryptocurrencies Cryptocurrencies By using cryptography, virtual currencies, known as cryptocurrencies, are nearly counterfeit-proof digital currencies that are built on blockchain technology. Comprised of decentralized networks, blockchain technology is not overseen by a central authority.Therefore, cryptocurrencies function in a decentralized nature which theoretically makes them immune to government interference. The term, cryptocurrency derives from the origin of the encryption techniques that are employed to secure the netw By using cryptography, virtual currencies, known as cryptocurrencies, are nearly counterfeit-proof digital currencies that are built on blockchain technology. Comprised of decentralized networks, blockchain technology is not overseen by a central authority.Therefore, cryptocurrencies function in a decentralized nature which theoretically makes them immune to government interference. The term, cryptocurrency derives from the origin of the encryption techniques that are employed to secure the netw Read this Term in the future.", "output": "Washington state-based Giga Watt's token crowdsale has generated more than a third of its $30m goal with more than a month remaining for investors to get onboard. Giga Watt, founded by ex-Microsoft engineer Dave Carlson, enables cryptocurrency mining via its WTT token. It facilitates bitcoin mining at less than $600, far below the online price of around $2,600. \"This is a move to decentralise the global balance of mining power and put it back in the hands of the little guy\", said Carlson."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Two-year-old UK forex app Revolut close to raising \u00a350m  \n Revolut cofounder and CEO Nikolay Storonsky. Revolut Revolut has revenues of \u00a32.3 million.\n\nBut its sales costs are \u00a37.8 million.\n\nDespite that, investors are planning to put \u00a350 million more into the company.\n\n\"Growth is the new profitability,\" some fintech insiders say.\n\nLONDON \u2014 Fast-growing fintech app Revolut is close to sealing a \u00a350 million funding round that will value the nascent company at \u00a3300 million, Sky News reports.\n\nLondon VC Index Ventures, already an investor in Revolut, is leading the round, Sky says. Silicon Valley investor Ribbit Capital is also said to be taking part in the round. CEO and founder Nikolay Storonsky told TechCrunch earlier this month that the company was close to \"large equity round.\"\n\nLondon-based Revolut offers a pre-paid international currency card, initially offering zero-fee, zero-commission foreign exchange. Cash is pre-loaded to the card through an app.\n\nThe big round and chunky valuation are eye-catching for a number of reasons. Revolut has only just celebrated its second birthday and it's unusual for a company to get such a huge cash injection at this early stage.\n\nThe firm's accounts also raise eyebrows. I reported earlier this week that Revolut's first year of full accounts show it lost \u00a37.1 million on \u00a32.3 million of revenue. It's not unusual for an early stage company to lose money. But what is unsual here is that the losses were down to \"cost of sales,\" which were \u00a37.8 million.\n\n\"Cost of sales\" measures how much it costs for a company to provide the service or products it is selling, before any other incidental and operating expenses are taken into account. It is the most basic, fundamental measure of whether a business makes money or not. A fintech entrepreneur chatting to me at the Money2020 conference in Copenhagen this week said it looked like Revolut is \"spending $1.00 to earn 50\u00a2.\"\n\nInvestors don't look at it that way. What attracts venture capitalists is Revolut's rapid growth. Storonsky told BI this week that it is on track to have 1 million customers by the end of 2017. Not bad for two years' work.\n\nVCs argue that it is more important to pull in customers in the early days and worry about making money later \u2014 even in a fintech business.\n\nIndex Ventures made a similar bet on international money transfer business TransferWise when it was unprofitable but growing fast. Index partner Jan Hammer told BI in 2015: \"In terms of profitability, it\u2019s a very well-known phenomenon in online and mobile industries that if you want to get true scale, you invest for growth.\" (TransferWise is still unprofitable but growing fast, but says it will make an operating profit this year.)\n\nThe Revolut card pictured alongside the app in action. Revolut\n\n\"Growth is the new profitability,\" another fintech insider told me at Money2020. But a consultant at the conference questioned how many active users Revolut has. Close to 1 million people may have opened accounts but how many are actually regularly using them?\n\nThe financial accounts also suggest that Revolut's growth is being fuelled by an inbuilt subsidy in the product \u2014 spending $1.00 to earn 50\u00a2.\n\nThis is not necessarily unusual. Startup bank Monzo loses around \u00a340 per customer per year on its pre-paid cards and blamed a bigger than expected loss on the fact that more people signed up for its cards than it had projected.\n\nBut the big unknown is will customers stick around once the freebies disappear?\n\nRevolut is now testing this theory. It added \"fair usage\" caps on its foreign exchange transfer, with people having to pay a fee if they transfer more than \u00a35,000 a month.\n\nIt is also pivoting to become a quasi-financial supermarket, rather than just FX provider. The company has \"made additional effort to monetize the business model by introducing delivery fees and affiliate programmes,\" partnering with a bunch of other fintechs and encouraging users to do everything from invest in property to borrow money through its app.\n\nCEO Storonsky told BI this week: \"We are on track to break-even by November as we continue to optimise our costs and infrastructure, and add further lines of revenue to the product.\"\n\nAn extra \u00a350 million probably won't hurt, either.", "output": "Two-year-old UK fintech firm Revolut is said to be close to securing funding of around \u00a350m ($65m). The firm's app allows users to pay and transfer money in foreign currencies at competitive exchange rates with no additional fees,\u00a0although it is testing certain usage\u00a0based fees and looking to increase its product offering. It is suggested that investors are attracted by the company's rapid growth,\u00a0as one entrepreneur said \"it looked like Revolut is \"spending $1.00 to earn 50\u00a2\"\". The round is expected to be led by original investor Index Ventures, with participation from Ribbit Capital."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Two-year-old UK forex app Revolut said to be close to raising \u00a350m \n One of the UK's fastest growing financial technology companies is finalising a new round of funding that will value it at \u00a3300m.\n\nSky News has learnt that Revolut, a payments app which undercuts traditional rivals, is in the final stages of talks about a deal that will see it raising more than \u00a350m.\n\nThe round will be led by Index Ventures, the technology company investor which originally acquired an interest in Revolut almost a year ago.\n\nSources said other existing investors including Ribbit Capital were also expected to participate in the latest fundraising, which could be announced as soon as next week.\n\nIt will be the latest in a string of multimillion pound investments in British fintech start-ups, which some commentators have hailed as a sign that the industry is able to withstand the looming impact of Brexit.\n\nThe Government has outlined its determination to mitigate the potential exodus of money provided by the European Investment Fund to UK venture investors by expanding the remit of the British Business Bank.\n\nRevolut allows users to pay and transfer money into foreign currencies with no additional fees and at competitive exchange rates.\n\nIt has already attracted hundreds of thousands of customers attracted by the relative cost of using Revolut's service compared to many high street banks.\n\nThe company was founded by Nikolay Storonsky\u200e, who launched it about two years ago, making the latest fundraising a huge sign of its ambition at such an early stage of its existence.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nSpokesmen for Revolut and Index declined to comment.", "output": "Two-year-old UK fintech firm Revolut is said to be close to securing funding of around \u00a350m ($65m). The firm's app allows users to pay and transfer money in foreign currencies at competitive exchange rates with no additional fees, although it is testing certain usage-based fees and looking to increase its product offering. The round is expected to be led by original investor Index Ventures, with participation from Ribbit Capital.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lawyer to challenge Uber in High Court over 56p VAT \n Devereux silk is claiming 56p\n\nA leading tax barrister has crowdfunded over \u00a3100,000 to help him bring a 56p High Court challenge against Uber, over claims the app is undercharging value-added tax (VAT).\n\nJolyon Maugham QC, a tenant at London\u2019s Devereux Chambers, first revealed plans to take on the US-based app giant in February. At the time, Maugham suggested Uber should be paying VAT on its fares at a rate of 16.67%, and in 2015 alone should have paid the UK government almost \u00a320 million.\n\nNow, several months on, Maugham\u2019s CrowdJustice campaign has raised \u00a3107,650. According to legal documents filed with the High Court earlier this month, the tax silk received around 3,400 separate donations, with an average contribution of just under \u00a332. Moreover, the papers reveal that Maugham\u2019s campaign enjoyed a separate payment of \u00a320,000 from an \u201corganisation connected with the black cab trade.\u201d\n\nThe new documents also shed light on the claim itself. Maugham \u2014 who is bringing proceedings against Uber London Limited via his non-profit organisation, Good Law Project \u2014 is arguing that it should have provided him with a VAT receipt for a short, \u00a36.34 taxi ride he took between his chambers and a client\u2019s office. His witness statement (embedded in full below) continues:\n\nImmaterial complexities aside, if Uber has \u2018supplied\u2019 me with a service \u2014 as that word is used in a VAT context \u2014 then it has a statutory obligation to provide me with a VAT receipt\u2026 I believe \u2014 and as a QC specialising in tax I have some reasonable professional basis for this belief \u2014 that Uber has made a taxable supply of VAT purposes and that I have an entitlement to a VAT invoice.\n\nContrary to Maugham\u2019s view, Uber \u2014 which has instructed Herbert Smith Freehills to defend the claim \u2014 maintains that it is not liable for VAT because it merely connects drivers with customers, and does not provide a transport service.\n\nFurthermore, an update on the Good Law Project\u2019s website states that it has received several legal letters from Uber stating it will \u201clook to recover its costs\u201d from Maugham if the claim fails. Stressing that this could land Maugham with a hefty bill, the statement continues:\n\nThis is no small matter: it is perfectly possible that Uber\u2019s costs of litigating the matter will reach \u00a31m in the High Court alone. And, absent costs protection, that burden will fall on him personally. Following that correspondence we took advice from a QC who specialises in costs. Having taken that advice we were able to issue proceedings. But we will need to resolve the costs issue early on in proceedings.\n\nSpeaking to Legal Cheek this morning, Maugham \u2014 who last year was forced to defend his working class background in the wake of pro-Brexit Twitter abuse \u2014 said:\n\nIt looks like we\u2019re going to need to make some new and interesting law about the extent to which wealthy private litigants can drown out public interest litigation.\n\nRead Jolyon Maugham QC\u2019s witness statement in full below:\n\nFor all the latest commercial awareness info, and advance notification of Legal Cheek\u2019s careers events, sign up to the Legal Cheek Hub.", "output": "London lawyer Jolyon Maugham QC plans to bring a High Court case against Uber claiming it is not paying enough VAT\u00a0and that it should provide\u00a0VAT receipts to passengers. The case\u00a0is based on the tiny sum of 56 pence\u00a0($0.73) - the unpaid VAT Maugham claimed was payable on a short Uber journey he took to a client's office. If judgement goes against\u00a0Uber it could be forced to pay hundreds of millions of pounds in backdated VAT to HMRC. So far, the tax barrister\u00a0has crowdfunded over \u00a3100,000 for the case. Uber rejects the claim, saying it does not provide a transport service but\u00a0merely connects drivers with customers."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook lets publishers reward video ad viewers\u00a0with\u00a0games \n The social network said in a blog post that McKinsey projects ad spending by the gaming sector to reach $6.9 billion by 2019, adding that research from game engine Unity found that 78 percent of game players are open to engaging with rewarded video ads.\n\nOn that note, Facebook Audience Network introduced Rewarded Video, which allows game developers to give players the option of watching a full-screen, immersive video ad in exchange for a reward within the game they are playing.\n\nRewarded Video is available immediately to all publishers on Facebook Audience Network, and the social network said it is now supporting Unity and fellow game engine Cocos2DX in order to help create Rewarded Video ad units.\n\nFacebook", "output": "Facebook has launched Rewarded Video, an ad format available to publishers on its Facebook Audience Network aimed specifically at game publishers, according to a company blog post. It said the tool was \"100% initiated\" by viewers and lets game developers give players the option of watching a full-screen ad in exchange for playing a game.\u00a0Facebook said Rewarded Video\u00a0\"allows publishers to offer a positive user experience while also increasing revenue\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ad blocker usage by Australians is in decline \n Just five per cent of Australians use an ad blocker on their smartphone, according to an IAB Australia report based on research conducted April 2017 by Pureprofile.\n\nThat's a drop from the last wave of research in October 2016, when six per cent reported use of a mobile ad blocker.\n\nDesktop ad blocking levels are much higher, at 21 per cent, but it's heading in the same direction, down from 24 per cent six months earlier. Interestingly, that's in contrast to awareness of ad blockers, which is up four percentage points to 63 per cent.\n\n\n\nAwareness of ad blockers has increased from 59 percent to 63 percent, but current usage has declined by two percentage points to 25 percent of online Australians (or one in four), compared to 27 percent since October 2016.\n\n\u201cWhilst it is positive news that the use of ad blocking appears to be stablising in Australia, it is imperative that the advertising industry continues to double down on our efforts to evolve and improve the ad experience for consumers,\u201d said Vijay Solanki, CEO of IAB Australia. \u201cAs mobile emerges as the channel of choice for many consumers, it will be key to ensure that mobile advertising respects the close relationship that a consumer has with their mobile phones and adheres to the LEAN principles of providing lighter, relevant and higher quality advertising experiences.\u201d\n\n28 per cent of users indicated that fears about getting a virus were their primary motivation for blocking ads, while 'too many ads' figured into the decision for 23 per cent.\n\n71 per cent of ad block users said they'd seen a prompt from a website asking them to turn off their ad blocker. For 50 per cent of users, this has at least once led them to turn off their blocker for that site, while 25 per cent have whitelist the site, and five per cent deleted the blocker entirely. There's at least some crossover between these groups, though, as 37 per cent said they have never taken any action in response to these requests.", "output": "The use of ad blockers is decreasing in Australia, with 5% of mobile users and 21% of desktop users relying on the software, compared with 6% and 24% eight months ago, according to a report from IAB Australia. The study also revealed 63% of consumers are aware of ad blocking technology, up from 59% in October 2016. \"While it is positive news that ad blocking appears to be stabilising in Australia, it is imperative the advertising industry continues... to evolve and improve the ad experience for consumers,\" said Vijay Solanki, the CEO of IAB Australia.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Media Rating Council investigates YouTube's measurement reporting \n by Philip Rosenstein , June 28, 2017\n\nThe Media Rating Council (MRC) on Wednesday reported on the status of its audit of measurements released by Google\u2019s YouTube platform, which began in February 2017.\n\nThe audit is expected to be completed, and a review delivered, by late third-quarter or early fourth-quarter 2017.\n\nSimply put, MRC is examining YouTube\u2019s third-party integrated measurement reporting -- with the potential end goal of accreditation for YouTube metrics. The audit begins at the source by examining the collection and processing of data shared with third-party measurement vendors.\n\nMRC will first need to understand how closely the data actually reflects real impressions or engagement. MRC\u2019s Viewable Impression Measurement Guidelines will inform this process.\n\nYouTube has faced a number of questions regarding brand safety and ad fraud. MRC\u2019s audit will address these questions head-on, potentially assuaging critics or pushing YouTube to offer more transparency surrounding its ad inventory.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nWhile all of YouTube\u2019s in-stream video inventory and its \u201cTrueView\u201d in-stream ad inventory are covered by the audit, MRC will not measure the accuracy of YouTube\u2019s internally calculated TrueView metrics. These may be included in further audits.\n\nThe audit includes individual assessments of the collection and reporting processes by third-party vendors that have standing integrations with YouTube. These include DoubleVerify, Integral Ad Science, and Moat. While these three measurement firms are accredited by MRC, their integrations with YouTube are not.\n\nGoogle is already accredited by MRC for a number of its advertising platforms, including viewability metrics in DoubleClick for Publishers, video ad viewability in DoubleClick Campaign Manager and clicks in AdWords.", "output": "The Media Rating Council (MRC) is auditing video-sharing site YouTube's third-party integrated measurement reporting, including assessments of the collection and reporting processes from integrated third-party vendors, including DoubleVerify, Integral Ad Science\u00a0and Moat. The MRC audit will also examine issues of brand safety, but will not assess the accuracy of\u00a0the internally calculated TrueView metrics. The results of the audit are expected to be delivered this year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Unilazer boosts stake in Indian insurance aggregator EasyPolicy \n EasyPolicy which is an online platform used for insurance policy aggregating has seen yet another investment from Ronnie Screwvala\u2019s Unilazer Ventures. In a round of funding that happened in November last year, EasyPolicy raised somewhere between $8-10 million and was used to enhance its distribution system in tier II and III cities as well as the range of products it offers.\n\nEasyPolicy was founded in 2011 by Alok Bhatnagar, a former executive from Thomson Reuters, Neeraj Aggarwala, and Divyanshu Tripathi, founding member of PolicyBazaar.\n\nEven before the funding round in November, the insurance aggregator secured Rs. 15 crore from Unilazer Ventures itself in January, 2016 when the latter invested in it for the first time. In that round, Unilazer secured about 20% stake in the company.\n\nNow almost a year later, Screwvala\u2019s firm has increased its stake in the company to a whopping 55%, making it the company\u2019s largest investor. It invested about 21 crore rupees this time. In spite of this large stake, major operations in the company will still be carried out by the founders of EasyPolicy and not taken over by Unilazer.\n\nOn this development, Screwvala commented saying,\n\nThe entire insurance sector is pushing to massively increase penetration and make insurance affordable and we want to be part of that ecosystem and initiative In the startup ecosystem, you often have to create markets. Here, the market already existed, but you need to channelise it because the growth potential is maximum\n\nThe Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) also released a number of regulations and guidelines recently which provide online insurance aggregators in the country with structure and details for their different activities.\n\nThe functions that companies such as EasyPolicy and PolicyBazaar are allowed to carry out include renewal of health and automobile general insurance by reaching out to the general population that is interested in these products. These companies generally earn on the basis of commissions from these transactions.\n\nUnilazer has stopped expanding and investing in newer initiatives and has decided to focus on its existing ventures including EasyPolicy and UpGrad, an online education company it seeded a few years ago, in 2015.", "output": "Online insurance policy aggregator EasyPolicy has secured INR210m ($3.25m) in funds from existing investor Unilazer Ventures, owned by entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala. The latest cash injection takes Unilazer's stake in EasyPolicy to 55%, but the firm's operations will continue to be\u00a0carried out by its\u00a0founders. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India recently released a series of guidelines aimed at online insurance aggregators.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sinclair Pharma Facial injectables market expected to reach $17.2bn by 2025 \n There\u2019s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.\n\nYou rely on Marketplace to break down the world\u2019s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.\n\nYour donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.", "output": "The global facial injectables market is expected to grow to $17.2bn by 2025, according to a study by Grand View Research, with the US expected to dominate the sector.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google Area 120 tests native ads in VR headsets \n Link copied to clipboard\n\nPosted by Aayush Upadhyay and Neel Rao, Area 120\n\nAt Area 120, Google's internal workshop for experimental ideas, we're working on early-stage projects and quickly iterate to test concepts. We heard from developers that they're looking at how to make money to fund their VR applications, so we started experimenting with what a native, mobile VR ad format might look like.\n\nDevelopers and users have told us they want to avoid disruptive, hard-to-implement ad experiences in VR. So our first idea for a potential format presents a cube to users, with the option to engage with it and then see a video ad. By tapping on the cube or gazing at it for a few seconds, the cube opens a video player where the user can watch, and then easily close, the video. Here's how it works:\n\nOur work focuses on a few key principles - VR ad formats should be easy for developers to implement, native to VR, flexible enough to customize, and useful and non-intrusive for users. Our Area 120 team has seen some encouraging results with a few test partners, and would love to work with the developer community as this work evolves - across Cardboard (on Android and iOS), Daydream and Samsung Gear VR.\n\nIf you're a VR developer (or want to be one) and are interested in testing this format with us, please fill out this form to apply for our early access program. We have an early-stage SDK available and you can get up and running easily. We're excited to continue experimenting with this format and hope you'll join us for the ride!", "output": "Google's Area 120 internal workshop has developed a flexible, non-intrusive virtual reality (VR) format for native ads, according to a company blog post by Aayush Upadhyay and Neel Rao. Developers have been searching for a way to avoid creating disruptive or difficult-to-execute experiences in VR, which led Area 120 to create a format that initially presents an unobtrusive cube to VR viewers. Users are then given the option of engaging with the cube and viewing a video ad, the blog post said. Area 120 has now opened up applications for its early access VR developer programme. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Acquired.io launches for teams to focus on smaller ad platforms \n \n\nUser acquisition platform Acquired.io has launched with $2m (\u00a31.6m) in funding, aiming to help developers find and acquire high-quality users across dozens of smaller platforms. The company is the latest venture by the founders of mobile marketing company AppScotch, which was acquired by AppAnnie in March 2016.\n\nThe platform is designed to help user acquisition (UA) teams manage smaller channels outside Google and Facebook, including Snapchat, AdColony and Chartboost. Acquired.io estimates that the average UA team spends around 80 per cent of their time managing these smaller channels, which often require individual attention despite smaller scale. With the number of channels available to app marketers up from 700 in 2015 to 1,500 this year, the problem is only getting larger.\n\n\u201cThe sheer number of apps out there today makes it difficult for companies to get noticed,\u201d said Andrey Kazakov, co-founder and CEO of Acquired.io. \u201cTo be able to compete, advertisers need to maintain a wide and diverse portfolio of channels to acquire users, which puts enormous pressure on UA teams.\n\n\u201cMost advertisers have a portfolio of channels they deal with which spans from 10 to 50 channels depending on the company. Constantly discovering ways to acquire users is a part of the day-to-day job for UA teams, adding even more manual operations to their daily work. Our goal is to minimize the unnecessary manual work they face every day.\u201d\n\nThe platform currently supports 20 channels, and is set to increase to 50 by the end of the year. In addition to more efficient management, it also enables UA teams to easily discover and test new channels without having to go through a costly and time-consuming set up process. The firm plans to add further automation features in the future to further simplify campaign management.\n\n\u201cMobile user acquisition, as the market grows, has become some sort of a jungle for most publishers, with hundreds of networks or channels to deal with,\u201d said Mark Zhang, senior vice president of global operations at IGG, one of Acquired.io\u2019s first customers. \u201cWhile the largest mobile gaming companies have the financial, technical and/or human resources to tackle this problem, most small to medium size publishers end up running mobile campaigns very inefficiently. I\u2019m very excited to see Acquired.io coming up with a first-of-its-kind, one-stop DIY platform to solve this problem at scale.\u201d\n\nDon\u2019t forget to enter the Effective Mobile Marketing Awards. The Early Bird deadline for submissions is 22 July. More details here.", "output": "California-based company Acquired.io has launched a centralised platform aimed at helping user acquisition teams manage campaigns across smaller channels such as Snapchat, AdColony and Chartboost. The company, created by Max Gannutin and Andrey Kazakov, founders of mobile marketing company AppScotch, currently supports 20 channels with a view to increasing that number to 50 by the end of the year.\n\n \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Acquired.io launches for teams to focus on smaller ad platforms \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nAcquired.io has raised $2 million to make it easier for mobile advertisers to manage user acquisition campaigns across dozens of channels without a lot of manual hand-holding.\n\nThe Foster City, California-based company has created a centralized platform to manage user acquisition across channels such as Snapchat, AdColony, and Chartboost, among others. It has created a single dashboard for an advertiser to manage all their channels, discover new ones, allocate budgets, create rules for automated decisions, and more, said Andrey Kazakov, cofounder and CEO of Acquired.io, in an interview with GamesBeat.\n\n\u201cThe sheer number of apps out there today makes it difficult for companies to get noticed. To be able to compete, advertisers need to maintain a wide and diverse portfolio of channels to acquire users, which puts enormous pressure on UA teams,\u201d said Kazakov. \u201cMost advertisers have a portfolio of channels they deal with which spans from 10 to 50 channels depending on the company. Constantly discovering ways to acquire users is a part of the day-to-day job for UA teams, adding even more manual operations to their daily work. Our goal is to minimize the unnecessary manual work they face every day.\u201d\n\nAcquired.io was started by Kazakov and Max Gannutin, founders of mobile marketing company AppScotch, which was acquired by AppAnnie. Investors in the $2 million round include Jonathan Zweig, cofounder of AdColony, and John Zdanowski, former CFO of Linden Lab, the company behind Second Life.\n\nMost user acquisition teams spend half their ad budget on Google and Facebook and the other half on dozens of smaller channels, which must be managed individually, making the process time consuming and laborious. Acquired.io has found that the average UA team spends 80 percent of their time on this manual grunt work.\n\nImage Credit: Acquired.io\n\nThe problem is only getting larger \u2014 the number of channels grew from 700 in 2015 to 1,500 this year. In the past, user acquisition managers would have to sort through these channels to figure out which ones to work with. Acquired.io takes that task off the backs of the UA managers. That has made at least one big game company happy.\n\n\u201cI constantly look out for user acquisition tools, and I don\u2019t see a similar competitor who consolidates everything in a single dashboard,\u201d said Mark Zhang, senior vice president for user acquisition at IGG, the Hong Kong-based online game company that has apps such as Lords Mobile, in an interview with GamesBeat.\n\nAcquired.io allows UA teams to manage all of these channels from a single place. The platform currently supports 20 channels, which will increase to 50 by the end of this year.\n\n\u201cOur team doesn\u2019t have time to deal with a small ad network, even though it may be useful,\u201d Zhang said. \u201cWhat Acquired.io can do for mobile advertisers is like what Apple and Google do for mobile publishers. They make it possible to deal with the smaller companies.\u201d\n\nIn addition to more efficient management, the platform also enables UA teams to easily discover and test new channels without having to go through a costly new setup process. Identifying high-performing smaller channels is especially important for UA teams as Google and Facebook become increasingly competitive.\n\nAcquired.io is already working with mobile app customers span gaming, messaging, social networking, and more.\n\n\u201cAcquired.io centralizes our UA data and gives us the tools we need to increase our marketing efficiency,\u201d said Mark Braatz, general manager and vice president of growth at TextNow, another Acquired.io customer, in a statement. \u201cWe\u2019re able to leverage rules-based optimizations across channels to maximize return on investment \u2014 managing these capital allocations within a single dashboard is a huge win.\u201d\n\nIn the future, Acquired.io will add automation features that further simplify campaign management. In addition, it will expand into new markets so that customers can use the platform to discover international channels.", "output": "California-based company Acquired.io has launched a centralised platform aimed at helping user acquisition teams manage campaigns across smaller channels such as Snapchat, AdColony and Chartboost. The company, created by Max Gannutin and Andrey Kazakov, founders of mobile marketing company AppScotch, currently supports 20 channels with a view to increasing that number to 50 by the end of the year.\n\n \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google significantly out spends other brands on lobbying the EU \n Google is spending heavily on lobbying governments and communications staff as part of its strategy to protect its image from allegations of tax avoidance and failure to curb extremist content online.\n\nAccording to the EU Transparency Register Google spent \u20ac4.25m on lobbying Brussels last year and currently has 14 people directly involved in lobbying the EU, nine of whom have clearance to enter the European parliament.\n\nWhile having lobbyist is not uncommon for big companies, Google\u2019s level of spend far outstrips other brands. By comparison Tesco, one of the UK\u2019s biggest retailers, has one staff member in Brussels and spent \u20ac200,000 on lobbying in 2016.\n\nThe Times claims Google\u2019s political operations go far beyond the norm given its record of hiring lobbyist connected to the highest levels of government. It had previously employed Rachel Whetstone, the wife of Steve Hilton who was David Cameron\u2019s former director of strategy to serve as its head of communications.\n\nFurthermore, according to research by Transparency International, more than 50% of the company\u2019s most senior EU lobbyists previously worked for the EU, more than double the average for other companies.\n\nThe heightened level of spend come at a time when the internet giant has had to contend with three EU investigations, including the recent Google Shopping case which saw it dealt a \u20ac2.4bn fine after it was found to have \"abused its market dominance as a search engine\" by giving a search ranking advantage to its own products.\n\nThe other two investigations centre around allegations that it has abused its dominance in online advertising to try to stop retailers advertising elsewhere and examining whether it has manipulated its dominance in mobile operating systems to kill off competition, a crucially important case for Google given it generates around a fifth of its total advertising revenues from Android.\n\nOther legal hurdles thrown at the US company include a formal complaint from New Corporation accusing it of copying content from news websites and using its dominance to promote its own news search results over news media outlets.", "output": "Google has spent \u20ac4.25m ($4.85m) on lobbying the European Union (EU), far more than other brands, according to the EU Transparency Register. The organisation also found the company has 14 people directly involved in lobbying the EU, nine of whom are cleared to enter the European Parliament. More than half of Google's most senior lobbyists are former employees of the EU. Google was recently handed a \u20ac2.4bn fine by EU regulators for abusing its market dominance as a search engine. "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow NHBC urges the industry to engage next generation \n Research from the National House Building Council (NHBC) Foundation shows that house builders need to do more to attract women and young people if the industry is to avoid a workforce crisis.\n\nNHBC Foundation report \u2018The gender and age profile of the house-building sector\u2019 warns of a significant shortfall in workers caused by over-reliance on an ageing, male-dominated workforce and potential restrictions to migrant labour following Brexit.\n\nWith estimates showing that the sector needs to recruit 700,000 more people to replace those retiring or moving on, plus an extra 120,000 if the government\u2019s aim to build one million new homes by 2020 is to be achieved, the NHBC Foundation report calls on Government and house builders to recognise the seriousness of the problem and to act now to address the shortfall.\n\nThe report, based on data from the Office of National Statistics\u2019 Labour Force Survey and detailed interviews with house-building companies and senior industry commentators, provides valuable insights into age and gender diversity within the house-building sector. Just 12% of the UK\u2019s house building workforce is female \u2013 the majority working in secretarial or administration jobs and less than 4% having a skilled trade role. The report also finds that young people, especially girls, are put off working in the industry because of the negative, stereotypical image of a male-dominated house-building industry.\n\nSome of the major challenges for the industry in attracting women and young people include:\n\nWorking conditions \u2013 the belief that all work in the industry takes place outdoors in all weathers.\n\n\u2013 the belief that all work in the industry takes place outdoors in all weathers. Fears of a sexist environment \u2013 concerns about the language and behaviour of male workers on site.\n\n\u2013 concerns about the language and behaviour of male workers on site. Poor hiring and recruitment practices \u2013 over reliance on gender-biased recruitment literature and advertising and over-use of personal contacts and networks to recruit workers.\n\n\u2013 over reliance on gender-biased recruitment literature and advertising and over-use of personal contacts and networks to recruit workers. Skills shortages \u2013 cycles of recession and growth mean that many skilled workers leave the industry during downturns, which has a knock-on effect of reducing the talent pool.\n\n\u2013 cycles of recession and growth mean that many skilled workers leave the industry during downturns, which has a knock-on effect of reducing the talent pool. Outsourcing of site staff \u2013 a large proportion of on-site trade roles are managed by sub-contractors, and therefore house-building companies themselves have little say on who is actually working on site.\n\nOne of the main findings of the report is that women are still seriously under-represented in skilled, technical and managerial roles in house building. It identifies a number of challenges that need to be tackled by the sector, and the broader construction industry that are deep-rooted and endemic, such as ongoing stereotyping and antiquated recruitment practices.\n\nUninformed and outdated careers advice in schools is also failing to make all young people aware of the variety of jobs and roles on offer, with advisers unable to promote effectively the many attractive career opportunities in the sector.\n\nChi Onwurah, MP, said: \u201cHaving worked as an electrical engineer for two decades I know the importance of achieving greater diversity in male-dominated professions. Like NHBC, I believe more can be done to promote opportunities for women in the house-building sector and inspire the sector\u2019s next generation of female leaders. It\u2019s hugely encouraging to see NHBC recognise that diversity isn\u2019t an optional add-on but a key measure of success in the modern world.\u201d\n\nCommenting on the report, NHBC head of research and innovation, Neil Smith, said: \u201cYoung people and young women in particular need to be made aware of the wide range of roles in the house-building industry. From design to engineering and site management, many careers in house building are rewarding and well paid, offering work in a variety of roles and environments.\u201d\n\nCommenting on her experiences as a woman working in the house-building industry, Redrow Homes\u2019 site manager and 2016 NHBC Pride in the Job Seal of Excellence winner, Zara Fairman, said: \u201cIt\u2019s a real privilege to be able to show that it\u2019s not just a man\u2019s world and that women can do well in the house-building industry. It\u2019s also important to know that you don\u2019t necessarily have to be from a trade, or engineering background \u2013 there are lots of transferable skills needed for this job.\u201d\n\nThe report has a number of recommendations to help government and companies tackle the problem including:\n\nTop level/Government\n\nRecognition and awareness \u2013 Government must acknowledge that the current lack of diversity is a serious issue that results in the industry missing out on talent.\n\n\u2013 Government must acknowledge that the current lack of diversity is a serious issue that results in the industry missing out on talent. Sustained investment \u2013 Government and housing developers should commit to continued investment to sustain the talent pool even in times of economic downturn.\n\n\u2013 Government and housing developers should commit to continued investment to sustain the talent pool even in times of economic downturn. Investment in career guidance \u2013 careers education in schools must be prioritised to ensure that young people (and adults throughout their careers) are given impartial, accurate advice to guide them in decision-making for their futures.\n\nCompanies and Human Resources teams", "output": "The National House Building Council Foundation has urged house builders to do more to attract women and the next generation\u00a0if the industry is to avoid a workforce crisis. The report found that the house-building sector could suffer a significant shortfall in workers with over-reliance on an aging, male workforce and the potential for reduced migrant labour following Brexit.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "PwC report reveals 14% gender pay gap \n Although we are now in the sixth year of gender pay gap reporting, we see scrutiny of this measure continue to grow. The gender pay gap is increasingly a key metric within sustainability reporting frameworks (as part of the \u2018S\u2019 of ESG). At the same time, new requirements are being introduced internationally which include, for example, the EU Pay Transparency Directive which will likely take effect in 2026.\n\nOur gender pay data analysis shows that the pay gap has remained the same, or worsened, for just under half of organisations who reported in 2022/23 and 2021/22. Of those companies that have disclosed their pay gaps for both reporting years, just over half (53.7%) reported a decrease in their mean pay gaps, with an average decrease of only 0.4%.\n\nWatch our Gender Pay Gap Reporting webcast", "output": "PwC pays female staff almost 14% less than their male peers, according to the company\u2019s gender pay gap report. The overall pay gap was 13.7%, whilst the gap for bonuses was 37.5%.  The firm, which is the first to report under new UK government guidelines, said that the presence of more men in senior roles and more women in administrative roles accounted for some of the disparity. Within grade levels, the pay gap drops to 2.9%. PwC has predicted that the pay gap within the UK will not close for 24 years. \u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Chester residents demand increased consultation period \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nIt's more important than ever to stay informed - Get the free CheshireLive newsletter direct to your inbox\n\nResidents neighbouring a proposed Chester housing estate are shocked at being given just three weeks to consider the complex planning application.\n\nPlans have just been lodged for the first phase of a massive housing scheme for up to 1,400 homes on fields alongside Wrexham Road on the southern edge of the city.\n\nRedrow Homes has submitted details to Cheshire West and Chester Council for 509 homes and associated infrastructure including a shopping centre with supermarket, restaurant and pub plus a health centre, nursery and primary school with playing fields.\n\nBut Westminster Park Residents\u2019 Association (WPRA) is concerned members of the public will only be able to consider and comment on the plans during the standard three week consultation period despite the huge scale and scope of the application.\n\nWPRA spokesman Brian Westcott said: \u201cThese plans contain a vast amount of information which must be carefully examined.\n\n\"We are astonished that the council have put a standard consultation expiry date of three weeks on these plans, finishing on 11 July 2017. It is clearly going to take more like three months to give these plans the attention that they deserve.\u201d\n\nRedrow and Taylor Wimpey will deliver the majority of the homes through a company called Paycause Ltd with three linked planning applications to include the rest of the housing, more detailed plans for the infrastructure and an ecological area where great crested newts, a protected species, can be relocated.\n\nMr Westcott added: \u201cThe plans have been promised by the developers Paycause for over a year and a half and responding in such a tight timescale is totally unacceptable. We hope that the council will reconsider.\u201d\n\nRedrow and Taylor Wimpey previously held pre-application consultations alongside a council exercise with the stated aim of involving the community in shaping the plans from an early stage.\n\nThere are major concerns around whether the infrastructure, Wrexham Road in particular, will cope with the extra activity in the area.", "output": "Abstract:\u00a0Residents near Redrow Homes have requested an extension to\u00a0the standard three-week consultation period for a proposed 1,400 home housing scheme on Wrexham Road in Chester. Westminster Park Residents' Association is concerned that members of the public will not have long enough to consider the large-scale plans.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EasyProperty roadshow attracts strong interest from estate agents \n Post navigation\n\nMore than 500 territory requests have been logged by Guild of Property Professionals and Fine & Country agents expressing their intention to secure an easyProperty licence.\n\nEach easyProperty territory will cost a Guild or Fine & Country agent \u00a3500 and consist of some 20,000 properties.\n\nNews of the early take-up follows an eight-day, ten-city regional roadshow hosted by new CEO Jon Cooke.\n\nAt the time of the announcement earlier this month, the deal was described by Guild and Fine & Country parent company GPEA as a merger.\n\nFor example, Guild managing director Malcolm Lindley announced the deal under the headline: \u201cGPEA and easyProperty announce merger.\u201d\n\nHe explained at the time: \u201cWe have secured financial backing from Toscafund Asset Management LLP [backers of easyProperty] in order to acquire the licence to easyProperty and fund the marketing required to launch and successfully penetrate the market.\u201d\n\nThe deal does not complete until at least next month, so it does seem unusual that a new CEO is already in place.\n\nThe easyProperty brand will be relaunched in September, with a flotation to be explored in January, according to the timeline.\n\nThis morning\u2019s statement from Cooke simply says that it is GPEA that has acquired easyProperty but goes into no further detail as to the financing of the deal, rumoured to be worth \u00a360m.\n\nA spokesperson explained that GPEA has most control of the parent company, e-Prop Services.\n\nCooke said in the statement that \u201csince GPEA announced its acquisition of easyProperty on June 7, enquiries by members have been strong as well as many requests from non-members to join to secure an easyProperty licence\u201d.\n\nHe went on: \u201cLetters of Intent have been sent by easyProperty to those GPEA members who attended the three-hour presentation and we have already received back about 31% duly signed.\n\n\u201cThere has been a lot of industry speculation from naysayers who seem to have a louder voice than those in support of our licence proposition.\n\n\u201cHowever, a large number of members are receptive to the online proposition.\n\n\u201cOne message we continuously repeat at easyProperty is that consumer behaviour is changing and we are offering members the opportunity to cater to the do-it-yourself, technology-enhanced preferences for home-sellers and landlords without undermining their own brand.\n\n\u201cGPEA has always been an advocate and champion of independent agents.\n\n\u201cThe easyProperty licences offer more ammunition, another string to the bow for independent agents to use to defend and increase their market share. This is about enabling members. There is no compulsory requirement from members \u2013 it\u2019s an option available.\u201d\n\nSince June 14, easyProperty has met with hundreds of members across the UK in areas including Coventry, London, Tunbridge Wells, Southampton, Exeter, Bristol, Manchester, Yorkshire, Newcastle and East Anglia.\n\nDue to what Cooke says is strong demand, a final roadshow will be held in London this Friday (June 30).\n\nFor more information call 0207 629 4141 or email parklane@guildproperty.co.uk\n\nAt the weekend, Cooke told EYE that the roadshows so far have been \u201cincredibly popular\u201d, and attended by agents with \u201copen minds\u201d. He said that they liked the public recognition of the \u2018easy\u2019 brand, and the fact that they were at least being offered an option to meet what Cooke called a change in customer behaviour.\n\nNon-members had also asked about joining the Guild, so they could also take up the easyProperty option. He said the 31% sign-up rate was in line with, or slightly in excess of, expectations.\n\nOf the future, Cooke said he believed there were be two players in the online agency space: \u201cThere will be us and one other,\u201d he said, declining to be drawn on who the other player might be.", "output": "More than 500 territory requests from estate agents seeking a licence with online estate agency easyProperty have been received by the Guild of Property Professionals. The interest followed a six-day regional roadshow by the executive director of the guild and Jon Cooke, who has just taken over as easyProperty CEO. Fine & Country parent company GPEA recently acquired easyProperty in a deal estimated to be worth \u00a360m and is planning to relaunch the platform in September and float in January. EasyProperty uses a fixed fee model rather than relying on traditional commissions.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian co-working space to increase 10-fold by 2020: CBRE \n Moneycontrol News With the concept of shared office space fast catching up in India, leasing is expected to touch 10 mn sq ft by 2020. While demand more than tripled in 2016 to touch 0.7 mn sq ft as compared to 2014, this year leasing is expected to cross 1.5 mn sq ft, says a report titled The Art of Co-working by CBRE South Asia Pvt Ltd. Shared office spaces fall into three categories \u2013 traditional business centres, co-working spaces and incubators/accelerators. According to CBRE Research, currently, there are close to 350 shared office operators present in India, spread across 800 locations in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities. As many as 85 percent shared office space in India is in Tier 1 cities, while the remaining 15 percent is in Tier 2 cities. With Bengaluru, NCR (Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida) and Mumbai being gateway cities, 75 percent of the shared office spaces are based in these three locations. Each has more than 100 shared office spaces followed by Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune. CBRE research also revealed that while more than 90 percent of business centres and co-working spaces are present in tier 1 cities, almost half of incubators/accelerators are present in tier 2 locations. The most significant benefit of a co-working space is the cost saving as compared to a conventional space leasing. In the larger cities of Delhi, Gurgaon, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Pune, for instance, cost saving is anywhere between 10 percent to 25 percent when choosing a co-working space over a traditional office space. \u201cIndia\u2019s office market has seen sustained growth in the past few years. It is also one of the most dynamic segments of real estate, witnessing numerous advancements, whether it is technology driven, design related or with regards to workplace strategies. With the global economy continuing to expand and India emerging as a hotspot for corporates expansion strategies, it is only natural that concepts such as shared offices/co-working spaces would pick up the pace. Occupier focus on business operations over RE decisions, increasing occupier awareness of co-working as an alternate option, the rising acceptance of \u2018remote\u2019 working and an increased preference towards flexible leasing terms will be factors that will drive demand for co-working spaces in the times to come, said Anshuman Magazine, Chairman, India & South East Asia, CBRE. Initially, co-working spaces were focused on providing solutions for entrepreneurs and startups who had constrained budgets for their office setups. However, with the benefits that such spaces offer \u2013 affordability, negligible CapEx requirements, efficient space usage and flexibility to expand and contract at short notice, the concept is now catching up with established corporates. Commenting on the findings of the report, Ram Chandnani, Managing Director, Advisory & Transaction Services, CBRE South Asia Pvt. Ltd. said, \u201cWith domestic and international corporates focusing their expansion strategies on cost efficiencies, optimum business operations and space utilization, co-working is not only changing the dynamics of office spaces in India, it is also defining the corporate culture of the future.\u201d Co-working spaces have been dominant in the top cities of Gurgaon, Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai, with smaller cities of Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata have seen a higher presence of business centres - a result of business centre formats entering the Indian market at an earlier stage. Tier 2 cities such as Kochi, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Bhubaneshwar, Patna etc. are witnessing demand for incubators/accelerators formats. 90 percent of shared office operations in India are by domestic players who offer all three formats, whereas international operators focus on business centre spaces followed by co-working operators. There are more than 20 international operators in the shared office segment in India, mainly from APAC, USA, UK and EMEA. In the next few years, with office rents continuing to move up across India, the total space leased by co-working operators in tier 1 and tier 2 cities is could touch 6 - 10 mn sq ft by 2020. With the choices of India\u2019s millennial population continuing to have an impact on India\u2019s real estate industry, co-working could be the differentiator in attracting talent.", "output": "Leased shared office space in India will reach 10 million sq ft by 2020, up from 0.7 million sq ft in 2016, according to a report from property adviser CBRE South Asia. Currently, there are nearly 350 shared office operators in India, 75% of which are located in Bengalaru, Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida or Mumbai. In larger Indian cities, choosing a co-working space can save between 10% and 25% over traditional leasing, the report found.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How Health Costs Would Soar for Older Americans Under the Senate Plan \n In its analysis of the Republican health care bill, the Congressional Budget Office said something confusing: The bill would lower the price of the average health plan, but health insurance would still cost much more for many people, especially for older Americans.\n\nHow the annual cost of insurance would change in 2026, after tax credits\n\n64-year-old buying ... Lower-cost, higher-deductible plan INCOME +$2,000 $26,500 +$11,600 $56,800 +$3,100 $68,200 Most popular plan +$4,800 $26,500 +$13,700 $56,800 +$5,200 $68,200 $5,000 $10,000 $15,000 $20,000 $25,000 40-year-old buying ... Lower-cost, higher-deductible plan INCOME +$900 $26,500 \u2013$500 $56,800 \u2013$500 $68,200 Most popular plan +$1,300 $26,500 \u2013$100 $56,800 \u2013$100 $68,200 $5,000 $10,000 $15,000 $20,000 $25,000 21-year-old buying ... Lower-cost, higher-deductible plan INCOME +$400 $26,500 \u2013$1,100 $56,800 \u2013$1,100 $68,200 Most popular plan $26,500 +$500 \u2013$1,000 $56,800 \u2013$1,100 $68,200 $5,000 $10,000 $15,000 $20,000 $25,000 64-year-old buying ... Lower-cost, higher-deductible plan INCOME +$2,000 $26,500 +$11,600 $56,800 +$3,100 $68,200 Most popular plan +$4,800 $26,500 +$13,700 $56,800 +$5,200 $68,200 $5,000 $15,000 $25,000 40-year-old buying ... Lower-cost, higher-deductible plan INCOME +$900 $26,500 \u2013$500 $56,800 \u2013$500 $68,200 Most popular plan +$1,300 $26,500 \u2013$100 $56,800 \u2013$100 $68,200 $5,000 $15,000 $25,000 21-year-old buying ... Lower-cost, higher-deductible plan INCOME +$400 $26,500 \u2013$1,100 $56,800 \u2013$1,100 $68,200 Most popular plan $26,500 +$500 \u2013$1,000 $56,800 \u2013$1,100 $68,200 $5,000 $15,000 $25,000 64-year-old buying ... Lower-cost, higher-deductible plan INCOME +$2,000 $26,500 +$11,600 $56,800 +$3,100 $68,200 Most popular plan +$4,800 $26,500 +$13,700 $56,800 +$5,200 $68,200 $5,000 $10,000 $15,000 $20,000 $25,000 40-year-old buying ... Lower-cost, higher-deductible plan INCOME $26,500 +$900 \u2013$500 $56,800 \u2013$500 $68,200 Most popular plan +$1,300 $26,500 \u2013$100 $56,800 \u2013$100 $68,200 $5,000 $10,000 $15,000 $20,000 $25,000 21-year-old buying ... Lower-cost, higher-deductible plan INCOME +$400 $26,500 \u2013$1,100 $56,800 \u2013$1,100 $68,200 Most popular plan $26,500 +$500 \u2013$1,000 $56,800 \u2013$1,100 $68,200 $5,000 $10,000 $15,000 $20,000 $25,000 Source: Congressional Budget Office\n\nThe report estimated that the average premium would decrease by 20 percent, when compared with current law, but that single data point, highlighted in many Republican news releases, obscures the office\u2019s larger message. Only a fraction of customers in the individual market pay the sticker price for insurance. The federal government helps subsidize the rest.\n\nThe Republican plan, while lowering the sticker price, would also lower the value of government subsidies for most groups. If you take those subsidies into account, the insurance cost for a given person doesn\u2019t always go down.\n\nThe budget office also predicts that, because of less-generous subsidies, a larger share of people would buy a so-called bronze plan, which covers only about 60 percent of the average customer\u2019s medical bills. Under Obamacare, the most popular plan, silver, covers at least 70 percent of typical expenses.\n\nThat means middle-income people would be asked to pay more for insurance, and their plan would also come with a significantly higher deductible.\n\nThe legislation is devised to make insurance more affordable for younger Americans, who have tended to opt out of coverage under Obamacare. It succeeds in lowering their premiums at most income levels.\n\nBut the plan balances those reductions by increasing the gap between the sticker price and the subsidy amount for older Americans. A 64-year-old at nearly every income level would have to pay a much larger share of income to buy insurance that covers a smaller share of her medical bills.\n\nGiven that trade-off, the budget office thinks fewer older Americans would have health insurance. That decrease helps drive down the average sticker price, too.\n\nFinally, the report predicted that about half of states would eliminate rules requiring insurance plans to cover a minimum, standard set of benefits, such as mental health treatment and prescription drugs. That means that the 20 percent average price decrease would include plans that require customers to pay for substantial parts of their care out of their own pockets.\n\nSince 2014, states have had an option to expand their Medicaid programs to cover all adults earning below or just above the federal poverty line, and 31 states have chosen to expand. Many adults who earn less in states that didn\u2019t expand have few good insurance options, since Obamacare did not make them eligible for subsidies to buy their own insurance.\n\nHow the annual cost would change for a poor person in states without Medicaid expansion\n\nA person earning $11,400 buying ... Lower-cost, higher-deductible plan AGE \u2013$12,600 64 yrs. old \u2013$5,200 40 yrs. old \u2013$4,000 21 yrs. old Most popular plan 64 yrs. old \u2013$10,500 \u2013$4,800 40 yrs. old \u2013$3,900 21 yrs. old $5,000 $10,000 $15,000 $20,000 $25,000 A person earning $11,400 buying ... Lower-cost, higher-deductible plan AGE \u2013$12,600 64 yrs. old \u2013$5,200 40 yrs. old \u2013$4,000 21 yrs. old Most popular plan 64 yrs. old \u2013$10,500 \u2013$4,800 40 yrs. old \u2013$3,900 21 yrs. old $5,000 $10,000 $15,000 $20,000 $25,000 A person earning $11,400 buying ... Lower-cost, higher-deductible plan AGE \u2013$12,600 64 yrs. old \u2013$5,200 40 yrs. old \u2013$4,000 21 yrs. old Most popular plan 64 yrs. old \u2013$10,500 \u2013$4,800 40 yrs. old \u2013$3,900 21 yrs. old $5,000 $15,000 $25,000 Source: Congressional Budget Office\n\nThe Republican bill eliminates that gap, by expanding subsidies to poorer Americans who can\u2019t get Medicaid coverage. In theory, that makes them a beneficiary of this plan.", "output": "The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has said health plans for many older Americans would cost much more under the Senate's proposed health plan. Though the mooted Republican health plan would decrease the average premium by 20%, it would also mean lower government subsidies, especially those that help seniors. For example, almost all 64-year-olds would have to pay a greater percentage of their incomes to buy insurance, that will cover them less overall. The report predicts this would cause fewer older Americans to get insurance. The CBO also predicts that 50% of states would get rid of rules mandating a baseline of benefits, meaning more patients would have to pay for aspects of their care. \n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian estate agents add 'no Airbnb clause' to leases \n Real estate agents across Australia have introduced an 'Airbnb clause' banning tenants from secretly subletting their rentals on the popular home-sharing site.\n\nThe clause is a move to alleviate landlords' fears about security.\n\nMelbourne property manager Candice Deane said the clause she used in rental agreements stipulated tenants must not use Airbnb without the consent of the landlord.\n\nReal estate agents across Australia are updating their rental leases to include clauses banning tenants from subletting properties on Airbnb\n\nMs Deane said the 'Airbnb clause' was standard at her agency and was enforced.\n\n'We rented a property to a single lady recently and she had set it up as serviced apartment through Airbnb without the owner's consent,' she told Daily Mail Australia.\n\nAfter a simple search on Airbnb's website, the real estate agency found out and 'gave her notice to vacate'.\n\n'It causes security issues, and more people means more wear and tear on the apartment,' Ms Deane said.\n\nReal estate agents are introducing 'Airbnb clauses' to ban tenants from secretly subletting their rentals on the popular house-sharing site (stock image)\n\nIn another incident a tenant was leaving keys in a letterbox while on holidays, causing concern to other residents who saw different people coming and going from the property.\n\n'That tenant was asked to leave,' Ms Deane said.\n\nBrent Thomas from Airbnb Australia told the ABC all people, including renters and owners, should have the right to share a home.\n\n'Home sharing helps everyday Australians earn a little extra money to pay for their biggest expense- the cost of their housing,' he said.\n\n'We ask all hosts to certify they have permission to list their space and remind them to check and follow local rules before they list and throughout the year'.", "output": "Australian estate agents have started including an \"Airbnb clause\" in tenancy agreements to stop tenants from subletting their properties on the home-sharing site without informing agencies or landlords. The clause stipulates that\u00a0landlords'\u00a0permission must be gained before subletting can occur and is intended to allay their concerns about potential security problems\u00a0caused by subletting.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gold nanoparticle catalyst makes hydrogen suitable for fuel cells \n A transition metal carbide dotted with gold nanoparticles could provide fuel cells with high purity hydrogen. At 150\u00b0C, the catalyst converts carbon monoxide into hydrogen an order of magnitude more efficiently than previously reported materials.\n\nThe water\u2013gas shift (WGS) reaction combines carbon monoxide and water to make hydrogen and carbon dioxide. It is used industrially to produce hydrogen, which can then be made into base chemicals like ammonia. While industrial catalysts for the WGS are well established, those for another emerging application, fuel cells, are not.\n\nHydrogen fuel cells need to run on a fairly pure stream of the gas as they are susceptible to carbon monoxide poisoning. The WGS is ideally placed to perform this task, but at the same time it is an exothermic equilibrium reaction: at lower temperatures it favours carbon monoxide conversion, but it also becomes slower. Industrial WGS catalysts operate most efficiently at temperatures above 200\u00b0C \u2013 any lower and the process becomes sluggish and needs a lot of expensive catalyst to keep it going.\n\n\u2018Researchers have been searching for a low temperature WGS catalyst for years,\u2019 observes Ding Ma from Peking University, China. A team around Ma and his colleagues Jos\u00e9 Rodriguez from Brookhaven National Laboratory, US, and Chuan Shi from Dalian University of Technology, China, has developed a catalyst that can run the WGS at temperatures as low as 40\u00b0C \u2013 though it is most active at 150\u00b0C. The material comprises 2% nanosized gold clusters on \u03b1-molybdenum carbide particles. The key to its activity, explains Rodriguez, is that \u2018gold can activate carbon monoxide, and \u03b1-molybdenum carbide is very active for water dissociation at low temperature\u2019.\n\nFabio Ribeiro, who studies heterogeneous catalysis mechanisms at Purdue University, US, points out that the team\u2019s noteworthy achievement is synthesising gold nanoparticles only about 1nm in diameter. Gold has a tendency to sinter, small particles coalescing into larger ones over time. Shi, Rodriguez and Ma think the molybdenum carbide\u2019s structure and its interaction with gold might stabilise the noble metal. \u2018The small size implies that the nanoparticles will have all gold atoms active and as a consequence the catalyst will be very efficient,\u2019 Ribeiro says.\n\nShi, Rodriguez and Ma are now working on replacing gold with a cheaper metal for industrial applications.", "output": "Researchers have discovered that a transition metal carbide containing gold nanoparticles could furnish high purity hydrogen for fuel cells. The research team, including Ding Ma from Peking University, found that when converting carbon monoxide into hydrogen at a temperature of\u00a0150\u00b0C, the catalyst appears more efficient than previously investigated materials. Currently, water-gas shift (WGS) reactions are used\u00a0in industry to generate hydrogen.\u00a0However, these\u00a0require\u00a0temperatures higher than 200C to work optimally, and therefore require a considerable amount of expensive\u00a0catalyst."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mayors from 7,400 cities promise action on climate change \n Mayors of more than 7,400 cities across the world have vowed that Donald Trump\u2019s decision to withdraw from the Paris accord will spur greater local efforts to combat climate change.\n\n\n\nAt the first meeting of a \u201cglobal covenant of mayors\u201d, city leaders from across the US, Europe and elsewhere pledged to work together to keep to the commitments made by Barack Obama two years ago.\n\nCities will devise a standard measurement of emission reductions to help them monitor their progress. They will also share ideas for delivering carbon-free transport and housing.\n\nKasim Reed, the mayor of Atlanta, told reporters he had travelled to Europe to \u201csend a signal\u201d that US states and cities would execute the policies Obama committed to, whether the current White House occupants agreed or not.\n\n\u201cRight now you have a level of collaboration and focus and sharing of best practices that I haven\u2019t seen. I came from Brussels from a meeting of the US conference of mayors ... and more than 300 mayors signed a letter reflecting our will to deliver the Paris accord commitments.\u201d\n\nHe added: \u201cMy firm belief is that President Trump\u2019s disappointing decision to withdraw from the agreement will actually have the opposite effect in terms of execution.\n\nThe European commissioner Maro\u0161 \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d, who along with the UN\u2019s special envoy for cities and climate change, Michael Bloomberg, co-chairs the board of the new organisation, conceded that it as yet it lacked any members from China, although he said he was confident that this would change.\n\n\u201cNow is the time to join hands,\u201d he said.\n\nReed, whose administration has promised that the city of Atlanta will use 100% renewable energy by 2035, said 75% of the US population and GDP lay in urban areas, where local leaders were committed to fighting climate change. \u201cWe have the ability to still achieve between 35% and 45% CO2 emission reductions without the involvement of the national government and it is why I chose to be here at this time to send a signal to 7,400 cities around the world that now should be a time of optimism, passion and action,\u201d he said.\n\nThe mayor of Vancouver, Gregor Robertson, said mayors needed to be proactive and work together on ideas or face huge extra costs in rebuilding their infrastructure to deal with the changing climate. \u201cThe Trump administration better watch out for US cities,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are on the rise, and I think will prevail in the end, turning the tide, and making sure the US is a climate leader rather than what is happening currently.\u201d\n\n\u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d warned Washington that Europe was not willing to renegotiate the terms of the Paris agreement, and would bypass the White House if necessary. \u201cI have to say that now we have to be very pragmatic,\u201d he said. \u201cWe work very closely with the states like California, like Washington, like New York and many others, and have a strong alliance \u2026 We are not going to renegotiate the Paris agreement. Now is not the time to negotiate, it is time to implement.\u201d\n\nThe first meeting of the group of mayors came after Bloomberg announced on Monday an investment of $200m over the next three years in US cities able to illustrate a commitment to reducing emissions. Every American city with at least 30,000 residents is being asked to compete for cash that can be used to test ideas and fund training sessions for municipal staff.\n\nAddressing the European parliament in Brussels on Tuesday, Bloomberg said: \u201cIt\u2019s important for you, and the world, to understand that the fate of America\u2019s Paris pledge does not lie with Congress or the White House.\n\n\u201cFew people realise it, but the US is already halfway to our goal of a 26% reduction in emissions by 2025 \u2013 and Washington has had almost nothing to do with that progress. Cities, states, businesses, and citizens, together with the market, were responsible for it. None of those groups are slowing down now \u2013 and my foundation is working to help each group accelerate its progress.\u201d", "output": "Mayors from over 7,400 cities have pledged to take local action to tackle climate change, despite Donald Trump\u2019s decision to withdraw the US from the Paris climate accord. The \u201cglobal covenant of mayors,\u201d which has members from across the world, although none from China, vowed to support Barack Obama\u2019s climate commitments. The leaders will also establish a standard measurement of emissions reductions and will share ideas relating to carbon-free housing and transport. On Monday, Michael Bloomberg promised to invest $200m over the next three years in US cities committed to emissions reduction.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Boaty McBoatface submarine provides \u2018unprecedented\u2019 climate data \n A yellow submarine dubbed Boaty McBoatface has obtained \u201cunprecedented data\u201d from its first voyage exploring one of the deepest and coldest ocean regions on Earth, scientists have said.\n\nThe robotic submersible was given the name originally chosen for a new polar research ship by irreverent contestants in a public competition. Embarrassed officials decided to ignore the popular vote and instead named the vessel the RRS Sir David Attenborough in honour of the veteran broadcaster. A storm of protest led to a compromise that allowed the name to live on.\n\nThe submarine plunged to depths as far as 4,000 metres to obtain information about temperature, water flow speed and turbulence from Orkney Passage, a region of the Southern Ocean about 500 miles from the Antarctic Peninsula.\n\nThe data will help scientists to understand the complex ways that mixing ocean waters affect climate change.\n\nProf Alberto Naveira Garabato from the University of Southampton said: \u201cThe Orkney Passage is a key chokepoint to the flow of abyssal waters in which we expect the mechanism linking changing winds to abyssal water warming to operate.\n\n\u201cOur goal is to learn enough about these convoluted processes to represent them in the models that scientists use to predict how our climate will evolve over the 21st century and beyond.\n\n\u201cWe have been able to collect massive amounts of data that we have never been able to capture before due to the way Boaty is able to move underwater. Up until now we have only been able to take measurements from a fixed point, but now we are able to obtain a much more detailed picture of what is happening in this very important underwater landscape.\u201d\n\nThe submersible was launched from the RRS James Clark Ross as part of the seven-week expedition. It is a new type of autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and can travel under ice and reach depths of 6,000 metres, transmitting the data it collects to researchers via a radio link.\n\nThe universities and science minister, Jo Johnson, said: \u201cFresh from its maiden voyage, Boaty is already delivering new insight into some of the coldest ocean waters on Earth, giving scientists a greater understanding of changes in the Antarctic region and shaping a global effort to tackle climate change.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe name Boaty McBoatface was first put forward by the former BBC radio presenter James Hand in response to a public poll organised by the National Environment Research Council to name their new \u00a3200m Arctic research vessel.\n\nThe research council was mobbed with more than 7,000 ideas for names in the month-long competition period, among them RRS Onion Knight, RRS I Like Big Boats and I Cannot Lie, and RRS Capt\u2019n Birdseye Get Off My Cod.", "output": "A submarine, nicknamed Boaty McBoatface after a UK public competition to name the vessel, has provided \u201cunprecedented data\u201d from one of the deepest and coldest of the earth\u2019s ocean regions. The robotic submersible, which is officially named the RRS Sir David Attenborough, has visited depths of up to 4,000 metres in the Orkney Passage area of the Southern Ocean, around 500 miles off the Antarctic Peninsula. The information gathered about temperature, water flow and turbulence will be used to analyse the ways mixing ocean waters influence climate change.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cybersecurity firms offer payouts if they fail to stop hacks \n Jeremiah Grossman, chief of security strategy at SentinelOne, which sells antimalware systems, says that should change. To align its financial interests with its customers\u2019, SentinelOne offers a warranty that puts the company on the hook for up to $1,000,000 if the customer falls victim to a ransomware attack, in which hackers break in and encrypt data before demanding a ransom to unlock it. Other cybersecurity startups, as well as big players like Symantec and McAfee, now similarly promise to pay up if their product or service fails.\n\nGrossman says his 10-month-old warranty program has already given his company a leg up on its competitors.\n\nIt is too early to say whether cybersecurity warranties will amount to anything more than marketing ploys, says Steve Durbin, managing director of the Information Security Forum, a nonprofit organization that develops recommendations for the best way to manage information security risks. But some vendors have gathered valuable information by monitoring the performance of their products over the years, and that potentially puts them in a strong position to \u201cplug a little bit of a gap\u201d in the insurance market, he says.\n\nIn evaluating these risks, cybersecurity firms have an advantage over traditional insurance companies, because they have crucial data that can only come from analyzing real events like the data breaches they themselves have experienced. Traditional insurers, by contrast, are just beginning to assess the full risks of doing business in cyberspace.\n\nThat helps explain why insurers, including AIG, are getting behind these new warranty programs. (AIG declined to comment for this story.)\n\nGrossman\u2019s company has its own data on the risk that its system will miss a ransomware attack. Those numbers helped convince an established liability insurer (as part of the arrangement, SentinelOne does not reveal this company\u2019s name publicly) to back its warranty.\n\nMany of the data breaches we have seen could have been avoided if businesses had patched their systems adequately. For example, the WannaCry ransomware attack that began in May takes advantage of old, unpatched Microsoft operating systems. Companies that sign up for these programs will get a payout only if they follow proper security practices.\n\nAsTech Consulting, whose service entails analyzing a business\u2019s source code to identify vulnerabilities, working with the company to fix them, and training employees not to reintroduce them, recently began offering a guarantee that customers who follow the process and still suffer a breach will be compensated up to $1,000,000.\n\nIf a company\u2019s risk is \u201cmeasurably going down,\u201d a result AsTech says its process has been shown to achieve over the past 20 years, that will attract insurance companies because they will better know and manage their risk, says CEO Greg Reber. \u201cThat\u2019s a pretty good market.\u201d", "output": "Insurers and cybersecurity firms, including AIG, McAfee and Symantec, are offering warranties on their products worth\u00a0up to $1m if a customer falls prey to a ransomware attack. Payouts will only be made if customers are found to have maintained proper security practices. Steve Durbin, MD of the Information Security Forum,\u00a0suggests\u00a0however that it is too early to say whether cybersecurity warranties will amount to anything more than marketing ploys."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FCA calls for widespread reform of UK\u2019s asset management sector \n Britain\u2019s \u00a37tn asset management industry must introduce sweeping reforms to cut costs and improve returns for savers after years of raking in sustained, high profits, the City regulator has said. Publishing the final findings of its asset management market study, the Financial Conduct Authority said greater transparency and better competition were vital in a sector relied on by millions of people for their financial wellbeing.\n\nThe FCA said in its 112-page report that investors must be provided with clearer information on costs, helping them make the best available investment choices.\n\n\u201cThe asset management sector is important to the economy, managing the savings of millions of people and, in the current low-interest environment, it\u2019s vital we help people earn a return on their savings,\u201d said Andrew Bailey, chief executive of the FCA. \u201cWe have put together a comprehensive package of reforms that will make competition work better and help both retail and institutional investors to make their money work well for them.\u201d\n\nTo improve competition, the regulator said companies should charge a single \u201call-in fee\u201d, replacing the current system, under which investors are charged a range of fees. To improve conditions for investors, funds should appoint at least two independent directors to their boards.\n\nA study will also be launched into the investment platforms that offer a range of funds online, which knocked shares in Hargreaves Lansdown by almost 3%, the biggest faller in the FTSE 100.\n\nBut Daniel Godfrey, founder of the People\u2019s Trust and a former head of the Investment Association, said: \u201cInvestment managers will be relieved today. The FCA has delivered a report which spares them the harshest potential remedies flagged in their interim report last November.\u201d\n\nReforms would be implemented in a number of stages, the FCA said, with some of the measures dependent on the outcome of consultation. It also said it was not trying to favour passive funds \u2013 which track indices \u2013 over active funds.\n\nThe regulator had concerns about the way the investment consultant market operated, but did not immediately refer the industry to the Competition and Markets Authority, after receiving representations from the three big companies. But it is recommending that the Treasury gives it powers to regulate the sector.\n\nIt also appeared to prepare the ground to look at private equity and hedge funds. \u201cOur original scope as set out in our terms of reference did not include alternative asset classes. We therefore did not focus our analysis on these. However, we did receive some feedback on certain alternative asset classes such as private equity and hedge funds as part of our institutional analysis,\u201d the FCA said.\n\nSean Hagerty, the managing director for Europe at Vanguard Asset Management, said: \u201cCosts matter. Every pound that investors pay in charges is a pound out of their potential returns, reducing their chances of being able to afford a comfortable retirement or save for a mortgage deposit.\u201d\n\nThe fund management industry has been the subject of a number of reviews since the start of the millennium, including a 2001 review by Paul Myners \u2013 later to become Lord Myners \u2013 and one in 2012 by John Kay.", "output": "The UK\u2019s \u00a37tn ($9tn) asset management industry must reduce costs and improve returns, according to a report by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The regulator\u2019s asset management market study called for increased transparency and competition and said that investors must be given clearer information about costs. The FCA also said that companies should introduce a single \u201call-in fee\u201d and greater consistency in charges. At least two independent directors should be appointed to the fund management boards. The proposed reforms will be implemented gradually, following consultation."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FCA calls for widespread reform of UK\u2019s asset management sector \n Our market study\n\nWe published the terms of reference for the asset management market study in November 2015. We set out our intention to understand how asset managers compete to deliver value to both retail and institutional investors. Following our terms of reference, we conducted analysis of over 20,000 shareclasses and 30,000 investment strategies.\n\nIn November 2016 we published the interim report. This set out our provisional view on the way competition works for asset management services, the resulting outcomes for investors and our proposed remedies to address concerns which we identified.\n\nHaving considered the consultation feedback to the interim report and carried out further work, we confirmed the key findings set out in the interim report as final and in June 2017 we published our final report.\n\nOur findings\n\nWe found that price competition is weak in a number of areas of the industry. Despite a large number of firms operating in the market, based on our sample, we found evidence of sustained, high profits over a number of years. We also found that investors are not always clear what the objectives of funds are, and fund performance is not always reported against an appropriate benchmark. Finally, we found concerns about the way the investment consultant market operates.\n\nRemedies\n\nIn the asset management market study final report we proposed a package of remedies consisting of:\n\nmeasures to give protection to investors who are less able to find better value\n\nmeasures to drive competitive pressure on asset managers\n\nproposals to improve the effectiveness of intermediaries\n\nSee an overview of the remedies (PDF)\n\nWe have proposed this overall package of remedies to make competition work better in this market, and protect those least able to actively engage with their asset manager. We consider that this will increase efficiency, lead to the UK asset management industry being a more attractive place for investors and so improve the relative competitiveness of the UK market.\n\nOur overall package of remedies is designed to bring together a consistent and coherent framework of interventions. We recognise that some investors are not well placed to find better value. Because of this, we are strengthening the duty on asset managers to act in the best interests of investors and are seeking to provide greater protection for investors. The remedies package also seeks to enable those investors who are able, to exert greater competitive pressure on asset managers. It will increase the transparency of costs so that those seeking information can get it. We are also working towards providing greater clarity of fund objectives and performance reporting. Finally, the package seeks to improve how effective intermediaries are for both retail and institutional investors.\n\nPolicy changes\n\nFor the remedies involving potential policy changes we have consulted on these in two phases. In April 2018 we published the first policy statement on part of the package of remedies (PS18/8). Alongside this we published a second consultation paper relating to the rest of the package of remedies (CP18/9).\n\nThe first policy statement (PS18/8) includes remedies to better protect investors from the results of weak competition. In this we:\n\nmake final rules requiring fund managers to assess annually whether the charges taken from a fund are justified in the context of the overall value provided by the fund (an \u2018assessment of value\u2019)\n\nmake final rules requiring that independent directors make up at least 25% of an Authorised Fund Manager\u2019s board (with a minimum of 2 independent directors)\n\nintroduce a new prescribed responsibility for fund managers which will take effect alongside the wider extension of the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR)\n\nmake rules to prevent fund managers retaining risk-free box profits\n\npublish revised guidance to make it easier for fund managers to convert investors to cheaper share classes where this is in their interests\n\nRemedies to drive competitive pressure on asset managers\n\nAll-in fee\n\nAs set out in the final report, we want investors to receive clear and simple information about the costs they will pay for asset management services through an 'all-in-fee' in pounds and pence. Under MiFID II and PRIIPs consumers should now see the full costs and charges, expressed as a single fee, for most transactions in investment products, and on an ongoing basis.\n\nThis is a significant step forward, and we want this transparency to have an impact in terms of awareness and scrutiny of charges. But how the new information is presented will be important if it is to help consumers make more informed choices. To better understand this we conducted behavioural testing on:\n\nways to increase engagement with charges through the use of review screens\n\nways to raise investors\u2019 awareness of the impact of charges on their investments over time through warning statements and charts\n\nways to help investors make effective price comparisons through the use of comparator charts\n\nWe published the results of the testing in April 2018 in Occasional Paper No. 32.\n\nWe found that these measures led to investors paying more attention to charges in their decision-making, without appearing to change the importance they placed on other fund characteristics, such as risk and brand. In some cases, they also improved their understanding and awareness of charges. Our findings suggest that clearly presenting understandable and engaging information about charges in a prominent way is important to ensure it is effective.\n\nThe findings are consistent with a significant body of previous work and reinforce the importance of disclosing costs and charges in a clear and meaningful way.\n\nFirms should consider the results when thinking about how their disclosures are working. We will consider changing our rules and guidance to mandate certain forms of disclosure in light of the outcome of our Investment Platforms Market Study.\n\nFund Objectives\n\nThe market study made clear the importance of funds having clear objectives, and identified room for improvement in this area. Clear objectives allow investors to understand what a fund is trying to do, compare different funds, and monitor how well the fund is performing.\n\nWe are now consulting on guidance clarifying what we expect when a firm discloses its objectives (CP18/9).\n\nThis is a complex area and we wanted to involve the right people to make progress on this issue. We chaired a working group, which met from September and concluded its work early in 2018. The output from this group informed our thinking in this area.\n\nFind out more about the work of the fund objectives working group .\n\nWe also welcome the intention of the Investment Association to develop industry guidance, in conjunction with consumer input, as to how objectives may be explained more clearly to investors.\n\nUse of benchmarks and performance fees\n\nWe want to make our expectations clearer regarding how firms communicate to investors about the benchmarks they may use for a fund. We are also making a minor change relating to the fairness of performance fees. We are consulting on a number of measures in this space (CP18/9) including:\n\nA \u2018requirement to explain\u2019 so that AFMs explain their decisions about the use of benchmarks, or if no benchmarks are used, explain how fund investors should assess a fund\u2019s performance.\n\nRequiring AFMs to be consistent in their references to benchmarks in their interactions with fund investors.\n\nMaking it clear that where AFMs show a fund's past performance in disclosures they must show it against any benchmarks used as a target for the fund\u2019s performance or that act as a constraint on the fund\u2019s portfolio construction that they have.\n\nClarifying that performance fees must be taken net of all other fees.\n\nThis work is aligned this work with our other remedies given the links between objectives, benchmarks and performance.\n\nDisclosures to institutional investors\n\nWe want to see more consistent and standardised disclosure of costs and charges to institutional investors. We appointed an independent working group to make recommendations to us on a standardised disclosure template to provide institutional investors with a clearer understanding of the costs and charges for a given fund or mandate. The working group made their recommendations to us in Summer 2018, at which time we welcomed the recommendations. We will continue to work with investors and industry to play our part in the next steps as recommended in the group\u2019s report.\n\nFind out more about the working group\n\nRemove barriers to pension pooling\n\nDWP continues to review and, where possible, remove barriers to pension scheme consolidation. For more information please refer to their recent White Paper.\n\nProposals to improve the effectiveness of intermediaries\n\nFinal decision to make a Market Investigation Reference (MIR) to the CMA on investment consultancy and fiduciary management services\n\nIn September 2017 we made a final decision to make a MIR on investment consultancy and fiduciary management services.\n\nThe Competition and Markets Authority published their provisional decision report in July 2018 and we welcomed the CMA's work in our response. We will continue to work closely with the CMA ahead of their Final Report due for publication before the end of 2018.\n\nInvestment Platforms Market Study\n\nOn 17 July we launched our market study into investment platforms.\n\nFinal report\n\nIn June 2017 we published the final findings of our asset management market study. As part of this, we set out a package of remedies to address the concerns identified.\n\nShow final report (PDF)\n\nThe asset management market study final report includes the following annexes:\n\nInterim report\n\nIn November 2016 we published our interim report which set out our views based on our work to date on how competition works and on outcomes for investors.\n\nShow interim report (PDF)\n\nAnnexes to the interim report:\n\nResearch and reports:\n\nTerms of reference\n\nThis outlined the scope of our market study.\n\nShow terms of reference (PDF)", "output": "The UK\u2019s \u00a37tn ($9tn) asset management industry must reduce costs and improve returns, according to a report by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The regulator\u2019s asset management market study called for increased transparency and competition and said that investors must be given clearer information about costs. The FCA also said that companies should introduce a single \u201call-in fee\u201d and greater consistency in charges. At least two independent directors should be appointed to the fund management boards. The proposed reforms will be implemented gradually, following consultation."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Edtech start-ups are not prioritising protecting student privacy \n PRIVACY CONCERNS: Critics of how edtech startups secure and protect their user\u2019s data can now refer to a new study from Carnegie Mellon University, where researchers found that these companies often fail to \u201cprioritize student data protections\u201d over customer acquisition and product development. The study also points out that many startups lack formal methods for communicating what plans they have in place regarding student data.\n\nThe report \u201cemphasizes that investors and incubators need to prioritize privacy when funding companies,\u201d Amelia Vance, policy counsel at nonprofit Future of Privacy Forum, said in a prepared statement. \u201cPrivacy needs to be built into EdTech products from the beginning, and investors are ideally situated to insist that start-ups have a culture of privacy.\u201d\n\nThe report also offers suggestions for the industry, including that edtech startups should improve privacy practices periodically, as well as \u201cresist collecting or storing unnecessary student data and establish strong internal controls to preclude doing so.\u201d", "output": "Edtech start-ups often prioritise customer acquisition and product development over student data protections, a study from Carnegie Mellon University has found. Many edtech start-ups also lacked formal methods for communicating how they intend to use student data, according to the report. To adequately protect student data, start-ups should plan for periodic improvements of their privacy practices and resist storing student data unnecessarily, the report advised.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MIT petrol-powered drone has flight-time of five days \n This Gas-Powered Drone Can Fly For Five Days On a Single Tank\n\nA group of engineers at MIT have developed a truly exceptional autonomous drone that is designed to stay in the air for up to five days at a time on a single talk of gasoline.\n\n\n\nThis particular autonomous drone started off as a solar-powered flight contraption, but solar functionality was soon replaced by gasoline once it became apparent that the 24-foot-wide drone would struggle to stay in the air for days at a time on solar power alone.\n\n\n\nConstructed using lightweight kevlar and carbon fiber, this autonomous drone is large enough to carry communication tools onboard. This feature, coupled with the drone's incredible flight time, makes it an ideal device for disaster relief initiatives. What's more, it could also be used to help deliver Internet access to far-flung parts of the world.", "output": "MIT researchers have built an autonomous petrol-powered drone that can stay aloft for five days on a single tank of fuel. The drone, which has a 24-foot wingspan, was originally intended to be solar-powered, but the team switched to gasoline when it became apparent that solar alone was not sufficient to keep the aircraft airborne. Use cases for the drone include provision of internet-access to remote areas, and monitoring disaster zones.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Disposable patch offers alternative to traditional flu injections \n A small, dissolvable patch boasting an array of tiny needles could offer a safe relatively painless alternative to traditional injections for vaccination against flu, researchers have found.\n\nThe approach is likely to be welcomed by those who shudder at the sight of a needle, but it could also provide other benefits.\n\n\n\nNot only do the patches offer a low-cost procedure and reduce dangerous waste, but they can be applied by the patient and do not need to be kept cold since they are stable at 40C for a year. Researchers say that is a valuable bonus when it comes to providing vaccines to populations in developing countries.\n\n\u201cI think this product would greatly simplify access to vaccines and perhaps improve coverage as well,\u201d said Nadine Rouphael, a co-author of the research and associate professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine.\n\nIn the UK complications from seasonal influenza alone kill about 600 people a year while in the US it has been found to account for tens of thousands of deaths a year.\n\nWhile dissolvable microneedle arrays are already used in the cosmetic industry, including for the delivery of botox, the new study looked at their potential in flu vaccination.\n\nThe team compared traditional needle-and-syringe methods with the use of sticky patches made from sucrose and polyvinyl alcohol, each containing an array of 100 micro-needles \u2013 tiny protrusions less than a millimetre in height.\n\n\n\nFor the study, 100 adults aged between 18 and 49 who had previously chosen not to have the flu vaccine were recruited and randomly sorted into four groups, one of which received a traditional injection into the muscle of the arm.\n\n\n\nIn the first human trial of its kind, those in the other three groups all applied a patch to the wrist for 20 minutes, allowing the microneedles time to dissolve before the backing was removed and disposed of. One group received a placebo and the other two groups received the flu vaccine, the patch administered by a healthcare worker in one case and by the patient themselves in the other. A snap system was incorporated into the device to let users know when enough pressure had been applied to the patch.\n\nAll participants were then assessed for 180 days, and adverse events and antibody levels measured.\n\nPublished in the Lancet by Rouphael and colleagues at Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology, the results reveal that none of the participants in any of the groups showed any serious adverse events and the mild side effects seen were similar for all of those vaccinated, regardless of method.\n\nBoth approaches were found to cause tenderness in some patients, but 96% of those vaccinated with the patch said they found the technique pain-free.\n\nAntibody response to three different strains was just as good with the patch, and 70% of those vaccinated by microneedles said they preferred the method to traditional injections or intranasal methods.\n\n\u201cIt is easy to administer, people are comfortable doing it for themselves, it dissolves very nicely,\u201d said Rouphael.\n\nThe team caution that the study\u2019s participants were potentially less keen than the average person to have a traditional flu shot.\n\n\n\nFurther, larger-scale trials are now needed, said Rouphael, adding that it will still be a few years before the patches will be available for flu vaccination.\n\nShe mooted a situation where, in the case of a flu pandemic, microneedle patches could be distributed en masse, offering individuals a method of vaccination that did not require to visit a doctor or clinic, which would risk exposure to the virus.\n\n\n\nLinda Klavinskis, an immunobiologist at King\u2019s College London, said the research was a step forward but challenges still remain, including how to elicit a stronger immune response from elderly patients and how to increase the potency of the vaccine used \u2013 an important consideration in the case of a pandemic, when supplies are stretched.\n\nJohn McCauley, director of the Worldwide Influenza Centre at the Francis Crick Institute in London, said the research could lead to higher uptake rates of vaccines. \u201cI think it is really quite a promising way forward,\u201d he said, adding that further studies are needed to show that the approach offers benefits in the event of an influenza epidemic.\n\n\u201cIf you can make [vaccination] easier, more people will take it. With more people taking it there is better ability to control infection at the population level,\u201d he added.", "output": "A small dissolvable patch could offer a low-cost, pain-free alternative to traditional injections for vaccination against flu, researchers at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia have found. The patches can be applied by the patient and are stable at 40C for a year, so do not need to be chilled. They also help reduce dangerous waste. Populations in developing countries stand to benefit from the patches, which can be distributed more effectively than traditional vaccinations, the researchers said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Uber allows people to book rides for friends and relatives \n Uber recently pledged to be friendlier to its employees and its drivers. As of Tuesday, it plans to be friendlier to senior citizens, too.\n\nThe ride-hailing company launched a feature in more than 30 countries on Tuesday that lets users of the Uber app book a ride for someone other than themselves. Given that many people over the age of 65 either don\u2019t use a smartphone or the Uber app, this feature lets their friends and loved ones book rides on their behalf.\n\nWhile some Uber customers have found ways to book rides for others informally, the new feature is specifically designed to accommodate such requests.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWhen an Uber customer opens the app and chooses a pick-up address that differs from what their phone\u2019s GPS detects as its current location, the app will ask the customer whether they are booking a ride for someone else. Customers can then select a rider from their address book, set a destination and request the ride. Riders will not need to have an Uber account. Uber will then share the passenger\u2019s contact details with the driver, and the passenger will receive a link to track the driver\u2019s route, as well as a text message with information such as the driver\u2019s name and license plate number. The person requesting the ride will also be able to track it within the app.\n\nPreviously, drivers could communicate only with the person who booked the ride, and the passengers being picked up had no way of contacting the driver. Rides are charged to the credit card of the person who requested the ride.\n\nOnly the person who requested the ride can rate the driver once the ride is over. And when the driver rates the trip, that score goes toward the rating of the person who requested the ride, rather than the passenger.\n\nBoth Uber and its competitor Lyft have in the past taken steps to make their apps more accessible to seniors. Uber partnered with Los Angeles firm 24Hr HomeCare and Lyft partnered with GreatCall last year to allow customers to book rides through a phone operator, bypassing the smartphone apps entirely. Customers do not need Uber or Lyft accounts to use those services. The GreatCall service is available only to GreatCall members, while 24Hr HomeCare\u2019s \u201cRideWith24\u201d service is available to the public via a toll-free number ([800] 522-1516).\n\nA third-party service, GoGoGrandparent, lets passengers book an Uber ride and use other on-demand services such as Instacart (grocery delivery), Munchery (dinner delivery) and Postmates (shopping) by dialing a phone number ([855] 464-6872) and speaking to an operator.\n\nThe announcement comes as Uber tries to bounce back from months of scandals and the resignation last week of its chief executive, Travis Kalanick.\n\ntracey.lien@latimes.com\n\nTwitter: @traceylien\n\nUPDATES:\n\n9:30 a.m.: This article was updated with information about how trip ratings work.\n\nThis article was originally published at 6 a.m.", "output": "Uber has released\u00a0a tool aimed at serving\u00a0older people, who are less likely to have a smartphone\u00a0or to have the Uber app installed on one. The tool\u00a0allows those with an Uber account\u00a0to book a ride on behalf of someone else who does not have an Uber account. Users enter the other rider's details from their address book, while the passenger will be sent a text message with information such as the driver\u2019s name and licence plate number. Whoever initially books the ride pays the fare. The feature is available in more than 30 countries.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "OpenDoor wins $10m backing for niche bond trade platform \n OpenDoor\n\nA new trading platform focused on hard-to-trade segments of one of the most important markets has raised $10 million from private investors.\n\nOpenDoor Securities will use the funds to improve its connectivity to current customers, according to a statement.\n\nThe platform is auction based and is what's called an all-to-all marketplace for off-the-run Treasurys and Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS). In plain English, that means the platform hosts auctions for instruments at a particular time.\n\n\n\nThe startup is trying to tackle challenging trading conditions in what is arguably the world's most important market. The US government bond market makes up around 30% of the fixed-income market, according to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and American Bankers Association. In a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission last year, they said the Treasury market is \"the most important global benchmark for pricing and hedging spread asset classes and is a key transmission mechanism for US monetary policy.\"\n\n\n\nHowever, liquidity in the Treasurys market is divided between on-the-run Treasurys, or the most recently issued bonds and therefore the most liquid, and off-the-run bonds. Off-the-run bonds represent 98% of the total outstanding issuance in the US Treasury market, according to OpenDoor, but account for less than a third of average daily trading volume.\n\nThe platform launched April 25, and the firm has seen more than $60 billion in orders placed since then. The firm has matched \"multiple billions in US off-the-run Treasuries and TIPS orders with seamless settlement,\" OpenDoor said in a statement.", "output": "All-to-all marketplace, OpenDoor Securities, has raised $10m from private investors, which will be used to improve the start-up's connectivity to its existing customers, according to a company statement. The platform holds auctions for off-the-run US government bonds and has had more than $60bn in orders placed since its April 2017 launch."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MakerBot launches digital classroom platform for 3D printers \n 3D Printing\n\nMakerBot Debuts 3D Print Manager for Schools, Educator Guidebook\n\nMy MakerBot\n\nThis week at the ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) conference in San Antonio, TX, 3D printer company MakerBot launched a new cloud-based platform for educators, My MakerBot, and the MakerBot Educators Guidebook.\n\nCompatible with Chromebooks, My MakerBot is designed to make it easier for students to use printers and for instructors to manage them. The platform connects a user's networked 3D printers, Thingiverse account, orders and support cases and allows users to upload and prepare files, print and monitor print jobs from any device. My MakerBot will also allow users to import designs from Autodesk's design tool for K\u201312, Tinkercad.\n\nThe new guidebook is designed to support educators as they begin to use 3D printers in their classrooms.\n\n\"Featuring a crash course in 3D design and printing, as well as nine classroom-ready 3D printing lesson plans, the new MakerBot Educators Guidebook is the definitive how-to on 3D printing in the classroom,\" according to information released by the company. \"We wrote the guidebook in collaboration with over 80 MakerBot educators, all dedicated leaders in STEM education, in order to deliver the ultimate resource for learning the basics, best practices and for finding high-quality lesson plans.\"\n\nEach project in the book offers step-by-step instructions, information about standards alignment and author notes to help guide teachers. Nearly 300 additional lesson plans are also available at the Thingiverse Education site.\n\nMore information is available at makerbot.com. Visit MakerBot in booth 600 this week during ISTE 2017.", "output": "MakerBot, the 3D printer company, has launched a cloud-based platform to teach students to use 3D printers and help instructors manage printer use. Called My MakerBot, the platform enables users to upload and prepare files, and monitor print assignments from a range of\u00a0devices. The accompanying MakerBot Educators Guidebook provides crash courses and lesson plans in 3D design and printing to support educators as they integrate\u00a03D printers into their classrooms.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google promotes coding education\u00a0in public libraries \n LIBRARIES WHO CODE: Computer-science education, now heavily promoted in public schools, is entering public libraries. Last week the American Libraries Association announced a $500,000 competitive grant program, sponsored by Google, to help libraries build computer-science education centers.\n\nThe grant is part of an initiative called Libraries Ready to Code, where libraries bring in resources and research to help staff members teach youth and families computer science in informal learning settings.\n\nRepresentatives from the American Library Association say 25 to 50 libraries will receive funding from the ALA and consulting expertise and operational support from Google. The project\u2019s leaders hope that libraries, often utilized by low-income families who do not have technology at home, will give young people and their relatives new opportunities to learn that they otherwise would not have.", "output": "The American Libraries Association (ALA) has announced a $500,000 competitive grant sponsored by Google, as part of ALA's initiative Libraries Ready to Code. The funds are\u00a0set to help public libraries establish\u00a0computer-science education centres, in which young people and families can get to grips with computer science in informal surroundings. The ALA states that 25 to 50 libraries will receive\u00a0support from Google. It is hoped that\u00a0the centres will facilitate the development of skills and opening up of opportunities\u00a0for low-income families that do not typically have access to technology at home.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Telecoms companies challenge ruling in AT&T data throttling case \n by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, June 27, 2017\n\nBreaking ranks with AT&T, four other large Internet service providers are asking the 9th Circuit to rule that the Federal Trade Commission has the authority to prosecute AT&T for allegedly duping wireless consumers who purchased \"unlimited\" data plans.\n\n\"At first glance, [our] position might seem surprising,\" Charter, Comcast, Cox and Verizon write in papers submitted Monday to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. \"On closer inspection, however, this position aligns with the companies\u2019 desire to reinstate a predictable, uniform, and technology-neutral regulatory framework that will best serve consumers and businesses alike.\"\n\nThe four broadband companies are asking the 9th Circuit to reverse a decision issued last year by a three-judge panel, which ruled that the FTC couldn't prosecute AT&T due to its status as a \"common carrier.\"\n\nThat ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed by the FTC against AT&T in October of 2014, when the agency alleged that AT&T misled consumers by selling them unlimited data, but throttling their broadband connections after they used between 3 and 5 GB a month. The alleged deception occurred between 2011 and 2014 -- before mobile broadband was considered a common carrier service.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nThe appellate judges said in their initial ruling that the FTC can't sue common carriers like AT&T -- even when the complaint centers on a non-common carrier service. Those judges suggested in their opinion that AT&T's longstanding role as a telephone carrier gave the company common carrier service for all purposes.\n\nThe FTC -- backed by consumer groups, and the Federal Communications Commission -- urged the 9th Circuit to reconsider the ruling. Last month, the court agreed to do so.\n\nCharter, Comcast, Cox and Verizon are now siding with the FTC. The companies argue in papers submitted Monday to the 9th Circuit that Internet service providers like themselves should be subject to the FTC's authority.\n\n\"If the FTC is divested of jurisdiction over certain non-common carriage activities, it is likely that a variety of federal, state, and local government agencies that lack the appropriate reach, perspective, and experience in consumer protection matters will attempt to fill the perceived 'regulatory gaps,' thereby creating a patchwork of unreasonable, duplicative, and inconsistent rules,\" the companies write. \"This will make it less likely that consumers are adequately protected and more likely that businesses will operate in an uncertain and uneven regulatory environment.\"\n\nThe broadband providers' move appears to reflect their preference to be subject to FTC authority rather than FCC rules, says Matt Wood, policy director at the advocacy group Free Press.\n\n\"They like the idea of uniform privacy rules at the FTC,\" Wood says. He adds that the FTC -- unlike the FCC -- lacks the authority to pass regulations about matters like privacy. Instead, the FTC can only target companies that engage in deceptive or unfair practices, such as failing to follow their privacy policies.\n\n\"Cable companies and phone companies other than AT&T seemingly prefer what they consider to be weaker oversight by the FTC, rather than either the strong rules the FCC adopted last year or various state bills instead,\" Wood adds. (Last year, the FCC passed rules prohibiting broadband providers from drawing on consumers' Web-browsing histories for ad targeting without their opt-in consent. Congress invalidated those rules earlier this year, sparking state lawmakers in at least 10 states to introduce new broadband privacy regulations.)\n\nMany observers interpreted the appellate court's initial ruling as effectively depriving the FTC of authority to police any practices of broadband providers -- including their billing methods and privacy policies. Observers also said the initial ruling could leave broadband providers without federal regulatory oversight, if the FCC follows through on Chairman Ajit Pai's plan to scrap the 2015 decision classifying broadband access as a \"Title II\" common carrier service. That's because, the ruling suggests that even if Internet access is no longer regulated as a utility, many ISPs would nonetheless be outside the FTC's authority.\n\nComcast and the other ISPs may now hope to weaken the argument that Pai's plan to de-classify broadband as a utility will leave the companies without federal oversight, according to Blake Reid, director of the Samuelson-Glushko Technology Law & Policy Clinic at Colorado Law.\n\n\"My take on it is that it they're trying to head off at the pass an argument that the efforts to declassify Internet service providers under Title II will result in this regulatory gap,\" he says.\n\nHe adds: \"It's pretty striking nevertheless to see a bunch of Internet service providers arguing that a federal regulator should have authority.\"", "output": "Telecoms providers Comcast, Charter, Verizon and Cox have asked the Ninth Circuit to challenge an appeal court\u00a0judgment that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)\u00a0lacks\u00a0authority to prosecute AT&T. The judgment derived from\u00a0a case brought against AT&T\u00a0for allegedly misleading wireless customers on unlimited data plans whose\u00a0broadband was allegedly \"bottlenecked\"\u00a0once their usage exceeded 3 GB or 5 GB a month. The companies believe the FTC should be able to prosecute AT&T, despite its status as a \u201ccommon carrier\u201d in the name of customer and business protection. The appellate judges had said common carriers are exempt from being sued by the FTC.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WPP hit by cyberattack that could be bigger than WannaCry \n For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBreaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nA huge cyber attack that initially hit Ukraine has spread across the world, causing major disruption.\n\nThe hack was already the biggest in Ukraine's history but it has now affected other countries \u2013 including the UK, Spain and India \u2013 and may be functioning like the massive \"Wannacry\" attack that crippled the NHS, according to cyber security experts.\n\nThe attack is hitting major infrastructure in the countries where it has spread and has also affected companies ranging from Danish shipping giant Maersk to the British advertising company WPP.\n\nThe British National Cyber Security Centre said that it was \"aware of the global ransomware incident\" and is \"monitoring the situation closely\".\n\nMaersk said that it didn't yet know the cause of the outage but that it suspected it could extend across all of its global operations.\n\nGadget and tech news: In pictures Show all 25 1 / 25 Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gun-toting humanoid robot sent into space Russia has launched a humanoid robot into space on a rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS). The robot Fedor will spend 10 days aboard the ISS practising skills such as using tools to fix issues onboard. Russia's deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin has previously shared videos of Fedor handling and shooting guns at a firing range with deadly accuracy. Dmitry Rogozin/Twitter Gadget and tech news: In pictures Google turns 21 Google celebrates its 21st birthday on September 27. The The search engine was founded in September 1998 by two PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in their dormitories at California\u2019s Stanford University. Page and Brin chose the name google as it recalled the mathematic term 'googol', meaning 10 raised to the power of 100 Google Gadget and tech news: In pictures Hexa drone lifts off Chief engineer of LIFT aircraft Balazs Kerulo demonstrates the company's \"Hexa\" personal drone craft in Lago Vista, Texas on June 3 2019 Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures Project Scarlett to succeed Xbox One Microsoft announced Project Scarlett, the successor to the Xbox One, at E3 2019. The company said that the new console will be 4 times as powerful as the Xbox One and is slated for a release date of Christmas 2020 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures First new iPod in four years Apple has announced the new iPod Touch, the first new iPod in four years. The device will have the option of adding more storage, up to 256GB Apple Gadget and tech news: In pictures Folding phone may flop Samsung will cancel orders of its Galaxy Fold phone at the end of May if the phone is not then ready for sale. The $2000 folding phone has been found to break easily with review copies being recalled after backlash PA Gadget and tech news: In pictures Charging mat non-starter Apple has cancelled its AirPower wireless charging mat, which was slated as a way to charge numerous apple products at once AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures \"Super league\" India shoots down satellite India has claimed status as part of a \"super league\" of nations after shooting down a live satellite in a test of new missile technology EPA Gadget and tech news: In pictures 5G incoming 5G wireless internet is expected to launch in 2019, with the potential to reach speeds of 50mb/s Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Uber halts driverless testing after death Uber has halted testing of driverless vehicles after a woman was killed by one of their cars in Tempe, Arizona. March 19 2018 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie 'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway resembling the giant panda is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway, resembling a giant panda, is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A concept car by Trumpchi from GAC Group is shown at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A Mirai fuel cell vehicle by Toyota is displayed at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A visitor tries a Nissan VR experience at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A man looks at an exhibit entitled 'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A new Israeli Da-Vinci unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by Elbit Systems is displayed during the 4th International conference on Home Land Security and Cyber in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv Getty\n\nSome security experts have suggested the attack could be even bigger than the Wannacry attack, which spread across the world in May. That was most famous for locking down computers across hospitals and doctors surgeries, but it also hit other major international companies.\n\nAt the time, cyber security professionals warned that a repeat attack could be launched that would be even bigger than that crippling hack.\n\nRecommended Ukraine state infrastructure hit by massive cyber attack\n\nInitial reports had suggested that this was a coordinated hack being launched at Ukraine and Russia at the same time. It's not clear how it began, or how it made its way to other countries.\n\nRussia's top oil producer Rosneft said a large-scale cyber attack hit its servers on Tuesday and computer systems at some banks and the main airport in neighbouring Ukraine were also disrupted.\n\nBritain's WPP, the world's biggest advertising agency, said it had been hit by a cyber attack, one of many major corporations to face major disruption.\n\nA hospital in the US and pharmaceutical company Merck also fell victim, and Cadbury owner Mondelez International said it had experienced a \"global IT outage\" which it was working to resolve.\n\nThe State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management said Chernobyl's radiation monitoring system has been switched to manual and is operating normally.\n\nThe current ransomware is known as GoldenEye, according to Bogdan Botezatu, a senior e-threat analyst at Bitdefender.\n\nVictims of the malware are asked to pay a 300-dollar ransom after their hard drive is encrypted, crashing their computer.\n\nMr Botezatu, who warned against paying any money, said on Tuesday night that the malware operators received 27 payments totalling almost 7,000 dollars in digital currency in around five hours.\n\nA spokesman confirmed it had been affected without giving any further details. The company's website was not available.\n\nSeventeen shipping container terminals run by APM Terminals have been hacked, including two in Rotterdam and 15 in other parts of the world, Dutch broadcaster RTV Rijnmond reported.\n\nAPM Terminals is a subsidiary of shipping giant Maersk, which has confirmed it is suffering from a cyber attack.\n\nAPM's website was difficult to reach and phone calls to its headquarters in The Hague and offices in Rotterdam went unanswered.\n\nMan who accidentally halted global cyber attack: 'I'm no hero'\n\nA spokeswoman for the company in Copenhagen confirmed its systems were \"impacted\" as part of Maersk's IT infrastructure.\n\nThe RTV report said computers were infected by ransomware that encrypted their hard drives. The broadcaster published an image of the screen of an affected machine with a message demanding a $300 payment.\n\nFollowing last month's WannaCry incident some of the blame was directed at US intelligence agencies the CIA and the National Security Agency (NSA) who were accused of \"stockpiling\" software code which could be exploited by hackers.\n\nDr David Day, a senior lecturer in cyber security at Sheffield Hallam University, said he believed the latest attack was the \"tip of the iceberg\" and said he is frustrated at how it has been able to unfold.\n\nHe said: \"Basically what they (the NSA) have done is they have created something which can be used as a weapon, and that weapon has been stolen and that weapon is now being used.\n\n\"And I think it underlines the whole need for debate over privacy versus security.\n\n\"The NSA will argue that the tool was developed with a need to ensure privacy, but actually what it's being used for is a weapon against security.\"\n\nAdditional reporting by agencies", "output": "A fresh ransomware attack has hit a range of targets, including British advertising firm WPP, Danish shipping company Maersk and Ukraine's government. Called \"Petya\", the ransomware encrypts users' data until a ransom is paid to the hackers in bitcoin. The attack could be more widespread than the WannaCry\u00a0ransomware attack that hit the NHS seven weeks ago, said Bogdan Botezatu, an analyst at Bitdefender. On Tuesday night, malware operators received 27 payments totalling almost $7,000, he added.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook advertisers will be able to target entire families \n Facebook ads are going to get a little creepy this holiday season. The social media giant just announced new tools for advertisers as they finalize strategies for the holiday season this December \u2014 one of them includes displaying relevant ads to your entire household.\n\nFacebook\u2019s consumer research report found mobile shoppers aren\u2019t exclusively from one, young generation \u2014 in fact, parents made up more than \u201c50 percent of mobile-first shoppers last year.\u201d That\u2019s why one of the company\u2019s latest tools will allow retailers to display relevant ads to family members in the same household. This data is based on you and your family\u2019s Facebook and Instagram usage.\n\nRecommended Videos\n\n\u201c[We utilize] the explicit relationships that people declare in Facebook \u2026 but we also leverage a handful of other signals,\u201d Graham Mudd, product marketing director at Facebook , said in a media briefing in New York City. \u201cFor example, we look at shared check-ins, we look at where you access the internet \u2014 and if that happens to be from the same location everyday, then that tells with a pretty high degree of confidence that you are in the same household.\u201d\n\nHousehold marketing works in three ways: If your family is planning a trip to Canada, a hotel company may start displaying ads to everyone in the family \u2014 trying to get its brand on everyone\u2019s radar. The second way is by offering gift ideas for other people in the same household. If your son wants a Sonos speaker for Christmas, rather than advertising the speaker to him, retailers can show the ad on Facebook to the rest of his family. The third method deals with reducing wasted ad spend. If a product is typically bought once per household, and if a customer in a household has purchased it \u2014 like a Netflix subscription \u2014 the company will stop advertising it to the rest of the family.\n\nFacebook said it hides sensitive purchases, so things like alcohol, engagement rings, and the like will not be displayed to everyone in the household. You can opt out of household marketing by going into your Facebook Settings > Ads > Ad Preferences and remove yourself from the \u201cmember of a family-based household\u201d category.\n\nThe social network launched dynamic ads last year, which are basically a carousel of static product images retailers can use. Now retailers can add product videos, as well as \u201coverlays,\u201d which are banners over ads that can show price, discounts, and more in various styles, colors, and placements. These will be rolling out in the next few months.\n\nThe household marketing tools are available now in the U.S., and will expand to other regions next year. The social network unveiled ad breaks for on-demand and live videos earlier this year, and is also offering more ads in Instant Articles.\n\nEditors' Recommendations", "output": "Facebook will enable retailers to display relevant ads to family members in the same household in time for Christmas, the social media giant has said. The move followed Facebook research that indicates more than 50% of mobile-first shoppers last year were parents. To determine whether Facebook users occupy the same household, the company checks explicitly declared relationships, as well as the location of shared check-ins, said Graham Mudd, product marketing director at Facebook. The advertising will display ads to everyone in a family and offer gift ideas for people in the household. Families can also opt out of household-based marketing."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Major ransomware attack hits nearly all sectors globally \n Many organizations in Europe and the US have been crippled by a ransomware attack known as \u201cPetya\u201d. The malicious software has spread through large firms including the advertiser WPP, food company Mondelez, legal firm DLA Piper and Danish shipping and transport firm Maersk, leading to PCs and data being locked up and held for ransom.\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s the second major global ransomware attack in the past two months. In early May, Britain\u2019s National Health Service (NHS) was among the organizations infected by WannaCry, which used a vulnerability first revealed to the public as part of a leaked stash of NSA-related documents released online in April by a hacker group calling itself the Shadow Brokers.\n\nThe WannaCry or WannaCrypt ransomware attack affected more than 230,000 computers in over 150 countries, with the NHS, Spanish phone company Telef\u00f3nica and German state railways among those hardest hit.\n\nLike WannaCry, \u201cPetya\u201d spreads rapidly through networks that use Microsoft Windows, but what is it, why is it happening and how can it be stopped?\n\nWhat is ransomware?\n\nRansomware is a type of malware that blocks access to a computer or its data and demands money to release it.\n\nHow does it work?\n\nWhen a computer is infected, the ransomware encrypts important documents and files and then demands a ransom, typically in Bitcoin, for a digital key needed to unlock the files. If victims don\u2019t have a recent back-up of the files they must either pay the ransom or face losing all of their files.\n\nHow does the \u201cPetya\u201d ransomware work?\n\nThe ransomware takes over computers and demands $300, paid in Bitcoin. The malicious software spreads rapidly across an organization once a computer is infected using the EternalBlue vulnerability in Microsoft Windows (Microsoft has released a patch, but not everyone will have installed it) or through two Windows administrative tools. The malware tries one option and if it doesn\u2019t work, it tries the next one. \u201cIt has a better mechanism for spreading itself than WannaCry,\u201d said Ryan Kalember, of cybersecurity company Proofpoint.\n\nIs there any protection?\n\nMost major antivirus companies now claim that their software has updated to actively detect and protect against \u201cPetya\u201d infections: Symantec products using definitions version 20170627.009 should, for instance, and Kaspersky also says its security software is now capable of spotting the malware. Additionally, keeping Windows up to date \u2013 at the very least through installing March\u2019s critical patch defending against the EternalBlue vulnerability \u2013 stops one major avenue of infection, and will also protect against future attacks with different payloads.\n\nFor this particular malware outbreak, another line of defence has been discovered: \u201cPetya\u201d checks for a read-only file, C:\\Windows\\perfc.dat, and if it finds it, it won\u2019t run the encryption side of the software. But this \u201cvaccine\u201d doesn\u2019t actually prevent infection, and the malware will still use its foothold on your PC to try to spread to others on the same network.\n\nWhy is it called \u201cPetya\u201d?\n\nStrictly speaking, it is not. The malware appears to share a significant amount of code with an older piece of ransomware that really was called Petya, but in the hours after the outbreak started, security researchers noticed that \u201cthe superficial resemblance is only skin deep\u201d. Researchers at Russia\u2019s Kaspersky Lab redubbed the malware NotPetya, and increasingly tongue-in-cheek variants of that name \u2013 Petna, Pneytna, and so on \u2013 began to spread as a result. On top of that, other researchers who independently spotted the malware gave it other names: Romanian\u2019s Bitdefender called it Goldeneye, for instance.\n\nWhere did it start?\n\nThe attack appears to have been seeded through a software update mechanism built into an accounting program that companies working with the Ukrainian government need to use, according to the Ukrainian cyber police. This explains why so many Ukrainian organizations were affected, including government, banks, state power utilities and Kiev\u2019s airport and metro system. The radiation monitoring system at Chernobyl was also taken offline, forcing employees to use hand-held counters to measure levels at the former nuclear plant\u2019s exclusion zone. A second wave of infections was spawned by a phishing campaign featuring malware-laden attachments.\n\nHow far has it spread?\n\nThe \u201cPetya\u201d ransomware has caused serious disruption at large firms in Europe and the US, including the advertising firm WPP, French construction materials company Saint-Gobain and Russian steel and oil firms Evraz and Rosneft. The food company Mondelez, legal firm DLA Piper, Danish shipping and transport firm AP Moller-Maersk and Heritage Valley Health System, which runs hospitals and care facilities in Pittsburgh, also said their systems had been hit by the malware.\n\nCrucially, unlike WannaCry, this version of \u2018Petya\u2019 tries to spread internally within networks, but not seed itself externally. That may have limited the ultimate spread of the malware, which seems to have seen a decrease in the rate of new infections overnight.\n\nShipping company Maersk\u2019s IT system was impacted by the cyber-attack. Photograph: Mauritz Antin/EPA\n\nSo is this just another opportunistic cybercriminal?\n\nIt initially looked like the outbreak was just another cybercriminal taking advantage of cyberweapons leaked online. However, security experts say that the payment mechanism of the attack seems too amateurish to have been carried out by serious criminals. Firstly, the ransom note includes the same Bitcoin payment address for every victim \u2013 most ransomware creates a custom address for every victim. Secondly, the malware asks victims to communicate with the attackers via a single email address which has been suspended by the email provider after they discovered what it was being used for. This means that even if someone pays the ransom, they have no way to communicate with the attacker to request the decryption key to unlock their files.\n\nWho is behind the attack?\n\nIt is not clear, but it seems likely it is someone who wants the malware to masquerade as ransomware, while actually just being destructive, particularly to the Ukrainian government. Security researcher Nicholas Weaver told cybersecurity blog Krebs on Security that \u2018Petya\u2019 was a \u201cdeliberate, malicious, destructive attack or perhaps a test disguised as ransomware\u201d. Pseudonymous security researcher Grugq noted that the real Petya \u201cwas a criminal enterprise for making money,\u201d but that the new version \u201cis definitely not designed to make money.\n\n\u201cThis is designed to spread fast and cause damage, with a plausibly deniable cover of \u2018ransomware,\u2019\u201d he added, pointing out that, among other tells, the payment mechanism in the malware was inept to the point of uselessness: a single hardcoded payment address, meaning the money can be traced; the requirement to email proof of payment to a webmail provider, meaning that the email address can be \u2013 and was \u2013 disabled; and the requirement to send an infected machine\u2019s 60-character, case sensitive \u201cpersonal identification key\u201d from a computer which can\u2019t even copy-and-paste, all combine to mean that \u201cthis payment pipeline was possibly the worst of all options (sort of \u2018send a personal cheque to: Petya Payments, PO Box \u2026 \u2019)\u201d.\n\nUkraine has blamed Russia for previous cyber-attacks, including one on its power grid at the end of 2015 that left part of western Ukraine temporarily without electricity. Russia has denied carrying out cyber-attacks on Ukraine.\n\nWhat should you do if you are affected by the ransomware?\n\nThe ransomware infects computers and then waits for about an hour before rebooting the machine. While the machine is rebooting, you can switch the computer off to prevent the files from being encrypted and try and rescue the files from the machine, as flagged by @HackerFantastic on Twitter.\n\nIf machine reboots and you see this message, power off immediately! This is the encryption process. If you do not power on, files are fine. pic.twitter.com/IqwzWdlrX6 \u2014 Hacker Fantastic (@hackerfantastic) June 27, 2017\n\nIf the system reboots with the ransom note, don\u2019t pay the ransom \u2013 the \u201ccustomer service\u201d email address has been shut down so there\u2019s no way to get the decryption key to unlock your files anyway. Disconnect your PC from the internet, reformat the hard drive and reinstall your files from a backup. Back up your files regularly and keep your anti-virus software up to date.", "output": "Asian, European and US businesses, port operators and government systems have been hit by a new cyber attack similar to WannaCry, dubbed \"Petya\". It is the second major global ransomware attack in two months, after WannaCry.\u00a0This malicious software, which started in Ukraine,\u00a0spread through large firms including advertiser WPP, food company Mondelez\u00a0and Danish shipping firm Maersk, causing PCs and data to be locked and held for ransom. Since Ukraine was particularly badly hit, there is a higher possibility it came from Russia.\u00a0The attack revealed\u00a0that investors are not sufficiently pricing in the rocketing threat to financial and economic market stability from these geopolitical risks.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Instagram right to make sponsored posts more transparent: Opinion \n Native Instagram posts\u2014those paid for by brands but posted by influencers\u2014are about to look a bit different, and that\u2019s a good thing.\n\nAn update introduced by Instagram earlier this month provides brands and influencers with the option to call out that posts are sponsored. Influencers can now tag brands in their posts and, if the brands confirm the relationship, the post will be marked accordingly.\n\nThe callout will appear at the top of the post (where you\u2019d tag a location) and within Instagram Stories, noting that the content was \u201cpaid in partnership with \u2026\u201d This feature is a response to recent transparency issues surrounding the practice of native advertising.\n\nPreviously, there was no official way for people to distinguish between a native sponsored post and an organic one, which led to questions about the ethics behind native advertising strategies: Is native advertising potentially deceiving consumers?\n\nThe Federal Trade Commission says yes.", "output": "Instagram will highlight sponsored posts from influencers in a bid to boost transparency on the platform, a step in the right direction, according to an opinion piece in Adweek. Earlier this year, the US Federal Trade Commission warned dozens of brands and influencers over their failure to make clear their relationship with products they are promoting. A recent Instagram update enables influencers to tag brands in their post, and if brands confirm the link, marks the post accordingly.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Finnish company unveils VR headset with 'human eye' definition \n One of the biggest limitations of current virtual reality technology \u2014 whether you\u2019re talking about Samsung\u2019s mobile Gear VR or a full home system like the Oculus Rift \u2014 is resolution. And progress toward solving this problem is slow, because companies making VR headsets are at the mercy of advances in display technology.\n\nA new company led by former Nokia and Microsoft product managers aims to slash that wait by using a clever crossing of existing hardware and carefully executed software. Today, they\u2019re opening up for the first time about the company they\u2019re building, called Varjo.\n\n70X better resolution\n\nUrho Konttori, the CEO and co-founder of Varjo, used to work on flagship products like the Nokia N9, and Microsoft\u2019s Lumia phones. Varjo\u2019s imaging lead used to worked on camera technology for both Nokia and Intel. Another co-founder was once Nokia\u2019s head of imaging. So it\u2019s no surprise the first goal for Varjo is to make a physical product: a high-end headset capable of both virtual and augmented reality.\n\nThat might not sound unique when Facebook, Samsung, Google, and other giant technology companies are already working on VR and / or AR headsets. What will set Varjo\u2019s version apart is how it will enable what the company is referring to as \u201chuman eye resolution\u201d \u2014 what they say is some 70 times the clarity of current VR headsets.\n\nAbove, a camera snapshot of the high-resolution display. Below, the same virtual scene as seen through a typical modern VR display. Photo: Varjo\n\nVarjo uses that phrase with two meanings in mind. For one thing, the company\u2019s headset will offer resolution in the center of the screen that is good enough to hide individual pixels. But the headset\u2019s display will also mimic how human vision works in general.\n\nSmaller, high-density displays will occupy the center of your field of view in Varjo\u2019s headset, and they\u2019ll be surrounded by lower-resolution displays at the left and right edges. Similar to how your brain and your eyes filter out detail that\u2019s outside your focus, the Varjo headset will use eye tracking and software to better render where you\u2019re looking inside a virtual scene, creating the illusion that you\u2019re always looking at a high-resolution display.\n\nLooking through the small high-resolution window was a relief\n\nSelectively rendering for where a person is looking in VR isn\u2019t a completely new idea. But Varjo\u2019s take is much more specific. And it will be asking a lot of the limited amount of tech that can fit inside a corded headset, even if Konttori says aiming the product at the highest end of the current VR market allows his team to use high-quality components.\n\nKonttori says Varjo has a working prototype of the final headset, but he didn\u2019t bring it to the US as he met with press outlets ahead of the company coming out of stealth mode. Instead, Varjo offered a demo that bridged the gap: the company retrofitted the current consumer version of the Oculus with two full-HD Sony microdisplays (one for each eye).\n\nThe result of this combination was that the center of my field of view in the headset (maybe about 15 percent of the screen real estate) was a rectangular window with crystal clarity, while the rest of what I saw in the periphery was the typical fuzzy \u201cscreen door\u201d view of VR.\n\nAbove, a camera snapshot of the high-resolution display. Below, the same virtual scene as seen through a typical modern VR display. Photo: Varjo\n\nThe most striking thing about the demo was how much detail is lost in the translation to the fuzzy modern VR headsets. Konttori ran me through a few different setups that illustrated this. The first was a virtual room with furniture, the second a VR desktop with floating windows, and the third was the cockpit and main cabin of a computer-generated private jet \u2014 all scenes that could be impressive demonstrations if it was your first time using VR. But these are rather dull if you\u2019ve spent more than a few minutes with an Oculus or HTC Vive.\n\nLooking at them through that window in the center gave each of these scenes new life. Textures that were obscured by the Oculus\u2019 dual 1080 x 1200 displays could now be seen in more lifelike detail. I could read individual filenames in the folders on the virtual desktop. The cockpit of the plane was especially striking. Looking at it through the Oculus displays surrounding Varjo\u2019s tech, I couldn\u2019t understand any of the labels on the many knobs and switches at my virtual fingertips. Looking \u201cthrough\u201d those microdisplays, though, I was able to read all of them.\n\nEven though this window of ultra clarity was small, it felt like a massive relief. I was able to resolve detail I thought I\u2019d otherwise have to wait years to see in VR, and it didn\u2019t strain my eyes as much, either.\n\nThere were shortcomings, like the extra cabling, and an obvious boundary separating the microdisplay and the Oculus\u2019 screens. The different screens also had competing frame rates, which created jitter at the seams where they met. Konttori says this won\u2019t be a problem in the final version of the headset since the company will have full control over the display and the software that powers it. He also says that they\u2019ll be able to more seamlessly blur the edges of where you\u2019re focusing, again mimicking how human vision works.\n\nThe team plans to release an early version of the headset compatible with Steam VR to industry partners for free later this year. Then, in 2018, the company is planning a full consumer launch, where the headset will cost somewhere in the thousands of dollars. Konttori and his team are betting that professionals who are already using or thinking about VR \u2014 whether they\u2019re architects, designers, or people who create VR experiences \u2014 will care enough about extremely high-resolution experiences that the price tag won\u2019t scare them away.\n\nFree preview headsets will be released to industry partners this year ahead of a 2018 launch\n\nThe team wants the Varjo headset to handle AR at human eye resolution, too. But they don\u2019t plan to build a see-through heads-up display like HoloLens or Google Glass. Rather, they want to use cameras on the face of the Varjo headset to re-create the outside world on the display. That\u2019s a challenge in its own right, especially because of the limitations of mobile cameras. Konttori showed me a video of an early version of this tech working, but I wasn\u2019t able to demo it.", "output": "Finnish company Varjo \u2014 a stealth start-up created\u00a0by former managers at Microsoft and Nokia\u00a0\u2014\u00a0has unveiled its forthcoming 20/20\u00a0virtual reality (VR) headset, which it claims presents images to the viewer at 70 times the resolution of current models. Varjo mimics human vision by only using the highest density rendering where the eye is directly\u00a0looking, and using lower density rendering at the periphery of the visual field. The company plans to bring the VR headset to consumer markets in 2018 at a cost in excess of $1,000 per unit.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "MIT trials system of autonomous drive-and-fly drones \n Researchers from MIT\u2019s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) are aiming to develop robots that can both maneuver around on land and take to the skies. In a new paper, the team presented a system of eight quadcopter drones that can fly and drive through a city-like setting with parking spots, no-fly zones, and landing pads.\n\nThe problem is that robots that are good at one mode of transportation are usually bad at another. Airborne drones are fast and agile, but generally have too limited of a battery life to travel for long distances. Ground vehicles, on the other hand, are more energy efficient, but slower and less mobile.\n\nBeing able to both walk and take flight is typical in nature \u2014 many birds, insects, and other animals can do both. If we could program robots with similar versatility, it would open up many possibilities: Imagine machines that could fly into construction areas or disaster zones that aren\u2019t near roads and then squeeze through tight spaces on the ground to transport objects or rescue people.\n\n\u201cThe ability to both fly and drive is useful in environments with a lot of barriers, since you can fly over ground obstacles and drive under overhead obstacles,\u201d says PhD student Brandon Araki, lead author on the paper. \u201cNormal drones can't maneuver on the ground at all. A drone with wheels is much more mobile while having only a slight reduction in flying time.\u201d\n\nAraki and CSAIL Director Daniela Rus developed the system, along with MIT undergraduate students John Strang, Sarah Pohorecky, and Celine Qiu, and Tobias Naegeli of ETH Zurich\u2019s Advanced Interactive Technologies Lab. The team presented their system at IEEE\u2019s International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in Singapore earlier this month.\n\nHow it works\n\nThe project builds on Araki\u2019s previous work developing a \u201cflying monkey\u201d robot that crawls, grasps, and flies. While the monkey robot could hop over obstacles and crawl about, there was still no way for it to travel autonomously.\n\nTo address this, the team developed various \u201cpath-planning\u201d algorithms aimed at ensuring that the drones don\u2019t collide. To make them capable of driving, the team put two small motors with wheels on the bottom of each drone. In simulations, the robots could fly for 90 meters or drive for 252 meters, before their batteries ran out.\n\nAdding the driving component to the drone slightly reduced its battery life, meaning that the maximum distance it could fly decreased 14 percent to about 300 feet. But since driving is still much more efficient than flying, the gain in efficiency from driving more than offsets the relatively small loss in efficiency in flying due to the extra weight.\n\n\u201cThis work provides an algorithmic solution for large-scale, mixed-mode transportation and shows its applicability to real-world problems,\u201d says Jingjin Yu, a computer science professor at Rutgers University who was not involved in the research.\n\nThe team also tested the system using everyday materials such as pieces of fabric for roads and cardboard boxes for buildings. They tested eight robots navigating from a starting point to an ending point on a collision-free path, and all were successful.\n\nRus says that systems like theirs suggest that another approach to creating safe and effective flying cars is not to simply \u201cput wings on cars,\u201d but to build on years of research in adding driving capabilities to drones.\n\n\n\n\u201cAs we begin to develop planning and control algorithms for flying cars, we are encouraged by the possibility of creating robots with these capabilities at small scale,\u201d Rus says. \u201cWhile there are obviously still big challenges to scaling up to vehicles that could actually transport humans, we are inspired by the potential of a future in which flying cars could offer us fast, traffic-free transportation.\u201d", "output": "Researchers from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory are developing a system of eight quadcopter drones that can both fly and drive autonomously. In tests, the robots successfully navigated a predetermined path along the ground and through the air without collision. The robots' algorithm for mixed-mode, large-scale transport shows it can be applied to real-world challenges, said Jingjin Yu, a computer science professor at Rutgers University, on seeing the research."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Dentsu Aegis make leadership changes in digital overhaul strategy \n Dentsu Aegis Network has augmented its top leadership team with the appointment of Nick Brien as chief executive officer of DAN Americas and the promotion of Nigel Morris to the newly created position of chief strategy and innovation officer.\n\nThe appointments are designed to further Dentsu Aegis\u2019 ambitions of transforming itself into a 100% digital economy business by 2020 by drawing on the best available talent from the advertising and digital marketing sectors.\n\nBrien boasts 30 years of high-level experience within the industry, most recently as global CEO of iCrossing and president of Hearst Magazines but also as CEO of McCann Worldgroup. He commented: \u201cIt is a real honour to be taking the Americas CEO role, leading 13,000 people in 45 agency brands across 19 countries. I see great opportunity to build on the strengths of the Dentsu Aegis Americas team to innovate the way brands are built across the region.\n\n\u201cThe future of Dentsu Aegis\u2019 business is founded on the new marketing world where marketing is planned around people, and not just product. Bolstered by strategic acquisitions, including Merkle, and in the context of a transforming digital economy, Dentsu Aegis is at the forefront of this shift in our industry to people-based marketing. I\u2019m excited to lead the Americas to achieve this ambitious agenda where sophisticated data analytics and real-time insight, enable us to imagine the best creative, experiences, engagement and addressability to deliver the best results for our clients.\u201c\n\nMorris meanwhile will be tasked with delivering innovative and strategic practices having previously served as CEO EMEA. He said: \u201cThe pace of change and transformation required, has become central to the role of marketing in our clients\u2019 business models and growth strategies. There is a need for a new level of expertise from Agency groups, taking a consultative approach to drive new streams of revenue and value to our clients\u2019 businesses and brands. This new role will enable us to work even closer with clients in the transition to a demand-led digital economy.\u201d\n\nBoth appointees will take a seat on the Dentsu Aegis executive committee, reporting directly to CEO Jerry Buhlmann.\n\nDentsu Aegis US chief Rob Horler departed a fortnight ago after 17 years in charge of the group.", "output": "Dentsu Aegis Network has made top leadership changes as part of its digital overhaul strategy. Nick Brien, global CEO of iCrossing and president of Hearst Magazines, has been appointed CEO of DAN Americas. Meanwhile, Nigel Morris has been promoted from the position of CEO EMEA to the newly-created role of chief strategy and innovation officer. Both will sit on Dentsu Aegis's executive committee and report directly to CEO Jerry Buhlmann. The changes come as part of Dentsu Aegis' plan to transform into a fully digital economy business by 2020.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US steakhouses hit by skyrocketing prime beef prices \n These are lean times for America\u2019s steakhouses.\n\nPrime cuts of beef have skyrocketed in price since May, with some meat sellers blaming a new trade deal with China \u2014 and that\u2019s eating into the bottom line at high-dollar chophouses.\n\nSteak mongers are seeing red over price hikes of as much as 30 percent during the past month alone from meat distributors. They\u2019re already feeling more pressure to absorb the costs as the steak season enters its annual summer slowdown.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re absorbing it right now,\u201d said Bobby Van\u2019s Steakhouse owner Rick Passarelli. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to pass along.\u201d\n\nBobby Van\u2019s, which charges $59 for a bone-in rib eye at its Central Park South location, has lately been buying its steak for about $13.50 a pound \u2014 up from $10 at the beginning of the year, Passarelli said. His restaurants buy about 50,000 pounds of beef a month.\n\nAccordingly, Passarelli lately has been encouraging waitstaff to push more pasta and chicken, which carry better margins despite the fact they\u2019re lower-ticket dishes.\n\nSome business owners blamed a trade deal with China that the Trump administration announced last month, which immediately opened up US beef, poultry and natural gas to China\u2019s exploding middle class.\n\n\u201cChina just agreed that the US will be allowed to sell beef, and other major products, into China once again,\u201d Trump \u2014 who prefers his steak burned to a crisp and covered in ketchup \u2014 tweeted May 12.\n\nAgriculture secretary Sonny Perdue said the deal would bring \u201caccess to an enormous market.\u201d But steak purveyors gripe that it has had the unintended effect of slamming meat lovers here in the US.\n\n\u201cAmerican beef companies have been gearing up for this [trade deal with China] \u2014 they have been putting product aside and freezing it,\u201d Pat LaFrieda Jr., owner of Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors, told The Post. \u201cThere is much less available on the market.\u201d\n\nStill, US Department of Agriculture economist William Hahn believes it may be too early for the China deal to have directly affected beef prices. Restaurant owners may feel the pinch more because prices had decreased last year, he said.\n\nLaFrieda, who says his restaurants are now paying about 20 percent more for beef, said he\u2019s already seeing more demand for cheaper cuts, including hanger steaks, flat iron and chuck.\n\n\u201cIf a skirt steak was $5 a pound a couple of months ago, my customers are paying about $6 a pound now,\u201d he said, quoting wholesale rates. \u201cYou will see less rib eye, filet mignon and NY strip on restaurant menus.\u201d\n\nNationally, the price of wholesale beef rose to $3.71 per pound for all types of beef in May \u2014 up more than 13 percent from $3.27 the month before, according to the most recent USDA figures.\n\nOne high-end San Francisco restaurateur confirmed that he hadn\u2019t been hit with the same price increases because he used smaller purveyors that already charged a premium.\n\n\u201cThe New York market gets hit the hardest,\u201d Richard Femenella, chief financial officer of the Charlie Palmer Group, which operates 14 restaurants and bars in multiple states, told The Post.", "output": "US steakhouses have been hit by a surge in the price of prime cuts of beef, with prices rising as much as 30% in the past month, according to The New York Post. Some businesses have placed blame on a recent trade deal with China, which has opened up the country's booming meat market to imports of US beef. In response, some restaurants and meat sellers have been putting cuts of beef aside in anticipation of a shortage. \"There is much less [beef] available on the market,\" claimed Pat LaFrieda Jr of supplier Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Adtech market cannibalising itself due to lack of transparency \n by Todd Garland , Op-Ed Contributor, June 27, 2017\n\nThere\u2019s a cautionary tale about how the most toxic worker is the one who deliberately makes a workflow overly complicated to make them \u201cindispensable.\u201d They force tasks to run through a black box that only they have visibility into, which doesn\u2019t make them indispensable; it makes them a parasite who is only hindering the company. The only way to ensure long-term health is to get rid of them.\n\nCreating this black box is the exact behavior that ad tech engaged in for years, and signs are pointing to the truth that both publishers and brands have finally had enough. Instead of trying to find a natural fit that made the flow between publishers and advertisers seamless, ad tech bloated the gaps between publishers and advertisers; the only party that truly benefitted was the ad tech vendor. It\u2019s understandable that this system can\u2019t continue. Publishers are losing readers and revenue because of poor user experience, and brands are seeing their ads placed in inappropriate or offensive places \u2014 such as videos promoting terrorism \u2014 due to their lack of visibility into automated exchanges. The solution is publishers taking full control of their revenue streams.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nFor those wondering why publishers need greater control, look no further than the current state of the ad tech market. Companies like Rubicon Project and Rocket Fuel grew very quickly because of the promises they made to publishers and brands. These promises, however, did nothing more than keep both parties at a distance from each other so vendors could skim as much off of the deals as they could. Ad tech vendors were the workers trying to make themselves indispensable, and in doing so they became a liability. Now big ad tech companies are hemorrhaging staff, their revenues are tanking, and the only positive thing one can say about the ad tech market is that it will likely see a lot of consolidation in its near future.\n\nThese are the organizations publishers are supposed to trust with their revenue streams? Truth be told, they\u2019re more concerned with their own these days (and you know what they say about putting your own oxygen mask on first).\n\nPublishers are responding by taking the reins. Time Inc., for instance, acquired both Viant and Adelphic to bring its ad tech in-house, and the increased overall demand for sponsored content is turning some publishers into full-fledged content agencies. Programmatic direct is another major part of this progression because its purpose is to close the gap between publishers and brands. Traditional automated programmatic exchanges serve as middlemen between publishers and brands, going back and forth between the two and taking a cut from both parties. Programmatic direct, on the other hand, empowers sales teams with the ability to work more efficiently. It doesn\u2019t take the entire process out of their hands while saying \u201ctrust us, we\u2019ll do you right,\u201d but instead improves the process by putting all of the tools in the hands of the publishers\u2019 sales and ad ops teams.\n\nBrands also benefit because working more closely with publishers provides them with greater visibility into where their ads are going. Fake news sites (the actual fake kind) thrived because, due to a lack transparency, many brands didn\u2019t know where their ads were placed, and now a growing number of brands are demanding their ads be pulled off of those kinds of sites. With programmatic direct, brands know exactly what they\u2019re getting into because they have much more visibility into where their ads are going to go.\n\nBringing publishers and brands closer together also results in the most immediately beneficial outcome: reducing the dreaded bloat that comes from too much ad tech. When ad tech vendors wedge themselves into publishers\u2019 sites, it takes a toll on the user experience that ends up slowing download times, adding a lot of noticeable cookies to a user\u2019s browser, and obstructing the content that customers go to a publisher\u2019s site to see. This results in ad blockers and abandoned pages. Taking these bloated ad tech vendors out of the equation is like pouring Drain-O down a clogged sink; suddenly everything runs quick and smooth, which is beneficial to all parties. Customers get a great user experience, publishers get happy, loyal readers, and brands get more exposure.\n\nThe results are a leaner, more profitable relationship for everyone.", "output": "The adtech market is cannibalising itself due to a lack of transparency. Adtech could have made the flow between publishers and advertisers seamless, but publishers are losing readers and revenue due to poor user experience, with ads placed in inappropriate places due to a lack of visibility into automated exchanges. To address the issue, it is suggested that publishers need to take greater control of their revenue streams, at the expense of adtech vendors."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Publishers buying Facebook traffic to keep ad prices low \n Buying traffic is one of those things that many publishers do but few admit publicly.\n\nTo bring clarity to this phenomenon, Digiday spoke to six publisher sources who said they buy traffic on Facebook. They do this, they say, to fill insertion orders they failed to reach on their own, promote new products and to make money through the murky world of arbitrage.\n\nThe rates that publishers pay to acquire traffic from Facebook widely vary. A news publisher said it usually paid under 1 cent per click. Another publisher said it pays between 2 cents and 5 cents per click, which means that its CPMs must be at least $20 to make its money back. Yet other publishers that pay for traffic on Facebook solely for the purpose of filling oversold inventory said they usually pay more than 5 cents per click.\n\n\u201cYou need to be really good with your ad tech and attribution to be able to understand hour by hour how you\u2019re getting charged; otherwise, you will lose a ton of money,\u201d said an exec from a lifestyle publisher.\n\nRates vary so much because many variables determine what Facebook will charge publishers for paid traffic, and Facebook adjusts its rates in real time with its own formula. Facebook penalizes content that isn\u2019t engaging by charging the publisher of that content more for its ads. To bring the costs down, publishers have to master targeting so they\u2019re going after the audience that is most likely to engage with the ads. Facebook declined to comment for this story.\n\nIf the publisher\u2019s website loads slowly, is full of ads or keeps users on-page for very little time, the ad rates will increase, said an exec from an entertainment publisher. If the publisher\u2019s ad on Facebook prompts few shares, likes and comments, or has a low click-through rate, that also causes the CPC to rise. Ad rates are also cheaper if the landing page is for a Facebook Instant Article rather than an article on the publisher\u2019s own website.\n\n\u201cBut Instant Articles earn less, so it negates any wins on the cost,\u201d the exec said.\n\nClark Benson, CEO of Ranker, said one way Ranker uses paid traffic is to boost its posts that are already performing well organically. He added that it\u2019s possible to make money on paid Facebook traffic through arbitrage since publishers can A/B test their ad units until their landing pages bring them more revenue than what they paid Facebook for the ads.\n\nHowever, Facebook can change its algorithms and formulas whenever it wants, so publishers that rely on arbitrage place themselves at the whim of the platform. Publishers that bought traffic for more than 5 cents per click viewed it as a loss leader that is necessary for them to fulfill big campaigns so that they don\u2019t lose future business with the advertiser.\n\n\u201cThe salesperson who has sold a big campaign realizes that they don\u2019t have enough inventory to complete a campaign,\u201d said an exec from a fashion publisher. \u201cThe editor gets a call and does what they can in terms of sending out a news email, writing a couple of extra stories, posting something to Facebook. And then the digital marketing person steps in and buys traffic.\u201d\n\nFour of the six publishers that spoke to Digiday for this story declined to share how much of their traffic they buy. A news publisher said it buys about 10 percent of its traffic. Benson said that over the past three months, Ranker got 23 percent of its monthly visitors from paid social, with almost all of it coming from Facebook.\n\nKunal Gupta, CEO of Polar, which helps publishers scale native ads, estimated at least 90 percent of publishers use paid promotion for their editorial content. Although it\u2019s common for pubs to buy audience, publisher sources were hesitant to discuss the topic because they were afraid it would associate their brands with the shady traffic buyers who try to trip verification filters.\n\n\u201cThis is the steroid people use to hit their traffic numbers,\u201d said Todd Sawicki, CEO of native ad platform Zemanta. \u201cNo one wants to admit they aren\u2019t as big and strong as they otherwise might look. But there is nothing wrong with it if they are buying engaged human traffic. If you do it the right way, there\u2019s nothing to be ashamed about.\u201d\n\nMax Willens contributed reporting", "output": "Publishers are buying Facebook traffic in a bid to keep ad prices low. Six publisher sources said they buy traffic to fill insertion orders they fail to hit on their own, make money through arbitrage, and promote new products. The rates they pay vary greatly, with one news publisher saying it typically paid less than $0.01, while another publisher said it paid between $0.02 and $0.05 per click. Rates vary because a range of variables determine what Facebook charges publishers, and it adjusts fees in real time with its own formula."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tencent marks nearly $300m for original video content for streaming \n \n\nChinese holding firm Tencent is investing \u00a52bn (\u00a3230m) to support the creation of original content that will be streamed over its Now Live platform. According to iResearch, the Chinese live-streaming market grew by 180 per cent year-on-year in 2016, and the firm is eager to take advantage of this.\n\nThe plan will see the internet giant invest both cash and resources to encourage the production of more original content by companies and individuals for its live-streaming service. While the firm is looking to generate a diverse range of quality talent, there will be a focus on content popular with young consumers, in particular entertainment, talent shows and tourism.\n\nThere are estimated to be around 325m live-streaming apps in use in China, although government authorities recently cracked down on three major web portals, including popular social media service Sina Weibo, due to violations of state rules governing streaming audio and video.\n\nDespite this, Tencent will reportedly offer resources including WeChat and QQ to help broadcasters promote and distribute original content, as a way of encouraging more consumers to come aboard its various services.\n\nTencent boasts a diverse range of investments in a variety of tech areas, including eCommerce, AI, automotive manufacturing and digital marketing. It recently acquired Supercell, the firm behind best-selling mobile game Clash of Clans, from Japanese firm SoftBank.\n\nDon\u2019t forget to enter the Effective Mobile Marketing Awards. The Early Bird deadline for submissions is 22 July. More details here.", "output": "Chinese internet giant Tencent is to invest CNY2bn ($294m) in original video content for its Now Live platform. Tencent is keen to take advantage of last year's 180% year-on-year growth in the domestic live-streaming market. It will invest both money and resources to encourage production, with a particular focus on content popular with young consumers."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow EU workers must have 'transition period' post Brexit: Tutte \n A host of UK business leaders on Tuesday claimed that the Government\u2019s new proposals on EU citizens\u2019 rights after Brexit do not go far enough to ensure Britain will get the workers it needs to ensure growth.\n\nChief executives spoke out after Prime Minister Theresa May unveiled plans whereby all EU nationals who have been lawfully resident in the UK for at least five years from a date yet to be decided, will be able to apply for \u201csettled status\u201d. However, those who come after the date will have two years to \u201cregularise their status\u201d but with no guarantees.\n\nJohn Tutte, the boss of FTSE 250 builder Redrow, welcomed the certainty for settled workers.\n\nHowever, he said that UK construction \u201crelies heavily upon a transient EU workforce\u201d. \u201cAs a minimum, there should be a period \u2014 lasting for a number of years \u2014 where transitional EU workers can secure temporary visas,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cThis will allow the UK\u2019s construction industry more time to develop the skilled labour required to meet this country\u2019s housing shortage.\u201d\n\nDavid Montague, chief executive of housing association L&Q, said: \u201cIf we want to build more homes we must welcome skilled construction workers wherever they come from.\u201d\n\nLuxury goods association Walpole \u2014 which counts Burberry and Jimmy Choo as members \u2014 said that a third of the British luxury workforce are EU nationals.\n\nChief executive Helen Brocklebank warned: \u201cWalpole feels the current offer doesn\u2019t go nearly far enough to help attract and retain the wide range of skills and talents the sector needs in the future.\u201d\n\nAccording to a report from Deloitte, a third of non-British workers are considering leaving the UK, with highly skilled EU workers most likely to leave.", "output": "Redrow CEO John Tutte has called for a post-Brexit transition period for construction workers. Under current proposals, EU citizens lawfully resident in the UK for at least five years from a date yet to be decided will be able to apply for \"settled status\". Those who come after the date will have two years to \"regularise their status\", but with no guarantees. Tutte welcomed plans, but added the British construction industry relied heavily upon a \"transient EU workforce\". To address this, he called for a period of a number of years during which transitional workers can secure temporary visas.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Experts claim world has three years to avoid climate disaster \n Decarbonizing the world economy will require renewable energy generation from vast solar farms, such as this one in Nevada. Credit: Reuben Wu\n\nIn the past three years, global emissions of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels have levelled after rising for decades. This is a sign that policies and investments in climate mitigation are starting to pay off. The United States, China and other nations are replacing coal with natural gas and boosting renewable energy sources. There is almost unanimous international agreement that the risks of abandoning the planet to climate change are too great to ignore.\n\nThe technology-driven transition to low-carbon energy is well under way, a trend that made the 2015 Paris climate agreement possible. But there is still a long way to go to decarbonize the world economy. The political winds are blustery. President Donald Trump has announced that the United States will withdraw from the Paris agreement when it is legally able to do so, in November 2020.\n\nThe year 2020 is crucially important for another reason, one that has more to do with physics than politics. When it comes to climate, timing is everything. According to an April report1 (prepared by Carbon Tracker in London, the Climate Action Tracker consortium, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany and Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut), should emissions continue to rise beyond 2020, or even remain level, the temperature goals set in Paris become almost unattainable. The UN Sustainable Development Goals that were agreed in 2015 would also be at grave risk.\n\nThat\u2019s why we launched Mission 2020 \u2014 a collaborative campaign to raise ambition and action across key sectors to bend the greenhouse-gas emissions curve downwards by 2020 (www.mission2020.global).\n\nAs 20 leaders of the world\u2019s largest economies gather on 7\u20138 July at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, we call on them to highlight the importance of the 2020 climate turning point for greenhouse-gas emissions, and to demonstrate what they and others are doing to meet this challenge. Lowering emissions globally is a monumental task, but research tells us that it is necessary, desirable and achievable.\n\nAfter roughly 1\u00b0C of global warming driven by human activity, ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are already losing mass at an increasing rate. Summer sea ice is disappearing in the Arctic and coral reefs are dying from heat stress \u2014 entire ecosystems are starting to collapse. The social impacts of climate change from intensified heatwaves, droughts and sea-level rise are inexorable and affect the poorest and weakest first.\n\nThe magnitude of the challenge can be grasped by computing a budget for CO 2 emissions \u2014 the maximum amount of the gas that can be released before the temperature limit is breached. After subtracting past emissions, humanity is left with a \u2018carbon credit\u2019 of between 150 and 1,050 gigatonnes (Gt; one Gt is 1 \u00d7 109 tonnes) of CO 2 to meet the Paris target of 1.5 \u00b0C or well below 2 \u00b0C (see go.nature.com/2rytztf). The wide range reflects different ways of calculating the budgets using the most recent figures.\n\nAt the current emission rate of 41 Gt of CO 2 per year, the lower limit of this range would be crossed in 4 years, and the midpoint of 600 Gt of CO 2 would be passed in 15 years. If the current rate of annual emissions stays at this level, we would have to drop them almost immediately to zero once we exhaust the budget. Such a \u2018jump to distress\u2019 is in no one\u2019s interest. A more gradual descent would allow the global economy time to adapt smoothly.\n\nHarness momentum\n\nThe good news is that it is still possible to meet the Paris temperature goals if emissions begin to fall by 2020 (see \u2018Carbon crunch\u2019).\n\nCredit: Sources: Stefan Rahmstorf/Global Carbon Project; <a href=\"http://go.nature.com/2RCPCRU\">http://go.nature.com/2RCPCRU </a>\n\nGreenhouse-gas emissions are already decoupling from production and consumption. For the past three years, worldwide CO 2 emissions from fossil fuels have stayed flat, while the global economy and the gross domestic product (GDP) of major developed and developing nations have grown by at least 3.1% per year (see go.nature.com/2rthjje). This is only the fourth occasion in the past 40 years on which emission levels have stagnated or fallen. The previous three instances \u2014 in the early 1980s, 1992 and 2009 \u2014 were associated with global economic predicaments, but the current one is not2.\n\nEmissions from the United States fell the most: by 3% last year, while its GDP grew by 1.6%. In China, CO 2 emissions fell by 1% in 2016, and its economy expanded by 6.7% (ref. 2). Although it is too early to tell whether this plateau will presage a fall, the signs are encouraging.\n\nIn 2016, two-thirds of China\u2019s 5.4% extra demand for electricity was supplied by carbon-free energy resources, mostly hydropower and wind2. In the European Union, wind and solar made up more than three-quarters of new energy capacity installed; coal demand was reduced by 10% (ref. 3). In the United States, almost two-thirds of the electricity-generating capacity installed by utility companies was based on renewables (see go.nature.com/2skv20g).\n\nThe International Energy Agency (IEA) has predicted that, by 2020, renewable sources could deliver 26\u201327% of the world\u2019s electricity needs, compared with 23.7% of electric power at the end of 2015. But that underestimates the pace of change in energy systems.\n\nGrowth in electric vehicles alone could displace 2 million barrels of oil per day by 2025, according to a February report4. It suggests that, by 2050, this could reach 25 million barrels of oil per day \u2014 a stark contrast to expectations from the fossil-fuel industry that demand for oil will rise. And solar power alone could supply 29% of global electricity generation by 2050. This would remove the need for coal and leave natural gas with only a 1% market share. However, the oil firm ExxonMobil predicts that all renewables will supply just 11% of global power generation by 2040 (ref. 4).\n\nInvestors, meanwhile, are growing wary of carbon risks. BlackRock and Vanguard, the two largest fund managers, voted \u2014 along with many others \u2014 against ExxonMobil management at its annual general meeting on 31 May and instructed the company to report on the profit impact of global measures to keep climate change below 2 \u00b0C. Earlier this month, Norway\u2019s US$960-billion sovereign-wealth fund declared that it will ask the banks in which it has invested to disclose how their lending contributes to global greenhouse-gas emissions.\n\nLast year, the installed capacity of renewable energy set a new record of 161 gigawatts; in 2015, investment levels reached $286 billion worldwide, more than 6 times that in 2004. Over half of that investment, $156 billion, was for projects in developing and emerging economies5.\n\nThere is a strong headwind against the low-carbon transition in some places, which may impede progress. For example, the Financial CHOICE Act \u2014 a bill passed by the US House of Representatives on 8 June \u2014 would make it nearly impossible for investors to challenge companies on climate-risk disclosure through shareholder proposal processes, as at ExxonMobil. However, as the UN Secretary General, Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, said in New York last month: \u201cThe sustainability train has left the station.\u201d The fossil-free economy is already profitable6 and creating jobs (www.clean200.org). A report this year by the International Renewable Energy Agency and the IEA shows that efforts to stop climate change could boost the global economy by $19 trillion7. The IEA has also said that implementing the Paris agreement will unlock $13.5 trillion or more before 2050.\n\nRecent geopolitical events, too, have galvanized activity in support of the Paris agreement. For example, the #WeAreStillIn campaign \u2014 involving more than 1,000 governors, mayors, businesses, investors and universities from across the United States \u2014 has declared that it will ensure the nation remains a leader in reducing carbon emissions.\n\nSix milestones\n\nTo prioritize actions, we\u2019ve identified milestones in six sectors. Developed with knowledge leaders, these were reviewed and refined in collaboration with analysts at Yale University, the Climate Action Tracker consortium, Carbon Tracker, the low-carbon coalition We Mean Business, the Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport (SLoCaT), advisory firm SYSTEMIQ, the New Climate Economy project and Conservation International.\n\nThese goals may be idealistic at best, unrealistic at worst. However, we are in the age of exponential transformation and think that such a focus will unleash ingenuity. By 2020, here\u2019s where the world needs to be:\n\nEnergy. Renewables make up at least 30% of the world\u2019s electricity supply \u2014 up from 23.7% in 2015 (ref. 8). No coal-fired power plants are approved beyond 2020, and all existing ones are being retired.\n\nInfrastructure. Cities and states have initiated action plans to fully decarbonize buildings and infrastructures by 2050, with funding of $300 billion annually. Cities are upgrading at least 3% of their building stock to zero- or near-zero emissions structures each year9.\n\nTransport. Electric vehicles make up at least 15% of new car sales globally, a major increase from the almost 1% market share that battery-powered and plug-in hybrid vehicles now claim. Also required are commitments for a doubling of mass-transit utilization in cities, a 20% increase in fuel efficiencies for heavy-duty vehicles and a 20% decrease in greenhouse-gas emissions from aviation per kilometre travelled.\n\nLand. Land-use policies are enacted that reduce forest destruction and shift to reforestation and afforestation efforts. Current net emissions from deforestation and land-use changes form about 12% of the global total. If these can be cut to zero next decade, and afforestation and reforestation can instead be used to create a carbon sink by 2030, it will help to push total net global emissions to zero, while supporting water supplies and other benefits. Sustainable agricultural practices can reduce emissions and increase CO 2 sequestration in healthy, well-managed soils.\n\nIndustry. Heavy industry is developing and publishing plans for increasing efficiencies and cutting emissions, with a goal of halving emissions well before 2050. Carbon-intensive industries \u2014 such as iron and steel, cement, chemicals, and oil and gas \u2014 currently emit more than one-fifth of the world\u2019s CO 2 , excluding their electricity and heat demands.\n\nFinance. The financial sector has rethought how it deploys capital and is mobilizing at least $1 trillion a year for climate action. Most will come from the private sector. Governments, private banks and lenders such as the World Bank need to issue many more \u2018green bonds\u2019 to finance climate-mitigation efforts. This would create an annual market that, by 2020, processes more than 10 times the $81 billion of bonds issued in 2016.\n\nFurther, faster, together\n\nIf we delay, the conditions for human prosperity will be severely curtailed. There are three pressing and practical steps to avoid this.\n\nFirst, use science to guide decisions and set targets. Policies and actions must be based on robust evidence. Uncensored and transparent communication of peer-reviewed science to global decision-makers is crucial. Academic journal articles are not easily read or digested by non-experts, so we need a new kind of communication in which Nature meets Harvard Business Review. Science associations should provide more media training to young scientists and hold communication boot camps on how to make climate science relevant to corporate boards and investors.\n\nThose in power must also stand up for science. French President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s Make Our Planet Great Again campaign is a compelling example. He has spoken out to a global audience in support of climate scientists, and invited researchers to move to France to help accelerate action and deliver on the Paris agreement. To encourage others to speak, scientists should forge connections with leaders from policy, business and civil society. The Arctic Basecamp at Davos in January, for instance, brought scientists into high-level discussions on global risk at the World Economic Forum\u2019s annual meeting in Switzerland.\n\nThe fossil-free economy is already profitable.\n\nSecond, existing solutions must be scaled up rapidly. With no time to wait, all countries should adopt plans for achieving 100% renewable electricity production, while ensuring that markets can be designed to enable renewable-energy expansion.\n\nThird, encourage optimism. Recent political events have thrown the future of our world into sharp focus. But as before Paris, we must remember that impossible is not a fact, it\u2019s an attitude. It is crucial that success stories are shared. Demonstrating where countries and businesses have over-achieved on their targets will raise the bar for others. More-ambitious targets become easier to set.\n\nThe upcoming G20 meeting in Hamburg is the perfect moment for heads of state to integrate the six milestones into their discussions on how to ensure a resilient, prosperous, inclusive and interconnected global economy. This would pave the way for a year of raised ambition in 2018, when nations take stock of progress and revise national commitments under the Paris agreement.\n\nThe G20 is due to adopt the recommendations of the Financial Stability Board\u2019s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, on how the global finance system will manage the risk of climate change. It requires financial institutions to design, disclose and implement a transition strategy with a view to full decarbonization of operations, value chains and portfolios by 2050. National governments and financial regulators must enact these recommendations swiftly.\n\nCities and provincial governments must help to drive the ambition of national governments on climate change, particularly through smart infrastructure and transport policy. C40 Cities, a network of megacities committed to addressing climate change, has adopted a strategy called Deadline 2020 that aligns its emissions-reductions plans with the Paris agreement. Other cities now have an opportunity to follow suit, for example through the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy.\n\nOur co-signatory list, which includes eminent scientists, business leaders, economists, analysts, influencers and representatives of non-governmental organizations, is an example of the strength of radical collaboration across unusual partners, who all share a mission to seize this opportunity to improve people\u2019s lives, the planet and the global economy.", "output": "Dangerous climate change can still be avoided if unprecedented action on carbon emissions is taken in the next three years, according to a letter from experts including former UN climate chief, Christiana Figueres, and Hans Joachim Schellnhuber of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, published in the journal Nature. The authors argue that the fact that emissions have remained stable over the past three years, despite a rise in global temperatures, means that some of the most devastating effects of climate change can still be averted. The letter outlines six goals designed to permanently reduce emissions by 2020.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Experts claim world has three years to avoid climate disaster \n Avoiding dangerous levels of climate change is still just about possible, but will require unprecedented effort and coordination from governments, businesses, citizens and scientists in the next three years, a group of prominent experts has warned.\n\nWarnings over global warming have picked up pace in recent months, even as the political environment has grown chilly with Donald Trump\u2019s formal announcement of the US\u2019s withdrawal from the Paris agreement. This year\u2019s weather has beaten high temperature records in some regions, and 2014, 2015 and 2016 were the hottest years on record.\n\nBut while temperatures have risen, global carbon dioxide emissions have stayed broadly flat for the past three years. This gives hope that the worst effects of climate change \u2013 devastating droughts, floods, heatwaves and irreversible sea level rises \u2013 may be avoided, according to a letter published in the journal Nature this week.\n\nThe authors, including former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres and Hans Joachim Schellnhuber of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, argue that the next three years will be crucial. They calculate that if emissions can be brought permanently lower by 2020 then the temperature thresholds leading to runaway irreversible climate change will not be breached.\n\nFigueres, the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, under whom the Paris agreement was signed, said: \u201cWe stand at the doorway of being able to bend the emissions curve downwards by 2020, as science demands, in protection of the UN sustainable development goals, and in particular the eradication of extreme poverty. This monumental challenge coincides with an unprecedented openness to self-challenge on the part of sub-national governments inside the US, governments at all levels outside the US, and of the private sector in general. The opportunity given to us over the next three years is unique in history.\u201d\n\nSchellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, added: \u201cThe maths is brutally clear: while the world can\u2019t be healed within the next few years, it may be fatally wounded by negligence [before] 2020.\u201d\n\nScientists have been warning that time is fast running out to stave off the worst effects of warming, and some milestones may have slipped out of reach. In the Paris agreement, governments pledged an \u201caspirational\u201d goal of holding warming to no more than 1.5C, a level which it is hoped will spare most of the world\u2019s lowest-lying islands from inundation. But a growing body of research has suggested this is fast becoming impossible.\n\n\n\nParis\u2019s less stringent, but firmer, goal of preventing warming from exceeding 2C above pre-industrial levels is also in doubt.\n\nThe authors point to signs that the trend of upward emissions is being reversed, and to technological progress that promises lower emissions for the future. Renewable energy use has soared, creating a foundation for permanently lowering emissions. Coal use is showing clear signs of decline in key regions, including China and India. Governments, despite Trump\u2019s pronouncements, are forging ahead with plans to reduce greenhouse gases.\n\nThe authors called for political and business leaders to continue tackling emissions and meeting the Paris goals without the US. \u201cAs before Paris, we must remember that impossible is not a fact, it\u2019s an attitude,\u201d they wrote.\n\nThey set out six goals for 2020 which they said could be adopted at the G20 meeting in Hamburg on 7-8 July. These include increasing renewable energy to 30% of electricity use; plans from leading cities and states to decarbonise by 2050; 15% of new vehicles sold to be electric; and reforms to land use, agriculture, heavy industry and the finance sector, to encourage green growth.\n\nProf Gail Whiteman said the signs from technical innovation and economics were encouraging: \u201cClimate science underlines the unavoidable urgency of our challenge, but equally important is the fact that the economic, technical and social analyses show that we can resoundingly rise to the challenge through collective action.\u201d\n\nWhile the greenhouse gases poured into the atmosphere over the last two centuries have only gradually taken effect, future changes are likely to be faster, scientists fear. Johan Rockstr\u00f6m of the Stockholm Resilience Centre said: \u201cWe have been blessed by a remarkably resilient planet over the past 100 years, able to absorb most of our climate abuse. Now we have reached the end of this era, and need to bend the global curve of emissions immediately, to avoid unmanageable outcomes for our modern world.\u201d", "output": "Dangerous climate change can still be avoided if unprecedented action on carbon emissions is taken in the next three years, according to a letter from experts including former UN climate chief, Christiana Figueres, and Hans Joachim Schellnhuber of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, published in the journal Nature. The authors argue that the fact that emissions have remained stable over the past three years, despite a rise in global temperatures, means that some of the most devastating effects of climate change can still be averted. The letter outlines six goals designed to permanently reduce emissions by 2020.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Occupants to begin moving into Cardiff's garden city in autumn \n Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nInvalid email Something went wrong, please try again later.\n\nSign up here to get the CardiffOnline newsletter sent straight to your inbox\n\nThe first people are set to move into Cardiff\u2019s new \u201cgarden city\u201d this autumn.\n\nEventually there will be 7,000 homes included in the \u00a32bn development, which is being created at land bordering Fairwater, St Fagans, Danescourt and Radyr.\n\nIt will take 15 years to complete the project, which is said will provide 30,000 jobs during its lifetime.\n\nWork has started on the first phase of the Plasd\u0175r development and the first 126 homes of the 630 planned as part of the first phase are now being built.\n\nVideo Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will auto-play soon 8 Cancel Play now\n\nThese homes are being built on land to the north of Llantrisant Road by lead developer Redrow Homes.\n\nDevelopers say it will bring \u00a373.58m in community benefits to the local area including four new primary schools and a secondary school within the development.\n\nNew health centres, shops, offices, pubs and restaurants, leisure centres, playing fields, parks and preserved woodland are all part of the plans.\n\nThe first primary school will be for 480 pupils and will be delivered as part of the first phase of the development. Money will also be spent creating roads, paths and cycleways to encourage residents to use public transport.\n\n(Image: Richard Swingler)\n\nAs work progresses, different developers will be involved.\n\nOf the 15 homes that have been released so far, nine have already been reserved.\n\nThe Mills family were one of the first to purchase a home on the development and will be among the founding members of the Plasd\u0175r community.\n\n(Image: Richard Swingler)\n\nSian and her husband Michael, along with their two children Evan, eight, and Carys, five, will be some of the first residents.\n\nThey are due to move into their new three-bedroom home in October this year.\n\nProject director Wayne Rees said: \u201cAt Plasd\u0175r we want to create a genuinely sustainable community where people can put down roots and begin establishing a home for future generations, set up businesses, work, go to school, play and enjoy their leisure time.\n\n\u201cThe Mills family, and the other residents of this first phase of Plasd\u0175r, will be the founding members of a new community, helping to establish and shape it for future generations to come.\n\n\u201cWhile Plasd\u0175r will become a new community, we also want to ensure that it blends with the wider community surrounding it and provides additional facilities that are needed for the area as a whole to thrive.\u201d\n\n(Image: UGC MWL)\n\nMrs Mills said: \u201cBefore we heard about Plasd\u0175r we hadn\u2019t really thought about purchasing a new build home.\n\n\u201cHousing developments can sometimes be a bit claustrophobic, but what really attracted us to Plasd\u0175r was the \u2018garden city\u2019 aspect.\n\n\u201cWe love the idea of living somewhere with lots of space and green, open areas. As a young family, the parks, sports facilities and cycle paths are really appealing to us.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s important to us to live somewhere that has a sense of community. In our old house, we would only see our neighbours briefly when getting in the car \u2013 it was a busy road so there wasn\u2019t much opportunity to stop to talk.\n\n\u201cWe know we\u2019ll be part of a friendly community where we can build relationships with the people around us.\u201d\n\nThe developers say that Plasd\u0175r is inspired by the garden city movement of the 19th century, founded on principles of \u201cfresh air, sunlight, breathing room and playing room\u201d.", "output": "The first occupants of Redrow Homes's \u00a32bn \"garden city\" development on land bordering St Fagans, Danescourt, Radyr and Fairwater in Cardiff are to move in this autumn. The first\u00a0126 homes of the 630 planned at the Plasdwr development are currently being built. The development will include pubs, restaurants, leisure centres, playing fields and preserved woodland. A school for 480 pupils will also be part of the first stage of the development. The whole project\u00a0is expected to take 15 years to complete.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Oil and Gas Authority lists recommendations for offshore projects \n The Oil & Gas Authority found that less than 25% of UKCS O&G projects have completed on schedule since 2011. Image courtesy of ConocoPhillips.\n\nThe oil and gas industry\u2019s relentless pursuit of efficiency in the wake of the oil price crash appears to be paying off to some degree in the UK North Sea. There have undoubtedly been casualties of this push \u2013 primarily the hundreds of thousands of North Sea offshore workers laid off or dealing with significantly harsher working conditions \u2013 but there are clear signals that the pain is starting to pay dividends, from a macroeconomic perspective at least.\n\nUnit operating costs on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) have almost halved, from nearly $30 a barrel in 2015 to around $17 today. The region\u2019s steady production decline also shows signs of a gradual reversal, with output falling just 3% last year, compared to 12% in 2014.\n\nTime and money: a focus on project delivery\n\nBut the focus isn\u2019t just on streamlined operations and maximising hydrocarbon flow rates. A component of the UK\u2019s general cross-sector objective to maximise economic recovery from the UKCS (MER UK) is improving the efficiency of project delivery.\n\nA report published in March by the Oil & Gas Authority (OGA), which was established as an independent economic regulator in April 2015 in response to the recommendations of the Wood Review, studied 58 major projects undertaken on the UKCS from 2011 to 2016, and found significant room for improvement.\n\nThe OGA review team found that since 2011, less than 25% of oil and gas projects in the region were delivered on schedule, with an average delay of ten months. Cost overruns have been rife as well, with projects coming in at 35% over budget on average when compared to field development plan (FDP) estimates. One $500m unnamed project (all data presented in the report is anonymised) trebled its budget and is still incomplete, while nine of the 58 projects overran by more than two years. Capital expenditure, meanwhile, was at a record high during this period, averaging $15.4bn.\n\nThe report, entitled \u2018Lessons learned from UKCS oil and gas projects 2011-2016\u2019, attributed the main cause of the delays and budget blowouts not to the technical complexity of offshore projects but to flaws in organisation and project management.\n\n\u201cThe lessons learned outlined in the report have been derived from extensive engagement with industry, with focus on how major projects are planned and executed, rather than technical scope,\u201d said OGA operations director Gunther Newcombe in March. \u201cOne of the key findings was that there was no correlation found between the size and complexity of projects and delay, with the key factors being non-technical in nature.\u201d\n\nDelving into the five key lessons that were presented by the OGA \u2013 after analysing the data and conducting \u2018lessons learned\u2019 events with 13 operators and three tier one contractors \u2013 provides some insight into how oil and gas development projects are planned and executed, and where operators and contractors could improve the way they work. Outside of the specific lessons listed below, the report notes \u201ca common necessity for more clearly defining the project scope prior to project sanction; keeping the project as simple as possible; increasing the accountability of project delivery; and improving the co-operation between companies/stakeholders\u201d.\n\nOrganisation: bringing a project team together\n\nLarge-scale offshore projects in the oil and gas industry are a complex business, bringing together owners, operators, contractors of many stripes and a long supply chain. The OGA report acknowledges the virtual endless potential for miscommunication between these diverse partners, and notes a trend of growing costs and transitory labour that is more difficult to organise effectively.\n\n\u201cIt was clear that there has been a trend toward increasing owner\u2019s team costs over the last 10 years and an increasing reliance on temporary agency staff in both operator and engineering contractor workforce,\u201d the report states.\n\nOrganisational strategies that could lead to more efficient project delivery include empowering delivery organisations with the authority they need to do their work properly, maintaining continuity of project teams between projects and early involvement of the supply chain.\n\n\u201cTime spent investing in aligning project team, partners, supply chain and regulators at the beginning is time well spent,\u201d urges the report. \u201cDon\u2019t wait to develop and deepen relationships until after things go wrong.\u201d\n\nProject management\n\nGiven that the FDPs of so many UKCS projects have proven to be wildly accurate when it comes to expenditure and schedule estimates, it\u2019s clear that project management \u2013 the ability to plan a project\u2019s workload in detail and build a fairly accurate picture of the scope of the work \u2013 has been lacking.\n\n\u201cDespite an increase in processes, tools, project controls, supervision and engineering man-hours in oil and gas developments, there has been no visible improvement in the ability to predict outcomes,\u201d says the report.\n\nThis lack of predictability may be partly attributed to the unreasonable expectations of some offshore clients and the writing-off of probabilistic planning, which can frustrate contractors. One anonymous participant quoted in the report made this clear: \u201cTime and time again we are faced with clients driving unrealistic deterministic schedules. It has not been unusual for our customers to dismiss probabilistic schedule analysis and one instance of it being referred to as \u2018mumbo jumbo\u2019.\u201d\n\nThe report states that realistic \u2013 \u201cas opposed to aspirational\u201d \u2013 schedules should be set at the outset of project planning, and project management expertise should be more proactively valued in the industry. The Engineering Construction Industry Training Board\u2019s Offshore Project Management Steering Group could help point clients in the right direction in this area.\n\nFront-end loading\n\nFront-end loading (FEL) involves the pre-project planning phase, whereby a project is planned in concept, with an emphasis on analysing feasibility and evaluating risk before an investment decision is made. FEL can, the report notes, support the project management process by better predicting costs and providing benchmarking that can feed into a feasibility decision, especially for brownfield projects.\n\nProblems arise when projects fail to plan ahead in enough detail, with the report finding that many schedule-driven projects \u2013 particularly those initiated in 2012-13 \u2013 kicked off without complete scope and with unclear objectives and priorities, and later paid for it in delays and budget issues.\n\nThe review team recommends confirming and tying down a project\u2019s key resources \u2013 drilling rigs, long-lead materials, support vessels and the like \u2013 at the sanction stage. An unnamed contributor adds that due diligence on key contractors is a must:\n\n\u201cEnsure that there is the right level of due diligence when outsourcing key project management scopes to ensure that the resources provided have the right competencies and that the outsourcing company has robust delivery processes to support the scope \u2013 don\u2019t assume.\u201d\n\nExecution: not just about contractors\n\nThe OGA recognises that blame for flaws in execution during the development and construction stage tends to fall on contracting and sub-contracting groups, which are primarily responsible for most of the major works. This is wrong, the report says, as failures in execution can be minimised or avoided \u201cif the project is set up properly and all parties are clear on their responsibilities\u201d. Execution flaws, in other words, are as much down to poor prior planning as to errors in the moment.\n\nThe report suggests that front-end engineering design (FEED), detailed design and construction are carried out in strict sequence to minimise confusion, and if not, aggressive risk management should be employed and contingencies should be developed based on those assessments.\n\nOther challenges include transition management, with many projects underestimating offshore hook-up and commissioning effort in terms of time and cost. Subsea work programmes have tended to be more predictable, while drilling and facilities, especially floating production storage and offloading, \u201cpresent a much larger spread of outcomes in projects\u201d.\n\nWinning behaviour\n\nBehavioural factors governing the relationships between operators and contractors can have a significant influence on the success of a project, for better or worse. \u201cMany behaviours continue to contribute to poorer project delivery, inflated budgets and schedule, or projects not even getting sanctioned,\u201d the report warns.\n\nCorporate behavioural issues identified by the report include excessive micro-management, lack of trust between stakeholders and over-optimistic reporting. \u201cMany (but not all) operators issue too many specifications \u2013 many of which are not applicable or even contradictory,\u201d says one contributor quoted by the report. \u201cThe larger the operator is, the more paper there is.\u201d\n\nPositive behaviours cited include agility and sense of urgency, devolved decision-making, respect and accountability, with smaller teams generally deemed more efficient and cohesive.\n\n\u201cEffective collaborative teams are smaller and, therefore, cheaper, and generally faster when everyone involved is seeking to deliver the end outcome in the minimum possible time,\u201d according to the OGA report.\n\nLessons learned\n\nLooking at the scope of projects between 2011 and 2016, the report noted that the industry\u2019s ability to deliver projects seems to have improved over time. \u201cMost of the significantly delayed projects were consented between 2011 and 2013,\u201d it states.\n\nThe drive for efficiency across oil and gas operations prompted by the sustained oil price decline seems to be having a positive effect on project delivery as well as production efficiency, although the improvements made to project management have been less pronounced.\n\n\u201cThere are also encouraging signs that the ability to deliver projects in line with cost and schedule commitments has been improving recently,\u201d said Newcome after the report\u2019s release. \u201cThis is aligned to the effort we have seen industry making in the areas of production efficiency and operating costs over the last 18 months.\u201d\n\nThe challenge for the industry now will be to carry forward these hard-won lessons in leanness and not forget them if and when the oil price rallies to more profitable levels and the times of plenty return.", "output": "The development of smaller teams and cultivation of\u00a0relationships between project teams, partners, supply chain and regulators at the outset of a project have been included\u00a0among the measures required\u00a0to improve the efficiency of oil and gas operations in the UK North Sea, according to a report by the UK Oil and\u00a0Gas Authority. It also stated that executing front-end engineering design in\u00a0a strict sequence and setting out the essential resources and equipment for\u00a0a project at\u00a0the sanction stage would help\u00a0improve the industry\u2019s ability to deliver projects to schedule.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers hack entire wind farms to show their vulnerability \n On a sunny day last summer, in a vast cornfield somewhere in the large, windy middle of America, two researchers from the University of Tulsa stepped into an oven-hot, elevator-sized chamber within the base of a 300-foot-tall wind turbine. They\u2019d picked the simple pin-and-tumbler lock on the turbine\u2019s metal door in less than a minute and opened the unsecured server closet inside.\n\nJason Staggs, a tall 28-year-old Oklahoman, quickly unplugged a network cable and inserted it into a Raspberry Pi minicomputer, the size of a deck of cards, that had been fitted with a Wi-Fi antenna. He switched on the Pi and attached another Ethernet cable from the minicomputer into an open port on a programmable automation controller, a microwave-sized computer that controlled the turbine. The two men then closed the door behind them and walked back to the white van they\u2019d driven down a gravel path that ran through the field.\n\nStaggs sat in the front seat and opened a MacBook Pro while the researchers looked up at the towering machine. Like the dozens of other turbines in the field, its white blades---each longer than a wing of a Boeing 747---turned hypnotically. Staggs typed into his laptop's command line and soon saw a list of IP addresses representing every networked turbine in the field. A few minutes later he typed another command, and the hackers watched as the single turbine above them emitted a muted screech like the brakes of an aging 18-wheel truck, slowed, and came to a stop.\n\nJason Staggs. Ross Mantle for WIRED\n\n'We Were Shocked'\n\nFor the past two years, Staggs and his fellow researchers at the University of Tulsa have been systematically hacking wind farms around the United States to demonstrate the little-known digital vulnerabilities of an increasingly popular form of American energy production. With the permission of wind energy companies, they\u2019ve performed penetration tests on five different wind farms across the central US and West Coast that use the hardware of five wind power equipment manufacturers.\n\nAs part of the agreement that legally allowed them to access those facilities, the researchers say they can't name the wind farms\u2019 owners, the locations they tested, or the companies that built the turbines and other hardware they attacked. But in interviews with WIRED and a presentation they plan to give at the Black Hat security conference next month, they're detailing the security vulnerabilities they uncovered. By physically accessing the internals of the turbines themselves---which often stood virtually unprotected in the middle of open fields---and planting $45 in commodity computing equipment, the researchers carried out an extended menu of attacks on not only the individual wind turbine they'd broken into but all of the others connected to it on the same wind farm's network. The results included paralyzing turbines, suddenly triggering their brakes to potentially damage them, and even relaying false feedback to their operators to prevent the sabotage from being detected.\n\n\u201cWhen we started poking around, we were shocked. A simple tumbler lock was all that stood between us and the wind farm control network,\u201d says Staggs. \u201cOnce you have access to one of the turbines, it\u2019s game over.\u201d\n\nIn their attacks, the Tulsa researchers exploited an overarching security issue in the wind farms they infiltrated: While the turbines and control systems had limited or no connections to the internet, they also lacked almost any authentication or segmentation that would prevent a computer within the same network from sending valid commands. Two of the five facilities encrypted the connections from the operators\u2019 computers to the wind turbines, making those communications far harder to spoof. But in every case the researchers could nonetheless send commands to the entire network of turbines by planting their radio-controlled Raspberry Pi in the server closet of just one of the machines in the field.", "output": "Wind farm operators need to improve physical and digital security if they are to protect multi-million-dollar sites from criminals, according to researchers from the University of Tulsa who developed proof-of-concept attacks on wind infrastructure. In one of a series of authorised scenarios, the two researchers picked a simple lock to gain access to the microwave-sized computer that controlled a turbine \u2013 then, remotely, using a Raspberry Pi minicomputer, stopped not just one machine, but an entire fleet. The vulnerabilities of turbines expose wind farm operators to extortion or ransom attacks that could be financially catastrophic.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "How the Senate\u2019s Health-Care Bill Threatens the Nation's Health \n To understand how the Senate Republicans\u2019 health-care bill would affect people\u2019s actual health, the first thing you have to understand is that incremental care\u2014regular, ongoing care as opposed to heroic, emergency care\u2014is the greatest source of value in modern medicine. There is clear evidence that people who get sufficient incremental care enjoy better prevention, earlier diagnosis and management of urgent conditions, better control of chronic illnesses, and longer life spans.\n\nWhen more people get health-insurance coverage, as they did following the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, they get more incremental care. This week, the New England Journal of Medicine published a paper that I co-authored with Katherine Baicker and Ben Sommers, two health economists at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, in which we analyzed the health effects of insurance coverage. We looked at dozens of studies put out over the last decade, and found that insurance-coverage expansions\u2014including not just the A.C.A but also past Medicaid expansions and the health-care reform that Massachusetts passed in 2006\u2014have consistently and significantly increased the number of people who have a regular source of care and who can afford the care they need. Insurance expansions have made people more likely to get primary and preventive care, chronic-illness care, and needed medications\u2014including cancer screenings, diabetes and blood-pressure medicines, depression treatment, and surgery for cancer before it is too late.\n\nThese improvements in care help explain why people who have health insurance are twenty-five per cent more likely to report being in good or excellent health. It also explains why they become less likely to die. Proper health care saves lives, and the magnitude of the reduction in deaths increases over time. The longest study we looked at analyzed Medicaid expansions that occurred in the early two-thousands in Arizona, Maine, and New York. Five years after the expansions, mortality rates for recipients had fallen by six per cent compared with matched populations in states that didn\u2019t expand Medicaid. More broadly, when we looked at the data from all the large studies in our set, we found that, for every three hundred to eight hundred people who gained coverage, one life was ultimately saved per year. The biggest gains came, as would be expected, among patients with chronic or semi-chronic conditions, such as heart disease, cancer, H.I.V., and other infections.\n\nConservatives often take a narrow view of the value of health insurance: they focus on catastrophic events such as emergencies and sudden, high-cost illnesses. But the path of life isn\u2019t one of steady health punctuated by brief crises. Most of us accumulate costly, often chronic health issues as we age. These issues can often be delayed, managed, and controlled if we have good health care\u2014and can\u2019t be if we don\u2019t.\n\nConservatives also dismiss Medicaid by arguing that it provides inadequate or unsatisfactory coverage. The opposite is true, according to the evidence. Compared with private coverage, Medicaid produces at least as much improvement in access to care, measures of health, and mortality reduction. And polls indicate that recipients like Medicaid more than private coverage, even with the difficulties finding doctors who take Medicaid, because the program provides them with better financial protection.\n\nDespite these facts, the Senate reform bill, like the bill that House Republicans passed earlier this year, would hollow out or terminate coverage for tens of millions of Americans who rely on Medicaid or the private-insurance exchanges set up by the A.C.A. These bills are, in many ways, Medicaid-repeal bills masquerading as Obamacare-repeal bills. And Medicaid, remember, is not a program that the public is complaining about. It is immensely popular and works well. It provides coverage for sixty per cent of disabled children, and maternity coverage for half of pregnant women. Two-thirds of nursing-home residents end up relying on Medicaid coverage after their savings are spent. Among adult Medicaid recipients, sixty per cent work, and eighty per cent are part of working families.\n\nPresident Trump, who has expressed his support for the Senate bill, campaigned on a specific promise not to cut Medicaid, and the White House continues to peddle a claim that, as Sean Spicer put it on Friday, the President is \u201ccommitted to making sure that no one who currently is in the Medicaid program is affected in any way, which is reflected in the Senate bill, and he\u2019s pleased with that.\u201d But this statement does not reflect reality\u2014the Senate proposal would not only roll back the A.C.A.\u2019s Medicaid expansion but go even further, capping Medicaid expenditures at levels even lower than those that would have been in place without the A.C.A.\n\nThe Senate bill would also ultimately make people who buy insurance on the A.C.A. exchanges\u2014people without coverage from an employer or from Medicaid\u2014pay far more money for far worse coverage, especially if they are age fifty or older. The standard \u201creference\u201d plan on the exchanges would cover barely more than half of medical costs, while cost-sharing subsidies for working-class people would be eliminated, and the level of tax credits available to them would be cut, too. The result: the median deductible would jump from the current five hundred dollars to more than six thousand dollars. The annual premium for a sixty-year-old earning fifty thousand dollars in my home town of Athens, Ohio, would triple, to fourteen thousand dollars. In many parts of the country, things would be much worse. (In Anchorage, Alaska, for example, premiums would be thirty-six thousand dollars.) The bill, in other words, promises terrible coverage at unaffordable prices. Millions of people would have to give up insurance, leaving them without protection and the entire individual-insurance market at risk of collapse.\n\nThe trade-offs here are indefensible. The bill would take a trillion dollars away from health coverage for the bottom fifty per cent of the population to give a tax cut to the top two per cent. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities did the math: one consequence of the legislation is that three-quarters of a million people would be thrown off of the Medicaid rolls to give the four hundred highest earners in the country a thirty-three-billion-dollar tax cut. The bill would put thousands of nursing homes, clinics, and hospitals into financial trouble. And for patients it would mean more medical debts, more untreated sickness, and more deaths. A basic test of government is its ability to prevent large-scale harm to its citizens\u2019 health and survival. This bill, and this Administration, are failing that test.", "output": "Incremental care, or the provision of regular ongoing care, has been proven to prevent healthcare issues, contribute to earlier diagnoses and control chronic illnesses. The new health care bill currently being considered by the Senate may adversely affect American\u2019s health because the Affordable Care Act they hope to largely repeal increased incremental care. Expansions to Medicaid and other insurance options have increased the number of Americans that have access to regular care, and have opened the doors for better primary and preventive care, necessary medications, and chronic illness care. The improvements have led to lower mortality rates and better reports of health, particularly among those with semi-chronic or chronic problems such as cancer and heart disease. Health issues are costly in accumulation, with crises occurring occasionally, and health care should reflect this pattern to improve general healthcare and prognoses. Evidence and polls have shown that Medicaid is a popular program that actually provides the greatest amount of coverage. The Senate proposal, despite the Trump administration\u2019s statements, will not preserve the current level of coverage given to Americans and will force those without coverage from employers or Medicaid to pay far more for far worse insurance coverage, particularly if they are above the age of 50. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has stated that the legislation will remove three-quarters of a million citizens from Medicaid, and give the four hundred highest earners in the US a $33bn tax cut, an exchange that will put many citizens\u2019 health at risk.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Medicaid Cuts May Force Retirees Out of Nursing Homes \n ORANGE, Va. \u2014 Alice Jacobs, 90, once owned a factory and horses. She has raised four children and buried two husbands.\n\nBut years in an assisted living center drained her savings, and now she relies on Medicaid to pay for her care at Dogwood Village, a nonprofit, county-owned nursing home here.\n\n\u201cYou think you\u2019ve got enough money to last all your life, and here I am,\u201d Ms. Jacobs said.\n\nMedicaid pays for most of the 1.4 million people in nursing homes, like Ms. Jacobs. It covers 20 percent of all Americans and 40 percent of poor adults.\n\nOn Thursday, Senate Republicans joined their House colleagues in proposing steep cuts to Medicaid, part of the effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Conservatives hope to roll back what they see as an expanding and costly entitlement. But little has been said about what would happen to older Americans in nursing homes if the cuts took effect.", "output": "Medicaid cuts could force retired Americans out of nursing homes, as the federal insurance pays for the majority of the 1.4 million citizens living in facilities. As the Senate debates serious cuts to Medicaid as part of the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, states are considering how much they are willing to provide for nursing home coverage should their funding be more limited. States may permit nursing homes to require payment for part of the care provided or to limit the services and days on which care is provided. The Center for Medicare Advocacy is concerned that those wishing to utilize nursing home care may find it more difficult to qualify with the increased pressure on state funding. At present, 70m people are enrolled in Medicaid, with spending forecast to increase 6% annually on average to reach $650bn by 2027.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Craft beer demand creates opportunities for specialist insurers \n Albany\n\nMalt barley farmers in upstate New York can now receive insurance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.\n\nThe expansion comes amid a recent growth in the state's craft beverage industry, for which malt barley is a crucial ingredient. Brewers had previously said the lack of protections was preventing further expansion in the statewide industry,\n\nNew York currently has about 2,000 acres of the crop, a number far short of what experts say is necessary to meet production demands as more and more brewers open up across the state.", "output": "The growing craft beer market is presenting specialist insurers with new opportunities. Nottingham-based Russell Scanlan, a broker that focuses on brewery insurance, has seen a boost in take-up for\u00a0tailored Masterbrew insurance products\u00a0from producers of craft beers and gins. \"No two breweries are the same \u2026\u00a0which means \u2018off the shelf\u2019 insurance does not tick the box,\" said marketing director Mike Dickinson. The policies include coverage for beer festivals. In the US, demand for barley to supply\u00a0new breweries has led the Department of Agriculture to offer New York state growers crop insurance.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "German challenger bank N26 expands into insurance with Clark API \n Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.\n\nEuropean mobile-first bank N26 has announced that it is expanding into insurance in its latest move to reinvent banking.\n\nFounded out of Germany in 2013, N26 offers bank accounts similar to those offered by BankMobile or Simple in the U.S., with a focus on speed and efficiency \u2014 an account can be opened within eight minutes of applying. Originally only available in Germany and Austria, the service has slowly been expanding across the Eurozone and now claims 300,000 customers in 17 countries. N26 has raised more than $50 million since its inception, with participation from notable backers such as Peter Thiel\u2019s Valar Ventures, which led its Series A round back in 2015 and joined again for the $40 million Series B follow-up a year later.\n\nFormerly known as Number26 \u2014 before a rebrand last summer\u2014 N26 has a long-stated mission to create a modern, mobile-first bank built from the various fintech technologies and services that have emerged from the internet age. Last February, for example, N26 partnered with peer-to\u2013peer money-transfer firm TransferWise, giving Number26 customers in-app access to a cheaper money-transfer service.\n\n\u201cOur goal is to leverage the best banking products from around the world and make them accessible to customers with one tap, creating a fintech hub inside the Number26 app,\u201d N26 cofounder and CEO Valentin Stalf explained at the time.\n\nThe TransferWise collaboration was followed by a new investment product in conjunction with Vaamo and a savings account in partnership with Raisin. And now the company is adding insurance to the mix thanks to a tie-up with German Insurance platform Clark. N26 calls this the \u201cnext step\u201d in its strategy to become the one-stop app for its users\u2019 every financial need.\n\n\u201cDigitalization in the insurance market is lagging behind,\u201d said Tayenthal. \u201cCustomers are still facing offline structures and a lot of paperwork. It is therefore a huge opportunity for N26 to address these customer issues by leveraging digital innovation to make Insurance more user-friendly.\u201d\n\nOperating in a piecemeal way makes sense for a startup looking to expand in the finance realm. Given the regulatory, operational, and financial hurdles of expanding into multiple verticals, it\u2019s much easier to tap existing players in their respective industries and package their services together in a single app.\n\nThrough N26, customers will be able to view all their insurance policies and initiate claims with a few taps. In the future, N26 said that it will also enable its users to \u201cmake smarter decisions\u201d by helping them optimize their insurance plans, powered by Clark\u2019s algorithmic robo-advisers.\n\nA beta program for N26 insurance will be kicking off in July, with the first offering landing only in Germany initially.\n\n\u201cThis partnership is the next step in our plan to partner with financial institutions and make our robo-adviser available to their customers,\u201d added Clark CEO Dr. Christopher Oster. \u201cOur API-based integration will deliver a fully digital insurance experience and ensure that customers have the right insurance at the best price available.\u201d", "output": "Mobile bank N26 has added an API from insurtech firm Clark that enables customers of the German start-up to view insurance contract details directly from a dashboard in the bank's app and make claims with a few taps on their phones. Clark will search products from more than 160 German insurance providers to serve N26 customers the best deals, the company said. The partnership seeks to address the insurance industry's complexity, opaque\u00a0cost structures and limited access to fair consulting, N26 said. The mobile bank has attracted more than $50m in investment from backers including PayPal founder\u00a0Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Trend Micro to invest in IoT start-ups with $100m fund \n Cybersecurity firm Trend Micro has announced the launch of a $100 million global venture targeting startups in emerging technology markets, such as the Internet of Things (IoT).\n\nIn addition to capital, portfolio startups will gain access to Trend Micro's technology and its channel of more than 28,000 partners.\n\nTrend Micro admitted that working with startups will allow it to unearth insights into new business models, market gaps, and skill shortages.\n\n\"These learnings will influence Trend Micro's cybersecurity solution planning across the company,\" the cybersecurity firm said in an announcement.\n\nEstablishing a separate venture capital unit also provides Trend Micro \"additional freedom\" to explore new areas of technology \"without disrupting core business resources\", the company said.\n\nAfter 72 quarters of consecutive profitability, Trend Micro said it is \"well-positioned\" to invest in research and make advancements that are consistent with its corporate strategy.\n\nEva Chen, founder and CEO of Trend Micro, said connected devices are changing how the world works, thinks, and acts, adding that there is work to be done \"to ensure organisations and individuals can operate and live safely in this new reality\".\n\nA recent study by the Ponemon Institute found that enterprises are not managing the risks associated with the IoT well, with many relying on legacy technologies and governance practices to mitigate security threats.\n\nNearly three quarters, or 72 percent, of the organisations surveyed by the research firm said the pace at which IoT technology is advancing is making it difficult to keep up with evolving security requirements.\n\nAdditionally, 78 percent believe data loss or theft enabled by IoT devices will likely occur within the next two years, while 76 percent believe a DDoS attack involving an unsecured IoT device is imminent within the same timeframe. Either incident would be catastrophic, according to 94 percent of respondents.\n\nIn recent months, there has been a wave of $100 million-plus investments in security firms looking to expand their capabilities to address the risks associated with IoT. Security firms such as Cybereason, Cylance, Crowdstrike, Illumio, Netskope, and Tanium have all recently raised at least $100 million.", "output": "Cybersecurity firm Trend Micro has launched a $100m global venture fund to invest in internet of things (IoT) and other emerging technology start-ups. Working with start-ups will allow Trend Micro to get insights into new business models, skill shortages and market gaps to help it with developing cybersecurity software. In return, portfolio start-ups will get both capital and access to Trend Micro's technology and its channel of over 28,000 partners.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Automation cuts energy use in US commercial properties  \n Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is studying how advanced building controls in energy-using equipment such as heating and cooling systems can decrease energy use and improve building operations. Credit: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory\n\nLike driving a car despite a glowing check-engine light, large buildings often chug along without maintenance being performed on the building controls designed to keep them running smoothly.\n\nAnd sometimes those controls aren't used to their full potential, similar to a car at high speed in first gear. Instead of an expensive visit to the mechanic, the result for a commercial building is a high power bill.\n\nA new report finds that if commercial buildings fully used controls nationwide, the U.S. could slash its energy consumption by the equivalent of what is currently used by 12 to 15 million Americans.\n\nThe report examines how 34 different energy efficiency measures, most of which rely on various building controls, could affect energy use in commercial buildings such as stores, offices and schools. Researchers at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found the measures could cut annual commercial building energy use by an average of 29 percent. This would result in between 4 to 5 quadrillion British Thermal Units in national energy savings, which is about 4 to 5 percent of the energy consumed nationwide.\n\n\"Most large commercial buildings are already equipped with building automation systems that deploy controls to manage building energy use,\" said report co-author and PNNL engineer Srinivas Katipamula. \"But those controls often aren't properly programmed and are allowed to deteriorate over time, creating unnecessarily large power bills.\n\n\"Our research found significant nationwide energy savings are possible if all U.S. commercial building owners periodically looked for and corrected operational problems such as air-conditioning systems running too long.\"\n\nAn easy, low-cost fix\n\nThe report offers the first detailed, national benefit analysis of multiple energy efficiency measures to address building operational problems. Many of these problems can be corrected with very little effort. Unlike other practices that require expensive new technologies, most of the measures evaluated improve energy efficiency by enabling already-installed equipment to work better.\n\nRoughly 20 percent of America's total energy use goes toward powering commercial buildings. And about 15 percent of U.S. commercial buildings have building automation systems that deploy controls, such as sensors that turn on lights or heating a room only when it's occupied. As a result, helping commercial buildings better use their controls could profoundly slash America's overall energy consumption.\n\nKatipamula and his colleagues examined the potential impact of 34 individual energy efficiency measures that can improve commercial building performance, including:\n\nFixing broken sensors that read temperatures and other measurements\n\nTurning off power-using devices like printers and monitors when a room isn't occupied\n\nDimming lights in areas with natural lighting\n\nPacific Northwest National Laboratory is studying how advanced building controls in energy-using equipment can reduce energy use and improve building operations. Shown here are PNNL researcher Srinivas Katipamula examining a control box for a commercial building's heating and cooling system. Credit: Andrea Starr / PNNL\n\nBecause combining individual measures can increase energy savings, the researchers also estimated the impacts of packaging energy efficiency measures together. PNNL designed packages of combined measures based on the needs of three different building conditions: buildings already efficient and with little room for improvement, inefficient buildings with a lot of room for improvement, and typical buildings in the middle.\n\nPNNL used computer models of nine prototypical commercial buildings, and extrapolated them to represent five other, similar buildings so it could evaluate energy use in a total of 14 building types. The research team used these prototypical building models with DOE's EnergyPlus building software, which calculated potential energy use given local weather and whichever energy efficiency measures were applied.\n\nResults oriented\n\nOf the individual efficiency measures studied, those with the greatest energy-saving potential nationwide were:\n\nLowering daytime temperature setpoints for heating, increasing them for cooling, and lowering nighttime heating setpoints: about 8 percent reduction\n\nReducing the minimum rate for air to flow through a variable-air volume boxes: about 7 percent reduction\n\nLimiting heating and cooling to when building is most likely to be occupied: about 6 percent reduction\n\nThough the study found all commercial buildings across all climates could have an average total energy savings of 29 percent, some building types were found to have the potential to save more, such as:\n\nSecondary schools: about 49 percent\n\nStandalone retail stores & auto dealerships: about 41 percent\n\nAs expected, researchers found inefficient buildings have the greatest potential to save energy. After estimating how common each building condition is in the U.S., researchers found combined efficiency measure packages have the following potential national energy saving ranges:\n\nInefficient buildings: 30 to 59 percent\n\nTypical buildings: 26 to 56 percent\n\nEfficient buildings: 4 to 19 percent\n\nMore information: N. Fernandez, S. Katipamula, W. Wang, Y. Xie, M. Zhao, C. Corgin, \"Impacts of Commercial Building Controls on Energy Savings and Peak Load Reduction,\" PNNL report to DOE, May 2017. buildingretuning.pnnl.gov/publ \u2026 tions/PNNL-25985.pdf", "output": "US commercial property owners can cut energy use by an average of 29% through automation systems that deploy controls, according to researchers at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. By better controlling commercial buildings' energy use through sensors that turn on lights or heat a room only when it's occupied, 4% to 5% of energy consumed nationwide could be saved. While around 20% of energy consumed in the US is used to power commercial buildings, just 15% of commercial buildings have automation systems that deploy controls, the researchers found.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Study finds genome sequencing to be of limited utility \n For all the promises of genomics ushering in a new era in medicine, with scientists regularly urging people to get their DNA sequenced, it appears that the revolution will be postponed: A first-of-its-kind study published Monday found that most of the adults who underwent genome sequencing and were told they had a disease-causing DNA variant did not in fact have that disease. And few of them got information that improved their health.\n\nThe pilot study, in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found that 11 out of 50 volunteers (aged 41 to 68) who had their genome sequenced were told they had a mutation that definitely or possibly causes a particular disease, ranging from pituitary thyroid insufficiency to the rare cardiovascular disorder Romano-Ward syndrome. Yet only 2 of the 11 actually had the disease, which in every case should have appeared by adulthood.\n\nadvertisement\n\n\u201cWe were surprised\u201d by the high incidence of disease-causing mutations, said Dr. Jason Vassy, of Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital in Boston, the study\u2019s lead author. \u201cBut we were surprised even more\u201d by how few people with \u201cdisease-causing mutations\u201d had the disease.\n\nWhole genome sequencing reads the nearly 3 billion chemical \u201cletters\u201d \u2014 the A\u2019s, T\u2019s, C\u2019s, and Gs \u2014 that constitute an individual\u2019s DNA. Some geneticists envision genome sequencing as a way to identify everything from what drugs an individual should avoid (if he has the DNA variant that makes statins dangerous to him) to what diseases her doctor should screen for and possibly treat early.\n\nThe MedSeq study put that hope to the test in the first-ever randomized trial of whole genome sequencing in adults. Volunteers were assigned, essentially by the flip of a coin, to either have their genome sequenced (and analyzed for the presence of DNA variants in 4,631 genes) or to have their family medical history analyzed.\n\nadvertisement\n\nThe 4,631 genes the researchers analyzed were those that, if mutated, are supposedly sufficient to cause a usually rare disease, such as ankyrin-B-related cardiac arrhythmia (caused by mutations in the gene ANK2). Such single-gene disorders are called Mendelian. The study did not include the thousands of genes that merely raise the chance of developing a disease to which many other genes contribute, such as the vast majority of cancers, heart disease, and psychiatric disorders. That should have stacked the odds so that an unearthed mutation really did cause disease.\n\nThe key finding \u2014 that few people with \u201cdisease-causing\u201d mutations actually had a genetic disease \u2014 therefore raises questions about whether genome sequencing in generally healthy adults can be medically justified. Although the price (about $1,000 per person) of genome sequencing has fallen, Dr. Teri Manolio of the National Human Genome Research Institute wrote in an editorial, the \u201clack of evidence of utility will be one of the hardest [obstacles] to overcome\u201d for proponents of genome sequencing in medical practice.\n\nThe problem of disease-causing variants not causing disease can be traced to genetic databases. They list mutations \u2014 an A instead of a T at one spot in the gene, for example, or a missing T \u2014 that are either benign or cause rare disorders. Much of that information comes from just a few families that might be unusual, including in the other genes they carry and the environment they live in, Vassy said.\n\nOutside of those families, \u201cpeople might have the variant but not the disease,\u201d because other genes or the environment neutralize it, he said. \u201cThis shows how much further we need to go to make our databases reliable.\u201d\n\nThe researchers said that none of the 11 patients benefitted from their \u201cmolecular diagnosis,\u201d at least in the short term. That included the two who did have the disease their mutation is expected to cause but had not previously been diagnosed. One had the eye disease fundus albipunctatus, Vassy said, \u201cso now he has a name for his condition,\u201d which makes it difficult for his eyes to adapt to light and dark. There is no treatment, however.\n\nThe other, Irena Vodenska, 46, has a DNA variant that causes porphyria, a blood disease that causes extreme sensitivity to the sun, blistering, and other symptoms. Vodenska, a professor at Boston University, sometimes gets odd rashes but had never been diagnosed with porphyria and \u201cdidn\u2019t think of [the rashes] as genetic,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was just part of me.\u201d\n\nKnowing she has the mutation theoretically allows her physician to avoid prescribing medications that exacerbate it, and lets her avoid things that can stress her heart (an occasional consequence of porphyria). \u201cSo I think I did learn something from my genome,\u201d Vodenska said.\n\nEven K. Eric Paulson, who was told he has a mutation that causes a devastating skeletal disease called chondrodysplasia yet has no such ailment, is happy he was sequenced, saying he is in the \u201cit\u2019s better to know\u201d camp. But he worries insurers might use the information against him. When he volunteered for the study, said Paulson, a biologist at Tufts University, he \u201cthought there was no possibility such a thing could again happen in our country. Clearly, my assumption was wrong.\u201d\n\nMichael Watson, executive director of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics, said whole genome sequencing in healthy individuals \u201clikely does\u201d have clinical value, \u201cbut the data by which we can predict who will express the disease for which there is a risk remain weak.\u201d\n\nSome of the study\u2019s findings were reassuring. Volunteers who were sequenced, including those told they had a disease-causing mutation, did not flip out. Six months after receiving their results, they reported levels of depression or anxiety no different from (and on some measures less than) those levels before they got their results. On the other hand, participants were told they might receive unsettling information, so people who worried about that might have declined to join the study, leaving only the emotionally resilient (and perhaps unrepresentative).\n\nA common worry about using genomics in medicine is that physicians won\u2019t know what to make of DNA information. Here, too, the study was somewhat reassuring. The volunteers\u2019 primary care doctors, who received six hours of training on how to interpret the one-page genome summary, handled 8 of the 11 findings of disease-causing genes appropriately, according to a panel of geneticists. They referred five patients to specialists or for tests, such as electrocardiograms, and simply educated others, telling them that the disease probably wasn\u2019t present if it hadn\u2019t shown up yet, and discussing whether their children might have inherited the mutation.\n\nOne problematic finding is that people who received genome sequencing underwent more medical tests and had an average of $350 more in health care costs in the six months after they got their DNA results. Medical costs for the 11 told they had a disease-causing mutation were double those of the 39 who didn\u2019t.\n\nNewsletters Sign up for The Readout Your daily guide to what\u2019s happening in biotech. Please enter a valid email address. Privacy Policy\n\nThat difference could have been caused by chance alone, according to a statistical analysis of the data, but this finding raises the possibility that genome sequencing could inflate medical bills for no benefit. Two patients with variants associated with heart rhythm abnormalities had cardiology work-ups, for instance, but both were normal.\n\nOutside experts urged caution in interpreting the new study, mostly because its size was too small to tell whether sequenced patients\u2019 anxiety or depression was greater than non-sequenced patients, and because it followed them for only six months. Dr. Erick Scott of the Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine suggested the sequencing could have been more useful if the researchers had looked at more genes involved in metabolizing drugs, which can tell patients that they might be harmed by certain medications.\n\nIt\u2019s also possible that whole genome sequencing might prove more helpful in younger people, who can use the information to make reproductive decisions.\n\nAs for Vassy, he has not had his genome sequenced, but says he might do so out of \u201ccuriosity.\u201d \u201cNothing in this study has dissuaded me from doing it,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think it will unlock the secrets of my health and disease, let alone make me run to my doctor with it to make a health plan.\u201d", "output": "A pilot study of genome sequencing found that the high incidence of disease-causing mutations did not correlate with the number of people with that disease, reported the Annals of Internal Medicine. The mismatch between disease-causing variants and instances of the disease can be linked back to genetic databases which catalogue\u00a0mutations that cause benign or rare disorders within just a few families, said Dr\u00a0Jason Vassy, the study's lead author. Lack of evidence supporting the value of genome sequencing will be difficult for advocates of genome sequencing to overcome, according to\u00a0Dr\u00a0Teri Manolio of the National Human Genome Research Institute.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese province uses 100% renewable energy in weeklong trial\n \n Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nIndependent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nA Chinese province with a population of 5.8 million has run entirely on renewable energy for seven days in a row as part of a test to show if the electricity grid can cope without fossil fuels.\n\nHydro-electric schemes provided more than 72 per cent of the electricity in Qinghai between 17 and 23 June, with wind and solar supplying most of the rest, according to Climate Action, a group which works with the United Nations Environment Programme to share knowledge about new technologies that can help combat climate change.\n\n\u200bQuan Shenming, general manager of the Qinghai Electric Power Corporation, said: \u201cBeing the first trial of this kind in the country and a major step in the transformation of energy supply, it will be of great importance in promoting the use of clean energy in China in a sustainable and effective way.\u201d\n\nThe company said 1.1 billion kilowatt hours of electricity was used during the period; about 535,000 tonnes of coal would be needed to generate the same amount.\n\nIn May, nearly 83 per cent of the province\u2019s electricity came from solar, wind and hydro power.\n\nThe province\u2019s power grid has a total installed capacity of about 23 million kilowatts, but there are plans to increase the combined solar and wind capacity to 35 million kilowatts by 2020.\n\nThere are plans to supply parts of central and eastern China with green electricity generated in the area.\n\nHan Ti, vice general manager of the power company, told China\u2019s state-run news agency Xinhua: \u201cClean energy is the ultimate way. We need to reduce reliance on fossil fuel, improve our energy structure, and reduce carbon emissions.\u201d\n\nChina\u2019s National Energy Administration plans to invest 2.5 trillion yuan (about \u00a3288bn) in renewable energy technology by 2020, Xinhua reported, saying this would create more than 13 million jobs.", "output": "China's Qinghai province has been run entirely on renewable energy for one week to test if its electricity grid can cope without fossil fuels. Throughout the week, renewable energy supplied 1.1 billion kilowatt hours of electricity to the province of 5.8 million people. More than 72% of electricity was provided by hydro-electric schemes, while wind and solar supplied the rest, according to environmental body Climate Action. China's government has plans to supply central and eastern China with green electricity generated in Qinghai as it seeks to invest CNY2.5trn ($369bn) in renewable energy technology by 2020, reported state-run news agency Xinhua.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon opens home camera control to developers  \n Amazon revealed the first batch of smart home cameras that will be compatible with the touchscreen Echo Show: Nest, August, Amcrest, EZViz, IC Realtime, Logitech Circle 2, Vivint, Ring, and Arlo.\n\nWith this compatibility, Alexa customers with these smart home cameras will be able to link their accounts and ask the Echo Show to display a live camera feed on the device's 7-inch screen. On devices without a screen, customers can still listen to the audio from a camera without the accompanying video feed.\n\nAmazon is also making smart home camera control available to all developers via the Smart Home Skill API, which aims to simplify the way developers integrate connected cameras with Alexa. The API taps into Amazon's standardized Alexa language model, which means developers won't need to build the voice interaction model for their camera skill.\n\nUnveiled last month, the Echo Show marks the first visually equipped Echo device in Amazon's voice-activated speaker lineup, which now includes the original Echo rolled out in 2014, the Echo Dot, and the Echo Look.\n\nThe Echo Show's key differentiators include a 7-inch touchscreen display and new video-calling features that let users make hands-free video calls to other Echo Show owners or users of the Alexa smartphone app.\n\nAmazon introduced the Echo Look in April. The fashion-focused Echo version comes equipped with a depth-sensing camera and LED lighting. It has the ability to take pictures of a user's outfit via voice command, as well as offer fashion advice via machine learning algorithms.\n\nThe Amazon Echo Show is available for pre-order in black and white for $229.99, with shipping slated to begin June 28.", "output": "Amazon has revealed it will open up control of its visually-equipped smart home speaker, Echo Show, to all technology developers through its Smart Home Skill application programming interface (API). Amazon has already unveiled a list of cameras compatible with its touchscreen, voice-activated Echo Show, including the Nest, Amcrest and Logitech Circle 2. Customers with compatible devices will be able to ask the Echo Show to display a live camera feed. The API taps into Amazon's Alexa language model so developers do not need to build voice interaction for their camera skill.\n\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scotland\u2019s coast damaged by plastic waste: Greenpeace \n Scotland is the envy of the world with its rich waters teeming with wildlife and spectacular coastlines and beaches. But it\u2019s increasingly at threat from the scourge of marine plastic pollution.\n\nWe\u2019re halfway through our scientific voyage around the shores of Scotland to document and investigate the impacts of plastic pollution on Scotland\u2019s iconic wildlife. It\u2019s incredibly shocking that up to 12 million tonnes of plastic pollution enter our oceans every year. And once it\u2019s there it can have a devastating effect on wildlife. Animals can become entangled in it or mistake it for food and ingest it. Studies show that 90% of seabirds and 1 in 3 turtles have eaten plastic, with gruesome consequences.\n\nOn our voyage, we\u2019ve seen evidence of plastic pollution on remote Scottish beaches, in seawater samples we have collected and in seabird nests. It really brings home the scale of the plastic pollution threat on our oceans and wildlife. But as horrible as the images of wildlife living with the scourge of plastic pollution are, it is also important to remember what we are fighting to protect.\n\nScotland is home to over 40,000 marine species and a key part of the trip has been to visit the sites that they call home and bear witness to the impacts plastic pollution is having on them.\n\nGannets and puffins\n\nAt the beginning of our expedition, we had the pleasure of visiting various seabird nesting areas. The Bass Rock is host to the world\u2019s largest colony of Northern gannets with more than 150,000 calling it their home. Northern gannets are the largest seabirds in the North Atlantic with a wingspan of up to 2 meters.\n\nWe discovered a high level of plastic pollution threatening this iconic colony, with plastic bags, packaging, bits of old fishing gear and even crisp packets strewn across the island and surrounding eggs in nests.\n\nPuffins are one of the most distinctive seabirds with their brightly coloured bills. We visited the largest colony on the UK\u2019s eastern coast on the Isle of May. Puffins are not only very cute but have really interesting breeding habits.\n\nUnlike most seabirds, puffins live in burrows in short grass at the top of cliffs. During the breeding season,they lay an egg at the end of the burrow. The chick remains in the burrow until it is independent and ready to go in the sea.\n\nDolphins, seals and porpoises\n\nIt\u2019s not just seabirds that we\u2019ve encountered on our expedition. We\u2019ve also seen seals, dolphins and porpoises. This should come as no surprise as Scotland\u2019s seas are home to the world\u2019s most northern pod of bottlenose dolphins, as well as a third of the world\u2019s grey seal population. In fact the Isle of May has one of the largest grey seal breeding colonies in the UK. The nursery is so large that the island is closed to visitors from 1 October until Easter to prevent disturbance of the 2,000 grey seal pups born there.\n\nHarbour porpoises are one of the smallest marine animals. They are nicknamed the \u201cpuffling pig\u201d because of the puffing sound they make when they surface from under the water. Scotland\u2019s Hebridean waters hold the highest number of harbour porpoises in Europe.\n\nHarbour seals are found in various parts of Scotland including the Isle of May. Their babies are referred to as pups and can weigh up to 35lb at birth! They also are able to swim and dive shortly after their birth. We found seals whilst on the Isle of May but also ran into some more near Mull.\n\nSeals are sadly at the front line of the marine plastic pollution danger. They can get snared and tangled in plastic causing starvation, laceration, infection and suffocation.\n\nBasking sharks\n\nScotland is probably the best place in the world to see basking sharks. These prehistoric marine animals are the second largest fish in the world. They feed by opening their mouths and filtering water through their teeth, at a rate of 1000-2000 tonnes of water per hour - to ingest the plankton they feed on. We\u2019ve collected dozens of sea surface water samples to analyse for the presence of microplastics. If we find them, it means it\u2019s likely that basking sharks and other filter feeders will be ingesting them too.\n\nTo some, they are quite frightening as they slowly swim through the water, mouth wide open as they filter feed. But they are actually very docile creatures and are not harmful to humans.\n\nThey also can be very difficult to spot! But we were lucky enough to find some after a three day search. Basking sharks are in incredible sight to behold and really bring home the reason that we are on this expedition - to protect marine life and our oceans from plastic pollution.\n\nAnd there\u2019s so much more\n\nScottish waters are also home to a third of the world's whale and dolphin species, and have some of the finest marine habitats in Europe, which include rocky reefs, soft corals, sea fans and sponges, sea grass, flameshell and horsemussel. They all provide refuge for young fish and shellfish, as well as spectacular coldwater coral reefs.\n\nPlastic pollution threatens this all, and this expedition is revealing that it\u2019s already harming the oceans and iconic wildlife on our own doorstep.\n\nWhat you can do\n\nThe solution is to prevent the problem at source, and stop the flow of plastic into the oceans in the first place. With 16 million plastic bottles being dumped into our environment in the UK every day, soft drinks companies, governments and individuals can make real progress to tackle the crisis - if we demand it!", "output": "Plastic is endangering wildlife and littering beaches in the UK, according to research by Greenpeace, which has spent two months monitoring the presence of plastic waste on Scotland\u2019s coast. Initial findings from the project indicate that waste, including bottles, bags and packaging, was discovered on every beach studied. Plastic fragments, including microplastics, were found in feeding areas used by seals, sharks and whales, whilst plastic was also discovered in birds\u2019 nests in globally significant seabird colonies. Campaigners will deliver a petition to the Scottish environment secretary, Roseanna Cunningham, on Tuesday, demanding the introduction of deposit return schemes for drinks containers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scotland\u2019s coast damaged by plastic waste: Greenpeace \n Plastic bottles and packaging are overrunning some of the UK\u2019s most beautiful beaches and remote coastline, endangering wildlife from basking sharks to puffins.\n\nA Greenpeace research ship has spent the past two months touring the Scottish coast and islands assessing the impact of plastic waste.\n\nMarine scientists on the Greenpeace ship Beluga II will undertake a detailed analysis of the results over the next two months. But the initial findings from the voyage paint a bleak picture:\n\n\n\nPlastic waste, from bottles to bags and packaging, was found on every beach surveyed.\n\nMicroplastic and other plastic fragments were found in the feeding grounds of basking sharks, seals and whales.\n\nPlastic bottles, bags and packaging were found in birds\u2019 nests at internationally significant seabird colonies, in areas such as the Bass Rock, Isle of May and the Shiant Isles.\n\nThe findings follow a series of recent reports that highlight the growing problem of plastics pollution in oceans around the world.\n\n\n\nLast month scientists found nearly 18 tonnes of plastic on one of the world\u2019s most remote islands, an uninhabited coral atoll in the South Pacific.\n\nThe tiny landmass in the eastern South Pacific, was found to have the highest density of anthropogenic debris recorded anywhere in the world, with 99.8% of the pollution plastic.\n\nAnother study of remote Arctic beaches found they were also heavily polluted with plastic, despite small local populations.\n\nOn Tuesday the Beluga II is due to arrive in Edinburgh. Tisha Brown, oceans campaigner at Greenpeace, described the initial findings as shocking.\n\n\u201cIt cannot be right that our beaches, seas and the stunning wildlife they are home to should become the final dumping ground for throwaway plastic bottles and other plastic trash.\u201d\n\nShe said \u201ca truckload\u201d of plastic was entering the world\u2019s oceans every minute.\n\n\u201cWe need urgent action from governments and from major soft drinks companies which produce billions of single-use plastic bottles every year, like Coca-Cola, to stop the flow of plastic into the sea.\u201d\n\nCampaigners in Scotland will deliver a petition to Scotland\u2019s environment secretary Roseanna Cunningham on Tuesday calling for the introduction of a deposit return scheme for drinks containers in Scotland. Similar schemes have been shown to increase collection rates of plastic bottles to as much as 95% in other countries, drastically reducing the number ending up in the environment.\n\n\n\nThe Greenpeace expedition assessed plastic pollution in sites of scientific importance and biodiversity, including Bass Rock, Gunna Sound, Mull, R\u00f9m, Eigg, Skye, and the Shiant Isles in the Outer Hebrides.\n\nThe charity said the extent of the plastic pollution they found was \u201ca shocking testament to our throwaway culture\u201d.\n\n\n\nBrown added: \u201cWe ... witnessed plastic pollution in the beaks of puffins, in the waters where basking sharks feed, and even wrapped around the beak of an emaciated gannet. We found plastic bottle tops, bags, packaging, bits of old fishing gear and even crisp packets strewn across the island and surrounding eggs in nests. It\u2019s no wonder that studies have shown that 90% of seabirds have eaten plastic.\u201d\n\n\n\nBut she said it was not too late to \u201cpreserve these remote shores and the wildlife they are home to\u201d.\n\n\u201cWe need urgent action from governments and from major soft drinks companies which produce billions of single-use plastic bottles every year.\u201d", "output": "Plastic is endangering wildlife and littering beaches in the UK, according to research by Greenpeace, which has spent two months monitoring the presence of plastic waste on Scotland\u2019s coast. Initial findings from the project indicate that waste, including bottles, bags and packaging, was discovered on every beach studied. Plastic fragments, including microplastics, were found in feeding areas used by seals, sharks and whales, whilst plastic was also discovered in birds\u2019 nests in globally significant seabird colonies. Campaigners will deliver a petition to the Scottish environment secretary, Roseanna Cunningham, on Tuesday, demanding the introduction of deposit return schemes for drinks containers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Job losses, IRP growth loom as banks cut research costs \n An increase in independent equity research providers will be one of the main results of MiFID II rules that will require unbundling of research costs from execution, putting those firms in a unique position to establish what those once-opaque costs will be across the investment banking industry going forward, according to a McKinsey & Co. report released Wednesday.\n\nThe report, \u201cReinventing Equity Research as a Profit-Making Business,\u201d listed the increase in research-only providers as one of five business models the sell-side will adopt because of the Markets in Financial Institutions Directive II, which takes effect at the start of 2018. The regulations will require all financial firms that do business in the European Union or have clients in the EU to disclose research costs as a distinct line item, rather than in bundled commissions with executions.\n\nThe rise in independent research-only providers will have several benefits that will be passed on to money managers, said report co-author Roger Rudisuli, senior partner at McKinsey, in an interview. They are a lower cost base vs. large investment banks; a more niche focus on investing that can generate greater alpha for managers than broad-based equity research from bulge-bracket firms; and size that makes them better able to provide research to smaller managers that can't afford the larger banks.\n\n\u201cHundreds of these research firms exist already,\u201d Mr. Rudisuli said. \u201cThe bulk of them charge specifically less than the commissions charged by investment banks. Under MiFID II, this will make them more attractive to asset managers and asset owners.\u201d\n\nBy contrast, Mr. Rudisuli said, larger investment banks have difficulty pricing research since that's historically been part of their bundled commissions. \u201cThe top 10 banks spend $400 million to $500 million on equity research each year,\u201d Mr. Rudisuli said. \u201cThey only know the cost of research to them. They don't know the real cost to clients or the revenue banks get from research. Unbundling will mean they will need to determine whether they can provide research at a value to clients and to their business.\u201d\n\nMr. Rudisuli said several recent surveys of money managers have shown that about half of them expect to pass on the cost of research to assets owners, while the remaining firms will take on the costs themselves. \u201cThat means banks and research providers will have to show the value of research,\u201d he said. \u201cRight now, there's a lot of me-too research. There are 50 to 60 analysts covering Apple. Do that many provide value?\u201d\n\nThe other business models cited by McKinsey are:", "output": "The fallout from regulations that force sell-side companies to charge separately for research will result in job losses and reductions in analysis spending at banks, according to a report by McKinsey. However, such regulations will also usher in an era of growth for independent research providers (IRPs). The arrival of the European Union's MiFID II rules in January will result in banks slashing\u00a0$1.2bn of investment in research, McKinsey said. IRPs\u00a0are likely to help fill the void, according to McKinsey Senior Partner\u00a0Roger Rudisuli, who explained\u00a0they'd benefit because they have a lower cost base and can generate higher returns by having a niche focus.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "JustGiving bought by non-profit software giant Blackbaud for \u00a395m \n Blackbaud takes over JustGiving in a bid to enhance world-wide out peer-to-peer fundraising offering\n\nBlackbaud, the world\u2019s largest non-profit cloud software company, is to buy UK fundraising platform JustGiving for \u00a395m.\n\nThe US company said the acquisition of JustGiving will enhance its capabilities to serve both individual donors and nonprofits, expanding the peer-to-peer fundraising capabilities it offers through existing products TeamRaiser and everydayhero.\n\nAnne-Marie Huby and Zarine Kharas co-founded JustGiving in 2001. It has grown into the world\u2019s most trusted social platform for giving, enabling 22 million people to raise over $4.5 billion (\u00a33bn) in 164 countries for more than 26,000 charities\n\nBringing JustGiving into the Blackbaud family reinforces our strong commitment to catalyzing the impact of individual change agents - Jerry Needel, president and general manager of Blackbaud Consumer Solutions\n\nJustGiving had a turnover of \u00a324.9m last year, making a profit of \u00a3821,000 in 2016.\n\nIn 2013 it launched the crowdfunding platform Yimby.com, which has since rebranded as JustGiving Crowdfunding.\n\nBlackbaud said the acquisition comes as social and mobile giving continues to grow and fundraising driven by individual supporters rallying others in their networks (referred to as peer-to-peer fundraising) plays a significant and growing role in charitable giving.\n\nThe acquisition will enable Blackbuad to role out the personal crowdfunding platform in the United States and elsewhere, as well as position Blackbaud to better serve the UK market, where it has operated for more than two decades.\n\n\u201cToday, people are willing to do more than ever before to support causes they care about, but they want to do it on their own terms,\u201d said Jerry Needel, president and general manager of Blackbaud Consumer Solutions.\n\n\u201cTo put their passion into action, they need technology that gives them the power to connect with other change agents and organizations. Bringing JustGiving into the Blackbaud family reinforces our strong commitment to catalyzing the impact of individual change agents. It\u2019s also part of our commitment to helping social good organizations navigate and respond to key shifts in giving behavior.\u201d\n\nAnne-Marie Huby, co-founder and managing director of JustGiving, said: \u201cSocial, mobile and the rise of crowdfunding combined are transforming the way people give, and the pace of change is unprecedented. By bringing together JustGiving\u2019s community and social platform with Blackbaud\u2019s unrivalled expertise and capabilities, we will be better able to help great causes reach more people and raise more money, more effectively and intelligently than ever before.\u201d\n\nThe financial accounts for Blackbaud in the year to 31 December 2016 revealed revenues of $730.8m (\u00a3574m) and a gross profit of $391.6m (\u00a3307.6m). Blackbaud will finance the acquisition using cash in its reserves and borrowings under its existing credit facility.\n\nJustGiving is headquartered in London while Blackbaud is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina with operations around the globe, including in London.\n\nJustGiving staff are expected to transition to Blackbaud following the completion of the customary regulatory review and become part of Blackbaud\u2019s London-based International Markets Group, led by Jerome Moisan, senior vice president and president of Blackbaud\u2019s International Markets Group.", "output": "The world's largest non-profit cloud software firm, Blackbaud, has acquired UK fundraising platform JustGiving for \u00a395m. The move is expected to help Blackbaud extend its peer-to-peer fundraising offering, which it runs through TeamRaiser and everydayhero, and better serve the UK market, whilst JustGiving's personal crowdfunding platform can be rolled out in the US and elsewhere. Blackbaud's financial accounts showed gross profit of $391.6m for the year to 31 December 2016. JustGiving made a profit of \u00a3821,000 ($1.05m) in 2016 with a turnover of \u00a324.9m. Cash reserves and credit will be used to fund the acquisition.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Rural hosts in US earn up to 20% of income from Airbnb guests \n Nancy Trejos\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nAirbnb, which facilitates short-term home rentals, says it is seeing a spike in the number of reservations in rural areas.\n\nIn a new report released today, the home-sharing website says that 3.3 million guest arrivals occurred at rural listings in the USA over the last year. That\u2019s a year-over-year increase of 138%.\n\nIn every U.S. state, the earnings of Airbnb hosts in rural areas represented a large percentage of household income, ranging from 5% to 20%. In Hawaii, it made up 20.3% of household income. In California, it was 20.1%.\n\nAccording to Airbnb\u2019s research, there are more Airbnb hosts than corporate hotel chains in many rural communities in the USA.\n\nIn West Virginia, 75% of active Airbnb listings are located in rural areas, compared with 32.7% of hotels rooms that are. In New Hampshire, 71.9% of active Airbnb listings are located in rural areas, while 33.1% of hotel rooms are. In Montana, the Airbnb to hotel room percentages in rural areas are 64.1% vs. 28.1% . In Wyoming, there are 65.9% rural Airbnb listings compared with 31.5% hotel rooms.\n\nChris Lehane, head of global policy for Airbnb, says many of the most popular rural destinations are near national and state parks or places that play host to youth sports tournaments.\n\n\u201cThe Airbnb platform is a platform that is supporting the middle class,\u201d Lehane says. \u201cIt democratizes tourism, brings tourism to places that haven\u2019t benefited from it.\u201d\n\nStudy: Airbnb poses threat to hotel industry\n\nRural Airbnb\u2019s are particularly popular among families and young travelers in their 20s and early 30s \u2014 known as Millennials \u2014 who are searching for more authentic local experiences, Lehane says.\n\nThe rural Airbnb\u2019s are among the company\u2019s fastest growing segments, he says. It has also helped female Airbnb hosts. The majority of Airbnb rural hosts in almost every country studied for the report are women.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m not saying we\u2019re the solution for all the challenges rural communities are facing but I think we are a part of a broader formula to create economic opportunities,\u201d Lehane says.\n\nThe report also shows the general growth of Airbnb across the USA. Many cities have moved to try to stem Airbnb's growth at the behest of the hotel industry. Still, 46 of the 50 U.S. states have seen at least 100% year-over-year growth.\n\nThe states seeing the fastest year-over-year growth are in the Midwest and South, including Oklahoma, Illinois, Arkansas, Missouri and Alabama.", "output": "About 3.3 million people stayed in Airbnb-listed accommodation in rural areas of the US in the past year, a year on year increase of 138%, according to a company report. The study found rural hosts earned between 5% and 20% of their income from short-term renting, and also revealed Airbnb listings vastly outnumbered corporate hotel chains in rural areas. Chris Lehane, head of global policy for Airbnb, said: \"I\u2019m not saying we\u2019re the solution for all the challenges rural communities are facing but I think we are a part of a broader formula to create economic opportunities.\"\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Machine transcription service outperforms humans (sometimes) \n What is the best way to describe Rupert Murdoch having a foam pie thrown at his face? This wasn\u2019t much of a problem for the world\u2019s press, who were content to run articles depicting the incident during the media mogul\u2019s testimony at a 2011 parliamentary committee hearing as everything from high drama to low comedy. It was another matter for the hearing\u2019s official transcriptionist. Typically, a transcriptionist\u2019s job only involves typing out the words as they were actually said. After the pie attack\u2014either by choice or hemmed in by the conventions of house style\u2014the transcriptionist decided to go the simplest route by marking it as an \u201c[interruption].\u201d\n\nAcross professional fields, a whole multitude of conversations\u2014meetings, interviews, and conference calls\u2014need to be transcribed and recorded for future reference. This can be a daily, onerous task, but for those willing to pay, the job can be outsourced to a professional transcription service. The service, in turn, will employ staff to transcribe audio files remotely or, as in my own couple of months in the profession, attend meetings to type out what is said in real time.\n\nDespite the recent emergence of browser-based transcription aids, transcription\u2019s an area of drudgery in the modern Western economy where machines can\u2019t quite squeeze human beings out of the equation. That is until last year, when Microsoft built one that could.\n\nAutomatic speech recognition, or ASR, is an area that has gripped the firm\u2019s chief speech scientist, Xuedong Huang, since he entered a doctoral program at Scotland\u2019s Edinburgh University. \u201cI\u2019d just left China,\u201d he says, remembering the difficulty he had in using his undergraduate knowledge of the American English to parse the Scottish brogue of his lecturers. \u201cI wished every lecturer and every professor, when they talked in the classroom, could have subtitles.\u201d\n\nIn order to reach that kind of real-time service, Huang and his team would first have to create a program capable of retrospective transcription. Advances in artificial intelligence allowed them to employ a technique called deep learning, wherein a program is trained to recognize patterns from vast amounts of data. Huang and his colleagues used their software to transcribe the NIST 2000 CTS test set, a bundle of recorded conversations that\u2019s served as the benchmark for speech recognition work for more than 20 years. The error rates of professional transcriptionists in reproducing two different portions of the test are 5.9 and 11.3 percent. The system built by the team at Microsoft edged past both.\n\n\u201cIt wasn\u2019t a real-time system,\u201d acknowledges Huang. \u201cIt was very much like we wanted to see, with all the horsepower we have, what is the limit. But the real-time system is not that far off.\u201d\n\nIndeed, the promise of ASR programs capable of accurately transcribing interviews or meetings as they happen no longer seems so outlandish. At Microsoft\u2019s Build conference last month, the company\u2019s vice-president, Harry Shum, demonstrated a PowerPoint transcription service that would allow the spoken words of the presentation to be tied to individual slides. The firm is also in a close race with the likes of Apple and Google to perfect the transcripts produced by its real-time mobile translation app.\n\nHuang believes the point at which transcription software will overtake human capabilities is open to interpretation. \u201cThe definition of a perfect result would be controversial,\u201d he says, citing the error rates among human transcriptionists. \u201cHow \u2018perfect\u2019 this is depends on the scenario and the application.\u201d\n\nAn ASR system tasked with transcribing speech in real time is only deemed successful if every word is interpreted correctly, something that largely has been achieved with mobile assistants like Cortana and Siri, but has yet to be mastered in real-time translation apps. However, a growing number of computer scientists are realizing that standards do not need to be as high when it comes to the automatic transcription of recorded audio, where any mistakes in the text can be amended after the fact.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t claim ... this is perfect. But, with good audio, it can be close to perfect.\u201d\n\nTwo companies\u2014Trint, a start-up in London, and Baidu, the Chinese internet giant with an application called SwiftScribe\u2014have begun to offer browser-based tools that can convert recordings of up to an hour into text with a word-error rate of 5 percent or less.* On the page, their output looks very similar to the raw documents I typed out in real-time during the many meetings I attended as a freelance transcriptionist: at best, a Joycean stream-of-consciousness marvel, and at worst, gobbledygook. But by turning the user from a scribe into an editor, both programs can shave hours off an onerous and distracting task.\n\nThe amount of time saved, of course, is contingent on the quality of the audio. Trint and SwiftScribe tend to make short work of face-to-face interviews with the bare minimum of ambient noise, but struggle to transcribe recordings of crowded rooms, telephone interviews with bad reception, or anyone who speaks with an accent that isn\u2019t American or British English. My attempt to run a recording of a German-accented speaker through Trint, for example, saw the engine interpret \u201cit was rather cold, but the atmosphere was great\u201d as \u201cThat heart is also all barf. Yes. His first face.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t claim that this turnaround in a couple of minutes of an interview like this is perfect,\u201d says Jeff Kofman, Trint\u2019s CEO. \u201cBut, with good audio, it can be close to perfect. You can search it, you can hear it, you [can] find the errors, and you know within seconds what was actually said.\u201d\n\nAccording to Kofman, most of the people using Trint are journalists, followed by academics doing qualitative research and clients in business and healthcare\u2014in other words, professions expected to transcribe a large volume of audio on tight deadlines. That\u2019s in keeping with the anonymized data on user behavior being collected by the developer Ryan Prenger and his colleagues at SwiftScribe. While there is a long tail of users who Prenger speculates are simply AI enthusiasts eager to test out SwiftScribe\u2019s capabilities, he\u2019s also spotted several \u201cpower users\u201d that are running audio through the program on almost a daily basis. It\u2019s left him optimistic about the range of people the tool could attract as ASR technology continues to improve.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s the thing with transcription technology in general,\u201d says Prenger. \u201cOnce the accuracy gets above a certain bar, everyone will probably start doing their transcriptions that way, at least for the first several rounds.\u201d He predicts that, ultimately, automated transcription tools will increase both the supply of and the demand for transcripts. \u201cThere could be a virtuous circle where more people expect more of their audio that they produce to be transcribed, because it\u2019s now cheaper and easier to get things transcribed quickly. And so, it becomes the standard to transcribe everything.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s a future that Trint is consciously maneuvering itself to exploit. The company just raised $3.1 million in seed money to fund its next round of expansion. Kofman and his team plan to demonstrate its capabilities later this month at the Global Editors Network in Vienna. Their aim is to have the transcription of the event\u2019s keynote address up on the Washington Post\u2019s website within the hour.\n\nIt\u2019s difficult to predict precisely what this new order could look like, although casualties are expected. The stenographer would likely join the ranks of the costermonger and the iceman in the list of forgotten professions. Journalists could spend more time reporting and writing, aided by a plethora of assistive writing tools, while detectives could analyze the contradictions in suspect testimony earlier. Captioning on YouTube videos could be standard, while radio shows and podcasts could become accessible to the hard of hearing on a mass scale. Calls to acquaintances, friends, and old flames could be archived and searched in the same way that social-media messages and emails are, or intercepted and hoarded by law-enforcement agencies.\n\nFor Huang, transcription is just one of a whole range of changes ASR is set to provide that will fundamentally change society itself, one that can already be glimpsed in voice assistants like Cortana, Siri, and Amazon\u2019s Alexa. \u201cThe next wave, clearly, is beyond the devices that you have to touch,\u201d he says, envisioning computing technology discreetly woven into a range of working environments. \u201cUI technology that can free people from being tethered to the device will be in the front and center.\u201d\n\nFor the moment, however, the engineers behind automated transcribers will have to content themselves with more germane users: the journalist sweating a deadline, or the transcriptionist working out the right way to describe a man being pied in a parliamentary select committee.", "output": "London-based start-up Trint and Baidu application SwiftScribe are both offering AI-powered online voice transcription services that for clear voice recordings with little background noise can produce voice-to-text transcription with error rates of less than 5%. This improves on the error rates of professional transcriptionists, although the systems struggle with crowd noise, phone hiss, and non-native English accents."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google's drawing neural net can now finish people's drawings \n tech2 News Staff\n\nGoogle Brain, the research side of Google, which had come up with Sketch-RNN, a software that uses a neural network to draw and create images, has added another feather to its hat. Now, the software will autocomplete the image by taking inputs from the user's previous methods of drawing.\n\nSketch-RNN was first released on 13 April. Initially, Sketch-RNN was used on other AI experiments like Quick Draw! This AI experiment used to give text prompt while creating an image. For instance, if the user wanted to make a cat, the software would give text prompts on what those images could have been. After Quick Draw came Auto draw. It is especially useful when poorly drawn pictures are replaced by better-drawn ones. Sketch-RNN, is a new experiment from Google's AI experiment series.\n\nThrough Sketch-RNN, the moment the user starts drawing, the software prompts a number of pictures that can come up to form that image. For instance, if there is a cat, it will give different pictorial representations of the cat. These representations come from already existing images in the software. At the same time, it can create another image from a different one.\n\nThe alternative images have their own tweaks which may be slightly different from the other alternatives present. Moreover, Sketch-RNN takes inputs from users and give different outputs. It not only tries to understand the user, it also gives regular prompts that suggest how the user can finish the sketch.", "output": "Google's online drawing AI experiment, Sketch-RNN, is now able to complete people's drawings. The neural network is able to suggest ways to finish a drawing the user has started in one of a number of categories including flowers, cats and other animals. As well as trying to fit its output to the user's work, as the user works on the drawing it gives regular suggestions for the drawing.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Scottish start-up makes bioplastics from langoustine shells \n In Scotland, a biotech startup called CuanTec has developed a shelf-life-extending food wrapping for seafood made from the shells of langoustines.\n\n\u201cThe push towards elimination of petroleum plastic from the food chain across Europe has created a void in the market,\u201d CEO Dr Cait Murray-Green says. \u201cThis allowed us to create a food contact material which is anti-microbial, biodegradable and compostable and for this to be a first to market in the bioplastic food wrapping sector.\u201d\n\nThe company also produces salmon feed from processing byproducts. \u201cWe are searching for and establishing relationships with Scottish companies in the food and drink sector,\u201d Murray-Green adds. \u201cThat is key to taking CuanTec forward. It is a true circular economy example, as our suppliers can also be our customers.\u201d\n\nAccording to The National, the UK seafood industry loses \u00a32 billion annually to food waste and spoilage. CuanTec\u2019s bioplastic won the company the \u00a3150,000 Higgs Edge award last week.", "output": "Scottish biotech firm CuanTec has developed an antimicrobial food wrapping made from the shells of langoustines, which could extend the shelf-life of seafood. The \"biodegradable and compostable\" wrapping created in response to the need to reduce reliance on petroleum-based plastics, will help reduce landfill and cut down on food waste and spoilage, which costs the UK retail and manufacturing sectors \u00a32bn a year, according to The National."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google receives \u20ac2.4bn fine for breaching EU antitrust laws \n The European Union has handed Google a record-breaking \u20ac2.42bn (\u00a32.14bn) fine for abusing its dominance of the search engine market in building its online shopping service, in a dramatic decision that has far-reaching implications for the company.\n\nBy artificially and illegally promoting its own price comparison service in searches, Google denied both its consumers real choice and rival firms the ability to compete on a level playing field, European regulators said.\n\nThe Silicon Valley giant has 90 days to stop its illegal activities and explain how it will reform its ways or face fines of up to \u20ac10.6m a day, which equates to 5% of the average daily worldwide turnover of its parent company Alphabet.\n\nOn the back of the finding that Google is the dominant player in the European search engine market, the EU regulator is further investigating how else the company may have abused its position, specifically in its provision of maps, images and information on local services.\n\nThe commission\u2019s decision, following a seven-year probe into Google\u2019s dominance in searches and smartphones, suggests the company may need to fundamentally rethink the way it operates. It is also now liable to face civil actions for damages by any person or business affected by its anti-competitive behaviour.\n\nAs the EU official in charge of competition policy, commissioner Margrethe Vestager, spelled out the case against Google, she denied accusations that Brussels had a bias against US firms, claiming the tech giant had been guilty of an \u201cold school\u201d form of illegality.\n\n\u201cGoogle has come up with many innovative products and services that have made a difference to our lives. That\u2019s a good thing,\u201d Vestager told reporters, as she announced the fine, the largest ever made in an antitrust case. \u201cBut Google\u2019s strategy for its comparison shopping service wasn\u2019t just about attracting customers by making its product better than those of its rivals.\n\n\u201cInstead, Google abused its market dominance as a search engine by promoting its own comparison shopping service in its search results, and demoting those of competitors.\n\n\u201cWhat Google has done is illegal under EU antitrust rules. It denied other companies the chance to compete on the merits and to innovate. And most importantly, it denied European consumers a genuine choice of services and the full benefits of innovation.\u201d\n\nIn the wake of the announcement, shares in Alphabet fell 1.5% in pre-market trading in New York. Vestager brushed off suggestions that the move could harm transatlantic relations, adding that the EU was not willing to give Google a \u201cfree pass\u201d.\n\nShe confirmed, however, that the EU regulator had stopped cooperating with the US Federal Trade Commission when it decided not to pursue charges in 2013.\n\nGoogle immediately rejected the commission\u2019s findings, and signalled its intention to appeal, in an indication of the gruelling legal battle to come between the two sides. A company spokesman said: \u201cWhen you shop online, you want to find the products you\u2019re looking for quickly and easily. And advertisers want to promote those same products.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s why Google shows shopping ads, connecting our users with thousands of advertisers, large and small, in ways that are useful for both.\n\n\u201cWe respectfully disagree with the conclusions announced today. We will review the commission\u2019s decision in detail as we consider an appeal, and we look forward to continuing to make our case.\u201d\n\nVestager told reporters that Google had entered the shopping comparison market in 2004 with a service called Froogle which allowed its users to compare products and prices online.\n\nWithin two years the company knew it was struggling, she said. One internal document from 2006 discovered during the investigation stated: \u201cFroogle simply doesn\u2019t work.\u201d\n\nFrom 2008, Vestager said, Google began to implement, initially in the UK and Germany, and then further afield, a fundamental change in strategy to push its comparison shopping service, and break EU law.\n\n\n\nAccording to an analysis of around 1.7bn search queries, Google\u2019s search algorithm systematically was consistently giving prominent placement to its own comparison shopping service to the detriment of rival services.\n\nThe placement of Google\u2019s product well ahead of its rivals was pivotal to the shopping service\u2019s success as, even on a desktop, the 10 highest-ranking generic search results on page one generally receive approximately 95% of all clicks on generic search results. The top result receives about 35% of all the clicks and the trend is exaggerated further for searches on mobile phones.\n\n\n\nThe commission found that Google was dominant in general internet search markets in all 31 countries in the European Economic Area, with a market share of about 90%.\n\nAs a result of Google\u2019s illegal practices, traffic to Google\u2019s comparison shopping service increased significantly \u2013 45-fold in the UK, for example \u2013 while rivals suffered very substantial losses of traffic on a lasting basis, Vestager said.\n\nThe commission found specific evidence of sudden drops of traffic to certain rival websites of 85% in the UK, up to 92% in Germany and 80% in France. Some competitors have adapted and managed to recover some traffic but never in full, Vestager said.\n\nThe commission\u2019s fine of \u20ac2,424,495,000 was said to take into account the \u201cduration and gravity of the infringement\u201d, and was based on Google\u2019s revenue from its comparison shopping service in the 13 countries where the illegality occured.\n\nIf Google fails to comply with the commission\u2019s decision, it would be liable for non-compliance payments of up to 5% of the average daily worldwide turnover of Alphabet, which boasted of a turnover of \u20ac80bn last year. Any payment would be backdated to when the non-compliance started, Vestager said.\n\nThe commission has already come to the preliminary conclusion that Google has abused a dominant position in two other cases, which are still being investigated. The first cases involve the Android operating system, where the commission is concerned that Google has \u201cstifled choice and innovation\u201d in a range of mobile apps and services by \u201cpursuing an overall strategy on mobile devices to protect and expand its dominant position in general internet search\u201d.\n\nIn a second investigation into AdSense, a Google service that allows websites to run targeted ads, the commission is concerned that Google has reduced choice by preventing sites from sourcing search ads from competitors.\n\n\n\nEuropean Commission fines: a history\n\nApple, \u20ac13bn (2016): The tech company behind the iPhone was ordered to pay a huge sum in back taxes to Ireland after the commission ruled that the company\u2019s sweetheart tax deal with the Irish tax authorities amounted to illegal state aid.\n\nMAN, Volvo/Renault, Daimler, Iveco, and DAF, \u20ac2.9bn (2016): A group of truckmakers were handed a record fine for colluding to fix prices over a 14-year period.\n\nMicrosoft, \u20ac1.2bn (2004, 2006, 2008): Microsoft was found guilty of failing to provide code to allow rivals to hook into its Windows server software at a reasonable price. The company\u2019s failure to comply with the commission\u2019s findings led to two additional fines in 2006 and 2008 on top of the initial 2004 order to pay \u20ac497m.\n\nIntel, \u20ac1.1bn (2009): The US chipmaker was ordered to pay a fine of more than \u20ac1bn for anticompetitive practices after being found to have given price discounts to computer manufacturers Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo and NEC if they bought its chips.\n\nFacebook, \u20ac110m (2017): The social media giant was fined for providing incorrect or misleading information during the commission\u2019s 2014 investigation into Facebook\u2019s acquisition of WhatsApp.", "output": "Google has been fined a record \u20ac2.42bn ($2.73) by the European Union for breaches of competition policy that saw the company allegedly use its search engine dominance to boost its online shopping service. The company\u2019s promotion of its comparison service through its search results was found to have been illegal under EU antitrust rules. The result comes after a seven-year investigation by the European commission. Google, which denies the allegations,\u00a0has 90 days to cease illegal activity or face fines that could amount to 5% of parent company Alphabet\u2019s average daily global turnover.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Gall Thomson launches neutral buoyancy float \n Edit page New page Hide edit links\n\nUltraFloat has been specifically designed to fit around the external profile of the MBC (illustration: Gall Thomson)\n\nGall Thomson, specialist in the application, design and supply of Marine Breakaway Couplings (MBCs) has introduced a neutral buoyancy float for MBCs.\n\nUltraFloat has been specifically designed to fit around the external profile of the MBC. When two are fitted to an MBC they provide neutral buoyancy, eliminating any reduction in buoyancy on the adjacent hoses.\n\nUltraFloat is the most advanced and operationally efficient float on the market. Shaped to reduce drag it also provides a simple secure attachment and features four inspection windows to assist inspection of the MBC split line.\n\nUltraFloat will provide increased operational efficiency in all Marine Breakaway Coupling applications whether they be SPM, FSO, FPSO, FSU or in other offshore oil terminal production and bunker floating hose strings.\n\nGall Thomson designs, manufactures and applies anti-pollution and safety Marine Breakaway Couplings. These provide a safe parting point in marine hose transfer systems, automatically shutting off product flow and preventing system damage if there is an extreme pressure surge or excessive tensile load on the hose string. These are engineered solutions that minimise the risk of spill and protect against operational downtime, workforce injury and damage to assets, reputation and the environment.", "output": "Marine Breakaway Coupling (MBC) technology expert\u00a0Gall Thomson has designed a neutral buoyancy float for MBCs, that will fit either side of their external profile. When two of the floats are fitted correctly, they offer neutral buoyancy for the MBC. UltraFloat's design also helps reduce drag and promises more operational efficiency across MBC applications.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Eze unveils Mifid II-ready commission management software \n Investment technology provider Eze Software has launched its cloud-based commission management platform ahead of MiFID II\u2019s unbundling rules.\n\nThe platform was designed to help the buy-side manage and handle the full commission management lifecycle from research evaluation, budgeting, unbundling and specifying RPA payments.\n\nBill Neuman, managing director for product management and development at Eze Software, explained as MiFID II looms, the buy-side are in greater need of a straight-through commission management process.\n\n\u201cWith this platform, we are unifying the disparate elements of the commission management process into a single holistic cloud solution that enables our clients to fully address MiFID II inducement requirements,\u201d he said.\n\nEze Software added the platform focuses on the creation of a research evaluation process, incorporating broker votes, tracking and evaluation of individual pieces of research.\n\nThe platform is available within the Eze Investment Suite, alongside its other MiFID II tools and services.", "output": "Investment technology provider Eze Software has unveiled its commission management software ahead of the implementation of the EU's Mifid II. The cloud-based platform handles the full buy-side commission management cycle. It is available as part of the Eze Investment Suite, alongside the company's other Mifid II services. Eze Software said the platform focuses on creating\u00a0a research evaluation process that\u00a0incorporating broker votes, tracking and evaluation of individual pieces of research."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "World\u2019s food supply at risk from \u2018chokepoints\u2019: Chatham House \n Increasingly vulnerable \u201cchokepoints\u201d are threatening the security of the global food supply, according to a new report. It identifies 14 critical locations, including the Suez canal, Black Sea ports and Brazil\u2019s road network, almost all of which are already hit by frequent disruptions.\n\nWith climate change bringing more incidents of extreme weather, analysts at the Chatham House thinktank warn that the risk of a major disruption is growing but that little is being done to tackle the problem. Food supply interruptions in the past have caused huge spikes in prices which can spark major conflicts.\n\nThe chokepoints identified are locations through which exceptional amounts of the global food trade pass. More than half of the globe\u2019s staple crop exports \u2013 wheat, maize, rice and soybean \u2013 have to travel along inland routes to a small number of key ports in the US, Brazil and the Black Sea. On top of this, more than half of these crops \u2013 and more than half of fertilisers \u2013 transit through at least one of the maritime chokepoints identified.\n\n\u201cWe are talking about a huge share of global supply that could be delayed or stopped for a significant period of time,\u201d said Laura Wellesley, one of the authors of the Chatham House report. \u201cWhat is concerning is that, with climate change, we are very likely to see one or more of these chokepoint disruptions coincide with a harvest failure, and that\u2019s when things start to get serious.\u201d\n\nThe chokepoints are already suffering repeated disruptions, the report found. US inland waterways and railways, which carry 30% of the world\u2019s maize and soy, were hit by flooding that halted traffic in 2016 and a 2012 heatwave that kinked rail lines and caused derailments.\n\nThe Panama canal has been hampered by drought, while the Suez canal has been closed by sandstorms and threatened by attempted terrorist bomb attacks. Brazil\u2019s muddy roads are often closed by heavy rain, with 3,000 trucks stranded earlier in 2017, while its vital southern ports have been closed by storms and floods. The only chokepoint that has not recently been disrupted is the Straits of Gibraltar, which connects the Mediterranean with the Atlantic.\n\nThe Middle East and North Africa region is particularly vulnerable, the report found, because it has the highest dependency on food imports in the world and is encircled by maritime bottlenecks. It also depends heavily on wheat imports from the Black Sea.\n\nGrain is loaded into a ship\u2019s granary, in Mariupol, Ukraine. Photograph: Oleksandr Khmelevskiy/Alamy\n\nIn 2010, a severe heatwave in Russia badly hit the huge grain harvest, leading the government to impose an export ban. As a result, prices spiked in 2011 and this was a significant factor in the Arab Spring conflicts. Other factors were important too, said Wellesley, but she said: \u201cAt the start, it was about the price of bread.\u201d\n\nThe risks posed by the chokepoints is rising as the international trade in food is growing but also because of global warming, according to the report. It says climate change is bringing more storms, droughts and heatwaves which can block chokepoints and also damage already ageing infrastructure. But it is also likely to fuel armed conflicts, which can also shut down the bottlenecks.\n\nOther countries especially at risk from disruption are poorer nations reliant on imports such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Sudan, as well as richer nations like Japan and South Korea, according to the report.\n\nChina is also a major importer but it has done the most to mitigate its exposure to chokepoint risk, the report found. It has diversified its supply routes, for example building a railway across South America to lessen reliance on the Panama canal. Chinese companies also own and operate ports around the world.\n\nThe report recommends increased global cooperation to plan for food supply crises and more investment in crucial infrastructure. Wellesley said: \u201cThe straits of Hormuz [which Iran has threatened to close] is a really interesting example of where the energy sector is sitting up and taking notice \u2013 the food sector should be doing the same. Those same countries that rely on Hormuz to export their oil rely almost entirely on the same strait for their food supply.\u201d", "output": "Global food supplies have faced disruption as a result of \u201cchokepoints\u201d that are increasingly vulnerable due to climate change, according to a report from the Chatham House think tank. Analysts argued that climate change increases the risk of extreme weather events in 14 key locations, through which huge amounts of the world\u2019s food passes, including ports in the Black Sea, Brazil\u2019s road network and the Suez Canal. Previous food supply interruptions have resulted in price rises and major conflicts. Countries at particular risk include Japan, Kenya, South Korea, Sudan and Tanzania. China has done the most to mitigate its chokepoint risk.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google expands its student learning tools offering \n Google launched a new browser-based Google Earth this past April, adding educational tools to make it easier for teachers to show the world off to students without having to leave the classroom. The company also collaborated with the BBC to create a digital storytelling platform called Voyager that helps curate the discovery of various places of interest around the globe. Google is taking things even farther today at the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference, announcing a bevy of new tools and virtual experiences to empower students.\n\nThe concept here is to help students become critical thinkers and responsible digital citizens as they explore the world around them. Google announced 10 new stories for its Voyager platform in collaboration with National Geographic Society and PBS Education. These new experiences come with additional classroom activities to let teachers help guide their students, and school IT administrators can add Google Earth as a service within their own Google for Education domains.\n\nThe team also promises a new self-guided mode, coming \"soon,\" for the more than 600 currently available virtual field trips via the Expeditions app. A new digital citizenship and safety program called \"Be Internet Awesome\" is also available to kids. It includes resources for students, educators and families to help kids make smart decisions online. Schools can also purchase a collection of STEM tools for Chromebooks, including a Dremel 3D printer and the littleBits Code Kit, which can be used to help kids become inventors.\n\nFinally, Google is sharing some data around the impact it's having in schools that use Chromebooks and G Suite with seven new \"Impact Portraits\" from schools around the US. \"In the Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township, for example,\" Google says in the blog post, \"Indiana's measure of third-grade reading skills has grown by 10% since adopting Chromebooks.\"", "output": "Google has launched a raft of online tools aimed at empowering students, according to an announcement at the International Society for Technology in Education conference. As well as 10 new stories and extra\u00a0classroom activities for its Voyager platform,\u00a0Google unveiled the \"Be Internet Awesome\"\u00a0resource, targeted\u00a0at helping children to make smart online choices. The search giant said the Expeditions app could also expect a self-guided mode \"soon\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Irish housing market needs to be closely watched: IMF \n The current momentum in prices and mortgage credit in Ireland\u2019s housing market is significant and requires close monitoring, the IMF said. Photograph: iStock\n\nDespite a rapid acceleration in property prices and a surge in mortgage approvals, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said there is no evidence of another housing bubble forming in the Irish economy.\n\nIn its latest annual assessment, the Washington-based fund, however, warned that the current momentum in prices and mortgage credit was significant and required close monitoring.\n\nIt also suggested that recent changes to the Central Bank\u2019s mortgage lending rules and the introduction of a help-to-buy scheme for first-time buyers had added \u201cimpetus\u201d to the market.\n\nIn their analysis of the Irish economy, staff at the fund said strong demand for housing was likely to be sustained in the period ahead because of improvements in the labour market and the ongoing reduction in household debt.\n\nREAD MORE\n\nWhile there was no clear evidence of a \u201csignificant price misalignment\u201d in the residential property market, it concluded that \u201cpersistent pressures could lead to imbalances, particularly given the lagged supply response\u201d.\n\nBuffers\n\nIn its report, the IMF also warned of the need for the Government to adopt a prudent fiscal stance in upcoming budgets \u201cto build buffers and reduce public debt further\u201d especially in light of the risks posed by Brexit and US tax reform.\n\nWhile subject to large uncertainties, it said the impact of the Brexit on Ireland was expected to be negative and significant.\n\n\u201cA possible slowdown in the UK, accompanied by sustained weakness in sterling, would affect the Irish economy through labour, trade and financial channels,\u201d it said, while noting the possible relocation of UK-based companies to Ireland might act as a mitigating factor.\n\nIn its report, it listed the new public-sector pay deal as a significant expenditure pressure for the Government, suggesting the overall wage bill for civil servants remained \u201ccomparatively high\u201d as a share of both revenue and expenditure.\n\nIt suggested Ireland should continue to broaden its tax base and, just days after the AIB stock market flotation, urged the State to save temporary revenue windfalls rather than deploy them as part of current expenditure.\n\nOverall the IMF\u2019s assessment of the Irish economy, however, was positive with analysts noting Ireland was once again among the euro area\u2019s top growth performers in 2016 while bank balance sheets were continuing to recover from the crash.\n\nMinister for Finance Paschal Donohoe welcomed the report, saying it affirmed \u201cthe exceptional turnaround of the Irish economy\u201d.", "output": "There is no evidence a housing bubble is forming in the Irish economy, despite property prices rising significantly and higher mortgage approval rates, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Nevertheless, the IMF saw these factors as significant and therefore warned that the situation warrants close monitoring. It believes amendments to the Central Bank\u2019s mortgage lending rules and the help-to-buy scheme have added \"impetus\" to the property market."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "GreyOrange robot system to sort parcels for Brazil's Loggi \n GreyOrange, a multinational robotics and supply chain automation company, has now entered the Latin America region with its renowned Linear Sortation system. Loggi a Brazilian tech company offering last-mile delivery solutions to e-commerce, retailers and local businesses, has opted for GreyOrange\u2019s high-speed advanced Sortation System at its Sao Paulo hub.\n\nRecognised as one of the world\u2019s Top 50 Robotics Companies by Robotics Business Review two years in a row, GreyOrange has been at the forefront of supply chain automation innovation, democratizing such solutions for various industries. The sortation system for Loggi strengthens GreyOrange\u2019s hold in the last-mile delivery space and in a new geography, after successful implementations in the e-commerce, retail and CPG sectors across India, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong.\n\nWith its same-day, next-day deliveries and real-time tracking solutions designed for various business types and products, Loggi has set new benchmarks in Brazil. The company was looking to partner with another technology company to help them increase delivery capacity and integrate totally with their in-house algorithms. With the objective of launching several last-mile delivery hubs in the region, Loggi\u2019s need was to deploy flexible, scalable and reliable solutions, hence a partner that could address such diverse requirements while adhering to stringent quality and delivery benchmarks. With the new GreyOrange Linear Sortation system, Loggi will be able to process 72,000 parcels per day in his S\u00e3o Paulo hub, almost doubling its current capacity.\n\nLatin America is one of the fastest-growing regions for e-commerce and online retail in the West. Brazil, Argentina and Mexico are expected to double their current ecommerce sales at 47 million USD in 2018, as per a report published by Forrester. Further, online retail sales are set to grow at a CAGR of 17% to reach $85 billion by 2019. GreyOrange realizes the immense growth opportunity that the region presents and its entry into the market with Loggi will enable more businesses in the region to witness flexible, scalable, reliable and efficient automation solutions.\n\nCommenting on this, Samay Kohli, Group CEO, GreyOrange said, \u201cThe Linear Sorter has been adopted by many leading ecommerce and logistics companies across India and APAC market. We are excited to have Loggi on board with us now. Having studied the challenges that Latin America faces, we are working to provide an intelligent automation solution that can be customised to reduce turnaround time to ensure fastest delivery to the customer\u201d.\n\nHe further added, \u201cCompanies in Latin America are not just looking for automation products, but technology solutions that will provide the required technical support to their clients. With GreyOrange\u2019s unique combination of hardware and software expertise, we are looking at addressing the supply chain issues to improve the delivery process of the urban centres and remote locations without burdening the transportation system\u201d.\n\nDaniel Topper, Vice President, E-Commerce, Loggi, \u201cEvery day, Loggi offers an incredible express delivery experience, with real time tracking, to thousands of consumers buying on the main e-commerce websites in Brazil. We chose to partner with Grey Orange to accelerate our stellar growth \u2013 while maintaining our top-of-the-class SLA level. Indeed, we were looking for a partner who would understand the specific requirements of our express delivery business and, in the meantime, offer a flexible platform that could fully integrate with our in-house routing algorithms and APIs.\n\nGreyOrange has a very successful track record in the express delivery space and demonstrated great understanding of our business and our specific requirements. They worked with us as a true technology partner to create customized and specialized solutions to meet our unique and complex demands. We are excited about the upcoming deployment and are sure that the GreyOrange Sortation system will enable us to face successfully significant increases in deliveries, while improving our efficiency.\u201d\n\nThe GreyOrange Linear Sorter combines advanced software and two lines of high-speed sortation conveyors capable of sorting thousands of parcels in various shapes and sizes including polybags, plus irregular and fragile packages. The system starts at the Auto-spacer where sensors determine how the parcels are spread to ensure gaps between the parcels are even. Each parcel is then identified by 1D or 2D barcodes where both its gross and volumetric weights are automatically recorded, before it quickly moves along the high-speed conveyor which sorts the parcels according to dispatch time, destination and other parameters as determined at different times of the day, including service levels such as same-day and next-day delivery.", "output": "GreyOrange's robot sortation system is to be implemented in Brazil by delivery company Loggi. The company's high-speed linear sortation system will be put into use at Loggi's Sao Paolo hub. Loggi, which offers last-mile delivery services to e-commerce, businesses and retailers, will now be able to process 72,000 parcels each day \u2013 almost doubling its existing capacity."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Multiple industries hit by another large-scale ransomware attack \n Victims of a major ransomware cyberattack that has spread through the US and Europe can no longer unlock their computers even if they pay the ransom.\n\nThe \u201cPetya\u201d ransomware has caused serious disruption at large firms including the advertising giant WPP, French construction materials company Saint-Gobain and Russian steel and oil firms Evraz and Rosneft.\n\nInfected computers display a message demanding a Bitcoin ransom worth $300. Those who pay are asked to send confirmation of payment to an email address. However, that email address has been shut down by the email provider.\n\n\u201cWe do not tolerate any misuse of our platform,\u201d said the German email provider Posteo in a blog post.\n\nThis means that there is no longer any way for people who decide to pay the ransom to contact the attacker for a decryption key to unlock their computer.\n\n\u201cThis is not an experienced ransomware operator,\u201d said Ryan Kalember, senior vice-president of cybersecurity strategy at Proofpoint.\n\nThe attack was first reported in Ukraine, where the government, banks, state power utility and Kiev\u2019s airport and metro system were all affected. The radiation monitoring system at Chernobyl was taken offline, forcing employees to use hand-held counters to measure levels at the former nuclear plant\u2019s exclusion zone.\n\nThe food giant Mondelez, legal firm DLA Piper, Danish shipping and transport giant AP Moller-Maersk and Heritage Valley Health System, which runs hospitals and care facilities in Pittsburgh, also said their systems had been hit by the malware.\n\nWPP said in a statement that the computer systems at several of its subsidiary companies had been affected, adding that it was \u201cassessing the situation and taking appropriate measures\u201d.\n\n\n\nIn an internal memo to staff, one WPP firm said it was the target of \u201ca massive global malware attack, affecting all Windows servers, PCs and laptops\u201d. It warned employes to turn off and disconnect all machines using Windows.\n\nSome technology experts said the attack appeared consistent with an \u201cupdated variant\u201d of a virus known as Petya or Petrwrap, a ransomware that locks computer files and forces users to pay a designated sum to regain access.\n\nBut analysts at cyber security firm Kaspersky Labs said they had traced the infections to \u201ca new ransomware that has not been seen before\u201d. The \u201cNotPetya\u201d attack had hit 2,000 users in Russia, Ukraine, Poland, France, Italy, the UK, Germany and the US, Kaspersky said.\n\nKaspersky Lab analysts say new attacks are not a variant of #Petya ransomware as publicly reported, but a new ransomware they call NotPetya! pic.twitter.com/zLwKNOR2VL \u2014 Anis (@0xUID) June 27, 2017\n\nLast month\u2019s WannaCry or WannaCrypt ransomware attack affected more than 230,000 computers in over 150 countries, with the UK\u2019s national health service, Spanish phone giant Telef\u00f3nica and German state railways among those hardest hit.\n\n\n\nSymantec cyber security experts said they had confirmed the ransomware in the current attack was using the same exploit \u2013 a program that takes advantage of a software vulnerability - as WannaCry.\n\nThe exploit - called EternalBlue - was leaked by the Shadow Brokers hacker group in April and is thought to have been developed by the US National Security Agency.\n\nTo spread within companies that installed the patch to protect themselves against WannaCry, the Petya ransomware appears to have two other ways of spreading rapidly within an organisation, by targeting the network\u2019s administrator tools.\n\nIt\u2019s not yet clear how computers became infected with the ransomware in the first place, but it doesn\u2019t seem to be through email as happened with WannaCry, said Kalember.\n\nPictures circulating on social media on Tuesday of screens purportedly affected by the attack showed a message stating, \u201cYour files are no longer accessible because they have been encrypted,\u201d and demanding a $300 ransom in the Bitcoin digital currency.\n\n\n\nNew #ransomware spreading through SMB... Its #rebooting OS and encrypting files. Any idea which one it is? pic.twitter.com/DaEyqIKBvH \u2014 Ankit singh (@ankit5934) June 27, 2017\n\nThe attack affected all business units at Maersk, including container shipping, port and tug boat operations, oil and gas production, drilling services, and oil tankers, the company said, as well as seventeen container terminals.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe can confirm that Maersk IT systems are down across multiple sites and business units due to a cyber-attack,\u201d the Copenhagen-based firm said on Twitter. \u201cWe continue to assess the situation.\u201d\n\nThe disruptions in Ukraine follow a rash of hacking attempts on state websites in late 2016 and a succession of attacks on the national electricity grid that prompted security chiefs to call for improved cyber defences.\n\nThe country\u2019s prime minister, Volodymyr Groysman, said the attack was \u201cunprecedented\u201d but vital systems had not been affected. \u201cOur IT experts are doing their job and protecting critical infrastructure,\u201d he said. \u201cThe attack will be repelled and the perpetrators will be tracked down.\u201d\n\nIn a bid to calm public fears about the attack, which temporarily shut down the country\u2019s main airport and prevented travellers from using the Kiev metro, the authorities tweeted a GIF of a dog nonchalantly drinking tea in a room on fire.\n\nSome of our gov agencies, private firms were hit by a virus. No need to panic, we\u2019re putting utmost efforts to tackle the issue \ud83d\udc4c pic.twitter.com/RsDnwZD5Oj \u2014 Ukraine / \u0423\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0457\u043d\u0430 (@Ukraine) June 27, 2017\n\nDeputy prime minister Pavlo Rozenko earlier tweeted a picture of a darkened computer screen and said the government\u2019s IT system had been shut down. The state grid, Ukrenergo, said its system had been hit but power supplies were unaffected.\n\nThe central bank said an \u201cunknown virus\u201d was to blame for the latest attacks. \u201cAs a result of these cyber-attacks, these banks are having difficulties with client services and carrying out banking operations,\u201d it said in a statement.\n\n\n\nUkraine has blamed Russia for previous cyber-ttacks, including one on its power grid at the end of 2015 that left part of western Ukraine temporarily without electricity. Russia has denied carrying out cyber-attacks on Ukraine.\n\n\n\nNicolas Duvinage, head of the French military\u2019s digital crime unit, told Agence France-Presse the attack was \u201ca bit like a flu epidemic in winter\u201d, adding: \u201cWe will get many of these viral attack waves in coming months.\u201d\n\nThe growing fight against cyber-attacks has seen protection spending surge around the world, with the global cyber security market estimated to be worth some \u00a394bn ($120bn) this year \u2013 more than 30 times its size just over a decade ago.", "output": "Russian oil major Rosneft and Ukraine's international airport have been named among the victims of another ransomware attack that afflicted global businesses on 28 June. Danish shipping giant Maersk confirmed its computers had been hit across several countries, as did food company Mondelez International. Multiple researchers said the malware was Petya, a virus that exploits an NSA hacking tool in the same way as WannaCry, and encrypts hard drives before demanding a bitcoin ransom. This attack was designed to cause disruption and was not driven by the desire to collect a ransom, said Brian Lord, MD at security firm PGI Cyber."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers blind autonomous vehicle by tricking sensors \n If you've ever been dazzled by some idiot's high-beam driving towards you at night, you'd probably welcome a self-driving car \u2013 except one of the key \u201ceyes\u201d, LIDAR, can also be blinded, or tricked into reacting to objects that aren't there.\n\nLIDAR - Light Detection and Ranging - is an important self-driving vehicle technology: it gathers distances to objects by firing a pulsed laser at them and collating the reflections.\n\nHocheol Shin, Dohyun Kim, Yujin Kwon, and Yongdae Kim of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have demonstrated two kinds of attacks against LIDAR: a spoofing attack, and a saturation attack. Their work is published at the International Association for Cryptologic Research's pre-print archive here.\n\nWhile their work was in a lab, they write that the potential damage from an attack is serious.\n\n\u201cAs per the data from UK Department for Transport, 55m is the braking distance for a car driving at 60mph. Because the braking distance is the distance required solely for braking, even autonomous vehicles have no room for checking the authenticity of the observed dots, but need to immediately activate emergency braking or evasive manoeuvres. Such sudden actions are sufficient to endanger the surrounding vehicles.\u201d\n\nThe subject for their proof-of-concept attacks was the Velodyne VLP-16 sensor.\n\nThe saturation attack is very straightforward: \u201cBy illuminating the LIDAR with a strong light of the same wavelength as that the LIDAR uses, we can actually erase the existing objects in the sensed output of the LIDAR.\u201d\n\nThe spoofing attack was more complex: the four researchers not only gave the LIDAR an optical illusion, they made it appear closer than the device creating the illusion.\n\nTo do this, the attackers exploited two characteristics of LIDAR, one of them intrinsic to the technology, the other specific to the implementation.\n\nSimplified illustration of how LIDAR operation. Image: IACR paper\n\nRather than capturing whole objects (as a camera does), LIDAR captures a point cloud sufficient to infer that an object is in its view (the car's computers then decide what action to take, if any). To spoof an object, the attackers only need to make the sensors respond to points of light that look like the point cloud of an object.\n\nExploiting refraction. Image: IACR paper\n\nIf the sensor only responded in a single direction (say, straight ahead), spoofing isn't much an attack, since you'd have to put your attack device in the path of the vehicle.\n\nThat's where the implementation comes in: the researchers noticed that the Velodyne LIDAR (and many similar devices) protect their sensors with curved glass. A laser generating a point cloud at an angle can exploit refraction to change the \u201capparent\u201d direction and distance the point cloud lies in.\n\n\u201cFake dots in directions other than the direction of the attacker can be a severe threat to the victim, because the detected points have different significances according to their directions on roads\u201d, they write.\n\nThe researchers demonstrated a second spoofing attack: they captured the laser pulse emitted by a LIDAR, added a bit of delay, and sent back a corresponding pulse using their own laser.\n\nThe paper also points out the difficulty of defending systems against these attacks: adding technology to authenticate the perceived dots, for example, could slow things down too much in an autonomous vehicle. \u00ae", "output": "Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have exposed two weaknesses in the LIDAR (light detection and ranging) sensors used in autonomous vehicles. The team's two proof of concept attacks comprised \"blinding\" a Velodyne VLP-16 LIDAR sensor with a saturation attack by capturing the sensor's emitted laser pulse and sending it back. The second test used refraction to change the apparent direction and distance of a point cloud, the sensors' way of detecting objects. \"Fake [points] in directions other than the direction of the attacker can be a severe threat to the victim,\" the team wrote."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Former JLL India chairman launches Anarock Property Consultants \n Anuj Puri, former Chairman & Country Head of international property consultancy JLL India, today announced the launch of Anarock Property Consultants, essentially rebranding JLL's erstwhile residential brokerage business which he acquired earlier this year.\n\nSimultaneously, Puri announced the firm\u2019s real estate investment and fund platform, which will invest Rs 300 crore in Residential real estate projects.\n\n\"Anarock is the group brand, which will house multiple real estate services verticals. We will provide our regular residential advisory services which charges zero brokerage from our customers. Additionally, the Firm will operate a business model of bulk-purchasing residential apartment inventory through a proprietary investment fund. We will also provide debt, equity and mezzanine funding to residential developers. And this is just the beginning,\u201d said Anuj Puri, Chairman, Anarock Property Consultants.\n\nAshwinder Raj Singh is the CEO of the firm and is currently enhancing the firm's team of residential brokers to a pan India headcount of 700 by the end of 2017.\n\nAnarock\u2019s Investment and Fund platform, which is targeting a capitalization of $500 million by 2020, currently houses two funds. ROF-I, with its recent investments, stands fully deployed at Rs 161 crore and has already demonstrated successful exits.\n\nROF-II, for which Rs 300 crore were raised in 2016, will invest into residential assets from a existing pipeline and its deployment will commence as soon as it completes the last leg of regulatory requirements.\n\nThe fund\u2019s key focus areas will be underwriting and asset management, since in the current market dynamics and with the introduction of RERA and implementation of GST, delta returns and successful exits can only be achieved through constant monitoring and robust in-house asset management.\n\nSHARE Copy link\n\nEmail\n\nFacebook\n\nTwitter\n\nTelegram\n\nLinkedIn\n\nWhatsApp\n\nReddit", "output": "Anuj Puri, former chairman of property consultancy JLL India, has launched Anarock Property Consultants, rebranding the residential brokerage business he purchased from JLL this year. Puri also unveiled a real estate investment platform that will facilitate bulk purchases of residential apartments, plusplans to provide residential developers with debt, equity and mezzanine funding, as verticals within the Anarock group brand, stating \"this is just the beginning\u201d."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus NYC most expensive for flexible office space \n The Big Apple is the most expensive big city in the world when it comes renting flexible, short-term office space, according to a new study.\n\nIn New York, the average monthly price to rent a workstation in flexible offices for one person was $1,100 for the 12 months ending in February, the Wall Street Journal reported.\n\nInstant Group, a company that locates and manages office spaces for companies, conducted the study, which found San Francisco came in second with an average cost of $1,086 per workstation.\n\nFlexible office space, which includes co-working facilities like those operated by industry giant WeWork, offer shorter terms than a conventional lease for spaces already furnished for use.\n\nThe supply of flexible locations in New York City grew by 24 percent between February 2016 and 2017 to 330, according to Instant Group. London has the largest number of flexible office locations at 1,136.\n\nSign Up for the undefined Newsletter SIGN UP By signing up, you agree to TheRealDeal Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.\n\nCommunal co-working providers like WeWork now make up about half of the shared-office market in New York City.\n\n\u201cOn the real estate side, the biggest thing I have seen in the last two to three years is the advent of WeWork,\u201d Instant Group chief executive Tim Rodber. \u201cIt represents what younger people want to do and small, medium and large businesses want to do, which is build flexibility around their workplaces.\u201d\n\nLandlords, too, are starting to provide more shared office spaces in order to compete. [WSJ] \u2013 Rich Bockmann", "output": "New York City has been found to be the most expensive city in the world for renting\u00a0flexible, short-term office space, according to a study by Instant Group, which locates and manages office space on behalf of companies. In New York, the average monthly price to rent a workstation\u00a0for one person was $1,100 for the 12 months ending in February, according to the Wall Street Journal.\u00a0San Francisco was second, with an average cost of $1,086 per workstation.\u00a0The supply of flexible locations in New York City grew by 24% between February 2016 and 2017 to reach 330.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google's shopping and ad revenues at risk after $2.7bn EU fine \n Investigations were triggered after the European Commission received dozens of complaints from U.S. and European competitors who claimed that the company abused its search market dominance to give its Google Shopping service an advantage over other retailers and create a monopoly over consumers.\n\n\"Google has abused its dominance as a search engine by giving illegal advantages to another Google product, its shopping comparison service,\" Commissioner Margrethe Vestager told reporters.\n\nThe fine is the largest doled out by Brussels for a monopoly abuse case and follows a seven-year-long investigation.\n\nThe business has been given 90 days to cease these practices or face further penalties. This may include noncompliance payments of up to 5 percent of Google parent Alphabet's daily worldwide turnover.\n\nThough the company was charged with distorting internet results by the EU competition authority in April 2015 it has not before faced fines for an abuse of this nature and marks a landmark for the way technology companies are regulated.\n\nGoogle said it will consider appealing the decision to the highest court in Europe, the European Court of Justice, which will be its final hope of undoing the charges.\n\nEU regulatory guidelines stipulate that such fines are capped at up to 10 percent of the company's global turnover. As part of Alphabet , Google could have been slapped with a charge of up to $9 billion based on its 2016 turnover. While the final bill fell short of this, it eclipses the 1 billion euro ($1.45 billion) fine doled out to chipmaker Intel in 2009. It is also higher than estimates cited by sources in the lead-up to the verdict.\n\nAlphabet's share price dropped 1 percent on the announcement in premarket trading Tuesday.\n\nAlphabet generated $24.75 billion in revenue in the latest quarter, with advertising revenues of $21.4 billion.\n\nRegulators are continuing to investigate two other charges, including whether the Android mobile operating system is being used to promote other Google products at an unfair disadvantage to rivals.\n\nThe ruling may also open the way for private litigants to seek compensation for damages at national courts.\n\n\"EU antitrust rules apply to all companies that operate in Europe's Economic Area, no matter where they're based,\" Vestager said. \"The purpose is to ensure competition and innovation for the benefit of European consumers. Google has come up with many innovative products, and many innovative services, that have made a difference in our lives \u2014 and that's a good thing.\"\n\n\"But Google's strategy for its comparison shopping service wasn't just about attracting customers. It wasn't just about making its product better than its rivals. Google has abused its market dominance in its search engine by promoting its own shopping comparison site in its search results and demoting its competitors.\"\n\nGoogle, which makes most of its money from advertising, has argued that the European Commission's theory \"just doesn't fit the reality of how most people shop online.\"\n\n\"They reach merchant websites in many different ways: via general search engines, specialist search services, merchant platforms, social media sites, and online ads served by various companies,\" Kent Walker, Google's general counsel, said in a blog post.\n\n\"And of course, merchants are reaching consumers directly like never before. On the mobile web \u2014 and more than half of Europe's Internet traffic is mobile these days \u2014 dedicated apps are the most common way for consumers to shop.\"\n\n\u2014 Reuters contributed to this report.", "output": "Alphabet's Google has been hit with a record $2.7bn anti-trust fine by European Union regulators over how the company promotes its shopping service on web searches. Although the fine is unlikely to dent the company's finances given Alphabet has $90bn in cash, what could be a long-term issue for Google is how it ranks shopping search results. The area has been one of its biggest sources of sales growth and contributes a fifth of its ad revenues.\u00a0Competition Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, could require\u00a0Google to feature listings and prices from competitors more prominently in shopping search results.\u00a0\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Uber to appeal imposed English-language tests for London drivers \n Uber said it had won the right to appeal against a court decision in favour of plans by a London regulator to impose new English reading and writing standards in a move which could deprive it of thousands of drivers.In March, the San Francisco-based firm, which allows people to book journeys on their smartphone, lost a court battle against Transport for London (TfL), the latest setback as the authorities crack down on the ride service.Uber has cited TfL data that the language rules, which would involve written tests, could mean about 33,000 private hire drivers out of a total of around 110,000 operating in London would be unable to renew their licences.Drivers applying for a new or renewed licence have until the end of September to prove they meet the more rigorous English language criteria, pushed by London Mayor Sadiq Khan partly in response to pressure from drivers of the city's traditional black cabs who fear their business model is being undercut.Uber called for the proposals to be delayed until after court proceedings due next February at the very least.\"We're pleased to have secured this appeal to defend tens of thousands of drivers who risk losing their livelihoods because they can't pass an essay writing test,\" Uber's London General Manager Tom Elvidge said on Tuesday.\"We urge TfL and the Mayor not to introduce these disproportionate and discriminatory rules before the appeal is heard,\" he said.TfL did not immediately comment when contacted by Reuters on Tuesday.Uber has had a tumultuous few months after a string of scandals involving allegations of sexism and bullying at the firm, leading to investor pressure which forced out chief executive and co-founder Travis Kalanick.", "output": "Ride-hailing service Uber has won a legal victory after it gained the right to appeal a decision in support of an English-language test being imposed on its drivers by Transport for London (TfL). San Francisco-based Uber said the test, which includes a written essay, could hinder around 33,000 private hire drivers from renewing their licence. It has urged London Mayor Sadiq Khan to delay implementing what it called \"disproportionate and discriminatory rules\" until after court proceedings \u2013 expected to take place no earlier than February 2018."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Twitter to double down\u00a0on adtech to expel fake users \n by Tobi Elkin @tobielkin, June 26, 2017\n\nIn a bit of a tailspin, beset by sluggish user growth and struggling to boost ad revenue, the little blue bird is looking to invest in advertising technology to help turn its business around.\n\nLast week at the Cannes Lions festival, Jack Dorsey, Twitter\u2019s co-founder and CEO, said he plans to focus on ad-tech investments via partnerships with third parties. \u201cAdvertising is our business and technology is how we manifest that,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re doubling down.\u201d\n\nThe news is viewed as a positive by Rick Kahn, CEO and co-founder, eZanga. \u201cMany social networks, including Twitter, have a gamut of fake users and invalid profiles that bog down their networks. Fake followers, likes, and engagement can be purchased for fractions of a dollar, but amount to vanity and nothing more for brands,\u201d Kahn told DND via email.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\n\u201cTwitter has already solved the hardest part of the equation when building a successful ad-tech strategy: It has the users. Applying a mindset of how best to monetize this user base and opening the doors to third-party vendors is the most effective way to compete with the walled gardens,\u201d Hector Pantazopoulos, co-founder and CRO, SourceKnowledge, told Digital News Daily via email.\n\nIn order to stop fake users, Kahn said Twitter will need to work with ad-tech providers that can identify real users and offer performance indicators along the way. \u201cBrands care about this performance. They know they need to be present on social networks like Twitter, but are inherently aware that they\u2019re not always receiving fraud-free traffic. If companies like Twitter address this correctly, and swiftly, advertisers will pay in kind for a greater end result,\u201d he said.\n\nApart from ad tech, another way Twitter is trying to bolster ad revenue is by allowing brands to buy ads on its video streams for Periscope. The move, announced in late March, enables advertisers to buy pre-roll videos on Periscope streams.", "output": "Twitter will be \"doubling down\" on advertising technology to root out fake users and bogus accounts on the platform, said CEO Jack Dorsey. Dorsey told the Cannes Lions festival that Twitter would focus on adtech investment through partnerships with third parties, adding that advertising was its business and \"technology was how we manifest that\". The social network will also look to boost ad revenues by letting brands buy ads on its Periscope video streams."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IMF discussion suggests banks should invest in cryptocurrencies \n Bitcoin Returns 1-Day 1-Week 1-Month 1-Year -0.45% 0.07% 7.89% -25.83%\n\nAs of 6 p.m. EDT, April 18, 2023\n\nSource: TradingView\n\n\n\nHow To Buy Bitcoin\n\nStep 1: Choose a Crypto-Trading Service or Venue\n\nExchanges are a convenient option because they offer a breadth of features and more cryptocurrencies for trading. Exchanges also enable investors to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrency and allow users to transfer crypto to their online wallet for safekeeping.\n\nThere are many types of cryptocurrency exchanges. Some allow users to remain anonymous and are decentralized and don't require users to enter personal information. For certain demographics, including refugees or those living in countries with little to no infrastructure for government credit or banking, anonymous exchanges can help bring them into the mainstream economy.\n\nPopular exchanges in the U.S. aren't decentralized and follow laws that require users to submit identifying documentation. These exchanges include Coinbase, Kraken, Gemini, and Binance; they offer bitcoin and a growing number of altcoins.\n\nWhen creating a cryptocurrency exchange account, use two-factor authentication and a long, unique password that includes a variety of letters\u2014lowercased and capitalized\u2014special characters, and numbers.\n\nStep 2: Connect Your Exchange to a Payment Option\n\nDepending on the exchange, personal identification can be required and may mean that you have to include a picture of a driver's license or Social Security card, as well as information about your employer and source of funds. The process is largely the same as setting up a typical brokerage account.\n\nAt most exchanges, you can connect your bank account directly or you can link it to a debit or credit card. Although you can use a credit card to purchase cryptocurrency, cryptocurrency price volatility could inflate the overall cost of purchasing a token when combined with a credit card's interest charges. Bitcoin is legal in the U.S., but some banks may question or even stop deposits to crypto-related sites or exchanges.\n\nFees vary for deposits via a bank account, debit, or credit card, and exchanges also charge fees per transaction.\n\nStep 3: Place an Order\n\nCryptocurrency exchanges have evolved and now mimic the same features as their stockbrokerage counterparts. Crypto exchanges offer several order types and ways to invest. Almost all crypto exchanges offer both market and limit orders, and some also provide stop-loss orders.\n\nKraken offers the most order types, which include market, limit, stop-loss, stop-limit, take-profit, and take-profit limit orders.\n\nExchanges also offer ways to set up recurring investments, allowing clients to dollar-cost average into their investments of choice. Coinbase, for example, lets users set recurring purchases for every day, week, or month.\n\nStep 4: Safe Storage\n\nBitcoin and cryptocurrency wallets are a place to store digital assets more securely. Keeping crypto outside the exchange and in a personal wallet ensures that investors have control over the private key to the funds. An exchange wallet is offered, but not recommended, for large or long-term cryptocurrency holdings.\n\nHot Wallets vs. Cold Wallets\n\nHot Wallets\n\nOnline wallets, also known as hot wallets, are apps on devices such as computers, phones, or tablets. These wallets generate the private keys to your coins on internet-connected devices.\n\nThe user of an online or hot wallet isn't the holder of the private key to the cryptocurrency that is held in it. Exchange wallets are custodial accounts provided by the exchange. If the exchange is hacked, investor funds are compromised. The phrase \"not your key, not your coin\" is heavily repeated within cryptocurrency forums and communities.\n\nHot wallet holders who haven't created enough security run the risk of losing funds to theft. Strong passwords, two-factor authentication, and safe internet browsing should be considered minimum requirements.\n\nHot wallets are best for small amounts of cryptocurrency or cryptocurrency that is actively trading on an exchange and may be used like a checking account.\n\nCold Wallets\n\nA cold wallet isn't connected to the internet and is at less risk of being compromised. These offline wallets or hardware wallets store a user's private key on something that isn't connected to the internet and come with software that allows investors to view their portfolio without putting their private key at risk.\n\nA paper wallet is a wallet generated at certain websites that produces both public and private keys printed on paper. Many people laminate these paper wallets and store them in safe deposit boxes at their bank or even in a safe in their home.\n\nA hardware wallet is typically a USB-drive device that stores a user's private keys securely offline. Such wallets have advantages over hot wallets because they are unaffected by viruses that could infect one's computer. With hardware wallets, private keys never come into contact with a network-connected computer or potentially vulnerable software.\n\nCold wallets are the most secure way to store your bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. They do require technical knowledge to set up, though.\n\nHow To Buy Bitcoin With PayPal\n\nYou can buy bitcoin through a payment processor like PayPal Holdings Inc. (PYPL). There are two ways to purchase bitcoin using PayPal, by connecting your account to a debit card or bank account or by using the balance of the PayPal account to purchase cryptocurrencies from a third-party provider.\n\nYou may also use PayPal to directly buy four cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash. Except for those who live in Hawaii, residents of all other states can either use their existing PayPal accounts or set up a new one to buy bitcoin. Additionally, you can use your cryptocurrencies to purchase products and services through the \"Checkout With Crypto\" feature.\n\nWhen you buy bitcoin directly from PayPal, it earns money from the crypto spread, or the difference between Bitcoin's market price and its exchange rate with the U.S. dollar. For each purchase, PayPal also charges a transaction fee, which depends on the dollar amount purchased.\n\nYou can send crypto, including Bitcoin, from PayPal to an external digital asset wallet that you own and control, or to one owned and controlled by another person like a friend or family member. To send your bitcoin outside of PayPal, you will need to provide the wallet address where you want to send the assets. If you are sending bitcoin, you must use a destination wallet address designated for Bitcoin\u2014you can't use one designated for Bitcoin Cash, for example.\n\nThe social trading and multi-asset investment company eToro is among the few online traders that allow the use of PayPal to purchase bitcoin on its platform.\n\nHow To Buy Bitcoin With a Credit Card\n\nUsing credit cards to buy bitcoin is similar to using debit cards or automated clearing house (ACH) transfers. However, not all exchanges allow you to buy bitcoin with credit cards, due to associated processing fees and the risk of fraud.\n\nCredit card processing can tack on extra charges to such transactions. In addition to paying transaction fees, there may be processing fees that the exchange may pass onto the buyer. Credit card issuers treat bitcoin purchases as cash advances and charge hefty fees and interest rates on such advances.\n\nFor instance, American Express users will pay the current cash advance fee for such transactions, and the fee charged will vary by exchange. The credit card company also limits users to $1,000 worth of bitcoin purchases per month.\n\nBitcoin rewards credit cards like the BlockFi Bitcoin Rewards credit card function like a typical rewards credit card, except that they offer rewards in the form of bitcoin.\n\nAlternative Ways to Buy Bitcoin\n\nBitcoin ATMs\n\nBitcoin ATMs act like in-person bitcoin exchanges. Individuals can insert cash into a machine and use it to purchase bitcoin, which gets transferred to online wallets for users. Bitcoin ATMs have become increasingly popular in recent years and are available at the retail giant Walmart Inc. (WMT).\n\nBitcoin ATMs began requiring government-issued IDs in early 2020.\n\nTwo charges are associated with ATM bitcoin purchases: a purchase fee and a conversion fee for converting a fiat currency to bitcoin. Both fees are fairly steep compared with those of other options. The worldwide average purchase fee at bitcoin ATMs is 8.4% of the purchase amount and 5.4% for sales at ATMs.\n\nP2P Exchanges\n\nSome P2P exchange services provide a more direct connection between users. LocalBitcoins is an example of such an exchange. After creating an account, users can post requests to buy or sell bitcoin, including information about payment methods and prices.\n\nAlthough P2P exchanges don't offer the same anonymity as decentralized exchanges, they allow users the chance to shop around for the best deal. Many of these exchanges also provide rating systems, so that users have a way to evaluate potential trade partners before transacting.\n\nMainstream Brokerages\n\nRobinhood Markets Inc. (HOOD) is one exchange that offers crypto trading. It charges 0% commission for cryptocurrency trades and purchases and makes money from the payment for order flow, passing its trading volume on to other trading platforms or brokerage firms. Robinhood had enabled trading on its platform for these cryptocurrencies, among others: Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and Ethereum Classic.\n\nIn contrast, you can trade thousands of cryptocurrencies on Coinbase, and as of 2022, traditional brokers like Fidelity Investments began to include bitcoin investing for 401(k) accounts.\n\nBitcoin and other cryptocurrency investments are not protected by insurance from the Securities Investor Protection Corp. (SIPC). At regular brokerages, the agency protects against the loss of securities and cash in brokerage accounts containing up to $500,000, with a $250,000 cash limit. Cryptocurrency exchanges such as Coinbase have crime insurance to protect their infrastructure against hacks. But that insurance doesn't protect individual customers from password theft.\n\nHow To Sell Bitcoin\n\nYou can sell bitcoin at the same venues where you purchased the cryptocurrency, such as cryptocurrency exchanges and P2P platforms. Typically, the process of selling bitcoin on these platforms is similar to the process for purchasing it.\n\nCryptocurrency exchanges charge a percentage of the crypto sale amount as fees. For example, Coinbase says it may charge a fee when a customer cashes out their crypto, depending on the payment method selected.\n\nExchanges generally have daily and monthly withdrawal limits. Therefore, cash from a large sale may not be immediately available to the trader. However, with Coinbase, for example, there is no limit on the amount of cryptocurrency you can sell.\n\nWhat Are the Steps for Purchasing Bitcoin? The steps are: choosing a venue or exchange to place your order, selecting a payment method, and ensuring safe storage for your purchased cryptocurrency.\n\nWhat Are the Most Popular Venues for Buying Bitcoin? They are cryptocurrency exchanges, brokerage firms, and payment services like PayPal. For indirect ownership of bitcoin, investors can choose to invest in companies that hold the cryptocurrency on their balance sheets, such as Tesla Inc. (TSLA) or MicroStrategy Inc. (MSTR).\n\nHow Much Should You Expect to Pay for Bitcoin? Typically, the price consists of a fee-per-trade, plus the cost to convert a fiat currency to bitcoin. The fee-per-trade is a function of the currency amount of the trade, and, naturally, the higher the trade amount, the higher the fee.\n\nIs My Bitcoin Purchase Protected by the Securities Investor Protection Corp. (SIPC)? No, your bitcoin purchase isn't protected by SIPC. At certain exchanges, like Coinbase, fiat balances in individual accounts may be Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC-) insured for up to $250,000 per account against certain specific risks.\n\nThe Bottom Line\n\nBuying bitcoin can seem complicated if you haven't done it, but it's relatively simple. It just requires an account at a service or an exchange, and a way to store your purchases safely.\n\nTo buy bitcoin, you must select an appropriate service or venue, connect with a payment method, place an order, and ensure stable storage for purchased cryptocurrency. Each of these steps requires research and a careful assessment of the pros and cons of the relevant service. Bitcoin is available at bitcoin ATMs or from payment services like PayPal and mainstream brokerage firms like Robinhood or Coinbase.", "output": "Banks should consider involvement in cryptocurrencies because \"rapid advances in digital technology are transforming the financial services landscape\", according to a staff discussion note from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Its authors, which include economists Dong He, Vikram Haksar and Ross Leckow, suggested digital currencies could help furnish customer solutions related to trust, financial services, security and privacy, while the facilitation of cross-border transfers could\u00a0reduce compliance costs and curb the funding\u00a0of terrorism. The IMF report also cautioned that, in making this transition, increased vigilance among regulators towards risks such as money-laundering and cyber attacks might be necessary."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese Central Bank tests digital currency with commercial banks \n Nonetheless the test is a significant step. It shows that China is seriously exploring the technical, logistical, and economic challenges involved in deploying digital money, something that could ultimately have broad implications for its economy and for the global financial system.\n\nA digital fiat currency\u2014one backed by the central bank and with the same legal status as a banknote\u2014would lower the cost of financial transactions, thereby helping to make financial services more widely available. This could be especially significant in China, where millions of people still lack access to conventional banks. A digital currency should also be cheaper to operate, and ought to reduce fraud and counterfeiting.\n\nEven more significantly, a digital currency would give the Chinese government greater oversight of digital transactions, which are already booming. And by making transactions more traceable, this could also help reduce corruption, which is a key government priority. Such a currency could even offer real-time economic insights, which would be enormously valuable to policymakers. And finally, it might facilitate cross-border transactions, as well as the use of the renminbi outside of China because the currency would be so easy to obtain.\n\nPrivate digital currencies, also known as cryptocurrencies, have shot to prominence in recent years following a wave of excitement, investment, and speculation focused on Bitcoin, a distributed, cryptographically secured form of money invented by an anonymous individual or group in 2008 (see \u201cWhat Bitcoin Is, and Why It Matters\u201d). Bitcoin\u2019s distributed ledger of transactions, known as a blockchain, makes it possible for it to operate without any central authority.\n\nChina is not the only country interested in overhauling its currency. This year India eliminated some banknotes in an effort to reduce tax evasion and illegal income. And while some other central banks, including the Bank of England, the Bank of Canada, Deutsche Bundesbank, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, are studying digital fiat currencies, China\u2019s test appears to be the first of its kind anywhere in the world.\n\nOne of the main concerns voiced by other central banks looking at digital fiat currencies is that they could undermine the commercial banking system by making it possible for anyone to have an account with the central bank.\n\nChina\u2019s digital currency is designed to avoid this problem. In a paper published in Tsinghua Financial Review, an academic journal, and posted online recently, Yao Qian, deputy director of the Technology Department of the People\u2019s Bank of China, wrote that a digital currency could be integrated into the existing banking system, with commercial banks operating digital wallets for the central bank\u2019s currency.\n\nAnd while other countries have proposed following Bitcoin\u2019s architecture and many of the largest banks in the world are experimenting with it, the currency developed by the People\u2019s Bank of China is also different in design.", "output": "The People's Bank of China has been trialling a preliminary version of a digital currency for the central bank which part-uses blockchain and could operate\u00a0alongside the renminbi, according to officials. The test, thought to be the first of its kind in the world, has broad implications for the country's economy, from increasing transparency and\u00a0reducing fraud to generating real-time economic insights. China, believed to be the largest user of bitcoin, could be the ideal place for a digital fiat currency to be launched, according to Simon Johnson, a professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "WPP continues to streamline with two ad agency mergers \n by Steve McClellan @mp_mcclellan, June 26, 2017\n\nWPP continues to consolidate brands throughout its agency empire.\n\nThe holding company has confirmed that it is placing the e-commerce specialist Salmon, which it acquired in 2013, under the Wunderman fold. Separately it\u2019s merging two healthcare communications agencies \u2014 greyhealth group (ghg) and \u200eSudler & Hennessey \u2014 in the Australia-New Zealand region.\n\nWunderman is launching a new division called Wunderman Commerce, to which Salmon will contribute. Salmon will continue to operate as a stand-alone brand within Wunderman, working with both Wunderman and other WPP companies. Salmon has operations in London, Amsterdam, New York, Seattle, New Delhi, Beijing and Melbourne.\n\nAccording to the holding company, the addition of Salmon will enhance Wunderman\u2019s offering to include enterprise-level retail and mobile commerce capabilities. Salmon\u2019s expertise includes delivering strategy, platform integration and customer experience solutions across platforms including IBM Watson Commerce, SAP Hybris, Intershop and Magento.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\nSalmon in turn will gain access to Wunderman\u2019s clients, global scale, CRM capabilities and offshore marketing automation centers.\n\nThe new merged entity in the AUNZ region will be known as Sudler Sydney, and it\u2019s designed to create one bigger agency with broader capabilities across the healthcare communications sector.\n\n\n\nWPP AUNZ CEO Mike Connaghan stated: \u201cWe are constantly looking to optimize our portfolio of companies and offer clients the strongest possible solution. Merging these two strong healthcare specialists is a natural evolution, creating scale and more opportunities for our people and clients alike.\u201d\n\n\n\nOperating under the WPP Health & Wellness AUNZ division, Sudler Sydney will be led by Peter Bernard, formerly \u200eSudler & Hennessey managing director. The merger affects the Australian arm of each agency, but not the global ghg or Sudler & Hennessey brands.\n\nThese are just the latest moves WPP has taken to streamline operations within some of its agency groups.\n\nLast month Mindshare absorbed Ogilvy\u2019s Neo unit which became part of a Performance Group at the media agency, part of GroupM. In late May GroupM folded Maxus, its smallest traditional media agency into the larger MEC.", "output": "WPP has continued to consolidate its global brands with two fresh ad agency mergers. E-commerce specialist Salmon has been placed under the Wunderman brand, where it will work as a standalone brand of new division Wunderman Commerce. Meanwhile, healthcare communications agencies greyhealth group and Sudler & Hennessy are being merged in the Australia-New Zealand region to create Sudler Sydney."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facial recognition becomes part of everyday life in China \n When you are introduced to China\u2019s facial recognition technology in a public toilet, it loses some of its futuristic allure. Nonetheless it does illustrate the extent to which Chinese engineers are frantically working to introduce the technology into every part of our daily lives.\n\nIt was introduced at the Temple of Heaven toilets in southern Beijing in order to ration the amount of paper people use. After a scan of your face machines will issue around half of metre of paper and only after 9 minutes can you get second helping, if required.\n\nAt Beijing Shifan University the technology has been installed in the women's dormitories to add an extra layer of security. The female students we spoke to told us they feel safer and want to see it rolled out across their campus and others.\n\nAlmost every week there\u2019s a new technological development in China and it\u2019s facial recognition in particular which is being rolled out at an extraordinary rate.\n\nThe fast food giant KFC is currently trialling it at one of their branches in Beijing and next month the e-payment giant Alipay will introduce it for its customers.\n\nThe rapid pace of development comes after the Chinese Government made Artificial Intelligence a state priority. Billions of pounds is being ploughed into the research and development of facial recognition, speech recognition, robots, deep learning and 3D printing. In the field of e-payment the country has already left the rest of the world in its wake; the market here is 50 times larger than the United States.\n\nWe visited one of the hundreds of start-ups which is benefiting from Government incentives. At the offices of Megvil you don\u2019t need a fob or card to get in the door, is all controlled by facial recognition technology. We saw the faces of employees flash up on a screen, along with their age and gender, as they walked in. Their office was full of young entrepreneurs working on the next big thing in facial recognition.\n\nThe technology has been installed at women's dormitories at a university in Beijing.\n\nThey are proud that some police forces have adopted their system and that it has helped catch thousands of criminals but it\u2019s the consumer market which most excites them.\n\nThey say it is just a matter of months, not years, before we will be able to leave our wallets and keys because our face will be able to do everything from open our front door to pay for goods at the supermarket. They claim using the 83 point facial recognition is even safer than fingerprint technology.\n\nThere have been some concerns raised amid this rapid roll out. In Southern china pedestrians were left angered and embarrassed after their personal details were flashed up on big screens at an intersection. They were being picked out, named and shamed for jay walking.\n\nFacial recognition has helped catch thousands of criminals in China.\n\nRobots are of course part of this revolution and in warehouses and factories across China humans are being replaced with machines which can do the heavy lifting and sorting.\n\nIn Southern China the home delivery company STO express is now using hundreds of robots to sort the packages at their distribution centre. The floor of the centre looks like a massive game of tetras.\n\nChina is desperate to shrug off its reputation for cheap consumer goods and electronics. It watched as the United States and Europe invented software and led the digital age, now it wants to dominate in Artificial Intelligence, described as the next frontier.", "output": "Facial recognition technology in China is spreading at an extraordinary rate, from public toilets to schools, and now fast food giant KFC is testing it at one of its Beijing branches. This rapid pace of development has followed the Beijing government's announcement that artificial intelligence is a state priority, pouring\u00a0billions of dollars into the research and development of facial recognition, speech recognition, robots, 3D printing and deep learning, with hundreds of\u00a0start-ups benefiting from the government incentives.\u00a0China has already left the rest of the world behind in the area of\u00a0e-payments, its market for which is now\u00a050 times larger than the US."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Up to 90% of people 'unlikely'\u00a0to pay for online news in future \n As news consumption has moved online and distribution has spread across digital platforms, publishers have focused on making direct connections with their readers to develop deeper bonds with them and ultimately get them to pay.\n\nBut here\u2019s the challenge: After years of publishers putting news and information online for free in the pursuit of audience scale, most people have gotten used to the idea that they don\u2019t have to pay for content.\n\nHere is a look at the state of paid digital news consumption in the U.S.:\n\nThe numbers:\n\n\u2022 54 percent: Globally, more than half of readers say they see no point in paying for news online because they can get the information for free already, according to research released last week by the Reuters Institute.\n\n\u2022 16 percent: The percentage of U.S. consumers who paid for online news last year. For comparison, 33 percent of American adults pay for a digital video service such as Netflix, and 22 percent pay for digital audio content, also per Reuters.\n\n\u2022 79 percent: The share of U.S. readers who say they are unlikely to pay for news in the future. That percentage is higher in most European markets, especially Germany (90 percent) and Finland (89 percent), again per Reuters.\n\n\u2022 $18 billion: That\u2019s how much print ad revenue U.S. newspapers made in 2016, a 63 percent drop from the $49 billion they earned 10 years prior, according to the News Media Alliance.\n\n\u2022 89 percent: The percentage of digital ad revenue that Google and Facebook claimed together in 2016, according to third-party calculations conducted using Interactive Advertising Bureau data, leaving just 11 percent for the rest of the digital ecosystem.\n\nThe business models:\n\n\u2022 Publishers such as The New York Times, where advertising once drove the lion\u2019s share of revenue, have now openly stated they will shift their focus entirely to driving subscriptions. In the Times\u2019 most recent quarterly earnings report, the paper announced it had nearly 2 million digital subscribers. That puts the Times closer in line to other subscription-focused publishers such as The Economist, which sees ad revenues as nice to have but not necessary for survival.\n\n\u2022 In the past couple years, there\u2019s been a small but growing number of digital-focused publishers including The Information and De Correspondent that rely mainly on digital subscriptions for revenue.\n\n\u2022 Other publishers have launched membership programs that offer additional benefits like paywalled content, research or exclusive access to events. These have been instituted by digital publishers including Stat, Slate and the Charlotte Agenda.\n\n\u2022 Third-party vendors are peddling various ways to get people to pay up. Blendle, a Dutch news platform that lets readers pay by the story, claimed 250,000 global users last year. It has tried to get a beta off the ground in the U.S. for a year and a half. In Australia, startups Inkl and Tapview both offer a kind of pay-as-you-go model, in which readers can either pay by the story (normally 10 cents per piece) or pay a flat fee for unlimited access to its partner publishers\u2019 content. Inkl claims a conversion rate of 15 percent from free to paid on its monthly active users, and its paying readers read an average of 50 stories per month, according to CEO Gautam Mishra. Tapview gives ad-blocking readers the option to pay to read specific stories. In the U.S., the magazine-bundling startup Texture, a joint venture between big magazine publishers including Hearst and Time Inc., is promoting its service to users.\n\n\u2022 A few publishers, even those committed to remaining ad-supported, have experimented with crowdfunding campaigns. Guardian US raised $50,000 in 31 hours to fund an investigative series about the threat to public lands.\n\nThe problem:\n\n\u201cPeople are working harder and harder to get views, and they\u2019re getting less and less from the advertising,\u201d said Matt Carroll, a professor at Northeastern University and former head of the Future of News initiative. \u201cIt\u2019s totally striking that more publishers aren\u2019t working harder to create paid digital circulation.\u201d\n\nThe solution:\n\n\u201cI think you\u2019re going to see a lot more people focus on paid,\u201d Carroll added, noting most publishers\u2019 monetization efforts are still focused advertising. \u201cEverybody\u2019s resources are pointed in the wrong direction right now.\u201d\n\nThe counterargument:\n\nWhile a shift toward paid circulation might entice one segment of publishers, it\u2019s not for everybody. \u201cI think there are some subscription models that are really interesting,\u201d said Josh Topolsky, the founder of The Outline. \u201cBut as far as I\u2019m concerned, we are just at the beginning of digital advertising. We\u2019re just at the beginning of people understanding what people expect out of their digital products.\u201d", "output": "Europeans are less inclined to pay for online news than Americans, according to research from the Reuters Institute. Some 90% of readers in Germany and 89% in Finland said they were unlikely to pay for news in the future, compared with 79% in the US. Globally, more than half (54%) of readers said they saw no point in paying for online news as they can already get the information for free. In the US 16% of consumers paid for online news last year, as opposed to 33% who paid for a digital video service such as Netflix.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Alibaba promotes its data collaboration to Western marketers  \n Alibaba\u2019s appearance at the Cannes Lions festival last week saw its chief marketing officer fly into the south of France for the first time in the hopes of wooing swathes of Western marketers to its new advertising platform, Uni Marketing.\n\nGetting CEOs to understand exactly what Alibaba does for brands outside of China is still a hurdle and has been the key focus of its London office since it was set up two years ago. But with the roll out of what it dubs a \u201cunique\u201d ad offering, the e-commerce giant is now looking to attract CMOs with the promise of being a \u201ccollaborative\u201d partner rather than a closed data marketplace like Amazon, to which it is so often compared.\n\nIt kicked off the week-long industry event revealing it had inked a deal with Publicis Group, giving the French advertising giant the keys to the vast amounts of data Alibaba carries on half a billion shoppers as well as users of Youku (Chinese version of YouTube), which it owns, and Weibo (Chinese-version of Twitter) in which is has a majority stake.\n\nThis, in essence, is the Uni Marketing framework: \u201ca system that leverages the multi-dimensional data around our shoppers to help build brands in a different way,\u201d chief marketing officer Chris Tung explained to The Drum.\n\nAlibaba is pitching it to Western businesses as a way to understand the behavioural patterns of Chinese consumers to advertise more effectively against them. Marketers can come in through one of four key pillars, the first of which is the \u2018Brand Databank\u2019 where Alibaba aggregates all the consumer data it has across its platforms, analyses it and then turns it into insights for brands to work against.\n\nThe Brand Databank also acts as the base for the three other parts of Uni Marketing: Uni Strategy (which \u201cprovide a complete picture of consumer behavior\u201d across touchpoints\u201d), Uni Communication (a media planning and ad-serving tool which pulls information from across leading online Chinese media and feeds it back into the databank) and Uni Operation (where brands can create and deliver personalised content and manage consumer relationships across Alibaba touchpoints).\n\nThere is also Uni Desk, an advertising planning and serving system that allows media agencies to leverage the Alibaba database as a DMP to service clients.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a co-creation process between agency, Alibaba and advertiser for a much more targeted and better ROI type of advertising,\u201d said Tung, saying it can plot a consumer\u2019s \u201clife journey\u201d with any brand and tell advertisers how to personalise their comms and target the ad or other form of content accordingly.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019re talking about having access to not just the most powerful data in China, but in the world. I call it a GPS system. The old way of doing marketing is like working with submarine radar; you\u2019re looking at a small screen and the definition isn\u2019t high enough. Only when the ship comes into radar can you see it. So, you think you\u2019re targeting people and you find some advertising to get there. But now we have a GPS system that looks at the whole universe and has a broader and deeper understanding of customers behaviours and form meaningful segments. The visibility is much higher for the brands.\u201d\n\nAside from the landmark deal with Publicis, Alibaba has also been working directly with global FMCG-companies including Unilever, Procter & Gamble, and L\u2019Oreal for the past six months on what it claims is brand building activity, rather than pure performance marketing (which much of its advertising efforts had focused on to date). So, even if a brand doesn\u2019t actually sell products on Alibaba it can, Tung claimed, still expect to reaps the rewards from spending ad budgets with it.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s a mobile phone maker that launched its 7th generation last year,\u201d hinted Tung, declining to name the brand directly. \u201c[Alibaba] helped it to really locate consumers that would buy the 7th generation phone. We helped accumulate 3 million leads for it. That\u2019s a big asset.\u201d\n\nThe proximity Alibaba has to a shopper\u2019s buying behaviour and visibility on the where, when and what content they are watching with is rivalled only by Amazon, which has also been working hard to bolster its own advertising offering.\n\nBut unlike Amazon, Alibaba isn\u2019t actually selling its own wares on the marketplace and so claims a certain level of impartiality that it believes advertisers will warm to.\n\n\u201cWe are running a totally different marketplace to Amazon. We\u2019re supporting our partners to build their brands through our data capability. And so, the key words from Alibaba, are that we\u2019re open, collaborative and can make it easy to do business anywhere,\u201d he said.\n\nIndeed, several agency executives The Drum spoke to at Cannes were keen to get involved with Alibaba. The global managing director at another French advertising company, Havas, mused to The Drum that this was the first year at Cannes where the presence of Chinese companies could be acutely felt.\n\n\u201cAlibaba has showcased its big data offer to help [advertisers] understand every stage of the purchase funnel, and the patterns and behaviours of their hundreds of millions of consumers. They are not there to copy and paste. They are here to innovate and lead the next step of the industry, which is literally the merging of marketing and commerce. They are the forefront of it,\u201d Dominique Delport said.\n\n\u201cThe positioning is different [to Amazon]. Amazon is very impressive in its model, but obviously as Jeff Bezos [Amazon chief executive] said, your margin is my opportunity. Alibaba has a different approach that is more holistic and harmonious in the Chinese way \u2013 more ying and yang. It\u2019s a much more partner-led approach and it seems to work.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile, WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell \u2013 who has been vocal in the threat that Amazon poses \u2013 said that \u2018caution\u2019 is not a word he associates with the Chinese giant.\n\n\u201cChris Tung did a presentation at our Stream conference and I didn\u2019t hear caution. I heard 49% growth; selling $16bn worth of stuff in one day [Singles Day]. If that\u2019s caution I\u2019d like to have a little bit of it,\u201d Sorrell added.\n\nBut, there is caution. Other executives The Drum spoke to have said that while collaboration with platforms like Alibaba is always welcome, they are aware of just how quickly (and easily) the switch can be flipped from friend to foe.\n\nAccording to eMarketer, Alibaba took 40.3% of all money brands spent on mobile advertising in China in 2016, the equivalent to $11bn (\u00a38.6bn). Come 2019, that figure is expected to soar to about $24.1bn.\n\nLittle surprise then that Alibaba currently has a team of 500 people dedicated to working on Uni Marketing, \u201ca commitment no other company [has shown] to marketing innovation\u201d while it\u2019s investing heavily in scaling the platform globally, namely in South East Asia and Russia where its e-commerce platform is popular.\n\nAnd marketers should now get used to seeing Alibaba at industry events. Tung said its top executives are set to appear at any advertising event or conference where brand marketers will be attending in force, like Cannes, over the coming years as it doubles down on efforts to promote the platform.", "output": "Alibaba's advertising platform, Uni Marketing, has offered advertisers data to help brands target shoppers more effectively. Unlike Amazon, Alibaba does not sell its own products, so it can collaborate on brands' advertising efforts with a level of impartiality advertisers may warm to, said the Chinese e-commerce giant's CMO, Chis Tung. Alibaba's platform helped a mobile phone maker generate three million leads for the launch of its seventh generation device, Tung added. For Western brands, the Uni Marketing framework is an effective way to understand the behavioural patterns of Chinese consumers."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook refuses to release political ad campaign statistics \n Facebook won\u2019t release data on political ads to researchers The company's policy is the same for political and commercial advertising.\n\nWhile many political scientists are itching to get their hands on data documenting how political ads on Facebook performed, the company says it won't be releasing that information. Facebook says it doesn't differentiate between political and commercial ads with this policy and that's not likely to change any time soon.\n\nResearchers want information on how much money candidates spent on ads, who saw them and how often they were clicked in order to assess how big of a role ads played in the election. And because online advertising allows for more specific demographic targeting than other methods, getting information on how ads changed across demographics is information that academics think would boost transparency.\n\n\"The holy grail, I think, of political analysis for the 2016 election is to figure out which communications from which entities had an effect on which jurisdictions in the United States,\" Nathan Persily, a Stanford University professor, told Reuters.\n\nBut Facebook wants to keep their policies consistent, which means no exception will be made for political ads. Facebook's deputy chief privacy officer Rob Sherman said that ads are often considered creative content and advertising strategies confidential information. Sherman added that Facebook was open to hearing research proposals, but changes weren't likely to be made.", "output": "Facebook has refused requests to release data on its political ad campaigns, according to the social networking giant's Deputy Chief Privacy Officer, Rob Sherman. Researchers wanted information on the amount candidates spent on ads, how many people saw them, and how often they were clicked, as online advertising allows for more specific demographic targeting than traditional methods. However, Facebook said it does not differentiate between commercial and political ads and would not release such data."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Baidu's move into AI fails to shore up its market share \n Baidu has long been one of China\u2019s technology pioneers, but as the search giant transitions into an AI first company, is it losing relevance to marketers?\n\nAs China\u2019s leading search company, Baidu has often been compared to Google, but in recent years as the company\u2019s mission has become so much more than search, it has become clear that Baidu wants to be Alphabet.\n\nWhen a change in Chinese ad regulations in 2016 delivered a withering 16% decline in advertising customers and with Baidu losing serious ground in the search market to rivals like Alibaba and Tencent, a shift was inevitable.\n\nIn recent years, Baidu has realigned its strategic focus away from search and mobile advertising, towards technology \u2013 most notably AI.\n\nBaidu controls 80% of China\u2019s mobile search and 60% of PC search, which means it has a lot of data, so the obvious first step for the company is predictive search, powered by AI.\n\nBaidu has reportedly invested 20 billion RMB ($2.9 billion) in research and development in recent years, with the majority of this money going to AI. Last year alone, Baidu allocated $200 million to AI and AR development through its Baidu Research arm, which includes dedicated research divisions the Big Data Lab, Silicon Valley Lab, Institute of Deep Learning, and the Augmented Reality Lab, which it launched in February.\n\nIn a further show of the company\u2019s AI focus, Baidu hired Microsoft\u2019s EVP responsible for AI Qi Lu, appointing him as Baidu's vice chairman, group president and chief operating officer.\n\nBaidu\u2019s chairman and CEO Robin Li said recently \"Baidu's strategic evolution from a mobile-first to an AI-first company continues to gain momentum.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhile our investment in AI is a long-term proposition, we are already seeing the powerful benefits of AI bear fruit across our existing platform. With AI set to play an increasingly important role across all major industries, we are confident that Baidu's technology advantage positions us to both enable and participate in the growth and transformation of China's AI-powered industries,\" said Li.\n\nBaidu achieved early successes with its speech recognition technology Deep Speech 2 and autonomous car projects. This year it unveiled its voice controlled home robot / assistant Xiaoyu or \u2018little fish\u2019 which it hopes to compete with Amazon\u2019s Echo and Google Home. It has also launched a medical assistant chatbot Melody, partnered with a Chinese charity to use its facial recognition technology \u2013 which reportedly has 99.77% accuracy - to find missing persons, and revealed its text-to-speech system.\n\nIn April, Baidu opened its self-driving car platform to the public in a bid to help car manufacturers develop autonomous cars. The move is a strategic play which also aims to give the company a leg up over Tesla and Google.\n\nHowever, Baidu\u2019s AI ambitions were served a blow with the departure of Baidu\u2019s chief scientist Andrew Ng, who is widely recognised as one of the world\u2019s leading thinkers in AI, was seen as a significant blow to the company and impacted stocks immediately.\n\nBaidu was quick to appoint a replacement, Wang Haifeng, to led its 1,300 strong AI team but with the race to AI supremely more competitive than ever, as Alibaba and Tencent bolster their own divisions, Baidu has been keen to ensure the company maintains a show of strength.\n\nNew launches such as an investment arm, Baidu Capital have aimed to ensure the company maintains a show of strength.\n\nBaidu also notched up a major win via its video streaming site iQiyi, which has inked a deal with US streaming giant Netflix, that would see the company\u2019s content finally arrive in China via a deal with Baidu.\n\nHowever, industry observers question whether Baidu is losing ground and influence in China\u2019s fast moving market, many observers believe the brand is losing relevance, particularly for advertisers.\n\n\u201cWhichever way you look at it, Baidu are on the decline,\u201d says Kenneth Tan, chief digital officer, Mindshare China. \u201cFinancial return, financial momentum, financial potential, consumer platform, relevance to consumers and therefore relevance to marketers, it is on a decline, they are not going to fall over a cliff anytime soon but there\u2019s only one word and that is decline.\u201d\n\nHe\u2019s not alone in this thought with many experts questioning the future relevance of Baidu\u2019s search engine which, unlike Google in western markets, is losing ground as the bulk of Chinese search moves to other platforms, such as Tmall, Taobao or WeChat.\n\nMediaCom China\u2019s head of digital Christian Solomon says, \u201cWhether it\u2019s travel, movie tickets, dining, whatever \u2013 Google still does a respectable job as a one stop search shop. Baidu never did that. Strategically they went out and built branding assets as opposed to the user experience.\u201d\n\n\u201cOver the last 18 \u2013 24 months we\u2019ve seen specialist apps come in and decimate that portion of the traffic. C-trip has been doing it years, the most recent ones has been food delivery apps, movie tickets went a while ago. Then there\u2019s the rise of WeChat, and everyone is staying within Wechat and ecommerce, obviously if I am in the process of buying there\u2019s no way I am Baidu-ing anything, I\u2019m just going straight into Tmall and I\u2019ll do my business there. That\u2019s the reality from a consumer standpoint so the relevance of that platform is on a decline and therefore marketing dollars can only follow.\u201d\n\nThe shift to AI is seen by many as the most logical play for Baidu but it is a long-term strategy for the company with the industry still too nascent to determine success.\n\nMajor Lin, managing partner and chief digital officer at OMD China, says, \u201cBaidu are facing a bottleneck of the growth of their advertising business and they need to find ways to invest in the future of the business, AI is the direction they have chosen. If you look at current forecast of AI, it is focused on automated driving and medical services, it is all very early stages though, so I cannot see when that will actually happen.\u201d\n\nHumphrey Ho, managing director of Hylink Digital, China\u2019s largest independent agency says, \u201cThe only playing field left for Baidu in the world of advertising is predicting what users want and serving them creative ads for that.\n\n\u201cBaidu is sitting on a lot of data, search is still the best indication of what people want and AI will allow them to predict what people want. It helps solve the issue of what does the user want and enables them to fill that.\n\n\u201cThey plan to be the best tech company because they own user intent. By owing user intent they have the best chance of honing in on AI and predictive applications. They can do this very well. They are one step short of calling themselves Alphabet, as they are so much more than a search company.\u201d\n\nAs Baidu doubles down on AI, it faces increased competition from Alibaba and Tencent. In recent months, a power battle has emerged between the big three as they scramble to open new labs, poach staff and generally tussle for dominance.\n\nIt is still very early days for this emerging technology, and media experts remain sceptical about the AI applications that are currently launching to market.\n\n\u201cAI in China is a lot of hot air,\u201d says Tan. \u201cThere are really good things coming out of china in the R&D space. However, a lot of what is happening in our industry is fluff.\u201d\n\n\u201cAt best, what is happening in artificial intelligence is correlational analysis with some form of predictive capability. At worst, it is just rule based decision making. That is the extent of it, but I guess our industry is used to marketing PR-able fluff.\n\n\u201cWhen Baidu come out and say [they are focused on AI], it is a long play and I can\u2019t for the life of me see how that is going to make the users come back. Because ultimately what can Baidu do to attract users back to the table?,\u201d says Tan.\n\nSolomon agrees, \u201cAt the moment the advertising that has been AI has really been better versions of programmatic. There\u2019s still a way to go for AI. It\u2019s going to be clunky for a while but when it does eventually kick off we don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen it could speed off in a direction that we don\u2019t know yet.\u201d\n\nAnd with Baidu tying its fortunes to AI, its future is hard to predict.\n\nThis article is the second in The Drum\u2019s series looking at the three leading tech giants Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent (BAT). The first article look at their latest big bets on global growth.", "output": "Chinese tech giant Baidu's decision to tie its future to artificial intelligence (AI) has not yet allowed it to become the new Alphabet, as AI technology and applications are still in their infancy. The search giant, which has notched up several lucrative deals, including one with streaming site Netflix, is struggling to remain relevant as consumers flock to rival platforms such as Tmall, Taobao or WeChat. \"The relevance of that platform is on a decline and therefore marketing dollars can only follow,\" said Christian Solomon, MediaCom China\u2019s head of digital."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ether hit hardest in cryptocurrency market correction \n Cryptocurrency traders woke up to a sea of red this morning, as 92 of the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap experienced a marked price ...\n\nCryptocurrency traders woke up to a sea of red this morning, as 92 of the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap experienced a marked price decline. The bitcoin price led the retreat, falling over 6% toward $2,400. Bitcoin has declined almost $600 since it pierced the $3,000 barrier two weeks ago.\n\nThe sell-off prompted this gif to surface on /r/bitcoin.\n\nDon\u2019t be surprised if you see the same gif rotated 180 degrees once the bitcoin price recovers.\n\nNo Flippening Today\n\nBitcoin price declines always increase discussions about the \u201cFlippening,\u201d the potential future event when another cryptocurrency (presumably Ethereum) will supplant bitcoin as the largest cryptocurrency by market cap. However, Ethereum has been dealing with its own problems. On June 22, it experienced a flash crash on GDAX, although it quickly recovered. More worrisome is the fact that Ethereum is experiencing network congestion and has yet to implement a long-term solution.\n\nConsequently, the ethereum price has fared even worse than bitcoin. In the past 24 hours, the ethereum price fell 13% to $285.23. Ethereum too has been experiencing an elongated price decline, having fallen nearly $130 since it hit $410 on June 12. Significantly, ethereum\u2019s ~$26.5 billion market cap is now only 63% of bitcoin\u2019s ~$41.8 billion market cap.\n\nMassacre Extends to Altcoins\n\nThe Monday Massacre did not stop with bitcoin and ethereum; altcoins are down across the board. Not even litecoin, which has experienced a price resurgence over the past several months, could swim against the current. The litecoin price fell 9.87% to $41.29. It has fallen nearly 20% since it topped out at $50 leading up to its listing on BitStamp.\n\nAs this CoinMarketCap chart demonstrates, every top-10 altcoin declined at least 6%. Of these, the downturn hit Iota the hardest, as the token plummeted 20% to $.4172.\n\nBut the massacre did not stop there Only eight of the top 100 cryptocurrencies managed to avoid the bloodbath. Thirtieth-ranked Byteball was the largest cryptocurrency to experience a price increase, just barely moving the needle 1.84% to $781.20. Tether, MCAP, LEOCoin, OBITS, and Mooncoin each managed to tread water or increase slightly.\n\nLest one attribute the altcoin price decline to the fact that most altcoins rely on bitcoin as their major trading pair, the price charts look nearly as bad when you switch from USD to BTC. Nearly every altcoin declined against bitcoin.\n\nThe lone standout in the top 100 was 54th-ranked CloakCoin, whose price rose 41% to $10.09 (.0037 BTC). This is a new all-time high for CloakCoin, who previously rose to a high of .0033 BTC in late July 2014 before crashing in August and September.\n\nA Bump in the Road or Cause for Concern?\n\nMainstream economists and news outlets rush to pronounce bitcoin\u2019s impending doom every time it experiences a price decline, so don\u2019t be surprised if you see some trigger-happy \u201cIs This the End for Bitcoin?\u201d headlines pop up in your newsfeed if the downward trend continues. Nevertheless, it is far more likely this market downturn is just a bump in the road for cryptocurrency prices.\n\nThat said, both Bitcoin and Ethereum are facing scaling difficulties and will need to implement long-term solutions. Bitcoin\u2019s test will come with the upcoming Segwit2x activation. All signs indicate Bitcoin will avoid a network fork on August 1, but any unexpected developments could lead to price volatility.\n\nLeatherface image from Shutterstock.", "output": "Of the top 100 digital currencies by market cap, 92 have recently suffered significant price declines, with bitcoin and ether losing 6% and 13% respectively. This has effectively silenced talk of a \"flippening\", a term for bitcoin being supplanted by another cryptocurrency as the largest by market share. Litecoin was another casualty, down 9.9%, while every top 10 altcoin declined at least 6%. Both bitcoin and ether face troubling times. The latter recently endured a flash crash on GDAX and is suffering congestion problems, while bitcoin's forthcoming Segwit2x activation could lead to fresh volatility."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Corporate pressure preventing US plastic bans \n Local governments are being seduced by a petrochemical industry that's more lucrative than ever.\n\nThe plastic bag wars are getting fierce. As people become more aware of the extent to which single-use plastics are polluting the world\u2019s oceans and hurting wildlife, there is increasing pressure on municipal governments either to ban outright or impose a small fee on items such as plastic bags, foam takeout containers, disposable water bottles, and straws.\n\nThese excellent progressive steps have been taken by cities such as San Francisco, New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., as well as the states of California and Hawaii, among others. But there\u2019s a less-impressive flipside to these bans, which are states and cities banning bans on single-use, disposable plastics.\n\nThe plastics industry is not happy about the growing environmental pressure and is pushing to prevent all bans and fees. It happened in Michigan last year, where a bill now \u201cpreempts local ordinances regulating the use, disposition, or sale of, prohibiting or restricting, or imposing any fee, charge, or tax on certain containers.\u201d The governor of Minnesota did the same in May, killing a plastic bag ban that passed in Minneapolis the year before. Now, the Wall Street Journal reports, Pennsylvania is facing a similar corporate-backed ban on bans:", "output": "US states and cities are prohibiting bans on single-use, disposable plastics due to pressure from the plastics industry. Whilst areas such as Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Washington D.C. and California and Hawaii have introduced outright bans or imposed charges, Michigan last year introduced a bill outlawing such measures. Pennsylvania is now facing similar legislation. The corporate pressure can partly be attributed to the fact that companies including Dow, Exxon Mobil and Shell are constructing new factories designed to produce plastic from cheap by-products of shale drilling. At present, $185bn of new US petrochemical products are being planned or constructed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Printed solar cells thinner than a human hair could power phones \n Nanotechnology could give us extremely thin solar panels that could power phones. Credit: Flickr/ K\u0101rlis Dambr\u0101ns\n\nExtremely thin printable solar panels could power your phone and are amongst a range of new ways nanotechnology is opening the door to a clean energy and waste-free future.\n\nNanotechnology, a science that focuses on understanding materials on an atomic scale, is helping researchers and businesses introduce new technologies that could transform our economy into a greener, less wasteful one.\n\n\"Nanotechnology as a field has an enormous role to play in moving our planet to sustainable and intelligent living,\" said Professor Martin Curley from Maynooth University in Ireland, speaking on 21 June at the EuroNanoForum conference, in Malta, organised by the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the European Union and co-funded by the EU.\n\nHe explained to an audience of businesspeople and researchers that nanotechnology holds the potential to spark 'an explosion of innovation\".\n\nOne area where this innovation could have its biggest impact is with how we generate, use and consume energy.\n\nSpeaking at a session dedicated to nanotechnology in clean energy generation, Prof. Alejandro P\u00e9rez-Rodr\u00edguez, from the department of electronics at the University of Barcelona, Spain, said solar energy and photovoltaic (PV) technology itself could be considered a nanotechnology sector.\n\n\"In all PV technologies and devices we put some nanotechnology \u2026 If we want to move to devices with higher functionality, lower weight, higher flexibility, different colours, then we need to integrate more nanotechnologies into their materials and architecture.\"\n\nAt the same session, Artur Kupczunas, co-founder of Saule Technologies, explained how his company is using nanotechnology to print solar panels using perovskite crystals, a cheap and highly sensitive mineral that was first found in the Ural Mountains of Russia in 1839.\n\nThey produce thin layers of solar cells that are somewhere near one-tenth of the thickness of a single human hair. This innovation could greatly reduce the cost of producing solar energy while transforming any surface into a solar panel, from walls and road-side barriers to the surface of your smartphone.\n\n\"The most interesting factor is the (reduction of) overall costs,\" said Kupczunas, explaining that this means the technology could be easily scaled out across the market.\n\nFuel cell\n\nAt the same session, John B\u00f8gild Hansen, a senior scientist from Haldor Tops\u00f8e, a Danish chemical engineering company, explained how they have been using nanotechnology to look at the atomic level of gases in order to better understand their properties.\n\nThis knowledge contributed to creating a fuel cell for greener biofuel production. Their process extracts pure hydrogen from plant materials while reusing any CO2 emissions created during the process to help power the production cycle, preventing any fossil fuels entering the atmosphere.\n\nThis, he believes, is a way to 'break the bottleneck' on biofuels which currently struggle to get public and private support.\n\n\"If we want the conveniences we have today from liquid energy carriers (oil, natural gas etc.) for transport \u2026 hydrocarbons (biogas) are the best,\" he said.\n\nStoring wind and solar energy during unstable weather is another gap in our sustainable energy future.\n\nProfessor Magnus Bergen and his team at Sweden's Link\u00f6ping University are looking into using nanotechnology to harness the molecular properties of a plastic conductive material called PEDOT:PSS. They combine this knowledge with nanocellulose, a product made from plants or oil, to create an organic material that stores energy.\n\n\"If we make a (PEDOT:PSS) battery the size of a refrigerator it can store (enough energy for) the needs of a family in a house or an apartment for a day,\" he said.\n\nBecause of its ability to charge quickly, it could be a way to compensate for the under- or over- production of wind and solar energy during calm or cloudy days. This, in turn, could break cities' dependency on fossil fuels.\n\n\"You need to store when you are over-producing and release when you are under-producing,\" Prof. Bergen explained.\n\nWaste-free\n\nNanotechnology also has the ability to make technology smaller, extend the life-cycle of electronics, improve manufacturing processes, all of which would mean less waste has to go to the landfill.\n\nSpeaking at one of the sessions, Joe Murphy, from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, an association in the UK dedicated to promoting waste as a resource, explained nanotechnologies 'may enable us to create a new material palette' that allows future products to be recycled more easily.\n\n\"At the moment we have a lot of barriers to recycling \u2026 nanotechnology may enable us to do more,\" he said.", "output": "Saule Technologies is using nanotechnology to print solar panels using perovskite crystals. They produce thin layers of solar cells that are somewhere near one-tenth of the thickness of a single human hair, potentially reducing the cost of producing solar energy while transforming any surface into a solar panel, from walls and road-side barriers to the surface of your smartphone. \"In all PV technologies and devices, we put some nanotechnology\", said\u00a0Prof. Alejandro P\u00e9rez-Rodr\u00edguez, from\u00a0the University of Barcelona. \"If we want to move to devices with higher functionality, lower weight, higher flexibility, different colours, then we need to integrate more nanotechnologies into their materials and architecture.\"\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow launches West Derby schemes \n The housebuilder has launched sales at two developments built on former school sites in West Derby, each acquired from Liverpool City Council.\n\nRegency Manor, on the site of the former Holly Lodge girls\u2019 school, which relocated in 2015, comprises 51 houses, with a further nine homes to come within two Regency period grade two-listed buildings, Fremont and Sandheys. Nearby Regency Gardens brings 17 market rate and 5 affordable homes to the former Ernest Cookson school site, which had been vacant since 2010.\n\nRedrow has reported success with early sales, with eight properties reserved at Regency Manor over the first weekend.\n\nThe schemes fall within the Liverpool Housing Partnership umbrella. LHP was established in 2014 with Redrow, contractor Willmott Dixon and Liverpool Mutual Homes involved as partners as Mayor Joe Anderson set in motion a plan to deliver 1,500 new homes and bring a further 1,000 back into use.\n\nReceipts from the land sales on projects such as these are directed into affordable housing.\n\nCllr Frank Hont, cabinet member for housing at Liverpool City Council, said: \u201cWe are excited about housing in the city and one of the things we are most excited about is this strategic housing partnership.\n\n\u201cWith Redrow, Willmott Dixon and Liverpool Mutual Homes we are working together to bring better homes to the city and deliver more social housing.\n\n\u201cAs a city council, providing quality new homes is a key priority and the fact the partnership can deliver homes like these which, in turn, means we are able to use the receipts to build new social housing is a fantastic result. It is a partnership of which we should be very proud.\u201d\n\nOther LHP projects include 21 new build houses recently completed at Knights Park, Woolton, and ongoing work to build 60 homes at Redbridge Park, Fazakerley. The 18-property Woolton Fields has also recently gone on sale in Woolton.", "output": "Redrow has launched sales at two developments on former school sites in West Derby. Regency Manor consists of 51 houses built on the site of the previous Holly Lodge girls' school. Another nine homes will be developed within two Regency-era Grade II-listed buildings. Meanwhile, 17 market rate and five affordable homes have been built at Regency Gardens on the former Ernest Cookson school site. Redrow has reported successful early sales, with eight properties at Regency Manor reserved over the first weekend.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cori supercomputer offers fastest seismic simulation to date \n Example of hypothetical seismic wave propagation with mountain topography using the new EDGE software. Shown is the surface of the computational domain covering the San Jacinto fault zone between Anza and Borrego Springs in California. Colors denote the amplitude of the particle velocity, where warmer colors correspond to higher amplitudes. Credit: Alex Breuer, SDSC\n\nRecord-setting seismic simulations run earlier this year on the Cori supercomputer at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) were the subject of two presentations at the ISC High Performance conference in Frankfurt, Germany this week.\n\nOne of the presentations details a new seismic software package, developed by researchers at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) in conjunction with Intel, that enabled the fastest seismic simulation ever run to date: 10.4 petaflops/s. The largest simulation used 612,000 Intel Xeon Phi Knights Landing (KNL) processor cores on the Cori KNL system. The simulations, which mimic possible large-scale seismic activity in Southern California, were done using a new software system called EDGE (Extreme-Scale Discontinuous Galerkin Environment), a solver package for fused seismic simulations.\n\n\"In addition to using the entire Cori KNL supercomputer, our research showed a substantial gain in efficiency in using the new software,\" said Alex Breuer, a postdoctoral researcher from SDSC's High Performance Geocomputing Laboratory (HPGeoC) who presented the findings at ISC17. \"Researchers will be able to run about two to almost five times the number of simulations using EDGE, saving time and reducing cost.\"\n\nThis research was enabled by the NERSC Director's Reserve. The research team also helped NERSC test, debug and validate the Cori KNL system at scale soon after Cori was installed, noted Richard Gerber, head of NERSC's high performance computing department.\n\nA second HPGeoC paper presented at ISC17 covers a new study of the AWP-ODC software that has been used by the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) for years. The software was optimized to run in large-scale for the first time on the latest generation of Intel data center processors, called Intel Xeon Phi x200.\n\nThese simulations, which also used the Cori KNL system, attained competitive performance to an equivalent simulation on the entire GPU-accelerated Titan supercomputer, located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and has been the resource used for the largest AWP-ODC simulations in recent years. Additionally, the software obtained high performance on Stampede-KNL at the Texas Advanced Computing Center at The University of Texas at Austin.\n\nBoth projects are part of a collaboration announced in early 2016 under which Intel opened a parallel computing center (PCC) at SDSC to focus on seismic research, including the ongoing development of computer-based simulations that can be used to better inform and assist disaster recovery and relief efforts.\n\nSuch detailed computer simulations allow researchers to study earthquake mechanisms in a virtual laboratory. \"These two studies open the door for the next-generation of seismic simulations using the latest and most sophisticated software,\" said Yifeng Cui, founder of the HPGeoC at SDSC, director of the Intel PCC at SDSC and PI on this research. \"Going forward, we will use the new codes widely for some of the most challenging tasks at SCEC.\"", "output": "Researchers at the San Diego Supercomputer Center have partnered with Intel to develop a seismic software package that has run the fastest seismic simulation ever recorded, at 10.4 petaflops/s. In a presentation at the ISC High Performance conference in Frankfurt, the researchers said the largest simulation used 612,000 Intel Xeon Phi Knights Landing (KNL) processor cores on the Cori KNL system and\u00a0a solver\u00a0package called EDGE, otherwise known as Extreme-Scale Discontinuous Galerkin Environment.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Machine learning predicts products from chemical reaction trials \n When organic chemists identify a useful chemical compound \u2014 a new drug, for instance \u2014 it\u2019s up to chemical engineers to determine how to mass-produce it.\n\nThere could be 100 different sequences of reactions that yield the same end product. But some of them use cheaper reagents and lower temperatures than others, and perhaps most importantly, some are much easier to run continuously, with technicians occasionally topping up reagents in different reaction chambers.\n\nHistorically, determining the most efficient and cost-effective way to produce a given molecule has been as much art as science. But MIT researchers are trying to put this process on a more secure empirical footing, with a computer system that\u2019s trained on thousands of examples of experimental reactions and that learns to predict what a reaction\u2019s major products will be.\n\nThe researchers\u2019 work appears in the American Chemical Society\u2019s journal Central Science. Like all machine-learning systems, theirs presents its results in terms of probabilities. In tests, the system was able to predict a reaction\u2019s major product 72 percent of the time; 87 percent of the time, it ranked the major product among its three most likely results.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s clearly a lot understood about reactions today,\u201d says Klavs Jensen, the Warren K. Lewis Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT and one of four senior authors on the paper, \u201cbut it's a highly evolved, acquired skill to look at a molecule and decide how you\u2019re going to synthesize it from starting materials.\u201d\n\nWith the new work, Jensen says, \u201cthe vision is that you\u2019ll be able to walk up to a system and say, \u2018I want to make this molecule.\u2019 The software will tell you the route you should make it from, and the machine will make it.\u201d\n\nWith a 72 percent chance of identifying a reaction\u2019s chief product, the system is not yet ready to anchor the type of completely automated chemical synthesis that Jensen envisions. But it could help chemical engineers more quickly converge on the best sequence of reactions \u2014 and possibly suggest sequences that they might not otherwise have investigated.\n\nJensen is joined on the paper by first author Connor Coley, a graduate student in chemical engineering; William Green, the Hoyt C. Hottel Professor of Chemical Engineering, who, with Jensen, co-advises Coley; Regina Barzilay, the Delta Electronics Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; and Tommi Jaakkola, the Thomas Siebel Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.\n\nActing locally\n\nA single organic molecule can consist of dozens and even hundreds of atoms. But a reaction between two such molecules might involve only two or three atoms, which break their existing chemical bonds and form new ones. Thousands of reactions between hundreds of different reagents will often boil down to a single, shared reaction between the same pair of \u201creaction sites.\u201d\n\nA large organic molecule, however, might have multiple reaction sites, and when it meets another large organic molecule, only one of the several possible reactions between them will actually take place. This is what makes automatic reaction-prediction so tricky.\n\nIn the past, chemists have built computer models that characterize reactions in terms of interactions at reaction sites. But they frequently require the enumeration of exceptions, which have to be researched independently and coded by hand. The model might declare, for instance, that if molecule A has reaction site X, and molecule B has reaction site Y, then X and Y will react to form group Z \u2014 unless molecule A also has reaction sites P, Q, R, S, T, U, or V.\n\nIt\u2019s not uncommon for a single model to require more than a dozen enumerated exceptions. And discovering these exceptions in the scientific literature and adding them to the models is a laborious task, which has limited the models\u2019 utility.\n\nOne of the chief goals of the MIT researchers\u2019 new system is to circumvent this arduous process. Coley and his co-authors began with 15,000 empirically observed reactions reported in U.S. patent filings. However, because the machine-learning system had to learn what reactions wouldn\u2019t occur, as well as those that would, examples of successful reactions weren\u2019t enough.\n\nNegative examples\n\nSo for every pair of molecules in one of the listed reactions, Coley also generated a battery of additional possible products, based on the molecules\u2019 reaction sites. He then fed descriptions of reactions, together with his artificially expanded lists of possible products, to an artificial intelligence system known as a neural network, which was tasked with ranking the possible products in order of likelihood.\n\nFrom this training, the network essentially learned a hierarchy of reactions \u2014 which interactions at what reaction sites tend to take precedence over which others \u2014 without the laborious human annotation.\n\nOther characteristics of a molecule can affect its reactivity. The atoms at a given reaction site may, for instance, have different charge distributions, depending on what other atoms are around them. And the physical shape of a molecule can render a reaction site difficult to access. So the MIT researchers\u2019 model also includes numerical measures of both these features.\n\nAccording to Richard Robinson, a chemical-technologies researcher at the drug company Novartis, the MIT researchers\u2019 system \u201coffers a different approach to machine learning within the field of targeted synthesis, which in the future could transform the practice of experimental design to targeted molecules.\u201d\n\n\u201cCurrently we rely heavily on our own retrosynthetic training, which is aligned with our own personal experiences and augmented with reaction-database search engines,\u201d Robinson says. \u201cThis serves us well but often still results in a significant failure rate. Even highly experienced chemists are often surprised. If you were to add up all the cumulative synthesis failures as an industry, this would likely relate to a significant time and cost investment. What if we could improve our success rate?\u201d\n\nThe MIT researchers, Robinson says, \u201chave cleverly demonstrated a novel approach to achieve higher predictive reaction performance over conventional approaches. By augmenting the reported literature with negative reaction examples, the data set has more value.\u201d", "output": "MIT researchers are using machine learning to determine the most efficient and cost-effective way to mass-produce pharmaceuticals and other chemical compounds, reported the American Chemical Society journal Central Science. Although different reaction sequences can yield the same product, some are easier to run continuously, use cheaper reagents and operate at lower temperatures. Once trained to recognise thousands of examples of experimental reactions, the system was able to predict the major product of a reaction 72% of the time, while 87% of the time its prediction ranked within the top three most likely results."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Online platform Tradeweb to link China's debt market to the world \n Tradeweb has confirmed it will be the first firm to offer an offshore trading platform following the launch of Bond Connect in Asia.\n\nIt will connect with the China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) and become the main trading interface for offshore investors to access the trading link.\n\nFirst announced in March, Bond Connect will allow overseas funds to buy onshore bonds through Hong Kong in a bid to boost the economy and the city\u2019s status as a global financial centre.\n\nLee Olesky, CEO at Tradeweb, described the liberalisation of the Chinese bond market as a \u2018landmark event\u2019.\n\n\u201cWe are pleased to be the first trading platform to link to Bond Connect, an offering leveraging the familiar practices already used by foreign investors through Tradeweb across other market places.\n\n\u201cGiven the strength of our investor network of over 2,000 clients globally, we are well positioned to help the evolution of this market,\u201d he said.\n\nInstitutional investors will be able to trade directly with Mainland Chinese liquidity providers in the CFETS market using Tradeweb\u2019s trading platform.\n\nOnce trades are executed through Tradeweb, investors can then use global custodians for the settlement process due to a holding arrangement by HKMA\u2019s Central Moneymarkets Unit.\n\nCharles Li, chief executive at Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), explained the addition of Tradeweb will help China\u2019s financial market connect with the world.\n\n\u201cTradeweb\u2019s deep fixed income experience and global client network are key to helping meet the Bond Connect objectives,\u201d he said.", "output": "Tradeweb is to launch\u00a0an offshore trading platform that will link\u00a0the world to China and Hong Kong's debt markets for the first time. The provider of online trading in fixed income, ETFs and derivatives\u00a0will be the main access\u00a0link for offshore traders into Bond Connect, a venture of China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing\u00a0that will enable\u00a0institutional investors to trade directly with liquidity providers in the CFETS market.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Online platform Tradeweb to link China's debt market to the world \n Tradeweb Markets, an online trading firm offering fixed income, ETFs, and derivatives, has launched its new offshore Trading Platform Trading Platform In the FX space, a currency trading platform is a software provided by brokers to their respective client base, garnering access as traders in the broader market. Most commonly, this reflects an online interface or mobile app, complete with tools for order processing.Every broker needs one or more trading platforms to accommodate the needs of different clients. Being the backbone of the company\u2019s offering, a trading platform provides clients with quotes, a selection of instruments to trade, real In the FX space, a currency trading platform is a software provided by brokers to their respective client base, garnering access as traders in the broader market. Most commonly, this reflects an online interface or mobile app, complete with tools for order processing.Every broker needs one or more trading platforms to accommodate the needs of different clients. Being the backbone of the company\u2019s offering, a trading platform provides clients with quotes, a selection of instruments to trade, real Read this Term which is connected to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS). The company\u2019s goal is to make this platform the main medium of offshore traders to join Bond Connect Company Limited, a CFETS and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) joint venture that will help with registration and admission.\n\nThe London Summit 2017 is coming, get involved!\n\n[gptAdvertisement]\n\nThe People\u2019s Bank of China and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) have publicized Bond Connect, an investment environment which allows bond trading in the markets of Mainland China and abroad. This medium has become available by using the connections of the infrastructure entities in Hong Kong and China for custody, settlement, and investing. Northbound Trading will be introduced to the platform first in its initial stage, with overseas traders being able to invest in the China Interbank Bond Market (CIBM).\n\nLee Olesky, CEO of Tradeweb Markets, commented: \"We are pleased to be the first trading platform to link to Bond Connect, an offering leveraging the familiar practices already used by foreign investors through Tradeweb across other market places. We believe the liberalization of the Chinese bond market is a landmark event, and Tradeweb is excited to be acting as the first access link for this initiative. Given the strength of our investor network of over 2,000 clients globally, we are well positioned to help the evolution of this market.\"\n\nCharles Li, HKEX\u2019s Chief Executive, added: \"The Bond Connect program leverages the expertise HKEX has had as a global exchange leader and Tradeweb's experience as the global industry leader in driving flexible, electronic solutions for fixed income trading. The extension of the Connect family furthers the goal to connect China's financial market with the world. Tradeweb's deep fixed income experience and global client network are key to helping meet the Bond Connect objectives.\"\n\nChuanzhi, President of CFETS, said: \"We are pleased that Tradeweb, as an international trading platform, will connect with CFETS under the Bond Connect project, building a bridge for the global investor community to participate in the China Interbank Bond Market. We hope this arrangement will create value to both markets.\"\n\nIn March, Finance Magnates covered Tradeweb Markets' announcement that Citadel Securities, the brokerage arm of Ken Griffin's company, became a Liquidity Liquidity The term liquidity refers to the process, speed, and ease of which a given asset or security can be converted into cash. Notably, liquidity surmises a retention in market price, with the most liquid assets representing cash.The most liquid asset of all is cash itself.\u00b7 In economics, liquidity is defined by how efficiently and quickly an asset can be converted into usable cash without materially affecting its market price. \u00b7 Nothing is more liquid than cash, while other assets represent The term liquidity refers to the process, speed, and ease of which a given asset or security can be converted into cash. Notably, liquidity surmises a retention in market price, with the most liquid assets representing cash.The most liquid asset of all is cash itself.\u00b7 In economics, liquidity is defined by how efficiently and quickly an asset can be converted into usable cash without materially affecting its market price. \u00b7 Nothing is more liquid than cash, while other assets represent Read this Term provider for the institutional U.S. Treasury marketplace following the venue's expansion to $14 trillion in the U.S. government's debt market.", "output": "Tradeweb is to launch\u00a0an offshore trading platform that will link\u00a0the world to China and Hong Kong's debt markets for the first time. The provider of online trading in fixed income, ETFs and derivatives\u00a0will be the main access\u00a0link for offshore traders into Bond Connect, a venture of China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing\u00a0that will enable\u00a0institutional investors to trade directly with liquidity providers in the CFETS market.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Barclays pushes FCA to be more inclusive about digital currencies \n Barclays has been in discussions with regulators and financial technology \u2013 or fintech \u2013 firms about bringing cryptocurrencies like bitcoin \"into play\", the bank's U.K. chief executive told CNBC on Monday.\n\nAshok Vaswani revealed that the banking giant has met with Britain's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) watchdog to talk about how to make bitcoin safe in response to a question about whether Barclays could support bitcoin.\n\n\"We have been talking to a couple of fintechs and have actually gone with the fintechs to the FCA to talk about how we could bring, the equivalent of bitcoin, not necessarily bitcoin, but cryptocurrencies into play,\" Vaswani told CNBC at the Money 20/20 fintech conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.\n\n\"Obviously (it's) a new area, obviously an area we've got to be careful with. We are working our way through it.\"\n\nVaswani did not expand on to what extent Barclays could be involved with bitcoin. Barclays has recently been involved in the digital currency space. Last year the bank partnered with social payments app Circle. The start-up, which received a license from the FCA last year, allows users to send money to each other in messages, and supports bitcoin. Barclays provided Circle with an account to store sterling, as well as the payments network to transfer money.\n\nBanks have typically been very cautious of being associated with any companies involved with bitcoin due to the cryptocurrencies bad reputation as being used to buy illegal items on the so-called \"dark web\".\n\nBut the world's largest cryptocurrency by market cap has seen rising retail investor interest, as well as a major rally since the start of the year that has seen its price hit record highs. Even though the price has pulled back in recent days and there is still volatility, regulators are becoming interested in bitcoin, which is lending legitimacy to the digital currency.", "output": "Barclays has discussed plans to bring cryptocurrency \"into play\" with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the bank's UK CEO, Ashok Vaswani, has said. Although Japan, for example, has made it legal for merchants to accept bitcoin payments, the FCA has been cautious about the digital currency, said Chris Woolard, the FCA's executive director of strategy. Banks have also been careful about\u00a0backing companies involved in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which\u00a0can be used to buy items online illegally. However, last year Barclays lent support to Circle, a peer-to-peer payment app that supports\u00a0bitcoin use."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sequoia backs Indian insurer of personal items OneAssist \n OneAssist, a company which allows users to insure their mobile wallets, credit cards and smartphones against loss or theft, has raised Rs 118 crore (~$18 million) in a Series C round, according to this Economic Times report. The round saw participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, US based insurance provider Assurant and Moonstone Investments. MediaNama has emailed the company asking where it plans to deploy the fresh funds; we will update the story once we receive a response. The company's fresh fundraiser comes at a time when telecom companies like Airtel, Vodafone and mobile wallet companies like Paytm have started rolling out insurance options to its users. Previous Funding Till date, OneAssist has raised close to $30 million in 4 rounds, as per CrunchBase data. Its previous funding was in August 2015 when it raised $7.72 million from Assurant, Lightspeed and Sequoia. At that time, the company said it may venture into the online retail segment and claimed to have a subscriber base of 200,000. In June 2012, the company had raised $3.5 million from Sequoia and Lightspeed. Partnership and products The WalletAssist plan claims that users can block their bank cards with a single call, same for SIM cards. It offers card fraud protection from 7 days before the loss is reported and claims to cover skimming, phishing along with online, ATM and PIN fraud. It also offers free replacement of the PAN card and driving license. These plans cost Rs 1,300 and Rs 1,800 per year and Rs\u2026\n\nPlease subscribe login to read the full story.", "output": "Mumbai-based assistance platform OneAssist has raised INR118 crore (~$18m) in a series C funding round that included existing investors Sequoia Capital, Assurant, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The latest round brings investment in OneAssist to $30m, as it seeks to compete with rivals Paytm, Airtel, and Vodafone, which have all launched insurance options."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Canada's WealthSimple robo-advisory to expand into UK \n WealthSimple is taking its digital investing platforms overseas.\n\nThe robo-advisor announced Thursday that it is expanding its services to the United Kingdom. The service will have a full public launch in September, preceded by a beta version to be rolled out this summer.\n\n\u201cThere are a lot of people in the UK who aren't getting the tools and advice they need to live their best financial lives, and in particular young and first-time investors,\u201d WealthSimple Founder and CEO Michael Katchen said in a statement. \u201cWe\u2019re really excited to introduce our first UK clients to the simple, smart, accessible service Wealthsimple is known for.\u201d\n\nThe business will be led locally by financial services veteran Toby Triebel.\n\nWealthSimple has already opened a waitlist for the beta service, which the company promises will mirror the North American platforms.\n\nThis is the second expansion outside of Canada for WealthSimple this year. The company launched in the United States in January after a $20 million investment from Power Financial Corp.", "output": "Robo-adviser WealthSimple is expanding to the UK, launching fully in September, with a beta version out in the summer. This will be the second expansion for WealthSimple outside Canada this year, after launching in the US in January\u00a0following a $20m investment from Power Financial Corp. The service is focused on the needs of young and first-time investors and aims to be \"simple, smart and accessible\".\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese exchanges crack down on ICOs as speculators pile in \n 24th June, Shenzhen-BTC38, the Shenzhen-based cryptocurrency exchange, released a warning to investors of potential ICO scams. ICOs are going rampant in the last two months. There are quite a number of ICO projects named with \u201cChain\u201d circulating in the socializing tools like QQ or Wechat group, some of which could not be found in any websites and could only be accessible to so-called insiders. This creates another illusion for newbies or \u201cjiucai(leek)\u201d in the Chinese cryptocurrency community: the fast-track for getting rich is not available for everyone and better to get on board ASAP.\n\nMeme mocking ICO: Jiucai Coin, an Eth-based Jiucai harvesting system (source:internet)\n\nBTC38 released a statement to disperse rumors concerning recent ICOs that promote using the name of the exchange. TLDR version of BTC38 announcement:\n\n1. BTC38 will not list any newly-issued ICO assets. It\u2019s one of the principle of BTC38 not to be the first exchange for any cryptocurrency or assets.\n\n2. BTC38 has never been and will not get involved in the market-making of exchange and staffs are not allowed to get involved as well.\n\n3. BTC38 will publicize plans and open bidding for \u201crenovating coins\u201d.\n\nThe announcement also warns investors of fake Wechat or QQ chat log to fool the investors, which is echoed by Yunbi :\n\n\u201cIn order to protect the benefit of the investors, YUNBI hereby declares: YUNBI will not promise to list any of the tokens from the ICO projects before the ICO ends. Any blockchain startups using YUNBI\u2019s name to do advertisement, their behaviors would be considered as infringing acts. YUNBI will use legal means to ask for their accountability.\u201d\n\nAs pointed out by Biqushi, 10x inflow of cryptocurrency investors are observed recently compared to that of last year as of 20th June.\n\n\n\nSummary of new investors as of 20th June. credit:biqushi\n\nTempted by stories like : The Crazy World of ICOs: 200,000 CNY to 6 Million CNY in 2 Years , the newbies are busy trading instead of educating themselves and doing due diligence research.\n\nIn a report released in April by Chinatimes, one of the mainstream media in China, ICO has been more or less described as \u201craising fund without viable products and institutional backing\u201d and a \u201cshortcut for grey fundraising\u201d. The story cited QTUM as a \u201cdeception to outsiders and investors\u201d.\n\nDespite that the authority may implement \u201cregulatory sandbox\u201d for ICOs, , it\u2019s still too early to say that exception could be made amid the crackdown on illegal fundraising. The tolerance for ICOs may come to a sudden halt in China. According to a legal interpretation from a lawyer, illegal fundraising may face death penalty in China .\n\nICO may help blockchain startups to get much-needed funding for quick establishment and exploration of uncharted area in the realm of blockchain, which are generally helpful to the whole ecosystem. On the other hand, the lack of self-discipline and the lurking scammers may do much damage to the latest fundraising methods.", "output": "An influx of novice Chinese investors seeking to profit from initial coin offerings (ICOs) is being targeted by a growing number of ICO scams. In response, Chinese exchanges BTC38 and Yunbi have clarified their trading practices and put a halt to listing newly issued ICO assets. Meanwhile, a report from mainstream news source Chinatimes has described ICOs as a means of \"raising funds without viable products and institutional backing\", suggesting the government's tolerance of ICOs is waning.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IKEA claims Apple AR app\u00a0will\u00a0put virtual furniture in the home \n Tim Cook said in a recent interview that he was so excited about augmented reality that he wanted \u2018to yell out and scream.\u2019 He named furniture-buying as an example of something that can be completely changed by the use of AR, and gave a specific shout-out to Ikea \u2013 a company also briefly referenced in the iOS 11 keynote.\n\nWe\u2019ve talked to Ikea, and they have 3D images of their furniture line. You\u2019re talking about changing the whole experience of how you shop for, in this case, furniture and other objects that you can place around the home.\n\nThe company has now told a Swedish site a little about its plans \u2026\n\nIkea\u2019s digital transformation manager Michael Valdsgaard told Digital.di that it was working on the first AR app of its kind \u2013 and that it was going all-in on the technology.\n\nThis will be the first augmented reality app that allows you to make reliable buying decision [\u2026] When we launch new products, they will come first in the AR app.\n\nThe plan is for customers to take photos of their own homes, and to use the app to position photo-realistic renders of Ikea products wherever they want them in the home. Customers would be able to see what a sofa would look like in a living-room, for example, placing it in the exact position desired.\n\nValdsgaard says that Apple\u2019s AR technology is so good that the positioning of products will be \u2018millimeter precise,\u2019 with sizes and lighting completely accurate. It\u2019s expecting to have 5-600 products available at launch.\n\nThe company will have a head-start on other companies and it\u2019s been using photo-realistic renders instead of product photos in its existing catalog for some time now. It will be able to drop these same 3D models into the AR app.\n\nThe company suggests that, in the first instance, this will be a tool for use in-store. You\u2019ll wander round, spot a product you like and be able to view that product in your home. But it plans to go beyond this.\n\nIdeally, you could place a sofa in your home using the app, and then click it in the shopping cart on the e-commerce site.\n\nValdsgaard says that while Ikea would like to have this ready for the launch of iOS 11, the timing may not permit this.\n\nWe have a tight deadline.\n\nEarlier this month at WWDC, we got some hands-on time with Apple\u2019s new ARKit framework arriving in iOS 11, and Apple happened to have a demo running that allows placement of digital pieces of furniture within a physical space:\n\nWe\u2019d put money on seeing this app demo\u2019d on stage at the iPhone 8 launch.\n\nIkea last month announced HomeKit compatibility for its range of low-cost smart lighting.\n\nCheck out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news!", "output": "Furniture retailer IKEA is developing a first-of-its-kind augmented reality (AR) app, using Apple technology, which it said will allow customers to virtually position new furniture in their homes before buying, according to IKEA's digital transformation manager, Michael Valdsgaard. Initially an in-store tool, users take photos of their rooms and use the app to position new items. He said Apple's AR app is \"millimetre precise\"\u00a0and aims to have 500 to 600 products available at launch, although it is unclear whether that will coincide with the release of iOS 11. \"We have a tight deadline,\" Valdsgaard said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "19 Crown Resorts staff plead guilty to 'gambling crimes'\u00a0 \n Nineteen Crown Resorts staff, including three Australians, have pleaded guilty to \u201cgambling crimes\u201d in a trial that lasted only a few hours at Shanghai\u2019s Baoshan district people\u2019s court.\n\nAustralian Jason O\u2019Connor was sentenced to 10 months in jail and compatriots Jerry Xuan and Pan Dan each received nine months. All 19 have been detained since October, and their sentences will reflect time served.\n\nCrown Resorts said in a statement to the ASX that 17 current and two former employees were convicted under article 303 and 25 of Chinese criminal law, which relate to deriving profit from gambling as a main income and organising gambling parties.\n\n\n\nSixteen of the 19 defendants were fined a total of 8.62m yuan (A$1.67m), which Crown said it would pay. It added: \u201cCrown remains respectful of the sovereign jurisdiction of the People\u2019s Republic of China and does not intend to comment further at this time.\u201d\n\nCasino gambling and promoting gambling is banned in China. Organising a group of more than 10 Chinese for gambling trips is also illegal, although businesses often skirt these rules by offering tour packages instead. The former Portuguese colony of Macau is the only place on Chinese soil where casino gambling is permitted.\n\n\n\nThe employees were taken into custody by Chinese authorities last October and charged earlier this month. Three employees were bailed while the rest remained in detention.\n\nA Crown Resorts media spokeswoman said the company would make no comment on Monday, but might release a statement later in the week.\n\n\n\nChina is in the midst of a crackdown on the promotion of gambling on the island of Macau, where Crown\u2019s joint venture hosted businessmen, officials and high rollers from the mainland.\n\n\n\nFor several years, foreign casinos have been engaged in an increasingly high-stakes race to lure the lucrative Chinese VIP market, skirting Chinese law that strictly forbids the promotion of gambling.\n\n\n\nSince the detentions, Crown has scaled back its Chinese ambitions, selling down its stake in the Macau-based joint venture Melco Crown, before offloading its final stake in Melco Resorts & Entertainment for $987m.\n\n\n\nThe James Packer-controlled gambling giant has also faced a number of changes with chief executive Rowen Craigie departing in February and director and former chairman Robert Rankin stepping down from the board.\n\n\n\nCrown Resorts shares fell to a year-low of $9.71 following the detentions in October, but were trading at $12.65 up 0.79% at Friday\u2019s close.\n\nThe Shanghai Baoshan district people\u2019s court confirmed to the Guardian that five crown staff, including Jason O\u2019Connor, have been given 10-month sentences. Another 11 defendants have been sentenced to nine months. The verdict will take into effect in 10 days.\n\nWith Australian Associated Press", "output": "Employees of the James Packer-controlled casino group Crown Resorts who were detained in October have pleaded guilty to \"gambling crimes\" in China. The 19, including three Australians, were mostly handed sentences of nine to ten months, including time served. Sixteen of the 19 defendants were fined a total of CNY8.62m ($1.26m), which Crown Resorts said it would pay. Casino gambling and promoting gambling is banned in China, which is currently cracking down on the promotion of gambling on the island of Macau, where Crown\u2019s joint venture was based.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ABN Amro tests wearables for contactless\u00a0payments \n ABN Amro in the Netherlands is testing wearables technology that would enable its customers to make payments directly from their current accounts using such devices, according to a press release.\n\nA select group of users is currently testing various wearables, including a special Kerv ring and a watch with NFC technology. The test users will be able to use these wearables to make contactless payments at almost 40 million payment terminals around the world.\n\nThe bank is working with MasterCard Digiseq to ensure the products meet requirements for making reliable and secure payments, according to the release.\n\nABN Amro will work together with the first users to explore whether these payment options become popular among consumers. At the same time, the bank is looking to forge partnerships with other parties. After this pilot has been carried out, ABN Amro aims to make this payment technology available to clients at the end of this year, according to the release.", "output": "ABN Amro has launched a pilot programme in the Netherlands to test payments made using wearables, including a contactless payment ring made by Kerv, and a watch equipped with near-field communication technology, according to a company statement. The tests will be overseen by Mastercard Digiseq to ensure the products meet security and reliability requirements and\u00a0users will be able to make contactless payments at\u00a0almost 40 million terminals globally. ABN Amro aims to roll out the technology at the end of the year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "YouTube and Daydream unveil 180-degree VR format \n I just got off stage after a great conversation with Rhett and Link at VidCon, where we announced a number of exciting new updates. We spoke about VR, YouTube TV , new original series and a number of improvements to the core YouTube experience. Let\u2019s talk about that!\n\nSharing is caring: We\u2019re making it a whole lot easier for you to share your favorite YouTube videos with friends. Last year, we announced a new sharing feature that lets you share videos right from the YouTube app. In a couple weeks, it\u2019ll be available in Latin America and then throughout the U.S. soon after that.\n\nWe\u2019re making it a whole lot easier for you to share your favorite YouTube videos with friends. Last year, we announced a new sharing feature that lets you share videos right from the YouTube app. In a couple weeks, it\u2019ll be available in Latin America and then throughout the U.S. soon after that. More markets for YouTube TV: We are really excited about YouTube TV and pleased that it will be expanding to ten more markets in just a couple of weeks, including: Dallas-Fort Worth, Washington, D.C., Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne and Charlotte. YouTube TV was built for the YouTube generation that loves live TV but wants it delivered in a way that suits their mobile and flexible lifestyles. In fact, we see more Millennials using YouTube TV than any other generational group. Now - with this expansion - millions more people will be able to stream their favorite live sports and must-see shows from top broadcast and cable networks. Sign up to find out when we launch in your market.\n\nWe are really excited about YouTube TV and pleased that it will be expanding to ten more markets in just a couple of weeks, including: Dallas-Fort Worth, Washington, D.C., Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne and Charlotte. YouTube TV was built for the YouTube generation that loves live TV but wants it delivered in a way that suits their mobile and flexible lifestyles. In fact, we see more Millennials using YouTube TV than any other generational group. Now - with this expansion - millions more people will be able to stream their favorite live sports and must-see shows from top broadcast and cable networks. Sign up to find out when we launch in your market. New slate of YouTube Red Originals: To date, we've launched 37 original series and movies on YouTube Red, and they've generated nearly a quarter billion views. We are excited about working with our partners to help them create incredible content that delights their fans. Today, we shared details on 12 new projects coming to YouTube Red\u2014here's the preview: Watch the latest shows from YouTube's biggest stars.\n\n\n\n\n\nI always have an incredible time at VidCon and this year is no different. I met amazing fans and inspirational creators and I experienced, first-hand, the wonderful sense of community and belonging between them. I hope some of these features and announcements will make their YouTube experience\u2014and yours\u2014better than ever.\n\n\n\nSusan Wojcicki, CEO, YouTube recently watched Good Mythical Morning \u2014 What\u2019s All Over My Body (CHALLENGE)\n\n", "output": "YouTube and Daydream have developed a 180-degree virtual reality (VR) format known as VR180, along with more affordable cameras for VR content creators, according to a blogpost by the site's CEO, Susan Wojcicki. The video-sharing firm has also partnered\u00a0with camera manufacturers, including LG and Lenovo, to create devices to be sold to consumers for a few hundred dollars. \"We want to make VR more accessible and more affordable for viewers and creators,\"\u00a0Wojcicki wrote.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Irish Senator introduces bill to limit Airbnb rentals \n A NEW BILL which limits the time a person can rent their property on platforms such as AirBnb to six weeks has been drafted by Labour Senator Kevin Humphreys.\n\nIt aims to follow in the footsteps of other major cities such as Berlin, Amsterdam and London, which have all clamped down on the use of Airbnb.\n\nThis week, the Oireachtas Housing Committee heard that short-term rental companies are having an \u201cadverse effect\u201d on the rental market in Dublin.\n\nThere was criticism of Airbnb, which allows people to rent rooms or entire homes for short periods of time, and which is seen as further reducing the supply of rental properties for people living in Dublin.\n\nIn figures presented by Dr Daith\u00ed Downey of Dublin City Council (DCC), it was shown that almost half (48%) of the Airbnb rentals within the Dublin city limits are available to be booked for more than 90 days of the year.\n\nThese 2,581 listings are identified as \u2018high availability\u2019. Of these, 1,375 are listed as entire homes or apartments. DCC says that it will now commission a study to report in October to make recommendations on the issue.\n\nShutterstock / Madrugada Verde Shutterstock / Madrugada Verde / Madrugada Verde\n\nSix weeks per year\n\nHumphreys\u2019 Bill stipulates property owners will only be permitted to let their apartment or house for short-term use for a period of six weeks during the year.\n\nIt will also make it mandatory for all short-term letting companies to sign up to a register which will list all the properties they have on the books. Similar regulations are being discussed in Toronto, while some UK councils have said restrictions have been ineffective to date.\n\n\u201cThe maintaining of a register is essential as it will prevent homeowners from jumping from one letting platform to another, which will allow people to supersede the regulations. It will also allow planning enforcers easy access to what properties are being let,\u201d said Humphreys.\n\nThe Labour senator said this is the only way to ensure owners will not simply use multiple platforms to rent out their properties for longer than the allowable time.\n\nCompanies that don\u2019t maintain a property register will be subject to a \u201cClass A fine\u201d not exceeding \u20ac50,000, states the Bill.\n\nHumphreys was critical of the Housing Department for proposing short-term rental companies should merely sign-up to a \u201cmemorandum of understanding\u201d, stating that this self-regulation has been introduced in other countries and failed.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nMemorandum of understanding\n\nThe Housing Department told the committee this week it is in ongoing discussions with Airbnb about establishing such a memorandum.\n\n\u201cIn the discussions with the department, Airbnb expressed its concern at the potential loss of supply to the rental sector and have shown willingness to work with the department to develop a collaborative plan,\u201d the Department of Housing\u2019s Earn\u00e1n O\u2019Cleirigh told the committee.\n\n\u201cDiscussions in this context are ongoing and if successful are intended to form the basis for putting similar arrangements in place with other online platforms. The department\u2019s joint commitment with Airbnb is to co-develop protocols and processes to facilitate home sharing while preventing unwelcome and unauthorised rentals being advertised on the Airbnb platform,\u201d he added.\n\nHumphreys, who has been campaigning for the industry to be regulated, told TheJournal.ie that he has been \u201cchasing [Minister] Simon Coveney for over a year to regulate and legislate\u201d.\n\nThe issue with regulating the sector is due to short-term lets not being defined under the law. Humphrey\u2019s new Bill does include such a definition, he said.\n\nSam Boal Labour Senator Kevin Humphreys Sam Boal\n\nLegislation needed\n\nSeven months ago, An Bord Plean\u00e1la upheld a ruling that a property owner in Temple Bar required planning permission to continue renting the property out for short-term lets. The Housing Department sent out a circular to all local authorities urging them to enforce the regulations.\n\nHowever, it was confirmed in the meeting that nobody has been prosecuted under the same laws used to make the ruling against the Temple Bar property owner.\n\nThe Bord Pleanala decision was to be welcomed, said Humphreys, but added that legislation should have been introduced to underscore the court\u2019s decision.\n\n\u201cThe government hasn\u2019t moved on it.\u201d he said.\n\nWhen other countries, such as Berlin, introduced similar laws almost 40% of housing stock returned to the market, claimed the senator.\n\n\u201cWe could get over 2,000 units back in use in a relatively short space of time,\u201d he said.\n\nHe said the reason why the issue has not been tackled to date is because the short-term rental market and the likes of Airbnb have been filling a gap due to the shortage of hotel rooms around the country.\n\nHowever, he said it was time to make a choice between the tourism sector taking a hit (which Humphreys admits this Bill could do) or to get families into apartments and houses.\n\nWith the number of properties to rent at an all time low, he said: \u201cI think it is far better to make sure that families have a place to live.\u201d\n\nCoveney failed to deal with this during his time as Housing Minister and I am now calling on Eoghan Murphy to find a way to act quickly.\n\nThe Labour senator said he is open to his Bill being taken on as a Government Bill, stating that he \u201cis not precious about who pushes the Bill through the D\u00e1il\u201d.\n\nFrom London to Berlin, they all had to take steps to control the short-term let market. We have to ensure that if it\u2019s zoned as residential, it stays as residential.", "output": "Irish Senator Kevin Humphreys has drafted a bill seeking to limit the short-term rental of Dublin properties on sites such as Airbnb to six weeks, with a fine for non-compliance, amid an all-time low in the number of homes for rent. The legislation would also force homeowners to list all their properties available for rent, offering \"planning enforcers easy access to what properties are being let,\" said Humphreys.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Europe's fastest growing mobile payments app Yoyo raises $15.3m \n Yoyo Wallet, Europe's fastest growing mobile payments app, raised \u00a312 million ($15.3 million) in a Series B round, it announced on Monday. The deal was led by German retail giant Metro Group, and awaits approval from the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority.\n\nThe U.K.-based fintech app began life four years ago, servicing dozens of U.K. and Irish universities. It now allows its 400,000 registered users to pay for goods using their smartphones in over 1,700 outlets, including Caff\u00e9 Nero and Planet Organic.\n\n\"Yoyo is now delivering proven benefits to a rapidly growing number of merchants and their customers in universities, corporate campuses and the High Street,\" Alain Falys, Yoyo Wallet's co-founder and chief executive officer, announced on Monday.\n\n\"This new funding will allow us to provide the benefits of customer identification and mobile engagement to a wider array of retailers, large and small, in the U.K. and across Europe. We could not have found a better combination of Investors to support us through this next stage of growth.\"\n\nThe app is one of many mobile payment apps replacing physical payment, with its own personalized loyalty and rewards programs. It uses customer data to help retailers tailor rewards programs that appeal to individual consumers.\n\n\"Consumers are spending more than three hours a day on their smartphones and 40 percent buy more when subject to a personalized shopping experience,\" Falys added. \"Yoyo simply provides all retailers with an accessible way of tapping into these behaviors.\"", "output": "Mobile payment and customer engagement platform Yoyo Wallet has raised \u00a312m ($15.3m) in a series B round led by German retailer Metro Group. The UK-based fintech - the fastest-growing mobile payments app in Europe - enables its 400,000 registered users to make payments using their smartphones, and offers tailored rewards based on customer data. CEO Alain Falys said the funding would help the company take its product to a \"wider array of retailers, large and small, in the UK and across Europe\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Daimler expands into Romania to compete with Uber \n LONDON -- Mytaxi, the ride-hailing app owned by Daimler, has agreed to buy a Romanian rival as part of efforts to create a pan-European service to take on Uber.\n\nMytaxi CEO Andrew Pinnington said the company was paying an \"eight figure\" sum to buy Romanian market leader Clever Taxi, which operates in 20 cities across the country.\n\nEarlier this year, Hamburg-based mytaxi bought Greece\u2019s Taxibeat, and Pinnington said he expected more acquisitions to help to expand the service in eastern Europe.\n\n\u201cThe major driving factor is strategic, to grab market share and extend into more geographic territories,\u201d he said in a telephone interview.\n\nThe growth of ride-hailing services and the prospect of driverless vehicles has led to predictions that people will switch to paying for individual journeys rather than buying their own cars.\n\nTo ensure they do not become providers of low-margin commoditized hardware to companies like Uber in the future, Daimler and rivals are investing in ride-hailing app companies such as mytaxi, Lyft, Grab, Gett and others which connect drivers and passengers.\n\nVolkswagen Group has taken a $300 million stake in Gett and General Motors invested $500 million in Lyft. Like Uber, mytaxi links drivers with passengers in return for a share of the fare paid. But mytaxi focuses on metered taxis, while Uber relies on unmetered cars and drivers who are not formally registered as taxi drivers.\n\nUber\u2019s approach allows it to charge lower fares but has led to frequent battles with local and national authorities, especially in Europe where the taxi market is heavily regulated. Restrictions on its service have prompted it to pull back from some markets and led some analysts to question the sustainability of its model in continental Europe.\n\nPinnington said mytaxi\u2019s model was to offer its service within the existing regulatory framework, and to charge a lower commission to drivers \u2013 around half the 20-25 percent Uber takes.", "output": "Daimler-owned ride-hailing app Mytaxi has agreed to acquire Romanian rival Clever Taxi for an \"eight-figure sum\", as it seeks to outpace Uber in Europe, according to Mytaxi CEO Andrew Pinnington. The move follows the Hamburg-based firm's\u00a0purchase of Greece\u2019s Taxibeat.\u00a0Mytaxi, which uses metered vehicles and charges a lower commission to drivers, is one of several ride-hailing firms that have seen investment from big car manufacturers.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK energy industry most concerned about risk of cyber attacks \n Concern over the threat posed by cyber-attacks on power stations and electricity grids is \u201coff the scale\u201d in the UK energy sector, according to a leading industry figure.\n\nNo other country in the world has an energy industry as worried about the risk from cyber threats, such as the WannaCry ransomware attack that recently hit the NHS, the former chief of National Grid told the Guardian.\n\n\u201cThe UK stands out uniquely on cyber threats. Nowhere else is as worried as the UK about cyber threats: we are just off the scale on our energy system concerns on cyber,\u201d said Steve Holliday.\n\nHe said the danger posed to energy systems was coming to the fore now because of the trend away from well-protected, centralised large power stations and towards decentralised power, such as lots of small, flexible gas power plants and solar panels on homes.\n\nThere were also a growing number of web-connected devices in energy technology, he added.\n\nOne obvious target is the smart meters that are being installed in every home by the end of 2020, to automate meter readings. The Capita-run body set up to handle the data, the DCC, is being treated as critical national infrastructure and the company\u2019s chief technology officer insists the data is safe.\n\n\u201cWe don\u2019t hold personal information [on energy supplier customers], we don\u2019t see any form of sensitive data and we are not connected to the internet,\u201d Matt Roderick told a recent industry conference.\n\nHolliday\u2019s warning comes as the UK parliament reels from a \u201csustained and determined\u201d cyber-attack which left MPs unable to access their emails.\n\n\n\nIndustry trade body Energy UK said there was a central system for logging threats, to help rapidly counter them. \u201cMaintaining the highest level of security against cyber threats is a top priority for the industry,\u201d a spokeswoman said.\n\nSecurity experts from the National Cyber Security Centre and companies including Siemens also recently attended a summit on cybersecurity and energy infrastructure, hosted by Energy UK and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.\n\nThe issue is not just a concern for the power sector, but for oil and gas producers too. BP said recently that \u201cwe are a target for this activity\u201d when asked by shareholders about how seriously it was taking cybersecurity.\n\n\u201cCyber is high on the agenda. It is one of the key risks the company identifies,\u201d said Carl-Henric Svanberg, chairman at BP. \u201cWe were not affected luckily by this [Wannacry] attack, primarily because everybody had followed procedures of continuous updates.\u201d\n\nBrian Gilvary, chief financial officer at BP, said the firm did not share specific information on the number of attacks it faced. However, he said the company had a strategy of repelling what it could, detecting what got through and then cleansing when cyber-attackers had breached defences.\n\nThe World Energy Council, a global network of energy leaders, said cybersecurity in the energy sector had been high on the agenda of a security conference in Munich earlier this year. The issue was also raised in May by the Scottish parliament.\n\nPricewaterhouseCoopers recently found that 65% of UK businesses were \u201csignificantly concerned\u201d over cyber risks to energy technology. Three in five businesses would switch energy supplier if they suffered a cyber breach, according to a survey of 500 businesses by the professional services firm.", "output": "The UK's energy sector shows the most concern about the risk of cyber attacks on power generation and grid infrastructure, according to Steve Holliday, the former CEO of National Grid. Holliday told The Guardian that perceived threats were coming to the fore as the country has stopped relying on large centralised power stations and started deploying smaller gas-fired plants and home-generation technologies, such as solar panels. Some 65% of UK firms are \"significantly concerned\" over cyber attacks on energy infrastructure, according to a survey of 500 businesses by PwC."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "FCI develops next-generation flowmeter for heavy industry use \n FCI\u2019s breakthrough MT100 Series Air/Gas Flow Meters combine state-of-art electronics technology with application-proven precision flow sensors in a rugged package designed for the most demanding plant operating environments.\n\nProcess and plant engineers in heavy industrial facilities responsible for optimising combustion or pre-heated air to large boilers, stack emissions monitoring and reporting, or flue gas/scrubber balancing, will find the next generation MT100 Series Multipoint Thermal Mass flowmetres from Fluid Components International (FCI) set a new standard in performance accuracy, reliability, ease of use and value.\n\nThe flowmeters provide temperature-compensated direct mass flow measurement of air and gases for precise, repeatable measurement with low maintenance requirements in large diameter pipes, stacks and rectangular duct installations.\n\nIn electric power generation, petrochemical refineries and other heavy industries, large diameter pipes and ducts present unique challenges to achieve successful flowmeter installation and performance. Hot, moist and/or dirty gases along with lack of pipe straight-run, distorted flow profiles, low flowrates and wide turndowns rates are common performance challenges for many flow metering technologies.\n\nFCI\u2019s thermal mass MT100 Series air/gas flowmeters are available with two to eight flowrate sensing points to overcome these issues. Multiple sensors are inserted at various depths within a pipe or duct and their outputs are multiplexed and averaged to produce the flowrate within the process line.\n\nThe MT100 meter\u2019s sensors can be installed either across a mast or can be inserted at multiple points around the process line in a single plane. In large stack applications, this means that the instrument installation can be done at a single platform location to achieve a major cost savings over other technologies such as ultrasonic meters, which require installing transducers at precise offset angles.\n\nIn hot, dirty and/or moist or corrosive stack gases, the MT100 Flow Meters also excels because there are no moving parts, orifices or glass windows to foul or clog. The instrument can measure air/gas processes operating up to 850 \u00b0F (454 \u00b0C).\n\nThe MT100 Series flowmeters can measure flowrates over a wide range from 0.25 to 1000 SFPS (0,07 to 305 NMPS) with 100:1 turndown and with excellent accuracy of \u00b1 0.75% of reading, \u00b1 0.5% of full scale. They are also dual-function and can provide temperature measurement capability from -50 to 850\u00b0F (-45 to 454 \u00b0C), with accuracy of \u00b1 2 \u00b0F (\u00b1 1,1 \u00b0C).\n\nThe state-of-art transmitter for the MT100 Series flowmeter is both full-featured and rugged. It comes with an extensive choice of output options to interface with virtually any DCS, PLC, SCADA, or recorder. Dual, isolated, high resolution 4-20mA outputs compliant with Namur NE43, HART (Fieldcomm Group\u2122 certified), Modbus, 0-1kHz frequency/pulse and a USB port are all included, standard. Optionally available are Foundation Fieldbus and Profibus-PA bus communications.\n\nIts best-in-class large colour touch-screen LCD readout provides comprehensive process information to users with both analog and digital displays of flowrate, temperature and totalised flow, a user time-base selectable strip-chart of flowrate and sensor status diagnostics. The transmitter\u2019s enclosure is superior, corrosion resistant stainless steel and carries a NEMA 4X/IP64 rating.\n\nMT100 Series electronics also include a user programmable data logger feature to which flowrate, temperature and totalised flow as well as fault codes can be recorded on a removable, 8GB microSD card. The instrument also features a calibration drift check, which can be initiated on user demand or programmed to run automatically. Results of the test are provided with simple pass and fail messages presented to the operator on the LCD readout, and, if run automatically, the results are recorded to the on-board data logger.\n\nAvailable with an optional Continuous Emissions Monitoring System (CEMS) package, the MT100 Series Flow Meters meet the requirements for US Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s (EPA) CEMS and Continuous Emissions Rate Monitoring System (CERMS) applications. The MT100 CEMS option includes an automated and on-demand self-checking of calibration drift (CD) and sensor interference. The results of the CEMS tests are presented as a simple pass or fail message on the LCD readout. The CEMS option also includes two relay outputs for connection to external devices, one to signal test in progress and the other to signal a fail-test mode.\n\nAll MT100 Series flowmeters have been independently tested and verified to meet and comply with IEC safety directives for EMC and LVD, and carry the CE marking. Optionally available for process installations with hazardous, potentially explosive gases and/or dust, MT100 meters can be ordered with FM/FMc, ATEX or IECEx agency approvals for Division II/Zone 2.", "output": "California-based Fluid Components International (FCI) has developed the MT100 Series Multipoint Thermal Mass flowmeters, aimed at electric power generation plants, petrochemical refineries and other heavy industries. Flowmeters optimise combustion and delivery of pre-heated air to large boilers, among other applications. The next generation flowmeters combine state-of-art electronics technology, including two to eight flow rate sensing points to provide temperature-compensated direct mass flow measurement of air and gases for precise, repeatable measurement in large-diameter pipes, stacks and rectangular duct installations."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Publishers turn to advertising subscriptions to hike revenues \n Swiss tabloid Blick is bullish on Google\u2019s hosted mobile webpages initiative, known as AMP.\n\nFor the last four months, the publisher has been formatting content from its news, sports and entertainment verticals for the search engine\u2019s faster-loading-page initiative. It\u2019s having the desired effect: Blick\u2019s AMP pages load in 168 milliseconds, whereas on Blick\u2019s mobile site, the article content loads within 2.35 seconds. With ads in the equation, this slows it down even further to 13 seconds.\n\nAMP is pulling in 800,000 monthly pageviews, but Blick expects this to increase dramatically as it rolls it out to the rest of the site.\n\n\u201cIn four weeks, we\u2019ll have 50 percent AMP traffic, 50 percent mobile traffic,\u201d said Bj\u00f6rn Beth, head of SEO at Blick publisher Ringier, at Digiday\u2019s Publishing Summit in Lisbon. \u201cAs AMP is hardly cannibalizing with regular mobile site traffic, we really need to start considering that AMP will be a new Blick Platform, in particular for Search users,\u201d he said. Where some publishers might format a few AMP pages to entice new readers with speedy page loading and then link back to their own mobile site where they can more easily monetize readers, Blick is seeing this as its own ecosystem. \u201cHopefully this will take over our mobile site,\u201d he told Digiday.\n\nAMP traffic is eating Blick\u2019s regular mobile traffic, but Beth doesn\u2019t see this turning into an an over-reliance on Google\u2019s algorithm, partly because the initiative is open-source but also because users are engaging with it: It\u2019s finding twice as many people are clicking on its AMP pages than its mobile pages.\n\nAnd as pageviews have grown, so has revenue. Beth estimates AMP is bringing in 50,000 Swiss Francs ($49,500) a month (at 5 cents per impression).\n\nSo far the publisher is only using static image ads on AMP, although it supports other formats like video and sticky ads, but Blick is wary of ruining the user experience. \u201cFor our advertisers, AMP is still a tiny percentage of traffic so the focus is still on the desktop sites. There\u2019s not much demand for it yet, so we need to really push this.\u201d\n\nAnd as a new platform, it\u2019s attracting new audiences: 80 percent of Blick\u2019s AMP readers are new visitors, and 20 percent are returning visitors. As such, the bounce rate for Blick\u2019s AMP articles are between 80 and 90 percent. Arguably, this is because people have more brand loyalty visiting direct sites, while AMP strips out much of a publishers branding. Still, for news brands whose goal it is to be first, the initiative is a no-brainer.\n\nThe next stage is implementing a navigational structure on AMP to convert these fly-by readers into those who will stay for longer or sign up for newsletters, increasing the time on site and lowering the bounce rate.\n\n\u201cPeople searching on Google don\u2019t want to go to a particular brand,\u201d said Beth. \u201cThey want to get the answer to their question and then move on.\u201d", "output": "Publishers are increasingly turning to advertising e-commerce subscriptions as a way to shore up revenues and keep giants such as Amazon at bay. Mashable, Gizmodo Media Group, Ziff Davis and Purch have all advertised subscriptions for the fashion, food and tech sectors, and the boom in start-ups means there is plenty of demand. \"If you get a company with 100 million readers emailing you, that\u2019s music to their ears,\u201d said Ryan Brown, senior vice-president of commerce at Gizmodo Media Group.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook adds more control for branded content tagging  \n Facebook added a new feature to the Page Roles section of the admin panel for page administrators , giving them more control options over branded content .\n\nReader Chris Ruberg, digital marketing specialist at Affinitiv, shared the screenshots above and below with Social Pro Daily, in which a popup appeared in his Page Roles menu, reading:\n\nNew feature: Control which creators can tag your pages as their business partner.\n\nClicking on the popup brought him to this Facebook Business help page, which provided the following instructions for how to ensure that only authorized creators tag pages in branded content posts:", "output": "Facebook has added a new tool offering businesses greater control over which content creators can tag them as business partners. Any advertiser wishing to tag a business as a partner in branded content posts must first gain approval. Once granted, creators must then be added to a business partner\u2019s approved list before they can successfully be tagged.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China's insurers to benefit from tighter regulation long term \n There is a trend for Chinese to reallocate their wealth from traditional investments in property and banking in response to an ageing population. Photo: AP", "output": "Tighter regulation of China's insurance industry will benefit Chinese insurers in the long term but create uncertainties for those based in Hong Kong, Credit Suisse analysts have said. The China Insurance Regulatory Commission will cooperate with Hong Kong's new Insurance Authority to crack down on the sale of foreign insurance products on the mainland after the practice was made illegal last year. To reduce outflows of the yuan, authorities also closed websites and social media accounts selling overseas insurance products. However, the tightening rules do not pose a systemic risk to China's insurance sector, the Credit Suisse analysts added."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Drug overdose now leading cause of death in US under 50s: Op-ed \n About as many Americans are expected to die this year of drug overdoses as died in the Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined.\n\nFor more than 100 years, death rates have been dropping for Americans \u2014 but now, because of opioids, death rates are rising again. We as a nation are going backward, and drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death for Americans under 50.\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s no question that there\u2019s an epidemic and that this is a national public health emergency,\u201d Dr. Leana Wen, the health commissioner of Baltimore, told me. \u201cThe number of people overdosing is skyrocketing, and we have no indication that we\u2019ve reached the peak.\u201d\n\nYet our efforts to address this scourge are pathetic.\n\nWe responded to World War II with the storming of Normandy, and to Sputnik with our moon shot. Yet we answer this current national menace with \u2026 a Republican plan for health care that would deprive millions of insurance and lead to even more deaths!", "output": "Drug overdose is now the leading cause of death in Americans under the age of 50, with opioids expected to kill as many Americans this year as died in the Afghanistan, Iraq and Vietnam wars combined. The opioid epidemic has\u00a0contributed to a reversal in death rates in the US, which had been falling\u00a0for over 100 years. \"The number of people overdosing is skyrocketing, and we have no indication that we\u2019ve reached the peak\", warns\u00a0Dr\u00a0Leana Wen, health commissioner of Baltimore. As previously noted, drug manufacturers are being investigated to see if they might have played a\u00a0role in the addiction epidemic.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Former Disney chairman creates short-form TV for mobile devices \n Cannes, France\n\nJeffrey Katzenberg is making a $600 million bet on the future of television. The former chairman of Walt Disney Studios and co-founder of DreamWorks started a new company, WndrCo, and raised a big chunk of change at the start of the year.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nTo what end? Katzenberg is on the hunt for partners that will help him build what he describes as \u201cnew TV.\u201d That is, the writers, directors, producers, and platforms that will help him create shows with short episodes\u2014six to 10 minutes\u2014intended to be watched primarily during \u201cin-between times\u201d on mobile devices.\n\nThe time people spend on their phones is fast approaching the time they spend in front of televisions, so it\u2019s an understandable move for an ambitious Hollywood mogul looking to reach big audiences. The other inspiration Katzenberg cites is, surprisingly, the novels of Dan Brown.\n\nThe Da Vinci Code featured 400-odd pages split into more than 100 short chapters. Brown, and other authors like James Patterson, \u201creinvented the consumption of a novel\u2014they didn\u2019t reinvent the novel,\u201d Katzenberg told Quartz and a small group of journalists on the sidelines of the Cannes advertising festival. \u201cThey changed the consumption habit by their technique.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe Hollywood mogul is in Cannes this week talking through his idea on stage and setting up meetings with potential partners, especially platforms to distribute the content. \u201cThey run from A to V,\u201d he told Quartz and a small group of journalists on the sidelines of the Cannes festival. (Katzenberg had dinner with Viacom CEO Bob Bakish last night.) The company\u2019s first acquisition is reportedly imminent, but he would not be drawn out on the details.\n\nWhat will set his content apart, he said\u2014be it scripted sitcoms, reality shows, or whatever else his team dreams up\u2014is that the creators will retain more rights to their shows, and he won\u2019t skimp on budgets. His company will pay creators\u2014the likes of Vince Gilligan, JJ Abrams, and Ron Howard, among other A-list directors Katzenberg says he has pitched\u2014the same they would get from traditional networks. Total production costs can run from $100,000 per minute for sitcoms to as high as $300,000 per minute for premium shows like Game of Thrones, Katzenberg said. These sums are orders of magnitude more than what is being spent to produce mobile content today.\n\n\u201cWe call that \u2018north of Sunset\u2019 money,\u201d said Michael Kassan, the MediaLink CEO and industry matchmaker acting as Katzenberg\u2019s sherpa in Cannes. (In Los Angeles, some of the most exclusive, star-studded neighborhoods in the city are found north of Sunset Boulevard.)\n\n\u201cIf you want people to do something new, you have to make it really rewarding for them, creatively and financially,\u201d Katzenberg says. \u201cRon Howard is a great filmmaker and also a great storyteller in 60- and 30-minute shows, so why isn\u2019t he going to be a great storyteller in 10-minute pieces?\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cFrom Happy Days to Happy Minutes!\u201d Kassan interjected (referring to Howard\u2019s child acting career on the sitcom).\n\nFor something he says has the potential to grow several times larger than the $200-billion-plus global television industry, \u201cnew TV\u201d is a rather prosaic descriptor. \u201cI don\u2019t have a name for it yet. But you can\u2019t just say \u2018it\u2019,\u201d Katzenberg explains. \u201cAt least, in a lame way, it frames the idea.\u201d\n\nAnd who is going to pay for it all, once his initial funds are spent? Katzenberg says he\u2019s working on the assumption of a wholly ad-funded model, but could entertain a Spotify-like subscription aspect some time down the line. The impracticality of putting 30-second ads in six-minute shows will also require a radical rethink of how to incorporate advertising in shows. More product placements, perhaps? Katzenberg says only that \u201ceverything is on the table.\u201d\n\nFew boast his track record or the resources and connections he can draw upon as he embarks on his latest reinvention. But success in a new medium depends upon more than money and experience. \u201cI don\u2019t know the model yet,\u201d he admits. \u201cWe\u2019re right at the moment here where that\u2019s about to reveal itself.\u201d", "output": "Media mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg has created WndrCo, a company that aims to create short-form television content to be consumed on mobile devices. Using the model typified by novelists Dan Brown and James Pattinson, whose books include short chapters, Katzenberg said his company would offer shows of between six and 10 minutes. WndrCo would also pay A-list directors, including Vince Gilligan and JJ Abrams, the same amount of money offered by traditional networks. Funding for the platform\u00a0could come from ads or a subscription-based service, Katzenberg told a small audience\u00a0at the Cannes Lions advertising festival.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "YouTube TV expands options for original content viewing \n After launching in the \u201clargest US markets\u201d earlier this year, YouTube TV, the $35-a-month service that allows users to stream live TV from ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN and cable networks and record without storage limits, is expanding to ten US markets in a few weeks. These markets include: Dallas-Fort Worth, Washington DC, Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne and Charlotte.\n\nYouTube chief executive Susan Wojcicki made the announcement at online video conference VidCon.\n\nWojcicki also unveiled 12 new original projects coming to YouTube Red, the ad-free subscription-based service that launched in October 2015.\n\nIn 2016, YouTube Red began rolling out original content and Wojcicki said YouTube has since launched 37 original series and movies that have generated nearly 250m views.\n\nIn fact, Wojcicki said 1.5 billion logged-in viewers visit YouTube every month and, on average, those viewers spend over an hour a day watching YouTube on mobile devices alone.\n\nWhat\u2019s more, Wojcicki said in the coming weeks, the YouTube app will dynamically adapt to whatever size these users choose to watch it in.\n\n\u201cThat means if you\u2019re watching a vertical, square or horizontal video, the YouTube player will seamlessly adapt itself, filling the screen exactly the way [it] should,\u201d she added.\n\nWojcicki said YouTube is also expanding a feature that lets users share videos from the YouTube app. It was announced last year and will be available in Latin America in a few weeks and throughout the US shortly thereafter.\n\nIn addition, Wojcicki said YouTube wants to make VR more accessible and affordable, which is why it teamed up with Google\u2019s VR platform Daydream on a new video format, VR180, which she said YouTube believes will make VR content easier to create. That\u2019s because VR180 video focuses on what\u2019s in front of the viewer and transitions seamlessly to a VR experience when viewed with Cardboard, Daydream and PSVR devices. VR180 also supports livestreaming.\n\n\u201cThis format delivers 3D video while capturing 180 degrees around you. Creators only have to worry about recording what\u2019s in front of them while viewers get an awesome, immersive experience with a VR headset or a video that looks just as great on a phone as any other video,\u201d Wojcicki said. \u201cBest of all, we\u2019re working with camera manufacturers like LG, Yi and Lenovo to build new VR180 cameras for as little as a couple hundred dollars \u2013 comparable to what you\u2019d pay for a point-and-shoot.\u201d", "output": "YouTube's subscription service, YouTube TV, plans to expand into 10 US markets, including Atlanta, Dallas and Orlando, according to the site's CEO, Susan Wojcicki. She told an audience at online video conference VidCon that\u00a0the company was also expanding the ability to share videos from the YouTube app and announced a partnership with Google\u2019s virtual reality (VR) platform Daydream on a new video format, VR180. Aimed at making VR more accessible, it offers a point-and-shoot experience that is compatible with Cardboard, Daydream and PSVR devices."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Facebook's ad viewability figures may be as low as 20% \n Facebook\u2019s metrics woes may be far from over.\n\nAfter fessing up to a string of measurement errors over the past six months, the social media company has bowed to pressure from ad buyers and started letting third-party auditors check its numbers.\n\nSome agencies started using the new auditing capabilities a few months ago and have been stunned to see viewability rates on Facebook video campaigns as low as 20 percent, going up to 30 percent, according to interviews with nine agency execs. That\u2019s way below the average viewability rate for video ads on sites, which is approximately 50 percent, according to Integral Ad Science.\n\nMedia agency execs, who spoke under condition of anonymity for fear of jeopardizing their relationships with Facebook, expressed concerns about the figures, with some saying they would need to revisit their budgets for branding campaigns. \u201cWe will definitely look at cost per viewable impression for branding campaigns and amend our planning appropriately,\u201d said one media agency executive.\n\nSome agency execs suspect the figure is even lower than 20 percent, and that verification companies like Moat and Integral Ad Science aren\u2019t getting access to the platform fast enough to guarantee their numbers are correct. \u201cThis is a big issue. It\u2019s money being taken off advertisers that they\u2019re not getting their fair whack on,\u201d said another media agency executive.\n\nOthers said the video findings reflected a lack of consistency in the numbers they have seen for ads in general. \u201cSometimes the figure Facebook reports is five times higher than the [Media Rating Council] standard, but sometimes it\u2019s five times lower, with no clear pattern for under- or over-reporting. It\u2019s a concern in general that there is no consistency,\u201d said a third agency executive.\n\nFacebook declined to comment on the record for this story.\n\nThe industry standard for video viewability, as laid out by the MRC, says a minimum of 50 percent of a video ad\u2019s pixels must be in view for two continuous seconds. Unilever and GroupM have stricter demands for their partners, requiring that 100 percent of the video player be in-view and that half of the ad is viewed with the sound on, with no autoplay.\n\nViewability has two components: whether an ad is seen by a human and whether the ad has the ability to be seen on a website or app. Facebook scores high (99 percent) for ads that are viewed by humans. The issue is the percentage of video played in view. One media agency exec said only 22 percent of its videos were played in view, troubling execs across the agency.\n\nQuestions about Facebook\u2019s display ad viewability surfaced in December, when Drew Huening, director of Omnicom\u2019s digital ad buying trading desk Accuen, said at a Nomura conference that the agency\u2019s own tests showed Facebook display ads failed to reach the minimum industry standard that calls for 50 percent of an ad\u2019s pixels to be visible in the browser window for one second. Huening said while Facebook has done a good job of building a system in which everything is viewed by human eyes, people scroll through the News Feed so fast, especially on mobile.\n\nNow, evidence points to the same problem with video, raising questions for advertisers about whether they\u2019re allocating the right amount of spend to platforms like Facebook. More than two-thirds of U.S. marketers now run video ads on Facebook, according to eMarketer.\n\nAgency executives and observers varied in their responses to the viewability shortfalls. One exec said advertisers will need to combine as a collective force to successfully challenge Facebook on these metrics.\n\n\u201cThere are numerous and often-confusing messages advertisers can be presented with on the merits of different types of media,\u201d said Alex Tait, founder of Entropy Consulting and former Unilever director. \u201cTo make informed and fact-based planning decisions, third-party verification is essential. It stops media owners from marking their own homework but also allows a logical approach to audiovisual-neutral planning for video.\u201d\n\nOthers expressed resignation. One agency exec said they haven\u2019t dug into Facebook\u2019s viewability rates because clients either haven\u2019t requested it or don\u2019t want to pay the additional cost for the auditing. \u201cEven with third-party ad viewability, what can be done about it?\u201d said a different agency exec. \u201cThe only option is to not invest in Facebook or social. But social plays such a huge role in digital strategy that it would be a massive step for brands to make that kind of decision.\u201d\n\nStill others said it\u2019s naive to expect viewability to be high on a platform like Facebook and that viewability isn\u2019t necessarily the best way to measure a campaign\u2019s success.\n\n\u201cThe numbers can be low but actually just reflect how Facebook works as a platform,\u201d said an agency exec. \u201cThe best way to use it is to reach large audiences with something. If you\u2019re obsessed with viewability, you can buy it in a way where you\u2019re getting guaranteed views, which improves those numbers, though it ends up costing more and driving worse business results. If you just buy on the basis of maximizing impressions, you may well get 15 to 20 to 30 percent sort-of viewability. Looks awful on paper. Still works well in reality.\u201d\n\nUpdate: Facebook has since issued the following statement: \u201cWe believe that the value of an ad is not binary but is generated the moment an ad comes on screen. According to independent Fors Marsh Group research, people can recall mobile news feed content at a statistically significant rate after only 0.25 seconds of exposure. And a recent Nielsen study showed that 38 percent of brand recall, 23 percent of brand awareness, and 25 percent of purchase intent are driven by video impressions that are under two seconds. This is because people consume content differently on mobile devices and in News Feed. As people scroll quickly through their News Feed, they get exposed to ads, meaning duration can be short while still delivering value.\u201d said Facebook spokesman Tom Channick.", "output": "Anonymous media agencies execs using new auditing capabilities to assess viewability on Facebook ad campaigns have expressed concerns after seeing rates as low as 20% and 30%. Some suspect figures may be even lower, and that third-party verification firms like Moat and Integral Ad Science aren't getting access to the social media site fast enough to ensure measurements are correct. While some complained of a lack of consistency in figures reported by Facebook others said viewability wasn't necessarily\u00a0the best way to measure an ad campaign's success. Facebook declined to comment."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Speedy Hire Travis Perkins appoints Stuart Chambers as chairman  \n The builders' merchant Travis Perkins will this week name the former head of British technology superstar ARM Holdings as its next chairman.\n\nSky News has learnt that Stuart Chambers has been picked to replace\u200e Robert Walker, who has chaired the FTSE-250 company for the last seven years.\n\nAn announcement is expected to be made confirming Mr Chambers' appointment on Tuesday, according to insiders.\n\nIf confirmed, it will complete the replenishment of his boardroom roles, following the takeovers of microchip designer ARM and Rexam, the packaging manufacturer which was also chaired by Mr Chambers.\n\nA former chief executive of glassmaker Pilkington, Mr Chambers has also sat on the boards of blue-chip companies including Tesco.\n\nLast month, he was named the new chairman of Anglo American, the FTSE 100 miner which has seen a recovery in its fortunes following a rebound in commodity prices.\n\nHis arrival at Travis Perkins will be announced nearly four months after\u200e the company struck a cautious note about the UK's economic prospects.\n\nThe owner of Wickes, the home improvement retailer, Travis Perkins has seen strong growth in its consumer business in recent trading periods, although its shares have slipped by almost 10% over the last year.\n\nThe company is due to announce its interim results in early August.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nA Travis Perkins spokesman declined to comment on Monday.", "output": "Builder's merchant and supplier Travis Perkins has appointed Stuart Chambers, the former head of semiconductor giant ARM,\u00a0as its next chairman, according to reports from Sky News. Formal confirmation of the appointment is expected on 27 June. Chambers was also named chairman of mining firm Anglo American last month.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Up to 50% of Porsche production could be EVs 2023: CEO \n It wasn\u2019t long ago that Porsche claimed all-electric powertrains didn\u2019t offer enough performance to reach the level that their customers expect from the premium German brand.\n\nAs their work on their first all-electric vehicle progresses, they are now changing their view on the technology and CEO Oliver Blume now says that he expects half of Porsche\u2019s production to be electric by 2023.\n\nThe Mission E will be Porsche\u2019s first all-electric vehicle and it is planned to enter production in 2019.\n\nLast year, Blume said that they were planning for an annual production of 20,000 units for the new vehicle. It\u2019s a significant volume for the German automaker considering they delivered just over 230,000 vehicles worldwide last year across its entire lineup.\n\nBut now they are ready to crank it up with a second all-electric vehicle based on the Macan.\n\nIn a surprising move, The CEO now says that between the two vehicles, Porsche is preparing for a capacity of 60,000 cars per year at its Zuffenhausen plant. Blume made the comment to Germany\u2019s business magazine Manager Magazin last week.\n\nThe capacity would quickly make electric vehicles an important part of its overall production and it explains why the CEO now sees them reaching 50% of its total production as soon as 2023, which is much sooner than any established automaker.\n\nIt wouldn\u2019t be too surprising for the company to achieve its goal if it can truly deliver on the expectations for the Mission E.\n\nFirst of all, the design of the concept is simply stunning:\n\nAnd the specs that Porsche has released are somewhat arguably competitive with the performance version of the Tesla Model S, which would likely be its main competitor.\n\nThe Mission E is to have \u201cover 310 miles of range\u201d (500 km) on a single charge, but being based in Germany, Porsche is likely talking about the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC), which is much more forgiving than the EPA rating and doesn\u2019t really reflect real-world range. It\u2019s should still have a more than decent range around 250 miles.\n\nPorsche is also aiming for a 0 to 60 mph acceleration in 3.5 seconds. The automaker also claims that the Mission E will be equipped with a 800-volt charging system able to charge up to 80% in about 15 minutes.\n\nWe still don\u2019t have a good idea of the pricing, which will, of course, be an important factor. But if Porsche can deliver on the specs, it could be sitting on a great performance electric car.", "output": "The CEO of German sports car manufacturer Porsche, Oliver Blume, has said up to 50% of its production output could be electric vehicles (EVs) by 2023. The company had been looking to produce 20,000 units of its first all-electric vehicle, the Mission E, each year, with production set to begin in 2019. Now it plans to add a second EV, based on the Macan, and is targeting capacity for 60,000 units a year across the two models at its Zuffenhausen plant. No prices for either vehicle have been released.\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Artificial leaf named top 10 technology to watch by Scientific American \n The notion of an artificial leaf makes so much sense. Leaves, of course, harness energy from the sun to turn carbon dioxide into the carbohydrates that power a plant's cellular activities.\n\nFor decades scientists have been working to devise a process similar to photosynthesis to generate a fuel that could be stored for later use. This could solve a major challenge of solar and wind power\u2014providing a way to stow the energy when the sun is not shining and the air is still.\n\nMany, many investigators have contributed over the years to the development of a form of artificial photosynthesis in which sunlight-activated catalysts split water molecules to yield oxygen and hydrogen\u2014the latter being a valuable chemical for a wide range of sustainable technologies. A step closer to actual photosynthesis would be to employ this hydrogen in a reduction reaction that converts CO 2 into hydrocarbons. Like a real leaf, this system would use only CO 2 , water and sunlight to produce fuels. The achievement could be revolutionary, enabling creation of a closed system in which carbon dioxide emitted by combustion was transformed back into fuel instead of adding to the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.\n\nSeveral researchers are pursuing this goal. One group has demonstrated that it is possible to combine water splitting and CO 2 conversion into fuels in one system with high efficiency. In a June 2016 issue of Science, Daniel G. Nocera and Pamela A. Silver, both at Harvard University, and their colleagues reported on an approach to making liquid fuel (specifically fusel alcohols) that far exceeds a natural leaf's conversion of carbon dioxide to carbohydrates. A plant uses just 1 percent of the energy it receives from the sun to make glucose, whereas the artificial system achieved roughly 10 percent efficiency in converting carbon dioxide to fuel, the equivalent of pulling 180 grams of carbon dioxide from the air per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated.\n\nThe investigators paired inorganic, solar water-splitting technology (designed to use only biocompatible materials and to avoid creating toxic compounds) with microbes specially engineered to produce fuel, all in a single container. Remarkably, these metabolically engineered bacteria generated a wide variety of fuels and other chemical products even at low CO 2 concentrations. The approach is ready for scaling up to the extent that the catalysts already contain cheap, readily obtainable metals. But investigators still need to greatly increase fuel production. Nocera says the team is working on prototyping the technology and is in partnership discussions with several companies.\n\nNocera has an even bigger vision for the basic technology. Beyond producing hydrogen- and carbon-rich fuels in a sustainable way, he has demonstrated that equipping the system with a different metabolically altered bacterium can produce nitrogen-based fertilizer right in the soil, an approach that would increase crop yields in areas where conventional fertilizers are not readily available. The bacterium uses the hydrogen and CO 2 to form a biological plastic that serves as a fuel supply. Once the microbe contains enough plastic, it no longer needs sunshine, so it can be buried in the soil. After drawing nitrogen from the air, it exploits the energy and hydrogen in the plastic to make the fertilizer. Radishes grown in soil containing the microbes ended up weighing 150 percent more than control radishes.\n\nNocera admits that he initially ran the fertilizer test just to see if the idea would work. He envisions a time, however, when bacteria will \u201cbreathe in hydrogen\u201d produced by water splitting and ultimately use the hydrogen to produce products ranging from fuels to fertilizers, plastics and drugs, depending on the specific metabolic alterations designed for the bugs.\n\nA significant breakthrough now solves one of the main limitations of current technologies: a group at the University of Illinois at Chicago managed to directly convert CO 2 into carbon monoxide without the need to use pressurized CO 2 ; rather it pulls it directly from the air. These scientists employed a transparent capsule, made up of a semipermeable resin membrane and filled with water, to capture CO 2 and then transform it into CO thanks to a light absorber coated with catalysts. They then used the CO to produce a wide range of synthetic fuels, including methanol and gasoline.\n\nThis and other innovations in the field of artificial photosynthesis have caught the attention of a new generation of entrepreneurs who are taking these discoveries from the lab to the market, driven by the opportunity to produce fuels from renewable sources. Such is the case for Solistra, a company using patented photocatalysts to produce liquid fuels from CO 2 that deliver more energy than they take to make. Synhelion is using solar concentrators to drive the thermochemical conversion of CO 2 into syngas as a precursor to hydrocarbon fuels. A different approach developed by a young company called Dimensional Energy manufactures environmentally responsible polymers and chemical intermediaries using CO 2 as raw material.", "output": "Scientific American has named electrofuel-producing artificial leaves in its top 10 technologies to watch. It points to research out of Harvard University last year that blended inorganic, solar water-splitting technology with microbes engineered to turn hydrogen\u00a0and carbon dioxide into a\u00a0fuel in a single container. The system, which is around 10 times more efficient at creating fuels\u00a0than a natural leaf is at converting CO2 to carbohydrates, has also been used to demonstrate production of a nitrogen-based fertiliser, suggesting a broader application for the technology."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "HCL Difficulty of language test 'worsens nurse crisis' for NHS \n Language tests introduced by the government to restrict immigration are stopping the NHS from recruiting foreign nurses \u2013 including highly qualified native English speakers.\n\nGrowing nursing shortages mean that the NHS has major gaps in its workforce, but this is being added to by Australians and other English-speaking nurses being turned down because they cannot pass the English tests.\n\nThe high language requirements are reflected in a sharp drop in the number of nurses registering in the UK, according to medical recruiters, who believe that many British nurses would also fail the International English Language Testing System test (IELTS).\n\nOnly 46 nurses from the EU registered at the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) in April, compared with 1,304 in July 2016. Nursing recruiters blame this on the test but Stephen Burke, chief executive of HCL Workforce Solutions, said there had been no slowdown in the number of EU nurses looking for work through his company. \u201cHCL has registered more European nurses in the year following the EU referendum than the year before,\u201d he said.\n\nHowever others, including Unison\u2019s head of health Sara Gorton, say the drop is the result of nurses from the EU being reluctant to come to the UK because of the uncertainty over Brexit. Both sides agree that the NHS would falter without foreign nurses.\n\n\u201c[Foreign nurses] have been a vital supply route for us, and the tap\u2019s being turned off,\u201d Gorton said. \u201cThere is a ticking time bomb because the training bursary for nurses has been scrapped in England. We are going to be ever more reliant on filling gaps and this problem is only going to get worse.\u201d\n\nThe NMC said its English test standards were in line with nursing bodies in other countries and other medical bodies in the UK and had been introduced to safeguard patient safety.\n\nNurse vacancies have nearly doubled in the last three years from 6% in 2013 to 11.1% in 2016, and almost a quarter of NHS trusts have vacancy levels above 15%. Last week more than 6,900 nursing positions were advertised by NHS Jobs, with some of the jobs still unfilled eight months after they were posted.\n\nHayley Purcell wants to fill one of those posts. Born in Adelaide, she has worked as a nurse in South Australia for the last 11 years, her career spanning mental health, intensive care, paediatrics, surgical procedures and orthopaedics. She narrowly failed the written language exam, even though she has a bachelor\u2019s degree in nursing.\n\nPurcell had no problems expressing herself in a phone call from Adelaide. \u201cAfter being schooled here in Australia my whole life, passing high school with very good scores, including English, then passing university and graduate studies with no issues in English writing \u2013 now to \u2018fail\u2019 IELTS is baffling,\u201d she told the Observer. \u201cSo when I failed I just went numb. Then I got angry. Everything rides on the result.\u201d\n\nIELTS has four elements: speaking, listening, reading and writing. To qualify to work in the NHS, candidates need to score at least seven out of nine in each section. Purcell, who spent AU$650 (\u00a3386) on the test, managed 6.5 in writing and seven in reading.\n\n\u201cThe essay test was to discuss whether TV was good or bad for children. They\u2019re looking for how you structure the essay,\u201d she said. \u201cI wrote essays all the time when I was doing my bachelor of nursing. I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d have to do another one. I don\u2019t even know why I failed.\u201d\n\nHer case is echoed by Jorja McDonald, a nurse with three years\u2019 experience from Springfield in Queensland, who reached 6.5 in reading and 6.5 in writing despite being a native English speaker. Afroditi Mavromyti, from Patras in Greece, has a master\u2019s degree in psychology and 10 years\u2019 nursing experience. She has taken the test three times and narrowly failed with a 6.5 in writing.\n\nThe test was introduced in January 2016 after David Cameron\u2019s cabinet office minister, Matthew Hancock, brought in regulations requiring all foreign nationals in customer-facing public sector roles to speak a high standard of English because the government was \u201ccontrolling immigration for the benefit of all hard-working people\u201d.\n\nHCL, the recruitment agency which has been attempting to place Purcell, said that only 176 of 949 candidates they have put forward have achieved at least seven out of nine in the test. Native English speakers average just 6.3 in writing and 6.7 in reading, according to the British Council, a joint owner of the test. HCL says foreign nurses who come to the UK to study only need to reach 6.0 to get a place on a nursing degree at universities including Warwick and Gloucester.\n\n\u201cWhile we have no doubt that language testing is an essential part of recruiting overseas nurses, we firmly believe the current IELTS standard is not fit for this purpose,\u201d Burke of HCL said. \u201cThe NMC should look at switching to an average required score.\u201d\n\nJackie Smith, NMC chief executive, said: \u201cWe do not believe it is in the interests of public safety to lower the standard of English competence required without clear evidence. While we are aware of concerns, we do not have any hard evidence on which to base a change.\u201d", "output": "The standard for the International English Language Testing System used to assess the fluency of immigrants is \"not fit for purpose\" and is preventing the NHS from recruiting foreign nurses, according to Stephen Burke, CEO of HCL Workforce Solutions. He said Australian and qualified native English speakers were narrowly failing the test, results that had a devastating impact on staff numbers, with only 46 EU nurses registering with the Nursing and Midwifery Council\u00a0in April, compared with 1,304 in July 2016. However, some, including Unison\u2019s head of health, Sara Gorton, have said the drop in numbers is down to nurses' fears over Brexit.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Price of palladium hits 16-year high at just under $900 \n By continuing to browse this website, you accept cookies which are used for several reasons such as personalizing content/ads and analyzing how this website is used. Please review our Cookie Policy to learn how you can update your cookie settings.", "output": "Prices for the precious metal palladium have hit a 16-year high at just under $900 per troy ounce, up 90% from January 2016. Low oil prices have\u00a0seen a surge in demand for fossil-fuel vehicles in US and China. While the UK and Switzerland had large reserves of palladium, output from Russia, which produces almost half the world's supply, is expected to drop by 3%. International demand for palladium, a component of catalytic converters in cars,\u00a0is predicted to exceed supply by 24.4 tons this year.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "France to stop granting licences for oil and gas exploration \n For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nBreaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nFrance is to stop granting licences for oil and gas exploration as part of a transition towards environmentally-friendly energy being driven by Emmanuel Macron\u2019s government.\n\nNicolas Hulot, the \u201cecological transition\u201d minister said a law would be passed in the autumn.\n\n\u201cThere will be no new exploration licences for hydrocarbons,\u201d he told BFMTV.\n\nFrench Minister of Ecological and Social Transition Nicolas Hulot leaves the weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, June 22, 2017. (Reuters)\n\nThe minister, previously famed in France for his environmental activism and nature documentaries, also outlined proposals to increase the taxation on diesel and to \u201cmake decisions faster\u201d to curtail pollution.\n\nMr Macron said he was opposed to exploration for gas and favoured a ban on fracking during his election campaign, particularly in the overseas territory of French Guiana.\n\nBut Mr Hulot was among those warning that any ban would trigger lawsuits from energy companies and saying change must be imposed gradually.\n\nAround 75 per cent of France\u2019s electricity is currently provided by nuclear power stations, with the industry employing around 200,000 people and led by state-owned EDF.\n\nA law was passed last year to reduce the nuclear proportion to 50 per cent by 2025, sparking controversy over potential job losses and the closure of up to 20 reactors.\n\nMr Macron reinstated his commitment to the law last month but has evaded concrete targets for the ultimate aim of making France run completely on renewable energy.\n\nThe President is also planning a huge renovation programme for French homes to reduce energy consumption, cut carbon dioxide emissions, reduce energy poverty and create jobs.\n\nHe and Mr Hulot discussed renewable energy schemes and global warming with Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor and former Governor of California, as part of his trip to France on Friday.\n\nMr Schwarzenegger said he was honoured to speak to Mr Macron and ministers about \u201chow we can work together for a clean energy future\u201d and was seen posing with a T-shirt reading \u201cMake Our Planet Great Again\u201d with Mr Hulot.\n\nThe Hollywood star has publicly sparred with Donald Trump, a fellow Republican and Apprentice host over climate change and the President\u2019s decision to withdraw the US from the historic Paris accords.\n\nFrance was among the countries heavily criticising the decision, with the government posting an annotated White House video on social media refuting the President\u2019s claims that the agreement was a \u201cbad deal\u201d for the US.", "output": "France has announced plans to prohibit exploration licences for hydrocarbons, and will focus on working towards more renewable\u00a0energy, with new legislation set to be passed in the autumn, according to Minister of Ecological and Social Transition, Nicolas Hulot. During his election campaign, French President Emmanuel Macron supported a fracking ban, while Hulot, who is well-known in France for his environmental activism and nature documentaries, proposed gradually raising taxation on diesel. Around three-quarters of French electricity is generated by nuclear power, a figure set to be reduced to 50% by 2025."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK motor insurance premiums surge \u00a390 this year \n The price we pay to insure our cars has been rising fast in the past year - with some regions seeing an 18.9% jump in costs - this is where's worst and what you can do about it\n\nCar insurance premiums soar \u00a390 in a year - where it's worst and what you can do\n\nThe average car insurance premium has surged by \u00a390 over the last year, according to analysis.\n\nAt \u00a3666, the typical annual premium across Britain is now just over 15% higher than a year ago, a hike of more than five times the Consumer Prices Index rate of inflation at 2.9% in May, Consumer Intelligence said.\n\nNearly half of this increase was found to have taken place during the three months to May.\n\nDrivers aged between 21 and 24 pay the highest prices on average, at \u00a31,202, but have seen slightly lower annual premium increases at 13.1%. Over-50s motorists are experiencing the biggest rises at 17.9% but pay premiums of \u00a3418 typically, the research found.\n\nAverage premium increases over the past year Source: Consumer Intelligence\n\nMotorists in London typically pay the highest average premiums of \u00a31,000 across the country, more than double the \u00a3474 average bill in Scotland and the South West of England.\n\nJohn Blevins, a pricing expert at Consumer Intelligence said the full impact of a recent hike in the rate of insurance premium tax (IPT) was yet to show up in the figures, so drivers would need to shop around to limit the hikes to their premiums.\n\nBut he continued: \"There is some relief from plans to push ahead with whiplash reforms announced in the Queen's Speech.\"\n\nPremiums were calculated by comparing the prices offered for 3,250 people by major price comparison websites and direct insurers.", "output": "The average car insurance premium in the UK has risen by \u00a390 ($115) over the last year, according to analysis from Consumer Intelligence. The typical annual premium across Britain is \u00a3666, more than 15% higher than a year ago, the research group said. While drivers between 21 and 24 pay an average \u00a31,202, this group has seen slightly lower-than-average premium increases of 13.1%. Meanwhile, over-50s typically pay premiums of \u00a3418, but have experienced a premium increase of 17.9%.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bond trades may suffer in last-minute rush to meet ID code rules \n Fixed income traders may face a last minute rush to attain vital trade identifiers in order to meet MiFID II\u2019s transaction reporting rules.\n\nStricter reporting rules will require bonds and derivatives trades to have a legal entity identifier (LEI), a concept that is completely new to the fixed income industry.\n\nThe regulation states buy-side firms subject to the transaction reporting rules should not execute a trade on behalf of their clients who do not have a LEI in place.\n\nThis could mean a lot of failed fixed income trades if they do not have a LEI, according to panellists at The TRADE\u2019s and ICE Data Services \u201cOvercoming MiFID II Data Challenges\u201d event.\n\nOne panellist highlighted that around 90% of sovereign issue bonds and between 50-75% of all corporate bonds do not have an LEI.\n\n\u201cThese are not insignificant numbers, and it is about the creation of them [LEIs]. It is a massive implementation problem, and some people have to go out and create them, and clearly apply them to the fixed income world,\u201d said David Bullen, founder, Bullen Management.\n\n\u201cThere has never been a requirement to have the LEI at the time of the trade, but after January 2018, you need to know it exists before executing a trade. Otherwise you will be unable to report that transaction and you may well be penalised.\u201d\n\nThe LEI mandate is a global one, applying to all market participants carrying out business with European counterparties. However, the LEI regime is absent in Asia, where only 3% of global LEIs have been issued.\n\nThis could mean a large portion of Asian investors will not be able to trade in Europe, another panellist explained.\n\n\u201cA key challenge for those firms that have not used LEIs beyond derivatives, is that there are many entities that must have an LEI for MiFID II such as the executing entity, the buyer and seller decision makers, order receiver, entity which submitted the order, the counterparty, the fund manager etc.\u201d said Chris Johnson, senior product manager, market data, HSBC Securities Services.\n\nHowever, the impending rules have forced buy-side firms to look more closely at their data and the information they have to provide to the regulator.\n\n\u201cWhat is clear is that there is a lot of scrutiny coming back on the transaction eligibility indicator that we provide because everybody is trying to ascertain what in their portfolio\u2019s is transaction reportable,\u201d said Hubert Deroubaix, business development director, ICE Data Services.\n\n\u201cThere are fairly complex criteria surrounding that as it is not just what is directly listed in Europe, there are ramifications through the underlines.\u201d\n\nThe \u2018no LEI no trade\u2019 concept is an unavoidable one that investment firms will just have to accept and prepare for sooner rather than later. The panel agreed that there is no excuse for market participants not to prepare, however the industry can collectively work together to bring about solutions and ease implementation for everyone.", "output": "New regulations requiring bonds and derivatives trades to have a legal entity identifier number (LEI) for the first time may result in failed transactions, experts have warned. The new rule contained within Mifid II regulations that come into force in January may cause a last-minute rush by firms to get their securities a unique 20-character\u00a0LEI. Until now, the vast majority of bonds have not needed to comply with the standard. \"It is a massive implementation problem,\u201d said David Bullen, founder of\u00a0Bullen Management. Asia does not conform to the LEI standard so\u00a0investors there may have difficulties\u00a0trading\u00a0in Europe."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "McAfee's cybersecurity firm MGT Capital to begin ether mining \n DURHAM, N.C., June 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- MGT Capital Investments, Inc. (OTC: MGTI) announced today an agreement with Bit5ive LLC to purchase up to 60 graphics processor-based mining computers. These machines will utilize the highest quality GPU cards and Intel CPU's with a design to divide the hash rate between Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC).\n\nThe utility of smart contract technology has gained the interest of many on and off Wall Street in recent months. For example, Grayscale investments, led by Barry Silbert, announced plans to launch the \"Classic Ether Trust,\" with Bloomberg adding Grayscale's Ethereum Classic ticker symbol and investment thesis to its research base. We also believe the formation of the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance -- comprised of many of the world's leading technology companies -- will lead to new and exciting applications and verticals utilizing the Ethereum blockchain, all requiring more robust mining power in order to execute transactions.\n\nJohn McAfee, MGT's Executive Chairman, stated, \"We are more convinced each day of the growth and value of digital currencies, and our Company is uniquely positioned to be a leading provider of processing power to relevant blockchains. The addition of Ethereum and Ethereum Classic to our crypto mining strategies is expected to be very profitable for us.\"\n\nAbout MGT Capital Investments, Inc.\n\nMGT Capital Investments, Inc. (OTC: MGTI) is in the process of acquiring and developing a diverse portfolio of cyber security technologies. With industry pioneer John McAfee at its helm, MGT is positioned to address various cyber threats through advanced protection technologies for mobile and personal tech devices, as well as corporate networks. The Company's first product, Sentinel, an enterprise class network intrusion detector, is scheduled to be released by the end of June 2017. The Company also has entered into a joint venture with Nordic IT to develop and market a mobile phone with extensive privacy and anti-hacking features. The Privacy Phone has a tentative release date of February 2018.\n\nAlso as part of its corporate efforts in secure technologies, MGT is growing its capacity in mining Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. With 18.0 PH/s of computing power at the Company's facilities in WA state, MGT ranks as one of the largest U.S. based Bitcoin miners. Further, the Company continues in active discussions with financial partners to grow Bitcoin output materially.\n\nLastly, MGT stockholders have voted to change the corporate name of MGT to \"John McAfee Global Technologies, Inc.\" Following a dispute over ownership and permitted usage of the name McAfee, The Company and Intel have agreed to a mediation process to avoid unnecessary legal costs.\n\nFor more information on the Company, please visit: http://ir.stockpr.com/mgtci\n\nForward\u2013looking Statements\n\nThis press release contains forward\u2013looking statements. The words or phrases \"would be,\" \"will allow,\" \"intends to,\" \"will likely result,\" \"are expected to,\" \"will continue,\" \"is anticipated,\" \"estimate,\" \"project,\" or similar expressions are intended to identify \"forward\u2013looking statements.\" All information set forth in this news release, except historical and factual information, represents forward\u2013looking statements. This includes all statements about the Company's plans, beliefs, estimates and expectations. These statements are based on current estimates and projections, which involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include issues related to: rapidly changing technology and evolving standards in the industries in which the Company and its subsidiaries operate; the ability to obtain sufficient funding to continue operations, maintain adequate cash flow, profitably exploit new business, license and sign new agreements; the unpredictable nature of consumer preferences; and other factors set forth in the Company's most recently filed annual report and registration statement. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward\u2013looking statements, which reflect management's analysis only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly revise these forward\u2013looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date hereof. Readers should carefully review the risks and uncertainties described in other documents that the Company files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.\n\nInvestor and Media Contact\n\nTiffany Madison\n\nDirector of Corporate Communications\n\nMGT Capital Investments, Inc.\n\n[email protected]\n\n469.730.6703\n\nSOURCE MGT Capital Investments, Inc.\n\nRelated Links\n\nhttp://www.mgtci.com\n\n", "output": "John McAfee's cybersecurity technology company MGT Capital Investments is set to expand its mining operations to include Ethereum and Ethereum Classic, following an agreement with Bit5ive to purchase up to 60 graphics processor-based mining computers. \"We are more convinced each day of the growth and value of digital currencies, and the addition of Ethereum and Ethereum Classic to our crypto mining strategies is expected to be very profitable for us,\" said McAfee.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurers must prepare for 'tsunami of technology': RSA \n RSA global connected insurance director Kenny Leitch states InsurTech will stop claims from happening.\n\nInsurTech is set to shrink the insurance market, according to Kenny Leitch, global connected insurance director at RSA.\n\n\u201cThere is an opportunity to use data and technology to create fewer collisions, fewer injuries and fewer claims,\u201d Leitch explained.\n\nHe added that by doing this insurers and brokers could lower their prices \u201cin a very competitive market\u201d.\n\n\u201cTechnology will shrink the insurance market because it will stop things from happening in the first place,\u201d Leitch continued.\n\nInvestment\n\n", "output": "The insurance market has come under significant threat from insurtech firms, which will use data to ensure fewer accidents happen to begin with, according to Kenny Leitch, global connected insurance director at London-based firm RSA. Leitch\u00a0said the use of data and technology to reduce collisions and create fewer claims would create a competitive market, as insurers and brokers lower\u00a0prices. He also warned of the \"tsunami of technology\" that would follow massive early-stage investment in insurtech firms.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Distributed ledger backed to fight fraud, terror funding: IMF \n Working Together to Fight Money Laundering & Terrorist Financing\n\nLadies and Gentlemen\u2014good morning.\n\nDear President Vega-Serrano, thank you for your kind invitation and all of you for your warm welcome.\n\nIt is wonderful to be in Valencia\u2014a city that combines ancient roots with modern architecture, 21st-century commerce, and some of the world\u2019s best food. This is a community that values innovation and creativity.\n\nI can see that Valencian spirit of innovation here in this room today. Both FATF and the IMF are forward-thinking organizations designed to help our members address some of the most pressing global issues of our time.\n\nWe both are deeply committed to supporting countries in building defenses against money laundering and the financing of terrorism through the AML/CFT standards. We both know that these global challenges cannot be resolved by countries working alone.\n\nI am therefore very proud of the close relationship that the IMF and FATF have forged over nearly two decades. This partnership is more important than ever.\n\nThere is no doubt that money laundering and terrorist financing can threaten a country\u2019s economic stability, which is why the IMF has become increasingly active in supporting and promoting the AML/CFT efforts of our member countries, based on the FATF standard.\n\nWhat started as a small endeavor some 20 years ago has become part of our core work\u2014from analysis and policy advice, to assessing the health and integrity of financial sectors, to providing financial assistance when needed, to helping countries build institutions and increase operational effectiveness.\n\nTogether we have come a long way, and together we can build on the progress made so far. Let me highlight three priorities:\n\nFighting corruption and tax evasion;\n\nCombating the financing of terrorism; and\n\nMaintaining correspondent banking relationships.\n\n1. Fighting corruption and tax evasion\n\nFirst, we need to intensify our fight against corruption and tax evasion. We will soon release new analysis that shows how systemic corruption can seriously undermine a country\u2019s ability to deliver sustainable and inclusive growth.\n\nLarge-scale tax evasion is a key factor, because it typically means lower government revenue, higher public debt, and less investment in health, education, and other public services. It means higher economic inequality because the most vulnerable are most affected by a sharp drop in social spending. That, in turn, can trigger popular discontent and economic instability.\n\nThe good news is that we can use the AML/CFT framework to help break this vicious economic cycle.\n\nA good example is Greece, where the strengthening of the AML framework facilitated the seizure of hundreds of millions of euros in proceeds from tax crimes.\n\nWe helped the central bank strengthen its financial sector supervision, which led to a sharp increase in reporting to the financial intelligence unit. That unit itself froze more than \u20ac200 million in assets between 2012 and 2014. The financial intelligence unit also referred more than 400 cases to the prosecutor\u2019s office and more than 2,500 cases to the tax authorities.\n\nAnother area where the FATF standard is immensely helpful is in promoting transparency. The Panama Papers, for example, were a stark reminder of the need to do more in this area\u2014something that you had already long recognized.\n\n2. Combating the financing of terrorism.\n\nAnother policy priority is to combat the financing of terrorism. As terrorism is becoming more pervasive in our societies, it is our collective responsibility to choke off the financial flows\u2014both large and small\u2014that enable terrorists to inflict unspeakable suffering on individuals, families, and communities.\n\nOver the past 16 years, we have been involved in this joint effort through our technical assistance and capacity building work.\n\nIn 2014, for example, we called on Sudan to strengthen its CFT framework\u2014and we have since worked with the government there to develop targeted financial sanctions that are consistent with the FATF standard. We are working on a practical guidance for all our members on how to implement such sanctions, which should be available by 2019.\n\nCombating the financing of terrorism increasingly requires harnessing the power of financial technology, or fintech.\n\nOf course, fintech is a double-edged sword. It can be used to promote and fund terrorism, including through the anonymity of virtual currencies. But it can also be a powerful tool to strengthen our defenses against the financing of terrorism.\n\nWe can use fintech to identify terrorist financial flows, including in the case of very small transactions. Machine learning and other artificial intelligence tools can help identify patterns of activity that would otherwise be very difficult to detect.\n\nFintech can also help protect financial systems against cyber-terrorism. A good example is the \u201cdistributed ledger\u201d technology that underpins virtual currencies and other applications. This technology is less vulnerable to a single point of failure and could prove resilient to cyberattacks because the ledger\u2014or record of transactions\u2014exists in multiple copies.\n\nI would like to commend President Vega-Serrano\u2014and the FATF more generally\u2014for addressing both the opportunities and the new issues raised by technology, including through your recent roundtables with the private sector.\n\nIt is important that regulatory frameworks remain adequate to the task. We have also just published a paper that provides a framework for assessing the impact of technological innovation within the financial sector. [1]\n\n3. Maintaining correspondent banking relationships\n\nThe third and final policy priority is to support countries that are at risk of losing vital banking services that keep them connected to the global financial system.\n\nThese correspondent banking relationships are especially important for small countries with small financial systems\u2014in Africa, the Caribbean, in Central Asia, and in the Pacific, to name a few. Recent surveys in our member countries underline the high degree of concern about the situation in these economies. [2]\n\nTo be clear, this issue has many dimensions, involving regulators, the financial industry, and the affected countries themselves.\n\nThe good news is that FATF has been working hard to ensure that the application of a robust AML/CFT framework does not lead to an indiscriminate withdrawal of correspondent banking relationships. I commend your decision to clarify the regulatory expectations under the FATF standard, including the customer due diligence requirements.\n\nGreater regulatory certainty means that global banks are more likely to maintain their correspondent banking business. This, in turn, will help support economic and financial stability in the affected countries.\n\nBut the threat to growth and jobs means that more needs to be done by everybody. [3]\n\nOne of our contributions has been to bring together local banks, global banks, and other key stakeholders to discuss possible solutions.\n\nFor instance, a recent workshop in the Caribbean focused on improving the capacity of small banks to manage risks with the help of regional development banks, and how to enhance communication between the local and correspondent banks.\n\nWe will also continue to help our smaller member countries build capacity. For example, we have been working with Costa Rica, Peru, and Uruguay to create national AML/CFT strategies. And we recently helped Ukraine, Mongolia and Qatar strengthen the governance and capacity of their financial intelligence units.\n\nAltogether, we have provided technical assistance on AML/CFT to 120 countries. And I am proud that our assistance was instrumental for countries such as Myanmar, Nepal, and Sudan to exit FATF monitoring and reconnect to the global financial system.\n\nConclusion\n\nLet me conclude by saying that I would like us to continue our close cooperation\u2014building on the progress made so far, for example, on the standard and assessment methodology.\n\nAs you know, we are very supportive of the risk-based approach\u2014and the emphasis on effectiveness\u2014under the revised FATF standard. We look forward to the targeted follow-up assessments that will focus on countries\u2019 main risks.\n\nAs a final thought, Winston Churchill often encouraged his staff to \u201clevel with events\u201d\u2014by which he meant that they should tell the unvarnished truth\u2014no sugar-coating of the facts.\n\nCorruption, tax evasion, the financing of terrorism, and financial exclusion: these are big challenges for our member countries today\u2014and they need to be addressed head-on.\n\nBy standing together as one, and by \u201cleveling with events\u201d, we will have the opportunity to promote financial integrity and inclusive growth for the benefit of all.\n\nThank you.\n\n\n\n[1] IMF Staff Discussion Note: \u201cFintech and Financial Services: Initial Considerations\u201d, June 2017. [2] Surveys by the World Bank (2015); Caribbean Association of Banks and the Association of Supervisors of Banks of the Americas (2016); Arab Monetary Fund, IMF, and Word Bank survey of Arab banks (2016), and an IMF and Union of Arab Banks survey (2015). [3] See IMF Policy Paper : \u201cRecent Trends in Correspondent Banking Relationships: Further Considerations\u201d, April 2017.", "output": "Distributed ledger technology (DLT) should be used to tackle corruption and tax evasion and the funding of terrorism, according to International Monetary Fund director Christine Lagarde. In a speech to the plenary meeting of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering in Valencia, Lagarde said DLT was \"less vulnerable to a single point of failure\" and its decentralised nature meant the technology could be more resilient to cyber attacks. She also stressed the need for task force members to work together to combat financial crime."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regus IWG's Mark Dixon explains how he fought off WeWork \n C atching up with Mark Dixon is tricky. The founder of the serviced office empire Regus, who\u2019s already clocked up more air miles than he cares to remember this year, is running half an hour late for our meeting after struggling over from Heathrow.\n\nIn a couple of hours he\u2019s off again, hopping on a plane to San Francisco.\n\nTravelling is one of life\u2019s unavoidable chores when your company \u2014 now formally known as IWG \u2014 has 3000 centres across more 900 cities.\n\nThese days, at 57, he\u2019s toned things down and he\u2019s only on the road for two weeks a month.\n\nHe\u2019s been running Regus for nearly 30 years and now he\u2019s got a new challenge on his plate, fending off the likes of WeWork and The Office Group, sold this week to Blackstone for \u00a3500 million, trying to eat his lunch in London and elsewhere.\n\nDixon himself, who now owns 25% of the \u00a33.3 billion business after selling \u00a394 million in shares days ago, is probably the most unassuming multi-millionaire you\u2019re likely to meet.\n\nSitting in Regus\u2019s airy glass-walled Berkeley Square centre tieless in a suit and check shirt, the Essex man could easily pass for any one of the millions of businesspeople on the move he caters for year after year.\n\nHe\u2019s softly spoken, stocky with a bit of a paunch and a gammy knee keeping him off the tennis court. There\u2019s none of the big \u201cI am\u201d about him.\n\nStill, anybody who left a Chelmsford comprehensive at 16 to set up half a dozen businesses over a lifetime can\u2019t be underestimated.\n\nHis parents divorced when he was nine, and early on Dixon wanted money and independence \u2014 doing paper rounds and even digging up and selling peat from the forest near his council estate (\u201chighly illegal, of course\u201d). At school he was a star performer but found education \u201cextremely slow and not challenging enough\u201d.\n\nHis father \u2014 a Ford engineer who encouraged his son\u2019s academic progress \u2014 was \u201cmortified\u201d by his decision to pack in formal education, Dixon recalls.\n\n\u201cI had superb results, and could have done whatever I wanted. But education had nothing for me. It would have been torturous.\u201d\n\nSo while Dixon Sr was lamenting his son\u2019s university snub, he was hard at work on his first venture, Dial-A-Snack: selling sandwiches and learning lessons that weren\u2019t on the syllabus at Rainsford comp.\n\nThe fledgling venture soon foundered. \u201cMy customers were very happy customers \u2014 the reason I didn\u2019t make any money is because I put too much filling in the sandwiches.\u201d\n\nBesides, Dixon himself was itching to get on the road. An avid newspaper reader, he saw a story about French sex siren Brigitte Bardot and Saint-Tropez, which from mid-Seventies Chelmsford looked impossibly glamorous. \u201cOn a cold winter\u2019s morning you imagine these places where life is better. I caught a train to Paris from London and then I hitchhiked to the south of France.\u201d\n\nIt took the teenager two days and he was completely exhausted. But he had a lucky break; the first person he met asking directions to the campsite was a relation of the wealthy Senequier family who owned most of the centre of Saint-Tropez, including the famous eponymous cafe.\n\nThe benefactor gave him a hut in his garden to sleep in, and managed to get him work.\n\nWithin a couple of months he was the assistant barman in Le Papagayo restaurant, and from reading about Bardot in the papers, Dixon found himself serving her drinks along with Barbarella director Roger Vadim and James Bond producer Cubby Broccoli.\n\n\u201cIn life you\u2019ve got to go for it, but you need some luck,\u201d he says.\n\nBut he was soon moving on, travelling and reading, worried that his university-educated friends would end up being smarter than he was.\n\nHe went to Australia and travelled around, doing a host of jobs then moving on, from flogging encyclopaedias to working as a logger in Victoria.\n\nFinally back in the UK with his business head on, Dixon spent \u00a3600 on a hotdog van and bought six more in the heyday before McDonald\u2019s conquered the UK, \u201cbut you\u2019re out every night if you want to make money \u2014 you smell like an onion and it\u2019s bad for your love life\u201d.\n\nHe sold on the vans and set up a bread roll firm, making 500,000 a month. But he was always on the lookout for new ideas so he sold up again and moved to the Continent in the late Eighties, where Regus was born.\n\nAgain, it was a newspaper story that sparked the idea: he read that in Washington recessions don\u2019t hurt as much because there are so many government buildings.\n\nSo he headed to Europe\u2019s government hub of Brussels, also encouraged by the fact that there was \u201cless competition for good ideas\u201d than in the UK.\n\nBy this time he had three children, and was married to his now-ex wife with whom he had two more before a high-profile \u00a328.7 million divorce settlement in 2005. \u201cLife is not always what you plan it to be. I have five wonderful children but it was not well planned,\u201d he says.\n\nSpotting businessmen having meetings around hotel coffee tables soon gave him the idea, and Regus flew as Dixon scaled up as quickly as McDonalds, the company he most admires.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019ve got 36,000 restaurants and they haven\u2019t done the world yet. And work is more common than hamburger eaters.\u201d\n\nBy the time the business floated in 2000 it was worth \u00a31.5 billion, shooting him into the top 10 of the UK Rich List. But the dotcom crash forced the US arm into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for 10 months. Dixon also sold a majority stake in the UK business to Jon Moulton\u2019s Alchemy Partners to raise cash, eventually buying it back in 2006 as the group\u2019s recovery gathered pace.\n\nDixon lives in Monaco for tax reasons but Regus itself moved its head office from Luxembourg to Switzerland last year to take advantage of a non-EU base. Aside from the London listing, the new IWG holding company is based in Jersey.\n\nThe staunch Remainer is defensive over its financial affairs: \u201cIf you look at our accounts our tax rate is a normal tax rate [20%]. It\u2019s not as if we\u2019re not paying tax. You have to run your business efficiently. We started off in Benelux in the beginning and moved many times. But the management team now is in Zurich so that is where we plant it.\u201d\n\nHe also has a job on his hands fighting off new rivals. Regus launched its Spaces \u201cco-working\u201d brand in 2015, targeting creative workers put off by the more corporate Regus centres. Private equity houses Blackstone and Carlyle are pumping money into the sector and the US giant WeWork has just snapped up a mammoth 280,000 sq ft site on the South Bank \u2014 the biggest co-working site in the world. One industry insider says: \u201cWeWork has completely outmanoeuvred Regus. They are planning to double in size in London by the end of 2018 and Regus simply can\u2019t keep up.\u201d\n\nIf Dixon is worried about the competition, he is not letting on. He has bold plans for 20,000 outlets worldwide. \u201cWe have in London over 100 centres so we are more broadly spread, we are opening more outlets large and small. It\u2019s a growing market, so it\u2019s not just them and us.\u201d\n\nIn the City the shares have jumped almost 50% this year and rumours of a private equity bid occasionally surface but Dixon isn\u2019t quite ready to let go yet, despite nearing 60. \u201cStepping back is a relative thing. When you don\u2019t spring out of bed, you\u2019ve got to bring younger people in, and that is what we\u2019ve done.\u201d\n\nThat said, the billionaire has a growing sideline in wine, buying the Ch\u00e2teau de Berne vineyard in Provence nearly a decade ago after falling in love with it. He\u2019s also snapped up an English vineyard at Kingscote in Sussex, and hopes to forge a \u201cnew frontier\u201d in English wine. It sounds very much like his retirement business, and he admits to \u201can early dream where I wanted to live in the countryside on a farm. It suits me, it\u2019s global, and I like to create things.\u201d But that will have to wait for now. With a shake of my hand, he\u2019s off again: the cab is waiting and there\u2019s another flight to be caught.", "output": "Mark Dixon, founder of global workplace provider Regus \u2013 now known as IWG \u2013 has talked about how the launch of its Spaces co-working brand in 2015 helped keep rivals such as US giant We Work at bay. The service, aimed at creative workers who were put off by corporate Regus centres, is part of a broader plan for the firm, which is aiming for 20,000 outlets worldwide. \"We have in London over 100 centres so we are more broadly spread, we are opening more outlets large and small. It\u2019s a growing market,\" said Dixon."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "AI guru Yoshua Bengio signs up as a strategic advisor to Microsoft \n Yoshua Bengio has never been one to take sides. As one of the three intellects who shaped the deep learning that now dominates artificial intelligence, he has been catapulted to stardom. It\u2019s a field so new the people who can advance it fit into one room together, and everyone\u2014from tech startups to multinational conglomerates and the department of defense\u2014wants a share of their minds.\n\nBut while his peer scientists Yann LeCun and Geoffrey Hinton have signed on to Facebook and Google, respectively, Bengio, 53, has chosen to continue working from his small third-floor office on the hilltop campus of the University of Montreal. \u201cI want to remain a neutral agent,\u201d he says as he sips rust-colored licorice water, which he pours from a carafe that acts as a weight for the mess of papers cluttering his desk.\n\nJessi Hempel is head of editorial at Backchannel. Sign up to get Backchannel's weekly newsletter.\n\nLike the nuclear scientists of the last century, Bengio understands that the tools he's invented are powerful beyond measure and must be cultivated with great forethought and widespread consideration. \u201cWe don\u2019t want one or two companies, which I will not name, to be the only big players in town for AI,\u201d he says, raising his eyebrows to indicate that we both know which companies he means. One eyebrow is in Menlo Park; the other is in Mountain View. \u201cIt\u2019s not good for the community. It\u2019s not good for people in general.\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s why Bengio has recently chosen to sign on with Microsoft.\n\nYes, Microsoft. His bet is that the former kingdom of Windows alone has the capability to establish itself as AI\u2019s third giant. It's a company that has the resources, the data, the talent, and\u2014most critically\u2014the vision and culture to not only realize the spoils of the science, but also push the field forward. In January, in a move noted throughout the industry, Bengio agreed to be a strategic advisor to the company. This gives Microsoft a direct line to one of AI\u2019s top resources for ideas, talent, and direction. And it\u2019s a strong sign that Microsoft actually has a shot at making the ruling AI duo into a trio.\n\nThe guy who signed Bengio, wooing him over many months with all the finesse of an agent to the star athletes, is a computer scientist with a shock of gray hair and wireframe glasses named Harry Shum. \u201cHe was just here actually, in this very room,\u201d Shum tells me, with a brief smile that suggests he knows that an outsider might find it odd to be star struck by a tall Canadian with dramatic eyebrows and 69,616 citations in Google Scholar.\n\nWe\u2019re seated on a gray couch in a sweeping conference room on the fifth floor of Building 34, just beyond the security guard who keeps watch over Microsoft\u2019s executive suite. Shum, who is in charge of all of AI and research at Microsoft, has just finished a dress rehearsal for next week\u2019s Build developers conference, and he wants to show me demos. I trail him down a hallway, half-skipping to keep up. There\u2019s just so much happening! In one lab, the Skype team\u2019s automatic translator app allows me to chat with a German speaker via text in realtime. In another, I watch an app that surveys a construction site for safety violations or unauthorized visitors, which it can detect through computer vision. In yet another, Cortana, the AI diva of the Microsoft empire, scans my inbox for promises I\u2019ve made to people, and prompts me to fulfill them.", "output": "Yoshua Bengio, one of the world's leading artificial intelligence (AI) researchers with nearly 70,000 citations on Google Scholar, has become a strategic advisor to Microsoft. Based at the University of Montreal, Bengio will help the tech giant as it aims to become the third leading player in AI, behind Facebook and Google. Though he is formally associated with Microsoft, Bengio told Wired that he still considers himself a neutral actor in the corporate development of AI and continues to advise other firms.\u00a0\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Number of CEOs fired for ethical reasons increasing: PwC \n Companies have become much more likely to dismiss their chief executives over the last several years because of a scandal or improper conduct by the CEO or other employees \u2013 including fraud, bribery, insider trading, inflated resumes and sexual indiscretions.\n\nLarger companies are more at risk than smaller ones, as are companies where the CEO has been in office for a long time and companies where the CEO is also the board chairman, according to a recent study by PwC.\n\nFrom 2007 to 2011, forced turnovers due to ethical lapses represented 3.9 per cent of all successions at the world's 2,500 largest public companies. From 2012 to 2016, that figure rose to 5.3 per cent. While that might sound small, it's a 36 per cent increase.\n\nOn a regional basis, the share of all successions attributable to ethical lapses rose most sharply in the United States and Canada, in western Europe, and in the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).\n\nREAD MORE\n\nWe see five reasons for the rise of ethics-based dismissals.\n\nFirst, the public has become more critical and less forgiving of corporate misbehaviour.\n\nSecond, governance and regulation in many countries have become both more proactive and more punitive.\n\nEmerging markets\n\nThird, more companies are pursuing growth in emerging markets in which ethical risks are heightened due to higher levels of corruption and less mature governance structures. More extended global supply chains also increase these counterparty risks.\n\nFourth, the rise of digital communications has exposed companies and the executives who oversee them to more risk, both from whistleblowers seeking to expose wrongdoing and from hackers attempting to access customer data.\n\nFinally, the 24/7 news cycle and the proliferation of media in the 21st century publicises and amplifies negative information in real time.\n\nThe data also identified three factors that can increase risk for companies:\n\n\u2013 Large size: From 2012 to 2016, CEOs at the companies in the top quartile (by market capitalisation) were significantly more likely to be dismissed for ethical lapses \u2013 7.8 per cent, compared with an average of 3 per cent for smaller companies.\n\n\u2013 Long-serving CEOs: We also found that CEOs forced out of office for ethical lapses had a median tenure of 6\u00bd years, compared with 4.8 years for CEOs forced out for other reasons.\n\n\u2013 Combined CEO-chairman roles: We found that 24 per cent of ousted CEOs with joint titles were dismissed for ethical lapses, compared with 17 per cent of those with the CEO title only \u2013 a 44 per cent difference.\n\nFor all CEOs, and especially those who oversee large organisations, the responsibility for preventing or minimising wrongdoing is daunting. The best way to prevent ethical lapses in the current environment of strict scrutiny and instant scandal, is to build a culture of integrity \u2013 and to put in place effective governance structures, processes and controls that discourage wrongdoing.\n\n\u2013 Copyright Harvard Business Review\n\nKristin Rivera leads PwC's fraud risk and controls team and serves as the global forensics clients and markets leader. Per-Ola Karlsson leads the organisation, change and leadership practice in the Middle East for Strategy & PwC's strategy consulting business.", "output": "The number of CEOs dismissed for ethical lapses has increased by 36% over the past four years, according to a study by PwC.  Whilst such dismissals constituted just 3.9% of forced turnovers at the largest 2,500 public companies in the world between 2007 and 2011, this figure rose to 5.3% between 2012 and 2016. The regions that saw the sharpest rise in such dismissals were the BRICS countries, Canada, the US, and western Europe. Larger companies and those with long-serving CEOs and CEOs who were also board chairmen were particularly vulnerable to turnovers as a result of ethical difficulties.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Number of CEOs fired for ethical reasons increasing: PwC \n What happens after a legendary CEO departs?\n\nFind out in our latest CEO Success study\n\nFor 19 years, Strategy& has been analyzing CEO succession at the world\u2019s 2,500 largest public companies.\n\nIn this year\u2019s report, we look into what happens at companies experiencing transitions from long-serving CEOs.\n\nIn addition, we share our annual analysis of CEO turnover and the 2018 incoming class of CEOs.", "output": "The number of CEOs dismissed for ethical lapses has increased by 36% over the past four years, according to a study by PwC.  Whilst such dismissals constituted just 3.9% of forced turnovers at the largest 2,500 public companies in the world between 2007 and 2011, this figure rose to 5.3% between 2012 and 2016. The regions that saw the sharpest rise in such dismissals were the BRICS countries, Canada, the US, and western Europe. Larger companies and those with long-serving CEOs and CEOs who were also board chairmen were particularly vulnerable to turnovers as a result of ethical difficulties.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Researchers create synthetic fuel to give diesel engines a future \n Professor Christian Beidl with the world\u2019s first oxymethylene ether powered research vehicle. Credit: Katrin Binner\n\nSynthetic fuels, such as oxymethylene ether, could prepare Diesel vehicles to play a major role in the drive train mix of tomorrow. Scientists at the TU Darmstadt are carrying out research into the practical viability of alternative fuels.\n\nProfessor Christian Beidl, Head of the Institute for Internal Combustion Engines and Powertrain Systems at the TU Darmstadt, does not consider the current debate on internal combustion engines and electric motors as competing drive train systems to be particularly expedient. Instead, the expert favours an open contest between technologies, which considers the system as a whole, because, he believes, the Diesel engine will continue to play a crucial role in the drive scenarios of tomorrow \u2013 particularly in long-distance transport.\n\n\"It is not the engines as energy converters that are the problem\", Beidl emphasises, \"but rather the fuels\". For many years, his team has been conducting research into new non-fossil-based fuels for Diesel engines, designed not only to reduce nitrogen oxide and particulate matter pollution levels, but also as a sustainable solution to the CO2 problem. The main challenge that this entails is to resolve a conflict that is typical for Diesel engines, namely that engines with a high degree of efficiency tend to generate high temperatures which, in turn, results in a high nitrogen oxide output. The established way to reduce temperature peaks within the combustion chambers is to include a return feed of virtually anoxic exhaust gases. However, the lower the oxygen levels, the more soot particles are formed there. \"Therefore\", Beidl explains, \"to resolve this conundrum we need to inhibit the formation of soot.\" Experiments conducted on industrial drive system and car engines as well as on a single-cylinder research engine have already shown that the use of oxymethylene ether is the ideal way to achieve this objective. The researchers have performed basic experiments and carried out realistic driving simulations for various operating modes and driver profiles under differing environmental conditions, in the course of which they focused on emissions, process controls and various exhaust gas aftertreatment concepts. They have been able to demonstrate that oxymethylene ether enables soot-free combustion whilst increasing the efficiency level of the motor, but that it also reduces energy density due to its high oxygen content.\n\nOutstanding Properties\n\nThus, the optimum adaptation of Diesel engines to this synthetic fuel, according to Beidl, will require more in-depth research in combination with technological progress. However, the basic engine technology will not change. \"We now know that oxymethylene ether fuels have some outstanding properties\", says Beidl, who is also excited about the technical process chain involved in the production of the new fuel. As oxymethylene ether consists, among other things, of hydrogen, which can be synthesised from surplus electrical energy, one can imagine possible solutions which would both absorb peak loads and help to improve the distribution and storage of electricity from regenerative power sources.\n\nIn terms of introducing oxymethylene ether, Beidl currently imagines two possible scenarios. In one scenario, the oxymethylene ether would be deployed as a fuel supplement \u2013 comparable with ethanol \u2013 such that it would penetrate the entire market via existing infrastructure. Another scenario would involve its niche application in ships, locomotives and agricultural vehicles. However, for a long time to come, crude-oil-based fuels and their production is likely to remain significantly more cost effective than synthetic fuels, which are currently only available at the laboratory scale. Yet, Beidl views attempts to resolve the CO2 issue by means of electric drive systems alone as short sighted: \"We want to show that oxymethylene ether represents a socially relevant parallel development path.\"", "output": "Researchers at the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany has been working with oxymethylene ether to create synthetic fuels that can run in existing diesel engines but create less CO2 and particulate matter.\u00a0The main challenge is that diesel engines tend to generate high temperatures which, in turn, results in a high nitrogen oxide output. While\u00a0oxymethylene ether enables soot-free combustion whilst increasing the efficiency level of the motor, it also reduces energy density due to its high oxygen content, so more research is needed."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Soros partnership Vibe creates hothouse for insurance agents \n Vibe targeting start-ups and developing firms.\n\nThe Vibe group of companies has launched Vibe MGA Management, an MGA incubator business.\n\nThe firm noted that principal investors Quantum Strategic Partners \u2013 which is managed by Soros Fund Management founded by George Soros \u2013 and Pine Brook Partners provide it with capital security and financial strength.\n\nThey latest offering is set to target \u201cinsurance entrepreneurs who want to make a difference and stand out from the crowd\u201d.\n\nIt further detailed that the incubator service would deliver an", "output": "The Vibe group of firms backed by George Soros's Quantum Strategic Partners has launched an incubator business for managing general agents (MGAs). Called Vibe MGA Management, the business will offer an operational platform and specialist services for early-stage MGAs. The business intends to build a global offering from the diverse MGA clients it has secured on its platform. Vibe MGA Management has appointed Terry Wheatley to lead the board, develop strategy and monitor performance, risk and compliance."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Study seeks to improve screening for falls in emergency departments \n When individuals visit the emergency department after falling, they may receive a diagnosis reflecting the injury sustained\u2014such as fractures, contusions, etc.\u2014without mention of how the injury came about. A new study found that classifying emergency department visits based not only on diagnosis codes but also chief complaint can help to identify falls.\n\nThe study included 23,880 visits of older adults to an academic medical center's emergency department between 2013 and 2015.\n\nThe findings are important because falls are associated with significant morbidity, mortality, and cost (over $19 billion annually in the United States), and screening for fall risk remains inconsistent.\n\n\"This study demonstrates the value of extracting text-based elements from the medical record for research. By using the patient's chief complaint, we were able to identify an important subset of patients who would be missed when looking only at diagnosis codes,\" said Dr. Brian Patterson, lead author of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society study. \"This type of analysis is especially useful in the emergency department, where we often are interested in grouping patients for studies based on presenting complaint, as opposed to a diagnosis assigned at the end of their stay.\"", "output": "Classifying emergency department visits by the main health complaint as well as by diagnosis codes may help to identify falls, a study for the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society has found. The study, which took data from 23,880 visits by older adults to an emergency department between 2013 and 2015, found that diagnoses were often given that reflected the injury, rather than the cause of the injury. Falls are a factor often associated with morbidity, cost, and mortality, but are rarely screened consistently. The study found that by solely using diagnosis codes, falls were often missed.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tech start-ups led by women have 48% female staff on average \n A new study takes a look at gender diversity among U.S. tech start-ups.\n\nStart-ups with at least one female founder wind up building companies where nearly half the staff are women, a new study finds.\n\nWith an average of 48% female workers, women-led firms have nearly twice the industry average and outpace some of the nation\u2019s largest tech companies in gender diversity including Google (31%), Facebook (33%) and Uber (36%), according to the study by online start-up investing platform FundersClub that surveyed 85 U.S.-based tech start-ups.\n\nAlex Mittal, co-founder and chief executive of FundersClub, said start-ups are key to addressing gender diversity in the workplace because the ones that succeed may someday be massive companies. (The majority of start-ups surveyed had fewer than 20 employees).\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThey \u201chave the potential to become huge \u2014 they\u2019re great agents for change,\u201d said Mittal, a coauthor of the study.\n\nThe study also examined the effect of female tech founders on leadership and engineering teams. Women made up 38% of executives at firms with at least one female founder \u2014 2.4 times the average at start-ups with no female founders. At women-led firms, females made up 23% of the engineering teams \u2014 2.3 times the average at firms led by men.\n\nThe findings come on the heels of a months-long investigation into allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination at Uber, which has elevated awareness of what has long been one of the tech industry\u2019s biggest deficiencies.\n\nMittal said the timing was simply a coincidence. Women in the industry say the survey\u2019s findings are no surprise.\n\n\u201cTop female talent is more attracted to work on a team where they can see themselves in leadership and know that is respected in the company,\u201d said KJ Erickson, the CEO of Simbi, a service exchange platform.\n\nNatalia Oberti Noguera, founder and CEO of Pipeline Angels, a network of women investors, said the survey failed to address the elephant in the room \u2014 race.\n\n\u201cHow many of those women founders are white women,\u201d she asked. \u201cIt would\u2019ve been even more exciting if this report had included race and gender together.\u201d\n\nIndeed, one 2016 study found that only 0.2% of venture deals from 2012 to 2014 went to start\u2019ups led by black women. Lauren Schulte, founder of Flex Co., agrees gender is just one part of the diversity equation.\n\nShe recalls attending a Los Angeles gathering for women founders that attracted more than 200 women, but few of color.\n\n\u201cThere were only two black women and maybe four Asian women, the rest of women were predominantly blonde and very attractive,\u201d Schulte said. \u201cThis is not representative of the people that are out there.\u201d\n\nDiversity \u2014 gender, race, age, among others \u2014 is crucial to being competitive in the start-up world, Schulte said. It \u201ccan bring a richness to problem solving that you can\u2019t get if you have 10 people who are clones.\u201d\n\nmakeda.easter@latimes.com\n\n@makedaeaster", "output": "Start-ups founded by at least one woman tend to create firms where almost half of the workforce are female, according to a study by online start-up investing platform FundersClub. \"Start-ups are key to addressing gender diversity in the workplace,\"\u00a0said\u00a0Alex Mittal, co-founder and chief executive of FundersClub. The study showed that firms led\u00a0by women\u00a0outpace some of the largest tech companies in terms of gender diversity, with women comprising\u00a048%\u00a0of staff on average at female-led start-ups. By contrast,\u00a031% of Google's workforce is female, Facebook's staff\u00a0is 33% women and Uber's is 36%.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Server room in Luxembourg declared as\u00a0Estonian territory \n Estonia will back up its government in a 'digital embassy' Which could point to the future of how countries deal with critical data.\n\nThe rules on what governments can, and can't, do with your personal data is based entirely on where the information is stored. Since tech companies shunt your stuff to servers across the globe, there's a risk that an oppressive regime can use its rights to start peeking at your stuff. That's why it's interesting that Estonia has signed a deal to open what it's calling the world's first \"data embassy\" in Luxembourg.\n\nRather than trust a foreign country with its data, Estonia has essentially signed a deal to declare a server room in Luxembourg as Estonian soil. As a consequence, the same rights and protections afforded in the country proper should extend to the information stored in the \"digital embassy.\"\n\nFollowing the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Estonia was left as a dirt-poor nation with zero technological infrastructure. It decided to skip decades of legacy technology -- including turning down an offer from Finland for its soon-to-be-discarded analog telephone network -- and start fresh. Within 20 years, Estonia had become a digital paradise, with most of the government managed online.\n\nThat's caused a huge technology boom in the country, which counts Skype, TransferWise, Kazaa, Fitsme and Playtech, amongst others, as local heroes. But it also means the country is highly vulnerable to cyberattacks from its neighbors in Russia. Which happened in 2007, when a Russian-led cyberattack crippled Estonia's government and infrastructure in response to the moving of a contentious war memorial.\n\nBy signing a deal to essentially back up Estonia's government in a foreign country, it should help bolster the land's digital resilience. Not to mention that it could represent a different way of storing people's data that respects domestic rights of its citizens.", "output": "Estonia has opened what its government is calling the world's first data embassy\u00a0by signing a deal to ensure its server room in Luxembourg is treated as Estonian soil. The eastern European nation, which has enjoyed a technology\u00a0boom since the collapse of the Soviet Union, said the information stored in the \"digital embassy\" would be subject to\u00a0the same rights and protections as it would be on home soil. The move is seen as a safeguard against Russia, whose 2007 cyber attack crippled Estonia's government and infrastructure.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Battersea Power Station developer scraps affordable homes \n H undreds of first-time buyers promised cut-price homes at Battersea Power Station will no longer be able to buy into London\u2019s most-hyped regeneration zone, we can reveal.\n\nOriginally, 636 homes were earmarked by the Battersea Power Station Development Company for first time-buyers and renters unable to afford the mega prices asked for the 4,239 luxury homes on the power station site.\n\nNow the development company says the entire project may become financially unviable if it is forced to stick to the 2011 promise to include so many affordable homes. It says it made the undertaking when London\u2019s new-build market was booming and construction costs were lower.\n\nInstead it wants to offer 386 affordable homes \u2014 or nine per cent of the total. The remaining 250 affordable homes would only be provided following an \u201cend of scheme review\u201d, a complex financial assessment of the profits the development company will make.\n\nBattersea Power Station - in pictures 1 / 33 Battersea Power Station - in pictures 12th February 1937: Smoke belches from the famous chimneys of London's Battersea Power Station. Getty Images Getty Images for Battersea Power Handout PA Battersea People throwing brightly coloured powder in the air during the Holi One Festival, at Battersea Power Station in London. PA Battersea A giant inflatable pig flies above Battersea Power Station on the banks of the river Thames in central London, during a recreation of the cover of the Pink Floyd album 'Animals' PA Battersea 27th July 1932: Construction workers take a lunch break with the 300 ft high chimney of Battersea Power station, which is nearing completion, in the background Getty Images Battersea 10th July 1933: The control room of Battersea Power Station, from which the feeders supply various regions of London with electricity. Getty Images Battersea circa 1934: Battersea Power Station under construction in London. The building was designed by leading architect Giles Scott in the Gothic style. Getty Images Battersea A general view of the new heliport site under construction in London. PA Battersea 9th July 1981: A crane fitted with a huge magnet clears metallic debris from the 'A' turbine hall of Battersea Power Station, London. The landmark building, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott is gradually being closed down and gutted. (Photo by Ian Tyas/Keystone Features/Getty Images) Getty Images Battersea The London 2012 bid logo is displayed on Battersea Power Station, central London. PA Battersea PA Battersea A snowboarder on the ski slope at Battersea power station in London for the Freeze Snow and Music Festival. PA Battersea Battersea Power Station in south west London, where preparations are underway to dismantle and rebuild the four chimneys as part of the redevelopment of the 1930s power station. PA Battersea PA Battersea PA Battersea PA Battersea The World's first amphibious Ice Cream Van, called the 'HMS Flake 99', as it passes Battersea Power Station by the River Thames in London, to mark National Ice Cream Week. PA Battersea Helen Skelton walks on a tightrope between two of the chimneys at Battersea Power Station, London. PA Battersea Models on the catwalk during a rehearsal for the Matthew Williamson Spring/summer London Fashion Week show, at Battersea Power Station in London. PA Battersea Around 500 actors for The National Youth Theatre of Great Britain perform S'Warm at Battersea Power Station in London to raise awareness of the alleged global environmental crisis caused by dwindling bee populations. PA Battersea A competitor takes part in a practice session ahead of the London leg of the Red Bull X-Fighters freestyle motocross tournament, which takes place at Battersea Power Station, London, on Saturday August 14. PA Battersea A general view from the north side of the embankment. PA Battersea Getty Images\n\nHOW MUCH PROFIT IS 'VIABLE'?\n\nExactly how much profit the development needs to be deemed \u201cviable\u201d has yet to be decided, but a report by council planning officer Dan Taylor, to be considered by Wandsworth\u2019s planning committee, suggests between 15 and 20 per cent. The proposals are expected to be rubber stamped by the council.\n\n\u201cThe applicant considers that the introduction of a review mechanism would ensure that the maximum reasonable amount of affordable housing is determined at a point in the project when actual costs and values are known, and many of the uncertainties currently facing the project have been settled,\u201d explains Taylor.\n\nNO PUBLIC CONSULTATION\n\nBecause the change has not been submitted as a new planning application but as a \u201cdeed of variation\u201d to the existing planning consent, there has been no public consultation on the proposal \u2013 though \u201cnotices were put up around the site\u201d.\n\nWandsworth council alerted the Greater London Authority to the proposal. The GLA chose not to intervene.\n\nIf the housing market improves the homes could be saved, and possibly extra funding offered towards more affordable housing elsewhere in London. However, financial advice given to the council by consultants BNP Paribas warns that it is \u201cvery unlikely\u201d the 250 homes will be provided, let alone added to.\n\nBENEFITS FOR WANDSWORTH?\n\nRecommending the changes be allowed, planning officer Dan Taylor points out that the power station scheme will have benefits for the borough beyond affordable housing.\n\n\u201cOfficers appreciate the level of stress a scheme of this size and complexity has,\u201d he says. \u201cThe main priorities of the scheme have been the conservation and redevelopment of the listed power station building, the delivery of the Northern line extension and new Underground station and the jobs to be created as part of the new town centre.\u201d\n\nReuben Young, head of policy & communications at PricedOut, the campaign for affordable house prices, says: \u201cJust because there is a stall in house price inflation does not mean that developers should be allowed to scale back the affordable housing commitments they negotiated during planning.\u201d\n\nA spokeswoman for Battersea Power Station says \u201ctechnical issues\u201d around renovating the Grade II* building and the weakening pound have pushed building costs up on the site, adding that sales of commercial property remain strong, and the company is hopeful that the 250 homes will still be provided later in the project.\n\nGovernment policy allows for \u201cflexibility\u201d, she says. \u201cPolicy requires developers to provide the maximum reasonable amount of affordable housing. This is what the Battersea Power Station scheme is delivering, as well as restoring a decaying national monument \u2026 contributing \u00a3211 million to the Northern line extension, opening up 18 acres of public realm, creating 20,000 new jobs and enabling \u00a320 billion of investment into the UK economy.\u201d", "output": "First-time buyers promised reduced-price homes at London's Battersea Power Station have been let down by the site's developer, which has cut the number of affordable homes it will make available, according to the Evening Standard newspaper. The Battersea Power Station Development Company had originally said that 636 of the site's\u00a04,239 homes would be made affordable for first-time buyers or renters. However, it has now said it will provide 386 affordable homes because the original offer may lead the project to become financially unviable.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Coptersafe software bypasses restrictions on drones \n A Russian software company, ironically named Coptersafe, is selling modifications to help consumers get past government- and military-enforced no-fly zones.\n\nWith mad flying\n\nIn recent years, the US government has cracked down on unauthorized drone flights. As a response to the warnings and fines imposed by the law, drone maker DJI has put a number of safety measures in place, including geofencing and setting limits on speed. A statement on the Federal Aviation Administration website encourages people to report drone sightings around planes and other aircraft.\n\nCoptersafe\u2019s mods are made specifically for DJI drones, according to a report by Motherboard. Coptersafe offers modifications to those limits. You can confuse your drone\u2019s GPS into thinking it\u2019s okay to fly in no-fly zones and in absolutely restricted areas, and you can remove the 500-meter height limit, among other customizations. Each mod goes for an average price of $350, and the company offers both physical modification circuits and software mods that can be downloaded.\n\nSome of these actually get to be quite humorous, despite the dangerous implications. \u201cMod greatly improves Phantom 4 Pro sport mode. It becomes mad racing drone,\u201d reads one product description on Coptersafe. \u201cDon\u2019t overload it with mad flying.\u201d The company recommends flying DJI\u2019s Phantom 4 Pro in mountainous terrain with strong winds following modification.\n\nJust a few days ago, I saw a small crowd gather outside my house, attracted by a loud buzzing sound. As I walked closer to the source of the noise, I observed a small drone flying a few dozen feet from the ground. Had it traveled any further from my home in deep Queens, it would have reached LaGuardia Airport\u2019s no-fly zone. With these hacks easily available to consumers, it remains to be seen how the government will react to more unmanned aerial vehicles illegally taking to the skies.", "output": "Russian software company Coptersafe is offering modifications for drones to help users fly them into government and military no-fly zones. There are legal limits on drones' speed and height and fly zones, but these can be bypassed with physical and software modifications for GPS systems\u00a0made by drone firm\u00a0DJI. The modifications cost an average of $350 each.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurtech flourishes despite reports of its demise: XL Catlin \n Insurtech is firmly entering a \"bandwagon phase\" with lots of venture capitalists and legacy companies looking high and low for investment opportunities. And, says Martha Notaras, partner at XL Catlin\u2019s investment arm XL Innovate, there's no sign of the industry losing interest any time soon.\n\nThere are two key reasons that insurtech is so hot right now, Notaras explains. First, venture capital companies and insurers alike have lots of cash available to support startups. And, with the industry facing intense disruption from changing consumer preferences and advancing technology, insurers are more than willing to cooperate with startups on proof of concepts to spur innovation and gain a market advantage.\n\nThe pressure is so great, Notaras says, that some insurers aren't even bothering to set up dedicated venture funds. Instead, many companies are making investments straight out of the main business fund as desired.\n\n\u201cA number of insurance companies have a venture fund,\u201d she says. \u201cBut some funds are so big, they can\u2019t be funds... [those carriers] must be investing off the balance sheet.\u201d\n\nXL innovate has made eight venture capital investments in insurtech companies since launching in March 2015, Notaras says. The most recent one, announced last week, is GeoQuant, which applies artificial intelligence to big data in order to map and anticipate geopolitical risk. Other recipients include Lemonade, Slice Labs, Cape Analytics and Notion.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re not done yet,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a couple of companies we\u2019re looking at right now and a long runway in this business.\u201d\n\nHowever, Notaras declined to comment on the companies XL Innovate is eyeing, or a timeline for the next announcement. But did say she expects to liquidate all investments over time and reinvest in the insurtech sector.\n\n\u201cWe do like cutting-edge tech, but on the other hand we also see that thoughtful application of technology that exists in other industries can really bring economic benefits to incumbent insurers,\u201d Notaras said.\n\nStartups with new business models and that are focused on data & analytics are of particular interest to XL Innovate. The flexibility to pivot on tech strategy when required and the acceptance of guidance from board members are also important to the firm.", "output": "Reports of insurtech's demise are greatly exaggerated, according to insurer XL Catlin's innovation unit, with investors and insurance companies keener than ever to put their money behind new ventures. The pressure on insurance firms to cooperate with insurtechs is so great that some are investing directly from their main business funds, said XL Innovate partner Martha Notaras, as legacy insurers look\u00a0to gain an edge in a changing market."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Celtra raises $15m investment thanks to Unilever and WPP \n Mobile advertising firm Celtra has today (June 21) announced a $15m funding round with WPP confirming its participation in taking a minority stake alongside CPG giant Unilever.\n\nCeltra has previously generated $10.2m in funding up until the latest round / Celtra\n\nUS-based Celtra has established itself as one of the foremost companies in the mobile advertising space, having developed a creative management platform for distributing content across multiple screens since it was founded in 2006.\n\nCeltra makes its AdCreator platform available to both brands and agencies, with the technology used to facilitate the creation, production, and distribution of ads across a variety of devices (both desktop and mobile).\n\nThe company will use the latest investment round to continue to expand out business with the world\u2019s largest advertisers, according to a source within Celtra, which claims its client roster includes over two-thirds of the Fortune Global 500; among them: Unilever, Kargo, Netflix and Opera Mediaworks.\n\nA statement from the adtech outfit claims that the latest round will see Unilever and Celtra partner to use Celtra\u2019s market-leading creative technology across Unilever\u2019s global marketing organization and its ecosystem of service providers, technology vendors and media suppliers.\n\nMiha Mikek, Celtra chief executive officer, said his company\u2019s aim was to help advertisers achieve maximum results from their digital advertising by ensuring their messaging is fully optimized for the device it is served on.\n\n\u201cCeltra\u2019s platform helps transform brands, agencies, creative producers and other partners into highly performant, data-driven, effective digital storytellers,\u201d he added.\n\nWith mobile ad spend forecast to hit $243.7bn globally by 2022, large advertisers are increasingly challenged by the complexity of the digital advertising ecosystem, due to fragmentation of media consumption.\n\nKeith Weed, Unilever chief marketing officer, added: \u201cPeople deserve advertising that feels native to each medium and delivers emotional value. Celtra helps us deliver that at global scale.\u201d\n\nCeltra\u2019s Crunchbase profile claims it has previously generated $10.2m in funding up until the latest round, with the company noted as a leading participant in the Google-backed Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) project.\n\nThe investment continues WPP's strategy of focusing on three key areas which it claims differentiates the group's offering from those of its rivals; ie offering clients technology; data; and content production services, and follows on from the investment in Mic announced earlier today.\n\nSir Martin Sorrell, WPP, chief executive officer, added: \u201cWe believe the market is due for a creative management solution that can deliver real-time data driven creative at scale and tailored for every individual, across media channels. Celtra is a leader in this space. This investment is in line with WPP\u2019s commitment to technology, data and content, which, along with horizontality, new markets and new media, comprise the Group\u2019s four strategic priorities.\u201d\n\nIt had earlier been reported that adtech outfits were increasingly finding it difficult to come by investment, although representatives of high profile investment funds spoke recently of their willingness to invest in such ventures at Luma Partners' Digital Media Summit.", "output": "Mobile advertiser Celtra has closed a $15m funding round, with WPP joining Unilever in taking a minority stake in the firm, according to an official statement. The American company is a leader in the mobile advertising sector, offering its AdCreator platform to brands and agencies, many of whom are included in\u00a0the Fortune Global 500 list. The funding will be used to expand its current clientele.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Google compresses display ads to speed up page loads \n Google is on a quest to make online ads less obnoxious, which makes sense for a company that makes its living on web-based advertising. People hate videos that play automatically, glaring slogans, and ads that suck down bandwidth and slow down the browsing experience, and Google is serious about making a fix.\n\nThe company will be officially blocking some kinds of ads in its industry-dominating Chrome browser starting in 2018, and it\u2019s already stopping ads that try to pop up in new tabs. Google is also taking steps to make its own ads less unruly, as ZDNet reports.\n\nRecommended Videos\n\nIt\u2019s doing all this by applying compression to its display ads using the Brotli compression algorithm. This specific compression scheme promises to reduce the size of Google\u2019s ads by 15 percent compared to gzip compression, with a more than 40 percent reduction in some ads. While not every Google ad will enjoy this level of compression, Google says it\u2019s applying Brotli compression \u201cwhenever possible.\u201d\n\nThe benefits from putting its ads on a diet can be significant. As Michael Burns, a software engineer on Google\u2019s Publisher Tagging and Ads Latency Team says: \u201c[The use of compression] reduces the amount of data sent to end users by tens of thousands of gigabytes every day.\u201d What that means for individual users is faster page loads, better overall performance, and, ultimately, lower battery consumption.\n\nThe Brotli compression algorithm is supported in the top web browsers today, including Chrome, Microsoft\u2019s new Edge browser that\u2019s featured in Windows 10, and Firefox. Only Apple\u2019s Safari browser doesn\u2019t support the new tool, which superseded the earlier Zopfli algorithm and provides up to 26 percent better compression.\n\nIn 2018, Google Chrome will start blocking any ads that don\u2019t conform to the new Initial Better Ads Standards defined by the Coalition for Better Ads, including its own display ads. That means that users should gain a tremendous boost in their ability to enjoy the browsing experience without being subjected to the most obnoxious ads. In the meantime, Google will be working to make the ads that do show up just a little more efficient.\n\nEditors' Recommendations", "output": "Google has revealed it will use the Brotli compression algorithm to compress the size of its display ads by 15% more than the gzip compression algorithm currently in use, the company said. The size of some ads will be reduced by more than 40% with the introduction of Brotli compression. By reducing the amount of data sent to users, pages load faster, perform better and use less battery, said Michael Burns, a software engineer at Google. In 2018, Google's Chrome browser will block ads that don't conform to the Coalition for Better Ads' Initial Better Ads Standards."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Twitter shares rise on advertisers' positive feedback \n Twitter shares have surged 6.5% on the back of an uncharacteristically positive outlook for its commercial prospects as advertisers gave the micro-blogging service their \u2018best relative feedback\u2019 in more than two years.\n\nTwitter trades 6.5% higher on back of bullish advertiser forecast\n\nHaving struggled to gain traction amongst advertisers the service appears to have turned a corner as it rode a wave of renewed investor optimism fueled by user growth, changes to its ad delivery and a renewed focus on live content.", "output": "Twitter shares rose by 6.5% after advertisers gave the social network the \"best relative feedback\" it has received in more than two years. Cleveland Research triggered the uptick in share price by predicting 12% rebound in 2018 revenues following a 15% decline in the current year.\u00a0Twitter's fundamentals are potentially bottoming-out,\u00a0with\u00a0changes to its delivery of ads\u00a0improving\u00a0the company's commercial prospects, the research company said. Twitter's shares are down 30% versus its October 2016 highs."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Bike-sharing firm Mobike to open in Japan after raising $600m \n Join top executives in San Francisco on July 11-12, to hear how leaders are integrating and optimizing AI investments for success. Learn More\n\nChinese bike-sharing behemoth Mobike announced it has moved into a major new market with the launch of a subsidiary company in Japan.\n\nThe news comes hot on the heels of a mammoth $600 million raise, which took the startup\u2019s total funding since it was founded out of Shanghai in 2015 to more than $900 million, with backers including Tencent and the Chinese affiliate arm of Silicon Valley\u2019s Sequoia.\n\nMobike, for the uninitiated, is one of a number of bike-sharing startups to emerge in recent times. The company provides cities with chainless bikes that sport puncture-proof airless tires and an anti-rust aluminium frame for durability. The company also provides the technology platform, including mobile apps and QR codes, which users scan to unlock the GPS-enabled smart-lock with their mobile phones.\n\nImage Credit: Mobike\n\nIn its short life so far, Mobike has mostly been available in cities across China, but it arrived in Singapore back in March and earlier this month it revealed plans to enter the U.K. at the end of June, with additional European markets to follow.\n\nThe Japan launch represents a major new market for Mobike as it looks to establish a global presence ahead of other companies already operating in the space. Rivals include China-based Ofo, in which Didi Chuxing invested \u201ctens of millions\u201d back in September \u2014 Ofo went on to close a whopping $450 million round a few months back. Over in the U.S., LimeBike recently raised $12 million in a round of funding led by Andreessen Horowitz.\n\nThrough its subsidiary, Mobike Japan Ltd, Mobike said that it plans to work with local governments to begin rolling out its service in Japan later this year, starting in Fukuoka city.", "output": "Chinese bike-sharing giant Mobike has launched a subsidiary company aimed at the Japanese market, following its latest $600m fund raise. The start-up, created in 2015, has so far raised $900m, thanks to backers including Tencent, and recently expanded to Singapore. The Japanese operation is due to begin this year in Fukuoka city, while Mobike is also eyeing an entry into the UK market.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Wanda HK pays \u00a3470m for site at London's Nine Elms\u00a0 \n St Modwen Properties PLC has announced that VINCI St Modwen (VSM) has exchanged contracts for the sale of its interest in the 10-acre Nine Elms Square site in London for \u00a3470m.\n\nVSM\u2019s share is to be sold to Wanda Commercial Properties Hong Kong Co Ltd with completion expected to occur later in the summer.\n\nVSM is St Modwen\u2019s 50/50 joint venture with VINCI PLC.\n\nSt Modwen expects its share of VSM\u2019s cash proceeds after overage, tax and enabling costs to be \u00a3190m.\n\nSome \u00a370m of this will be placed in a restricted development account to fund its share of the completion of 500,000 sq ft of new purpose-built market facilities and associated infrastructure (\u00a3140m for VSM).\n\nSt Modwen will use the remaining proceeds to reduce group borrowing and fund ongoing development activity.\n\nVSM will remain involved in the wider regeneration of the Nine Elms area over the next 10 years via its development agreement with Covent Garden Market Authority.\n\n\n\nPoll As a broker, do you currently quote 'green' loan options alongside standard loan quotes for property development finance? Yes No Vote Results\n\n\n\n\n\nThis will see it provide new market facilities for the area and in doing so secure the existing 2,500 market jobs.\n\nAs the joint venture progresses with the delivery of the new market, the remaining 10 acres of land will be built into three areas known as Nine Elms Gardens, Nine Elms Grove and Thessaly Road.\n\nThese areas will feature a mix of residential, commercial, retail and leisure uses.\n\nMark Allan, chief executive of St Modwen Properties PLC, said: \"The sale of Nine Elms Square is an important milestone, which will realise the capital required to fund the construction of over 500,000 sq ft of new market facilities.\n\n\u201cTogether with our joint venture partner VINCI PLC, we remain very much committed to the longer-term regeneration of Nine Elms and are excited about the opportunities ahead.\"", "output": "Hong Kong firm Wanda Commercial Properties has acquired the 10-acre Nine Elms Square site in London from VINCI St Modwen for \u00a3470m ($601m), in a deal set to complete later in the summer. \"The sale of Nine Elms Square is an important milestone, which will realise the capital required to fund the construction of over 500,000 sq ft of new market facilities,\" said Mark Allan, CEO of St Modwen Properties.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tightening UK whiplash rules will reduce premiums:\u00a0government \n Following the Queen's Speech, Mohammad Khan, general insurance leader at PwC, comments on the motor insurance market:\"Today's news on Whiplash claims is good news for motorists. This will ensure that genuine claimants get paid fairly but exaggerated claims will be reduced. This could save motorists an average of \u00a335 - \u00a340 per motor insurance policy. The savings from this measure will help mitigate some of the recent increases due to the Ogden discount rate change. \"Insurers were expecting some further details on the Ogden discount rate consultation, and although there was no explicit mention of it today, it may be included within the Civil Liability bill. We should find this out within the next two weeks. \"An update on the Ogden rate is important for motorists as the average motor insurance premium has already increased by between \u00a325 and \u00a350, and by about \u00a3100-\u00a3200 for younger drivers. \"Many insurers have not yet factored the Ogden discount rate change into the price of their premiums as they had assumed that the Government consultation would change the methodology to mitigate the full impact. \"The worry for motorists would be if the Government decides not to revisit the Ogden discount rate methodology in this Parliament, meaning premiums will have to continue to rise next year. If we applied the current methodology for estimating the Ogden discount rate , the rate would move to -1.75% next year. This would further increase motor insurance premiums by approximately \u00a350 - \u00a3100 and by approximately \u00a3200 - \u00a3500 for younger drivers.\" In response to today\u2019s Queen\u2019s Speech regarding legislation to help reduce motor insurance premiums, Mike Brockman, CEO of telematics insurance pioneer, Insure The Box said: \u201cWhiplash reforms are welcome but long overdue. Young drivers in particular have seen disproportionate increases to their premiums due to a range of factors \u2013 not least the dramatic change to the Ogden rate \u2013 but this is at least a glimmer of hope for the vast majority of honest motorists who are subsiding the dishonesty of a small minority of others. Any changes that lower costs and increase access to insurance for young people must be welcomed \u2013 the ability to drive opens up many opportunities, not least employment and education for those in more rural areas.\n\n\u201cWe have always taken a hard line on fraud at Insure The Box to protect our law-abiding customers, using telematics data to support claims investigations where we suspect accidents have been staged and claims exaggerated. Insurance Fraud is far from a victimless crime and we see the real damage that can be done by these incidents.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe welcome the Government\u2019s appetite for change and would like to see detailed consultation on the nature of fraud and exaggerated claims in the motor insurance industry.\u201d\n\n", "output": "The government has said it will crack down on what it calls \"compensation culture\" with a further tightening of rules governing whiplash injury payouts outlined in the Queen's speech to Parliament. The prime minister, Theresa May, said the measures, which include a ban on offers to settle claims unsupported by medical evidence,\u00a0would help reduce car insurance premiums by about \u00a335 a year. Personal injury\u00a0lawyers criticised the proposal, with industry groups including the\u00a0Association of Personal Injury Lawyers\u00a0saying it was\u00a0\"scandalous\", \"fanciful\", and \"predictably bad\". PwC also said the move would help\u00a0reduce premiums, which have been pushed up by\u00a0a change\u00a0in payout discount calculations."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tightening UK whiplash rules will reduce premiums:\u00a0government \n New whiplash crackdown was announced by the government at the State Opening of Parliament\n\nThe government is to introduce a new Civil Liability Bill to tackle compensation culture around car insurance claims.\n\nThe new legislation was announced in the Queen\u2019s Speech at the State Opening of Parliament, launching the new parliamentary session after the general election.\n\nThe Queen\u2019s Speech details the government\u2019s plans for the coming year. The Queen announced that the government will introduce new legislation \u201dto modernise the court system and help reduce motor insurance premiums\u201d.\n\nThe government said the new Civil Liability Bill could save motorists an average of about \u00a335 a year on their premiums.\n\nIt said the bill will seek to tackle the \u201ccontinuing high number and cost of whiplash claims\u201d, while at the same time \u201densuring that full and fair compensation is paid to genuinely injured claimants\u201d.\n\nThe main elements of the bill will be, \u201dTo tackle the rampant compensation culture and reduce the number and cost ofwhiplash claims\u201d.\n\nIt will ban insurers from offering to settle claims without the support of medical evidence.\n\nThere will be a tariff of compensation for whiplash injuries that will be fixed for up to two years.\n\nThe government pointed out that the volume of road traffic accident related personal injury claims is around 50% higher than ten years ago, despite advances in vehicle safety. 520,000 claims were registered in 2006/07 compared with 780,000 in 2016/17.\n\nThe last Parliament saw the introduction of the Prisons and Courts Bill, which was shelved because of the general election.\n\nThat legislation sought to tackle soft tissue injury fraud in motor insurance claims by raising the Small Claims Court threshold from \u00a31,000 to \u00a35,000 and included caps on whiplash payouts. The government at the time said the reforms would cut car insurance premiums by \u00a340, and several insurers pledged to pass savings on to their customers.\n\nDuring the election, the Conservatives manifesto vowed to tackle fraudulent whiplash claims and slash motor premiums.\n\n\u201cWe will reduce costs for ordinary motorists by cracking down on exagerrated and fradulent whiplash claims,\u201d the manifesto said.", "output": "The government has said it will crack down on what it calls \"compensation culture\" with a further tightening of rules governing whiplash injury payouts outlined in the Queen's speech to Parliament. The prime minister, Theresa May, said the measures, which include a ban on offers to settle claims unsupported by medical evidence,\u00a0would help reduce car insurance premiums by about \u00a335 a year. Personal injury\u00a0lawyers criticised the proposal, with industry groups including the\u00a0Association of Personal Injury Lawyers\u00a0saying it was\u00a0\"scandalous\", \"fanciful\", and \"predictably bad\". PwC also said the move would help\u00a0reduce premiums, which have been pushed up by\u00a0a change\u00a0in payout discount calculations."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Norwegian snake robots to help space research \n Credit: picture from ISS / NASA. Illustration of snake robot: SINTEF / M. Bjerkeng and O.H. Holhjem\n\nNorwegian researchers are looking into how a snake robot might carry out maintenance work on the International Space Station (ISS), study comets, and explore the possibility of living and working in lava tunnels on the Moon.\n\nThree years ago SINTEF was investigating whether snake robots could help astronauts working on Mars with mobility and access. As part of a project commissioned by the ESA, researchers are to continue with this work and are carrying out a preliminary study to examine the technology and other opportunities for utilising robots in space.\n\n\"More ambitious applications include potential activities on comets and the Moon\", says Aksel Transeth at SINTEF. Snake robot\" that can assist ISS astronauts in maintaining their equipment is perhaps a solution which can be possible to realize on a more short term.\"\n\nMoon Village\n\nIt is almost 50 years since the first men walked on the surface of the moon. The ESA believes that humanity's next great step may be a joint global project aimed at establishing a settlement on the Moon \u2013 a \"moon village\". Such a settlement could provide a permanent base for scientific activity, business, tourism or mining, and the most likely place for such a base will be in lava tubes, or tunnels, where molten rock once flowed.\n\nBuilding in lava tubes will mean that settlers will be protected from harmful exposure to cosmic radiation and meteorites.\n\nHowever, such tunnels must be inspected to ensure that it is possible for people to live and work in them, and this is where the snake robots may have a role to play. The force of gravity is weaker on the Moon. Moreover, lava tubes may drop vertically from the surface. So how will it be possible to facilitate access and mobility?\n\nResearching comets\n\nThe ESA is also interested in studying comets. Since comets come from the far reaches of outer space, researchers are hoping to uncover some of the mysteries of the solar system, and to obtain help in forming a picture of what it looked like before the planets were formed.\n\nIn 2004, the ESA launched the Rosetta space probe, and in 2014 the probe released the Philae lander onto the comet 67P/Tsjurjumov\u2013Gerasimenko. The lander was equipped with a system of harpoons designed to hold it in place on landing. Unfortunately, this failed to work.\n\n\"There is pretty much no gravity on a comet\", says Transeth. \"If you try to walk on the surface, you could be thrown into space\", he says. \"So we have to find ways in which snake robots can move around on a comet while at the same time keeping themselves fixed on the surface\", says Transeth.\n\nInspection and maintenance on the ISS\n\nBut for today's SINTEF researchers, it's the snake robots on the ISS that represent their most natural and realistic project on shorter term. There are no problems with extreme temperatures on the ISS, which is occupied at all times.\n\nAstronauts carry out experiments sent to them in boxes by their colleagues on Earth, and these experiments have to be carried out in a state of weightlessness. For example, what plants can grow in space? How do wounds heal in such surroundings?\n\nThese are the astronauts' main tasks, but they also have their work cut out inspecting and maintaining all the equipment needed to keep the space station in operation. Anything that saves them time during their hectic schedule is worth its weight in gold.\n\n\"It's possible that a robot could carry out some of the routine inspection and maintenance work\", says Transeth. \"The experiments are stacked in the shelf sections, behind which corrosion can occur. To find this out, inspections have to be made. A snake robot could creep behind the sections, carry out an inspection, and perhaps even perform small maintenance tasks\", he says.\n\nRolls up, creeps and extends\n\nThere is no shortage of challenges facing researchers attempting to develop an inspection and maintenance snake robot system. One important factor is to find out how a snake robot can make its way around the ISS. Since the ISS is in a constant state of freefall around the earth, astronauts \"float\" around the station, moving around by grabbing onto things and then pushing themselves off.\n\n\"We believe that we can design a robot that can hold on, roll itself up and then extend its body in order to reach new contact points\", explains Transeth. \"Moreover, we believe that it can creep in among equipment components on the ISS and use equipment surfaces to gain traction in order to keep moving forward \u2013 much in the same way as real snakes do in the wild\", he says.\n\n\"We want to find out what specifications a snake robot system requires\", he adds. \"For example, what kind of sensors does the robot need to obtain an adequate understand its surroundings? What technologies are available to help us meet these needs, and what new technologies will have to be developed? What uncertainties are involved in terms to what it may be possible to achieve?\" asks Transeth.\n\nA drone called Astrobee will soon be flying around and making inspections on the ISS. The researchers believe that they can learn a lot from Astrobee because some of its technology will be similar to that which can be applied in a snake robot system.\n\nProvided by SINTEF", "output": "Norwegian researchers from SINTEF are testing the use of snake robots for gauging access and mobility in environments such as the International Space Station (ISS) and the moon. The researchers have been commissioned by the European Space Agency to study the use of the robots in space scenarios, including the inspection of the moon's lava tubes or the network of tunnels created with molten rock that\u00a0could allow for human settlement and scientific activity. The snake robot system could provide useful data on the habitability of the tubes, and also\u00a0carry out maintenance operations on key equipment required to keep the ISS functioning.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Uber said to have known about stolen Waymo files since March 2016 \n In arguing that a judge should find Uber in contempt, Waymo says that Uber has admitted it knew a former self-driving car executive had documents from his former employer.\n\nAccording to new court documents filed by Waymo, Uber has acknowledged that Anthony Levandowski told Travis Kalanick and other Uber executives that he had five discs containing files belonging to Waymo. Uber said that during the March 2016 exchange, Kalanick told Leandowski to destroy the documents and not bring them into Uber. Soon after, Levandowski told Kalanick he had destroyed the discs, according to the court papers.\n\nWhy it matters: Since Waymo filed its lawsuit against Uber, alleging it was using stolen trade secrets, the ride-hailing company has maintained that it doesn't have any of the 14,000 files Levandowski dowloaded, nor that it had prior knowledge that he had done so. Uber was ordered by the court to return the files or provide documentation showing how and when files were destroyed, neither of which it has done.\n\nMore: Waymo also argues that Otto, the company Levandowski sold to Uber, hasn't complied with orders to obtain the stolen files, some of which are also in the possession of Uber's outside lawyers. While Uber eventually, under pressure from the court, threatened Levandowski to fire him if he didn't return the files (and did fire him), Otto has declined to do so, citing his Fifth Amendment rights. Levandowski's assertion of his Fifth Amendment rights has complicated the case for months, making it difficult for both parties to obtain documents and answers from him.", "output": "According to new court documents filed by Alphabet's autonomous vehicle division Waymo, Uber admitted that Anthony Levandowski informed senior Uber executives that he had five discs of files belonging to Waymo in March 2016. Uber said its then CEO, Travis Kalanick, told Levandowski to destroy the documents and not to bring them into Uber. Since Waymo filed its lawsuit against Uber and its autonomous-truck driving company, Otto, in February, Uber maintained it had no prior knowledge of the alleged theft of 14,000 files on Waymo's autonomous vehicle technology."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Twitter to 'double down' on adtech investment: CEO \n Twitter\u2019s co-founder and chief executive Jack Dorsey said he plans to \u201cdouble down\u201d on adtech investment, saying the company has learned lessons from past mistakes that could see it pivot towards forging partnerships with third parties rather than acquiring or building its own offering.\n\n\u201cAdvertising is our business and technology is how we manifest that,\u201d said Dorsey at the Cannes Lions festival today (21 June.) \u201cWe\u2019re definitely not out of the adtech investment phase. We\u2019re doubling down. Especially with the hire of Bruce [Falck]. He\u2019s taken right to it.\u201d\n\nAfter an exhaustive search, Bruce Falck joined the company earlier this year as general manager of revenue product, reporting directly to Dorsey (previously he was the chief executive of adtech outfit Turn). That hire was very much seen as a push by Twitter to bring a advertisers a more targeted and measurable offering as well as stand up against the Google and Facebook, which control in excess of 70% of the market.\n\nFalck joined having spent much of his career working for adtech businesses. Prior to his tenure at Turn, he served as chief operating officer at video ad company BrightRoll and developed display advertising products at Google.\n\nAccording to reports, not confirmed by Twitter, it has since been reconsidering several of its advertising products, including the direct response business, parts of the Promoted Tweets product, and TellApart, the digital ad platform it acquired in 2015.\n\nSpeaking on what has went wrong in the past on the advertising side, Dorsey said that it simply \u201cdidn\u2019t always prioritize [it] in the right way.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe acquired companies or platforms and didn\u2019t give them the options that they needed or tie it together with everything else that we\u2019re doing,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that doesn\u2019t set up the acquisition for success. So, we\u2019re [now] being really deliberate in what we look at and why.\u201d\n\nHe went on to say that moving forward it would look to \u201cbuy versus build\u201d its adtech offering, although he did add that it may also look to pursue this strategy by partnering with third-party tie-ups.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve tended to build a lot in the company. When we started it was before there was a public cloud that we could use and that set the DNA of the company. But we need to change that mindset. We don\u2019t need to build everything, but we also don\u2019t need to acquire everything. We can go through third parties and just really focus on what our strengths are,\u201d he said.\n\nRebuilding from the inside out\n\nAt the beginning of the year, Twitter set about on a rebuild of the company to \u201cget back to basics\u201d and redefine itself around one core mission \u2013 being \u201cthe best and fastest place to see what\u2019s happening in the world and what people are talking about.\u201d\n\nIn a three-pronged attack, it set about re-establishing its execution of the product (\u201cwe needed a lot more discipline\u201d), better marketing to \u201ctell the story of what Twitter is\u201d and focusing \u201cour energy on our strengths\u201d on the users already had, rather than trying to attract more.\n\nDuring this reset phase, it was forced to layoff nearly a tenth of its global workforce \u2013 around 350 people \u2013 which Dorsey said was one of his darkest periods at the company.\n\n\u201cIt was heartbreaking,\u201d he explained. \u201cI remember the night before, I hand wrote thank you cards to everyone we were letting go. I was up until 2am although, unfortunately, there was mishap with mailing and we couldn\u2019t get them to everyone on time. But it was really the toughest thing. It\u2019s still so painful to think about and I wasn\u2019t expecting to do anything like that in my life.\u201d\n\nHowever, he said it\u2019s now seeing results from the changes. Twitter surprised analysts with a strong performance for the first quarter for the year, seeing a spike in both user growth and earning.\n\n\u201cIt now gives us breathing room to take bigger steps and do some non-linear things,\u201d he hinted. \u201cWe want to bring a whole lot more creativity back into the organization and more playfulness with what we\u2019re focused on. I\u2019m really excited about this year.\u201d\n\nFor more news from Cannes Lions follow the dedicated news stream on The Drum website", "output": "Twitter has plans to \"double down\" on advertising technology investment after failing to prioritise it in the past, according to co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey. Speaking at the Cannes Lions Festival on 21 June, Dorsey said the firm's renewed commitment to adtech follows the appointment of Bruce Falck as general manager of revenue product earlier this year. In the past, Twitter tended to custom build its own adtech offerings, but its new approach will also incorporate technology from third parties. \"We don\u2019t need to build everything, but we also don\u2019t need to acquire everything,\" Dorsey said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Publicis, WPP to swerve Cannes Lions in 2018 \n Is Cannes Lions getting too big for its own good?\n\nAd giant Publicis Groupe stunned the marketing world this week after announcing it would pull out of the Cannes Lions event next year, along with other events including SXSW and CES. Following the surprising news, Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, told Variety that his company was having second thoughts as well, as he suggested Cannes Lions\u2019 focus has expanded to become too diffuse \u2014 and too sprawling.\n\nCannes Lions, which started in 1954, has centered on awards to recognize the best advertising creative in the world. In recent years, it has attracted a growing flock of ad-tech firms, internet and media companies, and entertainment execs.\n\nPublicis\u2019 decision to drop out of Cannes Lions, set by newly installed chief Arthur Sadoun, was motivated by a desire to cut spending on trade shows and awards competitions. According to a memo sent to Publicis agencies, which include DigitasLBi, Leo Burnett and Saatchi & Saatchi, the moratorium is effective July 1 and will extend for at least one year.\n\nSadoun \u2014 who assumed the CEO spot earlier this month, taking over for Maurice Levy \u2014 says the money Publicis saves will be invested into an artificial-intelligence initiative, dubbed Marcel, designed to facilitate better companywide collaboration.\n\nIn the wake of Publicis\u2019 exit from Cannes Lions, WPP\u2019s Sorrell left the question open about whether the company\u2019s agencies, which include Grey, J. Walter Thompson, Ogilvy & Mather and Y&R. In the Variety interview Wednesday afternoon here in Cannes, he complained that Cannes Lions has grown beyond its original mission of focusing on creative excellence in advertising.\n\n\u201cThis has morphed into a worldwide event, but I think it\u2019s trying to be too many things to too many people,\u201d Sorrell said. \u201cProbably a bit too broad, and it\u2019s probably lost its way.\u201d\n\nSorrell, 72, and said other locations might be more suitable for a global worldwide advertising conference. The British advertising and media titan suggested that, for example, the $450 million Brooklyn Navy Yard development in New York City would have the space \u2014 and access to a major metropolis \u2014 for an ad-industry confab. Cannes, he noted, is not a terribly convenient destination for many in the industry.\n\nAsked if WPP was going to potentially pull out of Cannes Lions, Sorrell said, \u201cI think we should take a good, hard look at it.\u201d\n\n\u201cMaybe Cannes in the middle of June is not the best destination,\u201d he said. \u201cYou could do what Cannes does but in a different environment, and probably more powerfully.\u201d In addition to New York, he suggested London, Paris or Berlin as possible places for a Cannes Lions-style confab celebrating advertising creative.\n\nThe good thing about Cannes Lions\u2019 more expansive scope, including the presence of internet companies like Facebook and Google, is that it has redefined creativity beyond just 30-second TV spots, Sorrell said, \u201cbeyond \u2018Mad Men\u2019 and that narrow definition.\u201d", "output": "Advertising giant Publicis Groupe has said it will not participate in the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, which recognises excellence in advertising, next year. The decision comes as the firm aims to cut spending on awards competitions and trade shows, according to an internal memo sent to the group's agencies. Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of global advertising firm WPP, has also indicated that his firm is having second thoughts about the event. Cannes Lions has grown\u00a0\"a bit too broad, and it\u2019s probably lost its way\u201d, Sorrell said.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Students use simulation to produce ethylene from algae \n Two students from the Izmir Institute of Technology have used Honeywell\u2019s simulation software to demonstrate how to produce petrochemicals from algae. They have been named the winners of Honeywell Process Solutions\u2019 (HPS) annual UniSim\u00ae Design Challenge.\n\nOzgun Deliismail and Okan Akin, under the supervision of Associate Professor Dr. Erol Seker, used UniSim Design and UniSim Dynamics to create a preliminary conceptual design and simulation of the production of bio-based ethylene from the marine microalgae of Nannochloropsis oculata. Ethylene produced from this renewable source can easily replace petrochemical-based ethylene in conventional production processes.\n\n\u201cThe interest in renewable petrochemicals continues due to a combination of environmental concerns and economic uncertainties,\u201d said John Roffel, Director of Honeywell\u2019s Simulation and Operator Competency product lines. \u201cIt is great to see that students around the world find new ways to tackle global challenges with the help of the UniSim Design Suite.\u201d\n\nThe UniSim Design Challenge allows engineering students to propose solutions to real-world problems facing process manufacturers with Honeywell\u2019s UniSim Design Suite software, which is used to design and model processes in production facilities around the world.\n\nDeliismail and Akin presented the winning entry during the Honeywell Users Group (HUG) Americas Symposium. The preliminary design demonstrates the drastically reduced carbon-foot print of the hybrid process by anaerobic digestion and oxidative coupling versus the traditional process of ethylene production. It also shows that bio-ethylene production from bio-methane is profitable.\n\n\u201cTo our knowledge, this is the first reported simulation of bio-based ethylene production using the UniSim Design Suite,\u201d said Dr. Seker. \u201cIts user friendly interface, simplicity and great extensibility provide a great simulation environment to improve the design of the hybrid process.\u201d\n\nUniSim Design Suite provides an interactive process model that allows engineers to create steady-state and dynamic models. UniSim Design models may be leveraged into advanced training and optimisation solutions provided by the UniSim\u00ae Optimisation Suite, UniSim\u00ae Competency Suite and Honeywell Connected Plant offerings.", "output": "Students from the Izmir Institute of Technology in Turkey have developed a conceptual simulation enabling the production of bio-based ethylene from microalgae Nannochloropsis oculata. The project won the Honeywell Process Solutions\u2019 annual UniSim Design Challenge, which tasks engineering students with proposing solutions to real-world problems facing process manufacturers. The winning simulation demonstrated a reduced carbon footprint of the hybrid process by anaerobic digestion and oxidative coupling compared to traditional methods of ethylene production."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Samsung releases\u00a0Exynos i T200 processor for internet of things \n Samsung Electronics has launched the Exynos i T200, its first processor optimised for Internet of Things (IoT) devices, the company has announced.\n\nThe South Korean tech giant said the chip has upped security and supports wireless connections, with hopes of giving it an advantage in the expanding IoT market.\n\nEynos i is a derivative brand of Eyxnos -- which is used by Samsung for its processors for smartphones -- aimed at IoT devices. Future processors for IoT will continue to carry the brand, a company spokesperson said.\n\nThe Exynos i T200 applies Samsung's 28-nanometer High-K Metal Gate process and has multiple cores, with the Cortex-R4 doing the heavy lifting and an independently operating Cortex-M0+ allowing for multifunctionality.\n\nFor example, if applied to a refrigerator, Cotext-R4 will run the OS and Cotex-M0+ will power LED displays on the doors.\n\nThe new chip also has Security Sub System hardware that allows for passwords and backing up data, and has a Physically Unclonable function that prevents illegal copying.\n\nThe Exynos i T200 supports 802.11 b/g/n 2.4GHz Wi-Fi connectivity and has Wi-Fi Alliance certification and Microsoft's Azure IoT certification. It also supports open-source IoT protocol standard IoTivity, suggested by Open Connectivity Foundation.\n\nSamsung is keenly eyeing the IoT market, last month unveiling Tizen 4.0, the latest version of its operating system, which will be applicable to more devices than smartphones.\n\nLast year, it also commercialised the ARTIK brand, which involves its IoT modules and cloud platform.\n\nFor the original Exynos brand, Samsung is mass producing the latest 10-nanometer ones for its own smartphones.", "output": "South Korean tech giant Samsung has launched its first processor to be optimised for the internet of things (IoT), the company has said. The Exynos i T200 applies Samsung's 28-nanometer High-K Metal Gate process and includes a Cortex-R4, as well as an independently operating Cortex-M0+ that enables\u00a0multi-functionality. The Exynos i T200 has Wi-Fi Alliance and Microsoft's Azure IoT certification.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US energy secretary dubious about CO2 as cause of climate change \n Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the\n\nInside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}\n\nUS Secretary of Energy Rick Perry has said he does not believe carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global warming, putting him at odds with mainstream scientific opinion.\n\nMr Perry's statement is in line with Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt, but flies in the face of several scientists and studies done on climate change that all say increased carbon emissions creates a greenhouse effect - the atmosphere is clogged and the planet heats up causing melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and natural disasters.\n\nThe former governor of Texas said on CNBC that \"the most likely the primary control knob [for climate change] is the ocean waters and this environment that we live in.\"\n\nRecommended Trump energy pick sworn in despite call for department to be abolished\n\nHe did not give further explanation on what that meant. Certainly, rising sea levels have been an oft-cited issue by those studying the North and South pole but also American coastal cities like Miami Beach and San Diego.\n\nHis view contradicts research done by NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the EPA, and his own agency.\n\nMr Pruitt has said in the past to CNBC that \"there's tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact\" of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.\n\nBoth he and Mr Perry have commented that though human action does have some impact on the climate, neither believes there is proof that regulations or government policies would help.\n\n10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Show all 10 1 / 10 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Kira Morris 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Floods destroyed eight bridges and ruined crops such as wheat, maize and peas in the Karimabad valley in northern Pakistan, a mountainous region with many glaciers. In many parts of the world, glaciers have been in retreat, creating dangerously large lakes that can cause devastating flooding when the banks break. Climate change can also increase rainfall in some areas, while bringing drought to others. Hira Ali 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Smoke \u2013 filled with the carbon that is driving climate change \u2013 drifts across a field in Colombia. Sandra Rondon 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Amid a flood in Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a woman on a raft searches for somewhere dry to take shelter. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable places in the world to sea level rise, which is expected to make tens of millions of people homeless by 2050. Probal Rashid 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Sindh province in Pakistan has experienced a grim mix of two consequences of climate change. \u201cBecause of climate change either we have floods or not enough water to irrigate our crop and feed our animals,\u201d says the photographer. \u201cPicture clearly indicates that the extreme drought makes wide cracks in clay. Crops are very difficult to grow.\u201d Rizwan Dharejo 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Hanna Petursdottir examines a cave inside the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland, which she said had been growing rapidly. Since 2000, the size of glaciers on Iceland has reduced by 12 per cent. Tom Schifanella 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A river once flowed along the depression in the dry earth of this part of Bangladesh, but it has disappeared amid rising temperatures. Abrar Hossain 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A shepherd moves his herd as he looks for green pasture near the village of Sirohi in Rajasthan, northern India. The region has been badly affected by heatwaves and drought, making local people nervous about further predicted increases in temperature. Riddhima Singh Bhati 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A factory in China is shrouded by a haze of air pollution. The World Health Organisation has warned such pollution, much of which is from the fossil fuels that cause climate change, is a \u201cpublic health emergency\u201d. Leung Ka Wa 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Water levels in reservoirs, like this one in Gers, France, have been getting perilously low in areas across the world affected by drought, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions. Mahtuf Ikhsan\n\nMr Perry's comments come just a few weeks after Donald Trump withdrew the US from the Paris Agreement on climate change, which nearly 200 countries signed in December 2015 in an effort to lower greenhouse emissions and adapt to an already changing planet.\n\nThe US President said the accord put American workers at an \"economic disadvantage\". Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defence Secretary James Mattis had both advised the President to stay in the agreement.\n\nAccording to former State Department officials, Mr Trump could have remained in the deal and simply shifted US targets for greenhouse gas emissions reductions.\n\nA recent report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shows that the world\u2019s economies could boost economic growth by nearly three per cent by 2021 if they institute policies that would lower greenhouse gas emissions. By 2050 that growth could reach up to five per cent.\n\nNew investments in renewable energy outpaced new money in the oil and gas sector for the first time in 2015 - to the tune of $350 billion.\n\nSeveral US cities and major corporations have come out to say that green jobs programmes are what will revitalise economically lagging areas and help businesses thrive.\n\nWorld leaders were largely critical of the decision and even more so of Mr Trump's idea that the Paris Agreement would need to be renegotiated for the US to be involved, with France, Germany, and Italy all issuing a statement saying that after 20 years of annual negotiations, they are not going to re-open the doors for the US.", "output": "Rick Perry, the US Secretary of Energy, has contradicted the international scientific community by saying he does not believe carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global warming. In an interview with CNBC, Perry said: \"The most likely primary control knob [for climate change] is the ocean waters and this environment that we live in.\" Perry's comments mirror those of Environmental Protection Agency chief, Scott Pruitt, who said in\u00a0previous interviews with the broadcaster\u00a0that there was \"tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact\" of carbon emissions on the world's climate."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "High-tech firms urged to stem middle class flight from big cities \n The migration of high-tech startups to cities is less of a reversal and more of a historical correction. In 2006, the venture capital icon Paul Graham said that for all its power, Silicon Valley had a great weakness. The high-tech \u201cparadise\u201d created during the 1950s and 1960s \u201cis now one giant parking lot,\u201d he said. \u201cSan Francisco and Berkeley are great, but they\u2019re 40 miles away. Silicon Valley proper is soul-crushing suburban sprawl. It has fabulous weather, which makes it significantly better than the soul-crushing sprawl of most other American cities. But a competitor that managed to avoid sprawl would have real leverage.\u201d\n\nFor years, economists and mayors believed that high-tech development would \u201clift all boats.\u201d The reality is a new phase of winner-take-all urbanism.\n\nAnd that\u2019s what happened. Urban areas provide the diversity, creative energy, cultural richness, vibrant street life, and openness to new ideas that attract startup talent. Their industrial and warehouse buildings also provide employees with flexible and reconfigurable work spaces. Cities and startups are a natural match.\n\nFor years, economists, mayors, and urbanists believed that high-tech development was an unalloyed good thing, and that more high-tech startups and more venture capital investment would \u201clift all boats.\u201d But the reality is that high-tech development has ushered in a new phase of what I call winner-take-all urbanism, where a relatively small number of metro areas, and a small number of neighborhoods within them, capture most of the benefits.\n\nMiddle-class neighborhoods have been hollowed out in the process. In 1970, roughly two-thirds of Americans lived in middle-class neighborhoods; today less than 40 percent of us do. The middle-\u00adclass share of the population shrank in a whopping 203 out of 229 U.S. metro areas between 2000 and 2014. And places where the middle class is smallest include such superstar cities and tech hubs as New York, San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles, Houston, and Washington, D.C.\n\nDespite all this, it wouldn\u2019t make any sense to put the brakes on high-tech development. Doing so would only cut off a huge source of innovation and economic development. High-tech industry remains a major driver of economic progress and jobs, and it provides much-needed tax revenues that cities can use to address and mitigate the problems that come with financial success.\n\nThe tech startup boom has brought billions of dollars of venture capital into urban areas like San Francisco. It\u2019s also driven out the middle class and caused a wave of resentment.\n\nBut if high-tech development causes problems, and stopping it doesn\u2019t solve those problems, what comes next?\n\nHigh-tech companies should\u2014out of self-interest, if for no other reason\u2014embrace a shift to a kind of urbanism that allows many more people, especially blue-collar and service workers, to share in the gains of urban development. The superstar cities they\u2019ve helped create cannot survive when nurses, EMTs, teachers, police officers, and other service providers can no longer afford to live in them.\n\nHere\u2019s how they can do it. First, they can work with cities to help build more housing, which would reduce housing prices. They can support efforts to liberalize outdated zoning and building codes to enable more housing construction, and invest in the development of more affordable housing for service and blue-collar workers.", "output": "US tech firms have migrated from suburbs to cities to tap start-up talent in urban areas, and hollowed out middle-class neighbourhoods in the process, writes Richard Florida in the MIT Technology Review. Florida suggests the tech sector should work with cities to ensure affordable housing, public transport to outlying areas, and upgrading of low-wage service jobs so that \"superstar\" cities maintain access to the pool of service providers they will need to survive."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Regions most at risk from animal to human pandemics pinpointed \n A new study identifies several regions around the world with the highest number of unknown viruses likely to infect people, and which species are most likely to carry them.\n\nResearchers from New York-based environmental non-profit EcoHealth Alliance published a study Wednesday in the journal Nature they say is the first comprehensive analysis of all viruses known to infect mammals.\n\nThe world has seen a rise in the number of zoonotic viruses, or viruses that can be transmitted from animals to humans. The goal of the study is to try to predict where the next pandemic is likely to occur, and which species are most likely to carry it, said the study's senior author, Peter Daszak, who is president of EcoHealth Alliance.\n\n\"If you are an organization that is doing surveillance to stop the next Ebola \u2014 and we know there are a hundred other Ebola viruses we have not discovered out there on the planet \u2014 this paper says where they would be,\" Daszak said. \"And then you can target your programs to go an look for them. And if you find them you can determine whether it is likely something that can infect people.\n\nGeographically, the biggest hotspots are the tropical regions of the world, such as Central and South America, West and Central Africa, and Southeast Asia.\n\nApart from being some of the most biodiverse places on the planet, they are also the regions that are home to the greatest number of species that have the highest risk of carrying and transmitting viruses to humans.\n\nOne of the most striking findings is that bats carry a significantly higher proportion of zoonotic diseases than any other group of mammals.", "output": "The first comprehensive analysis of all viruses known to infect mammals has been collated by New York-based EcoHealth Alliance, which shows the most likely hotspots where the next pandemics will occur.\u00a0There is a rising number of viruses transmitted from animals to humans, known as zoonotic viruses, with the\u00a0major\u00a0hotspots in\u00a0tropical regions, such as Central and South America, west and central Africa\u00a0and southeast Asia. Bats carry\u00a0a significantly higher proportion of zoonotic diseases than any other mammal group, including\u00a0Middle East respiratory syndrome, severe acute respiratory syndrome, Ebola virus and many others. However,\u00a0scientists have yet to discover\u00a0why bats are such major carriers."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurtech billions need to be directed at risk pricing and claims \n Distribution in terms of i) using technology to identify, attract and convert clients far more effectively than before and ii) in terms of delivering a far better customer experience that more closely matches expectations of convenience, access and transparency formed through people's interactions with leading online brands and services. Look at the rise of peer-to-peer insurance platforms such as Lemonade or Guevara, for example, and the emergence of products based on actual usage rather than an annual policy, such as sold by Trov and Metro Mile. The change in distribution will be marked by an increasing shift from insurance being viewed as a grudge purchase to being truly optional. Underwriting in terms of a revolution in the way that data is used to accurately price risk at the individual level, using not just historic information but a continuous stream of data that enables live pricing based on actual risk and usage. Gone are the days when a risk might be underwritten based on five data points and a couple of tickets to Wimbledon. An MGA I met the other day is using more than 1,000 data points in its rating engine, sourced for free through public information, to make tens of thousands of individual underwriting decisions in milliseconds. Claims in terms of using technology to deliver significant efficiencies in how quickly claims are handled and resolved and through the application of advanced analytics to reduce fraud. And of course if you underwrite better, you will in any case have fewer claims!\n\nOn Sept. 20, 1977, Happy Days broadcast its season five premiere. The central characters visited Los Angeles and, having had his bravery questioned, Fonzie took to the water (still wearing his leather jacket, of course) on water skis. And jumped over a shark. Even at the time, the scene was immediately seen for what it was -- a credulity-stretching ratings ploy that revealed the network's desperation to win back an audience for a show that had run out of ideas. Over the years, the concept of \"jumping the shark\" evolved into an idiom to describe that moment when any idea, brand, design or franchise demonstrably loses its way. Could it be applied to the Insurtech industry today, I wonder? Certainly, the numbers seem to be pointing in the wrong direction. Insurtech investment was down 35% in 2016 vs. 2015, from $2.6 billion to $1.9 billion, according to CB Insights. The trend accelerated in the first quarter of 2017, with insurtech funding down 64% vs. 2016 to $283 million. The market's collective pulse can hardly be said to be racing. For those of us who lived through the dot-com boom (and bust), there is also a depressingly familiar echo between how corporates reacted to the emergence of the internet then and what is happening now. Hardly a day goes by, it seems, without yet another corporate incubator or venture fund being announced or newly minted chief digital officer (whatever they are) being appointed. And while the (often dumb) money continues to pour in to ever more outlandishly named startups, the media is falling over itself to write the incumbents\u2019 obituaries and crown their sneaker-wearing young pretenders. If we haven't reached peak-hype yet, then we surely can't be that far off. Of course, we shouldn't ignore the insurance industry's ability to remain resolutely analog in a digital world, insulated from reality thanks to the formidable barriers to disruption that are regulation, brand, customer base and balance sheet. I am reliably told that two trucks a day still leave Lloyd's for an offsite document storage facility, loaded to the gunwales with paper, while another comes back the other way\u2026 Dig a little deeper, however, and a different picture emerges. The 2015 numbers were arguably distorted by two huge one-off investments (totaling $1.4 billion) in Zenefits and Zhong-An. Ignore those, and the underlying growth story remains compelling, with insurtech investments between 2010 and 2016 growing at a CAGR of more than 50%.Importantly, insurtech, for so long fintech's poor relation, is closing the investment gap. Analysis by CB Insights shows that the ratio of total fintech to insurtech investments has more than halved from 9.1 to 1 in 2014 to 4.5 to 1 in 2016 as investors wake up to the opportunities on offer. Also encouraging is where that insurtech investment is being made. While 67% of insurtech investments between 2012 and 2016 have been in the U.S., that proportion shrank to 47% in the first quarter of 2017. A swallow does not a summer make, but other data suggests that this is consistent with a growing diversification of insurtech investment away from the U.S. to other insurance markets, in particular Europe. Of course, investment is only one window on the insurtech story. And if there is a surprise, it is perhaps that the numbers are not much, much larger, given the size of the industry, the opportunities on offer for new entrants and the stakes at play for the incumbents. There is some confusion, however, as to exactly what the nature of the insurtech opportunity is, particularly on the P&C side of the industry, which is arguably where the most immediate focus should be. Some talk of the potential for robotics to drive operational efficiency, particularly in the claims process. This may well be true, but to my mind isn't really insurtech. This is just the insurance industry waking up to the potential of process automation. Most other parts of the financial services industry got there at least 10 years ago. Others talk of the impact of driverless cars and how this will slash motor premiums, as vehicles become inherently less prone to crash and the liability burden shifts to software manufacturers. Or how 3D printing will decimate the trade indemnity market as products are printed locally rather than shipped internationally. This may well be true, but isn't insurtech. This is simply the impact of new technologies on different parts of the global insurance premium pool. Some talk of the rise of cyber risk and drones and how this will create new categories of risk. Again, this may well be true, but isn't insurtech. This is just the emergence of new classes of risk that the market will assess, price and refine over time, as it has always done. To understand what the P&C insurtech opportunity truly represents, you have to strip the insurance industry back to its fundamentals. On this basis, insurance, at its core, could be said to be simply the flow of money and data. Money to pay premiums and pay claims. Data to price risk and analyze claims. Accept this, and the beating heart of the insurtech opportunity lies in three main areas: distribution, underwriting and claims.The interesting thing is how little the industry still appears to have shifted its ways of working in reaction/anticipation, outside of the well-publicized activities of some of the larger players such as Axa, Munich Re, Allianz and Mass Mutual. There are many potential explanations for this corporate heel-dragging: leadership teams who are the wrong side of the digital divide and who therefore simply don't get it, a lack of organizational agility, a fear of upsetting existing distribution channels/cannibalization or upsetting staff, the difficulty in running a traditional model alongside a new one, network dependency (i.e. you can only go at the speed of the slowest), a lack of investment capital and the uncertain ROI of any technology investment. After all, why invest in a speculative digital strategy when you can hire a couple of extra brokers and almost guarantee a few hundred thousand of extra commission? Further, those that are taking action are arguably placing a disproportionate amount of effort into leveraging technology to improve their internal efficiency and reduce costs. The problem is that, while easier and more tangible for them to tackle, internal operations only represent about 10% of the average insurer's cost base. Compare that with 20% to 40% for distribution and 40% to 60% for claims, and companies appear to be fishing in the wrong pond. This observation hasn't been lost on the PE/venture industry, or on the more progressive corporate venture funds. But even here, a disproportionate amount of investment capital appears to have gone toward distribution alone. McKinsey's Panorama Insurtech Database suggests that 17% of P&C startups are focused on distribution, vs. 10% on pricing and only 7% on claims. At one level this is understandable: Data is boring and incremental, while distribution is higher-profile, easier to target and quicker to monetize. But, by the same token, this means that more and more players are trying to disrupt the same, increasingly crowded part of the value chain, in slightly different ways. They can\u2019t, and won\u2019t, all survive. A few big winners will no doubt emerge from this feeding frenzy. However, the vast majority of today's media darlings will fail or find themselves overtaken (or perhaps taken over if they are lucky) by incumbents informed (at their and others' expense) by the success or otherwise of all these live \"pilots\" and armed with deeper pockets, a balance sheet, a trusted brand and actual customers. Students of history will again see a clear parallel to the winners and losers of the dot com years. Anyone else remember clickmango.com and its pink inflatable boardroom? What conclusions to draw from all this? Well, firstly that the real, lasting disruptive opportunity for the P&C insurance industry is far more likely to be within underwriting and claims. It may be unsexy, but it is where the bulk of the cost is and is the hardest to get at. It is also, therefore, where there is a real opportunity for new entrants to build something of meaningful, differentiated and sustainable value, rather than on the distribution side, where the barriers to entry are far lower and it is far easier for incumbents to simply adapt their offerings and compete away efficiency savings in the form of price reductions. Secondly, if the above is true, then whoever has the most data wins. This favors incumbents, in particular scale players (on both the broking and the insurer side) or medium-sized players willing to work collaboratively with others to pool resources and know-how and access third-party services. But it also creates opportunities for players (hardware (e.g. telematics), software or consulting) that are supplying, enriching or analyzing data on a partnership basis with players who would not otherwise have the resources to go it alone. Those unable or unwilling to be part of these collaborative networks will fail or have to sell out. Thirdly, as a consequence of the above, the real risk to incumbents is perhaps less from disruptive new entrants that in many cases will be more interested in partnering with them than eating their lunch, than it is from their traditional competitors stealing a decisive march on them. In today's kinetic world, being a fast follower may no longer be good enough. Hence the logic of all these corporate incubators and venture funds (as long as they are investing in the right things, of course). Fourthly, much of what we read about in the media in terms of the incubator/venture activities of the major players should be seen for what it is -- noise that more than likely is designed to conceal their real focus: investing in machine learning and advanced analytics that promises to utterly transform their ability to accurately price and distribute risk. This smoke screen is hardly surprising given the potentially seismic implications for their existing broker relationships and staff, not to mention their customers. Indeed, the potential consequences for those no longer able to secure coverage, or only able to do so at rates far beyond what they pay today, are serious and will surely trigger regulation to avoid vast societal imbalances. Finally, partly as a result of the above as well as related technological innovation, the one thing that is absolutely certain is that the size of the overall insurance revenue pool will shrink significantly. Driverless cars and sensor/IoT technology mean that there will simply be far fewer losses than before. McKinsey's base case scenario sees a 30% drop in global motor premiums and as much as a 70% fall under some conditions. What's more, better data doesn't just lead to better underwriting but also enables better risk prevention and avoidance. Wearable tech, for example, drives healthier living, telematics safer driving. This promises to drive further consolidation across every part of the value chain toward truly value-added players, shift fundamentally the role of the broker (and arguably the insurer too) toward risk consultancy and trigger the rise of a range of complementary services, platforms and product offerings to fuel and profit from this trend.For an industry already reeling under the combined impact of increasing regulation, an unrelentingly soft rating cycle, over-capacity, terminally low interest rates and vicious competition, the rise of insurtech could perhaps not come at a worse time. And yet ironically it is precisely this combination of factors that means that the industry has finally come round to the realization that, if it doesn\u2019t change soon, the world will change around it. Or, as Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said, \"If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.\" Global insurance premiums stood at around $3.6 trillion last year, according to Swiss Re. This is a huge, unreformed global market crying out for change. Forget jumping the shark. Now is the time to grab the insurtech bull by the horns. And hold on if you can.", "output": "Insurtech investment has been directed at the wrong places and instead of start-ups undermining\u00a0established insurers, legacy companies are poised to exploit new\u00a0technology and transform their businesses. Consultant and former McKinsey entrepreneur James Twining said\u00a0investment must be directed towards the biggest cost centres of the insurance value chain,\u00a0risk pricing and claims, rather than distribution, an area that already has too many players in it. So far money has been sunk into streamlining processes and improving customer experiences, which won't lead to change, Twining wrote. Developing and deploying artificial intelligence and improving data extraction will be key to making that transformation, he concluded."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesco call centre closure puts 1,100 jobs at risk in Cardiff \n Tesco is to close a call centre in Cardiff, putting 1,100 jobs at risk.\n\nThe supermarket chain said that in February it planned to close one of its two call centres which handle customer emails, social media inquiries and phone calls. About 250 jobs will be created in the group\u2019s other call centre, in Dundee, which will handle all customer queries. Workers from Cardiff will be offered work there but few are expected to move.\n\nNick Ireland, the divisional officer of Usdaw, the shopworkers\u2019 trade union, said workers in Cardiff were \u201cunderstandably shocked\u201d by the announcement.\n\n\u201cThis is clearly devastating news for our members and will have a wider impact on south Wales, as so many jobs are potentially lost to our local economy.\n\n\u201cWe will now enter into consultation talks with the company over the coming weeks to look at the business case for the proposed closure. Our priorities are to keep as many members as possible in employment, whether that is with Tesco or other local employers, and to get the best possible deal for our members.\u201d\n\nAndrew RT Davies, leader of the Conservatives in the Welsh Assembly, said: \u201cThis could be the biggest single loss of jobs in Wales since 2009, and will be a huge blow for the employees and their families and the South Wales economy.\u201d\n\nMatt Davies, the UK chief executive of Tesco, said: \u201cThe retail sector is facing unprecedented challenges and we must ensure we run our business in a sustainable and cost-effective way, while meeting the changing needs of our customers.\n\n\u201cTo help us achieve this, we\u2019ve taken the difficult decision to close our customer service operations in Cardiff.\n\n\u201cWe realise this will have a significant effect on colleagues in the Cardiff area, and our priority now is to continue to do all we can to support them at this time.\u201d\n\nRetailers are having to rethink their businesses in the face of aggressive online competitors as well as higher costs after a hike in the national living wage from \u00a37.20 to \u00a37.50, recent business rate changes and the introduction of the apprenticeship levy.\n\nLewis said last year that retailers faced a \u201cpotentially lethal cocktail\u201d as profits slump and costs rise.\n\nRising competition from the discounters Aldi and Lidl has also forced traditional supermarkets to hold down prices at a time of rising costs resulting from the fall in the value of the pound against the euro and the dollar.\n\nThe cuts at Tesco are the latest in a string of cutbacks implemented as part of a turnaround plan led by Dave Lewis, the group chief executive, who joined in autumn 2014.\n\nIn his first year in charge, Lewis axed nearly 5,000 head office and UK store management jobs as well as more than 4,000 roles overseas and at the group\u2019s banking division. More than 2,500 jobs were lost with the closure of 48 underperforming Tesco stores, while in April 3,000 jobs were put at risk when the chain cut night shifts for shelf stackers in some of its biggest supermarkets.\n\nTesco is not alone. Sainsbury\u2019s, Morrisons and Waitrose have also closed stores while Asda has cut jobs as all the big grocers try to keep costs down.\n\nBut the latest changes are part of a cost-cutting drive designed to improve the efficiency of Tesco before its \u00a33.7bn takeover of Booker, the cash and carry company behind the Londis and Budgens convenience store chains.\n\nThe announcement of the job cuts comes during a difficult week for the UK\u2019s biggest supermarket. On Tuesday, call centres were inundated with customer complaints following an IT glitch that hit up to 10% of online grocery orders.\n\nOn Wednesday, Tesco Bank customers were unable to access online banking for several hours after another IT issue. Customer queries for the bank are handled by a separate operation from those in Cardiff and Dundee.\n\nTesco Bank apologised to those affected and said: \u201cService is now restored and customers can access their account as normal.\u201d", "output": "Aggressive online competitors and high costs following a hike in the national living wage have been blamed for Tesco's decision to close a call centre in Cardiff, which\u00a0deals with customer emails, social media enquiries and phone calls. About 1,100 positions are at risk in what might become the\u00a0largest single loss of jobs in Wales since 2009.\u00a0Sainsbury\u2019s, Morrisons and Waitrose have also closed stores while\u00a0Asda has cut jobs as all the big supermarkets\u00a0try to keep costs down. Tesco group CEO\u00a0Dave Lewis had warned last year that retailers faced a \"potentially lethal cocktail\" as profits slump and costs rise.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Xain wins Porsche blockchain competition  \n German luxury sports carmaker Porsche has announced that Xain AG has won its first innovation contest on blockchain technology.\n\n\n\nPorsche said that the startup competed against 100 other applicants and won the contest with its unique business idea. The contest was announced in April.\n\n\n\nAccording to the official announcement, Xain will get an opportunity to collaborate with the sports car manufacturer from Stuttgart, along with an award of EUR 25,000. It will also participate in the HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management\u2019s Accelerator Program.\n\n\n\n\u201cThe project is a great opportunity. Together with Porsche, we now want to continue our pioneering work on blockchain technology,\u201d says Leif-Nissen Lundbaek, CEO and co-founder of Xain.\n\n\n\nLundbaek and Felix Hahmann founded Xain AG in February 2017. It focuses on the development of blockchain systems and provides solutions in the areas of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analysis for industrial production.\n\n\n\n\u201cWe aim to gain new perspectives on the disruptive potential of the transaction system blockchain from the start-up scene,\u201d says Martin Roth, Manager for Strategy, Finances and Risk Management at Porsche.\n\n\n\nThe active collaboration between Porsche and Xain will commence in August 2017 with a three-month pilot phase. The pilot phase will aim to develop a concrete prototype of a blockchain-based application.\n\n\n\n\n\nFxWirePro launches Absolute Return Managed Program. For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/invest", "output": "Luxury sports car manufacturer Porsche has named start-up Xain as the winner of its innovation contest for blockchain technology. The firm competed against 100 other teams, and will be collaborating with the car manufacturer to utilise blockchain systems for artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analysis from August 2017. The company also won \u20ac25,000 ($27,994). "}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tea clipper Cutty Sark draws record number of Chinese visitors \n You are here: Home\n\n\u89c6\u9891\u64ad\u653e\u4f4d\u7f6e \u4e0b\u8f7d\u5b89\u88c5Flash\u64ad\u653e\u5668\n\nLONDON, June 21 (Xinhua) -- A sailing ship built almost 150 years ago to rush consignments of tea from China to Britain has seen record numbers of Chinese tourists catching a glimpse of maritime history.\n\nFigures released Wednesday show the number of visitors from China toasting the famous Cutty Sark at its London home have rocketed in the past year by 200 percent.\n\nVisitors to the ship, part of the Royal Museums at Greenwich (RMG), can discover what life was like on board Cutty Sark, the world's only surviving tea clipper.\n\nShe was fastest ship of her time, built in Scotland in 1869, and designed to carry tea from China to England as fast as possible. The record-breaking ship travelled the globe and visited every major world port.\n\nThe figures also show Chinese visitors have taken a larger share of the RMG's international market, making up 8.3 percent of all overseas visitors in 2016/17, compared to 4.9 percent in 2015/16.\n\nThe greatest percentage increases were seen at the National Maritime Museum and the Cutty Sark, where the Chinese visitor figures grew by 247 percent and 200 percent respectively year-on-year.\n\nRMG includes the National Maritime Museum, the Royal Observatory Greenwich and the 17th-Century Queen's House and the Cutty Sark, forming a key part of the Maritime Greenwich UNESCO World Heritage Site.\n\nTotal Chinese visitors across all four museums exceeded 68,000.\n\nAmy O'Donovan, who is responsible for the Chinese market at RMG said: \"Our Chinese journey is really starting to bear fruit and we have exceeded all our targets.\" Enditem", "output": "Chinese visitors to the Royal Museums of Greenwich in London have increased by a record 200% in the past year because of\u00a0their interest in the famous Cutty Sark sailing ship that was built in 1869 to transport consignments of tea from China to the UK.\u00a0The figures also showed that Chinese tourists\u00a0have taken a larger share of the royal\u00a0museums's international market, making up 8.3%\u00a0of all foreign visitors in 2016/17, compared with 4.9%\u00a0in 2015/16.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "NGOs score global banks based on financing of fossil fuels \n Some of the world\u2019s top banks are continuing to lend tens of billions for extracting the most carbon-intensive fossil fuels, according to a report of top lenders.\n\nFinance provided for these fossil fuels \u2013 tar sands and other unconventional oil and gas, as well as coal and liquefied natural gas \u2013 amounted to $87bn for the top 37 banks in 2016. That represented a slump of more than a fifth compared with the $111bn raised the previous year, and was also down on 2014\u2019s total of $92bn.\n\nHowever, the analysis, carried out by a group of NGOs including the Rainforest Action Network and Sierra Club, showed that multinational banks around the globe, including many household names, were trumpeting their green credentials while continuing to pour money into the dirtiest fuels.\n\nThe report, entitled Banking on Climate Change 2017, scored the institutions from A to F on their practices, including the banks\u2019 policies, the nature of the investments, the size and type of transactions, and the impact on climate change.\n\nThe highest rating went to a handful of banks who scored a B for having scaled back their support for coal mining and coal-fired power generation, including France\u2019s Credit Agricole and Germany\u2019s Deutsche Bank, but none of those studied fared well across the board, and dozens of Fs were awarded for tar sands exploitation and ultra-deep water drilling for oil.\n\nBanks in Asia tended to fare badly, including China Construction Bank, Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China and Mizuho. The UK\u2019s HSBC and Barclays scored above average for good practice on coal mining but slipped down to a D and below on unconventional oil and LNG exports.\n\nBig banks were among the most vocal supporters of the Paris climate agreement \u2013 which aims to keep warming to below 2C \u2013 and many set out supportive policies. For instance, in 2015, ahead of Paris, Citigroup and Bank of America pledged to reduce their financing of coal as a way of limiting their exposure to carbon-intensive fossil fuels.\n\nBut the report\u2019s publishers said the finance groups needed to show more commitment in their lending practices, and warned that last year\u2019s sharp fall in financing for carbon-intensive fuels could turn out to be a blip if banks followed the lead of Donald Trump, the US president, who this month rejected the Paris agreement.\n\nYann Louvel, climate and energy campaign coordinator at BankTrack, said: \u201cThere is simply not enough time left for excuse-making, fiddling at the policy edges and more egregious investments in extreme infrastructure projects, [such as] pipelines that transport tar sands oil. We hear of [banks\u2019] revulsion to Trump\u2019s stance on climate change and their support for clean investments, yet their actions of continued investments in extreme fossil fuels demonstrate that they actually side with the Trump approach.\u201d\n\nLena Moffitt, senior campaign director at the Sierra Club, predicted that individual bank customers would make decisions on where to put their money based on how they performed on climate change. \u201cThe people are watching where and what banks sink their funds into, and they will not back down until every last one commits to investing in a future that benefits their communities, their economies, and their health.\u201d\n\nSeparately, research from the OECD found that few countries were doing as well as they should on fostering greener economic growth. In a survey of industrialised nations\u2019 performance from 1990 to 2015, only about half had managed to \u201cdecouple\u201d their economic growth from carbon emissions, which economists believe is key to maintaining prosperity while tackling climate change.\n\nThe OECD named Denmark, Estonia, the UK, Italy and the Slovak Republic as those making the most progress on green growth since 2000.\n\nSimon Upton, environment director at OECD, warned that countries must step up their policies to achieve economic growth sustainably. \u201cWhile there are signs of greening growth, most countries show progress on just one or two fronts and little on others,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need much greater efforts across the board, if we are to safeguard natural assets, reduce our collective environmental footprint, and sever the link between growth and environmental pressure.\u201d\n\nFor instance, environment-related taxation has fallen in the last 20 years, and the rate of development of new green technologies has slowed since 2011. Meanwhile, air pollution remains \u201cdangerously high\u201d, with fewer than one in three developed countries meeting World Health Organisation guidelines on fine particulates, and an area the size of the UK has been covered by buildings since 1990, adding to stress on food supplies and water.\n\nSeveral banks told the Guardian they were actively engaged in a transition away from high-carbon fossil fuels. Bank of America said its coal policy had been on a \u201ctrajectory we have had in place for several years, to continue to reduce our credit exposure to the companies focused on coal mining\u201d, and that it would \u201ccontinue to help energy clients find ways to diversify their portfolio to include cleaner fuel sources\u201d.\n\nStandard Chartered Bank, which is active in the developing world, came 31st in the list of 37 banks in terms of exposure to high-carbon fuel. A spokesman said: \u201cThe emerging markets we operate in need reliable and accessible energy to support economic growth. This needs to be balanced by mitigating the environmental impacts of power generation and consistent with the Paris agreement. We have tightened lending criteria to the energy sector.\u201d\n\nBanks also said the rankings and report failed to take account of their activities in boosting the green economy, such as investments in renewable energy and underwriting green bonds for socially and environmentally beneficial projects.\n\nDeutsche Bank said it had revised its approach in December 2016, which would not have been captured in the report\u2019s data. As a result of the revision, Deutsche Bank no longer grants new finance for greenfield thermal coal mining or new coal-fired power plant construction, and is reducing its exposure to the sector.\n\n\n\nA spokesman for HSBC said: \u201cDangerous levels of climate change will only be avoided by society working together, and governments, businesses, communities and civil society share a common goal. The finance sector has an important role and HSBC will play its full part in the critical transition to a low-carbon economy.\u201d", "output": "Many major international banks are championing their green credentials, however, $87bn was invested in fossil-fuel extraction businesses in 2016, according to a report by a group of non-governmental organisations, led by Rainforest Action Network and Sierra Club. France\u2019s Cr\u00e9dit Agricole and Germany\u2019s Deutsche Bank were among the few praised for reducing investment in coal-based businesses, although none fared well across the board, and banks in Asia tended to fare badly. A separate study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found only about 50% of industrialised economies had decoupled economic growth from carbon emissions."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Alliance to combat sexism in advertising holds first meeting \n Industry issues\n\n1 minute read\n\nNearly 25 industry leaders came together and affirmed their commitment to a global and universal agenda to tackle unhelpful and harmful gender stereotypes in advertising. Participants agreed to develop a roadmap and tools to set standards for content creation and achieve progressive gender portrayals. They further decided to define gender diversity goals for the workforce, in particular in senior and creative positions; and measure change annually, including third-party measurement, for transparency and accountability, with a view for substantive impact by 2020.\n\n\n\nMore information about the initiative can be found here.", "output": "The \u201cUnstereotype Alliance,\u201d which seeks to combat sexism in advertising and is jointly organized by UN Women and Unilever, held its inaugural meeting last week during the 2017 Lions International Festival of Creativity. Almost 25 industry leaders pledged their support of a global agenda designed to tackle gender stereotyping.  Representatives agreed to develop standards for content creation and to develop progressive images of gender. They also committed to developing gender diversity within their workforces, particularly in relation to senior posts. Transparent and accountable third-party measurement is to be carried out annually, with the goal of substantive progress by 2020.\n\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesla in talks with city of Shanghai about building EVs in China \n HONG KONG \u2014 Tesla Motors is in discussions to establish a factory in Shanghai, its first in China, a move that could bolster its efforts in one of its major markets even as it further lifts China\u2019s position as a builder of electric cars.\n\nIn a statement on Thursday, Tesla said it needed to set up more overseas factories to make cars that customers could afford. Such a strategy is a must in China, which charges steep tariffs for imported cars.\n\n\u201cTesla is working with the Shanghai Municipal Government to explore the possibility of establishing a manufacturing facility in the region to serve the Chinese market,\u201d a company spokesman said. \u201cTesla is deeply committed to the Chinese market, and we continue to evaluate potential manufacturing sites around the globe to serve the local markets.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhile we expect most of our production to remain in the U.S., we do need to establish local factories to ensure affordability for the markets they serve,\u201d the spokesman said.", "output": "Tesla and the Chinese government are in talks about the company manufacturing its electric vehicles (EVs) in China, thus eliminating import tax, while reducing labour, manufacturing and shipping costs. The California\u00a0company has made preliminary agreements with Shanghai officials, allowing Elon Musk's company to build\u00a0facilities in the city's Lingang development zone.\u00a0China accounted for about 15% of Tesla\u2019s revenue last year, nearly double\u00a02015's figure. The Chinese government levies an import tax of 50% on Teslas and the retail price for the basic Model S in China is $104,972, compared with $69,500 in the US."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesla in talks with city of Shanghai about building EVs in China \n Tesla is inching ever closer to its China dream.\n\nYesterday (June 22) the company confirmed that it is \u201cin talks\u201d with the municipal government of Shanghai to manufacture its vehicles in the country. A Tesla spokesperson provided the following statement:\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cTesla is working with the Shanghai Municipal Government to explore the possibility of establishing a manufacturing facility in the region to serve the Chinese market. As we\u2019ve said before, we expect to more clearly define our plans for production in China by the end of the year. Tesla is deeply committed to the Chinese market, and we continue to evaluate potential manufacturing sites around the globe to serve the local markets. While we expect most of our production to remain in the US, we do need to establish local factories to ensure affordability for the markets they serve.\u201d\n\nThe announcement follows more than a year of speculation that the electric-vehicle maker would set up shop in China, and confirms that Tesla is altering its China strategy away from merely exporting vehicles in order to reach more Chinese consumers.. Earlier this year, Musk made a stealth visit to China to visit Wang Yang, one of the nation\u2019s highest-ranking officials, to discuss Tesla\u2019s plans.\n\nTesla has been selling vehicles in China since 2014, but to date, its share of the electric vehicle market remains marginal, at just 2% as of June 2016, according to trade blog CleanTechnica. There are several reasons for this, one of which is price. Tesla currently exports its vehicles to China, and the government places an import tax of 25% on Tesla cars. The sticker price for the most simple Model S in China is $104,972, compared to $69,500 in the US.\n\nAs a result, Tesla sales primarily go to wealthy, status-conscious consumers. While that\u2019s still a huge group of people in China, price-conscious middle-class buyers have dozens of cheaper, homegrown competitors to choose from\u2014including models from BYD, which only makes electric vehicles, as well electric models from car makers like Geely, Chery, and Zotye.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe only way to dodge this tax is to manufacture in China, and the only way to manufacture in China is to form a joint venture with a domestic Chinese carmaker (usually one affiliated with a city government), with foreign ownership capped at under 50%.\n\nTesla has indeed turned a corner in China after years of lackluster sales. Fortune cites data from research firm JL Warren Capital estimating that Tesla tripled its annual sales in China in 2016, selling 10,400 cars\u2014amounting to 13% of its worldwide sales. The jump in demand will likely only heighten the company\u2019s desire to manufacture in China. Meanwhile, thanks to subsidies and incentives, China\u2019s electric-vehicle market is booming\u2014new registrations have far surpassed that of the US.\n\nTesla did not answer questions about whom it would form a joint venture with (or if it would form one at all), or its expected start date for manufacturing. Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that the company was considering setting up a plant in the Linggang development zone, one of many fledgling government-backed hubs for manufacturing and technology.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nInvestors are seeing dollar signs. On June 22, the day Tesla confirmed its plans, shares of Tesla closed 1.64% higher from the day prior, and 3.65% higher than the close just before Bloomberg first reported Tesla\u2019s ambitions.\n\nTesla isn\u2019t the only American company to announce plans for manufacturing in China this week. On June 21, Ford confirmed that it would build its new Focus vehicles in China, not Mexico, to sell for export abroad.", "output": "Tesla and the Chinese government are in talks about the company manufacturing its electric vehicles (EVs) in China, thus eliminating import tax, while reducing labour, manufacturing and shipping costs. The California\u00a0company has made preliminary agreements with Shanghai officials, allowing Elon Musk's company to build\u00a0facilities in the city's Lingang development zone.\u00a0China accounted for about 15% of Tesla\u2019s revenue last year, nearly double\u00a02015's figure. The Chinese government levies an import tax of 50% on Teslas and the retail price for the basic Model S in China is $104,972, compared with $69,500 in the US."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesla in talks with city of Shanghai about building EVs in China \n Tesla has confirmed it\u2019s in talks with the Chinese government to open a factory in the Shanghai region, as the company aims to fulfill a promise by its CEO Elon Musk to produce 500,000 cars a year by 2018.\n\nThe official confirmation, which was provided in an emailed statement, puts to rest months of speculation that Tesla was going to open a factory in the world\u2019s largest automotive market.\n\nThe electric automaker and energy storage company said it expects to \u201cmore clearly define its plans for producing electric vehicles in China by the end of the year.\u201d The news of the talks was first reported by Reuters.\n\nTesla says it plans to open a factory in the world\u2019s largest automotive market\n\n\u201cTesla is deeply committed to the Chinese market, and we continue to evaluate potential manufacturing sites around the globe to serve the local markets,\u201d the company said in an emailed statement. \u201cWhile we expect most of our production to remain in the US, we do need to establish local factories to ensure affordability for the markets they serve.\u201d\n\nIt isn\u2019t immediately clear if Tesla would take on a local partner as part of a joint venture in China, a long-held requirement for foreign companies wanting to set up shop there.\n\nToday, Tesla produces all of its cars in the US. However, if the company hopes to increase its production to 500,000 vehicles a year \u2014 that\u2019s a six-fold increase over 2016 numbers \u2014 and reach more consumers in Europe and Asia, it will have to open factories closer to those customers.\n\nA factory in China should theoretically help Tesla sell more cars there. Today, the company has to pay a 25 percent tariff on the cars it imports, which in turn, raises the price tag of the vehicles.\n\nA factory in China should theoretically help Tesla sell more cars there\n\nRumors of an impending deal with China heated up in April after Musk made an unexpected visit to the country and met with Vice Premier Wang Yang, a high-ranking government official. Just a month before, Tesla disclosed that Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings bought a 5 percent stake in the company.\n\nTesla had a rough start in China. Sales fell short in 2014 despite an aggressive effort to open service centers and stores, roll out its fast-charging stations known as Superchargers, and kick off a hiring spree that led to more than 600 staff.", "output": "Tesla and the Chinese government are in talks about the company manufacturing its electric vehicles (EVs) in China, thus eliminating import tax, while reducing labour, manufacturing and shipping costs. The California\u00a0company has made preliminary agreements with Shanghai officials, allowing Elon Musk's company to build\u00a0facilities in the city's Lingang development zone.\u00a0China accounted for about 15% of Tesla\u2019s revenue last year, nearly double\u00a02015's figure. The Chinese government levies an import tax of 50% on Teslas and the retail price for the basic Model S in China is $104,972, compared with $69,500 in the US."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Danish researchers work on modular robot for offshore repairs \n Danish Researchers Developing Modular Offshore Robot\n\nThe Technical University of Denmark (DTU) has inaugurated a laboratory for the development of a modular robot for use in offshore wind turbine platforms, the oil and gas industry and fish farming.\n\nThe robot will be used for inspection initially, with the long-term vision that it will be able to carry out underwater repairs on foundations and rigs. Currently, a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) with relevant personnel must be hired to perform such tasks. These operations are both costly and weather-dependent.\n\n\u201cWe have a vision of creating a modular robot that is simple to operate, without the need for technical experts,\u201d says Associate Professor Roberto Galeazzi, DTU Electrical Engineering. \u201cInitially, it will be able to inspect and monitor, for example, the condition of the foundation of a wind turbine under water, or an ocean fish farming plant. In the long term, the intention is for the modular robot, which comprises several independent robots (modules) that can both work coupled together and individually, to also carry out repairs on the foundation.\n\n\u201cOthers are working on similar projects, but our robot differs in one key area. It is modular - which means that each individual part of the robot is able to work alone - or together with other modules. Working in unison, the robots can draw on each other\u2019s functions, thereby becoming fully autonomous. For example, if a robot has problems with his propeller, it can connect with a second module and move using its propeller. The same applies to many other areas\u2014for example in relation to having sufficient battery performance,\u201d says Galeazzi.\n\nIt is envisaged that the underwater robot will be permanently installed on an underwater foundation where it can monitor and operate independently of the weather conditions. For example, using just a single module, the modular robot could install and replace sensors in a subsea docking station placed on the foundations of a wind turbine to provide continuous monitoring.\n\n\u201cThe trend is moving towards developing small autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to replace the current large and heavy ROVs. This requires the equipment used for underwater inspection and repair to be compressed, but the development is already undergoing. The concurrent development of an autonomous underwater robot therefore holds out enormous potential, both for the oil and gas industry and offshore wind farms,\u201d says Business Area Manager Ole N\u00f8rrekaer Mortensen, FORCE Technology. FORCE Technology has more than 20 years\u2019 experience of inspecting subsea oil rigs and pipelines, in particular.\n\nAbove the Waterline\n\nResearchers from DTU have also developed a simple method for monitoring wind turbines using the symmetry created by the wind turbine when the blades rotate.\n\nPreviously, wind turbine monitoring and fault diagnosis have used detailed models or data-driven methods. This has placed significant demands on the model or data, which had to reflect the normal situation extremely accurately in order to detect irregularities, just as it can be very difficult to use these methods for identifying the location of a possible fault on the wind turbine.\n\nA new method developed by Associate Professor Henrik Niemann\u2019s research team from DTU Electrical Engineering, as well as DTU Compute and DTU Wind Energy makes it possible to both monitor the wind turbine while simultaneously establishing the location of any wear or fault, as well as the nature of the fault.\n\n\u201cWe use data from sensors positioned at the point where the wind turbine blade is attached to the axis. There are two torque sensors on each blade. These are sensors which are already found on newer wind turbines in order to monitor the blade load. A wind turbine has three blades, so this provides three sets of measurements in total. We collect the data and then conduct a simple signal analysis. If the turbine is functioning as it should, the picture from the measurements will be completely symmetrical, whereas there will be fluctuations if there is a fault on one of the three blades,\u201d says Niemann.\n\nThe measurements not only provide information on whether there is a fault with the wind turbine, but also the location and nature of the fault.", "output": "Researchers from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) are working to develop modular robot technology to replace costly and time-consuming remotely operated vehicles for use in inspecting offshore wind turbines, oil and gas infrastructure, and in fish farming. The modular nature of the DTU's design sets it apart from rival devices, and the researchers' long-term view is that the robots could be permanently installed on an underwater foundation to monitor and operate systems and undertake repairs even during\u00a0bad weather."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Barclays highlights the issue of fraud with TV advert \n Having launched a new TV ad promoting fraud awareness, Barclays\u2019 marketing director for personal and corporate banking Claire Hilton says it will be the \u2018first of many\u2019 as the bank hopes issue-based marketing can boost trust in its brand.\n\nThe new ad, which Barclays claims is an industry first example of a mainstream UK bank raising awareness of fraud via a TV spot, shows a seemingly trustworthy Barclays advisor appealing for personal banking details.\n\nHowever, a legitimate Barclays employee quickly calls out the imposter and offers advice to consumers on how to protect themselves from online phishing scams. The TV ad is supported by social media activity and a partnership with Get Safe Online.\n\nHilton told Marketing Week: \u201cWe have a responsibility to make our consumers aware of fraud and if they can see we\u2019re trying to do the right thing, that will only build trust in the brand.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m sure this will be just the start as we want to continue the fraud conversation in our advertising throughout the year.\u201d\n\nThe banking brand\u2019s focus on upping its trust levels could be wise, with Barclays currently ranked 25th out of the UK\u2019s 30 biggest banking brands when it comes to the reputation brand metric on YouGov\u2019s BrandIndex.\n\nIts Index score, a combination of consumer perception within areas such as quality, value, reputation and brand recommendation, is currently on -4 points; putting it 29th on the list, with only the Royal Bank of Scotland performing worse.\n\nBecoming more responsible\n\nBarclays is also currently advertising its LifeSkills initiative, which aims to help young people gain the necessary skills in the pursuit of employment, on TV.\n\nOver recent years, trust levels have fallen in banking brands after a number of high-profile scandals. Just last year, Barclays was hit with a record fine as it and five other banks pleaded guilty to rigging the $5.3trn-a-day foreign exchange market. HSBC has also seen its brand perception plummet after its involvement in a high-profile tax evasion scheme was made public last February.\n\nHowever Hilton says Barclays is committed to being a responsible brand.\n\nShe added: \u201cWe need to both raise and highlight issues as a brand. We\u2019re currently on TV not only with the fraud ad but a LifeSkills one too, and I think it shows we\u2019re not only committed to advertising the quality of our service but also making a societal impact too.\u201d\n\nLast November, Nationwide announced the appointment of Sara Bennison, who was formerly chief marketing officer for Barclays\u2019 personal and corporate bank, as its new CMO. And Hilton expects Bennison\u2019s replacement to be announced shortly.\n\nShe concluded: \u201cWe are undertaking a thorough internal and external search to replace Sara, that is happening as we speak.\n\n\u201cWhile that is completed, we already have a strong leadership team in place from a marketing perspective. I cannot comment on timelines but I\u2019d hope we find someone sooner rather than later.\u201d", "output": "UK bank Barclays has launched what it claims is the first TV advert in which a mainstream British bank highlights the issue of fraud as it aims to build trust in its brand. The ad, which presents a fake Barclays adviser being called out by a genuine\u00a0employee who then offers advice on protection from scams, is part of a wider campaign on social media and a partnership with Get Safe Online. Barclays is currently ranked at number 25 of 30 on YouGov's BrandIndex score, which gauges consumers' perceptions of firms' reputations.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Blackstone takes majority stake in co-working provider TOG \n 2017-038\n\nLondon, UK - Global alternative investment manager The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) announces its entry into the London flexible office and co-working sector, having completed three initial acquisitions. The first acquisition comprises an operating business and an 18,000 sq ft operational asset in Islington, which is to be rebranded as \u2018Uncommon\u2019. Two further properties have also been acquired, a 25,000 sq ft office asset in Borough and a 26,000 sq ft office building in Fulham, which are to be developed into new facilities and will increase the Uncommon platform to c.1300 desks in total. Carlyle is working with a joint venture partner, the Adir Group, on the management of Uncommon business and its facilities. Carlyle is making this investment on behalf of investment funds that it advises.\n\nThese acquisitions represent the first phase of a strategy to expand the Uncommon flexible office and co-working platform over the next 18-24 months in locations across London with strong transport connections. Carlyle believes that the current change in working patterns and mind-set, as well as occupiers\u2019 increased requirement for cost-effective space, with high levels of service and a focus on the connection between employee well-being and productivity will continue to drive demand for flexible, collaborative workplaces.\n\nAgainst this backdrop, Uncommon aims to capitalise on growing demand from both established companies and an increasing1 number of small businesses and start-ups in the capital. Businesses who need flexibility to expand and contract as the size of their operations change and value the working life flexibility of their employees provided by offering space in convenient locations.\n\nUncommon's approach meets these requirements by offering something new \u2013 workspaces where every detail has been fine-tuned to improve productivity while supporting wellbeing. There are quiet spaces that encourage focus, greenery throughout the buildings to purify the air, and everything from the furniture to the music has been chosen to prime people for a successful day.\n\nPeter Stoll, Managing Director at The Carlyle Group, commented: \u201cAs an emerging sector, we see the market for new concept working environments continuing to strengthen. An increasing number of businesses favour the flexibility and collaborative nature that this type of space offers. This, coupled with our belief that London will continue be a global centre of business and innovation, gives us confidence in our strategy.\"\n\n\u201cBeing both the owner of the property and owner-operator of the business sets us apart from the flexible office competition. Working with the excellent and highly entrepreneurial team at Adir Group allows us to provide a high quality and competitive product.\u201d\n\nChris Davies, Director at The Adir Group, added: \"Over the last few years there has been a major shift in the office market. Managed office space is no longer the preserve of the unambitious, bland occupier. People demand interesting and versatile space that is flexible enough to adapt as they do. This is appealing to start ups and far larger businesses \u2013 our largest occupier currently has 226 employees. The economy is driven by SMEs so we will provide high quality space for our members.\"\n\nUncommon goes so much further than any other flexible workspace. We want people to feel better about being at work, so we've applied the very latest thinking in sound design, aroma, ergonomics and the psychology of productivity. We don't believe anyone else in the sector has taken such a close look at wellbeing at work. This isn't just about the occasional yoga class or desk massage \u2013 this is a completely different way of looking after your members, and a real breath of fresh air in the industry. We are very excited to be working with the Carlyle Group to grow this platform over the coming years.\"\n\n*****\n\nFor further information, please contact:\n\nFTI Consulting \u2013 for The Carlyle Group: +44 (0)20 3727 1000\n\nRichard Sunderland / Richard Gotla\n\nCarlyle@fticonsulting.com\n\nNotes to editors\n\nThe UK business base has had a large increase in small and medium sized businesses over the past 15 years and a decline in large businesses - 56% and 22% increases respectively, and a decrease of 3% for large businesses. (ONS)\n\nAbout The Carlyle Group\n\nThe Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) is a global alternative asset manager with $162 billion of assets under management across 287 investment vehicles as of March 31, 2017. Carlyle\u2019s purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of its investors, many of whom are public pensions. Carlyle invests across four segments \u2013 Corporate Private Equity, Real Assets, Global Market Strategies and Investment Solutions \u2013 in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and South America. Carlyle has expertise in various industries, including: aerospace, defense & government services, consumer & retail, energy, financial services, healthcare, industrial, real estate, technology & business services, telecommunications & media and transportation. The Carlyle Group employs more than 1,550 people in 31 offices across six continents\u200b.\n\nWeb: www.carlyle.com\n\nVideos: www.youtube.com/onecarlyle\n\nTweets: www.twitter.com/onecarlyle\n\nPodcasts:www.carlyle.com/about-carlyle/market-commentary\n\nAbout Adir Group\n\nThe Adir Group is headed by Gal and Tania Adir, and is focused on disrupting the property and lifestyle sectors with creative innovation. Uncommon is the latest venture in Adir's development as a creator of inventive brands, continuing their commitment to pioneering the most up-to-date advances in technology and design.\n\nThe group originally founded an award-winning residential development company over six years ago which has been successfully acquiring and developing residential assets in prime and near prime London since 2011 ranging between high value single dwellings to multiple unit schemes.\n\nUsing their expertise in residential redevelopment and interior design, Adir founded co-working brand Net.Works. in 2014 which is to be rebranded as Uncommon. Since then, they have developed the first site in Highbury and Islington, which has been operating successfully since April 2015.\n\nWeb\n\nUncommon: http://uncommon.co.uk/\n\nAdir Group: www.adirgroup.co.uk\n\n###", "output": "Blackstone, the largest alternative-asset manager in the world, has acquired a majority stake in The Office Group (TOG) from Lloyd Dorfman in a deal that values the flexible work space provider at about \u00a3500m ($638m). Dorfman and co-founders Charlie Green and Olly Olsen will remain shareholders and retain their positions as co-CEOs. TOG clients include British Gas, Dropbox, AOL and Santander. The deal is expected to complete later this month.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Amazon Wholefoods deal leaves unanswered questions for landlords \n Amazon, the world\u2019s most powerful online retailer, has taken a giant stride into traditional retailing, spending $13.7bn (\u00a310.7bn) to take over organic food chain Whole Foods Market.\n\nThe all-cash deal could be game-changing for the traditional supermarket business. Amazon has long had ambitions to move into the grocery business and launched its food delivery service, Fresh, in the US 10 years ago. It introduced the service in the UK last year after signing a wholesale deal with British supermarket Morrisons.\n\n\n\nAmazon is the fourth biggest business in the US and accounts for 43% of online sales there. Whole Foods, founded in 1980, has about 460 stores, including nine in the UK where it has operated since 2004.\n\nSupermarket share prices in the US and Europe went into reverse after news of the deal, while Amazon\u2019s stock rose 3.5%, taking it close to $1,000 a share. The online retailer\u2019s founder and chief executive, Jeff Bezos, is close to overtaking Bill Gates as the richest person in the world.\n\nWalmart\u2019s shares dived 6%, wiping about $13bn off the value of the world\u2019s biggest retailer as the deal ramped up pressure on traditional chains already hit by a rapid change in shopping habits. Shares in the UK\u2019s biggest chain, Tesco, and Germany\u2019s Metro were also down about 6% each.\n\n\u201cThis deal is potentially terrifying for other grocers,\u201d said Neil Saunders from retail analysis firm GlobalData. \u201cAlthough Amazon has been a looming threat to the grocery industry, the shadow it has cast has been pale and distant. Today that changed: Amazon has moved squarely onto the turf of traditional supermarkets and poses a much more significant threat.\u201d\n\nUntil now, Amazon has had a limited impact on the grocery market. In the US, it still only accounts for less than 0.5% of grocery spending, according to GlobalData.\n\nIt only began experimenting with its first bricks and mortar food store in its hometown of Seattle in December last year. Buying Whole Foods will give it a trusted brand and an established network of stores where a basket of goods can be efficiently picked and packed for home delivery in a range of new cities. It will also give shoppers the option of picking up goods ordered online.\n\n\n\nBryan Roberts, an analyst at TCC Global, said the deal with Whole Foods suggested that Amazon could now look to buy supermarket chains in its major markets which include the UK, France and Germany. He said: \u201cThis is planting a huge flag that Amazon is incredibly serious about become a significant grocer.\u201d\n\nAnalysts at Bernstein suggested Morrisons and Sainsbury\u2019s were possible targets in the UK alongside Ahold Delhaize in the Netherlands and France\u2019s Carrefour.\n\nBut Roberts said Amazon already operated partnerships with a number of regional supermarkets in the US as well as Morrisons in the UK and would not necessarily need to buy them out in order to expand. He said the deal was likely to be focused on acquiring access to Whole Foods\u2019 brands, supply chain and distribution network to power the growth of its Amazon Fresh delivery service.\n\nSome analysts expressed surprise at the tie-up between Amazon, which has traditionally focused on cut-price deals, and the upmarket Whole Foods, which is nicknamed Whole Paycheck in the US. Roberts said the two firms\u2019 customer bases were likely to overlap substantially.\n\nBezos said: \u201cMillions of people love Whole Foods Market because they offer the best natural and organic foods, and they make it fun to eat healthy. Whole Foods Market has been satisfying, delighting and nourishing customers for nearly four decades \u2013 they\u2019re doing an amazing job and we want that to continue.\u201d\n\nJohn Mackey, the Whole Foods co-founder and chief executive, said: \u201cThis partnership presents an opportunity to maximise value for Whole Foods Market\u2019s shareholders, while at the same time extending our mission and bringing the highest quality, experience, convenience and innovation to our customers.\u201d\n\n\n\nMackey will remain as chief executive and Whole Foods\u2019 headquarters will stay in Austin, Texas.\n\nMackey\u2019s 0.03% stake in the business, which is listed on the Nasdaq stock market in the US, is worth just over $41m. He is likely to retain a stake in the business.\n\nWhole Foods has had a huge influence on food retail in the US, bringing organic and health foods to the mainstream. But recently growth has stalled.\n\nIn February, it announced it would close nine stores in the US after six quarters of decling sales in a row.\n\nThe deal with Amazon comes days after Mackey attacked the hedge fund Jana Partners, which had acquired a 9% stake in the retailer. He described Jana as \u201cgreedy bastards\u201d that would have to \u201cknock Daddy out\u201d if it wanted to take over the company.\n\nMackey said the business had changed because \u201cthe more conventional, mainstream supermarkets have upped their game\u201d. He added: \u201cThe world is very different today than it was five years ago.\u201d\n\nAmazon\u2019s move into the grocery market will pile on the pressure for traditional supermarkets around the world which have been affected by shoppers switching to online, smaller local stores and discounters such as Aldi and Lidl.\n\nLidl is opening its first stores in the US this week as part of a plan to open about 100 by the middle of next year, while Aldi is in the middle of a $3bn-plus expansion plan to take its total number of US stores to 2,000 by the end of next year. In the UK, the traditional big four supermarkets \u2013 Tesco, Sainsbury\u2019s, Asda and Morrisons \u2013 have all lost market share in recent years to the rapidly expanding German chains.\n\nClive Black, a retail analyst at Shore Capital, said: \u201cAmazon is clearly getting into offline as well as online. It is not going to spend nearly $14bn and then close nearly 500 stores. This is going to cause an awful stir in the US and some of those waves will lap into the UK and beyond.\u201d\n\nA good fit? How they measure up\n\nAmazon\n\nRoots Founded by Jeff Bezos in his Seattle garage in 1994. After spending a year building a website and sourcing stock, Amazon opens its virtual doors the following summer, billing itself as the \u201cEarth\u2019s biggest book store\u201d with 1m books to choose from.\n\nValue $477bn\n\nAnnual sales $142.6bn\n\nProfits $2.6bn\n\nEmploys 341,400\n\nHead office Seattle\n\nBlue sky thinking Bezos is pouring his billions into his private spaceflight company, Blue Origin, developing rockets capable of shuttling the paying public into space.\n\nWhole Foods\n\nRoots College dropout John Mackey and his then girlfriend, Renee Lawson, scrape together $45,000 to open a natural foods store in Austin, Texas, in 1978. In 1980 they join forces with like-minded entrepreneurs Craig Weller and Mark Skiles to open the first Whole Foods Market.\n\nValue $13.7bn\n\nAnnual sales $15.9bn\n\nProfits $402m\n\nEmploys 60,000\n\nHead office Austin, Texas\n\nBlue sky thinking Mackey wrote Conscious Capitalism, which espouses a business philosophy that is good for suppliers, staff and communities as well as shareholders. A long-term vegan, he more recently co-wrote The Whole Foods Diet, which promotes the health benefits of veganism.", "output": "Amazon has bought US organic food chain Whole Foods Market for $13.7bn in cash. The move is the company\u2019s latest push into the traditional supermarket sector, following the introduction of its Fresh food delivery service a year ago in the UK. Amazon\u2019s stock price increased 3.5% to reach approximately $1,000 per share.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow chooses Asite's Adoddle as project management system \n LONDON, June 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Redrow Homes has selected the award winning, global SaaS platform Adoddle as its enterprise wide CDE solution in the UK. After conducting exclusive research on a number of popular SaaS solutions, Redrow decided that Asite's Adoddle was the perfect tool for all of their project information management needs.\n\nAbout Redrow\n\nRedrow Homes is a part of Redrow plc, a British housebuilder and construction company based in Flintshire. The company's heritage dates back to 1974, when it was first established by Steve Morgan as a small civil engineering concern in North Wales. Since then, Redrow has grown exponentially and is one of today's leading construction companies in the UK. They are listed on the London Stock Exchange and are currently a constituent of the FTSE 250 index.\n\nRedrow Homes' commitment in the construction field goes beyond the delivery of excellence and quality habitations by performing an extraordinary strategy in environmental sustainability as well. In fact, in 2016, Redrow guaranteed that 93% of their building material was certified and locally sourced.\n\nRedrow Homes continues to deliver a superior, sustainable product to each and every one of their customers. With innovative vision, attention to detail, and strong ethical principles, Redrow Homes maintains its status as industry leaders, never failing to push the envelope.\n\nProject Overview:\n\nRedrow adopted Adoddle's platform in 2014 in the South East Division. Since then Asite has been proudly involved in a multitude of projects such as the development of Colindale Gardens Residential Estate in North-West London; Wandle Riverside Redevelopment in Sutton, Chiswick Apartments in Chiswick \u2013 South West London, and many others. Today, Redrow has an Enterprise agreement with Asite. With Asite's powerful and customizable cloud environment, Adoddle, Redrow is able to support and facilitate all phases of project development for current and future projects.\n\nAbout Asite:\n\nAsite's cloud technology gives everyone access to key information online. It allows for increased collaboration and fewer mistakes, delivering huge time and cost savings. Asite's Adoddle CDE platform allows firms to store and manage all project data in one central and secure repository. It enables customers to fully configure the structure of their content with highly controlled access and rich workflows.\n\nThe Adoddle platform is used worldwide by leading architecture, engineering and construction firms, as well as property owners to manage their largest and most demanding capital investment programs. Recently, Asite has expanded in providing services for the Retail industry and the Public Sector.\n\nAsite was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in London's Tech City in the UK, with North American operations based in New York, and regional offices in Australia, India and South Africa.\n\nFor more information, please visit: www.asite.com\n\nCONTACT: Tracey Saunders, +447779355815, tsaunders@asite.com\n\nRelated Links\n\nhttp://www.asite.com\n\n\n\nSOURCE Asite", "output": "Redrow Homes has selected SaaS platform Adoddle as its common data environment software\u00a0in the UK. The platform\u00a0allows staff to access information online, increasing collaboration on project management and reducing mistakes and subsequent downtime, according to the cloud technology provider."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Insurtech pioneer Lemonade beats traditional insurers in New York \n Lemonade, an insurance company powered by artificial intelligence, has published survey results indicating it has overtaken Allstate, GEICO, Farmers, Liberty Mutual, Progressive, State Farm, USAA and all other legacy insurers amongst first-time buyers of renters insurance in New York state. According to Lemonade, the first of two Google surveys compared Lemonade\u2019s market share in renters insurance to that of other legacy insurers, and pegged Lemonade\u2019s overall market share at 4.2% (E: +2.1% / -1.4%).\n\nLemonade explained that for context: the national average market share amongst the top 10 homeowners insurance companies is 6.3%, and they\u2019ve been in business, on average, for 104 years. Of course, Lemonade is a bit younger having launched in September.\n\nThe second Google survey was said to corroborate the 4% overall market share, while breaking it down by when respondents first bought insurance.\n\nAbout 88% bought their first policy before Lemonade launched\u200b, and among them, Lemonade\u2019s share was correspondingly low (0.9%). However, among the 12% who entered the market this year, Lemonade showed a 27.6% share (E:+12.6/-9.8). Lemonade says that 110 million Americans rent their home, including 75% of under 35-year-olds, making this segment one of the largest and fastest growing in the industry.\n\nThe Lemonade Insurtech platform is all App based and zero paperwork. Lemonade takes a flat fee and says it gives back unclaimed money to causes policyholders care about with their \u2018Giveback\u2019 program. Lemonade seeks to pay claims within minutes.\n\n\u201cAttaining 4% market share in a few months, in such a competitive category, is without precedent,\u201d said Peter Diamandis, founder and executive chairman of the XPRIZE Foundation, and cofounder of Singularity University. \u201cAs remarkable as this achievement is, however, it actually understates the Lemonade phenomenon. The vast majority of the \u2018market\u2019 bought their policy before Lemonade existed, so the more telling number is the share amongst consumers who entered the market since Lemonade did. Lemonade\u2019s top-ranking amongst first-time-buyers is a wake-up-call for the entire industry.\u201d\n\nDaniel Schreiber, Lemonade CEO and cofounder, added;", "output": "Peer-to-peer insurance start-up Lemonade has said that Google surveys show it is\u00a0the top choice for home insurance among first-time buyers in New York state. The firm, which uses artificial intelligence to sell and price insurance for homeowners in the state, said the\u00a0polls established that it was chosen by a almost\u00a0a third of new home owners this year. Another survey puts Lemonade's share of total home insurance at 4%, a figure described as \"without precedent\" by\u00a0Peter Diamandis, founder and executive chairman of the XPRIZE Foundation, and co-founder of Singularity University."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Intel to drop developer IoT modules after Raspberry Pi dominates \n The Galileo board was launched in 2013 under an Intel partnership with Arduino. Image: Intel\n\nChip giant Intel's spring cleaning efforts have swept out three of its compute modules for the Internet of Things and several Recon Jet smart glasses products.\n\nAffected compute modules include Raspberry Pi challenger developer board, Galileo (PDF), as well as the Joule (PDF) and Edison (PDF) compute modules.\n\nIntel launched the Galileo board in 2013 under a partnership with Arduino, targeting the growing community of developers building systems with ARM-based devices like Raspberry Pi.\n\nEdison launched a year later with the aim of seeing the Intel-based compute modules powering wearables and home-based IoT devices, such as smart speakers.\n\nOnly last year it introduced the new high-powered Joule, for more advanced applications like robotics. The higher-end 570x model featured an Atom processor, 4GB RAM, 16GB storage, 4K video, built-in Wi-Fi and integration with Intel's face-tracking and natural-language processing technology.\n\nTogether, the lineup of IoT compute modules were designed to help Intel avoid missing the next wave of innovation after it failed to keep pace with smartphone chip rivals and missed the mobile boom.\n\nNot mentioned among the list of discontinued compute modules is Curie, a low-powered model designed for wearables, which powers other boards like the Arduino 101 as well as Oakley's range of Radar Pace fitness-tracker sunglasses that launched last year.\n\nDevelopers and product makers will have until September 16 to place orders for the affected models, though the orders can't be canceled or refunded. Intel says it will stop shipping the units after December 16.\n\nThe other IoT-related product Intel is paring back is its Recon Jet line of ARM-powered smart glasses. Intel invested in Recon in 2013, at the height of curiosity in Google's discontinued Glass experiment, and acquired the Canadian company in 2016.\n\nDiscontinued products (PDF) include the Recon Jet Pro Plus eyewear for enterprise, the Recon Jet Pro, and Recon Jet.\n\nOrders for the products must be placed by September 29 with final shipments taking place on December 16.\n\nMore on Raspberry Pi, Intel and processors", "output": "Intel has ditched the Galileo developer board and the Joule and Edison compute modules in a spring-cleaning move as it aims to stay ahead in the internet of things market. The Galileo board, introduced in 2013 in a partnership with Arduino, was aimed at Rasperry Pi, but it is the latter product that has dominated the market. Developers and product makers will have until 16 September to place orders for the affected models and\u00a0Intel will stop shipping units after 16 December.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Transparency tops asset managers' investment considerations \n As alternative investments become more mainstream, information about investment vehicles, underlying assets and other risk management data has become more important to investors, but best practices around transparency requirements are lagging behind the demand, according to a survey released today by Northern Trust.\n\nThe independent survey of 200 asset managers and institutional investors, conducted in February 2017 by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and sponsored by Northern Trust, reveals that transparency leads all investment considerations and has grown in importance since the 2008 financial crisis. Respondents indicated the higher level of scrutiny applies to both traditional and alternative investments, such as hedge funds, private equity, infrastructure, real estate and natural resources.\n\n\n\n\u201cDegree of transparency\u201d was cited as very important by 63 per cent for alternative and 62 per cent for traditional investments, leading all other considerations.\n\n\n\nTransparency became more significant after the financial crisis, cited as the most important post-investment consideration by 21 per cent for traditional assets and 17 per cent for alternatives, compared to 9 and 3 per cent, respectively, pre-crisis.\n\n\n\nRisk management is the most important driver for transparency in traditional or alternative investments: 73 per cent of respondents said portfolio risk management was the most important element, while 53 per cent cited regulatory requirements and 43 per cent cited competitive considerations.\n\n\n\nHowever, there was no consensus around which department within an organisation ensures that existing and potential investments are adequately transparent, with responses pointing most often to either the investment management or risk and compliance functions.\n\n\n\n\u201cThese results tell us that investment transparency is a growing priority, but asset managers and institutional investors remain unsure of how to best achieve it,\u201d says Pete Cherecwich (pictured), President of Corporate and Institutional Services at Northern Trust. \u201cAs alternative investing has reached the mainstream, the industry would benefit from consistent standards and stronger policies around transparency. Working with the world\u2019s most sophisticated investors, we are committed to enabling greater transparency through continued research and technology development.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe survey showed that asset managers and investors tap a variety of sources for information on both traditional and alternative investments, including specialist databases, media reports and in-person visits. Four out of five respondents rely heavily on internal data management and analytic capabilities to manage their data. Only 6 per cent outsource this function entirely.\n\n\n\n\u201cOur clients are seeking the best way to analyse, interpret and present their data,\u201d says Penelope Biggs, Chief Strategy Officer, Corporate and Institutional Services at Northern Trust. \u201cWe collaborate with clients to translate data into intuitive and meaningful information, delivered through innovative technology and transparency solutions, to help them focus on their investments.\u201d\n\n\n\nThe EIU surveyed 200 executives of organisations ranging from private equity firms and hedge funds to corporations, nonprofits and insurance companies. Respondents were dispersed globally, with 60 respondents each from North America, Asia-Pacific and Europe, and the remainder from the Middle East. Half the sample is composed of respondents from organisations with more than USD5 billion in global assets under management.", "output": "Transparency has become the main consideration for asset managers when they buy into both\u00a0traditional and alternative investments, such as hedge funds, private equity and green assets, a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit\u00a0and\u00a0Northern Trust has found. Of 200 asset managers surveyed, 63% cited \"degree of transparency\" as a very important factor guiding\u00a0their choices on alternative investments and 62% for traditional investments, an increase\u00a0since the 2008 financial crisis.\u00a0\u201cInvestment transparency is a growing priority, but asset managers and institutional investors remain unsure of how to best achieve it,\u201d said\u00a0Pete Cherecwich, the president of corporate and institutional services at Northern Trust.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Older investors push Vanguard hybrid robo-service to $65bn AUM \n While much of the financial services industry has been fretting for the past few years over how to compete in the age of digital-advice platforms, The Vanguard Group Inc. appears to have cracked the code in a steady climb to more than $65 billion under management on its two-year-old robo.\n\nVanguard\u2019s Personal Advisor Services, which is four times the size of the next-largest robo-platform, is a hybrid that incorporates human advisers and is starting to look like the blueprint for the way to leverage digital advice.\n\n\u201cThe Vanguard model has been a huge success because they are well-positioned to institute the hybrid model,\u201d said Anton Honikman, chief executive of MyVest.\n\n\u201cGoing forward, I think digital advice will be dominated by these kinds of incumbent institutions that have the infrastructure they can leverage,\u201d he said. \u201cA great brand is required, but the success of Vanguard has put everyone on notice.\u201d\n\nLaunched in May 2015, Vanguard\u2019s current hybrid robo-platform is the next generation of its Asset Management Services platform, which had a higher minimum but was designed to leverage the same existing Vanguard infrastructure, brand and client relationships.\n\nOf the $65 billion on the new platform, $15 billion has been transferred over from the old platform, according to Vanguard spokeswoman Emily Farrell.\n\nThe older platform, which is being phased out, had a $500,000 investment minimum and charged an asset-based fee of 70 basis points.\n\nThe robo-hybrid platform, which has a $50,000 minimum and has an asset-based fee of 30 basis points, is designed to be largely digital, but also gives investors access to human advisers.\n\nA key factor to the potential of the platform is the minimum investment level, which paves the way for larger accounts and more-established investors.\n\nMs. Farrell would not disclose how many clients are on the robo-platform, but said at least half are over age 65, about 35% are between 50 and 65, and 14% of are under 50.\n\nAfter Vanguard, the next three largest robo-platforms all have much lower investment minimums.\n\nSchwab Intelligent Portfolios, a $16 billion platform, has a $5,000 minimum and offers 24-hour customer support.\n\nBetterment, a $9 billion robo-platform, does not have an investment minimum and offers investors human advice for additional fees once the account reaches a certain asset level.\n\nWealthfront, with $6.5 billion, has a $500 minimum and offers no human financial advice.\n\nUnited Capital chief executive Joe Duran has already projected that Personal Advisor Services \u201cwill likely be the first trillion-dollar AUM wealth management firm providing personal, human-led planning and investments in a consistent, digitally powered and mobile-friendly way.\u201d\n\nThe human adviser part of the platform comes from more than 500 salaried Vanguard employees, who either already have or are in the process of getting their certified financial planner designations.\n\nThe level of human advice is stepped up once an account reaches the $500,000 mark, at which point investors will be assigned to a specific human adviser, as opposed to being serviced from a larger pool of Vanguard advisers.\n\n\u201cWe had a lot of investors coming to us looking for advice,\u201d Ms. Farrell said.\n\nIn terms of the robo-hybrid platform competing directly with financial advisers who are part of Vanguard\u2019s $1.1 trillion Financial Advisor Services division, Ms. Farrell said, \u201cWe\u2019ve had constructive conversations with advisers that have had concerns about us competing with them.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve always been a strong advocate of investment advice,\u201d she said. \u201cThe advice landscape has been changing, and a lot of that change has been driven by advisers.\u201d\n\nSteve Burkett, an investment adviser at the $200 million firm Palisade Investments, said Vanguard\u2019s platform is a \u201cpotential threat, depending on what market they\u2019re serving.\n\n\u201cI think the success of Vanguard as both an investment-product provider and now as an investment advisory service speaks for itself, so it is definitely a disruptive force for both traditional advisers and perhaps even more so for the early-entry robo-advisers,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I\u2019m not sure how much personal touch they will be giving clients on that platform.\u201d\n\nKirk Licata, senior adviser at the $500 million LongView Wealth Management, also believes individual advisers still have a human-touch edge over even such a fine-tuned robo-hybrid as the one Vanguard is operating.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know about the idea of calling in to someone you\u2019ve never even met,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople are coming to us because they want to get to know someone, and technology is great but there will always be people who want the utmost personal touch.\u201d\n\nThe advantages of interpersonal relationships notwithstanding, the early performance suggests Vanguard has found its golden goose.\n\n\u201cThe beauty of what they\u2019re doing is that they are just tapping into their massive client base without even having to advertise,\u201d said Tim Welsh, president of consulting firm Nexus Strategy.\n\n\u201cIf they\u2019re charging 30 basis points, they won\u2019t make much money, but at Vanguard the cost of client acquisition is zero,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of communicating with current investors.\u201d", "output": "Vanguard's two-year-old hybrid robo-advisory service now has more than $65bn under management, four times as much as the next biggest service of its kind. Personal Advisor Services, which combines algorithm-driven advice with human stock pickers, has succeeded by luring older investors, with more than half its customers above the age of 65, according to Vanguard.\u00a0The platform now has a\u00a0minimum $50,000 commitment, which was lowered from $500,000 on a legacy platform. \u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Australian doctors expect IoT to boost healthcare but also costs \n Misconceptions about the cost of IoT is inhibiting its uptake in Australia's healthcare sector, according to a recent study by Dutch technology company Philips.\n\nPhilips' Future Health Index, which surveyed more than 33,000 individuals across 19 countries, found that while 84 percent of Australian healthcare professionals (HCPs) believe \"connected care technology\" is important in improving treatment and diagnosis of medical conditions, the nation lags behind when it comes to adoption of such technology.\n\nKevin Barrow, managing director at Philips ANZ, suspects there are two key reasons for this: The first is there is a perception among 55 percent of HCPs and 53 percent of the general population that the integration and adoption of connected care technology will drive up the cost of healthcare in the long term; and the second is because government funding models don't support the delivery of care via IoT technology.\n\n\"The reality is the utilisation of healthcare drives up the cost; technology has been reasonably stable,\" Barrow told ZDNet.\n\n\"Often we're spending huge amounts of money flying patients around the state or interstate to deliver their care; and whilst the infrastructure investment in terms of connectivity might be significant, when weighed up against the costs of transportation, it's probably much less so.\"\n\nHe added that around 5 percent of hospital patients account for 40-50 percent of hospital expenditure, because chronically ill patients are being managed \"episodically and not continuously\".\n\n\"I think the problem in the hospital is activity based-funding so they get reimbursed or funded according to the treatments that are taking place within the hospital. So while the hospital can see that keeping these patients out and managed well in their home and not in hospital is better for both of them, for cost, and for the community, the funding system doesn't necessarily support that,\" Barrow said.\n\nPhilips' study found that 59 percent of Australia's healthcare professionals believe the majority of their time and resources should be focused on preventing illness, indicating the need for a shift from reactive to proactive healthcare.\n\n\"The way to achieve this is to seek out efficiencies through improved integration and adoption of connected care technologies, to empower people to take more preventive measures, and to proactively manage their health,\" Barrow said.\n\n\"While some of it is clinical, at other times it's just related to lifestyle or the way a house is set up. One example that comes to mind is where a lady in the US frequently revisited hospital with respiratory distress, but when they went out to her house, the carpet was damp and mouldy and that was causing the issues. When you deal with the root cause, it's not always the most scientific ... in a case like this, ripping up the floorboards might work.\"\n\nNumerous studies by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) have shown connected care technology not only improves patient outcomes, but also reduces healthcare costs by delivering better support mechanisms for continuous -- rather than episodic -- disease management.\n\nA few years ago, CSIRO ran a national telemonitoring trial of patients with chronic illnesses who had two or more unplanned hospitalisations in the prior 12 months.\n\nThe 18-month trial was performed across six sites in Tasmania, Victoria, Canberra, Sydney, and Queensland, where more than 280 elderly patients were provided with telehealth devices that measured their heart rate, spirometry, blood pressure, oxygen levels, lung volume, body weight, body temperature, and other biometric information. This was then transferred to care coordinators for assessment and intervention where needed.\n\nThe telemonitoring trial showed a 24 percent saving on Medicare Benefits Schedule expenditure over 12 months. This was achieved through reduced GP and specialist visits and procedures carried out -- the mortality rate was also reduced by 40 percent.\n\n\"Our research showed the return on investment of a telemonitoring initiative on a national scale would be in the order of five to one by reducing demand on hospital inpatient and outpatient services, reduced visits to GPs, reduced visits from community nurses, and an overall reduced demand on increasingly scarce clinical resources. This could equate to savings in the order of AU$3 billion per annum to Australia's healthcare system,\" CSIRO stated in its report.\n\nThe other problem, according to Barrow, is the lack of interoperability of systems used by HCPs.\n\n\"If you look at the individual systems that we have in place in both primary care and from a hospital perspective, the failing appears to be that they're almost systems in silos. They don't necessarily connect the right people with the right information at the right time to manage their care,\" Barrow said.\n\n\"Recently I was trying to get my vaccination records from 10 years ago because I needed to go up to Papua New Guinea. You know I'm sure there was a little book somewhere of some colour that I had everything in, but my GPs couldn't connect to other GPs or the travel medicine doctors with my record. That's crazy.\"\n\nThe idea that interoperability would enable easier communication and collaboration between healthcare practitioners in different jurisdictions is already reflected in the Strategic Review of Telehealth in NSW report [PDF].\n\n\n\n\"If you look at the concept of secure messaging, how did we end up with seven secure messaging service providers all running on what's effectively different rail gauges? It's a bit like building a railway system, but none of the gauges line up,\" Dr James Freeman, founder of HCF-backed telehealth startup GP2U, told ZDNet previously.\n\n\"Secure messaging is fantastic, but everybody's got to be able to talk to everybody, so we need a standard format.\"\n\nBarrow believes it will be of \"tremendous help\" for the advancement and adoption of connected care technology when the National Broadband Network (NBN) has been rolled out across Australia.\n\nWhen asked whether he considers the execution of the NBN a hindrance -- complaints to the Australian Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman about the NBN have more than doubled -- Barrow said it's more a \"frustration\".\n\n\"A faster rate of change would be good,\" he added.\n\nBarrow said he sees Philips playing an important role as one of the many stakeholders in a \"quite complex healthcare system\" by providing evidence to demonstrate that technology will drive costs down in the long run, despite the significant initial monetary outlays.\n\n\"We see that we need to play a role in providing evidence so that policymakers can make change -- maybe more visionary change than incremental change because ultimately we all know what people are constrained by on both the political and administrative areas,\" he added.", "output": "More than half of Australian healthcare professionals and the general public believe integrating the internet of things (IoT) into healthcare will increase costs, according to a Future Health Index study by Dutch electronics company Philips. The study revealed that this perception is slowing the adoption of \"connected care technology\", despite 84% of healthcare professionals in the country believing the technology is important\u00a0in \"improving treatment and diagnosis of medical conditions\". A study by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation suggested a national telemonitoring initiative could save up to AUD3bn ($2.3bn) a year."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Germany's Union AM set to axe researchers as MiFID II looms \n The upcoming push towards MiFID II MiFID II MiFID II stands for the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, and is the second iteration of a sweeping directive. As such it is known as MiFID II. The original Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) became effective in November 2007. It was intended as the foundation of the EU\u2019s Financial Services Action Plan, a comprehensive project to create a single European market in financial services. MiFID is intended to create a level playing field for firms to compete in the EU\u2019s fina MiFID II stands for the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, and is the second iteration of a sweeping directive. As such it is known as MiFID II. The original Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) became effective in November 2007. It was intended as the foundation of the EU\u2019s Financial Services Action Plan, a comprehensive project to create a single European market in financial services. MiFID is intended to create a level playing field for firms to compete in the EU\u2019s fina Read this Term this January will dramatically reshape the financial services industry. However, the shift towards new sweeping regulations will not be without costs, namely in terms of research capabilities \u2013firms to date have been able to undergo this spending without full investor disclosure. In light of the new regulations, Union Asset Management, one of the largest asset managers in the country, will be parting ways with 100 of its research personnel.\n\nThe London Summit 2017 is coming, get involved!\n\nUnion Asset Management is just one of many investment groups that may be scaling back its research capabilities heading into 2018. New rules will ultimately Yield Yield A yield is defined as the earnings generated by an investment or security over a particular time period. This is in typically displayed in percentage terms and is in the form of interest or dividends received from it.Yields do not include the price variations, which differentiates it from the total return. As such, a yield applies to various stated rates of return on stocks, fixed income instruments such as bonds, and other types of investment products.Yields can be calculated as a ratio or as a A yield is defined as the earnings generated by an investment or security over a particular time period. This is in typically displayed in percentage terms and is in the form of interest or dividends received from it.Yields do not include the price variations, which differentiates it from the total return. As such, a yield applies to various stated rates of return on stocks, fixed income instruments such as bonds, and other types of investment products.Yields can be calculated as a ratio or as a Read this Term wide ranging influences on how groups allocate research spending, which could winnow the field of analysts at banks and brokerages \u2013 while this doesn't necessarily portend a flurry of layoffs, this shift could drive a consolidation, including a premium for top-tier analysts and personnel.\n\nFull Disclosure\n\nUnder the new MiFID II laws in January 2018, asset managers and investment fund companies will be obligated to disclose to investors precisely how much they plan to pay for research. Germany\u2019s third-largest asset management company opting to lay off a hundred of its external analysts could develop into a broader trend.\n\nIt is likely that there will be a push towards cost reduction amongst many European asset managers in 2018 \u2013 this could also result in internalized research plans rather than enlisting external analysts. Union Asset Management currently employs over 200 external research providers, with the cuts representing a full 50 percent reduction of this pool.\n\nRelative to the broader industry, analyst and research roles have been much more resilient than other banking, IT, and back-office jobs over the past few years. This may be changing, as research houses could be next in line to contract. Presently, asset managers benefit from the free analyst research that they receive, given that this service is integrated into trading costs. This was a point of emphasis amongst regulators, which have expressed caution that investor funds were not being optimally spent, necessitating the new law.\n\nAnother consequence of the passage of new laws could be a reduction in trading costs, which have been entwined in research spending at several asset management groups. With nearly six months to go until MiFID II comes into force, the research industry has been put on notice.", "output": "Union Asset Management, Germany's third-largest money manager, is poised to lay off 100 researchers \u2013 more than half of its analytical staff \u2013\u00a0portending a trend among firms as new regulations on research pricing loom. MiFID\u00a0II will require firms to clearly detail how much their analytical services will cost, changing the way firms allocate research spending and potentially leading to more job losses at banks and brokerages.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Benefits and HR SaaS start-up EaseCentral lifts funding to $11.5m \n SAN FRANCISCO, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- EaseCentral, an industry-leading SaaS platform solution for benefits & HR, today announced the closing of a $6.5 million Series A funding round led by Propel Venture Partners and followed by existing investors Freestyle Capital, Compound, Upside Partnership, and Transmedia Capital, advancing the company towards its goal to bring benefits and HR online for every small and medium-sized business.\n\nThe announcement coincides with EaseCentral's launch of two new offerings for health insurance brokers: an employee-facing mobile app and an integration with ADP enabling seamless payroll functionality. This Series A round brings EaseCentral's total funding to $11.5 million.\n\nSince launching on the West Coast in 2015, the company has enjoyed rapid adoption, with more than 30,000 small businesses and one million employee users onboard after just two years. Headquartered in San Francisco, the company also operates a quickly growing office in Las Vegas.\n\nThis latest round of funding will help EaseCentral scale nationally, allowing its service to be accessed by brokers in additional states across the country. A New York City office is slated to open in the fall of 2017. The company is currently hiring sales, engineering, and marketing roles in all three locations to continue building out the company's service offerings. The funds will also help grow the company's core product services including additional HR partnerships and electronic data interchange (EDI) integrations to help brokers streamline their services even further.\n\n\"EaseCentral turns every broker into a supercharged digital broker. Even the smallest agency will be able to bring its expertise to a digital platform with accurate, up-to-date information, making open enrollment periods far less stressful for benefits managers and employees,\" says Ryan Gilbert, partner at Propel Venture Partners. \"We're excited to partner with the EaseCentral team. They know insurance and have coupled their first-hand experience in this complex market with the technical strength and vision to rapidly advance the whole industry.\"\n\nEaseCentral is pleased to announce that brokers can now offer EaseCentral's employee-facing platform on mobile devices. The app will allow full functionality at the employee level. Users can easily access insurance cards and plan coverage information, track PTO days conveniently, and store onboarding paperwork and W9s for later reference. EaseCentral mobile will be available for free download to all of EaseCentral's customers on iOS in the coming weeks.\n\nEaseCentral is also unveiling its latest integration with ADP, which will enable easy employee payroll set up, the ability to sync benefit and payroll systems, and even automatically populate employee's changes in deductions, based on elections made during open enrollment. This integration will simplify additional processes for brokers using the industry-preferred payroll system without having to leave EaseCentral's platform.\n\n\"Many companies struggle to integrate core HCM and business applications. ADP Marketplace empowers employers to overcome that challenge so they can focus on boosting their business agility and their employees' success,\" said Don Weinstein, chief strategy officer, ADP. \"EaseCentral's clients can access pre-integrated workforce data in real-time through one intuitive platform while tapping into a growing ecosystem of trusted HCM apps to meet their evolving business needs.\"\n\nDavid Reid, CEO and co-founder of EaseCentral, credits the company's progress to passion. A former broker with 30+ years industry experience, David and his co-founder Courtney Guertin created EaseCentral with firsthand understanding of their clients' daily challenges. \"Although the space had various names and concepts, the broker community didn't have a single scalable solution that truly met our industry's rapidly evolving needs.\"\n\n\"Our mission is disseminating the very best technology to brokers via the most user-friendly platform. Our team is dedicated to making that happen. Working with Propel Venture Partners will take our already industry-leading offerings to an entirely new level in 2018. Together, we are ready to see unparalleled growth over the next year.\"\n\nAbout EaseCentral:\n\nEaseCentral is a cloud-based benefits enrollment software platform built for insurance brokers and employers. EaseCentral makes it simple to set up and manage benefits, onboard new hires, stay compliant, and offer employees one destination for all their human resources information. Started in 2012 in San Francisco by employee benefits veteran, David Reid, and web and engineering architect, Courtney Guertin, EaseCentral works with insurance brokers and small businesses to create seamless HR and benefits processes on a single, easy-to-use platform, and has offices in San Diego and Las Vegas. In 2015, EaseCentral was launched on the West Coast and is now among the most widely adopted, fastest growing solutions for brokers and employers in the area, with over 30,000 employers and nearly 1 million enrollees. For more information, head to: www.easecentral.com.\n\nAbout Propel:\n\nPropel Venture Partners is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm focused on investment opportunities at the intersection of technology and finance. The Propel team believes the future of financial services will be realized by rethinking and rebuilding, and partners with technology-driven entrepreneurs who are transforming the market with their vision and expertise.\n\nMedia Contact:\n\nEmma Martin, North 6th Agency (For EaseCentral)\n\n[email protected]\n\n212-334-9753 ext. 132\n\nSOURCE EaseCentral\n\nRelated Links\n\nhttp://www.easecentral.com\n\n", "output": "San Francisco-based EaseCentral, which offers benefits and human resources services, has raised $6.5m in a series A round led by Propel Venture Partners, giving it a total of $11.5m of funding. EaseCentral is launching a mobile app for employees and is integrating with payroll outsourcer ADP. The latest funds will be used to expand the company nationally, allowing brokers in additional states to access its services, and expand its core offering to its market of smaller businesses, which currently number 30,000. Other investors in the round included Freestyle Capital, Upside Partnership, Transmedia Capital and Compound."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Volvo Cars pitches Polestar as performance EV brand \n Polestar has officially parted ways from parent company Volvo, confirming the news via a picture posted on Instagram. The message simply said 'The End', with no other information to accompany it. It comes just months after Auto Express exclusively revealed the brand would be going it alone with its own range of electric performance cars. We can expect to see the first standalone Polestar model later this year.\n\nAccording to a senior source inside Geely (Volvo and Polestar\u2019s parent company) the manufacturer wants to create a line-up of brands to take on the VW Group. Volvo\u2019s senior vice president of design, Thomas Ingenlath, will head the re-born Polestar brand alongside Jonathon Goodman, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communication.\n\n\u2022 Volvo Polestar everything you need to know\n\nWith Volvo cementing its position rivalling premium brands, Geely wants Polestar to take a sportier role within its group. It wants to replicate what Mercedes\u2019 has done in producing its own bespoke AMG cars as well as modified Mercedes-AMG models.\n\nCredit: PolestarCars on Instagram\n\nThomas Ingenlath, former Senior Vice President Design at Volvo, now Chief Executive Officer at Polestar, said previously: \u201cI am really excited to take up the challenge of establishing this exciting brand, developing a fabulous portfolio of bespoke products and channelling the passion we have throughout the Polestar team. The next chapter in Polestar\u2019s history is just beginning.\u201d\n\nVolvo\u2019s new SPA (Scalable Product Architecture) and CMA (Compact Modular Architecture) platform technology will be used for a new generation of hot Polestars with an electric, SPA-based car likely to break cover first, some time this year. The SPA platform underpins the Volvo XC60 and XC90 SUVs as well as the V90 estate and S90 saloon models.\n\nPolestar will continue to design and deliver performance enhancements for existing Volvo cars, while Polestar is set to become the global face of Geely\u2019s motorsport efforts \u2013 the company currently prepares and runs Volvo Polestar models under the Polestar Cyan Racing brand.\n\nWith Polestar focussing on electric cars, that\u2019s bound to start rumours of a Geely Polestar involvement in Formula E, which Volvo CEO H\u00e5kan Samuelsson has hinted at in the past.\n\nWhat do you think of the ambitious plans for Polestar\u2019s future? Let us know in the comments\u2026", "output": "Volvo Cars is to launch its Polestar Performance business as a standalone brand within the group, focused on premium electric vehicles. Swedish tuning specialist Polestar was bought by Volvo in 2015 and Geely, the parent company of Volvo and Polestar, wants Polestar to make high-performance EVs to challenge Tesla and Mercedes. The idea is for Polestar to have a similar relationship to the main brand to that between Mercedes and AMG."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Telef\u00f3nica and Huawei partner on specialist IoT lab in Chile \n Telef\u00f3nica has teamed up with Huawei to launch a new Open IoT Lab for the continuous technology evolution and to accelerate the commercial deployment of Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT).\n\nTelef\u00f3nica\u00b4s NB-IoT Open Lab to be opened in Chile in the next few months aims to boost the IoT business ecosystem and drive innovation in the IoT space. It will allow IoT players such as equipment vendors, service providers, end-user OEM device makers and application developers, to deploy faster their services & applications over Telef\u00f3nica\u00b4s networks.\n\nThey will also have early access to new IoT developments by combining Huawei resources and capabilities with Telef\u00f3nica\u00b4s well established R&D Centre\u00b4s facilities, resources and know-how.\n\nThis Open LAB will have a permanent showroom in Telef\u00f3nica\u00b4s headquarters in Madrid where the newest IoT solutions coming from Chile will be demoed regularly.\n\nTelef\u00f3nica Chile\u2019s R&D Centre, is a joint initiative between Telef\u00f3nica and the Chilean government with the goal of promoting an open and participatory Internet of Things ecosystem.\n\nThe NB-IoT Open Lab in Chile IoT Competence Centre will be a meeting point for the IoT community in order to foster the use of the new technologies by organising events such as \u201cplug-fests\u201d, collaborative design and testing, tutorial sessions and co-development programmes for start-ups amongst others It is a fruitful networking space where different players in the delivery chain can work together to boost the adoption of new IoT services.\n\nTelef\u00f3nica and Huawei jointly deployed the first field NB-IoT smart metering service in Chile during 2016.This initiative enables the roll out of such experiences to many other areas and applications.\n\nVicente Munoz, Chief IoT Officer, Telefonica\n\nTelef\u00f3nica NB-IoT Open Lab is an IoT space that aims at building a complete ecosystem of partners, manufacturers, technicians, developers and designers to bring the best solutions to market around Mobile IoT networks. Chile NB-IoT Open Lab will accelerate the development of IoT commercial solutions and ensure they are supported by a broad ecosystem.\n\nPatrick Zhang, Huawei Marketing and Solutions Department\n\nWe are proud to be partnering with Telef\u00f3nica in the creation of the NB-IoT Open Lab. The NB-IoT Open Lab will strengthen the strategic cooperation between Huawei and Telef\u00f3nica on technology innovation and eco-system maturation relating to NB-IoT.", "output": "Spanish telecommunications provider Telef\u00f3nica has partnered with Chinese firm Huawei to launch an Open internet of things (IoT) Lab in Chile, which will focus on the commercial deployment of Narrowband IoT. The facility, which is set to become an IoT hub, aims to promote innovation and will offer equipment vendors, service providers, end-user OEM device makers and application developers access to Huawei and Telef\u00f3nica's resources and services."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Survey says e-mail is the second most valuable ad format \n by Ray Schultz , Columnist, June 20, 2017\n\nConsumers are fed up with online advertising, and who can blame them? Click on almost any piece of content, and you\u2019re bound to be hit with a pop-up ad blocking the page. And that ad will often be irrelevant or an out-and-out fraud.\n\nPeople dislike this experience, and they will walk away from brands that deliver it, according to a global study from Rakuten Marketing, conducted by Qualtrics. Worse, of 2,500 people surveyed, two-thirds see online advertising in the same light as fake news and other aggravating content.\n\nMany consumers feel disenfranchised, Rakuten says. And more than eight out of ten say that advertising interrupts their online experience.\n\nBut they don\u2019t object to email. When asked to rate the most interruptive formats, the respondents put email near the bottom.\n\nWhy did email perform so well? Because it\u2019s less intrusive and more predictable \u2014 not in your face. And since you\u2019ve probably subscribed to it, it\u2019s probably about something that interests you.\n\nadvertisement advertisement\n\n\u201cThe ad formats that consumers label as most interruptive are those that pop-up and cover content, pre-roll video ads, and ads that are delivered through push notification,\u201d Rakuten writes.\n\nRight. The only two formats that came out better than email on this question were blog/social links and coupon links.\n\nBut here\u2019s where email really shines. Email came in second when respondents were asked for their most valuable ad formats. The single more popular one was coupon links.\n\nThe third most valued form \u2014 and it was considerably lower than the top two \u2014 was blog/social links.\n\nHow did email get into this winner\u2019s circle?\n\n\u201cThe ad formats that consumers recognize as most valuable are seamlessly integrated into web content, or let the consumer opt in,\u201d Rakuten writes. \u201cExamples include coupon links, emails and social advertising.\u201d\n\nOf course, this doesn\u2019t get email off the hook, especially when it\u2019s part of an online program. People can click through an engaging email and end up being enraged by the site.\n\nHere\u2019s the proof. Not that they all responded to emails, but 35% have had a bad experience with an online ad. And this can hurt a brand \u2014 45% of consumers will abandon a site when this has happened to them, and 28% will avoid the site altogether. Finally, 26% will \u201cclear their cookies to stop receiving with a brand,\u201d Rakuten writes.\n\nAre you marketing to people by gender? Note that men are more 41% more likely than women to use an ad blocker, 16% more likely to opt out of ads, and 17% more likely to clear their cookies.\n\nAs for other irritants: 61% have felt a brand was advertising too frequently, and 79% have noticed getting ads for item they have already purchased. In general, 63% feel online advertising needs to improve, and 80% say \u201conline advertising hasn\u2019t gotten any better on any device or platform.\u201d\n\nNot that it's news, but a 2015 Adobe report shows that ad blocking costs the industry more than $20 billion in revenue. That figure has probably gone up since then.\n\nSo how do you avoid being blocked? Above all, respondents demand less ad frequency and more pinpointed personalization from advertisers, so Rakuten recommends the following:\n\nBetter personalization \u2014 Not easy to achieve. Rakuten writes: \"Before ad personalization can improve, we need to stop looking at advertising metrics as if they only exist in-and-of themselves, and start looking in the context of the broader consumer journey. \"\n\n\u2014 Not easy to achieve. Rakuten writes: \"Before ad personalization can improve, we need to stop looking at advertising metrics as if they only exist in-and-of themselves, and start looking in the context of the broader consumer journey. \" Transparency \u2014 Let people know what you\u2019re doing with whom. Nearly all the people in this survey say that \u201cadvertising should clearly disclose e-commerce partners like bloggers and influencers,\u201d Rakuten writes.\n\n\u2014 Let people know what you\u2019re doing with whom. Nearly all the people in this survey say that \u201cadvertising should clearly disclose e-commerce partners like bloggers and influencers,\u201d Rakuten writes. Actionable data insights \u2014 Trip up here, and \u201cad revenue will continue to be lost to ad blocking and content subscription models,\u201d Rakuten warns.\n\nFinally, you can embrace the slogan offered by Rakuten:\n\nSave the Web.", "output": "Some consumers may be resistant to online ads, but when it comes to scoring interruptive experiences, e-mail has ranked among the best formats,\u00a0according to a survey from Rakuten Marketing. The study, which polled 2,500 web users, revealed that email is the second most valuable ad format, ranked just behind coupons.\u00a0\"The ad formats that consumers recognise as most valuable are seamlessly integrated into web content, or let the consumer opt in,\" said Rakuten. However, the firm warned that a bad experience on a site from an e-mail link will lead to more than a quarter clearing out their cookies."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pioneering flat-fee primary care provider closes five clinics \n In recent years, a small but growing number of practices embraced a buffet approach to primary care, offering patients unlimited services for a modest flat fee instead of billing them a la carte for every office visit and test. But after a pioneering practice shut its doors earlier this month, some question whether \"direct primary care,\" as it's called, can succeed.\n\nMany doctors and patients say they like the arrangement. Direct primary care practices typically don't accept insurance, which frees physicians from treatment preapprovals and claims paperwork. They say that allows them more time and energy for their patients. Patients can consult with their doctor or a nurse practitioner as often they need to, typically for around $100 a month. (Some employers buy the service for their workers.) Patients need to carry a regular insurance plan for hospitalization, specialists and other services. In the long run, the result should be better patient health and lower health care costs overall.\n\nBut some health care experts are concerned that the set-up encourages the \"worried well\" to get more care than they need. They describe unlimited primary care as a blunt instrument that doesn't necessarily improve the odds that patients will get evidence-based services that improve their health. Others argue it's important to find a way to provide cost-effective primary care within the health insurance context, not outside it.\n\n[Also: FBI issues subpoena to Zoom+ over allegations of fraud]\n\nAlthough only a sliver of practices do direct primary care, the number is on the rise, said Shawn Martin, a senior vice president at the American Academy of Family Physicians. He puts the figure at about 3 percent.\n\nSeattle-based Qliance, founded in 2007, was an early leader in this type of care. With startup funding from high-profile investors Jeff Bezos and Michael Dell, by 2015 the company was serving 35,000 patients at several clinics in the Seattle area, including individuals, workers at companies like Expedia and Comcast and Medicaid patients through a contract with the state's Medicaid insurer. The company said medical claims for Qliance patients were 20 percent lower than those of other patients because Qliance members went to the emergency room less often, were hospitalized less frequently and saw fewer specialists, among other things.\n\nBy early 2017, though, Qliance was faltering. The company had lost some large employer clients, and its patient base had shrunk to 13,000. On June 15, it closed five of its clinics. Dr. Erika Bliss, the company's CEO, said that in general the market is reluctant to pay what it takes for primary care to flourish, and in some cases payers were resistant to rewarding the company, even when Qliance exceeded targets on quality and savings. She will continue to operate one site that provides occupational health for Seattle firefighters.\n\n[Also: Retail healthcare juggernaut ZOOMCare+ expands Seattle footprint with two new clinics]\n\n\"The bottom line is it's not for free,\" she said. \"You can't do this for $25 [per person] per month. If we start doing it for $50 to $100 per month then we can start doing serious primary care.\"\n\nThe closure took January Gens by surprise. A Qliance patient for a couple of years, Gens, 45, had worked with her primary care doctor there to manage crippling pain from endometriosis. The $79 monthly fee was worth every penny, she thought. She had been able to reduce the dosage of some of her medications and was awaiting a referral to start physical therapy when she learned that Qliance was shutting down. Now she's not sure what she'll do.\n\n\"I had felt very lucky to have found Qliance, to know I had a doctor and could always be seen when needed without causing more damage to the family budget,\" Gens said. \"Now it's just gone.\"\n\nPatients who have chronic conditions that need ongoing management may benefit from direct primary care, said Dr. A. Mark Fendrick, an internist who directs the University of Michigan's Center for Value-Based Insurance Design.\n\nBut for people who are generally healthy and without symptoms that need to be diagnosed, \"unlimited primary care is no guarantee that the services that are provided will improve the health of those people,\" he said.\n\nAs an example, Fendrick noted that the annual checkup, one of the most popular primary care services, isn't clinically helpful for most people, according to the Choosing Wisely initiative, a program of the ABIM Foundation that identifies overused and unnecessary medical services.\n\n[Also: Zoom+ clinic network attracts millennials through 'no wait' convenience healthcare model]\n\nAn examination of research related to direct primary care practices found that they charged patients an average $77.38 per month. \"Concierge\" medical practices are similar to direct primary care, but their monthly fees are typically higher -- averaging $182.76 -- and they generally bill insurers for their services, the study found. However, the study, published in the November-December 2015 issue of the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, concluded that there was a paucity of data related to the quality of care provided by these practices.\n\nSome analysts say that while they're sympathetic to doctors' frustration with large numbers of patients, insurance companies' intrusion into patient care and billing hassles, the answer isn't to turn their backs on insurance.\n\n\"I think absolutely this type of care could be done inside insurance, but it means we have to learn how to pay within the system for the things that doctors should be doing and are doing in direct primary care,\" said Robert Berenson, a fellow at the Urban Institute.\n\nLike Healthcare Finance on Facebook\n\nAs things stand now, the direct-care model can create difficulties for some patients. Take the situation where someone goes to his direct primary care provider for an earache, but antibiotics don't work and he needs to be referred to an ear, nose and throat specialist. That patient, who likely has a high-deductible plan to provide non-primary care services, will probably be on the hook financially for the entire cost of care provided by the specialist rather than insurance paying a share.\n\nQliance's Bliss scoffs at the idea that patients may get stuck paying more out-of-pocket if they have direct primary care. Most people these days have high-deductible health plans, she said. \"The reality is that unless you have Medicaid, you are on the hook no matter what.\"\n\nOffering unlimited primary care inside the insurance system is no guarantee of success in any case. One such experiment, a subsidiary of UnitedHealthcare called Harken Health with clinics in the Chicago and Atlanta areas, announced it will shut down at the end of the year.\n\nThe company confirmed that it would phase out membership at the end of the year but didn't respond to a request for further comment.\n\nKaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.\n\nTwitter: @HC_Finance", "output": "US medical centres' model of offering direct primary care for a modest, monthly flat fee outside the usual insurance payment, is under threat, following the demise of Seattle-based Qliance. Founded in 2007 and backed by Jeff Bezos and Michael Dell, its model reduced costs and hospitalisations. However, by the start of this year, Qliance had lost some major clients, and its\u00a0patient numbers had\u00a0dwindled from 35,000 to 13,000.\u00a0Five of its clinics\u00a0closed on 15 June.\u00a0While many doctors complain of insurance companies' intrusion into patient care and billing hassles, some say direct primary care should be paid for within the insurance framework."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Commercial property data aggregator Datscha joins UK proptech body \n Swedish online proptech platform Datscha has joined the UK Proptech Association (UKPA) as a founding member.\n\nLaunched in the UK in March 2016, the company draws together data from bodies such as the UK\u2019s Land Registry, Ordnance Survey and the Valuation Office Agency to provide detailed information on the ultimate owners of the country\u2019s four million commercial properties.\n\nAs a member of the UKPA, Datscha\u2019s focus will be on the education of proptech across the commercial property industry.\n\n\u201cThe significant investment and growth in proptech in recent years requires education about how the technology can streamline business [and] bring greater transparency and more opportunity to an industry which has largely operated in the same way for generations,\u201d said Mark Bruno, MD of Datscha UK (pictured above).\n\n\n\nPoll As a broker, do you currently quote 'green' loan options alongside standard loan quotes for property development finance? Yes No Vote Results\n\n\n\n\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re excited to be a founding member and sharing our expertise.\u201d\n\nSince its UK launch, Datscha has attracted Savills, CBRE and Rightmove as customers, among others.\n\nThe company can provide mapped and organised information such as the top-200 owners of commercial property in Cardiff or data on all the car parks in Leicester.\n\nOther users may wish to find out how many properties are owned by H&M across London or the average rent and yields for the industrial sector in High Wycombe.\n\n\"We encourage the property industry to think carefully about how their approach to data will affect their business over the coming years,\u201d added Eddie Holmes, chairman of the UKPA.\n\n\u201cResidential property businesses like Zoopla are already empowering themselves and their customers by collecting and sharing data, helping to boost profits as a result.\n\n\u201cDatscha has led from the front on this issue in commercial property.\"", "output": "Datscha, the proptech platform that can provide detailed information on commercial property ownership, locations, rents, yields and the like, has become a founding member of the UK Proptech Association. The Swedish platform launched in the UK last year; it maps and organises data from the Land Registry, Ordnance Survey and the Valuation Office Agency, and counts Savills, CBRE, and Rightmove among its customers. Within the association, Datscha will focus on educating the commercial property industry about proptech."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Rail system to be powered by animal waste biogas plant \n A new biogas power plant is to be built in the Turkish city of Gaziantep.\n\nGaziantep Metropolitan Municipality will use the new facility to produce electricity for the city\u2019s rail system, claims Turkish news site Milliyet, who cited Gaziantep\u2019s mayor, Fatima Sahin.\n\nAccording to Renewables Now, the electricity produced by the facility is estimated to satisfy 60% of the electricity needs of the municipality\u2019s rail system. Construction of the biogas power plant, which will cost TRY 13 million (\u20ac3.3 million), is already in progress and expected to be completed in August 2018. Following a trial period of between one and two months, the new facility will start producing electricity.\n\nBiogas will be produced from animal waste, solving two problems in one. Animal waste, in particular from poultry, is proving a problem for local farmers. As such, the new plant will offer a manure \u201crecycling service.\u201d The plant will also produce liquid fertiliser as a by-product of its process, which will be offered to the local farmers.\n\nA tender was held to select the developer of the project, although the name of the successful applicant has not been disclosed. Gaziantep municipality spent over a year researching the project, and signing agreements with local farmers to secure a feedstock supply for the new biogas plant.\n\nThe new biogas facility forms part of an initiative to take advantage of the region\u2019s renewable energy potential. This initiative has also seen Gaziantep venture into solar and wind sources.", "output": "The Turkish Metropolitan Municipality of Gaziantep has begun construction of a $3.7m animal waste biogas plant with the aim of providing electricity for 60% of the municipality\u2019s rail system when it is completed in August 2018. The new facility will also deal with the problem of excessive poultry waste for farmers whilst providing them with a liquid fertiliser formed as a by-product of the process."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "New catalysts make biodiesel suitable for petrodiesel engines \n A new way of refining biodiesel so that it works in standard diesel car engines could help broaden the use of renewable fuels, according to scientists.\n\nBiodiesel made from plant material could present a more eco-friendly alternative to the fossil-fuel-derived diesel, or petrodiesel, that is currently used. In the European Union (EU), commercial diesel already has to contain at least 7 percent biodiesel.\n\nBut the molecular makeup of these fuels means they boil at different temperatures from petrodiesel, which means only specially designed engines can run on pure biodiesel or blends that contain considerable amounts of the fuel. [Top 10 Emerging Environmental Technologies]\n\nNow, scientists in Germany have found a way to transform chemicals derived from plants into a biodiesel that meets the boiling characteristics required by the EN 590 standard, set by the European Committee for Standardization, for commercial diesel sold in the EU.\n\nLukas Goo\u00dfen, a professor of organic chemistry at the Ruhr-Universit\u00e4t Bochum who led the research, said his motivation came during a trip to a biodiesel plant in Rwanda a few years ago. The problem, he said, was that only a single bus had been converted to run on the fuel because of a lack of funds.\n\n\"If you're going to use biofuel, you need existing infrastructure you can tap into,\" he told Live Science. \"Anything else will be unaffordable to most countries and societies. This has to be the starting point.\"\n\nThe reason conventional biodiesel doesn't work in standard diesel engines is that about 95 percent of its constituent molecules are the same length and, therefore, boil at roughly the same temperature.\n\nIn contrast, petrodiesel is made up of a mixture of hydrocarbons of different lengths and structures that boil at different temperatures, giving petrodiesel a much broader boiling range. Importantly, these are the boiling characteristics for which modern cars have been designed.\n\n\"All engines were specifically made to fit this fuel,\" Goo\u00dfen said. \"Diesel fuel and diesel engines evolved together.\"\n\nThere are existing processes that can convert plant oils into biofuel suitable for use in standard diesel engines, but a significant proportion of the fuel is burned to carry out the refining. Goo\u00dfen and his colleagues decided to find a way to take advantage of catalysts \u2014 substances that accelerate chemical reactions \u2014 to do the same thing at low temperatures, using very little energy.\n\nIn a paper published online today (June 16) in the journal Science Advances, they report that using a combination of three catalysts, they were able to blend rapeseed oil methyl ester (RME) \u2014 a common raw material for making biofuels \u2014 and ethylene into a fuel with the same boiling profile as petrodiesel. Ethylene is an abundant hydrocarbon that can be generated from plant-derived ethanol or shale gas.\n\nTo demonstrate its potential as a motor fuel, the researchers built a model diesel car and used the biodiesel to propel it. The fuel is still a long way from commercialization, though; the first batch cost more than $1,125 per quart to produce. [Hyperloop, Jetpacks & More: 9 Futuristic Transit Ideas]\n\nThe main issue with the current process is that it uses expensive, short-lived catalysts aimed at making small amounts of high-value chemical products, Goo\u00dfen said. Finding cheaper, more robust alternatives suitable for commercial production will be a huge challenge, he added, as will designing effective high-throughput industrial processes.\n\nBut Goo\u00dfen said one of the biggest barriers to wider use of biodiesel is its incompatibility with standard engines. But his new study shows that this challenge can be overcome.\n\n\"This boiling point seemed to be a completely insurmountable hurdle,\" he said. \"Now, we are saying, 'How can we make a catalyst that just does this cheaper?' which is a completely different question to, 'How can we even come from biodiesel to something we can put in a car?'\"\n\nThere is a pressing need to find sustainable fuels that are \"drop-in replacements\" for current fossil fuels, said Duncan Wass, a professor of catalysis at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom.\n\nUsing a cheap and abundant addition such as ethylene to transform biofuels makes good sense, he said, but he agreed with the study authors that the current catalysts are not fit for that purpose and that finding appropriate replacements will be hard.\n\n\"[I]t will be difficult to find a simple, cheap, long-lived, heterogeneous catalyst that can achieve the same results as these very sophisticated systems,\" Wass told Live Science.\n\nIt is also too early to label the technology as \"sustainable,\" he added, until a full life-cycle analysis of the process and products is undertaken.\n\nOriginal article on Live Science.", "output": "German scientists have used three unspecified catalysts to make a biofuel with the same boiling characteristics as petrodiesel, meaning it can be used to power traditional diesel engines. The fuel was created through the reaction of rapeseed oil methyl ester (RME) and ethylene, according to a team from Ruhr-Universit\u00e4t Bochum."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "P&G half-way through digital advertising transparency overhaul \n Procter & Gamble\u2019s (P&G) top marketer has said that it is \u201cabout 40 \u2013 50%\u201d of the way through a massive review of all of its media agency contracts in the quest for greater transparency.\n\nMarc Pritchard\u2019s comments at the beginning of the year on the \u201cmurky at best, fraudulent at worst\u201d media supply chain rang through the industry and put its agencies on alert as the marketer claimed that he would be looking at all contacts as part of a four-point plan to bring clarity to its media buying.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re about 40-50% complete,\u201d he said at the Cannes Lions Festival today (20 June).\n\nPritchard has also said that as part of this landmark review of its media dealings, it will no longer be reliant on media owners to measure their own inventory, with the FMCG business expecting every media supplier - including publishers and measurement vendors - to adopt MRC-accredited third party verification during 2017.\n\nP&G is now also insisting that any entity touching digital media must become TAG-certified during 2017 to help ensure that it is free from fraud.\n\n\u201cThe players in the digital industry have stepped up and they understand this and they\u2019re making progress,\u201d he continued.\n\n\u201cIt needs to happen. They\u2019re long overdue. And we need to keep going. So hopefully by the end of this calendar year we\u2019ll be at a place\u2026.but then the hard part starts. Once you have transparency across all platforms then you can evaluate more clearly how one medium compares to another.\u201d\n\nHowever, he was eager to stress that this doesn\u2019t mean P&G is playing it safe with its media buys. Pritchard said it will still experiment with emerging platforms and technologies but simply no longer accepts that he can\u2019t get metrics back on how effective those tests are.\n\n\u201cThe mindset that because something is a new technology it doesn\u2019t have to adhere to standards is a head fake. You\u2019re trying to dodge the reality. Of course, we want to have new innovations, and of course do continue to do things, and digital technology brings that. But before [the industry] invests $72bn on digital we need to know what we\u2019re getting and how many people we\u2019re reaching, and where and how they engaged.\u201d\n\nJoining Pritchard on the panel was Avery Baker, chief brand officer at Tommy Hilfiger, who said it was on a similar journey, although lagging P&G.\n\n\u201cWe need to benchmark against media in a much more consistent way,\u201d Avery said. \u201cI wish we were at 40% but we\u2019ve still some way to go.\u201d\n\nFor more news from Cannes Lions follow the dedicated news stream on The Drum website", "output": "Consumer goods manufacturer Procter & Gamble (P&G) is \"about 40% to 50%\" through a review of all its media agency contracts as part of a plan to improve the transparency of its media buying process, said chief brand officer Marc Pritchard. The company will require media suppliers to adopt Media Rating Council-accredited third party verification before 2018. Within the same timeframe, P&G is insisting companies in its digital media supply chain become certified by the Trustworthy Accountability Group\u00a0to prevent fraud. Despite P&G's push for transparency, the company will continue to experiment with buying media on emerging platforms, Pritchard said.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Organic material makes batteries longer-lasting \n A new class of material that could make batteries safer, longer-lasting and better performing has been found by researchers from the University of Houston.\n\nEven though aqueous rechargeable batteries featuring low cost and nonflammable water-based electrolytes are safe and robust, they have a short lifespan, making them unsuitable for applications where it isn't practical to replace them frequently.\n\nThe problem is the anode as existing anode materials are structurally and chemically unstable, meaning the battery is only efficient for a relatively short time.\n\nTo resolve this issue, the researchers used quinones \u2013 an inexpensive, earth-abundant and recyclable material \u2013 to create stable anode composites for any aqueous rechargeable battery.\n\n\"This new material is cheap and chemically stable,\" said associate professor Yan Yao.\n\nAccording to Yao, the material can be used to create a drop-in replacement for current battery anodes, allowing the new material to be used without changing existing battery manufacturing lines.\n\nCurrent research offers evidence that the material is an effective anode for both acid batteries and alkaline batteries, such as those used in a car, as well as emerging aqueous metal-ion batteries.\n\nThe new material is also said to allow the batteries to work across temperature ranges, unlike some conventional aqueous batteries.\n\n\"One of these batteries, as a car battery, could last 10 years,\" Yao said.\n\nIn addition to slowing the deterioration of batteries for vehicles and stationary electricity storage batteries, it also would make battery disposal easier because the material does not contain heavy metals.", "output": "The use of quinones in batteries not only slows the deterioration of the battery but also makes the disposal of it easier due to the material not containing heavy metals, according to researchers from Houston University. Quinones were used to make a drop-in replacement for current battery nodes, creating a stable anode composite for any aqueous battery whilst also allowing for the material to be used without changing existing battery manufacturing lines.  Quinones are inexpensive, recyclable, chemically stable and earth-abundant, meaning the process could be commercially viable.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Innovative Havas fan campaign shows effectiveness of banner ads \n Havas New Zealand and kitchen and bathroom fan brand Manrose have embarked on a digital campaign to prove that banner ads get clicks.\n\nHavas and Manrose smash through industry benchmarks with banner ads\n\nThe digital brand campaign aligned the performance of a Manrose fan with sporting Kiwis around the world. The campaign utilises topical and current news of sporting accomplishments on the world stage to draw a parallel of Manrose being the country\u2019s favourite fan.", "output": "Bathroom fan maker Manrose has partnered with ad agency Havas's New Zealand office to demonstrate that banner ads can more effectively draw clicks. The campaign, which likens the performance of a Manrose fan to the New Zealand rugby team's success, targets audiences of New Zealand news and sport sites with relevant messages. If New Zealand do not win, the ad will not be featured. The campaign earned four times the click-through rate of past industry averages (0.07%).\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "South Delhi proposed as site of 240-acre, $2.3bn smart city\u00a0 \n NEW DELHI: The Centre plans to develop 240 acres of land at Ghitorni district in south Delhi with smart city features worth over Rs 15,000 crore.A proposal in this regard is at an advance stage of consideration at the Ministry of Urban Development (UD), sources said.The 240 acres of land belonging to Central Public Works Department (CPWD), which functions under the UD ministry, has been lying vacant at Ghitorni since 1971.According to sources, the project, estimated to cost over Rs 15,000 crore, is proposed to be jointly developed by CPWD and state-run construction firm NBCC on self-financing basis with no cost to the government.As part of the project, the CPWD will construct about 6,500 residential units for government employees, besides developing office space for public sector firms.On the other hand, NBCC would construct about 500 houses and develop substantial office and commercial space for sale to mobilise resources for financing the project.The proposed 'mini city' would be equipped with urban infrastructure, green sustainable technology and smart solutions as per the Smart City norms, sources said.It will also have water and waste management with dual piping system, rain water harvesting system, solar energy and smart metering, security/surveillance system, Wi-fi, among others.The sources added the project would be completed in five years after necessary approvals.Ghitorni is located in southern Delhi near Gurgaon border.Urban Development Secretary Rajiv Gauba today held discussions with senior officials of CPWD and NBCC regarding the project.", "output": "The ministry of urban development is \"at an advanced stage of consideration\" over an INR150bn ($2.3bn) proposal to develop a smart city on 240 acres of vacant land at Ghitorni district in south Delhi, according to reports. The site, which is owned by the central public works department (CPWD) has been vacant since 1971, would be jointly developed by the CPWD and state-run construction firm National Buildings Construction Corporation on a self-financing basis. It would include around 7,000 houses, as well as \"urban infrastructure, green sustainable technology and smart solutions\"."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Student engagement platform pools campus data to tailor content \n Content Management\n\nClearScholar Deploys Content Targeting Tech in Mobile Platform\n\nStudent engagement and safety platform ClearScholar Friday launched a new feature set for institutions that leverages student data across campus systems to deliver targeted content to individual students.\n\nClearScholar Align, as the solution is called, works by combining data from disparate college systems (student information systems, learning management systems, constituent relationship management platforms, etc.) to build each student a \u201cpersona.\u201d With this information, administrators can broadly target all second-year students, for example, or narrowly target specific majors and grade point averages within that year. Additionally, Align is built to ensure personas are updated in real time as new data enters the platform from various systems.\n\nThe goal for the technology is to make data and data science more actionable, according to information from the company. \u201cContent within the ClearScholar mobile app platform is aligned to the needs and preferences of each student, allowing [them] to have a truly personalized experienced.\u201d Content can mean news, announcement, push notifications, polls, events, etc. and is specific to each institution\u2019s needs and goals. So, for example, a university can push certain resources for achievement to at-risk groups using the ClearScholar mobile app. Meanwhile, ClearScholar\u2019s dashboard give administrators and instructors more insight by displaying analytics on how students are interacting with the app.\n\n\u201cMany universities struggle with issues of resource utilization alongside effective student communications; both issues which can be improved by deploying this technology,\u201d the company said about Align.\n\nClearScholar launched its student engagement platform at Butler University early 2017 to assist with university-student communications, career readiness, student health and other aspects of the student lifecycle. This past May, the company rolled out ClearScholar Aware, a student safety-focused platform that offered more visibility into emergency calls made through the app.\n\nTo learn more, visit the ClearScholar site.", "output": "Indianapolis-based ClearScholar, a student communication and engagement platform, has added a new feature \u2013 Align \u2013 that leverages data from disparate campus systems to create a real-time profile for each student. These \u201cpersona\u201d can then be used to deliver tailored content to students or groups based on their needs and/or defining characteristics. In addition to making\u00a0data actionable, the feature is expected to improve the students\u2019 personal experience and ensure effective use of resources."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lyon announces $500m Australian solar-plus-storage project \n The highly ambitious solar and battery storage developer Lyon Group has unveiled yet another big project, this time a $660 million solar plus storage project in Victoria, adding to its growing portfolio in South Australia and Queensland.\n\nThe latest plan for a 250MW large-scale solar plant, paired with 80MW/160MWh of battery storage at Nowingi in north-western Victoria, takes its total pipeline to more than 1700MW of solar and 1000MW of storage.\n\nBut in a new twist Lyon has announced that it is planning a tender for contracts to cover the 640MWh of storage capacity at its most advanced projects in Victoria, South Australia (Riverland) and Queensland (Cape York).\n\nLyon Group\u2019s David Green said the tender would be open for electricity retailers and generators, large electricity users, and other sector participants for a range of services including price arbitrage, load shifting, ramp control, frequency control and network control that he values at a total of $220 million.\n\n\u201cLyon will enter into commercial contracts for real services provided by physical assets,\u201d Green said in a statement. \u201cThis is not a theoretical exercise.\u201d\n\nHe describes the tender exercise as a \u201cworld first\u201d and was in response to many enquiries from retailers and others about the sort of services and pricing that would be offered from the projects. Lyon decided that they would go out and seek what was wanted and what people would pay for it.\n\nSeveral companies have announced plans for large-scale solar and storage facilities in Australia, including Zen Energy, Reach Energy and Carnegie Clean Energy, but none come close to the scale that Lyon has announced.\n\nHowever, none of the projects have commenced production to date, although Green insists that all three projects will begin construction this year \u2013 Nowingi and Riverland as early as September. It is backed by Japanese trading giant Mitsubishi and US investor Magnetar Capital.\n\nLyon says all three projects, totalling nearly $2 billion, will be 100 per cent equity financed, and Green said that the results of the tender would help decide the final design and configuration of the projects. It is using battery systems integrator AES.\n\nLyon also joins a host of battery storage tenders, including those being run by South Australia and Victoria, both of which are designed to be built by this coming summer.\n\nVictoria\u2019s two 20MW battery storage projects, totalling around 100MWh, are also slated for western Victoria, where it faces grid issues as it seeks more than 5,000MW of new wind and solar to meet its 40 per cent renewable energy target by 2025. That tender closed last week.\n\nThe South Australia government currently has a tender out for 100MW and up to 200MWh of battery storage, although Lyon says it has not entered those tenders.\n\nThe move also comes as the Finkel Review recommends storage be front and centre of Australia\u2019s energy security concerns, although his recommendation that all new wind and solar farms be paired with storage and/or firming capacity has drawn criticism for being overkill.\n\nIt is not clear that the Coalition government will adopt Finkel\u2019s recommendations, or to what state that storage will be mandated, although Green has said, unsurprisingly, that he is a supporter.\n\nGreen is confident that Nowingi will begin construction \u201cin the coming months\u201d and will employ 250 at that stage. The other solar storage projects within the scope of the tender are Cape York (Queensland) and Riverland (South Australia).\n\nOther developments are for the Kingfisher project near Roxby Downs in South Australia, which Green says is going through state planning approvals, and others will also emerge, including deals with large energy users for both solar and storage.\n\n\u201cThese projects are working through development consultation and approvals. The land has been secured, technology and other commercial arrangements are in place, and the required network capacity analysis and consultations are well advanced,\u201d Green said.\n\n\u201cProjects like these are the heart of Australia\u2019s energy transition, allowing for substantially higher levels of variable, low emissions generation, while strengthening the resilience of the system. It is real and it is happening.\u201d\n\nGreen says the full services of battery storage are not yet fully understood, noting that large-scale battery storage can provide both a cost-effective alternative to network infrastructure upgrades, and to new gas generation, and can ensure the true value of large-scale renewables is realised, if all its \u201cvalue stack\u201d can be exploited.\n\nGreen said that Lyon is developing a number of new and innovative battery storage products that it will release to the market in the near future.", "output": "Lyon Group said it will build an AUD660m ($500m) solar and battery storage project in Victoria, South Australia, beginning in September. The array will include 2.3 million solar panels with a capacity of 250 MW and an 80MW/160MWh battery system, making it one of the largest hybrid projects in the world, behind its own Riverland Solar Storage plant announced in March. Lyon is planning a tender for contracts to cover the 640MWh of storage capacity at its most advanced projects in Victoria, South Australia (Riverland) and Queensland (Cape York)."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lingokids raises $4m seed funding to expand educational games \n If there\u2019s one market that continues to attract entrepreneurial interest and venture capital, it\u2019s the demand for language acquisition. The latest beneficiary is Lingokids, the developer of an app that aims to help young children pick up a new tongue.\n\nBased in Madrid and San Francisco, the startup has raised $4 million in a seed round from Holtzbrinck Ventures and JME Capital, with Bessemer Venture Partners also participating. On top of an earlier $1.5 million fundraise, the company now boasts $5.5 million in institutional backing.\n\nDesigned for children ages 2 to 6, Lingokids, the company\u2019s flagship app, currently offers 350 activities in the form of mini-games, videos, audiobooks and writing exercises covering English and Chinese. Any registered user can do a maximum of five learning activities per day for free. A \u201cpremium\u201d plan that removes this cap starts at $24.99 per month.\n\nThis February, the company added another tier to its subscription plan: a tutoring service where children can interact with a native English speaker in a small group setting in 25-minute sessions. This offering starts with a free class where a teacher evaluates a learner\u2019s skill level to determine placement and matching. This plan, which includes unlimited access to Lingokids content, currently costs $60 per month for unlimited classes. So far \u201chundreds\u201d of families have signed up for this service, according to Cristobal Viedma, the company\u2019s CEO.\n\nViedma tells EdSurge this feature was partly inspired by VIPKID, a Chinese startup that connects children with English-speaking tutors from around the world.\n\nThe company claims users in two million families, of which roughly 20,000 are paying subscribers, Viedma adds.\n\nIn addition to VIPKID, Viedma says he\u2019s also closely watching how Age of Learning, developer of the ABCmouse line of early educational apps, is expanding from the parent market and into schools. (The Glendale, Calif.-based company launched ABCmouse for Schools last year\u2014nine years after its founding.)\n\nTo get into schools, Lingokids is turning to a publisher for help. The company notched a distribution relationship with Oxford University Press (OUP) through which it will include a Lingokids code on the back cover of the books it sells to schools. Using this code, students can download Lingokids and access the book\u2019s content in digital form, on the app.\n\nPartnerships such as these have been key to filling Lingokids\u2019 library of activities. In addition to helping with distribution efforts, OUP provides roughly 20 percent of all of the content, Viedma adds. The company, which itself only makes 20 percent of the content, is working with nine other publisher partners.\n\nThe company also has a deal with Vodafone in Spain through which the telecommunications provider promotes the language learning app through their marketing channels. Vodafone subscribers can also pay for a Lingokids subscription directly through their phone bill, rather than pay separately.\n\nBetween Age of Learning and VIPKID\u2014both of whom have raised more than $100 million in venture money\u2014Lingokids may feel outmatched. Yet the former has cornered the U.S. and East Asian market, and VIPKID has China covered, Viedma says \u201cwe\u2019re pushing hard in Latin America and Southeast Asia.\u201d North America, he adds, currently provides just 18 percent of his users. Many more come from Brazil and Thailand.", "output": "Madrid and San Francisco edtech start-up Lingokids has raised $4m in a seed funding round led by Holtzbrinck Ventures and JME Capital, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners. Lingokids, which has produced an app that offers children aged between two and six the chance to learn a foreign language through play, recently added a tutoring service to its platform. The company has also partnered with publishers, including Oxford University Press, as it looks to take on rivals Age of Learning and VIPKID."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Kalanick resigns as CEO of Uber \n Travis Kalanick stepped down Tuesday as chief executive of Uber, the ride-hailing service that he helped found in 2009 and built into a transportation colossus, after a shareholder revolt made it untenable for him to stay on at the company.\n\nMr. Kalanick\u2019s exit came under pressure after hours of drama involving Uber\u2019s investors, according to two people with knowledge of the situation, who asked to remain anonymous because the details were confidential.\n\nEarlier on Tuesday, five of Uber\u2019s major investors demanded that the chief executive resign immediately. The investors included one of Uber\u2019s biggest shareholders, the venture capital firm Benchmark, which has one of its partners, Bill Gurley, on Uber\u2019s board. The investors made their demand for Mr. Kalanick to step down in a letter delivered to the chief executive while he was in Chicago, said the people with knowledge of the situation.", "output": "Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has resigned due to investor discontent about his leadership. Kalanick\u2019s departure comes in the wake of a series of scandals relating to the corporate culture at Uber, including allegations of widespread sexual harassment. Sources suggested to the New York Times that venture capital firm Benchmark and other investors including First Round Capital, Lowercase Capital, Menlo Ventures and Fidelity Investors delivered a letter to Kalanick urging him to leave. It is believed that Kalanick will remain on the company\u2019s board.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Quarter of Australians use ad blocking: IAB \n A quarter of online Australians use an adblocker, according to new research from IAB Australia.\n\nThe \u2018Ad Blocking in Australia\u2019 research, which was conducted by Pureprofile for IAB Australia, found 25% of online Australians currently use the technology, down from 27% in October 2016.\n\nThe decline in adblocker usage came despite an increase in awareness of the technology up from 59% to 63% of Australians.\n\nDesktops and laptops remain the preferred device to install adblockers at 21% with just 5% of Australians installing ad blockers on smartphones.\n\nThe research found blocked content remains the key driver for turning off an ad blocker. Of the 71% of people to be asked by a website to turn off their adblocker, 50% have turned off the technology for that site, 25% have whitelisted the site, while 5% have deleted an ad blocker as a result.\n\nViruses are the primary driver for installing an ad blocker, although people also have concerns over the quantity and intrusive nature of digital ad formats.\n\nVijay Solanki, CEO of IAB Australia, said, \u201cWhilst it is positive news that the use of ad blocking appears to be stablising in Australia, it is imperative that the advertising industry continues to double down on our efforts to evolve and improve the ad experience for consumers.\u201d\n\n\u201cAs mobile emerges as the channel of choice for many consumers, it will be key to ensure that mobile advertising respects the close relationship that a consumer has with their mobile phones and adheres to the LEAN principles of providing lighter, relevant and higher quality advertising experiences.\u201d\n\nThe research follows similar findings by eMarketer in the UK which revealed one-fifth (20.9%) of UK internet users will use adblocking software this year.", "output": "A quarter of Australians use ad blocking when surfing the net, a survey from IAB Australia has found, a drop from 27% last October. Desktops and laptops are the preferred\u00a0devices to have\u00a0ad blockers installed\u00a0on, with 21% of people using them, while only 5% of those surveyed used ad blockers on smartphones. The study found blocked content is the main reason for\u00a0turning off an ad blocker, with half of people asked by a website to turn off an ad blocker doing so. A total of 25% whitelisted the site\u00a0and 5% deleted the ad blocker.\u00a0Viruses are the main reason for installing ad blockers."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Uber adds tipping option in the US \n Uber is adding tipping to its platform, addressing a longstanding complaint of drivers with a new feature rolled out one week after embattled CEO Travis Kalanick announced an indefinite leave of absence.\n\nThe ride-hailing corporation launched tipping in Seattle, Minneapolis and Houston on Tuesday, with plans for an expansion to all US drivers by the end of July. The company had refused for years to allow passengers to tip through the app, one of many sources of frustration for drivers, who have repeatedly raised concerns about low wages and a lack of basic labor rights.\n\nThe shift on tipping was included in Uber\u2019s announcement of the so-called \u201c180 days of change for drivers\u201d, which the San Francisco-based firm billed as a \u201ccompany-wide effort designed to meaningfully fix and improve the driving experience\u201d.\n\nFollowing months of embarrassing scandals and PR disasters this year \u2013 including a major sexual harassment controversy and claims of a frat-house culture \u2013 the company launched an investigation, fired more than 20 employees and this month announced reforms meant to improve the workplace.\n\nBut the vision of \u201cUber 2.0\u201d, outlined in a recent all-hands meeting, largely ignored the concerns of drivers, who are classified as independent contractors and have continued to advocate for traditional job security and benefits.\n\nThe difficulties of working as a driver in the gig economy are so extreme that some have ended up homeless, forced to live out of their cars leased for Uber, according to a recent Guardian investigation. Female drivers assaulted on the job have also increasingly come forward, accusing the corporation of offering them little support during their recovery.\n\nTuesday\u2019s announcement appears to be a response to some of the backlash Uber has faced from drivers and labor groups that have fought for years to unionize drivers. The firm also announced a number of smaller changes meant to benefit drivers, including a more favorable system for \u201ccancellation fees\u201d when riders back out of trips, pay for wait times when passengers are delayed showing up, and a new option to purchase driver protection insurance.\n\nGarrett Camp, Uber co-founder, also published a blogpost Tuesday, saying the company has not done a good job responding to drivers\u2019 concerns: \u201cWe must update our core values, listen better to employees and riders, and prioritize our drivers.\u201d\n\nBut some critics said the reforms were inadequate considering how Uber has cut wages over the years and built a business model that is fundamentally unsustainable for many drivers.\n\n\u201cThey just don\u2019t care about the drivers and if the drivers have enough money to feed their families or not,\u201d said Inder Parmar, a 55-year-old Uber driver. The New York City driver, who was part of a New York Taxi Workers Alliance lawsuit seeking to classify drivers as employees, said he expected many riders would not offer tips moving forward, given that Uber has for so long made it clear that they don\u2019t have to pay the extra cash.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s long overdue. It should\u2019ve been in place when Uber started. This is a service-oriented business and drivers depend on tips,\u201d he said.\n\nUber previously defended its policy by arguing that it was \u201cbetter for riders and drivers to know for sure what they would pay or earn on each trip \u2013 without the uncertainty of tipping\u201d. The company claimed that it helped make the service \u201chassle-free\u201d.\n\nBut drivers have long contended that the lack of a tipping feature was depriving them of wages they had a right to collect. Uber\u2019s competitor Lyft has a tipping option in its app.\n\nThe Independent Drivers Guild, an affiliate of the Machinists union that represents Uber drivers in New York, praised the decision on Tuesday, saying the new rule was \u201can important first step toward a more fair ride-hail industry\u201d. Jim Conigliaro Jr, founder of the guild, added in the statement: \u201cCuts to driver pay across the ride-hail industry have made tipping income more important than ever.\u201d\n\nThe reforms are coming into place a week after the departure of Kalanick, the controversial CEO who has repeatedly faced criticisms of disrespecting drivers and ignoring their criticisms. His firm has been accused of underpaying drivers, manipulating their movements with psychological tricks, duping drivers with false advertising and using smartphone sensors to monitor their actions.\n\nEarlier this year, Kalanick was also caught on camera yelling with his own Uber driver, who complained about low wages, with the CEO saying: \u201cSome people don\u2019t like to take responsibility for their own shit \u2026 They blame everything in their life on somebody else.\u201d", "output": "Ride-hailing firm Uber is to allow tipping through its app in a feature to be rolled out to all US drivers by the end of July. Tipping was introduced in Seattle, Houston and Minneapolis earlier this week. The company had refused for years to allow passengers to offer tips via the app, which had been a long-standing grievance of drivers. The move is part of what Uber calls \"180 days of change\", a programme intended to improve the experience of working for Uber.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Online-only insurer Zhong An plans Hong Kong IPO in July \n Zhong An Online Property and Casualty is expected to list its shares in Hong Kong as early as July or August to raise up to US$2 billion, according to recent media reports.\n\nZhong An, the first onli...", "output": "Insiders have told the China Times that the country's first online-only insurance company, Zhong An, could list shares in Hong Kong as soon as next month.\u00a0The Shanghai-based firm \u2014\u00a0which was co-founded by\u00a0Ant Financial, the financial services\u00a0affiliate of\u00a0billionaire Jack Ma's Alibaba empire \u2014\u00a0is expected to sell $2bn of shares. The company, also backed by Tencent and fellow Chinese insurer Ping An, will reportedly sell a stake of\u00a0between 5% and 10%\u00a0before the flotation.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Online-only insurer Zhong An plans Hong Kong IPO in July \n Shanghai-based Zhong An was founded in 2013 by Alibaba\u2019s executive chairman Jack Ma, Tencent\u2019s chairman Pony Ma Hua-teng, and Ping An Insurance\u2019s chairman Ma Mingzhe (pictured). Photo: Oliver Tsang", "output": "Insiders have told the China Times that the country's first online-only insurance company, Zhong An, could list shares in Hong Kong as soon as next month.\u00a0The Shanghai-based firm \u2014\u00a0which was co-founded by\u00a0Ant Financial, the financial services\u00a0affiliate of\u00a0billionaire Jack Ma's Alibaba empire \u2014\u00a0is expected to sell $2bn of shares. The company, also backed by Tencent and fellow Chinese insurer Ping An, will reportedly sell a stake of\u00a0between 5% and 10%\u00a0before the flotation.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hike messenger adds mobile wallet facility in India \n Beating rival WhatsApp to the punch, Indian messaging service Hike has followed in the footsteps of its Chinese backer Tencent by adding a mobile wallet to its app, enabling tens of millions of users to send and receive money instantly.\n\nIn an Indian first, the latest Hike upgrade introduces a wallet that takes advantage of a partnership with Yes Bank and the government-backed Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for free instant bank-to-bank transfers between friends - even if the recipient is not on Hike.\n\n\n\nFor those who don't use bank accounts, P2P payments can still be made through the wallet, which also lets people top up their phones and pay postpaid bills.\n\n\n\nMimicking the hugely popular 'Red Packets' feature offered by its backer Tencent's WeChat service, a Hike 'Blue Packets' option is geared towards \"making money a new form of social expression\" - letting users choose between 10 different virtual envelopes with space for personal messages which can be stuffed with digital money and sent to friends.\n\n\n\nKavin Bharti Mittal, CEO, Hike Messenger, says: \"With Blue Packets, we\u2019re going to change the way people send and receive money. We believe we can make that experience fun and also a new form of messaging.\n\n\n\n\"Can money be the new Sticker? We believe so. That\u2019s the idea. Our users celebrate so many special moments in their lives. It could be from a simple Thank You or Congratulations to a Happy Birthday. We hope with Blue Packets we can give our users a new avenue to express themselves.\"\n\n\n\nHike, which claims more than 100 million registered users, has stolen a march on Facebook-owned WhatsApp, which is widely expected to roll out a UPI-based P2P payments service in India in the next few months.", "output": "Indian messaging service Hike has integrated a mobile wallet into its app, allowing users to make instant transactions. Hike's partnership with Yes Bank and the government-backed Unified Payments Interface will enable free and speedy\u00a0payments to be made between bank\u00a0accounts, even if the recipient is not a Hike user. Those without bank accounts can still use the mobile wallet to send and receive money, add credit to their\u00a0their phones and pay postpaid bills. The service also lets users write personal messages on a choice of virtual envelopes, which can be sent to friends with the digital money."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Publishers urged to defend Greenpeace against logging company \n The world\u2019s biggest book publishers have been dragged into a bitter dispute between a US logging company and environmental campaigners Greenpeace. It follows legal action taken by the logging company, Resolute Forest Products, which campaigners and publishers fear has implications for freedom of speech.\n\nThe dispute centres on claims by Greenpeace about the company\u2019s logging practices in sections of Canada\u2019s boreal forest, which are home to indigenous peoples as well as endangered wildlife. Greenpeace alleges that Resolute: \u201cIs responsible for the destruction of vast areas of Canada\u2019s magnificent boreal forest, damaging critical woodland caribou habitat and logging without the consent of impacted First Nations.\u201d\n\nResolute strongly disputes the claims. Last year, it followed up a 2013 defamation and economic interference lawsuit launched in Canada with a $226m (\u00a3178m) US claim under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act (Rico). Passed in 1970 to counter organised crime, the use of the act has been criticised as an attempt to silence both Resolute\u2019s critics and for setting a \u201cdangerous\u201d precedent for whistleblowers and NGOs.\n\nPublishers, including Penguin Random House and Murdoch-owned HarperCollins, became involved after a petition signed by more than 100 authors in support of Greenpeace was handed in at US publishing trade show BookExpo. The petition called for publishers using Resolute products to use their clout to pressurise the company into dropping the lawsuit and addressing alleged logging practices.\n\nHachette Livre, whose UK subsidiaries publish among others Ian Rankin, JK Rowling and Cressida Cowell, expresseds concern that the Rico action poses a threat to free speech and could be used to silence environmental organisations at a time when the US government has stated its intention to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement on climate change.\n\nEmphasising that Hachette had \u201cno intention of taking sides\u201d, but was \u201creaffirming our commitment to free speech\u201d, Ronald Blunden, senior vice-president of corporate communications said: \u201cIt is the [scale] of the damages being sought in the suit. We are concerned that it is about muzzling Greenpeace at a time when the US government is pulling out of the Paris accord on climate change.\u201d\n\nHe added: \u201cYou need these NGOs to be able to do their work and be whistleblowers, because if they disappear, and if the US pulls out of the Paris accord, who will be left to speak up and defend the environment?\u201d\n\nIn a letter to Resolute, HL chairman Arnaud Nourry described the use of racketeering law in the US as excessive and asked if there was another way in which the company could respond to the accusations. The logging company\u2019s CEO Richard Garneau responded by providing a detailed rebuttal of the activists\u2019 claims and responding to the gagging charge: \u201cFreedom of speech is not the same as libel and slander.\u201d\n\nOther publishers have expressed frustration with the way the dispute has escalated, with several describing it, off the record, as a mess. In a statement from Simon & Schuster US, senior vice president and director of corporate communications Adam Rothberg noted the claims, counterclaims and arguments made by both parties about \u201ccomplicated issues, that, as publishers, we have little ability to judge or verify\u201d. He added: \u201cWe do, however, recognise the urgency of current environmental issues, the unalloyed right to free and responsible free speech in advocating for environmental and other causes and the right to defend one\u2019s reputation.\u201d\n\nPublishers on both sides of the Atlantic said pulp from the disputed forests is not used in their books and emphasised the use of \u201cvigorous\u201d oversight by the Forest Stewardship Council. In a statement sent to the Guardian, Penguin Random House said that it \u201cstrives to procure paper from suppliers who source responsibly\u201d. HarperCollins issued a similar statement.\n\nIt is unlikely that the case will come to a swift conclusion. The next hearing will be held in California. But publishers may be forced to take economic action to end the row. Blunden said although Hachette remained a customer of Resolute, should the publisher\u2019s authors demand its wood pulp is not used in their books, the company may rethink its buying policy. However, he added, no such protests had yet been made.", "output": "Publishers including HarperCollins and Penguin Random House have become involved in a dispute between environmental campaign group Greenpeace and US logging firm Resolute Forest Products. Greenpeace has claimed that Resolute has destroyed woodland in Canada without regard for indigenous rights or wildlife habitat. Last year, Resolute launched a legal claim against Greenpeace in a move that is seen to set a dangerous precedent against NGOs. Over 100 authors subsequently signed a petition in support of Greenpeace and called for publishers to boycott Resolute products. Publishers including Hachette Livre and Simon & Schuster have now issued statements defending free speech.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "PNC Bank facilitates mobile payments for corporate clients \n PNC Bank corporate clients now can use their Visa commercial cards with Android Pay, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay. In March, Visa enabled the three mobile wallets for corporate cards. U.S. Bank was the first corporate card issuer to offer Visa cards that work on mobile wallets, and PNC began piloting Visas on mobile wallets with its own employees in April. PNC can work with companies to set up controls before enabling the capability for employees. American Express was the first card issuer and network to enable Apple Pay capability for U.S. corporate cards in 2015.", "output": "Corporate clients of Pittsburgh-based PNC Bank now have the option to use Visa commercial cards through digital payment platforms Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay. Visa enabled the use of the mobile wallets for corporate cards in March, with PNC trialling the use of Visa through mobile wallets with its own employees in April."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sensor-equipped leggings improve yoga form \n Billie Whitehouse is known for pushing boundaries with fashion and technology.\n\nHer company Wearable X designed Fundawear -- vibrating underwear for couples in long distance relationships that can be controlled by smartphones. It also created the Fan Jersey -- a shirt that uses haptic vibrations so sports fans can \"feel\" players' emotions during a game.\n\nBut these were prototypes. Whitehouse's first product that's available for people to actually purchase is NadiX yoga pants.\n\nThe pants have five sensors sewn in to help the wearer improve form for 30 different yoga poses. Once in a pose, the sensors vibrate in specific ways to tell you how to adjust your hips, knees or ankles. For downward dog, for instance, the pulses guide a person to ground the ankle and lift the knee.\n\nRelated: 'Cognitive dance party' brings AI to the club\n\nWhile Whitehouse is careful not to say that the pants help \"correct\" a yoga pose, they can sense if a person's pose is way out of whack.\n\n\"The point of the product isn't to say there is a right and a wrong pose,\" said Whitehouse. \"It isn't black and white. This is just about highlighting those micro muscles that you could be thinking about -- that you don't even know exist.\"\n\nWhitehouse says the pulses are intuitive, but overthinkers could find themselves questioning what the vibrations are trying to tell them.\n\nUnlike the majority of wearable fitness items out there, NadiX isn't intended to gather feedback about steps, calories or heart rate. That's representative of how Whitehouse and Ben Moir, cofounder and chief technology officer at Wearable X, view the projects they work on.\n\n\"[Wearable tech] needs to take a backseat and let us live our lives,\" said Moir, who is based in Australia. He sees current wearable tech as largely in a \"primitive\" stage. He and Whitehouse, who is Australian but based in New York, want to create products that are less about quantifying the body and are more empathetic.\n\nThe duo has been working for two years to bring NadiX to life. Whitehouse said that her board, and even Moir, originally told her that the idea would be impossible to execute.\n\n\"Putting electronics into garments is still so new and so difficult,\" Moir said. \"Yoga pants get stretched, get sweated in....the sensors had to be invisible, and the pants had to not be a tech-looking product. That's kind of an engineer's nightmare.\"\n\nRelated: 15 Questions with Billie Whitehouse\n\nIt involved a lot of studying the anatomy, working closely with yoga instructors, and developing the right mix of materials -- from conductive wires typically used in bulletproof vests to the right chip for the sensors.\n\nBut the pants come with a hefty price tag: $299. NadiX went on presale this month. The pants are slated to ship in August, and the team is also working on a top -- with three sensors -- to pair with it.\n\nThe pants, which are manufactured in Sri Lanka, are machine washable and powered by a removable, rechargeable battery that lasts up to 90 minutes. The battery connects via Bluetooth to a smartphone app, which lets people choose the level of yoga they're going to be practicing.\n\nMoir said they won't mine or store individualized data but will collect topline data like whether someone is a heavy user of NadiX or if their pants aren't working.", "output": "Fashion technology company Wearable X has created a pair of leggings designed to help yoga practitioners adjust their form. The NadiX trousers include five sewn-in sensors that vibrate to indicate how wearers' could adapt their positions in 30 different poses. The pulses emitted from the sensors are not designed to correct form, but to make wearers more aware of their bodies by \"highlighting those micro muscles that you could be thinking about \u2014 that you don't even know exist,\" according to Wearable X founder\u00a0Billie Whitehouse.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Sinclair Delhi clinic offers Silhouette Soft\u00a0 \n Looking for a makeover?? Get back your youth in less than one hour with the new Silhouette Soft Thread lift in Delhi, India.\n\nAll you wanted to know about Silhouette Soft thread lift \u2013\n\nIt is an adsorbable cone thread which is meant to be placed with a very fine needle in the skin.\n\nNo sutures or incisions are required for the procedure .\n\nIts a small , quick lunchtime procedure and is very safe in both men and women.\n\nCan be used for facial contour, jaw, cheeks and eyebrows\n\nIt is recommended for men and women above the age of 30\n\nResults can be seen immediately and improve over time.\n\nFinal results will be seen between 6 weeks and 6 months and will last for up to 18 to 24 months\n\nSilhouette Soft\u2019 lift and effect is enhanced by co treatment with Dermal Fillers.\n\nAt Our clinic in Delhi, India cost of Silhouette Soft Treatment varies with the number of threads used.\n\nSo if you are looking for a safe, effective and economical Silhouette Soft treatment in Delhi, India \u2013 feel free to book an appointment with our trained and experienced doctors at\n\nDermaWorld Skin and Hair Clinics,\n\nQ-4, Rajouri Garden, New Delhi -110027,INDIA\n\nContact Numbers: 9911100050, 9911200050, 9910700050, 011-45670001", "output": "The hour-long Silhouette Soft treatment uses an absorbable cone thread to countour the face, jaw, cheeks and eyebrows. The treatment requires no sutures or incisions, and is completed with a fine needle under the skin. The effects last between 18 to 24 months, and can be seen immediately. Recommended for those over the age of 30, the treatment can be completed by trained doctors at DermaWorld.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US firm Turo plugs Airbnb model for car rentals \n RelayRides changed its name to Turo in 2015. Today it claims nearly 150,000 cars on its platform, which includes many vehicles at airports, though it declined to describe how active those owners are. Getaround would not disclose exact numbers, except to say that there are thousands of cars in its major urban markets. It counts owners who have made their cars available in the past month.\n\nThat\u2019s not nothing, but putting your car in a rental pool is clearly far from a reflex for the vast majority of people. Some of this is practical, since if you commute each day, it may not be easy for a renter to get to your car when you\u2019re at the office. On the weekends, most people want flexibility for leisure, errands and family rides. Also, while homeowners have been taking in boarders for centuries, the possibility of effectively turning your vehicle into a Zipcar wouldn\u2019t have occurred to most people until the first Zipcar appeared in 2000.\n\nA search of the internet and court filings suggests some other potential problems. In the comments on a first-person blog post on Travel Codex about car theft and Turo, I found Ryan Root. He put a Jaguar on the Turo platform last year, and told me in an interview that it was damaged three times (and totaled once) during 29 rentals in Bayonne, N.J.\n\nBecause of \u201climited availability,\u201d said a Turo spokesman, Steve Webb, no one was available to talk to me on the phone. He said via email that less than 1 percent of Turo rentals result in damage.\n\nOne of Turo\u2019s own insurance partners filed suit in federal court last year over another death. In that instance, a Turo vehicle struck another car and killed its driver in Smyrna, Ga. Brian Lewis, a lawyer representing a passenger in the Turo vehicle, said that the Turo renter was not the person actually behind the wheel, and that the suit would resolve the question of whether Turo\u2019s insurance ought to cover that situation. (The lawyers for the insurance company did not respond to a request for comment.)\n\nIn an email, Mr. Webb said that the Turo vehicle in the Smyrna accident had been stolen, that the insurance company does not believe it owes coverage to a criminal, and that the coverage would indeed protect the car owner. He declined to provide overall theft figures, though he did say that it was \u201cextraordinarily rare.\u201d", "output": "San Francisco-based Turo is aiming to do for cars what Airbnb and the sharing economy did for people offering their homes or rooms to travellers. Previously called RelayRides, the car-hire company changed its name in 2015 and now has 150,000 cars on its platform, ranging from luxury to economy, which can be rented for extended periods. However, over the past few years Turo has encountered various legal issues, notably around\u00a0insurances and deaths that occurred in cars rented through its platform, resulting in New York state authorities effectively evicting the company."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "US firm Turo plugs Airbnb model for car rentals \n UBER and Lyft may be the heavyweights, but there are many and more companies entering the ride-sharing economy. You can score a seat in a car heading your direction pretty easily these days. But what about the entire vehicle? UBER and the like have absolutely disrupted (read: exploded) the taxi industry, but now a relatively new company is looking to disrupt the car rental industry. Enter: Turo.\n\nTuro is a peer-to-peer car rental service headquartered in San Francisco, though the company was founded in Boston. Turo is most easily described as \u2018Airbnb for cars\u2019. They\u2019ve developed a platform for car owners to list their unused vehicles to be rented for extended periods of time. Though the company (originally known as RelayRides) formerly focused on short-term, hourly rentals, they have since pivoted to longer term rentals.\n\nSo Turo has found a way, like many of the best startups of the last 10 years, for users to both make AND save money. If you\u2019ve got a car sitting around that you or your family isn\u2019t using, you can list it on Turo and it can start generating some income. If you are looking to rent a car for a few days, Turo is going to be far, far cheaper than renting from a brick-and-mortar car rental company. This dualist value proposition has led to Turo being listed as one of the hottest on demand startups by Forbes in 2015.\n\nAnother advantage that Turo has over traditional car rental services is the types of vehicles that you can rent. Turo\u2019s \u2018inventory\u2019 is determined by what people are listing, so you will find cars that you\u2019d never be able to get at a Rent-A-Car. Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, Jaguar: all of these luxury brands can be found and rented via Turo. If you are looking for a high-end sports car, Turo\u2019s got you covered. If you need something with four-wheel-drive for some backcountry adventures, Turo can provide. If you need something sleek to impress a date, look no further.\n\n\n\nOn the other end of the spectrum, there are plenty (if not more) economy options. You can find gas-sipping hybrids, compacts, and regular sedans. Cars on this end can often be rented for less than $20 a day! With the addition of the affordable insurance Turo provides and the gas you\u2019ll use, you\u2019re still saving tremendously compared to traditional car rental places.\n\nAnother interesting thing about Turo is that, just like Airbnb, you are interfacing directly with another person. That\u2019s certainly one of the major selling points in marketing campaigns of these companies (see the attached video), but does that really factor into the experience? Is a guest at an Airbnb more inclined to be respectful of the space because they\u2019ve met the owner of it? Similarly, is a Turo renter going to be a more cautious and responsible driver having met the person who owns the vehicle? And if so, is it the fear of facing that owner after the fact that encourages courteous usage? I\u2019m not aware of any market research on the matter, but common logic would suggest that attaching a face to the transaction can bring out the best of us.\n\nIn any case, next time you\u2019re planning a road trip, check out Turo!\n\nAdvertisement", "output": "San Francisco-based Turo is aiming to do for cars what Airbnb and the sharing economy did for people offering their homes or rooms to travellers. Previously called RelayRides, the car-hire company changed its name in 2015 and now has 150,000 cars on its platform, ranging from luxury to economy, which can be rented for extended periods. However, over the past few years Turo has encountered various legal issues, notably around\u00a0insurances and deaths that occurred in cars rented through its platform, resulting in New York state authorities effectively evicting the company."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Digital payments lose momentum in India after demonetisation boom \n Though the govt's move to take out 86% of the cash on November 8, 2016 gave an instant surge to digital payments in the months of November and December, the momentum has waned and the volume and value of digital transactions have stagnated, financial services firm Motilal Oswal observed in its recent report.The co observed that the aggregate value of all transactions under electronic payment systems failed to witness significant increase even six months post demonetisation , while cash withdrawals from ATMs have moved back to pre-demonetisation levels.\u201cAll these data points raise doubts over the desired structural shift towards digital payments post demonetisation,\u201c Motilal Oswal said in its report Ecosope \u00ad The Economy Observer.The report cites RBI data to show that the value of transactions in retail payments, including through card swiping at PoS terminals, wallets and other prepaid payment instruments (PPIs), IMPS and the unified payment interface (UPI) increased sharply in December 2016, but has now stabilised, though at higher levels. The volume of these retail digital transactions also doubled by December 2016, but there were no new net additions since then.", "output": "The number of digital payments made in India, which removed 86% of its cash from circulation in November last year, has slowed in recent months, according to a report from financial services firm Motilal Oswal. The company found that withdrawals from cash machines have returned to their pre-demonetisation levels, while retail payments using cards or mobile devices surged in December 2016, but have now stabilised. \"All these data points raise doubts over the desired structural shift towards digital payments post demonetisation,\" the report concluded.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Labour shortages drive robot uptake in Chinese factories \n Survey finds one in four workers in the Pearl River Delta changed jobs over two years \u2013 and factories have turned to automation to cope", "output": "The rising costs of human labour, and a 26% turnover rate among factory workers, has led 40% of manufacturers in Guangdong and Hubei to use automated machines for production, according to a survey from China's Wuhan University. However, investment in research and development has fallen from 60% in 2014 to 38% in 2015. Chinese factory owners are also seeking subsidies and tax benefits from the state, the survey said. Government support through tax exemptions, refunds and other means, has become critical to many Chinese factories' survival as costs rise and demand slows."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ford to relocate small car production from US to China \n DETROIT \u2014 Ford Motor Co. will export vehicles from China to the U.S. for the first time starting in 2019.\n\nFord (F) said Tuesday it plans to move production of its Ford Focus small car from the U.S. to China, where it already makes the Focus for Chinese buyers.\n\nSales of small cars have dropped sharply in the U.S. and companies are seeking to cut costs making them. Ford's president of global operations Joe Hinrichs said the move to China will save the company $1 billion, including $500 million for canceling plans to build the Focus in Mexico.\n\nWary of the response from President Donald Trump, who has criticized Ford for making vehicles outside the U.S., Ford said the move won't cost U.S. jobs. The suburban Detroit plant that currently makes the Focus will be converted late next year to produce the Ford Ranger pickup and Ford Bronco SUV.\n\nHinrichs said Ford's research shows that customers \u2014 who are used to phones and other gadgets from China \u2014 care more about product quality than where their vehicles are made.\n\nFord also said Tuesday that it plans to invest $900 million in its Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville to make the new, aluminum-sided Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs. Those vehicles will go on sale this fall and will be exported to more than 55 markets globally, the company said. The investment will secure 1,000 jobs at the Kentucky plant.\n\nThe Focus has been bounced around over the last few months as Ford tried to squeeze some profits from the ailing small car segment. U.S. Focus sales were down 20 percent through May, hurt by low gas prices and consumer preference for SUVs.\n\nIn January, the company announced it would cancel a new plant in Mexico and instead use capacity at another plant in Mexico to build the Focus. But over the last few months, Hinrichs said, Ford decided it could save another $500 million in tooling and other manufacturing costs if it moved production to China.\n\nHinrichs said last month's departure of former CEO Mark Fields had no bearing on the decision, which was in the works for some time.\n\nHinrichs said Chinese wages are lower than wages in Mexico, although the cost to ship the vehicles erases some of that advantage. It's still cheaper to make cars for the U.S. in Mexico, he said, but Ford has extra capacity in China and the move frees up capital for the company immediately.\n\nFord isn't the first car company to export vehicles to the U.S. from China. Volvo Cars made the move in 2015. General Motors Co. started importing the low-volume Buick Envision midsize SUV from China in 2016. GM also imports small numbers of a plug-in hybrid-electric Cadillac CT6 sedans from China.", "output": "Automaker Ford has announced plans to import more of its vehicles to the US from China.\u00a0Beginning in 2019\u00a0Ford Focus production for then US market will be shifted\u00a0to China, where the\u00a0automaker already manufactures\u00a0the model for the\u00a0Chinese market.\u00a0The decision\u00a0was\u00a0prompted by the drop in small car sales in the US and a desire to reduce\u00a0the costs of producing\u00a0the vehicles. The move will save the company\u00a0$1bn, according to Joe Hinrichs, Ford's president of global operations. Ford says the change\u00a0will not result in\u00a0job losses as the factory where the Focus is currently made\u00a0will be reconfigured for the manufacture of\u00a0Ford Ranger pickups and Ford Bronco SUVs in 2018."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Rubius raises $120m for its red blood cell therapy project \n On Wednesday, day three of the 2017 BIO International Convention, Flagship Pioneering is poised to make a splash.\n\nThe Cambridge, Massachusetts-based venture capital firm has announced a mega $120 million Series B for Rubius Therapeutics, a startup founded out of its innovation VentureLabs hub.\n\nIn line with Flagship\u2019s model for innovation, Rubius is working on a novel technology with a plethora of possible applications.\n\nIt all centers around the company\u2019s Rubius Erythrocyte Design (RED) platform, which reengineers red blood cells into purpose-built therapeutic machines. The idea is appealing on a number of fronts, not least because red blood cells are naturally allogeneic \u2014 they don\u2019t trigger an immune response. Any subsequent products could theoretically be used off-the-shelf.\n\nIn a phone interview, Torben Straight Nissen, president of Rubius and a Flagship venture partner, noted that two major innovations have made the somewhat intuitive approach possible.\n\nThe first is the company\u2019s ability to engineer red blood cells. If you took biology 101, you\u2019ll recall that they don\u2019t have a cell nucleus. There\u2019s no one in the cockpit to give your orders to. To create a malleable cell, Rubius makes its intervention earlier on in the maturation process before the nucleus is expelled. That allows the team to engineer proteins within the cell or on the cell surface \u2014 even multiple different proteins if required.\n\nThe end product can interact with many different cells, for many different therapeutic applications.\n\n\u201cWe can express enzymes within RED cells, whereby they are shielded from the immune system and also they will be circulating with the RED cell for up to 120 days,\u201d Straight Nissen explained.\n\nEnzyme replacement therapies are just the beginning. The RED cell therapeutics (RCTs) could be used to activate T-cells as part of a cancer immunotherapy approach. Or they could be programmed to bind tumor cells and trigger apoptosis directly. As Straight Nissen noted, solid tumors typically have well-established and leaky vascular systems, which makes RCTs the perfect therapeutic solution. For blood cancers, a blood-based approach is a no-brainer.\n\nIn other fields, Rubius has performed some preliminary work gauging RCT\u2019s potential in autoimmune, metabolic, rare, and infectious diseases.\n\nThe second technological leap Rubius has made relates to the final product. It also goes a long way to explaining the investor enthusiasm.\n\n\u201cWhat we\u2019ve then been able to show reasonably, is that we can manufacture these engineered RED cells in bioreactors,\u201d Straight Nissen said. \u201cThat now allows us to produce large quantities of cells and move into the clinic with a scalable manufacturing process.\u201d\n\nTo further guarantee compatibility with all patients, Rubius is manufacturing its product using precursor cells from universal O-negative donors. Each patient will also undergo additional cross-matching prior to their first dose.\n\n\u201cOne thing that makes us excited about this platform and working with RED cells is that there are decades, if not hundreds of years, of experience with blood transfusions and we\u2019re really leveraging that whole infrastructure that already exists in the medical community to deliver our product,\u201d he said.\n\nAt $120 million, the biotech\u2019s financing was one of the largest recorded thus far in 2017 and \u201chighly oversubscribed.\u201d Straight Nissen said the company garnered a lot of interest from institutional investors and could have raised \u201csignificantly\u201d more than the final sum. As it stands, he believes Rubius is well-positioned to execute on its strategy for the next three years, to the end of the first clinical readouts.\n\nIt\u2019s a pat on the back for Flagship, which made an initial $25 million downpayment to launch the company in 2015.\n\nPhoto: virusowy, Getty Images", "output": "Massachusetts-based biotech start-up Rubius Therapeutics has raised $120m in a series B round led by parent company Flagship Pioneering; marking one of the highest sums raised in\u00a02017. Considerable interest surrounds the company's Rubius Erythrocyte Design\u00a0platform, which manufactures significant amounts of red blood cells and re-engineers them at an early stage for different therapeutic purposes, from activating T-cells as part of a cancer immunotherapy to binding with tumour cells and triggering apoptosis - the natural death of cells that occurs during growth."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Government must enforce gig economy workers' rights: Law Society \n Government-backed inspectors should be able to investigate companies and entire industries to prevent unscrupulous companies falsely labelling workers as self-employed, according to a leading legal body.\n\nIn a submission to the independent review of employment practices led by Matthew Taylor, the Law Society also recommends the immediate scrapping of employment tribunal fees, which have led to a 70% fall in claims in the last three years. It also says every worker should receive written clarification of their employment status.\n\nIt suggests that the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, which already has some investigatory powers over food and farming operators, could be handed responsibility to carry out investigations into employment status in all businesses.\n\nThe Taylor review, which was commissioned by the government last year, is expected to publish recommendations in the next few weeks.\n\n\u201cOur rights at work are not optional \u2013 they are the minimum standard to which we are entitled,\u201d said the Law Society president, Robert Bourns. \u201cOur law relies on individuals taking their employer to court to get their rights recognised \u2013 a task that is simply beyond most people. Bad employers know this and take advantage of it to cut corners and underpay people, knowing they\u2019ll probably get away with it.\n\n\u201cAn independent government inspector who can go into a business to ensure staff are being given their proper workplace rights will help put a stop to this exploitation, and put everyone on a fair and even playing field.\u201d\n\nThe rise of platforms including Uber, Deliveroo and online retailers, most of which say their drivers and riders are independent contractors, has led to growing concern that millions are stuck in insecure and stressful work in the gig economy.\n\nSelf-employed independent contractors are not entitled to holiday pay, sick pay or pension contributions. In contrast those categorised as workers have a degree of independence and can be self-employed but they are also entitled to limited rights including the national minimum wage and holiday pay. The most secure are employees, who have full rights including entitlements to flexible working, maternity pay and sick pay.\n\nThe importance of these categories has been highlighted by a string of tribunals led by trade unions questioning the status of drivers and riders including successful cases brought by cycle couriers at CitySprint and Excel and drivers for taxi app Uber. All three cases found the riders and drivers were workers.\n\nEvidence suggests a significant minority of employers are circumventing employment protection legislation. Research from Citizens Advice in 2015 suggested that one in 10 people, or about 460,000, have been mislabelled self-employed. In January, the TUC reported that the number of people without guaranteed hours or baseline employment rights had risen by more than 660,000 (27%) over the past five years.\n\nThe Law Society suggests a comprehensive review of employment legislation and clearer definitions of employment categories. It says all businesses should be forced to clarify the status of their workers in writing.\n\nTaylor has said he is considering allowing workers to check directly with the government whether attempts by companies to class them as self-employed are legitimate. He is also considering whether to give agency workers on variable hours the right to request a permanent contract after a certain period.", "output": "Companies and industries falsely designating workers as self-employed should be subject to investigation by government inspectors, according to the Law Society. The representative body for solicitors in England and Wales submitted its recommendation, along with proposals for written clarification of each worker\u2019s employment status and the scrapping of employment tribunal fees, to Matthew Taylor\u2019s independent review of employment practices. The Law Society also suggested that the existing Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, which investigates food and farming companies, could inspect employment status in all sectors."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Government must enforce gig economy workers' rights: Law Society \n Illegal Migration Bill \u2013 86% of Britons say its important that their MP votes to uphold the rule of law\n\nAround 9 in 10 Brits (86%) say that it is important to them that their local Member of Parliament (MP) votes to uphold the rule...\n\n26 Apr 2023", "output": "Companies and industries falsely designating workers as self-employed should be subject to investigation by government inspectors, according to the Law Society. The representative body for solicitors in England and Wales submitted its recommendation, along with proposals for written clarification of each worker\u2019s employment status and the scrapping of employment tribunal fees, to Matthew Taylor\u2019s independent review of employment practices. The Law Society also suggested that the existing Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, which investigates food and farming companies, could inspect employment status in all sectors."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Hanson Robotics' Sophia android freaks out Piers Morgan \n Piers Morgan veered between chuckling and looking freaked out as he interview robot Sophia and her creator Dr David Hanson on GMB\n\n\"This is freaking me out!\" Piers Morgan unsettled by eerily life like female robot on Good Morning Britain\n\nPiers Morgan appeared both totally freaked out and utterly intrigued by a life like female robot who joined him on the Good Morning Britain sofa.\n\nThe television presenter and journalist was tasked with interviewing Sophia and her creator, Dr David Hanson, who devised Sophia to talk, smile and even tell jokes using artificial intelligence.\n\nAnd Piers made it clear from the start it was slightly unsettling!\n\n\"This is freaking me out, this is the nearest thing to a human I've ever seen in robot form,\" he said.\n\n\"You're a little freak, aren't you?\" he told Sophia.\n\n\"This is great!\"\n\nImage: ITV) ITV) Image: ITV) ITV) Image: ITV) ITV)\n\nPiers and co-host Susanna Reid interviewed Sophia, who had been pre programmed with certain answers to their questions which included whether she knew what show she was on (she did) and what she thinks of the UK (\"brilliant, splendid architecture, art, technology and, of course, the people.\")\n\nThings got a bit flirty when Piers asked the best thing about the UK compared to America and Sophia replied: \"I love your posh English accent, it has a really nice ring.\"\n\nAs for whether she's single, she said: \"I'm technically just a little more than a year old. A bit young to worry about romance.\"\n\nPiers replied: \"Look at her smile! Oh God, this is freaking me out!\"\n\nImage: ITV) ITV)\n\nPiers then asked Sophia how she'd handle a strong, confident man who likes the sound of his own voice, to which she said: \"I would ask him to focus on observing and listening rather than talking.\"\n\n\"Sounds like terrible advice to me!\" quipped Piers.\n\nHe wasn't the only one who wasn't sure what to make of Sophia.\n\nOthers were in awe of Sophia and her creator.\n\nExplaining his work, Dr Hanson said: \"We\u2019re working to make relationship machines that can understand us and then ultimately care about us.\u201d\n\nOn whether these relationships could be romantic, Dr Hanson said: \u201cWhile AI [artificial intelligence] is getting smarter, it\u2019s going through a childhood and we want to respect that so maybe someday they\u2019ll reach an age of consent but not yet.\u201d\n\n* GMB airs weekdays at 6am on ITV1", "output": "Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan has admitted feeling \"freaked out\" by a human-like female robot called Sophia, which appeared on the talk show. Morgan and co-host Susanna Reid interviewed the robot and her creator, Dr David Hanson, who built Sophia using artificial intelligence. Asked by Morgan whether she was single, Sophia responded: \"I'm technically just a little more than a year old. A bit young to worry about romance.\""}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Stanford team develops copper catalyst to make ethanol from CO2 \n \u201cOne of our long-range goals is to produce renewable ethanol in a way that doesn\u2019t impact the global food supply. Copper is one of the few catalysts that can produce ethanol at room temperature,\u201d he said. \u201cYou just feed it electricity, water and carbon dioxide, and it makes ethanol. The problem is that it also makes 15 other compounds simultaneously, including lower-value products like methane and carbon monoxide. Separating those products would be an expensive process and require a lot of energy,\u201d said study principal investigator Thomas Jaramillo, an associate professor of chemical engineering at Stanford and of photon science at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.\n\nResearchers at Standford University have designed large-format, thin-film copper catalysts for the electroreduction of CO 2 to ethanol. The results are published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.\n\nThe electrochemical reduction of CO 2 (CO 2 R) is a process that could couple to renewable energy from wind and solar to directly produce fuels and chemicals in a sustainable manner. However, developing catalysts is a major challenge for this reaction, and significant advances are needed to overcome the issues of poor energy efficiency and product selectivity. One reason for these issues is that there are a limited number of catalysts that can effectively convert CO 2 to products that require more than two electrons (>2e\u2212 products), e.g., methane, methanol, ethylene, etc.. Therefore, developing catalysts that are effective for CO 2 R to >2e\u2212 products would greatly improve prospects for utilization, and such an endeavor requires a deeper understanding of the relevant surface chemistry.\n\nOut of the polycrystalline metals, Cu is the only one that has shown a propensity for CO 2 R to >2e\u2212 products at considerable rates and selectivity. To date, its uniqueness is reflected by how nearly all work on catalysts with improved activity and selectivity for >2e\u2212 products is based on Cu. However, poly-crystalline Cu is not particularly selective toward any one >2e\u2212 reduction product. Thus, it is critical to understand what active site motifs lead to this unique selectivity for further reduced products and to apply this knowledge to develop new materials with this electrocatalytic behavior.\n\n\u2026 In this study, we use electron-beam (e-beam) deposition to epitaxially grow large-format single-crystal analogous Cu thin films on Si and Al 2 O 3 single crystals. After growth, a combination of X-ray pole figures and electrochemical scanning tunneling microscopy are used to correlate the bulk and in situ surface structures. After physical characterization, we use our previously reported electrochemical flow cell design with high product detection sensitivity to examine the dependence of CO 2 R activity and selectivity on surface structure. Using these results, we confirm the dependence of C\u2013C coupling on surface structure, and provide insights on surface motifs that govern selectivity between >2e\u2212 oxygenates and hydrocarbons. \u2014Hahn et al.\n\nFor the PNAS study, the Stanford team chose three samples of crystalline copper, known as copper (100), copper (111) and copper (751). Scientists use these numbers to describe the surface geometries of single crystals.\n\nCopper (100), (111) and (751) look virtually identical but have major differences in the way their atoms are arranged on the surface. The essence of our work is to understand how these different facets of copper affect electrocatalytic performance. \u2014Christopher Hahn, co-lead lead author of the study\n\nIn previous studies, scientists had created single-crystal copper electrodes just 1-square millimeter in size. For this study, Hahn and his co-workers at SLAC developed a novel way to grow single crystal-like copper on top of large wafers of silicon and sapphire. This approach resulted in films of each form of copper with a 6-square centimeter surface, 600 times bigger than typical single crystals.\n\nTo compare electrocatalytic performance, the researchers placed the three large electrodes in water, exposed them to carbon dioxide gas and applied a potential to generate an electric current.\n\nThe results were clear. When the team applied a specific voltage, the electrodes made of copper (751) were far more selective to liquid products, such as ethanol and propanol, than those made of copper (100) or (111); Cu(751) had the highest oxygenate/hydro-carbon ratio of the three Cu orientations.\n\nUltimately, the Stanford team would like to develop a technology capable of selectively producing carbon-neutral fuels and chemicals at an industrial scale.\n\nThe eye on the prize is to create better catalysts that have game-changing potential by taking carbon dioxide as a feedstock and converting it into much more valuable products using renewable electricity or sunlight directly,\u201d Jaramillo said. \u201cWe plan to use this method on nickel and other metals to further understand the chemistry at the surface. We think this study is an important piece of the puzzle and will open up whole new avenues of research for the community. \u2014Tom Jaramillo\n\nFunding was provided by the US Department of Energy and the Stanford Global Climate and Energy Project.\n\nResources", "output": "A copper catalyst for the electroreduction of CO2 to ethanol has been developed by Stanford University researchers. Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide is a process that could be coupled with renewable energy from wind and solar power to produce fuels and chemicals in a sustainable manner, said a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. By developing a thin-film copper catalyst, scientists hope to have greatly improved the prospects for CO2's successful conversion into ethanol.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Cowarobot introduces autonomous baby stroller \n Freeing up your hands to enjoy an organic soy latte and gluten-free banana bread, Chinese company Cowarobot's autonomous stroller follows you around the factory outlets with your precious cargo in tow.\n\nUnveiled at the CES Asia technology show in Shanghai earlier this month, the motorised smart baby stroller follows you at arm's length, using built-in cameras to track your every move and hopefully avoid bumping into things and waking the baby.\n\nShould the smart stroller lose sight of you, it homes in on your wrist bracelet to ensure you don't accidentally leave bub behind. You can also double-tap on the bracelet to call the stroller to your side.\n\nThe control bracelet has a 30-metre range, should the stroller decide to stroll away, but as a fail-safe the stroller also has built-in GPS. So there's no need to panic, as you can always pull out your smartphone to check on your baby's adventures while you grab another latte and peruse your baby's Instagram account to see if it's spotted any bargains in the vintage clothing store.", "output": "Shanghai-based robotics company Cowarobot has unveiled a robot baby stroller at the CES Asia technology Show. The smart buggy has built-in cameras and a smart bracelet to track the owner's position,\u00a0ensuring\u00a0they do not leave the buggy behind. A user can also double-tap the bracelet to call the buggy to his or her\u00a0side from up to 30 metres away. The stroller\u00a0has a maximum speed of 7km/h and a built-in rechargeable battery which gives a\u00a02km range."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Belarus targets Chinese market for beef and dairy export \n Belarus Looking to Export Broiler, Beef and Dairy to China BELARUS - Belarusian Agriculture and Food Minister Leonid Zayats said that broiler farms in Belarus plan to pass certification to supply products to the Chinese market.\n\n20 June 2017 20 June 2017 1 minute read 1 minute read Europe\n\nThe minister told reporters at the international agricultural expo Belagro 2017 that the Chinese market is one of the most promising for the supply of Belarusian agricultural products.\n\nMr Zayats said that Belarus had strengthened its supplies to China.\n\nThe official informed that on 16 June, experts from the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China conducted inspections in Belarus for the accreditation of local meat processing enterprises.\n\nThe minister noted that in July, an agreement is to be signed that gives the right to Belarusian companies to supply beef to the Chinese market.\n\nHe also recalled that 34 dairy enterprises are already certified to supply milk to the Chinese market.\n\nBelarus actively diversifies the supply of its agricultural products, Zayats concluded.\n\nTheCattleSite News Desk", "output": "Belarusian broiler farms are preparing to pass certification in order to export goods to China, according to Belarus' Agriculture and Food Minister Leonid Zayats. In an agreement set to be signed in July, Belarusian companies will be permitted\u00a0to supply beef to the Chinese market, alongside milk exports\u00a0from 34 already-certified dairies."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Indian committee close to defining cryptocurrencies' legal\u00a0status \n Shreya Nandi Moneycontrol News The government will soon take a call on whether India should regulate virtual currencies such as bitcoins\u2014a cryptocurrency used as a digital mode of payment. A committee comprising officials from finance ministry, NITI Aayog, ministry of information technology, State Bank of India and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is giving final touches to a report on the way forward for virtual currencies in India and whether or not to legalise or regulate them. The panel is also examining the existing international framework on virtual currencies and will suggest measures on consumer protection and prevent money laundering. \"We have had five meetings and have consulted all ministries, public, stakeholders (exchanges such as Zebpay and Unocoin). We will submit the report by July-end,\" a senior government official told Moneycontrol. The crucial task for the committee is to fix the accountability for the transactions carried out through virtual currencies and a body needs to regulate them, the official explained. \u201cSEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) can be asked to regulate virtual currencies as transactions are currently done through unregulated exchanges. RBI may step in if the government plans to regulate them or accept them as currency,\u201d the official said. Currently, India does not have any monitoring mechanism for virtual currencies. Most countries are yet to determine the legality of bitcoin--the most commonly used virtual currency. Countries like the US, European Union, Australia have indirectly given nod to the legal usage of bitcoins by introducing regulatory mechanism, while Russia and Iceland have banned them. The government panel is said to be exploring the possibility of various options. One of them being hiring an agency that would monitor the trading guidelines and finalise the laws governing virtual currencies. \"We may monitor these currencies for some time and then see how it progresses. It can then be concluded if at all there is a need for a regulator,\u201d the official said. However, chances of legalising currencies like bitcoins are very bleak, the official said. On the other hand, banning bitcoins is not easy. Simply because one doesn't know who is trading or operating it, he explained. A comprehensive framework for regulating such currency transactions is likely to take long time as the legal structure doesn't exist to deal with them. Time and again, the RBI has warned traders of the perils of using virtual currencies. In 2013, the apex bank had cautioned the users, holders and traders of virtual currencies, including bitcoins, about the potential financial, operational, legal, customer protection and security related risks that they are exposing themselves to. Such currencies are stored in electronic wallets and are prone to losses arising out of hacking, loss of password, compromise of access credentials, and malware attack, RBI had said. \u201c...VCs, including Bitcoins, are being used for illicit and illegal activities in several jurisdictions. The absence of information of counterparties in such peer-to-peer anonymous/ pseudonymous systems could subject the users to unintentional breaches of anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) laws,\u201d it had then warned. The government also echoed similar views recently. \u201cRBI has cautioned the users, holders and traders of Virtual Currencies(VCs), including Bitcoins about the potential financial, operational, legal customer protection and security related risks that they are exposing themselves to. The creation, trading or usage of VCs including Bitcoins, as a medium for payment have not been authorised by the RBI,\u201d Arjun Ram Meghwal, minister of state for finance, had told Lok Sabha in a written reply in February this year.", "output": "The Indian government will soon decide how to regulate transactions carried out with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, a senior government official has said. A committee made up of officials from India's finance ministry, the National Institution for Transforming India, the ministry of information technology, the State Bank of India and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is reviewing India's policy on cryptocurrencies and will suggest measures on consumer protection and to prevent money laundering. If the government plans to accept bitcoin as a currency, the RBI may be asked to regulate transactions, the official said."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Flexible batteries show potential for wearables \n In recent years, electronic devices have migrated into all sorts of strange areas \u2014 smart underwear, for instance, that can measure your heart rate, calorie consumption, and posture. As such, batteries are changing too. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have developed a new kind of stretchy battery specifically designed for wearable devices and clothing that require more flexibility than old-school electronics. In fact, the engineering team has come up with two new stretchy battery designs that can expand, contract, and bend while preserving the cost-efficiency and safety of traditional batteries. Originally developed by Alla Zamarayeva, a Ph.D candidate at the university, the batteries use helical springs in a stretchable S-shape or flexible linear wire that can be incorporated into clothing, bracelets, and other wearable objects. The batteries can also be used for certain medical devices. \u201cWe developed stretchable batteries to power stretchable wearable electronics, including devices for health monitoring and sensing,\u201d Zamarayeva said. \u201cHaving electronics in a stretchable format provides comfort to the wearer and often improves signal to noise ratio of the sensors, if the electronics is worn directly on the skin.\u201d\n\nThe flexible silver-zinc batteries \u2014 a common type of high-performance battery used in electronics \u2014 can withstand repeated bending without loss of structural integrity or performance. The researchers used a custom-built flexing apparatus to approximate repeated use: 17,000 flex cycles at 0.5-centimeter radius, if you're keeping score at home. \u201cThe market for flexible and stretchable batteries is still in its infancy, but there are no products with similar mechanical properties, as we know of,\u201d Zamarayeva said. RELATED: MIT Has Designed a Workout Suit Covered With Living Cells to Keep You Cool The flexible batteries can be plugged in and charged up like other rechargeable units, but the Berkeley team is looking farther ahead by incorporating solar power too. Fellow researcher Aminy Ostfeld specializes in the intersection of solar cells and batteries, and said that such options will be critical for real-world applications. \u201cFor the applications we're targeting in wearables and the internet of things, it would be highly impractical to plug the batteries into the wall whenever they need charging,\u201d she said. \u201cAlthough there have been many efforts to develop high-performing batteries and high-performing solar cells, relatively few of them have focused on designing batteries and solar cells that perform well together, integrated into a single system for a given application.\u201d", "output": "Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed two stretchy batteries for use in wearable devices and clothing, according to an article published in the journal Science Advances. The batteries were created using helical springs in a stretchable S-shape or flexible linear wire, and are ideal for wearables requiring close skin contact. The team is already looking to add solar capacity to its offering and is building a flexible prototype wearable with a battery that stores solar energy, which in turn powers medical sensors.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "EU ineffective against Asian traffickers: Court of Auditors \n I refuse\n\nI accept\n\nWe use cookies and similar technologies, as well as those of third parties, in order to offer you a better browsing experience and to help us understand how visitors use the site.You have the choice to refuse or accept them.You can read more information about our Cookies policy", "output": "The European Union has been targeted by human traffickers from Asia and must improve its anti-slavery programmes, according to a report from the European Court of Auditors. The research found that imprecise objectives and lack of local commitment meant that the \u20ac31m ($35m) spent on projects in South and Southeast Asia from 2009 to 2015 had been ineffective. The Court called for adjustments to be made to initiatives to make them more responsive to local needs. Nearly 46 million people worldwide are victims of slavery and trafficking according to the 2016 Global Slavery Index.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Coming up: Tesla to unveil affordable Model 3 in July  \n Tesla's big selling point for the Model 3 is its affordability, with a starting price of $35,000 before tax incentives. But for customers who want the full Tesla experience, however, the final price will most likely surpass $40,000.\n\nA Tesla Model 3 sedan, its first car aimed at the mass market, is displayed during its launch in Hawthorne, California, March 31, 2016. REUTERS/Joe White/File Photo\n\nIt's unclear whether customers who buy the Tesla Model 3 will be eligible for the full $7,500 federal tax incentive \u2014 that credit applies only to the first 200,000 cars a manufacturer sells domestically.\n\nTesla globally sold about 80,000 vehicles in 2016 and about 50,000 vehicles in 2015. Factoring cars sold since 2008, Tesla will be cutting it close to 200,000 vehicles by the time deliveries begin at the end of the year.\n\nBut the credit doesn't disappear the second an automaker hits 200,000 vehicles. Instead, the credit would first fall by 50%, CNN reported.\n\nOn its website, Tesla doesn't make any guarantees about the federal tax incentive.\n\n\"We are committed to providing you with the most current information about incentives at the time of purchase. We'll do the same when it's time for confirming your Model 3 order,\" the website says.\n\nTesla's new Autopilot system will also cost at least $7,100, but more on that later.", "output": "Tesla is set to unveil it's most affordable car, the Model 3, in July. With a starting cost of $35,000 before tax incentives, the vehicle is considered a challenger to\u00a0the Chevy Bolt, which starts at $37,495. The Model 3 battery is said to have a range of 215 miles on a single charge (against the Bolt's 238 miles) and will come with a supercomputer that can run Tesla's extras including the Enhanced Autopilot system, which Tesla states will eventually enable Level 5 autonomy; a fully driverless system.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Institutional Shareholder Services purchases climate data firm \n A leading shareholder advisory firm is buying up environmental data and analytics companies, because its says investors are increasingly concerned about the impact climate change will have on their portfolios.\n\n\n\nInstitutional Shareholder Services said it is buying the investment climate data division of South Pole Group, a Zurich-based environmental advisory firm on Monday.\n\nThe division, formerly known as Climate Neutral Investments, provides data and analytics to asset owners and investment managers on the impact of climate change on portfolios.\n\nISS said the company built the world's largest database of company-level climate change data and pioneered investment carbon screening tools that can screening for climate change implications for more than $2 trillion of assets under management.\n\n\"We can come in and work with an investment manager now, and say, we have helped to identify governance risk, now we can actually build a view of the climate footprint of your portfolio and provide insight into where specifically that is coming from,\" ISS Chief Operating Officer Stephen Harvey told CNBC in an interview.\n\nThis would allow a manager to find some way to offset the risks or recalibrate the portfolio, he added.\n\nThough it may be known mostly as a proxy advisory firm, ISS has been aggressively growing two other businesses: one in governance data and analytics, and another in responsible investing, Harvey told CNBC.\n\nThis is the third socially and environmentally focused firm ISS has bought \u2014 the company bought Scandinavian firm Ethix SRI in 2015, and acquired Maine-based IW Financial in early 2017.\n\nISS has seen \"huge interest\" in risks related to climate change, despite \"political headwinds in the U.S.,\" Harvey said.\n\n\"We see asset managers who care about things like board diversity and CEO pay alignment, which are more traditional,\" Harvey said. \"But increasingly we see some who care also about the potential impact of climate change, and whether companies are taking a sustainable approach to growing.\"\n\nThe firm is targeting asset owners, such as pension funds, investment managers and alternative investors, such as hedge funds.\n\nThe data can also help inform investment managers of environmental issues that might arise at a company's annual general meeting. In some cases, for example, managers may even use a shareholder meeting to raise issues around a company's environmental footprint, Harvey said.\n\nThe firm has also seen demand for these kinds of extra-financial data among investment firms trying to evaluate particular risks with a company, or some other information that might be relevant.\n\nFor example, the tools could help investors identify or filter out companies that had fallen afoul of a certain global norms.\n\nFor its proxy voting advisory business, ISS typically works with institutional investors to determine what they care about when evaluating governance issues, Harvey said.\n\n\"We already have a couple of environmental companies, now we have a company that focuses on carbon,\" he said. \"Now we can start to place some of those signals into a custom policy a customer might have, particularly around companies they are concerned about.\"", "output": "Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), the major shareholder advisory firm, is buying Climate Neutral Investments, the climate data division of Zurich-based environmental advisory company, South Pole Group. The division provides asset owners and fund managers with data relating to the impact of climate change on investment portfolios. ISS also acquired socially and environmentally focussed firms Ethix SRI and IW Financial in 2015 and 2017 respectively. ISS states that it has experienced \u201chuge interest\u201d in climate change risks and is now targeting asset owners, including pension funds, investment managers and hedge funds.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Meat labelled \u2018raised without antibiotics\u2019 to be sold in UK \n \n\nA \u2018raised without antibiotics\u2019 label has been launched on packs of pig meat in the UK. The first \u2018antibiotic-free\u2019 products will be bacon sold in supermarkets including Morrisons and Tesco, as well as at smaller retailers and through online shops.\n\n\n\nThe antibiotic-free meat comes from the Spoilt Pig / Brydock farms partnership (owned by the Karro group). The higher welfare pigmeat is covered by the RSPCA Assured scheme.\n\n\n\nUnder the new Brydock system, piglets are farrowed outdoors and brought indoors at weaning age. They are then kept at low stocking densities, on deep-straw bedding and with natural ventilation. On intensive farms, piglets can be weaned as early as 21 days, though the average weaning age in the UK is 26 days, and Brydock Farms\u2019 pigs are weaned at 28 days.\n\n\n\nThere is no tail docking or teeth clipping on the farms and pigs are treated with antibiotics only when necessary, usually on an individual basis, with any treated pigs being sold separately under a Freedom Food label, but without the antibiotic-free label. In total, 85-90% of pigs raised receive no antibiotics.\n\n\n\nWhilst the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics welcomed the launch of the new range, stating that \u201cThe initiative shows how major improvements in animal husbandry and welfare can greatly contribute to reducing farm antibiotic use, while still delivering affordable meat,\u201d the National Pig Association (NPA) said the antibiotic-free label \u201cMust not be used as a gimmick just to sell a product.\u201d\n\n\n\nNPA\u2019s chief executive Zoe Davies said the label could confuse customers.\n\n\n\nCoilin Nunan, Scientific Advisor at the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics, commented,\u201cThe Spoilt Pig/Brydock partnership provides an excellent example of how higher welfare standards help reduce the need for antibiotics. As the wider pig industry starts to reduce its overuse of antibiotics, let\u2019s hope it is willing to learn from initiatives like this.\u201d\n\n\n\n", "output": "Pig meat labelled as antibiotic-free is to go on sale in the UK. The meat is produced by the Spoilt Pig/Brydock farmers partnership and is covered by the high welfare RSPCA Assured scheme. The first products available will be bacon, which will be sold online, in small retailers and in Morrisons and Tesco. The partnership\u2019s pigs will receive antibiotics only when required and typically on an individual basis. Meat from treated pigs will be sold under the Freedom Food rather than the antibiotic-free label. Overall, it is expected\u00a0that 85-90% of the partnership\u2019s pigs will not receive antibiotics.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesla offers to share its Supercharger network with other automakers \n Tesla officials have been talking about the possibility of opening up their Supercharger network to other automakers for years, but it never resulted in anything. In the meantime, it remains the undeniable leading electric vehicle fast-charging network in the world \u2013 both for coverage and for charge rates \u2013 and one of Tesla\u2019s main competitive advantages.\n\nBut now Tesla CTO JB Straubel says that they are \u201cactively talking to other car makers\u201d about using the network.\n\nThe Tesla executive made the comment during a Q&A at Midwest Renewable Energy Association\u2019s 28th Annual Energy Fair in Wisconsin on Saturday. When talking about Tesla sharing its IP with other automakers, Straubel said:\n\n\u201cFor things like Supercharger, we are actively talking to other car makers and we are trying to figure out a structure to work with them.\u201d\n\nThough he also acknowledged that congestion was still a problem on the network.\n\nThe last time that the possibility of Tesla sharing the network was brought up was back in September 2015. During a press conference in Germany, Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla is in talks with \u201csome [auto] manufacturers\u201d about sharing the network.\n\nMusk said Tesla would still own and operate all of its Supercharger locations and would only ask of other manufacturers to contribute to maintenance and electricity costs based on the usage of their vehicles on the network, but it never happened.\n\nWhile the Supercharger network has been expanding significantly since Musk made the comment, it remained overcrowded. Therefore, it didn\u2019t make much sense to add even more vehicles on the network by opening it up to other vehicles.\n\nToday, all electric vehicles on the road other than Tesla\u2019s are not capable of taking more than half of the Supercharger\u2019s maximum charge rate, which means the vehicles would have stayed longer at the charging stations and it would have crowded the network even more than it already is. Here\u2019s a line of Tesla vehicles waiting for a spot at a Supercharger in the Bay Area earlier this month:\n\nBut Tesla has since announced even further expansions of the network and they have also introduced a new pay-per-use system that could facilitate the introduction of new vehicles from other automakers on the network.\n\nIt makes Straubel\u2019s new comment that Tesla is still talking to other car makers about using the network even more interesting.\n\nTesla has also joined the CCS charging standard association, which means that they plan to take steps to promote the system, which could, in turn, mean broader compatibility at their Superchargers than their current proprietary connector.\n\nFurthermore, if we are to believe several automakers, Tesla will soon not be the only electric automaker with vehicles capable of charging at 100kW+ charge rates. Especially German premium automakers, like Porsche, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz, have all announced new electric vehicles coming in the next 2 years (some as soon as next year) that should be able to accept significant DC fast-charging.\n\nCould one of them end up having access to Tesla\u2019s Supercharger network?\n\nRight now, it sounds like a worrying idea for current Tesla owners, but if the company follows through with its latest expansion plan, which aims to double the number of chargers by the end of the year, it should fix most of the current congestion problems.\n\nBut then the Model 3 is set to come on the network in masses by the end of the year. Though it\u2019s important to note that Tesla has already warned that the vehicle will not have free access to the network like almost all Model S and Model X vehicles on the road today. It should result in lower usage per vehicle on the Model 3 fleet than the Model S and Model X fleet.\n\nWhat do you think? Could Tesla open the Supercharger network to other automakers? Let us know in the comment section below.", "output": "Tesla has begun discussions with other automakers about the possibility of sharing its Supercharger network, according to the company's\u00a0CTO JB Straubel. Tesla's creation of\u00a0a payment and tracking system for Supercharging, and its commitment to\u00a0the Charging Interface Initiative \u2013 which advances the Combined Charging System universal fast charging standard \u2013 could be significant indicators that the company is primed for collaborating with other vehicle manufacturers to improver technology and\u00a0service\u00a0for all."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Tesla offers to share its Supercharger network with other automakers \n Tesla has brought up the idea of opening up its Supercharger network to other automakers several times over the years, but a recent comment by CTO JB Straubel has fueled conjecture that talk may soon evolve into action.\n\nSpeaking at the Midwest Renewable Energy Association\u2019s recent Energy Fair in Wisconsin, Straubel said, \u201cFor things like Supercharger, we are actively talking to other car makers and we are trying to figure out a structure to work with them.\u201d\n\nActually, Elon Musk said something similar back in 2015. However, Electrek points out that there are three reasons to believe that the time is ripe. In the past, Supercharging was free, so allowing drivers or other brands to use the network would have required developing some kind of tracking and payment system. Now Tesla has established a payment structure, and has introduced such a system, which could presumably be easily adapted to accommodate vehicles from other automakers.\n\nTesla has also joined the Charging Interface Initiative, which promotes the CCS fast charging standard used by other US and European automakers (and now by one Japanese brand), a sign that it\u2019s open to collaborating with other automakers to help improve charging technology for the good of all.\n\nFinally, several automakers are experimenting with higher charging power levels. One argument against opening the Supercharger network to other brands was that none of them could take advantage of Tesla\u2019s higher charging rates (up to 145 kW). However, Porsche recently demonstrated an 800-volt charging system (double the voltage of the current CCS standard), and Audi and Mercedes have each announced upcoming EVs that will be able to handle higher DC charging rates. As the technology develops, more cooperation will surely benefit everyone \u2013 especially EV drivers.\n\nSource: Electrek", "output": "Tesla has begun discussions with other automakers about the possibility of sharing its Supercharger network, according to the company's\u00a0CTO JB Straubel. Tesla's creation of\u00a0a payment and tracking system for Supercharging, and its commitment to\u00a0the Charging Interface Initiative \u2013 which advances the Combined Charging System universal fast charging standard \u2013 could be significant indicators that the company is primed for collaborating with other vehicle manufacturers to improver technology and\u00a0service\u00a0for all."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK petrol stations may be forced to host EV charging points \n Motorway services and petrol stations may be forced to install electric charging points as part of Government plans to ensure the UK \"remains a world leader in new industries\".\n\nAn Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill will be introduced to encourage the use of electric and self-driving cars, the Government announced in the Queen's Speech.\n\nThe first all-electric car to be built in the UK rolled off of the production line in 2013, and the Government wants \"almost every car and van to be zero-emission by 2050\".\n\nOf more than 36.7 million licensed vehicles in the UK, just over 100,000 have been purchased with help from a government plug-in car grant.\n\nThe speed of adoption has been slowed by a number of factors, including the perceived cost of electric vehicles, according to Dr Ben Lane, a director at charging-point company Zap-Map.\n\nHowever, the perception of their expense is not always accurate, Dr Lane told Sky News, as the relative newness of most of the electric car models made their price seem higher than other vehicles.\n\nThe availability of second-hand electric cars is making them more affordable.\n\nThe distance electric cars are able to travel on a single battery charge has also discouraged consumers, as has the availability of charging points and the speed of recharging.\n\nDr Lane said he \"strongly welcomed\" the Government's proposed law.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\"Together with more open access, it's exactly what the market needs and electric vehicle drivers will welcome this development,\" he said.\n\nRegistrations of electric vehicles are increasing, with 13,800 being registered in the first quarter of 2017, a 17% rise on the same period the year before.\n\nPlans to fund the additional electric charging points have not yet been announced, although the Government said it was committed to spending \u00a3600m during this Parliament to support the ultra-low emissions market.\n\nThe new law also aims to support British manufacturing and innovation by allowing self-driving cars to operate in the country.\n\nEarlier this year, tests of electric self-driving cars by manufacturer Nissan took place on public roads in London.\n\nOfficial research has indicated the market for automated vehicles in the UK could be worth \u00a328bn by 2035.\n\nThis would be supported by making it compulsory for motor vehicle insurance to cover automated vehicles so that compensation claims can be paid quickly in the event of any accidents.", "output": "The UK government has promised to introduce legislation that could force motorway services and petrol stations to install recharging equipment for electric vehicles (EVs) as part of a drive to make cars and vans zero-emission by 2050. Announced in the Queen's Speech, the Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill will also extend compulsory motor insurance to autonomous cars to ensure claims are paid easily and efficiently.\u00a0The government said it will invest \u00a3200m ($253m) in the development of self-driving technology, and plough \u00a3600m into low-emission vehicles."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Electric aircraft with 600-mile range unveiled at Paris Air Show \n At the 52nd International Paris Air Show, Eviation Aircraft, a member of NASA\u2019s on-demand mobility program, unveiled the first prototype of a new all-electric aircraft concept with a range of up to 600 miles (965 km) \u2013 pictured above.\n\nWhile it was the prototype\u2019s debut this week, Eviation says that they are already flying proof of concept missions, and they plan to move into certification and commercialization as soon as next year.\n\nOmer Bar-Yohay, CEO of Eviation Aircraft, made the announcement:\n\n\u201cAt a time when we are more connected than ever, our mobility options must adapt to reflect this new, efficient future. Whether it is a zero emissions, low-cost trip from Silicon Valley to San Diego, or Seoul to Beijing, our all-electric aircraft represents a chance for people to move with the speed and impact our global economy now demands.\u201d\n\nWe have recently seen several new efforts to deliver electric aircraft, especially small VTOL aircraft like Lilium\u2019s which got its first maiden flight earlier this year, but Eviation has the most aggressive timeline for commercialization for a plane that could fly 6 to 9 passengers plus 2 crew on long distances.\n\nElectric air transport has been limited by the energy density of batteries, but it looks like several new companies are seeing the recent advancements and they are getting ready to act on it.\n\nTesla CEO Elon Musk, who revealed having his own design for a VTOL electric plane, says that such a system becomes possible once battery energy density reaches over 400 Wh/kg, while his Tesla vehicles are believed to be currently powered by battery cells with 250 to 300 Wh/kg.\n\nEviation claims that its electric aircraft is made possible by a new aluminum air battery:\n\n\u201cBased on an aerial application of Phinergy Ltd\u2019s Aluminum air battery, coupled with a high power rechargeable battery buffer, and managed by a clever mission specific power analytic algorithm, EViation\u2019s energy system is unique. Providing a true solution to both energy density and utilization, at a cost that beats gas, and with zero emissions.\u201d\n\nFurthermore, the company seems to be positioning itself as a Uber-like on-demand transport service.\n\nMark Moore, Uber Engineering Director of Aviation, also commented on Eviation\u2019s tech:\n\n\u201cWe are witnessing a new age in aviation as advances in energy storage and aircraft design bring electric, on-demand air transit within reach. Our focus at Uber is in galvanizing the ecosystem necessary for urban VTOL electric vehicles to thrive for 20-60 mile trips that can provide massive time savings over ground transportation for long trips in cities. In parallel, we are encouraged to see bold new players like Eviation tackling challenges in different sectors using electric aviation; these players will help catalyze demand for new battery and rapid recharging technologies that are crucial to enable electric flight.\u201d\n\nDespite the aggressive timeline, it seems to still be in the early stages, but it\u2019s fun to see more companies looking at electrifying air transport.", "output": "A prototype for an all-electric aircraft with a 600-mile range was debuted by Eviation Aircraft at the 52nd International Paris Air Show. The vehicle is already flying in proof-of-concept missions, with Eviation expecting to gain certification and begin\u00a0commercialisation in 2018. Eviation Aircraft is part of NASA's on-demand mobility programme."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "TalkTalk TalkTalk customers unable to access Amazon \n Certain UK TalkTalk customers have been unable to load Amazon's website since last week.\n\nThe issue emerged on TalkTalk's community page on Monday. The original poster wrote: \"Hi for two days now i have had an issue with amazon not loading on three browsers IE, Chrome and Edge.\"\n\nOther users commented to say they have experienced the same problem reaching the website of the massive online retailer.\n\nAnother said: \"Sigh, probably yet another issue with their DNS blocking filters, anyhow for now switching to Google DNS fixes the issue. What a cowboy outfit TalkTalk are when they can't sort out access to probably the most used website in the UK. Pull your damn fingers out and fix it.\"\n\nOne customer contacted The Register to report that the issue was still affecting him today. \"It's been unreachable now since last Friday.\"\n\nCustomers in North Yorkshire experienced a total loss of service yesterday, but TalkTalk said that issue has now been resolved.\n\nIn March, TalkTalk blocked remote desktop management tool TeamViewer from its network following a spate of scammers using the software to defraud customers, only to then unblock it.\n\nA TalkTalk spokesman said: \"We can confirm this issue has now been resolved. We are sorry for any inconvenience caused to our customers.\" \u00ae", "output": "Some UK TalkTalk customers have struggled to access Amazon's website since last week, according to comments on the telecommunications firm's community page. One forum member claimed they were unable to load Amazon on three different browsers, and many other customers have also experienced problems. The issue has now been resolved, according to a statement from a TalkTalk spokesperson."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Redrow Redrow wins 27 accolades at the Pride in the Job Quality Awards\u00a0 \n Redrow has achieved a record 27 awards at the Pride in the Job Quality Awards. The accolade, established by the National House Building Council, celebrates the exceptional contribution site managers make in creating homes of outstanding quality.\n\nThe winners of the prestigious industry award are selected from a pool of 16,000 site managers across the UK. The 12-month selection and judging process identifies site managers who encapsulate skills such as leadership, technical expertise and attention to detail. Not only has Redrow outdone its 2016 tally of 24, the company\u2019s 2017 awards count is more than double the average in the competition, which stands at 12. The number of successful site managers at Redrow has increased every year since 2013.\n\nThe Redrow winners come from some of the housebuilder\u2019s most crucial UK sites, including Ebbsfleet Green in Kent, Lyon Square in London, Oaklands Park in Derbyshire and The Pavilion in Lancashire. The West Country in particular has excelled. This year the region was responsible for five out of 27 awards won by Redrow.\n\nJohn Tutte, Redrow\u2019s chief executive officer, said:\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re very proud of all of our winning site managers, and that a record number have been recognised for the second year running. The fact we count 27 of the industry\u2019s best site managers amongst our colleagues is a reflection of the high standards we uphold across Redrow. \u201cIt\u2019s a rigorous judging process and only the best in the business achieve the \u2018Quality\u2019 awards. The fact we continue to improve year-on-year demonstrates our commitment to continually improving the high build quality of our homes.\u201d\n\nThis year\u2019s achievement is a testament to Redrow\u2019s unwavering commitment to the quality training and retention of its people: 5,000 training days are delivered by the Learning and Development team each year. Redrow has also been recognised as the Construction Industry Training Board\u2019s Apprentice Employer of the Year and one of the National Apprenticeship Service\u2019s Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers.", "output": "Redrow has been awarded a record 27 accolades at the Pride in the Job Quality Awards, which celebrate the contributions of site managers in creating high-quality homes. The judging process singles out site managers who embody positive qualities, such as technical knowhow, attention to detail and leadership. Redrow received 24 awards last year, with this year's winners coming from some of the housebuilder's key sites, including Oaklands Park in Derbyshire and Lyon Square in London.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Worst recorded coral bleaching event draws to a close \n The latest NOAA forecast shows that widespread coral bleaching is no longer occurring in all three ocean basins \u2013 Atlantic, Pacific and Indian \u2013 indicating the likely end to the global coral bleaching event. Scientists will closely monitor sea surface temperatures and bleaching over the next six months to confirm the event\u2019s end.\n\nNOAA declared the beginning of the third-ever global coral bleaching event in 2015. Since then, all tropical coral reefs around the world have seen above-normal temperatures, and more than 70 percent experienced prolonged high temperatures that can cause bleaching. U.S. coral reefs were hit hardest, with two years of severe bleaching in Florida and Hawaii, three in the Commonwealth of the Mariana Islands, and four in Guam.\n\nFortunately, some coral reef areas did not bleach despite the damaging conditions. Scientists will be looking into these areas to see if characteristics of the corals or their environment somehow protected these ecosystems from heat stress.\n\n\u201cCoral reefs are not beyond help,\u201d said Jennifer Koss, director of the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program. \u201cMany proactive steps to make coral reef ecosystems more resilient are being taken around the world. We are reducing local threats to coral, and are looking into innovative ways to increase coral populations and species that are more resilient to rising ocean temperatures and acidified waters.\u201d\n\nNOAA uses ocean temperature data from geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites operated by it and its international partners to identify areas at risk for coral bleaching. The outlook also uses NOAA\u2019s operational climate models to forecast potential bleaching months in advance. Both of those systems just underwent major upgrades, with enhanced versions released this May.\n\nDespite what appears to be the end of the third global event, some U.S. coral reefs are still not completely in the clear. NOAA\u2019s four-month coral bleaching outlook shows some risk to coral reefs in Hawaii, Florida and the Caribbean later this summer. Earlier this year, ocean temperature conditions also brought severe bleaching to the Great Barrier Reef for the second year in a row, and to American Samoa, which was also heavily affected in early 2015.\n\n\u201cThis global coral bleaching event has been the most widespread, longest and perhaps the most damaging on record,\u201d said C. Mark Eakin, NOAA\u2019s Coral Reef Watch Coordinator. \u201cNOAA is working with scientists, resource managers and communities around the world to determine what the true impacts of this event will be on coral reefs.\u201d\n\nThe first global bleaching event was in 1998, during a strong El Nino that was followed by an equally very strong La Nina. A second one occurred in 2010.\n\nHealthy coral reefs protect shores from storms and offer habitats for fish and other marine life, including ecologically and economically important species. After corals die, reefs quickly degrade and the structures corals build erode. While corals can recover from mild bleaching, severe or long-term bleaching is often lethal.", "output": "The world\u2019s worst recorded coral bleaching event, which has affected every major coral region since 2014, is ending, according to the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. The event began in 2014 when a pattern of warming resembling El Ni\u00f1o began to heat waters in the Pacific Ocean. An actual El Ni\u00f1o occurred in 2015, intensifying the bleaching. Although the El Ni\u00f1o provided the trigger, researchers said the underlying cause of such bleaching is climate change. Coral reefs need 10 to 15 years to recover and scientists fear that another bleaching event may occur before recovery is complete.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Worst recorded coral bleaching event draws to a close \n The worst coral bleaching event in recorded history, which has hit every major coral region on Earth since 2014, appears to be coming to an end, with scientists now worrying how long reefs will have to recover before it happens again.\n\nAfter analysing satellite and model data, and finding bleaching in the Indian ocean no longer appeared widespread, the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) has announced the event is no longer occurring on a global scale, and appears to be coming to an end.\n\nOver an unprecedented period of three years, unusually warm water spread around the world, bleaching and killing coral.\n\nCoral bleaches when the water is too warm for too long. The coral polyps get stressed and spit out the colourful algae that live in inside them, leaving them white. Since the algae provides the coral with 90% of its energy, the coral starves and \u2013 unless the temperatures quickly return to normal \u2013 dies.\n\nIn Australia, the Great Barrier Reef suffered the worst bleaching event in recorded history in 2016 and then again in 2017. It was estimated about half of its coral was killed between the two events.\n\nIn the Indian Ocean, reefs were badly hit. One survey in the Maldives found all reefs there were affected, with between 60% to 90% of coral colonies bleached. Christmas Island had virtually all its coral bleached, and 85% of its coral died.\n\nIn some other reefs, virtually all the coral was killed, with 98% of the coral around Jarvis dying, for example. Japanese reefs were badly hit, as were reefs in every other coral region.\n\n\u201cWe know it has been the longest-lasting event and it has been the most widespread,\u201d said Mark Eakin, coordinator of Noaa\u2019s coral reef watch program. \u201cAnd it probably has been the most damaging. In some places it definitely has been.\u201d\n\nEakin said the data on total reef damage had not yet been analysed, so he could not say for sure whether it had been the worst but he said he would bet it had been.\n\nThe event started in 2014 when waters in the Pacific Ocean started to warm, in a pattern that resembled El Ni\u00f1o. The El Ni\u00f1o never fully kicked in, but the warming caused widespread bleaching.\n\nIn 2015 an El Ni\u00f1o did occur, which spread the bleaching even further, and the effects continued all the way until now.\n\nAlthough the El Ni\u00f1o cycle tipped water temperatures over the edge, and triggered the bleaching, Eakin said there was no doubt the underlying cause of the bleaching was climate change. There have been two recorded global bleaching events previously, both of which occurred when strong El Ni\u00f1o events warmed oceans around the world \u2013 in 1998 and then 2010.\n\nEakin said the underlying warming was priming the ocean for coral bleaching, potentially with every El Ni\u00f1o.\n\n\u201cWe didn\u2019t even have an El Ni\u00f1o in 2014-15,\u201d Eakin said, adding that a near-El Ni\u00f1o was enough to cause widespread bleaching then. \u201cAt this point I\u2019d say any El Ni\u00f1o, even moderate ones, will probably result in widespread, if not global, bleaching.\u201d\n\nThat view is backed up by studies with modelling that suggests the conditions causing the most recent global bleaching event would be average conditions within two decades.\n\nCoral reefs need between 10 and 15 years to regain their coral cover, Eakin said. But that assumes they are not hit with too many local problems \u2013 such as pollution \u2013 or another bleaching event.\n\n\u201cThe big fear is just simply that these events keep coming,\u201d Eakin said.", "output": "The world\u2019s worst recorded coral bleaching event, which has affected every major coral region since 2014, is ending, according to the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. The event began in 2014 when a pattern of warming resembling El Ni\u00f1o began to heat waters in the Pacific Ocean. An actual El Ni\u00f1o occurred in 2015, intensifying the bleaching. Although the El Ni\u00f1o provided the trigger, researchers said the underlying cause of such bleaching is climate change. Coral reefs need 10 to 15 years to recover and scientists fear that another bleaching event may occur before recovery is complete.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Pepsi's Ramadan ad unfolds across three mobile screens \n Five full days of Ramadan remain. For those unfamiliar with the Islamic holy month\u2014or its Catholic cousin, Lent\u2014it\u2019s a period of fasting and cleansing that dramatically impacts Middle East and North African (MENA) markets.\n\nAs long as the sun is up, practicians neither eat nor drink. Businesses open late and close early in recognition of the fast\u2019s effect on both customers and employees. Come sundown is Iftar, a moment of gathering when the fast is broken, and family and friends unite to celebrate and stuff their faces before doing it all over again tomorrow.\n\nThis", "output": "Pepsi and ad agency Impact BBDO Cairo have released a multi-screen mobile ad for Ramadan, comprised of three videos that reflect different frames of the same piece of work. Called \"Let's Get Together\", the videos encourage viewers to invite two other mobile phone users to play the ad at once. The ad features a group of friends meeting to break their fast, but becoming distracted by their phones. Pepsi then invites users to put down their phones and enjoy the company of friends. The ads can be found on YouTube and Facebook's Carousel feature.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ad protest group urges Amazon to boycott Breitbart \n Self-proclaimed advertising guardians Sleeping Giants is driving a mobile billboard around Seattle to pressure Amazon, one of the world\u2019s largest retailers, into dropping ads it is programmatically serving on rightwing news site Breitbart.\n\nSleeping Giants' mobile billboard\n\nThe group has pressured a reported 2,250 brands from advertising on Breitbart but getting a company the size of Amazon on board would likely be a major blow to the funding of the Conservative blog that has the ear of president Donald Trump.", "output": "Anonymous ad protesting group Sleeping Giants has encouraged 2,250 brands to stop advertising on rightwing news site Breitbart, and is now looking to Amazon to get on board. The organisation has driven a billboard \u2014 which reads \"Amazon, Stop Funding Bigotry. Please Pull Your Ads From Breitbart\" \u2014 around the e-commerce giant's Seattle headquarters. The protest marks the\u00a0first time Sleeping Giants has entered the physical world, rather than protesting via social media. The group has claimed that its earlier appeals to Amazon were ignored.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Augmented reality is the new QR code: Ogilvy \n People are always looking at mobile ads, but that doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re seeing them. Without the widespread ability to track eyeballs\u2014yet\u2014advertisers are looking to add in interactive elements to their campaigns to make sure the $80 billion plus spent on mobile advertising is actually capturing people\u2019s attention.\n\nWe asked creative agency execs which new, interactive features they\u2019re using to make sure consumers pay attention to mobile ads, and we found that some formats are faring better than others.\n\nAugmented reality\n\nVerdict: All the mobile rage.\n\nExecs at Huge recognized AR\u2019s advertising potential a year ago, thanks to the success of a Pok\u00e9mon Go experiment. And at Ogilvy, \u201cwe are pushing our clients pretty quickly to that format,\u201d said Mark Himmelsbach, head of digital and innovation. It\u2019s become one of the agency\u2019s \u201cstandard offerings.\u201d\n\nWhile AR as a core element of mobile ad creative itself hasn\u2019t been proven yet, brands have been successful in building AR into apps. Ogilvy recently worked on an AR campaign for IBM to help launch the movie \u201cHidden Figures\u201d with an app that lets users discover \u201chidden figures\u201d in physical locations. Next to statues of well-known (read: white, male) historical figures, users could hold up their phones to see AR statues of minority, female movers and shakers in over 150 locations across the US.\n\nWhen it comes to entertainment, Himmelsbach said AR experiences are popular among his agency peers. \u201cWe are huge fans of augmented reality. We are pushing our clients pretty quickly to that format.\u201d He noted that AR can create enduring in-store experiences, such as letting customers compare a product in the store to that of the competition or alerting them to available discounts.\n\nOgilvy created a series of digital mall posters for Coke Zero, where consumers could use their phones to virtually \u201cdrink\u201d the Coke in the poster using an on-screen straw. They could also use the Shazam app to fill empty glasses on their phone screens when the corresponding TV commercial of a pouring Coke Zero aired. Both resulted in free Coke Zero coupons.\n\nThe TV ad ended up being the \u201cmost Shazamed of all time,\u201d and it showed that viewers were willing to take extra steps to get the experience.\n\n\u201cAR is like the new QR code,\u201d he said.\n\nVirtual reality\n\nVerdict: Not the mobile reality.\n\nVR, on the other hand, has proven too clunky to get the same traction on mobile. \u201cWe found that when people have to put something on their heads\u2026it really limits participation,\u201d said Himmelsbach.\n\nApple recently acknowledged this at its Worldwide Developers Conference by putting AR capabilities on its mobile devices, while relegating VR to desktop. VR proved difficult to adapt to on-the-go habits that drive mobile advertising. Instead of trying to force that behavior on consumers, advertisers are better off trying to take the best parts of VR (allowing consumers to truly immerse themselves in content) and express that in different ways.\n\nInteractive video\n\nVerdict: Turn passive viewers into active participants? Yes, please.\n\nVideo is a proven tactic for top of funnel awareness and brand building, but when you add in interactive elements you create an immersive environment that can push consumers closer to a purchase.\n\nSimple interactive features in mobile video ads can be all it takes to sway consumer behavior. While \u201cmost people these days reject paper coupons,\u201d said Himmelsbach, they\u2019ll take a coupon or other reward that is delivered to them after interacting with a mobile video.\n\nAutomotive brands can use features like zooming in on a speeding car in motion, feeling its engine rumble through haptic effects, or tapping on the ad to switch the view from the outside of the vehicle to the inside. These interactive elements can help trigger lower funnel post-video actions \u2013 scheduling a test drive, for instance.\n\nFor Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Disney released a custom trailer for their mobile campaign where viewers took part in an on-screen \u2018treasure hunt\u2019 and were rewarded with exclusive video content from the film for each \u201ctreasure\u201d they found.\n\nAnd at Essence, consumer surveys have shown that the focus on personalizing interactive mobile video ads has resulted in better brand recall, said Schmitt. These personalized experiences could be as simple as surfacing multiple products based on visits to other sites or making inferences based on context; for instance, serving a video ad for headphones in a music app.\n\nInteractive dynamic display\n\nVerdict: Works across the board.\n\nAt Essence, creatives focus on interactive dynamic display\u2014ads personalized based on users and their environments\u2014to \u201ccreate shoppable moments\u201d on mobile, said Garrick Schmitt, global director of experience design.\n\nCarousel ads, which rotate products users can buy with a tap, \u201cturn a unit into almost a store,\u201d he described. Users are more likely to shop from these \u201cstores\u201d because they\u2019re feeding consumers products based on their digital histories, locations and actual items that the consumer taps on the screen to select themselves.\n\nThough the appeal of dynamic display for retailers is clear, Schmitt said, \u201cYou don\u2019t have to be a retailer to take advantage of it\u2026it works great for every brand.\u201d", "output": "Advertisers have increasingly added augmented reality (AR) to their campaigns to ensure they are being noticed by viewers. For example, ad agency Ogilvy worked on an AR campaign to help launch the film \"Hidden Figures\". Users could hold up their phones to 150 statues of white, male historical figures in the US to see AR statues of notable female figures. The level of interaction AR offers is \"like the new QR code\", said Mark Himmelsbach, head of digital and innovation at Ogilvy. Unlike AR, virtual reality requires extra hardware, and will not prove as useful to advertisers, Himmelsbach added."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lyft trials shuttle bus service in Chicago and San Francisco \n Imagine riding in a vehicle that, for a small fee, picks you up at a predetermined location and drops you off at another predetermined location, making stops on the way and dropping off others who might be in the vehicle with you.\n\nThis sounds an awful lot like a city bus, right? But it\u2019s exactly how ride-sharing giant Lyft is selling its new ride scheme, Lyft Shuttle. \u201cRide for a low fixed fare along convenient routes, with no surprise stops,\u201d the company\u2019s marketing declares.\n\nCommenters around the internet roundly mocked the hubris of Lyft and its boosters in marketing an everyday public service as a faux-innovative private one.\n\nhttp://twitter.com/surfbordt/status/876805235863408641\n\nhttp://twitter.com/MikeBeauvais/status/876855568409014272\n\nPrivate buses have become relatively common in Silicon Valley, though so far access to such commuter options has been largely restricted to tech companies' employees. Like Silicon Valley's notorious private commuter shuttles, the Lyft Shuttle competes with public transit. But as a venture-backed startup, Lyft, like Uber, has the power to undersell its competitor until its venture capital runs dry. Except in this case the \u201ccompetitor\u201d is a public good, and \"underselling\" it could further harm the efficacy of public transit in cities like San Francisco.\n\nhttp://twitter.com/hayesdavenport/status/876846531676000256\n\nIf you study Lyft Shuttle's San Francisco routes, you can see clearly that its shuttles are designed to move people from the wealthier parts of town \u2014 like the Marina, Alamo Square, Pacific Heights and the rapidly gentrifying Mission District \u2014 to SoMa and the Financial District, where the bulk of the city's professional jobs are. Since Lyft Shuttle rides are comparable in price to that of a city bus, the main draw seems to be that you can avoid being near poor people; the Shuttle doesn't even approach working-class neighborhoods like the Richmond, Bayview or Outer Sunset and it strategically skirts poverty-stricken neighborhoods like the Tenderloin and Civic Center.\n\nSome of those enticed by Lyft\u2019s scheme seem to agree that this is the point. One commenter on a Lifehacker article about Lyft Shuttle praised the service: \u201cTook a Lyft Shuttle this morning (SF.) It was $o.25 more expensive than the bus, required 0.4 miles less of a walk, and I rode in a Prius and not on a plastic seat next to someone who may or may not be actively exorcising their own demons. I\u2019d say it\u2019s a win.\u201d", "output": "Ride-hailing firm Lyft has commenced trials of its shuttle bus service aimed at offering convenient pick-ups\u00a0and fixed-rate routes to\u00a0commuters, according to TechCrunch. The service, which is currently available in Chicago and San Francisco, is intended to provide reliability to people who travel the same routes everyday."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "UK Fraud Office charges Barclays executives over Qatar funds \n Four former Barclays executives could face lengthy jail sentences after the Serious Fraud Office charged them and the bank with fraud over the way Barclays raised billions of pounds from Qatar at the height of the financial crisis.\n\nThe SFO charged former Barclays chief executive John Varley and three former colleagues \u2013 Roger Jenkins, Tom Kalaris and Richard Boath \u2013 with offences after a five-year investigation into the events surrounding the \u00a311.8bn emergency fundraising conducted by the bank in 2008.\n\nThis is the first time criminal action has been taken against any senior bankers for events dating to the 2008 financial crisis. At the time, Barclays raised billions of pounds from Qatar in a move that allowed the bank to avoid taking a taxpayer bailout.\n\nThe SFO said the charges related to the two fundraisings the bank embarked on in June and October 2008 with two investment vehicles related to Qatar, including one used by the prime minister at the time, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani, and a $3bn (\u00a32.3bn) loan advanced to Qatar in November 2008.\n\nThe individuals and a bank representative are scheduled to appear at Westminster magistrates\u2019 court on 3 July. Jenkins and Boath said they would contest the charges; there has not been any comment from Varley and Kalaris.\n\nThe charging decision has been postponed on a number of occasions, initially to the end of March, then the end of May and then to mid-June, and comes as the SFO faces abolition under plans set out in the Conservative election manifesto.\n\n\n\n\u201cThis is the most significant charging decision for the SFO in recent times, if not ever,\u201d said Sarah Wallace, a partner and head of regulatory and criminal investigations at law firm Irwin Mitchell. \u201cIn the past few years, Barclays faced an unprecedented number of investigations by worldwide regulators but this SFO criminal prosecution is the most serious.\n\n\u201cTaking on Barclays, one of the largest banks in the world, and its most senior officials who literally were at the very top, sends a very strong message that the SFO is now fearless in terms of the companies and individuals it pursues.\u201d\n\nThe four and the bank are charged with conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation in relation to a fundraising in June 2008. If convicted these offences carry a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a fine for the bank.\n\nVarley, Jenkins and the bank are also charged with conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation in relation to the fundraising that took place in October 2008. Technically this also carries a maximum 10-year jail term if convicted. Varley, Jenkins and the bank face a further charge of providing unlawful financial assistance through the loan, which carries a jail term of up to two years or a fine, or both.\n\nBarclays said it was considering its position in relation to these developments and awaiting further details of the charges.\n\nJenkins, who left Barclays in 2009, was known as the executive who was paid \u00a340m in one year and credited with finding the Middle Eastern investors who poured billions into the bank at the height of the crisis. The Briton, who is now based in Malibu, California, said through his lawyer he would defend himself.\n\n\u201cAs one might expect in the challenging circumstances of 2008, Jenkins sought and received both internal and external legal advice on each and every topic covered by the SFO\u2019s accusations,\u201d Brad Kaufman of law firm Greenberg Traurig said.\n\nVarley was chief executive of Barclays until the end of 2010. Kalaris, a London-based US citizen, ran the wealth management arm of Barclays. They did not immediately comment, although Varley resigned as a director of mining group Rio Tinto just after the charges were revealed. He had been on the board of the group for six years. In a statement, the Rio Tinto chairman, Jan du Plessis, said: \u201cThe board holds him in the highest regard and will miss his valuable insight.\u201d\n\nBoath is the former head of the bank\u2019s European financial institutions group and has brought an employment tribunal claim against Barclays alleging he was unfairly dismissed when the SFO shared the transcript of his interview with the bank.\n\nHe said: \u201cThe SFO\u2019s decision to charge me is based on a false understanding of my role and the facts. I was not a decision-maker and had no control over what the bank did in 2008.\u201d\n\nCivil action: adviser Amanda Staveley. Photograph: Silverhub/Rex/Shutterstock\n\nBoath said he had cooperated with the SFO and the City regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority. \u201cThe evidence I have supplied is very clear, there is no case for me to answer. I will contest these charges vigorously,\u201d he said.\n\nThe bank said the charges related to two advisory services agreements entered into with Qatar Holding, an investment vehicle for the Gulf state, in June and October 2008.\n\nBarclays said on Tuesday that the US justice department and Securities and Exchange Commission had also been conducting investigations relating to these agreements, and that the FCA had investigated.\n\nThe FCA said: \u201cWe are pleased that this matter, which led to the stay of our own case, is now in the public domain. We welcome a fair and transparent hearing on the basis of the charges set out today by the SFO. We work closely with the SFO across a range of matters, in pursuit of our distinct objectives.\u201d\n\nThere is also a civil case in relation to the events of 2008 brought by Amanda Staveley, an adviser to Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates, who put more than \u00a33bn into the October 2008 financing. Staveley has brought a civil action claiming fees for her PCP advisory vehicle.", "output": "The UK\u2019s Serious Fraud Office has charged Barclays and four of its former executives, including former CEO John Varley, with fraud in relation to the bank\u2019s raising of billions of pounds from Qatar during the financial crisis. The charges, which carry the possibility of long prison sentences, come after a five-year investigation into the \u00a311.8bn ($15bn) emergency fundraising carried out by the bank in 2008 in order to avoid a bailout by taxpayers. The charges of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation are the first criminal action against any senior bankers for events relating to the financial crisis.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Chinese firms attracted to infrastructure investment in India \n Attracted by India\u2019s infrastructure development programme, state-run Chinese firms, including China Harbour Engineering Co. Ltd and China Datang Corp. (CDC), are looking to buy Indian companies in the engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) and power generation space, respectively to drive their business, said two people aware of the Chinese firms\u2019 interest.\n\nWhile CDC, one of China\u2019s largest power generation utility, has been attracted by India\u2019s stressed power projects, another government-owned firm\u2014China Southern Power Grid is in discussions with Essel Infraprojects Ltd for jointly bidding for power transmission projects, said one of the two people cited above.\n\nThis comes in the backdrop of India\u2019s plan to invest as much as Rs3.96 trillion in the current financial year to bankroll its new integrated infrastructure plans comprising roads, railways, waterways and civil aviation.\n\nHowever, the domestic industry has been raising concerns about Chinese firms\u2019 participation in India\u2019s infrastructure projects given their strategic importance. There have been instances in the past when India stopped giving clearances to telecom equipment imported from China over security concerns.\n\n\u201cChina Harbour Engineering is looking for acquisition in the EPC space across sectors. CDC has also become interested in acquiring stressed power projects,\" said the first person aware of the company\u2019s India strategy, requesting anonymity.\n\nCDC\u2019s interest comes at a time when the government is trying to address the problem of stressed assets in the power sector. JM Financial Research, in an 8 March note, wrote that its 2016 study of stressed power assets had concluded that of the total 28 gigawatts (GW) generating capacity in question, assets accounting for 14GW were at high risk.\n\nThe second person who also didn\u2019t wish to be identified said that Chinese firms have been trying to explore an India piece to their growth strategy.\n\nChina Harbour Engineering is a unit of China Communications Construction Co. Ltd. Chinese firms\u2019 interest stems from ambitious plans such as Sagarmala and Bharatmala. While the total road length to be developed as expressways under Bharatmala will be around 51,000km, the Sagarmala programme envisages construction of new ports to harness the country\u2019s 7,517km coastline and setting up as many as 142 cargo terminals at major ports.\n\n\u201cChina Southern Power Grid has been looking to bid for power transmission projects in India and is in discussions with Essel Infraprojects for the same,\" said the first person cited above.\n\nSubhash Chandra\u2019s Essel Group has been trying to ramp up its energy sector plans, including exploring a solar module manufacturing facility with one of China\u2019s largest solar equipment maker GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd, Mint reported on 22 March. Essel Infraprojects Ltd, an Essel Group firm, has a presence across sectors such as green energy, transportation, electricity transmission and distribution, and urban infrastructure.\n\nExperts say there may be some traction on the EPC part of the Indian infrastructure play by the Chinese firms but remain cautious about those projects which may involve asset ownership.\n\n\u201cOn the EPC part, it is an equal opportunity for everyone to come in. On others, there is a question on how much of fruition will happen because of issues over ownership of the asset. It depends on their interest and the risks associated,\" said Jagannarayan Padmanabhan, director, transport and logistics at Crisil Infrastructure Advisory.\n\nQueries emailed to the Chinese embassy in New Delhi, China Communications Construction Co., China Datang, China Southern Power Grid and Essel Infra remained unanswered.\n\nThere has been growing interest among overseas investors in the Indian infrastructure space, particularly in sectors such as energy. A case in point is Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corp. which is planning to enter India\u2019s renewable energy sector by acquiring wind energy projects, Mint reported on 12 June.", "output": "State-run Chinese companies such as China Harbour Engineering, China Southern Power Grid and China Datang Corp\u00a0are looking to buy Indian companies in the engineering, procurement, construction and power generation sectors, sources have said.\u00a0However, the domestic industry has been raising concerns about Chinese firms\u00a0participating in\u00a0India\u2019s infrastructure projects given\u00a0their strategic importance and there have been instances where\u00a0India has stopped giving clearances to telecoms equipment imported from China because of security fears.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Fox adopts six-second ad format used by YouTube \n Fox Networks Group is adopting the six-second, \u201cunskippable\u201d ad, following in YouTube\u2019s footsteps as it tries to cater to its growing number of online viewers.\n\nFNG announced the move at the Cannes Lions conference, alongside executives from YouTube, which instituted the six-second ad format last year. FNG\u2019s first such ads will debut on its streaming services and then eventually on linear television, the company said.\n\n\u201cOne of our biggest priorities at Fox Networks Group is figuring out the best way for a brand to reach a consumer that captures the right kind of attention,\u201d said David Levy, FNG\u2019s executive vice president of non-linear revenue. \u201cWe\u2019re excited to deploy this new format.\u201d\n\nFNG said that it was the first time a television broadcaster had adopted the new ad format.\n\nAdvertisers and digital platforms have struggled to come up with ways to keep viewers\u2019 eyeballs on ads as attention spans shorten and more and more people watch videos on their mobile devices. YouTube says that an ad lasting six seconds hits the sweet spot.\n\n\u201cSince we piloted this format last fall, we\u2019ve seen on YouTube that six seconds is both long enough and short enough,\u201d said Tara Walpert Levy, vice president of agency and media solutions at YouTube and its parent company, Google. \u201cIt\u2019s great for on-the-go users who appreciate the succinct message, for creatives who appreciate the constraint, and for brands who value the consistent results.\u201d", "output": "Fox Networks Group (FNG) is adopting the six-second \u201cunskippable\u201d ad format used by YouTube in a bid to increase its online ad revenue. FNG will launch the format on its streaming services before it is rolled out to linear television. It is the first time that a television broadcaster has used the format, according to FNG.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Neva Aerospace to unveil flying-car concept \n The Paris Airshow kicks off Monday, offering the denizens of the aviation world their biennial chance to gather round. They'll ogle the latest aerospace innovations, close deals for defense drones, and check out private jets. Airbus and Boeing will go head-to-head over over sales numbers as aircraft new and old\u2014including the F35A fighter jet, making its public debut\u2014roar overhead, flaunting their flying skills.\n\nOh, and because at some point in the past few months everyone decided personal aircraft are a real thing, Paris will feature flying cars.\n\nOne early reveal comes from Neva Aerospace, a UK-based consortium made up of five European companies that focus on all sorts of electric aviation, from drones to aerial robotic platforms.\n\nNow these folks want to build a passenger-carrying vehicle. The AirQuadOne is just a concept at this stage, but you can tell it\u2019s the future because it\u2019s made of shiny white plastic, and the rider is in a spandex suit.\n\nNeva Aerospace\n\nYet the specs are refreshingly realistic. The aircraft uses four electric turbofans, which the consortium members have already proven in other vehicles like drones. The whole thing will weigh in at a little over 1,000 pounds, including 330 pounds for the batteries and 220 for the pilot and his funky purple suit.\n\nThat setup should yield a flight time of 30 minutes at 50 mph, Neva promises. Its 25-mile range is plenty to get from one side of a congested city to the other, it will take off and land vertically, and you'll charge it the way you power up an electric car\u2014just plug it in. Longer term, Neva might add a small engine to run a generator and extend the range, but that plus the fuel it would burn comes with a big weight penalty, and weight is the enemy when it comes to electric powered flight.\n\nThe AirQuadOne is just the latest in a long string of \"flying car\" concepts that, rather suddenly, are being taken seriously by big name, global firms. Airbus is involved with Vahana, and the modular Pop.Up. Google cofounder Larry Page's Kitty Hawk is working on the Flyer, a concept apparently ripped from a Hammacher Schlemmer catalog. Uber wants to launch flying cars in Dubai (where else?) in just three years.", "output": "Neva Aerospace, a UK-based consortium of five European companies interested in a range of electric aviation, is set to unveil plans\u00a0for a small passenger-carrying aircraft\u00a0at the Paris Airshow. Currently at the\u00a0concept stage, the AirQuadOne's design includes\u00a0four electric turbofans, much like a drone, and will weigh around 1,000 pounds, with the batteries amounting to 330 pounds of this. Neva aims to offer a flight time of 30 minutes at 50 mph, with a range of 25 miles. It will have vertical take off and landing, and incorporate\u00a0a plug-in charging system\u00a0similar to electric cars.\u00a0"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "IMF explores ICOs and central bank coins in blockchain note \n Author/Editor:\n\nCeline Rochon ; Dong He ; Herv\u00e9 Tourpe ; Mikari Kashima ; Nigel Jenkinson ; Ross B Leckow ; Tanai Khiaonarong ; Tommaso Mancini Griffoli ; Vikram Haksar\n\nPublication Date:\n\nJune 19, 2017\n\nElectronic Access:\n\nFree Full text (PDF file size is 2846 KB).Use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this PDF file\n\nSummary:\n\nA new wave of technological innovations, often called \u201cfintech,\u201d is accelerating change in the financial sector. What impact might fintech have on financial services, and how should regulation respond? This paper sets out an economic framework for thinking through the channels by which fintech might provide solutions that respond to consumer needs for trust, security, privacy, and better services, change the competitive landscape, and affect regulation. It combines a broad discussion of trends across financial services with a focus on cross-border payments and especially the impact of distributed ledger technology. Overall, the paper finds that boundaries among different types of service providers are blurring; barriers to entry are changing; and improvements in cross-border payments are likely. It argues that regulatory authorities need to balance carefully efficiency and stability trade-offs in the face of rapid changes, and ensure that trust is maintained in an evolving financial system. It also highlights the importance of international cooperation.", "output": "The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is exploring how digital ledger technology can be used for cross-border payments and as part of a central bank-backed currency. An IMF staff discussion note, called Fintech and Financial Services: Initial Considerations, touched on how digital tokens are being used to represent securities and ownership rights through initial coin offerings (ICOs). It stopped short of making\u00a0a formal statement about blockchain, but raised questions about the legal effects of digital token transfers and the possibility of\u00a0future regulation.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "ExxonMobil algae biofuel partnership claims breakthrough \n IRVING, Texas \u2013 ExxonMobil today announced the successful startup of its Beaumont refinery expansion project, which adds 250,000 barrels per day of capacity to one of the largest refining and petrochemical complexes along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Supported by the company\u2019s growing crude production in the Permian Basin, the largest refinery expansion in more than a decade will help meet growing demand for affordable, reliable energy.\n\nNews News releases \u2022", "output": "ExxonMobil and Synthetic Genomics have claimed a significant breakthrough from their eight-year partnership aimed at producing biofuels from algae. Using advanced cell engineering, the research team enhanced the oil content of their algae strain from 20% to more than 40%, and identified ZnCys, a biological switch that regulates the conversion of carbon to oil in Nannochloropsis gaditana, the species of algae."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Lone Star tick that gives people meat allergy is spreading \n As tick season enters full swing in the United States, disease ecologists have already warned that 2017 is expected to be one of the worst years for the parasites in quite some time.\n\nA boom in the population of white-footed mice, which often carry Lyme disease, will increase the number of bites and cases in regions of the country where the rodents carry ticks into areas of likely contact with humans.\n\nBut while the dangers of Lyme disease are well known, the black-legged ticks that serve as its most common carrier may not be the only concern of Americans enjoying the outdoors in the coming years.\n\nA spreading tick species whose bite carries severe allergic symptoms could be coming to a habitat near you\u2014and spoiling your dinner if you wind up in its path, according to a report from Wired.\n\nThe lone star tick, named for the white mark on its back side, has gradually grown in population since the turn of the century as thousands of Americans find themselves suddenly unable to eat red meat without breaking out in hives and feeling their stomachs twist into a knot.\n\nAlthough native to the southeastern United States, the lone star tick has been popping up in places like Minnesota, New Hampshire and even the eastern tip of Long Island.\n\nImmunologists have been scrambling to log as many cases as possible and determine the cause of such peculiar symptoms. Researchers believe the red meat allergy is traceable to a protein-linked sugar called alpha-gal, short for galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose.\n\nAs cases of the \"meat sweats\" rose throughout the 1990s, University of Virginia immunologist Thomas Platts-Mills began investigating the causes of a such a drastic reprogramming of the immune system. Oddly enough, his early research pointed to a cancer drug that caused patients in the Southeast to experience itching, swelling, low blood pressure and meat intolerance.\n\nIt turned out the patients most affected by the drug had developed antibodies to an ingredient in the cancer drug: alpha-gal. Despite its effectiveness, the drug was rife with alpha-gal picked up from the genetically modified mice used to develop it.\n\nWith limited data and no official tracking by the CDC, Platts-Mills' research team largely builds its meat allergy incidence map using local news reports. Reserchers believe something in the lone star tick's saliva causes a flood of histamines to be released, although it's not yet clear whether the cause is alpha-gal related or some type of virus-carrying microbe.\n\nMost concerning about lone star ticks is that there is no predisposition to the allergies caused by their bites.\n\nAs a next step, researchers will look to determine whether the rise in these allergies is limited to the lone star tick or, worse, whether other species have developed the same capacity to influence the human immune system.", "output": "A fast spreading tick species in the US named Lone Star has a bite that carries severe allergic symptoms including the inability to eat red meat.\u00a0Immunologists are struggling to\u00a0determine the cause of such peculiar symptoms, although it is\u00a0believed the red meat allergy is traceable to a protein-linked sugar called alpha-gal.\u00a0The tick season is just starting in the US with disease ecologists\u00a0warning that 2017 will be one of the worst years for the parasites. Also, a surge in the\u00a0white-footed mice population, which often carry Lyme disease, is carrying ticks\u00a0into areas of likely contact with humans.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Mindstrong Health gets $14m to develop mental illness monitoring \n Mindstrong Health, the mental health startup that former NIMH director Dr. Thomas Insel left Verily for last month, has raised $14 million. Foresite Capital and ARCH Venture Partners led the round, with additional participation from Optum Ventures, Berggruen Holdings, and the One Mind Brain Health Impact Fund.\n\nAlthough it has been reported that Insel left Verily to start Mindstrong, the startup was actually founded in 2014 by Dr. Paul Dagum. Insel is taking on the title of cofounder, in addition to his role of president, but wasn't involved the actual founding of the company.\n\nMindstrong is working on a project similar to what Insel was working on before leaving Verily. The company is developing objective measures of brain function based on patterns of interaction with a smartphone. Digital biomarkers Mindstrong measures include processing speed, attention, memory and executive function.\n\n\"All modern medicine is based on objective measurement, yet tracking mental health has been limited to subjective reports in a clinical environment,\" Dagum, the company's CEO, said in a statement. \"To improve outcomes for people with mental disorders, we need the kind of objective measures we have for other chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease. Mindstrong's technology delivers continuous, objective measures of behavior and cognition at a level of resolution and insight that has never been possible.\"\n\nThe company, which is still largely stealthy, may well have more up its sleeve. The funding is going into large-scale research and development to determine how Mindstrong's digital phenotyping can be used to transform mental health care.\n\n\"What excites me about Mindstrong is the transformation of an individual's patterns of typing or scrolling on a smartphone into precise measures of cognitive function,\" Insel said in a statement. \"This new, powerful approach to assessment serves as the foundation for developing better interventions to improve mental health care. Mental disorders are global health problems. With smartphones we have a potential global solution.\"\n\n", "output": "Mindstrong Health has raised $14m for its mental health monitoring project. The start-up is developing a method of objectively measuring brain function through people's interaction with a smartphone. The technology measures biomarkers such as attention, memory, and processing speed, and aims to improve treatment outcomes for patients with mental health problems. The company will use the funds to invest in large-scale research and development. \"All modern medicine is based on objective measurement, yet tracking mental health has been limited to subjective reports in a clinical environment,\" said Mindstrong CEO Dr Paul Dagum.\u00a0Foresite Capital and Arch\u00a0Venture Partners led the round, with several others participating."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Alibaba visits Detroit to woo business leaders \n Alibaba is selling the Chinese dream this week\u2014in Detroit.\n\nThe Chinese e-commerce giant is pulling out all the stops to impress America at Gateway \u201917, its biggest-ever public event in the United States, which opened Tuesday, June 20. On Wednesday morning (US time), founder Jack Ma is scheduled to take the stage for an address in which he\u2019ll lay out the opportunity for US small businesses to tap into China\u2019s growing middle-class.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThe mayor of Detroit and the lieutenant governor of Michigan will be there. Even Martha Stewart will show up, giving a fireside chat titled \u201cExporting the Martha Stewart Lifestyle.\u201d\n\nThe goal of it all? To show how Alibaba can help small- and medium-sized businesses make money and create jobs\u20141 million, specifically, as Ma committed to in January.\n\n\u201cIn the past thirty years, USA domestic consumption was the engine of the global economy. And I told people at that time, if you miss the opportunity of selling your products to the world, to the USA, to Europe, you might miss the chance,\u201d said Ma in a chat with acclaimed interviewer Charlie Rose Tuesday. \u201cToday I want to tell people that if you miss the opportunity of selling your products to China, you will miss the future.\u201d\n\nIt\u2019s a noble cause. But people knowledgeable about e-commerce in China suggest the event is also, at heart, about something else: boosting Alibaba\u2019s political positioning.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nThere\u2019s business, and there\u2019s politics\n\nAlibaba has been courting more international vendors to its e-commerce sites like Taobao, open to vendors of all types, and Tmall, for approved brands, to help keep revenue growing at gasp-inducing levels (paywall). In past years, the focus has been on large brands like Costco and Gerber. Small businesses mark a new target for the company and present an opportunity to reach the \u201clong-tail\u201d of e-commerce: vendors that don\u2019t have world-renowned brand names but do have niche loyal followings.\n\nInvestors remain as confident in Alibaba as ever\u2014its stock price has skyrocketed this year, jumping more than 50% since the first close in January.\n\nThere\u2019s business, though, and then there\u2019s politics. And the event in Detroit is perfectly timed to send signals both to Beijing and Washington.\n\nStaying in Beijing\u2019s good graces is an ongoing challenge for all Chinese companies. Right now, Alibaba is involved in a few businesses that could potentially go awry should the government intervene. The company has launched a money-market fund, a mobile payments app, and a social credit system\u2014all of which are sectors that the government wants to control tightly. (And when business moguls run afoul of the government, their fates can hang in limbo.)\n\nAdvertisement\n\nOne way to keep Beijing happy is to openly appear to support its vision. As Alibaba\u2019s business grows, \u201cinevitably there will be more tensions in areas strongly dominated by state-owned enterprises, like financial services, media, health care, etcetera,\u201d says Duncan Clark, author of Alibaba: The House that Jack Ma Built. \u201cIf Alibaba can emphasize its utility to the government\u2014in driving consumption, boosting the profile of Chinese companies overseas, et cetera\u2014then that can\u2019t hurt.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile, in the US, Alibaba is embattled in a regulatory spat with the office of the country\u2019s trade representative, which in December placed Taobao on a list of \u201cnotorious markets\u201d due to the prevalence of counterfeit goods. Ma has disputed the criticism he doesn\u2019t do enough to weed out knockoffs, saying the company has \u201czero tolerance\u201d (paywall) for counterfeit goods. Alibaba is also facing scrutiny from the SEC regarding accounting methods for its Cainiao logistics arm.\n\nAll these factors make it worthwhile for Alibaba to publicly depict itself as a net good for the American economy. The company has spent millions (paywall) lobbying the US government since 2012. At least one person is listening: In January, Jack Ma met in person with Donald Trump, who, fresh off a campaign filled with anti-China rhetoric, called the founder a \u201cgreat, great entrepreneur, one of the best in the world.\u201d The meeting prompted White House spokesman Sean Spicer to tweet about an \u201cAlibaba job boom.\u201d\n\nAdvertisement\n\nWill the job boom be real?\n\nSpicer\u2019s enthusiasm is probably too optimistic.\n\nAlibaba\u2019s promise to create a million jobs in the US in five years is a goal that remains \u201castoundingly implausible,\u201d according to Christopher Balding, who teaches economics at Peking University HSBC Business School in Shenzhen. For starters, he calculates it would imply a startling 150% increase in US exports to China, currently at $169 billion, assuming the new jobs generate Walmart-comparable US revenues per employee.\n\n\n\nFor reference, Walmart has 1.5 million employees in the United States, against some $368 billion in revenue from the US (pdf, page 59) in its financial year ended January. Alibaba, meanwhile generated nearly $23 billion in total revenue in its fiscal year ended in March, and has yet to hit anywhere near a million employees even in China. At present, it has some 50,000 employees.\n\nAnd, given the long presence of e-commerce in the US, listing on Taobao or Tmall \u201cwill be additive to the [US vendors\u2019] business and in net there will be some job growth, but it won\u2019t be creating jobs the way it has in China, where it is essentially creating a new industry,\u201d says Balding.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nAlibaba, meanwhile, remains optimistic about boosting jobs in the US.\n\n\u201cOur goal is to help 1 million American businesses and farmers access the China market over the next five years,\u201d said Jennifer Kuperman, vice president of international corporate affairs at Alibaba, via email. \u201cWe believe this will on average enable each of those businesses to hire one additional person.\u201d\n\nGoing online won\u2019t eliminate hurdles to selling in China\n\nFor one thing, the tools Alibaba provides to list products, manage storefronts, and communicate with customers are in Chinese. Marketing and advertising for the brand also has to be in Chinese, done by someone familiar with WeChat, Weibo, or other channels. Alibaba didn\u2019t respond to all Quartz\u2019s queries regarding translation of its dashboards and other tools.\n\nAdvertisement\n\n\u201cWith cross-border trade there are language and cultural differences that merchants face, whether online or offline. We work hard to make this as easy as possible,\u201d said Alibaba\u2019s Kuperman, adding, \u201cManaging a store can require additional support.\u201d\n\n\n\nBoutique shoe vendor Stadium Goods, for example, hired a handful of Chinese-speaking staff at its headquarters in New York to oversee sales on Tmall. Founder Jed Stiller says his experience selling on Alibaba has been positive, with revenue in China growing 20% monthly. But, he adds, it would not be possible without having staff hired specifically to manage the China business.\n\n\u201cIt would definitely be hard to operate if we didn\u2019t have a team here interfacing with our team there,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019d say it\u2019s a necessity to have some Mandarin-speaking and -reading staff.\u201d\n\nVendors selling vitamins, cosmetics, or food items also must receive special licenses, which can sometimes take years to obtain. Alibaba says that while it can provide a checklist and \u201cadvice\u201d for companies regarding licensing, it can\u2019t help with the actual process. \u201cUntil Alibaba can address those problems for small businesses, a lot of them are probably just going to walk away,\u201d says Balding.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nA number of consultancies have emerged to handle store management for foreign brands, including customer service, regulation, and warehousing, via some combination of flat fees and revenue sharing. These include US firms ExportNow and VoyageOne, and China\u2019s Web2Asia. Alibaba brands some of these companies as \u201cTaobao Partners,\u201d and requires them to go through mandatory training in order to earn the title.\n\n\u201cTo maintain and monitor the quality of services provided, we set specific standards that our third-party service providers must meet in order to be eligible to offers services to our sellers and maintain their certification\u201d as partners, said Kuperman.\n\nBut an employee at one such company told Quartz that the small businesses Alibaba is courting for the Detroit event are too small to take seriously as clients.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nUnless a brand is doing triple-digit millions in annual revenue, \u201cwe won\u2019t even entertain the opportunity of working with them, just because of the costs involved in setting up an operation, and doing a China-entry strategy right,\u201d he says, speaking on condition of anonymity because his company is participating in Gateway \u201917.\n\nHe adds that selling in China is not as simple as showing up and raking in cash simply because you\u2019re foreign. Brands must either already have cachet with Chinese consumers or offer something genuinely differentiated that a Chinese company cannot produce\u2014because if they can, it will likely be much cheaper, ship much faster, and be just as high-quality.\n\n\u201cIf you come [to China] and you\u2019re not a brand that people are waiting for, or going abroad and looking for\u2026 when you get here, you\u2019re starting a new brand from scratch,\u201d he adds.\n\nThis story was updated on June 21 with details from the event\u2019s opening day. It was also updated June 20 to include an additional quote, on jobs, from an earlier communication with Alibaba.", "output": "Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba is looking to woo business leaders in Detroit as it hosts its largest ever US event, Gateway '17, a two-day conference on opportunities for small businesses to reach China's growing middle class. \u201cThe Chinese market presents tremendous opportunities for US small businesses and farmers to grow their businesses\u00a0and, in turn, create more US\u00a0jobs,\u201d said\u00a0founder Jack Ma.\u00a0Some have suggested this event is also about\u00a0boosting Alibaba\u2019s political positioning in both China and the US.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Ayondo adds bitcoin trading for clients \n Source: Ayondo\n\nFinancial technology group ayondo has expanded its product portfolio with the launch of Bitcoin trading, allowing its clients easy access to the price movement of Bitcoin without the need to open up an e-wallet to purchase bitcoin in the internet.\n\nBitcoin is a type of digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency and verify the transfer of funds, operating independently of a central bank.\n\n\n\nThe digital currency has experienced rapid growth recently and can now be traded at ayondo via spread betting/CFD trading. Bitcoin is also available to signal providers on the ayondo Social Trading platform WeTrade.\n\n\n\nCommenting on the launch, Raza Perez, Chief Product Officer ayondo says: \u201cThe recent development of Bitcoin and the associated interest in Bitcoin is immense. In times of low volatility at the financial markets, the high variation in price offers an excellent trading opportunity. With the launch of Bitcoin we follow the demand of our clients and further strengthen our product range.\u201d", "output": "Swiss financial technology group Ayondo has launched bitcoin trading via spread betting and contract for difference trading on its platform, and the cryptocurrency has also been made available to signal providers on Ayondo's WeTrade platform. \"In times of low volatility at the financial markets, the high variation in price offers an excellent trading opportunity,\" said chief product officer\u00a0Raza Perez.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Driverless ambulances and drones to assist emergency services \n The revolution in driverless vehicles will make many jobs obsolete.\n\nIn the US alone, it is estimated that driverless vehicles will wipe out 4.1m jobs.\n\nTruck drivers, delivery drivers, taxi drivers and Uber drivers will be out of work, and sooner than you might think.\n\nDriverless ambulances and other technology could take some of the strain off the emergency services, freeing paramedics to deal with high-risk patients where each minute waiting for treatment significantly reduces a patient's chance of surviving\n\nBut automation can be a force for good, doing jobs more cheaply, safely and efficiently.\n\nIn fact, there's one service that's crying out for more automation: the ambulance service.\n\nDemand for ambulance services is growing rapidly in developed countries due to a combination of a growing and ageing population, an increase of chronic diseases, and a scarcity of primary care clinics and providers.\n\nWORKPLACE ACTIVITIES WITH HIGH POTENTIAL FOR AUTOMATION In a 2016 McKinsey report, researchers looked at many factors of workplace automation, including the 'technical feasibility' of certain activities. Based on this factor, certain jobs were at greater risk, including: 59 per cent of manufacturing activities could be automated. Within this field, the researchers say 90 per cent of the activites of welders, cutters, solderers and brazers could be done by a robot.\n\n73 per cent of activities in food service and accommodations could be automated.\n\n53 per cent of retail work could be automated; 47 percent of the salesperson\u2019s job could be automated, while 86 percent of bookkeepers, accountant and auditing clerks has this potential. They also detailed the activities with low potential for automation: Education\n\nHealthcare, especially those which require expertise and direct contact with patients, like dental hygienst\n\n'Knowledge work,' including management jobs Advertisement !- - ad: https://mads.dailymail.co.uk/v8/ru/sciencetech/none/article/other/mpu_factbox.html?id=mpu_factbox_1 - ->\n\nThis leaves the emergency services overburdened, with a dismal outlook for the future.\n\nWith driverless vehicles already on the road, some governments are looking into the possibility of driverless ambulances.\n\nDriverless ambulances and other technology could take some of the strain off the emergency services, freeing paramedics to deal with high-risk patients where each minute waiting for treatment significantly reduces a patient's chance of surviving.\n\nThis would include cardiac arrest patients, where brain damage typically starts within four to six minutes.\n\nInitially, health services could introduce a fleet of driverless ambulances alongside their current manned models to deal with low-risk patients \u2013 essentially starting out as 'medical taxis'.\n\nLow-risk patients would be picked up by a driverless ambulance and transported to the nearest hospital or clinic for treatment.\n\nWith the introduction of these ambulances, the need for paramedics to respond to every call \u2013 regardless of severity \u2013 would be greatly reduced.\n\nHowever, not everyone is in favour of automated ambulances.\n\nOne survey of just over 1,000 people in the US found that around half said they would be comfortable riding in one.\n\nAs well as delivering Amazon packages, spying on neighbours and conducting military strikes, drones could also be used by health services to take the pressure off the ambulance service.\n\nThey would be especially useful for delivering medical equipment to remote locations. In fact, a start-up called Zipline is already successfully delivering blood and medicine across Rwanda.\n\nBut these services could also be used in developed countries.\n\nFor example, if a doctor in a remote rural location has to treat a patient with a rare condition, but she lacks the necessary medical supplies at her GP clinic or local hospital, a drone could deliver the supplies.\n\nAlternatively, drones could be used to deliver vital medical equipment to a drop point prior to the manned ambulance's arrival.\n\nThis would allow the patient to be treated as soon as the paramedics arrive.\n\nDrones could also be used to transport specialised equipment, medication or even blood products between hospitals.\n\nervices to take the pressure off the ambulance service. They would be especially useful for delivering medical equipment to remote locations. In fact, a start-up called Zipline is already successfully delivering blood and medicine across Rwanda\n\nThis would reduce the need for ambulances to drive further distances to find somewhere that can treat their patient.\n\nFor several years, police forces around the world have been using sophisticated algorithms to predict areas where crime is most likely to occur.\n\nThis allows police departments to deploy officers to areas of 'high demand'.\n\nWhile these Minority Report-style systems have proven to be controversial, a similar system that predicts illness hotspots is less likely to raise eyebrows.\n\nA similar system could be used by ambulance services.\n\nIt would collect previous trip data from the ambulances (both manned and unmanned).\n\nThe software would take into consideration the time of year, weather, public events (such as concerts and protests), populations (such as elderly or deprived) and past emergencies that ambulances have responded to.\n\nPolice forces around the world have been using sophisticated algorithms to predict areas where crime is most likely to occur. A similar system could be used by ambulance services. It would collect previous trip data from the ambulances (both manned and unmanned)\n\nThis would enable the driverless ambulances to locate themselves within high-risk areas when they are not in use, allowing them to respond much faster to calls.\n\nAs these systems log more and more information, they will become increasingly more accurate at predicting medical emergencies, in the same way that data mining tools, used by social media and advertising companies, get better at figuring out what food, clothes, movies and so on you like best, and what you might like in the future.\n\nThese new methods may seem far off, but depending on how fast healthcare systems invest and adopt these technologies, they could be changing the way we receive medical treatment within decades.\n\nIn the face of ever rising demand, technology is likely to be the saviour of ambulance services, making it faster, more effective and safer.\n\nHowever, it may take a while before the public are comfortable with the idea.", "output": "Studies suggest that driverless ambulances and drones could help take the strain off emergency services. Self-driving ambulances could transport low-risk patients to a hospital, freeing up paramedics to deal with more serious cases. Swedish researchers have launched drones carrying defibrillators from a local fire station to reach simulated cardiac arrest sites in an average of just over five minutes, around 16 minutes faster that the median response time of the ambulance. This could dramatically boost survival rates, which research shows decrease by 10% for every minute that passes between cardiac arrest and defibrillation. Developers expect paramedics could explain how to use the defibrillator via a speaker system on the drone."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Snapchat and Time Warner to create original shows in $100m deal  \n Snap signed a $100 million deal with Time Warner on Monday to create as many as 10 original shows for its disappearing-message app.\n\nThe shows will come from all corners of the Time Warner empire \u2014 including its HBO and Turner TV networks and Warner Bros. movie studio \u2014 and will help Snapchat increase its daily output from one show to three.\n\nSnap shares, which lately have taken a beating on worries about sluggish user growth, on Monday rose 1.9 percent to close at $17.88.\n\nTime Warner executives in Cannes, France, declined to discuss how ad revenue will be shared between the two, or how long content would be windowed at Snapchat.\n\nThe newly public owner of Snapchat recently had been offering advertisers discounts to get into bed with its disappearing content. Time Warner said Monday it is developing short-form shows, typically lasting between three and five minutes, and will commit ad spending to the youthful messaging platform.\n\nSnap is in Cannes to sign as many new advertisers and partners as possible to juice its quarterly earnings. Video partners say that Snapchat has been easier to work with than rival Facebook because it is able to execute more quickly.\n\nSnapchat\u2019s chief strategy officer Imran Khan was in Cannes meeting advertisers this week and attended a Hearst dinner. Hearst\u2019s chief content officer, Joanna Coles, is on the board of Snapchat.\n\nThe deal is yet another sign of tech-based companies looking for premium video from traditional outlets to fuel their ad revenue. Snapchat\u2019s sales unit is run by Jeff Lucas, a former ad sales boss at Viacom.\n\nSnap has deals with several media outlets including Turner Networks, NFL, BBC, Discovery Networks, Scripps Networks, MGM Television, A+E Networks, Vertical Networks and VICE.", "output": "Shares in social media site Snapchat rose 1.9% to $17.88 following the announcement of a deal between parent company Snap and broadcaster Time Warner to create up to 10 original shows for the site. The move will triple Snap's daily show output to three, with content to come from HBO and Turner TV networks, as well as Warner Bros's movie studio. The shows will include scripted drama, daily news bulletins, documentaries and comedy, and will\u00a0run for three to five\u00a0minutes. Time Warner executives gave no details of how ad revenue would be divided or how long the content could be viewed for.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "China investigates academic fraud in cancer research \n China is investigating claims of academic fraud involving mostly Chinese cancer researchers after more than 100 articles were withdrawn from a foreign medical journal.\n\nGerman publisher Springer announced in April the retraction of 107 articles from Tumor Biology after finding evidence the \"peer review process was compromised\".\n\nThe papers had been produced by Chinese medical institutions and universities and published between 2012 and 2016.\n\nIt is standard practise for scholars to submit their research to peers for scrutiny before publishing to ensure the integrity of their work, but fraud is a growing problem.\n\nChina's Ministry of Science and Technology said it had \"zero tolerance\" for such behaviour and pledged to investigate \"each and every paper retracted\".\n\nResearchers involved in the mass retraction have had their projects and funding suspended, it added.\n\n\"The incident has had a very bad influence, seriously tarnishing the international reputation of China's scientific circle and hurting the self-esteem of Chinese scientists,\" the ministry said Wednesday.\n\n\"But it also shows we need to strengthen punishment for academic fraud and to improve the academic atmosphere.\"\n\nThe blog Retraction Watch said it had been told by Springer that \"the reviews were submitted under the names of real researchers with faked emails. Some of the authors may have used a third-party editing service, which may have supplied the reviews.\"\n\nTumor Biology is now published by SAGE Publications in the United States.\n\nIt is not the first time Chinese medical experts have been caught faking peer reviews\u2014in 2015 London-based BioMed Central pulled 43 articles, which the Global Times said were mostly by Chinese researchers.\n\nIn 2016 Springer retracted 64 articles from 10 journals, many written by Chinese contributors, the newspaper added.\n\nThe latest incident highlighted the pressure on Chinese doctors in public hospitals to \"publish a certain number of papers in national or international journals just to secure promotion or salary rises\", Xinhua news agency said.\n\n\u00a9 2017 AFP", "output": "Chinese investigators have looked into allegations of academic fraud surrounding Chinese cancer researchers after more than 100 articles were withdrawn from the journal Tumor Biology. In April, the journal's German publisher revealed that 107 articles, all published by Chinese academic institutions between 2012 and 2016, were removed after finding that the peer-review process had been compromised. The fraud concerns have had a negative impact on the country's scientific community, \"seriously tarnishing the international reputation of China's scientific circle and hurting the self-esteem of Chinese scientists,\" said the country's\u00a0Ministry of Science and Technology.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Alibaba's Tmall World targets overseas Chinese consumers \n China\u2019s largest online retailer is looking outward with a new initiative called \u201cTmall World\u201d that targets Chinese consumers living overseas with localized payment solutions, logistics, and marketing campaigns.\n\nAlibaba announced its plan on Monday to target the 100 million overseas Chinese consumers in its \u201cpriority markets,\u201d Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia, giving them easier access to purchasing products on Tmall. Tmall World will kick off with a \u201cMid-Year Mega Sale\u201d from June 18 to 20.\n\nMany Chinese consumers in these countries are already familiar with Tmall, but Tmall World is designed to make the e-commerce experience more efficient and localized. Alibaba will work with local e-commerce players, including Southeast Asian retailer Lazada Group, to deliver the logistics and payment needs unique to each market. In a precursor to these efforts, Alibaba bought a controlling stake in Lazada last year.\n\nAny brand that currently has a shop on the Tmall platform will now have the option to sell to markets outside of mainland China through this initiative. Although the company confirmed this was optional.\n\nWhile it\u2019s unlikely that international luxury brands coming into China through Tmall will benefit from this initiative, local mainland Chinese luxury brands on the platform or brands that still don\u2019t have a presence outside of the mainland will now have a channel for expanding their reach.\n\nChinese luxury brands are already much more open to embracing Tmall, according to the findings from Digital intelligence firm L2\u2019s 2017 Digital IQ Index: China Luxury, which benchmarks 89 luxury brands\u2019 digital performance in China. Currently, there is a presence of mainland and Hong Kong jewelry brands on the platform, including Hong Kong\u2019s Chow Tai Fook and Chow Sang Sang, Zbird from Shanghai, and Bloves from Shenzhen.\n\n\u201cTmall World will likely be a benefit to any kind of Chinese brand because it\u2019s giving them a wider, global market,\u201d Liz Flora Editor of Asia Pacific Research at L2. \u201cIt will give Chinese brands a global advantage.\u201d\n\nAside from Chinese luxury brands, companies on Tmall that do off-brand \u201cluxury\u201d goods, ones that look nearly identical to the real thing but don\u2019t adopt the brand name, will also potentially have access to more markets. Already, international luxury brands are wary of this category of fake goods on Tmall and several have thus adopted alternative online retail platforms for selling to mainland Chinese consumers.\n\nCurrently, Tmall World is only focused on parts of Southeast Asia and Greater China, but Alibaba said it planned to launch the service in other parts of the world as well. The group\u2019s affiliate company, Ant Financial, which oversees mobile payment solution company Alipay, is already expanding in the United States and Europe, which could set the foundation for further building upon an online retail economy.", "output": "Alibaba-owned online retailer Tmall has launched an initiative to target Chinese consumers living abroad in its priority markets, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. Tmall World will offer consumers localised payment, marketing and logistics solutions, as well as giving brands the option to sell outside of mainland China. The platform will debut with a mid-year sale from 18 to 20 June.\u00a0\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "London issues emergency air pollution alerts during heatwave \n The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has triggered the capital\u2019s emergency air quality alert as soaring temperatures combined with southerly winds are expected to bring dangerously toxic air to large parts of England and Wales on Wednesday.\n\n\n\nThe emergency alerts will see warnings displayed at bus stops, on road signs and on the underground.\n\nA spokesman said: \u201cDue to the continued warm and sunny weather conditions, high levels of pollution are forecast tomorrow, particularly near busy roads. As a result of this the mayor has triggered a London-wide air quality alert this afternoon on the transport system to ensure Londoners are fully aware and able to take any extra precautions needed.\u201d\n\n\n\nAir quality researchers at King\u2019s College London issued a statement on Tuesday warning of high pollution levels as southerly winds bring in toxic air from the continent during the day. A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs air quality analysis shows moderate or high pollution is likely to affect large parts of England and Wales on Wednesday.\n\n\n\nExperts warn that anyone with lung or heart problems should avoid or reduce strenuous physical exertion, particularly outdoors. Older people or those with asthma should take particular care. They say the worst air quality in the capital is likely to coincide with temperatures of 34C in late afternoon.\n\nSimon Birkett, from the Clean Air in London campaign, said Bournemouth had already breached the EU\u2019s threshold at which instances of ozone pollution must be reported to the European commission, and warned that large parts of England and Wales would be affected on Wednesday.\n\n\u201cThis is a very serious episode, which unfortunately combines high levels of ozone with high levels of particulates, so it is very important that people keep an eye on these alerts and follow the health guidelines.\u201d\n\nResearchers said the toxic air was caused by high ozone levels brought up from industrial parts of France by a southerly wind. They also warned that particulate levels \u2013 from motor vehicles and other fuel burning \u2013 were expected to be \u201cmoderate, with high again a strong possibility\u201d.\n\nThe government has come under growing pressure over the UK\u2019s air quality. It has had a string of humiliating defeats in the courts over its failure to clean up the nation\u2019s air \u2013 the latest of which was last week, when a high court judge said the continued delays were \u201ca significant threat to public health\u201d.\n\nThe subsequent report was deemed to have \u201cmajor flaws\u201d by experts, and environmental lawyers are now taking ministers back before judges.\n\nNitrogen dioxide emissions, mostly from diesel cars, cause 23,500 of the 40,000 premature deaths from air pollution each year, according to the government\u2019s own data. In April last year MPs said air pollution was a public health emergency.\n\n", "output": "London mayor Sadiq Khan has issued an emergency air quality alert for the capital as high temperatures, plus southerly winds from industrial areas of France, are predicted to result in toxic air across large areas of England and Wales on 21 June. Alerts will be displayed at bus stops, on the tube network and on road signs. In April 2016, UK MPs stated that the country\u2019s air pollution constituted a public health emergency.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BP, Exxon and Shell pledge support for carbon tax \n Oil giants ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and Total are among a group of large corporations supporting a plan to tax carbon dioxide emissions in order to address climate change.\n\nThe companies have revealed their support for the Climate Leadership Council, a group of senior Republican figures that in February proposed a $40 fee on each ton of CO2 emitted as part of a \u201cfree-market, limited government\u201d response to climate change.\n\nThe fossil fuel companies announced their backing for the plan alongside other major firms including Unilever, PepsiCo, General Motors and Johnson & Johnson.\n\nIn a full-page newspaper ad on Tuesday, the companies called for a \u201cconsensus climate solution that bridges partisan divides, strengthens our economy and protects our shared environment\u201d. Exxon and the others were listed as founding members of the plan, alongside the green groups Conservation International and the Nature Conservancy.\n\n\u201cClimate change is already impacting our communities, our economy and our environment and those impacts will continue to grow and become worse if we don\u2019t act now,\u201d said Mark Tercek, chief executive of the Nature Conservancy. \u201cWe can\u2019t afford to wait to have these conversations.\u201d\n\nHowever, other green groups dismissed the plan as a stunt designed to insulate fossil fuel companies that have sought to undermine or dismiss the science of global warming.\n\n\u201cExxonMobil will try to dress this up as climate activism, but its key agenda is protecting executives from legal accountability for climate pollution and fraud,\u201d said Naomi Ages, senior climate campaigner at Greenpeace USA. \u201cA nicely worded public relations exercise is no cure for decades of deception.\u201d\n\nDarren Woods, chief executive of Exxon, said his had been \u201cencouraged by the proposal put forth by the Climate Leadership Council as it aligns closely with our longstanding principles\u201d, and would work to develop the policy.\n\nThe plan was crafted by a group of conservative elder statesmen that includes former Republican secretaries of state James Baker and George Shultz and Hank Paulson, a former secretary of the treasury. Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor, and the physicist Stephen Hawking are also members of the group.\n\nUnder the proposal, a $40 carbon tax, rising over time, would be levied on emissions in order to encourage a shift towards renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. All of the proceeds from the tax would be returned to the American public via \u201ccarbon dividends\u201d \u2013 the group estimates a family of four would receive a payment of $2,000 in the first year.\n\nAs further tradeoff for the new tax, the plan would dismantle all major climate regulations, including the Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s authority over CO2 emissions and an \u201coutright repeal\u201d of the clean power plan.\n\nExxon, BP and Shell recently voiced support for the Paris climate agreement before Donald Trump\u2019s decision to withdraw the US from the pact. All three companies have acknowledged that climate change is real and poses an economic and societal threat.\n\nHowever, this is the first time they have all publicly backed a price on carbon. Exxon has come closest to doing so in the past, with Rex Tillerson, the former chief executive who is now secretary of state, remarking in 2009 that a \u201ccarbon tax strikes me as a more direct, a more transparent and a more effective approach\u201d than other systems.\n\nAbout 40 countries, including most of Europe, China and South Africa, have a price on carbon or a plan to do so. In the US, California has an emissions trading scheme, which is linked to a similar initiative in the Canadian province of Quebec.\n\nBarack Obama failed to implement a national market-based response to climate change early in his presidency and the chances of the US doing so are now even slimmer under a Trump administration and a Republican-controlled Congress that is reflexively suspicious of any new tax.\n\nHowever, backers of the Climate Leadership Council hope that strengthening public support for carbon taxes, along with growing concern over sea level rise, droughts and heatwaves, will start to erode the decade-long impasse in US climate policy.", "output": "Companies including BP, ExxonMobil, Shell and Total, have backed the idea of a carbon tax in order to tackle climate change. The firms have pledged support for the Climate Leadership Council, a group of leading Republicans that in February proposed a $40 fee on each tonne of carbon dioxide\u00a0emitted. Other companies that backed the plan in a full-page newspaper advertisement include General Motors, Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo and Unilever. The council also includes environmental groups Conservation International and Nature Conservancy, former mayor of New York City,\u00a0Michael Bloomberg\u00a0and physicist Stephen Hawking."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Centrica announces closure of UK's largest gas storage site \n The closure of the UK\u2019s largest gas storage plant has prompted warnings that the country faces more volatile winter gas prices and is becoming too dependent on energy imports.\n\nBritish Gas\u2019s owner, Centrica, said it was permanently closing the Rough facility off the Yorkshire coast because it had become unsafe and uneconomic to reopen the facility, which had been temporarily shut over safety fears.\n\nThe loss comes on top of the diplomatic crisis in Qatar, which supplies a third of UK gas imports and has highlighted the UK\u2019s increasing reliance on hydrocarbon imports.\n\nCentrica said Rough, which opened in 1985 and could hold about nine days\u2019 gas supply, will cease to be a storage facility once its remaining gas reserves have been sold over the next four to five years.\n\nThe company said tests of the wells at the facility showed it had come to the end of its design life. Rebuilding or refurbishing Rough would not be economical, the firm added, though the cost of closure is expected to be broadly neutral because of the value of the remaining gas.\n\nExperts said it was no surprise Centrica had decided to shutter the depot, because liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from Qatar had significantly reduced the economic rationale for this kind of facility.\n\nAnalysts at Barclays said the closure would increase the volatility of winter gas prices, a view shared by other industry-watchers. Matt Osborne, a risk manager at energy consultancy Inenco, said: \u201cWe anticipate that the decision to close Rough will create uncertainty in terms of energy pricing.\n\n\u201cThough we haven\u2019t seen a material impact on prices yet \u2013 most probably because there is still a significant amount of recoverable gas in the field, which could last for years \u2013 the pressure could come in the winter months, especially if we experience very cold conditions.\u201d\n\nThe fracking industry said the closure would increase the UK\u2019s reliance on Qatari LNG imports, which it said had proved to be politically risky, although there is no evidence yet that the diplomatic crisis engulfing the Gulf state, whose neighbours have severed diplomatic ties, has interrupted UK supplies.\n\nKen Cronin, the chief executive of the onshore gas and oil industry trade body UKOOG, said: \u201cThe solution for the UK in the medium term cannot be to transport gas across oceans and continents. The UK needs to ensure that whatever gas replaces that from Rough comes from sources that can deliver the same high levels of environmental and regulatory standards.\u201d\n\nGas has become increasingly important in the UK\u2019s power mix as coal plants close and renewables grow, and also provides heating for about 80% of UK homes.\n\nA Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) spokesperson said: \u201cThe UK has highly diverse and flexible sources of gas supply through domestic production and extensive import capability. We expect healthy margins this winter as we continue to upgrade the UK\u2019s energy infrastructure.\u201d\n\nOn Tuesday, the government announced funding for two projects that could help wean the UK off its reliance on natural gas for heating.\n\nBEIS said \u00a325m would be made available to test using hydrogen to cut greenhouse gas emissions from heat. The money will fund research into whether existing gas pipes can be used for hydrogen, and what impact having a hydrogen boiler would have for consumers. A further \u00a310m is being invested in \u201csmart heating\u201d.\n\n\n\nUnlike gas, hydrogen produces no emissions when burned, although it is only considered a green fuel if produced with renewable power.\n\n\n\nThe newly appointed energy minister, Claire Perry, said: \u201cThe UK government is committed to leading the world in delivering clean energy technology and today\u2019s investment shows that we are prepared to support innovation in this critical area.\u201d\n\n\n\nOfgem cuts payments for small power producers\n\nThe UK energy regulator has drastically cut \u00a3370m of payments for small power producers, in a blow to diesel generators and smaller gas plants.\n\n\n\nThe decision by Ofgem sparked strong criticism, with claims the move would fail to achieve its aim of saving consumers about \u00a320 a year on their energy bills.\n\nOfgem said it would reduce payments for small generators from 2018, in what observers said was a victory for lobbying by the big six energy companies \u2013 British Gas, EDF, E.ON, Npower, Scottish Power and SSE.\n\nThe regulator argued that the payments for generators supplying power at peak times were distorting the market and set to get worse.\n\n\u201cOur role is to protect customers and make sure costs are kept as low as possible. That is why we are taking action by reducing this payment,\u201d said the Ofgem chief executive, Dermot Nolan.\n\nHowever, the Flexible Generation Group, which represents small generators, mostly gas plants, said the decision would inevitably push up costs to consumers by making prices spikier at times of high demand.\n\nMark Draper, the group\u2019s chairman, said: \u201cThis decision poses a significant challenge to our growing industry and makes it even more difficult for new entrants into the energy market to compete with established players.\u201d\n\nHe added the decision would reinforce the perception that big power producers wield \u201cundue influence\u201d with Ofgem.", "output": "British Gas owner Centrica  has said it will close the electricity supplier's 30-year-old Rough gas storage site after safety tests found the wells lacked structural integrity, according to a company announcement. The closure of the UK's largest gas storage facility will increase the country's reliance on imported energy, increasing the volatility of wholesale gas prices and making it more vulnerable to price spikes, said Wayne Bryan, an analyst at consultancy firm Alfa Energy. The closure will cause Britain to lose about 70% of its storage capacity.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Finland's VTT develops land-based remote steering for ships \n Demo: control room for an autonomous ship. Credit: Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT)\n\nVTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is developing safe steering for the remote-monitored and controlled autonomous ships of the future. The new technology has been developed for navigation systems and ship autopilots, which steer ships automatically.\n\nThe ships of the future will largely be controlled by artificial intelligence. However, these autonomous unmanned vessels must be monitored and controlled on demand by land-based professionals. This trend sets new challenges also for autonomous ship navigation systems, which must be able to control ships in various situations.\n\n\"VTT has deep knowledge of autonomous ship research concerning especially reliability and safety topics. Such special expertise has now led to the development of navigation systems for autonomous ships,\" says Jussi Martio, a Senior Scientist at VTT. This requires an autopilot, which is used to control a moving vessel, including during evasive manoeuvres according to COLREGs (International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea).\n\nThe Apilot autopilot under development by VTT has three modes: track, heading and slow joystick control for docking situations.\n\nIn track mode, Apilot steers the ship along a previously agreed route.. If the ship detects another vessel, which must be avoided, the autopilot switches to heading mode. This enables Apilot to avoid the other vessel with a small change in the ship's heading. Autopilot returns to track mode after the other vessel has been avoided.\n\nShip simulator. Credit: Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT)\n\nIn the joystick mode, control and propulsion equipment are adjusted to low speeds manoeuvrings. Apilot puts the ship into the desired operating mode, for example to manoeuvre sideways into a dock.\n\nIn all situations, the autopilot ensures that the ship remains within a set distance from the planned route. If the limits in question are exceeded, the autopilot gives a warning and remote control must be taken of the ship.\n\nUser-oriented navigation\n\nHuman factors must be considered when designing the remote monitoring and control systems of vessels. VTT has studied interaction between humans and technology in maritime transport and has developed new concepts for the bridges and remote shore control centres of the autonomous ships of the future. The aim is to make operations more safe, efficient and comfortable by seeking new solutions that enhance operating methods, as well as the usability and user experience of technologies.", "output": "Finnish company VTT Technical Research Centre is developing software for autonomous ship navigation systems to make land-based control safer and more efficient. The Apilot autopilot system has three modes: track, heading, which allows the operator to make changes to a route if another ship is in the way, and slow joystick control for docking situations. The system also gives out a warning if set distance limits between vessels are breached. VTT anticipates that the ships of the future will largely be controlled by artificial intelligence."}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "BP, Repsol make\u00a0two gas discoveries offshore Trinidad \n BP Trinidad & Tobago (bpTT) has made two significant gas discoveries after drilling the Savannah and Macadamia exploration wells in offshore Trinidad.\n\nBoth discoveries are estimated to contain nearly two trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas, which will encourage new developments in the area.\n\nbpTT regional president Norman Christie said: \u201cWe are starting to see the benefits of the significant investment we have made in seismic processing and Ocean Bottom Seismic acquisition. Savannah and Macadamia demonstrate that with the right technology, we can continue to uncover the full potential of the Columbus Basin.\u201d\n\nbpTT drilled the Savannah exploration well into an untested fault block located east of Juniper field in more than 500ft water depths, nearly 80km south-east coast of Trinidad.\n\nA semi-submersible rig was used to drill the well, which encountered 650ft net pay in hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs in two main intervals.\n\n\"It was drilled to test exploration and appraisal segments below the existing SEQB discovery.\"\n\nThe company intends to develop these reservoirs through future tieback to the Juniper platform due to come on-stream this year.\n\nThe Macadamia well was drilled to test exploration and appraisal segments below the existing SEQB discovery and penetrated hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs in seven intervals with around 600ft in net pay.\n\nbpTT owns 100% working interest in Savannah and Macadamia wells.\n\nIn addition, the company received approval to develop its Angelin offshore gas project located nearly 60km from south-east coast of Trinidad in water depth of around 65m.\n\nThe project comprises construction of a new platform which will represent bpTT\u2019s 15th offshore production facility in the area.", "output": "BP Trinidad & Tobago makes two \"significant\" discoveries containing about 2 tn cubic ft of natural gas with Savannah and Macadamia exploration wells offshore Trinidad. The fields are the largest discoveries in Trinidad and Tobago in a decade and Repsol's biggest in five years.\n"}
{"instruction": "create a high quality summary of the given input", "input": "Esure esure wins High Court case on costs shifting \n Costs in excess of \u00a320,000 to be recovered by esure following today\u2019s High Court ruling\n\nHorwich Farrelly, has achieved a landmark ruling on behalf of esure, in the appeal of Rachel Mee and Others v esure Insurance Ltd, paving the way for insurers to recover costs from credit hire organisations (CHOs).\n\nThe High Court judgment, handed down earlier today, dismissed an appeal by Southport-based Select Car Rentals (North West) Ltd that the CHO was to pay 60% of esure's costs. As a result, esure now expects to recover costs in excess of \u00a320,000 from Select.\n\nThe matter concerned claims made to esure by Miss Rachel Mee and three others following an alleged road traffic collision on 27 April 2013. Following the incident, Miss Mee hired a vehicle from Select, which she kept for a period of 388 days at a total cost of \u00a323,456.85. However, when esure investigated the case it emerged that she had purchased a replacement vehicle nine weeks after the incident, so had no need to continue the hire beyond this point.\n\nFollowing a three day trial in October 2015, Recorder Grundy dismissed all four claims because the claimants failed to prove that they were even involved in the alleged accident. He declined to find that the claims were fraudulent although he made the observation that they were \"very suspicious\".\n\nAs esure were not able to recover costs from the claimants, the insurer applied for a (non-party) costs order against Select in March 2016. At a hearing on 8 December 2016 Recorder Garside QC ordered Select to pay 60% of the costs to esure, which were estimated at a minimum of \u00a320,000. Select appealed this order, arguing that the case was wrongly broadening the circumstances in which costs may be made against a non-party.\n\nAt a High Court hearing on 24th May 2017, Mr Justice Turner rejected Select\u2019s argument citing the observation by the Court of Appeal (in Deutsche Bank v Sebastian Holdings) that \"the only immutable principle is that the discretion must be exercised justly\u201d.\n\nIn order to have an enforceable costs order, esure relied upon the relevant exception to Qualified One Way Costs Shifting (QOCS) which applies to proceedings that \u201cinclude a claim which is made for the financial benefit of a person other than the claimant\". The QOCS Practice Direction (\"PD\u201d) states that examples of such claims \"are subrogated claims and claims for credit hire\". Select invited Justice Turner to read into the PD so as to provide its meaning as \"examples of claims which may be made for the financial benefit of a person\" but he declined to do so.\n\nHe further disagreed that a defendant has to establish that the CHO made a profit from the litigation stating \"some money is better than no money\".\n\nJustice Turner also rejected arguments that non-party costs orders should only be made in exceptional circumstances or that the non-party must exercise a degree of control over the litigation stating:\n\n\"The fact that any given credit hire organisation\u2019s connection with a claim is no greater than is commonly the case does not, without more, provide it with an automatic immunity from a non-party costs order. There is no room for the argument that it is a prerequisite to the making of such an order that such involvement be exceptional.\"\n\nRonan McCann, Partner at Horwich Farrelly, commented \u201cThis decision, which follows a successful trial in a case originally dealt with by our Counter Fraud team, will impact upon all credit hire claims. It is one of the most significant decisions on credit hire and QOCS to date, and paves the way for defendants to obtain costs orders against credit hire organisations.\u201d\n\nGraham Hughes, Chief Claims Officer at esure added \u201dThis is an excellent result for esure and the industry. This ruling indicates CHOs won't be able to hide behind QOCS and that they will have to give serious consideration to well-judged offers by defendants.\"", "output": "Esure is hailing a recent legal victory as \"one of the most significant decisions on credit hire and qualified one way costs shifting to date\", following a High Court ruling that could enable insurers to recover costs from credit hire organisations (CHOs). \"This is an excellent result for esure and the industry. This ruling indicates CHOs will have to give serious consideration to well-judged offers by defendants,\" said Graham Hughes, chief claims officer at esure.\n"}